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<title>19 August, 2022</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Should Former Presidents Get Special Legal Treatment?</strong> - An expert on national-security law offers a framework for how prosecutors can approach politically sensitive cases. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/should-former-presidents-get-special-legal-treatment">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Donald Trump and the Sweepstakes Scammers</strong> - In the eighties, an eclectic group of con artists dominated the market for promotional games, and rigged them—till it all came crashing down. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/american-chronicles/donald-trump-and-the-sweepstakes-scammers">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Inadequate Answers of Liz Truss, Britain’s Likely Next Prime Minister</strong> - Boris Johnson’s probable successor is offering little comfort as a recession looms. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-uk/the-inadequate-answers-of-liz-truss-britains-likely-next-prime-minister">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Sins of the High Court’s Supreme Catholics</strong> - The overturn of Roe v. Wade is part of ultra-conservatives’ long history of rejecting Galileo, Darwin, and Americanism. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-sins-of-the-high-courts-supreme-catholics">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Is There a Serious Case for a Not-Awful Election for Democrats This Fall?</strong> - One strategist’s “Trumptimism” is another’s “hopium.” - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/is-there-a-serious-case-for-a-not-awful-election-for-democrats-this-fall">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>The Never Trump wing of the GOP never had a chance</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Hl--FGgdaYXUjNKWumcmAGjMaV0=/234x0:3701x2600/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71260612/GettyImages_1407758286a.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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A supporter of former President Donald Trump holds up a hat during a “Save America” rally in Anchorage, Alaska, on July 9. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Liz Cheney’s loss made clear Trump’s GOP detractors have little electoral sway.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jWG9Ye">
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The bad news for Never Trump Republicans this week wasn’t just that Liz Cheney <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/16/23309182/liz-cheney-wyoming-trump">lost the primary</a> for her <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/12/23301904/liz-cheney-wyoming-donald-trump-gop">Wyoming congressional seat</a> on Tuesday. It wasn’t even that she lost by such <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/08/16/us/elections/results-wyoming-us-house-district-1.html">an overwhelming margin</a>. It was that her loss fit a pattern in which the GOP’s voters have roundly rejected Republican after Republican who voted to impeach Trump. Only two of the 10 House Republicans who did so will even be on the ballot in November — one of whom is running in a district that Joe Biden won by <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California%27s_21st_Congressional_District_election,_2020">more than 10 percentage points</a> in 2020.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="estsxM">
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It’s clear at this point that the Republican Party is a pro-Trump party, and that its voters recoil from candidates who are ardently opposed to the former president. The results of this primary season — and Cheney’s loss in particular — show a Never Trump wing on the verge of extinction.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EHs5CX">
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Cheney’s loss follows those this year of Reps. Peter Meijer of Michigan, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, and Tom Rice of South Carolina, among those Republicans who voted to impeach Trump. Another four Republican House members who voted to impeach — <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/03/adam-kinzingers-bold-prediction-trump-will-fade-away.html">Adam Kinzinger</a> of Illinois, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, John Katko of New York, and Fred Upton of Michigan — opted against even running for reelection.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IBQOTy">
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This continues a trend within the GOP since Trump took office, as Republican critics like Sens. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/02/27/589156299/sen-corker-really-isnt-running-for-re-election-seriously">Bob Corker</a> of Tennessee and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/24/politics/jeff-flake-retirement-speech-full-text/index.html">Jeff Flake</a> of Arizona have opted not to seek reelection, while others, like Rep. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/live-updates/midterms/live-primary-election-results/rep-mark-sanford-predicts-hell-primary-to-pro-trump-challenger/">Mark Sanford</a> of South Carolina, lost their primaries.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fEPIwD">
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“I’m unaware of any Republican primary where the organizing principle that Trump is a bad guy was ever successful,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a close Trump ally in Congress who had been campaigning against Cheney since days after her impeachment vote, told Vox. “Republicans might have squeaked through who were not pro-Trump, but those candidates had some other organizing principle. Liz Cheney didn’t, and that’s why she lost so badly.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iJcVZ4">
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Even an ardent Never Trumper like Tim Miller, a former top Republican operative and author of a recent New York Times bestseller, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Did-Travelogue-Republican/dp/0063161478"><em>Why We Did It</em></a>, conceded that Trump won the battle for the soul of the GOP. “A lot of people misunderstand what is happening in this moment and think the Republican Party might somehow go back to being the party of Liz Cheney and Paul Ryan,” Miller said. “It’s never going back — at least not any time on the horizon.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b4tX0d">
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Part of that wing’s irrelevance owes to the fundamental structure of American politics. The only three Republicans who voted to impeach or convict Trump who have advanced to the general election this cycle all ran in states without traditional party primaries. In Alaska, maverick Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski advanced in the state’s unusual primary system, where the top four candidates on a nonpartisan primary ballot advance to a ranked choice general election. Two House members who won their primaries, David Valadao of California and Dan Newhouse of Washington, both did so in states where the top two vote-getters on a nonpartisan primary ballot advance to the general election.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PMEUv0">
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But it wasn’t just structural. None of the winning candidates emphasized their opposition to Trump. In fact, they all ran localized races and focused on issues that voters in Republican primaries were concerned about. But it required that combination for anti-Trump Republicans to succeed in a primary.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IdPVj4">
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As one plugged-in Trump ally who was granted anonymity in order to speak frankly put it, “Cheney found out what happens when you try to make an entire election a referendum on Trump.” The Trump ally was skeptical that there was ever a path for Cheney to win, but thought she could have kept it close by “running a hyper-localized campaign, not going out of the way to mention Trump’s name, [and] not publicly aligning with the January 6 committee.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7gCxSP">
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Miller was skeptical that this would have been successful. He noted that Rice followed that entire playbook and got crushed. Rice <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/14/how-trump-radicalized-tom-rice-00039287">never backed away</a> from his impeachment vote but focused his campaign on his record of bringing federal money to his district. However, Rice did shift hard against Trump in the final days of his congressional race, contributing to the lopsided margins against him.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zm1rXa">
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The former Republican operative noted that with only a handful of exceptions, the MAGA wing of the party won across the board in 2022. In his view, “this is what the voters want, and it’s time that people who still consider themselves classically conservative [to realize] that they are not welcome in the party and not allies anymore, and have to enter an allyship with a party they disagree with.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oQov64">
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The idea that Never Trumpers should ally with Democrats isn’t without precedent in American politics. History is filled with coalitions based on personalities. The first time key Republicans abandoned their party to support a Democrat out of personal revulsion to the party’s leader was in 1884, when <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/cleveland/campaigns-and-elections">Mugwumps</a> backed Grover Cleveland because they believed Republican nominee James Blaine to be corrupt. Entire American political realignments have been focused around the personalities of leaders like Andrew Jackson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mKRoNu">
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Gaetz dismissed the number of Never Trumpers and their influence in American politics. “There certainly is a Never Trump faction and they are terrific at playing to their key constituency, Washington television bookers. That allows them to present as a larger force in American politics than they are.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fGSvxN">
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While Never Trumpers are certainly found outside Beltway green rooms, there clearly are not enough of them to win head-to-head Republican primaries in 2022. “It’s a big party and certainly there’s room for people who don’t love Trump, but there isn’t any real electoral constituency for people who hate Trump,” the Trump ally said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q91Arj">
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This was echoed by an operative tied to the Never Trump wing of the party, who told Vox there is “very little room in the party for someone who wants to run as an unabashed opponent of Trump.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fzK8Jv">
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This doesn’t mean that the Republican Party has been purged of Trump skeptics, but simply that opposition to Trump can’t be the raison d’etre of a successful campaign. There is still room in the party for those who don’t like Trump and want to stay and fight — they just have to downplay it. “You don’t have to agree with Trump on everything as long as you’re fighting for what conservative voters want,” said the operative.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s4S3rV">
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But that is certainly not enough to pass the purity test of those Republicans who see Trump and his allies as presenting an existential threat to American democracy after the January 6 Capitol riot. For true Never Trumpers remaining in the party, the question after Wyoming is whether they abandon Never Trumpism or just abandon the GOP.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L9PIYY">
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Cf52Vd">
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>The 4 major criminal probes into Donald Trump, explained</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/EXy0RSBTh0-1RFblbyA2hGzssg8=/300x0:1651x1013/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71260487/TrumpInvestigationIllo.0.png"/>
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<figcaption>
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Matt Dunne/Vox; Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Keeping track of all the criminal investigations of Trump isn’t easy, so we did it for you.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4qDbns">
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If all the criminal investigations into former President Donald Trump end in conviction, then Trump will be a true renaissance man of crime.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zn8sFQ">
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The FBI <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/9/23297734/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-fbi-raid">searched Mar-a-Lago</a>, Trump’s Florida residence, and removed several boxes of documents — some of which reportedly contained <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/garland-trump-mar-a-lago/">classified information about nuclear weapons</a>. That’s part of <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/12/23303363/trump-fbi-raid-warrant-receipt-mar-a-lago">one investigation</a> into possible violations of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/13/23304194/the-espionage-act-trump-documents-mar-a-lago">Espionage Act</a> and <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2071">improper handling of federal records</a>. Meanwhile, a second federal investigation is looking into <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/23/23180854/january-6-hearings-justice-department-trump-coup">the January 6 attack on the Capitol</a> and broader efforts to overturn the 2020 election, an issue that obviously could implicate the man who spent most of the 2020 lame-duck period trying to erase his loss to President Joe Biden.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fdus6U">
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In Georgia, Trump consigliere Rudy Giuliani was informed by state prosecutors that he is a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/15/us/graham-georgia-investigation-trump.html">target of a criminal investigation</a> into <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/7/29/23281081/georgia-trump-fani-willis-investigation">interference with the 2020 election in their state specifically</a>. Trump could also be implicated, and even criminally charged, before this Georgia investigation concludes. In a post-election call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), Trump told the state’s top election official that he wants “<a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/1/4/22213031/trump-georgia-crime-criminal-brad-raffensperger-election-call-fraud-felony">to find 11,780 votes</a>.” Biden defeated Trump in Georgia by 11,779 votes.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ek8c49">
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Then there are <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-prosecutor-says-manhattan-da-alvin-bragg-jr-donald-thought-indicting-trump-was-too-risky">two</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ny-ag-letitia-james-deposition-grilling-donald-trump-organization-2022-5">separate</a> New York investigations into the Trump Organization and Trump’s web of surrounding businesses, which are investigating allegations that Trump <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ny-ag-letitia-james-deposition-grilling-donald-trump-organization-2022-5">misrepresented his companies’ finances</a> in order to obtain bank loans or to reduce taxes.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lcuHWy">
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New York Attorney General Letitia James’s (D) investigation into these allegations is primarily civil (as in, non-criminal), but a parallel investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg already led to two indictments — both the Trump Organization and its CFO Allen Weisselberg were <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/08/12/1116954390/jury-selection-will-start-in-october-for-trump-organization-criminal-trial">indicted in July 2021</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6ZfSHI">
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Weisselberg <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/18/weisselberg-trump-guilty-plea/">pleaded guilty to more than a dozen different counts</a> on Thursday. He also agreed to testify against the Trump Organization — but not against Trump himself — if called to do so. Nevertheless, Bragg is <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-prosecutor-says-manhattan-da-alvin-bragg-jr-donald-thought-indicting-trump-was-too-risky">reluctant to indict Trump</a>, according to an interview last month with former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CH9vIG">
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Trump’s staff did not respond to an inquiry seeking comment on these investigations, but the former president routinely posts statements on social media denying allegations against him, often using <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/08/trump-says-fbi-raiding-his-mar-a-lago-home.html">hyperbolic rhetoric</a> such as comparing the United States to “broken, Third-World Countries.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0OJLjr">
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Of course, all the standard disclaimers should apply. All of these investigations are ongoing and have not led to charges against Donald Trump. They may never lead to such charges. If Trump is charged, the courts must afford him a presumption of innocence until he is convicted. And even if prosecutors are convinced that they have an airtight case, they may be reluctant to file charges against a former president whose <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/12/23302835/trump-fbi-mar-a-lago-search-warrant">supporters have already threatened violence</a> against people and institutions associated with the investigations into Trump — and, in at least one case, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/man-fired-nail-gun-fbi-building-called-violence-days-mar-lago-search-rcna42749">engaged in actual violence</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PHG302">
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Nevertheless, the sheer diversity of the state and federal statutes that Trump may have violated is astounding.<strong> </strong>All told, it’s four criminal investigations — two federal and two state-based — which together scrutinize Trump’s conduct before, during, and after his presidency. Even if only one of these investigations leads to a conviction, the elderly Trump could potentially spend the rest of his life behind bars. While some of the criminal statutes Trump may have violated carry penalties of only a few years in prison, others carry maximum sentences of up to 20 years.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XzzCFG">
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It’s a lot to keep track of, and many important details about these investigations are not publicly known and may never be revealed to the public unless Trump is eventually indicted. The US Department of Justice, in particular, has very strong rules and norms <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/11/23300933/donald-trump-justice-department-fbi-search-warrant-disclosure-merrick-garland">against speaking about ongoing criminal investigations</a> — especially when those investigations involve major political figures.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SAeLkL">
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Worse, while DOJ is reluctant to speak about its investigations into Trump, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/12/23302835/trump-fbi-mar-a-lago-search-warrant">Trump certainly is not</a>. And that means that many initial reports about these investigations may be based on dubiously accurate social media posts by Trump himself.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DyUus4">
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With these caveats in mind, here is our best attempt to explain what we do know about the criminal investigations into Trump.
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</p>
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<h3 id="Dof3zS">
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The DOJ’s Mar-a-Lago classified documents investigation
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="slVq0s">
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The investigation into Trumpworld that most recently seized headlines is, perhaps at first glance, the most banal: a federal investigation into possible mishandling of classified documents. In early August, FBI agents <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/9/23297734/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-fbi-raid">executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago</a>. According to a property receipt that these agents gave a Trump lawyer at the end of the search, they seized several boxes of documents, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/12/23303363/trump-fbi-raid-warrant-receipt-mar-a-lago">many of which they say are classified</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aBuOrR">
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The FBI characterized some of these documents as “classified/TS/SCI,” a designation that refers to “<a href="https://csrc.nist.gov/glossary/term/sensitive_compartmented_information">sensitive compartmented information</a>” — information “concerning or derived from intelligence sources, methods, or analytical processes” that the government typically treats with extraordinary caution. Documents containing this kind of information are normally <a href="https://www.commerce.gov/osy/programs/information-security/sensitive-compartmented-information-sci-program">stored in specialized facilities</a> designed to prevent the information from getting out — and not in the personal residence of a former government official.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EmvmMO">
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For obvious reasons, the FBI hasn’t been especially forthcoming about what was in the documents seized from Trump, but the Washington Post reported that they include “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/garland-trump-mar-a-lago/">classified documents relating to nuclear weapons</a>.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="63uMbr">
|
||
An attachment to the search warrant, which a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/12/23303363/trump-fbi-raid-warrant-receipt-mar-a-lago">federal court made public last week</a>, also identifies three <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/793">federal</a> <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2071">criminal</a> <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1519">statutes</a> that the FBI believes Trump may have violated, all of which involve the destruction, concealment, or mishandling of certain government documents.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ChOxDY">
|
||
Most notably, the FBI believes that Trump may have <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/13/23304194/the-espionage-act-trump-documents-mar-a-lago">violated a provision of the Espionage Act</a> that makes it a crime to “willfully” retain certain national security information that “the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation,” rather than turning that information over to an “officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MGKF2s">
|
||
The Justice Department reportedly tried to negotiate with Trump for the return of these documents, and <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/fbi-retrieved-top-secret-documents-from-trumps-florida-home">sought to retrieve them via a subpoena</a>. DOJ sought a search warrant after an <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-quest-for-trump-documents-started-with-breezy-chats-tour-of-a-crowded-closet-11660169349?mod=hp_lead_pos2">informant tipped them off</a> that Trump still had classified documents at his private residence, despite the fact that one of Trump’s lawyers had signed a written statement <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/13/us/politics/trump-classified-material-fbi.html">claiming that Trump had returned all the material</a> marked as classified that he’d stored at Mar-a-Lago.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0JQKv4">
|
||
Violations of the relevant provision of the Espionage Act can lead to a <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/793">prison sentence of up to 10 years</a>, but it is still unclear whether Trump will face criminal charges for allegedly stealing these documents — or whether those charges will come anytime soon. And there are several reasons to believe that the Justice Department will move cautiously before indicting a former president whose supporters <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/23/23180854/january-6-hearings-justice-department-trump-coup">violently attacked the US Capitol</a> less than two years ago.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RmNSv8">
|
||
One is a recent Wall Street Journal report stating that “Attorney General Merrick Garland <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-quest-for-trump-documents-started-with-breezy-chats-tour-of-a-crowded-closet-11660169349?mod=hp_lead_pos2">deliberated for weeks</a> over whether to approve the application for a warrant to search former President Donald Trump’s Florida home.” Another is longstanding DOJ policies and traditions <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/11/23300933/donald-trump-justice-department-fbi-search-warrant-disclosure-merrick-garland">counseling against actions that could influence an upcoming election</a>. It’s not impossible to imagine Trump being indicted before the upcoming midterms, but such an outcome is not likely.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ICRq2b">
|
||
What we can say is there are signs that this investigation remains active, and that it could eventually lead to criminal charges. Among other things, in a document filed in federal court on Monday, the Justice Department asked the court to keep the affidavit it submitted to justify obtaining a search warrant secret. The affidavit, DOJ said, would reveal “highly sensitive information” that would “cause significant and irreparable damage to this <a href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000182-a333-dc87-a5ea-e73f29010000">ongoing criminal investigation</a>.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="OPTfHV">
|
||
The Justice Department investigation into January 6
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NLqigC">
|
||
Last January, Garland announced that the Justice Department has “<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2022-01-05/garland-justice-department-has-no-higher-priority-than-jan-6-investigation">no higher priority</a>” than its investigation into the January 6 attack on the Capitol, and that his department “remains committed to holding all Jan. 6 perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v2xoR0">
|
||
According to the Justice Department, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/capitol-breach-cases">more than 830 individuals</a> have been charged for alleged criminal activity relating to the January 6 attack on the Capitol. And, if anything, DOJ appears to be stepping up these prosecutions. Last May, as part of its annual budget proposal, the Justice Department <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/03/28/justice-department-prosecutors-jan-6-cases/7195328001/">sought to hire 131 more lawyers</a> to prosecute cases related to this attack.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UHK2dU">
|
||
It remains unclear whether this investigation is actively investigating Trump’s own role, however — and, if so, how close it is to an indictment against the former president. And the Justice Department is likely to keep an even tighter hold on any information regarding such an investigation into Trump than it has on the Mar-a-Lago investigation. Bear in mind that virtually no one outside of the Justice Department, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/9/23297734/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-fbi-raid">including purportedly the White House</a>, knew about the FBI’s impending search of Mar-a-Lago until after it had begun.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fwyzZL">
|
||
There is, however, at least <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/17/us/politics/jan-6-grand-jury-subpoena.html">one outward sign that Trump is under investigation</a>. Last May, prosecutors subpoenaed the National Archives for the same Trump administration documents that the Archives already turned over to the US House committee investigating the January 6 attack.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RH8wA0">
|
||
While the Justice Department is unlikely to say much about whether Trump could be indicted for January 6-related crimes until after such an indictment takes place, both congressional and judicial officials have indicated that Trump most likely violated at least two federal criminal statutes during his efforts to overturn the 2020 election — one protects Congress from interference, and the other prohibits conspiracies to defraud the nation.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MHg7lX">
|
||
We know that from a lawsuit Trump lawyer John Eastman filed last January in a federal court in California, seeking to prevent the House January 6 committee from obtaining certain emails sent or received by Eastman. Among other things, Eastman claimed that the emails were protected by attorney-client privilege.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HHZkhP">
|
||
Ordinarily, communications between a lawyer and their client are protected from disclosure. But, as a federal appeals court has explained, “communications are not privileged when the client ‘consults an attorney for advice that will <a href="https://cite.case.law/f3d/810/1110/4061541/">serve him in the commission of a fraud’ or crime.”</a> And the January 6 Committee argued that Trump may have consulted Eastman in order to violate two criminal federal laws.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aetc8T">
|
||
One of these laws makes it a crime to <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1512#c_2">obstruct Congress’s official business</a>, while the other makes it a crime to <a href="https://www.grid.news/story/politics/2022/07/11/a-list-of-crimes-legal-experts-say-trump-may-have-committed-related-to-jan-6-and-the-2020-election/">conspire to defraud the United States</a>. The first carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, while the other calls for a maximum sentence of five years.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1gPelR">
|
||
Ultimately, Judge David Carter agreed that Trump most likely violated both laws. Among other things, Carter wrote, “Trump attempted to obstruct an official proceeding by launching a pressure campaign to convince Vice President Pence to disrupt the Joint Session on January 6.” The judge added that “<a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840.260.0.pdf">the illegality of this plan was obvious</a>.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yHOnqd">
|
||
Of course, if Trump is eventually indicted for violating either statute, the Justice Department will carry a heavier burden than the January 6 committee had to overcome in order to convince Judge Carter that some of Eastman’s emails were not privileged. Trump, like any criminal defendant, will be entitled to a jury trial. And the Justice Department will have to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yZSLKA">
|
||
But Carter’s opinion suggests that there is at least some low-hanging fruit that the Justice Department can pick if it decides to bring criminal charges against Trump.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="nnMRFe">
|
||
The Georgia election investigation
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CUNmgB">
|
||
Last January, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s office asked a Georgia court to convene a special grand jury “for the purpose of investigating the facts and circumstances relating directly or indirectly to possible attempts to <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22136078/graham-subpoena-order.pdf">disrupt the lawful administration of the 2020 elections in the State of Georgia</a>.” That includes the Trump campaign’s attempt to create a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/7/29/23281081/georgia-trump-fani-willis-investigation">slate of fake members of the Electoral College</a> who would fraudulently tell Congress that the state’s electoral votes were cast for Trump.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eevwJ6">
|
||
Willis informed these 16 fake electors that <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/7/29/23281081/georgia-trump-fani-willis-investigation">they are targets of the investigation</a> — meaning that they are at risk of criminal charges — although a state judge ruled last month that Willis <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/25/georgia-prosecutor-fani-willis-barred-from-investigating-trump-fake-elector.html">may not herself pursue charges</a> against one of these fake electors because she has a conflict of interest. That fake elector could still be charged by a different prosecutor who does not answer to Willis.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Jk85Md">
|
||
Willis’s investigation is also targeting at least one person in Trump’s inner circle. Less than two years ago, Rudy Giuliani was a central figure in Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election — known for his <a href="https://www.vox.com/21575301/trump-lawsuits-election-rudy-giuliani-pennsylvania-georgia-michigan">clownish lawyering</a> in a November 2020 lawsuit and for an <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/11/8/21555022/four-seasons-landscaping-trump-giuliani-philadelphia-press-conference">equally clownish press conference</a> held in the parking lot of a Philadelphia landscaping company. On Wednesday, he was in Atlanta to testify before the special grand jury. Giuliani has also been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/15/us/graham-georgia-investigation-trump.html">informed that he is a target</a> of the investigation.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Euy5Lz">
|
||
Meanwhile, a lawsuit involving an even more prominent Trump ally offers another limited window into what matters Willis’s office may be investigating. Last month, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was subpoenaed to testify before the Georgia grand jury. Shortly thereafter, he asked a federal court to quash the subpoena. His strongest argument is that the Constitution’s <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artI-S6-C1-3/ALDE_00001048/#:~:text=They%20shall%20in%20all%20Cases,questioned%20in%20any%20other%20Place.">speech and debate clause</a>, which prohibits sitting members of Congress from being questioned about their “legislative” activity but not their “political” activity, applies to this investigation.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ctu6sR">
|
||
In rejecting Graham’s attempt to quash the subpoena in its entirety — because Willis’s investigation seeks at least some information that is unrelated to Graham’s legislative duties — Judge Leigh Martin May’s <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22136078/graham-subpoena-order.pdf">opinion</a> lays out several topics that the grand jury is likely to ask Graham about, including Graham’s “potential communications and coordination with the Trump Campaign and its post-election efforts in Georgia.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="halWql">
|
||
Additionally, Willis’s inquiry wishes to explore two phone calls between Graham and Secretary Raffensperger, where Graham allegedly “questioned Secretary Raffensperger and his staff about <a href="https://rollcall.com/2022/08/15/judge-rejects-sen-lindsey-graham-bid-to-avoid-grand-jury-subpoena/">reexamining certain absentee ballots</a> cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6km1aZ">
|
||
(Graham <a href="https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1559991416306245632">asked the conservative United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit</a>, where Trump appointees make up more than half of the active judges, to block Judge May’s order. So it remains to be seen whether Graham will actually testify.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="As9Km5">
|
||
Of course, even if Giuliani or Graham is eventually charged or convicted of a crime, it remains an open question whether any of their actions could also implicate Trump. But there are a <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/1/4/22213031/trump-georgia-crime-criminal-brad-raffensperger-election-call-fraud-felony">few Georgia criminal statutes</a> that Trump’s broad efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and specifically his “find 11,780 votes” phone call with Raffensperger, might violate.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SRC7PA">
|
||
One such law makes it a crime to <a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2014/title-21/chapter-2/article-15/section-21-2-566/">willfully tamper</a> “with any electors list, voter’s certificate, numbered list of voters, ballot box, voting machine, direct recording electronic (DRE) equipment, or tabulating machine.” And while no evidence has yet emerged that Trump personally tampered with any of these items, Georgia law also makes it a crime to, “with intent that another person engage in conduct constituting a felony,” <a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2010/title-16/chapter-4/16-4-7/#:~:text=(a)%20A%20person%20commits%20the,to%20engage%20in%20such%20conduct.">solicit another person to commit such a felony</a>. Meanwhile, another state law specifically makes it a crime to engage in “<a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2016/title-21/chapter-2/article-15/section-21-2-604">criminal solicitation to commit election fraud</a>.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V4SrIj">
|
||
If convicted of either crime, Trump “shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than three years.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="2J0tPj">
|
||
The New York investigations into the Trump Organization
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6Qn51k">
|
||
Finally, Trump — or, at least, his businesses — are the subject of two related financial fraud investigations, at least one of which has a small chance of ending in criminal charges against Trump.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JFPrGb">
|
||
Letitia James, the New York attorney general, has spent the better part of three years investigating whether the Trump Organization, Trump’s flagship company, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-new-york-donald-trump-trump-investigations-4a8ad30471072d0c84634e2feaadf71c">misled either banks or tax officials</a> about the value of its assets — allegedly inflating their value when seeking a loan from a bank, or minimizing their value in order to reduce taxes. James even deposed Trump earlier this month as part of this investigation, although Trump spent that interview repeatedly <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-set-testify-new-york-investigation_n_62f34924e4b0f9d8c021b2de">invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YYHojB">
|
||
James’s investigation is civil and not criminal, but it could potentially lead to an extraordinary sanction against Trump’s business. At one point, James appeared to be laying the groundwork to invoke New York’s “<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ny-ag-letitia-james-deposition-grilling-donald-trump-organization-2022-5">corporate death penalty</a>” statute — a law that allows the state attorney general to ask a court to effectively dissolve a business that engages in <a href="https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/pdfs/bureaus/investor_protection/library/New%20York%20Executive%20Law%20Section%2063.12doc.pdf">“repeated” or “persistent fraud or illegality.”</a> In a June interview, however, James signaled that she may not “<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/talking-of-trump-probe-ny-ag-backs-off-phrase-corporate-death-penalty-2022-6">want to go that far</a>.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GurhaQ">
|
||
James’s investigation parallels a similar criminal investigation that is currently led by Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney. Like the state-level investigation, this Manhattan investigation has been going on for a few years. Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance, even had to fight off an effort to sabotage this investigation in a <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/19-635_o7jq.pdf">2020 Supreme Court case</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qcOuLN">
|
||
The latest news about this criminal investigation, however, suggests that it is unlikely to lead to charges against Trump. While former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/18/weisselberg-trump-guilty-plea/">pleaded guilty on Thursday</a> to allegations that he did not pay taxes on $1.7 million in compensation — including <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/17/politics/allen-weisselberg-plead-guilty-trump-organization-former-cfo/index.html">an apartment, two cars, and private school tuition for family members</a> — he agreed only to testify against the Trump Organization if called to testify in a trial against the company, and is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/18/nyregion/weisselberg-trump-guilty-plea.html">not expected to assist</a> a broader inquiry into Trump himself.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ndCYhi">
|
||
Meanwhile, the transition from Vance to Bragg appears to have injected more caution into the Manhattan DA’s office. Shortly after Bragg took office at the beginning of this year, a senior lawyer who played a significant role in the Trump investigation resigned from the DA’s office. “I believe that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/23/nyregion/mark-pomerantz-resignation-letter.html">Donald Trump is guilty of numerous felony violations</a>,” attorney Mark Pomerantz wrote in his resignation letter, which protested Bragg’s decision “not to go forward with the grand jury presentation and not to seek criminal charges at the present time.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kvmD94">
|
||
In a <a href="https://www.law.columbia.edu/news/archive/cutting-edge-current-issues-white-collar-crime-and-corporate-governance">July interview</a>, Pomerantz said that he thought that Bragg “and the new team were focused on the risk that we could lose the case” against Trump. Again, to win a criminal case against Trump, prosecutors would have to prove that case beyond a reasonable doubt.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V2ytIE">
|
||
In any event, it is possible that either James’s investigation or Bragg’s office will uncover new evidence that will change Bragg’s mind. For the moment, however, the New York investigations appear unlikely to lead to criminal charges against Trump.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XB4Q4B">
|
||
The three other investigations, by contrast, appear to be more likely to end in Trump’s indictment and possible conviction.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="bz9SUj">
|
||
So what should we take away from all of this?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pYXGvQ">
|
||
The purpose of a criminal investigation, and ultimately of a prosecution, is to convince a jury to convict a defendant after a full criminal trial has taken place. It is not to provide the media or the public with regular updates about what law enforcement knows about potential suspects.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oINjKo">
|
||
Especially within the context of federal investigations, these norms exist both to protect the investigation itself — if a suspect learns too much about what information law enforcement is seeking, they could destroy evidence or tamper with witnesses — and to <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/11/23300933/donald-trump-justice-department-fbi-search-warrant-disclosure-merrick-garland">protect potential suspects</a>. When someone is formally charged with a crime, they have an opportunity to vindicate themselves at trial. If they are merely the subject of accusations tossed off by government officials, they have no real way to protect or rehabilitate their reputation.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hYzNkQ">
|
||
For these reasons, anyone eager to see how the investigations into Trump will end must have patience.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tilqkl">
|
||
One other factor that voters — and, especially, journalists — should bear in mind as they evaluate what is going on with these investigations is that while the Justice Department will ordinarily be very tight-lipped about an ongoing investigation (and responsible state-level prosecutors will also not be especially forthcoming), Trump will not. And he is likely to tell lies and half-truths to mislead the public and rile up his supporters.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QqPnN0">
|
||
Here’s an example: During its search of Mar-a-Lago, the FBI <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-passports-fbi-search-mar-a-lago/">took three passports</a> from Trump’s residence. A team of investigators tasked with screening the searched materials for extraneous documents quickly discovered that they had the passports, and they were returned to Trump. In a statement, the FBI said that it “follows search and seizure procedures ordered by courts, then returns items that we do not need to be retained for law enforcement purposes.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QUMC2m">
|
||
Compare that narrative to how Trump characterized the FBI’s brief acquisition of these passports:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yuhVqjqAygylmKxxtM68dU31oIM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23949317/temp.png"/>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gpc0KN">
|
||
A third caveat to bear in mind is that Trump, who famously <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/10/7/13205842/trump-secret-recording-women">confessed on video to committing sexual assault</a>, has a history of avoiding legal consequences even when his guilt is difficult to deny. There’s also <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/case-criminally-investigating-ex-president/616804/">never been an indictment of a former president</a>, at least in part because political leaders want to avoid the risk that they will face retaliatory prosecutions if their opposition takes power. Top Republicans are already trying to intimidate Attorney General Garland with <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/9/23297734/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-fbi-raid">threats of retaliatory investigations</a>. And some of Trump’s supporters have <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/12/23302835/trump-fbi-mar-a-lago-search-warrant">turned to violence or threats of violence</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cxH17p">
|
||
Those aren’t reasons to let a man who tried to overturn the result of a presidential election off the hook if he committed a crime, but they are likely to inspire prosecutors to tread cautiously.<strong> </strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uiakds">
|
||
It is likely, in other words, that a cloud of uncertainty will loom over Trump’s fate for quite a while.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>To understand what the Trump investigation might do to America, look at Israel</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="Trump and Netanyahu, speaking to one another while walking away from the camera." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HsZKG24DsHfsO8eWB_2M8H4odDg=/43x0:1788x1309/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71260438/GettyImages_1202310386a.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Donald Trump welcomes Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House in January 2020. Both men stand accused of serious anti-democratic abuses while in office. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on trial, and it has thrown Israeli politics into chaos. Americans should pay attention.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gVswMf">
|
||
In the wake of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/23302249/fbi-search-mar-a-lago-former-president-donald-trump-florida-doj">Mar-a-Lago search</a>, Donald Trump’s legal woes have become the biggest issue in the country. There are <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/08/11/1116800904/trump-investigations">at least four ongoing criminal investigations</a> that touch Trump and his business interests, any one of which could eventually yield an indictment.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9GE8Ed">
|
||
So what happens if, for the first time ever, a former US president is brought up on criminal charges? There are many potentially instructive cases in other democracies, from <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58729505">the corruption conviction of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy</a> to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/08/lula-brazil-released-prison-supreme-court-ruling">dubious jailing of former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ohQ9de">
|
||
But perhaps the most direct parallel, and one of the most disturbing, is the ongoing trial of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H3vDtX">
|
||
Politically, Trump and Netanyahu are very much alike: charismatic populists who have transformed established center-right parties into increasingly radical cults of personality. Netanyahu was prime minister for Trump’s entire presidency and emerged as one of his closest allies on the global stage, even <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-uses-trump-in-election-campaign-posters/">putting Trump on one of his campaign posters</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iDEdkh">
|
||
Both men stand accused of serious anti-democratic abuses while in office. Both have responded with nearly identical campaigns against the legal authorities, accusing investigators of engaging in a “<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-blasts-witch-hunt-fbi-raid-mar-lago-donation-email">witch</a> <a href="https://www.axios.com/2019/11/22/netanyahu-indicted-likud-election-corruption">hunt</a>” at the behest of liberal elites. And both appear likely to contest their country’s next general election — Israel’s in November, the United States’s in 2024 — with decent odds to win.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CpwRNC">
|
||
One difference between the two: Netanyahu is on trial <em>now</em>. Given the right-wing-driven, antidemocratic drift in both countries, the Israeli experience of holding a former populist leader accountable may well be instructive for Americans.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lxCU2q">
|
||
When I visited Israel this summer, the effects of the Netanyahu trial on the country were plainly on display. The proceedings have polarized Israeli politics and pushed Netanyahu and his followers to embrace a more aggressive antidemocratic stance.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Spdot_tzH6ZUcOh-Yb0eqLOs7Yk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23952612/GettyImages_1239431534.jpg"/> <cite>Yonatan Sindel/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — facing trial on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in three separate cases — arrives at the Jerusalem District Court on March 23.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Af15ZX">
|
||
“The democratic process in Israel has reached a crisis stage,” Efraim Halevy, the former director of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, told me. “You have people speaking out, advocating the use of [political] violence.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a5yhF2">
|
||
In the United States, where extreme polarization already looks like a democratic extinction-level event, the pressures of a Trump trial could cause even graver damage. It could further <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/8/9/23298080/mar-a-lago-raid-trump-florida-desantis-republicans-regime">intensify the GOP’s anti-democratic descent</a> while galvanizing <a href="https://twitter.com/livingbluetx/status/1557138184563314690">a radical fringe</a> that <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/12/23302835/trump-fbi-mar-a-lago-search-warrant">has already responded to a mere search warrant with violence</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0DhGzY">
|
||
None of this means that prosecuting Netanyahu was the wrong decision, or that <a href="https://www.vox.com/23287527/trump-gop-control-august-gop-primary-2022">Trump’s grip on the GOP</a> should be a get-out-of-jail-free card. There are powerful reasons to believe that a failure to prosecute serious offenses can itself damage democracies, perhaps irreparably.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="awbT1k">
|
||
But the Israeli example should inform Americans of the risks of a Trump prosecution — and prompt the US to brace for more political turmoil and discord if the former president does go on trial.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="c8CGlr">
|
||
How Netanyahu’s trial changed Israel
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RMygr5">
|
||
Netanyahu is not the first Israeli leader to face charges.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZeWbPI">
|
||
In 2008, then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert chose to resign amid mounting legal woes, triggering a 2009 election that Netanyahu would (ironically) win. Olmert’s subsequent trial and conviction on corruption charges had little effect on Israeli politics, largely a sideshow in a country that had moved on. The Olmert affair was, in some ways, a model of how<strong> </strong>democracies should hold elites accountable for criminal behavior.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EOd4B3">
|
||
The Olmert prosecution did not lead to a political meltdown because, at the time, Israeli politics were not especially polarized along partisan lines. While there were major disagreements among the parties in the Knesset (parliament) on everything from peace with the Palestinians to the proper role of Judaism in public life, these divides did not manifest in the sort of rigid and all-encompassing feuds between rival camps that would conquer Israel by the 2020s.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Hv80AdcMZ5snP_t22txIplQB5D0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23952115/GettyImages_91133272.jpg"/> <cite>Amit Shabi/Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, right, arrives in the Jerusalem District Court on September 25, 2009, for the first day of his trial on corruption charges.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qjzBQe">
|
||
So what changed over that time?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sC4vx0">
|
||
Netanyahu became prime minister.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VqNjv3">
|
||
There have long been signs of the Likud leader’s willingness to push the bounds of normal politics. After his first term in office, from 1996 to 1999, Netanyahu blamed the press for his defeat in the 1999 elections: “I need my own media,” <a href="https://www.cjr.org/special_report/netanyahu-israeli-press.php">as he put it</a> at the time. After regaining the top job in 2009, in elections held as a result of Olmert’s resignation, he <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/11/21/20974465/benjamin-netanyahu-indicted-bribery-corruption">allegedly used his new position to create it</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OsZkG8">
|
||
His most notable reported offense was a deal with <a href="https://www.cjr.org/special_report/netanyahu-israeli-press.php">the parent company of Walla</a>, a major online news outlet, in which Netanyahu was accused of approving a lucrative merger in exchange for more favorable coverage. He also reportedly attempted to reach a similar agreement with the newspaper Yediot Ahronot, in which he would receive better coverage in exchange for curbing the circulation of competitor Israel Hayom (a free, pro-Netanyahu tabloid founded by American billionaire Sheldon Adelson).
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8svVUa">
|
||
Beginning in 2016, while Netanyahu was still in office, Israeli police began investigating these allegations of media tampering — as well as evidence that the prime minister and his wife Sara had received inappropriate gifts. After two years of inquiry, Israel’s top prosecutor formally recommended that Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit file bribery and breach of trust charges against the prime minister. Mandelblit, a right-winger and former Netanyahu deputy, agreed. The trial began in March 2020 and is ongoing today, with no clear end date in sight.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ua1bMn">
|
||
Netanyahu has responded by going to war with the legal system.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BLo7JR">
|
||
In Israel, Supreme Court justices are appointed by a panel that includes current justices and representatives of the Israeli Bar Association; the attorney general is appointed to a six-year term and serves regardless of which parties are in power. This limits politicians’ ability to capture the judiciary for partisan ends, as <a href="https://www.vox.com/authors/ian-millhiser">has happened in the United States</a>, but it renders the legal system vulnerable to populist arguments that it represents an elite cabal rather than the actual will of the people.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KcAvBw">
|
||
Elements of the Israeli right had been making this case <a href="https://www.haaretz.co.il/opinions/2018-11-27/ty-article-opinion/.premium/0000017f-eaae-d0f7-a9ff-eeef31240000">since at least 1979</a>, when the Supreme Court ruled that a planned West Bank settlement called Elon Moreh was unlawful. A series of <a href="https://law.biu.ac.il/sites/law/files/shared/gs_16.pdf">liberal Supreme Court rulings in the 1990s</a> accelerated the right’s anti-court turn. In the years prior to the Netanyahu investigation, legislators from his center-right Likud party proposed <a href="https://tcf.org/content/report/assault-israels-judiciary/">a series of bills</a> designed to bring the Israeli legal system under tighter political control.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CIpTnB">
|
||
At that point in his career, Netanyahu was positioning himself as the court’s guardian against such right-wing assault. “In the last few months, I buried every law that threatens the independence of the [judicial] system,” <a href="https://tcf.org/content/report/assault-israels-judiciary/">he said in 2012</a>. “I will continue to do so.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZFB8UD">
|
||
But after prosecutors began investigating him, and especially after the indictment was filed, Netanyahu embraced the right-wing ideas he had once rejected. Whereas <a href="https://tcf.org/content/report/assault-israels-judiciary/">2012 Netanyahu</a> said that an independent court was “what enables the existence of all other democratic institutions,” <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2020-04-05/ty-article/netanyahu-deep-state-israel-no-democracy-here-lieberman/0000017f-e06e-d804-ad7f-f1fecd800000">2020 Netanyahu</a> was claiming Israel was “no democracy” but rather “a government of bureaucrats and jurists.” He and his allies began floating bills that would immunize <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/netanyahu-loyalists-immunity-bill-is-causing-a-stir-in-israel/2019/05/21/9353b64c-7bcd-11e9-b1f3-b233fe5811ef_story.html">incumbent prime ministers from prosecution</a>, allow <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2019-05-13/ty-article/.premium/netanyahu-pushes-law-to-neutralize-high-court-oversight-uphold-his-immunity/0000017f-efcd-da6f-a77f-ffcfcb5c0000">parliamentary majorities to override court rulings</a>, limit police authority to <a href="https://www.972mag.com/legal-bullying-in-the-service-of-the-prime-minister/">present the evidence against him publicly</a>, and <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/saar-pans-opposition-bill-politicizing-selection-of-supreme-court-judges/">politicize the process for appointing Supreme Court justices</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/0Jv4parvNX0Iq3F2Tb8sRnOhJ2g=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23954444/GettyImages_1204325223a.jpg"/> <cite>Amir Levy/Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a Likud Party meeting in Lod, Israel, on March 1, 2020, a day before Israelis headed to the polls for the third time in less than a year.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Dompr_UlUfFCO0osiW9A7mrgc3g=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23952129/GettyImages_1214843656.jpg"/> <cite>Amir Levy/Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Israelis protest in support of then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu near the Jerusalem District Court on May 24, 2020.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pLLwzy">
|
||
The effort to hold Netanyahu accountable for anti-democratic offenses, in short, prompted him to launch a new round of attacks on the legal system and to fully embrace bare-knuckled right-wing populism as a governing doctrine. Netanyahu transformed Likud in his image, forcing critics in leadership like Gideon Sa’ar, his <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-cabinets-middle-east-benjamin-netanyahu-tel-aviv-317e747e38b05309d7e4df0b0aed7924">longtime No. 2 in the Likud hierarchy</a>, out of the party ranks.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="10E7D2">
|
||
Today, Israel’s historic center-right party has become a far-right vehicle for Netanyahu’s personal ambitions. And Israel has been thrown into political crisis.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IPYsRJ">
|
||
By the end of 2022, Israel will have held five national elections in the past three and a half years. Israel has been forced to hold so many because the electorate remains stubbornly divided on the question of Netanyahu’s fitness for office. This has made it extremely difficult for anyone to form a government, forcing the country to return to elections in the hope that <em>this</em> vote will finally deliver one side a decisive majority.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8WlrbU">
|
||
Note that this polarization does not really track traditional policy divides, like economics or the conflict with the Palestinians. The anti-Netanyahu camp, which briefly governed Israel in a rickety coalition that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/20/world/middleeast/israel-election-government-collapse.html">collapsed this June</a>, includes parties not only from the left and center but also several on the right — some of which are led by former Cabinet ministers in Netanyahu-led governments (like Sa’ar). The only thing that unites this fractious group is distaste for Netanyahu and concern about how far he’d go in the name of staying out of jail.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="15xeWw">
|
||
“Benjamin Netanyahu is not an option,” Elina Bardach-Yalov, a member of the Knesset for the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party, told me. “He’s not thinking in terms of the nation, he’s thinking in terms of his personal issues.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EyKUYv">
|
||
The pro-Netanyahu forces, by contrast, represent the former prime minister’s allies of convenience — those factions that had their own reasons for supporting a leader who has set his sights on bringing the legal system to heel.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NuvJVv">
|
||
“As his legal situation deteriorated in the face of multiple investigations (and this happened before his trial officially opened), he became increasingly reliant on religious and nativist right-wing parties that sought to weaken the legal system for their own reasons,” said Noam Gidron, a political scientist at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “At a certain point, Netanyahu’s personal incentives to attack the legal system were at least to some degree fused with his political, coalitional interests.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9kyBI6">
|
||
What you have, then, is a country that has been incapable of forming a stable government for four years due to a profound split in the electorate: a divide not over economics, security, or cultural issues, but over one man’s willingness to attack democracy’s guardrails in the name of protecting himself.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="vQCTis">
|
||
What can Netanyahu tell us about Trump?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HWAVVs">
|
||
Alon Tal is an American-born Israeli environmental activist and politician, currently representing the centrist Blue-and-White party in the Knesset. When we met in Jerusalem, he painted Netanyahu as an existential threat to Israeli democracy, describing him as a “cancer” on the Israeli body politic that would metastasize if he wins November’s election.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2CFdKO">
|
||
“The very soul of Israel: that’s the stakes. They could not be higher,” he told me.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WSwzx40YV0Jo2hiJxQT9xasQ45M=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23952137/GettyImages_1239789532.jpg"/> <cite>Amir Levy/Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a protest against the Israeli government in Jerusalem, Israel, on April 6.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZmpJys">
|
||
The cancer metaphor is not original: Tal self-consciously drew it from a Thomas Friedman column written about Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/30/opinion/trump-america-world.html">just before the 2020 elections</a>. The United States began displaying morbid symptoms well before the current criminal investigations into Trump. Extreme polarization, the radicalization of a major center-right party, the restructuring of politics around one man: All of this is old hat in the United States.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vEAgHR">
|
||
And yet, the Netanyahu trial is instructive, showing the near-infinite capacity for supporters of far-right populists to follow their leaders into the abyss.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VdcwDd">
|
||
In many ways, the dynamics of Netanyahu’s support in Israel are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/world/middleeast/israel-mizrahim-netanyahu.html">similar to Trump’s in America</a>. Netanyahu developed a deep emotional connection with a particular set of voters — primarily Jews of Middle Eastern descent, called Mizrahim — by appealing to their discontent with a traditional European-descendant elite that they see as too liberal, unpatriotic, and corrupt. This group of conservative Mizrahi voters has long been Likud’s base; Netanyahu’s bond with them allowed him to defenestrate his internal opposition and pull the party wherever he wanted it to go.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="09lvpD">
|
||
When your base is animated by anti-elite sentiment, it’s not hard to portray any attempt at accountability as a conspiracy. Netanyahu has positioned himself as the champion of Israeli democracy, despite being accused of undermining it, precisely because his base is inclined to believe the worst about the people in charge. The Supreme Court Netanyahu once championed became the enemy because he said so; his word has more legitimacy than the institutions of the state itself.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8xaQSd">
|
||
Now, Netanyahu is running for prime minister on the theory that he is being persecuted — and he has a <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/2022-08-08/ty-article/pro-netanyahu-bloc-loses-projected-majority-in-election-polls-after-gaza-fighting/00000182-7ec1-d25a-afe2-7ef382e80000">reasonable chance to win</a>. If he wins, there is every expectation that he will do something to protect himself, be it passing <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/netanyahu-loyalists-immunity-bill-is-causing-a-stir-in-israel/2019/05/21/9353b64c-7bcd-11e9-b1f3-b233fe5811ef_story.html">a law immunizing himself from prosecution</a> or <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/instead-of-seeking-immunity-could-netanyahu-just-fire-the-attorney-general/">firing the attorney general</a> and appointing a more pliant replacement.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N5zKuC">
|
||
For those of us who support a serious inquiry into Trump’s behavior, the Israeli experience should be sobering. It should dash any hope that a trial, no matter how strong the prosecution’s case, could resolve the political question of Trump in any definitive sense.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_5cEBZguwP3pLhxNhjMwGAmdmu0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23952714/GettyImages_1242129962.jpg"/> <cite>Drew Angerer/Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Former President Donald Trump acknowledges the crowd after speaking at the America First Agenda Summit in Washington, DC, on July 26.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nYMuaW">
|
||
Trials of public officials only work as mechanisms of building political consensus if there is a deeper underlying agreement — a shared belief that the legal system itself is worthy of respect. Both Netanyahu and Trump have shattered that consensus, if it ever existed. Criminal proceedings won’t resolve bitter polarization around these leaders; it will deepen it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xnhWxZ">
|
||
And the more Trump faces personal risk, the more he will see a return to the White House as his best lifeline — the presidency being the only office in America whose holder <a href="https://www.justice.gov/olc/opinion/sitting-president%E2%80%99s-amenability-indictment-and-criminal-prosecution#:~:text=The%20indictment%20or%20criminal%20prosecution,perform%20its%20constitutionally%20assigned%20functions.">is formally shielded from criminal prosecution</a>. There is every reason to believe that the GOP would back him as fully as Likud has backed Netanyahu, meaning that the 2024 presidential election would likely resemble the 2022 Israeli contest: a bitterly fought affair defined by whether one thinks that the former leader is victim or villain.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ryVorK">
|
||
And things could get uglier still. In late July, a Likud activist publicly called <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-712985">for the staff of the state prosecutor’s office to be executed</a> — a comment he later played off as a joke, but hardly a laughing matter given <a href="https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/06/06/shin-bet-chief-warns-online-incitement-on-verge-of-spiraling-out-of-control/">an increase</a> in <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-05-09/ty-article/israel-arrests-netanyahu-supporter-suspected-of-sending-bennett-death-threats/00000180-c727-dcd5-a793-c7a7cf1f0000">death threats</a> against the <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/man-suspected-of-threatening-lapid-i-want-to-murder-you-with-a-sniper-rifle/">leaders of anti-Netanyahu parties</a>. In the United States, the Mar-a-Lago raid has already led to a rise in <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/12/23302835/trump-fbi-mar-a-lago-search-warrant">extreme anti-government rhetoric from Republicans</a> and a spike in <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/pennsylvania-man-arrested-threats-fbi-mar-lago-search-rcna43209">violent threats against the FBI</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x4t6fE">
|
||
None of this is to say that Netanyahu and Trump should be able to get away with crimes. In Netanyahu’s case, attempting to corruptly secure control over the press is itself a major threat to democracy; allowing the credible allegations against him to go uninvestigated would set a profoundly dangerous precedent. In the United States, Trump enjoyed functional impunity for four years while in office — and that culminated in his attempt to overturn a legitimate election and incite a riot at the Capitol. The long-term benefits of accountability might well outweigh the short-term risks of instability.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JhhofX">
|
||
But to be able to conduct this cost-benefit analysis, we need to be clear-eyed about where exactly the current investigations are taking us: not toward any kind of Hollywood climax, where the Trump era ends with a guilty verdict, but an intensified and potentially more dangerous politics.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Casemiro intent on joining Manchester United, says Madrid coach Ancelotti</strong> - “Casemiro wants a new challenge and we understand his feeling, I do not think there is a way back,” said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti of the rumours linking the Brazilian midfielder to Manchester United</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Akhil Sheoran tops in rifle 3-position</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>FIFA bans AIFF: Sports Ministry requests FIFA, AFC to let Indian football clubs play</strong> - With FIFA suspending the All India Football Federation early August 16, there was chaos as Gokulam Kerala women’s team had already reached Uzbekistan to participate in their second AFC Women’s Club Championship</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mahika, Bharat in line for double</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Eng vs SA 1st Test | South Africa out for 326, leads England by 161</strong> - South Africa will take a lead of 161 runs into the second innings of the first test against England at Lord’s</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mike movie review: A shallow attempt at winning progressive brownie points</strong> - Film ends up muddying debate for those truly needing gender reassignment surgery</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Govt. to fill MLHP posts on contract basis</strong> - Health Secretary issues orders</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Kadappakada Sports Club to start memory clinic</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Project to set up fish marketing outlets</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Forest Department to strengthen safety measures before reopening Kumbhavurutty waterfalls</strong> - Resentment among residents over delay in reopening facility</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine nuclear plant: How risky is standoff over Zaporizhzhia?</strong> - International leaders warn of potential disaster at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia plant.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Europe storms: Children among dead in France, Austria and Italy</strong> - At least 12 people, including three children, have died in violent storms after weeks of heat and drought.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Drone pilots mark targets for new offensive</strong> - Small units play a key role in targeting Russian armour as Ukraine attempts to retake Kherson.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sanna Marin: Finland PM partying video causes backlash</strong> - Other politicians suggest Sanna Marin takes a drug test - she insists she only drank alcohol.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>France’s deadly ‘urban rodeo’ bikers prompt crackdown</strong> - A summer scourge in the suburbs leaves young people dead and injured and prompts promises of action.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Library’s prized Galileo manuscript turns out to be a clever forgery</strong> - All signs point to notorious 20th-century forger. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1874592">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Review: HP’s Elite Dragonfly Chromebook is the cream of the ChromeOS crop</strong> - Easily one of the best Chromebooks you can buy, but it could use a price drop. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1864779">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: Europe wants a super-heavy lifter, Starship nets launch contract</strong> - “We are definitely seeing significant attrition. That should surprise no one.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1873755">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>For the first time ever, more people watched streaming TV than cable</strong> - The long-predicted shift finally happened. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1874754">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>If everyone bicycled like the Danes, we’d avoid a UK’s worth of emissions</strong> - Lower emissions and lower obesity would more than offset the added traffic deaths. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1874713">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>An old man accidentally crashed his car into a very expensive automobile.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The owner of the expensive automobile jumps out and confronts the old man and says “Give me $10,000 cash or I will beat you to a pulp!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The old man replies, “Woah, wait buddy, I don’t have that much money but let me call my son, he trains dolphins.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The old man dials his son and as he is about to speak, the owner of the expensive car yanks the phone out of his hand and says “So you train dolphins, well your old man just hit and damaged my car, you bring me $10,000 or I’m gonna beat the heck outta him!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The son answers “Okay, give me 15 minutes and I’ll be there.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
In exactly 15 minutes the son pulls up in a Jeep, Ten men jump out and beat the hell out of the expensive car owner.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Meanwhile the son walks over to his father and says “Dad I train Navy Seals, not dolphins”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/orgasmic2021"> /u/orgasmic2021 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ws54vw/an_old_man_accidentally_crashed_his_car_into_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ws54vw/an_old_man_accidentally_crashed_his_car_into_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>How many feminists does it take to screw in a light bulb?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
That’s not funny.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/mangoxpa"> /u/mangoxpa </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/wrxgbh/how_many_feminists_does_it_take_to_screw_in_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/wrxgbh/how_many_feminists_does_it_take_to_screw_in_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>The IRS decides to audit Grandpa, and summons him to the IRS office. The auditor was not surprised when Grandpa showed up with his attorney.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The auditor said, “Well, sir, you have an extravagant lifestyle and no full-time employment, Which you explain by saying that you win money gambling. I’m not sure the IRS finds that believable.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“I’m a great gambler, and I can prove it,” says Grandpa. “How about a demonstration?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The auditor thinks for a moment and said, “Okay. Go ahead.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Grandpa says, “I’ll bet you a thousand dollars that I can bite my own eye.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The auditor thinks a moment and says, “It’s a bet.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Grandpa removes his glass eye and bites it. The auditor’s jaw drops.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Grandpa says, “Now, I’ll bet you two thousand dollars that I can bite my other eye.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Now the auditor can tell Grandpa isn’t blind, so he takes the bet. Grandpa removes his dentures and bites his good eye.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The stunned auditor now realizes he has wagered and lost three grand, with Grandpa’s attorney as a witness. He starts to get nervous.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Want to go double or nothing?” Grandpa asks. “I’ll bet you six thousand dollars that I can stand on one side of your desk, and pee into that wastebasket on the other side, and never get a drop anywhere in between.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The auditor, twice burned, is cautious now, but he looks carefully and decides there’s no way this old guy could possibly manage that stunt, so he agrees again.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Grandpa stands beside the desk and unzips his pants, but although he strains mightily, he can’t make the stream reach the wastebasket on the other side, so he ends up urinating all over the auditor’s desk.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The auditor leaps with joy, realizing that he has just turned a major loss into a huge win. But Grandpa’s own attorney moans and puts his head in his hands.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Are you okay?” the auditor asks.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Not really,” says the attorney. “This morning, when Grandpa told me he’d been summoned for an audit, he bet me twenty-five thousand dollars that he could come in here and pee all over your desk and that you’d be happy about it!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/SourBeefHoop"> /u/SourBeefHoop </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/wrq6oq/the_irs_decides_to_audit_grandpa_and_summons_him/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/wrq6oq/the_irs_decides_to_audit_grandpa_and_summons_him/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>My Husband died. (One for the Ladies.)</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
After He died, I couldn’t even look at another Man for almost 20 years.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
But now that I’m out of Prison, I can honestly say it was worth it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Buddy2269"> /u/Buddy2269 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/wrxpoy/my_husband_died_one_for_the_ladies/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/wrxpoy/my_husband_died_one_for_the_ladies/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Can someone explain to me why bleaching your butthole</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
isn’t called changing your ring tone?
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Nikit27"> /u/Nikit27 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ws7wem/can_someone_explain_to_me_why_bleaching_your/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ws7wem/can_someone_explain_to_me_why_bleaching_your/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
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