Tuesday, June 4, 2024

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1/ Wisconsin charged three people involved in the “fake elector” scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election to keep now-convicted felon Trump in office. Attorney General Josh Kaul charged Kenneth Chesebro, Jim Troupis, and Michael Roman with one felony count each of conspiracy to commit forgery. The three will make their initial appearances in Dane County Circuit Court on Sept. 19. Each charge carries a sentence of up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Chesebro is also one of the 18 co-defendants named in Trump’s criminal racketeering case in Georgia. Similar slates of fake electors to overturn the results of the 2020 election to keep Trump in office were organized in several states and charges have been brought in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Georgia. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Associated Press / CBS News / NBC News / Politico / Axios)

2/ Speaker Mike Johnson floated a “three-pronged approach” to punish the Department of Justice for Trump’s felony conviction. With House Republicans’ push to impeach Biden going nowhere, Johnson announced a plan to use the appropriations process, legislation, and Congressional oversight to rein in Trump’s prosecutors at both the federal and state levels by limiting funding for the FBI, federal prosecutors, and “state prosecutors or state attorneys general involved in lawfare.” Johnson suggested that “All those things will be happening vigorously, because we have to do that, because the stakes are too high and because people are losing faith in our institutions.” Some Republicans, however, acknowledge that they don’t have enough votes to pass legislation in the House. And even if they could pass a bill, it’s unlikely to go anywhere with the Democratic-controlled Senate. (Politico / The Hill / Politico / CNN)

3/ Attorney General Merrick Garland condemned the “repeated attacks” from Republicans on the Justice Department, calling them “unprecedented,” “unfounded,” and “extremely dangerous” during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. “I will not be intimidated,” Garland said in his opening statements. “The Justice Department will not be intimidated. We will continue to do our jobs free from political influence. And we will not back down from defending our democracy.” House Republicans have advanced a conspiracy theory that the Manhattan district attorney, which convicted Trump on 34 felon counts of orchestrating an illegal conspiracy to influence the 2016 presidential election by falsifying business records, “was somehow controlled by the Justice Department.” Garland emphasized that the Ju...

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