Trump’s Georgia election subversion trial will be broadcast live on YouTube, judge says – as it happened

Donald Trump will not be appearing in a Georgia courtroom for his arraignment next week, instead deciding to enter his plea of not guilty in writing and skipping another trip to Atlanta. Separately, Republican governor Brian Kemp rejected an effort by a small group of rightwing lawmakers to call the state legislature back in session to remove Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney who indicted Trump and 18 others for trying to overturn Georgia’s elections in 2020. And next week, we may get more details about the special grand jury whose work led to the indictments, when their full report is potentially made public by a judge.

Here’s what else happened today:

Jenna Ellis, a former attorney for Donald Trump who advised on ways to prevent Joe Biden from taking office, has pled not guilty to charges brought against her in the Georgia election subversion case, Reuters reports.

Once a prosecutor in Colorado, Ellis spread multiple statements claiming voter fraud during the 2020 election and sent at least two memos advising Mike Pence to reject Biden’s victory in Georgia and other states. The Colorado supreme court censured Ellis earlier this year and she acknowledged making false statements.

Ellis was among the 19 people indicted by Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis last week, along with Trump, who today pleaded not guilty to charges including racketeering.

The editorial board of influential conservative publication National Review is calling on Mitch McConnell to step down as Republican leader in the Senate.

They cite the two instances of the 81-year-old freezing up in public in recent months as evidence that it’s time to hand leadership of the minority party to someone else, though they do not call for him to resign his seat representing Kentucky.

Here’s more from their piece:

The details can be left to McConnell, who deserves a large measure of deference. A leadership transition doesn’t need to happen urgently, but the wheels should be turning.

Stepping aside from leadership would not necessarily require leaving the Senate; McConnell could, like Nancy Pelosi, remain in office, and he would doubtless remain influential so long as he is capable of serving. But the job of caucus leader demands more.

The time will come for a fuller appreciation of McConnell’s legacy. But his strenuous opposition to campaign-finance reform, effective resistance to the Obama agenda, stalwart refusal to fill the Scalia seat prior to the 2016 election, fruitful cooperation with President Trump on judges, and, lately, strong support for American leadership abroad when the winds in the party are blowing the opposite way easily make him one of the most consequential politicians of our era.

Prudence and realism have been hallmarks of his leadership and now are called for in considering his own future.

Joe Biden’s national infrastructure advisory council has recommended privatization and long-term leases of water systems to help revitalise the nation’s aging water infrastructure – a move that has not gone down well with water justice advocates.

Nationwide, one in 10 people already depend on private water companies, whose bills are on average almost 60% higher than those supplied by public utilities. Private ownership is the single largest factor associated with higher water bills, more than aging infrastructure or climate disasters.

“Water privatisation is a terrible idea,” said Mary Grant, the Public Water for All campaign director at Food & Water Watch. “Wall Street wants to take control of the nation’s public water systems to wring profits from communities that are already struggling with unaffordable water bills and toxic water. Privatisation would deepen the nation’s water crises, leading to higher water bills and less accountable and transparent services.”

The council is also recommending the creation of a federal water department or an equivalent cabinet-level agency to oversee a national strategy to shore up the nation’s ageing water infrastructure. Federal funding for water and wastewater peaked in 1977, since when utilities have mostly relied on loans and raising bills to fund infrastructure upgrades. After decades of federal austerity for water, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act provided a major cash injection – but is still just a fraction, around 7%, of what experts say is needed to provide safe, clean, affordable drinking water for every American.

Biden’s advisory council includes public and private sector representatives, but notably the chair is the CEO of Global Infrastructure Partners, an infrastructure investment bank with an estimated $100bn in assets under management that targets energy, transportation, digital and water infrastructure.

Joe Biden just announced he will travel to Florida on Saturday to survey damage caused by Hurricane Idalia:

Earlier in the day, the White House announced he spoke to Florida’s Republican governor and 2024 presidential contender Ron DeSantis, and signed a major disaster declaration that will steer federal resources to the state.

Biden and DeSantis are adversaries, but have put politics aside to make joint appearances when Biden has traveled Florida state following disasters, most recently in October in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.

Now a tropical storm, Idalia is menacing the Carolinas. Follow our live blog for the latest on its path:

Punchbowl News reports that Capitol physician Brian Monahan says Mitch McConnell, the top GOP lawmaker in the Senate who yesterday appeared to freeze up while addressing the press, is “medically clear” to work.

Monahan attributed the episode, the second in as many months, to “occasional lightheadedness” as the Kentucky lawmaker continues to recover from a concussion he sustained earlier this year:

Meanwhile, Joe Biden said he had spoken to McConnell, and his former senate colleague “was his old self on the telephone”. Here’s a clip of the president’s remarks:

Scott McAfee, the judge presiding over the trials of Donald Trump and his 18 co-defendants in the Georgia election subversion case, says the proceedings will be streamed live on YouTube, Atlanta News First reports:

McAfee cited the practice of Robert McBurney, the judge who presided over the grand jury investigation and indictment phase of the case:

It’s unclear when Trump’s trial will start, but proceedings in his former attorney Kenneth Chesebro’s case are scheduled to start on 23 October.

Why does Donald Trump want his trial severed from two other his fellow co-defendants?

Because those two defendants, Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, both former lawyers for his campaign, have made motions for speedy trials – which is exactly what Trump doesn’t want. In a sign of just how speedy those trials will be, a judge set out a schedule for Chesebro’s trial that will see it start on 23 October.

Politico reports that Trump’s attorney Steven Sadow argues that if the former president is put on trial at the same time, he won’t have enough time to mount a proper defense:

In a fast-moving and ever more complex situation, lawyers for Donald Trump have moved to sever his election racketeering case in Georgia from two defendants who have asked for their own trials to be speeded up.

As local Georgia court journalist Sam Gringlas reports:

“Trump moves to SEVER his case from 2 defendants who want a speedy trial, slated for Oct. “We’re in a huge state of flux right now,” attorney Bob Rubin told me. “The case involving these 19 defendants seems to be going in a lot of different directions all at the same time.”

His fellow senators may be keeping mum, but at least one Republican politics watcher thinks it’s time for Mitch McConnell to step down, the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports:

It may be time for Mitch McConnell to “pass the torch”, a leading Republican pollster said, after the 81-year-old GOP Senate leader suffered a second apparent freeze while talking to reporters.

“It’s one of the problems that we have with Washington, which is that there is a time to lead and a time to pass on the torch to another generation,” Frank Luntz told CNN.

A spokesperson for McConnell said the senator felt “light-headed” on Wednesday, when he appeared to freeze during questions from reporters in Covington, in his home state of Kentucky, and was eventually escorted away. McConnell would consult a doctor, the spokesperson said.

But the freeze followed a similar incident in Washington in July, when McConnell was speaking at the US Capitol. He said then he had been “sandbagged” – a reference to Joe Biden’s fall at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado in May – and returned to talk to reporters.

On Wednesday, Biden called McConnell “a good friend”, and said he would “try and get in touch with him later this afternoon”.

Tucker Carlson warns of Trump assassination

Far-right media personality Tucker Carlson is known for his outrageous statements and bigoted positions, as well as a degree of paranoia. They can mostly be found on social media these days, after being taken off air by Fox News.

But even by his own low standards, Carson might have gone too far on comedian Adam Corolla’s podcast when he predicted that someone would try to kill Donald Trump, the Hill reports.

“Begin with criticism, then you go to protest, then you go to impeachment, now you go to indictment, and none of them work. I mean what’s next? You know, graph it out man! We’re speeding toward assassination, obviously. No one will say that, but I don’t know how you can’t reach that conclusion,” Carlson said.

It’s not the first time Carson has gone there though. In a recent interview with Trump himself – held to distract people from the Republican debate – Carson asked bluntly: “Are you worried that they’re going to try and kill you? Why wouldn’t they try and kill you?”

Following the second instance in as many months where the Senate’s top Republican Mitch McConnell froze up while addressing the press, Politico reports that some senators want to convene a special meeting to discuss his health.

McConnell, 81, is the longest-serving party leader in Senate history, but suffered a concussion earlier this year that he took weeks to recover from, as well as a fall in July. The Kentucky lawmaker was challenged for the party’s leadership post earlier this year by Florida’s senator Rick Scott, but easily defeated him, and it remains unclear if a majority of his fellow Republicans want him to step down.

Here’s more from Politico:

Some rank-and-file Republicans have discussed the possibility of a broader conversation once senators return to Washington next week, according to a person directly involved in the conversations who confirmed them on condition of anonymity. Party leadership is not currently involved in those discussions, and nothing has been decided yet, this person added.

It takes just five Republican senators to force a special conference meeting, which is the most direct way to have a specific discussion about the minority leader after his public pause on Wednesday revived questions about his condition. But the Senate GOP also holds private lunches two or three times a week, giving members another forum for hashing out the direction of the party’s leadership — one that could forestall the need for a special confab.

And McConnell’s health is a touchy subject: The 81-year-old, the longest-serving party leader in Senate history, doesn’t like to discuss it. Even detractors of the Kentucky Republican’s leadership style are sensitive to the health issues he faces after falling in March and suffering a concussion.

Even so, the question now facing the GOP is whether McConnell’s health hastens a transition atop the conference leadership that has to happen eventually. McConnell squashed his first-ever challenge last fall from Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on a 37-10 vote.

If a special conference meeting doesn’t happen, the issue could be punted until after the 2024 election. However, a special meeting would undoubtedly draw more media attention that would amplify the risk of specifically broaching the touchy topic of McConnell’s leadership. And his own support may be relatively unchanged even after the two summer pauses.

Donald Trump will not be appearing in a Georgia courtroom for his arraignment next week, instead deciding to enter his plea of not guilty in writing and skip another trip to Atlanta. Separately, Republican governor Brian Kemp rejected an effort by a small group of rightwing lawmakers to call the state legislature back in session to remove Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney who indicted Trump and 18 others for trying to overturn Georgia’s elections in 2020. And next week, we may get more details about the special grand jury whose work led to the indictments, when their full report is potentially made public by a judge.

Here’s what else has happened today so far:

• A self-described organizer for the Proud Boys militia group was just given a 17-year prison sentence for his actions on January 6.

• Clarence Thomas, the conservative supreme court justice, released his delayed financial disclosure reports, in which he acknowledged luxury trips taken with Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow.

• Trump remains way ahead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight reports, though his support may have slipped a little bit since the Georgia indictment.

Joseph Biggs, a self-described organizer for the Proud Boys militia group who entered the Capitol on January 6, was just handed a 17 year jail sentence by a judge after being convicted on seditious conspiracy charges.

The term was much less than the 33 years prosecutors requested, which would have been the highest meted out in the cases stemming from the attack on the Capitol. Biggs is one of five Proud Boys scheduled to be sentenced in the coming days, a group that also includes its former leader Enrique Tarrio.

A report produced by a special grand jury that Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis used to indict Donald Trump and 18 others for trying to overturn Georgia’s election in 2020 could be released in full on 8 September, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Judge Robert McBurney had earlier this year made public parts of the report, but kept other sections sealed at the request of Willis, who cited due process concerns. In particular, a chapter where jurors recommended who should be indicted was kept out of the public eye. If it was released, it could answer whether there were people who the jurors thought should face charges whom Willis ultimately did not indict.

McBurney said the due process concerns were alleviated by the announcement of charges in the case, and said he would release the report next Friday, unless any parties object.

Here’s more from the Journal-Constitution:

Such an “exceedingly public development” eliminates due process concerns, at least for the 19 defendants charged in the case and who might have been named in the special grand jury’s final report, McBurney wrote. For that reason, he said, he plans to release the final report at 10 a.m. on Sept. 8.

At the same time, McBurney said, if “any concerned party believes something less than everything should be published,” they have until close of business on Sept. 6 to raise an objection. “If objections are timely filed, they will be carefully considered and a new publication date will be announced,” he said.

Objections would likely come from individuals who were not indicted but who may believe the special grand jury voted that they be charged. They may want to keep such a recommendation from being made public.

When the full special grand jury’s final report is published, it will show the vote tallies from the 23-member panel on each recommendation as to who should be indicted, grand jurors told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in prior interviews. This will allow the public to know whether the panel was overwhelmingly in favor or closely divided on each person.

If you are wondering if Donald Trump’s indictment in Georgia has changed his political fortunes, poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight took a look at the numbers and the answer is … no.

“Looking at the big picture – including FiveThirtyEight’s averages of the national Republican primary and Trump’s overall favorable and unfavorable ratings – it’s clear that public opinion about Trump has not changed in a major way in several months, even after he was indicted on nearly 100 criminal charges in four different jurisdictions. After what is expected to be his final indictment, he remains the strong favorite in the GOP primary and a competitive candidate in the general election,” they write.

The conclusion comes in a piece that analyzes some of the more recent polls that have come out of Republican primary voters, which show some fluctuations in Trump’s level of support, but no change to his status as the far and away frontrunner for the party’s presidential nomination. He’s currently at 50% support in FiveThirty Eight’s polling average, down from 53% before news of the Georgia indictment broke, but still an overwhelming advantage.

Here’s the moment from his press conference today where Georgia governor Brian Kemp rejected using the legislature to oust Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis.

His remarks amounted to both a repudiation of the effort to stop her prosecution, and a defense of her conduct:

Georgia’s Republican governor Brian Kemp says he will not call the legislature into a special session to impeach Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney who last week brought charges against Donald Trump and 18 others for trying to overturn the state’s presidential election result in 2020, Atlanta’s WSB-TV reports.

A handful of GOP lawmakers have requested Kemp convene the legislature outside of their normal session to remove Willis from the case, but the governor, who has publicly rejected the former president’s baseless insistence that Joe Biden’s election victory in the state was fraudulent, turned down doing that.

“We have a law in the state of Georgia that clearly outlines the legal steps that can be taken if constituents believe their local prosecutors are violating their oath by engaging in unethical or illegal behavior,” Kemp said at a press conference today, according to WSB-TV.

He characterized a special session targeting Willis as unfeasible and potentially also unconstitutional, and said, “As long as I am governor, we’re going to follow the law and the constitution, regardless of who it helps or harms politically.”