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What we know about the Colorado Springs nightclub shooting suspect

Authorities have named Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, as the lone suspect in the deadly shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Saturday night that left five people dead and at least 25 others injured.

Police recovered a long gun and a handgun from Club Q, a popular gay and lesbian bar in Colorado Springs. The New York Times reported that the suspect fired an AR-15 style rifle and was wearing body armor.

The Colorado Springs mayor said a nightclub patron grabbed the handgun from Aldrich, who was then subdued by at least two patrons.

Police are still trying to piece together a motive and additional details about the suspect, who is being treated for his injuries at a local hospital.

But some information has surfaced about Aldrich.

In June 2021, a man with the same name and age was arrested for making a bomb threat to a suburban neighborhood in southeast Colorado Springs, according to The Gazette, a local newspaper.

Aldrich’s mother told police her son threatened her with a homemade bomb and other weapons, according to The Gazette.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office evacuated the neighborhood and shut the area down until Aldrich came out of a house he was in.

Aldrich was charged with two counts of felony menacing and three counts of first-degree kidnapping, but the charges were later dropped and the records were sealed.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) said all indications were that it was the same person.

The incident raised questions about Colorado’s red flag law, which empowers authorities to temporarily seize firearms from an individual determined as a potential threat to the community.

Aldrich’s mother, Laura Voepel, was living at a home in the Colorado Springs neighborhood until the June 2021 incident, when she was asked to move out, according to The New York Times. Aldrich may have been staying nearby at his grandparent’s house.

Facebook posts shared on Laura Voepel’s page show that Aldrich’s grandfather is Randy Voepel, a Republican state lawmaker in the California State Assembly who compared the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol to the Revolutionary War.

Randy Voepel lost his seat to a challenger in the midterm elections.

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Five takeaways on Mike Pence’s political future

Former Vice President Mike Pence is back in the spotlight as he promotes his new memoir, offering fresh insights on his relationship with former President Trump and his own political ambitions.

Pence’s new book was released on Tuesday, with much of the focus centering on the rift between he and Trump in the days before and after the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the Capitol. Pence has since conducted nearly 30 interviews, giving a window into his time in the White House and his plans for the future.

Here are five takeaways from Pence’s recent book release and accompanying media blitz.

Pence is seriously considering a 2024 bid

The former vice president used a series of interviews and media appearances in the wake of his book release to hint at a possible presidential campaign of his own. 

“I think the American people are looking for leadership that can unite our country, around our most timeless values and ideals, and demonstrate the kind of civility and respect that Americans show one another every day,” Pence said in a CNN town hall event on Thursday.

“And so, we’ll take time, at the end of the year. We’ll get prayerful consideration to what role we might have. But I promise you, Jake, I’ll keep you posted,” he continued. “And we’ll stay in the fight for our values, and do everything, in our part, to strengthen and serve the country we love. So help us God.”

When asked if he would support Trump as a 2024 nominee, Pence quipped in multiple recent appearances that he has someone else in mind, a tongue-in-cheek nod to his own possible ambitions.

Pence has taken steps typically associated with someone interested in a presidential campaign in recent months, visiting early primary states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, and launching his own policy group.

But his comments in the wake of the book release are a more concrete sign that Pence views himself as a presidential contender, regardless of what Trump does.

Pence thinks the GOP should move on from Trump

Whether or not Pence himself runs, the former vice president has made it clear through interviews in recent days that he does not believe Trump should be the party’s standard-bearer moving forward.

“I think, in the days ahead, whatever role I and my family play in the Republican Party, whether it’s as a candidate or simply a part of the cause, I think we will have better choices … than my old running mate,” Pence told CNN.

It was a line Pence used in several interviews on his post-book release media blitz, telling ABC News, The New York Times and others that he felt there would be “better choices” than Trump.

Pence has made clear that he does not agree with Trump’s fixation on the 2020 election, arguing GOP candidates who focused on past grievances did not fare as well in the midterms as those who presented a forward-looking agenda.

And the former vice president has in recent days asserted the American public is looking for more civil discourse and candidates who embody the country’s values, a swipe at Trump’s divisive and incendiary rhetoric directed toward his opponents and critics, including, at times, Pence.

But he won’t back away from Trump’s record

Pence’s book details how he and Trump went their “separate ways” over Trump’s fixation on the 2020 election and his conduct around Jan. 6, when Pence had to be evacuated from the Senate chamber.

But much of his book and the accompanying press tour has shown that Pence is proud of his time in the administration outside of the roughly two months following the 2020 election, and he’s happy to embrace his connection to Trump for much of their four years together.

“I hope people that take a look at this book also see that it’s been described as the most fulsome defense of the record of the Trump-Pence administration that’s in print,” Pence said at an event on Thursday at the Reagan Library in California, saying he “couldn’t be more proud” to have been vice president given the administration’s economic, energy and foreign policy accomplishments.

“We accomplished things that conservatives have been talking about for generations,” Pence added.

Pence is trying to thread the needle with the GOP base

The former vice president has made it clear that as he mulls his future, he is going to try to thread a very difficult needle, appealing both to Trump supporters and those ready to move on from the former president.

Pence has been asked mostly about the events surrounding Jan. 6. He has in recent interviews called Trump’s conduct “reckless,” said the former president was part of the problem on Jan. 6 and spoken about how the party should move on from Trump in 2024. 

At the same time, Pence is reluctant to criticize Trump’s other behavior. In his book, Pence defends Trump over his response to the Charlottesville, Va., white supremacist rally, his handling of the coronavirus pandemic when he used briefings to spar with the press and attack local leaders, and his walk to St. John’s Church near the White House after protesters were forcibly cleared from the area.

“Mike Pence is twisting himself into pretzels as he attempts to remake his image — but the truth is that no matter how desperately he tries to have it both ways on Trump’s brand of MAGA extremism, he’s still doused in it,” the Democratic National Committee said in a news release.

Republican strategists and former Trump administration officials have argued for months that Pence was a loyal sidekick for four years with conservative bona fides, but that he would struggle to win over Trump’s devoted base in a potential primary because they view his decision to certify the 2020 election as a betrayal, even if he had no grounds to do otherwise.

Polls have typically shown Pence trailing Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in a hypothetical 2024 primary. 

“If decency and kindness matters, Mike Pence will be a serious contender,” said David Urban, who worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign. “But politics is a lot more than that.”

Pence will remain in the public eye

Pence appears poised to use his book release and subsequent media blitz as a jumping off point to remain in the public eye as the 2024 Republican primary field takes shape.

A spokesperson for Pence said the former vice president had conducted 27 media interviews in the 48 hours after his book was released last Tuesday.

The former vice president was in Nevada over the weekend for the Republican Jewish Coalition gathering in Las Vegas, which was also attended by prospective 2024 candidates like former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump addressed the event virtually.

Pence has additional interviews scheduled for after Thanksgiving, and a spokesperson said Pence will be doing a speaking tour next year with stops at various megachurches around the country.

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McCarthy vows to remove three Dems from committee posts

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reiterated his pledge to remove Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell (Calif.), Adam Schiff (Calif.) and Ilhan Omar (Minn.) from their committee posts if he becomes Speaker in the next Congress.

McCarthy told Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo that he would remove Swalwell and Schiff from their posts on the House Intelligence Committee, accusing them of being compromised or biased.

“Eric Swalwell cannot get a security clearance in the public sector. Why would we ever give him a security clearance in the secrets to America? So I will not allow him to be on Intel,” McCarthy said. “You have Adam Schiff, who had lied to the American public time and again. We will not allow him to be on the Intel Committee either.”

Swalwell has been a target for Republicans after it was reported a Chinese intelligence operative had formed close ties with the Democratic lawmaker. Swalwell has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Schiff has earned the ire of the GOP since he led impeachment hearings against former President Trump in 2019. He also sits on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

McCarthy also said he would remove Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee, accusing her of making antisemitic comments in the past. Omar has long been critical of Israel and its “atrocities” in the occupied Palestinian territories, sometimes drawing rebuke from within her own party.

McCarthy warned he would remove the lawmakers in January, after Democratic leadership stripped Republican lawmakers Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Paul Gosar (Ariz.) from committee posts for invoking political violence.

The GOP won the majority last week. McCarthy won a conference vote to remain the leader of the Republican party, but to become Speaker still must win a majority vote on the floor when the next Congress convenes in January.

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Schiff says 'evidence is there' to make a criminal referral against Trump

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on Sunday that he believes there is “evidence” for the House select committee investigating the Jan 6., 2021 attack at the Capitol to make a criminal referral against former President Trump. 

“But I can say that I think Judge Carter in California who analyzed just one small piece of this concluded that the former president and others were engaged or there was evidence they were engaged in a criminal conspiracy, evidence they were engaged in an effort to stop an official proceeding, the Joint Session,”  Schiff, a member of the Jan 6. Committee, told ABC’s “This Week co-anchor Jonathan Karl, noting that the committee is currently reaching a conclusion about making those criminal referrals. 

“I think the evidence is there to make a referral and we just have to decide whether that’s the course we are going to take.” 

Schiff also told Karl that the committee is discussing various ways to hold Trump in contempt of Congress amid his refusal to corporate with the committee for its investigation and their recent subpeona towards him. 

Schiff also signaled his frustration over former Trump-era officials who also refused to comply with the committee’s investigation. 

“But once again, Donald Trump took the cowardly way out. Unlike other presidents that have fulfilled their duty even after office and testified before Congress, very — not surprising with the former president, it was disappointing with the former vice president who, like others before him, sadly, said I can’t share this information with the American people and Congress, but I could write a book about it,” Schiff added. “That’s very disappointing.” 

Former President Trump, whose facing a slew of legal investigations from federal and state authorities, announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election last Tuesday. 

Trump’s presidential announcement comes as some within the GOP have questioned the 76-year-old politician’s influence and future in the party, as the GOP scored underwhelming results in this month’s midterm elections.

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Ukraine readies for cold, dangerous chapter in Russian war

Snowfall across Ukraine is signaling the official arrival of winter, setting up a dangerous chapter in the war with Russia as Moscow targets Ukraine’s power and energy supplies to deprive the country of heat and electricity.

Anna Grigolaya, the operations manager in the city of Dnipro for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), said the situation will be critical for millions of Ukrainians suffering through more regular and sustained blackouts. 

“Our mission now is to prepare people for probably the worst winter in their lives,” she said. 

More than nine months since Russia’s invasion, Moscow has turned toward a strategy that targets Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and electricity supplies in an effort to destroy the country and break the will of the people. 

“This is a deliberate tactic by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said during a meeting of the Security Council this week. 

“He seems to have decided that if he can’t seize Ukraine by force, he will try to freeze the country into submission. It is hard to overstate how horrific these attacks are,” she added.

Russia launched its largest barrage of missile attacks across Ukraine earlier this week, deploying at least 96 missiles in one day. The barrage included explosive drones provided by Iran that targeted civilian infrastructure and temporarily disconnected 10 million people from power sources as temperatures began to drop. 

British Ambassador to the United Nations Barbara Woodward said at a Security Council meeting that “Russia is knowingly trying to gain military advantage by creating desperation.” 

“Attacks of this kind may violate international humanitarian law and are in any event, deeply inhumane,” she added. 

Spillover from those attacks into neighboring Poland, where an apparently errant Ukrainian air defense missile killed two people near the border on Tuesday, raised the risk that NATO was going to be goaded into a military response.

Tensions were quickly tamped down by President Biden, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the Polish government, which characterized the incident as an accident. 

“What was striking in those early hours, it remains striking, is how level-headed NATO leaders were, both Stoltenberg himself, but also leaders of NATO member states,” said Elisabeth Braw,  a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.

“While various talking heads and commentators tweeted furiously about what needed to be done, in terms of strike or retaliating against Russia — it was so striking that NATO member-state leaders and Stoltenberg himself, made no such accusations or call to action, in those early hours.”

But Rosemary DiCarlo, under-secretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs at the United Nations, warned during a Security Council meeting that there is “no end in sight for the war” and “as long as it continues, the risks of potentially catastrophic spillover remain all too real.”

DiCarlo further characterized the recent Russian bombardments on civilians and civilian infrastructure as the most intense over the course of the nine-month war.

“The impact of such attacks can only worsen during the coming winter months,” she said, adding that about 40 percent of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is damaged. Kyiv has been the hardest hit, as parts of the capital are without electricity for 12 hours per day. 

Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova said in a statement to The Hill that the majority of consumers have been reconnected to the electric grid, but that 2 million people remain without power. 

Close cooperation between the American and Ukrainian energy officials is helping to repair infrastructure to stabilize the energy grid. 

Grigolaya, who spoke with The Hill for about 15 minutes on Friday to preserve her phone battery, said the electricity blackouts are getting worse, accelerating the JDC’s operations to assist the most vulnerable people, particular the elderly.

“We do understand that in some of the regions, we may have a situation when the heat and electricity will not be available for a critical amount of [time], and we will have to evacuate people from there,” she said. 

The JDC is putting in place the resources to open warming shelters, or some “retreats,” that are heated by generators, to house people for a longer period of time than a few hours.

“I think this is an unprecedented effort,” she said of the preparations. 

The organization is also offering warm clothing and shoes, subzero temperature sleeping bags, blankets, portable heaters and cooking stoves, among other items. 

Another JDC initiative, Grigolaya said, is a program taught by a survival expert to help Ukraine’s elderly to survive the Russian attacks on the energy grid.

It gives them tools and knowledge on how to keep homes warm without heat, how to cook without gas and how to keep light in their homes without electricity.

“He specially adapted it for our audience for elderly people and he’s teaching them, in very positive way,” she said. 

The JDC is also utilizing communication networks they established during the pandemic — online programing accessible through smartphones that are specifically tailored for the elderly — to keep them informed about the war. It also provides training and education on heating and cooking devices provided by the group.

“It became really, really critical for them, first of all, to stay connected and now we’re using it to keep them informed about what’s going on, and also to provide some psychological relief, because, we know they say, it’s much easier to be afraid together, that’s what we hear from them.”

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Rosenstein: Trump special counsel appointment signals DOJ belief in a 'viable potential case'

Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Sunday said the appointment of a special counsel to oversee federal investigations into former President Trump indicates the Department of Justice (DOJ) still believes it has a “viable potential case” against him.

Rosenstein, who appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, told CBS’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” that he can’t “second guess” Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment of a special counsel from the outside.

“I think what it indicates is that, despite the fact that the department has been at this for some time, almost two years on the Jan. 6 investigation, close to a year on the Mar-a-Lago investigation, that they still believe that they have a viable potential case,” Rosenstein said.

“It doesn’t mean they made a decision to go forward,” he added. “But it certainly is an indication they believe it’s a possibility.”

Garland on Friday appointed longtime prosecutor Jack Smith as special counsel to oversee investigations into whether any person unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack and the alleged mishandling of sensitive government records at Mar-a-Lago.

The announcement came days after Trump formally entered the 2024 presidential contest, and Garland also cited President Biden’s stated intent to run for reelection as reason to appoint the semi-independent special counsel.

“It’s easy to second guess from outside,” Rosenstein said on CBS. “I think my inclination, given the investigation has been gone for some time and given the stage which they’ve reached, is that I probably would not have, but I just can’t tell from the outside.”

The appointment gives Smith some autonomy over the future of the two investigations, but he still reports to the attorney general.

“I strongly believe that the normal processes of this department can handle all investigations with integrity,” Garland said on Friday. “And I also believe that appointing a special counsel at this time is the right thing to do. The extraordinary circumstances presented here demand it.”

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Trump says he has no interest in returning to Twitter after reinstatement

Former President Trump said he sees “no reason” for returning to Twitter after Elon Musk reinstated his account on Saturday.

“I don’t see any reason for it, they have a lot of problems at Twitter, you see what’s going on. It may make it, it may not make it,” Trump said during a virtual appearance before the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting.

The former president praised Musk but signaled he would remain on Truth Social, a platform Trump created months after being banned from Twitter following his tweets surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

Musk, who prior to officially taking over Twitter indicated he would reverse Trump’s ban, published a Twitter poll asking users if the former president should be reinstated.

With more than 15 million votes, 52 percent indicated support for the reinstatement, while 48 percent voiced opposition.

Trump’s account became visible again on Saturday, including his past tweets.

The former president similarly suggested in a Truth Social post on Saturday he wouldn’t return to Twitter.

“Vote now with positivity, but don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere. Truth Social is special!” Trump wrote.

Musk’s $44 billion takeover of the social media company has led to a chaotic transition, with Musk laying off roughly half of Twitter’s 7,500-person workforce in his first week.

After Musk reportedly told the remaining employees last week to commit to a “hardcore” work environment or accept severance and leave the company, The New York Times reported at least 1,200 additional employees had resigned, based on internal estimates.

Those departures have caused increased concern for Twitter’s future and ability to continue operations after a number of critical infrastructure teams lost employees.

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5 dead, 18 wounded in shooting at LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado

A gunman killed five people and wounded 18 others at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo. early Sunday, police said.

Police received a report of a shooting at 11:57 p.m. at Club Q, said Colorado Springs Police Department Lt. Pamela Castro, adding that the suspect was injured and being treated.

Castro added that those injured were transported to multiple local hospitals, and the FBI was on the scene assisting in the investigation.

“Club Q is devastated by the senseless attack on our community,” the club said in a statement. “Our [prayers] and thoughts are with all the victims and their families and friends. We thank the quick reactions of heroic customers that subdued the gunman and ended this hate attack.”

Police will provide an additional update later Sunday morning, the department said.

Castro declined to provide a motive for the shooting, saying the investigation was ongoing.

The tragedy echoes the massacre at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub in 2016.

A gunman opened fire into the LGBTQ club, killing 49 people before the suspect died in a shootout with police in one of the deadliest mass shootings in the U.S.

The country this year has seen 601 mass shootings, defined as those that injure or kill at least four people not including the shooter, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Nearly 40,000 people have reportedly died from gun violence this year.

–Updated at 7:45 a.m.

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Divided GOP tiptoes on Biden request for more Ukraine aid

Republicans are tiptoeing around a recent request from the Biden administration for billions in Ukraine aid, as the party faces internal divisions on the path forward for assistance.  

The White House last week asked Congress for more than $37 billion in additional assistance for Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing invasion. And while some Republicans say they’re supportive of the amount, many more have been cautious to take a position just yet.

“It’s a lot of money. I think we’ll have to have an open discussion on it,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, said on Tuesday, shortly after the request was made public.

While there is broad support for Ukraine military assistance among Republicans in both chambers, there has also been resistance about other forms of aid and how it’s being accounted for.

“There’s strong bipartisan support for supporting Ukraine, but I think there’s also an interest in having accounting for the dollars that have already been spent,” Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. two Senate Republican, said Thursday.

“I think we’re gonna have to resolve that issue,” Thune told The Hill, adding: “It’ll get worked out one way or the other. But a lot of this stuff, I think right now, it’s probably gonna get punted to the next Congress would be my guess.”

There is some urgency among lawmakers to take up Ukraine aid following spillover from Russia’s war into Poland earlier this week, where an apparent, errant Ukrainian missile explosion killed two Polish citizens. 

Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), co-chair of the Senate NATO Observer group and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told The Hill that it is “very important” for Congress to consider the administration’s funding request “as we’re finishing the budget for this year.” 

Lawmakers are seriously eyeing attaching Ukraine funding to must-pass government funding legislation during the lame-duck session, as leaders seek to cinch an omnibus funding deal by year’s end. 

Senate Appropriations Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) expressed confidence on Tuesday that Congress will pass an omnibus bill with aid for Ukraine in the coming weeks.

However, it’s unclear whether Congress will be able to pass an omnibus by Dec. 16, when funding is due. It could instead pass a continuing resolution to stave off a shutdown, as both sides struggle to find agreement on an overall topline figure for next year’s spending.

There have also been rifts amongst Republicans over whether to delay larger decisions around new funding into next year to allow the next Congress more say on how the government should be funded for fiscal year 2023, which began in October. 

There is adamant support from both parties to pass aid for Ukraine during the lame-duck period, particularly as uncertainty swells around whether a GOP House could impede funding next year.

“I think what some people are concerned about is the change in the House,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told The Hill on Wednesday.

“I think there’s some questions as to what the House is going to do once a change is over,” Capito added. “We’ll just have to see how that falls out. I can’t make a prediction there.”

A minority of outspoken Republicans have criticized aid for Ukraine when there are needs in the U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who has voted against earlier aid packages to Ukraine, introduced a privileged resolution on Thursday to audit U.S. assistance to Ukraine, part of her general rejection of sending American assistance abroad.  

“I voted ‘no’ from the beginning, and I’ll continue to vote ‘no,’” she said during a press conference last week. 

Fifty-seven House Republicans voted against a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine in May, including Greene, and she said she expects that number to grow.

This is likely to include Rep.-elect Cory Mills (R-Fl.), who lent his support to Greene’s resolution on Thursday. 

“Americans deserve transparency of where their money goes, that’s our job as elected officials,” he said.

The State Department’s Office of Inspector General has an ongoing audit of how assistance to Ukraine is being disbursed. The Biden administration, as part of its funding request to Congress, earmarked $20 million for “oversight and accountability” to “maintain ongoing efforts to work with the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance and other Ukrainian government institutions on their monitoring, transparency, verification, and reporting related to their use” of American support to the government in Kyiv.

Recent polling does show support for Ukraine aid is on a downward trend among registered Republicans. In a poll released earlier this month by the Wall Street Journal, 48 percent of registered Republicans said the U.S. is doing too much to support Ukraine.

But Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), ranking Republican on the House Rules Committee, who is supportive of continued U.S. assistance, said on Thursday he thinks most Americans don’t realize the stakes the Ukraine-Russian conflict poses to national security.

“If the Ukrainians fail, I think the odds of China doing something dangerous in the western Pacific go up dramatically,” Cole said, referring to concerns among the U.S. and allies that China is weighing an invasion of neighboring Taiwan based on how America and its allies maintain solidarity for Ukraine.

“I think we have a national interest here and I’m never going to be ashamed of supporting people that are fighting for their lives literally, against a brutal aggression that they did not in any way, shape or form, encourage,” the congressman continued.

Republicans worried the U.S. could be drawn more directly into a wider war are pushing diplomacy after the two deaths in Poland, which unlike Ukraine is a NATO member.

“I think it was a wake-up call to how close we are being drawn into this through the NATO Treaty,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) told The Hill, referring to mutual defense commitments among NATO members. Massie is a co-sponsor to Greene’s audit resolution and is critical of American assistance to Ukraine.

“It’s a chance for us to sort of take a sober look at what commitments we actually have if that were to have been a missile from Russia,” Massie said.

The explosion in Poland has underscored the high-stakes as Russian attacks on Ukraine have intensified — even as Ukraine has scored impressive battlefield victories.

National Security Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Friday that the administration supports a diplomatic negotiated settlement but that the timing is up to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

“It’s difficult for anybody to imagine that Mr. Zelensky would be ready to sit down and talk while his citizens are literally being slaughtered almost on a daily basis by the Russians,” he said.

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For experts, the evidence in two probes compels charging Trump

Two reports analyzing two different criminal investigations into Donald Trump have reached a singular conclusion: there is enough evidence to bring charges against the former president. 

Veteran prosecutors and top legal minds this week banded together to offer an assessment of two ongoing probes — one in Georgia examining Trump’s actions in the state leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, the other led by the Justice Department as it explores the mishandling of sensitive government documents at Mar-a-Lago.

In each, the attorneys found robust cases and significant legal risk for Trump, who is facing mounting trouble as he launches an early bid in the 2024 presidential race. 

“Donald Trump is facing many more legal problems than just these two probes. But the Georgia investigation of whether his election denial slipped into criminality after the 2020 election and the federal investigation [into] whether his retention, classified, and other documents at Mar-a-Lago also crossed the criminal red line are the most threatening legal peril that he faces,” Norm Eisen, counsel for Democrats in Trump’s first impeachment and an author on both reports, told The Hill. 

“They represent a one-two punch that has the potential to finally achieve the accountability that he has so often evaded in the past … I think that run is about to end, and these are the two cases that are most likely to do it.”

The nearly 500 pages of collective legal analysis finds a litany of state and federal crimes Trump may have committed, ranging from solicitation to commit election fraud, to state RICO Act violations, to the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice. 

“We conclude that Trump’s post-election conduct in Georgia leaves him at substantial risk of possible state charges predicated on multiple crimes,” a report from the Brookings Institution determined.

And in a report from Just Security, former prosecutors found additional statutes the Justice Department could weigh using as it noted any failure to charge Trump for the mishandling of records would represent treating Trump far differently than others who have faced similar charges.

“We determine there is strong precedent for the DOJ [Justice Department] to charge Trump. There are many felony cases that the DOJ pursued based on conduct that was significantly less egregious than the present set of facts in the Trump case,” they wrote. “In short, we conclude that if Trump were not charged, it would be a major deviation from how defendants are typically treated.”

The group, which includes prosecutors that worked on the Mueller report, noted that Trump’s intransigence in returning the documents — failing to fully comply with an initial request for return and a later subpoena, add to the seriousness of the case. 

“Aggravating factors in Trump’s case include the length of time of his retention of government documents, the volume of government documents, the highly sensitive nature of the documents, the number of warnings he received, his obstructive conduct, and his involving other individuals in his scheme,” they wrote. 

Following a relatively quiet period for the Justice Department in the weeks ahead of the midterms, Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday announced a major development in its probes, handing over two of its investigations to a special counsel.

Longtime prosecutor Jack Smith will oversee both the Mar-a-Lago investigation and the portion of the Jan. 6 investigation focused at the highest levels into “whether any person or entity unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power,” Garland said.

Smith’s appointment will have no bearing on Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s probe.

The investigations — as well as scrutiny of the Justice Department — are sure to pick up in the months ahead as Smith embarks on his work and the department faces key court dates.

The Justice Department is engaged in a battle to recover more than 10,000 government documents still under the review of the special master assigned to Trump’s case. Oral arguments this Tuesday in the 11th Circuit could speed that process, if the appellate court sides with department in determining no third-party review of the documents is necessary and orders them returned to prosecutors.

Also expected before the end of the year is a report from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, a document likely to include criminal referrals to the Justice Department in a move sure to increase pressure on the department to seriously consider some charges.

The reports seek to assure prosecutors — whether that be Willis or those among the highest ranks at Justice Department — that they have a case.

In Georgia, attorneys see a sweeping set of statutes Trump may have violated with behavior including a call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking him to “find” 11,780 votes.

Beyond solicitation to commit election fraud, Trump may also have committed intentional interference with performance of election duties, while the campaign’s false elector scheme could engage a number of state statutes on the book dealing with fraud.

In total, the report finds at least 11 charges that could be brought resulting from Trump’s efforts in Georgia.

“Generally, in Georgia, a single set of facts may trigger criminal liability under multiple statutes based on the different elements of various crimes,” they write.

In the Mar-a-Lago report, experts found three additional statutes that could be implicated beyond the three first listed in the government’s warrant.

Two mainly deal with the resistance from Trump, including criminal contempt and lying to authorities. 

But they also raise a statute that deals with conversion of government property, which carries penalties of up to 10 years in prison. 

Prosecutors would need to demonstrate that the documents were property or a thing of value belonging to the government and that a defendant converted or retained the documents for their use.

For his part, Trump has denied any wrongdoing even as he has repeatedly lashed out at the Justice Department and the FBI. He did so in his speech this week announcing his candidacy, saying, no threat “is greater than the weaponization from the system, the FBI or the DOJ.” 

The reports also walk through possible defenses from Trump — finding them largely wanting.

The Mar-a-Lago report devotes over 20 pages to potential defenses from Trump, reading like a deep dive of many of the issues already presented by Justice Department in court. One by one, the report dismisses claims from Trump that he declassified the records — something his attorneys have failed to fully assert in court and which matters little for charges that involved taking “national defense information” regardless of its classification status. It also dismisses defenses based on Trump’s claims the records are either his personal property or protected by executive privilege or that the government in any way acted improperly during its search.

“None of these potential defenses would provide a complete or effective defense,” the Just Security report concludes.

In the Georgia report, the authors argue Trump enjoys no immunity for his conduct while president, and they also dismiss the concept that the former president can’t meet the intent element necessary for a successful prosecution because he genuinely believes that he had won the election. 

“If prosecutors can prove that he did know that he lost the election—that it was not ‘stolen’ from him—that would go a long way toward clearing that criminal-intent hurdle. … The January 6 Committee has amassed evidence that Trump knew he had lost. Numerous Trump aides and lawyers have attested to this before the committee,” the report states.

“Even if, contrary to the overwhelming evidence, Trump genuinely believed that he had won, he still had no legal right to use forged electoral certificates, to pressure election officials in Georgia to ‘find 11,780 votes’ that did not exist, or to engage in other extralegal means to try to hold onto power.”

Eisen said in both probes, prosecutors are dealing with “pretty clear cut cases.”

“The theme that emerges from this is the power of the evidence,” he said. “Two sets of smoking gun on evidence, two sets of simple, very powerful legal cases. And one principle in common, and that is the principle that no one is above the law.”

Source: TEST FEED1