Legal experts like to describe the ongoing federal and state investigations into former President Donald Trump as a Venn diagram because there’s such overlap between the probes by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Justice Department officials.
In the last few days, we’ve seen more evidence of that. Special counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed footage of the vote-counting process at State Farm Arena that is a factor in the Georgia probe. His office contacted Gov. Brian Kemp, a witness in the Willis probe.
Credit: Oliver Contreras /The New York Times
Credit: Oliver Contreras /The New York Times
And now the Washington Post reports that Mark Meadows, who was Trump’s top aide, joked about the baseless claim of widespread voting fraud before participating in Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger seeking enough votes to overturn his defeat.
From the story:
In a text message that has been scrutinized by federal prosecutors, Meadows wrote to a White House lawyer that his son, Atlanta-area attorney Blake Meadows, had been probing possible fraud and had found only a handful of possible votes cast in dead voters' names, far short of what Trump was alleging.
The lawyer teasingly responded that perhaps Meadows's son could locate the thousands of votes Trump would need to win the election. The text was described by multiple people familiar with the exchange.
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Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC
Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC
RALSTON LEGACY. The widow of the late House Speaker David Ralston presented the House GOP caucus a $1 million check at the group’s retreat this weekend.
Sheree Ralston contributed the check to Speaker Jon Burns on behalf of Ralston, his family and his team at the closed-door gathering in St. Simons Island. The funds came from what was left in David Ralston’s remaining campaign account and other contributions.
Burns praised Ralston’s legacy of championing conservative causes but also hashing out compromises when possible. Burns served as majority leader for eight years and was elected to succeed Ralston, his longtime friend, shortly after the speaker’s November death.
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Credit: City of Morrow
Credit: City of Morrow
MORROW BACKLASH. More than two dozen Democratic legislators signed a letter that strongly condemns the comments of a Morrow city councilmember who recently berated a Vietnamese-American colleague for advocating for a multilingual municipal ballot for the suburb.
The letter said Councilwoman Dorothy Dean furthered a “damaging narrative that immigrants are not truly American” when she attacked Van Tran for seeking to provide ballots in Spanish and Vietnamese in the upcoming city-level elections.
There is no official national language of the United States, a country founded by immigrants. People who do not speak English as their first language are just as American as those who do.
As a state that celebrates the proud legacy of John Lewis, we know there is no more American activity, nor one that better honors the founding principles of this country, than ensuring our citizens can access their right to vote. Instead of pitting our communities against one another, we should be fostering civic engagement and collaboration, with the understanding that our success and prosperity is intertwined.
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Credit: staff
Credit: staff
SUPREME COURT. On the topic of longshots, GOP hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy released a list of his potential Supreme Court nominees this week that included one of Georgia’s most prominent conservative jurists.
Ramaswamy listed Elizabeth L. Branch, a judge on the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit, as one of nine attorneys he’d tap for the Supreme Court if elected president and a vacancy on the bench arises.
Branch, a former official in the George W. Bush administration, was appointed to the state appeals court in 2012 by then-Gov. Nathan Deal. Donald Trump selected her for the federal court in 2018.
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ADS AWAY. The 2024 ad blitz in battleground Georgia is underway.
Aside from the dollars spent on digital ads targeting Georgia voters, we’ve heard radio ads in the Atlanta market advocating for Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, one of the least-known longshots in the GOP competition.
The 30-second spot from the pro-Suarez SOS America super PAC urges conservatives to donate a few dollars to the mayor’s campaign so he can make the stage at the first GOP debate next month.
To qualify, White House hopefuls must log at least 40,000 unique donors, with at least 20 unique donors from at least 20 states or territories. Candidates must also pledge to support their party’s eventual nominee.
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GUN SAFETY. Emergency room pediatricians from across Georgia — 40 of them — published an open letter directed to state lawmakers and encouraging new measures to keep guns away from children.
The open letter was published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday. The doctors write that the number of children showing up in emergency rooms with gunshot wounds has had a “dramatic increase” in recent months.
Guns are not a joking matter. Our children are suffering and dying from firearm injuries. We implore you to show leadership in making this world safer for our children. We plead with you to support and implement laws to keep our children safe, including safe gun storage requirements, universal background checks and “red flag" laws to keep guns out of the hands of potentially dangerous people.
Most importantly, we beg you to use your influence to stem the celebration of gun culture, and model care and concern for our children.
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Credit: Alex Brandon/AP
Credit: Alex Brandon/AP
TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- The U.S. House and Senate return on Tuesday.
- President Joe Biden has no public events on his schedule.
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NAME DROPPER. Actor Hill Harper, who launched a bid for a Michigan-based U.S. Senate seat, has been talking up recent meetings he held with two other prominent Black men in politics: former President Barack Obama and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia.
Harper insinuated a Warnock endorsement in a quote to Time magazine, as part of an explanation for why the first-time candidate believes he can be a voice for voters.
“So they know I’ll fight for them and I’ll get my elbows out,” Harper said. “And they know I’ll deliver. Senator Warnock believes that I can, if I’m in that seat.”
But despite Harper’s name dropping, both Obama and Warnock told The Detroit News that they don’t plan to endorse him or any other candidate in the Democratic primary for the race to succeed longtime U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin is considered the front-runner in the race. Our insider at the Detroit News said Warnock met privately with her, too. Warnock saw both candidates while he was in Detroit last month to keynote the local NAACP chapter’s annual Freedom Fund Dinner.
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DOG OF THE DAY. The Dog of the Day is taking vacation this week, but will be back on July 31. Send us your dogs of any political persuasion and cats on a cat-by-cat basis to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us on Twitter @MurphyAJC.
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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
