Trump attacks special counsel on Truth Social as grand jury leaves courthouse

Trump receives deposition notice in his $500 million lawsuit against Michael Cohen

Trump has been called to sit for a deposition in September as part of his lawsuit seeking $500 million from his former attorney Michael Cohen.

In a filing yesterday, Cohen’s attorneys scheduled the deposition for Sept. 6 at a law office in Miami.

“I look forward to Donald’s deposition under oath and proving the frivolous nature of the lawsuit,” Cohen told NBC News in a statement.

The deposition notice comes after Trump sued Cohen in April, alleging that his former lawyer turned critic spread falsehoods, violated attorney-client privilege and unjustly enriched himself.

Read the full story here.

Trump attacks Smith in post about Mar-a-Lago classified documents case

In a short post on Truth Social, Trump said just before 3 p.m. ET today, “The security tapes being deleted was a made up lie by deranged Jack Smith! Election interference.”

He was referring to the new superseding indictment that the special counsel’s office filed against Trump and two others last week, which presented evidence that the three of them — including Trump — conspired to try to delete security footage from Mar-a-Lago.

Members of the grand jury appear to have left for the day

The grand jury appears to have left for the day. Jurors were spotted leaving the grand jury area starting around 2 p.m. ET.

Grand jury watch hits a paws

As we wait for any news out of the grand jury, Bika the dog is doing great work keeping an eye on things outside the courthouse.

Trump’s past indictments spurred online fundraising boosts

Trump’s previous two indictments led to spikes in his online fundraising, according to a new fundraising report filed Monday — but the jump was much smaller for the second one.

While Trump’s campaign touted fundraising boosts after both indictments, the new report from Republicans’ main online fundraising platform shows how Trump’s supporters rallied more energetically after his first indictment in Manhattan for an alleged hush-money scheme, rather than the federal indictment related to his handling of classified documents.

The new report from WinRed, which was filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission, shows that Trump raised around $13.5 million in the week after a Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump on March 30 for allegedly making hush money payments to an adult film star during his 2016 campaign.

Read more of this article here.

Grand jury returns from lunch

Members of the grand jury having returned from their lunch break and have resumed their meeting.

Trump’s legal woes are costing his political operation millions of dollars

Trump’s legal woes may not be eating into his lead among GOP primary voter, but they’re costing his political operation millions of dollars.

Trump’s Save America PAC has spent more than $20 million on legal fees alone — doling out payments to more than 40 different law firms — in the first six months of 2023, according to new campaign finance reports filed yesterday with the Federal Election Commission.

Legal expenditures accounted for two-thirds of the PAC’s total spending from January through June.

Read the full story here.

Grand jury appears to break for lunch

The grand jury hearing evidence in the special counsel’s probe of Trump’s attempts to overturn the election appears to be breaking for lunch. NBC News has spotted members of the jury walking down the courthouse stairs and toward the cafeteria.

Grand jurors typically receive a one-hour lunch break, and their days usually begin at 9 a.m. and end at 5 p.m., according to the D.C. court website.

Newly indicted Trump employee appears in Florida court, delays plea without a local lawyer

MIAMI — The Mar-a-Lago property manager charged in a new indictment alongside Donald Trump in the alleged mishandling of classified government documents after the former president left office was unable to enter a plea in court on Monday after being unable to secure a Florida-based lawyer.

Carlos De Oliveira, 56, wearing a navy suit and glasses, entered the Miami court just after 10 a.m., accompanied by his attorney John Irving.

It was the first sighting of De Oliveira, who stands about 5’8” with salt and pepper hair, since last week’s superseding indictment in the special counsel’s documents case.

The judge read the four charges against De Oliveira and his rights before setting the signature bond at $100,000. Because De Oliveira has not secured local counsel to represent him in Florida, he was asked to return for his arraignment next month.

Read the full story here.

In other Trump legal problems…

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has subpoenaed the attorney for E. Jean Carroll in an effort to obtain Trump’s damning deposition when he bragged about having his way with women.

Discussing his comments in the “Access Hollywood” tape during the taped deposition in October, Trump said, “Historically that’s true with stars. If you look over the last million years, that’s largely true, unfortunately, or fortunately.”

Susan Hoffinger, the executive assistant district attorney, wants to use the recorded deposition in the hush money case against Trump in his upcoming trial set for March. Trump’s attorneys have argued that the subpoena for the video should be quashed because it’s “overbroad”; “an attempt to fish for impeachment material;” and the material is subject to a protective order in the Southern District of New York.

Judge Juan Merchan, who will oversee the trial, said the subpoena is not overbroad or inappropriate. He said the DA’s office has demonstrated that the request seeks items that are relevant and material to the proceedings.

The decision on whether the tape is handed over is now up to Judge Lewis Kaplan who oversaw the E. Jean Carroll trial. He has given Trump and Carroll until Wednesday to respond. Roberta Kaplan, attorney for Carroll, told NBC News, “We will do whatever the judge orders.”

Georgia judge rejects Trump bid to halt Fulton County election probe

A Georgia judge yesterday denied an attempt by Trump to halt Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ investigation into whether the former president and his allies interfered in the state’s 2020 presidential election, calling his allegations of wrongdoing in the probe “overwrought.”

In a nine-page ruling, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney found that neither Trump nor Cathleen Latham, a Trump “alternate elector” challenging the probe, had legal standing to block the investigation at this point.

He said their claims are “insufficient” because “while being the subject (or even target) of a highly publicized criminal investigation is likely an unwelcome and unpleasant experience, no court ever has held that that status alone provides a basis for the courts to interfere with or halt the investigation.”

The ruling is the second against Trump on the issue in two weeks. The Georgia Supreme Court denied a similar request from Trump on July 17. A third petition to the Fulton County Superior Court is pending, with a hearing scheduled for Aug. 10.

Read the full story here.

Trump TV ad depicts investigations as political attacks

A new Trump TV ad elevates a series of accusations that Republicans have waged against President Joe Biden and his family amid investigations into the former president.

In the ad, which was captured by AdImpact and aired on Fox News this morning, a narrator accuses Biden of being “caught in a bribery scandal,” and of “acting just like a corrupt third-world dictator.”

It shows photos of the prosecutors leading investigations into Trump — special counsel Jack Smith, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis — while the narrator says: “Biden has unleashed a cadre of unscrupulous government bureaucrats he controls to act like rabid wolves and attack his greatest threat, launching one of the greatest witch hunts in history.”

Fulton County DA receives vulgar hate mail ahead of potential Trump indictment

Blayne Alexander

The DA in Fulton County, Georgia, Fani Willis, is urging the county’s commissioners to “stay alert” and “stay safe” ahead of potential indictments this month, according to an email obtained by NBC News.

The letter to commissioners, which was first reported by The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, includes a copy of a profane email Willis says she received last Friday, calling her the n-word and a “Jim Crow Democrat whore.”

She describes the vulgar email as “not very unique. In fact, it is pretty typical and what I have come to expect. … I expect to see many more over the next 30 days.”

Willis emphasized this weekend that her office is “ready to go” and plans to announce charging decisions by Sept. 1 in a probe of Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.

Grand jury arrives at the federal courthouse in D.C.

Members of the D.C. grand jury hearing evidence and testimony in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into 2020 election interference are arriving at the courthouse and heading up to the third-floor grand jury area.

Trump faces additional charges in Mar-a-Lago documents case

Former President Donald Trump faces additional charges in connection with his post-presidency handling of classified documents after the special counsel filed a new indictment last week.

The federal indictment, filed in the Southern District of Florida, alleges that Trump was part of a scheme to delete security video and that a newly charged defendant — who was identified as a property manager at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence — told another employee that “the boss” wanted the server deleted.

That employee, Carlos De Oliveira, who was a maintenance supervisor at Mar-a-Lago, was charged Thursday. His lawyer, John Irving, declined to comment.

Read the full story here.