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Timothy Parlatore, one of the lawyers representing former President Donald J. Trump in the federal investigations into Mr. Trumps handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, has resigned from the former presidents legal team.

In a brief interview on Wednesday, Mr. Parlatore declined to discuss the specific reasons for his departure, but said it was not related to the merits of either inquiry both of which are being led by a special counsel, Jack Smith. Mr. Parlatore said that he informed Mr. Trump of his decision directly and that he left the legal team on good terms with the former president.

His departure was reported earlier by CNN.

Mr. Parlatores withdrawal from the twin special counsel cases leaves Mr. Trump a lawyer short at a moment when prosecutors under Mr. Smith seem to be nearing the end of their sprawling grand jury investigations and may be approaching a decision about whether to bring charges.

Two other lawyers James Trusty and John Rowley will for now continue to take the lead in representing Mr. Trump in both of the cases.

Mr. Parlatore informed Mr. Trumps team on Monday that he anticipated withdrawing, according to a person familiar with the events.

Since last summer and until recently, Mr. Parlatore played a key role in Mr. Trumps attempts to use attorney-client and executive privilege to limit the scope of the testimony provided by a series of witnesses who appeared in front of grand juries hearing evidence in both of the matters.

Over and over in sealed filings and at closed-door hearings, Mr. Parlatore and his colleagues sought to assert privilege on behalf of Mr. Trump in the hopes of narrowing testimony from top Trump aides like Mark Meadows, the former chief of staff, and former Vice President Mike Pence. But their efforts were almost completely unsuccessful.

At one point, Mr. Parlatore himself was subpoenaed to appear in front of the grand jury investigating the documents case. During his appearance, he answered questions about efforts made by Mr. Trumps legal team to comply with a subpoena issued by the Justice Department last May demanding the return of all classified material in the former presidents possession.

Among the things that Mr. Parlatore said he discussed with the grand jury were searches ordered by a judge in response to a push from the Justice Department that he oversaw at the end of last year of several properties belonging to Mr. Trump, including Trump Tower in New York; Mr. Trumps golf club in Bedminster, N.J.; and a storage site in West Palm Beach, Fla. During the search of the storage site, investigators found at least two more documents with classified markings.

Those searches followed a search in August of Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trumps private club and residence in Florida, by the F.B.I., which led to the discovery of more than 100 classified documents that had not been returned in response to the earlier subpoena.

Mr. Parlatore was brought on to the legal team by Boris Epshteyn, who had been serving as something of an in-house counsel, hiring and negotiating contracts for lawyers. Mr. Epshteyn has shown a penchant for delivering sunny news to Mr. Trump despite bad circumstances, and for creating a bottleneck for the lawyers in dealing with the client, according to several people familiar with the events.

Last month, Mr. Parlatore wrote a letter to Congress asking lawmakers for help in taking the documents investigation away from prosecutors and giving it to the intelligence community a move that, among other things, would have removed the threat of a criminal indictment against Mr. Trump.

The letter also seemed to preview some of Mr. Trumps potential defenses in the documents case, noting that during his chaotic departure from the White House, aides quickly packed everything into boxes and shipped them to Florida. This hasty process, Mr. Parlatore argued, suggested that White House institutional processes, not intentional decisions by President Trump, were responsible for sensitive material being hauled away.

Last week, Mr. Trump appeared to undercut those assertions on live television, declaring at a CNN town hall event that he knowingly removed government records from the White House and claiming that he was allowed to take anything he wanted with him as his personal property.

I took the documents, he said at the event. Im allowed to.

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Trump Lawyer Resigns From Defense Team in Special Counsel Inquiries - The New York Times

Last month, Fani Willisthe Fulton County district attorney investigating Donald Trumps attempt to overturn the 2020 election in Georgiasaid she would announce any possible indictments for the ex-president and the allies who tried to help him steal a second term between July 11 and September 1. Now, she appears to have signaled even more specific timing: the first three weeks of August. Hopefully the former guy hasnt booked any nonrefundable summer travel!

The New York Times reports that, in a letter sent yesterday to 21 Fulton County officials, Willis announced that, due to security concerns surrounding her investigation and the potential criminal charges that could come from it, she will scale back staffing in her office by about 70% and have the majority of people work remotely between July 31 and August 18, when grand juries will be in session. (While a special grand jury spent months hearing evidence in the Trump investigation, Willis must now get approval from a regular grand jury for any possible indictments.) The district attorney noted in the Thursday letter that exceptions to the remote work plan would include my leadership team and all armed investigators. She added that she respectfully request(s) that judges not schedule trials and in-person hearings during the weeks beginning Monday, Aug. 7, and Monday, Aug. 14. As the Times notes, the moves suggest thatWillisis expecting a grand jury to unseal indictments during that time period. The outlet also noted that Williss timetable was already pushed back at least once as she negotiated cooperation deals, so, obviously, that could happen again; however, the dates laid out in her most recent letter seem pretty specific.

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For his part, Trumps attorneys are still trying to quash the special grand jurys final report, and get both Willis and the judge presiding over the inquiry thrown off the case. In response to that attempt, Willis wrote in a filing this week that Trump and Co. are not content to follow the ordinary course of the law. They seek to restrain a criminal investigation before any charges are filed or even sought. In February, when asked about the recommendations the special grand jury made re: which individuals should be charged, jury forewomanEmily Kohrstoldthe Timesit was not a short list. Asked whether the ex-president was on it, she added: Youre not going to be shocked. Its not rocket science. Speaking toThe Atlanta Journal-Constitutionin March, another jurorsaidof the groups report: A lots gonna come out sooner or later. And its gonna be massive. Its gonna be massive.

Last year, Willis sent a letter to the Atlanta field office of the FBI, requesting a risk assessment of the courthouse in downtown Atlanta and for the bureau to provide protective resources to include intelligence and federal agents, noting that Trump had described her and other prosecutors investigating him as vicious, horrible people during a rally and demanded protests in their cities. Shortly before his indictment by the Manhattan district attorney for a series of hush money payments he made before the 2016 election, Trump called for death and destruction. In another letter, sent to the local sheriff last month, Willis laid out the need for heightened security and preparedness in coming months due to this pending announcement.

Trump typically spends the summer at his New Jersey golf course, which would be less than a three-hour flight, should he need to show up at the courthouse to be arraigned (again).

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Donald Trump May Need to Make Room in His Summer Break for a Georgia Indictment: Report - Vanity Fair

News

By Josh Christenson

May 19, 2023 | 12:36pm

The Atlanta prosecutor leading the probe into former President Donald Trumps alleged efforts to overturn Georgias 2020 election results is expected to announce in August whether criminal charges will be brought.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told staff to work remotely from July 31 to Aug. 18 and has requested judges in a downtown Atlanta courthouse to not schedule trials between Aug. 7 and 14, according to a Thursday letter to county officials obtained by the New York Times.

The moves are seen as signs that a grand jury decision in the sensational case will be announced at that time, paving the way for Willis to prosecute.

Thank you for your consideration and assistance in keeping the Fulton County Judicial Complex safe during this time, Willis wrote in her memo to staff and judges.

Trump, 76, and some members of his 2020 election team could face indictments for conspiracy to commit election fraud or charges related to racketeering in plotting to undermine the 2020 presidential race results.

Recommendations for an indictment were revealed in a special grand jury report delivered to Willis in January and followed by a number of bizarre interviews that the jurys forewoman, Emily Kohrs, gave in February that heavily hintedat Trump being among those the special grand jury recommended for indictment.

The Georgia case requires a second grand jury to consider whether to bring charges.

It is not a short list, Kohrs previously told the Times of the people she expects to be indicted. Youre not going to be shocked. Its not rocket science.

Trump is already facing 34 felony counts from the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for allegedly making hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 election.

Willis, 52, told Atlanta-based law enforcement agencies in a letter last month to prepare for significant public reaction to a potential charging decision between July 11 and Sept. 1.

The Democratic Fulton County DA began her probe of the former president and his allies more than two years ago, looking into a phone call in which Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find 11,780 votes to help him beat Joe Biden in the state.

She convened an initial special grand jury for the case that quizzed ex-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and GOP Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and announced in January that a charging decision was imminent.

Prosecutors in the office also interviewed at least eight fake electors whom Trump allies had gotten to sign a certificate falsely declaring the incumbent president had won Georgia, with each elector being granted immunity.

Giuliani is reportedly in the crosshairs for making false statements before the Georgia Legislature about the 2020 election.

Trumps legal team requested in March that the special grand jury report be thrown out and Willis be removed from the case, saying her investigation involved a constant lack of clarity as to the law, inconsistent applications of basic constitutional protections for individuals being brought before it, and a prosecutors office that was found to have an actual conflict, yet continued to pursue the investigation, according to lawyers Drew Findling, Jennifer Little and Marissa Goldberg.

On Monday, Willis pushed back on the motion, saying it was procedurally flawed and citing its arguments that lack merit prompting Trumps team to request 21 days to respond to her.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville has yet to weigh in on either request.

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Georgia DA likely to announce Trump indictment decision in August - New York Post

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina officially entered the 2024 presidential race on Friday with a roughly $22 million war chest and the backing of one of the rights wealthiest donors, Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison. He joins a primary contest that Donald Trump holds a commanding lead overbut also one in which second place remains up for grabs, with presumptive candidate Ron DeSantis having waned in popularity in recent months.

Given the plethora of Republican mega-donors eager to stop another Trump nomination at any cost, the first non-Trump candidate to rise above the rest will likely be showered with cash. Scott, 57, might be a long way away from runner-up, but the free market absolutism he espouses may overlap neatly with the ethos of the partys donor class. At least it does for that of Ellison: a New York Times report Friday revealed that he is willing to bet millions on Scotts candidacy.

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The three-term senator has largely defied Trumps nationalist transformation of the Republican Party by supporting continued US military intervention abroad and transnational trade deals. Just how popular his bygone politics will be on the campaign trail is unclear, but even in his home state, support for Scott among Republican primary voters was in the single digits, according to a Winthrop University poll released last month.

The only Black Republican in the Senate, Scott has built a national profile by wading into contentious issues. He has backed moderate police reform measures and challenged Trumps racist comments, including the former presidents assertion that good people were on both sides of the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. A born-again evangelical, he has also shown a predilection for the rights culture wars. He is a cosponsor of the DeSantis-esque PROTECT Kids Act, an anti-LGBTQ+ bill, and declared last month that he would sign a 20-week federal abortion ban into law if elected president.

Scott isnt the only establishment-friendly Republican eyeing the White House. Chris Sununu, the popular governor of New Hampshire, has discussed his potential candidacy in meetings and phone calls with top Republican donors, according to The Dispatchs David Drucker, who noted the talks have encouraged Sununu to pursue the next step.

In a Thursday interview with Pucks Tara Palmeri, Sununu shared his take on the race within the racethe one that will be decided by the donor class. [Large and small donors] understand that Trump likely cannot win in November of 24, he said. So whos really going to take him on? Obviously DeSantis is the leading choice right now, today. That hasnt been going great for him. The 48-year-old then claimed that donors have told him he knows how to get people excited and get stuff done. These donors, Sununu bragged, even informed him that winning a general electionpresumably against Joe Bidenwould not be a problem for him. If [I] were to explore this, he added, referencing a White House bid, I have no doubt that the money will be there, theres no question.

But if it so happens that neither Sununu nor Scottin a primary against Trumpcan manage to get people excited, then those same donors will have an abundance of other names to choose from. As it stands, former vice president Mike Pence and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley are the most realistic alternates, while a pair of wild card optionsformer Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamyare likely in the running for the first debate but not much else. Like Scott, though, polls of likely Republican voters show none of them have climbed out of the single-digit trench.

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Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis Are Going to Have a Lot of Company in the GOP Primary - Vanity Fair

Mike Pence says he was angry at Donald Trump's 'reckless words' ahead of Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Conversation with the Candidate

Updated: 7:11 PM EDT May 19, 2023

Mike Pence, who was the 48th vice president of the United States, said he was angry at then-President Donald Trump for his rhetoric on the day of the Capitol riot. He said he believes Trump's words endangered his family. In the video above, Pence also addressed the immigration crisis at the southern border and the origins of COVID-19. Learn more about Pence's backgroundPrior to serving in the Trump administration, he was the 50th governor of his home state of Indiana, where he enacted the largest tax cut in its history, halved the unemployment rate and created the first state-funded pre-K plan.See the full "Conversation with the Candidate" event through the following links:Watch Part 1: Pence says he was angry with Donald Trump after Capitol riotWatch Part 2: Pence tells voters he supports national abortion restrictions, says he favors all-of-the-above energy policyWatch online exclusive: Pence talks about support for NATO, ensuring security of schoolsBefore his executive experience, Pence served six terms in Congress, representing east-central Indiana.He has also hosted a talk radio show, practiced law and wrote the bestselling autobiography "So Help Me God."The former vice president said Americans are yearning for "leadership that can unite the country around our highest ideals."Pence graduated from Hanover College and earned his law degree from Indiana University, where he met his wife, Karen. Together, they have three children.See the full "Conversation with the Candidate" event through the following links:Watch Part 1: Pence says he was angry with Donald Trump after Capitol riotWatch Part 2: Pence tells voters he supports national abortion restrictions, says he favors all-of-the-above energy policyWatch online exclusive: Pence talks about support for NATO, ensuring security of schoolsOther "Conversation with the Candidate" events will be held throughout the campaign season. The full list of candidates who participate will be updated here.

Mike Pence, who was the 48th vice president of the United States, said he was angry at then-President Donald Trump for his rhetoric on the day of the Capitol riot. He said he believes Trump's words endangered his family.

In the video above, Pence also addressed the immigration crisis at the southern border and the origins of COVID-19.

Learn more about Pence's background

Prior to serving in the Trump administration, he was the 50th governor of his home state of Indiana, where he enacted the largest tax cut in its history, halved the unemployment rate and created the first state-funded pre-K plan.

See the full "Conversation with the Candidate" event through the following links:

Before his executive experience, Pence served six terms in Congress, representing east-central Indiana.

He has also hosted a talk radio show, practiced law and wrote the bestselling autobiography "So Help Me God."

The former vice president said Americans are yearning for "leadership that can unite the country around our highest ideals."

Pence graduated from Hanover College and earned his law degree from Indiana University, where he met his wife, Karen. Together, they have three children.

See the full "Conversation with the Candidate" event through the following links:

Other "Conversation with the Candidate" events will be held throughout the campaign season. The full list of candidates who participate will be updated here.

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Mike Pence says he was angry at Donald Trump's 'reckless words' ahead of Jan. 6 Capitol riot - WMUR Manchester