Trump was shot at 2 days ago — but Republicans aren’t fazed at the national convention
People attending the Republican National Convention passed through metal detectors and had their belongings searched at security checkpoints in Milwaukee on Monday, just two days after an attempted assassination on former U.S. president Donald Trump rattled the party and prompted discussions and concerns about security at the event.
For the most part, it was business as usual: long lines of pre-vetted journalists and volunteers, wearing badges allowing them entrance, waited to go through standard security checkpoints near the Fiserv Forum, where the convention is held. Groups of police officers congregated on street corners leading up to the arena. A police dog stood dutifully by a van, awaiting orders from its wrangler.
But outside the Forum, Republican delegates and convention-goers who spoke with CBC News said they felt the shooting had changed the mood of the convention, invigorating the party’s base.
As the four-day Republican National Convention in Milwaukee gets underway, Republican supporters and political analysts alike are taking a close look at the political discourse surrounding Donald Trump after an assassination attempt over the weekend.
Delegates expect tighter security
“I think it changes the scope of the whole election,” said Terry Castro, a convention delegate from Tampa, Fla. “I think this is going to consolidate the Republican Party, way, way more than what it could have ever been.”
She said the convention was more exciting because the base was energized by Trump’s response to the shooting and partly because of the judicial decision to dismiss the case against the former president for his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
She observed that security seemed tighter than the last Republican convention she attended in 2016, but that it made her feel more comfortable.
“Considering what happened, that’s only natural,” Castro said. “Almost everywhere there’s a police presence, and it really does make you feel like you’re in this little envelope and very safe.”
Beth Veneto, a Republican delegate from Quincy, Mass., said the shooting made her “want to stand up … not down.”
“A lot of people [are] like, ‘Oh my gosh. I don’t know if I want to go here or do this.’ This is the time for America, for everybody, to stand up.
“It makes me more empowered, and to see Trump pumping his fist like that. I mean, he’s a true hero and a true patriot.”
Secret Service ‘confident’ in security plans
During a security briefing on Sunday, members of the Secret Service said they didn’t anticipate a need to beef up security in the aftermath of the Butler, Penn., shooting, which killed one attendee and injured Trump when a bullet grazed his ear. The gunman was killed by the Secret Service.
“We are confident in the security plans that are in place for this event, and we’re ready to go. It’s been an 18-month process,” said Audrey Gibson-Cicchino, a Secret Service co-ordinator for the Republican National Convention.
“We’re not anticipating any changes to our operational security plans for this event.”
The National breaks down how the assassination attempt against Donald Trump unfolded and the security gaps that allowed a gunman to get a shot. Plus, the impact the shooting could have on November’s election.
Wisconsin is an open-carry state. Guns aren’t permitted inside the convention’s security perimeter, which closes off several blocks surrounding the convention area and requires entry through checkpoints.
People can carry firearms outside those boundaries — which has caused some concern in the aftermath of the shooting. Wisconsin’s Democratic governor Tony Evers reportedly requested that firearms be banned near the vicinity of the RNC, but that could contradict state law.
Law enforcement agents milled about the area outside the Forum. And for every Secret Service agent, there were additional officers from local Milwaukee police, from the state police force, Homeland Security, and others still from different U.S. states, including California and Indiana.
Heavy police presence
Several out-of-state police officers told CBC News that they were deployed to the area on a “mutual aid” request well before the shooting incident during Trump’s Pennsylvania rally on Saturday. It’s standard practice to bulk up convention security with police officers from other states.
Several blocks away from the Fiserv Forum, hundreds of people gathered for a protest — organized by The Coalition to March on the RNC — to draw attention to the Israel-Hamas war, abortion rights and immigration rights.
Asked whether the shooting on Saturday would change the tone of the protest, Milwaukee resident Charlie Moe, who was attending the demonstration, told CBC News he didn’t think it would. However, he said protestors were “a bit more concerned about police presence.”
Several locals who spoke to CBC News following the shooting on Saturday evening said they planned to stay away from the convention area entirely, while others expected more security measures.
“I’m sure they will tighten the perimeter. That being said, I assume the standard procedure is already fairly on top of security,” said Milwaukee resident Dan Feuer, who was walking around the downtown area on Saturday evening.
“I’m not exactly expecting a lockdown.”
Published at Sun, 14 Jul 2024 01:06:12 +0000
Judge hands Trump major legal victory, dismissing classified documents charges
A U.S. judge on Monday dismissed the criminal case accusing Donald Trump of illegally holding onto classified documents, dealing the former president another major legal victory in what some analysts believed was the most formidable case he was facing among his four criminal indictments.
Florida-based U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated by Trump, ruled that special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the prosecution, was unlawfully appointed to his role and did not have the authority to bring the case.
It marked another blockbuster legal victory for Trump, following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on July 1 that as a former president he enjoyed immunity from prosecution for many of his actions in office. It comes two days after he survived an assassination attempt, and as he prepares to announce his vice-presidential running mate as the presumptive nominee at the Republican convention this week in Milwaukee.
Trump has been accused of taking thousands of papers containing some of the nation’s most sensitive national security secrets when he left the White House in January 2021 and storing them in a haphazard manner at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Reportedly, another document may have been in Trump’s possession at a New Jersey property he owned.
The 37-count indictment included violations of the Espionage Act, which criminalizes unauthorized possession of defence information, and conspiracy to obstruct justice, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The charges included references to dozens of top-secret or secret documents.
The U.S. Justice Department will appeal the ruling, a spokesperson for the special counsel said in a statement.
Courts in other cases have repeatedly upheld the ability of the U.S. Justice Department to appoint special counsel to handle certain politically sensitive investigations.
“This ruling flies in the face of about 20 years of institutional precedent, conflicts with rulings issued in both the Mueller investigation and in D.C. with respect to Jack Smith himself,” said Bradley Moss, a lawyer who specializes in national security.
But Cannon’s ruling throws the future of the case, which once posed serious legal peril for Trump, into doubt. Smith is also prosecuting Trump in federal court in Washington over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, but the former president’s lawyers have not made a similar challenge to the special counsel in that case.
The classified documents investigation was first referred to prosecutors in 2022 after the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration tried for more than a year to retrieve presidential records from Trump.
Following the judge’s decision on Monday dismissing the documents case, Trump said his other outstanding prosecutions should also be thrown out. He is still awaiting trial on two cases — a federal prosecution in Washington and a Georgia state prosecution — for his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
Trump is also due to be sentenced in New York in September for trying to cover up a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in the weeks before his 2016 election victory.
“This dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts,” Trump said on his Truth Social site on Monday, also referencing the prosecutions of hundreds of his supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump left for the Republican National Convention a day after an assassination attempt at a campaign rally killed a bystander. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden called for unity as investigators searched for the shooter’s motive.
Congress approval needed, Trump lawyers argued
Trump’s lawyers challenged the legal authority for Attorney General Merrick Garland’s 2022 decision to appoint Smith to lead investigations into Trump. They argued the appointment violated the U.S. Constitution because his office was not created by Congress and he was not confirmed by the Senate.
Lawyers in Smith’s office disputed Trump’s claims, arguing there was a well-settled practice of using special counsel to manage politically sensitive investigations.
The ruling is the latest and most consequential in a series of decisions from Cannon favouring Trump’s defence and expressing skepticism about the conduct of prosecutors. The judge previously delayed a trial indefinitely while considering a flurry of Trump’s legal challenges.
In an unusual move, she allowed three outside lawyers, including two who sided with Trump, to argue during a court hearing focused on Trump’s challenge to Smith’s appointment.
Conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas also provided a boost to Trump’s challenge to the special counsel. In an opinion agreeing with the court’s decision to grant Trump broad immunity in the election case, Thomas questioned whether Smith’s appointment was lawful using similar arguments to those made by Trump’s lawyers.
Garland appointed Smith, a public corruption and international war crimes prosecutor, to give investigations into Trump a degree of independence from the Justice Department under President Joe Biden’s administration.
Two others — Trump personal aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira — were also charged with obstructing the investigation.
The search of Trump’s property in the summer of 2022 angered Republicans, and one Trump supporter was shot dead three days later after trying to enter an FBI office in Cincinnati.
The case also inspired searches among other high-profile politicians. Biden and former vice-president Mike Pence each returned documents that were located on properties they owned or managed as a result, with no criminal changes resulting.
Published at Mon, 15 Jul 2024 14:15:05 +0000