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• Trump says he would not oppose the release of documents linked to the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago raid.
• He even demanded that the documents be released “now,” while lauding his poll numbers.
• Media reports said Trump is free to release the search warrant for the raid but has not chosen to.

Former President Donald Trump said on Thursday night that he would not oppose the Department of Justice’s intended release of documents related to the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago raid.

In a series of posts on Truth Social, Trump continued to rage against the investigation while addressing the DOJ’s motion to unseal the search warrant.

“Not only will I not oppose the release of documents related to the unAmerican, unwarranted, and unnecessary raid and break-in of my home in Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago, I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents,” the former president wrote. 

Trump also posited without substantiation that the documents had been “drawn up by radical left Democrats and possible future political opponents” and created by people with a “strong and powerful vested interest in attacking” him.

In his statement, Trump also referenced his “poll numbers,” saying that they were “the strongest they have ever been” and added that his fundraising was “breaking all records.” 

“Release the documents now!” he wrote.

According to multiple reports and legal experts, Trump has a copy of the search warrant for the Mar-a-Lago raid but has so far chosen not to release it.

“No, we’re not releasing a copy of the warrant,” a source close to Trump told NBC News, adding that it would be up to the DOJ to present its reasons for the warrant.

Trump allies have also called on the DOJ to release more information about the search.

The FBI has not given an official reason for why Monday’s search of Mar-a-Lago took place. Multiple news outlets — along with Trump’s son, Eric — have suggested that the search was related to an investigation by the DOJ into whether Trump had improperly removed documents from the White House. The Washington Post also reported on Thursday that the FBI was looking for classified documents related to nuclear weapons.

More information about the search might be revealed soon as the DOJ has filed a motion asking for the Mar-a-Lago search warrant to be unsealed. The DOJ argued that Trump’s own publicizing of the search — which had attracted little public attention before Trump broke the news himself — made it a matter of public interest. 

• A source told NBC News Trump pleaded the Fifth more than 440 times during his Wednesday deposition.
• Trump attorney Ron Fischetti said Trump only answered one question about what his name was.
• Trump in 2018 railed against pleading the Fifth, saying only “the mob” did that.

Former President Donald Trump, during his deposition in New York on Wednesday, ended up pleading the Fifth more than 440 times, per NBC News.

This was according to a source with knowledge of the deposition, who told NBC News how Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment rights hundreds of times. 

Additionally, Trump’s lawyer Ron Fischetti told NBC News the only question Trump answered was one where he was asked what his name was. 

A spokesperson for the New York Attorney General’s office confirmed to NBC News that Trump had invoked the Fifth, but did not elaborate on how many times he did so. 

Trump declined to answer questions during a Wednesday deposition at the office of New York attorney general Tish James. James is investigating whether Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, violated banking, insurance, and tax laws and if it engaged in financial fraud.

The New York Times also spoke to Fischetti, who said that the deposition, which lasted around four hours with breaks in between, involved Trump saying “same answer” over and over again and reiterating his Fifth Amendment plea. 

“They asked a lot of questions about valuations and golf clubs and all that stuff,” Fischetti told The Times. 

Fischetti also told The Times that Trump had to be talked out of answering questions from the New York Attorney General’s office. 

“He absolutely wanted to testify, and it took some very strong persuasion by me and some others to convince him,” Fischetti said. 

Trump released a lengthy statement on Wednesday slamming James. 

“I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?’” he said in the statement.

“Now I know the answer to that question,” he continued in the statement. “When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the Fake News Media, you have no choice.”

After the deposition, Trump made a post on Truth Social, declaring that he was leaving the Attorney General’s office.

“A very professional meeting. Have a fantastic company with great assets, very little debt, and lots of CASH. Only in America!” Trump wrote.

Trump famously declared in the past that only members of “the mob” would take the Fifth. 

 

“You see the mob takes the Fifth,” he said in April 2018. “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” 

Fischetti did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

• A man who helped Trump write a book has a theory on why Trump may have taken White House documents.
• Charles Leerhsen thought Trump may have taken documents to sell as “presidential memorabilia.”
• “If there’s a grift to be grifted, he’s gonna grift it,” Charles Leerhsen told Newsweek.

An author who once helped Trump write some of his books has a theory on why the former president could have taken some documents from the White House. 

Charles Leerhsen, who worked with the former president in the 90s on his book, “Surviving at the Top,” weighed in on the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago on Monday.

The FBI search is thought to be over material that Trump may have brought to his Florida residence after leaving the White House. The National Archives asked the DOJ in February to investigate whether or not Trump broke the law by taking government records from the White House to Mar-a-Lago. 

Leerhsen wrote on Facebook his theory about why Trump could have taken documents. 

“As a former Trump ghostwriter (mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa) I feel obligated to point out that Trump may have taken documents that he intended to sell as presidential memorabilia,” Leerhsen said. 

Speaking to Newsweek, Leerhsen said that he had seen how Trump earned his money even before going into politics, adding that the former president is not above “groveling.” Leerhsen acknowledged, per Newsweek’s reporting, that he did not know what Trump may or may not have taken, but speculated that pieces of paper he signed or collectible items could be things the former president may have wanted to keep.

“If there’s a grift to be grifted, he’s gonna grift it,” Leerhsen told Newsweek. “He has this very basic sense that he might be able to pawn it off on someone.” 

He added that he once had a “firsthand sense” of Trump’s “avariciousness and his personality.” 

“Like everyone else, I watched things get worse and spiral out of control,” Leerhsen told Newsweek.

Leerhsen and representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

Eric Trump says he was the ‘guy who got the call’ that the FBI was executing a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Trump — speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity — said he was “the guy that got the call this morning.” 

“I called my father and let him know that it happened,” Trump said. “So I was involved in this all day.” 

After the search, Eric Trump complained to Hannity that he thought there is “no family in American history that has taken more arrows in the back than the Trump family.” 

“Every day, we get another subpoena,” Trump said. “That’s what this is about today, to have 30 FBI agents — actually, more than that —descend on Mar-a-Lago give absolutely, you know, no notice. Go through the gate, start ransacking an office, ransacking a closet. You know, they broke into a safe. He didn’t even have anything in the safe. I mean, give me a break.” 

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• Five of Turkey’s banks have adopted Russia’s Mir payment system, said Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
• Western officials are concerned that it could be used to skirt sanctions against Russia.
• Turkey has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but has not imposed sanctions against Russia.

Five of Turkey’s banks have started using Russia’s Mir payments system, raising concerns that it could be used to skirt sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine. As Mastercard and Visa have halted operations in Russia, Mir card payments will allow Russian tourists to pay for their purchases in Turkey.

There are “very serious developments” on the adoption of the system that will let Russians in Turkey pay for their purchases, said Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in the resort city of Sochi, according to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency on Saturday.

Turkey has also agreed to pay for some Russian natural gas in rubles, Erdogan said.

The Turkish leader’s meeting with Putin on Friday came three weeks after they met in Iran. The deepening of the relationship between the two countries is worrying Western officials, some of whom are thinking about punitive actions for Turkey, such as asking companies to reduce financing to Turkish firms, the Financial Times reported. There have been no official talks about such actions for Turkey so far, the media outlet added.

Ankara has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but has not sanctioned Russia or closed its airspace to the country, which is one of Turkey’s top trading partners. And Turkey needs all the economic support it can get.

Turkey’s economy rose 11% in 2021 from a year ago, but is beset with soaring inflation that hit almost 80% on-month in July. The Turkish Lira has also has lost half of its value against the US dollar this year. The country’s central bank has been drawing down on its foreign currency to support the currency — but the reserves got a $3 billion boost last week after Russia’s state-owned nuclear company Rosatom transferred some money to a Turkish subsidiary for a construction project, Bloomberg reported.

In June, US deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo met Turkish officials and bankers, warning them not to be used as a channel for Russian money.

Turkey is the top destination for Russian tourists, with 7 million of them visiting in 2019, per Nikkei. 

• The Secret Service has provided a list of agency-issued phone numbers to the Jan. 6 House committee.
• The unusual move will allow investigators to determine which agents’ records to review, ABC reported.
• The Secret Service has faced criticism for deleting text messages sent during the attack on the Capitol. 

The US Secret Service has turned over a list of agency-issued cell phone numbers to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to reports by ABC and CNN. 

The “highly unusual” move to release agents’ numbers will allow investigators to determine which officers’ records they wish to review as part of their investigation, ABC first reported, and could indicate a renewed effort by the agency to cooperate with investigators.  

CNN reported the current USSS director, James Murray, is delaying his retirement to oversee the agency’s cooperation with investigators.

“I feel strongly about using this time to oversee and ensure our agency’s continued cooperation, responsiveness, and full support with respect to ongoing Congressional and other inquiries,” CNN reported Murray said in a message to his workforce.

The records are being released after the agency faced criticism that it deleted text messages from agents’ phones that could have possibly been used as evidence in the investigation.

As part of a separate, agency-wide investigation connected to the attack on the Capitol, ABC reported, the inspector general responsible for the Secret Service also obtained a listing of personal cell phone numbers for the agents.  

Deleting agents’ text messages may have violated federal record-keeping laws and caused the loss of potentially relevant information regarding the events of Jan. 6

House Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney and Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson have accused the independent watchdog that oversees the Department of Homeland Security of covering up parts of its investigation into the missing messages. 

“We are writing with grave new concerns over your lack of transparency and independence, which appear to be jeopardizing the integrity of a crucial investigation run by your office,” the lawmakers wrote in an open letter to Trump-appointed DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari. “These documents also indicate that your office may have taken steps to cover up the extent of missing records.”

Thompson and Maloney have called for Cuffari to remove himself from oversight of the investigation, saying his delayed disclosure to Congress about the deleted Secret Service records casts “serious doubt on his independence and his ability to effectively conduct such an important investigation.”

• Indiana is the first state in the country to pass an abortion ban since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
• The ban makes abortion illegal except in cases of rape, incest, and if death may occur.
• Gov. Eric Holcomb signed the bill before it had even been on his desk for an hour.

Indiana is now the first state to have established an abortion ban since the overturning of Roe V. Wade, the landmark ruling that established abortion rights across the country in 1973, The Indianapolis Star reported.

Indiana lawmakers passed Senate Bill 1 and sent it to Gov. Eric Holcomb’s desk late Friday night. He signed it into law not even an hour later.

The bill makes exceptions for abortions on the conditions of rape or incest before 10 weeks after fertilization and in cases where the pregnancy threatens the life of the pregnant individual. The bill adds an additional exception if “the fetus is diagnosed with a lethal fetal anomaly.”

Prior to the bill, abortions had been allowed in the state up until 20 weeks post-fertilization since the year 2010.

“Following the overturning of Roe, I stated clearly that I would be willing to support legislation that made progress in protecting life. In my view, SEA 1 accomplishes this goal following its passage in both chambers of the Indiana General Assembly with a solid majority of support,” Holcomb said in a statement Friday night.

The ban goes into effect on September 15.

Holcomb and the Indiana legislature did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

Tennessee is holding both its Republican and Democratic primary elections on Thursday. Polls closed at 7 p.m. local time and 8 p.m. ET.

Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles emerged victorious in the state’s 5th Congressional District amongst a crowded GOP primary. Physician Jason Martin won Indiana’s Democratic gubernatorial primary on Thursday night, as well.

 

Governor

Tennessee’s Republican Gov. Bill Lee ran for reelection unopposed in the Volunteer State’s GOP primary. Before becoming governor in 2019, he worked for his family’s construction company, Lee Company, where he served as chairman for a short period.

In December, Lee will face off against the winner of Thursday’s Democratic primary, where three candidates sought to unseat him: advocate Carnita Atwater, physician Jason Martin, and Memphis Councilman JB Smiley Jr.

 

House of Representatives

In early 2022, Lee approved and signed a new congressional map into law following the passage of the map in both chambers of the Tennessee legislature. The new map split up the city of Nashville into three different districts, leading incumbent Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper of the state’s 5th Congressional District not to seek reelection.

“Despite my strength at the polls, I could not stop the General Assembly from dismembering Nashville,” Cooper said in a statement according to the Washington Post. “No one tried harder to keep our city whole. I explored every possible way, including lawsuits, to stop the gerrymandering and to win one of the three new congressional districts that now divide Nashville. There’s no way, at least for me in this election cycle, but there may be a path for other worthy candidates.” 

Fighting for the Democrats in Cooper’s place in the 5th District is Tennessee State Sen. Heidi Campbell, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. She’ll face off against the winner of the crowded GOP primary, which had nine candidates vying for the seat. The three leading candidates were former state House Speaker Beth Harwell, Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles, and retired Tennessee National Guard Brig. Gen. Kurt Winstead

Additionally, five out of the state’s nine congressional members didn’t have any primary opponents: Reps. John Rose, Mark Green, Scott DesJarlais, Diana Harshbarger, and Tim Burchett.

State races

Each of Tennessee’s 99 state House seats is up for reelection this year, and 17 of the state’s 33 Senate seats are up for grabs as well.

 

• John Eastman was still pitching ideas for overturning the Georgia vote on Biden’s inauguration day.
• Eastman suggested to Rudy Giuliani that they look for election fraud in the Georgia runoff polls.
• In the same email, he asked Giuliani for advice on how to claim $270,000 in legal fees from Trump.

Former Trump lawyer John Eastman was still pitching ideas on how to overturn the election in Georgia on President Joe Biden’s inauguration day, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Eastman is known for having penned a detailed six-page memo suggesting how then-Vice President Mike Pence should move to overturn the vote in favor of former President Donald Trump.

The Times obtained an email dated January 20, 2021, that Eastman sent to Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer at the time. The email — which the outlet authenticated with individuals involved with the Trump campaign — was sent several hours after Biden was inaugurated.

According to The Times, Eastman pitched to Giuliani the idea that their team could uncover voter fraud in Georgia by attempting to scrutinize the results of the state’s runoff elections, in which Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock clinched two Senate seats.

“A lot of us have now staked our reputations on the claims of election fraud, and this would be a way to gather proof,” wrote Eastman in the email, per The Times.

“If we get proof of fraud on Jan. 5, it will likely also demonstrate the fraud on Nov. 3, thereby vindicating President Trump’s claims and serving as a strong bulwark against Senate impeachment trial,” Eastman continued, per the outlet.

Also included in Eastman’s email was an appeal to Giuliani to help him to secure payment for the $270,000 in legal fees he had billed the Trump campaign for on January 19, The Times reported. This bill included $10,000 daily legal fees for working eight days in January 2021.

According to The Times, Eastman might not have received his payment.

Eastman and Giuliani did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment. Insider has not independently acquired or verified the authenticity of the email obtained by The Times.

In July, federal investigators obtained a search warrant for Eastman’s phone — a sign that the Justice Department might be moving in on those closest to Trump.

FBI agents seized Eastman’s phone in June. That same month, Eastman also dropped a lawsuit blocking his phone records from the January 6 panel investigating the Capitol riot.

The panel also revealed that Eastman, who pleaded the Fifth Amendment 100 times during his deposition to the committee, had personally asked Giuliani if he could be placed on Trump’s presidential pardon list following the Capitol riot.

Sources have told Rolling Stone that Trump might be looking to distance himself from Eastman in the wake of the increased scrutiny the latter faced from the January 6 panel.

• Kansas voters turned out in huge numbers to defeat an anti-abortion amendment. 
• Kansas rejected the amendment by a margin of over 20 points, a blowout loss. 
• The exceptionally high turnout is a major loss for anti-abortion groups and a warning sign for the GOP.

Kansas voters turned out in droves to summarily reject the first anti-abortion ballot measure in the post-Roe v. Wade era — and dealt a major warning sign to Republicans hoping the drastic curtailing of abortion rights nationwide won’t dent their prospects in the 2022 midterms. 

Amendment 2 was pushed by anti-abortion activists and would have established no right to abortion and no right for government funding for abortion under the Kansas constitution. 

With over 830,000 votes counted and 99% of the vote reporting as of 12:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, “no” was trouncing “yes” by 60% to 40%, a gaping 20-point margin. 

The number of total votes cast on the amendment makes up nearly three-quarters of the votes cast in the general election in 2018, a midterm that saw a Democratic “blue wave,” according to the US Elections Project. That number also comes close to matching the roughly 887,00 votes cast in the general election in 2014 and the 858,000 cast in 2010 — both midterm years where the political climate also largely favored Republicans. 

With over 800,000 voters turning out to vote for the amendment — compared to 470,000 who voted in the 2018 Kansas gubernatorial primaries — the referendum demonstrated a potent motivator for abortion rights supporters. With the 2022 election ahead, abortion access being directly on the ballot could pose a serious problem for the GOP that they hadn’t had to face in a world without Roe v. Wade’s protections. 

A “yes” vote on the measure would have eliminated the right to abortion under the state constitution, while the “no” vote left the constitutional protections to abortion in Kansas unchanged, preserving the status quo.

Lower turnout levels typically associated with primaries, especially in midterm elections, and a political environment favoring the Republican Party were initially anticipated to favor proponents of the amendment.

But before polls even closed, Kansas’ chief election official, Secretary of State Scott Schwab, predicted that turnout in the August primary was on track to surpass the offices’ projected 36% of the electorate and could go as high as 50%, a notably high rate for a midterm-year primary. 

—Katie Bernard (@KatieJ_Bernard) August 3, 2022

 

With over 99% of the results reporting, the “no” vote on the measure significantly outperformed President Joe Biden’s vote share in several blue counties he won in the 2020 election.

Meanwhile, the “yes” vote underperformed and failed to crack 60% of the vote in several counties former President Donald Trump won handily in 2020.

—Taniel (@Taniel) August 3, 2022

John Hanna/AP

Americans’ views on abortion can, in many cases, be murky and hard to parse, but most opposed overturning Roe v. Wade, and as the result of the Kansas amendment shows, strict abortion bans or “trigger laws” are often overwhelmingly unpopular among voters of both major political parties. 

And, when given the chance to shape abortion policy directly, Kansas voters displayed no appetite for enabling strict abortion bans after nearly six weeks of being faced with the real-world consequences playing out across the country. 

The voters’ decision upholds a 2019 ruling by the Kansas Supreme Court establishing a right to abortion under the Kansas Bill of Rights, preserving a potential legal guardrail against the kind of abortion restrictions that could be passed into law if a Republican wins the governor’s race in November.

It also — for now — maintains Kansas’ status as a crucial access point for abortion care in the Midwest and Southwest. 

Still, Amendment 2 supercharging turnout and getting swiftly trounced at the polls doesn’t spell complete doom for Republicans, who are still favored by election analysts and forecasters to win back the House of Representatives.

But it offers a warning sign ahead for the fate of future anti-abortion ballot measures, two of which are up in November in Kentucky and Montana, Republicans’ hopes for muted Democratic enthusiasm and turnout for November, and — possibly — the state-level elected officials who champion harsh abortion bans and restrictions.