Welcome to the online version of From the Policy Deska nightly newsletter that brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the NBC News politics team on the campaign, the White House and Capitol Hill.
In today’s edition, senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett explores the key question hanging over Donald Trump’s legal proceedings this week. Plus, with the Ukraine aid package now approved, “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker previews the next big fight Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell will face.
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The central question hanging over Trump’s legal cases
By Laura Jarrett
In the middle of a high risk argument in the Supreme Court this week, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson asked the former president’s lawyer donald trump a penetrating question: “If there is no threat of criminal prosecution, what stops the president from doing whatever he wants?”
It’s a question that persists not only in Trump’s Washington criminal case — where a grand jury indicted him for trying to overturn the 2020 election — but also In New Yorkwhere prosecutors ask a judge to hold him in criminal contempt because they argue he is attacking potential trial witnesses.
Trump is under a court-imposed gag order that directs him not to comment about anyone who might testify at the trial, but he continues to post about witnesses online and rant in the courtroom hallways against his former agent-turned-state’s witness .
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So what’s a judge to do when faced with a defendant who is also the presumptive Republican presidential nominee? If the judge imposes a fine, as prosecutors have urged, will the defendant stop? And if not, then what? In court this week, prosecutors argued that Trump appears to be “attempting” incarceration — presumably to gain martyrdom status with his political base.
None of this is normal. And the judges overseeing Trump’s cases right now appear to be feeling the weight of the unusual circumstances in which they find themselves.
Judge Juan Merchan in New York and Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, D.C., noted at several points that for the purposes of their cases, Trump should be treated like any other defendant. But he is not just any other defendant. And if he wins his immunity argument at the Supreme Court, protecting him from prosecution, then he will truly enjoy rare status.
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, in oral arguments Thursday in the election interference case, reflected that everyone agrees that “no man is above the law.” But the country’s legal system is being tested in an unprecedented way right now, and we will see if it is correct.
Trump Trial Day 8: Longtime Trump Aide and Bank Exec Take Stand
By Adam Reiss, Gary Grumbach, Jillian Frankel and Dareh Gregorian
The prosecution turned to its second witness in its case against Trump after former National Enquirer editor David Pecker finished his testimony, which included attempts by defense lawyers to cloud his comments about a joint scheme to benefit Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Pecker’s dramatic testimony was followed by two other witnesses, including Rhona Graff, Trump’s longtime assistant and guardian, who said she was testifying pursuant to a subpoena.
Graff said he worked for the Trump Organization for 34 years and was responsible for maintaining Trump’s contact list and calendar. People on the contact list — of which prosecutors have a copy — included former Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult film star Stormy Daniels, Graff acknowledged. Both women alleged that they had sexual relations with Trump in 2006 and were paid money to remain silent about his claims during his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump has denied their allegations.
McDougal’s listing included several phone numbers and addresses. Daniels’ contact information simply said “Stormy” and included a cellphone number, Graff confirmed after his listings were shown in court.
Asked by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger if he had ever seen Daniels in a Trump Tower reception area, Graff said he had a “vague memory” of it. Asked if she knew Daniels was an adult film actress, Graff said, “Yes, I did.”
The final witness on Friday was Gary Farro, a bank executive who helped Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, create the shell company he used to pay Daniels. Prosecutors are using his testimony to authenticate documents related to the transaction. His testimony will continue when the trial resumes Tuesday morning.
Read a full recap of Day 8 of the Trump trial here →
Mitch McConnell’s Next Big Fight
Per Kristen Welker
Mitch McConnell He has fought many political battles in his decades as a senator – on campaign finance, against Barack Obama’s judicial picks and, most recently, in supporting aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia.
But the Kentucky Republican, who will step down as Senate GOP leader at the end of the year, sees an even bigger fight ahead: the battle against isolationism within his own party.
He teased this in this conversation with me for an interview that will air on “Meet the Press” this Sunday, when discussing his conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Congress approved more aid.
McConnell: Well, he was grateful, because he knew that the big challenge was at my party. And I think he – it was kind of him to mention that we had a bigger vote than we had a few months ago. I think there is a growing feeling in the Senate Republican conference that the isolationist path is not a good idea.
And McConnell went into more detail later in the interview, telling me that after he steps down as leader, he plans to spend his time fighting isolationism within the Republican Party.
The challenge for McConnell: The Republican presidential nominee has championed an “America First” foreign policy that many Republican lawmakers have embraced.
Case in point: More House Republicans voted against additional aid to Ukraine than voted for it. And these are relatively newer members of Congress — of the 112 House Republicans who voted against aid to Ukraine, more than 70 were elected after 2016. And in the Senate, 10 of the 15 Republicans who opposed the aid package were elected after 2016.
McConnell may be fighting an uphill battle, with Republican critics of Ukraine funding, such as Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, suggesting This is the last aid package that will be approved in Congress.
I asked McConnell about this and more in our Sunday interview on “Meet the Press.”
That’s all from The Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback – like or dislike – send us an email at newsletter@nbcuni.com
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