Week In a Nutshell, 3/24/23

March 24, 2023

Week In a Nutshell, 3/24/23

Donald Trump stops to speak to reporters as he prepared to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on January 19, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Pete Marovich/Getty Images)

Here are some of the legal news stories making headlines this week:

Former President Donald Trump is facing a number of legal challenges.

In Manhattan, New York, a grand jury appears to be on the verge of indicting Trump for his alleged involvement in a 2016 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels. This week, in a special episode of Stay Tuned, Preet Bharara was joined by former federal prosecutors Joyce Vance, Barbara McQuade, and Elie Honig to discuss, among other things, the timing of the expected indictment, the potential charges, and Trump’s likely defenses.
In the District of Columbia, a federal judge has ordered Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran to provide further testimony as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents. In her ruling, which remains under seal, Judge Beryl Howell reportedly determined that Corcoran’s testimony should not be shielded by the attorney-client privilege, reasoning that prosecutors have sufficiently demonstrated Trump’s use of his attorney’s legal services in furtherance of a crime or fraud. On Wednesday, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued an order directing the parties to comply with the lower court’s ruling — rejecting Trump’s effort to overturn the decision.
In Fulton County, Georgia, Trump filed a motion to quash the special purpose grand jury’s report (and all evidence contained therein) detailing its findings from the investigation into Trump’s alleged interference in the 2020 presidential election in the state. Trump also asked the judge to disqualify Fulton County DA Fani Willis and her office from pursuing charges against him.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has rebuffed a request from three Republican House committee chairs demanding that Bragg provide information about his office’s investigation into Donald Trump.

This week, House Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan, House Oversight Committee chair James Comer, and House Administration Committee chair Bryan Steil sent a letter to Bragg requesting that he testify before Congress about the Trump investigation. The congressmen also requested that Bragg’s office provide documents and communications relating to the investigation as well as information about the office’s use of federal funding.
The congressmen wrote, “You are reportedly about to engage in an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority: the indictment of a former President of the United States and current declared candidate for that office.” The letter continues: “Your actions will erode confidence in the evenhanded application of justice and unalterably interfere in the course of the 2024 presidential election.”
On Thursday, Bragg’s office responded with a letter rejecting the requests, for the most part, and calling it an “unprecedent[sic] inquiry into a pending local prosecution.” The letter continued: “Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene. Neither fact is a legitimate basis for congressional inquiry.”

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