- Trump says the various prosecutions against him are ‘election interference’
- Even many Democrats say the charges are about next year’s White House race
- Read about Trump becoming a ‘target’ in Jack Smith’s January 6 probe
Nearly half of US voters see the prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified documents as an effort to derail the former president’s 2024 election bid, a DailyMail.com/TIPP Poll shows.
Our polling reveals that 47 percent of adults see his indictment as ‘election interference,’ including most Republicans and many Democrats. Another 40 percent disagreed, and 13 percent said they were not sure.
The results come after Trump’s lawyers asked a US federal judge to delay his trial for unlawfully retaining national defense documents and obstructing efforts to retrieve them until after the 2024 election.
They also come as Trump says he’s bracing for a third indictment and imminent arrest after revealing he has received a target letter from special counsel Jack Smith over his role in the assault on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Regular Americans do not appear to be convinced that the charges are fair, with nearly half of people in all parts of the country and from all age groups saying they amount to election interference.
GOP voters are more likely to see the documents probe as political than are Democrats, but by a slim margin. Some 54 percent of Republicans eye election interference, compared to 46 percent of Democrats.
The survey of 1,341 adults was conducted earlier this month.
Trump has derided the various charges against him as a political witch hunt, and speaking in early-voting state Iowa on Tuesday spoke out against an expected prosecution over his role in the January 6 Capitol riot.
‘They’re in a rush because they want to interfere,’ he told a pro-Trump crowd.
‘It’s interference with the election. It’s election interference. Never been done like this in the history of our country, and it’s a disgrace.’
In a dramatic post on his Truth Social account on Tuesday, Trump said he had received a target letter while having dinner on Sunday night, saying he is the subject of a criminal investigation into the Capitol riot and his bid to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump said he would ‘almost certainly’ be arrested and indicted and had been given four days to respond.
In the post, he ripped into Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, claimed the investigation is ‘election interference’ and accused President Joe Biden of ‘going after his ‘number one political opponent.’
Trump still dominates the polls in the race to be the Republican nominee in the 2024 election, but could now be facing three criminal trials during the campaign.
He could face charges of obstructing an official proceeding — related to Congress’ electoral college count on January 6 — and defrauding the government over an alleged ‘fake electors’ scheme.
A target letter means investigators have gathered substantial evidence linking the recipient to a crime, indicating that an indictment is near. Usually, such letters invite the recipient to appear before a grand jury to offer evidence.
Trump was indicted last month on 37 felony counts alleging he illegally kept classified records at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and refused government demands to give them back.
He and his valet, Walt Nauta, who was also charged, have both pleaded not guilty.
Those charges against Trump include violations of the Espionage Act, which criminalizes unauthorized possession of defense information. Trump, 77, would face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
The trial was initially set to start in August, but at a hearing in Florida this week, Trump’s lawyer Christopher Kise asked US District Judge Aileen Cannon to consider the election schedule in deciding a new trial start date.
Kise said that because Biden’s US Justice Department brought the charges, the case could be seen as the ‘two leading contenders for president of the United States squaring off in court.’
Prosecutor David Harbach called suggestions of political interference ‘flat out false.’
He noted that US Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith as special counsel to distance the investigation from politics.
The former president also is under criminal investigation by a Georgia state prosecutor for his attempt to get election officials there to reverse his loss to Biden in that state.
The prosecutor in Georgia said she plans to present criminal charges in August.
And he was indicted in the state of New York in early April by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election.
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TIPP Takes
Geopolitics And Geoeconomics
1. Russia Warns Ships Traveling To Ukraine Considered Part Of War – Al Jazeera
Russia’s defense ministry said that it would deem all ships traveling to Ukraine to be potentially carrying military cargo on behalf of Kyiv, and “the flag countries of such ships will be considered parties to the Ukrainian conflict.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine said it was establishing a temporary shipping route via Romania following Moscow’s withdrawal from a deal that permitted food shipments from Ukraine’s ports.
2. Putin Will Not Travel To South Africa For BRICS Summit – UPI
The office of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the two nations reached a “mutual agreement” for Putin not to attend the BRICS summit in person.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will physically represent the Kremlin. Putin, however, will still address the summit by video link.
Putin faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, and South Africa is a signatory to the ICC, which makes them responsible for enforcing the arrest warrant.
3. U.S. Announces $1.3B Military Package For Ukraine – UPI
The package includes National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, drones and counter-drone equipment, trucks and support for training, maintenance, and sustainment activities as well as various munitions and artillery rounds.
With tens of billions of dollars committed to Ukraine’s defense, the United States is by far the largest backer of Ukraine as it continues to push back against a full-scale invasion launched by Russia more than 500 days ago.
4. Prigozhin Appears In Video Weeks After Aborted Mutiny, Says Wagner Is Quitting Ukraine – RFE/RL
Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led the Russian private Wagner mercenary group’s aborted mutiny last month, has appeared in a video purportedly filmed in Belarus welcoming his fighters.
He said they would be headed to Africa as the company was halting its involvement in Russia’s war with Ukraine for the foreseeable future.
5. China’s State Banks Seen Selling Dollars Offshore To Slow Yuan Declines – Sources – Reuters
One of the sources said that state bank dollar selling was meant to slow the pace of yuan declines.
China’s central bank also relaxed a cross-border financing rule, making it easier for domestic firms to raise funds from overseas markets and easing depreciation pressure on the yuan currency.
6. Xi Jinping Meets Former U.S. Secretary Of State Henry Kissinger In Beijing – AFP
Chinese leader Xi Jinping described the 100-year-old as a “legendary diplomat.” Kissinger used the visit to call for a rapprochement between the United States and China.
A U.S. national security adviser, Kissinger secretly flew to Beijing in July 1971 to establish relations with communist China. That trip set the stage for a landmark visit by former U.S. president Richard Nixon, who sought both to shake up the Cold War and enlist help in ending the Vietnam War.
7. Protesters Storm Swedish Embassy In Baghdad Over Quran Burning – Al Jazeera
Protesters angered by the burning of copies of the Quran in Sweden stormed the Swedish embassy in central Baghdad, scaling the compound’s walls and setting it on fire.
The Swedish foreign ministry press office said that all embassy staff were safe in a statement, condemning the attack and highlighting the need for Iraqi authorities to protect diplomatic missions.
8. Saudi Arabia, Iran To Strengthen Economic Ties Despite Political Differences: Tehran – Al Arabiya
Tehran wants a “stable economic cooperation that will lead to economic prosperity on both sides,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in an interview.
He added that such collaborative efforts “will help the stability” of the rapprochement process with Riyadh. Iran reopened its embassy in Riyadh last month.
9. Biden To Host 3-Way Summit With Japan, S. Korea On Aug. 18: Sources – Kyodo News
If the plan goes ahead, the summit involving Japanese PM Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will be the first standalone summit between the U.S., Japan, and South Korea leaders.
They will likely discuss how to deal with North Korea, which has continued to launch ballistic missiles.
10. Afghanistan: Women Protest Taliban Ban On Beauty Salons – D.W.
At least 60 women participated in the demonstrations, which grabbed guards’ attention as public protests are rare in Afghanistan.
Videos and photos shared by the protesters showed many women carrying placards reading “food,” “justice,” and “work.”
Taliban forces used fire hoses, tasers, and shotguns into the air to break up the protest, according to reports.
11. Sign Language Becomes The 12th Official Language Of South Africa – WION.
South Africa is the fourth country in the African continent to do so after Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Uganda.
“South African Sign Language (SASL) has served as an essential communication tool for our citizens living with disabilities, and this step will further empower that community,” President Ramaphosa said.
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Republished with permission from TIPP Insights
