Day 945: "A tremendous courtesy."
1/ The Trump lawyer who led efforts to overturn the 2020 election surrendered at the Fulton County jail. John Eastman was the second of 19 co-defendants to turn himself in. He faces nine counts charges, including racketeering, conspiracy to commit forgery, and filing false documents. Eastman maintained that there was “no question in my mind” that the 2020 election was “absolutely” stolen. Trump, meanwhile, said he intends to surrender in Georgia on Thursday to face the 13 felony counts related to efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election result. (CNBC / The Hill / Associated Press / NBC News / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / Politico / NPR)
2/ The former chairman of the Georgia Republican Party – and one of the 19 co-defendants in the election interference case – claimed that he “acted at the direction” of Trump. Shafer and 15 other Republican fake electors met at the state capitol on Dec. 14, 2020 and falsely certified Trump as the winner in Georgia. “Attorneys for the President and Mr. Shafer specifically instructed Mr. Shafer, verbally and in writing, that the Republican electors’ meeting and casting their ballots on December 14, 2020 was consistent with counsels’ advice and was necessary to preserve the presidential election contest,” Shafer’s court filing states. Shafer faces eight charges, including false statements and writings, forgery in the first degree, and impersonating a public officer. (Politico / Axios)
3/ Mark Meadows asked a federal court in Georgia to block state authorities from arresting him and to “immediately” move his criminal election interference case to federal court, claiming the charges relate to his then-role in the federal government. Although Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis gave Meadows until Aug. 25 to surrender, Meadows argues that his surrender should be delayed until after an Aug. 28 hearing about his request to transfer the case to federal court. Willis, meanwhile, has refused to grant Meadows an extension, saying Meadows is “no different than any other criminal defendant in this jurisdiction” and that the two-week window for surrender was “a tremendous courtesy.” (CNBC / Bloomberg / New York Times / CNN)
4/ A federal judge temporarily blocked part of a Georgia’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, ordering state officials to stop enforcing a key provision of the law more than a month after it took effect. Judge Sarah Geraghty said the law, which went into effect July 1, “is substantially likely to violate the Equal Protection Clause.” Meanwhile, a school board in suburban Atlanta voted to fire a teacher who read a book about gender fluidity to her fifth-grade class. Earlier that year, Georgia passed a law banning teachers from teaching “divisive lessons” and created a parent’s bill of rights that guarantees parents “the right to direct the upbringing and the moral or religious training of his or her minor child.” (CNN / The Hill)
5/ A federal appeals court ruled that Alabama can enforce a ban on hormone treatments and puberty blockers for transgender youth. The three-judge panel for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a temporary injunction against enforcing the law, saying that the district court had erred in partly blocking the law, which the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature passed last year. All three judges hearing the appeal were nominated to their positions by Trump. More than 20 states now have laws banning or restricting gender-affirming care for minors. (Associated Press / New York Times)
poll/ 51% of likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers believe Trump’s claims that he won the 2020 presidential election despite no evidence of widespread election fraud, while 41% say they don’t, and 8% aren’t sure. (NBC News)