Today in one sentence: Special Counsel Jack Smith warned the judge overseeing Trump’s classified documents case that she is pursuing a legal premise that “is wrong” and would “distort” the trial; Biden condemned the Israeli strike that killed seven aid workers and blamed Israel for failing to protect both aid workers and civilians; Trump sued his two own co-founders of Trump Media & Technology Group; Trump Media was saved in 2022 by a Russian-American under criminal investigation; 28% of Republicans believe that Americans may have to resort to violence to get their country back on track; and 57% of Americans say Biden is more likable than say Trump (37%).

1/ Special Counsel Jack Smith warned the judge overseeing Trump’s classified documents case that she is pursuing a legal premise that “is wrong” and would “distort” the trial. In an unusual order last month, Judge Aileen Cannon directed Trump and Smith to submit briefs on potential jury instructions for two legal interpretations of the Espionage Act, under which Trump is charged with mishandling 32 classified records. In one version, jurors would be instructed to assume that Trump had complete authority to take any records he wanted from the White House under the Presidential Records Act — a 1978 law that manages the maintenance of White House documents produced during each presidency. Under this scenario, “neither a court nor a jury” would have the ability to review the decision, which could nullify much of Smith’s case against Trump. In the other version, jurors would review and determine whether a record retained by Trump could be categorized as “personal” or “presidential.” In this scenario, jurors could decided that official documents were mishandled. Federal prosecutors, however, rejected both proposals, writing that the PRA “should not play any role at trial at all,” arguing that Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified records occurred after his presidency ended. Smith added that Cannon’s order was based on a “fundamentally flawed” understanding of the case that has “no basis in law or fact.” Smith indicated that federal prosecutors would appeal if Cannon rules against them and accepts Trump’s arguments about his record-retention powers. (CNN / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Axios / New York Times / NBC News / Associated Press / CBS News)

  • How legal fights and stalling by judge could push Trump documents trial after election. “US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to the federal bench by Trump in 2020, has drawn out the case with an unusual, eyebrow-raising approach in her nearly 10-month oversight of the case, delaying rulings on what experts say are routine legal questions that must be resolved before the case can go to trial.” (CNN)

  • Trump is trying everything he can to delay this month’s hush money criminal trial. Trump’s “own incessant rhetoric is generating significant publicity, and it would be perverse to reward defendant with an adjournment based on media attention he is actively seeking,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said. The filing was in response to a request by Trump’s lawyers to delay the trial for the foreseeable future because of “prejudicial” publicity around the case. (CNN / NBC News)

2/ Biden condemned the Israeli strike that killed seven aid workers and blamed Israel for failing to protect both aid workers and civilians. “Incidents like yesterday’s simply should not happen,” Biden said. “This is not a stand-alone incident. This conflict has been one of the worst in recent memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed. This is a major reason why distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza has been so difficult — because Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians.” Despite the tough talk, Biden reportedly has no plans to change his policy toward Israel. The Biden administration, meanwhile, said it wanted to see the results of an Israeli investigation into the airstrike on a charity helping to feed hungry Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip before making any decisions about how it would proceed. (Politico / Washington Post / CNN / New York Times)

3/ Trump sued his two own co-founders of Trump Media & Technology Group, accusing them of failing “spectacularly” to get the company off the ground, making a “series of reckless and wasteful decisions at a critical time” that caused “significant damage” to the company, and a “decline in the stock prices of its merger.” The suit argues that Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss — who own an 8.6% stake in the company — should forfeit their stock because they didn’t set up the corporate governance structure for Trump Media properly and failed to find a viable merger partner. In their own suit, the two say Trump was planning to dilute their stake while seeking millions of extra shares. TMGT went public last month, but share prices plummeted after the company disclosed a $58 million net loss for 2023 while generating total revenues of $4.1 million. (Bloomberg / CNN / Associated Press / CNBC / Daily Beast / Rolling Stone)

  • Trump Media was saved in 2022 by a Russian-American under criminal investigation. “Through leaked documents, the Guardian has learned that ES Family Trust operated like a shell company for a Russian-American businessman named Anton Postolnikov, who co-owns Paxum Bank and has been a subject of a years-long joint federal criminal investigation by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into the Trump Media merger.” (The Guardian)

poll/ 47% of Americans approved of the job the Supreme Court is doing — the highest level in over a year — while 53% disapproved. In February, 40% of adults approved of the Supreme Court, while 60% disapproved. (Politico)

poll/ 28% of Republicans believe that Americans may have to resort to violence to get their country back on track, while 12% of Democrats agreed with the statement. Overall, 79% of Americans disagree that violence is a solution. (PBS)

poll/ 57% of Americans say Biden is more likable than say Trump (37%). Americans also say Biden is more honest and trustworthy than Trump (46% to 35%). (Gallup)

Last year today: Day 804: "Crystal clear."
Four years ago today: Day 1170: "You don't have to do it."
Five years ago today: Day 804: Not inclined.
Six years ago today: Day 439: We've got your back.