1/ Convicted felon Trump – again – suggested that he’d prosecute his political opponents if he’s reelected. “It’s a terrible, terrible path that they’re leading us to, and it’s very possible that it’s going to have to happen to them,” Trump said while discussing the 34 felon counts of orchestrating an illegal conspiracy to influence the 2016 presidential election by falsifying business records a a New York jury found him guilty of. “Does that mean the next president does it to them? That’s really the question,” he added. (Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / Axios)

  • 📌 Day 1051: Trump refused to rule out abusing power if re-elected president. In a Fox News town hall, Sean Hannity asked Trump to deny that he would abuse power to seek revenge on political opponents if he returns to the White House. Trump initially dodged the question. “You are promising America tonight you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?” Hannity asked a second time. “Except for Day One,” Trump replied. Asked for clarification, Trump responded: “I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill.” Trump then doubled down on his comments: “I love this guy,” referring to Hannity. “He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ I said: ‘No, no, no. Other than Day One.’ We’re closing the border, and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.” Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, warned Americans that Trump “has been telling us exactly what he will do if he’s re-elected, and tonight he said he will be a dictator on Day 1. Americans should believe him.” (Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post / The Guardian / Rolling Stone / Daily Beast / Politico)

  • 📌 Day 1028: Trump – echoing fascist dictators like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini – “pledged” to “root out” his political opponents, which he called “vermin” and claimed they “lie, steal and cheat on elections.” In a Veterans Day post, Trump suggested that his political opponents pose a greater “threat from within” to the U.S. than “outside forces” like Russia, China, or North Korea. (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News)

2/ A Georgia appeals court indefinitely postponed convicted felon Trump’s election subversion case while a lower court resolves an appeal by Trump and his eight other defendants seeking to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. In March, Judge Scott McAfee declined to remove Willis following revelations that she was engaged in a romantic relationship with a member of her legal team. The appeals court is expected to rule on the disqualification issue by March 2025. (New York Times / CNBC / Washington Post / CNN / Axios / Associated Press)

3/ The federal judge overseeing convicted felon Trump’s trial involving “willful retention” of classified documents in violation of the Espionage Act – again – abruptly changed the court’s schedule. Judge Aileen Cannon granted Trump’s request to allow third parties not involved in the case to argue whether the appointment of Jack Smith as special counsel is legal. The parties include conservative lawyers Josh Blackman and Gene Schaerr – constitutional scholars with connections to the right-wing Federalist Society – and Matthew Seligman, a legal scholar who thinks that Trump’s motion is “meritless.” Cannon also agreed to hear Trump’s arguments that the FBI plotted to assassinate him while executing a court-authorized search warrant at Mar-a-Lago – a made-up conspiracy theory that Smith said were “intentionally false and inflammatory” and Attorney General Merrick Garland called “baseless and extremely dangerous falsehoods.” Nevertheless, Cannon denied Smith’s gag order request last week, because she deemed it “wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy.” In May, Cannon – a Trump-appointee – indefinitely postponed the trial to rule on “myriad and interconnected pre-trial” without setting a new date. (CNN / New York Times / Business Insider / HuffPost / The New Republic)

4/ Convicted felon Trump asked the judge overseeing his election interference trial involving falsified business records to terminate the gag order because the trial is over. Trump argued that his need for “unrestrained campaign advocacy” is greater because Biden called Trump’s behavior “reckless, dangerous, and irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don’t like the verdict.” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, however, opposed Trump’s request, arguing that Trump’s partial gag order should stay in effect through sentencing on July 11 to protect the integrity of the proceedings. Trump was fined $10,000 during the trial for violating the gag order, which barred him from making comments about witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, and court staff. (Axios / CNBC / Washington Post / CNN)

5/ Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic measure to protect the federal right to access contraception nationwide. The vote on the Right to Contraception Act was 51-39, falling short of the 60 votes needed to defeat a Republican filibuster. Two Republicans – Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski — voted with Democrats. The Senate is expected to take up legislation to protect access to in vitro fertilization next week. (NBC News / CNN / Axios / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)