Special counsel shows signs of ramping up Trump investigation

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3 years ago

February 19, 2023

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The Justice Department probes into Donald Trump’s conduct appear to be ramping up, as special counsel Jack Smith approaches key allies of the former president with knowledge of his activities surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and classified documents discovered at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

In recent weeks, Smith has subpoenaed both former Vice President Mike Pence and then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, two figures with strong visibility into Trump’s actions leading up to and on the day of the deadly riot.

The Justice Department has also sought to pierce the attorney-client privilege connected to Trump’s lawyer in the Mar-a-Lago probe, Evan Corcoran, alleging he may have given legal advice in furtherance of a crime.

Approaching high-level targets is often a late-stage move for prosecutors, a sign the investigative stage of Smith’s Jan. 6 work could be winding down.

Meanwhile, the approach with Corcoran relays that the team will take an aggressive posture with anyone involved in the probe they believe may have committed criminal activity.

“We can draw a few conclusions from it that are fairly apparent. One is that Jack Smith is conducting a very aggressive investigation. Issuing a subpoena to an attorney is itself an aggressive step that requires high levels of supervisory approval of the United States Department of Justice,” said Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor.

“I don’t think a prosecutor subpoenas Mike Pence unless they are far along in speaking to a number of other witnesses.”

The tactics are not without their challenges.

Pence has said he will challenge the subpoena, and it’s up to a federal judge to compel testimony from Corcoran.

Still, it’s a sign of progress in the dual probes, including with the Jan. 6 investigation, which has been perceived as presenting a much more complex case for any possible prosecution of Trump.

The documents case largely relies on showing willful retention of national defense information, something observers see as more straightforward given the lengthy battle to secure the return of classified records from Mar-a-Lago. The warrant to search the property also cited potential obstruction of justice.

Trump’s culpability for Jan. 6, however, is more complex, with possible statutes for prosecution requiring the demonstration of Trump’s intent.

“A lot of people believed that because the Mar-a-Lago case would be an easier case to prove that [Smith would] focus attention there and put the January 6 investigation on the back burner or put that second in line, and that has not been the case,” Mariotti said.

“I think it’s evidence that his investigation — at least to this Jan. 6 piece — is fairly far along.”

Danya Perry, a former federal prosecutor, said the moves also show the Mar-a-Lago probe into Trump has not been sidelined by the discovery of classified documents among the belongings of other former presidents.

“Obviously the special counsel has not decided to hang it up, which I think some people thought [he might] when news came out about a number of other former White House officials having classified documents,” Perry said.

“That side of the ledger, the classified documents side, it does seem to be focused on the potential obstruction issues given that he’s been trying to get testimony out of Corcoran.”

For his part, Pence is planning to roll out a novel legal strategy to sidestep the subpoena, one that hinges on his role on Jan. 6 as the presiding officer of the Senate.

His team is expected to argue that under his former position as president of the Senate, his work technically falls under the legislative branch, and he is therefore protected under the “speech and debate” clause of the Constitution, according to a source familiar with the former vice president’s plans.

Investigators likely want to speak to Pence about a number of meetings and conversations related to whether the then-vice president had the authority to buck his ceremonial duty to certify the election.

Mariotti says asking about more widely attended meetings they may have discussed with prior witnesses allows them to “test the veracity of what he says” before asking about conversations that were exclusive to the vice president and Trump.

“The ordinary course would be to interview all those other people, and then try to pursue Mike Pence with the knowledge that you already have from others,” he said.

But Perry warned that the Pence subpoena is no guarantee that Smith has completed his work talking to other witnesses.

“Jack Smith was probably aware that they’re going to invoke executive privilege. And so realized it would be a slog and so maybe wanted to get the ball rolling,” she said.

“Smith has certainly spoken with other witnesses,” she said, but could have initiated a subpoena sooner rather than later with the understanding that “it would be efficient for him to start a court battle now.”

Trump and his side have in some ways been just as aggressive in trying to push back against Smith’s investigations or shape the public narrative around them. The former president has routinely complained about Smith’s wife’s donations to Democratic candidates.

Trump’s team has said it will assert executive privilege over any potential testimony by Pence in the case, and it may seek to do the same should Meadows testify.

One former Trump White House official told The Hill that the former president’s team is confident that revelations that President Biden had classified documents at his home and office from his time as vice president will help shield Trump from possible charges in that matter, despite key differences in the Trump and Biden cases.

The former Trump official acknowledged Smith’s probe into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election will likely hover over the former president until it concludes, and Democrats and even some Republicans backing other candidates are likely to wield it against Trump on the campaign trail.

But, the official argued, any suggestions that the investigation will end Trump’s candidacy or put him out of politics is just “wishcasting.”

Spokespeople for Trump’s 2024 White House campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

Perry said the process is likely to stretch into the campaign season.

“We’re just at the beginning, I think, of a bunch of fights that are going to play out in front of different courts and probably then travel up and down the court system,” she said, noting the potential for challenges from Pence, Trump and Meadows.

“They are going to play out over many, many months, if not longer,” she said.

“It’s not going to be lightning fast. It’s going to be more glacial.”

And the special counsel’s probes are not the only legal headache for Trump.

This week a judge allowed the partial release of a report compiled by a Georgia grand jury tasked with reviewing Trump’s interference in the state following the 2020 election. Top China diplomat mocks US response to China balloon as ‘hysterical’ Four rail-borne risks moving through American communities

Though the jurors determined the report should be released, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis warned that doing so could compromise the proceedings for “multiple” future defendants in a case where charging decisions are “imminent.”

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney largely sided with Willis, determining that only the introduction and conclusion of the report should be released, along with one section discussing potential perjury that did not name any witnesses who appeared before the grand jury.

While the report’s three pages were slim on substantive details, they made two conclusions clear: There was no widespread fraud in the state that could have altered Trump’s loss there, and that at least one witness may have lied to the grand jury.

UK

‘They’re invisible within society’: Whistleblower says asylum seekers disappear ‘daily’ from hotels

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2 hours ago

December 12, 2025

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'They're invisible within society': Whistleblower says asylum seekers disappear 'daily' from hotels

An insider has told Sky News people are still disappearing “daily” from asylum seeker hotels.

In an exclusive interview, the contractor described the chaos he sees within the system as “terrifying” because undocumented people are persistently absconding from hotels.

He spoke to us because he is deeply concerned about the ongoing lack of monitoring at a time when the government has promised to tighten the asylum system.

The man, who we are not naming, works across multiple asylum hotels in one region of England.

“When someone gets to about a week away from the hotel, they’re processed as an absconder,” he said.

“Nothing really happens there. They get marked as ‘left the hotel’ and a notification is sent to the Home Office.

“It’s at least weekly. Most of the time it can be daily.”

The government moved last month to reset its immigration policy by promising to toughen the process for asylum seekers.

The latest figures up to September this year show 36,272 asylum seekers living in hotels.

Overall 110,000 people claimed asylum in the UK between September 2024 and September 2025 – higher than the previous recorded peak of 103,000 in 2002.

The hotel contractor also described to Sky News what he says happens when a resident’s claim for asylum is rejected.

“They get given a date that they need to move out by,” he said.

“You would expect immigration enforcement to go to the hotel to pick these people up. You would expect them to not even be told that they failed their asylum claim.

“You would expect them to just be collected from the hotel… that doesn’t happen.”

He told us that some residents just walk out of the door with no further checks or assistance.

“It must be terrifying for these people as well… ‘what do I do now? I don’t have an address’.

“So what do they do? How do they survive?

“Do they then get forced… to go into an underground world?

“They’re just completely invisible within society.

“For those people to freely be allowed, undetected and unchecked, on the streets of this country is terrifying.”

His account from within the system contrasts with the government’s promises to restore control over the asylum process.

In response to the interview, a Home Office spokesperson said: “This government will end the use of hotels and have introduced major reforms to the asylum system, to scale up removals of people with no right to be here and address the factors drawing illegal migrants to the UK in the first place.

“Nearly 50,000 people with no right to be in our country have been removed and enforcement arrests to tackle illegal working are at the highest level in recent history.

“A dedicated team in the Home Office works with police, across government and commercial companies to trace absconders. Failure to return to a hotel can also lead to asylum claims and support being withdrawn.”

At a community kitchen in Greater Manchester, organisers told us they regularly see people who are living under the radar – surviving with “cash in hand” jobs.

Volunteer Shabana Yunas helps many hungry and desperate people. She also feels the tension it causes in her community.

“People don’t know who they are and I understand a lot of people are afraid… but if there’s those things in place where we can monitor who is around, then everybody can feel a lot safer.

“If people are coming into the UK and we don’t know who they are and they’re just disappearing, crime rates are going to go up, slavery is going to go higher, child exploitation is going to be more exposed.

“They are too afraid to go to the authorities because they are scared of being deported to a country where their lives could be at risk.

“It’s getting worse, it is dangerous and we do need to do something about this where we can support people.”

Another volunteer at the kitchen is Khalid.

He arrived in the UK in 2015 having travelled from Ethiopia – he hid on a lorry to get into England.

He has applied for asylum and been rejected four times.

He has recently submitted another application and told us political violence at home meant he could not return.

Crucially, he knows plenty of people living off-grid.

“Yeah, they don’t care about what the government thinks, because they already destroyed their life,” he told us.

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Although Khalid now has somewhere to stay, he has previously considered turning to crime to give himself the stability of life in prison.

“I was in depression. I was like, I wanna do some criminal and go jail, to stay in a prison.

“Once upon a time, I’d prefer that way.”

Khalid is now volunteering to give his life more purpose as he waits for another decision from the Home Office.

He says he doesn’t blame people who think he should be deported back to Ethiopia.

When asked if he should have been, he said: “That is up to Home Office, like up to government.”

Stopping small boats, clearing backlogs, closing hotels, enforcing the rules and restoring faith in the system are all priorities for the Home Office – solving it all is one of the defining challenges for the Starmer government.

Sports

Moore expected in court Fri., remains in custody

Published

2 hours ago

December 12, 2025

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Moore expected in court Fri., remains in custody

Dan Wetzel
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Dan Wetzel

ESPN

Dec 11, 2025, 11:33 AM ET

Former Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore, who remains in custody as a suspect in an alleged assault, is expected to appear in court for arraignment on Friday, the Pittsfield Charter Township (Michigan) Department of Public Safety announced Thursday.

The Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office told ESPN that it does not expect a decision Thursday on whether to file criminal charges against Moore. Authorities have yet to release details about Moore’s arrest, other than to say that he remains under investigation.

Moore was incarcerated at the Washtenaw County Jail on Wednesday, just hours after he was fired as the Wolverines’ football coach for having what the school said was an “inappropriate relationship with a staff member.”

“The matter involving Mr. Moore remains under active investigation by law enforcement, and as a result, we do not expect charging decisions or an arraignment today,” Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson Liz Mack said Thursday. “Mr. Moore remains in custody at the Washtenaw County Jail.”

Pittsfield police released a statement Wednesday night saying they responded at 4:10 p.m. to the 3000 block of Ann Arbor Saline Road “for the purposes of investigating an alleged assault. … A suspect in this case was taken into custody. This incident does not appear to be random in nature, and there appears to be no ongoing threat to the community.”

Moore was initially detained by police in Saline, Michigan, on Wednesday and turned over to authorities in Pittsfield Township “for investigation into potential charges.”

Michigan fired Moore on Wednesday following an investigation into his conduct with a staff member.

“U-M head football coach Sherrone Moore has been terminated, with cause, effective immediately,” the school said in a statement. “Following a University investigation, credible evidence was found that Coach Moore engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.”

The university initially investigated Moore this fall after receiving a tip about the situation but did not find credible evidence of wrongdoing, a source told ESPN. More information came forward Wednesday that the source said was “overwhelming” and led to Moore’s immediate dismissal.

Moore, 39, spent two seasons as Michigan’s coach after serving as the team’s offensive coordinator.

Sports

LSU’s Kiffin set to return to Ole Miss on Sept. 19

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2 hours ago

December 12, 2025

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LSU's Kiffin set to return to Ole Miss on Sept. 19

Dave WilsonDec 11, 2025, 09:50 PM ET
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The dates for the first nine-game SEC schedule were released on Thursday, and all eyes are on Sept. 19, when Lane Kiffin and LSU return to Ole Miss after Kiffin’s dramatic exit for Baton Rouge.

Among other marquee games scheduled for 2026: Georgia travels to Alabama on Oct. 10 after they split two matchups in 2025: Alabama won in Athens and Georgia won in Atlanta in the SEC title game.

On Nov. 14, Arch Manning returns to his home state of Louisiana with Texas to face LSU, as former USC and Alabama colleagues Steve Sarkisian and Kiffin face off.

The following week, on Nov. 21, Kiffin leads LSU into Knoxville against Tennessee, which also was jilted by Kiffin after one season in 2009.

Kiffin is one of six SEC coaches in new places: Pete Golding at Ole Miss, Will Stein at Kentucky, Ryan Silverfield at Arkansas, Alex Golesh at Auburn and Jon Sumrall at Florida.

Stein debuts in the SEC’s first league matchup on Sept. 12, when Alabama travels to Kentucky. There are two other marquee matchups that week, when Oklahoma travels to Michigan and Ohio State visits Texas. The following week, Alabama gets a home rematch against Florida State, who beat the Tide in Week 1 of the 2025 season, and Sumrall and Golesh meet in the first Florida-Auburn game on the Plains since 2011.

On Rivalry Week, Texas at Texas A&M remains on Friday, Nov. 27, but the Egg Bowl moves to Saturday, with Mississippi State facing Golding and Ole Miss in Oxford, along with the Iron Bowl, with Auburn visiting Alabama.

The new format also allows for some new fan experiences. On Sept. 26, Texas visits Neyland Stadium and Tennessee for the first time in history for a battle for UT supremacy. On Oct. 17, Kentucky visits Oklahoma for the first time in 46 years, and the Sooners travel to Mississippi State for their first-ever meeting. Texas A&M rekindles an old Big 12 rivalry against Oklahoma in Norman, the first time the two have met since 2011.

In order to work out the new scheduling rules, some teams will play road games for a second straight year against the same team, like Arkansas, which returns to Texas, and Texas A&M, which returns to Missouri.

The additional conference game has limited the amount of programs playing smaller teams in nonconference matchups in Week 12, traditionally a tune-up game before rivalry week. This year, there are just four such games on Nov. 21: Alabama (UT-Chattanooga), Auburn (Samford), Ole Miss (Wofford) and Mississippi State (Tennessee Tech).

The league also sought to preserve three annual rivalries for each team, with the remaining six games rotating among the remaining schools. Each team will face every other SEC program at least once every two years and every opponent in a home and away over a four-year span.

As part of the restructured schedule, the league said each school will be required to schedule at least one Power 4 opponent from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 or Notre Dame.

The top two teams in league standings based on winning percentage will play in the SEC Championship in Atlanta on Dec. 5.