The scene of Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and a notable former federal prosecutor, walking into the Fulton County jail represented another remarkable moment in the ongoing investigation into Trump and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
One of Trump’s most outspoken attorneys in 2020, Giuliani was charged with 13 crimes, including breaking the state’s racketeering act, engaging in various criminal conspiracies, and soliciting a public officer in the state to violate their oath.
He agreed to a $150,000 bond package after flying to Atlanta earlier Wednesday and to follow other rules that have similarly been imposed on his co-defendants in the case.
Sidney Powell's agent will be submitting her for the roles of Viciously Bigoted Disbarred Lawyer, Lying Conspiracy Nutjob, Prison Yard Snitch, Creepy Oil Painting At An Estate Sale, Woman Babbling To Herself In The Cafeteria, and Crafts Store Owner Accused Of Satanism pic.twitter.com/jxwhmJK0k2
— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) August 23, 2023
Donald Trump is set to surrender Thursday to authorities in Georgia on charges that he schemed to overturn the 2020 election in that state, a booking process expected to yield a historic first: a mug shot of a former American president.
Trump's arrival follows a presidential debate featuring his leading rivals for the 2024 Republican nomination, a contest in which he remains the leading candidate despite accelerating legal troubles. His presence in the state, though likely brief, is expected to swipe the spotlight at least temporarily from his opponents in the aftermath of a debate in which other candidates sought to seize on his absence to elevate their own presidential prospects.
New York Times correspondent, best-selling author, and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman revealed new moves in ex-President Donald Trump’s legal team just hours before he surrenders for arrest in Georgia — the hiring of one lawyer and likely ouster of another.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis announced a new indictment of Trump on with 13 counts related to election crimesladt week. Trump and the 18 co-defendants named in the indictment were given until August 25 to surrender for arrest and arraignment, and Trump has said he will surrender Thursday.
Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat has promised that if Trump is arrested, he will be forced to pose for a mugshot, which would then be made available to the press. The entire scene figures to be a media spectacle of unprecedented proportions.
One incensed protestor urged officers laying out barbed wire outside the county jail to "shoot the media, then shoot the protesters".
Confronted about his comments, the man reiterated his demand insisting that the media is "full of s**t".
He said: "Start with them and then shoot everyone else. This is the dumbest policy I've ever seen.
"I'm from Miami, we had 400 media at Trump's indictment there, hundreds of demonstrators, no problem.
And, as I type this, Mr. Trump has still not turned himself in yet.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:
At the first Republican presidential debate tonight, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum said the claim that “every teacher is somehow indoctrinating people is just false” when responding to a question about transgender girls playing on girls’ sports teams.
In the debate’s second half, the Fox News debate moderator Martha MacCallum said, “[Former South Carolina] governor [Nikki] Haley has said that biological boys playing in girls sports is the women’s issue of our time. You said that, even though you signed a ban on this in North Dakota, there hadn’t been one instance where it was actually needed. Are you saying that you think that too much is made of this issue?”
The first GOP presidential primary debate will be held Wednesday night, August 23, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Frontrunner Donald Trump has said he’ll be skipping the debate, but eight other candidates are expected to participate, including North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.
LGBTQ rights, freedoms, and lives are under attack across the country, in legislatures, and in the world, as are allies of the LGBTQ community, so these candidates have a responsibility to tell the American people how they will protect LGBTQ Americans.
Some 7% of Americans are lesbian, gay, or bisexual, according to Gallup, including 20% of GenZ, the youngest population cohort studied and most out generation in history. Polling and turnout analysis from the 2020 election indicate that LGBTQ voters played a deciding role in the victory of Joe Biden for President and in key battleground states, including in Wisconsin, flipping the state Donald Trump had won in 2016.
The results of the 2024 general election will have profound implications for LGBTQ people in Wisconsin and across the country. The Fox News primary debate will provide an important opportunity to discuss what’s at stake and the LGBTQ records of the candidates. Media covering the debate should note the candidates’ LGBTQ records.
Below are partial records on LGBTQ issues from the candidates appearing on tomorrow night’s debate stage. For more complete records, visit the GLAAD Accountability Project.
Ron DeSantis
- Signed the “don’t say gay” law which prohibits public schools from having “classroom discussion” or giving “classroom instruction” about sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten through third grade.
- Requested and was granted a ban on classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades, expanding the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
- Signed into law HB 1521 that would make it difficult or impossible for transgender Floridians to access appropriate restrooms, domestic violence shelters, correctional institutions, or other spaces that match their gender
- Signed into law bans on transgender healthcare for youth which also enacts obstacles for adults to access treatment
- Signed into law bans trans students from being able to use their correct pronouns, an anti-trans sports ban
- Signed a drag restriction law
- Issued a survey to Florida’s 12 universities and 28 state and community colleges asking which of these institutions provide services to transgender students.
- Falsely compared puberty blockers to “chemical castration”
- Backed the Florida Department of Education’s advice to schools to disregard proposed federal guidelines that protect transgender youth
- Directed state agencies to issue guidance to begin to strip Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care, despite the fact that it is supported by every major medical association
- Targeted small business owner hosting drag brunch
- Condemned the Walt Disney Company following Disney chief executive Bob Chapek’s acknowledgement of error in staying silent on Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation and subsequent public opposition to the legislation which DeSantis signed into law.
- Signed a restrictive transgender youth sports ban into law, banning transgender girls and women in public secondary schools and colleges in Florida from participating on girls’ and women’s sports teams.
- Vetoed all funding for LGBTQ programs from the $101 billion state budget, including funds for mental health programming to support survivors of the Pulse Massacre, funs to house homeless LGBTQ children, and funds for Orlando’s LGBTQ Community Center
- Signed an anti-discrimination order for state employees that excludes protections for LGBTQ people
Vivek Ramaswamy
- Says Target “spit in the face of conservatives” in an anti-transgender attack on the retailer for selling swimwear designed to accommodate a variety of body types
- Said he would sign into law a ban on health care for transgender minors if it reaches his desk in the White House. Every major medical association in the U.S. supports such care for trans youth
- Expressed harmful and baseless indoctrination rhetoric calling acceptance of transgender people a “cult” and claiming that LGBTQ people are interfering with “our kids.” “In the name of rights, what they’ve actually done is created a new culture of oppression in the opposite direction, imposing that on kids,” he said. There is zero basis for his claims, and he offered no backup.
- Presidential campaign website features a section called TRUTHS including a list. #2 reads, “There are two genders.”
- Has signaled support for a 6-week abortion ban
- Opposes the study of critical race theory
Mike Pence
Extensive anti-LGBTQ record can be found at Mike Pence’s GLAAD Accountability Project record. Select statements and actions are below:
- Said he would again prohibit transgender Americans from serving in the military, as was the policy when he was vice president under Donald Trump, and falsely cited “unit cohesion” as an area of military readiness affected by transgender personnel. Unit cohesion suffered because of the anti-trans ban.
- Falsely characterized essential health care for transgender youth in CNN Town Hall as having “profound negative effects”; and refused to explain how his support of parents’ rights did not include supporting parents of transgender people and their private health care decisions.
- Tweeted the false claim that the charity group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is a “hateful group,” and criticized the L.A. Dodgers for including them in Pride Night.
- Neither President Trump nor VP Pence recognized the third anniversary of the horrific shooting at Orlando’s Pulse Nightclub, which killed 49 LGBTQ people.
- As governor of Indiana, Pence earned national notoriety for signing a so-called “religious freedom” bill that religious conservatives in his state (many of whom Pence invited to attend the private bill signing) championed for the purposes of allowing business owners the right to refuse service to LGBTQ customers. After outcry and boycotts, Pence was forced to sign an amended version that made it clear the law cannot be used to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
- Supported anti-LGBTQ Federal Marriage Amendment with claims that being gay is a “chosen lifestyle,” and a warning that “societal collapse was always brought about following an advent of the deterioration of marriage and family.”
- Claimed repealing the military’s discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy would turn the Armed Forces into a “backdrop for social experimentation.” Sought to end “don’t ask, don’t tell” and restore a full ban on openly gay soldiers.
- Claimed federal hate crimes legislation was really designed “to advance a radical social agenda.”
- Stated that LGBTQ-inclusive hate crime legislation would “silence” groups that promote so-called conversion therapy.
- Behind closed doors advocated for the removal of healthcare benefits for transgender service members within the U.S. military.
- In a closed-door and unannounced opportunity, President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence posed for a photograph with notorious anti-LGBTQ activists who wish to promote so-called “religious exemptions” that would harm LGBTQ Americans across the nation.
Nikki Haley
- Falsely claimed that transgender girls playing sports contribute to teenage suicide ideation. The claim is baseless. The Advocate reports, “It wasn’t the first time Haley made the unsupported claim that teen girls are being negatively affected by transgender teen girls’ participation in sports. She made the same assertion in New Hampshire” one month prior.
- Misgendered and disparaged transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney
- Said President Joe Biden’s support of transgender rights will destroy women’s sports
- Opposed marriage equality as both South Carolina state representative and governor.
- Rejected matching funds for a program offering HIV medication to lower-income patients.
- Signed a voter ID law, which critics contend is racist and/or meant to suppress the Democratic vote.
Tim Scott
- The “Issues” section on his campaign site reads, “The radical Left wants to indoctrinate our children, not educate them. Tim Scott will fight to ensure that America’s kids are learning how to read and write, not about gender transition and sexual identity before it’s appropriate.”
- Introduced a bill in the Senate that has many similarities to Florida’s “don’t say gay” law
- Voted against the Respect for Marriage Act
- Considers homosexuality a morally wrong choice, like adultery.
- Supported the “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on LGB people in the military
- Supported The First Amendment Defense Act, which would’ve prevented “the federal government from taking adverse action against individuals or institutions based on their definition of marriage or beliefs about premarital sex.”
- Voted against the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, which would have granted basic job protections to LGBTQ people
Chris Christie
- Vice Chair of the Trump Transition Team
- In 2017 “signed two bills instituting broad new protections for transgender New Jersey residents: one directing schools to let students use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity or provide ‘reasonable alternative arrangements,’ and another prohibiting health insurers from discriminating against transgender residents.”
- In 2015 vetoed “a bill that would have eased access to accurate birth certificates for transgender people.”
- Abandoned his long fight against same-sex marriage in 2013, “concluding that signals from the court and the march of history were against him.”
- Signed a bill barring licensed therapists from trying to turn gay teenagers straight, making New Jersey the second state to ban so-called “conversion therapy,” after California.
- Vetoed legislation in 2012 that would have brought marriage equality to New Jersey.
- Vetoed legislation that would have more easily allowed transgender citizens to change their birth markers, calling the idea “beyond the pale.” New Jersey legalized allowing changes to birth certificates without a court order, doctor letter or other medical evidence in 2019, after Christie left office.
Doug Burgum
- Signed a bill into law that allows public school teachers and state government employees to ignore the pronouns their transgender students and colleagues use.
- Signed two transgender athlete bans into law, prohibiting transgender girls and women from joining female sports teams in K–12 and college. Two years ago Burgum vetoed a nearly identical bill that would have banned transgender girls from playing on girls’ teams in public schools.
- Signed a bill into law that restricts transgender health care in the state, immediately making it a crime to give gender-affirming care to people younger than 18.
- Signed a total of eight discriminatory bills into law in 2023 including those above; restrictions on drag performances; a “religious refusal” bill permitting discrimination; and bills adding additional rules for gender markers on birth certificates that discriminates against transgender people.
- Defied his party in a rebuke against an anti-LGBTQ resolution that was passed by hundreds of Republican legislators in the North Dakota legislature. Burgum said the resolution, which states that “LGBT practices are unhealthy and dangerous, sometimes endangering or shortening life and sometimes infecting society at large,” is homophobic and divisive.
Asa Hutchinson
- Signed Senate Bill 354, an anti-transgender bill that bans transgender women and girls from participating in sports
- Said the state legislature has gone a “step way too far,” when it voted to override his veto on a bill banning treatments for transgender minors
- Signed into law legislation allowing doctors to refuse to treat LGBTQ patients based on religious or moral objections
- Signed into law a revised religious freedom bill that could allow discrimination against LGBT people
- Refused to veto and allowed to become law a discriminatory bill that prevents cities and counties from enacting civil rights protections of LGBTQ people
For more complete records, visit the GLAAD Accountability Project at GLAAD.org/GAP.
In social media posts, Travis Ikeguchi claimed to be a Christian, posted anti-semitic statements, followed and boosted rightwing personalities Jordan Peterson and Matt Walsh, and expressed support for anti-vaxx presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr.
Travis Ikeguchi had a burning Pride flag pinned to the top of his account on X, and retweeted a post comparing Nazi children with swastika flags to schoolchildren with Pride flags.
These statements included a post that described LGBTQ inclusion as a “cancer” and one that contained a photo of a burning Pride flag. Although police have not tied the killing to any specific posts featuring politicians, the attack also comes as Republicans have ramped up their anti-LGBTQ commentary and legislation, including measures like Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which prohibits the discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in schools, and legislation in at least 22 states targeting gender-affirming care for trans youth.
In May, the Department of Homeland Security issued a report noting that the threat of violence toward LGBTQ people was intensifying as more policies were being directed at members of the community. Now, the California shooting has only highlighted concerns about violence toward members of the LBGTQ community in the wake of conservatives’ heightened rhetorical and legal attacks on queer people and trans people.
“Threats against the LGBTQ+ community and our allies have evolved from violent rhetoric on social media and from anti-equality political leaders to, now, real-world violence — and let’s be honest, no city, state or person is immune from this brutality,” Kelley Robinson, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, a group that advocates for LGBTQ rights, told Vox in a statement.
Carleton did not identify as LGBTQ herself, but she was a supporter, according to a local LGBTQ organization in her town of Lake Arrowhead, California. In addition to hanging a Pride flag, she included a section of rainbow-colored merchandise in her Cedar Glen store. Her children have called for police to investigate the shooting as a “hate crime,” though law enforcement has not yet indicated how it will proceed.
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