UNBIASED - July 15, 2024: Attempted Assassination of Former President Trump (Plus Q&A), Trump Becomes Republican Nominee, Names JD Vance as VP, Judge Dismisses Trump's Classified Documents Case.

Episode Date: July 15, 2024

1. Trump Names J.D. Vance as Pick for Vice President (0:35)2. Attempted Assassination of Former President Trump + Q&A (1:53)3. Republican National Convention Convenes; Here's What to Expect (18:11)4. Judge Dismisses Trump's Classified Documents Case (20:41)Support ‘UNBIASED’ on Patreon.Watch this episode on YouTube.Follow Jordan on Instagram and TikTok.All sources for this episode can be found here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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call the Conax Ontario helpline at 1-866-531-2600. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Welcome back to Unbiased, your favorite source of unbiased news and legal analysis. Welcome back to Unbiased. Today is Monday, July 15th, and this is your daily news rundown. As far as the format of today's show, I will first be speaking about the assassination attempt over the weekend and what we have learned since. I will then discuss the RNC, which started today, and what we can expect there. And then I will finish by talking about Trump's classified documents case, which was dismissed today. Very Trump focused in this episode, just given recent events. And also right as I hit record

on this episode, Trump picked J.D. Vance as his VP. Trump posted to Truth Social, after lengthy deliberation and thought and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the great state of Ohio. J.D. honorably served our country in the Marine Corps, graduated from Ohio State University in two years, summa cum laude, and is a Yale Law School graduate where he was editor of the Yale Law Journal and president of the Yale Law Veterans Association. J.D.'s book became a major bestseller

and movie, and it championed the hardworking men and women of our country. J.D. has had a very successful business career in technology and finance, and now during the campaign will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for the American workers and farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond. And quote, now, because that news just came out, I will not be discussing it any further. Haven't had time to write out a thoughtful report. So tomorrow's episode, I will discuss J.D. Vance, who he is, what his policies are, and what this pick means for the election. And without further ado, we can get into today's stories. As I'm sure

we all know at this point, over the weekend, there was an attempted assassination on former President Trump. I do want to note before I get into all of the details that given the circumstances of the situation, given the open investigations, we're constantly learning new things, developments are happening, things are changing. Just know that what I'm about to say is what I know as of 3 p.m. Eastern time today, Monday, July 15th. So Trump took the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania at 6.03 p.m. His speech started about two minutes later. And at this same time is when witnesses started seeing this man bear crawling on a nearby roof strapped with a rifle. New video footage actually came out today, which gives us a little more insight as to how the shooter was able to get onto the roof.

The roof or where the shooter was was only about 400 feet from Trump's stage. It appears that the shooter was able to hop onto different structures, ultimately getting access to the roof. So we first hopped onto the shorter structure, then from there, a slightly taller structure, and from there onto the roof. Also, reports came out today saying that the building that the shooter was on top of was actually the building that local law enforcement was conducting their rally oversight from. But anyway, these witnesses who saw the shooter climbing the roof alerted the police and an armed officer attempted to check the roof. But once he had both of his

hands on the roof, he was going to prop himself up there. The shooter apparently turned towards the officer, pointed his rifle at him. That's when the officer let go and dropped down. We don't know exactly what time that took place, but we can guess it was around 610 because very soon thereafter is when the shooter turned his rifle back toward the rally and started shooting, probably because he knew he was seen. And we know that the first three shots were fired at 6.11 p.m., eight minutes after Trump took the stage, about six minutes after Trump started talking. So again, we can anticipate that the officer spotted that shooter on the roof at about 6.10. Now, why it took Secret Service roughly seven minutes to take out the shooter is unknown at this point. We do have some insight that might explain why. I'll

get into that in a minute. But we do know from witness video footage that Secret Service snipers had their sights on the shooter before he started shooting. We also know at this point that Secret Service did not sweep the building where the shooter was perched. It tasked local law enforcement with security in that area. So right after the first and second shots rang out and as that third shot was being fired, that's when Trump grabbed his ear. He looked at his hand, he saw the blood and immediately got on the ground. You can then hear Secret Service yelling, get down, get down. They jump on Trump and they're on the ground until you hear Secret Service say gunman is down. And then that's when they're saying move, move, and that's when Trump gets up. That historic photo was taken of his fist in the air, and he is escorted to his car.

The gunman ultimately went down after firing eight shots, which killed one and critically injured two others. The man that was tragically killed was 50-year-old Corey Comperatore. He was a husband, he was a dad, and he was a brother. He died covering his wife and his daughter from the gunfire. The two that were critically injured were 57-year-old David Dutch and 74-year-old James Copenhaver. Both are still in the hospital, however, their conditions have been upgraded from critical to stable. The shooter was identified roughly seven hours after the shooting at 1.34 a.m. Eastern Time, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. We've learned a lot about the shooter in the last few days, though the one thing that we don't have much clarity on is his motive, and that is obviously what a lot of people are wondering.

We know that he was a little bit of a loner in high school. Kids that he went to high school with that have been interviewed said he would often sit alone at school. He was bullied a lot because of the hunting clothes that he wore. One classmate said Crooks tried out for the school's rifle team, but was rejected because of his bad shot and off-color jokes. A third classmate said Crooks was shy but very smart. That classmate said that he had a group of friends that were fairly conservative, some of whom wore Trump hats. Voter registration data shows that Crooks was a registered Republican, though we do not know the details behind that. We don't know if he had been a registered Republican since he turned 18, or that was a recent change, we just don't know

right now. As far as the donation to the Democratic PAC, which I reported on in my initial report on social media, we still don't know for sure whether it was him that donated to that PAC or another man with the same name. What we do know from the donation report is that the $15 donation to ActBlue was made on January 20th, 2021, which was the day of President Biden's inauguration, and would have made Crooks 17 years old. You can donate as a minor. You just have to acknowledge that your donation was made both knowingly and voluntarily. We know that the name on the donation is Thomas Crooks. The city, state, and zip code is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15102, which is the same zip code as the shooter.

We know that the donor is listed as not employed. We know that this would have been Crooks' first presidential election that he was able to vote in, though he did cast a vote in the 2022 midterms. He had just turned 18 two months prior. However, we don't know which way he voted in the midterm. Crooks' father is registered as a libertarian. His mother is registered as a Democrat. Both worked as social workers. Crooks himself worked as a dietary aide at the Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehab Center. His co-workers at the nursing home described him

in an interview as, quote-unquote, the sweetest guy. The colleague that spoke said Crooks never expressed political views at work and was not radical. He added, quote, it's hard seeing everything going on online because he was a really, really good person that did a really bad thing and I just wish I knew why, end quote. We also know that a transmitter was found on Crook's body and upon a search of his car, which was in the parking lot, law enforcement found explosive devices. The AR rifle that was used in the shooting was purchased by Crook's dad. However, at this time, the FBI has said that it appears Crooks acted alone, meaning his dad did not have any involvement other than owning the gun that was used. So that's what I have for you about the

actual events that took place. As far as statements go, we'll go in chronological order. Roughly an hour and a half after the shooting, President Biden released an initial statement that read, quote, I have been briefed on the shooting at Donald Trump's rally in Pennsylvania. I'm grateful to hear that he's safe and doing well. I am praying for him and his family and for all those who are at the rally as we await further information. Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it, end quote. He then spoke from the Roosevelt Room in the White House on Sunday for roughly three minutes, and then later Sunday night spoke for about 10 minutes from the Oval Office. As for Trump, he released his first statement

roughly two and a half hours after the shooting. He wrote on Truth Social, quote, I want to thank the United States Secret Service and all of law enforcement for their rapid response on the shooting that just took place in Butler, Pennsylvania. Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the rally who was killed and also to the family of another person that was badly injured. It is incredible that such an act can take place in our country. Nothing is known at this time about the shooter who is now dead. I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong and that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. God bless America." The next morning, he added,

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening. We will fear not, but instead remain resilient in our faith and defiant in the face of wickedness. Our love goes out to the other victims and their families. We pray for the recovery of those who were wounded and hold in our hearts the memory of the citizen who was so horribly killed. In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand united and show our true character as Americans, remaining strong and determined, and not allowing evil to win. I truly love our country and love you all and look forward to speaking to our great nation this week from Wisconsin, end quote. And then this morning, most recently, we got a statement from the Secret Service director. That statement says in part, quote,

the Secret Service is working with all involved federal, state, and local agencies to understand what happened, how it happened, and how we can prevent an incident like this from ever taking place again. We understand the importance of the independent review announced by President Biden yesterday and will participate fully. We will also work with the appropriate congressional committees on any oversight action. End quote. I do have that full statement linked for you in the sources if you're interested because I did only read you a snippet. Now, in the interest of time, let's move on to the Q&A. Hopefully, I'll answer any questions I've left unanswered. I did narrow these questions down to five because I covered a lot in my report and also because, you know, with daily episodes, I just don't have a ton of time.

First question, any news on the shooter's motivation? Unfortunately, no. As of noon today, the latest update was that investigators had done about 70% of their analysis with Crook's cell phone. So far, they had not come across anything that indicates why he did what he did. Investigators will also be looking into his laptop, but so far from what we're hearing, he had a very small digital footprint, almost non-existent. I will say this, though.

A lack of social media does not necessarily mean they're not going to find clues in his search history because obviously search history is unrelated to social media presence. Also, Crook's own parents said that he did not seem to have any political leanings, so they have no idea where this is coming from. That's also in line with what his former classmates said, what his co-workers said. I'm sure most people are assuming the motive is purely political because of who the target was, but we also have to remember that there are sick people out there that do things for reasons that we maybe can't relate to. John Hinckley, just as an example, attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan because, as he said, despite thinking Reagan was a nice man and a good president, he was motivated by delusional obsession and wanted to impress Jodie Foster, the actress. So we just don't know what his motive was.

Second question, how much will the assassination attempt impact the election? You know, in a way, this is like Trump's hush money conviction, but obviously on a much greater level. After the hush money conviction, we saw a lot of people, mostly on the Republican side, really rally around Trump. And what happened over the weekend is obviously a much, much bigger situation. So in some ways, it could help his campaign because more people will rally around him. It'll likely also have an impact on the way he runs, maybe even the way that Biden runs. The Biden campaign has actually already pulled their ads, not to say they won't resume them, but for the time being, they've pulled their ads. Biden has now spoken twice about unity. Trump has spoken about unity.

Trump says he'll be switching his RNC speech to focus more on unity. So it may impact the tone of the election. Outside of the candidates themselves, though, we're likely going to see very, very intense security. I know the RNC said they're not switching up their security strategy, but I would imagine we see a much more secure landscape going forward, especially at the inauguration, whoever that ends up being. But other than those things, it's hard to predict what kind of changes we'll actually see. That's something that only time will tell.

Next question. From what I understand, Obama extended former president secret service protections, but Biden denied the same or limited protections for Trump. Can you share more on this? So the president is not the one that determines the level of secret service protections that a former president receives. In fact, all all former presidents receive secret service protection, and that is set forth in the former president's protection act. They get lifetime secret service protection. The secretary of homeland security is the one that authorizes the protection of those that are entitled to it, not the president. And Trump actually had more protection than most

former presidents because he's the presumptive Republican nominee. I also saw something similar on X that said Biden had limited Trump's Secret Service to a 10-man team. This isn't true, and we know this isn't true because you can clearly see in the video that there are more than 10 people working as Secret Service agents. I mean, I counted at least 15 in the video. So just remember, don't believe everything you read on the internet. We will learn more as more facts come to light and as the investigations go on, but all former presidents are entitled to Secret Service protection. Next question, who is in charge of the investigation?

How long does the investigation usually take? And what is their responsibility when it comes to disclosing the facts to the public? The FBI is the lead investigating agency, though local law enforcement and Butler is doing their own investigation, as well as the Senate Homeland Security Committee, the House Oversight Committee. In fact, we know that the Secret Service will be briefing House lawmakers behind closed doors tomorrow, Tuesday, and the Secret Service director will be testifying before the House next week. Following that closed door testimony, the committee can technically vote to release the transcripts to the public. But in this situation, they may be hesitant to do that because of the national security risks that it could present. So we'll see. As far as how long the investigation takes,

I mean, it could take months. It could take years. We don't know. And then to address the final part of that question, which is what is their responsibility when it comes to disclosing all of the facts? I would imagine we get some of the facts, maybe most of the facts, but perhaps not all facts, because again, this is an issue of national security and it could pose risks releasing all the information. Specifically under the FBI's Freedom of Information Act and Freedom of Privacy Act, the public has the right to request FBI records unless those records fall under one of nine exceptions, one of which is national security. So national security is a big issue, could get in the way of what information is released to the public, but I anticipate we do get a good amount of information. Who was responsible for giving Secret Service clearance to shoot? Why didn't they shoot earlier? Secret Service agents can shoot them, like not shoot themselves, but they can make that

decision once they've identified a threat. They don't have to get approval. They are trained for these situations. That is their job. They need to act quick. It's possible that they saw the shooter on the roof but did not see a rifle. And maybe that is why they waited to fire. A former Secret Service agent actually explained to NBC News that

if a sniper can't tell whether a target has a gun, he or she is not going to take the shot. He explained it like, you know, he said, God forbid it's a child who's just excited to see a political candidate, right, and climbs up on a roof. They're not going to risk that. So they're going to wait until they actually identify a threat. And if there was any uncertainty, the sniper team may have dispatched officers to investigate and confirm before firing. And maybe that's why in this situation, the officer went to go climb on the roof and investigate, dropped as soon as he saw the shooter. Maybe the local law enforcement officer was actually directed by Secret Service to go scope out the scene. And then we know it was only a matter of seconds before the shooter then fired at Trump. So maybe there just wasn't enough time between when the officer dropped from the roof, radioed to the Secret Service agent confirming the existence of a threat, and when Crooks turned his gun towards Trump and fired. But again, a lot of these details will come to light as the investigations play out. I'm using the word, a lot of these details will come to light as the

investigations play out. I'm using the word maybe a lot, and that's why, because we just don't know a lot. So now we can move on to some related news, the RNC. The Republican National Convention kicked off today, and Trump has said he'll be changing his speech in the wake of the attempted assassination. I will tell you what Trump said about his new message, but I first just want to talk about what we can expect at the RNC and what happens at the RNC. This story is going to be relatively short just because of everything else we're covering today, including that final story about the dismissal of Trump's case. So the main event at any national party convention, whether it's the DNC or the RNC, is the official nomination

of the presidential and vice presidential candidates. And here's how that works. To nominate a presidential candidate, the name of that candidate is placed into nomination. A roll call vote is taken with each state delegation announcing how many votes it is casting for each candidate. And the way that the delegates are won is through the primaries and caucuses, which have obviously already taken place. Trump already has enough delegates to win the nomination, as does Biden for the Democratic Party, but that's how the nomination works. So presidents get this roll call process. Then the presidential candidate will accept the nomination by delivering an acceptance speech, and that's when Trump will be the official Republican nominee. The VP nomination is very similar. So we know that J.D. Vance is Trump's VP pick. The nomination, though, can happen before or after Trump himself is nominated. Typically, it happens after,

but in 2020, we actually saw Mike Pence was nominated before the presidential roll call, so it really just depends on how they do it. But the name of the VP candidate is placed into the nomination and seconded. And since 1988, the VP candidate is nominated by voice vote rather than roll call, which is different than the presidential nomination. But this is done to save time because the roll call does take a lot of time. The VP nominee will then also deliver an acceptance speech and become the official Republican VP nominee. So all of that will be happening between today and Thursday. Thursday is when Trump is expected to make his speech, which he has said he will be changing in light of the assassination

attempt. He did a joint interview with the Washington Examiner and the New York Post while he was on the plane to Milwaukee. And he said that he was originally planning to focus on Biden's policies, but he says he plans to deliver a completely different speech now. He said, quote, it is a chance to bring the country together, end quote. And again, that speech is set to take place Thursday. So stay tuned for that. And finally, Judge Eileen Cannon dismissed Trump's classified documents case today. Here's what you need to know. Federal charges were brought against Trump last year for retaining classified documents after leaving office. This is probably something you're familiar with, but if not, let's

run through it a little bit. The charges were brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland. And the role of a special counsel is to investigate and prosecute cases within their jurisdiction. And that is according to the Code of Federal Regulations. Special counsel have the full power and authority as any United States attorney, but they are appointed by the attorney general to act as this independent investigator and prosecutor. And we saw a similar situation when Attorney General Garland appointed special counsel Robert Herr to look into Biden's handling of classified documents.

So last year, Mar-a-Lago gets raided. You probably remember that, that big search with the FBI. Boxes and boxes of documents are taken. And ultimately, Jack Smith brings 40 charges against Trump, 32 counts of willful retention of national defense information, one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of withholding a document or record, one count of corruptly concealing a document or record, one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation, one count of scheming to conceal, one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation, one count of scheming to conceal, one count of false statements and representations, one

count of altering, destroying, mutilating, or concealing an object, and one count of that same charge, but doing so corruptly. So 40 charges. Proceedings have been happening since then, since the indictment was returned. But for the sake of time, for the sake of this story, I'm only going to be talking about the most recent update, which is the dismissal. So Trump's attorneys had filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that under the Appointments Clause of the Constitution, the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutional. What the appointments clause says is that the president does all appointing subject to the advice and consent of the Senate. However, Congress can vest the appointment of what are called inferior officers in the president,

the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. So the judge agreed with the special counsel in that he is an inferior officer, not a principal officer, and therefore the head of the Department of Justice could appoint him. But Trump argued that even accepting the position that Jack Smith qualifies as an inferior officer, the appointment order which appointed him a special counsel in this case, never cited to any statute that actually vests the attorney general with the authority to appoint inferior officers to either the president, courts of law, or heads of departments. And to do this, Congress has to enact specific laws. By enacting laws, that's how Congress vests authority. Without laws, authority is not vested. So basically, the judge said the question she had to answer was whether there is a statute in the U.S. code that authorizes the appointment

of special counsel Smith to or honestly special counsel is just generally by the attorney general. And today she answered that question in the negative, which means that according to her ruling, Congress never officially vested the authority with the attorney general to appoint special counsel. Judge Cannon writes, quote, the bottom line is this, the appointments clause is a critical constitutional restriction stemming from the separation of powers, and it gives to Congress a considered role in determining the propriety of vesting appointment power for inferior officers. The special counsel's position effectively usurps that important legislative authority, transferring it to a head of department

and in the process threatening the structural liberty inherent in the separation of powers. If the political branches wish to grant the Attorney General power to appoint Special Counsel Smith to investigate and prosecute this action with the full powers of a United States attorney, there is a valid means by which to do so. He can be appointed and confirmed through the default method prescribed in the Appointments Clause, as Congress has directed for United States attorneys throughout American history. Or, Congress can authorize his appointment through enactment of positive statutory law consistent with the Appointments Clause. End quote. In other words, yes, the Constitution

gave Congress the authority to vest the appointment of inferior officers to heads of departments, such as Attorney General Garland, but Congress never formally vested that authority by enacting a statute, and therefore, the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith was unlawful. The government can certainly appeal this case and it would go to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, or they could try to take the matter directly to the Supreme Court. But the last time that Jack Smith tried to take an issue directly to the Supreme Court, they told him to wait for the appellate court to make a decision before going to them. So they may do that same thing if that's the route Jack

Smith decides to take. On another note related to the Supreme Court and on a final note, in the Supreme Court's presidential immunity ruling, which granted immunity from criminal prosecution to some acts taken by the president, Justice Thomas wrote a concurrence, which meant that he agreed with the decision, but he had another point to make. And in explaining his other point in his concurrence, Justice Thomas wrote, quote, I write separately to highlight another way in which this prosecution may violate our constitutional structure. In this case, the attorney general purported to appoint a private citizen as special counsel to prosecute a former president on behalf of the United States. But I am not sure that any office for the special counsel has been established by law as the Constitution requires. By requiring that Congress create federal offices by law, the Constitution imposes an important check against the president. He cannot create offices at his pleasure. If there is no law establishing the office that special counsel occupies, then he cannot proceed with this prosecution.

A private citizen cannot criminally prosecute anyone, let alone a former president. End quote. So Justice Thomas is basically saying that the special counsel isn't even an officer. No office has been created, and he cannot, he does not have the power to prosecute. And Judge Cannon in her decision today cited to Thomas's concurrence. So the argument for the special counsel's powers, the argument is definitely there. Only time will tell though whether that argument prevails because there's an equally a strong argument on the other side. As I mentioned, the government can certainly appeal this.

Another option for the government is for a United States attorney in Florida to refile the charges because that would get around the issue entirely as it would no longer be a special prosecutor prosecuting the case, and therefore the issue would be non-existent. So we will see what happens with this, but that is the latest. And that is what I have for you today. Thank you so much for being here on what was one of the busiest days since I started this career. I appreciate you. I will be back tomorrow where I'll be covering the pick of JD Vance. I'll be discussing some of his policies, and I guarantee you I will have my plate full with news tomorrow as well.

Have a great night, and I will talk to you then.