November 16, 2023

Thursday, November 16,2023. Annette’s News Roundup.

I think the Roundup makes people feel not so alone.

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Joe is always busy.

Xi came to the United States to meet the President. That is a big deal.

The most assuring takeaway from the meeting for Biden was that if either man had a concern, “we should pick up the phone and call one another and we’ll take the call. That’s important progress,” he said in a news conference following the talks.

The two leaders spent four hours together at a bucolic Northern California estate – in meetings, a working lunch and a garden stroll – intent on showing the world that while they are global economic competitors they’re not locked in a winner-take-all faceoff.

“Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed,” Xi told Biden. (Associated Press).

Biden and Xi agreed to steps on fentanyl and restoring military communication in talks, official says.

President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to take steps to curb fentanyl production and restore military communication during their summit Wednesday, a senior US official told CNN.

Biden also made clear China should lean on Iran to avoid steps that would aggravate the tense situation in the Middle East. The leaders also stressed that they wanted to stabilize their countries’ relationship after months of heightened tension.

The results, which were expected ahead of the talks, amount to progress in improving the still-tense US-China relationship but they stopped short of a joint statement or other declaration of cooperation.

The senior US official said China agreed to go after companies who produce precursor chemicals to fentanyl, the powerful narcotic that has fueled a drug crisis in the United States. The US will watch closely to see if China follows up on the commitments made in the summit.

Xi also agreed to mechanisms that would address potential military miscalculations and agreed to forums for the two sides to present their concerns.

Senior administration officials said leading up to Wednesday’s summit that their Chinese counterparts had been “reluctant” over the past few months to agree to re-establishing military-to-military communications.

But it was an issue that Biden himself -- and his top advisers like Secretary of State Antony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin -- raised in “nearly every conversation we’ve had with the Chinese,” as the US tried to underscore that it was “absolutely critical” that this channel be re-opened.

US officials said that the Chinese spy balloon incident, in particular, underscored the importance of military-to-military communications. (CNN).

One more thing.

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Kamala is always busy.

Kamala Harris Exclusive Interview with PEOPLE Magazine.

Kamala Harris is vice president “24/7, 365” as her husband of nine years, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, puts it. But on her 59th birthday on Oct. 20, she was planning on a slightly more relaxed day than usual: after a morning interview and photo shoot with PEOPLE, perhaps a few moments in her vegetable garden — where she likes to pick fresh tarragon for salads — followed by a small gathering with family and close friends. An early summons from the president to report to the Oval Office amid the ongoing crisis in Israel and Gaza meant that Harris was thrust into action, with her staff scrambling to rearrange her day.

Of course, for the highest-ranking woman in U.S. history, birthdays — along with nearly everything else — are a distant second to the job.

At the end of each evening, after reading her nightly “binders” of briefing documents (“about this thick,” she explains, placing her hands a foot apart), Harris says she tries to have some “wind-down time.” Still, she admits that the brief respite and a mug of chamomile tea aren’t quite enough.

“I usually wake up in the middle of the night with some thought of what’s going on,” she says. “Then I fall back asleep, and the next day starts.”

Restless nights, hurried days, intense pressure: Welcome to Kamala Harris’ world, in which the triple landmark of being the first woman, first Black person and first person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president carries an unprecedented combination of scrutiny and expectation.

Nearly three years into a role that is notoriously diffuse — “I am vice president. In this I am nothing, but I may be everything,” John Adams famously said — the woman who is a heartbeat away from the most powerful job in the world is determined to take things one day at a time.

She is well aware that in a hyperpolarized political culture, the “comments section” of her life draws both praise and vitriol. The latter, which often veers into racism and sexism, is something Harris has navigated throughout her lifelong career in public service. 

“The strategy is focusing on the people who are there to support you rather than giving your energy to those who may not be,” she says of her approach to managing negativity. “It’s important to have people in your life who will applaud your ambition.” But she is quick to note that included in that group are “people who are very candid with you. Who are going to say to you, ‘Honey, you need a mint.’ ‘You have food in your teeth.’ Right?”

Harris’ critics, of course, don’t hesitate to point out her perceived slip-ups, from her meme-able “word salads” to deep frustrations with what many see as a lack of impact during her current term.

After making history with Joe Biden in 2020 — “We did it, Joe,” she effused in a viral video declaring their winning moment — Harris has seen her favorability rating dip to 39%, slightly less than both Biden and her predecessor Mike Pence, according to recent polling by the Los Angeles Times.

Although she has crisscrossed the country, most recently drawing more than 10,000 Gen Z students on her “Fight for Our Freedoms College Tour” (her favorability among Gen Z holds at almost 60%), she has been accused of low visibility among even her supporters.

She has also been tasked with leading the administration’s public stance on immigration, sparking dissent from all sides. At the final stop of her tour at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, a student confronted Harris about “this country’s inhumane [immigration] policies,” drawing a comparison to the treatment of Palestinians and sparking loud applause from the young crowd. (Harris cited her own “lived experience” as the daughter of an immigrant mother for how she approaches the issue.)

Experts say that as Republicans and Democrats become increasingly entrenched, those in the White House are unlikely to enjoy the kind of widespread popularity of past administrations. But beyond her traditional role championing the administration’s priorities — including gun safety legislation, reproductive rights and the youth vote — her status as a trailblazer has had an impact that can’t yet be measured either at home or abroad.

With a diverse, largely female staff and events often centered on women and girls, Harris is “showing a woman as a national leader of the major country in the world [in ways] no previous vice president has done,” says Joel Goldstein, author and expert in vice presidential history.

And what about becoming the first Madam President? It’s not a question she’s interested in addressing at the moment, focusing instead on the 2024 reelection efforts alongside Biden, 80, and remaining fiercely committed to her mantra of “eating no for breakfast.”

“Some people, frankly, are limited in their ability to understand what’s possible,” she says. “Some people just can’t see what they’ve never seen. And that’s okay. That’s why we have people who break ground, break glass, break barriers.”

Even at home, of course, Harris is reshaping the vice presidency: a book titled Our Vice-Presidents and Second Ladies in the pink-wallpapered (her choice) library reflects the fact that “there will not just be a new addition to that book, there will be a new book,” she says.

Emhoff is both the first second gentleman and the first Jewish person to be among the “Big Four” in the White House. (In another first, a mezuzah — a Jewish symbol of faith — is positioned on the door of the historic Vice President’s Residence in Washington, D.C.)

At the start and end of each day, “we try to approach those moments as husband and wife, not vice president and second gentleman,” says Emhoff, 59, who recently celebrated the wedding of son Cole to Greenley Littlejohn on Oct. 14, with Harris officiating.

“It’s really our time to be a couple,” he says. “The morning check-in is a little more procedural: ‘Where are you today? Love you too. Have a great day.’ But to the extent we’re able to have that connection at night, it’s really couple time: time talking about kids, family and very little about the workings of our days.”

Harris’ favorite title is “Momala” to stepkids Cole, 29, and Ella, 24. “It’s the name the kids gave me, and I wear it proudly.” She finds the most peace, she adds, with her family.

“I am my happiest self when generations in my family are getting together and I’m cooking,” she says. “Recently for the wedding weekend, my baby nieces, my husband gets up early and does his coffee and whatever, and they just came running in my room and then jumped in bed with me, and we just talked and laughed.”

For now, that cherished downtime is rare. International turmoil continues to shake the globe, the 2024 campaign trail is just around the corner, and millions of Americans on both sides of the political aisle continue to feel frustrated with a variety of issues.

But Harris is unbowed. Sharing that she attended Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour this summer, she says her favorite song is “Break My Soul.”

“I just love that song,” she says. “I play it all the time. I think it’s one of the anthems for women . . . when [Beyoncé says] ‘you,’ you could be life, you could be a person, you could be a situation. You will not break my soul. I can endure.” (People)

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Trump, a little more on what he is up to.

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Here come the Polls. Biden is now leading.

Since the new polls show Biden leading, we probably won’t hear much about them.

Psst. 🧏‍♀️ with regard to any polls on the Presidency, it’s too early, but here they are anyway.

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Abortion here. Abortion there. Abortion will be key everywhere in 2024.

Here are two ways Abortion will affect the election of 2024 which you may not have considered.

For Congress.

How abortion could upend the 2024 battle for Congress.

Democrats' rush to get abortion-related initiatives on the ballot in key states could throw a wrench in Republicans' effort to keep the House in 2024.

Why it matters: Election results in Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia on Tuesday demonstrated that the issue is still boosting Democrats at the ballot box more than a year after Roe v. Wade was overturned.

• Democrats took the results to show that the grassroots energy they've enjoyed since the ruling will make them competitive even in Trump country.

State of play: As many as eight states could have an abortion-related referendum on the ballot next November. Among those states are nearly two dozen House districts rated as some degree of competitive by Cook Political Report.

• Maryland and New York — which alone could have half a dozen swing districts, pending a redistricting lawsuit — are both set to have referenda on the ballot.

• Abortion rights advocates are in the process of trying to get constitutional amendments preserving access to abortion on the ballot in Arizona, Florida and Nevada.

• In Iowa, the GOP-controlled legislature could set the stage for a vote on an amendment clarifying that the state constitution doesn't protect abortion. In Colorado and Nebraska, there are pushes for both pro- and anti-abortion rights ballot measures.

What to watch: "I think what we saw [in Tuesday's elections] validates that ... when you try to take freedoms away, people reject it," Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), the only Democrat in a New York swing district, told Axios.

• "It's very much on the minds of New Yorkers. So that will be a key driver of turnout, not just of Democrats but of a wide coalition who want their reproductive freedoms."

• “Potential referenda in key House battleground states from Arizona to Florida and New York will help crystallize for voters the choice between Republican extremism … and Democrats' stand for freedom,” said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Courtney Rice.

• New York Democrats plan to spend at least $20 million in support of a 2024 ballot measure codifying abortion protections, racial and LGBTQ+ equality, disability rights and more.

• The state will be a hotbed of competitive 2024 House races: five Republican freshmen hold seats there that President Biden won in 2020.

The other side: Several Republican lawmakers in states with possible abortion-related ballot measures stressed that the key to defusing the issue's potency is striking a balance.

• "I've done significant polling on this. Most people in our district fall into the 12-15 week [abortion restriction] bell curve," Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told Axios. "I've had a lot of people say, 'Don, I'm pro-choice, but 12 weeks is where it should be.'"

• Bacon conceded the abortion initiative "could turn out" liberal voters, but said it may also backfire given the state's sizable Catholic community: "Last year ... I had a whole new part of the district, and they were like 'we hate your opponent' because he was running all these abortion ads."

• "There will be New Yorkers who turn out for that reason," Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) said of his state's ballot initiative. "I'm going to continue to navigate it as I have for the last 30 years."

Zoom out: Several of these states are also among the most hotly contested Senate battlegrounds next year.

• Democrats are trying to keep control of Nevada and Arizona — both states that went for Biden by just a few percentage points in 2020.

• Democrats are also looking to Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) as a top target to offset their likely loss in West Virginia following the retirement of Sen. Joe Manchin(D-W.Va.). (Axios).

For the Presidency.

How the next Republican president could stop most abortions without Congress.

The next Republican president could effectively ban most abortions through a simple policy change at the Department of Justice, experts and advocates on both sides of the abortion debate say.

Why it matters: While Republicans disagree about whether to pursue a national abortion ban that would face long odds in Congress, a GOP president may be able to unilaterally curb access to medication abortion across the country using an obscure 19th-century law.

State of play: At issue is the meaning of the 1873 Comstock Act, which banned the mailing of "obscene" material like pornography, as well as abortion drugs and contraception. While the law has been cut down over the years, the abortion provision remained but was ignored while Roe v. Wade was in place.

Medication abortion usually involves the use of two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, and accounts for more than half of abortions in the U.S.

The Heritage Foundation, which has proposed detailed policies for a potential GOP administration, argues that Comstock "unambiguously prohibits mailing abortion drugs" and says the next administration should "enforce federal law against providers and distributors of [abortion] pills."

The Biden administration disagrees with this interpretation. A Justice Department memo issued last year contends that the law doesn't prohibit mailing abortion drugs when the sender expects them to be used lawfully.

A new administration could easily change that interpretation, experts say, and not just restrict patients from receiving pills at home — but also stop pharmacies and health care providers from getting shipments.

"If Trump were elected, not only would I not be surprised, but I would expect the administration to direct DOJ to overturn its guidance on the Comstock Act and rule that shipping mifepristone through the U.S. Postal Service is a violation of that statute," said Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown Law professor who supports abortion rights.

This "would create a significant impediment to access to the most common, safest and most effective method of getting an abortion," Gostin added.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment on its thinking about the Comstock Act.

The big picture: The overturning of Roe left the GOP in knots over how to handle abortion, and the topic has become a major liability for the party.

Even before last week's elections that were seen as a rebuke of abortion restrictions, including in red states, Republican presidential candidates have been hesitant to embrace some of the harshest restrictions enacted by states since Roe's demise.

Former President Trump, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination, has been vague about restrictions he might pursue.

These political dynamics make it unlikely that Trump — or any other Republican candidate — will openly embrace Heritage's interpretation of Comstock before the 2024 election.

But a Republican president would likely face intense pressure to do so from anti-abortion groups and members of their own party.

A group of Republican senators earlier this year warned pharmacies against shipping abortion drugs, adding they will "insist" that the next president rescind DOJ's Comstock Act memo.

The senators' letter named a long list of anti-abortion groups that were supportive of their efforts.

• Withdrawing the memo "should be one of the first orders of business" for the next administration, which could apply a "more textual and originalist understanding" of Comstock, said Erik Baptist, senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom.

The Comstock Act is also invoked in a closely watched lawsuit challenging the Food and Drug Administration's approval of mifepristone — in which Baptist is the lead counsel — which could reach the Supreme Court this term.

• That lawsuit also argues that Comstock makes mailing abortion drugs illegal in the first place. However, that argument received little attention in lower courts, so the Supreme Court may not consider it.

The other side: Abortion rights advocates argue that interpreting Comstock so literally is ignoring its context and legal precedent.

• They would almost certainly sue to block a DOJ policy change, leaving it to the courts — and possibly the Supreme Court — to decide.

• "It's tailor-made for a Supreme Court that considers itself textualist," said Mary Ziegler, a UC Davis law professor and legal historian. "There's a plausible argument that the language of the statute is unambiguous."

• Taking the statute so literally could have much broader implications for abortion, she added, extending to all forms of the procedure and even prohibiting it under circumstances like endangerment to the life of the pregnant person.

• Ziegler said abortion rights supporters likely haven't put much focus on Comstock to avoid legitimizing GOP arguments as courts consider the legality of mifepristone.

• "I think it's a fear that taking the Comstock Act too seriously would make it more likely that the Supreme Court will take it seriously," she said

The bottom line: "If all of this stuff about Comstock is anything we should remotely take seriously, then a national abortion ban is on the ballot in 2024," Ziegler said. (Axios).
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Update on some candidates running for office and where they run.

One more thing.

Democrats have big plans. Some might say, it is about time.

Memo Reveals Democratic Plan to Flip More State Houses.

After their big wins in Virginia last week, Democrats are signaling they will use the strategy adopted there as a model for down-ballot races in 2024. 

In a memo to top donors shared first with TIME, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which focuses on state legislative races, credits its early focus on abortion rights in Virginia as a critical factor in helping the party retain control of the State Senate and flip the State House, thwarting a high-profile effort by Gov. Glenn Youngkin to ban abortion in most cases after 15 weeks in the state. The memo signals that the committee plans to position state-level races next year as part of a national fight to preserve Americans’ freedoms.

“Throughout the year, the DLCC sounded the alarm on the national stage about the stakes of the election and what a Republican trifecta would mean for Virginia,” Heather Williams, the DLCC’s interim president, writes in the memo. “Republican control of the General Assembly and an unchecked GOP trifecta would have led to an abortion ban and cut off the last point of access for the entire South.”

The memo highlights the millions of dollars Youngkin’s super PAC spent, and how Democrats successfully countered that with fundraising of their own. By mid-October, the DLCC had invested $2.2 million in Virginia, the most the committee had ever invested directly in the state, William writes.

Ahead of Election Day 2023, Youngkin encouraged his party’s candidates to back a limit on abortions after 15 weeks, with exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother—a proposal that was widely viewed as a model for Republicans nationally to talk about abortion if it worked with Virginia’s voters. While Youngkin insisted his attention was squarely focused on Virginia in the runup to the election, many considered him a potential presidential contender, especially as other alternatives to former President Donald Trump appear to be foundering. After last week’s losses in Virginia, interest in Youngkin as a 2024 candidate fell sharply. 

“While national pundits focused on Governor Youngkin and his presidential ambitions, we made one thing abundantly clear: this election was about state power and the future, not just for Virginia, but for the direction of the whole country,” Williams writes.

As the presidential race, and the unpopularity of each party’s frontrunner, sucks up much of the air in politics, the memo emphasizes the importance of state legislative seats. Wins at that level could provide a key bulwark for Democrats against right-wing legislation, especially if President Joe Biden fails to win reelection in what is expected to be a close race. 

“Regardless of what happens at the top of the ticket, 2024 will be the year of the states,” Williams writes.

In addition to abortion rights, the DLCC’s memo states that the committee marshaled attention to Virginia by getting the country to pay attention to how Tuesday’s results would impact voting rights, LGBTQ+ people, and climate change. Those issues are likely to continue to play a role in next year’s elections, when the DLCC aims to flip both chambers of the Arizona and New Hampshire legislatures, as well as the Pennsylvania state Senate. Earlier this year, the Republican State Leadership Committee, which leads efforts to elect Republicans in state legislatures, identified its top targets for chambers to flip in 2024 as Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. 

The DLCC also plans to invest in Georgia, Kansas, North Carolina, and Wisconsin next year. The status of abortion rights in several of those states is currently murky pending action from the courts. 

“Democrats are recognizing that alongside important federal races, we must also compete and win power in the states,” Williams writes. “Republicans built an advantage in the last decade but now Democrats are fighting back and shifting the balance of power.” (Time).

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Some Despicable Republican votes in the Congress.

Then.

On the two-year anniversary of the infrastructure bill being signed into law, the White House is calling out BY NAME the Republicans who voted against the bill but now take credit for infrastructure projects in their state. Don’t let them take credit.

Now.

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Antisemitism. As American as apple pie.

Touch to watch one antisemite. 👇

Touch to watch another. 👇

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Shocking news from Georgia - Fani Willis’s case.

Look at that date!

Fani Willis: Georgia trial involving Trump might not conclude until early 2025.

The Atlanta-area prosecutor leading the criminal racketeering case against former president Donald Trump and 14 allies alleging they broke the law when they sought to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss said Tuesday that she anticipated the trial to conclude by early 2025, with proceedings probably underway during the final stretch of the 2024 presidential election.


In an interview at The Washington Post Live’s Global Women’s Summit, Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) said the anticipated trial over alleged election interference by Trump and his allies could be ongoing on Election Day 2024 and possibly still underway on Inauguration Day.


“I believe in that case there will be a trial. I believe the trial will take many months. And I don’t expect that we will conclude until the winter or the very early part of 2025,” Willis said.



The news comes as Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is beginning to consider scheduling issues in the sprawling Georgia case, a decision in which he will probably have to take into account Trump’s scheduled legal proceedings in other cases, including the separate federal election interference case led by special counsel Jack Smith.


Willis’s comments are likely to draw criticism from Trump, who has accused her and other prosecutors of attempting to disrupt his 2024 bid for the presidency. While Willis pointedly declined to comment on Trump and any of his co-defendants specifically, she said the election calendar plays no role in her decisions about any of the cases that her office pursues.

“I don’t, when making decisions about cases to bring, consider any election cycle or an election season. That does not go into the calculus. What goes into the calculus is: This is the law. These are the facts. And the facts show you violated the law. Then charges are brought,” Willis said.


Ted Goodman, a spokesman for Rudy Giuliani, a defendant in the case, said Willis’s prediction that a trial could stretch into 2025 proves that the case is politically motivated to thwart Trump’s re-election ambitions next year.


Willis’s appearance Tuesday came hours after she filed an emergency request asking a presiding judge to issue a protective order over discovery materials in the case to prevent leaks of potential evidence.


The request came a day after The Post published details of recorded statements given to prosecutors by four Trump co-defendants who have accepted plea deals in the case. The recordings of interviews between prosecutors and pro-Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell and Atlanta bail bondsman Scott Hall offered previously undisclosed details about the effort by Trump and his allies to reverse his defeat. Some of the details from two of the videos were first reported Monday by ABC News.


Willis denied that her office was behind the leak, which she described as not “surprising” but “disappointing.” She added, “I’m not happy that it was released.” She previously requested a protective order over discovery materials in the case, which includes “proffer” videos featuring statements of those who have pleaded guilty in the case. In a Tuesday court filing, Willis renewed that request “on an emergency basis” citing the leak of the recordings to the media.


“These confidential video recordings were not released by the State to any party other than the defendants charged in the indictment, pursuant to the discovery process as required by law,” the filing said. “The release of these confidential video recordings is clearly intended to intimidate witnesses in this case, subjecting them to harassment and threats prior to trial, constitutes indirect communication about the facts of this case with codefendants and witnesses, and obstructs the administration of justice, in violation of the conditions of release imposed on each defendant.”


Prosecutors said they would no longer share “confidential video recordings of proffers” to any defense attorneys involved in the case and said they must view those statements in person at the district attorney’s office. “They may take notes, but they will be prohibited from creating any recordings or reproductions.”

The filing, which was signed by Willis and two deputy prosecutors, Donald Wakeford and Will Wooten, asked McAfee to immediately grant an emergency protective order covering all discovery materials and to schedule a hearing and to issue a “permanent order prohibiting disclosure of any discovery materials by any party.” In response, McAfee scheduled a Wednesday hearing on the issue.


The prosecution’s filing includes a copy of an email chain about the leak that began Monday night between prosecutors and some criminal defense attorneys involved in the case. Steve Sadow, the lead Georgia attorney for Trump, emailed prosecutors saying the leak of the recordings did not come from him or another co-counsel on the case and asked prosecutors whether someone in the district attorney’s office disclosed it to the media.
“The State had nothing to do with leaking any information to the media!” Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor and lead government attorney on the case, replied.

An attorney for Harrison Floyd, a Trump ally charged for his alleged role in the harassment of election worker Ruby Freeman, replied to the chain Tuesday morning, writing, “It was Harrison Floyd’s team.” In the filing, prosecutors said Floyd’s attorney later said that statement was a typo and that Floyd’s team had not shared the information with the media.


An attorney for David Shafer, the former Georgia Republican Party chair who is charged in part for his role as a Trump elector, filed a motion opposing the prosecution’s proposed protective order, describing it as too broad. The motion put forward an alternative protective order, supported by several other co-defendants including Trump, that would label some discovery evidence as “sensitive” and allow it to be filed under seal but still be accessible to the defendants.


Willis and her team originally requested a protective order over evidence in the case on Sept. 27. During a hearing in the case last month, before Powell, Chesebro and Ellis entered guilty pleas, McAfee asked about the status of that proposed protective order and a defense attorney for Chesebro said the order was still being negotiated between prosecutors and the numerous defense attorneys on the case. (Washington Post).

Everything We Know About Leaked Georgia Tapes.

Jonathan Miller, an attorney for former President Donald Trump co-defendant Misty Hampton, admitted to leaking videos showing conversations between prosecutors and other co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case. (Newsweek).

Yesterday, this happened.

Fulton prosecutors ask for protective order after leaked videos in 2020 election racketeering case - Georgia Recorder.

On Wednesday, a Fulton County Superior Court judge is set to consider District Attorney Fani Willis’ request for a court order prohibiting lawyers from releasing witnesses statements and other confidential evidence in the 2020 presidential election interference case.

Judge Scott McAfee has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. on an emergency motion filed by Willis on Tuesday in reaction to several national media outlets reporting details from leaked videotaped interviews four defendants gave as part of their plea agreements.

Willis argued in the motion that a protective order was necessary to keep witnesses from harm and safeguard sensitive evidence that could be used to intimidate witnesses and harass them, which would result in a tainted jury pool.

Prosecutors are pursuing a felony racketeering case against Donald Trump and 14 of his allies accusing them of illegally conspiring in Georgia and several other states to overturn the GOP incumbent’s narrow loss to Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

In news articles released on Monday, ABC News and the Washington Post reported that they obtained video from unidentified sources that shows prosecutors interviewing co-defendants and attorneys Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, and Atlanta bail bondsman Scott Hall about their involvement in the case. As part of their plea agreements, the four were required to provide what are legally known as proffer interviews to prosecutors.

In a court filing, Willis stated that the proposed order balances the privacy and security interests of the state and its witnesses with the evidentiary discovery rights of the defendants. 

“The proposed order also ensures that the defendants’ rights to a fundamentally fair trial will not be threatened by extrajudicial statements of others,” she said. 

ABC News reported Ellis recalling in her interview a conversation at a 2020 White House Christmas party in which Trump White House aide Dan Scavino appeared to be excited to tell her that Trump would not be leaving office “under any circumstances.” Ellis also claimed that Scavino was dismissive of her concerns that Trump couldn’t unilaterally decide to stay in office just because Trump believed mass voting fraud cost the Republican his 2020 re-election bid.

In her video statement, Powell reportedly talked about her frequent communications with Trump about unsuccessful legal challenges to election results in Georgia and other battleground states’ results in court. Powell also said that Trump wanted to appoint her as special counsel and have her draft an executive order to seize voting machines in several states, according to several media reports.

In Tuesday’s motion, Fulton prosecutors included an email chain between the district attorney’s office and defense attorneys that might shed light on how the revealing interviews became public fodder. 

On Monday night, Trump’s lawyer Steve Sadow asked if prosecutors had disclosed the interviews to the media. After special prosecutor Nathan Wade denied any involvement on the part of the district attorney’s office, Todd Harding, who represents co-defendant Harrison William Floyd, sent an email stating that “It was Harrison Floyd’s team.”

Later, Harding denied involvement in the leaks, blaming a typo. 

Willis says if her motion is granted, prosecutors won’t send video recordings of confidential proffers to the defense anymore. Defendants and their attorneys would be permitted to watch the recordings and take notes at the D.A.’s office.

“The state is not asking that the defendants and their counsel be prohibited from viewing or using the discovery to prepare in their defense but asks merely for the defendants and their counsel not to disseminate it for any reason aside from trial preparation,” Willis said. (Georgia Recorder)

This also happened.

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Behind the scenes: How the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is transported.

Already on site, the majestic piece of nature has officially kicked off local festivities, with folks traveling to town to admire the tree in all of its glory in person.

Among the many things that people wonder about when in front of the sapling, one question reigns supreme: how did officials even get it to Rockefeller Center?

We spoke to Erik Pauze, the head gardener at Rockefeller Center, about it all:

How do you transport the tree to midtown Manhattan every year?

"The tree is cut down and lowered by crane onto a large flatbed truck, which then transports it to Manhattan. It is then driven onto Rockefeller Center Plaza the morning of the arrival, and then craned up and secured in place."

How long before the holidays does the tree usually arrive?

"The tree typically arrives at Rockefeller Center in mid-November to allow for enough time to decorate it before the lighting ceremony. It varies every year, but the tree is typically selected a few months before its location is announced."

What are your tree-selection parameters?

"The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is always a Norway Spruce [because] it's great for the scale it can achieve and its ability to hold the lights on its branches. It needs to look like a tree you would want in your living room but on a grander scale, at least 70 feet tall and about 40 feet in diameter."

What happens to the tree once Christmas is over? 

“Once taken down and removed from the Plaza, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is milled into lumber for Habitat for Humanity, with the receiving affiliate determining how the lumber will be used.” (TimeOut).

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