2022

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A slow-rolling staff shakeup is under way at the White House as President Joe Biden girds for battle in the November midterm elections, where he hopes to help his Democrats hang on to control of the U.S. Congress.

Cedric Richmond, a former Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana who as the director of the White House office of Public Engagement has been a top adviser to Biden since the president’s campaign for office, will depart to the private sector, a person briefed on the move said.

Richmond will also become a senior adviser to the Democratic National Committee, helping fundraise for the party and broadcasting its message, the person said.

Meanwhile, long-time Biden political and public relations adviser Anita Dunn is returning to the White House after departing last July to return to her communications firm, a second source briefed on the situation said.

At the same time, White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy plans to step down, as Reuters reported last week. And press secretary Jen Psaki is expected to depart in the weeks ahead, a move that may include several members of the White House press team as well, multiple administration sources say.

It is fairly standard for top White House officials to warn staff long before midterm and presidential elections that they should depart with plenty of lead time, or stay until the election is over. But it is unclear whether Biden’s chief of staff Ron Klain has issued such a memo.

Many political analysts believe Republicans are poised to take control of the House and possibly the Senate as well this November, as voters weigh in on inflation that has soared to a 40-year high on Biden’s watch, and progressive groups disappointed in Biden’s progress on climate and social issues stay home from the polls.

Richmond will leave for a “new important role” at some point in the future, Psaki told reporters Monday, adding it was “something the president is excited about and has asked him to do.” His departure was first reported by The New York Times.

Psaki’s primary deputy press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, is considered a top contender to take over when Psaki leaves, multiple sources within the White House said.

On a West Coast swing last week, Biden predicted Democrats could win two more U.S. Senate seats in November’s midterms, strengthening the party’s majority to pass his agenda despite sagging approval ratings. [L2N2WJ2SQ]

(Reporting by Steve Holland; additional reporting by Andrea Shalal and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Heather Timmons and Stephen Coates)

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(Reuters) – A New York judge on Monday held former President Donald Trump in contempt of court for not producing documents subpoenaed in the state attorney general’s civil probe of his business practices, and ordered Trump to be fined $10,000 per day until he complies.

Trump lost a bid to quash a subpoena from state Attorney General Letitia James, and then failed to produce all the documents by a court-ordered March 3 deadline, later extended to March 31 at his lawyers’ request.

Justice Arthur Engoron ruled that a contempt finding was appropriate because of what the judge called “repeated failures” to hand over materials and because it was not clear Trump had conducted a complete search for responsive documents.

“Mr. Trump … I know you take your business seriously, and I take mine seriously. I hereby hold you in civil contempt,” the judge said, although Trump himself was not in the courtroom.

Trump intends to appeal the contempt ruling, said his attorney Alina Habba. “We respectfully disagree with the court’s decision,” Habba said in a statement.

Should Trump fail to pay the fine, he could be jailed, according to Sarah Krissoff, a New York lawyer not involved in the case, though she said such a scenario was unlikely and the judge could opt for other remedies such as increasing the amount of the fine.

James is investigating whether the Trump Organization, the former president’s New York City-based family company, misstated the values of its real estate properties to obtain favorable loans and tax deductions.

She has said the more than three-year-old probe found “significant evidence” that the company included misleading asset valuations in its financial statements for more than a decade.

“Today’s ruling makes clear: No one is above the law,” James said in a statement on Monday.

Trump, a Republican, denies wrongdoing and has called the investigation politically motivated. James is a Democrat.

The attorney general has questioned how the Trump Organization valued the Trump brand, as well as properties including golf clubs in New York and Scotland and Trump’s own penthouse apartment in Midtown Manhattan’s Trump Tower.

Also on Monday, Engoron granted a motion by James’ office to compel real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield to comply with certain subpoenas. Cushman conducted appraisals for several Trump Organization properties.

Trump and two of his adult children, Ivanka and Donald Jr., also were subpoenaed and ordered to provide testimony to the attorney general. An appeal is pending for the testimony.

COERCION, NOT PUNISHMENT

Andrew Amer, special litigation counsel with the attorney general’s office, said during the hearing that the $10,000-a-day fine was meant to coerce Trump into complying with the subpoena, not punish him.

Habba told the judge that Trump did indeed comply with the subpoena, but that he did not have any documents responsive to James’ request. Engoron said she would have to submit a detailed affidavit about her search of Trump’s records in order to be in compliance with the subpoena.

Such an affidavit would need to show that Trump’s team had conducted a diligent search for documents, said Halim Dhanidina, a former California judge now practicing as a lawyer.

“The court’s not going to just take someone’s word for it,” Dhanidina said.

The Trump Organization’s property valuations are also the subject of a criminal probe in Manhattan, which last year led to the indictment of the company’s chief financial officer.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said this month that probe is ongoing despite the departure of its two top lawyers.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Karen Freifeld; editing by Jonathan Oatis, Noeleen Walder and Howard Goller)

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