Politics

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that anyone who thinks the Constitution should be suspended would have a “very hard time” becoming president in the United States, trying to distance himself from Donald Trump’s new White House bid.

It’s the second time McConnell has been forced to open his weekly press conference preemptively responding to questions about the former president’s remarks and behavior. Last week, it was over Trump’s dinner meeting with a white nationalist Holocaust denier.

“Let me just say that anyone seeking the presidency who thinks the Constitution can somehow be suspended or not followed, it seems to me, would have a very hard time being sworn in as President of the United States,” McConnell said at the Capitol.

The remarks come as Trump, who announced he is running again for the presidency in 2024, is putting his party into the familiar position of responding to his ideas, statements and outbursts, forcing Republicans to publicly answer for his behavior.

Trump over the weekend called for “the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution” after new revelations of what he said was Twitter’s unfair treatment of him during the 2020 presidential election that he lost to Joe Biden.

Reaction from Republicans has been critical, even as many GOP officials remain unwilling to directly confront Trump as the leader of their party.

Speaking Tuesday in South Carolina, Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president, said, “I think anyone who serves in public office, anyone who aspires to serve in public office or serve again in public office should make it clear that they will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

McConnell, as the Republican leader trying to steer his party in a post-Trump era — the two have not spoken since McConnell agreed to the Electoral College tally for Biden at the end of 2020 — faces an endless task of reacting to the former president’s outbursts.

Still, McConnell deflected questions over whether he could support Trump if he becomes the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nominee.

Instead, the Senate GOP leader reiterated the difficulty of taking the oath, which requires the president-elect to defend the Constitution.

“It would be pretty hard to be sworn into the presidency if you’re not willing to uphold the Constitution,” McConnell said.

Over the weekend, Trump latched on to a report from new Twitter owner Elon Musk suggesting favoritism on the social media platform during the 2020 presidential race.

Twitter was asked to moderate content about Biden’s family, particularly his son, Hunter Biden, that Republicans wanted to amplify in their attacks against the Democrat.

Trump, on his social media app, had said that, “Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” He later accused the media of distorting his comments and “trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to ‘terminate’ the Constitution.”

Two weeks ago, Trump came under criticism for having dinner with Nick Fuentes, a known white nationalist and Holocaust denier. Trump said he was unaware of Fuentes’ beliefs.

Republicans have been unable to firmly reject Trump as their potential nominee even as many of them try to distance themselves from his recent activities.

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, who is in line to become the House speaker when Republicans take control in the new year, has yet to fully weigh in on Trump’s latest comments.

Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, a staunch Trump critic, tweeted directly at McCarthy to respond:

“This week Trump said we should terminate all rules, regulations etc ‘even those in the Constitution’ to overturn the election. Are you so utterly without principle that you won’t condemn this either?”

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Associated Press writers Meg Kinnard in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is taking up a case with the potential to fundamentally reshape elections for Congress and the presidency.

The justices are hearing arguments Wednesday over the power of state courts to strike down congressional districts drawn by the legislature because they violate state constitutions.

Republicans from North Carolina who are bringing the case to the high court argue that a provision of the U.S. Constitution known as the elections clause gives state lawmakers virtually total control over the “times, places and manner” of congressional elections, including redistricting, and cuts state courts out of the process.

The Republicans are advancing a concept called the independent legislature theory, never before adopted by the Supreme Court but cited approvingly by four conservative justices.

A broad ruling could threaten hundreds of election laws, require separate rules for federal and state elections on the same ballot and lead to new efforts to redraw congressional districts to maximize partisan advantage.

The court’s decision in the North Carolina case also might suggest how the justices would deal with another part of the Constitution — not at issue in the current case — that gives legislatures the authority to decide how presidential electors are appointed. That provision, the electors clause, was central to efforts to try to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in several closely contested states.

The North Carolina state Supreme Court struck down districts drawn by Republicans who control the legislature because they heavily favored Republicans in the highly competitive state. The court-drawn map used in last month’s elections for Congress produced a 7-7 split between Democrats and Republicans.

North Carolina is among six states in recent years in which state courts have ruled that overly partisan redistricting for Congress violated their state constitutions. The others are Florida, Maryland, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

State courts have become the only legal forum for challenging partisan congressional maps since the Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that those lawsuits cannot be brought in federal court.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court and joined by four other conservative justices, noted that state courts remained open. “Provisions in state statutes and state constitutions can provide standards and guidance for state courts to apply,” Roberts wrote, in an opinion joined by Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas.

But Alito, Gorsuch and Thomas wrote in March that they would have allowed the Republican-drawn map to be used this year. Alito wrote for the three justices that “there must be some limit on the authority of state courts to countermand actions taken by state legislatures when they are prescribing rules for the conduct of federal elections. I think it is likely that the applicants would succeed in showing that the North Carolina Supreme Court exceeded those limits.”

Kavanaugh has separately written about the need for federal courts to police the actions of state courts when it comes to federal elections, citing an opinion by three conservatives in the Bush v. Gore case that settled the 2000 presidential election. Thomas was one of the three justices on that 22-year-old opinion, but the court decided the case on other grounds.

In North Carolina, Republican lawmakers won’t have to wait for the court’s decision to produce a new congressional map that is expected to have more Republican districts.

Even as Democrats won half the state’s 14 congressional seats, Republicans seized control of the state Supreme Court. Two newly elected Republican justices give them a 5-2 edge that makes it more likely than not that the court would uphold a map with more Republican districts.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

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ATLANTA (AP) — Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker in a Georgia runoff election Tuesday, ensuring Democrats an outright majority in the Senate for the rest of President Joe Biden’s current term and capping an underwhelming midterm cycle for the GOP in the last major vote of the year.

With Warnock’s second runoff victory in as many years, Democrats will have a 51-49 Senate majority, gaining a seat from the current 50-50 split with John Fetterman’s victory in Pennsylvania. There will be divided government, however, with Republicans having narrowly flipped House control.

“After a hard-fought campaign — or, should I say, campaigns — it is my honor to utter the four most powerful words ever spoken in a democracy: The people have spoken,” Warnock, 53, told jubilant supporters who packed a downtown Atlanta hotel ballroom.

“I often say that a vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children,” declared Warnock, a Baptist pastor and his state’s first Black senator. “Georgia, you have been praying with your lips and your legs, your hands and your feet, your heads and your hearts. You have put in the hard work, and here we are standing together.”

Democrats’ Georgia victory solidifies the state’s place as a Deep South battleground two years after Warnock and fellow Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff won 2021 runoffs that gave the party Senate control just months after Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate in 30 years to win Georgia.Voters returned Warnock to the Senate in the same cycle they reelected Republican Gov. Brian Kemp by a comfortable margin and chose an all-GOP slate of statewide constitutional officers.

Democrats’ new outright majority in the Senate means the party will no longer have to negotiate a power-sharing deal with Republicans and won’t have to rely on Vice President Kamala Harris to break as many tie votes.

About 1.9 million runoff votes were cast in Georgia by mail and during early voting. A robust Election Day turnout added about 1.4 million more, slightly more than the Election Day totals in November and in 2020.

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem tried Tuesday to win over the Republican-controlled Legislature with details of her plan to enact a historic repeal of the state’s tax on groceries. But to deliver on the campaign promise, the Republican governor must convince lawmakers in the coming months that the state can also afford to tackle inflation and a long list of items pressing on the state’s budget.

Noem, a Republican, was critical of a proposal to repeal the state grocery tax during the final days of the legislative session in March, but this fall, she changed course and made it a centerpiece of her reelection campaign.

“Eliminating the sales tax on groceries is the biggest way that in my budget that we can help South Dakotans tackle the challenge of Joe Biden’s inflation and protect their hard-earned money,” she told the Legislature in her annual budget address. “Unfortunately, food costs have risen by far too much. Families are struggling to make ends meet as a result.”

Noem, who has set her political ambitions beyond South Dakota, repeatedly took aim at Biden’s economic policies in the speech and credited the state’s rosy financial outlook to her conservative policy-making.

However, the state’s economic growth has lagged behind much of the country this year. South Dakota’s gross domestic product growth — the broadest measure of economic output — ranked 33rd among states from April through June, according to the most recent report from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Some Republicans and Democrats say they first want give raises to keep pace with inflation to people who draw their income from state funds. They also need to find funding for the Medicaid expansion approved by voters this year, upgrades to the state’s prison system and shortages in elder care facilities.

“We’re going into a year where there’s a real interest in cutting taxes but there are also a lot of new demands because of high inflation,” said Republican Rep. Tony Venhuizen ahead of Noem’s speech.

The governor has estimated that repealing the state tax on groceries would cost about $100 million and argued that state revenue growth can cover it. Noem expects the state to have $310 million in ongoing revenue growth in the upcoming fiscal year, as well as $216 million in one-time funds available.

During her victory speech on Election Day, Noem was so confident that the state was ready to cut the grocery tax that she also hinted at other projects she would like to fund — incentivizing paid family leave and creating a way for childcare workers to get benefits. On Tuesday, she said she wanted to send $23 million to pay for paid family leave for both state employees and private sector workers, but made no mention of addressing what many in the state see as a crisis-level shortage in childcare.

Budget-setting during most of Noem’s first term was filled with state revenues swollen by consumer spending and federal pandemic relief. Noem has credited her hands-off approach to governmental COVID-19 protection measures for keeping the state’s economy humming.

But lawmakers are also cautioning that those years of plenty — when millions of dollars went to upgrading university campuses and other projects — could soon be over. Noem said some of those projects, like a new event center at the state fairgrounds, a new public health lab and university upgrades, are running over budget due to inflation and would require $26 million in additional funding.

A potential recession could take a toll on state budget revenues in the coming year and inflation has already left budget holes to fill, said Sen. Lee Schoenbeck, a Republican who presides over the Senate. He expressed skepticism at the idea of cutting taxes that provide ongoing revenue for the state.

Sen. Casey Crabtree, the Republican caucus leader, issued a statement praising Noem’s budget approach but stayed silent on the proposed repeal of the grocery tax.

“The GOP-led Senate is dedicated to making sure our residents are taxed fairly and that South Dakota remains fiscally sustainable in the long term,” he said.

Democrats, meanwhile, have pushed for years to repeal the state’s tax on groceries. But even Rep. Linda Duba, who will be just one of two Democrats on the Joint Appropriations Committee, predicted that the state could afford only an incremental cut to the tax if it also keeps up with inflation in funding for teachers, state employees and community support providers.

“We are going to see a fight between those who want to do all these tax relief programs — but you’ve got to care for all the people in our state,” she said.

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Special counsel Jack Smith has subpoenaed local election officials in Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania, asking for communications with or involving former President Donald Trump, his 2020 campaign aides and a list of allies involved in his efforts to try to overturn the results of the election.

The requests, issued to Milwaukee and Dane counties in Wisconsin; Wayne County, Michigan; Maricopa County, Arizona; and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, are the first known subpoenas by Smith, who was named special counsel last month by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Smith is overseeing the Justice Department’s investigation into the presence of classified documents at Trump’s Florida estate as well as key aspects of a separate probe involving the violent storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and Trump’s frantic efforts to remain in power.

The subpoenas, some of which were first reported by The Washington Post, are the clearest indication yet that Smith’s work will include an examination of the fake electors that were part of Trump’s efforts to subvert the election count and certification. All of the states where requests were sent are states that Trump and his allies targeted as they tried to overturn the democratic vote.

In Pennsylvania, for instance, Trump’s campaign sued unsuccessfully in court to try to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory, while his allies organized a Trump slate of electors to send to Congress. Trump and his supporters also repeatedly contacted top Republican lawmakers, at times asking about using the GOP-controlled legislature to give lawmakers the power to overturn the election. They refused.

The subpoenas, two of which were obtained by The Associated Press, request “any and all communications in any form” between June 1, 2020, and Jan. 20, 2021, “to, from, or involving” Trump, his campaign, lawyers and aides, including former campaign officials like Bill Stepien and Justin Clark and lawyers John Eastman, Boris Epshteyn, L. Lin Wood, Sidney Powell and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

In Wisconsin, Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson said he received a subpoena on Monday and is working with the county’s attorney to comply with the request as soon as possible.

“I don’t see any issues with it,” he said. “Many of those names aren’t familiar to me, so I don’t know how many of those individuals did reach out to us. For example, I don’t recall receiving anything from Rudy Giuliani. I think I would have remembered that. But who knows.”

Christenson said he hoped the documents would help with the investigation, but he didn’t expect to turn over anything that hasn’t already been made public.

“I don’t expect to find any smoking gun,” Christenson said.

Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell said he received a similar subpoena on Dec. 1, asking for communications he had with “the gang of people you would sort of expect.”

McDonell said the only person on the list that his office had interaction with was Jim Troupis, Trump’s Wisconsin-based attorney. Trump paid for a recount of ballots cast in Milwaukee and Dane counties, the two largest Democratic counties in Wisconsin, following the 2020 election. Troupis spearheaded the legal effort not to count tens of thousands of ballots cast absentee in that election, including his own.

McDonell said he didn’t expect his response to the subpoena to reveal anything that “hasn’t been covered in the past.”

“I don’t have any stories of Trump calling me at dinner like the other guys,” McDonell said.

In Michigan, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson confirmed that Wayne County had received a subpoena from Smith but did not provide additional information on what it was seeking.

“We welcome and support the work of any law enforcement agency working to ensure full accountability for efforts to illegally overturn the fair and accurate results of Michigan’s 2020 election,” Benson said in a statement sent to The Associated Press.

Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Michigan centered on Detroit’s convention hall, which is located in Wayne County. Trump falsely claimed poll workers there “were duplicating ballots,” and an unsuccessful lawsuit by his campaign on Election Day forced election workers to temporarily halt the tallying of votes in the state’s largest city.

Another lawsuit was filed by several attorneys, including Trump allies Powell and Wood, on behalf of six Republican voters who wanted a federal judge to decertify Michigan’s results and impound voting machines. The judge declined, calling the request “stunning in its scope and breathtaking in its reach.”

Angela Benander, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of State, said the department wasn’t aware of any other counties being issued subpoenas from Smith.

In Arizona, Maricopa County also received a subpoena and will comply, said county spokesperson Fields Moseley.

The county, which includes the Phoenix area and more than 60% of Arizona voters, had been a centerpiece of Trump’s efforts to overturn the election and cast doubt on the results.

Trump allies tried to pressure Republicans on the county board of supervisors not to certify his loss in 2020, and when they did so, continued trying to reach them as Congress prepared to tally the electoral votes on Jan. 6. Clint Hickman, then the chairman of the board, dodged calls from the White House operator, who left voicemails saying the president was trying to reach him.

In Pennsylvania, Allegheny County, the state’s second-most populous and home to Pittsburgh, received a subpoena as well, a spokesperson confirmed. The Pennsylvania Department of State, along with several jurisdictions targeted by Trump’s campaign in 2020 — Philadelphia and Bucks and Montgomery counties — declined comment on whether they’d received subpoenas, too.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment Tuesday.

In addition to the DOJ, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has also been investigating whether Trump and his allies illegally tried to interfere in the 2020 election in Georgia. ___

Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan, Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix, Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Fresh off an event trumpeting Kentucky’s largest-ever economic development project, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear filed for reelection Monday, touting his work to increase jobs, expand health care and support teachers during a term marred by a pandemic and deadly storms.

Beshear defended his efforts to combat COVID-19 and downplayed any potential political backlash from virus-related restrictions he placed on businesses and gatherings. The global health crisis gave him unprecedented access to Kentuckians through frequent news conferences held to guide them through the crisis.

“I think the voters of Kentucky — who by now know me pretty well — know that I’ll work for them tirelessly each and every day,” the governor told reporters Monday at the state Capitol.

Beshear, 45, the son of former two-term Gov. Steve Beshear, was accompanied by his wife, their two children and his parents as he submitted paperwork to the secretary of state’s office for the 2023 election. Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, who will run with him again next year, also joined him.

Polling has consistently shown the governor receiving high job-performance ratings from Kentuckians. But Beshear faces a tough reelection fight in a state trending heavily in favor of Republicans. GOP candidates, including several who have battled him on legal and political fronts during his first term in office, are lining up for the chance to challenge him next year.

“The fundamentals are strong for a Republican candidate to defeat him, and we stand ready to support our nominee once the primary process is concluded,” state GOP spokesman Sean Southard said in a statement Monday. “In 2023, the Andy Beshear show will have its final season.”

With the spring primary months away, Beshear batted away questions about potential rivals.

“When you’ve governed through a pandemic and tornadoes and ice storms, who your potential opponents are don’t keep you up at night,” he said. “I’m focused on doing a good job.”

Earlier in the day, Beshear spoke at an event showcasing progress by Ford and its South Korean partner in developing a battery production venture at Glendale in central Kentucky. The mega-project — landed by Beshear last year and ranking as the largest in state history — will employ 5,000 workers to produce batteries for future Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles.

The governor has consistently touted the state’s economic successes during his tenure. On Monday, he declared it the state’s “greatest two years of economic development in our lifetime, creating more jobs than ever before.”

Beshear pointed to his efforts to expand access to health care. He relaunched a state-run web portal first started by his father’s administration that signs up Kentuckians for health coverage, which had been dismantled by the Republican governor who served for a single term between them, Matt Bevin.

Beshear said he will keep pushing for higher pay for educators to help overcome a statewide teacher shortage.

The governor has urged the legislature to reopen the state budget next year amid unprecedented budget surpluses to pump more money into public schools. Lawmakers left it up to local school districts to decide whether to use additional state funding to provide higher pay to teachers and other school staff. Most districts have awarded pay raises, Republicans say.

But the governor says more needs to be done. Republicans, meanwhile, are trying to blame Beshear for the pandemic-related setbacks in statewide test scores.

Beshear said Monday that Kentuckians will be remembered for their perseverance against the pandemic and in overcoming deadly tornadoes and flooding during his term. He has come under blistering GOP attacks for his handling of the pandemic, but he stoutly defended his actions.

“We made the hard decisions when they were the right decisions,” Beshear said. “I was going to put the lives of our people ahead of any personal ambition. And what I said then, is if we saved more lives but they ran me out of town, then OK. I’m going to remain proud of what our team did together, regardless of any consequences.”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — As a businessman and president, Donald Trump faced a litany of lawsuits and criminal investigations yet emerged from the legal scrutiny time and again with his public and political standing largely intact.

But he’s perhaps never confronted a probe as perilous as the Mar-a-Lago investigation, an inquiry focused on the potential mishandling of top-secret documents. The sense of vulnerability has been heightened in recent weeks not only by the Justice Department’s appointment of a special counsel with a reputation for aggressiveness but also by the removal of a Trump-requested independent arbiter in the case and by judges’ unequivocal rejection of his lawyers’ arguments.

It’s impossible to predict how much longer the investigation will last or whether the Justice Department will take the unprecedented step of indicting a former president and current candidate. But Trump is no longer shielded from prosecution the way he was as president, and some legal experts regard the Mar-a-Lago investigation as centered on more straightforward factual and legal questions than the prior probes he has dealt with.

“Unlike many of these past investigations which involved these complex financial frauds where prosecutors have to explain to a jury why the conduct is even a crime to begin with, here prosecutors won’t have that difficulty, won’t have that challenge to explain what the crime is about” if charges are ultimately filed, said former Justice Department prosecutor Robert Mintz.

One investigative hurdle for the Justice Department was lifted last week when an appeals court panel that included two Trump-appointed judges ended the work of a special master who’d been tasked with an independent review of the thousands of documents seized in the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago. The decision enables prosecutors to use the entire cache of records for their investigation.

In a scorching opinion that reached deep back into history, the court acknowledged that a search of an ex-president’s property is extraordinary but not so extraordinary as to afford him special treatment.

“It’s not often you see cases cited in a court of appeals decisions that were decided in 1794, in the 1800s,” said David Weinstein, a Florida criminal defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor. “These are bedrock principles of law that have long existed that they relied on.”

Of course, investigations are nothing new for Trump, and speculation about his legal jeopardy has been off-course before.

Last year, state prosecutors in New York indicted Trump’s business, the Trump Organization, and its longtime chief financial officer — but did not charge the former president. In September, the New York attorney general accused Trump of padding his net worth by billions of dollars and misleading banks — but those allegations were made in a lawsuit, not a criminal case.

As president, he was investigated by an earlier special counsel, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, over whether his successful 2016 campaign had illegally colluded with Russia and whether he had tried to obstruct that probe. Mueller ultimately found insufficient evidence to allege a criminal conspiracy between the campaign and Russia and also cited longstanding Justice Department policy that prohibits the indictment of a sitting president.

The obstruction prong of that investigation involved an analysis of constitutional law and the scope of presidential power. But prosecutors in the Mar-a-Lago probe have largely dismissed the relevance of Trump’s status as a former president, asserting during a court fight over the special master that the classified records he had access to as commander-in-chief don’t still belong to him.

And the appeals panel in its opinion last week rejected the idea that Trump was entitled to the return of the records seized from his home or to have an independent arbiter go through them, something it said would create a “special exception.”

The records investigation had simmered for months before bursting into view with an Aug. 8 FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, with agents removing roughly 100 documents with classification markings. By that point, Justice Department officials say they’d developed probable cause to believe crimes had been committed related to the retention of national defense information as well as obstruction.

The investigation has since shown signs of accelerating, with the Justice Department presenting evidence before a grand jury and granting immunity last month to a Trump ally to secure his testimony.

The probe is being run by Jack Smith, who previously led the Justice Department’s public integrity section and more recently has served as a war crimes prosecutor in the Hague. Smith is also overseeing key aspects of a separate Justice Department investigation related to efforts by Trump and his allies to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election. The Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney is separately investigating attempts to overturn that state’s results too.

Smith’s appointment by Attorney General Merrick Garland came three days after Trump declared his White House candidacy. The announcement won’t stop the investigation, though it may quicken the pace so as to avoid colliding with the heart of the 2024 presidential race.

His candidacy could theoretically infuse the investigation with greater import, said former federal prosecutor Franklin Monsour Jr., since it will no longer be just about a former president. “It’s now about someone trying to become president again, and trying to possess national security material again.”

Yet, legal experts expect the Justice Department to weigh more than just the strength of evidence in deciding whether to proceed with a case. There will be questions over how much classified evidence it can present to a jury — and the feasibility of picking an impartial jury given Trump’s ubiquitous name recognition and the impassioned reactions he produces on both sides.

A prosecution of a former president also risks being seen as political, further polarizing an already divided country, as well as transforming a court into a circus-like atmosphere.

“It’s basically weighing the principle that no individual is above the law against the practical political fallout that bringing these kinds of charges against a former president, particularly one who is once again running for president, will engender,” Mintz said.

“It’s an extraordinarily difficult decision,” he added.

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Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP

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NEW YORK (AP) — Bribery and fraud charges against former New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin were tossed out Monday by a federal judge, leaving Benjamin to face only records falsification charges. Prosecutors notified the judge hours later that they were appealing the ruling.

Six weeks before a scheduled trial, Judge J. Paul Oetken in a written opinion said prosecutors failed to allege an explicit example in which Benjamin provided a favor for a bribe, an essential element of bribery and honest services fraud charges.

Benjamin, a Democrat, resigned after his arrest last April. He pleaded not guilty to charges that he obtained campaign contributions from a real estate developer in exchange for his influence to get a $50,000 grant of state funds for a nonprofit organization the developer controlled.

Benjamin’s arrest had created a political crisis for Gov. Kathy Hochul, a fellow Democrat who chose him to serve as second-in-command when she became governor following a sexual harassment scandal that drove from office her predecessor, Democrat Andrew Cuomo.

Hours after the decision was released, Manhattan federal prosecutors notified Oetken that they were appealing his ruling to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan. The judge had cited U.S. Supreme Court and 2nd Circuit decisions in reaching his conclusion.

At the time of his arrest, Benjamin’s lawyers had issued a statement saying they planned to show the courts that their client’s actions were laudable rather than a crime.

On Monday, attorneys Barry Berke and Dani James said in a statement that the ruling “shows how these wrongful charges so harmed Mr. Benjamin and unfairly cost him his position as Lt. Governor.”

“While today is a great day for justice, democracy and the rule of law, it is tragic that this case was ever brought and such a decision was necessary,” they said.

“From the very beginning, we said we are shocked and dismayed that the prosecution would bring such flimsy and unwarranted charges based on nothing more than routine fundraising and support of a non-profit providing needed resources to Harlem public schools,” the attorneys said.

They wrote that Benjamin was “thankful for his vindication and looks forward to new opportunities to serve the people of New York and his Harlem community.”

Benjamin was the state’s second Black lieutenant governor. During a state Legislature career that began in May 2017, he emphasized criminal justice reform and affordable housing. His district included most of central Harlem, where he was born and raised by Caribbean immigrant parents.

In tossing out the first three charges in a five-count indictment, the judge wrote that appeals courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have made clear that proof of a promise was necessary to support criminal charges when payments are made in the form of campaign contributions.

The judge said he also agreed with a separate defense argument that the facts alleged in the indictment, even if true, fail to establish criminal liability. He noted that the government’s timeline of events show that there was no agreement between the Benjamin and the developer at the time Benjamin procured the $50,000 in state funding.

The charges that were left intact allege that Benjamin knowingly made a false entry in a record with the intent to impede an investigation. Each of them carry a potential maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas’ top elections official resigned Monday after an intense year of trying to reassure election skeptics, navigating the rocky launch of new voting laws that resulted in thousands of discarded mail ballots and overseeing a limited audit of the 2020 election.

Secretary of State John Scott, who was appointed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, came under immediate scrutiny from the moment he took the job in October 2021. He was briefly part of former President Donald Trump’s legal team that challenged the results of the 2020 election but said upon taking the job in Texas that he did not dispute that President Joe Biden was the winner.

Right away, Scott was tasked with trying to give Texas voters confidence about election results and the ability to cast a ballot after Republicans passed a sweeping new voting law just weeks before his appointment. But those efforts got off to a bumpy start during Texas’ first-in-the-nation primary as voters struggled to navigate new mail voting requirements, resulting in counties throwing out nearly 23,000 mail ballots.

In the November elections, the rate of rejected ballots had returned to more normal levels, and Scott’s office said there were no major issues surrounding the election.

“By listening directly to the concerns of local election officials, voters, and grassroots activists from across the political spectrum, I was able to understand how to better educate Texas voters about their most sacred civic duty,” Scott said in his resignation letter.

Scott said he will return to private legal practice. His successor will be chosen by Abbott, who was reelected to a third term in November.

In September, ahead of this year’s midterm election, Scott told The Associated Press that his office regularly received threats, had heard from many Texans concerned about election integrity and was in contact with local election officials receiving similar messages.

Scott’s role also touched on border security this year as his office aided in the governor’s negotiations with neighboring Mexican states as part of Abbott’s efforts to curb immigration. This came after Abbott issued a directive earlier this year to inspect all commercial vehicles crossing through multiple checkpoints across the border, causing extended delays and the shutdown of some of the world’s busiest trade bridges.

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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Glenn Youngkin swept into office as a Republican sensation with a fresh formula for victory as the GOP contemplated its future beyond Donald Trump.

But one year after Youngkin became the first Republican in more than a decade to win the Virginia governorship, some in his party believe the shine of his national star is being tested just as he quietly contemplates a 2024 presidential run.

Most of the midterm candidates Youngkin tried to help this fall were defeated. Major presidential donors, even those who support him, see the 55-year-old former private-equity chief as simply one in a crowded class of would-be Trump alternatives. And there’s concern that Youngkin has few resonant accomplishments to sell skeptical Republican primary voters.

“Youngkin’s only campaign talking point right now is, ‘I won Virginia.’ He’s going to need something more than that,” said Iowa Family Leader CEO Bob Vander Plaats, an influential voice in the state’s first-in-the-nation Republican presidential caucus.

With the next presidential primary season already underway, Virginia’s upcoming legislative session offers Youngkin a critical opportunity to demonstrate executive leadership and burnish his conservative bona fides on issues including guns and abortion.

He’ll hardly be alone. Other ambitious Republican governors in Arkansas, Florida, New Hampshire and South Dakota are eyeing legislative successes to bolster their national political standing.

Youngkin, who downplayed his opposition to abortion rights during his campaign but has said he would sign “any bill” to “protect life,” wants allies in the General Assembly to pass a 15- or 20-week ban. But with Democrats narrowly controlling the state Senate, those plans face steep odds.

At the same time, he’s facing pressure on both sides of the gun debate after a fresh series of deadly shootings rocked the state, leaving 13 victims dead in three shootings last month alone. Youngkin, who was not endorsed by the National Rifle Association during his campaign last year, vowed to release a comprehensive mental health platform in January but said any consideration of new gun safety measures before criminal investigations into the shootings conclude is premature. Any push on guns would face a serious hurdle in the GOP-controlled state House.

Some close to Youngkin, who publicly downplays the 2024 speculation, are actively encouraging him to seek the presidency, seeing no downside given that Virginia law prevents him from seeking a second consecutive term as governor. But they are under no illusion it will be easy for a lower-profile first-term governor entering a field that already includes Trump and is expected to include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, among other nationally known Republican heavyweights.

Still, donors and early state operatives believe there is an opening for a candidate who can appeal to moderates, independents and suburban voters while offering a clear stylistic contrast with the likes of Trump and DeSantis.

“This year is a big test for Glenn,” said prominent Republican donor Bobbie Kilberg, who attended a private retreat Youngkin hosted in September. “He is sophisticated, he is smart, he can work across the aisle with Democrats.”

Kilberg says she’s eager for her party to move past Trump. And she is not inclined to support DeSantis, saying, “I’m looking for someone whose edges are not quite so sharp.” Still, she isn’t ready to commit to a prospective Youngkin 2024 bid.

“Glenn is one of four or five individuals that I would be very pleased to support,” she said.

Youngkin captured national attention by winning in a state that Joe Biden carried by 10 percentage points just one year earlier in his successful Democratic presidential campaign. Youngkin did it by keeping Trump at arm’s length and focusing on education, parental rights, public safety and the economy — all the while casting himself as an upbeat suburban dad and political outsider.

With no election of his own this fall, he spent recent months traveling the country to stump for other Republican candidates.

The national tour didn’t go particularly well.

Trump is often blamed for elevating flawed candidates, but Youngkin’s endorsement record was worse. The Virginia governor publicly campaigned with at least 15 Republican candidates for governor between July and early November, including Arizona’s Kari Lake and Michigan’s Tudor Dixon. Of the group of 15, just five won, and of those, only one — Gov.-elect Joe Lombardo of Nevada — flipped a seat from Democrat to Republican.

Youngkin did equally poorly at home in Virginia, where he stumped with the Republican challengers in Virginia’s three most competitive congressional districts. Only one unseated the Democratic incumbent.

Youngkin also drew Trump’s ire as talk of his presidential ambitions grew.

Just three days after the election, Trump unleashed a racist attack against Youngkin on social media, suggesting his name “sounds Chinese,” while taking credit for his political rise. Hinting at a perceived lack of accomplishments, Trump also noted that Youngkin was “having a hard time with the Dems in Virginia.”

John Fredericks, a right-wing radio host who previously led Trump’s campaign in Virginia, said it was a mistake for the former president “to punch down” at Youngkin.

“He’s not a serious candidate in 2024,” Fredericks said of the Virginia governor, describing him as “a poor man’s DeSantis.”

“What does Youngkin bring to the table? He doesn’t have a record in Virginia to run on, and before that he was CEO of a company that was shipping jobs to China,” Fredericks said.

Francis Rooney, a businessman, major GOP donor and former congressman and ambassador, disagrees. Rooney, who also attended the retreat and whose company has donated to Youngkin, credits the governor with notching economic development wins, sparking a parents’ rights “movement” in education and signing into law a budget that included tax cuts as well as raises for teachers and law enforcement.

Kristin Davison, a political adviser, said Youngkin is leading “with results, not just words,” also noting his administration’s efforts to improve government efficiency and end school mask mandates.

“Many folks across the country look to Governor Youngkin as an example of leadership and the future of the Republican Party,” she said.

Youngkin, who did not grant an interview for this story, will soon be heading into his second legislative session with a lengthy to-do list. He has said he wants to find bipartisan solutions to curtail violent crime, while pursuing additional tax cuts. He also recently rolled out a multifaceted plan to address the strained housing supply and has pledged to advance Chesapeake Bay cleanup goals and decouple Virginia from California’s clean car standards.

He’ll have another chance to demonstrate his political skills later in 2023, when every state legislative seat is on the ballot in an off-year election. That will give Youngkin the chance to rally Republicans to defend their House majority and retake the Senate.

For now, Youngkin continues to be a regular feature in the early 2024 conversation, according to Eric Levine, a New York-based Republican donor who’s actively encouraging his party to find an alternative to Trump.

“I never heard anyone say, ‘Youngkin, he’s my guy,’ but he comes up almost all the time on people’s relatively short list,” Levine said, acknowledging that he’d want to learn much more about Youngkin before deciding whether he could support him. “The one impression I have of Glenn Youngkin is that he’s a very rational actor, a very smart guy, and he’s not going to damage his brand by jumping into a race he can’t win.”

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Peoples reported from New York.

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