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DOJ says Jack Smith’s delay in Trump case is no reason to do the same for Jan. 6 defendants

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Special counsel Jack Smith’s decision to pause his prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump is no reason to do the same for members of the mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the Justice Department argued Monday.

Several Jan. 6 defendants have used Smith’s call for a three-week breather — quickly endorsed by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan — as proof that all criminal cases connected to the Jan. 6 attack deserve a similar slowdown.

“To deny this motion, in the face of the Justice Department’s official position [in the Trump case], would run contrary to the interests of justice and likely subject the defendant to criminal convictions for no purpose other than expediency,” argued William Shipley, an attorney for Jan. 6 defendant Stephen Baker, who was set to begin a trial in his case Tuesday.

Prosecutors responded Monday, saying Trump’s case was unique and not indicative of the government’s position in other Jan. 6 cases.

“There is a public interest in the prompt and efficient administration of justice. The government and the Court have endeavored to deliver that interest,” Assistant U.S Attorney Isia Jasiewicz wrote in a response to Baker’s request.

“The defendant’s citation to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s motion to vacate a briefing schedule in the matter of United States v. Trump … is inapposite,” she wrote. “That motion refers to the ‘unprecedented circumstance’ of a criminal defendant being ‘expected to be certified as President-elect on January 6, 2025, and inaugurated on January 20, 2025.’ The need to ‘determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy,’ is not similarly implicated in this case, where the defendant is a private citizen.”

A slew of Jan. 6 defendants have begun to try to delay their cases as they wait to see if Trump follows through on his broad promise to pardon them.

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Congress

White House declares $4.9B in foreign aid unilaterally canceled in end-run around Congress’ funding power

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The White House budget office said Friday morning that President Donald Trump has canceled $4.9 billion in foreign aid by using a so-called pocket rescission — furthering the administration’s assault on Congress’ funding prerogatives.

The move raises tensions on Capitol Hill as lawmakers face an Oct. 1 deadline to avoid a government shutdown. Many lawmakers from both parties, as well as Congress’ top watchdog, view the maneuver as an illegal end-run around their “power of the purse.”

The Trump administration boldly embraced the strategy on Friday. “Congress can choose to vote to rescind or continue the funds — it doesn’t matter,” an official from the White House budget office said in a statement. “This approach is rare but not unprecedented.”

The White House is allowed to send Congress a clawbacks request and then withhold the cash for 45 days while lawmakers consider whether to approve, reject or ignore the proposal. Because there are less than 45 days left before the end of the fiscal year, Trump’s top budget officials — led by budget chief Russ Vought — argue that they can employ the so-called pocket rescission to withhold the funding until it lapses at month’s end, ensuring its cancellation regardless of what Congress decides.

The pocket rescission request was first reported by the New York Post.

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

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Congress

Bondi, Patel to testify before Congress amid Epstein fallout

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Two top Justice Department officials are expected to testify before the House Judiciary Committee in the coming weeks amid fallout over the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, according to two people granted anonymity to share scheduling information not yet public.

FBI director Kash Patel is set to give testimony Sept. 17, with attorney general Pam Bondi on tap to appear Oct. 9. Both have been invited as part of the Judiciary Committee’s general oversight work, and each will have an opportunity to outline some of the pieces of a crime bill President Donald Trump wants Hill Republicans to produce in the coming months.

But the hearings will likely focus most heavily on how the DOJ has maneuvered around the release of files related to the late, convicted sex offender.

Senior Republicans have continued over the August recess to press the Trump administration to unseal more Epstein documents after a mutiny over their release caused chaos in the GOP-controlled House, running the chamber aground before lawmakers left town early in late July.

DOJ started transmitting some of the so-called Epstein files last week in compliance with a subpoena from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. And Alex Acosta, President Donald Trump’s former labor secretary who singed off on Epstein’s previous plea deal as a then-U.S. attorney in Florida, will separately sit for a transcribed interview with the Oversight panel Sept. 19.

However, lawmakers otherwise have so far received scant new information during the month-long district work period, with members of both parties promising to continue to press the issue when the House is set to return to session next week.

Bondi has, in particular, been the subject of Republican consternation over allegedly withholding documents she at one point promised to reveal.

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Mark Teixeira, former MLB All Star, kicks off Texas House campaign

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Baseball star Mark Teixeira launched a campaign to fill an open Texas House seat Thursday, the latest celebrity athlete to dive into politics.

Teixeira is running as a Republican in a safe red seat being vacated by GOP Rep. Chip Roy. And he’s already appealing to President Donald Trump in search of a home run on the campaign trail.

“As a lifelong conservative who loves this country, I’m running for Congress to fight for the principles that make Texas and America great,” he wrote in a post on X. “It takes teamwork to win — I’m ready to help defend President Trump’s America First agenda, Texas families, and individual liberty.”

Teixeira was a superstar on the diamond, going yard 409 times in a career that spanned 14 seasons and saw him play for four big league outfits, including the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees. He last played in the 2016 season.

He reached baseball immortality when the Yankees won the World Series in 2009. He was included on the 2022 Hall of Fame ballot but failed to get enough votes from sportswriters to either get elected to the Hall or return to the ballot in future years.

Should he win the seat, he could be a major boon for Republicans in the Congressional Baseball Game, the annual charity event that pits Democrats against Republicans. The GOP has dominated the game in recent years, a gap that a former major leaguer would likely only widen.

Teixeira is leaning into his baseball bona fides.

“In Congress, he’ll bring the same grit, preparation, and competitive spirit that made him a champion in Major League Baseball to fight for Texas—and win,” reads his campaign website.

Roy, a Freedom Caucus member who has served in the House since 2019, is leaving Congress to run for the Texas attorney general post.

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