The Hill's Evening Report — Trump indicted for third time

View Online  Evening Report Tuesday, August 1 ©  AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall New charges hit a soaring Trump Former President Trump was indicted for a third time on Tuesday, with new federal charges arriving as Trump holds a large lead in polls for the GOP's 2024 presidential nomination.   Trump was indicted on four counts: Conspiracy to defraud the United States Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding Conspiracy against rights Special Counsel Jack Smith is expected to deliver a statement Tuesday evening.   The grand jury in Washington, D.C., returned the indictment in the Justice Department's investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and efforts to overturn the 2020 election shortly after Trump signaled he expected to be indicted.   The new charges come as Trump's lead over second-place poll-finisher Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has grown in the months since the first charges were announced.   The latest New York Times/Siena College poll found Trump leading DeSantis 54 percent to 17 percent among likely Republican primary voters.   The poll also showed 74 percent of GOP respondents said they didn't believe Trump committed serious crimes. It found 13 percent believe he did, up from 6 percent last September.    Ninety-one percent of those who listed Fox News as their most-trusted media source said they didn't think Trump committed a serious crime.   While indictments haven't appeared to hurt Trump in polls, his legal troubles have had an effect on his campaign finances.   As The Hill's Brett Samuels reported, "Trump's political operation is facing a cash crunch even as he outraises his GOP rivals."   The former president has maintained the various investigations into him are designed to interfere with the 2024 presidential election.   Trump pleaded not guilty to charges in the two other cases in which he was indicted, one being a Justice Department probe into documents he allegedly mishandled and the other, a New York state case into alleged efforts to conceal hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.   Related news: The arraignment for Trump and aide Walt Nauta on new charges in the documents case is set for Aug. 10.   More on the charges against Trump, via The Hill's Rebecca Beitsch. Check out The Hill's live blog of today's events here. Welcome to Evening Report! I'm Amee LaTour, catching you up from the afternoon and what's coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here. CATCH UP QUICK Fitch Ratings has downgraded the credit rating of the U.S. from AAA to AA+, saying the country's growing debt and repeated standoffs over the borrowing limit make it less trustworthy than before. COVID-19 hospital admissions rose by 12.1 percent in the past week, while the number of patients currently hospitalized rose by 7 percent. New Jersey Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver has died after being hospitalized Monday for an undisclosed medical issue. NEW THIS AFTERNOON ©  AP Photo/Brynn Anderson Journalist, ex-lawmaker subpoenaed in GA Trump probe A journalist and a former state lawmaker in Georgia said that they were subpoenaed in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis's (D) investigation into former President Trump's effort to overturn the state's 2020 election results. A decision on charges is expected this month.   Independent journalist "George Chidi has been asked to testify to a grand jury this month about Georgia Republicans' plans to form an alternate slate of Electoral College voters," The Hill's Nick Robertson wrote. Chidi said he witnessed a group of Republicans discussing the plan. The journalist was called to testify about the incident last year, too.   CNN reported that former state Sen. Jen Jordan (D), who was at a state Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing where Trump allies made claims about irregularities and fraud, also said she was subpoenaed. Like Chidi, Jordan previously testified. Read more here. WHITE HOUSE Cooling job market is still hot While job openings have ticked down to 9.58 million from 10.96 million in June 2022, there are still 1.6 open jobs for each job seeker, and the unemployment rate is at a near-record-low 3.6 percent.   The latest Labor Department data adds to other recent figures showing a strong economy.   "The steady stream of strong economic data is good news for President Biden heading into the 2024 election as GOP messaging has consistently taken aim at Biden's handling of the economy," The Hill's Tobias Burns wrote. Read the full report here. IN OTHER NEWS ©  Greg Nash NewsNation hosts Ramaswamy town hall NewsNation will host a town hall with GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Aug. 14, moderated by chief Washington anchor Leland Vittert. It'll be the first news network-hosted town hall of Ramaswamy's campaign.   Nexstar Media Group owns both NewsNation and The Hill.   Read more about the town hall here. Musk's X sues hate-speech watchdog group X Corp, the parent company of the website formerly known as Twitter, filed a lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate alleging the group improperly gained access to data on the platform.  Declining access to maternal health care: report Data from the March of Dimes found that 36 percent of U.S. counties are "maternity care deserts," defined as "any county without a hospital or birth center offering obstetric care and without any obstetric providers." That's a 4 percent increase since the organization's first report in 2018. Read more here. Fire burning in California, Nevada 23 percent contained A massive fire burning in California and Nevada was about 23 percent contained as of Tuesday morning, the Mojave National Preserve said. Fire crews this weekend were fighting "fire whirls," or a "vortex of flames and smoke that forms when intense heat and turbulent winds combine, creating a spinning column of fire," they said. Read more here. PUNDIT CORNER "Neither Trump nor Biden can be trusted with America's national security" — Joseph Bosco, China country director for the secretary of Defense from 2005 to 2006 and Asia-Pacific director of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief from 2009 to 2010. (Read here)   "Erratic, irrational and unconstrained: What a second Trump term would mean for America's foreign policy" — John Bolton, national security adviser to former President Trump from 2018 to 2019 and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006. (Read here) ⏲️  COUNTDOWN 22 days until the first GOP presidential debate.   462 days until the presidential election. UNDER THE RADAR There a story you think should be getting more attention? Something people should be talking about? Drop me a line: ALaTour@thehill.com Stay Engaged You're all caught up! Stay with TheHill.com for the latest and recommend this newsletter to others: TheHill.com/Evening. See you tomorrow. Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  Sign Up for Other Newsletters 1625 K Street NW, 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20006 © 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved.

If you believe this has been sent to you in error, please safely unsubscribe.