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Former President Donald Trump will arrive in Pennsylvania and Florida for rallies this weekend as he continues to face several legal challenges just days before the midterm elections.
Trump will attend a rally on Saturday at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where he will speak in support of GOP candidates Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dough Mastriano in the battleground state's Senate and gubernatorial races. On Sunday, he will hold a rally at the Miami-Dade County Fair and Exposition to back Senator Marco Rubio's reelection campaign.
The rallies, held three and two days before the midterms, seek to boost Trump's endorsed candidates in key battleground races that could determine control of the Senate. Despite his legal woes, the former president remains a popular figure in the Republican Party, polls have found. The rallies also come just days after he told supporters he is "very, very, very" likely to run for president again in 2024.
In the week leading up to the midterms, Trump saw some of his legal challenges continue to mount, but he received one small win from the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Jan. 6 Committee Extends Deadline for Subpoenaed Documents
On Friday, January 6 committee chair Bennie Thompson and Vice Chair Liz Cheney said in a statement that Trump would be granted an extra week to provide materials the panel previously subpoenaed.
"We have received correspondence from the former President and his counsel in connection with the Select Committee's subpoena. We have informed the former President's counsel that he must begin producing records no later than next week and he remains under subpoena for deposition testimony starting on November 14th," they wrote in a statement on the committee's website.
The committee did not offer a specific explanation for the delay, which pushes the deadline past the midterms. Last month, the committee unanimously voted to subpoena Trump for documents and communications related to the Capitol riot, when a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in a failed effort to force Congress to block President Joe Biden's Electoral College victory.
Trump's attorneys said he would comply with the subpoena because he has "nothing to hide." The extended deadline does not affect his scheduled deposition for November 14.
Ex-Trump Aide Kash Patel Testifies in Classified Documents Case
Kash Patel, who served in several roles in the Trump White House, testified this week in the investigation into whether Trump illegally removed classified documents from the White House when he left office.
FBI agents in August raided Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence, seizing documents labeled as "top secret." The investigation, handled by the Department of Justice (DOJ), is probing whether these documents were properly declassified. Patel was granted immunity for agreeing to testify before a federal grand jury about the documents.
Patel was named in the Mar-a-Lago raid affidavit and previously said Trump declassified documents in the final days of his presidency. A spokesperson for Patel told ABC News that Patel's "testimony was compelled over his objection through the only legal means available to the government—a grant of limited immunity."
Trump has maintained his innocence in the case, saying he declassified the documents before he left the White House following his 2020 defeat.
Trump Organization to Be Overseen by Court Monitor
A judge on Thursday ordered the Trump Organization to be overseen by an independent court monitor ahead of the $250 million civil fraud trial brought on by New York Attorney General Letitia James. This means the organization, along with Trump and his children, cannot transfer assets without approval from the court.
Trump condemned the decision as "communism" during an Iowa rally on Thursday night. The former president has been critical of James' lawsuit. According to the attorney general, the Trump Organization fraudulently inflated or undervalued assets and properties to get benefits including reduced tax bills and more favorable banking loans.
Justice Arthur Engoron said in his ruling that James' lawsuit is "likely to succeed" as the defendants have "failed to submit an iota of evidence" disputing her allegations.
Meanwhile, Trump also filed his own lawsuit against James this week, accusing her of setting a "policy of intimidation and harassment" in her investigation. He alleged the probe is politically motivated and not supported by evidence.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's office for comment.
About the writer
Andrew Stanton is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in Maine. His role is reporting on U.S. politics and social issues. ... Read more