BadaBing

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Trump’s motion contended that Willis and McBurney “at every turn” have trampled on the procedural safeguards and rights of Trump and others under investigation.

“The whole of the process is now incurably infected,” the motion said. “And nothing that follows could be legally sound or publicly respectable.”

It asserted that the Georgia statute allowing for the operation of special grand juries was unconstitutionally vague. It said that publication of excerpts of the final report would violate the former president’s rights to fundamental fairness and due process and lead to “irremediable injury” to his reputation as he runs for the GOP nomination for president for a third time.

The Phillies had a surprising, positive update on top prospect Andrew Painter Saturday afternoon.

Painter, who was diagnosed with a sprained UCL in his throwing arm in March and was shut down from throwing this week because of elbow discomfort, underwent an MRI arthrogram that showed healing in the UCL.

The Phillies will back him off from throwing for a few days and then resume his progression.

"Actually better news than what we expected because the testing showed there is healing in there, seriously," manager Rob Thomson said before Saturday's game against the Marlins.

"(The tear) is closing up, we're seeing healing. So all we're going to do is just back him off for a few days, let that discomfort get out of the way and then we'll start going again. It's better news than what we were expecting."

Noah Cates and the Flyers avoided salary arbitration pretty quickly.

The sides reached a new two-year, $5.25 million contract Monday. The deal has an average annual value of $2.625 million. Cates will also be switching from No. 49 to No. 27 for his jersey, according to his agent Ben Hankinson.

Over the weekend, the allegations returned to the fore, and for good reason. The New York Times reported on Saturday:

John F. Kelly, who served as former President Donald J. Trump’s second White House chief of staff, said in a sworn statement that Mr. Trump had discussed having the Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies investigate two F.B.I. officials involved in the investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia. Mr. Kelly said that his recollection of Mr. Trump’s comments to him was based on notes that he had taken at the time in 2018. Mr. Kelly provided copies of his notes to lawyers for one of the F.B.I. officials, who made the sworn statement public in a court filing.

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has reportedly been removed from the conservative House Freedom Caucus after a series of disagreements, including calling her colleague Rep. Lauren Boebert a "bitch" on the House floor.

Rep. Andy Harris, a Maryland Republican who serves on the board of the House Freedom Caucus, said that the group held a formal vote on Greene's status last month, according to Politico and CNN. CNN separately reported that the group's rules are tightly held, but Harris believes that for all intents and purposes she has been removed.

"As far as I know, that is the way it is," Harris told Politico.

Harris told Politico that Greene's clash with Boebert was the final straws for the Georgia Republican. Conservatives had been upset with Greene for months due to her close ties to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Historically, the Freedom Caucus has clashed with GOP leaders, most notably former Speaker John Boehner.

"I think the way she referred to a fellow member was probably not the way we expect our members to refer to other fellow, especially female, members," Harris told Politico.

Greene was incensed that Boebert was, in her view, co-opting a push to impeach President Joe Biden and members of his administration. Greene confirmed to reporters that she called Boebert a "bitch" on the floor and then repeated the insult in a later interview.

"She has genuinely been a nasty little bitch to me," Greene told Semafor. Boebert told reporters she was "not in middle school" when asked to respond.

This is a historic moment for the conservative group. It has never before formally voted to boot one of its members. The caucus is selective in who it allows in for membership and refuses to release a full roster of its members.

Then-Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan resigned from the group after he became the first Republican to say that President Donald Trump had committed "impeachable conduct." Amash had been a founding member of the conservative group.

A spokesperson for the Freedom Caucus did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did a spokesperson for Greene.

Nauta is represented by Sasha Dadan, a defense attorney based in Fort Pierce, where the trial is scheduled to be held on Aug. 14.

Nauta's plea follows the release of more details contained in the search warrant for Trump's Mar-a-Lago property almost a year ago. The warrant describes a person, identified as witness 5, moving dozens of boxes in May and June last year from a room where federal prosecutors say Trump kept the boxes. Witness 5 is believed to be Nauta.