Chicago plans to keep the DNC migrant-free

The Democratic National Convention is set to take place in downtown Chicago in a little over three months and Democrats are hard at work scheming to prevent handing any easy political wins to their Republican opponents. It’s already a problem that Chicago is a poster child for the left’s failed gun-control policies (nearly three dozen people were shot, at least seven of whom were killed, over the weekend and gang violence prompted the city to cancel its West Side Cinco de Mayo celebrations despite the city having some of the strictest firearm regulations in the country).Chi-town…

The Democratic National Convention is set to take place in downtown Chicago in a little over three months and Democrats are hard at work scheming to prevent handing any easy political wins to their Republican opponents. It’s already a problem that Chicago is a poster child for the left’s failed gun-control policies (nearly three dozen people were shot, at least seven of whom were killed, over the weekend and gang violence prompted the city to cancel its West Side Cinco de Mayo celebrations despite the city having some of the strictest firearm regulations in the country).

Chi-town is also notorious for its political seediness, and the shamelessness with which its party bosses operate is on full display in DNC preparations. Mayor Brandon Johnson, who took over for everyone’s favorite Gotham villain, Lori Lightfoot, has a plan to prevent any inconvenient stories or images of illegal aliens camping out in the areas surrounding the United Center. Alderwoman Nicole Lee, who represents Chicago’s 11th ward, revealed Friday that her office was told Johnson intended to build a temporary migrant shelter on the South Side ahead of the DNC. The current downtown migrant shelter at Standard City sits about three miles east of the convention center near the Loop, a popular downtown neighborhood and tourist destination; the new shelter would move the migrants about six miles south to an area unlikely to be frequented by DNC attendees. Lee said she opposes the plan.

“As our city grapples with this unprecedented influx of migrants, it is crucial that we handle the migrant crisis safely, responsibly, and with full transparency. The wellbeing of our communities must be the top priority,” a statement from Lee’s office said. “The administration has not provided us with an adequate justification for why this proposed relocation of migrants from the Standard Club shelter to this property is appropriate, necessary or fiscally responsible.”

Chicago has taken in about 40,000 illegal immigrants in the past two years, and about 900 of them reside in the Standard City shelter. There are seventeen active shelters housing 8,200 residents, according to the Chicago Tribune.

In addition to the headaches caused by the migrant crisis, DNC convention planners are also preparing for protests over the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Unruly protests on college campuses over the past month have Democrats more worried than ever that their progressive base, which is mostly pro-Palestine and advocating for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, could project party disunity at the August convention.

“This last week has taken the demonstrations to a different level,” William Daley, son of Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley and a former US secretary of commerce, told the Washington Post. “It portends that you have the potential for big demonstrations. Whether they get violent — that’s more imaginable today than it was a year ago.”

-Amber Duke

On our radar

RNC LAWYER OUT The new chief counsel for the Republican National Committee, Charlie Spies, was pushed out of the job over the weekend due to concerns over his past work for Trump opponents. Spies is a longtime GOP lawyer who advised candidates like Ron DeSantis, Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney.

CEASEFIRE NOW? Hamas said in a statement Monday that they are approving a ceasefire deal negotiated in Cairo, Egypt. Israel said it is “considering” a response — with one official suggesting Hamas had agreed to a “softened” proposal that was “not acceptable” to the Jewish state — while continuing plans for its ground invasion into Rafah.

ABC IN TURMOIL ABC News president Kim Godwin resigned from her post three years after she was named the first black woman to head up a national news network. Recent reports suggested the network had lost faith in her leadership.

Sign up here to receive the DC Diary in your inbox on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Judge to Trump: shut up or go to jail

Judge Juan Merchan, who presides over Trump’s “hush money” case in New York City, is threatening the former president with jail time. Trump was fined $1,000 Monday for violating his gag order for the tenth time (Trump says the fines take away his “constitutional rights”).

“It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent. Therefore going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction,” Judge Merchan said before jurors were brought into the courtroom.

“[Trump’s statements] threaten to interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitute a direct attack on the rule of law. I cannot allow that to continue,” Merchan added.

Back in Florida, Trump is going on offense in the classified documents case, calling for Apecial Counsel Jack Smith’s arrest. Prosecutors admitted Friday that “there are some boxes” seized during the Mar-a-Lago raid last fall “where the order of items within that box is not the same as in the associated scans.” This contradicts a previous statement made by prosecution: that the boxes are “in their original, intact form as seized.”

This is music to Trump’s attorneys’ ears, helping them cast doubt on — if not the strength of the evidence itself — the intentions and honesty of prosecution. Or, as the former president put it on Truth Social Friday: “These deeply Illegal actions by the Politicized ‘Persecutors’ mandate that this whole Witch Hunt be DROPPED IMMEDIATELY. END THE ‘BOXES HOAXES.’ MAGA2024!”

In the Georgia election fraud case, ex-Fulton County prosecutor (and Fani Willis lover) Nathan Wade tells ABC that despite the months of controversies, a “day of reckoning” is coming for the former president. Meanwhile, in the nation’s capital, the Supreme Court is poised to make a decision over whether executive immunity applies in the January 6 case, potentially closing the case entirely or finally setting the date for the trial.

–Juan P. Villasmil

Karma for Cuellar?

Democratic congressman Henry Cuellar and his wife were indicted by the feds Friday on conspiracy and bribery charges amid allegations that the power couple accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from an Azerbaijani oil and gas company. Now, Republicans want to make Democrats pay for ousting the first (out) drag-queen congressman last year in a bipartisan vote.

After the House’s historic vote to expel Congressman George Santos prior to his conviction of any crime, there are bipartisan calls for the legislative body to remove Cuellar — including from Santos himself.

Congress must “expel Cuellar NOW!” Santos texted me earlier today. Cuellar, of course, voted to expel the colorful now-ex lawmaker last year.

But what comes next is anyone’s guess. While Democratic congressman Dean Phillips called for Cuellar to resign, others, including Cuellar’s fellow Texas Democrats, are mum. Over on the Senate side, Democrats outside of John Fetterman have been mostly content to just wait out Senator Bob Menendez following the staggering accusations of gold bar-filled corruption against the New Jerseyan.

Cuellar did have one surprising defender today: former president Donald Trump, who wrote that the feds went after Cuellar, the only pro-life Democrat in the House, “because the Respected Democrat Congressman wouldn’t play Crooked Joe’s Open Border game.”

Working further in Cuellar’s favor is that he already has defenders in the media seeking to downplay the charges against him, at a time when every single vote in the House matters. Politico wrote about how the allegations against Cuellar are “stunning but nowhere near as jaw-dropping as Santos’s kaleidoscope of lies and grifts.” Santos told The Spectator, “Politico is so bias[ed] they struggle to hit it. According to Politico, being a corrupt rep shilling for foreign nations is ‘not big deal’!”

With Cuellar’s future up in the air, there are already murmurings of a write-in Democratic campaign to try and keep the seat blue, but nothing has been formalized as of yet…

–Matthew Foldi