Tuesday former president Trump renewed his claims of election fraud in Georgia and promised he’d provide an “Irrefutable REPORT” which he claimed would conclusively prove all the charges against him should be dropped. I was skeptical:

I’m going to go way out on a limb and suggest that whatever Trump presents next Monday is going to be a dumpster fire of hot garbage. What it won’t be is irrefutable or conclusive…

So here we are again and now it’s Trump claiming he’s about to release the Kraken, i.e. the proof the election was stolen. He’s not explicitly calling it the Kraken but really it’s the same empty promise.

As it turns out, Trump won’t be presenting anything next Monday. For once he has decided to listen to his lawyers.

Former President Donald Trump now says he won’t be holding a news conference next week to unveil what he claims is new “evidence” of fraud in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election…citing the advice of lawyers as he prepares to face trial in two criminal cases that stem from his election lies.

“Rather than releasing the Report on the Rigged & Stolen Georgia 2020 Presidential Election on Monday, my lawyers would prefer putting this, I believe, Irrefutable & Overwhelming evidence of Election Fraud & Irregularities in formal Legal Filings as we fight to dismiss this disgraceful Indictment,” Trump wrote on his social media site Thursday in announcing his reversal…

The federal judge overseeing the election conspiracy case brought against Trump in Washington last week warned him that there are limits to what he can publicly say about evidence in the investigation as he campaigns for a second term in the White House.

The judge said that the more “inflammatory” statements are made about the case, the greater her urgency will be to move quickly to trial to prevent witness intimidation or jury pool contamination.

As Karen pointed out yesterday, this is probably the smartest thing Trump has done for himself in a long time. His claims have already been rejected by Gov. Brian Kemp and former Vice President Mike Pence. In fact, Pence said it at least twice this week: “The Georgia election was not stolen and I had no right to overturn the election on January 6.”

Mike Pence is spineless:

"The Georgia election was not stolen and I had no right to overturn the election on January 6." pic.twitter.com/nF1yDH2fLb

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) August 16, 2023

Former Vice President Mike Pence tells @nikolenDC that "the Georgia election was not stolen" after being asked whether the charges in former President Trump's latest indictment are merited. pic.twitter.com/a0S9Wv2x2D

— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 18, 2023

Bill Barr has also been pretty tough on Trump this week. Yesterday he appeared on Fox News where he was pressed about when exactly Trump crossed the line with regard to the election outcome.

“After the election, in my opinion, he did cross the line,” Barr said. He continued, “It wasn’t just rough and tumble politics. He crossed the line.” Asked what specifically crossed the line Barr said, “It was a calculated and deceitful plan to remain in office by nullifying and negating certified legal votes.” He was referring to the plan to submit an alternate slate of electors which he hoped VP Pence would cite as a justification not to certify the vote.

Barr also said Trump was warned even as this was unfolding. “He was being told by lawyers in the White House that if he kept on doing this he would spend the rest of his life tangling with the criminal justice process and that’s exactly what’s happened.”

Cavuto played devil’s advocate by asking if Trump’s insistence on pushing his claims might have shown that he really believed the election had been stolen.

“Even if he did, and I am dubious about that, but even if he believed that, that doesn’t mean you can use illegal means to rectify it,” Barr replied. “If you think the bank is unfairly keeping your money, there are many things you can do to get it back; you can’t go and rob the bank.”

Cavuto also kept pressing Barr on Trump’s claim he fired him. (Barr has described the circumstances of his resignation in detail a couple of times.) In this interview Barr said he could understand Trump being upset that people are speaking out against him. Trump famously hates disloyalty. But Barr added, “My loyalty was to the constitution and I felt he was screwing with it after the election.”

Here’s the clip.