What did Donald Trump do today?

He tried to make public servants sign the same nondisclosure agreements his ex-wives had to.

The Trump administration released a draft proposal today that would force federal employees to sign nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, in an apparent attempt to stop embarrassing and politically damaging leaks. 

Of course, there are already legal means to bar the release of classified information, but most of what happens in government offices isn't classified. Stories about Trump being manipulated by junior staffers, or paying inappropriate sexual attention to them, or throwing temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way aren't matters of national security—but they are things that government employees witness, and tell Congress or the press about. They're also firsthand witnesses to incompetence, immorality, and corruption on the part of Trump's senior officials.

It's this kind of sunlight that Trump's rule would try to shut out, by giving him new ways to punish and financially ruin government employees who witnessed wrongdoing. He's tried it before in both public and private life. For example, in 2019, he threatened to sue a former White House employee who had written a tell-all book for violation of an NDA. Trump ultimately backed down, in part because without any legal authority behind it, the agreement was almost certainly unenforceable. 

Trump's also made extensive use of NDAs in his private life. He's forced each of his ex-wives to sign one as part of their divorce settlements, and they're a routine part of working for his businesses. But even then, they don't always have the desired effect. Trump tried unsuccessfully to use NDAs to keep the adult film actress Stormy Daniels from revealing their sexual encounter, which took place shortly after the birth of Trump's youngest son. That arrangement, signed under a pseudonym ("David Dennison"), became a key element in Trump's conviction on 34 felony counts in New York.

Whistleblower protections are baked right into federal law, and for good reason. Government officials engaging in corrupt or illegal behavior usually try to keep it secret. Bringing public scrutiny to bear on the details is sometimes the only way of rooting out that kind of corruption. Likewise, journalists who publish internal government information that sources bring them usually can't be forced to reveal those sources, or be prosecuted themselves, although it hasn't stopped Trump from trying to do just that in the past.

It was exactly this kind of protected whistleblower action that led to Trump's first impeachment. Alexander Vindman, an Army lieutenant colonel working for the National Security Council, was the first to raise alarms about the phone call in which Trump tried to strongarm Ukraine's president into ginning up a fake investigation against Joe Biden's son. Trump had correctly believed that Biden would be the Democratic nominee in 2020, and that he would need to manufacture some disqualifying scandal in order to beat Biden in the general election. But the resulting blowback, which saw many Republicans openly disgusted by Trump's abuse of an allied power in pursuit of domestic political dirty tricks, helped cost Trump the election instead.

Why does this matter?

• The purpose of government isn't to help Donald Trump cover up his scandals.  

• One way to stop people from sharing evidence of corruption and incompetence is to run a less corrupt and incompetent administration.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He lost two major court battles to keep his criminal actions and convictions unofficial.

In the space of a few hours tonight, Trump was handed two legal defeats. The first came in the form of a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that there was no legal basis to prevent a New York state court from sentencing him for the 34 felonies he was convicted of last May. This will make Trump's convictions official, meaning that he will be the first president to be a convicted felon. 

Under normal circumstances, Trump would be the envy of the country's criminal class. The judge in the case, Juan Marchan, has indicated he will not impose any punishment. Not only that, but having the conviction official means that Trump can pursue appeals, something that cannot be done until sentencing. Trump has essentially admitted to every element of the crimes—except the extramarital sexual affair with a porn actress at the center of them—and has instead insisted that he had a special right to do as he did, even though he was not even president at the time the criminal acts were committed.

One of the justices who took Trump's side, Samuel Alito, had spoken with him earlier in the week and asked him to hire a former clerk as a White House staffer.

Later in the evening, a second decision went against Trump. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Justice Department could release special prosecutor Jack Smith's two-volume report into Trump's activities related to his illegal retention and mishandling of extremely sensitive classified documents, and his involvement in the conspiracy to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 election. Smith was required by law to make such reports, but the federal judge in the documents case, Aileen Cannon, issued an order barring the release of the reports. Tonight's order overrules Cannon and paves the way for at least the volume related to the coup attempt to be made public.

Cannon was a Trump appointee and is widely regarded within Trump's orbit as a likely candidate for promotion to the same appeals court that overruled her, if not the Supreme Court. She was also discussed as an attorney general nominee. Trump's attorneys in this case, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, are two of the three Trump criminal defense attorneys who he has nominated to occupy the top positions in federal law enforcement. Pam Bondi, his replacement nominee for attorney general, is the third.

Why does this matter?

• It is more important that the truth come out than that a president not be embarrassed by the crimes he has been convicted of.

• A president who puts his personal criminal defense lawyers in charge of law enforcement, while there are still pending criminal charges against him, is showing what his priorities are.

• Just because the extremely rich and powerful often get treatment that the rest of us could never dream of in criminal courts doesn't mean it's okay.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He got a sentencing date for the crimes he has been convicted of in New York state.

Trump has been indicted for 88 separate criminal charges in four distinct cases. One case is in Georgia and whether Trump will be prosecuted alongside his co-conspirators. Two of them were federal cases that have been suspended, though not abandoned, by the special prosecutor in charge of them, Jack Smith. Trump has complained throughout that these cases—in fact, all allegations or complaints of any kind against him—are the work of a shadowy conspiracy of his political enemies.

In the fourth case, tried in New York state, Donald Trump was found guilty in May by a jury of his peers of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. 

That jury found that Trump had falsified business records in an attempt to conceal payments he made to Stormy Daniels, a porn actor he had sex with shortly after his wife Melania gave birth to his youngest son. This is a crime under New York State law, and a felony because it was in furtherance of other illegal acts. One of those illegal acts was tax fraud. Another was the violation of campaign finance laws, since the "hush money" was meant to keep voters from learning of Trump's affair, and that made the money involved subject to campaign disclosures. 

Today, the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, ruled that Trump would be sentenced for these crimes on January 10. Merchan indicated that he did not intend to order Trump to serve a jail sentence, which is typical for first offenders. 

Trump was also found guilty in a bench trial of criminal contempt for threatening witnesses against him and jurors, and paid a fine.

Trump cannot pardon himself for state crimes, as he is widely expected to do for his federal crimes.

Why does this matter?

• No matter how he justifies it, no matter who he blames, the incoming president of the United States is a convicted felon, and that is not a good thing.

• It's wrong to lie to voters even if you don't commit crimes in the process, but especially if you do.