Donald Trump, after third indictment, to deliver keynote address to California GOP convention

Andrew Sheeler
·3 min read
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Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

THRICE-INDICTED, BUT WELCOMED BY CALIFORNIA GOP

For the first time since 2016, former President Donald Trump will speak at the California Republican Party Convention in Anaheim this fall.

The California GOP announced the 45th president’s Sept. 29 keynote address Tuesday, just hours before he received yet another criminal indictment, his third so far. This one accuses him of attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Trump’s legal entanglements don’t appear to bother California GOP Chair Jessica Millan Patterson, who said in a statement, “As California Republicans prepare to play a major role in deciding who our Party’s 2024 presidential nominee will be, I look forward to President Trump speaking with our delegates about his plans to move our country forward.”

The announcement also comes on the heels of the party’s decision to award all 169 of the state’s presidential electoral delegates to whomever receives 50% plus one of the vote in the state’s 2024 primary election — a move likely to benefit Trump, who holds a commanding lead in state polls.

The convention runs from Friday, Sept. 29, to Sunday, Oct. 1, with Trump speaking during Friday’s convention luncheon.

DUELING REFERENDUMS COULD DOMINATE 2024 BALLOT

Via Lindsey Holden...

Oil companies and environmental organizations may take their fight to voters with dueling November 2024 ballot measures.

The Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California today announced it is filing its own ballot measure to oppose an oil company-backed initiative to strike down a law prohibiting drilling near homes and schools.

The oil measure targets Senate Bill 1137, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in 2022. It took effect on Jan. 1 and prevents the state from permitting oil and gas drilling within 3,200 feet of homes, schools and hospitals.

The initiative opposing SB 1137 qualified for the November 2024 ballot in February.

The Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California is made up of public health, environmental, community and faith organizations. The group announced its formation in July, but it did not specify how it planned to fight the oil company ballot measure.

The Campaign will now need a signature-gathering campaign to put their measure on the ballot alongside the oil company initiative.

Martha Dina Argüello, executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility, said in a statement the Campaign wants to “keep all options on the table to get the truth out about protecting Californians from Big Oil’s greed and underhanded multi-million dollar campaign of toxic deception.”

“No matter the cost, Big Oil is trying to overturn California law and keep their toxic oil drilling next to California schools, hospitals, and neighborhoods — regardless of the cost of their pollution to public health,” Argüello said.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Failure to support transit— eg, failing to prevent massive service cuts — is a pro-sprawl, pro-gridlock, pro-climate change position. And, of course transit needs to be as good as it can be — safe, clean, reliable — but you can’t reform systems that fall apart for lack of funds.”

- Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, via Twitter.

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