June 25, 2022

Afternoon Update:

David Savage of the New York Times: President "Biden returns to Europe on Saturday night at a moment when everything about the war [in Ukraine] is [difficult]. While Russia's oil exports have fallen precipitously, its revenues have actually been on the rise, a function of soaring fuel prices. After concentrating its efforts in Ukraine's south and east, Russia is making incremental but significant gains, as the Ukrainians, surrounded, begin to give up key cities: first Mariupol, and now, in the east, Sievierodonetsk. So Mr. Biden must prepare his allies for a grinding conflict -- a return to the 'long, twilight struggle' that President John F. Kennedy talked about during the Cold War -- amid shocks in the food and energy markets, and inflation on a scale few imagined six months ago. Not surprisingly, a few cracks are already emerging, as popular discontent, and coming elections, begin to worry allied leaders."

Donald Judd of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law the first major federal gun safety legislation passed in decades, marking a significant bipartisan breakthrough on one of the most contentious policy issues in Washington.... In his remarks Saturday, the President announced he'd host members of Congress who supported the landmark gun safety legislation at a White House event on July 11, following his return from Europe, to celebrate the new law with the families of gun violence victims. The package represents the most significant new federal legislation to address gun violence since the expired 10-year assault weapons ban of 1994 -- though it fails to ban any weapons and falls far short of what Biden and his party had advocated for, and polls show most Americans want to see." A New York Times report is here. ~~~

Norway. Henrik Libell & Mike Ives of the New York Times: "A 10-day Pride festival in Norway was cut short on Saturday after an early-morning shooting left two people dead and at least 10 others seriously wounded outside a popular gay club in downtown Oslo. The police are investigating the attack as an act of terrorism. The shooting, on a warm summer night that saw streets filled with revelers, came hours before Oslo was set to host big crowds for its first Pride parade since 2019. The event's organizers canceled the parade and the rest of the festival, which was to run through Monday, at the suggestion of the police."

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Caroline Kitchener, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court's decision on Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade sets off a cascade of antiabortion legislation that will affect roughly half the country. Without the landmark precedent in place, access to abortion will change quickly. First, 13 states with 'trigger bans,' designed to take effect if Roe were struck down, will prohibit abortion within 30 days. Several other states with antiabortion laws blocked by the courts are expected to act, with lawmakers moving to activate their dormant legislation. A handful of states also have pre-Roe abortion bans that could be brought back to life, and others moved yesterday to introduce new legislation. In 20 states and the District of Columbia, abortion already is legal and access is likely to be protected."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion after almost 50 years in a decision that will transform American life, reshape the nation's politics and lead to all but total bans on the procedure in about half of the states.... Bans in at least eight states swiftly took effect after they enacted laws meant to be enforced immediately after Roe fell. More states are expected to follow in the coming days, reflecting the main holding in the decision, that states are free to end the practice if they choose to do so.... Protests swelled across the country on Friday evening. Outside the Supreme Court, thousands of abortion rights supporters demonstrated alongside small groups of celebrating anti-abortion activists.... Throngs spilled into the streets in large cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia, and smaller crowds gathered in places like Louisville, Ky., and Tallahassee, Fla.... The ruling will test the legitimacy of the court and vindicate a decades-long Republican project of installing conservative justices prepared to reject the precedent, which had been repeatedly reaffirmed by earlier courts. It will also be one of the signal legacies of ... Donald J. Trump, who vowed to name justices who would overrule Roe. All three of his appointees were in the majority in the ruling." The AP's report is here.

Iowa. Andy Campbell & Alanna Vagianos of the Huffington Post: "A truck driver careened into a group of demonstrators in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Friday as they crossed the street during an otherwise peaceful protest of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The unidentified male driver of a Ford truck rammed into several protesters -- all of them women -- at the tail end of a procession, rolling over one woman's ankle and sending her to the hospital, witnesses said. 'He tried t murder them,' said a local journalist and witness to the attack, Lyz Lenz. 'These women see him coming and a bunch of people put their hands out to stop him. And he just keeps going.'"

Shawna Chen of Axios: "California, Washington and Oregon are launching a 'West Coast offense' to protect reproductive rights following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the states' Democratic governors announced Friday.... The commitment vows to set up protections against states that target medical professionals who provide abortions and patients who receive legal reproductive health care services in California, Washington and Oregon. It also pledges to 'protect against judicial and local law enforcement cooperation with out-of-state investigations, inquiries and arrests' related to abortions performed in the three states. The three states will '[r]efuse non-fugitive extradition of individuals for criminal prosecution' related to accessing legal reproductive health care."

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "Calling the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade a 'tragic error,' President Biden on Friday tried to galvanize voters ahead of the midterm elections and called on Americans to 'make their voices heard.'" ~~~

Jacob Knutson of Axios: "Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Friday, in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, that states cannot ban mifepristone, a medication that is used to bring about an abortion, based on disagreement with the federal government on its safety and efficacy.... Already, almost half of U.S. states have banned or tightly restricted abortion pills -- two medicines named mifepristone and misoprostol -- and more could soon follow suit, Axios' Oriana Gonzalez, Ashley Gold and Jacque Schrag report.... Mifepristone and misoprostol have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.... It is far from settled law as to whether states can ban the pills, and the issue will likely have to be litigated in the courts, though there's really no clear precedent, according to the Washington Post."~~~

     ~~~ Dareh Gregorian & Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "Legal experts predicted there would be numerous court challenges following Friday's court ruling. Khiara M. Bridges, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said 'there's an open legal question about whether states could limit the use of mifepristone in light of the FDA's judgment that the medicine is safe and effective. It's not at all clear.' While the FDA can can declare the drug is safe, Bridges said, 'states can regulate the practice of medicine within their borders.'"

~~~ ** Garland's full statement is here, and it's well worth reading.

Kaly Soto of the New York Times: "... the U.S. Supreme Court ruling scrapping the constitutional right to abortion reverberated globally, drawing a wave of responses from world leaders, some of them heated -- 'horrific,' 'a huge setback' -- as denunciation outweighed praise. With the decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the United States joins a handful of countries, like Poland, Russia and Nicaragua, that have rolled back access to the procedure in the last few decades, while more of the world has gone in the other direction."

Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Publicly, [Donald] Trump crowed about the Supreme Court rulings [overturning Roe & the New York gun law] Friday in a triumphant statement released through his super PAC, blasting his usual suspects, including Democrats and the news media.... He has complained privately that the overturning of Roe could hurt Republicans politically in independent and suburban districts, two advisers said, and has told allies they should emphasize that states can set their own laws. Trump has also told some of his advisers he thinks a better position would be to limit but not ban abortion, two of these people said...."

Whatever the exact scope of the coming laws, one result of today's decision is certain: the curtailment of women's rights, and of their status as free and equal citizens.... With sorrow -- for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection -- we dissent. -- Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor & Elena Kagan, joint dissent

Robert Barnes, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Friday overturned the fundamental right to abortion established nearly 50 years ago in Roe v. Wade, a stunning reversal that leaves states free to drastically reduce or even outlaw a procedure that abortion rights groups said is key to women's equality and independence.... The vote was 6 to 3 to uphold a restrictive Mississippi law. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., though, criticized his conservative colleagues for taking the additional step of overturn Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which had reaffirmed the right to abortion.... In a separate opinion, [Clarence] Thomas expressed his support for revisiting other Supreme Court rulings that he and other conservatives believe should be left to individual states. For example, he wrote that the court should move forward with revisiting the right to contraception and the right for same-sex couples to marry.... Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) celebrated the Supreme Court ruing as 'courageous and correct.' 'This is [a] historic victory for the Constitution and for the most vulnerable in our society,' McConnell said in a statement Friday." This is a liveblog. (Also linked yesterday.)

The decision, concurring opinions & dissent are here, via the Supremes' Website. (Also linked yesterday.)

Sam Knows Best. Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Supreme Court's new majority boldly signaled with twin rulings this week that public opinion would not interfere with conservative plans to shift the nation's legal landscape. The court rejected Roe v. Wade, a 49-year-old legal precedent that guaranteed the right to an abortion, after a string of national polls showed a clear majority of Americans wanted the opposite result. A similar court majority invalidated a 108-year-old New York state law restricting who can carry concealed guns that is supported by nearly 8 in 10 New Yorkers, according to a recent poll by Siena College. Rather than ignore the dissonance, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. ... attacked the notion that the court should consider the public will. He quoted late chief justice William H. Rehnquist from a previous ruling: 'The Judicial Branch derives its legitimacy, not from following public opinion, but from deciding by its best lights.'... The high court during the George W. Bush, Barack Obama and early Donald Trump administrations generally hewed closely to shifting public views on key social issues like same-sex marriage, private sexual conduct, workplace protections for transgender people and popular support for laws and executive orders on immigration and health care."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court's decision on Friday to end the constitutional right to abortion concluded one battle for now but immediately posed another far-reaching question: whether the judicial ground under rights in other personal matters, including contraception and same-sex marriage, is now also shaky.... Justice Clarence Thomas's concurring opinion ... explicitly said that precedents establishing those rights -- which relied on the same legal reasoning as the now-overturned Roe v. Wade -- should be reconsidered.... The three dissenting liberals on the court said..., 'No one ... should be confident that this majority is done with its work.'... Friday's opinion had the immediate effect of allowing laws banning or severely curbing access to abortion to snap into place in at least 20 states.... The heart of Justice Alito's majority opinion is that the 14th Amendment protects only unwritten rights that were already understood to exist in 1868, when it was adopted." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It doesn't matter what the confederates' supposed rationale is; they will do what they want, then go in search of an excuse. And Alito has provided an excuse to take away all hard-earned rights, especially gay rights, inasmuch as I very much doubt gay rights were "understood to exist in 1868." If you are not a straight, white, Christian man, you do not have inalienable rights and you cannot be trusted to make personal decisions.

Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times: "They did it because they could.... The arrogance and unapologetic nature of the opinion are breathtaking.... The practical consequences of the decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, are enormous and severe. Abortion, now one of the most common medical procedures, will be banned or sharply limited in about half the country.... What the court delivered on Friday is a requiem for the right to abortion. As Chief Justice John Roberts, who declined to join Justice Alito's opinion, may well suspect, it is also a requiem for the Supreme Court."

Jill Filipovic of the Guardian: "As of 24 June 2022, the US supreme court should officially be understood as an illegitimate institution -- a tool of minority rule over the majority, and as part of a far-right ideological and authoritarian takeover that must be snuffed out if we want American democracy to survive.... Of the nine justices sitting on the current court, five -- all of them in the majority opinion that overturned Roe -- were appointed by presidents who initially lost the popular vote; the three appointed by Donald Trump were confirmed by senators who represent a minority of Americans. A majority of this court, in other words, were not appointed by a process that is representative of the will of the American people. Two were appointed via starkly undemocratic means, put in place by bad actors willing to change the rules to suit their needs.... Can a country be properly understood as a democracy ... if it subjugates half of its population, putting them into a category of sub-person with fewer rights, freedoms and liberties? The global trend suggests that the answer to that is no.... An authoritarian, patriarchal, white supremacist minority [decided it] should rule" [by attacking the Congress]. The supreme court decision stems from that same rotted root: the idea that a patriarchal minority should have nearly unlimited authority over the majority."

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Over the last three decades, I have witnessed a dismal saga of opportunism, fanaticism, mendacity, concupiscence, hypocrisy and cowardice. This is a story about men gaining power by trading away something that meant little to them compared with their own stature: the rights of women.... [When George H.W. Bush nominated him to the Supreme Court, Clarence] Thomas talked about being raised by his grandparents, sharecroppers from rural Georgia. But on the court he has been cruel, pushing opinions that would grind down the poor and underprivileged. While his wife ran around helping Trump with his coup, Thomas was the senior firebrand in a coup of extremists on the court. They yanked power away from John Roberts and are defying the majority will in this country in ways that are terrifying.... Clarence Thomas, of all people, has helped lead us to where we are, with unaccountable extremists dictating how we live." Dowd calls out Bush I, Joe Biden, Mitch McConnell & Donald Trump, too.

Marie: There's been some happy talk about how American women living in no-abortion states can simply travel out-of-state to get their abortions. That's true -- if the woman is financially-comfortable, has no job or a job that allows her an "abortion holiday," has the status to make her own decisions, and has an "uneventful" pregnancy she wishes to terminate. But that combination of circumstances is not true for many women: some are poor, some might get fired if they take time off from work, some are teenagers living at home, some have conditions that demand immediate attention.

How Maine Outsmarted the Supremes. Aaron Tang in a New York Times op-ed: "Anticipating this week's decision [striking down the state's law prohibiting religious schools from receiving taxpayer aid], Maine lawmakers enacted a crucial amendment to the state's anti-discrimination law last year in order to counteract the expected ruling. The revised law forbids discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, and it applies to every private school that chooses to accept public funds, without regard to religious affiliation.... By enacting its law, Maine was able to assure its taxpayers that they will not be complicit in discriminating against L.G.B.T.Q. students, because private schools that discriminate will be ineligible for public funds." Tang suggests ways to get around the ruling striking down New York's concealed-carry law.

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Congress gave final approval on Friday to a bipartisan compromise intended to stop dangerous people from accessing firearms, ending nearly three decades of congressional inaction over how to counter gun violence and toughen the nation's gun laws. The House approved the measure 234 to 193 one month to the day after a gunman stormed into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and used a semiautomatic rifle to kill 19 children and two teachers, sparking outrage across the country and a flurry of negotiations on Capitol Hill. The measure now heads to President Biden, who is expected to sign it."

Stephanie Lai & Linda Qiu of the New York Times: "The House passed legislation on Friday to extend free meals and other food assistance for children, clearing it for President Biden's signature one week before a series of pandemic-era waivers was set to expire. The bipartisan bill, which passed the Senate on Thursday night by unanimous consent, was a compromise that will prevent children from going hungry creating a lifeline for families beleaguered by inflation and supply chain woes. It was a rare instance of Congress extending a pandemic assistance program, coming as the Biden administration' requests for additional coronavirus aid have stalled amid Republican opposition." MB: So McConnell decided that the day his favorite Supremes forced women to have children would not be a good day to support starving the kids. Good thinking, Mitch.

Jon Swaine & Dalton Bennett of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department and the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol have asked Danish filmmakers for video footage recorded as they followed Trump confidant Roger Stone in the weeks after the 2020 election, according to emails and interviews. During the past three months, the investigators have repeatedly sought access to a 170-hour cache of footage shot for director Christoffer Guldbrandsen's forthcoming documentary on Stone.... That footage was cited in a Washington Post report in March that described Stone's activities [on January 6, 2021], including inside the Willard hotel where he and many other Trump allies were staying. The footage showed that Stone communicated on an encrypted messaging app with leaders of far-right groups, and that he claimed at the time to be in contact with ... Donald Trump. Guldbrandsen has declined the requests, citing the need to maintain journalistic independence and to complete his film."

Clark Won't Answer Committee's Questions, But Tucker's? Sure. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Thursday evening, the same day the House select committee demonstrated how mid-level DoJ attorney Jeffrey Clark helped advance the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Tucker Carlson invited Clark to appear on his Fox "News" show. "On Wednesday morning, federal law enforcement officials searched Clark's home, confiscating a number of electronic devices. On Thursday evening, Tucker Carlson asked him to opine on the raid.... '... increasingly, Tucker, I don't recognize the country anymore with these kinds of Stasi-like things happening,' [Clark said.]... For Fox News's most popular host, Clark was also useful as a way to push forward his narrative that the government is out to get the political right."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge [Amit Mehta of the D.C. District] on Friday ordered defense attorneys for alleged members of the Oath Keepers charged with seditious conspiracy to disclose whether their legal fees are being paid by anyone other than their clients after prosecutors warned of potential conflicts of interest if former Donald Trump attorney Sidney Powell is helping raise money for some of the legal defense as reported."

Matt Richtel, et al., of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Friday granted a temporary reprieve to Juul Labs that will allow it to keep its e-cigarettes on the market, pending further court review of a decision just a day earlier by the Food and Drug Administration to ban sales of the company's products. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a temporary stay that had been sought by Juul. The brief order by the appeals court cautioned that the stay ... 'should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits.' The stay involves the F.D.A.'s order on Thursday, when the agency said Juul had to stop selling its products because it had provided conflicting and insufficient data that prevented the F.D.A. from assessing the potential health risks of its products."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live update of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's updates for Saturday are here.

June 24, 2022

The Transition to Two Americas Is Nearly Complete
Whichever one you live in, it's worse than the one you lived in yesterday

Late Morning Update:

President Biden will speak about the Supreme Court's Barefoot & Pregnant decision, scheduled for 12:30 pm ET.

Whatever the exact scope of the coming laws, one result of today's decision is certain: the curtailment of women's rights, and of their status as free and equal citizens.... With sorrow -- for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection -- we dissent. -- Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor & Elena Kagan, joint dissent

Robert Barnes, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Friday overturned the fundamental right to abortion established nearly 50 years ago in Roe v. Wade, a stunning reversal that leaves states free to drastically reduce or even outlaw a procedure that abortion rights groups said is key to women's equality and independence.... The vote was 6 to 3 to uphold a restrictive Mississippi law. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., though, criticized his conservative colleagues for taking the additional step of overturn Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which had reaffirmed the right to abortion.... In a separate opinion, [Clarence] Thomas expressed his support for revisiting other Supreme Court rulings that he and other conservatives believe should be left to individual states. For example, he wrote that the court should move forward with revisiting the right to contraception and the right for same-sex couples to marry.... Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) celebrated the Supreme Court ruing as 'courageous and correct.' 'This is [a] historic victory for the Constitution and for the most vulnerable in our society,' McConnell said in a statement Friday." This is a liveblog.

The decision, concurring opinions & dissent are here, via the Supremes' Website.

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** Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "Federal investigators descended on the home of Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official, on Wednesday in connection with the department's sprawling inquiry into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to people familiar with the matter.... Mr. Clark was central to ... Donald J. Trump's unsuccessful effort in late 2020 to strong-arm the nation's top prosecutors into supporting his claims of election fraud. [MB: Not coincidentally!] "The law enforcement action ... came just one day before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was poised to hold a hearing examining Mr. Trump's efforts to pressure the Justice Department after his election defeat. The hearing was expected to explore Mr. Clark's role in helping Mr. Trump bend the department to his will...." CNN's report, by Evan Perez, is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: CNN reported on-air that an ally of Clark's complained that the officials showed up at Clark's house in the pre-dawn & sent Mr. Clark out onto the street in his pajamas. Oh, what must the neighbors have thought? Such a nice man. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Not "pre-dawn." According to the NYT story, which has been updated, "Mr. Clark told Tucker Carlson of Fox News on Thursday that he had been woken by agents banging on his door shortly before 7 a.m. on Wednesday." But the pj's part was right: "One of Mr. Clark's associates described the striking scene early Wednesday morning when a dozen federal law-enforcement officials raided the house, seized Mr. Clark's electronic devices and put him out on the street in his pajamas." Yeah, well, anyone who would go on TuKKKer's show is sure to be a shady character, and all precautions are necessary to prevent him from destroying evidence. ~~~

     ~~~ Trump's Bad Day. Neal Katyal, BTW, said on MSNBC the raid was the worst news Trump got Thursday. The fact that the feds went in with a judge's order to collect electronic info shows they were looking for evidence of a conspiracy, that Clark was a target, and the person DOJ suspects him of conspiring with is Donald Trump. In addition, Katyal thinks it's like that, because of the importance of the raid, Merrick Garland signed off on it.

Oh, What a Tangled Web We Weave, When First We Practice to Deceive

Just say that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen. -- Donald Trump, to Acting AG Jeffrey Rosen & his deputy Richard Donoghue, January 3 ~~~

~~~ ** Luke Broadwater & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol painted a vivid picture on Thursday of how ... Donald J. Trump directed a wide-ranging bid to strong-arm the Justice Department into overturning the 2020 election, the most brazen attempt by a sitting president since Watergate to manipulate the nation's law enforcement apparatus to keep himself in power. In a stunning display of evidence, including testimony from top officials who resisted the former president's efforts, the committee laid out how Mr. Trump tried repeatedly to use the Justice Department to interfere in the election. In near-daily conversations, he badgered its leaders to act on unsubstantiated claims of election fraud, including wild internet hoaxes, accusing them of failing to do their jobs. He explored naming a conspiracy theorist [Sidney Powell] who was circulating outlandish stories of voting irregularities to serve as a special counsel to look into possible election misdeeds.... ~~~

~~~"The panel also presented evidence that after the Jan. 6 attack, at least six Republican members of the House who played leading roles in Mr. Trump's efforts to use Congress to overturn the election sought pardons for themselves and for all the Republicans who voted to reject electoral votes for Mr. Biden. The list, according to the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, included Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.Louie Gohmert of Texas and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia." ~~~

     ~~~ A Minor Character Emerges as New Evidence of Trump's Tangled Web. Marie: Here was a tidbit that came near the end of the hearing. From the NYT report: "The hearing also made clear that Mr. Trump had a second secret ally inside the department, a former lawyer in the White House budget office named Ken Klukowski. After the election, Mr. Klukowski worked with John Eastman, a lawyer who helped create 'alternate' slates of electors in swing states that would falsely say Mr. Trump had won." Klukowski seems to have been airlifted into DoJ in December 2020, where he miraculously landed in Jeff Clark's office. It's not yet clear (to the public, anyway) who engineered this felicitous bit of last-minute staffing, but as MSNBC hosts pointed out in their recap of Thursday's hearing, Klukowski provides a tantalizing link between Eastman, who designed & instigated the fake electors plot, and Clark, who proposed to facilitate carrying it out. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. In listing five takeaways from the hearing, Aaron Blake of the Washington Post includes this one: "... the committee indicated for apparently the first time that there might have been coordination in the plotting between Trump's legal team and certain members of the Justice Department. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) shared a Dec. 28 email from longtime Ohio Republican Party politician Ken Blackwell recommending a briefing for Vice President Mike Pence from [John] Eastman and former Trump aide Kenneth Klukowski, who had recently joined the Justice Department.... Klukowski has already been implicated in helping draft [Jeff] Clark's draft letter seeking to have the Justice Department legitimize Trump's false voter-fraud claims.... 'This email suggests that Mr. Klukowski was simultaneously working with Jeffrey Clark to draft the proposed letter to Georgia officials to overturn their certified election and working with Dr. Eastman to help pressure the vice president to overturn the election,' Cheney said."

~~~ Marie: Also from the NYT report: "During a heated showdown in the Oval Office, only the threat of a mass resignation at the department persuaded Mr. Trump to back down." Can't recall which MSNBC panelist raised the matter, but they agreed that it was not so much the threat of the DoJ's being decapitated that persuaded Trump, but an admonition from Steve Engel, one of the DoJ honchos who said he would quit, that the headline would not be the one Trump wanted: instead of emphasizing the DoJ (i.e., Clark's) letter that the department had detected major voter fraud, it would be the mass resignation. Pat Cipollone, the White House Counsel, concurred, telling Trump in the January 3 meeting with the DoJ officials that his plan would amount to a "murder-suicide."

So let's think here, what would a special counsel do? With only days to go until election certification, it wasn't to investigate anything. An investigation, led by a special counsel, would just create an illusion of legitimacy and provide fake cover for those who would want to object, including those who stormed the Capitol on January 6. -- Adam Kinzinger, during Thursday's hearing ~~~

~~~ Michael Schmidt of the New York Times with his five takeaways from Thursday's hearing: "It was the most blatant attempt to use the Justice Department for political ends at least since Watergate.... The heart of the scheme was a draft letter to officials in Georgia.... The letter falsely asserted that the department had evidence of election fraud.... The letter recommended that the state call its legislature into session to study allegations of election fraud and consider naming an alternate slate of electors pledged to Mr. Trump.... Trump would not give up on his claims of fraud.... Trump considered naming a loyalist lawyer [Sidney Powell] as a special counsel.... Members of Congress sought pardons -- and Trump considered the requests.... Among those looking for a pardon was Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida. Mr. Gaetz was seeking a blanket pardon that would have essentially covered any crime he had committed in his entire life. Although it was not known publicly at the time, Mr. Gaetz was under Justice Department investigation for paying a 17-year-old girl for sex." ~~~

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "... House lawmakers on Thursday identified five Republican lawmakers who allegedly sought pardons -- suggesting not just their own fear of criminal exposure, but a belief that the outgoing president would preemptively protect them from the investigations that followed the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress.... The allegations of pardon-hunting came from Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and from John McEntee, a close aide to Trump. Such testimony strikes at one of the most fraught issues to emerge out of the Jan. 6 attack -- the suspicion rife in many quarters of Congress that some of its members may have participated in criminal conspiracies to thwart the valid results of a presidential election.... [Scott] Perry [Pa.] repeated his denials that he ever sought a pardon for himself or other members of Congress, and denied speaking to Hutchinson about a pardon."

Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: "Of all the fantastical false claims of fraud and vote manipulation in the 2020 presidential election, 'Italygate' was one of the most extreme. And Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) was at the heart of bringing it to Donald Trump's attention. This particular allegation of fraud centered around ... an 'absurd' claim that an Italian defense contractor had conspired with senior CIA officials to use military satellites to flip votes from Trump to Joe Biden.... That wasn't Perry's only involvement in encouraging Trump to get the vote overturned. The committee obtained records from the National Archives showing that Perry was among the Republican members of Congress who met with the president in the Oval Office on Dec. 21, 2020. The committee also displayed White House logs showing that Perry returned to the White House the next day -- and 'this time, he brought a Justice Department official named Jeffrey Clark.' It was the first known meeting between Clark and Trump -- and it probably set off the events that led to [the] dramatic showdown between the president and senior Justice Department leaders.... Those involved with the insurrection have repeatedly pointed to Perry as the chief conduit for the House GOP Conference to the White House in Trump's quest to overturn his defeat."

The Washington Post's live updates of matters related to the January 6 committee hearing is here. The New York Times' live updates are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: Thursday's hearing was in some ways the most dramatic yet. Although the witnesses tended to speak in the measured tones of seasoned lawyers, the events they described, sometimes in vivid detail, could hardly have been more dramatic. Tense, last minute meetings where the outcomes were both unknown & potentially catastrophic, middle-of-the-night phone calls, a January 6 evening race to the Capitol to check for IEDs & insurgents hiding in closets. And of course the usual Trump buffoonery. You can watch it at this Committee Webpage.

Joan Greve of the Guardian: "Across the committee's five hearings this month, investigators have presented a meticulous account of Trump's exhaustive efforts to cling to power after losing the election to Joe Biden. The panel has shown how Trump and his allies explored every possible avenue -- from pressuring the vice-president, Mike Pence, to leaning on state election officials and justice department leaders -- to promote lies about widespread election fraud.... 'These efforts were not some minor or ad hoc enterprise concocted overnight. Each required planning and coordination. Some required significant funding,' [committee vice-chair Liz] Cheney said. 'All of them were overseen by President Trump, and much more information will be presented soon regarding the president's statements and actions on January 6.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Another thing the hearings make clear is that the "Big Lie" is based on many smaller lies, far-out conspiracy theories, fake electors and fraudulent legal theories. The "foundation" of Trump's entire scheme to overturn the election results was make-believe. There was no there there. A no-legged stool. Bupkis. I think even some Trumpbots who might accidentally tune in or hear something about the proceedings could figure that out.

The Stupidest Senator Is a Liar, Too. Alexander Shur of the Wisconsin State Journal: "A former Dane County [Madison, Wisconsin] judge [Jim Troupis] who legally represented ... Donald Trump coordinated with U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson to pass documents falsely stating Trump won Wisconsin to then-Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, 2021, newly revealed text messages show.... 'We need to get a document on the Wisconsin electors to you for the VP immediately,' ... Troupis told Johnson at 11:36 a.m. Jan. 6, 2021, according to texts provided to conservative media outlet Just the News.... Screenshots of the text messages show, Johnson connected his chief of staff, Sean Riley, with Troupis in a text chain. Riley was newly serving in Johnson's office and was previously a Trump White House adviser.... Johnson ... told conservative radio host Vicki McKenna on Thursday that the documents in question came to him from the office of U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa. But a Kelly spokesperson told a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Johnson's comments were 'patently false.' 'Mr. Kelly has not spoken to Sen. Johnson for the better part of a decade, and he has no knowledge of the claims Mr. Johnson is making related to the 2020 election,' the statement said.... [Just the News] ... reported that Kelly was in communication with Troupis, who then connected with Johnson.... Johnson also told McKenna he didn't know what the documents contained despite Troupis ... telling Johnson he needed to pass Pence a 'document on the Wisconsin electors.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Shur did some digging to piece together this story & debunk Johnson's porkies. More evidence we do need local reporting.

Tamar Hallerman of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia “Gov. Brian Kemp will deliver testimony next month to Fulton County prosecutors investigating Donald Trump's efforts to overturn Georgia's 2020 elections.... But unlike the parade of witnesses who have appeared at the Fulton courthouse to answer questions in front of a special grand jury, the Republican will instead deliver a 'sworn recorded statement,' according to a letter from the Fulton County District Attorney's office dated Wednesday and obtained by the AJC on Thursday.... The 23-member special grand jury also subpoenaed a bevy of evidence from Kemp's office...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Everything I know about grand juries I learned watching reruns of Law & Order episodes. One thing I learned is that the grand jurors can question witnesses (and prosecutors), at least in New York. I can't see where there's any provision in the agreement between Kemp & the D.A. for the jurors to ask Kemp questions.

Jordan Fischer of WUSA Washington, D.C.: "A Navy petty officer who allegedly told an undercover FBI employee he was studying the Olympic Park Bomber was arrested Wednesday on charges of entering the U.S. Capitol Building during the Jan. 6 riot. Hatchet Speed was taken into custody in McLean, Virginia, yesterday on four misdemeanor counts. According to court documents unsealed Thursday, Speed is a petty officer first class in the U.S. Naval Reserves assigned to the Naval Warfare Space Field Activity at the National Reconnaissance Office in Chantilly, Virginia. Speed is also employed as a software developer for a Vienna, Virginia, company that conducts advanced analytics for the Department of Defense. In March, according to an affidavit, Speed told an undercover FBI employee he'd traveled to the Capitol on Jan. 6 with friends who are members of the Proud Boys. Speed said going to the Capitol was 'always the plan.'... In an affidavit, an FBI special agent said financial records showed Speed had purchased at least 12 firearms between Feb. 11, 2021, and May 26, 2021.... The undercover employee said Speed also repeatedly expressed anti-Semitic beliefs and praised Adolf Hitler, describing him as 'one of the best people that's ever been on this Earth.'" Speed allegedly was studying jihadists to learn the more effect ways to "wipe out Jews."

Erica Green of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Thursday proposed new rules governing how schools must respond to sex discrimination, rolling back major parts of a Trump administration policy that narrowed the scope of campus sexual misconduct investigations and cementing the rights of transgender students into law. The proposal would overhaul expansive rules finalized under former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, which for the first time codified how universities, colleges and K-12 schools investigate sexual assault and harassment on campus. It would also broaden the roster of who is protected under Title IX, the federal law signed 50 years ago Thursday that bars discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal funds."

CBS News: "The Biden administration is canceling the federal student debt of borrowers who say their schools defrauded them, settling a class action lawsuit originally filed against the Trump administration.... The settlement says that the administration will discharge these borrowers' student loan debts and refund any relevant payments made to the Education Department to pay off these debts -- including debt that was fully paid off. Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced students who attended the now-defunct Corinthian Colleges chain would automatically have their federal student loans canceled, in an effort to bring closure to one of the most notorious cases of fraud in American higher education."

Matt Richtel & Andrew Jacobs of the New York Times: "The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday ordered Juul to stop selling e-cigarettes on the U.S. market, a profoundly damaging blow to a once-popular company whose brand was blamed for the teenage vaping crisis. The order affects all of Juul's products on the U.S. market, the overwhelming source of the company's sales. Juul's sleek vaping cartridges and sweet-flavored pods helped usher in an era of alternative nicotine products among adults as well, and invited intense scrutiny from antismoking groups and regulators who feared they would do more harm to young people than good to former smokers." (Also linked yesterday.) A Guardian report is here.

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "The Senate on Thursday passed legislation aimed at stanching acts of mass gun violence, with 15 Republicans joining Democrats to advance a bill combining modest new firearms restrictions with $15 billion in mental health and school security funding. The 65-to-33 vote represented an unlikely breakthrough on the emotional and polarizing question of U.S. gun laws, which have gone largely unchanged for more than 25 years, even as the nation has been repeatedly scarred by mass shootings whose names have become etched in history -- from Columbine and Virginia Tech to Sandy Hook and Parkland. But the May 24 killing of 19 students and two teachers inside a Uvalde, Tex., elementary school prompted renewed action, compelling a small group of senators to negotiate a narrow, bipartisan package focused on keeping guns away from dangerous potential killers while also bulking up the nation's mental-health-care capacity with billions of dollars in new funding.... The legislation moves to the House, where it is expected to pass Friday." An NBC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Mitch McConnell was among the Republicans who voted for the bill, and he admitted he did so for his usual principled reason: "In subsequent remarks with reporters, [McConnell] ... [said] he hoped the GOP support for the deal 'will be viewed favorably by voters in the suburbs that we need to regain in order to hopefully be a majority next year.'"

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Thursday said Americans generally have a right to carry a handgun outside the home for self-defense and that a New York law requiring special need for such a permit is too restrictive. The vote was 6 to 3, with Justice Clarence Thomas writing for the majority and the court's three liberals in dissent.... In dissent, Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote: 'Many States have tried to address some of the dangers of gun violence ... by passing laws that limit, in various ways, who may purchase, carry, or use firearms of different kinds. The Court today severely burdens States' efforts to do so.' Enacted more than a century ago, New York's law requires those who want to carry a concealed weapon for self-defense to show a specific need for doing so. Its 'proper cause' law is similar to regulations in California, New Jersey, Maryland, Hawaii and Massachusetts." MB: As contributor Ken W. once asked, "Uh, what about that 'well-regulated militia' thing?" (Paraphrase. I expect he said it better.) (Also linked yesterday.) The ScotusBlog report, by Amy Howe, is here. ~~~

~~~ Sore Winner. "Alito Lashes Out at Liberals." Ariane de Vogue of CNN: "In a sparse but relentlessly caustic concurring opinion [on the New York conceal-carry case], the conservative [Samuel] Alito criticized his liberal colleagues for their dissent, blasting them for attempting to 'obscure' the specific question the court had decided, and for referencing the recent mass shootings that have shocked the nation. The fact that Alito, who joined Thomas' opinion in full, chose to also strike out alone against the dissenters highlights the current tension on the court.... He said the 'real thrust of the dissent' was that 'guns are bad.'... [Justice Stephen] Breyer" ... struck back.... 'Justice Alito asks why I have begun my opinion by reviewing some of the dangers and challenges posed by gun violence,' he said. Breyer said he did so because the 'question of firearm regulation presents a complex problem -- one that should be solved by legislatures and not courts.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Ed Pilkington & Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "The governor of New York [Kathy Hochul], a Democrat, said the ruling was 'not just reckless, it's reprehensible'. Pointing to recent mass shootings in New York and Texas, a leading progressive group called the ruling 'shameful and outrageous'. Joe Biden said: 'This ruling contradicts both common sense and the constitution and should deeply trouble us all'."

~~~ Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Two of the lawyers responsible for a major victory for gun rights forces at the Supreme Court on Thursday are parting with their prominent law firm after it announced it would no longer handle Second Amendment litigation. Former Solicitor General Paul Clement and Erin Murphy, a regular Supreme Court litigator, said they were launching their own firm after Chicago-based Kirkland & Ellis decided to step back from gun-related litigation."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that police officers may not be sued under a federal civil rights law for failing to administer the familiar warning required by the court's 1966 decision in Miranda v. Arizona. The vote was 6 to 3, with the justices dividing along ideological lines. In a second case, the court ruled that a death row inmate in Georgia could invoke the same civil rights law in seeking to be executed by firing squad rather than lethal injection. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh joining the court's three liberal members to form a majority."

Jeffrey Jones of Gallup: "With the U.S. Supreme Court expected to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision before the end of its 2021-2022 term, Americans' confidence in the court has dropped sharply over the past year and reached a new low in Gallup's nearly 50-year trend. Twenty-five percent of U.S. adults say they have 'a great deal' or 'quite a lot' of confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court, down from 36% a year ago and five percentage points lower than the previous low recorded in 2014."

Beyond the Beltway

California. Vimal Patel of the New York Times: "Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has been charged with alcohol-related offenses in connection with a car crash in Napa County, Calif., in May, the Napa County District Attorney's Office said Thursday. The charges include driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, and driving with a 0.08 percent blood alcohol level or higher and causing injury, prosecutors said. A blood sample taken from Mr. Pelosi more than two hours after the crash had a .082 percent blood alcohol content, the office said." A CBS News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here's a related NYT story, dated June 22/23, which I purposely didn't link timely, about how the Pelosis are so rich & connected.

Florida. Patricia Mazzei & Mike Baker of the New York Times: "One year since the catastrophe at Champlain Towers [in Surfside, Florida], with the cause of the collapse still under federal investigation, new documents, interviews and deposition records have shed fresh light on a critical seven-minute period between the roaring initial failure of a pool deck and the eventual cascading collapse of a portion of the building, leaving 98 people dead in one of the deadliest structural failures in U.S. history. The security guard in the lobby of Champlain Towers hurriedly dialed 911 to report the initial failure. An alarm may have sounded at that point in a limited part of the building, though it was clearly inaudible to many of those who still slept. The building also had a sophisticated audio warning system designed to broadcast an alert into the bedrooms of every unit. But it was never triggered, newly available deposition testimony and interviews show, because the security guard had never been trained about the system and the single button needed to activate it."

Missouri Senate Race. Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Republicans are launching a well-funded outside group to stop disgraced former Gov. Eric Greitens from winning their upcoming Missouri Senate primary. The group, called Show Me Values, is set to start running TV advertisements targeting Greitens, beginning Friday. The outfit is set to air more than $1-million worth of commercials through the end of June, and ... it planned to remain involved in the race up until the Aug. 2 primary.... Polls have consistently shown Greitens ahead his primary rivals.... The super PAC is overseen by veteran Republican strategist Johnny DeStefano, a Kansas City native and former top official in ... Donald Trump's White House." Greitens' campaign manager Dylan Johnson called the super-PAC principals -- who are Republicans -- "swamp creatures & grifters."

Wyoming House Race. Kipp Jones of Mediaite: "Rep. Liz Cheney's (R-WY) campaign is urging Wyoming Democrats to register as Republicans to save her from potential defeat in her August primary. The vice chair of the House Jan. 6 select committee is trailing Trump-backed primary opponent Harriet Hageman in polling.... New York Times reporter Reid J. Epstein wrote Thursday Cheney is 'is urging Democrats in her home state to switch parties to support her in the Aug. 16 primary.' Epstein added, 'In the last week, Wyoming Democrats have received mail from Ms. Cheney's campaign with specific instructions on how to change their party affiliation to vote for her. Ms. Cheney's campaign website now has a link to a form for changing parties....'"

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Ukraine will withdraw its troops defending Severodonetsk, the embattled eastern city that is the locus of Russia's war effort, regional governor Serhiy Haidai said early Friday. Russia had been shelling the city 'almost every day for four months,' Haidai said.... The setbacks in eastern Ukraine are in contrast to Kyiv's recent wins off the battlefield. President Volodymyr Zelensky celebrated 'victory' Thursday after the European Union decided to grant Ukraine membership candidate status. The move is only a first step in a lengthy process, but E.U. accession is a major Ukrainian goal.... Kyiv also secured an additional $450 million in security aid from Washington, including patrol boats and more multi-launch rocket launchers.... U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Berlin, where he will join talks on food security -- an issue that has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and Russia's blockade of key ports." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's report for Friday is here. The New York Times' live updates are here.

Enemies of State Sovereignty & Democracy. Clifford Krauss, et al., of the New York Times: "As Russia tries to break the stranglehold of sanctions, China and India are emerging as Moscow's pivotal financiers by purchasing large amounts of Russian crude, putting themselves in the middle of the messy war with Ukraine and a geopolitical standoff with the West.... Buying cheap oil from Russia offers economic and political advantages. China can diversify its oil supplies for national security reasons, while India can make billions exporting refined products like gasoline and diesel. But undercutting European and American efforts to isolate the Kremlin risks serious diplomatic fallout that neither country wants."

Ramon Vargas of the Guardian: "The US embassy in Russia this week was pressing the Kremlin to reveal the whereabouts of two Alabama men captured in Ukraine while defending the country from Russian invaders, according to the mother of one of the taken Americans."

U.K. Mark Landler & Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Britain's governing Conservative Party lost two strategically important parliamentary seats on Friday, dealing a harsh blow to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and raising fresh doubts about his scandal-scarred leadership. Voters in Tiverton and Honiton, a rural stretch of southwest England that is the party's heartland, and in the faded northern industrial city of Wakefield evicted the Conservative Party from seats that had come open after lawmakers were brought down by scandals of their own. In Wakefield, the Labour Party's victory was widely expected, and it ran up a comfortable margin over the Conservatives. In the south, which had been viewed as a tossup, the Liberal Democratic Party scored a stunning upset, overcoming a huge Conservative majority in the last election to win the seat by a solid margin.... In an immediate sign of the political fallout, the chairman of the Conservative Party, Oliver Dowden, resigned on Friday morning."

Vatican. Guardian: "Pope Francis has ordered the online publication of 170 volumes of files relating to Jewish people from the recently opened Pope Pius XII archives, amid renewed debate about the legacy of the second world war-era pope. The archive of 2,700 cases 'gathers the requests for help sent to Pope Pius XII by Jewish people ... after the beginning of Nazi and fascist persecution', said the Vatican's secretary for relations with states, Paul Richard Gallagher, in a statement. Although the documents have been available for consultation by scholars since March 2020, Pope Francis requested they be accessible to everyone, said the statement. Putting the archive online 'will allow the descendants of those who asked for help to find traces of their loved ones from any part of the world', it said."

June 23, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

** Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "Federal investigators descended on the home of Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official, on Wednesday in connection with the department's sprawling inquiry into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to people familiar with the matter.... Mr. Clark was central to ... Donald J. Trump's unsuccessful effort in late 2020 to strong-arm the nation's top prosecutors into supporting his claims of election fraud. [MB: Not coincidentally,] "The law enforcement action ... came just one day before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was poised to hold a hearing examining Mr. Trump's efforts to pressure the Justice Department after his election defeat. The hearing was expected to explore Mr. Clark's role in helping Mr. Trump bend the department to his will...." CNN's report, by Evan Perez, is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: CNN reported on-air that an ally of Clark's complained that the officials showed up at Clark's house in the pre-dawn & sent Mr. Clark out onto the street in his pajamas. Oh, what must the neighbors have thought? ~~~

     ~~~ Trump's Bad Day. Neal Katyal, BTW, said on MSNBC the raid was the worst news Trump got Thursday. The fact that the feds went in with a judge's order to collect electronic info shows they were looking for evidence of a conspiracy, that Clark was a target, and the person DOJ suspects him of conspiring with is Donald Trump. In addition, Katyal thinks it's like that, because of the importance of the raid, Merrick Garland signed off on it.

The Washington Post's live updates of matters related to the January 6 committee hearing is here. Update: the New York Times' live updates are here.

Annie Karni & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The Senate on Thursday moved a step closer to approving bipartisan legislation aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people, as a small group of Republicans joined Democrats to break through their party's blockade and bring what would be the first substantial gun safety measure in decades to the brink of passage. Fifteen Republicans, including Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, joined Democrats in a crucial test vote that paved the way for the Senate to pass the measure as early as Thursday. The 65-34 vote more than cleared the 60-vote threshold needed to break a Republican filibuster, shattering a three-decade-long string of failures on gun-related legislation. One Republican Senator was absent."

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Thursday said Americans generally have a right to carry a handgun outside the home for self-defense and that a New York law requiring special need for such a permit is too restrictive. The vote was 6 to 3, with Justice Clarence Thomas writing for the majority and the court's three liberals in dissent.... In dissent, Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote: 'Many States have tried to address some of the dangers of gun violence ... by passing laws that limit, in various ways, who may purchase, carry, or use firearms of different kinds. The Court today severely burdens States' efforts to do so.' Enacted more than a century ago, New York's law requires those who want to carry a concealed weapon for self-defense to show a specific need for doing so. Its 'proper cause' law is similar to regulations in California, New Jersey, Maryland, Hawaii and Massachusetts." MB: As contributor Ken W. once asked, "Uh, what about the 'well-regulated militia' thing?" (Paraphrase. I expect he said it better.)

Matt Richtel & Andrew Jacobs of the New York Times: "The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday ordered Juul to stop selling e-cigarettes on the U.S. market, a profoundly damaging blow to a once-popular company whose brand was blamed for the teenage vaping crisis. The order affects all of Juul's products on the U.S. market, the overwhelming source of the company's sales. Juul's sleek vaping cartridges and sweet-flavored pods helped usher in an era of alternative nicotine products among adults as well, and invited intense scrutiny from antismoking groups and regulators who feared they would do more harm to young people than good to former smokers."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Today's January 6 Select Committee hearing is scheduled to begin at 3:00 pm ET. ~~~

~~~ Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "Donald Trump pressured top justice department officials to falsely declare that the 2020 election was corrupt and launch investigations into discredited claims of fraud as part of an effort to return him to office, the House January 6 select committee will say on Thursday. The panel investigating the Capitol attack is expected at its fifth hearing to focus on how Trump abused the power of the presidency to twist the justice department into endorsing false election claims -- and potentially how the Republican congressman Scott Perry sought a pardon for his involvement."

Amy Gardner, et al., of the Washington Post: "In the past 24 hours, there has been an uptick in the number of violent threats against lawmakers on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and all lawmakers on the committee are likely to receive a security detail, according to three people involved with the investigation.... Over the weekend, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) revealed a letter addressed to his wife that threatened to execute them and their 5-month-old baby. He warned that the political violence of Jan. 6, 2021 was not an aberration but a consequence of his party's repeated lies.... Committee Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has been flanked with a security detail since last year, and has been unable to hold large, publicized campaign events, in part due to security concerns, according to aides."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the minority leader, chose last summer to withdraw all of his nominees to the [January 6 select] committee -- amid a dispute with Speaker Nancy Pelosi over her rejection of his first two choices -- a turning point that left the nine-member investigative committee without a single ally of Mr. Trump. Mostly in private, Republicans loyal to Mr. Trump have complained for months that they have no insight into the inner workings of the committee as it has issued dozens of subpoenas and conducted interviews behind closed doors with hundreds of witnesses. But the public display this month of what the panel has learned -- including damning evidence against Mr. Trump and his allies -- left some Republicans wishing more vocally that Mr. Trump had strong defenders on the panel to try to counter the evidence its investigators dig up." ~~~

~~~ Marianna Sotomayor, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump has said privately for months that [Kevin] McCarthy's decision to pull pro-Trump Republicans from sitting on the Jan. 6 select committee was a mistake, one that has become clearer as Trump watches the hearings that are working to build the case that he should be criminally charged for conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election. According to a close adviser..., Trump has made it clear to anyone who will listen that 'there's no one to defend me' on the days before, during or after the hearings. The blame is falling squarely on McCarthy's shoulders, according to some Republican congressional aides and advisers close to the former president."

Manu Raju & Morgan Rimmer of CNN: "Rep. Mo Brooks -- one of the Republican lawmakers facing calls from the January 6 committee to testify about his interactions with ... Donald Trump -- said Wednesday that he is willing to testify but only in public. 'My basic requirement is it be in public so the public can see it -- so they don't get bits and pieces dribbled out,' the Alabama Republican said. He also said he'd testify only about matters related to January 6, 2021, and wants to see copies of any documents beforehand that the panel may ask him about. Even though the House select committee announced subpoenas for Brooks and four other Republicans last month, he had yet to be served with one because he had been campaigning for the GOP Senate nomination in Alabama. Brooks lost in a runoff Tuesday night." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, this is ironic. Trump is complaining that there is no one at the hearing to defend him. Now it appears that Brooks, whom Trump screwed over by withdrawing his endorsement of Brooks' Senate bid, might be the one person who could appear before the committee & defend Trump.

Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "Weeks before the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) held a hearing on election fraud in an attempt to legitimize ... Donald Trump's false allegations of voting irregularities. Four days before the attack on the Capitol, Johnson signed a statement with nine other Republican senators that they intended to object to certifying Joe Biden's electors and demand 'an emergency 10-day audit of the election.' This week, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot revealed that Johnson's chief of staff tried to deliver to Vice President Mike Pence a slate of fake electors backing Trump, raising questions about the Wisconsin Republican's role in a deliberate and coordinated plan to block Biden's win and give Trump the presidency. The disclosure also underscores the extent of Johnson's role as one of Congress's most prominent election deniers and Jan. 6 apologists -- spreading conspiracy theories about rigged votes and playing down the severity of the violent assault on the Capitol as mostly 'peaceful,' while floating the idea that it might have been an inside job by the FBI. Johnson, who is up for reelection this year, has been dogged by scandals and controversial statements since aligning himself with Trump."

Benjamin Siegel & Katherine Faulders of ABC News: "After Thursday's hearing, the House Jan. 6 select committee will delay its final hearings for several weeks, a spokesperson confirmed to ABC News Wednesday.... Initially, the committee was expected to hold its sixth and seventh hearings by the end of June. But after Tuesday's session, members said they need more time to incorporate new information into their public presentations. Chairman Bennie Thompson said later 'at least two' are planned for next month starting the week of July 11, after the House returns from the Independence Day recess. But the panel has not ruled out adding even more hearings down the road."

I'll Vote for the Criminal Who Sicced Savage Terrorists on My Dying Daughter. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Rusty Bowers, the Arizona Republican House speaker who made national headlines describing his refusal to help Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election, has said he will vote for Trump again if he runs for president in 2024. 'If he is the nominee, if he was up against [Joe] Biden, I'd vote for him again,' Bowers told the Associated Press. 'Simply because what he did the first time, before Covid, was so good for the country. In my view it was great.'" MB: Definitely some loose screws between those ears.

Alan Feuer & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The Justice Department stepped up its criminal investigation of a plan by ... Donald J. Trump and his allies to create slates of so-called fake electors in a bid to keep Mr. Trump in power during the 2020 election, as federal agents delivered grand jury subpoenas on Wednesday to at least four people connected to the plan." Two of those subpoeanaed were associated with the Georgia Republican party, one with New Mexico & Arizona and one with Michigan. "This latest round of activity ... comes less than a month after an earlier round of grand jury subpoenas revealed that prosecutors were seeking information on any role that a group of pro-Trump lawyers might have played in the fake elector effort." The Hill's report is here.

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Wednesday postponed the trial of five members of the extremist group Proud Boys after several defendants and prosecutors warned that the planned release of a public report and witness transcripts from the high-profile House investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack could upend preparations. U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly of Washington, D.C., said at a hearing he 'reluctantly' reached the decision to delay the scheduled Aug. 8 trial of former Proud Boys chairman Henry 'Enrique' Tarrio and four others on seditious conspiracy and other charges, but acknowledged strong concerns from prosecutors and defense lawyers that the House Select Committee investigating the breach may divulge key evidence that they have not seen."

Rachel Weiner & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to probe possible financial relationships between members of the Oath Keepers accused of trying to prevent Joe Biden from becoming president and a nonprofit entity run by former Donald Trump attorney Sidney Powell that spread false election claims.... The unusual request follows media reports that Powell's nonprofit organization, Defending the Republic, has used some of the millions of dollars it has raised through spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 election to pay legal fees for Oath Keepers members facing trial.... U.S. prosecutors asked the trial judge to ensure, in private if necessary, that counsel is complying with legal ethics that bar outside funding for legal defense unless the client gives informed consent.... Prosecutors expressed concern that Defending the Republic was discouraging plea deals...."

The 2024 Plot. Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, one of the nation's top political donors, gathered more than a dozen billionaires or their representatives over Zoom Friday to sound an alarm about the coming elections. 'MAGA leaders intend to use 2022 midterm wins to install Trump in 2024 regardless of the vote,' read a slide of the PowerPoint Hoffman presented to the group, which was obtained by The Washington Post. He was pitching some of the nation's wealthiest people on a doomsday idea that has become a growing obsession among the liberal donor community. Another slide ... laid out a step-by-step hypothetical scenario: Republicans win statewide offices in key battleground states in 2022 and then change state laws in 2023 to give legislatures control over presidential electors. After the next presidential election, they declare votes from urban centers 'tainted' and overrule the popular vote by sending their own slate of electors to Washington.... What's different about this new strategy is that a large portion of the 2022 efforts are actually aimed at 2024 -- attempting to block Republican 2020 election deniers from gaining power and potentially upending valid results in a presidential election year." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: A conspiracy theory? Yes. Plausible? Yes.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Lydia DePillis of the New York Times: "With fuel prices near record highs, President Biden on Wednesday urged Congress to temporarily suspend the federal gas tax and give Americans 'just a little bit of breathing room,' even as the proposal faced dim prospects on Capitol Hill. In a speech from the White House, Mr. Biden asked Congress to lift the federal taxes -- about 18 cents per gallon of gasoline and 24 cents per gallon of diesel -- through the end of September, shortly before the fall midterm elections. The president also asked states to suspend their own gas taxes, hoping to alleviate the economic pain that has contributed to his diminishing popularity.... [Energy Secretary Jennifer] Granholm will also speak to oil company executives this week about lowering the price of gas. She did not specify how exactly the administration would ensure that savings from the suspension trickled down to consumers, rather than resulting in a profit for gas companies." This is an update of a story linked yesterday.

Jenny Vrentas of the New York Times: "As the N.F.L. was investigating his team for widespread workplace misconduct, the Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder directed a 'shadow investigation' to interfere with and undermine its findings, a Congressional committee found. At Snyder's behest, his legal team used private investigators to harass and intimidate witnesses, and created a 100-page dossier targeting victims, witnesses and journalists who had shared 'credible public accusations of harassment' against the team. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform released a 29-page memo on Wednesday that detailed the findings of its eight-month inquiry into how the Commanders and the N.F.L. handled claims of rampant sexual harassment of the team's female employees. The report came ahead of a hearing where the league's commissioner, Roger Goodell, was expected to appear and face questioning." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ From a Washington Post liveblog: "Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), the chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, announced during a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday on the workplace of Washington's NFL team that the committee intends to issue a subpoena to compel the testimony of Commanders owner Daniel Snyder next week. Maloney's announcement came during a hearing in which NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told the committee that he did not recall the league being informed in 2009 of an allegations of sexual harassment and assault made against Snyder." Goodell testified he did not have the authority to remove Snyder. Snyder was a no-show for the hearing, what with his being on his yacht in France. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Colorado Congressional Race. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: Driven by fears of extremism and worries about what they see as an authoritarianism embodied in [Lauren] Boebert [R], thousands of Democrats in the sprawling third congressional district of Colorado have rushed to shore up her Republican challenger, State Senator Don Coram. [They are registering as independents so they can vote in the GOP primary.] Their aim is not to do what is best for Democrats but to do what they think is best for democracy.... The Colorado crossover voters are part of a broader trend of Democrats intervening to try to beat back the extremes of the G.O.P., in Georgia, North Carolina, Colorado, Utah and elsewhere."

Florida. Marc Caputo of NBC News: "Andrew Gillum, the once-rising Florida Democratic star who narrowly lost the 2018 governor's race to Ron DeSantis, was hit with a 21-count federal indictment Wednesday for wire fraud, related conspiracy charges and making false statements. Gillum, the former Tallahassee mayor, was charged along with his mentor, Sharo Lettman-Hicks, for fraudulently fundraising from 'various entities' between 2016 to 2019, according to a Department of Justice press release. The Justice Department said the two allegedly diverted some of the money to a company controlled by Lettman-Hicks, who fraudulently disguised the funds as payroll payments to Gillum." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times' story is here.

Georgia Senate Race. Amanda Terkel of the Huffington Post: In an interview Tuesday, Georgia's GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker said there were 52 states in the U.S. In criticizing a remark by Democrat Stacy Abrams, he said, "If you don't believe in the country, leave and go somewhere else," he said. "If it's the worst state, why are you here? Why don't you leave ― go to another? There's, what, 51 more other states that you can go to?" MB: Frankly, that makes me like Hershel better; I'll just assume he's including Puerto Rico & the District of Columbia. Always look on the bright side.

Missouri Senate Race. Isaac Arnsdorf, et al., of the Washington Post: "A senior investigative counsel on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection is leaving the committee to explore running for Missouri's U.S. Senate seat as an independent, according to four people familiar with his plans. Joh Wood, a former federal prosecutor who has worked closely with Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), started notifying committee staff this week of his plans to explore a run for office, according to these people. Wood ran the committee's 'gold team,' which examined ... Donald Trump's possible involvement in the siege on the U.S. Capitol, and appeared alongside lawmakers on the panel last week to question witnesses during the hearing focused on the pressure campaign targeting then-Vice President Mike Pence."

Texas. David Goodman of the New York Times: Pete Arredondo, "the chief of the school district police force in Uvalde, Texas, was placed on administrative leave after the state's top police official faulted him for delaying the confrontation with a gunman at Robb Elementary School last month, the school district said on Wednesday.... The school district's superintendent, Hal Harrell, said in a news release that he had planned to 'wait until the investigation was complete before making personnel decisions.' But he said he ultimately made the decision to put the chief on leave because 'of the lack of clarity that remains and the unknown timing of when I will receive the results.'... A day before the school district's decision, Chief Arredondo was denied a leave of absence by the Uvalde City Council, to which he was elected shortly before the shooting. He has not appeared at public meetings since the attack and without the leave could be forced to relinquish his Council seat after three missed meetings.... As the Council signaled that it would deny Chief Arredondo's leave of absence, many in the crowd cheered and applauded."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates Thursday are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here: "The cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk -- Ukraine's two footholds in the eastern Luhansk region -- are the sites of 'hellish battles' against Russia, regional governor Serhiy Haidai said. Moscow's forces are gathering near a village south of Lysychansk that was captured this week, he said, in a possible attempt to cut off the remaining defenses there. Russian missile attacks continued to hit the rest of Ukraine, with strikes reported near Kharkiv in the north and Mykolaiv in the south.... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continued his marathon of phone calls with European leaders, who are gathering on Thursday and Friday to discuss Ukraine's bid for European Union candidate status.... Ukraine will also be high on the agenda when the Group of Seven, an assembly of advanced economies, meets this weekend.... Austria, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands are resurrecting old coal plants after Russia reduced natural gas shipments to several European countries." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's summary report is here.