The Ledes

Thursday, September 26, 2024

The New York Times:' live updates of Hurricane Helene developments today are here. “Hurricane Helene was barreling through the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday en route to Florida, where residents were bracing for extreme rain, destructive winds and deadly storm surge ahead of the storm’s expected landfall. The storm could intensify to a Category 4, if not higher, before making landfall late Thursday, and forecasters warned Helene’s anticipated large size could make its impacts felt across an extensive area. Areas as distant as Atlanta and the Appalachians are at risk for heavy rains.... Many forecast models show the storm making landfall late Thursday near Florida’s Big Bend Coast, a sparsely populated stretch....” ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post has forecasts for some cites in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina & Tennessee that are in or near the probable path of Helene. ~~~

     ~~~ This morning, an MSNBC weatherperson said Tallahassee (which is inland) would experience wind gusts of up to 120 m.p.h. and that the National Weather Service said expected 20-foot storm surges near the coast would be “unsurvivable.”

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The Ledes

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

The New York Times is live-updating developments in the progress of Hurricane Helene. “Helene continued to power north in the Caribbean Sea, strengthening into a hurricane Wednesday morning, on a path that forecasters expect will bring heavy amounts of rain to Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula and western Cuba before it begins to move toward Florida’s Gulf Coast.” ~~~

~~~ CNN: “Helene rapidly intensified into a hurricane Wednesday as it plows toward a Florida landfall as the strongest hurricane to hit the United States in over a year. The storm will also grow into a massive, sprawling monster as it continues to intensify, one that won’t just slam Florida, but also much of the Southeast.... Thousands of Florida residents have already been forced to evacuate and nearly the entire state is under alerts as the storm threatens to unleash flooding rainfall, damaging winds and life-threatening storm surge.... The hurricane unleashed its fury on parts of Mexico’s Yucátan Peninsula and Cuba Wednesday.“

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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Friday
Jul142023

July 15, 2023

Afternoon Update:

Daily Check-up: Is RFK, Jr. Still Crazy? Yes, Yes, He Is. Lucy Hodgman of Politico: "Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. denied allegations of racism and anti-Semitism Saturday after he reportedly suggested Covid-19 could have been genetically engineered to reduce risks to Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people. Kennedy -- a longtime vaccine skeptic who is running a longshot primary campaign against President Joe Biden -- said during a Tuesday night press event that Covid-19 was 'targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people.' He went on to say that 'the people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.' After a broad backlash to his comments, first reported by the New York Post, Kennedy took to Twitter to defend himself[:]... 'I have never, ever suggested that the Covid-19 virus was targeted to spare Jews.'..."

~~~~~~~~~~

Melissa Quinn of CBS News: "The Biden administration announced Friday that it will wipe out $39 billion in student debt for more than 800,000 borrowers, relief that comes weeks after the Supreme Court invalidated a separate, broader effort by President Biden to address student loan debt. Unlike the broad forgiveness Mr. Biden originally attempted to provide, the forthcoming debt discharges by the Department of Education are narrower, stemming from 'fixes' announced by the administration in April 2022 to ensure borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans have an accurate count of the number of monthly payments that go toward forgiveness. The new student debt plan also relies on a different law than the one that was struck down by the Supreme Court." A Washington Post story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Tara Bernard of the New York Times: "Here's what we know about who's eligible [for student loan debt relief]."

David McCabe & Steve Lohr of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Friday paused a judge's order that had blocked much of the Biden administration from talking to social media sites about content.... In its three-sentence order, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said the preliminary injunction issued this month by a federal judge in Louisiana would be put aside 'until further orders of the court.' The appeals court also called for expedited oral arguments in the case.... The Department of Justice appealed the [original] order the day after it was issued."

Conservative Max Boot of the Washington Post: "Five years ago, on July 16, 2018..., Donald Trump met in the capital of Finland with Russian President Vladimir Putin. There he delivered what Sen. John McCain called 'one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.' Standing next to Putin at a news conference, Trump refused to condemn Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election or even to admit that it had occurred. This came a little more than a year after Trump had attended a NATO summit in Brussels at which he refused to affirm the alliance's Article 5 collective security guarantee.... On Thursday, President Biden visited Helsinki ... not to kowtow before Putin but to stand up to him -- and not to undermine NATO but to strengthen it.... 'I've been doing this a long time. I don't think NATO's ever been stronger,' Biden said during a meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. He's right, and he deserves a world of credit for that achievement. Biden has shown more skill at marshaling an international coalition than any U.S. president since George H.W. Bush during the 1991 Gulf War....

"It's safe to say that none of that would have happened if Trump had still been in the White House.... So, if you believe in making America, rather than Russia, 'great again,' it's imperative for Biden to win in 2024 and maintain the policies that have so greatly strengthened NATO and Ukraine. As long as the MAGA wing remains as strong as it is, Republicans cannot be trusted on national security policy." See also NYT story on Putin puppet TuKKKer Carlson's performance in Iowa, linked below.

Haley Talbot & Clare Foran of CNN: "The House voted Friday to pass a sweeping defense policy bill following a contentious debate and the adoption of controversial amendments that touched on hot-button social issues. The addition of amendments pushed by conservative hardliners related to abortion policy and transgender health care access as well as targeting diversity and inclusion programs infuriated Democrats and led to push back from some moderate Republicans -- and will now set up a clash with the Senate." (Also linked yesterday.)

Flippity-Flip-Flip? Alexander Mallin, et al., of ABC News: "The special counsel investigating ... Donald Trump's handling of classified documents has taken new steps to examine possible efforts to obstruct the probe, threatening potential charges against a Trump Organization employee who is suspected of lying to investigators.... Special counsel Jack Smith in recent weeks transmitted a target letter to the staffer indicating that he might have perjured himself during a May appearance before the federal grand jury hearing evidence in the classified documents probe.... The target letter to the employee ... signals Smith's growing interest in the Trump Organization's handling of the surveillance footage and potential efforts to avoid sharing it with investigators.... Stanley Woodward, a lawyer who has represented the employee and who represents several other Trump advisers, declined to comment to ABC News." The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Kristy Greenberg, a legal analyst for MSNBC, noted Friday that attorney Woodward represents both the targeted employee and Trump's body man Walt Nauta. Since these two individuals communicated and have conflicting interests, Greenberg said Woodward will have to end his representation of one or the other.

Zachary Cohen of CNN: "Federal prosecutors have interviewed the secretaries of state for both Pennsylvania and New Mexico in recent months as part of the ongoing investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to two sources familiar with the probe.The interviews, which have not been previously reported, indicate that special counsel Jack Smith is focused on actions taken by ... Donald Trump and his allies in seven key battleground states as they sought to upend Joe Biden's electoral victory.... Smith's team has sent subpoenas to local and state officials in all seven of the key states -- Georgia, New Mexico, Nevada, Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- that were targeted by Trump and his allies and where Trump's campaign convened the false electors as part of the effort to subvert the Electoral College."

Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "In his latest legal maneuver, Donald J. Trump sought a court order on Friday that would throw out the work of an Atlanta special grand jury and disqualify Fani T. Willis, the prosecutor leading an investigation into election interference in Georgia. A decision on indictments looms in the investigation, which has been in progress for more than two years." CNN's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

A billionaire using donor money to pay personal legal fees, and now paying his wife more than 2x what the average American makes just to pick some tableware. There's grifting and then there's Trump grifting. Undisputed champs. -- Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ~~~

~~~ Trump Pays Melanie Three Figures for Setting the Table at Home. Shane Goldmacher & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times:"A super PAC aligned with ... Donald J. Trump paid Melania Trump $155,000 in late 2021, an unusual payment that was not visible in the group's initial federal reports and came to light only in a filing by Mr. Trump on Thursday.... It is rare for the spouse of a potential presidential candidate to be paid directly by a campaign or an outside group affiliated with the candidate.... [A] representative for the super PAC ... said that Ms. Trump had been hired through her agency for 'design consulting' for the old super PAC's dinner and that her responsibilities included choosing tableware, arranging settings and picking floral arrangements. The fee was $125,000, and the second $30,000 payment was for additional servics rendered out of the scope of the first contract, the representative said.... The December 2021 payment to Ms. Trump coincided with a private fund-raising dinner that the super PAC held at Mar-a-Lago and that Mr. Trump attended." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)


Nicholas Fandos, et al., of the New York Times: "Representative George Santos, the New York Republican facing federal criminal charges, reported raising about $150,000 for his re-election campaign from April through June -- a modest sum that he mostly used to pay back money he had lent to his past congressional bids. The contributions came from roughly 50 donors, only four of whom reported living inside Mr. Santos's Queens and Long Island district, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission on Friday. A plurality of the donors said they lived in California, and, when reached for comment, some said they had given money to the congressman as a gag." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Amanda Marcotte of Salon: "... watching Republicans vomit conspiracy theories at [FBI Director Christopher] Wray, the name that came to my mind was ... Timothy McVeigh, the right-wing terrorist who blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people. McVeigh and his co-conspirator, Terry Nichols, were motivated by anti-government conspiracy theories that sounded very much like the garbage being peddled by Republican congressmen during Wednesday's hearing.... McVeigh's views would have been right at home with what House Republicans were spouting Wednesday: That the U.S. government is being secretly run by a decadent 'elite' that wants to brainwash right wing Americans.... It's the same conspiracy theory [that] .. dates back to the overtly anti-semitic conspiracy theories that motivated the Nazis.... The anger was over federal authorities prosecuting white men who thought themselves above law." Marcotte links the conspiracy theory to Ron DeSantis' flying "the others" out of his domain of Florida & Tommy Tuberville's effort to "debate" white nationalism. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A Politico story is here.

Presidential Race 2024. Russia, Russia, Russia. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: Tucker Carlson, appearing as a sort of emcee at a Family Leadership conference in Des Moines, Iowa, turned the forum into a platform for Vladimir Putin. "Mr. Carlson was given the task of interviewing six Republican presidential hopefuls.... In the hands of Mr. Carlson..., Ukraine became the bad actor in the conflict, not Russia.... [When interviewing Mike Pence,] Mr. Carlson called Ukraine an American 'client state,' accused Ukraine's Jewish leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, of persecuting Christians and strongly indicated Mr. Pence had been conned, despite evidence to the contrary.... The Family Leadership Summit was supposed to be a showcase of Christian values, where social issues like abortion and transgender rights were expected to be center stage."


Senior Federal Judge Michael Ponsor, in a New York Times op-ed: "... if there will not be formal ethical constraints on our Supreme Court -- or even if there will be -- its justices must have functioning noses. They must keep themselves far from any conduct with a dubious aroma, even if it may not breach a formal rule..... You don't just stay inside the lines; you stay well inside the lines. This is not a matter of politics or judicial philosophy. It is ethics in the trenches." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: Brett Kavanaugh says everything is going very well at the Supreme Court: "It's really I think government at its finest in the sense that everyone there is so well prepared. And we are a hard-working bunch and very well prepared and very on top of the issues and very respectful." Nevermind that, "Two weeks ago, Justices Clarence Thomas and Ketanji Brown Jackson sniped at each other in dueling opinions over ending the consideration of race in college admissions. Justice Elena Kagan accused the court of overstepping its authority..., and Kagan and Justice Sonia Sotomayor read lengthy dissents from the bench in the court's closing days to demonstrate how profoundly they disagreed with the majority's rulings. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. took issue with some of the critiques in his loan-debt ruling. 'It has become a disturbing feature of some recent opinions to criticize the decisions with which they disagree as going beyond the proper role of the judiciary,' Roberts wrote."

Shia Kapos of Politico: The "Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., the Civil Rights icon and former presidential candidate, is stepping down as president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, according to his son, Rep. Jonathan Jackson. The senior Jackson will announce his retirement at the annual Rainbow PUSH convention in Chicago on Sunday. Vice President Kamala Harris will the keynote for the event. And a successor to Jackson is also expected to be announced."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Nick Robertson of the Hill: "Kari Lake's legal team, including lawyer Alan Dershowitz, must pay $122,200 in sanctions after a federal court in Arizona found that the former Republican gubernatorial candidate's lawsuit contesting voting methods was 'frivolous.'... In May, Lake's legal team was levied a $2,000 sanction judgment for their role in spreading misinformation about election integrity."

Florida Sucks. Adam Nichols of the Raw Story: "A Florida columnist savaged his state's Republican politicians Friday for sticking their heads in the sand and ignoring reality.... Fred Grimm for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel ... rattled off a long list of issues that were affecting his state, and bashed its [MAGA] leaders for ignoring them.... Top of his gripes was the inactivity on global warming, even as Florida burns under some of the highest temperatures it has ever experienced. 'Climate denial just doesn't resonate after the hottest day in the hottest week in the hottest June in recorded history. Along with floods, wildfires, superstorms, droughts, mudslides, melting glaciers, dying coral reefs and other disasters ignited by global warming.' Other things the MAGA politicians were in denial of included the fleeing of immigrant workers, the cancellation of conventions and the reasons why insurance companies were abandoning the state, he said.... 'Imagine acting as if the spate of racist, homophobic, sexist laws spat out by the Florida Legislature embodies sound policy rather than the cynical contrivances of the governor's presidential campaign.'" ~~~

~~~ Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "This week, I examine the potential price Floridians might pay for MAGA culture wars, pick the people of the week and share some lesser-known D.C. sites.... Florida has become not where 'woke' died but rather where empathy, decency and kindness go to die.... [Ron] DeSantis likes to brag that more people are moving to Florida than ever. Not so fast. 'An estimated 674,740 people reported that their permanent address changed from Florida to another state in 2021.['] That's more than any other state.... Moreover, Florida already is one of the states with the oldest average populations, and the MAGA culture wars risk alienating young people and the diverse workforce the state needs.... In addition, evidence points to a brain drain from Florida universities and colleges...." ~~~

~~~ Khristopher Brooks of CBS News: "AAA will not renew the auto and home insurance policies for some customers in Florida, joining a growing list of insurers dialing back their presence in the Sunshine State amid a growing risk of natural disasters.... The company is the fourth insurer over the last year say it is backing away from insuring Floridians, a sign extreme weather linked to climate change is destabilizing the insurance market. On Tuesday, Farmers Insurance said it will no longer offer coverage in the state, affecting roughly 100,000 customers."

Iowa. Colbi Edmonds of the New York Times: "Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa, a Republican, signed a strict abortion ban into law on Friday, even as a judge heard arguments to suspend it. Ms. Reynolds had vowed to sign the measure that was passed this week by the Legislature. It was immediately challenged in Polk County court by the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood, and on Friday those groups were in court seeking to temporarily block the law while their legal case moved forward. The new law bans most abortions after cardiac activity is detected, which anti-abortion groups say is around six weeks of pregnancy, before most women know they are pregnant. It takes effect immediately, and dramatically changes abortion access in the state.... The ban also shuts off another area of access for women in the region, as nearby states including Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota also have abortion bans."

New York. Michael Balsamo, et al., of the AP: "A Long Island architect was charged Friday with murder in the deaths of three of the 11 victims in a long-unsolved string of killings known as the Gilgo Beach murders after detectives pursuing a new lead say they matched DNA from a pizza he ate to genetic material found on the women's remains. Rex Heuermann, who has lived for decades across a bay from where the remains were found, is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. He is also considered the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman whose body was bound and hidden in thick underbrush along a remote beach highway, authorities said.... Heuermann, 59, was arrested late Thursday amid a renewed investigation that first identified him as a suspect in March 2022, when detectives linked him to a pickup truck that a witness reported seeing when one of the victims disappeared in 2010." The New York Times' main story is here.

Oregon. Steff Thomas of the Hill: "A federal judge on Friday found Oregon's new gun law -- which bans large capacity magazines and requires residents to obtain a permit to purchase firearms -- does not violate the Second Amendment. After a week-long trial, U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut in a 122-page order found that the law keeps up with 'the nation's history and tradition of regulating uniquely dangerous features of weapons and firearms to protect public safety.'"

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "The Black Sea Grain Initiative, which is credited with easing the global food crisis resulting from the war in Ukraine, is set to expire Monday amid rising concerns that Moscow will not renew the deal.... South Korea's president Yoon Suk Yeol arrived in Kyiv on Saturday, making him one of a handful of Asian leaders to visit the war-torn nation. He visited Bucha, the site of mass killings, and will lay a wreath of remembrance in the capital before meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to the country's Yonhap news agency. Seoul has so far sent humanitarian and financial aid to Ukraine but is under pressure to send weapons.... The Wagner Group is now training troops in Belarus, the Belarusian Ministry of Defense said in a statement Friday....

"South Africa is trying to convince Putin not to attend an economic summit in the country in August, local media reported. As a signatory to the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court, which issued a warrant for Putin's arrest in March, South Africa would be obliged to arrest the Russian leader. 'It's a big dilemma for us. Of course, we cannot arrest him,' Deputy South African President Paul Mashatile said in an interview."

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

News Ledes

New York Times: "The police were searching for a gunman who they say killed four people in a Georgia suburb on Saturday morning in a shooting with no known motive. The shooting was reported at 10:45 a.m. in a residential neighborhood of Hampton, Ga., a city roughly 35 miles south of Atlanta, James Turner, the Hampton police chief, said at a news conference." ~~~

     ~~~ The AP story, where is here, identifies a suspect.

CNN: “Michael Burham, the inmate with survivalist skills who escaped a prison in Pennsylvania, has been captured in a wooded area near Warren after more than a week on the run, authorities announced Saturday."

Washington Post: "Evelyn Boyd Granville, one of the first Black women to receive a doctorate in mathematics from an American university and whose groundbreaking work in computers included helping calculate orbit trajectories and lunar-landing scenarios for the space program, died June 27 at her home in Silver Spring, Md. She was 99."

Guardian: "After days of unrelenting temperatures across much of the region, the American west is bracing for even more intense heat this weekend with more than a third of Americans under extreme heat alerts. California is facing a powerful heatdome, bringing sweltering conditions expected to build Friday and through the weekend, in central and southern parts of the state. The National Weather Service warned many residents they should prepare for the hottest weather of the year as desert area highs could exceed 120F (48.8C)."

Comments Off
Friday
Jul142023

July 14, 2023

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Melissa Quinn of CBS News: "The Biden administration announced Friday that it will wipe out $39 billion in student debt for more than 800,000 borrowers, relief that comes weeks after the Supreme Court invalidated a separate, broader effort by President Biden to address student loan debt. Unlike the broad forgiveness Mr. Biden originally attempted to provide, the forthcoming debt discharges by the Department of Education are narrower, stemming from 'fixes' announced by the administration in April 2022 to ensure borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans have an accurate count of the number of monthly payments that go toward forgiveness. The new student debt plan also relies on a different law than the one that was struck down by the Supreme Court." A Washington Post story is here.

Flippity-Flip-Flip? Alexander Mallin, et al., of ABC News: "The special counsel investigating ... Donald Trump's handling of classified documents has taken new steps to examine possible efforts to obstruct the probe, threatening potential charge against a Trump Organization employee who is suspected of lying to investigators.... Special counsel Jack Smith in recent weeks transmitted a target letter to the staffer indicating that he might have perjured himself during a May appearance before the federal grand jury hearing evidence in the classified documents probe.... The target letter to the employee ... signals Smith's growing interest in the Trump Organization's handling of the surveillance footage and potential efforts to avoid sharing it with investigators.... Stanley Woodward, a lawyer who has represented the employee and who represents several other Trump advisers, declined to comment to ABC News." The New York Times story is here.

Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "In his latest legal maneuver, Donald J. Trump sought a court order on Friday that would throw out the work of an Atlanta special grand jury and disqualify Fani T. Willis, the prosecutor leading an investigation into election interference in Georgia. A decision on indictments looms in the investigation, which has been in progress for more than two years." CNN's story is here.

A billionaire using donor money to pay personal legal fees, and now paying his wife more than 2x what the average American makes just to pick some tableware. There's grifting and then there's Trump grifting. Undisputed champs. -- Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ~~~

~~~ Trump Pays Melanie Three Figures for Setting the Table at Home. Shane Goldmacher & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "A super PAC aligned with ... Donald J. Trump paid Melania Trump $155,000 in late 2021, an unusual payment that was not visible in the group's initial federal reports and came to light only in a filing by Mr. Trump on Thursday.... It is rare for the spouse of a potential presidential candidate to be paid directly by a campaign or an outside group affiliated with the candidate.... [A] representative for the super PAC ... said that Ms. Trump had been hired through her agency for 'design consulting' for the old super PAC's dinner and that her responsibilities included choosing tableware, arranging settings and picking floral arrangements. The fee was $125,000, and the second $30,000 payment was for additional services rendered out of the scope of the first contract, the representative said.... The December 2021 payment to Ms. Trump coincided with a private fund-raising dinner that the super PAC held at Mar-a-Lago and that Mr. Trump attended."

Nicholas Fandos, et al., of the New York Times: "Representative George Santos, the New York Republican facing federal criminal charges, reported raising about $150,000 for his re-election campaign from April through June -- a modest sum that he mostly used to pay back money he had lent to his past congressional bids. The contributions came from roughly 50 donors, only four of whom reported living inside Mr. Santos's Queens and Long Island district, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission on Friday. A plurality of the donors said they lived in California, and, when reached for comment, some said they had given money to the congressman as a gag."

** Amanda Marcotte of Salon: "... watching Republicans vomit conspiracy theories at [FBI Director Christopher] Wray, the name that came to my mind was ... Timothy McVeigh, the right-wing terrorist who blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people. McVeigh and his co-conspirator, Terry Nichols, were motivated by anti-government conspiracy theories that sounded very much like the garbage being peddled by Republican congressmen during Wednesday's hearing.... McVeigh's views would have been right at home with what House Republicans were spouting Wednesday: That the U.S. government is being secretly run by a decadent 'elite' that wants to brainwash right wing Americans.... It's the same conspiracy theory [that] .. dates back to the overtly anti-semitic conspiracy theories that motivated the Nazis.... The anger was over federal authorities prosecuting white men who thought themselves above law." Marcotte links the conspiracy theory to Ron DeSantis' flying "the others" out of his domain of Florida & Tommy Tuberville's effort to "debate" white nationalism.

Senior Federal Judge Michael Ponsor, in a New York Times op-ed: "... if there will not be formal ethical constraints on our Supreme Court -- or even if there will be -- its justices must have functioning noses. They must keep themselves far from any conduct with a dubious aroma, even if it may not breach a formal rule..... You don't just stay inside the lines; you stay well inside the lines. This is not a matter of politics or judicial philosophy. It is ethics in the trenches."

Haley Talbot & Clare Foran of CNN: "The House voted Friday to pass a sweeping defense policy bill following a contentious debate and the adoption of controversial amendments that touched on hot-button social issues. The addition of amendments pushed by conservative hardliners related to abortion policy and transgender health care access as well as targeting diversity and inclusion programs infuriated Democrats and led to push back from some moderate Republicans -- and will now set up a clash with the Senate."

~~~~~~~~~~

Steve Holland & Essi Lehto of Reuters: "President Joe Biden on Thursday gave his assurance that the United States would stay committed to NATO despite 'extreme elements' of the Republican Party, in remarks during a visit to Finland to welcome it as the alliance's latest member. 'I absolutely guarantee it,' Biden told a press conference when pressed by a Finnish reporter about the U.S. commitment to NATO given political instability in the United States. Biden's predecessor..., Donald Trump, threatened to take the United States out of the alliance.... Concern lingers in Europe about the reliability of U.S. pledges and global alliances, years after Trump's norm-busting presidency ended. Trump clashed with NATO leaders over funding the alliance and threatened to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Germany." ~~~

~~~ Michael Mitsanas of NBC News: "President Joe Biden denounced Sen. Tommy Tuberville's blockade of hundreds of military nominations during a joint press conference with Finland's president on Thursday, calling the Republican's actions 'totally irresponsible.'... 'I expect the Republican party to stand up -- stand up and do something about it,' Biden [said].... Biden's remarks come as criticism of the Senator's blockade continues to mount and shortly after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told CNN on Thursday that the impasse is affecting both national security and military readiness." (Also linked yesterday.)

** Matthew Perrone of the AP: "U.S. officials have approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill.... The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it cleared Perrigo's once-a-day Opill to be sold without a prescription, making it the first such medication to be moved out from behind the pharmacy counter. The company won't start shipping the pill until early next year, and there will be no age restrictions on sales.... 'This is really a transformation in access to contraceptive care,' said Kelly Blanchard, president of Ibis Reproductive Health, a non-profit group that supported the approval.... Forcing insurers to cover over-the-counter birth control would require a regulatory change by the federal government, which women's advocates are urging the Biden administration to implement." Update: A New York Times report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Alisha Gupta of the New York Times has more on the over-the-counter pill. (Also linked yesterday.)

¯\_(ใƒ„)_/¯ Carol Leonnig & Peter Hermann of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Secret Service has closed its investigation into who may have brought a plastic bag of cocaine into the White House this month after lab results were inconclusive about possible suspects, according to two people briefed on the probe. The Secret Service sent the bag that had contained the powder to an FBI lab to look for traces of DNA and fingerprints, but neither form of testing yielded definitive results, the agency said. Nor was any surveillance video found that provided any investigative leads, officials added." CNN's report is here. MB: If only the Secret Service had asked Jim Comer's "investigators" for help, they probably would have found, right where the baggie was found, a leather razor blade case embossed Hunter." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The teevee pundits were not impressed. Andrew Weissmann said, "Those guys couldn't find a dead cow in a closet." ~~~

     ~~~ Donald Trump opines on who put the coke in the public cellphone cubby: "In my opinion, it's Hunter and probably Joe. Because you watch Joe at the beginning of a speech and he's got a little life -- not much -- but by the end of the speech, he's a disaster. He can't find his way off the stage. So, there's something going on there, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was for both of them. I think it's for both of them."


Marie: Speaking of teevee pundits, none of them I heard indicated they agreed with me that Trump's running for president* was no excuse for delaying his criminal trial schedule, but Jack Smith & his deputy David Harbach do: ~~~

~~~ Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Special counsel Jack Smith's team sharply rebuked Donald Trump's bid to postpone until after the 2024 election his criminal trial for allegedly hoarding classified documents, characterizing the former president's call for delay as unfounded and one of his key legal arguments as 'borderline frivolous.' In an 11-page filing signed by assistant special counsel David Harbach, prosecutors said..., 'The Defendants ... should not be permitted to gesture at a baseless legal argument, call it "novel" and then claim the court will require an indefinite continuance in order to resolve it.'... [Prosecutors asserted that] federal law and the Constitution require the trial to be put on as soon as practical -- not with an 'open-ended' date built around Trump's political calendar.... The demands of Defendants' professional schedules do not provide a basis to delay trial in this case,' Harbach wrote. 'Many indicted defendants have demanding jobs that require a considerable amount of their time and energy, or a significant amount of travel. The Speedy Trial Act contemplates no such factor as a basis for a continuance, and the Court should not indulge it here.'

"The filing also provided a new glimpse into the volume of evidence prosecutors obtained, describing 4,500 pages of 'key' documents that they have flagged for Trump's attorneys out of a larger 800,000-page batch of unclassified evidence. About a third of those 800,000 pages -- a figure Trump cited as a basis to delay the trial -- are content-free email headers and footers, the special counsel team indicated.In addition, prosecutors have turned over the vast majority of unclassified information to Trump's legal team...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors investigating ... Donald J. Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election have questioned multiple witnesses in recent weeks -- including Mr. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner -- about whether Mr. Trump had privately acknowledged in the days after the 2020 election that he had lost, according to four people briefed on the matter.... Others in Mr. Trump's orbit who interacted with him in the weeks after the 2020 election, who have potentially more damaging accounts [than may Mr. Kushner] of Mr. Trump's behavior, have been questioned by the special counsel's office recently. Among them is Alyssa Farah Griffin, the White House communications director in the days after the 2020 election. Repeating an account she provided last year to the House select committee on Jan. 6, she told prosecutors this spring that Mr. Trump had said to her in the days after the election: Can you believe I lost to Joe Biden? 'In that moment I think he knew he lost,' Ms. Griffin told the House committee.... Some aides and allies [-- including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley --] who interacted with Mr. Trump in the days after the election have previously disclosed that Mr. Trump indicated that he knew he lost the election." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Kaitlan Collins & Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Former Trump aide Hope Hicks also went before the grand jury, according to two sources familiar, testifying in early June. Some of the questions being asked in the grand jury were about whether Donald Trump was told he had lost the election, according to one of the sources familiar."

Michael Kranish, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump disclosed new details about roughly $1 billion in earnings in a revised financial filing covering 2021 through part of this year, including money from foreign ventures, speaking fees and a Florida golf course.... Trump's detailing of the more than $1 billion came from sources including hotel sales, golf revenue and licensing fees in the July disclosure. His April filing, which did not provide exact numbers on his income, reported more than 25 sources of income over $5 million." The fact that the director of the Office of Government Ethics did not sign off on Trump's original April filing suggests that the original filing was not satisfactory. MB: Yeah, there's kind of a difference between $1BB & $5MM. (Also linked yesterday.)

Alan Feuer & Zach Montague of the New York Times: "A butcher from Maine who assaulted five police officers during the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced on Thursday to more than seven years in prison. The butcher, Kyle Fitzsimons, arrived at the Capitol that day in ... a traditional white coat, a black apron and rubber boots. Mr. Fitzsimons, a recreational trapper, was also carrying a six-foot-long unstrung archery bow and a fur pelt draped across his neck. Approaching a tunnel at the Capitol's Lower West Terrace, prosecutors say, Mr. Fitzsimons, 39, hurled his bow like a spear at a crowd of officers, striking one in the head. Over the next several minutes, he attacked four more officers in a spree of aggression that led prosecutors to describe him in recent court papers as 'one of the most violent' rioters." ~~~

Patriot tourist Kyle Fitzsimons -- the Butcher of Maine -- visits the Capitol January 6, 2021.     ~~~ Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "Fitzsimons, 39..., twice charged into the phalanx of officers protecting the upper West Terrace tunnel on the afternoon of Jan. 6, at one point grabbing the shield strap and wrenching the shoulder of Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell. The officer testified that the pain was so bad he considered using his gun to shoot Fitzsimons before he was freed. He suffered a partially torn rotator cuff and labrum, and was forced to take a medical retirement." MB: I reckon the Butcher of Maine looks a lot more like the crazed maniac in a "B" horror movie than like a typical patriotic tourist visiting the Capitol of an afternoon. But hey, that's just my opinion.

Rachel Weiner & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "On Jan. 6, 2021, Alan Hostetter and Russell Taylor were shoulder to shoulder in the battle they had predicted would come if the 2020 presidential election results unseating ... Donald Trump were not discarded.... But last week, the two squared off in a federal courtroom, with Taylor admitting from the witness box that what they had cast as a patriotic cause was a criminal conspiracy to keep Congress from doing its work. Hostetter, acting as his own attorney, was accusing his former friend of taking part in a much broader conspiracy orchestrated by the federal government. A police chief turned yoga instructor who helped organize a 'brigade' of Californians on Jan. 6, Hostetter was convicted Thursday of four felonies -- conspiring to obstruct and obstructing an official proceeding, and trespassing and engaging in disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon."

Extreme MAGA Republicans have chosen to hijack the historically bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act to continue attacking reproductive freedom and jamming their right-wing ideology down the throats of the American people. -- Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (NY), Katherine Clark (Mass.) & Pete Aguilar (Calif.), the top House Democratic leaders, who said they would vote against the bill ~~~

~~~ Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "The fate of the annual defense bill was in doubt on Friday, after Republicans loaded the legislation with a raft of conservative social policy restrictions limiting access to abortions, gender transition procedures and diversity training for military personnel, alienating Democrats whose votes G.O.P. leaders had seen as crucial to passing the legislation. Democrats pledged to oppose the bill in a vote expected on Friday morning, accusing G.O.P. leaders of having turned what began as a bipartisan bill into a hyper-politicized salvo in a wider culture war to please a small, right-wing faction of their party."

Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "A divided House voted on Thursday to restrict abortion access, bar transgender health services and limit diversity training for military personnel, potentially imperiling passage of the annual defense bill as Republicans, goaded by their right flank, loaded the measure with conservative policy dictates. The House voted 221 to 213 to overturn a Pentagon policy guaranteeing abortion access to service members regardless of where they are stationed, with Republicans propelling it to passage over near-unanimous Democratic opposition. By a vote of 222 to 211, the House also adopted a measure to bar the military's health plan from covering gender-transition surgeries -- which currently can be covered only with a waiver -- and gender-affirming hormone therapy. And the chamber voted 214 to 213 to eliminate the Pentagon's offices of diversity, equity and inclusion, along with all of their personnel."

Mychael Schnell & Mike Lillis of the Hill: "A Republican lawmaker on Thursday referred to African Americans as 'colored people' on the House floor, prompting outrage from Democrats and a quick rebuke from the chamber's presiding officer. Rep. Eli Crane (R), an Arizona freshman, was reprimanded after he took to the floor to promote an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that he says will rein in Defense Department 'wokeness' -- a racially charged concept that has divided the parties and the country in recent years." Crane later said he "misspoke."

Now, This Is Originalism. Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) suggested on the House floor that because the phrase 'humanitarian aid for women and children in Afghanistan' is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, such aid is unconstitutional." MB: Never underestimate the stupidity of Congressional Republicans. I've been waiting for someone to espouse such a preposterous, uh, "literal reading" of the Constitution. I do want to thank Rep. Luna for not letting me down. I would like to suggest to her that many bills are hundreds of pages long and contain nary a phrase nor clause lifted from the Constitution.

Republicans Use Another Hearing to Prove They're Ignorant Boors. Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "Republicans on Thursday accused John Kerry, President Biden's special envoy for climate, of being soft on China as he prepared to travel to Beijing to restart discussions between the world's top two polluting countries. In a contentious hearing before a House Committee on Foreign Affairs panel, Republicans attacked Mr. Kerry for not doing enough to persuade China to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, several also sought to portray Mr. Kerry as putting Chinese interests above those of the United States by negotiating with America's top economic rival. Mr. Kerry expects to arrive in China on Sunday for three days of climate talks. He told lawmakers that he believes the Chinese government must reverse its growing use of coal-fired power plants, which has helped to make it the world's biggest polluter. But he also made a point of praising China for deploying more wind, solar and other renewable energy than the rest of the world combined....

"Representative Brian Mast, Republican of Florida, told Mr. Kerry he was 'not representing the United States of America' but rather a 'far-left radical agenda.' Representative Cory Mills, also a Florida Republican, sarcastically thanked Mr. Kerry for taking the time to fly in on his 'private jet.' Mr. Kerry called Mr. Mills's comment 'pretty stupid' and said he does not own a private jet but flies commercial. Representative Scott Perry, Republican of Pennsylvania, showed charts he claimed proved the world is not warming. That prompted Mr. Kerry to call the lawmaker's views, which run counter to the conclusion of scientists around the globe, 'shocking.' Mr. Perry retorted, 'They're grifters, like you are, sir,' eliciting gasps from both sides of the aisle." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It is hardly surprising, but well-illustrated here, that Congressional Republicans understand nothing about diplomacy or negotiating tactics. The idea of speaking respectfully to those with whom you disagree is as foreign to them as China itself. In any event, I, for one, am relieved. Until I read Scott Perry's ludicrous assertions, I was beginning to lose faith in Republicans' propensity to deny climate change. So thanks, Scott. You're "pretty stupid," too.

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Democrats in Congress are making a fresh push for the nearly century-old Equal Rights Amendment to be enshrined in the Constitution, rallying around a creative legal theory in a bid to revive an amendment that would explicitly guarantee sex equality as a way to protect reproductive rights in post-Roe America. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Representative Cori Bush of Missouri are set to introduce a joint resolution on Thursday stating that the measure has already been ratified and is enforceable as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. The resolution states that the national archivist, who is responsible for the certification and publication of constitutional amendments, must immediately do so.... While almost 80 percent of Americans supported adding the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution in a 2020 Pew Research Center poll, there is little chance that the effort will draw the 60 votes necessary to overcome a Republican filibuster in the Senate.... In April, Senate Republicans blocked a similar resolution that sought to remove an expired deadline for states to ratify the amendment." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I get that a lot of Republicans -- especially men, but not only men -- are misogynists, but like racism, that's something elected politicians usually try to hide. What rationale can they say out loud to oppose equal rights for women?

How they plead poverty, that they're losing money left and right when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their C.E.O.s. It is disgusting. Shame on them! -- SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher ~~~

~~~ Brooks Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: "The Hollywood actors’ union approved a strike on Thursday for the first time in 43 years, bringing the $134 billion American movie and television business to a halt over anger about pay and fears of a tech-dominated future. The leaders of SAG-AFTRA, the union representing 160,000 television and movie actors, announced the strike after negotiations with studios over a new contract collapsed, with streaming services and artificial intelligence at the center of the standoff. On Friday, the actors will join screenwriters, who walked off the job in May, on picket lines in New York, Los Angeles and the dozens of other American cities where scripted shows and movies are made."

2020 Presidential Election. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "On Wednesday, CNN teased an upcoming interview between host Chris Wallace and Ronna McDaniel, the ... chair of the RNC. In the clip, Wallace asks McDaniel when she stopped being an 'election denier' -- that is, someone who espouses skepticism about the validity of the election results. And, surprise! McDaniel never stopped.... 'I think there were lots of problems with 2020. Ultimately [Joe Biden] won the election, but there were lots of problems with the 2020 election,' she said [after Wallace pressed her]. 'I don't think he won it fair. I don't. I'm not going to say that.'" Since Republicans have never been able to produce any evidence of significant fraud, their fallback response is that Biden won, but only because he cheated somehow. MB: This is pathetic projection.

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Yvonne Sanchez of the Washington Post: "Arizona's top prosecutor is ramping up a criminal investigation into alleged attempts by Republicans to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in the state by signing and transmitting paperwork falsely declaring Donald Trump the winner, according to two people familiar with the investigation. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) assigned a team of prosecutors to the case in May, and investigators have contacted many of the pro-Trump electors and their lawyers, according to the two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly describe the probe. Investigators have requested records and other information from local officials who administered the 2020 election, the two people said, and a prosecutor has inquired about evidence collected by the Justice Department and an Atlanta-area prosecutor for similar probes." (Also linked yesterday.)

Florida. Sam Levine & Andrew Witherspoon of the Guardian: "Florida Republicans have hit dozens of voter registration groups with thousands of dollars of fines, the latest salvo in an alarming crackdown on voting in the state led by Governor Ron DeSantis. At least 26 groups have cumulatively racked up more than $100,000 in fines since September of last year, according to a list that was provided by Florida officials to the Guardian. The groups include both for-profit and nonprofit organizations as well as political parties, including the statewide Republican and Democratic parties of Florida. The fines, which range from $50 to tens of thousands of dollars, were levied by the state's office of election crimes and security, a first-of-its-kind agency created at the behest of DeSantis in 2022 to investigate voter fraud. Voter fraud is extremely rare.... There has already been a drop in voter registrations this year compared with 2019 -- the last full year leading into a presidential election.... A crackdown on third-party voter registration groups is also likely to disproportionately affect Floridians of color, who are about five times more likely to register with third-party groups than white voters are."

New York. Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "A New York appeals court on Thursday ordered an independent commission to redraw the state's congressional map, signaling an opportunity for Democrats to regain House seats after redistricting contributed to Republicans flipping four districts in 2022.... But Thursday's ruling is expected to be appealed to the state's top court, the Court of Appeals, which will make the final decision."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "U.S.-provided cluster munitions have arrived in Ukraine, U.S. and Ukrainian officials said Thursday, a week after President Biden said he had made the 'very difficult decision' to provide Kyiv with the widely banned weapon." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Friday is here: "The Pentagon has assessed that Wagner, the Russian mercenary group that conducted a brief but dramatic mutiny against the Kremlin last month, is not 'participating in any significant capacity in support of combat operations in Ukraine.'... Ukrainian forces will seek to use cluster munitions 'in a tactical environment,' unlike Russia, which has employed the munitions 'against civilian communities,' [U.S. Lt. General Douglas A. Sims II, the Joint Chiefs of Staff's director of operations,] said. Ukrainians also 'understand the potential for duds,' Sims added.... [President] Zelensky's tweet this week challenging NATO leaders on the pace of his war-torn country's admission into the alliance so roiled the White House that U.S. officials considered scaling back the 'invitation' for Kyiv to join, according to six people familiar with the matter, The Post's Michael Birnbaum reports.... The U.S. House voted against measures aimed at halting U.S. assistance for Ukraine..., The Post reported. The International Olympic Committee confirmed that Russia and Belarus will not receive formal invitations to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Ellen Mitchell of the Hill: "Five House Republican-backed initiatives to curtail aid to Ukraine using the annual Pentagon policy bill were shot down Thursday afternoon in votes that saw a consensus from both sides of the aisle to keep money flowing to Kyiv. The Ukraine-related amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would have effectively limited or rolled back U.S. involvement in Ukraine, but a majority of Republicans joined Democrats in opposition to the proposals. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) put forth one amendment to strike $300 million in Ukraine funding that failed 89-341, with 130 Republicans joining all Democrats in voting against it. Another proposal from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), which would have prohibited all security assistance for Ukraine, similarly failed 70-358 on the House floor, with 149 Republicans opposing it."

Popov Pop-off. Paul Sonne & Anatoly Kurmanaev of the New York Times: "A top Russian general in Ukraine has lashed out at his bosses after being fired from his command, accusing them of undermining the war effort with dishonesty and politicking, in the latest sign of turmoil within the Kremlin's military leadership. In a four-minute recording released late Wednesday night, Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov addressed his troops.... His firing, and the unusual public airing of his grievances, reflected the disarray that has roiled Russia's military command since a failed mutiny three weeks ago.... Since the mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group and its boss, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, several senior officers have been detained or pushed out of their posts, according to a person close to the Russian military, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons." The Guardian's story is here.

Comments Off
Wednesday
Jul122023

July 13, 2023

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Marie: None of the teevee pundits I heard indicated they agreed with me that Trump's running for president* should have no effect on his criminal trial schedule, but Jack Smith & his deputy David Harbach do: ~~~

~~~ Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Special counsel Jack Smith's team sharply rebuked Donald Trump's bid to postpone until after the 2024 election his criminal trial for allegedly hoarding classified documents, characterizing the former president's call for delay as unfounded and one of his key legal arguments as 'borderline frivolous.' In an 11-page filing signed by assistant special counsel David Harbach, prosecutors said..., 'The Defendants ... should not be permitted to gesture at a baseless legal argument, call it "novel" and then claim the court will require an indefinite continuance in order to resolve it.'... [Prosecutors asserted that] federal law and the Constitution require the trial to be put on as soon as practical -- not with an 'open-ended' date built around Trump's political calendar.... The demands of Defendants' professional schedules do not provide a basis to delay trial in this case,' Harbach wrote. 'Many indicted defendants have demanding jobs that require a considerable amount of their time and energy, or a significant amount of travel. The Speedy Trial Act contemplates no such factor as a basis for a continuance, and the Court should not indulge it here.'

"The filing also provided a new glimpse into the volume of evidence prosecutors obtained, describing 4,500 pages of 'key' documents that they have flagged for Trump's attorneys out of a larger 800,000-page batch of unclassified evidence. About a third of those 800,000 pages -- a figure Trump cited as a basis to delay the trial -- are content-free email headers and footers, the special counsel team indicated.In addition, prosecutors have turned over the vast majority of unclassified information to Trump's legal team...."

Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors investigating ... Donald J. Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election have questioned multiple witnesses in recent weeks -- including Mr. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner -- about whether Mr. Trump had privately acknowledged in the days after the 2020 election that he had lost, according to four people briefed on the matter.... Others in Mr. Trump's orbit who interacted with him in the weeks after the 2020 election, who have potentially more damaging accounts [than may Mr. Kushner] of Mr. Trump's behavior, have been questioned by the special counsel's office recently. Among them is Alyssa Farah Griffin, the White House communications director in the days after the 2020 election. Repeating an account she provided last year to the House select committee on Jan. 6, she told prosecutors this spring that Mr. Trump had said to her in the days after the election: Can you believe I lost to Joe Biden? 'In that moment I think he knew he lost,' Ms. Griffin told the House committee.... Some aides and allies [-- including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley --] who interacted with Mr. Trump in the days after the election have previously disclosed that Mr. Trump indicated that he knew he lost the election."

Steve Holland & Essi Lehto of Reuters: "President Joe Biden on Thursday gave his assurance that the United States would stay committed to NATO despite 'extreme elements' of the Republican Party, in remarks during a visit to Finland to welcome it as the alliance's latest member. 'I absolutely guarantee it,' Biden told a press conference when pressed by a Finnish reporter about the U.S. commitment to NATO given political instability in the United States.... Donald Trump, threatened to take the United States out of the alliance.... Concern lingers in Europe about the reliability of U.S. pledges and global alliances, years after Trump's norm-busting presidency ended. Trump clashed with NATO leaders over funding the alliance and threatened to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Germany." ~~~

~~~ Michael Mitsanas of NBC News: "President Joe Biden denounced Sen. Tommy Tuberville's blockade of hundreds of military nominations during a joint press conference with Finland's president on Thursday, calling the Republican's actions 'totally irresponsible.'... 'I expect the Republican party to stand up -- stand up and do something about it,' Biden [said].... Biden's remarks come as criticism of the Senator's blockade continues to mount and shortly after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told CNN on Thursday that the impasse is affecting both national security and military readiness."

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Democrats in Congress are making a fresh push for the nearly century-old Equal Rights Amendment to be enshrined in the Constitution, rallying around a creative legal theory in a bid to revive an amendment that would explicitly guarantee sex equality as a way to protect reproductive rights in post-Roe America. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Representative Cori Bush of Missouri are set to introduce a joint resolution on Thursday stating that the measure has already been ratified and is enforceable as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. The resolution states that the national archivist, who is responsible for the certification and publication of constitutional amendments, must immediately do so.... While almost 80 percent of Americans supported adding the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution in a 2020 Pew Research Center poll, there is little chance that the effort will draw the 60 votes necessary to overcome a Republican filibuster in the Senate.... In April, Senate Republicans blocked a similar resolution that sought to remove an expired deadline for states to ratify the amendment." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I get that a lot of Republicans -- especially men, but not only men -- are misogynists, but like racism, that's something elected politicians usually try to hide. What rationale can they say out loud to oppose equal rights for women?

** Matthew Perrone of the AP: "U.S. officials have approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill.... The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it cleared Perrigo's once-a-day Opill to be sold without a prescription, making it the first such medication to be moved out from behind the pharmacy counter. The company won't start shipping the pill until early next year, and there will be no age restrictions on sales.... 'This is really a transformation in access to contraceptive care,' said Kelly Blanchard, president of Ibis Reproductive Health, a non-profit group that supported the approval.... Forcing insurers to cover over-the-counter birth control would require a regulatory change by the federal government, which women's advocates are urging the Biden administration to implement." Update: A New York Times report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Alisha Gupta of the New York Times has more on the over-the-counter pill.

Carol Leonnig & Peter Hermann of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Secret Service has closed its investigation into who may have brought a plastic bag of cocaine into the White House this month after lab results were inconclusive about possible suspects, according to two people briefed on the probe. The Secret Service sent the bag that had contained the powder to an FBI lab to look for traces of DNA and fingerprints, but neither form of testing yielded definitive results, the agency said. Nor was any surveillance video found that provided any investigative leads, officials added." CNN's report is here. MB: If only the Secret Service had asked Jim Comer's "investigators" for help, they probably would have found, right where the baggie was found, a leather razor blade case embossed "Hunter."

Michael Kranish, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump disclosed new details about roughly $1 billion in earnings in a revised financial filing covering 2021 through part of this year, including money from foreign ventures, speaking fees and a Florida golf course.... Trump's detailing of the more than $1 billion came from sources including hotel sales, golf revenue and licensing fees in the July disclosure. His April filing, which did not provide exact numbers on his income, reported more than 25 sources of income over $5 million." The fact that the director of the Office of Government Ethics did not sign off on Trump's original April filing suggests that the original filing was not satisfactory. MB: Yeah, there's kind of a difference between $1BB & $5MM.

Arizona. Yvonne Sanchez of the Washington Post: "Arizona's top prosecutor is ramping up a criminal investigation into alleged attempts by Republicans to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in the state by signing and transmitting paperwork falsely declaring Donald Trump the winner, according to two people familiar with the investigation. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) assigned a team of prosecutors to the case in May, and investigators have contacted many of the pro-Trump electors and their lawyers, according to the two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly describe the probe. Investigators have requested records and other information from local officials who administered the 2020 election, the two people said, and a prosecutor has inquired about evidence collected by the Justice Department and an Atlanta-area prosecutor for similar probes."

~~~~~~~~~~~

David Sanger & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Biden concluded a meeting of NATO allies on Wednesday in Vilnius, Lithuania, with an address to that country, and the world, comparing the battle to expel Russia from Ukraine with the Cold War struggle for freedom in Europe, and promising 'we will not waver' no matter how long the war continues. His speech seemed to be preparing Americans and NATO countries for a confrontation that could go on for years, putting it in the context of momentous conflicts in Europe's war-torn past. And he cast it as a test of wills with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who has shown no interest in giving up on an invasion that has not gone according to plan, but has locked him in a war of attrition.... The speech, at Vilnius University, came after a series of important victories for Mr. Biden as NATO's de facto leader, at a time of rapid change for the alliance.

His success in cajoling President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to drop his objections to Sweden's admission as the 32nd member of NATO makes it possible to turn the Baltic Sea into a region bounded almost entirely by the alliance.... NATO nations committed to boosting military spending that the United States has long complained was inadequate.... Mr. Biden managed to quash an effort by Ukraine, with the support of Poland and several of the Baltic nations, to give a timetable for Ukraine to formally enter the alliance. Under NATO's policy requiring collective defense, the president has said that admitting Ukraine with the war underway would put the United States in direct conflict with Russia." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: While I agree with everyone who thinks President Biden should not run for a second term, he also is probably the most effective U.S. president since FDR (or, an argument can be made, since LBJ). As for his speech in Vilnius, it was met by wild cheers.

Michael Birnbaum & Emily Rauhala of the Washington Post: "... [President] Biden faces an increasing challenge holding together the transatlantic alliance, as other countries increasingly push plans for helping Ukraine that rush past the lines the White House believes could trigger a Russian escalation.... The calculus of wanting to contain the conflict inside Ukraine's borders and avoid nuclear escalation imbues every action the administration takes, including a complicated effort to distance NATO, as an organization, from the billions of dollars in lethal aid supplied to Kyiv. That insistence means that military aid is coordinated among the members nations outside of official NATO directives.... [President Zelensky's complaint that NATO was not doing enough for Ukraine] made members of the U.S. delegation 'furious,' one official said."

Dan Sabbagh of the Guardian: "Britain's defence secretary [Ben Wallace] and the US national security adviser [Jake Sullivan] have suggested Ukraine ought to show more gratitude for the help it has received from the west, in response to Volodymyr Zelenskiy's complaints that his country has not been issued a firm timetable or set of conditions for joining Nato. Their unscripted remarks -- at two different events on the margins of the second day of the Nato summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius -- appeared to prompt a change of tack from the Ukrainian leader on Wednesday, who later said he was 'grateful to all leaders of Nato countries' for their support and help."

Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "A group of right-wing House Republicans pushing to load up the annual defense bill with socially conservative policies on abortion, race and gender have another demand: severe restrictions on U.S. military support for Ukraine. The pressure raises the prospect of a divisive floor fight over America's backing for the war effort.... The group's proposals on military aid stand no chance of passing the House, where there continues to be strong bipartisan support for backing Ukraine's war effort, or going anywhere in the Senate. But the far right's insistence on casting votes on the matter anyway has further imperiled the defense legislation and transformed what is ordinarily a broadly supported measure...."

The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Thursday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Thursday is here: "President Biden is in Finland -- NATO's newest member state -- for a summit with Nordic leaders. It follows a two-day NATO summit this week that 'put to rest any doubts' about Ukraine's future membership in NATO, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address, despite the lack of a concrete timeline that Zelensky had earlier described as 'absurd.' Kyiv instead received promises of long-term military support aimed at 'defending Ukraine now and deterring Russian aggression in the future.'... At the NATO summit, President Biden sought to bridge the gap between those who want Ukraine to join the military alliance quickly and those who harbor concerns that a hasty Ukrainian accession to NATO could complicate fragile global alliances and spark a broader conflict. After a face-to-face meeting with Zelensky, Biden said the conversation went 'very well. We accomplished every goal we set out to accomplish.' NATO exempted Ukraine from the Membership Action Plan, one of two steps needed to join the alliance. The move shortens the process for Ukraine's accession to NATO....

In Russia, Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov claimed he was forced to retire after highlighting problems with the army fighting in Ukraine, according to a voice message published by a Russian lawmaker. 'In the name of you and our fallen combat friends, I had no right to lie, so I outlined all the problems existing in the army,' Popov said. He cited a lack of artillery and 'mass deaths and injuries' of soldiers. Senior officials ;sensed danger in me and promptly, in one day, made up an order and got rid of me,' he said.... The Wagner mercenary group has handed over thousands of tons of weapons, ammunition and military equipment to the Russian army, Moscow said. The move shows that Russia is working to break up the mercenaries' influence, The Washington Post reported.... Russia launched a drone strike on Kyiv for the third day in a row, officials in the Ukrainian capital said early Thursday. At least two people were injured, they said. A body was also found by those extinguishing an apartment fire, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said."

Paul Sonne of the New York Times: "Gen. Sergei Surovikin of Russia, a onetime ally of the Wagner chief who hasn't been seen publicly since a short-lived mutiny last month, is 'taking a rest,' one of the country's top lawmakers said Wednesday, when pressed by a reporter." MB: Golly, I wonder if he's taking that rest anywhere near a window in a high-rise building. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)


Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "Inflation data released on Wednesday showed a pronounced cooling and offered some of the most hopeful news since the Federal Reserve began trying to tame rapid price increases 16 months ago. The Consumer Price Index climbed 3 percent in the year through June, less than the 4 percent increase in the year through May and just a third of its roughly 9 percent peak last summer. That overall metric catches big declines in gas prices and a few other products that could prove ephemeral, which is why policymakers closely watch a different measure: the change in prices after stripping out food and fuel costs. That measure, known as the core index, offered news that was even better than what economists had expected, sending stocks higher as investors bet that the news would allow the Fed to raise interest rates by less than they otherwise might have." This is part of a liveblog. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Emma Kinery of CNBC: "President Joe Biden on Wednesday celebrated new data that showed inflation cooling more quickly than expected. 'Good jobs and lower costs: That's Bidenomics in action,' Biden said in a statement. 'Today's report brings new and encouraging evidence that inflation is falling while our economy remains strong.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Julie Weil of the Washington Post: "About 10 million people type their personal financial information into H&R Block, TaxSlayer and TaxAct websites every year to prepare their taxes, trusting the companies to keep their information safe. Instead, the companies shared that personal information with Google and Facebook, some going as far back as 2011, members of Congress wrote in a new report.The congressional investigation, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), follows a report last year about such data-sharing with Facebook by the technology journalism website The Markup. Warren and six other lawmakers wrote to the Justice Department on Tuesday urging criminal charges against the companies for violating laws that prevent tax preparers from sharing their clients' personal information." CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Wednesday proposed to strengthen requirements for the removal of lead-based paint dust in homes and child care facilities built before 1978, an effort to eliminate exposure to lead that could require millions of property owners to pay for abatement. Lead is a neurotoxin and exposure can damage the brain and nervous system, particularly in babies and small children. If finalized, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the regulation would reduce exposure to lead for as many as 500,000 young children per year. 'There is no safe level of lead,' said Michal Freedhoff [of the EPA]...."

Julian Barnes & Edward Wong of the New York Times: "Chinese hackers penetrated the email accounts of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and other State and Commerce Department officials in the weeks before Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken traveled to Beijing in June, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. The investigation of the efforts by the Chinese hackers, who likely are affiliated with China's military or spy services, is ongoing, American officials said. But U.S. officials have downplayed the idea that the hackers stole sensitive information, insisting that no classified email or cloud systems were penetrated."

Adam Goldman & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Republicans bombarded Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, with criticisms about his role in the Trump documents investigation, efforts to address extremist violence and the bureau's surveillance practices during a grim and contentious House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. Republicans on the committee, led by the chairman, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, treated Mr. Wray as if he were a hostile witness -- repeatedly interrupting his attempts to answer their rapid-fire queries. Most of the Republicans sought to portray the nation's premier law enforcement agency, and Mr. Wray, who was appointed by ... Donald J. Trump, as political tools of the Democrats.... Mr. Wray, a registered Republican, forcefully rejected accusations that he had sought to protect President Biden, or his son Hunter Biden, or that he had targeted Mr. Trump -- describing the F.B.I.'s role in the search at Mar-a-Lago last August as lawful, restrained and prompted by a court order.... Anticipating the questioning to come, the top Democrat on the committee, Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, described the hearing as 'little more than performance art.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post story, by Devlin Barrett, is here. CNN's story, by Alayna Treene & others, is here.

Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The Justice Department on Wednesday appealed the sentences handed down to seven members of the Oath Keepers -- including founder Stewart Rhodes -- for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, a signal that prosecutors are not satisfied with the severity of the jail terms delivered by the federal judge overseeing the case. U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta sentenced Rhodes to 18 years in prison -- the harshest sentence for any Jan. 6 defendant -- reflecting his leadership of what Mehta characterized as a dangerous criminal conspiracy aimed at violently derailing the transfer of presidential power. Nevertheless, the sentence for the Yale Law School graduate and disbarred attorney was seven years shorter than the 25-year prison term prosecutors recommended and four years below an agreed-upon 'guidelines range' based upon Rhodes' conduct." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Andrew Weissmann said on MSNBC that it was highly unusual for the DOJ to appeal a sentencing decision & reflects the importance the Department attaches to an attempt to overturn a presidential election.

The DOJ Framed Me! Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: A number of right-wing (alleged!) miscreants claim that the DOJ framed them. Among those making the claim: "exiled Chinese mogul Guo Wengui, who had been arrested ... on fraud charges...; fabulist Congressman George Santos (R-N.Y.)... [arrested] arrest on campaign finance charges...; former Trump aide ... Steve Bannon..., [arrested on] fraud charges...; Oath Keepers' founder Stewart Rhodes, imprisoned for seditious conspiracy and other crimes..."; and fugitive Gal Luft, whose multi-part indictment was unsealed Monday. "Republicans like [Sen. Ron] Johnson [Wis.] and [Rep. James Comer [Ky.], however, profess to accept Luft's whole, self-serving story. Their credulousness is a tribute to the ineluctable resilience of MAGA logic prevailing in the closed loop of Fox News and pro-Trump lawmakers." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I learned something this week while watching the teevee. I think it was Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) who explained it: the reason Congressional wingnuts are passing out official whistleblower ID cards to fake informants like Luft is that if an informant has whistleblower status, Republican "investigators," under House rules, do not have to share with committee Democrats interviews or documents the GOP obtains from the informants. Otherwise, the parties are required to share such information with members of the other party, or at least with the chair or ranking member of the committee or subcommittee.

Zachary Cohen of CNN: "Federal prosecutors interviewed Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson for 'several hours' in March as part of the ongoing criminal probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Benson told CNN Wednesday.... While Benson did not reveal the specifics of the interview -- including whether she was asked about ... Donald Trump and whether [special prosecutor Jack] Smith was present at the meeting -- she said among the areas investigators seemed focused on was 'the impact of the misinformation on [election workers'] lives and the threats that emerged from that from various sources.' Benson's interview came after her office complied with a subpoena from Smith late last year, turning over a broad swath of documents that included communications between Michigan election officials, former Trump lawyers and individuals working for the former president's campaign. Benson told CNN Wednesday that she and her team have been in 'near constant communication with officials.'"

Craig Mauger of the Detroit News: "Laying the groundwork for potential criminal charges in a high-profile case, Oakland County[, Michigan,] Circuit Judge Phyllis McMillen ruled Wednesday it is illegal for someone to take possession of a voting tabulator without authorization from the Secretary of State's office or a court order.... The decision was sought by Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson, who's currently weighing whether to bring criminal charges against a group of supporters of ... Donald Trump who allegedly obtained voting machines after the 2020 election as they advanced false claims of widespread voter fraud. In August, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office named nine people who had allegedly conspired to gain improper access to voting machines. Nessel's office has previously said the group convinced local officials in three counties -- Barry, Missaukee and Roscommon counties -- to hand over five tabulators and then took the tabulators to hotels or rental properties in Oakland County. There, members of the group broke into the machines, printing fake ballots and performing tests on the equipment. At the time, Nessel was the Democratic incumbent running for a second term as attorney general against one of the nine people, Republican Matt DePerno. So she sought the appointment of a special prosecutor to decide whether charges should be brought."

Covert Ops. David McAfee of the Raw Story: "A former CIA official has reportedly been accused of conning an aspiring operative into having sex with him under the guise of a training program to teach her how to use her body as a weapon. Shaun Wiggins was named in the explosive new lawsuit, according to a report from the Daily Beast on Wednesday."

Cat Zakrzewski & Caroline O'Donovan of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Tuesday allowed Microsoft to move forward with its $69 billion acquisition of video game maker Activision, in a resounding blow to U.S. regulators' efforts to block consolidation in the tech industry. The Federal Trade Commission had asked the court to intervene in the deal after it brought an administrative lawsuit last year that alleged the acquisition was anticompetitive.... In a 53-page redacted decision, Northern California District Court Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley said the FTC had not demonstrated it was likely to show that the deal would substantially limit competition." Corley is a Biden appointee. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jeffrey Fisher in a New York Times op-ed: "Add this to the ways in which the Supreme Court is increasingly resembling just another political institution: Only one side of the ideological divide has the power to set the institution's agenda.... Under longstanding tradition, it takes four votes to put a case on the court's docket.... And the Democratic appointees now seem to find themselves one vote short in case after case.... For the court to reverse a lower court decision refusing to honor a civil liberty, the case first has to be put on its docket. And that seems no longer to be happening in cases involving established rights favored by the liberal wing of the court." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Alan Feuer & Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Ray Epps, the man at the center of a widespread conspiracy theory about the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday accusing Fox News and its former host Tucker Carlson of defamation for promoting a 'fantastical story' that Mr. Epps was an undercover government agent who instigated the violence at the Capitol as a way to disparage ... Donald J. Trump and his supporters.... After the unfounded accusations about Mr. Epps were aired on Mr. Carlson's show, they quickly spread to online communities of Trump supporters and to the political world as Republicans in Congress tried to link Mr. Epps to a fictitious conspiracy theory that he was involved in planning the Jan. 6 attack. They included Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, both of whom made Mr. Epps -- a two-time Trump voter -- a focus of concern at public hearings." A CBS News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As several MSNBC hosts pointed out, a number of Republicans on Wednesday grilled FBI Director Chris Wray about Epps, either indirectly or by implication, and they accused Wray of being less than forthcoming in answering their accusations even as he attempted to respond. Wray shot down as "ludicrous" the allegation/conspiracy theory that federal agents or informants orchestrated the insurrection. Update: Philip Bump of the Washington Post elaborates on accusations Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Tex.) made against Epps & the FBI.

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "Escalating its feud with an assertive reporter, the White House on Tuesday issued a formal warning to Simon Ateba that he is at risk of losing his entry pass if he continues to disrupt daily press briefings. The warning -- a first for President Biden's press office -- followed run-ins between press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and the journalist from Cameroon who has interrupted her briefings to demand that he be recognized to ask a question.Jean-Pierre has declined to call on Ateba for months and has repeatedly admonished him for speaking out of turn. Ateba, the owner and White House correspondent of a news site called Today News Africa, has portrayed himself as a victim of 'racism and discrimination' by the administration."

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. The Kids Are All Right. Laura Wagner of the Washington Post: How Northwestern's student newspaper, the Daily Northwestern, broke the story of systemic sexual hazing in the football program that led to head football coach Pat Fitzgerald's firing.

Presidential Race 2024

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) plans to headline an event in New Hampshire next week sponsored by the bipartisan group No Labels, a move that has stoked speculation that he could mount a third-party presidential bid in 2024 that Democrats fear could be damaging to President Biden. Manchin is scheduled to appear Monday at the group's 'Common Sense' town hall at St. Anselm College alongside former Utah governor Jon Huntsman (R). No Labels is eying a potential 'unity' ticket in 2024, though organizers say no decision has been made." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Frankenstein Effect. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Rupert Murdoch is realizing that he is stuck with the monster he created: Donald Trump.

A Methane Moment. Marie: So here's what it's like to attend a Bobby Kennedy, Jr. fundraiser. Admittedly, the report comes from the New York Post's Page Six. But hey, I'll accept it, if only because this is the first time I can recall reading about a "debater" who employed fart bombs to win his argument.

Elections 2022. Hannah Hartig, et al., of the Pew Research Center: "In midterm elections that yielded mixed results for both parties, Republicans won the popular vote for the U.S. House of Representatives largely on the strength of higher turnout. A new Pew Research Center analysis of verified voters and nonvoters in 2022, 2020, 2018 and 2016 finds that partisan differences in turnout -- rather than vote switching between parties -- account for most of the Republican gains in voting for the House last year." MB: Yo, Democrats: time for some serious GOTV efforts.


Emily Baumgaertner & Farnaz Fassihi of the New York Times: "A new United Nations analysis of Black women's experiences during pregnancy and childbirth in the Americas has concluded that systemic racism and sexism in medical systems -- not genetics or lifestyle choices -- are the main reasons they are more likely to experience serious complications or even death. The report, published Wednesday..., surveyed data from countries in the Americas, including the United States. It found that Black women were more likely than their white counterparts to report denial of medication or physical and verbal abuse in health care settings, leading to more severe complications, delayed treatment and worse."

Sarah Kaplan of the Washington Post: "The world is hotter than it's been in thousands of years, and it's as if every alarm bell on Earth were ringing. The warnings are echoing through the drenched mountains of Vermont, where two months of rain just fell in only two days. India and Japan were deluged by extreme flooding. They're shrilling from the scorching streets of Texas, Florida, Spain and China, with a severe heat wave also building in Phoenix and the Southwest in coming days. They're burbling up from the oceans, where temperatures have surged to levels considered 'beyond extreme.' And they're showing up in unprecedented, still-burning wildfires in Canada that have sent plumes of dangerous smoke into the United States. Scientists say there is no question that this cacophony was caused by climate change -- or that it will continue to intensify as the planet warms."

Beyond the Beltway

Georgia. Kate Brumback of the AP: "The Georgia State Election Board is asking a judge to order a conservative voting organization to produce information to help investigate its claims of ballot trafficking in the state. The Texas-based True the Vote group filed complaints with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in November 2021, including one saying it had received 'a detailed account of coordinated efforts to collect and deposit ballots in drop boxes across metro Atlanta' during the 2020 general election and in a runoff election in January 2021. True the Vote's assertions were relied upon heavily for the film '2000 Mules,' a widely debunked film by conservative pundit and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza. The film featured surveillance video from drop boxes in Atlanta's suburbs showing people depositing multiple ballots. A State Election Board investigation found that those people were submitting ballots for themselves and family members who lived with them, which is allowed under Georgia law."

Georgia. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "A Democrat who represents part of Atlanta in Georgia's House of Representatives defected to the Republican Party on Tuesday, saying she was subject to a campaign of intimidation by onetime political allies after breaking with them on school vouchers, policing and prosecutorial oversight. Mesha Mainor, a two-term representative from the 56th District in Fulton County, announced she was switching parties during a news conference outside the Capitol in Atlanta. Republicans now have a 102 to 78 majority in the House." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Idaho. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "The University of Idaho said on Wednesday that it would hold off on demolishing the house near its campus where four students were stabbed to death last fall, reversing its initial plan after pressure from some of the families of the victims.... The university's president, Scott Green..., said he was trying to balance the needs of students forced to walk by the house every day with those of the victims' families and others who have expressed concern that demolishing the house might hinder the prosecution of the suspect, Bryan Kohberger, who was a graduate student at a nearby university."

News Lede

New York Times: "Sweatier-than-normal summer heat is building across the southern third of the United States, with temperatures and heat index readings reaching dangerous levels. A heat dome of high pressure over the Southwest will strengthen into the weekend, raising temperatures to well above 100 degrees from portions of California to Texas. While the air will be dry, temperatures could reach record heat values, creating an extreme risk of heat-related illness. Coastal states in the South will experience above-average temperatures combined with high humidity, made worse by unusually warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico and the western Atlantic Ocean, creating dangerous conditions, especially along the coasts from South Texas to the Carolinas. Urban areas can often be several degrees hotter than surrounding areas, with less relief at night."

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