“Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker launched a new political action committee over the weekend that plans to funnel millions of dollars into Democratic House races ahead of the midterms,” NOTUS reports.
“Pritzker’s Ready for the Fight PAC — a phrase often used by the governor and repeated liberally in the committee’s first ad spot — plans to invest at least $20 million in what it considers to be overlooked and competitive races.”
President Trump falsely claimed he was basically lifted out of the rubble on 9/11 by first responders.
Said Trump: “Two fireman, big strong guys, they grabbed me under the arms — ‘got to get out of here!’ — and they literally lifted me up, and they started running with me.”
“President Donald Trump recently reiterated claims that he visited Ground Zero and assisted with recovery efforts shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks,” The Independent reports.
“The Trump administration violated federal law when it shared confidential taxpayer information with immigration authorities, an appeals court ruled Tuesday,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The Internal Revenue Service improperly allowed data transfers based on partial addresses and failed to satisfy requirements that tightly tie legal information sharing to criminal investigations.”
“A former top aide to Ken Paxton, the Republican attorney general of Texas, is appearing in a new online ad endorsing his Democratic rival, James Talarico, in one of the most hotly contested and costly U.S. Senate races in the country,” the New York Times reports.
“The aide, David Maxwell, served as Mr. Paxton’s director of law enforcement for several years until 2020, when he and other high-level staffers accused Mr. Paxton of abusing the power of his office to help a campaign donor under federal investigation.”
“The Justice Department has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the Trump administration to resume expansion of an internal government database available to states to verify the citizenship status of voters,” Bloomberg reports.
“The application submitted to the court on Tuesday marks the latest high-stakes, election-related fight to reach the justices in recent weeks.”
“Republican strategist Karl Rove said Tuesday he is ‘a little bit nervous’ about the GOP’s unprecedented midterm convention, warning that Republicans are making a late and risky bet on President Donald Trump with control of Congress on the line,” Mediaite reports.
Said Rove: “I’m a little bit nervous about it because, look, we’re in the final stages of the campaign. I’d be more comfortable if this had been held in June and July and set a thematic that could be pursued for four or five months rather than for 56 days.”
He added: “The White House is pushing a big bet, it’s like we’re at the tables, they’re pushing all the chips on saying if we make this about Donald Trump and if we make this about Donald Trump’s record and put him at the centre of this then we have a shot to pull this thing off.”
“A group of Democrats, concerned their party is not moving quickly enough to address voter anxiety about artificial intelligence, has started a political action committee aimed at spurring a response to the issue,” the New York Times reports.
“The organization, called Tomorrow Together and led by Democratic campaign veterans spanning the ideological wings of the party, is starting with more than $10 million raised from party donors and A.I. safety advocates.”
“A group of Democratic lawmakers — and some former GOP members of Congress — is asking the Supreme Court to block President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict mail-in voting, arguing that the president has unlawfully seized federal election powers that belong to Congress and the states,” MS NOW reports.
“The Trump administration on Tuesday imposed sanctions on additional aspects of Iran’s aviation industry, targeting more than two dozen commercial and private airlines as well as foreign cargo service providers in its new push to isolate Tehran from its remaining trading partners,” NOTUS reports.
“The latest actions are part of the Trump administration’s Operation Economic Outcast campaign that is aimed at severing ‘critical financial lifelines’ for the already heavily sanctioned Iranian government. The new penalties are focused on the remaining facets of Tehran’s already beleaguered aviation ecosystem, which has been under countless sanctions from Washington for years.”
CNBC: U.S. sanctions Iranian airlines in aim to tighten economic squeeze as war spreads, oil rises.
Jane Haman: “Young Americans today have never witnessed Congress authorize a war, they’ve never seen a U.S. administration balance its books, they’ve never watched a well-funded and empowered state department operate, and they see only mistrust between allies. They assume the situation is normal. It is not.”
“The real cost of forgetting the pre-9/11 world is not a country that has changed, but one that no longer knows it could be different.”
Just out: All the Presidents’ Wars: Twenty-Five Years of America’s War on Terror by Peter Bergen.
“The resulting war on terror cost trillions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of lives, a series of misguided wars, and the damaged perception of American power. And yet despite its blunders, this campaign has kept America safe from large-scale foreign attack.”
“President Donald Trump is embracing his inner cowboy, seeking to gallop into this week’s Republican convention in Dallas and save the midterm elections for his party just in the nick of time,” the Associated Press reports.
“As first-of-their-kind festivities open Wednesday, Trump wants to stoke his core supporters’ enthusiasm by making Election Day on Nov. 3 all about himself — a referendum on his record at an event he conceived to help his party, even if he’s not actually on the ballot.”
“The question is whether he’ll do more to fire up Republicans or Democrats at a moment when his popularity has reached historic lows.”
“The Trump administration is planning to significantly reorganize the National Park Service and other bureaus of the Interior Department, the second major shake-up of the nation’s public lands infrastructure in less than two years,” NOTUS reports.
“Britain announced a ban on goods made in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and sanctions on companies involved in an accelerating building boom in the settlements, which are considered illegal by much of the international community,” the Washington Post reports.
NewsNation: “The fight for control of the Senate hangs in the balance with just eight weeks to go until the midterm elections, according to Decision Desk HQ.”
“The nonpartisan election analyst on Monday shifted its November forecast to ‘a pure toss-up’ for the upper chamber of Congress for the first time since the beginning of June.”
“Days before California voters receive their mail-in ballots, gubernatorial candidates Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, and Steve Hilton, a Republican, will debate in a nationally televised face-off,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“After weeks of Hilton accusing Becerra of ducking debates, the nationally televised, hour-long CNN event — without a studio audience — will give millions of Californians a side-by-side comparison.”
Deadline: CNN to host debate between California gubernatorial candidates.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
