“I got called by the President. It was very uncomfortable, very direct and very difficult to hear.”
— Dr. Deborah Birx, telling CNN that then-President Donald Trump was very upset with an interview she gave on the coronavirus pandemic.
A Hobbled NRA Takes a Backseat
CNN: “But thanks to years of shedding its claim to bipartisanship and aligning almost entirely with the Republican Party, the country’s premier pro-gun lobby’s agenda has firmly planted its agenda within the GOP, a legacy that continues to frustrate efforts to change gun laws.”
“Both Republican and Democratic aides have told CNN the NRA has not been much of a factor on Capitol Hill in recent months.”
That said, the Washington Post reports that prospects for new gun control laws remain.
Bolsonaro Ordered to Pay Damages to Journalist
A Brazilian court has ordered President Jair Bolsonaro to pay compensation to a journalist after he suggested last year that she had offered sex to a source for negative information about him, the BBC reports.
Justices Sit on Blockbuster Abortion Case
“The Supreme Court is sitting on a petition in a Mississippi abortion case that could blow the lid off Roe v. Wade,” the Washington Examiner reports.
“The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, has been before the court since September without a word from the justices. It has been considered at the court’s conferences eight times and each time left on the table. That likely means that fewer than four justices so far have voted to take up the case. Another possibility is that the court has already rejected the case and one of the conservative justices is working on a dissent that will be released in one of the court’s orders list.”
Census Delay Scrambles Redistricting Plans
“Stymied by delayed census data needed for redistricting, some states are considering postponing their 2022 primaries or turning to other population estimates to start the once-a-decade task of redrawing voting districts used for U.S. House and state legislative elections,” the AP reports.
“The U.S. Census Bureau was supposed to provide redistricting data to the states by March 31, but after setbacks from the pandemic, it won’t be ready until mid- to late August and might not be available in an easy-to-use format until Sept. 30. That’s later than the legal deadlines to complete redistricting in some states and could mean less time for court challenges, candidate filing and ballot creation.”
Trump Has Yet to Weigh In on Virginia Governor’s Race
“Former President Trump is already deeply involved in the 2022 midterm elections, headlining fundraisers and backing primary challengers, but he has yet to weigh in on one of this November’s few races: the vote for Virginia’s next governor,” The Hill reports.
Alaska’s Other Senator Will Back Murkowski
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) told ABC News that he would support the reelection of Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) if she runs again, after the two GOP lawmakers split on former President Trump’s impeachment.
Said Sullivan: “We don’t agree on everything, but we make a good team for Alaska… If Sen. Murkowski runs again, I’m going to support her.”
Biden Gets High Marks for Handling Pandemic
A new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds President Biden’s approval lands at 72% for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Also 60% approve of Biden’s stewardship on repairing the beleaguered economy.
GOP Leaves Raffensperger Twisting In the Wind
Politico: “The former president is obsessed with defeating him next year. He’s getting mauled by his own state party. Last week alone, a Republican congressman announced he’d challenge in the primary and the state legislature voted to strip his office of some official powers.”
“By most accounts, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger doesn’t have a prayer of being reelected.”
Said GOP strategist Jay Williams: “He’s toast. I don’t know that there’s a single elected official who would put their neck out for Brad Raffensperger right now.”
HuffPost: Georgia voting law punished Secretary of State for defying Trump.
Pandemic Laid Groundwork for Big Government Push
Dan Balz: “That Biden has become the vehicle for a second Great Society or modern-day New Deal is testament to a general leftward movement within the Democratic Party over the past half-dozen years, with Sanders acting as a principal catalyst in the rethinking.”
“It is probable as well that the coronavirus pandemic has played a significant role in providing the conditions that have allowed Biden to emerge as the advocate of changes on the scale that he is pushing. Pandemics are disruptive when they happen, and they can effect changes long after they have been tamed. Among those are shifts in economic patterns and needs, as the current pandemic has done.”
U.S. Not Ready to Lift Tariffs on China
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told the Wall Street Journal that the U.S. isn’t ready to lift tariffs on Chinese imports in the near future, but might be open to trade negotiations with Beijing.
Said Tai: “I have heard people say, ‘Please just take these tariffs off.’ But yanking off tariffs could harm the economy unless the change is communicated in a way so that the actors in the economy can make adjustments.”
Mulvaney Calls Trump’s Comments ’Manifestly False’
Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told CNN that former President Trump’s recent comments on the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol “manifestly false.”
Said Mulvaney: “To come out and say that everybody was fine and there was no risk is just — that’s manifestly false. People died. Other people were severely injured. To say there was no risk is just wrong.”
Trump Says He’ll Visit the Southern Border
Former President Donald Trump told Fox News that he will visit the southern border “over the next couple of weeks.”
Said Trump: “A lot of people want me to. The Border Patrol and all of the people of ICE, they want me to go. I really feel I sort of owe it to them, they’re great people.”
Democrats Poised to Raise Taxes on Business and the Rich
“Democrats have spent the last several years clamoring to raise taxes on corporations and the rich, seeing that as a necessary antidote to widening economic inequality and a rebuke of President Donald J. Trump’s signature tax cuts,” the New York Times reports.
“Now, under President Biden, they have a shot at ushering in the largest federal tax increase since 1942. It could help pay for a host of spending programs that liberal economists predict would bolster the economy’s performance and repair a tax code that Democrats say encourages wealthy people to hoard assets and big companies to ship jobs and book profits overseas.”
Kamala Harris Still Living Out of Suitcases
“It has been more than two months since Kamala Harris was sworn in as vice president of the United States, a historic moment for the country, as Harris is the first woman and the first woman of color to hold the second highest office in the land,” CNN reports.
“Yet, Harris — along with her husband, Georgetown Law professor Douglas Emhoff — is still, ostensibly, living out of suitcases, unable to move into the private residence reserved for the vice president because it’s still undergoing renovations.”
Minnesota High Court Throws Out Rape Conviction
“The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that a person can’t be found guilty of sexually assaulting someone who is intoxicated if that person willingly ingested drugs or alcohol,” USA Today reports.
“The ruling was released after the case of Francois Monulu Khalil, who was convicted of a third-degree criminal sexual misconduct by a jury because the victim was drunk and mentally incapacitated. Khalil, a Minneapolis man, met his victim after she was denied entry to a bar for being too intoxicated.”
Top Kansas Lawmaker Charged with Drunk Driving
Kansas state Senate Majority Leader Gene Suellentrop (R) was charged with a DUI, reckless driving, a felony charge of evading police, speeding and driving down the wrong side of a highway, ABC News reports.
Susan Collins Avoids Censure by Maine Republicans
“Sen. Susan Collins avoided censure from her state party on Saturday, escaping the fate of other Republicans who voted to convict former President Donald Trump in his most recent impeachment trial,” Politico reports.
