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Donald Trump has lost a legal bid to countersue journalist E. Jean Carroll who has accused him of raping her nearly 20 years ago, Bloomberg reports.
In a scathing decision, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said Trump’s continuing attempts to delay the 2019 case were “futile” and in “bad faith.”
“Dozens of voting members of the Democratic National Committee quietly met Friday to organize a new voting block to push for changes to the internal governance of the national party and send more money to state party groups,” the Washington Post reports.
Washington Post: “On Thursday afternoon, 30 top TikTok stars gathered on a Zoom call to receive key information about the war unfolding in Ukraine.”
“National Security Council staffers and White House press secretary Jen Psaki briefed the influencers about the United States’ strategic goals in the region and answered questions on distributing aid to Ukrainians, working with NATO and how the United States would react to a Russian use of nuclear weapons.”
Elaine Godfrey: “It was fair, last week, to question whether Republicans in Congress would condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, because the party’s de facto leader was praising Vladimir Putin’s aggression as ‘genius’ and ‘wonderful.’ Yet instead of falling in line behind Donald Trump, most congressional Republicans have denounced Putin just as loudly as Democrats have.”
“This fact would not have been surprising just a few years ago. But it’s one of the more meaningful distinctions that rank-and-file members of the party have drawn recently between themselves and the former president, a man with an almost preternatural ability to turn anyone who questions him into a political pariah. At least temporarily, the war in Ukraine has established a cease-fire between America’s ever-dueling parties, and lowered the temperature on Capitol Hill by a few degrees. Many Republicans seem relieved, both for the reprieve and for the chance to distance themselves a bit from Trump. The break probably won’t last long.”
Tom Nichols: “The bombs of 1945 represented the advent of a new age, in which nuclear weapons would lurk behind even the smallest conflicts. But they also brought to an end centuries of assumptions about war; as Bernard Brodie wrote a decade after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the sheer power of nuclear arms meant “the end of strategy as we have known it,” because of the inability to match any political goal to the devastation of a nuclear war.”
“This new age also created a new priesthood of nuclear experts and strategists, people who dealt every day with the arcane and the unthinkable… These experts advised the policy makers who would have to make terrifying decisions; their terms and concepts—assured destruction, first strike, secure second-strike capability—would, especially during moments of crisis, make their way into the public mind.”
“When the Cold War ended, we collectively decided to stop thinking about things like nuclear strategy… Now here we are again, trying to make our way around nuclear terms and concepts as war rages in the middle of Europe.”
President Biden stressed that the U.S. and NATO allies would not fight Russia in Ukraine, The Hill reports.
Said Biden: “We’re going to continue to stand together with our allies in Europe and send an unmistakable message. We will defend every single inch of NATO territory with the full might of the united and galvanized NATO.”
He added: “We will not fight a war against Russia in Ukraine. Direct conflict between NATO and Russia is World War III, something we must strive to prevent.”
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry alleges that Russian President Vladimir Putin is in the advanced stages of plotting a terror attack on the Chernobyl nuclear plant that he plans to blame on Ukrainian forces, iNews reports.
Rolling Stone has a must-read story on how former CNN chief Jeff Zucker manipulated what you watch.
“Negotiations in Vienna aimed at reviving the Iran nuclear deal were called off indefinitely on Friday after Russia upended the talks by raising objections to Moscow’s participation while under the new U.S. sanctions imposed in punishment for its invasion of Ukraine,” the Washington Post reports.
“A drone that flew over several NATO countries all the way from the Ukrainian war zone crashed overnight on the outskirts of the Croatian capital, Zagreb, triggering a loud blast and damaging parked cars but causing no injuries,” the AP reports.
“Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the green light on Friday for up to 16,000 volunteers from the Middle East to be deployed alongside Russian-backed rebels to fight in Ukraine, doubling down an invasion that the West says has been losing momentum,” Reuters reports.
YouTube has removed a podcast episode featuring Donald Trump because it contained content that “advances claims that widespread fraud, errors or glitches changed the outcome of the U.S. 2020 presidential election,” The Wrap reports.
Trump ripped the decision in a statement: “In the 24 hours that it was up it set every record for them, by many times. Interestingly on the show I told them this would happen because Big Tech and the Fake News Media fear the truth, they fear criticism about Biden, and above all, they don’t want to talk about the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election, all topics discussed.”
“More than 60 major businesses, including household names in technology and retail, have signed onto a new advertising campaign in Texas protesting a move by the state’s governor to label as ‘child abuse’ medical treatments that are widely considered to be the standard of care for transgender teenagers,” the New York Times reports.
“I’m astounded that Zelensky’s still alive.”
— Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), in an interview with the Washington Post.
“The late Rep. Jim Hagedorn’s (R-MN) widow is laying the groundwork to try to seek his old seat in Minnesota, according to multiple well-placed Republicans who are already raising alarms about her polarizing background,” Politico reports.
“Republicans are preparing for Jennifer Carnahan (R) to launch her campaign for Minnesota’s 1st District as early as Friday… But Carnahan resigned the Minnesota Republican chair position last summer amid a scandal that began when a donor got charged with multiple counts of sex trafficking.”
“The U.S. is planning to ban imports of Russian alcohol and seafood, in the latest effort to punish Moscow for the country’s invasion of Ukraine,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
A new Wall Street Journal poll finds Joe Biden and Donald Trump are deadlocked in a possible 2024 presidential match up, 45% to 45%.
Former Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton (R) announced that he is “testing the waters” for a potential run for president of the United States, the Helena Independent Record reports.
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.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.