“Any time I say anything about Epstein, they’re like, ‘Why didn’t Joe Biden’s—why didn’t Joe Biden release the files?’ And this is what I say. Have you met Merrick Garland?”
— Former Biden aide Neera Tanden, on The Bulwark Podcast.
“Any time I say anything about Epstein, they’re like, ‘Why didn’t Joe Biden’s—why didn’t Joe Biden release the files?’ And this is what I say. Have you met Merrick Garland?”
— Former Biden aide Neera Tanden, on The Bulwark Podcast.
“Gov. Kathy Hochul is not ruling out a mid-decade redrawing of New York’s House lines, as deep red Texas and Ohio move to reshape their maps through redistricting,” Politico reports.
Said Hochul: “All’s fair in love and war. We’re following the rules. We do redistricting every 10 years. But if there’s other states violating the rules and are trying to give themselves an advantage, all I’ll say is, I’m going to look at it closely with Hakeem Jeffries.”
“President Emmanuel Macron announced late Thursday that France would recognize Palestine as a state in pursuit of what he called the historical French commitment ‘to a just and durable peace in the Middle East,'” the New York Times reports.
“In a surprise statement on X that followed months of hints and hesitations over possible French recognition of a Palestinian state, he said that he would make a formal announcement to this effect at the United Nations General Assembly in September in New York.”
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“The public broadcasting system in the United States suffered a seismic shock last week when Congress eliminated $550 million a year in federal funding for PBS, NPR and local stations across the country,” the New York Times reports.
“But public radio listeners and public television viewers have been stepping in to help fill the gap, delivering a surge of donations.”
“President Trump said on Thursday that he wanted to see Elon Musk’s companies thrive, one day after the White House said he didn’t want Musk’s xAI to get government contracts,” Axios reports.
“Since the Trump-Musk relationship blew up last month, the rhetoric has run hot and cold in intermittent bursts, but Trump appears to be tamping the tension down again.”
Related for members: What Else Does Elon Musk Know?
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) “is taking aim at a recent executive order from President Donald Trump looking to expand artificial intelligence capacities in the U.S., the latest prominent break between the president and one of his most vocal supporters in Congress,” Politico reports.
“Retirees are facing the prospect of substantial Social Security cuts in just seven years, sooner than projected, due to the ‘big, beautiful bill,’ per an analysis out Thursday from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget,” Axios reports.
“If policymakers don’t stop this from happening, it would at least double the poverty rate of America’s seniors, per several estimates.”
“Gov. Brian Kemp is making a late push to help lay the groundwork for former football coach Derek Dooley’s U.S. Senate bid — directly telling Insurance Commissioner John King and U.S. Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter he won’t support their campaigns,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
“The behind-the-scenes moves came Thursday as Dooley, a longtime Kemp ally, prepares to enter the Republican primary to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.”
“Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers will not seek a third term, retiring from elected public office after nearly two decades and prompting the first wide-open gubernatorial race since 2010,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
“The Democratic governor made his announcement in a recorded video, saying although he expects he would win another term he wants to spend more time with his family.”
“Internal fury over the House GOP’s Jeffrey Epstein crisis is still swirling as President Trump faces an all-out revolt from his biggest supporters on Capitol Hill,” Politico reports.
“The rebellion this week stunned White House officials and GOP leaders — and, according to Republicans involved in the talks, it’s currently set to continue the moment they return from August recess. Even as members high-tailed out of town Wednesday, several Oversight Committee Republicans joined with Democrats to force a subpoena to the Department of Justice for its entire trove of Epstein documents — a major blow to Trump and GOP leaders.”
Said one Republican: “People are going to move on this regardless. The bill is going to come due.”
Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John Cornyn (R-TX) called for a special counsel to be appointed to probe whether former President Obama aided an effort to undermine President Trump’s 2016 White House bid, The Hill reports.
“President Donald Trump is doubling down on his nomination of Alina Habba after federal judges in New Jersey declined to extend her term as interim U.S. attorney, and instead chose to replace her with a different prosecutor, whom the DOJ subsequently fired,” Fox News reports.
“The unusual chain of events has led to confusion over who will become the next interim U.S. attorney in the District of New Jersey, as Habba’s 120-day term is set to expire this week.”
“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife, Angela, are longtime owners of a $1.5 million house in a gated community outside Dallas. In 2015, they snapped up a second home in Austin. Then another,” the AP reports.
“The problem: Mortgages signed by the Paxtons contained inaccurate statements declaring that each of those three houses was their primary residence, enabling the now-estranged couple to improperly lock in low interest rates.”
“The Pentagon has suspended participation in all think tank and research events until further notice, a major shift in engagement from the country’s largest federal agency,” Politico reports.
“Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) agreed to support former Rep. Mike Waltz’s nomination to be ambassador to the UN after securing an agreement with the State Department to release $75 million in foreign aid for Haiti and Nigeria,” Axios reports.
“Waltz will now likely be confirmed by the full Senate.”
Gallup: “Six months into his second term, President Donald Trump’s job approval rating has dipped to 37%, the lowest of this term and just slightly higher than his all-time worst rating of 34% at the end of his first term.”
“Trump’s rating has fallen 10 percentage points among U.S. adults since he began his second term in January, including a 17-point decline among independents, to 29%, matching his lowest rating with that group in either of his terms.”
Don Moynihan: “A couple of months ago, the major concern was what would happen when Trump defied the courts. A more complicated picture is now emerging. One that mixes quiet but unmistakable defiance of court decisions by the Trump administration with encouragement from the six Republican-appointed Justices who sit atop the judicial branch.”
“This is an arguably worse scenario, since it provides a veneer of legalism even as it replaces the rule of law with rule by law, where Trump is allowed to determine the nature of that law.”
“The emerging pattern is that the Trump administration is checked by the lower courts, slow-walks compliance, and sometimes asks SCOTUS for help, which they usually provide via poorly reasoned opinions or no opinions at all. The Supreme Court often does not feel the need to explain what are effectively constitutional amendments that rebalance the separation of powers, feeding perceptions of the court as a partisan actor.”
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.
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