“Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) expressed no remorse Wednesday for falsely accusing Jack Smith of lying to Congress about attending a basketball game as a guise to investigate President Donald Trump — and for creating a viral moment that critics have seized on to undercut the GOP’s case against the former special counsel,” Politico reports.
Said Schmitt: “He has lied before to Congress.”
Rolling Stone: MAGA senator humiliated after attempt to corner Jack Smith backfires comically.
“Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reported at least $250 million in income and other proceeds last year, much of it from the financial businesses he left behind when he joined the Trump administration,” CNBC reports.
“After spending years railing against fraud, Utah state Rep. Trevor Lee (R) has resigned after being charged with fraud himself,” Fox News reports.
“The Utah Attorney General’s Office filed criminal charges against Lee on Monday, accusing him of forging documents and engaging in fraud in order to obtain a home loan. Prior to the charges, Lee had pushed legislation aimed at combating unemployment fraud and publicly praised efforts to expose the sweeping fraud scandals that have rocked Minnesota in recent years.”
“The Federal Trade Commission has opened a broad investigation into the safety of artificial intelligence systems made by Anthropic and OpenAI, a senior agency official said Wednesday,” the Washington Post reports.
“The investigation could provide backing for the Trump administration’s position that existing laws are sufficient to hold artificial intelligence companies accountable, as officials seek to resist a push by some in the industry and Congress to establish a new system of regulations for the technology.”
“A House-passed bill to restrict members of Congress from buying and selling stocks failed on the Senate floor Wednesday in a party-line vote, with Democrats insisting it would not do enough to curb lawmakers’ trading,” Politico reports.
Bloomberg: Lawmaker stock buying ban fails in Senate over clash on voter ID.
“Facing a growing backlash over the boom in data center construction and widespread concern over the safety of artificial intelligence, Congress is set to depart Washington this week ahead of the midterm elections having accomplished nothing to address either issue,” the New York Times reports.
“Eager to show they hear the public alarm over A.I. as they fight to keep their majority, Republicans in the Senate on Wednesday were attempting to bring up a bill intended to insulate Americans from rising electricity costs tied to data centers. But Democrats were expected to block it, noting that the legislation was not enforceable and arguing it would do little to significantly curb energy prices.”
“The Federal Reserve’s inspector general announced Wednesday that the multibillion-dollar renovations of the Fed’s headquarters criticized by President Trump as ‘disgraceful’ did not violate federal law, though the office concluded poor project management dramatically increased the cost,” CBS News reports.
NBC News: Watchdog finds no criminality in Fed renovation that drew Trump’s scrutiny.
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board:
“Just when you think Eric Schmitt couldn’t possibly embarrass himself and his constituents any more than he already has, he goes in for a rhetorical layup, gratuitously throws an elbow, spectacularly misses the shot and then stomps around the court indignantly when the ref calls foul.”
“That’s all metaphorical, of course. What Missouri’s perpetually seething junior senator really, truly did on Tuesday (in front of the whole country!) was to proffer a loony right-wing conspiracy based on some misunderstood text messages; falsely accuse a prosecutor of perjury; call him a ‘villain’ and a ‘total dirtbag’ — and then stand by that playground-level pejorative even after the whole thing turned out to be a lazy mistake on the part of Schmitt and his staff regarding, of all things, a basketball game.”
New York Magazine: Eric Schmitt’s failed Jack Smith takedown is instant classic.
“A MAGA-backed ministry leader vying to be Colorado’s next governor once laughed about slamming his wife into a door, recounted how he threw his toddler across the room and declared that God gave him a ‘gift’ for violence,” the Daily Beast reports.
“Marine veteran and martial arts enthusiast Victor Marx has spent years portraying himself as a Christian warrior fighting evil, telling numerous stories over the years about setting people free from ‘demonic oppression’ and performing what he describes as ‘spiritual exorcisms.'”
Rolling Stone: “Donald Trump and his administration are all in on AI — despite the abundance of concern over the adverse effects the technology could have on society … such as the extinction of the human race.”
“Americans shouldn’t worry, though, the president says, because he and a collection of luminaries signed a ‘morally binding’ agreement on Tuesday to behave responsibly. The White House shared the agreement on Wednesday. It spells ‘United States’ wrong.”
“The White House also this week unveiled ‘America.gov,’ a government AI chatbot that promises answers about ‘whatever you need from the government.’ Users immediately started prompting the bot to contradict Trump and his lackeys by asking it questions like ‘Who won the 2020 election?’ and watching it spit out ‘Joseph R. Biden Jr.'”
The Guardian: White House’s AI accord includes spelling error.
“Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Wednesday progress on a new party-line spending bill is an ‘option’ after the midterms — but cautioned that he still didn’t see a path to getting 50 votes,” Politico reports.
“Death row inmate Christa Pike got a last-minute reprieve Wednesday when a federal appeals court stopped her execution about an hour before it was set to take place in Nashville,” Axios reports.
NPR: “The right-leaning satire site the Babylon Bee was pointed: ‘Trump Pledges That If Voters Defeat Socialism In November, They Will Each Get An Equal Redistribution Of Wealth From The Government,’ read one of its headlines.”
“This is the contradiction that keeps arising in Trump’s second term, as the leader of the party that has often claimed to support free markets repeatedly tries to bend the economy to his will. But it’s especially striking as Trump continues to try to label Democrats as ‘communists.'”
A new Oregon Public Broadcasting poll in Oregon finds Christine Drazan (R) leading Tina Kotek (D) in the governor’s race, 47% to 46%, with Brett Smith at 3%.
“President Donald Trump’s pick for surgeon general cleared a major hurdle Wednesday as the Senate health committee voted to advance her nomination to the floor,” the Washington Post reports.
“In a 12-11 party line vote, Nicole Saphier — a former Fox News contributor and radiologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York — took a step closer to becoming the nation’s top doctor. The move marks Trump’s third attempt to fill the role.”
A new Quantus Insights poll in Iowa finds Ashley Hinson (R) leading Josh Turek (D) in the U.S. Senate race, 47% to 46%.
A new Catawaba College/YouGov poll in North Carolina finds Roy Cooper (D) leading Michael Whatley (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 47% to 35%.
Vanity Fair: “As the governor looks beyond California, he opens up about his political ambitions, his vision for the country, and why he’s chosen Bill Clinton as his 2028 spirit animal.”
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.