Nikki Haley defended states’ rights to secede from the United States, South Carolina’s Confederate History Month and the Confederate flag in a 2010 interview with a local activist group that “fights attacks against Southern Culture,” CNN reports.
Earlier for members: Secession Is On the GOP Agenda
“The Georgia grand jury that investigated possible interference in the 2020 election by Donald Trump and his allies recommended indicting over a dozen people, the jury foreperson said Tuesday — a list she said ‘might’ include the former president,” NBC News reports.
Said jury forewoman Emil Kohrs: “There are certainly names that you will recognize, yes. There are names also you might not recognize… There are definitely some names you expect.”
Jennifer McClellan has made history as the first Black woman elected to represent Virginia in Congress, NBC News reports.
“Russia carried out a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile that appears to have failed while President Joe Biden was in Ukraine on Monday,“ CNN reports.
“Russia notified the United States in advance of the launch through deconfliction lines, one official said. Another official said that the test did not pose a risk to the United States and that the US did not view the test as an anomaly or an escalation.”
Vanity Fair: “Wealthy and well-connected preppers and back-to-the-landers have been moving west, many of them at least tangentially involved in the edgy online realm of thought known as the dissident right. Tech executives and crypto investors are creating secretive groups to help people ‘exit’ … from our liberal society, tech-dominated lives, and fraying system. And there are grander plans, for whole secessionist movements using crypto and decentralized autonomous organizations to build whole mini societies.”
“Former President Donald Trump, who throughout his business career had a reputation for not paying lawyers, spent roughly $10 million from his political action committee on his own legal fees last year, federal election filings show,” the New York Times reports.
“The money that went to Mr. Trump’s legal bills was part of more than $16 million that Mr. Trump’s PAC, Save America, spent for legal-related payments in 2021 and 2022.”
“Some of the $16 million appears to have been for lawyers representing witnesses in investigations related to Mr. Trump’s efforts to cling to power. But the majority of it — about $10 million — went to firms directly representing Mr. Trump in a string of investigations and lawsuits, including some related to his company, the filings showed.”
“Governors supporting abortion rights are forming a new coalition aimed at expanding and protecting access to the procedure,” the Washington Post reports.
“The Reproductive Freedom Alliance will create a more formal structure for governors to regularly collaborate on work to shore up abortion rights, such as administrative actions, budgetary moves and bills moving through state legislatures. It’s also aimed at allowing for a more coordinated response to major decisions with a nationwide impact, such as the lawsuit looming in Texas that could revoke the decades-old government approval of a key abortion drug.”
Donald Trump — who proclaimed himself the “law and order” president — is pitching increasingly brutal methods for how he would somehow “end crime” in ways that he didn’t during his first term in office, Rolling Stone reports.
Axios: “The Biden administration is courting a wave of private investments as a multiplier for the nearly $2 trillion in spending and tax incentives Congress approved in the past two years.”
“Team Biden’s goal is to leverage those massive packages — only about 5% of which have been spent — to scale up projects designed to improve the nation’s power grid, help wean the U.S. off oil and gas, stimulate the chip industry, and more.”
“Extortion payments from ransomware, a hacking scourge that has crippled hospitals, schools and public infrastructure, fell significantly last year, according to federal officials, cybersecurity analysts and blockchain firms,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“After ballooning for years, the amount of money being paid to ransomware criminals dropped in 2022, as did the odds that a victim would pay the criminals who installed the ransomware. With ransomware, hackers lock up a victim’s computer network, encrypting hard drives until victims pay.”
“The Biden administration Tuesday announced its most restrictive border control measures to date, issuing plans for a temporary rule that will penalize asylum seekers who cross the border illegally or fail to apply for protection in other nations they transit on their way to the United States,” the Washington Post reports.
“Under U.S. immigration law, migrants fleeing persecution can request asylum regardless of how they arrive on U.S. soil. Biden’s rule, which could become active in May and expire after two years, would presume asylum ineligibility for those who enter illegally.”
“Supreme Court justices suggested Tuesday that they might move cautiously in their first examination of the federal law that protects internet companies from lawsuits concerning the platforms’ posting of content from third parties,” the Washington Post reports.
“A special grand jury that investigated election interference by former President Donald Trump and his allies in Georgia recommended indictments of multiple people on a range of charges in its report, most of which remains sealed,” the New York Times reports.
Asked whether the jurors had recommended indicting Trump, jury forewoman Emily Kohrs gave a cryptic answer: “You’re not going to be shocked. It’s not rocket science… you won’t be too surprised.”
She added: “I will tell you that if the judge releases the recommendations, it is not going to be some giant plot twist. You probably have a fair idea of what may be in there. I’m trying very hard to say that delicately.”
“A lawsuit from a trio of Utah brothers seeking to kick President Joe Biden out of the White House and return Donald Trump to the presidency will not be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court,” the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
“The high court again rejected the brother’s case on Tuesday.”
Former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot (R) — a former Republican National Committee chair — said that the Montana Republican Party recently informed him of a resolution approved by party leadership declaring he is no longer considered a Republican, the Helena Independent Record reports.
Racicot said that he was not warned or informed of the resolution before it was voted on and sent to him.
Donald Trump challenged all presidential candidates to “take a full & complete Mental Competency Test” and agree to “a test which would prove that you are physically capable of doing the job.”
Said Trump: “Being an outstanding President requires great mental acuity & physical stamina. If you don’t have these qualities or traits, it is likely you won’t succeed.”
“Almost exactly a month before a Norfolk Southern train derailed and spewed hazardous materials in eastern Ohio, the company gave the maximum $10,000 to help bankroll Gov. Mike DeWine’s inaugural festivities,” WSYX reports.
“An examination of state records shows this contribution, which is part of $29,000 the Virginia-based corporation has contributed to DeWine’s political funds since he first ran for governor in 2018, is merely one piece of an extensive, ongoing effort to influence statewide officials and Ohio lawmakers.”
NBC News: EPA orders Norfolk Southern to clean up Ohio train derailment site and pay all costs.
“Mike Pompeo’s political action committee shelled out $42,000 on books the day his memoir hit bookshelves,” Forbes reports.
“Pompeo’s memoir debuted at No. 3 on the New York Times best-seller list for hardcover nonfiction. Two weeks later, it remains on the rankings at No. 5. The Times notes that retailers reported bulk orders of Never Give An Inch.”
“Pompeo is not a candidate for federal office, so he is allowed to personally profit when his PAC buys his book with donors’ funds.”
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.
