Rocky Hayes, the former Jones County South Dakota Republican party chairman, has been charged with three counts of possession of child pornography, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports.
House Oversight Chair Promises Newsmax He’ll Investigate
“After relentlessly crying for Congress to intervene because DirecTV dumped it, pro-Trump channel Newsmax has received a promise from a top Republican to hold congressional hearings on the matter,” the Daily Beast reports.
“Newsmax, which had been with DirecTV since the channel’s launch in 2014, was dropped by the pay-TV carrier this week after demanding license fees in a new deal. DirecTV balked at the request, noting that the network provided it on-air content for free on several different platforms and its own app.”
California Senate Race Sets Up Clash of Titans
“A Senate race pitting the man who spearheaded former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, Adam Schiff, against fundraising powerhouse and wonk superstar Katie Porter would guarantee fireworks and a price tag in the hundreds of millions of dollars,” NBC News reports.
“But add a candidate representing the Bernie Sanders wing of the party, Ro Khanna, and a living legend who got her start with the Black Panthers and would become the only Black woman in the Senate, Barbara Lee — now you’re talking about a California Senate race for the ages.”
“And Democrats are just getting started.”
Elections Losses Deepen Arizona GOP’s Insistence of Fraud
Washington Post: “Just a few months ago, Arizona Republicans lost nearly every major statewide midterm race after campaigning for months on false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.”
“That was not always a winning strategy in Arizona nor in many other states, but many Republican leaders and their supporters here are still clinging to election fraud falsehoods, refusing to acknowledge their candidates lost and resisting attempts to lessen the extreme divisions in the state.”
Arizona Republicans Approve Deletion of Emails and Texts
“Republicans in Arizona’s Legislature have voted along party lines to approve new rules that will allow state lawmakers to destroy emails after 90 days and delete text messages as quickly as they arrive,” the AP reports.
Video Shows Struggle for Hammer During Pelosi Attack
“Video released publicly Friday shows the husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi fighting for control of a hammer with his assailant during a brutal attack in the couple’s San Francisco home last year,” the AP reports.
Politico: “The break-in and attack stunned San Francisco and reverberated through national politics, punctuating a torrent of violent rhetoric directed at Nancy Pelosi and other elected officials.”
The Man Who May Challenge Putin for Power
Mikhail Zygar: “President Vladimir Putin of Russia, it seems, has finally noticed that the war in Ukraine created a dangerous competitor to his power: Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the private military company, the Wagner group, whose troops fight alongside the Russian Army.”
“Depending on your point of view, Mr. Prigozhin could be considered either the person of the year or the villain of the year. Mr. Putin is, according to many sources in Moscow, confident that he can weaken Mr. Prigozhin, who has clashed with the military’s general staff. However, the effect could be the opposite, with more people seeing Mr. Prigozhin as the most probable favorite to succeed Mr. Putin.”
Biden Has Prioritzed Women of Color as Federal Judges
In his judicial appointments so far, President Biden “has prioritized diversity throughout the federal court system,” The 19th reports.
“Biden’s judicial appointees are the most diverse of any U.S. president to date in terms of race, gender and professional background.”
Inside Trump’s Killing Spree
Rolling Stone: “In that moment, he became the ninth of 13 people executed in the final six months of the Trump administration — more federal executions than in the previous 10 administrations combined. Of the 13, six were put to death after Trump lost the election, his Justice Department accelerating the schedule to ensure they would die before the incoming administration could intercede. Before Trump, there had been only three federal executions since 1963; in January 2021, Trump oversaw three executions during a single four-day stretch.”
“Two years before that stretch, Trump had signed perhaps the lone broadly popular major initiative of his presidency: a bipartisan criminal-justice reform bill. By 2020, however, his political calculus had changed. As he geared up for another election, Trump White House sources say, the president was telling advisers that carrying out capital punishment would insulate him from criticism that he was soft on crime. And in his attorney general, Bill Barr, a longtime death-penalty advocate, he had the perfect accomplice.”
Peter Navarro’s Contempt Trial Delayed for Months
“A federal judge on Friday delayed the contempt of Congress trial for former Donald Trump adviser Peter Navarro, likely for months, to allow for additional pre-trial debate over the role executive privilege could play when the case goes to a jury,” CNN reports.
Justices Did Not Disclose Ties to Leak Investigator
“The Supreme Court did not disclose its longstanding financial ties with former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff even as it touted him as an expert who independently validated its investigation into who leaked the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade,” CNN reports.
“The court’s inquiry, released last week with Chertoff’s endorsement, failed to identify who was responsible for the unprecedented leak. The decision to keep the relationship with Chertoff quiet is a reflection of a pattern of opacity at the nation’s highest court, whose rulings affect every American.”
Expanding Ballot Access in the States
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Jockeying Heats Up for 2024 Democratic Convention
New York Times: “The battle over where Democrats should host their presidential convention in 2024 has been unfolding for months in some of the country’s largest Democratic-run cities. It is at once an opaque insider’s game and a spirited debate over Democratic messaging and symbolism, shaped by regional rivalries, whispered disparagement of competitors and high-powered public jockeying.”
“Atlanta, Chicago and New York remain in contention and have advanced toward the endgame of the process, hashing out potential nuts-and-bolts terms with the DNC… Of those three cities, Atlanta and Chicago have often been seen as leading contenders, but in many ways, the final decision will be a matter of Mr. Biden’s preference. Atlanta is the only one of those cities to be located in a presidential battleground state.”
Biden Needs to Show He’s Serious About the Debt Limit
Jonathan Bernstein: “When it comes to the debt ceiling, President Joe Biden is right not to negotiate with House Republicans, whose strategy is to take hostages first and decide the ransom later. But their confusion also demonstrates why his decision doesn’t go far enough.”
“What Biden needs to do — now, not the day before the US is expected to default — is take action. Specifically, he should instruct Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to resume normal payments. Yellen has already notified Congress that the government has been taking extraordinary measures to prevent a breach of the debt limit, such as altering payments to government-run funds for retirees, and that she can continue to do so for several months.”
“If Biden is not willing to order the Treasury to return to business as usual, he should make it very clear to Republicans that the only choices are a debt-limit increase or a government default.”
Who Advertises on Trump’s Social Media Platform?
New York Times: “Ads from major brands are nonexistent on the site. Instead, the ads on Truth Social are for alternative medicine, diet pills, gun accessories and Trump-themed trinkets, according to an analysis of hundreds of ads on the social network by The New York Times.”
“The ads reflect the difficulty that several far-right platforms, including Rumble and Gab, have faced in courting large brands, preventing the sites from tapping into some of the world’s largest ad budgets. It could be particularly problematic for Truth Social. Although the site has gained influence among the far right, becoming a vibrant ecosystem brimming with activity, its business is in need of cash.”
Florida House ‘Dress Code’ Targets Women’s Shoulders
Florida Politics: “Republican leadership of the Florida House has posted flyers throughout the Capitol showing what to wear — and perhaps more strikingly, what not to wear.”
“The flyer breaks down a dress code for three different scenarios — when in the chamber, when Members are in the building, and when Members are not in the building. The required attire is, not surprisingly, most formal when in the House chamber.”
“What sticks out though, is the requirement that women never show their shoulders when House Members are present in the building, whether in the chamber or not.”
‘Off Years’ Aren’t So Off Anymore
Charlie Cook: “The concept of ‘off years’ once meant relative political tranquility, save the occasional special congressional election and the regular off-year state elections in Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia.”
“The new reality is that for the two major parties, odd-numbered years are about candidates, while even-numbered years are about campaigns. The year before an election, there is no greater task than convincing incumbents, at least those who are not extremely old or scandal-damaged, to seek reelection, while simultaneously encouraging the best possible candidates run in open and toss-up races and keeping the weakest candidates out.”
“Anyone who believes that national party leaders and operatives should take a hands-off approach to who runs where obviously does not appreciate what happened to Republicans in 2022.”
Putin Plans for Years of War
“Nearly a year into an invasion that was supposed to take weeks, Vladimir Putin is preparing a new offensive in Ukraine, at the same time steeling his country for a conflict with the US and its allies that he expects to last for years,” Bloomberg reports.
“The Kremlin aims to demonstrate that its forces can regain the initiative after months of losing ground, putting pressure on Kyiv and its backers to agree to some kind of truce that leaves Russia in control of the territory it now occupies, according to officials, advisers and others familiar with the situation.”
