“Vice President Kamala Harris warned in a speech that the U.S. would impose severe economic sanctions on Russia if it invades Ukraine as she sought to highlight the resolve of Western powers in seeking to avert a major conflict,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
Said Harris: “Let me be clear, I can say with absolute certainty if Russia further invades Ukraine the United States, together with our allies and partners, will impose significant and unprecedented economic costs.”
“To hear President Biden tell it, his Build Back Better plan is ‘close’ to passing the Senate and delivering relief to Americans struggling with the cost of prescription drugs. He has talked this month of how it would cap child-care costs for many Americans and how utility companies are embracing its climate and energy initiatives!” the Washington Post reports.
“But it’s not clear such a plan exists anymore, at least in any recognizable form. Behind the scenes, discussions between the White House and key senators on what was once a massive climate and social spending package have virtually evaporated.”
“Police arrested scores of demonstrators and towed away vehicles Friday in Canada’s besieged capital, and a stream of trucks started leaving under the pressure, raising authorities’ hopes for an end to the three-week protest against the country’s Covid-19 restrictions,” the AP reports.
“By evening, at least 100 people had been arrested, mostly on mischief charges, and nearly two dozen vehicles had been towed, including all of those blocking one of the city’s major streets, authorities said. One officer had a minor injury, but no protesters were hurt.”
“Virginia’s new Republican Attorney General ended a legal campaign to get the federal government to recognize the state’s ratification of the landmark Equal Rights Amendment, the long-running effort to enshrine women’s equality in the Constitution,” the Washington Post reports.
“Separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine ordered a full military mobilization Saturday amid a spike of violence in the war-torn region and fears in the West that Russia might use the strife as a pretext for an invasion,” the AP reports.
“Former President Donald Trump faced one legal setback after another this week as a judge ruled he must sit for a deposition in New York to answer questions about his business practices, his accounting firm declared his financial statements unreliable, another judge rejected his efforts to dismiss conspiracy lawsuits and the National Archives confirmed that he took classified information to Florida as he left White House,” the AP reports.
“We all know guys who overcompensate for their inadequacies, and that description fits the guys in the Senate race to a T.”
— Ohio U.S. Senate candidate Jane Timken (R), in a new ad, pointing to photos of Republican primary rivals Josh Mandel (R) and J.D. Vance (R).
“President Biden held another round of urgent talks with European leaders on Friday afternoon as the United States and its allies continued to warn that Russia was poised to invade Ukraine and trigger the largest conflict on the continent since World War II,” the New York Times reports.
Said Biden: “We have reason to believe the Russian forces are planning and intend to attack Ukraine in the coming week, the coming days. We believe that they will target Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.”
Washington Post: “The remarks amounted to some of the most specific and definitive comments Biden has used to describe his interpretation of Russia’s intentions.”
“President Joe Biden is actively looking for Republican support for his Supreme Court nominee. But he’s doing it cautiously, wary of setting expectations that end in failure,” Politico reports.
“Neither party anticipates the type of rancorous, ugly battle that has defined recent high court picks, but White House officials are trying to handle conversations with GOP lawmakers delicately in a way that avoids unwanted attention.”
“Civil lawsuits seeking to hold Donald Trump accountable for the January 6 insurrection can move forward in court, and the ex-President doesn’t have absolute immunity from litigation, a federal judge ruled Friday,” CNN reports.
“Democratic members of the House and police officers who defended the US Capitol on January 6 sued Trump, claiming he prompted his supporters to attack. Friday, Mehta wrote that the lawsuits could move to the evidence-gathering phase and toward a trial – a major loss in court for Trump.”
Foreign Affairs: “U.S. and European leaders would face the dual challenge of rethinking European security and of not being drawn into a larger war with Russia. All sides would have to consider the potential of nuclear-armed adversaries in direct confrontation.”
Politico: “According to interviews with more than 75 people — who have worked for him or against him or both, who like him or don’t like him or used to — Mandel has been nothing if not an eager reader and rider of political currents. And that, they say, has made Mandel a singularly vivid lens through which to chart the deep, rattling changes in politics, in Ohio, on the right and overall, over the course of this last quarter-century.
“He doesn’t act the way he used to act, and he doesn’t talk the way he used to talk, say so many Democrats and Republicans alike. And they’re right. He used to present as more moderate, used to preach bipartisanship and diversity and civility, and no longer does. Perhaps most importantly, he once was conspicuously unsupportive of Trump, and now he has publicly pivoted to full-fledged MAGA.”
U.S. intelligence shows that Russia has drafted lists of Ukrainian politicians and Russian and Belarusian dissidents in exile to arrest or kill if it invades, Foreign Policy reports.
“The National Archives confirmed on Friday that it had uncovered classified information among documents that President Donald Trump had taken with him to his home in Florida from the White House and that it had consulted with the Justice Department about the matter,” the New York Times reports.
“The disclosure that Mr. Trump had classified information among the documents he took with him from the White House has prompted assertions from Democrats of hypocrisy. Mr. Trump made attacking Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of national security materials a centerpiece of his 2016 presidential campaign.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced he will support legislation that would allow for private citizens to go after gun makers, enforcing the state’s ban on assault weapons, The Hill reports.
“They execute people over there for being gay. Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.”
— Golfer Phil Mickelson, quoted by the ESPN, on working with the Saudis.
David French: “So that’s why San Francisco matters. Not because its eighth-grade math curriculum is relevant to me in Tennessee—and not because I particularly care what it calls its schools—but because when the exhausted majority stood up, it demonstrated that reason can, in fact, triumph over radicalism. America’s political future does not necessarily belong to its angry extremes.”
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.
