“If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”
— Donald Trump, quoted by the Washington Post in 2017.
Biden’s Approval Bounces Back
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds President Biden’s approval rate rose this week to 40% — its highest level since early June following a string of legislative victories.
Key takeaway: 78% of respondents who identified as Democrats approved of Biden, up from 69% a month earlier. Only 12% of Republicans approved of Biden this week, a figure that has remained largely steady in recent weeks.
Iranian National Sought to Kill John Bolton
“The U.S. accused an Iranian national of plotting to assassinate John Bolton, who served as former President Trump’s national security adviser,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In charging documents unsealed Wednesday, the Justice Department said Shahram Poursafi, 45 years old, of Tehran, tried to arrange Mr. Bolton’s killing.”
Rand Paul Suggests FBI May Have Planted Evidence
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) suggested on Fox & Friends that the FBI may have planted evidence in boxes they seized from Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump Is Front and Center in the Midterms
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Trump Takes the Fifth Amendment in New York Deposition
“Donald Trump declined to answer questions from the New York state attorney general’s office on Wednesday, a stunning gamble in a high-stakes legal interview that is likely to determine the course of a civil investigation into his company’s business practices,” the New York Times reports.
In a statement released shortly after the questioning began on Wednesday, Trump said he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, explaining that he “declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.”
While Trump was probably legally right to plead the Fifth, that decision nonetheless has political consequences for him.
Banks Says Trump ‘Fired Up’ After FBI Raid
Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks (R-IN) told Fox News he met Donald Trump last night said the former president is “very upbeat,” and has “made up his mind” about 2024 — a decision he will make public in “a matter of time.”
Said Banks: “He said we are going to like his decision.”
The Unexpected Triumph of Joe Biden
Edward Luce: “Fourteen years ago, I told a well-informed friend that Barack Obama was considering picking Joe Biden as his running mate in the 2008 election. ‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ came the riposte. ‘Biden is way past it.'”
“Similar obituaries were being penned only two weeks ago as Biden’s poll numbers dropped below even Donald Trump’s nadir. Yet here we are. America’s oldest president can now boast of a stronger legislative record in less than two years than either Obama or Bill Clinton achieved in eight. It turns out that low expectations are Biden’s secret weapon.”
Another Sign the ‘Red Wave’ Is Receding
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GOP Candidate Had Access to Voting Tabulator
Michigan attorney general candidate Matt DePerno (R) “boasted about having access to a voting tabulator and declined to reveal how his legal team obtained the machine,” the Detroit News reports.
Said DePerno: “We got access to a tabulator, and we were able to simulate elections. And if I can do it up here in Michigan, with just a couple guys, you don’t think China knows how to do this? You don’t think Russia knows how to do this? You don’t think people in D.C. know how to do it?”
“On Friday, after a months-long investigation into voting machine access, Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office asked for the appointment of a special prosecutor to consider potential charges against nine individuals, including DePerno.”
Republicans See No Contradiction In Hunter Biden Probe
“As House Republicans rush to argue that the FBI search of Donald Trump’s home is marred by politics, they are readying a future Hunter Biden investigation designed to ensnare Joe Biden ahead of a potential reelection bid,” Politico reports.
“House Republicans see no contradiction between their suspicion of the FBI’s law enforcement activity at Mar-a-Lago and their interest in digging into the business dealings of the president’s son and other family members. Oversight of the Bidens, they contend, would counterbalance what they see as a Justice Department where partisanship influences decisions like the probe of 2020 election subversion that’s drawing closer to Trump.”
Political Ad Spending Soars for Midterms
“A top advertising-industry observer projects political ad spending during the current two-year election cycle will more than double as compared with the 2018 midterms and even exceed dollars spent in 2020 when the White House was in play,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Police Officer Who Was with Roger Stone Is Terminated
A New York City police officer accused of moonlighting as a bodyguard for Roger Stone during the January 6th insurrection has been terminated, the Gothamist reports.
Trumpworld Speculates About ‘Flipped’ Aide
“Trumpworld is abuzz with speculation about which close aide or aides has ‘flipped’ and provided additional sensitive information to the FBI about what former President Trump was keeping at Mar-a-Lago,” Axios reports.
“Trump’s orbit is always an environment rife with mistrust and paranoia. Now, that’s intensified.”
Quote of the Day
“For the department to pursue a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago tells me that the quantum and quality of the evidence they were reciting — in a search warrant and affidavit that an FBI agent swore to — was likely so pulverizing in its force as to eviscerate any notion that the search warrant and this investigation is politically motivated.”
— David Laufman, former head of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence section, quoted by Politico.
Lachlan Murdoch Isn’t a Fan of Donald Trump
Oliver Darcy: “In private this year … Murdoch has gone so far as to tell people that he believes if Trump were to run again, it would be bad for the country, I’m told. But, the sources added, Murdoch has also noted that the Fox News audience continues to support Trump.”
Prices Finally Appear to Be Falling
“The Biden administration on Tuesday got some much-needed good news on inflation: Online consumer prices dropped in July — the first time in more than two years that’s happened,” Politico reports.
“It’s another early sign that the white-hot inflation that has plagued the economy for more than a year could be abating as the Federal Reserve aggressively raises interest rates. Gas prices have dropped for eight straight weeks. Key commodities costs have eased. Walmart and other giant retailers are slashing prices. And even consumers are telling the Fed that their long-term fears of inflation are subsiding.”
Election Deniers Had Another Good Primary Night
“Republican primaries resumed one day after the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago, which appears to have only cemented Donald Trump’s standing in the GOP ahead of 2024,” Politico reports.
“Republican strategists working for potential rivals to Trump ahead of the next presidential election were already preparing for the likelihood that he could now clear the field; Republicans across four midterm primary states on Tuesday were rushing to his side.”
