“President Biden signed a measure on Tuesday that would expand NATO to include Sweden and Finland in an effort to bolster the Western alliance nearly six months after President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia launched his invasion of Ukraine,” the New York Times reports.
Conservatives Believe Trump Is Above the Law
Adam Serwer: “The merits of a potential government case against Donald Trump, and of the basis for the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago, cannot yet be evaluated, despite the assertions of many of Trump’s supporters and critics. A federal search warrant can be obtained only with probable cause and with the approval of a federal magistrate, but that does not mean that Trump is guilty of whatever alleged crime the FBI is investigating. Nor does the fact that Trump may be guilty of criminal conduct in other contexts mean that he is guilty here.”
“But at the same time, the reflexive Republican insistence that the investigation is politically motivated is itself unmoored from the available evidence.”
Christie Says FBI Search Was ‘Fair Game’
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) told Julie Mason that while he has some “concerns” about the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago, he believes looking through Donald Trump’s personal safe was “fair game.”
Partisan Hostility Grows
Pew Research: “In 2016, about half of Republicans (47%) and slightly more than a third of Democrats (35%) said those in the other party were a lot or somewhat more immoral than other Americans. Today, 72% of Republicans regard Democrats as more immoral, and 63% of Democrats say the same about Republicans.”
“The pattern is similar with other negative partisan stereotypes: 72% of Republicans and 64% of Democrats say people in the opposing party are more dishonest than other Americans. Fewer than half in each party said this six years ago. Large majorities in both parties also describe those in the other party as more closed-minded than other Americans (83% of Democrats and 69% of Republicans say this), and this sentiment also has increased in recent years.”
“Yet there is one negative trait that Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to link to their political opponents. A 62% majority of Republicans say Democrats are ‘more lazy’ than other Americans, up from 46% in previous studies in 2019 and 2016. Only about a quarter of Democrats (26%) say Republicans are lazier than others, and this has changed only modestly since 2016.”
GOP Suddenly Flip-Flops on Handling Classified Info
Steve Benen: “If there was one thing Republicans cared about six years ago, it was how high-ranking officials dealt with classified materials. In fact, as recently as 2016, the GOP was certain — that is, the party at least pretended to be certain — that politicians disqualify themselves from positions of authority when they put documents at risk.”
“And so, now that Republicans have learned that Donald Trump allegedly took highly sensitive classified materials to his golf resort, one could imagine the party expressing outrage with the former president. After all, given the GOP’s recent history of passionate feelings on the subject, it stands to reason that Trump may have crossed an intolerable line.”
“But that would assume that the Republican Party’s principles and standards are consistent. They are not.”
What Is Really Unprecedented Is Trump’s Criminality
Jonathan Chait: “While it is factually true that there is no history of a former American president being raided by the Feds, these observations implicitly treat the FBI’s behavior as the source of the historic break. The reason Donald Trump is the first former president to be treated like a criminal is that he is the first former president who is a criminal.”
Public Opinion Hasn’t Shifted Since January 6 Hearings
A new Monmouth poll finds that public opinion of Donald Trump, the January 6 insurrection and the 2024 president election hasn’t shifted after the recent January 6 Committee hearings began.
In fact, Trump’s favorability rating is nearly identical to where it stood immediately after the 2020 election, and nearly 40% of Americans would lean toward backing a comeback bid in 2024.
Trump Releases Campaign-Style Video
Donald Trump posted a campaign ad-style video on his social media platform just hours after his Mar-a-Lago estate was raided by FBI agents in Palm Beach, Florida.
Said Trump: “We are a nation that has weaponized its law enforcement against the opposing political party like never before.”
We’ve Finally Reached Bottom
Jonathan Last: “No one is asking if this will be the thing that finally pries Republicans away from Trump. For seven years we had a series of episodes—mocking John McCain, ‘grab ‘em by the pussy,’ Charlottesville, the Ukraine blackmail, January 6—at which point non-believers honestly thought that the latest outrage would be a bridge too far and that some Trump supporters would turn on him.”
“Well, we seem to have finally touched bottom on reality. No one anywhere in America believes that the potential criminal prosecution of Donald Trump could move a single one of his followers, either at the popular or elite levels.”
“That’s progress, of a sort. It means that supporters of democracy finally understand the realities of what they are facing.”
Trump Takes Stock of Which Republicans Defend Him
“Donald Trump’s team and allies are moving swiftly to draw political benefit from an unannounced search by FBI agents at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home on Monday,” Politico reports.
“And they’re keeping tabs of Republicans who aren’t, in their view, sufficiently rushing to his defense.”
Said a person close to Trump: “They’re going to drastically use this to rally their allies, GOP leaders on Capitol Hill and juice for his political agenda and run for 2024. If there was a 99 percent chance it’s 100 percent now. He makes it part of his platform – going after the FBI.”
David Frum: “The former president has discovered a new test of power: using his own misconduct to compel party leaders to rally to him.”
Judges Say House Panel Can Have Trump’s Tax Returns
“The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the House Ways and Means Committee can obtain former President Trump’s tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service,” Axios reports.
“Trump has been fighting the release of his tax returns to the committee for more than three years.”
FBI Raid Has Led to a Full-On GOP Meltdown
Dalia Lithwick: “The immediate GOP response to Monday evening’s FBI search for documents at Mar-a-Lago is almost as revealing as the search warrant itself.”
“Having witnessed the bulk of the party harden its commitment to protecting Trump at any cost after the January 6th attack on the Capitol, nobody should be shocked to learn that ranking Republicans—without any information about what was seized, or why—were willing to stake their political careers on the claim that it was a lawless, partisan ‘raid.’ The darkest versions of these claims called for doing away with federal law enforcement altogether.”
Trump Is Searching for Criminal Defense Lawyers
“Behind closed doors this summer, Donald Trump and his advisers have been narrowing the shortlist of criminal defense attorneys he’d need to take on the Justice Department,” Rolling Stone reports.
“The former president has had preliminary conversations with Tim Parlatore, a lawyer best known for successfully representing an accused war criminal, about possible legal strategies should the department escalate its probe or hit Trump with charges.”
“Trump’s conversations with Parlatore and other newly retained lawyers are part of his broader push to assemble yet another new legal team, both for his current legal woes and for any future ones coming from the FBI and Biden-era DOJ. Throughout the summer, Trump has been quizzing confidants on what they think of specific criminal defense lawyers, throwing out a number of names both big and obscure.”
The FBI Raid Wasn’t Just About Classified Documents
Andrew McCarthy: “There’s a game prosecutors play. Let’s say I suspect X committed an armed robbery, but I know X is dealing drugs. So, I write a search-warrant application laying out my overwhelming probable cause that X has been selling small amounts of cocaine from his apartment. I don’t say a word in the warrant about the robbery, but I don’t have to. If the court grants me the warrant for the comparatively minor crime of cocaine distribution, the agents are then authorized to search the whole apartment.”
“If they find robbery tools, a mask, and a gun, the law allows them to seize those items. As long as agents are conducting a legitimate search, they are authorized to seize any obviously incriminating evidence they come across. Even though the warrant was ostensibly about drug offenses, the prosecutors can use the evidence seized to charge robbery.”
“I believe that principle is key to understanding the FBI’s search of former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Monday. The ostensible justification for the search of Trump’s compound is his potentially unlawful retention of government records and mishandling of classified information. The real reason is the Capitol riot.”
Why Democrats Could Win This Fall
Dan Pfeiffer: “Up until recently, Democrats were stuck in a doom loop. That defeatism threatened to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. What activist, donor, or voter wants to sign up for a suicide mission? And to be honest, it’s been hard to make a reasonable, fact-based case that Democrats could upend the historical trends. However, over the last few weeks, the worm has turned. Democrats now have a legitimate shot to outpace expectations dramatically.”
“I am not devolving into a sunny guy. This is not a prediction. It is not an admonition against bedwetting. I think the odds are still against Democrats. We have an eternity till Election Day. The future looked quite dire three weeks ago, and may look just as dire in three weeks. But as we sit here today, one can make a credible bull case for Democrats.”
Bernie Kerik Warns Democrats Might Assassinate Trump
Former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik told Newsmax that he is worried Democrats might try to assassinate former President Donald Trump.
Said Kerik: “If you remember back in 2016, right before he got elected, I was in Washington D.C. I was at a couple of different social events, and I hear people talking, they said the Democrats want this guy so bad that they wouldn’t put assassination behind it. And I’m gonna tell you something. they’ve tried impeachment, they’ve tried another impeachment, they’ve tried one investigation after another.”
He added: “This is about one thing: this is about stopping him from running in 2024. And I’m gonna tell you something, I’m not into conspiracies, I’m not into anti-government rhetoric. This is the first time in my lifetime that I would say I am deathly afraid for Donald Trump. I would not put assassination behind these people.”
Merrick Garland’s Opening Act
Tim O’Brien: “It’s not entirely clear why the FBI targeted Mar-a-Lago. Trump, who was not there, predictably characterized the search as a Democratic hit job. But the feds were apparently searching for classified records Trump stashed in Palm Beach after leaving the White House. He has already returned some files that the National Archives said belonged to the government, but Bloomberg News and the New York Times reported that the search was focused on records he might have kept.”
“Theft of government records is the least of Trump’s legal worries, however. Attorney General Merrick Garland appears to be finally bringing the full weight of federal law enforcement to bear on the former president. Depending on how aggressively Garland pursues Trump for the attempted coup that he and his co-conspirators tried to engineer after he lost the 2020 presidential election, the list of criminal charges could include seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the US and obstruction of official proceedings.”
“Garland’s choices in the months ahead will have momentous consequences.”
Gas Prices Drop Below $4 per Gallon
The U.S. national average price of gas today has fallen back under the $4 mark to $3.99 per gallon for the first time since early March, according to GasBuddy.
