“Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the No. 3 Republican in the House, rankled fellow House GOP leaders when she backed a New York congressional candidate with a history of controversial and racist remarks,” NBC News reports.
“Stefanik endorsed Carl Paladino (R) earlier this month without consulting other members of a leadership team that includes House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA).
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) “will deliver testimony next month to Fulton County prosecutors investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 elections,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) could lose her gun-themed restaurant in a dispute with her new landlord, the Daily Beast reports.
“A person familiar with the arrangement said the property manager felt he had a ‘moral’ imperative to close the business, and had planned to lease the space to another restaurant.”
“A former judge who legally represented President Donald Trump coordinated with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WY) to pass documents falsely stating Trump won Wisconsin to then-Vice President Mike Pence as Pence was set to confirm Joe Biden as the next president on Jan. 6, 2021, newly revealed messages show,” the Wisconsin State Journal reports.
The January 6 Committee today plans to turn its focus to how Donald Trump tried to enlist the Justice Department in his efforts to cling to power.
The hearing begins at 3 p.m. ET. A livestream is available.
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Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), “whose polling remains far behind her Trump-endorsed primary challenger as her House committee’s Jan. 6 hearings continue, is urging Democrats in her home state to switch parties to support her in the Aug. 16 primary,” the New York Times reports.
A documentary filmmaker said that former president Donald Trump described those who participated in the January 6 Capitol attack as “smart” during a defiant interview last spring, the Washington Post reports.
“Republicans are launching a well-funded outside group to stop disgraced former Gov. Eric Greitens from winning their upcoming Missouri Senate primary,” Politico reports.
“The group, called Show Me Values, is set to start running TV advertisements targeting Greitens, beginning Friday.”
A new Gallup poll finds that 66% of Americans “want laws covering the sale of firearms to be stricter — up 14 percentage points from October, and the highest since after the Parkland high school shooting in 2018.”
“A record-high 55% of Americans have an appetite for not only enforcing existing gun laws more strictly but also passing new gun legislation. This is only the second time since 2000 that a majority favors passing new gun legislation in addition to enforcing current laws more strictly.”
“Federal investigators descended on the home of Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official, on Wednesday in connection with the department’s sprawling inquiry into efforts to overturn the 2020 election,” the New York Times reports.
“It remained unclear exactly what the investigators may have been looking for, but Mr. Clark was central to President Donald Trump’s unsuccessful effort in late 2020 to strong-arm the nation’s top prosecutors into supporting his claims of election fraud.”
Elie Honig: “To get a search warrant, prosecutors must show they have probable cause to believe that a crime was committed, and a judge must review and sign off.”
Jeffrey Toobin: “This is an extremely significant event.”
“The Massachusetts Democratic primary for governor is over,” Politico reports.
“State Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz, the last remaining Democrat running against frontrunner and state Attorney General Maura Healey, ended her campaign for governor on Thursday, one year to the day after she launched her bid.”
Politico: “Newsom has stressed that he isn’t challenging President Joe Biden — either on his stewardship of their party or as a candidate in two years. He’s reminded people that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris separately trekked across the country to stump for him in his recall election.”
“But taken together, the moves have been widely interpreted as a relatively young executive using the specter of a future presidential bid to shine a bright spotlight on himself. And they’ve been enough to elicit early brushbacks from allies of Biden and Harris.”
A Republican lawmaker in Alaska who was outed as a “lifetime member” of the Oath Keepers will be allowed to run for re-election despite challenges to his candidacy over his ties to the far-right group, the AP reports.
John Avlon notes that even in the mythical gun-loving wild west, sheriffs wouldn’t allow guns into town.
Alex Holder, a British documentary filmmaker who had extensive access to Donald Trump and his family ahead of and after the 2020 election, is testifying this morning behind closed doors to the January 6 Committee, the New York Times reports.
Holder’s footage — some 11 hours of it with the Trump family discussing the campaign and the election — was subpoenaed by the committee ahead of the interview.
“A billionaire fundraiser for former President Donald Trump on Wednesday lost a bid to dismiss criminal charges he lobbied the U.S. government on behalf of the United Arab Emirates without disclosing his affiliation,” Reuters reports.
“Thomas Barrack had pleaded not guilty to charges of illegal lobbying and lying to U.S. law enforcement, and faces a September trial.”
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.