“House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise told House Republicans during a closed-door conference meeting that they will oppose the agreement, which a bipartisan group of Senate negotiators unveiled Tuesday night,” Politico reports.
Boris Johnson Warns Against ‘Shitty’ Peace Deal
“Boris Johnson will push France and Germany to strengthen their support for Ukraine next week as he fears Volodymyr Zelensky could be bounced into agreeing a ‘shitty’ peace deal,” the Telegraph reports.
Ocasio-Cortez Backs Insurgent in Lt. Governor’s Race
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) will endorse Ana María Archila (D) in the race for New York Lt. Governor, the New York Times reports.
“Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is expected to appear at a rally for Ms. Archila on Monday, one day before the June 28 primary, and will also send out a fund-raising email. Ms. Archila’s campaign believes the endorsement will increase donors, volunteers and energize left-leaning Democrats to vote.”
Manchin Open to Extending Obamacare Aid
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) “signaled he’s open to extending enhanced subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, a move that would help Democrats avert a huge political threat in the November midterms from millions of people learning about spiking monthly premiums only weeks before casting ballots,” Insider reports.
“But he suggested that an extension of the program should be directed towards aiding lower-earning families.”
The Time to Put Trump on Trial Is Drawing Near
Edward Luce: “Pity Merrick Garland. Whichever path America’s attorney-general takes — to prosecute Donald Trump or not — entails great risk. Putting the former president on trial would hasten the country’s drift towards political violence. Letting him walk away would make another coup attempt more likely. Garland is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. Either route could endanger U.S. democracy.”
“The evidence amassed by the U.S. House of Representatives’ January 6 committee is making it much harder to turn a blind eye. Garland’s quandary is acute. The standard of proof for a criminal conviction is considerably higher than lay observers of the January 6 protests might assume. A botched prosecution would make Trump stronger and even help re-elect him. When you strike at a king — even a former one — you must kill him.”
Andrew Gillum Indicted on 21 Counts
“Andrew Gillum, the once-rising Florida Democratic star who narrowly lost the 2018 governor’s race to Ron DeSantis, was hit with a 21-count federal indictment Wednesday for wire fraud, related conspiracy charges and making false statements,” NBC News reports.
“The indictment marks a new low for Gillum, a married father of three who withdrew from public life as a political leader and a paid CNN commentator after a March 2020 sex scandal involving a suspected male overdose victim in a South Beach hotel.”
Russia’s Vaunted Cyber Capabilities Were Neutered
David Ignatius: “A quiet partnership of the world’s biggest technology companies, U.S. and NATO intelligence agencies, and Ukraine’s own nimble army of hackers has pulled off one of the surprises of the war with Russia, largely foiling the Kremlin’s brazen internet hacking operations.”
“Russia’s cyber-reversals haven’t resulted from lack of trying.”
Rusty Bowers Says He Would Vote for Trump Again
Arizona Speaker Rusty Bowers (R), who testified so forcefully against efforts by Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 presidential election before the January 6 Committee, said he would nonetheless vote for Trump again if he were the Republican nominee in 2024, the AP reports.
Said Bowers: “If he is the nominee, if he was up against Biden, I’d vote for him again. Simply because what he did the first time, before Covid, was so good for the county. In my view it was great.”
More Than 1,000 Afghans Killed In Earthquake
“Afghanistan was rocked by its deadliest earthquake in decades on Wednesday when a magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck the country’s east, killing more than 1,000 people and wounding many more,” CNN reports.
Recession Now Very Likely This Year
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: “The New York Federal Reserve’s internal model is flashing an 80% risk that the US economy will enter a sustained contraction in the second half of this year, much sooner than presumed just weeks ago. The chances of a ‘soft landing’ have dropped to 10%. If so, you can stop worrying about an inflationary spiral.”
“The institution’s ‘dynamic stochastic general equilibrium’ model points to an outright fall in GDP of 0.6% this year and a further fall of 0.5% next year. It likens the current picture to the 1990 recession under George Bush senior, triggered by the First Gulf War.”
Supply Issues Account for Half of Surge in U.S. Inflation
“Supply constraints, exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine this year, account for about half of the surge in US inflation, with demand currently making up a third of the increase, according to new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco,” Bloomberg reports.
Macron Holds Talks with Opposition
“Emmanuel Macron has met leaders of opposition groups including the far right’s Marine Le Pen to sound out his chances of negotiating a parliamentary majority,” The Guardian reports.
“The French president, whose centre-right alliance fell 44 seats short of controlling the Assemblée Nationale, was said to be exploring his ‘room for manoeuvre’ after losing control of the lower house in Sunday’s legislative elections.”
Michigan Might Get Early Slot On 2024 Calendar
“Michigan has the racial diversity, union membership and spread of Democrats across the state that could give it an edge as the Democratic National Committee looks to award coveted early slots on the 2024 presidential nomination calendar,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The jockeying heats up starting Wednesday as the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee hears pitches from 16 states and Puerto Rico over the course of three days in Washington. The states include New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, all favored to keep their early spots in the process.”
Experts Consider Trump One of the Worst Presidents
A new Siena College poll finds that 141 presidential scholars rank Franklin D. Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson as the country’s top five presidents.
For the second time, scholars include Donald Trump along with Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Warren Harding and Franklin Pierce in the bottom five.
Ron Johnson Blames Intern for Fake Electors Delivery
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) insisted that “there’s no conspiracy here” when CNN pressed him over his staff’s newly-revealed attempt to help Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election.
Text messages show Johnson had an “alternate slate of electors” to personally deliver to Vice President Mike Pence, but the senator claimed that “some staff intern said the vice president needs this, or whatever. I wasn’t involved.”
It’s worth remembering that Johnson had already acknowledged that Biden won the election in mid-December 2020.
Quote of the Day
“The more we learn from the January 6 committee, the more it becomes obvious that the Senate’s inability to convict Trump in February 2021 was a failure of historical proportions.”
— Political scientist Alex Garlick, on Twitter.
Mo Brooks Delivers Bitter Concession Speech
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) “delivered an angry, bitter concession speech after media outlets projected Katie Britt the winner of the runoff election to determine Alabama’s Republican Senate nominee, saying his defeat was a major victory for the Democrats,” the Washington Examiner reports.
Said Brooks: “It’s always appropriate to congratulate the winners, and some of these winners might be a little bit unexpected, but I’d be remiss if I did not congratulate the Alabama Democratic Party for helping to ensure that the Democratic nominee in the Republican primary won.”
He added: “Congratulations to the Democrats. They now have two nominees in the general election.”
More Democrats Watching January 6 Hearings
A new Politico/Morning Consult poll finds a substantial partisan divide among those who tuned into the January 6 Committee hearings: 56% of Democratic voters watched, as did 32% of independents and 25% of Republicans.
In related news, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) told Axios he wishes Fox News carried every January 6 hearing.
