“With the first Republican debate in the governor’s race scheduled for Monday night on WCBS-TV, the roster of in-person candidates has shrunk by one, as Andrew Giuliani — proudly unvaccinated against the coronavirus — announced on Sunday that he will not be allowed to attend,” the New York Times reports.
Fox News Will Cover Today’s Hearing
“Fox News plans to cover the hearings on its main channel when they resume on Monday,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
CNN: “In addition to thorough coverage on cable, the big three broadcast networks — ABC, NBC, and CBS — are planning to preempt regular programming for special reports about the hearing.”
Decoding a Gun Deal
Politico: “Probably the best sign for the bipartisan accord on gun reforms is how congressional leaders responded to it over the weekend. This is the sort of moment where something can be easily quashed if desired. That didn’t happen.”
Walker Falsely Claims He Worked In Law Enforcement
U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker (R) regularly claims he once worked in law enforcement, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
However, although Walker’s campaign says he majored in criminal justice in college and was an “honorary deputy” in Cobb County, the Cobb County Police Department said they have no record of involvement with Walker.
Ex-Trump Campaign Manager Will Miss Hearing
Former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, who was scheduled to appear at the second hearing of the January 6 Committee, is unable to attend due to a family emergency, the Washington Post reports.
A lawyer for Stepien will instead read a statement.
A source familiar with Stepien’s thinking told Axios that he was subpoenaed but did not want to testify and could hardly be considered a “friendly” witness.
The committee also pushed the starting time of the hearing back to 10:30 a.m. from 10 a.m.
Liz Cheney for President?
Robert Reich: “As I said, Cheney is a firm conservative and I have opposed many of her positions. But we are at an inflection point in this nation over a set of principles that transcend any particular positions or policies. If we cannot agree on the sanctity of the Constitution and the rule of law, we are no longer capable of self government.”
“The real battle in 2024 will not be between Democrats and Republicans. It will be between forces supporting democracy in America and those supporting authoritarianism. Trump is the de facto leader of the forces supporting authoritarianism. Liz Cheney has become the de facto leader of the forces supporting democracy.”
Lockdowns Return to China’s Major Cities
“Widespread lockdowns and mass testing returned to China’s major cities over the weekend as both Beijing and Shanghai attempted to curtail the spread of Covid-19 cases in the community after months of lockdown,” the Financial Times reports.
Bolsonaro’s New Ally in Questioning Brazil’s Elections
“President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil has for months consistently trailed in the polls ahead of the country’s crucial presidential race. And for months, he has consistently questioned its voting systems, warning that if he loses October’s election, it will most likely be thanks to a stolen vote,” the New York Times reports.
“Those claims were largely regarded as talk. But now, Mr. Bolsonaro has enlisted a new ally in his fight against the electoral process: the nation’s military.”
“The leaders of Brazil’s armed forces have suddenly begun raising similar doubts about the integrity of the elections, despite little evidence of past fraud, ratcheting up already high tensions over the stability of Latin America’s largest democracy and rattling a nation that suffered under a military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985.”
Inflation Soars in Britain
“The U.K.’s annual rate of inflation jumped to a forty-year-high in April, the highest level recorded by an industrialized nation since the start of the global price surge last year,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
America’s Inequality Problem Just Improved
Bloomberg: “Amid all the gloom of 2022, the most unequal of the world’s leading economies has gotten less so. The poorest half of Americans—the much-discussed but largely powerless US working class—are in the strongest financial position in a generation.”
“The bottom 50%, generally households with net worth of $166,000 or less before the pandemic, now hold a bigger share of the nation’s wealth than they’ve had for 20 years, the Federal Reserve estimates. Their collective net worth, $3.73 trillion, has almost doubled in two years and is more than 10 times higher than in 2011, the nadir after the last recession.”
China Alarms U.S. With Warnings to Avoid Taiwan Strait
“Chinese military officials in recent months have repeatedly asserted that the Taiwan Strait isn’t international waters during meetings with US counterparts, generating concern within the Biden administration,” Bloomberg reports.
“The statement disputing the US view of international law has been delivered to the American government by Chinese officials on multiple occasions and at multiple levels… The US and key allies say much of the strait constitutes international waters, and they routinely send naval vessels through the waterway as part of freedom of navigation exercises.”
Newsom ‘Frustrated’ with Democratic Party
California Gavin Newsom (D) said he is frustrated with “what is going on with the Democratic Party” on a national level, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The Political Risk for the GOP on Gun Control
“In an indication of the political risks Republicans see in embracing even modest gun safety measures, none of the 10 who endorsed Sunday’s deal was facing voters this year,” the New York Times reports.
“The group included four Republican senators who are leaving Congress at the end of the year … and five who are not up for re-election for another four years.”
The only one up in 2024? Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT).
Punchbowl News: “Think about this as well – Cornyn needed to show enough momentum to overcome a GOP filibuster, which is why having 10 solid Republican votes is such a big deal. Yet it also cuts the other way too. Cornyn has 10 solid votes. If you’re an undecided Republican, you can vote no and the bill will still pass.”
January 6 Committee to Detail Origin of the Big Lie
“When Donald Trump stepped to a podium Nov. 4, 2020, and declared himself the winner of the presidential election, millions of his supporters apparently believed him — but Trump’s own advisers and campaign operatives knew better,” Politico reports.
“The Jan. 6 select committee, in its second of six scheduled public hearings, plans to highlight Monday the corrosive effect of Trump’s lie — and his weeks pumping it up with the help of political allies, friendly media megaphones and members of Congress. Trump’s campaign and the Republican Party reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in the weeks between Election Day and Jan. 6, 2021, a haul heavily influenced by those efforts to sow doubt about the results of the election.”
New York Times: “The committee plans to call Bill Stepien, the final chairman of Mr. Trump’s campaign, who is expected to be asked to detail what the campaign and the former president himself knew about his fictitious claims of widespread election fraud.”
Playbook: “Whatever Stepien has to say is sure to take over the news cycle — and, depending on what he says, earn him Trump’s ire.”
Two Targets of Trump’s Ire Take Different Paths
New York Times: “Nancy Mace and Tom Rice are the former president’s two targets for revenge on Tuesday. After a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, they were among those who blamed the president for the attack. Ms. Mace, just days into her first term, said that Mr. Trump’s false rhetoric about the presidential election being “stolen” had stoked the riot and threatened her life. Mr. Rice, whose district borders Ms. Mace’s to the north, immediately condemned Mr. Trump and joined nine other Republicans (but not Ms. Mace) in later voting for his impeachment.”
“Now, in the face of primary challenges backed by the former president, the two have taken starkly different approaches to political survival. Ms. Mace has taken the teeth out of her criticisms of Mr. Trump, seeking instead to discuss her conservative voting record and libertarian streak in policy discussions. Mr. Rice, instead, has dug in, defending his impeachment vote and further excoriating Mr. Trump in the process.”
Vulnerable Democrats Run Against Their Party
Associated Press: “Many of the nation’s most vulnerable Democrats are actively trying to distance themselves from Washington — and their party. Responding to deep frustration from voters who will decide their fate in November, Democratic candidates in swing states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada and New Hampshire are railing against the institutions their party has managed for the last 16 months.”
Battle of Donbas Could Prove Decisive in Ukraine War
“Day after day, Russia is pounding the Donbas region of Ukraine with relentless artillery and air raids, making slow but steady progress to seize the industrial heartland of its neighbor,” the AP reports.
“With the conflict now in its fourth month, it’s a high-stakes campaign that could dictate the course of the entire war.”
“If Russia prevails in the battle of Donbas, it will mean that Ukraine loses not only land but perhaps the bulk of its most capable military forces, opening the way for Moscow to grab more territory and dictate its terms to Kyiv. A Russian failure could lay the grounds for a Ukrainian counteroffensive — and possibly lead to political upheaval for the Kremlin.”
Wall Street Journal: “The war in Ukraine has turned into a grinding artillery contest where Russia is steadily gaining ground thanks to its overwhelming advantage in firepower.”
Sizzling Prices Complicate Fed’s Inflation-Fighting Strategy
“Federal Reserve officials have spent the past two months getting investors acclimatized to their plans to slow economic growth and combat inflation by raising interest rates in half-percentage-point increments until price pressures cool,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“This coming week’s policy meeting will show whether officials are still comfortable with that approach in light of reports Friday that inflation sizzled in May, hitting a new 40-year high, and that consumers’ longer-term inflation expectations rose to a new 14-year high. The survey measure is important to central bankers because they believe such expectations can be self-fulfilling.”
Bloomberg: “An increasing number of economists … say it may take an economic contraction and higher unemployment to bring inflation down to more tolerable levels, much less back to the Fed’s 2% price target.”
Washington Post: Inside Biden’s frustration with soaring prices.
