Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) announced his opposition to a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, saying: “I don’t believe establishing a new commission is necessary or wise.”
As one of the seven GOP Senators who voted to impeach Trump, his opposition all but ensures the legislation creating a bipartisan commission will be blocked by Senate Republicans.
“Federal prosecutors seized 18 electronic devices belonging to Rudy Giuliani and more than one of his employees when they raided his home and office last month, according to a new court filing,” CNN reports.
Justin Fox: “It’s awfully hard to argue that taxes have been the main thing driving the California exodus, given that (1) it has been concentrated among the less affluent, (2) their No. 1 destination has been Texas… lower-income and middle-income people face higher effective tax rates in Texas than in California.”
Sara Goddard notes just twenty companies are responsible for producing over 50% of the world’s single-use plastic waste.
This is awesome: The Lyndon B. Johnson Library has put recordings of more than 100 of LBJ’s White House conversations online.
Bloomberg: “The U.S. Treasury Department has already doled out $105.3 billion of aid to state and local governments from President Joe Biden’s $350 billion relief package for them under the American Rescue Plan legislation.”
“That means the federal government has handed out about 30% of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to more than 1,500 entities since it was launched on May 10.”
Former President Trump slapped the “wayward” House Republicans who voted in support of a commission that will investigate the Capitol insurrection on January 6.
Said Trump: “See, 35 wayward Republicans—they just can’t help themselves. We have much better policy and are much better for the Country, but the Democrats stick together, the Republicans don’t.”
He added: “They don’t have the Romney’s, Little Ben Sasse’s, and Cheney’s of the world. Unfortunately, we do. Sometimes there are consequences to being ineffective and weak. The voters understand!”
“We have to wait for them to be vaccinated, because they are selfishly an endangerment to other people… Do you want them breathing in your face, based on the strength of their honor?”
— Speaker Nancy Pelosi, quoted by CBS News, on keeping a mask mandate in the House until all Republican lawmakers are vaccinated.
“CNN anchor Chris Cuomo advised his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and senior members of the governor’s staff on how to respond to sexual harassment allegations made earlier this year by women who had worked with the governor,” the Washington Post reports.
“Cuomo, one of the network’s top stars, joined a series of conference calls that included the Democratic governor’s top aide, his communications team, lawyers and a number of outside advisers.”
“The cable news anchor encouraged his brother to take a defiant position and not to resign from the governor’s office.”
“Sources in the Likud party tell the Ma’ariv newspaper there are concerns Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is extending the fighting in Gaza because Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid currently holds the mandate to form the next government,” the Times of Israel reports.
“Other elements in the right-wing bloc tell the newspaper that it is thought Netanyahu believes the conflict with Hamas will boost his image in fifth elections.”
“President Biden is closing in on his pick for ambassador to Israel, with Thomas Nides, a former deputy secretary of state, most likely to be the pick,” Axios reports.
“The state of play: Former congressman Robert Wexler was seen as the other primary contender, and was supported by many members of Congress and a coalition of Jewish organizations, but Biden is leaning towards Nides.”
Amy Walter: “Politics has become as much about performance as anything else. And the decision by many GOP legislatures to tighten rules around absentee voting is, as Grace Panetta of Business Insider wrote, ‘as much about appeasing Trump and the base than about ensuring a political advantage in upcoming elections.’”
“And, given how many Republicans in key battleground Sun Belt states voted by mail, this looks more like the political equivalent of cutting off your nose to spite your face.”
The House of Representatives just wrapped up its final votes for the month of May and is not expected to take another vote until June 14.
The smell of jet fuel is in the air…
A day after former President Donald Trump said that Georgia should follow Arizona’s lead, former Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones (R), a Trump supporter who is challenging incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp (R) in next year’s GOP primary, proposed an audit, CNN reports.
Vox: “Though execution protocols can vary from state to state, lethal injections are typically performed using a three-drug combination — an anesthetic to knock out the person and dull their pain, a paralytic, and then a toxic drug that stops their heart. But many pharmaceutical companies that make anesthetic drugs refuse to sell their products for use in executions. Others are located in Europe and subject to a European Union export ban targeting a drug that was commonly used in executions.”
“The result is that death penalty states have struggled to obtain reliable execution drugs. Some states used unsuitable or poor-quality drugs, leading to high-profile cases including one in which a man died in a prolonged state of visible agony. A few prominent judges have argued that firing squads are preferable to lethal injection in part because people who are executed by firing squads are less likely to suffer before dying.”
“By and large it was peaceful protests except for there were a number of people, basically agitators that whipped the crowd and breached the Capitol.”
— Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), in an interview on Fox News, on the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.
First Read points out that we still don’t know a lot about what happened during the January 6 insurrection.
“That missing part? An official accounting of Donald Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, especially once he returned to the White House after addressing his rallied supporters.”
“Caitlyn Jenner burst into the California gubernatorial race last month to national fanfare, but the early voter reaction in the state suggests she’s struggling to compete with experienced Republican rivals vying to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom in a fall recall vote,” Politico reports.
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.