“The Trump Justice Department secretly seized the phone records of four New York Times reporters spanning nearly four months in 2017 as part of a leak investigation, the Biden administration disclosed on Wednesday,” the New York Times reports,
“It was the latest in a series of revelations about the Trump administration secretly obtaining reporters’ communications records in an effort to uncover their sources.”
“Former president Donald Trump remains relentlessly focused on the false claim that the November election was stolen from him and is increasingly consumed with the notion that ballot reviews pushed by his supporters around the country could prove that he won,” the Washington Post reports.
“Trump has rebuffed calls from some advisers to drop the matter, instead fixating on an ongoing Republican-commissioned audit in Arizona and plotting how to secure election reviews in other states, such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Georgia… He is most animated by the efforts in Fulton County, Ga., and Maricopa County, Ariz.”
Robert Mueller will teach a course at the University of Virginia’s law school intended to take students inside his investigation that concluded Russia had interfered in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump, the New York Times reports.
Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of the murder of George Floyd, has requested a judge reduce his sentence to time served or probation, the Daily Beast reports.
Chauvin’s lawyers emphasized Chauvin’s “hard-working, law abiding life” and attempted to minimize his killing of Floyd, calling it “an error made in good faith reliance his own experience as a police officer.”
David Byler: “In Arizona, Georgia, Colorado and Virginia, Democrats cashed in on population growth: They captured millennials, affluent suburbanites and immigrants who flocked to expanding cities, held onto Black voters and overpowered Republicans from small, stagnant metros and no-growth towns.”
“But, in Florida, these small metros and towns grew faster than cities such as Miami.”
“Over the past 50 years, Florida’s smaller cities and towns have become powerful magnets for middle-aged parents and retirees from other states. These older migrants want low taxes, affordable housing and warm weather all year — so they’re pouring into low-cost counties, away from the major cities.”
In Texas, Lake Highlands High School valedictorian, Paxton Smith, secretly swapped out her approved valedictorian speech for a new one – in protest of the state’s new abortion law.
Said Smith: “There is a war on my body and a war on my rights.”
“Israeli opposition parties on Wednesday reached a coalition agreement to form a government and oust Benjamin Netanyahu, the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history and a dominant figure who has pushed his nation’s politics to the right,” the New York Times reports.
“The new coalition is an unusual and awkward alliance between eight political parties from a diverse array of ideologies, from the left to the far right.”
Las Vegas Review-Journal: “Nevada looks set to become the second state in the nation to enact a ‘public option’ health insurance plan after Gov. Steve Sisolak said he intends to put his signature to state Democrats’ signature health care legislation.”
New York Times: “It is difficult to overstate the significance to Native people of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s role as the first Native American to lead a cabinet agency.”
“It is also difficult to overstate the pressures and expectations Ms. Haaland faces from her people, who hope she will address 150 years of betrayal by a department officially entrusted with ensuring Native Americans’ welfare… Tribal leaders say Ms. Haaland’s fluency in Native issues alone signals progress.”
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) effectively launched his re-election bid Wednesday by announcing his campaign team, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
“A dark-money group aligned with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer helped pay for deceptive ads aimed at depressing Republican general election turnout in 2018,” Axios reports.
“These attacks came not during GOP primaries, but within weeks of the 2018 general election, as Democrats explored ways to drive a wedge between Republican candidates and their most ideologically committed voters.”
For example, ads were run against Josh Hawley (R-MO) seeking to paint him as a “pro-government gun control, career politician.”
“The Arizona Republican Party, along with other Trump-leaning groups, has used the state Senate’s ongoing ballot review as a way to raise funds for their causes and candidates,” the Arizona Republic reports.
“Through April, the state Republican party took in $897,000 for its federal activities… (and) another $335,000 for state activities through March.”
“By comparison, at the same point in 2019, when the chair, Kelli Ward, was in her first months in office, the state GOP had collected $137,000 in federal funds, and $175,000 in state funds.”
If you’ve been thinking of becoming a Political Wire member, I’d welcome your support. You also get exclusive analysis, a trending news feed, no advertising, and more.
For a limited time, use this link and get 10% off an annual subscription.
President Joe Biden outlined new efforts to make it easier than ever for Americans to get their coronavirus vaccinations and promised a much better summer ahead, CBS News reports.
Said Biden: “America is headed into a summer dramatically different from last year’s summer. A summer of freedom, a summer of joy, a summer of get-togethers and celebrations. An all-American summer that this country deserves after a long, long dark winter that we’ve all endured.”
“The reality is that when you have a system that is not working effectively — and I would think that most would agree that the Senate is not a particularly well-oiled machine, right? The way to fix that is to fix your behavior, not to eliminate the rules or change the rules, but to change the behavior.”
— Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), quoted by the Arizona Republic, on the “false choice” between getting rid of the filibuster and passing legislation.
“The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Gov. Kevin Stitt’s (R) plan to privatize much of the state’s Medicaid program is unconstitutional,” the Associated Press reports.
New York Times: “In offering most Americans two more rounds of stimulus checks in the past six months, totaling $2,000 a person, the federal government effectively conducted a huge experiment in safety net policy.”
“A new analysis of Census Bureau surveys argues that the two latest rounds of aid significantly improved Americans’ ability to buy food and pay household bills and reduced anxiety and depression, with the largest benefits going to the poorest households and those with children.”
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) “said she would seek a second full term as governor of Alabama in an announcement that stressed her reaction to the COVID-19 outbreak and pro-business policies,” the Montgomery Advertiser reports.
“Ivey’s announcement did not come as a surprise, but will almost certainly clear the field of Republican challengers.”
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.