“Donald Trump has been in talks with no-name app vendors as he contemplates partnering with an existing platform to create his own social media network,” Axios reports.
“Among the social networking apps the former president and his digital adviser Dan Scavino have homed in on is a relatively unknown platform called FreeSpace.”
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has complained of a “sharp deterioration” in his health in prison and has been blocked from meeting lawyers, The Guardian reports.
Navalny has reported “serious back pain” and numbness in one of his legs that has left him unable to stand on it.
Bill Browder: “This is how the hell that Putin has in store for him begins. I’ve seen it before with Sergei Magnitsky and it’s horrific.”
“Ohio’s Republican-controlled legislature voted Wednesday to limit Gov. Mike DeWine’s authority to issue public health orders in a state that has recorded more than 1 million coronavirus cases,” NBC News reports.
“By votes of 23-10 in the Senate and 62-35 in the House, lawmakers overturned DeWine’s earlier veto of a bill that will give them more power in rejecting the governor’s moves.”
You're reading the free version of Political Wire
Upgrade to a paid membership to unlock full access. The process is quick and easy. You can even use Apple Pay.
After running two formidable yet failed campaigns for the U.S. Senate, John James (R) is reportedly considering a run for governor of Michigan, the Detroit News reports.
It would be another steep battle for James, though. According to a recent Detroit News poll by the paper, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D)had a 58% approval rating.
Dr. Rachel Levine was confirmed as assistant health secretary, making her the first openly transgender federal official approved by the Senate, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“I’m afraid you’d be Todd Akin 2.0. I’m afraid Todd Akin got killed over ‘legitimate rape’ and, in this Missouri report, you were accused by a witness of half-rape.”
— Hugh Hewitt, on his radio show, to former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) on his running for U.S. Senate.
“The Senate took its first steps on Wednesday to advance one of Democrats’ top legislative priorities, convening an opening hearing on a sweeping elections bill that would expand voting rights and blunt some Republican state legislators’ efforts to restrict access to the ballot box,” the New York Times reports.
“Chock-full of liberal priorities, the bill, called the For the People Act, would usher in landmark changes making it easier to vote, enact new campaign finance laws and end partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts. The legislation passed the House along party lines earlier this month. It faces solid opposition from Republicans who are working to clamp down on ballot access, and who argue that the bill is a power grab by Democrats.”
The Hill: Senate panel dukes it out over voting rights.
Politico: “Major donors are convening at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort next month for a two-day gathering to talk about what went wrong in 2020 — and to build a big-dollar network to take back power.”
“Senior Republicans say they’ve come to acknowledge a massive deficit: the lack of a dark-money infrastructure that can be pivotal to influencing elections and policy fights. Organizers say the gathering is aimed at creating a long-term blueprint for funding policy-focused nonprofits in order to compete with liberals who, through mega-donors like George Soros and Tom Steyer, have developed a well-oiled system for routing cash to a web of big-spending advocacy groups.”
Wall Street Journal: “President Biden has yet to name hundreds of administration officials requiring Senate confirmation to military, diplomatic and intelligence posts, making it unlikely that his security agencies will be fully staffed until fall.”
Daily Beast: “Former President Donald Trump, as well as his eldest son Donald Trump Jr., have retained attorney Jesse Binnall to represent each of them in a lawsuit filed by Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell.”
“Binnall, a Republican attorney based in Virginia, previously represented former Trump national security advisor Mike Flynn, alongside attorney Sidney Powell, after prosecutors charged him with lying to the FBI about his communications with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S.”
“Sen. Joe Manchin said that he favors a large infrastructure package that would be paid for in part by raising tax revenues — a point of contention between the two parties,” NBC News reports.
Said Manchin: “I’m sure of one thing: It’s going to be enormous.”
“Vice President Kamala Harris will be the White House’s point person on immigration issues at the nation’s southern border, President Joe Biden announced Wednesday, tasking her with stemming the rising tide of migrants, many of them unaccompanied children, arriving in the U.S.,” Politico reports.
Said Biden: “I can think of nobody who is better qualified to do this.”
NBC News: Biden transition officials say Trump officials delayed action on child migrant surge.
Family members of QAnon believers have told Vice News “that their loved ones are now telling them that QAnon doesn’t exist as a way to rebuff any arguments made against QAnon.”
“QAnon followers are also using the ‘there is no QAnon’ line as a way of excusing high-profile figures who appear to have disavowed QAnon.”
“For example, when Marjorie Taylor Greene kind-of-sort-of-not-really said she didn’t believe in QAnon, followers quickly claimed that she was speaking to them in code and only making the denial to appease her Republican colleagues.”
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) will not become California’s next attorney general, Politico reports.
“Gov. Gavin Newsom has decided against appointing the Los Angeles area congressman to lead the state’s law enforcement agency, a post recently vacated by Xavier Becerra when he was confirmed to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. It is not yet known whom Newsom has chosen for the AG role, though a formal announcement is expected soon.”
A resolution designating the Bible as the Tennessee state book cleared a House committee despite constitutional concerns from several lawmakers, the Tennessean reports.
CNN: “Some conservatives who pushed and prodded for the Senate to quickly confirm Amy Coney Barrett to succeed the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court last fall are rattled by what they have seen so far.”
Said Kelly Shackelford, president of the First Liberty Institute: “You have a lot of people in the conservative movement who are so far disappointed and a little despondent about those votes.”
Washington Post: “Across the government, at least nine key oversight investigations were impeded by clashes with the White House or political appointees, people familiar with inspector general offices say and public documents show.”
“Long-anticipated reports were released only this month on two senior Trump officials.”
“One found evidence that Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao may have misused her position by repeatedly deploying her staff on personal business. A second concluded that former White House physician Ronny Jackson bullied his staff and drank on the job.”
A new YouGov survey finds nearly 50% of Americans now say the stock market is “rigged against individual investors” and surprisingly 56% of those investing in the stock market believe the market is rigged as well.
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.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.