New York Times: “A loose collection of well-connected groups and individuals led by a pair of Orthodox Jewish organizations had striking success in winning clemency for white-collar criminals during the Trump presidency.”
Two New Orleans State Senators Win Runoff Spots
Louisiana State Senators Troy Carter (D) and Karen Carter Peterson (D) will advance to an April 24 runoff that will determine who will replace former Rep. Cedric Richmond (D), who is now a senior advisor to President Biden, the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Carter and Ms. Peterson are both veteran politicians and have roots in the competing, and fractious, Black political factions of New Orleans. Both have also run for this seat before — both of them in 2006, and Mr. Carter again in 2008 — without success.”
Julia Letlow Wins Late Husband’s House Seat
“Julia Letlow (R) won a special election outright Saturday to represent the 5th Congressional District and will succeed her husband Luke, who captured the seat in December only to die of COVID three weeks later,” the Baton Rouge Advocate reports.
Politico: “Her election brings the number of Republican women in Congress to 31 — a stunning turnaround from the end of last cycle, when there were just 13.”
Johnson Falsely Claims ‘No Violence’ In Senate on January 6
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) falsely claimed there was no violence on the Senate side of the US Capitol during the January 6 insurrection, the latest in his continued attempts to downplay the severity of the attack, CNN reports.
Said Johnson: “One of the reasons I’m being attacked is because I very honestly said I didn’t feel threatened on January 6. I didn’t. There was much more violence on the House side. There was no violence on the Senate side, in terms of the chamber.”
Trump’s Inner Circle Tightens Grip on Endorsements
Insider: “Since late February, a small band of insiders led by Donald Trump Jr. and former campaign manager Bill Stepien have established themselves as gatekeepers for who gets endorsed and how fast those endorsements roll out.”
“This consolidation of Trumpworld power in the chaotic months since Trump lost re-election have angered the Republicans who supported Trump but are not part of the tiny clique running Trump’s post-White House political operation.”
Federal Judge Slams Press Protections
“A federal appeals court judge issued an extraordinary opinion Friday attacking partisan bias in the news media, lamenting the treatment of conservatives in American society and calling for the Supreme Court to overturn a landmark legal precedent that protects news outlets from lawsuits over reports about public figures,” Politico reports.
“D.C. Circuit Senior Judge Laurence Silberman’s diatribe, contained in his dissent in a libel case, amounted to a withering, frontal assault on the 1964 Supreme Court decision that set the framework for modern defamation law — New York Times v. Sullivan.”
Giuliani Tried to Have Borat Crew Arrested
Sarah Levinson, producer of Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm revealed that Rudy Giuliani tried to have her film crew arrested, Deadline reports.
Said Levinson: “He claimed we were trying to extort him at the time, which we didn’t ask for anything. He called all of his New York City cops and said extortion, which was a federal crime. Very smart to bring that up.”
Levinson said the hotel locked the crew out of the suite where they had filmed the Giuliani scene. Fortunately, they had already transferred the footage out of the room.
Miami Beach Declares Curfew Over Spring Break Crowds
“The city of Miami Beach declared a state of emergency and imposed an 8 p.m. curfew for the entertainment district because spring breakers were gathering in crowds around the city despite the coronavirus pandemic,” Axios reports.
Larry Summers Rips U.S. Economic Policy
Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers warned that the U.S. is suffering from the “least responsible” macroeconomic policy in four decades, Bloomberg reports.
Summers said that “what was kindling, is now igniting” given the recovery from Covid will stoke demand pressure at the same time as fiscal policy has been aggressively eased and the Federal Reserve has “stuck to its guns” in committing to loose monetary policy.
He added: “These are the least responsible fiscal macroeconomic policy we’ve have had for the last 40 years. It’s fundamentally driven by intransigence on the Democratic left and intransigence and the completely irresponsible behavior in the whole of the Republican Party.”
DNC Reports Best-Ever February Fundraising
“The Democratic National Committee said it raised the most money it ever has in February in a non-presidential election year, $8.5 million, according to a DNC spokesperson,” Politico reports.
Inside the Failure to Contain the Border Surge
Washington Post: “Along with the existing struggle to combat the coronavirus, immigration has emerged as one of the administration’s most urgent challenges — seized on by Republicans as a political cudgel, posing risks to Democrats in the 2022 midterms and potentially undermining Biden’s governing agenda. The issue also threatens to overshadow the president’s recent political victories in passing a $1.9 trillion covid relief package and making rapid strides in vaccination efforts.”
“The situation at the border — which Biden and his advisers steadfastly refuse to call a crisis — is the result of an administration that was forewarned of the coming surge, yet still ill-prepared and lacking the capacity to deal with it.”
The Hill: Feds will start putting some migrant families in hotels.
The Economy Revs Up
Wall Street Journal: “Restaurant and hotel bookings are up. Airplane tickets are selling fast. Consumers spent more on gyms, salons and spas in recent weeks than they have since the coronavirus pandemic began.”
“The U.S. economic recovery is picking up steam as Americans increase their spending, particularly on in-person services that were battered by the coronavirus pandemic.”
“The rising number of Covid-19 vaccinations, falling business restrictions, ample household savings and injections of federal stimulus funds into the economy are fueling the surge, economists say.”
How a Recall Could Spell Trouble for Gavin Newsom
Cal Matters: “A run-of-the-mill election for state office in California follows a predictable two-step. First, every candidate crowds onto a single ballot and voters cast their ballots for whomever they like — regardless of party. Next, the top two winners from the first round go head-to-head in a second and final contest.”
“That ‘top-two’ set-up ensures that the candidate who wins will have received more than 50% of the vote. The will of the majority rules, guaranteed.”
“Recall elections offer no such guarantee. Voters are first asked whether they would like to give the incumbent the boot. Then, in a second question, they are asked who ought to be the replacement. Under California law, incumbents can’t run to replace themselves. (So Governor Newsom is not on the ‘replacement’ ballot).”
“If more than 50% of voters opt for a ‘yes’ on the recall question, whoever comes first on the replacement list is immediately hired as the state’s next chief executive.”
Support for Third Party Hits New High
A new Gallup poll finds 62% of U.S. adults say the “parties do such a poor job representing the American people that a third party is needed,” an increase from 57% in September.
Meanwhile, 33% of Americans believe the two major political parties are doing an adequate job representing the public, the smallest percentage expressing this view apart from the 26% reading in October 2013.
Key takeaway: “Independents are usually much more likely than Republicans or Democrats to favor a third political party, but in the current poll, Republicans are nearly as likely as independents to hold this view, 63% to 70%. That represents a dramatic shift for Republicans since last September when 40% favored a third party.”
2021 Elections Are 2022 Bellwethers
“The handful of gubernatorial contests and special elections throughout 2021 could be the first litmus test of post-Trump politics during the Biden era,” Axios reports.
“2021’s slate of contests begins this weekend. Two special elections take place on Saturday in Louisiana. The elections are to replace Rep.-elect Luke Letlow (R), who passed away last year due to COVID-19, and Rep. Cedric Richmond (D), who joined the administration as a Biden senior adviser.”
Intelligence Was Clear Russia Tried to Help Trump
New York Times: “A report released Tuesday made clear that the intelligence community believed that Russia had long attacked Mr. Biden for the benefit of Mr. Trump. But throughout 2020, senior officials bowed to Mr. Trump’s hostility toward any public emphasis of the threat from Russia, and they offered Congress and the public incomplete or misleading portraits of the intelligence on foreign influence in the election.”
Biden’s Closest Aides Have Ties to Big Business
CNBC: “The senior Biden aides listed in the disclosures include chief of staff Ron Klain, deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon, senior advisor Mike Donilon, White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeffrey Zients, and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese.”
“These disclosures show that many of the president’s closest aides have deep ties to the business world and have made more money in their past corporate careers than previously known.”
“These disclosures were provided by the White House to CNBC early Saturday morning after requesting the documents a day earlier. None of these positions were confirmed by the Senate.”
Idaho Legislature Halts Session Due to Outbreak
The Idaho Legislature has brought business to halt for the next two weeks amid an outbreak of Covid-19 among lawmakers and staff at the state Capitol, KBOI reports.
