(TUE 6/21/22)
Tune in your favorite news outlet (so long as it’s not Fox) 1 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday for the House 1/6 committee’s Hearings Part IV and see Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) explain how and why he did not ‘find’ the 11,780 votes necessary to turn over his state’s 16 electors to Donald J. Trump.
Our democracy for a MAGA hat … Committee member Adam Schiff (D-CA) told the Los Angeles Times he will show evidence Tuesday that ex-President Trump’s then-chief of staff, Mark Meadows, wanted to send autographed “Make America Great Again” hats to people conducting an audit of the presidential election results in Georgia.
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Fascism of MAGA … In case the Texas GOP platform unveiled at its convention last weekend wasn’t a sufficiently scary warning about looming authoritarianism, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) told ABC News This Week host George Stephanopoulos that his wife received a death threat in the mail. “I’m not worried personally,” said one of the two Republicans on the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection. “It threatens to execute me as well as my wife and my 5-year-old child.”
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Greitens’ ‘RINO hunting’ video de-Facebooked … Facebook has removed an ad from GOP Missouri senate candidate Eric Greitens in which he appears with a gun alongside other men in combat gear and says, “we’re goin’ RINO hunting.” The former Navy Seal concludes his campaign commercial with, “Join the MAGA crowd -- get a RINO hunting license.” Twitter has let the ad remain, but with a warning, according to Forbes.
Wonder whether an Elon Musk-owned Twitter would remove that warning.
Greitens is running for retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt’s seat. Missouri’s primary is August 2.
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Gun legislation … The bi-partisan group of senators led by Chris Murphy (D-CT) and John Cornyn (R-TX) working on gun legislation is expected to file legislative text today, already two days later than hoped for, according to Punchbowl News. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) hopes to begin the process by the end of the day so the full Senate can vote on the bill before leaving for recess next week.
Federal gas tax holiday? … President Biden says he will decide by the end of the week whether to temporarily lift the 18.4-cents per-gallon federal gas tax as the price-per-gallon hovers around $5 per gallon. But such relief would face a vote in Congress, where it already faces opposition.
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Primaries today … A Senate runoff race in Alabama, Republican runoffs in Georgia and House primaries in Virginia.
--Todd Lassa
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(MON 6/20/22)
Oh, do tell … Ginni Thomas, who apparently does not discuss such matters with her husband and “close friend” Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, “can’t wait to clear up misconceptions,” with the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection, which last Thursday announced it was planning to seek her testimony. “I look forward to talking to them,” the Murdoch-owned tabloid New York Post reports, quoting an interview Thomas gave with the considerably further-right Daily Caller.
But first, up next: Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who fended off then-President Trump’s efforts to get him to find 11,780 votes in order to overturn the state’s Electoral College votes from Joe Biden, is scheduled to appear in the fourth hearing of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection, CNN reports. Raffensperger’s deputy, Gabriel Sterling, also is scheduled to appear in the hearings, which begin 1 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday, June 21.
A second hearing this week is scheduled for Thursday, June 23, again beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern time.
Meanwhile, in trade relations: Trump administration trade advisor Peter Navarro pleaded not guilty last Friday to two counts of contempt of Congress related to the January 6 insurrection (per Reuters). Navarro had “entirely ignored” a February subpoena by the House Select committee demanding he provide documents and appear for a deposition.
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Texas GOP pounds a nail into our democracy’s coffin … Holding its first in-person convention since 2018, Texas Republicans approved a measure that President Biden “was not legitimately elected,” The Texas Tribune reports. Its 5,100 delegates and alternatives also voted to rebuke Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) for taking part in bi-partisan gun regulation talks and voted on a platform that declares homosexuality “an abnormal lifestyle choice” and says Texas school children must “learn about the humanity of the unborn child.”
Meanwhile, in Colombia: Conversely, conservative presidential candidate Rodolfo Hernåndez had this to say when Gustavo Petro was declared the first left-wing candidate – ever – to win an election for leadership of the country: “Colombians, today the majority of citizens have chosen the other candidate. As I said during the campaign, I accept the results of the election.” That, Mr. Trump, is how it’s done in a free country. Petro, a former rebel and longtime senator, took more than 50% in Sunday’s election to Hernåndez’s 42%, The New York Times reports.
--Todd Lassa