(THU 6/9/22)
It’s 1/6 House panel day … Tune in at 8 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Pacific Thursday on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and Fox Business to watch the House of Representatives’ Select Committee’s first public hearing on the January 6 Capitol insurrection. Tune in to Fox News to watch counter-programming on Tucker Carlson Tonight, where its host will likely try to cast the violent attack on the Capitol meant to force then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject the Electoral College vote for Joe Biden for president as some sort of populist “tourism.”
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House approves raising age to buy assault rifle … But it’s not likely to go anywhere in the Senate.
The House voted 223-204 to raise the age required to buy an assault rifle from 18 to 21 years old and to ban high-capacity magazines, NPR’s Morning Edition says. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) attacked the measure as an effort “to destroy the Second Amendment,” according to The Washington Post.
The vote followed wrenching testimony to Congress by survivors and relatives of victims of the Robb Elementary school attack in Uvalde, Texas, and the attack on Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, New York, last month. An 11-year-old girl who smeared blood from classmates at Robb Elementary to make the shooter think she was dead gave video testimony.
And Dr. Roy Guerrero, of Uvalde, described seeing children so “pulverized” and “decapitated” by bullets “that the only clue as to their identities was their blood-splattered cartoon clothes still clinging to them” (WaPo).
Meanwhile: President Biden took advantage of his attendance at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles Wednesday to appear on ABC-TV’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, where he told the host that gun regulation will be the primary argument Democrats candidates use against Republicans candidates in the midterm elections this November.
“You’ve got to make it clear you say it’s going to determine whether I vote for you,” the president told Kimmel.
--Edited by Todd Lassa and Nic Woods
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(WED 6/8/22)
Motorcade to 1/6 … Secret Service agents tried to secure a motorcade for then-President Trump so he could accompany his rally of 30,000 supporters to the Capitol on January 6, 2021, The Washington Post reports, quoting “two people briefed on witnesses’ accounts” to the House Select Committee investigating the insurrection.
“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol,” Trump told his supporters before their 1/6 march. The lame duck president had hoped to convince resistant Republican Congress members to overturn the Electoral College vote for Joe Biden.
District of Columbia police refused to block intersections for a Trump motorcade, WaPo says, and the president’s Secret Service detail leader determined that the request was “untenable and unsafe.”
Buckle your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy Thursday.
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Four of five Republicans who favored 1/6 panel win … Five of 35 House Republicans who voted to establish the Select committee to investigate the January 6 Capitol insurrection were up in Tuesday’s primaries, and four won outright, Politico reports. The fifth, Mississippi’s Rep. Michael Guest trailed challenger Michael Cassidy, 45.4% to 48.5%, and with neither reaching 50% will face each other in a runoff. The four winners are …
•South Dakota – Rep. Dusty Johnson, who took 59% of the vote in a race against Taffy Howard.
•New Jersey – Rep. Chris Smith, who took 58% of the vote.
•California – Rep. David Valadao won his primary.
•Iowa – Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks ran for the primary uncontested.
In Iowa’s Democratic primary for Senate, Michael Franken easily beat the presumed favorite, Abby Finkenauer, 55.1% to 40% to face seven-term Republican incumbent Chuck Grassley, who beat challenger Jim Carlin 73.4% to 26.4%.
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California centered … San Franciscans voted 61.3% to 38.7% to recall progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin, Politicoreports. Former public defender Boudin took office following other progressive San Francisco district attorneys, but faced a campaign heavily financed by police unions that blamed him for an increase in the crime rate during the pandemic, according to NPR’s Morning Edition, while The New York Times notes that Boudin’s progressive initiatives included elimination of cash bail, a vow to hold police accountable and efforts to send fewer people to prison.
Mayor of Los Angeles: Republican billionaire developer-turned-Democrat Rick Caruso led the race for Los Angeles mayor with 41% to progressive Democratic U.S. Rep. Karen Bass’ 38%, the Associated Press reports. L.A. Councilman Kevin de Leon was a distant third with 7%, followed by nine other candidates. Caruso and Bass face off in a runoff this fall.
Governor: Incumbent Democrat Gavin Newsom, who easily survived a recall last year after Boris Johnson-like pandemic partying, led 10 candidates in the non-partisan primary for governor, with 61.2% of the vote. This November Newsom will face Republican Brian Dahle, who scored 15.1% Tuesday, Ballotpedia reports.
U.S. Senate: Democrat Alex Padilla, appointed to fill Kamala Harris’ seat last year when Harris became vice president, will face Republican Mark Meuser in November. Padilla received 57.3% of the non-partisan primary vote to Mark Meuser’s 13%, according to Ballotpedia.
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FBI probes former general … The FBI has seized electronic data of former four-star Marine Gen. John R. Allen in connection with an investigation into efforts to help Qatar influence U.S. policy when the country faced a diplomatic crisis with its Middle-Eastern neighbors in 2017, the AP reports. Allen led U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan before leaving to become president of the Brookings Institution, also in 2017. Last week, Richard G. Olson, former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the case, and political donor Imaad Zuberi is already serving 12 years in federal prison on corruption charges in the case, AP says.
--Edited by Todd Lassa and Nic Woods
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(TUE 6/7/22)
Proud Boys, Proud Boys, whatcha gonna do … Lead members of far-right group the Proud Boys are in federal custody on charges of seditious conspiracy for their planning of and participation in the January 6 Capitol insurrection (per NPR’s Morning Edition). Those charged include the group’s chairman, Enrique Tarrio, who did not attend the riot, but allegedly led planning on the effort to halt Congress’ certification of Joe Biden as 46th president.
The 33-page indictment, unsealed Monday, also charges Proud Boys members Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola who allegedly used a group chat called “MOSD Leaders Group,” which Tarrio described as a “national rally planning committee,” and produced a document to occupy “crucial buildings” entitled “1776 Returns” (per The Guardian).
A hint of what’s to come?: The charge of seditious conspiracy is said to be very rare and very difficult to prove. Meanwhile, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said Monday that the House Select Committee investigating the insurrection and scheduled to begin public hearings Thursday evening has found evidence against ex-President Trump of “a lot more than incitement.”
‘Discrete’ in Georgia: The Washington Post Tuesday scoops it has uncovered a December 13, 2020, email from the Trump campaign elections operations director for Georgia Robert Sinners that instructed fake Republican electors planning to cast votes for the former president to operate in “complete secrecy.”
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Weaponizing food … Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya stomped out of a Security Council meeting Monday after European Council President Charles Michel accused the Kremlin of sparking a global food crisis with its invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reports. Russia and Ukraine normally supply nearly one-third of the world’s wheat supplies, and prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel, and fertilizer have skyrocketed since Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
Michel also accused Russia in the meeting of the 15-member Security Council of war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to Reuters. Speaking directly to Nebenzya as he stormed out, Michel said; “You may leave the room, maybe it’s easier not to listen to the truth.”
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Democratic candidate on Fox News … Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee running for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Patrick Toomey, who is retiring, will air his first campaign advertisements on Fox News, Politico reports. Fetterman casts himself as a “political outsider who has pushed for pro-working-class policies,” according to Politico, which has previewed the ads.
Facing a potential midterm slaughter, the hapless Democratic Party has otherwise shunned political ads on the right-wing news and commentary cable channel. Fetterman faces Dr. Mehmet Oz, Donald J. Trump’s candidate, in November after Oz’s primary opponent, David McCormick, conceded the razor-thin race last week.
--Edited by Todd Lassa and Nic Woods