(WED 11/23/22)
( NASA Artemis I program's Orion un-manned/womanned spacecraft entered the lunar sphere of influence Sunday, Nov. 20, and took this photo of the far side of the Moon Monday the 21st, before moving into distant retrograde orbit. The Artemis mission will continue with humans, including at least one woman, to return to the Moon’s surface in 2024.)
Finally, Trump “Audit” is Over -- The Supreme Court declined a request from Donald J. Trump to halt an opinion by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to allow House Ways & Means Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) to view six years of the former president’s tax records. Remember Trump telling voters he would release his income taxes as soon as an IRS audit was completed?
Never happened. In this case, Neal’s Ways & Means will get access to Trump’s personal returns and that of some of his businesses, Roll Call reports. SCOTUS issued an unsigned order with no explanation and no noted dissents. Neal requested the IRS records in 2019 under a law that allows the committee’s chairman to review any tax record. Ways & Means told SCOTUS that any delays could keep Neal from getting his hands on the records before the House of Representatives flips to Republican control in January.
Upshot: But if the GOP truly is ready to brush aside Trump for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, they might be ready to get their hands on the returns after all.
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Is GOP Leadership (Finally) Done with Trump? – Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is the only U.S. senator The Hill could find who is willing to support Donald J. Trump’s third run for the presidency. Tuberville, a rare beneficiary of Trump’s 2020 election coattails, called the ex-president “the leader America needs in 2024,” and has praised his administration’s track record. Trump’s otherwise most prominent Senate supporter, Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, has yet to endorse the ex-president’s ’24 run, but says he will be “hard to beat,” according to The Hill.
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Thanksgiving Week – Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelinskyy, addresses the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Monday, Politico Playback reports.
Other than presidential turkey pardons and the like, the only big date in the U.S. is Saturday, the 26th, when early voting begins in some Georgia counties for the runoff election between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker.
--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa