(Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba Wednesday in Kyiv. Details below -- use the scrollbar to the right.)
THURSDAY 9/7/23
Navarro Guilty – A federal jury deliberated less than four hours to find former Trump advisor Peter Navarro guilty for two counts of criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over White House records and failing to testify before the House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection.
Navarro, 74, director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy for the Trump administration, is the second former aide to the ex-president to be prosecuted for failure to cooperate with the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. The committee subpoenaed Navarro in February 2022, seeking his testimony and have him turn over documents related to the investigation. Navarro argued he was shielded by executive privilege, but U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta dismissed that argument before the federal trial began.
Navarro, who says he will appeal the verdict, faces a maximum fine of $100,000 for each of the two counts, plus a minimum 30-day prison sentence per count up to a maximum of one year each, according to Law & Crime.
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Biden Heads to G20 – President Biden heads off to New Delhi Thursday evening for the Group of 20 summit in India to make a case that U.S. and like-minded allies are better economic security partners for developing and middle-income nations than China and its massive Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, The Associated Press reports. Biden will use the G20 to propose a $200-billion hike in World Bank and International Monetary Fund lending power to the emerging economies.
From India, the president will make a stop in Viet Nam before returning home.
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Texas Must Remove Rio Grande Buoys – Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and the state of Texas must remove buoys in the Rio Grande placed there as part of an effort to control the border with Mexico, Senior U.S. Judge David Alan Ezra ruled Wednesday (USA Today). Removal of the buoys, which reportedly have injured and even killed some immigrants trying to breach the border into Texas, may be temporary, as Abbott promises to appeal the ruling.
Ezra said the U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit filed in July to stop Abbott and Texas, will “likely succeed on the merits.”
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Hunter Biden Indictment This Month – Special counsel David Weiss is expected to indict Hunter Biden in late September, The New York Times reports, citing a three-page update filed in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware. The update lays out plans to bring charges related to Biden’s purchase of a pistol in 2018.
Prosecutors say Biden lied on a federal form stating he was not using drugs at the time. The president’s son is also being investigated over his business dealings and whether he paid taxes on all his income.
Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, signed a statement that he would challenge any effort to proceed with a trial, arguing that an agreement reached over the summer “remains valid and prevents any additional charges from being filed.”
After the plea agreement was scuttled in July, Attorney Gen. Merrick Garland elevated David Weiss – who began his investigation of Hunter Biden during the Trump administration – to special counsel in the case.
--TL
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WEDNESDAY 9/6/23
Blinken Visits Ukraine – Secretary of State Antony Blinken (pictured above) laid a wreath at a cemetery for Ukrainian soldiers lost in the war with Russia, in a surprise visit to the country Wednesday. Meanwhile, Russian forces fired missiles at the eastern city of Kostiantynivka in one of the deadliest attacks in recent months, in a city with no obvious military significance, The Washington Post reports.
Quote: “We want to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs, not only to succeed in the counteroffensive, but has what it needs for the long term, to make sure that it has a strong deterrent,” Blinken said in a meeting with Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv.
More aid: Blinken is to announce roughly $1 billion in new U.S. aid for military, financial and humanitarian needs, according to NPR’s Morning Edition.
The visit, and the additional aid, comes as pro-MAGA Republicans in Congress, as well as presidential candidates Donald J. Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy call for an end to military aid to Ukraine. Traditional and moderate Republicans, including presidential candidates Mike Pence, Niki Haley and Chris Christie have voiced support for U.S. aid to Ukraine in its defense against the Russian invasion.
ICYMI: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last Sunday announced plans to replace Ukraine’s defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, who resigned before he could be fired. The move is reportedly over alleged corruption in the procurement of military supplies. Reznikov’s replacement is Rustem Umerov, head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine.
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Record Sentence for Tarrio – Ex-national chairman of the (“stand back and stand by”) Proud Boys Enrique Tarrio was sentenced Tuesday to 22 years in prison for “spearheading” a plot to stop the January 6th certification of Electoral College ballots for President Biden (The Hill). Though prosecutors had sought the maximum 33-year sentence for Tarrio’s May conviction of sedition and other serious charges, his sentence still exceeds the 18 years each for Oath Keepers’ chief Stewart Rhodes and for his own lieutenant, Ethan Nordean.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly: “That day broke our previously unbroken tradition of peacefully transferring power, which is the most precious thing that we had as Americans. That previously unbroken tradition is broken now. It’s going to take time and effort to fix it.”
Tarrio: “Changing the results of an election was not my goal.”
Kelly said he found no indication Tarrio was remorseful “of the actual things he was convicted of.”
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Alabama Back to the Drawing Board? – Alabama is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court a lower court ruling that found a map of congressional districts appears to violate the Voting Rights Act by diluting Black voters’ power (NPR’s Morning Edition).
U.S. Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus and U.S. District judges Anna Manasco and Terry Moorer struck down Alabama’s latest map – its second attempt after the Supreme Court ruled against its first attempt. The state plans to formally ask SCOTUS to put a pause on the ruling, which assigns court-appointed experts to draw three potential maps that include two districts in which Black voters “have a realistic opportunity of electing their preferred candidates,” according to NPR.
The maps are due to the court by September 25, but Alabama has formally asked SCOTUS to put a hold on the ruling.
Swing vote?: SCOTUS found against the Alabama’s first redistricting map in a 5-4 vote last June with Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts joining the majority. The state clearly is counting on Kavanaugh siding with conservatives this time.
--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa