(CBS News/YouGov poll)

President Biden has refused to comment on his predecessor’s 37 criminal charges for keeping classified documents at the Mar-a-Lago compound in Florida. But that has not prevented Donald J. Trump to refer to last week’s indictment as a “witch hunt” by the Biden Justice Department. 

As the latest CBS News/YouGov poll shows, there is a huge schism between the issues  that never-Trumpers lingering within the party and pro-MAGA Republicans believe should be points of attack against Biden in next year’s presidential election race. 

What do you think? Whether you lean left or right, we want to hear from you. Post your civilly stated Comments below or in the right column, as appropriate for your leanings, or email editors@thehustings.news.

_____

MONDAY 6/12/23

‘Witch Hunt’ Defense, Again – Donald J. Trump’s reaction to his federal grand jury indictment last week over confidential/top secret government documents he (allegedly) took to Mar-a-Lago from the White House in January 2021 was right out of the ex-prez’s standard playbook, and it was good enough for his rabid supporters. 

“In the end, they’re not coming after me,” he said, speaking at both the Georgia state GOP convention and the North Carolina state GOP convention. “And I’m just … standing in the way.”

Beside potentially unleashing violent supporters, if history is any guide, Trump’s boilerplate is likely to seriously hike donations to his campaign.

Potential danger: Resulting “calls to action and threats have been amplified on right-wing media sites and have been met by supportive responses from social media users and cheers from crowds,” The New York Times reports. Secret Service and local police have intensified security at the Miami courthouse where Trump will be formally indicted. 

But at the Georgia GOP convention, Trump’s fellow failed election denier, Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake issued this warning, per NYT: “I have a message tonight for Merrick Garland and Jack Smith and Joe Biden – and the guys back there in the fake news media, you should listen up as well, this one is for you. If you want to get to President Trump, you are going to have to go through me, and you are going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me. And I’m going to tell you, most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA. … That’s not a threat, that’s a public service announcement.”

Bill Barr on Trump: The ex-president’s former secretary of state told Fox News of the indictment of his former boss: “If even half of it is true, he’s toast.” (Per Semafor.)

John Bolton on Trump: The ex-president’s national security advisor from 2018 to 2019 told NPR’s Morning Edition; “I think this is a potentially catastrophic turn of events for him. It should be. … It should put Trump in jail for a long time.”

Bolton says if Trump wanted the confidential material to write a book, there are federal government protocols for that. “It really is a national security issue.”

The former national security advisor (and UN ambassador under President George W. Bush) added, “The government has to prove it, and I hope they do it soon.” Bolton conceded that Trump will try to delay the trial until after the 2024 presidential election under the prospect he could win and pardon himself. 

•••

NATO Chief at White House – President Biden welcomes North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary Gen. Jens Stoltenberg Monday to discuss the war in Ukraine and next month’s NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. Stoltenberg’s term is up, and NATO leaders will vote on his replacement at the summit. At their meeting in Washington last week, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak lobbied for his defense minister, Ben Wallace, to replace Stoltenberg.

•••

This Week – The Labor Department releases the May Consumer Price Index Tuesday. While “headline” inflation has come down from last year’s record highs, core inflation remains “in a narrow range,” Forbes previews.

Up on The Hill: The House of Representatives and Senate are in session Monday through Thursday. The Senate only is in session Friday.

•••

Brief Obit: Berlusconi – Media mogul and “proto-populist” Silvio Berlusconi, who served as Italy’s prime minister on-and-off between 1994 through 2001, and again from 2008 to 2011, has died, age 86. He was on one hand, a preternatural Trump-like politician with his own sex scandal and well-publicized “bunga bunga” parties, who spoke of the “upside” of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. On the other hand, Berlusconi was not a sore loser the three times he was voted out, Corriere della Seraeditor and editorial writer Beppe Severghini wrote in a November 10, 2020, NYT guest editorial.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, are “staying quiet” on former President Trump’s 37 criminal charges over Mar-a-Lagogate. McConnell has told his GOP colleagues that he wants the party to turn the page on Trump, The Hillreports. Republican Whip John Thune (SD) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) also have said they don’t want Trump to be the GOP nominee again in 2024.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) wasted no time issuing statements last Thursday calling the Justice Department indictments “political.”

What do you think? Whether you lean right or left, we want to hear from you (including “pro-MAGA” conservatives). Post your civilly stated Comments below or in the left column, as appropriate for your leanings, or email editors@thehustings.news.

(CBS News/YouGov poll)

Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, are “staying quiet” on former President Trump’s 37 criminal charges over […]

Trump-appointed Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh voted with the majority in a surprise 5-4 Supreme Court ruling upholding an Alabama district court ruling that struck down a Republican voting district map, SCOTUSblog reports. Chief Justice John Roberts also joined associate justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elana Kagan and Ketanji Brown-Jackson in Allen v. Caster. Scroll down for more details in the center column.

We welcome your civil comments on this and other issues. Hit the Comment section in the left or right column or email editors@thehustings.news.

Also on this page, below …

•Lordy, There Are Tapes – Special Counsel on the Mar-a-Lago classified document case Jack Smith reportedly has a tape of Donald J. Trump acknowledging that he held on to a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran near the end of his presidency, according to CNN and The New York Times.

•Incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Wins Runoff – Notching another victory for authoritarianism over liberal democracy?

_____

FRIDAY 6/9/23

(PHOTO: Special Counsel Jack Smith unsealed the Justice Department's 49-page indictment of Donald J. Trump over the former president's alleged retention of classified documents, Friday. Smith promised a speedy trial, to be held in the Southern District of Florida.)

UPDATE: Evidence behind Donald J. Trump's indictment includes a 2021 audio recording in which he says of an apparently secret document, "As president, I could have declassified it, but now I can't." This from The Washington Post quoting "a person familiar with a transcript of the remarks." It has become increasingly apparent, WaPo reports, that Trump's own words could serve as the most severe evidence against him.

Ex-President Trump says he will surrender to court Tuesday after being indicted by a Florida grand jury on seven counts in the case of classified documents stashed at his Mar-a-Lago compound after he left the White House. Charges include conspiracy to obstruct justice, willful retention of documents in violation of the Espionage Act, false statements and a conspiracy count, people familiar with the indictment told The New York Times.

Trump attorney Jim Trusty told CNN the legal team had not been shown the indictment itself, but that a summary commanding the former president to appear in court contained language that suggests the counts would include obstructing an official effort and witness tampering or other means of obstructing an official proceeding,

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Russian soldiers in Eastern Ukraine are shooting at rescuers working to save people from the flood zone below the broken Kakhovka dam, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskyy, who stresses that the disaster will not stop Ukraine from liberating its territory nor “increase the chances of occupiers staying on the land.”

Zelenskyy also has blasted the reaction of the UN and Red Cross to the dam’s destruction, saying international organizations should join in evacuating people from villages and cities.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) earlier in the week clashed over the issue of continued funding of Ukraine’s defense against Russian forces.

McCarthy on Monday said he opposed a supplemental spending bill that would include additional financial and military aid to Ukraine over the spending limits imposed by the bipartisan debt ceiling compromise. McConnell countered in a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday that the bipartisan debt deal is “Simply insufficient given the major challenges that our nation faces.” McConnell called out threats from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, “and terrorists emboldened by America’s retreat from Afghanistan.”

Do you agree with Minority Leader McConnell or Speaker McCarthy? We want to hear from you. Hit the Comment section in the right or left column or email editors@thehustings.news.

_____

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) called President Biden and his team “very professional, very smart, very tough” in negotiations over the debt limit ceiling, according to The New York Times.

What’s your take on the whole debt ceiling folderol? Whether you lean left or right, we want to hear from you. Become a Citizen Pundit by going to the Comment section in this column, or the one on the right, or email editors@thehustings.news. As always, please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

Other recent issues up for debate include:

•Lordy, There Are Tapes – Special Counsel on the Mar-a-Lago classified document cache Jack Smith reportedly has a tape of Donald J. Trump acknowledging that he held on to a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran near the end of his presidency, according to CNN and The New York Times.

•Incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Wins Runoff – Notching another victory for authoritarianism over liberal democracy?

Ukraine to Negotiate Peace Without Putin – Ukraine and NATO allies are planning a peace summit without Russia, according to The Wall Street Journal. The summit will be aimed at Kyiv’s terms for ending the war and is to be held ahead of a meeting of NATO nations planned for July. 

•DeSantis Announces on Twitter – And it was not pretty.

_____

(PHOTO: Destruction of the Kakhova Hydroelectric Power Plant has flooded towns and villages in Eastern Ukraine https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/ )

THURSDAY 6/8/23

SCOTUS Surprise – The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against a 2022 Alabama voting map that would have prevented a second majority-Black district in the state, according to NPR, with Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh serving as the swing vote according to SCOTUSblog. The decision that reverses a recent court trend of eroding the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

One of three Trump-appointed justices, Kavanaugh joined Chief Justice John Roberts and associate justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elana Kagan and Ketanji Brown-Jackson in upholding an Alabama district court’s injunction against the district map in Allen v. Caster. The three-judge district court found that the plan likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 

•••

Russian Forces Shoot Rescuers, Zelinskyy Says – Russian soldiers in Eastern Ukraine are shooting at rescuers working to save people from the flood zone below the broken Kakhovka dam.

“From the roofs of the flooded houses, people see drowned people floating by,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskyy told Germany’s BildSemafor reports. “When our forces try to get them out, they are shot at by occupiers from a distance.” 

The apparent attack on the dam by Russia, coming as a long-awaited offensive by Ukrainian forces was about to begin, has caused at least 1,800 local citizens to be evacuated. Hundreds of thousands are without water, according to reports. 

Destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant has “caused an ecological catastrophe,” Ukrainska Pravda reports. “Water from the reservoirs has begun to flood towns and villages, and evacuation of local residents from dangerous areas has begun. The blowing up of the dam at [the KHPP] has caused problems with the water supply in the cities of Kryvyi Rih, Marhanets and Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.”

Zelinskyy stresses that the disaster will not stop Ukraine from liberating its territory nor “increase the chances of occupiers staying on the land.”

Ukraine’s president also has blasted the reaction of the UN and Red Cross to the dam’s destruction, saying international organizations should join in evacuating people from villages and cities.

Biden meets Sunak: In Washington, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak meets with President Biden Thursday largely to discuss the war in Ukraine, NPR reports. Sunak is lobbying for appointment of UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace to become the next head of NATO.

McCarthy’s unfortunate timing?: Monday, before the dam broke, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) voiced opposition to a supplemental spending bill that would include additional financial and military aid to Ukraine, as Freedom Caucus members threatened revolt over what they consider a debt ceiling bill favorable to the White House. Politico reported a “schism” between McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who took to the Senate floor Tuesday to call the bipartisan debt deal “Simply insufficient given the major challenges that our nation faces.”

McConnell called out threats from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, “and terrorists emboldened by America’s retreat from Afghanistan.”

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) told Politico he supports a supplemental defense spending bill, but, “There’s a conflict in the messages coming from the two Republican leaders,” he said.

Pence-Trump schism: In his Quixotic quest for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, former Vice President Mike Pence will play up his side of the Republican schism. In his CNN Town Hall appearance Wednesday, Pence noted Donald J. Trump’s description of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as “genius” in a 2022 radio interview. 

“I know the difference between a genius and a war criminal, and I know who needs to win the war in Ukraine,” Pence countered, adding “it’s not our war, but freedom is our fight.”

•••

Trump Indictment Imminent? – Prosecutors from the office of Special Counsel Jack Smith have told Donald J. Trump’s legal team the former president is a target of their investigation involving the handling of classified documents after he left office, The New York Times reports, citing two sources. While the report says it remains unclear whether he was the subject of the special counsel’s inquiry, their notification indicates the prosecutors’ investigation is nearly complete and that an indictment is on the way. 

Trump’s caps key still sticks: The former president’s reaction, coming on his social media network Truth Social, will sound familiar. 

“No one has told me I’m being indicted, and I shouldn’t be because I’ve done NOTHING wrong,” according to The Hill’s report. Trump said he “assumed for years that I am a Target of the WEAPONIZED DOJ & FBI.” 

And along comes Pence: Former Vice President Mike Pence used the time on his CNN Town Hall Wednesday to describe the differences between himself, a true “Reagan Republican” and his former boss as well as the current Florida governor, Ron DeSantis. Pence’s sales pitch to his party so far appears to be that he was the moral compass Trump’s 2016 campaign needed to secure the Christian right’s vote, and in 2024 that support should flow directly to him.

But Pence on CNN urged the Justice Department not to indict the former president, saying an indictment would fuel division domestically and “send a terrible message to the wider world.” 

While “No one is above the law” he said, the DOJ could resolve the issue without resorting to an indictment, noting that the Justice Department simply informed his attorneys last week they would not charge him for holding on to classified documents. Never mind that Pence did not intentionally hold on to and hide classified documents after leaving office and did not try to declassify them by thinking about declassifying them.

--TL

_______________________________________________

WEDNESDAY 6/7/23

Meadows Speaks to Grand Jury – Ex-President Trump’s ultimate chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has testified before a federal grand jury hearing evidence in both the January 6th insurrection and the retention of top secret documents at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, The New York Times reported late Tuesday. Special prosecutor Jack Smith is investigating both cases. Trump attorneys reportedly are concerned that Meadows, who has been flying under the media radar for months, may have made some sort of deal in exchange for testimony over the two cases.

•••

Take That, Mr. Speaker – A “band” of hard-right House members, most with the Trump-aligned House Freedom Caucus voted against legislation “protecting” gas stoves from perceived potential government bans, according to Politico, because they were protesting Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) deal with President Biden to prevent default over the debt ceiling. 

To be clear; there is no such pending legislation. And to be clear, the House’s MAGA-right would be as opposed as anyone on the Hill to said non-pending legislation to outlaw gas stoves. But the Trump-aligned House Republicans were willing to protest the bill anyway. The unexpected “rebellion” took senior GOP House leaders an hour to clear up, according to the report. Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) told reporters no decision has been made whether to force a vote to oust McCarthy as speaker.

•••

Crowd Gathers in GOP Presidential Race -- Chris Christie served two terms as New Jersey’s moderate Republican governor before he signed on with Donald J. Trump’s MAGA camp in the last decade. Now he’s back as “chief Trump antagonist” according to The Wall Street Journal. Christie formally announced his candidacy Tuesday in New Hampshire, first GOP primary next year after the Iowa caucuses. 

Next up is Pence: Former Vice President Mike Pence filed Monday for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination and plans to formally announce Wednesday in Iowa, according to Forbes.

Sunu-no: Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, current moderate Republican Gov. Chris Sununu announced in a Washington Postop-ed “I will not be seeking the Republican nomination for president in 2024.” Last year, Sununu disappointed supporters when he chose not to run for the Senate against incumbent Democrat Margaret Hassan. 

Sununu writes, “I believe I can have more influence on the future of the Republican Party in the 2024 nominating process not as a candidate but as the governor of the first-in-the-nation primary state.”

West to the leftFormer Harvard University Prof. Cornell West, who is also professor emeritus at Princeton University announced his candidacy on Twitter, Politico reports.

“I have decided to run for truth and justice, which takes the form of running for president of the United States as a candidate for the People’s Party,” West said in his announcement. 

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_______________________________________________

TUESDAY 6/6/23

SCOTUS This – The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider Vidal v. Elster, a case that challenges a rule that would let former President Trump prevent his name from being used on t-shirts without his permission. Specifically, Steve Elster seeks a trademark for the words “Trump Too Small” in order to print them on t-shirts.

The phrase comes from Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) quip in a Republican presidential debate that The Donald has “small hands” – indicating, according to bathroom talk lore – that some of his other vital parts are small, too. Elster contends the phrase was “intended to convey that some features of President Trump and his policies are diminutive,” SCOTUSblog’s Amy Howe first reported in her own online publication, Howe on the Court.

You know: Small hands. Small other parts. Never got more than a handful of panels of The Wall constructed.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark office rejected Elster’s application, relying on a federal trademark law, Section 2 (c) of the Lanham Act, that prohibits the registration of a trademark that uses another person’s name without that person’s permission.

Rubio v. Spy: The Hustings for a long time has contended that Rubio’s shot in the debate that Trump has “small hands” was some sort of bastardization of an-oft printed Spy magazine trope that the then-New York real estate developer (this was the late-‘80s/early ‘90s, kids) was a “short-fingered vulgarian.” This conjurs more an image of greasy con man than that of the over-compensating under-endowed.

Spy turned this into something of a preternatural meme, consistently on first-reference calling the future president “Short-fingered vulgarian Donald Trump …”

--TL

_______________________________________________

Meanwhile ... Anticipating Ukraine's Counteroffensive

MONDAY 6/5/23

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskyy told The Wall Street Journal Ukraine’s military forces are ready to launch its counter-offensive against Russian troops, but warned that it could take some time, and come at a heavy cost. 

“We strongly believe that we will succeed,” he told the WSJ in an exclusive interview from the port city of Odesa in southern Ukraine. “I don’t know how long it will take. To be honest, it can go a variety of ways, completely different. But we are going to do it, and we are ready.”

Ukraine’s long-awaited counter-offensive is nothing less than key to the future of liberal democracy against authoritarianism. There is no plausible way to defend any of Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s actions in regard to Ukraine, whether or not from a center-column point-of-view.

Last week as the Senate sent the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 to the Oval Office for President Biden’s signature, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called for more defense spending for Ukraine as part of a rider Republicans attached to the bill, which extends the federal debt ceiling to New Years Day 2025. 

Graham also wants more defense spending for Taiwan, Israel and the Pentagon in general. What’s notable here is that Graham has been largely unwavering in his support of former President Trump, who refused to take sides in Russia v. Ukraine last month in his CNN Town Hall event. 

Trump told his adoring pro-MAGA live crowd in New Hampshire that he wanted the “dying to stop” for both sides, though he failed to mention that the only Russians dying have been those who have helped Russia invade its neighbor. Many of them recruited by the Wagner Group. From prisons where they were serving time.

•••

Meanwhile, Up on the Hill – The full House of Representatives only, is scheduled to be in session Monday, with both chambers in session Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The full Senate, only, will be in session Friday.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

President Biden, who has been a key player in our federal government for more than 50 years, found that his younger, far less experienced counterpart in the debt ceiling negotiations knows something about compromise – a rare quality found in recent American politics. In his national address from the Oval Office last Friday evening, Biden had this to say about House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA): “He and I, we and our teams, we were able to get along, get things done.” 

What do you think of the deal McCarthy and Biden reached days before an expected collapse of the American economy? Whether you lean right or left, we want to hear from you. Become a Citizen Pundit by going to the Comment section in this column, or the one on the left, or email editors@thehustings.news. As always, please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

Other recent issues up for debate include:

•Lordy, There Are Tapes – Special Counsel on the Mar-a-Lago classified document cache Jack Smith reportedly has a tape of Donald J. Trump acknowledging that he held on to a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran near the end of his presidency, according to CNN and The New York Times.

•Incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Wins Runoff – Notching another victory for authoritarianism over liberal democracy?

Ukraine to Negotiate Peace Without Putin – Ukraine and NATO allies are planning a peace summit without Russia, according to The Wall Street Journal. The summit will be aimed at Kyiv’s terms for ending the war and is to be held ahead of a meeting of NATO nations planned for July. 

•DeSantis Announces on Twitter – And it was not pretty.

_____

College graduates must begin paying student loans again, coronavirus relief money not spent must be reimbursed to the federal government and more people receiving welfare must find jobs, though this will make more people eligible for government relief, in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 passed by Congress and headed for President Biden’s desk Friday. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has praised the Biden team’s acumen in negotiating the debt ceiling bill, and many left-leaning pundits say Democrats came out ahead in this one.

What do you think? Be a Citizen Pundit and hit the Comment section below or in the right column if more appropriate for your political leanings, or email editors@thehustings.news and list yourself as “liberal” or “conservative” in the subject line.

Scroll down for more …

•Lordy, There Are Tapes – Special Counsel on the Mar-a-Lago classified document cache Jack Smith reportedly has a tape of Donald J. Trump acknowledging that he held on to a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran near the end of his presidency, according to CNN and The New York Times.

•Incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Wins Runoff – Notching another victory for authoritarianism over liberal democracy?

Ukraine to Negotiate Peace Without Putin – Ukraine and NATO allies are planning a peace summit without Russia, according to The Wall Street Journal. The summit will be aimed at Kyiv’s terms for ending the war and is to be held ahead of a meeting of NATO nations planned for July. 

•DeSantis Announces on Twitter – And it was not pretty.

_____

FRIDAY 6/2/23

Employers added a higher-than-anticipated 339,000 jobs to the U.S. economy in May, the Labor Department reported Friday, though the unemployment rate inched up to 3.7%, from 3.4% in April. Biggest job gains were in professional and business services, government, health care, construction, transportation and warehousing and social assistance. 

On top of Senate passage of the bill to raise the debt ceiling, Wall Street reacted very positively to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ jobs report Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 1.8% before noon.

Scroll down…this column to read about how Congress finally averted federal government debt default.

•••

QoTY (so far) – “The Kremlin often claimed it had the second strongest military in the world, and many believed it. Today, many see Russia’s military as the second-strongest in Ukraine.” – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, per Business Ukraine.

--Todd Lassa

_____

Despite winning only a wafer-thin majority in the House and failing to convert the Senate after the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy were able to force concessions on President Biden’s budget direction upon threat of federal debt default. Opinions vary on how much ahead congressional Republicans came out on this struggle, though McCarthy is being praised in conservative circles for winning new spending limits in exchange for suspension of the ceiling through January 1, 2025. It is also something of a blow to Biden’s reverse-Reaganomics agenda. 

What do you think? Be a Citizen Pundit and hit the Comment section below or in the left column if more appropriate for your political leanings, or email editors@thehustings.news and list yourself as “conservative” or “liberal” in the subject line.

Scroll down for more …

•Lordy, There Are Tapes – Special Counsel on the Mar-a-Lago classified document cache Jack Smith reportedly has a tape of Donald J. Trump acknowledging that he held on to a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran near the end of his presidency, according to CNN and The New York Times.

•Incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Wins Runoff – Notching another victory for authoritarianism over liberal democracy?

Ukraine to Negotiate Peace Without Putin – Ukraine and NATO allies are planning a peace summit without Russia, according to an exclusive by The Wall Street Journal. The summit will be aimed at Kyiv’s terms for ending the war and is to be held ahead of a meeting of NATO nations planned for July. 

•DeSantis Announces on Twitter – And it was not pretty.

_____

Some Democrats are concerned President Biden will spend Memorial Day weekend at Camp David while Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and his negotiators remain in Washington to work on a debt ceiling bill, NPR reports, while progressive Democrats would prefer the president would not negotiate at all, and potentially give up hard-fought gains on social safety net programs. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), meanwhile, holds to his position that the White House should fix the problem by invoking the 14th Amendment.

Whether you’re moderate, liberal or progressive, or a reader from the right, we want to hear from you. Comment below, or in the right column or email editors@thehustings.news and indicate how you lean politically in the subject line so we can post your thoughts in the appropriate column.

Also up for discussion:

Should Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) resign early and potentially hand the 2024 Democratic primary for her seat to Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)?

The Consumer Price Index was up 4.9% in April, still too high for the Federal Reserve, but reflecting a slow and continuing improvement over last year. Meanwhile, the Labor Department reported a week earlier that the U.S. economy added 253,000 jobs in April, higher than most economists had predicted. This comes after the Fed indicated its latest quarter-point interest rate hike might be its last for a while. All these high numbers could be fond memories of our 2023 economy if Congress fails to pass a debt ceiling increase in coming weeks.

A Manhattan court awarded E. Jean Carroll $5 million in her sexual abuse and defamation case against Donald J. Trump, who of course, will appeal.

_____

FRIDAY 6/2/23

It is Done – All but President Biden’s signature, coming with a weekend to spare before Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s deadline for averting economic catastrophe. Now all is left is for Fox News pundits to repeatedly declare Republican victory while MSNBC pundits do the same for Democrats and the White House. 

The vote: Perhaps closer than it needed to be, 63-36. The bill suspends the $31.4-trillion debt ceiling to January 1, 2025, and places a two-year cap on discretionary spending.

The quote: “It is so good for this country that both parties have come together at last to avoid default.” – Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

The irony?: After the Senate voted down 11 amendments for fear the bill would have to go back to the House for reconciliation, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell sought a commitment to take up a supplemental funding bill, according to Roll Call. A supplemental to increase funding for a bill Republicans sought to cut spending from the Biden agenda. 

This is, for Republicans, a matter of defense spending vs. domestic spending.

“We’ll be here ‘til Tuesday until I get commitments that we’re going to rectify some of these problems,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who wants to ensure more funding for the Pentagon, Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel.

Counting the oppo: Five Democratic senators and 31 Republicans voted against the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. Here is the list, from The Hill:

Democrats:

•John Fetterman, Pennsylvania

•Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts

•Jeff Merkley, Oregon

•Bernie Sanders, Vermont (Independent, but caucuses with the Democrats)

Republicans:

•John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming

•Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee

•Mike Braun, Indiana

•Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville, Alabama

•Ted Budd, North Carolina

•Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy, Louisiana

•Tom Cotton, Arkansas

•Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, Idaho

•Ted Cruz, Texas

•Steve Daines, Montana

•Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts, Nebraska

•Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, South Carolina

•Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt, Missouri

•Cindy Hyde-Smith and Roger Wicker, Mississippi

•Ron Johnson, Wisconsin

•James Lankford, Oklahoma

•Mike Lee, Utah

•Roger Marshall, Kansas

•Rand Paul, Kentucky

•Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, Florida

•Dan Sullivan, Alaska

•J.D. Vance, Ohio

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_______________________________________________

...meanwhile...

THURSDAY 6/1/23

Debt Ceiling Bill Clears House – Democrats moved quickly to fill in when 29 hard-right Republican congressmembers voted against a procedure to advance the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 to the floor for a vote. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) held up a green card indicating to his caucus they should vote with the majority of Republicans in order to push the procedure past the 218 votes needed to pass. 

And with that, the House went on to pass the bill with a bipartisan 314-117 vote, The Hill reports. “Nay” votes break down to 71 Republicans and 46 Democrats. The bill covers the debt ceiling until January 1, 2025, when President Biden and staff will be writing his second inaugural address or preparing to turn over the White House keys to his Republican challenger.

Speaker McCarthy’s future might be far less certain, as dissenting Republicans are not tamping down talk of whether a single congressmember might move to vacate him.

But don’t tarry; on to the Senate: Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) expects to bring the bill to the Senate floor Friday, three days ahead of potential federal government default. 

•••

Republican Candidates on Deck – Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie plans to announce his candidacy for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination before the end of this week in New Hampshire, his 2016 campaign’s Waterloo. Former Vice President Mike Pence plans to announce next Wednesday, Axios reports.

•••

Lordy … There is a Tape – Federal prosecutors have obtained an audio tape recording of ex-President Trump acknowledging that he held on to a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran near the end of his presidency, multiple sources have told CNN. In the recording, sources said, Trump said he would like to share information about an attack on Iran, but he is aware of limitations on his ability, post-president, to declassify records, two of the sources told the cable news network. 

The recording reportedly was made at Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club by communications specialist Margo Martin between the former president and two people working on former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ book. 

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump allegedly holding on to classified documents he should have turned over to the National Archives when he left the White House in 2021 is said to be nearing its end. No indictments have been issued so far.

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 5/31/23

House Rules Moves Debt Ceiling Bill, But … The Rules Committee voted 7-6 to move the debt ceiling compromise bill to the full House, which is set to vote on it Wednesday. “Libertarian-minded” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) provided the crucial seventh vote, The Washington Post reports. But as many as 30 House Republicans on Wednesday could vote against the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 negotiated between President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). 

While the punditocracy debates which side won this fight to avoid economic disaster by averting government default, “roughly a dozen” members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus took to a Capitol Hill news conference to criticize the deal McCarthy made with Biden, according to the WaPo. Some progressive Democrats have slammed Biden for giving up too much, though the criticism is starting to look like sandbagging to cover for a very experienced negotiator. A sufficient number of House Democrats – perhaps all 213 – certainly will fill in for 30 or so Freedom Caucus members casting “nay” votes. 

Upshot: That doesn’t leave McCarthy off the Freedom Caucus hook. As we’ve all learned from his drawn-out 15-ballot election to become speaker last February, it takes only one House member to move to vacate him from that role, and MAGA-minded Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) has refused to rule out such a move.

•••

Ukraine to Negotiate Peace Without Putin – Ukraine and NATO allies are planning a peace summit without Russia, according to an exclusive by The Wall Street Journal. The summit will be aimed at Kyiv’s terms for ending the war and is to be held ahead of a meeting of NATO nations planned for July.

--TL

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TUESDAY 5/30/23

House Takes Up Debt Ceiling Bill – Speaker Kevin McCarthy says the full House will take up the debt ceiling bill negotiated with the White House last week, the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, on Wednesday. But first, the House Rules Committee, led by a 9-4 Republican majority must move the bill forward. Three members of the Freedom Caucus who sit on Rules could potentially stick up the bill: Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX), Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Thomas Massie (R-KY).

McCarthy wants the bill to advance as-is, but Norman told NPR the bill would have to go to the full House Wednesday with amendments.

“The bill as-is is unacceptable,” Norman told Morning Edition.

Upshot: McCarthy appointed the three Freedom Caucus members to the Rules Committee in exchange for their support to become speaker.

•••

Up on The Hill – Only the full Senate was scheduled to be in session Tuesday through Friday this week, but the House will be in session for part of the week to try and advance the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 ahead of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s June 5 federal default ETA.

•••

Drone Attack Hits Moscow – A drone attack hit Moscow Tuesday morning, “just hours” after a “barrage” of Russian airstrikes killed one and injured more than a dozen in Kyiv, The Washington Post reports, “a prelude to a major escalation in hostilities.” It also comes ahead of Ukraine’s anticipated offensive to push Russian troops back across the Dnipro River. Moscow Mayor Sergei Subyanin confirmed the attack, which damaged two residential buildings.

UPDATE -- Russia claims at least eight drone attacks by Ukraine, calling them "terrorist attacks." (Per NPR)

•••

Trump Attorney Says He Was Diverted from Classified Docs – Trump attorney Evan Corcoran said he was told classified documents taken by the former president would be found only in Mar-a-Lago’s storeroom, according to a scoop in The Guardian. Corcoran was waived off from searching elsewhere at the Florida compound, including Donald J. Trump’s office, where the FBI found the most sensitive material anywhere on the property in their search last summer. Thirty-eight classified documents were found in the storage room.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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Memorial Day 2023

Who Won the Debt Ceiling Fight? -- Neither Republicans nor Democrats on Capitol Hill are likely to be terribly satisfied with the Biden-McCarthy deal to lift the $31.4-trillion federal debt ceiling through the next presidential election. Even before the 99-page bill was released late Sunday progressive Democrats expressed disappointment that the White House was willing to negotiate at all over its hard-fought agenda. 

Meanwhile, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) told the eponymous host of MSNBC’s Inside with Jen Psaki there may not be enough Republican support to pass the bill, taking away the potential victory from the only clear winner, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Last week, Yellen eased up on her warning that the government could run out of money to pay its bills by June 1, by four days, to June 5. 

The deal raises the debt limit through January 2025, in time for either another default showdown with a re-elected President Biden or a new round of cuts with his Republican challenger if successful. In Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) bill narrowly passed in the House last April, HR 2811, the debt ceiling would have been covered to 2033.

The deal that now will go to the full House and Senate keeps non-defense spending essentially flat through fiscal year 2024, the Associated Press reports, and raises it by 1% in FY25. It would match Biden’s defense budget proposal for FY24 at $886 billion and fund non-defense spending at $704 billion. It aims to limit federal budgetary growth to 1% per year for the next six years, beginning in FY25.

Other provisions:

Gives special treatment to West Virginia’s Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline, the subject of a fight with environmental groups for years. While this is not treated as the lead provision elsewhere, it demands mention at the top of our list as a concession to the state’s senators, especially moderate-right Democrat Joe Manchin (the junior senator is Republican Shelley Moore Caputo). 

The above Robert Byrdian item is in conjunction with a provision that simplifies some requirements for environmental reviews. It would simplify environmental assessments and impact statements, giving environmental agencies one year to complete, or up to two years for “complex” impacts on the environment. Though a longtime item on Republicans’ wish lists, the GOP removed this item from the White House’s Inflation Reduction Act in retaliation against Manchin for supporting the IRA in the first place.

Rescinds about $30 billion in unspent coronavirus relief funds.

Rescinds $1.4 billion in new Internal Revenue Service funding targeted to tax fraud. In all, $21.4 billion of $80 billion in additional funding to the IRS would be rescinded. 

•Expands work requirements for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP – formerly food stamps).

Fully funds medical care for veterans at levels included in Bidens FY24 blueprint, including $20.3 billion in funds for veterans exposed to toxic substances.

Left in-tact: No new work requirements for some Medicaid recipients, no repeal of the clean energy tax credit.

Biden“Good news. The agreement prevents the worst possible crisis, a default, for the first time in our nation’s history.”

McCartby: “At the endo of the day, people can work together to be able to pass this.”

•••

Erdogan, 3, Liberal Democracy, 0 – Authoritarianism dealt liberal democracy another blow Sunday when Recep Tayyip Erdo¨gan won a third five-year term as president of Turkey in a runoff election Sunday. He beat Kiliçda Ro¨glu with 52.1% to the challenger’s 47.5%, with all but 0.57% of the vote counted, Al Jazeera reports. Erdo¨gan was Turkish prime minister, taking over in 2003 before running for president.

--TL

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FRIDAY 5/26/23

Two Years of Debt Ceiling Relief? – Republicans and the White House are inching toward a debt ceiling deal late Thursday that would lift borrowing caps to some-time in 2025 and freeze spending to current levels, rather than impose the 8% cut imposed by HR 2811, the House imposed in its bill passed in late April, according to CQ Roll Call. HR 2811 also would impose discretionary caps to 2033.

President Biden stands firm… on work requirements for certain safety-net programs, which may be the biggest sticking point. If negotiators can reach a deal here, the full House would likely vote on the debt relief bill this weekend and hand it over to the Senate in time for June 1. 

Upshot: Assuming some version of the above is passed and signed in time – before next Thursday – the debt ceiling issue will become a big issue in the 2024 elections, both presidential and congressional as Biden seeks to continue his work to dismantle Reaganomics, while a Republican president and control of Congress would give conservatives the chance to restore spending cuts imposed by the House bill.

•••

Rhodes Gets 18 Years – Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracy for his role in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. An attorney himself, Rhodes said he “felt like a character in a Franz Kafka novel” and compared himself to a Soviet dissident sentenced to years in a prison camp, according to NPR’s All Things Considered

Current lead Republican candidate for president in 2024, Donald J. Trump, has said he would pardon some of those convicted of participating in the January 6th insurrection, though he has not singled out individuals who rioted.

•••

Texas House to Impeach AG – Texas’ majority Republican House has adopted 20 articles of impeachment against the state’s Republican attorney general, Ken Paxton, Texas Public Radio reports. Articles of impeachment includes allegations Paxton disregarded official duties, misappropriated public resources and committed constitutional bribery and obstruction of justice. 

This stems from four employees of the AG’s office turned whistle-blowers who made and reported accusations about Paxton’s misdeeds. Most relate to a $25,000 contribution to Paxton by Austin real estate investor Nate Paul, TPM’s The Texas Newsroomreports. 

Paxton denies all articles of impeachment and says they are an effort to overturn his win in the 2022 elections. He is on the hook for $3.3-million paid to the whistleblowers. After the House votes to impeach, the case would go to the Texas senate, where Paxton’s wife is a member.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Reader Comments

On 'Santosland Diaries' (Center Column -- 5/18/23):

Santos is a congenital liar and I do NOT believe him when he says he's conservative! Conservatives are NOT drag queens!

-- Tyrone Barr (Via Facebook)

•••

What do you make of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2024 presidential campaign launch on Elon Musk’s Twitter? Is there an opportunity for a traditional Republican candidate like Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina to rise up the polls? 

Whether you are a pro-MAGA conservative, an “anti-woke” DeSantis supporter, a more traditional, pro-business Republican or a reader from the left, we want to hear from you. Comment below, or in the right column or email editors@thehustings.news and indicate how you lean politically in the subject line.

Also up for discussion:

The Consumer Price Index was up 4.9% in April, still too high for the Federal Reserve, but reflecting a slow and continuing improvement over last year. Meanwhile, the Labor Department reported a week earlier that the U.S. economy added 253,000 jobs in April, higher than most economists had predicted. This comes after the Fed indicated its latest quarter-point interest rate hike might be its last for a while. All these high numbers could be fond memories of our 2023 economy if Congress fails to pass a debt ceiling increase in coming weeks.

A Manhattan court awarded E. Jean Carroll $5 million in her sexual abuse and defamation case against Donald J. Trump, who of course, will appeal.

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