Trump’s Golden Ruling 

By Ken Zino

I’m hardly surprised given the smell of sulfur surrounding all things Trumpion that federal Judge Aileen M. Cannon -- appointed by Trump -- has ruled in favor of the ex-prez’s attorneys’ demand for a special master.

Trump, once again aided and abetted by the Golden Rule (he who has the gold rules) is delaying and obstructing an investigation that at a minimum raises grave national security concerns. In the latest Through the Looking Glass legal move, by Aileen -- not Alice – Cannon, the judge said she had no idea if there are any classified documents involved even though Trump’s lawyers had not presented any evidence whatsoever that the documents in question were not classified. DOJ did illustrate the classified nature of the documents with photographic precision along with sworn depositions. Canon refused to change any part of a ruling she issued last week that prohibited (Barr-ed so to speak) the department from using the documents, including 100 documents clearly marked classified in its investigation, until that special master arbiter had completed a review.

So over to Raymond J. Dearie, a semi-retired judge and now special master from the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York to read and sort through 11,000 records or documents that illegally left the White House and turned up in the long-delayed August 8 search of Mar-o-Lago after more than a year of DOJ maneuvering to get the National Security documents returned. 

The Department of Justice without doubt will appeal this ludicrous ruling. For the moment, the deny, delay … obfuscate Trumpion strategy is, like old man river, rolling along. 

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Cannon for SCOTUS? (FRI 9/16/22)

U.S. District Court Judge and potential Supreme Court nominee if Donald J. Trump grabs the 2024 presidential election Aileen Cannon famously – infamously? – was elevated to the Southern District of Florida by Trump after Trump lost his 2020 re-election bid. Her rulings in the Justice Department investigation of classified government documents found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago (conveniently located in the Southern District of Florida) uphold the ex-president’s lifelong ability to slow any legal proceedings against him and his businesses, to a crawl.

This headline will send chills up the spines of the left and the never-Trump right, but whether you agree or disagree with this assessment, we want to hear from you. Hit the Comment box below, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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…meanwhile…

(TUE 9/20/22)

Mortgage Rates Hit 6% -- The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee is expected to raise interest rates by 75 basis points (0.75%), when it meets Tuesday and Wednesday, Punchbowl News reports. The Fed has been imposing big increases in the interest rate since inflation hit 40-year record highs, and Chairman Jerome Powell (pictured above) will likely signal more big increases until inflation comes down significantly from its current 8.3% annual rate. The mortgage rate is running at 6% for the first time since the inauspicious year 2008. 

Note: Warnings of a coming recession among some economists (and most Republicans, looking to save their prospects in the midterms) are offset by other economists (and the Biden White House) who point to record-low unemployment and high job growth. The economic anomaly is that we’re still suffering the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic (despite Biden’s claim on 60 Minutes that it’s over) as well as the effects of the cutoff of Russian oil to Europe, where Germany and the United Kingdom in particular, are suffering higher inflation rates and face almost certain recession and a cold winter. 

This is not to downplay the economic suffering of the American working- and middle-classes, but if Vladimir Putin has had any personal success in his brutal attack on Ukraine, it’s that he has hijacked potential economic recovery in the West following shutdowns from the pandemic. 

•••

Texas Sheriff Investigates DeSantis’ Flights – Bexar County, Texas Sheriff Javier Salazar (D) has opened an investigation into Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) political stunt he played out on Fox News in which 50 Venezuelan migrants were flown from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts last week. The migrants had turned them in to U.S. Border Patrol after crossing from Mexico and were granted “temporary protected status,” and Salazar is looking into whether they were “lured from the Migrant Resource Center” under “false promises” for work and assistance, according to The Washington Post.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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This Week in NYC and DC (MON 9/19/22)

(United Nations HQ, New York City)

The White House – Joe and Jill Biden attended Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in London Monday as the United States had a chance to react to the president’s comments on CBS News’ 60 Minutes Sunday night that U.S. troops would defend Taiwan if China conducted an “unprecedented attack.” 

“So unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir, U.S. forces, U.S. men and women would defend Taiwan in the case of a Chinese invasion?” 60 Minutes’ Scott Pelley asked.

“Yes,” Biden replied.

Chinese spokesman Liu Pengyu said in a series of tweets that Biden’s remarks “sends wrong signals to Taiwan independence’ separatist forces, and severely jeopardizes China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” CBS News reports. 

Biden also told Pelley that he hasn’t decided whether to run for re-election in 2024, and said that he was not briefed about the top-secret documents found at Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, nor was he aware of the FBI’s search warrant ahead of time.

•••

This Week – The United Nations 77th General Assembly begins Monday at its New York City headquarters, the first in-person meeting since 2019. President Biden is expected to give his speech Wednesday on the war in Ukraine and on climate change, a day later than the U.S. president’s usual place on the schedule, because of his attendance at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.

The House of Representatives and Senate are in-session Monday through Thursday; the Senate only is in session on Friday.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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...meanwhile... (FRI-SUN 9/16-18/22)

(Judge Cannon)

Judge Picks Dearie -- This all seems to have gone to Donald J. Trump’s plans, with a federal judge he appointed after losing the 2020 election refusing to allow the Justice Department to review documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago home August 8 until a special master requested – demanded – by the ex-president’s attorneys has examined them first. That special master appointed by Judge Aileen Cannon Thursday, senior New York Federal Judge Raymond Dearie, was proposed by Trump’s attorneys and deemed acceptable by the Justice Department. 

The Justice Department is not allowed to use the sensitive documents in its investigation while Dearie reviews them and is expected to appeal Cannon’s ruling before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th District, in Atlanta, The Washington Post reports. 

DOJ had argued that the special master should not be allowed to review the classified documents seized, but Cannon in her ruling said that it is a “matter of dispute” whether the documents marked classified are, in fact, classified. Trump’s attorneys have suggested that the documents may not be classified, but have not asserted that Trump personally declassified them, WaPo says. Trump also has not given any indication why he kept the papers.

Timing is key: Cannon has given Dearie to November 30 to complete his review, which pushes the case well into next year, when the GOP hopes to have majorities in both chambers of Congress and can begin some counter-investigations of its own. By then, too, Trump may very well have announced his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and will continue to accuse the DOJ under the Biden White House of conducting yet another “witch hunt.”

ICYMT1/6CD (In Case You Missed This 1/6 Committee Development): Ex-President Trump’s ultimate chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has agreed to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the Capitol.

--Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Democracy’s End Will be Televised

Recent warnings about the likelihood of future January 6-like riots across the nation, including one from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) should not be ignored, Charlie Sykes writes in The Bulwark Monday. Sykes points to an Associated Press story from last Friday outlining ex-President Trump’s growing embrace of QAnon conspiracy theories including photo of The Donald published on his Truth Social platform last Tuesday in which he wears a pin with the words, “The Storm is Coming.”

According to QAnon lore, AP says, “storm” refers to Trump’s “final victory in which he returns to power” and his opponents will be “tried and potentially executed on television.” Trump has published “dozens of Q-related posts” recently, “in contrast to 2020” when he claimed he did not know much about the group.

Read Sykes’ commentary here: https://morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/this-storm-is-coming (subscription required).

--TL

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Rubio Defends Cannon (FRI 9/16/22)

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is defending U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon’s rulings on the Justice Department’s investigation of sensitive government documents seized from ex-President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and private club, saying “attacks against her are just the latest example of hypocrisy from leftists and their media enablers who believe the only time it is acceptable to attack a judge is that if that judge rules against what they want,” per Salon.

Rubio, according to the online magazine, “appears to have served as Cannon’s sponsor” and asked her to apply for the judicial nomination in 2019, after the senator helped create a bipartisan judicial advisory commission that vetted her background. Cannon, who was born in Colombia to a mother who fled Fidel Castro’s Cuba, according to Wikipedia, was confirmed by a bipartisan Senate on November 12, 2020.

Thanks largely to Cannon, the investigation many pundits thought would end Trump’s political career, may at the very least instead help propel the former president to the 2024 Republican Party nomination. 

What do you think? Add your opinion to the Comments box below or email editors@thehustings.news.

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‘Wildly Out of Step’

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says he would not lift the filibuster to clear the way for Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) proposal to restrict abortions nationwide after 15 weeks, The Guardian reports. Democrats are looking at Graham’s proposed legislation, which would criminalize doctors providing abortions, as a “gift” for the November midterms; a Pew Research poll finds 57% of Americans disapprove of the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade. 

The White House says the bill would be “wildly out of step with what Americans believe.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosoi (D-CA) called Graham’s bill “the latest, clearest signal of extreme MAGA Republicans’ intent to criminalize women’s health freedom in all 50 states and arrest doctors for providing basic care.”

What do you think? Hit the Comments box below or in the right column if that’s how you lean, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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…meanwhile…

(THU 9/15/22)

Economy Back on Track? – After 20 straight hours of negotiations with labor leaders for freight rail engineers, conductors and other workers, the White House has announced a tentative agreement to preclude a strike set for midnight Friday. The tentative agreement potentially averts another supply chain crisis that could have stopped 30% of cargo shipments in the U.S., NPR reports.

Though the strike deadline forcing the non-stop negotiations was announced just this week, the labor dispute over work schedules as much as pay has been ongoing for years, according to NPR’s Morning Edition. The agreement still faces a vote by labor union members.

Note: The same week Republicans have hit President Biden for touting his programs’ effects on the U.S. economy in the face of disappointing inflation news, the White House has a new “win” to take to the midterms, though consumers-voters will know of this tentative victory only by what would not happen to the economy.

•••

DeSantis Sends Migrants to Martha’s Vineyard – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent two full airplanes full of migrants from his state to Martha’s Vineyard, the New York Post reports. Florida’s Department of Transportation has $12 million set aside for such flights by the state legislature. 

Wednesday’s flights transported about 50 migrants, most of them from Venezuela, according to NPR, and some of whom were apparently not completely aware of what was happening. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (like DeSantis, a Republican) said the arrivals were provided short-term shelter, according to Fox News Digital. 

DeSantis’ communications director, Taryn Fenske, released this statement: “States like Massachusetts, New York and California will better facilitate the case of those individuals who they have invited to our country by incentivizing illegal immigration through their designation as ‘sanctuary states’ and support the Biden administration’s open border policies.”

Note: DeSantis clearly has scored a high-profile victory in his effort to grab the 2024 GOP presidential nomination ahead of fellow Floridian Donald J. Trump. Wouldn't it have been cheaper to simply bus them to another favorite target of DeSantis' Culture War, Walt Disney World?

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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TUESDAY’S PRIMARIES (WED 9/14/22)

New Hampshire: Incumbent Republican Gov. Chris Sununu easily won his party’s primary, and is heavily favored over the Democratic candidate, Tom Sherman, who won his primary unchallenged. Earlier this year, GOP officials urged Sununu to pack up the governor’s mansion and run for U.S. Senate instead, to offer a strong challenge to incumbent Democrat Maggie Hassan, who is seen as highly vulnerable. 

Hassan instead will defend her seat against an election denier, Don Bolduc, who beat establishment candidate Chuck Morse in the GOP primary. 

Rhode Island: Incumbent Democratic Gov. Dan McKee narrowly beat ex-CVS executive Helena Foulkes, who earned a last-minute endorsement from The Boston Globe, the AP reports. McKee became governor in early 2021, replacing two-term Gov. Gina Raimondo, when she was tapped by the Biden administration for Commerce secretary. McKee’s Republican challenger is Ashley Kalus, who moved from Illinois to Rhode Island after a dispute over a cancelled contract with her COVID-19-testing firm, the AP reports. 

In the race for Rhode Island’s 2nd Congressional District, where Democratic Rep. Jim Langevin is retiring after more than 20 years, his endorsee, state treasurer Seth Magaziner won a crowded primary and faces unchallenged Republican Allan Fung, former mayor of Cranston. 

For the 1st Congressional District, six-term Rep. David Cicilline ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, as did his Republican challenger for the midterm election, Allan Waters, the AP reports.

Delaware: Republican Lee Murphy challenges incumbent Democratic Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester for the state’s at-large Congressional District November 8.

•••

Another Trumper’s Phone Seized: MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell told his podcast audience that FBI agents approached him at a Mankato, Minnesota Hardee’s restaurant and seized his smartphone after questioning him about Mesa County (Colorado) Clerk Tina Peters, Dominion Voting Systems and Ohio educator Doug Frank, who claims voting machines have been manipulated, the AP reports. The MyPillow Guy, as he’s best-known, showed his audience in the video version of The Lindell Report, a letter signed by a U.S. attorney in Colorado that said prosecutors were conducting an “official criminal investigation of a suspected felony,” and mentioned a grand jury. 

The Justice Department did not respond to the AP about the investigation, though an FBI spokeswoman confirmed via email that a warrant had been served at the Hardee’s. 

•••

Kenneth Starr Dies: Kenneth Starr, the “widely respected appeals court judge and solicitor general” (per The New York Times' obituary) who was appointed special counsel in the investigation of President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky scandal, died Tuesday at a Houston hospital from complications of surgery related to an undisclosed illness. He was 76. 

•••

CORRECTION: An earlier version of "Another Trumper's Phone Seized" incorrectly stated the state from which Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters works and resides.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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Graham’s Abortion Bill

What is Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) thinking, exactly, in proposing a bill to ban abortions across the U.S. after 15 weeks? Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has already pushed back on CNN while other Republican senators, up for re-election this year have been “scrubbing” their websites of hardline rhetoric on the issue as the Democrats look healthier in the midterms over the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center decision overturning Roe v. Wade. 

In his email newsletter The Point! CNN’s Chris Cillizza posits that Graham is giving his fellow Republicans up for re-election this year “talking points” to counter the growing popularity of the other party in a midterm they were supposed to use. Cillizza does have, eh, a point, in that those with the scrubbed social media rhetoric can counter by claiming a different position. 

Perhaps Graham is simply counting on the sustained numbers of MAGA supporters who will pull the voting booth lever for the Republican candidate, regardless of stated platform. 

In any event, Politico says Graham’s bombshell Tuesday diverted attention from the unexpectedly bad inflation news that forced the Biden White House to downplay its day of celebration for the partisan Inflation Reduction Act.

What do you think? Hit the Comments box below or in the left column if that’s how you lean, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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You may have had problems reaching The Hustings’ homepage recently. First, our sincere apologies and second, our sincere thanks for persisting so you could read this. Our web host’s server has experienced problems since last week. This began, ironically, as The Hustings initiated some upgrades and updates in order to speed up the loading of our pages. 

Comment on the Justice Department’s subpoenas from Donald J. Trump’s inner circle, and his attorneys’ response to DOJ’s appeal of the special master ruling, in the box below or in the right column, or email editors@thehustings.news, and identify yourself as left or right in the subject line. 

Scroll down to read and comment on these issues:

•”Barr Blasts Special Master Ruling.”

•”Biden Takes Midterm Campaign to Swing States.”

Scroll down a bit more to read Ken Zino’s commentary on President Biden’s recent campaign rhetoric, “Biden in Like a Lamb, Now an Anti-Fascism Lion.”

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…meanwhile…

(Chart: 12-month percentage change in the CPI on selected categories)

(TUE 9/13/22)

CPI Slips Slightly, Not Enough: The Consumer Price Index slipped just a bit in August to an annual rate of 8.3%, from 8.5% annually in July, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. It is not enough for Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Averages fell nearly 4% by late afternoon, anticipating a likely three-quarter interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve when they meet next week. The CPI reached a four-decade high of 9.1% annually for June.

Leading price increases in August were shelter, food (+0.8%), food at home (+0.7%) and medical care, partly offset by a 10.6% drop in the gasoline index. The energy index was off 5.0%. 

Used cars and trucks dropped by 0.1% to an annual inflation rate of 7.8%, though new vehicle prices rose 0.8% for the month, to a 10.1% annual rate.

AAA reports…The national average for a price of regular unleaded gasoline was $3.707 per gallon on Tuesday, down from $3.779 one week ago. This compares to a record-high $5.016 per gallon per AAA data for June 14.

•••

DOJ Issues More than 30 Subpoenas, Seize Two Phones in 1/6 Probe: The Justice Department issued more than 30 subpoenas in its January 6 Capitol insurrection inquiry in the last week, according to joint reporting by The New York Times and CNN, and seized electronic devices of Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn and campaign strategist Mike Roman in the swing states’ “fake electors” attempt. Among subpoena recipients was ex-President Trump’s former social media director, David Scavino. 

Former New York City police commissioner and friend of former America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Bernard Kerik, who promoted baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, was issued a subpoena by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C. Kerik has been implicated in alleged plans to overturn the election for Trump in Congress’ official Electoral College count on January 6.

--Todd Lassa

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Special Master of Trump’s Domain

Justice Department prosecutors wrote in a special filing late Monday they would accept one of the Trump attorney’s two candidates for special master in the Mar-a-Lago government document case, former New York chief federal judge Raymond J. Dearie, The Wall Street Journal reports. They also supported DOJ’s two candidates in the filing; retired federal judges Barbara S. Jones and Thomas B. Griffith. 

But Trump attorneys earlier Monday continued to argue against a pause in Federal District Judge Aileen M. Cannon’s ruling calling for a federal master and preventing the FBI from examining the documents in the interim, CQ Roll Call reports. Trump’s attorneys dispute whether the documents are classified. 

Comment in the box below or in the left column, or email editors@thehustings.news, and identify yourself as right or left in the subject line. 

Scroll down to read about an ongoing argument on how the GOP should fund its Senate campaigns …

•“McConnell vs. Scott,” on the former’s well-funded Senate Leadership Fund and the latter’s spendthrift National Senate Republican Committee.

•“GOP Senate Campaign Goes for Broke.”

Scroll down a bit further to read Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s commentary on President Biden’s campaign style vs. Donald J. Trump’s, “Not Normal.”

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…meanwhile…

(MON 9/12/22)

Ukrainian Momentum: Ukrainian troops on Saturday recaptured the eastern city of Izium, a strategically important railway hub that Russian troops have held since last spring, The New York Times reported Sunday. Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, confirmed on CBS News that her country has pushed fleeing Russian troops out of 1,200 square miles of the northeast region of Kharkiv in the last eight days, more than the invading forces had captured since April. 

“We have to win, and this counter-offensive shows we can win,” Marakova told CBS’ Face the Nation. She agreed with military assessments that Ukrainian forces can push Russia back to the borders before the end of the year “because of the resolve of the armed forces.”

•••

Better Call Saul: From Sunday’s New York Times’ story about myriad Trump lawyers who have to lawyer-up themselves after working for the former president, this “dark joke”: “MAGA actually stands for ‘making attorneys get attorneys.’”

•••

THIS WEEK ...

The White House: President Biden visits Boston Monday, where he will deliver remarks on Bipartisan Infrastructure already underway and “tangible results for communities and the country.” Biden announces his “Cancer Moonshot” goal of finding a cure, to be held at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum on the 60th anniversary of President Kennedy’s announcement of his goal to put an American on the moon before the end of the 1960s.

On Tuesday Biden visits the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

On Saturday the president and Jill Biden travel to the United Kingdom for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral, to be held next Monday.

Congress: The Senate is in session Monday, with both chambers in session Tuesday through Friday.

Inflation Rate: The Labor Department publishes the August Consumer Price Index Tuesday. Expectations are the rate will fall somewhat from the annual rate reported for July of 8.5%, which itself decreased from June's annual rate of 9.1%.

--TL

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The Left

Do you lean left? Comment on today’s news or on any recent issues posted in The Hustings with your opinions in the box in this column, or email editors@thehustings.news.

Scroll down for these recent issues …

•Mar-a-Lagogate and The Washington Post’s scoop on a document regarding a nation’s nuclear capabilities.

•President Biden’s Labor Day midterm campaign launch in Milwaukee and Pittsburgh.

•Biden’s “Battle for the Soul of a Nation” speech calling out MAGA Republicans’ authoritarian tendencies.

•Contributing pundit Ken Zino’s commentary, “Biden In Like a Unity Lamb, Now an Anti-Fasccism Lion” on Biden’s speech.

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…meanwhile…

Queen Elizabeth II: 1926-2022

(FRI 9/9/22)

Justice Department appeals… Amid widespread criticism from the legal community of Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon’s order to appoint a special master in the case of classified documents the FBI uncovered at Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago compound August 8, the Justice Department Thursday asked the judge to allow prosecutors to further review and use the materials seized, reports CQ Roll Call. The DOJ was expected to appeal Cannon’s ruling in favor of ex-President Trump for a special master. 

The judge ordered the DOJ and Trump attorneys lists of acceptable special master candidates by Friday.

In its filing, the Justice Department argues that the injunction on reviewing the seized materials “could impede efforts to identify the existence of any additional classified records that were not being properly stored …” potentially posing an ongoing risk to national security.

Note: The likelihood of a successful appeal to the controversial ruling by a judge President Trump appointed to the Southern District of Florida after he lost the election to Joe Biden seems positive, though as usual, Trump is successful at creating delays.

•••

Queen Elizabeth II … has overseen 15 British prime ministers in her 70 years on the throne. The Queen had met Prime Minister Winston Churchill, born in 1874, and on Tuesday appointed Prime Minister Liz Truss, born in 1974, according to Jane Hartley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, interviewed on NPR’s Morning Edition Friday. Queen Elizabeth died two days after meeting with Truss at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. The longest-reigning British monarch (her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria, served for 63 years and seven months) is succeeded by her son, King Charles III, who was scheduled to address his nation later Friday.

--Todd Lassa

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...meanwhile... (THU 9/8/22)

Bannon charged … Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon was charged in a Manhattan court Thursday on money laundering and conspiracy charges in connection with the WeBuildTheWall Inc. fundraiser, the Associated Press reports. New York State prosecutors allege Bannon funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to two others with money collected from supporters of then-President Trump who wanted to help fund a wall on the southern border with Mexico. 

Prosecutors did not name the two others in the alleged fraud, though Brian Kolfage and Andrew Badolato pleaded guilty to federal charges last April, AP says. Bannon also faced federal charges, though Trump pardoned him on the last day of his administration, before Bannon’s court date. 

That last fact is likely to negate any defense of double jeopardy. State charges are not covered by presidential pardons.

Federal agents arrested Bannon on a yacht off the coast of Connecticut in 2020 and charged him with pocketing more than $1 million in WeBuildTheWall donations. 

•••

Kyiv, Ukraine … Secretary of State Antony Blinken became the highest-ranking official to visit Ukraine Thursday with an unannounced visit to the National Specialized Children’s Hospital Ohmatdyt, where he met with children from the eastern part of the country and with the famous bomb-sniffing dog, Patron, NPR reports. He was scheduled to meet with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba later Thursday. Blinken announced $2 billion in long-term investments in security for Ukraine and neighbors potentially threatened by Russia. 

Military aid: Meanwhile, from a meeting with counterparts in Germany, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced an additional $675 million in military aid to Ukraine. The State Department said this is set to include more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as additional munitions and armed vehicles, NPR reports. 

--Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

The Right

Do you lean right? Comment on today’s news or on any recent issues posted in The Hustings with your opinions in the box in this column, or email editors@thehustings.news.

Scroll down for these recent issues …

•Mar-a-Lagogate and The Washington Post’s scoop on a document regarding a nation’s nuclear capabilities.

•President Biden’s Labor Day midterm campaign launch in Milwaukee and Pittsburgh.

•Biden’s “Battle for the Soul of a Nation” speech calling out MAGA Republicans’ authoritarian tendencies.

•Pundit-at-large Stephen Macaulay’s commentary, “Not Normal,” on Biden’s speech.

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