FRIDAY 6/23/23

•(What's with these data-news stories in the right and left columns? Read about our new partnership with Stacker -- scroll down the center column.)

Modi Visit Upholds U.S. Interests – India has not joined the rest of the democratic world in supporting Ukraine in its defense against Russia, and instead the “world’s largest democracy,” run for nearly a decade by nationalist Prime Minister Narenda Modi (above) continues to support Russia’s economy by purchasing its oil. All that, and Modi’s demonstrably poor record on human rights and religious freedom was not the subject of public discussion at a lavish state dinner hosted at the White House, where President Biden “showered him with flattery” according to The New York Times.

The Biden administration hopes to draw India closer to the U.S. while Russia’s war on Ukraine rages on and Chinese relations deteriorate. Biden and Modi announced initiatives Thursday, with no evidence of resolving disagreements. Earlier Thursday, the two leaders announced a deal in which General Electric will build military jet engines in India with state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics, Politico reports, in an agreement that has long been in the making.

“America has no permanent friends or enemies,” Henry Kissinger once said, “only interests.”

Modi’s “most surprising breakthrough” Thursday evening, the NYT reports, was a Q&A Modi allowed with White House reporters. Modi said democracy is “in India’s DNA.”

He added, “In India’s democratic values, there’s absolutely no discrimination neither on the basis of caste, creed, or age, or any kind of geographic location.” Meanwhile, demonstrators protested India’s crackdown on dissent from outside the White House gates.

Before the state dinner, Modi appeared at a joint session of Congress Thursday. He was to continue his visit Friday with a lunch with Vice President Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, NPR reports.

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‘Frankly Stupid’ – House Democrats reportedly are “giddy” and Republicans embarrassed by uber-MAGA Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-CO) resolution Wednesday to impeach without requisite hearings President Biden over the White House’s handling of immigration policy and the situation at the southern border, says New York magazine’s Intelligencer. Boebert’s move had no chance of passage and dispensed with such formalities as Judicial Committee hearings.

A 219-208 vote to send the impeachment resolution for consideration by committees effectively parked Boebert’s resolution, as those committees have no obligation to do anything about it, The Hill reports. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who is more interested in defeating Biden with next year’s congressional and presidential elections intended to call Boebert to the carpet in a closed-door GOP conference meeting, but the Colorado rep failed to show. 

Republican strategist Dan Judy described Boebert’s resolution as “frankly stupid,” (per The Hill), adding; “The party needs to be focused on the problems facing American voters rather than this sideshow.”

--TL

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THURSDAY 6/22/23

Schiff on the Trump-Russia Axis – The House voted 213-209 to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), a favorite target of former President Trump, over Schiff’s allegations as the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee that Russia helped Trump’s successful 2016 campaign (per Axios). Vote on the resolution only came to the floor after its sponsor, pro-MAGA Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) removed a $16-million fine she sought to have imposed against Schiff last week. 

Democrats on the House floor shouted down Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as he tried to read the resolution, chanting “shame” and jeering him as a “spiteful coward” as they cheered Schiff. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called for the speaker to be ousted. One unidentified Republican House member shouted back, “jackasses.”

Five Republicans on the House Ethics Committee, plus Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) voted “present” on the censure resolution. 

Meanwhile, in the Judiciary CommitteeIn a hearing with Special Counsel John Durham Wednesday on his investigation of the FBI’s investigation of the alleged Russian intervention in Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, Schiff said this: “The only distinguishment between [Robert Mueller’s] investigation and yours is he refused to bring charges where he couldn’t prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and you did.”

Durham spent five hours before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday (and was in a closed-door meeting with the committee Tuesday night) on his four-year, $6.5-million investigation of the investigators, which failed to find wrongdoing and concluded in a 306-page report that the FBI should have conducted a preliminary investigation rather than a full investigation. 

What’s next?Schiff might use the $16 million he does not have to pay along with his censure on his campaign for the Senate seat of Diane Feinstein, who turns 90 Thursday and is not running for re-election next year. Schiff faces fellow Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee and Katie Porter in the California primary.

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 6/21/23

Ukrainian Recovery Conference – Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged an additional $1.3 billion in U.S. recovery assistance to Ukraine to help rebuild the war-torn country’s energy grid and such critical infrastructure as rail lines and border crossings (per Bloomberg) during a conference hosted by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in London. 

Poland’s minister of foreign affairs tweeted he has prepared a law that would extend investments and insurance coverage for transport of goods and services to and from Ukraine … meanwhile, the European Conference chief wants Hungary to answer questions regarding Ukraine’s claims that Russia transferred prisoners of war to authoritarian President Viktor Orbån’s Hungary without Ukraine’s involvement (per The Guardian). 

Ukrainian counteroffensive is ‘not Hollywood’: Battlefield progress has been “slower than desired” in the early weeks of Ukraine’s push-back of Russian troops, President Volodymyr Zelinskyy (FILE IMAGE above) told the BBC.

“Some people believe this is a Hollywood movie and expect results now. It is not. What’s at stake is people’s lives.”

Ukraine has reclaimed eight villages in the southeast region of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk to the east, so far, he said.

Nuke sabre-rattling: Vladimir Putin says Russia’s new Sarmat missiles, which can carry 10 or more nuclear warheads, will soon be ready for deployment, The Guardian reports. The comments came after defense minister Sergei Shoigu told graduating military academy students that the “collective west” is waging a “real war” against Russia.

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DEMOCRACY WATCH: Conjuring the Ghost of Nixon – Donald J. Trump revealed “another sweeping piece of his plans to slash federal spending and defund the ‘deep state’” in a video first revealed to Semafor, the news website reports. This plan for the former president’s self-expected second term coming in 2025 would “scrap” parts of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Act of 1974, implemented in reaction to President Nixon’s attempt to scrap tens of billions of dollars in federal funding on his own. Specifically, the law forces the executive branch to spend money Congress approves, and regulates the president from delaying or impounding federal spending for specific programs.

Russia v. Ukraine, again: Trump was accused of violating the '74 law enacted as Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment when he froze Congressional funding earmarked for Ukraine in 2019, a move that led to Trump's first impeachment.

--TL

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...meanwhile...

TUESDAY 6/20/23

Hunter Biden to Plead Out – Son of the president, Hunter Biden, has reached a tentative plea agreement with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges of failing to pay in 2017 and 2018, and admit to the fact of a gun charge, The Washington Post reports, citing court papers filed Tuesday. The deal likely will keep Biden, 53, out of prison but still needs approval by a federal judge. Federal prosecutors and Biden’s defense counsel have requested a hearing to enter his plea.

The investigation into the case opened in 2018 during the Trump administration. Since at least 2020, Republican politicians have accused the Biden administration of reluctance to pursue the case – a charge that is not at all likely to go away with the plea deal, which was negotiated with Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a “holdover” from the Trump administration, WaPo notes.

•••

Court Date for Mar-a-Lagogate -- Judge Aileen Cannon (above) has scheduled Thursday, August 24 as the date for the trial to begin in the Justice Department's case over Donald J. Trump's retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, The Hill reports. The trial in Cannon's Ft. Pierce, Florida, courtroom would begin about two months after Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 counts issued by Special Counsel Jack Smith, but attorneys for the former president are expected to push delays well into the 2024 presidential campaign season. Pre-trial motions are due by July 24.

•••

Ukraine Gains in South – But the country’s defense ministry reports a “difficult situation” in the east. Russia launched 35 attack drones overnight, with Ukrainian soldiers able to repel 32 of them, The Guardian reports, while Ukraine’s defense ministry confirmed liberation of Piatykhatsky in the southern Zaporizhzhia Oblast region, according to the Kyiv Independent. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has landed in London after meeting with Chinese officials, including President Xi Jingping in Beijing, the UK government says it will extend economic sanctions against Russia after the war ends until the Kremlin pays to rebuild Ukraine.

Meanwhile, on Fox News: Donald J. Trump told Fox News’ Brett Baier on Special Report what he said to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a private meeting in Helsinki in July 2018: He “claimed Monday” that the conversation convinced Putin to delay his invasion for several years (Russia invaded in February 2022). “He wouldn’t have done it if it were me. He did it after I left.”

About those boxes of documents: Trump also told Fox News’ Baier he was too busy to return boxes full of classified documents he kept at Mar-a-Lago, Politico reports. Trump had to take time to sort through them to keep shirts and golf shoes that belonged to him, apparently. 

And foxnews.com says that in the exclusive interview with the former president, he called the National Archives and Records Administration – which requested return of the papers ahead of the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago – a “radical left” group.

•••

Special Counsel to the Hill – Special Counsel John Durham, who was tapped by then-Attorney Gen. Bill Barr in 2019 to investigate whether federal law enforcement officials unfairly investigated a connection between the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, appears before the Republican-majority House of Representatives this week. Durham will testify on his recently released report on that investigation before the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday, The Washington Post reports, and in a closed session with the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. 

•••

Trump’s Saudi Deal – A real estate deal with the Saudi government’s sovereign fund to develop a golf complex, including luxury villas with sticker prices up to $13 million, overlooking the Gulf of Oman is “unlike any of [Donald J. Trump’s] deals before,” according to a special report The New York Times. Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, “cultivated” the deal with the government of Oman while Trump was in office, according to the report, which says the Trump Organization received nearly $5 million from the deal, which includes a Trump-branded hotel, golf course and golf club, and a 30-year management contract.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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Where Do You Live?

Are you a conservative in a liberal state? A liberal in a conservative state?

For the first time since we began posting, we present data reporting and analysis, by our new partners at Stacker, in the left and right columns at the same time. Stacker reporters compiled voter turnout data from The New York Times and political ideology insight from the Gallup organization to single out the counties in each state that vote against the statewide ideological grain. 

For Washington, D.C., ideological insight came not from Gallup, but from the Pew Research Institute.

There are 20 listings in each column, including one for Washington, D.C. (care to guess which column it is in?). No voter turnout data were available for Virginia, Alaska, Louisiana nor Alabama. Some "battleground" states that split evenly between conservative and liberal voters were not included.

These are not liberal/conservative commentaries we traditionally post in the left and right columns, but rather straight news features that help describe vagaries of the red state-blue state divide. However, as with any of our regular posts in these columns, , we seek your reactions. Become a Citizen Pundit and write your opinions in the Comment section of the appropriate column (subject to editing for civility) or email editors@thehustings.news and indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

--Todd Lassa

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Jeffries Elected House Democratic Leader – House Democrats have elected Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) (above) their leader, replacing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who announced she would step down after two decades (but remains in Congress for at least two more years). Jeffries, 52, covers New York’s 8th District which includes large parts of Brooklyn and a section of Queens, and becomes the first Black congressional leader from any party, replacing Pelosi, 82, who was the first female congressional leader from any party. Younger Democrats in Congress have been clamoring for more youthful leadership for the last few years. 

Other LeadersRep. Katherine M. Clark (D-MA), 59, replaces Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), 83, in the House Democrat number-two spot while Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), 43, replaces Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), 82, for the number-three leadership position. Until the 118th Congress takes over in January, the outgoing top-three Democratic House positions are held by representatives older than President Biden, who just turned 80.

Meanwhile: Current House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) faces some inner-party opposition as he tries to skate the line between condemning ex-President Trump’s dinner with an antisemite and a white supremacist (see right column) and actually condemning Trump himself. McCarthy cannot afford to lose five Republicans from the incoming House of Representatives to take the speaker’s gavel he long has coveted – which gives Democrats an outside chance of voting Jeffries into the speakership. 

Nobody, but nobody, really expects the GOP majority to let that happen, but it will make for an interesting January on Capitol Hill. 

--TL

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Oath Keepers Guilty of Seditious Conspiracy – Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and Florida chief Kelly Meggs were found guilty in federal court of seditious conspiracy for their involvement in the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol, Tuesday (The Hill). The Justice Department victory marks the first such conviction for seditious conspiracy since 1995, according to CNN.

All five Oath Keepers defendants were found guilty in the trial of obstruction of an official proceeding. Four Oath Keepers were found guilty of tampering with evidence – the fifth member of the far-right organization was not charged in this count. 

Rhodes and Meggs face potential prison sentences of up to 20 years for each.

••• 

Senate Votes to Codify Same-Sex Marriage – The Senate voted, 61-39, to codify federal recognition of same-sex marriage, with religious liberty protections securing the bipartisan support, Roll Call reports. Lead sponsor Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) told reporters the bill would ease concerns that the Supreme Court could revisit precedents that protected same-sex and interracial marriage. SCOTUS in 2013 found the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act largely unconstitutional.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said the House could take up the bill as early as next week.

•••

Good Economic News – Various signs are appearing that the Federal Reserve is succeeding in capping inflation without triggering a recession. It’s early yet, but here’s a big piece of such evidence: the national average price of a gallon of gasoline was $3.521 as of Tuesday morning, AAA reports. That’s lower than the average price before Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

House Republicans have nominated Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for Speaker of the House, with 188 votes to Rep. Andy Biggs’ (R-AZ) 31 votes, per The Hill. McCarthy will need at least 218 of all 435 House members to become the next speaker.

As of late Tuesday, ahead of Donald J. Trump’s “very big announcement” at Mar-a-Lago, Republicans had clinched 217 House seats to the Democrats’ 206 for the 118th Congress, leaving 12 contests yet to be determined.  

McConnell Under Pressure: Meanwhile in the Senate, Florida Republican Rick Scott is challenging Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky for the minority leadership and is one of “several conservative senators who have called on McConnell to delay” the vote, Axios reports, until after the December 6 Georgia runoff election between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and Trump-backed challenger Herschel Walker. 

McConnell and Scott, Axios says, have been feuding for months over midterm campaign strategy. No matter what happens, the Democratic Party already has clinched control of the Senate. If Warnock wins re-election, Democrats will have 51 seats to the GOP’s 49.

Question: Axios uses the term “conservative” to describe Scott and other senators calling on McConnell to delay the vote for minority leader. What does the news outlet consider McConnell?

--TL

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The Senate has passed the $739-billion Inflation Reduction Act 51-50, along party lines with Vice President Harris providing the tiebreaker, The Hill reports. The corporate tax/climate change/healthcare legislation survived a Vote-o-Rama that included an amendment by Sen. John Thune (R-SD) that extended a SALT cap (state and local deductions) that is part of the 2017 Trump tax cut bill. 

Ruled by the Senate parliamentarian as eligible for budget reconciliation, Democrats were able to pass it without fear of a Republican filibuster.

Thune’s amendment, which passed with the support of seven Democrats including Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema, was considered a threat to the bill because the deduction ceiling hurts many households in blue states and districts, according to The Hill’s report. But a subsequent amendment replaced the SALT cap extension with another revenue stream. Several Democrats offered hugs to Sinema as the vote on the final passage happened, the report says. 

Sinema’s support had been Democrats’ biggest concern after compromise on the bill, a heavily reduced version of President Biden’s $3-trillion-plus Build Back Better proposal, that was negotiated between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sinema ally Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV).

--Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news