< 2 hrs after #POTUS Biden made his move Wed to upend the nation’s presidential #debate tradition, 2 of CNN’s top political journos were on the phone w/Trump’s high command.
“We are sending you a proposal for a #debate that will be in your inbox at 10AM,” one told Trump snr leadership, Susie Wiles, Chris LaCivita & Tony Fabrizio…before rattling off the terms of a June 27 meeting in Atlanta….
By 10:14AM, #Biden’s campaign had
announced the president would attend the CNN event. The #Trump campaign agreed mins later. One of the most consequential disruptions to the sequence of American presidential campaigns since the first televised #debate in 1960 had been completed by lunchtime.
The only thing left was for the campaigns & the country to figure out what had happened.
Disagreements about the debate conditions & the agreement’s significance flared even as voters began hearing the news. At 10:56AM, CNN announced terms that largely followed the demands #Biden had announced earlier that morning — a first meeting in June, organized by a network on Biden’s suggested list, w/no live audience [& muted mics when time’s up].
After the 2020 presidential #election, as some #Trump supporters falsely claimed that President #Biden had stolen the office, many of them displayed a startling symbol outside their homes, on their cars & online: an upside-down #AmericanFlag.
One of the homes flying an inverted flag during that time was the residence of #SupremeCourt Justice Samuel A #Alito Jr, in Alexandria, VA, acc/to photographs & interviews w/neighbors.
70 yrs after #SCOTUS delivered its landmark decision outlawing school segregation, #BrownVBoardOfEducation ranks as perhaps the court’s most venerated decision….
Most everything else related to the decision…is complex.
Nearly 7/10 Americans say more should be done to integrate schools…a figure that has steadily climbed from 30% in 1973….But a deeper look into the views of both Black & White people shows skepticism about the success of #Brown….
…The #Brown decision focused on the value of mixing children of different races. But for many #integration activists —then & now— the case is about a path to #fair & #equitable educational #resources. Those legal battles cont. Today’s complex views about #schools & integration come amid persistent #segregation that has risen in recent decades,changes in the #legal landscape & complicated dynamics of #education & #race in #America today.
Because of #Brown, #school ofcls may no longer deliberately separate students by #race —but under more recent #SCOTUS orders, they aren’t allowed to deliberately mix them by race either. #Integration advocates today have stopped looking to the #federal courts for help & are pursuing #state lawsuits instead.…some #Black leaders have concluded that the answer is not integration…but more #money & #opportunity for high #poverty#schools….
The #Republican-led UnitedStates House of
Representatives passed a bill on Thurs that would force President Joe #Biden to send weapons to Israel, seeking to rebuke the Democrat for delaying bomb shipments as he urges Israel to do more to protect #civilians during its war w/ #Hamas.
The #Israel Security Assistance Support Act was approved 224 to 187, largely along party lines. 16 #Democrats joined most Republicans in voting yes, & 3 #Republicans joined most Democrats in opposing the measure.
The act is not expected to become #law, but its passage underscored the deep #US#election-year divide over Israel policy as PM Benjamin #Netanyahu's government seeks to wipe out militants who attacked Israel on #Oct7….
#Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said Thurs he was pardoning #DanielPerry, the fmr Army sergeant convicted in the fatal shooting of a protester during a #BLM march, after a review board recommended he be released from prison.
“#Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney,” #GregAbbott said in a statement. “I thank the Board for its thorough investigation, & I approve their pardon recommendation.” #GregAbbott has long vowed to #pardon Perry, who was sentenced to 25 yrs in prison last yr.
…Unsealed court records revealed that he regularly shared #racist memes & threatening content in private msgs & social media posts, including descriptions of killing protesters & minorities.
Perry was convicted of murder in the death of 28-year-old #GarrettFoster, who was legally armed w/ an AK-47 rifle, during a 2020 confrontation in downtown Austin at a racial justice demonstration.
Cross-examination of #MichaelCohen resumes, an opportunity for the defense to poke holes in his testimony & perhaps trip up or provoke the state’s key witness. The questioning of Cohen, #Trump’s fmr fixer, is the beginning of the end of Trump’s #criminal trial, which began April 15 & might conclude before Memorial Day weekend at this pace.
A man w/a sign reading “GTFO of NYC” on one side & “Bootlickers” on the other was removed by police.
Another man approached Rep #LaurenBoebert & handed her a “Beetlejuice” program, & asked for her to sign it — poking fun at when she was kicked out of the musical for outrageous & disruptive behavior — was blocked by security.
Across the street, someone else could clearly be heard yelling “Matt Gaetz is a pedophile.”
Blanche asks about negotiations he had w/ ABC News reporter John Santucci regarding the #StormyDaniels story.
Blanche is restating his opening argument point that NDAs were typical among the wealthy & famous & that they were not illegal. (No one has said otherwise)
The letters were sent hrs before #GOP-led #House Oversight & Judiciary cmtes were to advance a #contempt resolution against AG #Garland for defying a #subpoena demanding the recordings, which include hrs of Special Counsel Hur interviewing #Biden. #DOJ also sent #HouseRepublicans a letter Garland wrote Biden on Wed requesting he assert #ExecutivePrivilege bc releasing the tapes would “damage future #law enforcement efforts," as investigators request voluntary cooperation from #WhiteHouse ofcls.
“The absence of a legitimate need for the audio recordings lays bare your likely goal—to chop them up, distort them, & use them for #partisan#political purposes,” the letter from Edward N. Siskel, counsel to the president, read. “Demanding such sensitive & constitutionally-protected #law enforcement materials from the Executive Branch because you want to manipulate them for potential political gain is inappropriate.”
#POTUS#Biden & #Trump agreed Wed to a June 27 debate on @CNN, hours after Biden announced he would bypass the decades-old tradition of 3 fall meetings organized by the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates (Trump stipulation, bc CPD has guidelines)
After Biden publicly embraced a #CNN proposal on social media, a Trump adviser,…said the presumptive #Republican nominee would accept that event. (We’ll see)
“I am Ready & Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June & September,” #Trump wrote earlier Wed on Truth Social. “I would strongly recommend more than two debates &, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds.”
(🤦🏼♀️This effing guy)
“Just tell me when, I’ll be there,” he continued, before referencing a tag line from professional boxing. “'Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!”
#Trump has his posse again. Today it’s more #Republican elected officials. Today, Trump will be joined by the #House speaker, #MikeJohnson, as well as #NorthDakota’s governor, #DougBurgum, a contender to be Trump's running mate. Also present will be Representatives #ByronDonalds & #CoryMills of Florida, & #VivekRamaswamy, who was one of Trump's primary rivals this year. Both Donalds & Ramaswamy are longshot hopefuls to be Trump's running mate.
#Hoffinger asks #MichaelCohen about that now. He says now he did not dispute the underlying facts of the case, but BELIEVED — & still does — that he should not have been criminally prosecuted for that specific offense, #tax evasion. He says that he felt pressured & felt that he was charged w/that particular #crime, which was not related to the #HushMoney payment, unjustly.
President #Biden on Monday evening signed a bipartisan bill prohibiting Russian imports of enriched #uranium a move intended to cut off one of the last significant flows of #money from the #UnitedStates to #Russia amid the #war in #Ukraine.
But #sanctions on #uranium imports have taken much longer, in part because #Russia supplies roughly 20% of #US#nuclear fuel, leading some lawmakers to fear disruptions to the nation’s 93 nuclear reactors.
“It’s kind of ridiculous that it took as long as it did to get to this stage,” said Scott Melbye, exec VP of mining company Uranium Energy & president of the Uranium Producers of America, a trade group. “But we’re just glad that we got here.”
American companies pay around $1B a year for enriched uranium from Rosatom, #Russia’s state #nuclear power conglomerate. These payments have continued even after documents revealed last year that Rosatom had been working to supply the Russian #arms industry w/components, technology & raw materials for missile fuel.
The bipartisan bill will ban #uranium imports from Moscow beginning 90 days after its enactment.
Facing Russian Advance, a Top Ukrainian General Paints a Bleak Picture
#Ukraine’s forces are stretched thin & have minimal reserves to draw on, the chief of #military#intelligence said, in addition to shortages of #weapons.
“The situation is on the edge,” Gen Kyrylo Budanov, head of #Ukraine’s #military#intelligence agency said…from a bunker in Kharkiv. “Every hour this situation moves toward critical.”
His assessment echoed…other Ukrainian officers…, the country’s military prospects are dimming. Besides being outnumbered, Ukrainians face critical shortages of #weapons, esp artillery ammo, & $60.8B worth of arms from the #US —approved 3 wks ago after months of gridlock in #congress —has barely begun to arrive.
@Nonilex
MAGAt Mike Johnson is responsible for these deaths and destruction of entire towns 100%. I thought the weapons were all ready to be immediately delivered. It appears not. How disgusting. 🤬
#Trump May Owe $100 Million From #DoubleDip Tax Breaks, Audit Shows
A previously unknown focus of an #IRS audit is a dubious accounting maneuver that effectively meant taking the same write-offs twice on his #Chicago skyscraper.
The first write-off came on Trump’s #tax return for 2008. With sales lagging far behind projections, he claimed that his investment in the condo-hotel tower met the tax code definition of “worthless,” because his #debt on the project meant he would never see a profit. That move resulted in #Trump reporting losses as high as $651 million for the year, The Times & ProPublica found.
There is no indication the #IRS challenged the initial claim,…that lack of scrutiny surprised #tax experts…. But in 2010, #Trump & his tax advisers sought to extract further benefits from the #Chicago proj, executing a maneuver that would draw yrs of inquiry from the IRS. First, he shifted the company that owned the tower into a new partnership.…like moving coins from one pocket to another. Then he used the shift as justification to declare $168M in additional losses over the next decade.
Senator #JDVance, Eric Trump, Boris Ephsteyn, his legal adviser; Alina Habba, one of the lawyers from his civil fraud trial; US House Rep #NicoleMalliotakis; Senator #TommyTuberville; & the #Iowa & #Alabama attorneys general.
This is the biggest entourage we’ve seen him with so far.
He must be scared.
#Trump currently has senior #elected officials, including a possible future VP nominee, sitting in the courtroom listening to a recording of him, as a candidate, talking w/his lawyer about paying for material from The #NationalEnquirer. Trump has completely got the party under his boot.
2 #Republican senators, a congresswoman & 2 state AGs are listening to a now-disbarred lawyer advising Trump on a #HushMoney payment.