…Several #HouseRepublicans …said their backing of #Trump is based on how their constituents reacted. Some, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that they issued stmnts in #fear of how his base would react if they stayed quiet. Trump has animated his followers by painting himself as a martyr & repeatedly suggesting that if the #Biden admin & judicial sys were not coming after him, they would go after them. #Republicans say that message has been effective.
It was unclear how the #House could seek to cut spending for states through the appropriations process, which funds the federal govt. But it has become a talking point for #FarRightlawmakers that was on display during a House #Judiciary Cmte hearing Tues.
#Biden calls #America’s democratic values the “grounding wire of our global power” & its #alliances “our greatest asset.” …#Trump, called for withdrawing American forces in #Europe & #Asia & has promised… to cut loose even our closest #allies if they don’t do as he tells them. …Trump sees all countries as unreliable, the relations between them #transactional. That sentiment has spread throughout a #GOP that once championed America’s values abroad…
#Biden’s admin has worked to prevent the #war in #Gaza from igniting a broader regional conflict. He brokered the 1st trilateral summit w/long-distrustful regional partners #SouthKorea & #Japan, & coaxed the #Philippines to move away from China’s orbit & accept 4 new #US military bases. He has rallied countries in #Europe & #Asia to curtail #China’s economic sway. “We have put together the strongest #alliance in the history of the world,” Biden says…. #ForeignPolicy#geopolitics#BidenHarris2024
On the 1st day of #testimony in #HunterBiden’s federal #gun trial, #jurors heard his audio of his memoir, where he recounted his #drug use in graphic detail. A federal prosecutor told jurors “no one is above the #law,” & defense said the he did not “knowingly” lie when filling out forms to purchase a weapon.
The #FBI agent said they were able to confirm that the laptop taken from the repair shop was #HunterBiden’s partly from his iCloud data, which contained an invoice from the shop [wait - an invoice for the repair was on the laptop before the work was done? Remember, he never picked it up]
"A new fiscal analysis confirms that a GOP plan to give Arizona police officers the power to arrest migrants will cost the state money and one law enforcement agency estimates that price tag at more than $40 million."
If voters pass the #border enforcement measure in Nov, it would mark a sharp U-turn for a state that has moderated its approach to immigration since an era when Sheriff #JoeArpaio of Maricopa County carried out #raids & traffic stops that critics criticized as #RacialProfiling. not just critics, his policies were [#cruel & #unconstitutional]
WI’s AG filed charges against an aide & 2 attys who advised Trump over a meeting of #Republicans who claimed to be the state’s 2020 presidential electors even though Trump had lost the state.
The charges are the first in WI related to the meeting of electors. Prosecutors have separately charged Republicans who were involved in similar efforts in #Arizona, #Michigan, #Nevada & #Georgia.
>300 #House lawmakers were reimbursed ≥$5.2M for #food & #lodging while on official business in Washington last year under a new, #TaxpayerFunded prgm that doesn’t require receipts.
The prgm, which kicked off last yr after a #Republican-led House panel passed it, was intended to make it easier for lawmakers to maintain separate homes in DC & their home districts.
#Republican#MattGaetz, the prgm’s overall top spender, was reimbursed for nearly $30k in lodging #expenses & >$10k for food in 2023. He was reimbursed >$4k for lodging in 2 different months & >$3k in 5 different months.
A spox for #Gaetz said he was reimbursed for expenses when the #House was out of session but he was in DC on ofcl business related to his post on the select cmte on #weaponization of the federal govt.…
Other members of the cmte expensed SIGNIFICANTLY less than Gaetz.
An earlier version of this article said that Rep #MattGaetz (R-Fla.) was the reimbursement program's top spender for 2023. That analysis was based on data released by the #House as of last week. But additional data The Post reviewed Tuesday showed that Rep #JackBergman (R-Michigan) was reimbursed for more than Gaetz was.
Most analysts expected #Modi to brush aside #India’s enervated & poorly funded opposition parties, some of which had their #bank accounts frozen & their leaders #jailed by the govt in the run-up to the #election.
Yet the mood shifted dramatically as early vote counts trickled in Tues morning & indicated that the #BJP might not single-handedly secure the 272 seats needed in the 543-member #LokSabha lower house, as it comfortably did in 2014 & 2019.
@Nonilex A little bit of hope in there anyway. His populist push towards driving division and conflict, and authoritarian leaning has been disturbing. Would be great to see the populace reject that.
Don't have a good sense of what the alternatives offered are.
DC #ElectionWorkers have been fielding angry calls & emails for over a month from people who oppose allowing #noncitizen residents to #vote in local #elections, leaving the head of the DC Board of Elections concerned about #safety at the polls in Tues’s primary.
“I am definitely nervous,” said Monica Evans, BOE exec dir. “The environment around elections has felt more unsafe.”
In one vm…, a caller yells: “Where the hell do you get off letting illegals vote? This is the nation’s capital. You are traitors, traitors to our country.”
Evans said that employees have been encouraged to cover up any DC BOE paraphernalia they may be wearing or holding while outside the office in case someone who opposes #noncitizen voting directs their opinion toward a staffer. DC police spox said in a stmnt that officers would be near polling locations “ensuring #safety for voters” #democracy
Testimony in a #Michigan court Fri, revealed both #state & #federal investigators continue to probe certificates that falsely claimed #Trump won the #2020election, 5 months before the next election.
On day 4 of prelim examinations for 6 #Republicans who signed the false certificate in MI, MSP Capt Darren Green, said he was interviewed Thurs by the #FBI & 2 US prosecutors from DC.
Capt Green was at the #Michigan Capitol when a group of #FakeElectors attempted to enter the building on Dec 14, 2020, to present their document to the MI Senate. Green said the interview Thurs focused on the electors.
Just before Green's remarks, Howard Shock, an agent of MI AG #DanaNessel's office, testified that he had outstanding #subpoenas or search #warrants for info as part of an ongoing state investigation into the false electors certificate.
The latest #doxxing attempt fits a pattern of #threats against people who speak out against Trump.
The addresses & phone numbers of fmr Trump lawyer Cohen's family members were posted to a doxxing website after Trump was #convicted of 34 #felony counts in connection w/a scheme to illegally #influence the #2016election.
#Trump supporters tried to #dox#jurors last week after his #conviction, & they also targeted #prosecutors & the #judge, Justice #Merchan, in the case w/ #threats. During the trial, the mother of a fmr police officer, #MichaelFanone, who was nearly killed on #Jan6, 2021, by rioters who believed Trump's lies about the #2020election was "#swatted" after her son called Trump "an authoritarian" w/ "a violence fetish."
"Our researchers are regularly scanning for potential #threats & instigations of #PoliticalViolence. …we identified personal details online — #doxxing— for #MichaelCohen, his wife, & his #children. The individual who shared the information online…, likely had an #intent to #harm Cohen—providing these personal details on the Cohen family in the context of calling Cohen a 'lying bastard' & identifying him as someone who 'betrayed #Trump’….” - Daniel J. Jones, ADI president, stmnt.
[#Trump appointee] Judge #AileenCannon …recently scrapped the trial’s start date … in May & has not yet scheduled a new one. In doing so, she cited the “myriad & interconnected” legal issues she has yet to resolve.
It appears increasingly unlikely that the case will go in front of a jury before the election…. That is largely because of Cannon’s habit of holding time-consuming hearings on arguments raised by the defense that many other judges would have decided on the merits of written filings.
#JennaEllis said in court during her guilty plea: “If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald #Trump in these postelection challenges,” adding, “I look back on this experience w/deep remorse.”
9 #witnesses in the #criminal cases against #Trump have received significant financial benefits, including large raises from his campaign, severance packages, new jobs, & a grant of shares & cash from Trump’s media co.
This is vintage #Trump. He’s not explicitly advocating #unrest. He’s not even explicitly mentioning unrest in this case. But he is suggestively pointing to something very bad around the corner if he doesn’t get what he wants.
And as w/his recent “bloodbath” comment, the point is not that this comment is a particularly egregious example of a #DogWhistle to his supporters; it’s that it’s merely the latest in a long line of suggestive comments. The context is key, & the track record is unmistakable
#Trump wants his foes to worry about things getting ugly — & to perhaps adjust their behavior accordingly. The problem is that we’ve seen how supporters can take his comments as a call to action. (And Trump’s comments, crucially, almost never come w/an admonition to stay peaceful.)
Israel’s Seizure of #Gaza Border Zone Strains Ties With Egypt
Israel defied ominous Egyptian warnings & took control of the #PhiladelphiCorridor, but the reaction from #Egypt, which wants to maintain its #security cooperation with #Israel, has been muted.