Amid growing fears about political violence in the US, a senior Republican senator predicted “riots in the streets” if Donald Trump is prosecuted for mishandling classified information. 

Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, made his remarks about the ex-president while speaking to Fox News’s Sunday Night in America, hosted by Trey Gowdy, a former Republican congressman from the same state. 

Graham said: “Most Republicans, including me, believe when it comes to Trump, there is no law. It’s all about getting him. There’s a double standard when it comes to Trump.” 

Alleging a failure by the FBI to investigate Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son, Graham added: “I’ll say this, if there’s a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information, after the Clinton debacle … there’ll be riots in the streets.”

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Susan and John discuss the double standards in San Francisco politics.

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South Carolina state Rep. Neal Collins, who voted for a six-week abortion ban last year, now apparently regrets doing so after a judge let that law take effect in June and the horrific yet extremely predictable consequences have begun. 

Now that the state House is considering a new, near-total ban, Collins is upset about the reality that he helped bring about. The second week the law was in effect, a doctor in Anderson, South Carolina, told Collins about a pregnant 19-year-old who came to the emergency room after her water broke at 15 weeks, Collins told his colleagues during a hearing. The fetus can’t survive if delivered at that stage, the doctor told him, but it still had fetal cardiac activity so hospital attorneys told doctors they couldn’t intervene with a dilation and evacuation procedure. They had to discharge her and wait for her to finish miscarrying.

A Louisiana mother said she was denied an abortion even though doctors told her that her baby had a rare birth defect and would not survive. Nancy Davis said she found out 10 weeks into her pregnancy that her unborn child had a condition called Acrania, where the fetus' skull does not form inside the womb. The Fetal Medicine Foundation said a baby born with this "lethal condition" does not survive past the first week. Davis' doctors advised that she get an abortion, she said at a news conference Friday. But her doctors said they would not able to perform the procedure because of the state's ban on abortions.

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A redacted FBI affidavit used to convince a judge to approve a search warrant for former President Trump’s Florida home noted that authorities found 184 classified documents in their initial review of recovered boxes in an effort that began just a few months after he left office. 

Authorities’ concern that Trump may have additional national security information at his private residence was spurred by a review of the 15 boxes recovered by the National Archives in January.

The affidavit indicates that among the 184 documents were 25 that contained top secret information, including those gained from “clandestine human sources,” information prohibited from being shared with foreign governments, and information obtained by monitoring “foreign communications signals.”

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Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant was cut off from the country’s electricity grid, setting off a mass power outage in the adjacent area after fires damaged its last functioning transmission line, Ukraine’s nuclear power company said Thursday.

Emergency backup systems kicked in and helped sustain crucial operations, but the incident heightened fears of a disaster at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP), which is also the largest atomic energy plant in Europe and is located in an area occupied by invading Russian forces.

Fighting in the vicinity of the plant has led to acute worries of a potential catastrophe and to urgent calls from many world leaders for U.N. nuclear experts to be allowed to visit the site.

Russian and Ukrainian officials traded blame for shelling at the plant, which they said had resulted in the disconnection from the power grid — the first time it has ever been cut off.

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Former President Trump on Wednesday called on Republicans to boot Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) from his post as Senate minority leader, accusing the senator of being a “pawn for the Democrats.”

In a statement, Trump cited a Wednesday story from The Federalist about McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao’s alleged ties to China in calling for the senator’s ouster from his longtime leadership post.

“Mitch McConnell is not an Opposition Leader, he is a pawn for the Democrats to get whatever they want,” Trump said in his statement. “He is afraid of them, and will not do what has to be done. A new Republican Leader in the Senate should be picked immediately!”

Trump has feuded with McConnell, who he has dubbed “Old Crow,” since the Senate leader denounced the former president in Congress for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

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A redacted version of the affidavit justifying the FBI search of former president Donald Trump’s Florida residence must be unsealed in federal court by noon Friday, a judge ordered Thursday afternoon.

The order arrived hours after Justice Department lawyers submitted proposed redactions they felt were necessary to avoid jeopardizing witnesses or undermining the high-profile investigation into the handling of classified documents, which the Justice Department has characterized as still in the “early stages.”

Federal Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart apparently agreed with the government’s proposed redactions and, in response to requests from multiple news organizations, ordered the affidavit to be made available for public view.

The affidavit likely contains key information about the investigation into classified documents that were kept at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and private resort after he left office, including why FBI agents suspect crimes may have been committed.

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California is expected to vote on Thursday to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035. 

“The climate crisis is solvable if we focus on the big, bold steps necessary to stem the tide of carbon pollution,” Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement. 

The landmark move toward electric vehicles would be phased in over several years, with a target of 35 percent of new vehicles that don’t emit fossil fuels being set for 2026, a target of 51 percent for 2028, 68 percent for 2030, and finally a target of 100 percent for 2035. 

The California Air Resource Board will vote to implement the measure on Thursday, with board member Daniel Sperling telling CNN that he is “99.9 percent” confident that it will pass. “This is monumental,” Sperling added. “This is the most important thing that CARB has done in the last 30 years. It’s important not just for California, but it’s important for the country and the world.”

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The San Francisco Board of Education voted unanimously August 2 to officially admonish commissioner Ann Hsu, saying a racist statement she made on a recent candidate questionnaire was "hurtful and perpetuates harmful stereotypes."

The board wrote that Hsu's comments, "come at a time when the Board is in the process of reforming its behaviors and processes to produce better outcomes for students."

The emotional meeting prompted an outpouring of comments from many Black, Latinx and Asian families, all of whom expressed hurt and pain over the discussion. At one point during public comment, dueling camps of families shouted "Racist! Racist!" and "Support Ann Hsu!" at each other.

Hsu voted for her own admonishment. Speaking to the crowd, she said systemic biases need to be overcome, "but canceling one another is not the way to do it."

Since Hsu’s statement came to light last month, the backlash against her has been swift. But that outcry is also being countered by a significant contingent of voices calling for Hsu to hold on to her job.

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After more than a year of debates, protests, meetings and deliberations, President Biden is fulfilling a campaign promise to cancel some of the federal student debt held by millions of Americans.

Under the plan, borrowers can qualify for up to $10,000 in student loan forgiveness, and recipients of Pell Grants are eligible for an additional $10,000 in forgiveness. Only borrowers earning under $125,000 per year — or $250,000 per year, for a married couple filing taxes jointly — qualify. The Biden administration also announced that it is extending the current moratorium on payments until Dec. 31 and implementing a new cap on the maximum monthly payments of undergraduate borrowers, among other changes.

The White House estimates roughly 43 million federal student loan borrowers are eligible for forgiveness, and about 20 million could have their debt completely wiped out, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters on Wednesday. The policy will deliver the single largest discharge of education debt on record.

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