Monday, September 9, 2024

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1/ Trump’s sentencing for his criminal conviction related to orchestrating an illegal conspiracy to influence the 2016 election will be delayed until after Election Day. The sentencing, which was set for Sept. 18, will instead take place on Nov. 26, Judge Juan Merchan ruled – meaning voters will cast ballots without knowing whether Trump could face jail time for his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Merchan, citing the “unique time frame this matter currently finds itself in,” said he decided to delay Trump’s sentencing from Sept. 18 to Nov. 26 to “to avoid any appearance — however unwarranted — that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching Presidential election.” Merchan also said he’d rule on Trump’s request to overturn the verdict on presidential immunity grounds by Nov. 12. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg / CNN)

2/ Trump – baselessly suggesting without evidence that the 2024 election could be stolen from him – threatened to jail his political enemies at a level “never seen before in our Country.” Trump said his lawyers and other allies would be watching polling stations for alleged “cheating,” and “those involved in unscrupulous behavior” will be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again.” Despite recently admitting that he had “lost” the 2020 election, Trump claimed that “rampant Cheating and Skullduggery” by Democrats had affected the outcome of the election. Biden defeated Trump by over 7 million votes. (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Salon / NBC News / Axios)

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Thursday, September 5, 2024

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1/ Trump’s federal criminal election interference case resumed after a nearly yearlong delay. The case had been on hold since late last year, when Trump appealed U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s decision that he’s not entitled to “presidential immunity” from criminal prosecution. Despite two lower courts rejecting Trump’s claim of total immunity, the Supreme Court took up the appeal and ruled in July that Trump is entitled to “absolute immunity from criminal prosecution” for “official acts.” Last week, special counsel Jack Smith charged Trump in a superseding indictment in the case involving an alleged conspiracy to obstruct the results of the 2020 election. The revised indictment kept the same four charges against Trump, but recalibrated the case to adjust to the Supreme Court’s ruling that presidents enjoy sweeping immunity from prosecution for their official conduct. Today, lawyers on both sides sparred over their proposed paths for how the election interference case against Trump should proceed. Chutkan appeared inclined to give prosecutors a chance to lay out the evidence against Trump within the next few weeks. Trump’s attorney, John Lauro, however, pushed back, saying this a “sensitive time” with the presidential election approaching. Chutkan responded: “The electoral process and the timing of the election […] is not relevant here. This court is not concerned with the electoral schedule.” (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CBS News / CNN / CNBC)

2/ Kamala Harris called for a 28% capital gains tax rate for Americans who earn at least $1 million a year – 10 points lower than Biden’s proposed 39.6% top rate. The current capital gains tax rate is 20%. “While we ensure that the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share, we will tax capital gains at a rate that rewards investment in America’s innovators, founders and small businesses,” Harris said. While Trump hasn’t explicitly outlined a position, in 2016 he supported capping capital gains taxes at 20%, and the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 calls for a 15% tax on capital gains. (Bloomberg / USA Today / Axios / ABC News / CNN / CNBC)

3/ Trump pledged to cut the corporate tax rate to 15% from...

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Wednesday, September 4, 2024

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1/ A 14-year-old killed two students, two teachers, and left at least nine more hospitalized after a mass shooting at a Georgia high school. Colt Gray will be charged with murder and tried as an adult. The high school reportedly received a phone call warning that there would be shootings at five schools, and that Apalachee High School would be the first. Biden called the shooting “another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart.” Kamala Harris added that “This is just a senseless tragedy on top of so many senseless tragedies, and it’s just outrageous that everyday in our country, in the United States of America, that parents have to send their children to school, worried about whether or not their child will come home alive […] We’ve got to stop it, and we have to end this epidemic of gun violence in our country once and for all. You know it doesn’t have to be this way.” Before today, there had been 29 mass killings in the U.S. so far this year. Last year, there were 217 deaths from 42 mass killings in the U.S. – one of the deadliest years on record for such shootings in the country. [Editor’s note: This is breaking news and will be updated as additional reporting becomes available.] (Associated Press / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / New York Times / NBC News / NPR / CBS News)

2/ The Biden administration accused Putin of orchestrating a campaign to influence the 2024 U.S. presidential election, help Trump win, and erode international support for Ukraine. The Justice Department charged two Russian media executives and seized 32 web domains that it said were part of a broad, ongoing effort by the Russian government to spread propaganda. The two employees of RT – a Russian state-controlled media outlet – covertly funded a Tennessee-based company with nearly $10 million “to publish and disseminate content deemed favorable to the Russian government” on social media. The nearly 2,000 videos have gotten more than 16 million views on YouTube alone, prosecutors said. “The Justice Department’s message is clear: We have no tolerance for attempts by authoritarian regimes to exploit our democratic system of government,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. The Treasury Department also sanctioned 10 individuals and two entities in response to “Moscow’s malign influence efforts targeting the 2024 U.S. presidential election.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / Wall...

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Tuesday, September 3, 2024

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1/ Trump claimed that he had “every right” to interfere with the 2020 presidential election. In a Fox News interview, Trump said: “It’s so crazy that my poll numbers go up. Whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election where you have every right to do it. You get indicted and your poll numbers go up.” Last week, however, Trump was indicted again in his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. Kamala Harris, meanwhile, said Trump’s remarks “make it clear that he believes he is above the law.” (NBC News / Axios / Reuters / The Hill)

2/ A federal judge rejected Trump’s attempt to move his New York criminal case into federal court. Three months after Trump was convicted in state court on all 34 felony counts of orchestrating an illegal conspiracy to influence the 2016 presidential election by falsifying business records, Trump filed a motion to move the case to federal court to indefinitely delay his sentencing scheduled for Sept. 18. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, however, ruled that Trump had not met the burden of proof required to move the case to federal court. Trump previously tried — and failed — to move the case to federal court. (Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / Politico / CNBC News)

3/ Democrats on the House Oversight Committee asked Trump to prove he never illegally accepted nearly $10 million from the Egyptian government. Jamie Raskin, the committee’s top Democrat, and Rep. Robert Garcia, the minority leader of a subcommittee on national security, asked Trump to provide evidence “that you never, directly or indirectly, politically or personally, received any fund from the Egyptian president or government.” The request follows recent reporting that five days before Trump became president in January 2017, a Cairo bank manager was asked by an organization linked to the Egyptian intelligence service to “kindly withdraw” nearly $10 million from its account in cash. “Surely you would agree that the American people deserve to know whether a former president—and a curren...

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Thursday, August 29, 2024

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1/ The Army defended the Arlington National Cemetery official involved in an incident with the Trump campaign, saying the employee was “abruptly pushed aside” and “unfairly attacked” after she sought to “ensure adherence” to cemetery rules that bar recording for political purposes. “Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds,” the Army said. “This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked.” The employee “decided not to press charges” due to concerns over retaliation, and so the Army “considers this matter closed.” Although Trump’s team was allowed to visit Section 60, the burial site for military personnel killed while fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, in his “personal capacity and bring personal aides, but not campaign staff,” the campaign falsely insisted it was “granted access to have a photographer.” (Politico / CNN / Axios / Associated Press / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)

2/ JD Vance told Kamala Harris to “go to hell” for comments she didn’t make. When asked about the “incident” at the Arlington National Cemetery, Vance accused Harris of criticizing Trump’s visit, saying “she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up? She can – she can go to hell.” He added: “Kamala Harris is so asleep at the wheel that she won’t even do an investigation into what happened.” The Harris campaign, meanwhile, called the confrontation between Trump’s campaign and a cemetery official “pretty sad” but “not surprising.” (Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)

3/ The International Association of Fire Fighters booed JD Vance during his speech at their conference. After Vance claimed that he and Trump are the most “pro-workers Republican ticket in history,” the firefighters union booed him. Vance then replied: “It sounds like we got some fans and some haters here.” (Daily Beast / Axios / USA Today / HuffPost)

4/ The U.S. economy grew faster in the second quarter of 2024 than first reported. The latest reading of the gross domestic product came in at 3% – an upward revision from the ...

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Wednesday, August 28, 2024

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1/ Trump’s economic proposals would increase the national debt by $5.8 trillion over 10 years – almost five times more than Kamala Harris’ policy plans, which would add $1.2 trillion. According to nonpartisan estimates, Trump’s plan to permanently extend the 2017 tax cuts, eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits, and reduce the corporate income tax rate, would add a net $5.8 trillion deficits over the next 10 years. The Harris analysis, meanwhile, showed that her plan to expand the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit, extend enhanced premium tax credits, provide support to first-time homebuyers, and raise the corporate tax income rate to 28% would cost $1.2 trillion over 10 years. The Harris campaign called Trump’s agenda “an inflation and deficit bomb,” while the Trump campaign blaming her for a “Biden-Harris inflation tax.” (CNBC / Axios / NBC News / The Hill)

2/ The Supreme Court refused to temporarily lift a nationwide injunction blocking the Biden administration’s federal student loan repayment plan. In an unsigned order, the court said it “expects” the appeals court handling the case to “render its decision with appropriate dispatch.” More than 8 million people are enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education program, which offers lower monthly payments and a faster path to loan cancellation. (Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / New York Times)

3/ Two members of Trump’s campaign staff had a verbal and physical altercation with a staff member at Arlington National Cemetery where Trump was staging a campaign stunt. Trump, who once disparaged members of the U.S. military who had been captured or killed as “losers” and “suckers,” participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then went to Section 60 of the cemetery, reserved for those recently killed in America’s wars abroad. Arlington officials had “reinforced and widely shared” to the Trump campaign that federal laws prohibits campaign activities by photographers “or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign” in Section 60. Nevertheless, when a cemetery official tried to prevent Trump’s campaign from taking photos and videos in Section 60, campaign staff members pushed and verbally attacked the cemetery official. The Arlington National Cemetery, meanwhile, said it “can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed.” (NPR / NBC News / Axios / WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

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1/ Special counsel Jack Smith charged Trump in a superseding indictment in the case involving an alleged conspiracy to obstruct the results of the 2020 election. The superseding indictment retains the four charges against Trump from Smith’s original indictment, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, but recalibrated the case to adjust to the Supreme Court’s ruling that presidents enjoy sweeping immunity from prosecution for their official conduct. “Today, a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned a superseding indictment, ECF No. 226, charging the defendant with the same criminal offenses that were charged in the original indictment,” the Justice Department said. “The superseding indictment, which was presented to a new grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in this case, reflects the Government’s efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court’s holdings and remand instructions.” There’s no chance the case will be tried before November’s election – and if Trump wins, he’s expected to pressure his appointees at the Justice Department to drop the case. (ABC News / Washington Post / CNN / Politico / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / Associated Press / NPR)

2/ Democrats sued the Georgia State Election Board over new election rules that could lead to post-election “chaos” in the state in November. The lawsuit, filed in Georgia state court by the Democratic National Committee, the Georgia Democratic Party, and Democratic members of several county election boards, argues that the rules give local election officials a broad license to “hunt for purported election irregularities of any kind, potentially delaying certification and displacing longstanding (and court-supervised) processes for addressing fraud.” The state election board voted 3-2 to pass rules that give election officials authority to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” before certifying election results, and requires that county election officials be given “all election related documentation” before certification. “At minimum, these novel requirements introduce substantial uncertainty in the post-election process and – if interpreted as their drafters have suggested – invite chaos by establishing new processes at odds with existing statutory duties,” the lawsuit argues. (New York Times / CNN /

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Monday, August 26, 2024

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1/ Special counsel Jack Smith urged a federal appeals court to reverse the dismissal of the criminal classified documents case against Trump. Last month, Judge Aileen Cannon granted Trump’s request to dismiss the indictment on the grounds that Smith’s appointment as special counsel violated the Constitution’s appointments and appropriations clauses. In a brief filed with the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Smith argued that Cannon’s decision ignored decades of “Supreme Court precedent, misconstrued the statutes that authorized the Special Counsel’s appointment, and took inadequate account of the longstanding history of Attorney General appointments of special counsels.” It’s unclear how long it will take for the appeals court to decide the matter, but even if it overturns the dismissal, the trial will not take place before the November presidential election – and if Trump wins the 2024 election, he could pressure his Justice Department to drop the appeals effort. Trump appointed Cannon to the federal bench in south Florida in 2020. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / NBC News / CNBC)

2/ An Arizona judge set a January 5, 2026, trial date for Trump allies charged in the criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. In April, an Arizona grand jury indicted 18 Republicans, including Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani, on charges including fraud, forgery, and tampering with public records, among others. Most of the defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges. And, while Trump wasn’t charged, the grand jury wanted to indict Trump but state prosecutors said it would be a “big deal” and that they weren’t sure if they had “all the evidence to prosecute it at this moment.” (CNN / Salon)

3/ Texas and 15 Republican-led states sued the Biden administration over a new federal program that offers a path to citizenship for immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally and are now married to U.S. citizens. The initiative, called Keeping Families Together, provides a path to citizenship to an estimated 500,000 people, as well as some 50,000 children. Nevertheless, the coalition filed suit to halt the program, claiming that the administration bypassed Congress to create a pathway to citizenship for “blatant political purposes” and “incentivizes illegal immigration.” (Associated Press / NBC News)

4/ Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his election bid and endorsed Trump. [Editor’s note: Too bad, so sad.](

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Wednesday, August 21, 2024

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1/ Biden passed the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris on the first night of the Democratic National Convention, saying: “America, I gave my best to you.” In what is perhaps his last major political speech, he then ad-libbed: “I made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you.” Biden was greeted by a four-minutes standing ovation by the crowd that chanted “Thank you, Joe,” and “We love Joe” as he entered the stage. In his 52-minute speech, Biden said choosing Harris as his running mate in 2020 was “the best decision I made my whole career,” and vowed to be the “best” campaign “volunteer” the campaign “have ever seen.” He added: “As your president, I’ve been determined to keep America moving forward, not going back.” Harris made a surprise appearance earlier in the evening, thanking Biden for all he’s done “and for all you will continue to do, we are forever grateful to you.” Hillary Clinton, the first woman to win a major party’s nomination as the Democratic pick in 2016, thanked Biden for being “democracy’s champion” before reminding Democrats how close they came to breaking the “highest and hardest glass ceiling” as she celebrated Harris as the party’s new torch-bearer, saying “The future is here.” Clinton also attacked Trump, saying he “made his own kind of history” as “the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions […] We have him on the run now.” The crowd erupted into chants of “lock him up.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez began her speech by thanking Harris and Walz for their “vision,” and Biden for his “leadership” before turning her attention to Trump, calling him a “two-bit union buster” who “would sell this country for a dollar if it meant lining his own pockets and greasing palms of his Wall Street friends.” She added: “There is nothing wrong with working for a living. Imagine having leaders who understand that.” Night two of the DNC will include speeches from Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, and Doug Emhoff. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Politico / Axios / NBC News / Associated Press / NPR / NPR / Axios / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)

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Thursday, August 15, 2024

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1/ Trump asked the judge overseeing his election interference trial involving falsified business records to postpone his sentencing until after the presidential election in November, arguing that the Sept. 18 sentencing date advances what he claims is “naked election-interference objectives.” Judge Juan Merchan already delayed Trump’s sentencing once, at Trump’s request, following the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity. Trump’s request for a delay comes one day after Merchan declined – for the third time – to recuse himself from the case and criticized Trump and his defense lawyers for raising “inaccurate and unsubstantiated claims.” In denying Trump’s motion, Judge Juan Merchan wrote, “this court now reiterates for the third time, that which should already be clear – innuendo and mischaracterization do not a conflict create.” Trump was found guilty by a jury on May 30 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to Michael Cohen’s $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels to avert a sex scandal before the 2016 U.S. election. Trump faces up to four years in prison. (ABC News / CNN / The Hill / Politico / New York Times / Associated Press / Reuters / Politico / CNN)

2/ The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the Republican Legislature can refer to fetuses as “unborn human beings” in the informational pamphlet sent to voters to help inform their choice on an abortion rights ballot measure to enshrine abortion access to the state constitution. The secretary of state’s office, however, said “unborn human being” would not appear on the ballot itself. (Associated Press / KJZZ / Axios)

3/ The Biden administration will save Americans $6 billion as a result of the first Medicare drug price negotiations. The new prices take effect in 2026, and the discounts range between 38% and 79% on the medication’s list price for the 10 drugs selected in initial round of negotiations. Those who are enrolled in Medicare Part D will save around $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs. (Associated Press / CBS News / Politico / Bloomberg / Washington Post)

4/ The Consumer ...

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