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US Monthly Headline News August 2022
By Tom Boggioni | Raw Story

According to a report from the Washington Post, based on documents obtained by a watchdog group, a Donald Trump town hall event held in the chamber of the Lincoln Memorial cost taxpayers approximately $150k or more with critics also calling the use of the space "clearly illegal." At issue was a Trump interview with Fox news personalities Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum on May, 30, 2020 that was supposed to be held on the steps of the venerable memorial but was moved inside despite federal regulations banning such use.

As the Post's Jonathan O'Connell, wrote, "In the spring of 2020, National Park Service personnel were preparing for an event President Donald Trump was holding with Fox News to address the nascent covid-19 pandemic from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, site of historic protests and inaugural concerts. But, first, they had to brief Trump on the plans." As the report notes, the former president's involvement led his handpicked interior secretary David Bernhardt to overrule federal regulations and approve moving the event.
To protect Trump Rand Paul wants make our nation less safe by repealing the Espionage Act. Republicans also want to make us less safe by defunding the DOJ and FBI to protect Trump.

jzitser@businessinsider.com (Joshua Zitser)

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky called for the repeal of the Espionage Act after it was revealed that the Justice Department is investigating if former President Donald Trump potentially violated the Act. "The Espionage Act was abused from the beginning to jail dissenters of WWI," tweeted Paul. "It is long past time to repeal this egregious affront to the 1st Amendment."

Paul shared a link to a 2019 article by Jacob Hornberger, a former Libertarian presidential candidate and founder of the Future of Freedom Foundation, which called the Espionage Act a "tyrannical law." The Espionage Act of 1917 dates back to World War I. Insider reported it was introduced to prohibit sharing information that could harm the US or advantage foreign adversaries.
By Tom Boggioni | Raw Story

Law enforcement officials in Garfield County, Colorado, have released audio recordings of 911 calls they received from neighbors of Rep Lauren Boebert (R-CO), complaining her kids were speeding on the street, her husband was driving drunk and he drove over their mailbox and was trying to start a fight. According to the report from the Denver Post, the altercation happened on Aug 4, and led to a spate of calls requesting deputies respond.

As the Post's Conrad Swanson wrote, "Garfield County Sheriff’s deputies decided to let neighbors of U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert settle a dispute between themselves and the congresswoman’s husband after he reportedly threatened them and destroyed their mailbox. But 911 calls from the incident, obtained by The Denver Post, show just how upset and nervous the neighbors were over their run-in with Boebert’s husband, Jayson Boebert." According to the report, a neighbor asked one of Boebert's sons to stop speeding down the street in a dune buggy, which set off a dispute that then escalated.
The right has shown us who they are and it should scare the hell out of all Americans.

insider@insider.com (John Haltiwanger)

In the wake of an FBI search of former President Donald Trump's Florida home, some far-right figures have been spreading violent rhetoric online — including calls for war. The Republican party has long portrayed itself as the defender of "law and order," but the aftermath of the raid has seen GOP lawmakers like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene call for defunding the FBI. Greene has also made references to "civil war" on social media as her Republican colleagues compare the FBI to the Gestapo and depict the raid as the type of thing that only happens in "third world" countries.

Meanwhile, pro-Trump internet channels have seen a spike in talk of civil war since the raid. The FBI raid of Trump's Mar-a-Lago home came in a historically divisive period for the US, one in which millions of voters continue to believe the false notion that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. Such erroneous claims were at the heart of what catalyzed the deadly January 6 riot at the US Capitol last year, and historians and experts on democracy warn that these lies continue to foster the potential for further violence. They also say that if the US did see civil war, it wouldn't look like the first one.
Republicans, Fox News and right wing media only support the blue when they are going after black, brown and democrats.
By Tom Boggioni | Raw Story

Late Thursday, the president of Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association lashed out at Republicans who have been attacking the FBI and Department of Justice employees for their part in serving a warrant for classified materials at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort earlier in the week. Since FBI agents descended on the former president's Florida home at the direction of Attorney General Merrick Garland, Republican Party lawmakers have been raising a fuss that has included calls to "defund the FBI" as well as calling for investigations and purging of DOJ officials if the GOP takes control of the House in November. With that in mind, the Washington Post reports that Larry Cosme issued a statement stating the GOP lawmakers making threats about "coming for you" is far beyond the pale. While noting a Cincinnati man attacked an FBI field office -- and subsequently died -- Thursday afternoon with the assault directly attributed to the violent rhetoric against the department due to the Mar-a-Lago investigation, Cosme stated, "The rank-and-file officers on the street and agents, they are career employees that … cherish the Constitution like the average American."
Candy Woodall, Katherine Swartz, Kenneth Tran | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON –The House on Friday passed the Inflation Reduction Act along party lines, rounding out a series of recent wins for President Joe Biden. The House voted 220-207, with no Republicans joining Democrats in supporting the act. It now heads to Biden, who is expected to sign it into law next week after months of negotiations between moderate and progressive Democrats, who ultimately reached an agreement late last month.

"We're unified!," Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told USA TODAY. "(Democrats are) all in this together. We are all making life better for the American people." The sweeping legislation on health care, climate and taxes passed through the Senate 51-50 along party lines last week after a 15-hour session of debate, amendments and negotiation ending in Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaking vote. "There are a few days in a congressional career that feel truly historic. To me, this is one of them," House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., said on the floor ahead of the vote.
By Betsy Woodruff Swan, Kyle Cheney and Nicholas Wu

Asearch warrant newly unsealed on Friday reveals that the FBI is investigating Donald Trump for a potential violation of the Espionage Act and removed classified documents from the former president’s Florida estate earlier this week. A receipt accompanying the search warrant, viewed by POLITICO in advance of its unsealing, shows that Trump possessed documents including a handwritten note; documents marked with “TS/SCI,” which indicates one of the highest levels of government classification; and another item labeled “Info re: President of France.”

Also among the items taken from Mar-a-Lago this week: An item labeled “Executive grant of clemency re: Roger Jason Stone, Jr.,” a reference to one of Trump’s closest confidants who received a pardon in late 2020. The warrant shows federal law enforcement was investigating Trump for removal or destruction of records, obstruction of justice and violating the Espionage Act — which can encompass crimes beyond spying, such as the refusal to return national security documents upon request. Conviction under the statutes can result in imprisonment or fines. The documents, unsealed after the Justice Department sought their public disclosure amid relentless attacks by Trump and his GOP allies, underscore the extraordinary national security threat that federal investigators believed the missing documents presented. The concern grew so acute that Attorney General Merrick Garland approved the unprecedented search of Trump’s estate last week.
By Matthew Chapman | Raw Story

On Thursday, Axios reported that a new focus group of Donald Trump supporters in Florida who had switched to Joe Biden in 2020 revealed the vast majority of them were turned off by the former president — and trusted the FBI in its search of Mar-a-Lago. The FBI was looking for classified information that had been stolen when the former president and his associates left the White House — and new reporting this evening indicates some of the information the FBI was looking for were U.S. nuclear secrets.

"Eleven of 12 participants said it was appropriate for the FBI to execute a signed search warrant at the home of the former president — and that it would be a serious crime to take documents from the White House in an unauthorized fashion even if that person previously held the office," reported Alexi McCammond. "None said they would support Trump if he ran again." "Engagious/Schlesinger conducted two online focus groups on Monday night with 12 Floridians who voted for Trump in 2016, then Joe Biden in 2020," said the report. "One is now registered as a Republican, four as independents and seven as Democrats. While a focus group is not a statistically significant sample like a poll, the responses show how some voters are thinking and talking about current events."
Fake News (Fox News) is at it again with another Fake Photo. Like most on the right, they accuse the left of doing the very things they are doing.

Alex Griffing

Fox News aired a photoshopped photo of the judge who authorized the FBI’s raid on Donald Trump’s Florida mansion during Tucker Carlson Tonight on Thursday, which was being guest hosted by Brian Kilmeade at the time. “This is the judge in charge of the, of the, of the, um, as you know, of the warrant, and we’ll see if he’s going to release it next — he likes Oreos and whiskey,” Kilmeade said, appearing caught off guard after the photoshopped image appeared on-screen. The photoshopped image superimposed the head of Judge Bruce Reinhart on the body of Jeffrey Epstein while Ghislaine Maxwell massaged his feet.
By Morgan Phillips, Politics Reporter and Keith Griffith For Dailymail.com

The FBI recovered 11 sets of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago during their raid on Monday, according to a report released Friday. Some of the documents were marked 'top secret' and are meant to be kept in specialized government facilities, the Wall Street Journal reported after seeing a copy of the search inventory. Agents recovered 20 boxes in total from the Florida estate, according to the report, with the rest including handwritten notes, photo binders, the grant of clemency of Roger Stone and a file with 'information on the President of France'. The warrant is believed to have given FBI agents permission to search in Trump's office and all storage areas on the premises, and states four sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents, and three sets of confidential documents were retrieved. Trump's attorneys now also claim former President Trump declassified the documents before he left office. A president has the power to declassify any document, but there is a strict federal procedure for doing so.

In breaching the former president's residency Monday, the FBI was looking for Top Secret and 'compartmented' documents dealing with intelligence 'sources and methods,' government sources told Newsweek on Friday. 'Compartmented' documents would pertain to 'classified information concerning or derived from intelligence sources, methods, or analytical processes, which is required to be handled within formal access control systems established by the Director of National Intelligence.' Only a very small circle of people would be allowed to know what was on such documents, which could mean that a warrant or a receipt would not reveal much information about what was taken. Intelligence sources say that Trump would not have the capability to declassify such documents.  
Trump allies claim the former president declassified the documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago
By Alex Leary, Aruna Viswanatha and Sadie Gurman

FBI agents who searched former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home Monday removed 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked as top secret and meant to be only available in special government facilities, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The Federal Bureau of Investigation agents took around 20 boxes of items, binders of photos, a handwritten note and the executive grant of clemency for Mr. Trump’s ally Roger Stone, a list of items removed from the property shows. Also included in the list was information about the “President of France,” according to the three-page list. The list is contained in a seven-page document that also includes the warrant to search the premises which was granted by a federal magistrate judge in Florida.
Brian Entin, J.J. Bullock

(NewsNation) — FBI agents found dozens of classified documents during their search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago on Monday, sources confirmed to NewsNation. Investigators discovered classified documents in two areas: Trump’s personal office above a ballroom and in a storage room near the pool. Sources say there were “boxes everywhere,” with some containing Top Secret Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI). Those are considered some of the highest level of classified documents.

Since the documents are so secretive, it’s unknown if investigators will ever publicly acknowledge what they’re in reference to, let alone release them. Classified nuclear weapons documents may have been among the items the FBI found, according to a source cited by the Washington Post. Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke publicly for the first time Thursday about the FBI search of Trump’s home and although he did not reveal what the FBI was looking for, he did say he approved the search. Garland said he would be asking a court to unseal the search warrant. Trump said Thursday night he doesn’t oppose its release and encouraged it to be unsealed immediately.
By Graham Kates

A New York State judge ruled Friday that a criminal fraud and tax evasion prosecution against the Trump Organization and its former CFO, Allen Weisselberg, can proceed. Weisselberg and the company asked a judge in February to dismiss all 15 counts charged against them. Judge Juan Merchan dismissed one of several tax fraud counts against the Trump Organization, but allowed all others to remain. Attorneys for Weisselberg and the company did not immediately comment on Friday's decisions.

The Trump Organization and Weisselberg accused prosecutors of targeting them "based on political animus" toward former President Donald Trump. Weisselberg also argued he had received immunity against certain federal charges when he testified to a federal grand jury investigating former Trump attorney Michael Cohen. Jury selection will take place on Oct. 24.

Prosecutors said in a May 23 filing that the Weisselberg investigation was spurred by a Nov. 2, 2020 Bloomberg article about perks Weisselberg allegedly received. "The article outlined many of the key facts relevant to the crimes charged," Manhattan prosecutor Solomon Shinerock wrote in May. The Trump Organization was accused in July 2021 of providing executives with lavish untaxed perks, which prosecutors called "indirect employee compensation." Weisselberg, a 74-year-old who had been at Trump's side at the company for decades, was accused of receiving $1.7 million in perks — including an apartment and car. Weisselberg and the company have entered not guilty pleas.
Igor Derysh

Former President Donald Trump and his lawyers have baselessly peddled a conspiracy theory that the FBI may have "planted" evidence during its raid on Mar-a-Lago because "nobody" was allowed to watch. But Trump's lawyer admitted on Thursday that Trump and his family watched the "whole thing" go down from New York through CCTV footage from the resort. Trump and his attorneys, Christina Bobb and Alina Habba, immediately claimed that the FBI may have "planted" damning evidence during the Mar-a-Lago raid on Monday without any proof, citing only the fact that Bobb was prevented from observing the search as is standard in such FBI operations. Trump, Bobb and Habba in numerous statements speculated about what the FBI may have done while "nobody" was watching.

"The FBI and others from the Federal Government would not let anyone, including my lawyers, be anywhere near the areas that were rummaged and otherwise looked at during the raid on Mar-a-Lago," Trump ranted on Truth Social on Tuesday. "Everyone was asked to leave the premises, they wanted to be left alone, without any witnesses to see what they were doing, taking or, hopefully not, 'planting.' Why did they STRONGLY insist on having nobody watching them, everybody out?" Bobb acknowledged on Thursday that while surveillance cameras at Mar-a-Lago were shut off for a "very short period of time" while FBI agents spoke to Trump's legal team, the former president and his family were able to view the entire raid through surveillance video.

"I think the folks in New York — President Trump and his family — they probably had a better view than I did. Because they had the CCTV, they were able to watch," Bobb told the right-wing outlet Real America's Voice. Bobb said that she was busy speaking with investigators during the search but the Trump family saw "the whole thing." "So they actually have a better idea of what took place inside," Bobb said.
Tommy Christopher

ADHS inspector general’s draft report to the January 6 committee was altered to remove damning information accusing the Secret Service of impeding their investigation. The Secret Service has been under fire ever since the news broke that Secret Service text messages from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021 were deleted by the agency after they were told to preserve them. And now, on the heels of the news that Trump-appointed Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari knew about the deleted Secret Service texts for more than a year before he told the January 6 committee about them, CNN’s Whitney Wild and Zachary Cohen broke the news about the spiked draft report that shows “Secret Service has resisted OIG’s oversight activities and continued to significantly delay OIG’s access to records, impeding the progress of OIG’s January 6. 2021 review.” On Friday morning’s edition of CNN’s New Day, Wild explained:
Tommy Christopher

Influential news aggregator Matt Drudge, founder and editor of the Drudge Report, tied former President Donald Trump to the FBI shooting by slapping a devastating nickname on the attacker. Following the attack on an FBI office in Cincinnati, Ohio, speculation immediately began that the shooting might have had something to do with anger over the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago — anger that Trump fueled with a public campaign to baselessly smear the FBI over the search by claiming they “planted” evidence.

Since then, we’ve learned that the attack was apparently carried out by a supporter of Trump — 42-year-old Ricky Shiffer — who was angry about the raid on Mar-a-Lago. Shiffer was shot by police following a standoff, news that Drudge announced at the top of his site with a bit of deadly (for Trump) branding: “MAGA MANIAC SHOT DEAD IN OH…” Drudge wrote, and linked to an Axios article entitled “What we know about the FBI Ohio office attack suspect.” The article notes Shiffer’s Trump-related social media activity:
By Bob Brigham | Raw Story

While the world was shocked after The Washington Post dropped the bombshell report that the FBI was searching Mar-a-Lago for nuclear weapons documents, some national security experts were also shocked that "signals intelligence" was recovered from Donald Trump's Florida home.

"Former senior intelligence officials said in interviews that during the Trump administration, highly classified intelligence about sensitive topics, including about intelligence-gathering on Iran, was routinely mishandled," the newspaper reported. "One former official said the most highly classified information often ended up in the hands of personnel who didn’t appear to have a need to possess it or weren’t authorized to read it. That former official also said signals intelligence — intercepted electronic communications like emails and phone calls of foreign leaders — was among the type of information that often ended up with unauthorized personnel. Such intercepts are among the most closely guarded secrets because of what they can reveal about how the United States has penetrated foreign governments."

That pattern may not have ended when Trump left the White House after losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. "A person familiar with the inventory of 15 boxes taken from Mar-a-Lago in January indicated that signals intelligence material was included in them," the newspaper reported. "The precise nature of the information was unclear."
By Elizabeth Wolfe, Josh Campbell, Brynn Gingras and Paul P. Murphy, CNN

(CNN) An armed man suspected of trying to breach the FBI's Cincinnati field office Thursday was killed in Ohio after a vehicle chase and hours-long standoff with law enforcement, authorities say. The suspect was believed to be armed with an AR-15 rifle and a nail gun, a federal law enforcement source told CNN, and was wearing body armor, according to officials in an Ohio county. He was Ricky W. Shiffer, 42, of Columbus, the state highway patrol said Friday.

Authorities have not announced a motive. But Shiffer had been known to the FBI because he had an unspecified connection to the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol, and because he had associates within a far-right extremist group, two law enforcement sources told CNN Friday. A social media account bearing Shiffer's name appears to have referenced an attempt to storm an FBI office that day. It also made a "call to arms" -- and called for violence against the agency -- after the FBI executed a search warrant Monday at former President Donald Trump's Florida home. Authorities have not confirmed the account belongs to the suspect. Here's what we know about the attempted breach and the suspect:
Natalie Korach

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) joined Fox & Friends on Thursday, where anchor Steve Doocy pressed the congressman about the attacks directed toward law enforcement following the FBI raid at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. On Monday evening, Trump’s south Florida home was raided by the FBI, a search which reportedly concerned classified documents that were taken from the White House. Since the raid, Trump supporters in the media have lambasted the FBI and DOJ, and there has been a significant increase in violent threats against law enforcement.

FBI Director Christopher Wray, who was appointed to the position by Trump himself in 2017, condemned the threats that have increased as a result of the Mar-a-Lago search. On Thursday, Doocy noted the threats being received by law enforcement saying “there are a number of people online and elsewhere who are demonizing the FBI.” The Fox News anchor mentioned Republican politicians who have spoken out against the FBI since the raid, including Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). Gosar tweeted that “We must destroy the FBI,” claiming that Trump is being unjustly targeted.
Summer Concepcion

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Wednesday did not show up for his scheduled appearance at the Fulton County courthouse, following an agreement he reached with the county district attorney, according to a local CBS affiliate. TPM reached out to Graham’s office for comment. A special grand jury led by Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis is investigating former President Trump and his allies’ efforts to subvert the 2020 election results in Georgia. Willis recently subpoenaed Graham who initially challenged the subpoena in his home state. Last month, Graham reached an agreement with Willis to move his challenges to a district court in Georgia. Graham followed through with disputing the subpoena earlier this month, attempting to quash it.
By KAREN MATTHEWS and MIKE STOBBE

NEW YORK (AP) — The virus that causes polio has been found in New York City’s wastewater in another sign that the disease, which hadn’t been seen in the U.S. in a decade, is quietly spreading among unvaccinated people, health officials said Friday. The presence of the poliovirus in the city’s wastewater suggests likely local circulation of the virus, health authorities from the city, New York state and the federal government said. The authorities urged parents to get their children vaccinated against the potentially deadly disease.

“The risk to New Yorkers is real but the defense is so simple — get vaccinated against polio,” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said. “With polio circulating in our communities there is simply nothing more essential than vaccinating our children to protect them from this virus, and if you’re an unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated adult, please choose now to get the vaccine. Polio is entirely preventable and its reappearance should be a call to action for all of us.”
WSLS 10

Robertson was sentenced to 87 months in prison and will get credit for the 12 months that he has already served. He will also be under 36 months of unsupervised release.
By Amy Sherman

Former President Donald Trump invoked the Fifth Amendment during questioning by the New York attorney general’s office as part of a civil investigation into his business practices. The amendment protects against self-incrimination. His decision to not answer questions stood in contrast to statements he made in the past about people who took the Fifth; he once said the option was for people who were in the mob.

Time for a look at Trump’s statements about the Fifth Amendment on our Flip-O-Meter. The rating is not making a value judgment about a politician who changes positions on an issue — our purpose on the Flip-O-Meter is to document if the person’s position has changed. Trump has expressed a mixture of opinions about the Fifth Amendment depending upon his position about the person at the center of the relevant legal case. In 2016, he repeatedly criticized Hillary Clinton’s aides for taking the Fifth Amendment over questions about her emails. But in August, as Trump found himself at the center of multiple investigations, he was in favor of taking the Fifth. New York Attorney General Letitia James opened an investigation to explore whether "Trump’s annual financial statements inflated the values of Trump’s assets to obtain favorable terms for loans and insurance coverage, while also deflating the value of other assets to reduce real estate taxes."

Trump spoke in favor of the Fifth Amendment before 2016
In his 1990 divorce from Ivana, Trump invoked the Fifth Amendment, wrote Wayne Barrett in his 1992 book, "Trump: The Greatest Show on Earth." "Donald preaches in every speech, including the one announcing his presidential bid, about his devotion to the Second Amendment. But it was the Fifth Amendment that was his favorite when he was deposed in the divorce with Ivana, invoked 97 times to be exact, mostly in response to questions about ‘other women,’" Barrett wrote.
Gloria Oladipo

A Louisiana five-year-old was allegedly forced out of her kindergarten class at a religious school because her parents are a same-sex couple. Emily and Jennie Parker said they were informed by school officials at the Bible Baptist Academy in DeQuincy, Louisiana during a meeting with the school’s director and a pastor that their same-sex relationship did not follow the teachings of the school and that they would need to find a new school for their daughter, Zoey.

“We got called into the principal’s office for a meeting, they informed us that Zoey wouldn’t be able to go to school there anymore because of our lifestyle choices,” said Jennifer Parker, 31, to KPLC, a local news affiliate. Emily Parker, 28, said that during the meeting took place only two days before the school year started. During the conference, her and her wife also were told that, as a religious-based school, the school would teach students that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Parkers recently adopted Zoey, who is Jennie’s niece, after her father died in a workplace accident in September 2020.
By Travis Gettys | Raw Story

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said the Mar-A-Lago search revealed the Republican Party was opposed to law and order, and he singled out Newt Gingrich for special scorn. The GOP has circled its wagons around Donald Trump after federal agents removed around a dozen boxes of presidential documents that investigators say had been improperly removed from the White House, and the "Morning Joe" host blasted conservatives for inciting violence against law enforcement officials.

"Some of the same people are making dark, ominous threats, now comparing the FBI to Stalin, now suggesting that this is a banana republic, now saying we have to go to war against the FBI," Scarborough said. "These people hate law and order. I thought they were the party of law and order. They don't believe in the rule of law when it applies to the most powerful, I guess." Gingrich, the former GOP House speaker, joined other conservatives suggesting the FBI planted evidence at Mar-A-Lago and compared them to wolves, and Scarborough called him out.

"Newt Gingrich, damn you," he said. "You know better ... you are taking another cheap shot at law enforcement officers when they don't serve your interest, in saying we'd be better off to think of the FBI as wolves? Wolves who want to eat you? Wolves who want to dominate you? You say the FBI has, quote, 'declared war on the American people?'"
Philip Bump

There are not many people who know exactly why FBI agents searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Monday. The FBI knows, certainly, and the former president and his attorneys probably have a good sense as well, given that they saw the search warrant. Everyone else is operating on what’s been revealed by Trump’s team and public reporting: The FBI search was largely or entirely a function of the investigation into Trump’s retention of documents after leaving the White House.

We know that he did, by his own admission. This year, a number of boxes of material were turned over to the National Archives. Included in that material were some that were classified. On Monday, the FBI removed another dozen boxes, with speculation rampant that more of that material was similarly restricted. If Trump is found to have violated federal law in removing and retaining classified documents without authorization, he could be convicted of a felony punishable by five years in prison. And that conviction would be a felony carrying that punishment because of a law signed by President Donald Trump.
Sources say justice department officials worried records were being held unlawfully at the former president’s Florida estate
Victoria Bekiempis

Federal investigators searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach after an informant told them he might be storing classified records at his private club, the Wall Street Journal has reported. The search on Monday reportedly came two months after federal law enforcement officials came to Mar-a-Lago to talk about boxes of government documents that were being stored there. Federal authorities searched Trump’s sprawling south Florida residence having obtained a warrant to seek classified and White House records that the US justice department thought Trump had kept unlawfully, two sources previously told the Guardian.
By Bob Brigham | Raw Story

Former President Donald Trump may lose the "crown jewels" of the heir's corporate empire if New York Attorney General Letitia James moves to invoke New York's "corporate death penalty" against the Trump Organization, according to a new report. On Wednesday, Trump announced he would refuse to answer questions in James' civil investigation into the company during a deposition that lasted more than five hours. The investigation focuses on whether the Trump Organization essentially kept two sets of books. He allegedly would low-ball values to avoid taxes, while high-balling values to secure loans.

"In the coming weeks or even days, the AG is expected to file a massive, long-threatened 'enforcement action' — essentially a multi-hundred-page lawsuit against the Trumps and his Manhattan-based business," Business Insider reported Wednesday. "Fines and back taxes, however, may be the least of what Trump's facing. James has signaled she will also seek the dissolution of the business itself under New York's so-called corporate death penalty -- a law that allows the AG to seek to dissolve businesses that operate 'in a persistently fraudulent or illegal manner.'"
Chris Stein in Washington

What does the FBI want from the Pennsylvania lawmakers its agents visited and handed subpoenas to this week? That has not been publicly released yet, but their visit makes clear federal investigators’ probe into attempts to tamper with the 2020 election continues to sprawl. In June, they raided the home of Jeffrey Clark, a former justice department official who was seen as friendly to Donald Trump’s false claims the 2020 election was rigged. Earlier this week, they seized the phone of Scott Perry, a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania who was another backer of the lie that the election was stolen.
CNN

CNN’s John King and legal analyst Elie Honig discuss former President Donald Trump’s past statements on the Fifth Amendment after news broke that he declined to answer questions in a scheduled deposition with New York Attorney General Letitia James.
David Jackson

WASHINGTON – There's never been a set of presidential scandals like this one. Of course, there's never been a president like Donald Trump. While predecessors like Richard Nixon, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Warren Harding, and Bill Clinton faced a large share of allegations, no president has been the subject of such an array of inquiries as Trump, ranging from the handling of classified material to alleged incitement of an insurrection. Just this week, Trump became the first former president to have his home searched. Two days later, he became the first to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a New York state probe into past business practices. "There's never been anything like this," said Julia Azari, a political science professor at Marquette University who specializes in presidential politics. "The whole Trump phenomenon is unique when it comes to pushing back on institutions and norms," as well as "the extent of the post-presidency legal issues."

'Pretty unprecedented'  
Johnson and Clinton were impeached, and Nixon was on his way to impeachment when he resigned in 1974. Until Trump, however, no president had been impeached twice – first over pressuring Ukraine to investigate then-candidate Joe Biden, then for alleged incitement of the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. "Allegations against presidents go way back," said Thomas Alan Schwartz, professor of history and political science at Vanderbilt University. "The idea of an actual criminal probe of a former president? That's actually new ... It's really pretty unprecedented."
An attorney for Trump said the former president answered only one question, about his name, during the four-hour deposition.
By Adam Reiss, Chantal Da Silva and Rebecca Shabad

Former President Donald Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination Wednesday during a deposition before lawyers from New York Attorney General Letitia James' office in its probe into the Trump Organization's business practices. The deposition lasted four hours, and the only question the former president answered was about his name, Trump attorney Ron Fischetti told NBC News. A source with knowledge of the deposition said Trump took the fifth more than 440 times.

"I once asked, 'If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?'" Trump said in a statement. "Now I know the answer to that question. When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the Fake News Media, you have no choice. Accordingly, under the advice of my counsel and for all of the above reasons, I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution."
Deepa Shivaram

Agents from the FBI searched former President Donald Trump's Florida home Monday in what appears to be part of an investigation looking into White House records from the White House that Trump took with him. The records were supposed to be turned into the National Archives when he left office. The FBI is not commenting on the details of the investigation or the search, and Trump was quick to say he had been previously cooperating with authorities investigating the records, though he did not add any specifics.

This isn't the only investigation Trump is a subject of at the moment. Authorities have several open on the former president, including investigations into his businesses, his tax returns and his actions leading up to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. These investigations brew as Trump weighs another presidential run. The political consequences of the probes are unclear, as are how, or whether, they would impact his decision. Here are is a recap of some of the investigations involving Trump.
By Kate Sullivan, CNN

CNN — President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed into law a bill expanding health care benefits to millions of veterans who were exposed to toxic burn pits during their military service. The bill is a major bipartisan victory for Congress and addresses an issue that is personal to the President. Biden has said he believes there may have been a connection between the brain cancer that killed his 46-year-old son, Beau Biden, and the burn pits Beau was exposed to during his military service.

Burn pits were commonly used to burn waste – including trash, munitions, hazardous material and chemical compounds – at military sites throughout Iraq and Afghanistan until about 2010. These massive open-air burn pits, which were often operated at or near military bases, released dangerous toxins into the air that, upon exposure, may have caused short- and long-term health conditions, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. “Toxic smoke, thick with poison spreading through the air and into the lungs of our troops. When they came home many of the fittest and best warriors that we sent to war were not the same. Headaches, numbness, dizziness, cancer. My son Beau was one of them,” Biden said. Beau Biden was an Iraq war veteran who served as the attorney general of Delaware and died of brain cancer in 2015.
Trump 2016 Clip Resurfaces After NY Testimony: 'Why’re You Taking The 5th?' | Newsweek

Donald Trump invoked the 5th Amendment and declined to answer questions from the New York attorney general during deposition Wednesday. Trump has been the subject of a three-year New York investigation involving potentially misleading financial statements. Following Wednesday's deposition, a 2016 clip of the former president resurfaced with Trump asking, "If you're innocent, why're you taking the 5th Amendment?
Trump took the Fifth 440+ times his son took the Fifth 500 hundred times. What are Trump and his son Guilty of?

By Katherine Fung

Former President Donald Trump announced that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights during his Wednesday deposition with New York Attorney General Letitia James' office in a reversal from the stance he took nearly six years ago when he was running for the presidency. In a statement made Wednesday, just an hour after Trump arrived at James' headquarters in New York City, the former president said, "I once asked, 'If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?' Now I know the answer to that question."

"When your family, your company and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors and the Fake News Media, you have no choice," Trump said. "Accordingly, under the advice of my counsel and for all of the above reasons, I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution," he added.

During the 2016 campaign, Trump had blasted aides of his former opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, for pleading the Fifth in the probe of her use of a private email server. "So there are five people taking the Fifth Amendment, like you see on the mob, right? You see the mob takes the Fifth. If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?" Trump told the crowd at an Iowa rally in September 2016.
In Kelley v. Becerra, two Texas plaintiffs argue the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates health insurance providers cover certain preventative care services they do not need and conflict with their religious beliefs — specifically, contraceptive coverage, STD testing and HIV medications.
by Shirin Ali

A Texas lawsuit that hopes to eliminate mandated health insurance coverage of birth control, HIV medication, sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing and more has quietly been pushing forward through the court system and could eventually end up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. In the case of Kelley v. Becerra, two plaintiffs from Texas argue that the current structure of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates health insurance providers to cover certain preventative care they argue they do not need and that conflict with their religious beliefs — specifically, contraceptive coverage, STD testing and HIV medications Truvada or PrEP.

One of the lawsuit’s arguments leans on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which states governments should not substantially burden religious exercise without a compelling justification. Plaintiffs argue this right has been violated as both are Christian and unwilling to buy health insurance that subsidizes, “abortifacient contraception or PrEP drugs that encourage homosexual behavior and intravenous drug use.” The lawsuit also takes issue with how the ACA defines preventative care, a decision-making process that has been assigned to various groups, including the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the Preventative Services Task Force and the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Remember our toilet scoop in Axios AM earlier this year? Maggie Haberman's forthcoming book about former President Trump will report that White House residence staff periodically found wads of paper clogging a toilet — and believed the former president, a notorious destroyer of Oval Office documents, was the flusher.

Why it matters: Destroying records that should be preserved is potentially illegal. Trump denied it and called Haberman, whose New York Times coverage he follows compulsively, a "maggot." Well, it turns out there are photos. And here they are, published for the first time. Haberman — who obtained the photos recently — shared them with us ahead of the Oct. 4 publication of her book, "Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America." A Trump White House source tells her the photo on the left shows a commode in the White House. The photo on the right is from an overseas trip, according to the source.
David Knowles·Senior Editor | Yahoo!News

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman released photos on Monday that appear to show that former President Donald Trump tried to dispose of documents by ripping them up and placing them in toilets. The pictures, which appear to back up Haberman's reporting in her forthcoming book, "Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America," support reporting from multiple news outlets that Trump routinely ripped up documents in violation of the Presidential Records Act. Haberman obtained the photos, which were first published by Axios and which she also shared with Yahoo News, from sources inside the former administration. "On the left is a White House toilet, the word 'qualified' and a capital I visible," Haberman wrote in a tweet on Monday. "On the left, a toilet from a Trump trip overseas."
By Sara Murray, Zachary Cohen and Kara Scannell, CNN

CNN — Trump ally Doug Mastriano’s virtual appearance Tuesday before the House January 6 committee only lasted about 15 minutes and “he didn’t answer a single question,” according to a source familiar with the matter. Mastriano’s attorney cut off the virtual appearance soon after it began, the source said. His lawyer, Tim Parlatore, took issue with several procedural matters related to the deposition, and raised questions about the legality of the subpoena that Mastriano received from the panel, the source added.
By Ellie Kaufman, CNN

CNN — A US Navy team recovered a military jet from a depth of 9,500 feet in the Mediterranean Sea on August 3 after the aircraft had blown overboard during “unexpected heavy weather” in July, a release from US Naval Forces Europe-Africa said. The jet was aboard the USS Harry S. Truman, an aircraft carrier, when it blew overboard on July 8, the release said.

The service members who recovered the aircraft used a remotely operated vehicle to attach “specialized rigging and lift lines” to the jet while it was underwater. After attaching the rigging, the recovery team then attached a lifting hook to the rigging to “raise the aircraft to the surface” of the ocean and “hoist it” onto the multi-purpose construction vessel Everest, a separate motor vessel that can be used for a variety of purposes in the ocean, the release said. Once the aircraft had been recovered from the depths of the ocean and put on the MPV Everest, the team transported the aircraft to a “nearby military installation,” the release said. The aircraft will then be transported from the military installation to the US, the release added.
By Alex Henderson | AlterNet

On Sunday, August 7, the U.S. Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a $750 billion package addressing energy, climate change, health care and taxes. The bill passed 51-50 via the process known as budget reconciliation, allowing the Senate’s narrow Democratic majority to bypass the 60-vote rule of the filibuster. Now, the bill will go to the U.S. House of Representatives for consideration, and Democrats are optimistic that it will pass in the House and make it to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law.

Both of North Carolina’s Republican U.S. senators, Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, voted against the bill. Journalist Danielle Battaglia, in an article published by the Raleigh News and Observer on August 8, stresses that they are facing a “vehement backlash” in their state for, during debates on the bill, opposing a proposal to limit how much private insurance companies can charge for the insulin used by diabetics.
By Maegan Vazquez and Kate Sullivan, CNN

CNN — President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed into law a bill aimed at boosting American chip manufacturing as he kicked off a victory lap to celebrate a string of wins in Washington. The CHIPS and Science Act will invest more than $200 billion over the next five years in a bid to help the US regain a leading position in semiconductor chip manufacturing. It is aimed at countering China’s growing economic influence, lowering the cost of goods, making the US less reliant on foreign manufacturing and mitigating supply chain disruptions in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Biden on Tuesday described the law as a “once-in-a-generation investment in America itself.”
The messages only cover a period up to mid-2020, disappointing investigators who hoped they would shed light on the conspiracy theorist’s role in the events leading to the attack on the Capitol.
By Luke Broadwater and Elizabeth Williamson

WASHINGTON — A lawyer for plaintiffs who are suing the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Monday turned over more than two years’ worth of text messages from Mr. Jones’s phone to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including messages that show Mr. Jones was in touch with allies of former President Donald J. Trump. But the files do not appear to include text messages from the time most of interest to the committee: the day of Jan. 6, 2021, and the weeks building up to the attack, according to people familiar with the document production.

Though the phone data was retrieved in mid-2021, the most recent message is from mid-2020, according to Mark Bankston, who represents Sandy Hook parents suing Mr. Jones for defamation for lies he spread about the 2012 school shooting. That time period is before Mr. Jones became involved in plans to amass a pro-Trump crowd in Washington to march on the Capitol as Mr. Trump fought to remain in office despite his defeat at the polls.
By Kaitlan Collins, CNN

CNN — The FBI executed a search warrant on Monday at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, the former President confirmed to CNN. Trump declined to say why the FBI agents were at Mar-a-Lago, but the former President said the raid was unannounced and “they even broke into my safe.” “My beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” he said in a statement. Trump was not in Florida at the time of the raid.
David Smith

There have now been nine televised hearings of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. The main purpose of these hearings has been to publicly present evidence of former President Donald Trump’s culpability for the January 6 riot. The mostly Democratic congressional committee, assisted by two of Trump’s fiercest Republican opponents, has made the hearings into a compellingly produced TV spectacle. The hearings drew an average of 13.1 million viewers across multiple networks, which is slightly more than the average viewership of the 2021 Major League Baseball World Series.

Surveys suggest this audience, like the committee itself, is overwhelmingly Democratic. They may have already been convinced of Trump’s responsibility for the January 6 riot, but 64% of Democrats say they have learned new information about the attacks from the hearings. Some of the evidence presented in the hearings has been spectacular. Multiple video depositions from Trump allies and even family members showed how they tried to convince him the election was lost. This did not stop him from pressuring officials to overturn election results and trying to enact a bizarre and illegal plan to stall the vote count.
By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, ZEKE MILLER and DAVID RISING

WASHINGTON (AP) — China declared Friday it was stopping all dialogue with the United States on major issues over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan visit, including crucial climate cooperation between the two nations that led to the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord. The White House summoned China’s ambassador to protest what it called China’s “irresponsible” actions since the visit.

China’s declaration adds to rapidly escalating tensions that followed Pelosi’s visit and the Chinese response with military exercises off Taiwan, including firing missiles that splashed down in surrounding waters. White House spokesman John Kirby said in a statement that China’s military actions were of “concern to Taiwan, to us, and to our partners around the world.”

A joint U.S.-China deal to fight climate change struck by Xi and then-President Barack Obama in November of 2014 has frequently been hailed as a turning point that led to the breakthrough Paris agreement in which nearly every nation in the world pledged to try to curb emissions of heat-trapping gases. Then seven years later during climate talks in Glasgow, another U.S.-China deal helped smooth over bumps to another international climate deal.
Manu Raju Ali Zaslav
By Manu Raju and Ali Zaslav, CNN

Washington CNN — Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on Thursday night offered critical support for President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda after party leaders agreed to change new tax proposals at her request, indicating she would “move forward” on Democrats’ sweeping economic package that has been the product of intensive negotiations for more than a year. Sinema’s support means Democrats likely will have 50 votes in their caucus to push the bill through their chamber by week’s end, before it moves to the House next week for final approval.  

And while the plan is scaled back from Biden’s initial Build Back Better package, the latest bill – named the Inflation Reduction Act – would represent the largest investment in energy and climate programs in US history, extend expiring health care subsidies for three years and give Medicare the power for the first time to negotiate prescription drug prices. The legislation would impose new taxes to pay for it.
By Devan Cole and Oliver Darcy, CNN

CNN  — The attorney representing two Sandy Hook parents in the Alex Jones defamation case said Thursday that numerous federal and state investigators, including the House panel investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection, have asked him to hand over text records mistakenly sent to him by the right-wing conspiracy theorist’s law firm.

“I am under request from various federal agencies and law enforcement to provide (the records),” Mark Bankston, the plaintiffs’ attorney, told Judge Maya Guerra Gamble. “Absent a ruling from you saying you cannot do that … I intend to do so immediately following this hearing.” “I believe that there is absolutely nothing, nothing, that Mr. Reynal has done to fulfill his obligations to protect his client and prevent me from doing that,” he said, referring to Jones’ attorney, Andino Reynal.
By Eric Bradner, CNN Photographs by Rachel Woolf for CNN

CNN — Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney said if the Justice Department does not prosecute former President Donald Trump for his role in the insurrection at the US Capitol and “the facts and the evidence are there,” the decision could call into question whether the United States can “call ourselves a nation of laws.” In an interview with CNN’s Kasie Hunt, Cheney – the GOP vice chair of the House select committee investigating the events surrounding the January 6, 2021, insurrection – said Trump is “guilty of the most serious dereliction of duty of any president in our nation’s history” and pointed to a judge who’s said he likely committed crimes. She said the House committee is “going to continue to follow the facts. I think Department of Justice will do that. But they have to make decisions about prosecution.”
Emily Brooks

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has launched a new website knocking House Republicans for promoting programs funded by bills that they voted against. The site, GOPVotedNoTookTheDough.com, lists 26 House Republicans who touted projects funded by the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, the American Rescue Plan stimulus, or the Fiscal Year 2022 funding omnibus, despite voting against the bills. Scrolling over a bullet point for any of the Republicans listed replaces the member’s photo with a clown emoji.

The list includes a number of House Republicans running in districts targeted by the DCCC, such as Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) and Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), but also includes members in solidly Republican districts like House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) and members running for higher office. “If Republicans want to tout these critical victories coming to their districts, they should have voted for them,” DCCC spokesperson Tommy Garcia said in a statement. “House Democrats delivered these historic investments – if House Republicans had their way, none would have been made possible.”
The Voice of America host, who was the subject of a kidnap plot last year, says Iran’s government wants to silence her calls for improved rights for women.
By Jonathan Dienst, Myles Miller and Ken Dilanian

The FBI wants to know why a man was near the New York City home of a well-known Iranian journalist and author while allegedly in possession of an illegal military-style rifle loaded with 30 rounds. The agency is probing whether the suspect, federally charged with possession of a firearm that lacked a visible serial number, was there as part of a possible plot to neutralize or assassinate Masih Alinejad, two law enforcement sources said. Iranian intelligence plotted unsuccessfully to kidnap the Voice of America Persian Service host last year, the FBI said. Alinejad said at the time that she believed the government wanted to shut down her social media voice.
BY TYLER BRIDGES | Staff writer

Calling it “a subsidy to Big Tech,” U.S. Sen. John N. Kennedy voted against a $290 billion bill that won bipartisan approval this past week to subsidize manufacturing by technology companies and boost spending on scientific research. “These are extraordinary American companies that Congress just helped,” Kennedy said in an interview. “But they’re very profitable, and the supply of chips is growing now. My concern is the amount of money. For that amount, we could have doubled the R&D tax credit for every company in America.”

Kennedy, a Republican from Madisonville, is running for re-election this year, and his main three Democratic opponents all said they supported the bill, which aims to counter China’s growing high-tech industry by subsdizing production in the U.S. “The CHIPS Act gave Sen. Kennedy an opportunity to side with China or the American people on national security, jobs, and the spiraling cost of necessities like the family car. Kennedy picked China,” Gary Chambers Jr., a social justice activist from Baton Rouge, said in a statement. “My opponent said NO to this bipartisan investment in domestic chip manufacturing that will lower the cost of goods for hard working Americans, create thousands of manufacturing jobs here in the U.S., and strengthen America’s position as a leader in technological advancement. That’s no surprise. “
By Donald Judd and Aaron Pellish, CNN

CNN - Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough on Sunday pushed back against Senate Republicans blocking passage of the administration-backed PACT Act, warning that if the chamber passes GOP senators’ proposed amendment to the legislation aimed at providing care for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits, “we may have to ration care for veterans.”

McDonough told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” that a proposed amendment from Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey would put “a year-on-year cap” on what the VA can spend to care for veterans suffering from exposure to burn pits and sunsets the fund after 10 years, telling Tapper, “I can’t, in good conscience, do that, because the outcome of that will be rationing of care for vets, which is something I just can’t sign on.”

“This has been the No. 1 priority for President Biden,” McDonough said, touting executive action steps the Biden administration has already taken to remove the burden of proof for veterans seeking care for toxic exposure. “I guess what I’d say is, these folks have waited long enough. Let’s just get it done, and also let’s not be for a proposal that places artificial caps on year by year, and then functionally, at the end of those 10 years, makes this fund go away. Let’s not sign up to that, because at the end of the day, the risk of that is going to be rationing of care to veterans.”
by Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver

The Joe Manchin Show was on full display on Sunday as the West Virginia senator defended the deal he struck on a reconciliation package, but stayed mum on whether Democrats should remain in power past November or if he supports a second term for President Biden. Just as he has been much of the past year, Manchin was the ever-present Democrat on Sunday as he took part in five television interviews days after he and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) shocked all with the deal heard ‘round the Hill. He did so in support of the $670 billion climate, health care and tax package, hailing it as an inflation-fighting tool despite reports indicating that it could be the opposite.
Donald Judd Devan Cole
By Donald Judd and Devan Cole, CNN

CNN — President Joe Biden is continuing to isolate at the White House on Sunday after testing positive for a rebound case of Covid-19 Saturday morning, White House physician Kevin O’Connor wrote in a letter Sunday that was released by the White House, adding that the President “continues to feel well,” but, “unsurprisingly, his SARS-CoV-2 antigen testing remained positive.”

Biden, who emerged from isolation earlier last week after testing negative on rapid antigen tests starting Tuesday, “will continue to conduct the business of the American people from the Executive Residence,” O’Connor writes, continuing “to be very specifically conscientious to protect any of the Executive Residence, White House, Secret Service, and other staff whose duties require any (albeit socially distanced) proximity to him.” A White House official said Sunday that Biden, 79, had six close contacts prior to the positive test a day earlier that sent him back into isolation. None of those contacts have since tested positive, the official said. Sunday is considered “day one” of positivity in the President’s latest isolation period.
Sam Levine in New York, Nina Lakhani in Phoenix, and Lauren Gambino in Washington

Arizona Republicans are on the verge of nominating two of America’s most prominent election deniers for governor and secretary of state, the latest in a series of primary contests with serious consequences for America’s democracy. Kari Lake, a former news anchor, and Mark Finchem, a state lawmaker, are running for governor and secretary of state, respectively. Both have built their campaigns around the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. Both are frontrunners in their races and if elected, would take over roles with considerable power over how elections are run and certified in a key battleground state. The Arizona primary on Tuesday is the latest in a series of contests where candidates who have questioned the election results stand a strong chance of winning the GOP nomination for statewide office. It’s a trend that is deeply alarming, experts say, and could pave the way for Republicans to reject the result of a future election.
The bullet exited the woman's neck and hit the shooter in the leg, Dallas police said.
By Elisha Fieldstadt

A Texas man who shot a woman in the neck was killed Saturday when the bullet also hit him, police said. Dallas police responding to a report of a shooting at an apartment building found "a large amount of blood and a blood trail in front of an apartment," they said in a statement. No one was in the apartment when officers arrived at around 11:40 a.m. local time (12:40 p.m. ET), the Dallas Police Department said. Police then got a call from a nearby hospital about a man and woman found outside with gunshot wounds, police said. The pair was in a car outside the hospital.
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