Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska sit high atop former President Trump’s Republican hit list.
As Alaska and Wyoming hold primary elections on Tuesday, both federal lawmakers face voters for the first time since moving early last year to impeach Trump for his role in inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol.
While Cheney faces what public opinion polls suggest is near-certain defeat in her bid for a fourth two-year term representing Wyoming’s at-large House seat, Murkowski is all but certain to pass her first hurdle and advance to November’s general election.
Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns formerly headed an influential D.C. think tank while it employed undisclosed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members as well as individuals with Chinese government ties, the Daily Caller News Foundation has found.
During Burns’ tenure as president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from February 2015 to November 2021, the think tank employed at least 20 policy experts whom the DCNF has identified as CCP members. These CCP members worked at both Carnegie’s Washington, D.C., headquarters and Carnegie-Tsinghua — the Beijing center Burns’ predecessor, Jessica Mathews, launched in 2010 in cooperation with Tsinghua University.
Republican Governor Sues Biden Admin For Refusing To Clean Up Native Americans’ Contaminated Lands
Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy of Alaska filed a complaint in Alaska’s United States District Court to compel the Department of the Interior (DOI) to take responsibility for hundreds of contaminated areas that the federal government transferred to Alaska Natives.
Dunleavy and the state of Alaska filed the lawsuit in mid-July as a last resort after the DOI allegedly ignored calls to identify and clean up 650 former federal military installations, oil drilling sites and other projects that are contaminating Native Alaskan lands, according to court filings. Despite the Biden administration’s emphasis on securing “environmental justice” for minority communities, the DOI’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), nor any other associated federal agency, is taking responsibility, the lawsuit alleges, allowing pollution and toxic waste to creep into natives’ food and water systems.
Trump calls for Mar-a-Lago affidavit release, denounces FBI raid: “No way to justify” … FOX NEWS
President Trump unleashed his latest rant against the FBI search of his home on his social media platform late Monday night and called for the immediate release of the “completely unredacted” affidavit that was used to justify the raid.
“There is no way to justify the unannounced RAID of Mar-a-Lago,” the former president wrote on Truth Social. “The home of the 45th President of the United States (who got more votes, by far, than any sitting President in the history of our Country!).”
Trump also references “gun-toting FBI Agents” and “the Department of ‘Justice’” in his post.
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman blames Washington D.C. for the nation’s economic “mess” in new TV commercial by the Keystone State’s Democratic Senate nominee.
“The truth is our economy is a mess because of Washington. The rich, powerful, the insiders, and the lobbyists. They’re lying about me to take the heat off themselves,” Fetterman says to camera in the spot, that was shared first with Fox News on Tuesday.
“It’s Washington’s fault. They set the rules, weakened our supply chain and spiked inflation,” Fetterman charges in the ad, as he takes aim at a city where the White House and Congress are controlled by fellow Democrats.
Pennsylvania man charged with threatening to kill FBI personnel … THE HILL
Authorities arrested a Pennsylvania man for allegedly making violent threats against FBI personnel online following the agency’s search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Adam Bies, 46, was arrested on Friday and is charged with influencing, impeding or retaliating against federal law enforcement officers.
Brittney Griner appeals her Russian prison sentence … POLITICO
Lawyers for American basketball star Brittney Griner have filed an appeal of her nine-year Russian prison sentence for drug possession, Russian news agencies reported Monday, amid talks between the U.S. and Russia that could lead to a high-profile prisoner swap.
Griner, an eight-time all-star center with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and two-time Olympic gold medalist, was convicted Aug. 4 after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.
Walls close in on Alec Baldwin as his gun lie falls apart … NY POST
Alec Baldwin has always insisted, despite all evidence to the contrary, that he didn’t pull that trigger. The FBI now says that he did.
That finding, released over the weekend, comes just after the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office announced they’re only waiting on Baldwin’s phone records before sending their investigative file to the DA’s office.
Are the walls closing in yet, Alec?
CNN’s Lawyers Are Making An Insane Argument In Court
Lawyers for CNN are trying to argue that retweets and follows qualify as endorsements as they fight a suit brought by relatives of former Trump adviser Michael Flynn who allege CNN defamed them by suggesting they were QAnon followers.
CNN ran a story showing John and Leslie Flynn at a meeting with the chyron reading “CNN Goes Inside a Gathering of QAnon Followers.” The couple alleged defamation because they said they are not QAnon followers and do not adhere to the group’s “dangerous, extremist, racist, anti-Semitic and violent beliefs,” according to Bloomberg Law.
Walmart Revenue, Profit Rise as Higher Prices Lift Business … WSJ
Walmart Inc.’s WMT 0.29%▲ revenue and profit rose in the second quarter as the retail giant benefited from higher prices and consumers stepping up shopping trips to its stores.
Walmart on Tuesday said that it is gaining market share in some categories such as grocery as shoppers grapple with inflation and that some Covid-19 related costs have shrunk. But higher prices have led shoppers to hold back on some purchases, prioritizing lower-margin food items, eating into profits. Walmart is also selling through a glut of inventory leading to higher discounts.
Merrick Garland Weighed Search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago for Weeks … WSJ
Attorney General Merrick Garland deliberated for weeks over whether to approve the application for a warrant to search former President Donald Trump’s Florida home, people familiar with the matter said, a sign of his cautious approach that will be tested over the coming months.
The decision had been the subject of weeks of meetings between senior Justice Department and FBI officials, the people said. The warrant allowed agents last Monday to seize classified information and other presidential material from Mar-a-Lago.
Mr. Garland now faces a more momentous decision that will further sharpen an already unprecedented and politically fraught situation: whether to pursue charges against Mr. Trump or any of his allies over their handling of the records at issue and their interactions with Justice Department officials seeking to retrieve them.
Left-Wing DA George Gascon Survives Recall Effort
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon survived the effort to recall him Monday after the petition failed to meet the required number of signatures.
The Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk (RR/CC) determined that out of the 715,833 total signatures, 195,783 were invalid, according to an RR/CC news release. The petition required 566,857 signatures in order for a recall election to be eligible.
Over 88,000 of the invalid signatures were signed by citizens who were not registered to vote, and 43,593 were duplicates, the news release said. Over 32,000 of the signatures had a different address, while several thousand were identified as a mismatch or canceled.
John Kerry’s climate office rife with ties to far-left green groups … FOX NEWS
Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC) John Kerry’s office is filled with officials who have previously held high-ranking positions at various global green energy institutions.
Kerry’s office has scooped up individuals who have had past leadership positions at groups like the United Nations Foundation, World Resources Institute, International Monetary Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council and several other major global or green organizations, according to a Fox News Digital review. The organizations have largely characterized global warming as the “climate crisis” and have pushed for a rapid global transition away from fossil fuel reliance.
Exclusive: White House pushes three-part plan for abortion rights … REUTERS
Cheered by a win in Kansas, where voters decisively rejected an abortion ban, and eyeing November midterms, the White House is promoting a new three-fold strategy to protect abortion rights, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, and it uses a different approach – reaching out to men.
In the new playbook, which has not been previously reported, the Biden administration will lean on two specific federal statutes to sharpen its federal litigation tactics against states that limit abortion; collect data and research on how the restrictions impact women and communicate that to voters; and come up with a consistent messaging plan about how forced pregnancies negatively affect both women and men.
