If your week was anything like mine, the news and social media was mostly talking about the Titan submersible, but there was quite a bit of important political news that happened this week, too. Here are some of the bright spots you may have missed.
Good News
We have a trial date: The DOJ’s case against Trump over his retention of classified documents will begin on August 14
Special counsel Jack Smith has revealed through a court filing that his investigators have collected multiple recordings of the former president
A former FBI intelligence analyst who kept hundreds of classified documents at her home, was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for violating the same part of the Espionage Act that Trump is accused of breaking
SCOTUS sided with the Biden Administration in an important immigration case, saying Texas and Louisiana lacked the legal standing to challenge the executive branch’s priorities on who should be deported
A judge ruled to block Wyoming’s first-in-the-nation law to ban abortion pills while a lawsuit on the matter proceeds
A Jan. 6 rioter who drove a stun gun into the neck of a D.C. police officer who was abducted by the mob was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison
Two Georgia election workers who were targeted by Trump were fully cleared by Georgia authorities who investigated the accusations
The Senate has voted to confirm Natasha Merle to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
Biden has picked up major endorsements by various unions including the AFL-CIO and Machinists Union, reproductive rights groups like NARAL and Planned Parenthood, as well as Emily’s List
House Republicans are increasingly unhappy — the far right is testing McCarthy’s power, the less fringe members are tired of focusing only on bills that intend to “message” to the base instead of moving needed legislation forward, and multiple members are fighting openly on the floor
For example, McCarthy urged his members to vote against the resolution brought forward by Rep. Lauren Boebert forcing a vote to impeach President Biden
The State Bar of California started its trial this week against John Eastman, who promoted an “unlawful” scheme to overturn the election results, to determine if he should lose his law license
The Texas state Senate voted to bar Ken Paxton’s wife (who is a state Senator) from voting in his coming impeachment trial
Biden will imminently be signing an executive order designed to protect and expand access to contraception
Donald Trump’s inner circle suspects that former chief of staff Mark Meadows is cooperating with federal investigators in the various cases against Trump, per Rolling Stone
47% of Republicans and Republican-leaning registered voters say Trump is their first choice for the party’s nomination for president, down from 53% in a May CNN poll
A record-low 14% now say abortion is not a major issue in their vote
Arch conservative Erick Erickson’s reaction to Trump’s interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier: “This was a really, really bad idea for him to do this. It’s no wonder he is struggling to find and retain good counsel. This was just not a good idea on his part to participate in an interview like that.”
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced charges arising from the fake nominating petition signatures that resulted in the disqualification of five Republican candidates for governor in 2022
And in Colorado, six people who gathered signatures to try to get a Republican congressional candidate on Colorado’s primary ballot in 2022 have been charged by state prosecutors that they submitted signatures of dead people
Calls to Action
First, there is an effort in Florida to put an amendment on the 2024 ballot to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. So far, it is polling well and signature gathering has been strong. That said, they need nearly a million Florida voters to sign, so please help share this petition widely: Protect Reproductive Freedom in Florida!
Second, in Ohio, there is a special election on August 8 where Republicans are attempting to make it much harder for citizens to get initiatives passed through directly democracy. We need as many Ohio voters to confirm they are registered and then vote and Vote Forward needs your help to write letters to inform those voters. Click HERE to sign up to write letters!
Cartoons
Categories: Articles
Love and look forward to this email every week, but am bothered by the lack of punctuation after every statement. Has the period gone out of style?
It’s common not to have punctuation at the end of bulleted lists.