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BY BRIAN BEUTLER, PRIYANKA ARIBINDI & CROOKED MEDIA Thursday, August 1, 2019 |
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| —Baltimore native Nancy Pelosi |
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| MILESTONE |
| More than half of House Democrats now publicly support beginning an official inquiry to determine whether President Trump should be impeached. Though this development does not guarantee that the House will launch an impeachment inquiry, it’s an important milestone and suggests such an inquiry is now more likely than not.
Here’s a full rundown.
When did we cross the threshold? Today! By Politico’s count, Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) became the 118th Democrat in the 235 member caucus to announce his support for beginning an impeachment inquiry on Thursday morning, adding to the groundswell of support for impeachment we’ve seen since former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified last week.
So does Trump get impeached now? Not necessarily. There’s no rule that says the speaker of the House has to do whatever a majority of her party’s caucus wants her to do. And as far as we know, Nancy Pelosi still opposes beginning an impeachment process.
Wonderful, then why should we care? Because generally speaking, congressional leaders tend to reflect the will of their caucuses. Pelosi and her leadership team can no longer claim, as they have, that they oppose moving forward because only a minority of Democratic representatives support impeachment. As long as they continue to stand in the way of the process beginning, they will be thwarting the will of the caucus, which will be a hard position for them to sustain.
Okay, fine, so what happens next? In the near term: Expect more House (and Senate!) Democrats to join the impeachment push, and expect pressure on Pelosi from both members and outside advocates to grow. You might even see her public comments about impeachment begin to soften. If that happens, the floodgates should open—or at least, we should help open them.
House Democrats have told the courts that, for legal purposes, the Judiciary Committee is already conducting an impeachment inquiry, but many have continued telling the public they aren’t there yet. (“Impeachment? Not familiar with the word!”) This will need to change. The whole point of impeaching Trump is to confront him confidently and publicly, make voters aware of his crimes, and then make Republicans vote on whether they support those crimes. Staying on this middle path would defeat the purpose, leave the party divided, and could end in political disaster. |
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| Arizona has taken the unprecedented step of asking the Supreme Court to force the Sackler family to return $4 billion to its company, Purdue Pharma, which the state claims the family looted between 2008 and 2016 in an effort to avoid paying victims of the opioid crisis. At least 40 other states have sued companies involved in the opioid crisis, including Purdue, which manufactures Oxycontin, but Arizona took the exceptional step of filing directly with the Supreme Court, which almost never hears cases until lower courts have ruled.
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| What A Debate week! Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Tommy Vietor, and Dan Pfeiffer break down the highs and lows and everything in between from the two nights of CNN's primary debates on the latest epsiode of Pod Save America.
Listen → |
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| The Senate has passed a $2.7 trillion budget deal that will increase the debt limit until 2021 and prevent automatic spending cuts to military and domestic spending. Two thoughts: 1) Republicans don’t give a shit about deficits, never did, and let’s never pretend otherwise again; 2) Now that the field is clear of landmines, let’s impeach the motherfucker, shall we?
President Trump said the U.S. will impose 10 percent tariffs on the remaining $300 billion of imports from China, reigniting his doomed trade war because he claims China has reneged on promises it made in ongoing trade talks between Beijing and Washington. But, he’s a liar, so who knows!
Trump also ordered the Navy to strip the medals it gave to prosecutors who tried the case of Eddie Gallagher, a Navy SEAL who was charged with and acquitted of war crimes. Gallagher’s own platoon turned him in for repeatedly stabbing a wounded, captured, teenage ISIS fighter, and threatening to kill anyone who reported the murder. Trump and the rest of conservative media rallied behind Gallagher, because they apparently want to discourage war crimes prosecutions, which is grotesque on its own and also puts U.S. troops in jeopardy when they’re serving abroad.
Child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein reportedly told scientists he wanted to flood the human race with his DNA by impregnating tons of women at his New Mexico ranch. Sir… this is a Wendy’s.
The Senate has confirmed Kelly Craft to serve as the top U.S. envoy to the United Nations. Craft, whose husband is a coal magnate, has no diplomatic experience, but she is a climate-change denier, so she’ll fit right in with this administration.
The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif. Zarif negotiated the 2015 nuclear agreement with the Obama administration and other global powers, but now the Trump administration has decided to cut off its line of communication with him, because things have been going so well since Trump unilaterally sabotaged the deal last year.
The FTC has asked victims of Equifax’s enormous data breach to accept free credit monitoring instead of the $125 cash settlement it agreed to pay, because too many people requested the money. No, no—that’s not how this works. There’s hell or cash to pay, and we recommend cash.
A gun store in North Carolina put up a billboard inciting violence against the four congresswomen of color known as “The Squad” and calling them “idiots.”
Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is reportedly considering running for Senate in New Hampshire against Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). Lol.
Jay Inslee is... hot? |
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| Is a 20-candidate, two-night debate situation too much for you? GOOD NEWS (we hope). Only seven candidates have qualified so far for the third debate, scheduled for Sept 12-13 in Houston, TX: Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, and Beto O’Rourke. Three others—Amy Klobuchar, Julián Castro, and Andrew Yang—are also close to meeting the new requirements: 130,000 unique donors and at least two percent support in four polls. If the number of candidates stays at or below 10, there will only be one debate night. Donate wisely, friends. |
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| Politics Live from New York Times - Politics, Pacing and Comfort Food Don’t miss The Times’s first revue exploring the 2020 Election hosted by deputy politics editor Rachel Dry. You’ll hear from Times political reporters Astead Herndon and Katie Glueck on this historic field of Democratic candidates — and from experts beyond our Politics desk. Food columnist Melissa Clark and political correspondent Jonathan Martin will dish on deep-fried Twinkies at the Iowa State Fair. Journalist Lindsay Crouse will speak with Olympian and marathoner Alexi Pappas on pacing. $10 ticket for Crooked Media with code 2020 (Savings of $30) |
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| Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and 12 other members of the Congressional Black Caucus kicked off August recess with a trip to Ghana to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans in Virginia—and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has not always seen eye to eye with Omar and her allies, joined them.
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