Welcome to Wednesday, August 7th, tanners and sun-screeners...

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) has laid out a rough timeline for Democrats’ investigations into President Donald Trump that could lead to articles of impeachment being considered before the end of the year.

In an interview with MSNBC, Nadler said that “if we decide to report articles of impeachment, we could get to that late in the fall, in the latter part of the year.” He added that the timing of court rulings expected later this year will factor into his committee’s work, but won’t delay an impeachment inquiry.

Roughly 120 House Democrats are now backing an impeachment inquiry―more than half of the caucus and an increase from the 95 who backed a procedural vote to go forward with impeachment in July. But that’s still well short of the 218 votes required to approve articles of impeachment, and it’s unclear whether Democratic leaders who have been reluctant to back an inquiry can be persuaded to give it their blessing, most notably House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

Should House Democrats impeach Trump?

On the Radar

Video Games Respond to Violence Accusations

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is pushing back on attempts to link video games with gun violence.

“More than 165 million Americans enjoy video games, and billions of people play video games worldwide. Yet other societies, where video games are played as avidly, do not contend with the tragic levels of violence that occur in the U.S.,” the ESA said in a statement.

In the aftermath of two mass shootings this weekend, President Trump and other prominent Republicans called for a crackdown on violent video games, saying they're partly to blame for gun violence.

"We've always had guns and we've always had evil, but what's changed when we see this rash of shootings? I see a video game industry that teaches young people to kill," said Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

But the ESA noted that “[n]umerous scientific studies have established that there is no causal connection between video games and violence."

Do you support a crackdown on violent video games?

Trump Sues to Keep Taxes Private

President Donald Trump, his re-election campaign, and the GOP have sued California over a recently-passed law that that requires presidential candidates to publicly disclose their tax returns or forfeit appearing on the Golden State ballot.

The law is “a naked political attack against the sitting president of the United States”, local and national Republican parties argued in one of the two lawsuits.

The Trump campaign argued in its lawsuit that Democrats are “on a crusade to obtain the president’s federal tax returns in the hopes of finding something they can use to harm him politically.”

In response to the legal actions, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) tweeted: "There’s an easy fix Mr President – release your returns as you promised during the campaign and follow the precedent of every president since 1973."

Should presidential candidates have to release their tax returns to be on the ballot?

Under the Radar

Sanctioning Chinese Officials Over Muslim Internment

Vice President Mike Pence has signaled that the Trump administration is open to sanctioning Chinese officials over the nation’s internment of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities.

Bob Fu of ChinaAid, a Christian nonprofit, told Axios that Pence is considering using the Global Magnitsky Act to sanction top officials in Xinjiang, where Chinese authorities are holding more than 1 million Uyghur Muslims in “political re-education” internment camps.

The crackdown on Uyghurs extends beyond re-education camps. Xinjiang officials are collecting Muslim residents’ DNA and passports, restricting movement, and implementing political and cultural indoctrination in schools.

Should the U.S. impose sanctions over China's human rights abuses?

Refugee Relief Act Anniversary

On August 7, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Refugee Relief Act into law, granting admission to 214,000 refugees fleeing persecution and communism.

In the aftermath of World War II, there were millions of displaced persons across Europe, many of whom fled into parts of Western Europe controlled by the allies to escape communist rule behind the Soviet Union’s “Iron Curtain”.

The Displaced Persons Act of 1948 led to 200,000 such people being admitted to the U.S. as permanent residents above regular immigration quotas, and it was extended in 1950 to allow the admission of another 200,000 displaced persons. But quotas later imposed by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1952 effectively excluded refugees trying to escape from Eastern and Southern Europe.

Read the full history here, then join the conversation: 

How do you feel about the Refugee Relief Act on its anniversary?

What You're Saying

Here's how you're answering Should States Pass Laws Raising the Minimum Age to Buy Tobacco Products to 21 or Lose Grant Funding?