It was a bad day in court for Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani, and we love to see it.

Wednesday, July 20, 2022
BY JULIA CLAIRE & CROOKED MEDIA
- Rep. Virginia Foxx ([link removed]) (R-NC) ([link removed]) , giving an impassioned argument against a Democratic bill to protect contraception, including the action lines she wasn't supposed to say.

As temperatures soar across the United States, the heat has also been turned up for disgraced former president Trump and his die-hard lackeys. Tip your bartender, folks!

* With each new hearing, the picture of just how unhinged Trump became in the days following the 2020 election, all the way up to January 6th (and after of course, too, the man is not well) is becoming clearer. But Trump himself seems to want to remind us. On Tuesday, Wisconsin’s GOP house speaker Robin Vos said Trump personally called him within the past week(!) ([link removed]) to again ask him to overturn the 2020 election. (He then called Vos a RINO.) She doesn’t love you, man! She’s not going to take you back! Let it go! You’re embarrassing yourself!

* A New York judge has ordered Trump’s former lawyer/guy with the scariest teeth we’ve ever seen, Rudy Giuliani, to appear before a special grand jury in Atlanta ([link removed]) next month as part of an investigation into whether former President Trump and others illegally tried to interfere in the 2020 general election in Georgia. Giuliani failed to appear at a July 13 hearing in New York to challenge his subpoena. The special grand jurors indicated that they are particularly interested in testimony Giuliani and other Trump goons gave to Georgia legislators in late 2020 ([link removed]) , including a fraudulent video of ballots being tabulated in Atlanta, which he kept showing even after the Georgia Secretary of State’s office had debunked it. If Giuliani doesn’t show up in
Atlanta on August 9, a material witness warrant to arrest and detain him until he appears could be issued, which would be pretty fun to see.

* Two witnesses testified Wednesday in the case against former White House adviser Steve Bannon ([link removed]) , after Bannon’s latest attempt to delay his contempt-of-Congress proceedings failed. FBI Agent Stephen Hart testified about a November 3 meeting he had with Bannon and his lawyer, Robert Costello ([link removed]) , during which Hart said Costello did not claim Bannon believed his deadline for complying with the subpoena was moved, or that the deadline was flexible, or that Costello was negotiating for a different deadline, all of which are pillars of Bannon’s current defense. Bannon’s lawyers showed the jury letters written this month in which he offers to cooperate with the January 6 committee, but committee counsel Kristen Amerling said this belated offer did not nullify Bannon’s nine-month defiance of their
subpoena ([link removed]) . And he still hasn’t actually turned any documents over, as he “offered” to in those letters. A trial date has also been set for Trump’s former trade adviser Peter Navarro, who has also been charged with two counts of criminal contempt of Congress. Not a good day in court for traitors!

The House January 6 Committee has an entire host of noncompliant clowns on their hands, but it’s not just Trump’s handpicked advisers.

* The Secret Service confirmed yesterday that text messages from around the time of the attack on the Capitol were in fact deleted despite explicit requests from Congress and federal investigators that they be preserved ([link removed]) . Committee staff said today that the panel had received only one text message in response to its July 15 subpoena, which they made clear was insufficient. Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) said the Secret Service acknowledged the erasure, but claimed it was because agency phones were migrated to a new system weeks after the attack. Murphy went on to say that while the USSS has turned over a large number of records and documents, what they’re specifically looking for is electronic communication records between agents the day before the insurrection and the day of. The National Archives requested that the USSS investigate “the potential unauthorized deletion” of these
texts. The agency responded by telling the Associated Press, "the insinuation that the Secret Service maliciously deleted text messages following a request is false.” Whatever you say, fellas!

* Against this very crime-y backdrop, a bipartisan group of 16 senators released legislation that would clarify an 1887 law that Trump and his goons tried to exploit in the 2020 election ([link removed]) , and hopefully would prevent another Trump-like president from trying to steal an election in the future. The legislation, co-sponsored by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) would more clearly define the role of states, presidential electors, and the vice president in a presidential election. It raises the threshold for congressional objections to an election result, and creates a three-judge panel and an expedited path to the Supreme court if a presidential candidate raises concerns about a state’s election results. A separate piece of legislation would double fines for people who intimidate or threaten poll workers and other election workers, and clarifies how the Postal Service is to handle election
mail.

While these pieces of legislation are a step in the right direction, it’s clear that if Manchin were serious about election security, he and Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) would have not stood in the way of the voting rights package earlier this year. But I guess the sanctity of the precious filibuster is just more important to him.

This week on Pod Save The People, DeRay interviews author and producer Van Lathan Jr. about his new book Fat, Crazy, and Tired: Tales from the Trenches of Transformation. Plus, coverage on the underreported news of the week— including an increasing amount of Democrats switching to Republican, U.S. states charging families for foster care, mayor of D.C. clearing up cryptic comment on her sexuality, and Macy Gray apologizing for anti-trans comments.

Listen to new episodes of Pod Save The People ([link removed]) each Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts.
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Amazon Prime Day is the company’s massive annual sales event that incentivizes customers to go nuts ordering from the online retail behemoth. As the abhorrent treatment of Amazon warehouse workers continues to be well-documented, Prime Day forces workers into even more grueling conditions. Last week, an Amazon employee died at a New Jersey fulfillment center ([link removed]) , which prompted a federal investigation led by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Amazon has long run afoul of OSHA regulations, racking up so many violations over the years that I couldn’t possibly list them all here. The death of this worker comes as Amazon faces a broader OSHA investigation and scrutiny from federal prosecutors stemming from numerous allegations of workplace hazards at Amazon facilities. This tragedy is the latest in a series of Amazon’s labor malpractices so egregious and consistent that at this
point they could only be considered official company policy. There is a human price to pay for a heavily-discounted TV and two-day shipping.

The Department of Justice announced charges against 36 people accused of orchestrating a health care-fraud scheme to the tune of $1.2 billion. ([link removed])


Disbarred South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh pled not guilty after being indicted on two counts of murder ([link removed]) for shooting his wife and their 22 year-old son.


Lawmakers in Sri Lanka elected the country’s unpopular prime minister as their new president today ([link removed]) , which is expected to exacerbate turmoil and mass protests in the country that already forced out its last president following economic collapse.


One-in-three Americans are under heat advisory warnings ([link removed]) as a “heat dome” brings temperatures of up to 110°F, or even higher, to a broad swath of the U.S., with the heat most intense in the southern plains and lower Mississippi Valley, but also big cities in the Northeast.


Turkish artillery strikes killed at least eight tourists ([link removed]) , including a toddler, and wounded more than 20 in northern Iraq today.


Citing the Kremlin’s penchant for weaponizing their oil exports, European Union leaders proposed a plan today for all member states to reduce their natural gas consumption by 15 percent until spring ([link removed]) .


Caitlin Bernard, the Indiana doctor who performed an abortion on a 10 year-old rape victim from Ohio, will file a defamation suit against Attorney General ([link removed]) /unconscionable doorknob Todd Rokita (R-IN) who, uh, totally defamed her.


The race to replace disgraced U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has narrowed down to a runoff ([link removed]) between former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak (“Dishy Rishi”: if you know, you know) and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.


The Centers for Disease Control discontinued a program tracking COVID-19 cases aboard cruise ships ([link removed]) and reporting them to the public. Batten down the hatches!

Maryland is the only state to have a congressional primary this month, and voters there chose the candidates for their forthcoming gubernatorial election last night. The governor’s race pit two former Obama-administration alums—former Labor Secretary and DNC Chairman Tom Perez, and former Education Secretary John King—against one another in a crowded field. As of today, though, CEO Wes Moore leads Perez by about 10 points, and is expected to clinch the nomination ([link removed]) . Across the country, Republican primaries look more homogenous, as their races generally feature candidates who only give Republican voters the choice between an overt or a covert monster. This was no different in Maryland’s Republican gubernatorial primary, where Trump-backed state delegate Dan Cox defeated Kelly Schulz ([link removed]) , the former Secretary of Commerce for
Maryland’s outgoing Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD). Cox’s victory is worth examining as a predictive outcome both because he fully embraced Trump’s Big Lie lock, stock, and barrel, but also because the Democratic Governors Association ran a multimillion dollar attack ad against him only in the final weeks of the race when polling showed he and Schulz deadlocked—a move widely seen as an intentional strategy to boost Cox, on the assumption that he’d be easier to beat in the general. This is an incredibly risky strategy (particularly in states that are more competitive than Maryland) and if it doesn’t pay off in November, Dem strategists should consider throwing out their old playbook. Vox already ran a piece saying with a fair amount of confidence that Cox’s win means Democrats’ “ chances of retaking the governor's mansion just got better,” ([link removed]) which raises the question: Did we learn nothing from 2016?
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ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s online fundraising platform for grassroots, small-dollar donors, raised over half a billion dollars ([link removed]) between April 1 and June 30.

Oregon will put a strict gun-control measure, requiring permits for all would-be gun owners and banning large-capacity magazines, on their state ballot this November ([link removed]) , after the initiative received over 131,000 signatures.

Attorney General Josh Kaul (D-WI) has filed a lawsuit against 18 companies ([link removed]) that he alleges contaminated the environment with PFAS or “forever chemicals.” Get their asses, Josh!

The stock market is actually having a good month and is on track for gains in July ([link removed]) , its best showing since March.
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