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At The Topline, we like to spotlight and encourage lawmakers who focus on building consensus across party lines to solve problems. If our readership is any indication, one lawmaker in particular has achieved such consensus—Liz Cheney. Last week, we asked you what Cheney's next move should be. The response was overwhelming. We’ll try to publish as many responses as we can in the next few issues. But suffice to say, Cheney earned plaudits across ideological lines for her willingness to buck her party as the vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee. Our readers aren't ready for Cheney to leave the national stage either, with many of you hoping she'll make a presidential run in the future, possibly on an independent ticket. Time will tell. Thanks to everyone for responding! —Melissa Amour, Managing Editor
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Like a cheap suit
Donald Trump asked a federal judge yesterday to halt the FBI's review of hundreds of documents recovered from his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, earlier this month until a neutral “special master” can be appointed to inspect the records. The request was included in a federal lawsuit, the first legal filing by Trump in the two weeks since the search, that takes aim at the Justice Department investigation—and is peppered with plenty of Trump’s usual bombast and, well, “alternative facts.” The suit has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated by Trump in 2020 and confirmed by the Senate 56-21 later that year. She is a former assistant U.S. attorney in Florida, handling mainly criminal appeals. Stay tuned. —PBS News [ [link removed] ]
“There's no grey area here.” The pursuit of the stolen materials has been ongoing. The National Archives found more than 700 pages of classified material—including some of the most highly classified secrets in the government—in 15 boxes recovered from Mar-a-Lago in January. Federal investigators had grown increasingly alarmed about potential damage to national security as well as by Trump’s resistance to sharing them with the FBI. That tranche was in addition to records recovered by the DOJ and FBI during a June meeting and via the search of the premises earlier this month. —Politico [ [link removed] ]
Ganging up. The group of congressional leaders known as the “Gang of 8” has asked the Biden Administration for access to the documents seized during the FBI search. The group, charged with reviewing the nation’s most sensitive intelligence information, currently includes Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Intelligence Chair Mark Warner and Vice Chair Marco Rubio, and House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff and Ranking Member Mike Turner. The request suggests that Congress won't be a bystander in the political and legal fallout following the unprecedented search. —Politico [ [link removed] ]
Meanwhile… U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, in a written order yesterday, lowered expectations about how much, if any, of the search warrant affidavit he'll ultimately release, following requests from media organizations as well as Trump himself. Reinhart remains confident in his decision to authorize the search warrant, having found "probable cause that evidence of multiple federal crimes would be found" at Mar-a-Lago, including obstructing an investigation. “Having carefully reviewed the affidavit before signing the warrant, I was—and am—satisfied that the facts sworn by the affiant are reliable," he wrote. —NBC News [ [link removed] ]
MORE: Justice Dept. issues new subpoena to National Archives for more Jan. 6 documents — [ [link removed] ]CNN [ [link removed] ]
Rubin: Lindsey Graham shouldn't escape testifying 
“Graham understandably is desperate to avoid testifying under oath in a case in which Trump faces serious criminal liability. Not only might he be forced to implicate the man with whom he has spent years shamelessly ingratiating himself, but Graham’s own actions also may be problematic if he had been working to assist Trump’s coup (rather than making some ‘harmless’ inquiry about, gosh, whether some Joe Biden votes in Georgia might get tossed out).” —Jennifer Rubin in The Washington Post [ [link removed] ]
Jennifer Rubin is an attorney and political opinion columnist at The Washington Post.
MORE: Copied voting systems files were shared with Trump supporters, election deniers — [ [link removed] ]The Washington Post [ [link removed] ]
Americans are worried about democracy 
Readers of The Topline aren't the only Americans concerned about the state of our democracy. Threats to U.S. democracy ranked as the most important issue facing the country for a plurality of registered voters (21%), according to an NBC News poll. The next closest issues were the cost of living (16%) and jobs and the economy (14%). Rounding out the list were immigration/border security, climate change, guns, abortion, crime, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, the poll was conducted after the FBI search of Donald Trump’s home in Florida. —The Hill [ [link removed] ]
MORE: Professor outlines how states went from the laboratories of democracy to working against it — [ [link removed] ]The Seattle Times [ [link removed] ]
‘I can't, in good conscience, be silent’
You may not know the name Kevin Priola, but he just did something precious few Republican elected officials have been willing to do: walk away from the party on principle. A state senator in Colorado, Priola is resigning from the GOP, citing the party's complicity in the Jan. 6 insurrection and 2020 election denial. “I cannot continue to be a part of a political party that is okay with a violent attempt to overturn a free and fair election and continues to peddle claims that the 2020 election was stolen," Priola said in a statement, in which he also cited his now former party's lack of action on climate change. As the chamber’s most bipartisan member, Priola is politically moderate. However, he still votes with Republicans 90% of the time, and said he "will not be changing the way I vote on legislation." —Axios [ [link removed] ]
MORE: Ousted Republican reflects on Trump, democracy, and America: ‘The place has lost its mind’ — [ [link removed] ]The Guardian [ [link removed] ]
Swift: Is Shamed Dogan the last sane Republican in Missouri?
“The party that once brought him back from Washington to help them run coalitions and bring more Shamed Dogans into their fold doesn’t seem to need him anymore. They’ve moved on from the coalition model entirely, choosing instead to consolidate their base while tearing down dissenters and propping up lunatics. They don’t even care whether those lunatics can win anymore, provided they’re solid on the only thing the GOP cares about these days: fealty to Trump.” —Jim Swift in The xxxxxx [ [link removed] ]
Jim Swift is a senior editor at The xxxxxx.
MORE: McConnell says Republicans may not win Senate control, citing 'candidate quality' — [ [link removed] ]NBC News [ [link removed] ]
Gridelli: Disrupting the political spectrum
“Perhaps the reason the current parties focus on methods is because neither really want solutions. Given how tightly our system is captured by heavily partisan primaries, maybe our ‘leaders’ have come to realize that the easiest way to win a primary is NOT to solve a problem. It’s to rant and rave about a problem to turn out votes and donations. Solve the problem, and you no longer have it to rant and rave about. And so raving continues, and problems remain unsolved. Could it be that this behavior is a feature, not a bug, of the current electoral framework?” —Craig Gridelli on Forward Thinking [ [link removed] ]
Craig Gridelli is a New York State volunteer co-lead for the Forward Party. He works in finance and formerly served as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan with the 1st Infantry Division.
Regarding the letter from Jim V. of New York. I also worked for a county in social services. Everything was confidential. It was spoken of in the building only—among the employees out of the building, not a word. It was the rule we abided by. Thank you for helping our vets.
As for Trump, there is no depth of lie, depravity, name-calling, passing the blame, crudeness, and criminality he will not stoop to. I am convinced those documents were taken for him to sell or give for a business influence. —Donna C., California
Jim V., you forget that laws only apply to ordinary folks like us, not to the elites like Trump. —David M., Colorado
Regarding Liz Cheney’s loss: what a shame for Wyoming, where I lived for some time, and for the United States. I remember what many people thought, or said, about her father—that he was so far to the right, one couldn't get any further. Compared to the current situation, I'd say he was pretty middle-of-the-road.
I get at least 60 emails per day from both parties, asking for money and saying, "We're just one % point up (or down), and we really need your support by midnight to keep Congress red (or blue), yada, yada, yada.” Our two parties haven't the slightest idea what Americans really want and need. It's not a political color or a single individual (either good or bad), but a clear set of policies we can see and, hopefully, take advantage of. It's not about how idiotic the other side is—it’s about what our democracy demands. Oh, and by the way, I'd vote for Liz Cheney for president in a heartbeat. —Steven B., Florida
The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Renew America Foundation.

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