Meanwhile, here’s a great summary of the biggest concern:
Randall D. Eliason/WaPo:
Newly released memo to Barr was just cover for exonerating Trump
In their nine-page memo, Engel and O’Callaghan note that Mueller concluded there was insufficient evidence to find that Trump or his campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russians seeking to interfere with the 2016 election. They argue this would make obstruction charges inappropriate, because it would be unusual to prosecute someone for obstruction when there was no underlying criminal offense.
Scooter Libby and Martha Stewart would like a word. Both were convicted of obstructing investigations that ultimately did not result in other criminal charges — and that is not at all unusual. At the time of the obstruction, of course, a defendant does not know whether criminal charges ultimately will be brought. And people obstruct investigations for all kinds of reasons — including that the results might be politically damaging or embarrassing — even if they don’t fear criminal liability.
Newsweek:
Wyoming Looks to Limit Secretary of State Power After 2020 Election Denial
Wyoming lawmakers are looking to strip the secretary of state's duties to oversee the state's elections after a candidate who denies the result of the 2020 presidential election won the Republican primary to lead the office.
On a voice vote Thursday, the state's Republican-dominated Joint Committee on Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions approved a motion to draft legislation stripping the office's sole authority to oversee the state's elections and creating an entity overseen by all five of the state's top elected officials.
Jackie Calmes/LA Times:
Trump’s latest grift — the ‘Save America PAC’ $100-million hoard
Donald Trump says he’s naming me “Patriot of the Month.” But the defeated president has told me that month after month in fundraising emails, including every day this week.
No service to country is required on my part, only payment to Trump: A contribution to his growing political coffers at the “Save America PAC.” Helpfully, he has already checked the box that says I agree to “make this a monthly recurring donation.”
That’s patriotism, Trump-style.
“For your eyes only,” the pitches may start, or “DO NOT SHARE.” Get a signed copy of his rally speech, they promise, or get markers like the ones he used to sign bills as president, or vulgar “LET’S GO BRANDON” baseball caps for your donation.
Bill Scher/Washington Monthly:
How Democrats Could Actually Keep the House
In times of crisis, the president’s party has proved that it can buck the trend of losing seats in the midterms—and voters are experiencing several crises this year.
Fifteen months ago, I explained that Democrats had a shot at keeping the House—despite their current five-seat margin and the inconvenient fact that the president’s party almost always loses well more than five House seats in midterm elections—because the exceptions to the midterm rule are when the president’s party is successfully managing a crisis…
Increasingly, what has begun to overshadow inflation is the abortion crisis. As The Washington Post reported this week, “about 20.9 million women have lost access to nearly all elective abortions in their home states, and a slate of strict new trigger laws expected to take effect in the coming days will shut out even more.” Evidence of pro-choice backlash is stark. This month, Kansas voters rejected an anti-abortion state constitutional amendment. Pat Ryan framed his race as a referendum on abortion. A Times analysis of voter registration data in 10 states found that since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, new women registrants increased by 35 percent, quadruple the increase for men.
Dallas Morning News:
Ken Paxton again tries to intervene in suit with Dallas hospital over transgender care
Lawyers for a doctor suing Children’s Medical Center say Paxton’s appeal is a political ploy to “generate Twitter content.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is attempting for the second time to intervene in a legal fight over gender-affirming medical care at two Dallas hospitals.
In an appeal filed this month, Paxton said that a lower court judge erred in ruling the state could not intervene in Dr. Ximena Lopez’s lawsuit against Children’s Medical Center of Dallas.
Lopez sued in March to reverse the decision to halt certain treatments for new patients and remove the branding at Genecis, a program for transgender youth that Children’s ran with the University of Texas Southwestern until November. While the program itself remains dismantled, a lower court judge ruled in May that Lopez could treat new patients using puberty blockers and hormone therapy while her case is being litigated.
In his appeal, Paxton said the state has an interest in the case because Lopez is challenging his interpretation of Texas law and has accused the governor of pressuring the hospitals to make changes at Genecis. He added the state acted “through” UT Southwestern, a public university, to discontinue certain treatments for new trans patients at Genecis.
Your Saturday palate cleanser:
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