A trio from Politico:
‘There’s enormous frustration’: Trump forces Republicans off-script… again
Having once decried the search of Mar-a-Lago, defenders of the ex-president are now warning of civil unrest if the investigation leads to prosecution.
After having decried the FBI’s search of the ex-president’s home, many Trump defenders went silent upon the release on Friday of the probable-cause affidavit that revealed the extent of Trump’s efforts to hold onto the top-secret documents. GOP worries about the developments of the case and Trump announcing a 2024 run before November are giving way to a subtle, broader warning about putting the former president too much on the ballot this fall.
Too late.
Politico:
Republicans bob and weave on abortion — as Democrats hammer away
Arizona’s Blake Masters is among the Republicans changing abortion positions on their websites, while others are airing TV ads on their stances.
Democrats have been hammering GOP candidates on abortion since the fall of Roe v. Wade. That’s left some Republicans scrambling to try to figure out how to soften the blow.
A number of Republicans are trying to avoid political fallout from the Dobbs decision by quietly deemphasizing their past position on abortion on campaign websites and on the trail. Another handful of GOP candidates — especially those in contests in states that are more of a reach for the party — have gone up with TV ads looking to counter Democrats’ attacks on abortion.
You can run but you can’t hide. That’s the 2022 bumper sticker.
Politico:
Secret Service official at center of Jan. 6 committee probe retires
Tony Ornato, who also served as a top aide in Donald Trump’s White House, is the latest high-level official in the Secret Service to announce his departure recently
Ornato’s role in the Trump White House made national headlines after explosive testimony by former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who said he had briefed Trump and other White House officials about armed elements within Trump’s rally crowd on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021.
Although Ornato quickly signaled he was willing to testify in response to Hutchinson’s account, he has yet to appear for a new interview with the select committee, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
Asked about the status of those discussion, Guglielmi said “We have continuously made Tony Ornato available.” He noted, however, that Ornato is now a private citizen and no longer a federal employee.
Lawyer up, Tony.
David Rothkopf/Daily Beast:
What’s Behind Trump’s Private War With the Intelligence Community?
The former president is serially criminal, loves dictators, and hates being held accountable. No wonder he despises the U.S. intelligence community.
When you are at war with the truth, you attack the truth tellers. When you are a threat to U.S. national security, you attack those who seek to defend it. When you are conscious of your own guilt, you target those who can confirm your crimes.
These are the reasons that Donald Trump has been engaged in a one-man war against the U.S. intelligence since even before he became president. These are the reasons we must see Trump’s theft of vital national secrets as more than just a story about documents.
The seizure of documents at Mar-a-Lago—and what we have learned about the former president’s apparent violation of federal laws by keeping them, mishandling them, and obstructing the efforts to return them—must not be seen as an isolated incident. Trump’s disregard for U.S. national security and in particular his contempt for and struggle with the U.S. intelligence community, has been a theme since he first publicly sought the support of an American enemy to help him win the 2016 presidential campaign.
Neal Katyal/NY Times:
What Bill Barr Did to Clear Trump Is Still a Danger
The memo released last week by the Justice Department closing the book on the report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election is a frightening document. Critics have rightly focused on its substance, slipshod legal analysis and omission of damning facts.
But the process by which that memo, sent in March 2019, came to be is just as worrisome. Delivered to the attorney general at the time, Bill Barr, the memo was written by two political appointees in the Justice Department.
Mr. Barr used the memo to go around the special counsel regulations and to clear President Donald Trump of obstruction of justice. If left to fester, this decision will have pernicious consequences for investigations of future high-level wrongdoing.
Sahil Kapur/NBC:
Here are the signs Republicans’ hopes for a 'red wave' are receding ahead of the 2022 elections
Analysis: The GOP may still make gains this fall. But the Supreme Court's abortion ruling, declining gas prices and Trump's re-emergence give Democrats fresh cause for optimism.
Election analysts attribute the shift to the conservative Supreme Court's ruling to eliminate the constitutional right to legal abortion, declining gas prices and former President Donald Trump’s seizing the spotlight and reasserting his dominance over the GOP.
Dahlia Lithwick/Slate:
The Men Just Keep Talking
There is something happening with angry women voting on abortion. Male politicians don’t seem to have noticed.
Long after the time had passed for male GOP officials to stop, to just stop, pretending they know or understand anything about female anatomy, reproductive organs, medical emergencies and basic preventative health care, they have continued to talk. They have continued to talk and talk and talk even when the massive blowback after the Dobbs decision proved it was an error; Kansas proved it was an error; and after the surprise election of Pat Ryan in a New York special election proved it was an error. Every time a Republican man opens his mouth to talk about women’s bodies, ten new female voters get their wings. Yet somehow, they cannot seem to stop themselves!
It is surely the very textbook definition of “privilege” to find yourself unbothered by protests, polling numbers, and voter registration data. Justice Samuel Alito actually laughed in the face of outraged females who called out the bad history, bad economics, and bad medicine in his leaked draft opinion—their complaints were numerous and well-founded, yet he didn’t change a thing. Instead, he smugly told women that if they didn’t like the outcome in Dobbs, they could just “seek to affect the legislative process by influencing public opinion, lobbying legislators, voting, and running for office” and that “women are not without electoral or political power.” The court’s newest approval ratings suggest the same, though I don’t think Justice Alito likes that kind of political power very much at all.
David Frum/Atlantic:
The Rising Cost of Republicans’ Investment in Trump
GOP voters may be angry about Biden’s student-debt bailout, but the political bargain their party leaders made is the underlying problem.
Republican leaders and donors are suddenly making worried noises about their political chances.
Five months ago, their party looked likely to take both the U.S. House and the Senate in 2022. Republicans appeared ready to consolidate their leads over Democrats in the numbers of governorships and state legislatures held. Best of all, they seemed to have quietly sidelined former President Donald Trump.
Now their prospects look clouded. Gasoline prices have dropped. The Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade and galvanized pro-abortion-rights voters, including some nonreligious but otherwise conservative women who might have voted Republican. Their Senate hopes are being dashed because Trump intervened in primaries to nominate a bunch of unattractive candidates in must-win swing states. On Wednesday, Politico posted quotes from a very anxious conference call by Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel with major donors. Small-dollar donations to Senate candidates have dropped abruptly, even as Democratic fundraising surges.
Too late. The base wants to talk about Donald Trump.
Republican politicians understand. Talk to GOP base voters, though. They don’t.