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#The Hill’s Morning Report — Is GOP culture war backfiring?

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Voting rights advocates believe there’s a political throughline that stretches from former President Trump’s alleged scheme to overturn the 2020 election, the Ohio GOP’s efforts this week to keep abortion rights out of the state constitution and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s abrupt replacement Wednesday of a duly elected Democratic prosecutor.

In that mix of warnings and objections are headlines about GOP efforts to ban books, present misinformation as part of school curricula and install conservatives in top positions in place of appointed and elected Democrats.

What’s the theme that left-leaning advocates pitch? Autocratic rule and conspiratorial capers to override the will of the majority weakens democracy and must be stopped.

“Ousting elected officials because you disagree with their leadership and installing hand-picked individuals to take over their job responsibilities is what happens in authoritarian regimes, not democratic nations,” Kara Gross, legislative director and senior policy counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida, said in a statement.

She was reacting on Wednesday to DeSantis’s move to replace State Attorney Monique Worrell (D) for what the governor called her record of abusing discretion. “In a democracy, you can’t just remove elected officials who you don’t like. Elections matter. This matters. The whole country is watching,” Gross added (The Hill).

▪ MSNBC: Worrell said during an interview that “everyone, Democrat, Republican, independent or otherwise, should be concerned that, here in the state of Florida, one person can remove duly elected officials because they are not politically aligned. That is exactly what an attack on democracy looks like.”  

▪ The Washington Monthly: Progressives are defeating conservatives in school board elections — even in Ohio.

Voters in the Buckeye State overwhelmingly rejected a ballot measure pushed by Republican leaders in Ohio that would have made it harder to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. The victory for Democrats and reproductive rights advocates on Tuesday was the latest sign that their messaging on abortion restrictions resonates with voters, even in some red states, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports. Democrats want to reelect Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and hope the GOP’s abortion aims will motivate voters to turn out if they believe Republicans are going overboard with culture wars, far-right agendas and elaborate strategies to bypass more moderate views.

In Kansas a year ago, voters decided to keep abortion legal, rejecting a proposed state constitutional amendment (NPR). 

Republican leaders in the nation’s capital have attempted to move beyond the abortion issue, but state conservatives want to keep abortion in the national spotlight. Senate Republicans believe conservative anti-abortion moves by state legislatures and governors could backfire and wind up boosting Democratic candidates in Arizona, Montana, Nevada and Pennsylvania, as well as Ohio.

▪ The New York Times analysis: Ohio’s vote on abortion and the state constitution showcased the issue’s potency to reshape elections. 

▪ NBC News: The end of Roe v. Wade drove voters toward Democrats in the 2022 elections and since then, abortion opponents have lost a series of state elections.

Ohio’s debate, which now moves to a November ballot initiative, challenges Democrats and abortion rights activists to defeat the GOP again, but by delinking abortion from the ballot choice (The Hill). 

▪ ABC News: Inside DeSantis’s debate prep ahead of the much-anticipated Aug. 23 event in Milwaukee (which Trump may skip).

▪ The New York Times: DeSantis hides small-dollar donations to his campaign. But why? 

Related Articles

▪ The Washington Post: In Florida, large school districts are dropping plans to offer Advanced Placement psychology classes, heeding a warning from state officials that discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity as part of such courses violates state law.

▪ The Hill: In Nevada, the GOP primary field has swelled with candidates eager to try to topple Sen. Jacky Rosen (D).

▪ The New York Times: New York City Democratic Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday estimated a $12 billion price tag over three years to shelter and care for tens of thousands of migrants and asylum-seekers showing up in his city.

▪ Reuters: Political violence today is aimed at people more than property. 

➤ WILDFIRES

The death toll climbed overnight in the Maui wildfires, with at least 36 reported deaths as of this morning, according to local officials. Much of Lahaina, once Hawaii’s royal capital, is destroyed and hundreds of families are displaced as a result of infernos that have been visible from space and forced some residents to flee into the Pacific Ocean. A frantic exodus from the popular tourist destination continues and West Maui early today was without power following an emergency that began on Tuesday (The New York Times). 

“We just had the worst disaster I’ve ever seen. All of Lahaina is burned to a crisp. It’s like an apocalypse,” Lahaina resident Mason Jarvi, who escaped from the city, told Reuters.

President Biden pledged all available assistance in a statement. Hawaii’s congressional delegation wrote to the president on Wednesday urging him to act swiftly to approve any request for a presidential disaster declaration for Maui and Hawaii counties (The Washington Post and Star Advertiser). Dry conditions and powerful winds connected to Hurricane Dora also ignited fires on the island of Hawaii, known as the Big Island. 

The Associated Press: What’s driving Maui’s devastating fires, and how climate change is fueling those conditions.

➤ TRUMP WORLD

© The Associated Press / Jenny Kane | Former President Trump’s Twitter feed in 2019.

Special counsel Jack Smith obtained a search warrant for former President Trump’s Twitter account in January and requested that X, the company formerly known as Twitter, not disclose this information to the former president, according to newly unsealed court documents. Prosecutors shared fears with the court that if Trump knew about the warrant that he would jeopardize the investigation by giving him “an opportunity to destroy evidence, change patterns of behavior [or] notify confederates” (NPR and The New York Times).

Prosecutors applied for, and received, a search warrant on Jan. 17 directing Twitter to produce data and records related to the @realDonaldTrump account, tied to the special counsel’s investigation into Trump and his involvement in attempts to overturn the 2020 election. 

A lower court judge, Beryl Howell, ruled in March that Twitter had to comply with a sealed search warrant issued by the special counsel and pay $350,000 for missing a court-ordered deadline by three days (The Washington Post).

In a post Wednesday on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said he’d “Just found out that Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ secretly attacked my Twitter account, making it a point not to let me know about this major ‘hit’ on my civil rights…”

While the sweeping indictment Smith brought against Trump in the Jan. 6 case touches on nearly every aspect of the former president’s plot to stay in power, The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch reports a few eye-catching omissions in the high-profile case point to the complexities facing the Justice Department, while raising questions about prosecutors’ future plans to hold to account those involved with Trump’s plans. 

“The main thing that sticks out isn’t so much missing facts or missing charges, so much as the lack of co-defendants,” said Josh Stanton, an attorney with Perry Law who helped write a model prosecution memo analyzing the case. “That is the most notable missing piece of this indictment.”

Meanwhile, Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to seek more than a dozen indictments when she presents her case regarding efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in the state before a grand jury next week, CNN reports. Willis, a Democrat, has been considering conspiracy and racketeering charges, which would allow her to bring a case against multiple defendants. 

In Florida, Trump and co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira were scheduled to appear before a magistrate judge today to enter pleas to new charges added July 27 to an indictment in the classified documents case. Trump, however, has signaled he will skip the arraignment hearing (Treasure Coast Newspapers).

▪ The Hill: Trump says he won’t sign the Republican National Committee loyalty pledge that requires primary candidates to say they’ll support the ultimate GOP presidential nominee. The former president says he’ll reveal next week his decision about whether he will participate in an Aug. 23 GOP debate.

▪ CNN: Trump argues he should be allowed to use a setup to review classified evidence at his home.

▪ Vox: Trump’s emerging defense in the 2020 election case, explained and analyzed by legal experts.

➤ CONGRESS

The Biden administration today is expected to unveil its request for additional funding for weapons and other aid to Ukraine, Politico reports. Though the exact dollar amount is unclear as of this writing, Voice of America reports the package could include up to $200 million in aid, more rockets and more munitions for Patriot surface-to-air missile defense systems, among other weapons. The request to Congress is expected to include aid to Taiwan and funding to replenish rapidly dwindling resources for disaster relief.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has been off the bench as Trump’s top adversary. After stepping down from leadership last year, Pelosi has flown largely under the radar in the Democratic caucus, allowing a new crop of leaders to take control of the group she steered for two decades. The Hill’s Mychael Schnell reports the California Democrat — who now holds the title of “Speaker emerita” — has resumed her role of top Trump antagonist following his indictment on charges connected to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. She continues to demonstrate a unique ability to get under the skin of the man she went face-to-face with during the four years he occupied the White House. 

The Guardian: Pelosi called the government’s indictments against Trump “beautiful and intricate.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), 90, fell in her San Francisco home Tuesday and went to the hospital — the latest in a string of health-related concerns for the veteran lawmaker who is not seeking reelection in 2024. “Senator Feinstein briefly went to the hospital yesterday afternoon as a precaution after a minor fall in her home. All of her scans were clear and she returned home,” her office stated (Roll Call).

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has returned hundreds of millions of dollars to constituents of Republican lawmakers who support changes to the bureau’s funding structure, according to a new report from the left-leaning watchdog Accountable.US. As The Hill’s Taylor Giorno reports exclusively, the bureau is funded by the Federal Reserve, but the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up a case brought by a payday lending group that would subject the CFPB to congressional appropriations. While some Republicans say this is about holding bureaucrats accountable, critics including Accountable.US say the case could threaten the future of the independent bureau created by Congress after the financial crisis and Great Recession. 

▪ The Hill: A new GOP memo argues direct payments to Biden are not needed to show corruption as House Republicans ponder a fall impeachment inquiry.

▪ NBC News: Vulnerable Republicans aren’t sold on impeaching Biden. They have mixed feelings about whether to launch a formal inquiry, but they broadly agree the GOP doesn’t have enough evidence to impeach him. Their votes will be decisive.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ INTERNATIONAL

Russian officials said they have intercepted at least 12 drones on their way to Moscow in the last three weeks, suggesting that such attacks are now bringing the war to Russia’s capital on a near-daily basis. Ukrainian officials, who were previously circumspect about whether their forces were involved in attacks in Russia, have acknowledged that some were carried out by Kyiv, making it increasingly clear that they will not allow the war to be limited to their own soil.

And not all of the drones appear to have been intercepted. Last week, a building in central Moscow housing government ministries was twice struck by drones in 48 hours (The New York Times). Meanwhile, a Russian rocket attack killed three people and wounded at least seven others in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday, near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant (The Associated Press).

▪ CNN: “We expected less resistance”: Ukrainian troops on the southern front learn not to underestimate their enemy.

▪ The Guardian: Turning food into a weapon: how Russia resorted to one of the oldest forms of warfare.

▪ The Washington Post: A deal was struck to get Leopard tanks to Ukraine from a private Belgian broker.

▪ The New York Times: After a Russian attack in nearby Ukraine, broken glass and rattled nerves in Romania.

Two weeks after he was ousted in a military coup and put under house arrest, Niger’s deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum, is running out of food and under increasingly dire conditions, The Associated Press reports. The U.S. State Department expressed deep concern about the “deteriorating conditions” of his detention. Bazoum, the West African nation’s democratically elected leader, has been held at the presidential palace in Niamey with his wife and son since July 26.

The family is living without electricity and only has rice and canned goods left to eat, an adviser told the AP, adding Bazoum remains in good health for now and will never resign. Meanwhile, Niger’s junta named a new government overnight, forcing its agenda before a summit on Thursday of regional leaders who have demanded that they end their military takeover (Reuters).

Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot and killed by an unidentified gunman on Wednesday in the capital of Quito, the country’s current president confirmed. Known for speaking out against corruption, Villavicencio, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement and was one of eight presidential candidates in an election slated for Aug. 20 (The Hill and Reuters).

▪ The Associated Press: Is it election season? Pakistan leader moves to disband parliament, his jailed nemesis seeks release.

▪ CNN: From cricket icon to jailed politician: The turbulent times of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.

▪ The Washington Post analysis: Most states have armies. In Pakistan, the army has a state.

▪ The Atlantic: Why you should worry about China’s missing minister. If the world’s best China experts can’t figure out what happened to one of the country’s most internationally recognizable officials, then imagine what else remains hidden behind the regime’s closed doors.

© The Associated Press / K.M. Chaudary | Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan at his residence on Aug. 3.

OPINION

■ I spent five days in a Ukrainian trench waiting for death. It was pure hell, by Artem Chekh, guest essayist, The New York Times.

■ The economy is strong, but small businesses are as pessimistic as ever. Here’s why, by Gene Marks, opinion contributor, The Hill.

WHERE AND WHEN

The House will convene on Friday for a pro forma session at 11 a.m. Lawmakers return to Washington Sept. 11. 

The Senate is out until Sept. 5 and will hold a pro forma session on Friday at 9 a.m.

The president is in Salt Lake City, Utah. Biden will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9 a.m. At 11:15 a.m. MDT, the president will speak at an event to mark the one-year anniversary of the enactment of the PACT Act, which expanded benefits and services for veterans and survivors exposed to toxic substances and burn pits. The president will headline a campaign reception at 2 p.m. MDT in Salt Lake City before departing Utah two hours later to return to the White House. 

Vice President Harris is in Washington and has no public schedule.

Economic indicator: The Labor Department at 8:30 a.m. will report on unemployment claims filed in the week ending Aug. 5.

ELSEWHERE

➤ BY THE NUMBERS

💳 $1 trillion: U.S. credit card debt in the second quarter of this year (The Wall Street Journal). 

📈 $1.6 trillion: U.S. budget deficit in the first 10 months of fiscal 2023 (Congressional Budget Office).

🏆 < 2 percent: Minneapolis’s annual inflation rate. It’s the first U.S. city to do better than the Federal Reserve’s stated inflation goal (Bloomberg News). 

🏥 $50 billion and counting: Seniors’ delinquent medical bills, because of provider billing errors (The Hill).

THE CLOSER

Take Our Morning Report Quiz

And finally … It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for this week’s Morning Report Quiz! Inspired by Biden’s Delaware vacation, we’re eager for some smart guesses about White House traditions.

Be sure to email your responses to [email protected] and [email protected] — please add “Quiz” to your subject line. Winners who submit correct answers will enjoy some richly deserved newsletter fame on Friday.

Which president was gifted a 1,400 lb wheel of cheese that he had installed in a White House foyer for visitors to nibble and share?

James Buchanan

Andrew Jackson

James K. Polk

John Tyler

Presidents often take vacations away from the White House in the summer so that building renovations are easier to complete. 

True

False

Who was the first president to display a Christmas tree in a public area of the White House (specifically, the Blue Room)?

William H. Taft

Teddy Roosevelt

Calvin Coolidge

Ulysses S. Grant

In 1878, then-President Rutherford B. Hayes issued an order that if any children should come to the White House to roll their Easter eggs, they would be allowed to do so, ushering in what is now the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. What event preceded his announcement?

His children asked to invite their friends to the White House for an Easter celebration

In 1876, Congress passed a law forbidding the Capitol grounds to be used as a children’s playground

A local farmer gave Hayes a pallet of eggs

First lady Lucy Ware Hayes wanted to spearhead a new White House tradition

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