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How Russia is trying to sell its war with Ukraine through RT

One headline on the state-sponsored Russian media outlet RT this week stood out among the others.   

“No place for emotions in nuclear decisions — Kremlin,” the headline at the top of the website’s front page read on Monday.   

The headline ran days after Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the possibility of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, and after he said the U.S. had set a precent for their use with the World War II bombings of Japan.   

The report was about whether Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the Chechen Republic, was using emotion in suggesting that Russia should use “low-yield nuclear weapons” against Ukraine. It quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying there was no place for emotion in the decision.  

The headline is one of a slew on RT that highlights how the Kremlin is using state-backed media to promote its own narratives on its war with Ukraine in the West.

Disinformation and Russian propaganda experts say the narratives in RT show how heavily Putin is using pro-Kremlin megaphones to attempt to reach a Western audience to counter what is being reported about Russia in independent media and to fight back against condemnations pouring in from American and European political leaders. 

“The main message they are trying to get out [to the West] is that Russia is a defender of traditional values. And if you notice, in Putin’s speech announcing his annexation of Ukrainian territory, one of the points he made is against the LGBT community and trying to harp on that theme which connects with many of the conservative movements in the West,” said Robert W. Orttung, a research professor of international affairs at George Washington University.

“He sees himself as already at war with the West. … Anything he can do to undermine unity with the West and create division, in his mind will undermine Western military efforts to counter the Russian invasion,” Orttung said.   

The deputy editor-in-chief of RT said in response to criticism of the news site that it is simply offering Western, English-speaking audiences a different point of view.  

“All it takes is for RT to put forward a divergent point of view to send the mainstream media into hysterics in its comfortable echo-chamber,” the editor, Anna Belkina, said in a statement to The Hill this week.  

Initially founded in 2005, RT has worked to target viewers in the United States and other English-speaking countries who are distrusting of traditional Western media sources. 

On its website, the outlet says it remains available around the world in six languages: English, Arabic, Spanish, French, German and Russian, and features a multimedia agency RUPTLY that provides livestreaming, video on demand, archive footage and broadcast services.

It is difficult to quantify how large RT’s reach in English-speaking countries is today, though it has certainly lost a significant footprint in the Western world since the war in Ukraine began.   

The European Union banned RT and Sputnik, another Russian state media outlet, earlier this year for publishing what it called “systematic information manipulation and disinformation.” 

RT America ceased production and laid off most of its staff in March after it was dropped by DirecTV amid longstanding scrutiny over its content relating to the coronavirus, cultural issues and American elections. 

Social media websites like Twitter and YouTube have also banned RT content citing similar concerns. 

When Russia’s offensive in Ukraine began earlier this year, media personalities on RT cast doubt on whether the U.S. should support Ukraine while other state-sponsored media in Russia painted its citizens as under threat from Ukraine and the West.

“State-funded RT is a crucial element of Russia’s disinformation and propaganda ecosystem. It serves as a global courier of the Kremlin narratives under the guise of international media operating in several languages,” said Eto Buziashvili, a researcher at the Atlantic Council focusing on Russia.   

“The purpose of RT is to support Kremlin political and military objectives,” Buziashvili said. “The narratives spread by the RT differ depending on these objectives and include: sowing confusion via spreading mutually exclusive narratives, discrediting opponents and particularly the West, threatening, setting pretext or false flags for justifying Russia’s next steps, among others.”   

Putin’s propaganda effort both abroad through RT and within Russia usually has a few goals, said Emily Harding, a former CIA analyst who is now deputy director and senior fellow at the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.   

“It’s the ‘people are saying’ kind of narrative. And they try to question the way the West does things. They call into question NATO, European unity. How the West are the corrupt ones, not Russia,” she said.   

Experts say the element of distraction and deflection are key to RT’s strategy and come out of Putin’s larger propaganda playbook.   

On Monday, RT published a series of articles defending Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk from what they described as “pro-Ukraine bots” on Twitter after the tycoon was blasted online for a proposed “peace plan” that included Ukraine giving up territory that Russia had just annexed in a ceremony on Friday roundly criticized by the West.  

Articles published on the RT website Tuesday included one highlighting a U.S. Treasury official describing how the Group of 7 large economies will “Target Russian Oil” and another feature story outlining how sanctions against Russia have “crippled the global tourism industry.”

Another article RT published this week blasted “western media” for reporting “Russia blew up Nord Stream.”   

“But why would Moscow destroy pipelines it spent billions of dollars building?” the same headline asked.   

“The NordStream sabotage conspiracy theory plays on a familiar Kremlin trope: that the United States was responsible for a dark, clandestine plot. Moscow aims to dent the credibility and soft power of the United States by painting it as violent and hypocritical,” said Jessica Brandt, policy director for the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative at the Brookings Institution.   

“It is also using this opportunity to ding President Biden as part of a bid to amplify domestic partisan splits within the United States on the eve of the midterms,” Brandt said. “And then of course, there is deflecting blame for what appears likely to be its own misdeed.”  

Source: TEST FEED1

Fauci says he should have been 'more careful' on pandemic messaging: 'No one's perfect'

Chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci on Tuesday said he should have been “much more careful” in his messaging on COVID-19 early on in the pandemic, including doing a better job of conveying the uncertainty present at that time.

Fauci, who will be stepping down from government work in December, reflected on the first months of the coronavirus outbreak while speaking at a seminar hosted by the University of Southern California’s Center for Health Journalism. The longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases spoke with Washington Post national health reporter Dan Diamond.

Diamond asked Fauci if there was anything he wished he would have done differently throughout the pandemic given the risk for information becoming “gobbled” by social media, as Fauci put it.

“You know, the answer is yes, Dan. I mean, my goodness, no one’s perfect. Certainly I am not,” Fauci said.

“When I go back in the early months, I probably should have tried to be much, much more careful in getting the message to repeat — the uncertainty of what we’re going through,” Fauci said.

He recalled how in the very early days in the pandemic, he had advised that lifestyle changes were not necessary at the time when cases were extremely low, while also adding the caveat that conditions could “change rapidly and we need to be prepared.”

Fauci bemoaned that the only remarks that were “thrown back” at him from that time were his recommendations that things did not have to change.

“Well, as a matter of fact, that was true. But if you wanted to say — if we knew then that this virus under the radar screen was transmitting in a way that was not fully appreciated and any of us would have said, ‘Hey, you know, we’ve had five cases in the country. We need to shut down.’ People would have looked at us like we were crazy,” he said.

Diamond noted President Biden’s recent remarks in which he said the “pandemic is over,” while also adding “we still have a problem with COVID,” as a possible example of the selective recall that Fauci had issue with.

“You have to be very careful,” Fauci said when it came to messaging. “It is really unfortunate, that that’s the world in which we live, in that it’s a bunch of sound bites, sound bites that sometimes get cut in half and get misinterpreted.”

“Someone could always make mischief by clipping out a few words,” he said.

Over the course of the pandemic, GOP lawmakers — and Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) in particular — have pounced on what they view as contradictory, or false statements coming from Fauci. 

Republicans have vowed to carry out more hearings into him despite his exit from the government should they retake the House or Senate in the upcoming midterms. 

Diamond asked Fauci if he would sit for investigations next year if he was called by a Republican-controlled committee.

“Of course, I have no problem. I am a big believer in oversight, and I have testified before Congress literally hundreds of times,” Fauci responded.

He had previously expressed his willingness to come back before Congress, telling CNN in August, “I have nothing to hide and I can defend everything I’ve done.”

Updated at 4:56 p.m.

Source: TEST FEED1

Walker firestorm upends Georgia Senate race

A new report alleging that former football star Herschel Walker paid for his then-girlfriend to have an abortion more than a decade ago is upending the Senate race in Georgia, worsening Republicans’ concerns about Walker’s chances of ousting Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).

Walker vociferously denied the accusations outlined in a story from The Daily Beast on Monday night and threatened to sue the outlet. Still, the report, which has not been confirmed by The Hill, added to the media firestorm facing Walker in the final stretch before Election Day, a time when polls show a tightening race between him and Warnock. 

“I’ve been saying that this thing was going to be Walker’s to lose and the only exception would be some sort of catastrophe,” one Georgia Republican strategist said. “And I think without the right response, this could end up being that catastrophe.”

The stakes of the Senate race are clear: Republicans need to net just one seat in the upper chamber to recapture a majority, and Georgia stands as one of their best opportunities to do that. And while Warnock has a massive financial advantage, recent polls have shown Walker closing the gap following an effort to revamp his campaign after a summer of gaffes and missteps.

It’s not the first controversy to dog Walker as a candidate. Since launching his campaign last year, the former NFL running back has faced questions about his business record and personal life, including allegations of domestic violence and the revelation that he fathered three children that he had not previously mentioned publicly.

Yet the latest accusation that he paid for his now-ex-girlfriend’s abortion in 2009 could prove particularly damaging, especially with Election Day little more than a month away. 

Walker has made his opposition to abortion a central pillar of his campaign, saying repeatedly that he supports banning the procedure without exceptions. That position has taken on even more weight in the months since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision that gave Democrats a burst of momentum and put many Republican candidates on the defensive.

Walker’s campaign did not respond to The Hill’s request for comment on this story. Multiple Republican strategists and operatives acknowledged that the latest allegations facing Walker were an unwanted distraction at a critical moment in the Senate race but urged him to put the matter to rest quickly and go back on the offensive against Warnock.

One Republican operative involved in the midterm elections acknowledged that The Daily Beast’s report is “going to hijack the news cycle for a couple days,” but expressed skepticism that the story would ultimately affect the trajectory of the race. Still, the operative said, it’s not an ideal situation for Walker.

“It’s obviously a distraction that will prevent him from remaining focused on a forward-looking message about what he would do in office,” the operative said. “But I think it is still unknown whether or not this will matter after everything else they’ve heard about Herschel Walker.”

It’s too soon to know for sure how the allegations will affect Walker’s prospects in November. Top national Republican groups — including the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and the Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — have so far indicated that they’re sticking behind him. 

Chris Hartline, the NRSC’s communications director, accused Democrats and the media of trying to distract from key issues in the final month before Election Day.

“Democrats and the media have tried to stir up nonsense about what has or hasn’t happened in Herschel Walker’s past because they want to distract from what’s happening in the present,” Hartline said. 

“Right now, Senator Warnock votes with Joe Biden 96% of the time, causing skyrocketing inflation, a raging border crisis, and crime in Georgia communities. Georgians can see through the nonsense from the Democrats and the media and will vote accordingly.”

Then there’s former President Trump, the Republican kingmaker who endorsed Walker early on in the GOP Senate primary. Trump issued a statement on Tuesday defending Walker against the allegations and accusing Democrats and the media of “trying to destroy a man who has true greatness in his future, just as he had athletic greatness in his past.” 

Walker himself also appears poised to fight the allegations. When asked during a Monday night interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity about a reported $700 payment Walker made as a reimbursement for the alleged abortion, he brushed it off as unremarkable, saying he sends “money to a lot of people.”

“I never asked anyone to get an abortion, I never paid for an abortion,” Walker said.

But others warned that Walker could be in real trouble, especially if he fails to mount an effective response. Erick Erickson, a conservative radio host in Georgia, said in a blog post published on Tuesday that Walker needs to shut down the allegations quickly and refocus the race on crime, the economy and inflation if he wants to make it through the finish line.

While the political environment favors Republicans this year, Erickson said, a victory isn’t guaranteed. He pointed to the 2017 special Senate election in deep-red Alabama, where Democrat Doug Jones defeated his Republican opponent, Roy Moore, after Moore ran up against sexual misconduct allegations.

“A month ago, I thought Walker was a sure thing,” Erickson wrote. “Now, I think he is less likely to win unless he mounts an immediate response. Georgia is not a deeply red state, and even Alabama elected Doug Jones instead of Roy Moore.”

Perhaps worsening the damage for Walker was his adult son, Christian Walker, a conservative social media influencer who accused his father on Monday of abusive behavior and claimed that his family had urged him not to run for public office because of his turbulent past.

“Every family member of Herschel Walker asked him not to run for office, because we all knew (some of) his past. Every single one,” Christian Walker tweeted after The Daily Beast’s story was published. “He decided to give us the middle finger and air out all of his dirty laundry in public, while simultaneously lying about it. I’m done.”

Herschel Walker responded on Monday night with a tweet of his own: “I LOVE my son no matter what.”

But for some Republicans, Christian Walker’s tweets and public comments put Herschel Walker’s coming challenges in stark relief.  

“That is making it much much worse for him,” the Republican operative involved in the midterms said. “It’s added insult to injury.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Trump asks Supreme Court to intervene in legal fight over special master

President Trump’s legal team on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to intervene in its legal battle to have a third party review the thousands of pages of government records he stored at his Florida home. 

The filing from the Trump team asks the high court to lift a stay granted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit that allowed the Justice Department to review more than 100 classified records taken from Mar-a-Lago during its August search.

Trump’s lawyers, in court papers, argued that the federal appeals court erred by allowing the Justice Department to appeal a move that was procedural in nature.

“Nonetheless, the Eleventh Circuit granted a stay of the Special Master Order, effectively compromising the integrity of the well-established policy against piecemeal appellate review and ignoring the District Court’s broad discretion without justification,” they wrote. “This unwarranted stay should be vacated as it impairs substantially the ongoing, time-sensitive work of the Special Master.”

A three-judge panel for the 11th Circuit ruled late last month that the Justice Department could access the classified records, a reversal from a Florida district court judge who has sided with Trump in granting the request for a special master and dictating that the review include all records at Mar-a-Lago, even intelligence records.

​​“Plaintiff has not even attempted to show that he has a need to know the information contained in the classified documents. Nor has he established that the current administration has waived that requirement for these documents,” the appeal court judges wrote.

The court ruled that Florida district court Judge Aileen Cannon “erred” in including the classified records and cast doubt on whether a special master should have been appointed at all.

The latest motion from the Trump team follows a move by the Justice Department to expedite its appeal before the 11th Circuit challenging the special master appointment.

Updated: 4:10 p.m.

Source: TEST FEED1

In hurricanes, more people die from indirect causes than the storms themselves

Not all who died in Hurricane Ian drowned in the storm surge or collapsed beneath falling trees.  

One Ian casualty, a man of 71, fell from his roof while installing shutters. Two elderly victims in Sarasota County, Fla., succumbed to failed oxygen machines after losing power. A Volusia County, Fla., man slipped into the canal behind his home while draining his pool.  

Storm trackers will probably label those cases “indirect” deaths: casualties that cannot be ascribed directly to the storm’s brutal assault, but that would not have happened without it. 

A tally of recent U.S. hurricane deaths by The Hill finds that in the deadliest storms of the past 12 years, more people died of indirect than direct causes, by a margin of 371 to 324. The count includes nine cyclones since 2010, each of which claimed at least twenty lives in the United States. It does not include Ian, which has killed at least 100, mostly on Florida’s Gulf Coast.  

When Hurricane Ida stormed ashore in August 2021, seven people died in Jefferson Parish, La., part of greater New Orleans. One was a woman who drowned in her home. The other six died of indirect causes.  

“Conditions were deteriorating. It was hot, no electricity,” recalled Cynthia Lee Sheng, the parish president. “There was a fight for gas. A guy shot somebody else in a gas line. And then we had a hit and run on the street, because the streets were dark.”  

Hurricane Katrina, 16 years earlier, had taught Sheng that the danger does not pass with the storm. Hurricanes plunge communities into chaos, leaving dystopian wastelands in their wake.  

“It’s the direct hit, but it’s also the breakdown of civilization for people post-storm, for vulnerable people,” she said. “It’s the breakdown of society. It’s the breakdown of community.” 

One 2016 report examined more than 1,400 indirect hurricane deaths across a half century. Researchers found 468 fatalities from heart attacks, 264 from car crashes, 69 from carbon-monoxide poisoning, 68 from electrocution, 49 from falls and 45 from fires, among other causes. 

The writers identified four common factors in such deaths: power problems, cardiovascular failure, evacuation and vehicular crashes. Misuse of generators, alone killed scores of people. Dozens died of cardiac arrest before the storm even arrived, stricken while they nailed plywood over windows, helped neighbors hang shutters, piled sandbags or secured roofs. 

Some died as the result of miscalculations: They attempted too much, or failed to accurately assess risks.  

“People seeing an inch or two or three of water on the road and thinking that’s fine,” said Martin Merzer, longtime hurricane reporter for the Miami Herald, now retired. “Well, that’s not fine. Three or four inches of water can wash your car off the road.” 

In recent meetings of meteorologists and storm-chasers, leaders of the National Hurricane Center unveiled new data suggesting that most recent cyclone deaths can be traced to factors besides the obvious ones, storm surge, flooding and wind. 

Examining hurricane deaths from 2017 through 2021, the agency found indirect deaths surpassed direct ones, 299 to 271. Most indirect deaths involved people over 60.  

Researchers ascribed indirect casualties to several broad causes, including crashes (17 percent), carbon monoxide poisoning (16 percent), excessive heat (13 percent), electrocution (13 percent), and accidents during storm preparation or recovery (11 percent).  

When researchers looked at the 271 direct deaths, they found patterns “far different from the classic hurricane image of storm surge and wind claiming lives along and near the coast,” writes Bob Henson, a meteorologist and writer, in the journal Yale Climate Connections. 

In the five years studied, only eight people died in the dreaded storm surge, the rise in sea level that swamps coastlines and prompts evacuation orders. That’s partly thanks to the hurricane center, which has “upped its surge-awareness efforts dramatically in recent years,” Henson writes.  

The bigger killer in recent storms has been freshwater flooding, inundations that can claim lives hundreds of miles inland and far from the eye of the storm. Freshwater floods caused two-thirds of direct deaths from hurricanes between 2017 and 2021.  

“Usually, people living on the coast are smart enough to get out of the way,” Merzer said. “People living inland are not quite so sensitized to the dangers.” 

More than 100 people have died in the U.S. as a result of Hurricane Ian, with drowning being the leading cause. At least 50 perished in Lee County, Fla., home to Fort Myers beach, where storm surge submerged stretches of coastline beneath perhaps twelve feet of sea. The press is questioning whether local officials waited too long to order evacuations, which hundreds of coastal residents then ignored.  

Many indirect hurricane deaths appear avoidable. Motorists who hydroplane on wet roadways or collide with fallen trees probably could have avoided driving under such dangerous conditions. Seniors who suffer heart attacks while cleaning storm-damaged properties might have asked neighbors for aid. But neighbors aren’t always available. 

“If you are a vulnerable person, and you don’t have the help that you need, you cannot survive in a post-storm community,” Sheng said. 

After Hurricane Michael tore through Mexico Beach, Fla., in October 2018, the community marveled that only four people had died, all from drowning.  

“We were at ground zero,” recalled Al Cathey, the mayor. “Eighty percent of our structures were either severely damaged or destroyed.” 

And then, in the days and weeks after the storm, more people died: older residents, people who had lost everything “from baby shoes to prom pictures,” Cathey recalled. 

“When you have that kind of devastation in three and a half hours, I honestly believe that the shock factor of that can send people into cardiac arrest,” he said. “That look of despair, when you lose all, that’s a frightful thing.” 

After Katrina, in September and October of 2005, Sheng watched the same tragedy play out in her parish.  

“That fall,” she said, “I was going to funeral after funeral after funeral for older people. We all thought, ‘It’s Katrina.’” 

Source: TEST FEED1

Elon Musk agrees to $44B acquisition of Twitter in hopes of averting trial

Elon Musk agreed to pay $44 billion to buy Twitter if a lawsuit brought by the company in an attempt to force him to follow through with the deal is closed, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) uploaded Tuesday. 

Attorneys representing Musk sent a letter to Twitter Monday stating that they intend to proceed with the closing of the deal the parties agreed to in April, provided that the court enters an immediate stay in the case. 

The offer on Tuesday to follow through on the deal Musk reached with the company comes roughly two weeks before the Tesla CEO was set to face Twitter in a trial over the deal. 

News of Musk’s intent to move forward with the deal at the original offer of $54.20 per share was first reported by Bloomberg News. After the report, trading of Twitter shares halted.

A Twitter spokesperson said the company intends to close the deal with Musk. 

“We received the letter from the Musk parties which they have filed with the SEC. The intention of the Company is to close the transaction at $54.20 per share,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

The Hill reached out to an attorney for Musk for comment. 

Musk was trying to back out of the deal over allegations that Twitter was breaching its side by not providing him with information about the number of spam bot accounts on the platform. He tried to boost his case based on allegations raised by a Twitter whistleblower that in part cast doubt over how the company counts bot accounts online. 

Twitter denied Musk’s allegations, and was suing to try to hold the billionaire accountable to follow through with the deal to buy the company.

Reports that Musk intends to go through with his plan to buy the social media company triggered backlash from advocacy groups arguing that it will open the platform up to even more hate speech and misinformation online. 

Musk has said he wants to embrace a “free speech” approach, meaning he would lean less heavily on content moderation measures. 

He’s also signaled that Twitter should let former President Trump back on the platform, which would reverse the permanent ban it instated on Trump’s account after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. 

Angelo Carusone, president of watchdog group Media Matters, said that under, Musk Twitter will “become a supercharged engine of radicalization if he follows through with even a fraction of what he has promised.”

“In effect, Musk will turn Twitter into a fever swamp of dangerous conspiracy theories, partisan chicanery, and operationalized harassment,” Carusone said in a statement. 

Bridget Todd, communications director of the women’s advocacy group UltraViolet, said threats of violence against women of color will “skyrocket.” 

“Get ready. Elon Musk is about to rip open Pandora’s box and flood the internet once again with hate, misogyny, racism and conspiracy theories,” Todd said in a statement. 

Zach Schonfeld contributed.

Updated at 3:59 p.m.

Source: TEST FEED1

Conservative Supreme Court justices appear open to narrowing Voting Rights Act protections

Several of the Supreme Court’s conservative justices on Tuesday seemed open to raising the legal bar for challenging electoral maps under the Voting Rights Act, which could have the effect of narrowing protections for voters of color.

During oral argument, the court’s conservatives wrestled with what legal test should apply to determine whether the mismatch between Alabama’s Black population and its disproportionately low representation in Congress amounts to illegal discrimination.

Although the Republican-appointed justices’ questions fell well short of telegraphing a clear outcome, the Supreme Court earlier this year granted an emergency ruling in the case for Alabama Republicans, and over the last decade has steadily reined in the sweep of federal voting protections.

The dispute heard Tuesday arose after a group of Black Alabama voters brought a legal challenge under Section 2 of Voting Rights Act against the state’s GOP-crafted voting map. The state’s population is 27 percent Black, but just one in seven of its U.S House districts, or 14 percent, is majority Black.

The challengers allege that Republican state lawmakers used map-drawing techniques known as “cracking” and “packing,” which have been used in the past for racial gerrymandering, to draw a map that diluted the power of Black voters.

“Cracking” and “packing” involve splitting up a cluster of an opposing party’s likely voters among several districts where their votes are unlikely to sway the outcome of a race, as well as packing those voters into a small number of districts to make them dilute their votes in other districts.

In January, a unanimous three-judge panel in Alabama, which included two Trump appointees, sided with the Black voters challenging the state’s new map. The judges found the Alabama map ran afoul of the Voting Rights Act and ordered the state’s GOP mapmakers back to drawing board to increase to two the number of districts featuring majority Black representation.

The ruling prompted Alabama’s Sec. of State John Merrill (R) and top GOP lawmakers to file an emergency request to the Supreme Court. Operating under its so-called shadow docket, the court in a 5-4 vote agreed in February to halt the lower court ruling, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the court’s three liberals in dissent. The stay order allowed the alleged racially gerrymandered map to remain effective through the 2022 primary election.

Additionally, the court agreed to formally hear the case, which it did Tuesday when Alabama urged the justices to permanently reinstate the map the lower court deemed racially discriminatory.

Source: TEST FEED1

Cook Political Report shifts Pennsylvania Senate race back to 'toss up'

The Cook Political Report on Tuesday moved Pennsylvania’s Senate race back into its “toss up” category, less than two months after moving the contest into the “lean Democratic” column.

The nonpartisan election forecaster cited recent polls showing a tightening race between Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz.

An Emerson College Polling-The Hill survey released last week showed Fetterman’s lead over Oz shrinking from 4 points in August to 2 points in September. However, a USA Today-Suffolk University poll released on Tuesday showed Fetterman leading Oz by 6 percentage points, at 46 percent to 40 percent. The RealClearPolitics polling average shows Fetterman leading by 4.3 points. 

Oz’s campaign also reported a significant fundraising boost in the third quarter. On Tuesday, the campaign announced it brought in $17.2 million during the reporting period, including a personal loan of $7 million. 

The latest fundraising numbers mark a major improvement for Oz, who reported raising $3.8 million in the second quarter. It’s not clear how much Fetterman raised this quarter, but last quarter his campaign brought in $11 million. 

“Our momentum is building every day and we’re uniting Republicans, Independents, and Democrats who want to see a change in Washington. We’re proud of our success this quarter — and we’re just getting started,” said Michael Adams, national finance director for Oz’s campaign. 

But Taylor notes the change in rating for the race does not necessarily mean Oz’s campaign is out of the woods. 

“There are still plenty of red-blinking warning signs for Republicans. Oz’s own approvals may have gotten a tad better in some polls, but he’s still underwater. And while Fetterman’s positives have been driven down, he still has clung to a lead and is right-side up, albeit narrowly, in many surveys,” Taylor writes. 

Source: TEST FEED1

GOP blasts media over Herschel Walker stories

Top Republicans and GOP groups are sticking by Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign in Georgia after a report emerged a day earlier saying that the GOP nominee paid for a girlfriend’s abortion in 2009.

The two leading Republican groups involved in Senate races, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Senate Leadership Fund, both announced on Tuesday that they are not backing off and will continue to press forward in Georgia to unseat Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.). They both argued that the latest revelation is nothing more than a distraction and laid blame at the feet of the media. 

“Democrats are losing in Georgia and are on the verge of losing the majority, so they and their media allies are doing what they always do — attack Republicans with innuendo and lies,” Chris Hartline, an NRSC spokesman, told The Hill in a statement.

“Democrats and the media have tried to stir up nonsense about what has or hasn’t happened in Herschel Walker’s past because they want to distract from what’s happening in the present,” he continued. “Right now, Senator Warnock votes with Joe Biden 96 percent of the time, causing skyrocketing inflation, a raging border crisis, and crime in Georgia communities. Georgians can see through the nonsense from the Democrats and the media and will vote accordingly.”

Georgia, along with Nevada, is considered a true toss-up in November and is likely to help determine which party controls the upper chamber come January, and the polling says as much. According to the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls, Warnock leads by less than a percentage point. 

“We are full speed ahead in Georgia. This election is about the future of the country — Herschel Walker will make things better, Raphael Warnock is making it worse. Anything else is a distraction,” said Steven Law, the head of the Senate Leadership Fund, which is supported by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

According to the Daily Beast on Monday night, Walker urged a girlfriend of his in 2009 to get an abortion after she conceived a child and reimbursed her for the medical costs.

The woman reportedly backed up her claims with a $575 receipt from an abortion clinic and a bank deposit receipt that included a photo of a signed $700 personal check from the former University of Georgia running back. He also sent along a “get well” card at the time.

The outlet also said that it corroborated the claims with a close friend of the woman who said she cared for her after the abortion. 

Walker has strenuously denied the allegations and said on Monday that he plans to sue the Daily Beast. When asked by Fox News’ Sean Hannity if he remembered sending an ex-girlfriend $700, he said that he “sent money to a lot of people” because he is “generous.”

However, Christian Walker, his adult son, fired off a number of tweets critical of his father’s actions and accused him of being an absentee father.

“Every family member of Herschel Walker asked him not to run for office, because we all knew (some of) his past. Every single one. He decided to give us the middle finger and air out all of his dirty laundry in public, while simultaneously lying about it. I’m done,” he said on Monday night. “I know my mom and I would really appreciate if my father Herschel Walker stopped lying and making a mockery of us. You’re not a ‘family man’ when you left us to bang a bunch of women, threatened to kill us, and had us move over 6 times in 6 months running from your violence.”

Erick Erickson, an Atlanta-based conservative radio host, wrote on Tuesday morning that the potential impact of Walker’s alleged actions were not felt until his son started weighing in on Twitter, which continued on Tuesday morning. 

The report also marks another in a string of damaging personal revelations about Walker, including his ex-wife saying that he held a gun to her head — which he has not denied — and that he fathered three children with different women that had previously not been known. 

However, Republicans are standing by him with 35 days to go. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) told CBS News that he continues to back Walker, adding that this race is “the most vicious” of the 2022 cycle. He added that the GOP nominee is “showing remarkably positive spirit.”

“Sadly, such personal attacks — all too common in political campaigns — are a diversion from the threats to Georgian’s economic, personal, and national security, which the Democratic majority has made worse, not better,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a McConnell ally, told Politico, adding that he too is standing by the Georgia Republican.  

Source: TEST FEED1

The Hill's Morning Report — Will justices redefine EPA’s power over clean water?

The Supreme Court on Monday began its new term with arguments about wetlands and the regulatory reach of the Environmental Protection Agency as newcomer Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dove in with questions.

The case stemmed from a 2007 property dispute in which Idaho landowners Michael and Chantell Sackett were told they needed a federal permit to build a home on land they owned because it supposedly contained regulated wetlands under the Clean Water Act. The Sacketts believe the government’s power over their plans to build is too broad. The Hill’s Rachel Frazin and John Kruzel report that the stakes are significant as justices on the conservative majority court weigh when and how wetlands can be regulated under the federal statute.

Jackson, who is expected to round out the court’s liberal wing, explored Congress’s intentions, the meaning of “adjacent” and the purpose of the nearly 50-year-old Clean Water Act.

Vigorously questioning a lawyer for the property owners, Jackson asked, “I guess my question is, why would Congress draw the coverage line between abutting wetlands and neighboring wetlands when the objective of the statute is to ensure the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the nation’s waters?”

The court on Monday agreed to take up a significant case about whether tech companies should have immunity over problematic social media content posted by users (NBC News).

Justices declined to consider an appeal in a defamation suit involving MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, an outspoken ally of former President Trump (USA Today). The court also declined to consider the latest challenge to a federal ban on bump stocks, keeping in place the prohibition on devices that essentially allow shooters to fire semiautomatic rifles continuously with one pull of a trigger (CNN).

The Hill: Justices also turned aside a case about whether the Justice Department can use “filter teams,” for example personnel used by the department for a review of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago during the summer.

Consequential cases to be argued beginning today and throughout the term include whether Alabama must draw an additional Black majority congressional district and a controversial Republican-led appeal that could dramatically change the way congressional and presidential elections are conducted by handing more power to state legislatures (NBC News and news wires).

Justices this term will also weigh whether a Colorado website designer can refuse to work with clients who are same-sex couples based on her personal religious objections. Next month, the justices will hear a challenge to the consideration of race in college admissions.

Related Articles

▪ The New York Times, Adam Liptak: On term’s first day, justices hear a case on EPA’s power over wetlands.

▪ The Hill: Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler on Monday outlined a sprawling sedition case against Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and four others. 

LEADING THE DAY 

➤ STATE & TERRITORY WATCH

President Biden on Monday flew to Puerto Rico to survey the federal response to last month’s Hurricane Fiona and announced $60 million in additional funding through the newly enacted infrastructure law to help repair levees, fortify the island’s floodwalls and create a new flood warning system for the U.S. territory’s 2.6 million residents.

“I’m committed to this island,” Biden said in Puerto Rico during remarks on a sweltering hot day. “You deserve every bit of help this country can give you” (Yahoo News).

Before leaving Washington, the president told reporters, “They haven’t been taken very good care of. They’ve been trying like hell to catch up from the last hurricane. I want to see the state of affairs today and make sure we push everything we can.“

The Hill: In Puerto Rico, Biden drew a contrast with the Trump administration.

Fiona struck the island as a Category 1 storm on Sept. 18, dumping nearly 30 inches of rain, triggering floods and mudslides, washing away bridges and causing widespread and lingering power outages. More than 120,000 homes and businesses are still without power. At least 16 deaths have been connected to the storm as parts of the island are still recovering from the damage caused by Hurricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico as a Category 4 hurricane in 2017, killing nearly 3,000 people. 

Biden will arrive in Florida on Wednesday to lend the same attentive empathy following the wrath of Hurricane Ian, vowing that the federal government will help the Sunshine State rebuild after a Category 4 storm last week led to the deaths of at least 101 people in the United States (CNN). 

Most of the fatalities reported in Florida and North Carolina resulted from drowning but some were blamed on harsh consequences in the aftermath of the storm, such as an elderly couple who died after power to their oxygen machines shut off (AccuWeather).

Flooding continues in multiple counties and some residents and businesses in storm-damaged areas may not have power for “weeks or months” because of structural damage caused by the hurricane, Eric Silagy, president and CEO of Florida Power and Light Company, told CNN. Electricity may not be restored on Fort Myers Beach, Fla., for 30 days because of the destruction, Lee County Manager Roger Desjarlais added.

More than 440,500 Florida homes, businesses and other customers were without power as of this morning, according to PowerOutage.us. The National Guard will transport power crews by air to Sanibel and Pine islands to assess damage and start working on restoring power, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters.

Many residents remain without potable tap water, according to the Florida Health Department, which issued advisories to boil water for drinking.

More state headlines:

▪ WMUR: New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu announced Monday he deployed National Guard units to the U.S. southern border with Mexico.

▪ The Hill: What happens if Lake Powell, a reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona, runs out of water?  

▪ The Hill: Tennessee Republican state lawmakers wrote to Vanderbilt University Medical Center last week seeking to halt gender-affirming surgeries performed on patients younger than 18.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ POLITICS  

Call it an October surprise. The all-important Georgia Senate race took new turns on Monday, five weeks before Election Day.

Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate and former football celebrity who describes his views as staunchly anti-abortion, allegedly paid for his then-girlfriend’s abortion in 2009, according to an investigation published by The Daily Beast. “She supported these claims with a $575 receipt from the abortion clinic, a ‘get well’ card from Walker, and a bank deposit receipt that included an image of a signed $700 personal check from Walker,” the outlet reported.

Walker staunchly denied the allegations on Monday night, calling the story a “flat-out lie” and a “repugnant hatchet job” (CNN).

Following the article’s publication, Christian Walker, the candidate’s 23-year-old son, published a series of tweets criticizing his father for “making a mockery” of the family.

“You’re not a ‘family man’ when you left us to bang a bunch of women, threatened to kill us, and had us move over 6 times in 6 months running from your violence,” he wrote. Walker’s son has not endorsed his father’s bid for office nor appeared publicly at his father’s events. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution described the Walker campaign as in “turmoil.”

Meanwhile, in Florida, lawsuits filed against the governor are moving ahead after DeSantis chartered planes to carry 50 migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., last month. Advocacy organizations alleged the migrants were deceived, removed from the locales of court-ordered appearances as asylum seekers and coerced to sign documents they could not read in English. DeSantis says his decision to use Florida public funds to transport migrants out of Texas helped underscore what he and other Republicans describe as a Biden administration immigration crisis at the U.S. southern border.

The migrants, who came from Venezuela, were flown from San Antonio to Florida and then to Massachusetts and were allegedly given false information about their destination and support they’d receive upon arrival.

Since then, a Texas sheriff, a Boston-based civil rights group called Lawyers for Civil Rights and a Florida state senator have filed lawsuits against DeSantis (NPR).

Florida state Sen. Jason Pizzo (D-North Miami Beach) in late September filed a lawsuit asking a judge to block the Republican governor from spending state money on the transports. The flights were paid for by the state of Florida using a $12 million fund created by the legislature earlier this year (Politico and NPR).

As The Hill’s Cheyanne Daniels writes, some advocates and lawmakers of color argue DeSantis’ relocations are reminiscent of a sinister chapter in U.S. history — when white supremacist groups bused Black families out of Southern states under false pretenses. Democratic lawmakers, led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) wrote to the Department of Homeland Security stating DeSantis’ actions were “rooted in racism and xenophobia.”

“In 1962, southern White Citizen Councils started ‘Reverse Freedom Rides’ to remove Black people from their states based on false promises,” the letter said, adding that the actions of DeSantis, along with fellow Republican governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Doug Ducey (Ariz.), are no different.

▪ The Hill: DeSantis takes over the national conversation.

▪ The New York Times: The story behind DeSantis’ migrant flights to Martha’s Vineyard.

▪ MSNBC: DeSantis’ Martha’s Vineyard stunt comes into sharper focus.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has his eyes on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) job, sources told Politico. Schiff on Friday met with other Democrats in the Capitol to discuss planning for a possible leadership bid this fall. He’s not the only one thinking about the Speaker role: At least three other Democrats are reported to be similarly interested, and that’s assuming Pelosi will retire, which she hasn’t indicated she plans to do.

If Republicans win the House in November, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has vowed to remove Schiff from committees, including the House Intelligence panel (Business Insider).

The simmering relationship between McCarthy and the House Freedom Caucus is set to get hotter if Republicans gain the majority, writes The Hill’s Emily Brooks. McCarthy has given the group a seat at the table, in part to win its support to cinch the Speakership in the event of a GOP win in November. Party leadership has met many of the group’s demands but experts say a battle over rules that would empower individual House members is turning up the heat.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), vice chairwoman of the Jan. 6 panel investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, on Monday accused the former president of “racist” remarks that could incite violence. Cheney was reacting to Trump’s recent criticism that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) must have a “DEATH WISH” for backing bipartisan legislation while also describing the senator’s Taiwan-born wife Elaine Chao, who served as Trump’s secretary of Transportation, as “China loving … Coco Chow” (The Hill). Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who chairs the Jan. 6 panel, joined in condemning Trump’s rhetoric (The Hill).

▪ Bloomberg News: Trump sues CNN for defamation, saying network fears he’ll run in 2024.

▪ The Washington Post: Trump lawyer refused his request in February to say all documents returned.

▪ The New York Times: These 193 Republican members of Congress legitimized the myth of a stolen election — and reaped the rewards.

➤ ADMINISTRATION

The Department of Veterans Affairs is wading into tense territory as it gears up to provide abortion access for the first time in its history, writes The Hill’s Jordan Williams. The agency’s decision to provide pregnant veterans and beneficiaries with abortion counseling and access quickly raised questions about whether the department has the necessary infrastructure to handle the demand — as well as the legality of performing abortion services in states with sharp restrictions.

Meanwhile, Republicans have already promised the department a tough time if they regain control of Congress in November, arguing that the agency is going against existing law banning the agency from performing abortions. 

▪ The Washington Post: The Justice Department says it would defend Veterans’ Affairs medical workers in abortion cases.

▪ NBC News: Veterans agency performs its first abortion weeks after saying it would in certain cases.

▪ Bloomberg Law: Biden’s abortion offer for vets spotlights the limits of his power.

The Interior Department said on Monday it will require that body cameras be worn by U.S. Park Police and other department law enforcement personnel under a new policy (The Hill).

OPINION

■ Putin threatens nuclear war. The West must deter disaster, by The Washington Post editorial board. https://wapo.st/3SX3ulX 

■ Home ownership is way too hard for Millennials and Gen Z, by Jessica Karl, social media editor, Bloomberg Opinion. https://bloom.bg/3EhU9AS

WHERE AND WHEN

The House meets at noon for a pro forma session. Members are scheduled to return to the Capitol on Nov. 14.

The Senate convenes at 10 a.m. for a pro forma session. Senators also are scheduled to return for work on Nov. 14.  

The president and Vice President Harris will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 10:30 a.m. Harris will separately deliver remarks at the Freedman’s Bank Forum at 11:25 a.m. at the Treasury Department. She and the president will have lunch together at noon. Biden and the vice president at 3:30 p.m. will speak during a State Dining Room meeting of the federal Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Bogota, Colombia, where he speaks today at a Migration Integration Center.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen hosts the annual Freedman’s Bank Forum beginning at 10 a.m. at the department. She will speak, along with Council of Economic Advisers Chair Cecilia Rouse, Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge and Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo. 

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff will mark the 45th anniversary of the Department of Energy with a speech at 11 a.m. 

The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at 1 p.m.

🖥 Hill.TV’s “Rising” program features news and interviews at http://thehill.com/hilltv, on YouTube and on Facebook at 10:30 a.m. ET. Also, check out the “Rising” podcast here.

ELSEWHERE

➤ INTERNATIONAL

As concerns grow that Russian President Vladimir Putin may escalate the war in Ukraine, U.S. officials are considering how to respond to a range of scenarios, including the possibility that Russia could use tactical nuclear weapons (CNN). While the U.S. has not detected preparations for nuclear strikes, experts are assessing Russia’s potential moves, The New York Times reports. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said small settlements located near the border of Kherson Oblast, which Russia attempted to annex in the south, have been liberated. Ukrainian successes in the east and the south occur even as Russia today moves to absorb four Ukrainian regions. The upper house of Russian parliament, the Federation Council, voted to ratify treaties to make the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk and the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions part of Russia.

▪ Politico: “Lots of heavy fighting ahead”: U.S. officials urge caution after Ukrainian gains.

▪ Reuters: Kremlin prefers “balance” after Putin ally suggests using nuclear bomb in Ukraine.

▪ Politico: It’s not impossible that Putin could use nuclear weapons, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

▪ The Hill: CIA director says it’s “hard to say” if Putin is “bluffing” on nuclear weapons.

North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan on Tuesday for the first time in five years, the South Korean military reported. The launch, which prompted warnings to seek shelter in two northern Japanese prefectures, represents a major escalation by North Korea. The U.S. and its allies are holding military drills in the region, prompting a series of missile tests (The New York Times). In a statement on Monday, the United States condemned the launch over Japan while National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with Japanese and South Korean counterparts to reinforce U.S. “ironclad” defense commitments and to discuss “appropriate and robust joint and international responses” to North Korea’s “dangerous and reckless” action.

▪ Reuters: North Korea conducts longest-range missile test yet over Japan.

▪ The Hill: U.S. condemns North Korea ballistic missile launch.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet Wednesday in Vienna, Austria, where the group of leading petroleum-producing countries will decide whether to cut global crude supplies and drive up the price of oil, The Hill’s Tobias Burns and Zack Budryk report. Industry analysts say they could cut up to 2 million barrels a day, pitting the Saudi-led group against the Biden administration and the Federal Reserve as they try to quell raging inflation rates ahead of the midterms.

The cut would also likely boost Russia’s oil and gas revenues, which the U.S. has been seeking to deplete as Russia’s invasion and annexation of Ukraine continues.

▪ Reuters: Oil jumps nearly $4 a barrel as OPEC weighs biggest output cut since 2020.

▪ CNBC: Oil prices could soon return to $100 a barrel as OPEC considers a “historic” cut.

▪ Bloomberg News: OPEC production cut poses new threat to Biden as election nears.

In Somalia, a U.S. airstrike on Saturday killed wanted al-Shabaab leader Abdullahi Nadir, who had a $3 million U.S. bounty on his head, the Pentagon announced on Monday (The Hill).

➤ HEALTH, SCIENCE & MEDICINE

Swedish geneticist Svante Pääbo won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Monday for sequencing the genome of the Neanderthal. His research helped establish that Neanderthals and modern humans share a common ancestor — one that lived around 600,000 years ago. Pääbo and his team also found evidence that Neanderthals and humans had children together (The New York Times).

New research published in Science Translational Medicine suggests a COVID-19 vaccine that simultaneously targets two proteins — the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and the nucleocapsid protein — may offer stronger and broader protection than current shots. The research opens up possibilities that a single vaccine could protect against current and future variants at the same time (Forbes).

Information about COVID-19 vaccine and booster availability can be found HERE.

Doctors are encouraging everyone to get their flu shots this fall, and seniors are being advised to ask for an extra-strength variety of the vaccines. As people get older, their immune system doesn’t respond as strongly to standard flu vaccination, U.S. News reports.

Seniors have three choices for the extra-strength shot: Fluzone High-Dose and Flublok, which contain higher doses of the vaccine’s active ingredient, as well as Fluad Adjuvanted, which has a regular dosage but contains an extra ingredient to help boost an immune response. Experts say seniors can either ask what kind their doctor carries, or if they’re getting vaccinated at a drugstore or pharmacy, follow the online prompts to find locations that have the new vaccines.

“Last year we were going into flu season not knowing if flu was around or not,” said influenza specialist Richard Webby of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. “This year we know flu is back.” 

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,059,866. Current average U.S. COVID-19 daily deaths are 316, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

THE CLOSER

And finally … 🍽 Foodies, rejoice. Washington, D.C. ranks among the nation’s top food cities, according to a new WalletHub survey. Coming in at number 13, the capital is joined on the list by cities from every corner of the country. The top food city is Portland, Ore., followed by Orlando, Fla., and Miami. Rounding out the top five are San Francisco and Austin.

WalletHub looked at 182 places for its ranking, including the 150 most populous cities in the country. They were scored based on the affordability of dining out as well as the cost of buying groceries. The survey also examined the diversity, accessibility and quality of access to restaurants, especially those with high ratings.

D.C. ranked first for “affordability and accessibility of highly rated restaurants” and was No. 15 for restaurants per capita (WTOP).

Stay Engaged

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