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Sarah Huckabee Sanders reveals surgery for thyroid cancer

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a former White House press secretary and now the Republican nominee for governor of Arkansas, announced Friday that she had undergone surgery to remove her thyroid after being diagnosed with cancer. 

Sanders said in a statement that her doctor ordered a biopsy on an “area of concern” earlier this month during a check-up, and the test revealed that she had thyroid cancer. She said the surgery was successful, and she is now cancer-free. 

“I want to thank the Arkansas doctors and nurses for their world-class care, as well as my family and friends for their love, prayers, and support,” she said. 

Sanders said she looks forward to returning to the campaign trail soon. 

“This experience has been a reminder that whatever battle you may be facing, don’t lose heart,” she said. “As governor, I will never quit fighting for the people of our great state.” 

John Sims, Sanders’s doctor, said in a statement that she is recovering from the surgery in which her thyroid gland and some surrounding lymph nodes in her neck were removed. He said the cancer was a Stage I papillary thyroid carcinoma, which is the most common type of thyroid cancer, and has an “excellent” prognosis. 

“While she will need adjuvant treatment with radioactive iodine, as well as continued long term follow up, I think it’s fair to say she’s now cancer free, and I don’t anticipate any of this slowing her down,” Sims said. 

Sanders served as White House press secretary for the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019. She is the daughter of former presidential candidate and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R).

Source: TEST FEED1

Newsom signs sweeping climate legislation into law

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a sweeping package of climate legislation into law on Friday, aiming to accelerate the Golden State’s transition to clean energy.

Among the long list of initiatives to receive gubernatorial approval were measures to cut air pollution by 60 percent and reduce state oil consumption by 91 percent over the next two decades, according to the governor’s office.

Within the same timeframe, the bills intend to save California $23 billion by avoiding damages caused by pollution, reduce fossil fuel use in buildings and transportation by 92 percent and slash refinery pollution by 94 percent.

“We could talk about the way the world should be and protest it, or we can actually make demonstrable progress — and we took the latter approach here,” Newsom said at a press conference Friday morning on Mare Island, in Solano County northeast of San Francisco.

“As a consequence of doing so, there’s no other jurisdiction in the world — think about that — that’s doing what the state of California is doing,” the governor added.

Newsom signed the slate of bills alongside the politicians who authored them, in front of the U.S. Forest Service’s Regional Office, which is powered by clean energy and provides electricity to the grid.

The advancement of the bills constitutes “an essential piece” of the governor’s California Climate Commitment — a $54 billion action plan that aims to create 4 million jobs, according to Newsom’s office.

The governor described this step as “the most aggressive action on climate our nation has ever seen,” in a statement released ahead of the signing.

“We’re cleaning the air we breathe, holding the big polluters accountable, and ushering in a new era for clean energy,” Newsom said in the statement.

California state lawmakers passed many of the bills in question just two weeks ago, as their legislative session ticked to a close and amid a brutal heatwave, as The Hill reported.

Among the bills Newsom signed into law on Friday — six of more than 40 in a broad climate package— was S.B. 1020, which focuses on creating a clean electricity grid.

S.B. 1020 will require 90 percent of California’s electricity to come from clean energy sources by 2035 and 95 percent by 2040 — interim targets toward a 100 percent goal for 2045.

In addition, all electricity procured for state agencies will need to come from clean energy by 2035, according to the bill.

Another key piece of legislation to become law was S.B. 1137, which will prohibit oil drilling within 3,200 feet of places where residents live, work and learn. The bill also ensures that comprehensive pollution controls are in place for existing oil wells already situated within 3,200 feet of such facilities.

A bill focusing on carbon neutrality, A.B. 1279, establishes “a clear, legally binding and achievable goal” that urges carbon neutrality as soon as possible, but no later than 2045, according to the governor’s office.

A.B. 1279 also sets an 85-percent emissions reduction target for that year and a 40-percent reduction target for 2030, in comparison to 1990 levels.

S.B. 905 and S.B. 1314 are centered on the development of carbon capture and removal technologies, which aim to take carbon dioxide generated by power plants out of the atmosphere and store it permanently.

The bills establish a regulatory framework for the advancement of these emerging technologies, while also banning the injection of carbon dioxide into wells — a practice that enhances oil recovery.

A.B. 1757 focuses on nature, by requiring the state to develop an achievable carbon removal target for natural and working lands, according to the governor’s office.

“I think the world is waking up,” Newsom said at the Friday press conference. “There’s this great awakening — because if you don’t believe in science, you have to believe your own eyes.”

Although environmental groups have largely applauded the passage of these bills, some groups expressed disappointment about certain measures that did not win legislative approval.

For example, a proposal to establish stricter emissions reduction targets passed the state Senate but failed to do so in the Assembly.

Another item that faced significant backlash was a bill that Newsom signed into law earlier this month — S.B. 846 — which extended the life of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.

While Newsom argued that extending these operations would ensure a reliable, carbon-free power supply as the state transitions to renewables, environmental groups questioned both the safety and financial risks associated with the move.

These disagreements notwithstanding, both Newsom and state lawmakers emphasized the importance on Friday of taking collaborative, swift action on solving the climate crisis.

“This legislative session, we took bold action to address these severe conditions and mitigate future risk both through our state budget and key legislation,” Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins (D) said in a statement.

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D) expressed his satisfaction that lawmakers were able to come together and “enact a package like this as a team.”

“We are just getting started,” Rendon added.

Source: TEST FEED1

White House compares DeSantis and Abbott actions to human smuggling

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday compared the actions of two Republican governors who sent migrants to Democrat-run cities to that of smugglers, the latest jab in an increasingly fraught back-and-forth over the issue of migration and the southern border.

Jean-Pierre took aim at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) after they put migrants on buses and planes and sent them to Washington, D.C., Massachusetts and Chicago. She accused the governors of luring more than 100 asylum seekers, including children, under false promises that they would receive shelter and benefits.

“These were children, they were moms, they were fleeing communism,” Jean-Pierre said. “And what did Gov. DeSantis and Gov. Abbott do to them? They used them as political pawns, treated them like cattle in a cruel, premeditated political stunt.”

She argued it was a clear stunt because DeSantis, whose state does not border Mexico, arranged to fly the migrants to Massachusetts and did not alert authorities there of their impending arrival.

“These vulnerable migrants were reportedly misled about where they were headed… misled about what they would be provided when they arrived, promised shelter, refuge, benefits and more,” Jean-Pierre said. “These are the kinds of tactics we see from smugglers in places like Mexico and Guatemala. And for what? A photo op. Because these governors care about creating political theater than creating actual solutions to help folks who are fleeing communism.”

DeSantis flew two planes of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts on Wednesday. Abbott has repeatedly made similar moves, including sending two buses of migrants to Vice President Harris’s residence in Washington that arrived on Thursday.

Republicans have argued the Biden administration has mismanaged the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, leading to a major influx of migrants flowing into the country. In sending some migrants to blue states, GOP governors have argued those areas should take on some of the responsibility of caring for them.

White House officials have insisted that they inherited a broken immigration system that is still being rebuilt after the pandemic. Democrats have widely condemned the governors’ actions as pure politics and potentially harmful to the individuals being sent across the country.

Source: TEST FEED1

Cedric Richmond on Biden 2024: ‘He's running’

Cedric Richmond, a former Biden White House official, definitively said this week that President Biden will run again in 2024 amid questions about his political longevity.

“He’s running and we’re building an infrastructure for him to run and win,” Richmond told NBC. “Right now, it’s all an early investment in 2024 while we’re helping 2022.”

Richmond, also a former congressman from Louisiana, was the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement in the Biden administration until he left in May. He is now a senior adviser for the Democratic National Committee.

Richmond’s remarks come amid skepticism over whether the president will run again, especially as he’s been unable to escape questions about his age. Biden, already the oldest-ever sitting commander in chief, turns 80 this year, but the White House has insisted that he intends to run for reelection.

Biden spoke about 2024 in July, saying he wouldn’t be disappointed if there was a rematch between him and former President Trump.

The president also had been plagued by poor approval ratings but has recently seen a sizable boost. He hit a 45 percent approval number in an Associated Press-NORC poll this week, a spike of 9 percentage points from July. 

August was a big month for the president in terms of legislative wins — and the improvement in gas prices the U.S. has seen in the last several weeks.

Despite recent success, some polling still indicates that most Americans don’t want him to run for another term.

Two-thirds of voters in a recent poll said that he shouldn’t run, with nearly half citing their belief that he’s a bad president as the reason why. Another 30 percent said it’s simply because Biden, who would be 82 by the time he takes the oath of office again, is too old for the job.

That same poll found that 57 percent of voters think Trump shouldn’t run for another presidential term, despite the former president’s hints recently that he plans to do so.

Source: TEST FEED1

The Hill's Morning Report — Democrats decry GOP migrant transports

Democratic mayors and governors of both parties on Thursday scrambled to assemble services, food and shelter for migrants seeking asylum who were shipped to Washington, D.C., and Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., by Republican governors in Texas and Florida to demonstrate their opposition to President Biden’s immigration policies.

News of the transports quickly went viral and sparked caustic reactions at the White House and among Democrats on Capitol Hill. 

Biden, speaking on Thursday night to members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, accused Republican governors of “playing politics with human beings, using them as props,” arguing their actions underscored why “we have to win this off-year election” (The Hill).

The president called on Senate Republicans to work across the aisle on immigration reforms to “provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, those on temporary status, farmworkers and essential workers.”  

The asylum seekers, many of whom made long treks from their home countries with small children, have made it into the United States, but their waits for immigration court hearings will be long and their futures uncertain. In the meantime, the U.S. immigration system remains a divisive and complex political weapon wielded by both parties.

Janet Constantino, a therapist and nurse practitioner working at the Martha’s Vineyard service center when 50 Venezuelan migrants unexpectedly showed up on Wednesday, told the Cape Cod Times that the families she was assisting had been through a lot. State officials were considering setting up a temporary shelter with humanitarian services at Joint Base Cape Cod on Thursday for the asylum seekers, who under U.S. law are considered legal immigrants during an evaluation process.

“We COVID-tested them all. Everyone was negative. A little girl had a temperature, so we separated her with her family. A lot of them were shell shocked and afraid,” Constantino told the local paper.

▪ The Hill: Democrats’ blood boils over treatment of migrants.

▪ The New York Times: With faraway migrant drop-offs, Republican governors are doubling down.

The White House used the phrase “disrespectful to humanity” on Thursday to describe the use of buses from Texas, which deposited immigrants near the U.S. Naval Observatory, otherwise known as Vice President Harris’s residence, and the chartering of two planes from Florida to fly Venezuelan asylum seekers from Florida to the tiny Massachusetts island (The Hill). The pro-immigrant group America’s Voice called the flights “racist stunts.”

Critics on social media, reacting to the headlines, called the governors’ actions “human trafficking.”

CNN: “They were just literally dumped like human garbage in front of the vice president’s house. That’s un-Christian un-Texan, un-American, and something that should not be allowed,” Domingo Garcia, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, told reporters in Washington on Thursday.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was eager to take credit for the Martha’s Vineyard flights. He said during a press conference on Thursday that the dozens of asylum-seekers he flew north using state funds were not welcome in Florida. “We take what’s happening at the southern border very seriously, unlike some, and unlike the president of the United States, who has refused to lift the finger to secure that border,” he said.

NPR: Migrants flown to the island say they were told they were going to Boston.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who like DeSantis is viewed as a potential presidential contender, boasted on Twitter about his decision to send 101 asylum-seekers to the vice president’s address (Masslive).

“VP Harris claims our border is “secure” & denies the crisis. We’re sending migrants to her backyard to call on the Biden Administration to do its job & secure the border,” he wrote on Thursday.

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) last week declared a public emergency and announced a reorganization of services to address the needs of migrants sent by GOP governors to the nation’s capital without coordination. The National Guard previously declined Bower’s request for assistance.

Senate Democrats said there is little they can do to stop the interstate transit of migrants to the nation’s capital, New York City, Chicago and other progressive-leaning locales, reports The Hill’s Alexander Bolton. Republicans, meanwhile, are reveling in the Democrats’ discomfort over the arrival of migrants, which contribute to strained social services and new costs, and plenty of attention-grabbing news coverage.     

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) on Wednesday said Texas dropped off migrants in Chicago in the “dead of night.” He asked the National Guard to help and issued a disaster proclamation to speed up the availability of state money and resources to deal with what he called a crisis (ABC7).

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) said Thursday that the city is required to — and will continue to — provide shelter and services to migrants transported from Texas who seek asylum, but the city says it is reassessing a services system that has begun to fray with the influx of 11,000 migrants (New York Post, NewsNation, Fox5 NY).

▪ ABC7 NY: Tracing the steps of asylum seekers as they settle in New York. 

▪ CNN: By the end of August, Texas had bused nearly 9,000 migrants to New York City and Washington, D.C.

Related Articles

▪ Max Greenwood, The Hill: DeSantis migrant flights underscore his national ambitions.

▪ The Hill and NewsNation: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) urged the Justice Department to probe “alleged fraudulent scheme” to send migrants to Martha’s Vineyard.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Transfers of migrants have Democratic leaders scrambling for solutions.

▪ Bloomberg News: White House calls GOP governors’ migrant treatment “cruel” and “shameful” political stunt.

▪ Bloomberg News: New York mayor commits to providing shelter for 11,000 migrants seeking asylum. 

LEADING THE DAY

➤ RAILROADS, UNIONS & ECONOMY

Freight rail companies and union representatives late Wednesday reached a tentative agreement that avoided what experts warned would have been an economically devastating strike. Administration officials became involved in the talks weeks ago, The Hill’s Alex Gangitano and Amie Parnes report, urging both sides that “the stakes were too high” for a strike.

“It’s a big political risk,” an industry source with knowledge of the discussions told The Hill. “If it all blew up, the administration was going to be left holding the bag.”

Bidenspoke with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on the situation around 7 p.m. Wednesday (The Washington Post). He then called into negotiations around 9 p.m., saying a strike was unacceptable, a White House official told The Hill. Meanwhile, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh led all-night negotiations while Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg manned the phones.

The deadline to avoid the strike was 12:01 a.m. Friday, after which the transportation of grain, fuel, lumber, car parts and other goods would have ground to a halt. Unions must now approve the deal, but have agreed not to strike in the interim.

After the tentative deal was struck, Biden, a vocal union supporter and Amtrak devotee, on Thursday greeted rail negotiators in the Oval Office before heading to the Rose Garden to say the agreement, if ratified, would benefit both workers and companies (The New York Times).

“This agreement is a big win for America,” Biden said. “And this is a great deal for both sides, in my view.”

The Hill’s Karl Evers-Hillstrom outlines what’s in the brokered rail deal, from time off for medical appointments for employees to pay increases and other benefits.

▪The Hill: Amtrak on Thursday worked to reschedule canceled customers after news of averted rail strike.

▪ NPR:  A deal to avert a rail strike is on track, but it won’t fix U.S. supply chain issues.

▪ Bloomberg News: Biden loves labor unions but blue-collar union workers don’t love him back.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Rail shippers applaud labor deal, seek rapid ratification.

▪ The Associated Press: Biden, Democrats both see political, economic wins in rail deal.

The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose above 6 percent for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, according to federal data released Thursday (The Hill). High inflation numbers are pushing rates up, said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist (CNN).

Biden on Thursday also signed an executive order that increases the federal government’s ability to block Chinese investment in U.S. technology and limit China’s access to private data on citizens, The New York Times reports. The order is likely to heighten tensions with Beijing and reflects a growing unease about China’s ability to access personal information from mobile apps and other services. The congressional Committee on Foreign Investments, whose actions are targeted by the order, is said to already be scrutinizing the video-sharing platform TikTok.

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday praised the possibilities inherent in the $80 billion funding boost afforded to the Internal Revenue Service as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, The Hill’s Tobias Burns reports. The agency is working to deliver a report to Congress on how to implement a free, direct e-filing tax return system. Under the Inflation Reduction Act, the IRS has nine months to finish the report.

“Tax filing should be simple,” Yellen said. “I recently came across a statistic that it takes an average American 13 hours to file a tax return. Compare that with Sweden. There, some taxpayers can file simply by replying to a text message. We can and must do better.”

➤ CONGRESS

The Senate will hold off holding a vote on a bill to codify same-sex marriage into law until after the midterms as lawmakers struggle to win the support of 10 Republicans to advance it. 

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) told reporters on Thursday afternoon of the decision, which increases the chances the bill will ultimately get across the finish line with the requisite number of GOP votes. However, it means that Republicans will not be put on the record ahead of the November elections. 

Shortly after Baldwin’s announcement, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) threw his support behind the timing. He had planned on holding a vote on the legislation on Monday. 

“Because Leader Schumer’s main objective is to pass this important legislation, he will adhere to the bipartisan group of Senators’ request to delay floor action, and he is 100 percent committed to holding a vote on the legislation this year before [Justice Clarence Thomas] has a chance to make good on his threat to overturn Obergefell,” a Schumer spokesman said in a statement.

At the moment, there are only three hard yes GOP votes for the bill — Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Thom Tillis (N.C.). 

As The Hill’s Alexander Bolton notes, Baldwin’s announcement came shortly after retiring Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a key vote, said it would be much more likely for the bill to win 10 Republican votes if it were considered after Election Day. 

“If I wanted to pass that and I was the majority leader and I wanted to get as many votes as I could possibly get, I’d wait until after the election to have the vote,” Blunt told reporters.

The proposal passed the House in July with the support of 47 Republicans, which opened the door to its potential passage in the upper chamber. 

Politico: To fight, or not to fight? Progressive Caucus warily eyes Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) energy deal.

On the investigatory side, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the Jan. 6 select committee, said that panel members will meet today to discuss when to hand over its findings and evidence to the Department of Justice.

“We have a meeting on Friday. I plan to bring it up,” Thompson told reporters earlier in the week. “I think now that the Department of Justice is being proactive in issuing subpoenas and other things, I think it’s time for the committee to determine whether or not the information we’ve gathered can be beneficial to their investigation.”

The Washington Post: Georgia 2020 election inquiry may lead to prison sentences, prosecutor says.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ POLITICS & INVESTIGATIONS

A federal judge on Thursday was officially selected to serve as a special master to examine classified and sensitive documents seized at former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

Judge Aileen Cannon tapped Judge Raymond Dearie to fill the role as requested by the former president and agreed to by prosecutors. Dearie has until Nov. 30 to complete his review of the materials — a shorter deadline than Trump’s legal team had originally requested. 

In addition, Cannon also denied the Justice Department’s motion to access the classified records stored at Mar-a-Lago. The move came in response to the department’s request for a partial stay, which called for prosecutors to be able to review more than 100 classified documents taken during the search. 

The Department of Justice is currently appealing Cannon’s initial special master decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (The Hill). 

The two rulings by Cannon also came hours after Trump said in an interview that he “can’t imagine being indicted” over his handling of classified documents or a scheme to put forward alternate electors after the 2020 election. The former president added that even if he was, it would not deter him from running for president in 2024. 

“I can’t imagine being indicted. I’ve done nothing wrong,” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “I don’t think the people of the United States would stand for it. … And as you know, if a thing like that happened, I would have no prohibition against running. You know that” (The Hill).

▪ Philip Bump, The Washington Post: There is not a bipartisan urgency among voters for preserving democracy.

▪ The New York Times: Democrats buoyed by abortion issue and Trump, Times/Siena College poll finds.

OPINION

■ Britain 3, America 0, when it comes to female leaders, by Gail Collins, opinion columnist, The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/3U86i0V

■ Climate disaster isn’t a game. When will the U.S. stop pretending it is? by Ricia Anne Chansky Sancinito, opinion contributor, The Washington Post. https://wapo.st/3LmlhQH

WHERE AND WHEN

The House meets on Monday at noon. 

The Senate convenes on Monday at 3 p.m. and will resume consideration of the nomination of Florence Pan to be a circuit judge for the D.C. Circuit.

The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9:30 a.m. Biden will hold a bilateral meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at 2:15 p.m. (The Associated Press). The president will also meet with the families of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan (The New York Times). Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), a former Energy secretary during the Clinton administration, traveled to Russia to try to gain release of the two imprisoned Americans. His efforts have been publicly rebuffed by the White House (The Hill).

The vice president will host a breakfast with Ramaphosa at 9:30 a.m. She will depart for Chicago at 11:25 a.m. and attend a roundtable on reproductive rights at 12:50 p.m. CST. She will also attend a political event with Pritzker at 4:05 p.m. CST before returning to Washington. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi at the State Department at 10 a.m. He will participate in a memo of understanding signing ceremony with Safadi at 10:55 a.m. Blinken and Safadi will speak to the press at 11 a.m. The secretary will join the president at 2:15 p.m. during Biden’s meeting with the South African president.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet today in Washington with Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. Together they will speak with the press.

The White House daily 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

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who met Thursday with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a summit in Uzbekistan, conceded Xi had “questions and concerns” about Russia’s war with Ukraine (Reuters).

“We highly appreciate the well-balanced position of our Chinese friends in connection with the Ukrainian crisis,” Putin said.

Putin thanked Xi during a meeting while blasting what he called Washington’s “ugly” policies. His sit-down with summit leaders followed a major setback for Russian forces on the battlefield and he is aware of China’s concerns about the impact of rapidly shifting oil prices and global economic uncertainty that have resulted from the seven-month war (The Associated Press).

▪ CNN: Putin concedes China has “questions and concerns” over Russia’s faltering invasion of Ukraine.

▪ The New York Times: Chinese support for Putin’s war looks more shaky after a summit.

Russia tortured Ukrainian detainees, often to death, a Ukrainian volunteer medic said in Washington on Thursday. Yuliia Paievska, who was captured in Mariupol in March and held by Russian and pro-Russian forces for three months, spoke to lawmakers with the Helsinki Commission, a government agency created in part to promote compliance with human rights internationally. Russian captors made Ukrainian prisoners remove their clothes before the Russians set to bloodying and tormenting them, she said. Prisoners lingered in pain, screaming, for weeks before dying (The Associated Press). 

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), co-chairman of the Helsinki Commission, underscored that the conditions Paievska described for civilian and military detainees violated international law. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), called Putin a war criminal. Before she was captured, Paievska had recorded more than 256 gigabytes of harrowing bodycam footage showing her team’s efforts to save the wounded in the besieged city. She got the footage to Associated Press journalists, the last international team in Mariupol, on a tiny data card.

The journalists fled the city on March 15 with the card embedded inside a tampon, carrying it through 15 Russian checkpoints. The next day, Paievska was taken by pro-Russian forces (The Associated Press).

▪ Reuters and The Associated Press: Ukraine’s new discovery of 440 buried corpses adds to evidence of Russian war crimes, Ukrainian officials say. 

▪ Reuters: Biden on Thursday announced in a memo to the State Department a new $600 million arms package for Ukraine.

▪ The Hill: How U.S. weapons and intelligence helped Ukraine’s recent rout of Russian forces.

▪ The Hill: Putin faces toughest challenge yet as Russian leader.

The late Queen Elizabeth II will be buried on Monday, but her passing sharpens all kinds of questions, writes The Hill’s Nigel Stanage: about Britain’s role in the world, the legacy of its colonial history and the hereditary monarchy. In addition, the United Kingdom itself is under pressure from separatist movements in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The monarchy does, of course, have huge institutional strengths — but King Charles III may struggle to unify the nation in the way his mother did. 

Meanwhile, Biden will meet with British Prime Minister Liz Truss while in London for the queen’s funeral (Bloomberg).

The Associated Press: Report: Chinese delegation barred from queen’s coffin.

The Hill’s Jordan Williams reports that democratic divisions are on display over legislation that would increase U.S. military and diplomatic support for Taiwan despite the U.S.’s longstanding One-China policy — with some fearing what Beijing would do if it concluded the bill did too much to support Taipei.   

➤ HEALTH & PANDEMIC

White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha will visit a D.C. Health Department COVID center today in order to publicly get a booster shot tailored to the BA.5 omicron variant as a way to encourage the get-boosted national message. He will be accompanied for the public jabs by second gentleman Doug Emhoff, the White House said.

Zeynep Tufekci, The New York Times opinion: There’s terrific news about the new COVID boosters, but few are hearing it.

Politico interviewed White House monkeypox adviser Demetre Daskalakis, described by some conservatives on social media as a Satanist because he has a pentagram tattoo. For the record, the public health physician confirms he’s not a Satanist. “I wish I were that interesting.”

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,052,939. Current average U.S. COVID-19 daily deaths are 357, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

➤ SPORTS

🎾 Tennis great Roger Federer, 41, announced that he will retire after playing one more tournament next week, putting a bow on a dominant career that included 20 Grand Slam titles and a record eight Wimbledon men’s singles championships. Federer had been hoping to make a return to competitive play, but struggled to return from a number of knee operations over the past year. The Swiss great will retire after taking part in the Laver Cup next week. Rafael Nadal, Federer’s longtime rival, said in a statement that he wished “this day would have never come.” Federer’s 20 Grand Slam titles sits third all-time on the men’s side, trailing only Nadal (22) and Novak Djokovic (21) (ESPN).

Jason Gay, The Wall Street Journal: Roger Federer isn’t going anywhere.

THE CLOSER

➤ Today’s Morning Report is the last issue to be co-written by The Hill’s Al Weaver, who is shifting his focus to cover the Senate and Congress, a beat he knows well. A thousand thank-yous for his newsletter smarts and good humor, and wishing him every sizzling scoop hiding in the Capitol. Morning Report is delighted to welcome reporter Kristina Karisch, who says she may soon own two alarm clocks for this new job. Welcome aboard! – Alexis

And finally … 👏👏👏 Congratulations to the winners of this week’s Morning Report Quiz, who guessed or Googled some trivia about the late Queen Elizabeth II. 

👑 We crown these puzzle experts, who went 4/4: Matt McDonald, Paul Harris, Tom Chabot, Peter Spofera, Jeremy Serwer, Amanda Fisher, Richard Fanning, Richard Baznik, “Kunukia,” Blair Marasco, Fran Tankersley, Manley Glaubitz, Linda Alberty, Candi Cee, David Hatcher, Don Swanson, Fred Lewis, Daniel Bachhuber, Ki Harvey, Shirley McDaniel, “Bruce,” Mary Anne McEnery, Harry Strulovici, Patrick Kavanagh, Barbara Golian, Bill Grieshober, Mark Roeddinger, Eric Chapman, Richard Anderson, Clare Millians, Cheyenne MacMasters, Jenni Pruneda, Jim Hay, Randall Patrick, Robert Bradley, Steve James, Emily Tavino, Luther Berg, Jack Barshay, Jaina Mehta, Pam Manges, Lesa Davis, Kathryn James and Greg Wilson.

They knew that in 1953, the queen ascended to the throne with her coronation.

Bees under the monarch’s care had to be informed about her death, according to royal protocol. 

At the time she was Princess Elizabeth, she contributed to the World War II effort as a truck driver and mechanic for the Auxiliary Territorial Service.

Queen Elizabeth’s childhood nickname was Lilibet.

Stay Engaged

We want to hear from you! Email: Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver. Follow us on Twitter (@alweaver22 & @asimendinger) and suggest this newsletter to friends!

Source: TEST FEED1

Putin faces toughest challenge yet as Russian leader

Signs of frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine are mounting, posing the most serious challenge yet in retaining his firm grip on the Kremlin.  

The stunning counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces has forced Russian troops to flee occupied areas, leading to questions about Russia’s strategy on state television airwaves normally under Putin’s thumb.  

Local lawmakers in Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg have called for his removal from office, while Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close Putin ally, called Russia’s retreat this week “astounding.” 

Russian experts say it all leaves Putin at the center of a political quagmire of his own making, which threatens his popularity and, in the longer term, quite possibly his political survival.  

The odds of Putin losing power are higher than ever, though still “not a very large number,” said Timothy Frye, a Columbia University political science professor who wrote “Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin’s Russia.” 

“Putin risked the most important achievement of his 20 years in power by going to war in Ukraine. And that was a sense of a return to stability,” Frye said. “And the expectation was the war would be over in a week — this would be seen as an easy victory and that stability would not be put in jeopardy. And now, it clearly has.” 

Putin, who has refused to label the conflict in Ukraine as a war even after tens of thousands have died, has few attractive choices going forward. That raises the possibility that his “special military operation” in Ukraine will drag on. 

“Putin, for all his macho persona, he’s not good at making tough decisions,” said Mark Galeotti, a London-based lecturer on Russian security and author of the forthcoming book “Putin’s War.” “When he doesn’t see a good answer, he tends to get paralyzed. And at the moment he doesn’t really have any good options.” 

Putin has avoided instituting a draft to shore up Russian forces, for fear it would hurt him domestically. Suing for peace, Galeotti said, would likewise be politically disastrous. 

“So he’s probably just going to muddle along and basically hope that either Ukraine self-destructs or the West loses interest in supporting it,” he said.  

That’s been Russia’s hope and Ukraine’s dread before, but it seems more unlikely than ever at the moment. 

Ukraine’s gains around Kharkiv have only emboldened Kyiv and Western support for its resistance. Anne Applebaum, a Russian historian and journalist, argued this week in The Atlantic that Ukraine’s liberation of some 6,000 square kilometers of occupied territory is cause to prepare for Ukraine’s victory and possibly Putin’s downfall.  

On state TV this week, talking heads were debating why the “special military operation” was failing — generally placing blame with the military generals advising Putin — while anchors reported solemnly that it was the toughest week of the war so far.  

“That in itself was kind of revelatory and like, wow, I wasn’t expecting that in this kind of make-believe world that they have over there,” said Mark Schrad, who directs Russian Area Studies at Villanova University’s Department of Political Science.  

However, Schrad argued in a piece for Foreign Policy this week that predictions of Putin’s downfall were premature. He noted that Western forecasts of Putin’s imminent ouster have come and gone throughout his time in office — and that while the Ukraine war posed unprecedented risks, Putin was deploying unprecedented measures to maintain control and silence dissent. 

“I could be wrong, but I don’t think it’s existential,” he said of the challenges that Putin faces if losses continue in Ukraine. “I think it would be an embarrassment, you know, certainly. And certainly wouldn’t be good for his popularity.” 

“But the idea that, you know, the sort of this exuberance that we’re seeing, that in the short term it will necessarily translate into sort of immediate political change, that’s where I would kind of tap the brakes, you know, to try not to get too far ahead of our skis,” he added.  

Even if Putin does take a deep and sustained hit to his popularity over the Ukraine war — among the masses or within elite circles — it doesn’t necessarily spell doom for him politically, Frye said.  

“People often conflate leaders becoming weaker in their ability to accomplish their goals with the possibility of them losing office. And those two things are often different. And dissatisfaction among the elites in the masses doesn’t necessarily lead to action,” Frye said.  

“I think that’s the most likely situation going forward, given the current trajectory of the war, that for the moment, Putin’s position is not in danger, but his ability to get the public to go along with things he wants to do, and to get elites to sacrifice their own interests in order to serve Putin’s agenda, that’s just going to be much harder.” 

Instability is increasingly being felt throughout Russia’s society and economy. Bloomberg reported this month on an internal Kremlin document predicting Russia’s economy shrinking by up to 10 percent in the coming years, compared to 2021 levels, and potentially only returning to pre-war footing near the end of the decade.  

And though there is scant polling of popular opinions toward Putin’s war, Russians have consistently shown negative attitudes toward sending troops into foreign conflicts, noted Frye. 

Yet the most significant threat to Putin is losing support of the elites — in the security services, the private sector and regional power brokers — said Chris Miller, an associate professor at Tufts University who specializes in Russian history. At the moment, Putin is seeking to balance between hawks who want to see him double down in Ukraine, and doves, who would like to see movement toward a peace settlement.  

“He sees a middle path and I think we should expect elites to give him the benefit of the doubt to pursue for the coming months,” Miller said. “The war is not going nearly as well as they might have hoped. But it’s manageable for the next couple of months, and other than those who want escalation there aren’t many other great ideas coming out of the Russian policymaking process about what to do differently that would produce better outcomes from the perspective of the Russian government’s goals in Ukraine.” 

Putin also benefits from the lack of an obvious successor. And he has also proven adept at playing elites against each other, wielding a range of tools to keep rebellious elements under control — from punishing officials who deviate from his policy to real fears among business elites that they may meet a mysterious death, he added.  

Miller also noted that views toward the war – both inside and outside Russia — were very different just two months ago, when Russia was steadily gaining territory in Ukraine.  

“I think the lesson of this war and the lesson of many other wars is that there are many twists and turns,” he said. “Momentum over the course of seven months has changed multiple times already, and we shouldn’t be surprised if it switches again.” 

Source: TEST FEED1

DeSantis migrant flights underscore his national ambitions

ORLANDO, Fla. – Ron DeSantis’s decision to fly dozens of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard marked the latest — and one of the most dramatic — efforts by the Florida governor to court conservatives at home and nationally as he positions himself for a 2024 presidential run. 

The arrival of two plane loads of migrants — most of whom appear to be from Venezuela — in the elite Massachusetts resort town signaled a drastic escalation of a tactic used by several Republican state officials in recent months to protest the rise in illegal immigration under the Biden administration.

For DeSantis, a rising Republican star, the stunt appeared tailor-made to woo the GOP’s conservative base as he seeks a second term in the governor’s mansion and weighs a potential White House run. But the move could also carry political risks, especially in a state that has long been a destination for migrants fleeing oppressive governments in Latin America.

“I do think it’s a miscalculation. There are a lot of people coming here that are fleeing desperate conditions, whether it’s Haitians, Cubans, Venezuelans,” said Thomas Kennedy, a Democratic National Committee member from Florida.

“These Republican politicians are constantly talking about people trying to escape communism in their home countries, but when they come here looking for a better life, they’re treated like this.”

While the stunt may play well among conservatives nationally, Kennedy said, it could give Democrats an opening to regain lost ground among Florida Latinos, who have drifted increasingly toward the GOP in recent years.

“We are definitely going to do the work to remind these communities that these people don’t stand with you,” Kennedy said. “When it comes to the issue of democracy in Cuba or Venezuela, have these Republicans delivered freedom? Nope.”

Still, illegal immigration remains a top issue for Republican voters nationally. 

Not only was it one of the issues that helped propel former President Trump to prominence in the 2016 GOP presidential primary, but a recent poll from Pew Research found that roughly 9 in 10 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents believe that increasing security along the U.S. southern border should be an important priority.

And while Florida is far from the U.S.-Mexico border, DeSantis has repeatedly shown a willingness to wade into politics beyond his home state. In just the past month alone, he’s traveled to Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio and Pennsylvania to stump for Republican candidates, intensifying speculation that he’s moving toward a 2024 White House bid.

DeSantis, of course, isn’t the only Republican governor to get behind the effort to ship migrants out of red states and into Democratic strongholds. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has led an effort to bus migrants out of Texas to places like New York City and Chicago for more than a month.

DeSantis has floated a similar idea for months; earlier this year, he got the Florida state legislature to set aside $12 million for the effort and has even suggested sending migrants who end up in Florida to Delaware, President Biden’s home state. But the arrival of the roughly 50 migrants in Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday marked the first time he has taken credit for such an act.

In a statement on Wednesday, a spokesperson for DeSantis said that blue states like Massachusetts should have to bear the brunt of the Biden administration’s immigration policies. 

“States like Massachusetts, New York, and California will better facilitate the care of these individuals who they have invited into our country by incentivizing illegal immigration through their designation as ‘sanctuary states’ and support for the Biden Administration’s open border policies,” said Taryn Fenske, DeSantis’s communications director.

But even Republicans have said it is hard to view the move separate from the Florida governor’s presidential ambitions. He has quickly emerged as an early favorite for the 2024 GOP nomination, with most public polls showing him as the clear runner-up for the nod should Trump forgo another White House bid. 

“He’s running for president,” one Republican donor said. “He’s playing for a national audience of Republican primary voters. He wants to be able to get up on the debate stage with any other Republican candidate and say, ‘I stood up against illegal immigration.’” 

Still, the move compounds a line of criticism that has only grown louder since last month when Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, a Cuban American and DeSantis’s running mate, suggested in a Spanish-language radio interview that Cuban migrants who were in the state illegally should be bused elsewhere.

Nuñez later sought to address the controversy after facing blowback from many in Florida’s vast Cuban community, arguing that there’s a difference between immigrants who enter the country illegally for economic reasons and those who are fleeing repressive governments. 

Florida state Sen. Annette Taddeo, who’s challenging Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) for her Miami-area House seat this year, slammed DeSantis and Nuñez on Thursday and described DeSantis’s decision to fly migrants to Martha’s Vineyard as a misuse of taxpayer dollars to fund “a political stunt by a governor who wants to be president.”

“It’s something that the extreme Trumpian base loves,” Taddeo told The Hill in a brief interview on Thursday. “You can’t be talking about anti-communism and be talking about freedom in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and all these other countries if you’re going to do this: mistreat people when they come here fleeing oppressive regimes.”

Charlie Crist, a former Republican governor of Florida and DeSantis’s Democratic opponent this year, said that DeSantis’s actions were akin to those of a “dictator,” going as far as to compare the Florida governor to Fidel Castro, the late Cuban dictator whose reign forced a mass exodus of Cubans to Florida over his decades in power.

“He’s a political animal. That’s crystal clear,” Crist told reporters on Thursday. “And unfortunately he’s using human beings to try to make political points like he’s already a dictator.”

DeSantis defended the move on Thursday, saying that his administration was simply stepping up to the plate on illegal immigration because of a lack of action from the White House.

“We take what’s happening at the southern border very seriously, unlike some and unlike the president of the United States who has refused to lift a finger to secure that border and you’ve had millions and millions of people pouring in illegally,” he said.

Nevertheless, Taddeo cast the move as nothing more than an attempt to placate DeSantis’s conservative political base and said that it should be a “wake-up call” for Florida voters — and Latinos, in particular — about his true intentions. 

“Will this be an issue in this election?” Taddeo asked. “Absolutely.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Democrats seethe over migrant 'political stunt' at Martha's Vineyard

Senate Democrats are seething over what they say was a “political stunt” by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who have sent planeloads and busloads of Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., and Washington, D.C.

Democratic lawmakers have grown increasingly frustrated with DeSantis and other GOP governors for transporting migrants to the liberal metropolises of Washington, New York and Chicago in an effort to pressure the Biden administration to pay more attention to illegal immigration. 

On Thursday, locals were dealing with the GOP moves not only in the quaint vacation spot off the coast of Massachusetts, but also near Vice President Harris’s official residence in Washington, D.C.    

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who pressed to include significant immigration reform in this year’s congressional agenda, said DeSantis’s stunt had disqualified him as a serious candidate for president in 2024.  

“It’s a horrible stunt but none was worse than what DeSantis just did, and it should disqualify him from ever serving one more day in office,” Kaine said.

DeSantis had about 50 migrants in Texas sent to Martha’s Vineyard, while Abbott sent two busloads of mostly Venezuelan migrants to the vice president’s residence.

Kaine noted that Venezuelan migrants are fleeing “one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world” and that the United States is largest provider of humanitarian aid to Venezuela.  

“That DeSantis would go to Texas to round up Venezuelans to drop them off in Martha’s Vineyard, the guy has not the shadow of a heart or a conscience. It’s outrageous,” Kaine said. “These poor Venezuelans, what they’re suffering.” 

The arrival of two planeloads of Venezuelan migrants caught local officials in Martha’s Vineyard by surprise and sent them scrambling to find food and shelter on the small island, which has 17,000 year-round residents and where finding enough housing for the influx of summer seasonal workers is a challenge.   

The Martha’s Vineyard’s Chamber of Commerce on Thursday called the situation a “humanitarian crisis” and Republican Gov. Charlie Baker’s office said he was staying in touch with local officials to monitor efforts to provide short-term shelter services.  

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) blasted DeSantis for dropping off the migrants without any advance warning to local officials. 

“It is cruel to treat human beings like pawns in a political game. He has reached a new low,” she said of DeSantis.   

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), who led unsuccessful immigration reform negotiations with Republicans earlier this year, said it was “cruel and inhuman” for Abbott to ship migrants to Chicago without any coordination with local authorities, who are struggling to absorb the new arrivals into the city’s social services network. 

“When the governor of Texas will not even give us a phone call to tell us these families are arriving on buses in Union Station in Chicago, it is cruel and inhuman and it’s a petty political stunt on his part. I hope he’s held accountable,” he said.  

Durbin, who met with newly arrived migrant families last week in Chicago, said “moral standards have been grossly violated by this conduct.”  

He recalled meeting a couple who trekked across Central America with their two babies to reach the United States to request asylum who “went through every conceivable indignity” to reach safe haven. 

“Now they come to the United States and have the governor of Texas heap this indignity on them. It is just unfair and it’s un-American,” he said.  

He said the influx of migrants is putting a strain on Chicago’s social welfare services. Officials have resorted to setting up cots at the Salvation Army rescue center to shelter them.  

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), another leading Democratic advocate for immigration reform and an outspoken critic of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, called DeSantis’s conduct “shameful.”  

“It’s shameful that instead of welcoming Venezuelans to the state with the largest Venezuelan diaspora in the U.S., @GovRonDeSantis chose to lure migrants like a human trafficker & lie about where they were going to score political points with Trump’s MAGA base,” he tweeted. 

Senate Republicans, however, say that DeSantis, Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey are justified in shipping migrants to Blue States. 

They argue that border states such as Texas and Arizona shouldn’t be alone in shouldering the burden of thousands of migrants entering the country.  

“Right now Arizona and Texas and a few others take the whole burden, and other states ought to take their fair share,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who served as governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. Romney has frequently criticized former President Trump, underscoring how on immigration, the moves by DeSantis and Abbott do not appear to be dividing Republicans.  

When asked whether bussing migrants to Democratic states appears to be a political stunt, Romney accused the Biden administration of playing politics by not doing more to secure the southern border. 

Asked how he might have handled the sudden influx of migrants on Martha’s Vineyard if he were still governor, Romney replied: “I’m not governor of Massachusetts but any governor would have responsibility for finding locations and employment and housing and other opportunities for those that come into the country.” 

Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R) also defended DeSantis and Abbott.  

He said if Democrats are upset, they should “do something about it” by taking action to limit the flow of people across the border.  

He argued that shipping migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Washington, D.C., and other Democratic enclaves is “certainly getting people’s attention.”  

“Before this this Biden administration has been ignoring the situation on the border,” he said. “This is something we’ve been living with for a long time now in Texas.” 

He said political leaders in Martha’s Vineyard, New York City and Washington “ought to pick up the phone and call the Biden White House and say we’ve got a problem, we’ve got to do something about it.”  

Source: TEST FEED1

Judge appoints special master, denying DOJ access to classified records

A federal judge on Thursday denied the Justice Department’s (DOJ) motion to access the classified records stored at Mar-a-Lago and installed a recently retired judge to serve as the special master former President Trump requested.

The duo of orders from federal district Judge Aileen Cannon will ignite a Justice Department appeal to the 11th Circuit and also picks Judge Raymond Dearie to serve as the special master — the one candidate both the DOJ and Trump’s legal team could agree on.

DEVELOPING

Source: TEST FEED1

Democrats' blood boils over Abbott and DeSantis’s migrant busing

Democrats are accusing Republican governors of cruelly using migrants as political pawns after they chartered buses and flights to send them to places like New York City and Martha’s Vineyard.  

Migrants on two flights chartered by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) landed at Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday afternoon, and hours later, dozens of migrants sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) arrived on buses near the vice president’s residence in Washington, D.C.  

The governors, along with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R), transported thousands of migrants in recent months, arguing the decision provides relief to border communities overwhelmed by President Biden’s immigration policies.  

But Democrats have responded to the moves with intense pushback, and have accused the governors of providing no notice to localities and misleading the migrants. 

“Why send these folks only to blue cities or blue states? Why isn’t Abbott sending refugees to Mississippi or Oklahoma or Idaho?” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) asked at a press conference on Wednesday.  

“This is about politics for him without regard to the fear and anguish and the challenges that it poses for these refugees, but here in Illinois we refuse to stoop to that man’s level,” Pritzker continued, signing a disaster proclamation that frees up state resources and activates 75 members of the Illinois National Guard to assist. 

Abbott’s office said on Friday that Texas bused more than 10,400 migrants since April, with more than 300 migrants arriving in Chicago. 

Pritzker said Abbott isn’t notifying Chicago or the state when they send migrants. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) said on CNN on Saturday that some of the migrants were taken to hospitals upon arrival.  

“They were put on the buses with delicate medical conditions that no one in Texas seemed to care anything about,” Lightfoot told the outlet. “That is simply not right, and it’s un-American.” 

An Abbott spokesperson did not return a request for comment but previously called Lightfoot’s comments a “pathetic political ploy.” 

The Republican governors argue the relocations ease the burden on border states after migrant apprehensions reached record levels earlier this year. 

“They all are concerned about a few dozen or a few hundred migrants coming to their town, and we get that many per hour in almost every community across the border,” Abbott said during an appearance on Fox News’s “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Tuesday. “So we’re dealing with this all the time, and I’m just helping out our local communities.” 

A majority of Texans — 52 percent — support Abbott’s busing of migrants, while 35 percent oppose the initiative, according to a poll by the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Politics Project. 

Ducey spokesman C.J. Karamargin said Arizona has sent 1,809 migrants to D.C., which he called the “source” of the problem with an “unwillingness” to assist. 

“We would encourage anyone who wants to get a better understanding of what’s happening to visit a small city on the border, like Yuma,” he said. 

Meanwhile, DeSantis on Wednesday sent migrants on two chartered flights to Martha’s Vineyard, an island in Massachusetts known for its popularity among the wealthy.  

“We are not a sanctuary state, and it’s better to be able to go to a sanctuary jurisdiction, and yes, we will help facilitate that transport for you to be able to go to greener pastures,” DeSantis said during a Thursday press conference. 

Massachusetts state Sen. Julian Cyr (D), who represents Martha’s Vineyard, called the flights “a fundamentally racist tactic” in an interview, drawing comparisons to the “Reverse Freedom Rides,” when southern segregationists lured African Americans to northern cities under false pretenses in 1962. 

The flights were also condemned by Massachusetts’s two Democratic senators, Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, who both called the move “cruel.” 

“The fact that human beings are being trafficked for political benefits is abhorrent,” said Cyr. “It also raises some real questions as to whether or not any laws have been broken here.” 

Boston-based group Lawyers for Civil Rights said its attorneys traveled to Martha’s Vineyard to investigate whether state or federal human trafficking or kidnapping laws were violated. 

Cyr said a woman named “Perla” misled the migrants into boarding the flight by promising expedited work papers and housing. 

It’s unclear whether the migrants are undocumented or whether they are asylum seekers allowed into the country to wait out their immigration court cases, or a combination of both. 

Still, an individual’s immigration status is determined by Department of Homeland Security agencies – state governments have little to no say or legal authority to expedite cases. 

In a statement, DeSantis communications director Taryn Fenske called the migrants “illegal immigrants” but did not specify their immigration status. 

“Florida can confirm the two planes with illegal immigrants that arrived in Martha’s Vineyard today were part of the state’s relocation program to transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations,” she said. 

Florida Democrats jumped on DeSantis’s move, particularly as it impacted Venezuelan nationals escaping the leftist authoritarian regime of President Nicolás Maduro. 

Former Gov. Charlie Crist, DeSantis’s Democratic opponent, lashed out directly at the Republican governor. 

“When you are this inhumane in how you treat human beings, you’re not qualified to be governor of anything,” said Crist. 

And state Sen. Annette Taddeo (D), who is challenging Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), said the move makes Florida Republicans’ claims of opposition to leftist authoritarianism in Latin America moot.  

“After last night’s news, Republicans can never again claim they stand with the victims of communism. To take advantage of people fleeing oppressive regimes and use them as political pawns to score cheap points with their Fox News audience and the extreme fringes of their party is cruel and inhumane,” said Taddeo in a statement. 

Vanessa Cárdenas, deputy director of progressive immigration group America’s Voice, called the relocations “caravans 2.0,” a reference to Republicans who seized on large groups of migrants that traveled together to the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years. 

“Their hope is to score points on Fox and distract from the Republican decline in the 2022 polls,” Cárdenas said in a statement.  

“Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott are competing to get MAGA-world kudos for ‘owning the libs,’” she continued. “In the process they are underscoring to the rest of the electorate how cruel, dehumanizing and transparently political their motivations are.”  

RJ Hauman, director of government relations and communications at Federation for American Immigration Reform — a restrictionist group that holds considerable sway over immigration hawks in the GOP — applauded the relocations. 

“It’s beyond hypocritical to see mayors get upset at governors for transporting illegal immigrants to their so-called sanctuaries because it’s ‘inhumane,’ when they’ve been silent on Biden policies that incentivize the same people to put their lives in the hands of actual human smugglers and cartels,” Hauman told The Hill. 

Source: TEST FEED1