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Zelensky: Russia wants world to forget about war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday implored an audience at the Venice Film Festival to resist indifference to the conflict in Russia as the months-long war rages on. 

Appearing on the festival’s Sala Grande screen, Zelensky told the global film industry audience that Russia is staging “a primitive plot in three acts for the world to make three dramatic mistakes. To get used to the war. To put up with the war. To forget about the war.”

More than half a year since Russia first invaded, the war in Ukraine is “a drama based on real-life events” that is “embodied in life by real savages, murderers, torturers, terrorists,” Zelensky said, per a transcript of the impassioned speech on the president’s site. 

“A tragedy accompanied not by Morricone’s brilliant music, but by gruesome ditties and sounds of explosions, gunshots and air raid sirens. Horror, not 120 minutes but 189 days long.”

The Ukrainian president’s speech introduced a credits-like scroll of the names of 358 Ukrainian children under the heading “Russia killed.”

“I want every country, every nation, every institution and community in the world to have a clear idea of what Ukraine is going through now. To hear about this war in the most understandable language. For you, this is the language of cinematography,” Zelensky said, noting that most viewers would “stand up and leave” during closing credits.

“Whenever someone talks about being tired of Ukraine, these titles should be mentioned. To get tired of Ukraine means to brush off these names. To forget these names.”

The video reported 735 children wounded in the conflict and 223 children missing, and another 7,013 children abducted or forcibly taken out of the country. 

Zelensky’s speech came the night before a mission of experts from the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency arrived Thursday at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya plant, where conflict with Russia has stoked concerns about potential nuclear accident.  

Russia has controlled the area where the nuclear power plant, still operated by Ukrainians, is located since early in the war, and the two countries have swapped blame for recent nearby strikes that Ukraine says have damaged buildings at the plant.

Zelensky has called the shelling “Russian nuclear terror” and warned of a possible “radiation disaster.”

Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) met with Zelensky in Ukraine on Tuesday, a week after President Biden announced a nearly $3 billion security assistance package to support Ukraine as the conflict drags on.

Source: TEST FEED1

The very real dangers of Biden’s pending Iran nuclear deal

With a renewed nuclear deal reportedly imminent, the Biden administration has touted its hard-nosed negotiating tactics forcing Iran to accept that its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) will remain on the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. While that’s technically accurate, the real question is what practical effect any new deal might have on IRGC finances and whether they would benefit from the $100 billion a year in sanctions relief likely to also be part of a renewed agreement.

Most people think of the IRGC as a military and terrorist organization, but in reality, they control a significant percentage of Iran’s everyday economy. In 2010, Iran expert Meir Javedanfar said, “A conservative estimate would be to say that the IRGC now controls at least half of [Iranian] government-owned companies.” Alireza Nader of Rand Corporation has noted, “The Revolutionary Guards is the key economic player in Iran and control(s) Iran’s official and illicit economy.” Indeed, their investments include domestic construction and infrastructure, energy production, medical surgeries, food, education, transportation and, of course, military infrastructure. 

There is little difference between the Iranian government under the control of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, his heir apparent, President Ebrahim Raisi, and the Revolutionary Guards. They are intertwined. According to Reuters, the IRGC is a more than 125,000-strong military force, “is also an industrial empire with political clout, and is loyal to the supreme leader.” BBC reported that the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbia Construction Company “control(s) around a third of Iran’s economy through a series of subsidiaries and trusts” worth an estimated $100 billion. Western distinctions in negotiations between the IRGC and the Iranian government are artificial and misleading, undermining our strategic goals.  

According to Mark Dubowitz, chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD),  “The Biden administration’s decision to keep the IRGC on the Foreign Terrorist Organizations list now looks like a legal sleight of hand and not like a principled defense of that designation. If reports are true, the Biden team has agreed to gut IRGC sanctions and allow tens of billions of dollars to flow to terrorists actively plotting to murder even more Americans.” His colleague, Richard Goldberg, added, “Either President Biden believes the IRGC is a terrorist organization, or he doesn’t. If this were ISIS or al Qaeda, would anyone be offering sanctions relief to their top financiers or negotiating how foreigners could do business with their affiliates?”  

Secondary sanctions penalize countries and entities that deal with and profit from trade with a sanctioned organization. The 2015 nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) bypassed restrictions on the IRGC by removing sanctions on whole segments of the Iranian economy controlled by the organization. According to the FDD experts, in a new agreement the “full enforcement of U.S. secondary sanctions against IRGC affiliates will be lifted … with additional terrorism-sanctions relief for the IRGC’s top financiers, including the Central Bank of Iran and the National Iranian Oil Company.”

The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has a history of subterfuge, hiding and transferring funds for the IRGC to support its terrorist networks in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. This has included circumventing sanctions on oil exports and covering up the true source of transactions. With a new deal, sanctions against the CBI reportedly will be lifted, allowing it to more easily cover the financial tracks of the Revolutionary Guards.  

If you expect the Biden administration to enforce secondary sanctions against the IRGC after a new Iran deal comes about, then you also may believe that the JCPOA will permanently end Iran’s ability to develop atomic weapons and that the moon is made of green cheese. As it was with President Obama, non-nuclear-related sanctions for terrorism, human rights abuses and missile proliferation will be minimally enforced so as not to rock the boat, by displaying Iran’s defiance. 

The bottom line is that Iran’s hundreds of billions of dollars in sanctions relief will benefit the IRGC and its malign activities. The Foreign Terrorist Organizations designation is more for show than effect, since there will be no secondary sanctions on businesses that have one degree of separation from the IRGC. The organization’s prosperity provides the financial resources needed to support proxies such as Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Iranian-controlled Popular Mobilization Units.

Can Congress do anything to stop the financial enrichment of the IRGC in the Biden administration’s new nuclear deal? No. By law, the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, sanctions relief must be reviewed by Congress. There is little doubt that all Republicans will vote against lifting sanctions and almost all Democrats will support it. Even if a majority of Congress were to vote against sanctions relief in a renewed deal, Biden would veto that decision. 

Defenders of this deal claim it is better than no deal, because at least there will be some temporary restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program. They point to North Korea, noting there are no agreements or hope for reining in a fanatical regime. 

Unfortunately, this bad deal with Iran will not be better than having no deal. Providing financial support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will feed the regime’s appetite for expansionism and terrorism, increasing the potential for a regional war. In a few years, any nuclear restrictions will expire, and a Middle East nuclear arms race inevitably will follow. How would any of this advance America’s national security interests?

Dr. Eric R. Mandel is the director of MEPIN, the Middle East Political Information Network. He regularly briefs members of Congress and their foreign policy aides. He is the senior security editor for the Jerusalem Report. Follow him on Twitter @MepinOrg. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Miami-Dade School Board to vote on whether to recognize LGBTQ history month post ‘Don’t Say Gay’

Source: TEST FEED1

Rettig won't hold the wealthy accountable — the IRS needs new leadership

The IRS is back.

Over a decade of painful budget cuts and expanded responsibilities has left the tax-collecting agency barely able to perform its most basic duties, but help is on the way. President Biden recently signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), which allocates $80 billion in additional funding to the IRS, with over half designated explicitly for tax compliance enforcement.

The bill’s $45 billion for enforcement is desperately needed. For years, America’s most affluent have used intentionally complex practices to shield their wealth, under the (correct) assumption that the IRS didn’t have the resources to follow their elusive money trails. 

With the passage of the IRA, the IRS will finally have the funding to go after these wealthy tax cheats. But even with this new funding, the IRS may not have the leadership it needs to accomplish Biden’s goals. 

If President Biden wants the IRA to be a success, he needs to replace the current commissioner of the IRS, Chuck Rettig.

Rettig, appointed by President Trump in 2018, has since proven himself unwilling to identify and punish wealthy tax evaders. Under his leadership, rather than completing audits on the rich, the IRS audited workers making less than $25,000 five times more often than all other filers. Rettig’s IRS audited the poorest Americans who used the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) at a higher rate than every other tax bracket, save for the absolute wealthiest Americans. They even reduced the number of millionaires audited to 13,725 in 2021, just a third of the amount 10 years ago. 

The decline of audits on the rich isn’t entirely Rettig’s fault. Over the last 10 years, a 20 percent funding cut left the IRS lacking investigators with the expertise required to go after rich people and their complicated finances, making audits of the richest of the rich more difficult to pursue widely. But the choice to audit working people at a considerably higher rate instead of going after the worst and the wealthiest tax cheats was just that, a choice. 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has already directed the IRS to use this increased funding exclusively on taxing rich Americans. Still, even with such a directive, the day-to-day administration of $45 billion is incredibly significant. Since the head of the IRS can assign large amounts of funds at their discretion, only a commissioner committed to taxing the rich can utilize this new funding effectively. Rettig has proven himself untrustworthy of that role. 

Rettig has a history of shady dealings since before he even began his job under Donald Trump. He spent 40 years of his career working for a law firm specializing in helping rich clients avoid paying taxes. He omitted information about his ownership of Trump-branded real estate during his appointment. He publicly defended the former president’s withholding of his tax returns, going as far as obstructing the congressional subpoena asking for the tax return’s release. Under Rettig, Trump-opposed former FBI director and deputy director, James Comey and Andrew McCabe, were both selected for a rare type of tax audit. The likelihood of both these men, known to dislike Rettig’s appointment, being audited coincidentally is virtually impossible. Rettig’s career reeks of corruption at every turn.

Rettig, as commissioner, is a banner advertising that the department is not on the side of ordinary Americans. He must be removed from his position if we want to progress towards adequately funding tax enforcement on the Americans who need it the most — the ultra-wealthy. 

Since Republicans are already jumping to attack this new funding as an additional tax burden on ordinary Americans, it’s especially crucial for Democrats that the IRS uses this money to go after only tax evasion by the wealthiest offenders. It is critical, both politically and economically, that this extra enforcement money is used effectively and specifically to tax the rich and not to maintain the status quo by increasing the audits of poor people further than it already has.

Chuck Rettig has overseen an environment of devaluing and discouraging tax enforcement on the wealthy by the IRS and cannot be the man to oversee a complete overhaul of the agency. If Biden and Democrats want to tackle wealthy people evading taxes like they say they do, they need an IRS commissioner that is on their side, not a Trump appointee who’s shown he has no interest in holding the richest accountable for paying their fair share.

Drew Pomerance is a co-founding partner of the law firm Roxborough, Pomerance, Nye & Adreani and a member of the Patriotic Millionaires. 

Source: TEST FEED1

House Republicans target Meta's FBI contact over Hunter Biden

House Republicans on Thursday asked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to hand over communications between Facebook and the FBI related to the platform’s reduced distribution of a New York Post story on Hunter Biden.

Zuckerberg previously told podcaster Joe Rogan last week that the social media platform limited the New York Post story’s appearance on news feeds ahead of the 2020 presidential election while it was being fact checked.

The limitation, Zuckerberg said, came in response to warnings from the FBI about disinformation and potentially polarizing content.

“We have seen in recent months how some in government have sought to use Big Tech to censor divergent viewpoints and silence opposing political speech,” the 35 Republican lawmakers wrote to Zuckerberg in a letter.

“Facebook’s suppression of the Post article—and allegations of Biden family corruption highly relevant to the 2020 presidential election—following guidance from the FBI is highly troubling,” the House Republicans wrote. 

Shortly before the 2020 election, the Post published a story that the FBI had obtained a laptop that allegedly belonged to President Biden’s son as part of a federal investigation.

The House Republicans argued that the reduced distribution of the Post article from Facebook prevented “Americans from fully understanding highly relevant allegations about President Biden’s awareness of and involvement in his family’s influence-peddling scheme.”

Among the signatures on the new letter are the top Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee and the House Judiciary Committee, Reps. James Comer (Ky.) and Jim Jordan (Ohio) respectively. 

The lawmakers have requested all communications between Facebook and the FBI about the Post article, purported election misinformation and Facebook’s plans to act on the FBI’s warnings, as well as any communications between Facebook and Biden’s presidential campaign about the Post reporting.

Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) addressed a similar letter to Zuckerberg on Monday, citing the Meta CEO’s comments on Rogan’s podcast.

The senators argued that news and social media outlets “inappropriately rushed to censor and discredit the initial reporting and falsely labeled it as ‘disinformation.’”

The senators requested related records and contended that “the American people deserve to know whether the FBI used Facebook as part of their alleged plan to discredit information about Hunter Biden.”

Following Zuckerberg’s comments on the podcast, the FBI has stated that the agency “routinely notifies” companies about potential threats in the wake of Russia’s meddling on social media platforms ahead of the 2016 election.

“None of this is new. Mark testified before the Senate nearly two years ago that in the lead up to the 2020 election, the FBI warned about the threat of foreign hack and leak operations,” Meta posted on Twitter last week after Zuckerberg’s podcast appearance.

Source: TEST FEED1

How installing solar canopies over canals can help California fight drought

A first-in-the-nation project to determine whether covering sections of canals with solar panels can help California reach its renewable energy goals is gearing up to break ground early next year. 

The $20 million experiment, dubbed Project Nexus, is funded by the state of California and will assess whether solar panel canopies erected over exposed irrigation canal systems can significantly reduce water evaporation while simultaneously generating renewable power. The project in California’s San Joaquin Valley is a partnership between utility company Turlock Irrigation District (TID), California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR), solar energy company Solar AquaGrid and the University of California, Merced. 

The pilot project materialized following results published in a 2021 study outlining the potential benefits of the concept. While the idea is novel in the U.S., researchers looked at a large-scale, solar-canal system in Gujarat, India, and considered what the concept could do for California. 

Researchers from the University of California, Merced determined that covering the 4,000 miles of California’s open canals with solar panels could save upward of 63 billion gallons of water each year, the residential water needs of about 2 million people, or enough to irrigate about 50,000 acres of farmland. In terms of power generation, the study found the solar canopies could generate about 13 gigawatts of renewable power annually, the equivalent to about one-sixth of California’s installed capacity. That’s about half the projected new capacity needed by 2030 to meet the state’s decarbonization goals. 

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“Another benefit is that it would avoid land use. Solar canopies over canals avoid the development of large tracts of land that would be required for ground-mounted systems. If we use canal infrastructure, that’s already disturbed land,” Brandi McKuin, lead author of the study and project scientist with UC Merced, said in an interview. 

“There’s a benefit to ecosystems and perhaps even it could avoid some of the protracted disputes over land use that other large utility scale solar projects have had to deal with, for example, tribal sovereignty,” McKuin added. 

Another benefit is the microclimate of the canals can cool the solar panels and increase their efficiency. McKuin said field studies show solar canals in India cooled panels by as much as 10 degrees and had on average 3 percent higher output than ground mounted systems with the same configuration. 

The shade from the panels could also limit light to aquatic weeds and reduce algae growth, which could result in big maintenance savings for entities that manage the canal systems. 

For Project Nexus, less than 2 miles of irrigation canal operated by utility Turlock Irrigation District in California’s San Joaquin Valley will be covered with solar canopies. 

One location in the town of Ceres involves covering about a mile straightaway of relatively narrow, 20 to 25 feet wide, canals and testing multiple different mounting technologies and solar panel designs. 

“At this site it’s going to be 8,000 linear feet of solar panels. So you’re going to have the ability to A-B test different hypotheses,” Josh Weimer, external affairs department manager for Turlock Irrigation District, said in an interview. 

“So testing panels a little bit closer to the canal, some a little bit taller, and seeing if there is an efficiency difference. We’re also looking at potentially using two types of solar panels, mono-facial and bi-facial. With bi-facial you have the ability to potentially generate energy from the underside of the solar panel, and that might be a potential benefit if there’s some reflection from the water underneath the panel,” Weimer added. 

At the second location in the town of Hickman, just east of Modesto, a 500-foot stretch of canal that is 110 feet wide will also be covered using cable suspension. 

Weimer says the biggest hurdle is devising a viable and cost effective way to engineer the mounting techniques. There are also concerns about the canopies obstructing access to canals for maintenance. 

The concept, if successful and scaled up, could potentially help California reach its climate goals and provide water and energy solutions to a state that has long suffered from severe drought. Weimer says using land the electric utility already owns for solar infrastructure could significantly cut costs. 

“We have renewable energy requirements. We are going to need more and more renewables to meet our 2030 and 2045 goals. And so this could potentially be an option for us to scale up. We have 250 miles of canals. So we’re interested in studying this in a very small section,” Weimer said. 

Groundbreaking on the project is anticipated for early 2023, and the project is expected to be completed in 2024. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Bank of America announces measures to boost Black, Hispanic homeownership

Bank of America has announced a new effort aimed at bolstering homeownership ​​opportunities in Black and Latino communities, with plans to offer zero down payment and zero closing cost mortgage options in certain neighborhoods.

The bank said the new options, announced this week, will be offered in Black and Latino neighborhoods in Charlotte, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles and Miami, as well other markets.

Bank of America says its effort, dubbed the Community Affordable Loan Solution, is targeted at helping “eligible individuals and families obtain an affordable loan to purchase a home.”

As part of the new rollout, the bank said the program will use “credit guidelines based on factors such as timely rent, utility bill, phone and auto insurance payments,” and will not require “mortgage insurance or minimum credit score.”

“Individual eligibility is based on income and home location. Prospective buyers must complete a homebuyer certification course provided by select Bank of America and HUD-approved housing counseling partners prior to application,” the bank said.

The announcement follows years of data documenting glaring disparities in the housing market.

Earlier this year, a report released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) found the homeownership rate for Black Americans in 2020 was lower than it was a decade before, even as the nation’s overall homeownership rate saw a record annual increase.

Data from the Urban Institute also shows troubling racial differences in mortgage denial rates, with Black and Latino households bearing the brunt of the burden. According to the think tank, nearly a fourth of Black homebuyers were denied mortgages in 2020, compared to 18 percent of Latino households.

In a statement accompanying the bank’s recent announcement, AJ Barkley, head of neighborhood and community lending for the bank, discussed how homeownership, which advocates have described as a critical tool used to build wealth in America, can strengthen communities.

“Our Community Affordable Loan Solution will help make the dream of sustained homeownership attainable for more Black and Hispanic families, and it is part of our broader commitment to the communities that we serve,” Barkley said.

Source: TEST FEED1

Congress has at last responded to the climate crisis — now the action moves to the states

For state officials, opportunity has been knocking for years. Now it’s banging on their doors. 

This is the opportunity to become leaders in the clean energy economy and reap its many benefits — whether it’s building innovative industries around clean technology and sustainable business, launching legions of well-paying jobs, improving air quality and public health or bringing energy cost-savings to businesses and households alike. 

Over the last decade, several states have already moved to seize this chance. California, Washington, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Illinois and others are aggressively building out a clean energy economy through robust anti-pollution goals and clean energy investments that have put them at the forefront of U.S. climate policy. It’s been a vital demonstration of leadership on climate action, especially as the federal government languished for too long. But it has also been smart economic development policy, putting the states in prime position to support new industries and deliver for their residents and businesses. 

Now that the federal government has at last joined the party by passing the Inflation Reduction Act, state governments have every incentive to increase their own ambitions and leverage the financial and technical support offered by the historic package. 

The IRA is a $370 billion national investment in everything from clean power energy and transmission lines to electric vehicle supply chains, innovative home appliances, new industrial processes and sustainable farming practices. How states respond to its passage will help determine whether we will meet our national climate goals — and whether the states themselves are leaving money on the table or positioning themselves to realize the biggest rewards of the shift to a clean energy economy. 

State policymakers are essential to ensuring the IRA meets its vast potential. 

First, the new law includes a number of investments that the states must deploy themselves. These include billions of dollars for state-run programs to help consumers make energy efficiency improvements, strengthen conservation programs, establish clean energy and pollution reduction plans for rural and disadvantaged communities, and develop more ambitious standards to reduce pollution from buildings and technology. States owe it to themselves to accept and use these funds, and to ask for technical support to ensure the resources are deployed in the most effective, fair and forward-looking manner possible. 

Additionally, many of the larger-scale investments in the IRA will require states’ help to facilitate their success. Governors, state legislatures, utility regulators, and other policymakers must establish a policy environment that harnesses the federal law. This will include making prudent decisions about permitting, siting and energy resources that allow projects to move forward quickly but equitably, while signaling to industry that their state is open for business.  

Finally, states must take up the mantle of the IRA. While the IRA is expected to help the U.S. achieve a 40 percent reduction in climate pollution by 2030, it does not fully meet the national goal of 50 percent. Making up the difference will require more action at all levels of government. And with the new federal investments creating even stronger tailwinds, leading states now have plenty of reason to increase their ambition even more. States that have lagged behind can now confidently move to make up ground by adopting strong climate targets and clean energy policies. 

This work isn’t just about growing the clean energy industry. Increasingly, businesses across all sectors want to invest in places that make it easier to access clean energy and zero-emissions transportation options, so they can meet their own climate goals and control their costs. That’s why so many companies fought for and supported the IRA — more than 2,900 businesses of all sizes, representing every industry and totaling more than 400 million global employees, advocated for the package of federal investments — and why they continue to push for strong state policies across the U.S. 

Given the polarization of politics over the last decade, it may be hard to imagine some states taking strong climate action today. But economic growth is a bipartisan goal. As the IRA takes hold and its investments surge across the country, it will be far more difficult to imagine states failing to capitalize on what promises to be one of the most game-changing and innovative industrial periods in U.S. history. 

Alli Gold Roberts is the senior director of state policy at the sustainability nonprofit Ceres. 

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Oath Keepers' lawyer arrested and charged in connection to Capitol riot

An attorney for the right-wing Oath Keepers group was arrested and charged on Thursday in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to federal prosecutors.

Kellye SoRelle, 43, was charged on four counts: conspiracy, obstruction of justice, obstruction of an official proceeding and entering restricted grounds. She was arrested in Junction, Texas.

SoRelle was photographed with Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes outside of the Capitol during the riot, according to CNN. Rhodes and several other members of the Oath Keepers are charged with seditious conspiracy. Their trial begins later this month.

SoRelle will appear in court in Austin, Texas, later on Thursday, prosecutors said.

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Rick Scott on 'strategic disagreement' with McConnell: 'We have great candidates'

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), is acknowledging his “strategic disagreement” with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) over the GOP’s battle to take control of the upper chamber in the midterm elections.

“Sen. McConnell and I clearly have a strategic disagreement here … We have great candidates,” Scott told Politico in an interview on Wednesday, which was published Thursday. “He wants to do the same thing I want to do: I want to get a majority. And I think it’s important that we’re all cheerleaders for our candidates.”

Scott’s comments follow remarks McConnell made last month, when the GOP leader said Republicans have a better chance of flipping the House than the Senate, citing concerns over “candidate quality.”

“I think there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate. Senate races are just different — they’re statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome,” McConnell told reporters in Kentucky.

“Right now, we have a 50-50 Senate and a 50-50 country, but I think when all is said and done this fall, we’re likely to have an extremely close Senate, either our side up slightly or their side up slightly,” McConnell added.

The “candidate quality” comment was interpreted as a veiled reference to GOP nominees for Senate who are backed by former President Trump and have struggled to pull ahead of their Democratic opponents in recent polls. The group includes Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, Herschel Walker in Georgia, Blake Masters in Arizona and J.D. Vance in Ohio.

On Monday, however, McConnell aired a more optimistic tone, telling reporters in Kentucky — after he hosted a fundraiser for Oz, Walker and Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), who is running for Senate in North Carolina — that the candidates have “a good chance of winning” their races.

Specifically on Oz, who has been at the center of a number of controversies, McConnell said he has “great confidence” in the candidate, adding “I think Oz has a great shot at winning” in his race against Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D).

Scott argued to Politico that hurling “trash talk” at GOP candidates will hurt the party’s chances of winning in November and impair its ability to fundraise.

“If you trash talk our candidates … you hurt our chances of winning, and you hurt our candidates’ ability to raise money,” Scott said. “I know they’re good candidates, because I’ve been talking to them and they’re working their butts off.”

In an op-ed posted to the Washington Examiner on Thursday, Scott said criticizing candidates shows “contempt for the voters” who put them on the ticket.

Scott’s jabs at McConnell over midterm candidates are not his first clash with the Republican leader.

In February, the NRSC chair released a memo outlining his vision for a Republican agenda should the GOP take control of the Senate come November. Among the tenets in the 31-page document was finishing the wall on the southern border and naming it after Trump, and requiring that all Americans pay some income tax.

McConnell distanced himself from the agenda, telling reporters at a press conference “We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and sunsets Social Security and Medicare within five years.”

“That will not be part of the Republican Senate majority agenda,” he added.

The Senate leader has instead sought to cast the midterms as a referendum on President Biden.

The newest disagreement between McConnell, who controls a massive campaign bank account, and Scott, who is tasked with leading campaign strategy, comes at a particularly precarious moment for Republicans, whose odds of flipping the Senate in November appear to be dimming.

Historically speaking, the party that does not control the White House typically picks up seats in the midterm elections. But according to FiveThirtyEight, Democrats have better than 2 to 1 odds to win the upper chamber over Republicans.

Source: TEST FEED1