According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, Wyoming reported a single case of the virus on Monday, becoming the final state in the country to do so.
In a news release, the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) said the lone virus case is from a male resident in Laramie County, adding that state public health representatives have followed up with the infected individual to see if other residents had direct contact with him.
“Because monkeypox spreads through close, intimate contact we do not believe the risk for the virus is now a higher concern for the local community or for most people in Wyoming,” said Alexia Harrist, a state health officer and state epidemiologist. “Monkeypox does not spread easily like familiar viruses such as influenza or COVID-19.”
Harrist also said getting vaccinated is the best way to “prevent further spread” of the virus.
“While anyone can become ill with monkeypox, vaccine eligibility is currently limited to people who are at highest risk in connection with this outbreak and how its spreading,” she said. “The goal is to put available vaccine supplies to the best possible use.”
As of Monday, there are 15,433 reported cases of monkeypox in the U.S, with New York leading the way with nearly 3,000 reported cases, followed by California, Florida, Texas and Georgia, CDC data showed.
Recently, the Department of Human and Health Services officially declared monkeypox a public health emergency in the U.S.
The Biden administration, which has faced criticism for its slow response to the outbreak, plans to accelerate the production of the monkeypox vaccine by making an additional 1.8 million doses available starting this week.
Former President Trump on Monday said a lawsuit filed by his legal team against the U.S. government calls for the Justice Department to stop reviewing documents he says were “illegally” obtained during an FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago property, which he referred to as a “break-in.”
“We have just filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida strongly asserting my rights, including under the Fourth Amendment of our Constitution, regarding the unnecessary, unwarranted, and unAmerican Break-In by dozens of FBI agents, and others, of my home, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida,” Trump said.
Trump reiterated in his statement the claim that the FBI prevented his legal team from observing the search, a claim his attorney Christina Bobb has also made. Trump has also claimed the agents broke into his personal safe — accusing law enforcement in the statement Monday of using a “safe cracker” — and seized documents “covered by attorney-client and executive privilege,” protections that allow some communications to remain private.
“We are now demanding that the Department of ‘Justice’ be instructed to immediately STOP the review of documents illegally seized from my home,” Trump said shortly after a legal motion was filed in the Southern District of Florida.
“The wrongful, overbroad warrant was signed by a Magistrate Judge who recused himself just two months ago, from a MAJOR civil suit that I filed, because of his bias and animus toward me,” Trump said of the recently-unsealed search warrant executed by the FBI.
Unsealed documents suggest investigators are looking into the former president’s potential violations of the Espionage Act and other laws through the mishandling of documents kept at Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House.
Trump noted Monday that his team is “taking all actions necessary to get the documents back,” so that he can give them to the National Archives “until they are required for the future Donald J. Trump Presidential Library and Museum.”
Trump and the National Archives have been at odds for much of this year after the agency accused Trump of destroying White House documents that were meant to be preserved. While Trump continues to claim that all the documents seized by the FBI were declassified, it’s possible he did not follow any proper protocols to do so. Some of the documents seized were so highly classified that some legal experts said it’s not possible for anyone to declassify them, even a president.
The federal magistrate judge reviewing whether to release the affidavit that that led to the approval of the search warrant on Trump’s home also said Monday that while he believes public interest favors releasing the document, redactions prosecutors could make it “meaningless.”
The order from Judge Bruce Reinhart expands on an order from the bench given last week that gave the Justice Department until Thursday to propose redactions it says are necessary to protect its ongoing investigation of the former president.
We hate to discourage you from taking your next vacation, but scientists from Japan say their research suggests that dogs’ eyes well up with tears when they reunite with their owners following some time apart.
Today in health care, Anthony Fauci made some big news on his plans to step down, and Republicans say that won’t stop them from investigating him next year.
Welcome to Overnight Health Care, where we’re following the latest moves on policy and news affecting your health. For The Hill, we’re Peter Sullivan, Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.
Fauci to leave Biden administration in December
Big news for an August Monday: Anthony Fauci is stepping down in December.
While I am moving on from my current positions, I am not retiring,” Fauci said in a statement Monday. “After more than 50 years of government service, I plan to pursue the next phase of my career while I still have so much energy and passion for my field.”
Fauci, 81, has led the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases for 38 years and has advised every president since Ronald Reagan.
In a statement, President Biden praised Fauci as a dedicated public servant with a “steadying hand” who helped guide the country through some of “the most dangerous and challenging” public health crises.
Fauci has been at the forefront of every new and re-emerging infectious disease threat the country has faced over the past four decades, including HIV/AIDS, West Nile virus, the 2001 anthrax attacks, pandemic influenza, Ebola and Zika, and most recently the COVID-19 pandemic.
Political clashes: Fauci has clashed repeatedly with Republicans in Congress, who are eagerly floating investigations into the Biden administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic if they win back control of the House or Senate in November’s midterm elections.
Fauci’s fiercest clashes have come from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a libertarian ophthalmologist who has repeatedly antagonized Fauci over the benefits of masks, vaccinations and the origins of COVID-19.
Congressional Republicans are vowing to keep investigating Anthony Fauci even after he steps down from his government roles at the end of the year.
What they’re saying:
“Retirement can’t shield Dr. Fauci from congressional oversight,” House Oversight and Reform Committee ranking member James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a statement. Comer would likely become the chair of the committee in a Republican majority.
“Fauci’s resignation will not prevent a full-throated investigation into the origins of the pandemic. He will be asked to testify under oath regarding any discussions he participated in concerning the lab leak,” tweeted Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has gotten into heated exchanges with Fauci during Senate hearings and is in line to become chairman of the Senate Health Committee if Republicans win the majority in the upper chamber.
“In January, a GOP Congress should hold Fauci fully accountable for his dishonesty, corruption, abuse of power, and multiple lies under oath,” tweeted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). “Never in our nation’s history has one arrogant bureaucrat destroyed more people’s lives.”
Fauci became the public face of the federal government’s COVID-19 response, but he also became a top target of Republicans. He publicly disagreed with former President Trump over the level of threat the virus posed and unproven treatments, and he was among the leading voices calling for mitigation measures.
HALF OF MEN IN STUDY REDUCED SEXUAL ACTIVITY DUE TO MONKEYPOX
Roughly half of men who have sex with men have reported reducing their number of sexual partners and encounters in response to the monkeypox outbreak, according to a survey released on Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Forty-eight percent of the poll’s participants said they reduced their number of sexual partners, 50 percent reduced their number of one-time sexual encounters and
49 percent said they had reduced how much sex they had with partners they met through dating apps or sexual venues.
Public health bodies including the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have recommended that men who have sex with men consider reducing their number of sexual partners amid the ongoing monkeypox outbreak.
Instead of advising against having sex, officials have recommended that men who have sex with men practice safe sexual conduct. This includes making a visual inspection of any potential sexual partners to see if they have any possible monkeypox lesions, through which the virus is primarily spread.
While a large portion of monkeypox cases in the current outbreak are believed to have been contracted during sexual contact, the virus is not a sexually transmitted infection and can be spread through any prolonged contact with the skin, clothing or bedsheets of an infected individual.
FDA AUTHORIZES NOVAVAX COVID VACCINE FOR ADOLESCENTS
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday cleared Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in adolescents, paving the way to expand eligibility for the fourth shot available in the United States.
The two-dose regimen utilizes protein-based technology previously leveraged in vaccines to combat other viruses, offering an alternative for Americans skeptical of Pfizer and Moderna’s mRNA technology.
Providers can begin administering the vaccine to people aged 12 through 17 after a sign off from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has already authorized the vaccine’s use for adults. The two doses are given three weeks apart.
The FDA granted emergency use for adolescents after the company said its trial of 2,247 adolescents showed a primary efficacy of 78 percent.
“Having more vaccine options for use in both adults and adolescents, like the Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine, Adjuvanted will hopefully help increase vaccination rates, particularly as we prepare for ongoing surges of COVID-19 with the start of fall and the back-to-school season,” Novavax President Stanley Erck said in a statement.
Novavax conducted the trial last year, when the Delta variant was predominantly circulating in the United States. The White House has continued urging Americans to get vaccinated and boosted amid the spread of the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of omicron, but questions remain as to how the mutations could impact the vaccine’s efficacy.
Pfizer submits application for COVID-19 vaccine booster
Pfizer said Monday that it has submitted its application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for an updated COVID-19 vaccine targeting the omicron subvariant currently circulating.
What’s to come: The application comes ahead of a fall booster shot campaign. Assuming the FDA signs off, the shots are expected to begin in September.
The application, per instructions previously given by FDA, is for a “bivalent” vaccine that targets the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of omicron currently circulating, as well as the original form of the virus.
The company said that, following FDA guidance, it had submitted clinical data from a slightly different vaccine, targeting the BA.1 strain of omicron, as well as more preliminary data from the BA.4/BA.5 vaccine itself.
The big question: It remains unclear how many people will get the new boosters, despite the potential for a surge of COVID-19 over the fall and winter, given that uptake for the first booster shot has been lagging.
Only about half of people who got the first two shots received the first booster shot, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
Cuban American business leaders linked to a bipartisan immigration advocacy group on Monday denounced Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez’s (R) suggestion that the state should ship Cuban migrants to Delaware.
The business leaders, who hold executive or advisory positions at the American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC), were angered by an interview given in Spanish by Nuñez last week, where she proposed the relocation scheme to President Biden’s home state.
“Lieutenant Governor Nuñez’s suggestion of bussing recently arrived migrants from Florida to Delaware is deeply insensitive to those who had to escape murderous socialist dictatorships and have sought refugee in our state, especially Cubans, Venezuelans, and Nicaraguans,” said ABIC Action Florida State Director Samuel Vilchez Santiago in a statement.
Nuñez’s statement was especially incendiary in Florida, which has a long history of receiving migrants fleeing repressive regimes, particularly from Cuba.
Asked about Cuban migration at the U.S.-Mexico border by Agustín Acosta of “Cada Tarde,” Nuñez said “the place where they want to arrive is Florida, there’s no doubt about it.”
Though Nuñez later recognized that states have no jurisdiction over immigration, she cautioned that the government of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) would not remain “with its arms crossed.”
“He’s going to send them, very frankly, to the state of Delaware, the president’s state,” said Nuñez.
In suggesting shipping migrants north, Nuñez toed the Republican line, as the party has celebrated Texas and Arizona GOP Govs. Greg Abbott and Doug Ducey, respectively, for their migrant bussing schemes to New York City and Washington.
Nuñez’s statement was picked up in Democratic circles, with Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried — who is running in the state’s Democratic gubernatorial primary — calling on DeSantis to disavow the remarks.
“The accusations surrounding the Lt. Governor’s interview are a political hitjob and inaccurate,” DeSantis press secretary Bryan Griffin told The Hill.
DeSantis’s campaign over the weekend also walked back Nuñez’s statements, differentiating between refugees and “those who come illegally.”
“If someone came to Miami on a raft from Cuba to escape communist repression, that person is legal bc refugee. This isn’t hard to understand,” Pushaw added.
Still, the interview left little doubt that Acosta and Nuñez were specifically discussing Cuban migrants.
In the interview, Acosta compared current Cuban migration to the Mariel boatlift of 1980 and the 1994 Cuban rafter crisis, when according to his numbers, 165,000 Cubans made it to Florida shores.
“The [Border] Patrol says that from Oct. 1 to now, until July 31, 180,000 Cubans have entered, or the sum of Mariel plus [the rafter crisis] and we’re still short,” said Acosta.
“We’re still short, you are absolutely right,” responded Nuñez.
While the United States does have a refugee program, it does not apply to Cuban nationals who arrive in Florida by sea, although those individuals can stake an asylum claim once they are on U.S. territory.
As a general rule, refugee status is granted to foreign nationals outside of U.S. territory, while any foreign national within the United States can claim asylum at any time, citing a fear of persecution upon return to their homeland.
Migration from Cuba has risen significantly over the past year, with nationals of the communist island taking both sea and land routes to arrive in the United States.
According to the Coast Guard, nearly 4,500 Cubans have been intercepted at sea in 2022, compared to only 838 in 2021.
And border apprehensions of migrants from beyond the United States’ closest neighbors — Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras — have increased significantly in recent months.
In July, for instance, nearly half of all apprehensions at the border were conducted on individuals from countries beyond Mexico and Central America, including 20,099 apprehensions of Cubans and 17,651 of Venezuelans.
The bulk of migrants bussed north by border states have been asylum applicants apprehended by border authorities and released pending resolution of their cases.
To apply for asylum, foreign nationals must make contact with U.S. border or immigration officials and state a fear of returning to their place of origin; a majority of undocumented immigrants who are processed at the border and released go through that process.
Foreign nationals who arrive to the United States by sea — or those who evade apprehension at the border — and do not make an asylum claim are technically undocumented immigrants.
Still, the confusion over whom Nuñez proposed to ship to Delaware did not mitigate the ire of the ABIC members.
“Employers across the country are facing a devastating labor shortage that contributes to rising inflation and creates supply chain bottlenecks. We don’t need politicians creating a crisis that will stunt our recovery simply to score political points right before an election off the backs of vulnerable asylum seekers, most of whom come from Cuba and Venezuela,” said Mike Fernández, co-chair of ABIC Action.
“Cubans, and more recently Venezuelans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and others, are part of a proud legacy of new immigrants building Florida into an economic powerhouse. Those who arrived recently are no different,” added Fernández.
window.loadAnvato({“mcp”:”LIN”,”width”:”100%”,”height”:”100%”,”video”:”7926961″,”autoplay”:false,”expect_preroll”:true,”pInstance”:”p1″,”plugins”:{“comscore”:{“clientId”:”6036439″,”c3″:”thehill.com”,”version”:”5.2.0″,”useDerivedMetadata”:true,”mapping”:{“c3″:”thehill.com”,”ns_st_st”:”hill”,”ns_st_pu”:”Nexstar”,”ns_st_ge”:”TheHill.com”,”cs_ucfr”:””}},”dfp”:{“adTagUrl”:”https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?sz=1×1000&iu=/5678/nx.thehill/news/landing&ciu_szs=300×250&impl=s&gdfp_req=1&env=vp&output=vmap&unviewed_position_start=1&ad_rule=1&description_url=https://thehill.com/homenews/feed/&cust_params=vid%3D7926961%26pers_cid%3Dunknown%26vidcat%3D/news%26bob_ck%3D[bob_ck_val]%26d_code%3D271%2C272%2C273%2C275%2C253%2C278%2C176%2C256%2C257%2C308%2C307%2C289%2C288%2C290%2C298%2C278%2C176%2C294%2C292%2C287%2C291%2C289%2C288%2C283%2C282%2C284%2C287%2C286%2C308%2C300%2C302%2C305%2C307%2C263%2C260%2C268%2C249%2C245%2C904%2C298%2C294%2C295%2C292%2C290%2C291%26pagetype%3Dsubindex%26hlmeta%3Dhomenews”},”segmentCustom”:{“script”:”https://segment.psg.nexstardigital.net/anvato.js”,”writeKey”:”7pQqdpSKE8rc12w83fBiAoQVD4llInQJ”,”pluginsLoadingTimeout”:12}},”expectPrerollTimeout”:8,”accessKey”:”q261XAmOMdqqRf1p7eCo7IYmO1kyPmMB”,”token”:”eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ2aWQiOiI3OTI2OTYxIiwiaXNzIjoicTI2MVhBbU9NZHFxUmYxcDdlQ283SVltTzFreVBtTUIiLCJleHAiOjE2NjEyMTY5MDV9.t_UGSgKVYGPDJ0B6hKS_byexHzSBvUMEe2t87kLzVjM”,”nxs”:{“mp4Url”:”https://tkx.mp.lura.live/rest/v2/mcp/video/7926961?anvack=q261XAmOMdqqRf1p7eCo7IYmO1kyPmMB&token=%7E6SG7d5oBbES5PydQZVajXrloGseZvo70MQ%3D%3D”,”enableFloatingPlayer”:true},”disableMutedAutoplay”:false,”recommendations”:{“items”:[{“mcpid”:”7889503″,”title”:”Paul on veterans bill: ‘It’s not always easy to make these judgments'”,”image”:”https://h104216-fcdn.mp.lura.live/1/938892/pvw_lin/5B6/541/5B65410F8EA96E2DB93D78F2F5105D3E_2.jpg?aktaexp=2082787200&aktasgn=99816612eb73744c215ac0273c369762″,”token”:”eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ2aWQiOiI3ODg5NTAzIiwiaXNzIjoicTI2MVhBbU9NZHFxUmYxcDdlQ283SVltTzFreVBtTUIiLCJleHAiOjE2NjEyMTY5MDV9.OWWrOjKOHdBRCqzBp1kHGvpoHVxb_BEonzBbETn2N_E”,”ad_unit_path”:”/5678/nx.thehill/the_hill_tv”},{“mcpid”:”7889450″,”title”:”Andrew Yang: US needs a multi-party system”,”image”:”https://h104216-fcdn.mp.lura.live/1/938892/pvw_lin/B6D/5A6/B6D5A6916EDAD7796E888F2EAEB000B6_3.jpg?aktaexp=2082787200&aktasgn=140982e2149835a2024cf7aa993e4530″,”token”:”eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ2aWQiOiI3ODg5NDUwIiwiaXNzIjoicTI2MVhBbU9NZHFxUmYxcDdlQ283SVltTzFreVBtTUIiLCJleHAiOjE2NjEyMTY5MDV9.-JF5QuojE_8VUWgyuJ2Hi4XrR9Trm7wvB0wO6Xs-UsY”,”ad_unit_path”:”/5678/nx.thehill/the_hill_tv”},{“mcpid”:”7734931″,”title”:”Former lieutenant colonel: New US aid unhelpful for Ukraine”,”image”:”https://h104216-fcdn.mp.lura.live/1/938892/pvw_lin/1B4/ABE/1B4ABEF975046797C557C760F062B2F2_1.jpg?aktaexp=2082787200&aktasgn=b991e2443ba415a56e377d3abdb6bd69″,”token”:”eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ2aWQiOiI3NzM0OTMxIiwiaXNzIjoicTI2MVhBbU9NZHFxUmYxcDdlQ283SVltTzFreVBtTUIiLCJleHAiOjE2NjEyMTY5MDV9.vK3x7ECXyTwfGTMLeiH7W-wVdUcPcoZFSINEhO6_464″,”ad_unit_path”:”/5678/nx.thehill/the_hill_tv”},{“mcpid”:”7726143″,”title”:”Conservative researcher says Texas social media law won’t proliferate violence”,”image”:”https://h104216-fcdn.mp.lura.live/1/938892/pvw_lin/DAD/6C4/DAD6C428E9802521E417539CB27E784F_8.jpg?aktaexp=2082787200&aktasgn=bcc0fda9a330de42fc0e9c806d0d1369″,”token”:”eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ2aWQiOiI3NzI2MTQzIiwiaXNzIjoicTI2MVhBbU9NZHFxUmYxcDdlQ283SVltTzFreVBtTUIiLCJleHAiOjE2NjEyMTY5MDV9.tcj-Et79_ugUG3EmaCQ6AfTswR_UvmvfWuzCVaNwVGw”,”ad_unit_path”:”/5678/nx.thehill/the_hill_tv”},{“mcpid”:”7708222″,”title”:”Pfizer, Moderna IN THE WORKS on Omicron vaccine”,”image”:”https://m104216-ucdn.mp.lura.live/iupl_lin/D2E/E3D/D2EE3D3F89C5A7453B551430185CC930.png?Expires=2082758400&KeyName=mcpkey1&Signature=9-KLYwgNxxO92WBIdkeBfZTWTKU”,”token”:”eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ2aWQiOiI3NzA4MjIyIiwiaXNzIjoicTI2MVhBbU9NZHFxUmYxcDdlQ283SVltTzFreVBtTUIiLCJleHAiOjE2NjEyMTY5MDV9.ugBa8eTRiU27X3GwBdM6Pzl9dBCubAE-QClXtCMsWus”,”ad_unit_path”:”/5678/nx.thehill/the_hill_tv”},{“mcpid”:”7706528″,”title”:”Watchdog group leader urges FEC to take action against liberal donor”,”image”:”https://h104216-fcdn.mp.lura.live/1/938892/pvw_lin/BC2/8B4/BC28B49D28A66CBBFF55333080486BF2_2.jpg?aktaexp=2082787200&aktasgn=24a08d4194798349a672b21ba98c8147″,”token”:”eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ2aWQiOiI3NzA2NTI4IiwiaXNzIjoicTI2MVhBbU9NZHFxUmYxcDdlQ283SVltTzFreVBtTUIiLCJleHAiOjE2NjEyMTY5MDV9.4dvS1KRSenr9AqYPnx_v_F9989uLxhfcrTYe-wttqqU”,”ad_unit_path”:”/5678/nx.thehill/the_hill_tv”},{“mcpid”:”7698327″,”title”:”UC-Irvine scholar says Biden order redeploying troops to Somalia similar to existing military policy”,”image”:”https://h104216-fcdn.mp.lura.live/1/938892/pvw_lin/924/EB4/924EB4726307FB21B59A89353D7501A7_5.jpg?aktaexp=2082787200&aktasgn=6021ccdf338dfd53dcbae2049b6ca1c0″,”token”:”eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ2aWQiOiI3Njk4MzI3IiwiaXNzIjoicTI2MVhBbU9NZHFxUmYxcDdlQ283SVltTzFreVBtTUIiLCJleHAiOjE2NjEyMTY5MDV9.yX8bu3V-SJ53SbQpV2M0_S9GoHoPDFe6h0Ht7yVe5Vo”,”ad_unit_path”:”/5678/nx.thehill/the_hill_tv”},{“mcpid”:”7691510″,”title”:”Former FDA official says parents should have warned sooner of baby formula shortage”,”image”:”https://h104216-fcdn.mp.lura.live/1/938892/pvw_lin/EB9/3E8/EB93E883C8CF777ED3ED06B7D165A01E_2.jpg?aktaexp=2082787200&aktasgn=855d40604d2bc000a9c649796da9a14c”,”token”:”eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ2aWQiOiI3NjkxNTEwIiwiaXNzIjoicTI2MVhBbU9NZHFxUmYxcDdlQ283SVltTzFreVBtTUIiLCJleHAiOjE2NjEyMTY5MDV9.mGGk37yfFfQz5UG-N4S0_35j4Of15VFf0xMUWFao-40″,”ad_unit_path”:”/5678/nx.thehill/the_hill_tv”},{“mcpid”:”7686454″,”title”:”Rolling Stone dubs Buffalo MASS SHOOTER A ‘Mainstream Republican'”,”image”:”https://m104216-ucdn.mp.lura.live/iupl_lin/31E/145/31E1452F6D61F27CA9387DE274BA188E.png?Expires=2082758400&KeyName=mcpkey1&Signature=OGhHYA2xmLlUIPOmtW6RDF8b_To”,”token”:”eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ2aWQiOiI3Njg2NDU0IiwiaXNzIjoicTI2MVhBbU9NZHFxUmYxcDdlQ283SVltTzFreVBtTUIiLCJleHAiOjE2NjEyMTY5MDV9.-ipQU0nt5rygNkCYwbNjfqLNblQs5NHGOrfjfxwzFeA”,”ad_unit_path”:”/5678/nx.thehill/the_hill_tv”},{“mcpid”:”7681946″,”title”:”Blind Spots Of The Republican Party Have SHIFTED To Democrats. Politicians Completely OUT OF TOUCH”,”image”:”https://m104216-ucdn.mp.lura.live/iupl_lin/A98/ACE/A98ACE21DE95856761AFEB983B222946.png?Expires=2082758400&KeyName=mcpkey1&Signature=56bvo9hKboBlsw-WfDxofQ70owU”,”token”:”eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ2aWQiOiI3NjgxOTQ2IiwiaXNzIjoicTI2MVhBbU9NZHFxUmYxcDdlQ283SVltTzFreVBtTUIiLCJleHAiOjE2NjEyMTY5MDV9.Z7EOh1kAXY6cXdj71xLBgw_Pkx7E2dp_hAvW96cDJ58″,”ad_unit_path”:”/5678/nx.thehill/the_hill_tv”}],”duration”:5},”expectPreroll”:true,”titleVisible”:true,”pauseOnClick”:true,”trackTimePeriod”:60,”isPermutiveEnabled”:true});
Former President Trump revved up his feud with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) over the weekend, just as Republican concerns are starting to grow about whether the party can flip the Senate red in November.
In a Truth Social statement on Saturday, Trump criticized McConnell, whom he labeled a “broken down hack politician,” for recent remarks about certain GOP Senate candidates, before taking a swipe at his “crazy wife,” former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who served in the Trump administration before resigning one day after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
“Why do Republicans Senators allow a broken down hack politician, Mitch McConnell, to openly disparage hard working Republican candidates for the United States Senate,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“This is such an affront to honor and to leadership. He should spend more time (and money!) helping them get elected, and less time helping his crazy wife and family get rich on China!” he added.
The dig at Chao, who before the Trump administration served eight years as Labor secretary under former President George W. Bush, was likely a reference to her family’s shipping business, Foremost Group, which has connections to China.
The Department of Transportation inspector general previously found that Chao utilized her department staff for matters related to the family business. The watchdog referred the situation to the Justice Department, which declined to investigate Chao.
Trump is using the more than year-old news as fodder for his latest attack on McConnell, Chao’s husband of 29 years, continuing his crusade against the longtime Republican leader, who he has taunted since he first ran for president in 2016.
But the latest iteration of the clash comes at a particularly precarious moment for the Republican Party, which is fighting tooth and nail to take control of the Senate as the once high odds of a GOP takeover have seemingly dwindled in recent weeks.
Trump’s statement on Saturday came shortly after that recent prognosis.
But it’s not the first time Trump has targeted an elected official’s spouse.
During the 2016 GOP primary, Trump threatened to “spill the beans” on the wife of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who he was running against, in response to a campaign ad — which had no known connection to Cruz — that featured his wife, Melania Trump.
Trump has even gone after the spouse of one of his own advisers when he called George Conway, the husband of Kellyanne Conway, “a total loser” and the “husband from hell” after George Conway suggested Trump was not fit to serve as president.
In Kentucky last week, McConnell told reporters that the House has a better chance of flipping red than the Senate, concluding that the final breakdown of the upper chamber after the November races will be “very tight.”
“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 said, according to NBC News.
Republican strategist Scott Jennings, who previously worked with McConnell, said Trump’s statement on Saturday is another example of the former president putting himself at the center of a race, which in turn negatively impacts the party.
“If Donald Trump has invaded your messaging calendar for the day to grind some ax against Mitch McConnell, or to make everybody think that the Republicans are fighting each other, then you’ve lost the day,” Jennings told The Hill.
Democrats are currently favored to win control of the Senate over Republicans in November, 63 percent to 37 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight.
McConnell’s mention of “candidate quality” was a veiled reference to Trump-backed Senate candidates in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia and Arizona who have struggled to pull ahead of their Democratic opponents in recent polls, causing concern for Republicans who are looking to take control of the 50-50 Senate.
Those GOP nominees — namely Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania and Herschel Walker in Georgia — have also been caught up in various scandals and controversies, further tarnishing their candidacies as the year inches closer to November.
But McConnell is still helping some of those candidates get elected regardless of his stated worries in an attempt to win control of the chamber and once again crown himself majority leader.
Last week, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund was spending $28 million on television and radio ads for “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance, who is running against Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) in the Buckeye State.
And McConnell has endorsed Walker in his bid against Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).
With Senate control hanging in the balance and Republicans hell-bent on tipping the upper chamber in their direction, GOP strategists say Trump’s recent criticism of McConnell is not helpful for the party as it works toward the midterm elections.
“Republicans should be focused on essentially three things: inflation, rising crime and the situation at the border. Any time that is spent off of those three issues, Republicans aren’t on offense,” strategist Doug Heye, who previously served as communications director of the Republican National Committee, told The Hill.
“And when they’re fighting amongst themselves because Trump has inserted himself yet again into the conversation, it doesn’t help any of those candidates remind voters of why they should be running in the first place,” he added.
Jennings, the GOP strategist who is a partner at RunSwitch Public Relations, said he believes Trump’s statement is an attempt to pre-but his hand-picked candidates’ losses as they struggle to pull ahead of their Democratic opponents.
“I think what’s happening in Trump World is pretty obvious — they’ve nominated a bunch of people who are all in trouble in their races, and people are starting to wonder if they can win. And he’s trying to pre-put their losses by blaming anybody but himself,” Jennings said.
He drew a direct contrast between Trump and McConnell.
“I would just return you to, what’s helpful for the midterm? Air cover, messaging, and McConnell is providing both. What’s unhelpful for the midterm? In-fighting and putting Donald Trump’s 2020 election grievances at the center of his, of your strategy,” Jennings said.
A plurality of U.S. parents lack confidence that public schools will have sufficient staffing for the upcoming academic year, according to a NBC News poll released on Monday.
The survey found that 41 percent of parent respondents are not confident that their children’s public schools will have enough teachers and staff to be available for their student’s needs. Thirty-three percent say they have “some” confidence, while only around a quarter report feeling “quite a bit” or “a great deal” of confidence on the issue.
Thirty-one percent of female respondents and only 19 percent of male ones are very confident in staffing situations.
Fifty-four percent of respondents raising children under the age of 18 showed confidence in their public school system handling the staffing shortage, while 25 percent of respondents showed a lack of confidence in the matter.
Parents are facing a raft of worries as another school year kicks off, ranging from lingering worries about the coronavirus pandemic to increased focus on school shootings.
Thirty percent of respondents said they have confidence their children’s public school will be prepared for an active shooter situation, while 33 percent of those surveyed said they have little to no confidence.
The NBC News poll was conducted from August 12 to August 16 with a total of 1000 respondents participating in the survey. The poll’s margin of error is 3.10 points.
Republicans at the national and state level are targeting environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing. Also, a new study has a warning on marine life, and a Senate candidate has a… fresh perspective on climate change.
This is Overnight Energy & Environment, your source for the latest news focused on energy, the environment and beyond. For The Hill, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.
Republicans go after environmental investing rules
A groundswell of Republicans in states across the U.S. are waging a war against environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, framing the fight against the economic strategy as a stance against what they call liberal policies interfering in the free market.
Prominent GOP figures including former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, both potential 2024 contenders, have latched onto the issue.
What is ESG? ESG investing requires investors to make capital decisions based not only on likely financial return, but also with an eye on the company’s impact on the environment, wider society and its own employees.
The state perspective: But so have state-level Republicans, who are implementing restrictions that blacklist certain firms from doing business with their state, usually because of what they perceive as unfavorable stances toward an industry that is the main driver of the global crisis of climate change: fossil fuel.
“I am leading the charge on this, but there is an army behind me,” West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore said in an interview with The Hill.
In July, Moore barred five of the largest banks in the country, including BlackRock and Goldman Sachs, from receiving state banking contracts. He says the banks are involved in “boycotts of fossil fuel companies” — a notion both companies denied.
Goldman touted in a letter to the state that month the more than $118 billion it had given to fossil fuel companies since 2016. A Blackrock spokesperson told The Hill the bank does not boycott energy companies.
“We disagree with Treasurer Moore’s determination,” the spokesperson said. “We do not pursue divestment from sectors and industries as a policy.”
The other side: Climate activists are quick to point out that the banks continue to be major financial backers of fossil fuels. Ben Cushing, campaign manager of the Sierra Club’s Fossil-Free Finance campaign, said “Wall Street is the largest center of fossil fuel financing in the world.”
Cushing characterized the front against ESG investing as the GOP realizing that the free market is moving away from fossil fuels, with coal and oil company-backed politicians trying to stop the trend.
“This bizarre notion that banks are ‘boycotting’ fossil fuels is really just a talking point cooked up by right wing politicians and the fossil fuel industry to prevent the free market from moving against them,” Cushing said.
Marine species at risk of extinction from emissions
Maintaining the status quo for greenhouse gas emissions could risk the extinction of up to 90 percent of marine species, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Researchers, led by ecologist Daniel Boyce of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Nova Scotia, looked at some 25,000 species, including animals, plants, protozoans and bacteria. Under a high-emission scenario, they determined that nearly 90 percent of those species will be at high-to-critical risk across 85 percent of their distribution. This scenario involves an increase of 3 to 5 degrees Celsius in global ocean temperatures by the end of the century.
About 10 percent of the ocean overall features ecosystems that are considered high-risk based on a combination of endemism, climate risk and the threat of local species’ extinction, according to the study.
And that’s not all: In addition to the threat this poses to biodiversity around the planet, the results of the study present a major threat to people in the global south, with the biggest danger to species native to low-income countries that rely heavily on fisheries in the tropics and subtropics, according to Boyce and his colleagues.
Meanwhile, reduced emissions — those consistent with the Paris Climate Agreement’s goals of keeping warming below 2 degrees — would cut the risk for about 98.2 percent of the analyzed species, according to the study.
The analysis is based on a combination of 12 climate risk factors. Boyce and his team grouped them under the broader categories of sensitivity, exposure and adaptivity.
Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker (R) reiterated his opposition to Democrats’ climate, health care and taxes bill over the weekend, arguing that too much of the money is “going to trees.”
“They continue to try to fool you like they are helping you out. But they’re not. They’re not helping you out because a lot of money, it’s going to trees,” Walker said, according to a clip of his remarks that was shared with The Hill.
He instead called for spending more money on law enforcement and complained about funding for the IRS.
The legislation, which has nearly $370 billion in spending on climate and energy programs and was signed into law by President Biden last week, puts $1.5 billion toward the Urban and Community Forestry Assistance program, which plants trees in urban areas.
Experts say that planting trees can improve both climate change and health outcomes when planted in urban spaces.
“If you were to plant millions of trees, which is what many countries want to do … we’d be removing a significant amount of carbon,” said Paul Falkowski, a professor at Rutgers University in the Earth and planetary sciences and marine and coastal sciences departments.
“Urban tree planting is very, very productive in the sense that it increases the trade, it increases the flux of moisture in the local environment, which decreases the temperature,” Falkowski added.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law last week that requires museums to acknowledge if any piece of art was looted by the Nazis.
The law requires museums to immediately put up a placard disclosing if art on display was stolen by the Nazis from Jews during WWII.
During the second world war, the Nazis looted and removed artwork across Europe targeting Jewish homes and collections that did not fit the image of the Third Reich.
Museums in New York state are now required to disclose if any of their artwork or artifacts were stolen in Europe by the Nazis.
The change comes after Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a legislative package aimed at honoring Holocaust survivors.
Other bills in the package included legislation to help improve Holocaust education in schools and another piece ordering the New York State Department of Financial Services to publish a list of financial institutions that waive fees for Holocaust reparation payments.
America is changing faster than ever!Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.
“As New Yorkers, we are united in our solemn commitment to Holocaust survivors: We will never forget,” Hochul said in a statement. “These are individuals who have endured unspeakable tragedy but nonetheless have persevered to build lives of meaning and purpose right here in New York. We owe it to them, their families, and the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust to honor their memories and ensure future generations understand the horrors of this era.”
The new law requires that New York museums immediately place a placard or sign acknowledging Nazi-looted art.
During World War 2, the Nazis looted at least 600,000 works of art from Jews, about 100,000 pieces of which are still considered missing. Some of that art is displayed in cultural centers around the world without any recognition or transparency on their origin.
One of museums with a trove of looted Nazi-looted artwork is the Louve with 1,700 pieces. The museum though is taking small steps to rectify this and is set to return at least 15 pieces of the stolen art to their rightful owners.
“With antisemitism on the rise, and Holocaust misinformation exploding around the world, it’s never been more important that we learn the lessons of the Holocaust, and ensure our next generation knows about our history, no matter how dark or difficult the conversation may be,” said New York state Assemblymember Anna Kaplan.
Social media platforms are releasing plans to weed out election misinformation ahead of the midterms. But critics warn tech companies need to do more to follow through on their commitments to keep false claims and hate speech off their platforms.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk is calling for the dismissal of a Twitter shareholder lawsuit over him trying to terminate his multibillion-dollar buyout deal, and he’s subpoenaing former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar and Ines Kagubare. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.
Critics urge tech giants to do more for 2022
Social media platforms’ plans to tackle election-related misinformation will be put to the test as congressional candidates ramp up online activity in the final months of midterm campaigns.
Since the 2020 election, mainstream platforms like Twitter and Facebook have been more liberal in applying measures to block, label and remove politicians — including their watershed decisions to suspend former President Trump’s accounts last year.
But as more politicians test the boundaries of the platforms’ rules with incendiary posts, especially after an uptick in violent rhetoric following last week’s FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, critics warn that tech companies need to do more than dust off their 2020 playbooks to follow through on their commitments to block misinformation and hate speech.
New York University researcher Laura Edelson said to get at the core of the issue, platforms need to reassess the algorithms recommending content to users.
She compared taking content down after amplifying it to a wide online audience — the approach most platforms use, and plan to use ahead of November based on their public posts — to creating a car with no brakes and only airbags.
“By the time those are useful, the car’s crashed,” she said.
Elon Musk is calling for the dismissal of a Twitter shareholder lawsuit over him trying to terminate his multibillion-dollar buyout deal — and subpoenaing the social media company’s former CEO.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO terminated the buyout deal due to what he alleged were “false and misleading representations” from Twitter during the agreement processes and the company’s failure to provide information on “the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitter’s platform,” according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
A federal magistrate judge reviewing whether to release the affidavit that pushed him to approve a warrant to search former President Trump’s home said Monday that while he believes public interest favors releasing the document, redactions could make it “meaningless.”
The order from Judge Bruce Reinhart expands on an order from the bench given last Thursday that gave the Justice Department until this Thursday to propose redactions it says are necessary to protect its ongoing investigation.
“Particularly given the intense public and historical interest in an unprecedented search of a former president’s residence, the government has not yet shown that these administrative concerns are sufficient to justify sealing,” Reinhart wrote, adding that he rejected keeping the entire affidavit under seal.
CNN anchor Jim Acosta clashed with former acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf on Sunday over his claims of election fraud.
The exchange quickly became heated as Acosta pushed Wolf, who served under former President Trump, to say whether President Biden justly won the last election.
“Who won the 2020 election?” Acosta asked after Wolf expressed concern over voter fraud and irregularities.
“Obviously Joe Biden is president,” Wolf responded.
“No, no, no,” Acosta retorted. “Do you believe that he won that election fair and square?”
Wolf again answered the question indirectly.
“Joe Biden is president,” Wolf said, adding that he didn’t have all of the evidence needed to conclude that Biden’s victory was legitimate.
Vincent, Ala., adopted an ordinance on Thursday temporarily disbanding the city’s police department after the discovery of racist texts between officers.
An unidentified officer texted a joke about a “pregnant slave” to a co-worker in June, according to Birmingham-based news site AL.com.
Vincent Mayor James Latimer (R) said at a Thursday public hearing that the police officers involved in the situation could not legally be fired because of a policy requiring two formal complaints and a verbal warning before removal.
“Based on our personnel policies, we cannot terminate them,” the mayor said.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.
For the first time in its history, Congress has passed a comprehensive climate bill. The so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that was just signed into law will make gigantic investments in low-carbon energy, making access to lower emission energy cheaper for people all over the world. What’s more, modelers expect the bill to put the United States within striking distance of its Paris Agreement emissions-cutting target of 50 percent (on 2005 levels) by 2030.
The U.S. Congress finally acting to slow the climate crisis is a really big deal. And these investments will set up a new period of U.S. climate politics, centered not on whether financing climate action is worth doing, but whether it is working.
In order to explain, it’s worth reviewing the science of how greenhouse gases heat up the planet and when global warming might stop. Paris Agreement signatories pledged to try to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) — or ideally to the safer but now essentially unachievable target of 1.5 degrees Celsius. According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), limiting warming to 2 Celsius requires global greenhouse gas emissions to reach net-zero in around 2100, with emissions peaking by 2025 and then declining steadily over the following seventy years.
Here is the crucial point: Global warming does not begin to stop until emissions reach net-zero. After that point, global temperatures should stabilize within a few years, as methane disappears from the atmosphere and the land and oceans absorb more carbon dioxide, although it would take several centuries for these natural processes alone to start cooling the Earth, as the scientist Zeke Hausfather has written in Carbon Brief. So, everything that people do on the way to net-zero — say, the United States cutting its emissions in half — merely slows down the rate at which the planet is warming. While temperature change can be stopped relatively quickly after emissions hit zero, other aspects of the climate system will unfortunately have suffered more committed or “baked-in” damage: after net-zero, melting glaciers would keep melting, and sea levels would keep rising, likely for centuries.
That’s partly because people overstate how important the U.S. is to the trajectory of the global climate: after the Senate passed the IRA on Aug. 7, the Financial Times editorial board wrote that “the planet might have a future after all,” while Paul Krugman’s New York Times op-ed asked whether Democrats had just “saved civilization”. The U.S., though, is responsible for only about 13 percent (and falling) of global greenhouse gas emissions.
But it’s also because even the most climate-conscious Americans underestimate the extent to which the effort to mitigate climate change is more of an Ironman triathlon than a marathon, let alone a sprint. The IRA contains about $400 billion in climate and energy spending over 10 years. Regardless of how effective those investments are, there is zero chance that the rate of global warming even slows down until the end of President Biden’s current term. Again, even in a best-case scenario where the climate bill helped jumpstart a global transition and put the world on track to miraculously hold warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, humans would not stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere before 2060. Until then, the fires and droughts that already have a majority of Americans worried about global warming are expected to keep getting worse.
While the climate bill gives us a running start, we know one climate package won’t be enough. What does this mean for the politics of climate change in the long term? In the U.S. debate, defenders of fossil fuels will probably switch to new rhetoric. Once denying the reality of human-caused climate change became passé, even gauche, these politicians started pointing out that other countries would simply catch a free ride on the American mitigation train. In criticizing the Green New Deal, for example, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) argued that the climate package would “tie America’s hands for no benefit, while China and our international competitors go roaring by.”
Now that the U.S. is taking action, and China’s incredible buildout of renewables has it on pace to peak emissions by 2025, climate obstructionists will have to take a new tack. “Sure, climate change made those floods worse,” they might say, “but all these expensive climate programs still aren’t worth it. It’s not just that other countries keep emitting more and more, it’s that all our emission cuts do nothing to stop floods,” floods like the ones that killed dozens in McConnell’s home state of Kentucky in early August.
In countries like Germany that have long had a serious national climate policy, such deflection of responsibility on the grounds that domestic policy “affects only 2 percent of emissions” is a common rhetorical tactic. While the IRA does not contain some of the climate policies that might be most invidious to the average consumer, such as a carbon tax, it will still lead to noticeable changes in American life as new government-subsidized wind turbines and transmission lines go up around the country.
For those who support the climate bill and climate mitigation, it will be important to emphasize that things are getting better even when they don’t seem to be. That messaging needs to start now. The day that the U.S. keeps its Paris Agreement promise and cuts emissions by half will be momentous, but not because it immediately averts a heatwave the following summer. Rather, it will be momentous because it will avoid future emissions that could have damaged the planet for generations to come.
Supporters of climate action have to be prepared for the decades-long period where climate policy and green technology gets really good, but climate impacts stay bad. In the meantime, countries can adapt so that the impacts are less harmful, and look forward to a future where net-negative emissions allow humans to start trying to put the climate genie back in the bottle.
Noah Gordon is a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace where his research focuses on climate change and energy policy.
