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Key takeaways from Cheney’s loss in Wyoming

Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-Wyo.) loss to a Trump-backed primary challenger on Tuesday marked one of the final milestones in the former president’s effort to rid the party of critics.

Cheney, one of the few House Republicans who voted last year to impeach former President Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, never let up on her criticism of the former president, arguing to the very end that he remains a threat to the rule of law and American democracy.

But her primary also offers some insights into the future of the Republican Party and where its voters stand nearly two years after Trump was ousted from the White House.

Here are five takeaways from Cheney’s race.

Trump’s grip on GOP as strong as ever

Cheney’s loss on Tuesday dashed any lingering hope among Trump’s critics that the party’s rank-and-file voters might be ready to buck the former president and chart their own path forward. 

It was also a clear reminder that, among red-state Republicans, at least, Trump’s influence remains as strong as it ever was. 

While Trump may be hundreds of miles from the White House, he has proven repeatedly that he can sway GOP voters toward his preferred candidates and away from anyone he deems disloyal. Of course, there are exceptions; Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp easily overcame a Trump-backed primary challenge, for example.

But there’s little doubt that Trump remains perhaps the single most powerful force in the modern-day GOP, a fact that bodes particularly well for him as he weighs a potential comeback bid for the White House in 2024.

Pro-impeachment Republicans are dwindling

When the 118th Congress is sworn in next year, one thing is certain: The vast majority of the Republicans who voted to impeach Trump last year won’t be there.

Of the 10 House Republicans who broke ranks to impeach the former president, four opted not to run for reelection this year, while another four — including Cheney — have been vanquished by Trump-backed challengers in their bids for renomination.

Only two have survived their primary contests: Reps. David Valadao (R-Calif.) and Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.). 

While Newhouse looks like a sure bet to win reelection this year, given his district’s strong Republican tilt, Valadao is in a much more politically precarious position. He only narrowly scraped through a June primary and is now running for a seat that got a lot bluer thanks to redistricting.

The new district lines have also landed him on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s (DCCC) 2022 target list, suggesting that he’s in for a tough fight if he wants to return to Capitol Hill next year.

And if he does win, he’ll still find himself among what is shaping up to be the most pro-Trump House Republican Conference to date.

There are limits to the anti-Trump GOP strategy

For anyone hoping that an anti-Trump Republican could put together a broad enough coalition of voters to survive his most ferocious attacks, Cheney’s defeat was a clear disappointment.

But it was also a reminder of the limits of such a strategy. Cheney’s biting criticism of Trump and his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen left her isolated and unpopular among the GOP’s conservative base. 

But her rhetoric also wasn’t enough to rally enough independents and Democrats to her cause. While many moderates may have applauded her willingness to take on the most powerful figure in the GOP, her conservative record on other issues likely made voting for her a tough pill to swallow. 

It wasn’t as if Cheney didn’t try to convince Democrats to vote for her. Earlier this summer, her campaign began offering instructions, via its website and through mailers, 

Cheney may be bruised, but she’s undaunted

Even before she conceded defeat, Cheney’s fate appeared clear. 

She never sought to make amends with Trump, nor did she seek to make the case to his supporters that she was still aligned with them. One of her closing campaign ads featured her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, railing against Trump.

Even in admitting defeat on Tuesday, Cheney was resolute in her convictions. She said that she could have won her primary had she sided with Trump in the aftermath of the 2020 election but was simply unwilling to do so.

Just as notably, her concession speech contained some potential hints about what could come next for her. She vowed to do “whatever it takes” to keep Trump from becoming president again, and she even made a reference to former President Abraham Lincoln, noting that he too lost elections before winning the White House.

That reference and Cheney’s pledge to continue her crusade against Trump and Trumpism suggest that she’s not ready to exit the political spotlight just yet – and may stir further speculation that she is weighing a White House bid of her own. 

Focus shifts to Trump’s general election appeal

Cheney’s ouster was something of a climactic moment in the drama that has been Trump’s effort to purge the GOP of his critics. She was the last pro-impeachment House Republican to face a primary this year.

With that out of the way, the focus for Trump will now shift to the November general election, when all voters — not just Republicans — will render a verdict on his endorsed candidates. 

While Wyoming’s solid Republican lean almost certainly guarantees that Hageman will become its next representative in the House, other candidates that Trump has endorsed are poised to face a much tougher fight. 

In Pennsylvania, for example, polling shows Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman with a wide lead over his Trump-backed Republican rival, celebrity physician Mehmet Oz, in the state’s hotly contested Senate race.

A similar situation is playing out in Georgia, where Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) holds an edge over former NFL star Herschel Walker, whom Trump endorsed early on in the race.

The question is whether Trump’s influence can go as far in the general elections as it did in this year’s GOP primaries. 

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Trump-backed candidate wins Wyoming secretary of state nomination

State Rep. Chuck Gray, a Trump-backed vocal proponent of the false claim that the 2020 election was marred by widespread fraud, is projected to win the Republican primary for Wyoming secretary of state, according to The Associated Press.

Gray’s primary win on Tuesday virtually guarantees that he will go on to replace retiring Secretary of State Ed Buchanan (R) next year. No Democrat filed to run for the office, giving Gray a glidepath to victory in November. 

Wyoming has no lieutenant governor, making secretary of state the second most powerful statewide office and first in the line of succession.

The secretary of state of state also oversees elections in Wyoming, as well as business licenses.

Gray defeated two other Republicans in the primary, state Sen. Tara Nethercott and lesser-known candidate Mark Armstrong. 

Helping Gray’s primary bid was the endorsement of former President Trump and his frequent insistence that the results of the 2020 presidential election were fraudulent. Last year, he traveled to Arizona to observe a partisan audit of the presidential election results. That audit reaffirmed President Biden’s victory.

Nethercott, meanwhile, aligned herself with Buchanan in insisting that the 2020 election in Wyoming was both fair and secure. 

Prior to mounting his bid for secretary of state, Gray sought to challenge Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) for her House seat after she voted last year to impeach Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. He dropped out of that contest after Trump endorsed attorney Harriet Hageman. 

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Children who live near fracking sites at birth face increased risk of leukemia: study

Pennsylvania children living near fracking sites at birth are two to three times more likely to be diagnosed with leukemia during early childhood than those who did not live near such facilities, a new study has found.

The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives on Wednesday, explored the connection between the development of cancer and proximity to such unconventional oil and gas development — also known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”

Scientists have previously reported on potential threats to residents posed by fracking, such as air pollution from vehicle emissions and construction, as well as water contamination from the drilling process or wastewater spills, according to the authors.

In addition, hundreds of chemicals — some with known or suspected cancer links — have reportedly been used in the water injection process that occurs during fracking, they added.

Yet data on the association between fracking and childhood cancer remains scarce, the researchers observed.

“Unconventional oil and gas development can both use and release chemicals that have been linked to cancer,” senior author Nicole Deziel, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, said in a statement.

As a result, Deziel continued, the possibility that children living near such sites are “exposed to these chemical carcinogens is a major public health concern.”

Deziel and her team conducted a registry-based survey — an observational study that comes from patient registries — of 405 Pennsylvania children aged 2-7, who were diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia between 2009 and 2017, according to the study.

The survey also included 2,080 control subjects matched on birth year.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common form of childhood leukemia. Although long-term survival rates are high, patients may end up at higher risk of other health problems, developmental challenges and psychological issues, the researchers said.

The authors probed the link between in-utero exposure and childhood leukemia diagnosis in two different exposure windows: a so-called “primary window” of three months preconception to one year prior to diagnosis and a “perinatal window” of preconception to birth.

Ultimately, they found that children with at least one fracking well within 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) of their birth residence during the primary window had 1.98 times the odds of developing ALL in comparison to those with no such wells.

Meanwhile, children with at least one fracking well within 2 kilometers of their birth residence during the perinatal window were 2.8 times more likely to develop ALL than their peers who had no wells nearby.

These results demonstrate that exposure to fracking sites “may be an important risk factor for ALL, particularly for children exposed in utero,” first author Cassandra Clark, a postdoctoral associate at the Yale Cancer Center, said in a statement. 

Clark and her colleagues also determined that drinking water could play an important role in exposing children to oil and gas-related chemicals.

Going forward, the researchers said they hope their findings will help inform public policy, including the regulation of “setback distances” — the required minimum distances between private residences and fracking wells.

Setback distances are under debate across the U.S., with some communities calling for these measures to be extended to more than 305 meters (1,000 feet) or as far as 1,000 meters (3,281 feet), according to the authors.

In Pennsylvania, where the study occurred, the allowable setback distance is 152 meters (500 feet).

Since fracking operations located 2 kilometers or more from residences are associated with an increased risk of ALL, Clark stressed “that existing setback distances, which may be as little as 150 feet, are insufficiently protective of children’s health.”

“We hope that studies like ours are taken into account in the ongoing policy discussion,” she added.

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Watch live: Cheney concedes Wyoming primary defeat to Hageman

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) is expected to concede defeat the night of Tuesday, Aug. 16, to challenger Harriet Hageman in Wyoming’s House Republican primary.

Cheney’s address is slated to begin at XX x.m ET.

Watch the live video above.

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Five questions about Liz Cheney's political future

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) is facing down a new political future after losing her House primary on Tuesday to Trump-endorsed lawyer Harriet Hageman.

Speculation about what the three-term congresswoman who hails from a Republican political dynasty will do once her time in Congress comes to a close has steadily grown louder, and the Wyoming Republican has not yet signaled whether she plans to throw her hat into the 2024 presidential ring.

Cheney delivered a defiant speech Tuesday night, slamming former President Trump, the movement he created and the candidates who repeat his claims about the 2020 election. It was at once a concession speech and a promise of a future in public life.

“So I ask you tonight to join me. As we leave here, let us resolve that we will stand together — Republicans, Democrats and Independents — against those who will destroy our republic,” Cheney said.

But even as she vowed to “do whatever it takes to ensure Donald Trump is never again anywhere near the Oval Office,” she gave little indication of what exactly she herself will do next.

“This primary election is over, but now the real work begins,” she said.

Here are five questions about Liz Cheney’s political future:

Does she launch a 2024 presidential campaign? 

Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, has dodged questions about a potential 2024 run, preferring to bring the conversation back to her main goal: keeping Trump out of the White House.

The Wyoming Republican could land a gig on cable television or join a think tank or pen a book, but Republican strategist Scott Jennings — who worked in the Bush-Cheney White House — says Cheney’s “next logical” step toward accomplishing that goal is a 2024 bid.

“There are things you could do, but what better platform would there be than to be running a campaign?” Jennings told The Hill in an interview.

“You can bet that if Cheney launches a campaign for president, she’s gonna, you know, the amount of coverage she will get, and the amount of media attention she will get, will far outstrip her standing in the polls,” Jennings added. “And so, it strikes me that if you’re wanting to talk to Republican audiences about what you think is an important point of view, what better way to do that and to do it in the presidential cycle?”

Logistically speaking, a Cheney White House bid is possible.

The congresswoman skyrocketed to even greater national prominence through her work as vice chair of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. She has name recognition, deep ties in the Republican Party and a sizable war chest, with $7.4 million remaining in her campaign account as of three weeks ago, according to NBC News.

And while Cheney, true to pattern, kept much of her speech Tuesday focused on Trump and Trumpism, she didn’t rule anything out for 2024.

Does she run to win the White House — or keep Trump out of it?

Insiders agree winning the 2024 GOP presidential nomination would be an uphill battle for Cheney.

Most hypothetical polls show Trump in the lead and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), a proponent of Trump’s policies, in second. And while votes are still being counted, Cheney appears to be trailing by 30 points or more.

But even with little chance of winning, Cheney may run to influence the outcome of the primary. 

“How do you define success?” Jennings said. “For her it may be less about winning the nomination and more about keeping Trump from getting the nomination. So I think it just depends on how you define success.”

Her presence would also give a voice to anti-Trump Republicans who have been largely shut out of a presidential conversation dominated by Trump and people who espouse his policies and rhetoric.

“When it comes to people that are not part of the whole MAGA movement, who are not happy with the direction that the Republican Party has gone, who are more traditional conservative Republicans, like myself, from the past, I think that Liz Cheney is a more appealing option,” said Olivia Troye, a former aide to Vice President Mike Pence.  

“I think it’s important to have someone like her be willing to continue to push back and tell the truth about what’s happening here,” she said. 

Cheney on Tuesday referenced former President Lincoln, who fought to keep the U.S. unified.

“The great and original champion of our party, Abraham Lincoln, was defeated in elections for the Senate and the House before he won the most important election of all. Lincoln ultimately prevailed, he saved our Union, and he defined our obligation as Americans for all of history,” she said.

What does she do with her time left in office? 

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol is already racing against the clock, trying to tie up its investigation within the next few months in anticipation of Republicans winning control of the chamber in November.

But before then, the panel is vowing to hold more public hearings and present additional information to bolster its argument that Trump was at the center of a scheme to keep himself in power — presentations that Cheney will likely play a large role in.

“We’re not winding down right now,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) told reporters in the Capitol last month. “It’s been amazing to see, kind of, the flurry of people coming forward, so it’s not the time to wind it down.”

Cheney has played a central role in the committee’s previous hearings, delivering opening and closing statements and questioning witnesses appearing live before the panel.

And she has not shied away from criticizing Trump or her GOP colleagues during those presentations — a practice she will likely continue, if not ramp up, in the remaining months of her term.

Republican strategist Doug Heye told The Hill that whatever path Cheney takes after her primary defeat, she will make sure she remains a vocal presence in American politics, beginning with her work on the committee.

“What’s clear is that her voice isn’t going to go anywhere,” Heye said. “And that will start with, you know, the next hearings on Jan. 6, and then we’ll continue in whatever form she decides to take them in.

What kind of support does she have for future moves?

Cheney may have lost her primary but she still has a vast nationwide network of supporters and donors who could be of help for any future political moves she might make. 

The congresswoman broke her own record in the first quarter of the year, bringing in close to $3 million, and followed that up with a whopping $2.9 million in the second quarter.

In addition to grassroots donations, Cheney raked in money from notable Republican and Democratic donors across the country including former President George W. Bush, his former adviser Karl Rove, film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, and billionaire hedge fund manager Seth Klarman. 

However, in a Republican presidential primary, Cheney would need to appeal to a Republican primary base. And she may not be the only anti-Trump Republican in the field. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has repeatedly been floated as a potential 2024 GOP hopeful and has yet to rule out a run. 

“I think it will be important for them to navigate how they will reach more moderate voters,” Troye said. 

“These are longtime, respected Republican figures,” she continued. “And their voices can reach an audience in a way that many can’t.” 

What could she do besides run for president? 

While a 2024 presidential bid is the most talked-about possibility for Cheney, there are other avenues the congresswoman can pursue as she looks to continue her crusade against Trump.

One would be joining the cable news circuit as a commentator or analyst, which would give the congresswoman a sizable platform to take on the former president and denounce his false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

That route is a popular one for former lawmakers. Ex-Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who was unseated by then-Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley (R) in 2018, joined NBC News and MSNBC months after the race as a political analyst, and former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) was hired by Fox News as a contributor one day after he resigned from the House in 2017.

Cheney could also join a think tank or form her own PAC, as Kinzinger, who is not running for reelection this November, has done.

Kinzinger — another top Trump critic and Cheney’s fellow Republican on the Jan. 6 panel — launched a PAC, titled “Country First,” as a movement to challenge the GOP’s embrace of Trump.

Another option for Cheney is writing a book, a popular move for top figures leaving Washington. After bowing out of running for a third term in 2020, former Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), who criticized Trump on a number of occasions, penned a book titled “American Reboot: An Idealist’s Guide to Getting Big Things Done.”

While it remains unknown what Cheney will choose for her next act, Jennings says the congresswoman likely has a plan driving her recent — and future — political moves.

“I know the Cheneys and I know how smart they are and I know how they operate, and I would be surprised if this wasn’t part of a larger plan, but a plan that fits within a mission,” Jennings said. “I think she believes she’s on a mission here to keep Donald Trump out of the White House. So if that’s your mission, then they’re the kind of people who would build a plan to try to achieve that mission.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Cheney strikes defiant tone in concession speech: ‘Now the real work begins’

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) sounded defiant in her concession speech on Tuesday, acknowledging that while she had lost her primary, she would do “whatever it takes” to keep former President Trump from getting near the White House again. 

“Two years ago, I won this primary with 73 percent of the votes. I could easily have done the same again, the path was clear, but it would have required that I go along with President Trump’s lie about the 2020 election,” Cheney said from an outdoor stage in Jackson, Wyo., to an enthusiastic crowd.

“It would have required that I enable his ongoing efforts to unravel a democratic system and attack the foundations of our Republic. That was a path I could not and would not take,” she continued to applause. “No House seat, no office in this land is more important than the principles that we are all sworn to protect. And I well understood the potential political consequences of abiding by my duty.”

Cheney said she had called her primary opponent, attorney Harriet Hageman (R), to concede. But she suggested this was just the beginning of her next chapter.

“The primary election is over,” she said. “But now the real work begins.”

Hageman’s primary win, riding on Trump’s endorsement, was months in the making after Cheney became one of his most vocal Republican critics, voting to impeach him following the Capitol riot and later serving on the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack. 

Cheney’s speech, delivered in front of a backdrop of lush rolling hills as she stood flanked by American flags, sounded less like a concession and more like a call to action. She urged Americans not to adhere to Trump’s baseless claims about the election and to stand up for democratic values. 

The Wyoming Republican warned that the survival of the country was “not guaranteed,” noting that “poisonous lies destroy free nations” — partly alluding to Trump’s dubious claims about the 2020 election. 

She noted that there were candidates for governor and secretary of state who did not believe the validity of Joe Biden’s 2020 election or might avoid reporting the actual election results, cautioning that “our nation is barreling once again toward crisis, lawlessness and violence.”

Cheney also referenced two former presidents — Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant — two presidents whose legacies are tied to the Civil War and who fought to keep the nation’s union intact, further fueling speculation about Cheney’s own possible White House ambitions.

The speech comes as Cheney was the last pro-impeachment Republican to face a primary this cycle. Only two House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump advanced in their primary, while Cheney and seven others either lost their respective races or opted not to run again.

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Liz Cheney defeated in Wyoming primary

Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), a one-time ally of Donald Trump who became one of his most ardent Republican critics, is projected to lose her primary on Tuesday after a longshot bid to survive defying the former president and his influence over GOP voters.

NBC News and CBS News both called the race shortly after 10 p.m. ET.

Cheney was soundly defeated by Harriet Hageman, an attorney and former Republican National Committee (RNC) member who was endorsed by Trump last year. Hageman will be the heavy favorite to succeed Cheney next year as the deep red state’s lone representative in the House.

Hageman’s victory on Tuesday was the final — and perhaps most significant — milestone in Trump’s effort to purge the House of the 10 Republicans who voted last year to impeach him for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

Of those 10, four opted not to run for reelection this year, while four others — including Cheney — have lost renomination to Trump-backed challengers. Only two have survived primary challengers so far: Reps. David Valadao (R-Calif.) and Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.). 

Cheney’s primary loss is a particularly symbolic victory for Trump. After Cheney voted to impeach the former president last year, she emerged as a Republican bulwark against Trumpism, frequently criticizing Trump as an anti-democratic strongman with little, if any, regard for the U.S. Constitution.

That criticism landed her in hot water with her GOP colleagues and prompted them to remove her as the chair of the House Republican Conference. 

The fallout didn’t stop there. 

The RNC and Wyoming Republican Party voted last year to censure Cheney, and many of her fellow Republican members of Congress rallied around Hageman’s effort to oust her. 

Cheney remained defiant. She was one of two Republicans tapped to serve on the House select committee charged with investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and was eventually elevated to the role of vice chair. 

All the while she faced brutal headwinds in her primary as Trump took a particularly keen interest in the race. His team spent months interviewing potential Republican challengers to Cheney and the former president himself fielded meetings with some candidates before weighing in on Hageman’s behalf. 

The result was a significantly narrower primary field that turned the race into a clear choice between a steadfast Trump ally and Cheney. 

It was an unusual turn of events for the three-term Wyoming congresswoman, who endorsed Trump six years ago during his 2016 White House bid and maintained that support even as many Republicans distanced themselves from him following the release of a recording in which Trump was heard making vulgar remarks about women.

As a member of Congress, Cheney also voted in line with Trump’s positions nearly 93 percent of the time, according to the data website FiveThirtyEight. 

But it was the aftermath of the 2020 presidential race and Trump’s claims that the election was rigged against him that pushed Cheney to a breaking point from which she would never return.

Even in the leadup to the Tuesday primary, as polling showed her trailing Hageman by wide margins, Cheney was unapologetic in her criticism of Trump. Earlier this month, her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, cut a campaign ad for her in which he railed against Trump as a “threat to our Republic.”

Cheney also did little to rally conservatives to her cause. In the only debate of her primary contest, the Wyoming congresswoman used her closing statement to tell voters that if they disagreed with her brand of politics, they should cast their ballots for another candidate.

“I’m asking you to understand that I will never violate my Oath of Office,” Cheney said. “And if you’re looking for somebody who will, then you need to vote for somebody else on this stage.”

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Obama: Climate, health care bill 'a BFD'

Former President Obama tweeted that the Democrats’ newly signed climate and health care bill “is a BFD,” making a reference to a hot mic moment President Biden had years ago.

“This is a BFD,” Obama wrote in a tweet on Tuesday, quoting his then-vice president’s tweet on the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act. 

Obama made the reference to a moment in 2010 when Biden was caught on a hot mic telling Obama that signing the Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obama Care, was a ”big f—ing deal.”

At an event focused on the Affordable Care Act earlier this year, Biden jokingly referenced his hot mic moment to Obama as he left the podium to sign an executive order. 

“Now, I’m gonna sign an executive order, and, Barack, let me remind you: It’s a hot mic,” Biden told Obama. 

In response to Obama’s tweet, Biden replied back on Twitter with a simple response. 

“Thanks, Obama,” Biden wrote.

Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law on Tuesday. The $740 billion sweeping package will lower health care costs, address climate change issues, reform the tax code and provide funding to the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) and expand on enforcement of tax compliance. 

Biden added that the newly signed legislation will help people’s lives improve.

“With unwavering conviction, commitment, and patience, progress does come,” Biden said at the signing of the bill.  “And when it does, like today, people’s lives are made better and the future becomes brighter and a nation can be transformed.”

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Gunmaker Smith & Wesson's CEO blames politicians for 'surge in violence and lawlessness'

The CEO of gunmaker Smith & Wesson on Monday blamed politicians “and their lobbying partners in the media” for a “crisis of violence” two weeks after House lawmakers subpoenaed the company for information about the manufacture and sale of its AR-15 style firearms.

“They are the ones to blame for the surge in violence and lawlessness, and they seek to avoid any responsibility for the crisis of violence they have created by attempting to shift the blame to Smith & Wesson, other firearm manufacturers and law-abiding gun owners,” Mark Smith wrote of politicians in a statement shared to Twitter.

Smith recently declined an invitation to testify before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, which is investigating gun violence and the firearm industry in the wake of recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, N.Y.

Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) then subpoenaed Smith’s company for documents related to its AR-15-style firearms. 

“Your company collects hundreds of millions of dollars selling assault weapons that are used in mass shootings, including the horrific murder of seven Americans and the wounding of dozens more during a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois,” Maloney said in a letter informing Smith of the subpoena. 

Maloney noted the subpoena was a reaction to Smith’s “unwillingness to voluntarily comply” with the investigation and his refusal to testify about Smith & Wesson’s “troubling business practices” and provide information about the sale of assault weapons to civilians. 

The committee homed in on Smith & Wesson as one of five major U.S. manufacturers whose semi-automatic weapons have been used in mass shootings, with the others being Bushmaster, Daniel Defense, Sig Sauer, and Sturm, Ruger & Co.

A recent report by the committee found that major gun manufacturers earned more than $1 billion from sales of military-style assault weapons to American civilians in the last decade, as hundreds of thousands are purchased annually.

Maloney has called out the gun manufacturers for “deeply disturbing, exploitative and reckless” marketing tactics targeted at young men. 

But Smith on Monday accused politicians of preventing “firearm manufacturers and supporters of the 2nd Amendment from advertising products in a manner designed to remind law-abiding citizens that they have a Constitutional right to bear arms in defense of themselves and their families.” 

He alleged that politicians and the news media have supported inept prosecutors and “vilified, undermined and defunded law enforcement,” creating a “culture of lawlessness.” 

“A Smith & Wesson firearm has never broken into a home; a Smith & Wesson firearm has never assaulted a woman out for a late-night run in the city; a Smith & Wesson firearm has never carjacked an unsuspecting driver stopped at a traffic light,” Smith wrote, countering with the argument that the gunmaker equips victims for self-defense.

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Live results: Alaska and Wyoming primaries

The Associated Press is following the election in Alaska and Wyoming.

Follow the live results below.

Alaska

Wyoming

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