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Pennsylvania man charged with threatening to kill FBI personnel

Authorities arrested a Pennsylvania man for allegedly making violent threats against FBI personnel online following the agency’s search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Adam Bies, 46, was arrested on Friday and is charged with influencing, impeding or retaliating against federal law enforcement officers.

Court documents show Bies allegedly made multiple threats on the right-wing social media website Gab in the days following the Mar-a-Lago search.

“Every single piece of [expletive] who works for the FBI in any capacity, from the director down to the janitor who cleans their [expletive] toilets deserves to die,” he allegedly wrote in a post two days after the search. “You’ve declared war on us and now it’s open season on YOU.”

“HEY FEDS. We the people cannot WAIT to water the trees of liberty with your blood. I’ll be waiting for you to kick down my door,” Bies allegedly wrote in another post, according to court documents.

If convicted, Bies faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security reportedly warned of an increase in federal law enforcement threats in a joint bulletin last week.

The bulletin referenced calls for “civil war” and “armed rebellion” as well as an incident at the FBI’s Cincinnati field office on Thursday in which an armed man attempted to breach the building. He was ultimately shot and killed by police.

Officials erected barriers along the perimeter of the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. after calls for protests there.

The increase in threats has led Democrats and some Republicans to call for Trump, who has repeatedly lambasted the FBI and DOJ’s search and accused them of political bias, to tone down his rhetoric.

Trump told Fox News on Monday that his team had reached out to DOJ to offer “whatever we can do to help,” saying the “temperature has to be brought down,” but he has continued attacking the agencies since the interview.

The FBI’s arrest on Friday comes after it seized 11 sets of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago in connection with its investigation into whether Trump violated the Espionage Act, unlawfully concealed or removed public records or obstructed an investigation. 

Trump has said he declassified the documents.

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Press: Why I sent a check to Liz Cheney

In my 40 years as a political activist – voter, volunteer, campaign manager, statewide candidate and chair of the California Democratic Party – it’s the toughest decision I’ve ever made. I’d considered it for a long time, but the latest news from Mar-a-Lago made me finally do it. Even though I know she’s going to lose tonight’s Wyoming Republican primary (the latest polls showing her 30 points behind), I went online and made a contribution to Rep. Liz Cheney’s reelection campaign.  

It was not former President Trump’s reaction to the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago that triggered my reaction. We’ve seen this comic opera from him so many times we could have written the script ourselves: Poor me. I did nothing wrong. No president has ever been treated so badly. It’s nothing but a political witch hunt. And, without a stitch of evidence: What about document stealer Barack Hussein Obama?  

No, Trump’s response was ever so pathetic and predictable. What was far more shocking, and what prompted me to act, was the cowardly and disgusting way leading Republicans immediately rallied behind him. Without even knowing what the FBI was searching for, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) threatened Attorney General Merrick Garland with congressional retaliation. Following his lead, and absent any criticism from McCarthy, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) compared the FBI to East German Stasi officers, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) called for “defunding” the FBI and impeaching Garland, and Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) said it was time to “abolish the FBI and start over.”  

Nationwide, ignoring that this is just one of several fronts on which Trump is in serious legal hot water these days, Republicans gleefully seized on what they perceived as a winning political issue. “It should now be a central plank of the Republican platform in both 2022 and 2024 that we will abolish the FBI, clean out the agency from top to bottom, and rebuild it from the ground up,” declared conservative political provocateur Dinesh D’Souza, pardoned by Trump in 2018 after being convicted in 2014 of breaking campaign finance laws.  

The next day, as if on cue, an armed Trump supporter attempted to storm the FBI’s field office in Cincinnati. You must admit, that’s quite a turn-around for Republicans, who have proudly called themselves the “law and order party” ever since the days of Richard Nixon. Now, in blind allegiance to Trump, many Republicans have pivoted from defending brave men and women on the thin blue line to attacking them. Twelve GOP members of Congress even voted to deny a Congressional Gold Medal to officers of the Capitol Police who defended them from the armed mob on Jan. 6.  

And this is just the latest example of Republican leaders abandoning everything they once stood for, and most Americans still do. In this new lawless Trump Republican Party, anything goes. Literally, anything goes. It’s OK to lie. It’s OK to bribe the president of another country over congressionally-approved military aid. It’s OK to incite an armed mob to attack the U.S. Capitol. It’s OK to lead a coup against the United States. It’s OK to allegedly violate the Espionage Act and steal top secret documents.  

What’s astounding is that, in the middle of this madness, only one Republican running for reelection – only one – has the courage to speak out against Donald Trump and to speak up for those values we grew up with and still believe in — the values that make America great. We are all in her debt.  

That’s why I sent a check to Liz Cheney: not so much because I believe in Liz Cheney, but because I still believe in America.  

Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.”  

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Why Vladimir Putin must be humiliated

The conventional wisdom has it that Vladimir Putin must not be humiliated, lest he do something crazy. The conventional wisdom is wrong. Putin requires no humiliation to do something unhinged, and his humiliation is the only way to end the Russo-Ukrainian War and give Russia a chance of returning to civilization.

Humiliation is not about insulting Putin, nor is about exposing his personal peccadilloes. Humiliation is about handing Putin a complete and total defeat on the battlefield, one that will not enable him to “save face” and make a semi-plausible case for some form of Russian victory. Anything short of such a defeat will save Putin’s regime — as well as Putin himself — from collapse, persuade Russians that their faith in Putin was justified and their responsibility for war crimes is nil, and guarantee the war’s continuation. Putin must be humiliated for there to be a lasting and durable peace — and for Russia to begin its long slog back to humanity.

The genocidal war against Ukrainians is Putin’s war, but it wasn’t just a matter of his personal choice. Putin sits in the royal core of a highly centralized political system that, like Adolf Hitler’s, thrives on and needs violence, both to maintain law and order at home and to intimidate neighbors, acquire territory, power and influence, and justify its fascist constitution and policies with its domestic supporters among the elites and masses.

Putin announced the start of the “special military operation” on Feb. 24, but it is the fascist, imperialist Russian state that is waging hostilities, committing genocide and destroying Ukraine — all with the approval, sometimes enthusiastic and sometimes tacit, of most Russians.

Given these circumstances, if Putin manages to escape the consequences of Russia’s bellicosity by saving face and avoiding humiliation, the political and social system of which he is the core will continue to exist and its violent policy preferences will continue to determine Russia’s behavior internally and externally. Putin will remain in power and the fascist system that he has built so assiduously for over two decades will survive. The Russo-Ukrainian War may enjoy a hiatus for a few months or even years — and that will give the Russian military the opportunity to lick its wounds and revive — but it inevitably will resume as soon as Putin, his system, and its supporters feel the time is right.

A comparison with Hitler is apposite. The Allies understood that Nazi Germany had to be defeated, completely and totally — that Hitler had to suffer humiliation and not be given the opportunity to save face. Anything short of a complete and total defeat would have meant a continuation of the Hitler state, the Hitler society, and Hitler himself. It was only after Hitler committed suicide and Nazi Germany capitulated that German society could be de-Nazified, albeit incompletely, and Germany be transformed into a decent society.

Does that mean invading Russia and reducing its cities to rubble? Of course not. A complete and total defeat would entail liberating the Ukrainian territory seized by Russia in 2014 and in 2022; even driving the Russian troops to the pre-invasion borders would suffice to humiliate Putin. In either case, his legitimacy with elites and masses would be undermined, the forces of coercion that underpin fascist Russia would be severely weakened, fascist elites would reimagine themselves as democrats-in-hiding, and the Russian people would be faced with the arduous task of shedding their love affair with power, war, strongmen and violence.

Won’t a humiliated Putin incapable of saving face resort to some deranged action such as employing a nuclear weapon? Putin has amply demonstrated already that he is delusional and willing to act on his delusions. It was delusional to think he could conquer Ukraine in three days. And yet he tried. It is delusional to think that he is winning the war. And yet he does. It is delusional to think that Russia’s economy can survive the sanctions intact. And yet he does. It was crazy to permit Russian soldiers to dig trenches in the radioactive ground near the Chernobyl reactor. It is crazy to toy with the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest. It is, finally, crazy to embark openly and gleefully on genocide.

But the good news is that a humiliated, defeated and delegitimized Putin is far less likely to do something crazily destructive than a proud Putin who hasn’t lost face. The Russian führer may, in the depths of his bunker, desperately want to press the nuclear button, but his manifest humiliation will deter the generals who need to endorse his folly from doing so. Why follow a has-been into hell when acknowledging defeat can lead to more fortuitous outcomes for them and for Russia?

A leader who dwells amid delusional fantasies and delights in atrocities cannot be permitted to save face. His army must be defeated, his regime must be dismantled, and he must be humiliated — completely and totally — for some Russians to come to their senses and for peace to have a chance.

Alexander J. Motyl is a professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark. A specialist on Ukraine, Russia and the USSR, and on nationalism, revolutions, empires and theory, he is the author of 10 books of nonfiction, as well as “Imperial Ends: The Decay, Collapse, and Revival of Empires” and “Why Empires Reemerge: Imperial Collapse and Imperial Revival in Comparative Perspective.”

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The Hill's Morning Report — Trump seeks big wins today against Cheney, Murkowski

It’s a tale of two lawmakers today as a pair of those who voted to oust former President Trump from office are on the ballot in key primary matchups while the ex-commander in chief continues to find himself at the center of the investigatory world.  

Today’s primary slate is headlined by contests featuring Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), the two most prominent GOP lawmakers who are standing for reelection this fall after voting to impeach and convict, respectively, Trump for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021. However, the two Republicans are likely facing very different fates. 

Cheney, the foremost Trump opponent in the GOP, is widely expected to lose tonight to Harriet Hageman, whom the former president has thrown his weight behind in the primary. Polls have shown for months that Hageman holds a wide lead over the three-term lawmaker. That advantage has kept up, with a University of Wyoming poll showing that 57 percent of likely voters back Hageman compared to only 28 percent for the vice chairwoman of the Jan. 6 select committee. 

In a sign of trouble for the former member of GOP leadership, she has resorted to reaching out to Democrats in the state for their vote over the past month in an effort to claw back support she has lost with Trump supporters and Republicans. Notably, Wyoming has an open primary, meaning that Democrats can cross over and vote in GOP contests, handing Cheney one of her only lifelines. 

However, supporters of the lawmaker are looking past tonight’s results, win or (likely) lose. Instead, they believe this is simply the opening salvo in the effort to deny Trump another bid for the Oval Office. 

“This race is the first battle in a much larger and longer war that Liz is going to win because the future of the country depends on it,” one Cheney ally told the Morning Report.

“Regardless of what the results in this election turn out to be, she is going to lead a broad coalition going forward of Americans across the political spectrum who will stand up for freedom and restore the foundational principles that Donald Trump continues to dangerously undermine,” the ally added.

Cheney has not taken off the table a potential 2024 challenge. After losing her spot in leadership last year, the Wyoming Republican vowed to do “everything I can to ensure that the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office.”

Another decision facing Cheney in 2024 if she opts to run for commander-in-chief: Run as a Republican or as independent?

Of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump post-Jan. 6, only two have advanced past their primaries — Reps. Dan Newhouse (Wash.) and David Valadao (Calif.). 

▪ Paul Kane, The Washington Post: Cheney’s political life is likely ending — and just beginning.

▪ The Hill: Trump eyes big prize in taking down Cheney.

▪ Mike Lillis, The Hill: Cheney approaches likely primary loss with defiance.

▪ The Associated Press: Cheney braces for loss as Trump tested in Wyoming and Alaska.

▪ The Hill: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) says Cheney’s potential primary defeat is a referendum on the Jan. 6 investigative panel on which she serves as vice chair.

The story in Alaska is much different, however. Despite Murkowski’s vote, she remains in the driver’s seat to not only emerge from today’s primary and is still in a strong position to win a fourth full term in office. 

That is due in large part to the new electoral system the Last Frontier has implemented this year. Instead of a traditional GOP primary like the one Cheney faces, candidates from all parties are listed on the ballot, with the top four advancing to the general election regardless of party affiliation. The November contest will be decided by ranked-choice voting, another boon to Murkowski’s chances. 

Murkowski and Kelly Tshibaka, the Trump-backed candidate, are both likely to advance to the general election. The Alaska Democratic Party has endorsed Pat Chesbro, a former teacher and school administrator. The incumbent Republican told The Associated Press that she expects to win just as she operates on Capitol Hill — by creating a winning coalition.

“That’s kind of my strong suit, that’s what I do,” said Murkowski, who is the lone GOP senator who voted to convict Trump to face the voters this year.

Even predating the impeachment vote, Trump made clear his disdain for the three-term senator after she opposed the nomination of then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. At a rally alongside Tshibaka and Sarah Palin in Anchorage last month, the former president derided Murkowski as “the worst.” 

“I rate her No. 1 bad,” he added.

Murkowski is on the ballot alongside 17 other candidates for the four general election slots.  

Related Articles

▪ Julia Manchester, The Hill: Five things to watch in Alaska, Wyoming primaries. 

▪ The Associated Press: Cheney and Murkowski: Trump critics facing divergent futures.

▪ The Washington Post: Alaska vote tests Trump’s influence, Palin’s bid and a new election system.

▪ The New York Times: In Alaska, Palin’s political comeback stirs debate among voters.

▪ The Hill: Trump surprises some Republicans with endorsements.

LEADING THE DAY

➤ POLITICS 

The Justice Department on Monday asked a federal judge to keep the search warrant affidavit for Trump’s home sealed, arguing that it would jeopardize an ongoing probe and cause “significant and irreparable damage” to the investigation. 

Federal prosecutors submitted the court filing to oppose any efforts to unseal the affidavit, which has become the next battle between the Justice Department and the former president. The fight to keep it sealed came only days after they agreed to release a copy of the warrant, as well as a receipt listing the materials that were seized during the search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. 

“The affidavit supporting the search warrant presents a very different set of considerations,” the filing reads. “There remain compelling reasons, including to protect the integrity of an ongoing law enforcement investigation that implicates national security, that support keeping the affidavit sealed.”

As The Hill’s Harper Neidig writes, prosecutors usually submit affidavits from law enforcement officials when seeking a judge’s green light for a warrant. The documents are meant to provide an overview of evidence collected during a probe that would support the probable cause needed to obtain a warrant under the Fourth Amendment.

▪ The New York Times: Justice Department opposes affidavit release, fearing it will “chill” inquiry.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Attorney General Merrick Garland weighed Mar-a-Lago search for weeks.

▪ ABC News: Senate Intelligence Committee leaders request classified documents taken from Mar-a-Lago.

A federal judge on Monday ruled that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) must comply with a special grand jury subpoena from the Fulton County district attorney, who’s investigating Trump’s efforts to pressure Georgia officials into overturning the state’s 2020 election results. 

The judge said District Attorney Fani Willis (D) satisfied the “extraordinary circumstances” standard and is justified in calling Graham to testify (The Hill).

▪ Politico: Justice Department subpoenas former Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann.

▪ ABC News: Rudy Giuliani now “target” of Georgia criminal probe into effort to overturn 2020 election.

▪ Niall Stanage: The Memo: Trump regains center stage, with ramifications for all.

▪ The New York Times: Trump executive nears plea deal with Manhattan prosecutors.

Some Republican leaders over the weekend publicly defended the FBI and law enforcement while urging conservatives to tone down incendiary rhetoric aimed at the Justice Department and the bureau as well as at least one judge in reaction to the government’s search and seizure of sensitive government documents possessed by Trump after a year of wrangling over their return to the National Archives (The Hill).

NPR: FBI, Homeland Security warned on Friday about threats to law enforcement after the Trump search.

The former president, aware of an uptick in public threats aimed at the FBI, told Fox News Digital on Monday that he “will do whatever” possible “to help the country” after the government took possession of dozens of boxes of documents and materials from his residence that included classified and top-secret information. 

But in the same interview, Trump directed his wrath at the Justice Department and suggested that his supporters’ anger was justified. Trump said that Americans are “not going to stand for another scam,” took issue with what he said is an FBI that can “break into a president’s house” in a “sneak attack” and suggested without evidence that agents “could have planted anything they wanted” during the search. 

Federal prosecutors on Monday charged Adam Bies of Pennsylvania with posting multiple violent threats against the FBI online in the days that followed the bureau’s search of Trump’s private club and residence. Using the far-right social media app Gab, Bies, 46, compared federal agents to KGB and Nazi officers and threatened to kill them, prosecutors said in a complaint (The New York Times).

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤  ADMINISTRATION

President Biden ends his vacation today in South Carolina to return to his home in Delaware after an afternoon White House bill signing, yet before the month is out, the White House envisions that he and Cabinet secretaries will use the pre-Labor Day period to explain what they see as successful federal strides to help average families. And they want to credit Democratic candidates in key states along the way.

Reuters: The Transportation Department said today it is awarding $1.66 billion in grants to cities and states to buy 1,800 buses in a shift to cleaner, lower-emission travel. The money is part of last year’s bipartisan infrastructure law.

Biden will travel to a community outside Columbus, Ohio, for example, for an event in coming weeks to mark the construction of a new Intel Corp. plant, which gets a boost from the newly enacted CHIPS and Science Act and its incentives for U.S. manufacture of semiconductors (The Columbus Dispatch and Politico). Biden lost Ohio by 8 points in 2020 but keeps coming back (at least six times as president). 

The marketing plan calls for department secretaries to travel to 23 states, including Colorado, New Mexico and California before the end of this month to describe provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (which becomes law this afternoon). They will salute the CHIPS law and new Veterans Affairs benefits for military exposed to toxic chemicals, including burn pits, as well as other accomplishments since taking office in 2021, according to Politico and The Washington Post).

With lawmakers back in their states and districts for the August recess, the White House plans a celebratory event Sept. 6 focused on Democratic selling points at a time when families have returned from vacations, youngsters are getting back to classrooms and Americans have begun to pay attention to candidate contrasts ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections. The president’s advisers expect average gasoline prices will continue to drop, even if inflation overall remains high and hiring and the housing market begin to show signs of cooling.

Adam Entous, The New Yorker: The untold history of the Biden family.

Democrats and Republicans are basically head-to-head in the generic congressional ballot average, according to FiveThirtyEight’s Monday graphic, which reflects which party respondents say they would support in an election. Biden’s job approval continues to be low; almost 56 percent of respondents (either likely or registered voters, depending on surveys) say they disapprove of his performance, according to the RealClearPolitics average. Some Democratic candidates will not invite the president to campaign with them this fall, even in a midterm atmosphere in which contests are being nationalized with ads that cut both ways using the Biden and Trump brands.

📝 Introducing NotedDC, The Hill’s curated commentary on the beat of the Beltway. Click here to subscribe to our latest newsletter. 

OPINION

■ How inflation can be both 0 percent and 8.5 percent at the same time, by Justin Fox, columnist, Bloomberg Opinion. https://bloom.bg/3bWK3cY 

■ My escape from the Taliban, Bushra Seddique, editorial fellow, The Atlantic. https://bit.ly/3JZx9aD

WHERE AND WHEN

The House will meet at 1 p.m. for a pro forma session. It will reconvene on Sept. 13.

The Senate convenes at 8 a.m. for a pro forma session during its summer recess, which ends Sept. 6.

The president and first lady Jill Biden will leave Kiawah Island, S.C., where they vacationed, to return to the White House. At 3:30 p.m., Biden will sign the Inflation Reduction Act during an event in the State Dining Room. The Bidens will depart the White House this evening for their home in Delaware.

The vice president has no public events. She and second gentleman Doug Emhoff are in Kauai, Hawaii.

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

ELSEWHERE  

➤ POX & PANDEMIC 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its monkeypox guidance to include dogs among animals that can contract the virus after scientists in France documented the first case of a pet canine suspected of catching the pox from its owners. The CDC recommends that people with monkeypox avoid close contact with animals and that pets that have not been exposed to the virus be cared for by friends or family in another home until the owner or owners fully recover. 

In countries where monkeypox is endemic, wild animals, including rodents and primates, can carry the virus. Captive primates in Europe have also contracted monkeypox from contact with imported, sick animals. Infection in domestic pets, such as dogs and cats, had not previously been reported (CBS News).

The Health and Human Services Department announced it began on Monday making available to states and jurisdictions up to another 442,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine effective against monkeypox, in short supply in this country.

Great Britain on Monday became the first country to approve an updated COVID-19 vaccine by Moderna that targets the omicron variant as well as the original strain of the virus. The move is a step toward a booster campaign that could provide people with better protection against circulating variants. The jab targets BA.1, the original omicron strain, while Pfizer is starting a clinical trial this month in the U.S. for a vaccine aimed at BA.4 and BA.5 variants that have become dominant (The Hill). 

🦠 Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday for a second time this year. Austin is experiencing mild symptoms and will quarantine for the next five days at home. He added that his last in-person contact with Biden was on July 29 (The Hill). … Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla also tested positive for COVID-19 (The Hill).

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,037,462. Current average U.S. COVID-19 daily deaths are 411, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

➤ INTERNATIONAL

Today, a huge explosion rocked a Russian ammunition depot on Ukraine’s occupied Crimean Peninsula, striking another embarrassing blow to Moscow’s forces a week after blasts at a Russian air base in the same region destroyed several fighter jets. An elite Ukrainian military unit operating behind enemy lines was responsible for the blast, according to a New York Times source in Ukraine. An adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed an explosion without taking credit for it.

At the same time, Russian forces unleashed a new barrage of missiles and artillery fire aimed at Ukrainian targets in towns and cities across the war’s front line, which stretches more than 600 miles, with significant damage reported in Kharkiv (The New York Times).

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the preeminent foe of President Vladimir Putin, said that prison officials placed him in solitary confinement for three days in response to his continued activism while locked up. Navalny’s social media accounts relayed the latest development on Monday, adding that those in solitary cannot have visitors or be delivered letters. He can have “a mug and a book” (The Associated Press).

THE CLOSER

And finally … 🕺Today is the 45th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death in 1977 at age 42. Once dubbed the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Presley this year was rediscovered by fans young and old, thanks to a biopic that did well at the box office (now streaming).

His iconic image still lives large, thanks to Graceland, memorabilia collectors, Elvis impersonators and his music. 

The Memphis Commercial Appeal last week published 55 photos related to Presley through the years, HERE.

Stay Engaged

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

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Evergreen places six-figure ad buy highlighting Michigan, Nevada clean energy investments

Environmental group Evergreen Collaborative are running a six-figure ad campaign in two markets on Tuesday that highlights clean energy initiatives supported by Democratic governors facing close re-election races in November.

The group said the campaigns, which begin on Tuesday in the Reno, Nev. and Lansing, Mich. markets, are part of its new effort to support state progress on clean energy after Democratic lawmakers passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes the largest-ever federal investment aimed at climate change. President Biden is expected to sign the bill on Tuesday.

The Reno ad, titled “Three Years,” highlights Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak’s (D) support of a 2019 bipartisan state law that raises the percentage of electricity providers must source from renewable sources or energy efficiency measures to 50 percent by 2030.

“More construction projects, more clean energy jobs, and lower electricity bills – that’s what happened when Governor Sisolak and the legislature passed a nation-leading Renewable Energy Standard,” the ad begins.

“Here in Reno, energy costs came down,” it continues. “And three years later, we have over 30,000 clean energy jobs, like solar and geothermal. There’s more to do, by passing a 100 percent clean energy standard. So, tell the legislature to get to work and keep investing in our clean energy future.”

Sisolak will face Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo (R), who is backed by former President Trump, in November. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race as a toss up.

“This new ad highlights Nevada’s bipartisan success in raising its Renewable Portfolio Standard to unleash clean energy job creation and lower energy costs for Nevadans,” Evergreen Collaborative co-founder and senior adviser Sam Ricketts said in a release.

“Nevada is leading the way on clean energy, and Nevadans are seeing the benefits in their communities,” he added. “Now, with the backing of a historic $369 billion in federal clean energy investments, Nevada legislators should continue to lead the way by moving towards a 100% clean energy standard.”

The Michigan ad, which also begins airing on Tuesday in Lansing, highlights Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and other state leaders’ bipartisan investments in advancing electric vehicle manufacturing in the state. Whitmer’s re-election campaign is rated as lean Democrat by the Cook Political Report.

“For over a century we’ve made cars,” the ad begins. “It’s who we are.”

“But for Michigan to keep leading, we’ve got more work to do,” it continues. “That’s why Governor Whitmer partnered with Republicans and Democrats in the legislature to pass a plan for historic investments that modernize our auto industry.”

The ad goes on to highlight General Motors’ $2.5 billion investment to build a battery cell plant in Lansing and urges viewers to call their legislators for further clean energy investments.

“This new ad highlights one of the biggest state success stories on clean energy in the past decade: Michigan’s bipartisan investments in electric vehicle manufacturing,” said Ricketts.

“Michigan is the market-setter for the automotive industry,” he added. “These historic investments will create thousands of jobs in Michigan and will keep America in the forefront of modern car manufacturing and electric vehicle infrastructure that saves consumers money and reduces our reliance on oil.”

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Liz Cheney approaches likely primary loss with defiance

Rep. Liz Cheney may be about to lose her day job. If so, she’s totally OK with that.

Cheney, a third-term Wyoming Republican, is charging into Tuesday’s primary in the Cowboy State defiantly embracing the very message that’s sparked the conservative backlash brewing to oust her: Namely, that former President Trump, with his baseless claims of a “stolen” election, poses an existential threat to the country’s democratic foundations and should be barred from holding future office.

That argument, combined with Cheney’s national prominence, has made her both the public face of the anti-Trump movement and a pariah in the eyes of the MAGA faithful, including those in ruby-red Wyoming where the former president remains wildly popular.

Some recent polls have Cheney’s challenger — an election denier named Harriet Hageman — leading by almost 30 points. 

The Cheney name has been revered in conservative Wyoming circles for decades; the seat she holds was once held by her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney. And two years ago, the thought of her losing that seat would have been laughed out of Laramie.

Then came last year’s attack on the Capitol — a riot aimed at overturning Trump’s election defeat. Since then, Cheney has pursued the 45th president with a crusader’s zeal, becoming one of only 10 House Republicans to support Trump’s second impeachment, which deemed him responsible for inciting the insurrection, and then joining the Jan. 6 select committee investigating the rampage. 

It was then, political experts say, that Cheney decided the fight against Trump and his election lies was more important than keeping her job in Congress.

“She’s almost certainly toast,” said David Barker, a political scientist at American University. “My guess is that she knew that the second she decided to really join the Jan. 6 committee and pursue the president in that way.”

“She hasn’t just been kind of a passive member of the committee,” Barker added. “She’s been really leading the whole charge and doing so in the most provocative and high-profile ways.”

Indeed, Cheney, as vice chair of the select committee, has been the most prominently featured figure throughout the eight public hearings the panel has staged this summer. And heading into the final stretch of what appears to be a doomed campaign for a fourth term, Cheney is not dodging the anti-Trump sentiment that’s put her in hot water with Wyoming voters. She’s amplifying it. 

“America cannot remain free if we abandon the truth. The lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen is insidious — it preys on those who love their country,” Cheney said in a closing-argument campaign video released Thursday. “It is a door Donald Trump opened to manipulate Americans to abandon their principles, to sacrifice their freedom, to justify violence, to ignore the rulings of our courts and the rule of law.

“This is Donald Trump’s legacy, but it cannot be the future of our nation.”

Cheney is 56 years old, and her own legacy — along with her political future — remains uncertain. But this much is clear: She’s gambled both on the notion that, in challenging the most popular figure in her own party, she can prevent him from becoming president once again. In that campaign, she’s essentially arguing that the GOP needs saving from itself — and she’ll either be the one to do it, or fall hard trying.

“She faced a binary choice between doing what she thought was right and necessary, after Jan. 6, and continuing her political career in the Republican Party,” said Bill Galston, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “And unlike most politicians, she made a clean and honorable choice. And she’s obviously prepared to take the consequences.”

In a last-ditch effort to gain ground in Tuesday’s primary contest, Cheney last week aired a public endorsement from her father. Appearing in a cowboy hat and questioning Trump’s masculinity, Dick Cheney called the former president “a coward” who “tried to steal the last election using lies and violence.”

“In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” he says in the minute-long ad. 

Still, 70 percent of Wyoming voters chose Trump in 2020 — the highest number of any state in the country. And even the appeals of a state institution like Dick Cheney aren’t expected to save his daughter in Tuesday’s race. The experts say the simple reason is that the GOP, as old-guard power brokers like Dick Cheney knew it, no longer exists. 

“Donald Trump executed a hostile and irreversible takeover of the Republican Party,” Galston said. “The Reagan party that appealed to so many of the now middle-aged or even aging Republican conservatives in the 1980s and ’90s is gone. It’s not coming back.” 

Cheney is hardly alone among GOP lawmakers suffering politically for clashing publicly with Trump over the Jan. 6 attack. Of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump last year, only two are in line to return in the next Congress. Four others are retiring, while three more lost their primaries to Trump-endorsed conservatives who backed his false election claims. 

Cheney, of the 10, is the last outstanding race, and the outcome appears certain. 

“Yeah, he won — in the short term, at least,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), one of the impeachment-supporting retirees, acknowledged to WGN-TV in Chicago last week. “There’s no use in pretending somehow I scored some major victory and saved the party.” 

To Trump’s allies, the former president remains a heroic figure — the single most electrifying force in the GOP who launched the populist movement that toppled Hillary Clinton and continues to fuel expectations that Republicans will flip control of the House in November’s midterm elections. In that light, Cheney, Kinzinger and the other Trump critics are seen as apostates to the larger cause of winning power.

In February, the Republican National Committee took the remarkable step of voting to censure both Cheney and Kinzinger for their involvement in the Jan. 6 investigation. It said the two were “participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”

Cheney’s likely defeat on Tuesday has raised plenty of speculation about potential next steps, including the possibility that she’d make a presidential run of her own in 2024 — an idea she has not ruled out. 

Still, her success in such a contest would hinge squarely on the collapse of Trump’s popularity within the party, which is likely to endure, some experts said, longer than Cheney would prefer. 

“My sense is that if it is [her plan], she’s going to have a long wait,” Galston said. “I don’t think that Donald Trump supporters will ever forgive her, nor do I think they’re going away. 

“Where else would they go?”

Caroline Vakil contributed.

Source: TEST FEED1

Five things to watch in Alaska, Wyoming primaries

Tuesday’s primaries in Alaska and Wyoming will help set the tone for November’s general elections, with a number of critical contests at stake. 

In Wyoming, Rep. Liz Cheney is in a fight for her political life as she faces Harriet Hageman, who has the endorsement of former President Trump, in the state’s Republican House primary. At the same time, incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski will also face off for the first time against Trump-backed Kelly Tshibaka and other candidates in Alaska’s Republican Senate primary. Tuesday will also test former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) as she seeks to make a comeback to elected office in the state’s special congressional election. 

Here are five things to watch ahead of Tuesday’s primaries.

Can Cheney outperform expectations? 

Cheney will face a steep climb in Tuesday’s primary against Hageman as polls show the incumbent congresswoman trailing the Trump-backed challenger and as other House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump lose their own primaries. 

A Wyoming Survey & Analysis Center poll released last week showed Hageman leading Cheney 57 percent to 28 percent, while a separate Casper Star Tribune poll conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling showed Hageman leading 52 to 30 percent. 

On top of that, various House Republicans who voted to impeach the former president, including Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler (Wash.), Peter Meijer (Mich.) and Tom Rice (S.C.), have lost their primaries to Trump-backed primary challengers in recent months. 

But while many pundits and strategists are predicting the end of Cheney’s career in Congress for the moment, others say the incumbent congresswoman could do better than the polls suggest, even if she’ll still likely lose. Cheney has led the fundraising race, with outside money pouring in, opening the door to various campaign resources. 

Other experts point to the potential impact crossover Democratic voting could have on the race, predicting that it could give her a helpful boost. The New York Times reported in June that registered Democrats in Wyoming were receiving mail from Cheney’s campaign that contained instructions on how to change their party registration so they could cast ballots for her in the primary. Additionally, Cheney has received support from Democratic lawmakers, including Reps. Tom Malinowski (N.J.) and Dean Phillips (Minn.), who cut ads for her in Wyoming. 

Will Palin be coming to Congress? 

In Alaska, voters will decide whether to send Palin, a 2008 vice presidential candidate and former governor of the state, to Capitol Hill. 

Palin is running in the special election for Alaska’s at-large congressional seat, which was previously held by the late Rep. Don Young (R). The former governor is running against fellow Republican Nick Begich III and Democrat Mary Peltola. While Palin has received Trump’s endorsement, it’s unclear how she will perform in Tuesday’s primary as a result of the new ranked-choice voting system. The new system could benefit candidates such as Begich, given that a traditional primary would have brought out a more conservative base that would likely rally around Palin. Additionally, recent polls show Palin trailing Begich and Peltola. 

Because of the new system, the winner of the special election won’t be known for days. Significantly, Palin is on Tuesday’s ballot twice: Once for the special election and again for the at-large House primary featuring dozens of candidates. If she advances to the November general election, she could still have a chance to join Congress, even if she loses the special election this week.

Does Alaska’s voting process go off without a hitch? 

Alaska’s special election will mark the first race in the state’s history that will use the ranked-choice voting system. 

The state adopted the process in 2020 as a result of a ballot measure approved by voters. Supporters of the process argue that it will lead to less partisanship. 

In ranked-choice voting, a candidate needs more than 50 percent of the vote to be declared the winner outright. If the front-runner doesn’t have that percentage of the vote, the candidate with the fewest votes that round drops off the ballot, and those who ranked that candidate first will have their votes go to their second choice. The process continues until a candidate has more than 50 percent of the vote.  

The state’s special House race election will be the only race with ranked-choice voting on Tuesday, but it will provide a preview of how other candidates running in races such as the state’s Senate election will do in November. 

How does Murkowski do in the primary? 

Voters will get their first look at how Murkowski performs in a primary against a Trump-backed challenger on Tuesday, but the results may not be indicative of November’s general election results. 

Unlike in the special House election, Tuesday’s Senate primary will not involve ranked-choice voting. Tuesday will showcase an all-party primary in which the top four voter-getters will advance to the general election; then, in November, the winner will be declared according to ranked-choice voting. Murkowski is not expected to lead in Tuesday’s primary, because the environment will likely favor more partisan candidates such as Tshibaka. However, experts say that once it’s time for the general election, Murkowski will gain more support from Democratic and independent voters, giving her an advantage over Tshibaka. 

Still, Tuesday’s Senate primary will be viewed by some as a test of Trump’s political clout in the state. The former president has made it his mission to work to oust Murkowski from office as a result of her vote to convict him during his second impeachment trial. And while Trump won the state by roughly 10 points, Murkowski enjoys a high approval rating in Alaska. According to data released by Morning Consult, 46 percent of Alaska voters say they approve of Murkowski’s job performance, while 39 percent say they disapprove.   

What does voter turnout look like? 

Tuesday’s primaries come as recent events have turned up the volume in an already extremely partisan political environment in the country. Last week, the country was rocked by news that the FBI searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, seizing a number of documents that were deemed classified. An unsealed warrant, which was approved by a federal judge, shows the FBI executed the warrant while investigating whether the Espionage Act had been violated. 

Republicans, particularly those loyal to Trump, have pounced on the news, criticizing the FBI and Justice Department over the move to search Trump’s property. Conservatives have also used the news to rally their political base, a move that could stand to boost turnout in highly partisan primaries. 

On the Democratic side, it’s unclear how President Biden’s recent wins, including the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, will impact the party’s turnout in the primaries or if the prospect of Hageman in Congress will drive Wyoming Democrats to vote for Cheney. Regardless, turnout in Tuesday’s primaries could help read the tea leaves going into November. 

Source: TEST FEED1

The Memo: Trump regains center stage, with ramifications for all

The battlelines have been drawn as the saga of former President Trump and the FBI enters its second week.

Democrats are thrilled at the prospect of comeuppance for a figure who, as they see it, has dodged accountability for numerous past misdeeds. Republicans see a former president targeted for partisan reasons.

But two bigger questions also demand answers: how the investigation is affecting the political landscape right now, and what kind of impact it will have on November’s midterm elections.

First and foremost, Trump is back center stage, not just because of the FBI search on Aug. 8 but because of every new development that has followed — including the assertion from investigators that they found highly classified information at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate, and the revelation that he is being scrutinized for at least three possible crimes.

Trump’s renewed prominence has all kinds of ramifications.

It makes him the main focus of political news and debate at a time when many Republicans would have been happy to campaign on other issues, including inflation, crime and immigration as the clock ticks down toward November.

Yet, at the same time, the controversy inflames Trump’s base, likely spurring fundraising efforts that had begun to lag and perhaps making some supporters more likely to turn out to vote.

For President Biden, too, the investigation into Trump is a double-edged sword. 

It helps Biden’s efforts to make the midterms, at least in part, a referendum on the GOP’s decision to tie itself so closely to Trump. But it also stomps on the news of the current president’s recent successes, including passing several key pieces of legislation.

Biden is expected to sign the landmark Inflation Reduction Act at the White House Tuesday — and there’s a very real prospect it will be a sideshow to the latest twists in the Trump drama.

On Monday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) argued against releasing the affidavit that buttressed their request for a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago. A new DOJ court filing claimed that such a release could “alter the investigation’s trajectory, reveal ongoing and future investigative efforts, and undermine agents’ ability to collect evidence or obtain truthful testimony.”

Meanwhile, the former president alleged that investigators conducting the search of his Florida resort had stolen three passports belonging to him, only one of which he said had expired.

Democrats believe the whole chain of startling events gives them a political advantage, not least because of the way Trump has remade the GOP in his own image.

The Republican nominees in several key Senate races won their primaries by emphasizing their loyalty to him, and even some potential 2024 rivals for the party nomination have rallied to his side.

“The bottom line is that Democrats have a lot of ammunition against any Trump-aligned Republicans going into the fall,” said Democratic strategist Basil Smikle.

Allan Lichtman, a history professor at American University, said that the drama “complicates matters a great deal” for Republicans now and in November.

“This looked like a good election for Republicans,” said Lichtman, who back in 2006 contested the Democratic Senate nomination in Maryland.  

“Biden’s approval ratings were low, Americans were unhappy with the economy — there was lots for Republicans to run on. And the worst case for them is not to be running on any of those things, but to instead be running on Trump’s grievances.”

Those with a more sympathetic view of the former president, however, contend that conservative grievances can have a power of their own.

According to this theory, the raid and subsequent events have caused a closing of GOP ranks behind Trump, bolstering his pre-eminence within the party.

Barry Bennett, a senior advisor to Trump’s first campaign in 2016, argued that Attorney General Merrick Garland had, knowingly or otherwise, played into Trump’s hands. 

“The attorney general has managed to do something that no-one has been able to do, and that is turn Trump into a victim,” Bennett told this column. “My guess is [Trump] has raised millions off of it.”

Bennett, who is these days sometimes critical of Trump, said that the search has slowed any erosion of Trump’s position within the party.

“I don’t know that it necessarily builds support,” Bennett said. “What it does is, it slows the half-life in terms of the deterioration of his support.”

But there are other complications to consider.

The reaction to the initial raid among the most fervent Trump loyalists, inside and outside of Congress, was naked fury against the FBI. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) called for the bureau to be defunded, in a clear echo of the “Defund the Police” slogan favored by some campaigners for racial justice.

Such calls, though, don’t sit easily with a GOP more used to casting itself as the pro-law and order party.

Even as the new developments come thick and fast, however, one overarching fact is clear.

Trump, for good or ill, is the central figure in the nation’s politics once again.

Todd Belt, the director of the political management program at the George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management, summed it up.

“Like anything involving Trump, it sucks all the oxygen out of everything else,” he said.

The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.

Source: TEST FEED1

Apple tries again with return-to-office date: report

Bloomberg News reported on Monday that Apple has set Sept. 5 as the deadline for corporate employees to return to the office in-person for at least three days a week. 

Apple will require its corporate employees to work from the office on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and an undetermined third day during the week. The company’s initial plan was to have corporate employees work on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays at the office. 

Apple recently held an in-person meeting at its main campus earlier in June for a developers’ conference presentation, signaling the first time in three years that the company is moving toward a return to normal operations, according to Bloomberg. 

The Hill has reached out to Apple Inc. for comment and more information. 

The company, known as the maker of the iPhone and Mac computers and laptops, had delayed plans to return to the office multiple times due to COVID-19.

The delays caused the company to remain on a two-day a week in-office schedule for employees.

The company also scaled back on past pandemic-era restrictions when it made masks optional in common areas. It’s Cupertino headquarters will be the first office to implement the new in-person schedule.

Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) relaxed most of its guidelines for COVID-19 in communities, putting the emphasis on individuals to assess to own risk level when it comes to the virus.

Source: TEST FEED1

Zelensky warns of ‘catastrophe’ if Ukraine nuclear power station not defended

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that Russia’s actions could “cause a catastrophe” should Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine not be defended properly.

“If Russia’s actions cause a catastrophe, the consequences may also hit those who remain silent so far,” Zelensky warned.

He continued: “Any radiation incident at the Zaporizhzhia NPP can affect the countries of the European Union, Turkey, Georgia and countries from more distant regions.”

Zelensky elaborated on the effects of Russia’s presence near the power plant on the international community, saying that Russia is ignoring and rejecting other countries’ demands.

“If a terrorist state allows itself to completely ignore the demands of the international community, especially in such a sensitive topic, this clearly indicates the need for immediate action,” he said, adding that Russia is “rejecting the security demands” of 42 countries that have asked the country to withdraw its forces from the plant.

The countries, including the United States, Germany, Japan and the nations of the European Union, released a joint statement earlier on Monday calling on Russia to withdraw from the area.

“We urge the Russian Federation to immediately withdraw its military forces and all other unauthorised personnel from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, its immediate surroundings, and all of Ukraine,” the countries wrote.

In his address, the Ukrainian president called for “new tough sanctions against Russia,” calling it a “terrorist state” and calling on other countries to support Ukraine’s fight against its neighbor’s takeover of nuclear plants.

“And if now the world lacks the strength and determination to protect one nuclear plant, it means that the world loses,” said Zelensky.

He ended his speech with a warning to Russia: “All Russian terrorists should know that every meter of Ukrainian land is an absolute danger for them. No matter how they try to hide. No matter where it is. They will be found and destroyed.”

Source: TEST FEED1