WTF Just Happened Today Matt Kiser

1/ The Supreme Court unanimously preserved access to the abortion pill mifepristone, rejecting a challenge to the FDA’s rules for prescribing and dispensing abortion pills. The court, however, took no position on the drugs safety, morality, or whether people have a right to bodily autonomy. Instead, the court said the anti-abortion group had failed to show they had been harmed and did not have legal standing to sue. “For that reason, the federal courts are the wrong forum for addressing the plaintiffs’ concerns about FDA’s actions,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the court, even though the plaintiffs have “sincere legal, moral, ideological, and policy objections.” Kavanaugh suggested that the plaintiffs take their issues to the president, lawmakers, and regulators to make changes. Although the ruling was unanimous, Missouri, Kansas, and Idaho, each of which has a Republican attorney general, have brought their own claims and have different arguments for standing. Mifepristone was used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. last year. (Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times / CNN / NPR / NBC News / Politico / Axios / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)


poll/ 61% of Americans support mifepristone, which was approved by the FDA in 2000 (!), as a prescription drug. Among Republicans, 32% are in favor of having mifepristone available as a prescription drug, while 87% of Democrats and 61% of independents support the drug’s legality. (Gallup)

2/ Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic bill to protect access to in vitro fertilization. Every though 49 Senate Republicans signed onto a letter voicing their support for IVF, the legislation failed 48-47. It needed 60 votes to advance. “Once again, Senate Republicans refused to protect access to fertility treatments for women who are desperately trying to get pregnant,” Biden said after the vote. “The disregard for a woman’s right to make these decisions for herself and her family is outrageous and unacceptable.” Last week, Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic measure to protect the federal right to access contraception nationwide. (Politico / Axios / Washington Post / New York Times / a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/06...

1/ The Republican-controlled House voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over audio of Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated Biden’s handling of classified material and declined to bring charges. Despite the Justice Department previously making the full transcript public, Republicans on the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees issued two subpoenas for the audio recordings. Garland refused to turn over the audio, saying it would set a bad precedent to share audio for cases that do not lead to criminal charges. Garland also told lawmakers that he didn’t see a “legislative purpose” for Congress needing the audio when “the words are the same on the transcript as the audio.” Further, Biden asserted executive privilege over the recordings. Nevertheless, House Republicans argued that the audio recording was crucial to their impeachment inquiry into Biden, which remains stalled after their key witness was charged with lying. The vote was 216-207, and marks the third time a sitting attorney general was held in contempt of Congress. It is unlikely that the Justice Department — which Garland oversees — will prosecute him. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Associated Press / Axios / CNN / NBC News)

2/ Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is mad that a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalism organization did its job and reported on the lavish gifts and travel that Justice Clarence Thomas accepted – but didn’t disclose – from a Republican megadonor. At an event hosted by the Supreme Court Historical Society, Alito was recorded criticizing ProPublica, an independent, nonprofit newsroom that won a Pulitzer Prize for its series on ethical lapses by Supreme Court justices. Alito argued that ProPublica was not engaging in legitimate journalism, but instead claimed without evidence that they were reporting on the court because “they don’t like our decisions, and they don’t like how they anticipate we may decide some cases that are coming up. That’s the beginning of the end of it.” He added, “There are groups that are very well-funded by ideological interests that have spearheaded these attacks. That’s what it is.” When asked to elaborate, Alito responded: “ProPublica gets a lot of money, and they have spent a fortune investigating Clarence Thomas, for example. You know, everything he’s ever done in his entire life. And they’ve done some of that to me, too. They look for any little thing they can find, and they try to make something out of it.” In 2023, ProPublica published a series of i...

1/ Judge Aileen Cannon denied convicted felon Trump’s effort to dismiss his classified documents case, but did agree to delete a paragraph in the federal superseding indictment that alleges he mishandled classified materials after he left the White House and obstructed attempts to retrieve them. Cannon said that special counsel Jack Smith’s inclusion of a paragraph, which alleges Trump showed a classified document in September 2021 about an “ongoing military operation” was “not going well” to someone without a security clearance, was “not appropriate,” because it’s not directly related to the charges Trump is facing. Trump isn’t charged with disclosing classified materials; only with illegally retaining them. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)

2/ Attorney General Merrick Garland called the attacks on the Justice Department by Trump and his allies “baseless, personal and dangerous.” For the second time this month Garland has publicly pushed back against threats by House Republicans to defund special counsel Jack Smith – who is prosecuting Trump for attempting to overturn the 2020 election and illegally retaining classified documents and obstructing efforts to retrieve them – as well as conspiracy theories that the Justice Department was involved in the Manhattan District Attorney’s prosecution of Trump. Garland said the department was facing threats of violence “like never before,” adding that the “continued unfounded attacks against the Justice Department’s employees are dangerous for people’s safety. They are dangerous for our democracy. This must stop.” Meanwhile in a letter to House Republicans, the Justice Department said it had found no emails between DOJ leadership and District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office about any Trump case, calling it “conspiratorial speculation.” (Axios / Politico / NBC News / ABC News / Politico)

3/ House Democrats launched a task force to prepare for the so-called Project 2025, a 920-page policy blueprint compiled by the far-right Heritage Foundation for how a second Trump administration could expand the power of the presidency to act unilaterally while dismantling layers of the federal government. At its core, Project 2025 proposes purging thousands of civil servants and replacing them with Trump loyalists. “This stuff is going to be coming at us at lightspeed. And if we are on our heels and reacting to it, we could lose our democracy,” Jared Huffman said, one of the lawmakers spearheading The Stop Project 2025 Task Force. “So we’re going to need to be ready to confront it in real time. And those plans need to begin now.” Huffman added: “The stakes just couldn’t be higher.” (a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/06/11/congress/new-democratic-trump-task-force-huffm...

1/ Human activities were responsible for 92% of the warming observed in 2023 – earth’s hottest calendar year on record. May was marked the 12th consecutive month to set a monthly global average temperature record. And, over the past year, global temperatures averaged 1.6 degrees Celsius (2.9 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels. Over the next five years, there’s a 90% chance Earth will set yet another record for its warmest year. “It is shocking but not surprising that we have reached this 12-month streak,” the director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service said. “While this sequence of record-breaking months will eventually be interrupted, the overall signature of climate change remains and there is no sign in sight of a change in such a trend.” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres added: “Our planet is trying to tell us something. But we don’t seem to be listening.” (Washington Post / Associated Press / Axios / CNN / New York Times)

2/ A federal judge ordered Steve Bannon to report to prison on July 1, to begin serving his four-month prison sentence.Bannon was sentenced in 2022 for contempt of Congress after defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee related to his involvement in Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss to Biden. After the hearing, Bannon promised to take his conviction “all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to,” claiming without evidence that the Justice Department was “shutting down the MAGA movement, shutting down grassroots conservatives, shutting down President Trump.” Bannon, who will be behind bars until just before the November election and unable to continue his podcast, added: “There’s nothing that can shut me up and nothing that will shut me up. There’s not a prison built or a jail built that will ever shut me up.” (Politico / Axios / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Associated Press)

3/ An Israeli airstrike on a school operated by the United Nations for displaced Palestinian refugees in Gaza killed at least 40 people, including women and children. The Israel Defense Forces said its forces launched a “precise strike” targeting a group of about 30 Hamas militants. The IDF claims Hamas was using “three classrooms” as a base inside the U.N. school. Despite footage showing bodies wrapped in blankets or plastic bags being laid out in lines in the courtyard of the hospital, an Israeli military spokesperson said he was “not aware of any civilian casualties” as a result of the strike. The Biden administration, meanwhile, said it does not have “independent verification of what exactly occurred,” but that it is talking with the Israelis to “try to get a better understanding.” (a href="h...

1/ Convicted felon Trump – again – suggested that he’d prosecute his political opponents if he’s reelected. “It’s a terrible, terrible path that they’re leading us to, and it’s very possible that it’s going to have to happen to them,” Trump said while discussing the 34 felon counts of orchestrating an illegal conspiracy to influence the 2016 presidential election by falsifying business records a a New York jury found him guilty of. “Does that mean the next president does it to them? That’s really the question,” he added. (Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / Axios)



📌 Day 1051: Trump refused to rule out abusing power if re-elected president. In a Fox News town hall, Sean Hannity asked Trump to deny that he would abuse power to seek revenge on political opponents if he returns to the White House. Trump initially dodged the question. “You are promising America tonight you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?” Hannity asked a second time. “Except for Day One,” Trump replied. Asked for clarification, Trump responded: “I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill.” Trump then doubled down on his comments: “I love this guy,” referring to Hannity. “He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ I said: ‘No, no, no. Other than Day One.’ We’re closing the border, and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.” Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, warned Americans that Trump “has been telling us exactly what he will do if he’s re-elected, and tonight he said he will be a dictator on Day 1. Americans should believe him.” (Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post / The Guardian / Rolling Stone / Daily Beast / Politico)



📌 Day 1028: Trump – echoing fascist dictators like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini – “pledged” to “root out” his political opponents, which he called “vermin” and claimed they “lie, steal and cheat on elections.” In a Veterans Day post, Trump suggested that his political opponents pose a greater “threat from within” to the U.S. than “outside forces” like Russia, China, or North Korea. (Washington Post / a href="https://www.nytimes.com/20...

1/ Wisconsin charged three people involved in the “fake elector” scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election to keep now-convicted felon Trump in office. Attorney General Josh Kaul charged Kenneth Chesebro, Jim Troupis, and Michael Roman with one felony count each of conspiracy to commit forgery. The three will make their initial appearances in Dane County Circuit Court on Sept. 19. Each charge carries a sentence of up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Chesebro is also one of the 18 co-defendants named in Trump’s criminal racketeering case in Georgia. Similar slates of fake electors to overturn the results of the 2020 election to keep Trump in office were organized in several states and charges have been brought in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Georgia. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Associated Press / CBS News / NBC News / Politico / Axios)

2/ Speaker Mike Johnson floated a “three-pronged approach” to punish the Department of Justice for Trump’s felony conviction. With House Republicans’ push to impeach Biden going nowhere, Johnson announced a plan to use the appropriations process, legislation, and Congressional oversight to rein in Trump’s prosecutors at both the federal and state levels by limiting funding for the FBI, federal prosecutors, and “state prosecutors or state attorneys general involved in lawfare.” Johnson suggested that “All those things will be happening vigorously, because we have to do that, because the stakes are too high and because people are losing faith in our institutions.” Some Republicans, however, acknowledge that they don’t have enough votes to pass legislation in the House. And even if they could pass a bill, it’s unlikely to go anywhere with the Democratic-controlled Senate. (Politico / The Hill / Politico / CNN)

3/ Attorney General Merrick Garland condemned the “repeated attacks” from Republicans on the Justice Department, calling them “unprecedented,” “unfounded,” and “extremely dangerous” during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. “I will not be intimidated,” Garland said in his opening statements. “The Justice Department will not be intimidated. We will continue to do our jobs free from political influence. And we will not back down from defending our democracy.” House Republicans have advanced a conspiracy theory that the Manhattan district attorney, which convicted Trump on 34 felon counts of orchestrating an illegal conspiracy to influence the 2016 presidential election by falsifying business records, “was somehow controlled by the Justice Department.” Garland emphasized that the Ju...