Today in Politics, Bulletin 434. 8/6/26

Ron Filipkowski Aug 6 ∙

… When NV Gov. Joe Lombardo attempted to pay tribute at the Trump rally last night to a local police officer who recently was shot and killed in the line of duty, MAGA supporters reflexively booed him as soon as they heard his name since it sounded Arabic: “So I know the pastor spoke about Officer Abdelnabi-- Crowd: Boooooo! Lombardo: No, no! We’re not booing him. He’s the officer that passed away here recently.”

… Austin Abdelnabi was also a US Marine veteran.

… Trump at the rally: “We’re taking a lot of oil from Venezuela - billions and billions of barrels of oil. To the victor belong the spoils.”

… Michael McFaul, former US Ambassador to Russia: “That this outrageous statement celebrating imperialism was not page one news today underscores how numb we have become to Trump. This is not normal! In my view, this is un-American! We are not imperialists. Who believes, ‘to the victor belong the spoils’? I dont. This money belongs to the people of Venezuela, not us.”

… A new poll now has Democrat Brian Poindexter surging into a big lead in the polls after credible allegations surfaced of domestic violence and child abuse against Republican Rep. Max Miller. Poindexter leads 47%-33%.

… The federal judge overseeing MeidasTouch reporter Katie Phang’s lawsuit against Todd Blanche is turning up the pressure on DOJ after finding that it still has not complied with key portions of his previous orders in the battle over the release of the Epstein files.

… “US District Judge Emmet Sullivan scheduled an Aug 13 status hearing and directed the parties to be prepared to address 3 specific issues where the DOJ appears to have fallen short. The order comes just one day after DOJ missed its deadline to answer her complaint. Phang sought a court order forcing the govt to finally respond, and the DOJ ultimately requested a retroactive extension. Oddly enough, the DOJ filing was made by US Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

… Sullivan said DOJ failed to provide the documentation he explicitly ordered to justify its claim that certain names redacted from the Epstein files belong to victims. Instead, the govt merely asserted that attorneys for certain individuals had contacted DOJ requesting they be treated as victims. That wasn’t enough: “The Defendant’s assertions do not comply with the Court’s Order.”

… He ordered the DOJ to come prepared next week to explain what evidence it will actually provide. That issue has been central to the case ever since Sullivan ruled in July that the Epstein Files Transparency Act sharply limits the govt’s ability to withhold material. While the Act permits redactions for victims, the judge has repeatedly insisted the govt must substantiate those claims rather than rely on conclusory assertions."

… Sullivan also renewed his scrutiny of another major dispute: the FBI’s handwritten interview notes. Back in June, Sullivan ordered the govt either to produce the underlying handwritten notes that formed the basis of FBI FD-302 interview reports or explain why they should remain withheld. The DOJ argued that the notes were “substantially similar” to the typed reports already produced and that handwritten notes presented a greater risk of inadvertently exposing victim info.

… Sullivan was not buying it. He observed that nothing in the Epstein Act creates an exception for documents simply because they are duplicative. He also pointedly noted that the govt itself has already published “substantially similar” draft indictments. The judge ordered DOJ lawyers to explain why the handwritten notes cannot simply be redacted manually, or by some other method, before being released.

… The third issue concerns another statutory requirement DOJ has yet to satisfy. The Act requires every redaction to be accompanied by a written justification that must be published in the Federal Register and submitted to Congress. The DOJ has acknowledged it intends to comply, but the parties disagree over whether it has already missed the deadline to do so.

… The Hill: “New Mexico is suing DOJ for access to a set of unredacted Jeffrey Epstein records, alleging the agency is withholding documents that could aid the state’s investigation into the convicted sex offender’s alleged crimes at a remote ranch outside Santa Fe.”

… “The complaint, which also names acting Todd Blanche, accuses the DOJ of ‘stonewalling’ the state probe into Zorro Ranch, a property reportedly mentioned thousands of times in the Epstein files where survivors say they were subjected to trafficking and sexual abuse.”

… From the lawsuit: “USDOJ and Acting AG Blanche are refusing to facilitate the investigation of state law crimes by hiding information about Epstein and his co-conspirators from AG Raul Torrez and state law enforcement, when NM is one of few jurisdictions that still may have an opportunity to hold Epstein’s associates accountable or otherwise provide some sense of justice to survivors.”

… “Torrez is asking a federal judge in the DC to declare the DOJ’s actions unlawful and grant his office access to full, unredacted copies of investigative files that the agency has purportedly refused to hand over, including a 2019 email from an anonymous sender that alleged two girls were buried in the hills near the ranch.”

… AP: “The Senate Homeland Security committee voted to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress and refer him to DOJ for potential prosecution over his refusal to answer questions at a hearing last week focused on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Committee held the vote one week after Fauci invoked his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times when he appeared before the panel.”

… “Sen. Rand Paul, the committee chairman, has said that constitutional protection did not apply since Fauci last year received a pardon from Joe Biden and thus did not have to worry about the threat of prosecution. Fauci and Democrats who opposed the contempt resolution say he had a well-founded fear of self-incrimination given a public desire by Republicans to seek his prosecution.”

… “The full Senate has typically considered contempt charges even when they originate with a committee. But Paul is sending the matter directly to DOJ, bypassing the full Senate in a move Democrats decried as illegitimate. That means the referral will land in the office of DC Attorney Jeanine Pirro.”

… “So, now, Pirro could end up deciding whether to prosecute Fauci. Sen. Gary Peters, the committee’s top Democrat, also questioned whether the referral would be valid if Paul bypassed the entire Senate, where the 60 votes needed to pass the resolution are seen as unlikely.”

… Peters: “If this committee now seeks to punish a witness for asserting their constitutionally protected 5th Amendment rights, future witnesses will argue that appearing before Congress exposes them to punishment regardless of whether they comply with a subpoena and invoke a constitutional protection.”

… Fauci’s lawyer David Schertler: “Today’s partisan committee vote is a crude political stunt intended to punish Dr. Fauci for exercising his constitutional rights. The Senate should reject Senator Paul’s meritless and politically-motivated contempt resolution. For years, Sen. Paul has proclaimed to anyone who would listen that Dr. Fauci should be prosecuted and put in prison. Dr. Fauci has committed no crime — and Senator Paul knows it.”

… Sen. Mitch McConnell issued a new statement today: “Earlier today, I was discharged from the rehabilitation center to continue my recovery at home. Elaine and I are grateful for the many well wishes and support from friends, colleagues, and Kentuckians, and for the attentive care I’ve received from excellent doctors, nurses, therapists, and hospital staff.”

… “On the advice of my doctors, I’ll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period, and I’ll continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business.”

… WaPo: “Trump’s frustration over the Iran war boiled over at Camp David last week, where he demanded answers from Pete Hegseth on why he had apparently been misled on extreme munitions shortages that now threaten to limit military options with Iran. The encounter took place on the sidelines of his Cabinet meeting on Friday where Trump vented at Hegseth that he thought the munitions issue ‘had been fixed’.”

… “The shortages, particularly in long-range guided missiles and air-defense interceptors, have been part of the reason Trump has pulled back from launching additional massive strikes against Iran in recent days. Trump said Monday that he had ordered and subsequently called off ‘the biggest attack since World War II,’ pending claims of new negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz.”

… “In the first month of fighting alone, the US fired off more than 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles and more than 1,000 Patriot and TTHAAD systems. The US also used more than 1,300 of the Army’s tactical ballistic missiles in the initial weeks of fighting. The ATACMs stockpile — a short-range missile also in demand by Ukraine — is drained to the extent that there’s basically none left.”

… “As he was confronted by Trump over the bare weapons stockpile, Hegseth defended himself and blamed his deputy, Stephen Feinberg, for the shortages and for not ensuring Trump was fully apprised of the issue. The exchange underscored Trump’s increasing frustration with his defense secretary, who was one of the biggest early advocates for taking military action against Iran, convincing Trump it would be a quick and relatively easy win.”

… ABC6 (NJ): “Two municipal water systems in NJ were targeted in cyberattacks in the last week, widely thought to be the work of Iran, the state said. The affected utilities, which were not named, were temporarily blinded when automated systems went down.

… “Our NJ Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell responded to two cyber incidents affecting NJ municipal water systems this past week. The investigations found that the incidents involved vulnerable internet-exposed control systems, which temporarily limited operators’ ability to monitor or manage them remotely. In both cases, staff shifted quickly to manual operations, and there was no disruption to service.”

… “Sources told ABC News that Iran remains the prime suspect, perhaps showing how it could retaliate as Trump threatens to escalate the war.”

… NBC: “The Trump admin has awarded a $150 million contract to give legal representation to migrant children traveling alone to the US to a small Texas law firm with ties to the admin but little experience in immigration law. The move has prompted legal aid groups who’ve long represented those children to warn that the move could make them vulnerable to deportation.”

… “The contract to Burke Law Group comes as the Trump admin ramps up its mass deportation campaign across the country and after the admin last week let a key contract with a network of legal groups working with immigrant children around the country expire with no replacement. The providers have increasingly raised worries that children won’t have the experienced legal help they need at a time when the admin is intensifying efforts to remove people from the country.”

… Michael Lukens, who heads the Amica Center: “Upsetting and shocking. It really does forebode a situation where children are going to get no meaningful due process, no meaningful day in court. We cannot have a random law firm entrusted to take care of children.”

… The firm has given over $1.7 million in campaign contributions to Republicans.

… Democratic nominee for senate Abdul El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens had a great moment today at a Democratic Unity Breakfast in MI after their contentious primary.

… Stevens: “Friends, I want to thank you for your support in this race. I’m so grateful for each and every one of you who stepped up to fight for a stronger Michigan. Now, it’s time to come together to make sure we beat Mike Rogers and keep Michigan blue. Let's go win!”

… Mallory McMorrow, who dropped out of the race shortly before the election: “This week, the entire country watched MI to see which direction the Democratic party would go. But in the most MI way, we rejected the premise. In MI, the Democratic Party IS a big tent party. One side didn’t outright trounce the other side. And we saw record turnout: 1.5 million voted in the Democratic primary. 0.9 million voted in the Republican primary. Let’s keep this up and win big in Nov.”

On Uncovered yesterday, we talk about the Max Miller abuse allegations and Chuck Edwards’s sexual harassment cases, Mike Johnson standing by them, Pirro and the Reflecting Pool, Fetterman’s appearance on Jon Stewart, Tillis, Cornyn & Susan Collins fakery on the Blanche confirmation, Trump cheating at golf, Mike Lindell’s new legal problems and lots more! Link to the show is here.

If you missed the last Bulletin, you can find it here.

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… Conservative GA radio host Erick Erickson on Sen. Jon Ossoff: “You talk to farmers in South GA, they can get him on the phone. They can get his staff on the phone. They can get help. You talk to Republicans in Houston County, very Republican part of the state, they know they can reach out to Ossoff, and he doesn’t care that they’re Republican. If they need something, he’s going to get it done.”

… James Talarico at a rally today: “For too many Texans, the American dream has become an American nightmare. It is too expensive to buy a home. It’s too expensive to get married and have kids. It’s too expensive to retire comfortably. People are working hard every day. They’re playing by the rules. But the rules of today weren’t written for us. They were written for billionaires.”

… “We can’t afford a home, but Jeff Bezos has at least a dozen. We can’t afford to fill up our tanks, but Mark Zuckerberg is launching helicopters off his megayacht. The top 1% has put the American dream behind a paywall.”

… Speaker Mike Johnson posted: “It’s no longer Republican vs. Democrat. It’s America-loving vs. America-hating COMMUNISTS, and today’s Democrat Party has shown us who they really are. Democrats want to destroy America. Republicans LOVE America and will FIGHT to keep the US the greatest country in the history of the world.”

… Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who is running for governor: “If we don’t straighten out this country’s voting and immigration system, we’re not gonna make it. It’s gonna be over. I’m gonna go back to Alabama and hey, we might build a 30-foot wall around our state.”

… I would not be sad to see Tuberville leave the senate to spend to rest of his political career in Alabama. Apologies to the people of Alabama who aren’t voting for him.

… NYT: “It was hardly the first time that someone on social media called someone else fat. But it may have been the first time that a VP of the US did so. Peeved at a conservative columnist who criticized his position on Iran, JD Vance jabbed at his physical appearance. ‘If you’ve ever met him in person,’ he wrote on social media, ‘it’s quite obvious the man has never missed a burrito.’”

… “In an era when playground insults pass for political dialogue, few have leaped into the online flame wars with more gusto than Vance. The first millennial VP has long dispensed with the decorum and restraint of his older predecessors to go after the ‘idiots’ and ‘scumbags’ who anger him, from the ‘limousine socialists’ on the left to the ‘disgraceful’ conservatives on the right.”

… “Vance appears to have a natural appetite for conflict, the product of a generation that grew up with gladiatorial political instincts. It is not enough that someone else may be wrong about policy or politics; they must be stupid, mendacious, vile or, yes, even overweight.”

… NYT: “A military helicopter carrying Trump came less than a mile from a passenger jet above Washington on Tuesday after garbled communications with Ronald Reagan National Airport’s tower delayed air traffic controllers from clearing nearby air traffic. The incident occurred shortly after 2:30 PM as Trump was flying to Joint Base Andrews from the WH on the initial leg of a planned trip to LA.”

… “Before taking off, the crew of Marine One made 3 attempts to warn controllers in the National Airport tower that they were 3 minutes away from taking off. The communications appeared not to have been heard by the controller, and the helicopter advanced. That put it in the flight path of an Envoy Air passenger jet, a haunting situation after a tragic collision between a military helicopter and a passenger jet in the DC airspace last year.”

… “At their closest proximity, Marine One came within 0.8 miles of lateral distance and 700 feet of vertical distance from the passenger jet.”

… Bloomberg: “Just in on Trump Battleship: The Congressional Budget Office estimates that Trump’s Golden Fleet of nuclear-powered battleships could cost as much as $275 billion to develop and acquire through 2056. The agency’s preliminary estimate is $23 billion for the first vessel and roughly $18 billion each for the subsequent ships, which would make them the most expensive US warships ever produced.”

… NYT: “Late one night last August, Alexander Stubb, the president of Finland, was at his summer residence two hours west of Helsinki when his phone rang. On the other end of the line was Trump, calling with a request. He wanted to buy a fleet of massive ships designed to cut through Arctic ice.”

… “Trump had long fixated on these hulking vessels, known as polar icebreakers. He viewed them as crucial to dominating the Arctic, where rising temperatures have put key shipping lanes and vast mineral wealth up for grabs. And he was incensed that the US possessed far fewer than Russia. Two months later, Trump and Stubb were sitting in the Oval Office to announce a deal for 11 icebreakers, worth almost $7 billion, to be built by shipyards in both countries.”

… “The arrangement was unusual in various ways. The number was twice as many as the Coast Guard had said it needed. The contracts for building the ships would be awarded without competitive bids. And while 7 of the ships are expected to be built in the US, the first 4 would be built in Finland, requiring Trump to waive a law prohibiting the construction of national security vessels overseas.”

… The deal came with no plan to pay for the infrastructure required to support the 11 new ships or the crews to sail them. Those costs are likely to reach into the billions. Shelby Oakley, director of contracting and national security acquisitions for GAO: “We haven’t seen any information or analysis to justify the 11 or to assess the long-term affordability of these decisions.”

… Oakley said the Coast Guard risks ending up “like a lottery winner who spends all their money buying the mansion, and then goes broke once they realize they don’t have the money to maintain it.”

… WaPo: “The US DOGE Service, the cost-cutting group spearheaded by Elon Musk, consistently overstated its savings in online posts, taking credit for lease cancellations initiated before the group existed. DOGE also claimed contracts were terminated that had not been and loaded its database with savings that could not be verified.”

… “Though Musk aimed to cut $2 trillion in federal spending, even by DOGE’s own estimates it fell well short. A sporadically updated website tallying its cuts in a ‘Wall of Receipts’ stated that its initiatives had saved $215 billion. The GAO examined $110 billion of this claimed savings that derived from contracts, grants and leases. Among the issues identified by GAO:

• DOGE’s ‘Wall of Receipts’ “includes leases identified for termination before it was established.” In total, 108 of 264 leases DOGE identified on its website “were already in process for termination” when it came into being.

• DOGE claimed to have terminated 13,476 contracts, but nearly 2,000 of these contracts “were not terminated.”

• Of $61 billion in contracts savings DOGE reported, more than half the funds — nearly $35 billion — were either not terminated or unable to be corroborated by the investigators, because DOGE’s data was not specific enough to identify it.

… The Hill: “Trump’s son Eric said an old Air Force One will go on display at his father’s presidential library in Miami, contradicting the president’s original plan for his new Qatari-gifted executive aircraft. Eric Trump told NBC that it’s ‘not the plan at the moment for Miami’ to display the Boeing 747-8 as the new AF1. He told the Palm Beach Post last month that an older, retired Air Force One jet will go on display ‘in the base of that.’”

… Eric: “Obviously, they’re retiring two Air Force ones now, the 2900 and the 29100z. The 2900 will be at the base of that building.” He said the library complex skyscraper is being built “around a 747. I’m sure wings will have to come off in order to just sneak it in there, but we’ll make it happen.”

… Canadian PM Mark Carney was asked about ongoing trade negotiations between his country and the US:

• Q - “We're now two weeks from Trump's threatened 50% tariffs on Canadian goods. How likely is it that you'll be able to fend those tariffs off? Carney: We'll see. We're in the middle of negotiations.”

• "Mr. LeBlanc and Ms. Charette are both there in Washington with their teams, and they are holding very detailed discussions with their American counterparts. So, yes, this is a tough negotiation. We can change the adjective and say nasty, if you will. But for Canada, it's about saving Canadian jobs, about the future of Canadian businesses."

• "Since Americans put their tariffs in the price of aluminum in the US has gone up 58%. It's gone up by more than the tariff. Some of that's international prices, but most of that is pass-through of the tariff. So that's not a good situation for American companies."

• “I would like to inform you that the teleprompter has ceased to function. Unlike a certain world leader, I do not view this as a conspiracy.”

• "You've seen now the start of the transformation in the economy just beginning to show up in the numbers. We're creating jobs at twice the rate of the US. We have foreign direct investment twice the rate of our nearest G7 competitor, which is the US. We are seeing growth pick up in this quarter. And most fundamentally, what we're seeing is business investment beginning to pick up."

… NOTUS: “Democrats looking for an alternative to progressive lawmakers’ proposed moratorium on data centers will now have yet another policy idea to consider. Sen. Ron Wyden, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate’s tax-writing body, proposed a new excise tax and elimination of tax breaks for a data center construction boom expected to run into the trillions of dollars.”

… “His proposal joins roughly a half-dozen competing Democratic approaches to addressing Americans’ unrest around AI, reflecting the soaring political salience of AI policy — an area Democrats are eager to win voters’ trust on.”

… Wyden: “American communities are rightfully questioning whether the rapid build-out of data centers across the nation will benefit them, as local disruptions rise and Americans grow concerned about the long-term career prospects of millions of workers. These proposals are a first step towards safeguarding taxpayer dollars and ensuring there are resources to support American workers displaced by the coming disruptions to the economy.”

… “Wyden’s plan would prohibit data centers from benefiting from tax-advantaged ‘opportunity zones,’ a tax deduction Republicans extended last year, and a tax incentive for real estate trusts. It would also level a new ‘low single-digit’ tax on company revenues. Data centers built in space would also be taxed if they provide services to US customers.”

… “Wyden’s proposal stands in stark contrast to that of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. AOC, who want to stop data center construction until guardrails can be put in place on AI.”

… Eric Michael Garcia with The Independent: Paris Hilton criticized Jim Jordan for holding up the DEFIANCE Act, AOC's bill that would allow victims of nonconsensual Deepfake AI porn to file civil suits against those who distribute it: "Rep. Jim Jordan and House leadership have an opportunity to protect millions and send a clear message that people who knowingly create or distribute nonconsensual explicit deepfakes to cause harm will be held accountable.”

… TMZ: “Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski appear a lot closer than they might want people to believe, because the two were seen spending some quality time together in MN. In new footage, the duo is seen biking along the shores of Lake Minnetonka before settling in at an outdoor table at The Grocer’s Table, a cozy market and café in Wayzata.”

… “Rumors have swirled for years that Noem and Lewandowski are romantically involved - claims both of them have denied. In March, Noem was pressed in a House Judiciary Committee hearing about whether she had sexual relations with Lewandowski while serving as the head of DHS, a question she dismissed as ‘tabloid garbage.’”

… James Fishback, Republican primary candidate for FL governor, called a press conference today to announce he had reliable information that his opponent, Trump endorsed Byron Donalds, was under an active police investigation for sex trafficking along with Rep. Cory Mills.

… He presented what he said were copies of text messages between Mills and Donalds along with a photo of the two at a hotel in Las Vegas notorious for prostitution. Fishback alleged they hired prostitutes the night they were there.

… The Washington Examiner then reported that a law enforcement source told him that Mills is under investigation for a “financial” crime and Donalds is not under investigation for anything.

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