memeorandum: State AGs' corporate cash cow (Lachlan Markay/Axios)

9:50 AM ET, June 20, 2022

Top Items:

Jack Goldsmith / New York Times:

Prosecute Trump? Put Yourself in Merrick Garland's Shoes — The evidence gathered by the Jan. 6 committee and in some of the federal cases against those involved in the Capitol attack pose for Attorney General Merrick Garland one of the most consequential questions that any attorney general has ever faced …

The Boston Globe:
There is no question: Merrick Garland must put Trump on trial

Discussion: Insider, Raw Story, Political Wire, The Full Belmonte and CNN

New York Times:

Texas Republicans Approve Far-Right Platform Declaring Biden's Election Illegitimate — The platform, which was voted on at the Republican state party convention in Houston, was the latest sign of Texas conservatives moving further to the right. — Give this article- - - Read in app

Discussion: CNN, Webb Chatham Report, UPI, Off the Kuff, HuffPost, Mother Jones, Insider, The Texas Tribune, No More Mister Nice Blog and Dispatches From A …

Ivana Saric / Axios:

Texas GOP goes full MAGA at 2022 convention — Texas Republicans ended a three-day convention Saturday with votes on a swath of proposed changes to their platform that would pull the party further right. … It includes resolutions denying that President Biden legitimately won the 2020 election and a call to abolish abortions.

Discussion: The Hill and Washington Times

Rosalind S. Helderman / Washington Post:
At Texas GOP convention, loyalists embrace far right, anti-gay rhetoric

Discussion: Baptist News Global, Reuters, High Plains Blogger and Citizen News

Daniel W. Drezner / Washington Post:

Goodbye, farewell and adieu to Spoiler Alerts — Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a regular contributor to PostEverything. — In 2014, I began writing on a regular basis at The Washington Post.

Discussion: Althouse

Marita Vlachou / HuffPost:

Adam Kinzinger Warns Next Presidential Election ‘Is Going To Be A Mess’ — “Wake up, Republicans, because this is not going to be good for you if you think it is,” Kinzinger said. — Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said Sunday he is “very worried” about the next presidential election …

Katie Balevic / Insider:
Kinzinger says ‘there is violence in the future’ after receiving mailed threat to ‘execute’ him, his wife, and 5-month-old baby

Discussion: Insider, The Daily Wire, ABC News, USA Today, Crooks and Liars and Mediaite

Ramon Antonio Vargas / The Guardian:
Kinzinger: Trump's actions surrounding January 6 amount to ‘seditious conspiracy’

Discussion: National Review, The Hill and Robert Reich

Rosalind S. Helderman / Washington Post:
GOP member of Jan. 6 committee warns that more violence is coming

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Hill, Axios, CNN, Associated Press, Mediaite, Politico, al.com, Raw Story, New York Post and Political Wire

Rosalind S. Helderman / Washington Post:

Trump campaign documents give inside look at fake-elector plan — A review of emails and memos shows that lawyers advising the former president knew the plan was baseless but pursued it anyway — The convening of the electoral college on Dec. 14, 2020, was supposed to mark the end of the wild …

Discussion: The Advocate, Raw Story and Occupy Democrats

Jim Geraghty / National Review:

The Taboo Lifts on Discussing Biden's Age — Today is a federal holiday, the observation of Juneteenth, which commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans and marks the anniversary of the announcement of General Order No. 3 by Union Army general Gordon Granger on June 19 …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and IJR

Julie Turkewitz / New York Times:

Gustavo Petro wins the Colombian election, becoming the country's first leftist president. — For the first time, Colombia will have a leftist president. — Gustavo Petro, a former rebel and a longtime senator who has pledged to transform the country's economic system, has won Sunday's election …

Discussion: Reuters, Axios, The Guardian, The Daily Caller, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Multipolarista, New York Times, Bloomberg, UPI and Associated Press

Brandon Smith / WFYI Public Media:

Diego Morales upsets Secretary of State Holli Sullivan at Indiana GOP convention — Unable to load the audio player. — You could try direct download? — Former Mike Pence aide Diego Morales upset incumbent Holli Sullivan Saturday to earn the GOP nomination for secretary of state.

Discussion: NBC Chicago

Lachlan Markay / Axios:

State AGs' corporate cash cow — The AG Alliance, a rising organization of state attorneys general, is drawing criticism for courting sponsorships for lavish conferences and foreign junkets from a stable of lobbyists and corporate patrons. … Some companies are ponying up tens of thousands …

Dexter Filkins / New Yorker:

Can Ron DeSantis Displace Donald Trump as the G.O.P.'s Combatant-in-Chief? — A fervent opponent of mask mandates and “woke” ideology, the Florida governor channels the same rage as the former President, but with greater discipline. … One Sunday afternoon in September, 2020, Jay Bhattacharya …

Discussion: The Hill and Washington Examiner

Peter Wade / Rolling Stone:

‘Can You Believe I Lost to This Guy?’ Trump Admitted He Lost Election, Former Aide Says — Alyssa Farah Griffin revealed that the former president acknowledged privately that Biden won, despite his public claims to the contrary — In private, former President Donald Trump admitted that he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.

Discussion: Axios, HuffPost, The Daily Beast, CNN, PoliticusUSA, NBC News and Insider

Shashi Tharoor / The Week:

The lessons we can learn from history — It is not history that has led to atrocities — The question raised by an American journalist on Twitter—"Why is the Indian Prime Minister spending so much time attacking a Mughal monarch who died more than 300 years ago?"—is a reminder …

David Horowitz / Front Page Magazine:

Fantasies and Infant Formula — The people who can't deliver on baby formula think they know what gender is right for your child. — William Kilpatrick is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. His books include Christianity, Islam, and Atheism: The Struggle for the Soul of the West …

Maria Cramer / New York Times:

Juneteenth Is a Federal Holiday, but in Most States It's Still Not a Day Off — One year after President Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday, 26 states have not authorized the funding that would allow for state employees to take the day off. — Give this article- - - Read in app

Discussion: Politico, NPR, Religion News Service, Axios and The Root

Michelle Garcia / NBC News:
Juneteenth was finally recognized as a federal holiday. Then came commercialization.

Discussion: CBS Baltimore and Mother Jones

Livia Albeck-Ripka / New York Times:

FINA Restricts Transgender Women From Competing at Elite Level — The international swimming federation said transgender women who had experienced male puberty could not compete in women's events. — Give this article- - - Read in app — FINA, the international swimming federation …