memeorandum: Harris makes surprise visit to African American history museum to mark Juneteenth (Morgan Chalfant/The Hill)

6:35 PM 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 …

Discussion: Civil Discourse …, Washington Post, Althouse, emptywheel and Lawyers, Guns & Money

National Review:

The January 6 Show — As has been true of so many things surrounding Donald Trump's career in politics, many more people have come out of the January 6 committee hearings looking worse than looking better. Most importantly, the whole tawdry spectacle reminds us: As many good things …

Discussion: Raw Story, NBC News, Townhall, CBS News, The National, Washington Post, Breitbart, DemCast, Words & Deeds, The Hill, Occupy Democrats, Robert Reich and The Advocacy Newsletter

Los Angeles Times:

Op-Ed: The insurrection won't end until Trump is prosecuted and disqualified from future office — In a powerful warning Thursday, the patron saint of the conservative legal movement, former federal appellate Judge J. Michael Luttig, testified before the Jan. 6 Committee and pronounced former President Trump …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA and John's Newsletter

Zach Hirsch / NPR: Elise Stefanik's defense of Trump around Jan. 6 clouds her pro-democracy work abroad

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Texas's new secessionist platform exposes a big GOP scam — Of all the lies that Republicans have told about the 2020 election, one of the most insulting is the “election integrity” ruse. In this telling, GOP state legislatures passed restrictions on voting across the country not to make it harder …

Discussion: NPR, The Hill, USA Today, CBS News, HuffPost, New York Post, Texas Scorecard, Vanity Fair, Common Dreams, claytoonz and Mediaite

Khaleda Rahman / Newsweek:

Texas Could Secede From U.S. in 2023 as GOP Pushes for Referendum — Texas Republicans are pushing for a referendum to decide whether the state should secede from the U.S. — The demand for Texans to be allowed to vote on the issue in 2023 was one of many measures adopted …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, The Hill, National Review, Alexander Moss, Hackwhackers, UPI, New York Times and Washington Post

Zach Schonfeld / The Hill:
Texas GOP approves measure declaring Biden ‘was not legitimately elected’

Discussion: CNN, Reuters, Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The Status Kuo, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Times, IJR and KVEO-TV

Ken Meyer / Mediaite:

Trump Knocks ‘Foolish’ Kevin McCarthy for Not Having Anyone on Jan 6 Committee: ‘Bad Decision Was Made’ — Former President Donald Trump called it a “bad decision” by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to completely withdraw from the January 6 Committee. — Trump railed against the …

Discussion: HuffPost, Raw Story, The Federalist, Washington Times, Talking Points Memo and The Dispatch

Jennifer Haberkorn / Los Angeles Times:
House Jan. 6 committee to reveal Meadows' pressure on Georgia election officials

Discussion: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Hill, CNN, Associated Press and Talking Points Memo

Marita Vlachou / HuffPost:
Adam Kinzinger Warns Next Presidential Election ‘Is Going To Be A Mess’

Discussion: The Hill, PoliticusUSA, Washington Post, New York Post, Associated Press, ABC News, Axios, Insider, Crooks and Liars, CNN, Politico, The Hill, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, The Daily Wire, Raw Story, al.com, Political Wire, USA Today and Mediaite

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: Insider, Raw Story, Mediaite, Washington Examiner, New York Post, The Daily Caller, Substack, Just The News, The Hill and Althouse, more at Techmeme »

Kevin Liptak / CNN:

Biden says he's nearing decisions on gas tax holiday and student loans as he tries to tame costs — Granholm: Biden evaluating whether to lift federal gas tax 02:19 — (CNN)President Joe Biden said Monday he hopes to decide soon whether to support a temporary pause in the federal gasoline tax …

Discussion: Insider, Uniic Media, The Lens, The Hill, CBS News, Washington Times, New York Post, Bloomberg, Florida Politics and USA Today

Associated Press:
Biden says decision on gas tax holiday may come this week

Discussion: CNBC, Washington Post, ABC News, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, UPI, IJR, Newsy, Al Jazeera, NBC10 Philadelphia and Instapundit

Terry Jones / Issues & Insights:
Even Democrats Blame Biden For Surging Inflation: I&I/TIPP Poll

Discussion: Louder With Crowder, Townhall, TheBlaze, Twitchy, The Federalist, HotAir, Breitbart and Fox News

Associated Press:

Wife of WNBA's Griner tells AP scheduled call never happened — WASHINGTON (AP) — WNBA star Brittney Griner tried to call her wife nearly a dozen times through the American embassy in Russia on the couple's fourth anniversary Saturday, but they never connected since the phone line at the embassy …

Benjamin Mueller / New York Times:

Despite Another Covid Surge, Deaths Stay Near Lows — Most Americans now carry some immune protection, experts said, whether from vaccines, infection or both. — For two years, the coronavirus killed Americans on a brutal, predictable schedule: A few weeks after infections climbed so did deaths …

Discussion: Common Dreams

Matt Lewis / The Daily Beast:

Ex-Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens' ‘RINO Hunting’ Ad Is a Dumb, Dangerous Troll — Trump and the alt-right already showed us that “trolling” can incite violence. So what the hell is up with this ad? … Back in 1984, when former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens and I were about ten years old …

Discussion: Raw Story, The New Civil Rights Movement, HotAir, Common Dreams and Big League Politics

Dareh Gregorian / NBC News:
GOP Senate candidate releases ‘RINO hunting’ ad aimed at fellow Republicans

Caroline Kitchener / Washington Post:

This Texas teen wanted an abortion. She now has twins. — Brooke Alexander found out she was pregnant 48 hours before the Texas abortion ban took effect — CORPUS CHRISTI, Tex. — Brooke Alexander turned off her breast pump at 6:04 p.m. and brought two fresh bottles of milk over to the bed …

Discussion: LifeNews.com

Elizabeth Nolan Brown / Reason:

Senators Want To Control Google Search Results About Abortion — Democrats ask Google to “limit the appearance” of anti-abortion clinic results. It would be good if people searching Google for information on abortion were presented with the most relevant and scientifically rigorous information …

The Guardian:

Russian emails appear to show ‘network’ holding $4.5bn assets linked to Putin — Exclusive: Questions over palaces, vineyards and yachts run by entities that appear to be part of a cooperative — Russian palaces, villas and yachts linked to Putin by email leak - in pictures, maps and video

Discussion: OCCRP and Hackwhackers

Rosalind S. Helderman / Washington Post:

Trump campaign documents show advisors knew fake-elector plan was baseless — 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: Washington Examiner, Rolling Stone, Raw Story, HuffPost, PoliticusUSA and Occupy Democrats

Jazz Shaw / HotAir:

“Bloody” protesters outside Amy Coney Barret's home — Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett had some visitors at her home in Virginia this weekend, but they weren't friends and family members stopping by for a pre-summer barbeque. A group of mostly female protesters showed …

Discussion: Fox News, RedState, ABC News, LifeNews.com, One America News Network, Washington Examiner, New York Post and Townhall

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
What a Roberts compromise on abortion could look like

Discussion: IJR

David Reaboi / Late Republic Nonsense:

Why Did the Justice Department Cover Up John Allen's Illegal Lobbying for Qatar? — The DOJ seems irreparably corrupt and politicized. But the extent to which he's been protected—and the reasons why—can provide some lessons. — A few weeks ago, someone close to the Justice Department …

New York Times:

The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh: Tracing a Bullet to an Israeli Convoy — A New York Times investigation found that the bullet that killed a Palestinian-American journalist was fired from the approximate position of an Israeli military vehicle. — Give this article- - - Read in app

Discussion: The Times of Israel and Al Jazeera

Francois Murphy / Reuters:

EXCLUSIVE Iran prepares enrichment escalation at Fordow plant, IAEA report shows — Iran is escalating its uranium enrichment further by preparing to use advanced IR-6 centrifuges at its underground Fordow site that can more easily switch between enrichment levels, a United Nations nuclear …

Adam Kredo / Washington Free Beacon:

PRIDE MONTH: Here's How the Navy Is Training Sailors on Proper Gender Pronouns — The Navy is training its members to create a “safe space” by using proper gender pronouns in a new instructional video modeled after a children's show. — “Hi! My name is Jony, and I use he/him pronouns …

Discussion: Twitchy

John Stoehr / The Editorial Board:

The people can't be trusted to choose liberal democracy — Liberals must push them toward it. — Democracy, wow. I just don't know sometimes. This time last year, I thought we were heading in the right direction. The political energies of anti-racism and anti-Trumpism conjoined …

Discussion: Raw Story

Frederic J. Frommer / Washington Post:

The 13th Amendment nearly preserved slavery — with Lincoln's support — In a last-ditch effort to prevent Southern states from seceding on the eve of Abraham Lincoln's presidential inauguration in 1861, Congress passed a constitutional amendment that would have prevented Congress …

TMZ.com:

Elon Musk's Transgender Daughter Files to Change Her Name, Dropping Musk — ELON MUSK DAUGHTER FILES TO CHANGE LAST NAME ... No Longer Wants to ‘Be Related’ to Him — EXCLUSIVE DETAILS — One of Elon Musk's children wants nothing to do with him, and has filed legal docs to drop his famous last name …

Discussion: Mediaite

New York Times:

Israel's Government Collapses, Setting Up 5th Election in 3 Years — The governing coalition decided to dissolve Parliament, plunging the country back into paralysis and throwing a political lifeline to Benjamin Netanyahu. — Give this article- - - Read in app

Discussion: Trends Journal, Haaretz, WTOP News, Al Jazeera and Bloomberg