memeorandum: POLITICO Playbook: Jan. 6 panel may have found its ‘smoking gun’ (Politico)

1:15 PM ET, June 29, 2022

Top Items:

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:

Cassidy Hutchinson's Testimony against Trump Is Devastating — Things will not be the same after this. — Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide to Trump's White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, provided compelling testimony Tuesday that former president Donald Trump is singularly culpable for the Capitol riot.

Discussion: HuffPost, Washington Examiner, Breitbart, NBC News, Washington Examiner, The Federalist, Washington Post, USA Today, Raw Story, The Hill, Common Sense, Axios, New York Magazine, The Atlantic, Washington Times, Rolling Stone, USA Today, Washington Post, Raw Story, Fox News, The Daily Caller, America First Report, Mother Jones, Breitbart, BizPac Review, CNBC, HotAir, New York Times, Washington Monthly, Florida Phoenix, Politico, CNN, Los Angeles Times, Twitchy, Insider, Reuters, Mediaite, Axios, The Hill, Vox, HotAir, Politico, The Guardian, New York Times, Washington Examiner, The Texas Tribune, Washington Times, National Review, HuffPost, RedState, Common Dreams, Raw Story, NBC News, The Hill, HuffPost, MSNBC, NPR, Poynter, Raw Story, Raw Story, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, Oil City News, NewsNation, Bulwark+, Crooks and Liars, The Daily Caller, NewsNation, New York Times, Raw Story, ABC News, New Yorker, Salon, MSNBC, KVIA-TV, The Atlantic, Washington Post, CNN, Yahoo News, Slate, Breitbart, New York Times, New York Post, New York Times, File411's Newsletter, Power Line, Insider, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, Public Notice, Latino Rebels, The Gateway Pundit, Fortune, Fox News, Talking Points Memo, Discourse Blog, Voice of America, CBS News, Metro.co.uk, Al Jazeera, Daily Kos, Forbes, Slate, ABC News, Associated Press, THE FIRST LIGHT REPORT, Outside the Beltway, CBS News, Common Dreams, The Moderate Voice, Insider, Politico, Denver Post, Today's Edition Newsletter, The Gateway Pundit, Los Angeles Times, Mother Jones, al.com, CBS News, HuffPost, Townhall, PolitiFact, The Wildfire Newsletter, Fox News, TMZ.com and Nevada Current

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: Jan. 6 panel may have found its ‘smoking gun’ — With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross — DRIVING THE DAY — It's hard to imagine how Tuesday's surprise hearing of the House Jan. 6 committee could've been more damning for President DONALD TRUMP.

David Frum / The Atlantic:

Kevin McCarthy, Have You No Sense of Decency? — In the last few minutes of today's January 6 committee hearing, Representative Liz Cheney presented evidence of possible witness intimidation. Several witnesses, she reported, had received messages from shadowy persons purportedly close …

Bret Stephens / New York Times:

Will the Jan. 6 Committee Finally Bring Down the Cult of Trump? — There's a saying among cult experts: Nobody ever joins a cult. — Of course, people join what, to outsiders, certainly appear to be cults — the Branch Davidians, the Moonies, the Peoples Temple and so on.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Politico, Yahoo News, Washington Post, Ringside at the Reckoning and FreidomReport

Drew Harwell / Washington Post:

Pro-Trump web raced to debunk Jan. 6 testimony. Then they got confused. — The former president's supporters quickly spun an online conspiracy theory that he couldn't have possibly lunged for his driver's steering wheel on Jan. 6, 2021. When evidence suggested otherwise, they tried other routes to distract from the truth.

Discussion: pjmedia.com, The Daily Beast, Breitbart, RADAR, ☕️ …, CBS News and Eschaton

ABC News:

Trump White House attorney disputes Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony about handwritten note — Hutchinson testified before the House Jan. 6 committee Tuesday. — Former Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann is claiming that a handwritten note regarding a potential statement …

Washington Post:

Post Politics Now: Breyer to retire Thursday from Supreme Court, clearing way for Jackson swearing-in — Today, Justice Stephen G. Breyer told the White House that he will retire from the Supreme Court at noon Thursday, clearing the way for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be sworn in.

Discussion: Raw Story and Balloon Juice

Robin Givhan / Washington Post:

The optimistic melancholy of Bennie G. Thompson — The witness called him “sir.” When Cassidy Hutchinson, the former White House aide, testified before the Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday afternoon, she addressed Chairman Bennie G. Thompson with a word that afforded him respect as a man, not merely as an official.

Discussion: Fox News

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

A lawyer for Virginia Thomas said she would not testify to the House panel. — A lawyer for Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and a supporter of President Donald J. Trump's efforts to stay in power after the 2020 election, told the House select committee investigating …

Discussion: Forbes and Talking Points Memo

CBS News:
Secret Service plans to respond to Jan. 6 committee regarding Trump's actions, after Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony

New York Times:
Trump Aides Watch Testimony and Brace for Damage

Discussion: Insider, Mediaite, Columbia Journalism Review and PoliticusUSA

Hugo Lowell / The Guardian:
January 6 testimony puts Donald Trump in even greater legal peril

Discussion: Bloomberg, ABC News, Salon, Daily Kos, Vanity Fair, Raw Story, TheGrio, Lucian Truscott Newsletter, FOX News Radio, GovExec.com, CBS News and NBC10 Philadelphia

Shelby Talcott / The Daily Caller:
EXCLUSIVE: Ginni Thomas Responds To Jan. 6 Committee's Official Request For Testimony

Discussion: Insider, Raw Story, The Federalist, The Gateway Pundit, HuffPost, The Hill, Politico and CNN

Mike Allen / Axios:
Jan. 6 hearings deliver new template for digital-era dramatics

Discussion: New York Times, Plain Dealer and NPR, more at Techmeme »

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Eastman drops bid to block phone records from Jan. 6 committee

Discussion: NBC News, Occupy Democrats, Washington Times, CBS News, Bloomberg, Raw Story and Insider

David French / The Dispatch:
The Case for Prosecuting Donald Trump Just Got Much Stronger

Discussion: Daily Mail, Reason, Twitchy, The Hill, Newsy, Breitbart, New York Times and Washington Post

Charlie Duxbury / Politico:

Swedish and Finnish NATO deal with Turkey triggers fears over Kurdish deportations — STOCKHOLM — Relief over Tuesday night's deal with Turkey unblocking the NATO accession process for Sweden and Finland was palpable on Wednesday, but there were also fears that the two Nordic states …

Discussion: Reuters, Washington Examiner, NATO, Axios, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, nationalinterest.org, WTOP News, Hackwhackers, New York Times, The Daily Caller, The Economist and CBS News

Jamie McIntyre / Washington Examiner:
NATO poised to take historic action on strategy, enlargement, and Ukraine

Discussion: Washington Post, Associated Press, HotAir, NATO, Insider, Politico, National Review, GreekReporter.com, Bloomberg and Euractiv

Associated Press:
US to boost military presence in Europe for Russia threat

Aaron Zitner / Wall Street Journal:
In New Poll, 89% of Ukrainians Reject Ceding Land to Reach Peace With Russia

Discussion: Washington Post and Politico

New York Times:

The Vanishing Moderate Democrat — Their positions are popular. So why are they going extinct? — Early last year, as Democrats were preparing to control the White House and Congress for the first time in a decade, Josh Gottheimer met with Nancy Pelosi to discuss their party's message.

Discussion: NRCC

Perry Bacon Jr / Washington Post:

The fall of Roe is the culmination of the Democratic establishment's failures — The overturning of Roe v. Wade, and the underwhelming reaction from senior Democratic leaders to that huge defeat, make the case even clearer that the party's too-long-in-power leaders — including President Biden — need to move aside.

Discussion: Reuters, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, Fox News, Politico, The Daily Wire, It's the democracy, stupid, Common Dreams, The Hill and NBC New York

Sean Coughlan / BBC:

Charles charity cash donation ‘would not happen again’ — The cash donation accepted by the Prince of Wales for his charity would not happen now, a royal source says. — “That was then, this is now,” the source said, following reports Prince Charles had accepted around £2.5m in cash in a suitcase and carrier bags.

Discussion: The Guardian

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Narrows Ruling for Tribes in Oklahoma — The decision followed a landmark 2020 ruling that said much of eastern Oklahoma falls within Indian reservation lands, limiting the authority of state prosecutors. — Give this article- - - Read in app

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Washington Examiner:
High court allows Oklahoma to prosecute non-Indian criminal offenders on tribal lands

Discussion: Washington Post, Roll Call, Newsy and Mother Jones

Nicole Winfield / Associated Press:

Pelosi receives Communion in Vatican amid abortion debate — ROME (AP) — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Pope Francis on Wednesday and received Communion during a papal Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, witnesses said, despite her position in support of abortion rights.

Discussion: Insider, Religion News Service, Breitbart, CNSNews, Crux Now, Raw Story, Just The News, Washington Post, BizPac Review, Reuters, New York Post, Washington Times, LifeNews.com, The Daily Wire and The Gateway Pundit

Isabella Simonetti / New York Times:

Over 360 newspapers have closed since just before the start of the pandemic. — The same pace — about two closures per week — was occurring before the pandemic. — Give this article- - - Read in app — The pandemic has been bad for the country's local newspapers.

Discussion: Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Brad Dress / The Hill:

Boebert says she is ‘tired’ of separation between church and state: ‘The church is supposed to direct the government’ — Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) says she is “tired” of the long-standing separation between church and state in the U.S., adding that she believes “the church is supposed to direct the government.”

Discussion: RedState

Peter Canellos / Politico:

When the Supreme Court Makes a Mistake — What happens when the Supreme Court gets it wrong? — Misguided court decisions have altered the path of the nation in sadly demonstrable ways. And the question arises again from the series of sharply divisive rulings by the current court.

Suhasini Raj / New York Times:

Religious Unrest Spreads in India With Killing of Hindu Man — Two Muslim men filmed themselves attacking a Hindu, a tailor, who had been accused of backing anti-Islamic remarks. — Give this article- - - Read in app — NAINITAL, India — The attackers recorded the gruesome killing on a mobile phone.

Discussion: CBS News

Vogue:

Gloria Steinem, the Duchess of Sussex, and Jessica Yellin on Abortion Rights, the ERA, and Why They Won't Give Up Hope — two days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade—Jessica Yellin, the award-winning journalist and founder of the independent media company News Not Noise …

Discussion: The Hill, New York Post, Gawker, Breitbart, Vanity Fair, Sex on Wednesday, Insider, The Daily Beast, Page Six, The Daily Wire and The Sun

Rita Omokha / Vanity Fair:

Val Demings Is on a Mission — The former police chief helped impeach Donald Trump and survived an insurrection—now the third-term congresswoman has her eyes on the Senate. “In Val there's hope,” says fellow representative Robin Kelly, “that we can move closer to that promise of America.”

Discussion: Washington Examiner