🟡 Supreme Court blues | Semafor

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Senate Republicans are holding out hope that they’ll get a better deal on a tax bill next year. “If we were lucky enough to run the tables and have the trifecta next year, obviously it’s a much better bill,” John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said. “And even if it’s not, you can use the things they’re asking for now as [a] trade.”

Playbook: Donald Trump’s campaign is spending $12 million on an ad attacking Vice President Harris on the border. The ad, which calls Harris “failed, weak, dangerously liberal,” will air in six swing states.

WaPo: House lawmakers are missing more and more votes this Congress.

Axios: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum along with GOP Sens. Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, and Bill Hagerty are all in the running to be Trump’s secretary of state if he wins in November.

White House

The White House unveiled a new $1.7 billion lethal aid package for Ukraine, consisting largely of missiles and ammunition for missile, artillery and air defense systems the US has already provided to Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
President Biden is scheduled to hold a call with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva today.
Vice President Harris is campaigning in Atlanta.

Crime

A teenage boy allegedly killed two children and wounded 11 other people in a stabbing rampage at a children’s dance and yoga class in northwest England.
Ismael Zambada Garcia, the last godfather of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, was forced onto a plane last week by the son of the imprisoned drug lord known as El Chapo – Zambada Garcia’s former partner in crime – and flown to the US where he was arrested, according to American officials. Officials had said initially Zambada Garcia was lured onto the plane.
William Calley, the US Army officer who was the only person convicted in connection with the 1968 My Lai Massacre where hundreds of unarmed South Vietnamese civilians were slaughtered, died in late April. He was 80. —WaPo

Courts

A New York judge declined to appoint an independent monitor to oversee the National Rifle Association’s finances, but it did bar former chief executive Wayne LaPierre from holding a paid post with the gun-rights organization for 10 years.

On the Trail

Kari Lake and Mark Lamb face off in the Arizona Republican Senate primary today.
Donald Trump appeared to back off from his commitment to debate Vice President Harris, telling Fox News he “probably” would debate but “can also make a case for not doing it.”
Republicans are now using clips and statements from Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign against her.
Trump will appear before the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago on Wednesday
JD Vance privately told donors over the weekend in Minnesota that President Biden’s departure from the presidential race and entry of Harris was “a little bit of a political sucker punch,” according to a recording of his remarks.
Four mayors of border towns in swing-state Arizona have endorsed Harris.
House Majority PAC, the largest of the House Democrats’ super PACs, is adding $24 million to its original $186 million fall TV and digital ad campaign. — Politico
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has withdrawn from consideration to be Harris’ running mate. Cooper’s team communicated to the Harris campaign last Monday that he didn’t want to be among the candidates. Cooper “harbored concerns that Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a conservative Republican who is on the ballot this year to replace him, would mount a legal effort to usurp his executive authority while he was out of state.” — NYT
Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan is emerging as a dark horse to be Harris’ running mate. — Axios
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she is “not part of the vetting” process to be Harris’ running mate.
The National Republican Congressional Committee announced 26 candidates as part of its “Young Gun” program that focuses on nonincumbent candidates in competitive districts.

Foreign Policy

Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo González said his campaign has the evidence to prove he won Sunday’s disputed election over President Nicolás Maduro. The US, meanwhile, left open the possibility of levying more sanctions on Venezuela.
Far-right Israeli protesters stormed military bases where alleged Hamas militants are being held and the Israel Defense Forces military court is housed after the IDF military police detained nine reservists over allegations of abusing a Palestinian detainee.
Russian troops have made significant gains in eastern Ukraine by exploiting Kyiv’s shortage in manpower, Semafor’s Jenna Moon writes.

Technology

Fiber optic cables providing broadband services across France were cut early Monday – but not connections that serve Paris – in the latest attack on infrastructure in the country during the Olympics.
Elon Musk accused Google of bias against Donald Trump with its autocomplete feature, which he said doesn’t show the former president in its predictions. A Google spokesperson said the feature experienced issues on Monday. — NBC News
Musk’s SpaceX is talking with US and Australian officials to land and recover one of its rockets off the coast of Australia. — Reuters

Big Read

The messaging of US political parties is highly gendered, The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson writes. Men and women are drifting apart, according to several measures. Women in 1995 were one-percentage point more likely than men to be pro-choice, but that gap is now 14 points. Women between 19 and 29 years old in 1999 were five points more likely to identify as “very liberal,” but that’s now 15 points over men. “The Democratic Party appears to have made a conscious choice not to make young men a political priority,” American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Daniel Cox said, just as “the GOP under Trump seems unconcerned about the ways it may be alienating young women.”

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: The US national debt topped $35 trillion for the first time.

What the Right isn’t reading: Vice President Harris has launched a “week of action” for reproductive freedom as Iowa’s abortion ban takes effect.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann, Morgan Chalfant

Reporters: Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

🟡 Supreme Court blues | Semafor | Semafor (2024)