July 19, 2023
Vol. 12, No. 2040

TARGET TRUMP: Former President Donald Trump is dismissing a likely second federal indictment as “election interference.”

  Trump announced that he is once again received a grand jury “target” letter, making it likely that he will be indicted for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

  Trump whined on his Truth Social website: “Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment.” 

  News reports say the potential charges include “conspiracy to defraud the United States.”  

  Trump received a similar letter in May and days later was indicted on charges accusing him of possessing and mishandling top secret documents after he was out of office. An indictment in the election case would be his third — he was indicted in New York on charges of business fraud.

  The federal judge in the secret documents case yesterday delayed setting a firm trial date but was reported to be skeptical about the Trump request to delay it until after the 2024 election.

  In the latest case, Trump spent weeks after losing the 2020 election trying to engineer a way to remain in office, including encouraging a crowd to march on the Capitol in what became the January 6^th insurrection. At least two grand juries have heard evidence and testimony about Trump’s efforts to hold power, which included enlisting slates of fake electors to cast ballots for Trump in the electoral college. 

  So far, there’s no word on anyone else receiving a target letter.

  “Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before, or even close,” Trump wrote. For once it’s the truth. 

GET OUT THE VOTE: In a related development, The Michigan attorney general announced felony charges against 16 people accusing of falsely appointing themselves pro-Trump members of the Electoral College as part of the attempt to overturn the 2020 election. 

  Each of the 16 defendants is charged with eight felony counts, including forgery and conspiracy to commit forgery, for signing documents attesting that they were Michigan’s “duly elected and qualified electors” for president and vice president. Among those charged is Meshawn Maddock, 55, who was the co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party at the time. 

IT’S POLITICAL: Even with a second federal indictment on the horizon for Donald Trump, Republican leaders and presidential candidates running against him are afraid to abandon him. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters, that government has been “weaponized” and that, “I guess under a Biden administration, Biden America, you’d expect this.”

  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis complained about the “politicization” of the Justice Department and the FBI and “constantly trying to put the other side in jail.”

  Nikki Haley said, “We can’t continue dealing with this drama.” 

BUDGET CUTTING: In their quest to cut the federal deficit, House Republicans are looking to cut billions of dollars authorized to fix the nation’s aging infrastructure, taking aim at the guts of a 2021 law that was a landmark of bipartisan agreement.

  They are looking to cut $1.7 billion out of a $55 billion appropriation to improve water supplies. That cut would include two programs to help schools and low-income communities reduce lead contamination in water. 

  Amtrak, for example, would lose nearly two-thirds of its annual federal funding next fiscal year if the House Republicans get their way. That includes more than $1 billion in cuts for the aging and well-travelled Northeast Corridor, which runs between Boston and Washington.

  This comes during a time of train derailments and only weeks after an overpass collapse on I-95 in Philadelphia. 

BABY, IT’S HOT: It’s so hot, the Target retail chain has told its employees they can wear shorts to work.

  Phoenix yesterday surpassed 110 degrees for the 19^th day in a row.

THE WAR ROOM: In what Russia says is retribution for the attack on the bridge to Crimea, the city of Odesa was hit for the second night with drones and missiles. It appears that the Russians were targeting infrastructure. This morning, smoke was reported rising over the main port of Odesa on the Black Sea. 

THE SPIN RACK: The American held after crossing the demilitarized zone into North Korea is identified as a US soldier who was about to be sent back to the states for disciplinary reasons. The Army identified the soldier as Private 2nd Class Travis King, a cavalry scout who enlisted in Jan. 2021. King had recently spent some time in a South Korean jail and was to be sent home for misconduct. — A judge in Charlottesville, Virginia has dismissed most of a lawsuit that would have prevented a local museum from melting down the bronze statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on a horse. The statue was the rallying point for the racist Unite the Right Rally in 2017. — A report in the San Antonio News Express says that a Texas state trooper commander ordered underlings to deny water to migrants crossing the Rio Grande and to push them back into the river.

BELOW THE FOLD: The independent film Sound of Freedom about freeing children from sex trafficking that has earned $20 million at the box is being used on the press circuit to promote the QAnon theory about extracting a drug called adrenochrome from children. Adrenochrome is a chemical compound produced by the oxidation of adrenaline that has no known use.

  The star of Freedom is Jim Caviezel, who made his name playing Jesus in The Passion of the Christ.In press appearances Caviezel has claimed “the whole adrenochrome empire” is driving demand for trafficked children. “It’s an elite drug that they’ve used for many years,” that he says is “ten times more potent than heroin” and “has some mystical qualities as far as making you look younger.”

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