Good morning,
Encouraging news from Georgia, of all places, where a Fulton County judge has granted the countyâs district attorney the right to convene a grand jury in her criminal investigation into Donald Trumpâs behavior after the 2020 election. Fani Willis told the judge a grand jury was needed because a âsignificant number of witnesses and prospective witnesses have refused to cooperate with the investigation absent a subpoena requiring their testimony,â and the judge agreed.
Key point: Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has criticized Willis (a Democrat) for being partisan, but he said that he would comply with any subpoena and testify. In a rational world, the tape of Trump telling Raffensperger to find him votes would be evidence enough of fraud, but that isnât our world. This is a big developmentâand apparently a rare move in Georgia jurisprudence.
Also on the insurrection front, Politicoreports that Bernie Kerik told the January 6 committee that former Army Colonel Phil Waldron was the guy who suggested that Trump have the military seize voting machines in Michigan (publication of a draft executive order written for Trump that he never acted on was a big Politicoscoop last week). The committee subpoenaed Waldron last year. The extent to which heâs cooperating isnât clear. He could be a key piece in putting together the puzzle of the Willard Hotel chain of command on what the coup plotters wanted to happen on January 6, 2021.
Turning to Ukraineâhey, donât worry! All this talk about a Russian invasion is overblown. At least thatâs what youâll see if you read RT.com, the Western-facing Kremlin ânewsâ agency. Here are some headlines on the site Tuesday morning: âNo threat of immediate Russian attack on UkraineâEUâ; âNo respect for Putin: how a call for cooperation with Russia ended a vice-admiralâs careerâ; âGermany has âbetrayedâ UkraineâKiev mayor.â Itâs always interesting to see the other side (and that thing about the vice admiral is for real, and a fascinating storyâhereâs The Guardianâs version). Meanwhile, from The New York Times comes word that Joe Biden had an 80-minute call with European leaders, and there was âtotal unanimityâ that an invasion would invite âmassive consequences and severe economic costsâ for Russia. âTotal unanimityâ seems, well, open to question. Hereâs a good piece from Foreign Policy explaining how and why Germany sees things differently from the United States.
Encouraging development on a news front of importance to me: New antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter gave a major speech Monday laying out a new and harder line on monopolies. He said his division will no longer seek settlements but will just move to block mergers that are deemed âlikely to lessen competitionâ and added that the new guidelines âwill often mean that we cannot accept anything less than an injunction blocking the mergerâfull stop.â This may be an issue you havenât given much thought to, but itâs music to the ears of progressives, for whom monopoly power is one of the key factors that has produced inequality and crushed the middle class. Whatever else Biden does or doesnât manage to accomplish on Capitol Hill, he deserves huge props for reigniting antitrust policy.
Ohâand fuck Aaron Rodgers.
And hurray for Neil Young. No Clapton he.Â
At NewRepublic.com today, Rachel Cohen makes a convincing case that Democrats should not panic about school closures, as parentsâ actual views are more nuanced than the media conventional wisdom indicates; Grace Segers gets Democratic Representative Ro Khanna on the record with his views on how best to pare Build Back Better down to its essentials; Daniel Strauss looks at whether a Democrat can beat Ron DeSantis in this fallâs Florida governorâs race; and Matt Ford warns that the Supreme Court is ready to bury affirmative action.
Thanks for reading, âMichael Tomasky, editor |
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