Military chiefs in the hot seat
Bad news for politicians trying to polarize us: Americans are basically united on coronavirus issues. A new ABC News/Ipsos poll shows that 67% of Americans disapprove of President Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic, and 59% believe the push to reopen the economy is moving too quickly. Another survey, by Democracy Fund/UCLA, shows that 94% of Democrats and 86% of Republicans are now wearing face masks with some regularity. As more and more Americans are learning, reality has a stark way of revealing leadership—or the lack of it. Leaders offering anything but clear, evidence-based solutions that prioritize health and safety for frontline workers, schools, small business, and the American people must go. Put adults in charge. —Evan McMullin
1. Top brass grilled on the Hill
Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Sec. Mark Esper testified in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday, where they faced tough questions from the Armed Services Committee. On the issue of Russia’s targeting U.S. troops by paying bounties to Taliban fighters, Esper confirmed he had been briefed on the intelligence, but hedged around the term "bounty." Milley, who served three tours in Afghanistan, was more forthright. "If, in fact, there's bounties directed by the government of Russia or any of their institutions to kill American soldiers, that’s a big deal. That's a real big deal," he said. —The New York Times
— Esper and Milley also faced pointed questions about the use of National Guard troops and active-duty soldiers to respond to protesters against police brutality in Washington, D.C., and nationwide. Both claimed they did not know who gave the order to clear protesters at Lafayette Square, near the White House, ahead of President Trump's now infamous walk to St. John's Church on June 1. —USA Today
— Milley signaled his support for renaming Army bases named for Confederate generals, slamming the Confederacy as "treason" in a passionate tirade that stood in stark contrast to Trump's recent embrace of symbols of the failed secessionist movement. "Those generals fought for the institution of slavery. We have to take a hard look at the symbology," Milley said. —Defense One
— Did Barr break the law? Elsewhere on the Hill, ousted U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman detailed for the House Judiciary Committee yesterday how Attorney General Bill Barr pressured him to step down as Manhattan's top federal prosecutor last month. Berman's testimony raised a suggestion from Chair Jerry Nadler that Barr's offer of a different position in exchange for stepping down could amount to criminal activity. —Politico
2. All the president's men
More drama in the case against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Lawyers for U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan filed a petition yesterday asking the full bench of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to review a 2-1 panel decision issued last month, which directed Sullivan to cancel his plans for a hearing and grant the government's request to drop the case. Unless the appeals court acts, the panel's order compelling dismissal of the Flynn case is set to kick in on July 15. Stay tuned. —Politico
— Michael Cohen. The president's former fixer is back in jail. Cohen was returned to prison yesterday after he refused to sign a home confinement agreement requiring him to not publish a tell-all book about President Trump for the duration of his sentence. After his refusal, his probation officer left the room and returned with U.S. Marshals, who took him into custody. —New York Daily News
— Roger Stone. Trump's flamboyant longtime ally has asked an appeals court to delay his 40-month prison sentence, citing his age and concerns over the coronavirus. However, the Department of Justice said in a court filing yesterday that it supports Stone starting his jail sentence on July 14, as scheduled. Whether he gets a presidential pardon, as Trump has hinted at, remains to be seen. —The Hill
MORE: Trump poised to run out political clock on emoluments suits —Politico
3. Berger: Stone pardon could be a crime
"Trump's own attorney general acknowledged in his confirmation hearing that it 'would be a crime' to pardon a witness in exchange for their refusal to testify. In other words, pardons used to obstruct justice violate the law. ... It is important to remember that while the pardon power is broad, it is not unlimited. If Trump has entered into a conspiracy to obstruct justice, then the pardon power cannot save him or his co-conspirators from accountability." —Just Security
Ed. Note: Sam Berger is senior adviser at the Center for American Progress, former senior policy adviser at the White House Domestic Policy Council, and former senior counselor and policy adviser at the Office of Management and Budget.
MORE: Facebook takes down accounts and pages of Trump ally Roger Stone —Reuters
4. Why is the coronavirus spiking?
A total of 63,200 coronavirus cases were reported in the U.S. yesterday—another all-time, single-day high for new confirmed infections—and the reason for the spike depends on whom you talk to. President Trump blames more testing, the "fake news media," and even White House Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Anthony Fauci, who he says "made a lot of mistakes." Others say the country opened too early and haphazardly, with a lack of leadership and coordination. But there are other factors too... —USA Today
— It's the partisanship. Fauci blames divisiveness in politics for hurting the country's response to the pandemic. "I think you'd have to make the assumption that if there wasn't such divisiveness, that we would have a more coordinated approach," he said in an interview with FiveThirtyEight yesterday. —USA Today
— It's the populism. "We are seeing at the moment that the pandemic can't be fought with lies and disinformation, and neither can it be with hatred and agitation," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the European Parliament yesterday. "Fact-denying populism is being shown its limits.” Indeed. —Business Insider
— It’s the disinformation. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is pressuring Twitter, Facebook, and Google to be more transparent about COVID-19 disinfo on their platforms. In letters sent to the companies this week, Chair Frank Pallone, Jr., detailed concerns that the "rise of false or misleading information" about the coronavirus is leading to real-world consequences. —The Hill
MORE: Bolivian president tests positive for coronavirus —NPR
5. Rampell: More challenges for immigrants
"Without telling Congress, the administration has scaled back the printing of documents it has already promised to immigrants—including green cards, the wallet-size I.D.'s legal permanent residents must carry everywhere to prove they are in the United States lawfully. ... Some 50,000 green cards and 75,000 other employment authorization documents promised to immigrants haven’t been printed, USCIS said in a statement." —The Washington Post
MORE: ICE offering 'citizens academy' course with training on arresting immigrants —Newsweek
6. US hits China with sanctions
The U.S. has imposed sanctions on senior officials in China's Xinjiang region, accusing them and the region’s police of being complicit in human rights violations against the Muslim population in northwest China.
— "The United States will not stand idly by as the [Chinese Communist Party] carries out human rights abuses targeting Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and members of other minority groups in Xinjiang," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.
— The sanctions are the latest effort by the Trump Administration to pressure Beijing, which Washington accuses of human rights abuses, unfair trade practices, and undermining the autonomy of Hong Kong.
— Congress also passed legislation a week ago that requires sanctions on officials linked to Beijing's effort to curb Hong Kong's autonomy through a new national security law. President Trump hasn’t signed it yet. —The Wall Street Journal
MORE: TikTok teens are 'going to war' against the Trump campaign after Republicans call to ban the China-based app —TIME
7. Mann: A surprise ruling from SCOTUS
"The court held yesterday that land in northeastern Oklahoma reserved for the Creek Nation since the 19th century remains a reservation for the purpose of a federal statute that gives the federal government exclusive jurisdiction to try certain major crimes committed by '[a]ny Indian' in 'the Indian country.' ... The decision is a stunning reaffirmance of the nation's obligations to Native Americans." —SCOTUSblog
Ed. Note: Ronald Mann is co-director of the Charles Evans Gerber Transactional Studies Center at Columbia Law School. He formerly clerked on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and on the Supreme Court for Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
MORE: Supreme Court rules that about half of Oklahoma is Native American land —NPR
8. This week in voting
Historically, progress on many important issues in the U.S. has often started slowly—sometimes painfully so—and then happened all at once. This year may prove to be such an inflection point for electoral reform, with the pandemic helping to accelerate action on voting initiatives throughout the country. An annual report by Unite America, which ranks states on vote-by-mail, independent redistricting commissions, ranked-choice voting, and nonpartisan or open primaries, found incremental improvements in eight states since last year, and plenty of opportunities for further progress in 2020. —The Fulcrum
— Pennsylvania. A bill introduced by State Rep. Wendi Thomas targets the rules regarding how redistricting is conducted in the state and has the backing of good-government advocates including the Committee of Seventy and Fair Districts PA. The measure would also codify into law efforts by grassroots groups like Fair Districts PA to make the redistricting process more transparent. —The Philadelphia Inquirer
— Utah. State Rep. Mike Winder and Sen. Curt Bramble, both Republicans, are pushing ranked-choice voting legislation that they say would ensure that a candidate with the broadest party support in a primary election wins with a majority in the final count. The bill would require RCV in all state primaries beginning next year. —The Salt Lake Tribune
— West Virginia. A mail carrier is facing up to eight years in federal prison after admitting he attempted election fraud by changing the party registrations of people from Democratic to Republican on their absentee ballot requests for the state's June primary. —BuzzFeed News
MORE: Republicans signal they're willing to pay up to avoid an Election Day disaster —NPR
9. Duckworth: On real patriotism
"The hateful vision for America parroted by Trump and [Fox News host Tucker] Carlson will not win. Their relentless efforts to drive wedges between us will not work forever. We are too resilient a nation, too diverse a people, to let them. In his farewell address, George Washington not only recognized his own imperfections, he also urged Americans to 'guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism' and be wary of excessive partisanship. In the generations since, too many patriots, including many in my own family, have sacrificed too much to let our guard down now." —The New York Times
Ed. Note: Tammy Duckworth is a U.S. senator from Illinois.
10. An American Story: Sewn with love
Eleven-year-old Lucy Blaylock of Gallatin, Tenn., learned to sew just three years ago, and since then, she has made 500 blankets for kids in 14 countries and face masks for healthcare workers and children.
— She receives messages on social media from parents of kids battling cancer, autism, bullies, and a move to a new city requesting blankets for their children to comfort them. Every comfy spread comes with her name hand-stitched inside a heart.
— Since March, she has donated 1,100 masks to healthcare workers and received a volunteer service award as well as the Prudential Spirit of Community Award.
— "Kindness does matter, it always will," Lucy said. "It makes the world a better place when we do kind acts. It may get hard sometimes, but what we are doing is making a difference." —Good Morning America
Ed. Note: We are spotlighting ways that Americans are helping each other through the coronavirus crisis and recent unrest, and promoting American values. Would you like to suggest an "American Story" from your local news? If so, please forward a link to the story to editor@topline.com. Thank you!
Trouble is, too many Americans judge on a single item rather than the entire, putrid whole. "Well, he did put some children in 'holding pens', but he's protecting our jobs from their parents who came here to take jobs from us and our kids!" —Ada S., Connecticut
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