Former Trump administration National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has made more than his fair share of disturbing, jaw-dropping remarks– like telling the former guy he should impose martial law to hold a new election or suggesting a Myanmar-like coup at a QAnon conference in May. But he seemed to reach a new low when he joked about using a newly gifted assault rifle to carry out an assassination in the nation’s capital.
“We were trying to come up with a rifle that we thought was appropriate for a general, so we went with an old-school Woodland camouflage…one of our top-quality guns,” said Jason Parker, a gun company employee who gifted the weapon to Flynn.
“Maybe I’ll find somebody in Washington, D.C.,” Flynn replied, prompting an uproar of chuckles. Continue reading.
It’s an ecosystem in which his false election claims spread unchecked
Fox News didn’t carry Donald Trump’s speech in Arizona this weekend. It’s not hard to figure out why. One could easily have predicted that the former president would say all of the false and potentially lawsuit-spawning things that he ended up saying, and, given that it unfolded on Saturday evening, it’s not as though it was going to yield billions of viewers.
But the speech didn’t need to air on Fox. Before it began, his newly appointed spokeswoman, Liz Harrington, hyped the fact that the speech would instead be carried on the small galaxy of Trump-loyal networks that have emerged in the past few years. For those interested in hearing Trump say the same things he’s been saying for nine months but with a new set of incorrect or misleading details, there was plenty of opportunity to do so.
This is how it works now. Trump has a relatively small footprint in the mainstream media and conversation, including on Fox News. But on the remote media fringes where accuracy dies in obsequiousness, Trump’s message is as loud as it has ever been. Continue reading.
The U.S. Dept. of Justice arrested and charged over 500 people who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, many in a coordinated effort to overturn a free and fair election. DOJ expects to charge about 100 others as well.
“The investigation and prosecution of the Capitol Attack will likely be one of the largest in American history, both in terms of the number of defendants prosecuted and the nature and volume of the evidence,” the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. wrote in March, when the list of people to be charged was estimated at about 400, The Washington Post reported at the time.
On Tuesday, as the newly-minted U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack launches, holding its first day of events, four far right wing House Republicans – some of whom has been linked to white nationalists – will be holding a different type of event. Continue reading.
Children 12 and older need to receive first doses this week in order to be considered fully vaccinated by the traditional start of fall K-12 classes.
State officials urged more Minnesotans to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in response to an uptick in pandemic activity, including a rise in hospitalizations, that is being fueled by the more infectious delta variant of the coronavirus.
“It’s really a new thing that we’re dealing with — not the same old COVID that you think of from a year ago,” state infectious disease director Kris Ehresmann said Monday, linking the variant first identified in India to 75% of new infections in Minnesota.
While 66.5% of eligible Minnesotans 12 and older have received at least a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, Ehresmann said that has left gaps in the state where the virus has spread and caused more severe illness. The 153 COVID-19 hospitalizations reported Monday were an increase from 90 two weeks ago, and Ehresmann said almost all involved unvaccinated individuals. Continue reading.
In between committee hearings and constituent meetings, I’ve been cheering on the 17 incredible Minnesotans making us proud at the Olympics this week. Of course, while passing bills requires far less athletic ability, creating consensus in Washington sometimes feels like an Olympic marathon. Like you, I’m looking forward to more meaningful progress – and Team USA victories – in the days to come. Here’s what else I’ve been up to:
Honoring Gold Star Children
As a Gold Star son, issues affecting veterans, members of the military, and their families are deeply important to me. Last week, I introduced a bipartisan, bicameral resolution to mark August 1, 2021, as Gold Star Children’s Day, recognizing the sacrifices of children of fallen servicemembers. I understand firsthand the sacrifices made by some so that ALL may enjoy the freedoms we hold dear as Americans – and so that we may continue to be blessed to live in the oldest and most successful continuous democracy in the world.
The thousands of sons and daughters of military families that have lost loved ones serving in the Armed Forces deserve national recognition for the unique burden and legacy they carry. Until now, the unimaginable sacrifices of Gold Star Children have not been recognized with a dedicated day for reflection – and that ends here.
Climate Solutions for Small Businesses
As Chairman of the Oversight, Investigations and Regulations Subcommittee of the House Small Business Committee – and a longtime business owner myself – I’m on a mission to ensure America’s small businesses are in a position to innovate and grow. Last week, I convened a hearing to examine the role the Small Business Administration (SBA) can play in fighting climate change.
The climate crisis has the potential to cost our nation 10.5 percent of GDP by 2100. I believe this issue can be addressed through bold legislation and green energy initiatives that will benefit not only small businesses and their employees, but the economy as a whole. Climate change is an existential crisis, but it is a crisis that presents numerous opportunities. By crafting programs that provide proper support for small businesses as they adapt and innovate, we can help protect our planet and lay the groundwork for small businesses to not only survive, but thrive.
Celebrating Entrepreneurs in our Community
Minnesota is home to many innovative, smart, and compassionate entrepreneurs working to make a difference in our community and beyond. We are so lucky to have one of these remarkable people right in our back yard. During her time in the healthcare industry, Hilal Ibrahim noticed a lack of hijabs in the workplace. Through ingenuity and hard work, she created a hijab with slits to accommodate stethoscopes and masks – something that has never been done before. Today, Hilal is the owner of Henna and Hijabs, and has expanded her business to provide Muslim women all over the nation with durable, breathable, sustainable, and functional hijabs.
Enjoying a Shared American Tradition
My colleagues and I at the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation annual clays competition
Last week, I joined a group of my Democratic and Republican colleagues for an afternoon of friendly trap, skeet, and sporting at the annual Congressional Clays Competition. As a proud Minnesotan, I value the outdoor sporting and recreational traditions of our great state and nation.
I hope that we can take the bipartisan spirit from this gathering back to Washington. It’s so important that we continue to work together to advance environmental protections, wildlife conservation, and access to the great outdoors for these and future generations of sportsmen and women.
Some back-to-school products could be hard to find for American consumers in the coming weeks
Fresh coronavirus outbreaks are forcing factory shutdowns in countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, aggravating supply chain disruptions that could leave some U.S. retailers with empty shelves as consumers begin their back-to-school shopping.
The overseas work stoppages are just the latest twist in almost 18 months of pandemic-related manufacturing and transportation woes. The new infections come as two of the largest U.S. railroads last week restricted shipments from West Coast seaports to Chicago, where a surge of shipping containers has clogged rail yards.
Supply headaches stretching from Asian factory towns to the American Midwest are intensifying as the economic recovery tries to outrun the highly infectious delta variant. Aftershocks from earlier limits on a major Chinese port following a rash of covid-19 cases are expected later this month to worsen backlogs at U.S. West Coast facilities. Continue reading.
During hearing, Justice Department announces another arrest
Officers who fought to defend the Capitol from insurrectionists on Jan. 6 recounted in vivid and disturbing detail how close they came to death, what lasting effects they live with and the pain it causes them when the very members of Congress they fought to protect dismiss what happened that day.
The first public hearing on Tuesday of the select committee to investigate the attack put on display the terrifying brutality they were subject to. Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., commended the four officers who testified. “You held the line that day. I can’t overstate what was on the line: our democracy,” Thompson said. “You held the line.”
Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who served in the Army in Iraq, said at one point during the fighting in the lower west terrace, he could feel himself “losing oxygen” and recalled thinking, “This is how I’m going to die — defending this entrance.” Continue reading.
Experts are warning that the greatest threat to the pandemic recovery in the United States are the large swaths of Americans who remain unvaccinated.
Over the past few weeks, the U.S. has seen a surge of coronavirus cases across the country in the wake of the highly infectious delta variant. The new strain has particularly wreaked havoc in states with low vaccination rates.
The state of Missouri has recently become a U.S. hot spot, averaging more than 2,100 cases per day over the last seven-day period, according to data from The New York Times. About 41 percent of the state population is fully vaccinated. Continue reading.
WASHINGTON — The United States served notice Monday that it will keep existing COVID-19 restrictions on international travel in place for now due to concerns about the surging infection rate because of the delta variant.
It was the latest sign that the White House is having to recalibrate its thinking around the coronavirus pandemic as the more infectious variant surges across the U.S. and a substantial chunk of the population resists vaccination.
It was also a reversal from the sentiment President Joe Biden voiced earlier this month when he said his administration was “in the process” of considering how soon the U.S. could lift the ban on European travel bound for the U.S. after the issue was raised by German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her visit to the White House. Continue reading.
Officers testifying ask for answers on which public officials were involved
After hearing hours of gripping testimony from four police officers who endured grave physical and emotional wounds during the Capitol attack, the Jan. 6 select committee members will have time to digest those accounts before the next hearing, which could happen at some point in August.
“It sets the right tone for the work of this committee,” Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said of the four officers’ stories. “But it also says that there is significant work that we have to do over the next few months.”
It’s unclear what the exact focus of the panel will be in the second hearing, but when Thompson asked the officers what they need to see from this inquiry, they relayed that they wanted to know what role elected officials had in it. Continue reading.
