SHOW NOTES: Menendez Indicted. More Strikes. Haley Surging.
Welcome: For reasons I cannot quite understand, I let Philip go fishing today, so I’m actually not just doing my show notes but also putting everything into this email. I usually compile the news and then he puts this together. My God have mercy on all of us.
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HEADLINE: Bob Menendez is indicted again. He’s accused of passing along info to help Egypt in exchange for actual gold bars. More at ABC News.
NEW: UAW is targeting 38 more facilities for strikes. Ford is untouched, for now. CNBC
WATCH: Virginia Republicans go on offense against Democrats over abortion until birth. See their ad here.
🚨 IMPORTANT: Dallas, Texas’s Mayor, Eric Johnson, is announcing he is leaving the Democratic Party for the Republican Party. WSJ.
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Menendez and the Money
This story is really something else.
Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife were indicted on bribery and related offensesFriday, connected to the New Jersey lawmaker’s relationship with three businessmen.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan alleged that Menendez, a Democrat, and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for using the senator’s influence to benefit the businessmen and the Egyptian government.
The bribes included cash, gold, a luxury vehicle and payments toward a home mortgage, according to the indictment.
Actual text from Bob Menendez to his wife: "I am going to sign off this sale to Egypt today. Egypt: 46,000 120MM Target Practice Rounds and 10,000 Rounds Tank Ammunition: $99 million".
Big question: Why was Menendez allowed to remain Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee? For more than a year, Schumer has known Menendez was under investigation.
The Ukraine Funding
I messed up on air yesterday and used old figures. I said 80%-85% of Ukraine funding finds its way back to the United States. That number is now 61%. And 90% of the money is a loan, backed by the European Union.
Only 10% of the money to Ukraine is in the form of grants. The total amount is less than 5% of the Defense Department budget. Given Ukraine's corruption, it does seem prudent to get an Inspector General, which is a demand many Republicans want.
But for the life of me, I cannot understand why President Biden cannot articulate the point I just made above to the American people. Sixty-one percent of the money to Ukraine comes back to the United States in form of weapons purchases, which help American industries and they they have to pay back the amount we loaned them. So our businesses get payment and the government gets the money back. But Biden won’t mention any of this. It is bizarre. Regardless of your views on Ukraine, Biden's refusal to even make the public case for help is a problem.
Nikki Haley Surges
Keep an eye on Nikki Haley’s campaign. She’s surging in New Hampshire and in Iowa. The DeSantis campaign is performing badly in New Hampshire and has not picked up much ground in Iowa. But Haley, with another strong debate performance, could really boost her campaign.
The former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador has been generating buzz among GOP activists and insiders, and the volume ticked up this week — along with her numbers in two new polls.
In the CNN/UNH Survey Center poll that dropped on Wednesday, Trump had 39 percent support, but that was down from the 42 percent he had a few months ago. Meanwhile, Haley surged over the summer from five to 12 percent in the Granite State, enough for third place behind Vivek Ramaswamy (13 percent). Ron DeSantis had fallen to fifth place.
On Thursday came the InsiderAdvantage poll with Trump at 42 percent and Haley in second place at 14 percent among local primary voters. Chris Christie was in third, while DeSantis was in fourth with just eight percent support.
Government Shutdown is Coming
House Republicans cannot get on the same page and are not looking to Democrats for help right now. That means a government shutdown is approaching. McCarthy sent the House home for the weekend. Naturally, the press is all in on scaring people about the fall out of a potential shutdown.
🔥 Trending news:
White House wants to remove medical bills from credit reports. The Hill.
Democrats have had enough of John Fetterman’s Senate dress too. Axios.
Everyone from Washington to Wall Street is now prepared for a recession, but they’ll blame the House GOP. Politico.
The illegals are bringing in tuberculosis now. Griff Jenkins.
Bloomberg launches $500 million war to close all coal plants and block new gas plants. Examiner.
A U.S. government contractor was arrested on Aug. 24 based on espionage charges in a complaint unsealed today. Abraham Teklu Lemma, 50, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Ethiopian descent, of Silver Spring, Maryland, is charged with delivering national defense information to aid a foreign government, conspiracy to deliver national defense information to aid a foreign government, and the willful retention of national defense information. Department of Justice.
White House puts Kamala Harris in charge of gun violence prevention. We’re probably all gonna die now if her border work is any indication. White House.
Third IRS official says Justice Department blocked Weiss from charging. Examiner.
I can’t figure out the polling on DeSantis . I cheer every time I hear him speak. Halley talks a good game but she wants to do the things that DeSantis has already done in Florida. Just look how prepared he had his state when the hurricane hit and this was the second year in a row. Have his numbers fallen off because he was taking care of the people of his state? I don’t understand what is not to like. Other candidates talk about it , DeSantis does it.
This morning I am channeling Mr. Rogers.
Schumer blinked when Senator Tuberville refused to approve 300+ military appointments with a unanimous consent motion. He wants them to be approved 1 by 1 unless the Military stops using our money to fly military to abortion friendly states, and funding DEI instead of lethal maneuvers. Unless Tuberville backs down it will take 89 8-hour days of debate to approve all 300+ candidates. And, btw, no military work is undone. All those waiting for confirmation are already in their jobs and doing their work.
Schumer blinked when Lunatic Slob Fetterman refused to wear a suit on the Senate floor. He desperately needs him to walk to the well of the Senate to cast critical votes.
Schumer will now have to duck questions on Crooked Menendez who kept on taking bribes even when he barely escaped the last batch of felony indictments. He can’t afford to lose Menendez’s support or absence for any votes.
Schumer can’t call out Brandon’s dementia, or even call out McConnell because he would have to face his Feinstein problem.
Even McCarthy has a problem with governance due to his tight Republican margin.
What is the difference between GRIDLOCK and SHUTDOWN? Nothing. It's all good when it stops the Senate from moving legislation that threatens America.
As Mr. Rogers used to sing “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood”.