THE SHOW NOTES: The Grassley Bomb Shell, The Quiet Pivot Against Trump, & Harris Buys Herself Some Cheerleaders
Welcome! Nine people were shot in downtown Denver after the Nuggets won the NBA Final. The team’s superstar doesn’t even want to stay for the parade.
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DATA: 6 in 10 employees are quiet quitting. - Gallup
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The Grassley Bomb Shell
The Bursima executive who allegedly paid Joe Biden and Hunter Biden big bucks for foreign policy access kept 17 audio recordings for “insurance” according to shocking statements from Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley on the Senate floor.
Details: A highly redacted FBI form claims the agency met with a credible witness in 2020 who had multiple meetings with Mykola Zlochevsky, the Ukrainian owner of Burisma. In these meetings, Zlochevsky claimed to have recordings of 15 calls with Hunter Biden and two with Joe Biden. Additional details point to Joe Biden pressing Burisma to work with his son.
Why this matters: Grassley argues that the FBI is needlessly impeding congressional investigations into the Bidens by redacting significant portions of an unclassified document alleging a criminal bribery scheme between Joe and Hunter Biden and Zlochevsky.
What did Zlochevsky want? It appears Zlochevsky wanted then-Vice President Biden to pressure the Ukrainian government to oust a prosecutor who was working on a corruption case.
Slowing Inflation?
Inflation continued to slow last month according to a fresh Consumer Price Index report released this morning. The cost of an average basket of goods rose 4% from a year before, slightly beating analyst estimates of 4.1% and drastically down from last year’s high of 9.1%.
Why this matters: The Federal Reserve will conclude its quarterly meeting tomorrow to determine if additional rate hikes are necessary. Decelerating consumer price growth is a strong indicator that the Fed will stick to its plans of pausing rate hikes for this quarter.
Arraignment Day
Donald Trump heads to a Miami courthouse this afternoon to be arraigned for a 37-count indictment the day before his birthday.
Lawyers: Trump spent much of yesterday interviewing prospective lawyers after two prominent defense attorneys quit his legal team last week. According to The Washington Post, multiple prominent Florida attorneys declined to interview for the job.
Polling: Despite the legal woes, poll after poll continues to suggest that Trump has a dominant lead over the rest of his Republican challengers. 43% of self-identified Republicans told Reuters that Trump is their preferred candidate compared to only 22% who supported DeSantis. The Real Clear Politics polling average has Trump ahead of DeSantis by a shocking 30.7% with every other candidate polling under 5%.
Bonus: Reporters are barred from bringing phones or laptops to Trump’s hearing. - NYT (paywall)
China
President Xi is preparing his country for extreme scenarios that include escalating tensions with the United States. While the Biden administration is doubling down on efforts to prevent a confrontation, Beijing appears less and less interested in mending relations and open to outright hostility.
Why this matters: The growing number of troubling statements from Xi point to a country that is expanding globally in nearly every corner of the world while doubling down on becoming a self-sufficient economy. President Xi’s longtime adviser has been tasked with mapping out economic plans that would enable China to withstand Western sanctions in the increasingly likely invasion of Taiwan.
More: To make matters worse, a senior U.S. cybersecurity official told Reuters that Chinese hackers will most certainly disrupt critical infrastructure like pipelines and railways in the event of a confrontation with the U.S.
Cuba: When news broke of China’s plan to build an “electronic eavesdropping station” in Cuba, the White House denied the report, only for news to break that China already operates an active spy base on the island since 2019.
Related: Russia, China and Iran in America’s Backyard - WSJ (paywall)
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