The Full Belmonte, 6/19/2023
Juneteenth
“Today is Juneteenth, the federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the US. Many businesses, post offices and schools will be closed today as the nation celebrates the profound achievements of African Americans over the past 158 years. Juneteenth is observed annually on June 19 to remember the day when Union Army Gen. Gordon Granger told enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, that they had been liberated on June 19, 1865 — nearly three years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation to end slavery in the US. In honor, members of the Black community and allies will participate in joyful festivities today while vowing to continue the fight for equity and justice.” [CNN]
Trump may get delay he wants
Trump signs off on his bond conditions. Screenshot: PACER via Axios Sneak Peek
“The print headline of today's Washington Post lead story is stark: ‘Trial rules favor Trump.’
The boxes case ‘will be tried under the rules of the Classified Information Procedures Act, or CIPA — a law that could, in theory, delay any trial until after the 2024 presidential election,’ Devlin Barrett and Perry Stein report.
Why it matters: Trump, as always, wants a delay — preferably into 2025. As Axios' Alex Thompson reported, if Trump were elected, he'd be able to install sympathetic Justice Department officials before a trial — or try to pardon himself if he's convicted.
It can take weeks or months for a defense lawyer to get security clearance — and Trump frequently switches counsel, The Post notes.
Discovery takes longer. Plus there can be complications with classified documents that are ‘privately shown to the jury in their entirety, but the details are obscured when presented in the public courtroom.’” [Axios]
Extreme weather
“More than 50 million people across the Southeast face the threat of severe storms today as widespread power outages have left nearly half a million across the South in the dark, including some sweltering under record-breaking temperatures. A level 2 of 5 slight risk of severe weather is in place across parts of Louisiana, Florida, Alabama and Georgia. The main threats are damaging wind gusts, large hail and isolated tornadoes. The same system spawned a reported tornado in Mississippi on Sunday that left multiple injuries and structural damage. Meanwhile, around 35 million people in the region are under heat alerts. The National Weather Service is advising residents across several states to limit time outside and stay hydrated.” [CNN]
Growing evidence that Russia blew up Kakhovka Dam
“A New York Times report Sunday said the Russians knew the weak spot in the Kakhovka Dam − a passageway that ran through the concrete block at its base − and most likely detonated explosives there to create a breach. The death toll in the collapse has reached at least 45. In some of the southern Ukraine provinces downstream from the dam, water contamination is becoming an increasingly dire problem following the massive flooding that has devastated dozens of towns along the lower Dnieper River and led to an ecological catastrophe, threatening crops and killing millions of fish.” Read more
• Biden says the U.S. won't support a fast-tracked path for Ukraine into NATO.” [USA Today]
A photographer takes photo of dead fish in the dried-up Kakhovka Reservoir after recent catastrophic destruction of the Kakhovka dam near Kherson, Ukraine, Sunday, June 18, 2023.
Mstyslav Chernov, AP
Justice Department finds Minneapolis police unlawfully deprived people of constitutional rights
“Minneapolis and its police department engage in a pattern of violating people's rights through the unnecessary, unjustified use of deadly force and discrimination, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday after a two-year investigation following George Floyd’s death. The 92-page report by the Justice Department found the police use excessive force, including unjustified deadly force, discriminate against Black people and violate First Amendment rights, among other conclusions. The Justice Department plans to work collaboratively with the city and police on more reforms to remedy unlawful conduct cited in the report.” Read more at USA Today
At least 5 dead, dozens more injured in weekend shootings
“At least five people including a Pennsylvania state trooper were killed and dozens injured in a string of weekend violence and mass shootings across the U.S. The shootings in suburban Chicago, Washington state, Pennsylvania, St. Louis, Southern California and Baltimore follow a surge in homicides and other violence over the past several years that experts say accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic. Read more about the shootings across the country this weekend. [USA Today]
Investigators look over the scene of an overnight mass shooting at a strip mall in Willowbrook, Illinois, Sunday, June 18, 2023
Matt Marton, AP
© The Associated Press / J. Scott Applewhite | The Capitol in 2019.
Shutdown talk to dominate this summer
“Congress is back in Washington this week, and House GOP leaders are facing an all-too-familiar problem: quelling the conservative angst that’s threatening to derail their legislative agenda heading into the summer’s major policy fights with President Biden.
Earlier this month, 11 House Freedom Caucus members shut down all floor action for almost a week to protest Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) handling of the debt ceiling talks. McCarthy was forced to host a string of closed-door meetings with the hard-liners, who want concrete assurances he’ll demand deeper spending cuts in the coming fight over government funding.
House GOP negotiators announced last week they would mark up their fiscal 2024 spending plans to levels lower than the budget caps set as part of the deal struck between Biden and McCarthy — leading Democrats to accuse them of reneging on their prior agreement.
While the detractors eventually allowed floor votes to resume, there was little sign of progress by week’s end and the hard-liners left Washington with a warning that they are prepared to shut down the floor again if the Speaker doesn’t meet their ill-defined demands, The Hill’s Mike Lillis and Mychael Schnell report.
‘I haven’t been overly pleased or participatory … but I’ll just say that I don’t think we’re moving in the right direction as far as solving this massive growth in national debt,’ said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), the former head of the far-right Freedom Caucus, of the McCarthy talks. ‘My biggest concern is, what’s the coalition that the Speaker has built? We want to know who his coalition partners are. Is it the Democrats, or is it going to be the conservative voices and the other Republicans in the conference?’
‘Oh, I think it’s always on the table,’ he added, asked about the possibility of conservatives once again blocking floor action. ‘I’m an ‘all tools’ guy.’
The threats highlight the dilemma facing McCarthy and GOP leaders as they attempt a delicate balancing act of cutting deals with Biden and the Democrats — for the sake of enacting must-pass bills like raising the debt ceiling and funding the government — without infuriating the conservative firebrands who view deficits as a greater threat than a default or a shutdown.
The Wall Street Journal: McCarthy’s next trick: Averting a government shutdown.
Senate Democrats, meanwhile, are gearing up for the spending fight with House Republicans as negotiators prepare to mark up government funding bills this week. As The Hill’s Aris Folley reports, Senate negotiators are expected to unveil funding legislation in the coming days, with plans to begin considering proposals over the next week as the annual appropriations season starts to heat up.
‘It will be very difficult,’ Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who is also an appropriator, told The Hill of challenges Congress will face in averting a shutdown this year. ‘We’ve got to agree to our agreements and stick with it.’
Some Republican negotiators have expressed confidence that the conference will back the partisan bills now that leaders have affirmed they’ll mark up their legislation to fiscal 2022 levels. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.), however, signaled the upper chamber will take a much different path, saying earlier this week, ‘In the Senate, we’re going to follow the agreement that everybody agreed to as passed and signed into law.’” [The Hill]
China
Secretary of State Antony Blinken with Xi Jinping, China’s leader.Pool photo by Leah Millis
“Chinese leader Xi Jinping and top American diplomat Antony Blinken met in Beijing today, in a potentially crucial step toward mending US-China relations. Blinken is the first US Secretary of State to visit Beijing in five years, with the two global powers increasingly at odds over a host of issues. Earlier this year, a Chinese spy balloon — detected floating across the US and hovering over sensitive military sites — sent relations plunging to a new low. The countries have also been at loggerheads over Beijing's close ties with Moscow to American efforts to limit the sale of advanced technologies to China. Both the US and China have played down expectations of a major breakthrough during Blinken's visit, and it remains to be seen whether the countries’ bitterly cold relationship will show signs of warming.” [CNN]
“US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to China — the highest level visit of Joe Biden’s administration — shows the desire for a broad reset even as the scope for real cooperation between the world’s two biggest economies remains narrow.
The language from both sides has been relatively positive. Blinken’s meeting with Foreign Minister Qin Gang yesterday went for a marathon seven-plus hours.
Most notably Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who said it was ‘very good’ that progress had been made on a range of unspecified issues. That shows a desire from the very top to put a floor under ties after protracted tensions over trade, business, technology and security.
That’s likely a relief for all. The Chinese economy has been flashing warning signs; a serious downturn would bleed into the global economy and potentially impact the US as Biden heads into presidential election season. Taking some heat out of the relationship can help keep the focus on supporting growth.
It also paves the way for Xi and Biden to meet later this year, either at the Group of 20 summit in India or APEC in the US — or both.
In talking about stabilization, though, the language is very general. Talks have been ‘candid’ and ‘productive.’ At the same time each side has kept up the criticism of the other for their economic and security policies — including on Taiwan.
The opportunities for collaboration will remain limited. One question is whether they will resume military-to-military talks, an area the US has pushed for. There’s little hope for a breakthrough on technology and cyber.
On Russia’s war in Ukraine, Xi’s close relationship with President Vladimir Putin is a high concern for the US — in turn a staunch Kyiv ally.
Clearing the air is a step forward. It signals a desire to stop things getting worse. But that’s largely because it is in their mutual interest right now.
Their fundamental differences make a long-term fix hard to see. — Rosalind Mathieson [Bloomberg]
Blinken and Xi meet today in Beijing. Photographer: Leah Mills/Getty Images
“Ukraine liberated eight villages or towns in the southern Zaporizhzhia region in two weeks, pushing Russian forces back as much as seven kilometers (4.3 miles), Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said. ‘Our soldiers are advancing,’ President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly address. ‘Position after position, step after step.’ Overnight, officials in the Black Sea city of Odesa said air defenses intercepted an attack by four Russian cruise missiles.” [Bloomberg]
“The Israeli shekel slumped today after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled his intention to press ahead with plans to overhaul the judicial system that have divided the country. Critics say the move would reduce the independence of judges and have conducted mass protests while investors have been unnerved by the plans.” [Bloomberg]
“A bruising week is in store for UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, with a parliamentary vote today on his predecessor Boris Johnson threatening to fuel divisions among the ruling Conservatives and the Bank of England set to heap further pain on consumers by raising interest rates again. Sunak’s party trails the Labour opposition by double digits in opinion polls ahead of a general election expected to be held next year.
Opposition leader Keir Starmer pledged that a Labour government would cut energy bills, create jobs and provide more secure power by sweeping away barriers to green projects.” [Bloomberg]
“South Korea’s salvage of large sections of a North Korean rocket that failed shortly after takeoff potentially provides a trove of information about the secretive state’s weapons program. Seoul’s military said the two pieces it recovered from the sea were likely from the rocket’s second stage, which North Korea claimed contained a new engine. The discovery will likely give clues about Pyongyang’s proficiency in engine design and may point to components obtained via sanctions violations.” [Bloomberg]
An object presumed to be part of the North Korean space-launch vehicle that crashed into the sea on May 31. Source: South Korean Defense Ministry Handout/Getty Images
“Support for Fumio Kishida fell in three polls carried out over the weekend, threatening the Japanese prime minister’s prospects in a general election that he’s widely expected to call by the end of the year.” [Bloomberg]
“Australia’s government opened its campaign to establish an Indigenous advisory body to lawmakers with a national vote due by year’s end, even as polls show mounting opposition to the proposal.” [Bloomberg]
“Kuwait formed its fifth government in less than a year, naming new oil and defense ministers, as the OPEC member tries to end a protracted political impasse that has stalled fiscal reform.” [Bloomberg]
“As industrialized countries around the world confront declining birth rates and aging workforces, Canada is at the forefront of betting on immigration to stave off economic decline. Randy Thanthong-Knight reports that Canada surpassed 40 million people for the first time last week, with growth expected to continue at a rapid pace. For Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s administration, the massive immigration experiment is a way to broaden the labor market as global competition for skilled workers intensifies.” [Bloomberg]
Migrant workers arrive at a farm in Notre-Dame-de-l'Ile-Perrot, Quebec. Photographer: Christinne Muschi/Bloomberg
Climate
“President Joe Biden will announce new federal funding for climate resilience projects today, according to a White House official. It comes less than a week after four major environmental groups backed Biden's campaign for a second term in a notable joint endorsement. In a speech in Washington after the endorsement, Biden called climate change ‘the only truly existential threat,’ adding, ‘If we don't meet the requirements that we're looking at, we're in real trouble.’ Biden heavily courted climate and environmental justice groups during his 2020 campaign and has made combating climate change central to his governing agenda with announcements over the past few months on environmental justice initiatives and aggressive new rules to regulate planet-warming pollution from natural gas power plants.” [CNN]
Wyndham Clark claims first major golf championship in Los Angeles
“Wyndham Clark held off Rory McIlroy and outclassed Rickie Fowler while winning his first major championship at the U.S. Open on Sunday. Instead of one of golf’s big names celebrating on the 18th green among roaring fans, it was the relative no-name Clark enjoying the moment at Los Angeles Country Club. Clark, 29, finished the tournament at 10-under, one stroke ahead of McIlroy and five strokes ahead of Fowler. ‘Obviously I put my own pressure on myself, but yeah, I guess it's nice being the underdog,’ Clark said after the final round.” Read more at USA Today
Wyndham Clark celebrates with the championship trophy after winning the U.S. Open.
Michael Madrid, USA TODAY Sports
Vegas rises as sports hub
Rendering by Oakland A's shows the proposed ballpark in Las Vegas. Image via AP
“Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) signed a $380 million public financing package to help build a stadium for the Oakland A's on the Las Vegas Strip, kicking off a months-long MLB approval process.
Why it matters: Lombardo hailed Vegas' growth as a ‘global sports destination.’
The $1.5 billion stadium, with a retractable roof, is planned near the homes of the NFL’s Raiders, who fled Oakland in 2020, and the NHL’s Golden Knights, who won the Stanley Cup last week.
Formula 1 will take over the Strip from Nov. 16-18 for ‘an unforgettable race cutting right through the neon heart of the city.’
Between the lines: The rapid embrace of legalized gambling by the big sports leagues, including MLB, could help explain why the A's are so eager to ditch Oakland for Vegas.
After all, Vegas is ‘a much smaller media market that increasingly is becoming crowded with other professional sports teams,’ The (San Jose) Mercury News notes (subscription).” [Axios]
SPORTS NEWS
“Lionel Messi’s payday: The Argentine star is earning millions for posting photos from Saudi Arabia on social media, a tourism contract obtained by The Times reveals.
An N.B.A. mega-trade: The Washington Wizards sent Bradley Beal to the Phoenix Suns yesterday, The Athletic reports.” [New York Times]
“Lives Lived: Donald Triplett was widely considered the first person to be diagnosed with autism. His happy life later became the subject of a book and documentary. He died at 89.” [New York Times]