Politics
Liz Cheney goes to bat for Kamala Harris
What the history books will remember
This week, former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney made headlines by joining Vice President Kamala Harris on the campaign trail in Ripon, Wisconsin — which is also the birthplace of the Republican Party.
Cheney joins hundreds of high-profile Republicans who have broken away from Trump to endorse the Harris-Walz ticket. Among these defectors is former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinsonwho recently declared “Donald Trump and JD Vance cannot be trusted with the Constitution, cannot be trusted to uphold our rule of law, and cannot be trusted to enact responsible policy.” Hutchinson noted she was “proud as a conservative to have the opportunity to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Waltz in this election.”
But with just over 30 days to go before the election, what are all the other anti-Trump Republicans waiting for? Utah Sen. Mitt Romney has voiced concerns that Trump would target him and his family if re-elected. Former President George W. Bush has been castigated and attacked by Trump at every turn. Former Trump chief of staff John Kelly said that Trump “has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.” And when an aide told Trump that his Vice President Mike Pence’s life was in danger on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump reportedly replied: “So what?”
I am not saying it’s easy to go against your own political party. Cheney knows that well, having been essentially excommunicated after a lifetime of loyal service. But as Harris put it during the Wisconsin event, “There are many who know it is wrong, and then there are those who have the courage to speak out loudly about it and the conviction to speak truth.”
For Romney, Bush, Kelly and Pence, time is running out. If you don’t speak up loudly now, you may lose your chance. And the history books will remember.
A Q&A with Andrew Weissmann
On Thursday, Judge Chutkan asked unsealed new evidence in the federal election case against Trump. The filing from special counsel Jack Smith’s team argues there is ample evidence to convict Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, despite the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling this summer.
We’ll be talking to Andrew Weissmann this Sunday about this new filing. Here’s a sneak preview ahead of the interview:
What’s new in this filing that we haven’t seen before?
Direct evidence from Republicans who were in Trump’s administration and campaign proving Trump’s knowledge that he lost and intentional lies that he won, and efforts to undermine the presidential vote nonetheless.
How do you think this indictment will hold up under the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling?
Four justices already found that the state pressure scheme is not immune; it is very hard to see how there will not be one more vote agreeing with at least that part of the case going forward. But all of this assumes that Trump is not elected, because once in office he will simply order the DOJ to drop the case.
Some Republicans are claiming this filing represents “election interference” because it was unsealed so close to the election. Are you surprised by Judge Chutkan’s timing?
Judge Chutkan is carrying out her responsibilities within the parameters dictated by the Supreme Court, after Trump prevailed there. I am not surprised she is fulfilling her duties without fear or favor to either side.
Someone you should know: Oakland University student Marcus Johnson
While Vance and Walz traded mild-mannered barbs onstage this week, the breakout star of the VP debate was Oakland University student and civics guru Marcus Johnson.
Johnson went viral for the impromptu “civics lesson” he gave post-debate at an OU watch party hosted by BLN’s Jacob Soboroffwhere he fact-checked Vance on the powers of the vice president, quipping that anyone who took high school civics should know the answer.
If BLN hosts have anything to do with it, this won’t be the last time we benefit from Johnson’s wisdom. Joy Reid already locked him in as a co-host for an OU town hall with Harris, should she accept. And you can find more of Johnson’s insightful, fact-based commentary on his X profilewhere he’s rocketed to 27,000 followers (from just 100 before the debate).
Hurricane Helene relief
Hurricane Helene has had a devastating impact on the Southeast, with at least 200 deaths and hundreds still missing. Hundreds of thousands of homes are without power, and many returning evacuees are finding their communities and homes destroyed, especially in North Carolina.
If you’re wondering how you can help the communities affected, here are several organizations providing aid and accepting donations.
- American Red Cross: Opening and supporting shelters for people who have evacuated their homes.
- Salvation Army: Providing food, disaster relief, emotional and spiritual care.
- Americares: Coordinating deliveries of medicines and relief supplies.
There are also many state-specific efforts, including:
- North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund: Supporting immediate needs like food, water, cleaning and emergency supplies.
- Florida Disaster Fund: Distributes funds to local groups tasked with disaster response and recovery.
- Send Relief (Georgia): Supplying meals, water and recovery materials to impacted areas.
Jen Psaki is the host of “Inside with Jen Psaki”airing Sundays at 12 p.m. ET and Mondays at 8 p.m. EST. She is the former White House press secretary for President Joe Biden.
Politics
Trump wants the Postal Service to radically overhaul mail voting. But ballots are already going out.
President Donald Trump’s controversial demands for the Postal Service to overhaul and monitor millions of mail ballots hit another snag on Friday, when North Carolina became the first state in the nation to start sending out ballots for the November election.
In March, Trump signed the initial executive order, which aimed to crack down on mail-in voting — which he regularly alleges without evidence is a vector for widespread voter fraud — and assert an unprecedented amount of federal control over the upcoming elections.
Under this order and the subsequent rule drafted by the U.S. Postal Service, the USPS would refuse to deliver ballots to states that failed to provide lists of eligible mail voters or did not adhere to an approved envelope design style.
Since then, the order has faced legal challenges, and it remains paused by a federal judge’s orders. But the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow the new rule to proceed — something current and former election officials from both parties say would be both a legal nightmare that oversteps the federal government’s traditional role in elections and a logistical one that is happening far too close to the November election to implement even if they agreed with it.
“Why the hell are you rocking the boat this late in the game?” said Stephen Richer, a former Republican recorder of Maricopa County, Arizona, who has clashed with Trump allies for defending the security of the 2020 election.
Still, election officials are trying to project a sense of normalcy for voters, particularly in North Carolina, which serves as a test of whether established local election systems can operate normally amid intensifying federal scrutiny.
“I want to emphasize this point because there has been a lot of outside noise: Our county workers are ready,” Sam Hayes, a longtime Republican lawyer in the state and now executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said in a Thursday afternoon press conference.
He added, “All we can do is what we’re doing. … It is business as usual as far as I’m concerned.”
Despite the legal challenges, the Trump administration has continued to press the courts to let it proceed. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to lift an order from a Massachusetts judge which temporarily prevents the USPS from enforcing their rule. It is the second time the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to step in, after winning an earlier victory in which the high court dismissed an earlier hold on the rule as premature.
“The uncertainty is coming from a single activist judge who continues to try and obstruct President Trump from implementing commonsense measures to protect the security of mail-in ballots and ensure only Americans vote in American elections,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement. “These safeguards for mail ballots were proposed months ago giving election officials ample time to prepare for the 2026 election.”
The USPS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Election officials said that if the rule goes into effect this close to November, it would cause chaos and place added strain on the USPS and election officials. And an anonymous federal whistleblower said in a report circulated earlier this week by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) that the USPS was moving forward in a “secretive, rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed process” to try to implement the new system ahead of the midterms.
In the coming weeks, states across the country will follow North Carolina’s lead. Nine other states will begin mailing ballots in the next two weeks, according to a tracker from the National Conference of State Legislatures — with the biggest day for mailing coming 45 days before the election in mid-September.
“It would be so outrageous to try to let this go into effect. It’s hard to even imagine,” said Ben Hovland, a senior fellow for democracy at the progressive think tank Center for American Progress and former Democratic commissioner with the Election Assistance Commission who was fired by Trump in July.
He added, “It would be a break-glass moment for our democracy.”
The rule would require meticulous changes to ballot handling and tracking practices that Hovland said are impossible to implement before Election Day in about two months, effectively disenfranchising millions of voters.
“Ballots are printed. Envelopes are printed. You can go on and on with all the practical reasons that show that implementing something like this at this time is not feasible,” he said.
Richer said he doubted the new rules would bring about more security. Even if the USPS received lists from the states, according to the postal service’s final rule, it would not do any additional vetting of the list, Richer said.
“It’s just that the mail ballots have to be on that list, and I don’t see what added value for election integrity that does,” he said.
He added, “It creates a lot of administrative burden, and I think it creates a lot more opportunity for error.”
While a decision looms in the courts, election officials and experts cast doubt on the likelihood of the rules going into effect before November. A more pressing issue, they said, is the confusion and uncertainty surrounding mail-in ballots, which could subvert and change the behaviors of voters.
“It makes things seem messy or difficult, and it can dissuade people from participating or coming out to vote,” Hovland said. “It certainly also helps establish a pretext to make bad faith claims about election results.”
Hovland said that while none of these claims of voter fraud are backed up with facts, they could cause Americans to lose faith in the voting process.
Still, some current officials contended they were well-prepared for whatever happens — and that they’d be able to communicate effectively with voters who have become increasingly buffeted by dramatic rhetoric about the once-unmentioned nuts and bolts of actually running an election.
“There’s always a lot of noise around elections, that’s not going to change, and it can be hard to differentiate that from what’s actually going on on the ground,” said Jason Tyson, director of external affairs for the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
As Election Day approaches, Tyson and election officials said they urge voters to check their registration status and make a plan to vote.
He added, “I think we’ve got a really well-trained, solid staff who are ready, and who have gone through all of the checks and balances and points of contact that we need to do to get to where we are.”
Missouri’s Supreme Court suspended a congressional map that state Republicans drew last year that would have netted the GOP an additional House seat, likely keeping the seat in Democratic hands this November.
The court ruled unanimously on Thursday that a referendum petition organized by Democrats to put the new congressional maps to a vote was incorrectly deemed insufficient by Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, and ordered that the gerrymandered map be put to a vote in the fall.
Voters will ultimately decide the fate of the new lines in November. But in the meantime, it cannot be in place for the midterms, meaning Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s original Kansas City-based district will likely stay in Democrats’ hands this fall.
Construction crews could begin the excavation process for what will be President Donald Trump’s massive 250-foot-tall arch in as soon as the next two weeks, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced on Thursday.
The monument — which will be erected in a traffic circle at the head of the Memorial Bridge over the Potomac River, coming between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery — has generated controversy as concerns emerged about the design and traffic congestion during construction.
The arch would take two to three years to construct on the proposed schedule, according to documents released in June.
“We are pleased to announce that after a very long wait (over 125 years!), we are preparing to start, over the next two-week period, the excavation work necessary for the Great Triumphal Arch and Military Observation Deck,” Burgum said in a social media post.
The 250-foot-tall arch will be among Trump’s most visible projects, as the administration continues its attempts to remake Washington. Critics, however, have voiced fears that the structure may be too large, and overshadow other monuments, like the Lincoln Memorial on the other side of the Potomac River.
The proposed arch will dwarf the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in size. It is unclear at this time how much construction will cost; the National Endowment for the Humanities earmarked $15 million for the monument.
“This will be one the the Great Pieces of American Architecture, honoring the history and significance of Arlington National Cemetery and befitting the most powerful Capital in the World,” Burgum said.
The monument will be constructed on land overseen by the National Park Service, and critics have argued Trump’s latest project requires explicit congressional approval. However, the Interior secretary continues to rebut these claims.
Instead, Burgum echoed previous statements and said historically “Congress and various congressionally chartered commissions decreed that a monumental work should adorn Columbia Island,” the traffic circle where the monument is planned to be constructed.
“Despite Congress’s intent, the site became and remains today a barren traffic circle lacking any monumental treatment and significant historic value,” he said.
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