Today in Politics, Bulletin 433. 8/4/26
… Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis both served up lame excuses today as they voted to pass AG nominee Todd Blanche out of the Judiciary Committee on a straight 12-10 party line vote. Blanche can now lose two Republican senators when it comes to the floor and still get confirmed.
… Cornyn on Blanche’s fake agreement: “As to the idea it could be revived in the future, I think it’s highly unlikely that could happen without the cooperation of the DOJ. And I think Blanche gave us the assurances that it was dead and would not be revived and in this case we have no alternative but to take his word. There’s nothing we could do to rein in the president.”
… You could have voted ‘no’.
… Cornyn: “Given this agreement with Blanche, I expect the DOJ to live up to this in future litigation and I will vote to advance him out of the committee today.”
… Tillis: “Everybody has this view that they are as pure as the driven snow and it’s the other side that has a problem. I think we both have a problem, folks. If you want to talk about weaponization, take a look at the Biden admin, take a look at the Obama admin, take a look at Crossfire Hurricane.”
… Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): “Today I think is a sad and embarrassing day for this committee as it looks like on a party-line vote we are going to advance out of this committee probably the most discreditable person ever to seek the office of attorney general.”
… Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL): “Blanche has aided and abetted the most corrupt admin in the history of the US. Blanche’s willingness to casually lie under oath about he statement he made in a room full of witnesses shows the lengths he will go to to avoid offending Trump.”
… Of course, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) then posted she was voting no: "While I believe Blanche is a capable lawyer, DOJ has become increasingly political. Blanche has taken several actions that have further eroded the Department’s independence, and that is the basis for my vote to oppose his confirmation."
… The same old Susan Collins charade. As soon as a controversial nominee or a bill has enough votes to pass, she announces she will vote no when it doesn’t matter. She never casts a deciding vote against Trump. Now she will claim this shows how she is so “independent.”
… Politico: “As his confirmation to lead DOJ hung by a thread last week, acting AG Todd Blanche told faith leaders on a private call that he was preparing to take action to roll back abortion access nationwide.”
… “On a recording of the call hosted by the WH Faith Office, Blanche lamented that the Trump admin’s efforts to restrict abortion are ‘taking longer than we want’ but said DOJ was ‘working hand in hand’ with federal health agencies and the WH ‘so that the Dobbs decision becomes permanent in every single state. We don’t have complete victory yet, but we will have victory, and victory will be soon, and and and it will be permanent’.”
… “In addition to those broad pronouncements, Blanche appeared to suggest specific restrictions were coming on telehealth prescription and mail delivery of abortion pills, saying the admin is ‘putting practices and policies in place’ to stop shipment of the medications to states where they are banned.”
… Semafor: “Trump facing pressure from his allies to intervene in Rep. Max Miller’s race as the party races against a Wed deadline for the embattled OH Republican to drop out. Trump said earlier that he would be staying out of the controversy over domestic abuse allegations against Miller, who served in Trump’s first-term WH.”
… Trump told reporters that it’s “a very sad thing,” describing Miller as “a very good person” and saying he plans to “let the families figure that out.”
… “But Trump and some WH aides are said to privately want Miller out of the race, according to a person familiar with the situation. Axios reported that Trump had called Miller to say that ‘things aren’t looking good.’”
… Second source close to the WH: “He clearly only cares about himself. He’s down by 6 in the latest poll. If he cared about the president and the party, he’d drop out.”
… CNN: An update that will not please House GOP leadership. Rep. Max Miller tells Manu Raju that Trump did call him yesterday — but the president “never asked me to drop out.” He said “nothing’s changed” when asked if he’s running for reelection.
… Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), the father of Miller’s ex-wife Emily: “My daughter lives in constant fear of this man. She fears what this guy is capable of.” Moreno says he has had to pick up his 2-year-old granddaughter “at the Bay Village Police Station because that’s the place that we have to go to meet because I don’t know what this guy’s capable of.”
… Moreno said on one occasion, Miller also refused to hand over the little girl’s favorite stuffed animal: “Max would not hand over the little blue bunny. Literally held it hostage for 48 hours. This girl is crying at night because she can’t sleep without her little blue bunny.”
… Moreno was asked by reporters why it took him so long to make a public statement about the abuse. He lashed out angrily: “I hope you never have to go through this situation, because you wouldn’t ask that kind of fucking question.”
… Conservative journalist Pedro Gonzalez: “Typical right-wing alpha male behavior is to do a tough guy act and drop f-bombs at Fauci for the cameras and then beg reporters to not harass the man accused of emotionally and physically abusing your own flesh and blood because it’s bad for the GOP ahead of midterms. That’s MAGA masculinity for you, being a submissive loser, putting your own family second when there’s no clips to be made.”
… Miller was interview by CNN’s Jake Tapper today. It was a complete disaster for Miller:
“If Mr. Moreno felt this was the case, why do we now have to be here on national TV, exposing all of our personal family drama? Why didn't he come to me and say, I don’t believe that you should be in the Congress?”
Q - “Did you hold the doll hostage? Because that is emotionally abusive behavior.
Miller: Mr. Tapper, no.”
“When I was reported for child abuse, for my daughter, for a broken collarbone, my daughter was in my ex-wife's care 9 out of the last 11 days, and she took her to the emergency room, which is a contempt violation from our shared parenting plan.”
… He's accusing his ex-wife of violating their shared custody agreement because she took their daughter to the emergency room with a broken collarbone?
Q - Sen. Moreno said that you have admitted privately that you need to get help.
Miller: That’s projection. Q - Have you ever said that? Miller: No, not to him. Q - To anyone? Miller: I think a lot of people within this country see a therapist.”
… Excuse me, you're Honor, we won't need to deliberate very long on this verdict. I think we've heard enough.
Q - “Now, your ex-wife stated to police that your child told her… ‘daddy kill you’. Miller: I wish you could talk to my beautiful baby girl. She can't string together sentences like that. Q - But didn't you just tell me that she had said that she was scared to go to mommy's house. But now you're saying that she's not capable of saying, daddy kill you?”
“All they're trying to do is create rumor mills without evidence. It's all hearsay, all hearsay. Tapper: It's not hearsay, if it is firsthand testimony from women. And I just name three people that are providing firsthand testimony, that's not hearsay.”
Tapper: “But you understand that the reason that this is a story is because it's not the first time a woman that you've been intimate with has accused you of violence and abuse. Miller: I hope that you and the rest of the media do the same amount of digging as you are into me, as you will into those other two. Tapper: They're not accused of physically abusing you. I mean, it's pretty simple.”
Tapper: “But do you realize how tall a order it is for voters and your colleagues and everybody watching right now to believe that three women who don't know each other made up accusations of you being violent, and you are telling the truth here?
Miller: No.”Q - “When's the last time you ever used illegal drugs? Miller: Several years ago. Q - Two? Twenty? Miller: This is testosterone replacement therapy. Secretary Hegseth, just three weeks ago, allowed our entire military, who are males, to take testosterone replacement therapy. That's what I was doing.”
“I'm never going to back down. Tapper: But you sued Stephanie Grisham for defamation, and then you backed down from that.. Miller: That's not true. There was a settlement agreement.”
… That’s backing down.
On his call with Trump: “He said, Maxie, it's going to be a tough race. And he said, I don't know if you're going to be able to, you know, pull this one out. And you know what, Jake? I reminded him of the same resilience that he had when people told him that he was going to struggle in 2016, and he became the 45th president.”
… This is sick.
“Speaker Mike Johnson is standing behind me. No one has told me to get off the ballot.”
… I got to give credit where credit it due. It was Tapper’s best interview in long, long, long time.
… OH Sen. Jon Husted, who is in a tough election battle with former Sen. Sherrod Brown, was asked on Newsmax if he thinks Miller should resign. He said no. Husted: “Let’s focus on letting them sort through this on a family level.”
… Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-FL) on NewsNation: Q - “The abuse allegations against Max Miller - Moreno says Miller should resign, but Trump disagrees. Do you think Miller should step down? Patronis: No. I agree with the president. This is a family fight. Unfortunately, divorces are messy. There are two sides to every story.”
… Politico: “A lawyer for Rep. Max Miller took responsibility Tuesday for inadvertently releasing sensitive photos of the OH Republican’s daughter in a trove of material Miller published Sunday in a bid to defend himself against domestic abuse claims.”
… “The attorney, Aaron Minc, took responsibility for the photo being released and called it ‘completely unintentional and a mistake’ after a lawyer for Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno, accused Miller of disseminating the daughter’s name and one image that ‘could be considered Child Sexual Abuse Material.’”
… “Miller posted the documents online Sunday after delivering a livestreamed defense against the claims leveled by his former wife, Emily Moreno. He has declined all allegations of wrongdoing, which include pouring hot water on his ex-wife, holding a gun to her head and breaking his daughter’s collarbone.”
… Moreno’s lawyer Subodh Chandra claimed that the documents left the daughter’s name unredacted and contained “private images,” including one where “the daughter’s genitals appear to be visible.”
… Miller later posted: “In light of all the renewed interest in my family affairs I am going to file my own paperwork for an ethics investigation into myself to clear my name from these horrific attacks on myself and family. I have absolutely nothing to hide. We will be providing the committee all necessary documents needed for a detail examination.”
… CBS: “Amid the Trump admin infighting over a decision to move to dismiss a felony criminal charge against a former Olympian who was accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, prosecutors in Washington moved to drop charges against 3 other defendants who were similarly accused of damaging the pool.”
… “In recent days, federal prosecutors in US Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office moved to dismiss 3 misdemeanor cases following a Friday court filing that moved to dismiss vandalism charges against former Olympian David Hearn.”
… CNN on Trump’s meeting in the Oval Office last night with Pirro after he fumed about her dropping the charges: “One source is telling us that Trump read Jeanine Pirro the riot act, another one says that he laid into her during this meeting.”
… Reuters: “The US has used ‘virtually all’ of its precision strike missiles during the war in Iran. Stockpiles on ATACMs and Precision Strike Missiles are almost depleted. And we have used about half of our Tomahawks, per new data circulating inside the admin.
… “This comes as the US continues to debate the extent to which it can continue striking Iran without drawing down on the stockpile to levels that would impact readiness for a future conflict. There have been tense discussions inside the administration about these numbers in recent days.”
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If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here.
… NYT: “Iran and Oman are closing in on an agreement to reopen shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian and American officials, but if the accord goes into effect it could come at a high price — ratifying Tehran’s control over what, before the war, was an open, international waterway. Vessels heading into the Persian Gulf will transit a channel controlled by Iran, and close to its coast. Ships leaving the Gulf will travel on a channel near Oman.”
… “Iranian officials say that while there will be no tolls charged the agreement includes a ‘service fee’ to cover the environmental impact of the shipping, security for
