Editors’ Blog

In a new joint filing, Trump lawyers and the DOJ outline points of agreement and disagreement about how a Special Master review should work. One of the disagreements is who should pay the Special Master and whatever expenses are incurred in said special mastering. Trump says the US government should pick up half the tab. The DOJ says that Trump, as the guy who wants the Special Master, should pick up the whole tab.

Yesterday, when Michigan’s Supreme Court confirmed there would be an abortion rights measure on the state ballot in November, I was jarred to see how many people were not aware Senate Democrats have an opportunity – so far ignored – to accomplish basically the same thing on a national level. So far it’s the greatest missed opportunity of the election cycle. The reason is nothing substantive but rather a mix of misplaced caucus collegiality and electoral myopia.

I made the point yesterday that the language Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) is using to clean up his past marriage equality remarks — earlier this summer he said he had no reason to “oppose” codifying same-sex marriage into federal law — is an obvious cave to the Christian right. In frantic messaging in recent days, Johnson has flip-flopped on his previous position as he struggles with the impossible task of casting himself as a reasonable guy to Wisconsin voters and a reliable ally to Christian conservatives.

The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled 5-2 that the proposed abortion rights measure will appear on the state’s ballot in November. This is good news for all Democratic candidates in the state, since it will literally put robust abortion rights protections on the ballot in the state. That will almost certainly mean robust protections in the state going forward. It will likely also bring marginal Democratic candidates to victory with the tide of voters who turn out to vote for the amendment.

But it’s a very important development in a more general way.

Wonderful news that the DOJ has decided to appeal Judge Cannon’s farcical decision is making clear that it cannot be that case that a former President “can successfully assert executive privilege to prevent the Executive Branch itself from reviewing and using its own records.”

A new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast is live! This week, Josh and Kate discuss the CNN purge and the newest developments in the court case over Trump’s documents.

You can listen to the new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast here.

One of the minor questions with today’s news was whether Charles would become King Charles III. It seems obvious. But in the past it was frequently the case that a monarch would choose a regnal name which was not the one they were known by familiarly before taking the throne. But Liz Truss, who just became Prime Minister two days ago, just made a statement in which she referred to Charles as King Charles III. So that settles it. Seems like a rather dramatic hogging of the mic. But who knows? Not my country, not my circus. But that settles it. Charles III.

There’s so much news today besides the impending news out of the United Kingdom that I just wanted to hit big points briefly because there’s no way to delve into all of it at once.

In this week’s podcast, Kate Riga and I talked about the on-going talent purge at CNN. We’ve discussed this before. CNN is under new Republican management and the top shareholder has announced his intention to make the network less “liberal” and more “centrist.” There are both ideological and business drivers, which I discussed last week. But I want to dig into the mechanics, which seem to be getting short shrift in the media discussion. Two rungs down the ladder from the top corporate boss is CNN boss Chris Licht. The game plan may come from on high (i.e., Trump donor billionaire John Malone) but Licht is the implementer. So far Brian Stelter and John Harwood have been axed and the rumor mill is now fixated on Brianna Keilar, a CNN host deemed “too liberal” or too critical of Trump for the new “centrist” CNN.

The words contained in the reports themselves are vague. But they suggest that Queen Elizabeth II, 96, may be on her death bed. Her health has been in decline since the death of her husband a year ago. Reports this morning say her doctors are “concerned for Her Majesty’s health” and recommend she “remain under medical supervision.” Meanwhile, her four children and her elder grandson are rushing to be at her side at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Again, the official comments are vague. The atmospherics and actions seem clear.