A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.
Vote Expected This Afternoon
GOP leadership is urging its members to vote against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) resolution creating a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection.
- House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) sent a letter to rank-and-file Republicans on Tuesday evening. “This select committee is likely to pursue a partisan agenda to politicize the January 6th attack instead of conducting a good faith investigative effort into the actions leading up to and the security failures of the 6th,” he wrote.
An Utter Mess In NYC’s Mayoral Elections
The New York City Board of Elections announced on Tuesday night that it had accidentally added about 135,000 “test” ballots in the hotly contested mayoral race. Oopsy daisy!
The responses to that announcement were … not kind:
took my “chill and see new shapes” amount of Benadryl. mixed a Blue Chew and NoDoz into a Bang. topping it off with a Twisted Tea. now time for my job at New York’s Board of Elections
— Anor Londo gentrifier (@ByYourLogic) June 30, 2021
not the NYC board of elections doing a notes app apology https://t.co/f5fC8q9ep7
— libby watson (@libbycwatson) June 30, 2021
When I die I want the NYC Board of Elections to lower me into my grave so they can let me down one last time.
— Steph Silkowski (@stephsilkowski) June 29, 2021
Please standby for a statement from NYC Board of Elections Chairman Mr. Bean
— Jason O. Gilbert (@gilbertjasono) June 30, 2021
In Case You Missed It:
Rudy Giuliani, freshly stripped of his law license, is sinking even deeper in legal woes; he’s now under federal investigation for potential foreign lobbying to the Trump administration on behalf of Turkish interests, according to Bloomberg and ABC News.
- To be clear, this reportedly isn’t a criminal investigation. It’s unrelated to the Justice Department’s criminal inquiry into the ex-Trump lawyer’s dealings in Ukraine.
- Giuliani’s work with Turkey involved urging Trump and then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to stop the prosecution of one of his clients, a Turkish gold trader, and to deport a Turkish cleric whom Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused of trying to overthrow him.
Goodbye, Confederates
The House approved the expulsion of Confederate statues from the Capitol last night.
- The vote was 285-120. All the “nays” were from Republicans, including House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY).
- The bill’s fate in the Senate remains uncertain. A similar bill stalled in the Senate last year when it was controlled by Republicans.
The RNC Spent Way More On Security Than The DNC Early This Year
The Republican National Committee’s spending on security in the first quarter of this year skyrocketed from less than $500,000 in last year’s first quarter to more than $1 million, according to Federal Election Commission records analyzed by Mother Jones.
- In contrast, the Democratic National Committee spent about $262,000 in that same period, a relatively modest bump from the approximately $250,000 it spent in the first quarter of 2020.
- Another eyebrow-raising figure: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who enthusiastically fueled the lies that led to the Capitol insurrection, apparently poured more campaign funds into security than any other Republican in the first three months of this year to the tune of about $74,400.
Fox News Admits To Violating Human Rights
Fox News shelled out $1 million last week in a jaw-dropping settlement with New York City’s Commission on Human Rights, which slammed the network’s “pattern of violating the NYC Human Rights Law.”
- The “willful and wanton violations” of the law, in the commission’s words, included sexual harassment, retaliation, and discrimination.
- That $1 million payout is the largest settlement the agency has ever obtained in its history, according to the Daily Beast.
Canada Sets Its All-Time High Temp … For A Third Day In A Row
Lytton, BC Sunday: 46.6 C (116F)
Monday: 47.5 C (118F)
Tuesday: 49.6 C (121F)
Old record: 45 C (113F)
Another all-time Canada record today. Lytton, British Columbia, was 49.6°C (121°F) this afternoon. Here's a map of station in the U.S. and Canada that have ever been as warm as Lytton was today. pic.twitter.com/cdMTINz4m0
— Brian Brettschneider (@Climatologist49) June 29, 2021
Tuesday’s temperature was the highest ever recorded north of 45N anywhere on the planet.
One more WORLD record for #Lytton: Today with 49.6C it also set a new world record of the highest temperature ever recorded above 45N, beating the seemed unbeatable 121F/49.4C of Steele,ND of July 1936. @ScottDuncanWX @capitalweather @AlaskaWx
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) June 30, 2021
Happening Tomorrow
Biden is scheduled to visit the site of the Miami Beach condo collapse.
- The death toll is now 12. 149 people are still missing.
WTF Did I Just Watch?
?Update from Sioux Center!
@ChuckGrassley & @TomCottonAR doing 22 push ups in front of 200 passionate Iowans. Wow! pic.twitter.com/1NQL4ybs1C
— Jeff Kaufmann (@kaufmannGOP) June 30, 2021
Cool Story, Bro
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says he’d choose Biden if he had to pick any living Democratic president to be stuck on a desert island with because “I consider him a personal friend” and “a first-rate person.” Maybe the Republican leader would put only 99% of his “focus” on “stopping” Biden’s agenda instead of the full 100 if POTUS tried to build them a shelter.
What White Nonsense Is This?
Are you wondering if Critical Race Theory is being taught in your child's school? Stay on the lookout for some of CRT's less "buzzworthy" names and language ? #BanCRT pic.twitter.com/GtqkxMYtKc
— Texas Public Policy Foundation (@TPPF) June 29, 2021
How can we make Morning Memo better? Let us know.
