By Kurt Heine
TRUMP: HOT WATER RISES Allen Weisselberg, the top Trump Organization executive not named Trump, now knows the price of loyalty to the former president: He was led into court in handcuffs to face charges of conspiracy, grand larceny, criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records. The indictments of Donald Trump’s company and finance chief in a long-running tax fraud are the first shoe to drop in what looks like a determined investigation. There’s a lot more legal trouble dogging Trump. And his “poor-me” witch-hunt defense may not work on a jury. [HuffPost]
SEARCH RESUMES FOR CONDO COLLAPSE SURVIVORS The hunt for almost 150 people missing in the collapsed Florida condo resumed today after a pause as the shifting pile threatened responders. President Joe Biden consoled those awaiting word. Lawyers are marching in. Feds, Florida promised probes. “Run,” a resident who watched a growing crack in her condo told herself. [AP]
DOUBLE BLOW TO FAIR ELECTIONS: SUPREME COURT ALLOWS VOTING RESTRICTIONS, CAMPAIGN DONOR SECRECY The high court ruled in favor of Arizona voting restrictions that discriminate against nonwhite voters, and ordered California to stop collecting the names of dark money political donors. Justice Elena Kagan’s minority opinion in the Arizona case lashed at the GOP’s continuing “efforts to suppress the minority vote.” [HuffPost]
LIZ CHENEY JOINS RIOT COMMITTEE, DEFYING MCCARTHY Rep. Liz Cheney was named by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the new House select committee investigating the Capitol riot. The appointment, an insult to insurrection-denying Republicans, sets up a fresh clash with House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, who reportedly threatened to strip Republicans cooperating with the investigation of their committee assignments. [HuffPost]
MERRICK GARLAND HALTS FEDERAL EXECUTIONS The attorney general said the arbitrariness of capitol punishment, the disparate impact on people of color and “the troubling number” of death row exonerations led him to order a moratorium. [HuffPost]
REPUBLICANS STILL DON’T GET FACE MASKS A Fox Business contributor’s comment that she’ll keep wearing a face mask on airliners brought shock and ridicule. An anti-mask GOP member of Congress was caught on video flouting mask rules aboard a flight to a Trump border stunt. [HuffPost]
HOW BILL COSBY WON The Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision to free the sex monster is a train wreck of mumbo-jumbo that has nothing to do with his criminal acts. But it’s probably correct. Journalist Nicole Weisensee Egan, who wrote the book on Cosby, spotlights the power-hungry Trump impeachment lawyer whose bungling led to the injustice. [AP]
IGGY AZALEA FINALLY SPEAKS OUT ON BRITNEY After years of silence in the face of the growing #FreeBritney movement, former collaborator Iggy Azalea finally spoke up, saying she’s seen the same kind of abusive behavior from Jamie Spears that Britney described in court. “She is not exaggerating or lying,” Azalea wrote. Meanwhile, a trust company involved in the conservatorship wants out, citing “changed circumstances.” [HuffPost]
EXXON LOBBYIST REVEALS WHY THE OIL GIANT BACKS A CARBON TAX At first glance, Exxon Mobil’s support for a carbon tax on CO2 emissions seems at odds with Big Oil moneymaking. A company lobbyist was caught on video explaining, “Nobody is going to propose a tax on all Americans … But it gives us a talking point.” The same lobbyist bragged about access to Sen. Joe Manchin. [HuffPost]
DEMS CAN’T FIGURE OUT WHAT TO CALL THE MONEY THEY’RE GIVING TO PARENTS The $300 per child monthly checks that have begun flowing to parents are about to become a key feature for American families. But Democrats have no idea what to call the life-changing money, Tara Golshan and Kevin Robillard explain. [HuffPost]
CHILD CARE IS A DEAL BREAKER, ELIZABETH WARREN SAYS The influential progressive demanded that child care aid be included in the large economic package Democrats hope to pass this year. “Child care has to be in an infrastructure package,” she told HuffPost, setting a clear political marker. [HuffPost]
TOWN WRITHING IN HEAT DOME BURNS TO THE GROUND The 1,000 residents of Lytton, British Columbia, scattered with just a few minutes’ warning after a wildfire overcame the town and burned everything to the ground. Some residents are still missing. Lytton set a temperature record of 121 degrees the previous day. [AP]