WTF Just Happened Today

Wednesday, July 6, 2022

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1/ Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone agreed to testify after receiving a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee. Cipollone will sit for a videotaped, transcribed interview behind closed doors on Friday. He is not expected to testify publicly. Former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s testified last month that Cipollone repeatedly tried to prevent Trump from encouraging his supporters to march to the Capitol on Jan. 6. Hutchinson also testified that Cipollone had warned in the days leading up to the attack that Trump and his aides could be charged with “every crime imaginable” if Trump joined protesters at the Capitol. The committee scheduled its seventh hearing for July 12 at 10 a.m. ET. House Republicans, meanwhile, threatened to subpoena unspecified records of the Jan. 6 committee in retaliation if the GOP retakes the majority next year. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / ABC News / Axios / Bloomberg / CNN)

2/ Lindsey Graham will challenge the subpoena from a special grand jury in Georgia investigating Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election in the state. In a statement, Graham’s attorneys said the subpoena for his testimony is “all politics” and that Graham “plans to go to court, challenge the subpoena, and expects to prevail.” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ special grand jury wants to hear from Graham because he allegedly made two calls to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff following the election “about reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump.” (NBC News / CNN)

3/ Biden planned to nominate an anti-abortion Republican to a lifetime appointment as a federal judge in Kentucky the day before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. In an email dated June 23, the White House informed Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s office that Chad Meredith was “to be nominated tomorrow” to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. The next day the Supreme Court overturned Roe, effectively banning abortion in Kentucky because of its trigger law. While Meredith’s nomination was never announced or submitted by the White House, there has been no indication it has been rescinded either. The nomination was reportedly part of a deal with Mitch McConnell to stop holding up Biden’s other judicial nominations. (Courier Journal /