The Daily 202: Mueller may release multiple reports on Trump, obstruction and Russian interference
NRA CANDIDATE LOST!
Judge Rebecca Dallet greets supporters at her victory party last night at Good City Brewing in Milwaukee. (Rick Wood/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel/AP)
-- Another big wake-up call for Republicans: Liberal judge Rebecca Dallet won a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, defeating Michael Screnock by 11 points. “Both candidates and their supporters turned the race, which is technically nonpartisan, into a political referendum,” Dave Weigel reports. “Dallet ran early ads that accused President Trump of ‘attack[ing] our civil rights and our values,’ while Screnock portrayed himself as a ‘rule of law’ conservative endorsed by the National Rifle Association. By election day, more than $2.5 million had been spent on TV ads.” Democrats had not won an open Supreme Court seat election in the Badger State since 1995.
Her win is more proof that Democrats are riled up: Remember, Democrats won a shocking upset in January in a special election for a Wisconsin state House seat. Trump had carried the district by 17 points in 2016, which was key to his narrow statewide victory.
-- More bad headlines: Pruitt used an obscure water-safety provision to hire at least two former lobbyists. (he used the same provision to circumvent the White House and offer raises to two close aides.) Dino Grandoni reports: “[E]thics experts say hiring lobbyists through the provision breaks with some of Trump’s ethics rules, even if it’s not technically illegal. As part of his commitment to ‘drain the swamp’ in Washington, one of the first things Trump signed after his inauguration was a far-reaching ethics directive, requiring those who join the government to sign an ethics pledge. Under the pledge, former lobbyists are banned for two years from working on any issue on which they lobbied. But EPA employees hired through the water-safety law do not have to sign the ethics pledge.”
-- Pruitt brushed aside the controversies in an interview with the Washington Examiner, blaming the fallout on Washington’s “toxic” culture. “There are people that have long in this town done business a different way and this agency has been the poster child of it. And so do I think that because we are leading on this agenda that there are some who want to keep that from happening? Absolutely. And do I think that they will resort to anything to achieve that? Yes,” Pruitt said. “It’s toxic here in that regard.”
-- The EPA tried to limit press access to Pruitt’s news conference about his decision to rollback Obama-era fuel efficiency standards. CNN’s Clare Foran reports: “[M]ost reporters who cover the agency weren't in the room, and cameras were nearly non-existent. … EPA had attempted to allow television camera access to Fox News without informing the other four networks: CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS. Fox alerted the networks and a pool was established allowing networks equal access to the event. … [Pruitt] did not address the controversy or take any questions from reporters."
IF THIS MAKES YOU OUTRAGED, MAKE A CONTRIBUTION TO ONE OF THE ORGANIZATIONS FIGHTING THIS EGREGIOUS ADMINISTRATION. MAKE IT IN RYAN ZINKE'S NAME.
-- A longtime opponent of the Endangered Species Act was selected to help oversee the Interior Department’s wildlife policy. From Darryl Fears: “Susan Combs, a former Texas state official[,] … compared proposed endangered species listings to ‘incoming Scud missiles’ and continued to fight the Endangered Species Act after she left government … Combs was selected by Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke as acting secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. Zinke made the move after his bid to make her an assistant secretary for policy, management and budget stalled in the Senate.”
-- Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), who is challenging Sen. Ted Cruz, raised a remarkable $6.7 million last quarter. The Texas Tribune’s Patrick Svitek reports: “Cruz has not released his first-quarter fundraising numbers yet, but O'Rourke's $6.7 million total is on a different level than his previous hauls, which ranged from $1.7 million to $2.4 million. Those alone were good enough to outraise Cruz for three of the last four reporting periods. Furthermore, the $6.7 million total came from more than 141,000 contributions — another record-busting number for O'Rourke. … O'Rourke said about 70 percent of his first-quarter haul was raised within Texas and that the average donation was ‘a little over $40.’”
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