Welcome back to $4. $4. Send tips to bgriffiths@insider.com or tweet me at $4.
- Programming note: I'm out on Monday as we observe the Fourth, but we'll be back Tuesday.
Here's what we're talking about:
One thing to watch for: The Labor Department publishes June's jobs report at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. President Joe Biden is planning to speak about it at 10:15 a.m. ET.
1. IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY: Former President Donald Trump's lack of a social-media megaphone and continuing legal cloud over his namesake company have begun to thaw the freeze he's cast over the 2024 Republican presidential field. My colleague Tom LoBianco $4.
Here are some of the highlights:
- Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to rule the roost (No. 2): The Floridian edged out Trump in a nonscientific straw poll at the Western Conservative Summit last week, a minor victory that raised eyebrows. One of the few downsides his detractors can muster is that he's peaking too early.
- Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota is sinking (Slipping two spots to No. 9): "Noem's stock cratered when she vetoed the women's sports bill," one Republican strategist said. "Conservatives think she caved to the chamber of commerce, to the NCAA, to Amazon."
- Don't count out Ted Cruz (No. 5): The Texas senator may still be the butt of Cancún jokes for some, but GOP strategists say he has the luxury of playing it more cool than the first-time presidential hopefuls thanks to the massive organization he built during his 2016 run.
Legal troubles or not, Trump is still in command ... for now: "Political parties only shift when they lose, and the GOP is not convinced yet that Trump is bad for winning elections," said Michael Cohen, a Republican pollster. This means 2022 may loom far larger than any legal clouds.
2. Trump and his allies brand New York investigation 'witch hunt': Running the same strategy suffers from one potentially fatal flaw, however: Trump is no longer president. He and his allies are still hoping they can win the PR battle even with the former president deprived of the bully pulpit and his Twitter account. $4.
- More reaction: $4 one former Trump White House official said.
- Thursday's indictments barely registered at Trump's once glorious haunt: The less than two dozen people gathered at Trump's Washington, DC, hotel were more interested in mapping out sightseeing, sipping Champagne, and even celebrating a birthday than the breaking news. $4.
Someone clearly didn't watch 'The Wire': New York prosecutors' indictments of the Trump Organization and CFO Allen Weisselberg cite company documents that listed certain payments to Weisselberg as "Holiday Entertainment" in official records and then in a different place listed the money as part of Weisselberg's compensation. $4.
3. Supreme Court dealt another blow to voting rights: $4 in a pair of key cases over whether the laws violated one of the surviving sections of the Voting Rights Act. A leading expert on voting rights, who has been sharply critical of Republican-led efforts across the country to expand voting restrictions, told NPR that the ruling $4.
- The door to massive changes in campaign finance may also be open: The court also voted 6-3 to strike down a California law that required charities to privately disclose top donors, The Washington Post reports. Nonprofits across the political spectrum questioned the law, citing fears over the prospect of leaks, but Chief Justice John Roberts' ruling is viewed by some, including the court's liberal justices, as $4.
4. Rescue work resumed at Florida condo site: Rescue efforts stalled for 15 hours over concerns for the stability of the remaining structure of the Surfside condominium that partially collapsed, the Miami Herald reports. $4.
- Biden says survivors and victims' families 'are going through hell': Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden, traveled to Florida to see the site of the collapse and to meet with families. $4
5. Federal executions are temporarily halted: Attorney General Merrick Garland ordered the Department of Justice to pause federal executions after the Trump administration made historic use of capital punishment by carrying out 13 executions in just six months, the Associated Press reports. $4.
6. A major milestone in the US withdrawal from Afghanistan: American forces have left Bagram Airfield, once the center of the US war effort in Afghanistan, officials said. $4.
7. CDC director says vaccinated don't need to wear masks despite variant: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, says fully vaccinated Americans are "safe" from all coronavirus variants identified so far in the US and don't need to wear masks. The World Health Organization sparked confusion when it recommended that even vaccinated people revert to social distancing and mask-wearing to stem the spread of the Delta variant. $4.
8. Rep. Liz Cheney is lone Republican on Capitol-riot panel: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi named Cheney as one of her appointments to the newly created select committee tasked with investigating the January 6 insurrection. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has reportedly threatened to strip any Republicans who join the panel of their other committee assignments. McCarthy questioned whether Cheney, who was ousted from GOP leadership over her criticism of Trump in connection to the riot, $4
- "Who gives a s---?" Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who was also under consideration to join the panel, said of McCarthy's threat.
9. Hundreds are thought to be dead amid heat wave: The death toll in Oregon alone is 79, the Associated Press reports. Many were found alone in homes without air conditioning or fans as triple-digit temperatures blanketed the Pacific Northwest. $4.
10. There's a bipartisan push in Washington to #FreeBritney: Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bob Casey are pressing for more federal oversight over conservatorship after Britney Spears' emotional testimony last week describing her past 13 years under a conservatorship, Time magazine reports. $4.
- Rep. Matt Gaetz wants Spears to testify: The Florida Republican joined three other GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, in writing to Spears that she had "been mistreated by America's legal system" and that if she would "$4."
Today's trivia question: Which founding father was dead certain that we would all celebrate July 2 for years to come? Email your guess and a suggested question to me at bgriffiths@insider.com.
- Yesterday's answer: Teddy Roosevelt's role in trying to clean up college football $4.
That's all! Have a healthy and happy holiday weekend.