| | | | |  | | By Charlie Mahtesian | With help from Myah Ward LATEST ON THE MAR-A-LAGO SEARCH — A search warrant newly unsealed today reveals that the FBI is investigating Donald Trump for a potential violation of the Espionage Act and removed classified documents from the former president's Florida estate earlier this week. A receipt accompanying the search warrant, viewed by POLITICO in advance of its unsealing, shows that Trump possessed documents including a handwritten note; documents marked with "TS/SCI," which indicates one of the highest levels of government classification; and another item labeled "Info re: President of France." Also among the items taken from Mar-a-Lago this week: An item labeled "Executive grant of clemency re: Roger Jason Stone, Jr.," a reference to one of Trump's closest confidants who received a pardon in late 2020. The warrant shows federal law enforcement was investigating Trump for removal or destruction of records, obstruction of justice and violating the Espionage Act — which can encompass crimes beyond spying, such as the refusal to return national security documents upon request. Conviction under the statutes can result in imprisonment or fines.
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John Fetterman campaigns from home in July. | Julian Routh/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP | OUT OF THE BASEMENT — It doesn't carry the fanfare of a Donald Trump rally, but one of the most important campaign events of the year is unfolding today — actually, it's taking place as Nightly goes to the presses. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee in one of the nation's most important Senate races — perhaps the most pivotal of all — is taking the stage in Erie, Pennsylvania, for his first major public appearance since May. That's when the 52-year-old lieutenant governor suffered a stroke that nearly killed him, taking him off the campaign trail just days before he won his Senate primary. Since then, the state of Fetterman's health — and his whereabouts — have been a hot topic in Pennsylvania, where Democrats are sweating bullets over his absence and Republicans have sought to portray him as an enfeebled character hiding his infirmities in the safety of a basement bunker. It's a similar line of attack as the one used against now-President Joe Biden in the 2020 campaign. Only in Fetterman's case, he was sidelined for close to two months after his stroke and didn't even attend any private events until July. In his first media interview late last month, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he struggled with his hearing sometimes, slurred words on occasion and was working with a speech therapist. Despite his physical struggles, Fetterman has managed to build a lead in the polls with campaign messaging that highlights his not-your-typical-politician style (he favors hoodies and shorts) and his focus on working class issues. In ads and on social media, he's disparaged his GOP opponent, celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, for being from New Jersey and having little connection to the state he's running in. For his part, Oz has zeroed in on Fetterman's absence from the campaign trai l and Republicans have painted him as a liberal extremist. The rally in blue-collar Erie — the county is often viewed as a Pennsylvania bellwether — will offer voters their first real glimpse of Fetterman's condition. Washington will be watching closely, too, since both parties recognize that control of the Senate could hinge on the outcome in Pennsylvania. The seat left vacant by the retirement of GOP Sen. Pat Toomey is arguably the Democrats' best opportunity to flip a Republican-held Senate seat — a Fetterman victory would go a long way toward keeping Democrats in power. But Fetterman's performance in Erie is worth watching for other reasons as well. If Fetterman wins in November against celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, the GOP nominee, he would be instantly elevated into a future presidential prospect by virtue of his victory in a big, industrial swing state. Fetterman would also ascend to a role as one of the nation's leading progressives, and his message would be looked to as a roadmap for progressives running in competitive states. Check back to POLITICO's home page later this evening, where national political reporter Holly Otterbein, who is at the event in Erie, will have an account of the rally. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight's author at cmahtesian@politico.com or on Twitter at @PoliticoCharlie.
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | — Dems send landmark climate, tax and health care bill to Biden's desk: Every House Democrat this evening gave final approval, along party lines, to a health care, climate and tax bill , delivering on a key campaign promise of Biden's presidency and capping more than a year of talks on the Hill. — Trump Org. can't shake Manhattan DA's criminal fraud case: The Trump Organization and former Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg couldn't shake the Manhattan District Attorney's bombshell fraud case today , as a New York judge nixed their bid to dismiss the case. Weisselberg and the Trump Organization wanted New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to toss a 15-count indictment variously alleging fraud, tax evasion, grand larceny and falsification of business records. They argued prosecutors improperly "targeted Trump's associates and companies for investigation and prosecution based on their animus toward his speech and political views," and that the DA provided insufficient evidence. Merchan dismissed just one fraud count against the Trump Organization. Now the case moves toward trial, with jury selection slated for Oct. 24.
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| — Author Salman Rushdie attacked on lecture stage in New York: Salman Rushdie, the author whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked today as he was about to give a lecture in western New York. An Associated Press reporter witnessed a man storm the stage at the Chautauqua Institution and begin punching or stabbing Rushdie as he was being introduced. The 75-year-old author was pushed or fell to the floor, and the man was restrained. — DeSantis' press secretary Christina Pushaw headed to his campaign operation: Gov. Ron DeSantis' press secretary Christina Pushaw, who during 15-months in that post transformed the governor's state messaging office into a hyper-partisan extension of his political efforts, is joining DeSantis' reelection campaign . Pushaw, who will serve as the campaign's rapid response director, has received national attention for her aggressive style that is unorthodox for a taxpayer-funded press secretary. She used the position to regularly pick public fights with reporters on social media, amplify right-wing media outlets and conservative personalities and attack individuals who oppose or challenge DeSantis.
| | | | INTRODUCING POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don't miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY. | | | | | | | | CLIMATE DELAYS — Here's a sneak peak at Oriana Pawlyk's story on how climate change has thrown the aviation industry into chaos, out Saturday morning: This summer's painful raft of flight delays and cancellations is just a glimpse of the future of air travel — thanks to climate change. The already-busy travel season has seen headlines about runways "melting" in the heat in the United Kingdom and an extreme downpour in Las Vegas that delayed flights as wind gusts reached 60 miles per hour, practically hurricane-force winds. These and other extreme climate events will only get worse, experts say — and without significant and costly upgrades to airports and airplanes, delays and cancellations will mount, too, forced by flooding, record-breaking heat, wildfires, freak storms, increased turbulence and more. "We're not ready," said Alice Hill, an Obama administration veteran who is now a senior fellow for climate change policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. "Virtually none of the infrastructure that we have today has been built to the conditions that we are currently seeing, much less those in the future."
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Evacuations out of Kabul last year. | Taylor Crul/U.S. Air Force via Getty Images | ESCAPE FROM KABUL — In the U.S. military, we have a code: Leave no one behind. As Kabul fell one year ago, an improvised personal network of veterans, journalists and activists rallied together to evacuate as many of our Afghan allies as possible and to honor that code. We made lists, we called in favors with old comrades, we even negotiated with the Taliban. Like so many involved in this effort, this dredged up conflicted memories from my past, sucking me back into a war I thought I'd left long ago, writes Elliot Ackerman in a book excerpt. No American war has ever ended the way that Afghanistan did, in which those who were being abandoned could communicate directly with the outside world on WhatsApp, Signal and other platforms. The result was not only what's been called a "Digital Dunkirk" but also a strange collapse of distance, in which I could be on summer holiday with my family while simultaneously helping an Afghan family navigate the Marine checkpoints at Kabul airport on my phone. I soon found myself back in touch with old comrades, like Chris Richardella, the lieutenant colonel who commanded the Marines at Kabul airport's North Gate as well as a contingent at the Abbey Gate, where a suicide bomber would kill 13 U.S. servicemembers and 170 Afghans on August 26, 2021. I was also in contact with Ian, a former CIA officer, as well as strangers who needed help to evacuate an interpreter named Shah and his pregnant wife Forozan. Did we fulfill our obligations to the Afghans? Perhaps the answer to the question lies in the specifics of what happened a year ago. Read the full story here.
| | | | | About 20 hours The amount of time it took Fox News host Brian Kilmeade to clarify that he had used a photoshopped image depicting Judge Bruce Reinhart, who signed off on the Mar-a-Lago search warrant, with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell on air. | | | | | ALL ROADS LEAD TO TEXAS — Thousands of women gathered in person and virtually today in Houston, Texas, to kick off this weekend's 2022 Women's Conference, writes Nightly's Myah Ward. It's the first post-Roe political organizing convention ahead of the midterm elections, featuring dozens of sponsors and partners ranging from EMILY's List to Black Feminist Future to National Women's Law Center. Those groups will hold a series of training sessions for attendees, on topics such as how to organize politically, how to run for office and how to change the narrative on reproductive rights. The conference was designed around the necessity of organizing women as a political voting bloc, Rachel O'Leary Carmona, executive director of the Women's March, the group running the convention, told Nightly. And there's a reason their chosen gathering place is Texas, she said. It's symbolic of the oversized role the state has long played in U.S. politics and continues to play. When choosing the location earlier this year, organizers were thinking about S.B. 8, the Texas law that allowed private citizens to sue to uphold an abortion ban after six weeks of pregnancy. But, Carmona said, Texas is the political epicenter for a multitude of issues. "Whether you're talking about attacks on reproductive justice, attacks on voting rights, progressive policies on immigrants or trans people or anything, even climate," Carmona said. "This is kind of ground zero." There's also a historical reason for the gathering place. In 1977, the first National Women's Convention convened in Houston. It was a congressional-funded event, bringing together women to voice their ideas for the future of government. It came at a time when the women's movement had seen back-to-back victories — from Title IX to Roe v. Wade. But that decade of progress also sparked a counter response. In 1972, Phyllis Schlafly launched a movement aimed at maintaining women's roles as housemakers, fighting against reproductive rights and limiting government social programs like welfare. The two sides clashed in Houston half-century ago. While the National Women's Conference was taking off, Schlafly led a counter-rally five miles away with 15,000 other "pro-family" supporters. "The fight's in Texas," Carmona said. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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