A leaked memo from a group backing Gov. Ron DeSantis‘s White House bid suggests the Florida governor defend former PresidentTrump at the first GOP debate and instead attack his lesser-known rivals.
Never Back Down, a super PAC supporting DeSantis for president, suggested in a leaked memo the governor should criticize Vivek Ramaswamy and defend former President Trump from attacks from former New JerseyGov. Chris Christie at the first GOP debate next week.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) was also mentioned several times in strategy documents posted along with the memo, which was first reported on by The New York Times.
“They have to worry about [the] rest of the field catching up preparing for [the] long haul in case something happens to Trump,” a Republican strategist told The Hill. “And the memo for the debate basically makes that point.”
The memo reportedly suggests the following line if Christie attacks Trump: “Trump isn’t here, so let’s just leave him alone. He’s too weak to defend himself here. We’re all running against him. I don’t think we want to join forces with someone on this stage who’s auditioning for a show on MSNBC.”
It also suggests DeSantis call Ramaswamy “Fake Vivek” or “Vivek the Fake.”
The pro-Christie super PAC Tell It Like It Is then released a memo proposing Christie’s strategy, stating only, “Be yourself, and Tell It Like It Is.”
The Never Back Down memo appeared on, and was subsequently removed from, Axiom Strategies‘s website.
The Hill’s Julia Manchester noted that “it is not unusual for PACs to telegraph strategy in memos given that they are legally not allowed to coordinate directly with political campaigns…However, it is unusual that the trove of [debate strategy] documents was publicly posted to the firm working for the PAC.”
It’s still unclear whether Trump will be at the Aug. 23 debate.
President Biden‘s reelection campaign is launching a media blitz— and its third major media buy — during the first GOP presidential primary debate next Wednesday, while the Democratic National Committee is launching a billboard campaign across Milwaukee, the debate’s location.
The State Departmentsent hundreds of documents related to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan to congressional leaders Thursday amid the House Foreign Affairs Committee‘s investigation of the matter.
At The Hill’s “The Truth Is Out There: UFOs & National Security” event Thursday afternoon, lawmakers and experts discussed national security risks associated with unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) such as UFOs. A snippet:
“Well, I’m a big Star Wars fan,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) quipped when The Hill’s congressional reporter Mychael Schnell asked how the freshman representative came to be one of the leading voices on UAPs in Congress. Moskowitz went on to explain he didn’t foresee working on the issue, but “the government gave us reasons to work on it.”
Two updates from House GOP investigations this afternoon:
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) asked the National Archives and Records Administration to provide unredacted documents and communications from President Biden’s time as vice president as the committee probes his son Hunter Biden‘s business dealings. Read more on Comer’s request here.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) subpoenaed FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland for communications with social media companies as part of the panel’s investigation into content moderation online. Read more on the subpoenas here.
TECH
Senators call for FTC probe of YouTube over use of kids’ data
Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) want the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate YouTube after a report from Adalytics said the platform appeared to set “long-lasting cookies” for ad targeting on browsers of those who viewed videos labeled “for kids.”
YouTube said the report “draws uninformed conclusions based solely on the presence of cookies, which are widely used in these contexts for the purposes of fraud detection and frequency capping[.]” The company reached a settlement with the FTC in 2019 over allegations of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. Read more here.
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New York Cityis banningTikTok from government devices, citing data protection and security. The city joins the federal government and several states in implementing such a ban. The Chinese-owned platform has maintained that it is not subject to data requests from the Chinese government.
1 in 3 back Biden’s handling of economy: poll
A new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey found 36 percent of Americans approve of President Biden‘s handling of the economy, including 65 percent of Democrats and 8 percent of Republicans.
The poll follows months of the “Investing in America” tour, in which the White House has sought to drive home concrete effects of legislation Biden signed, as well as weeks of events on the theme of “Bidenomics.”
Tropical storm may hit California in coming days
Hilary, upgraded to a hurricane on Thursday, could be the first tropical storm to affect Californiain 84 years.“While Hilary is likely to weaken as it travels northward, it could bring heavy rainfall to the Southwestern United States along with large swells and high surf along the coast,” The Hill’s Lauren Sforza wrote. Learn more here.
“Biden’s ‘concerns’ about Israel don’t match voters’ concerns about injustice” — Phyllis Bennis, a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies who serves as the international adviser for Jewish Voice for Peace. (Read here)
“Trump’s special treatment in the courts highlights failings in our legal system” — Russell Gold, an associate professor at the University of Alabama School of Law, and Chris Robertson, a professor of law at Boston University School of Law. (Read here)
⏲️ COUNTDOWN
6 days until the first GOP presidential primary debate.
446 days until the presidential election.
🗓 ON TAP TOMORROW
President Joe Biden, President Yoon Suk Yeol of the Republic of Korea and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan participate in a trilateral meeting at Camp David.
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