New allegations throw department into turmoil

[link removed]
An alert from the FBI puts to bed the hope that QAnon might be fading, as some analysts had optimistically suggested. The conspiracy theory did lose some adherents, who disengaged when predictions failed to materialize and content was removed from social media sites. But others remain frustrated and angry, and officials warn they could be compelled to take matters into their own hands by "engaging in real-world violence—including harming perceived members of the 'cabal,' such as Democrats and other political opposition." It's probably fair to say that most of us didn't anticipate the rise and exponential growth of such a group just a few short years ago. Its endurance is attributable to the power of technology, a loss of faith in institutions, and other factors. But at the end of the day, one person could help quell at least some of the danger that QAnon and other extremist groups pose to the country. The fact that a former president would choose not to defuse but to exacerbate these
threats—or that we're in this sorry position at all—is beyond appalling. Looking for sanity? Please join with other Americans next week for a national town hall ([link removed]) on renewing America and restoring principles, mutual respect, and common sense. The challenges we face are great, but there is hope. —Melissa Amour, Managing Editor

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** What really happened at the DOJ?
------------------------------------------------------------

House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler aims to find out. His committee will investigate the seizure of phone data from Democratic lawmakers, their staffers and family members, as well as journalists and others, by the Justice Department during the Trump Administration. Reports emerged last week that the DOJ issued secret subpoenas for the data in early 2018. The DOJ inspector general also has opened an inquiry, but does not have the authority to subpoena witnesses. The House panel can compel testimony from Trump-era Attorneys General Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr, who, along with their former deputy, Rod Rosenstein, have denied any knowledge of the data seizure. —Insider ([link removed])
* — The Senate demands names. The Senate Judiciary Committee kicked off its own investigation into the subpoenas yesterday by requesting that the DOJ turn over reams of documents related to the matter, as well as the department's formal justification for targeting two House Democrats. In a letter sent to current Attorney General Merrick Garland, the panel asked Garland to name names by listing the officials responsible for initiating the subpoenas. —The Hill ([link removed])
*
* — Under pressure. In the meantime, Garland announced yesterday that the DOJ will tighten its rules around obtaining records from members of Congress. "Consistent with our commitment to the rule of law, we must ensure that full weight is accorded to separation-of-powers concerns moving forward," he said in a statement. —ABC News ([link removed])
*
* — In other DOJ news... Former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen may have been the most dependable of the bunch. He served at the tail end of the Trump Administration, after the resignation of Barr. A trove of DOJ emails released by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee details a series of last-ditch efforts by Trump aides to get DOJ lawyers and the FBI to investigate outlandish election fraud claims in the waning weeks of Trump's presidency. DOJ officials derisively dismissed the requests, and Rosen recorded the events in writing for posterity—and the very kinds of investigations congressional committees are now pursuing. Good thinking. —Politico ([link removed])

MORE: Zachary Wolf: The scandal over Trump's leak investigations keeps getting worse —CNN ([link removed])


** Kara-Murza: What Biden can achieve at the summit
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"Biden is unlikely to return from Geneva with any substantive agreements. But, just as his predecessors, he can make real change for those unjustly imprisoned by the Kremlin with his personal advocacy. 'Giving freedom to a human being is a gift of great wonderment,' Secretary of State George Shultz wrote to Reagan after he negotiated for a group of religious dissenters to leave the Soviet Union in 1983. This gift is now within Biden's power." —Vladimir Kara-Murza in ([link removed]) The Washington Post ([link removed])

Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian pro-democracy activist, politician, author, and filmmaker, chairs the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom.

MORE: NSA whistleblower Reality Winner released from prison —The Guardian ([link removed])


** Mitch is at it again
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell confirmed yesterday that if he becomes majority leader again, it would be "highly unlikely" that he'd allow President Biden to fill a Supreme Court seat if one became vacant in 2024, and possibly even in 2023. His reasoning? "The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president," according to McConnell. So why did he swiftly fill the seat vacated by the death of former Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just weeks ahead of the 2020 election? "What was different in 2020 was we were of the same party as the president," he said. Okey dokey. —Insider ([link removed])

MORE: Supreme Court declines to take up challenge to California electoral vote process —CNN ([link removed])


** 600,000 lives lost to Covid
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The number of Americans who have died from COVID-19 eclipsed 600,000 today, a sobering reminder that hundreds of Americans are still dying each day even as the nation eases its pandemic restrictions. Thanks to vaccines, the average number of daily cases and deaths has plummeted by over 90% in the U.S. since the country's viral peak in January. Approximately 52.5% of the total U.S. population is now at least partially vaccinated. But public health experts warn that the Delta variant, first identified in India, is on the rise in the U.S., accounting for about 10% of new cases. The Delta variant is more transmissible and can cause more severe illness, so it is particularly dangerous to the unvaccinated. —ABC News ([link removed])

MORE: Virtually all hospitalized Covid patients have one thing in common: They're unvaccinated —NBC News ([link removed])
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** Landau: Populism proves tough to part with
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"Israel said no to authoritarianism, but the danger of populism remains. Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid may have replaced the Netanyahu government, but in many ways, they are still caught in the confines of the discourse that he shaped. This is a discourse in which there is a constant need to prove patriotism by means of right-wing positions that supposedly represent 'the people,' and whoever doesn't hold these positions, like the left and Arab citizens, is a traitor, or at the very least, illegitimate." —Noa Landau in ([link removed]) Haaretz ([link removed])

Noa Landau is a reporter and a member of the editorial board at
Haaretz.

MORE: Biden, on a global stage, has harsh words on Trump —The New York Times ([link removed])


** Focus on domestic terror
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The White House today unveiled a cross-agency strategy to combat domestic terrorism, the culmination of a review, led by the National Security Council, of how the U.S. government has dealt with the growing threat. The review found that militia extremists and racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists—predominantly white supremacists—are the most lethal and persistent terrorism threat currently facing the U.S. "Further, this found that violent extremists who promote the superiority of the white race have the most persistent transnational connections, and maybe have frequent contact with violent extremists abroad," a senior administration official said. —Politico ([link removed])
* — "We are on the move." Six domestic terrorists, four of whom are members of Three Percenter militias, were arrested yesterday for crimes related to the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6. Through the late fall and early winter of 2020, the defendants communicated with each other to plan and coordinate their efforts, obtaining various weapons and tactical gear, including knives, hatchets, stun batons, and bear spray, which they brought with them to Washington, D.C. A "normal tourist visit" indeed. —Homeland Security Today ([link removed])
*
* — "They're in it to completely crumble our republic." There is no shortage of job openings for local election officials in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin right now. After withstanding threats and intimidation from extremists and conspiracy theorists during the presidential election and its aftermath—and now, in some states, facing the potential of being penalized for simply doing their job—many officials are quitting or retiring early. And a growing concern is that the very extremists and conspiracy theorists pushing them out will look to fill the positions. —Fox News Detroit ([link removed])
*
* — "Putin is more of an ally than Biden." If there's any question as to where the insurrectionists get their talking points, this should settle it. Ahead of President Biden's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, Richard Barnett—a self-described white nationalist who was photographed with his feet on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's desk on Jan. 6—appeared on Russian state TV with his lawyer on Sunday. Barnett was introduced as "an American patriot" who protested against "the stolen election." The glorification of the insurrectionists is one of several tactics the Kremlin is using in an attempt to disparage the U.S. and demoralize Biden in the lead-up to the summit. Some patriot. —The Daily Beast ([link removed])

MORE: Acting Capitol Police chief declines to testify at Jan. 6 hearing —Politico ([link removed])


** Gerson: Which nightmare is closer to reality?
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"In comparing the right's fear of extreme critical race theory and the left's fear of fascism, it is not really useful to ask which horror would be worse if implemented. Both ideologies are ultimately at war with liberal democracy—the pursuit of a common good, the practice of incremental reform, the cultivation of social trust, and the acceptance of democratic outcomes. But it is crucial to ask which nightmare is currently most likely to be implemented. And here there is no question." —Michael Gerson in ([link removed]) The Washington Post ([link removed])

Michael Gerson is a columnist at
The Washington Post who formerly served as a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and as the chief speechwriter for former President George W. Bush.

MORE: Some QAnon followers could react with violence as conspiracy theory fails to materialize —Newsweek ([link removed])

The GOP members of Congress who are so eager to introduce unpassable bills to "Fire Fauci" should instead devote their energies into looking into why more than 80 million Americans voted to "Fire Trump." —Jim V., New York
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** The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.
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Got feedback about THE TOPLINE? Send it to Melissa Amour, Managing Editor, at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .
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