This week, we looked at Liz Cheney's future, fallout from the Mar-a-Lago search and President Biden's big bill signing.
The Big Picture:
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Liz Cheney has her sights set on Donald Trump. The Wyoming congresswoman may have badly lost her bid for reelection this past week, but she is making it her mission to ensure Trump is never president again.
Cheney is taking several steps:
After her loss, she immediately formed a political action committee called The Great Task.
As the vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee, she is continuing hearings this fall with the aim of continuing to expose Trump’s conduct that day.
And she said she’s “thinking about” running for president.
That last point is flashy and has a lot of people weighing her odds. Cheney knows she has little to no chance of winning a GOP primary. She’s unpopular with Republicans after crossing Trump, but becoming president herself is hardly the point.
She wants to wreak as much havoc for Trump as possible, and even though she won’t be heading back to Congress, she’s aiming to stay a pervasive thorn in Trump’s side.
Because, after all, Cheney said on NBC, “I will do whatever it takes to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office.”
Biden signs IRA: President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law this week. The Democratic legislation contains hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending on climate and health care, as well as measures to lower the federal deficit. The bill is the latest in a string of legislative accomplishments that Democrats hope to capitalize on ahead of November's midterm elections.
Pence on Jan. 6 committee: Former Vice President Mike Pence said he would consider an invitation to appear before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. Pence added that it was unprecedented for a vice president to testify on Capitol Hill — though there is precedent for a sitting vice president, as well as several former presidents, appearing before House and Senate committees.
Mar-a-Lago affidavit: A judge in Florida ordered the Justice Department to provide a redacted copy of the affidavit used to search former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. DOJ lawyers had argued against release of any of the affidavit due to the early nature of the investigation and the volatile situation FBI agents have faced since the search.
Jill Biden has COVID: First lady Jill Biden tested positive for COVID-19 this week. The White House said she was experiencing mild symptoms and would be treated with a course of the antiviral Paxlovid.
NBA on Election Day: In an effort to increase voter turnout, the NBA announced the league won’t hold any games on Nov. 8 — Election Day for the 2022 midterms. The NBA says over the next few months, teams will provide information on their state's voting process and voter registration deadlines in order to help fans make a plan to vote.
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One year ago this August, the Taliban raised their white flag over Afghanistan's capital for the second time, pulling down the tricolor flag of the republic that had endured for the two decades between.
The self-proclaimed Islamic emirate now controls government compounds, universities and other institutions surrounded by blast walls — concrete structures once built to keep out the Taliban, along with bombers from other extremist groups.
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