Closing Summary
It is slightly past 4pm in Washington DC. Here is a wrap up of the day’s key events:
Supreme court justice Samuel Alito is facing questions for not declaring several gifts received from conservative billionaire Paul Singer, and for not recusing himself when Singer had cases presented before the court. The latest report questioning the ethics of supreme court justices came from ProPublica, which recently published several articles on the relationship between justice Clarence Thomas and Republican billionaire Harlan Crow.
The powerful governor of Saudi Arabia’s state-backed investment fund has been invited to testify before a Senate committee in the wake of a proposed merger between Saudi-backed LIV Tour and the PGA, raising the possibility the executive could be questioned under oath about issues ranging from the future of golf to the execution of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Yasir al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, was invited to testify on July 11 by the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations, whose chairman, Democratic senator Dick Blumenthal, is one of the toughest critics of Saudi on Capitol Hill.
A January 6 rioter who attacked a Capitol Hill police officer in the neck with a stun gun has been jailed for 12 years. Daniel “DJ” Rodriguez yelled, “Trump won!” as he was led out of the courtroom where the US district judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced him to 12 years and seven months behind bars for his role in the attack on Congress. Only two other January 6 defendants have received longer prison terms after hundreds of sentencings for Capitol riot cases.
Over a quarter of registered voters in the US have indicated that they will only vote for candidates who share the same beliefs as them on abortion. More than a quarter of registered US voters say they will only vote for candidates who share their beliefs on abortion, according to a poll released on Wednesday, a total (28%) one point higher than last year.
As the US marks one year since the end of Roe v Wade, the Democratic National Committee is launching a six-figure ad campaign to highlight the stakes of the 2024 elections. The campaign, which starts tomorrow, includes billboards and digital ads in battleground states like Georgia and Arizona, as well as marquee locations like Times Square in New York City.
Two senior senators have threatened to step up legislation on supreme court ethics reform following a report saying Samuel Alito had failed to declare a flight paid for by a conservative billionaire. Dick Durbin, chair of the Senate judiciary committee, and Sheldon Whitehouse, chair of the Senate judiciary subcommittee on federal courts, oversight, agency action, and federal rights, have announced a markup in the judiciary committee on ethics reform legislation surrounding the supreme court.
Colorado’s rightwing representative Lauren Boebert has introduced a resolution calling for the impeachment of Joe Biden. Boebert introduced the resolution as a privileged resolution which will in turn force the House to vote on the measure in two days.
The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against Amazon, accusing the company of knowingly enrolling millions of consumers into its Amazon Prime paid subscription without their consent. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Seattle, the FTC accused Amazon of using “manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user-interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically-renewing Prime subscriptions.”
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap up the blog for today. For the full story on Samuel Alito’s failure to disclose his luxury gifts, click here:
Thank you for following along.
Updated
The powerful governor of Saudi Arabia’s state-backed investment fund has been invited to testify before a Senate committee in the wake of a proposed merger between Saudi-backed LIV Tour and the PGA, raising the possibility the executive could be questioned under oath about issues ranging from the future of golf to the execution of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Yasir al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, was invited to testify on July 11 by the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations, whose chairman, Democratic senator Dick Blumenthal, is one of the toughest critics of Saudi on Capitol Hill.
Jay Monahan, the PGA commissioner, and LIV Golf League chief executive and commissioner Greg Norman, were also invited to testify.
The proposed merger of LIV Tour and PGA, which also involves the DP World Tour, has received a frosty reception on Capitol Hill, where it is facing questions not only from Blumenthal, but also the Senate finance committee. The call for Rumayyan to testify at a hearing, however, marks a new twist.
