A supreme court ruling today has blocked the termination of a court-admitted unconstitutional executive action known as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals).  The background of the DACA controversy, and the prior position of the court on the sister program DAPA, makes this ruling the most political ruling yet by Chief Justice John Roberts.  [pdf link to ruling here]

The court decision was a 5-4 ruling.  Justice Roberts sided with the four liberal justices in blocking the termination of the executive program.  What makes this ruling outrageous is within the majority opinion of the court they recognize the Trump administration has the legal and constitutional authority to terminate the program; but the court, specifically John Roberts, doesn’t like the way in which the administration might do it.

The crux of Justice Roberts’ opinion is openly political.  The majority admit there is no constitutional protection for DACA recipients, and the Trump administration has the authority to dissolve and reverse the protections under the previous executive action; however, Roberts specifically cites his concern with deportation.

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This afternoon President Trump is holding a roundtable with governors on the reopening of America’s small businesses. The anticipated start time is 3:00pm ET.

UPDATE: Video Added

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President Donald Trump calls-in to the Sean Hannity television show to discuss current events including police reform, the coronavirus pandemic, and his re-election campaign.

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In 2018/2019 the roadmap to impeach President Trump was clear; many denied its visibility until it was almost too late.  In the past week several moves within DC present a roadmap to impeach AG Bill Barr.  Could this be the DC defense against USAO John Durham’s findings surrounding the DC soft-coup effort?  You decide.

♦On Monday House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler announced that two former Special Counsel Robert Mueller attorneys, John W. Elias and Aaron S.J. Zelinsky  would be designated as “whistleblowers” to give testimony against AG Bill Barr. (LINK)

♦On Tuesday, the last remaining DOJ advisor to Jeff Sessions, Jody Hunt, announced his intent to leave the justice dept. (LINK) Hunt was Jeff Session’s chief-of-staff, and one of the key advisors responsible for the decision to recuse from the Mueller probe. (LINK)

♦And now today the DOJ is announcing that Solicitor General Noel Francisco will be  departing: “Solicitor General of the United States Noel Francisco announces his departure from the Department of Justice, effective as of July 3, 2020.” (LINK)

With those final two departures there’s no longer any Main Justice leadership in position from the era of Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein.  Seems like quite a coincidence.

Apparently excerpts from former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s dossier have been released to the media.  The Bolton dossier makes some of the most outlandish claims imaginable; and only the most incredibly silly media would ever believe them.  So yeah, that’s exactly what’s happening.

One example within the Bolton Dossier comes from John Bolton himself as he wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal.  Before citing the Bolton article it’s worth remembering CTH was following every detail of the Osaka G20 meeting closely. We took notes on every background and foreground contact and meeting, because the U.S-China Osaka meeting was at a very critical juncture.   [My favorite picture from Osaka, Japan]

Bolton puts this goofball framework to the Osaka, Japan, G20:

(Wall Street Journal) […] In their meeting in Osaka on June 29, Xi told Trump that the U.S.-China relationship was the most important in the world. He said that some (unnamed) American political figures were making erroneous judgments by calling for a new cold war with China.

Whether Xi meant to finger the Democrats or some of us sitting on the U.S. side of the table, I don’t know, but Trump immediately assumed that Xi meant the Democrats.

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Timing is everything…

When NBC published their background conversation with Google yesterday the media outlet made a big legal mistake.  NBC not only outlined the mechanics of a racketeering and antitrust violation, via Google’s power to control on-line ad revenue as a weapon to target NBC’s competition, but NBC outlined the actual collaborative communication.

NBC did the worst thing possible, they published the quotes from Google’s response to them where Google willingly accepted the request from NBC without pause.  The collusion was not only clear, it was self admitted.  What made the issue more explosive was the NBC article explained the motives of both organizations; the targeting was intentional and specific.  The goal was to take-down The Federalist news outlet by removing their revenue. There was no ambiguity of purpose, and Google knowingly agreed with the intent.

Within hours of realizing the consequences of the publication, the legal offices of NBC and Google both activated and attempted damage control.  The NBC article was completely rewritten and the communication between them and Google –as quoted– was removed.  For its part Google published a statement saying no action had been taken, and later they professed no action would be taken.  However, the damage was already done.

NBC’s hubris put both Google and NBC in the sunlight of their own admissions.

Google’s monopoly control of internet ad revenue made their agreement with NBC to target a competitor a transparent, and admitted, antitrust violation.  Without question, that stark admission is what triggered the timing of the DOJ public statement today.

The DOJ needs congress to take action, modify the law, and update the outdated immunity for online platforms under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996.

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Earlier today White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany held a press briefing with the press pool. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – MS. MCENANY: Good afternoon, everyone. Great to join you today. So, five years ago today, nine innocent parishioners of a historically black church were killed during an evening Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina. We all remember that tragedy, and this was a despicable act of evil that happened five years ago today. So we remember that somber day at that Charleston church, as our hearts still break for the victims and our prayers go out to the families.

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This afternoon President Trump announces the PREVENTS Task Force Roadmap which highlights the admin’s work to prevent veteran suicide and offer mental health resources to veterans. Anticipated Start Time 2:15pm ET  [Video Added]

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This hearing might be a little too wonky for some, but not too many other policy issues touch 100% of American lives.   U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will be delivering testimony today outlining the 2020 trade policy agenda.

The testimony is before the House Ways and Means Committee, and will be livestreamed on the committee website [SEE HERE] and below at 10:00am ET from the Longworth House Office Building.  USTR Lighthizer is the sole witness.

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Lighthizer will also be testifying to the Senate Finance Committee at 3:00pm. [LINK]

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U.S. Senator Josh Hawley delivered a speech on the floor of the senate that deserves some attention.  The larger issue outlined by Senator Halwey surrounds the recent Supreme Court Bowstock decision authored by Justice Gorsuch.  However, in overlaying the judicial outcome, Hawley hits on the central issue he calls the “conservative bargain.”

The entire speech is worth listening to, as the senator encapsulates many of the frustrations within the recent decision; but the segment at 07:15 cuts to the heart of the distinction between MAGA-Trump republicanism and the pathetic GOPe wing of the Mitch McConnell UniParty. We have previously called this “The Decepticon”  WATCH:

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