BoJo No More 🌻🌻🌻

January 6:  Mark your calendar, the House Committee is set to televise another hearing on Tuesday, July 12 at 10 AM Eastern Time.  Though the Committee has not yet announced who will be featured, it’s likely that we will hear from Sarah Matthews who served as Deputy Press Secretary in the Former Guy’s Communication department and possibly even from former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone who, with the assist of a subpoena, has finally agreed to testify before the Committee.  Matthews who resigned the FG White House in response to the events of January 6, at the time saying that she was “deeply disturbed” by what she saw on insurrection day and that “our nation needs a peaceful transition of power” isn’t likely to say much that we haven’t heard before but is expected to confirm Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony. Cipollone isn’t expected to testify live, however it’s likely that we will see him on video as his meeting with the Committee will be taped.  Cipollone is a big get, the Committee has been seeking his cooperation for some time.  He isn’t expected to answer all of the Committee’s questions as he’s likely to resist revealing details of some, if not all of his conversations with the FG, but he can’t or at least shouldn’t be able to exert executive privilege over things he said to others.  For example he should be able to talk about that moment on January 6 when he told Hutchinson to keep the FG away from the Capitol or "we're going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen." Congressman Jamie Raskin is expected to lead the questioning during Tuesday’s hearing and everything else aside, he’s always worth listening to.  By the way, in case you haven’t noticed, we haven’t heard anything from Mark Meadows in quite a while, not even any tweets though Mick Mulvaney who was ousted from the Chief of Staff spot to make way for Meadows has been quite vocal of late, saying that he finds Hutchinson very believable and that he thinks that history will remember Meadows as the worst Chief of Staff ever, which is pretty funny given the source.  As to Meadow’s silence, maybe that’s because of the $1 million that the FG funneled to his non-profit following January 6 or maybe it’s because he’s in witness protection having quiet conversations with the DOJ, well probably not. On the topic of Communications Departments, President Biden’s Communication Director Kate Bedingfield will be exiting shortly. Her stated reason is that after three years of working with Biden on his campaign and then in the White House she wants some family time but it’s likely that her departure is part of the Biden Administration efforts to reboot it’s communication efforts.  Given all of the press lately about how some very vocal Democrats, including actress Debra Messing who reportedly takes full credit for getting Biden elected, are upset that he isn’t doing more to save the country from the horrible decisions on things like abortion, guns and the environment that the Supreme Court he inherited keep issuing, a reboot is probably necessary.  Also, Messing needs to check her ego but that’s neither here nor there.

Georgia on My Mind:  In other legal news, things continue to heat up in Fulton County, Georgia where the special grand jury empaneled by local District Attorney Fani Willis has issued subpoenas to an assortment of the FG’s kraken legal team including Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis and Cleta Mitchell all of whom are believed to have knowledge of the FG’s attempts to tamper with the election process in several battleground states including Georgia. Willis didn’t stop there, she also subpoenaed Senator Lindsey Graham who she’d like to question, under oath of course, about his two phone calls to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger where he urged Raffensperger and his staff to reexamine “certain absentee ballots” cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for the FG. It probably won’t surprise you to learn that Graham, who is the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is challenging the subpoena. Don’t expect instant gratification from Willis’ Grand Jury, first of all it can’t indict, instead, its recommendations would have to go to one of her ordinary grand juries for their action and secondly she says that if she isn’t finished with her work well before the midterms she’ll put a brake on things until after the election. Also, she says that she hasn’t ruled out the possibility of subpoenaing the FG, a bold statement given all the threats and hate mail she gets from his fan base, awful missives and calls along the lines of what Congressman Adam Kinzinger, another recipient, recently released.  Speaking of targeted individuals, yesterday the NY Times revealed that both former FBI Director James Comey and former Acting Director Andrew McCabe were the subjects of what are supposed to be “rare and random” invasive, extreme IRS audits.  It’s hard to believe that there was anything random or coincidental about their “Nixonian” selections, particularly given how much the FG despises both of them.  Neither man knew about the other’s audit until the NY Times ferreted the information out  By the way, Comey ended up getting a few hundred dollars back though it cost him around $5000 in accountant’s fees to respond to all of the IRS’s demands.  McCabe ended up owing what he characterized as an inconsequential amount and though he didn’t specify how much he paid his accountants it’s fair to assume that they came out ahead.

Viral Musings:  With the very contagious and troubling Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants out and about everywhere, the FDA announced yesterday that it is authorizing licensed pharmacists to dispense Pfizer’s Paxlovid anti-viral to infected individuals without first requiring them to obtain doctor’s or nurse practitioner’s prescription. It’s not clear that all that partying during the early days of the COVID lockdowns was the straw that broke the camel’s back because when it comes to the UK’s now outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson there are so many straws, including the recent revelation that he met by himself with Russian oligarch, Alexander Lebedev who is also an ex-KGB officer not that there is such a thing as an ex-KGB officer, but this morning BoJo as he is called across the pond finally announced his resignation.