A BRONX TALE

A titanic primary battle in New York will wrap up tomorrow with a vote that tests the power of progressives in the Democratic Party.

• The highest profile and most expensive primary in America this year is the Democratic nomination fight for New York’s 16th Congressional District. This race has featured acrimony, public apologies, and lots and lots of money. The incumbent, squad member Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), won this seat in a 2020 victory that many took as a sign of the progressive left’s rising influence. Now, he’s struggling to keep his Bronx / Westchester seat in the face of unprecedented spending by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, whose PAC has poured $14 million to unseat him for his aggressive criticism of Israel and its war in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

• Bowman’s opponent, George Latimer, is the Westchester County Executive who’s well-known in at least the suburban part of the district. He’s channeled moderate Dems and many Jewish voters upset at Bowman’s sometimes bombastic criticism of Israel. Last week Bowman apologized for calling reports of Hamas committing sexual violence against Israeli women “lies.” For their part, Bowman’s campaign has accused Latimer of being a “bought-and-paid for” politician and of using racist rhetoric, particularly during a debate when Latimer told Bowman “your district is Dearborn, Michigan,” referring to the majority-Muslim city. (Latimer’s campaign insisted that he was referring to Bowman’s donors, not the city’s population.)

• The race will be a key test of progressives’ ability to survive as the war in Gaza continues to divide Democrats. Progressive stars like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came out to help Bowman rally his base on Saturday. Latimer has the endorsement of heavy-hitting establishment Democrats like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who lives in the district. Bowman’s survival would be a feat against the AIPAC juggernaut, and a win for progressives, who’ve seen other Dems like Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Rep. Richie Torres (D-NY) bitterly split with them over Israel’s war in Gaza.

NEWS NEWS NEWS

Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, plans to plead guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national security information, according to newly released court documents. The plea deal with the U.S. Department of Justice will let Assange go free after spending five years in British prison.

A day after appearing to walk away from the U.S.-endorsed peace plan already blessed by his war cabinet, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reversed himself, saying Israel remains committed to the three-stage plan. Hamas also rejected parts of the plan, and U.S. officials were reportedly furious that Netanyahu’s wavering positions took pressure off the militant group.

Netanyahu also said the “intense phase” of Israel’s operations in Gaza were coming to an end, though it did not mean an end to the war. Israel wants to focus its troops in the north, where tensions with Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah are running dangerously close to war.

The Biden campaign marked the second anniversary of the Dobbs decision with events all across the country. They also released a new ad featuring Kaitlyn Joshua, who tells of being turned away from two hospitals during an “excruciating” miscarriage because of Louisiana’s abortion ban. She also drops that Trump is “now a convicted felon” for good measure. Man it would be cool if we didn’t live in a country where we had to make women relive their most traumatic experiences to get people to support basic rights!

Conspiracy monger Alex Jones’ Infowars media empire will be shuttered and sold off to help pay his $1.5 billion defamation judgment, the court-appointed trustee in his bankruptcy proceedings decided. I feel like we get multiple “Alex Jones Bankruptcy/Alex Jones Very Sad” updates every week and they’re always welcome news.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon is holding hearings on a series of motions in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents and obstruction case this week. Today Cannon signaled she may be considering Trump’s argument that Special Counsel Jack Smith lacks the Constitutional authority to prosecute him, despite about 150 years of similar Special Counsels. In the end, all these hearings amount to — you guessed it — more delay. Who could have predicted that a judge not recusing herself from a case involving the president who appointed her would turn out this way?

Witnesses told Jack Smith’s team that Donald Trump and valet / co-defendant Walt Nauta took a secret trip to Mar-a-Lago in July, 2022 for the purpose of “checking on the boxes” containing classified docs, ABC News reported. The alleged trip happened after Trump was subpoenaed for hundreds of the documents but before the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago.

A CNN host shut down an interview with a Trump spokesperson who came on the air for the sole purpose of attacking the network’s debate moderators, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. Congratulations to CNN on finally learning how to respond to the Trump campaign eight years later!

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