DDHQ Morning News Spotlight: April 19, 2022

Morning Headlines

• Federal transportation officials have stopped enforcing a federal mask mandate after a federal judge in Florida struck it down yesterday. The U.S. district judge from the Middle District of Florida said the requirement exceeds the authority of the CDC. Almost immediately all major airlines across the country stopped enforcing the rule for the first time in over a year.
• Run For Something, a Democratic candidate recruiting group, is stepping up efforts to recruit local election administration officials over the next three years. Republican groups aligned with former President Trump have been pushing a similar effort along with claims of widespread voter fraud, largely at the local level, since the 2020 election. Run For Something plans to raise $80 million to train new election workers, and support the campaigns of those running for local offices that oversee elections in 35 states.
• The Florida Legislature is convening a special session today to redraw their Congressional map after their first draft was vetoed by Governor Ron DeSantis. The Legislature is controlled by the same party as the governor, however, the governor raised objections to the map they passed. The new map is expected to be an even more aggressive Republican gerrymander than the first.
• An increasing number of Democrats up for election this year are splitting from the White House over plans to end the Title 42 immigration rule which restricts the flow of new immigrants into the country due to the pandemic. Six Democrats either currently in or running for the Senate joined a growing chorus of dissent yesterday. Most of them are saying they would like to see a more detailed plan before the policy change takes effect.
• A federal judge has ruled that efforts to removed Georgia Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene from the ballot can proceed. The effort hopes to use a Civil War-era Constitutional provision to block her ability to run for reelection due to her role in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
• Right-wing French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said yesterday that if elected she would keep close ties with Russia to avoid an alliance and more influence from China. She said she supports Ukraine in the ongoing conflict. Le Pen has in the past expressed admiration for Russian President Putin, and her party has received loans from the Kremlin. She faces incumbent French President Macron in a runoff on Sunday.
• Attorney John Eastman is asserting attorney-client privilege on over 37,000 pages of emails related to his work for former President Trump that the Jan. 6 select committee would like to see. The committee believes that these emails will show a criminal conspiracy between Eastman and Trump to obstruct Congress from certifying the 2020 election. The committee objects to all of Eastman’s claims and will be sending them to a U.S. District Court for a case-by-case review.

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