Axios Sneak Peek

July 16, 2024
Welcome back to Sneak. Today's edition is 794 words, a 3-minute read.
Situational awareness: Senate Democrats are pushing Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) to resign after he was convicted today on felony bribery charges.
- "Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign," said Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
1 big thing: Secret Service pressure cooker
The Secret Service was already on high alert before Saturday's attempted assassination because of an Iranian threat against former President Trump.
Why it matters: Bipartisan fury has dominated the days since Trump was shot, and that was before the revelation his protective detail was already beefed up to account for an outside threat.
- Human intelligence revealed the Iranian threat in recent weeks, CNN first reported. The Secret Service and Trump campaign were reportedly both warned of the threat.
- Trump has been the target of Iran's ire since he ordered the assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
The big picture: House Republicans are launching major investigations into the Trump assassination attempt.
- House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) is set to subpoena Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear at the panel's July 22 hearing, a committee spokesperson tells Axios' Juliegrace Brufke.
- The Secret Service has vowed to cooperate with congressional investigations.
The bottom line: Donald Trump Jr. told Axios' Mike Allen today that his biggest question he wants answered about the events of Saturday is, "How did someone get that close for that long?"
- "A guy does not get on a rooftop with a rifle where there's people, and now I've seen the videos for five minutes saying, 'There's a guy on a rooftop with a gun,'" he said.
- "It literally doesn't happen. I've shot with these guys, I came from a competitive shooting background. ... That doesn't happen without a serious breach of something."
2. Delegates unify on abortion
MILWAUKEE — Delegates at the Republican National Convention expressed their support for leaving abortion legislation to the states and the decision to remove a national abortion ban from the party's platform for the first time in 40 years.
Why it matters: It's a significant shift for the party that worked for decades to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling on abortion rights.
- Abortion was moved down in the platform priorities and does not have the same language it has always had before, Alabama delegate Robin Rowan told Axios, "but we're in a new era, where it's been brought back down to the states."
- Former President Trump was heavily involved in the change and has staked out a position of letting states decide abortion laws within their borders.
Between the lines: Axios spoke to 10 delegates from various states on the first night of the RNC.
- Across the board, they expressed their staunch personal anti-abortion rights stance but said they believed abortion laws should be left to the states.
- Delegates from Michigan and New York even admitted they disagree with the abortion policies in their blue states, but believed it is important to allow states to adopt their own policies.
3. The RFK Jr.-Trump tape
RFK Jr. apologized to Trump today after his son, Robert Kennedy III, leaked footage of a phone call between the two candidates.
- "I am mortified that this was posted. I apologize to the president," Kennedy wrote.
Zoom in: Trump appeared to share Kennedy's vaccine skepticism during the phone call that was leaked on the social media platform X.
- "When you feed a baby, Bobby, a vaccination that is like 38 different vaccines, and it looks like it's meant for a horse, not a, you know, 10-pound or 20-pound baby."
- "And then you see the baby all of a sudden starting to change radically. I've seen it too many times," Trump added. "And then you hear that it doesn't have an impact."
Kennedy's campaign denied he had plans to suspend his campaign.
- Robert Kennedy III is a 39-year-old writer-director-actor.
4. Don Jr. gathers the hunters
JOHNSON CREEK, Wisconsin — About an hour west of Milwaukee, Donald Trump Jr., the NRA and a hunter advocacy group called Hunter Nation gathered at a sporting club yesterday to plot how to turn out hunters in November.
Why it matters: It's part of a larger GOP effort to mobilize less politically engaged but conservative Americans this presidential cycle.
- "There are large populations of politically apathetic hunters" in the U.S., Don Jr. said.
- "It's the entire board: Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and some of the Western states," he said.
- "You mobilize those groups. ... Everyone is like, 'Oh, it's over.' It's not over. It'll be over when the polls close on Nov. 5."
The big picture: Hunter Nation and the NRA are most focused on turning out voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, the three swing states that the Trump campaign is most focused on flipping.
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