Axios

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp won't have to appear in court Thursday, after he asked a judge to quash his subpoena by Atlanta prosecutors investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and accusing prosecutors of political motivations.

Why it matters: While Kemp famously resisted former President Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election, his attorneys on Wednesday accused the district attorney's office of using the investigation "as a sword to influence the 2022 election."

Former President Trump's onetime personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday appeared before a special grand jury investigating efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Why it matters: Giuliani is one of Trump's closest allies to be subpoenaed by the Fulton County special purpose grand jury in the investigation into the failed efforts by the former president and his team to overturn 2020 election results.

The South Carolina state Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily blocked the state's six-week abortion ban, which had taken effect shortly after Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Catch up fast: Abortion providers had sued state officials to challenge the ban, arguing that the law "violates the South Carolina Constitution's right to privacy and its guarantees of equal protection and due process."

A school district in Texas has temporarily removed all books from library shelves that have been challenged within the last year, including all versions of the Bible and an adaption of Anne Frank's diary.

Driving the news: Keller Independent School District, near Fort Worth, has directed all teachers and librarians to remove 41 books and review them under new policies adopted by the school district last week, the Texas Tribune first reported.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that the humanitarian crisis caused by the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region is the "worst disaster on Earth" and yet global leaders have not responded with urgency — perhaps due to "the color of the skin of the people in Tigray."

The big picture: Six million people in Tigray have been cut off from the world as the war between Tigray People's Liberation Front and Ethiopian forces and their Eritrean allies has escalated, said Tedros, who is himself ethnically Tigrayan. Drought, displacement, dwindling food support and the resulting malnutrition crisis have threatened the lives of 20 million people, according to the UN.

Two judges who sent children to for-profit jails and received illegal payments for doing so have been ordered to pay more than $200 million in damages, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Driving the news: Former judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan will pay $106 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages to more than 300 people who filed a civil lawsuit against them.

A Florida prosecutor filed suit Wednesday against Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for suspending him from office.

Driving the news: Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren (D) alleges that DeSantis violated his First Amendment rights, AP reports.

More than 9,500 people died in motor vehicle-related traffic crashes in the first quarter of 2022, a roughly 7% increase from the same period in 2021, according to preliminary estimates released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Wednesday.

Why it matters: The new data suggests U.S. roads are becoming increasingly deadly and that the country is on pace to have yet another annual increase in traffic fatalities.

The Department of Justice has charged a Missouri man for leaving a threatening voicemail on the cell phone of an election official in Arizona's Maricopa County.

Why it matters: Maricopa County has fought baseless attempts to investigate the 2020 election in the state.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday he'd "consider" testifying before the House Jan. 6 committee and that attacks against the FBI "must stop" in the aftermath of the search warrant at former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence.

Why it matters: Pence's remarks come as he is ramping up travel ahead of a likely 2024 presidential bid and amid an uptick in threats to federal law enforcement after the search.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told the Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday to create an operational plan for distributing the coming influx of new funding to the agency allocated to it under Democrats' new tax, climate and health care bill, according to a memo obtained by Axios.

Why it matters: Yellen's directive comes just a day after the President Biden signed the landmark bill into law.

"This bill is the biggest step forward on climate ever — ever," President Biden said as he signed Democrats' climate, health care and tax bill.

• "Folks, the Inflation Reduction Act does so many things that, for so many years, so many of us have fought to make happen."

Syria on Wednesday officially denied it was holding American journalist and Marine Corps veteran Austin Tice, who was abducted in Syria 10 years ago.

Why it matters: President Biden said last week that the U.S. knows with certainty that Tice, one of the longest-held and most high-profile American hostages, has been held by the Syrian government.

Allies of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) tell Axios that after last night's primary loss, they expect her to start a super PAC — which would attract lots of wealthy, anti-Trump Republican donors.

Why it matters: Forming a national group would signal a run in the '24 GOP primaries, giving a real voice to anti-Trump Republicans.

Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee, has advanced to the November general election for the state's sole seat in the U.S. House, AP projects.

Why it matters: Palin, capitalizing on support from former President Trump, is mounting a political comeback after more than a decade out of elected office.

"Self-silencing" — people saying what they think others want to hear rather than what they truly feel — is skewing our understanding of how Americans really feel about abortion, COVID-19 precautions, what children are taught in school and other hot-button issues, a new study finds.

Why it matters: The best predictor of private behavior is private opinion. People's actual views are far more likely than their stated views to drive consumer and social behavior — and voting.

Tens of thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. military, as interpreters or in other roles, remain desperate for a new home a year after the U.S. left their country.

The big picture: Thousands haven't been able to leave Afghanistan. Thousands more are stuck on military bases in Qatar or the United Arab Emirates. Others are newly arrived to American neighborhoods — but still struggling to adjust to life in the U.S.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Tuesday became the highest-profile House Republican to lose their primary to a Trump-endorsed challenger after voting to impeach the former president, according to AP.

Why it matters: Former President Trump has made ousting the 10 House Republicans who voted for his impeachment one of his top priorities of the cycle — and Cheney, the vice chair of the Jan. 6 select committee, was enemy No. 1.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and her Trump-endorsed rival will both advance to the November general election for U.S. Senate, according to AP.

Why it matters: Trump has made unseating Murkowski and other Republican lawmakers who supported his impeachment or conviction over the Jan. 6, 2021 attack a top priority in this year's midterm elections.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) gave a defiant concession speech after her Republican primary loss to her Trump-endorsed challenger Harriet Hageman in Wyoming on Tuesday night.

What she's saying: "Two years ago, I won this primary with 73% of the vote. I could easily have done the same again," Cheney said. "But it would have required that I go along with President Trump's lie about the 2020 election. That was a path I could and would not take."

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Tuesday lost in a primary election she was widely expected to lose after becoming a top target of former President Trump.

Why it matters: Trump has made ousting the 10 House Republicans who voted for impeachment one of his top priorities of the cycle – and Cheney, the vice chair of the Jan. 6 select committee, was enemy number one.

Editor’s note: This article has been corrected to note that Harriet Hagerman won the primary. An earlier version incorrectly said Cheney won.

An Australian court ruled that Google is a search engine and not a publisher of a defamatory article, siding with the tech giant in a lawsuit on Wednesday morning local time.

The big picture: It's a win for Google in a years-long defamation suit in which the company argued that article hyperlinks "only communicate that something exists ... and it is the operator of the webpage who communicates the content to the user."

Trump legal adviser Jenna Ellis was ordered Tuesday to appear before the Georgia special grand jury investigating the efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Why it matters: Prosecutors are interested in the role Ellis, an attorney who represented former President Trump during and after the 2020 presidential election, played in coordinating legislative hearings in Georgia and other states where false claims of voter fraud were made, per AP.

The Biden administration is developing a portal to facilitate and simplify the reunification of Afghans with family members left behind in their Taliban-controlled country, three people familiar with the matter tell Axios.

Why it matters: The portal would centralize what has been a piecemeal, case-by-case effort to reunify the thousands of Afghan families separated during the chaos that ensued after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan a year ago.

Service in the House of Representatives is often a springboard for statewide office, but House members who retired this cycle to run for higher office have so far met mixed results.

Driving the news: Rep. Kai Kahele (D-Hawaii) finished a distant third in the primary for Hawaii governor on Saturday, garnering just 15% of the vote to Lt. Gov. Josh Green's 63% and former Hawaii first lady Vicky Cayetano's 21%.

Republican-led states that have resisted expanding Medicaid for more than a decade are showing new openness to the idea.

Driving the news: In the decade-plus since the landmark Affordable Care Act was enacted, 12 states with GOP-led legislatures still have not expanded Medicaid coverage to people living below 138% of the poverty line (or nearly $19,000 annually for one person in 2022).