MORNING MESSAGE
Mehrdad Azemun
The #PeoplesWave of grassroots champions rising up to reclaim our government has just begun. After taking back the U.S. House in November and important wins in Chicago’s municipal elections in February, Tuesday’s victories in Illinois and Wisconsin are evidence this momentum continues to build. Indeed, these advances at the municipal level are almost more exciting than marquee victories, as they demonstrate that organizing from the grassroots really works. In Chicago, The People’s Lobby/Reclaim Chicago, ONE People’s Campaign and Jane Addams Seniors in Action have all built people-powered electoral operations in wards across the city to end the power of machine politics and remake the City Council. These efforts are now bearing fruit. We know each and every step towards taking back our democracy can never be taken for granted: they are thanks to the tireless efforts of the People’s Action members and volunteers in the streets who make these wins happen.
Dems Demand Trump’s Tax Returns
House Democrat demands six years of Trump tax returns from I.R.S.. NYT: “The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, using a little-known provision in the federal tax code, formally requested on Wednesday that the I.R.S. hand over six years of President Trump’s personal and business tax returns, starting what is likely to be a momentous fight with his administration. Representative Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Massachusetts, hand-delivered a two-page letter laying out the request to Charles P. Rettig, the Internal Revenue Service commissioner, ending months of speculation about when he would do so and almost certainly prompting a legal challenge from the Trump administration.”
House Votes To Subpoena Full Mueller Report
Some on Mueller’s Team Say Report Was More Damaging Than Barr Revealed. NYT: “Some of Robert S. Mueller III’s investigators have told associates that Attorney General William P. Barr failed to adequately portray the findings of their inquiry and that they were more troubling for President Trump than Mr. Barr indicated, according to government officials and others familiar with their simmering frustrations. At stake in the dispute — the first evidence of tension between Mr. Barr and the special counsel’s office — is who shapes the public’s initial understanding of one of the most consequential government investigations in American history. Some members of Mr. Mueller’s team are concerned that, because Mr. Barr created the first narrative of the special counsel’s findings, Americans’ views will have hardened before the investigation’s conclusions become public.”
Recount Likely In WI Supreme Court Race
Conservative claims win in Wisconsin Supreme Court case, but recount likely. The Hill: “A conservative former adviser to ex-Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) claimed victory in a closely fought race for a state Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin early Wednesday, potentially cementing a Republican-leaning majority for years to come. With all but a small handful of precincts reporting, Judge Brian Hagedorn clung to a narrow 6,000-vote lead — or about four-tenths of a percentage point — over Judge Lisa Neubauer, the candidate backed by Wisconsin’s Democratic Party. The Associated Press had not yet called the race, and it was not immediately clear how many absentee votes had yet to be counted. A recount is likely if the results remain that close; state law allows a losing candidate to request a recount if the results are within 1 percentage point. Hagedorn’s win is an early sign that Wisconsin remains at the fulcrum of the national political debate. Walker won his two terms as governor, as well as a recall election, by the slimmest of margins. Gov. Tony Evers (D) beat Walker in 2018 by just 30,000 votes.”
ICE Arrests 280 In TX Raid
ICE arrests more than 280 at Texas business, biggest workplace immigration raid in a decade. NBC: “Federal immigration authorities arrested more than 280 employees of a Texas company in what officials said was the biggest single workplace raid in a decade. The homeland security investigations unit of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said the employees of CVE Technology Group Inc. in the city of Allen, north of Dallas, were arrested on administrative immigration violations and that they were working in the United States unlawfully. The raid was part of an ongoing investigation into complaints that the company may have knowingly hired people who are in the U.S. without authorization and that many of those workers were using fraudulent identification documents, the agency said. CVE Group Inc. is a New Jersey-based company that refurbishes and repairs consumer tech products and has a national receiving center in North Texas, according to the company’s website.”
WH Seeks To Strip Legal Immigrants Of Citizenship
Trump administration spends enormous resources to strip citizenship from FL truck driver. The Intercept: “watching, the federal government on Tuesday went to trial in one of the first denaturalization cases of the Trump era, a project the administration enthusiastically rolled out in 2017. The man at the center of the trial is Parvez Manzoor Khan, a 62-year-old Floridian. The federal government has so far expended extraordinary resources trying to denaturalize Khan, a truck driver and grandfather of three who’s been a citizen without incident since 2006. His case has been in the works for a year and a half, involves high-ranking Justice Department lawyers, and will likely continue for at least another year — even as the backlog in immigration courts, which also fall under the Justice Department’s purview, continues to grow. In a budget request for the 2019 fiscal year, the administration asked for $207.6 million to investigate 887 additional leads it expects to get into American citizens who may be vulnerable to denaturalization, and to review another 700,000 immigrant files. The fact that the Trump administration’s test case centers on a truck-driving grandpa who potentially could have become a citizen even if he’d been completely forthright with immigration officials is simultaneously a damning indictment of the federal government’s strategy and further evidence of its efforts to demonize nonwhite immigrants at any cost.”
Progressive Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to activists. Progressive Breakfast and OurFuture.org are projects of People’s Action.
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