 | BY ELANA SCHOR | | 
President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden leaves after a court appearance July 26 in Wilmington, Del. | Julio Cortez/AP Photo | COLLATERAL DAMAGE — One line Democrats offered after a private interview this week with ex-Hunter Biden business partner Devon Archer suggests that they may be tempted to blame Hunter himself for raising his father’s name. A Democratic lawmaker later said, summing up the interview, that Hunter was “selling the illusion of access to his father.” The transcript of the interview, released today , shows a Democratic aide asking Archer to confirm that subtle difference, between real access and the illusion of it. “I think that’s — that’s almost fair,” Archer replied, noting the number of “touch points” Hunter had with his father even if “nothing of material was discussed.” Democrats are hoping the word “illusion” lands hardest in that phrase — in other words, that the public concludes Hunter Biden was marketing a lie. But sandwiched around “selling … access” to Joe Biden, it sounds like an unsolicited acknowledgment that the president’s son overstated his influence and manipulated his relationship with his father. And while the moment might seem minor, it highlights the most problematic part of what lawmakers heard from Archer: then-Vice President Joe Biden got on the phone with his son enough times to credibly bolster that “illusion of access.” In Democrats’ view, needless to say, Hunter Biden was exaggerating his sway over his father. But this week’s Archer interview posed a challenge to the president’s party: Can the First Son’s credible missteps be dispensed with as totally unrelated to his father? On that note, it bears repeating that Republicans have so far found no direct link between Hunter Biden’s business deals and Joe Biden. Yet rather than leave the room with a potshot at Republicans for continuing to hunt for one, Democrats tried to contextualize what they heard. While the GOP focused on the ex-business partner’s statement that Hunter Biden put his father on the phone during dinners about 20 times, Democrats countered that it was “casual conversation.” Imagine if, instead, Democrats left the interview and reminded us of the affectionate voicemail that Joe Biden left his son during the younger man’s battle with addiction. The president’s gregarious, extroverted nature is a central part of his political identity, so why not talk about his closeness to Hunter in that context? The Democratic acknowledgment of Archer’s narrative about an influence-peddling Hunter comes as Republicans left the room pushing their investigation even harder, arguing that Joe Biden knew more about his son’s work than he let on. Democratic lawmakers may well agree that Hunter Biden was operating on shady ground, but that’s a matter being litigated, literally, right now . Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at eschor@politico.com or on Twitter at @eschor .
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— Rep. Bishop to give up congressional seat to run for N.C. attorney general: Republican Rep. Dan Bishop announced that he is running for North Carolina attorney general next year , abandoning his congressional district to seek statewide office in the Tarheel State. The decision sets off an incredibly competitive race for a role historically dominated by Democrats. Bishop, a member of the Freedom Caucus, has the kind of national profile and history of challenging the establishment that could flood the race with attention — and cash.
HENRY CUELLAR does not belong in office! What a disappointment that DEMS endorsed him. "In the end, they were nearly right. During an election defined by the fall of Roe v. Wade, Cisneros came within 289 votes of unseating the “King of Laredo.” But Cuellar’s ability to prevail, and emerge on stronger footing, shows that his party’s focus on abortion rights simply doesn’t play in every swing district — especially not Catholic-heavy south Texas."
— Democrats’ last anti-abortion lawmaker gets leadership endorsements: Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) announced endorsements today for his 2024 reelection from the entire House Democratic leadership team , a sharp reversal from last year’s midterms, when he was all but abandoned by his party’s top brass. The endorsement list includes Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) — on top of the two former leaders who reined in their support for his 2022 race, Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). — Mexico recovers 2 bodies from Rio Grande, one found near floating barrier Texas installed: Mexican authorities are trying to identify two bodies found in the Rio Grande this week , including one that was spotted along the floating barrier that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had installed recently in the river, across from Eagle Pass, Texas. Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department reported for the first time Wednesday that a body had been found along the floating barrier. The Coahuila state prosecutor’s office later told local media outlets that the two bodies were recovered and that the process of identification was underway.
| | FINANCE FIRST — President Joe Biden is beefing up his fundraising team, bringing on three top aides to help rake in the historic funds some Democrats think he and outside groups will need for his reelection bid in 2024, reports POLITICO’s Holly Otterbein. Biden is tapping Colleen Coffey and Michael Pratt to serve as his campaign’s finance co-directors. He has also chosen Jessica Porter to be his grassroots fundraising director. All three come to Biden from the Democratic National Committee, which has worked hand in glove with the president since he launched his reelection effort in April. Pratt was the DNC’s finance director, while Coffey was the DNC’s deputy finance director. Porter was the DNC’s online fundraising director. Coffey and Pratt also previously worked as senior advisers for Biden’s 2020 campaign. Though Biden struggled with fundraising in his first two presidential bids, he brought in record-breaking sums in 2020 when he ran against then-President Donald Trump. KNIVES OUT — Top Democrats, including those close to Joe Biden, are moving to dull the possibility that not one but two third-party challengers could siphon away critical votes in the upcoming election , report POLITICO’s Jonathan Lemire and Holly Otterbein. Inside the party, there is bubbling concern of a repeat from what happened seven years ago, when Green Party candidate Jill Stein drew more votes in three critical battleground states than the amount by which Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in those places. Biden world has been monitoring West and No Labels. But those closest to Biden believe that the memory of Stein — and the possibility of another Trump presidency — will prevent a third-party candidate from drawing much support in 2024. Along with young voters’ discontent, some Democrats are concerned about inroads Republicans made with Black men in the 2020 election and note some Black voters have expressed unhappiness with the White House’s inability to secure new voting rights legislation or widespread student debt relief. In a sign of how seriously some Democrats are taking the issue, alumni from the Congressional Black Caucus PAC launched a new hybrid political action committee last month. It was a tacit acknowledgement that work needs to be done, especially in improving the party’s numbers with Black men.
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A Disney+ logo during the Walt Disney D23 Expo in Anaheim, California. | Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images | LET’S TALK TURKEY — Disney’s decision not to air a high-profile series dramatizing the life of Turkey’s founding father has sparked uproar, with top Turkish officials accusing the American network of bowing to pressure from Armenian groups, writes Gabriel Gavin . Turkish media reported Wednesday that Disney had decided to pull the show “Atatürk,” a six-part period drama series originally billed for broadcast on its Disney+ platform on October 29. Its release was timed to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Ebubekir Şahin, the head of Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council, announced an investigation would be launched into claims that the decision was taken after concerted lobbying from the Armenian diaspora. “Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of our Republic of Türkiye, is our most important social value,” he said. While Atatürk remains a totemic figure for Turks for founding a modern secular republic in 1923 from the ashes of the Ottoman empire, critics say his new state embraced the perpetrators of a genocide against Armenians committed during World War I and heaped the blame for the massacres on the victims. In a statement issued Wednesday, Disney+ confirmed it would not be airing the series, but said the show had been picked up by its sister company FOX instead. The network said the move was a routine commercial programming decision “in line with our revised content distribution strategy,” and a spokesperson declined to comment on criticism of the series.
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More than 8,500 The number of Russian paratroopers a Russian general admitted have been wounded fighting in Ukraine , a rare official admission from the Russian government about casualties. Mikhail Teplinsky, commander of Russia’s Airborne Forces, noted the statistics Wednesday in a video message posted on state-run broadcaster Zvevda, which is run by the Russian defense ministry. The video was then taken down from Zvevda’s website and Telegram channel, according to the Moscow Times. |
| | | IN THE DARK — Manipur, a state in Northeast India, has been consumed by violence in recent months, as more than 60,000 people have been forced to leave their homes and hundreds have been killed. Compounding the problem much further, though, is the fact that internet access has been turned off in the region for three months . For WIRED, Parth M.N. explores how “Manipur is burning in the dark” and the practical implications of that — from services in the state to international awareness of what’s going on.
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On this date in 1994: A line of refugees carry sacks of corn donated by the United States through the Kibumba Refugee Camp for distribution to Rwandan refugees. Tons of food arrived help the more than one million displaced Rwandan refugees. | Michel Euler/AP Photo | Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here . | |
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