 | BY CALDER MCHUGH | | 
A woman holds a sign outside the Federal District Court in Washington on Tuesday, where a grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump in the probe led by special counsel Jack Smith. | Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo | FAN FAVORITE — For years, there has been palpable desperation on the left for Trump to get punished for a crime — any crime. Now, after special counsel Jack Smith brought four charges against former President Donald Trump on Tuesday stemming from the Jan. 6 attack, liberals who have long been praying for Trump’s downfall have found their hero. Within hours of the latest indictment, Smith was an online phenomenon, portrayed as the left’s avenging angel and Trump’s worst nightmare. The legion of Trump haters have been looking to Smith for salvation since Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed him as special counsel in November. On X, the website formerly known as Twitter, the fan account @7Veritas4 — with a display name of “Jack E. Smith” and a header photo of Smith replicated in dark sunglasses — has racked up over 300,000 followers. In recent days, the account has been posting GIFs from the film Inglourious Basterds, with Smith’s head superimposed onto a menacing character known for killing Nazis called the “Bear Jew,” along with Game of Thrones images of dragons descending on cities, ready to wreak havoc. Countless accounts online have display names like “Jack Smith Fan Club President ;” take a look at the hashtag “jacksmithisahero ” on TikTok and it’s more of the same. This isn’t confined to online obsessives. Discussing the indictment on MSNBC , Kristy Greenberg, the former deputy chief of the criminal division for SDNY, said that Smith is “in his Taylor Swift ‘Speak Now’ era… 45 pages of just incredible detail.” Head over to Etsy, and you’ll find a considerable amount of merchandise praising the special counsel. There’s t-shirts with his face reading “f*ck around, find out,” “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington” or “jack be nimble. jack be quick. jack indicted the big orange prick.” There are wine glasses and mugs. On a website called teepublic, there’s even a pillow with Smith supposed to be the shark from Jaws . Trump (who is naked for some reason) is the tiny boat floating above Smith’s massive head, and the top of the pillow simply reads “LAWS.” Between the movie quotes, merch and the unadulterated hero worship, Smith has become an avatar of anti-Trump hatred and an unwitting vessel for the left’s pent-up frustrations. Of course, he’s not the first to occupy that role. In the halcyon days of November 2017, the account “Mueller, She Wrote ” joined Twitter. Thousands of posts chronicled every move of the former special counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated Russian interference into the 2016 election for almost two years. “Mueller, She Wrote” is now obsessively chronicling Smith’s moves. Mueller, for a time, was everywhere in liberal havens, a cultural icon featured on mugs, t-shirts and buttons. Spike Lee wore a “God protect Robert Mueller” hoodie during an appearance on CNN. Online influencers sang a remarkably cringey ditty “We wish you a Mueller Christmas .” George W. Bush’s former FBI director was the hottest thing in town. He had some competition, though, for the adoration of the anti-Trump left. In 2018, Stormy Daniels’ former lawyer Michael Avenatti got some liberals hot and bothered . Unlike Mueller and Smith, both serious and sober prosecutors, he was a relentless self-promoter , appearing daily on MSNBC and tweeting incessantly. He inspired online fan clubs and very publicly mulled a run for president , which in turn motivated a whole run of “Avenatti 2020” merchandise . Almost as quickly as it began for Avenatti, it was over — he got mired in his own legal troubles, exposed as mostly a charlatan with a face for TV, and his career as savior of the republic ended ignominiously; he’s been sentenced to 14 years in prison for stealing from clients and tax fraud. Mueller ultimately disappointed his fans in 2019 when his investigation produced a detailed report that didn’t specifically recommend a Trump indictment. The “It’s Mueller time” buttons that were ubiquitous on tote bags in well-heeled liberal neighborhoods in cities around the country started to disappear from sight. There’s no guarantee Smith won’t suffer the same fate. It seems reasonable to temper expectations when it comes to the ever elusive former president’s legal jeopardy. Still, Smith has already gone further in his pursuit of Trump than either Mueller or Avenatti, neither of whom returned a grand jury indictment. As far as t-shirt sales go, Smith has already exceeded expectations. The question is whether Smith can succeed on his terms, with a conviction or plea, against the backdrop of an increasingly contentious presidential campaign. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at cmchugh@politico.com or on Twitter at @calder_mchugh .
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| | YOUR TICKET INSIDE THE GOLDEN STATE POLITICAL ARENA: California Playbook delivers the latest intel, buzzy scoops and exclusive coverage from Sacramento and Los Angeles to Silicon Valley and across the state. Don't miss out on the daily must-read for political aficionados and professionals with an outsized interest in California politics, policy and power. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | — Fitch triggers new Jan. 6 political battle with U.S. rating cut: The latest U.S. credit downgrade is giving the White House a new reason to denounce Republicans for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection — just as former President Donald Trump faces charges related to the assault. In an announcement that hit almost simultaneously with Trump’s indictment, Fitch Ratings on Tuesday said it lowered the U.S. debt rating by a notch in part because of an “erosion of governance.” The Biden administration blasted the decision as off-base but focused blame on Republicans because of concerns Fitch has raised about Jan. 6. — The Pittsburgh synagogue gunman will be sentenced to death: The gunman who stormed a synagogue in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community and killed 11 worshippers will be sentenced to death for perpetrating the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history . Robert Bowers spewed hatred of Jews and espoused white supremacist beliefs online before methodically planning and carrying out the 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue, where members of three congregations had gathered for Sabbath worship and study. Bowers, a truck driver from suburban Baldwin, also wounded two worshippers and five responding police officers. — White House adviser on microchips steps down: A key adviser in the Biden administration’s effort to overcome the global microchips shortage and manage a deluge of congressional funding to expand America’s semiconductor industry will depart the White House this week . Ronnie Chatterji is leaving the National Economic Council, where he has served as the White House coordinator implementing major chips legislation passed last year, and returning to his pre-administration post as a business professor at Duke University.
| | RFK’S GOP PIPELINE — Fueled by an unusual combination of views — passionate environmentalism, for example, alongside a deep distrust of the pharmaceutical industry and public health orthodoxy — Robert F. Kennedy’s campaign has stood out for its curious coalition of Democrats, Republicans and independents of varying backgrounds. Financial filings this week from two super PACs supporting him , which together have raised nearly $10.5 million, seemed to underscore this theme, reports the New York Times. The pro-Kennedy super PAC American Values 2024 received the bulk of its money from two megadonors: one who has contributed tens of millions to Republican causes, and another who has backed both Democrats and Republicans. Timothy Mellon, a Wyoming Republican who contributed $53 million in stock to a Texas fund paying for construction of a new border wall, gave that super PAC $5 million. Gavin de Becker, a security executive who describes himself as a Democrat and consulted for the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos during Mr. Bezos’s text message scandal, donated $4.5 million. ED BOARDS ON TRUMP — Newspaper editorial boards across the nation weighed in on former President Donald Trump’s latest indictment after federal prosecutors charged him Tuesday with conspiring to seize a second term after losing the 2020 election, writes POLITICO. “Indicting a former president is a traumatic event for the nation, but so was Trump’s multifaceted attempt to overthrow the results of the 2020 election,” the Los Angeles Times editorial board wrote, adding, “despite what Trump may think, it is perfectly appropriate for prosecutors to seek to hold him accountable for alleged violations of criminal law, just as they have with those who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.” The United States “had never seen an indictment of this magnitude,” The New York Times editorial board wrote. “It’s the third criminal indictment of Mr. Trump, and it demonstrates, yet again, that the rule of law in America applies to everyone, even when the defendant was the country’s highest-ranking official. The crimes alleged in this indictment are, by far, the most serious because they undermine the country’s basic principles.” “In some ways, certainly, this is yet another new low for the country, attributable to Trump,” the Miami Herald editorial board wrote. “But it may also show us that our institutions are strong enough to stand up to the kind of prolonged assault that a person like Trump — an amoral person with money, power and a massive, easily wounded ego — has heaped on it.” More conservative editorial boards, such as The Wall Street Journal’s, call Trump’s post-election behavior in 2020 “deceitful and destructive,” and his “malfeasance on Jan. 6, 2021, was disgraceful,” but call into question if his actions were criminal or not. “Yet the indictment offers no new evidence to establish a connection between the riot and Mr. Trump beyond his well-known tweets and public statements,” the WSJ Editorial Board wrote.
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, arrive for a dinner at the Getty Villa during the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, June 9, 2022. | Jae C. Hong/AP Photo | MOVING ON — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau are separating after 18 years of marriage , a high-profile split for Canada’s most recognizable political power couple, write Nick Taylor-Vaisey and Kyle Duggan . The abrupt announcement today ends what was often described as a storybook marriage that united two rising Canadian celebrities, the politically ambitious son of an iconic former prime minister and a glamorous television host in Quebec. An Instagram post published on both Trudeau’s and Grégoire Trudeau’s accounts — in English and French, respectively — appeared shortly after 12 p.m. “After many meaningful and difficult conversations, we have made the decision to separate,” they said. The two married in 2005 and have three children together: Xavier, 15, Ella-Grace, 14, and Hadrien, nine. EVACUATION ORDERS — The U.S. government is preparing an order to evacuate most U.S. Embassy personnel from Niger , according to three people familiar with internal deliberations, write Nahal Toosi , Lara Seligman and Alex Ward . A final decision to evacuate has not yet been made, said a U.S. diplomat, a U.S. official and a former U.S. official. The diplomat said the decision was imminent, however. They, and others, were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations. The West African country, which only recently transitioned to democracy and is a key recipient of U.S. security aid, is in the midst of a military coup. The Biden administration is struggling with how to respond, including whether to formally declare the events a coup, because doing so could endanger its efforts to battle terrorism and give an opening for Russia to increase its influence in Africa. European militaries, including the French armed forces, have already begun evacuating foreign nationals from the country. One development that prompted the extractions was intelligence indicating the ruling junta could take foreigners hostage and use them as human shields in the event of a military intervention, the former U.S. official said.
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| | HITTING YOUR INBOX AUGUST 14—CALIFORNIA CLIMATE: Climate change isn’t just about the weather. It's also about how we do business and create new policies, especially in California. So we have something cool for you: A brand-new California Climate newsletter. It's not just climate or science chat, it's your daily cheat sheet to understanding how the legislative landscape around climate change is shaking up industries across the Golden State. Cut through the jargon and get the latest developments in California as lawmakers and industry leaders adapt to the changing climate. Subscribe now to California Climate to keep up with the changes. | | | | | | | | |
$3.78 The average price of gas per gallon in the United States , about 25 cents higher than a month ago, according to the motor club, AAA. While today’s prices at the pump remain far lower than they were last year, when energy costs soared worldwide in the months following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, experts say such a jump is unusual. Global supply production cuts and impacts of this summer’s extreme heat on refineries have contributed to the quick rise. |
| | | SOURCE MATERIAL — The solution to helping to save La Mosquitia — the second largest forest in Central America that sits on a river that flows between Honduras and Nicaragua — could come from a surprising place: New York State . Last month, the New York Assembly passed a bill that would require that companies contracting with the state prove that they’re not contributing to deforestation. The goods that these companies procure from around the world — many of which come from La Mosquitia — are getting regulated, fast. New York State is just the latest in a trend of governments from local to federal around the world passing similar legislation that is helping to curb deforestation by attacking the companies that are doing it. Sarah Sax reports on the plan for The New Republic.
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On this date in 1973: H.R. Haldeman, former top White House aide, is escorted from the Senate Caucus room by Capitol police after he completed his testimony before the Senate Watergate committee. | AP Photo | Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here . | |
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