Welcome to Politics Extra, an end-of-day news briefing from Political Wire.
A new episode of Trial Balloon dropped this morning. Check it out.
What You May Have Missed
Donald Trump could be charged under the Espionage Act in the probe into his handling of classified documents, with charges potentially coming within weeks. A Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker has provided prosecutors with new details.
Ron DeSantis says Trump as president “did great for three years, but when he turned the country over to Fauci in March of 2020, that destroyed millions of people’s lives.”
Drastic cuts in staff at Twitter probably led to DeSantis’s botched campaign launch on the platform, and at least one engineer is quitting the company over the episode. As for DeSantis, he says he’s “not a big social media guy” and that he “didn’t really know necessarily what was going on” during the incident. (He still managed to raise $8.2 million in the first 24 hours after his announcement.)
DeSantis is vowing to expand the power of the presidency, and insists that the Justice Department and FBI “are not independent agencies.”
Fox News will air a pre-taped Trump town hall from Iowa next Thursday evening.
With Doug Burgum and Chris Christie about to jump in the presidential race and others still considering, have the anti-Trump forces been stretched too thin?
In a surprise that was a relief to Republicans, defeated 2022 Pennsylvania Senate candidate Doug Mastriano said he will not run for Senate next year. However, other high-profile 2022 losers are still mulling bids in other states.
Classifieds
Refind picks 5 articles every day that make you smarter, tailored to your interests. Loved by 200,000+ curious minds.
Cometeer is amazingly good coffee and ridiculously easy. It’s like having a barista in your freezer. Highly recommended.
Extra Links
Here are some links that didn’t make it into Political Wire today:
Tim Scott and Ron DeSantis are “political opposites.”
Texas schoolchildren get Winnie-the-Pooh books teaching them to “run, hide, fight” if a gunman enters their school.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are sinking deeper into disarray.
Macron says “radical left” threatens civilization in France.
Chinese agency first to downgrade US credit rating.
Investors push U.S. money market assets to record $5.4 trillion.
From the political dictionary: “Mugwumps”
Closing Thoughts
Politics Extra sometimes uses affiliate links to products and services and gets paid a commission if you make a purchase — at no additional cost to you.