Principals

Donald Trump arrested in Washington

Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to illegally conspiring to overturn the 2020 election on Thursday. In doing so, he joined more than 1,000 of his supporters who have been charged with federal crimes related to Jan. 6th.

There were far fewer people in Washington to protest his arraignment, with just a smattering of demonstrators agitating for and against the charges. As our on-site reporter Shelby Talcott put it: “Police had barricaded the area, presumably to prepare for major protesting, but there really wasn’t any — if you went one block away from the courthouse, it just looked like another normal day in DC.”

In a way it was another normal day, by recent standards. Trump has been arrested three times in four months and may face another set of charges any day now in Georgia. This one was by far the most serious, though, cutting to the heart of his presidency and his political legacy — and taking place in front of some of the same police officers who fought off people who rioted on his behalf two and a half years ago. The judge ordered Trump not to discuss the case with any witnesses, except through his lawyer, which could make for some awkward moments with Mike Pence if he attends the debate.

Afterward, Trump called the proceedings “a persecution of a political opponent” and complained the city he lived in for four years had deteriorated.

— Benjy Sarlin

☞ White House: A federal appeals court panel ruled that the Biden administration’s rules limiting asylum requests can stay in place while a legal battle over the restrictions plays out. Meanwhile, the White House is facing pressure from a key House Republican to curtail U.S. private and public investments in China.

☞ Senate: Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. reportedly gave power of attorney to her daughter. Sen. John Tester, D-Mont. wrote to the Education Department expressing concerns about plans to block schools from using federal money for hunting and archery classes.

☞ House: Devon Archer told investigators on the House Oversight Committee earlier this week of multiple instances — dinners, phone calls — in which Hunter Biden, his former business partner, tried to create an illusion of access to his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, according to a transcript released by committee Republicans. But Archer said he didn’t have any knowledge of the elder Biden altering U.S. policy to benefit his son, and that the current president never talked business during these conversations.

☞ Outside the Beltway: Utah’s Republican Gov. Spencer Cox announced a new ad campaign to raise awareness about the harms of social media use. The ads will appear on billboards, television, and — yes — social media platforms themselves. Two Democratic Tennessee state representatives won their seats back after being expelled by Republicans in April over their involvement in a gun protest on the House floor.

Democrats press Biden to resolve New York’s migrant crisis

THE NEWS

New York’s Democratic delegation is increasingly torn between protecting President Biden and pressuring him to act on the recent influx of migrant people to New York City.

“Folks had been focused in D.C. for the last three weeks, and then they showed up home, and they’re like, ‘Oh shit,’” a Democratic aide told Semafor, citing images of migrants sleeping outside a Manhattan hotel.

About a half-dozen House Democrats are leading on the issue, including Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., who has repeatedly pushed the administration on everything from expediting work permits to extending temporary legal status to migrants from specific countries.

KADIA’S VIEW

There’s no easy way to resolve the conflict. Local Democrats want the administration to make it easier for asylum-seekers to quickly get authorization to work while they await their immigration cases, taking the burden off the city and state to support them. But the White House fears that faster work authorization would inspire more border crossings.

Short of work authorization, lawmakers are also clashing with the administration over declaring a state of emergency, which would come with federal resources. But it’s unclear how Biden could justify making the designation for New York, an interior blue state, over a red border state like Texas.

It’s already a sore subject on the border.

“The reason the money is going to New York is because the Speaker of the House is from New York, and the leader of the United States Senate is from New York,” Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema said recently (incorrectly referring to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as the Speaker).

VIEW FROM REPUBLICANS

Republicans blame Democrats and New York City leaders for passing laws that make the area more appealing to migrants, like the city’s “right to shelter,” which is unique among major American cities.

“‘You break it, you bought it’ should not only apply to retail shoppers but to those governments who approve these asinine laws,” Rep. Nick LaLota, D-N.Y., told Semafor, referring to “sanctuary city” provisions that prohibit state and local officials from coordinating with immigration authorities on deportations.

Punchbowl News: Trump’s appearance at the Alabama GOP’s summer dinner today, alongside most of the state’s Republican congressional delegation, underscores just how little blowback he’s faced within the party over his recent legal troubles.

Playbook: DeSantis ally Ken Cuccinelli accused pro-Trump delegates of trying to “rig” the California GOP primary by promoting rules that would award all of the state’s delegates to a candidate winning more than 50% of the statewide vote.

The Early 202: Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, said Ukrainian officials would welcome visits from any of the 2024 presidential hopefuls — including Trump.

Axios: Trump has been essentially using his court arraignments as free campaign advertising, but yesterday’s appearance in D.C. — complete with unfriendly crowds — represented a far less triumphant atmosphere than his classified documents arraignment in Florida in June.

Here’s how you pitch Ukraine aid to rock-ribbed conservatives

Fighter jets, truck drivers, American flags, a narrator with a twang, and a country-rock soundtrack. That’s how a new group lobbying Congress to pass more aid for Ukraine plans to woo their constituents. And you can guess which party’s voters they’re aiming for.

The spot for the organization, Freedom at Home and Abroad, will air on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and “Fox News Sunday” this weekend, according to executive director Michael Franklin, who said the organization is spending $400,000 on media in August.

Details of the campaign were shared ahead of time with Semafor, including focus group research on how Republican voters view the Ukraine war that informed the ad. The ad features images of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping shaking hands, for example, reflecting findings that GOP voters are especially concerned that Russian success in the conflict could fuel Chinese aggression.

To read more, click here.

Ron DeSantis is causing trouble for another Magic kingdom in Orlando. The Orlando Magic, owned by members of the DeVos family, is under fire from the National Basketball Players Association for a $50,000 donation to a pro-DeSantis super PAC. The franchise clarified it was made when he was governor, not since he began running for president (i.e. don’t blame us for anything he’s doing now). That didn’t satisfy the NBPA, which put out a statement calling the donation “alarming given recent comments and policies of its beneficiary.”

The NBA has plenty of owners who are major Republican donors. It has plenty of players from LeBron James down who are strong supporters of progressive causes, especially around racial justice. The two sides coexist well enough, but having the donation come from the franchise itself — rather than one of its governors (the league term for owner) — crossed an unspoken line. The NBPA said that franchise donations “earned through the labor of its employees” should “consider the diverse values and perspectives of staff and players.”

—Benjy Sarlin

• Inflation’s down. Growth is beating forecasts and making banks retire their recession calls. But voters? Apparently they still think the economy is a mess: 51% say it’s “still in a downturn and conditions are continuing to worsen,” according to a CNN poll released Thursday. That’s statistically unchanged since December. The White House might need to work on its Bidenomics messaging.
• A Reuters/Ipsos poll found as many as half of Republican voters would not vote for Trump if he were convicted of a felony. That said, the same poll found him expanding his share of the GOP primary vote to 47% and Ron DeSantis plummeting to just 13% support, suggesting he shouldn’t worry too much at this point. A related poll found 100% of rival campaign managers banging their heads against a desk.
• Meanwhile, the New York Times has a new poll of Iowa, where DeSantis is pinning his hopes for a comeback. The good news for the Florida governor is that he’s closer to Trump in the Hawkeye State than he is nationally. The bad news? Trump is still ahead of him 44% to 20%.

— Jordan Weissmann and Benjy Sarlin

Yinka Adegoke is the Africa editor of Semafor. Subscribe to his newsletter on African politics, business, and culture here.

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, according to data from our partners at Ground News.

WHAT THE LEFT ISN’T READING: Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. blamed both parties in Congress and the Biden administration for Fitch’s U.S. credit rating downgrade, calling it “a historic failure of leadership.”

WHAT THE RIGHT ISN’T READING: Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said she believes Congress has the power to regulate the Court and is in favor of justices adopting a code of conduct.