Today’s notice: MAGA floats going after hate speech, and some conservatives hate it. Republicans float their “clean” CR, and Democrats largely hate it. Patel and Schiff tested decorum at a Senate Judiciary hearing — you better believe Chuck Grassley hated it. And: Judges want security, too.
The Big One
Is this the new MAGA test? The White House is urging conservatives to channel their anger over Charlie Kirk’s assassination behind a new, whole-of-government drive against what AG Pam Bondi expressly called “hate speech.”
Bondi said prosecutors will go after people who make death threats against politicians, citing laws about incitement and other illegal speech. “Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment,” she clarified.
Donald Trump went further: He wants RICO charges against the protesters who heckled him recently at a Washington steakhouse. JD Vance and some members of Congress are singling out specific liberal and left-wing groups as hate speech purveyors.
Litigating “hate speech” quickly hit pushback on the right. “Hate speech is an inherently vague term. It’s in the eye of the beholder, what hate speech means,” Daniel Cochrane, who studies tech policy at The Heritage Foundation, told NOTUS yesterday. That came as Sen. Ted Cruz and FCC Chair Brendan Carr defended free speech — and yes, hate speech — protections.
Criticism of the phrase “hate speech” was once vociferous and widespread on the political right. But there is a lot these two sides agree on: “Naming and shaming” people for their posts about Kirk’s killing is acceptable, as is limiting the power of left-wing groups. And the White House usually wins out.
So where does that leave the line between what Trump says he wants to do and what conservatives say they don’t want?
Open tabs: Israeli Ground Forces Move Into Gaza City, Sowing Chaos (NYT); DOJ Deletes Study Showing Domestic Terrorists Are Most Often Right Wing (404 Media); Fired BLS Chief Breaks Her Silence (WSJ); Hollywood Icon Robert Redford Dies at 89 (Variety)
From the Hill
Republicans’ “clean” CR proposal would keep the government open through Nov. 21.
What’s in it: a $30 million supplemental funding request for members’ security; $58 million for security requested by the White House for the Supreme Court and executive branch; and also a “D.C. fix,” which would allow the District government to spend more than $1 billion of its own funding raised through local taxes.
What’s not in it — namely, an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies — is angering Democrats. “They’re mostly mad about the things that are not in there, which is never a way to judge a piece of legislation,” Rep. Tom Cole, the top Republican appropriator in the House, said of his counterparts.
Democrats aren’t buying it: “What the hell are we talking about?” Rep. Rosa DeLauro told reporters of Republicans’ proposal, saying that appropriators from both parties agreed it would be a bipartisan CR that included health care priorities. “They are not acting in good faith. Democrats are.”
From the White House
How does the White House define “hate speech”? And did the president mean his administration intends to seek legal action against his critics?
NOTUS’ Violet Jira asked, and got this answer from spox Abigail Jackson: “President Trump is right — for years, radical leftists have slandered their political opponents as Nazis and Fascists, inspiring left-wing violence like the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk. Left-wing organizations have fueled violent riots, organized attacks against law enforcement officers, coordinated illegal doxing campaigns, arranged drop points for weapons and riot materials, and more. The Trump Administration will get to the bottom of this vast network inciting violence in American communities.”
From the courts
Judges want security, too. Nearly 50 former federal judges published an open letter this morning demanding the judiciary be part of the growing call for more funds to protect government officials. NOTUS’ Oriana González reports that the letter comes from Keep Our Republic’s Article III Coalition, which was formed earlier this year as a way for former judges to speak on behalf of their sitting colleagues, who are largely silenced by professional constraints.
The GOP CR includes new funds for the U.S. Marshals Service to increase security for the judiciary, $28 million for the protection of SCOTUS justices and $30 million for general protective services. A White House official told Oriana that the new money was requested in the wake of Kirk’s killing.
NEW ON NOTUS
Tick tock on TikTok? Trump yesterday extended the deadline to enforce a ban on TikTok for a fourth time, giving potential U.S. buyers until December to wrap up their purchase. The president said that his administration had already reached a deal with China to sell TikTok — and that he planned to meet with the country’s president, Xi Jinping, on Friday to “confirm everything up.”
Old grudges die hard: FBI Director Kash Patel’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee was dominated by several shouting matches with Democrats, including a tense back-and-forth with Adam Schiff, whom Patel called a “political buffoon at best.”
“Both of you be quiet!” the committee’s chair, Chuck Grassley, shouted at one point as he attempted to gavel the meeting back to order. The pair’s acrimony goes way back: Patel and Schiff were on opposing sides of what Patel called the “Russiagate” inquiry into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, as well as several other matters in the years since.
Pursuing the death penalty: “I do not take this decision lightly,” Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray said after announcing that he would seek the death penalty for Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused of killing Charlie Kirk.
Gray released a trove of evidence from the case, including a number of messages Robinson allegedly sent in the hours following the shooting. “Why did I do it?” Robinson is accused of writing in a text to his roommate. “Because I’ve had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”
More: Republicans Have ‘No Concern’ That Trump Is Using the Military to Kill Alleged Drug Smugglers, by Haley Byrd Wilt
NOT US
- How Weed Legalization Went Wrong in a Deep Red State, by Paul Demko for Politico
- Joe Biden Is Struggling to Cash In on His Presidency, by Emily Glazer, Annie Linskey and Erich Schwartzel for The Wall Street Journal
- The Commerce Secretary, a Gilded Hotel and Claims of a Secret Plan, by Michael Rothfeld, Maureen Farrell and Jodi Kantor for The New York Times
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