Menendez: Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey says he will appeal his corruption conviction. A federal jury found Menendez guilty on all 16 counts including accepting bribes and working for a foreign government. Many of his colleagues are calling on him to resign and say if he refuses to resign they’ll move to expel him from the Senate. Menendez, a Democrat, decided not to seek the Democratic nomination to run for another tern in the Senate but says he will run as an independent.
Supreme Court: The Washington Post reports that President Biden is poised to push for imposing term limits on Supreme Court justices who currently are appointed to lifetime positions on the court. Biden also will endorse ethics reforms for the court, according to the reporting. CNN reported that Biden had told members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus that he is consulting with constitutional lawyers about reforming the Supreme Court. So far during his term, Biden has not taken action on suggestions that the control of the conservative majority on the court could be diluted by appointing additional justices.
Iranian plot: CNN reported that the Secret Service increased protection for Donald Trump after the National Security Council provided intelligence that Iran had developed a plot to assassinate Trump. The Secret Service reportedly shared the information with the Trump campaign. CNN says the Secret Service warned the Trump campaign about the dangers of holding outdoor campaign events such as the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump was injured by a bullet that hit his right ear.
Assault rifles: President Biden, speaking at the NAACP convention in Las Vegas, called for a ban on AR-15 assault rifles and similar weapons. The shooter who tried to kill Donald Trump was using an AR-style weapon. Biden noted that when he was a senator in 1994 he negotiated a ban on assault rifles that remained in effect for a decade. Biden pointed out that more children in the U.S. die from gunshots than any other cause.
GOP convention: Donald Trump returned to the convention hall in Milwaukee where the Republican National Convention was in its second day. Trump watched as a number of politicians who previously had opposed him went on stage to make speeches throwing their support behind him. Two of them, former Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, urged fellow Republicans to unite behind Trump. Haley reminded Republicans that not all voters want another Trump presidency and urged the party not to exclude people who have centrist political views.
Navarro released: Peter Navarro, who served in the White House as an advisor to Donald Trump, was released from a federal prison in Miami this morning. Navarro had served a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress. Navarro was unable to obtain a delay in his sentence while he pursued an appeal but says he will continue his appeal in the hope of having his conviction overturned. Navarro had argued that he was trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election at the direction of Trump and whatever he did was protected by executive privilege.
