Some things never change. The United States isn’t at war with Russia and it still doesn’t have a permanent spending plan in place for the current fiscal year.
This week’s news was a lot of last week’s news as Special Counsel John Durham’s late-week filing spilled into the weekend and onto the pages of papers, magazines, and websites all week. Michael Sussmann’s lawyers think the filing should mean his indictment gets thrown out, Durham says his evidence that Clintonworld associates snooped on the Trump campaign (and possibly the Trump White House) are airtight, and Hillary Clinton said the whole scandal was “fake.”
The world watched and waited as it entered another week on tenterhooks as Russia moved more troops onto Ukraine’s eastern border, even while saying it was pulling troops away from the front lines. Diplomatic negotiations are still happening but officials are sticking with their assessments that an invasion is “imminent.”
At least states continued to roll back mask mandates, even if the CDC is dragging its feet on recognizing “the science” and signs continue to point that an endemic COVID-19 means we are approaching a “new normal.”
Here are the quotes of the week:
“Why would she do this?” he asked. “Because she has a platform already. She doesn’t need a bigger microphone because every time she does something, or goes to Florida, or, you know, wears a dress, or says something, it’s all over the internet, right? She doesn’t need a bigger platform than what she has now.”
– Historian and author David Pietrusza questioning why Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would want to challenge Sen. Chuck Schumer in a primary.
“No. I think, based on the allegations, a tech executive and tech company used what was originally lawful access into government servers but to … gain information and to use it for an unlawful purpose.”
– Former Trump Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Special Counsel John Durham’s finding about alleged spying on the former president.
“I must say that there is always a chance. We are ready to listen to serious counterarguments. That said, I think our opportunities are far from exhausted. Of course, they should not be endless, but I think we should still continue to pursue and build on them at this point.”
– Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Russian President Vladimir Putin, discussing a diplomatic solution to the tension on Ukraine’s borders.
“I’m not going to be hypocritical on that. If it comes a week or two weeks before, like it did with our last Supreme Court nominee, I think that’s a time it should go to the next election.”
– West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin on whether the Senate should vote on another Supreme Court nominee close to the 2024 election.
“Well, I think so.”
– Former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner on whether he has changed after serving a prison sentence for sexting a minor in 2017.
“You look at the capture of power in the right wing, the ascent of white nationalism, the concentration of wealth. You cannot really animate or concentrate a movement like that — you can’t coalesce it into functional political power — without a sense of persecution or victimhood.”
– New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the concept of cancel culture.
“Big mistake. This will only make people hate Trudeau more.”
– Protester Andrew Bartley on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoking an emergency powers act to battle protesters in Ottawa.
“Higher borrowing costs also hurt consumers and small businesses, but Democrats’ inflationary spending spree in the name of COVID-19 has left the Fed with no other choice. The remnants of the Build Back Broke legislation should also go down in flames because its fiscal impact and economic distortions threaten to turn high inflation hyper.”
– Job Creators Network President and CEO Alfredo Ortiz on some of the underlying causes of the inflation the U.S. is dealing with.
“Given the money involved here, this is really unbelievable. To not know who is in charge of $60+ million collected by the national charity arm of arguably the most prominent social justice movement in the country is the worst transparency issue I have seen in my 18 years as a charity watchdog.”
– CharityWatch Executive Director Laurie Styron said about the financial transparency of Black Lives Matter.
“We will be working on a paradigm shift, and that has — in the past and maybe currently has — been treated as an overdose. Going forward, we seek to treat this as a poisoning.”
– Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announcing his state will reconsider how it classifies fentanyl overdoses.
“I’m proud to endorse Eric Schmitt for U.S. Senate in Missouri. Eric is a fighter who will hold China accountable, defend religious freedom, take on Big Tech, and he will protect American jobs.”
– Texas Sen. Ted Cruz breaking with his Senate colleague Josh Hawley in throwing his endorsement to Eric Schmitt in a crowded Missouri Senate race.
“As is often the case, we’ll process a few amendments before doing a short-term [continuing resolution],” McConnell told reporters when asked about the push on Tuesday. “I think it’ll all be worked out. There’s no danger of a government shutdown.”
– Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on the Freedom Caucus demand that funding for enforcing federal vaccine mandates are shut down before they move forward approving a national budget.
“The latest filing’s addition of partisan lawyer Marc Elias confirms the group is more political than charitable. But it also suggests that finally some left-wing heavyweights have begun to deal with the embarrassing mess made by a major activist group the institutional Left has failed to, pardon the term, police.”
– Scott Walter, the president of the Capital Research Center, a conservative investigative nonprofit group.
“There seems to be very little daylight between the Democratic Party and Black Lives Matter. An avowedly Marxist organization is now being represented by the most prominent Democratic Party lawyer in the country. … Does that say more about BLM or more about the party operatives that are now seemingly running the show there?”
– Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, a conservative legal foundation.
“We are assessing the most important factors based on where we are in the pandemic and will soon put guidance in place that is relevant and encourages prevention measures when they are most needed to protect public health and our hospitals,”
– CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on plans to update mask guidance.
“I fail to see why any journalist felt the need to report on a shop owner making such a insignificant donation rather than to get them harassed. Journalists need to do better.”
– Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar blasting a Canadian journalist for sharing the name of a donor to the “Freedom Convoy” on Twitter.
“There are multiple scenarios in which a Russian invasion of Ukraine turns out even worse for the United States and our allies than Afghanistan did.”
– Ambassador Nathan Sales on how Biden’s actions in Afghanistan are coloring his administration’s moves with Russia.
“There’s what Russia says, and there’s what Russia does, and we haven’t seen any pullback of its forces. They remained massed in a very threatening way along Ukraine’s borders,” said
– Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Russia moving more troops to Ukraine’s border after announcing it was pulling back.
“Our criminal justice system is clearly broken. It is nearly impossible to believe that someone can attempt murder on Monday and walk out of jail on Wednesday. Sadly, like others who suffer from a broken system, my team and family have been traumatized again by this news.”
– Louisville mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg, speaking about the activist who allegedly shot up his campaign headquarters being out on bail days later.
“After spending time with Harriet, it is readily apparent she will always listen and prioritize the needs of her local communities and is focused on tackling our nation’s biggest problems.”
– House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy endorsing Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney’s primary challenger.
“You shouldn’t have 2-year-old toddlers being required to wear masks, not only when they’re inside but when they’re outside on the playground. It should be up to parents and guardians whether or not these little toddlers have to wear masks. It shouldn’t be up to the Biden mask police.”
– South Dakota Sen. John Thune in his effort to nullify mask mandates in Head Start programs around the country.
“It’s a joke, it’s theater, and there’s no reason to be wearing them on the planes,” Paul said on Newsmax Wednesday. “We are just punishing ourselves. And I, for one, I’m tired of paying the airlines to be treated like crap when I get on the plane.”
– Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul on having to wear a mask on airplanes.
“I know in my heart that we did our duty that day. … I kept my oath even though it hurt.”
– Former Vice President Mike Pence at an event at Stanford explaining how he felt about his actions on Jan. 6.
“It is not in the United States interest to extend our security umbrella further and further into Eastern Europe. There are no vital interests at stake for the United States in Ukraine.”
– Dan Caldwell, vice president for foreign policy at Stand Together, on whether the U.S. should consider allowing Ukraine to join NATO.
