Trudeau apologizes for tribute to vet who fought in WWII Nazi unit

OTTAWA, Ont. — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he is offering “Parliament’s unreserved apologies” to the world, several days following scandalous revelations that lawmakers mistakenly praised a man who fought in a Nazi division in WWII.

“This is a mistake that deeply embarrassed Parliament and Canada,” Trudeau said Wednesday in a televised address ahead of his apology in the House of Commons.

He acknowledged the incident during President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Ottawa visit struck a blow to Ukraine’s public relations efforts as it tries to rally support for its fight against Russia as Moscow uses the debacle to its advantage.

“All of us who were in this House on Friday regret deeply having stood and clapped, even though we did so unaware of the context,” he said.

“It was a horrendous violation of the memory of the millions of people who died in the Holocaust and it was deeply, deeply painful for Jewish people. It also hurt Polish people, Roma people, to LGBTQI+ people, disabled people, racialized people and the many millions who were targeted by the Nazi genocide.”

Trudeau did not take questions from reporters and pointed blame at the House of Commons speaker.

This follows the delayed resignation on Wednesday of the speaker, Anthony Rota, who has assumed responsibility for inviting Yaroslav Hunka, 98, to Parliament and publicly praising him as a Ukrainian and Canadian “hero,” netting Hunka a standing ovation from Canadian politicians and Zelenskyy.

Rota apologized for the incident after it came out that Hunka served in the First Ukrainian Division, also known as the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS under the Nazis.

Trudeau’s Liberals have squarely blamed Rota for causing the incident. But the opposition Conservatives blame Trudeau.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who is surging ahead of Trudeau in the polls, said it has left Canada’s image in tatters.

“This is by far the biggest hit Canada’s diplomatic reputation has ever taken in its history,” he told reporters Tuesday.

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Christie is in on the Taylor Swift hype — and using it to attack Trump

Presidential candidate Chris Christie seized an opportunity to make a playful Taylor Swift reference — while throwing in a jab at former President Donald Trump — hours before the second Republican debate Wednesday.

“I was just a guy in the bleachers on Sunday... but after tonight, Trump will know we are never ever getting back together,” the former New Jersey governor wrote on social media, borrowing from the pop singer’s iconic lyrics.

Christie's dig was in response to a photo posted to social media of Christie sitting alongside Dallas Cowboys owner and Republican donor Jerry Jones during the Cowboys' game against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, accompanied by a user's joking question: “Ooooh who on the Cowboys is Chris Christie dating?!” The question nodded to the internet frenzy over rumors that Swift is dating Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce, fueled by her attendance at a recent game with Kelce’s mother.

Christie has openly attacked Trump since launching his campaign, and the post likely foreshadows more attempts to position himself as a foil to the former president during Wednesday's debate.

The former governor has been polling in the low single digits, and although some of his rivals have breached the low teens in the polls, none come close to clear Republican frontrunner Trump. Unlike several other GOP contenders, Christie has ruled out joining a Trump 2024 ticket as vice president.

Christie’s campaign previously confirmed to POLITICO that he is committed to staying in the race until the New Hampshire primary.

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San Francisco’s mayor wants drug testing for welfare recipients

SAN FRANCISCO — Recipients of public assistance — in a city once known for its embrace of counterculture drugs — would have to submit to tests for substance use under a proposal announced Tuesday by Mayor London Breed as she faces mounting pressure to address San Francisco’s fentanyl epidemic.

Breed, who is running for reelection in 2024, outlined the plan the same day that an heir to the Levi Strauss & Co. fortune launched his own mayoral bid, arguing that his incumbent opponent had let the drug and homelessness crises fester under her watch.

Her proposal — which progressive critics immediately compared to Republican-style welfare mandates — would require all recipients of locally-funded cash assistance participate in a substance abuse treatment program if screening showed drug use.

“No more handouts without accountability,” Breed said at a City Hall news conference. “People are not accepting help. Now, it’s time to make sure that we are cutting off resources that continue to allow this behavior.”

The proposal from the Democratic mayor of this ultra-liberal city reflects the depth of frustration with a fentanyl crisis that has led to record overdoses, turned parts of downtown into open-air drug markets and is correlated with an increase in car break-ins and other property crime.

It follows similar moves by leaders of other blue cities like New York and Portland, who are pushing forced treatment for mentally ill residents and sweeps of homelessness encampments that were once anathema to the Democratic Party. Breed, and her big city counterparts, are taking more drastic measures around the intertwined problems of drug use, homelessness and mental health to show voters they’re serious about public safety concerns.

Breed has increasingly leaned into tough-on-crime rhetoric in recent months as she faces political headwinds and a growing field of challengers. On Tuesday, she defended her welfare proposal with a Clinton-esque commentary about the need for incentives that make subsidies contingent on personal responsibility.

But she faces a tough road getting the progressive-leaning Board of Supervisors to go along with her proposal. Several were swift to call her plan inhumane and politically-motivated. About a dozen states, mostly deep-red, require drug testing for welfare recipients.

Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, a progressive and potential rival in the mayoral race, said Breed is deflecting because she has failed to work with the police department to effectively close open-air markets for drugs and stolen goods.

“These are serious times in San Francisco — and we need serious ideas, not politicians desperately grasping for a political lifeline,” he said.

Breed announced her proposal on the same morning that Daniel Lurie, a longtime nonprofit executive and Levi Strauss heir, formally announced he will challenge her in next year’s election.

Lurie told a crowd of hundreds of supporters that he would seek to dramatically increase San Francisco’s police presence to respond to the crises that have roiled its streets.

“My administration will finally slam the door shut on the era of open-air drug markets and end the perception that lawlessness is an acceptable part of life in San Francisco,” he said during a rally at a community center in Potrero Hill.

Several details of Breed’s drug testing proposal are unclear, including which specific drugs would be tested for. Her office said she would unveil the text of the legislation in the coming weeks.

Supervisor Matt Dorsey, a recovering addict and former spokesperson for the police department, is carrying the measure with Breed. He said more coercive incentives are needed to get people into treatment, especially amid the “unprecedented loss of life in San Francisco” due to drug overdoses.

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Trump expands criminal defense team

Donald Trump has added at least two veteran attorneys to help defend him in his multiple criminal cases.

Emil Bove, a former federal prosecutor who was co-chief of the national security unit at the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, and Kendra Wharton, a seasoned white collar defense lawyer with Capitol Hill ties, have signed onto the legal team organized by Trump attorney Todd Blanche.

In recent days, Bove joined Blanche’s firm, while Wharton launched her own firm and is expected to partner with Blanche, according to two people close to the legal team granted anonymity to discuss personnel decisions. Bove and Wharton are expected to work on Trump’s criminal matters, including the New York criminal case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the federal cases filed by special counsel Jack Smith. Trump is also facing a fourth criminal case in Fulton County, Ga., and has hired a separate defense team for that matter.

The additions are the most significant new legal hires in months for Trump as he prepares for multiple criminal trials scheduled for next year. Bove and Wharton are expected to help fill out a team that was, in some ways, hobbled by the abrupt departures of veteran lawyers John Rowley, Tim Parlatore and James Trusty around the time Trump was indicted by a Florida grand jury in June.

Since then, Blanche, also an alumnus of the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, has emerged as the architect of Trump’s multi-front legal battle, and the new hires further solidify his imprint on some of the most significant criminal cases in American history.

“Emil is an expert in white collar and CIPA-related litigation and his trial skills are among the best in the business,” Blanche said in a statement, referencing the Classified Information Procedures Act, the federal law governing the use of classified documents in criminal cases. “We are thrilled and lucky to have him on our team defending President Trump and all of our other clients."

“Kendra is a brilliant lawyer and clients have trusted her for years,” Blanche continued, “and is providing the same excellent service to our team that has been her signature for many years.”

Blanche’s hires coincide with Smith’s own addition to his team. He recently added Alex Whiting, a longtime war crimes prosecutor who worked as Smith’s deputy at the Hague.

While working as a federal prosecutor, Bove handled matters including the investigation of Guo Wengui, an ally of Steve Bannon who was indicted earlier this year on charges that he and his financier orchestrated a more than $1 billion fraud scheme.

Bove also worked on the prosecution of Cesar Sayoc Jr., who pleaded guilty to mailing pipe bombs to Trump critics. Bove is currently listed as a partner at Blanche’s firm, which notes his “extensive trial and appellate experience.”

Wharton spent a decade working at Blanche’s former firm, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, before launching her own in recent weeks. Before that, she spent four years working for Sen. Mitch McConnell as a legislative aide.

During her tenure at Cadwalader, Wharton defended companies and corporate executives in investigations led by the Justice Department, SEC and other federal agencies. She has also managed internal corporate investigations and their responses to congressional inquiries.

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Cannabis bill imperiled by GOP ‘proxy war’ over guns, oil and crypto

Republicans were on the cusp of helping Democrats pass a landmark cannabis bill. Now a GOP feud over guns, oil and cryptocurrency may blow it all up.

The bill at issue — more than a decade in the making — is designed to make it easier for banks to serve the marijuana industry in states where the drug is legal. But Republicans are threatening to sink the measure over what was meant to be a conservative sweetener: a set of protections for businesses like gun sellers and other industries GOP lawmakers say face unfair scrutiny under Democratic administrations.

The provision would prevent regulators from forcing banks to close the accounts of customers that pose risks to their reputation. And now, on the eve of a Senate committee vote Wednesday, a fierce GOP disagreement over whether the protections are strong enough to protect firearms, energy and crypto businesses is threatening to erode Republican support in the Senate and make the bill unpalatable to the House.

The feud imperiling the bill underscores the immense political challenge that Washington policymakers face in easing federal cannabis restrictions even on the edges, despite 38 states legalizing some form of marijuana. The legislation has received a powerful lobbying boost from lenders. But the latest roadblock raises doubts about the future of other incremental steps to resolve the federal-state disconnect over the legality of the drug. It’s also triggered concerns from Democrats who want more comprehensive cannabis decriminalization.

"The marijuana policy reform movement has become a proxy war for other interests,” said longtime cannabis advocate Justin Strekal, founder of the Better Organizing to Win Legalization PAC. “It's really frustrating to be in the middle of this."

Republican lawmakers and aides are scrambling to resolve the dispute. Arizona Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema — who has ties to conservatives in the House and Senate — is among those Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has tapped to help tamp down tensions.

"The Senate's rewrite … throws out carefully crafted bipartisan work and crams in gross overreach to potentially crush industries not in line with the president's agenda,” Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) said. “As it's currently written, it is dead on arrival in the House.”

This week is a pivotal moment in cannabis policy because it’s the first time that the Senate has taken up the marijuana banking bill, which has taken shape over the last several years in the House.

The bill’s backers have long argued that the proposal is a critical public safety measure. Banks have been reticent to serve cannabis shops and related businesses because marijuana is still illegal at a federal level, leaving dispensaries to transact in cash that puts them at risk for theft.

The bill had a breakthrough in 2019 when its House backers enticed cannabis-skeptical Republicans to sign on by including a measure that would shield the bank accounts of gun shops and other businesses that conservatives argue were under threat.

The addition to the bill tapped into lingering GOP angst over the Obama-era “Operation Choke Point” anti-fraud initiative that conservatives said threatened banking services for gun sellers and payday lenders.

The move enabled the House to pass the bill in a 321-103 vote with nearly half of the GOP conference supporting it.

“My guess is we’ll be able to work with the Senate on this and get this thing passed and to the White House,” then-Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), the bill’s lead champion, told reporters after the vote in 2019.

But the Senate didn’t take it up, and the legislation languished until this year, when Schumer decided to use Democrats’ expanded majority to act on cannabis policy. He turned to Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) — who is leading GOP efforts to win back the Senate — to shore up Republican support.

The effort hit an unexpected snag in May when Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), a senior member of the Banking Committee, warned that the account closure restrictions would have the dangerous effect of preventing bank regulatory agencies from policing activity that could put banks at risk.

Democrats and Republicans agreed to water down the restrictions by giving bank regulators like the FDIC and the Federal Reserve more flexibility to intervene when they spot risky account activity.

But the compromise rattled the bipartisan coalition around the bill. It prompted Gun Owners of America, a nonprofit advocacy group, to blast the legislation as a threat to gun stores. Senate and House Republicans began to speak out, leaving GOP backers like Daines and Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) scrambling to shore up support on the right.

Sinema, a Senate Banking member who worked closely with Republicans when she was a member of the House Financial Services Committee, has jumped in to smooth things over.

In an interview, Sinema said she has been talking with Luetkemeyer and Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) about “what a path forward looks like, and how to actually get this bill across the finish line into the president's desk.”

“You want to make sure that a company that's doing solar panels, or cannabis, isn't discriminated against because someone doesn't like that industry," Sinema said. “It’s policy neutral.”

Any attempt to resolve the situation via amendments will have to thread the needle between appeasing House Republicans and Senate Democrats who have been at odds over the account protection proposal.

Pre-baked House Republican buy-in is key because of the high hurdles those conservatives pose even if the Senate can pass the cannabis banking bill on a bipartisan basis.

“This is probably the last stop on the train,” one Senate Republican aide granted anonymity to speak about the negotiations told POLITICO. “If it doesn't pass this time, it's probably gonna be really tough to pass, ever.”

Complicating the math during Wednesday's vote will be the expected absence of Senate Banking's top Republican, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, as well as Democratic Sens. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Tina Smith of Minnesota. They could still ask the committee to record their votes through a proxy.

But another threat hangs over the bill: jockeying among Democrats over attaching legislation to expunge cannabis criminal records — an enticement for the left that Schumer has agreed to incorporate when the banking bill reaches the floor.

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The five most eye-opening lines in the Amazon lawsuit

A heavily redacted, 172-page lawsuit reveals how Amazon allegedly orchestrated a long-running campaign to muscle out competitors from the online retail space by financially squeezing merchants who rely on its platform.

It’s a landmark case that will cement the legacy of FTC Chair Lina Khan, who first gained public attention going after Amazon. It’s also a key pillar in the Biden administration’s push to curb the alleged monopoly power of the nation’s largest tech companies.

“There is immediate harm that is ongoing here,” Khan said Tuesday. “Sellers are paying one of every two dollars to Amazon. Shoppers are paying higher prices as a result not just on Amazon but across the internet.”

Amazon, though, said a win for the Biden administration will hurt competition, and reduce the options for small businesses to market their products online.

Here are five of the toughest things the FTC says about Amazon in the suit:

1: The government accused Amazon executives of obstructing its investigation, claiming they used encrypted apps like Signal to communicate: “Plaintiffs bring this lawsuit despite Amazon's extensive efforts to impede the government's investigation and hide information about its internal operations.”

2. Amazon allegedly uses a price-surveillance team to crawl the internet to ensure vendors are not selling items at lower prices elsewhere: “Amazon understands the importance of maintaining the perception among shoppers that it has the lowest prices. But in reality, Amazon relentlessly stifles actual price competition by punishing sellers who offer lower prices anywhere other than Amazon and disciplining rivals that undercut Amazon’s prices.”

3. Amazon executives wanted to eliminate a popular program that allowed sellers to ship Prime items through other companies: “Amazon’s fear of a world in which unrestricted seller choice leads to increased competition is grounded in experience. For a period of time, Amazon temporarily allowed sellers to use their own fulfillment solution for Prime-eligible orders. When Amazon realized it had lowered a barrier to competition, it quickly reversed course.”

4. With no competitors to threaten it, Amazon has hammered vendors with fees: “Amazon has hiked so steeply the fees it charges sellers that it now reportedly takes close to half of every dollar from the typical seller that uses Amazon's fulfillment service. Amazon recognizes that sellers find ‘that it has become more difficult over time to be profitable on Amazon’ … But as one seller explains, ‘we have nowhere else to go and Amazon knows it.’”

5. Amazon is using a pay-to-play scheme for placing its ads that customers don’t like: “Most sellers must now pay for advertising to reach Amazon's massive base of online shoppers, while shoppers consequently face less relevant search results and are steered toward more expensive products … In a competitive world, Amazon's decision to raise prices and degrade services would create an opening for rivals and potential rivals to attract business, gain momentum, and grow. But Amazon has engaged in an unlawful monopolistic strategy to close off that possibility.”

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Canada’s speaker resigns after inviting man who fought in Nazi unit to Zelenskyy visit

OTTAWA, Ont. — The Speaker of Canada’s House of Commons resigned on Tuesday after quick and fierce backlash for honoring a man who fought in a Nazi division during World War II.

Anthony Rota made a sudden but not unexpected announcement to the House of Commons to express “profound regret” and said he would step down as speaker by end of day Wednesday.

“That public recognition has caused pain to individuals and communities, including the Jewish community in Canada and around the world, in addition to survivors of Nazi atrocities in Poland, among other nations,” he said.

Canadian lawmakers gave a standing ovation to Yaroslav Hunka, 98, after Rota recognized him as a “hero” following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s historic speech in Parliament on Friday — a moment that produced some of the best visuals from Zelenskyy’s visit.

But the story took a twisted turn and burst into global headlines over the weekend when it came out that Hunka was part of the First Ukrainian Division, also known as the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS under the Nazis.

“This was an embarrassment to Canadians and was completely unacceptable,” Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said Tuesday before meeting with Cabinet.

Some opposition parties began to make calls for Rota’s resignation early Monday, when NDP House Leader Peter Julian said Rota broke a “sacred trust” with lawmakers.

But the issue only came to a head on Tuesday, when representatives of each party met with Rota. He remained in the speaker’s chair and presided over House of Commons proceedings Monday after apologizing despite much of the debate focusing on him.

Liberal House Leader Karina Gould said Rota invited and recognized Hunka “without informing either the government or the Ukrainian delegation or any parliamentarian that he was going to do this.”

Rota apologized on Monday after he became aware of Hunka’s Nazi past, although his comments have been brief and he has not taken questions from the media.

“I am deeply sorry that I have offended many with my gesture and remarks,” he said in Parliament.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called it “deeply embarrassing” for Canada, but he has not apologized following calls from opposition parties.

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre posted on social media that Trudeau and Rota have “brought shame on Canada” but Rota’s resignation does not excuse “Trudeau’s failure to have his massive diplomatic and intelligence apparatus vet and prevent honoring a Nazi.”

State Department spokesperson Matt Miller was asked about the bizarre incident at his daily briefing in Washington and said “The Canadian government said they were not aware of that individual's past and expressed regret for it, and that seems like the appropriate step.”

In Ottawa, some of Rota’s colleagues stepped forward to defend his character.

“I was elected with Anthony in 2004,” said Health Minister Mark Holland. “He’s a profoundly good man.”

Citizens' Services Minister Terry Beech described it a “regrettable mistake” and said “nobody has been harder on Anthony Rota than Anthony Rota.”

The Liberals tried to strike the comments and recordings of Hunka’s recognition from the House of Commons record on Monday but the other parties opposed the move.

“It was an ugly reminder of what survivors of the Holocaust know too well: that we must never forget,” said Conservative MP Marty Morantz. “Deleting the text of the speaker's words from [the official record] would have only one purpose: to try to forget what happened and wash the record clean.”

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