How did Hunter Biden spend the weekend after the surprise news that a federal probe into his financial activities could intensify? The president’s son was in metro Atlanta for a family bar mitzvah.
Hunter Biden’s wife Melissa has deep roots in the Atlanta Jewish community, and her nephew celebrated his coming-of-age ceremony at Congregation Etz Chaim in east Cobb County on Saturday.
The celebration’s program showed that Hunter Biden played a part in the Saturday services, reading the traditional “prayer for our country” in English. We’re told that it was “business as usual” at the congregation and that it was a “lovely and joyful” occasion.
United States Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday shocked Washington, D.C. by appointing a special counsel in the investigation into Biden.
The politically charged case seemed resolved until a few weeks ago, when a plea agreement on tax and gun charges collapsed. Now David Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware, has new authority to investigate and report his findings.
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Credit: Alyssa Pointer
Credit: Alyssa Pointer
INDICTMENT WATCH. All signs point to an announcement from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis as early as Tuesday on whether she’ll seek criminal election interference charges against former President Donald Trump and his allies.
Over the weekend, the AJC reported that former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and independent journalist George Chidi both received notifications to testify to the grand jury on Tuesday.
Willis is expected to begin presenting her case today.
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Credit: Steve Schaefer/AJC
Credit: Steve Schaefer/AJC
LIKE OXYGEN. With the national spotlight on Georgia intensifying this week, elections official Gabriel Sterling appeared on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday to discuss the potential indictment of former President Donald Trump in Fulton County.
Sterling, chief operating officer for the Georgia secretary of state, said he worries about the potential violence an indictment could cause. Additionally, he voiced his belief that the legal machinations have been “like oxygen” to the Trump campaign.
“He’s making himself a martyr, and a lot of the American people are going behind him because they feel like some of these things are a little bit of a stretch,” Sterling said.
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NEW NORMAL? Former President Donald Trump’s top foil in the GOP nomination race, Chris Christie, expressed doubts about Trump’s electability in a Sunday morning TV interview.
In his discussion with ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl, the former New Jersey governor noted that if Trump is indicted this week in Fulton County, the Republican front-runner will be campaigning while on bail in four jurisdictions.
Trump is already under indictment in New York City, Miami and Washington, D.C.
“I think all of these things are things people are going to have to process for the very first time in a presidential race,” Christie said. “And what I think Republican voters have to ask themselves is two things: First is, is he really the guy under indictment in four different cases, given the conduct that he committed, someone who can beat Joe Biden or any other Democrat in November 2024? And when are we going to stop pretending that this is normal?”
Christie is among more than a dozen GOP candidates for president. He is polling around 5%, far behind Trump, the favorite of more than 50% of those surveyed in most polls.
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Credit: City of Morrow
Credit: City of Morrow
BILINGUAL BACKLASH. Morrow will add a voter referendum to the Nov. 7 election asking residents whether to add ballots in Spanish and Vietnamese in future elections.
The decision by officials of the Atlanta suburb came after Morrow City Councilwoman Dorothy Dean said her colleague Van Tran “dishonored” her office and “failed as a citizen of this country” by pushing for multilingual ballots.
Residents have rallied around Tran since Dean’s comments. Tran said she was thankful for the outpouring of support — and the council vote last week to put the referendum on the ballot.
“I am so glad the community united to make it happen,” said Tran. “Together, our voice will be heard.”
Dean, meanwhile, recently told WSB that she stood by her comments.
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Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
2026 WATCH. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr isn’t denying the AJC’s report that he’s telling activists and officials he plans to run for governor in 2026.
In an interview with WRBL’s Chuck Williams, the Republican said he is focused on his job and helping GOP candidates win in 2024. But he conceded he’s also “looking long term.”
Said Carr: “We have had some great governors in this state. I have had some conversations with some folks, but that will take care of itself when it does. We’ve got to keep our eyes on the ball.”
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SIGN HERE. Organizers hoping to secure a referendum to reverse the lease agreement between the City of Atlanta and Atlanta Police Foundation for the construction of a public safety training center announced they’ve collected close to 80,000 signatures, the AJC’s Jozsef Papp reports. That’s well beyond the 58,000 signatures that organizers say they need.
Seeking the additional signatories is a strategic move. The group hopes to collect more than 100,000 signatures, as they expect city officials to throw out many signatures during a 50-day review that begins next Monday.
The announcement comes just days after the city council announced it may hire outside counsel to assist in the massive signature verification process.
Even with the signatures in hand, the fate of the referendum could be decided in the courtroom. Both opponents and city officials have filed multiple legal motions. The city has called the referendum effort “invalid” and “futile” and is appealing a federal judge’s ruling that allowed organizers an additional 60 days and for non-Atlanta residents to collect the signatures.
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SCOTUS REFORM CALLS. New revelations about U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s history of vacation largesse drew a rebuke from Thomas’s fellow Georgian, U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson.
ProPublica reported Aug. 10 that Thomas, a Savannah native, has been gifted at least 38 destination vacations, 26 private jet flights, multiple VIP passes to sporting events and two resort stays in his 32 years on the court. The favors came from three billionaires in addition to Harlan Crow, who had previously been linked to Thomas.
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
Several Democratic lawmakers called for Thomas’s resignation in the wake of the report. Johnson, a Democrat from Lithonia, is pushing for passage of an accountability standard through the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act, or SCERT.
In a social media post, Johnson labeled Thomas’s relationship with wealthy benefactors as “corruption” and wrote “We need Court reform now — bring my #SCERT Act for a vote.”
Johnson re-introduced the bill in the House in February, and a companion measure is being considered in the Senate.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON
- President Joe Biden has no public events scheduled but will have lunch at the White House with Vice President Kamala Harris.
- The House and Senate are out until after Labor Day.
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CHARITY FRAUD. A man who has worked as a campaign manager and political consultant to U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, was among three people implicated in a charity scam centered around the February train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
In a settlement agreement with the Ohio Attorney General’s office, Isaiah Wartman will pay $22,000 in restitution to a local food bank and $3,000 in investigative costs and fees, according to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.
Wartman was Greene’s campaign manager in 2020 when she was first elected to Congress. Wartman was listed as a Greene political consultant as recently as May.
The two others involved in the scheme, Luke Mahoney and Michael Peppel, will pay fines as well. Peppel co-founded the fake charity named the Ohio Clean Water Fund while Wartman and Mahoney raised funds. The duo told donors they were collecting for an East Palestine area food bank. Of the nearly $149,000 donated, the charity only distributed $10,000.
Wartman told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he and Mahoney had no control over how the funds were spent by Peppel and the charity’s board.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
DOG OF THE DAY. Journalists frequently spend hours with people parroting politicians, so why not spend the morning with the parrot of a renowned journalist?
Meet Chia Latham, the 27-year-old grand-parrot of Lee Rogers, who was a former movie critic and managing editor of The Atlanta Constitution.
A reliable source tells us Chia is a regular reader of the print edition of the AJC, if only in the bottom of his cage. And as a Severe macaw, his hobbies are screaming and shredding items into small pieces (newsprint being a favorite). Chia, you’ll fit right in at the state Capitol on Sine Die! And you’re our inaugural Parrot of the Day.
Send us your dogs of any political persuasion and cats on a cat-by-cat basis to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us at @MurphyAJC.
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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to adam.vanbrimmer@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
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