7. Former Alabama state senator pleads guilty to felony theft
- On Tuesday, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced that former State Senator Zeb Little (D-Cullman) was convicted of two counts of felony theft after Little, an attorney, admitted to unlawfully taking client funds from his trust account.
- Little agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $74,043.44 after an investigation showed that he would transfer money to himself that was intended to pay the medical bills of clients in personal injury cases. Little represented the 4th district from 1998 to 2010.
6. Army soldier wanted to attack CNN and Beto O’Rourke
- U.S. Army Private Jarrett William Smith has been charged with distributing bomb-making material, seeking to join a radical terror group and target CNN “with a large vehicle bomb.”
- Smith allegedly went in chat rooms and discussed targeting CNN and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke using explosives “in the style of the Afghans,” and told federal agents, “Oh yeah, I got knowledge of IEDs for days.”
5. John Merrill calls for ‘comprehensive immigration reform’
- Secretary of State John Merrill expressed that the issue he is hearing the most about on the campaign trail is immigration, but he stressed the solution is more than just building a wall.
- Merrill said, “I’m not talking about legal status, I’m talking about legal employment status. The thing that is so important and very significant.” He tied the issue to employers who are looking for workers and view this as a source of labor.
4. ALFA endorses Tuberville and others
- The Alabama Farmers Federation’s FARMPAC has endorsed former Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville in the U.S. Senate GOP primary in what will definitely be seen as a big boost for his campaign.
- ALFA also endorsed President Donald Trump and a slew of other candidates. This endorsement carries weight as 161 of 163 ALFA-endorsed candidates won in the last elections.
3. Trump will release the controversial transcript
- President Trump tweeted on Tuesday that he will release the transcript of the July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which they supposedly discussed investigating former Vice President Joe Biden and his family.
- The release is expected Wednesday, and all eyes will be on the transcript as Democrats have used the whistleblower’s allegations against the president to fuel their fire for impeaching Trump, but administration officials say they will show the whistleblower had a “political bias” in favor of “a rival candidate.”
2. Nancy Pelosi doesn’t need evidence for impeachment
- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has officially announced her impeachment inquiry into the president, stating that “the president must be held accountable for his betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and the betrayal of the integrity of our elections.”
- Pelosi’s decision seems to be fueled by the latest whistleblower nonsense, and Trump was quick to respond while live-tweeting during her announcement, saying that “they never even saw the transcript of the call. Total witch hunt!”
1. Alabama Democrats cagey on impeachment
- Pelosi has set impeachment in motion over a phone call with Ukraine’s president that involves a transcript not one House Democrat has read, a “whistleblower” report that is not out yet and it is all based on a complaint from a person that never heard the call in question.
- Alabama’s two Democrats in Washington, D.C. have been somewhat quiet. U.S. Representative Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham) appears to have joined the list of members of Congress calling for impeachment and U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) has not responded directly, even after being called out by U.S. Representative Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope), who asked, “I have a straightforward question for Alabama’s Democrat Senator Doug Jones: do you support these impeachment proceedings?”