Top of the Fold

• DOJ investigating Trump’s actions related to J6: In its ongoing criminal probe into the January 6 Capitol riot, the Justice Department recently acknowledged that it is investigating Donald Trump’s actions surrounding the 2020 election results as part of its overall investigation. This acknowledgement makes it official and not mere media churn, though, admittedly, it is hard to distinguish between what is and is not churn. It is likely that Joe Biden’s DOJ timed this announcement to coincide with Trump’s recent return to DC. Furthermore, this also may be an effort to bait Trump into running. As is so often the case with these high-profile DOJ investigations, charges are rarely ever raised. Even the language used by the DOJ announcing that the agency is investigating Trump’s “actions” rather than Trump himself may be a tell that this is more of a political calculus than a criminal concern. What Democrats want is the ability to paint Trump as a criminal while not actually preventing him from running.

• Hulu caves to Democrats’ ad demands: The popular TV streaming service Hulu recently gave in to leftist demands and reversed its ban on airing political ads. Social justice warriors complained on social media that Hulu was blocking their hot-button ads on issues like guns and abortion. After the blowback, Hulu, which is partnered with Disney, responded, “After a thorough review of ad policies across its linear networks and streaming platforms over the last few months, Disney is now aligning Hulu’s political advertising policies to be consistent with the Company’s general entertainment and sports cable networks and ESPN+.” The question is, will Hulu similarly allow conservatives to run political ads as well? That appears to be an open question given the rest of Hulu’s statement: “Hulu will now accept candidate and issue advertisements covering a wide spectrum of policy positions, but reserves the right to request edits or alternative creative, in alignment with industry standards.”

• Senator Collins blasts Biden over fentanyl crisis: “We have to face the very unpleasant truth that what we’re doing is not working,” stated Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) during a hearing on the growing fentanyl crisis. With U.S. overdose deaths tied to fentanyl topping 79,000 in 2021, Collins blasted Joe Biden’s open-border policy. “I’ve been to the border with Mexico,” she observed.“I’ve talked with the Border Patrol officers out on their midnight shift, and they’ve expressed such frustration that they have had to divert their resources to handling the tremendous influx of people crossing the border, rather than focusing on illicit drug interdiction.” Collins concludes: “That our inability to secure the border has an adverse impact and contributes directly to our inability to stop the flow of drugs into this country. The data overwhelmingly demonstrate [that], whether you look at national data, or data from the state of Maine. Last year, fentanyl was involved in 77% of deadly overdoses in Maine. That’s a dramatic increase.”

Headlines

• GDP fell 0.9% in the second quarter, the second straight decline and a strong recession signal (CNBC)

• Fed raises interest rates by 75 basis points in another historic move to tackle inflation (Fox Business)

• Wobbly Joe Manchin agrees to vastly pared back version of Build Back Better (Fox News) | Don’t count your chickens: Kyrsten Sinema may be the wrench in the plan (RedState)

• Wide-eyed clip of Joe Biden ranting about “insurrection” raises eyebrows (RedState)

• Senate passes bipartisan bill to subsidize U.S.-made semiconductor chips (WaPo)

• Biden admin sued for holding school lunch money hostage over “transgender” policies (PJ Media)

• How the state is using gender ideology to steal children away from their parents (Washington Examiner)

• Hunter Biden’s biz partner called Joe Biden “the Big Guy” in panicked message (NY Post)

• Taco damage: Biden hits an astonishing new low with Hispanic voters (Townhall)

• Man charged in attempted assassination of Kavanaugh hoped to kill three Supreme Court justices (Just the News)

• U.S. looks to swap Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan for Russian arms dealer (Bloomberg)

• Leftist George Washington University mob cancels Justice Thomas (Fox News)

• “Father’s milk”: Guidance for U.S. hospitals encourages gender-neutral language (TND)

• Policy: Amid recession fears, economically free states continue to outperform (RCP)

• Policy: Republicans need to investigate the pandemic response (National Review)

• Humor: Biden accidentally signs executive order doubling all student debt (Genesius Times)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit Headline Report.