ВИБОРЧА ГАЗЕТА

Native News Roundup, June 19-25

Here is a summary of Native American-related news around the U.S. this week:

Mohegan chief announced as new US treasurer

For the first time in U.S. history, a Native American’s signature will appear on all U.S. currency: U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced the new U.S. treasurer: Marilynn “Lynn” Malerba, the lifetime chief of the Mohegan Tribe in Connecticut.

As treasurer, Malerba will oversee the U.S. Mint, the Bureau of Printing and Engraving and the storage of about $270 billion worth of gold at Fort Knox.

“With this announcement, we are making an even deeper commitment to Indian Country,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said during a visit to the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home of the Sicangu Lakota.

In her first official visit to Indian Country, Yellen also announced the establishment of a new Office of Tribal and Native Affairs that will coordinate the Treasury Department’s relations with tribes across the nation.

Treasury Applauds Appointment of Chief Lynn Malerba as Treasurer of the United States

Utah tribes to co-manage Bears Ears National Monument

Federal officials and leaders of five tribal nations — Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, and the Pueblo of Zuni — on June 21 signed a joint government agreement, formally reestablishing the Bears Ears Commission, which will oversee land management of the 5,500-square-kilometer (2,125-square-mile) Bears Ears National Monument.

“Today, instead of being removed from a landscape to make way for a public park, we are being invited back to our ancestral homelands to help repair them and plan for a resilient future,” said Carleton Bowekaty, Bears Ears Commission co-chair and lieutenant governor of Zuni Pueblo. “What can be a better avenue of restorative justice than giving Tribes the opportunity to participate in the management of lands their ancestors were removed from?”

In 2021, President Joe Biden restored two sprawling national monuments in southern Utah — Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante — reversing a decision by President Donald Trump that opened up Bears Ears for mining and other development.

BLM, Forest Service and Five Tribes of the Bears Ears Commission Commit to Historic Co-Management of Bears Ears National Monument

New California law honors tribal naming traditions

California Governor Gavin Newsom Wednesday signed a bill giving Native American families more time to register the births of their babies. Previously, families had 10 days to register with the state health department. But many Native families in California, as elsewhere, wait until the 10th day to name babies as part of a traditional ceremony.

Gavin Newsom Signs Jim Wood Bill Extending Birth Registration Deadline

Native pro cyclist sets alpine record

Neilson Powless, a member of the Oneida Nation in Wisconsin, on June 19 became the highest-ranked American in the pro-cycling world rankings after finishing fourth in the Tour de Suisse, a grueling nine-day, 1,300-kilometer staged race through the Swiss Alps.

See his remarks at the finish line, below.

The Tour de Suisse is considered the warm-up to the Tour de France, just a few weeks away. In 2020, Powless made headlines by becoming the first Native North American to ride in the Tour de France; he has not yet confirmed whether he’ll be on the starting list for this year’s event, which begins July 1.

Neilson Powless, Oneida, Becomes Highest Ranked American in the World of Pro-Cycling

 
…

Jan. 6 Investigators: Trump Pressured Department of Justice to Overturn 2020 Election

In the fifth public hearing this month examining the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, congressional investigators detailed how former President Donald Trump pressured the nation’s highest law enforcement officials to declare the 2020 election results invalid. As VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, those fraudulent election claims were also pushed by Republican members of Congress who later sought pardons.
Producer: Katherine Gypson
…

US Senate Approves Bipartisan Gun Violence Bill

The Senate easily approved a bipartisan gun violence bill Thursday that seemed unthinkable a month ago, setting up final approval of what will be Congress’ most far-reaching response in decades to the nation’s run of brutal mass shootings.

After years of futile Democratic efforts to curb firearms, 15 Republicans joined with them as both sides decided inaction was untenable after last month’s rampages in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas. It took weeks of closed-door talks but senators emerged with a compromise embodying incremental but impactful movement to curb bloodshed that has come to regularly shock — yet no longer surprise — the nation.

The $13 billion measure would toughen background checks for the youngest gun buyers, keep firearms from more domestic violence offenders and help states put in place red flag laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons from people adjudged dangerous. It would also fund local programs for school safety, mental health and violence prevention.

“Families in Uvalde and Buffalo, and too many tragic shootings before, have demanded action. And tonight, we acted,” President Joe Biden said after passage. He said the House should send it to him quickly, adding, “Kids in schools and communities will be safer because of it.”

The election-year package fell far short of more robust gun restrictions Democrats have sought and Republicans have thwarted for years, including bans on the assault-type weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines used in the slayings in Buffalo and Uvalde. Yet the accord let leaders of both parties declare victory and demonstrate to voters that they know how to compromise and make government work, while also leaving room for each side to appeal to its core supporters.

“This is not a cure-all for the all the ways gun violence affects our nation,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., whose party has made gun restrictions a goal for decades. “But it is a long overdue step in the right direction.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in a nod to the Second Amendment right to bear arms that drives many conservative voters, said “the American people want their constitutional rights protected and their kids to be safe in school.” He said “they want both of those things at once, and that is just what the bill before the Senate will have accomplished.”

The day proved bittersweet for advocates of curtailing gun violence. Underscoring the enduring potency of conservative cIout, the right-leaning Supreme Court issued a decision expanding the right of Americans to carry arms in public by striking down a New York law requiring people to prove a need for carrying a weapon before they get a license to do so.

McConnell hailed the justices’ decision and Senate passage of the guns bill as “complementary victories that will make our country freer and safer at the same time.”

The Senate vote on final passage was 65-33. A cluster of House Democrats who watched the vote in the chamber’s rear included Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga., whose 17-year-old son was shot to death in 2012 by a man complaining his music was too loud.

In the key roll call hours earlier, senators voted 65-34 to end a filibuster by conservative GOP senators. That was five more than the 60-vote threshold needed. The House planned to vote Friday and approval seemed certain.

On both votes, 15 Senate Republicans joined all 50 Democrats, including their two allied independents, in backing the legislation.

Yet the votes highlighted the risks Republicans face by defying the party’s pro-gun voters and firearms groups like the National Rifle Association. Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Todd Young of Indiana were the only two of the 15 up for reelection this fall. Of the rest, four are retiring and eight don’t face voters until 2026.

Tellingly, GOP senators voting “no” included potential 2024 presidential contenders like Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Tim Scott of South Carolina. Some of the party’s most conservative members voted “no” as well, including Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah.

Cruz said the legislation would “disarm law-abiding citizens rather than take serious measures to protect our children.”

John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, hailed senators who supported the measure for “coming together and putting the safety of the American people ahead of gun lobby priorities.”

While the Senate measure was a clear breakthrough, the outlook for continued congressional movement on gun curbs is dim.

Less than one-third of the Senate’s 50 GOP senators backed the measure and solid Republican opposition is certain in the House. Top House Republicans urged a “no” vote in an email from the No. 2 GOP leader, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, that called the bill “an effort to slowly chip away at law-abiding citizens’ 2nd Amendment rights.”

Both chambers — now narrowly controlled by Democrats — could well be run by the GOP after November’s midterm elections.

Senate action came one month after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers in Uvalde. Just days before that, a white man was accused of being motivated by racism as he allegedly killed 10 Black grocery shoppers in Buffalo. Both shooters were 18 years old, a youthful profile shared by many mass shooters, and the close timing of the two slaughters and victims with whom many could identify stirred a demand by voters for action, lawmakers of both parties said.

The talks were led by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C. Murphy represented Newtown, Connecticut, when an assailant killed 20 students and six staffers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, while Cornyn has been involved in past gun talks following mass shootings in his state and is close to McConnell.

Murphy said the measure would save thousands of lives and was a chance to “prove to a weary American public that democracy is not so broken that it is unable to rise to the moment.”

“I don’t believe in doing nothing in the face of what we saw in Uvalde” and elsewhere, Cornyn said.

The bill would make the local juvenile records of people age 18-20 available during required federal background checks when they attempt to buy guns. Those examinations, currently limited to three days, would last up to a maximum of 10 days to give federal and local officials time to search records.

People convicted of domestic abuse who are current or former romantic partners of the victim would be prohibited from acquiring firearms, closing the so-called “boyfriend loophole.”

That ban currently only applies to people married to, living with or who have had children with the victim. The compromise bill would extend that to those considered to have had “a continuing serious relationship.”

There would be money to help states enforce red flag laws and for other states without them that for violence prevention programs. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have such laws.

The measure expands the use of background checks by rewriting the definition of the federally licensed gun dealers required to conduct them. Penalties for gun trafficking are strengthened, billions of dollars are provided for behavioral health clinics and school mental health programs and there’s money for school safety initiatives, though not for personnel to use a “dangerous weapon.”
…

Witnesses Detail Trump Bid to Pressure Justice Department 

The congressional panel investigating the 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol heard testimony Thursday that former President Donald Trump pushed Justice Department officials to investigate voter fraud allegations even though he had been assured there were no widespread irregularities that would upend his reelection defeat.

The panel focused its questions on the efforts of Jeffrey Clark, a former assistant attorney general specializing in environmental law, to be named attorney general in the last month of Trump’s presidency so he could pursue claims that Trump had been cheated out of a second four-year term. Such claims have been found to have no merit; state and federal judges have dismissed more than 60 lawsuits presented by Trump and his allies challenging election results.

Clark repeatedly pushed other Justice Department officials to investigate election fraud claims and to press some states to decertify their election results showing Democrat Joe Biden had defeated Trump.

But as Clark lobbied Trump to be named to head the Justice Department, other top agency officials told Trump that Clark was unqualified to lead the department, according to Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republican members of Congress on the investigative committee.

Ultimately, after other Justice Department officials threatened to resign immediately if Trump named Clark as their boss, Trump dropped the plan to promote Clark.

Clark’s home searched

Early Wednesday, FBI agents conducted a predawn search at Clark’s house in suburban Virginia outside Washington. Russ Vought, president of the Center for Renewing America, where Clark now works, said in a statement that the searchers forced Clark to stand outside “in the streets in his pajamas, and took his electronic devices.” Unnamed sources told The New York Times that the search was linked to the Justice Department’s investigation of efforts to reverse Trump’s 2020 election loss.

As the hearing started, House Select Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said Trump’s efforts to pressure the Justice Department were “a brazen attempt” to “help legitimize his lies” that he had been cheated out of winning in November 2020.

Thursday’s hearing was the fifth this month as the investigative panel explores Trump’s role in fomenting the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, where lawmakers had gathered to certify Biden’s presidential victory in the Electoral College.

About 2,000 Trump supporters, urged by Trump at a rally shortly beforehand to “fight like hell,” stormed into the Capitol past law enforcement officials, scuffling with police, vandalizing the building and ransacking congressional offices.

More than 800 of the protesters have been charged with an array of offenses, with 300 of them pleading guilty or being convicted at trials and imprisoned for terms ranging from a few weeks to more than four years.

Trump has derided the investigative panel, comprising seven Democrats and two anti-Trump Republicans, saying its presentation is biased against him. He continues to contend that he was cheated out of another term in the White House.

More evidence, more hearings

The investigative panel’s hearings were originally set to end with Thursday’s session, but with the panel collecting more and more evidence, it is now planning at least two more public hearings in July before releasing its findings in late summer.

One of the July hearings is expected to explore how right-wing groups adopted Trump’s erroneous election fraud claims to help plan the rampage at the Capitol, while the other hearing will touch on what Trump was doing at the White House for more than three hours while the rioters took over much of the Capitol.

Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin, a committee member, told reporters earlier this week, “We are picking up new evidence on a daily basis with enormous velocity, and so we’re constantly incorporating and including the new information that’s coming out.”

“There is evidence coming in from diverse sources now,” he said, “and I think that people have seen that we’re running a serious investigation that is bipartisan in nature, that is focused just on getting the facts of what happened, and a lot of people are coming forward now with information.”

Some key officials in the Trump administration have cooperated with the committee’s investigation. But others have balked, repeatedly invoking their constitutional right against self-incrimination and refusing to answer questions about Trump’s actions and their own in the post-election period and on January 6. Two former Trump advisers, Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, refused to cooperate and were indicted on contempt-of-Congress charges.

Electoral College count

At the center of Trump’s post-election efforts was a campaign to overturn the vote counts in states where he lost or to have fake electors supporting Trump named in states where Biden narrowly won.

In the United States, presidents are effectively chosen in separate elections in each of the 50 states, not through the national popular vote. Each state’s number of electoral votes depends upon its population, with the biggest states holding the most sway. The rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6 tried to keep lawmakers from certifying Biden’s eventual 306-232 victory in the Electoral College.

While the House committee cannot bring criminal charges, the Justice Department is closely monitoring the hearings to determine whether anyone, Trump included, should be charged with illegally trying to reverse the election outcome.

A prosecutor in Atlanta, the capital of the state of Georgia, has convened a grand jury investigation of Trump’s actions to overturn the vote in that state. Trump asked the state’s top election official, Brad Raffensperger, to find him 11,780 votes — one more than Biden defeated him by — out of 5 million ballots.

The investigative panel has heard testimony that key Trump aides told him he had lost the election and that there were a minimal number of voting irregularities, not enough to overturn Biden’s Electoral College victory.

In addition, Trump was told it would be illegal for then-Vice President Mike Pence to unilaterally block Biden’s victory as he presided over the congressional Electoral College vote count, as Trump privately and publicly implored Pence to do.
…

New Witnesses to Detail How Trump Pushed Justice Department to Probe 2020 Election Fraud Claims

The congressional panel investigating the causes of last year’s Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol is hearing testimony Thursday about how former President Donald Trump pushed Justice Department officials to investigate allegations of fraud in the 2020 election that he hoped would upend his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

House Select Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said the panel would examine Trump’s “attempt to corrupt the country’s top law enforcement body,” much as state officials in Arizona and Georgia testified Tuesday that Trump unsuccessfully sought to get them to appoint bogus electors to help him stay in office for another four years or overturn votes showing Biden had defeated him.

In part, the Thursday hearing is expected to focus on the alleged efforts of Jeffrey Clark, a former assistant attorney general, to repeatedly push Justice Department officials to investigate election fraud claims and to force some states to “decertify” their election results showing Biden had won.

Associates say Trump considered naming Clark attorney general over acting attorney general Jeff Rosen, who, like his predecessor, former attorney general William Barr, said there was no evidence of fraud substantial enough to overturn Biden’s victory.

In a short video clip shown at the end of Tuesday’s hearing, Richard Donoghue, who served as acting U.S. deputy attorney general from December 2020 to January 2021, said he would have immediately quit if Trump had named Clark attorney general in the waning weeks of his administration.

Thursday’s hearing is the fifth this month as the investigative panel explores Trump’s role in fomenting the attack on the Capitol as lawmakers gathered to certify Biden’s presidential victory in the Electoral College.

About 2,000 Trump supporters, urged by Trump at a rally shortly beforehand to “fight like hell,” stormed into the Capitol past law enforcement officials, scuffling with police, vandalizing the building and ransacking congressional offices.

More than 800 of the protesters have been charged with an array of offenses, with 300 of them already pleading guilty or convicted at trials and imprisoned for terms ranging from a few weeks to more than four years.

Trump has derided the investigative panel, comprised of seven Democrats and two anti-Trump Republicans, saying its presentation is biased against him. To this day, he has claimed erroneously that he was cheated out of another term in the White House.

The investigative panel’s hearings were set to end with Thursday’s session. The committee is set to release its findings in late summer.

But Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin, a committee member, told reporters, “We are picking up new evidence on a daily basis with enormous velocity, and so we’re constantly incorporating and including the new information that’s coming out.”

“There is evidence coming in from diverse sources now,” he said, “and I think that people have seen that we’re running a serious investigation that is bipartisan in nature, that is focused just on getting the facts of what happened, and a lot of people are coming forward now with information.”

Some key officials in the Trump administration have cooperated with the committee’s investigation. But others have balked, repeatedly invoking their constitutional right against self-incrimination and refusing to answer questions about Trump’s actions and their own in the post-election period and on Jan. 6. Two former Trump advisers, Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, refused to cooperate and were indicted on contempt of Congress charges.

Republican Representative Liz Cheney, the panel’s vice chair, called on Pat Cipollone, Trump’s former White House counsel, to answer more questions than he already has.

At the center of Trump’s post-election efforts was an audacious scheme to overturn the vote counts in states where Trump lost or to have fake electors supporting Trump named in states where Biden narrowly defeated him.

In the United States, presidents are effectively chosen in separate elections in each of the 50 states, not through the national popular vote. Each state’s number of electoral votes is dependent on its population, with the biggest states holding the most sway. The rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 tried to keep lawmakers from certifying Biden’s eventual 306-232 victory in the Electoral College.

While the House committee cannot bring criminal charges, the Department of Justice is closely monitoring the hearings to determine whether anyone, Trump included, should be charged with illegally trying to reverse the election outcome.

A prosecutor in Atlanta, the capital of Georgia, has convened a grand jury investigation to probe Trump’s actions to overturn the vote in that state. Trump asked the state’s top election official, Brad Raffensperger, to “find” him 11,780 votes — one more than Biden defeated him by — out of 5 million ballots.

The investigative panel has already heard testimony that key Trump aides told him he had lost the election and that there were a minimal number of voting irregularities, not enough to overturn Biden’s Electoral College victory.

In addition, Trump was told it would be illegal for then-Vice President Mike Pence to unilaterally block Biden’s victory as he presided over the congressional Electoral College vote count, as Trump privately and publicly implored Pence to do.
…

Biden Seeks Gas Tax Relief Amid War-Amplified Price Hikes

The war in Ukraine is causing disruptions around the world, from what President Joe Biden terms a “Putin price hike” for American petroleum consumers to an impending global food crisis. On Wednesday, Biden said he was taking steps to try to offset the effects, something he said he’ll be focusing on ahead of two key summits and a Mideast trip. Anita Powell reports from the White House.
…