The Hill’s 12:30 Report — Trump document probe takes a turn 

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–> A midday take on what’s happening in politics and how to have a sense of humor about it.* 

*Ha. Haha. Hahah. Sniff. Haha. Sniff. Ha–breaks down crying hysterically. 

TALK OF THE MORNING 

I shall grant your wish:

Via NBC News’s Natasha Korecki, Ryan J. Reilly and Marc Caputo, “In a major blow for the government, a federal judge approved former President Donald Trump‘s request for a special master to oversee all the evidence the FBI seized last month from his Mar-a-Lago estate and temporarily blocked parts of the Justice Department’s investigation.” 

Keep in mind: “U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon — a Trump appointee — said in her ruling Monday that the special master should be able to review the seized documents both to address questions of attorney-client privilege and to litigate claims of executive privilege.”  

The full story 

^ MEANING, THE REVIEW HAS BEEN PAUSED: 
‘Judge orders halt to DOJ review of documents seized from Trump’ 

More from Politico’s Kyle Cheney, Nicholas Wu and Andrew Desiderio 

‘EXPERTS QUESTION JUDGE’S INTERVENTION IN TRUMP INQUIRY AS ‘DEEPLY PROBLEMATIC’: 
The New York Times’s Charlie Savage explains. 

IT’S TUESDAY! Welcome back to September! I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here.

🗳 On the campaign trail 

‘Election deniers repeatedly visited Ga. county office at center of criminal probe, video shows’: 

The Washington Post’s Emma Brown and Jon Swaine report that “technology consultants who sought evidence that Donald Trump’s 2020 defeat was fraudulent made multiple visits to a county elections office in rural Georgia in the weeks after an alleged post-election breach of voting equipment there that is the subject of a criminal investigation.”  

Read the breakdown of the surveillance footage reviewed by the Post 

JUST SEVEN RACES COULD DETERMINE WHICH PARTY CONTROLS THE HOUSE:
Here’s a list of the seven races, via The Hill’s Max Greenwood 

Op-ed

🍂 In the White House 

Remember. Remember, Simba. Remember.: 

–> https://bit.ly/3QpGN7X 😉 

Via The Hill’s Alex Gangitano and Morgan Chalfant, “Democrats think President Biden had a great August and they’re hoping it will translate into momentum for the fall — both legislatively and electorally.” 

The White House would love it if anyone memorized this list: “Biden in August signed into law a bipartisan semiconductor bill and a sweeping, Democrat-only package to fight climate change and address health care costs. He announced a drone strike that killed the leader of al Qaeda. The White House cheered positive headlines of gasoline prices declining. And Biden’s poll numbers are starting to inch back up.”  

What this could mean for Democrats in the fall

🕶 In Congress 

The Senate’s back, but the House could use another week of recess: 

AP/Susan Walsh

What’s on the agenda?: “[W]ith two months left until the midterms, Senate Democrats are looking to pass a bill that would protect marriage equality on the federal level, requiring that an individual be considered married if the marriage is validated by the law of the state in which is was performed.” 

If this bill sounds familiar to you: “The House passed the bill in July in a 267-157 vote, with 47 Republicans joining all Democrats in supporting the measure.”  

When would the vote happen?: We don’t know yet. 

Could it pass the Senate?: Assuming all Democrats vote in favor, 10 Republicans are needed to pass the bill. So far, three Republicans are likely to vote “yes,” and roughly eight to 10 would potentially vote “yes.”  

Read the bill 

More on what we know about the bill’s fall chances, via The Hill’s Mychael Schnell 

Feel better, Sen. Burr!: 

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) will miss votes this week while he is recovering from hip replacement surgery.  

Keep in mind: “Burr is the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and is a key player in negotiations over FDA user fees, which lapse at the end of this month.” 

Plus: “The Republican’s absence will mean one fewer lawmaker present for votes in a 50-50 upper chamber.”

🦠 Latest with COVID 

Where did the workers go!?:  

“Economists and policymakers have struggled to figure out why a much lower percentage of working-age adults are in the labor force than before the pandemic.” 

The gap between labor force participation between February 2020 and now: Roughly 1.6 million fewer people 

But the U.S. is still adding tons of jobs to the economy despite the fewer workers: “The U.S. has replaced all 21 million jobs lost to the pandemic, with nearly 3 million jobs added this year alone, and brought the jobless rate down near pre-pandemic levels.”
 

What could be happening: “Thousands — if not millions — of Americans could be on the sidelines of the rapid recovery because they’re still too sick from prolonged COVID-19 symptoms to work.” 

It’s unclear how many people are suffering from long COVID-19, but here’s what we know, via The Hill’s Sylvan Lane  

➤ THE COVID-19 NUMBERS 

Cases to date: 94.4 million 

Death toll: 1,041,816 

Current hospitalizations: 30,587 

Shots administered: 610 million 

Fully vaccinated: 67.5 percent of Americans 

CDC data here. 

📱 Getting traction 

Warfare in 2022 is fascinating: 

Yahoo’s Sophia Ankel writes, “Ukrainian hackers created fake profiles of attractive women to trick Russian soldiers into sharing their location, report says. Days later, the base was blown up.”  

More from Financial Times’s Mehul Srivastava in Kyiv, Ukraine

🌡 In other news 

Ugh, this could be an expensive winter: 

“Steeper Winter Heating Bills Loom, With Less Federal Aid: Energy costs are expected to rise even faster than overall inflation, but a key assistance program will lack the extra funds it got for Covid relief.”  

What to expect from The New York Times’s Isabella Simonetti

🐥Notable tweets 

Can’t disturb professionals focusing on their craft: 

Emma Riley, advisor to Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, tweeted: “[President Biden] taking a moment to thank the hardworking (and very focused) crayon artists in Pittsburgh, PA today.” Photo [EM1] 

This looks like a scene from ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’: 

Fox 13 Memphis’s Kate Biere tweeted a video of gallons of alfredo sauce across the highway after a tractor-trailer spilled its contents. Video — it has more than 7.7 million views so far

⏱On tap 

The Senate is back. The House is out. President Biden and Vice President Harris are in Washington, D.C. 

• 9 a.m.: Biden received his daily briefing. 
• 1:15 p.m.: Biden holds a Cabinet meeting. Vice President Harris attends. 
• 3 p.m.: The Senate meets. 
• 5:30 p.m.: A cloture vote on a Senate nomination. Today’s Senate agenda 
• Today: Primary day in Massachusetts. NYT’s what to watch 

All times Eastern.

📺What to watch 

• 11 a.m.: The White House COVID-19 Response Team held a press briefing. Watch 
• Noon: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre holds a press briefing. Livestream 
• 3 p.m.: The U.N. Security Council discusses shelling near a Ukrainian nuclear power plant. Livestream 

☕️ In lighter news 

Today is National Coffee Ice Cream Day. 

And to ease you into post-Labor Day September, here are a bunch of puppy yawns. 

I highly encourage to turn your sound on 😉