Political Analysis: Russia Indictments, Supreme Court Nominee, Mayor London Breed
This morning, the Justice Department issued indictments against 12 Russian intelligence officers for offenses related to meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The charges come just a few days before President Trump is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Earlier this week, the president nominated Brett Kavanaugh to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kavanaugh has a conservative record on key contentious issues, including abortion and gun rights, and has expressed strong support for presidential immunity. His confirmation would push the court to the right, and a showdown is already underway.
In the Bay Area, London Breed made history in San Francisco when she was sworn in as the first female African-American mayor on Wednesday. During her inauguration speech, Breed responded to recent immigration news, saying, “We are going to tell the president that here in San Francisco we don’t put our children in cages. We put them in the classroom.”
Guests:
- Professor Melissa Murray, NYU of Law
- Scott Shafer, KQED politics and government senior editor
- Sean Walsh, Wilson Walsh Consulting
Reuniting Migrant Families
This week the federal government scrambled to meet a court-imposed deadline to reunite children under the age of 5 who were separated from their families at the border under a recent zero tolerance policy. The Trump administration says there are roughly 100 separated children under the age of 5, and almost half of them could not be reunited due to the status of their parents. Meanwhile, a bigger deadline looms on July 26 to reunite the nearly 2,000 other children who were recently separated from their families at the border.