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Happy Monday! You’d think we’d have learned by now not to tempt fate by planning our Monday newsletter on Friday morning.
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
- The Wagner Group—a Russian paramilitary force led by Yevgeny Prigozhin—mounted a short-lived rebellion over the weekend, allegedly in response to Russian airstrikes against Wagner troops. Prigozhin, who has clashed with Russian military leaders for months, led his forces from positions in Ukraine back into Russia, taking control of Rostov-on-Don—a city in southern Russia—and meeting little resistance while proceeding north on a path toward Moscow. As Wagner grew closer to both the capital and a likely battle with Russian security forces, Prigozhin and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to a deal—negotiated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko—that halted the rebellion. Prigozhin will reportedly move to Belarus, and the Russian charges facing him and his troops for their rebellion will be dropped.
- Ukrainian forces claim to have killed nearly 200 Russian soldiers over the weekend while gaining back ground near the much-contested city of Bakhmut. The Ukrainian military says it’s taken eight settlements in the country’s eastern Donetsk and southern Zaporizhzhia regions since launching its counter-offensive three weeks ago. Ukrainian troops have more or less held off Russian advances, but continue to struggle when it comes to gaining significant ground.
- A judge temporarily blocked a Wyoming law banning abortion pills from taking effect as scheduled next week. A group of health care providers has sued to overturn both the law and the state’s broader abortion ban. Teton County Judge Melissa Owens issued a temporary restraining order while the case is decided.
- The Department of Justice announced fentanyl-related charges against four Chinese companies and eight Chinese nationals Friday. At least two of the people in question have been arrested for trafficking chemicals to the U.S. for fentanyl production. China called the arrests “illegal” and “smear attacks,” and demanded the immediate release of the detained Chinese nationals on Friday.
- The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a declassified report Friday on the intelligence community’s assessments of COVID-19’s origins. The report reiterated the divisions among intelligence agencies—the FBI and the Energy Department believe the pandemic stemmed from a lab incident, four unnamed agencies and the National Intelligence Council fault natural transmission, and two other agencies including the CIA remain undecided. “All agencies continue to assess that both a natural and laboratory-associated origin remain plausible hypotheses to explain the first human infection,” the report states.
- The Supreme Court ruled Friday against a state challenge to the Biden administration’s policy of prioritizing the arrest and deportation of illegal immigrants who have a criminal record, pose a national security threat, or were recently caught at the border. Texas and Louisiana argued the government is required by law to deport all illegal immigrants subject to deportation orders. In an 8-1 decision, the court ruled the states do not have standing to challenge the policy, reversing a lower court decision.
- The Justice Department requested the trial date in former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case be pushed until December 11 after Judge Aileen Cannon set an initial date of August 14 last week. Special counsel Jack Smith said in a filing on Friday that the delayed start would give Trump’s legal team more time to obtain the security clearances required to review the sensitive evidence in the case.
- The National Weather Service issued heat alerts to more than 50 million people across the southern United States on Sunday. The heat wave—and the high risk of severe storms accompanying it—is expected to last through early next week with dangerously high temperatures threatening millions of residents in Texas and other states. The extreme heat left a father and his stepson dead while hiking in Big Bend National Park in 119 degree weather Friday.
- Cleanup crews started testing water in the Yellowstone River Sunday after a freight train carrying hazardous materials fell into the river after a bridge collapse on Saturday. The crews are attempting to remove sodium hydrosulfide, a flammable substance, from the train, which crashed in a sparsely populated area of Montana.
Prigozhin Strikes Back
You know what they always say: Keep your friends close and your hot dog vendors closer. Yevgeny Prigozhin—the head of the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group—has come a long way from his hot dog stand in St. Petersburg. The man once known as “Putin’s chef” for his catering contracts with the Kremlin seemed to be ready to bite the hand that fed him over the weekend, sending his mercenaries marching toward Moscow in a fast-moving but ultimately short-lived mutiny.
Though a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko turned the advancing Wagner columns around before serious Russian-on-Russian bloodshed, the bizarre episode still shrouded in the fog of war will likely leave a Prigozhin-sized hole in President Putin’s credibility at yet-unknown costs to the paramilitary leader himself and the private military company he operates.
Worth Your Time
- Hashim Mohammed was only 16 years old when he fled China in an effort to escape the country’s repression of its Uyghur minority. “I had heard of a smugglers’ route out of China, through Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and eventually to Malaysia,” Mohammed writes for Coda Story. “From there, I’d be able to fly to Turkey and start a new life. We called it the ‘illegal way.’ It’s very quick once you leave China, it only takes seven days to get to Malaysia.” Mohammed made it out of China, but went on to spend the next four years of his life in detention in different three countries, including three years in a Thai prison—which he eventually broke out of using a spoon and a rusty nail. “After spending another year in detention in Malaysia, I was finally able to leave for Turkey,” he recounts. “After two months in Turkish immigration detention, I walked free. I had spent my best years—from the age of 16 until 21—in a cell. I feel such sorrow when I think of the others who didn’t make it. It’s a helpless feeling, knowing they’re still in there, living under the threat of being sent back to China.”
Presented Without Comment
Axios: House Freedom Caucus Weighs Kicking Out Marjorie Taylor Greene
Also Presented Without Comment
Politico: Documents Reveal [NYC Mayor] Eric Adams Sent Migrants to Florida, Texas, and China
Also Also Presented Without Comment
New York Times: “Facing multiple intensifying investigations, former President Donald J. Trump has quietly begun diverting more of the money he is raising away from his 2024 presidential campaign and into a political action committee that he has used to pay his personal legal fees.”
Toeing the Company Line
- In the newsletters: The Dispatch Politics team interviewed Will Hurd about his “dark horse” candidacy, Jonah raged against the “isms,” Nick criticized the RNC’s 2024 loyalty pledge, Chris explained (🔒) why the presidential primary system is broken, and Price and Harvest (🔒) previewed the next congressional battle over spending.
- On the podcasts: Sarah and David discussed Justice Samuel Alito’s preemptive response to a ProPublica story on Advisory Opinions, while Jonah’s latest Remnant ruminated on the spat between Reps. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene on the House floor.
- On the site over the weekend: Peter Gattuso explained the Oakland Athletics’ potential move to Las Vegas, Karlyn Bowman reviewed a new book on today’s six living generations, and Nick Ripatrazone explored Cormac McCarthy’s “God-haunted” writing.
- On the site today: Chris dives into the dysfunction plaguing Congress and Jacob reports on a new economic agenda picking up support from Republican lawmakers.
Let Us Know
Is Putin on shakier ground now than he was on Friday? What is your prediction for when and how his reign comes to an end?
Declan Garvey is the executive editor at the Dispatch and is based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the company in 2019, he worked in public affairs at Hamilton Place Strategies and market research at Echelon Insights. When Declan is not assigning and editing pieces, he is probably watching a Cubs game, listening to podcasts on 3x speed, or trying a new recipe with his wife.
Mary Trimble is a former editor of The Morning Dispatch.
Grayson Logue is a staff writer for The Dispatch and is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Prior to joining the company in 2023, he worked in political risk consulting, helping advise Fortune 50 companies. He was also an assistant editor at Providence Magazine and is a graduate student at the University of Edinburgh, pursuing a Master’s degree in history. When Grayson is not writing pieces for the website, he is probably working hard to reduce the number of balls he loses on the golf course.
Jacob Wendler is an intern for The Dispatch.
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