The Tap: Sunday, August 7, 2016

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The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.

Review of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #29 of The Tap, which was published on August 13, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) said in an interview that although he could not vote for Hillary Clinton, he could not say that he supported Donald Trump. "There's so much water over the dam now, it's become increasingly difficult. But I want, you know, unifying,” he said. Kasich also confirmed a story reported by The New York Times that Donald Trump Jr. had contacted Kasich’s campaign to offer him an expansive vice presidency including control of both domestic and foreign policy. "That's what one of them has told me, yes,” Kasich said.

• Shahram Amiri, an Iranian scientist who reportedly shared information about Iran’s nuclear program with the United States, “was hanged for revealing the country’s top secrets to the enemy,” according to Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, a spokesman for Iran’s Justice Ministry. In a video posted in 2010, Amiri first claimed that he was kidnapped by the Central Intelligence Agency. In a second video, he claimed to be living freely in the United States. Amiri then returned to Iran and repeated his claim that was kidnapped by U.S. intelligence agents for information about Iran’s nuclear program while the nuclear deal was being negotiated. According to CNN, “U.S. officials at the time said Amiri had defected voluntarily and provided ‘useful information to the United States,’ a claim supported by emails sent to Hilary [sic] Clinton -- then Secretary of State -- and released by the U.S. State Department last year.”
  • Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) called Clinton “reckless” for sending emails on her private email server that discussed Amiri. Cotton said, "I'm not going to comment on what he may or may not have done for the United States government, but in the emails that were on Hillary Clinton's private server, there were conversations among her senior advisers about this gentleman. That goes to show just how reckless and careless her decision was to put that kind of highly classified information on a private server and I think her judgment is not suited to keep this country safe."

State

• The Arkansas Limit Contingency Fees and Awards in Medical Cases Amendment was certified for the November 8 ballot. The measure would prohibit charging contingency fees greater than 33⅓ percent above the amount recovered for legal representation in suits seeking damages against healthcare providers. It joins four other measures on the Arkansas ballot: the Gubernatorial Powers During Absence Amendment, the Removal of Cap on Bonds Amendment, the Terms, Elections and Eligibility of County Officials Amendment, and a medical marijuana initiative called the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act. A competing medical marijuana initiative called the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment and an initiative to allow three additional casinos in the state could also qualify for the ballot if they submit enough supplementary signatures by late August.

Preview of the day

There were no items for this day in issue #28 of The Tap, which was published on August 6, 2016. See the "Review of the day" tab for more information.