| Welcome to The Daily 202 newsletter! Tell your friends to sign up here. On this day in 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on the surface of the moon. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's most interesting pick to serve on the special committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot may be a GOP lawmaker who denounced that violent attack on Congress as "un-American." In harrowing photos taken the day of the insurrection, Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas can be seen helping Capitol Police barricade House chamber doors against supporters of President Donald Trump who violently interrupted certification of President Biden's victory.  U.S. Capitol Police officers, with guns drawn, and Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Tex.) attempt to barricade House chamber doors during the riot on Jan. 6. | "What's taking place here right now is un-American," the former sheriff said in a video message even as protesters rampaged through the Capitol in the worst assault on the legislature in centuries. "This is a sacred house." Last night, my colleagues Marianna Sotomayor, Felicia Sonmez, and Karoun Demirjian reported Nehls will join Republican Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio), Jim Banks (Ind.), Rodney Davis (Ill.), Kelly Armstrong (N.D.) as members of the bipartisan House Select Committee looking into the riot. McCarthy, who opposed the creation of a bipartisan independent commission to look into the riot and fought the establishment of the committee, had for weeks kept secret whether he would name members. He revealed his choices days after meeting with Trump at the latter's Bedminster, N.J. resort. Some Republicans fret that the high-profile investigation will keep the violence — and Trump's role in encouraging the demonstration — on voters' minds as the 2022 midterms creep ever closer. The panel will hold its first hearing next Tuesday, featuring testimony from two Capitol Police officers, and two officers from the Metropolitan Police Department, including Michael Fanone, who has given graphic first-hand accounts of the violence he suffered. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced her picks for the committee early this month, including Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) as its chair and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), a fierce Trump critic, as a member. Pelosi's six other appointees are Democratic Reps. Zoe Lofgren (Calif.), Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), Pete Aguilar (Calif.), Stephanie Murphy (Fla.), Jamie B. Raskin (Md.) and Elaine Luria (Va.). Lofgren, who was one of the Democratic prosecutors in Trump's first and second impeachment trials, chairs the House Administration Committee, which has already held several hearings looking into the riot and the police and emergency response. Davis is the panel's top Republican. Schiff and Raskin were the lead impeachment managers during Trump's first and second impeachment trials, respectively. Jordan was one of Trump's loudest defenders. In the weeks and months since the riot, the former president has urged Republicans to reimagine the violent demonstrators as "martyrs and warlike heroes," the Associated Press's Calvin Woodward, Colleen Long, and David Klepper reported. As I wrote in May, Republicans have been playing down Jan. 6, which sent Vice President Mike Pence scurrying for his life, left 140 Capitol Police injured, offices ransacked, doors and windows broken, and interrupted the peaceful certification of Biden's victory. Trump has repeated, sometimes several times a day, the falsehood that he was cheated out of a second term in an election marred by systemic fraud — a claim for which there is no evidence. Republican state election officials, Trump's Justice Department, countless judges including many named by the former president, have rejected those claims as meritless. But the Republican Party has embraced this "Big Lie" and enlisted candidates who espouse it, as GOP officials pursue a state-by-state campaign to rein in electoral practices they blame for Trump's loss and give partisan politicians more power over election outcomes. Anger at the riot may not mean much: McCarthy's own initial outrage has melted away. And Nehls joined him, Jordan and Banks in the riot's immediate aftermath in voting to overturn the results of the election. (Davis and Armstrong did not.) It's not clear what the GOP division of labor will look like. Banks issued a statement saying he would get the answer to questions like "why was the Capitol unprepared and vulnerable to attack on January 6?" while insisting the committee only exists "to malign conservatives and to justify the Left's authoritarian agenda." "I will do everything possible to give the American people the facts about the lead up to January 6, the riot that day, and the responses from Capitol leadership and the Biden administration," Banks said. (Biden took office Jan. 20, so it seems likely the congressman means to scrutinize the president's anti-extremism strategy.) In that context, it's worth revisiting an exchange Nehls, who served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as a member of the Army Reserve, said he had with some of the demonstrators through the broken glass of one of the doors. "I had my Texas mask on," Nehls said. "They said, 'You're from Texas and you should be with us on this.' I said, 'I'm all OK, and I'm all Texan, and I'm all about the Constitution and individual and personal freedom, but, to me, this is criminal what you are doing here today.'" | | | What's happening now Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos rocketed past the edge of space this morning. Bezos, along with his brother Mark, Wally Funk, an 82-year-old aviation pioneer, and Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old student from the Netherlands, flew in the improbable spaceport his Blue Origin space venture built, Christian Davenport and Dalvin Brown report. The launch set a record for both the oldest and youngest person to fly to space. "The back-to-back launches amounted to yet another sign of space exploration's modern renaissance, a movement that is being fueled not just by nations but by a surging commercial space industry backed by billionaires," our colleagues write. To start your day with a full political briefing, sign up for our Power Up newsletter. | | | Lunchtime reads from The Post - "U.S. and E.U. security officials wary of NSO links to Israeli intelligence," by Shane Harris and Souad Mekhennet: "The Israeli company NSO Group has earned a reputation among national security experts around the world as a best-in-class manufacturer of surveillance technology capable of secretly gathering information from a target's phone. But U.S. and European security officials regard the company with a degree of suspicion despite the ability of its technology to help combat terrorists and violent criminals. In interviews, several current and former officials said they presumed that the company, which was founded by former Israeli intelligence officers, provides at least some information to the government in Jerusalem about who is using its spying products and what information they're collecting."
- "What were the Capitol rioters thinking on Jan. 6?" by Dan Zak and Karen Heller: "Robert Gieswein is a good man, according to family and friends, who describe him as gentle and compassionate. His mother says he has 'an amazing work ethic.' His younger sister calls him 'the most inspiring person in my life.' He bought clothes and shoes for the residents of a nursing home where he worked as a nurse's aide. The 24-year-old had no criminal history when he traveled to Washington, D.C., in January and, according to the U.S. government, joined a violent siege of the U.S. Capitol. Gieswein appears to be affiliated with the radical militia group the Three Percenters, the FBI says, and the leader of a 'private paramilitary training group' called the Woodland Wild Dogs. On Jan. 6 he donned goggles, a camouflage shirt, an army-style helmet and a military-style vest reinforced with an armored plate and a black pouch emblazoned with 'MY MOM THINKS I'M SPECIAL.' Then, wielding a baseball bat and a noxious spray, he stormed the U.S. Capitol, attacked a federal officer and helped halt the certification of the 2020 presidential election, the government claims...
"'If what the government says is true, then Mr. Gieswein committed assault on January 6,' federal public defender Ann Mason Rigby said July 1 during a hearing on his detention. 'The question before the court is: Is he incorrigibly violent? Is that a characteristic that cannot be controlled? And that's why you have to look at his history.' That's what the U.S. District Court in D.C. is doing with at least 535 people who were somehow involved in the breach of the Capitol; there are hundreds of ongoing investigations beyond that... Were these people acting on their most deeply held convictions, or were they somehow not themselves on Jan. 6? ... The insurrection itself, in other words, has been deployed as a defense. The mob mentality made them do it." | | | … and beyond - "A House race in Cleveland captures the Democrats' generational divide," by the New York Times's Jonathan Weisman: "Nina Turner had just belted out a short address to God's Tabernacle of Faith Church in the cadences and tremulous volumes of a preacher when the Rev. Timothy Eppinger called on the whole congregation to lay hands on the woman seeking the House seat of greater Cleveland. ... In the final weeks of the campaign, the party establishment is throwing copious amounts of time and money into an effort to stop Ms. Turner, a fiery former Cleveland councilwoman and Ohio state senator known beyond this district as the face and spirit of Bernie Sanders's presidential campaigns ... That suggests leaders understand that the outcome of the race will be read as a signal about the party's future."
- "As many as 200 Americans have now reported possible symptoms of 'Havana Syndrome,' officials say," by NBC News's Ken Dilanian, Josh Lederman and Courtney Kube: "A U.S. official with knowledge of new potential cases of so-called Havana Syndrome said a steady drumbeat of cables has been coming in from overseas posts reporting new incidents — often multiple times each week. ... Officials with direct knowledge said there are now possible cases on every continent except Antarctica. ... Almost half of the possible cases involve CIA officers or their relatives, two officials said."
- "Ben & Jerry's says it will stop ice cream sales in occupied territories," by NPR's Daniel Estrin: "Ben & Jerry's said it will stop selling its ice cream in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, calling it 'inconsistent with our values.' The company did not say when it would halt sales, but its sole local Israeli manufacturer vowed to continue selling as usual until its license expires at the end of 2022. ... Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called the decision "antisemitic," and called on U.S. states with laws against Israel boycotts to sanction Ben & Jerry's. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called the move 'morally wrong' and vowed to fight it."
| | | On the Hill A bipartisan bill aims to assert Congress's power over arms sales, emergencies and military operations. - "A bipartisan group of senators is unveiling legislation Tuesday to give Congress a more active role in approving arms sales, authorizing the use of military force and declaring national emergencies, in an across-the-board effort to claw back national security power from the executive branch," Karoun Demirjian reports.
"The bill aims, for the first time, to define what type of 'hostilities' require a president to seek congressional approval before committing military resources; establish expiration dates for national emergencies and military authorizations; and automatically curtail funding for any operation a president continues without explicit congressional support." - "The comprehensive measure comes as Washington is grappling with whether and how to repeal long-running authorizations for use of military force, or AUMFs, including those passed nearly two decades ago to greenlight U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan."
The infrastructure deal is in a precarious state as the endgame nears. - "Biden on Monday took a subtle yet unmistakable dig at Republicans who have backed away from a major funding component in a bipartisan infrastructure package that is now starting to fray, saying pointedly that 'we shook hands on it' even as he continued to promote the agreement," Seung Min Kim reports. "Biden's comment, with its accusatory undertones, reflected the agreement's precarious state at the outset of what could be a pivotal week. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) plans to force a vote within days to advance the roughly $1 trillion plan despite the Republican hesitations"
- "Biden also will seek to turn up the pressure by traveling to Ohio on Wednesday to pitch the plan and hold a town hall session with voters."
- "Republicans were annoyed by Schumer's insistence on holding preliminary Senate votes Wednesday to proceed to a debate on the agreement, which has not been finalized. The majority leader finalized his floor strategy on Monday night, teeing up a Wednesday vote that would allow the Senate to proceed to the bipartisan package."
- "But since Schumer disclosed his strategy, Republicans have indicated that a critical mass of their members would effectively block the infrastructure package if a deal had not been finalized. 'It's not going to get 60, let's put it that way,' said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.)."
- "Issues large and small were still unresolved Monday, aides said. While the challenge of funding the package remained the biggest hurdle, there were also issues on the spending side of the deal, including transit, broadband and a proposed infrastructure bank, aides said."
| | | The pandemic The delta variant is posing a major risk to Biden's promises of a swift economic comeback. - "A resurgence in coronavirus cases is threatening the Biden administration's promises of a swift economic recovery, with Wall Street getting battered on Monday and some leading forecasters beginning to rethink their extremely rosy projections," Jeff Stein and Heather Long report. "The administration is closely monitoring the economic risks associated with the delta variant, and senior U.S. officials have in recent days suggested local restrictions may have to be reimposed in response to the pandemic."
- " 'This virus doesn't have to hold you back any longer. It doesn't have to hold our economy back any longer. But the only way we put it behind us is if more Americans get vaccinated,' President Biden said Monday."
- "The variant's proliferation abroad has already hurt U.S. supply chains, and shortages could exacerbate inflation by increasing the price of production. And a jump in hospitalizations and deaths among the unvaccinated poses a particular challenge for the Biden administration in more conservative parts of the country ... These tensions played out in public on Monday, with Biden emphasizing his infrastructure package — the White House's first big non-covid legislative priority — amid headlines showing financial markets getting clobbered by renewed fears about the coronavirus. 'Our economy has come a long way over the past six months. We can't slow down now,' Biden said."
A federal judge upheld a coronavirus vaccine mandate for Indiana University students - "The ruling could be influential as colleges and universities across the country are preparing to reopen in the fall and deciding how to protect campuses from the ongoing public health threat of the lethal virus. Hundreds of schools have adopted vaccine requirements. Many others are only encouraging students to get vaccinated," Nick Anderson reports. "The split on mandates often follows a red-blue political divide. Colleges that require vaccination are more likely to be located in states that President Biden carried in last year's election."
Mask mandates are making a return — along with controversy. - "Two months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said vaccinated individuals didn't need to wear masks in most settings, a growing number of experts are warning it's time to put them back on," Dan Diamond reports.
- "First, there was Los Angeles County, where the rising menace posed by the delta variant of the coronavirus prompted health officials to reimpose a mask mandate. Then, Bay Area health officers on Friday recommended that residents of seven counties and the city of Berkeley, Calif., resume wearing masks indoors. Mask mandates are being discussed, too, in coronavirus hot spots such as Arkansas and Missouri, where cases have sharply increased in recent weeks and many residents remain unvaccinated."
- "But the growing calls to reinstate mask mandates ... renewed a cultural and health flash point a year and a half after the virus landed in the United States. ... 'In a free [country] people will evaluate their personal risk factors and are smart enough to ultimately make medical decisions like wearing a mask themselves,' Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said in a statement last week, introducing legislation that would ban mask mandates on planes and public transportation."
The U.S. warned against travel to Britain as coronavirus cases surge and restrictions lift. - "The State Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday urged all Americans to avoid visiting the country. 'Even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants,' the CDC said in an updated travel notice," Erin Cunningham reports. "In its highest-level advisory Monday, the State Department delivered an even sterner warning. 'Do not travel to the United Kingdom due to COVID-19,' the advisory said."
- "The new U.S. travel warnings are not binding, but they were issued as Britain struggles to contain the fallout from a surge in new infections caused by the delta variant first identified in India."
| | | Quote of the day "The rise of delta is potentially a human tragedy; I don't expect it to be hugely consequential macroeconomically," said Jason Furman, a former Obama administration economist, who noted the delta variant's spread across Europe did not appear to lead to major declines in mobility trends, a gauge of consumer patterns. "The U.S. economy is going to grow strongly every quarter this year. Will it be a little less strong because of this? Maybe. But I still expect economic growth to be above its pre-pandemic the rest of this year, and I don't think that changes that fundamental fact." | | | Unvaccinated cases soaring again, visualized | Coronavirus cases are increasing almost exclusively in the unprotected population. So The Washington Post adjusted its case, death and hospitalization rates to account for that — and found that in many places, the virus continues to rage among those who have not received a shot.  | | | | Hot on the left Twitter temporarily suspended Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for violating its coronavirus misinformation policy. The suspension came after Greene falsely claimed that the coronavirus was "not dangerous" for some, Bryan Pietsch reports. "The 12-hour suspension is the shortest of Twitter's read-only penalties, which its website says can range from 12 hours to seven days, 'depending on the nature of the violation.' Greene's account had violated the misinformation policy multiple times, according to Twitter. ... Greene said in a statement that the suspension was 'a Communist-style attack on free speech.' " | | | Hot on the right Steve Doocy is the rare Fox News host who is actually promoting vaccines. "During the past few months, as some of his Fox colleagues have cast doubt and uncertainty about the safety of the coronavirus vaccines, most notably prime-time star Tucker Carlson, Doocy has emerged as one of the network's biggest advocates for vaccines," Jeremy Barr reports. "Echoing comments made by Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Doocy told viewers on Monday that '99 percent of the people who have died have not been vaccinated. And so, what they're trying to do is … make sure that all the people who have not been vaccinated get vaccinated.' The host then went on to list some popular conspiracy theories about the vaccines — adding that 'none of that is true.' ... Fox News prime-time host Sean Hannity drew some praise Monday night when he implored viewers to 'please take covid seriously.' But he stopped short of directly encouraging vaccination, as Doocy had done." Fox Corporation, meanwhile, has quietly implemented its own version of a vaccine passport while its personalities attack them. "Fox employees, including those who work at Fox News, received an email, obtained by CNN Business, from the company's Human Resources department in early June that said Fox had 'developed a secure, voluntary way for employees to self-attest their vaccination status.' The system allows for employees to self-report to Fox the dates their shots were administered and which vaccines were used. The company has encouraged employees to report their status." | | | Today in Washington Biden is welcoming the Tampa Bay Buccaneers today to the White House to celebrate their Super Bowl win. Second gentleman Doug Emhoff will also be there. At 3:15 p.m., Biden will hold a Cabinet meeting to mark six months in office along with Vice President Harris. | | | In closing | Leyna Bloom, a 27-year-old model, became the first transgender woman on the cover of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue. Bloom "is one of three women to appear on the 2021 edition's cover when it hits stands later this week, the magazine announced on Monday. The others are tennis star Naomi Osaka, 23, and rapper Megan Thee Stallion, 26," Jonathan Edwards reports. "Many girls like us don't have the chance to live our dreams, or to live long at all. I hope my cover empowers those, who are struggling to be seen, feel valued," Bloom wrote on Instagram. |  | | | | Seth Meyers examined why Trump and former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly are having a hard time selling tickets for their arena tour:  | | | | And the secretary of transportation had to deal with some bridges this morning: |  | | | | | | |
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