‘Overwhelming.’ That’s the adjective a former Donald Trump White House lawyer applies to evidence against Trump in new federal charges filed yesterday …
■ … accusing Trump of asking a staffer to delete camera footage at his Florida estate to obstruct the investigation into his handling of classified documents.
■ Law professor and former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance takes it apart: “The superseding indictment adds four new charges.”
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson says the indictment “blows my mind that Trump allegedly … was a one-man wrecking ball, aimed at our national security.”
‘Biden is too old to run.’ Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg says Sen. Mitch McConnell’s freeze-up Wednesday is a sign the president should hang it up …
■ … but Steinberg adds in an online-only passage that his editors chose not to publish: “We have to support him. … Biden will never become a traitor and a demagogue. Which is not something I can say about Donald Trump.”
■ McConnell’s office said he plans to serve as Republican leader through the rest of this congressional session—that is, next year—but was silent about the rest of his Senate seat’s term, which runs through 2026.
■ The Onion embraced the story: “Doctors Confirm McConnell Had A Stroke After Imagining A Happy Black Person,” “Staffer Waiting For Car Temporarily Leans Frozen Mitch McConnell Against Nearby Fire Hydrant” and “Elderly Senators Amused To Discover Their Strokes Syncing Up.”
Another one of our guys. A retired Illinois National Guard member’s been arrested, accused of assaulting a federal officer in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.
■ Esquire’s Charlie Pierce calls a University of Chicago report documenting a near-doubling of American support for the use of force to coerce members of Congress “the scary news we knew was true.”
■ Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis says his Defense Secretary will need to be ready to “slit some throats.”
‘Product availability may be temporarily limited.’ Block Club Chicago: Shoppers at several area Aldi grocery stores are finding shelves empty.
■ Columnist Steinberg says his Tuesday rant about critique of Aldi “was the most-read thing I’ve written over the past 12 months.”
Who’s a quiz whiz? Let us find out—with the latest from past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel.
‘We are failing in ensuring that everyone, regardless of race or gender, has a home.’ Civil rights advocates are suing two big Cook County apartment rental firms for automatically denying applications from anyone who’s ever been evicted—even if they were evicted for failing to pay terrible landlords.
■ A plan to fight homelessness with a big tax increase on expensive homes’ sale is moving ahead in the City Council.
■ The Lever: As private equity moves into “the already unstable health insurance market,” more than a million people have lost their health insurance.
Tick shock. A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention blames ticks for the rapid rise in the U.S. of a life-threatening red-meat allergy that can trigger nausea, diarrhea, hives and anaphylaxis within hours after consuming beef, pork, lamb, venison and rabbit.
■ Ticks are a growing threat in a warming world.
■ Today stood to be Chicago’s hottest day of the year—so far.
■ A boat in Lake Michigan near Navy Pier overturned early today, putting six people in the hospital—with one woman missing.
‘In a better world, parents who want their sons to pursue this particular extracurricular activity would be required to do so in private clubs.’ Investigative journalist Irvin Muchnick says public schools should get out of the football business.
■ A Tribune editorial: Football needs a cultural change at all levels.
■ A psychology professor explains why students stay mum about hazing.
■ Can you beat your Chicago Public Square columnist’s underwhelming 5/8 score?
Weekend diversions.
■ The CTA’s running 100-year-old rail cars around the Loop Saturday.
■ Despite “arguably the least convincing onscreen imitation” of Chicago in years, critic Richard Roeper gives three stars to Apple TV+’s dramatization of the Beanie Baby craze of the ’90s, The Beanie Bubble.
■ The Trib’s Nina Metz gives it two stars.
This ends now. Wrapping up the latest in a series of roll-calls for Square supporters: Thanks to Stephanie Goldberg, Julia Winn, Joel Hood and Sherry Skalko, Jeanette Ruby, Libbey Paul, Debbie Becker, Patrick Quinn, Sabrina Deitch, Alex Riepl Broz, Susan S. Stevens, Garry, Marty Berg, Patrick Stout, Christine Cupaiuolo, Mark Wukas, Eric Zorn, David Weindling, Michael Levin, Jim Kelly, Valerie Denney, Stephanie Springsteen, Analeah Rosen, Michael Soriano, Meredith Schacht, Paul Clark, Timothy Baffoe, Marc Blesoff, Phil Huckelberry, Peter Fuller, Dale Epton, Paul Noble, Sheridan Chaney, Denise Mattson, Judy Sherr, Paul Teodo and Stephen Brown.
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■ Tim Bannon made this edition better.