News Roundup: Newsom to Apply Texas Abortion Law Enforcement Mechanism to ‘Assault Weapons’

BY JACK CROWE

December 13, 2021

Good morning and welcome to the News Editor's Roundup, a weekly newsletter that will ensure you're up to date on the developments in politics, business, and culture that will shape the week's news cycle — as well as those that might escape mainstream attention.

Newsom to Apply Texas Abortion Law Enforcement Mechanism to 'Assault Weapons'

California governor Gavin Newsom (D.) is strategizing to use the enforcement mechanism of a recently enacted Texas abortion law, which the Supreme Court allowed to survive on Friday, to curb the sale and circulation of "assault weapons" in the state.

On Saturday, Newsom said in a press release that the governor's office would work with the legislature and attorney general to create a bill that would empower private citizens to sue for at least $10,000 "anyone who manufactures, distributes, or sells an assault weapon or ghost gun kit or parts in the State of California."

"If the most efficient way to keep these devastating weapons off our streets is to add the threat of private lawsuits, we should do just that," he noted.

Chris Wallace Leaving Fox News after 18 Years

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace announced Sunday that he will be leaving the network after 18 years and joining CNN+, a new streaming service launching in 2022.

"After 18 years, this is my final Fox News Sunday. It is the last time, and I say this with real sadness, that we will meet like this. Eighteen years ago the bosses here at Fox promised me that they would never interfere with a guest I booked or a question I asked, and they kept that promise. I have been free to report to the best of my ability to cover the stories I think are important to hold our country's leaders to account. It's been a great ride," the host said.

CNN Communications published a statement announcing Wallace's transition, adding that the "new show will feature interviews with newsmakers across politics, business, sports and culture."

Hillary Clinton Warns Trump 2024 Presidential Victory 'Could Be the End of Our Democracy'

Former secretary of state and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton warned that former President Trump is poised to run for election again in 2024, and said that if he wins, American democracy will suffer irreparable damage.

"If I were a betting person right now, I'd say Trump is going to run again," she told NBC Sunday Today host Willie Geist. "He seems to be setting himself up to do that, and if he's not held accountable, he gets to do it again."

"I think that could be the end of our democracy," she said. "Not too be too pointed about it, but I want people to understand that this could be a make-or-break point. If he or someone of his ilk were once again to be elected president, especially if he had a Congress that would do his bidding, you will not recognize our country."

Chris Cuomo's CNN Producer Indicted for Baiting Young Girls into 'Sexual Subservience' Training

A producer who worked closely with now-former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo has been charged with baiting young women into his Vermont residence to undergo "sexual subservience" training.

FBI agents arrested the producer, John Griffin, following his indictment by a federal grand jury, which charged him with three counts of attempting to prime young children to participate in illegal sexual activity.

Griffin allegedly exchanged scandalous communications with women over messaging platforms to convince them to let him provide their young daughters a sexual education, the indictment from the U.S. Attorney of Vermont indicates. He texted them that "a woman is a woman regardless of her age" allegedly.

Dozens Feared Dead after Tornadoes Hit Multiple States

Kentucky governor Andy Beshear said at least 70 people were killed as a result of tornadoes and storms over Friday night, in a press conference around mid-day on Saturday. The final death toll could top 100 people.

"This will be, I believe, the deadliest tornado system to ever run through Kentucky," Beshear told reporters.

'Build Back Better' Programs Will Add $3 Trillion to Deficit if Made Permanent, CBO Projects

At the request of multiple Republican senators, the Democrats fighting to advance President Biden's Build Back Better plan, the gargantuan reconciliation package that creates and expands a boatload of social programs, obtained a modified budgetary effects score from the Congressional Budget Office Friday.

The office's most recent analysis finds that if major provisions in BBB were not embedded with sunset clauses and were made permanent, which Republicans argue is the Democrats' hidden intention, the bill would add $2.8 trillion more to the national debt over the next decade than the original CBO score projected.

Supreme Court Allows Challenge to Texas Abortion Law to Proceed

The Supreme Court handed abortion providers a narrow victory Friday in ruling that a challenge to the Texas heartbeat abortion law can proceed. However, it held that the state can continuing enforcing the law as it is adjudicated.

The law outlaws abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected and is unique in its enforcement mechanism, which relies on private citizens, rather than agents of the state, to sue abortion providers who violate the law. By that provision, private individuals can take legal action against any doctor who performs an abortion as well as those who assist a woman in securing one. Texas abortion providers first launched the lawsuit.