The week in politics: Everytown for Gun Safety to launch ad campaign ahead of special session

Vivian Jones and Melissa Brown, Nashville Tennessean
·10 min read

Everytown for Gun Safety, a national nonprofit that advocates for gun control, will spend $100,000 in digital ads across Tennessee to call for lawmakers to pass an extreme risk protection order law like one Gov. Bill Lee has proposed during the upcoming special session. Video ads will hit Aug. 1 on Hulu and NBC Peacock.

“An extreme risk law could have prevented the Covenant tragedy,” one static ad reads. “Tennessee police agree we need one now.”

Republicans in the state legislature have voiced significant opposition to Lee’s proposal, but the governor has said he intends to press forward with it when lawmakers return on Aug. 21.

“Following the shooting at the Covenant School, Tennesseans from all walks of life called for common-sense gun safety laws,” Everytown president John Feinblatt said in a statement. “Parents, students, faith leaders and community safety advocates will be there every step of the way during the upcoming special session to fight for an Extreme Risk law – a life-saving measure that could have prevented the tragedy at the Covenant School.”

“It’s long past time Tennessee lawmakers prioritize the safety of our kids over party politics and power grabs,” Feinblatt said.

Ads are aimed at getting constituents to contact their state lawmakers to ask them to support an extreme risk protection order policy – sometimes dubbed a “red flag” law. Twenty-one other states, including Florida and Indiana, already have such a law.

“This special session lawmakers cannot afford to look away as our communities continue to be torn apart by the gun violence crisis,” said Leeann Hewlett, a volunteer with the Tennessee chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Lawmakers must come together to take comprehensive action to protect Tennessee families from the vicious cycle of gun violence. Passing an Extreme Risk law could save lives and we are ready to get to work with our leaders to make it happen.”

Casada, Cothren want cases dismissed

Former House Speaker Glen Casada, R-Franklin, and his one-time aide Cade Cothren asked a federal judge to dismiss all charges against them as their cases move closer to an October trial date.

The pair have been accused of propping up a shady political services firm, concealing Cothren's identity to tap into into taxpayer-funded mailer services available to lawmakers, as well as the lucrative political campaign mailer business. The two were charged with fraudulently profiting from the company because Cothren operated under a pseudonym.

Cothren went as far to sign an IRS form as "Matthew Phoenix" so the company would be approved as a vendor, prosecutors have alleged.

Casada first filed his motion to dismiss on Monday, arguing in part that prosecutors haven't supported their allegation that Casada "aided and abetted" Cothren in concealing his identity.

The duo's separate, but quite similar, motions to dismiss also point to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Ciminelli v. United States, which they argue rejected a legal theory underpinning their wire fraud charges.

In a motion to dismiss filed Tuesday, Cothren's legal team calls the prosecution's case "fatally flawed," arguing the political firm, Phoenix Solutions, delivered on the work it was hired to do and any compensation the duo received was for "bona fide" services rendered and shouldn't constitution kickbacks.

Cothren's motion also argues the prosecution has overreached with its charges, pointing to a "theft or bribery of programs receiving federal funds" charge. The General Assembly is not funded by federal dollars, Cothren's team argues, and the charge is inflated.

State GOP mailer slams Jones as a 'lawbreaker'

With less than a week to go before the Aug. 3 election, campaign mailers funded by the Tennessee Republican Party hit mailboxes denouncing expelled and reappointed Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, as a “lawbreaker” who has been “arrested 14 times” and calling for voters to “vote no on Justin Jones.” The GOP-funded mailers make no reference to his Republican opponent in the District 52 race: Laura Nelson.

“Our leaders should make laws, not break them,” the mailer reads. “Extreme left-wing activist Justin Jones doesn’t respect the rule of law. He’s been arrested 14 times for, among other things: allegedly assaulting a driver during a protest, throwing a coffee cup at a lawmaker with whom he disagreed, jumping on top of a police car during a protest.”

Jones has been arrested numerous times while protesting at and around the state Capitol, but he has never never been convicted of a crime.

He faced more than 15 charges stemming from the “People’s Plaza” protests that he helped lead during the summer of 2020, including disorderly conduct, criminal trespassing and assaulting a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer. He also faced reckless endangerment charges after allegedly throwing a traffic cone into the driver’s side window of a moving car outside the Capitol. A judge later dismissed all charges.

Jones was ordered by a judge not to enter the state Capitol for a time after a 2019 arrest, when he was charged with misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct after allegedly throwing a cup of coffee into an elevator, striking then-House Speaker Glen Casada, while protesting the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Jones was also arrested for trespassing and disorderly conduct in 2017 after a sit-in at then-Gov. Bill Haslam’s office calling for Medicaid expansion.

Meanwhile, Jones’ campaign has sent multiple mailers defending his bullhorn protest calling for gun control as “good trouble,” saying “we will not be silenced,” and touting support from national names like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, and U.S. Rep. Aryanna Pressley, who visited Nashville to stump with Jones near the State Capitol last week.

Jones’ mailer also tells his version of what happened at the Capitol in April.

“When Democrat Justin Jones pleaded with our Republican supermajority to protect kids – not guns – they cut off his mic, time and time again,” Jones’ mailer reads.

“But Justin didn’t back down,” it continues. “He brought a megaphone to the House floor and made our voices heard. In retaliation, the GOP Supermajority expelled him from the State House.”

Expulsion proclamations and debate during expulsion proceedings made clear that Jones was expelled for breaking house decorum rules, interrupting the democratic process, and silencing his colleagues — not simply for speaking.

Congressmen question secret Pentagon UFO retrieval program

U.S. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, helped spearhead a historic congressional hearing Wednesday during which federal intelligence whistleblowers revealed new details about a secret Pentagon effort to recover unidentified aerial craft alleged to be of non-human origin.

“This is an issue of government transparency – we cannot trust a government that does not trust its people,” Burchett said during his opening remarks.

Both Democrats and Republicans have pushed in recent years for more research on whether UAPs — unidentified aerial phenomena — pose a threat to U.S. national security, based on sightings by military and civilian pilots of technology that could be produced by American adversaries — or something else.

But so far, according to witness testimony Wednesday, the Pentagon’s UAP retrieval program has remained cloaked in secrecy, and beyond the reach of congressional oversight, something Burchett says needs to change.

Former military intelligence officer David Grusch claimed under oath that the Pentagon has recovered wreckage from non-human origin exotic craft and extracted “non-human biologics” from mysterious aircraft. Grusch also alleged that the Pentagon has intentionally withheld information about the program from Congress.

U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Columbia, asked each of the witnesses at the hearing whether they feel UAP pose an imminent threat to national security, may be collecting intelligence, and may have particular interest in American nuclear capabilities — and all agreed.

All witnesses agreed to meet with members privately to share more information that could not be discussed in a public forum. Ogles threatened to initiate Congress’ Holman rule – which allows Congress to reduce department funding, fire certain employees, or cut government programs outside of the standard process of review and debate — if actions are taken to prevent the meeting, or access to witnesses is denied.

Burchett has in the past introduced legislation to require commercial airline pilots to report anomalous sightings to the FAA and Congress.

“I was told by leadership that it was blocked by the intelligence community – not the Intelligence Committee – the intelligence community. And that is a very chilling effect,” Burchett told reporters after the hearing. “If someone can reach through the veil of government and pierce it to the point of we do not have access to something, you’ve got to start asking yourself, who the hell's in control?”

Blackburn says Pentagon should stop reimbursing for abortion travel

U.S. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, says the Pentagon should change its policy established in March to offer days of leave and travel expense reimbursement for service members seeking abortions across state lines.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted earlier this month to terminate the policy, but the Senate has not concurred. Meanwhile, Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville is holding up Senate confirmation of military nominations and promotions until Democrats allow a vote on the policy.

“The Pentagon is providing taxpayer funding for elective abortions, but not to transport our fallen heroes to their final resting place,” Tuberville wrote in a tweet on Wednesday. “This just shows how extreme the Pentagon’s unprecedented new abortion policy really is.

In an interview this week with The Tennessean, Blackburn stopped short of supporting Tuberville’s stand.

“We know that the Pentagon needs to change this policy,” Blackburn said. “We also know that if (Senate Majority Leader Chuck) Schumer wanted to bring forward the nominations on individual votes that he could have chosen to do that.”

A vote for each individual nominee could tie up the Senate for several weeks.

Kelsey sentencing pushed, again

Former state Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, will be allowed to swap in a third set of lawyers in his federal campaign finance case ahead of his sentencing date, which has been reset to Aug. 11.

Prosecutors have accused Kelsey of attempting to drag out the case, in which Kelsey first vehemently denied the charges against him, changed to a guilty plea and then attempted to walk back his plea, claiming he didn't fully understand the consequences of his plea.

A federal judge ultimately refused to allow him to do so, finding the Georgetown-trained lawyer, who at one time spearheaded the Senate Judiciary Committee, was a sophisticated criminal defendant able to make a sound decision when he pleaded guilty.

Kelsey was supposed to be sentenced on Thursday, but the hearing's purpose shifted when Kelsey earlier this month informed the court he was changing legal teams.

Barbriculture? Chicken farmer Barbie arrives at Ag Museum

Calling all Barbenheimer fans: Chicken Farmer Barbie is now visiting the Tennessee Agricultural Museum’s children’s play exhibit.

“Barbie has been into Ag for a LONG time,” the museum shared in a Facebook post this week. “Some of her earliest outfits featured gingham and other traditionally rural patterns. Her first ag job was in 1976 when Equestrienne Barbie was released, featuring the character on horseback. Since then, she’s been a vet, a farmer, a beekeeper, a farmer’s market operator, a cowgirl, a florist, a country singer, worked in various sciences related to ag, and of course, as a chicken farmer!”

The Tennessee Agricultural Museum at 404 Hogan Rd, in Nashville is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Catch up on the week

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: The week in politics: Everytown for Gun Safety to launch ad campaign