This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Tuesday, August 8th, 2023. 
 
Rowdy Christian Merch Plug:
If you’re a fan of CrossPolitic, or the Fight Laugh Feast Network, then surely, you know we have a merch store right? Rowdy Christian Merch is your one-stop-shop for everything CrossPolitc merchandise. We’ve got T-Shirts, hoodies, hats, but we’ve also got specialty items like backpacks, mugs, coffee, even airpod cases! Visit Rowdy Christian Merch at rowdychristian.com, and buy that next gift, or a little something for yourself. Again, that’s rowdychristian.com.
 
https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2023/08/07/3000-u-s-sailors-marines-reach-red-sea-as-bidens-middle-east-build-up-continues/
 
3,000+ U.S. Sailors, Marines Reach Red Sea as Biden’s Middle East Build-Up Continues
 
Upwards of 3,000 U.S. sailors and Marines sailed into the Red Sea on Monday after transiting the Suez Canal in a pre-announced deployment, the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet said in a statement.
 
The reinforcements were carried aboard the USS Bataan and USS Carter Hall warships, providing “greater flexibility and maritime capability” to the Fifth Fleet, the statement seen by AFP added.
 
Their arrival followed a U.S. announcement last month it would deploy a destroyer, F-35 and F-16 warplanes, along with the Amphibious Readiness Group/Marine Expeditionary Unit, to the Middle East to deter Iran from seizing ships in the Gulf.
 
The U.S. military says Iran has either seized or attempted to take control of nearly 20 internationally flagged ships in the region over the past two years and the Biden White House wants to see more forces in the region to stand ready to engage Iran if required, as Breitbart News reported.
 
USS Bataan is an amphibious assault ship which can carry fixed-wing and rotary aircraft as well as landing craft. The USS Carter Hall, a dock landing ship, transports Marines, their gear, and lands them ashore.
 
“These units add significant operational flexibility and capability as we work… to deter destabilising activity and deescalate regional tensions caused by Iran’s harassment and seizures of merchant vessels,” Fifth Fleet spokesman Commander Tim Hawkins told AFP
 
The deployment comes after Washington said its forces blocked two attempts by Iran to seize commercial tankers in international waters off Oman on July 5.
 
About a fifth of the world’s crude oil and oil products passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow choke point between Iran and Oman.
 
https://thepostmillennial.com/must-watch-mike-pence-accidentally-admits-he-had-legal-ability-to-turn-2020-election-over-to-house-of-representatives?utm_campaign=64487
 
Mike Pence accidentally ADMITS he had legal ability to turn 2020 election over to House of Representatives
 
Following Trump’s arraignment on "conspiracy" charges last week, the 2024 GOP frontrunner’s former vice president, Mike Pence, said that the 2020 election results would have been turned over to the House of Representatives if he rejected the Electoral College votes.
 
https://twitter.com/i/status/1688640553808801792 - Play Video 
 
On Thursday, Trump was arraigned on charges of conspiracy to defraud the government, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. He pleaded not guilty.
 
In the indictment from Special Counsel Jack Smith, he alleges that Trump enlisted six co-conspirators to "assist him in his criminal efforts to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election and retain power."
 
The indictment alleges that Trump was "determined to remain in power" after the 2020 election, and for the two months following the election "the Defendant spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he actually won."
 
"After it became public on the afternoon of January 6 that the Vice President would not fraudulently alter the election results, a large