Dems Seize On GOP Lawyer’s Apparent Poll Watcher Slip, GOPer Insists Clinton Faces Indictment, And Trump’s FBI Fanboy

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November 4th, 2016

Top Stories


Oops! Dems Seize On GOP Lawyer’s Apparent Slip On Poll Watcher Call

The Gist: Democrats are pointing to a conference call in which a GOP operative mentioned that Virginia ballot security initiatives were being handled by the RNC before quickly walking the comment back.

Conway: False Indictment Story Trump Pushed Did Political Damage To Clinton

The Gist: Trump’s campaign manager admitted that the story was false, but said that the political damage to Clinton was already done.

GOPer Insists Clinton Faces Indictment Because She’s ‘Hearing About It’

The Gist: Despite a lack of evidence, Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) insisted Clinton is facing indictment because “she’s hearing about it.”

From The Reporter’s Notebook


Melania Trump condemned “mean and too rough” comments made by people with “no name hiding on the Internet” in a speech on Thursday, her first appearance on the campaign trail since the Republican National Convention. As TPM’s Esme Cribb noted, however, her husband Donald Trump has insulted more than 200 people, places and things on Twitter since announcing his candidacy in June 2015, according to a New York Times report.

Agree or Disagree?


Josh Marshall: “RCP and The Hill took a story which is very, very likely to be sourced to people who not in the FBI and changed it to people who are in the FBI. That’s a problem. When I first saw these reports I thought it was yet another example of Comey being out of control of his agency, more partisan-minded leaks to partisan news organizations. But it seems pretty clear that is not what happened. As I’ve noted in earlier posts, this is why the DOJ has clear guidelines about non-interference in elections. Those have been totally thrown out the window. The Fox report itself seems highly dubious — based on other reporting. But we can say definitely that The Hill and RCP aggregated and disseminated a version of the story with a false version of the sourcing.”

Say What?!


“I’m not attracted to lazy people or sorry people or people that don’t want to get involved.”

– Alabama’s top election official went on a tear against “lazy people” when explaining why he opposes automatic voter registration.

BUZZING: Today in the Hive


From a TPM Prime member: “The difference between the level of expected/demonstrated transparency and ‘political influence in DOJ’ between the Obama and Bush admins is also striking – you could get NOTHING out of the Bush admin (see Cheney, executive privilege, emails) and the DOJ seemed to do ‘whatever Bush wanted,’ but under Obama’s admin, it’s completely been flipped. For all the complaining about Hillary’s ‘lack of transparency,’ the Dems simply don’t do obstructionism very well as a group, probably because most of them (us) actually believe in transparency, and having a functioning representative democratic government.”

Related: House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul (R-TX) accused Hillary Clinton of committing “treason” because of the way the former secretary of state handled her emails.

Have something to add? Become a Prime member and join the discussion here.

What We’re Reading


How Sarma Melngailis became a runaway fugitive. (Vanity Fair)

Meet Donald Trump’s FBI fanboy. (The Daily Beast)


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