Nicole Lafond

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Nicole Lafond is TPM’s deputy editor, based in New York. She has also worked as the special projects editor and as a senior newswriter for TPM. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and previously covered education in central Illinois.

Where Things Stand: Will That Be It?
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A jury convicted four more members of the far-right Oath Keepers group of seditious conspiracy today, bringing to a close one the highest-profile prosecutions to be brought thus far in response to the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6. It also leaves us with the question: will that be it when it comes to accountability for the attack?

In closing arguments on Monday, some of the Oath Keepers’ lawyers were not subtle in outlining where they believe the real blame for the attack should lie.

“Responsibility really rests at our politicians’ feet,” Scott Weinberg, the attorney for Oath Keeper David Moerschel said on Monday, per the Washington Post. “The president and Stewart Rhodes were claiming that the world is coming to an end even before the election.”

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Where Things Stand: Santos Office Forwarded Constituent Calls To Office Of NY GOPer Who Wants Him To Resign
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The glitch was only temporary, but, man, it’s gold. You really can’t make this stuff up (unless you are George Santos).

Long Island news outlet Newsday has the goods.

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Where Things Stand: Of Course George Santos Mom Was Not In NYC On 9/11
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The Jewish Daily Forward, the same news outlet that broke the story that Rep. George Santos (R-NY) lied about his heritage, has now seemingly confirmed another suspected Santos fib — that his mother was in the vicinity of World Trade Center on 9/11 and survived the attack.

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Where Things Stand: WH Joins Calls For McCarthy To Cough Up Deets Of Gentlemen’s Agreement
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Ever since Kevin McCarthy was narrowly elected speaker in the wee hours of the morning after a historic 15 rounds of voting, there’ve been reports that the new speaker had to more or less sell his soul and offer up his first born to the MAGA hardliners in exchange for the gavel.

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Where Things Stand: 2020 Biden Electors In Michigan Sue The Phony Trump Slate
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This lawsuit comes just a few days after Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel also announced she was opening an investigation into the sham Trump electors. Nessel initially referred the matter to the DOJ but decided to open her own investigation after the House Jan. 6 committee released its report.

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Where Things Stand: Here’s The Resume Santos Gave Nassau County GOP, Fake GPA And All
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While announcing their committee’s call for freshman Rep. George Santos (R-NY) to resign from Congress today, Nassau County GOP Chairman Joseph Cairo, Jr. let a little bit of news slip.

“I remember specifically, I’m into sports a little bit, that he was a star on the Baruch volleyball team and that they won the league championship,” Cairo said, while walking reporters through a handful of other publicly known things that Santos had lied about on his resume.

“What can I tell ya,” he said. Peep his fellow party officials giggling in the background.

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Where Things Stand: Scalise Assures Us Santos Will Get A Stern Talking To, Thank God
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We can all rest easy knowing accountability is in the unassailable hands of the newly minted Republican House leadership.

Scalise’s remarks come the same day that Democratic lawmakers actually did something tangible about the fact that there’s a freshman member of Congress who was just sworn in after admitting he lied about basically everything he’s ever said and done.

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Where Things Stand: A Little Bit Of Anecdotal Data
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In the few hours we weren’t furiously updating our liveblog covering the lawless speakership election each day last week, I spent most of my downtime answering texts and explaining to friends what exactly was happening on the House floor.

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Where Things Stand: There Is Still No Speaker
This is your TPM evening briefing.

That is where things stand.

(In all seriousness we will be bringing back my daily Editors’ Blog post next week after our brains recover from the dumpster that is on fire on the House floor right now.)

In the meantime, Emine Yücel and I are covering all of today’s madness here.

🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃

Announcing 2022’s Golden Duke Winners: The Odds Were Never In Your Favor
Thanks for joining us for another trolling season.

The competition was fierce. Voter comments got messy. Some of our winners only eked out a victory by a few percentage points. But after a free and fair election, and more than 12,000 votes cast, we’re ready to announce 2022’s greatest losers.

What better way to round out the year than by toasting the scoundrels who did the worst the best? It’s TPM tradition, after all. Ever since Duke Cunningham — in all of his shameless glory, complete with bribe menu, lava lamp, and yacht party — brought us into a new era of public corruption, reveling in the moments when public figures reveal their true, often corrupt and comically grimy colors is what we do best.

Without further ado, join us in our celebration of this years winners — one of the most cartoonishly dishonorable cast of characters we’ve raised a toast to yet.

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