In case you missed it, Episode #3 of The Josh Marshall Podcast is out. David Taintor and I break down a slew of critical developments in the Trump/Russia story over the last week. Listen here or download from iTunes or Google Play. I hope you enjoy it. Please send us feedback and please subscribe.

Earlier this evening I told you about startling new revelations appearing to tie together the Russia probe with various of Donald Trump’s and Jared Kushner’s shenanigans in the Persian Gulf region. It’s stunning stuff but it’s complicated stuff. So check out the earlier post and the underlying articles from the Times and CNN to get the details. But no sooner did that happen than an attorney for Stormy Daniels posted a legal filing in which she asks a court to declare the “hush agreement” between her and Donald Trump and his lawyer, Michael Cohen, to be null and void.

But this rather sterile description doesn’t do justice to what is contained in the filing – which includes the original “hush agreement” itself and another related document. Suffice it to say, it focuses not so much on Stormy Daniels staying mum about a sexual relationship with Donald Trump but on “certain still images and/or text messages which were authored by or relate to” Donald Trump. Let’s put this baldly: Stormy appears to be saying she’s got or had sexts and maybe even “dick pics” from President Trump.

So with that, let’s get to the horrid details. Read More

CNN just moved a story about George Nader. We heard about him last week. He’s a Lebanese-American businessman with some history in Washington. But he’s been sort of off the radar for more than a decade. He was involved in some way as an intermediary between Trump family members and people in the Persian Gulf. Now we hear this from CNN. He was met at Dulles airport by the FBI in January on his return from abroad. “Since then, he has been talking to Mueller’s investigators and providing information to the grand jury.” Read More

In this new piece, Alice Ollstein looks at the critical aspect of the trade equation right now. The President has zero constitutional authority over tariffs. Modern tariff legislation gives President great leeway to adjust tariffs based on various ‘findings’. Congress can pull back that power at any moment. Republicans are panicked about what the President is threatening. But they pretty clearly have no will to act to stop him.

We decided that the Trump/Russia story looks so much darker and more sinister over the last ten days that we needed to dedicate this week’s entire podcast to explaining just how it all fits together. We just published it and you listen right here.

I can’t get past the lede of this AP article about the latest at the EPA …

A key aide to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has been granted permission to make extra money moonlighting for private clients whose identities are being kept secret.

Here’s the rest.

Utah Republicans are so thankful to President Trump for dramatically reducing the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, that they are trying to rename a scenic Utah National Parks Highway the Donald J. Trump Utah National Parks Highway. Democrats says that if the bill reaches the state Senate they will propose an amendment to name the highway’s frontage road the “Stormy Daniels rampway”. Read More

The West Virginia teachers strikes appears to have ended with a more or less complete victory for the teachers.

Here’s our weekly Sum Up of critical developments on the Obamacare and health care policy front.

Everyone is focused on the on-going Trump tragicomedy in Washington. But that’s not the only show in town. Starting tomorrow morning there is a critical trial in Kansas. Kris Kobach is likely the most influential and dangerous voter suppression promoter in the country. He’s Kansas Secretary of State. He was also the head of President Trump’s sham voter fraud commission. In this trial he’s being forced to defend the state’s new law which requires people to provide documentary proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. The result will have national implications. Tierney Sneed helms our voting rights and democracy coverage at TPM and we’ve sent her to Kansas City to cover the trial from the court. She’ll be publishing live updates here in addition to feature stories over the course of the week.

Tierney previewed the trial here last week in her round up of the ‘experts’ Kobach is using to defend his voter fraud claims in court. Also do not miss our weekly Sum Up of critical developments on the voting rights and democracy front here.