I should note that after a day of saturation coverage of those doctored Pelosi hoax videos Facebook continues to slow roll taking them down. Theyir current stance is still that they’ve been “enqueued” the videos for review by third party fact-checkers, a group that includes publications such as The Daily Caller among others.
For now they continue to derive ad and data revenues from the video and curry favor with the President of the United States by keeping it online.
For everyone who’s been worried about Attorney General Bill Barr’s lawless reign at the Department of Justice last night was the big moment. As you’ve likely already seen President Trump gave Barr blanket authority to access and declassify any and all classified information from the country’s dozen and a half intelligence agencies in his quest to “investigate the investigators” of the Russia scandal.There’s hardly any way to overstate just how big a deal this is or how dangerous it is in the hands of a corrupt official like Bill Barr.
As Kate Riga reported earlier, someone has created a series of highly realistic and yet provably doctored videos running on Facebook which appear to show Nancy Pelosi slurring her speech or drunk. The Post was first on this, showing conclusively how the doctoring had happened and the real video it was based on.
This is a growing issue, the increasing ability to created phony videos which look very real and are very difficult to show are not real. They are referred to as “deepfakes” and they’re getting talked about more and more in media and intelligence circles.
Read More
We are homing in on a major milestone in the growth of our membership program and the future of TPM: 30,000 paying members. We’re currently 167 members short of that number. Your memberships are why TPM still exists and has its best days ahead of it. If you’d like to join us and support what we do click here to join.
The NRA is suing its longtime ad firm, Ackerman McQueen, for another $40 million for allegedly mounting a campaign of leaked emails to foment a coup at the NRA.
TPM’s Josh Kovensky was in the courtroom today when a federal judge rejected Trump’s attempt to halt a congressional subpoena issued to Deutsche Bank and Capitol One. Read his report from the courtroom, where the judge said Trump’s case was not “serious”and said that Congress’ authority is “well-settled.”
President Trump has made a surprise appearance in the White House’s Rose Garden to discuss — what else? — the Mueller report.
His podium is decked out with statistics about the Mueller investigation alongside the President’s mantra: “NO collusion, NO obstruction.”
Podium set up in the Rose Garden with statistics on the Mueller investigation. pic.twitter.com/cZMytbKbvS
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) May 22, 2019
The Washington Post has gotten hold of a draft internal IRS memo which argues that the IRS and Treasury Department have no choice but to hand over the President’s taxes.
This seems like little more than a legal analysis that states what I think everyone who has looked at the law understands, which is that it’s crystal clear: To follow the law they have no choice but to hand over the returns. The only real argument I’ve seen from conservatives is that the law itself is unconstitutional. But the text of the law is clear.
Yesterday we got the first court ruling in Congress’ battle to conduct oversight of President Trump. The judge issued a broad decision that affirmed Congress’ oversight authority, rather than narrowly ruling on the subpoena for Trump’s accountant, Mazars. TPM’s Josh Kovensky talked to legal experts who provide a very helpful lens through which to read the ruling. It’s worth a look.
Some very interesting numbers in a just released Quinnipiac Poll.
Here are numbers that jump out to me.
President Trump’s numbers are 38% approve, 57% disapprove. On May 2nd those numbers were 41%-55%. 54% of voters say they would “definitely not vote” for President Trump. 31% say they’d “definitely vote” for him.