TPM’s in-house Bridgegate-a-palooza expert (and expert on so much more) Brian Murphy is down at the court house in Newark watching today’s Bridgegate developments. And I just got off the phone with him to get a read out on what was discussed in the court room proceeding today about just what David Wildstein is pleading guilty to and factual claims he is making as part of his plea.
Here are the key points
The Bridgegate scandal is being blown wide open by prosecutors in New Jersey this morning. David Wildstein as expected pleaded guilty and admitted that the scheme to close the bridge was revenge against the mayor of Fort Lee.
Wildstein also admitted to conspiring with two other Christie allies, Bill Baroni at the Port Authority and Bridget Kelly, who was Christie’s deputy chief of staff. Baroni and Kelly have reportedly been indicted, too, the NYT is reporting.
That hissing sound is the remaining air coming out of the Christie 2016 balloon.
More soon …
There’s so much good in Catherine Thompson’s write up on the different far-right theories about just why President Obama is plotting the military takeover of Texas and the rest of the Southwest and just what he plans to do with it after he takes it over. My theory that he’s going to establish Obamacare exchanges by force if the Supreme Court throws out subsidies doesn’t seem to have caught on at all. But by far the best – and I mean best – is the theory that the mysteriously shuttered Walmart big box locations are being prepped to serve as staging areas for the Chinese troops Obama brings in to take away people’s guns or transit points for the US occupation army with underground tunnels connecting the different locations. When I first talked to Katie’s editor about the piece I was told that part of the theory was that the shuttered Walmarts were going to be used as detention centers for patriots. And I thought, wtf?: is this whole thing just one big lay up for critical theory professors with too much time on their hands? (We’ve got constitutional conservative patriots on aisle 9, LOTS OF ‘EM!) Alas, it turns out the detention center part wasn’t true. Which is to say, not true in the sense that it was not a bona fide conspiracy theory/fantasy we were able to find in our research but rather a miscommunication among TPM editors. And that’s unfortunate because it should be true. But there’s so much other good stuff in Catherine’s piece you should read it right now.
The first criminal charges in the Bridgegate scandal are expected later this morning in federal court in Newark. Those proceedings are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET, and the U.S. attorney has scheduled a 1 p.m. ET press conference.
Old Chris Christie chum David Wildstein is reportedly going to plead guilty to as yet unknown charges, but the New York Times reports that others are expected to be charged today as well. Whether Christie himself will be implicated is the big unknown.
Stick around for all the latest as it comes down today. In the meantime, a look at what the Wildstein plea could portend.
Ted Cruz says Hispanics don’t panhandle because they have a sense of shame but he won’t comment about African-Americans.
Moderate Jeb Bush says he’s a fan of notorious racial intelligence ‘science’ scholar Charles Murray.
Gov Jindal says Justices Ginsburg and Kagan need to recuse themselves from the gay marriage decision.
Rand Paul (apparently a presidential candidate) says he’s looking into whether the US military is actually planning a military takeover of the Southwest.
The White House insists it is not planning a military takeover of the country or Texas. But of course they’d say that.
Consider a hypothetical. The Obamacare case is before the Supreme Court and the threat to red state Obamacare subsidies is looming. It would be naive to think the White House wouldn’t have some contingency plans in place for that eventuality. Quick surgical action under the cover of military exercises: go in, set up exchanges, stand up friendly government with domestic opposition, leave small residual force, get out.