Florida bar opens an investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz threat tweets.

It was understated and didn’t make for the biggest fireworks. But this moment was likely the biggest moment of the day: Cohen clearly pointing to other investigations of the President that are on-going and apparently serious.

Yesterday was such a torrent of news from Michael Cohen and his all-day testimony that I confess I’m still trying to absorb it. News is an inherently social phenomenon. That’s what makes it news as opposed to information. Our process of absorbing the news, which is notionally individual, is also communal. As the Russia story and Trump administration drags on, we increasingly see two stories, which are both increasingly distinct and yet deeply related, indeed inseparable parts of the same story. Read More

Who’s the green eyeshade at the center of every Trump scam? This guy.

Pretty obvious now that the Rep. Gaetz threat to Michael Cohen came from, was at the direction of the President.

Michael Cohen is going to back for more testimony on March 6th. On March 14th, Felix Sater will testify before the House Intelligence committee in open session. Josh Kovensky talked to Sater on the phone earlier today.

This is, frankly, a critical hearing.

To refresh your memory, here’s one look at Sater’s background I wrote way back in February 2017. Here’s another on Cohen/Sater and the Trump/Russia money channel. Here’s another on the same topic. What happened to the “peace plan” dossier that Cohen hand delivered to Mike Flynn at the White House. Sater is at the center of that too. Finally, Sater is a critical piece of the puzzle in trying to understand what US law enforcement and intelligence knew when about Trump’s business ties with Russia, Ukraine and ex-Soviet organized crime figures.

Tomorrow at 3:30 PM eastern we’re holding an Inside Briefing on voting rights, the on-going court fight over the 2020 Census and various and sundry Trump administration abuses. We’ll be speaking with Dale Ho, Director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. TPM’s Tierney Sneed, who covers these issues for us, will also join us for the Q&A If you’re an Inside member, you should have received an invitation email.

Trumpers have constructed a perfect logical defense or rather shield for President Trump. He cannot be indicted. And the Justice Department cannot share potentially damaging information about someone it has chosen not to indict. Ergo, RIP Mueller Report. Josh Kovensky has more.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), who is on the oversight committee, says he wants John Kelly to come before the committee to discuss Trump’s order to issue Jared Kushner the highest level security clearance over the recommendations of security officials. He also wants the committee to get the memo Kelly wrote to memorialize what happened.

Lynne Patton is the Trump family party planner who Trump appointed to one of the highest positions at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and had that notorious cameo appearance as Donald Trump’s black friend at the Michael Cohen hearing on Wednesday. It turns out she was slated to be part of a new reality TV show about black Republicans from the makers of the Real Housewives series.