Tierney Sneed is at the federal courthouse in DC for Roger Stone’s sentencing this morning. She’ll have the proceedings for you in real time here.

A few weeks ago, the sentencing of Roger Stone seemed like it would be an anti-climax, a colorful footnote to the historic Mueller probe. But now it has become ground zero for the epochal battle to protect the rule of law from the assault of Donald Trump.

How will that play out today?

Longtime political operative and President Trump confidante Roger Stone will be sentenced this morning, bringing to a close a tumultuous and outright bizarre case that spun out of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.

Or not.

The Roger Stone sentencing hearing continues … and the judge appears to be edging closer to announcing the sentence. Follow our coverage here.

We’ll definitely have more on this soon, but the Justice Department ended up standing by all the sentence enhancement recommendations for Roger Stone that it made in the original sentencing memo it filed in the case, before dramatically repudiating that memo later.

What happened behind the scenes exactly? Why did Barr so badly damage DOJ for so little apparent gain? I’m not sure there are satisfying answers to these questions. More soon.

Readers have been writing in about the possibility that, by this summer, Democrats could be facing a contested convention — one in which Bernie Sanders is leading in delegates, but without enough to win the nomination outright.

Reader AC reflects on the angst that could result should the party step in and select another nominee.

I get that there are reasons to be worried about Bernie, but I think the worries about the other candidates, and especially a contested convention in which a Bernie clear lead doesn’t translate to a Bernie nomination, should be much more significant.

Reader RS has a different perspective from AC — “ultimately, the party should be allowed to pick” who wins the nomination, he writes.

Here’s part of his email.

As far as I understand it, the Democratic Party has always required a majority vote at the Convention to nominate a candidate. If that doesn’t occur on the first ballot, pledged delegates are released and the deliberations continue. That reflects the desire to try, as best as possible, to get a consensus nominee.

Tomorrow, TPM’s publisher, Joe Ragazzo, is going to be doing an Inside briefing with me. I asked Joe how he’d describe himself. Answer: “Josh’s right-hand man and dauphin, appointed heir and God’s leftenant.”

Make of that what you will, but Joe’s an expert in the business of online news — one that has reinvented itself several times even in the last few years. This is your chance to ask him anything you want to ask him about TPM or the news business writ large.

Register here to join us on Friday at 3 p.m.

There’s got to be something going on behind the scenes here.

Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) has been a bulldog for President Trump from his perch on the House Judiciary Committee for months, most notably with his aggressive defense of the President throughout the impeachment inquiry. Trump rewarded his loyalty by floating to reporters Thursday night that the lawmakers is among the candidates he’s considering to become director of national intelligence.

My discussion with TPM’s publisher Joe Ragazzo is posted in the TPM briefings archive.

It was a fun conversation with TPM Insiders about some of the difficulties facing the news business — from the decline of local newspapers to changes in how small outlets like TPM approach what they do to what Trump’s election has meant for us.

We also speculated a bit about what the future might hold, for us and for all journalists.

Watch it here.

TPM’s next member event is just around the corner. Please join us on March 5 in New York City as we discuss the most important Democratic primary ever, the prospects for a contested convention, and what it all means.

Attendance for Insiders is free. You also may purchase a ticket for a guest for $50. You can get your tickets here using the password “TPMINSIDE”. Read More