A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
The Price Of F’ing Around And Finding Out
A Connecticut jury awarded $965 million to the Sandy Hook families and an FBI agent on Wednesday in their defamation lawsuit against far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, whose supporters terrorized the families over his ghoulish lies claiming the shooting was a hoax.
- What probably didn’t help Jones’ case was him snarling during one of the hearings last month that he was “done saying I’m sorry” for lying about the shooting:
- This was Jones’ second Sandy Hook defamation trial. A jury in a different Sandy Hook lawsuit in Texas ordered Jones to pay almost $50 million to the plaintiffs in August.
- Jones still has a third defamation trial to go through. It’ll be held in Texas and is expected to begin before the end of the year.
Today’s (Likely Last) Jan. 6 Panel Hearing
The House Jan. 6 Committee is holding what’s probably going to be its last public hearing today before the panel releases its final report. Here’s what to expect going into the session, which begins at 1 p.m. ET:
- The committee will present a trove of internal Secret Service communications sent and received around Jan. 6 that the agency has handed over to the panel, which amount to over one million records, according to NBC News.
- There’ll be new video testimony but no live witnesses, according to committee aides.
Must Read
“Penn denied ties to slavery. Students sought the truth.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Trump Ordered Docs To Be Moved After Getting Subpoena
A Trump aide has told the FBI that the ex-president ordered the boxes of government documents he was hoarding at Mar-a-Lago to be moved somewhere else at the resort after he received a grand jury subpoena for the records in May, according to the Washington Post and CNN.
- There’s surveillance footage at Mar-a-Lago that shows an employee moving the boxes, per the Post, CNN and the New York Times.
- The boxes were moved from a storage room in the basement to Trump’s residence, according to CNN.
Racist L.A. City Council Member Resigns
Nury Martinez, who stepped down as the president of the Los Angeles City Council after a leaked recording earlier this week revealed her making racist comments, resigned from the council entirely on Wednesday.
- Martinez’s resignation letter didn’t include an apology to the people she’d aimed at with her racist attacks, though she had apologized in a previous statement when she was resigning as president of the council.
- The letter did include a weird line saying that she hoped she’d “inspired” L.A.’s young Latina girls “to dream beyond that which you can see.”
Top Wisconsin Paper Wants RonJohn RonGone
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel put out a scathing editorial yesterday dragging Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) to hell and back while giving readers eight reasons why he needs to be booted out in November as an “election deceiver,” “science fabulist,” and “billionaire benefactor.”
In fact, Ron Johnson is the worst Wisconsin political representative since the infamous Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
– A brutal editorial board
GOP Nebraska Governor’s Wife Backs Dem House Nominee
First Lady of Nebraska Susanne Shore, the wife of Gov. Pete Ricketts (R), has been endorsing Democratic state Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks’ U.S. House bid against Rep. Mike Flood (R-NE)–who’s being endorsed by her husband. In fact, Shore first endorsed Pansing Brooks over Flood (who was being backed by Ricketts then, too) in June in the special election to fill now-convicted Jeff Fortenberry’s seat.
Gabbard Now Shilling For Bolduc; It’ll Be Interesting Tulsi How This Goes
(Okay, that’s the last stupid name pun in today’s Morning Memo.)
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii is off to a great start in her non-Democratic career: About 24 hours after Tucker Carlson’s BFF made her earth-shattering declaration that she was leaving the Democratic Party, New Hampshire GOP Senate nominee and election denier Don Bolduc announced that Gabbard will be joining him on the campaign trail.
Dennis Prager Has Ordinary Thoughts About Adult Incest
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Fist! to you, Alex Jones.
Alex will be thrown in jail before this is all said and done.
“In fact, Ron Johnson is the worst Wisconsin political representative since the infamous Sen. Joseph McCarthy.”
Absolutely true … and it is also true that the MAGA-GQP sees this as high praise!
While some might be eager to accuse Wisconsinites of being slow learners, it is more likely that the terms “self-delusion” and “imperious” are not taught in their schools.
Nope - these are civil judgements - can’t go to jail for that.