A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
This Ain’t Going Away
One of the women who had anonymously accused GOP Nebraska gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster of groping her has now identified herself publicly: Elizabeth Todsen, a former political aide, was among eight women who originally alleged last month that Herbster groped them. Todsen, who alleges that Herbster groped her at a political event in 2019, is the second accuser to reveal her name publicly.
- The other named woman who accused Herbster of groping her is Nebraska state Sen. Julie Slama (R), who told the Nebraska Examiner about the incident last month.
- Herbster denied Todsen’s allegation and vowed to take “legal action” against her. He filed a lawsuit against Slama last month, and she is countersuing him for sexual battery.
- Trump, who has endorsed Herbster, defended him at a rally for him last night and claimed without any evidence that the allegations were a political hit job against the candidate. In fact, the ex-president said it was because of the allegations that he went to the rally; to defend the “badly maligned” Herbster.
Pelosi Leads U.S. Lawmakers’ First Kyiv Visit Since Russia’s Invasion
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) led a delegation of House lawmakers to Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a trip that was kept secret until she announced the visit afterward on Sunday.
- Pelosi visited the besieged country with six other House members, all Democrats: House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff (D-CA), House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Gregory Meeks (D-NY), House Rules Committee chair Jim McGovern (D-MA), plus Reps. Jason Crow (D-CO), Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Bill Keating (D-MA).
- The delegation is traveling to Poland next, where they’ll meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda.
Judge Allows Jan. 6 Panel To Obtain RNC’s Email Fundraising Data
On Sunday night, a Trump-appointed federal judge shot down the Republican National Committee’s effort to block the House Jan. 6 Committee from accessing documents that would help the panel figure out whether the RNC fundraised off of Trump’s 2020 election lies before the Capitol attack.
- However, the committee won’t be allowed to receive the documents until May 5 in order to give the RNC time to appeal the ruling, the judge said in his decision.
- The committee is seeking data relating to the RNC and Trump campaign’s fundraising emails sent from the day of the election on Nov. 3 to Jan. 6, including their success rate and who worked on the email push.
- Speaking of major breakthroughs in the committee’s hunt for email data, ex-Trump legal adviser and coup architect John Eastman is expected to hand over 10,000 pages of his Trump-related emails.
Georgia DA To Begin Gathering Special Grand Jury In Trump Election Probe
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her team of prosecutors will start choosing members of the special grand jury today in her investigation into Trump’s attempt to steal the 2020 election.
- However, the grand jury won’t hear from witnesses until June 1. Willis told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month that she wanted to hold off on that part of the process until after Georgia’s primaries on May 24 to avoid accusations from Republicans that she was trying to influence the outcome of the elections. Trump’s biggest targets in his scheme–Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and secretary of state Brad Raffensperger (R)–are both on the primary ballot.
Must Read: NYT’s Series On Fox New Host Tucker Carlson
- Part 1: “How Tucker Carlson Stoked White Fear to Conquer Cable”
- Part 2: “How Tucker Carlson Reshaped Fox News — and Became Trump’s Heir”
- Part 3: “Inside the Apocalyptic Worldview of ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’”
- Read the main takeaways of the series here.
Trump Gives A Shoutout To Endorsee ‘JP Mandel’
As Ohio GOP Senate candidate J.D. Vance remains haunted by the resurfacing of his past criticism of Trump after finally receiving his endorsement, the ex-president accidentally (?) half-confused the hillbilly elegist with his rival, Josh Mandel, during a rally on Sunday:
MyPillow Guy Gets Roger Stone’d By Twitter
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell met the same tragic fate as fellow Twitter-banished Trump crony Roger Stone on Sunday: Believing, like Stone, that Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter meant his exile was over, Lindell tried to come back to the social media platform and was immediately re-banned within hours.
Biden Roasts Trump At First WH Correspondents Dinner
“This is the first time the President has attended this dinner in six years. It’s understandable: We had a horrible plague – followed by two years of COVID.”
Biden during his speech at the dinner on Saturday
A Journalistic Failure
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Did Charles Gropester arrive at the rally on a horse? What is with these guys and cowboy hats?
Cowboy hats used to be an essential article of protective gear for people who spent all day in the sun, now it’s just part of a machismo costume.
Oh, and back in the day they were just called hats.
Herpiester is afraid to confront his accusers. All cluck, no eggs.
BTW, Herbster sounds to me like a name Herb Tarlek would refer to himself as.
I just can’t forget this other gropey dude.