DOJ Scoffs At Bannon’s Last-Ditch Effort To Head Off Contempt Trial

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.

The Clock Is Ticking Toward July 18

With his trial on contempt of Congress charges set to begin next week, Steve Bannon set off a last-minute flurry of news reports and legal filings by claiming he was finally prepared to testify to the Jan. 6 Committee.

The Justice Department was having none of it, acidly remarking in a filing late Sunday night that Bannon’s offer was “not a genuine effort to meet his obligations but a last-ditch attempt to avoid accountability.”

Bannon, who has stonewalled the Jan. 6 committee for months, has said he will now testify, but the Justice Department noted that he has yet to produce any of the documents subpoenaed by the committee, putting him in only partial compliance with the committee’s demands. The Justice Department in a separate filing asked the court to reject Bannon’s request to delay the trial.

The Justice Department also dropped a little news in the filings: DOJ says that last month the FBI interviewed Trump lawyer Justin Clark, who claimed:

• Trump had never asserted executive privilege over any particular information or materials to keep Bannon from testifying in the first place.
• Clark never asked or was asked to attend Bannon’s deposition before the Jan. 6 committee.
• Bannon’s attorney misrepresented to the Jan. 6 committee what Clark had him.
• Clark made clear to Bannon’s attorney that a pivotal letter from Clark provided no basis for total noncompliance with the committee’s subpoena.

Bannon forwarded to the House Jan. 6 Committee a letter Trump had sent him on Saturday in which the ex-president said he would drop his “executive privilege” claim if the committee agreed to certain conditions. Bannon’s exact demands aren’t clear, but his letter reportedly hinted at wanting to testify publicly.

The committee ain’t gonna go for a public hearing with Bannon. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) said on Sunday that the panel wants to get all their questions answered, “and you can’t do that in a live format.”

What We Know About Cipollone’s Testimony

Ex-White House chief counsel Pat Cipollone sat in for transcribed, videotaped testimony with the House Jan. 6 Committee for eight hours on Friday. It was a private session, so the only information we’ve got on his testimony right now has come from committee members and reports from outlets like CNN and the New York Times.

FDA To Consider Over-The-Counter Birth Control Pills

Weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, HRA Pharma, a pharmaceutical company based in France, submitted an application to the Food and Drug Administration to authorize its birth control pill for over-the-counter purchase.

• The FDA is expected to make its decision in about 10 months, according to HRA Pharma officials.
• Another pharmaceutical company, Cadence Health, said it hopes to submit an application next year to make its birth control pills available to buy over the counter as well.
• Don’t expect the Biden administration to speed up the authorization process, though. One of the White House’s co-chairs of its Gender Policy Council said on Friday that the FDA “has to go through its process.”

Pregnant Texas Woman Ticketed For Driving In Carpool Lane Points To Fetus As Passenger

In wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling, a pregnant woman named Brandy Bottone argued that her fetus counted as another passenger when the police ticketed her for driving on the HOV lane on the Central Expressway in Dallas.

Arizona Makes It Illegal To Film Cops Within 8 Feet

In case you missed it, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed a bill last week banning people from taking videos of cops within eight feet of the officers, which is set to go into effect in September.

Schumer Tests Positive For COVID

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) office announced on Sunday that the senator had tested positive for COVID-19, so he’ll be quarantining and working remotely this week.

Must Read

“Uber broke laws, duped police and secretly lobbied governments, leak reveals” – The Guardian

The Ballad Of Elon Musk

As predicted, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is now actively trying to break his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, and it looks like sucking up to MAGALand failed to win him the allies he seemed to chase on the PR front:

Broken clock, etc. etc.

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