A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Stay Safely In That Bubble
Fox News announced on Monday that Fox News Channel won’t be airing the House Jan. 6 Committee’s public hearing during primetime on Thursday. The primetime programs will only cover the hearings “as news warrants,” according to the press release.
- That means when the hearing starts at 8 p.m. ET, Fox News viewers can instead watch Tucker Carlson rant about how fake the hearing is and how the Jan. 6 panel’s out to get red-blooded patriots and was it really that big a deal that Trump’s supporters violently stormed the Capitol?
- Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum will be shifted over to Fox Business Network to cover the hearing live over there, per Fox’s press release. FBN has fewer than 100,000 viewers tuning in at 8 p.m. ET on average, while Fox News has more than three million viewers, CNN media analyst Brian Stelter notes.
Trump Campaign Urged Fake Georgia Electors To Keep Scheme Secret
Robert Sinners, a Trump campaign director in Georgia, sent an email in December 2020 to the 16 fake Trump electors in the state the day before their meeting at the Georgia Capitol, where they signed certificates falsely claiming to be electors, asking for “your complete discretion in this process.”
- “Your duties are imperative to ensure the end result — a win in Georgia for President Trump — but will be hampered unless we have complete secrecy and discretion,” Sinners wrote in the email, which was obtained by the Washington Post and CNN.
- Sinners defended the email in a statement to the Post and CNN, saying he was just doing what lawyers had told him to do. “I was advised by attorneys that this was necessary in order to preserve the pending legal challenge,” said Sinners, who now works for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R).
- Federal prosecutors obtained the email, according to CNN.
Fetterman Might Not Return To Campaign Trail Until July, Wife Says
Giselle Fetterman, the wife of Democratic Pennsylvania Senate nominee John Fetterman, told CNN on Monday that her husband, who suffered a stroke last month, might not be back to campaigning until next month. However, Fetterman’s doctors are “all confident” that he’ll make a “full recovery,” Giselle Fetterman said.
Texas AG Paxton Plays Cop For Elon Musk
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Monday that his office was investigating Twitter over “potentially false reporting over its fake bot accounts” hours after Tesla CEO Elon Musk cited fake bots in his threat to end his $44 billion deal to buy the social media giant.
- Paxton is demanding that Twitter hand over documents proving its claim that bots make up less than 5 percent of its active daily users–the exact issue Musk is using to try to worm his way out of the deal.
- On Monday, Musk accused Twitter of refusing to give him data on how much of its user count is just spam bots, which he claims take up more than five percent of Twitter’s daily user activity. The billionaire doesn’t care about spam bots.
Primaries Are Upon Us Once More
After a short break, the weekly primary streak resumes in California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota today.
- Ryan Zinke, Trump’s embattled ex-Interior secretary, is running in the GOP primary in Montana’s First Congressional District. Zinke used to represent Montana in Congress before joining the Trump administration in 2017 and getting entangled in a host of ethics violations (besides wearing MAGA socks that broke the law).
Boris Johnson Survives No-Confidence Vote
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson prevailed in the Tories’ no-confidence vote against him on Monday amid the scandal over lockdown parties at Downing Street.
Mo Brooks Announces He Has Zero Dignity
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), who made it to a runoff GOP primary in the Alabama Senate race, is openly begging people to get Trump to “re-endorse” him after the ex-president yanked his coveted blessing away.
- The brown-nosing in Brooks’ plea is off the charts: The Republican praises Trump for withdrawing the endorsement, which “gave our campaign the kick in the pants we needed.” In fact, Brooks making it to the runoffs may have been a result of Trump’s political prowess, the congressman speculates; that Trump thought taking away his endorsement would trick Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) into “thinking we couldn’t win” and would therefore stop attacking Brooks.
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White House Honors Nancy Reagan On Pride Month
First Lady Jill Biden held a White House ceremony to unveil the new postage stamp honoring late First Lady Nancy Reagan on Monday, six days into Pride Month. Also Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was there.
Milo Yiannopoulos Is An Intern For MTG Now
Disgraced far-right Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos, whose resume got pretty thin after his comments about pedophilia and who now claims to be “ex-gay,” is now a 37-year-old intern at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) office.
In Honor Of Rainbow Capitalism
This Pride Month, it’s important to remember the corporations that care a whole lot about the LBGTQ+ community and corporate partnerships with The Gays.
(Take a gander at Data for Progress’ “Pride Corporate Accountability Project”)
Anyway, memes:
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WHY woULD fOX newS daNE to sHOW thIS fake NEws TRIal?
Their staff is working overtime to pull together stories on Benghazi, Hunter Biden’s laptop, and giraffes.
Still doesn’t directly implicate TFG. He could reasonably deny any such connection to this communication.
I’m sticking with my six weeks post-surgery proposal.
Any TPM representatives from these locations on line today - keep us apprised.
Brooks just might get it too. TFG is in love with himself and someone pleading for recognition is right up TFG’s alley. Watch for it.
This is far too ironic, given Nancy’s history with the AIDS epidemic. I’d just say no to any of this honorarium.
I knew it. The hearings are going to be counter-programmed by Fox and this whole thing is going to wash down the memory hole. What I’d like to see is message discipline from Democratic candidates similar to what you get from the GOP. If Jim Jordan and Devin Nunes can answer every question from the media by talking about Benghazi, surely Democrats can muster the focus to remind everyone that democracy is on the ballot, every chance they get.
NaNCy had MANy gaY friENDs anD did Push (unsuccessfullY) for the adMInistration to pay attention TO the GAY plAGUE.
Those people will never change their minds anyway, fuck them.