Graham Digs Heel Into Abortion Ban Fellow GOPers Want Nothing To Do With

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

I Do What I Want!

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) wants his Republican colleagues who’ve been running a million miles away from his 15-week national abortion ban to know that he’s heard their concerns about how it’ll wreck their midterm prospects–and he says: IDGAF.

• There’s “never a bad time to stand up for” fetuses, Graham argued in a Fox News op-ed he published with Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America president Marjorie Dannenfelser on Sunday.
• The South Carolina senator also put out a tweet thread on Sunday defending the ban.
• You might remember that National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chair Rick Scott (R-FL) was similarly defiant when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) trashed his tax proposal after the Florida senator, like Graham, went rogue with a poorly-timed agenda.

Puerto Rico Loses All Power Due To Hurricane

All of Puerto Rico has been out of power since yesterday after Hurricane Fiona beat down the island, which is now experiencing massive flooding strong enough to sweep away a bridge in Utuado, a town at the center of the island:

• Biden approved an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico on Sunday, allowing FEMA to quickly respond to the disaster.

Gaetz Wanted Pardon For Sex Trafficking Probe

Senior Trump White House aide Johnny McEntee told the House Jan. 6 Committee during his testimony what Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) wanted Trump (aka “the boss”) to wipe away with a preemptive blanket pardon: whatever would come out of the federal sex trafficking investigation into the congressman, according to the Washington Post.

• Gaetz told McEntee he had relayed his pardon request to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, McEntee reportedly testified.
• Gaetz had been aggressively pushing for a pardon that was “as broad as you could describe” since early December 2020, ex-Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson and ex-White House lawyer Eric Herschmann told the Jan. 6 panel.

DOJ Appeals Trump-Appointed Judge’s Extreme Order On MAL Docs

The Justice Department filed an appeal with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday night requesting a lift on federal Judge Aileen Cannon’s order barring criminal investigators from using the records Trump stashed at Mar-a-Lago.

• More lies from the Trump team about the documents got exposed this weekend, by the way: The Washington Post reports that ex-deputy White House counsel Pat Philbin told the National Archives in September 2021 that ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows had told him that all the government records at Mar-a-Lago were just boxes of “news clippings.”

Biden Hedges On Running For Reelection

The President told CBS News in a pre-taped “60 Minutes” interview that while it’s his “intention” to run again in 2024, it’s “much too early” for him to make a firm decision to do so.

A Dollop Of Pageantry This Morning

Bidens In UK To Pay Respects To Queen

The President and First Lady Jill Biden flew to London on Saturday to visit late Queen Elizabeth as she lay in state in Westminster Hall and to attend her state funeral today.

• Then they’ll return to D.C. afterward.
• Biden’s scheduled first meeting with newly elected Prime Minister Liz Truss this weekend was pushed back to Wednesday at the U.N. It’s unclear why the meeting in London got canceled.

Trump’s Longtime Accounting Firm Hands Docs Over To Congress

Mazars USA, the accounting firm that worked for Trump for years before ditching him in February, has started turning over the ex-president’s financial records to the House Oversight Committee, committee chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) told the New York Times on Saturday.

• The Oversight committee is the only committee that has Trump’s financial documents, according to Maloney.
• The committee’s also investigating Trump keeping classified material at Mar-a-Lago. The National Archives told the committee last month that the agency still isn’t sure if Trump handed over all the records he was hoarding at his Florida resort.

Must Read

“A ‘born and bred racist’ recounts how he became a best-selling Christian author” – CNN

“Moscow’s local allies were told ‘Russia is here forever’. Now they flee Ukraine” – The Guardian

Advice In These Trying Times

Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!