A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Judges Noticed and Called It Out
Federal judges in the Eastern District of Virginia have been calling out the Trump DOJ in court for continuing to list Lindsey Halligan as interim U.S. attorney in court filings, more than a week after she was ruled invalidly appointed to the position, CNN reports.
Three different judges who were involved in different phases of the now-dismissed indictment against former FBI Director James Comey have raised the issue in open court. One ordered Halligan’s name struck from filings; another ordered an asterisk be placed next to Halligan’s name along with a citation to the court order disqualifying her.
Grand Jury Declines to Re-Indict Letitia James
A grand jury in Norfolk, Virginia declinined to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on bogus mortgage fraud charges ginned up by the Trump administration as political retribution against her.
The grand jury returned a no-true bill after the original indictment against James was dismissed last week because of Halligan’s invalidly appointment.
The Trump DOJ may be preparing to continue to seek to re-indict James, the WaPo reports, but each failure adds more weight to her already substantial vindictive prosecution claim should the government ever succeed in securing a new indictment.
James May DQ Another Trump USA
In a hearing in Albany yesterday, a federal judge expressed skepticism that interim U.S. Attorney John Sarcone III of the Northern District of New York was validly appointed. Sarcone’s appointment is being challenged by New York Attorney General Letitia James after he issued two subpoenas to her office for information related to its past investigations of Trump and the NRA.
Like Halligan, the controversial Sarcone has no prior experience as a prosecutor. When his initial 120-day term as interim U.S. attorney expired, district judges declined to extend him in the position. In response, Attorney General Pam Bondi made him a special attorney, purporting to have the powers of the office indefinitely. U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield suggested she might disqualify Sarcone from all of his purported roles, Politico reports.
Judges have so far disqualified Trump U.S. attorneys in Virginia, Nevada, New Jersey, and California.
Quote of the Day
“What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service. You have two individuals in clear distress without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel, who were killed by the United States.”–Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, after watching video of the Sept. 2 double-tap strike that killed two survivors of the initial U.S. attack
For the Record …
As we continue to piece together the sequence of events in the double-tap strike, I want to note that in the classified briefing he gave to Congress Admiral Frank Bradley (i) stressed that Hegseth did not give a verbal order to “kill them all,” which was a key element of the WaPo story that sparked the furor; and (ii) said that Hegseth didn’t give a direct order for the second strike.
There’s some nuance and subtlety around these issues, which Greg Sargent explores with Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. Plus, a reminder that the entire campaign is unlawful, not just the strike on survivors.
Grotesquerie of the Day
BREAKING: Trump Admin Sources Are Unreliable
The NYT put itself in the delicate position this week of using anonymous administration sources to surface the emerging line of defense to the double-tap strike that killed two survivors of its ongoing unlawful campaign of high seas strikes — and it looks like the paper of record got burned, as it essentially admits:
Amid preparations for the briefing, multiple U.S. officials had told The Times that they had been told that one of the survivors had radioed for help, but the people said remarks from Admiral Bradley about communications were instead purely speculative. The reason for the disconnect was not clear.
One of the ironies of this episode is that the administration’s defenses weren’t very good even if they had been true.
Hegseth Stonewalled IG Report
Even though it was temperate in its tone and too limited in its recommendations, the inspector general report on the Signal fiasco was a damning indictment of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The White House and Pentagon had launched a preemptive disinformation campaign ahead of the report’s public release, declaring that it completely exonerated Hegseth — but it did anything but clear him. In fact, Hegseth stonewalled the investigation that he claims exonerated him, refusing to provide his phone so the IG could probe other uses of Signal and to sit down for an interview with the IG.
Corrupt SCOTUS Takes It to a New Level
In clearing the way for Texas to use its unlawful race-based redistricting map for the 2026 midterm elections, the Roberts Court held true to form in a myriad of familiar ways. But I want to emphasize that it’s not just producing bad outcomes in the sense of preferencing conservative political goals over progressives ones; it’s having to wreck its own procedures, precedents, rules, and traditions to get there, creating all sorts of unpredictable and messy downstream effects. It’s a decidedly radical — not conservative — approach to judging. And if all that weren’t bad enough, the six-justice majority continues to gaslight (I can’t think of a better word) district judges by flaming them for abiding by the Supreme Court’s own past guidance.
Alleged Pipe Bomber Was 2020 Big Lie Adherent
Brian Cole Jr., the 30-year-old Virginia man arrested in connection with the pipe bombs found on Jan. 6, 2021 at the national headquarters of the two major political parties, is cooperating with authorities, NBC News reports, and told the FBI he believed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
Yikes
The Trump DOJ is urging a judge to jail pardoned Jan. 6 defendant Taylor Taranto who has been alarmingly wandering the neighborhood of Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) in recent days. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who convicted Taranto at a bench trial this year for a threat to federal buildings and for bringing weapons to President Barack Obama’s D.C. neighborhood, did not immediately send Taranto to prison but ordered him to return immediately to his home in Washington state for the holidays, Politico reports.
The Retribution: Visa Edition
The Trump administration is giving extra scrutiny to H-1B visa applications for evidence that applicants and family members traveling with them have worked in areas that include activities such as misinformation, disinformation, content moderation, fact-checking, compliance and online safety — which the administration deems “censorship,” Reuters reports.
If there’s any doubt that this is payback for Trump being banned from social media platforms after Jan. 6, a State Department spokesperson cleared it up: “In the past, the President himself was the victim of this kind of abuse when social media companies locked his accounts. He does not want other Americans to suffer this way. Allowing foreigners to lead this type of censorship would both insult and injure the American people.”
Dark Arts Exposed
Covert ops don’t always go as planned, but we rarely hear about them. Two very disparate examples this week:
- IRELAND: Russia is suspected of being behind a hybrid warfare campaign using drones to disrupt airspace around European airports. In the latest incident, five military-style drones triggered a major security alert in Ireland, arriving in the flight path of visiting Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shortly after his aircraft passed by. “Officials are treating it as a potential attempt to disrupt flight operations rather than to attack a target,” the Irish Times reported.
- SYRIA: An October raid by U.S. forces and a local Syrian group that was targeting an Islamic State group official instead killed a man who had been working undercover gathering intelligence on the extremists, the AP reports, citing the man’s family and Syrian officials.
Typical Trump
James McCrery II, the architect who found Trump’s preferred plans for his beloved ballroom too garish, has been sidelined in favor of a new architect, Shalom Baranes. I wonder if Trump pays McCrery’s billed fees.
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have a great weekend
Trump DOJ-“It’s so unfair that the courts won’t let us be unfair!”
Amazing article. The U.S. Navy has not been ship-shape for some time now. Free gift:
Navy deployment marred by friendly fire, lost jets, collision at sea
The Truman aircraft carrier group conducted airstrikes for 52 days straight. Investigators found that not all of its ships or crews were ready for such intensity.
https://wapo.st/4iHKNRc
Today’s Heather & Paul: