Loudermilk Insists He Won’t Change Story On Jan. 5 Tour After Changing Story Multiple Times

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

Oh Okay Then

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) told Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday night that he won’t change his story on the tour he gave to a group of people in the Capitol office buildings the day before the Jan. 6 insurrection.

• He’s changed his story multiple times. First there was no tour, then it was a tour with just “a constituent family with young children,” then it was a tour with a constituent family and their “guests.”
• The House Jan. 6 Committee released eerie surveillance video yesterday revealing the tour group members taking pictures of hallways, staircases and security checkpoints–and it released another video revealing that one of those members had marched to the Capitol on Jan. 6, something Loudermilk has not addressed.
• To be clear though, we don’t know whether Loudermilk was aware of any plans the tour group members may or may not have had on Jan. 6.

Ginni Thomas Was In Contact With Eastman

House Jan. 6 Committee investigators have discovered that Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, exchanged emails with John Eastman, Trump’s coup mastermind, the Washington Post and the New York Times reported. CBS News confirmed the reports.

• We don’t know what they discussed or when the exchange took place. We already do know, however, that Ginni Thomas, a hardline conservative activist, was deeply involved in MAGA World’s crusade to overturn the 2020 election.
• Eastman once clerked for Clarence Thomas at the Supreme Court.
• The Jan. 6 committee is now mulling whether to bring up Ginni Thomas’ actions during its public hearings, according to the Post. The panel had previously decided against focusing on her involvement in the election steal plot.

Eastman Mysteriously Knew About SCOTUS’ Internal Fights Over Election Lawsuits

John Eastman, the aforementioned coup mastermind, claimed in an email to another pro-Trump lawyer on Dec. 24, 2020 to know about a “heated fight” the Supreme Court was having over whether to hear Trumpland’s arguments on why the election ought to be overturned, according to the New York Times.

• It’s unclear how Eastman would have known about the reported “fight,” but both the Times and the Washington Post reported that the then-Trump legal adviser was in email contact with Ginni Thomas.
• The pro-Trump lawyer Eastman was emailing, Kenneth Chesebro, reportedly signaled that he was banking on the Supreme Court to “start to fear that there will be ‘wild’ chaos on Jan. 6 unless they rule by then.” This was five days after Trump had posted a tweet encouraging his supporters to come to a “wild” gathering on Jan. 6.

Jan. 6 Hearing: Round Three

Though yesterday’s House Jan. 6 Committee hearing was postponed, the panel is holding another hearing today as scheduled at 1:00 p.m. ET. Stay tuned for our liveblog!

• What today’s session is about: Trump and his allies putting the squeeze on then-Vice President Mike Pence to halt the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral win and throw the election to Trump instead.
• The witnesses: Ex-Pence counsel Greg Jacob and Michael Luttig, the former federal judge who had advised Pence to reject Trump and his allies’ pressure campaign.

New CNN Boss Wants Network To Stop Calling Trump’s Big Lie ‘Big Lie’

Chris Licht, the new president of CNN, told management and producers during a conference call on Tuesday that he preferred that network staff avoid using the term “Big Lie” when reporting on Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, according to Mediaite.

• Licht reportedly argued that calling it “Big Lie” was using Democrats’ language (???) and made CNN look like it wasn’t being objective (????????).
• Licht reportedly said he’d rather use “Trump election lie” or “election lies.” The CNN executive reportedly claimed that it was just a matter of preference for him, not a direct order to stop using the term–but that’s not how the staff’s taking it because, well, he’s the president of the entire network.

New Mexico Supreme Court Orders Rogue County To Certify Election

New Mexico’s state Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the all-Republican Otero County Commission to do its job and certify the primary election results after it had refused to do so based on evidence-free MAGA conspiracy theories about the voting machines.

Palin Makes It To General Election To Replace Rep. Young

Former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has advanced to the special general election to fill late Rep. Don Young’s (R-AK) seat on Aug. 16, along with fellow GOP candidate Nick Begich and Al Gross, an independent.

• Palin got the largest share of votes in the crowded primary at 28.3 percent, according to the Associated Press. Begich got 19.3 percent, and Gross got 12.8 percent.

Buffalo Shooting Suspect Charged With Federal Hate Crimes

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Wednesday that 18-year-old Payton Gendron, an alleged believer of the racist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, has been hit with federal hate crime charges after allegedly targeting Black people in a shooting spree at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.

• Some of the charges carry a possible death sentence, but the Justice Department hasn’t yet indicated whether it will seek the death penalty in the case.
• Gendron was indicted on state domestic terrorism and hate crime charges two weeks ago. He’s pleaded not guilty to all 25 charges.

Mo Brooks Shocked To Discover Trump Has No Loyalty

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) has become disillusioned with the ex-president he once so fiercely served after the latter spat directly in Brooks’ face by endorsing his Alabama Senate rival last week, and Brooks had this to say:

“Donald Trump just had his head handed to him by Georgia voters, having lost five major races that he endorsed in, and he’s trying to restore his brand. And he looked at who he thought had the best chance of winning and that’s who he endorsed. It had nothing to do with philosophy of government other than that, he abandoned the conservative movement and the MAGA agenda in order to try to improve the reputation of his brand.”

– A very salty Alabama congressman

WTF Read Of The Day

“Alaska kids served sealant instead of milk at school program” – The Associated Press

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