A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Saying The Quiet Part Out Loud
Quite a confab Saturday night in Manhattan.
The annual gala of the New York Young Republican Club featured far-right extremists hobnobbing with other Republicans and Don Jr.
Marjorie Taylor Greene was a hit of the evening, parrying charges that she and Steve Bannon were responsible for Jan. 6 by declaring that they would have done a far better job at insurrecting.
“I want to tell you something, if Steve Bannon and I had organized that, we would have won. Not to mention, we would’ve been armed,” the Georgia congresswoman told the adoring audience.
Among the other attendees, according to reports: Rudy Giuliani, Steve Bannon, James O’Keefe, Jack Posobiec, Josh Hammer, Peter and Lydia Brimelow, and incoming members of Congress George Santos (NY), Mike Collins (GA), and Cory Mills (FL).
The Southern Poverty Law Center sent people to the event and their descriptions of the scene are really quite something:
While answering questions, Posobiec grew testy with a Hatewatch reporter and described SPLC as a “domestic terror organization.” Posobiec called that reporter a “scumbag” and a “troll.” After Posobiec’s speaking tone became palpably agitated, a crowd formed and NYYRC executive secretary Viswanag “Vish” Burra escorted both Hatewatch reporters to the exit, physically shoving one of them.
Even the NY Post looked askance at MGT: “Her speech took a strange turn while she noted how ‘you can pick up a butt plug or a dildo at Target nowadays’ while bashing transgender-friendly policies in classrooms.”
What To Make Of This?
The Justice Department did not succeed Friday in persuading the chief federal judge in DC to hold Trump or his office in contempt of court for failing to declare that he has returned all classified material in his possession. Former DOJ official Harry Litman with a good thread puzzling through the latest developments:
Inside Jack Smith’s Operation
CNN has a good bit of new detail on the inner workings of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations. It looks less like Mueller’s separate setup and more like a U.S. attorney operating within the Justice Department.
One thing that caught my eye, because it hasn’t fully been on my radar, is a financial crimes component of the investigation:
Another top prosecutor, JP Cooney, the former head of public corruption in the DC US Attorney’s Office, is overseeing a significant financial probe that Smith will take on. The probe includes examining the possible misuse of political contributions, according to some of the sources. The DC US Attorney’s Office, before the special counsel’s arrival, had examined potential financial crimes related to the January 6 riot, including possible money laundering and the support of rioters’ hotel stays and bus trips to Washington ahead of January 6.
In recent months, however, the financial investigation has sought information about Trump’s post-election Save America PAC and other funding of people who assisted Trump, according to subpoenas viewed by CNN. The financial investigation picked up steam as DOJ investigators enlisted cooperators months after the 2021 riot, one of the sources said.
Second Oath Keepers Trial Set To Start
The second of two seditious conspiracy trials of members of the Oath Keepers involved in the Jan. 6 attack is set to start today in federal court in Washington, D.C. The first trial ended last month with convictions on several major charges, including against group leader Stewart Rhodes.
Judge Declines To Dismiss Charges Against Proud Boys
The judge overseeing the upcoming trial of five Proud Boys involved in the Jan. 6 attack has declined to dismiss the charges against them, including seditious conspiracy.
What The Jan. 6 Report Will Look Like
Politico sketches out what to expect next week from the Jan. 6 committee.
Kari Lake Is Still At It
The defeated GOP nominee for governor of Arizona has filed suit contesting the 2022 election – and then some. Credit the NYT for its proper level of skepticism (emphasis mine):
The 70-page filing relies on a hodgepodge of allegations, ranging from voter and poll worker accounts to poll numbers claiming that voters agreed with Ms. Lake on the election’s mismanagement. Some of what is cited comes not from last month’s election but from the 2020 contest. Other allegations accuse officials of wrongdoing for taking part in efforts to try to tamp down election misinformation.
Elon Musk Unlocks Supervillain Status
I have a low-tolerance threshold for the Elon Musk-Twitter story. But Josh Marshall is immersed in it for us all. It was quite a weekend:
- Musk Goes Full Pizzagate
- Musk Retaliates Against Former Twitter Exec with Pedophile Smear
- Lawmakers react to Musk’s call to prosecute Fauci
- We Found the Guys Behind the Hunter Biden Porn That Elon Musk Won’t Shut Up About
Alleged Lockerbie Bomb Maker In US Custody
Just days before the 34th anniversary of the bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, the alleged maker of the bomb that brought the plane down is in U.S. custody and will make an appearance in federal court in the coming days.
Fusion Breakthrough?
We might look back on this in a few years or decades and decide this was the biggest news of 2022: Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory were able for the first time to produce a fusion reaction that creates a net energy gain.
“Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was slated to make the announcement Tuesday at a media event billed as the unveiling of ‘a major scientific breakthrough,'” the WaPo reported. The Financial Times was first with the news.
Can’t Get Enough
The NYT goes deep on the Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, the alleged co-ringleader of the German coup plot who was to be installed as the new head of state.
Catch It If You Can
Morning Memo caught Alex Edelman’s extraordinary one-man show “Just For Us” last night at Woolly Mammoth. It looks sold out through the rest of its DC run, but standing room only tickets are available at the door first come, first served.
Sneak Peek
For devoted Morning Memo readers, a quick heads up. This week TPM is rolling out an important new series of stories on the effort to overturn the 2020 election, drawing on extensive, previously unreported material. Stay tuned! You’ll want to see this.
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