A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
A Historic Verdict
A quick rundown of the coverage of the verdict in the seditious conspiracy trial of the Oath Keepers:
WaPo: “Rhodes and his co-defendants were the first accused of seditious conspiracy and the first to face trial and be convicted on any conspiracy charge to date in the massive Jan. 6 investigation.”
NYT: “The conviction of Mr. Rhodes underscored the seriousness and intensity of the effort by pro-Trump forces to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election, and was the highest-profile legal reckoning yet from a case related to Jan. 6.”
Politico: “Rhodes’ conviction is the most significant to emerge from the Justice Department’s sprawling investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, when dozens of Oath Keepers joined the mob that stormed the building and chased Congress, as well as then-Vice President Mike Pence, into hiding.”
WSJ: “U.S. sedition laws, dating to the early days of the Civil War when President Lincoln and Congress sought to punish armed resistance to the Union, have been used sparingly and not always successfully over the past 160 years.”
Legal Types React
Randall Eliason: “Now the only remaining question is how much higher did those plans go, and who else might be held criminally responsible.”
Elizabeth de la Vega: “Prosecutors view a guilty verdict on any serious charge against a defendant as a win of the entire case, even if a jury finds the def not guilty on other charges. Defs view it the same way because they know they are still likely to receive a prison sentence.”
Joyce Vance: “The result today gives DOJ a little bit of momentum … because it is clear that Stewart Rhodes is not the most culpable participant in the events on Jan. 6. There were people who were more accountable, people who had greater intent to interfere with the transfer of power and now DOJ can go about that business having won this case.”
What Next?
The seditious conspiracy trial of the Proud Boys is still scheduled to start in December, though the judge has proposed delaying the start by one week. The proposed new start date for jury selection in Washington, D.C., is Dec. 19.
Mark Meadows Must Now Testify In Georgia
The South Carolina Supreme Court roundly rejected Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ bid to avoid testifying to the Georgia grand jury investigating efforts to subvert the 2020 election. The court found Meadows’ arguments to be “manifestly without merit.”
Jan. 6 Committee Still Taking Witness Testimony
Yesterday it was Anthony Ornato, the Secret Service agent who became a Trump White House official then returned to the Secret Service before retiring. This was Ornato’s third time testifying to the committee, but his previous accounts were reportedly in some tension with those of former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson. Ornato, in Hutchison’s telling, was a witness to President Trump’s conduct on Jan. 6, including the notorious moment in the Beast when Trump allegedly lunged at a Secret Service agent who refused to drive him to the Capitol.
Monday it was Kellyanne Conway’s turn to testify as the committee wrap’s up its work. She testified for some five hours.
Weak Sauce From McConnell
The Senate GOP leader avoids criticizing Trump by name:
Let me just say that there is no room in the Republican party for anti-Semitism or white supremacy. Anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view in my judgment is highly unlikely ever to be elected president of the United States.
Twitter Thread Of The Day
Worth a read:
Related: Historian Kathleen Belew talks with Rachel Maddow:
Trump Keeps Digging
Dobbs Backlash
The Senate voted 61-36 to enshrine same-sex marriage protections at the federal level.
Sweet Justice
Two of the wackiest right-wing conspiracists – Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman – have been sentenced in Ohio for illegal robocalls intended to intimidate Black voters from casting mail-in ballots in the 2020 presidential election.
Their punishment: They must spend 500 hours registering voters in low-income neighborhoods in the Washington, D.C., area.
“I think it’s a despicable thing that you guys have done,” the sentencing judge told the duo, described aptly by one commentator as “chronically unsuccessful political operatives.”
Herschel Walker’s Residency Problem
It was broadly known that Herschel Walker lived in Texas for years before moving back to Georgia for run for Senate. But new details reported by various outlets over the past week reveal that Walker continues to maintain Texas ties and that his re-established Georgia roots don’t run very deep. Take note:
- The Georgia house owned by Walker’s wife that he has claimed has been his residence for years generated rental income for the Walkers as late as 2020-21, according to his financial disclosure forms reviewed by the Daily Beast.
- Walker has been getting a tax break intended only for a primary residence on his home in the Dallas, Texas, area as recently as this year.
- Walker’s Texas address was used to receive PPP loans in 2020 and 2021, according to the Daily Beast’s findings.
They’re Coming For Social Security
Senate Republicans are on board with threatening to undermine the full faith and credit of the U.S. government and to unleash economic turmoil in order to extract cuts to Social Security.
DOJ Intervenes In Jackson’s Water Crisis
The Justice Department has reached agreement with the city of Jackson and the state of Mississippi to allow third party oversight of the broken municipal water system. The latest step is a stopgap measure while DOJ negotiates a consent decree to bring stability to the chronically deficient water system. A federal judge will need to approve both measures.
Can Personally Confirm
The infrastructure for EV charging in the U.S. is a mess.
Mauna Loa Still Churning
Lava fountains on the flank of Mauna Loa were shooting to heights of 131-164 feet, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported Tuesday.
Ugh, Pelvic Contusion?
Christian Pulisic suffered a “pelvic contusion” while scoring the U.S. men’s team’s sole goal in its win over Iran in World Cup play. He watched the end of the game from the hospital:
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