Rand Paul Wants Trucker Convoy To ‘Clog Things Up.’ Three Guesses What He Said About BLM

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo, and happy Valentine’s Day to you all!

What Could Have Possibly Prompted This U-Turn?

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is an enthusiastic supporter of Canadian truckers’ anti-government protests which have been causing major blockages at the Canada-U.S. border, telling the Daily Signal on Thursday that he hopes the so-called “Freedom Convoy” travels down south to congest American cities, too.

• Why? Because, Paul said, “civil disobedience is a time-honored tradition” in the U.S., “from slavery to civil rights.”
• Black Lives Matter, on the other hand, shouldn’t be “commandeering the microphone” and “bullying people” and behaving like a “crazed mob.”

Canada-U.S. Border Crossing Blocked By Convoy Opens Up

Canadian police unclogged the Ambassador Bridge, a major border crossing that connects Windsor, Ontario to Detroit, Michigan, on Sunday night after a six-day logjam led by hundreds of truckers protesting government restrictions.

• The blockade is still going on in other areas of Ottawa more than two weeks after it began.
• Ontario premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency on Friday over the protesters’ “illegal occupation” of Ottawa.

Sen. Luján Announces He Needs A Few More Weeks To Recover From Stroke

Sen. Ben Ray Luján, whose stroke last month deprived Senate Democrats of a crucial 50th vote, posted a video update on his health status Sunday announcing his plan to return to D.C. in “just a few short weeks” to vote both on legislation and Biden’s yet-to-be-announced Supreme Court nominee.

• Luján said he was “doing well” and will soon be discharged to an in-patient facility to recover from his surgery.
• The senator had decompressive surgery to ease swelling in his brain, according to one of the doctors who’s treating him at the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque.

National Archives Threatened To Contact DOJ If Trump Didn’t Turn Over Docs

These new CNN and Washington Post reports detail how the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) had to turn the screws on Trump to get him to hand over the 15 boxes of records–some of which were marked as classified–that he’d improperly taken to his Mar-A-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

• NARA reportedly warned the ex-president that if he didn’t surrender the documents, the agency would tell the Justice Department and Congress about the issue.
  • It was reported last week that NARA has asked the DOJ to investigate both Trump taking the records and his habit of ripping up official documents in violation of the Presidential Records Act, but it’s unclear if the DOJ has done so.
• The National Archive’s efforts to take back the records reportedly began in the summer. The agency didn’t begin receiving the documents until last month, and officials are still searching for more.
• Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team was told about Trump’s habit of tearing up documents as it investigated the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, according to CNN.

Youngkin Mixes Up Two Black Women Lawmakers

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) apologized on Saturday after he confused state Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D) with state Sen. Mamie Locke (D) when he tried to congratulate the latter via text on the Black History Month speech she gave on the floor.

I’m sure it was because both their last names start with L.

Pelosi Tries To Put Thousand-Mile Distance Between Dem Party And ‘Defund The Police’

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wants to make it extremely clear that her party doesn’t want anything to do with the “Defund the Police” civil rights movement championed by Black progressives like Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO). 

• Defunding the police is “not the position of the Democratic Party, with all due respect to Cori Bush,” Pelosi told ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, adding that “community safety to protect and defend in every way is our oath of office.” Biden has similarly rejected the movement.
• That’s definitely going to stop Republicans from putting out attack ads claiming Democrats want to defund the police and antifa your neighborhoods.

Must Read

“A Rhodes Scholar barista and the fight to unionize Starbucks” – The Washington Post

A Friendly PSA

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the most wholesome government-run account on Twitter, issued this simple warning yesterday:

A Football Happens

The Los Angeles Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 at the Superb Owl  Super Bowl yesterday, and that’s about all I know about it. Oh and that the NFL is now the league of sexual anarchy and the hip-hop halftime show should not have been allowed on television, according to conservative Turning Point USA leader and philosopher king Charlie Kirk.

Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!