GOP Candidate Doubles Down On Stunning Rape Comments

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

Sure, Die On This Hill

Michigan state House candidate Robert “RJ” Regan is pretty annoyed at how everyone’s making such a big deal over his ghoulish comparison of accepting the 2020 election results to telling his daughters to “just lie back and enjoy it” if they get raped.

• Regan made the comparison again on Wednesday during an interview with conservative radio host ​​Randy Bishop and said his point was that he was tired of the GOP establishment telling the party’s grassroot supporters that they “just have to sit there and take it.”
• Regan complained that the backlash was “a bunch of BS,” striking a noticeably more resentful tone than yesterday, when he tried to explain his comment to Michigan Bridge.
• The Republican candidate argued that the real issues are that the libs “want to teach” kids “how to be woke and how to put on a condom.”
• Regan accused the Michigan GOP leaders who criticized him of being “​​establishment cronies” who’ve been ignoring the sexual assault allegations against ex-House Speaker Lee Chatfield (R) by his sister-in-law.
• The Michigan Republican Party leaders haven’t withdrawn their support for Regan (who’s also a QAnoner who posts anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on Facebook), by the way. They scolded him earlier this week for making “offensive” comments, and, uh, yeah.

Sidney Powell’s Been Bankrolling Oath Keepers’ Jan. 6 Legal Defense

The pro-Trump lawyer, who’s currently facing disbarment after abusing the courts to peddle Trump’s election lies, has been helping the Oath Keepers entangled in Jan. 6 cases with their legal bills via her nonprofit, Defending the Republic.

RNC Sues Jan. 6 Panel Over Subpoena To Top Vendor

The Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit against the House Jan. 6 Committee on Wednesday to block the panel’s subpoena of a RNC vendor.

• The Jan. 6 committee’s subpoena is “seeking information from Salesforce regarding whether and how the Trump campaign used Salesforce’s platform to disseminate false statements about the 2020 election in the weeks leading up to the January 6th attack.”
• The RNC argued the subpoena is too broad in scope, accused the committee of trying to get sensitive information about the RNC’s private donors and claimed it would chill the RNC and its supporters’ First Amendment rights.

Is Stephen Miller All Grown Up?

Former Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller filed a lawsuit against the Jan. 6 committee to block its subpoena of T-Mobile for his phone records … and THAT is how we found out the married 36-year-old is still on his parents’ family plan.

McCarthy Still Plans On Putting MTG And Gosar Back On Committees

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told reporters on Wednesday that even after going to the white nationalist America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC), Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) won’t be punished with anything but a conversation with him.

• McCarthy said he won’t block them from joining congressional committees if the GOP wins back the House in the midterms.
• Ex-Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is probably screaming into a pillow somewhere.

Idaho Lt. Guv Reached Out To Rabbi Days Before Speaking At White Nationalist Jamboree

A rabbi in Boise told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) that Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin (R), who’s running for governor while rubbing shoulders with white nationalists, had reached out to him in mid-January with an invitation to help her create an anti-Semitism task force.

• The rabbi responded to McGeachin’s offer by calling out her ties to far-right extremists, including Holocaust deniers, according to the letter he showed the JTA.
• McGeachin sent another letter to the rabbi on Feb. 16 saying she was ready to “call out antisemitism whatever form it takes” with him.
• The rabbi got McGeachin’s Feb. 16 letter on Feb. 25–and found out hours later that she’d spoken at the America First Political Action Conference, a white nationalist gathering organized by Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, the day before.

Florida GOPers Greenlight DeSantis’ Elections Police Force

Florida’s Republican-controlled House approved a Senate-passed measure on Wednesday that would create Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) proposed special police office dedicated to combating non-existent voter fraud. The measure would give DeSantis about $2.5 million in taxpayer funds to launch an “Office of Election Crimes and Security” of 25 employees under the Department of State.

Russia’s Ukraine Invasion Grinds Into Third Week

• Reuters: “Ukraine accuses Russia of genocide after bombing of children’s hospital”
• The Washington Post: “No agreement in high-level Ukraine-Russia talks; 3 killed in hospital strike”
• NBC News: “Ukraine says Russian strike destroyed children’s hospital; U.S. warns Putin may launch chemical weapons attack”
• New York Times: “Top Envoys Fail to Make Progress Toward Ending War”

House Passes $1.5 Trillion Spending Bill

On Wednesday, the House passed its sweeping federal spending measure that both keeps the government running through September and includes $13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine. However, Democrats cut out the $15.6 billion COVID-19 aid package.

RNC Chair Gushes Over Trump’s Amazingness

Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel is absolutely stunned by how extremely fantastic and awe-inspiring and magnificent Trump is:

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