A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
If At First You Don’t Succeed…
Wisconsin state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) told local outlet WISN12 on Tuesday that the ex-president called him within the last week to demand that the GOP leader magically get the 2020 election decertified, which Vos described as “very consistent” of Trump.
- Vos characterized the demand as Trump wanting “us to do something different.”
- And naturally, Trump called Vos a “RINO” (Republican In Name Only) on his fake Twitter app when the Wisconsin Republican told him no.
All Fake Georgia Trump Electors Told They Could Face Criminal Charges
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office has sent all 16 of Trump’s sham electors in Georgia a notice telling them that they’re now targets of her 2020 election investigation and therefore could face prosecution.
- Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) accepted the subpoena in Willis’ probe on Tuesday. The GOP senator and Willis have agreed to contest his challenge of the subpoena in state or federal court in Georgia.
- Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA) is trying to quash the grand jury’s subpoena to him.
Whoops, Secret Service Determines Its Deleted Jan. 5 And 6 Texts Are Gone Forever, Sorry!
The Secret Service has concluded that the texts from Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, that the agency deleted can’t be recovered despite the House Jan. 6 Committee’s subpoena, a senior official told the Washington Post.
- Almost all the records the Secret Service will hand over to the Jan. 6 panel have reportedly already been previously shared with congressional committees. The material won’t provide any important new information, according to the Post.
- The Secret Service only turned over one text to the DHS inspector general when asked for texts to/from 24 Secret Service personnel dating between Dec. 7, 2020 and Jan. 8, 2021, according to CNN.
- The National Archives sent an information request to the Secret Service about the deleted texts on Tuesday demanding the agency describe what got deleted and how it happened.
Votes On Marriage Equality And Contraception
Hearing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas loud and clear in the Dobbs ruling, the House passed the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that would codify federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages into law and repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, by a 267-157 bipartisan vote.
- About 20 percent of the GOP conference voted for the bill.
- The bill’s fate in the Senate is unclear, but right now there’s little reason to be optimistic. Senate Democratic leaders haven’t even committed to putting it to a vote.
- Democrats are also looking to shield contraception from the conservative Supreme Court. Several Democratic senators are planning to force a vote tomorrow on boosting federal funding via Title X for increased access to birth control.
Confederate Maryland AG Hopeful Wins GOP Primary
Michael Peroutka, the pro-secessionist who once proudly called himself a “true Confederate,” is projected to win the Republican primary for Maryland attorney general against GOP establishment-backed rival Jim Shalleck.
Lawmakers Arrested During Abortion Rights Protest At SCOTUS
The U.S. Capitol Police arrested 35 people, including 17 Democratic members of Congress, who were peacefully protesting Dobbs outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
- The protesters were arrested for crowding, obstructing or incommoding, the police reported. A spokesperson for the USCP told the Washington Post that they were cited and released.
- The lawmakers included:
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
- Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)
- Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)
- Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO)
- Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)
- Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
- Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA)
- Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY)
- Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)
- Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.)
- Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA)
- Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA)
- Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI)
- Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC)
- Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ)
- Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX)
- Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
Jan. 6 Panel Chair Thompson Has COVID
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), who chairs the House Jan. 6 Committee, announced on Tuesday that he tested positive for COVID-19. As a result, he won’t be present at the panel’s hearing tomorrow, a spokesperson for the committee said.
De Blasio Rides Off Into The Sunset
Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday that not only was he giving up his congressional campaign (I’m not the only one who forgot that was a thing, am I?), he was calling it quits with all electoral politics.
Nobody Wants To Work Anymore
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FisTr!
“Ongoing criminal conduct…”
When your whole life you’ve never faced consequences for your actions you don’t know when to stop criming
Would anyone expect anything else? If anything, the cult members are consistent.
Imagine someone assassinated the President on January 6th of any particular year. And two weeks later various concerned parties such as Congress, an IG, the DOJ or DHS, etc sent the Secret Service a letter requesting all the electronic records of agents in the service, with directions to preserve them all. And instead they were all deleted and unrecoverable. Wouldn’t there be mass firings of those responsible for the deletions? Isn’t a violent insurrection that doubles as a failed coup attempt (with multiple deaths) nearly on par with an assassination? Just WTF is it the Secret Service is up to here?