A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Failsons
The two adult Trump sons flailed their way through their testimonies in the NY civil fraud trial against their so-called business empire. It didn’t go well.
The upshot of their testimonies was best captured by a spoof account on Twitter: “According to Junior and Eric, the Trump Organization is a ‘massive organization,’ which they ran without any involvement whatsoever in running it.” Indeed.
The evidence against the Trumps is overwhelming, the judge didn’t appear to find them to be credible witnesses, and their defenses wilted under the slightest cross examination, often when presented with documentary evidence that directly contradicted their testimonies.
The day’s testimony ended with another clash between Trump’s counsel and the judge over the judge’s law clerk. MSNBC’s Lisa Rubin has a pet theory for why Trump attorney Christopher Kise would go to such lengths to antagonize the judge in a judge-tried case: It steered the news coverage away from the debacle of Eric’s testimony.
Ivanka Trump added a comic footnote to the day, asking an appeals court to delay her testimony next week on the grounds that it falls “in the middle of a school week.” The appeals court promptly denied her request.
Trump Files Emergency Appeal Of Chutkan Gag Order
Donald Trump went to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals late yesterday seeking an emergency stay of the gag order against him in the Jan. 6 case. He’s seeking an immediate pause of the gag order and then a stay while his appeal is pending. Trump asked the appeals court for a decision by Nov. 10, and if he loses he plans to take the case to the Supreme Court.
Disbarment Watch
- Bloomberg: Rudy Giuliani Fights to Keep His DC Law License After Bar Report
- Bloomberg Law: John Eastman Preliminarily Found Culpable in California Bar Trial
Not Many Tea Leaves To Read
The Minnesota Supreme Court didn’t give a clear read during oral arguments Thursday on how it will rule on the Disqualification Clause case pending against Donald Trump.
Will Trump Flee The Country?
The prospect of Donald Trump fleeing the country rather than facing trial and conviction has always seemed quite plausible to me. The Justice Department rationale for not making him surrender his passport or barring him from traveling overseas seems to be rooted in the fact that he has Secret Service protection which would make any attempt to run almost comical. And yet … can we be so sure?
Here’s a well-edited exchange that includes former FBI Special Agent Chris Favo talking about Trump’s flight risk:
WHOA
The Brooklyn home of NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ chief fundraiser was raided by the FBI early Thursday morning in what the NYT reports is a broad public corruption investigation into whether his 2021 election campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign donations.
SBF Convicted On All Counts
Cryptoking Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted by a federal jury in New York on all seven counts against him arising from the collapse of FTX:
1. Wire fraud on FTX customers
2. Conspiracy to commit wire fraud on FTX customers
3. Wire fraud on lenders to Alameda Research
4. Conspiracy to commit wire fraud on lenders to Alameda Research
5. Conspiracy to commit wire fraud on FTX investors
6. Conspiracy to commit commodities fraud on customers of FTX in connection with purchases and sales of cryptocurrency and swaps
7. Conspiracy to commit money laundering
The jury deliberated for just over an hour before reaching its verdict.
Reax To SBF Conviction
- Elizabeth Lopatto: Sam Bankman-Fried gambled on a trial and his parents lost
- Ginia Bellafante: Sam Bankman-Fried Was a Grown Up Criminal, Not an Impulsive Man-Child
Every Damn Day
Overt acts of anti-Semitism have exploded since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack:
- California man charged with making threats on Twitter against Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, such as “you better come stop me because I’m intent ona real Holocaust against the ADL Jews. Gas chambers and all”
- Antisemitic graffiti next to the historic Canter’s Deli in L.A.
- Jewish cultural center in the Bronx vandalized with graffiti.
DOA
House GOP passes Israel aid package that targets IRS funding and is going absolutely nowhere in the Senate.
Quote Of The Day
There comes a time, maybe every six to eight generations, where the world changes in a very short time. … And I think what happens in the next two, three years are going to determine what the world looks like for the next five or six decades.
Joe Biden
Hurtling Toward A 1.5C Global Temperature Rise
Famed climate scientist James Hansen has a new, dire prediction.
October Extended A Record-Setting Scorcher Of A Year
Meanwhile …
‘Vaping Groping Lauren Boebert’
Congress will never be as good as when MTG and Lauren Boebert were still BFFs:
You voted to kick me out of the freedom caucus, but keep CNN wannabe Ken Buck and vaping groping Lauren Boebert and you voted with the Democrats to protect Terrorist Tlaib.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) November 2, 2023
You hate Trump, certified Biden’s election, and could care less about J6 defendants being persecuted. https://t.co/OIgUvndXek
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And the circle is complete!
Trump describes imprisoned Jan. 6 rioters as ‘hostages’ | The Hill
Former President Trump on Thursday referred to those jailed over their actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol as “hostages” during a rally with supporters in Texas.
Trump walked on stage at a Houston rally to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” as he typically does. But when it concluded, a song in which Trump collaborated with a chorus of inmates detained on charges related to the Jan. 6 insurrection began to play, and the former president stood saluting.
“Well, thank you very much, and you know what that was,” he said to open the rally. “I call them the ‘J-6 hostages,’ not prisoners. I call them the hostages, what’s happened. And you know, it’s a shame.”
Anytime you see this poll quoted for anything Remember this
Killer Jab? 24% Say Someone They Know Died From COVID-19 Vaccine - Rasmussen Reports®
Is he next?
The Israel-Palestine conflict is like a bad movie that keeps getting remade. You cringe because you can predict every scene. I doubt that any of the regular TPM posters thought that PM Netanyahu would respond to Hamas’ barbaric attack in a thoughtful and measured way. The carnage and the political fallout we are currently witnessing were totally predictable. I wondered what the ‘magic number’ that would turn international opinion against Israel would be. Apparently it is a 50 to 1 civilian to Hamas kill rate.
Awwww. So sad. Too bad. Princess Ivanka got to get on the stand…