What The House GOP’s Targeting Of Ilhan Omar Is Really All About

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

House GOP Poised To Oust Omar From Committee Slot

A floor vote to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from the House Foriegn Affairs Committee could come as soon as today after a flurry of late night activity to check procedural boxes.

Almost every story covering this brouhaha claims the GOP’s power move is because of Omar’s past anti-Semitic remarks. That may be the ostensible reason, but the House GOP is unabashed about the real reason: It is payback for Democrats removing Reps. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) from committees in the last Congress.

“You were warned. You were warned in the last Congress. You were warned if you went down this road,” Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) told Democrats.

The fact that payback involves targeting a Somalia-born, hijab-wearing member who was one of the first two Muslim women in Congress is just icing on the bad faith cake.

The vote seems less in doubt than it was a few days ago after Speaker Kevin McCarthy wrangled a couple of GOP holdouts.

George Santos Steps Down From Committees

It feels like we’re just waiting now for the next shoe to drop.

Must Read

TPM’s Hunter Walker with a profile of the proudly transgressive Vish Burra, a Steve Bannon acolyte and former aide to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) who is now working for Rep. George Santos (R-NY).

Cancel Culture Club

There’s always that one guy who takes the GOP’s pretend freakout one step too far:

Rep. Eric Burlison compares DirecTV dropping Newsmax to the Holocaust pic.twitter.com/XsyefbbRTr

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 1, 2023

Watch Trump Plead The Fifth

The former president invoked his 5th Amendment right not to incriminate himself some 400 odd times in last summer’s deposition by New York Attorney General Tish James. CBS obtained some of the video of the deposition. Watch.

NY AG Seeks Sanctions Against Trump And His Kids

CNN: “The New York attorney general’s office is asking a judge to sanction former President Donald Trump, his adult children and their attorneys after taking issue with their legal responses to the $250 million fraud lawsuit filed last year.”

New Witness Testimony In Mar-A-Lago Case

Two of the people hired by Donald Trump to search four of his properties for additional classified records testified last week to a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., CNN reports. Their November search found two more classified documents at a storage facility in Florida.

FBI Searched Biden Think Tank Back In November

It had not been previously disclosed that the FBI searched the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement after the November discovery by President Biden’s lawyers of classified documents retained from his vice presidency.

Cheat Code To Hunter Biden Laptop Scandal

I just can’t devote any brain cells to the arcane ins and outs of this particular faux GOP obsession, but thankfully others have taken on this difficult task. If you’re into it, or merely want to understand the byzantine references and shorthand, Asha Rangappa has a reference guide to catch you up.

House GOP Kicks Off Its First ‘Investigative’ Hearings Today

The rollout of Biden-targeted circus investigations commences today:

• House Oversight: “Federal Pandemic Spending: A Prescription for Waste, Fraud and Abuse”
• House Judiciary: “The Biden Border Crisis – Part One”

Solomon Pena Indicted In New Mexico

The failed GOP candidate for the state House who bought into his own Big Lie theory and allegedly masterminded a shooting spree targeting Democratic elected officials has been indicted on 14 counts, including three counts of conspiracy to commit a shooting at a dwelling, three counts of shooting from a motor vehicle, and one count of aggravated battery.

More Punching Down From DeSantis

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) announced that he plans to defund diversity, equity and inclusion programs in every public university in the state.

What Kind Of Justice Is This?

Another of the handful of residents of The Villages in Florida who double voted in 2020 has admitted to the crime.

“John Rider, 62, recently entered into a pre-trial intervention program that will allow him to avoid potential prison time if he successfully completes court-ordered requirements and refrains from violating the law,” according to a local report.

But here’s the kicker. Rider was ordered, among other things, to complete 50 hours of community service. But in some jurisdictions, you can “buy out” of your community service at a rate of $10 per hour. So he’ll pay $500 and skip the community service. Nice.

LOLOL

Defense counsel for the upcoming Oath Keepers trial were in high dudgeon over the … limited amount of space at the single table they were allocated in the courtroom.

U.S. District Amit Mehta acceded to their demands and gave them an additional table but not before roasting them in a minute order:

Judge MEHTA’s sarcasm just drips off the page here in response to the defense’s complaint about tables pic.twitter.com/NGIgsyi5bX

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 1, 2023

2024 Campaign And Election Ephemera

• Mitch Daniels won’t run for Senate from Indiana.
• Nikki Haley is planning to announce her candidacy for President on Feb. 15.

What Is Happening?

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