Morning Memo: Trumpland’s Election-Stealing Lawyers Aren’t Getting Away So Easily

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.

Actions Have Consequences

The lawyers behind what Sidney Powell described as the “Kraken” lawsuits that aimed to overturn the 2020 election for Trump are trying to weasel their way out of attending a Michigan judge’s hearing on potential sanctions against them. They wanted their lawyers to attend in their place.

• The judge’s response? “DENIED”

And in case you missed it, Rudy Giuliani’s law license in D.C. got suspended yesterday in response to his license getting suspended in New York last month for blatantly lying in court and in public about the election.

Making Ashli Babbitt A Martyr

Far-right troll Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) heaped praise on the Capitol insurrectionist in a Wednesday night Newsmax appearance, calling her a “passionate patriot” and comparing her to George Floyd.

Marge Greene tonight says that she is willing to serve on the House Select Committee investigating Jan 6. She says she would have been friends with Ashlii Babbitt because it “seemed like she was a passionate patriot.” She then equates Babbitt’s death to George Floyd’s murder. pic.twitter.com/F5nuS5glbx

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 8, 2021

QAnoners’ Terrifying New Strategy

The followers of the deranged QAnon conspiracy theory are working to infiltrate the school system via local under-the-radar school board elections.

• An especially chilling declaration from former Trump official-turned QAnon celebrity Michael Flynn to fellow believers: “We cannot allow school boards to dictate what is happening in our schools. We dictate that.”

The GOP’s Latest Attacks In Its Anti-LGBTQ+ Culture War

Ohio Republicans quietly passed an amendment in the state’s budget legislation last week that lets doctors refuse to provide treatment needed by LGBTQ+ people, such as gender-affirming health care for trans people, if it violates their religious beliefs.

• The amendment says health care providers now have “the freedom” to “perform, participate in, or pay for any health care service which violates the practitioner’s, institution’s, or payer’s conscience as informed by the moral, ethical, or religious beliefs.”

Tucker Carlson’s NSA Mess

Fox News host Tucker Carlson said last night that he had contacted “a couple of people” who he thought could land him an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and that it was those emails that Carlson claims the National Security Agency had secretly seized in what he claims is an effort to get his show cancelled.

• Carlson’s explanation came after Axios reported earlier on Wednesday that the Fox host had been communicating with those contacts shortly before he began accusing the NSA of spying on him.
• The Fox host said he wanted to keep his communications “quiet” because he believed that an interview with Putin would be “less likely to happen” if they went public.

Tucker: Late this spring, I contacted a couple of people I thought could get us an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin… pic.twitter.com/DlWeJ1XJMp

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 8, 2021

But don’t let all this overshadow Carlson’s deeply disturbing take last night: 

my "lets have a camera on your kid all day long so i can watch them and make sure nothing creepy is going on" proposal is raising a lot of questions already answered by my proposal pic.twitter.com/oHX7yERFL4

— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) July 8, 2021

Following Trump’s Enablers

Former Trump administration officials and allies are trying (with varying degrees of success) to quietly slide back into polite society after enabling a boss who eventually sicced his bloodthirsty supporters upon the Capitol. Insider put together a database of where more than 300 of them are now.

The Assassination Of The Haitian President

Four suspects allegedly involved in the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse were killed in a gun fight with the police on Wednesday, and another two have been detained, Haitian National Police chief Léon Charles reports.

Key Analysis On Trump’s Ridiculous Big Tech Lawsuit Gambit

“Trump’s meritless lawsuits don’t stand a chance” – CNN

Soul For Sale

Ohio Senate candidate and “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance has been scrambling to lick Trump’s boots after criticizing him in 2016, and is now claiming that there were “some bad apples” in the violent mob that attacked the Capitol, “but most of the people there were actually super peaceful.”

• Also, Vance thinks it’s gross to suck up to Trump, so it’s a good thing he isn’t doing that: “My intuition with Trump, it’s interesting, I think that he gets a certain kick out of people kissing his ass. But I also think he thinks that people who kiss his ass all the time are pretty weak,” he told NBC News.

Insurrectionist Arts And Crafts

The feds seized a “fully constructed U.S. Capitol Lego set” from an alleged Capitol insurrectionist they arrested at his home.

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