The FBI director kept quiet Thursday on whether federal authorities were investigating former President Donald Trump for his role inciting the attack on Congress on Jan. 6.
Continue reading “Are Feds Investigating Trump For Inciting Jan. 6 Attack? FBI Director Won’t Say”
I wanted to make sure you saw this piece yesterday on the Park Police Inspector General’s report about the clearing of Lafayette Square on that critical day last year in Washington DC. The big takeaway from most accounts – and what folks on the right have gone to town about – is that the decision to clear the park doesn’t seem to have been immediately tied to President Trump’s bible press op a short time later. It’s one of those stories where a closer look shows more chaos than intentionality.
The chairman of the U.S. Capitol Police union called on acting Chief Yogananda Pittman to “stand aside” Wednesday after new details in a Senate report released earlier this week highlighted failures of the law enforcement agency’s leadership in preparation for the deadly Capitol attack on Jan. 6.
Here are the stories that caught our attention.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) told CNN Wednesday evening that it’s time to pull the plug on the fruitless talks with Republicans on Biden’s sweeping infrastructure plan. “At the end of the day, if we can’t get the Republicans on board, we need to move forward,” he said. “And my view is that time has come.”
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) is now facing a primary challenge from former Rep. Jim Renacci (R-OH).
It may not surprise you that the challenger is accusing DeWine of being insufficiently loyal to Trump. Renacci claims in his campaign announcement video that the governor is trying to be “Ohio’s wannabe Cuomo” through his “Trump-bashing reign.”
The E.U. is boosting Biden’s call for an investigation into whether COVID-19 came from a Chinese lab in Wuhan. “The world has the right to know what exactly happened in order to be able to learn the lessons,” European Council President Charles Michel told reporters on Thursday.
A hospital in Houston has suspended without pay 178 employees who refused to get vaccinated and did not get religious or medical exemptions to do so. The hospital’s president said that “unfortunately, a small number of individuals have decided not to put their patients first.”
The Environmental Protection Agency continues to roll back Trump’s rollbacks. The EPA is working to reinstate the federal clean water protections the previous administration had gutted in its ceaseless coddling of industry.
Developer ditches the Keystone XL oil pipeline project. The historic win for climate activists comes after the President revoked a crucial permit Trump had granted that allowed the pipeline to cross the U.S.-Canada border, one of Biden’s first actions after he was sworn in.
Happy pride month: The Justice Department is adopting the Trump administration’s argument that religious schools have a right to discriminate against LGBTQ+ students on Wednesday.
A woman in Arkansas is suing the police after a state trooper’s aggressive attempt to pull her over led to her car getting flipped over. The woman was pregnant at the time.
A cop flipped over a pregnant woman's car because she didn't pull over quick enough.
Not only is what she did not wrong, it's what you're supposed to do: turning on hazards to indicate you're complying and pulling over at the next safe place to do so…
This man is still a cop. pic.twitter.com/kvNEeEmdf6
— Stephen Ford (@StephenSeanFord) June 9, 2021
Three cops in Ohio have been charged for their alleged misconduct during the George Floyd protests last summer. Some of the charges include assault, dereliction of duty and interference with civil rights.
The Congressional Black Caucus isn’t letting in a Black Republican. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) told Buzzfeed News that he hasn’t heard back from the CBC even after other 2020 election winners were able to join six months ago.
This obituary of a Soviet soldier who was believed to be the last surviving liberator of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
The frontrunner of NYC’s mayoral race is facing questions over whether he actually, you know, lives in the city. The candidate definitely doesn’t live in New Jersey, he insists.
What did you think of Morning Memo? Let us know.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said Wednesday that Democrats should “move forward” with infrastructure legislation without Republican support, after an earlier effort at a bipartisan agreement fell apart earlier this week.
The State Bar of Texas is investigating whether the state’s attorney general violated professional misconduct rules in his effort to overturn the 2020 election, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Continue reading “TX AG Paxton Under State Bar Investigation For Lawsuit To Overturn Election”
I wanted to give you a heads up that in a few days we’ll be kicking off our annual drive for The TPM Journalism Fund. This is a big, big deal for TPM. The short version is that the Fund allows us to add more original reporting and also create free memberships for readers who have some financial hardship and can’t afford one. These are super challenging days for all news organizations, as you know. So this is a critical part of how we make the financial pie work for us. Readers ask us a lot what they can do to support our work over the price of a membership. This is how you can do that. So please keep your eye out for the launch.
More soon.
The House Judiciary Committee has released the transcript of the closed-door June 4 hearing with Don McGahn, revealing how the former White House counsel reacted to President Trump’s demands with disgust, refusal, and, eventually, attempts to iron things out.
Continue reading “House Committee Drops Transcript From McGahn’s Closed Door Hearing”
A new report from the inspector general of the U.S. park police paints a chaotic picture of law enforcement formulating a plan to clear Lafayette Square in Washington D.C. and put up higher fencing amid protests last summer, a scheme foiled by poor coordination, unauthorized use of tear gas and a surprise visit by President Donald Trump.
In my series of posts about the specter of political violence seeping into conventional politics, one examples was in San Luis Obispo, California. San Luis Obispo isn’t Santa Monica or Marin. But it’s very much not one of the northern or rural counties in the east of the state that are very Republican and might as well be in Idaho or rural Nevada. It’s sort of middle of the spectrum – used to be fairly Republican but in recent decades has been more Democratic in national politics.
