In the days before South Carolina joined several other Republican-led states in a lawsuit to overturn the results of the 2020 election, the state’s attorney general received advice from a former North Carolina chief justice and the leader of an influential right-wing Christian legal group, public records show.
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.
Are there things that are happening that you want to see in tomorrow’s Morning Memo? Send us the things.
Giuliani Suspended From Practicing Law In DC After NY Suspension For Pushing Big Lie
The hits keep on coming.
Less than two weeks after his law license was suspended in New York as a result of the lies he peddled in a bid to subvert the 2020 election on former President Trump’s behalf, Rudy Giuliani was dealt another blow with his suspension from practicing law in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. Continue reading “Giuliani Suspended From Practicing Law In DC After NY Suspension For Pushing Big Lie”
Why Ashli Babbitt?
As former president Trump makes his return to public life in a series of rallies and, as of today, lawsuits, he’s hitting upon the death Ashli Babbitt to stoke the kind of grievance that helped propel him to victory in 2016.
Trump has happed into a real vein of outrage, one stoked by fringe activists, including Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), though for the wrong reasons.
But a look at the details of Jan. 6 and Babbitt’s shooting suggests why they’re fixated on Babbitt in particular.
Democrats Shouldn’t Wait
From TPM Reader JB …
Nothing from the Wisconsin Republican delegation to Congress as yet on Ashli Babbitt or interfering with prosecution of January 6 insurrectionists. Sen. Ron Johnson’s Twitter account today, for example, rails about “the border,” health issues following Covid19 vaccinations, and climate change extremists.
Comment
I get that sense that the official Republican party, most of the press and perhaps even Democrats in Washington, DC have not gotten the message that Trump is sending. But let’s start with the Republicans. I don’t get the sense it’s registering with them that Trump is going to make the insurrection central to the 2022 campaign, at least for his role in it. He’s telling us. The Big Lie is everything for Trump and the insurrectionists are the warriors and victims of the ‘rigged election’. The two are inseparable.
Trump: ‘There Was No Reason’ To Shoot Ashli Babbitt
Former president Trump doubled down on Wednesday on his remarks about Ashli Babbitt, suggesting that there was no reason for her death and that the officer involved should be punished.
Continue reading “Trump: ‘There Was No Reason’ To Shoot Ashli Babbitt”
Time For Another Audit! Trumpy PA State Sen Demands Long List Of Election Material From Counties
After months of wind-up and a failed effort to throw out the votes of his own fellow citizens, the Trumpy Pennsylvania State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R) announced Wednesday that he was initiating an “forensic investigation” of Pennsylvania’s 2020 election and this year’s primaries.
“Boom Right Through the Head … There Was No Reason for That”
In his press conference today, President Trump returned to his claims that Ashli Babbitt was shot for “no reason.” He also demanded the name of the Capitol Hill police officer who shot her and the release of insurrectionists currently in jail or charged with crimes. The comments came in response to a question at a press conference announcing Trump’s lawsuits against social media platforms.
Video after the jump …
Continue reading ““Boom Right Through the Head … There Was No Reason for That””
What Have You Heard?
Have you seen your member of Congress or your Senator comment about President Trump’s new remarks about freeing the Jan 6th insurrectionists or lynching the Capitol Police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt. We have been trying to get comments from members of Congress. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, they’re not being very responsive. If you’ve seen remarks from your member of Congress or Senator in your local media, let us know. Or if you’ve seen responses we haven’t seen in national media we’re interested in that too.