STOP and Read This

Posted on by Josh Marshall

If you’re following the infrastructure negotiations, you’ll know the various bipartisan deals involve funding infrastructure with no new taxes. As Josh Kovensky explains here, when you look at the details, the demand is to get the money by cannibalizing the Covid relief bill Biden pushed through Congress in March.

Top Dems Demand Barr, Sessions Testify Under Oath On Trump-Era Leak Probe Into Lawmakers

Posted on by Cristina Cabrera

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) are demanding answers from former Attorney General Bill Barr and other top Trump-era Justice Department officials on the former administration’s secret seizing of several Democrats’ metadata.

Continue reading “Top Dems Demand Barr, Sessions Testify Under Oath On Trump-Era Leak Probe Into Lawmakers” →

What The GOP’s Infrastructure Pay For Would Actually Mean For States And Cities

Posted on by Josh Kovensky

Over the past two months of infrastructure talks, there’s been a constant refrain from Republican negotiators: why not just use all the unspent COVID aid money to pay for the bill?

Continue reading “What The GOP’s Infrastructure Pay For Would Actually Mean For States And Cities” →

Incompetence or Malevolence? Unanswered Questions On Lafayette Square As Abundant As Those Clouding Jan. 6

Posted on by Kate Riga

The report released Wednesday by the U.S. Park Police inspector general painted a damning picture of the uncontrolled chaos pervading June 1, 2020, when law enforcement officers tear gassed and manhandled Black Lives Matter protesters to clear Lafayette Square outside the White House. 

Continue reading “Incompetence or Malevolence? Unanswered Questions On Lafayette Square As Abundant As Those Clouding Jan. 6” →

Oregon State Rep Who Opened Capitol Door To Mob Expelled From Office

Posted on by Matt Shuham

Oregon State Rep. Mike Nearman (R) became the first person ever expelled from the Oregon House of Representatives on Thursday, with all 59 of his colleagues voting to vacate his seat over his decision to let a mob into the state Capitol last year. 

Continue reading “Oregon State Rep Who Opened Capitol Door To Mob Expelled From Office” →

Morning Memo: Trump DOJ Targeted Dem Lawmakers In Secret Leak Probes

Posted on by Cristina Cabrera

Here are the stories that caught our attention.

Today’s Big Scoop

Trump’s Justice Department secretly seized the Apple data records of House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) in the administration’s hunt for leaks, according to a bombshell report by the New York Times, later confirmed by other outlets.

  • The seizure included data of the members’ families, too, including a minor.
  • Schiff is calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland and the DOJ’s inspector general to investigate the jaw-dropping subpoenas.
    • What Schiff said: “The politicization of the Department and the attacks on the rule of law are among the most dangerous assaults on our democracy carried out by the former President.”
  • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) backed her colleague’s demand for an investigation into the “harrowing” reports. “Transparency is essential,” she said.
  • Yep, that about sums it up:

Must Read

“Trump-inspired death threats are terrorizing election workers” – Reuters

‘Operation Hall Pass’ Fail

The Oregon House expelled a Republican lawmaker who let far-right armed protesters into the state Capitol building during a special session in December.

The Next Act In Infrastructure Theater

A bipartisan group of 10 senators, which includes Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV), say they’ve reached a deal on infrastructure spending that wouldn’t include any tax increases.

  • The White House says “questions need to be addressed.”
  • Congressional leaders have not yet weighed in on the group’s proposal.

Bipartisanship LOL

“Republicans in the States Are Proving Joe Manchin Wrong” – The Atlantic

Please Love Me, Mr. Trump, Sir

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) vowed on Thursday to build a wall on the southern border in his state, the Texas Tribune reports.

Biden In Europe

  • After meeting with Biden on Thursday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the BBC that the U.K. and the U.S. have an “indestructible relationship” that has “endured for a very long time.”
  • Biden will be meeting with G-7 leaders today.

Truly Terrifying

“After her arrest, she found her explicit photos sent to a strange number. A state trooper answered the line.” – The Washington Post

You’re Almost There

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) wants to provide automatic student loan deferments-but only for “survivors of terrorist attacks.”

In Case You Missed It

CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who got fired from the New Yorker in November for whipping his Toobout during a Zoom work call, made a comeback on Thursday on the network after months of exile. “Nothing is really in my defense,” he told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota, adding that the incident was “deeply moronic and indefensible.”

  • Oh, to be a white man: An anonymous CNN executive told the Washington Post: “I don’t think that one terrible mistake should define a person or ruin their employment opportunities for life.”

Fox News Having A Normal One

Galaxy Brain

Biden is a “liberal progressive socialist Marxist,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) declared on Hannity Thursday night.

What did you think of Morning Memo? Let us know.