The Justice Department may have understated its findings in an indictment unsealed on Wednesday.
Continue reading “Is This Right-Wing Media Platform the Product of a $10 Million Russian Plot?”Some General, Out-of-the-Headlines Observations
Here are just a few facts and observations to keep in mind as we move toward Election Day.
- I have heard from numerous TPM readers in swing states, registered Democrats with long histories of voting for Democrats, who are being deluged by Trump flyers, sometimes as many as two or three new ones a day. I’ve heard from enough of them that I don’t think this is just a few people on the wrong list. I think it’s something more general. In the cases where I’ve been able to ask, it’s either mostly or all from Trump super PACs rather than the campaign itself. I don’t know yet whether this is evidence of very inefficient spending or whether the spending is so mammoth that this is in effect the splash created by unprecedented levels of spending.
PJ on PA
From TPM Reader PJ …
Continue reading “PJ on PA”I live in Western PA, and do my best to do some driving tours of the areas outside of the metropole I live in during campaign season, and what I see are a lot fewer signs out in those area for Trump. Also can back up this thing about mailers….our household, which should not in any sense be thought of as GOP-curious, is receiving a TON of these pro-Trump and anti-Harris fliers. One of the biggest talking points is that Harris is going to gut Medicare and Social Security (because inflation makes all spending go less far, I guess?) while Trump will defend Medicare and Social Security (these materials actually feature quotes from him telling the GOP to keep their hands off of our entitlements).
Ginni Thomas Privately Praised Group Working Against Supreme Court Reform: ‘Thank You So, So, So Much’
This article was originally published at ProPublica and Documented.
Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, privately heaped praise on a major religious-rights group for fighting efforts to reform the nation’s highest court — efforts sparked, in large part, by her husband’s ethical lapses.
Continue reading “Ginni Thomas Privately Praised Group Working Against Supreme Court Reform: ‘Thank You So, So, So Much’”Trump Outright Denies Arlington Cemetery Altercation
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Trump: ‘It Was A Made Up Story’
The plot, as they say, thickens.
Since we last touched base on Trump’s Arlington National Cemetery fiasco, none of the big six outstanding questions have been answered – but Trump may have given himself a new self-inflicted wound.
With the Army declaring the case “closed” after the cemetery staffer in fear of MAGA reprisals declined to press criminal charges over the alleged incident and with a holiday weekend allowing attention to drift away from the story, Trump took the curious step of reigniting the firestorm by publicly issuing a complete denial Tuesday that any kind of altercation took place.
Not only did it not happen but the story was “made up,” Trump claimed, by “Comrade Kamala and her misinformation squad.” It was, in Trump’s telling, just a “BEAUTIFUL DAY OF HONOR” with “no fights or problems.”
Here’s his post:
seems like it should be pretty easy to prove Trump is lying here given that the Arlington altercation was reported to police pic.twitter.com/xwZzJ9XIv2
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 3, 2024
So now we have a situation where the Trump campaign disparaged the cemetery staffer as having a “mental health episode,” said she shouldn’t be in her job, suggested she suffered from Trump Derangement Syndrome – and now Trump himself is claiming nothing even happened.
At the same time, the Army seems desperate to make this all go away.
The Army is currently sitting on the police report filed by the cemetery staffer recounting her version of the incident where she was reportedly verbally abused and shoved aside by two Trump campaign staffers when she tried to enforce cemetery rules against political activities.
As of late last week, Democratic staffers on the Senate Armed Services Committee “have been directly communicating with Army officials about the incident, and are in the process of seeking and receiving the information in the report and about what happened,” according to Greg Sargent.
At the same time, House Democratic staffers attempting to looking into the matter are “frustrated” about resistance from the Army they’re running into, Sargent reports:
Meanwhile, senior House Democrats are privately pushing Army officials to say more clearly what laws or regulations they think may have been broken and to reveal more details about what happened, another aide says, noting that Democratic staffers are encountering resistance, leaving them frustrated.
With Trump issuing a blanket denial of any incident even occurring, is the Army going to release the police report and provide more details about the incident or leave the cemetery staffer twisting in the wind?
A Story Begging For More Attention: Trump And Egypt
Minority Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, who lack subpoena power, are trying to keep attention focused on last month’s WaPo article on a secret probe into whether Donald Trump accepted $10 million from Egypt – an investigation that was allegedly stymied by the Trump DOJ.
In a letter to Trump dated yesterday, Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin (MD) and Robert Garcia (CA) asked him to “immediately provide the Committee with information and documents necessary to assure the Committee and the American public that you never, directly or indirectly, politically or personally, received any funds from the Egyptian President or government.”
Trump is under no obligation to respond to their request.
Trump Prosecution Watch
Hush money case: A federal judge in Manhattan rejected Donald Trump’s effort to remove his hush money case from state to federal court, in what amounted to a last-ditch bid to avoid his upcoming sentencing for his conviction.
Jan. 6 case: While we await tomorrow’s hearing in federal court in DC on how U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan will handle the issue of presidential immunity, some light reading for you:
- Another stellar thread from Roger Parloff on how “unjust” the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision was.
- The folks at Just Security tackle the presidential immunity issue with the question: How Judge Chutkan Should Apply Trump v. U.S.—and When
Tucker Carlson Is At It Again
The ousted Fox News host invited Holocaust revisionist Darryl Cooper onto his show on X, where Cooper proceeded to call Winston Churchill the “chief villain” of World War II and stripped the Nazis of their own agency in the concentration camps, saying “millions of people ended up dead there” as if by happenstance. Elon Musk tweeted about the episode – “Very interesting. Worth watching” – before deleting the tweet.
Eeesh …
GOP Senate nominee Tim Sheehy (R-MT), the challenger to Sen. Jon Tester (D), was recorded during multiple private fundraisers last year trafficking in stereotypes of Native Americans.
The recordings were first reported last week by the The Char-Koosta News, which bills itself as “The Official News Publication of the Flathead Indian Reservation.” It was subsequently picked up by the NYT:
In one recording, Mr. Sheehy, a cattle rancher and businessman, can be heard saying that he had participated in roping and branding cattle on the Crow Reservation, in southeastern Montana, and that it was “a great way to bond with all the Indians out there, while they’re drunk at 8 a.m.” In another clip, he said that he had ridden in a Crow parade, and that “they’ll let you know whether they like you or not, there’s Coors Light cans flying by your head.”
Neither Senate campaign opted to comment to the NYT.
Okaaay …
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R-NC), the GOP nominee for governor with a long history of online extremism, allegedly had a different pastime in his pre-Facebook days, according to the North Carolina news site The Assembly. That prompted this tweet for the ages:
Chinese Influence Scheme Alleged … In NY Guv’s Office
A woman who worked at senior levels of the New York governor’s office for more than a decade was indicted on multiple counts for what federal prosecutors allege was a long-running, wide-ranging scheme to do China’s bidding in return for money, travel, and other goodies. Her husband was also charged in connection with the alleged scheme. They both pleaded not guilty.
Linda Sun and Chris Hu were apparently not subtle about their expenditures, via the NYT:
Prosecutors say Ms. Sun and Mr. Hu laundered the money they received to buy, among other things, their $3.6 million, five-bedroom home on a cul-de-sac in Manhasset, on the North Shore of Long Island; a $1.9 million condominium in Honolulu; and luxury cars, including a 2024 Ferrari.
The FBI raided their Long Island home in July. Sun was a deputy chief of staff to Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) for about 15 months, ending in 2022.
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Can Anyone Explain This Transaction To Me?
I got put on to this by an email from TPM Reader MS.
It’s weird.
The background here is that back at the beginning of the Biden administration, Mike “MyPillowGuy” Lindell started something called FrankSpeech Inc., a would-be right wing news channel which mainly does streaming. A few days ago FrankSpeech announced what it called a “going public transaction.” Not being very well versed in the world of deeply sketch over-the-counter stock events, it took me a while to make sense of what this announcement was saying. But the gist is this: FrankSpeech Inc. (Lindell’s weirdo news network) is merging with a company called InCapta. The announcement doesn’t say what InCapta does other than that it is a “company renowned for over 46 years of excellence in business and development.”
Continue reading “Can Anyone Explain This Transaction To Me?”Louisiana Offers Up More Women’s Bodies In Its Quest To Ban All Things Abortion-Related
Anti-abortion activists have been attacking mifepristone for decades. That mission has resulted in unnecessary restrictions on the abortion drug, renewed state legislative pushes to make it less accessible and a battery of lawsuits to get it yanked from the market altogether.
Continue reading “Louisiana Offers Up More Women’s Bodies In Its Quest To Ban All Things Abortion-Related”The Battle to Bring Harris Down
I wanted to flag two articles to your attention, one from the Post and the other from CNN. They both cover similar ground but in different ways. The gist is that the Trump campaign has essentially given up on trying to improve voters’ impression of Donald Trump and decided the only path to victory is driving down Harris’ favorability numbers. When I first read the Post piece, it had the feel of what journalists call a “source greaser” — a favorable piece aimed at generating good will on the part of the subject and sources of the piece. The quote from GOP consultant Josh Holmes captures the tone of the piece: “I think it’s a serious paper tiger we’re dealing with here. I don’t think for 60 days they can keep the train on the tracks.”
Continue reading “The Battle to Bring Harris Down”SCOTUS Has Set Up Tanya Chutkan To Fail In The Jan. 6 Case
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
The High Court’s Cat’s Paw
We have our first glimpse of the mess that the Supreme Court’s abomination of a decision on presidential immunity created in the Jan. 6 case.
Special Counsel Jack Smith and Donald Trump filed a joint status report in the case late Friday that was barely joint at all. They agreed on one peripheral issue that is set by statute and not really disputable. On everything else, they disagreed and set out their respective positions.
The joint status report didn’t provide much clarity to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is going to have to hash out the Supreme Court’s mandate largely on her own. And that, more than the respective positions taken by each side, is really the point here.
The Supreme Court is treating Chutkan like its cat’s paw. In upending our historical and legal understanding of the limits of presidential immunity, the high court gave Chutkan vague instructions on remand, set uncertain legal standards for what she is to decide, and reserved for itself abundant opportunities to second guess her decisions.
Whatever pre-trial arrangements Chutkan comes up with to try to thread the needle on immunity, the Supreme Court will get another chance to bat around. By then, Trump could be president again and none of this will matter if he orders his own Justice Department to dismiss the case against him. In fact, Trump’s proposed pre-trial schedule pushes anything that poses a risk to him past Inauguration Day 2025.
Chutkan has scheduled a status conference for Thursday, when we might begin to get a clearer picture of how she envisions navigating the impossible task that she was given in bad faith.
Quote Of The Day
Let me be clear: the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt.
Kamala Harris, in her first remarks on Donald Trump’s fiasco at Arlington National Cemetery
It’s Getting Worse
- In a Friday incident at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, a man stormed the press section before being detained by security, while Trump declared from the stage: “He is on our side.”
- As his polling lead has slipped away, Trump has fronted his racist appeals more explicitly:
Donald Trump’s racist remarks about immigrants during today’s Moms for Liberty meeting: “Our country is being poisoned … they’re going into the classrooms and taking disease, and they don’t even speak English. It’s crazy.” pic.twitter.com/0ZrocxkYMV
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) August 31, 2024
- WaPo: Trump eyes plan that may give Elon Musk role in auditing U.S. agencies
The GWOT-MAGA Nexus
TPM’s Josh Kovensky: MAGA Looks to Notorious War On Terror Lawyer John Yoo For Trump II Inspiration
2024 Ephemera
- ABC News/Ipsos poll: Harris leads Trump nationally among likely voters 52%-46%.
- Politico: House and Senate Republicans are starting to panic about a huge money gap with Democrats
- WaPo, on Trump’s strategy against Harris: “With little chance of improving Trump’s standing, Trump’s advisers see the only option as damaging hers.”
So Much Is Riding On Montana
TPM’s Kate Riga: “For Democrats to maintain Senate control, Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) needs to win reelection in a state Donald Trump won by 16.4 percentage points in 2020.”
What Ken Paxton Is Up To In Texas
WaPo: Paxton’s election fraud charges upend lives but result in few convictions
MUST READ
Convicted fraudsters Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman have a launched a DC startup under fake names that purports to integrate AI into lobbying, Politico reports.
Axis Of Disinformation
- WSJ: Beijing-Backed Trolls Target U.S. Voters as Election Nears
- NYT: Activists Charged With Pushing Russian Propaganda Go on Trial in Florida
On Gumbo And Chronic Disappointment
A pivotal moment of Kamala Harris’ nomination acceptance speech at the Democratic convention was when she mentioned … gumbo.
On the one hand, it had to have been the first reference to gumbo by a nominee in their convention speech in American history, a thrilling moment for Louisianans everywhere. On the other hand, as a Louisiana friend and I were discussing the next day, what kind of bastardized version of gumbo was Harris exposed to in the Bay area? Ick!
Once you leave the state, or travel north of Ville Platte*, you know better than to order gumbo no matter how much you miss it. It’s a life lesson in chronic disappointment.
I was prepared to to leave it there, but then this happened and now I don’t know what to think:
That’s a real-deal greens recipe. There’s no one right way to prepare greens, but this is an entirely legit method. She’s talking the talk and walking the walk. Plus, she makes a big enough batch that she has to use her bathtub to wash the greens!?! Total respect.
But look, I’ve been down this road before, lured into a false sense of security that an out-of-state restaurant might be able to pull off gumbo. The chef is from Louisiana! The owner was stationed in Louisiana when he was in the military! We fly our ingredients in from Louisiana! And with pangs of wistfulness, I let my guard down, emotion overtakes reason, nostalgia for what was prevails over the hard reality of what is.
What emerges from the kitchen every time is a gloopy mess of a dish that is the wrong color, the wrong texture, the wrong ingredients, and tastes nothing like gumbo at all. You can slap whatever name on it you want, but it’s not gumbo.
Or as my skeptical Louisiana friend put it after watching Harris expound on greens: “Tabasco doesn’t cure gumbo fails.”
I know this game. Harris is Lucy and I am Charlie Brown.
*Editor’s note: It’s possible the cultural boundary line has nudged north since my youth, but when I start to see pine trees I know to expect Southern cooking, not Cajun.
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MAGA Looks to Notorious War On Terror Lawyer For Trump II Inspiration
As Trump allies seek to justify deploying the military at home — be it to round up undocumented immigrants, quell protests, or simply make an aggressive point — they’re looking again and again to the early 2000s. The nation is in crisis. An invisible enemy has attacked, requiring a powerful presidency to confront a novel threat.
Continue reading “MAGA Looks to Notorious War On Terror Lawyer For Trump II Inspiration”