The right-wing Supreme Court justices occasionally tipped into outright hostility Wednesday as they pressed a government lawyer with questions and hypotheticals about stripping the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of some of its enforcement discretion.
Continue reading “Right-Wing Justices Train Their Anti-Agency Ire On Big Bad Financial Regulator”Decision Time
I wanted to flag to your attention this post by John Ganz, someone who, if you’re not familiar with him, is well worth becoming familiar with. Ganz and I see the questions about Israel, the Palestinians and Zionism differently. Indeed I disagree with the title of the post I’m sending you to. But what is most important in writing, especially in commentary, is not that it be “right” but that it be illuminating. Reading what is “right” is often reading a more polished version of what we already think — the utility of which is limited. Ganz manages to approach these questions with insight as well as texture and elegance, no simple feat.
On that matter of disagreement, I want to note something about what I have written on this issue. If you read carefully, I seldom make positive arguments for any particular position or question on this topic. I tend to point up what I see as disconnects or inconsistencies in pat arguments and responses. This is partly temperamental. I don’t like making arguments or claims that aren’t packaged with strong and concrete defenses. It’s also because with all the internal media and imagery there’s a huge amount of what is going on that we simply don’t know. One such question is whether Israel’s retaliation in response to the October 7th massacres is justified.
Continue reading “Decision Time”Ex-DC Chief Judge Warns Of Creeping Authoritarianism
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Big Liars And The Big Lies They Tell
No judge has had a better global view of the Trump prosecutions than U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, who as chief judge in DC until earlier this year oversaw the grand juries investigating Trump’s election subversion efforts and his unlawful retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
It was Howell who made key rulings during the Jan. 6 grand jury proceedings on executive privilege, the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege, and other investigative issues. As chief judge, she also had administrative responsibilities for the district court’s heavy case load of Jan. 6 rioter cases.
So when Howell warns of creeping authoritarianism in the United States, it’s worth taking notice.
Speaking last night at a lawyers event in DC, Howell quoted from Boston College historian Heather Cox Richardson’s new book, including:
- “Big lies are springboards for authoritarians.”
- The U.S. “is at a crossroads teetering on the brink of authoritarianism.”
Howell’s comments were reported by Politico’s Josh Gerstein:
“We are having a very surprising and downright troubling moment in this country when the very importance of facts is dismissed, or ignored,” Howell told the annual gala of the Women’s White Collar Defense Association at a downtown hotel. “That’s very risky business for all of us in our democracy. … The facts matter.”
Howell did not mention Trump by name but noted that the DC judges “regularly see the impact of big lies at the sentencing of hundreds, hundreds of individuals who have been convicted for offense conduct on Jan. 6, 2021.”
Convict-In-Chief?
TPM’s Josh Kovensky takes a closer look at some of the mechanisms available to Trump to make his prosecutions/convictions go away if he is elected president again.
Trump’s Shiny New Absurd Defense
Turning the last eight years on its head, Donald Trump now wants to use the intelligence community’s assessment of Russian interference in U.S. elections to demonstrate that it was not he who sowed public distrust.
That’s right. Trump wants to use the intelligence community that he abhorred and their assessments that he roundly and publicly rejected as fodder for his own criminal defense.
More On The New Mike Pence Reveals
Aaron Blake: The plot thickens on a Mike Pence Jan. 6 recusal
Rupert Murdoch Deposed In Smartmatic Case
The chairman emeritus of Fox Corp. and News Corp. is being deposed yesterday and today in Los Angeles in Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, Reuters reports.
No Plea Deals For Trump, Rudy, Or Meadows
Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis has her eye on three big fish to whom plea deals will not be offered: Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and Mark Meadows, according to The Guardian:
The previously unreported decision has not been communicated formally and could still change, for instance, if prosecutors shift strategy. But it signals who prosecutors consider their main targets, and how they want to wield the power of Georgia’s racketeering statute to their advantage.
Hunter Biden Calls House GOP Bluff
The absurdity of the House GOP’s Trump-inspired Hunter Biden witch hunt came into even sharper focus Tuesday. Going on the offensive, Biden demanded a public hearing rather than a closed-door deposition with the House Oversight Committee. That sent Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) into paroxysms of backpedaling. Painful to watch:
If that wasn’t good enough, here’s Comer pretending it’s all public anyway (which could make it harder to negotiate future “private” sit-downs with the committee since they’re not really private):
Fox Tap Dances
The good folks at Fox News howled in protest at Hunter Biden wanting to make the witch hunt against him public:
Dems Dance
House Democrats had fun with all the fodder provided by their GOP colleagues:
We Will Still Have Santos To Kick Around
A Grievous Injustice
The three college students (Brown, Trinity (CT), and Haverford) of Palestinian descent who were shot over the weekend in Burlington, Vermont, continue to recover from their injuries. The most seriously wounded, Hisham Awartani, suffered spinal cord damage and has a long and uncertain road to recovery ahead.
The three young men were in Burlington visiting Awartani’s grandmother for Thanksgiving. Chris Hayes aired a long, compelling interview last night with Awartani’s uncle, who also lives in Burlington:
U.S. Water Utilities Hacked
Politico: “The federal government is investigating multiple hacks suspected to have been launched by an Iranian government-linked cyber group against U.S. water facilities that were using Israeli-made technology, according to two individuals familiar with the probes.”
New Charges Expected In India Assassination Plot In US
WaPo: “The discovery of a plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist on U.S. soil earlier this year so concerned the Biden administration that it dispatched its top two intelligence officials to New Delhi to demand the Indian government investigate and hold to account those responsible, senior administration officials said.”
Pope Evicts U.S. Cardinal From Vatican Apartment
Pope Francis has reportedly taken more drastic actions against the defiant retired American Cardinal Raymond Burke, a doctrinal conservative who is an outspoken critic of the pontiff, evicting him from his Vatican apartment and stripping him of his salary.
The Most Important Statistic Of All
New life expectancy data from the CDC shows the U.S. continues to lag other wealthy nations after taking a harder hit from COVID and bouncing back more slowly.
LOLOL
Former Rep. Liz Cheney’s new book includes her account of this bonkers exchange with Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on his post-Jan. 6 pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago:
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Another Data Point On How Unserious House Republicans’ Hunter Biden ‘Investigation’ Is
House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said what the rest of us (TPM) have been thinking (screaming) for months Tuesday in response to House Republicans’ rejection of Hunter Biden’s offer to publicly testify before the panel.
Continue reading “Another Data Point On How Unserious House Republicans’ Hunter Biden ‘Investigation’ Is”Convict-In-Chief: How Trump II Could Make His Legal Troubles Go Away
It’s January 20, 2025, and Donald Trump has just been inaugurated as president of the United States.
Continue reading “Convict-In-Chief: How Trump II Could Make His Legal Troubles Go Away”Trump Touts Intel Community He’s Long Besmirched In Bid To Defend Jan. 6 Charges
Throughout the past seven years, Trump has cast the intelligence community as one of his main opponents.
Continue reading “Trump Touts Intel Community He’s Long Besmirched In Bid To Defend Jan. 6 Charges”Moment More of Israel Obsessiveness
I had a clarifying moment this early afternoon sharing notes with TPM Reader MH via email. This was about the situation in Israel/Palestine but more particularly how it is impacting both people’s views and politics in the United States. What I think has happened is that the events, which began with the Hamas massacres in southern Israel on October 7th and has continued with Israel’s merciless retaliation, has pushed the discussion among not just Democrats but everyone to the left of the 50 yard line of American politics from “should Israeli policy be different” to “should Israel exist.”
The first is fairly unifying. The second is profoundly divisive and, for a non-trivial chunk of the Democratic coalition, existential.
Continue reading “Moment More of Israel Obsessiveness”Haley In Unstoppable Drive Toward Second Place
We’re back to another of those comical developments in the Republican Party and it’s relationship with its leader, Donald Trump. This morning the Koch Network announced it is supporting Nikki Haley, former South Carolina Governor and the latest forlorn hope of the billionaires who fund the GOP. She joins the heap of broken political bodies like Ron DeSantis, Glenn Youngkin and others. It raises the question: Does this completely not matter or mostly not matter? It may surprise you to learn that I’m only at “mostly doesn’t matter.” There may actually be some limited significance.
When I first started writing this post I decided to double check the latest polls. Haley is in the midst of a meteoric rise in pundit and GOP elite esteem. Lots of observers point either to polls or other evidence suggesting that if only Haley could win the nomination she’d be a lock to beat President Biden. (I actually doubt that’s true. But that’s a different story.) Candidly, I was surprised by just how much Trump is now crushing the entire GOP field. Trump is no longer sitting at about 50% or so in a big field, what by really any measure is more than enough to make him nominee. He’s now consistently 10% or 15% higher. He’s no longer at 50% support. He’s now usually 50% or more ahead of the second place vote getter.
What Haley is now accomplishing is being on the verge of surpassing the crumpled carcass of Gov. Ron DeSantis. Enough to win the small trinket, not the full stuffed animal at the fair.
Continue reading “Haley In Unstoppable Drive Toward Second Place”Mike Pence Tells Jack Smith All About Donald Trump And Jan. 6
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Do Tell …
ABC News continues to come through with consistently revelatory reporting about the prosecution of Donald Trump for the 2020 election subversion scheme. In a new report this morning, Katherine Faulders et al. describe what former Vice President Mike Pence has told Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Relying on anonymous sources, the ABC News team paints a picture of detailed questioning of Pence by investigators and a more granular (but not inconsistent) account of what Pence has already said publicly. The sources almost surely come from Pence’s circle, as the report goes so far as to use quotations purportedly from Pence.
According to the ABC News report, Pence told investigators that:
- Trump surrounded himself with “crank” attorneys, espoused “un-American” legal theories, and almost pushed the country toward a “constitutional crisis.”
- Pence briefly considered not showing up for the Jan. 6 certification by Congress of the Electoral College vote.
- Trump privately asked Pence for his advice, and Pence told him that if nothing changed, “[you] should simply accept the results,” “you should take a bow,” travel the country to thank supporters, “and then run again if you want.”
- After Trump re-tweeted a memo titled ‘Operation PENCE CARD,’ Pence turned to his wife and said, “Here we go.”
- Trump “acted recklessly” as the Capitol was under siege, but Pence will “never believe” Trump meant for Jan. 6 to become violent.
Chutkan Blocks Trump Fishing Expedition
The judge in the Jan. 6 case denied a Trump request to issue pre-trial subpoenas to various government entities, officials, and members of Congress.
Time Is Of The Essence
Randall Eliason: Why Judges in the Trump Jan. 6 Trial Need a Rocket Docket
John Eastman Pushes For Quick Georgia RICO Trial
A new wrinkle in the Georgia RICO case where John Eastman seems to be asking the judge to try Donald Trump separately from everyone else after the election and to hold two separate trials of the remaining defendants in 2024.
Never Forget
Philip Bump on the renewed effort to rewrite the history of Jan. 6.
Good Reminder
Politico: Bid to hold Trump accountable for Jan. 6 violence stalls at appeals court
The Ongoing Assault On Voting Rights
We are paying far less attention to the long-term deterioration of the right to vote, the essential building block of a democratic republic. It’s easier to overlook because chipping away at access to the ballot has been a subtle, decade-long process.
Bob Menendez Watch
WaPo exclusive: Businessman accused of bribing Sen. Menendez had deep ties to Egypt
Hate Crime?
The Justice Department is investigating whether the shooting in Vermont of three students of Palestinian descent was a hate crime. The man arrested in the shooting pleaded not guilty Monday.
Musk In Israel
Notorious purveyor of anti-Semitism uses Bibi Netanyahu to launder his anti-Semitism:
So Much For Small Gov’t And Local Control
WaPo: Antagonisms flare as red states try to dictate how blue cities are run
Great Read
New Yorker: When Your Own Book Gets Caught Up in the Censorship Wars
Pennies On The Dollar But Not Nothing
The Sandy Hook families have offered to settle their nearly $1.5 billion legal judgments against Alex Jones for $85 million, payable over 10 years, plus 50 percent of any income over $9 million per year.
Catching Up On Geert Wilders Big Win
The holiday threw me off my game, so I’m late to catching you up on the big win for right-winger Geert Wilders in the Dutch parliamentary elections:
Rosalynn Carter To Be Honored
Every living first lady will join former President Jimmy Carter in paying respects to the late Rosalynn Carter today in Atlanta.
Colbert Recovering From Ruptured Appendix
The late night host cancelled this week’s shows after undergoing surgery for a ruptured appendix.
Yesterday Was Hard
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Johnson Avoids Specifics On Santos For As Long As Humanly Possible
With his speakership honeymoon fading fast, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is facing the reality of his uber thin majority as he navigates how to pass foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel before the holiday break and the bigger, two-tiered shutdown threat he created heading into the new year. His apprehension about ousting one of his own is tangible — especially someone like Rep. George Santos (R-NY).
Continue reading “Johnson Avoids Specifics On Santos For As Long As Humanly Possible”