A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
A Curious Wrinkle In The MAL Case
The NYT and WaPo separately reported last night on what appears to be the same subpoena from Special Counsel Jack Smith in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, with each outlet having different but related tidbits about what it was seeking and when.
The top line shared by both reports: The subpoena of the Trump Org sought records of business deals from seven foreign countries since 2017, when Trump took office.
- The subpoena was issued in April, according to the WaPo.
- The countries were China, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
- The only known foreign deal consummated in that time was in Oman and came after he left office. Trump had publicly claimed he would stop doing foreign deals while in office.
- This was the same subpoena that the NYT previously reported was seeking information on Trump’s dealing with the Saudi-backed LIV pro golf tour.
Neither report was able to piece together why the Trump Org’s foreign business dealings would be relevant to the former president’s unlawful possession of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. A gentle reminder that subpoenas can be used not only to uncover wrongdoing but to rule it out. It’s not known publicly what, if anything, the Trump Org produced in response to the subpoena.
When Your Lawyer Is Forced To Testify
CNN has its own follow-up to the Guardian on Special Counsel Jack Smith obtaining “dozens of pages” of notes that Trump attorney Evan Corcoran took during his representation of the former president in the Mar-a-Lago documents case:
The notes provide more insight into Trump’s thinking and actions during a critical time frame as the special counsel pursues its criminal investigation into Trump’s handling of classified material and the possibility he obstructed the investigation. …
The notes the DOJ has obtained reflect conversations between Corcoran and Trump after May 11 and through June 3, 2022, in which the attorney explained that the subpoena meant Trump would need to return all records marked classified to the government, sources said.
Jean Carroll Ain’t Stopping Now
The day after losing a $5 million jury verdict on E. Jean Carroll’s sexual abuse and defamation claims, former President Donald Trump went on CNN and continued defaming her, Carroll alleges in a new court filing. Carroll is seeking a “very substantial punitive damages award” against him in her other pending defamation lawsuit to punish him for the CNN remarks and deter future such conduct.
Trump In Criminal Court Today
Donald Trump will appear via video link in criminal court in Manhattan in the Stormy Daniels hush money case. The judge is expected to read Trump the riot act about complying with the protective order that prohibits him from disseminating discovery materials turned over by prosecutors.
*CLICK*
Reuters exclusive: Texts tie DeSantis closely to Trump insider Lev Parnas in 2018 race
The Politicization Of The Trump DOJ, Part 928
NYT:
The Justice Department kept open the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s family foundation for nearly all of President Donald J. Trump’s administration, with prosecutors closing the case without charges just days before he left office.
Newly released documents and interviews with former department officials show that the investigation stretched long past when F.B.I. agents and prosecutors knew it was a dead end. The conclusion of the case, which centered on the Clinton Foundation’s dealings with foreign donors when Mrs. Clinton served as secretary of state under President Barack Obama, has not previously been reported.
Harlan Crow Does Interview With The Atlantic
A deep profile of billionaire Clarence Thomas whisperer Harlan Crow yields this curious contradiction:
SCOTUS Is Not The Oracle At Delphi
Dahlia Lithwick takes a long hard look at the failures of Supreme Court coverage: “The Supreme Court press corps has been largely institutionalized to treat anything the court produces as the law, and to push everything else—matters of judicial conduct, how justices are chosen and seated, ethical lapses—off to be handled by the political press.”
BREAKING OVERNIGHT …
A man who crashed a U-Haul truck into barriers on the far side of Lafayette Square across from the White House Monday night was charged by Park Police with threatening to kill, kidnap or inflict harm on the president, vice president or a family member, along with assault with a dangerous weapon and trespassing. The man’s name was not released publicly.
2024 Ephemera
- Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), the chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, will not seek re-election next year. In his retirement announcement, Carper endorsed Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) as his successor. Blunt Rochester looks poised to win the Democratic nomination essentially by acclamation in a safe blue state.
- Four Democratic senators are not running again next year: Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and now Carper.
Two Must Reads
To understand how the right wing’s manufactured culture clash over transgender rights came into being, two seminal stories over the past six weeks:
NYT: How a Campaign Against Transgender Rights Mobilized Conservatives
AP: Many transgender health bills came from a handful of far-right interest groups
Short-Circuiting The Energy Transition
A nationwide shortage of electrical transformers is hindering the dramatic expansion of the grid necessary to facilitate a shift away from fossil fuels.
Cool Visual Of The Day
Fall down this rabbit hole with me:
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