A new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast is live! This week, Josh and Kate discuss the Trump CNN town hall, E. Jean Carroll’s victory and the indictment of George Santos.
You can listen to the new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast here.
George Santos Confesses To Theft In Brazil To Avoid Criminal Prosecution In Two Countries
Rep. George Santos (R-NY) has made a deal with law enforcement in Brazil to avoid criminal prosecution for a case left open from 2008.
Continue reading “George Santos Confesses To Theft In Brazil To Avoid Criminal Prosecution In Two Countries”Another One Gone: Virginia Leaves Voter Roll Program Plagued By Right Wing Conspiracy Theories
Virginia has become the latest Republican-led state to withdraw from the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) after right-wing media spread George Soros-linked conspiracy theories and other misinformation about the program.
Continue reading “Another One Gone: Virginia Leaves Voter Roll Program Plagued By Right Wing Conspiracy Theories”Donald Trump Is An Absolutely Terrible Criminal Defendant
`A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
LOL These Headlines
Donald Trump may be a genius reality TV carnival barker, but he is an awful criminal defendant, his own worst enemy, a defense lawyer’s nightmare, a cauldron of admissions against his own interest, an impulsive dolt who keeps digging himself deeper with almost every public utterance.
Look at the many messes Donald Trump created for himself during the CNN “town hall” fiasco:
NYT: E. Jean Carroll May Sue Trump a Third Time After ‘Vile’ Comments on CNN
NBC News: Trump’s comments on Mar-a-Lago documents ‘like red meat to a prosecutor’
NYT: Trump Suggests He Knowingly Took Documents From White House
AJC: Trump said Raffensperger ‘owed me votes’
(If anyone at CNN dares use Trump’s many on-air missteps as justification for giving him an unmediated primetime stage, please shoot me an email.)
This isn’t a new revelation. Trump has been a terrible witness for himself for years in civil lawsuits. The most recent smashing example was when he mistook E. Jean Carroll – whom he notoriously derided as “not my type” – for his ex-wife Marla Maples. That deposition testimony, captured on video, was probably a turning point in Carroll’s sexual abuse and defamation case against him. As if to make the point even stronger, Trump is so unreliable on the witness stand that he did not testify in his own defense during the Carroll trial.
With criminal proceedings against Trump already underway in New York state, expected this summer in Georgia, and potentially coming at any time on multiple fronts from Special Counsel Jack Smith, Trump’s own remarks being used against him by for prosecutors is going to be a recurring theme. They have an abundance of material to work with from the very stable genius.
Who Still Needs To Read This?
Maybe there’s someone in your life who still doesn’t get why the CNN “town hall” format for Trump was an abdication of journalistic duty, a failure to learn any lessons of the past eight years, and frankly an embarrassment. You might show them this thoughtful thread from Paul Waldman:
Anderson Cooper Badly Misses The Point
Trump To Appeal Carroll Verdict
Donald Trump filed a notice that he plans to appeal the $5 million federal jury verdict against him to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
DOJ Fares Well In Key Jan. 6 Appeal
The Justice Department appears poised to win a significant appeals court victory in a case that threatened to upend hundreds of Jan. 6 prosecutions for obstruction of Congress’ electoral vote-counting session.
Two members of a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals hinted strongly Thursday that they largely agree with prosecutors’ interpretation of the Enron-era obstruction law that the Justice Department has leveled against hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants.
Santos Fesses Up … In Brazil
Rep. George Santos (R-NY), under federal indictment in New York, reached a deal with Brazilian prosecutors to confess to passing bad checks and to pay restitution in return for criminal charges being dropped.
Good Read
Paul Rosenzweig: How Is George Santos Different from Donald Trump?
White House Meeting On Debt Ceiling Postponed
A meeting planned for today at the White House among President Biden and congressional leaders on the debt ceiling has been postponed until next week.
“I don’t think there’s enough progress for us to get back together,” Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said late Thursday.
The White House and congressional staff have been in behind-the-scenes talks since Tuesday’s meeting of the President and leadership.
2024 Ephemera
- Parting ways over Ukraine, Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) will not support Donald Trump for the GOP nomination for president.
- Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has a sizable advantage in cash on hand over his rivals for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate to replace the retiring Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).
Follow The Dark Money
Leonard Leo’s Marble Freedom Trust gave away $182.7 million in the year ending on April 30, 2022, according to a recent tax filing.
What A Journey That Was
Forty years after it banned gay men from donating blood, the FDA has rolled back the AIDS-crisis era restrictions.
Daniel Penny Charged In Jordan Neely’s Death
The 24-year-old former Marine who put a homeless man on the NYC subway in chokehold until he died has been charged with second-degree manslaughter. Arraignment is set for today in state court in New York.
Gun Control Setback
WaPo:
A federal judge in Virginia has declared unconstitutional a set of laws and regulations that prohibit federally licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns to 18-to-20-year-olds, finding that the measures violated the Second Amendment.
Have A Great Weekend!
Let me know what you’d like to see next week in Morning Memo:
Tips for Morning Memo? Let us know!
A Problem for CNN?
Does CNN have a scandal on its hands?
According to tonight’s edition of Tara Palmeri’s PuckNews newsletter (sub.req.), CNN set audience ground rules for the Trump town hall which allowed audience members to cheer Trump but not boo him.
Here’s the key part of the interview with Matthew Bartlett (emphasis added)…
Continue reading “A Problem for CNN?”E. Jean Carroll May Sue Trump A Third Time After He Mocked Her On Live TV
E. Jean Carroll may sue former President Donald Trump a third time following his comments about the writer at the Wednesday night CNN town hall, according to the New York Times.
Continue reading “E. Jean Carroll May Sue Trump A Third Time After He Mocked Her On Live TV”A Massive Texas County Turned Blue. Then The GOP-Controlled Senate Voted To Overturn Their Elections.
The Texas state legislature is poised to pass a bill allowing the secretary of state to overturn election results in the state’s most populous county, only a few years after it turned blue.
Continue reading “A Massive Texas County Turned Blue. Then The GOP-Controlled Senate Voted To Overturn Their Elections.”Chris Licht’s Excellent World of CNN
I wasn’t able to watch last night’s CNN town hall. I was helping my son prepare for an AP exam. I plan to watch it later today. But I’ve already heard enough reviews and seen enough clips to see that it conforms with what we knew of the Chris Licht model. Licht, as you may know, got the CNN assignment when CNN ended up with its latest corporate overload Warner Bros. Discovery. There’s been a lot of debate about just what Licht’s brief was. But it seems to have been some mix of the ideological fancies of its new owners and a general desire to make it “less liberal.”
For many of us, the idea that CNN is or ever was “liberal” is an absurd enough proposition to get the conversation about Licht’s goals off to a pretty poor start. But the topic clarifies itself when you see the question through the lens a corporation uses to understand questions like this. We don’t need to have an abstract conversation about what constitutes “liberal” in this context. It’s much simpler than that. You’ll know it’s not “liberal” when Trump and Republicans stop attacking it.
Continue reading “Chris Licht’s Excellent World of CNN”Trump Fumbles On Abortion As GOP Flails, Refuses To Stake Out A Position
Former President Trump refused to answer multiple questions on if he would sign a federal abortion ban into law if he were to win the 2024 presidential election during CNN’s disastrous Wednesday night town hall, a move reflective of the party’s broader flailing on the issue heading into the primaries.
Continue reading “Trump Fumbles On Abortion As GOP Flails, Refuses To Stake Out A Position”Subpoena By Social Media: Judge Orders Jenna Ellis Be Served Through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram DMs
A federal judge ordered that former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis, who lawyers say has been dodging their attempts to subpoena, may find herself served through an unorthodox channel: her social media direct messages.
Continue reading “Subpoena By Social Media: Judge Orders Jenna Ellis Be Served Through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram DMs”