The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging Tennessee’s recently passed law that bans gender-affirming care for minors, emphasizing it “denies necessary medical care to youth based solely on who they are.”
Continue reading “DOJ Sues Tennessee For Banning Gender-Affirming Care For Minors”Trump Loses His Bid To Block Pence Grand Jury Testimony
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Time For Pence To Testify
The DC Circuit Court of Appeals has denied former President Trump’s emergency effort to block his vice president from testifying to the DC grand jury investigating the conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election.
The sealed ruling came down late Wednesday. The earlier district court ruling against Trump also remains under seal. Both rulings remain secret because they are a part of grand jury proceedings.
While we don’t know the precise arguments being made by Trump or Special Counsel Jack Smith – or the reasoning of the trial and appeals courts – it has been widely reported that Trump was invoking executive privilege to shield himself from Pence’s testimony.
The exact significance of Pence’s testimony to the case against Trump remains unknown. Pence has waffled between forthcoming and coy, transparent and hedged, critical of Trump and enabling of him. But the public accounts Pence has given, including in his book, hardly paint Trump in a flattering light – and of course Trump wouldn’t be trying to block Pence from testifying unless it were damaging.
As for the legal significance of a prosecutor successfully piercing executive privilege à la U.S. v. Nixon, we’ll have to wait until the rulings are unsealed to make that assessment. Trump could still appeal to the full appeals court or to the Supreme Court.
Deeply Distressing
E. Jean Carroll’s wrenching testimony in the trial of her rape and defamation claims against Donald Trump is slated to continue today, with what is shaping up to be a brutal cross examination.
Her testimony yesterday, based on accounts from those in the courtroom, was compelling and heart-rending. Carroll, now 79, testified that she has not had a romantic relationship or sex since the alleged rape by Trump when Carroll was in her early 50s.
Carroll held up through most of her direct testimony, but did break down eventually:
Ferrara then asked, “Do you regret coming forward?” Carroll said, “I’ve regretted it 100 times,” and then wept, noting emphatically, “Being able to get my day in court, finally, is everything to me.” 9/
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) April 26, 2023
Without Trump’s testimony, his legal team has few options other than to seek to undermine Carroll’s credibility. Today will not be pretty.
Meanwhile, the judge admonished Trump and warned of potential legal jeopardy for comments he made on social media immediately before the trial began Wednesday. The judge seemed to be suggesting Trump was flirting with obstruction of justice for trying to tamper the jury with his out-of-court conduct.
“Here’s all I can tell you: I will speak to my client and ask him to refrain from any further posts regarding this case,” Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina told the judge. “I will do the best I can do, your honor. That’s all I can say.”
Bizarre And Troubling
In an extraordinary, unprecedented, and bordering on lawless move, lawyers for Donald Trump in the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation are lobbying Republicans in Congress to somehow intervene in the case and implausibly block the Justice Department from pursuing a prosecution.
Laying out a partial defense of Trump that amounts to talking points for GOP lawmakers, the Trump lawyers in a letter to House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) seemed to be beseeching the former president’s congressional allies to help muddy the waters in the case. (Newsflash: Congress can’t order the Justice Department to stop an investigation.)
Notably their defense of Trump focused mainly on the period before he was subpoenaed by a DC grand jury to return all of the documents. They didn’t have much to offer on the period after the subpoena, when Trump’s greatest legal jeopardy may have attached.
Tucker Carlson Emerges In Twitter Video
Tucker Carlson made his first public comments since he was sacked by Fox News, posting a video to Twitter that seems to have been shot in his home studio in Maine:
Meanwhile, the NYT has more on the redacted internal messages Carlson sent that were apparently so damaging that they contributed to the decision to fire him. It’s still hard to know what to make of this. The Times story goes on and on about how bad the messages are:
- “Carlson Texts Set Off Crisis Atop Fox”
- “Private messages sent by Tucker Carlson … showed him making highly offensive remarks”
- “Private messages sent by Mr. Carlson … showed him making highly offensive and crude remarks”
- “one of the messages was particularly offensive”
In all, the Carlson texts are referenced some 13 times in the NYT story before, in the 20th paragraph of the story, we get this: “The Times has not seen the contents of the message.”
Okay then.
Disney Sues DeSantis
Disney is suing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and other state officials in federal court in Tallahassee over various actions he has taken against the company over the last year. This is actually a really interesting case because DeSantis has made it clear that his punitive actions toward Disney were in retaliation for Disney’s criticism of his “Don’t Say Gay” law. But Disney may not ultimately be looking to vindicate its underlying rights as much as get DeSantis off its back and enable it to get back to normal.
Montana House Ostracizes Its Only Transgender Member
Wow, just wow.
Rather than expelling or censuring state Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D), the first and only transgender member of the Montana House, the GOP majority banned her from the floor for the rest of the session. To cast votes, Zephyr will have to do so remotely.
This is in retaliation for her vocal opposition to legislation banning gender-affirming care.
The “othering” of Zephyr – so reminiscent of the recent expulsion effort against the Tennessee Three – is obviously punitive but it also spares House Republicans from having to endure her very presence. We can’t keep you from being one of us, but we can keep you from being around us.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department has sued Tennessee over its ban on gender-affirming care.
McCarthy Seizes His Debt-Ceiling Hostage
It was a low bar for Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to clear: Get a wish list of right-wing fever dreams attached to a raising of the debt ceiling through the House. Way to go, Kev!
Make no mistake: McCarthy has little to no negotiating authority from his conference. This is not going to go well. Buckle up for a debt-ceiling crisis this summer.
Brian Kolfage Sentenced In We Build The Wall Case
Brian Kolfage, the former associate of Steve Bannon, was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in federal prison for his role the We Build The Wall fraud. Kolfage had pleaded guilty.
Bannon, on the other hand, was pardoned by President Trump in one of the last acts of his presidency, but he now faces state charges in the matter in New York.
Supreme Court Ethics Watch
Politico: “The ‘Statement on Ethics Principles and Practices‘ seemed designed to quell rising calls for ethics reform at the high court. But it didn’t break much new ground, and it stopped well short of adopting an enforceable code of conduct that critics have been clamoring for.”
2024 Ephemera
- West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) is expected to announce today that he is running against Sen. Joe Machin (D) in 2024.
- WaPo: Biden embraces his ‘Dark Brandon’ alter ego in 2024 campaign
- The Guardian: DeSantis assembles senior staff for expected 2024 presidential campaign
MTG Doing MTG Things
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This Might Finally Be the Real Tucker Story
For the first time I’ve read an article that presents at least the outlines of a convincing account of why Fox fired Tucker Carlson. The Times account, published an hour ago, isn’t dramatically different from other accounts we’ve seen over the last three days, at least not at first glance. So it may seem odd that I’m putting it in a different category. But on my read at least it provides a degree of specificity about the precise chain of events and who did what, when, that is different from all the earlier stories.
Continue reading “This Might Finally Be the Real Tucker Story”Where Things Stand: Gianforte’s Own Son Is Lobbying Him To Stop With The Anti-Trans Bills
Republicans in the Montana state House just voted to formally punish a member of the legislature, Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a trans woman who has been blocked from speaking in chamber since last week. Her crime? Vocalizing the harms of the anti-trans legislation that the state House was considering at the time.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Gianforte’s Own Son Is Lobbying Him To Stop With The Anti-Trans Bills”Listen To This: What The Tuck
A new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast is live! This week, Josh and Kate discuss the ousters of Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon, as well as the Supreme Court order on mifepristone.
You can listen to the new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast here.
Now It’s Ukraine! (Tucker Firing Explanation Whack-A-Mole Continues …)
The Washington Post just published its own “why Tucker was canned” story.
Now it’s a mix of the endless controversy, Tucker’s hubris and his still redacted criticisms of Fox brass contained in discovery material from the Dominion case. But now the kicker is Ukraine. Rupert Murdoch got fed up with Carlson’s relentlessly pro-Russian commentary about the Ukraine war and his withering attacks on Ukraine itself. Even more, key Republican senators had had enough; and they were talking to Murdoch about it directly.
Continue reading “Now It’s Ukraine! (Tucker Firing Explanation Whack-A-Mole Continues …)”Survey: Massive Turnover In Local Election Officials Due To Harassment Is Likely By 2024
Counties across the country are likely to see massive turnover in their local election administration before the 2024 election, a new study finds.
Continue reading “Survey: Massive Turnover In Local Election Officials Due To Harassment Is Likely By 2024”McCarthy Herds Republicans for Joe Biden
We’re about to have a Speaker Week Vote-O-Rama replay in which Speaker Kevin McCarthy will try to pass a pseudo-budget to kick start negotiations with Joe Biden over the debt ceiling, despite the fact that Biden has made clear he’s not going to negotiate over the debt ceiling at all. Biden has made clear he won’t negotiate but he’s definitely not even going to get into it until McCarthy says what it is is he wants. This pseudo-budget is the bill of particulars in which McCarthy says what he — or rather the Freedom Caucus — wants. As I said, it’s the Speakership vote all over again.
Following all this? Well, as you can tell it’s pretty convoluted. There’s a lot of kabuki and signaling wrapped around what should be an ordinary budgetary process. Because it’s so convoluted I wanted to provide some big picture points to keep in mind as this unfolds.
Continue reading “McCarthy Herds Republicans for Joe Biden”Why Is Tucker Carlson Out At Fox NOW?
Fox News host Tucker Carlson is no longer with the network, per a terse statement from the right-wing media juggernaut released Monday morning.
What’s left now is a huge mystery: Why? And why now?
Continue reading “Why Is Tucker Carlson Out At Fox NOW?”Kevin McCarthy Struggles To Deliver On Promised Hostage-Taking
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
It’s Hard Being A Cipher
In a sign of how badly things are going for Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the House Rules Committee went into the wee hours of this morning before it coughed up a debt-ceiling hostage-taking package that the GOP leadership thinks might be able to win the support of its conference.
McCarthy was forced to make changes to the bill to get it through the committee, something he had vowed he would not do.
A lot of the coverage is focused on the intra-GOP stakeholders holding out for this or that concession, like the Iowa delegation on ethanol subsidies. But I don’t want to get lost in the weeds on this. This is McCarthy’s hand-crafted, top-down, avoid-the-committee-process, limit-amendments proposed bill that he must get passed in order to pursue the House GOP’s debt-ceiling hostage-taking dream.
Even if McCarthy succeeds in getting this bill through, the fact that he is struggling with a proposal that gives GOPers everything they want and more tells you all you need to know about the burn-it-all-down, wreck-the-world-economy political ambitions of the Republican Party.
This is like a test-tube incubation of the worst tendencies of the House GOP. McCarthy is playing to all of them and still isn’t assured of passing the bill.
We’ll have a better handle on things this morning after the House GOP conference meets. Leadership had hoped to get the bill to the floor as early as today. Not clear whether that will happen. It could get pushed until tomorrow. The House calendar means it has to pass this week.
Abby Grossberg is Dragging EVERYONE Down
Abby Grossberg, the former Fox News producer for first Maria Bartiromo then Tucker Carlson who sued the right-wing news network, is turning out to be a pivotal figure. Her lawsuit and the audio recordings she made while at Fox quickly complicated Fox’s defense of the Dominion defamation lawsuit, and she’s since been subpoenaed in the Smartmatic defamation case against Fox.
Now there’s more (this is more video than I usually urge you to watch but it’s all relevant here):
- Grossberg’s lawyers provided MSNBC’s Ari Melber with audio recordings she made of Ted Cruz talking to her and Bartiromo just days before Jan. 6. Melber had a field day with it last night on his show:
For his part Cruz says he was consistent in couping publicly and privately:
- Grossberg’s lawyer says Special Counsel Jack Smith has contacted them for access to her audio recordings:
- Grossberg did an extended interview with MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace yesterday. Judge for yourself:
E. Jean Carroll Trial Underway
Opening statements in the civil trial of E. Jean Carroll’s rape and defamation claims against Donald Trump were completed Tuesday, and Carroll could take the stand as early as today. As for whether Trump himself will testify, Carroll doesn’t plan to call him but he’s playing coy about whether he’ll testify in his own defense. The judge in the case has had enough of the gamesmanship and demanded to know this week whether Trump will testify: “Fish or cut bait.”
MSNBC’s Lisa Rubin was in attendance for opening statements:
Proud Boys Trial Goes To the Jury
Closing arguments were completed Tuesday in the four-month-long seditious conspiracy trial of the Proud Boys. The jury is set to begin deliberations today.
Bragg v. Trump
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is citing former President Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified info as grounds for asking the judge to limit Trump’s access to certain information in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.
2024 Ephemera
- Trump issued his own competing video response to the Biden launch video:
- TPM’s Hunter Walker on Biden’s new campaign manager, a granddaughter of César Chávez.
- Not so subtle:
- Trump threatens to boycott GOP presidential debates.
Supreme Court Ethics Watch
- Chief Justice John Roberts declined the invitation of Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL) to testify to the committee about ethics rules for the Supreme Court.
- Durbin, you’ll recall, doesn’t have a majority on the committee to issue a subpoena to Roberts (or to Justice Clarence Thomas) because of Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s absence due to health issues.
- Perhaps in light of Durbin being stymied, Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) is getting in on the action, sending a request to billionaire GOP donor Harlan Crow for information about his gifts to and real estate transactions with Thomas.
- The disclosure lapse by Justice Neil Gorsuch – who failed to list the buyer of a vacation property he co-owned – originally reported by Politico was picked up by many other major outlets: NYT, WaPo, CNN. The buyer turned out to be the CEO of a major national law firm and his wife.
Total Shitshow In Montana House
I’ve been remiss in not flagging this to your attention sooner. The first and only transgender member of the Montana House has been under sustained attack by Republicans since she called them out a week ago for a proposed ban on gender-affirming care.
In retaliation for what Republican members claimed was her “hateful rhetoric,” House Speaker Matt Regier (R) has refused to recognize state Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D), essentially silencing her in the body to which she was elected. You know the reverse victimization move by heart now. Republicans hatefully attack transgender people but label any criticism of them for doing it as itself “hateful.”
The speaker cancelled yesterday’s session after a Monday protest in the chamber by supporters of Zephyr, 34, led to seven arrests.
Republican members are set to consider censure or other disciplinary action against Zephyr today.
Devin Nunes Defamation Suit Tossed
Former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), now the CEO of Trump’s Truth Social, lost his defamation suit over a 2018 Ryan Lizza’s story in Esquire. The judge in the case ruled that the article’s claims were “substantially, objectively true.”
Washington State Enacts AR-15 Ban
Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA) signed into law an immediate ban on military-style semiautomatic weapons, making it the 10th state to do so.
Nate Silver Out At FiveThirtyEight
Nate Silver is leaving FiveThirtyEight, the site he famously founded in 2008 and later sold to ESPN, where it was eventually folded into ABC News.
Harry Belafonte, 1927-2023
Chris Hayes had a lovely remembrance last night of Harry Belafonte, as both artist and activist:
Let’s end on a more whimsical note:
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