Moments after it became clear that House Republicans had coalesced around House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) as their nominee for speaker, New York Republicans put out a statement vowing to go after one of their own — at least, they will once the House gets back to functioning as a governing body.
Continue reading “New York Republicans Will Move To Oust Santos From … What House Floor?”A Cash Crunch And Credit Card Spending Spree: Prosecutors Detail George Santos’ Wild Ride
By his own admission, George Santos had his “back against the wall.”
Continue reading “A Cash Crunch And Credit Card Spending Spree: Prosecutors Detail George Santos’ Wild Ride “Scalise Wins Speakership Nomination, But House Republican Circus May Continue
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) emerged victorious from House Republicans’ closed-door, secret ballot speakership nomination vote Wednesday, though there might be more drama to come.
Continue reading “Scalise Wins Speakership Nomination, But House Republican Circus May Continue “Arguments On South Carolina’s Maps Show How Thoroughly Supreme Court Broke Redistricting
To someone unfamiliar with the country’s recent redistricting history, Wednesday’s Supreme Court oral arguments must have sounded bizarre.
The justices and attorneys alike all candidly acknowledged that South Carolina legislators had manipulated their maps to artificially maximize Republican vote power and minimize Democrats’. They made no attempt to obfuscate that state Republicans were determined to pick their own voters, to rig elections until it became virtually impossible for their party to lose.
Continue reading “Arguments On South Carolina’s Maps Show How Thoroughly Supreme Court Broke Redistricting”Scalise Defeats Jordan in House GOP Caucus Vote
There were a lot of press reports that Jim Jordan had the momentum in the House GOP fight for the Speakership. But they held the caucus vote today and Steve Scalise won 113 to 99. Importantly, these caucus votes are secret ballots. So those reports might have been accurate as a measure of what members were telling reporters. But a secret ballot is another matter.
Normally, this would mean that Scalise will now become Speaker. But of course we’re not in the world of normal. This is the House GOP caucus. My understanding is that Jim Jordan still hasn’t officially responded to his defeat. I also hear there’s a move to push the floor vote up to this afternoon rather than waiting for tomorrow. Presumably that’s to get the vote done before anyone gets any ideas about making trouble.
We could have a new Speaker of the House by the end of the day.
Big Intrigue, Big Consequences
On the margins of the unfolding Israel-Hamas war have been a series of reports that Egyptian intelligence gave the Israelis some kind of warning of an impending attack or eruption in Gaza. Those reports have been met by fierce denials from the Prime Minister’s office. Just where this whole question stood after the back and forth of the last 36 hours was unclear, at least to me. But this morning House Foreign Relations Chair Mike McCaul (R-TX) said this: “We know that Egypt had warned the Israelis three days prior that an event like this could happen…I don’t want to get too much in the classified but a warning was given. I think the question was at what level.”
Continue reading “Big Intrigue, Big Consequences”Unity Government et al.
News just broke that Benny Gantz and Benjamin Netanyahu have formed an emergency national unity government in Israel. This has been expected for the last day or so. What’s not clear yet is the precise details of that government. Gantz had demanded a war cabinet made up of Netanyahu and his Defense Minister joined to Gantz and his deputy, Gadi Eizenkot. Both of the latter two are former IDF Chiefs of Staff. That would essentially sidestep the entire existing cabinet structure and run the management of the war through those four men.
Continue reading “Unity Government et al.”Your Subscriptions At Work
This new piece by Hunter and Josh is a reminder of what your subscriptions, what being a member of club TPM, accomplishes. George Santos was just indicted (a new set of felony indictments) for charging people’s credit cards for contributions they never intended to make. Just straight up fraud. TPM was the first to break that story way back in January. If you’re a member: you did this. If you’re not, join us today.
House Republicans Bet On Divine Intervention
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
‘I’ll Pray On It’
In a bid to appear functional, House Republicans are expected to take at least one step toward possibly, potentially, maybe electing a speaker today. How those procedural votes will actually pan out is anyone’s guess — and the D.C. tip sheets have plenty of ‘em — but plugged-in observers say a rule change vote expected today will serve as a proxy vote on the nominees. Most of the GOP conference is rallying around either House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) or Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH).
Continue reading “House Republicans Bet On Divine Intervention”Santos Indicted Over Credit Card Scheme That Was First Reported By TPM
In January, TPM broke the story that donors to Rep. George Santos’ (R-NY) 2022 campaign were charged for contributions they didn’t intend to give. On Tuesday, roughly nine months after that story, federal prosecutors in New York charged Santos with credit card fraud and identity theft related to a “scheme” that mirrors the allegations first revealed in TPM’s reporting.
Continue reading “Santos Indicted Over Credit Card Scheme That Was First Reported By TPM”