A new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast is live! This week, Josh and Kate discuss the last Senate race of the midterm cycle and a big day of oral arguments at the Supreme Court.
You can listen to the new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast here.
Congress’ Silence Around ECA Reform Could Be A Good Thing
As the year comes to a close, so does the 117th session of Congress. Time is running low for Democrats trying to cram their priorities through the chambers before a divided Congress takes over in January. Parts of Biden’s legislative agenda are still scattered across the parliamentary floor, like expanding the child tax credit and reforming the Electoral Count Act (ECA).
As has been the case for months, some experts are concerned about Congress’ ability to pass ECA reform during the lame-duck session, while others are optimistic.
Continue reading “Congress’ Silence Around ECA Reform Could Be A Good Thing”Kyrsten Sinema Renounces The Democratic Party And Goes Independent
Last night was TPM’s holiday party. Morning Memo needs more coffee … here we gooo!
Attention Seeker Seeks More Attention
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, an erratic and self-focused thorn in the side of Democrats nationwide, has left the Democratic Party and registered as an independent, she announced early Friday morning.
The announcement – replete with her mavericky, centrist schtick – came in a tweet, a series of pre-planned interviews, and an op-ed in her state’s largest newspaper.
Let’s break down the potential impact:
- Sinema told Politico she won’t caucus with Republicans.
- It wasn’t clear if she will caucus with Democrats like independent Sens. Bernie Sanders (VT) and Angus King (ME).
- She told CNN she expects to keep her committee assignments, suggesting she won’t upend the delicate balance in the new Senate, where before she renounced her party affiliation, Democrats held a narrow 51-49 majority. But it’s Sinema, so who knows.
- Deeply unpopular in Arizona, Sinema faced a potential primary challenge in 2024, with Rep. Reuben Gallego (D-AZ) regularly nipping at her heels.
- She declined to discuss whether she would seek re-election.
- “Nothing will change about my values or my behavior,” she said. Umm, too bad?
Special Counsel Subpoenas Secretaries Of State
We anticipated this might happen. Earlier this week, after it was revealed that Special Counsel Jack Smith had issued subpoenas to elections officials in five counties in four states, TPM reached out to the secretaries of state in each of the four states to see if they had been subpoenaed, too. No dice. It turns out we may have jumped the gun.
We reached out to the offices in question on Tuesday, but it appears at least one of the offices didn’t receive its subpoena from Smith until Wednesday.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has subsequently confirmed that her office received a subpoena from Smith on Wednesday. Benson’s office declined to make the subpoena public.
Officials in Arizona confirmed to ABC News that the secretary of state there had also received a subpoena from Smith.
Jan. 6 Committee Plans Weekend Meeting
As it wraps up, targeting a late December release of its final report, the Jan. 6 committee is reportedly planning on meeting Sunday to consider making criminal referrals, including against Donald Trump. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) is leading a subcommittee that will make recommendations to the full committee on referring criminal charges.
CNN reports that in addition to Trump himself, the committee is considering criminal referrals for Mark Meadows, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark and Rudy Giuliani.
DOJ Wants Judge To Hold Trump’s Office In Contempt
This is so weird, yet so quintessentially Trumpian.
The Justice Department is in search of a custodian of records for Donald Trump to hold accountable for the failure to return classified documents and other government materials in the Mar-a-Lago case. But because Trump has always run his affairs like a maniac, DOJ may not find one.
One of the key areas of disagreement centers on the Trump legal team’s repeated refusal to designate a custodian of records to sign a document attesting that all classified materials have been returned to the federal government, according to two of these people. The Justice Department has repeatedly sought an unequivocal sworn written assurance from Trump’s team that all such documents have been returned, and Trump’s team has been unwilling to designate a custodian of records to sign such a statement while also giving assurances that they have handed documents back.
The Washington Post reports that DOJ is asking DC chief federal Judge Beryl A. Howell to hold Trump’s office in contempt of court. A hearing is reportedly scheduled for today. All of this is happening in secret because it is associated with a grand jury investigation that Howell is presiding over.
It’s not clear if or when the judge’s ruling on the contempt issue will become public or what form it might take.
Bizarre Sideshow In Mar-a-Lago Case Comes To An End
Former President Donald Trump declined to appeal immediately the 11th Circuit’s ruling ending the special master review of the documents seized by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago. The appeals court had delayed the effective date of its ruling by a week to give Trump a chance to appeal. The deadline passed with no action from Trump. Thus ends the sideshow commenced by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that shocked legal observers and stalled the federal investigation into whether Trump mishandled and/or destroyed classified documents and obstructed justice.
Poor Judge Dearie
The mostly retired senior federal judge who took on an unpaid role as special master in the Mar-a-Lago case saw his tenure come to an unceremonious end. U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie had brought some semblance of order and restraint to the untenable situation in which he found himself. Special masters are nothing new or particularly special, but he was given a highly unusual role by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon. An appeals court ultimately found she had no jurisdiction to act at all, and Dearie’s weeks of work ended up being for naught.
McCarthy Is In Trouble
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) may face the first multiple-ballot vote for speaker of the House since 1923.
Prisoner Swap
Basketball star Brittney Griner landed at an Air Force base in San Antonio early Friday morning after her release from a Russian prison. Griner’s freedom was secured by a deal that saw the United States release convicted international arms trafficker Viktor Bout, who was on TPM’s radar back in the day as the “Merchant of Death.”
Wingnuts Of The World Unite!
The competition for most noxious Trump administration official is fierce, but everyone’s short list includes Ric Grenell, a man who had no business being the U.S. ambassador to Germany let alone acting DNI.
Here is the one-time ambassador casting doubt on Germany’s arrest of a couple of dozen alleged coup plotters and letting his right-wing freak flag fly high:
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Don’t Believe the GOP Oligarch Hype
I was reminded when putting together notes for the preceding posts that a number of the big Republican billionaire megadonors have announced they won’t be supporting Trump in 2024 — the Mercer family, Ronald Lauder, Stephen Schwarzman et al. This billionaire primary for Republican candidates is a whole issue in itself. But for now, I wouldn’t put much stock in these refusals. Back in 2016 most of the GOP megadonors were against Trump before they were for him. If he’s the nominee again they’ll certainly fall in line. And they may well do it even before he’s nominee.
Continue reading “Don’t Believe the GOP Oligarch Hype”Learn To Love Those Annoying Fundraising Emails
The pestering and hectoring, the warnings of doom and promised ecstasy, of Democratic fundraising emails has become something between an inside joke and a genuine annoyance for a lot of the Democratic faithful. I’ve seen a few comments or even articles since Nov. 8 saying that now that the midterm is done … well, something must be done about it. I’ve never had a clear read about just how much people are up in arms about this. After all, they keep sending them because they work.
But there’s a more specific issue to be discussed.
Continue reading “Learn To Love Those Annoying Fundraising Emails”Gosar Deleted Anti-Constitution Tweet Because ‘Low IQ People’ Were Unable To Comprehend It
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) spokesman Anthony Foti claims that bad-faith actors and “low IQ people” were “unable to comprehend” Gosar’s Wednesday tweet — supporting former President Donald Trump’s unhinged call to terminate the Constitution — prompting the Arizona lawmaker to delete his post.
Continue reading “Gosar Deleted Anti-Constitution Tweet Because ‘Low IQ People’ Were Unable To Comprehend It”Of Course Trump Was Hoarding MORE Classified Documents
Morning Memo comes to you today from a Manhattan Starbucks pumping Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” at 5:30 a.m. Let’s do this thing!
Worst Client Ever
It was a day of swirling news reports, sketchy sourcing, and tea-leaf reading about the latest developments in the criminal probe of Donald Trump for improperly retaining classified and other government records.
Let’s focus on the top line news: The former president had at least two more classified documents in his possession that had not previously been turned over to investigators!
They were reportedly “found” by a third-party contractor hired by Trump to look for additional government documents in his possession. The newly found documents were at at a storage facility in West Palm Beach. To be clear, this search doesn’t appear to reflect a decision by Trump to finally come clean, but was ordered by the chief federal judge in DC who oversees the grand jury investigating the matter.
This comes after:
- The federal grand jury subpoenaed Trump for any and all classified records
- The FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago
- Extensive efforts by the National Archives to retrieve documents from Trump
- Months of wrangling in court over what documents Trump had and whether he was entitled to them.
In true Trump fashion, this shocking news was hardly surprising.
If you’re catching up, the bigs were in the loop to one degree or another on what seems like self-serving leaks from the Trump Team: WaPo, NYT, WSJ and CNN.
That Was A Weird Day
Want to go deeper on this?
- TPM’s Kaila Philo recaps the evolving news over the course of the day.
- The acerbic Marcy Wheeler brings her keen eye to the mishmash of conflicting reporting.
Trump Photographed With QAnon Figure At Mar-a-Lago
The former president posed for a photo with Liz Crokin, a prominent QAnon and Pizzagate conspiracy theorist, at a Mar-a-Lago event earlier this week.
Blood In The Water?
“Normal” Republicans are seizing on the moment of Trump’s apparent weakness to try to hasten his departure from the scene. Here’s Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) doing his best to dance on Trump’s grave:
I know a lot of people in our party love the former president. But he’s, if you will, the kiss of death for somebody who wants to win a general election. And at some point, we’ve got to move on and look for new leaders that will lead us to win.
These kinds of comments will lead to lots of stories like this:
- Trump’s isolation deepens as Georgia loss adds to 2024 bid’s rocky start
- Donald Trump and His Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad 3 Weeks
There’s not much evidence that the Trumpist fever is finally breaking, but power is a mysterious thing and it can evaporate quickly. So while a cowed and powerless Trump seems unlikely, repeated electoral defeats, endless legal turmoil, and the stink of loserdom are some of the ingredients of irrelevance. We may not know it happened except in retrospect.
On the other hand, the man has a point:
It’s About Damn Time
Congressional Democrats are ramping up an investigation into the nexus of Jared Kushner’s family business dealings and his overseas diplomacy while a senior White House official.
Insurrectioning Is Hard
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) tweeted – then quickly deleted – his support for Trump’s call to terminate the Constitution.
No Segue Needed
The best part of the German coup plot is its ringleader was a 71-year-old minor aristocrat with monarchist fever dreams of restoring the Second Reich:
The prince, whose professional website calls him Heinrich XIII Prinz Reuss and says he offers “Coordination of Business interest,” worked as a high-end real-estate broker. He was arrested in Frankfurt, where he has both an apartment and offices in the exclusive West End neighborhood.
This is glorious: A German newspaper dubbed him the “Putsch Prince.”
As for his family legacy, please let this be 100% true:
All of the male children born into the family are called Heinrich, and given a numerical suffix: and when the family reached a hundred, they started numbering again. It is understood the family has long since distanced itself from Heinrich XIII.
The clownishness, the cosplay, the self-absorption, the mix of the absurd and the dangerous, the tentacles into military and law enforcement circles: Right-wing coup plotters are as ridiculous everywhere as they are in America?
There’s Always The Grift
State Rep. Joe Harding (R-FL), who sponsored the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, was indicted on federal fraud charges.
What Went Down At SCOTUS
TPM’s Kate Riga recaps the Supreme Court oral arguments on the independent state legislature theory:
- Some conservative justices expressed more-than-expected skepticism
- Elena Kagan was on her game
Coda To Rudy’s Ukrainian Hijinks
A pro-Russian Ukrainian official who fed Rudy Giuliani dirt before the 2020 election is now facing federal money laundering and bank fraud charges in Brooklyn.
NYT Reporters and Editors Strike
With talks on a new contract dragging on, the union representing reporters and editors at the New York Times is staging a one-day strike today.
New IG Report On Whitey Bulger’s Prison Death
When notorious mobster and longtime fugitive Whitey Bulger was killed in 2018 at a federal prison in West Virginia within 12 hours of his arrival from another Bureau of Prisons facility, the suspicion that the fix was in was very strong.
But a new DOJ inspector general’s report finds that while the BOP failures were extensive no BOP employees “acted with a malicious intent or an improper purpose.”
Three fellow inmates were charged earlier this year in Bulger’s death.
Sean Spicer Is Still Sean Spicer
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Feds Charge Giuliani Ukraine Interlocutor Over Money Laundering
A pro-Russian Ukrainian official who fed Rudy Giuliani dirt before the 2020 election is now facing federal charges in the U.S.
Continue reading “Feds Charge Giuliani Ukraine Interlocutor Over Money Laundering”WaPo: Trump Team Found *More* Classified Docs In A Storage Unit
Turns out that Trump did in fact have more classified documents. But if you read an earlier version of the story, you might have missed it.
On Wednesday morning, the Washington Post reported that a team of the former president’s lawyers searched two of his properties for classified materials over the past few weeks at the behest of a federal judge.
Continue reading “WaPo: Trump Team Found *More* Classified Docs In A Storage Unit”Kagan Cuts Through Weeds With Consequences Of Independent State Legislature Theory
As the Supreme Court confronted the independent state legislature theory on Wednesday, much of the discussion centered on parsing the Constitution, leafing through historical evidence and arguing over the meaning of old cases.
Continue reading “Kagan Cuts Through Weeds With Consequences Of Independent State Legislature Theory”