Three years ago, when President Trump ordered an investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigations, he set expectations at a high level.
Continue reading “Durham Entered With Lofty Expectations. What Happened?”Where Things Stand: The Racist Skin Darkening Has Returned
Back during the 2020 Senate election in Georgia, the campaigns of the two soon-to-be-defeated GOP senators, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, were both accused of digitally altering images of their Democratic opponents in negative campaign ads in racist and antisemitic ways.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: The Racist Skin Darkening Has Returned”CA Judge Finds Trump Likely Lied To Court In Georgia Big Lie Case
President Trump knew that data supposedly showing voter fraud in the 2020 election was false, but signed a court document attesting to it regardless, a federal judge said on Wednesday.
Continue reading “CA Judge Finds Trump Likely Lied To Court In Georgia Big Lie Case”Lee Is Distancing Himself From Trump’s Big Lie Before Midterms. Here’s Why That Matters For Utah’s Latter-Day Saint Voters
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation.
U.S. Sen. Mike Lee is seeking reelection in Utah – a typically uneventful undertaking for an incumbent Republican in a state that hasn’t had a Democratic senator since 1977. But he faces a unique challenger: Evan McMullin.
The former CIA operative, investment banker and Republican policy adviser left the GOP in 2016 because of Donald Trump. McMullin then ran for president as an independent, styling himself as a principled conservative, and won 21% of Utahans’ votes.
Continue reading “Lee Is Distancing Himself From Trump’s Big Lie Before Midterms. Here’s Why That Matters For Utah’s Latter-Day Saint Voters”Rubio Argues Ballot Drop Boxes Are Dangerous Bomb Targets While Rejecting Gun Control
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) served a spankin’ new spin on the GOP’s fake election fraud narrative about the horrors of mail-in voting on Tuesday night.
Continue reading “Rubio Argues Ballot Drop Boxes Are Dangerous Bomb Targets While Rejecting Gun Control”Durham Boosters Predictably Unfazed By Stinging Courtroom Defeat
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Just Huffing That Copium
Yes, Special Counsel John Durham’s crumbling investigation of the investigators took yet another massive hit yesterday when the jury acquitted a researcher in what’s likely to be Durham’s final prosecution, but Fox News host Sean Hannity isn’t letting a pesky “not guilty” verdict ruin the anti-Trump “Deep State” conspiracy theory he’s worked so darn hard to sell to his viewers.
- “This ruling is meaningless to me,” Hannity announced during his radio program yesterday.
- Fox News’ Gregg Jarrett stayed on message, opining: “[T]he not guilty verdicts are a minor footnote in the sordid story of the greatest mass delusion in American political history.”
- It’s been quite a ride for the conspiracists hoping to ride Durham to glory:
Back In The Reality-Based World
Durham’s defeat unleashed a new round of blistering criticism that he even brought these cases to trial:
Rubio And Demings Spar In Lone Debate
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Democratic rival Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) debated for the first and only time in the hotly contested race for Rubio’s seat last night, when the issues of abortion and gun control took center stage.
- Tallahassee Democrat: “Rubio, Demings differ on inflation, abortion, guns – even post offices”
- Tampa Bay Times: “5 takeaways from contentious US Senate debate between Val Demings and Marco Rubio”
- Politico: “Rubio and Demings clash over abortion in lone Florida Senate debate”
- Washington Post: “At fiery debate, Rubio opposes gun measure he championed after Parkland”
Jan. 6 Panel Will Subpoena Trump Soon, Cheney Says
House Jan. 6 Committee vice chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) said during an event at the Harvard Institute of Politics yesterday that the panel will be issuing a subpoena to Trump “shortly,” though she didn’t give a precise timeline.
- The committee had voted unanimously to subpoena Trump during what was probably its final public hearing last week.
- The panel is seeking both Trump’s testimony and documents related to Jan. 6.
Pelosi Had Doubts About Whether Secret Service Could Be Trusted On Jan. 6
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told MSNBC yesterday that she wasn’t sure if then-Vice President Mike Pence “could trust” the Secret Service to “take him to a safe place” as the pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol.
- Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), one of the only two Republicans on the House Jan. 6 Committee, seems to similarly distrust the Secret Service on some level, telling CNN on Monday that there’s “something going on” at the agency, either “pure incompetence, all the way on the scale to potentially very criminal activity” or having a “preference for one side.”
- On the topic of the Secret Service: Here’s a timeline of what we know about the agency’s texts around Jan. 6 that went missing.
Biden Vows To Restore Roe If Dems Widen Control Over Congress
The President promised on Tuesday that if Democrats win enough seats in the midterms to be able to enshrine abortion rights into law, that legislation will be the first to get his signature in January, around the 50th anniversary of the now-dismantled Roe v. Wade ruling.
Trump Has A Deposition In Defamation Case
Amid the legal firestorms over Trump’s election steal scheming, hoarding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and alleged tax fraud, there’s another ongoing case that you might be missing right now: Trump’s been ordered to sit in for a deposition today in writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case against him.
House Rules Committee Chair Created New Rule For Boebert
House Rules Committee chair Jim McGovern (D-MA) crafted a “new rule” for far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) when she tried to submit a bunch of ridiculous amendments, according to a new book by reporter Robert Draper titled “Weapons of Mass Delusion: When the Republican Party Lost Its Mind.”
- That rule is as follows: “If you’re batshit crazy, you’re not getting an amendment.”
- McGovern’s explanation: “We’re not doing this. I’m not going down that road. I’m not going to be part of any effort to legitimize people who are fucking lunatics.”
Challenge: Find Hiding Cat
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Tense
We’re really getting down to the wire on the midterms and in ways that aren’t necessarily inspiring if you’re a Democrat. The conventional wisdom now has it that after a summer of Dobbs backlash that buoyed Democrats, inflation and the economy have now reclaimed center stage putting Republicans back in the ascendent. Is this true? Is there evidence to support this?
There’s definitely some.
Continue reading “Tense”Where Things Stand: No Greater Reward For The Bigot
If Donald Trump runs again and wins in 2024, he’s reportedly already decided that the QAnon congresswoman who kicks teen activists and thinks that wildfires are started by secret space lasers will be part of his administration.
While it’s unclear whether he sees Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) as a good fit for a Cabinet position, department appointment or some type of White House role, Trump has reportedly told at least two people close to him that Greene would be “great” and he wants her “very close in a second term,” according to a new report from Rolling Stone. One of the sources told Rolling Stone that Trump specifically floated giving Greene a role in the Justice Department.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: No Greater Reward For The Bigot”Durham Faces Total Loss In Likely Final Prosecution
After three and a half years of investigating, Special Counsel John Durham notched another defeat on Tuesday.
Continue reading “Durham Faces Total Loss In Likely Final Prosecution”Don’t Forget: Mike Lee Went To The Mat For The Fake Electors
It was days after the 2020 election, and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) knew who could help Republicans hold the White House.
Continue reading “Don’t Forget: Mike Lee Went To The Mat For The Fake Electors”