Ginni Thomas, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife, will have her voluntary interview with the House Jan. 6 Committee this week, according to committee chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS).
Continue reading “Ginni Thomas Will Testify In Front Of Jan. 6 Panel This Week”Mastriano Turns To Fasting And Jesus To Rescue Drowning Campaign
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Thoughts And Prayers
Today is the start of GOP Pennsylvania gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano’s “40 days of fasting and prayer” campaign that’s set to end on Election Day, as you can see here:
- But you can’t really blame Mastriano for turning to divine intervention at this point: His (non-fasting) campaign isn’t doing so hot polling-wise and money-wise to the point where, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, he’s going on podcasts and asking Americans living abroad to send him cash.
Jan. 6 Panel To Meet With Ginni Thomas This Week
House Jan. 6 Committee chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) told CNN yesterday that the panel is set to meet with far-right activist Ginni Thomas, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife, for her voluntary interview sometime this week (he didn’t give an exact date).
- Thompson also said that the committee hasn’t figured out a new date for its next hearing, which got postponed due to Hurricane Ian. He did say he doubted it’ll happen next week, though.
- Thomas’ lawyer announced that his client had agreed to a voluntary interview last week, several months after the attorney told the committee that it needed a “better justification” to get Thomas’ testimony.
Damage Assessment Begins After Hurricane Ian
We’re just now getting the first post-storm reports from Southwest Florida, where Category 4 Hurricane Ian swept ashore.
- In a sobering but unconfirmed early report, the Lee County sheriff said on national TV that while he doesn’t have confirmed numbers, “fatalities are in the hundreds” and thousands of people are awaiting rescue.
- Sanibel is cut off from the mainland after a section of the causeway was wiped out.
- About 2.5 million Floridians are currently without power.
- Ian brought record levels of storm surge and inland flooding.
- Here, warm your heart with some hurricane animal rescue content:
Trump Uses Hurricane To Dodge Deposition
The ex-president, facing a class-action lawsuit accusing him and the Trump Organization (and his adult children) of a fraudulent marketing scheme, insisted on doing his Friday deposition at Mar-a-Lago, and oh no, look at that, there’s a major hurricane keeping the plaintiffs’ lawyers from flying down to hold the deposition! Now the deposition deadline is Oct. 31! Darn!
Alito Can’t Believe Anyone Would Question SCOTUS’ Legitimacy
After gleefully dismantling Roe, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Tuesday harrumphed at fellow Justice Elena Kagan’s warning that the high court is at risk of losing its legitimacy when justices make their decisions based on their personal beliefs.
- “Saying or implying that the court is becoming an illegitimate institution or questioning our integrity crosses an important line,” Alito complained to the Wall Street Journal.
- Also, Alito, a devout Catholic, held a Q&A at the Catholic University of America on Tuesday in which the justice said his faith made him aware of how SCOTUS’ decisions have a “real impact on the world.”
Must Read
“‘Putin Is a Fool’: Intercepted Calls Reveal Russian Army in Disarray” – The New York Times
New Mind-Boggling Trump Tales Brought To You By Maggie Haberman
Here are some of the fever dream moments in New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman’s upcoming book about Trump (per outlets that have received the book in advance, including CNN, the Washington Post, the Daily Beast, and Rolling Stone):
- He told then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) in 2016 that he didn’t want to disavow white supremacist supporters (i.e. David Duke) too quickly because he was worried about losing their support. “A lot of these people vote,” Trump said.
- Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) suspected in 2019 that Trump had called her while pretending to be a Washington Post reporter. The call came soon after Trump had publicly attacked Dingell’s recently deceased husband, and the purported journalist–whose voice sounded like Trump’s–asked the congresswoman if she wanted an apology from the then-president.
- He proposed bombing drug labs in Mexico as a way to crack down on drug smuggling at the border. He proposed it several times, in fact.
- He declared in 2019 that he would “just sue” Congress if it impeached him over his Ukraine aid pressure campaign.
- He almost fired his own daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, as White House advisers via Twitter at one point. Then-White House chief of staff John Kelly convinced Trump to hold off on canning his own family over social media, and he urged the then-president to speak to Ivanka and Kushner directly (he never did).
Katie Couric Announces Breast Cancer Diagnosis
Reporter Katie Couric revealed on Wednesday that she was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer in July and had the tumor removed several weeks afterward. She said she finished her last round of radiation on Tuesday.
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Another One Bites the Dust: Dr. Oz Takes Back His Election Denial
Yet another election denier on the campaign trail has reversed his position as the general elections inch closer. TV personality-turned-Senate hopeful Mehmet Oz announced that he doesn’t actually think the 2020 election was illegitimate, despite courting true believers in the past.
Oz has been running to represent Pennsylvania in the Senate against Democrat John Fetterman, partially through an online tete-a-tete using Internet memes (to varying effect). The Republican nominee has also been winking at denying the results of the 2020 election to curry favor with Trump supporters, while trying not to alienate swing voters at the same time.
At a Pennsylvania Senate debate back in April, he said that “we cannot move on” from the election, and that it was a “tragedy” that Republican voters in the state should have to question the results.
He also gave a noncommittal response when asked directly whether he believed the election was stolen on Fox News earlier this month. “There’s lots more information we have to gather in order to determine that and I’d be very desirous of gathering some,” he said.
He’s notably refused to clarify his beliefs on the topic—that is, until Wednesday.
According to the new book from New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, Trump’s support of the fellow celebrity has been calculated from the start: He once told his advisers that he needs people like Oz in office in case the 2024 election is challenged or Congress tries to impeach him again.
Oz already hadn’t been very keen on accepting Trump’s endorsement throughout his campaign, but on Wednesday he finally decided to fess up.
“Doctor Oz has made it clear that he would have voted to certify the results of the 2020 election, and that he’ll accept the results of the 2022 election,” Oz spokeswoman Brittany Yanick told a Politico reporter when asked for comment.
It’s not just Oz. As we inch closer towards the general election, several election deniers who launched their political careers on the back of the Big Lie have similarly reversed their stances on the 2020 election.
Tiffany Smiley, the Republican Senate candidate in Washington state, erased statements about election integrity from her website soon after she won her August 2 primary. Retired general Don Bolduc took it a step further and rescinded his views on national television soon after his primary as well, despite signing an open letter endorsing the Big Lie a year earlier—and boasting about it throughout his campaign.
Justice Department Takes Jabs At Trump For FBI Claims, Unsavory Business Practices
The Justice Department turns a scornful eye towards team Trump in its new filing, suggesting that it should be forced to make good on its baseless claims about the FBI planting evidence and taking swipes at the former President’s infamous business practices.
Continue reading “Justice Department Takes Jabs At Trump For FBI Claims, Unsavory Business Practices”Right-Wing Groups Want To Make Tina Peters a Big Lie Poster Child
Looks like Tina Peters might get a golden parachute: A far-right group recently tried to raise money to send the local Colorado election clerk around the country spreading the Big Lie.
Peters, the Mesa County clerk under indictment for alleged election security breaches in her office, did not seek re-election and lost her bid for the GOP nomination to be Colorado’s secretary of state.
What’s a soon-to-be out-of-work, criminally charged election official to do? A nationwide speaking tour to tout the Big Lie, of course!
“[W]e’re looking forward to contracting with her right after the first of the year to go out and speak on the same thing she’s speaking about now, when she’s not an elected official any longer,” Americans for America Regina Thomson told the Colorado Times Reporter.
It’s unclear how much money they raised for Peters’s contract, and it may just end up a hopeful pet project. Peters told the outlet that she knew nothing about the planned contract.
Last week, Peters attended screenings for a documentary that she starred in called “Selection Code.” The hour-long film, with an ominous Left Behind-esque synopsis, argues that both the 2020 election and a local municipal election back in 2021 were rigged against conservatives.
The screenings were sponsored by two Colorado-based right-wing organizations: Colorado Christian University and the Independence Institute. But Americans for America (A4A), a third organization with openly anti-Muslim sentiments, collected money to fund a hoped-for contract to send Peters across the country spreading the Big Lie through talks and seminars.
A4A’s website gives you a glimpse into their underlying ideology: The organization boasts partnerships with Understanding the Threat, another far-right group that accuses the Council on American Islamic relations of operating on behalf of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, and with Katie Hopkins, the British media personality most known for hating on trans people, immigrants, and Meghan Markle.
The group was founded by former Colorado State Senate President John Andrews, who also had some unfavorable views towards Muslims, including that a “good and faithful Muslim” can’t also be a “good and faithful American.”
Thomson, the group’s president, told the local outlet: “She’s one of our upcoming projects to go out and speak on election integrity. “It’s all legal and above board, it’s just that we don’t want her to have a target on her back any bigger than she does until she’s out of office.”
Peters is scheduled to face trial next year on the state election security charges. She also faces civil contempt of court charges. Meanwhile, a federal investigation related to the election security breaches is also underway, and has snared alleged co-conspirators like the MyPillow guy, Mike Lindell.
Peters has denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty in the state criminal case.
Stone Sought Second Pardon From Trump Over Jan. 6, Documentary Reveals
Top MAGA operative Roger Stone, having already been pardoned by ex-President Donald Trump for lying to Congress in its Russia probe, tried to come back for more soon after the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, according to documentary film footage obtained by the New York Times.
Continue reading “Stone Sought Second Pardon From Trump Over Jan. 6, Documentary Reveals”DeSantis Appointee In Predominantly Black County Resigns After KKK Photo Surfaces
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Hood Off
Jeffery Moore, a Gadsden County commissioner who was appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), suddenly resigned on Friday after a photo that appeared to show him in a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood emerged.
- Gadsen County is the only predominantly Black county in Florida. Moore was also the only Republican commissioner on the board.
- Moore didn’t explain in his resignation letter why he was leaving, only that he was doing so for “personal reasons.”
This is the photo:
Mastriano Advocated For Charging Women Who Had Abortions With Murder
Pennsylvania state senator and future gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano (R) declared during a local radio interview in 2019 that under his proposed “fetal heartbeat” abortion ban, a woman who had an abortion would be charged with murder even if she was only 10 weeks pregnant.
- Mastriano’s bill would have banned abortions after about six weeks of gestation; before many people know they’re pregnant.
- Present-day Mastriano is a lot shyer about sharing his anti-abortion stance under the scrutiny of the whole state: The Christian nationalist claimed during a recent interview with MAGA outlet Real America’s Voice that his views on abortion were “irrelevant” and that the real “radical” on the issue was his Democratic rival, Josh Shapiro.
Russia Preps For Ukraine Annexation After Fake Victory In Fake Referendums
As expected, the Russian government declared victory on Tuesday in the purported referendums it held in four Ukrainian regions (Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia) on whether to join Russia.
- The Kremlin didn’t bother making the results look plausible in any way; it claimed that more than 95 percent of the voters supported being absorbed by Russia.
- Russia doesn’t fully control those four regions, and Putin’s partial mobilization order continues to be a disaster:
McConnell Backs Anti-Coup Bill
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Tuesday announced on the Senate floor his support for the bipartisan legislation aimed at plugging the many holes in the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act (ECA) that Trump and his cronies tried to exploit in the MAGA election steal plot.
- But the fate of the House’s broader version of the bill, which passed the chamber last week, is looking shakier. McConnell said the House’s legislation was a “non-starter” because hardly any GOP members had voted for it (save for nine Republicans who won’t be in Congress next year).
- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was the only Republican on the Senate Rules Committee (where the legislation was being considered on Tuesday) who voted against the reforms. It’s not hard to guess why.
Jan. 6 Panel Postpones Hearing Over Hurricane
The House Jan. 6 Committee announced yesterday that the public hearing it was supposed to hold today would be pushed back due to Hurricane Ian, which is on track to slam Florida.
- The committee’s announcement didn’t say what the new hearing date will be. The panel said the schedule will be announced “soon.”
- The committee’s membership includes one Florida lawmaker: Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), who represents parts of Orlando.
Hurricane Strengthens To Category 4 Storm
The National Hurricane Center warned early Wednesday morning that Hurricane Ian has become an “extremely dangerous” category four storm that’s expected to cause a “life-threatening” storm surge, flooding and “catastrophic winds” as it approaches Florida.
- The hurricane is expected to make landfall today along Florida’s southwest or west central coast.
- Thousands of Floridians along the Gulf Coast are evacuating.
- All of Cuba lost power last night after the storm hit the island.
Must Read
“What It Costs to Get an Abortion Now: With the procedure banned in 14 states, patients face added expenses for travel, lodging and child care” – The New York Times
In Case You Missed It: Kari Lake Sees Kindred Spirit In Fascism-Tied Italian Leader
During an appearance on Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s show on Monday, far-right Arizona gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake “you go, girl!”-ed Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s new leader whose party, Brothers of Italy, has direct ties to the post-World War II neofascist movement.
- Lake gushed over Meloni as someone she “can relate to,” and the gubernatorial nominee is just “so excited” about Meloni’s victory.
- Lake said she couldn’t find “any straight-up information” on Meloni when she first heard about the Italian leader, only accusations that Meloni is racist. Here’s some information on Meloni’s advancement of the white nationalist “great replacement” theory:
CPAC Leader Goes In The Toilets
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Big Kev: A Stone Cold Killa
This Washington Post article paints a picture of Kevin McCarthy completely at odds with the real life Kevin McCarthy many of us has observed for years. As the piece tells it, McCarthy is backroom enforcer you don’t want to cross. Not content to relive the fates of predecessors John Boehner and Paul Ryan, McCarthy has worked behind the scenes to prune the House GOP of the kinds of bomb throwers and fame-seekers who made Boehner’s and Ryan’s jobs so thankless. Says one McCarthy insider: “He is not a guy to be trifled with. It’s like they say in the Marine Corps, ‘No better friend, no worse enemy.’ And they mean it, and they act on it.”
Continue reading “Big Kev: A Stone Cold Killa”Where Things Stand: Trump’s Gripes About DeSantis Spill Out Into The Open
It might very well be strategic.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Trump’s Gripes About DeSantis Spill Out Into The Open”McConnell Backs Bipartisan Bill To Prevent Next Jan. 6
Wednesday afternoon, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) signaled his support for a bill seeking to overhaul the Electoral Count Act of 1887, a century-old election administration law.
The Senate Rules Committee debated on the bill soon afterwards, where the Kentucky Republican gave a speech expressing his support for the legislation.
“After 150 years, the Electoral Count Act needs some modest updates,” McConnell said on the Senate floor.
The ECA dictates how vote counts are certified in Congress after an election. It fell under the national spotlight after John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who used to work for former President Donald Trump, tried to hijack the law’s vague language to claim that then-Vice President Mike Pence could call the 2020 election for Trump.
This year, both the House and Senate introduced bills to rewrite the bill to plug holes in its vague language. The House passed its version of the bill last week, and it’s a bit more sweeping than the Senate’s Electoral Count Reform Act (ECRA). But as it stands, the Senate bill may be more likely to make its way to President Biden’s desk.
The ECRA was first proposed by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) back in July after months of behind-the-scenes talks to get the 10 Republicans on board needed to overcome the Senate filibuster. Like the House bill, it clarifies that the vice president’s role in the vote certification process is purely ministerial and raises the threshold required for lawmakers to object to a vote count.
McConnell did include some caveats: Considering the bill as is enabled peaceful transitions of power for generations, “we need to be delicate and careful with any changes,” he said. “But the chaos that came to a head on January 6th of last year strongly suggests that we find careful ways to clarify and streamline the process.”
He also referenced past transitions for Republican presidents-elect as more evidence that the ECA needed reform in a nod to his conservative base.
“For more than twenty years now every time voters have picked a Republican president, we’ve seen some Democrats and Congress resist the people’s decision and try to challenge the electoral count. So the situation obviously called for careful, methodical and bipartisan work to arrive at a careful, methodical and bipartisan product.”
“I look forward to supporting the legislation as introduced in committee,” he finished.