The rulings from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon for the Southern District of Florida in the Mar-a-Lago case have been described as wrong, illegal, and even corrupt.
But Cannon’s ruling, if ever extended to anyone beyond Trump, would open up new opportunities for defense attorneys or those seeking to challenge executive branch classification decisions.
Continue reading “Why Not Me? Judge’s Credulous Mar-a-Lago Ruling Leaves Some Attorneys Wanting More”A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) wants his Republican colleagues who’ve been running a million miles away from his 15-week national abortion ban to know that he’s heard their concerns about how it’ll wreck their midterm prospects–and he says: IDGAF.
All of Puerto Rico has been out of power since yesterday after Hurricane Fiona beat down the island, which is now experiencing massive flooding strong enough to sweep away a bridge in Utuado, a town at the center of the island:
Senior Trump White House aide Johnny McEntee told the House Jan. 6 Committee during his testimony what Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) wanted Trump (aka “the boss”) to wipe away with a preemptive blanket pardon: whatever would come out of the federal sex trafficking investigation into the congressman, according to the Washington Post.
The Justice Department filed an appeal with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday night requesting a lift on federal Judge Aileen Cannon’s order barring criminal investigators from using the records Trump stashed at Mar-a-Lago.
The President told CBS News in a pre-taped “60 Minutes” interview that while it’s his “intention” to run again in 2024, it’s “much too early” for him to make a firm decision to do so.
The President and First Lady Jill Biden flew to London on Saturday to visit late Queen Elizabeth as she lay in state in Westminster Hall and to attend her state funeral today.
Mazars USA, the accounting firm that worked for Trump for years before ditching him in February, has started turning over the ex-president’s financial records to the House Oversight Committee, committee chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) told the New York Times on Saturday.
“A ‘born and bred racist’ recounts how he became a best-selling Christian author” – CNN
“Moscow’s local allies were told ‘Russia is here forever’. Now they flee Ukraine” – The Guardian
Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!
This article first appeared at ProPublica, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and the Advocate. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
LAKE CHARLES, La. — Hilda Brown ambled down a wooden walkway with the help of a cane and gingerly took a seat at a table between her badly damaged house and a FEMA trailer. It had been more than a year and a half since Hurricane Laura, but the then-64-year-old widow still didn’t know where to turn.
Continue reading “This Hurricane-Ravaged Town Has Waited Years for Long-Term Aid. It Could Happen Again.”The democratic process hasn’t been the same since 2020 — and if a rising, anti-democratic movement in America gets its way, we may never go back. But in the wake of unprecedented attacks on those who administer our elections, state lawmakers have scrambled to put in place new laws ahead of the midterms that would provide them with more protection.
Continue reading “State Legislatures Rush To Put In Place Laws to Protect Election Workers Ahead of Midterms”Most of the news discussion about the DeSantis/Martha’s Vineyard saga appears to have moved on to chin-scratching pieces about what it all means or how the politics might shake out. That’s premature. The fact that DeSantis would pull a stunt like this is entirely unsurprising if also morally obscene. But if it was his work why did he fly migrants from Texas? There’s been no clear or really any explanation for why this would be the case. He’s vaguely suggested that he was flying them from Texas before they could come to Florida. But the details about how the migrants were found in San Antonio doesn’t suggest anything like that. DeSantis won’t discuss it.
It also seems clear that this wasn’t arranged by actual government employees. At a minimum it was delegated to private parties who quite possibly broke a few laws to do it. The woman “Perla” seems to have disappeared and gave one migrant a card with only her first name and a phone number. That’s not a government employee, at least not one working on the books.
Continue reading “Doesn’t Add Up”Several videos circulating social media appear to show far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) getting rough with a young activist who confronted her about gun violence on Thursday.
Continue reading “It Appears That MTG Is Now Kicking Young Activists Who Ask Her About Gun Violence”Here’s more pieces of the puzzle. We now learn that “Perla,” the woman who coaxed the migrants on to the DeSantis Air flights under false pretenses, paid another migrant, a 27 year old Venezuelan named Emmanuel, for the contact information of the migrants Perla would eventually coax onto the plane. Emmanuel gave her contact info for about 10 migrants he’d met at the migrant center where they were saying.
Continue reading “Perla Spoke of “Anonymous Benefactor””Important context here from TPM Reader and Alum WT …
Continue reading “Trump the Master”Cannon’s order denying the DOJ’s stay request is insane enough that it seems to have overshadowed the other thing she did yesterday: issuing the attached “order appointing a special master.” The actual details of the order are gobsmackingly bad: the order neuters Dearie’s authority before the process begins, boxes in the DOJ, and puts Trump’s counsel in the driver’s seat of the entire process.
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
During a debate with fellow GOP New Hampshire Senate hopefuls last month, retired Gen. Don Bolduc, the proud election truther who won the nomination this week, bragged about signing a letter falsely claiming Trump won the 2020 election. Then Bolduc declared that “dammit, I stand by” the letter and “I’m not switching horses, baby!”
New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) is now reportedly laying the groundwork to sue Trump in her civil investigation into the Trump Organization: She reportedly rejected a settlement offer from the ex-president’s attorneys earlier this month, according to the New York Times and ABC News.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), the chief sponsor of the Senate’s same-sex marriage bill, announced on Thursday that the legislation will be put to a vote sometime after the midterm elections instead of next week, as Democrats had initially planned.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) sent two chartered planes carrying Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard earlier this week in a blatantly political MAGA display to impress GOP donors.
Here’s some relevant history:
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, the Georgia prosecutor who’s been investigating Trump’s 2020 election meddling crusade in her state, told the Washington Post that the extent of the criminal activity she’s uncovered in her probe means that people may face prison sentences.
Federal Judge Aileen Cannon is still blocking the DOJ’s investigation into Trump hoarding White House records (some of which were classified) at Mar-a-Lago: On Thursday, she rejected the Justice Department’s request to use the classified documents in its probe.
“28 Freight Rail Workers Tell Us What They Want You to Know About Their Lives” – Vice
“By the end of my 10 years, it didn’t matter how much money they threw at me. That job changed me. I didn’t feel like I was even a person anymore. I’d lost my hobbies, my friends, and my fiancée. More importantly, I’d lost any reason to live.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told Politico yesterday that he knows who recorded and leaked his damning post-Jan. 6 calls with other GOP leaders about asking Trump to resign. The California Republican also said he plans on unmasking the culprit sometime in the future. Dun dun dun!
Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!
Aaron Blake and TPM alum Greg Sargent both had pieces in the Post yesterday looking at whether these immigrant transport stunts might break the law. There are a number of interesting legal complexities. One has to do with whether they’re “illegal” or “undocumented.” There are laws against knowingly transporting such immigrants or doing so to further them committing crimes. But in most cases these are people who have been processed as asylum seekers and are awaiting an asylum hearing. So until that hearing they are in the country legally. So that doesn’t really apply. It’s also unclear what state government authorities might be authorized to do as opposed to federal authorities. But the operative issue seems to be whether people are coerced or deceived into being transported.
Continue reading “Perla and the Thirsty Governor”
