A federal judge on Thursday again declined to quash Sen. Lindsay Graham’s (R-SC) bid to avoid testifying to a Georgia grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s interference in the 2020 election. But the judge did limit the issues on which Graham could be questioned.
Continue reading “Judge Says Graham Can’t Avoid Georgia Grand Jury, But Limits Scope Of Questions”Listen To This: Late Night Filing
A new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast is live! This week, Josh and Kate discuss the newest revelations in the Trump documents case, as well as Republican backpedaling in the face of Dobbs backlash.
You can listen to the new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast here.
Trump Flirts With Bolduc Endorsement But Resists Committing In Key New Hampshire Senate Race
With less than two weeks left until the New Hampshire Senate primary, former President Donald Trump is playing coy with his endorsement, which could dramatically reshape the race.
Continue reading “Trump Flirts With Bolduc Endorsement But Resists Committing In Key New Hampshire Senate Race”After Dem Wins Alaska Seat, Right Wingers Think Ranked-Choice Voting Is A Scam
After Republican voters seemingly delivered a Democrat Alaska’s sole congressional seat Wednesday night, right-wing commentators declared ranked-choice voting a terrible, no good, very bad idea.
Continue reading “After Dem Wins Alaska Seat, Right Wingers Think Ranked-Choice Voting Is A Scam”Can The Polls Be Trusted?
There’s no question that Democrats’ chances in the midterms have improved dramatically over the course of the summer. From the point in May when Sam Alito’s draft of the Dobbs decision leaked to the press until now, the generic ballot average has shifted just over 3.5 points in Democrats’ direction. For the generic ballot average, that’s a big shift. But could the polls themselves be underweighting Republican strength? Like many others I’ve been figuring that Trump being on the ballot has been the key in recent elections. He and his party’s chances were underrated in 2016 and 2020. In 2018, they were pretty much on the mark. But Philip Bump of the Post and I were apparently both watching G. Elliott Morris’s Twitter feed yesterday when he noted that this wasn’t quite true. The national averages were on the mark in 2018. But at the state level key contests still underweighted Republican chances. Bump pulled the numbers himself and sure enough, that skew was there in Senate races in 2018 too.
Continue reading “Can The Polls Be Trusted?”Florida Man Declares National Secrets Belong To Him
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Big Day Ahead!
Pump the Mar-a-Lago scandal straight into my veins.
Where do we even start after the explosive DOJ filing from two nights ago?
Yesterday began with a parade of wtf! exclamations from legal experts about how much effing trouble not just Trump – but his lawyers – are potentially in here.
By the end of day, there was a new bombastic Trump filing for legal experts to ridicule.
Today: a closely watched hearing in federal court in Florida to consider Trump’s request for a special master to review the materials seized by the FBI in the Mar-a-Lago raid.
A lot going on! Let’s break it down.
What’s On Tap Today?
The Justice Department and Trump’s D-team legal defense squad meet in court in Florida at 1 p.m. ET for arguments on Trump’s motion to appoint a special master in the case. Here’s what to expect.
Folks Cannot Get Enough Of That DOJ Filing
Philip Bump: The photo of classified documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, annotated
Adam Klasfeld: What the DOJ’s Footnotes Reveal About the Mar-a-Lago Probe
NYT: Trump’s Legal Jab Left Him Open to Justice Dept. Strike
A punch to the face:
Another Clunker Of A Trump Filing
Trump’s official response last evening to that damning DOJ filing from two nights ago left legal Twitter chortling over its many shortcomings:
Declassification? Who Said Anything About Declassification?
In typical Trump fashion, he’s throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks to defend himself in the media and social media, but when it comes to what he actually is willing to tell the court, it’s a different story.
Trump and his supporters have merrily declared that Trump had secretly declassified everything he kept at Mar-a-Lago. Like duh you idiots, Genius Trump can declassify stuff in his mind!
Trump’s legal team has not made any such defense in court.
In the special master case, including in Wednesday’s filing, Mr. Trump’s lawyers again stopped short of claiming that he had declassified all the documents; lying in court filings can lead to professional sanctions for lawyers. Indeed, Mr. Trump’s lawyers instead said they thought “that it would be appropriate for the special master to possess a top secret” clearance.
Maybe because it’s not that good of a defense:
Who Is Repping Trump Now?
Some tea leaves to sift through based on which Trump lawyers signed the new filing.
No sign of Christina Bobb, who famously certified to the feds that she had turned over all material at Mar-a-Lago responsive to the grand jury subpoena. (Did we mention what a world of trouble she’s in?)
Also missing from the filing: Chris Kise, a former solicitor general in Florida, who was reported to be the new gun Trump was bringing in.
Still on the case: Evan Corcoran, who is also potentially in a world of hurt over his role in the scandal.
The other two Trump lawyers on the filing: Lindsey Halligan and James Trusty.
That Photo Is Driving Trump Crazy
The Best/Worst Trump Defenses
Charlie Kirk is reliably unreliable:
Alina Habba, what are you doing?
Nice to see you here, too, Mark Levin:
Get Enough Mar-a-Lago?
Good, me either!
Here’s more:
Adam Serwer: If It Were Anyone Else, They’d Be Prosecuted
Josh Kovensky: A New York City Rug Expert Weighs In On Mar-a-Lago’s Flooring
Frank Figliuzzi: The Justice Department’s case for obstruction at Mar-a-Lago is growing stronger
Now Back To That OTHER Scandal
Don’t forget we’re all still trying to get to the bottom of the Great Device Migration scandal that resulted in the mass deletion of Secret Service (and others’) texts from around Jan. 6.
Straight No Chaser
Sarah Palin Loses
Democrat Mary Peltola defeated Sarah Palin to serve out the remaining few months of the term of the late Rep. Don Young (R-AK). They will face off again (along with others, in the ranked choice system) in the November general election to permanently fill the seat.
Shel Silverstein Weeps
A New Jersey township cut down all the trees around its town square to … keep homeless people from gathering there.
Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!
Why Not Make Copies?
One point TPM Readers have asked again and again is this: why did Trump court all this trouble when he could have just xeroxed the documents and given the originals back? There are a lot of good and not good potential answers to that question. But as the Times notes here, DOJ investigators aren’t convinced he didn’t. The attestation that Trump and his lawyers had turned over all classified information also included a promise that no copies had been made of them. So those claims are in doubt now too.
Continue reading “Why Not Make Copies?”Damaged Goods!: Trump Underbusses Two Top Lawyers as Feds Circle
A new article in the Post suggests that Trump lawyers Christina Bobb and Evan Corcoran both now face significant legal jeopardy in their own right and are now off the case. The article gets to this point in a somewhat meandering way. But the gist is pretty clear. Notably and in character for Trump, his attorneys appear to be in more imminent legal jeopardy than he is.
Continue reading “Damaged Goods!: Trump Underbusses Two Top Lawyers as Feds Circle”History Made As Congress’ First Alaskan Native Wins Partial House Term
Former state lawmaker Democrat Mary Peltola made history Wednesday night, as she won the remainder of the late Rep. Don Young’s (R-AK) term. She’ll be the first Alaskan native to ever serve in Congress.
Continue reading “History Made As Congress’ First Alaskan Native Wins Partial House Term”Where Things Stand: Eastman’s Probably A Target
In other Trump investigation-adjacent news today, election steal scheming attorney John Eastman’s lawyers think that he is “probably a target” of the Fulton County probe led by District Attorney Fani Willis, who is looking into Trump team efforts to overturn the election results in her state of Georgia.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Eastman’s Probably A Target”