A federal judge in Atlanta on Monday rejected Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) attempt to quash a subpoena to testify before a special grand jury in Fulton County, investigating former President Trump and his allies’ efforts to subvert the 2020 election results in Georgia.
Continue reading “Federal Judge Rejects Graham’s Motion To Quash Fulton County Subpoena”Bolton Says Trump’s Full Of It With ‘Standing Order’ Declassification Claim
John Bolton, who served as former President Donald Trump’s national security adviser for 17 months, is joining others in the national security community who are pushing back against Trump’s insistence that the classified material he unlawfully took to his Mar-a-Lago resort had been declassified.
Continue reading “Bolton Says Trump’s Full Of It With ‘Standing Order’ Declassification Claim”Trump Demands FBI Give Back Documents He Rightfully Stole
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Finders Keepers!
The ex-president took to his fake Twitter app, TRUTH Social, on Sunday to demand that the feds return the White House records he’d stashed away at his Mar-a-Lago resort that the FBI took back in a raid last week:

Trump’s likely referring to this Fox News report claiming that some of the documents the FBI took were, in Fox’s terms, “covered by attorney-client privilege and potentially executive privilege.”
The ex-president’s dumbass request (“By copy of this TRUTH” lol) is almost certainly inspired by Steve Bannon’s “flood the zone with shit” strategy, but you gotta love the “Oh great!” opener. Oh bother, the classified records I pilfered that the FBI seized seems to have been privileged and I want it back! Ah jeez!
House Dems Demand DNI Assess Damage Caused By Trump’s Doc Hoarding
House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) and House Oversight and Reform Committee chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) sent a request to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines on Saturday pushing for an “immediate review and damage assessment” after it was discovered that Trump was keeping classified records at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
- Schiff on Sunday bluntly rejected Trump’s “absurd” claim to have retroactively declassified the documents (which definitely isn’t a thing).
Trump Lawyer Claimed In June That MAL Didn’t Have Any More Classified Docs
One of Trump’s attorneys signed a document in June claiming (falsely) that there weren’t any more classified materials stashed at the ex-president’s Mar-a-Lago club, according to the New York Times, CNN and CBS News.
- The written declaration came after Justice Department officials went to Mar-a-Lago on June 3 to meet with two of the ex-president’s attorneys and collect classified documents there, the Times and CBS News report. Those lawyers were M. Evan Corcoran and Christina Bobb, but we don’t know which Trump attorney signed the reported declaration (and those two aren’t Trump’s only lawyers).
- The FBI seized 11 sets of classified documents in the Mar-a-Lago raid last week.
House Passes Historic Climate And Health Care Bill
The House voted to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, aka Democrats’ sweeping reconciliation bill on climate investment, Medicare drug pricing and taxes on Friday among party lines, as expected (and House Republicans ultimately abandoned a scheme to jeopardize the bill with a potential constitutional challenge brought on by them voting by proxy).
Must Read
“Most abortions are done at home. Antiabortion groups are taking aim.” – The Washington Post
“How People Get Caught for Self-Managed Abortions—and Who Tips Off the Police” – Vice
Maloney Says (Again) That Biden Isn’t Running
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), who’s running in the 12th Congressional District Democratic primary, has been all over the place with the question of whether Biden is running for reelection in 2024, but she sounded pretty definitive in an Aug. 1 interview with the New York Times editorial board that was published on Saturday.
- “Off the record, he’s not running again,” Maloney told the board when asked if Biden should go for a second term.
- “On the record? No, he should not run again,” the New York congresswoman said when one of the board members told her, “Not off the record. On the record.”
- Maloney’s NYT interview was held before she publicly asserted during a primary debate that Biden wasn’t running, then awkwardly walked that back and said it was just her “own personal belief” the President wasn’t going to run again.
- FWIW, Biden has maintained that he’s running again.
Iran Denies Involvement In Salman Rushdie’s Stabbing
Responding to the horrific stabbing of novelist Salman Rushdie, the Iranian government on Monday denied accusations of being behind the attack, and blamed it on Rushdie himself and his supporters.
- Rushdie has been taken off the ventilator and is now able to speak, the author’s agent said on Sunday.
- The suspected assailant, 24-year-old Hadi Matar of New Jersey, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault on Saturday.
Man Fatally Shoots Self After Crashing Car Into Barrier Near Supreme Court
An armed man whom authorities have identified as Richard Aaron York drove a car into a barrier about 300 feet away from the Supreme Court early Sunday morning, got out of the car, fired a gun into the air several times then fatally shot himself as the U.S. Capitol Police approached him, according to law enforcement.
- Nobody else was hurt, a spokesperson for the USCP reported.
- A motive has not been established, according to authorities.
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Inside Trump Promises To Match Donor Contributions By Eyebrow-Raising Amounts
To open an email from former President Donald Trump’s Save America committee is to be berated, flattered, dismissed and forgiven, sometimes all in one message.
Continue reading “Inside Trump Promises To Match Donor Contributions By Eyebrow-Raising Amounts”Hill GOPers Still Want ‘Answers’ From AG After Move To Unseal Mar-a-Lago Search Warrant
Several congressional Republicans on Sunday called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to justify the search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort last week, following Garland’s announcement that he “personally approved” the decision to seek a search warrant for government documents at the resort and moved to unseal the warrant, absent objections from Trump.
Continue reading “Hill GOPers Still Want ‘Answers’ From AG After Move To Unseal Mar-a-Lago Search Warrant”Schiff Dismisses Trump’s ‘Absurd’ Claim Of Declassifying Docs Seized By FBI
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), chair of the House Intelligence Committee, on Sunday rejected former President Trump’s claim that he declassified documents seized by the FBI during its search of his Mar-a-Lago resort last week.
Continue reading “Schiff Dismisses Trump’s ‘Absurd’ Claim Of Declassifying Docs Seized By FBI”FBI, DHS Joint Bulletin Warns Of Uptick In ‘Violent Threats’ Against Fed Officials And Facilities
The FBI and DHS issued a joint intelligence bulletin on Friday warning of “violent threats” against federal law enforcement, courts and government personnel and facilities, according to CNN. The threats come in the wake of FBI agents executing a search warrant at former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort last week.
Continue reading “FBI, DHS Joint Bulletin Warns Of Uptick In ‘Violent Threats’ Against Fed Officials And Facilities”Trump Lawyer Claimed In June That No Classified Material Remained At Mar-a-Lago
At least one of former President Trump’s lawyers asserted in a written statement in June that all classified material stored at his Mar-a-Lago residence had been returned to the government, four people with knowledge of the document told the New York Times. The Times’ report comes after FBI agents recovered more classified materials from the resort after executing a search warrant last week.
Continue reading “Trump Lawyer Claimed In June That No Classified Material Remained At Mar-a-Lago”Flying Blind
Some interesting and absurd but still noteworthy events overnight. Trump’s representatives, at least for the moment, have settled on a story which is that he had a “standing order” that any and all classified materials he took home with him to the White House residence was “deemed” declassified. So in fact, none of the materials in question are classified and none of it matters. This was announced on Fox as an official statement from Trump’s office by John Solomon, the notorious fake news hustler who is now operating as Trump’s “designated representative” to the National Archives.
Continue reading “Flying Blind”House Democrats Pass Climate And Health Care Bill While Republicans Parrot Conspiracy Theory
House Democrats easily passed the Inflation Reduction Act Friday, a historic climate package that will also lower certain health care costs.
Continue reading “House Democrats Pass Climate And Health Care Bill While Republicans Parrot Conspiracy Theory”