The I.R.S. selected former FBI chiefs James Comey and Andrew McCabe, two of ex-President Donald Trump’s top foes during his presidency, for an incredibly rare exhaustive tax audit when the agency was led by a Trump appointee.
Continue reading “Comey And McCabe Just Happened To Get Same Rare Intensive IRS Audits Under Trump Appointee”Don’t Miss
If you weren’t able to yesterday I hope you’ll take a moment to read Kate Riga’s piece on the abortion referendum in Kansas and Nicole Lafond’s rundown of high levels of opposition to the Dobbs ruling even in very red states. A few years ago the Supreme Court of Kansas ruled that the state constitution protects a woman’s right to an abortion. State Republicans got a constitutional amendment overruling that decision on the ballot on what should be a low-turnout primary election day in August. That’s about a month away. But with the Dobbs ruling still resounding around the country, it’s not clear that referendum will win. It’s got a good shot. It’s a very red state. Opposition to abortion runs much higher there than the national average. But in states like Kansas it’s still generally 50-50. It could go down to defeat. It gets to a broader issue. Even in red states, the Court’s ruling is not very popular. Often 50-50 even in fairly red states.
Evangelical Leader Brags About Secretly Praying With SCOTUS Justices
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Hmm Wonder Which Justices Would Possibly Do That?
Peggy Nienaber, an executive director at evangelical organization Liberty Counsel, was caught on a hot mic claiming that some justices “will pray with us, those that like us to pray with them,” and that “we’re the only people who do that.”
- Nienaber’s comments were made last week during a celebration evangelicals were holding in front of the Supreme Court over its dismantling of Roe v. Wade.
- Nienaber bragged that she and other evangelicals “actually go in there” for the prayer sessions, not at her office or at the justices’ homes.
- One of Nienaber’s prayer sessions with the justices happened the Monday after SCOTUS struck down Roe, the evangelical leader said.
- Not only does Liberty Counsel frequently bring cases in front of SCOTUS, the conservative justices actually cited its amicus brief while striking down Roe. Which is probably why Nienaber insisted that her comments be “totally off the record.” Oops.
- Nienaber didn’t identify the justices by name, but Rolling Stone noted that she’s taken pictures with Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas. She also referred to Thomas as a “friend” and praised the conservative justice for “passing by our ministry center to attend church and always taking time to say hello” in a Facebook post, according to Rolling Stone.
Thems The Breaks!
Hemorrhaging ministers amid ceaseless scandals, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally announced his resignation after defiantly poo-pooing calls to do so. He stepped down as leader of the Conservative Party but will try to remain as prime minister until a successor is chosen.
British politics remain awesome:
Mississippi’s Last Abortion Clinic Stops Performing Procedure
Jackson Women’s Health Organization in Mississippi, the state’s only abortion clinic, performed its last abortions yesterday before Mississippi’s trigger ban on the procedure took effect today, a little less than two weeks after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.
- The trigger ban, which was passed in 2007, prohibits all abortions except in the case of a life-threatening pregnancy or pregnancy caused by rape (and the mother is required to report the rape to law enforcement in that case).
- However, Mississippians have at least some access to abortion pills via mail sent from states where abortion is still legal.
- Here’s the status of other states’ abortion bans with court battles underway.
Cipollone To Testify Before Jan. 6 Panel
Former White House chief counsel Pat Cipollone has agreed to give testimony in front of the House Jan. 6 Committee in the form of a videotaped transcribed interview this Friday.
- The interview will be private, according to the New York Times.
- Cipollone already testified in front of the panel in private back in April, but certain explosive revelations that have emerged since then have given the ex-White House lawyer a lot more to talk about, prompting the committee to subpoena him last week.
Atlanta DA Leaves Door Open For Trump Subpoena
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said on Wednesday that it was “absolutely” possible that she’ll subpoena the ex-president in her election meddling probe. The prosecutor also said she expects the grand jury in her investigation to issue subpoenas to more Trump flunkies after the latest round to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Rudy Giuliani and Trump’s legal team earlier this week.
Subpoenaed British Filmmaker’s Trump Documentary To Air On Sunday
British filmmaker Alex Holder’s Trump family docuseries, which has never-before-seen footage of the Trumps and the Capitol insurrection that’s drawn the House Jan. 6 Committee’s attention, is slated to premiere Sunday, July 10 on Discovery+, two days before the House Jan. 6 Committee’s next public hearing.
- The committee subpoenaed Holder for his testimony and raw footage of his project, which covers the last six weeks of Trump’s reelection campaign and the Capitol attack. The filmmaker testified in front of the committee two weeks ago.
- Holder is also cooperating with the Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ investigation in Georgia. Like the Jan. 6 committee, Willis had subpoenaed Holder for raw footage of his series, though she’s putting her focus on footage of Trump’s comments about Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R).
McConnell Wants The Poors To Run Out Of Savings
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) argued during an event in Kentucky on Tuesday that the labor shortage was caused by “a whole lot of people sitting on the sidelines” because “frankly, they’re flush for the moment.”
- McConnell’s solution: Wait for people’s savings to dry up, those slackers. “What we’ve got to hope is once they run out of money, they’ll start concluding it’s better to work than not to work,” he said.
WTF Read Of The Day
“Far right called U.S. ‘Stonehenge’ satanic — and cheered when it blew up” – The Washington Post
NYT Being Reliably NYT
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Frustrated? Join the Club?
One sentence in a post from earlier this afternoon really set off a firestorm in your emails. I’m going to print a selection of them later. For now, let me explain or clarify. As is so often the case, I think this is at least in part that so-common thing in political arguments: two sides tossing the same slogan back and forth and basically talking past each other because they are interpreting it as meaning different things. This is about “just vote” as some kind of generalized slogan and those who say that they’ve voted enough, voting hasn’t worked, it’s not a good enough answer, etc.
From your emails it’s clear that many of you interpret this phrase as “all you need to do is vote,” or “don’t ask questions, just vote,” or “don’t do anything else but vote.” I don’t know why anyone interprets this that way. But then again, it’s not something I tell anyone in the first place. I’m hardly someone who says, “just take the party leadership’s word for it” or “go with whatever strategy or lack of strategy they propose” since I’ve dedicated my writing at TPM for the last couple months to arguing that the White House and congressional leadership are making a category error in how they are approaching Roe and the midterm election and that it will require ordinary voters and activists to force their hand to follow a better strategy.
Continue reading “Frustrated? Join the Club?”Where Things Stand: Even In States Scrambling To Ban Abortion, A Majority Don’t Agree With SCOTUS
The results of Pew Research Center’s first poll on abortion since Roe was overturned came out today, revealing, unsurprisingly, that the majority of Americans do not agree with the Supreme Court’s decision to tear down the landmark case, which found abortion to be a constitutional right in the U.S. nearly 50 years ago.
The percentage of Americans who don’t support the death of Roe hasn’t shifted much since Pew conducted its last poll on the issue — 62 percent, overall, said abortion should be legal in most or all cases.
But interestingly, a slim majority disagree with the Supreme Court even in the states that have outlawed abortion in recent days and in states where lawmakers are scrambling to pass new restrictions and bans in the wake of Roe’s demise.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Even In States Scrambling To Ban Abortion, A Majority Don’t Agree With SCOTUS”Feinstein’s Clearly a Problem
From the moment Justice Alito’s draft decision leaked in early May (and really much earlier) it’s been clear that the only path to restoring Roe‘s protections was to elect two more senators to pass a Roe bill and change the filibuster rules to allow an up or down vote. The current leadership on the Hill simply doesn’t grasp the necessity of firm pledges from all 48 Democratic senators besides Manchin and Sinema. 48 pledges are there. But as we’ve discussed a few will require some real pressure. That’s why getting all the other pledges banked is so key. Then you can narrow the pressure down on any hold outs.
From the outset I’ve figured that high on the list of potential foot-draggers are Sens. Feinstein, Casey and King.
Today I want to talk about Sen. Feinstein, because we’ve got some new information on that front.
Continue reading “Feinstein’s Clearly a Problem”Georgia DA Suggests More Subpoenas Coming, Does Not Rule Out Subpoena For Trump
A Georgia district attorney on Wednesday left the door open to the possibility that a special grand jury in the state would issue a subpoena to former President Trump as part of an investigation into his efforts to toss Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory.
Continue reading “Georgia DA Suggests More Subpoenas Coming, Does Not Rule Out Subpoena For Trump”What Lindsey Graham Did In Georgia To Keep Trump In Power
One week after the 2020 election was called, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was thinking about Georgia.
Continue reading “What Lindsey Graham Did In Georgia To Keep Trump In Power”Readers on “Just Vote” #2
From TPM Reader LE …
Continue reading “Readers on “Just Vote” #2″I’ve been thinking about this too, the ongoing, tiresome noise from those frustrated that Democratic leadership and politicos don’t have a magic bullet to fix everything. Take Roe, for example. Some on the left are upset, claiming Democrats and the party have done nothing over the years to protect reproductive freedom and other rights and liberties by, for example, ginning up interest in voting Democratic and for candidates who will protect those rights. But is their claim true? Seems to me the alarm has been sounded for years, just not with the volume and persistence that Republicans deploy to keep their base riled up and ready to fall in line.
Readers on “Just Vote” #1
From TPM Reader ES …
Continue reading “Readers on “Just Vote” #1″I don’t think it is only “left-wing wreckers trying to break things” who are feeling growing frustration with the Democratic party. There is opportunity cost when the Democratic party leads the opposition – they take space, they demobilize other efforts by the implicit or explicit “trust us” logic of vote us in again, etc. And their response to the clear and systematic dismantling of norms and laws since Gore’s acquiescence, through failure to hold anyone accountable for the Great Crash of 08-09, to the denial of Garland’s nomination, up through the expanding Koch-envisioned and Tea Party / Trumpian grassroots fueled widening institutional erosion and now full, brazen takeover of the Supreme Court…has been astoundingly… small, tepid, narrow.