Laura Ingraham Admits Fox Is Catering To Viewers By Not Airing Jan. 6 Hearings

Posted on by Cristina Cabrera

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.

Laura, You’re Not Supposed To Say That Out Loud

Fox News is getting a lot of heat for not airing the House Jan. 6 Committee’s upcoming public hearings live during primetime on Fox News Channel tomorrow–to which Fox News host Laura Ingraham says, you fools, you simpletons, we’re proud to say we tell our viewers exactly what they wanna hear, unlike those nerds at CNN and MSNBC!

  • “We actually do something called, you know, cater to our audience,” Ingraham snarked on Tuesday night.

(You really gotta love the way she catches herself like uh actually our viewers are too well-informed to need to watch it live! with that “Our audience knows what this is.”)

Jan. 6 Panel Interviews Trump’s Secret Service Chief

The House Jan. 6 Committee has interviewed Robert Engel, the Secret Service agent who was in charge of Trump’s security detail on the day of the Capitol attack, and other Secret Service personnel, according to Politico.

  • Engel was close to Trump all day on Jan. 6: He rode with the President from the White House to the infamous Ellipse rally, where Engel stood backstage.
  • For nearly two weeks before the rally, Trump had pushed his Secret Service to allow him to march with his supporters to the Capitol that day, which the agency refused to do, the Washington Post reports. Then on Jan. 6, the agency reportedly had to scramble to figure out how to get Trump to the Capitol after he went ahead and told the rally crowd he’d be marching with them there.
  • One specific element of the Jan. 6 panel’s interest in the Secret Service: Whether Trump and his cronies were involved in the Secret Service rushing to remove Vice President Mike Pence–who hadn’t yet certified the 2020 election results–from the Capitol during the attack, according to the Post.

GOP Senate Leader Needs AR-15s To Obliterate Varmints

Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) told CNN on Tuesday that AR-15 rifles are needed for the following reason:

Iowa Dem Finkenauer Defeated In Primary

Retired Navy Adm. Mike Franken trounced ex-Rep. Abby Finkenauer (D-IA) in the Democratic Iowa Senate primary on Tuesday to face off against Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). Finkenauer, who had been entangled in a court struggle to make it onto the ballot, was widely seen as the top contender for the nomination.

Jan. 6 Panel In Talks With Cipollone To Testify Publicly

The House Jan. 6 Committee and Pat Cipollone, Trump’s top White House lawyer, are discussing Cipollone potentially speaking during one of the committee’s public hearings, according to ABC News and the New York Times (not a great headline there, NYT).

  • The panel’s also reached out to former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, a key witness in Trump’s plot to use the DOJ to steal the 2020 election, to invite him to testify publicly, according to CNN and the Times.
  • Read more on what else we know about the upcoming hearings here.

Bannon Subpoenas House Dem Leaders And Jan. 6 Panel Members

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, fighting federal criminal contempt charges, has subpoenaed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) plus all the members of the House Jan. 6 Committee.

Suspect In Wisconsin Judge’s Murder Dies

Douglas Uhde, the man who allegedly killed retired Juneau County Circuit Court Judge John Roemer in Wisconsin, died while he was in the hospital on Tuesday, according to local authorities. 

  • Uhde was being treated for a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police found him at Roemer’s home on the day of the shooting on Friday, per the Wisconsin attorney general.
  • We still don’t know what Uhde’s alleged motive was or why he allegedly had a list of targets that, in addition to Roemer, included Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D), Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R). 

Biden To Appear On Kimmel

The President’s taping an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! today, and Fox found a way to get mad about that:

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What Would It Take For Guns To One Day Go The Way Of Cigarettes?

Posted on by Kate Riga

An object, cloaked in an aura of glamor and cool, is, or at least feels, ubiquitous in American society. The object is a clear threat to public health — though that fact often gets eclipsed by arguments emphasizing the rights of those who like to use the object. Powerful, monied and well-connected special interest groups stand behind the object, and work fervently to thwart regulation and restrictions on it. 

Today, that object is a gun. In our recent past, it was a cigarette. 

Continue reading “What Would It Take For Guns To One Day Go The Way Of Cigarettes?” →

Results #1

Posted on by Josh Marshall

This seems to be a result that many in Iowa expected but far fewer outside of Iowa. Michael Franken appears to be trouncing Abby Finkenauer in the primary battle to challenge Chuck Grassley. Currently 60% to 37% with an estimated 44% of the vote counted. Grassley is an institution in Iowa. It’s a GOP trending state in a GOP year. But an 88-year-old senator is always vulnerable to the charge that it’s time to retire. So always a chance.

Coming Down the Pike

Posted on by Josh Marshall

Don’t miss Matt’s article about the “independent state legislature” theory. We’ve discussed it in passing before. It’s a borderline absurd reading of the federal constitution which corrupt judges like the ones who now dominate the Supreme Court want to use to basically rig the electoral process in the United States.

Bannon Subpoenas Pelosi And Jan. 6 Panel In Attempt To Hit Back At Contempt Charges

Posted on by Summer Concepcion

Former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has reportedly subpoenaed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and members of the committee in an attempt to push back at the contempt charges he faces, according to CNN. Bannon is scheduled to go on trial next month in the contempt charges the Justice Department brought against him last year for failing to cooperate with the Jan. 6 Select Committee’s investigation.

Continue reading “Bannon Subpoenas Pelosi And Jan. 6 Panel In Attempt To Hit Back At Contempt Charges” →

Where Things Stand: Dems Compare Fox To Russian TV For Not Airing Jan 6 Hearings Live

Posted on by Nicole LaFond

Fox News couldn’t possibly cut off its star attraction.

Tucker Carlson’s show airs from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET. The Jan. 6 committee hearing’s debut on Thursday begins at 8 as well. It’s hardly a surprise that the network announced yesterday that it won’t air at least the first hearing live — Tucker has amassed a cult following, coming out on top consistently with the highest ratings of any show on cable news networks.

Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Dems Compare Fox To Russian TV For Not Airing Jan 6 Hearings Live” →

One Potential Supreme Court Case Could Transform US Election Law

Posted on by Matt Shuham

The voting rights legal community is holding its breath these days for the moment when the U.S. Supreme Court formally announces whether it will take a case that could fundamentally transform the way election laws work. 

Continue reading “One Potential Supreme Court Case Could Transform US Election Law” →

What Triggers The State ‘Trigger Laws’ That Could Ban Abortions?

Posted on by Nicole LaFond

This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation.

The Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion on abortion rights dramatically declares that “the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives.”

A number of states have already made their choice in case that happens, either protecting the right to abortion or significantly restricting abortion under most circumstances. Some states never removed bans they had in place before 1973. That’s the year of the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade declaring that the Constitution protects the right to obtain an abortion.

In addition, there are 13 states with so-called “trigger” laws, abortion-restricting laws designed to take effect once abortion is no longer protected by the U.S. Constitution. I’m a legal scholar who studies gender and reproductive rights and wanted to see just what those triggers are that will put the laws into force. It turns out that the 13 states are almost evenly split between two distinct approaches with one thing in common: They both end up significantly limiting people’s right to get an abortion.

Continue reading “What Triggers The State ‘Trigger Laws’ That Could Ban Abortions?” →

Trump Pushed Secret Service To Let Him Join March To The Capitol Weeks Before Jan. 6

Posted on by Summer Concepcion

In the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, former President Trump reportedly attempted to pressure the Secret Service to devise a plan for him to join his supporters on a march to the Capitol, two people briefed on witnesses’ accounts to congressional investigators told the Washington Post.

Continue reading “Trump Pushed Secret Service To Let Him Join March To The Capitol Weeks Before Jan. 6” →

So Where Are We Here?

Posted on by Josh Marshall

Updated at 8:47 PM eastern

As always, it’s fascinating to hear from you about what you hear from your senators on a Roe protecting bill and the filibuster. I wanted to give you a quick summary of what we’ve heard so far.

So far we have these Senators who have either publicly stated support for a Roe bill and changed filibuster rules or their offices told constituents that they did.

Continue reading “So Where Are We Here?” →