A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.
There Was An Attempt
Former Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard (R), who is serving a 28-month prison sentence on felony ethics charges, allegedly schemed to have language added to a prison bill during the legislature’s special session in September that would lead to his release.
- Unfortunately for Hubbard, he couldn’t gather enough support for his proposed language in the Alabama Senate, so that plot went nowhere, state prosecutors allege in a new filing.
- Hubbard’s Plan B allegedly was (and currently still is) is a disinformation campaign to circulate a shady law review article about Alabama’s ethics law that aimed to bolster his case for release, according to the prosecutors.
- Hubbard’s gambits were cited in prosecutors’ filing opposing his motion for an early release. The prosecutors argued that the ex-lawmaker was not, in fact, sorry for his crimes despite what he told the judge.
- Hubbard allegedly used special code names for different players in his schemes:
- “The Quarterback” for his wife, Susan Hubbard
- “Hospital CEO/Chief Hospital Official” for the judge
- “Head Doctors/Physicians/Surgeons” for Hubbard’s new attorneys
- “Martians/Taliban” for state law enforcement officers
- By the way, all of this was on tape. The former lawmaker blabbed about the plots during recorded phone calls to friends and family from prison, where they make it very obvious that all phone calls are recorded.
- Fun fact: Hubbard was convicted under the very state ethics law that he helped pass, according to AL.com.
Gosar Faces The Music
The House will vote to censure Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and strip him of his two committee assignments today over his violent video depicting him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
- Gosar will be removed from the House Oversight Committee, where Ocasio-Cortez also sits. He’ll also lose his other spot on the Natural Resources Committee.
- Ocasio-Cortez argued yesterday that Gosar ought to be straight-up expelled from the chamber, but also that censure and losing his committee assignments was the “next appropriate step” for punishment given that GOP leaders are “too cowardly to really enforce any standard of conduct.”
- Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) confirmed on Tuesday evening that he would vote “yes” on the resolution. He and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) are the only Republicans who’ve explicitly backed censuring Gosar.
- Gosar insisted yesterday that he didn’t apologize for the video.
FBI Raids Home Of Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters
The FBI searched the home of Mesa County, Colorado Clerk Tina Peters on Tuesday in the investigation into her allegedly leaking 2020 election data that ended up in QAnon circles online.
- The authorities took all of Peters’ electronics, including her phone, after searching her house for about three hours, the clerk said during an appearance on MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s TV channel last night.
- The FBI also searched the homes of three of Peters’ associates, one of whom was far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-CO) former campaign manager.
- Peters, who’s openly peddled false conspiracy theories claiming that the election was rigged against Trump, has been banned by a Colorado judge from running the county’s elections this year.
Anti-BIF GOPer Takes Credit For BIF
Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL) is delighted to announce that the recently passed bipartisan infrastructure bill that he voted against and complained was “recklessly expensive” will fund his Northern Beltline project, which “will benefit the entire region and enhance economic development and employment opportunities.”
New Deadline For GOP Hostage-Taking
The U.S. government will hit the debt ceiling by Dec. 15, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen estimated yesterday.
Hawley The Obstruction King Wannabe
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has voted for only four of 118 Biden nominees on the Senate floor, fewer than any other GOP senator.
- His “no” votes don’t actually block the confirmations from proceeding, but they do drag out the process.
- The four exceptions have been:
- Cecilia Elena Rouse, the chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers
- Katherine Tai, the U.S. Trade Representative
- Lisa Monaco, the deputy attorney general
- Lina Khan, the chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission.
- Hawley vowed in September to vote against all of Biden’s nominees for State and Defense department positions unless Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan resigned over the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Daniel Goldman Launches Bid For New York AG
The lawyer who led House Democrats’ impeachment investigation into Trump’s Ukraine plot eons ago announced yesterday that he’s running for New York attorney general.
- Daniel Goldman’s video announcement emphasized his role in the watershed first impeachment of Trump and included an endorsement from House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff (D-CA).
- Remember the moment during one of the hearings when Goldman asked then-Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland about telling Trump that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky loved his ass?
Must-Reads
“Kyle Rittenhouse Is An American” – Gawker
“In Another Trump Book, a Journalist’s Belated Awareness Steals the Show” – The New York Times
You Get A Booster, And You Get A Booster!
The Food and Drug Administration plans to authorize Pfizer’s COVID-19 booster shot for all adults as soon as this Thursday.
WTF Is Going On Here
The Los Angeles Staples Center is changing its name in a $700 million naming rights deal to … Crypto.com Arena, as in the cryptocurrency platform for exchanging Bitcoin and other digital currencies.
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