Picking Up From August

Hello it’s the weekend. This is The Weekender ☕

In the furor caused by Judge Aileen Cannon, it’s easy to forget exactly how the Mar-a-Lago investigation began, and where it was when the Florida federal judge tried to torpedo it. 

The main thing to keep in mind is that when Cannon stepped in to freeze the investigation, the DOJ’s strategy in investigating the case was becoming increasingly clear: lots of caution, letting Trump and those around him rush out of the gate only to trip over their own shoes.

Take the example of Christina Bobb, the Trump attorney. The DOJ asked her to sign a verification attesting that a full search for classified records had been done; she signed it, it appears not to have been true. 

Whoops. 

But that example of DOJ thoroughness also goes to the seriousness and clarity of the potential charge here: there isn’t much question over whether Trump retained government records — some of them purportedly highly classified — long after he was asked to return them. 

What’s next is for the DOJ to decide.

More on other news below. Let’s dig in.

— Josh Kovensky

Run-Up To The Runoff 

With early voting winding down, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Herschel Walker are making their final pushes before election day on Tuesday.

A CNN poll released Friday held good news for the Warnock camp: the incumbent leads likely voters by 52 percent to Walker’s 48, and with independent voters by 25 percent.

Walker struggled with scandals down the stretch, the same way he has all campaign long. This week, ex-girlfriend Cheryl Parsa detailed allegations of his violence on the record. Walker’s fairly weak ties to Georgia, which percolated at the beginning of his candidacy when Republicans worried he’d spent too little time in the state, also reared their head again.

With turnout high so far, it’ll come down to the beleaguered voters of Georgia to once again decide the composition of the Senate.

— Kate Riga

MAGA Wing Makes Noise

The infighting over the speakership continued in full force among House Republicans this week. The cartoonish staring contest between the small but mighty chorus of Freedom Caucus members and McCarthy loyalists escalated as the MAGA-aligned detractors called on the Minority Leader to drop out so they could find an alternative.

“He can avoid it now. He doesn’t have the votes,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) — who lost his symbolic challenge to McCarthy in the House GOP leadership vote last month — told CNN this week. “We can move to different candidates. I’m willing to entertain anyone else.”

So far five conservative Freedom Caucus members — including Biggs, Reps. Bob Good (R-VA), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Matt Rosendale (R-MT) and Ralph Norman (R-SC) — have publicly said they will not support McCarthy’s speakership bid. But they say “quiet talks” have been going on to recruit a replacement, although no serious contender has emerged so far.

McCarthy — who will need 218 votes to secure his role as House speaker in January — insists he has the votes. The California Republican also repeatedly indicated this week that he will do whatever it takes for him to become speaker, including forcing a floor vote — or multiple floor votes — if needed.

— Emine Yücel

Less is Moore 

Next Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear its most important election law case in decades: Moore v. Harper, in which North Carolina legislators propose the independent state legislature theory to overturn the state Supreme Court’s batting down of their gerrymandered maps.

The theory reads the word “legislature” in two clauses of the Constitution to exclude any other state organ in presiding over federal elections. Under a maximalist reading of the theory, that could omit state courts, voter-passed initiatives, state constitutional provisions, even gubernatorial vetoes from having any bearing over election practices, voting laws and redistricting. The threat is all the more dire given how many state legislatures are hopelessly gerrymandered, often producing a Republican-dominated body that’s further right than most of its constituents.

Four Supreme Court justices have already indicated their support for the theory. All ears will be on Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett to determine the threat level to our free and fair elections.

— Kate Riga

The Final Straw

Rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, joined Alex Jones’ far-right conspiracy theory swamp show InfoWars on Thursday and unapologetically praised Adolf Hitler. “Well, I see good things about Hitler,” West said. “Every human being has value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler.” 

“I like Hitler,” West added later.

West’s remarks, which even seemed to catch Jones off guard, were apparently a bridge too far for some House Republicans. Shortly after the remarks went viral, writer and filmmaker Matt Fulton noted that the House Judiciary GOP Twitter account had just deleted a tweet from October 2022 that said, “Kanye. Elon. Trump.”

Hours later, Elon Musk suspended West’s Twitter account for violating the platform’s rules against “incitement” of violence.

“I tried my best,” Musk tweeted on Friday. “Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended.”

— Emine Yücel

• Since the Georgia Senate race headed to a Dec. 6 runoff, GOP nominee Herschel Walker has been plagued by revelations that he is more Texan than Georgian. It is questionable how much of the new information around his residency will matter in a state where many see him as a football god, but reporting solidifies that the Georgia football star appears to have been living near Dallas until last year. So we asked: What’s The Upshot Of Herschel Walker’s Residency Issues?
• Whatever happened to reforming the Electoral Count Act (ECA)? Experts Worry Congress Might Run Out Of Time To Pass Legislation To Prevent Next Jan. 6.
• House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is facing a floor fight as he hopes to become speaker of the House of Representatives when his party assumes the majority next month. However, you wouldn’t know that by looking at his official website, which is already touting McCarthy as the “House Speaker-elect.”
• Pre-election, Republican lawmakers baffled political observers with their candor: they openly spoke about their plans, should they flip the House, to demand cuts to Medicare and Social Security in exchange for not sending the United States careening into default on its debts. Perhaps it should come as no surprise then that they’re now doubling down on the plan after the election has largely passed and the chips fell as they did.
• The Oath Keepers Convictions Is Just A Taste Of What’s To Come
• Once a party that touted rugged individualism, today’s Republicans have an ever-expanding list of grievances and complaints about perceived wrongs: How The Right Developed Its Victim Complex.