PRE-ELECTION BOMBSHELL … or not

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

House Judiciary Republicans released a 1,050-page report Friday, claiming to blow open the politicization of the Department of Justice and the FBI. The usual suspects were amenable; a reporter at Axios tweeted “Scoop: Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee will release a 1,000-page document on Friday detailing allegations of politicization of the FBI & DOJ Justice Department under the Biden administration.”

Predictably, the final product does not live up to the hype. The “report” is about 50 pages of typical Fox News-flavored grievances: the FBI is mean to Donald Trump and nice to Hillary Clinton, “big tech” is censoring right-wing voices online, the FBI is refusing to adequately investigate the many sins of Hunter Biden.

Then it’s another 1,000 pages of letters House Republicans have already sent to the administration — including a five-page letter they’d previously sent to all U.S. attorneys attached 93 times.

It is, though, a peek into what we’ll get with a Republican House, if they pull off the flip. It’ll be endless, theatrical, ultimately fruitless investigations into every facet of the Biden administration. Think of Benghazi — two years of investigations that turned up essentially no new information, but gave ambitious Republicans reliable TV coverage and a weapon against then-presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton.

The timing here, much like the “but her emails” craze of 2016, is nakedly calculating. On the eve of a major election, why not try to sow some doubt with Biden and his Democrats. And as these Republicans have learned by now, the content of their reports or investigations matters much less than the presentation. Get some big personalities involved, target political enemies and throw around some weighty accusations, and they’ll be assured iterative coverage and endless attention.  

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

— Kate Riga

A Moot Week For Eastman

John Eastman can’t seem to catch a break. He’s still dealing with investigations into his attempt to overthrow the results of the last election just as, per audio released last week, he’s coaching conservative activists to subvert the 2022 midterms. That’s already a lot for anyone to handle, but it just seems to keep getting worse.

This week, Eastman was attempting to litigate an appeal that, if approved, would have blocked the January 6 Committee from accessing eight emails that a lower court judge determined were part of a crime. In this case, the suspected crime was including false information in a federal lawsuit, with Eastman allegedly incorporating data he purportedly knew to be false in a 2020 Georgia lawsuit that sought to overturn Biden’s win in the state.

But before the appeal could go through, the Committee included a link in a filing to the emails themselves that was, shockingly, still active. The emails were widely published, and showed Eastman plotting with a number of notable right-wing attorneys on how to include the data without falling afoul of the court. They included the data anyway, with some considered caveats. It’s an embarrassment for Eastman and a potentially shocking breach of attorney ethics, all revealed at the precise moment that Eastman was fighting to hide it. Sad!

— Josh Kovensky

The Gang Tries to Stop ‘Ballot Mules’

It’s been a big week for vigilantes!

Last week, I relayed to you all the story of Clean Elections USA, a nascent conservative election integrity group that sent volunteers to monitor drop boxes for potential ballot-stuffing in Maricopa County, Arizona. Unsurprisingly, the plan led to multiple complaints from voters alleging that the group harassed them as they deposited their ballots. Two voting rights groups sued them to stop their activities, and the Justice Department even weighed in when a federal judge rejected their case.

The voting rights groups have since seen some action: U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi issued a temporary restraining order barring the group from approaching drop boxes or voters nearby for fourteen days.

But what happens when the people looming over the boxes have badges and guns? This week, CNN reported that Sheriff Mark Lamb out of Pinal County, Arizona, sent emails to other sheriffs across the country encouraging them to “patrol activity around drop box locations” and use “video surveillance” with “access points directly on Sheriff Department computers.”

Lamb is the co-founder of the right-wing law enforcement coalition Protect America Now and is connected to the broader constitutional sheriffs movement. A federal judge may not be able to dispose of these guys.

Have you run into any trouble voting? Seen anything at the polls TPM should cover? We’d love to hear from you! Send a tip to kaila@talkingpointsmemo.com.

— Kaila Philo

• A federal judge has put a temporary restraining order on Clean Elections USA, a right-wing group that’s been accused of voter intimidation and harassment while monitoring ballot drop boxes in Arizona.
• Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) lost his bid on Tuesday to get the Supreme Court to quash the subpoena for his testimony in the Fulton County DA’s Trump election interference probe in Georgia. Now the GOP senator has no choice but to testify in front of the special grand jury.
• David DePape, the man who allegedly beat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) husband Paul Pelosi with a hammer in their home last week, has already admitted quite a lot to investigators, court filings show. He’s allegedly described in graphic detail what he planned to do to the House speaker if she had been home when he broke in.
• If you got dizzy trying to follow the avalanche of MAGA World’s pointless lawsuits after the 2020 election, then you better brace yourself for what’s to come after the midterms. TPM’s Josh Kovensky lays out Trumpland’s court chaos strategy here.

– Cristina Cabrera

“We do not have a Republican senator north of North Carolina on the Atlantic coast until you get to Maine, if I don’t hold this seat.”

– GOP Pennsylvania Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday. 

So what Oz doesn’t seem to realize is that Pennsylvania … isn’t on the coast. But you know what is on the coast? New Jersey, which is where Oz actually lives, so maybe he can be forgiven for the confusion.

— Cristina Cabrera