Everyone is very confused about why Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has taken on anti-abortion advocacy as his new hobby horse — and why now. While he’s irritated half his colleagues by proposing a 15-week federal abortion ban just weeks out from a midterm election when Republicans’ extreme positions on abortion could very likely spell doom for the party’s Senate majority, he also just managed to make the GOP’s stance on the issue even more confusing.

We have many more details on the hearing this afternoon in Brooklyn, where Josh Kovensky was at the courtroom reporting for us. But Judge Dearie, aka “the special master,” is leaving the Trumpers pretty disappointed in today’s hearing. The amazing thing is that they asked for Dearie because they managed to convince themselves that his involvement with the FISA court and the Carter Page matter had made him into an anti-Deep State zealot, or an “FBI-skeptic,” as the Trumpers put it. That seems like quite a silly surmise, to put it mildly. There had been confusion that Trump’s team had requested him, a respected senior-status judge. Now we know why. Now they’re finding out that he’s your average federal judge, the type who goes in with the assumption that classified documents are classified rather than owned by former Presidents, the type who doesn’t go in with the assumption that the FBI is run by Antifa. I’m surprised that I’m surprised that they managed to bamboozle themselves like this.