A lot has happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the release.
Donald Trump went on a weekend tear, sounding like an unrepentant fascist in attacks on immigrants and the rule of law.
Trump went so far that the Biden White House denounced him for what it was: “Echoing the appalling rhetoric of fascists and violent white supremacists and threatening to oppress those who disagree with the government are harmful attacks on the dignity and rights of all Americans. about our democracy and about public safety. . . “
When was the last time a White House denounced fascism in the United States?Never?
Trump’s most defamatory attacks on immigrants at a rally in New Hampshire on Saturday:
“Christian nationalists believe that the secular values of democracy destroy Christianity and classical values,” Richardson said of Trump’s speech. “They need to get rid of LGBTQ rights, feminism, immigration, and the public schools that they say teach those values. And if that means handing over force to a dictator who promises to repair his vision of a classical society, they will participate. “
In the New Hampshire speech, Trump went from describing the jailed rioters on Jan. 6 as “political prisoners” to “hostages”:
At an event Sunday in Reno, Nevada, Trump expressed sympathy for his six fake Republican electors who have been criminally charged in the state, saying they, too, were victims of political persecution.
Simply an astonishing reimbursement of damages opposed to Rudy Giuliani in the defamation case brought by Georgian election officials Ruthrough Freeman and Shaye Moss.
Not undeserved. Not out of bounds. Not crazy.
But it remains an ordinary vindication for the two black women who were attacked by Giuliani and much of global MAGA after the 2020 campaign. Note that the attacks against them are found in Trump’s accusations of electoral subversion in Washington DC and Georgia.
Beyond the underlying conduct that gave rise to his claims, Giuliani engaged in a constant and persistent self-destructive habit in the case, which created ideal situations for a devastating jury resolution like this. Not only did he forget about his pre-trial obligations and gamble with the court enough to have a default judgment entered against him, but he continued to make the same false claims in public in court as the jury heard the damages portion of the case. Giuliani was so out of control that comments he made to the press during the trial ended up figuring prominently in the closing arguments of the plaintiffs’ lawyers.
If you’re going to attack Black women who work for the government, DC is probably the last place you want to have to defend yourself. The eight-member jury was composed of three white women, two Black women, two white men, and a Black man. The $75 million punitive damages award was the gut punch that signaled the jury’s disgust with Giuliani’s conduct.
If we add the $148 million in this case to Fox’s $700 million settlement with Dominion Voting System, the overall defamation damages for Big Lie approach $1 billion, and the large Smartmatic v. Fox is still ongoing.
What happens next.
Mark Meadows’ bid to remove the Georgia RICO case to federal court did not go well Friday in front of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Two surveillance teams are back to get former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis, who pleaded guilty in the Georgia RICO case to Colorado, disbarred.
Citing historian Heather Cox Richardson, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell warned last month of creeping authoritarianism in America in a speech to lawyers. Now in her latest stunt, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) has filed a complaint against Howell with the DC Circuit Court of Appeals for what she claims was a political speech.
Following in CNN’s footsteps, the New York Times has its own edition of the story of the sensitive Russian intelligence dossier that disappeared from the White House in the final hours of Trump’s presidency.
A look back at how Senate negotiations on a border package related to Ukraine in jeopardy played out over the weekend:
Arlington National Cemetery, built on the site of General Robert E. Lee will begin this week removing his Confederate monument, funded through the United Daughters of the Confederacy and erected in 1914.
Backlog Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will be buried at the Supreme Court at 10:30 a. m. ET at 8 p. m. Y.
They got them drunk, made them up like Indians, and brought them tea bags to Boston Harbor, which for us in Rhode Island is a pretty weak tea compared to blowing up a damn ship and killing its captain. But, you know, all those other people from Massachusetts became president and ran Harvard. . . So they told their story, their story, and their story.
Florida Republican Party moves to oust Chairman Christian Ziegler over rape allegation.
An aide to Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) is unemployed after being linked to a sex tape recorded in a courtroom in the Hart Senate Office Building. The Daily Caller, which was the first to report on the video, focused on the homosexual. So this week’s outrage will be of some kind of ugliness.
Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!
A lot has happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Register for the. . .
A lot has happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s morning memo. Sign up for. . .
A lot has happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Register for the. . .
A lot has happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Register for the. . .