Editors’ Blog

You knew the Jan. 6 committee had to have another card up its sleeve for its last hearing before the midterm elections (and perhaps its last one ever). The previews the committee provided of what the hearing would focus on were generally underwhelming. But we got a hint at the top of the hearing from chair Bernie Thompson: This is not technically a hearing but a business meeting of the committee, meaning the committee can conduct votes, Thompson said. Now NBC is reporting the committee plans to vote to subpoena former President Trump himself.

The Sheriff in Bexar County (San Antonio) Texas has certified that the 50 migrants Ron DeSantis’ team hoodwinked into being sent to Martha’s Vineyard were the victims of a crime. “Based upon the claims of migrants being transported from Bexar County under false pretenses, we are investigating this case as possible Unlawful Restraint.”

I got this interesting email from TPM Reader CN. I disagree with it. And I think it illustrates a kind of self-reinforcing way people think about politics and particularly the Democratic Party. But I wanted to share it with you because I wanted you to be able to make your own judgment. CN’s note comes with the subject line: “You’re wrong and Bernie’s right, Josh.” This is a reference to my post yesterday disagreeing with Bernie Sanders’ argument that Democrats shouldn’t center the final weeks of the campaign on abortion but rather economics and economic justice. As I said in that post, my argument isn’t trying to settle the general direction or focus of the Democratic Party. That’s never going to be one thing. It’s about what makes sense over the next three weeks.

Here’s CN’s response …

Ken Klippenstein has a piece in The Intercept about the Saudi-driven OPEC production cut as the “October Surprise” of the 2022 election cycle — one not simply aimed at maximizing domestic profits and assisting Russia in its war on Ukraine but specifically aimed at bringing Trump and his MAGA-infused GOP back to power. I think he’s right. I do notice though that the experts he quotes making this argument are longtime critics of U.S. policy toward Saudi Arabia. So they are people inclined to see events through a Saudi-hostile lens.

This is frequently a difficulty in making sense of current events. You want to see what the experts say but most experts have their own preconceptions and established narratives through which they are inclined to organize new events. I wanted to add this caution as a limitation or counter to my own view. But it remains my own view. This move is not only an example of the lopsided and outmoded relationship with Saudi Arabia but a specific effort to damage the party the Saudi leader, Mohamed bin Salman, opposes in U.S. domestic politics.

EPIC/MRA, a signature in-state poll for Michigan: Whitmer 49%, Dixon 38%.

The Marquette University Law School poll is the premium in-state Wisconsin poll. Its latest poll yesterday had sobering news for Democrats. Ron Johnson is now 6 points ahead of Mandela Barnes among likely voters. What caught my eye though is that it was tied among registered voters. I’m not trying to unskew this poll. That 6 point margin is, unfortunately, in line with other recent polls. But a 6 point difference between registered and likely voters is really large. That may show a very large GOP turnout and motivation advantage or maybe it’s missing something. Notably the same big divergence showed up in Marquette’s survey of the governor’s race. But here it was far more in the Democrats’ favor. Gov. Evers was up by 5 points among registered voters and by one among likelies.

The latest news out of the Mar-a-Lago case, which Josh Kovensky explains here, really makes it hard to see how the government can avoid charging Trump with a crime even if they’d prefer not to. The government appears to have clear, corroborated evidence that after receiving subpoenas for the retrieval of classified documents, Trump directly ordered a resort employee to remove the records from the storerooms where the government’s investigation focused and to his personal residence.

Tulsi Gabbard has not walked or talked or looked like a Democrat in years, so the collective response to her announcing yesterday that she was leaving the Democratic Party was … 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃.

Yesterday I noted this odd report that Elon Musk’s weird foray into Russo-Ukraine War peacemaking was preceded by a call with Vladimir Putin. This was revealed in a global intelligence newsletter published by Ian Bremmer. Then Musk denied that any such call had happened. That’s where we got to yesterday. But there’s more from overnight that I want to update you on.

The short version is that it seems pretty clear that Musk’s denial is a lie. And the original tweets themselves have a variety of references that seem like they come from a Russian nationalist or someone very familiar with the set of post-Soviet grievances which are the mother’s milk of Putin’s political world. (They refer to “Khrushchev’s Mistake” and the conquest of Crimea in 1783.)

Here’s the somewhat longer version.

The New York Times has a new piece out this afternoon focused exclusively on Christina Bobb, the OAN anchor-turned-Trump lawyer who has found herself particularly wrapped up in the Mar-a-Lago records-stashing scandal (and, now, potentially in the DOJ’s crosshairs).

It adds to a similar report yesterday from NBC, and there are a few details from the Times’ new version that are worth noting. Like NBC’s, the Times’ is based on anonymous sources, so take the story — and the perspective from which it is told — with whatever dose of salt you wish.