A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
That Lasted All Of 24 Hours
Yeah so Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita’s (R) and other conservatives’ spin on the story of an obstetrician-gynecologist providing an abortion for a 10-year-old rape victim just fell apart. Dramatically.
Rokita and others had claimed that the doctor didn’t report the incident and is therefore the real villain in the story. That line of attack completely imploded yesterday when FOX59 used a simple public records request to find out that the doctor had filed a report to Department of Child Services and the Indiana Department of Health.
- Dr. Caitlin Bernard filed the report within the required three-day time frame, the documents showed.
- Now Bernard is considering legal action against Rokita and other people who smeared her, the doctor’s lawyer said in a statement.
- But Rokita plans to move forward with his “investigation” into Bernard anyway. The GOP attorney general said in an official response to FOX59’s report that his office is still “gathering evidence” and that “our legal review of it remains open.”
Jan. 6 Panel Will Try To Reconstruct Deleted Secret Service Texts
House Jan. 6 Committee chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) told Axios on Thursday that his panel will try to find a way to restore the Secret Service’s text messages from Jan. 5 and 6, 2021 that the agency deleted after the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general requested records of the Secret Service’s electronic communications.
Manchin Punctures Dem Agenda Yet Again
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Thursday that he won’t support climate action or tax hikes on the wealthy in Democrats’ sweeping economic package.
There’s Now A Warrant Out For Indicted MAGA Clerk’s Arrest
A judge in Colorado issued an arrest warrant on Thursday for indicted Mesa County clerk Tina Peters for violating the terms of her release by traveling to a far-right conference in Las Vegas.
Kari Lake The Wokester
CNN discovered that far-right Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who pitches herself as a staunchly transphobic and anti-choice hardliner in her primary race, made several interesting posts on Facebook in 2015 and 2016.
- Lake’s posts about trans issues in 2015 called for support for transgender youth, who face high risks of suicide, and expressed admiration for trans women having the courage to transition.
- Lake posted a question about abortion in 2016 that seemed to hint at a belief that the procedure should be easily accessible for women whose fetuses have been infected with the Zika virus.
- This isn’t the first time Lake’s credentials as a GOP culture warrior have come into question: A well-known local drag queen in Phoenix, who used to be longtime friends with Lake, called out the nominee last month.
Fetterman Gifts Oz With A Special New Jersey Shoutout
Democratic Pennsylvania Senate nominee John Fetterman, who often jabs at his Republican rival/New jersey resident Dr. Mehmet Oz’s dubious claims about actually living in Pennsylvania, served Oz some grade-A trolling on Thursday in the form of a Cameo video by Snooki, one of the stars of the Jersey Shore reality TV series.
- In the video, Snooki wishes Oz good luck, having heard that he had “moved from New Jersey to Pennsylvania to look for a new job.” “And don’t worry! Because you’ll be back home in Jersey soon,” she chirps. “This is only temporary.”
Fetterman’s campaign paid $393.75 for the Cameo, according to Politico reporter Sam Stein.
Judge Slaps Down Bannon’s Bid To Stall Trial Again
Ex-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s repeated request to delay his upcoming criminal contempt trial wasn’t any more successful than the first attempt; the judge ruled on Thursday that the MAGA diehard was still going to have his trial on Monday as scheduled.
Must Read
“Behind Turning Point USA’s funding boom – with half of it coming from 10 anonymous donors” – NBC News
Boebert’s Gun Fetish Restaurant Shuts Down
Shooters Grill, Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-CO) gun-themed restaurant that once gave 80 people food poisoning (including bloody diarrhea), closed on Sunday after the landlord told her the lease for her restaurant wouldn’t be renewed. However, it doesn’t seem like this is the end of Boebert’s weird gun-food ambitions: The GOP congresswoman told the Post Independent that she was considering opening a “Shooters coffee shop,” and the Daily Beast noted that the now-closed establishment had a sign on the door that read “Stay Tuned. #Covfefe.”
Ivana Trump Dies At 73
Ivana Trump, Donald Trump’s first wife and the mother of Ivanka, Eric and Don Jr., died at age 73 at her townhouse in Manhattan on Thursday. The cause of her death is unknown at the moment, but police are investigating whether she fell down the stairs at her home, according to the New York Times.
(Also ABC News apparently ran into a snafu with its initial report on Trump’s death:)
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