A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Laura, You’re Not Supposed To Say That Out Loud
Fox News is getting a lot of heat for not airing the House Jan. 6 Committee’s upcoming public hearings live during primetime on Fox News Channel tomorrow–to which Fox News host Laura Ingraham says, you fools, you simpletons, we’re proud to say we tell our viewers exactly what they wanna hear, unlike those nerds at CNN and MSNBC!
- “We actually do something called, you know, cater to our audience,” Ingraham snarked on Tuesday night.
(You really gotta love the way she catches herself like uh actually our viewers are too well-informed to need to watch it live! with that “Our audience knows what this is.”)
Jan. 6 Panel Interviews Trump’s Secret Service Chief
The House Jan. 6 Committee has interviewed Robert Engel, the Secret Service agent who was in charge of Trump’s security detail on the day of the Capitol attack, and other Secret Service personnel, according to Politico.
- Engel was close to Trump all day on Jan. 6: He rode with the President from the White House to the infamous Ellipse rally, where Engel stood backstage.
- For nearly two weeks before the rally, Trump had pushed his Secret Service to allow him to march with his supporters to the Capitol that day, which the agency refused to do, the Washington Post reports. Then on Jan. 6, the agency reportedly had to scramble to figure out how to get Trump to the Capitol after he went ahead and told the rally crowd he’d be marching with them there.
- One specific element of the Jan. 6 panel’s interest in the Secret Service: Whether Trump and his cronies were involved in the Secret Service rushing to remove Vice President Mike Pence–who hadn’t yet certified the 2020 election results–from the Capitol during the attack, according to the Post.
GOP Senate Leader Needs AR-15s To Obliterate Varmints
Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) told CNN on Tuesday that AR-15 rifles are needed for the following reason:
Iowa Dem Finkenauer Defeated In Primary
Retired Navy Adm. Mike Franken trounced ex-Rep. Abby Finkenauer (D-IA) in the Democratic Iowa Senate primary on Tuesday to face off against Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). Finkenauer, who had been entangled in a court struggle to make it onto the ballot, was widely seen as the top contender for the nomination.
Jan. 6 Panel In Talks With Cipollone To Testify Publicly
The House Jan. 6 Committee and Pat Cipollone, Trump’s top White House lawyer, are discussing Cipollone potentially speaking during one of the committee’s public hearings, according to ABC News and the New York Times (not a great headline there, NYT).
- The panel’s also reached out to former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, a key witness in Trump’s plot to use the DOJ to steal the 2020 election, to invite him to testify publicly, according to CNN and the Times.
- Read more on what else we know about the upcoming hearings here.
Bannon Subpoenas House Dem Leaders And Jan. 6 Panel Members
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, fighting federal criminal contempt charges, has subpoenaed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) plus all the members of the House Jan. 6 Committee.
Suspect In Wisconsin Judge’s Murder Dies
Douglas Uhde, the man who allegedly killed retired Juneau County Circuit Court Judge John Roemer in Wisconsin, died while he was in the hospital on Tuesday, according to local authorities.
- Uhde was being treated for a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police found him at Roemer’s home on the day of the shooting on Friday, per the Wisconsin attorney general.
- We still don’t know what Uhde’s alleged motive was or why he allegedly had a list of targets that, in addition to Roemer, included Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D), Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R).
Biden To Appear On Kimmel
The President’s taping an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! today, and Fox found a way to get mad about that:
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