A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
It’s Going To Get Worse Before It Gets Better
Jim Jordan comes into the new Congress as a kingmaker unaccountable to anyone or anything. He backed Kevin McCarthy to the hilt, and he’s won newfound powers as the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
Politico’s Kyle Cheney examines the role Jordan will plan in the new select subcommittee to investigate the investigators probing Jan. 6.
The language creating the new subcommittee gives specific authority to scrutinize “ongoing criminal investigations.”
As former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance notes:
This idea of “reviewing” criminal cases in progress is really about interfering with them & it violates separation of powers. MAGA Republicans know this. They’re setting up a situation where the AG will properly refuse to provide info, which they’ll use as a pretext to impeach.
The Justice Department is unlikely to roll over and start providing investigative material in ongoing cases to the House GOP. There are serious separation of powers issues that should bolster Attorney General Merrick Garland’s resistance to this concerted attack on the rule of law.
But Jordan’s mission is still successful if he is able to obscure, muddy and delegitimize the Jan. 6 investigations. With the House GOP complicit in the scheme that culminated in Jan. 6, these sorts of rearguard actions remain part of the original coup attempt. Now they’re aimed at preventing accountability. It’s part of the coverup.
It’s going to be a long two years.
Scott Perry Is Everything That’s Wrong About The House GOP
Scott Perry on if he’ll participate in House GOP’s investigation of J6 investigators even though his phone was seized as part of J6 investigation: “Why should anybody be limited just because someone has made an accusation? Everybody in America is innocent until proven otherwise.” pic.twitter.com/wE2KzWmuc6
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 8, 2023
Brazil’s Jan. 6
BBC: “How Trump’s allies stoked Brazil Congress attack”
Michigan AG Reopens Fake Electors Probe
After initially dropping her investigation into the Trump fake elector scheme in her state, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Friday she is reopening the case.
“Quite candidly, yes, we are reopening our investigation, because I don’t know what the federal government plans to do,” Nessel said.
The Ongoing Threat
Just Security: “January 6th Report Exposes Ongoing, Converging Threat of Anti-Democracy Schemes and Paramilitary Violence”
Welp
Politico: “Corporations gave $10M to election objectors after pledging to cut them off”
Jack Smith’s New Additions
Bloomberg has more on the two new additions to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team.
Truth
What the Jan. 6 committee report left out: “The events of Jan. 6 represented the most telegraphed and predictable attack on the homeland in history.”
Who Repped Whom
Politico went through the almost 300 witness transcripts released by the Jan. 6 committee and compiled a list of the lawyers repping them.
Is Trump Disqualified Under The Insurrection Clause?
A long-shot candidate for the GOP nomination for president has sued Donald Trump in federal court in Florida alleging he should be ineligible under the 14th Amendment’s Insurrection Clause to serve as President.
New Mexico Shootings
Authorities are investigating five separate shootings that appeared to target elected Democrats in New Mexico between Dec. 5 and Jan 5.
Alex Jones Lawyer Suspended
Norm Pattis, who defended Alex Jones in a landmark defamation suit brought by the Sandy Hook families, has been suspended from the practice of law for allegedly releasing the confidential medical records of family members of Sandy Hook victims.
Pattis is currently representing, among others, Joe Biggs, a Florida Proud Boys member in trial in DC on charges of seditious conspiracy. Pattis is trying to get the suspension stayed so he can continue working on Biggs’ trial.
Political Interference Pays Off?
West Virginia Public Broadcasting eliminates a journalist’s position after she reported on the alleged abuse of people with disabilities within the agency that runs the state’s foster care and psychiatric facilities.
The World Is Burning
WaPo:
Accelerating solar and wind energy adoption means global warming probably will not reach the extremes once feared, climate scientists say. At the same time, recent heat, storms and ecological disasters prove, they say, that climate change impacts could be more severe than predicted even with less warming.
CNN:
Less than two weeks away from Utah’s 2023 legislative session, nearly three dozen scientists and conservationists released a dire report that calls on the state’s lawmakers to take “emergency measures” to save the Great Salt Lake before drains to nil.
Without a “dramatic increase” in inflow by 2024, experts warn the lake is set to disappear in the next five years.
Bloomberg: “Putin’s Energy Gambit Fizzles as Warm Winter Saves Europe”
RIP
Bernard Kalb, 1922-2023
Farewell
Copenhagen’s Noma is closing after a two-decade run as one of the world’s most celebrated restaurants.
Tell Me More, Please
Punchbowl is reporting that there is a secret three-page addendum to the House GOP’s rules package where Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s deal with his Freedom Caucus foes was memorialized:
This pact includes the most controversial concessions McCarthy made in order to become speaker – three seats on the Rules Committee for conservatives, freezing spending at FY2022 levels, a debt-ceiling strategy, coveted committee assignments and more.
Everything You Need To Know About Kevin McCarthy
The Historical Perspective
Joanne Freeman: “It’s Tempting to Laugh at McCarthy’s Struggles, but History Shows That This Type of Chaos Is Not a Joke”
In Case You Missed It
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) went all Schoolhouse Rock on the GOP in the wee hours of Saturday morning:
Did Friday Night Really Happen?
So many crazy images from the House floor Friday night as Kevin McCarthy finally won the speakership, but Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) was not to be outdone:
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