A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Almost Unsurprising
Far-right Trump supporters online have been bombarding Bruce Reinhart, the federal magistrate who reportedly signed the search warrant for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and his family with anti-Semitic threats.
- Several extremists have even posted what they believe to be Reinhart’s address, phone numbers, and names of his family, Vice found.
- Fox News and other right-wing media have been smearing Reinhart as an anti-Trump hack and, uh, lover of Golden Oreos.
Trump Paranoid Someone’s Snitching On Him
The ex-president is anxious that there’s a “rat” in his inner circle feeding intel on him to the feds and that people, including Republicans visiting his clubs, are wearing a wire around him, according to Rolling Stone.
- Trump has been privately expressing his fears since May, even before the Mar-a-Lago raid on Monday, per Rolling Stone.
- Trump’s also reportedly worried that his phones are tapped “by Biden,” in his own words.
- But the former president apparently isn’t wrong to be freaking out about a potential mole: Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal report that the FBI was tipped off about the classified documents Trump had stashed at Mar-a-Lago, leading to the raid.
- Key analysis: “Citizen Trump may have broken a law that President Trump made a felony” – The Washington Post
Georgia DA Zeroes In On Graham’s Coordination With Trump
As Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) fights a Georgia grand jury subpoena, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office has indicated in court that it’s looking to dig into whatever coordinated effort the GOP senator may have had with Trump’s 2020 campaign in trying to overturn the election results in Georgia.
Trump Takes The Fifth
The ex-president has made it clear that he was going to keep trying to stonewall New York Attorney General Letitia James’ (D) civil probe into the Trump Organization by invoking the Fifth Amendment in his deposition yesterday.
- From about 9:30 a.m. ET to about 3 p.m., Trump’s only response was “same answer” to James’ questions, his lawyer told the New York Times.
- Trump hinted at potentially invoking the Fifth Amendment in the flood of other investigations he’s dealing with, stating that he plans to “utilize” the Constitution “to the fullest extent to defend myself against this malicious attack by this administration, this Attorney General’s Office, and all other attacks on my family, my business, and our Country.”
- But Trump’s eldest children, Ivanka and Don Jr., reportedly didn’t plead the Fifth in the depositions they had with James in recent weeks.
Michigan AG Hopeful Bragged About Breaking Into Voting Equipment
Matthew DePerno, the Trump-backed candidate for Michigan attorney general, boasted during several podcast interviews throughout the spring last year that he and his motley crew of election “investigators” had gotten access to a voting tabulator. Like, just openly bragged about it.
- “We got access to a tabulator, and we were able to simulate elections,” DePerno said during one interview in May last year.
- DePerno was allegedly at the center of a plot to seize and break into several counties’ voting machines, according to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D), whose office is investigating the breaches (Nessel herself seeks to recuse herself from the case since DePerno will likely be her rival in the November elections).
Must Read
“Two Indiana officers wanted to keep a man from running for office. They arrested him.” – The Washington Post
“‘Chaos and Confusion’ in States Where Abortion Is On Again, Off Again” – The New York Times
Indiana Congresswoman’s Funeral Is Today
The public funeral service for Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN), who was killed in a car crash last week, will be held today at 11 a.m. ET at Granger Community Church in Mishawaka, Indiana.
GOP Wisconsin Gubernatorial Nom Deletes Trump Endorsement For Two Seconds
Tim Michels, the Republican nominee for Wisconsin governor, quietly scrubbed Trump’s endorsement from his campaign website sometime after winning his primary race on Tuesday:
…aaaaand tacked it back up there about a half hour after the quiet scrub got called out by the NYT reporter:
Dr. Oz, Pennsylvania’s favorite New Jerseyan Senate candidate, similarly wiped the Trump sludge off his campaign, and say what you will about Oz cynically running for Senate in a state he has no non-academic ties to because he knows he likely won’t win his own state, at least Oz isn’t too chicken to stick to keeping the loyalty-demanding Trump at a hilarious arm’s length.
Jesse Watters Is Weirdly Horny About FBI Raid
Fox News host Jesse Watters won’t stop serving one very specific, very thirsty take on the FBI raiding Mar-a-Lago:
A Dog Bassoon
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