A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Insurrectin’ With Principles
The all-Republican Otero County Commission in New Mexico has scheduled an emergency meeting for today to vote on certifying the 2022 primary election results after the New Mexico Supreme Court ordered them to do their jobs and stop holding up the certification process on the basis of MAGA conspiracy theories about Dominion voting machines.
- But one of the commissioners, Cowboys for Trump leader Couy Griffin, still plans on voting “no,” he told local outlet KOB. And, well, he did literally tell the Washington Post earlier this week that he doesn’t care about the law: “I tell people my oath is to the people I represent. I did not take an oath to the state of New Mexico or their election laws.”
- On the other hand, Trump Cowboy Man also said he isn’t sure he can even cast a vote in the first place since he’s currently in D.C. waiting to be sentenced after he was convicted of trespassing on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6.
Herschel Walker Has More Secret Kids
Number of kids Georgia Senate hopeful Herschel Walker started with this week: 1
Number of kids he had on Tuesday: 2
Number of kids he has now: 4
Trump’s Election Theft Lawyers Didn’t Buy Their Own B.S.
The House Jan. 6 Committee held its third hearing yesterday (see our liveblog here), and we learned more about Trump and ex-legal adviser John Eastman’s efforts to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence into unilaterally canceling the 2020 election results and keeping Trump as President.
- More specifically, we learned that Eastman privately acknowledged that the legal “reasoning” behind the Pence plot was hot garbage (and then-Trump consigliere Rudy Giuliani separately admitted the same)–but that clearly didn’t stop any of them from trying to go through with the scheme anyway.
- Eastman also decided after the Jan. 6 attack that he deserved a presidential pardon. “I’ve decided that I should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works,” he wrote to Giuliani (he did not make it to the pardon list).
Trump Screeches For EQUAL TIME!!! Amid Jan. 6 Hearings
The ex-president is a little unhappy about how the House Jan. 6 Committee’s hearings have been featuring nary a Trump toady to disrupt the panel’s presentation of its damning discoveries, and he took to his fake Twitter app on Thursday to howl about the committee’s “one sided” hearings “go endlessly and aimlessly on (and on and on!).”
- Trump declared he was “hereby demanding EQUAL TIME” to lie about election fraud, though it’s not clear what he meant by that. It’s a safe bet to assume he’s not talking about testifying at one of the hearings himself.
- He demanded EQUAL TIME again a second time shortly after with a “I DEMAND EQUAL TIME!!!” post (or Truth, rather. And I guess it is the truth that he’s demanding equal time).
EU Takes First Step In Accepting Ukraine’s Membership Bid
The European Commission recommended Ukraine for E.U. candidacy on Friday, which is the first formal step in the process of accepting a new member in the organization, as Ukraine continues to fight against Russia’s unprovoked invasion.
On Thursday, the leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Romania visited Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky in Kiev to express their support for Ukraine’s potential E.U. membership.
Caption this:
Birx Will Be In The Hot Seat In First Public Hearing
Dr. Deborah Birx, Trump’s former COVID-19 White House response coordinator, is set to testify publicly for the first time since leaving the Trump administration in front of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. The hearing is scheduled for Thursday. She’s got a lot to talk about.
In Case You Missed It
GOP Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate and Big Lie acolyte Doug Mastriano has hired ex-Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis as his campaign’s legal adviser.
Gavin Newsom Joins Trump’s Twitter Knockoff For Some Trollin’
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced on Thursday that he made an account on Trump’s fake Twitter app, TRUTH Social, for “calling out Republican lies.” His first post is a troll video playing off conservatives’ Cities In Blue States Are Lawless Hellholes narrative, and I’ll post the Twitter version of it here in case you’re still waiting in line behind “millions” of people eagerly waiting to join the app, unlike me 💅
It looks like Newsom got the figures from Third Way, a centrist think tank.
Correction Of The Day
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