Lots of issues occurred. Listed below are among the issues. That is TPM’s Morning Memo. What’s Subsequent For Jack Smith? After successful on the appeals courtroom late Wednesday, Particular Counsel Jack Smith wasted no time in hauling former Vice…
Lots of issues occurred. Listed below are among the issues. That is TPM’s Morning Memo.
What’s Subsequent For Jack Smith?
After successful on the appeals courtroom late Wednesday, Particular Counsel Jack Smith wasted no time in hauling former Vice President Mike Pence earlier than a DC federal grand jury investigating the Trump-led effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Further safety and an arriving motorcade on the federal courthouse had been the primary clues Thursday morning that one thing was up. Pence testified earlier than the grand jury for a lot of the day earlier than motorcades had been noticed leaving the underground parking storage within the late afternoon. Quickly after that, main information outlet started reporting that it was in reality Pence.
Pence, a major goal of President Trump and rioters (don’t ever neglect the “Cling Pence” chants on the Capitol), has the air of a home abuse sufferer. His testimony is important to the case, however he’s been reluctant to activate his former political companion. When he has turned on him, it’s been short-lived and adopted by excusing-making for Trump and extra enabling.
It took months of negotiations, a grand jury subpoena, and two parallel courtroom proceedings, together with Wednesday’s appeals courtroom ruling, earlier than Pence would offer his account beneath oath.
Whereas no particulars of Pence’s testimony have but emerged, the very fact of it suggests we’re nearer to the tip of Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 investigation than the start (that’s nearly actually true as effectively of Smith’s Mar-a-Lago probe, which by practically each account is farther alongside). It’s under no circumstances clear after we ought to count on to see charging choices by Smith. Among the many many unknowns:
- Will Smith proceed first in opposition to a layer of figures between the Proud Boys/Oath Keepers and the White Home?
- Will Smith work his means as much as Trump with costs in opposition to decrease degree figures straight inside Trump’s orbit?
- Will Smith first receive responsible pleas and cooperation from folks near Trump? Has he maybe already executed so however stored it beneath wraps?
And naturally, whereas it now appears unlikely, it’s doable Smith costs nobody in his Jan. 6 probe.
A Look At Jack Smith’s Group
ABC Information has a superb rundown of the attorneys working with Particular Counsel Jack Smith.
It All Began At ‘Good Morning’
E. Jean Carroll seems to have held her personal by a full day of cross examination on the stand by Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina.
Issues began testy and by no means let up:
Cross-examining E. Jean Carroll is Joe Tacopina.
Tacopina: “Good morning, Ms. Carroll.”
(Silence)
Tacopina: (considerably louder) “Good morning, Ms. Carroll.”
(Pause)
Carroll: “Good morning.”
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) April 27, 2023
No trial at this time. The cross examination of Carroll is ready to renew Monday.
So Mockable
Whereas Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was strutting round Thursday like a bantam rooster after he struggled to get his convention to cross their dream debt-ceiling invoice, Senate Dems had been laughing at him.
Watch The Politics Of Abortion Shift In Actual Time
Republican-dominated legislatures in South Carolina and Nebraska didn’t advance new abortion restrictions Thursday within the face of pushback by some conservative legislators.
Painful To Watch
Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D), the physique’s solely transgender member, spent Thursday engaged on a bench in a hallway exterior the Home chamber from which she has been banned by the GOP majority.
New Anti-Trans Regulation In Kansas
The GOP-controlled legislature in Kansas overrode the veto of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly to cross one of the sweeping anti-trans lavatory payments within the nation.
Blowback In Florida
Retired NBA star Dwyane Wade, who gained three championships with the Miami Warmth and is the group’s all-time main scorer, reveals he moved his household out of Florida due to the anti-LGBT environment. Wade has a transgender teen.
Emmett Until Accuser Dies
Carolyn Bryant Donham, the lady whose accusations in opposition to Emmett Until instantly preceded his lynching, has died in Louisiana at age 88
Matches The Profile
Jack Teixeira, the accused Discord leaker hailed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) as “white, male, christian, and antiwar,” was armed to the enamel and fantasized about mass shootings, prosecutors allege.
‘We Bought Him’
The Washington Put up has obtained tons of of photographs taken on the White Home on the day Osama Bin Laden was killed in a U.S. army raid.
LOL Elon
New York Metropolis’s Metropolitan Transit Authority will not challenge real-time service alerts on Twitter after Twitter tried to gouge $50,000 a month from the transit company for the privilege.
Lede Of The Day
AP: “Personal armed guards aboard a well-known yacht as soon as owned by the late Welsh actor Richard Burton opened fireplace on Yemeni Coast Guard members Friday after mistaking them for pirates, sparking a gunfight within the Gulf of Aden, authorities mentioned. It wasn’t instantly clear if anybody was wounded.”
2024 Ephemera
- Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV) jumped into the race in opposition to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV).
- NYT: High Republicans Balk at WinRed’s Plan to Cost Extra for On-line Donations
- Is Donald Trump impersonating Herman Munster? What is going on?
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