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Republicans Continue to Cover Up Why Kash Patel Pled the Fifth

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emptywheel
Democrats are trying to figure out what Kash Patel believed, in October 2022, that he had criminal exposure in an Espionage Act investigation. And Chuck Grassley wants to use the fact that the FBI stalled the investigation into Donald Trump for two months as an excuse to refuse that. 
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Telling the Story of January 6 to the Judges Who Know It Best: The Two FBI Lawsuits

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emptywheel
One of two lawsuits to prevent the FBI from retaliating against Agents who conducted the January 6 investigation asserts, as part of an aggressive mandamus request, that a DOJ led by Trump's defense attorneys, "do[es] not have discretion to redefine the truth of January 6, 2021" in order to claim the work of FBI agents authorized by judges is illegal.
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Stephen Miller Claimed Elon Musk Was the One Elected in November

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emptywheel
Stephen Miller, who purportedly works for Trump (but who installed his spouse in Elon Musk's group as a minder), suggested yesterday that voters had elected Musk.
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Who Needs Intelligence Sharing?

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Peterr
On January 27th, an AP story appeared on the news website Military.com with the headline "Intelligence Sharing by the US and Its Allies Has Saved Lives. Trump Could Test Those Ties." Today, after watching what's been going on at USAID, DOJ, and with Mark Milley, it's no longer "could" - those ties *are* being tested.
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Trump Preparing to Fire FBI Agents Who Treated a Violent Attack on Congress as a Crime

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emptywheel
Trump is trying to make it a firing offense for the FBI to investigate people -- including some adjudged terrorists -- who attacked a co-equal branch of government.  And thus far, Senators who could stop it have done nothing.

"Tariffs will put your jobs at risk:" The Make-Believe Justification for Trump's Trade War

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emptywheel
Trump justified a tariff war with false claims about fentanyl deaths.
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Coping

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Ed Walker
You can't help anyone else if you don't take care of yourself.
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Some of the Ways Trump's Immigrant Invader Damaged America in Just Two Weeks

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emptywheel
Elon Musk and his flunkies have caused spectacular failure after failure. And even as they serially faceplant, Elon says we need to get rid of the unelected bureaucrats who are stealing democracy.
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How Senate Judiciary Committee Dems Fucked Up the Kash Patel Nomination Hearing

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emptywheel
Trump's DOJ is involved in a cover-up as we speak, a cover-up designed to hide how the aspiring FBI Director was complicit in Trump's efforts to retain classified documents in his insecure basement. But Democrats have not done what they need to do to impose a cost for that cover-up.
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Mark Zuckerberg Agrees to Turn Meta [Back] into a Pogrom Machine

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emptywheel
Mark Zuckerberg's $25 million agreement to lose to Trump in a lawsuit over Facebook's efforts to halt Trump's ongoing insurrection in 2021 is more than a bribe. It's also a soft commitment that the next time Trump uses Meta to incite violence, Meta won't stop the

Neoliberal Individuals

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Ed Walker
Professional Democrats have no idea where political power comes from.
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A Summary of Kash Patel's Disqualifications to Lead FBI

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emptywheel
Kash Patel will do and say anything to protect Trump and his flunkies -- up to and including risking the safety of members of Congress. Such a person would not serve as Director of FBI. He would serve as a means to turn government against Trump's adversaries. 
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Judge AliKhan Didn't Halt Trump's Funding Freeze Alone, Democracy Forward Did Too

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emptywheel
Coverage of the halt Judge Loren AliKhan ordered on Trump's cuts to federal funding focus on her actions. But the lawsuit itself arises from the kind of civil society networks that are crucial to battling fascist attacks on democracy and tolerance.
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Confirming Kash Patel Will Get Senators "Drug through the Streets"

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emptywheel
Kash Patel has suggested that a guy who threatened to drag Senators Lindsey Graham and Chuck Grassley in the streets and then assaulted the cops guarding them should not have been detained pretrial.
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After Yesterday's DOJ Purge, Pam Bondi Cannot Fulfill Promises Made at Her Confirmation Hearing

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emptywheel
When Dick Durbin asked Pam Bondi what she would do if matters pertaining to Qater or GEO -- both lobbying clients of hers -- came before DOJ, she twice said she would consult with the career ethics officials at DOJ. But DOJ just removed that guy, making the promise impossible to keep.
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Every DOJ Beat Journalist Fails to Mention a Dozen Judges Approved of 1512 Charge for January 6

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emptywheel
DOJ just launched an investigation into prosecutors who applied a law to January 6, 18 USC 1512(c)(2), in a way approved by over a dozen judges, at least four of them Trump appointees. 
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Stephen Miller Confesses that Trump Lied about Immigrants

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emptywheel
Stephen Miller is already frantically spinning new lies as it becomes clear Trump lied about how many migrants he could deport.
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Kash Patel Thinks Assault Defendants Should Be Able to Grab for Guns When Probation Officers Arrive

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emptywheel
Among the people aspiring FBI Director Kash Patel has claimed, in promoting the Jan6 Choir, proves that Jan6ers were subjected to a two-tier system of justice is Barton Shively, a guy who wasn't detained for assaulting two cops until he allegedly grabbed a gun when his probation officers showed up.
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Trump's Slop and Ouch First Week

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emptywheel
Underneath Trump's Shock and Awe that is doing grave damage to the Constitution and Trump's marginalized targets, there's a Slop and Ouch that targets everyone this side of his billionaire friends.