davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz
@davidkurtz.bsky.social
48K followers 65 following 2.5K posts
TPM editor at large + all things Morning Memo: https://morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com/ Signal: davidkurtz.88 Proton: [email protected]
morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 13h
Exceptional essay from @brianbeutler.bsky.social:

"If the politics of tyranny were self-discrediting, we wouldn't need mantras like 'never again.'"

"Despotism doesn’t impose itself on everyone all at once. It creeps inward from the margins of society."

www.offmessage.net/p/the-median...
The Median Experience Of Tyranny
If the politics of tyranny were self-discrediting, we wouldn't need mantras like "never again."
www.offmessage.net
34 100
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 13h
Inside Stephen Miller’s Secret Plan to Normalize Trump’s Dictator Rule newrepublic.com/article/2014... via @newrepublic.com
Inside Stephen Miller’s Secret Plan to Normalize Trump’s Dictator Rule
He wants to supercharge searing civil tensions to get low-information voters to embrace their inner authoritarian. Exactly two Democrats appear to fully grasp this.
newrepublic.com
2 10 23
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 13h
Morning Memo, chronicling the Trump II depredations each weekday:

morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com
Morning Memo | TPM | Substack
The essential political news roundup from David Kurtz and the team at TPM. Click to read Morning Memo, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.
morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com
1 3
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 13h
Final point: Halligan is still likely to face a challenge to the validity of her appointment as interim USA, same as Trump interim USAs in NJ and NV. If Comey or another EDVA defendant wins, it would likely nullify the Comey indictment that Halligan personally presented to the grand jury.
1 1 6
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 13h
(3) It confirms that the point of Trump’s politically motivated prosecutions is to damage the target’s reputation, force them to spend time and money defending themselves, and wrong-foot them on the political playing field. A successful conviction is just icing; it’s not the ultimate objective.
1 4
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 13h
What’s it all mean?

(1) It reinforces Halligan’s prosecutorial misconduct in seeking an indictment against Comey despite the fatal flaws with the case already identified and spelled out by prosecutors.

(2) It shows how vulnerable the case will be to dismissal before it ever gets to trial.
2 4
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 13h
As I read the ABC News story, the quoted phrases “problematic” and “likely insurmountable problems” are directly from the memo declining to prosecute:
1 4
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 13h
ABC News has consistently had good sources seemingly from within the EDVA USAO. Its sources for the latest story are familiar with the contents of the internal memo in which career prosecutors laid out the reasons for not seeking an indictment of Comey.
1 3
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 13h
Prior reporting had suggested that a key witness in the bogus prosecution of former FBI Director Jim Comey was not helpful to prosecutors, but ABC News has a new story out that expands on the obstacle the witness presents to interim USA Lindsey Halligan’s case.
talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...
Key Witness Undercuts Trump DOJ’s Witch Hunt Against Jim Comey
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This...
talkingpointsmemo.com
2 14 66
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 1d
Morning Memo, your go-to for only the essential political news in the topsy-turvy Trump II era:

morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com
Morning Memo | TPM | Substack
The essential political news roundup from David Kurtz and the team at TPM. Click to read Morning Memo, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.
morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com
2
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 1d
Investigators in the D.C. USAO had scrutinized Comey for years without finding any chargeable offenses.

After two months, Virginia prosecutors came to the same conclusions, ABC News reported.

But Halligan rebuffed the decision not to charge Comey and personally brought the case to a grand jury.
1 2 7
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 1d
Meanwhile, ABC News reported that former Special Counsel John Durham “told federal prosecutors investigating James Comey that he was unable to uncover evidence that would support false statements or obstruction charges against the former FBI director.”

Durham wasn’t alone.
1 1 4
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 1d
The exact timing of the unfolding clash remain unclear. MSNBC reported that Yusi expects to present her declination decision in the James case to newly installed interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan “in the coming weeks.”
1 4
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 1d
With from President Trump to charge James, the refusal by Elizabeth Yusi in the EDVA has attorneys in the office bracing for her firing, MSNBC reports. The Guardian subsequently confirmed the gist of the MSNBC report that Yusi doesn’t believe she has probable cause to charge James.
1 3
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 1d
A career federal prosecutor in Virginia is reportedly poised to decline to bring a criminal case against New York Attorney General Letitia James on bogus mortgage fraud charges drummed up by the Trump administration.

talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...
Lindsey Halligan Will Have to Overrule Career Prosecutors to Indict Letitia James
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This...
talkingpointsmemo.com
5 26 82
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 2d
And none of that qualified for as the craziest story of the weekend. Catch up on what you missed with today's Morning Memo:

morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com
Morning Memo | TPM | Substack
The essential political news roundup from David Kurtz and the team at TPM. Click to read Morning Memo, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.
morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com
1 4 11
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 2d
~FBI agent suspended for refusing to perp walk Comey
~Fired prosecutor tapes warning to office door that "leadership is more concerned with punishing the President’s perceived enemies than they are with protecting our natl security.”
~Judge Boasberg admonishes prosecutors for attacking magistrate
1 1 16
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 2d
Just a normal weekend in Trump's America:
~Major new constitutional clash erupts in Oregon as Trump admin defies court order over nat'l guard
~Finding “realistic likelihood” that Abrego Garcia is victim of vindictive prosecution, judge calls out DAG Todd Blanche
talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...
A Major New Constitutional Clash Erupts in Oregon
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This...
talkingpointsmemo.com
3 20 75
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 5d
That and much, much more in today's installment of Morning Memo:

morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com
Morning Memo | TPM | Substack
The essential political news roundup from David Kurtz and the team at TPM. Click to read Morning Memo, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.
morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com
2
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 5d
Monaco, as the No. 2 at DOJ during the Biden administration, oversaw the prosecutions of Trump, who last week demanded that Microsoft fire her as its president of global affairs.
1 1 4
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 5d
Also, two longtime career EDVA prosecutors who both worked as advisers to then-Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco during the Biden administration have been fired since Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan became the new U.S. attorney there.
1 1 2
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 5d
The hits just keep coming at the Justice Department, including the FBI, as new purges come to light. Among the latest moves: FBI Director Kash Patel fired a new agent trainee for displaying a gay pride flag on his desk last year when he was a FBI support staffer
talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...
Day by Day, Trump Brings DOJ More Fully Under His Thumb
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This...
talkingpointsmemo.com
2 11 25
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 6d
The shutdown isn’t an impasse over legislation. It’s not the old “gridlock” in Washington. It’s not even a partisan fight in the traditional sense. Trump and the MAGA hordes have laid siege to the gov't from inside its walls, much as they auto-couped on Jan. 6.
talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...
Trump Lays Siege To The Federal Government From Inside Its Walls
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This...
talkingpointsmemo.com
5 40 110
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 8d
Morning Memo, chronicling the Trump II depredations so you can stay informed, not overwhelmed:

morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com
Morning Memo | TPM | Substack
The essential political news roundup from David Kurtz and the team at TPM. Click to read Morning Memo, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.
morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com
4 14
davidkurtz.bsky.social
David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 8d
“The U.S. is engaged in a counterdrug-cartel operation, and any claim that we are coordinating with anyone on anything other than this targeted effort is completely false,” a State Department spokesperson told the NYT.

The new jingoism is the same as the old jingoism.
1 2 11