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Lurid Realities: Trump Implies That Selling Nuclear Secrets Is Treason

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emptywheel
In Trump's reply arguing he has absolute immunity for things he did as President, Trump's lawyers seem to argue that if Trump sold nuclear secrets to America's adversaries -- rather than just giving them away to allied businessmen who bought access -- it would be treason.
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Trump Is Going Through the Motions to Dismiss until He Resumes the Presidency

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emptywheel
There are big gaps in the Motions to Dismiss that Trump submitted this week. They may suggest where his lawyers think his defense is weakest.
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Rights Without Reason

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Ed Walker
Introducing a new series with some preliminary thoughts and a new book.
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Hunter Biden['s "Laptop"] Goes to SCOTUS: How Judge Doughty Helped China and Iran Attack the US

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emptywheel
The right wing wants to limit how the FBI can work to keep the United States safe from Iranian and Chinese hacks because they believe conspiracy theories about the "Hunter Biden" "laptop."
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Like Taylor Taranto, Trump Tries to Excuse Threats by Invoking the First Amendment

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emptywheel
In a response to Trump's bid to stay the gag order in his January 6 case, DOJ cited how, as Taylor Taranto responded to a post from Trump by stalking Barack Obama, Taranto did the same thing Trump does: Invoked the First Amendment to justify his stalking.
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"Leave the Rest to" Mike Johnson: Republicans Prepare to Elect Key Jan6 Figure as Speaker

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emptywheel
Given the way Tom Emmer was shivved to make way for Mike Johnson as Speaker Designate, it increasingly looks like this process of picking a Speaker is a process designed to oust those who did support their oaths on January 6 and replace them with people who could find excuses to pick Donald Trump in 2025.
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Cautions on ABC's Huge Mark Meadows Scoop

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emptywheel
The stories Mark Meadows has told in DC and in Fulton County appear to conflict. And that may explain why ABC got a huge scoop revealing what Mark Meadows testified to Jack Smith, once in immunized testimony, to the grand jury.
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Trump's Motions to Dismiss Things That Aren't the Charges Against Him

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emptywheel
In four motions to dismiss the indictments (or the most inflammatory parts of them) against him, Trump dodges the actual crimes charged against him.
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Trump's First Amendment Defense of Mobilizing His Violent Mob

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emptywheel
Trump's motion for a stay of his gag doesn't just defend his own right to make violent threats about trial witnesses; he also defends the right of his mob to amplify such threats.
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Donald Trump Raises Conflict Concerns about His Mike Flynn Pardon

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emptywheel
Just days after DOJ submitted a filing arguing that a pardon used as a quid pro quo would be unlawful, Trump claims that Sidney Powell couldn't have been his lawyer on November 25, 2020 when she filed a lawsuit he demanded, because she was conflicted.
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As the GOP House Burns, James Comer Keeps Sniffing Dick Pics

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emptywheel
Why is James Comer continuing to waste taxpayer dollars rifling through the plumbing repair and vet visit payments of the Biden family when Republicans can't even keep the House open?
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Television by Frank Okay via Unsplash

Breathing Room: What Are You Streaming Now?

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Rayne
It's the perfect weekend for binge watching streaming series or movies. What have you been watching that you’d recommend? What have you been watching that you think we should avoid? This is an open thread.
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Buried in DOJ's Absolute Immunity Response, a Comment on Trump's Suspected Zenith Crimes

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emptywheel
DOJ's response to Trump's claim of absolute immunity is substantially a discussion of an indictment that describes actions Trump took as a candidate, often with those outside government, in ways that usurped the authorities reserved to states and Congress. But at several points in the filing, DOJ invites review of other potential crimes, crimes conducted at the zenith of Presidential power, but crimes that may -- must -- otherwise be illegal, if no man is above the law.
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Mike Flynn Invites DOJ to Review Judge Emmet Sullivan's Non-Exoneration

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emptywheel
After Trump pardoned Flynn in November 2020, Judge Emmet Sullivan wrote a carefully crafted opinion noting he was dismissing Flynn's prosecution not because Flynn was innocent, but because Trump's pardon mooted it. DOJ is now relying on that opinion in a bid to dismiss Flynn's claims of malicious prosecution.
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The House GOP is not Pining for the Fjords

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Peterr
The House GOP is not pining for the fjords. It has kicked the bucket, shuffled off this mortal coil, rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-party.
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Judge Karen Henderson May Not Believe Holding the Presidency Is a Professional Benefit

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emptywheel
In reviewing the application of 18 USC 1512(c)(2) to January 6, self-imagined conservatives keep reaching well beyond the decision before them to try to carve up obstruction in such a way that stealing an election is not corrupt. 
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Stan Woodward Blows Off Any Duty of Loyalty to His Former Client

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emptywheel
In a hearing last week, Stan Woodward call any duty of loyalty to a past client "hypothetical." Yesterday, he simply ignored the issue, portraying privilege of existing solely of confidentiality, not loyalty.
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