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Trophy Documents: The Entire Point Was to Make FBI Obedient

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emptywheel
The leak to the WaPo about a dispute last summer about the stolen document investigation is concerning for what it reveals about how cowed Washington FBI agents remain by Trump's bullying. But it raises new concerns about a leak to Devlin Barrett in November, which seemed another attempt to preempt further investigation.
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Two of Jim Jordan's So-Called Whistleblowers Are Under Investigation for Improper Treatment of FBI Files

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emptywheel
Two of the FBI Agents that Jim Jordan claims to be whistleblowers are themselves under investigation for improperly accessing -- and in one case, leaking -- FBI files. Both have been paid money that may be part of the larger Trump investigation.
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How Would You Arrest a Former President?

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emptywheel
One way Jack Smith might arrest Trump is to arrest him, first, on a limited charge related to the crime scene, then supersede him on the other charges still being investigated.
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DOJ Says Inciting a Riot Is Not Part of the President's Job Description

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emptywheel
DOJ wrote a cautiously crafted amicus opining that inciting a mob was not within Donald Trump's job description.
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Did Steven D’Antuono Make It Easier for Trump to Steal 47 Classified Documents?

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emptywheel
By treating Trump differently than any other person suspected of stealing classified documents, Steven D’Antuono may have given Trump the opportunity to steal another 47 documents.
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Douglass Mackey Allegedly Aimed to Depress Black Turnout in Pennsylvania

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emptywheel
According to messages EDNY wants to introduce at the Douglass Mackey trial, his goal was to depress turnout of Black voters in Pennsylvania -- a goal that perfectly enhanced Paul Manafort's plan to win.
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Release the Kraken: Fox News' Revolving Sidney Powell Conspiracy Theory Door

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emptywheel
It's not just that Dominion has laid out damning evidence that Fox knowingly and falsely accused it of fraud. But discovery in this suit appears to have produced abundant evidence that the campaign itself knew it was recycling fraudulent claims Fox was peddling to keep Trump loyal.
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Marjorie Taylor Greene Admits Kevin McCarthy Should Have Considered National Security before Harming It

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emptywheel
Marjorie Taylor Greene acknowledges that if Russia gets access to the sensitive surveillance footage to which Kevin McCarthy has provided exclusive access to Tucker Carlson, it will compromise the security of the Capitol. But it's too late to consider that now.
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BREAKING from Fox News: Trump Cheated ... and He Still Couldn't Beat Joe Biden

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emptywheel
When Rupert Murdoch is forced to answer questions about the 2020 election under oath, it becomes clear the extent to which Fox News was -- is! -- covering up what a loser (Rupert knows that) Trump is. 

The Search For The Origins Of The State

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Ed Walker
Were early societies "states" in the modern sense? Nope.
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How Holes in Ivanka's Testimony Could Help Make an Obstruction Case against Her Father

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emptywheel
In testimony before the January 6 Committee, Ivanka and Eric Herschmann both failed to recall key details of Trump's refusal to ask his rioters to leave the Capitol. For several reasons, one or both may end up remembering more of those details before a Jack Smith grand jury.
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The Biden Administration Staved Off Russia's First Round of InfoWar on Ukraine, But How about the Second?

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emptywheel
The year anniversary of Russia's expanded invasion of Ukraine offers a lesson of what the Biden Administration did right. But it's not clear it has an answer for the second phase of the information war, in which large swaths of the Republican party back Russia to undermine his Administration.
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Trump's "Receptionist of the US" Deletes Her Trip to Russia

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emptywheel
The woman reported to be the Trump aide who had classified documents in her possession deleted a LinkedIn reference to travel to Russia.
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"Wink:" Where Jeff Gerth's "No There, There" in the Russian Investigation Went

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emptywheel
On July 28, 2017, Robert Mueller's investigators served two warrants on the company (probably Rackspace) that hosted Paul Manafort's DMP emails to obtain Manafort, Rick Gates, and Konstantin Kilimnik's company emails. Mueller obtained several…
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Maggie Haberman's Foray into Campaign Finance Journalism

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emptywheel
For some reason, Maggie Haberman went to FEC filings to understand a prong of the January 6 investigation that might implicate her sources rather than the January 6 Committee transcripts where she is named personally.
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Trial by Combat: Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman Speeches Included in Ed Badalian Exhibit List

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emptywheel
In the case where you can draw the clearest line between things that Trump and Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman said at the January 6 rally to an assault at the Capitol -- Danny Rodriguez' near-murder of Michael Fanone -- DOJ has laid the ground work to demonstrate that clear line.
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The Evolving Robert Costello - Steve Bannon Timeline

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emptywheel
Last year, Robert Costello said he had worked with Steve Bannon for three years. In a lawsuit trying to force Bannon to pay for legal services, Costello's firm said they started working with Bannon in late 2020. The discrepancy may involve "Hunter Biden's" "laptop."
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Pence's Previously Redacted Documents and The Corcoran Scapegoating

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emptywheel
There's a funny story about Trump's stolen document lawyers that neglects to mention Boris Epshteyn.
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Kevin McCarthy Makes Sensitive Security Footage Available to the Insurrectionists' Propagandist

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emptywheel
Two hours before Marjorie Taylor Greene took credit for Kevin McCarthy's decision to give Tucker Carlson access to all the security footage from January 6, she called for Civil War.
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James Comer's Twitter Hearing Confirmed Donald Trump's Censorship Attempt and Matt Taibbi's "Censorship" about It

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emptywheel
James Comer's hearing on Twitter proved two things: The single instance of government censorship proven at the hearing involved Trump's attempt to censor a tweet calling him "pussy ass bitch," and Matt Taibbi had obscured -- according to his own false terms, "censored" -- that incident.