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Johnny McEntee: Enforcer of Trump's Authority to Invoke the Insurrection Act

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emptywheel
Johnny McEntee likely testified to a grand jury last Friday about a potentially exculpatory comment he claims he heard Trump make to Mike Flynn. But along the way he may have been asked about his role in Trump's plan to use the National Guard to protect him as he marched on the Capitol.
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"Several Work and Storage Areas:" Why DOJ Likely Doesn't Trust Biden's Personal Attorneys

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emptywheel
Until Biden's lawyers answer some key questions about where the documents found this month were stored -- whether an actively used office or a storage space -- there's no reason to believe their story of cooperation is any more complete than Trump's was.
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What We Can't Rule Out with Biden's Classified Documents

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emptywheel
While one thing still distinguishes Trump's classified documents from Biden's -- his refusal to give them back -- we can't rule out that Biden's share some of the more damning details present with Trump.

On emptywheel's Continued Obsession with Delayed Oligarch Associate Arrests

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emptywheel
DOJ chose to prosecute the guys who allegedly helped launder the Viktor Veklesberg seized in May in DC.
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The Primary Thing Eric Herschmann Remembers from January 6 Is that Cassidy Hutchinson Was Wrong about That Note

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emptywheel
Even though he became a star witness of the January 6 hearings with his potty-mouth attacks on other lawyers, Eric Herschmann didn't remember a lot of details that Cassidy Hutchinson did about January 6.
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Special Master in Project Veritas Investigation Reviewed Crime-Fraud Submissions in December

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emptywheel
The same week that Project Veritas' law firm withdrew from the Special Master case in the Ashley Biden investigation, Special Master Barbara Jones reviewed crime fraud submissions.

SCOTUS Is Wrecking The Societal Safety Net

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Ed Walker
SCOTUS protects itself from the consequences of its decisions. No one protects us.
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Trump Worked with People Who Allegedly Worked with the Proud Boys to Obstruct the Peaceful Transfer of Power

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emptywheel
As the Proud Boys trial gets underway, finally, prosecutors are beginning to show how the Proud Boys worked with people -- Alex Jones, Ali Alexander, and Roger Stone -- who in turn worked with Donald Trump in what ended up being a successful attempt to obstruct the certification of Donald Trump's loss.
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Three Things: California Carrot Cataclysm

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Rayne
What's weird about carrots for all their popularity and straightforward consumption, is how little the average American knows about them — and about U.S. agriculture at large.
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How Legal Certainty about 1512(c)(2) Has Wobbled Even as Certainty Trump Violated It Increased

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emptywheel
No matter how much work Jack Smith and his team get accomplished in the weeks ahead, it will be hamstrung by appellate uncertainty around the one charge, 18 USC 1512(c)(2), that most people agree should be used to hold Trump accountable. 
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Why Trump's Lawyer, Evan Corcoran, Says Joe Biden Couldn't Violate 18 USC 1924

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emptywheel
Trump's lawyer, Evan Corcoran, argued last May that 18 USC 1924 -- which many Twitter experts claim is at issue with Biden's classified documents -- cannot apply to the President. If his analysis is correct, it also cannot apply to the Vice President.
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If the Former President Gets Top Billing in a Sedition Trial But You Didn't Bother to Notice ...

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emptywheel
Charlie Pierce wants trials the likes of the Nuremberg Trials, which were so powerful because the architects of an authoritarian conspiracy were tied to the events that took place at the crime scene. And DOJ took a key step in doing that week -- a key step in an effort that has been obviously in the works for 18 months, an effort that started on January 4, 2021, when Enrique Tarrio's phone was seized. And yet Charlie Pierce has seen no evidence of that. 
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JBG And Other Trash Talk

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bmaz
Jeff Beck has passed away. He was not in the Beatles, not in the Stones, nor in The Who or Experience. But Jeff Beck could really play guitar. RIP Mr. Beck. There is professional football afoot too. Squawks are at the Niners. Brock Purdy…
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Kash Patel Wants the Insurrection Protection Committee to Investigate Why Robert Hur Tried to Protect Past Ongoing Investigations

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emptywheel
Kash Patel thinks the first thing the Insurrection Protection Committee should investigate is why Robert Hur, as a senior DOJ official, tried to uphold DOJ's policies on protecting ongoing investigations.

Merrick Garland Appoints a Special Counsel in Biden Documents Case

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emptywheel
Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigation the classified documents at Biden's home.
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Yes, It Turned Out January 6 Committee Endangered the DOJ Investigation by Withholding the Jeremy Bertino Transcript in June

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emptywheel
In June, I laid out precisely why sharing Jeremy Bertino's January 6 transcript with Proud Boy prosecutors was urgent. As the trial kicks off, it has become clear just how right I was.
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Follow the Money, Break the Attorney-Client Wall of Obstruction

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emptywheel
Jack Smith is leading two investigations in which at least 26 key witnesses or subjects are lawyers. One way to break through the wall of privilege Trump his hiding behind is to investigate how false claims of vote fraud paid for suspect legal representation to obstruct this investigation.

BREAKING: James Comer Jumps Right on Hunter Biden's Dick Pics

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emptywheel
James Comer has made it his top priority -- the very first thing he did as Chair! -- to schedule a hearing so he can learn why Twitter prevented him from accessing pictures of Hunter Biden's dick leading up to the 2020 election.

Matt Taibbi Confesses He Hasn't Read His Own Twitter Files

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emptywheel
Matt "MattyDickPics" Taibbi claimed yesterday that when the FBI shares election-related misinformation, it has not tie to "case-building." In December, MattyDickPics proved that claim is false.

Several Missing Details about the Classified Documents at Penn Biden

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emptywheel
Amid the reporting on classified documents found at Penn Biden, none has considered the possibility that the documents were taken there by someone other than Joe Biden.