It's 2:55 a.m. and I just figured out how Pence massaged the rules of the Electoral College counting session to avoid introducing the "rival" slates of Trump electors.
These are the instructions VPs have given out at the start in each of the last 5. Note the difference?
TLDR: The law specifies that the VP must introduce all "purported" electoral votes. This year, that might've included the unserious/mock Trump electors.
But Pence worked with the parliamentarian to interpret it so only electors backed by a state "authority" would be introduced.
Note how Pence emphasizes, before introduced each state that not only is the slate of electors "regular" and "authentic," but that the parliamentarian has advised him is the only one backed by a state "authority."
That is not a regular acknowledgment at these sessions.
A lot of people interested in this process. Even had Pence introduced these electors, which it’s not entirely clear he had authority to do, they would be legally invalid and unable to be counted by Congress. It would have accomplished nothing except making a lot of people angrier
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NEW: A week before Donald Trump surged past Hillary Clinton to win the presidency, author Michael Wolff approached Jeffrey Epstein with a proposal to "finish" Trump's candidacy.
MORE: The emails released by Congress reveal Epstein's vast connections -- and how he used them to track and influence Trump's orbit during his first term.
Epstein routinely opined to associates about Trump's policy moves , he advised foreign dignitaries and business leaders about Trump and he even tracked Trump's Air Force One travel (to avoid conflicts with his own frequent flights from S. Florida .politico.com/news/2025/11/1…
The emails released today shed new light on Epstein's vast influence network — foreign leaders, political bosses, billionaire executives, journalists, government officials — and how he used them to track and affect Trump's first term.
Some of the exchanges are extraordinary...
NEW: Jeffrey Epstein said in emails that he had been advising the Russian government on how to deal with Donald Trump, one of several cases in which he wielded his connections to try to influence the course of foreign affairs. w @nahaltoosi
@nahaltoosi In other emails, Epstein described his relationships with foreign leaders, advised Steve Bannon on how to increase his influence in Europe and offered his (mostly, but not entirely, dim) assesment of Trump to those who asked. politico.com/news/2025/11/1…
Judge Murphy cites to my Oct. 31 story about the extraordinary, one-sided rebuke judges have given to the Trump administration's policy of mass detention for immigrants facing deportation proceedings: more than 100 judges had ruled against the administration in around 200 cases.
The stats from two weeks ago included judicial rejections from :
-Biden appointees (50)
-Obama appointees (31)
-Trump appointees (12)
-George W. Bush appointees (12)
-Clinton appointees (6)
-Reagan appointees (2)
Compared to two judges who sided with the administration:
In the last two weeks, the number has skyrocketed in similarly lopsided ways. The current count, as of yesterday:
140 judges have now rejected the administration's policy of mass detention without bond — in at least 335 cases. The updated states, by my count:
Biden appointees: 60
Obama appointees: 38
George W. Bush appointees: 14
Trump appointees: 14
Clinton appointees: 10
Reagan appointees: 2
George H.W. Bush appointees: 2
Five judges have now sided with the administration
The sentencing memo by Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White noted that Taylor Taranto, pardoned by Trump but facing sentencing for other crimes, spread "conspiracy theories" about the attack. It also noted that Taranto stalked Barack Obama's neighborhood after Trump posted (and Taranto reposted) his address on Truth Social. politico.com/news/2025/10/2…
UPDATE: The original sentencing memo has been removed from the court docket, an unusual maneuver as new prosecutors take over the case. politico.com/news/2025/10/2…
BREAKING: Judge Immergut has called a 10PM (ET) hearing on Trump's effort to circumvent her National Guard order by calling up California troops.
NEW: Judge Immergut could quickly halt Trump's deployment of CA guard troops to Portland, a workaround that tested her warning that Trump's initial callup was illegal and based on false claims about the unrest facing ICE.
@joshgerstein @jonesblakej UPDATE: Hegseth today called up 400 members of the Texas National Guard, with Gov. Abbott's apparent permission, to be deployed "where needed, including in the cities of Portland and Chicago." politico.com/news/2025/10/0…
Judge IMMERGUT, a Trump appointee to the bench, ruled that Trump's call-up was based on false claims about unrest in Portland and that Trump's own statements were "simply untethered to the facts." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
MORE: Immergut issued a stark warning that the efforts by Trump to make a bad-faith justification to call up the guard risked plunging the country into a form of unconstitutional military rule.