NEW: Earlier this year, @TYTInvestigates obtained unprecedented internal documents from The Family, the secretive religious group behind the National Prayer Breakfast (NPB).
The docs ID scores of people working with and for The Family around the world.
Of the 20 individuals named as inviting the most guests in 2016, two were international (see screengrab).
Of the 18 others, we could identify the politics of 13.
All but one were Republicans.
We're still analyzing all the info, but data slices show the same pattern.
When we looked at guests categorized at media, for instance, the National Prayer Breakfast guest list was overwhelmingly conservative, including the right-wing fringe.
Everyone in Congress (+ POTUS, SCOTUS, etc.) is automatically invited.
So we looked at guests identified as FORMER Congress. The breakdown, almost twice as many GOP as Dems invited.
We have also found clear signs of religious bias--not just against, obviously, secularism--but even within theism...
...and even within Christianity...
...and even within Protestantism.
The Family has defended inviting dictators to the National Prayer Breakfast by saying reconciliation requires engaging with enemies.
But left-wing leaders, even religious ones, are in short supply... so it's unclear how Democrats can justify claims of reconciliation.
With whom?
I know I'm missing stuff, so I hope you'll read the piece itself--The Family is NOT monolithic or a cartoon of religiosity.
The Family insiders tied to Baldwin were joined by other Family insiders now orbiting Lindell.
The center of gravity was the Lindell Foundation...which shifted from helping addicts...to funding evangelical causes... as Family insiders joined its board.
Why would Family insiders have any interest in Lindell?
At the time, he was known, if at all, only as a TV pillow pitchman.
But...
I should stop and explain.
Lindell became evangelical because him having a part in God's plan is the only way he can explain stuff that's happened in his life.
Note his book title.
And the logical fallacy it embodies.
For instance, Lindell says he was "randomly" picked to meet Ben Carson at the 2016 National Prayer Breakfast.
Here's what Carson's campaign manager, Bob Dees, told me:
Dees had ties to The Family, but Carson had just picked a new spox, @ALarryRoss, who sat on The Family board.
It was during that meeting with Carson and a dozen or so others, that Lindell heard a life-changing prophecy, that he has interpreted as applying to him.
It's actually almost a trope of The Family, with Biblical roots.
The prayer breakfast is ostensibly leaders of all kinds. The NPB leadership, however, had assembled a group at the 2016 breakfast to pray with Carson (and Lindell) that all agreed they wanted the GOP to win that year.
As Lindell writes in his book, it opened his eyes.
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Legal documents allege Manchin has a financial stake in at least two WV companies that pay less than $15/hour and would have to pay their workers more if Manchin (and @SenatorSynema) signed off.
Neither company appears in Manchin's ethics filing:
One of the companies is a La Quinta, reportedly owned by Emerald Coast Realty... which is partially held by AA Properties, which Manchin DOES disclose owning on his ethics filing.
Pete Buttigieg testifies today on his nomination to run the Dept. of Transportation.
I spent almost a year covering Buttigieg. He refused to speak with me, so I’m going to thread some of the things senators could ask him about today.
In 2011, Jiha’d Vasquez, 16, was found dead, hanged, on a utility tower.
In 2012, Buttigieg became mayor and Jiha’d’s mother asked him for help with the case. Common Council records show Buttigieg was at the meetings where she spoke about her son.
Jones and a local NAACP official wanted help because her son’s death had been ruled a suicide…with no autopsy and no investigation.
For the law and order party, a thread on the Dept. of Justice guidelines for who should be considered for clemency.
Enough time is supposed to elapse between serving sentence and clemency for the recipient to have demonstrated good character.
Five years.
FBI is supposed to do a background check to assess a clemency petitioner's reputation, involvement in the community and charitable activities.
Presidents are supposed to consider how granting clemency to those in power or who breached the public trust may undermine and erode the rule of law and deterrent effect.
They're supposed to consider the impact on law enforcement and the general public.
Love to see media telling us this is the last we'll hear of Trump.
As if they won't still cover him.
Literally telling us we won't hear anymore from the man they're endlessly analyzing and focusing on as he leaves.
For more on how we won't hear from Donald Trump anymore, we go now to our reporter in the field who just tried to ask Trump about how we won't hear from Trump anymore.
What can you tell us about what Trump said about how we won't cover Trump anymore?