Several lessons for those who've been growling Merrick Garland about bringing an indictment against Bannon, and also about future cases. This didn't take weeks. It took 7 days.

The Justice Department does not bring these kind of charges. The US Attorney for DC District does../1
...the US Attorney, Matthew Graves, signed indictment filing. His nomination reported out of committee on 9/23. On 10/21, House voted to refer the Bannon charges for prosecution. On 10/28, Graves confirmed on voice vote. On 11/5, he was sworn in. *Never* would a politically.../2
...sensitive indictment be brought in the middle of a confirmation by an acting US Attorney, then handed off to the US Attorney after confirmation. All of the necessary work was done - that's why it was done in 7 days (which is fast for any indictment, no matter how easy you.../3
...think case might be.) That is enough time for Graves to review work already done (on legal issues is important element), sign off, allow for presentation for grand jury which sits only on particular days of week, have presentation to grand jury which hands up indictment.../4
...so, good for Graves. Now, folks who think this means something for Mark Meadows. It does & doesn't. Bannon had no basis for invoking anything to avoid testifying other than 5th Amendment. There is a legal question open as to whether a former president can invoke executive.../5
...privilege. I think it's nonsense, and you might too. But that's no matter. Trump invoked it, and Meadows can reasonably say he needs a court to rule on whether that is valid for him to know what to do. BUT...and this is a big but...executive privilege.../6
...applies to answering particular questions, *not* to testifying altogether. Perhaps the committee believes based on evidence it obtained that Meadows engaged in criminal activity without speaking to Trump. That is clearly not covered by executive privilege. Perhaps they.../7
...want to ask him about his conversations with every other person outside the White House leading up to that day, including people like Bannon. Clearly not covered. Executive privilege is not a cone of protection for everyone near Trump. So yes, whether Meadows answers.../8
...questions about his communications with Trump is an open legal question that he is in his right to seek judicial ruling on. But he is absolutely under no protection against testifying, and Trump has no power to stop him. His refusal to appear under subpoena is a crime..../9
...he and the committee could easily carve out sections of testimony that might be covered by privilege and agree to return to those sections later if courts rule that executive privilege does not extend to post-presidency.
end

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More from @kurteichenwald

7 Nov
GOPrs freak out about Big Bird & vaccines (I cant believe this is real) because they expect ignorant lunacy to be endlessly *indulged* to the detriment of society. This is not "wokeness"or "liberal." Helping kids to be less afraid of vaccines is kind, is good citizenship, is.../1
...everything the Trump GOP has lost. That the minority expects we have to terrify the majority of children because "the vaccine is a government plot" or "freedumb!" or "Bill Gates is injecting tracking devices" is the ultimate in demanding indulgence of adults' childish.../2
...delusions and nonsense. Notice, they think *they* have the "freedom" to infect everyone around them, to infect your child, to overflow hospitals, because Aunt Mabel has a friend on Facebook with a CIA Friend on Gab who says Vaccines contain microchips. They not only.../3
Read 6 tweets
1 Nov
"The Great Resignation" is not about people not wanting to work. It is about a dawning recognition that, for a larger and larger portion of this country, the American dream is dead, and with it, the inspiration of working toward a better future for oneself. Instead, work.../1
...becomes not the means towards reaching an aspiration - a spouse, children, a home, vacations, personal growth, a retirement. Instead, the greed culture has turned work for millions into just a means of survival, with wages stagnant, healthcare unaffordable, insurance....
....treated as a luxury, paid free time an impossibility, children unaffordable, homes a dream. Yes, work is important - but not without the promise of a future. Many young people see nothing but 40 years of the same, further enriching the obscenely rich. This system has...
Read 14 tweets
17 Oct
How @DCComics owned @FoxNews @WashTimes & all conserv media:

DC announces Superman's"Truth Justice & American Way" slogan now "Truth Justice & Better Tomorrow." Conservs go nuts, giving DC tons of publicity.

American Way rarely been his slogan. Hasn't been for a long time.../1
..."American Way" was never in original comics. It was from the radio show in the 1940s in support of the troops when Superman was helping in fighting Nazis. (Ya know, our current MAGA types.) When radio show ended, so did "American Way." Then, it came back with the TV show.../2
...in the 1950s, right at the opening moments of the Cold War. It got canceled, and by the early 60s, it was ""truth justice and freedom" in the kids cartoons. (The comics still had nothing.) It came back again in 1978, when Christopher Reeve said it in Superman movie.../3
Read 6 tweets
13 Oct
With their constant threat of defaulting on the federal debt, the GOP has been unknowingly (?) providing aid and comfort to Russia and China, which have been engaged in a quiet financial war against the USA since the last two years of the Trump Administration. If it happens.../1
...in December, the world we know now could forever be changed; America's financial supremacy will end in a brutal crash. China and Russia have been engaged in a massive buildup of gold in the last few years. Banking experts say this is a transparent preparation for an attack../2
...on the long-term supremacy of the dollar. Chinese officials is in position for the yuan to take over the dollar in China’s trade and has the gold to back it up. If Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling, the damage to the dollar would be ruinous, permanently marring it.../3
Read 6 tweets
12 Oct
Clinton brought deficit to $0. GW Bush ran it up, pushing debt up trillions through tax cuts & spending. Required raising debt limit in early Obama but GOP pushed toward economic collapse, lying that the debt was Obama's. Then Obama cut deficit by 50%. Trump pushed deficit up../1
...*in a strong economy* & grew the debt by $7 trillion. Once again, because the GOP massively grew the debt, the debt limit must be raised *to pay for all the old debts.* And once again, the GOP is pretending the debt is Biden's (even though we've been under Trumpo's budge.../2
...for all of Biden's presidency.) The GOP gets out the credit card, runs up the debt, loses the white house, flops on the couch, hands the bill to the dems, says "We're not paying that, we're not letting you do it either. But if our credit rating gets hurt, it's your fault"../3
Read 9 tweets
11 Sep
I wasn't going to tweet today, but... @dallasnews had stories on vaccine/testing mandates, and then the Texas fights against masks under a big headline, "HEALTH OR CIVIL LIBERTIES?"

Goddamit! "I do what I want" is NOT civil liberties. Public health measures in a pandemic...1
...is not "health." As the National Constitution Center says, civil liberties are “basic rights and freedoms guaranteed to individuals as protection from any arbitrary actions or other interference of the government without due process of law.” Simply put, they're the basic...2
...rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. Again, "I don' wanna" doesn't fall into that category. Children are required to get vaccinated to go to school. we are required to get vaccinated to go overseas, people are required to get mega-vaccinated to join the....3
Read 7 tweets

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