Interesting note re #January6thCommitteeHearings today:
Per NYT:
Eastman “claimed in an email after Election Day 2020 to have insight into a ‘heated fight’ among [SCOTUS] justices over whether to hear arguments about the president’s efforts to overturn his defeat at the polls
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Eastman reportedly made the comment as part of an exchange with another lawyer & “Trump campaign officials” over whether to file an appeal to the high court in support of a Wis election case #January6thCommittee has this email
And there is heavy inference to Ginni Thomas
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NYT/Eastman email: “‘So the odds are not based on the legal merits but an assessment of the justices’ spines, and I understand that there is a heated fight underway,’ Mr. Eastman wrote..
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"Referring to the process by which at least four justices are needed to take up a case, he added, ‘For those willing to do their duty, we should help them by giving them a Wisconsin cert petition to add into the mix.’”
The Ginni Thomas/Eastman plot revelations continue
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HOLY smokes:
Hearing this am: @January6thCmte has docu footage showing a man who took part in a 1/5 tour of the Capitol complex with GOP Rep Barry Loudermilk outside the Capitol the following day
Yelling threats at members of Congress
– including Pelosi
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Cmte has video of this person taking part in the Loudermilk tour on 1/5
And documentary footage of the same man outside the Capitol on 1/6
This person has given testimony to the cmte
They're in deep consult re how to release this
May do so publicly (like Cheney last night)
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Loudermilk is (of course) still hitting back
Saying Cmte's "irresponsible accusations" are causing him to receive death threats
-BUT the video .. so ..
Stay tuned
This plot is thickening FAST //
Hearing today's #January6thCommitteeHearings will focus on "the Big Lie"
2 witness panels
First: Stirewalt & Stepien
Dunno if Stepien will be a "friendly" witness
Second: Ginsburg, Schmidt & Pak
-the lawyers ..
Brief witness rundown follows
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Trump fmr Campaign Mgr Bill Stepien is appearing under subpoena
He helped craft a strategy to legally challenge the results (even tho he knew they'd lost)
He resigned when Giuliani/Ellis et all started taking control of the effort
Stepien was the adult in the campaign #s guy
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Chris Stirewalt is a former Fox News political editor Stirewalt was part of the Fox News team that called Arizona on Election Night for Biden
Which infuriated Trump & his senior aides
So they got him fired
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Fmr Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson
-who told Jan 6th Cmte Trump supported "Hang Mike Pence"
Is likely to testify in public hearings
& may be "the next John Dean"
What to expect from the hearings 👇
Gifted, no paywall
Also: "Hutchinson is likely to testify live before the committee, complemented by video footage of previous interviews before investigators, according to a person familiar with the investigation.
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"Hutchinson has recalled for the committee various episodes in the chaotic scramble to sustain Trump’s election-fraud falsehood. A former mid-level aide, she kept detailed schedules of movements in the West Wing and had extensive conversations with Meadows .."
Read this piece ☝️
Remember Trump lawyer/election denier Cleta Mitchell who tried to help Trump overturn 2020?
Welp now she's working with RNC & recruiting election conspiracists "into an organized cavalry of activists monitoring elections"
This isn't going away ..
🧵: nytimes.com/2022/05/30/us/…
2/"In seminars around the country, Ms. Mitchell is marshaling volunteers to stake out election offices, file information requests, monitor voting, work at polling places and keep detailed records of their work.
3/"She has tapped into a network of grass-root groups that promote misinformation and espouse wild theories about the 2020 election, including the fiction that President Biden’s victory could still be decertified and Mr. Trump reinstated.
It's important to note that as President, Biden's role in forcing legislative action on #GunControl is pretty limited
With a have a hyper-partisan 50/50 Senate
Last night Schumer took a procedural step to move the Background Check & the Enhanced Background Checks acts fwd
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They are HR8 & HR 1446
Both passed the House in March '21
Placing them on the legislative calendar means Schumer can file cloture & move for a vote asap
He can force 50 GOP Senators on the record
But don't hold your breath
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Instead of these bills it appears the GOP Senate are beginning to make noise about various other legislative "deals" about "gun safety" & "red flag" laws
This could very well be more obfuscation
Dems are working their asses off on this
But no one is encouraged #Uvalde#GunControl
SCOTUS Justices will hold a "private, closed-door conference" tomorrow
To date "none of the conservative justices who initially sided with Alito have switched their votes. No dissenting draft opinions have circulated from any justice"
Short thread: politico.com/news/2022/05/1…
2/"“That could explain why no second draft of Alito’s majority opinion has been distributed, as typically the two sides react to one another’s written arguments and recast their own.
3/"As the nine justices prepare for their scheduled, private, closed-door conference this week, they face one of the greatest crises in modern Supreme Court history, with an internal leak investigation under way,