"Acclaimed author Gary Shteyngart and renowned political commentator Chris Hayes are joining forces on @MSNBC tonight. With their incisive wit and sharp intellect, these two are sure to deliver an unforgettable conversation
@MSNBC 2/2 The hashtag may be long, and a prompt gave the bot the news that @chrislhayes and @Shteyngart are on The Beat... but it / the Internet's archive did the rest...
“Trump’s legal team has merely hinted at the possibility that he declassified the documents, without taking a firm position in court — where making a *false statement* can have *professional consequences*”
- NY Times with the gentle shade
This tackles legal & and out-of-court dynamics —
Even Trump’s lawyers won’t claim he declassified docs (don’t lie in court)
but Trump is telling voters, like, if a POTUS can declassify anything, is this just a “process” debate?
Many Congressional hearings are not very effective.
In the press, they are known for being “boring” (which is why they rarely draw live news coverage, regardless of topic or "ideology").. or for descending into partisan clashes...
The Jan. 6 Committee hearings have been unusually *effective.*
The most objective evidence here is that under Garland, DOJ is simply *not* interviewing key witnesses and participants in the White House role in obstructing the 1/6 certification (a potential crime).
There is legitimate legal debate about “how aggressive” a stance to take on gov officials contesting an election, and when or if to charge a fmr President.
But it is not valid for DOJ to fail to gather all the testimony and facts - and to “go second” after Congress is unusual.
It appears Garland has overseen DOJ actually *breaking a precedent - it moves first to gather the best possible secret testimony when there are public probes of the same facts or crimes. That’s what Weissman emphasized in his article.