While the Trump DOJ has been hijacked to target Donald Trump’s perceived foes with criminal investigation and prosecution, it continues to undergo a slow-motion purge of career professionals that is flying a little bit under the radar. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

TPM's @davidkurtz.bsky.social joined @gregsargent.bsky.social to talk about the Comey indictment, Trump's corruption of the justice system, and why we need new language to capture what’s really happening here. newrepublic.com/article/2009...

Not A Clean Win With the Comey Grand Jury: The grand jury rejected the first count of the original three-count indictment it was presented, forcing prosecutors to present a revised two-count indictment for its consideration. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

News --> Steve Bannon tells me he fully expects Trump to use the Texas ICE office shooting as the hook to unleash law enforcement on liberal immigration groups by connecting political violence to anti-ICE rhetoric. This is going to get ugly. 1/ (new piece) newrepublic.com/article/2009...

Do not miss this from @davidkurtz.bsky.social, or @gregsargent.bsky.social’s interview with him.

In anticipation of the Comey indictment, @gregsargent.bsky.social and I get into a wide-ranging conversation on the challenges of covering politically corrupt prosecutions and the dangers of the current moment. You can listen here: newrepublic.com/article/2009... via @newrepublic.com

Amid reports that newly appointed USA Lindsey Halligan will seek to indict James Comey on bogus charges of lying to Congress after her predecessor declined to, it’s a good time to do a reset ahead of the wave of Trump-driven political prosecutions. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

Well, well, well … Ed Martin withdraws his “letter of inquiry after request,” CNN reports www.cnn.com/2025/09/24/p...

Alex Jones – staring down a total of $1.5B in defamation judgments for conspiracizing about the Sandy Hook shooting – is getting an assist from Ed Martin as he tries to fight off paying up. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

‘We Know Better’: Experts Watch in Horror As Trump Admin Hides Record of Right-Wing Violence talkingpointsmemo.com/news/we-know...

Despite all the echoes of early 20th century European fascism, Donald Trump is firmly planted in the long American tradition of snake oil salesman, carnival barkers, and con artists. It’s at least as strong a through-line in American history as our puritanism. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

In December 2023, Special Counsel Jack Smith asked SCOTUS to grant cert before judgement to hear Trump’s immunity appeal. The court rejected that request and didn’t issue its immunity decision until July 2024. Trump’s federal cases never made it to trial before the November 2024 election.

Nearly 20 years ago, TPM cut its chops on the scandal over the firings of U.S. attorneys for failing to be aggressive enough in pursuing bogus voter fraud cases. It led to the eventual resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. It all seems almost quaint now by the standards of Donald Trump.

Operation Fast Casual: The Trump DOJ shut down a bribery investigation of Tom Homans, now the White House border czar, which recorded him allegedly accepting $50K in a Cava bag during a sting in the summer of 2024: talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

It’s all coming together in Trump’s push to bring criminal charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James: the retribution, the denigration of the rule of law, the evisceration of the Justice Department, and the ultimate unbridled unitary executive. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

In the week since Kirk was killed, we seen an astonishing restriction of free expression. The rules of the new game are being written. How far you can go, who gets to decide, who gets to enforce it, and who is exempt from enforcement entirely. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

Columbia law professor Daniel Richman was subpoenaed last week by federal prosecutors in connection w/ a criminal probe into whether former FBI Director James Comey allegedly lied in Sept 2020 testimony before Congress, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. abcnews.go.com/US/friend-fo...

Ed Martin and Bill Pulte have been pressuring federal prosecutors to indict NY AG Letitia James (D) for bogus mortgage fraud. Prosecutors have resisted not just because they don’t have enough evidence but because they have considerable EXCULPATORY evidence. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

Furman presided over the census citizenship case in Trump I ...

A federal appeals court overnight declined to block a lower court order that reinstated Trump-target Lisa Cook to the Federal Reserve. The decision less than 48 hrs before an important Fed meeting Fed, sets up a likely race to SCOTUS by the Trump administration. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

In the aftermath of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the Trump administration and its MAGA allies have launched a new project to target Kirk critics, threatening their employment in government and in the private sector. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

After two different people were mistakenly nabbed as suspects in the assassination of right-wing extremist Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump revealed Friday morning on Fox & Friends that the alleged assailant was finally in custody: talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

In the case of Sydney Lori Reid, which THREE DC grand juries declined to indict for allegedly assaulting a FBI agent, prosecutors are trying to exclude from next month's trial (i) post-arrest audio from her phone and (ii) texts by 1 agent, including to his wife www.courtlistener.com/docket/71196...

A new lawsuit with devastating allegations about the clownish politicization of the FBI calls into serious question whether the bureau–under the nominal control of Kash Patel–is up to the task of investigating a major case like the assassination of Charlie Kirk. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

In a late-night ruling, a federal judge blocked President Trump from firing Fed member Lisa Cook. In the closely watched case that threatens the Fed’s independence, the judge ruled that the firing of Cook failed to meet the “for cause” standard. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

Student, to professor: "I'm not entirely sure this is legal to be teaching, because according to our president there's only two genders... and I don't want to promote something that is against our president's laws as well as against my religious beliefs" www.kbtx.com/2025/09/09/a...

Trump Admin Returns Russian Dissident Asylum Seekers to Putin: Activists warn Russian political refugees against seeking asylum in the US talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-a...

Today on the docket: a newly public copy of the Trump's admin's March agreement to send Venezuelans to El Salvador's prisons, including the amount ($4.7M), terms (~300 people for one year) and conditions ($ can't be used for asylum legal counsel, abortions, DEI) buff.ly/oqjpfQK

The Trump DOJ is taking the unprecedented step of compiling a national voter database, alarming election law experts and election officials that it could be used to sow further doubt about the 2020 election and to interfere in the 2026 midterms, the NYT reports. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent got into a heated confrontation with Federal Housing Finance Agency chief Bill Pulte last week at the Executive Branch, the MAGA-chic private club in D.C., Politico reports. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

In highly unusual public remarks, D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro savaged a sitting federal magistrate who had chastised her prosecutors for their conduct in yet another case where a grand jury declined to indict. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

The startling U.S. attack on an alleged drug-running boat in int'l waters off Venezuela is precisely the kind of no-holds-barred combat that Pete Hegseth was clearing the way for when he began firing military lawyers as soon as he settled into his E-ring office. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

In the most important court decision on a day full of them, the most conservative federal appeals court became the first to address the substance of President Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and found it to be unlawful. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem Seems To Have A Poorly Hidden Secret Facebook Page talkingpointsmemo.com/news/dhs-sec...

BREAKING: Trump, Hegseth violated the Posse Comitatus Act with their troop deployment to Los Angeles, Judge Charles Breyer rules after trial. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

In a replay of the March weekend when the Trump admin secretly launched the Alien Enemies Act deportations, it was busted over the Labor Day weekend trying to whisk unaccompanied Guatemalan children out of the country. This time it complied with court orders. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

"The move forces members of Congress to confront a question that has lingered over the legislative branch all year: What is the point of the two parties negotiating a federal budget if the executive branch insists it has the power to unilaterally determine what funds get spent?"

I’m a little surprised that the refusal of CDC Director Susan Monarez to go quietly and the resignations of other top CDC officials eclipsed rather than amplified the FDA anti-science decision to deny healthy Americans access to the annual COVID booster. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

The CDC debacle appears to be a direct result of RFK Jr's announcement that access to the COVID vax will be limited, bypassing the normal process for vax approvals, disregarding established science, and overriding the opposition of the public health community. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

No-Bill for Assault With a Deli Weapon->A D.C. grand jury declined to indict the fired DOJ paralegal Sean Dunn who hurled a sandwich at a federal officer during protests against President Trump’s hyper-federalization of the nation’s capital, the NYT reports. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

Examples of capitulation/surrender to Trump’s authoritarianism continue to outpace those of defiance/resistance. But in recents days in DC–which Trump is pretending to occupy–we’ve seen instances of holding the line against the worst of his transgressions. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

TPM EXCLUSIVE: The University of Michigan hospital system confirms it's discontinuing gender-affirming care for minors after receiving a subpoena from the Trump administration: talkingpointsmemo.com/news/univers...

As you watch the extraordinary spectacle of Trump's government attempting to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda, let's not lose sight of just how lawless and indefensible Trump's misconduct has been all throughout. Here's a thread recapping all of it. 1/

The FBI searched the home and office of former Trump I national security adviser John Bolton on Friday morning in what is yet another example of President Trump abusing the powers of his office to target his critics … and Bolton in particular. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

DOJ official Ed Martin sends wild letter to Fed Chair Jerome Powell urging him to remove Lisa Cook from the Fed Board: “Do it today before it is too late! After all, no American thinks it is appropriate that she serve during this time with a cloud hanging over her.” www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

President Trump’s attack on yet another Black woman in public office gives away the game – if you were still harboring any doubt – about his corrupt use of mortgage fraud allegations to target Democrats. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

The mass deportation agenda is just one part of a larger agenda in which white Americans are fronted as the real America and everyone else is second-class, unless they individually demonstrate in lavish ways a high enough degree of fealty to Donald Trump. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

An top antitrust lawyer fired by the Trump DOJ is not going quietly. In a speech yesterday in Colorado, Roger Alford accused two senior aides to Attorney General Pam Bondi of corrupting DOJ’s usual process for dealing with antitrust lawsuits, the WSJ reports. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

In a Fox News appearance, Ed Martin admitted he’s using the pretext of clearly bogus mortgage fraud investigations to conduct an open-ended witch hunt into Democratic elected officials Adam Schiff and Letitia James. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

The clumsy Trumpian takeover of DC has been as comical as it has been foreboding, but things escalated overnight. AG Pam Bondi asserted a new level of authority over local police. DC officials immediately rejected her claims to power and sued to block her. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...