If you read only one Open Thread today, make it this one! Because the tides are turning (in one case, literally), and it’s beginning to feel like Watergate Summer. As in drip, drip, drip. Starting with the rusty orange drip:
A New ‘Deep Throat’ Threatens Trump On Hiding Of Classified Documents:
Federal prosecutors investigating former President Donald J. Trump’s handling of classified documents have obtained the confidential cooperation of a person who has worked for him at Mar-a-Lago, part of an intensifying effort to determine whether Mr. Trump ordered boxes containing sensitive material moved out of a storage room there as the government sought to recover it last year, multiple people familiar with the inquiry said.
Through a wave of new subpoenas and grand jury testimony, the Justice Department is moving aggressively to develop a fuller picture of how the documents Mr. Trump took with him from the White House were stored, who had access to them, how the security camera system at Mar-a-Lago works and what Mr. Trump told aides and his lawyers about what material he had and where it was, the people said.
At the heart of the inquiry is whether Mr. Trump sought to hide some documents after the Justice Department issued a subpoena last May demanding their return.
The existence of an insider witness, whose identity has not been disclosed, could be a significant step in the investigation, which is being overseen by Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. The witness is said to have provided investigators with a picture of the storage room where the material had been held.
There will inevitably be new revelations all the time, thanks, in part, to journalists doing what they do best.
Leonard Leo. Ginni Thomas. Kellyanne Conway. What could possibly go wrong? I can’t make this stuff up:
Leo, a key figure in a network of nonprofits that has worked to support the nominations of conservative judges, told Conwaythat he wanted her to “give” Ginni Thomas “another $25K,” the documents show. He emphasized that the paperwork should have “No mention of Ginni, of course.”
The arrangement reveals that Leo, a longtime Federalist Society leader and friend of the Thomases, has functioned not only as an ideological ally of Clarence Thomas’s but also has worked to provide financial remuneration to his family. And it shows Leo arranging for the money to be drawn from a nonprofit that soon would have an interest before the court.
So. The Federalist Society isn’t a group of learned jurists sitting around discussing the law, kinda like the Rabbis who are memorialized at Passover Seders. Who knew?
G-D Visits Plagues On Florida. Hurricanes, condos crumbling to the ground, and now this. Did I mention something about tides?:
From Montego to Miami, an influx of algae called sargassum is leaving stinky brown carpets over what was once prime tourist sand. It’s the most sargassum researchers have tracked this early in the year.
No word yet on when DeSantis will truck this stuff to Disney World.
MAGAts Convicted Of Sedition. They each face up to 50 years in prison. So much winning!
If You’re Not Tired Of Winning Yet…you might want to give just one more contribution to Helen Gym, who is running as a progressive for Mayor of Philadelphia. She has a legit shot at winning, and she has by far the best grassroots campaign organization. I ponied up a little more last night. You can too. Right here.
Headline Of The Day: “Massive Penis Is Mowed Into Lawn At King Charles Coronation Party Venue”.
This seems as good a place to stop as any.
What do you want to talk about?