Crooked Media - What A Day: Slash and McBurney

An excerpt from the long-awaited, Fulton County, GA, special grand jury report is finally here, and it’s not nothing, but it’s not exactly a bombshell either. Let’s hope this is not foreshadowing! 
 

• The report, which concludes the grand jury’s investigation of disgraced former president Trump and his allies’ attempts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, contends that “one or more witnesses” committed perjury, and urged local prosecutors to bring charges against the appropriate parties. Who those parties are, specifically, the redacted report does not specify, but this marks the first time that the grand jury’s recommendations for criminal charges related to this case have been made public.
   

• Still, it’s worth noting that today’s excerpts don’t constitute the full report, just what has been released under orders from Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney. McBurney stated that other findings by the special grand jury will not be made public yet, particularly the report’s recommendations about potential charges, in order to protect the due process rights of the accused. So what was included in the released nine pages from the report besides the perjury accusations? Perhaps most significantly, the special grand jury “unanimously” concluded that there was no widespread voter fraud in Georgia in 2020, rejecting Trump’s baseless protestations to the contrary after hearing extensive testimony from election officials, experts, and poll workers. 
   

• This point may seem small, but the grand jury having reached a unanimous conclusion that no widespread voter fraud occurred is important because it underscores the idea that the former president and his cronies were trying to overturn the results of an election they knew they lost (which we already knew of course, but it’s nice to see it in writing). As if the infamous January 2, 2021 “I just want to find the votes” call Trump held with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger wasn’t damning enough, this report makes the Trump team strategy perfectly clear.

Trump is currently running for president for the third time, but he hasn’t been able to escape the long shadow of his incriminating behavior. 
 

• Leaders of the far-right group of neckbeards the Proud Boys want the Justice Department to help them force Trump to testify in their federal court trial where they stand accused of seditious conspiracy. An attorney for one of the five defendants, Joseph Biggs, said in court today, “At all times relevant, Trump was president of the United States, and it’s the government’s obligation to produce him,” but did not explain what the defendants hope to “learn” from Trump’s prospective testimony. Biggs’s attorney and counsel for another defendant made the request for the federal government’s assistance to serve the subpoena because the Secret Service continues to protect the former president. 
   

• Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (the guy who was texting up a storm with everyone trying to overturn the 2020 election) has received a subpoenaed from the special counsel investigating Trump’s role in the January 6 insurrection, and his theft of classified documents. This news comes shortly after it was revealed that former Vice President Mike Pence was also subpoenaed. Both men are likely to litigate their subpoenas to help Trump run out the clock on yet another damaging investigationThe lingering question is: Will any of this stick? For going on seven years, we’ve watched Trump wriggle out of accountability for just about everything, even when the evidence seemed overwhelmingly stacked against him. 

We’re excited to announce the return of Stuck with Damon Young, an original podcast from Crooked and Spotify.This season, award-winning author Damon Young has returned for more off-the-cuff conversations inspired by today’s most culturally relevant headlines and round ups of Damon-approved listener-submitted questions.
 

The first episode is live now! You're going to love this show. Listen to Stuck with Damon Young for free only on Spotify.

The Kentucky State Supreme Court refused to halt a near-total abortion ban that has been largely in place since the Dobbs decision last June. 

North Carolina House Republicans and six House Democrats (are you fucking serious) voted to approve a bill that would let people with concealed weapons permits carry guns openly or under clothing while attending religious services at locations where private or charter schools also meet. The 77-43 vote is now veto-proof, after Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) vetoed an identical bill in 2021.

Tesla has recalled 362,758 vehicles, warning that its experimental self-driving software may cause crashes. 

Speaking of Tesla (perfect company, no notes!) they laid off dozens of employees today at a Buffalo plant one day after workers launched a campaign to unionize. Here’s hoping the NLRB gives Elon a memorable wedgie!

Nashville Councilwoman Zulfat Suara is fighting back against her Republican colleagues who want to rename John Lewis Way after Donald Trump. 

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) checked himself into Walter Reed Medical Center to be voluntarily treated for depression. 

A U.S. official stated that one of the Chinese balloons that was shot down after crossing into the continental United States was supposed to fly over Guam and Hawaii but was blown off course.

Donald Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (the guy who was texting up a storm with everyone trying to overturn the 2020 election) was subpoenaed last night by the special counsel investigating disgraced former president Trump’s role in the January 6 insurrection. 

Remember how yesterday some 200 New York Times contributors published an open letter calling on the paper to stop printing tacitly or openly hateful pieces about trans people? Well today, the Times published a defense of virulent transphobe J.K. Rowling.

Abortion bans in the wake of the Dobbs decision have been devastating for many marginalized populations in the United States, and Native Americans have faced a unique set of challenges. Even before these bans were put in place, most abortions were banned in clinics and hospitals run by the federal Indian Health Service and few nearby health centers offered abortions, which required patients to travel long distances over rural expanses, even though one-quarter of the Native population lives in poverty. Of the six states with the highest proportion of Native American and Alaska Native residents, four have moved to or are in the process of further restricting abortion. South Dakota and Oklahoma have complete bans with few exceptions. Since Dobbs, the distance to the nearest abortion clinic from many native communities has increased by hundreds of miles, and as in many cases, individuals have been left absorbing all associated costs. It’s just the latest in a long list of ways state governments and the feds have exerted control over Native people and their individual autonomy over the course of hundreds of years.

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Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) has asked the Pennsylvania General Assembly to abolish the death penalty in the state, and will not fulfill any execution warrants during his term. 

The Biden administration issued final rules on its national electric-vehicle charger network yesterday, requiring the chargers to be built in the United States, with 55 percent of the cost coming from U.S.-made components by next year.