The Alfa Bank Hoax Hoax
The Alfa Bank Hoax Hoax
Plus, Trump surrenders to Kemp.
Recently at The Bulwark:
CHARLIE SYKES: The Good, Bad, and the Really Ugly
JVL: Welcome to MAGA Nation 🔐 and Elon Musk Thinks the Law Doesn't Apply to Him.
CATHY YOUNG: Biden Hits the Right Note
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TIM MILLER: The Alfa Bank Hoax Hoax.
More than six years after the Russian government began a wide-ranging cyber attack on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and our political system, MAGA Republicans believe they finally have evidence that this scheme’s guilty party was neither Russia nor the Trump campaign that cheered on the attack, but Clinton herself.
This latest attempt at victim-blaming is premised on information revealed during the trial of Michael Sussman, a lawyer who has been charged with lying to the FBI when he did not reveal his association with Clinton at a meeting during which he turned over data to the bureau that purported to show additional ties between Trump and Russia. Sussman denies that he was working on behalf of the campaign.
The specific evidence Sussman was providing demonstrated that there was an unusual connection between servers affiliated with the Trump organization and those connected to Alfa Bank—Russia’s largest private financial-services company. The evidence presented was based on Domain Name System (DNS) logs identified by a team of computer scientists.
Evangelicals are moving from saving souls to pushing a political uprising, Trump’s got a reckoning in Georgia, and the party that complained about Democrats not saying ‘radical Islamic terrorism’ won’t condemn white nationalist terror. Will Saletan’s back for Charlie and Will Monday.
A devil has the Republican Party’s soul, but not all of his endorsed candidates are faring too well. In Georgia, former Sen. David Perdue is losing badly to Gov. Brian Kemp despite Trump’s endorsement, and Rep. Mo Brooks was polling so badly in the Alabama Senate race that Trump un-endorsed him. But if you think the voters in our group are souring on Trumpism, think again.
Sarah breaks it all down with The Bulwark’s own Tim Miller, whose book Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell comes out June 28.
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Eric and Eliot welcome Guardian columnist and Spectator blogger Nick Cohen. They discuss the impact of Putin’s war on Ukraine on European politics, the role of anti-Communism and anti-Fascism in post-war Europe, and much, much more.
AMANDA CARPENTER: Trump Surrenders to Kemp.
In the aftermath of his losing 2020 campaign, former President Donald Trump marked Georgia as the bullseye of his political vengeance tour and positioned Governor Brian Kemp at the dead center of the target.
Trump’s motive was clear. He was furious at Kemp for refusing to “find the votes” to flip Georgia’s election results in his favor. But after a year of threats and bluster, Trump is now nowhere to be seen in the Peach State. His last appearance was on March 26, when he made what reporters described as a “rescue mission” to resuscitate the candidate he recruited to primary Kemp, former Sen. David Perdue.
CHRIS TRUAX: Why Hasn’t DOJ Appointed a Special Prosecutor for Jan. 6th?
Why hasn’t Merrick Garland appointed a special prosecutor to handle the January 6th criminal contempt proceedings?
It’s a fair question. In fact, when you break this down, it may be the biggest no-brainer in legal history.
So let’s do that.
There’s no question that Congress has the constitutional authority to conduct investigations and to issue subpoenas. While Congress has an inherent authority to enforce those subpoenas, it also has a statutory right to have its subpoenas enforced through criminal contempt proceedings.
🚨OVERTIME 🚨
Is Larry Hogan Living in a Fantasy World? At The Atlantic, Mark Leibovich writes:
“I’m not trying to say that Donald Trump is not still the 800-pound gorilla in the party,” Hogan told me. “But I think it’s much less than where it was in November of 2020, and much, much less than after January 6. I just see him on a downward slide, and that will just accelerate this year.”
As with any claim that Trump’s dominance of the GOP is waning, deep suspicion is warranted.
“I think you just have to be clear-eyed about where the party is right now, which is still an extraordinarily Trump-centric environment,” says Sarah Longwell, an anti-Trump Republican strategist who conducts regular focus groups with voters across the political spectrum. These exercises, she told me, have allowed her to be realistic and not engage in “fantasy politics” when assessing the Republican electorate. “I just see no evidence whatsoever that our voters want to go back to a kind of sunny, bipartisan Reagan vision,” Longwell said.
At Lawfare, Gabriel Schoenfeld wonders: Is the United States Totalitarian?
Matt Labash on the importance of admitting uncertainty.
A POW's legacy of Mariupol siege pictures… From the Associated Press.
Meet the Hermettes… A secret society of women who want to be left alone. (Except, in some instances, where they meet up with each other.)
Lara Logan, Once a Star at CBS News…. Is Now One for the Far Right.
House Committee on Ethics investigates the “Let’s Go Brandon” coin… and Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s relationship with it. Not that it will likely change anything since he lost his primary. But they should investigate it as long as he’s a member.
Our colleague Will Saletan jokes “Also they’re changing their name to the Washington Commuters”
As somebody who lives near the proposed stadium, I can tell you that traffic sucks and there is no practical way to get there unless you’re driving. Maybe they can be renamed after nearby Quantico?
That’s it for me. Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.
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