A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Habba’s Nomination Sacrificed For A Workaround
We’re not rid of Trump’s utterly unqualified former personal lawyer after all.
By withdrawing her nomination to the permanent position, President Trump was able to reinstall Alina Habba as the interim U.S. attorney in New Jersey, where she can serve another 210 days. This maneuver allows Trump to bypass the choice of the federal judges in the district: a career prosecutor who was promptly fired by the Trump DOJ when the judges elevated her. It also allows Trump to avoid having to get a nominee through the Senate confirmation process for what will end up being at least 330 days.
The workaround is a bit complicated but probably legal. The key thing to know is that there are multiple legal bases for appointing an interim U.S. attorney. Habba’s 120-term, which ends today, was under one legal authority. Under another law, the chief deputy U.S. attorney is automatically elevated to the top spot for 210 days … but only if they themselves are not the nominee to the permanent position.
So after Trump withdrew Habba’s nomination, Attorney General Pam Bondi made her the chief deputy in the office, which means as soon as Habba’s 120-day term expires, she is elevated to the permanent position. It’s a merry-go-round of Alina Habbas. Or a Russian nesting doll of Alina Habbas. Either way, it’s too much Alina Habba.
A system that produces this outcome is, shall we say, problematic. And yet it’s another example of where holes in the system may be innocuous for years or decades until you get a bad faith rogue actor exploiting the system for their own gains with a powerful cult of followers unwilling to hold them to account.
Former DOJ Personnel Sue Over Their Firings
Three notable career DOJ figures who were fired by the Trump administration are now suing, alleging they were wrongfully terminated in violation of federal law. The plaintiffs are:
- Michael M. Gordon, an assistant U.S. attorney who had been senior trial counsel in the Capitol Siege Section, prosecuting Jan. 6 defendants;
- Patricia A. Hartman, who was the spokesperson for the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office and for a time was the chief spokesperson for the prosecutions of Jan. 6 rioters
- Joseph W. Tirrell, the most-senior career ethics official in the Justice Department.
Sheer Madness
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will continue his interview of Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell for a second day today.
I can’t believe I typed that sentence.
The deputy attorney general runs the day-to-day operations of the Justice Department. They don’t run out and interview witnesses. And under no circumstances do they put themselves in the kind of compromised, weakened, and supplicatory position that Blanche has. He’s virtually begging a convicted sex trafficker for information in a high-profile, politically charged case that implicates his own former client, Donald Trump.
It’s an insane conflict of interest in an untenable negotiating posture that cannot possibly yield reliable information.
Making matter worse, Blanche released a statement last night that promises to share the information Maxwell provided, effectively conceding that this isn’t a normal investigation where the Justice Department speaks through indictments and court filings: “The Department of Justice will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time.”
Seems Obvious?
In the lawsuit brought by Stephen Miller’s former group, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts asserts that it is the judicial branch – not the executive branch – that oversees the administration of the federal courts.
Quote of the Day
“They should take precautions or not come to Florida. You should take extreme precautions when you come to Florida.”–Juan Sabines, the consul of Mexico in Orlando, in an interview with TPM’s Hunter Walker, warning Mexican nationals about the risk of “Alligator Alcatraz”
Dem Redistricting Gambit Faces Structural Impediments
While House Democrats seem serious about trying to counter GOP mid-decade redistricting efforts in red states with their own new maps in blue states, the pick-up opportunities aren’t as robust or as straightforward legally for structural reasons that go back years.
The Losses Keep Piling Up
Stepping back for a moment to consider Trump’s larger unraveling of the fabric of American civic life, it’s things like this that cut deepest for me:
New Orleans’ Amistad Research Center, one of the country’s largest repositories of artifacts on Black history, has laid off half its staff and cut its hours after it lost four grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency which President Trump has targeted for dismantling.
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Thanks for Coming Out Last Night!
We hosted the TPM Happy Hour in DC for the first time last night at the Dew Drop Inn, one of my favorite bars and one of the few remaining legit dive bars in the District. A great crowd came out to hang and talk politics with me, Josh Marshall, Nicole Lafond, Allegra Kirkland, Emine Yücel, and Layla A. Jones.
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