Steve Reilly
@BySteveReilly
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Senior Investigative Data Journalist @CBSNews & Stations. Chair, @PressClubDC Board of Governors. @Vassar & @Cambridge_Uni alum. Pulitzer finalist. Runner.
Washington, D.C. | (He/Him)
Joined May 2010
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I'm thrilled to share that I've joined CBS News and Stations as a Senior Investigative Data Journalist.
I couldn't be more excited for the opportunity to work alongside the most talented journalists in the business & use data to reveal stories of local and national importance.
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Johnny Cash spent decades trying to warn us about this.
Ring recalls 350,000 video doorbells after nearly two dozen of them catch fire.
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We researched some of the biggest Facebook groups promoting the Canadian trucker protest before they were shut down yesterday, and noticed something was a bit off.
The only individual admin running some of the most active groups was one woman in Missouri. Or so it seemed.🧵⤵️
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Really kind gesture by Eric Trump to publicly recognize
@Fahrenthold
's courtesy and professionalism.
These are the tactics used by the
@WashingtonPost
.
@JeffBezos
- you should be very proud... 🙄
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.
@twiceanya
,
@benjaminopowers
and I looked into the role disinformation, social media and suspicious online activity are playing in the events unfolding on the streets of Ottawa.
Here's our latest for
@gridnews
:
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I called the woman on her publicly listed number, and she said her account had been hacked.
The stolen account was administering a collection Facebook groups started between Jan. 26 and Jan. 28 that had amassed more than 300,000 followers that had 7,500 posts.
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The woman's years-old Facebook account had no real history of political activity until January 2022, when it suddenly posted a fundraiser for Donald Trump.
Below the post was a comment from the woman's daughter:
"I like how you hacked my moms shit but you won't answer my dm."
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NEW: Our research early this week into who was behind a huge network of Facebook groups supporting the Freedom Convoy led us to a hacked account in Missouri.
Next it led us to Bangladesh — and ended with the deactivation of some of the largest active groups.
Follow along:🧵⬇️
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In a Dec. 5, 2019 interview, Trump told Bob Woodward: “I have built a nuclear—a weapons system that nobody’s ever had in this country before…”
Woodward wrote that he confirmed this with sources who were surprised Trump had disclosed it.
(Rage, p. 185)
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Many of the statements on student loan forgiveness you'll read today will be written by Congressional staffers whose student loans were repaid by taxpayers under 2 U.S.C. § 4536 — which established a program specifically to repay student loans for House employees.
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Tomorrow was supposed to be my last day at The Messenger.
Today, my colleagues and I found out
@TheMesssenger
was being shut down when we read about it in the New York Times.
I'm breaking my Twitter hiatus because I want to share a few things.
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We're continuing to follow this story at
@gridnews
.
Please follow my colleagues
@twiceanya
&
@benjaminopowers
and feel free to shoot us an email or DM if you have tips or leads for us to follow.
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On July 18, State and Defense department officials were reportedly informed military aid to Ukraine was being canceled.
This text is dated July 19.
Why does this text and date render the hearsay so-called whistleblower useless and not credible? If you get even one reason I might recommend you for Law School. Two and it’s LawReview. Answers later. Watch Laura at 10 pm.
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Pretty surreal paragraph from Fani Willis' new petition seeking to have Alex Jones appear as a witness at Kenneth Chesebro's trial:
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Regarding the 48 empty folders with "CLASSIFIED" banners disclosed in the detailed Mar-a-Lago search inventory unsealed today — it's worth recalling that NARA's referral to DOJ expressed concern "that highly classified records were unfoldered" in the 15 boxes produced in January.
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I teamed up with the powerhouse crew of
@stiles
,
@benjaminopowers
,
@twiceanya
&
@jason_paladino
to explore how foreign actors, QAnon and hate groups are pervading the convoy movement’s support.
Our latest for
@gridnews
:
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Trump continued: "...We have stuff that you haven't even seen or heard about. We have stuff that Putin and Xi have never heard about bout before. There's nobody—what we have is incredible."
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And if you've been affected by recent journalism layoffs at The Messenger or elsewhere, please know that it's not your fault.
It has nothing to do with you or your work. It doesn't mean you're any less talented or that your future is any less promising.
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Lauro argues against further speech limitations: “What you have put in place, respectfully, is working.”
Chutkan responds by laughing at that remark.
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UPDATE: In a letter Monday primarily citing
@gridnews
' reporting, House Oversight Committee Chairwoman
@RepMaloney
is requesting answers from
@Meta
about fake accounts on Facebook behind organizing and fundraising efforts related to the protests Canada.
We researched some of the biggest Facebook groups promoting the Canadian trucker protest before they were shut down yesterday, and noticed something was a bit off.
The only individual admin running some of the most active groups was one woman in Missouri. Or so it seemed.🧵⤵️
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This is perhaps the greatest legal document header of all time.
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Chutkan to Lauro earlier: "Obviously you have an audience other than me in mind.”
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After Lauro launched back into sharp arguments about Trump's free speech rights, Chutkan sought to steer him back to the particulars of the gag order litigation: “I do not need to hear any campaign rhetoric in my court.”
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On Wednesday, we asked
@Facebook
specific questions about these groups & the fake Lich page, and received a generic statement that didn't address them.
On Thursday afternoon, the two groups, the fake Tamara Lich page and the marketing firm's page were deactivated.
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One thing I've learned from watching cable TV all week is that I need to get a reverse mortgage, sell my life insurance policy and buy gold.
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I had the privilege of working with
@dsamuelsohn
,
@KlasfeldReports
&
@alemzs
on a team that covered former President Donald Trump's legal affairs as fairly, aggressively, closely as any news org in the business.
Hiring managers: Scoop them up before it's too late.
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My colleagues at
@gridnews
and I found admins for these groups were affiliated with "JS Digital Guide," a digital marketing firm based in Bangladesh.
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The fake Lich page was one of the admins behind two of the largest Facebook groups purporting to support the protest.
Started Jan 27 & Jan 30, these groups accumulated more than 170,000 followers & 10,000 posts.
Which begged the question:
Who are the other admins?
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Until Thursday afternoon, Facebook users searching for protest organizer Tamara Lich were led to a "Public figure" page that used Lich's likeness and appeared to act like it was her.
It had more than 6,000 loyal followers.
But some users were on to the fact it was fake.
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Trump’s mention of the weapon was a digression in a portion of the interview about North Korea and Kim Jong Un.
“Look at him smiling,” Trump said of a picture of Kim. “He’s happy. He feels happy.”
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I'm here at the E. Barry Prettyman Courthouse in D.C. preparing to cover a 10 a.m. hearing regarding Special Counsel Jack Smith's motion for a partial gag order on former President Trump.
Context & background here:
Good morning.
I’m still covering Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York, and my colleague
@BySteveReilly
is reporting on the hearing for a possible gag order in Washington, D.C.
Over in Atlanta,
@alemzs
attends a hearing on juror questionnaires.
Follow us
@TheMessenger
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Topping the agenda of the new House "Weaponization" committee are claims — DOJ "treats parents as terrorists" + "the FBI [paid] Twitter $3 million to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story" — that often stretch the truth.
My latest for
@gridnews
:
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More broadly, I worked on The Messenger's politics desk with some of the most talented and hardworking journalists in the country. What happened today is not their fault.
They lost their jobs in the middle of covering one of the most consequential elections in our lifetime.
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Context for Trump's outburst today on Truth Social today: In an Aug. 25 SEC filing, Truth Social's holding company noted that the success of the business is dependent on Trump's "reputation and popularity."
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In this regard, it's relevant to note that the 49 Senators who voted to advance the bill represent 42 million more Americans than the 51 who voted not to advance it.
Since the Roe news, Democrats' main argument is that the country is with them on abortion and the GOP are extremists.
Yet they somehow just managed to engineer a vote in which a majority of Senators voted against their abortion bill even though they control the Senate. 👍
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"Report it. Not me" Lich texted a supporter, according to a screenshot posted in the group.
Why is this fake Lich page significant?
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NEW: PDF of the indictment of Donald Trump and others in Fulton County, Georgia
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In a WhatsApp message to the number that had been listed for the Bangladeshi marketing firm, I reached a man who said he was its founder.
He agreed to speak with me on video as a condition of the interview, but concealed his own face.
He insisted he was not paid for the work.
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A lot has been said and written over the past year about
@TheMessenger
's business strategy. I don't think it's unfair to let today's news speak for itself in that regard.
But the journalists who worked there had nothing to do with it.
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Chutkan says she was "deeply disturbed" by social post by Trump last week in which he attacked a law clerk helping a judge on the separate New York civil case, resulting in gag order.
"I want the parties' position on why I shouldn't issue a similar order" in this case.
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I have a new opportunity lined up that I'll share more about later, and this was supposed to be my last week at The Messenger anyway.
But most of my colleagues need a place to continue their work at a time when it's most critical for democracy.
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Please do reach out to me if you have any potential job leads I can share with my colleagues, particularly in science/tech and politics. My DMs are open.
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Read this closely.
EPA's new FOIA regulations — reportedly to be introduced without public comment this week — would allow political appointees to make determinations on FOIA requests claiming "no records" exist, even when they do.
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Significant that one of two DOJ officials who signed today's motion to unseal the Mar-a-Lago search warrant material is Jay Bratt, chief of DOJ's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
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@scottxmcdonald
@ajc
Not familiar with this 'not breaking unless there's an indictment' rule. A grand jury subpoenaing a sitting U.S. Senator and the former president's lawyer is an unusual and newsworthy occurrence.
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No better illustration of how opaque our political spending system is than this: $1.6 *billion* was funneled into an unknown political group in March 2021 — and we're just now finding out about it 17 months later.
NEWS w/
@kenvogel
: A new conservative nonprofit helmed by Leonard Leo scored a $1.6 billion donation — an extraordinary sum that could boost the right for years to come.
This is the first reporting revealing the existence of the Marble Freedom Trust.
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I came to
@TheMessenger
because it suddenly bought out my previous employer,
@gridnews
, which had a very different editorial philosophy and business plan.
Others came to The Messenger for other reasons, including because of layoffs in other newsrooms in recent years.
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Gaston gave some brief remarks before Chutkan ordered a brief recess.
Not certain what will happen next. Fair to say Chutkan did not seem sympathetic to many of Lauro's arguments.
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Trump's statement at Mar-A-Lago on Feb. 23, the eve of Putin's full-scale invasion — "I mean, he's taking over a country for $2 worth of sanctions. I'd say that's pretty smart" — is not consistent with being "surprised" by the invasion.
NEW: TRUMP tells me in an intvw he's “surprised” PUTIN ordered the invasion of Ukraine & further cracked down on freedom inside Russia, explaining he believed the strongman’s threats were a negotiating tactic.
@dcexaminer
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NEW: Trump Gets Partial Gag Order Limiting Speech During D.C. Trial, Judge Rules
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Why is a Supreme Court Justice alleging a news organization "misleads its readers" and "levels false charges" based on questions for a story that has not been published yet? On its face it seems both unfair and inaccurate.
Asking questions is part of the reporting process.
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A pro se movant has filed a "Motion to Change the Course of History" in the Meadows federal removal case. Seems big.
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Gaston rises to push back against Lauro's remarks that Trump has not attacked court.
"That is not true. The defendant has repeatedly attacked this court in disparaging and inflammatory ways. And this court has been subject to a criminal threat in relation to this case.”
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Gaston: "We both know that the tweet or the post against General Milley was a threat.”
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The flag on the front of this brochure is not even the real Massachusetts state flag.
A reverse image search directs to Imgur, where someone posted it in 2020 and wrote: "I just think the current one blows so I made this one featuring the state flower."
6. Matt Cameron, a Boston-based immigration attorney, explained that migrants who boarded the planes "absolutely do not have access to cash, housing, and other resettlement benefits"
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Here is Judge Luttig's twitter thread analysis from September that he just mentioned in his
@January6thCmte
testimony:
I was honored to advise Vice President Pence that he had no choice on January 6, 2021, but to accept and count the Electoral College votes as they had been cast and properly certified by the states.
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Barr lists the factors he hopes will prevent Trump's indictment:
"Do you indict a former president? What will that do to the country? What kind of precedent will that set? Will the people really understand that this is not failing to return a library book, that this was serious?
Bill Barr, Trump's former AG, on Trump possibly being indicted: "I think they're getting very close to that point, frankly"
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(Gaston is alluding to a death threat Chutkan allegedly received after Trump's indictment. A Texas woman is facing charges.)
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New version of Mueller report released today shows 2 of the 14 referrals of potential criminal activity the SCO made to other offices are covered by b(7)(B) — which exempts records whose disclosure "would deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication."
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Chutkan now moves to fourth category of speech--statements against court and its staff.
Chutkan notes Trump has called her "fraud" and a "hack."
"I am not the first judge to whom Mr. Trump has applied those labels," she says.
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@NPRinskeep
A rare instance of the reverse driveway moment: When you enter a parked car and there's an NPR host at the wheel who can't leave until you stop talking.
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Good morning to some of the new followers
@KlasfeldReports
has kindly sent my way! I'm not as skilled+experienced at livetweeting proceedings but may try to post some updates periodically once we're underway.
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Lauro clarifies, Trump wasn't actually saying that Mark Milley should be punished by death with this post.
Lauro: "What he did say is the serious of this type of conduct...is intolerable."
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Now discussing: Can Trump call Jack Smith "a thug" or "deranged"?
Lauro gets riled up again, and Chutkan asks him to tone down.
Lauro: "I am toned down"
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Lauro: "George Orwell would have a field day with what we’re hearing from these prosecutors."
Judge Chutkan: “George Orwell would definitely have a field day."
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In Q4 2021, student loan repayment was a $3.65M expense--on par with spending on franked mail, according to House disbursement data.
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As others have pointed out, the D.C. Circuit has ruled this to be unlawful
I haven't seen the document yet, but the D.C. Circuit has already ruled this is unlawful: "whether to release or withhold a record or a portion of a record on the basis of responsiveness . . . and to issue ‘no records’ responses.”
#FOIA
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.
@realBobWoodward
: “Trump is an unparalleled danger. The record now shows that Trump has led — and continues to lead — a seditious conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election, which in effect is an effort to destroy democracy.”
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Happy reading everyone! Here's the newly-released "introductory material" to the January 6th Committee's final report:
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Democracy is translucent in direct sunlight
“the Government of Mexico will take all necessary steps under domestic law to bring the agreement into force with a view to ensuring that the agreement will enter into force within 45 days.”
@realDonaldTrump
#Mexico
agreement. Second photo flipped
@washingtonpost
@postpolitics
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This chart showing Trump's alleged deceptive practices over the past decade — included as Exhibit 1 in NY AG Letitia James' lawsuit — is quite something.
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On Wednesday,
@gridnews
asked
@Facebook
about large Freedom Convoy groups tied to a Bangladesh-based digital marketing firm. The company did not address our questions about the groups, but deactivated them on Thursday afternoon.
Our latest here-->
Scoop, story incoming:
Facebook groups tied to American offshoots of Canada’s “Trucker Convoy” are being run by fake accounts tied to content mills from Vietnam, Bangladesh, Romania and several other countries, the company confirmed to NBC News on Friday.
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NEW: Jack Smith’s Prosecutors Say ‘No Basis’ to Delay Trump Documents Trial Beyond 2024 Election
@TheMessenger
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Chutkan asks: Can Trump lawfully say Barr should be executed?
Lauro: I would advise against statements like that.
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We're moving on to 5th of 5 categories of speech discussed today: Statements against prospective witnesses.
Chutkan discussing social posts by Trump about Mark Milley, Brad Raffensperger, etc.
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Chutkan: "His presidential candidacy does not give him carte balance to vilify... public servants who are simply doing their job."
We are adjourned.
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Here are some notes on even more curious behavior on "Freedom Convoy" Facebook groups that are still active.
Follow along from Canada to Bangladesh⤵️
Facebook users searching for Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich are running into an odd issue:
The "Public figure" Facebook page that purports to be Lich apparently is not her.
She apparently texted a supporter about the group: "Not me. Report." Yet it is still up.
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To set the scene a bit: I'm in a media room with about 30 other journalists watching the proceedings on screens that show three angles of the courtroom.
The lawyers are seated waiting for the proceedings to begin.
Here's what's on Trump's mind (as of about midnight)
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Lauro rises and immediately begins remarks. "We're in the middle of a campaign, and we're dealing with prior restraint" on political speech.
Chutkan interrupts: "Mr. Lauro let me stop you." Notes context about the case, and Trump's restrictions as a defendant.
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Gaston, for SCO, responding to questions from Chutkan: "We have no interest in stopping the defendant from running for office or protecting his reputation, nor does our motion seek to do that."
Motion seeks to bar derogatory, inflammatory, or intimidating statements.
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Chutkan pressing Lauro now on Trump's social post mentioning Special Counsel Jack Smith's family
Lauro: “He is certainly entitled to describe why he believes that this prosecution is politically motivated.”
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Pretty remarkable exchange in which Chutkan and Lauro are parsing the Milley post, and whether it was an possible incitement to violence.
Lauro says it's "factually true" that death used to be the punishment.
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Chutkan is now reviewing the existing pre-trial release conditions for Trump, which already prohibit him from discussing facts of the case with potential witnesses, or violating state/federal law--including, Chutkan notes, laws against witness intimidation.
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Lauro rises to ask, what if Trump says 'Crooked Joe Biden' within a broader statement criticizing his prosecution?
Gaston: Not a problem, since Biden is not part to the case.
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If the White House wants to know about the costs and benefits of sending COVID tests to every American — instead of mocking reporters for asking about it — it could look at Singapore, which sent 6 tests to every household in September.
Jen Psaki asks sarcastically, "Should we just send a free
#COVID
test to every American?"
The answer is YES.
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The Justices sit at the top of a legal system whose job includes defining and protecting our Constitutional right to a free press.
Understanding and appreciating the difference between a journalist's questions and a published article seems like basic media literacy.
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Chutkan: "The problem with your order is it would seem to include statements like ‘Crooked Joe Biden’ because it’s disparaging. What’s the answer to that?”
Gaston: "We're talking about the participants in this case" so 'Crooked Joe Biden' is fine.
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Lauro: “If anything we need more speech, not less speech.”
"...Again your honor, one simple solution: Let’s have this trial after the election. And solve the problem.”
Lauro's suggestion to change the trial schedule draws no response from Chutkan, who continues questioning.
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.
@PressClubDC
on killing of Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German:
"We call on police to redouble their efforts to catch the murderer and get to the bottom of why Mr. German was murdered and who gave the order for his killing."
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While doing research for a different story, I came across something odd — a ton of Facebook groups and pages advertising fake vaccination cards for sale.
It's happening in plain view. They're not hard to find.
A quick🧵on
@Facebook
's apparent failure to enforce its own rules:
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And we're underway. John Lauro and Todd Blanche introduced themselves for the defense; Thomas Windom and Molly Gaston for the Special Counsel's Office.
Judge Tanya Chutkan is presiding. She is now summarizing the background of the litigation regarding the partial gag order.
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Chutkan pressing the defense on Trump's public remarks, including a statement that D.C. has become "a filthy and crime ridden embarrassment to our nation"
Lauro, in part: "That's part of living with the First Amendment."
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Trump is not expected to be present today. But at least one of his allies is — Rep. Marjorie Tayor Greene was amid the members of the public in line to enter the courtroom a few moments ago.
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Chutkan, throwing out another hypothetical Turmp post: "Bill Barr is a smart guy but he better learn to keep his mouth shut."
Lauro: "It depends on the context, your honor."
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