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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

That and more in today's installment of Morning Memo. Sign up here for a free, no-nonsense weekday newsletter chronicling the depredations of the Trump II presidency: morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com/p/buckle-up-...

morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com

Buckle Up: The Final 3 Weeks of the Campaign Are Gonna Be Some Kind of UGLY

INSIDE: Pete Hegseth...Cassidy Hutchinson...Kim Guilfoyle

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

If you need a break from the oppressive grimness, you always have Kimberly Guilfoyle. Her latest scandal is almost a welcome relief — a Molière comedy of the Trump era.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

We’ve endured some very dark days in Trump II, but yesterday was particularly grim — and a possible taste of what’s to come between now and Election Day. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

talkingpointsmemo.com

Buckle Up: The Final 3 Weeks of the Campaign Are Gonna Be Some Kind of UGLY

One Dark Damn Day We’ve endured some very dark days in Trump...

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

“That’s the problem, Mike. It’s not just that you hired half the Third Reich to staff your congressional office, and you have promoted neo-Nazi content online,” Ossoff said. “It’s that you’re robbing your constituents to subsidize your donors.” talkingpointsmemo.com/fivepoints/s...

talkingpointsmemo.com

Somehow, Mike Collins Was Completely Unprepared for Questions About His Neo-Nazi Ties During Senate Debate

Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) failed to answer a question about who won...

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Roger Parloff @rparloff.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Judge Sorokin orders vindictive-selective prosecution discovery & disclosure of grand jury minutes for Ksenia Petrova, the frog embryo researcher. "Credible showing [she] was prosecuted due to her status as Harvard-affiliated researcher & J1 visa holder." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

They, in turn, reproduce under-oath statements made by a longtime customs
attorney in Petrova's federal habeas proceedings, which also concerned the events at issue in this
case. Doc. No. 45 at 13. The attorney had provided a sworn declaration attesting that, during his thirty-five-year career, he was not aware of any person having been prosecuted for smuggling without having been processed by customs officers for a "failure to declare" violation, nor could
he recall ever seeing smuggling charges brought for failing to declare a research sample
regardless of the traveler's willfulness. Id.; Doc. No. 67 at 22 (quoting same declaration). In the
circumstances presented, the foregoing suffices to satisfy Petrova's burden of supplying "some
evidence" of discriminatory effect as the relevant caselaw requires. The cited declaration
comprises a credible showing that Petrova was prosecuted due to her status as a Harvard-affiliated researcher and J-1 visa holder-
facts which "some evidence" before the Court also
shows placed her in the crosshairs of those presently controlling the Executive Branch. E.g., Doc. No. 67-2 (referencing visa and "educated individuals with a pedigree"); Doc. No. 67-4 at 5 (responding to "fake news" and mentioning Petrova's affiliation with Harvard); see also Doc.
No. 67 at 9-10 (describing context in which Petrova's case arose and actions targeting Harvard
and higher-education-related visa holders). The same declaration also credibly shows that other
travelers who have willfully failed to declare research samples or similar items but were not
Harvard-affiliated visa holders were not treated the same way.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

~Miller has been holding monthly meetings with the heads of federal law enforcement agencies about the deployments of the NG and federal agents to D.C. and Memphis in Trump’s “violent crime crackdown.” ~Miller is in touch multiple times a week with the DAG's office on fraud and immigration cases.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

CBS News goes quite a bit further in revealing how involved Miller is in DOJ affairs: ~Miller pressured DOJ to take action against a political activist who protested outside of his home. ~Miller asked FBI counterterrorism agents to go undercover in his neighborhood’s political activist group.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

What might have normally been a local law enforcement matter is now federalized and turned into a counterterrorism investigation. Miller's own interest in criminalizing threats and protests against his family shows how politicization and personalization have merged under Trump II.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

But a glaring conflict of interest is just one element of this story, and probably not the most important one. This episode appears to be a subset of broader Trump admin push to lump all threats together with legitimate political opposition and brand them as domestic terrorism.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

... to be more aggressive in pursuing threats against govt officials and their families—while he was an alleged victim and potential witness in a case of alleged threats to his wife, Katie. Miller was reportedly frustrated by the pace of the criminal probe into the allegedly threatening comms.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The story is framed around an apparent conflict of interest. Miller attended an counterterrorism training session at FBI headquarters on Sept. 29 that was focused on President Trump’s notorious NSPM-7 on domestic terrorism and political violence. Miller urged the federal agents ...

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Since the dawn of Trump II, Stephen Miller has been the barely hidden hand running DOJ from the White House. Now a new report from CBS News adds quite a bit more detail to the level of influence and control that Miller exerts over the Trump DOJ. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

talkingpointsmemo.com

New Details Emerge on Stephen Miller’s Meddling at the Trump DOJ

The Tip of the Politicization Spear Since the dawn of Trump II,...

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

That and a whole lot more in today's installment of Morning Memo, your free weekday newsletter chronicling the depredations of the Trump II presidency: morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com

morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com

Morning Memo | TPM | Substack

The essential political news roundup from David Kurtz and the team at TPM. Click to read Morning Memo, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Meanwhile, Big Lie purveyor Tina Peters met with Trump in the Oval Office to discuss “election integrity,” and election denier Cleta Mitchell is pushing a scheme for the Commerce secretary seize voting machines. Former Trump DOJer Ed Martin helpfully ties it all together: bsky.app/profile/anna...

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

~Trump DOJ dispatched federal prosecutors and an FBI agent to monitor polls in Maricopa and Pima counties in Arizona during its July primary election—a dramatic departure from past practice. ~ICE has begun asking detainees if they have ever voted illegally and, if so, whether in person or by mail.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

In the face of such desperation, the Trump admin is abusing the power of the federal government to swing the election its way: ~DHS has investigated more than 150 voter registration groups in search of evidence that they’re helping noncitizens illegally register to vote.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

~On the House side, in a sign of increasing desperation, Republicans have quietly resumed backing Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) despite earlier calls from within the party for him to drop out of the race amidst allegations against him of domestic abuse.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Over the past day: ~The Cook Political Report moved 3 Senate races toward Dems: KS, NC, and NH. ~In deep-red SC, appointed Sen. Darline Graham (R) is struggling to hold on to her late brother’s seat, forcing the Senate Leadership Fund to dump $5M into her race against Dr. Annie Andrews

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

GOP consultants are falling over each other to make the most dire pronouncements about the party's midterms fate. “If the bottom continues falling out like it has been, this will be worse than 2006,” a nat'l GOP strategist says. Dems gained 31 seats in '06. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

talkingpointsmemo.com

Desperate GOP Scrambles to Defend Once-Solid Red Seats

Worse Than 2006? Republican political consultants are practically falling over each other...

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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

We're doing a special October-only, Youtube-only version of our podcast for the next four weeks where we answer all your questions about different races around the country, how polls work, whether they work and more. First ep from @kateriga.bsky.social and I will be out on YT this afternoon.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Alito sheds new light on his decision to recuse in Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County www.youtube.com/shorts/bUDtx...

youtube.com

Justice Alito Explains Recusal in Climate Change Case

YouTube video by Wall Street Journal Opinion

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Judge Leibowitz’s ruling undermines the Trump propaganda machine’s focus on noncitizen voting as a catch-all Big Lie that seeks to justify the federal takeover of elections, the imposition of new restrictions on voting, especially mail-in voting, and the delegitimization of elections generally.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Judge Leibowitz was the first judge to ever rule on the constitutionality of the statute. As Politico’s Kyle Cheney notes, the statute that Judge Leibowitz invalidated underpins several Trump administration noncitizen-voting prosecutions that it ramped up ahead of the midterm elections.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

“[T]he Constitution does not authorize Congress to legislate voter qualifications for federal elections,” Leibowitz ruled. “Congress has no power to say who can vote or who cannot vote in federal elections—that foundational power is reserved for the States, and limits Congress.”

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

In dismissing the prosecution of a Jamaican national for illegally voting in the 2020 election, U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz (a Biden appointee) found 18 U.S.C. § 611, which outlaws voting by noncitizens in federal elections, to be a “voter qualification statute.”

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

In a potentially very important ruling last week, a federal judge in south Florida concluded that the Trump administration’s effort to prosecute noncitizen voting relies on a 40-year-old federal statute that is unconstitutional. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

talkingpointsmemo.com

Court Ruling Hobbles Trump DOJ’s Jihad Against Elusive Threat of Noncitizen Voting

Judge Strikes Down Federal Ban on Noncitizen Voting In a potentially very...

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

It can’t be the case that whether we get democracy or fascism, the rule of law or authoritarianism, reform or systemic corruption rides on the result of each election. Yet, here we are. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

talkingpointsmemo.com

With Four Weeks to Go, Dems Are in the Driver’s Seat

In the Stretch Run … With voting coming to a close four...

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 02/10/2026

not that you should expect anything more than rank idiocy from this pair of racists, but the idea that whiteness means a "high trust" society of "social cohesion" is some of the stupidest shit i have ever heard. these people live in a fantasy land that you could dispel by simply opening a book.

talkingpointsmemo.com

Chris Rufo — Known For ‘DEI’ and ‘CRT’ Panics — Tries to Make ‘the Indian Question’ a Thing

To the degree that a “respectable” or “moderate” right exists today in...

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The literal argument here is that you're not assimilated if white people are racist against you because of who you are or how you look. bsky.app/profile/jame...

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Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

TFW you are taking a page from Idi Amin

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The same guy who has been using government records to launch phony investigations is firing the people who do actual investigations after the investigated him.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

It’s quite a coincidence that a week after that revelation Pulte is taking another retaliatory swing at the FHFA IG and basically trying to put it out of business.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The pattern of retaliation is clear. But there’s a more recent wrinkle. Last week, the WSJ — which you can see has been all over the Pulte story for many months — reported that Pulte hadn’t just targeted Democrats’ mortgages. He’d also examined the mortgages of Todd Blanche!

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The fallout from that episode was swift and severe, as the WSJ previously reported: Joe Allen, the FHFA acting IG, was asked to step down. Around the same time, the administration fired about a dozen officials within Fannie Mae’s ethics and internal investigations unit.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The budget cuts are just a continuation of a retaliation campaign by Pulte against internal watchdogs that’s been going on for a year. His mortgage fraud jihad resulted in an internal investigation over whether he improperly obtained mortgage records of high-profile Dems, including Letitia James.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The draconian cuts would eviscerate the IG’s office, it told Congress in a letter this week: “We will be forced to reduce staffing by approximately 70-80% in FY 2027, which will result in the discontinuance of essentially all criminal investigations conducted by our Office of Investigations.”

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

In a move that smacks of retaliation, Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte is moving to slash next year’s budget for the agency’s inspector general’s office by more than 60 percent — after it was involved in an earlier investigation of him. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

talkingpointsmemo.com

Bill Pulte Guts the IG Office That Investigated Him

Cuts Would Put IG Office Out of Business In a move that...

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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

NEW: The Georgia State Election board is requesting Justice Department "intervention" ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The board sent request letters to Todd Blanche, Harmeet Dhillon, and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. Docs obtained by @lawfaremedia.org: www.documentcloud.org/documents/28...

documentcloud.org

Formal Request for DOJ Intervention to Todd Blanche

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Under the pretext of an ethics complaint against all but one of the active federal judges in Minnesota, Todd Blanche signaled yesterday that not only will the Trump admin keep running roughshod over the judiciary but that judges had better shut up about it. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

talkingpointsmemo.com

Trump DOJ Doubles Down on Attacking Judges

Blanche Targets Minnesota Judges Under the pretext of an ethics complaint against...

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

“Geoff Shepard, a former Nixon aide turned Watergate historian and revisionist, recently gave a two-hour presentation at DOJ headquarters that laid out his theory that the deep state took Nixon down. The title of his 78-page slide-deck: “Watergate As Lawfare.’” www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

wsj.com

Exclusive | Decades After Watergate, Justice Department Reviews Whether Nixon Got a Raw Deal

A revisionist historian went to the DOJ headquarters to present his case that the former president and his associates weren’t treated fairly.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

That and much more in today's Morning Memo, a free newsletter chronicling the depredations of the Trump II presidency with a special focus on the rule of law. Sign up here: morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com

morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com

Morning Memo | TPM | Substack

The essential political news roundup from David Kurtz and the team at TPM. Click to read Morning Memo, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

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David Kurtz @davidkurtz.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

That still leaves SCOTUS, which—with a few notable exceptions—has been Trump’s greatest enabler. It played true to form yesterday with an emergency intervention that will allow the administration’s brutal 3d-country removals policy to continue past the election and after oral arguments in December.

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