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November 22, 2025
https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/comey-case-lindsey-halligan-new-york-post-rcna244956
Deadline Legal Blog-Heading for legal loss in Comey case, Halligan makes misleading public case against the judge
The Trump-installed prosecutor reportedly took umbrage at the judge “referring to me as a ‘puppet.’” That’s not what happened.
Heading for legal loss in Comey case, Halligan makes misleading public case against the judge www.msnbc.com/deadline-whi...
— Liberty & Justice (@stand4truth.bsky.social) 2025-11-20T19:14:43.254Z
https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/comey-case-lindsey-halligan-new-york-post-rcna244956
Things are going badly for Lindsey Halligan in court. The myriad ways the James Comey case can be dismissed pretrial are mounting.
Apparently having seen the writing on the wall after a rough hearing Wednesday, Halligan attempted to make her case in the media against the presiding judge, Biden-appointee Michael Nachmanoff......
It’s hard to credit Halligan’s claim of being laser-focused when we are reading that claim in a media report — one that came out the same day her latest legal blunders were exposed in court, and the same week in which another judge called out her “fundamental misstatements of the law” to the grand jury.
In fairness to Halligan, she had never prosecuted a case before — but that goes to the point that she’s in the wrong job. As it happens, the question of whether she’s legally in the wrong job, i.e., unlawfully installed by the administration, is another topic that yet another judge is weighing. That’s yet another avenue that could lead to the dismissal of the case against Comey (and against New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has raised similar issues).
But even if she’s a new prosecutor, she is a lawyer with a professional obligation to know better than to call out a judge for purportedly unethical conduct when the judge has done nothing of the sort. That’s especially so, given that Halligan could face her own ethical inquiry when all is said and done. A bar complaint has already been filed against her that highlights another questionable instance of extrajudicial statements, when she initiated a perplexing line of communication with a journalist.
Overall, Halligan’s misleading public comments read as an attempt to make a public case as the court case implodes. Context shows that her public case is also ripe for dismissal.
Apparently having seen the writing on the wall after a rough hearing Wednesday, Halligan attempted to make her case in the media against the presiding judge, Biden-appointee Michael Nachmanoff......
It’s hard to credit Halligan’s claim of being laser-focused when we are reading that claim in a media report — one that came out the same day her latest legal blunders were exposed in court, and the same week in which another judge called out her “fundamental misstatements of the law” to the grand jury.
In fairness to Halligan, she had never prosecuted a case before — but that goes to the point that she’s in the wrong job. As it happens, the question of whether she’s legally in the wrong job, i.e., unlawfully installed by the administration, is another topic that yet another judge is weighing. That’s yet another avenue that could lead to the dismissal of the case against Comey (and against New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has raised similar issues).
But even if she’s a new prosecutor, she is a lawyer with a professional obligation to know better than to call out a judge for purportedly unethical conduct when the judge has done nothing of the sort. That’s especially so, given that Halligan could face her own ethical inquiry when all is said and done. A bar complaint has already been filed against her that highlights another questionable instance of extrajudicial statements, when she initiated a perplexing line of communication with a journalist.
Overall, Halligan’s misleading public comments read as an attempt to make a public case as the court case implodes. Context shows that her public case is also ripe for dismissal.
November 22, 2025
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/white-houses-celebration-weak-job-market-makes-no-sense-rcna245134
MaddowBlog-The White House's celebration of the weak job market makes no sense
Job growth in the first year of Donald Trump’s second term is on pace to be the worst since the Great Recession. So why is his team bragging?
Team Trump Pitch #1: Americans will see great economic results in early 2025.
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-11-21T14:58:55.467Z
Team Trump Pitch #2: Americans might see great economic results in late 2025.
Team Trump Pitch #3: Americans will hopefully see great economic results in the late summer of 2026.
Can’t wait for Pitch #4.
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/white-houses-celebration-weak-job-market-makes-no-sense-rcna245134
The job numbers for September were significantly delayed by the recent government shutdown, but when the data finally reached the public, the White House appeared eager to celebrate. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a written statement issued to news organizations:
......And while the details from the White House were wrong, the bigger picture is worse.
Job growth in the first year of Donald Trump’s second term is on pace to be the worst since the Great Recession (excluding 2020, when the pandemic wreaked havoc on the economy). We’re also seeing increased corporate layoffs and weak retail hiring as the holiday season approaches.
What’s more, the unemployment rate has reached a four-year high, job openings are at a four-year low, and leading members of Trump’s own economic team have gone so far as to concede in recent weeks that parts of the U.S. economy are already in recession.
Confronted with these facts, the White House press secretary boasted that Trump’s “America First agenda is already making great progress.” If the goal was to make the nation’s job market worse, then yes, the administration’s “progress” is remarkable. But if the point was to improve economic conditions, Leavitt and her colleagues appear to have things backward......
The latest polling suggests the strategy is failing badly, but Leavitt’s reaction to the latest employment report makes clear that the White House intends to keep telling the public not to believe what is plainly true: Trump’s agenda isn’t working.
The September jobs report more than doubled market expectations — adding 119,000 new jobs to the American economy. In stark contrast to the disastrous Biden economy, almost all of these new jobs were in the private sector and went to American-born workers instead of illegal aliens. … This strong report is more proof that President Trump’s pro-growth, America First agenda is already making great progress, and it will continue to deliver positive results for American families and businesses.
......And while the details from the White House were wrong, the bigger picture is worse.
Job growth in the first year of Donald Trump’s second term is on pace to be the worst since the Great Recession (excluding 2020, when the pandemic wreaked havoc on the economy). We’re also seeing increased corporate layoffs and weak retail hiring as the holiday season approaches.
What’s more, the unemployment rate has reached a four-year high, job openings are at a four-year low, and leading members of Trump’s own economic team have gone so far as to concede in recent weeks that parts of the U.S. economy are already in recession.
Confronted with these facts, the White House press secretary boasted that Trump’s “America First agenda is already making great progress.” If the goal was to make the nation’s job market worse, then yes, the administration’s “progress” is remarkable. But if the point was to improve economic conditions, Leavitt and her colleagues appear to have things backward......
The latest polling suggests the strategy is failing badly, but Leavitt’s reaction to the latest employment report makes clear that the White House intends to keep telling the public not to believe what is plainly true: Trump’s agenda isn’t working.
November 21, 2025
MaddowBlog-Why Sen. Bill Cassidy's response to RFK Jr.'s misguided agenda falls far short
Pressed on Kennedy breaking his word, Cassidy said, “Life is lived forward.” If only it were that simple.
https://x.com/shortreddog/status/1991985837727432969
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/sen-bill-cassidys-response-rfk-jrs-misguided-agenda-falls-far-short-rcna245130
Specifically, Cassidy told his colleagues in early February that if Kennedy became the nation’s health secretary, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “will not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.”
Nine months later, the CDC changed its website and started promoting misinformation related to vaccines and autism.
How, pray tell, did Cassidy react to the developments? Politico reported:
If only it were so simple......
Cassidy doesn’t have a time machine, but he does at least have the ability to try to put things right. The powerful Senate committee chair could concede publicly that confirming Kennedy was a tragic and costly mistake. He could call for the secretary’s resignation. He could schedule immediate hearings, haul RFK Jr. to Capitol Hill and read him the riot act while demanding the CDC’s public resources return to their scientific foundations.
Rather, the senator is shrugging with platitudes like “Life is lived forward” — six months after assuring the public that Kennedy has “lived up” to his commitments on vaccines.
It’s a good thing that Cassidy is prepared to do his best “to reassure the American people that vaccines are safe.” The trouble is that he has to compete with an anti-vaccine health secretary whom Cassidy helped put in office and whom he seems unwilling to condemn.
Nine months later, the CDC changed its website and started promoting misinformation related to vaccines and autism.
How, pray tell, did Cassidy react to the developments? Politico reported:
Cassidy said he’s deeply worried about vaccine misinformation, but declined to say he regrets his vote. ‘Life is lived forward. What I have to do is do my best to reassure the American people that vaccines are safe,’ Cassidy said in an interview with Punchbowl News.
If only it were so simple......
Cassidy doesn’t have a time machine, but he does at least have the ability to try to put things right. The powerful Senate committee chair could concede publicly that confirming Kennedy was a tragic and costly mistake. He could call for the secretary’s resignation. He could schedule immediate hearings, haul RFK Jr. to Capitol Hill and read him the riot act while demanding the CDC’s public resources return to their scientific foundations.
Rather, the senator is shrugging with platitudes like “Life is lived forward” — six months after assuring the public that Kennedy has “lived up” to his commitments on vaccines.
It’s a good thing that Cassidy is prepared to do his best “to reassure the American people that vaccines are safe.” The trouble is that he has to compete with an anti-vaccine health secretary whom Cassidy helped put in office and whom he seems unwilling to condemn.
November 21, 2025
MaddowBlog-Confronted with Epstein question, Trump takes aim at ABC's broadcast license
When ABC News’ White House correspondent asked why the president didn’t just disclose the Jeffrey Epstein files himself, it apparently touched a nerve.
https://x.com/hateGOP/status/1991312183058215278
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-epstein-abc-broadcast-license-rcna244781
When Mary Bruce, ABC News’ chief White House correspondent, asked the crown prince about the Khashoggi murder, Trump whined that the reporter’s question might “embarrass” his “guest,” seemingly unaware of the fact that it’s not the job of the press to protect the feelings of foreign authoritarians. He went on to describe the question as “insubordinate,” as though journalists were somehow employees of the Saudi royal family.
The president’s posture took a more hysterical turn, however, when Bruce asked why he didn’t just disclose the Jeffrey Epstein files himself, instead of waiting for Congress to force his hand.
In a tone that could be justifiably characterized as mansplaining, Trump objected to the journalist’s “attitude,” while telling her how “terrible” she is.
And then he kept going. “People are wise to your hoax, and ABC is — your company, your crappy company — is one of the perpetrators,” the Republican ranted. “I’ll tell you something, I’ll tell you something, I think the license should be taken away from ABC, because your news is so fake and so wrong. And we have a great commissioner, a chairman, who should take a look at that.” (He was referring to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr.)
“I think when you’re 97% negative to Trump and then Trump wins in a landslide, that means obviously your news is not credible, and you’re not credible as a reporter,” Trump said, referring to himself in the third person. The president wrapped up his harangue by accusing ABC of being “a radical left network,” while chastising Bruce for her “anger” and “meanness.”
I guess she touched a nerve.,,,,,
This is not, in other words, an official with a healthy attitude toward the First Amendment.
But let’s not forget that less than a year ago, ABC and its parent company, Disney, agreed to a $16 million settlement with Trump. If executives hoped that would keep the network on the Republican’s good side, those hopes have clearly been dashed.
The president’s posture took a more hysterical turn, however, when Bruce asked why he didn’t just disclose the Jeffrey Epstein files himself, instead of waiting for Congress to force his hand.
Trump in response to an Epstein question: "ABC, your company, your crappy company is one of the perpetrators. I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and so wrong. And we have a great commissioner, a chairman, who should take a look at that."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-11-18T18:12:51.276Z
In a tone that could be justifiably characterized as mansplaining, Trump objected to the journalist’s “attitude,” while telling her how “terrible” she is.
And then he kept going. “People are wise to your hoax, and ABC is — your company, your crappy company — is one of the perpetrators,” the Republican ranted. “I’ll tell you something, I’ll tell you something, I think the license should be taken away from ABC, because your news is so fake and so wrong. And we have a great commissioner, a chairman, who should take a look at that.” (He was referring to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr.)
“I think when you’re 97% negative to Trump and then Trump wins in a landslide, that means obviously your news is not credible, and you’re not credible as a reporter,” Trump said, referring to himself in the third person. The president wrapped up his harangue by accusing ABC of being “a radical left network,” while chastising Bruce for her “anger” and “meanness.”
I guess she touched a nerve.,,,,,
This is not, in other words, an official with a healthy attitude toward the First Amendment.
But let’s not forget that less than a year ago, ABC and its parent company, Disney, agreed to a $16 million settlement with Trump. If executives hoped that would keep the network on the Republican’s good side, those hopes have clearly been dashed.
November 21, 2025
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/cdc-backpedals-vaccines-autism-earlier-assurances-rfk-jr-rcna244947
MaddowBlog-CDC backpedals on vaccines and autism, despite earlier assurances from RFK Jr.
The CDC, under the direction of an unqualified health secretary, is now promoting claims that flunk Logic 101.
That an unqualified, anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist is behaving like an unqualified, anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist is painfully predictable.
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-11-20T21:06:55.564Z
But the fact remains that 52 Senate Republicans were given an opportunity to protect Americans from RFK Jr. — and they failed spectacularly.
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/cdc-backpedals-vaccines-autism-earlier-assurances-rfk-jr-rcna244947
In remarks delivered on the Senate floor in early February, Cassidy — a physician prior to his political career — told his colleagues that if Kennedy was confirmed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “will not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.”
Take a wild guess what happened to the CDC website nine months later.
The Wall Street Journal reported:
In related news, the claim “the Tooth Fairy does not actually take lost baby teeth from under pillows” is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that magical beings are secretly thieving teeth in the dead of night......
A day later, former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden appeared on MS NOW and told viewers, “I never thought I would see the day when you couldn’t trust what’s on the CDC website, but that day has come.”
That was soon followed by a New York Times op-ed co-authored by Frieden and several others who had held the same office. NBC News reported:
The mere existence of the opinion piece is itself notable: There is no precedent for nine former CDC chiefs — including Dr. Anne Schuchat, who served as an acting director during Donald Trump’s first term — linking arms to alert the public to a public health menace like this.....
The fact remains, however, that 52 Senate Republicans were given an opportunity to protect Americans from Kennedy — and they failed spectacularly. The more steps that Kennedy takes to put people at risk, the more GOP senators bear responsibility for his radical and dangerous decisions.
Take a wild guess what happened to the CDC website nine months later.
The Wall Street Journal reported:
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage that previously made the case that vaccines don’t cause autism now says they might. … The revised webpage says: ‘The claim “vaccines do not cause autism” is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism. Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.’
In related news, the claim “the Tooth Fairy does not actually take lost baby teeth from under pillows” is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that magical beings are secretly thieving teeth in the dead of night......
A day later, former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden appeared on MS NOW and told viewers, “I never thought I would see the day when you couldn’t trust what’s on the CDC website, but that day has come.”
That was soon followed by a New York Times op-ed co-authored by Frieden and several others who had held the same office. NBC News reported:
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership is ‘unlike anything our country has ever experienced,’ nine former directors and acting directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote in a scathing guest essay Monday for The New York Times. … Their tenures date to the late 1970s and span Democratic and Republican administrations, including Trump’s first term.
The mere existence of the opinion piece is itself notable: There is no precedent for nine former CDC chiefs — including Dr. Anne Schuchat, who served as an acting director during Donald Trump’s first term — linking arms to alert the public to a public health menace like this.....
The fact remains, however, that 52 Senate Republicans were given an opportunity to protect Americans from Kennedy — and they failed spectacularly. The more steps that Kennedy takes to put people at risk, the more GOP senators bear responsibility for his radical and dangerous decisions.
November 20, 2025
Mike Luckovich-Putin's Autopen
— Mike Luckovich (@mluckovich.bsky.social) 2025-11-20T20:31:42.772Z
November 20, 2025
Mike Luckovich -Lame Duck/Quiet Piggy
— Mike Luckovich (@mluckovich.bsky.social) 2025-11-20T19:06:28.661Z
November 20, 2025
https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/judge-dissent-texas-ruling-congressional-map-redistricting-rcna244875
Deadline Legal Blog-Judge issues berserk dissent from ruling blocking Texas congressional maps
Judge Jerry Smith, a Reagan appointee, spent much of his 104-page dissent attacking Judge Jeffrey Brown, a Trump appointee in the majority.
Judge issues berserk dissent from ruling blocking Texas congressional maps/ Judge Jerry Smith, a Reagan appointee, spent much of his 104-page dissent attacking Judge Jeffrey Brown, a Trump appointee in the majority. www.ms.now/deadline-whi...
— (@jwwcan.bsky.social) 2025-11-20T15:50:34.357Z
https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/judge-dissent-texas-ruling-congressional-map-redistricting-rcna244875
When the majority of a three-judge panel led by a Trump appointee blocked Texas’ congressional maps on Tuesday, a footnote to Judge Jeffrey Brown’s 160-page opinion said that the judge who disagreed with the majority, Jerry Smith, “will file a dissenting opinion.” That 104-page dissent came Wednesday, and it began with Smith warning readers with a movie quote: “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night!”
Perhaps that was a sign that what would follow would be unusual. In retrospect, it managed to undersell things......
But the judge kicks off the next 100 pages by proclaiming that the “main winners from Judge Brown’s opinion are George Soros and Gavin Newsom,” referring to the progressive philanthropist who has long been a bogeyman of the right and California’s Democratic governor, respectively. “The obvious losers are the People of Texas and the Rule of Law,” Smith wrote.
In his admittedly “disjointed” opinion, Soros’ name would appear more than a dozen times in ways that would look more familiar in dark corners of the internet — or, at best, on right-wing television or podcasts — than in the pages of a judicial opinion, such as the judge’s reference to an expert in the case as a “paid Soros operative” who “expects to receive $2.5 million in his Soros piggybank.”
Perhaps mindful that his words will be taken as he writes them, Smith drops a footnote to offer that he supposes “someone will say that in making these comments about the Soros connections, I’m expressing a political view, not the proper role of a federal judge.” But to a reader who would rush to that judgment, Smith explains that it’s “not ‘political’ for me to point that out by describing the political dynamics that are inherent in the litigation of redistricting cases.”.....
Once the smoke clears from the recriminations and the bluster and whatever else one might say about the style of Smith’s dissent, the legal disagreement might be boiled down to the following. The gist of Brown’s majority opinion is that the Texas map in question didn’t merely seek partisan advantage (which the Supreme Court has basically said is fine) but more likely represents an unlawful racial gerrymander. As Smith sees it: “This is about partisan politics, plain and simple.”
Perhaps that was a sign that what would follow would be unusual. In retrospect, it managed to undersell things......
But the judge kicks off the next 100 pages by proclaiming that the “main winners from Judge Brown’s opinion are George Soros and Gavin Newsom,” referring to the progressive philanthropist who has long been a bogeyman of the right and California’s Democratic governor, respectively. “The obvious losers are the People of Texas and the Rule of Law,” Smith wrote.
In his admittedly “disjointed” opinion, Soros’ name would appear more than a dozen times in ways that would look more familiar in dark corners of the internet — or, at best, on right-wing television or podcasts — than in the pages of a judicial opinion, such as the judge’s reference to an expert in the case as a “paid Soros operative” who “expects to receive $2.5 million in his Soros piggybank.”
Perhaps mindful that his words will be taken as he writes them, Smith drops a footnote to offer that he supposes “someone will say that in making these comments about the Soros connections, I’m expressing a political view, not the proper role of a federal judge.” But to a reader who would rush to that judgment, Smith explains that it’s “not ‘political’ for me to point that out by describing the political dynamics that are inherent in the litigation of redistricting cases.”.....
Once the smoke clears from the recriminations and the bluster and whatever else one might say about the style of Smith’s dissent, the legal disagreement might be boiled down to the following. The gist of Brown’s majority opinion is that the Texas map in question didn’t merely seek partisan advantage (which the Supreme Court has basically said is fine) but more likely represents an unlawful racial gerrymander. As Smith sees it: “This is about partisan politics, plain and simple.”
November 20, 2025
https://x.com/dylanewells/status/1991536285995995188
Anthony Fauci, Rachel Maddow and James Carville seen sitting together at Dick Cheney's funeral in DC.
https://x.com/KenLayne/status/1991623338821840950https://x.com/dylanewells/status/1991536285995995188
November 20, 2025
https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/trump-boasts-that-his-funeral-will
The Borowitz Report-Trump Boasts That His Funeral Will Have Much Bigger Turnout Than Cheney's
Trump Boasts That His Funeral Will Have Much Bigger Turnout Than Cheney’s
— (@ernie3.bsky.social) 2025-11-20T16:23:43.291Z
open.substack.com/pub/borowitz...
https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/trump-boasts-that-his-funeral-will
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Donald J. Trump boasted on Thursday that his funeral will draw a “much bigger crowd” than former Vice President Dick Cheney’s.
“Dick Cheney, who was a loser and a terrible person, will be lucky to get a thousand people at his funeral,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “My funeral will draw MILLIONS!”
Remarking that “nobody cares” about Cheney’s funeral, Trump said he expects the turnout at his funeral to set records, noting, “Every day, people say to me, ‘Sir, I can’t wait for that day to come.’”
“Dick Cheney, who was a loser and a terrible person, will be lucky to get a thousand people at his funeral,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “My funeral will draw MILLIONS!”
Remarking that “nobody cares” about Cheney’s funeral, Trump said he expects the turnout at his funeral to set records, noting, “Every day, people say to me, ‘Sir, I can’t wait for that day to come.’”
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