HEDGEHOG DAY UPDATES
Because Why Should Groundhogs Get All The PR Today, Huh? HUH!?!?!
-While there is growing frustration over the lack of a ruling on Trump's claims that Presidents have a God-like ability to do anything they want any time they want, there is quiet activity on a few other legal fronts - the most intriguing arguably surrounding Judge Arthur Engoron's delay in not determining how much damages Trump will need to pay for lying about valuations on his various properties. Earlier in the week, a court-appointed judge noted "inconsistencies" in Trump Organization's financial reporting, including a claim of a $48M loan connected to Trump's Chicago tower that does not seem to exist.
-And last night, breaking reports revealed former Trump Organization CFO Alan Weisselberg was in negotiations with the court to plead guilty to perjury in connection with his testimony at Engoron's trial. At best, the two developments could pile more damages on the Trump Organization (as well as banning from doing business in New York state) - at worst, the Weisselberg development may shift the trial from civil to criminal, and open Trump and others up to felony charges.
-In FL, new reporting revealed that two rooms in Mar-a-Lago were not searched as part of their 2022 search - one of which reportedly had a new lock on it. That revelation corroborates reporting at the time that, prior to the appointment of Jack Smith as Special Prosecutor, pro-Trump forces in the FBI may have given Trump a heads-up on a potential search for classified documents. At this time, there is no move to file a new search warrant for more documents.
-And in GA, Politico reports that DA Fani Willis has no plans to step away from the Fulton County case involving Trump's attempts to steal GA's electoral votes from Joe Biden in 2020. That report comes as she has been served with a subpoena from a different defendant in the case that implies (because the filing admits no evidence) Willis improperly hired a prosecutor for the case that she was having a personal relationship with. The hearing, in part, is being called to discover whether the impropriety has any connection with the Trump case - and, more likely, just another tactic to continue to delay any criminal trials of Trump beyond Election Day and what is hoped to be a re-installation of power that will allow Trump to absolve himself of all crimes and prosecute all who are currently prosecuting him.
-That's not really hyperbole, y'all - and if you needed more evidence of that, THIS JUST IN: Willis has been subpoenaed by MAGAt Rep. Jim "Gym" Jordan (OtheR Way, OH) to testify before the House to spill the beans to Trump allies and help in Trump's defense ... I'm sorry, I MEANT to say, "Allegations over retaliation of a whistleblower." (EYEROLL - OW! Just hurt myself on that one ...)
-It is no wonder, then, that all these cases and all these attorneys - yeah, even Alina Habba - continue to be Trump's number one expenditure. It should also come as no surprise, of course, that the self-declared richest of all rich guys to ever run for and be President is tapping his campaign funds for his lawyers - over $50M so far, according to reports. Combined with absolutely pathetic fund raising on the Trump campaign ($19m in the last quarter, reflecting a steady decline in overall donations to Team Trump), it is now believed Trump is spending more money than he is taking in, and the campaign only has $8M cash on hand (and the Republican National Committee is in even more dire financial straits). By comparison, the Biden campaign has nearly $46M cash on hand with no legal bills or primary opponents, though spending is tricky to track with so many PACs spending on ads - one of the rare instances where "both sides" actually do do it.
-Nonetheless, there is no bigger proof that the Biden campaign is up and kicking than a story that dropped at Politico in which Biden reportedly openly called Trump "a sick fuck" (we're on Substack, I can work blue!) and added "What a fucking asshole!" to friends and colleagues away from hot mikes. As you can also imagine, that news has made genteel snowflakes on the right almost as upset as the ongoing mechanizations deploying Biden-bots Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce to push for Biden.
-Polling, by the way, is kind of all over the place. A CNN national poll has Trump ahead of Biden by about 3%, a Quinnipiac poll has Biden up by 6% nationally, a series of Bloomberg polls have Trump comfortably ahead in a number of swing states - that's likely how this race is gonna be, folks. Get used to it.
-While Congressional MAGAts continue to gum up desperately needed foreign aid bills, the European Union gave Ukraine some desperately-needed good news when the majority forced current EU head and Putin ally Viktor Orban to agree with them and give Ukraine $50B in Euros to aid in an effort that has, at least in part, has reportedly helped create conflict between Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and top military commander Gen. Valery Zaluzhny that reportedly has placed Zaluzhny's command in jeopardy. Biden is also looking for work-arounds, including one move to allow recently uncommissioned materiel to be sent to Ukraine rather than police forces. And there continue to be rumblings that Ukraine aid may be uncoupled from a border control bill that Trump is gleefully claiming credit for derailing to try to use against Biden politically. The battles continue ...
-SLAVA UKRAINI!
-In closing ... ho-hum, la-de-dah, the newest unemployment report shows ANOTHER 350,000 jobs were added to the American economy in January. Combined with the inflation rate going down, even Fox Business Channel has to admit, almost weepingly, that the Biden economy is really, really good - the best in the world right now, and stunningly sustained after the Covid lockdowns and Trump presidency. That Dark Brandon, y'all ...
-On this date in 1943, the last Nazi troops in Stalingrad surrendered, ending one of the longest and bloodiest battles of World War II. On this date in 1980, an FBI-led undercover investigation into public corruption known as Abscam was first made public. And on this date in 1990, the ban on the African National Congress was lifted - an action that led to the release of Nelson Mandela and the end of apartheid rule in South Africa.
-Debuts: New Amsterdam (1653 - we now know the place as New York City), the National League (baseball, 1876), Groundhog Day (the holiday, 1887), ULYSSES (1922), WHAT'S MY LINE? (1950), THE NUTCRACKER (Ballet, 1954), THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL (NBC, 1973).
-Happy Birthday to Talleyrand, Solomon Guggenheim, James Joyce, Frank Lloyd, George Halas, Howard Johnson, James Dickey, Liz Smith, Elaine Stritch, Stan Getz, Tommy Smothers, Bo Hopkins, Wayne Fontes, Barry Diller, Graham Nash, Farrah Fawcett, Ina Garten, Jessica Savitch, Brent Spiner, Ross Valory, Kim Zimmer, Christie Brinkley, Dexter Manley, Erik ten Hag, James Murphy, Shakira, Ivan Perisic, and Data.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to John L. Sullivan, Boris Karloff, Bertrand Russell, Sid Vicious, Bert Parks, Donald Pleasance, Gene Kelly, Max Schmeling, Earl Butz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bob Elliott, Bill Fitch, and Monica Vitti.
-Feed the Worms: Awful writer turned even worse philosopher and right-wing darling Ayn Rand and Bush/Trump acolyte John Cornyn entered Earth on this date.