Hello TPM members and welcome to the weekend.
Trump has empowered Bill Barr with unprecedented authority so he can investigate the origins of the Russia probe. “The Kraken has been unleashed,” says cartoon supervillain Seb Gorka.
Here’s what happened in Prime this week.
- The NRA and its former advertising firm Ackerman McQueen fired off a new round of lawsuits at one another this week. Josh Kovensky runs through a few of the questions they raise.
- Dumping milkshakes on right-wing British politicians is, increasingly, becoming a thing.
- This week, Judge Edgardo Ramos upheld a congressional subpoena issued to Trump’s banks for information about his finances. Here’s a look inside the courtroom where it happened.
- Did Rudy Giuliani help get the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine recalled?
- Trump and House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler’s bitter relationship dates back to a spat over a West Side construction project in the mid-1980s.
- Trump’s effort to quash congressional subpoenas were stopped in court. Here are some thoughts on what’s next.
- Democratic 2020 candidates doing town halls on Fox seem to really bother Trump.
- A TPM reader makes the case for impeachment, and Josh Marshall gives his own thoughts. And another reader letter on the topic.
- A dose of reality from an Indivisible book club.
- Is Biden’s lead a sign of strength, or a sign of the other candidates’ weakness?
- Rep. Justin Amash’s (R-MI) record makes it not all that surprising that he’s become the first Republican member of Congress to call for impeachment.
- Is it time to worry about Roe v. Wade?
- Missouri’s effort to gut the anti-gerrymandering ballot initiative that voters recently approved flamed out, thanks to an unforced procedural error.
- Kris Kobach has a lot of guts.
- A Josh Marshall reading list.
Members-Only Article