Three Things To Watch Today

By Kate Riga, John Light and Caitlin MacNeal

May 24, 2019 8:39 a.m.

Happy Friday, May 24. The Trump-Pelosi feud continues, with the New York Times reporting that the fight was intentionally escalated by Pelosi. Here’s more on that and the other stories we’re watching.

Three Things We’re Watching Today

Trump’s ongoing outburst

President Trump’s outburst over Democrats’ investigations continued yesterday, with Trump targeting his ire at Pelosi. Per a report, the fight is part of a strategy Pelosi is pursuing as she seeks to unify her own caucus and to put pressure on the President following his efforts to defy congressional investigations. We’ll be following this latest battle as it progresses. Trump is headed to Japan today.

Ex-voter fraud commissioner in court

J. Christian Adams, a former member of Trump’s defunct voter fraud commission, will be in court today for a hearing on the defamation lawsuit he faces over a report accusing Virginians of illegally registering to vote. Today’s hearing centers on a discovery dispute that revealed emails in which Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, floated an anti-voter fraud campaign. TPM’s Tierney Sneed will be at the hearing in Virginia.

More on Mueller’s testimony

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said Thursday night that special counsel Robert Mueller wants to testify privately, and provide a transcript of his comments to the public. Nadler could only speculate as to why, but said he thinks it’s because Mueller does not want to appear political. We’ll be watching developments on that front.

Today’s Rundown

11:40 a.m. ET Trump leaves the White House headed to Tokyo, Japan.

Editor’s Desk

Josh will be weighing in on Attorney General Bill Barr’s newly granted authority fto declassify certain intelligence agency records, as well as the doctored video of Nancy Pelsoi that’s spread rapidly on social media.

Yesterday’s Top Story

In 20 Tweets, GOP Rep. Justin Amash Lays Out Case For Impeachment — Matt Shuham

Reading List

Women Have Most of Top Roles in Campaigns for Leading 2020 Democrats — Joshua Jamerson, The Wall Street Journal

Theresa May to resign as prime minister — The BBC

Twitter Bans #Resistance-Famous Krassenstein Brothers for Allegedly Operating Fake Accounts — Will Sommer, The Daily Beast

Breaking: Nobody Knows What’s Going to Happen in 2020 — Rebecca Traister, New York Magazine

Latest global school climate strikes expected to beat turnout record — Matthew Taylor, The Guardian

Kate Riga (@Kate_Riga24) Kate Riga is a news writer for Talking Points Memo based in New York City. Before joining TPM, Kate was the political reporter for The Southampton Press. She is a graduate of Georgetown University and a native of Philadelphia.

John Light (@LightTweeting) John is TPM's editor for Prime & Special Projects. His work has also appeared at The Atlantic, Reuters, Mother Jones, Salon, Slate, UN Dispatch, Vox, Worth, City & State and Al Jazeera, and has been broadcast on Public Radio International. Before joining TPM, John was a producer for Bill Moyers and WNYC, and worked as a news writer for Grist. He grew up in New Jersey, studied history and film at Oberlin College, and got his master‘s degree in journalism from Columbia University.

Caitlin MacNeal (@caitlinmacneal) Caitlin MacNeal is an assistant editor based in Washington, D.C. Before joining TPM, Caitlin interned and wrote for the Huffington Post, the Sunlight Foundation and Slate. She is a graduate of Georgetown University.

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