Chaos in Congress

[N.E. Brigand]

Pretty fast work. Is there any indication that Santos was even under investigation before this all blew up five months ago?

Yes, see this post that I made last January.

That being said, this is extraordinarily fast. They must have extremely solid documentary evidence. The indictment also suggests that they have significant cooperating witnesses.

Thanks! Although that was less than five months ago. I'm wondering when the investigation(s) started. Was the FBI looking into Santos before the press started publishing about him in late December / early January?

[Frelga]

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[Frelga]

NYT reports

Senator Dianne Feinstein Suffered More Complications From Illness Than Were Publicly Disclosed

Ms. Feinstein contracted encephalitis, characterized by swelling of the brain, during her recent bout with shingles, said two people familiar with her diagnosis. The California Democrat, 89, has been unwilling to entertain discussions about leaving the Senate.

On that note, this may be a good time to consider getting the shingles vaccine if you had chickenpox as a child.

[N.E. Brigand]

The "weaponization" committee chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (Republican of Ohio) is apparently flouting House rules by keeping supposed* whistleblower testimony secret from House Democrats, who are supposed to be able to see all such material.

*Edited to note that Mark Zaid, an attorney who regularly represents whistleblowers, has urged people not to refer to this committee's witnesses as "alleged" (or "supposed") whistleblowers,** because regardless of whether or not they're telling the truth, they have met the technical requirements to qualify for whistleblower protections.

**Edited further to note that Mattahias Schwartz observes that the definition of whistleblower need not be limited to the legal meaning.***

***Edited one more time to note that two of today's witnesses acknowledged having received money from Kash Patel, the former Trump administration official who seems to be connected to several Trump scandals, including the ongoing classified documents matter. As someone today said: if the witnesses whose testimony led to Donald Trump's Ukraine impeachment were paid by an associate of Joe Biden, we'd never hear the end of it.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I was just watching that. No one knows the rules better than Dan Goldman. But apparently, rules don't matter anymore.

Have you been following the dispute (for lack of a better word) between MTG and Jamaal Bowman?

[Frelga]

"“I can chew and walk gum at the same time.”
George Santos, explaining how he can still do his job in Congress.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I thought about posting that one here too. It definitely defines the gentleman well.

[RoseMorninStar]

Walk gum. Is that like a gumshoe?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[N.E. Brigand]

I think Santos is obviously guilty of various frauds, but I don't like the idea of defendants pleading guilty only because they can't afford legal counsel.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The line between The Onion and reality continues to blur. When I first saw this, I was sure that it was satire.



But no:

[RoseMorninStar]

Debt ceiling crisis? What Crisis?

[N.E. Brigand]

Business Insider has a disturbing story about the (soon-to-be-ex-) husband of Rep. Lauren Boebert (Republican of Colorado).

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Here's the 911 call. Words fail.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[N.E. Brigand]

But also, a few months ago, Rep. David Cicilline, Democrat of Rhode Island, announced that he would be leaving Congress to become the president of a charitable foundation. His last day is today.

Rep. Chris Stewart is resigning for health reasons and hasn't said yet when his final day would be.

I'm confused by Kyle Griffin's numbers. Right now, Republicans have 222 seats and Democrats have 213. Tomorrow that will be 222-212. In a few weeks, it will be 221-212. So the margin is nine or ten seats, not four.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Setting aside Cicciline, who I don't think that Griffin is taking into account, I think his thinking is that it would be 221-213, and that therefore only four seats would need to be flipped to make the House an even split. Which doesn't really make much sense, but that is the only explanation that I think of for his statement.

[N.E. Brigand]

In a new court filing, Rep. George Santos's lawyers say that Santos would rather be jailed while awaiting trial than have the names of the people who put up his bond made public, because, he says, releasing that information would put them in danger.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

In a new court filing, Rep. George Santos's lawyers say that Santos would rather be jailed while awaiting trial than have the names of the people who put up his bond made public, because, he says, releasing that information would put them in danger.