memeorandum: Clarence Thomas's $267,230 R.V. and the Friend Who Financed It (New York Times)

3:30 PM ET, August 5, 2023

Top Items:

Awkwardness in Trump's circle: Top aides could be trial witnesses — Some of Trump's closest advisers are referenced in charges against him, potentially putting them in a bind as cases advance — At least seven currently serving advisers to former president Donald Trump took actions …

Discussion: Reuters, Raw Story, HuffPost, TheBlaze and Associated Press

Politico:

Feds alert judge to Trump's 'If you go after me, I'm coming after you!' post — Prosecutors say the former president's message on Truth Social raises specter he might use evidence to target witnesses. — Prosecutors on Friday night called a judge's attention to a social media post from Donald Trump …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Mother Jones, New York Times, HuffPost, Breitbart, Mediaite, Washington Times, Outside the Beltway, The Hill, TheBlaze, CNN, The Messenger and PoliticusUSA

Toluse Olorunnipa / Washington Post:

Country lacks a unifying voice in aftermath of Trump charges — No trusted figure has emerged to reassure the country in a shattering moment — In the hours after former president Donald Trump was indicted Tuesday, President Biden dined at a seafood restaurant, stopped by a movie theater …

New York Times:

Trump's Legal Team Is Enmeshed in a Tangle of Possible Conflicts — Former President Donald J. Trump's growing cast of lawyers is marked by a web of overlapping interests encompassing witnesses, co-defendants and potential targets. — M. Evan Corcoran, a lawyer who accompanied former …

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo, Raw Story and Political Wire

Nick Robertson / The Hill:

DOJ prosecutors request gag order after Trump arraignment, citing social media threats — Justice Department Special counsel Jack Smith appealed to the federal judge overseeing former President Trump's election fraud case Friday evening to issue a protective order for evidence, citing social media threats.

Charlie Savage / New York Times:
How Jack Smith Structured the Trump Election Indictment to Reduce Risks

Discussion: BizPac Review, The Conversation, Fox News, Raw Story, Washington Examiner and CNN

David Jackson / USA Today:
'I'm coming after you:' Donald Trump responds to latest arraignment with new threats

Discussion: RedState, al.com, Mediaite, Raw Story, The Hill, CBS News, Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, Associated Press and Breitbart

Michael Wolff / New York Times:
Donald Trump's Way of Speaking Defies All Logic

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo, One America News Network, The Daily Beast, Reason and Rolling Stone

Andrew Weissmann / MSNBC:
Two unusual moments from Trump's arraignment for 2020 election indictment

Discussion: Salon, Digby's Hullabaloo and Atlanta Journal-Constitution

New York Times:

Clarence Thomas's $267,230 R.V. and the Friend Who Financed It — The vehicle is a key part of the justice's just-folks persona. It's also a luxury motor coach that was funded by someone else's money. — Justice Clarence Thomas met the recreational vehicle of his dreams in Phoenix, on a November Friday in 1999.

Discussion: Raw Story, The Messenger and Insider

New York Times:

A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to a U.S. Tech Mogul — The Times unraveled a financial network that stretches from Chicago to Shanghai and uses American nonprofits to push Chinese talking points worldwide. — Mara Hvistendahl is an investigative reporter focused on China.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

John Eastman Comes Clean: Hell Yes We Were Trying to Overthrow the Government — THE BACKCHANNEL — I want to return to this revelatory interview with coconspirator John Eastman, the last portion of which was published Thursday by Tom Klingenstein, the Chairman of the Trumpite Claremont Institute …

Zack Beauchamp / Vox:

I regret to report the economic anxiety theory of Trumpism is back — In David Brooks's new column, he asks the American elite if they're the baddies. But he's actually telling them a comforting fiction. — The question of why Donald Trump manages to maintain such a grip on the Republican base …

Discussion: The National Pulse+ and The American Conservative

Donell Harvin / Politico:

Here's the Intelligence Assessment of Donald Trump that the Government Can't Write — Homeland Security officials can't use politicians' names in their assessments. But I can. — Federal intelligence and national security agencies — from the FBI to DHS — are in universal agreement …

Discussion: Raw Story

Gary Fineout / Politico:

Push for Debbie Mucarsel-Powell to take on Rick Scott is growing — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has talked to Mucarsel-Powell about running. — TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — There's a growing chorus of Democratic-aligned groups calling for former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell …

Discussion: Washington Examiner and The Daily Caller

The Atlantic:

What the Best Places in America Have in Common — What the data show about the country's poorest places — When president lyndon B. Johnson declared an “unconditional war on poverty” in 1964, the nation didn't have any method of counting the poor, or even a firm notion of how poverty should be defined.

Akbar Shahid Ahmed / HuffPost:

Another 2024 Republican Candidate Is Now Profiting Off Saudi-Backed LIV Golf — The upstart league is hosting a major tournament at The Greenbrier, owned by Senate hopeful Jim Justice — mirroring LIV's relationship with former President Donald Trump. — West Virginia governor …

Tal Axelrod / ABC News:

Democrats are drastically overperforming in 2023's special elections. Is it a clue for Biden vs. Trump? — Some Republicans, however, caution against “reading too much into specials.” — Looking ahead to 2024, Democrats concede some cause for concern — including President Joe Biden's …

Discussion: Blue Virginia and Political Wire