PARDON VARIETY OFFENSES

Donald Trump has demonized his enemies and pardoned his radical supporters. We’re beginning to see the consequences.

• Plenty of folks warned that President Donald Trump was sending a dangerous signal when, on his very first day back in office, he granted sweeping pardons to all 1,500 rioters involved in the deadly January 6 insurrection — including those who assaulted police officers and had criminal records. “This action deepens the normalization of ideological violence,” one security analyst warned soon afterwards. “Lone actors and violent movements will likely take cues from the perceived social permission and feel emboldened.”

• Reckless and dangerous, indeed. On Sunday, pardoned insurrectionist Christopher Moynihan was arrested after allegedly saying that he planned to “eliminate” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries at a New York City event this week.

• “Hakeem Jeffries makes a speech in a few days in NYC I cannot allow this terrorist to live,” Moynihan allegedly wrote in a text message, according to court documents obtained by CBS News. “Even if I am hated, he must be eliminated, I will kill him for the future.” Moynihan pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of making a terroristic threat.

• At least 10 other insurrectionists have been rearrested, charged, or sentenced for other crimes since being pardoned, according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Those cases have included allegations of plotting the murder of FBI agents who investigated the January 6 cases, child sexual assault, possession of child sexual abuse material and reckless homicide while driving drunk, according to the organization.

Trump, of course, didn’t stop with just letting far-right radicals back onto the streets. In some cases, he’s offered them government jobs.

• “I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will admit it,” wrote Paul Ingrassia, a 30-year-old lawyer, in a recently revealed group chat with his MAGA buddies last year, according to Politico. That’s an insane thing for anyone to say — especially for the guy hand-picked by Trump to lead the Office of the Special Counsel, which is tasked with protecting federal workers.

• Ingrassia’s comments in the group chat were so bonkers that even his friends chastised him. “Paul belongs in the Hitler Youth with Ubergruppenfuhrer Steve Bannon,” one participant wrote, which isn’t exactly what you want someone saying about the president’s allies.

• Igrassia’s reported comments were so disturbing that Senate Majority Leader John Thune said this nomination is “not gonna pass.” Ingrassia’s lawyer declined to confirm the authenticity of the texts to Politico, but stated: “In reality, Mr. Ingrassia has incredible support from the Jewish community because Jews know that Mr. Ingrassia is the furthest thing from a Nazi.” Phew, I feel so much better!

• This debacle comes as House Speaker Mike Johnson and Trump’s top officials accuse Democrats of ramping up violent political rhetoric. But apparently it’s okay for White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to tell Fox News that “the Democrat party’s main constituency are made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals.”

As Crooked’s Jon Favreau tweeted: “Trump WH: Calling us Nazis is violence. Trump nominee: But I’m a Nazi.”

FOR THE RECORD

Does it take experience to be a federal prosecutor? Let’s check in with Donald Trump’s hand-picked agent of retribution, Lindsey Halligan, and find out.

You know Halligan as the U.S. attorney who’s trying to prosecute New York Attorney General Letitia James on dubious fraud charges. Last weekend, Halligan reached out to a reporter and began texting her about the case on Signal, an encrypted messaging platform. It didn’t go well.

Halligan reached out to Anna Bower, a senior editor at Lawfare, with a “heads up” that Bower’s recent reporting on the case was supposedly incorrect. Bower suspected a hoax at first: Senior federal prosecutors don’t drop into reporters’ phones out of nowhere. It simply never happens.

But this time, it did. Halligan didn’t specify at the outset that she was speaking “off the record” … so Bower published their entire text thread, lol.

Later on, Halligan tried to clean it up — without realizing that responsible reporters don’t operate that way.

“By the way — everything I ever sent you is off record,” Halligan wrote, furiously backpedaling. “You’re not a journalist so it’s weird saying that but just letting you know.”

Bower responded: “I’m sorry, but that’s not how this works. You don’t get to say that in retrospect.” Bower, of course, is correct — and experienced government officials and lawyers know this. Unless you specify that a conversation is off record before speaking, it can be published.

Halligan didn’t seem to know the rules, instead insisting that, “Yes I do” have the power to declare past statements “Off record.” Sigh.

Kinda makes you wonder whether Halligan’s high-profile prosecutions of Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey are going to work out, after all….

WHAT ELSE?

Donald Trump is demanding that the Department of Justice pay him $230 million to make up for the federal investigations into him, according to the New York Times. “The situation has no parallel in American history,” the outlet writes. “It is also the starkest example yet of potential ethical conflicts created by installing the president’s former lawyers atop the Justice Department.” So he’s just… demanding a quarter-billion bucks from the government? Okay. Wow!

Trump claimed that countries in the Middle East have offered to enter the Gaza Strip and “straighten out Hamas” if the group continues to “act badly” during the ceasefire. “There is still hope that Hamas will do what is right. If they do not, an end to Hamas will be FAST, FURIOUS, & BRUTAL!” Trump wrote on social media.

More than one-third of new ICE recruits have failed the agency’s fitness test, which includes doing 15 push-ups and 32 sit-ups, and running 1.5 miles within 14 minutes. “A considerable amount of athletically allergic candidates” had “misrepresented” their physical fitness on application forms, according to an email from ICE headquarters to top officials this month. I happen to have an “athletic allergy” that really kicks in on Sunday afternoons, so I can relate.

North Carolina lawmakers approved redrawing the state’s congressional map, which would likely result in an extra House seat for Republicans. “President Trump has called on Republican-controlled states across the country to redraw congressional districts. This map answers that call,” said Republican State Sen. Ralph Hise. This is not how democracy works!

Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner is coming under fire after revealing that he has a skull and crossbones tattoo on his chest, which some say looks like the Nazi-linked Totenkopf symbol. While in the Marines in 2006, “we got very inebriated, and we did what Marines on liberty do, and we decided to go get a tattoo… I am not a secret Nazi,” Platner told Crooked’s Tommy Vietor on Pod Save America. Platner once described himself on Reddit as a “communist.”

Top Trump officials from multiple agencies are working together to target Trump’s political enemies, in a group known as the “Interagency Weaponization Working Group.” Trump is still salty about his two impeachments, his felony prosecutions, and the investigation into Russia meddling with the 2016 election. The group’s mission is “basically to go after ‘the Deep State,’” one source told Reuters. Then again, we all know how office “committees” work. They’ll probably start by planning a totally kick-ass year-end office party, and then get distracted. Hopefully!

Is Trump’s famous bromance with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on the rocks… again? A White House official told Politico that the planned meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest isn’t happening anymore, seemingly because Russia refuses to budge on its conditions for a ceasefire with Ukraine. The drama!

Extra extra! The White House responded to my request for comment about Trump’s online trolling yesterday. “The Obama Pod Bros are now writing about our banger memes and hilarious dunks, so what do you think it says about our strategy?” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. Very classy!

Light at the End of the Email…

The population of one of the world’s rarest sea giants, the North Atlantic right whale, is gradually recovering. Scientists estimate that there are 384 of the whales in existence, eight more than last year. That continues a steady 7 percent population growth since 2020, largely thanks to conservation efforts.

Why do kids keep saying “6-7”? The viral trend confounds older folks and makes Gen Z and Gen Alpha crack up. But what do the numbers even mean? Nothing… and that’s the point. “It’s really dumb, but it’s really beautiful because it’s dumb,” one content creator said. I’m 26 years old and was so confused when I heard it, which is when I realized that even I’m unc.

Speaking of the youth, Gen Z workers are taking more control at their workplaces — by acting like emergencies aren’t actually a big deal. Common quips include “there’s no such thing as a marketing emergency” and “we’re saving PDFs, not lives.” It’s a notable culture shift from long-held expectations in the U.S. that you should always be flexible for your employer. Which you should not!

Eileen Collins, the first woman to fly and command a spacecraft, is the subject of a new documentary called Spacewoman, which tells the story of her trailblazing legacy. “I was reading a magazine article on the Gemini astronauts. I was probably nine years old, and I thought that’s the coolest thing. That’s what I want to do,” Collins told BBC. Reminder: Always encourage your kids to pursue their dream career!