WTF Just Happened Today

Thursday, January 20, 2022

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1/ Senate Republicans blocked voting rights legislation for the fifth time and then Democrats failed to unite behind changing the Senate’s filibuster rules to pass it anyway – despite all 50 Democrats supporting the voting rights bill. First, Democrats fell 10 votes short of the 60 needed to break the Republican filibuster. Then, Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema joined with Republicans in rejecting an effort to reinstate the “talking filibuster,” which would have allowed the elections legislation to pass by a simple majority vote. It is unclear how Democrats will proceed after the twin defeats, though some Republicans have appeared open to reforming the narrower election-related issue about how Congress deals with disputes over presidential election results. Biden, meanwhile, said he was “profoundly disappointed that the United States Senate has failed to stand up for our democracy.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)

2/ Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis requested a special grand jury to help investigate Trump and his efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. Willis said the grand jury was needed because a “significant number of witnesses and prospective witnesses have refused to cooperate with the investigation absent a subpoena requiring their testimony.” A grand jury could issue subpoenas compelling them to provide information. Willis said that Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, was among those who had refused to cooperate without a subpoena. In a Jan. 2, 2021, call, Trump pressured Raffensperger to “find” him enough votes to overturn the state’s presidential election results. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / New York Times / CNBC)

3/ The Supreme Court rejected Trump’s request to block the release of more than 750 pages of his White House records related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The court’s order effectively rejected Trump’s claim of executive privilege and paves the way for the release of the material from the National Archives — which Biden has already approved. Congressional investigators have sought the documents, which include speech drafts, call and visitor logs, handwritten notes, and other files, to determine Trump’s actions and mindset in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, as well as what he did as his supporters were rioting at the Capitol. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House committee investigating the attack, said the committee will make Trump’s White House records public “as soon as we can go through them.” (CNN / New ...

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