WTF Just Happened Today

Thursday, May 12, 2022

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1/ The Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed five House Republicans, including Kevin McCarthy. In addition to McCarthy, the panel sent summons to Jim Jordan, Scott Perry, Andy Biggs, and Mo Brooks. Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said the Republican lawmakers have information relevant to its investigation and that the panel was forced to issue the subpoenas after all five rejected requests to voluntarily testify. McCarthy indicated he might not comply with the subpoena, while Perry suggested that the subpoenas were “for headlines and sensationalization.” The move marked the first time that the bipartisan investigation has issued subpoenas to sitting members of Congress. The committee’s public hearings are scheduled to begin June 9. (Politico / CBS News / Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / NPR / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)

2/ Biden authorized the National Archives to release an eighth tranche of Trump’s records to the Jan. 6 committee. Biden again declined to assert executive privilege over the records. The documents are set to be delivered to the committee by May 26. (Washington Post)

• [December 2020] Attorney John Eastman urged Republican legislators in Pennsylvania to retabulate and throw out tens of thousands of absentee ballots in order to show Trump with a lead. Biden won Pennsylvania by more than 80,000 votes. (Politico / Washington Post)

3/ A federal grand jury issued a subpoena to the National Archives to obtain the 15 boxes of classified White House documents that Trump took with him to Mar-a-Lago. Federal prosecutors are investigating whether the classified White House documents were mishandled, including how the documents made their way from the White House residence to Mar-a-Lago, who boxed them up, and whether anyone knew the boxes contained classified material. (New York Times)

4/ The Biden administration canceled the sale of oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico and the coast of Alaska. The Interior Department cited a “lack of industry interest in leasing in the area” for the decision to “not move forward.” The department also halted two leases under consideration for the Gulf of Mexico because of “conflicting court rulings that impacted work on these proposed lease sales.” (