A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Prosecutors Turn Up Exculpatory Evidence
A splendid bit of reporting this morning from the ABC News team.
The main news is that Ed Martin and Bill Pulte have been pressuring federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) on the mortgage fraud claims that Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, drummed up.
As I read the story, prosecutors so far have resisted not just because they don’t have enough evidence against James but because they have considerable exculpatory evidence.
Pulte’s manufactured case against James comes down to one document in the mortgage file:
However, investigators have so far determined that the document — a limited power of attorney form used by James’ niece to sign documents on her behalf when James closed on the home — was never considered by the loan officers who approved the mortgage, sources said.
Lawyers drafted the document itself for a third-party closing company based on a template that was never corrected, sources said, and every other document in James’ loan file for the mortgage accurately stated that she would not reside at the home.
It’s not for lack of trying by prosecutors, ABC News reports. They have interviewed or brought before a grand jury 15 witnesses, among them James’ niece, insurers, loan officers, underwriters, and realtors:
A loan underwriter interviewed by investigators said that, in the process of approving the loan, she never looked at or considered the power of attorney document that incorrectly listed the home as James’ primary residence, according to sources.
As a result of all of these “bad” facts, prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia, despite pressure on DOJ from Trump himself, declined to seek an indictment of James. That led Pulte to encourage Trump to fire U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert, ABC reports.
But Wait … There’s More!
The other bit of great reporting by ABC News is its account of Martin’s attempt to beef up his little fiefdom within the Justice Department, which he has dubbed the “Special Attorney Fraud Unit.”
Martin wears so many different hats at DOJ that I’ve lost count. But for the purposes of this particular bogosity I think it most matters that he’s head of the DOJ’s Weaponization Working Group and a special attorney to Attorney General Pam Bondi. ABC’s report actually refines his title in a way I hadn’t seen before: Special Attorney for Mortgage Fraud. Perfect.
ABC reports that Martin has requested two to three experienced prosecutors from Virginia and New York to help in his investigation. Recall that he’s also pursuing James for a bogus mortgage fraud claim in New York.
But the best part is Martin’s recruiting email obtained by ABC. It’s titled “Help Wanted” and is chock full of over the top language like:
- seeking “fighters for justice and goodness and the American way”
- “The qualities of a good prosecutor are as elusive and as impossible to define as those that mark a gentleman.”
- “In a special way, the SAFU is called to hold bad actors accountable. After all, as New York, Attorney General Leticia [sic] James said, ‘Because no matter how big, rich, or powerful you think you are, no one is above the law.’”
The ABC story leaves me with one unanswered question: Why hasn’t Martin just brought the case against James himself? My understanding is that as a special attorney Martin has all the powers of a U.S. attorney. He’s just not tethered to a particular geographic district like U.S. attorneys are. So what’s keeping him from fully Ed Martining?
Here’s a guess: Bringing a case to trial takes work, even for an experienced prosecutor, and Martin has never been a prosecutor. It’s probably a lot more fun to be a roving menace in every district in the country that it is to buckle down and learn a case and ultimately risk losing. If Martin’s goal, as he’s publicly said before, is to name and shame, then he can continue to do that without ever bringing cases to trial.
Federal Workers Blow Whistle in Guatemalan Kids Case
A group of federal workers came forward as whistleblowers and accused a Trump Department of Homeland Security official of making false or misleading statements in a court-filed declaration about the status of some of the Guatemalan kids who were targeted for middle-of-the-night deportations over the Labor Day weekend.
Attorneys who succeeded in temporarily stopping the deportation immediately notified the federal judge in the case of the new whistleblower allegations as he considers whether to extend the ban on removing the children.
The Danger of Firing Your Chief Statistician
In her most extensive public comments to date, the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Erika McEntarfer who was fired by President Trump said she was blindsided by the move and warned of the consequences of politicizing statistics that other countries have experienced: “The resulting loss of trust in economic statistics led these countries to worsening economic crises, higher inflation and higher borrowing costs. If we follow a similar path, all Americans will suffer the consequences.”
Fired CDC Chief to Testify Today
Fired CDC director Susan Monarez is set to testify today to the Senate HELP Committee on her termination by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Quote of the Day
Strong language in a news story from the NYT, which has not always risen to Trump’s authoritarian threat: “President Trump has begun a major escalation in his long-running efforts to stifle political opposition in the United States, using the assassination of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk to make the baseless argument that Democratic organizations and protesters are part of a violent conspiracy against conservative values and the American way of life.”
Understatement of the Day
“When I hear not just our current president, but his aides, who have a history of calling political opponents ‘vermin,’ enemies who need to be ‘targeted,’ that speaks to a broader problem that we have right now, and something that we’re going to have to grapple with — all of us.”–former President Barack Obama
More Fallout From the Kirk Assassination
Among the new developments as the Trump GOP seizes on the assassination of Charlie Kirk to consolidate more power:
- The Trump DOJ disappeared a National Institute of Justice study that concluded white supremacist and far-right violence “continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism” in the United States.
- In an apparent swipe at Attorney General Pam Bondi, Justice Sonia Sotomayor rebuked calls to criminalize hate speech.
- The House GOP launched a targeted campaign against anyone smearing Kirk, including Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). Among their efforts was this wild letter from Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA):
Trump Reveals a Third Boat Was Targeted
In an almost off-handed way, President Trump extemporaneously revealed that the the United States had attacked a third alleged drug-smuggling boat off Venezuela, although he had not previously trumpeted the attack as he had the other two.
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