It has been more than four decades, but Ben Barnes said he remembers it vividly. His longtime political mentor invited him on a mission to the Middle East. What Mr. Barnes said he did not realize until later was the real purpose of the mission: to sabotage the re-election campaign of the president of the United States.

It was 1980 and Jimmy Carter was in the White House, bedeviled by a hostage crisis in Iran that had paralyzed his presidency and hampered his effort to win a second term. Mr. Carter’s best chance for victory was to free the 52 Americans held captive before Election Day. That was something that Mr. Barnes said his mentor was determined to prevent.

His mentor was John B. Connally Jr., a titan of American politics and former Texas governor who had served three presidents and just lost his own bid for the White House. A former Democrat, Mr. Connally had sought the Republican nomination in 1980 only to be swamped by former Gov. Ronald Reagan of California. Now Mr. Connally resolved to help Mr. Reagan beat Mr. Carter and in the process, Mr. Barnes said, make his own case for becoming secretary of state or defense in a new administration.

What happened next Mr. Barnes has largely kept secret for nearly 43 years. Mr. Connally, he said, took him to one Middle Eastern capital after another that summer, meeting with a host of regional leaders to deliver a blunt message to be passed to Iran: Don’t release the hostages before the election. Mr. Reagan will win and give you a better deal.....

News of Mr. Barnes’s account came as validation to some of Mr. Carter’s remaining advisers. Gerald Rafshoon, who was his White House communications director, said any interference may have changed history. “If we had gotten the hostages home, we’d have won, I really believe that,” he said. “It’s pretty damn outrageous.”

Steven Hotze—a Texas doctor and GOP activist—was kicked out of a state senate session Thursday after he called transgender people “pedophiles.” Democratic state senator José Menédez fired back against Hotze’s anti-trans rhetoric: “I would just ask you to refrain from calling people pedophiles, because I don't think the doctors that have come before us today are pedophiles.” Hotze responded, “By definition, they are pedophiles.” Hotze was asked to leave, though not until he said “that’s bullshit” in response to Menédez’s criticisms of his rhetoric. “Doctor Hotze, we don't use that kind of language. You’re excused,” state senator and committee chair Bryan Hughes (R) said. @Bobbyeyaga tweeted footage of the exchange, writing, “want to know what kind of language gets you dismissed from the TX Senate’s public testimony? Because it isn’t calling all trans people pedophiles over and over again.”
https://twitter.com/bobbyeyaga/status/1636754629978382340

Steven Hotze—a Texas doctor and GOP activist—was kicked out of a state senate session Thursday after he called transgender people “pedophiles.” Democratic state senator José Menédez fired back against Hotze’s anti-trans rhetoric: “I would just ask you to refrain from calling people pedophiles, because I don't think the doctors that have come before us today are pedophiles.” Hotze responded, “By definition, they are pedophiles.” Hotze was asked to leave, though not until he said “that’s bullshit” in response to Menédez’s criticisms of his rhetoric. “Doctor Hotze, we don't use that kind of language. You’re excused,” state senator and committee chair Bryan Hughes (R) said. @Bobbyeyaga tweeted footage of the exchange, writing, “want to know what kind of language gets you dismissed from the TX Senate’s public testimony? Because it isn’t calling all trans people pedophiles over and over again.”
https://twitter.com/bobbyeyaga/status/1636754629978382340

Donald Trump posted another video attacking the Biden administration and the NATO alliance, and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said he's sick of the former president's "hatred for America."....

"It's crazy, Donald Trump hates America -- listen to him talk about it," Scarborough continued. "The United States, the country, as Fox News anchors used to remind us, the country that fed and -- wait, this country has fed and freed more people than any other planet in the history of the world ... We won World War I, we won World War II with the help of our allies, we were the driving force, we were the arsenal of democracy. Look what we are doing, helping Ukraine push back against war crimes daily, yet all Donald Trump does, all other people do is, they bash the United States of America, they attack the United States military, our men and women in armed forces, they attack our intel community."

"They hate America," he concluded. "By their own words, if they hate it so much, why don't they move to Russia? Russia will take them, they've taken Steven Segal, they'll take Donald Trump and everybody else saying that the U.S. military is going to use helicopters that it used in Afghanistan to kill Americans who voted for Trump. They hate us, they hate America, so why are they still here?"

Speaking with host Katie Phang, Kirschner said the two posts will come back to haunt him -- and the former president knows what he is doing by inciting his fans.

"I would slap a government exhibits sticker on this post and I would introduce it at his criminal trial," Kirschner explained. "And this is a dark moment in our nation's history.",,,,

He knows precisely what he is doing," he elaborated. " He used similar language to incite, first of all, to entice his supporters to come to D.C. on January 6th. and then he proceeded to incite imminent, lawless action and he has done it all over again."

"But, everything Donald Trump does is a miscalculation Katie, and here is why," he added. "He has now just given the judge that will preside over his arraignment hearing food for thought about what kind of conditions should be set for the release of this dangerous man pending trial."

The Alec Baldwin "Rust" film set shooting case somehow keeps getting more embarrassing for New Mexico prosecutors. The latest? One of them withdrew from the case.....

I'll acknowledge, however, that the rationale for the prosecution's latest move is less embarrassing than its rationale for downgrading the gun charge last month. When it came to the gun charge, First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies’ office said its priority was "securing justice, not securing billable hours for big-city attorneys." As I noted then, the statement was a combination of nonsensical and inappropriate, essentially blaming defense attorneys for pointing out the government's apparent charging error.

Improving on that rationale, here's what Reeb said in a statement Tuesday about leaving the case:

After much reflection, I have made the difficult decision to step down as special prosecutor in the ‘Rust’ case. My priority in this case — and in every case I’ve prosecuted in my 25-year career — has been justice for the victim. However, it has become clear that the best way I can ensure justice is served in this case is to step down so that the prosecution can focus on the evidence and the facts, which clearly show a complete disregard for basic safety protocols led to the death of Halyna Hutchins. I will not allow questions about my serving as a legislator and prosecutor to cloud the real issue at hand.

So, a better explanation of a potentially illegal move. I suppose that counts as a win for the prosecution these days. Of course, still being at an early stage in the litigation, we don’t know how the case will end. But Baldwin probably hopes it keeps going the way it's been going for the defense.

A federal judge has at least partially granted a request from U.S. prosecutors request to force an attorney for Donald Trump to testify before a grand jury about the former president’s possession of classified documents after leaving office, according to two people briefed on the decision.

Evan Corcoran had refused to answer investigators’ questions about his interactions with Trump, invoking attorney-client privilege — a principle of U.S. legal practice that says lawyers must keep confidential what they are told by their clients.

U.S. prosecutors argued that there are exceptions to the privilege, including when there is evidence that a client used the attorney’s legal services in furtherance of a crime. In secret court filings and a hearing held behind closed doors last week, prosecutors sought to show Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell of Washington that there were grounds for a “crime-fraud exception.”

A federal judge has at least partially granted a request from U.S. prosecutors request to force an attorney for Donald Trump to testify before a grand jury about the former president’s possession of classified documents after leaving office, according to two people briefed on the decision.

Evan Corcoran had refused to answer investigators’ questions about his interactions with Trump, invoking attorney-client privilege — a principle of U.S. legal practice that says lawyers must keep confidential what they are told by their clients.

U.S. prosecutors argued that there are exceptions to the privilege, including when there is evidence that a client used the attorney’s legal services in furtherance of a crime. In secret court filings and a hearing held behind closed doors last week, prosecutors sought to show Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell of Washington that there were grounds for a “crime-fraud exception.”