George Santos Gets Snippy About Those Bizarro Campaign Loans

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.

More Questions Than Answers

A day after making sweeping amendments to his past FEC reports and further muddying the waters on the origins of the funds he used to make personal loans to his congressional campaign, Rep. George Santos (R-NY) dodged reporters’ questions with this word salad:

Let’s make it very clear: I don’t amend anything; I don’t touch any of my FEC stuff, right? So don’t be disingenuous and report that I did because you know that every campaign hires fiduciaries.

I’m especially moved by Santos’ use of “disingenuous” and “fiduciaries.” Bold, brother, bold.

TPM On George Santos

Kate Riga and Josh Kovensky: New York’s Redistricting Chaos Changed Santos’ Future

Emine Yücel: Dems Demand McCarthy Deny Santos Access To Classified Info

More George!

Curbed: What George Santos Was Really Like as a Roommate

Insider: In a resurfaced 2020 interview George Santos claimed he met Jeffrey Epstein, and entertained the idea that he could still be alive

WaPo: ‘I felt like we were in “Goodfellas’’’: How George Santos wooed investors for alleged Ponzi scheme

Daily Beast: George Santos Planned ‘Engagement Party’ With Man While Married to Woman

NYT: How George Santos Made Baruch Volleyball Famous

Today In Political Hostage Taking News

A few tidbits on the debt ceiling hostage-taking:

• House Republicans may want to push off the debt ceiling fight until the government shutdown showdown in the fall
• Veterans of the Obama-era debt ceiling standoff weigh in on the current one: We may be doomed
• Manchin: McCarthy agreed not to cut Social Security and Medicare in debt ceiling talks

Must Read

One of the best-written things we’ve ever published at TPM:

The Sacred Lies of Virginia Thomas, by Francis Wilkinson

Rents Hit New Milestone

For the first time since tracking began in 1999, rents crested 30% of median U.S. income, meaning the typical household is now “rent-burdened.” When Moody’s first began using the metric more than two decades ago, the typical rent-to-income ratio was 22.5%.

Obamacare Sign-Ups Set New Record

The NYT:

A record 16.3 million Americans have signed up for health insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces during this year’s open enrollment period, beating last year’s sign-ups by 13 percent, the Biden administration said on Wednesday.

Awww …

After a modest Alabama farmer died on New Year’s Day, it emerged that he’d been secretly paying for his neighbors’ prescriptions for more than a decade.

WHOA

Pope Francis: Homosexuality is a sin, but it’s “unjust” to criminalize it –– and bishops should welcome the LGBT faithful into the church.

Judge Orders Release Of Pelosi Attack Video

Video of the October attack on Paul Pelosi in his San Francisco home could be released as soon as today.

RNC Chair Election Slated For Friday

WaPo: Everything you need to know about the heated RNC chair election

A Headline For The Current Age

“Marjorie Taylor Greene aims to be Trump’s VP pick in 2024”

Deep Dive On Jan. 6 Committee Report

Always read the footnotes …

Sigh

Trump has been reinstated to Facebook and Instagram, some two years after being banned over Jan. 6. Can’t argue with this:

Meta put Trump back on bc “the risk to public safety had “sufficiently receded” since January 2021” – understandable perception given the complete lack of any criminal charges against Trump or his co-conspirators.

— Shanlon Wu (@shanlonwu) January 26, 2023

Break The Fever?

Greg Sargent: Can enormous amounts of federal spending launched under President Biden, much of it destined for MAGA country, dampen the right-wing populist fervor unleashed by his predecessor Donald Trump?

Elaine Chao Calls Out Trump’s Racist Name-Calling

The former Trump cabinet official who resigned over Jan. 6 (and is married to Mitch McConnell) released a public statement about Donald Trump’s repeated mocking of her name:

When I was young, some people deliberately misspelled or mispronounced my name. Asian Americans have worked hard to change that experience for the next generation. He doesn’t seem to understand that, which says a whole lot more about him than it will ever say about Asian Americans.

Right-Wing Extremism Is Fundamentally And Always A Grift

Hunter Walker: ‘People’s Convoy’ Trucker Protest Movement Says It Has Been Taken Over By Text Message ‘Scammers’

Jan. 6 Conspiracy Mumbo Jumbo Hits A Wall In South Dakota

For right-wing extremists, including GOP members of Congress, the Jan. 6 rioters have been “political prisoners” unjustly detained in solitary confinement and subjected to cruel and unusual punishment.

It’s all malarky, of course. But it’s been a persistent background noise since Jan. 6.

Yesterday, the state House in South Dakota decided it didn’t want to wade into this mess, defeating a resolution that called for the “humane and fair treatment of the Jan. 6 defendants.”

LOL!

Yesterday in the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy trial:

Line of the day from the Proud Boys’ J6 sedition trial>>

Defense lawyer: When did your current devotion to God start?

Proud Boy cooperating witness: When I was sitting in a van with the FBI on my way to jail.

— Alan Feuer (@alanfeuer) January 25, 2023

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