• The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) asked six former presidents and their vice presidents to look for any presidential records, including documents marked classified, in their possession.
• The request illuminates the importance of disinformation in society, as Trump and his allies insist he is being treated unfairly.
• The truth is that it was the Trump administration that sought to weaponize the government against their perceived enemies.
• William Barr deliberately tried to use the Department of Justice to undermine the officials who had launched the Russia investigation properly and with good reason.
• Barr spun the information inaccurately to make the best possible case for Trump, convincing many Americans to think there was nothing between the Trump campaign and Russia.
• John Durham was appointed to investigate the investigators, but no matter how hard he tried, he did not turn up information indicating the investigators had conducted themselves improperly.
• Durham did find accusations from Italian officials that Trump himself might have engaged in financial crimes.
• The cozy relationship between Durham and Barr violated department policy for special counsels.
• Charles McGonigal, the special agent in charge of counterintelligence in the FBI’s New York Field Office, was arrested this week for working for a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin.
• Scholar of authoritarianism Timothy Snyder noted that authorities have not taken the threat of Russian influence in our politics seriously enough.
• Newly elected House Republican Cory Mills of Florida handed out defused grenades on the floor of the House, accompanied by a note suggesting he was sending them because McCarthy has put him on the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees.
Published January 27, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post January 26, 2023