A political newsletter for normal people
WTF Just Happened Today? is a sane, once-a-day newsletter helping normal people make sense of the news. Curated daily by Matt Kiser and delivered to 200,000+ people every afternoon around 3 pm Pacific.
Day 940: "We need to worry."
Today in one sentence: The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office is investigating online threats against the grand jurors who voted to indict Trump on racketeering charges after their names, photographs, phone numbers, and home addresses were purportedly posted on social media; a Texas woman was arrested after threatening to kill the federal judge overseeing Trump’s prosecution on charges of seeking to overturn the 2020 election; special counsel Jack Smith obtained Trump's Twitter direct messages despite a "momentous" effort by Twitter to delay complying with a search warrant; 50% of Americans say Trump should suspend his presidential campaign; and 42% of American's approve of Biden's performance as president.
1/ The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office is investigating online threats against the grand jurors who voted to indict Trump on racketeering charges after their names, photographs, phone numbers, and home addresses were purportedly posted on social media. While Georgia law requires that the names of all the grand jury members be publicly listed, the indictment doesn’t include any other personally identifiable information. An anonymous user called the list of jurors’ “a hit list,” while another user wrote “everyone on that jury should be hung.” One message said: “These jurors have signed their death warrant by falsely indicting President Trump.” (NBC News / USA Today / The Hill / CNN / Axios / New York Times)
- Mark Meadows filed to transfer the case brought against him by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis into federal court. Meadows argues that the charges against him amount to “state interference in a federal official’s duties” in violation of the Constitution’s supremacy clause. (Politico)
2/ A Texas woman was arrested after threatening to kill the federal judge overseeing Trump’s prosecution on charges of seeking to overturn the 2020 election. Abigail Jo Shry called Judge Tanya Chutkan’s chambers two days after Trump was arraigned on the election interference charges, and left a “threatening voicemail message” intended for Chutkan, who was selected at random to oversee Trump’s criminal case. “Hey you stupid slave,” Shry said, the affidavit alleges. “You are in our sights, we want to kill you […] If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you, so tread lightly, bitch. You will be targeted personally, publicly, your family, all of it.” Shry also “made a direct threat to kill” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, as well as all Democrats and members of the LGBTQ community. Although Shry told agents from the Department of Homeland Security that she left the message but had no plans to carry out an attack, she also told the agents that “if Sheila Jackson Lee comes to Alvin[, Texas], then we need to worry.” (Bloomberg Law / NBC News / Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times)
- A Canadian woman was sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison for mailing a threatening letter that contained ricin to Trump at the White House in 2020. The letter referred to Trump as “The Ugly Tyrant Clown” and read in part: “If it doesn’t work, I’ll find better recipe for another poison, or I might use my gun when I’ll be able to come. Enjoy! FREE REBEL SPIRIT.” (ABC News)
3/ Special counsel Jack Smith obtained Trump’s Twitter direct messages despite a “momentous” effort by Twitter to delay complying with a search warrant. Prosecutors wanted “all content, records, and other information relating to communications sent from or received” from October 2020 to January 2021 on Trump’s account on Twitter, including “all tweets created, drafted, favorited/liked, or retweeted,” all deleted tweets, as well as all metadata and logs. Smith’s office executed a search warrant for “evidence of criminal offenses” on Trump’s Twitter account in January after Elon Musk took over the company. Twitter, however, fought demands that it refrain from notifying Trump about the search warrant for two months, which led U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell to hold Twitter in contempt, fining the company $350,000, for missing a court-ordered deadline to comply with the search warrant. Howell also openly wondered whether the delay was “because the new CEO wants to cozy up with the former president?” (Politico / New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
poll/ 50% of Americans say Trump should suspend his presidential campaign, while 33% don’t think he should, and 17% are unsure. (ABC News)
poll/ 42% of American’s approve of Biden’s performance as president. (Associated Press)
A political newsletter for normal people
WTF Just Happened Today? is a sane, once-a-day newsletter helping normal people make sense of the news. Curated daily by Matt Kiser and delivered to 200,000+ people every afternoon around 3 pm Pacific.
Become a supporting member.
It's not enough to be a consumer of media. You must be a stakeholder in it. Invest in the continued production of WTF Just Happened Today? by becoming a supporting member. Choose from three recurring membership options below: