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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 1064: "Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President."
Today in one sentence: The Colorado Supreme Court removed Trump from the state's 2024 presidential ballot, ruling that he engaged in an insurrection leading up to the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed one of the harshest state immigration laws in modern U.S. history; after winning a $148 million defamation lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani, two Georgia election workers sued him again; and the U.N. Security Council delayed a vote on a new resolution calling for more humanitarian aid and a ceasefire in Gaza.
1/ The Colorado Supreme Court removed Trump from the state’s 2024 presidential ballot, ruling that Trump engaged in an insurrection leading up to the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “A majority of the court holds that President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the decision reads. “Because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.” The decision from Colorado’s high court reverses a lower court’s ruling that said Trump had “engaged in an insurrection,” but that presidents are not subject to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment because they are not an “officer of the United States.” The ruling marks the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment’s “insurrection clause” has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate. The ruling was 4-3 and will be placed on hold pending appeal until Jan. 4. [Editor’s note: This is breaking news. More soon.] (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News / ABC News / CNBC / CBS News / Axios)
2/ Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed one of the harshest state immigration laws in modern U.S. history. Senate Bill 4 makes unauthorized border crossings a state crime, authorizes state officials to arrest undocumented immigrants anywhere in the state, and allows judges to issue them de facto deportation orders. The law makes it a state crime – a Class B misdemeanor – to cross the Texas-Mexico border between ports of entry, and carries a punishment of up to six months in jail. Repeat offenders could face a second-degree felony with a punishment of two to 20 years in prison. The law allows a judge to drop the charges if a migrant agrees to be deported to Mexico – regardless of whether or not they emigrated from Mexico in the first place. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Texas Civil Rights Project filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the new Texas law. (Texas Tribune / CBS News / Associated Press / NPR / Axios / New York Times)
3/ After winning a $148 million defamation lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani, two Georgia election workers sued him again. Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss want a court to “permanently bar” Giuliani from repeating his debunked claims and making further defamatory statements against them. After an eight-person federal jury ordered Giuliani to pay the two workers $148 million in damages, Giuliani told reporters that his debunked allegations “were supportable and are supportable today,” adding that “he was in possession of video evidence demonstrating the truth of his allegations.” Giuliani, however, claimed he was unable to present the evidence of “all the videos at the time” showing “what happened at the arena.” In August, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell found Giuliani was liable for defaming Freeman and Moss, a determination that was based in part on his refusal to preserve and turn over key evidence in the case. (Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / CNBC)
4/ The U.N. Security Council delayed a vote on a new resolution calling for more humanitarian aid and a ceasefire in Gaza. About 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, with 70% of them women and children, by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, and the majority of the enclave’s 2.2 million people have been displaced with an estimated 60% of the population facing starvation. Diplomats have been working to finalize a resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates, which calls for “cessation of hostilities” to allow for the delivery of needed humanitarian aid, in hopes of getting the U.S. to abstain or vote in favor of the resolution. The U.S. was the only Security Council member to veto the two previous ceasefire resolutions. And in the General Assembly, the U.S. was among 10 countries that voted against a resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. “We’re still working through the modalities of the resolution,” U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said. “It’s important for us that the rest of the world understand what’s at stake here and what Hamas did on the 7th of October and how Israel has a right to defend itself against those threats.” Israel, meanwhile, reportedly offered to pause fighting in Gaza for one week as part of a new deal to get Hamas to release more than three dozen hostages. (CNN / NBC News / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News)
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.
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