Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) swiftly condemned President Trump's refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose the November election, tweeting, "This is how democracy dies."
Trump told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that mail-in ballots are "a disaster" and officials will need to "get rid" of them. Trump has been claiming, without any evidence, that more mail-in ballots being sent due to the coronavirus pandemic will result in a rigged election, and it won't be in his favor.
Schiff tweeted that Trump won't commit to a peaceful transition because he is "so desperate to cling to power," and that's also why he "seeks to throw out millions of votes." The Republican Party is "too craven to say a word," he continued, but Americans "will fight back."
Schiff later appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show, and said now is the time for "all good people of conscious to speak and to act to preserve our democracy, because there is no longer any question about this president's intentions. His autocratic intentions are as clear as the writing on the wall." Trump has "so clearly telegraphed his intent" not to give up power if he loses re-election, and his statements are those of "a would-be dictator," Schiff said. "There's just no ignoring them anymore. There's no wishing them away. There's no pretending he doesn't mean what he says. There's too much evidence to the contrary."
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) also spoke out against Trump's remarks, although his tweet was milder. "Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus," Romney said. "Any suggestion that a president might not respect this constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable." Catherine Garcia
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee plan to make one final stand against Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on Thursday.
The committee will vote then to advance her nomination to the full Senate, but Democrats plan to boycott that vote, a Democratic aide tells HuffPost. They reportedly plan to fill their chairs with photos of constituents who would be hurt if the Affordable Care Act was overturned — the same photos they brought to the first day of Barrett's hearings. Democrats fear Barrett could cast a deciding vote to repeal the ACA as challenges to it likely reach the court in the coming months.
Democrats have seemed frustrated with Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) after she failed to put up much of a fight against Barrett's hearings and even publicly thanked Republicans once it was over. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he had a "long and serious talk" with Feinstein, but otherwise didn't criticize or defend her. Kathryn Krawczyk
The secret's out: President Trump's personal attorney and top campaign surrogate Rudy Giuliani was duped by a potentially career-ending prank as part of Sacha Baron Cohen's sequel to 2006's Borat. Having watched it, I can confirm that even knowing what's coming won't prepare you for the shock and revulsion of the scene.
Discourse Blog's Jack Crosbie concurred, writing that the moment is "far more graphic than any of the reviews make it sound." The scene involves Borat's supposedly 15-year-old daughter, Tutar — played by 24-year-old actress Maria Bakalova — who is posing as a journalist with the intent of seducing Giuliani, 76, in a hotel room.
During the interview, Giuliani spouts off lies about China supposedly having "manufactured" the coronavirus and "deliberately spread it all around the world." Tutar, all the while, plays the part of a charming but inexperienced journalist. Several times during the interview she flirtatiously touches Giuliani's knee, and at the end she invites him to "have a drink in the bedroom."
Once in the suite, Giuliani helps Tutar remove her microphone (though the room is of course bugged with Borat 2's hidden cameras and mics) and tells her "you can give me your phone number and your address." He then proceeds to lean back on the bed and "pushes both hands into the front of his pants, possibly re-tucking his shirt," writes Crosbie, "but they stay there as he rummages around a bit, sighing."
Before anything else happens, Borat (wearing what Giuliani would later describe as "a pink transgender outfit") bursts into the room, causing Giuliani to sit up and yank his hands quickly out of his pants with an "oop!"
"She's 15, she too old for you! … She's my daughter, please, take me instead!" Borat tells Giuliani, at which point the police were promptly called. (Giuliani, for what it's worth, also bafflingly clarifies to Cohen, "I don't want you.")
The whole movie will be available to watch on Amazon starting on Friday. You can read the full transcript of the scene's aftermath — although trust me, there can't be "spoilers" for a moment quite like this — at Discourse Blog. Jeva Lange
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) won't say how he voted, but can confirm it wasn't for the president.
Romney, like many Americans, voted early for the presidency this year. CNN asked what he put down on his ballot, but Romney would only say "I did not vote for President Trump."
Romney is the first — and possibly the only — Republican senator to publicly split with his party when voting for the presidency. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) had also said she wouldn't attack Biden during the 2020 race, but also wouldn't say if she would privately vote for him or the incumbent.
Romney's vote isn't surprising given that he's been one of the few GOP senators who commonly opposes the president, and was the only Republican to agree with one of the impeachment counts against Trump. He recently released a statement calling out Trump, as well as Democrats, for "rabid attacks" on their political opponents. Kathryn Krawczyk
The ill-fated streaming service Quibi may already be shutting down.
Quibi Holdings LLC "is considering shutting itself down," The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The company has reportedly hired a restructuring firm, which presented the board with "a list of options that included shutting the company down," the Journal says.
Meanwhile, The Information is also reporting that Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg has "told people in the industry that he may have to shut down the company." That report adds that Quibi employees "have said important strategy meetings have been cancelled," and they've even "informally been scheduling goodbye drinks." And The Wrap reports that the "expectation is that the company will shut down and return what remains of its investors' money."
Quibi, which means "quick bites," launched in April with original shows presented in short chunks available to watch exclusively on mobile devices. But it hasn't exactly been a smooth launch year. Users complained about not being able to see Quibi's shows on their TVs — a feature that was later added — and while the service was geared toward those looking for content to watch on the go, there was less of a need for that weeks after potential subscribers stopped commuting to work due to the pandemic.
Previously, the Journal reported that Quibi was set to to "sign up fewer than two million paying subscribers" by the end of its first year, coming in "well under its original target of 7.4 million." News of the service's possible shutdown comes after Politico reported that should Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden win the 2020 election, among those whose names are "being floated" for his Cabinet include Quibi CEO Meg Whitman.
Update: After this article was published, the Journal reported that Katzenberg has informed investors Quibi will be shutting down. Brendan Morrow
It looks like Sacha Baron Cohen's attempt to prank Rudy Giuliani for his new Borat film was a great success.
The comedian's sequel, in which Borat travels to America in hopes of gifting his daughter to someone close to the Trump administration, drops on Amazon this Friday. But spoiler-filled details emerged on Wednesday about a shocking scene in which Baron Cohen dupes President Trump's personal lawyer.
In the movie, The Guardian reveals, Giuliani speaks with the actress who portrays Borat's daughter for what he thinks is a conservative news show, after which "the pair retreat at her suggestion for a drink to the bedroom of a hotel suite, which is rigged with concealed cameras." From there, Giuliani "can be seen lying back on the bed, fiddling with his untucked shirt" and then "reaching into his trousers and apparently touching his genitals," The Guardian writes.
At that point, Borat reportedly interrupts the two, bursting in to say, "She's 15. She's too old for you."
In reviews for the film published on Wednesday, critics were naturally gobsmacked by the Giuliani moment, with the Los Angeles Times speaking of a "what-the-hell-am-I-seeing" sequence that will likely lead to "indignant lawsuits," while Deadline said that the "big Giuliani finale is a stunner" and Vanity Fair wrote that "you cannot help wondering exactly what Giuliani may have done next" had he not been interrupted.
Giuliani actually revealed earlier this year that he called the police on Baron Cohen over a prank interview, at the time telling Page Six, in a statement that didn't exactly age well, "I felt good about myself because he didn't get me." Perhaps he meant to conclude that sentence with a Borat-style "not!" Brendan Morrow