Purposely and Maliciously: The House January 6^th committee issued its  subpoena to Donald  Trump, probably teeing up a precedent-setting fight over whether Congress can compel testimony from a former president.

   Trump has said he might want to talk to the committee live, but you never know. If he does that he might be offering evidence of his own crimes or even committing more.

  The subpoena requires him to turn over documents by November 4th and appear for a deposition on or about November 14^th for questioning the could last several days. The panel directed Trump to produce a long list of evidence ranging from documents to phone calls, texts, encrypted messages, and email — all related to his efforts to invalidate the 2020 election leading up to the January 6^thinsurrection.

  An unusual letter accompanying the subpoena accuses Trump of a laundry list of misdeeds:

– “Purposely and maliciously disseminating false allegations of fraud”

–  “Attempting to corrupt the Department of Justice”

–  “Illegally pressuring state legislators”

–  “Orchestrating and overseeing an effort to obtain and transmit false electoral certificates”

–  “Pressuring your own vice president to unilaterally refuse to count electoral votes”

  Of course, if the Republicans take control of the House in January — and it looks like they will — Trump can just run out the clock with appeals until his party loyalists shut down the investigation.

  Meanwhile, some of the classified documents recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and club included intelligence regarding Iran and China, The Washington Post reports,  “according to people familiar with the matter.” If those documents got out, they could reveal intelligence gathering sources or methods. 

  The Post reports that at least one of the describes Iran’s missile program and other documents described highly sensitive intelligence work aimed at China. 

Do Not Collect 200: Former Trump Adviser Steve Bannon yesterday was sentenced to four months in prison and a $6,500 fine for refusing to cooperate with the House January 6^th investigating committee.

  He remains free pending appeal.

  The 68-year-old Bannon had been found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress after Judge Carl Nichols rejected an array of defenses, including that Bannon was covered by Trump’s executive privilege. “Others must be deterred from committing similar crimes,” Judge Nichols said.

The War Zone: Russia continued to hit Ukrainian cities with missiles today, targeting infrastructure and residential areas. Missiles strikes were reported all over the country.

  The NY Times reports that Russia has taken thousands of Ukrainian children from group homes and boarding schools then shipped them into the interior of the country for adoption by Russians. It’s part of Vladimir Putin’s campaign to present Russia as a benefactor to the Ukrainian people.

  The Times made contact with a 14-year-old girl named Anya who was about to be made a Russian citizen. She told the paper’s reporter, “I don’t want to. My friends and family aren’t here.”

The Spin Rack:  A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Biden’s plan to forgive millions of dollars in student debt. Six states have sued to stop Biden. — The federal budget deficit fell to $1.4 trillion for the 2022 fiscal year, down from $2.8 trillion in the previous year. The Treasury Department  says it’s because of higher receipts and the tapering of pandemic relief. — A 20-year-old Princeton University sophomore missing since October 14^th has been found dead behind campus tennis courts. Authorities said her death does not look suspicious. — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau placed an immediate nationwide freeze on the sale, purchase, and transfer of handguns. “When people are being killed, when people are being hurt, responsible leadership requires us to act,” Trudeau said. — There was such a rush to listen to Taylor Swift’s new album “Midnights” that it temporarily crashed the streaming service Spotify.

Below the Fold:  Former “60 Minutes” correspondent Lara Logan, who’s became a frothing-at-the-mouth conservative spouting conspiracy theories, has been banned from the right wing outlet Newsmax — so you know she’s gone over the edge.

  Logan was  previously fired by Fox News for comparing Dr. Anthony Fauci to Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele.

  During an interview, Newsmax’s Eric Bolling asked Logan about her faith in relation to migration over the southern border. She answered that she is a “firm and solid and immovable believer in God,” and said the following:

  “God believes in sovereignty, and national identity, and the sanctity of family, and all the things that we’ve lived with from the beginning of time. And he knows that the open border is Satan’s way of taking control of the world through all of these people who are his stooges and his servants.

  And they may think that they’re going to become gods. That’s what they tell us. you’ve all known [historian Yuval Noah] Harari and all the rest of them at the World Economic Forum. You know, the ones who want us eating insects, cockroaches, and that while they dine on the blood of children? Those are the people, right? They’re not gonna win. They’re not going to win.”

   Interesting. Would someone please pass the fried cockroaches?

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