David Cay Johnston, The National Memo

David Cay Johnston

The National Memo

Rochester, NY, United States

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Past:
  • The National Memo

Past articles by David:

What Liz Cheney Meant In Her Warning To Coup Conspirators

Rep. Liz Cheney delivered two clear warnings Tuesday. One was to Donald Trump aides and allies who conspired with him to violently overthrow our government. The second was to those who merely observed these crimes but refuse to tell what they know → Read More

What Liz Cheney Meant In Her Warning To Coup Conspirators

The only issue is how to frame the case against Trump and his co-conspirators. As prosecutors often say, you file the case you can win, not the case you want to file.Cheney didn’t say any of those specifics. She didn’t have to because while the significance of her words and actions may have flown ov... → Read More

The Only Issue

The issue before Attorney General Merrick Garland, thanks to work his people should have done but that the J6 committee did instead, is no longer whether there is a criminal case to be made against Donald Trump. The issue isn’t even, as some former federal prosecutors keep saying, whether Trump shou... → Read More

No Going Back

For some of Trump’s traitors it’s too late. Like Dante, they stare at the sign above the gates of Hell: abandon hope all ye who enter here. Among those are Giuliani and Mike Flynn, the disgraced general who was on at least two Kremlin-connected payrolls, one direct, the other surreptious.During a vi... → Read More

Banks Gouging Their Customers Face Tough New Regulation Under Biden

Junk fees and checking account overdraft fees are on the run now that President Joe Biden has appointed regulators who are looking out for bank customers instead of just bankers. → Read More

Under Trump's Misrule, The Most Highly Compensated Got Even Richer

Donald Trump's presidency and the Covid pandemic combined to make 2020 a remarkably enriching year for the highest-paid workers in America. Meanwhile, the numbers for the bottom 99.9 percent are, in a word, awful. → Read More

What Defense Does Bannon Have Against Criminal Contempt Charges?

Steve Bannon faces real trouble when he goes on trial for contempt of Congress. He has no legitimate defense— unless a judge sets aside decades of principles governing defenses in criminal cases. If that happens, we are all in for a lot of trouble enforcing laws in America. → Read More

Recall Results Show Trumpism On The Run

Reprinted with permission from DC Report The overwhelming failure in the recall of California Gov. Gavin Newsom should send a powerful message to those Republicans who think their future lies with Donald Trump and Trumpism. It doesn't. By any measure, the vote to retain Newsom was a landslide. Almost 64 percent of voters cast ballots against recalling Newsom. That's better than the record margin… → Read More

What Major Media Got Wrong About August Jobs Number

Reprinted with permission from DC Report "Disappointing" is the consensus of newscasters about the August jobs report. They are wrong. The economy added 235,000 jobs as Covid made a big comeback, especially in the South where governors spurn science and people stay away from bars, restaurants and shopping malls. Most news reports lacked context about how rare it is to add that many jobs in a… → Read More

Trump Makes A Stunning Confession

Reprinted with permission from DC Report In an astonishing admission, Donald Trump said Thursday that instead of hiring only "the best people," as he promised voters, he hired "garbage." He also complained Thursday that these former appointees didn't follow his version of omerta after a new book revealed that he wanted to execute an unidentified White House leaker. Omerta is the ancient Sicilian… → Read More

Weisselberg Dumped As Director Of Trump's Scottish Golf Course

Allen Weisselberg, the indicted Trump Organization executive, was removed this week as a director of Donald Trump's under par golf resort in Aberdeen, Scotland, public records show. → Read More

Indictment: Trump Thinks He Can Choose Which Laws To Heed

Reprinted with permission from DC Report The extraordinary indictment of the Trump Organization last Thursday prompted an extraordinarily awful response from its sole owner and its lawyer. Trump asserted that he can pick and choose which laws he obeys. His lawyer, Alan Futerfass, says that prosecutors should have settled the Trump Organization tax fraud allegations in secret negotiations, not… → Read More

Gov. Abbott Is Helping Power Companies Rob Texans Of Billions

Reprinted with permission from DC Report The pocketbooks of electricity customers across America are under renewed assault by politicians and friends in the electric power generation business. Unless America restores a sound economic and legal principle that has protected both consumers and electricity companies for more than a century, Texans and the rest of us can expect bigger and bigger… → Read More

To Save Americans From Starving, Congress Must Raise Minimum Wage

Imagine Washington announcing today that for the next three decades your pay will increase each January. You'll get a boost to cover inflation plus 10-cents more an hour. That means your real pay next year, before taxes, will be $4 more per week. → Read More

House Republican Report On Workers Is Bursting With Lies About Labor Unions

Ten House Republicans who fashion themselves policy wonks are out with their diagnosis of what ails the American worker. Their proposed cure is a future that would be brutish, nasty and short. → Read More

How Tax Secrecy Protects Trump — And Hurts You

As Donald Trump fights to keep his tax and business records from Manhattan prosecutors it's time to alert Americans that tax returns used to be public. Congress could make them public again. If it did every honest taxpayer would benefit. → Read More

Surprise! Under Trump, Super-Rich Rake In Billions While You Get…A #MAGA Hat

The average Platinum-Premiere American enjoyed $7.1 million more income under Trump in 2018 than in 2016, the last year that Barack Obama was president. For the Ninety-Nine-Percenters, in contrast, average income rose just $3,360 with most of that gain among those making over $200,000. → Read More

Cohen Book Hilariously Describes Trump Mocking And Deceiving Evangelical Leaders

Michael Cohen's book about his years as Donald Trump's fixer is a clarion call to Christians to wake up and recognize that the man many of them revere as a heavenly agent is a religious fraud who loathes them and mocks their faith. → Read More

New Data: Rich Got Richer, But Most Americans Fared Worse Under Trump

The first data showing how all Americans are faring under Donald Trump reveal the poor and working classes sinking slightly, the middle class treading water, the upper-middle class growing and the richest, well, luxuriating in rising rivers of greenbacks. → Read More

A Simple Way To Help The Millions Soon To Be Homeless

There's a relatively simple way you, your friends and neighbors can alleviate years of the needless hardship and pain that Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and thje Senate's Radical Republicans are about unleash. → Read More