2002 – Françoise Ducros, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien’s communications director, resigned after she was overheard, on 20 November at the NATO summit meeting in Prague, saying about President George W. Bush: “Quel crétin!” [On This Date]
2002 – WorldCom and the government settled a civil lawsuit over the company’s $9 billion accounting scandal. [NYT]
2000 – Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris certified Republican George W. Bush the winner over Democrat Al Gore in the state’s presidential balloting by 537 votes. [NYT]
1986 – President Ronald Reagan appointed a commission headed by former Sen. John Tower to investigate his National Security Council staff in the wake of the Iran-Contra affair. [NYT]
1975 – Lynette ‘Squeaky’ Fromme, Manson-family devotee, was found guilty by a federal jury of trying to assassinate U.S. president Gerald Ford. Fromme, 27, had attempted to shoot the president in Sacramento, CA, September 5, 1975, with a hand gun. Secret service agents wrestled the weapon from her. [TWTD] – Read an interview with Squeaky. [Outer Shell]
1973 – Rose Mary Woods, U.S. President Richard Nixon’s personal secretary, told a federal court she had accidentally erased over eighteen minutes of a ‘Watergate tape’ made June 20, 1972. The recording was of a crucial conversation at an Oval-Office meeting between Nixon and Chief of Staff Bob Haldeman just three days after the Watergate break-in. [TWTD]

Crossposted: Scandalopolis

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On This Date – November 26

Crossposted: Scandalopolis

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Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“The man is afraid of the voice of the people and that the people understand and know what he’s doing. He’s trying to stifle the ability of journalists to let the people of America know what’s really going on with their government.”

— “Kamala Harris called President Donald Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House ‘absolutely abhorrent,’” The Wrap reports.

“Not one of them is trained in technical skills. Not one research PhD, as opposed to China, where half the cabinet is science and technology PhDs. We’re led by grifters and fools.”

— Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs, on X, on President Trump’s 35-person cabinet.

“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far… The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”

— Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), breaking with President Trump in a direct-to-camera video.

Numerati

1,000

10%

“The unprecedented spate of mid-decade redistricting for the U.S. House has changed the congressional districts for one-tenth of Americans and significantly altered the makeup of at least one-fifth of districts, according to a new study,” the Associated Press reports.

71%

A new Fox News Poll finds 71% of voters think the Trump administration lacks a clear strategy for ending the Iran War, including 95% of Democrats, 83% of independents, and 43% of Republicans. Sixty percent say U.S. military action against Iran was the wrong decision, while just 37% say it was right.

$9.5 billion

“The Trump administration last year spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave for federal workers as part of its plan to shrink the government and save taxpayers money, according to a new estimate by a congressional watchdog,” CNN reports.

470

Reuters has documented at least 470 targets of retribution under Trump’s leadership – from federal employees and prosecutors to universities and media outlets. The list illuminates the sweeping effort by the president and his administration to punish dissent and reshape the government.