Reason Roundup

Democrats Revive Russia-Probe Drama With Live-Action Version of the Mueller Report

Plus: Kamala Harris jokes about starving prisoners, Trump sues over tax-return release, "Big Tech" witch hunt gets official, and more..

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zumaamericastwentyfour661580 (1) | Michael A. McCoy/ZUMA Press/Newscom
(Michael A. McCoy/ZUMA Press/Newscom)

Mueller Mania 4-ever. Determined not to let go of the Russian boogeymen they've conjured since President Donald Trump took office, Democrats are now staging a live-action version of the Mueller report before members of Congress.

The spectacle, which goes down today, will feature Special Counsel Robert Mueller testifying before the House Judiciary Committee and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence about his findings in the Trump-Russia probe.

In case you're the masochistic type, here's how you can watch along from home:

The judiciary appearance has already begun; the next session starts at noon.

Each committee member will get five minutes to question Mueller about his investigation and report.

ELECTION 2020

Kamala Harris trolls people who don't think prison abuse is funny. Is there any better indication that Harris thinks she's impervious to criticism of her record as a drug warrior who defended dirty cops and moved to throw poor parents in prison than this scene from a new Washington Post profile, in which she compares running a presidential campaign to serving in prison?

"I actually got sleep," Kamala said, sitting in a Hilton conference room, beside her sister, and smiling as she recalled walks on the beach with her husband and that one morning SoulCycle class she was able to take.

"That kind of stuff," Kamala said between sips of iced tea, "which was about bringing a little normal to the days, that was a treat for me."

"I mean, in some ways it was a treat," Maya said. "But not really."

"It's a treat that a prisoner gets when they ask for, 'A morsel of food please,'" Kamala said shoving her hands forward as if clutching a metal plate, her voice now trembling like an old British man locked in a Dickensian jail cell. "'And water! I just want wahtahhh….'Your standards really go out the f---ing window."

Kamala burst into laughter.

Meanwhile, Neera Tanden continues to do her best to prove the right doesn't own paranoid conspiracy:

https://twitter.com/neeratanden/status/1153842985764868099

And Jonathan Chait suggests the Democratic Party is both "a hidebound claque of traditionalists who are consistently outmaneuvered by a more disciplined and ruthless opposition" and also "being hijacked by ideological fanatics sent on a political suicide mission."

QUICK HITS

President Trump on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the House Ways and Means Committee, New York Attorney General Letitia James and New York tax commissioner Michael Schmidt in an effort to block them from releasing his state tax returns.

• The Justice Department is opening an antitrust investigation into "Big Tech," because if there's one thing that says Serious Investigation and not Political Stunt, it's going after an amorphously defined group with a totally loaded label.

• New York just criminalized "the non-consensual sharing or publication of an intimate image."

• A federal judge has ordered a temporary block of three anti-abortion laws in Arkansas.

  • Dispatches from Trump's talk to conservative college students:

• Radley Balko explores Kentucky "justice":

• "China has warned that it could send troops to Hong Kong to deal with pro-democracy protests," reports The Daily Beast.

• Science!