Weekend thread: What's going on?

A "disastrous" ruling for Fox in defamation suit. New York gears up for protest, potential violence at Trump's arraignment. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg scorches GOP for interference.

The judge presiding over the $1.6 billion defamation suit by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News dealt a devastating blow to Fox, refusing its summary judgement request and removing key elements of Fox’s defense as he scheduled a trial.

While it’s a bit complicated — and I will break it down — the ruling means Fox cannot argue the veracity of anything it reported in promoting the Big Lie. And the judge didn’t take the $1.6 billion off the table, and sent the case to trial for a jury only to decide if Fox acted out of malice. That could possibly be tricky, but Dominion moves into this trial with the wind at its back.

New York City law enforcement officials are preparing for what could be a violent confrontation — considering Donald Trump has called for violence if he is indicted — at Donald Trump’s arraignment in New York on Tuesday. Marjorie Taylor Greene and other MAGA members of Congress will be heading to New York and we can only imagine the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers won’t be far behind them. Seeing as it is New York, there will be many anti-Trump protestors as well, and police are worried about clashes.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who got a grand jury to indict Trump last week, has sent another scathing letter to GOP leaders in the House about “political obstruction.” The GOP has been rocked by Trump’s indictment, but I think even more so the fact that Bragg hasn’t been deferential to meek toward them, hitting them hard.