From the most shocking story to the least. AP: Judge: Trump likely committed crimes related to election. “Based on the evidence, the Court finds it more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021.”

+ Also, not shocking: “An examination … of Cruz’s actions between Election Day and Jan. 6, 2021, shows just how deeply he was involved, working directly with Trump to concoct a plan that came closer than widely realized to keeping him in power. As Cruz went to extraordinary lengths to court Trump’s base and lay the groundwork for his own potential 2024 presidential bid, he also alienated close allies and longtime friends who accused him of abandoning his principles.” Inside Ted Cruz’s last-ditch battle to keep Trump in power. (What everyone was saying during the Oscars: Violence is wrong. Hitting can never be condoned. What everyone was thinking: Why didn’t someone do that to Ted Cruz during the SCOTUS confirmation hearings?)

+ David French in The Atlantic echoes what I mentioned last week. “One of the most dangerous aspects of the effort to overturn the election was the extent to which it was an explicitly religious cause. January 6 insurrectionists stampeded into the Senate chamber with prayers on their lips. Prominent religious leaders and leading Christian lawyers threw themselves into the effort to delay election certification or throw out the election results entirely. In the House and Senate, the congressional leaders of the effort to overturn the election included many of Congress’s most public evangelicals. They didn’t just approach the election fight with religious zeal; they approached it with an absolute conviction that they enjoyed divine sanction.” Amen.