November 19, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Trump flaunts his faux Macho Macho Man rhetoric. For decades, Republicans have lectured Americans to quit embracing victimhood and stand on their own two feet, and here's their leader announcing his presidency on a platform of Woe is me! Quit picking on me! Elect me because I'm a fall guy!' I will tell you I'm a victim,' Trump said to a less-than-festive gathering where Melania seemed like a hostage and Ivanka was a no-show.... Trump's martyrdom extends to his life with Melania in an oceanside resort, which he said, 'hasn't been the easiest thing. I go home,' he said, 'and she says, "You look angry and upset." I say, "Just leave me alone."' Fun couple!"

Jared Gans of the Hill: "Former Attorney General William Barr said Friday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) probably has a 'basis for legitimately indicting' former President Trump over the classified and sensitive documents law enforcement says were taken to Mar-a-Lago. Barr told PBS's Margaret Hoover during an interview on 'Firing Line' he thinks the DOJ has enough evidence to reach the amount they would need to indict his former boss.... 'If the Department of Justice can show that these were indeed very sensitive documents, which I think they probably were, and also show that the president consciously was involved in misleading the department, deceiving the government, and playing games after he had received the subpoena for the documents, those are serious charges,' Barr said." MB: Congrats, Bill, on your amazing rehabilitation tour. Still, you're a total dick.

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Perry Stein & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Merrick Garland has named a special counsel to oversee the criminal investigation into ... Donald Trump's possible mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club and residence, as well as key aspects of the Jan. 6 investigation. Garland announced his decision Friday afternoon, tapping Jack Smith, a longtime federal prosecutor who has in recent years been working at the International Criminal Court at The Hague. The announcement comes three days after Trump formally declared himself a 2024 candidate for president. 'Based on recent developments, including the former president's announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election, and the sitting president's stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel,' Garland said at a news conference at the Justice Department....

Hillary Clinton, Trump's Democratic opponent in 2016. The FBI investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server for government matters was opened in mid-2015, continued throughout the primaries, was closed just before the nominating convention and then publicly reopened less than two weeks before Election Day." MB: Yes, and didn't that go well. (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ Marie: On the down side, Merrick the Unready remains as unready ever, and Donald Trump is the beneficiary of yet another big DOJ delay.* A number of pundits -- not the least of whom is Neal Katyal, who wrote the special counsel rules -- opined Friday that there is no advantage to appointing a special counsel: it does not effectively distance Garland from the investigation because under the rules, the AG is still required to make the final decision on whether or not to bring charges. On the up side, Barbara McQuade opined on MSNBC that Garland would not have appointed a special counsel if he was about to drop the investigation of Trump. And a guy who's been prosecuting war criminals at the Hague is unlikely to by fazed by the slings & arrows of a cowardly wimp like Donald Trump. BTW, one pundit (don't recall who) pointed out that Garland's acknowledged Friday for the first time that Trump was the subject of investigations. ~~~

     ~~~ * Andrew Weissmann & Paul Butler, appearing last night on Lawrence O'Donnell's MSNBC show, seemed to agree that Smith would not shut things down because (1) the Trump Inquiries now have a dedicated boss, as opposed to Garland, who was supposedly leading the inquiry groups but has many other responsibilities, and (2) Smith is a speed demon. I'm not sure I'm convinced, but I hope they're right.

Alan Feuer & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: Jack Smith, the Justice Department's newly appointed special counsel, will come to the task of investigating ... Donald J. Trump with a wealth of experience.... Mr. Smith got his start in the 1990s as a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney's office and soon moved to a similar job at the United States Attorney's office in Brooklyn. There, he served in a number of supervisory positions, according to his Justice Department biography, and worked on an assortment of cases, many involving public corruption. From 2008 to 2010, Mr. Smith worked as the investigation coordinator in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. In that role, he oversaw high-profile inquiries of foreign government officials and militia members wanted for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.... Mr. Smith served from 2010 to 2015 as chief of the Justice Department's public integrity section, which investigates politicians and other public figures on corruption allegations.... Mr. Smith will take on the role of special counsel after leaving his current position as a specialist prosecutor based in The Hague investigating war crimes. He will remain in the Netherlands for some time, according to the Justice Department, in order to recover from a recent bicycle accident." An NBC News story is here.

Kelly Garrity of Politico: "Donald Trump was quick to attack Attorney General Merrick Garland's appointment of a special prosecutor to oversee criminal investigations of the former president.... On Friday, the former president maintained his innocence, calling the appointment 'unfair,' 'political,' 'not even believable,' and 'the worst politicization of justice in our country.' 'I have been proven innocent for six years on everything -- from fake impeachments to Mueller, who found no collusion, and now I have to do it more? It is not acceptable. It is so unfair. It is so political,' Trump told Fox, adding 'I am not going to partake in it.' At a news conference later Friday in front of patrons and supporters at his Mar-a-Lago residence..., he further called the various criminal probes against him 'corrupt' and the 2020 elections 'rigged' in a diatribe more usually delivered from a campaign rally stage. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the White House did not receive any advance notice of the appointment."

Caroline Kitchener, et al., of the Washington Post: "A televangelist who served as a spiritual adviser to Donald Trump says the former president has the tendency to act 'like a little elementary schoolchild' and suggests that Trump's focus on minor spats was preventing progress on larger goals. 'If Mr. Trump can't stop his little petty issues, how does he expect people to stop major issues?' James Robison, the president of the Christian group Life Outreach International, said Wednesday night at a meeting of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL), a conservative political group that focuses on social issues." The whole story is, well, interesting. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A Donald Trump fan who was convicted on all counts after telling jurors that he thought he was 'following presidential orders' when he stole a liquor bottle and a coat rack from the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was sentenced to three years in federal prison on Friday. Dustin Thompson, a college-educated Ohio man who testified that he believed Trump's lies about the 2020 election, was convicted on six charges in April after he told jurors he was seeking Trump's 'respect' and 'approval' on Jan. 6.... 'You didn't love America that day,' Senior U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton told Thompson while sentencing him on Friday. Walton said he didn't understand how 'people can be gullible enough to accept a lie and act on that lie.'"

From Stilettos to Sneakers. Nicholas Fandos & Annie Karni of the New York Times: Rep. Hakeem "Jeffries on Friday formally announced his run for Democratic leader, a bid that, if successful, would make him the first Black man to hold the top party leadership role in either chamber of Congress. For now, he is unopposed for the post, and widely regarded by his colleagues as all but certain to secure it. In many ways, he and [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi couldn't be more different. She is the daughter of a congressman and former mayor, who was born into a Baltimore political dynasty and later became a wealthy San Francisco homemaker.... In Congress, she has been a master legislator who has led with an iron grip on her caucus ... -- usually while wearing stilettos. Mr. Jeffries is the son of a working-class social worker and a substance abuse counselor, who became a high-powered litigator. He still lives in the heart of Black Brooklyn and often pairs his suits with sneakers. Outside of bipartisan federal sentencing reform, his own legislative record is relatively thin, pointing to a sharp learning curve ahead. What the two lawmakers share is a pragmatic streak, and a keen sense of where political compromise is available." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) -- a real dick, God rest his soul -- once disparaged my mother as "a little old lady in tennis shoes." So I prefer the sneakers.

Leigh Ann Caldwell of the Washington Post: "One day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her top two lieutenants said they would step down as the top House Democrats, Rep. Katherine M. Clark (D-Mass.) announced Friday that she will run for the number two position in the caucus. Clark's move is part of Democrats' desire to quickly establish a new set of leaders after having the same three members at the top -- Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) and Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) -- for 16 years.... Hoyer announced Thursday afternoon that he will not seek a leadership post in the next Congress.... Clark would be the second woman, behind Pelosi, in history to serve in one of the top two positions of House leadership.... She has been laying the groundwork for a prime leadership position for years.... No one has announced they will challenge Clark.... Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) is expected to announce he is running for the number three leadership post."

Inmates Take Over the Asylum. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "Wednesday evening, Republicans formally won control of the House. Thursday morning, in the first public act of the new majority, senior House Republicans revealed their most urgent priority: They would investigate Hunter Biden. The incoming chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the incoming chairman of the Oversight Committee, James Comer (R-Ky.), and about 10 other members of the brand-new majority ... mentioned Hunter two dozen times in their opening statements alone. Reporters tried to ask questions about other topics. Comer cut them off.... A few hours ... [later], Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) ... announce[d] plans to force a vote on ending funds for Ukraine. 'Is Ukraine now the 51st state?' asked Greene, who alleged an elaborate cryptocurrency conspiracy in which military aid for Ukraine actually funds Democrats' campaigns.... Even if he wins the [speakership], [Kevin McCarthy] might soon wish he hadn't. That's because he'll get it only by signing an endless pile of IOUs the crazies are demanding...."

AND the Supreme Leaker Is ... Sam Alito! Jodi Kantor & Jo Becker of the New York Times: "As the Supreme Court investigates the extraordinary leak this spring of a draft opinion of the decision overturning Roe v. Wade, a former anti-abortion leader has come forward claiming that another breach occurred in a 2014 landmark case involving contraception and religious rights. In a letter to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and in interviews with The New York Times, the Rev. Rob Schenck said he was told the outcome of the 2014 case weeks before it was announced. He used that information to prepare a public relations push, records show, and he said that at the last minute he tipped off the president of Hobby Lobby, the craft store chain owned by Christian evangelicals that was the winning party in the case. Both court decisions were triumphs for conservatives and the religious right. Both majority opinions were written by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.... According to Mr. Schenck, the outcome [of the 2014 case] was shared with only a handful of advocates.... The Times found a trail of contemporaneous emails and conversations that strongly suggested he knew the outcome and the author of the Hobby Lobby decision before it was made public....

"In early June 2014, an Ohio couple who were Mr. Schenck's star donors shared a meal with Justice Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann. A day later, Gayle Wright, one of the pair, contacted Mr. Schenck, according to an email reviewed by The Times. 'Rob, if you want some interesting news please call. No emails,' she wrote. Mr. Schenck said Mrs. Wright told him that the decision would be favorable to Hobby Lobby, and that Justice Alito had written the majority opinion. Three weeks later, that's exactly what happened." Alito & Mrs. Wright deny the allegation.

Ben Leonard of Politico: "A group of anti-abortion organizations sued HHS and the FDA on Friday in a bid to reverse the FDA's approval of the abortion medication mifepristone. Lawyers from the conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Amarillo on behalf of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Pediatricians, the Christian Medical & Dental Associations and four doctors.... An HHS spokesperson defended the medication as safe and effective and said that 'denying women access to any essential care they need is downright dangerous and extreme.'"

Ryan Mac, et al., of the New York Times: "Twitter is teetering on the edge as [owner Elon] Musk remakes the company after buying it for $44 billion last month. The billionaire has pushed relentlessly to put his imprint on the social media service, slashing 50 percent of its work force, firing dissenters, pursuing new subscription products and delivering a harsh message that the company needs to shape up or it will face bankruptcy. Now the question is whether Mr. Musk, 51, has gone too far. On Thursday, hundreds of Twitter employees resigned after Mr. Musk gave them a deadline to decide whether to leave or stay. So many workers chose to depart that Twitter users began questioning whether the site would survive.... Some internal estimates showed that at least 1,200 full-time employees resigned on Thursday, three people close to the company said."

Erin Griffith of the New York Times: "Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the failed blood-testing start-up Theranos, was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison on Friday for defrauding investors about her company's technology and business dealings.... Ms. Holmes, who raised $945 million for Theranos and promised that the start-up would revolutionize health care with tests that required just a few drops of blood, was convicted in January of four counts of wire fraud for deceiving investors with those claims, which turned out not to be true.... Ms. Holmes, 38, who plans to appeal the verdict, must surrender to custody on April 27, 2023. In the courtroom on Friday..., Ms. Holmes, who has a 1-year-old son and is pregnant with her second child, apologized to the investors, patients and employees of Theranos."

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Grisly News. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Alabama called off its plans to execute a man on Thursday after a whirlwind few hours in which the Supreme Court allowed the execution to proceed, but prison officials determined they did not have enough time to kill the man before his death warrant expired at midnight. It was the second time in less than two months that Alabama had brought a prisoner into its execution chamber, strapped him to a gurney and begun trying to insert intravenous lines -- only to call off the execution and return him to his cell. In both cases, it appeared that prison officials had struggled to insert the lines into the prisoners after last-minute appeals were thrown out by the Supreme Court.... John Q. Hamm, the commissioner of Alabama's prisons, said at a news conference that prison officials determined that they could not insert a second, necessary line before the death warrant expired, and at 11:21 p.m. temporarily called the execution off." This is a substantial update of a story linked early yesterday. MB: One way to solve this problem is to quit executing people. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Colorado House Race. Bad News. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "In one of the country's closest House races, Adam Frisch, a Democrat challenging Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado, a far-right gunslinger known for her provocations on Capitol Hill, said on Friday that he had called her to concede, as Ms. Boebert appeared increasingly likely to win a second term. The Associated Press has not called the contest. Mr. Frisch, a Democratic businessman and former Aspen, Colo., city councilman, had put up a fierce challenge to Ms. Boebert, 35, who was seen as a heavy favorite entering the race in Colorado's Republican-leaning Third Congressional District."

** Georgia Senate Race. Matthew Brown of the Washington Post: "A Georgia judge ruled that early voting can take place on a Saturday in the highly watched Senate runoff election between Democratic incumbent Raphael G. Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker. In a ruling Friday afternoon ruling, Judge Thomas A. Cox Jr. found that a provision of Georgia's election code cited by the secretary of state's office as barring Saturday voting 'does not specifically prohibit counties from conducting advanced voting on Saturday, November 26, 2022, for a runoff election.' The court further noted that 'there is an absence of settled law on this specific issue' in Georgia but that the intent of the state legislature was 'obvious' in omitting any specific reference to a runoff election in the law. The ruling is a victory for Democrats and voting rights advocates.... 'We disagree with the court's order and look forward to a prompt appeal,' [Secretary of State Brad] Raffensperger [R] said in a statement. The decision on whether to appeal the case will be made by Republican Chris Carr, the state's attorney general." CNN's report is here.

Maryland. Ruth Graham of the New York Times: "The attorney general of Maryland [Brian Frosh] has identified more than 600 young victims of clergy sexual abuse over the course of 80 years in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, according to a court document filed Thursday. The filing, which broadly outlines the attorney general's findings, requests that a judge allow the release of the full report: a 456-page document detailing decades of clergy sex abuse in Maryland.... Baltimore is the first Catholic diocese established in the United States and is led by an influential archbishop, William E. Lori, who was elected this week as vice president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Saturday are here: "At least 17 regions in Ukraine, plus the capital, Kyiv, were being plunged into intermittent darkness this weekend, grappling with emergency electricity shutdowns and scheduled blackouts, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address. Meanwhile, more than 17,000 people in the Zaporizhzhia region were left without heating on Saturday following overnight rocket attacks, its local governor said.... The first train from Kyiv to Kherson since the war began arrived to cheers in the recently liberated city on Saturday.... Ukraine appeared to soften its stance on who was responsible for a missile blast that killed two in Poland earlier this week.... A spokesman for Ukraine's air force said in an interview Friday said that missile fragments landing in Poland could have been Ukrainian.... The United Nations Human Rights Office is looking into videos that the Kremlin said show Ukraine executing Russian prisoners of war, Reuters reported. U.N. officials said this week they found 'patterns of torture and ill-treatment' by Russia against prisoners of war that had fought for Ukraine, and 'sporadic cases of torture and ill-treatment' by Ukraine against Russian prisoners of war who had been in custody for extended periods."

Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "One day after lawyers confirmed that the American basketball star Brittney Griner had been transferred to a penal colony outside Moscow, Russia on Friday reiterated its openness to a prisoner exchange with the United States involving the notorious convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ The story has been updated: "A day after the American basketball star Brittney Griner was sent to a Russian penal colony, a top Russian diplomat said on Friday that the prospect of a prisoner exchange was increasing, and acknowledged that it could involve a Russian arms dealer imprisoned in the United States. But U.S. officials dismissed the suggestion of any new optimism about an agreement, saying that the Kremlin had not been serious about negotiating a deal. Since June, the Biden administration has been proposing trading Viktor Bout, the arms dealer, for Ms. Griner, who has been jailed for nine months and Paul N. Whelan, an American held for almost four years and convicted of espionage, according to U.S. officials and numerous news media reports."

Iran. Cora Engelbrecht of the New York Times: "... hundreds of victims ... have suffered severe eye injuries inflicted by Iranian security forces since mid-September, according to doctors and medical facilities. That month, antigovernment protests swept across the country, prompting a violent crackdown. More than 300 Iranians have been killed, according to rights groups. Thousands have been injured. Among the most irreversible effects of the government's efforts to crush the uprising has been the blinding of people taking part in them. Across Iran, scores of protesters have gone to hospitals with eyes ruptured by the metal pellets and rubber bullets that security forces fire to disperse crowds."

November 18, 2022

Afternoon Update:

** Dan Mangan of CNBC: "U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland will appoint a special counsel to determine whether criminal charges should be filed against ... Donald Trump in connection with two pending investigations, according to reports Friday. News of the planned appointment of the special counsel, which was reported by The Wall Street Journal, came three days after Trump announced plans to run for president in 2024. Trump faces multiple criminal investigations. NBC News reported that the special counsel, whose name has not been announced, will make decisions for two Department of Justice investigations of Trump. One is focused on whether Trump broke the law and obstructed justice in connection with his removal of hundreds of documents from the White House, which were shipped to his residence at Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. The other probe is related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot by a mob of Trump supporters." ~~~

     ~~~ Update: MSNBC is reporting on-air that Garland will make an announcement at 2:15 pm today. ~~~

     ~~~ ** Update: Perry Stein & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Merrick Garland has named a special counsel to oversee the criminal investigation into ... Donald Trump's possible mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club and residence, as well as key aspects of the Jan. 6 investigation. Garland announced his decision Friday afternoon, tapping Jack Smith, a longtime federal prosecutor who has in recent years been working at the International Criminal Court at The Hague. The announcement comes three days after Trump formally declared himself a 2024 candidate for president. 'Based on recent developments, including the former president's announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election, and the sitting president's stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel,' Garland said at a news conference at the Justice Department....

"Many other political candidates have been investigated while they ran for office without the appointment of a special counsel -- including Hillary Clinton, Trump's Democratic opponent in 2016. The FBI investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server for government matters was opened in mid-2015, continued throughout the primaries, was closed just before the nominating convention and then publicly reopened less than two weeks before Election Day." MB: Yes, and didn't that go well.

     ~~~ Marie: On the down side, Merrick the Unready is even more unready than we knew. On the up side, Barbara McQuade opined on MSNBC that Garland would not have appointed a special counsel if he planned to drop the investigation of Trump. And a guy who's been prosecuting war criminals in the Hague is unlikely to by fazed by the slings & arrows of a wimp like Donald Trump.

Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "One day after lawyers confirmed that the American basketball star Brittney Griner had been transferred to a penal colony outside Moscow, Russia on Friday reiterated its openness to a prisoner exchange with the United States involving the notorious convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Russia seems extremely proud of its bad-faith flouting of international norms. Griner commited a victimless "crime." She had a small amount of hash clearly for personal use; she wasn't going to harm any person. Any normal government would, at worst, kick her out of the country. In 1980, Japan did jail Paul McCartney for nine days for smuggling in a half-pound of marijuana -- that is, enough to distribute -- but they deported him instead of trying him. To offer to trade Griner for a notorious arms dealer is to mock any standard of equity or justice.

Caroline Kitchener, et al., of the Washington Post: "A televangelist who served as a spiritual adviser to Donald Trump says the former president has the tendency to act 'like a little elementary schoolchild' and suggests that Trump's focus on minor spats was preventing progress on larger goals. 'If Mr. Trump can't stop his little petty issues, how does he expect people to stop major issues?' James Robison, the president of the Christian group Life Outreach International, said Wednesday night at a meeting of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL), a conservative political group that focuses on social issues." The whole story is, well, interesting.

Grisly News. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: ";Alabama called off its plans to execute a man on Thursday after a whirlwind few hours in which the Supreme Court allowed the execution to proceed, but prison officials determined they did not have enough time to kill the man before his death warrant expired at midnight. It was the second time in less than two months that Alabama had brought a prisoner into its execution chamber, strapped him to a gurney and begun trying to insert intravenous lines -- only to call off the execution and return him to his cell. In both cases, it appeared that prison officials had struggled to insert the lines into the prisoners after last-minute appeals were thrown out by the Supreme Court.... John Q. Hamm, the commissioner of Alabama's prisons, said at a news conference that prison officials determined that they could not insert a second, necessary line before the death warrant expired, and at 11:21 p.m. temporarily called the execution off." This is a substantial update of a story linked below. MB: One way to solve this problem is to quit executing people.

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** Marianna Sotomayor & Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who broke Congress's glass ceiling as the first woman to hold the top position in the House, announced Thursday she will not seek reelection as the House Democratic caucus's top leader, ending one of the most consequential leadership tenures in American political history.... She will continue as a member of the House.... Historians largely agree that Pelosi redefined the speakership, and she made history climbing the ranks of Democratic leadership, becoming the first woman to be second in line to the presidency as speaker of the House -- twice.... Pelosi's ability to keep her caucus in line has led to bipartisan recognition that she alone may be capable of wrangling Democrats' disparate factions. She led the House Democratic caucus through a bitter fight in 2010 to pass the Affordable Care Act, and most recently managed a razor-thin majority in passing several key pieces of President Biden's legislative agenda." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~

~~~ Sarah Ferris of Politico: "Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the current caucus chair, will seek the role of minority leader.... Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) ... will seek the elected position of assistant to the minority leader; Hoyer will not seek a leadership position, but will also remain in Congress as a rank-and-file member, according to multiple people familiar with the decision. Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) will seek the No. 2 position below Jeffries, minority whip, while Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), will seek the No. 3 position, which will now be caucus chair, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions. Clyburn's position will fall outside of that seniority structure." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

When I think of Nancy Pelosi, I think of dignity. History will note she is the most consequential Speaker of the House of Representatives in our history. There are countless examples of how she embodies the obligation of elected officials to uphold their oath to God and country to ensure our democracy delivers and remains a beacon to the world. In everything she does, she reflects a dignity in her actions and a dignity she sees in the lives of the people of this nation. (and more) -- President Joe Biden

Few in American history have been as effective, as driven, as successful as Speaker Pelosi. She's transformed practically every corner of American politics, and unquestionably made America a better, stronger nation. -- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), on the Senate floor ~~~

~~~ From the Washington Post liveblog of developments: "... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) announced that they would not seek leadership positions in the new Congress, opening the door for a younger generation of Democrats to guide the caucus.... Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is widely expected to become the next minority leader.... If elected by House Democrats, Jeffries would become the first Black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress." MB: Hoyer told reporters he would support Jeffries as leader. (Also linked yesterday.)

Sahil Kapur, et al., of NBC News: "When Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced her retirement from congressional leadership on Thursday, the House chamber was packed with Democratic lawmakers.... The Republican side of the chamber was largely empty. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif..., was nowhere to be seen.... Minority Whip Steve Scalise was the only member of the GOP's upper echelons to be sitting in the chamber. The Louisiana Republican, who is a survivor of political violence, stood up to applaud when Pelosi mentioned her husband Paul Pelosi's recovery from a brutal assault during a recent home invasion. Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the third-ranked member of the caucus, who has described herself as an 'ultra-MAGA' Republican, had nothing positive to say about Pelosi after her announcement.... Some Republicans couldn't resist taking a parting shot at her[.]"

Burgess Everett of Politico: "It's not every day that a senator quotes a famous mob movie to describe the state of his political party after a week of infighting. 'You've gotta have a war every five or 10 years to get rid of the bad blood,' Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said, paraphrasing a line from 'The Godfather' to paint a picture of Senate Republicans. 'And then you start over.'" MB: Sen. Foghorn Leghorn gets some things right: of course it's appropriate to liken the GOP to the mob.

Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "The closest House race in the nation appears to be headed toward a recount. Nine days after the election, the contest in Colorado's Third Congressional District, between Representative Lauren Boebert, a Republican, and her Democratic challenger, Adam Frisch, remains undecided. As of Thursday evening, according to The Associated Press, Ms. Boebert leads by a mere 0.16 percentage points -- or, 551 votes of nearly 327,000 counted to date. Nearly all of the votes have been counted, according to The A.P., which declared the race too close to call. The margin qualifies for an automatic recount under state law, which would further delay a call -- possibly for weeks." The AP's report is here.

Michael Stratford of Politico: "The Biden administration will ask the Supreme Court to revive its student debt relief program as it fights to reverse lower court rulings that have upended its plans to forgive up to $20,000 of debt for tens of millions of Americans. The Justice Department said in a court filing on Thursday that it planned to ask the Supreme Court to reverse an injunction issued earlier this week by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals that prohibits the administration from carrying out student debt relief. Separately, the Justice Department is asking the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to put on hold a decision by a district court judge in Texas to strike down the debt relief program as illegal. The DOJ asked for a ruling from that appeals court by Dec. 1 'to allow the government to seek relief from the Supreme Court' if needed."

Tara Bernard of the New York Times: "As President Biden's broad plan to cancel student debt for millions of borrowers faces mounting legal challenges, his administration took a separate step on Thursday that could make it easier for the most vulnerable student borrowers to clear their debts: through bankruptcy.... The Justice Department, in coordination with the Education Department, announced a new process that it said would help ensure that people in bankruptcy seeking relief on their federal student loans were treated more fairly, with clearer guidelines about what types of cases would result in a discharge."

MBS Gets Away with Murder. Again. Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration has determined that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who the CIA has held responsible for the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi, is immune from a civil lawsuit filed in the United States by Khashoggi's fiance and a human rights organization he founded. In a response to a July invitation by U.S. District Court Judge John Bates to submit a statement of interest in the case, the administration said in a court submission late Thursday that because Mohammed is Saudi Arabia's 'sitting head of government' he is 'immune from this suit' under international law. In a letter accompanying the submission, State Department acting legal adviser Richard C. Visek said the department 'takes no view on the merits of the present suit and reiterates its unequivocal condemnation of the heinous murder of Jamal Khashoggi.'" The Guardian's story is here. The AP's report is here.

Another Wedding at the White House. Jura Koncius & Roxanne Roberts of the Washington Post: "When presidential granddaughter Naomi King Biden and Peter George Heermann Neal get married on the South Lawn of the White House on Saturday, they will join a short list of couples, including presidential children, nieces and friends, and one president (Grover Cleveland), whose wedding days were celebrated in a residence that is a cultural icon.... Biden, 28, is the first presidential granddaughter to hold both her ceremony and reception at the White House. She is the first grandchild of Joe and Jill Biden (and the oldest daughter of Hunter Biden and his first wife, Kathleen Buhle). She works as a lawyer in Washington. Neal, 25, from Jackson Hole, Wyo., recently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He works at Georgetown Law." Includes stereopticon photos of Theodore Roosevelt, his daughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth & her new husband, Rep. Nicholas Longworth.

Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "The chair and vice-chair of the January 6 committee hit back after Mike Pence said they had 'no right' to his testimony about the Capitol attack, and claimed they presided over a 'partisan' investigation.... Pence said he was 'closing the door' on the prospect of testifying.... Testimony presented to the panel and to the nation in a series of dramatic public hearings was 'not partisan', Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney said. 'It was truthful.'... Thompson and Cheney said: 'The select committee has proceeded respectfully and responsibly in our engagement with Vice-President Pence, so it is disappointing that he is misrepresenting the nature of our investigation while giving interviews to promote his new book.'... The panel is wrapping up its work, after it was confirmed on Wednesday that Republicans will take control of the House."

Rebecca Shabad, et al., of NBC News: "The House Jan. 6 committee on Thursday interviewed Bobby Engel, who was the lead Secret Service agent for ... Donald Trump when the insurrection took place, three sources familiar with the session said. Engel could provide key testimony related to information shared by Cassidy Hutchinson, who was a top aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. She delivered bombshell testimony before the committee at a public hearing this summer. Hutchinson testified that she was told [by former Secret Service agent & White House staffer Tony Ornato that] Trump tried to& grab the steering wheel in an armored SUV and lunged toward his security detail when he learned he would not be taken to the Capitol after his rally on Jan. 6.... She also said Engel had not disputed Ornato's account."

Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "The criminal trial of Donald J. Trump's family business took an emotional turn Thursday as one of the former president's most loyal executives laid bare the machinery of a sprawling tax fraud, scoring points for both prosecution and defense during hours of illuminating testimony. The executive, Allen H. Weisselberg, several times bolstered Manhattan prosecutors' contention that the scheme benefited not just himself, but the Trump Organization. He testified that the off-the-books luxuries he and other executives received saved the company money in taxes. Yet Mr. Weisselberg, 75, who started working for the Trumps decades ago, rose to become chief financial officer and is now the prosecution's star witness, also distanced Mr. Trump and his family from the wrongdoing. He testified that they did not team up with him, nor authorize him to commit crimes.... Near tears..., he agreed more than a dozen times that he had acted only for himself." Weisselberg is still on the Trump Org's payroll. MB: So his exoneration of the Trumps is not at all suspect. ~~~

     ~~~ Graham Kates of CBS News has a different take on Weisselberg's testimony: "... Allen Weisselberg testified in court Thursday, describing how Donald Trump and two of his children allegedly participated in a scheme to defraud tax authorities. Weisselberg said Donald Trump, or at times Eric Trump or Donald Trump Jr., signed checks to pay up to $100,000 for private school tuition for Weisselberg's grandchildren. Weisselberg said he then instructed the company's controller to deduct the $100,000 from his salary, allowing him to report a smaller income. Copies of some of the checks signed by the Trumps have been shown in court. Weisselberg said the first time Trump signed a tuition check, Weisselberg told him, 'Don't forget, I'm going to pay you back for this.' The payback, he said, was the salary reduction."

Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "A Republican political strategist was convicted of illegally helping a Russian businessman contribute to Donald Trump's presidential campaign in 2016. Jesse Benton, 44, was pardoned by Trump in 2020 for a different campaign finance crime, months before he was indicted again on six counts related to facilitating an illegal foreign campaign donation. He was found guilty Thursday on all six counts." You may remember Benton as a shady protege of Ron & Rand Paul. The Hill's report is here.

Supremely Deadly. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "All 12 jurors agreed to convict Kenneth Eugene Smith in the 1988 murder of a pastor's wife in Alabama, but when it came time to recommend a sentence, 11 of them voted to spare him and instead send him to prison for life. But the judge overruled the jury and sentenced Mr. Smith to death, a practice that Alabama banned in 2017 and that is no longer allowed anywhere in the United States. That ban did not apply to prior cases, however, and Mr. Smith, 57, was set to be executed on Thursday evening at a prison in southwest Alabama. The execution was thrown into doubt late on Thursday when an appeals court temporarily halted it, but the Supreme Court overturned that decision and allowed it to move forward about an hour and a half before the state's death warrant was to expire at midnight Central time. The high court's order did not include any reasons for overturning the stay, but its three liberal justices -- Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson -- said they would have kept it in place." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yeah but supremely consistent with the Court's disdain of the will of the people. And disregard for life.

Musk's Vanity Project in Disarray. Ryan Mac, et al., of the New York Times: "Hours before a Thursday deadline that Elon Musl had given Twitter employees to decide whether to stay or leave their jobs, the social media company appeared to be in disarray. Mr. Musk and his advisers held meetings with some Twitter workers whom they deemed 'critical' to stop them from leaving, four people with knowledge of the conversations said. He sent out confusing messages about the company's remote work policy, appearing to soften his stance on not allowing people to work from home before warning their managers.... All the while, two people said, resignations started to roll in. By the deadline, 5 p.m. Eastern time, hundreds of Twitter employees appeared to have decided to depart with three months of severance pay.... Twitter later announced via email that it would close 'our office buildings' and disable employee badge access until Monday. The exits added to the turmoil at Twitter since Mr. Musk, 51, completed his $44 billion takeover last month. The billionaire has laid off half of Twitter's 7,500 full-time workers, fired dissenters and told employees that they need to be 'extremely hard core' to make the company a success." The Verge has a story here. ~~~

~~~ Noam Scheiber & Ryan Mac of the New York Times: Space X fired nine employees who criticized Elon Musk's "management" of Twitter. "On Wednesday, unfair-labor-practice charges were filed with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of eight of those workers...."

Jacob Bogage & Lauren Gurley of the Washington Post: "Employees from more than 100 Starbucks stores walked off the job Thursday, hoping to shutter shops for the day in protest of the company's approach to union contract negotiations as the coffee giant launches holiday products.... Thursday's one-day strike coincides with Starbucks's annual 'Red Cup Day,' when coffee shops hand out red, reusable travel mugs to customers who order qualifying beverages. It is known among workers as one of the chain's busiest days, with devoted customers lined up early outside stores to collect the giveaway."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Alexandra Berzon & Jim Rutenberg of the Washington Post: "Kari Lake, the Republican who lost her bid for governor of Arizona after running a campaign heavily focused on election denialism, suggested in a video on Thursday that she planned to contest her defeat, arguing without evidence that voters had been disenfranchised.... She pointed to problems with ballot tabulation machines that led to long lines of voters in Maricopa County.... But there has been no evidence that significant numbers of people were unable to cast their ballots, let alone the 17,200 voters who make up Ms. Lake's losing margin to Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat. Ms. Lake insinuated that Ms. Hobbs, the state's top election official, was responsible for the problems. But Ms. Hobbs did not directly run Maricopa County's election.... On Thursday, Ms. Lake, who was endorsed by ... Donald J. Trump, was visiting Mar-a-Lago...." (Also linked yesterday.)

New York. Corey Kilgannon of the New York Times: Shamel "Capers had been behind bars since his arrest at age 16 for a murder that he always insisted he never committed. After eight years in prison, his conviction was ... vacated after the discovery of exonerating evidence.... Several years ago, Debevoise & Plimpton, a Manhattan law firm, agreed to handle his appeal pro bono.... The firm began interviewing witnesses and found a troubling element in the case. The main witness against Mr. Capers had been offered a significant sentence reduction on several unrelated felonies in exchange for his testimony.... [The witness] would later recant to a defense investigator, a recantation that was corroborated by recorded phone calls from Rikers Island in which he admitted to his mother in 2014 that he never saw Mr. Capers shoot at the bus [in which the victim, a 14-year-old honors student, D'aja Robinson, was riding]."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Friday are here: "Swedish prosecutors said Friday that explosions at the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September were the result of 'gross sabotage.' Their investigation also discovered 'traces of explosives on several of the foreign objects that were found' at the site of the blasts.... In Ukraine, as winter sets in and the season's first snow fell in Kyiv, 'more than 10 million Ukrainians are without electricity,' President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a nightly address late Thursday.'... Scores of civilians were injured in [Russian] attacks [Thursday] and key infrastructure was damaged in the country's south and east.... Russian shelling killed seven people and destroyed a residential building in Zaporizhzhia, Zelensky said Thursday evening. He said the number of victims may increase, as the rubble is still being cleared.... Russian strikes hit 'critical infrastructure' in Kharkiv early Friday, according to regional governor Oleh Synyehubov....Brittney Griner, the U.S. basketball star imprisoned in Russia on drug charges in what the United States classifies as wrongful detention, has been transferred to a penal colony in Mordovia, southeast of Moscow.... Pope Francis said the Vatican is ready to help mediate an end to the war."

<>Constant Méheut of the New York Times: "A Dutch court on Thursday convicted three men with ties to the Russian security services and sentenced them to life in prison over the downing of a passenger jet above eastern Ukraine in July 2014, during a Moscow-backed separatist uprising that foreshadowed Russia's full-scale invasion of the country. The court found that an antiaircraft missile system provided to separatist forces by the Russian military brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, commonly known as MH17, on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 people aboard. The crash was by far the biggest loss of civilian life in the conflictup to that time, eliciting global outrage."

News Ledes

New York Times: "A snowstorm lasting through the weekend is underway on the eastern coasts of Lakes Erie and Ontario, where two feet of snow and thundersnow have already been reported. 'Historic snowfall exceeding four feet i likely around Buffalo, N.Y.,' the Weather Prediction Center forecasters wrote Friday morning. Over two feet of snow have already fallen in places like Boston, N.Y., and more is expected today. In central Buffalo, an early respite was quickly thrashed by a band of heavy midmorning snow, leading to whiteout conditions in the downtown corridor." ~~~

     ~~~ The story has been updated: "... an unpredictable, late-fall snowstorm blew through Western New York on Friday, unleashing whipping wind and bands of snow.... Heavy, wet snow that began on Thursday night crashed across a series of towns adjacent to Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, including Orchard Park, where more than 66 inches had been recorded by Friday night. Snowfall rates of two to three inches an hour challenged even the hardiest of snow plows. Roads and highways were closed around the region on Friday afternoon, including commercial traffic on parts of the New York State Thruway, the state's east-west corridor.&:

November 17, 2022

Afternoon Update:

** Marianna Sotomayor & Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who broke Congress's glass ceiling as the first woman to hold the top position in the House, announced Thursday she will not seek reelection as the House Democratic caucus's top leader, ending one of the most consequential leadership tenures in American political history.... She will continue as a member of the House.... Historians largely agree that Pelosi redefined the speakership, and she made history climbing the ranks of Democratic leadership, becoming the first woman to be second in line to the presidency as speaker of the House -- twice.... Pelosi's ability to keep her caucus in line has led to bipartisan recognition that she alone may be capable of wrangling Democrats' disparate factions. She led the House Democratic caucus through a bitter fight in 2010 to pass the Affordable Care Act, and most recently managed a razor-thin majority in passing several key pieces of President Biden's legislative agenda." ~~~

~~~ Sarah Ferris of Politico: "Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the current caucus chair, will seek the role of minority leader.... Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) ... will seek the elected position of assistant to the minority leader; Hoyer will not seek a leadership position, but will also remain in Congress as a rank-and-file member, according to multiple people familiar with the decision. Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) will seek the No. 2 position below Jeffries, minority whip, while Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), will seek the No. 3 position, which will now be caucus chair, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions. Clyburn's position will fall outside of that seniority structure." ~~~

When I think of Nancy Pelosi, I think of dignity. History will note she is the most consequential Speaker of the House of Representatives in our history. There are countless examples of how she embodies the obligation of elected officials to uphold their oath to God and country to ensure our democracy delivers and remains a beacon to the world. In everything she does, she reflects a dignity in her actions and a dignity she sees in the lives of the people of this nation. (and more) -- President Joe Biden

Few in American history have been as effective, as driven, as successful as Speaker Pelosi. She's transformed practically every corner of American politics, and unquestionably made America a better, stronger nation. -- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), on the Senate floor ~~~

~~~ From the Washington Post liveblog of developments: "... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) announced that they would not seek leadership positions in the new Congress, opening the door for a younger generation of Democrats to guide the caucus.... Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is widely expected to become the next minority leader.... If elected by House Democrats, Jeffries would become the first Black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress." MB: Hoyer told reporters he would support Jeffries as leader.

Arizona. Alexandra Berzon & Jim Rutenberg of the Washington Post: "strong>Kari Lake, the Republican who lost her bid for governor of Arizona after running a campaign heavily focused on election denialism, suggested in a video on Thursday that she planned to contest her defeat, arguing without evidence that voters had been disenfranchised.... She pointed to problems with ballot tabulation machines that led to long lines of voters in Maricopa County.... But there has been no evidence that significant numbers of people were unable to cast their ballots, let alone the 17,200 voters who make up Ms. Lake's losing margin to Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat. Ms. Lake insinuated that Ms. Hobbs, the state's top election official, was responsible for the problems. But Ms. Hobbs did not directly run Maricopa County's election.... On Thursday, Ms. Lake, who was endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump, was visiting Mar-a-Lago...."

~~~~~~~~~~

** Hanna Knowles, et al., of the New York Times: "Republicans on Wednesday were projected to win back control of the U.S. House with a narrow majority, dealing a blow to President Biden and his agenda -- even as Democrats defied predictions of a rout to limit the power of the new GOP majority.... Still, a coming shift in power -- which in January will end two years of unified Democratic control in Washington -- is sure to complicate the second half of Biden's term, as Republicans gain the ability to launch investigations and block legislation. The decisive win came in California's 27th Congressional District, where Rep. Mike Garcia (R) fended off Democratic challenger Christy Smith." The AP's story is here.

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was re-elected overwhelmingly as his party's Senate leader on Wednesday, holding off Senator Rick Scott of Florida in the first challenge Mr. McConnell has faced since assuming the post in 2007.... Meeting behind closed doors for more than three hours, Republican senators sat at desks in the Old Senate Chamber ... to hash out their differences and vote. In a final tally of 37-10, with one person voting present, Mr. McConnell easily defeated Mr. Scott. The rest of the Republican leadership has been set with little fanfare or competition: Senator John Thune of South Dakota will remain as the No. 2 position, the minority whip, and Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming will remain as the conference chair, the No. 3 position." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "The GOP's post-election finger-pointing intensified Tuesday, with two senators calling for an audit of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. During a tense, three-hour-long meeting of the Senate GOP Conference, Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said there should be an independent review of how the party's campaign arm spent its resources before falling short of its goal of winning the majority.... To move forward, Blackburn said, the party needed to determine what mistakes were made.... Over the past week, the political operations aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and NRSC Chair Rick Scott (Fla.) have clashed openly, blaming the other for the disappointing outcome -- even before Scott launched a long-shot leadership challenge to McConnell." (Also linked yesterday.)

The media are full of stories about how Republican politicians & donors are receiving Trump's bid for re-election with the same lack of enthusiasm his announcement speech conveyed. Here's one of the stories: ~~~

     ~~~ Reid Epstein, et al., of the New York Times: "Within hours of Donald J. Trump announcing his third presidential bid on Tuesday, some of his former aides, donors and staunchest allies are shunning his attempt to recapture the White House.... While Mr. Trump has long faced opposition from the establishment and elite quarters of his party, this round of criticism was new in its raw bluntness, plainly out in the open by Wednesday and focused on reminding voters that the Trump era in Republican politics has led to the opposite of the endless winning Mr. Trump once promised."

New York Times Editors, in an editorial titled "Enough": "Donald Trump, twice impeached for seeking to undermine the integrity of the 2020 presidential election, says he is running for president again in 2024. His new campaign has begun with the same ugliness, lies and chaos as the last, but it poses even greater dangers to American democracy. Mr. Trump and his supporters can no longer pretend to be good-faith participants in the democratic process. They have enshrined the refusal to accept adverse election results as a defining feature of their political movement, sought to install true believers in local and state election offices and demonstrated a willingness to resort to violence. Mr. Trump is unfit for public office. As president, he showed himself to be incompetent and self-dealing.... Legal proceedings against Mr. Trump and investigations related to his actions around Jan. 6, election interference in Georgia and his mishandling of classified information at his home in Florida also need to continue."

** Mary Jalonick of the AP: "Legislation to protect same-sex and interracial marriages crossed a major Senate hurdle Wednesday, putting Congress on track to take the historic step of ensuring that such unions are enshrined in federal law. Twelve Republicans voted with all Democrats to move forward on the legislation, meaning a final vote could come as soon as this week, or later this month. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the bill ensuring the unions are legally recognized under the law is chance for the Senate to 'live up to its highest ideals' and protect marriage equality for all people. 'It will make our country a better, fairer place to live,' Schumer said, noting that his own daughter and her wife are expecting a baby next year.... Three Republicans said early on that they would support the legislation and have lobbied their GOP colleagues to support it: Maine Sen. Susan Collins, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis and Ohio Sen. Rob Portman.... The other Republicans who voted for the legislation were Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Todd Young of Indiana, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Mitt Romney of Utah, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.

Rachel Weiner, et al., of the Washington Post: "As the trial of five Oath Keepers associates accused of conspiring to stop Joe Biden from taking office wound down, retired Navy intelligence officer Thomas Caldwell ... [tried] to explain [his] references to violence related to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack as recorded on video and in text messages. Caldwell, 68, called his past words 'a great exaggeration, just like the charges against me.' He testified that a 'militia' is just 'neighbors helping neighbors.' And he said messages from him about taking out enemies with sniper fire or staging and transporting 'heavy weapons' across the Potomac River by boat were 'creative writing.' Caldwell was one of two defendants to take the stand in the seventh week of the Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy trial in federal court in Washington."

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A far-right extremist charged with aiding and abetting the theft of a laptop from Nancy Pelosi's office during the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, 'led an army' towards the House Speaker's suite, prosecutors told jurors during closing arguments on Wednesday. Riley Williams, a 23-year-old Pennsylvania woman arrested weeks after the Capitol attack, faces eight counts in connection with Jan. 6. Video features her encouraging rioters to take a laptop inside Pelosi's office, and urging the mob to push up against officers inside the Capitol rotunda. Williams, both prosecutors and the defense agreed, was obsessed with Nick Fuentes and his group the 'Groypers,' a far-right, white nationalist movement."

Beyond the Beltway

California. Shawn Hubler of the New York Times: "Karen Bass, a veteran Democratic congresswoman, on Wednesday became the first woman elected as mayor of Los Angeles after pledging to build coalitions in a metropolis torn by racial tensions and fed up with homelessness. The race was called by The Associated Press. Ms. Bass survived a bruising race against Rick Caruso, a billionaire real estate developer, that had remained too close to call for more than a week after the election. Mr. Caruso had pumped roughly $100 million into his campaign as a law-and-order candidate, hoping to appeal to a frustrated electorate."

Georgia Senate Race. Walker Wants to Be a Werewolf. Rich Juzwiak of Jezebel, republished by Yahoo! News: "Herschel Walker, in his campaign for the Georgia Senate runoff, decided at a rally in McDonough, Georgia, on Wednesday to address an age-old question: Can werewolves kill vampires?... Walker described watching a 'stupid movie late at night hoping it's gonna get better, it don't get better, but you keep watching it anyway' called 'Fright Night, Freak Night, or some type-a night.... I don't know if you know, but vampires are some cool people, are they not?' he said. 'But I'm going to tell you something I found out: A werewolf could kill a vampire, did you know that? I didn't know that, so I didn't want to be a vampire anymore, I wanted to be a werewolf.'" If Walker unseats Raphael Warnock, the Senate better not hold any evening sessions. ~~~

Marie: Mitch McConnell complained again Tuesday that Republicans' poor "candidate quality" was the reason for some Senate losses. He might have looked at some down-ballot races, too: ~~~

~~~ South Dakota. Sky Palma of the Raw Story: "A South Dakota House candidate who lost his race appeared in court this Tuesday on a charge of second-degree rape, KOTA reports. A South Dakota House candidate who lost his race appeared in court this Tuesday on a charge of second-degree rape, KOTA reports. Bud Marty May, 37, faces 50 years in prison over the Class 1 felony charge. According to the victim, May forced himself on her in a bathroom stall at a bar, telling her, 'I am 6′8, white, it is all consensual.' May then fled the scene but was later detained by police. The Republican candidate initially denied involvement, but then claimed, 'it was simply a hug.'" One of the two winners in May's district was Elizabeth May, Bud's mother. (Also linked yesterday.)

Wisconsin. Ben Brasch of the Washington Post: "A Wisconsin judge on Wednesday sentenced Darrell E. Brooks Jr. to six consecutive life sentences without chance of parole for his attack on a Christmas parade in November 2021 that killed six people and injured at least 48 others. Brooks slammed an SUV into the crowd attending the annual Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wis., a close-knit community 20 miles west of Milwaukee." The AP's report is here.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Thursday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Thursday are here: "Explosions were reported across Ukraine on Thursday, including in the capital, Kyiv, Odessa in the south, and the central city of Dnipro.... The Black Sea grain initiative will be extended for 120 days, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations announced. The agreement provides safe passage of cargo ships to and from Ukraine's Black Sea ports amid Russia's invasion.... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ... stress[ed] he has 'no doubt' that the missile did not come from his country. [President] Biden disagreed, telling reporters on Thursday: 'That's not the evidence.' The explosion in Poland was from at least one or as many as two Ukrainian SA-10 surface-to-air missiles that went off course, according to information the U.S. intelligence community has seen, a person familiar with the intelligence told The Washington Post on Thursday...."

Vasilisa Stepanenko of the AP: "NATO member Poland and the head of the military alliance both said Wednesday a missile strike in Polish farmland that killed two people did not appear to be an intentional attack, and that air defenses in neighboring Ukraine likely launched the Soviet-era projectile against a Russian bombardment that savaged the Ukrainian power grid. 'Ukraine's defense was launching their missiles in various directions and it is highly probable that one of these missiles unfortunately fell on Polish territory,' said Polish President Andrzej Duda. 'There is nothing, absolutely nothing, to suggest that it was an intentional attack on Poland.' NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, at a meeting of the 30-nation military alliance in Brussels, echoed the preliminary Polish findings, saying: 'We have no indication that this was the result of a deliberate attack.'" (Also linked yesterday.)