November 15, 2022

Afternoon Update:

** John Leicester & James LaPorta of the AP: "Russia pounded Ukraine's energy facilities Tuesday with its biggest barrage of missiles yet, striking targets across the country and causing widespread blackouts. A senior U.S. intelligence official said missiles crossed into NATO member Poland, where two people were killed. A second person confirmed to The Associated Press that apparent Russian missiles struck a site in Poland about 15 miles from the Ukrainian border.... A NATO official ... said the alliance was looking into reports of a strike in Poland. The U.S. National Security Council said it was also looking into the reports. Polish government spokesman Piotr Mueller did not immediately confirm the information from the U.S. intelligence official.... But Mueller said top leaders were holding an emergency meeting due to a 'crisis situation.'"

Melanie Zanona, et al., of CNN: "The House Republican conference voted for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to be its leader after an underwhelming midterm election performance launched a search among conservatives for a challenger. The vote puts McCarthy in line to be the next speaker of the House, presuming Republicans win at least three more seats of the 16 that have not yet been projected by CNN. McCarthy won 188-31 against Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, according to multiple sources in the room. It was a secret ballot, and McCarthy only needed to earn a simple majority of the conference.... In January, McCarthy must win 218 votes, a majority of the entire House, to wield the speaker's gavel.... The No. 2 House Republican, Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, won his election to serve as House majority leader without facing any opposition.... And Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, the National Republican Congressional Committee chair, defeated Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and Drew Ferguson of Georgia to be the House majority whip." ~~~

~~~ Emily Brooks & Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "House Republicans have elected Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to another term as conference chair during a closed-door, secret-ballot election on Tuesday. Stefanik defeated a challenge from freshman Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), one of two Black Republicans currently serving in the House, in a 144-74."

Burgess Everett of Politico: "Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) announced a challenge to Mitch McConnell in a closed-door party lunch on Tuesday afternoon, the first such opposition that the Senate GOP leader is facing in 15 years at the helm.... Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee and got nudged to mount opposition to McConnell by ... Donald Trump, was at odds with the GOP leader over strategy and tactics for months before Election Day. McConnell says he already has the votes locked up to win a Wednesday leadership election, and Scott is not expected to garner enough support to come close to toppling the leader. But Scott is pressing forward anyway, as a band of conservatives pushes to delay leadership elections until all the Senate races are determined."

Mark Sweney of the Guardian: "Rupert Murdoch has reportedly warned Donald Trump his media empire will not back any attempt to return to the White House, as former supporters turn to the youthful Florida governor Ron DeSantis. After the Republican party's disappointing performance in the US midterm elections, in particular the poor showing by candidates backed by Trump, Murdoch's rightwing media empire appears to be seeking a clean break from the former president's damaged reputation and perceived waning political power."

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** Jazmine Ulloa of the New York Times: "Katie Hobbs, who as Arizona's secretary of state stood up to efforts by allies of ... Donald J. Trump to overturn the 2020 election, has clinched a victory in the state's race for governor, according to The Associated Press. Ms. Hobbs, a Democrat, narrowly defeated Kari Lake, a right-wing former newscaster who was talked about as a future leader in a Trump-dominated Republican Party, in a bitter and closely watched race that became a final test of whether candidates molded in Mr. Trump's image could win in battlegrounds. Ms. Lake, one of the most prominent purveyors of Mr. Trump's lies about his 2020 election, followed several other election-denying candidates in defeat.... After the race was called on Monday night, Ms. Lake did not concede defeat, instead suggesting, without citing evidence, that the vote was marred. 'Arizonans know BS when they see it,' she tweeted." MB: Gracious. Read on. Ulloa captured in a few sentences a succinct political obituary for a MAGA flame. ~~~

     ~~~ The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Let us all hope that Lake's loss is the nail in the coffin for the Trumpolini movement. You might want to take a few minutes to enjoy SNL star Cecily Strong's parody of Lake -- embedded in Sunday's page -- because with any luck, Strong won't have Lake to kick around any more. However, Kari may have enjoyed the national spotlight so much that a new & revised Kari Lake will return to fight another day.

Catie Edmondson & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the minority leader, scrounged on Monday for the support he would need to become speaker if Republicans gain control of the House, facing resistance from a newly emboldened right flank as his party grappled with its historically weak performance in the midterm elections.... Mr. McCarthy's troubles reflected disarray in his demoralized party and a fraught path ahead as ... Donald J. Trump prepared to announce a second run for the presidency. Returning to Capitol Hill for a postelection session, Republicans began the week -- which they had expected would be a triumphant victory lap -- limping toward the finish of an election cycle that Mr. McCarthy had confidently predicted would be a G.O.P. bonanza. They were bitterly divided over who should lead what was shaping up to be a tiny and unruly majority." ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Wong & Kyle Stewart of NBC News: "Conservative lawmakers sent a strong message to House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy on Monday, telling him he doesn't have the votes to be the next speaker. The warning shot came just one day before McCarthy heads into a closed-door election seeking to become his party's nominee for speaker of the House starting in January.... Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are planning to put up a symbolic challenger to make clear that McCarthy can't reach the magic number needed -- 218 votes -- in the formal floor vote when the new Congress convenes on Jan. 3.... Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz..., confirmed Monday night that he will be challenging McCarthy for the top job.... While several leading conservatives, including Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, have already endorsed McCarthy, other conservatives are demanding that he agree to a number of proposed rule changes before they get on board with his bid for speaker. Among the changes they want: Bring back a rule making it easier to force a vote on ousting a speaker."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Republicans appear primed to win the narrowest of House majorities -- around 220-215 or 219-216 -- despite winning a majority of the votes nationwide and edging Democrats by around four percentage points." Blake explains why. MB: That is, Democrats celebrate their victories at their own peril: while there have been more votes for Democratic presidential candidates than for Trump in the last two presidential races, there were more votes nationwide for Republicans in last week's vote. The Republican party, sadly, is alive & well.

Marie: In yesterday's Comments, Ken W. generously does the Republicans' post-election "autopsy" for them. Everything Ken writes is, IMO, sensible, straightforward & obvious. I think some of the brighter Republicans would agree if you gave them truth serum. But they have no intention of following Ken's advice.

Seung Min Kim & Zeke Miller of the AP: "President Joe Biden objected directly to China's 'coercive and increasingly aggressive actions' toward Taiwan during the first in-person meeting of his presidency with Xi Jinping, as the two superpower leaders aimed on Monday to 'manage' their differences in the competition for global influence. The nearly three-hour meeting was the highlight of Biden's weeklong, round-the-world trip to the Middle East and Asia, and came at a critical juncture for the two countries amid increasing economic and security tensions. Speaking at a news conference afterward, Biden said that when it comes to China, the U.S. would 'compete vigorously, but I'm not looking for conflict.' He added: 'I absolutely believe there need not be a new Cold War' between America and the rising Asian power." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Stacy Cowley of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Monday issued an injunction halting President Biden's student debt cancellation plan, further clouding the future of the president's promise to eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars in debt for tens of millions of people. In a six-page order, three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit unanimously blocked the government from canceling debts while the court considers a lawsuit brought by six Republican-led states, which claim that the president's executive action to wipe out up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt per borrower exceeded his authority.... Two of the three judges -- Ralph R. Erickson and Leonard Steven Grasz -- were appointed by ... Donald J. Trump. The third, Bobby Shepherd, was appointed by former President George W. Bush." ~~~

     ~~~ Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "White House officials are weighing extending a pause on student debt payments after a federal appeals court blocked President Biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in debt per borrower, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. In August, Biden announced that the administration would implement student debt forgiveness while simultaneously ending a moratorium on student debt payments that started during the pandemic. But Biden's plan has so far been thwarted in the courts."

William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said on Monday that they would not bring charges against Rudolph W. Giuliani in a long-running investigation into whether he violated lobbying laws. In a brief letter to the judge overseeing a review of materials seized during a search of Mr. Giuliani's home and office last year, the prosecutors wrote that 'based on information currently available to the government, criminal charges are not forthcoming.'" Politico's story is here.

Devlin Barrett & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Federal agents and prosecutors have come to believe ... Donald Trump's motive for allegedly taking and keeping classified documents was largely his ego and a desire to hold on to the materials as trophies or mementos, according to people familiar with the matter.... [Investigators'] review [of the classified documents Trump stole] has not found any apparent business advantage to the types of classified information in Trump's possession, these people said. FBI interviews with witnesses so far, they said, also do not point to any nefarious effort by Trump to leverage, sell, or use the government secrets. Instead, the former president seemed motivated by a more basic desire not to give up what he believed was his property, these people said. Several Trump advisers said that each time he was asked to give documents or materials back, his stance hardened, and that he gravitated toward lawyers and advisers who indulged his more pugilistic desires. Trump repeatedly said the materials were his, not the government's -- often in profane terms, two of these people said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So Trump's Achilles' heel is all in his head? Perhaps a new variant of foot-in-mouth disease.

Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "In separate and clashing legal filings unsealed Monday, Donald Trump's attorneys and the Justice Department once again sparred over whether the former president could lay claim to documents from his time in the White House -- with Trump saying most of the materials were 'personal' and with the government saying, in essence, absolutely not.... [Trump's] lawyers have said that Trump had the right to designate presidential documents as personal ones under the Presidential Records Act. The Justice Department, however, slammed that interpretation of the law as 'meritless.' Saying a president could simply designate presidential documents as personal ones would go against the very purpose of the federal act, the Justice Department wrote in its brief.... The legal filings were submitted to Raymond J. Dearie, the court-appointed special master who was ordered by a federal judge in Florida to review the materials seized from Trump's Florida residence...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: "Meritless"? How about "goofy"?

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The chairman of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol said on Monday that a contempt of Congress referral against ... Donald J. Trump 'could be an option' after Mr. Trump failed to appear for a scheduled deposition. Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the chairman of the panel, said in an interview that lawmakers were evaluating their next steps, which could include pursuing a contempt charge.... Mr. Trump filed a suit against the panel on Friday, seeking to block its subpoena that required him to testify and hand over documents related to the effort to overturn the 2020 election. He refused to turn over a single document to the panel and did not show up for a deposition on Monday morning, Mr. Thompson said.... 'His attorneys have made no attempt to negotiate an appearance of any sort, and his lawsuit parades out many of the same arguments that courts have rejected repeatedly over the last year,' [Thomson, in a joint statement with vice-chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.)] wrote." The Hill's report is here.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court paved the way on Monday for the House committee investigating the Capitol attack to obtain phone records of Kelli Ward, the chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party. As is its custom in ruling on emergency applications, the court's brief order gave no reasons in denying Ms. Ward's request that it block a subpoena. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. noted dissents, also without giving reasons. Experts in legal ethics have said that Justice Thomas should recuse himself from cases concerning the Jan. 6 attack in light of the efforts of his wife, Virginia Thomas, to overturn the 2020 election. Ms. Thomas's activities included lobbying the speaker of the Arizona House to try to reverse Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s victory in the state." Politico's story is here. MB A guy who probably perjured himself during his Senate hearing is not all that likely to be bothered by even the most obvious ethics standards. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Alan Feuer & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. had as many as eight informants inside the far-right Proud Boys in the months surrounding the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, recent court papers indicate, raising questions about how much federal investigators were able to learn from them about the violent mob attack both before and after it took place. The existence of the informants came to light over the past few days in a flurry of veiled court filings by defense lawyers for five members of the Proud Boys who are set to go on trial next month on seditious conspiracy charges connected to the Capitol attack.... Because all of the material remains under a highly restrictive protective order, it is not possible to know what the informants told the government about the Proud Boys' role in the Capitol attack or how that information might affect the outcome of the trial.... Questions about informants ... have included concerns about why the informants were not able to give the government advanced warning about plans to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6...."

Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Monday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) is set to testify before a grand jury on Tuesday, as part of the Fulton County investigation into the plot by ... Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.... 'Fulton prosecutors previously said they're interested in questioning Kemp about the identities of the people who tried to get in touch with him following the 2020 elections; the contents of phone calls Kemp had with Trump or his associates; evidence the Trump campaign provided in support of its theory that Georgia's election was rigged; whether Trump specifically sought a special election or other relief; and any threats that might have been made,' said the [AJC] report."

** Amy Lang & Liz Goodwin of the Washington Post: "Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday filed the Respect for Marriage Act, setting up a first procedural vote for Wednesday on the bill that would enshrine marriage equality into federal law. Democrats have warned that same-sex marriage and other rights could be at risk since June, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which for nearly 50 years had guaranteed the right to an abortion in the United States. In July, the House passed the Respect for Marriage Act, but the Senate delayed its vote on the bill until after the midterm elections.... The Respect for Marriage Act would require that someone be considered married in any state as long as the marriage was valid in the state where it was performed. The bill would also repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman and allowed states to not recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. That law has remained on the books despite being declared unconstitutional by the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling." The Hill's report is here.

Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: Last Thursday afternoon a tweet "using the name and logo of the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co., ... immediately attracted a giant response: 'We are excited to announce insulin is free now.' The tweet carried a blue 'verified' check mark, a badge that Twitter had used for years to signal an account's authenticity -- and that Twitter's new billionaire owner, Elon Musk, had, while declaring 'power to the people! suddenly opened to anyone, regardless of their identity, as long as they paid $8. But the tweet was a fake.... Inside the real Eli Lilly..., officials scrambled to contact Twitter representatives and demanded they kill the viral spoof.... Twitter, its staffing cut in half, didn't react for hours.... By Friday morning, Eli Lilly executives had ordered a halt to all Twitter ad campaigns -- a potentially serious blow, given that the $330 billion company controls the kind of massive advertising budget that Musk says the company needs to avoid bankruptcy. They also paused their Twitter publishing plan for all corporate accounts around the world.... [Friday] morning, Musk tweeted that the launch of Twitter's new $8 verification regime was 'overall proceeding well.'... When Eli Lilly's share price sank 4 percent on Friday -- in line with a drop in other health care stocks -- many Twitter users credited the fake account...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Trump corruption complex is back in business. It is a remarkable revelation on the expected eve of his presidential candidacy announcement. Even without that, it would be stunning as another in a series of sweetheart deals from the Saudi government to the Trump family. -- Robert Weissman of Public Citizen ~~~

~~~ Eric Lipton, et al., of the New York Times: "The Trump family has struck a deal with a Saudi-based real estate company to license its name to a housing and golf complex that will be built in Oman, renewing a swirl of questions about ... Donald J. Trump's mixing of politics and business just as he appears poised to announce a third presidential candidacy. News of the deal, the first such international marketing agreement the Trump Organization has negotiated since Mr. Trump left the White House, emerged as the former president already faces a string of investigations into his business.... Mr. Trump had close ties with the Saudi government during his tenure in the White House, authorizing billions of dollars in weapons sales and defending the government there after the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. His son-in-law, Jared Kushner, secured a $2 billion investment from a fund led by the Saudi crown prince six months after leaving the White House."

Luke Broadwater & Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "Officials from six nations spent more than $750,000 at ... Donald J. Trump's hotel in Washington when they were seeking to influence his administration, renting rooms for more than $10,000 per night, according to documents that his former accounting firm turned over to Congress. The governments of Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and China spent more money than previously known at the Trump International Hotel at crucial times in 2017 and 2018 for those countries' relations with the United States, according to the documents, which were obtained by the House Oversight Committee and released on Monday. The officials spent freely at the hotel, the records show.... The Oversight Committee has previously estimated that the hotel received more than $3.75 million from foreign governments from 2017 to 2020, raising concerns about possible violations of the Constitution's foreign emoluments clause.... The documents also show that Republican lobbyists working on behalf of these countries -- some operating without registering as foreign agents, as required by law -- spent tens of thousands more at the Trump hotel during the same periods." The report goes on to detail how the White House gave favorable treatment to some of these governments as they were patronizing Trump facilities. CNN's report is here.

Marie: I've avoided a number of stories about this guy, but here ya go: ~~~

     ~~~ David Yaffe-Bellany of the New York Times: "In less than a week, the cryptocurrency billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried went from industry leader to industry villain, lost most of his fortune, saw his $32 billion company plunge into bankruptcy and became the target of investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department.... The empire built by Mr. Bankman-Fried, who was once compared to titans of finance like John Pierpont Morgan and Warren Buffett, collapsed last week after a run on deposits left his crypto exchange, FTX, with an $8 billion shortfall, forcing the firm to file for bankruptcy. The damage has rippled across the industry, destabilizing other crypto companies and sowing widespread distrust of the technology." This is a long piece that incorporates an interview with Bankman-Fried.

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "Lawyers for people detained on Rikers Island intend to ask a federal judge to take control of the jail complex away from New York City, according to a letter filed with the court on Monday, setting the stage for a potentially pivotal hearing this week. The lawyers' intention to request an outsider -- called a receiver -- to run the jails was conveyed in a letter filed by a federal official appointed to monitor the island lockup, where close to 5,900 people are held. The letter could be the first step in a drawn-out process that determines the future of Rikers, where conditions have deteriorated precipitously over the past two years." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live briefings of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "The moment has come for Russia to completely withdraw from Ukraine's sovereign territory, President Volodymyr Zelensky told a meeting for Group of 20 countries, which include Russia, and asked for the world's support in pursuing what he presented as Kyiv's 'formula for peace.' The alternative, he said, would mean allowing Russia to 'build up its forces, and then start a new series of terror and global destabilization,' according to a transcript from Ukraine's presidential office.... In his G-20 address, Zelensky demanded the full withdrawal of Russian forces from all of Ukraine as a necessary condition for any 'real' end to hostilities, alongside nine other demands he made of Moscow, including guarantees for food and energy security, and granting freedom to Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians.... Western leaders are unfairly trying to blame the conflict on Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, referring to the summit's draft joint declaration.... [Lavrov] attended [the summit] in place of President Vladimir Putin.... when CIA Director William J. Burns met with Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia's foreign intelligence service, on Monday in Ankara, Turkey. The Russian ambassador in Washington is expected to meet with White House officials on the same issue on Tuesday." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Tuesday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Katie Bo Lillis, et al., of CNN: "The US has intelligence that Russia may have delayed announcing its withdrawal from the Ukrainian city of Kherson in part to avoid giving the Biden administration a political win ahead of the midterm elections, according to four people familiar with the intelligence.... President Joe Biden last week appeared to hint that the US believed that the timing of Russia's announcement was more than mere coincidence. 'I find it interesting they waited until after the election to make that judgement, which we knew for some time they were going to be doing, and it's evidence of the fact that they have some real problems -- the Russian military,' Biden said at a press conference last Wednesday."

Seung Min Kim, et al., of the AP: "Leaders of the world's largest economies remain divided over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but they appeared ready Tuesday to convey a strong message from most condemning the nine-month war that has devastated Ukraine and sent food and energy prices soaring. A draft declaration by leaders of the Group of 20 major economies under discussion Tuesday echoes the condemnation of Russia's war on Ukraine by the United Nations, while acknowledging differing views among members. The statement seen Tuesday by The Associated Press 'deplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation' and 'demands its complete and unconditional withdrawal from the territory of Ukraine.' The draft statement reiterates the stance expressed in the UN General Assembly's March 2 resolution."

Turkey. Ben Hubbard & Sifak Timur of the New York Times: "The Turkish authorities arrested a woman on Monday they suspect was behind the deadly bombing in central Istanbul a day earlier, saying she had been sent to Turkey from Syria by Kurdish militants to carry out the attack.... Turkey accused the United States of complicity in the attack because America has long maintained a military partnership with a Kurdish-led militia in Syria. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, during a visit to the site of the attack on Monday, dismissed condolence messages from the United States, saying this was like 'the killer is among the first ones returning to the scene.' The United States is an ally of Turkey in NATO...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

November 14, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Seung Min Kim & Zeke Miller of the AP: "President Joe Biden objected directly to China's 'coercive and increasingly aggressive actions' toward Taiwan during the first in-person meeting of his presidency with Xi Jinping, as the two superpower leaders aimed on Monday to 'manage' their differences in the competition for global influence. The nearly three-hour meeting was the highlight of Biden's weeklong, round-the-world trip to the Middle East and Asia, and came at a critical juncture for the two countries amid increasing economic and security tensions. Speaking at a news conference afterward, Biden said that when it comes to China, the U.S. would 'compete vigorously, but I'm not looking for conflict.' He added: 'I absolutely believe there need not be a new Cold War' between America and the rising Asian power."

Marie: In today's Comments, Ken W. generously does the Republicans' post-election "autopsy" for them. Everything Ken writes is, IMO, sensible, straightforward & obvious. I think some of the brighter Republicans would agree if you gave them truth serum. But they have no intention of following Ken's advice.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court paved the way on Monday for the House committee investigating the Capitol attack to obtain phone records of Kelli Ward, the chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party. As is its custom in ruling on emergency applications, the court's brief order gave no reasons in denying Ms. Ward's request that it block a subpoena. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. noted dissents, also without giving reasons. Experts in legal ethics have said that Justice Thomas should recuse himself from cases concerning the Jan. 6 attack in light of the efforts of his wife, Virginia Thomas, to overturn the 2020 election. Ms. Thomas's activities included lobbying the speaker of the Arizona House to try to reverse Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s victory in the state." Politico's story is here. MB: A guy who probably perjured himself during his Senate hearing is not all that likely to be bothered by even the most obvious ethics standards.

Devlin Barrett & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Federal agents and prosecutors have come to believe ... Donald Trump's motive for allegedly taking and keeping classified documents was largely his ego and a desire to hold on to the materials as trophies or mementos, according to people familiar with the matter.... [Investigators'] review [of the classified documents Trump stole] has not found any apparent business advantage to the types of classified information in Trump's possession, these people said. FBI interviews with witnesses so far, they said, also do not point to any nefarious effort by Trump to leverage, sell, or use the government secrets. Instead, the former president seemed motivated by a more basic desire not to give up what he believed was his property, these people said. Several Trump advisers said that each time he was asked to give documents or materials back, his stance hardened, and that he gravitated toward lawyers and advisers who indulged his more pugilistic desires. Trump repeatedly said the materials were his, not the government's -- often in profane terms, two of these people said." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So Trump's Achilles' heel is all in his head? Perhaps a new variant of foot-in-mouth disease.

Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: Last Thursday afternoon a tweet "using the name and logo of the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co., ... immediately attracted a giant response: 'We are excited to announce insulin is free now.' The tweet carried a blue 'verified' check mark, a badge that Twitter had used for years to signal an account's authenticity -- and that Twitter's new billionaire owner, Elon Musk, had, while declaring 'power to the people! suddenly opened to anyone, regardless of their identity, as long as they paid $8. But the tweet was a fake.... Inside the real Eli Lilly..., officials scrambled to contact Twitter representatives and demanded they kill the viral spoof.... Twitter, its staffing cut in half, didn't react for hours.... By Friday morning, Eli Lilly executives had ordered a halt to all Twitter ad campaigns -- a potentially serious blow, given that the $330 billion company controls the kind of massive advertising budget that Musk says the company needs to avoid bankruptcy. They also paused their Twitter publishing plan for all corporate accounts around the world.... [Friday] morning, Musk tweeted that the launch of Twitter's new $8 verification regime was 'overall proceeding well.'... When Eli Lilly's share price sank 4 percent on Friday -- in line with a drop in other health care stocks -- many Twitter users credited the fake account...."

New York. Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "Lawyers for people detained on Rikers Island intend to ask a federal judge to take control of the jail complex away from New York City, according to a letter filed with the court on Monday, setting the stage for a potentially pivotal hearing this week. The lawyers' intention to request an outsider -- called a receiver -- to run the jails was conveyed in a letter filed by a federal official appointed to monitor the island lockup, where close to 5,900 people are held. The letter could be the first step in a drawn-out process that determines the future of Rikers, where conditions have deteriorated precipitously over the past two years."

Turkey. Ben Hubbard & Sifak Timur of the New York Times: "The Turkish authorities arrested a woman on Monday they suspect was behind the deadly bombing in central Istanbul a day earlier, saying she had been sent to Turkey from Syria by Kurdish militants to carry out the attack.... Turkey accused the United States of complicity in the attack because America has long maintained a military partnership with a Kurdish-led militia in Syria. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, during a visit to the site of the attack on Monday, dismissed condolence messages from the United States, saying this was like 'the killer is among the first ones returning to the scene.' The United States is an ally of Turkey in NATO...."

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Amy Wang, et al., of the Washington Post: "Democrats on Sunday were celebrating retaining their majority in the Senate after Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) was projected to win reelection, even as control of the House remained undetermined.... 'Maybe the Republican Party, which has been so negative on so many different issues, will realize that the election was a clarion call by the American people: Stop all this negativity, stop flirting with autocracy, stop spending your time denying the election, and work to get something done,' [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer [N.Y.] said.... Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on NBC's 'Meet the Press' on Sunday credited [President] Biden and Democratic voters for the midterm wins.... 'It was not anything that we ever accepted when the pundits in Washington said we couldn't win because history, history, history. Elections are about the future,' [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi [Calif.] said on ABC's 'This Week.'... '... Our candidates ... had courage, they had purpose, and they understood their district.'" Meanwhile, various Republicans were pointing fingers at Donald Trump or Mitch McConnell. ~~~

~~~ Donald Who? Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "... as Republicans sought to explain their unexpectedly weak election performance in interviews on Sunday, the morning after Democrats clinched control of the Senate, some of them denied [that Donald Trump was the head of the party]. 'We're not a cult....,' Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said.... 'When any party is out of power, as Republicans are now, we don't have a single leader,' [Sen. Tom] Cotton [Ark.] said...." While Cassidy said he wanted to concentrate on bipartisan legislation, hardliner Rep. Jim Banks (Ind.) said he wanted Republicans to investigate the Biden administration and "to be the last line of defense to block the Biden agenda." ~~~

     ~~~ It's Called Legislating, You Blithering Idiot. Brad Dress of the Hill: "Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on Sunday said Senate GOP leadership 'caved' to Democrats on a number of legislative bills over the past year, citing that as one reason Republicans did not perform as well as projected in the midterm elections. Scott, the chair of the Senate Republicans' campaign arm, told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News channel's 'Sunday Morning Futures' that Republicans 'caved in on the debt ceiling, caved in on a gun bill, caved in on a fake infrastructure bill.... We [made] it difficult for our candidates.... We can't do that.'" MB: IOW, we lost in election after election because we got a few things done (none of which was a big tax cut for the rich).

Daniel De Vise of the Hill: "Democrats ... won big with young women. Exit polls show 72 percent of women ages 18-29 voted for Democrats in House races nationwide. In a pivotal Pennsylvania Senate race, 77 percent of young women voted for embattled Democrat John Fetterman, helping to secure his victory." MB: Those little ladies will be ever so sorry because they'll never find husbands now.

Georgia Senate Runoff. Look Away, Look Away, Dixieland! Itoro Umontuen of the Atlanta Voice: "There will not be any early voting on the Saturday before the December 6th Senate runoff between Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, and Republican opponent Herschel Walker because it will take place on the day after a state holiday that was initially created to honor Confederate general Robert E. Lee."

Matt Viser, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a high-stakes meeting [in Indonesia] on Monday, the first in-person exchange between them as their nations' leaders and at a time of extreme tensions between the global powers.... As reporters were being ushered out of the [meeting] room [after a photo op], a TV producer called out to ask Biden if he would raise human rights during the talks. A man on the Chinese side yanked the producer backwards by her backpack and she lost her balance but didn't fall. Two White House staff members then intervened and said the producer should be left alone." A Politico report, by Jonathan Lemire, is here. ~~~

~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging the meeting between President Biden & Xi Jinping. The Guardian is liveblogging the G20 meeting.

Tal Axelrod of ABC News: "Former Vice President Mike Pence said in an exclusive interview with ABC's 'World News Tonight' anchor David Muir that ... Donald Trump's rhetoric was 'reckless' as a mob of his supporters ransacked the Capitol last year -- with Pence and others temporarily forced into hiding. 'I mean, the president's words were reckless. It was clear he decided to be part of the problem,' Pence told Muir.... 'The president's words that day at the rally [before the riot] endangered me and my family and everyone at the Capitol building.'"

Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "While in office..., Donald J. Trump repeatedly told John F. Kelly, his second White House chief of staff, that he wanted a number of his perceived political enemies to be investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Kelly said.... Mr. Kelly said that among those Mr. Trump said 'we ought to investigate' and 'get the I.R.S. on' were the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey and his deputy, Andrew G. McCabe. His account of Mr. Trump's desires to use the I.R.S. against his foes comes after the revelation by The Times this summer that Mr. Comey and Mr. McCabe had both been selected for a rare and highly intrusive audit by the tax agency in the years after Mr. Kelly left the White House.... At the time both audits occurred, the I.R.S. was led by a Trump political appointee....

"Mr. Kelly said that ... Mr. Trump discussed using the I.R.S. and the Justice Department to investigate the former C.I.A. director John O. Brennan; Hillary Clinton; Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the owner of The Washington Post, whose coverage often angered Mr. Trump; Peter Strzok, the lead F.B.I. agent on the Russia investigation; and Lisa Page, an F.B.I. official who exchanged text messages with Mr. Strzok that were critical of Mr. Trump." Keeping it classy, a spokeswoman for Trump denied the allegations & called Kelly a psycho.

Benjamin Weiser & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "Across America, [U.S. private] investigators are increasingly being hired by a new kind of client — authoritarian governments like Iran and China attempting to surveil, harass, threaten and even repatriate dissidents living lawfully in the United States, law enforcement officials said.... Most appear to have been used unwittingly, and later cooperated with the authorities; a few, however, were charged.... [In a New York City case], Manhattan federal prosecutors filed kidnapping conspiracy charges in July 2021 against an Iranian intelligence official and three associates, all in Iran. None are likely to be apprehended if they remain there, but officials said the goal, beyond protecting potential victims, was to expose and deter plots devised at the highest levels of a foreign government."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ukraine, et al.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Monday are here: "A triumphant President Volodymyr Zelensky visited ... [Kherson] recaptured just days ago by his country's troops, saying in a speech in the central square that the victory marked the 'beginning of the end of the war.' Standing in front of a raucous crowd of several hundred people, Zelensky said Western-supplied weapons played a crucial role in recent battlefield victories but that they were paid for in Ukrainian blood. Zelensky made the visit as the city began assessing damage and evidence of what he said were 'hundreds' of war crimes during eight months of Russian occupation. Basic services -- ranging from water and power supplies to the city's postal system -- are slowly being restored for Kherson's residents.... Elsewhere, heavy fighting continued in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.... Zelensky plans to address the Group of 20 summit via video on Tuesday, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is in Asia this week to meet with his counterparts and discuss support."

Then They Took the Animals in the Zoo. Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "Russia's military has gained a reputation for looting its way across Ukraine, taking washing machines, electronics, cultural artifacts and even the bones of the lover of Empress Catherine II. But the latest theft -- including seven raccoons, two female wolves, peacocks, a llama and a donkey from Kherson Zoo -- entered the realm of farce. A private Crimean zoo, Taigan Lion Park, owned by Oleg Zubkov, filmed him inexpertly grabbing raccoons by their tails and dumping them into cages in a YouTube video.... Zubkov called the theft a humanitarian mission.... Zubkov ... was convicted of negligence after one of his tigers bit off the finger of a 1-year-old boy in September 2021."

Turkey. Ben Hubbard & Sifak Timur of the New York Times: "A bomb attack struck a bustling pedestrian thoroughfare in central Istanbul on Sunday, killing at least six people, in what officials said could be a terrorist attack, and shattering a sense of calm as Turkey's tourist industry works to recover from the pandemic.The attack was the deadliest in Turkey in more than five years...."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Samuel Folsom, one of the last surviving Marine fighter pilots of World War II, who engaged in aerial dogfights and shot down two Japanese bombers in the horrific struggle for the strategic island of Guadalcanal at a crucial juncture in the Pacific war, died on Saturday in Sherman Oaks, Calif. He was 102.... In the vast undertaking to capture and hold Guadalcanal in the late summer and fall of 1942, Lieutenant Folsom was a 22-year-old aviator who had never flown at high altitude and had fired the wing guns of his Grumman F4F Wildcat only once, in a training exercise in California.... During Lieutenant Folsom's three months on the island, nearly half of his squadron's pilots were killed or wounded. In dogfights, the faster, more maneuverable Zeros often riddled his plane with bullets. He was wounded twice by shrapnel and once by a bullet that gashed his leg. When he ran out of ammunition, he escaped by flying into clouds and circling back to his tiny airstrip...."

New York Times: "A student gunman was at large after he fatally shot three people and wounded two others at a garage on the University of Virginia campus late Sunday night, the authorities said. Around 6:30 a.m. Eastern time on Monday, the university again urged people in and around campus to remain sheltered in place as the authorities searched for the suspect. Classes on Monday were canceled.... The University of Virginia Police Department identified the gunman as Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., who the university president said in an email to the campus was a student at the school.... Mr. Jones was described by the police as wearing a burgundy jacket, bluejeans, red shoes and possibly driving a black sport-utility vehicle." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Marie: Law enforcement stated on-air at about 11:15 am ET that the suspect was in custody. No further information. ~~~

     ~~~ NYT liveblog update: "A University of Virginia student has been arrested and charged in the shooting deaths of three members of the school's football team and the wounding of two other people Sunday night, university officials said Monday. The suspect is being charged with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony, the authorities said.... [A campus lockdown] was lifted around the time the suspect was arrested without incident near Richmond, Va., about an hour's drive from Charlottesville. The university's president, Jim Ryan, identified the three students who were killed as Devin Chandler of Virginia Beach; Lavel 'Tyler' Davis of Dorchester, S.C.; and D'Sean Perry of Miami."

November 13, 2022

Marie: Thank you to all the Democratic candidates & their campaign staffs, to all the harried elections workers & poll workers, to all the Democratic voters who performed their civic duty, no matter how inconvenient or difficult. And a one-handed clap for Sam Alito & the Dancing Supremes for their clueless arrogance in blowing up women's rights -- a motivating factor for Democratic votes.

** Democrats Keep Senate Majority. Hannah Knowles & Liz Goodwin of the Washington Post: "Democrats were projected to retain control of the Senate on Saturday, clinching a narrow majority as they showed strength in battleground races in a daunting midterm year that handed President Biden a major victory as he looks to his next two years in office. The final blow to Republican hopes of retaking the chamber came in Nevada, where on Saturday Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D) was projected to win reelection, edging past Adam Laxalt (R), a former state attorney general. Cortez Masto's projected win ensures Democrats a 50th seat, with a runoff election still to come in Georgia on Dec. 6. Vice President Harris is empowered to cast tiebreaking votes in the Senate. Control of the House was still up in the air on Saturday, as vote counting continued days after an election in which Democrats overperformed expectations in many contested areas across the country.... In Nevada, Cortez Masto's win was part of a perfect record so far by incumbent senators seeking reelection in the midterms, as voters tilted strongly against upending the established order in the chamber. It was part of a strong showing by Democrats in battleground areas...." The AP's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "The Democratic Party's stunning hold on Senate control will enable President Joe Biden and his allies in the chamber to do something that has been a low-key success: churning out federal judges without the threat of Republican obstruction. The Senate majority, inked by a Democratic win in Nevada, gives Biden a clear runway to continue one of his most consequential pursuits: reshaping federal courts with a diverse array of lifetime-appointed liberal judges, including record numbers of women, minorities, former public defenders and civil rights lawyers. The Senate has confirmed 84 Biden-nominated judges, including Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson ... and 25 appeals court judges, confirming judges at a faster rate than ... Donald Trump before the 2022 election."

Nevada Secretary of State. Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: "Democrat Cisco Aguilar is projected to win Nevada's secretary of state race, beating a Republican nominee, Jim Marchant, who sought oversight of Nevada's elections while baselessly denying the results from 2020. It was the latest defeat for GOP candidates who campaigned on ... Donald Trump's false insistence the 2020 election was stolen and would have wielded power over the voting process in 2024. Marchant remained in close competition to oversee voting in a 2024 battleground state, where the current secretary of state -- a Republican -- has defended the integrity of the voting process amid an onslaught of baseless claims. Aguilar, who chairs the board of trustees for a school in North Las Vegas, campaigned on making voting more accessible and said he would 'protect our democracy.'"

Voters Save Democracy. For Now. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Every election denier who sought to become the top election official in a critical battleground state lost at the polls this year, as voters roundly rejected extreme partisans who promised to restrict voting and overhaul the electoral process. The national repudiation of this coalition reached its apex on Saturday, when Cisco Aguilar, the Democratic candidate for secretary of state in Nevada, defeated Jim Marchant, according to The Associated Press. Mr. Marchant, the Republican nominee, had helped organize a national right-wing slate of candidates under the name 'America First.' With Mr. Marchant's loss to Mr. Aguilar, all but one of those 'America First' candidates were defeated. Only Diego Morales, a Republican in deep-red Indiana, was successful, while candidates in Michigan, Arizona and New Mexico were defeated."

Arizona. Stacey Barchenger of the Arizona Republic: "A pivotal day of vote counting in Arizona on Saturday saw Democratic candidate for governor Katie Hobbs slightly widen her lead over her Republican opponent, though the race was still too close to call. Hobbs, Arizona's secretary of state and a former lawmaker, now leads Kari Lake, the Republican nominee and former television news anchor, by more than 34,000 votes, such a slight change the race was still separated by 1.4 percentage points. County election officials have counted about 2.3 million votes statewide, but another approximately 265,000 are left to tally. Most of those are from counties that house Arizona's population centers...."

Elizabeth Warren, in a New York Times op-ed, in praise of Joe Biden (and progressive policies): "... this electoral success belongs to Mr. Biden, who ignored ivory-tower economists and out-of-touch pundits claiming that bold action to help families was bad politics. Instead, Mr. Biden delivered significant economic progress for working people.... A few lobbyist-friendly Democrats in our own party blocked much of the president's agenda for working families."

Ezra Klein of the New York Times with a theory of now: ";In September, John Sides, Chris Tausanovitch, and Lynn Vavreck released 'The Bitter End: The 2020 Presidential Campaign and the Challenge to American Democracy.'... What they found clarifies not just 2020, but 2016 and 2022: Because politics is so calcified, virtually nothing matters, but because elections are so close, virtually everything matters.... The parties are so closely matched that even minuscule shifts in the electoral winds can blow the country onto a wildly different course. And even in a time of profound economic dislocation, American politics has become less about which party is good for your wallet and more about whether the cultural changes of the past 50 years delight or dismay you."

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "... Trump helped Republicans lose the House in 2018 and lose the White House and the Senate after the 2020 elections. Now he seems to have rescued Democrats from the traditional midterm shellacking.... Trump has been poison for his party.... [But] it's not hard to imagine that this revolt against the revolting Trump will die down in a few days.... 'If blackmailing Ukraine, inciting a riot, trying to overturn the election, hoarding classified documents, using overtly racist language for seven years, including at Glenn Youngkin today, was not enough to cause you to walk away from Donald Trump,' the political analyst Ron Brownstein said on CNN Friday, what makes people think Trump is toast now?" ~~~

~~~ Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "The idea that Republican elites could simply swap Trump for another candidate [like Ron DeSantis] without incurring any serious damage rests on two assumptions: First, that Trump's supporters are more committed to the Republican Party than they are to him, and second, that Trump himself will give up the fight if he isn't able to win the party's nomination.... He leads a cult of personality, in which he is an almost messianic figure, practically sent by God himself to purge the United States of liberals (and other assorted enemies) and restore the nation to greatness. He is practically worshiped by a large and politically influential group of Americans, who describe him as 'anointed.'... There is a real chance that Trump, if he loses the nomination, decides to run for president anyway.... Republican elites might be done with Trump, but Trump is not done with the Republican Party." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What all this says to me is something we all knew way back when: Republicans should have dumped Trump, even before the 2016 election. And as Ron Brownstein pointed out, they have had a number of opportunities to do so again. Leave us not forget the Billy Bush tape, the Muslim ban, Trump's refusal to put his assets in a blind trust & many other financial abuses of the presidency*, the support for white supremacists at Charlottesville. Yet Republicans looked away every time. They chose not to be a normal party in the democratic tradition. Now they're paying for that.

Matt Viser & Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "President Biden arrived [in Phnom Penh, Cambodia,] Saturday, the second stop of a week-long foreign trip seeking to reassure the world community that, no matter the political disruptions back home, the United States can still be a reliable global leader. On the heels of a midterm election that gave him better-than-expected results -- yet still could cost his party full control of Congress when final results are in, complicating his goals -- he has used both appearances so far to press that theme and rally other nations. During a speech in Egypt at the COP27 climate conference, Biden touted the United States as the global pacesetter in fighting climate change. And in Phnom Penh for a summit of southeast Asian nations, he immediately began trying to unite other nations to provide a counterweight to the rising economic and military threat that China poses." ~~~

~~~ Katie Rogers & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden told members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Saturday in Cambodia that the United States was committed to deepening 'peace and prosperity throughout the region' by protecting against threats like climate change and the economic fallout of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The president was betting that an in-person appearance at the ASEAN gathering in Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, would help reinforce his administration's broad efforts to promote human rights in a country where democracy has been suppressed and to counter China's rise, even as ASEAN countries embrace economic ties with Beijing."

Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus resigned late Saturday, the White House said in a short statement, ending an awkward standoff between the country's top border official and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Mayorkas asked Magnus to step down on Wednesday but the CBP commissioner refused to go quietly, insisting he would not leave unless asked by the White House. The White House said President Biden accepted Magnus's resignation...."

John Hudson of the Washington Post: "U.S. intelligence officials have compiled a classified report detailing extensive efforts to manipulate the American political system by the United Arab Emirates, an influential, oil-rich nation in the Persian Gulf long considered a close and trusted partner. The activities covered in the report, described to The Washington Post by three people who have read it, include illegal and legal attempts to steer U.S. foreign policy in ways favorable to the Arab autocracy. It reveals the UAE's bid, spanning multiple U.S. administrations, to exploit the vulnerabilities in American governance, including its reliance on campaign contributions, susceptibility to powerful lobbying firms and lax enforcement of disclosure laws intended to guard against interference by foreign governments, these people said."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war against Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Sunday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Sunday are here: "Ukrainian troops reentering Kherson, one of the first Ukrainian cities to be captured after Russia's invasion, discovered the regional capital without water, heat or electricity, an official who had spoken to residents there told The Washington Post. According to Ukrainian officials, the city's Russian occupiers destroyed Kherson's critical infrastructure as they withdrew, leaving inhabitants without enough to eat or drink. The city's liberation after eight months of Russian occupation -- a major morale boost for all of Ukraine with winter approaching -- was celebrated over the weekend by jubilant residents who greeted Ukrainian soldiers with music and blue and yellow flags.... [President] Zelensky warned residents returning to Kherson to avoid handling objects left behind by the Russians as bomb disposal teams have removed some 2,000 explosive devices in the Kherson region -- 'mines, trip wires and unexploded ammunition.'... Ukrainian forces are on the defensive in the eastern Donetsk region, Zelensky said. 'It's just hell there,' he added, describing the 'extremely brutal battles' that Kyiv's troops are engaged in every day to prevent Russian forces from advancing further into the region, which Putin illegally claimed to annex in September.... Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba thanked Washington for its support months into the conflict during a meeting Saturday with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in Cambodia with a U.S. delegation that includes President Biden."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Two World War II-era airplanes collided in midair at an air show in Dallas on Saturday, the authorities said, turning the commemorative Veterans Day weekend event into a scene of horror. Six people were killed in the crash, the National Safety Transportation Board said on Sunday. The planes -- a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra -- crashed at about 1:20 p.m. local time, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The crash happened at the Wings Over Dallas air show at Dallas Executive Airport, which is about 10 miles south of downtown Dallas."

Washington Post: "The 77-year-old Iranian refugee whose ordeal inspired the 2004 movie 'The Terminal' died Saturday inside the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, where he had previously lived for 18 years. Mehran Karimi Nasseri died around noon local time of a heart attack, a spokesperson for the Paris airport authority said Sunday. 'He was an iconic, charismatic character. There is a lot of emotion at the airport in the wake of his death.'... In 1988, French authorities stopped him at the Paris airport as he tried to pass through without identity papers, which he said had been stolen. Authorities held him for several days in limbo in a transit zone, and then released him into one of Charles de Gaulle's terminals.Caught in an immigration trap, he soon set up a makeshift home of his own in the airport and lived for many years in Terminal 1.... By 1999, France offered him a residency permit. But he continued to live inside the airport until 2006. After leaving the airport, he appeared to struggle to adapt to outside life."