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The Conversation -- September 26, 2023
** Biggest Loser Loses Big. Jonah Bromwich & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "The New York attorney general won a major victory in her civil case against Donald J. Trump on Tuesday when a New York judge determined that the former president fraudulently inflated the value of his assets to obtain favorable loans and insurance deals. The decision by Justice Arthur F. Engoron precedes a trial that is scheduled to begin Monday, and will considerably smooth Attorney General Letitia James's path forward as she seeks a penalty of about $250 million. Justice Engoron's decision narrows the issues that will be heard, effectively deciding that the trial was not necessary to find that Mr. Trump was liable and that the core of Ms. James's case was valid. It represents a major blow to Mr. Trump.... In his order, Justice Engoron wrote scathingly about Mr. Trump's defenses, saying that the former president and the other defendants, including his two adult sons and his company, ignored reality when it suited their business needs.... The judge also levied sanctions on Mr. Trump's lawyers for making arguments that he previously rejected.... [The lawsuit] to sever the Trump family from leading the Trump Organization." The AP's story is here.
The New York Times is liveblogging President Biden's visit to Michigan where he will walk the picket line with striking UAW workers. ~~~
~~~ Lauren Egan of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Tuesday became the first sitting president to walk a picket line with striking workers, vividly demonstrating his commitment to labor and its central role in his reelection campaign. The president, donning a blue hat with a United Auto Workers symbol, used a bull horn to speak to the crowd of union members dressed in red. He was flanked by United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain. 'The unions built the middle class. That's a fact. Let's keep going,' the president told the crowd. 'You deserve what you've earned and you've earned a hell of a lot more than you're getting paid now.' Biden's choice to show solidarity with striking auto workers at a time of great promise and peril for the labor movement represented a tectonic shift for an office historically known for breaking strikes, not supporting them."
David McCabe of the New York Times: "The Federal Trade Commission and 17 states accused Amazon on Tuesday of illegally protecting a monopoly over swaths of online retail by squeezing merchants and favoring its own services, in the government's most significant challenge to the power of the e-commerce giant and one that could alter the way Americans shop online for everything from toilet paper to electronics. In a highly anticipated lawsuit, the F.T.C. and state attorneys general from New York and other states said that Amazon had stopped merchants on its platform from offering lower prices elsewhere and forced them to ship products with its logistics service if they wanted to be offered as part of its Prime subscription bundle. Those practices led to higher prices and a worse shopping experience for consumers, the agency and states said." NPR's report is here.
Jeff Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: "With days left before the government shuts down, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has embraced steep reductions to the U.S. safety net in an attempt to appease far-right Republican demands for lower spending. If McCarthy can win over conservatives and pass legislation funding the government, Republicans hope to have greater leverage in negotiations with the Democratic-controlled Senate and White House. But far-right votes have remained elusive, leading McCarthy to propose ever larger and still evolving spending cuts.... Hard-right lawmakers have warned that if McCarthy relies on Democratic votes to pass any fiscal bill, they would move swiftly to force him from the speakership.... But even if those bills were approved by the Senate, which they will not be, much of the government would still shut down because federal operations are funded by 12 different bills." ~~~
~~~ Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "Here's what you need to know about a government shutdown, and how it could affect you."
Christopher Maag of the New York Times: "Senator Cory Booker called on Senator Robert Menendez, his fellow New Jersey Democrat, to resign Tuesday morning, ending days of silence after Mr. Menendez was indicted on bribery charges. As New Jersey's junior senator, Mr. Booker often has described Mr. Menendez, the senior senator, as a friend, ally and mentor. His decision to condemn Mr. Menendez, and to join the growing chorus of state and federal officials calling on him to step down, demonstrates the deepening crisis facing a senator who until last week had occupied one of the most powerful and secure positions in American politics.... A flood of Democrats, particularly those facing re-election next year in politically competitive states, issued statements calling on Mr. Menendez to step aside." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Early Tuesday afternoon, MSNBC reported that 14 U.S. senators had called for Menendez to resign. Update: Annie Karni of the New York Times reports on the "stampede of Senate Democrats" who are urging Bribe-Me Bob to relinquish his lucrative Senate seat.
Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused Alabama's request to reinstate a congressional map drawn by Republican lawmakers that had only one majority-Black district, paving the way for a new map to be put in place before the 2024 election. Alabama's request to keep its map was the second time in under a year that it had asked the Supreme Court to affirm a limited role of race in establishing voting districts for federal elections in what amounted to a defiant repudiation of lower-court rulings. In the latest twist in the case, the lower court had found that the state had brazenly flouted its directive to create a second majority-Black district or something 'close to it.' The court's order gave no reasons, which is often the case when the justices decide on emergency applications. There were no public dissents. The ruling clears the way for a special master and court-appointed cartographer to create a new map. The special master in the case submitted three proposed maps on Monday, the deadline set by the three-judge federal district court. All three proposals included a second district where Black voters would have the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice, according to a report filed by the special master." CNN's report is here. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: This strikes me as pretty amazing, inasmuch as the original decision was 5-4, and Alabama GOP legislators said they had "intelligence" that O'Kavanaugh would flip his vote and support them in a hearing on their latest unconstitutional map.
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Donald Trump's lawyers said Monday that a gag order proposed by prosecutors would unconstitutionally silence him during key months of the 2024 presidential campaign, urging a federal judge in Washington, D.C. to reject the proposed limits. In a 25-page filing that mirrored some of Trump's own heated political rhetoric, Trump's attorneys said the former president's attacks on potential witnesses, special counsel Jack Smith and even U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan herself are protected by the First Amendment and were not actual threats or incitement of attacks.... Trump has spent the days since prosecutors' gag order proposal went public assailing Smith for making the request. And over the weekend he unleashed a lengthy attack on Mark Milley, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is also a potential witness in both of Trump's pending federal criminal trials." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Of Milley, Trump wrote on his Twitter-clone site, "This guy turned out to be a Woke train wreck who, if the Fake News reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States.... This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!'" Mark Esper, who was Trump's Secretary of Defense when Milley made one of those calls to China, said Monday he had directed Milley to make the call after he himself made a similar call to Chinese officials. Esper called Trump's remarks about Milley "intolerable."
Graham Kates of CBS News: "Hunter Biden sued Rudy Giuliani and his former attorney Tuesday, claiming they hacked and manipulated data on an external hard drive associated with his laptop. Giuliani and the attorney, Robert Costello, have frequently acknowledged accessing the hard drive's data. The lawsuit accuses them of having 'dedicated an extraordinary amount of time and energy toward looking for, hacking into, tampering with, manipulating, copying, disseminating, and generally obsessing over data that they were given that was taken or stolen.'" Thanks to RAS for the link.
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Alex Gangitano of the Hill: "President Biden on Monday bashed House Republicans for heading towards a government shutdown, saying that they shouldn't be elected if they can't do their job to fund the government. 'Funding the government is one of the most basic, fundamental responsibilities of the Congress and if Republicans in the House don't start doing their job, we should stop electing them,' Biden said in remarks at the White House. Biden noted that he made a deal with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in May that led to an increase in the debt ceiling. Under that deal, lawmakers voted for legislation that set ceilings on spending for the next year. Now conservatives in the House are seeking to make deeper cuts than that deal. Biden accused the GOP of not abiding by the debt-ceiling agreement.... Biden's reelection campaign earlier on Monday hit House Republicans for heeding former President Trump's calls to dig in on a shutdown. Last week, the Biden campaign called out Trump for rooting for a shutdown, saying that the former president doesn't care about the ramifications it would have for Americans families."
Tracey Tully of the New York Times: "Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, returned Monday to Union City, the community where he rose to political prominence, to offer a clear answer to former allies who have called for his resignation in the face of federal bribery charges: No. 'The allegations leveled against me are just that -- allegations,' Mr. Menendez said at a news conference at a community college not far from where he grew up, the child of Cuban refugees. 'I recognize that this will be the biggest fight yet," he said, adding that once the judicial process concluded, he expected that "not only will I be exonerated, I will still be New Jersey's senior senator.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Amanda Macias of CNBC: "Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey suggested Monday that hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash seized by federal investigators from his home as part of a probe that led to his bribery indictment came from his personal savings account. 'I have withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from my personal savings account, what I have kept for emergencies and because of the history of my family facing confiscation in Cuba,' Menendez said during a press conference in Union, New Jersey." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC pointed out Monday that this obviously is a phony excuse for stashing nearly $500K in cash in his home. Menendez is a U.S. citizen, born in New York City in 1954 after his parents immigrated from Cuba the previous year. Fidel Castro led a revolution that toppled the government in 1959, and thereafter his Communist administration did confiscate Cubans' bank deposits -- beginning at least five years after the Menendez family left Cuba. (O'Donnell also pointed out that Menendez is a member of the Senate Banking Committee, so it's mighty odd he doesn't trust U.S. banks.) In any event, there is no "history" of Menendez' family's facing confiscation of funds. But hey, maybe his family did keep gold bars lying around the house. And a free Mercedes in the garage.
~~~ Tracey Tully of the New York Times: "The word 'gold' appears 26 times in the federal indictment unsealed Friday against Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey along with his wife, Nadine, and three businessmen. There are details about the senator's internet searches for the price of gold and Ms. Menendez's trip to a jeweler to sell gold and photos of the serial numbers stamped on some of the 13 gold bars found in their home. Yet gold is rarely mentioned in the financial disclosure forms he is required to file annually as a senator, showing up for the first time last year." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Ha Ha. Brian Schwartz of CNBC: "Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., will return $5,000 in contributions from a political action committee tied to Sen. Bob Menendez 'in envelopes stuffed with $100 bills' because of the New Jersey Democrat's indictment on bribery charges, Fetterman's spokesman said.... Fetterman was the first Democratic senator to call on Menendez to resign after he and his wife, Nadine Menendez, were charged with three bribery-related counts in federal court in New York. On Monday, two other Democrats, Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Peter Welch of Vermont, also called for Menendez to step down." strong> MB: Monday night on MSNBC, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also called for Menendez to resign. ~~~
~~~ Judd Legum of Popular Information: "Despite the prodigious evidence of criminal conduct presented in the indictment, [Chuck] Schumer is correct that Bob Menendez and the other defendants have a 'right to due process and a fair trial.'... There is not, however, a Constitutional right to be a member of the U.S. Senate.... The Constitution contemplates a higher standard for elected officials than avoiding criminal convictions. The U.S. Senate is empowered to expel any member 'for disorderly behavior' -- it requires a two-thirds vote.... In 2017, Leeann Tweeden, a conservative radio talk show host, accused then-Senator Al Franken (D-MN) of "having forced an unwanted kiss on her during a 2006 U.S.O. tour.' Over the next couple of weeks, seven other women accused Franken of inappropriate touching or kissing. About half of Franken's accusers remain anonymous. There were no criminal charges or any investigation of Franken's alleged conduct. Nevertheless, Schumer called on Franken to resign immediately, urging him not to wait for the 'due process' of an Ethics Committee investigation[.]... Schumer was joined by more than 30 of his Democratic colleagues.... Unlike Franken, Menendez was a member of Senate leadership and, as former chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Menendez has personally assisted the campaigns of many Senators, including by raising money."
Wherein Fox Accidentally Steps on House GOP False Claim. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: One of the central reasons House Republicans give for impeaching President Biden is that he "had sought the ouster of Ukraine's prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin, to benefit Burisma and Hunter Biden[. This claim] was debunked in 2019." In an interview with former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Brian Kilmeade of Fox "News" accidentally made clear that the claim was bogus. After Poroshenko said he fired Shokin because he was a "completely crazy person," Kilmeade said, "Okay, so ... [Shokin ] didn't get fired because of Joe Biden.' Poroshenko confirmed that he did not...." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.
Book Review. The Old Gray Fox Ain't What She Used to Be. Justin Peters of the Washington Post: As Michael Wolff details in his new book, "Fox isn't what it used to be. While the network's ratings remain relatively strong today, the business of cable is in a sharp downturn, and Fox's core demographic is only getting older.... An alarming amount of money is flowing out of the network these days, most notably in the form of the $787.5 million it will pay Dominion Voting Systems.... And despite the network's best recent efforts to sideline [Donald] Trump -- whom [Rupert] Murdoch reportedly despises -- and boost the presidential ambitions of Florida governor Ron DeSantis, Trump continues to lead the 2024 GOP presidential field.... Wolff more or less traces the network's ongoing crackup back to 2016: the year of [Roger] Ailes's ouster and Trump's political ascent.... [Ailes'] exit left a power vacuum atop the network, filled by hacks and scions incapable of rising to the needs of the moment.... It makes for an entertaining read."
TuKKKer Stars on Russian TV. Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "The blustering American TV personality Tucker Carlson has lambasted the United States for sending too much aid to Ukraine, called Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky 'sweaty and rat-like' and given credence to Russia's baseless justifications for its invasion. The former Fox News host's rhetoric on the war -- he has called it a U.S.-led 'regime-change war' against Russia -- and his attacks on Zelensky's government -- 'a pure client state of the United States State Department' -- aligns so well with the major propaganda points of Russian state television that one channel has decided to broadcast Carlson's new show on X...-Twitter, to millions of Russians, though apparently without Carlson&'s permission.... The idea of a Tucker Carlson show as part of regularly scheduled programming in Russia seemed to herald the next step in the melding of right-wing American MAGA punditry and Kremlin propaganda."
Sarah Burris of the Raw Story lists some of the highlights of Rachel Maddow's interview of former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson. Among them, Matt Gaetz tried to nail Hutchingson during a GOP weekend at Camp David, but Kevin McCarthy dispatched Gaetz, telling Gaetz to "Get a life." In respond to Hutchinson's allegation, Gaetz said he didn't remember this and another incident she recounted in her book, but that he and Hutchinson had dated years ago. Hutchinson responded that she had never dated Gaetz: ~~~
Marin Scotten in the Guardian: "Many animals raised for meat in the US spend their lives in spaces barely bigger than their own bodies.... While these conditions are part of what makes factory-farmed meat so cheap in the US, a growing number of consumers are rejecting these brutal practices, with more than a dozen states even enacting their own laws to ban them. But a new proposal in Congress would reverse these advances in animal welfare, threatening to upend years of work -- and victories -- by animal rights activists, farmers and food safety advocates. The Republican-led Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression, or Eats, Act aims to end the authority of states and localities to set animal welfare and food safety standards. If passed, it could also jeopardize more than 1,000 state and local health and safety laws that set food-quality requirements and stop the spread of invasive species and zoonotic diseases like avian flu." Thanks to RAS for the link.
(Alleged) Criminal Wants to Buy Glock. Maggie Haberman & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A spokesman for ... Donald J. Trump [-- Steven Cheung --] posted a video on Monday showing him at a gun shop in South Carolina, declaring that he had just bought a Glock pistol. The post on X...-Twitter, included video of Mr. Trump..., who is facing four criminal indictments. He looked over the dullish gold firearm, a special Trump edition Glock that depicts his likeness and says 'Trump 45th,' as he visited the Palmetto State Armory outlet in Summerville, S.C. 'I want to buy one,' he said twice in the video.... Under the main federal gun law, 18 U.S.C. 922, it is illegal for merchants to sell firearms to people who are under indictment for crimes carrying sentences of more than a year.... Within two hours of the initial post on social media, Mr. Cheung deleted his post, and issued a statement saying, 'President Trump did not purchase or take possession of the firearm. He simply indicated that he wanted one.' A man who answered a phone registered to the shop's owner hung up when a reporter called." Emphasis added. ~~~
~~~ Caroline Vakil of the Hill: "... CNN reporter Alayna Treene later said the news outlet had confirmed Trump hadn't bought the firearm."
Rachel Scully of the Hill: Former President Trump pledged to investigate Comcast, the parent company for NBC and MSNBC, if he is elected in 2024, saying it 'will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events.... They are almost all dishonest and corrupt, but Comcast, with its one-side and vicious coverage by NBC NEWS, and in particular MSNBC, often and correctly referred to as MSDNC (Democrat National Committee!), should be investigated for its "Country Threatening Treason,"' Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Sunday." MB: I suppose he'll soon be directly threatening particular hosts and anchors. Most dangerous man in the U.S., bar none. (Also linked yesterday.)
Zoe Richards of NBC News: "A judge granted Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' request to restrict identifying information about jurors in the Georgia election interference case, a new court filing shows. In a two-page order Monday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee imposed strict limits regarding the identities of jurors involved in any trial in the case against ... Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants. The court's standing rules restrict using photographic or electronic equipment without a judge's consent. McAfee's order offers additional protections by prohibiting drawing in an identifiable manner or otherwise recording images, statements or conversations of jurors or prospective jurors. He further ordered that jurors and prospective jurors be identified only by their numbers in court filings while the trial is pending, and he prohibited disclosing juror information that would reveal their identities, including names, addresses, telephone numbers or identifying employment information."
Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "... it is difficult to think of another justice, in the history of the Supreme Court, who has been as partisan and as ideological and as venal as [Clarence] Thomas, to say nothing of the fact that significant parts of his life have been subsidized by the largess of some of the wealthiest men in the country.... Clarence Thomas appears as immune to shame as the most recent Republican president. And he has also made it clear, over the course of his career on the court, that there is essentially nothing his opponents could do that would pressure him off the bench. The only official recourse is impeachment, which would be a nonstarter even if there weren't a Republican-led House of Representatives.... The Constitution says that federal judges, including members of the Supreme Court, 'shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour.'... Thomas's behavior is, to my mind, clearly impeachable under the standard the Constitution sets."
Shane Goldmacher & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Fox News announced on Monday that it was hosting a debate in late November between Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California == a highly unusual clash between two of the nation's best known political leaders who are not running for the same office. Fox News -- calling it a 'a red vs. blue state debate' -- said the 90-minute event featuring the Republican governor of Florida and the Democratic governor of California will be held in Georgia and will air on Nov. 30 on Sean Hannity's show. Mr. Newsom and Mr. DeSantis had both agreed to have Mr. Hannity moderate the debate." MB: Sadly, I have no idea where to find Fox on my teevee, so I guess I'll have to skip it. An ABC News story is here.
Hiroko Tabuchi & Blacki Migliozzi of the New York Times: "... to strike oil in America, you need water. Plenty of it. Today, the insatiable search for oil and gas has become the latest threat to the country's endangered aquifers, a critical national resource that is already being drained at alarming rates by industrial farming and cities in search of drinking water. The amount of water consumed by the oil industry, revealed in a New York Times investigation, has soared to record levels. Fracking wells have increased their water usage sevenfold since 2011 as operators have adopted new techniques to first drill downward and then horizontally for thousands of feet. The process extracts more fossil fuels but requires enormous amounts of water. Together, oil and gas operators reported using about 1.5 trillion gallons of water since 2011, much of it from aquifers, the Times found. Fracking a single oil or gas well can now use as much as 40 million gallons of water or more." Thanks to laura h. for the link.
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Canada. Rob Gilles of the AP: "The speaker of Canada's House of Commons apologized Sunday for recognizing a man who fought for a Nazi military unit during World War II. Just after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an address in the House of Commons on Friday, Canadian lawmakers gave 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka a standing ovation when Speaker Anthony Rota drew attention to him. Rota introduced Hunka as a war hero who fought for the First Ukrainian Division. 'In my remarks following the address of the President of Ukraine, I recognized an individual in the gallery. I have subsequently become aware of more information which causes me to regret my decision to do so,' Rota said in a statement.... I particularly want to extend my deepest apologies to Jewish communities in Canada and around the world. I accept full responsibility for my action,' Rota said.... Canadian lawmakers cheered and Zelenskyy raised his fist in acknowledgement as Hunka saluted from the gallery during two separate standing ovations.... Vladimir Putin has painted his enemies in Ukraine as 'neo-Nazis,' even though Zelenskyy is Jewish and lost relatives in the Holocaust. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office said in a statement that Rota had apologized and accepted full responsibility for issuing the invitation to Hunka and for the recognition in Parliament."
Canada. Maham Javaid & Evan Hill of the Washington Post: "At least six men and two vehicles were involved in the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside his place of worship, according to video reviewed by The Washington Post and witness accounts, suggesting a larger and more organized operation than has previously been reported.... In a bombshell announcement, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Canada's House of Commons last week that authorities were pursuing 'credible allegations' that agents of the Indian government were involved in the killing."
News Lede
New York Times: "David McCallum, the Scottish-born actor who became a surprise sensation as the enigmatic Russian spy Illya Kuryakin on 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' in the 1960s and found television stardom again almost 40 years later on the hit series 'N.C.I.S.,' died on Monday in New York. He was 90."
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