The Conversation -- September 17, 2023

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times writes about President Biden's staff muzzling him. "Is his less-than-stellar inner circle undermining the boss and giving ammunition to the nasty conservative story line about how the 80-year-old president is losing it?... By publicly treating him as though he's not in control of his faculties, by cutting him off mid-thought as though he's faltering and needs caretaking, they play into the hands of Trumpsters. His vulnerability becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.... Biden needs to start looking like he's in command. His staff is going to have to roll with him and take some risks and stop jerking the reins." (Also linked yesterday.)

Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "Impeachment proceedings were not meant to start with theories. In a world turned upside down, that's what McCarthy has done. The real reason for [Speaker Kevin] McCarthy's decision to launch the inquiry was apparent to all. It was a bow to hard-right members of his conference demanding he do this at a time when the speaker is caught up in internal brawling with those members over funding the government by the Sept. 30 deadline.... By definition, the impeachment process is a political exercise with legal aspects. With this latest turn, it is now almost wholly political, a debasement of what was intended to be a vehicle to remove a president for malfeasance even in the absence of criminal charges.... As pursued by House Republicans, impeachment is now more score-settling than serious undertaking, a tit-for-tat in retaliation for the four criminal indictments of Trump this year and claims of a weaponized Justice Department." ~~~

~~~ Debunked Conspiracy Theory Drives Impeachment Inquiry. Alex Griffing of Mediaite: Jim Jordan, who is one of the fake impeachment leaders, has made clear that the fake basis for impeaching President Biden is nothing more than a long-debunked conspiracy theory that Joe Biden had a Ukrainian prosecutor -- Viktor Shokin -- removed from his job to help out Hunter Biden. "'Joe Biden's actions were consistent with bipartisan US policy, which sought to remove the prosecutor because he wasn't doing enough to crack down on corruption -- including at Burisma,' noted a CNN fact check."

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "Reading ... [Mitt Romney's] surprisingly harsh and unsparing ... [criticism of his fellow Republicans], I wonder how much of it is Romney's sublimated criticism of himself.... Romney ... played a significant role in giving Trump mainstream political credibility.... This was the Romney who ... did a great deal to appeal to the most viciously right-wing figures in his party.... Romney was, not unlike the colleagues he criticizes, willing to say whatever it took to win power, even if it meant smearing nearly half the country as essentially unproductive...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Bouie doesn't mention it, but it's worth remembering that Romney made his sizeable fortune as a ruthless venture capitalist who specialized in leveraged buyouts & quick sales that maximized the value he could extract from the targeted companies. He's not exactly a model of probity. He did not learn his predatory tendency on his father's knee: George Romney was "a folk hero of the American automotive industry" who as CEO of American Motors would return to the company the part of his annual income he considered excessive. 

Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Jenna Ellis -- the Donald Trump lawyer who like the former president faces criminal charges regarding attempted election subversion in his defeat by Joe Biden in 2020 -- says she will not vote for him in the future because he is a 'malignant narcissist' who cannot admit mistakes.... 'Why I have chosen to distance is because of that frankly malignant narcissistic tendency to simply say that he's never done anything wrong.' Ellis, 38, was speaking on her show on American Family Radio, a rightwing evangelical network run by the American Family Association...." MB: Or maybe Ellis's about-face has something to do with the not-surprising fact that Trump won't authorize his PAC to help Ellis with the legal bills she's accruing in defending herself against racketeering charges brought against her in the Trump fake election-fraud conspiracy. (Also linked yesterday.)

A Peculiar State Secret. Alanna Richer & Michael Kunzelman of the AP: Samuel "Lazar, 37, of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, was arrested in July 2021 on charges that he came to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, dressed in tactical gear and protective goggles, and used chemical spray on officers who were desperately trying to beat back the angry Donald Trump supporters. There is no public record of a conviction or a sentence in Lazar's court docket. But the Bureau of Prisons told The Associated Press that the man was released from federal custody this week after completing a sentence for assaulting or resisting a federal officer. Lazar was sentenced in Washington's federal court on March 17 to 30 months in prison, according to the Bureau of Prisons, but there's no public record of such a hearing. He had been jailed since July 2021.... The Justice Department has refused to say why the case remains under wraps...."

Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "Richard G. Olson Jr., a former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, was sentenced Friday to three years probation and a $93,350 fine for violating federal lobbying and ethics laws in a case that exposed a secret history of romantic liaisons and glittering gifts during his 34-year career as a diplomat. Olson, 63, who pleaded guilty to two federal misdemeanors related to his consulting work in the Middle East, could have received up to six months behind bars under federal sentencing guidelines. U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey of D.C. said he didn't think a prison sentence was warranted, but imposed a relatively stiff fine. Federal guidelines had called for Olson to receive a financial penalty of $20,000 or less.... Prosecutors noted in court that he did not apologize for his actions."

Presidential Race 2024. Trump Is So Confused. Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump claimed he beat former President Barack Obama -- even though he never ran against Obama -- in a speech in which he attacked President Joe Biden's faculties. Trump delivered a speech to an enthusiastic conservative crowd at the 'Pray, Vote, Stand Summit' in Washington, DC on Friday night, during which he made disparaging remarks about President Biden's 'cognitive' abilities -- while repeatedly committing several gaffes or misspeaking." MB: It's worth reading the excerpt of Trump's zany remarks which Christopher includes in his post. Trump does string together one cogent sentence amid the word salad: "I think we have a lot of words out there." Yes, yes, there are a lot of words out there, Donald, wherever "out there" may be. It's sad that vast collection of words so confounds you.

Neal Boudette of the New York Times: "The United Auto Workers union and the three Detroit automakers on Saturday resumed negotiations on a new labor contract as a targeted strike entered its second day. The union is striking against all three manufacturers -- General Motors, Ford and Stellantis -- but for now has limited the work stoppages to one plant at each of the companies: a Ford plant in Michigan, a G.M. plant in Missouri and a Stellantis plant in Ohio. 'We had reasonably productive conversations with Ford today,' the union said in a statement. It made no mention of its talks with G.M. and Stellantis."

Wenner: Only White Artists Are Intelligent. Ben Sisario of the New York Times: "Jann Wenner, the co-founder of Rolling Stone magazine, has been removed from the board of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, which he also helped found, one day after an interview with him was published in The New York Times in which he made comments that were widely criticized as sexist and racist.... The dismissal of Mr. Wenner comes after an interview with The Times, published Friday and timed to the publication of his new book, called 'The Masters,' which collects his decades of interviews with rock legends like Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen and Bono -- all of them white and male. In the interview, David Marchese of The Times asked Mr. Wenner, 77, why the book included no women or people of color. Regarding women, Mr. Wenner said, 'Just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level,' and remarked that Joni Mitchell 'was not a philosopher of rock 'n' roll.... Of Black artists -- you know, Stevie Wonder, genius, right?... I suppose when you use a word as broad as "masters," the fault is using that word. Maybe Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield? I mean, they just didn't articulate at that level.'" An AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It isn't clear at all that Wenner understands the implications of the word "master." (Incidentally, he also doesn't seem to know how to use the verb "articulate." I surmise he means "express themselves," but in this meaning, "articulate" is a transitive verb; i.e., it requires a direct object. So the way Wenner uses "articulate," he means "move their arms & legs around." I'd say quite a few Black, female artists are right good at that!) On a substantially more important note, this isn't about one interview or even about one book on the "masters of the popular music universe." It's about what minority and female artists have been up against since the founding of Rolling Stone in 1967. A cool magazine should have helped overcome racist and sexist discrimination in the industry and beyond; instead, I would guess it perpetuated white male hegemony. So now women & minorities still can't get no satisfaction, as Jagger (and Keith Richards) might articulate.

~~~~~~~~~~

Michigan. Tim Craig of the Washington Post: "A Michigan jury acquitted three men on Friday of state charges related to the plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, capping multiple legal proceedings that centered on right-wing extremism and the dangers facing the country's political leaders.... When the verdict was announced, people in the courtroom gasped while the three men cried and hugged supporters, the Associated Press reported. During the trial, state prosecutors had argued that [Eric] Molitor and [twin] ...brothers [William Null & Michael Null] had participated in military-style drills and cased Whitmer's vacation property in Antrim County in northern Michigan.... But attorneys for Molitor, 39, and the Null brothers, 41, argued that the men did not actively take part in the plot and did not consider it to be a serious threat to Whitmer." (Also linked yesterday.)

Pennsylvania. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: How a convicted murderer & prison escapee evaded capture for 13 days. (Also linked yesterday.)

** Texas Is Still Texas and Republicans Are Still Republicans. Paxton Acquitted!! Zach Despart of the Texas Tribune: "The Texas Senate on Saturday acquitted Attorney General Ken Paxton of 16 articles of impeachment alleging corruption and bribery, his most artful escape in a career spent courting controversy and skirting consequences of scandal. No article received more than 14 of the required 21 votes to convict. Only two of 19 Republican Senators, Bob Nichols of Jacksonville and Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills, voted in favor of convicting for any article -- a stark contrast to the nearly 70% of House Republicans who impeached the attorney general in May. The dramatic votes capped a two-week trial where a parade of witnesses, including former senior officials under Paxton, testified that the attorney general had repeatedly abused his office by helping his friend, struggling Austin real estate investor Nate Paul, investigate and harass his enemies, delay foreclosure sales of his properties and obtain confidential records on the police investigating him. In return, House impeachment managers said Paul paid to renovate Paxton's Austin home and helped him carry out ­and cover up an extramarital affair with a former Senate aide." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times ran a liveblog. (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Elisabetta Povoledo of the New York Times: "A letter found among the private papers of Pope Pius XII suggests that the Holy See was told in 1942 that up to 6,000 people, 'above all Poles and Jews,' were being killed in furnaces every day at Belzec, a Nazi death camp in Poland. Though news of the atrocities being perpetrated by Hitler was already reaching Pope Pius XII's ears, this information was especially important because it came from a trusted church source based in Germany, said Giovanni Coco, a Vatican archivist who discovered the letter. The source was 'in the heart of the enemy territory,' Mr. Coco said on Saturday.... It is one of the most revealing documents to have emerged since Pope Francis ordered the archives of Pius opened in 2019, saying that 'the church is not afraid of history.' Mr. Coco said he could not be 100 percent sure that Pius saw the letter, but he was '99 percent sure' because it was given to the pope's personal secretary, his 'right-hand man.'"

News Lede

AP: "Atlantic storm Lee made landfall at near-hurricane strength Saturday, bringing destructive winds, rough surf and torrential rains to New England and Maritime Canada. But officials withdrew some warnings for the region late Saturday night. The U.S. National Hurricane Center discontinued a tropical storm warning for the coast of Maine, while Environment Canada ended its tropical storm warning in New Brunswick. One person was killed in Maine on Saturday when a tree limb fell on his vehicle. The post-tropical cyclone also cut power to tens of thousands of customers."

The Conversation -- September 16, 2023

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "Reading ... [Mitt Romney's] surprisingly harsh and unsparing ... [criticism of his fellow Republicans], I wonder how much of it is Romney's sublimated criticism of himself.... Romney ... played a significant role in giving Trump mainstream political credibility.... This was the Romney who ... did a great deal to appeal to the most viciously right-wing figures in his party.... Romney was, not unlike the colleagues he criticizes, willing to say whatever it took to win power, even if it meant smearing nearly half the country as essentially unproductive...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Bouie doesn't mention it, but it's worth remembering that Romney made his sizeable fortune as a ruthless venture capitalist who specialized in leveraged buyouts & quick sales that maximized the value he could extract from the targeted companies. He's not exactly a model of probity. He did not learn his predatory tendency on his father's knee: George Romney was "a folk hero of the American automotive industry" who as CEO of American Motors returned the part of his annual income he considered excessive.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times writes about President Biden's staff muzzling him. "Is his less-than-stellar inner circle undermining the boss and giving ammunition to the nasty conservative story line about how the 80-year-old president is losing it?... By publicly treating him as though he's not in control of his faculties, by cutting him off mid-thought as though he's faltering and needs caretaking, they play into the hands of Trumpsters. His vulnerability becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.... Biden needs to start looking like he's in command. His staff is going to have to roll with him and take some risks and stop jerking the reins."

Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Jenna Ellis -- the Donald Trump lawyer who like the former president faces criminal charges regarding attempted election subversion in his defeat by Joe Biden in 2020 -- says she will not vote for him in the future because he is a 'malignant narcissist' who cannot admit mistakes.... 'Why I have chosen to distance is because of that frankly malignant narcissistic tendency to simply say that he's never done anything wrong.' Ellis, 38, was speaking on her show on American Family Radio, a rightwing evangelical network run by the American Family Association...." MB: Or maybe Ellis's about-face has something to do with the not-surprising fact that Trump won't authorize his PAC to help Ellis with the legal bills she's accruing in defending herself against charges brought against her in the Trump fake election-fraud conspiracy.

** Texas Is Still Texas and Republicans Are Still Republicans. Paxton Acquitted!! Zach Despart of the Texas Tribune: "The Texas Senate on Saturday acquitted Attorney General Ken Paxton of 16 articles of impeachment alleging corruption and bribery, his most artful escape in a career spent courting controversy and skirting consequences of scandal. No article received more than 14 of the required 21 votes to convict. Only two of 19 Republican Senators, Bob Nichols of Jacksonville and Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills, voted in favor of convicting for any article -- a stark contrast to the nearly 70% of House Republicans who impeached the attorney general in May. The dramatic votes capped a two-week trial where a parade of witnesses, including former senior officials under Paxton, testified that the attorney general had repeatedly abused his office by helping his friend, struggling Austin real estate investor Nate Paul, investigate and harass his enemies, delay foreclosure sales of his properties and obtain confidential records on the police investigating him. In return, House impeachment managers said Paul paid to renovate Paxton's Austin home and helped him carry out ­and cover up an extramarital affair with a former Senate aide." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times ran a liveblog.

Michigan. Tim Craig of the Washington Post: "A Michigan jury acquitted three men on Friday of state charges related to the plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, capping multiple legal proceedings that centered on right-wing extremism and the dangers facing the country's political leaders.... When the verdict was announced, people in the courtroom gasped while the three men cried and hugged supporters, the Associated Press reported. During the trial, state prosecutors had argued that [Eric] Molitor and [twin] ...brothers [William Null & Michael Null] had participated in military-style drills and cased Whitmer's vacation property in Antrim County in northern Michigan.... But attorneys for Molitor, 39, and the Null brothers, 41, argued that the men did not actively take part in the plot and did not consider it to be a serious threat to Whitmer."

Pennsylvania. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: How a convicted murderer & prison escapee evaded capture for 13 days.

~~~~~~~~~~

Marie: In today's news, we learn that the GOP clown car is running on empty, but the dangerous villain who is operating the vehicle by remote control still may manage to mow us all down. Meanwhile, certain damsels in the court of the clowns are in various states of distress.

Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department is asking the judge overseeing Donald Trump's federal election fraud trial to impose some limitations on the former president's public comments, saying he is seeking to undermine the criminal justice system with his incendiary rhetoric.... The request was made under seal earlier this month; a redacted version was published late Friday. Trump opposes the request.... The 'limited' order [prosecutors] request would bar specific statements about witnesses, as well as any 'disparaging and inflammatory, or intimidating' comments about anyone involved in the case, including potential jurors.... Right now, prosecutors say, Trump is making inappropriate comments on a 'near-daily basis.' Examples given in the 19-page filing include Truth Social posts in which Trump called [Jack] Smith 'deranged' and his fellow prosecutors 'thugs,' [Judge Tanya] Chutkan a 'fraud, [Mike] Pence 'delusional,' and D.C. 'filthy and crime ridden,' as well as one in which Trump simply wrote, the day after his arraignment, in all caps, 'If you go after me, I'm coming after you!'" The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "... Donald Trump's public statements about the federal election interference investigation led to the harassment of witnesses, according to prosecutors with special counsel Jack Smith's office. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the federal case against Trump related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, is weighing what to do with the special counsel prosecutors' complaints regarding the alleged harassment. The allegations were made public by the court Friday, after previous court filings indicated prosecutors were taking issue with Trump's 'extrajudicial statements' about the case. 'In its Motion, the government seeks to establish that Defendant has publicly criticized his perceived adversaries and is aware that this criticism has led to their harassment,' Chutkan wrote in an opinion Friday to unseal part of the discussions." This is an earlier version of the updated story; I'm leaving it as is because it emphasizes what a clear & present danger Trump is. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the government's motion, via Politico. (Also linked yesterday.)

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "prosecutors secretly argued in April that if Donald Trump learned of their efforts to access his Twitter account, his public disclosure of the development could 'precipitate violence.'... Informing Trump about the Twitter search warrant 'could precipitate violence as occurred following the public disclosure of the search warrant executed at Mar-a-Lago,' the prosecutors warned. The new filings, part of a monthslong legal battle between Twitter ... and the special counsel's team over whether the social media company ... could inform Trump about the search warrant the investigators had obtained before it complied with its directives.... Prosecutors -- and ultimately U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell -- ... sharply rejected Twitter's notion that Trump's account might contain privileged material. Howell held Twitter in contempt in February and fined the company $350,000 for missing court-ordered deadlines to comply with the prosecutors' search warrant." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Tierney Sneed, et al., of CNN: "Twitter turned over at least 32 direct messages from ... Donald Trump's account -- @realDonaldTrump -- to special counsel Jack Smith earlier this year as part of the federal election subversion investigation, according to newly unsealed court filings. In seeking the messages, prosecutors specifically argued that Trump posed a risk of tampering with evidence.... It is not clear exactly how the [direct] messages have informed the investigation." (Also linked yesterday.)

Pre-empting Trump. Tyler Pager & Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration proposed a new rule Friday seeking to bolster protections for federal workers, an explicit attempt to thwart plans by ... Donald Trump and his allies to replace career government officials with political loyalists should he be reelected. The rule seeks to halt any attempt to gut the foundation of the federal civil service, whose 2.2 million career employees serve any occupant of the White House without regard to partisanship -- and have rights to due process at every level. In the waning days of his administration, Trump tried to subvert those principles with a sweeping executive order that stripped job protections from employees in policy roles across the government.... [Trump's] executive order was the product of a four-year campaign by conservatives to bring to heel what they called a 'deep state' of bureaucrats who were resistant to the policies of the Trump White House.... [It] amounted to the most significant assault on the nonpartisan civil service in its history.... President Biden revoked that executive order on the third day of his presidency, and the new rule Friday seeks to further protect those officials." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is another example of how eliminating the filibuster would likely have prevented any future attempts by Trump or another Trumpy president* to gut the civil service. As the WashPo report notes, "Democratic-sponsored legislation with the rough contours of Friday's proposed regulation cleared the House last year but not the Senate." As it stands, I don't think President Biden's executive order will have a long-lasting effect, as a superseding presidential order can overturn it.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "The House is currently being run not by Speaker Kevin McCarthy but by backbenchers Matt Gaetz of Florida and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Two days before departing for the August recess, McCarthy (Calif.) told his House Republican caucus that they could not justify launching a formal impeachment inquiry into President Biden over unproven (and unfounded) allegations. But on Aug. 31, Greene announced that she would not 'vote to fund the government unless we have passed an impeachment inquiry.' Later, Gaetz announced that he would speak on the House floor on Sept. 12, the first day the chamber reconvened after recess, to detail plans to seek McCarthy's ouster as speaker if he impeded the impeachment of Biden.... Donald Trump joined in the impeach-Biden lobbying.... 'Today, I am directing our House committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden,' [McCarthy] announced in a hastily arranged statement outside his Capitol office on Tuesday morning -- an hour before Gaetz was scheduled to deliver his speech on the floor denouncing McCarthy.' Read on.

~~~ And it's all going very smoothly: ~~~

     ~~~ Jacqueline Alemany & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "... tensions escalated between Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee and the Justice Department.... A top GOP House investigator threatened to call Capitol Police to remove an FBI lawyer from a House office building Friday morning because he was unhappy that a senior FBI agent who appeared for a closed-door interview with the committee was accompanied by both a personal lawyer and an FBI lawyer.... Republicans have alleged that the agent, Elvis Chan, was involved with a Justice Department effort to censor conservative voices on social media.... Chan insisted on having both lawyers with him -- which [Chan's personal lawyer Larry] Berger said was unsurprising in this instance because Chan has been named in lawsuits stemming from his FBI work on social media. The committee did not back down, and at one point a person on the committee suggested they would summon the Capitol Police to remove the FBI lawyer....

"Meanwhile, the committee also tangled with the Justice Department this week as Republicans pressed for interviews with more mid-level officials who have been involved with the criminal investigation of [President] Biden's son Hunter.... The Justice Department ... has maintained a long-standing department practice of shielding line attorneys involved with ongoing investigations from Congress, leading to a growing standoff." ~~

~~~ Which brings us back to the sham impeachment inquiry: ~~~

     ~~~ ** Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "As Republicans plunge forward with an impeachment inquiry looking into a complex web of allegations against President Biden, his family and his administration, witnesses they have summoned for closed-door interviews in recent weeks have undercut or pushed back against some of their major claims. In testimony this month, three witnesses from the F.B.I. and the I.R.S. have contradicted key assertions made by a whistle-blower who claimed there was political interference in the Justice Department's tax case against Mr. Biden's son, Hunter, according to hundreds of pages of transcripts obtained by The New York Times. Another former F.B.I. official, whom Republicans have accused of political bias in the Hunter Biden case, Timothy R. Thibault, condemned the allegations against him as 'false and misleading.' And a bookkeeper for the Biden family [-- Eric Schwerin --] told investigators in an informal interview that he was not aware of any financial wrongdoing by the president, according to notes taken by Democratic congressional aides and summarized in a report they released this week.... Recent testimony casts doubt on [Speaker Kevin McCarthy's] accusations [against President Biden].... Multiple witnesses have questioned another key piece of the Republican case: the allegations made by Gary Shapley, an I.R.S. agent turned whistle-blower who testified publicly that the investigation into Hunter Biden was tainted by political interference."

Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: "Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) apologized for vaping and being disruptive during a performance of the musical 'Beetlejuice' at a city-owned theater in Denver, in a statement released by her campaign team late Friday.... [Boebert and a companion] had been reprimanded multiple times by [theater] staff for 'vaping, singing, [and] causing a disturbance' to other patrons, before being kicked out, according to an incident report shared by the city. As Boebert and her male companion are escorted out of the theater, camera footage shows her rebuking a staff member and saying, 'Do you know who I am?' and 'I will be contacting the mayor,' according to the city's incident report.... Drew Sexton, the congresswoman's campaign manager, had earlier denied accusations Boebert had been vaping, saying heavy fog machines and electronic cigarettes were being used during the show, and there might have been a misunderstanding." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Sexton's statement/lie apparently preceded release of a video, which I saw on the teevee, that clearly shows Boebert vaping; no "fog machines" were involved in the giant puff of smoke seen emanating from her e-cig. Although Boebert pretends to be pro-life, Boebert ignored a complaint of her vaping by a pregnant woman sitting nearby, according to an MSNBC on-air report. Boebert denied not just the vaping but also that a pregnant woman asked her to stop. (In addition, the video showed Boebert giving a theater employee the finger as she and her date are escorted out of the theater.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Josh Marshall of TPM goes to the videotape: "It's literally right there on video. Just like the pregnant woman said. Boebert's comical lies are all proven.... As you can see if you watch, it's pretty comprehensive.... You see Boebert rocking out, getting fondled by her current boyfriend, vaping, telling the pregnant lady to pound [sand]. There's even a little coda at the end where she's being escorted out by the usher and flips off a theater employee." Includes video, of course.

Presidential Race & Veep-Stakes 2024

Wherein Donald Pretends to Be Chivalrous. Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump told Kristen Welker in a soon-to-be-released interview on NBC's 'Meet the Press' that he made the decision to keep former First Lady Melania Trump off the campaign trail for him, because he would rather not have her subjected to attacks, reported The Daily Beast on Friday. 'Honestly, I like to keep her away from it,' said Trump, according to the news report.... This comes after the former president dodged questions about Melania in an interview with Megyn Kelly, saying that 'the beauty is that mystery.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: While I'm aware that a general "tell" that Donald Trump is lying is that his lips are moving, another specific tell is when he prefaces a remark with "honestly." I don't think I've ever read his saying "honestly," when the word was not followed by an obvious lie. Donald posing as a courtly defender of his wife is fall-off-your-gallant-steed hilarious, even without the proof that he had to plow through one interview to come up with a fake answer in the next. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Marie: Oh gosh, I spoke too soon. The NBC News report on the Welker interview indicates knight-in-shining-armor Donald will not be protecting his lady for long: "Former President Trump said Thursday that former First Lady Melania Trump may be back on the campaign trail with him 'pretty soon.'" What does he have to do to get Melanie to show up at a campaign event? Add another $1MM to her pre-nup payoff? As some cynical contributors suggested in yesterday's thread, Melanie may have a few teeny character flaws, but I'd say that at least she knows enough to stay as far away from her meal ticket husband at possible.

Marie: Last week I saw speculation that how Kristi Noem would be tapped as Donald Trump's 2024 running mate. Well, maybe not: ~~~

~~~ Ken Silverstein & Laura Collins of the Daily Mail: "A rising Republican star tipped by many to be Donald Trump's running mate should he win the presidential nomination has been involved in a clandestine affair for years, multiple sources tell DailyMail.com. Married South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, 51 -- who stresses her belief in 'family values' -- and Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski, who is also married, began carrying on in 2019, if not before. Now news of the relationship threatens to wreck Noem's chances of joining Trump's ticket in a potential rematch with President Joe Biden." MB: It is the Daily Mail. But still. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Eric Loomis in LG&$ disagrees with my speculation about Noem's veep chances: "Trump will probably name Noem his VP candidate because of this but you get your lolz these days when you can. And hey, I guess I can see why Pence won't meet with her alone. Mother would get jealous!... And should we speculate that it was Corey who wanted Noem to remake her face with plastic? It would be irresponsible not to speculate." MB: And this, after RockyGirl and others commented a few days ago upon Lauren Boebert's extraordinary gigantic sparkly headlights! (See videotape embedded in Josh Marshall's post.) It's as if some people don't think the pretty Republican ladies are for real. But can't we at least acknowledge that these GOP mesdames fit right in with the courtly ladies of yore, who applied every manner of artifice to enhance their looks?

Mary Beth Sheridan & Matthew Brown of the Washington Post: "Ovidio Guzmán, a son of former drug kingpin Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán who allegedly became a major trafficker himself -- and a protagonist in America's fentanyl boom -- has been extradited to the United States, the Justice Department said Friday. Prosecutors allege that the younger Guzmán, 33, helped run what Attorney General Merrick Garland has called 'the largest, most violent, and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation in the world.' U.S. prosecutors say he and his brothers became key leaders of the Sinaloa cartel after their father was arrested in 2016. Mexican army and national guard troops captured Guzmán in the Sinaloa city of Culiacán in January in gun battles that left at least 29 people dead. He has been indicted in New York, Chicago and D.C. on federal charges of trafficking fentanyl, cocaine, heroin and other illegal drugs to the United States."

DeNeen Brown of the Washington Post: "On Sept. 15, 1963, dynamite ripped through the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., killing four Black girls in the church basement as they prepared to attend Sunday services. The powerful blast reduced the church to rubble, mangling cars in the parking lot and stopping clocks. The dynamite blew plaster off the walls and peeled the face off the image of Jesus in a stained-glass window.... Sixty years later, as the country continues to reel from recent high-profile police killings of unarmed Black Americans and lawmakers in several states restrict the teaching of Black history, the city of Birmingham is hosting a week of events to commemorate the victims of the church bombing and highlight the civil rights push that followed." Read on. ~~~

     ~~~ Erica Green & Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on Friday called on the nation to accept some of the ugliest truths in its history as she confronted the debates roiling the country about racism and violence against Black Americans. In a speech from the pulpit of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Justice Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the nation's highest court, said that she made her first trip to Alabama 'to commemorate and mourn, celebrate -- and warn.' She was the keynote speaker to mark the 60th anniversary of a bombing by the Ku Klux Klan that killed four young girls at the church as they arrived for Sunday morning service."

The Conversation -- September 15, 2023

Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department is asking the judge overseeing Donald Trump's federal election fraud trial to impose some limitations on the former president's public comments, saying he is seeking to undermine the criminal justice system with his incendiary rhetoric.... The request was made under seal earlier this month; a redacted version was published late Friday. Trump opposes the request.... The 'limited' order [prosecutors] request would bar specific statements about witnesses, as well as any 'disparaging and inflammatory, or intimidating' comments about anyone involved in the case, including potential jurors.... Right now, prosecutors say, Trump is making inappropriate comments on a 'near-daily basis.' Examples given in the 19-page filing include Truth Social posts in which Trump called [Jack] Smith 'deranged' and his fellow prosecutors 'thugs,' [Judge Tanya] Chutkan a 'fraud, [Mike] Pence 'delusional,' and D.C. 'filthy and crime ridden,' as well as one in which Trump simply wrote, the day after his arraignment, in all caps, 'If you go after me, I'm coming after you!'" The New York Times story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "... Donald Trump's public statements about the federal election interference investigation led to the harassment of witnesses, according to prosecutors with special counsel Jack Smith's office. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the federal case against Trump related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, is weighing what to do with the special counsel prosecutors' complaints regarding the alleged harassment. The allegations were made public by the court Friday, after previous court filings indicated prosecutors were taking issue with Trump's 'extrajudicial statements' about the case. 'In its Motion, the government seeks to establish that Defendant has publicly criticized his perceived adversaries and is aware that this criticism has led to their harassment,' Chutkan wrote in an opinion Friday to unseal part of the discussions." This is a developing story. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the government's motion, via Politico.

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Federal prosecutors secretly argued in April that if Donald Trump learned of their efforts to access his Twitter account, his public disclosure of the development could 'precipitate violence.'... Informing Trump about the Twitter search warrant 'could precipitate violence as occurred following the public disclosure of the search warrant executed at Mar-a-Lago,' the prosecutors warned. The new filings, part of a monthslong legal battle between Twitter ... and the special counsel's team over whether the social media company ... could inform Trump about the search warrant the investigators had obtained before it complied with its directives.... Prosecutors -- and ultimately U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell -- ... sharply rejected Twitter's notion that Trump's account might contain privileged material. Howell held Twitter in contempt in February and fined the company $350,000 for missing court-ordered deadlines to comply with the prosecutors' search warrant." ~~~

     ~~~ Tierney Sneed, et al., of CNN: "Twitter turned over at least 32 direct messages from ... Donald Trump's account -- @realDonaldTrump – to special counsel Jack Smith earlier this year as part of the federal election subversion investigation, according to newly unsealed court filings. In seeking the messages, prosecutors specifically argued that Trump posed a risk of tampering with evidence.... It is not clear exactly how the [direct] messages have informed the investigation."

Marie: Last week I saw speculation that how Kristi Noem would be tapped as Donald Trump's 2024 running mate. Well, maybe not: ~~~

~~~ Ken Silverstein & Laura Collins of the Daily Mail: "A rising Republican star tipped by many to be Donald Trump's running mate should he win the presidential nomination has been involved in a clandestine affair for years, multiple sources tell DailyMail.com. Married South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, 51 -- who stresses her belief in 'family values' -- and Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski, who is also married, began carrying on in 2019, if not before. Now news of the relationship threatens to wreck Noem's chances of joining Trump's ticket in a potential rematch with President Joe Biden." MB: It is the Daily Mail. But still.

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Neal Boudette of the New York Times: "Thousands of members of the United Automobile Workers union went on strike Friday at three plants in three Midwestern states in what was the first strike simultaneously affecting all three Detroit automakers. The union and the companies -- General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis, the parent of Chrysler -- remained deadlocked in negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement when the current contract expired at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday.... At the outset, the strike will idle one plant owned by each automaker, and could force the automakers to halt production at other locations, shaking local economies in factory towns across the Midwest.... The plants designated for walkouts on Friday represent only a small portion of all the unionized factories of G.M., Ford and Stellantis and of those companies' 150,000 U.A.W. members." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN is liveblogging developments here. The New York Times' liveblog is here.

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden challenged his Republican opponents on Thursday in their area of political strength, arguing that he has done a better job of managing the economy than ... Donald J. Trump did and accusing his predecessor's congressional allies of undercutting working-class Americans.... 'They have a very different vision for America,' Mr. Biden said in a speech at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Md., just outside the nation's capital, where he held up a copy of budget plans by House Republicans. 'Their plan, MAGAnomics, is more extreme than anything America has ever seen before.' Mr. Biden trained his criticism on Republicans who are threatening to shut down the federal government if their plans are not enacted. The president accused the Republicans of caring more about the wealthy than the working class, pointing to proposals to cut taxes for high-income households and corporations; wring savings from Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; and reverse initiatives to lower the cost of insulin and other prescription medicine."

Michael Schmidt & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Hunter Biden, the president's son, was charged on Thursday by federal prosecutors with lying about his drug use in connection with his purchase of a handgun in 2018, a move that could put him on trial next year as his father runs for re-election. The decision to file criminal charges against President Biden's troubled youngest son was an extraordinary step for the Justice Department and the lead prosecutor on the case, David C. Weiss, whom Attorney General Merrick B. Garland named as a special counsel last month. Mr. Garland gave Mr. Weiss that status after the last-minute collapse of a previous deal that would have resolved the long-running investigation without Mr. Biden serving prison time.... The gun charge, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, is only sporadically brought against first-time offenders, particularly ones like Mr. Biden, who is not accused of using the weapon in another crime. Mr. Biden's lawyers have argued to Justice Department officials that the charge will ultimately be thrown out because a series of Supreme Court and appeals court decisions have cast doubt on the constitutionality of the federal government putting certain conditions on firearms purchases." The NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Andrew Weissmann said on MSNBC that it is odd that a few weeks ago these same Trump-appointed prosecutor was going to accept a plea deal and now -- after Congressional Republicans amped up the volume on their whining -- and now he suddenly thinks the same set of facts is worth three criminal charges. Indeed, many people thought the original plea deal itself was too harsh and unusual under the circumstances. Weissmann expects Hunter's attorneys will justifiably argue selective prosecution. MB: So is Hunter getting special treatment? Why, yes, yes, he is. In the meantime, here's my advice to the parties: negotiate a plea deal! (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "Prosecutors and FBI agents involved in the Hunter Biden investigation have been the targets of threats and harassment by people who think they haven't been tough enough on the president's son, according to government officials and congressional testimony obtained exclusively by NBC News. It's part of a dramatic uptick in threats against FBI agents that has coincided with attacks on the FBI and the Justice Department by congressional Republicans and ... Donald Trump, who have accused both agencies of participating in a conspiracy to subvert justice amid two federal indictments of Trump. The threats have prompted the FBI to create a stand-alone unit to investigate and mitigate them, according to a previously unreleased transcript of congressional testimony." (Also linked yesterday.)

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "An urgent push by Speaker Kevin McCarthy to avert a government shutdown collapsed on Thursday as he bowed to resistance from his most conservative members and abandoned an effort to bring up a Pentagon spending measure this week." A related NPR story is here. ~~~

~~~ Emily Brooks & Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) vented his frustration about the hard-line conservatives holding up appropriations, dropping an expletive as he dared his fiercest critics to attempt a vote to oust him. During a closed-door conference meeting Thursday, McCarthy addressed an uptick in threats from members to call a motion to vacate the chair -- a move to force a vote on ousting the Speaker. 'If you want to file a motion to vacate, then file the f[uck]ing motion,' McCarthy said, Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) recounted. McCarthy's comments follow Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) earlier this week explicitly threatening to call a motion to vacate if McCarthy does not follow through with a number of spending priorities and votes on bills that his detractors were promised in January." (Also linked yesterday.)

Annie Karni of the New York Times: Mitt Romney "appears to be exiting [public life] in a blaze of tea-spilling glory, choosing to share his unfiltered -- and often unflattering -- thoughts about his colleagues and his dismay about what has become of the modern-day G.O.P. by participating in a deeply reported biography.... The senator sat for hours of interviews with the author, McKay Coppins of The Atlantic, giving him access to emails, texts and his journals that Mr. Romney had been saving to potentially write a memoir.... Here are six takeaways [from an excerpt of the book published in the Atlantic]." Worth a read. ~~~

~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "Senator Mitt Romney of Utah has framed [his retirement] as a passing of the torch.... 'The next generation of leaders must take America to the next stage of global leadership.' The problem with this argument is that Romney despises the next generation of Republican leaders.... So ... I don't think [the gerontocracy is] why Romney is bowing out. Rather..., [it's because his brand of stolid, upstanding conservatism has become obsolete, replaced with a conspiratorial, histrionic and sometimes violent authoritarianism. His reluctance to say so clearly, at the cost of breaking with his party definitively, is evidence of something tragic in his character.... By putting age at the center of his argument, he's setting himself above the fray, pretending that both parties are equally at fault in bringing the country to this perilous pass."

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "... the latest census report on income and poverty made me angry. It showed that child poverty more than doubled between 2021 and 2022. That's 5.1 million children pushed into misery.... This didn't have to happen. Soaring child poverty wasn't caused by inflation or other macroeconomic problems. It was instead a political choice.... Republicans and a handful of conservative Democrats blocked the extension of federal programs that had drastically reduced child poverty over the previous two years, and as a result just about all of the gains were lost.... First, avoiding much of this human catastrophe would have cost remarkably little money. Second, child poverty is, in the long run, very expensive for the nation as a whole: Americans who live in poverty as children grow up to become less healthy and productive adults than they should be."

Connor O'Brien of Politico: "President Joe Biden's nominee to be the Navy's top officer, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, said it could take the service years to recover from the impacts of Sen. Tommy Tuberville's blockade of hundreds of senior military promotions. Franchetti told the Senate Armed Services Committee during her confirmation hearing Thursday that the impasse has created 'a lot of uncertainty' for Navy families."

Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "A judge on Thursday granted ... Donald J. Trump and 16 others a separate trial from two of their co-defendants, who will go to trial next month in the Georgia election interference case. The judge, Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court, has laid out an expedited trial schedule for Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell.... The two had invoked their right under Georgia law to seek a speedy trial, in part to avoid the high cost of a more protracted legal fight. Their trial is set to begin on Oct. 23." The ABC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Spencer Hsu & Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "Prosecutors working with special counsel Jack Smith on Thursday urged U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to refuse a request by Donald Trump's attorneys that she disqualify herself from his federal election obstruction case, saying Trump's team had failed to supply evidence that she was biased against him.... Before the special counsel investigation began, while sentencing people who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, Chutkan twice noted that Trump and other leaders claiming the election was stolen had not been charged with crimes.... Legal analysts said views that a judge expresses at the sentencing of one defendant usually cannot be the basis for recusing them in the case of a different defendant, as that is the basis of their job, and they are trusted to not let their views bias them against other defendants. A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1994 that a judge must recuse from a case based on 'opinions formed' through court proceedings only if those opinions 'display a deep-seated favoritism or antagonism that would make fair judgment impossible.'"

Dave Collins of the AP: "As Alex Jones continues telling his Infowars audience about his money problems and pleads for them to buy his products, his own documents show life is not all that bad -- his net worth is around $14 million and his personal spending topped $93,000 in July alone, including thousands of dollars on meals and entertainment. The conspiracy theorist and his lawyers file monthly financial reports in his personal bankruptcy case, and the latest one has struck a nerve with the families of victims of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. They're still seeking the $1.5 billion they won last year in lawsuits against Jones and his media company for repeatedly calling the 2012 massacre a hoax on his shows." The Sandy Hook families have not seen a penny.

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Kentucky. Well, That Didn't Take Long. Gloria Oladipo of the Guardian & Agencies: "A former Kentucky county clerk is being ordered to pay $100,000 to a local couple who sued the clerk after she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Kim Davis, the former clerk of Rowan county in eastern Kentucky, rose to national prominence for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses in 2015, arguing that such actions violated her religious beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman.... Last year, a federal judge ruled that Davis violated the constitutional rights of the two gay couples who sued her.... This week, in a trial to determine damages Davis must pay, a federal jury ordered Davis to pay $50,000 each to David Ermold and David Moore, according to lawyers of Davis, the Associated Press reported. The second couple who sued, James Yates and Will Smith, were awarded no damages." (Also linked yesterday.)

Texas. Robert Downen of the Texas Tribune: "Ken Paxton's defense team rested their case Thursday evening after a full day of testimony in which they attacked several of the 16 impeachment articles and downplayed the suspended attorney general's conduct as merely a part of his duties. The prosecution and defense will present closing arguments beginning at 9 a.m. Friday, after which the rules call for senators to deliberate in private before emerging to cast votes on each of 16 articles of impeachment."

Marie: Here's why I fear/am ashamed of being an American:

~~~ Washington. Justine McDaniel of the Washington Post: "A man who was trying to slow traffic in his neighborhood because deer were crossing the street was shot and killed by another man who was driving past, authorities in western Washington state said. Dan Spaeth of Snohomish, Wash., was outside his home with his wife on the evening of Sept. 7, trying to alert passing cars to deer that were crossing the road, Snohomish County Sheriff's Office Det. Kendra Conley wrote in an affidavit of probable cause filed in court. He was shot once by a man driving by, who later told authorities that seeing Spaeth and his wife in the street made him afraid and he fired the shot to scare the couple, according to the affidavit. After a search for the car, police detained Dylan Picard, 22, of Lake Stevens, Wash. He is charged with second-degree murder. Picard told detectives he did not know Spaeth or his wife.... Spaeth's death is another in a growing list of killings by Americans who have shot people in seemingly innocuous situations...." MB: Who wants to live in a country like this?

Wisconsin. Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: "Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate voted Thursday to fire the swing state's top elections official, who argued lawmakers didn't have the power to oust her and said she would stay in office. About an hour after the vote, she sued GOP lawmakers, seeking validation from the courts that she can keep her job. The vote ignited a dispute over who is in charge of overseeing elections in a state that is expected to play a critical role in next year's presidential contest and that may have to redraw its legislative districts within months. The Republicans' own lawyers, as well as the state's Democratic attorney general, told the senators before the vote that they didn't have the authority to remove Meagan Wolfe, the director of the state's bipartisan elections commission. Wolfe, whose position is nonpartisan, has won praise from voting administrators across the country as well as local officials in Wisconsin."

Wisconsin. Patrick Marley & Caroline Kitchener of the Washington Post: "Planned Parenthood plans to resume offering abortions in Wisconsin next week, more than a year after it stopped providing the service because of the Supreme Court's decision overturning the right to abortion. Planned Parenthood and others stopped providing abortions after the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization because of an 1849 law that was broadly viewed as banning nearly all abortions. The Wisconsin attorney general, a Democrat, sued in state court to try to overturn that law. A judge in July issued an initial ruling that concluded the 1849 law did not ban anyone from seeking abortions but rather barred someone from battering a pregnant woman and killing her unborn child. The judge is expected to issue a final ruling in the case soon, but Planned Parenthood announced Thursday it was not waiting for that ruling and instead would resume offering services on Monday at clinics in Milwaukee and Madison."