The Conversation -- August 22, 2023

Somini Sengupta of the New York Times: "Texas has shipped ... a busload of migrants who had crossed the border from Mexico ... into Los Angeles as it was struggling to keep residents safe from Tropical Storm Hilary. The busload of 37 migrants left the border city of Brownsville at 5 p.m. on Sunday, just as Southern California and much of the surrounding area was in a state of emergency, according to a coalition of advocacy groups that received them. They arrived around 6:30 p.m. Monday.... Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles called the decision 'evil.' On X..., she wrote that 'while we were urging Angelenos to stay safe, the Governor of Texas was sending a bus with families and toddlers straight towards us KNOWING they'd have to drive right into an unprecedented storm.'" Thanks to RAS for the lead. MB: It's a shame that the U.S. does not recognize the International Criminal Court in the Hague, because Greg Abbott should be put on the block for crimes against humanity.

Jeremy Diamond of CNN: "President Joe Biden has tapped Ed Siskel, the former White House attorney who helped manage the Obama White House's response to the Benghazi and Solyndra investigations, to serve as his next White House counsel. Siskel will step into the role next month, the White House said, as Biden is charging into a reelection battle and at a time when the various judicial and congressional investigations circling around the president, his family and his administration are entering a critical stage. Biden could soon be interviewed by federal investigators as part of the special counsel investigation into his handling of classified documents; the US attorney investigating the president's son Hunter has just been named a special counsel; and House Republicans, who are already investigating Biden on several fronts, are eyeing a potential impeachment inquiry into the president. He succeeds White House counsel Stuart Delery, who announced last week he will step down after a little over a year in the top role."

CNN is live-updating developments in Fulton County, Georgia's Trump Crime Family RICO case. John Eastman and Scott Hall have surrendered at the Fulton County jail. Jeff Clark, Acting U.S. A.G. for a few hours, has filed motions in federal court arguing the Fulton County D.A. has no jurisdiction over his conduct & asks the court to dismiss all charges against him.

Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times: Former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has taken "wary steps ... to navigate legal and political peril as prosecutors in Washington and Georgia closed in on Mr. Trump, seeking to avoid being charged himself while also sidestepping the career risks of being seen as cooperating with what his Republican allies had cast as partisan persecution of the former president.... The full extent of what he shared with federal prosecutors remains closely held, as are the terms under which he spoke to them.... While Mr. Meadows's strategy of targeted assistance to federal prosecutors and sphinxlike public silence largely kept him out of the 45-page election interference indictment that [special counsel Jack] Smith filed against Mr. Trump in Washington, it did not help him avoid similar charges in Fulton County, Ga. Mr. Meadows was named last week as one of Mr. Trump's co-conspirators...." MB: The reporters convey what seems to be inside information about Meadows' maneuvers.

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Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Erica Green of the New York Times: "President Biden toured the scorched remains of Lahaina, a coastal town on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on Monday in his first visit since devastating wildfires killed more than 100 people and left behind scenes of twisted metal and hollowed-out homes. Mr. Biden, who broke away from his summer vacation on Lake Tahoe in Nevada, met with survivors of the fires and with emergency workers and state and local officials. The president hugged Gov. Josh Green, a Democrat, and walked arm in arm with him to Marine One for a 20-minute aerial tour of the wreckage. Sporting a green and yellow lei, he told community members, 'the entire country is here for you.'" CNN's story is here. ~~~

~~~ The New York Times liveblogged President Biden & Dr. Jill Biden's visit to the fire disaster on Maui: "President Biden flew over the blackened remains of Lahaina on Monday in his first visit since the deadly wildfires and declared: 'The devastation is overwhelming.' And in remarks in Lahaina near a 150-year-old banyan tree that survived the fire to become a symbol of hope, Mr. Biden repeatedly called Hawaii 'the kingdom of Hawaii' as he emphasized his commitment to rebuilding. Lahaina was once the royal capital."

Sahil Kapur & Rebecca Kaplan of NBC News: "The ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus is demanding a series of conservative policy changes in exchange for giving their support to any short-term funding measure designed to avert a government shutdown on Sept. 30. The Republican rebels are insisting that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who floated the idea of a stopgap bill last week, impose conditions that are extremely unlikely to be accepted by the Democratic-led Senate and President Joe Biden."

Trump Crime Family Blotter

Trump, Others Strike Bail Deal. Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "... Donald Trump has agreed to a $200,000 bond in the Georgia criminal case charging him with trying to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election results in the state.... The order was signed off on by Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee. The order, which was signed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Trump's attorneys, says that Trump 'shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a codefendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice.' It also says the 'Defendant shall make no direct or indirect threat of any nature against the community or to any property in the community; The above shall include, but are not limited to, posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media.'" The story also covers bond agreements reached for defendants John Eastman, Ken Chesebro & Scott Hall. MB: The terms of Trump's bond agreement put a severe crimp in his SOP. We'll see what happens, won't we? (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ You can read Trump's bond agreement here, via CNN. It's three short pages, with lotsa white space, and altogether a satisfying read.

More Lies in Service of the Big Lie. Daniel Dale of CNN: "... Donald Trump keeps telling the lie that he won Georgia in the 2020 election. This weekend, he delivered a new false claim in support of that old false claim. Trump's deception about what happened in Georgia has not relented even as he prepares to turn himself in this week to face charges in Fulton County over his efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden. On Saturday, he posted on social media that despite having won Georgia in 2016, doing a 'fantastic job' as president and earning millions more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016 and more votes than a sitting president had ever received before, he had 'shockingly, "LOST" Georgia' -- putting lost in quotation marks.... 'All this despite winning nearby Alabama and South Carolina in Record Setting Landslides.... Does anybody really believe I lost Georgia? I DON'T!'...

"Trump lost Georgia fair and square in 2020, by 11,779 votes, and his claim that he won South Carolina and Alabama in record landslides is not even close to true. Numerous previous candidates have earned far larger margins of victory in South Carolina and Alabama than Trump did in 2020. Even Trump himself won each state by a larger margin in 2016 than he did in 2020 -- a fact that contravenes his insinuation that his 2020 failure in Georgia was mysteriously at odds with a better-than-ever performance elsewhere in the region."

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "Delaying Donald Trump's federal trial for his efforts to stop the peaceful transfer of power until 2026 would 'deny the public its right to a speedy trial,' federal prosecutors for special counsel Jack Smith wrote in a court filing on Monday.... Smith's team wrote that Trump's proposal is premised on the notion that lawyers will individually and manually review discovery, which is not consistent with modern practices.... 'In cases such as this one, the burden of reviewing discovery cannot be measured by page count alone, and comparisons to the height of the Washington Monument and the length of a Tolstoy novel are neither helpful nor insightful; in fact, comparisons such as those are a distraction from the issue at hand -- which is determining what is required to prepare for trial,' they wrote. 'To accomplish that, the discovery should instead be measured by its relevance, organization, accessibility, searchability, and reviewability. Here, the Government has organized and produced materials in a manner designed to ease and expedite the defendant's review and search, which allows for trial to proceed as the Government has proposed.'" (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.

What Is the Trump Cult Saying Today? Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: A new CBS News-YouGov survey finds that "more Trump voters trust him than trust their own friends and family, conservative media or even religious leaders." Still, only 71 percent say they trust Trump to tell the truth. MB: These are sad, suspicious people whose lives must really suck. Sure, they're trying to turn the country into a dystopian nightmare. To some extent, they are already succeeding, and they may have greater success in the near future. The whole project seems to be to make everyone as miserable as they are.

** Embryo of Another U.S. Civil War. TJ L'Heureux, et al., of the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism & Arizona Center for Investigative Journalism, published by ABC News: "... the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, founded in 2011 by former Arizona sheriff Richard Mack..., known as CSPOA, teaches that elected sheriffs must 'protect their citizens from the overreach of an out-of-control federal government' by refusing to enforce any law they deem unconstitutional or 'unjust.' 'The safest way to actually achieve that is to have local law enforcement understand that they have no obligation to enforce such laws,' Mack said in an interview. 'They're not laws at all anyway. If they're unjust laws, they are laws of tyranny.'... The sheriffs group has railed against gun control laws, COVID-19 mask mandates and public health restrictions, as well as alleged election fraud. It has also quietly spread its ideology across the country, seeking to become more mainstream in part by securing state approval for taxpayer-funded law enforcement training standards." Read on. MB: This is not your typical band of grease-painted extremists playing war games in the Idaho woods. They are elected officials; they have badges and guns. And I'll bet they can talk the guys in the woods into joining them.

Presidential Race 2024

Jill Colvin of the AP: "... Donald Trump confirmed Sunday that he will be skipping Wednesday's first Republican presidential primary debate -- and others as well. 'The public knows who I am & what a successful Presidency I had,' Trump wrote on his social media site. 'I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES!' His spokesman did not immediately clarify whether he plans to boycott every primary debate or just those that have currently been scheduled."

Eric Bradner of CNN: "Eight Republicans have qualified for the party's first 2024 presidential primary debate Wednesday night, the Republican National Committee announced Monday evening. The list includes North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.... Donald Trump -- the clear front-runner in national and early state polls -- has said he would skip the debate in Milwaukee and called on his rivals to drop out. To make the first debate stage, the RNC required candidates to draw at least 40,000 individual donors and register at least 1% support in three national polls or in two national and two early state polls that met the RNC's criteria. The candidates were also required to sign a pledge to back the eventual winner of the GOP primary, no matter who it is."

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Tennessee. GOP Legislators Back Guns for the Violently Unstable. Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "When Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee began a push in April to address public safety, his family was grieving the loss of two close friends, both educators killed in a mass shooting at a Nashville Christian school. His call for millions of dollars to harden school security was embraced by Republicans in the legislature, who flanked him during a formal announcement. But days later, when Mr. Lee, a Republican, decided to go further and ask for an order of protection law that could temporarily restrict an individual's access to firearms, he stood alone for the announcement. The legislature would wrap up its work by the end of the month without taking a vote to pass it. Now, Mr. Lee has summoned lawmakers back to Nashville on Monday for a special session on public safety that could include consideration of a limited version of the law. But without the support of most in his own party, that measure appears, once again, destined for failure, underscoring the power dynamics of a Republican supermajority driven by a right-wing base hardened against any potential infringement on gun ownership."

News Lede

AP: "Army commandos using helicopters and a makeshift chairlift rescued eight people from a broken cable car as it dangled hundreds of meters (feet) above a canyon Tuesday in a remote, mountainous part of Pakistan, authorities said. The six children and two adults became trapped earlier in the day when a cable snapped while they were crossing a river canyon in the Battagram district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The children were on their way to school.... Villagers frequently use cable cars to get around Pakistan's mountainous regions. But the cars are often poorly maintained, and every year people die or are injured while traveling in them."

The Conversation -- August 21, 2023

Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "... Donald Trump has agreed to a $200,000 bond in the Georgia criminal case charging him with trying to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election results in the state.... The order was signed off on by Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee. The order, which was signed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Trump's attorneys, says that Trump 'shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a codefendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice.' It also says the 'Defendant shall make no direct or indirect threat of any nature against the community or to any property in the community; The above shall include, but are not limited to, posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media.'" The story also covers bond agreements reached for defendants John Eastman, Ken Chesebro & Scott Hall. MB: The terms of Trump's bond agreement put a severe crimp in his SOP. We'll see what happens, won't we?

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "Delaying Donald Trump's federal trial for his efforts to stop the peaceful transfer of power until 2026 would 'deny the public its right to a speedy trial,' federal prosecutors for special counsel Jack Smith wrote in a court filing on Monday.... Smith's team wrote that Trump's proposal is premised on the notion that lawyers will individually and manually review discovery, which is not consistent with modern practices.... 'In cases such as this one, the burden of reviewing discovery cannot be measured by page count alone, and comparisons to the height of the Washington Monument and the length of a Tolstoy novel are neither helpful nor insightful; in fact, comparisons such as those are a distraction from the issue at hand -- which is determining what is required to prepare for trial,' they wrote. 'To accomplish that, the discovery should instead be measured by its relevance, organization, accessibility, searchability, and reviewability. Here, the Government has organized and produced materials in a manner designed to ease and expedite the defendant's review and search, which allows for trial to proceed as the Government has proposed.'"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Trump Crime Family Blotter

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows has asked a federal court to order all charges against him brought by Fulton County, Georgia, prosecutors last week to be dismissed, since he says the charges relate to his then-role in the federal government. In a weekend filing, Meadows argues he should have immunity from the state's 2020 election interference criminal case because he was carrying out his duties as a federal official working for ... Donald Trump. The filing argues that his actions arose only because he was serving Trump as a close White House adviser." MB: I doubt this motion will succeed. And personally, I think it's a bad "look" for Meadows to formally declare he should not be held responsible for his actions. (Also linked yesterday.)

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post explains several reasons that efforts of various Georgia defendants, including Donald Trump & Mark Meadows, should not be successful in their attempts to remove the cases against them from state to federal court. (Meadows has already filed to remove the case.) For one thing, "Neither Trump nor Meadows ... had any constitutional duties regarding state certification of Georgia's own election. The Framers parceled out election duties to the states, the electoral college and Congress, but not the president. Moreover, in seeking removal, a defendant must also show that he has a 'colorable' defense under federal law, such as immunity. [That is, they must have a federal defense against the charges, which they don't.]... Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington, D.C., held last November, 'If Former President Trump disrupted the certification of the electoral vote count..., such actions would not constitute executive action in defense of the Constitution.'" Thanks to Ken W. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

Katherine Faulders, et al., of ABC News: "Appearing to contradict ... Donald Trump's primary public defense in the classified documents case, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has told special counsel Jack Smith's investigators that he could not recall Trump ever ordering, or even discussing, declassifying broad sets of classified materials before leaving the White House, nor was he aware of any 'standing order' from Trump authorizing the automatic declassification of materials taken out of the Oval Office.... ABC News has also reviewed an early draft of the prologue to Meadows' book ... about his time serving as Trump's chief of staff..., which includes a description of Trump having a classified war plan 'on the couch' at his office in Bedminster, New Jersey, at a meeting attended by Meadows' ghostwriter and publicist, but not by Meadows himself. The reference to that document being in Trump's possession was removed before the book was published. Multiple sources tell ABC News Meadows acknowledged to investigators that he asked that the paragraph be changed, and that it would be 'problematic' had Trump had such a document in his possession. Sources tell ABC News that Meadows told special counsel investigators that he did not discuss making those edits with Trump." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Jamie Gangel, et al., of CNN (Aug. 18): "In the days since the FBI seized classified and top secret documents from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, the former President and his allies have claimed that Trump had a 'standing order' to declassify documents he took from the Oval Office to the White House residence. But 18 former top Trump administration officials tell CNN they never heard any such order issued during their time working for Trump, and that they believe the claim to be patently false.... 'Nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given,' said John Kelly, who served as Trump's chief of staff for 17 months from 2017 to 2019. 'And I can't imagine anyone that worked at the White House after me that would have simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed that order to go forward without dying in the ditch trying to stop it.' Mick Mulvaney, who succeeded Kelly as acting White House chief of staff, also dismissed the idea and told CNN he was 'not aware of a general standing order' during his tenure." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "Former Vice President Mike Pence ... said Sunday he did not know of any 'broad-based effort' by ... Donald Trump to declassify documents before he left the White House.... '... I don't have any knowledge of any broad-based directive from the president,' he [said]. 'But that doesn't mean it didn't occur, I just -- it's just not something that I ever heard about.'" MB: This "secret declassification" defense has never made a whit of sense. Everyone who has access to government documents has to know the current classification status of each document. Unless there was a general government-wide email announcement every day like, "Okay, the Prez took today's Presidential Daily Briefing to his residence so you can post it on your Facebook page and talk about it with Putin," then the PDB remained, as it should be, classified. (Also linked yesterday.)

Shawna Mizelle of CNN: "Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy described the case against ... Donald Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents as 'almost a slam dunk' and said he thinks Trump should drop out of the 2024 presidential race. '... He will lose to Joe Biden, if you look at the current polls,' he told CNN's Kasie Hunt on 'State of the Union.' 'I think any Republican on that stage in Milwaukee will do a better job than Joe Biden. And so I want one of them to win...,' the Louisiana senator said. The comments from Cassidy, who was one of seven GOP senators who voted to convict Trump in 2021 at his second impeachment trial, mark some of his strongest criticism of Trump to date. They come as the various charges against Trump continue to dominate the GOP primary, with the former president widely viewed as the party's front-runner." (Also linked yesterday.)

Blame It on the Supremes. Gregory Margarian, in a New York Times op-ed: The police raid of a small-town Kansas newspaper & its editor and the seizure of the paper's records & devices, supported by a local judge's warrant, "sounds like a lurid tale from Vladimir Putin's Russia.... But the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents dozens of government (as well as private) offenses against American journalists every year -- not just searches and seizures but also arrests, physical assaults by the police, prior restraints, intimidation and improper denials of access to locations and information.... Much of [the problem] owes to the [Supreme Court] justices'; disdaining of the social value of the press while fixating instead on the First Amendment rights of businesses, big electoral spenders and anti-abortion extremists. By abandoning the press, the Supreme Court has licensed law enforcement and lower courts to regard journalists with ignorance, laziness or malice. This problem is especially acute in smaller communities that get little outside scrutiny."

Presidential Race 2024

Arlette Saenz of CNN: "President Joe Biden is preparing to blanket the airwaves with a $25 million television and digital ad campaign in battleground states this month as Republicans are set to face off in their first presidential primary debate. The first minute-long ad, titled 'Fought Back,' which was first obtained by CNN, has an economic focus, marking the campaign's latest effort to improve voter perceptions about Biden's handling of the economy. It also makes explicit reference to ... Donald Trump, as Democrats attempt to tie GOP candidates at this week's debate to Trump's 'MAGA agenda.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

"A Weird Group of Folks." Miranda Nazzaro of the Hill: "Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) on Sunday called the GOP presidential candidates heading to the debate stage a 'weird group of folks.' When asked by NBC's 'Meet The Press' moderator Chuck Todd about his working relationship with North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), who appeared earlier on the show, Walz said he was 'sad' to see Burgum dodge so many questions about former President Trump and his mounting legal troubles. 'I do believe that Doug is probably the most normal of these -- that's a pretty weird group of folks going to be on the debate stage...,' Walz said.... '[T]he minute they all step on the stage, the American people have lost. Are they going to debate who can ban the most books?'"

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California. AP: "A dispute over an LGBTQ+ pride flag at a California clothing store spiraled into deadly violence this weekend when a man shot and killed the 66-year-old business owner right in front of her shop, authorities said. The man ran away from the store after the shooting Friday night but was later found and killed in a confrontation with officers from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. The agency said Laura Ann Carleton was pronounced dead at Mag.Pi, the store she owned and operated in Cedar Glen. The small community in the San Bernadino Mountains is roughly 60 miles (96 kilometers) east of downtown Los Angeles." The New York Times story is here. MB: In Guns America, you can get shot dead for just being a decent human being. It's so disheartening.

Ecuador. Genevieve Glatsky, et al., of the New York Times: "An establishment leftist and a newcomer businessman appeared to capture the top two spots in Ecuador's presidential election on Sunday in a campaign cycle that has centered on voters' frustration with the country's soaring gang and drug cartel violence. Luisa González, who was backed by a former socialist president, and the political outsider Daniel Noboa received the highest percentage of ballots with 84 percent of the vote counted. They will compete in a runoff election on Oct. 15."

Guatemala. Nic Wirtz & Mary Beth Sheridan of the Washington Post: "A political outsider who has vowed to fight corruption was headed for a landslide victory in Sunday's presidential election in Guatemala -- a vote that could mark a turning point for a nation with a faltering democracy. The big question as Guatemalans cast their ballots, though, wasn't just whether Bernardo Arévalo would win. It was whether he'd be allowed to govern. Prosecutors tried unsuccessfully to suspend his party after he finished as the surprise runner-up in the first round of voting on June 25. U.S. and European Union officials, as well as the Organization of American States, pressed the government to allow a fair race. With nearly 96 percent of the vote tallied, Arévalo had a 59 percent to 36 percent lead, according to provisional results -- crushing his opponent Sandra Torres, a former first lady seen as close to the traditional Guatemalan political and economic power brokers." MB: Gosh, sounds like the U.S., where a loser president* tried to negate the results of a presidential election.

Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Yemen. Sarah Dadouch of the Washington Post: "Saudi security forces have killed hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers attempting to cross the country's border with Yemen, Human Rights Watch said, shooting people at close range and firing explosive weapons at groups in the mountains in what could amount to crimes against humanity. In a report released Monday, the New-York based human rights organization detailed a pattern of killings it said was widespread and systematic, based on interviews with witnesses and an analysis of photos, videos and satellite imagery going back to 2021.... The report accuses Saudi forces -- including border guards and possibly specialized units -- of killing 'hundreds, possibly thousands' of Ethiopians in recent years while subjecting survivors and detainees to torture, rape and other inhumane treatment." MB: But, hey, let's be friends with Saudi Arabia. Is there no point at which the U.S. President & State Department will say enough is enough?

News Ledes

The New York Times live updates of developments from Tropical Storm Hilary are here: "Southern California residents on Monday were assessing the impact of Hilary, a powerful storm whose strong winds and lashing rains transformed roads into streams, broke rainfall records, downed trees and power lines and knocked out 911 systems in several places. Officials warned that the extent of the damage was not yet known, though initial reports indicated that Southern California had evaded the worst. Areas to the north and northeast were still at risk of heavy rain and flooding from the storm, which weakened to a post-tropical cyclone with winds that were expected to dissipate further as the day wore on." ~~~

~~~ AP: "Tropical Storm Hilary deluged arid parts of Mexico and then drenched Southern California from the coast to inland mountains and deserts, forcing rescuers to pull several people from swollen rivers. Millions expected more flooding and mudslides Monday, even as the storm begins to weaken. The storm first made landfall in Mexico's arid Baja California Peninsula on Sunday in a sparsely populated area about 150 miles (250 kilometers) south of Ensenada. One person drowned. It then moved through mudslide-prone Tijuana, threatening the improvised homes that cling to hillsides just south of the U.S. border. The first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, Hilary dropped more than half an average year's worth of rain on some areas, including the desert resort city of Palm Springs, which saw nearly 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of rain by Sunday evening."

AP: "A moderate earthquake shook a large swath of Southern California on Sunday just hours after a tropical storm came ashore bringing torrential rain. The 5.1-magnitude quake struck at 2:41 p.m. about 4 miles (7 kilometers) southeast of the mountain community of Ojai, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was felt widely across the region and bookended by smaller foreshocks and aftershocks, the USGS said." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Maybe if I still lived in Southern California, I'd believe in powerful supernatural forces, and about now I'd believe the gods were extremely irritated.

The Conversation -- August 20, 2023

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: “Former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows has asked a federal court to order all charges against him brought by Fulton County, Georgia, prosecutors last week to be dismissed, since he says the charges relate to his then-role in the federal government. In a weekend filing, Meadows argues he should have immunity from the state's 2020 election interference criminal case because he was carrying out his duties as a federal official working for ... Donald Trump. The filing argues that his actions arose only because he was serving Trump as a close White House adviser." MB: I doubt this motion will succeed. And personally, I think it's a bad "loo" for Meadows to formally declare he should not be held responsible for his actions.

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post explains several reasons that efforts of various Georgia defendants, including Donald Trump & Mark Meadows, should not be successful in their attempts to remove the cases against them from state to federal court. (Meadows has already filed to remove the case.) For one thing, "Neither Trump nor Meadows ... had any constitutional duties regarding state certification of Georgia's own election. The Framers parceled out election duties to the states, the electoral college and Congress, but not the president. Moreover, in seeking removal, a defendant must also show that he has a 'colorable' defense under federal law, such as immunity. [That is, they must have a federal defense against the charges, which they don't.]... Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington, D.C., held last November, 'If Former President Trump disrupted the certification of the electoral vote count..., such actions would not constitute executive action in defense of the Constitution.'" Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Katherine Faulders, et al., of ABC News: "Appearing to contradict ... Donald Trump's primary public defense in the classified documents case, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has told special counsel Jack Smith's investigators that he could not recall Trump ever ordering, or even discussing, declassifying broad sets of classified materials before leaving the White House, nor was he aware of any 'standing order' from Trump authorizing the automatic declassification of materials taken out of the Oval Office, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.... ABC News has also reviewed an early draft of the prologue to Meadows' book ... about his time serving as Trump's chief of staff..., which includes a description of Trump having a classified war plan 'on the couch' at his office in Bedminster, New Jersey, at a meeting attended by Meadows' ghostwriter and publicist, but not by Meadows himself. The reference to that document being in Trump's possession was removed before the book was published. Multiple sources tell ABC News Meadows acknowledged to investigators that he asked that the paragraph be changed, and that it would be 'problematic' had Trump had such a document in his possession. Sources tell ABC News that Meadows told special counsel investigators that he did not discuss making those edits with Trump." ~~~

~~~ Jamie Gangel, et al., of CNN (Aug. 18): "In the days since the FBI seized classified and top secret documents from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, the former President and his allies have claimed that Trump had a 'standing order' to declassify documents he took from the Oval Office to the White House residence. But 18 former top Trump administration officials tell CNN they never heard any such order issued during their time working for Trump, and that they believe the claim to be patently false.... 'Nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given,' said John Kelly, who served as Trump's chief of staff for 17 months from 2017 to 2019. 'And I can't imagine anyone that worked at the White House after me that would have simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed that order to go forward without dying in the ditch trying to stop it.' Mick Mulvaney, who succeeded Kelly as acting White House chief of staff, also dismissed the idea and told CNN he was 'not aware of a general standing order' during his tenure." ~~~

~~~ Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "Former Vice President Mike Pence ... said Sunday he did not know of any 'broad-based effort' by ... Donald Trump to declassify documents before he left the White House.... '... I don't have any knowledge of any broad-based directive from the president,' he [said]. 'But that doesn't mean it didn't occur, I just -- it's just not something that I ever heard about.'" MB: This "secret declassification" defense has never made sense. Everyone who has access to government documents has to know the current classification status of each document. Unless there was a general government-wide email announcement every day like, "Okay, the Prez took today's Presidential Daily Briefing to his residence so you can post it on your Facebook page and talk about it with Putin," then the PDB remained, as it should be, classified.

Arlette Saenz of CNN: "President Joe Biden is preparing to blanket the airwaves with a $25 million television and digital ad campaign in battleground states this month as Republicans are set to face off in their first presidential primary debate. The first minute-long ad, titled 'Fought Back,' which was first obtained by CNN, has an economic focus, marking the campaign's latest effort to improve voter perceptions about Biden's handling of the economy. It also makes explicit reference to ... Donald Trump, as Democrats attempt to tie GOP candidates at this week's debate to Trump's 'MAGA agenda.'"

Shawna Mizelle of CNN: "Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy described the case against ... Donald Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents as 'almost a slam dunk' and said he thinks Trump should drop out of the 2024 presidential race. '... He will lose to Joe Biden, if you look at the current polls,' he told CNN's Kasie Hunt on 'State of the Union.' 'I think any Republican on that stage in Milwaukee will do a better job than Joe Biden. And so I want one of them to win...," the Louisiana senator said. The comments from Cassidy, who was one of seven GOP senators who voted to convict Trump in 2021 at his second impeachment trial, mark some of his strongest criticism of Trump to date. They come as the various charges against Trump continue to dominate the GOP primary, with the former president widely viewed as the party's front-runner."

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Amy Wang & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump intends to skip the first Republican presidential primary debate in Milwaukee on Wednesday and instead plans to post a prerecorded interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that will be released that night, according to a person briefed on the matter. Trump advisers said the interview had already been recorded. It is not yet clear where the interview will appear. Carlson has started a show on X, formerly called Twitter, but Trump sees the platform as a rival to Truth Social, which he helped create." MB: "Create"? How about "copy from Twitter"?

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Prominent conservative legal scholars are increasingly raising a constitutional argument that ... Donald Trump should be barred from the presidency because of his actions to overturn the previous presidential election result. The latest salvo came Saturday in The Atlantic magazine, from liberal law professor Laurence Tribe and J. Michael Luttig, the former federal appellate judge and a prominent conservative who's become a strong critic of Trump's actions after the election. Not all in the legal community agree -- and what the scholars are proposing would need to be tested in court.... They and others base their arguments on a reading of part of the 14th Amendment, a post-Civil War provision that excludes from future office anyone who, previously, as a sworn-in public official, 'engaged in insurrection or rebellion ... or [had] given aid or comfort to the enemies' of the government.' The pair write: '... both of us concluded some years ago that, in fact, a conviction would be beside the point. The former president's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and the resulting attack on the U.S. Capitol, place him squarely within the ambit of the [14th Amendment's] disqualification clause, and he is therefore ineligible to serve as president ever again.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Gerard Magliocca in the Washington Monthly: "To address this pressing problem, at least one secretary of state with the authority to make candidate eligibility rulings under state law must declare that Trump cannot appear on that state's presidential primary ballot.... A swift declaration by a secretary of state ... will get the eligibility litigation started sooner and give the [Supreme Court] Justices more time to consider the matter before voters in Iowa and New Hampshire go to the polls. This would be a non-partisan act to ensure an orderly election. When the Justices hear the Trump challenge, they must rule on the merits. Any attempt to dodge the heart of Section Three by dismissing a proper case as non-justiciable or on some tangential ground would be disastrous." ~~~

~~~ Ned Foley on Election Law Blog: "The new essay in The Atlantic by Judge Luttig and Larry Tribe significantly raises the risk, in my judgment, that Democrats in Congress will attempt to prevent Trump from being inaugurated on January 20, 2025 if he wins the election in November 2024." Foley suggests Congress pass legislation to avert the likelihood of "Constitutional Armageddon." MB: Good luck with that.

More on Rudy's desperate pleas to the Biggest Deadbeat: ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani is running out of money and looking to collect from a longtime client who has yet to pay: ... Donald J. Trump. To recover the millions of dollars he believes he is owed for his efforts to keep Mr. Trump in power, Mr. Giuliani first deferred to his lawyer, who pressed anyone in Mr. Trump's circle who would listen. When that fizzled out, Mr. Giuliani and his lawyer made personal appeals to the former president over a two-hour dinner in April at his Mar-a-Lago estate.... When those entreaties largely failed as well, Mr. Giuliani's son, Andrew, who has an independent relationship with the former president, visited Mr. Trump at his club in New Jersey this month, with what people briefed on the meeting said was the hope of getting his father's huge legal bills covered.... For the better part of a year, as Mr. Giuliani has racked up the bills battling an array of criminal investigations, private lawsuits and legal disciplinary proceedings stemming from his bid to keep Mr. Trump in office after the 2020 election, his team has repeatedly sought a lifeline from the former president.... And even as the bills have pushed Mr. Giuliani close to a financial breaking point, the former president has largely demurred...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Tobi Raji of the Washington Post: "Law enforcement authorities were searching this weekend for a Proud Boys member who had been scheduled to appear in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Friday for sentencing after he was convicted in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.... An FBI wanted poster says Christopher Worrell, 52, of Naples, Fla., violated 'conditions of release pending sentencing on federal charges.' The bureau asked anyone with information about Worrell's whereabouts to contact their local FBI office or the nearest American embassy or consulate." MB: Naples, huh? Maybe he took a swamp boat into the Everglades & an alligator jumped up & et him.

Presidential Race 2024. Andrew Zhang of Politico: "The Trump campaign and MAGA world on Saturday blasted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for remarks appearing to label some of the former president's supporters 'listless vessels.'... 'A movement can't be about the personality of one individual,' DeSantis said [in an interview]. 'If all we are is listless vessels that's just supposed to follow, you know, whatever happens to come down the pike on Truth Social every morning, that's not going to be a durable movement.'" MB: Calling Trumpbots listless vessels is deplorable. They're more like "selfish, aggrieved losers."

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Russia's Luna Lander Crash-Lands on the Moon. Kenneth Change & Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "A Russian robotic spacecraft that was headed to the lunar surface has crashed into the moon, Russia's space agency said on Sunday, citing the results of a preliminary investigation a day after it lost contact with the vehicle."

News Lede

AP: "Hurricane Hilary roared toward Mexico's Baja California peninsula early Sunday as a weakened but still dangerous Category 1 hurricane likely to bring 'catastrophic and life-threatening' flooding to the region and cross into the southwestern U.S. as a tropical storm, the National Weather Service said."