;)
The Conversation -- August 8, 2023
Betsy Swan & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Special counsel Jack Smith's probe of efforts by Donald Trump and others to subvert the 2020 election remains ongoing -- with at least one interview this week that focused on fundraising and spending by Trump's political action committee. Meanwhile, the grand jury that indicted Trump last week was spotted meeting Tuesday in the federal courthouse in Washington. In a closed-door interview on Monday with Bernard Kerik, investigators asked multiple questions about the Save America PAC's enormous fundraising haul in the weeks between Election Day and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, according to Kerik's lawyer, Tim Parlatore...."
Nicholas Nehamas, et al., of the New York Times: "Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is shaking up his presidential campaign -- again. For the third time in less than a month, Mr. DeSantis's campaign announced a major restructuring, this time removing his embattled campaign manager, Generra Peck, and replacing her with a loyalist from his governor's office, as he continues to search for a campaign team and a political message that can compete with ... Donald J. Trump. The reorganization -- in which a top official at the main pro-DeSantis super PAC will also take on an influential role inside the campaign -- caps a turbulent period of layoffs, financial worries and a shift in strategy for the Florida governor, who is increasingly banking on an Iowa-or-bust approach." MB: DeSantolini doesn't need a new campaign manager; he needs a new personality and a moral character implant.
Melanie Hicken of CNN: "The then-leader of the US Coast Guard covered up an explosive investigation four years ago into rapes and sexual assaults at the agency's academy despite prior plans by top officials to come clean about the inquiry, a CNN investigation found. Commandant Karl L. Schultz took charge of the agency in June of 2018 as the secret investigation, dubbed Operation Fouled Anchor, was concluding. The inquiry revealed a dark history of sexual misconduct at the prestigious academy, substantiating dozens of rapes and assaults from the late 1980s to 2006.... The [Department of Homeland Security] said in a statement that '[current commandant Linda] Fagan was not included in the group of senior leaders who oversaw closing the operation, nor was she consulted when it was closed regarding disclosure in or outside the Coast Guard."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday temporarily revived the Biden administration's regulation of 'ghost guns' -- kits that can be bought online and assembled into untraceable homemade firearms. In defending the rule, a key part of President Biden's broader effort to address gun violence, administration officials said such weapons had soared in popularity in recent years, particularly among criminals barred from buying ordinary guns. The court's brief order gave no reasons, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications. The order was provisional, leaving the regulation in place while a challenge moves forward in the courts. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining the court's three liberal members -- Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — to form a majority." The NBC News story is here.
Alabama Is Still Alabama. Remy Tumin & Chang Che of the New York Times: "Police in Montgomery, Ala., detained several people over the weekend after a brawl broke out at the city's popular Riverfront Park when a group of white boaters appeared to attack a Black security guard. The violent scene, captured on video by bystanders, has stoked memories of the city's racist history."
~~~~~~~~~~
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge said late Monday that she will order a hearing this week over prosecutors' demand that ... Donald Trump keep government evidence turned over in his criminal election interference case secret until trial.... Prosecutors explained that they wanted to immediately turn over evidence to speed the defense's trial preparations, but were concerned in part over Trump's history of posting on social media about 'witnesses, judges, attorneys and others' associated with cases against him.... But Trump's defense team complained the government's proposed limits were overbroad and would limit the First Amendment rights of President Biden's main political opponent.... Prosecutors shot back [three hours after Trump's attorneys filed their motion late Monday afternoon] that Trump this weekend attacked ... potential government witness Mike Pence, while one of his attorneys discussed the case on five Sunday talk shows. The prosecution turns over evidence 'to afford defendants the ability to prepare for and mount a defense in court -- not to wage a media campaign,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas P. Windom replied, noting that court rules bar defense counsel from feeding pretrial publicity that could prejudice jurors." The New York Times story, by Alan Feuer, is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Obviously, the judge & the prosecution are not messing around. On the other hand, that's all Trump & his lawyers are doing. ~~~
~~~ Andrew Weissmann was incensed (for some strange reason) that the Trump lawyers had the gall to claim that "... I'M COMING AFTER YOU" is "generalized political speech, not directed to this case." (See footnote 8, which begins on page 7 of their filing, via Politico.) And more than one participant in this discussion on Lawrence O'Donnell's MSNBC show had something to say about the false claims the response makes about President Biden (begins at page 3 of the filing) (So did the prosecutors, who argued in their filing that Trump's "proposal would permit Trump or his team to disseminate 'snippets' of witness testimony in a way they described as 'antithetical to the interests of justice'." A "snippet" in Trump's response uses a longer remark by President Biden to twist Biden's meaning & rob the full Biden comment of context). ~~~
~~~ UPDATE. Marie: Yesterday I posted a pirated copy of a big chunk of O'Donnell's show. As I suspected, YouTube took down the video & it's not available on MSNBC. ~~~
~~~ Kyle Cheney of Politico: "... Donald Trump argued Monday that he should be allowed to share evidence in his latest criminal case with 'volunteer attorneys' and other unpaid advisers as he prepares to defend himself against charges related to his effort to subvert the 2020 election." MB: This is rich, considering that it was "volunteer attorneys" like John Eastman & Sidney Powell who aided & abetted the very actions that this indictment charges.
Holmes Lybrand of CNN: "Security for the federal judge [Tanya Chutkan]assigned to oversee the criminal case against ... Donald Trump over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election has been increased in the federal courthouse in Washington, DC."
** Trump's Best Gal Puts Two Thumbs on the Scale. Josh Fiallo of the Daily Beast, via Yahoo! News: "More questions were asked of Judge Aileen Cannon's fitness to preside over Donald Trump's high-profile classified documents case on Monday after the South Florida federal judge rejected special counsel Jack Smith's bid to preserve 'grand jury secrecy' through sealed filings. In her ruling, Cannon questioned the 'legal propriety' of Smith using an 'out-of-district grand jury to continue to investigate and/or to seek post-indictment hearings.' She demanded that Smith explain [by Aug. 22] why prosecutors are doing this.... While much of the Mar-a-Lago docs case is being handled out of Cannon's district, a portion of the grand jury work ahead of Trump's indictment was done by a D.C. grand jury, which Cannon appeared perplexed by. Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance wrote online that Cannon's latest order 'may tee up the issue of her fitness on this case.' Andrew Weissmann, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney, suggested the same -- writing that Cannon's order is 'off base.' 'Judge Cannon clearly shows her ignorance (bias? both?); the obstruction crimes that were investigated are charges that could have been brought in [Florida] or in DC and thus could be investigated in either district,' he wrote on Twitter. 'And there was conduct that is alleged to have occurred outside [Florida].'
In a separate blow to Smith, Cannon also removed two filings by prosecutors -- about defense attorney Stanley Woodward's potential conflicts of interest -- from the record entirely. Prosecutors had asked for a so-called Garcia hearing to alert Woodward's clients of the potential conflicts of interest, so they filed a motion in hopes they could do so while keeping information off the public record. Cannon shot down that request, however, writing that prosecutors didn't do enough to explain why the meeting needed to be kept under wraps." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: The chief judge for the district should just remove & replace Cannon. A high-profile trial in which a former POTUS* is a defendant should not be used as a training exercise for a judge-intern. There may be some inexperienced judges who could intellectually and emotionally handle the burdens of such an historic trial; Judgette Aileen is not one of them. The world is watching and Judge
~~~ In reply to a comment on her post about Cannon's order, Marcy Wheeler says of the order, "This is a pretext to dismiss the case." In a later reply, she notes, "If Nauta goes to trial with conflicted counsel it creates the basis for mistrial -- rightly so."
Another Loss for the Biggest Loser. Kara Scannell of CNN: "A federal judge has dismissed Donald Trump's counter defamation lawsuit against E. Jean Carroll, dealing another legal blow to the former president. In an order Monday, Judge Lewis Kaplan said that Trump had not proven that Carroll';s statements on CNN the day after the jury awarded her $5 million after finding that Trump sexually abused Carroll and defamed her were false or 'not at least substantially true,' which is the legal standard. Trump sued Carroll in June based on her response to questions posed on CNN. Carroll was asked about the verdict finding Trump sexually abused Carroll, but did not rape her as defined under New York law and as she alleged. Carroll said, 'Oh, yes he did.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Marie: Yesterday I linked to a New York Times story that mentioned, down the page, that Donald Trump had attacked Nancy Pelosi on his knock-off X-Twitter site. I criticized Trump for attacking a woman whose husband had been severely injured as a result of the political unrest largely fomented by Trump himself. But the Times article didn't elaborate much on what Trump wrote about Pelosi, so my criticism was too kind. Here's what that lousy POS wrote. (BTW, Griffin was one of Trump's communications directors; she resigned December 3, 2020):
Yo, GOP - we just going to keep pretending this is normal & okay? I wouldn’t let my family near the kind of lunatic that rants like this on the internet. pic.twitter.com/I0Ua1QxvqY— Alyssa Farah Griffin (@Alyssafarah) August 6, 2023
** Donell Harvin, a homeland security expert, in a Politico Magazine opinion piece: "While generally highly decentralized and fractured, violent extremist groups have begun to mesh over a unifying figure: [Donald] Trump. The former president has become a focal point of domestic extremism, and by not denouncing them -- and sometimes courting them -- he has been adopted by these groups as a de facto spiritual leader. In some ways, Trump has also co-opted these groups to boost his own support.... Trump's willingness to fan the worst flames of discord and division is why, in my assessment, he is currently the greatest threat to our nation.... The indictment of Trump for his push to overturn the 2020 election puts that in stark relief....
"The former president is fomenting a radicalism that affects not only those in extremist groups or far-right individuals (lone actors), but has also permeated the mainstream of civil society, the media and public life.... Of the over 1,000 individuals charged for attacking the Capitol, the vast majority have a minor or no prior criminal record and were, by all accounts, law-abiding citizens up until the day Trump radicalized them.... His exhortations that the left or the 'Deep State' is coming after you or trying to take your country away provides the type of existential threat to his followers that is essential for the pathway to violence."
John Eastman Is in a Bind. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Attorney John Eastman, an architect of Donald Trump's last-ditch efforts to subvert the 2020 election, is asking a California judge to postpone disbarment proceedings lodged against him, saying he's increasingly concerned he's about to be criminally charged by special counsel Jack Smith.... [Eastman's attorney Randall] Miller said the growing concern about criminal charges might prompt Eastman to assert his Fifth Amendment rights during disbarment proceedings.... But invoking the Fifth Amendment in the disbarment proceedings would jeopardize Eastman's ability to defend his law license, his lawyers wrote.... Eastman's bar discipline trial began in June -- and he had even testified for several hours without asserting his Fifth Amendment rights. But it was postponed to late August after the proceedings ran longer than the initially anticipated two weeks." (Also linked yesterday.)
Philip Bump of the Washington Post , in a post titled "John Eastman shows the path from misinformation to revolution, "takes a look at Eastman's interview with Tom Klingenstein, "a major donor to Republican political candidates and the chairman of the board of directors of the right-wing Claremont Institute." Bump concentrates on how Eastman continues to rely on debunked conspiracy theories to justify overturning the 2020 presidential election. Bump notes that Eastman also is mightily concerned about the perfidy of what Eastman describes as "the modern left wing, which is in control of the Democrat Party[:]... 'You're going to let 50-year-old men, naked, into teenage girls' showers at public pools?' he said, echoing overheated but increasingly common right-wing rhetoric. 'Or -- or drag queens doing story hours to 6-year-olds?' What choice did he have but to try to overthrow Biden's election?"
Presidential Race 2024
Jennifer Medina of the New York Times: "As [Donald] Trump escalates his attacks on American institutions, focusing his fire on the Justice Department as he faces new criminal charges, his competitors for the Republican nomination have followed his lead. Several have adopted much of Mr. Trump's rhetoric sowing broad suspicion about the courts, the F.B.I., the military and schools. As they vie for support in a primary dominated by Mr. Trump, they routinely blast these targets in ways that might have been considered extraordinary, not to mention unthinkably bad politics, just a few years ago.... The proliferation of attacks has alarmed both Republicans and Democrats who worry about the long-term impact on American democracy. Public confidence in core institutions -- from the justice system to voting systems -- is fundamental to a durable democracy, particularly at a time of sharp political division.... Mr. Trump is still the loudest voice.... After he was indicted last week..., his campaign cited 'abuse, incompetence and corruption that is running through the veins of our country at levels never seen before.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: This of course fits right in with Donell Harvin's essay linked above. If you don't trust government institutions, if you think bureaucrats embedded in the government are out to get you, it's not a huge leap to think it's a good idea to overthrow them. Obviously, the lawful way to deal with corrupt institutions is to reform them or throw the bums out, but that isn't quick or easy (see, uh, Supreme Court). In the meantime, Media, quit calling the bums "conservatives."
News Flash!! Stop the Presses! More than 1,000 Days After Election, DeSantis Admits Biden Is President! Nicholas Nehamas & Alexandra Berzon of the New York Times: "Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida clearly stated in a new interview that Donald J. Trump lost the 2020 election, diverging from the orthodoxy of most Republican voters as the former president's struggling G.O.P. rivals test out new lines of attack against him. 'Of course he lost,' Mr. DeSantis said in an interview with NBC News published on Monday. 'Joe Biden's the president.'... For years, [DeSantis] dodged direct answers to questions about whether he believed the contest was stolen, and during the 2022 midterms, he campaigned for election deniers." The NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ And then there was this bit of crap from the interview. Fortunately, Dasha Burns (no relation) was having none of it and fact-checked DeSantolini right there on the national teevee:
~~~ Marie: You know, Ron just looks like a nine-year-old brat telling a lie. I suppose he thinks his animated high voice and wide eyes make him seem sincere. They're more like a tell. ~~~
DeSantis Uses His Young Children in Attacks on Rivals. Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: "The Florida governor is prominently featuring his three kids in his 2024 campaign and doing so in an unusually political way, observers said -- not just regaling voters with parenting stories but also weaving them into sharp attacks on his frequent targets of criticism and referencing them as he taps into conservative angst about what kids learn about race, gender and sexual orientation in the classroom and beyond.... 'You're not going to have to worry about them [his children] bringing cocaine into the White House,' DeSantis quipped to several dozen voters in [an Iowa] barn, taking a shot at President Biden's adult son, Hunter Biden, who has struggled with drug addiction. (Cocaine found last month in the White House has not been linked to Biden.)... It's more common for kids to feature in a biographical ad, said Travis Ridout, who tracks political advertising.... 'Usually when a candidate has small children, they use them very selectively,' he said."
MEANWHILE, Joe Biden Keeps Doing Good Stuff. Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "President Biden will designate nearly a million acres of land near the Grand Canyon as a new national monument on Tuesday to protect the area from uranium mining, administration officials confirmed on Monday.... During his first stop of a three-state tour, Mr. Biden will announce that he is creating a national monument -- the fifth such designation of his presidency -- in an area sacred to Native American tribes, administration officials told reporters on Monday.... Native tribes and environmental groups have long lobbied for the government to permanently protect the area around the Grand Canyon from uranium mining, which they say would damage the Colorado River watershed as well as areas with great cultural meaning for Native Americans." A Politico story is here.
Minnesota. Anna Betts of the New York Times: "A judge in Minneapolis has sentenced Tou Thao, a former police officer who held back bystanders as other officers restrained George Floyd, to four years and nine months in state prison. In May, Mr. Thao was found guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in Mr. Floyd's killing. This is the final sentencing in the killing of Mr. Floyd." CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
New York. A Conspiracy of Cuomos. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Made up almost entirely of women inspired by [then-Gov. Andrew] Cuomo's handling of the Covid pandemic, We Decide New York rapidly joined forces in spring 2021 to defend an increasingly isolated governor as traditional allies abandoned him [over sexual harassment claims]. The group swarmed his critics on social media, sold Cuomo swag and pushed for due process. But four of the group's current leaders said in interviews that even as their work appeared organic to the outside world, [Mr. Cuomo's sister Madeline] Cuomo, 58, began privately exerting control. Starting just weeks after the group was formed, she steered its volunteer activists -- many in their 50s, 60s and 70s -- to prop up her brother and hound his accusers ever more aggressively. It is unclear how much Mr. Cuomo knew about his sister's efforts.... But in the messages reviewed by The Times..., Ms. Cuomo repeatedly stated that she was keeping her brother updated and acting at his direction.... Ms. Cuomo, in a statement on Monday..., insisted that her brother played no role.... Chris Cuomo, the youngest sibling, lost his job as an anchor at CNN after the extent of his involvement in the governor’s affairs became public.”
Ohio. Another GOP Attack on Women. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "For more than a century, Ohio voters have been able to amend the State Constitution with a simple majority vote. That could end on Tuesday, because the state's Republican-controlled Legislature has called for a special election that would raise the bar for amendments from a simple majority to 60 percent of the vote. The reason is no secret. Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, voters across the country, in multiple elections, have approved ballot measures protecting the right to abortion. A similar election has been scheduled for November in Ohio, and legislators are hoping the higher bar for passing amendments will lead to its defeat. The blowback has been withering. Beyond denunciations from the Legislature's usual liberal critics, there have been bipartisan statements from former governors and other former officeholders....
"[Not-So-Fun Fact:] The 2022 election brought single-party control of the governor's office and legislature to 39 states, the most in at least three decades. And 29 states, 20 of them Republican, have veto-proof supermajorities that control both houses of the state legislatures. That has given legislatures, many of them heavily gerrymandered, extraordinary power to exert influence and to stay in power."
Ukraine. David Stern & Siobhán O'Grady of the Washington Post: "Ukrainian security officials said Monday they had arrested a Ukrainian woman on suspicion of aiding Russia's intelligence services, including involvement in an assassination attempt on President Volodymyr Zelensky last month.... [A] government official said Ukrainian security services prevented the woman from collecting information about Zelensky's visit [to the Mykolaiv region] and foiled the assassination plot."
Share Article