February 11, 2023

Evening Update:

Paula Newton of CNN: "Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that an 'unidentified object' had been shot down over Canadian airspace on his orders. 'I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. @NORADCommand shot down the object over the Yukon. Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled, and a U.S. F-22 successfully fired at the object,' Trudeau said on Twitter. Trudeau said that he spoke with US President Joe Biden on Saturday and that Canadian forces will lead the object recovery operation. Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand tweeted Saturday that she had discussed the incident with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin 'and reaffirmed that we'll always defend our sovereignty together.'" MB: It will be fun to find out just who is giving every world leader a chance to shoot down his very own UFO.

Reality Chex Exclusive. Marie Burns: Case closed. I've identified the UFO: ~~~

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(As far as we know,) the U.S. has shot down its very first UFO: ~~~

~~~ Helene Cooper, et al., of the New York Times: "The Pentagon shot down an unidentified object over frozen waters around Alaska on Friday at the order of President Biden, according to U.S. officials, less than a week after a U.S. fighter jet brought down a Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic. John Kirby, a White House spokesman, confirmed the incident at a news conference on Friday. U.S. officials said they could not immediately confirm whether the object was a balloon, but it was traveling at an altitude that made it a potential threat to civilian aircraft.... A U.S. official said the government did not know who owned or sent the object." CNN is live-updating developments. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The AP's report is here.

Yasmeen Abutaleb, et al., of the Washington Post: "On Friday, [President] Biden and [Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva] acknowledged their many similarities -- and the similarities between their predecessors -- when they met at the White House in what was intended as an important signal that their democracies are resilient. 'Both of our democracies have been tested of late,' Biden said as he welcomed Lula at the White House, adding that 'democracy prevailed' in both nations.... The two were expected to discuss democracy, including 'their categorical rejection of extremism and violence in politics,' [a] senior official said, as well as climate change and economic development. But there could be tension between the two men when it comes to the war in Ukraine, given their differing views.... Lula ... has said both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky bear responsibility for the war and has sought to fashion himself a senior statesman who can broker a negotiation between the two countries."

Betsy Klein & Oliver Darcy of CNN: "President Joe Biden has snubbed a Fox News request for a pre-Super Bowl interview on Sunday, as the Democratic president continues to ice out the right-wing channel and decline requests to sit down with its hosts and anchors. Biden is not expected to participate in the annual presidential Super Bowl interview with Fox, the network airing the game this year. The Biden administration attempted a workaround that avoided a sit-down with Fox News, with which the White House has a contentious relationship. Fox has canceled the interview, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a tweet Friday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Carol Lee, et al., of NBC News: "Kate Bedingfield, a top adviser for President Biden since 2015, will step down as White House communications director later this month, NBC News has learned. And Ben LaBolt, a veteran of the Obama administration who worked on the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, will step into the role." The Washington Post story, by Michael Scherer, is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

John Wagner of the Washington Post: In recent days, President Biden has been hammering Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) for his plan that would require Congress to reauthorize even popular programs such as Social Security and Medicare every five years to keep them operating. On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) joined in the criticism, suggesting that provisions in Scott's plan could hurt him in his bid for reelection next year in Florida, a state with the greatest share of seniors in the nation. 'That's not a Republican plan. That was the Rick Scott plan,' McConnell told longtime Kentucky radio host Terry Meiners when asked about the provision calling for the sunsetting of Social Security and Medicare every five years. 'The Republican plan, as I pointed out last fall, if we were to [become] the majority, there were no plans to raise taxes on half the American people or to sunset Medicare or Social Security,' McConnell said.... McConnell was alluding to another provision in Scott's broader 12-point plan that would require all Americans to 'pay some income tax to have skin in the game.' As Scott noted, about half of Americans currently pay no federal income tax.... [McConnell's] comments Thursday put him squarely with Biden...." A Yahoo! News story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: On Wednesday morning, Scott doubled down on his plan to sunset everything, but he also tweeted, incongruously & illogically, "I've never advocated cutting Social Security or Medicare and never would."

** Kaitlan Collins, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's legal team turned over more materials with classified markings and a laptop belonging to an aide to federal prosecutors in recent months, multiple sources familiar with the investigation told CNN. The Trump attorneys also handed over an empty folder marked 'Classified Evening Briefing,' sources said. The previously undisclosed handovers -- from December and January -- suggest the protracted effort by the Justice Department to repossess records from Trump's presidency may not be done. The Trump attorneys discovered pages with classified markings in December, while searching through boxes at the former president's Mar-a-Lago residence. The lawyers subsequently handed the materials over to the Justice Department. A Trump aide had previously copied those same pages onto a thumb drive and laptop, not realizing they were classified, sources said. The laptop, which belonged to an aide, who works for Save America PAC, and the thumb drive were also given to investigators in January." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IOW, Trump passed out at least one classified document and distributed it to the public. How many other such documents has he given as favors to friends? How many other classified documents have aides casually photocopied or downloaded to their laptops & thumb drives? ~~~

     ~~~ Update: In the first comment today, Akhilleus has a number of perfectly plausible theories about what the Trump Family Slackers are doing with that stack of classified documents they stash in their Trump Tower apartment's linen closet.

~~~ Maggie Haberman & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "A lawyer for ... Donald J. Trump appeared before a federal grand jury investigating his handling of sensitive government documents that he took to his Mar-a-Lago club and residence after he left office, two people briefed on the matter said on Friday. The lawyer, M. Evan Corcoran, a member of Mr. Trump's legal team who handled his responses to the government over its repeated requests for the return of such records, could offer firsthand knowledge of the search the F.B.I. undertook in August and any insights into whether Mr. Trump knew that documents remained at the club."

Evan Perez, et al., of CNN: "A document with classified markings was removed from former Vice President Mike Pence's Indiana home Friday during a search by the FBI, according to Pence spokesman Devin O'Malley. Six 'additional pages without such markings that were not discovered in the initial review by the vice president's counsel' were also removed, O'Malley said. Pence is currently on the West Coast with his family after the birth of two grandchildren, according to his spokesperson. The FBI is also expected to search Pence's office in Washington, DC, in the coming days, sources told CNN." MB: Gosh, mike pence has not received this much attention since the day Donald Trump tried to get him lynched. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~

~~~ Robert Costa of CBS News, in a tweet: "Source close to Trump legal team says Trump lawyers are expected to CONTEST Pence's grand jury subpoena on executive privilege grounds."

Annie Karni of the New York Times: Sen. John "Fetterman, 53, the 6-foot-8, tattooed and goateed Democrat from Pennsylvania who suffered a near-fatal stroke last May and went on to win one of the most competitive seats in November's midterm elections, was never going to blend in seamlessly in the marbled corridors of Congress. But his adjustment to serving in the Senate has been made vastly more difficult by the strains of his recovery, which left him with a physical impairment and serious mental health challenges that have rendered the transition extraordinarily challenging -- even with the accommodations that have been made to help him adapt.... On Wednesday, Mr. Fetterman was hospitalized after feeling lightheaded while attending a daylong Senate Democratic retreat in Washington. Initial tests showed no sign of another stroke, but he spent two days in the hospital while doctors ran additional tests.... Aides and confidantes describe his introduction to the Senate as a difficult period, filled with unfamiliar duties that are taxing for someone still in recovery: meetings with constituents, attending caucus and committee meetings, appearing in public at White House events and at the State of the Union address, as well as making appearances in Pennsylvania."

Playing It Forward. Soo Rin Kim of ABC News: "The Federal Election Commission is asking embattled Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., to clarify by March 14 if he's running again in 2024, according to a letter sent by the agency. The letter, sent to Santos on Tuesday, noted that his primary campaign committee, Devolder-Santos for Congress, reported raising and spending funds for the 2024 election, triggering a requirement for officially declaring a reelection campaign. The letter comes after the Santos campaign, which lost its longtime treasurer last month amid questions regarding the source and use of his campaign funds, reported in its latest disclosure filing more than a dozen contributions amounting to $28,000 and expenditures amounting to $43,000 that are dated after the November election day and attributed to the 2024 primary and general election." MB: Okay, George Anthony's latest surname is Devolder-Santos. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Every Word He Says Is a Lie, Including 'And' and 'The.' Rebecca Shabad, et al., of NBC News: "Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., said in an interview on Thursday that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., consoled him after his tense exchange this week with Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, but Sinema's office says she never spoke to Santos. Santos told Newsmax Thursday evening that after Romney lashed out at him ahead of Tuesday's State of the Union address, Sinema told the congressman to 'hang in there, buddy' as she was walking by. He added that she 'was very polite, very kindhearted,' unlike Romney, who he claims has 'always had prejudice towards minorities.'... Sinema's spokesperson Hannah Hurley..., call[ed] Santos' comment 'a lie.' The two lawmakers never spoke, Hurley said, and Sinema was not aware of the exchange between Santos and Romney until the GOP senator filled her in afterward.... During the same interview with Newsmax, Santos claimed he never lied about his work experience." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Grifters Gotta Grift. Marie: A couple of days ago, we learned from Jacqueline Sweet of Politico that George Santos had been charged with theft in Pennsylvania "in 2017 after a series of bad checks were written in his name to dog breeders.... The charge was dismissed and his record expunged after Santos claimed someone had stolen his checkbook" According to a lawyer who helped him, Santos "told prosecutors that he 'worked for the S.E.C.'..." Well, that's mighty odd, because ~~~

~~~ Jonathan O'Connell, et al., of the Washington Post: "The farmer whose complaint sparked the theft charge" spoke to the Washington Post, and said Santos had come to his farm to buy puppies, first offering $5,000 which he would wire-transfer. But when the farmer discovered the wire transfer had not gone through to his bank, Santos reducing the amount and "paid" with a bad check, after which Santos drove off with four puppies. After Pennsylvania police found Santos in New York in 2020, he reimbursed the farmer $1,850 to settle the matter. Three other breeders with whom Santos exchanged bad checks for puppies in 2017 "said they did not file police reports and were never paid.... Shown photographs of Santos, the farmer in York County and another of the breeders The Post contacted identified him as the man they said wrote the checks." Days later, a Staten Island chain called Pet Oasis sold puppies at auction which Santos told the company he had "rescued from an Amish puppy mill." The puppies were the same breeds as those Santos had "purchased" in Pennsylvania. Pet Oasis wrote a check to Santos' supposed charity, but Santos crossed out the charity's name on the check and changed the name to his before cashing it.

Aaron Katersky & Anne Flaherty of ABC News: "Dozens of states on Friday waded into a Texas lawsuit on the abortion pill, with Republican attorneys general calling for a nationwide ban on the drug even in states where it's legal. Democrats said doing so would be a public health disaster. The dueling legal briefs, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, represent an escalation in a heated court battle over access to the drug mifepristone, which is used to end early pregnancies and accounts for at least half of all abortions in the US. 'Blocking access to this safe and effective medication is a dangerous attack on reproductive freedom and public health,' said New York Attorney General Letitia James, who filed a brief on behalf of 22 Democratic attorney generals.... According to the FDA, mifepristone is safe and effective if used up to 10 weeks of pregnancy. The drug was sold in Europe and China before becoming available in the U.S. in 2000, and federal officials say no serious safety concerns have emerged since then.... The Trump-appointed judge ruling on the lawsuit, Matthew Kacsmaryk, is expected to make a decision in coming weeks after extending the deadline in the lawsuit to Feb. 24."

News You Can Use. Tara Bernard of the New York Times: "The Internal Revenue Service said on Friday that most taxpayers who received one-time, state-issued payments last year to alleviate the pain of higher inflation would not need to report them as income on their federal income tax returns. But some taxpayers in four states may need to claim the special payments. Last week, the agency told taxpayers to hold off on filing their returns until it could provide further guidance on how to treat the payments, which affected millions of people in nearly two dozen states.... Taxpayers in Georgia, Massachusetts, South Carolina and Virginia ... who claim the standard deduction will not need to report the state payments as income, but taxpayers who itemize will -- if the payment provides an extra tax benefit."

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Adam Edelman of NBC News: "Florida lawmakers passed a bill Friday expanding a program used to fly migrants to Democratic-led cities and states. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration will now be able to relocate migrants elsewhere from any state in the country, not just from Florida. The bill formally creates the Unauthorized Alien Transport Program, building out a program enacted by DeSantis last year that enabled government officials to fly migrants to destinations in blue states that have sanctuary policies in place.... Democrats and human rights advocates have decried expansion of the program, which some have compared to human trafficking. And in floor debate on Thursday, Democratic legislators also wondered why Florida taxpayer money should be used to transport migrants from other states." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Brooks Barnes of the New York Times: "Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida gained control on Friday of the board that oversees development at Walt Disney World, a move that restricts the autonomy of Disney, the state's largest private employer, over its theme-park complex and strips some perks enjoyed by the company for 56 years. The changes are the result of a bill that the Florida Legislature approved at the urging of Mr. DeSantis, who fought with Disney last year over an education law that limits the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. The State House passed the bill on Thursday, and the State Senate followed suit on Friday. Mr. DeSantis claimed victory earlier in the week: 'There's a new sheriff in town.' It was not a total victory for Mr. DeSantis, who originally wanted to eliminate more of Disney's privileges by revoking Disney World's designation as a special tax district." MB: Trumpolini 2.0 is way worse than Trumpolini 1.0; 2.0 is just as dictatorial & much more effective.

Idaho. Mike Baker & Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "The Ph.D. student charged with murdering four University of Idaho undergraduates displayed such troubling behavior in the weeks around th killings that the university investigated his conduct around women, counseled him over a verbal altercation with a professor and ultimately fired him from his job as a teaching assistant, according to interviews and a university record.... The faculty's concerns with [Bryan] Kohberger grew in the weeks after the Nov. 13 killings, though he had not yet been identified as a suspect. They culminated in the criminal justice department's unusual decision to terminate Mr. Kohberger from his teaching assistant role in December, shortly before his arrest...." Kohberger's first meeting with university staff concerned about his behavior took place eleven days before the murders of the four students.

Texas. David Goodman of the New York Times: "The Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, agreed to pay $3.3 million in a settlement with four former senior aides who said he had retaliated against them after they accused him of corruption and other crimes. Mr. Paxton agreed not only to the payment -- which would come from state funds -- but also to the text of an apology to the men, conservative lawyers who had once been in some of the state's top legal positions.... The mediated settlement agreement still must be finalized, and notes that it is contingent on 'necessary approvals for funding,' which must still come from the Texas Legislature.... [In 2020,] the aides accused Mr. Paxton of using the attorney general's office to serve the interests of a wealthy real estate investor in Austin, Nate Paul, who was a friend and political donor.... [The aides] brought their concerns to the F.B.I. and the Texas Rangers.... According to legal filings in the case, the aides had also relayed their concerns to the attorney general's office; several weeks later, they were all fired.... In addition to the lawsuit by the aides, Mr. Paxton still faces a separate criminal indictment in a securities fraud case from 2015."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Russian missiles rained down in Ukraine on Friday, striking civilian infrastructure and stripping much of the country of power and heat. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said the 'mass missile strike' across the country involved more than 100 rockets, as well as seven Shahed-type drones. Ukrainian forces destroyed 61 missiles, it added.... Ukraine was without 44 percent of nuclear generation and 75 percent of thermal power capacity after the Russian attacks on Friday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said, according to Reuters.... In the wake of the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pushed for Russian and Belarusian athletes to be banned from competing in next year's Paris Olympics.... President Biden will visit Poland on Feb. 20 ahead of the first anniversary of the invasion, the White House announced Friday, where he will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda to discuss collective support for Ukraine."

Canada. Vjosa Isai of the New York Times: "Toronto's mayor resigned unexpectedly on Friday night after admitting to a relationship with a staff member. John Tory made the announcement at a news conference several hours after receiving questions from The Toronto Star, which broke the story, about the relationship with a woman the newspaper said was a former employee of his office. The relationship began during the pandemic and 'ended by mutual consent earlier this year,' Mr. Tory said, calling the episode 'a serious error in judgment.'" A Huffington Post story is here.

Moldova. Suzanne Lynch & Nicolas Camut of Politico: "Moldovan President Maia Sandu on Friday nominated a new prime minister to keep her country on a pro-EU trajectory after the previous government fell earlier in the day, following months of rising Russian pressure amid the war in Ukraine. She named Dorin Recean, a noted pro-EU figure and current national security adviser, to replace Natalia Gavrilița, as the new head of government. The Moldovan parliament, where Sandu's party holds a comfortable majority with 63 out of 101 seats, will vote to confirm the nomination next week." Related story linked at the bottom of today's page. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

February 10, 2023

Afternoon Update:

Helene Cooper, et al., of the New York Times: “The Pentagon shot down an unidentified object over frozen waters around Alaska on Friday at the order of President Biden, according to U.S. officials, less than a week after a U.S. fighter jet brought down a Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic. John Kirby, a White House spokesman, confirmed the incident at a news conference on Friday. U.S. officials said they could not immediately confirm whether the object was a balloon, but it was traveling at an altitude that made it a potential threat to civilian aircraft.... A U.S. official said the government did not know who owned or sent the object.” CNN is live-updating developments.

Betsy Klein & Oliver Darcy of CNN: "President Joe Biden has snubbed a Fox News request for a pre-Super Bowl interview on Sunday, as the Democratic president continues to ice out the right-wing channel and decline requests to sit down with its hosts and anchors. Biden is not expected to participate in the annual presidential Super Bowl interview with Fox, the network airing the game this year. The Biden administration attempted a workaround that avoided a sit-down with Fox News, with which the White House has a contentious relationship. Fox has canceled the interview, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a tweet Friday."

John Wagner of the Washington Post: In recent days, President Biden has been hammering Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) for his plan that would require Congress to reauthorize even popular programs such as Social Security and Medicare every five years to keep them operating. On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) joined in the criticism, suggesting that provisions in Scott’s plan could hurt him in his bid for reelection next year in Florida, a state with the greatest share of seniors in the nation. 'That’s not a Republican plan. That was the Rick Scott plan,' McConnell told longtime Kentucky radio host Terry Meiners when asked about the provision calling for the sunsetting of Social Security and Medicare every five years. 'The Republican plan, as I pointed out last fall, if we were to [become] the majority, there were no plans to raise taxes on half the American people or to sunset Medicare or Social Security,' McConnell said.... McConnell was alluding to another provision in Scott’s broader 12-point plan that would require all Americans to 'pay some income tax to have skin in the game.' As Scott noted, about half of Americans currently pay no federal income tax.... [McConnell's] comments Thursday put him squarely with Biden....” A Yahoo! News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: On Wednesday morning, Scott doubled down on his plan to sunset everything, but he also tweeted, incongruously & illogically, "I’ve never advocated cutting Social Security or Medicare and never would."

Evan Perez, et al., of CNN: “The FBI is currently conducting a search of former Vice President Mike Pence’s home in Indiana, a source familiar with the situation told CNN. Pence is currently on the West Coast with his family after his daughter had a baby, according to his spokesperson. A private attorney for Pence is at the Indiana house while the search is underway, the spokesperson added. The FBI is also expected to search Pence’s office in Washington, DC, in the coming days, sources told CNN.” MB: Gosh, mike pence has not received this much attention since the day Donald Trump tried to get him lynched. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. New Lede: “A document with classified markings was removed from former Vice President Mike Pence’s Indiana home Friday during a search by the FBI, according to Pence spokesman Devin O’Malley. Six 'additional pages without such markings that were not discovered in the initial review by the vice president’s counsel' were also removed, O’Malley said.”

Carol Lee, et al., of NBC News: “Kate Bedingfield, a top adviser for President Biden since 2015, will step down as White House communications director later this month, NBC News has learned. And Ben LaBolt, a veteran of the Obama administration who worked on the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, will step into the role.” The Washington Post story, by Michael Scherer, is here.

Playing It Forward. Soo Rin Kim of ABC News: "The Federal Election Commission is asking embattled Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., to clarify by March 14 if he's running again in 2024, according to a letter sent by the agency. The letter, sent to Santos on Tuesday, noted that his primary campaign committee, Devolder-Santos for Congress, reported raising and spending funds for the 2024 election, triggering a requirement for officially declaring a reelection campaign. The letter comes after the Santos campaign, which lost its longtime treasurer last month amid questions regarding the source and use of his campaign funds, reported in its latest disclosure filing more than a dozen contributions amounting to $28,000 and expenditures amounting to $43,000 that are dated after the November election day and attributed to the 2024 primary and general election." MB: Okay, George Anthony's latest surname is Devolder-Santos.

Rep. Whatsizname & Sen. Banana-Lady Spat. Rebecca Shabad, et al., of NBC News: “Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., said in an interview on Thursday that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., consoled him after his tense exchange this week with Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, but Sinema's office says she never spoke to Santos. Santos told Newsmax Thursday evening that after Romney lashed out at him ahead of Tuesday's State of the Union address, Sinema told the congressman to 'hang in there, buddy' as she was walking by. He added that she 'was very polite, very kindhearted,' unlike Romney, who he claims has 'always had prejudice towards minorities.'... Sinema's spokesperson Hannah Hurley..., call[ed] Santos' comment 'a lie.' The two lawmakers never spoke, Hurley said, and Sinema was not aware of the exchange between Santos and Romney until the GOP senator filled her in afterward.... During the same interview with Newsmax, Santos claimed he never lied about his work experience.”

Florida. Adam Edelman of NBC News: "Florida lawmakers passed a bill Friday expanding a program used to fly migrants to Democratic-led cities and states. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration will now be able to relocate migrants elsewhere from any state in the country, not just from Florida. The bill formally creates the Unauthorized Alien Transport Program, building out a program enacted by DeSantis last year that enabled government officials to fly migrants to destinations in blue states that have sanctuary policies in place.... Democrats and human rights advocates have decried expansion of the program, which some have compared to human trafficking. And in floor debate on Thursday, Democratic legislators also wondered why Florida taxpayer money should be used to to transport migrants from other states."

Moldova. Suzanne Lynch & Nicolas Camut of Politico: "Moldovan President Maia Sandu on Friday nominated a new prime minister to keep her country on a pro-EU trajectory after the previous government fell earlier in the day, following months of rising Russian pressure amid the war in Ukraine. She named Dorin Recean, a noted pro-EU figure and current national security adviser, to replace Natalia Gavrilița, as the new head of government. The Moldovan parliament, where Sandu’s party holds a comfortable majority with 63 out of 101 seats, will vote to confirm the nomination next week." Related story linked at the bottom of today's page.

MB Note: Some entries below posted as late as 9:50 10:10 am ET.

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** Katherine Faulders & John Santucci of ABC News: "Former Vice President Mike Pence has been subpoenaed by the special counsel overseeing probes into ... Donald Trump, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. It's not immediately clear what information the subpoena from special counsel Jack Smith is seeking, but it follows months of negotiations between federal prosecutors and Pence's legal team." At 6:30 pm ET Thursday, this is a breaking story. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Either (1) negotiations between Pence & Smith broke down, or (2) Pence requested the subpoena so he could pretend he was not testifying voluntarily. Update: According to Maggie Haberman & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times, “Mr. Pence’s team held discussions with the Justice Department about a voluntary interview, according to the person familiar with the matter, but those talks were at an impasse, leading Mr. Smith to seek the subpoena.” ~~~

     ~~~ ** Update. Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "Special counsel Jack Smith’s office is seeking documents and testimony related to January 6, the source said. They want him to testify about his interactions with Trump leading up to the 2020 election and the day of the attack on the US Capitol." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Josh Dawsey & Perry Stein of the Washington Post: “It is unclear whether Pence will comply with the subpoena. His advisers had previously said he was not interested in appearing before the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Pence has told people privately that he has concerns about testifying against Trump because of executive privilege, according to the person familiar with the matter.... Pence has offered an account of his version of what occurred and how he has viewed Trump’s actions that day in 'So Help Me God,' his book issued late last year, and his interviews promoting it. The former vice president publicly suggested that Trump got bad legal advice and downplayed the idea that he saw criminal conduct.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is (1) a criminal matter about which Pence (2) has previously spoken, and (3) the Supreme Court has ruled in similar past cases that executive privilege cannot be invoked. Given all that, I don't see how Pence would get away with claiming the privilege. Except Thomas, Roberts, Alito, Gorsuch, O'Kavenaugh, Phony Barrett.

Zachary Cohen & Paul Reid of CNN: “Former national security adviser Robert O’Brien has been subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith in both his investigation into classified documents found at ... Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and the probe related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a source familiar with the matter. O’Brien has been asserting executive privilege in declining to provide some of the information that prosecutors are seeking from him, the source said.... The National Security Council should have been involved in the handling of classified documents at end of the Trump presidency, and O’Brien may have knowledge of how those records ended up at Mar-a-Lago. Separately, Trump’s former acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf was interviewed by Justice Department lawyers in recent weeks as part of the ongoing special counsel investigation related to 2020 election interference, according to two sources familiar with the matter.... Wolf was interviewed under oath by Justice Department lawyers and FBI officials, something one of the sources characterized as a 'standard' first step for prosecutors.”

Michael Shear of the New York Times: “President Biden traveled to Florida on Thursday afternoon with a political gift he had not been expecting before Tuesday night’s State of the Union speech. The perfect foil. Republican outbursts during his address to Congress — and Mr. Biden’s real-time exchange with heckling lawmakers about the fate of Social Security and Medicare — gave him exactly that, and he eagerly tried to use the episode to his advantage on Thursday in an event before a small audience of supporters [in Tampa].... Mr. Biden said..., 'A lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare. Well, let me say this: If that’s your dream, I’m your nightmare.'... Republican and Democratic strategists said the Social Security and Medicare exchange at the State of the Union helped to crystallize, on national television in front of millions of Americans, the contrast with Republicans that Mr. Biden has been struggling to deliver.”

MEANWHILE, Back in the Deep Woods. Paul Krugman of the New York Times: “Republicans ... live in ... a [closed mental] universe — and what Sarah Huckabee Sanders showed us [in her response to President Biden's SOTU speech] was that they can’t step outside that universe even when they should have strong political incentives to sound like normal people and pretend to care about regular Americans’ concerns.... Sanders’s version of the problems facing ordinary Americans seems to be based, not on any direct sense of people’s lives, but on Fox News reporting that hypes bad things under Biden and never mentions when things get better again.” Krugman cites several examples of how out-of-touch and past-its-sell-date Sanders' complaints were. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: A presidential SOTU speech has many, many authors. Generally, the president and his speechwriters work for weeks on what he wants to say, with input from White House advisors, Cabinet officers, heads of agencies and other influential people. While the speech is fleshed out days in advance, the president & his speechwriters are likely to make changes up to the last hour, often in response to breaking news. So, uh, who was advising Miss Huckleberry? Who wrote the speech? Seriously, I wonder. It's a given that the SOTU response is inherently a losing proposition, if only because of the necessary contrast with the spectacular optics & supporting cast the president enjoys. But why don't Republicans seem to give any thought to the response? Or do they, and whining about CRT & wokeness is the best they can do?

Edward Wong & Julian Barnes of the New York Times: “The Chinese spy balloon shot down by the U.S. military over the Atlantic Ocean was capable of collecting some forms of electronic communications and was part of a fleet of surveillance balloons directed by the Chinese military that had flown over more than 40 countries across five continents, the State Department said Thursday. While the balloon was still in the air, American U-2 surveillance planes took images of it to determine its capabilities, the department said in a statement, adding that the balloon’s equipment 'was clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment on board weather balloons.' The agency said the balloon had multiple antennas in an array that was 'likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications.' Solar panels on the machine were large enough to produce power to operate 'multiple active intelligence collection sensors,' the department said. The agency also said the U.S. government was confident that the company that made the balloon had direct commercial ties with the People’s Liberation Army, the Chinese military, citing an official procurement portal for the army.” The Guardian's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Mychael Schnell of the Hill: “A classified briefing for House lawmakers on the Chinese spy balloon turned tense on Thursday when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) went after administration officials for waiting days before shooting down the surveillance device. 'I had to wait in line the whole time. I was I think the second to last person, and I chewed them out just like the American people would’ve,' Greene told The Hill. 'I tore ‘em to pieces.'... One lawmaker who attended the briefing said the exchange between Greene and the officials included profanities. 'When she got to ask questions,' the lawmaker recalled, 'she was yelling out saying “bullshit, and, you know, “I don’t believe you.” Just screaming and yelling, irrational in my estimation,' the lawmaker added.” MB: Apparently Miss Margie feels she is so important that she should not have “wait in line” for other, perhaps more senior, MOCs to ask questions. Well, boo-fucking-hoo. But, hey, My Kevin needs her. So no problem yelling bullshit in a crowded room.

Peddling your own inaccurate and baseless conclusions under the guise of a real investigation turns the Committee into ‘Wonderland’ and you into the Queen of Hearts shouting, ‘Sentence first, verdict afterward.’ -- Abbe Lowell, attorney for Hunter Biden; opening salvo of a letter to Rep. James Comer ~~~

~~~ Matt Viser of the Washington Post: “House Republicans late Wednesday submitted their first request to President Biden’s family members, asking them to provide a range of documents related to foreign business dealings, and were immediately rebuffed by Hunter Biden’s attorney. The... competing letters that laid the groundwork for what is expected to be a drawn-out battle that raises questions about how far congressional oversight can reach into the activities of a president’s family members. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, sent letters to Hunter Biden as well as the president’s brother, James Biden, and their former business partner Eric Schwerin. In his request to Hunter Biden, Comer asked for a wide range of communications with Joe and James Biden, as well as with James’s wife, Sara. Comer also sought financial records, scheduling documents and rent payments.... Joe Biden has long denied any role in the business deals that were pursued by his son or his brother, and neither has any role in his administration.... In a response to Comer sent on Thursday morning, Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell challenged the committee’s authority to seek such documents. He cited case law to say that Congress must have a legislative purpose to pursue records and cannot be a vehicle to undertake a criminal investigation.”

Will Steakin & Katherine Faulders of ABC News: “At the first public hearing by the House Judiciary subcommittee committee on the alleged 'weaponization' of the federal government, Republicans on Thursday continued to make arguments criticizing federal agencies and 'big tech' companies like Twitter while Democrats called the hearing an effort to 'showcase conspiracy theories.'... The subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, maintained in his opening remarks that 'dozens and dozens' of FBI agents had come to him and other Republicans 'talking about what's going on, the political nature at the Justice Department.'... New York Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman -- who served as an impeachment manager against ... Donald Trump -- called out Jordan, contending that the chairman had not provided Democrats on the panel with information regarding any discussions with the alleged FBI agents. U.S. Virgin Islands Del. Stacey Plaskett, the Democrats' ranking member, who also served as a Trump impeachment manager, said in her remarks that the subcommittee was 'weaponizing Congress' and that Republicans were using their newfound power in the majority to 'settle scores' and 'showcase conspiracy theories.'... Later in the hearing, Goldman ripped into Republicans’ witnesses -- including former FBI agent [Thomas] Baker -- pointing out similarities between Baker's opening statement and a book he previously published. 'Next time, make sure you give us a heads up and we can set up a table for you to have a book signing after this,' Goldman said.” ~~~

     ~~~ Wherein Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) calls Gym Jordan's bluff. With video. Thanks to P. D. Pepe for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In one exchange that perfectly defined Republicans' idea of "expert testimony," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) questioned loudmouth lawyer & Fox "News" contributor Jonathan Turley about his expertise on Twitter inasmuch as Republicans had called him as an expert Twitter witness. Roll the videotape. ~~~

David Badash of the New Civil Rights Movement, published in AlterNet: “U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) says that Speaker Kevin McCarthy‘s decision to allow U.S. Rep. George Santos access to classified intelligence on Thursday was the 'final straw' that moved him and two other freshmen LGBTQ Democratic lawmakers to file a resolution to expel the New York Republican from Congress. The Pentagon on Thursday briefed members of the House and Senate on the China spy balloon that traversed the U.S. last week.”

But My Kevin Needs Him! Jacqueline Sweet of Politico: “Rep. George Santos was charged with theft in Pennsylvania’s Amish Country in 2017 after a series of bad checks were written in his name to dog breeders, according to the court and a lawyer friend who helped him address the charge. Just days after $15,125 in checks were made out for 'puppies,' according to the memo lines, Santos held an adoption event at a Staten Island pet store with his animal rescue charity Friends of Pets United, according to the store’s Instagram account and a person who attended the event. The charge was dismissed and his record expunged after Santos claimed someone had stolen his checkbook, according to the court and the lawyer.... Attorney Tiffany Bogosian ... noted [in an email] to [a Pennsylvania state] trooper that the signatures were different on each of the [bad] checks and attached Santos’ New York State driver’s license to show his signature on that ID didn’t match any of the ones on the checks.... A week after [the initial meeting between Santos & Bogosian], he went to Pennsylvania to address the warrant, and told prosecutors that he 'worked for the S.E.C.,' successfully persuading them to drop the charges, she remembered him telling her after he returned.” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I especially love the part where Santos beat the rap perhaps because he gave himself an imaginary job as an SEC official, so you know, above reproach in matters financial. He is very adept at adding to his imaginary résumé in ways that fit the circumstances of the moment. As for saving orphaned puppies in distress, the only sick puppy George ever saved was himself. (Some teevee commentators have mocked Mitt Romney's calling Santos a "sick puppy" after the SOTU speech. I think Romney got it just right.)~~~

     ~~~ Update: A New York Times report by Grace Ashford & Michael Gold, which relies heavily on Sweet's story, is here. “the circumstances of the case — centering on bad checks and puppies — hew closely to other dubious episodes in Mr. Santos’s history that have surfaced in the months after his election to the House in November.... 'I should have never got involved,” said [Santos' former] friend [and lawyer], Tiffany Bogosian. 'He should have went to jail. And I wish nothing but bad things for him.'” MB: “Should have went,” Tiffany?

Behaving Badly. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post contrasts Congressional misbehavior now and in the past. In the past instances he cites, members have received various forms of official rebukes for breaking House rules, and most have apologized for their actions or remarks. So far, at least, not anymore. “Perhaps the most significant parallel involves Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). The House Ethics Committee in 2020 admonished him for suggestively tweeting that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen had engaged in extramarital affairs, without any evidence, on the eve of critical testimony Cohen was about to give on Trump.... [Gaetz] deleted the tweet shortly thereafter and said his 'tweet did not conform to my own standard that I maintain for myself and for my conduct.'” An interesting read.

Julia Shapero of the Hill: "D.C. police have arrested and charged a 26-year-old man for the assault of Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), the Metropolitan Police Department said Thursday night. Kendrick Hamlin, also known as Hamlin Khalil Hamlin, allegedly assaulted Craig in the elevator of her apartment building on Thursday morning, police said in a press release.... [Hamlin] allegedly hit the congresswoman in the chin and grabbed her neck. Craig responded by throwing her hot coffee on Hamlin to defend herself, after which he fled the scene."

Maggie Astor of the New York Times: “... at the Washington Press Club Foundation’s annual dinner..., Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina ... joked ... in frequently bawdy terms ... about the 15 votes and the substantial concessions to the right-wing Freedom Caucus that it took for Representative Kevin McCarthy to be elected House speaker; the Jan. 6 riot; antisemitic comments from Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia; and even the child sex trafficking investigation involving Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida. In a jab at Mr. McCarthy, she said: 'I haven’t seen someone assume that many positions to appease the crazy Republicans since Stormy Daniels.'... 'Really, who lies about playing college volleyball? Like, who does that?' she said of [George] Santos.... 'If you’re going to lie, at least make it about something big, like you actually won the 2020 presidential election.'”

Robert Legare & Scott MacFarlane of CBS News: "The pro-Trump rioter who marched through the halls of Congress while wielding a Confederate flag on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to 36 months behind bars on Thursday, more than two years after photos of him became some of the most widely recognized images of the attack on the Capitol. Kevin Seefried, 53, was convicted in June 2022 after a bench trial before Judge Trevor McFadden of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who found him of multiple charges, including obstructing Congress, entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct and unlawful parading. His son, Hunter, was also convicted on the obstruction charge, but acquitted on other counts. Hunter was sentenced to two years in prison last year." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Kyle Cheney of Politico: “In private messages, revealed Thursday by prosecutors at a seditious conspiracy trial stemming from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, members of the [Proud Boys] discussed Trump’s Sept. 29 debate-stage exhortation to the Proud Boys to 'stand back and stand by' ahead of the November election. Some Proud Boy leaders, like Joe Biggs — one of five seditious conspiracy defendants — saw Trump’s comment as a command to prepare to violently confront antifa.... After Trump’s projected defeat in the presidential election on Nov. 7, the group’s concerns about its role grew even more acute.... 'Trumps calling the troops in on the 6th,' Biggs said to the group.... Members of the group discussed a strategy to break into small teams to avoid being choked off by police blockades.” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

A Law Unto Themselves. Individually. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “As calls for the Supreme Court to adopt an ethics code mount, the justices continue to wrestle with whether to adopt a policy similar to one that applies to all other federal judges.... Leaders of the American Bar Association this week added their voices to a chorus of others urging the justices to adopt an ethics code.... In 2019, Justice Elena Kagan told Congress that an ethics code for the justices was in the works. Four years later, it has not emerged.... All federal judges [but not the justices] are subject to a federal law on recusal. 'The court has had no reason to adopt the code of conduct as its definitive source of ethical guidance,' [Chief Justice John Roberts] wrote [in his most recent year-end report].” Roberts indicated in his 2011 year-end report that the separation of powers could preclude any attempt of the Congress to enforce ethics considerations on the judiciary and noted that the law governing judges' recusals has never been tested. ~~~

     ~~~Marie: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told Alex Wagner of MSNBC last night that he and a Congressman had introduced legislation to charge an independent panel with developing a code of ethics to bind justices, a code that likely would look a lot like the one for federal judges. He too acknowledged that separation of powers would likely preclude the Congress itself from imposing such a code. As Murphy and Wagner agreed, it is unlikely that the Congress will pass his bill because Republicans like their undisciplined super-majority of justices who happily make draconian laws from the bench that Republicans can't get through Congress. It seems to me that any committee to draft an ethics code for justices would have to be appointed or at least approved by a majority of the justices themselves. Only extreme public pressure is likely to make that happen.

Ron DeSantolini, New President of the College Board. Dana Goldstein, et al., of the New York Times: “While the College Board was developing its first Advanced Placement course in African American studies, the group was in repeated contact with the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, often discussing course concepts that the state said it found objectionable, a newly released letter shows. When the final course guidelines were released last week, the College Board had removed or significantly reduced the presence of many of those concepts ... though it said that political pressure played no role in the changes. The specifics about the discussions, over the course of a year, were outlined in a Feb. 7 letter from the Florida Department of Education to the College Board. The existence of the letter was first reported by The Daily Caller, a conservative news site. A copy of the letter was posted on Scribd.... The back and forth between Florida and the College Board is sure to add to the controversy over the Advanced Placement curriculum....” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

New Game in Former “Laboratories of Democracy”: “Follow the Florida Fascist.” Tim Craig of the Washington Post: “From the Mountain West to the Deep South, Florida-style bills are springing up in state legislatures, signaling the growing influence of [Ron] DeSantis as an ideological leader for a Republican Party that had been shaped in the image of ... Donald Trump. The state-policy debates underscore how Florida now rivals Texas as a laboratory for conservative policies, giving Republican legislators elsewhere a model for how to turn their principles on social issues into law.... PEN America, a freedom of expression advocacy group, has so far identified 81 proposals that it believes are attempts to stifle creativity and academic freedom in education. About 20 of those proposals appear to be nearly a 'carbon copy' of a law enacted last year in Florida that bans LGBTQ topics from elementary school classrooms, said Jeremy Young ... [of] PEN America.... Although conservative advocacy groups and think tanks ... still play a significant role in drafting state legislation and finding sponsors for the proposals, both conservative and liberal advocates say DeSantis’s governance of Florida is providing a road map.”

Florida. Sarah McCammon of NPR: "The Florida High School Athletic Association's board of directors has voted 14-2 to remove questions about high school athletes' menstrual history from a required health form for participation in high school athletics. Thursday's emergency meeting focused on the debate around menstrual cycle information. But in a less-discussed change to the requirements for Florida athletes, the newly adopted form asks students to list their 'sex assigned at birth.' The previous version asked only for 'sex.'... Brittany Frizzelle, an organizer focusing on reproductive justice..., says she worries the information will be used to target transgender athletes."

Missouri. Summer Ballentine of the AP: “Missouri’s Republican-led House on Wednesday voted against banning minors from openly carrying firearms on public land without adult supervision. The proposal to ban children from carrying guns without adult supervision in public failed by a 104-39 vote. Only one Republican voted in support of it. Democratic Rep. Donna Baringer said police in her district asked for the change to stop '14-year-olds walking down the middle of the street in the city of St. Louis carrying AR-15s.'” MB: So scroll on down & look at the news from Virginia. I don't know what the law in Virginia is, but in Missouri it appears a small child can stroll down the street openly carrying a sidearm, as long as it's holstered.

New Jersey. Nicholas Fernandez of NJ.com: "Two local politicians from New Jersey have been shot to death in the past week, officials said Wednesday evening. Russell D. Heller, a councilman in Milford, a small borough in Hunterdon County, was fatally shot outside the PSE&G Somerset Central Division Headquarters in Franklin by a former co-worker on Wednesday morning, officials said. Heller, 51, a senior distribution supervisor for the energy company, was pronounced dead on the scene of the Weston Canal Road headquarters, authorities said.... Gary T. Curtis, 58, of Washington in Warren County, was identified as the suspect in the shooting and located at 10:20 a.m. in Bridgewater, inside a car, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office said.... This comes just one week after a separate incident in which Sayreville councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour was fatally shot in a vehicle near her home." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ohio. Freedom of the Press, Ohio-Style. John Seewer of the AP: “The arrest of a broadcast reporter who was pushed to the ground and handcuffed while covering a news conference came after he got into an argument with the head of the Ohio National Guard and refused to leave, police said Thursday. NewsNation correspondent Evan Lambert was arrested Wednesday at an elementary school in East Palestine where Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine was giving an update about the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals. Video of the arrest that followed Lambert’s live broadcast during the event showed the cable news reporter facedown on the ground being handcuffed. Lambert was charged with criminal trespass and resisting arrest, both misdemeanors. He spent about five hours in jail before being released on a $750 bond, according to court records.... DeWine said he did not authorize the arrest or even see the disagreement, adding that reporters have 'every right' to report during briefings.... Michael Corn, president of news for NewsNation, said Lambert was just doing his job.... The Society of Professional Journalists said police should drop the charges and apologize, saying reporters should be able to keep the public informed without interference from law enforcement.”

Tennessee. Jessica Jaglois & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: “The arrest of five Memphis police officers charged with second-degree murder in the death of Tyre Nichols could lead to a cascade of criminal cases being dismissed and convictions appealed, as defense attorneys in the city weigh challenging reports and testimony brought by the now-defunct police unit of which the officers were a part. The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office said on Thursday that it would review any cases and convictions involving the five officers, though the office did not offer specifics because of the continuing investigation. The five officers were also added to an internal list of police officials across the county accused of being dishonest or facing criminal charges, a classification that could lead prosecutors to drop any cases involving their testimony.... From its inception in late 2021 to January 2022..., the unit made 566 arrests.”

Virginia. Hannah Natanson & Justin Jouvenal of the Washington Post: “The Washington Post interviewed 34 people — including teachers, parents and children at Richneck [Elementary School in Newport News] — and obtained dozens of text messages, school emails and documents to reconstruct what happened inside Richneck [the] day [a 6-year-old shot his teacher] and in the days and weeks before the shooting, revealing new details about the administration’s failure to manage the 6-year-old’s disciplinary issues and to respond to other reports of troubling student behavior.... Educators had long been vexed by the student, who previously attempted to strangle his kindergarten teacher, according to two school employees and records obtained by The Post.” MB: A horrifying account.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live briefing of developments in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: “Officials in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia all reported rocket attacks, with injuries and damage to critical infrastructure reported in Kharkiv.... Russia has begun an offensive in Luhansk centered on Kreminna, said the eastern region’s governor Serhiy Haidai.... French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that he had not ruled out sending fighter jets to Ukraine, telling European officials: 'I exclude absolutely nothing.' However, he said the focus should remain on artillery and other weapons that could boost Ukraine’s defenses in the near term.... The European Parliament’s president urged E.U. nations to provide Ukraine with warplanes and long-range weapons. 'States must consider quickly steps to providing long-range systems and the jets you need to protect the liberty too many have taken for granted,” Roberta Metsola said to [President] Zelensky on Thursday. Ukraine uses specific coordinates provided or confirmed by U.S. military personnel for the majority of its rocket strikes, The Washington Post reported. The disclosure reveals that the Pentagon is playing a more significant role in the war than previously known. The Pentagon is urging Congress to resume funding top-secret programs in Ukraine, current and former U.S. officials have told The Post. The programs were suspended ahead of Russia’s invasion last year and if resumed could allow American Special Operations troops to employ Ukrainian operatives to observe Russian military movements and counter disinformation.... Zelensky met with Poland’s president in Rzeszów, southeast Poland, after his Brussels trip, according to a tweet from President Andrzej Duda’s office on Friday.”

Matina Stevis-Gridneff & Marc Santora of the New York Times: “... President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared for the first time in person before leaders of the European Union on Thursday and made an impassioned case that his country’s war with Russia was Europe’s battle, too. Describing Russia as 'the most anti-European force of the modern world,' Mr. Zelensky told the European Parliament that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a threat to the European way of life. 'We Ukrainians are on the battlefield together with you.' European lawmakers received Mr. Zelensky’s speech with roaring applause, welcoming the president to Brussels after his trips to London and Paris.”

Frank Bajak of the AP: “Ukrainians reacted Thursday with puzzlement and some ire to comments by a top Starlink official that their country has 'weaponized' the satellite internet service, which has been pivotal to their national survival. President Gwynne Shotwell of SpaceX, which runs Starlink, was also reported to have said at the same venue Wednesday that the Elon Musk-controlled company has taken unspecified action to prevent Ukraine’s military from using Starlink technology against Russian invaders. The network of low-orbiting satellites has been crucial to Ukraine’s use of battlefield drones — a central fixture of the year-old war — and the country’s defenders have no viable alternative. The satellite links help Ukrainian fighters locate the enemy and target long-range artillery strikes.... It was not clear whether Shotwell’s comments Wednesday were made at the urging of Musk, the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX.” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) 

Abdujalil Abdurasulov & James FitzGerald of the BBC: "Russia's latest aerial attack on Ukraine saw missiles cross Moldovan airspace, Ukrainian and Moldovan officials have said. Kyiv's top general said missiles also flew above Romania - a claim denied by Romania, but later repeated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Mr Zelensky said the missiles represented a 'challenge' to Nato, of which Romania is a member country. A Russian government spokesperson deflected questions about the incident. During a regular call with journalists, Dmitry Peskov told the BBC it was a matter for the defence ministry, which is yet to comment." ~~~

~~~ Moldova. Cristian Jardan & Stephen McGrath of the AP: "Moldova’s government collapsed Friday as pro-Western Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita resigned, adding to a series of crises that have gripped the small nation since Russia invaded its neighbor, Ukraine.... Gavrilita’s premiership was marked by a long string of problems. These include an acute energy crisis after Moscow dramatically reduced supplies to Moldova; skyrocketing inflation; and several troublesome incidents such as missiles from the war in neighboring Ukraine traversing its skies."

News Lede

Washington Post: “Rescue workers in Turkey and Syria are battling inclement weather and logistical hurdles in a race to find survivors buried under the rubble. The combined death toll from Monday’s earthquakes has surpassed 21,000, and the disaster has left thousands of people homeless and in need of urgent shelter and aid.” The report identifies key developments.

February 9, 2023

Afternoon Update:

** Katherine Faulders & John Santucci of ABC News: "Former Vice President Mike Pence has been subpoenaed by the special counsel overseeing probes into ... Donald Trump, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. It's not immediately clear what information the subpoena from special counsel Jack Smith is seeking, but it follows months of negotiations between federal prosecutors and Pence's legal team." At 6:30 pm ET Thursday, this is a breaking story. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Either (1) negotiations between Pence & Smith broke down, or (2) Pence requested the subpoena so he could pretend he was not testifying voluntarily. ~~~

     ~~~ ** Update. Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "Special counsel Jack Smith's office is seeking documents and testimony related to January 6, the source said. They want him to testify about his interactions with Trump leading up to the 2020 election and the day of the attack on the US Capitol."

Edward Wong & Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "The Chinese spy balloon shot down by the U.S. military over the Atlantic Ocean was capable of collecting some forms of electronic communications and was part of a fleet of surveillance balloons directed by the Chinese military that had flown over more than 40 countries across five continents, the State Department said Thursday. While the balloon was still in the air, American U-2 surveillance planes took images of it to determine its capabilities, the department said in a statement, adding that the balloon's equipment 'was clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment on board weather balloons.' The agency said the balloon had multiple antennas in an array that was 'likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications.' Solar panels on the machine were large enough to produce power to operate 'multiple active intelligence collection sensors,' the department said. The agency also said the U.S. government was confident that the company that made the balloon had direct commercial ties with the People's Liberation Army, the Chinese military, citing an official procurement portal for the army." The Guardian's story is here.

But My Kevin Needs Him! Jacqueline Sweet of Politico: "Rep. George Santos was charged with theft in Pennsylvania's Amish Country in 2017 after a series of bad checks were written in his name to dog breeders, according to the court and a lawyer friend who helped him address the charge. Just days after $15,125 in checks were made out for 'puppies,' according to the memo lines, Santos held an adoption event at a Staten Island pet store with his animal rescue charity Friends of Pets United, according to the store's Instagram account and a person who attended the event. The charge was dismissed and his record expunged after Santos claimed someone had stolen his checkbook, according to the court and the lawyer.... Attorney Tiffany Bogosian ... noted [in an email] to [a Pennsylvania state] trooper that the signatures were different on each of the [bad] checks and attached Santos' New York State driver's license to show his signature on that ID didn't match any of the ones on the checks.... A week after [the initial meeting between Santos & Bogosian], he went to Pennsylvania to address the warrant, and told prosecutors that he 'worked for the S.E.C.,' successfully persuading them to drop the charges, she remembered him telling her after he returned."

Robert Legare & Scott MacFarlane of CBS News: "The pro-Trump rioter who marched through the halls of Congress while wielding a Confederate flag on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to 36 months behind bars on Thursday, more than two years after photos of him became some of the most widely recognized images of the attack on the Capitol. Kevin Seefried, 53, was convicted in June 2022 after a bench trial before Judge Trevor McFadden of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who found him of multiple charges, including obstructing Congress, entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct and unlawful parading. His son, Hunter, was also convicted on the obstruction charge, but acquitted on other counts. Hunter was sentenced to two years in prison last year."

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "In private messages, revealed Thursday by prosecutors at a seditious conspiracy trial stemming from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, members of the [Proud Boys] discussed Trump's Sept. 29 debate-stage exhortation to the Proud Boys to 'stand back and stand by' ahead of the November election. Some Proud Boy leaders, like Joe Biggs -- one of five seditious conspiracy defendants -- saw Trump's comment as a command to prepare to violently confront antifa.... After Trump's projected defeat in the presidential election on Nov. 7, the group's concerns about its role grew even more acute.... 'Trumps calling the troops in on the 6th,' Biggs said to the group.... Members of the group discussed a strategy to break into small teams to avoid being choked off by police blockades."

Ron DeSantolini, New President of the College Board. Dana Goldstein, et al., of the New York Times: "While the College Board was developing its first Advanced Placement course in African American studies, the group was in repeated contact with the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, often discussing course concepts that the state said it found objectionable, a newly released letter shows. When the final course guidelines were released last week, the College Board had removed or significantly reduced the presence of many of those concepts ... though it said that political pressure played no role in the changes. The specifics about the discussions, over the course of a year, were outlined in a Feb. 7 letter from the Florida Department of Education to the College Board. The existence of the letter was first reported by The Daily Caller, a conservative news site. A copy of the letter was posted on Scribd.... The back and forth between Florida and the College Board is sure to add to the controversy over the Advanced Placement curriculum...."

New Jersey. Nicholas Fernandez of NJ.com: "Two local politicians from New Jersey have been shot to death in the past week, officials said Wednesday evening. Russell D. Heller, a councilman in Milford, a small borough in Hunterdon County, was fatally shot outside the PSE&G Somerset Central Division Headquarters in Franklin by a former co-worker on Wednesday morning, officials said. Heller, 51, a senior distribution supervisor for the energy company, was pronounced dead on the scene of the Weston Canal Road headquarters, authorities said.... Gary T. Curtis, 58, of Washington in Warren County, was identified as the suspect in the shooting and located at 10:20 a.m. in Bridgewater, inside a car, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office said.... This comes just one week after a separate incident in which Sayreville councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour was fatally shot in a vehicle near her home."

Ukraine, et al. Frank Bajak of the AP: "Ukrainians reacted Thursday with puzzlement and some ire to comments by a top Starlink official that their country has 'weaponized' the satellite internet service, which has been pivotal to their national survival. President Gwynne Shotwell of SpaceX, which runs Starlink, was also reported to have said at the same venue Wednesday that the Elon Musk-controlled company has taken unspecified action to prevent Ukraine's military from using Starlink technology against Russian invaders. The network of low-orbiting satellites has been crucial to Ukraine's use of battlefield drones -- a central fixture of the year-old war -- and the country's defenders have no viable alternative. The satellite links help Ukrainian fighters locate the enemy and target long-range artillery strikes.... It was not clear whether Shotwell's comments Wednesday were made at the urging of Musk, the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX."

~~~~~~~~~~

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "With his call for a 'blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America,' President Biden on Tuesday night acknowledged rhetorically wha Democrats have been preparing for two years: a fierce campaign to win back white working-class voters through the creation of hundreds of thousands of well-paid jobs that do not require a college degree.... In truth, much of that path was already laid by the last Congress with the signing of a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, a $280 billion measure to rekindle a domestic semiconductor industry and the Inflation Reduction Act, which included $370 billion for low-emission energy to combat climate change.... But Democrats will have to match those jobs [created by the act] against Republican appeals aimed at white grievances." MB: For as long as I can remember, blue-collar and other poor Republicans have been voting against their own interests. They don't have any sense, and no one is going to knock the sense into most of them.

Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "... the best part of the night happened right after [President] Biden's speech was over, when most (but not all) networks weren't airing his comments anymore and he made his way through the crowd. It was here, where the president could actually talk to all the dignitaries, members of Congress and other people in the room, that he was truly in his element.... Biden spent another 20 minutes cracking jokes with Supreme Court justices, telling stories, taking countless selfies, talking to people's kids on cell phones, listening to Democratic and Republican lawmakers' requests for help, and offering comfort to people who needed it." Bendery relates those parts of the conversations she could hear.

Paul Waldman & Gret Sargent of the Washington Post: "While delivering the Republican response to President Biden's State of the Union address, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders tried to link the 80-year-old Biden to a 'woke' mob and bragged of banning 'CRT' in her state. Sanders didnt define either term. She used the initials 'CRT' without spelling out 'critical race theory,' apparently certain most Americans know what that means. Watching Sanders toss around those extremely online terms -- only months after her party badly underperformed in the midterm elections while campaigning against those very things -- vividly demonstrates a problem for the GOP.... Given a rare opportunity to communicate a conservative vision to the entire country, Sanders delivered a message that was, as Matthew Sheffield put it, 'filled with far-right buzzwords that were likely incomprehensible to most Americans who had bothered to watch.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Tales from the Darkside. Marie: Waldman & Sargent don't mention it, perhaps because the criticism is definitely politically incorrect, but I found the worst part of Sanders' little video to be the visual. She looked like an Addams family member talking to the camera from a dark, scary cabin in the deep backwoods; the original Grimms' Hansel & Gretel site as remade by GOP Pictures, Ltd. Little children (like many adults) might not understand a word she said, but the image itself would give the kiddies nightmares. Good thing the horror show aired well past their bedtimes. I should like to think video of this frightening monologue will go down in history as the iconic representation of the Republican party in the 2020s. (BTW, at 2 am ET Thursday, the Waldman-Sargent post was the most-read article on the WashPo site; I'd guess Gov. Sarah unsettled a lot of readers.) ~~~

     ~~~ As Akhilleus did in yesterday's Comments, Robin Givhan of the Washington Post remarks on Marjorie Taylor Greene's outfit -- and her bad behavior: "She was a sideshow in the chamber.... She took on the demeanor of a hooligan in a chamber where violent insurrectionists remain a vivid memory -- insurrectionists she has defended and an incursion she has played down.... Later, she put her own assessment of the union [in a Twitter video in which] ... she reaches just out of frame to grab hold of a white, helium-filled balloon on a string. It was an evening-long set piece of grievances and grudges."

Stephen Collinson, opinion columnist at CNN, covers the SOTU antics as well as those in the hearing over the Vast Left-wing Conspiracy to Suppress Conservative Free Speech (related stories linked below). MB: I don't agree with all Collinson writes, but he picks up several threads worth unraveling. The main point I take issue with is this: "... [Kevin]McCarthy's comment on Fox that it was one of the most partisan State of the Union addresses he’d ever heard was not totally wide of the mark." It's easy enough to see how Collinson could make what I consider a mistake, because he -- like so many other opinionators -- doesn't take into account that Biden (as well as other Democrats and some Republicans) are not trying to advocate against Republicans as much as they are trying to save our democratic institutions.

I'm thinking primarily of the right to full participation in voting, protesting, bodily autonomy and other prerogatives of democracy, but I'm also talking about the right to benefit from those programs and policies that Americans have come to rely on over the last five to seven decades, like Social Security and Medicare. Or longer, like public education. These programs, and others, are now well-woven into the fabric of American life. It isn't just that to some extent or the other, we have individually prepaid into some of those programs, it's that they are necessary for the country to function. We can certainly tweak and improve them, but to cripple or eliminate them is a threat to the nation such that the president is sworn to defend against. That almost all of these existential threats are coming from Republicans and their allies is not Joe Biden's fault.

Biden Name-Checks the Perps. Mariana Alfaro & Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "In his State of the Union address, [President] Biden said some -- but not all -- Republicans want to target programs such as Social Security and Medicare, drawing jeers and catcalls from certain members of the GOP caucus. On Wednesday, the president used his speech at a labor training center in Wisconsin to identify the Republicans he was talking about Tuesday night, reading direct comments the lawmakers have made when proposing changes. 'When I raised the plans of some of their members in their caucus to cut Social Security ... Marjorie Taylor Greene and others stood up and said: "Liar, liar,"' Biden said. 'Well, guess what? ... I [will] remind you that Rick Scott from Florida, the guy who ran a U.S. Senate campaign, has a plan. I got his brochure right here!' Biden was referring to Scott's plan that would require all legislation -- including that relating to entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare -- to be "sunset," which would require votes every five years to continue them.... Speaking in DeForest, Wis., the president also noted that one of the state's own senators, Republican Ron Johnson, also has expressed support for targeting the two programs in a budget-cutting move. Among those jeering or expressing disbelief during Biden's speech Tuesday night was Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).... On Wednesday, Biden quoted from a 2010 video of Lee saying that it is his 'objective to phase out Social Security' and that 'Medicare and Medicaid ... need to be pulled up' by their roots.'" Politico's story is here.

On the left, Republican Senator Mike Lee feigns outrage during the State of the Union when President Biden suggests that some Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare.

On the right, Mike Lee says he wants to get rid of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. pic.twitter.com/vi6pYQmhZX

— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) February 8, 2023

     ~~~ Thanks to NiskyGuy for the lead.

** GOP Paranoia Panel Holds a Hearing. Luke Broadwater & Kate Conger of the New York Times: "House Republicans on Wednesday summoned former Twitter executives to answer to accusations that the social media platform has tried to silence voices on the right, but the hourslong hearing yielded new revelations about how the company failed to limit hateful speech or material that could incite violence, sometimes altering its own rules to avoid doing so. The Oversight and Accountability Committee called the hearing to investigate a decision that the company has for years admitted was a mistake: blocking an unsubstantiated New York Post article about the activities of Hunter Biden, President Biden's son, in Ukraine before the 2020 election, in which his father was running against President Donald J. Trump....

“But the session also served as a forum for Democrats to press their concerns about the behavior of the company. They have accused Twitter of playing a critical role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, including by changing internal rules to allow Mr. Trump to keep posting up until the riot.... Anika Collier Navaroli, a former Twitter executive who was a whistle-blower during the Jan. 6 investigation, recalled an incident from 2019 when a White House official tried to persuade the company to delete a tweet by the model Chrissy Teigen. She had insulted Mr. Trump in vulgar terms after he referred to her as 'filthy-mouthed.'... Ms. Navaroli also testified that Twitter changed its rules to avoid adding labels to some of Mr. Trump's tweets that would have identified them as violating the company's rules.... [Rep. Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez responded, 'So much for bias against right wing on Twitter.'" MB: Well worth a read. If Democrats stay aggressive, they will be able to turn the Crazy Subcommittee into a vehicle against the GOP's paranoia panel. ~~~

~~~ Politico's story is here. CNN's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Cat Zakrzewski & Cristiano Lima of the Washington Post: “On Wednesday, [Elon] Musk's 'Twitter Files' took center stage in a combative Capitol Hill hearing, as GOP leaders attempted to turn Twitter's decision to briefly block sharing a New York Post story about President Biden's son into evidence of a broad conspiracy.... The testimony of former Twitter executives repeatedly contradicted these accusations.... Some Republicans took a hostile tone toward the Twitter leaders during their time in front of the cameras. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said she was happy that they lost their jobs, and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) referred to former executives as 'fascist Twitter 1.0.'"

     ~~~ Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out Wednesday that it took Twitter a whole two days to link the New York Post story. ~~~

     ~~~ Rodric Hurdle-Bradford of the Raw Story: "... the entire Republican party's discontent with Twitter posts was tracked in a database Twitter kept of GOP requests to remove posts, according to a new Rolling Stone report.... The discovery of this detailed list is contrary to the partisan point-of-view that new Twitter owner Elon Musk has been sharing, as he has strategically been dialed-in on communicating Twitter post removal and content challenges from Democrats.... According to the story in Rolling Stone, the requests not only came from the staffs of both then-President Trump and current President Joe Biden, but also from the staffs of high-profile members of Congress, including Republican Representatives Kevin McCarthy (California) and Elise Stefanik (New York). The requests include reinstating banned right-wing personalities.... During Wednesday's hearing, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) asked for the 'remarkable' Rolling Stone article to be read into the record. 'So for everybody's reading enjoyment, if people think it was biased against, this would lead us to believe it was definitely biased against liberals and progressives,' Raskin said." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Skepticism Pays. Although Rolling Stone is subscriber-firewalled, I guess nonsubscribers can still get in at least once a month because I was able to bring up its report, by Adam Rawnsley & Asawan Suebsang. And, lo and behold, Hurdle-Bradford completely misread the RS report. The complaints to Twitter came during the Biden administration from Republicans like McCarthy and Stefanik. Here's the telling RS sentence: "But during both the Trump and Biden presidencies, these types of moderation requests or demands were routinely sent to Twitter by the staff of influential GOP lawmakers -- ones with names like Kevin McCarthy and Elise Stefanik." Nothing else in the RS report contradicts that assessment. So, no, Joe Biden wasn't calling up Twitter to demand it take down tweets that insulted or miffed him. You're safe, Miss Margie.

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "The acting director of the National Institutes of Health pushed back on Wednesday against Republicans' assertions that a lab leak stemming from taxpayer-funded research may have caused the coronavirus pandemic, telling lawmakers that viruses being studied at a laboratory in Wuhan, China, bore no resemblance to the one that set off the worst public health crisis in a century. Those viruses 'bear no relationship to SARS-CoV-2; they are genetically distinct,' the N.I.H. official, Dr. Lawrence A. Tabak, told a House panel, using the formal name for the virus.... Dr. Tabak's comments came at a hearing before members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, with the House newly under Republican control.... Republicans have made clear that they intend to tap into Americans' frustration with masking, mandates and other coronavirus restrictions to wage a broad assault on Mr. Biden and his administration."

2024 Presidential Race. Natasha Korecki & Jonathan Allen of NBC News: "New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu [R] has taken his most significant step yet in exploring a White House bid, launching a national political organization that's a popular tool for prospective presidential candidates testing the waters. The governor first confirmed to NBC News on Wednesday that he had formed the 'Live Free or Die' committee (borrowed from his state's nickname), a 501(c)(4) organization where politicians can raise unlimited funds. The donations don't have to be disclosed, and prospective candidates often use these political nonprofits as a way to gauge interest from donors." MB: Sununu is generally characterized as a "moderate Republican." Oh, yeah? As Planned Parenthood NH reminded us last November, he "signed [an] abortion ban into law - without any exceptions for rape, incest, or fatal fetal diagnoses - and he bragged on a national podcast about 'doing more on the pro-life issue ... than anyone.'" The PP article goes on to describe many of Sununu's anti-abortion actions, noting that he "continues to call himself 'pro-choice.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Mississippi Is Still Mississippi. Kayode Crown of the Mississippi Free Press: "White Mississippi lawmakers moved closer Tuesday evening to creating a new system of unelected judges and prosecutors chosen by white officials to oversee a part of the majority-Black capital city. Lawmakers debated House Bill 1020, which would create a new court system in an expanded Capitol Complex Improvement District, for five hours before representatives passed it in a 76-38 vote. Of the chamber's white lawmakers, 74 voted for it and just two voted against it; among Black lawmakers, 36 voted against it and just two voted for it. In remarks to the press at the Capitol after the vote Tuesday night, Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba described the bill as 'oppressive' because it would take jurisdiction away from judges and the prosecutor elected by majority-Black Hinds County voters."

Texas. Emily Schmall of the New York Times: "A Texas man who fatally shot 23 people and injured dozens more at a Walmart store in El Paso in 2019 pleaded guilty on Wednesday to federal hate crimes and weapons charges in connection with the deadliest anti-Latino attack in modern United States history. Lawyers for the gunman, Patrick Crusius, said last month that he would change his plea to guilty days after federal prosecutors notified the court that they would not seek the death penalty. He has agreed to accept a sentence of 90 consecutive life terms, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas. Mr. Crusius is to be formally sentenced in June."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continues his Western Europe visit Thursday in Brussels, where he will meet with leaders and address the European Parliament, according to E.U. officials, who said the meetings will explore legal pathways to use frozen Russian assets to pay for reconstruction in Ukraine. He previously visited Britain and France, renewing his calls for warplanes and heavy weapons.... French President Emmanuel Macron awarded the Legion of Honor to Zelensky for his 'courage and commitment,' Macron said. Zelensky said in France, where he met Wednesday with Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, that 'we have very little time,' appealing to the two countries for tanks, jets and long-range missiles.... NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met in Washington on Wednesday with top U.S. officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.... Across Ukraine, troops are bracing for a do-over from Russia, as the Kremlin's efforts to seize the country have largely faltered." ~~~

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

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine pleaded with Britain on Wednesday to supply his country with fighter jets, making his dramatic appeal during a surprise visit to London that began a two-day diplomatic blitz of Ukraine's Western allies.... So far, the British government has resisted Ukraine's request, as has the United States and other NATO countries, fearing that combat aircraft could escalate confrontation with Russia. But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that Britain would train Ukrainian pilots to fly NATO-standard jets, and signaled he was open to eventually sending planes."

Constant Méheut of the New York Times: "There are 'strong indications' that President Vladimir V. Putin decided to supply the antiaircraft missile system that Russia-backed separatists used to shoot down a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet above eastern Ukraine in 2014, a Dutch-led international team found. But the team said on Wednesday that it had suspended its criminal investigation because of insufficient evidence and immunity privileges that prevent new prosecutions in the crash of Flight MH17, which killed all 298 people aboard. The investigators noted that no evidence suggested that Mr. Putin ordered the downing of the aircraft and that he was, in any case, protected from prosecution under Dutch law because he enjoys immunity as a head of state."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Burt Bacharach, the debonair pop composer, arranger, conductor, record producer and occasional singer whose hit songs in the 1960s distilled that decade's mood of romantic optimism, died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 94."

Washington Post: "Anger and despair are mounting in Turkey, as the death toll from a pair of major earthquakes in the country and neighboring Syria climbs above 15,000, and survivors and opposition politicians express frustration at the speed of the government's disaster response. Hope of finding survivors is dimming. Freezing temperatures in the towns and cities flattened b Monday's quakes have lengthened the odds, even as international rescue teams flow into the country with technical equipment and rescue dogs able to detect human scents beneath piles of rubble." The Guardian's live updates are here. At 8 am ET today, the Guardian has the death toll at more than 17,000. Just devastating.