Some Are Seized, Some Are Found

Reality Chex commentators have been complaining -- some subtly (unwashed), some not so subtly (Akhilleus) -- that the "liberal" New York Times is devoted to both-sider-style reporting, which inevitably leans right.

Unwashed noted (Reality Chex Comments, January 22) that the Times headline describing recovery of classified documents at President Biden's (D) Wilmington home read, "Investigators Sieze More Classified Documents From Biden's Home." Reporters Michael Shear & Katie Rogers' lede for the story: "Investigators for the Justice Department on Friday seized more than a half-dozen documents, some of them classified, at President Biden’s residence in Wilmington, Del., after conducting a 13-hour search of the home, the president’s personal lawyer said Saturday evening." (Emphasis added.) In their next sentence, Shear & Rogers write that this "dramatically escalated the legal and political situation for the president." OMG! FBI agents "dramatically" "seized" (synonyms: "grabbed," "snatched") ill-gotten classified documents from President Biden's home!

Well, it turns out that, according to Biden's personal attorney Bob Bauer, as related by said Shear & Rogers, "the president’s lawyers had offered to provide access for a search 'in the interest of moving the process forward as expeditiously as possible.' Justice Department investigators coordinated the search with Mr. Biden’s lawyers in advance...." Doesn't sound quite so "dramatic," does it?

So Then. Days later, FBI agents took about a dozen classified documents from former Vice President Pence's (R) new Indiana home, too. The headline in Maggie Haberman's story about the discovery of the pence papers: "Classified Documents Found at Pence’s Home in Indiana." Not "seized," but "found." According to Haberman, pence's lawyer Greg Jacob (you may remember him from the January 6 committee hearings) "wrote that despite having a conversation with archives officials on Jan. 19 about procedures for obtaining records from former presidents and vice presidents, the Justice Department that evening 'bypassed the standard procedures and requested direct possession' of the documents.... Mr. Jacob also wrote that there were two boxes in which the records with classified markings had been found, as well as two additional boxes with copies of administration papers. He said he would personally bring those boxes to the National Archives on Jan. 23," according to Haberman's report.

It turns out that "requested direct possession" was a little more aggressive than a mere polite "request." Though Haberman doesn't say so, CNN's updated report says, "Agents from the FBI’s field office in Indianapolis picked up the documents from Pence’s home, [a Pence] lawyer said. On Monday, Pence’s legal team drove the boxes [absent the "found" classified docs] back to Washington, DC, and handed them over to the Archives to review the rest of the material for compliance with the Presidential Records Act." And these agents carried out their "request" with some dispatch. CNN reports that as soon as they found the classified docs, "Pence’s lawyer immediately alerted the National Archives, the sources said. In turn, the Archives informed the Justice Department. A lawyer for Pence told CNN that the FBI requested to pick up the documents with classified markings that evening, and Pence agreed." (Emphasis added.) But, as Marcy Wheeler notes, pence's lawyer wasn't pleased with the the late-day knock on the door: "Jacob complained [it] was against standard protocol."

Why, it sounds like the FBI immediately "seized" those classified docs Pence was storing at his home in a manner than annoyed -- if not pence -- his attorney. Further, it is odd that pence's lawyers didn't tell the FBI about the classified documents. The FBI found out only indirectly, through a tip from the National Archives. Moreover, it was days or even months before the FBI got around to "dramatically" "seizing" President Biden's classified documents. But FBI agents insisted on picking up pence's classified documents right away, and they rushed to pence's home the same day the Archives told them that pence was holding the documents.

Plus. According to on-air reporting, pence had previously stored these documents and other papers at a rented home where he and Mother lived after January 20, 2021, while they were house-hunting. I will note that when you rent a residence, the landlord and her handyman, plumber, and other agents have access to the home. The landlord and/or the rental management agency of course have keys so they can enter the house while the tenants are away on househunting excursions or whatever.

AND here's the front-page headline of an "analysis" by Peter Baker of the Times: "Biden’s Handling of Secret Documents Complicates the Case Against Trump." The headline, by the way, appears in larger typeface than the headline for Haberman's story about pence's "found" documents. And Baker's "analysis" is placed in this morning's Times online main page above Haberman's report. Now, I'm sure Baker started "analyzing" before news of the Purloined Pence Papers broke. But he knew about it before his "analysis" was published, and he incorporates the pence papers discovery into his "analysis," then discounts it as an "everybody does it" boon to Trump."

OR, as Scott Lemieux puts it in LG&$, "In related news, Peter Baker has already been admitted to the Both Sides Do It Hall of Fame on the first ballot but he feels compelled to keep adding to his resume[.]... 'What Trump and Biden [did] isn’t the same, or even remotely similar really, but close enough that Democrats cannot criticize Trump' is the Platonic ideal of the form...."

You might just think the New York Times has two standards of reporting: one for Democrats and one for Republicans. And somehow that works out well for Republicans.

January 25, 2023

Afternoon Update:

Trae Crowder, the Liberal Redneck, explains all:

     ~~~ Marie: To be fair to Donald Trump, Kevin McCarthy, Sean Hannity, et al., I think they already knew every bit of the wisdom the Liberal Redneck shares with us. Thanks to RAS for the lead.

Karen DeYoung, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will send 31 of its premier battle tanks to Ukraine, following agreement with Germany to deliver scores of its Leopard 2 tanks from across Europe. The decisions end months of debate among Western allies and pave the way for a major shift in the balance of power on the Ukrainian battlefield. President Biden said after morning calls with European leaders that the decisions belied Russian President Vladimir Putin's belief that the West would eventually tire of its commitment to Ukraine and 'break up' their coalition." Related story linked below.

My Kevin Says He's Found a Red Line. Andrew Solender of Axios: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday said Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) will be removed from Congress if the House Ethics Committee finds he broke the law.... It's the closest McCarthy has come to outlining potential consequences for the Long Island freshman amid a battery of investigations into revelations he fabricated huge swaths of his resume." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In case you're relieved that Kevin has found the vestiges of his spine, think again. The Ethics Committee, unlike other House committees is equally divided. (I don't think this Congress's committee members have been named.) That means Republicans (or Democrats) on the committee can veto any measure the committee considers. So, let's say one or more of the entities finds that George Anthony has broken the law, an eventuality that seems likely. The Ethics Committee, at Republicans' behest, may still decide not to decide. And My Kevin will just have to support keeping George Anthony on his back bench.

Louisiana. Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The Justice Department has found that Louisiana's longstanding practice of detaining more than a quarter of its inmates beyond their court-ordered release dates violates the Constitution. The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections 'is deliberately indifferent to the systemic overdetention of people in its custody,' according to a copy of a report obtained by The New York Times on Wednesday.... Louisiana officials, who cooperated with federal investigators, are discussing a possible agreement with the Justice Department to overhaul the system. But the department ... concluded that the state has known about the problem for at least a decade and has done little to address it."

Virginia. Paul Bibeau & Sarah Mervosh of the New York Times: "In the hours before a 6-year-old boy shot his first-grade teacher in Virginia this month, school leaders were warned three times that the boy might have a gun, a lawyer for the teacher said on Wednesday, including an account from another child at the school who tearfully reported that the boy had shown him the gun at recess. The lawyer, Diane Toscano, announced the teacher's intent to file a lawsuit against the school district in Newport News, Va., laying out a series of escalating warnings that unfolded on the day of the shooting, when the police say a 6-year-old boy took his mother's gun from home, brought it to Richneck Elementary School and fired at his teacher, Abigail Zwerner." MB: If this is true, and I have no reason to doubt it, the school administration's negligence is inexcusable.

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** Jamie Gangel, et al., of CNN: "A lawyer for former Vice President Mike Pence discovered about a dozen documents marked as classified at Pence's Indiana home last week, and he has turned those classified records over to the FBI, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN. The FBI and the Justice Department's National Security Division have launched a review of the documents and how they ended up in Pence's house in Indiana. The classified documents were discovered at Pence's new home in Carmel, Indiana, by a lawyer for Pence in the wake of the revelations about classified material discovered in President Joe Biden's private office and residence, the sources said. The discovery comes after Pence has repeatedly said he did not have any classified documents in his possession." At 12:10 pm ET, this is a breaking news story. The New York Times' breaking story is by Maggie Haberman. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ CNN reported on-air that the documents at Pence's residence were discovered in a non-secure area.

Catie Edmndson & Karoon Demirjian of the New York Times: "Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday unilaterally exiled Representatives Adam B. Schiff and Eric Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee, making good on a longstanding threat to expel the California Democrats in his first major act of partisan retribution since taking the majority..., though [McCarthy] denied that his decision was retaliatory. Instead, he argued that both men had displayed behavior unbecoming of the committee tasked with overseeing the nation's intelligence services.... Because the intelligence panel is a 'select' committee, the speaker has the authority to dictate who can serve.... Mr. Schiff and Mr. Swalwell are not expected to lose their other committee assignments. Removing members from other committees requires a vote on the House floor.... Mr. McCarthy has also threatened to remove Representative Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, from congressional committees for criticism of Israel that Republicans and some Democrats have condemned as anti-Semitic." During the last Congress, Democrats and some Republicans voted to remove GOP Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar from committees for endorsing violence against Democratic members of Congress. A Guardian report is here.

Covid Conspiracy Theorist Joins Covid Subcommittee. Jordain Carney of Politico: "House Republicans have tapped the members who will lead an investigation into how the government handled the coronavirus pandemic, including conservative firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.... The subcommittee is likely to be at the center of a multi-pronged, GOP-led effort to investigate coronavirus policies. That's expected to include pandemic restrictions, the origins of the virus and decisions by high-profile health officials, including Anthony Fauci, who stepped down from his post as President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser last year." ~~~

     ~~~ We can be sure Miss Margie will bring a wealth of expertise to the committee. Eugene Scott of the Washington Post (January 22, 2022): "Facebook suspended Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for one day for spreading misinformation about covid-19, a day after Twitter permanently suspended her personal account for repeatedly violating the company's policy"

The Case of the Unmarked Boxes. Michael Gold & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "An updated campaign finance report filed on Tuesday raised new questions about the source of six-figure loans that Representative George Santos gave his congressional campaign. In previous filings with the Federal Election Commission, the Santos campaign has reported that Mr. Santos, a Republican from New York who is already facing inquiries from federal and local investigators over his lies and financial dealings, lent his own campaign more than $700,000. But in an update to a report originally filed in April 2022, the Santos campaign unmarked a box that had originally indicated that $500,000 of those loans came from Mr. Santos's own personal funds.... In a separate amended report, another $125,000 loan that Mr. Santos gave to his campaign on Oct. 26 similarly had an unchecked box, suggesting that it did not come from his personal funds either.... Mr. Santos's campaign on Tuesday filed 10 amended reports, updating filings it had previously sent the F.E.C. over the last two years." ~~~

     ~~~ Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "In an interview last month with WABC radio, Santos said the loans were money 'I paid myself' through the Devolder Organization, his company." MB: But hey, it's not against the law to lie to the media.

Ben Sisario & Matt Stevens of the New York Times: "Live Nation Entertainment, the concert industry giant that owns Ticketmaster, came under withering attack during a Senate Judiciary hearing on Tuesday, with committee members from both parties criticizing it for the botched sale of tickets to Taylor Swift's latest tour and calling the company a monopoly that hinders competition and harms consumers. Over nearly three hours, senators pilloried a top Live Nation executive, Joe Berchtold, over the handling of Ms. Swift's tickets last November and over longstanding allegations that the company badgers its competitors to win new business. Such bullying would be a violation of a Justice Department agreement that set conditions on the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster in 2010."

Lindsay Whitehurst of the AP: "The month before the riot at the U.S. Capitol, members of the Proud Boys were growing increasingly angry about the outcome of the 2020 election and were expecting a 'civil war,' a former member told jurors on Tuesday as he took the stand in the seditious conspiracy case against the group's former leader. Matthew Greene testified in the case against former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and four lieutenants under a cooperation deal with the government after pleading guilty to storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with fellow extremists.... The Proud Boys were getting 'ready and willing for anything that was going to happen,' Greene said, adding that the group saw itself as 'essentially the tip of the spear.'"

** Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "Fani T. Willis, the local prosecutor overseeing the investigation into efforts by ... Donald J. Trump and his allies to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia, asked a judge in Atlanta on Tuesday not to make public the findings of a special grand jury that heard months of testimony in the case, saying that she was 'mindful of protecting future defendants' rights. n a two-hour hearing before Judge Robert C.I. McBurney of Fulton County Superior Court, Ms. Willis argued that disclosing the jury's recently completed investigative report could complicate potential efforts to seek indictments.... A lawyer representing a coalition of news organizations asked Judge McBurney to make the report public.... Judge McBurney said he would rule on the matter at a later date." MB: Teevee commentators are very excited about Willis' use of the word "defendants."

Cutting His Losses, Ctd. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday withdrew a second lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) related to her office's fraud probe of his business practices.... No reason was given for the withdrawal. Trump first filed the lawsuit in federal court in Syracuse, N.Y., claiming James was violating his rights and that of his company by pursuing a politically motivated investigation. After a judge in May found 'no evidence' that James had acted with bias, Trump appealed the ruling.... U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks [earlier] had fined Trump and Habba almost $1 million for what was ruled a frivolous lawsuit brought against his 2016 presidential rival, Hillary Clinton, and others. In his 46-page judgment, Middlebrooks cited the lawsuit against James as among those that demonstrated 'a pattern of abuse of the courts' by Trump."

Washington Post Editors: "Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo['s] ... commentary on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Post contributing columnist, reveals [that he] coddled the person who sent the Khashoggi hit squad..., Prince Mohammed bin Salman.... The murder was at least partly retribution against Khashoggi for commentaries in The Post in which he had called for a freer Arab world and a more open and tolerant Saudi Arabia -- and in which he criticized MBS's dictatorial ways.... Donald Trump and his secretary of state reacted to the murder by protecting the Saudi despot, refusing to impose serious penalties against the kingdom, ignoring a congressional resolution calling for sanctions, and seeking to refurbish MBS's standing. Mr. Pompeo makes no secret of his admiration.... Mr. Pompeo reveals that, in private, he and Mr. Trump felt they rescued the crown prince from disrepute.

David McCabe & Nico Grant of the New York Times: "The Justice Department and a group of eight states sued Google on Tuesday, accusing it of illegally abusing a monopoly over the technology that powers online advertising, in the agency's first antitrust lawsuit against a tech giant under President Biden and an escalation in legal pressure on one of the world's biggest internet companies. The lawsuit said Google had 'corrupted legitimate competition in the ad tech industry by engaging in a systematic campaign to seize control of the wide swath of high-tech tools used by publishers, advertisers and brokers to facilitate digital advertising.'" The Guardian's report is here. A Vox story is here.

Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "In a major reversal, Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch have decided that the two companies controlled by their family will no longer seek to recombine. News Corp., which owns the Wall Street Journal, New York Post and other newspapers, and Fox Corp., which oversees Fox News and Fox Sports, said Tuesday evening that the media mogul and his eldest son had concluded that the proposed recombination was 'not optimal for shareholders' right now. The special committees that both companies formed to evaluate the possible combination have been dissolved. The move came after several shareholders objected to the deal."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post live briefing for Wednesday is here: "Berlin announced plans Wednesday to send German-made Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, following weeks of international pressure. Germany will send 14 tanks from its own military stocks and begin training Ukrainian forces in Germany. The package will also include logistics, ammunition and system maintenance support, the government said, adding that it would also 'issue the appropriate transfer permits' enabling other European nations to reexport their Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. NATO members welcomed the news.... Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from the eastern town of Soledar, military spokesman Sergiy Cherevaty told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday. The withdrawal leaves the small salt mining town of around 10,000 people in the eastern Donetsk region in Russian hands and is the first significant town that Russia has captured since July.... [Ukraine President Volodymyr] Zelensky promised to make wide-ranging personnel changes amid a public outcry over corruption allegations involving government and law enforcement officials.... Two British men were killed while attempting to evacuate civilians in eastern Ukraine, according to a family statement." ~~~

     ~~~ A Politico report on Germany's plans to send battle tanks to Ukraine is here.

Helene Cooper & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "Reversing its longstanding resistance, the Biden administration plans to send M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, in what would be a major step in arming Kyiv in its efforts to seize back its territory from Russia. The White House is expected to announce a decision as early as Wednesday, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions. Two officials said the number of Abrams tanks could be about 30. Over the past month, Pentagon officials had expressed misgivings about sending the Abrams, citing concerns about how Ukraine would maintain the advanced tanks, which require extensive training and servicing. And officials said it could take years for them to actually reach any Ukrainian battlefields. But Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III has now come around to the view that committing to sending American tanks is necessary to spur Germany to follow with its coveted Leopard 2 tanks." An AP report is here.

Andrew Meldrum of the AP: "Several senior Ukrainian government officials lost their jobs as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought Tuesday to contain a burgeoning corruption scandal amid the nearly 11-month-old Russian invasion. The high-level shakeup came as Poland formally requested permission from Germany to transfer a modest number of its Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine. Germany builds the high-tech armor and Warsaw needs Berlin's permission to send them to a non-NATO country.... The deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, quit as Zelenskyy pledged to address allegations of graft -- including some related to wartime spending -- that embarrassed authorities and could slow Ukraine's efforts to join the European Union and NATO.... Deputy Defense Minister Viacheslav Shapovalov also resigned, local media reported, alleging his departure was linked to a scandal involving the purchase of food for Ukraine's armed forces. Deputy Prosecutor General Oleksiy Symonenko also quit. In all, four deputy ministers and five regional governors were set to leave their posts, the country's cabinet secretary said on the Telegram messaging app." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Vatican. Nicole Winfield of the AP: "Pope Francis criticized laws that criminalize homosexuality as 'unjust,' saying God loves all his children just as they are and called on Catholic bishops who support the laws to welcome LGBTQ people into the church. 'Being homosexual isn't a crime,' Francis said during an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press. Francis acknowledged that Catholic bishops in some parts of the world support laws that criminalize homosexuality or discriminate against the LGBTQ community, and he himself referred to the issue in terms of 'sin.' But he attributed such attitudes to cultural backgrounds, and said bishops in particular need to undergo a process of change to recognize the dignity of everyone."

News Lede

New York Times: "A man who fatally shot three people in what was apparently a random attack at a convenience store in Yakima, Wash., early Tuesday morning later shot and killed himself after an hourslong police manhunt, the authorities said. The gunman, Jarid Haddock, 21, took his own life before officers arrived and found him about 3:15 p.m., the authorities said.... A tip from a woman eventually helped the authorities find him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot. At a Target store in Yakima, the woman, whose name was not shared by the police, let Mr. Haddock use her cellphone to make a call, Chief Murray said. She then heard Mr. Haddock call his mother and say, 'I killed those people,' according to [Yakima Police Chief Matthew] Murray."

January 24, 2023

Late Morning Update:

** Jamie Gangel, et al., of CNN: "A lawyer for former Vice President Mike Pence discovered about a dozen documents marked as classified at Pence's Indiana home last week, and he has turned those classified records over to the FBI, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN. The FBI and the Justice Department's National Security Division have launched a review of the documents and how they ended up in Pence's house in Indiana. The classified documents were discovered at Pence's new home in Carmel, Indiana, by a lawyer for Pence in the wake of the revelations about classified material discovered in President Joe Biden's private office and residence, the sources said. The discovery comes after Pence has repeatedly said he did not have any classified documents in his possession." At 12:10 pm ET, this is a breaking news story. The New York Times' breaking story is by Maggie Haberman. ~~~

     ~~~ CNN reported on-air that the documents at Pence's residence were discovered in a non-secure area.

Andrew Meldrum of the AP: "Several senior Ukrainian government officials lost their jobs as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought Tuesday to contain a burgeoning corruption scandal amid the nearly 11-month-old Russian invasion. The high-level shakeup came as Poland formally requested permission from Germany to transfer a modest number of its Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine. Germany builds the high-tech armor and Warsaw needs Berlin's permission to send them to a non-NATO country.... The deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, quit as Zelenskyy pledged to address allegations of graft -- including some related to wartime spending -- that embarrassed authorities and could slow Ukraine's efforts to join the European Union and NATO.... Deputy Defense Minister Viacheslav Shapovalov also resigned, local media reported, alleging his departure was linked to a scandal involving the purchase of food for Ukraine's armed forces. Deputy Prosecutor General Oleksiy Symonenko also quit. In all, four deputy ministers and five regional governors were set to leave their posts, the country's cabinet secretary said on the Telegram messaging app."

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Wow! Shayna Jacobs, et al., of the Washington Post: "The former head of FBI counterintelligence in New York has been charged in two separate indictments that accuse him of taking secret cash payments of more than $225,000 while overseeing highly sensitive cases, and allegedly breaking the law by trying to get Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska removed from a U.S. sanctions list, officials said Monday. Charles McGonigal, 54, who retired from the FBI in September 2018, was indicted in federal court in Manhattan on money laundering, violating U.S. sanctions and other charges in connection to his alleged ties to Deripaska, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In his role at the FBI, McGonigal had been tasked with investigating Deripaska, whose own indictment on sanctions-violation charges was unsealed in September. Separately, McGonigal was accused in a nine-count indictment in federal court in Washington of hiding his receipt of $225,000 from a former Albanian intelligence agent living in New Jersey. McGonigal was also accused of hiding foreign travel and contacts with senior leaders in countries including Albania, Kosovo and Bosnia where the former Albanian agent had business interests." The ABC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: We already knew the FBI's New York office had its share of reprobates, but this takes it to a whole 'nother level.

I will never leave that woman. I will always take care of her. -- Speaker Kevin McCarthy, speaking about his wife Marjorie Taylor Greene

Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "The House's powerful Rules Committee has moved to the right, according to lists shared by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Monday. The committee, which will be chaired by Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), includes Reps. Chip Roy (R-Tex.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.).... Roy and Norman were among the group of Republican holdouts who withheld support for McCarthy's speakership during the 15 rounds of voting earlier this month until after he’d made several concessions to the more extremist wing of the party." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's refreshing to read the phrase "the more extremist wing of the party." The implication is that the entire party is extremist, and these guys are even more extremist. I'd say that's right.

William Vaillancourt of the Daily Beast, via Yahoo! News: "Rep. George Santos (R-NY) ... claimed last month during a podcast interview that he had been the target of an assassination attempt, that he was mugged in a brazen daytime robbery while walking down Fifth Avenue in New York City, and that his Florida home was vandalized because of his political affiliation. The wild allegations were uncovered Monday by Rachel Maddow, who on her show played video of an interview the congressman conducted with Brazilian podcast Rádio Novelo Apresenta." George, or whatever his name is, didn't say much about the assassination attempt, other than that he received police protection after it, but he said this about the mugging: "I was mugged by two men.... They robbed me, took my briefcase, took my shoes and my watch. And that was in broad daylight. It was 3 p.m. I was leaving my office, going to the garage, getting my car, and I was mugged...." Marie: It's mean of Maddow to expect Jorge to tell the truth in every language.

Mary Jalonick of the AP: "Former Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts [R] was sworn in as the newest member of the U.S. Senate on Monday, replacing Republican Sen. Ben Sasse as the Senate returns from several weeks of recess to begin a new session of closely-divided government."

Historian Eric Foner in a New York Times op-ed highlights a little-discussed provision of the Fourteen Amendment: Section Four, which states that "The validity of the public debt of the United States shall not be questioned." Foner argues that, given the historical application of this provision -- which he describes -- the current Congress may not question the validity of our national debt and refuse to authorize payment. "But if the current House of Representatives abdicates this responsibility, throwing the nation into default by refusing to raise the debt limit, President Biden should act on his own, taking steps to ensure that the federal government meets its financial obligations, as the Constitution requires." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. See his commentary in yesterday's thread. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Zach Montague of the New York Times: "Four members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia were found guilty of seditious conspiracy on Monday for their roles in trying to keep Donald J. Trump in office after his 2020 election defeat, nearly two months after the group's leader -- Stewart Rhodes -- was convicted of the same offense in a separate trial in November. A jury in Federal District Court in Washington also found the four defendants guilty of two separate conspiracy charges. The defendants -- Roberto Minuta, Joseph Hackett, David Moerschel and Edward Vallejo -- were originally charged along with Mr. Rhodes and other members of the group. But their trial was broken off as a separate proceeding by the judge in the case, Amit P. Mehta, because of space constraints in the courtroom." CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "An Arkansas man who posed with his boot propped on a desk in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was convicted by a federal jury on Monday of eight counts, including disorderly conduct in a capitol building, prosecutors said. The man, Richard Barnett, 62, of Gravette, Ark., became one of the highest-profile defendants charged in the storming of the Capitol after he was photographed in Ms. Pelosi's office, wearing a hat, plaid jacket, bluejeans and brown boots, with a stun gun dangling from his belt, prosecutors said." The NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

They're Ba-a-ack! (At Least Some of Them.) Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court, which had not announced a decision from the bench since the start of the coronavirus pandemic almost three years ago, returned to the courtroom on Monday to issue a unanimous decision in a case on veterans' benefits. The decision, the first in an argued case in the term that started in October, was announced by its author, Justice Amy Coney Barrett. It was the first time she had summarized an opinion from the bench." In the veteran's case, the Court ruled that he waited far too long to apply for benefits that he would have been due had he filed within a year of his discharge from the Navy. Besides Barrett, in attendance were Chief Justice John Roberts & Justices Clarence Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: MEANWHILE, Kagan was out having lunch at a Chinese restaurant; Gorsuch was driving a truck up to my place because there is (really!) a blizzard going on here; O'Kavanaugh was having a few beers at a D.C. watering hole and Alito was photocopying his latest opinion to send to Josh Gerstein of Politico.

Natasha Korecki, et al., of NBC News: "Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sharply criticizes murdered Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in his new book, questioning his journalism credentials and lambasting what he calls the media's sympathetic coverage of his brutal killing in Saudi Arabia. 'He didn't deserve to die, but we need to be clear about who he was -- and too many in the media were not,' Pompeo wrote.... Pompeo ... described Khashoggi as an 'activist,' claiming that he was a journalist only 'to the extent that I, and many other public figures are journalists. We sometimes get our writing published, but we also do other things.'... Pompeo also wrote that while Khashoggi's brutal murder was 'ugly,' it wasn't 'surprising' to him because it was the type of behavior he expected from the Middle East."

Elisabetta Povoledo of the New York Times: "... five dozen ancient artifacts..., dating from the seventh century B.C. to the first century A.D..., worth more than $20 million, according to the Italian Culture Ministry, were back on Italian soil after having been seized in the United States by American officials over the past 14 months. Twenty-one of the works had been on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, as well as in private homes and auction houses, before being recovered by American officials, who acted on evidence that they had been illegally looted from archaeological sites in Italy." ~~~

     ~~~ The authorities will probably be after me next. I was strolling through the necropolis of Les Alyscamps in Arles, like the people pictured below, when I stopped to pick up a tiny chunk of a sarcophagus lying on the ground. I have it still. Somewhere. ~~~

"Falling Autumn Leaves," Vincent van Gogh, 1888.

The Pandemic, Ctd. Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "Americans may be offered a single dose of a Covid vaccine each fall, much as they are given flu shots, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Monday. To simplify the makeup and timing of the shots, the agency also is proposing to retire the original vaccines and to offer only bivalent doses for primary and booster shots, according to briefing documents published on Monday. The proposal took some scientists by surprise, including a few of the F.D.A.'s own advisers. They are scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss the country's vaccine strategy, including which doses should be offered and on what schedule."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Washington Post's live briefing for Tuesday is here. The Guardian's live updates for Tuesday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Isobel Koshiw of the Guardian: "Ukraine's deputy infrastructure minister, Vasyl Lozinskyi, has been detained and dismissed from his post for allegedly stealing $400,000 (£320,000) intended for purchasing aid, including generators, according to Ukraine's state anti-corruption detectives and prosecutors. After the news emerged..., Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed that the old ways of corruption would not return to Ukraine."

Brazil. Jack Nicas & Flávia Milhorance of the New York Times: "An illegal-fishing trafficker ordered henchmen to kill an expert on Indigenous tribes in June because he was disrupting the illicit game trade, Brazilian authorities said Monday, leading to an assassination that also left a British journalist dead. The killings attracted international attention to the bloody conflict over the Amazon rainforest. Brazilian federal police officials said they had gathered evidence that showed Rubén Dario da Silva Villar, a Colombian man widely known as Colombia, had ordered the killing of Bruno Pereira, 41, an activist and former Brazilian government official, because he was helping Indigenous tribes combat illegal fishing and hunting.... When other men went to carry out the orders, pursuing Mr. Pereira in a boat and shooting him with shotguns, they also killed the person he was with: Dom Phillips, 57, a British freelance journalist who had written for The Guardian and The New York Times and was traveling in the Amazon at work on a book."

News Ledes

U.S.A., where almost all the breaking news is about a mass shooting:

ABC News: "An unknown gunman is at large after he allegedly shot and killed three people at a Circle K convenience store and gas station in Yakima, Washington, early Tuesday, authorities said. After the shooting at the Circle K around 3:30 a.m. local time, the gunman went across the street to an ampm convenience store where he allegedly shot into a car and then stole it, Yakima Police Chief Matthew Murray told reporters.It is possible the gunman shot the person in the car as he stole it, the chief said. If so, the driver would be the fourth shooting victim."

AP: "Seven people were killed in two related shootings Monday at agricultural facilities in a California coastal community south of San Francisco, marking the state's third mass killing in eight days, including Saturday's attack at a dance hall that killed 11 during Lunar New Year celebrations." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times has live updates of developments here: "A suspect, Zhao Chunli, 67, of Half Moon Bay, was found in his car in the parking lot of a sheriff's office substation in Half Moon Bay, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office said. Sheriff Christina Corpus said at a news conference on Monday night that the suspect had been taken into custody "without incident," and that a semi-automatic handgun had been found in his vehicle. The authorities said that he was "fully cooperating," and that they believe he acted alone."