January 23, 2023

Afternoon Update:

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.

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. ~~~

~~~ 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.

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. ~~~

     ~~~ 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.

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 below.

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Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "President Biden's lawyers told the Justice Department in November that they had no reason to believe that copies of official records from his vice presidency had ended up anywhere beyond a think tank in Washington, where several classified documents had been found that month, two people familiar with the matter said on Sunday. That assertion, the people said, was based on interviews with former officials who had been involved in the process of packing and shipping such material. But it would turn out that a handful of classified records were at Mr. Biden's residence in Wilmington, Del., too. The mistaken premise, according to the people..., helps explain why roughly seven weeks elapsed before Mr. Biden's lawyers searched boxes in the garage at his Wilmington home on Dec. 20 and found several more classified papers." Savage goes on to outline the timeline and discussions between DOJ and President Biden's lawyers, as described by Biden's team.

Tyler Pager & Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "President Biden will name Jeff Zients to serve as his next chief of staff, turning to a management consultant who oversaw the administration's coronavirus response to replace Ron Klain, who is expected to leave in the coming weeks, according to four people familiar with the decision. Zients left the White House in April after steering the administration's pandemic response and leading the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history. He returned to the White House in the fall to help Klain prepare for staff turnover after the midterms -- a project that was ultimately limited in scope, as few senior staff members have left across the administration. But, in recent weeks, Klain has assigned him different projects, which some viewed as preparing Zients for the top role, people familiar with the arrangement said...." CNN's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

John Wagner & Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: "House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has formally recommended that Reps. Adam B. Schiff and Eric Swalwell be reappointed to the House Intelligence Committee, escalating a clash with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who has vowed to deny spots on the panel to both California Democrats. In a letter dated Saturday, Jeffries argued that McCarthy has no justifiable reason not to accept his appointments of Schiff, who served as chairman of the Intelligence panel until Republicans took control of the chamber, and Swalwell.... Unlike most committees, where party leaders control their appointees, the speaker has final say over who sits on the Intelligence panel.... Republicans have been angling to deny spots on key panels to Democrats partly in retaliation for votes by the Democratic-led House in the last Congress to remove Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Reps. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) from committees.... Greene and Gosar were removed 'after a bipartisan vote of the House found them unfit to serve on standing committees for directly inciting violence against their colleagues,' Jeffries wrote. 'It does not serve as precedent or justification for the removal of Representatives Schiff and Swalwell, given that they have never exhibited violent thoughts or behavior.'"

Poppy Noor of the Guardian: "Thousands of protesters gathered across the United States to protest the end of the federal right to abortion -- marching on the the 50th anniversary of the Roe v Wade supreme court decision that made abortion a constitutional right in 1973, but which was struck down last year. At more than 200 Women's March events in 46 states, demonstrators condemned the court's decision.... The vice-president, Kamala Harris, delivered a speech in Tallahassee, Florida, [a] state with tight restrictions on abortion that will get tighter if state Republicans have their way."

The Pandemic, Ctd. Fenit Nirappil of the Washington Post: "... early waves of respiratory syncytial virus and influenza peaked before the new year, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the expected winter uptick of coronavirus is nowhere close to overwhelming hospitals, as it did in 2021 when covid wards were filled with unvaccinated people.... The RSV wave has receded ... across the country. Flu cases have rapidly dwindled. Covid hospitalizations rose briefly after Christmas, only to fall again.... The United States is better equipped now than earlier in the pandemic to weather coronavirus surges because most people have some degree of immunity, and early treatment keeps the most vulnerable people from becoming seriously ill." Access to this article is free to nonsubscribers.

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona Senate Race. Jazmine Ulloa of the New York Times: "Representative Ruben Gallego, a progressive Democrat from Phoenix, announced on Monday that he would run for the Senate in 2024, setting up a potential face-off with Senator Kyrsten Sinema over her seat that could carry high stakes for Democrats' control of the upper chamber. Mr. Gallego, a 43-year-old former state lawmaker and U.S. Marine veteran, began his campaign with a video in which he declares his run to a group of fellow veterans at American Legion Post 124 in Guadalupe, Ariz., near Phoenix.... Ms. Sinema, whose opposition to key elements of her party's agenda had angered Democrats, left the party in December and registered as an independent.... It is expected that Ms. Sinema will seek re-election, but she has not yet announced her intentions.... A head-to-head matchup between Mr. Gallego and Ms. Sinema in the general election is likely to split the coalition of Democrats and independents who have powered Democratic victories in Arizona in recent elections." CNN's story is here.

South Carolina Gothic. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "The trial of Alex Murdaugh begins on Monday, the centerpiece of a twisted tale of two fatal shootings and the downfall of a South Carolina legal dynasty."

Way Beyond

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

     ~~~ ** The Washington Post's live briefing for Monday is here: "The German government won't oppose Poland sending German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, if Warsaw makes such a request, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told French TV channel LCI on Sunday. Her remarks came as pressure mounted on Germany over its reluctance to send its own tanks or approve the export of German-made tanks from other nations, which prompted backlash from Western allies that say it's urgent to get them to Ukraine to bolster its fighting capacity this year. The Polish government has condemned Berlin's hesitancy as 'unacceptable' and said it stands ready to send some of its own, though it requires Germany's legal authorization before doing so.... Former British prime minister Boris Johnson visited two war-torn cities outside of Kyiv: Bucha and Borodyanka this weekend.... Representatives from France and Germany were meeting in Paris on Sunday for talks on Europe's security and energy." ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the AP's story on Germany's permitting Poland's German-made tanks to be sent to Ukraine.

Russia, Spain. Edward Wong, et al., of the New York Times: "American and European officials believe that Russian military intelligence officers directed associates of a white supremacist militant group based in Russia to carry out a recent letter bomb campaign in Spain whose most prominent targets were the prime minister, the defense minister and foreign diplomats, according to U.S. officials.... No one was killed in the attacks, which U.S. officials consider terrorism. An employee of the Ukrainian Embassy was injured when one of the packages exploded. Investigators in recent weeks have focused on the Russian Imperial Movement, a radical group that has members and associates across Europe and military-style training centers in St. Petersburg, the officials said/ They added that the group, which has been designated a global terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department, is believed to have ties to Russian intelligence agencies. Important members of the group have been in Spain, and the police there have tracked its ties with far-right Spanish organizations."

News Ledes

The New York Times' liveblog of developments Monday in the mass shooting in Monterey Park, California is here: "Another victim of the mass shooting at a popular Southern California ballroom died at a hospital on Monday, bringing the death toll to 11, as investigators continued to seek the gunman's motive." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' liveblog on the mass shooting in Monterey Park, California is here. (Also linked yesterday.) "Five men and five women were fatally shot and 10 more were injured before the gunman, the police believe, left the scene and entered a second dance club in nearby Alhambra, where patrons were able to disarm him before he fled in what investigators described as a white cargo van. The drama came to an end on Sunday afternoon, when after an hourslong manhunt, a SWAT team pinned that van in a parking lot in Torrance, some 30 miles from the scene of the shootings. Officers heard one shot as they approached the van, and discovered that the suspect had shot himself, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. The man, identified as Huu Can Tran, 72, was pronounced dead at the scene.” NBC News live updates are here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In case you are ever on a jury in a criminal trial, bear this in mind: eyewitnesses are completely unreliable. According to yesterday's reporting, the shooter was a male between the ages of 30 and 50. So somebody thought this maniac was 40 years younger than he was. And this isn't a case of cross-race identification, which is even more -- in fact, notoriously -- inaccurate. Most of the people in the dance club, according to reports, also were ethnic Asians (specifically, Chinese). And the witnesses weren't lying or obfuscating; I'm sure they wanted the authorities to catch this person.

January 22, 2023

Afternoon Update:

Tyler Pager & Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "President Biden will name Jeff Zients to serve as his next chief of staff, turning to a management consultant who oversaw the administration's coronavirus response to replace Ron Klain, who is expected to leave in the coming weeks, according to four people familiar with the decision. Zients left the White House in April after steering the administration's pandemic response and leading the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history. He returned to the White House in the fall to help Klain prepare for staff turnover after the midterms -- a project that was ultimately limited in scope, as few senior staff members have left across the administration. But, in recent weeks, Klain has assigned him different projects, which some viewed as preparing Zients for the top role, people familiar with the arrangement said...." CNN's story is here.

     ~~~ Wherein Colin Jost agrees with me, Marie Burns, about Hillary Clinton's emails.

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Michael Shear & Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "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. The remarkable search of a sitting president's home by federal agents -- at the invitation of Mr. Biden's lawyers -- dramatically escalated the legal and political situation for the president, the latest in a series of discoveries that has already led to a special counsel investigation. During Friday's search, six more items with classified markings -- including some documents from his time as a senator and others from his time as vice president -- were taken by investigators, along with surrounding materials, according to the statement from Bob Bauer, Mr. Biden's attorney." CNN's report is here.~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The last time Biden was a senator was January 2009, 14 years ago. At various times he chaired both the Intelligence and Judiciary committees. I have no idea what kind of staff such powerful senators have and whether or not those staff sometimes work out of his home. But a reasonable person is bound to suspect that Joe did some of his own filing in his home office. And that suggests he himself -- or someone without any clearance at all -- just blithely filed away at least a few classified documents in a box or drawer where they've been moldering, perhaps for decades. This doesn't make Trump look any better, but it sure makes the brouhaha over Hillary Clinton's emails look ridiculous. So thanks again, Jim Comey, for bringing us President* Trump.

From the OPM's "Hard to Get (and Keep) Good Help" File:

(1. White House) Peter Baker & Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "Ron Klain, the White House chief of staff who has steered President Biden's administration through two years of triumphs and setbacks, is expected to step down in coming weeks in the most significant changing of the guard since Mr. Biden took office two years ago.... Mr. Klain likely would stay around for a transition period to help the next chief settle in.... His resignation would be a striking moment of turnover at the top of an administration that has been relatively stable through the first half of Mr. Biden's term, and Mr. Klain takes pride that he has lasted longer than any other Democratic president's first chief of staff in more than half a century.... The departure would also come at a time when the White House faces a widening array of political and legal threats from a newly appointed special counsel investigating the improper handling of classified documents and a flurry of other inquiries by the newly installed Republican majority in the House." The NBC News report is here.

(2. Border Patrol) Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "One of the most senior officials at the U.S. Border Patrol quietly resigned in October amid an internal investigation into allegations of improper conduct with women, according to four people familiar with the matter. The official, Tony Barker, the acting chief of the Border Patrol's law enforcement operations directorate, had been an agent for more than 20 years and was being considered for a high-ranking post when he learned that internal investigators were reviewing his online communications with women, including subordinates, that took place on government equipment.... Concerns about Mr. Barker surfaced last fall during the vetting process when he was being considered for a top position in the Border Patrol...." The NBC News story is here.

(3. Pentagon, OPM) Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: While he was a high-ranking Pentagon official, Douglas Glenn, then the Pentagon's acting comptroller, "called a subordinate a 'hot blonde.' He told another woman who worked for him he 'hoped some studly guy would be rubbing oil on her back at the beach.' He used the n-word in a meeting with his staff. These are among the litany of racially and sexually offensive behaviors by a former high-ranking Defense Department official that the Pentagon's inspector general says it substantiated in a new report released on Thursday." Okay, so then what happened? "As the investigation into his conduct at the Pentagon was underway, Glenn was hired in November 2021 by the Office of Personnel Management, where he now serves as chief financial officer -- raising questions about the vetting process used by the government's own personnel agency.... An OPM spokesman, declined to comment Friday, leaving unclear Glenn's status at the agency." ~~~

~~~ Well, what are you going to do when federal government employee/most powerful woman in the world quit her job? ~~~

~~~ Maureen Dowd of the New York Times had lunch with Nancy Pelosi. An exit interview in which they talked about more than shoes. But shoes, too. Worth a read for Pelosi's insights.

TMZ: "Rep. George Santos did, in fact, dress in women's clothing as a young man -- but don't go calling him a drag queen now ... 'cause he's still rejecting that label, it seems.... [When reporters greet him at La Guardia,] he cops to it, saying he was 'just having fun' out there and that it's much ado about nothing. He also made sure to specifically denounce the term 'drag queen.'... It's great Santos -- who's openly gay -- is finally being truthful ... but the fact this is basically a 180 from his outright denial appears to be in line with an emerging pattern with him. Namely, he tends to flatly challenge stories about him as false -- only to recant later." Includes video & a definitive photo of George in drag. Here's the report from WABC (New York) News.

Jodi Kantor of the New York Times writes what purports to be the inside story of the search for the Supreme Court leaker. She doesn't seem to reveal much of anything we didn't already know or surmise from earlier public reporting. More illuminating:

By Ann Telnaes of the Washington Post

... when you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. -- Sherlock Holmes, in Arthur Conan-Doyle's The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes

Surely it's improbable that a Supreme Court Justice would be the leaker. -- bowtiejack, in yesterday's Comments

... justices have a long history of being the ultimate source of leaks. -- Prof. Aaron Tang, U.C. Davis, in a New York Times op-ed

So should we not presume guilt and assert with confidence that the leaker was a justice or the spouse of a justice? -- Marie Burns

The Unfinished Tale of Bart O'Kavanaugh, Sexual Predator. Jada Yuan of the Washington Post: "'We're getting more tips,' Amy Herdy announced Friday night after the Sundance Film Festival premiere of 'Justice,' a documentary she produced about the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh. The film's existence was a surprise, with the festival only revealing on Thursday, its opening night, that it was making a very last-minute addition to the lineup: the first documentary from ... director Doug Liman. Within half an hour of the news getting out, Liman said in the post-screening Q&A, the film team started hearing from people who had sent the FBI tips before Kavanaugh's confirmation, which the agency did not further investigate.... The tips were compelling enough for the team to start investigating and filming again with plans to add footage to the completed film, Liman said.... The filmmakers told the audience Friday that they have a website, JusticeFilm.com, where people can send tips.... If there's a smoking gun in Liman’s film, it's a voice message left on the FBI tip line from Max Stier, the president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service who attended Yale with Kavanagh and Ramirez." Read on. A Guardian story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ What if you get seated as a Supreme Court justice because you committed perjury at your confirmation hearing? For those of you who can't quite recall Bart's testimony, here's an excellent, accurate recap:

She Had a Ticket to Flee. Maya Yang of the Guardian: "The disgraced founder of Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes, made an 'attempt to flee the country' by purchasing a one-way ticket to Mexico after she was found guilty on four counts of fraud last January, according to prosecutors. In the new filing on Thursday, prosecutors said that 'contrary to defendant's assertion that she has a 'flawless record with US Pretrial Services' and claim that no evidence suggests she will flee while she pursues her appeal ... the incentive to flee has never been higher and defendant has the means to act on that incentive." Her attorneys claimed the one-way ticket was for a pre-planned trip to attend the wedding of friends.

Beyond the Beltway

Having the legal right on the books to get an abortion and getting one in practice are two distinctly different things. -- Laurie Bertram Roberts of the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund

What gets put out to the press is: "We have exceptions for fetal abnormalities and we have exceptions for maternal life." When you get into the nitty-gritty details of it, you actually don't. -- Dr. Lori Day, Indiana ~~~

~~~ ** Where "Exceptions" Are Not Exceptions. Amy Walker of the New York Times: "The abortion bans enacted in about half the states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June do not prohibit abortion entirely. Most make exceptions in certain circumstances, commonly to protect the health or life of the patient, or in the case of rape or incest.... But in the months since the court's decision, very few exceptions to these new abortion bans have been granted.... Doctors and hospitals are turning away patients, saying that ambiguous laws and the threat of criminal penalties make them unwilling to test the rules." MB: This is great for state legislators. They can pretend they're good reasonable Christians who don't want to punish women & their families for pregnancies that present extraordinary circumstances, all the while knowing that they have written laws that effectively ban nearly every abortion in every circumstance.

Florida. Education Department Releases Official Excuses for Racism. Eliza Fawcett & Anemona Hartocollis of the New York Times: "After rejecting [a College Board] Advanced Placement course in African American studies for high school students, the Florida Department of Education offered an explanation of what it found objectionable in the curriculum -- citing examples of what it calls 'the woke indoctrination' of students that would violate state laws restricting how race can be taught in the classroom.... The department cites the inclusion of readings from many major African American scholars, activists and writers, who explored subjects like Black queer studies, Black feminist literary thought, the reparations movement and intersectionality.... Florida law requires the study of African American history. But Gov. Ron DeSantis [R is for Racist] ... has gained national prominence for backing restrictions on what students in Florida can and cannot learn. Last year, he signed the Individual Freedoms Act -- known as the Stop WOKE Act -- into law, which regulates how race-related issues are taught in public universities, colleges and in workplace trainings." ~~~

~~~ Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: Marvin Dunn, a professor emeritus of Florida International University, is teaching Florida Black history anyway. For instance, he recently took students & their parents to the burial place of the Newberry Six, Black Floridians lynched by a White mob. "Dunn's statewide 'Teach the Truth' tours are taking high school students to the sites of some of the worst racial violence in Florida history.... Dunn is one of eight plaintiffs in a lawsuit over [Gov. Ron] DeSantis's law, formally the Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act, which also applies to public university professors. A federal judge ruled against the state in November, ordering a temporary injunction against portions of the act that restrict how college and university professors teach about race.... [DeSantis's] staff has described the term 'woke' as 'the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them,' and said DeSantis doesn't believe that theory."

Georgia. Josh Marcus of the Independent, via Yahoo! News: "Activists across Atlanta are planning a string of events for the weekend in honour of Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, 26, a protester who was fatally shot by police on Wednesday during an operation evicting demonstrators protesting the construction of a $90m police training centre in an area forest. Defend the Atlanta Forest, one of the groups opposing the construction of the sprawling 'Cop City' development, said a vigil would be held inside the forest on Friday evening. Remembrances are expected to continue through Saturday.... Teran, known by fellow activists as Tortuguita, was killed in Wednesday, as a multi-agency task force moved into the South River Forest to clear out the encampments of protesters who have been fighting the Cop City project since 2021.... Georgia officials say Teran fired unprovoked on officers after failing to comply with commands, while activist groups say this account is false or questionable."

Way Beyond

Brazil. Anthony Faiola & Marina Dias of the Washington Post: "President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ousted the head of Brazil's army on Saturday, moving against the most senior military officer to be held accountable after the Jan. 8 insurrection, when right-wing rioters rampaged through this nation's halls of power.... The removal of [Gen. Júlio Cesar de] Arruda came six days after The Washington Post reported that he had sought to protect rioters and supporters of defeated former president Jair Bolsonaro who were sheltering at a camp in front of army headquarters after storming and ransacking the presidential palace, the supreme court and congress.... [An] official said Lula acted after Arruda refused his order to fire a former senior Bolsonaro aide, Col. Mauro Cid..."

Haiti. Widlore Mérancourt & Amanda Coletta of the Washington Post: "Haiti, beset by horrific gang violence, record hunger and another outbreak of cholera, has suffered a new blow: the end of democratically elected government. Having failed to hold legislative elections in 2019, this Caribbean nation lost its last 10 senators this month when their terms expired. That's left the country of 11 million without a president -- that office has been vacant since the assassination of Jovenel Moïse 18 months ago -- or a parliament. The national government, such as it is, is run by Ariel Henry, an appointed prime minister who has yet to set a date for elections, who is accused by opponents of being a dictator -- and might have been involved in Moïse's killing.... The United States has voiced its support for a 'rapid action force,' but it does not want to lead one, and has instead prevailed upon Canada to assume a leadership role. Canadian officials have said that any form of intervention must have political consensus in Haiti, which has proved elusive."

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "The Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have made advances in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhia region and continued offensive operations around the city of Bakhmut in Donbas, as a chorus of Western allies urged Germany to approve the delivery of battle tanks that Kyiv says are crucial to fighting entrenched Russian forces. Germany has declined to send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine or approve the transfer of the tanks by other nations with the German-made system in their inventories.... Berlin needs to provide Leopard tanks to Ukraine immediately, the foreign ministers of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania said in a joint appeal on Saturday." ~~~

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

     ~~~ Send in the Tanks. Washington Post Editors: "... Germany's refusal to approve the transfer of dozens of heavy battle tanks to Ukraine opened the first serious crack in what had been NATO's solid front.... Several European countries with Leopards in their arsenals have signaled they are ready to ship them immediately to Ukraine.... But those shipments must first be approved by Germany, which insisted on a right-to-refusal in its arms sale contracts. [German Chancellor Olaf] Scholz is sacrificing sound strategy on the altar of political calculation by wavering in the face of opposition from some political allies and a segment of the German electorate. It is a misjudgment that cannot stand.... If sending some [U.S.-made] Abrams tanks is the key to breaking the impasse on a potentially much greater shipment of Leopards, President Biden should give his assent."

U.K. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Late Saturday, Buckingham Palace announced details of a three-day merrymaking [coronation] jamboree that will rival Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee last June. Among the highlights [for the May 6-8 weekend]: a star-studded concert at Windsor Castle, a nationwide series of street parties and a national volunteering campaign.... The palace is still expected to shorten the [coronation] service, which will take place May 6 at Westminster Abbey and be conducted by the Most Rev. Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury. It will reduce the guest list and dispense with some of the more antiquated rituals of a ceremony that dates back nearly 1,000 years.

News Ledes

Saturday Night in the U.S.A. Washington Post: "At least nine people were shot, with several hospitalized, in Monterey Park, Calif., on Saturday night, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department official said, on a night of Lunar New Year festivities in the area." At 5:45 am ET, this is a developing story. ~~~

     ~~~ New, Terrible Lede: "At least nine people were killed in a shooting in Monterey Park, Calif., the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said early Sunday." Still developing at 6:25 am ET. ~~~

     ~~~ An NBC News report has the number killed as ten. ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is live-updating developments here: "Ten people were killed and at least 10 others were injured in a shooting late Saturday night inside a dance venue in Monterey Park, Calif., the authorities said. The gunman, described by the Los Angeles County sheriff only as 'a male Asian' somewhere between the ages of 30 and 50, remained at large, the subject of a manhunt by several local and state law enforcement authorities and the F.B.I." ~~~

     ~~~ NYT Update: "About 20 minutes after the attack in Monterey Park, an armed man walked into another dance hall in the neighboring city of Alhambra. He was disarmed by someone inside and then fled, Sheriff Luna said. His getaway vehicle was described as a white cargo van." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Friday evening, CNN & MSNBC are reporting that police in Torrance, CA, surrounded a white van they believed to be the shooter's and that he shot himself to death.

January 21, 2023

Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times:"The decision by President Biden and his top advisers to keep the discovery of classified documents secret from the public and even most of the White House staff for 68 days was driven by what turned out to be a futile hope that ... they could convince the Justice Department that the matter was little more than a minor, good-faith mistake, unlike ... Donald J. Trump's hoarding of documents at his Florida estate.... In the short term, at least, the bet seems to have backfired.... The goal for the Biden team, according to people familiar with the internal deliberations who spoke on condition of anonymity, was to win the trust of Justice Department investigators and demonstrate that the president and his team were cooperating fully. In other words, they would head off any serious legal repercussions by doing exactly the opposite of what the Biden lawyers had seen the Trump legal team do." (Also linked yesterday.)

Nicholas Wu of Politico: "The Justice Department is signaling that it has the right to not cooperate with Hill Republicans' requests to peek into their ongoing investigations, a top official wrote in a letter obtained by Politico. 'Consistent with longstanding policy and practice, any oversight requests must be weighed against the Department's interests in protecting the integrity of its work,' Carlos Uriarte, DOJ's legislative affairs chief, wrote in the five-page letter. 'Longstanding Department policy prevents us from confirming or denying the existence of pending investigations in response to congressional requests or providing non-public information about our investigations.' The letter, addressed to Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), acknowledges the GOP's multiple requests for information during the last Congress but doesn't divulge any new information.... It's an early marker of DOJ's position as Republicans pledge to probe President Joe Biden's administration over a laundry list of issues...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: And it means that Gym Jordan, Scott Perry & other House insurrectionists are not going to get a sneak peek at what DOJ has on them.

Ha Ha. Christopher Cadelago of Politico: "Embattled Rep. George Santos has claimed that reports and videos documenting him performing in drag are both 'outrageous' and 'categorically false.' But nearly a dozen years ago, Santos himself appears to have confirmed that he participated in drag shows while he was a teenager living in Brazil. A Wikipedia page accessed by Politico shows a user named Anthony Devolder -- a Santos alias -- writing that he 'startted [sp] his "stage" life at age 17 as an gay night club [sp] DRAG QUEEN and with that won sevral [sp] GAY "BEAUTY PAGENTS [sp].”’ The Wiki biography was last edited on April 29, 2011. It contains basic information that matches up with the newly sworn-in congressman, including Devolder being born on July 22, 1988, to a Brazilian family with a European background.... The Wiki bio for Anthony Devolder, which is full of spelling and grammatical errors, appears to contain fantastical descriptions of his supposed career in show business. It claims that he had a part in Disney's 'Hannah Montana,' among other examples." MB: Does the page also say Anthony won the New York City regional spelling bee and lost at the state level only because at the time of the state competition he was being held by kidnappers who were demanding a $5 million ransom from his wealthy parents? (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Much more important that Santos' show biz career, real and imagined, is his citizenship. It turns out there are legitimate questions about whether or not Santos Baby was born in the U.S. or Brazil. If he was not born in the U.S. or has not been a naturalized U.S. citizen for at least seven years, he isn't really a member of Congress, under the Constitution.

Frivolous-Litigator-in-Chief Cuts Losses. Kara Scannell of CNN: "... Donald Trump on Friday withdrew his lawsuit seeking to block the New York attorney general's office from accessing materials from his private trust. In a one-page notice filed with Judge Donald Middlebrooks, Trump's attorney, Timothy Weber, said he was voluntarily dismissing the lawsuit. No further reason was given. Last month, Middlebrooks rejected Trump's effort to obtain a temporary injunction to block New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, from obtaining documents from the trust, saying Trump had 'no substantial likelihood of success on the merits.' A motion to dismiss the lawsuit was still pending. The move comes one day after Middlebrooks sanctioned Trump and another one of his attorney's $937,989 for a lawsuit Trump brought against Hillary Clinton, former top Justice Department officials and several others alleging they conspired against him in the 2016 campaign." (Also linked yesterday.

Devlin Barrett & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Over more than three years as a special prosecutor examining war crime accusations in the fledgling European nation Kosovo, [special prosecutor Jack] Smith sent two men to prison for sharing sensitive information taken from his office and indicted the young country's sitting president -- charges that upended a peace summit [Donald] Trump was organizing at the White House in June 2020 ... [to boost his] reputation as a sharp negotiator ahead of the 2020 election.... Writing on his social media platform Truth Social this month, Trump accused Smith of putting 'a high government official in prison because he was a Trump positive person' while acting as a prosecutor in Europe -- an apparent reference to [former Kosovo president Hashim] Thaci." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yes, I can see where Thaci would be a "Trump-positive person." According to his Wiki page, besides the accusations of war crimes & crimes against humanity which Smith has brought, Thaci has been credibly accused of extortion, of trafficking hard drugs as well as human organs acquired from Serbian prisoners and of having "extensive" ties to organized crime.

Paula Reid, et al., of CNN: "Former Trump White House aide John McEntee appeared on Friday before a grand jury on Trump-related investigations at the federal courthouse in Washington, DC. McEntee had been subpoenaed by the Justice Department as part of its sprawling probe, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN.... McEntee worked as a personal aide for Trump and as the director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office. McEntee's dual roles landed him in a number of small and potentially critical meetings around the election...."

Paul Duggan of the Washington Post: Richard "Bigo" Barnett, the man who had his photo taken lounging in Nancy Pelosi's outer office during the January 6 insurrection, is now on trial in Washington, D.C..., " charged with eight crimes related to the incursion, including theft of government property (to wit, an envelope).... In addition to theft, he is accused of carrying a dangerous weapon [-- a high-voltage stun gun --] in the Capitol, plus a half-dozen offenses involving civil disorder, illegal entry, unlawfully demonstrating and obstructing a congressional proceeding." In the courtroom, Barnett's attorney has portrayed him as a "harmless windbag." Barnett blamed news photographers who took his picture for his foot-on-the-desk pose; they told him to "act natural,"

I followed up on all credible leads, none of which implicated the justices or their spouses. On this basis, I did not believe that it was necessary to ask the justices to sign sworn affidavits. -- Marshal Gail Curley, in a statement ~~~

~~~ Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court's internal investigation into who leaked a draft of the opinion last year overturning the landmark decision that had established a constitutional right to abortion included talking to all nine justices, the marshal of the court said on Friday. But the justices -- unlike dozens of law clerks and permanent employees of the court -- were not made to sign sworn affidavits attesting that they had not been involved in the leak of the draft opinion.... The clarification by the marshal, Gail A. Curley, who oversaw the inquiry, followed widespread speculation over its scope and limitations.... Ms. Curley did not indicate whether she searched the justices' court-issued electronic devices and asked them to turn over personal devices and cellphone records, as she did with other personnel. She also did not address whether she had interviewed any of the justices' spouses, another question that arose after her report was made public." An NBC News report is here.

Lauren Gambino of the Guardian: "Thousands of abortion opponents descended on Washington DC for the annual March for Life on Friday, the first time since achieving its foundational objective: persuading the supreme court to overturn Roe v Wade.... A half-century [after the Roe decision], they gathered again on the National Mall in Washington, this time to celebrate movement's greatest victory. But they also came with a new mission to fighting the battles now playing out in their states.... Since Roe fell, movement leaders have urged Republicans to use their new House majority to pass federal restrictions on abortion, while they press for new bans and restraints at the state level."

Virginia Senate Race 2024. Meagan Flynn & Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post: "Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) announced Friday he plans to seek a third term, sending a wave of relief through the Democratic Party amid worries that he would retire and create a potential opening for Republicans." (Also linked yesterday.)

Fox & (FIFA) Friends. Ken Bensinger of the New York Times: "When the news broke a dozen years ago that Fox had been awarded the U.S. broadcast rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, many in television, and in soccer, were surprised.... But according to a government witness testifying this week in federal court in Brooklyn, Fox didn't acquire those tournaments on merit alone. Instead, said Alejandro Burzaco, a former sports marketing executive from Argentina, an executive working for the media giant used inside information obtained from a powerful FIFA official whom he was secretly bribing for years -- and who controlled the committee that made final decisions on TV deals -- to give Fox a decisive edge in what the other bidders, including ESPN and NBC, thought was a blind auction.... The testimony of Burzaco came during the second trial of individuals and corporations charged in the Justice Department's long-running investigation of corruption in international soccer.

Meredith Hill of Politico: Abbott, "the company at the center of lingering infant formula shortages in the U.S.[,] is now under a criminal investigation by the Justice Department, according to a Biden administration official and another person familiar with the matter. Abbott also confirmed the DOJ probe to Politico.... A handful of congressional Democrats have encouraged federal probes into Abbott’s handling of the contamination of formula products, which ultimately triggered a major recall and shut down a key plant located in Sturgis, Mich. last February. A whistleblower alleged Abbott employees falsified documents and covered up food safety violations from FDA inspectors before the recall."

Adam Satariano of the New York Times: “Alphabet, the parent company of Google, said on Friday that it plans to cut 12,000 jobs, becoming the latest technology company to reduce its work force after a hiring spree during the pandemic and amid concerns about a broader economic slowdown. The job cuts are the company’s largest ever, amounting to about 6 percent of the company’s global work force. Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s chief executive, said the company expanded too rapidly during the pandemic, when demand for digital services boomed, and now must refocus on products and technology core to the company’s future, like artificial intelligence.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. How to Repurpose Rubbish. Rachel Leingang of the Guardian: “A unit created under the former Republican attorney general of Arizona to investigate claims of election fraud will now focus on voting rights and ballot access under the newly elected Democratic attorney general. The Democratic attorney general, Kris Mayes, told the Guardian that instead of prosecuting claims of voter fraud, she will 'reprioritize the mission and resources' of the unit to focus on 'protecting voting access and combating voter suppression'.”

George Santos, Beware. Edward Helmore of the Guardian: "Across the United States Republican politicians are seeking to bring in new laws that crack down on drag shows as part of a broader backlash against LGTBQ+ rights sweeping through rightwing parts of America. Legislators in at least eight states have introduced legislation aiming to restrict or censor the shows, according to a new report from a leading freedom of speech group. A total of 14 bills have been introduced across Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. Other bills are also being drafted in other states, including in Montana and Idaho.... Four [of the draft laws] explicitly ban drag performances at schools or public libraries."

Illinois. Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "When Illinois legislators passed a far-reaching ban last week on selling certain high-powered guns and high-capacity magazines, the Democrats who run the state celebrated it as a lifesaving law that would help prevent mass violence. But on Friday, in the law's first judicial test, a state judge in Effingham County temporarily blocked it from being enforced against hundreds of people and several gun dealers who sued. That ruling, a preliminary step and one of several legal tests the law is likely to face, came amid broad uncertainty about whether sweeping gun controls like those in Illinois can withstand judicial scrutiny following a Supreme Court decision in a New York case last year. Within days of Gov. J.B. Pritzker signing the Illinois legislation, at least three lawsuits were filed challenging it in state and federal courts.

Michigan. Livia Albeck-Ripka of the New York Times: "Three family members were sentenced this week to life in prison without parole in the fatal shooting in 2020 of a security guard at a Family Dollar store in Flint, Mich., over a dispute regarding mask requirements at the store, court records show." (Also linked yesterday.)

Simon Romero & Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "The former Republican candidate accused of targeting the homes of Democrats in drive-by shootings had routinely called for locking up 2020 election officials in Guantánamo Bay. He promoted conspiracy theories about solar power, feminism and 'the demonic theories of the Globalist Elites.' He had been demoted twice by the U.S. Navy and served nearly seven years in prison for burglary.Yet powerful party leaders in New Mexico not only gave the first-time candidate, Solomon Peña, 39, full-throated endorsements, they also opened their checkbooks to fund his race for a state legislative seat in central Albuquerque.... In New Mexico, the case also highlights the internal struggles among Republicans as election deniers like Mr. Peña -- who was in the crowd for ... Donald J. Trump's speech in Washington on Jan. 6, according to videos collected by online sleuths &-- fill the ranks of candidates seeking elected office."

~~~ Make Amphetamines Great Again. John Miller, et al., of CNN: "New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez' office is taking the lead in probing the campaign finances of Solomon Peña, who police say was behind a spate of shootings at Democratic officials' homes. The move comes after Albuquerque police said they were investigating whether Peña's campaign was funded in part by cash from narcotics sales that were laundered into campaign contributions.... The Albuquerque Police Department said in a statement that investigators believe Peña 'identified individuals to funnel contributions from an unknown source to his legislative campaign.'" MB: Yeah, all the best candidates.

Ohio. Voter Suppression by Confusion. Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: "Two weeks after a Republican-backed voting law significantly reshaped Ohio's election procedure, local officials, advocates and voters are still making sense of the changes -- and how the alterations could restrict who might cast ballots in 2024.... Local election officials are waiting to hear from the Ohio secretary of state about what IDs they will now accept, how long they can count votes and who can vote outside of polling places. Legal challenges of the law could further complicate the situation.... The legislation, which is now one of the most restrictive voter-ID laws in the country, comes as GOP-led legislatures are increasingly revamping their voting apparatuses following unfounded complaints of fraud by ... Donald Trump after he lost in 2020." (Also linked yesterday.)

Tennessee. Rick Rojas of the New York Times: "Five Memphis police officers were fired on Friday after the department found that they had used excessive force and failed to intervene or provide help during a traffic stop this month involving a 29-year-old Black man who died in a hospital three days later, officials said. The firings, which were the result of an internal investigation by the Memphis Police Department, come as the city braces for the release of police body camera footage that might provide clarity as to how the man, Tyre Nichols, ended up hospitalized in critical condition after the arrest on Jan. 7. The case has provoked outrage among activists and Mr. Nichols's family and has prompted state and federal investigations. Yet few details have been disclosed about the circumstances of the stop and the confrontations that preceded Mr. Nichols's death."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Ukrainian officials aired their frustration after a key meeting of Western allies at Ramstein Air Base in Germany failed to come up with a deal to supply Kyiv with the battle tanks it says are a crucial part of its bid to take on entrenched Russian forces. In his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine 'will still have to fight for the supply of modern tanks,' adding that the 'war started by Russia does not allow delays.'... The United States will designate Russia's Wagner Group a 'transnational criminal organization,' the White House said Friday. John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications..., said in a briefing that the mercenary group will face additional sanctions next week. Wagner, founded by a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has committed 'widespread atrocities and human rights abuses,' Kirby said. Satellite images shared by the White House appear to show Russian rail cars entering North Korea to collect weapons to supply to the Wagner Group." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. The Guardian's story on the Wagner Group designation is here.

Erika Solomon of the New York Times: "Western defense officials meeting in Germany said on Friday that they had failed to reach an agreement for sending battle tanks to Ukraine, in a setback to Kyiv's hopes to quickly receive weapons that President Volodymyr Zelensky has called crucial to the next phase of the war. The officials had hoped to reach agreement on sending advanced, German-made Leopard 2 tanks, which are stocked by many European countries. But Germany has refused to send its own Leopards to Ukraine or to give its approval to other countries to export them, not wanting to be the first to take the step and asking that the United States send its best tank, the M1 Abrams, as well. The failure to strike a deal was quickly criticized by some Ukrainians as well as the Polish and Latvian governments, who have argued that tanks are critical to claw back territory seized by Russia early in its invasion and to defend against an expected Russian offensive in the spring."

AP: "Two businessmen have been charged with trying to conceal a sanctioned Russian oligarch's ownership of a luxury yacht seized in Spain last year by the U.S. government, the Justice Department said Friday. An arrest warrant has been issued for Vladislav Osipov, a dual Russian and Swiss national who the Justice Department says was an employee of Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire Russian oligarch and ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Another defendant, Richard Masters, was arrested by Spain at the request of U.S. authorities. He's a British businessman who ran a yacht management company in Palma de Mallorca, Spain -- where Vekselberg's yacht, Tango, was seized last April."

New Zealand. Natasha Frost of the New York Times: "Chris Hipkins, who has been serving as New Zealand's education and policing minister, is set to become the country's new prime minister next month after he was the only member of the governing Labour Party to be nominated for the party leadership post. Members of the Labour caucus will meet on Sunday in the New Zealand city of Napier, where they are currently at their summer retreat, to endorse the nomination and confirm Mr. Hipkins as their party's new leader. At least 10 percent of the caucus must vote for Mr. Hipkins to confirm him. His nomination comes after the surprise resignation on Thursday of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.... Mr. Hipkins, nicknamed Chippy, became a household name in New Zealand during his daily televised briefings throughout the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic."