December 30, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Friday Is Trumpty Dumpty Day:

Alan Rappeport & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "House Democrats on Friday released six years of ... Donald J. Trump's tax records, making the closely guarded documents public after years of legal battles and speculation about Mr. Trump's wealth and his financial entanglements.... While much of the information in the tax returns has already come to light, including through the two reports released last week [by the House Ways & Means Committee], the full records from 2015 through 2020 are expected to provide a rare window into the complexity of Mr. Trump's finances and whether he may have profited from tax policies he signed into law as president. Those include the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which provided a series of tax breaks and cuts for businesses and wealthy people.... 'The "Trump" tax returns once again show how proudly successful I have been and how I have been able to use depreciation and various other tax deductions as an incentive for creating thousands of jobs and magnificent structures and enterprises,' [Trump wrote in a statement]." The story is developing. The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Jim Tankersley, et al., of the New York Times: "The documents contain new details not revealed in those earlier releases. New York Times reporters are combing the pages for key takeaways. Here is a running list.... [For instance:] As a presidential candidate in 2015, Mr. Trump said he would not take 'even one dollar' of the $400,000 salary that comes with the job.... In his first three years in office, Mr. Trump said he donated his salary quarterly. But in 2020, his last full year in office, the documents show that Mr. Trump reported $0 in charitable giving. Also in 2020, as the pandemic recession swiftly descended, Mr. Trump reported heavy business losses and no federal tax liability.... The tax law Mr. Trump signed in late 2017, which took effect the next year, contained some provisions that most likely gave him an advantage at tax time -- including the scaling back of the alternative minimum tax on high earners. But one provision in particular drastically reduced the income tax deductions Mr. Trump could claim in 2018 and beyond: limits that Republicans placed on deductions for state and local taxes paid.... Republicans ... warned Democrats that they had started down a dangerous road [by releasing Trump's returns], and that public pressure could push the incoming majority to release returns from President Biden's family or a wide range of other private individuals." ~~~

     Judy Weil & Eugene Scott of the Washington Post also report some takeaways: "Trump's charitable contributions declined over the course of his presidency. He donated $1.8 million in 2017 and about half a million dollars in each of the next two years. In 2020, as many nonprofits intensified their calls for donations as they scrambled to help victims of the coronavirus pandemic and the associated unemployment, the Trumps reported giving no money to charity." MB: IOW, Trump treated charitable donations as tax deductions; in 2020, he claimed negative adjusted gross income, so no need for so-called charitable giving. CNN's key takeaways are here.

The House January 6 Select Committee released more witness transcripts Friday. Links to the transcripts are here.

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden on Friday pardoned six people, most of them for minor drug or alcohol offenses, continuing a series of drug-related reprieves this year.... The pardon list also included Beverly Ann Ibn-Tamas, 80, of Columbus, Ohio, who was convicted of second-degree murder for shooting her abusive husband nearly a half-century ago. Ms. Ibn-Tamas was pregnant at the time of the killing and testified that her husband had beaten her throughout her pregnancy, including shortly before she shot him. Her case focused new attention on battered woman syndrome. In each case, White House officials stressed that Mr. Biden was issuing pardons to people who had served their sentences and become upstanding members of their communities." CNN's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the clemency recipient list, via the White House.

Marie: Despite appearances, I have not decided to link NYT stories only if Jim Tankersley wrote them.

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Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden signed a $1.7 trillion spending bill into law on Thursday, averting a shutdown and keeping the government funded through September while adding to his legacy of expanding federal programs as president.... Mr. Biden wielded his pen on the island of St. Croix, where he is vacationing through the new year. White House officials received the more than 4,000-page bill from Congress late on Wednesday afternoon and sent it to the Virgin Islands on Thursday on a commercial flight." The AP's report is here.

Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "The Senate Finance Committee is preparing to launch a broad, bipartisan inquiry into the Social Security Administration's watchdog division, officials said, as lawmakers grow concerned that management failures are compromising its oversight mission. The committee is likely to concentrate on allegations of retaliation against whistleblowers, plummeting morale, staff attrition, hiring decisions and a declining number of investigations into fraud in the massive disability benefits program, one of the inspector general's core missions, congressional aides said.... Senate Finance Committee investigators in both parties summoned senior attorneys on the staff of Inspector General Gail S. Ennis to a briefing earlier this month to learn more about the tumult inside her office, which includes some 500 auditors, criminal investigators and attorneys, several participants said."

Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol released on Thursday 19 more transcripts of its interviews, bringing its total number of transcripts published to about 120.... Here are some takeaways from the hundreds of pages of transcripts released this week, including details of police intelligence failures before the Capitol attack and insight into the delay in the response of the National Guard." ~~~

~~~ "Just Give Me Five Dead Voters." Jeremy Herb, et al., of CNN, outline some of the highlights of the transcripts released Thursday. "After the 2020 election, Sen. Lindsey Graham pledged to become a 'champion' of then-President Trump's election fraud claims -- if only Trump's advisers would give him information about dead voters, according to an account given to the January 6 committee. 'Senator Graham was saying, "Get me your information,"' Trump lawyer Christina Bobb relayed to the committee about what Graham said in a meeting days before the January 6, 2021, insurrection. 'Just give me five dead voters,' Bobb said Graham told then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and others in Meadows' office at the White House.... Stephanie Grisham, a former White House press secretary and chief of staff to Melania Trump, said ... 'I heard from several people in the West Wing, more on the military aide or Secret Service side, and then a couple just people, but that he was sitting in the dining room, and he was just watching it all unfold, and that a couple of his comments -- some of his comments were that these people looked very trashy, but also look at what fighters they were.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It seems there was a lot Donald Junior couldn't remember. But, in Junior's defense, of all the witnesses with convenient memory lapses, I find Junior's most plausible in view of the videos we've seen in which he appears to be coked-up. ~~~

~~~ The House January 6 committee has released another batch of witness transcripts. Links to the newly-released transcripts are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Here Some Fraud, There Some Fraud, Everywhere Some Fraud. Allegedly! Grace Ashford & Dana Rubinstein of the New York Times: A company called "Cleaner 123" received nearly $11,000 in payments from Rep.-elect George Santos' (R) campaign. "The expenditures were listed as 'apartment rental for staff' on Mr. Santos's campaign disclosure forms and gave the address of a modest suburban house on Long Island. But one neighbor said Mr. Santos himself had been living there for months, and two others said that they had seen Mr. Santos and his husband coming and going, a possible violation of the rule prohibiting the use of campaign funds for personal expenses. The payments to Cleaner 123 were among a litany of unusual disbursements documented in Mr. Santos's campaign filings that experts say could warrant further scrutiny. There are also dozens of expenses pegged at $199.99 -- one cent below the threshold at which federal law requires receipts. The travel expenses include more than $40,000 for air travel...." ~~~

~~~ Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "Months before the New York Times published a December article suggesting Rep.-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) had fabricated much of his résumé and biography, a tiny publication on Long Island was ringing alarm bells about its local candidate. The North Shore Leader wrote in September, when few others were covering Santos, about his 'inexplicable rise' in reported net worth -- from essentially nothing in 2020 to as much as $11 million two years later. The story noted other oddities about the self-described gay Trump supporter with Jewish heritage, who would go on to flip New York's 3rd Congressional District from blue to red.... 'Interestingly, Santos shows no U.S. real property in his financial disclosure, although he has repeatedly claimed to own "a mansion in Oyster Bay Cove" on Tiffany Road; and "a mansion in the Hamptons" on Dune Road,' managing editor Maureen Daly wrote in the Leader. 'For a man of such alleged wealth, campaign records show that Santos and his husband live in a rented apartment, in an attached rowhouse in Queens.'... It was the stuff national headlines are supposed to be built on: A hyperlocal outlet like the Leader does the leg work, regional papers verify and amplify the story, and before long an emerging political scandal is being broadcast coast-to-coast. But that system, which has atrophied for decades amid the destruction of news economies, appears to have failed completely this time." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Not that you needed any more evidence, but it's abundantly clear that Republican "leaders" don't care who is in their caucus. A candidate need only have an "R" after her name, meet the Constitutional minimal requirements for office, & be able to win election by any means, including massive fraud. Santos has lied about every aspect of his life, right down to his family name (he claims to be the son of a woman whose "real name" was Zabrovsky -- it wasn't). And so what? ~~~

~~~ Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "Sooner or later, the Republican Party's devolution was bound to saddle GOP leaders with someone exactly like Rep.-elect George Santos of New York: a glib, successful candidate for high office who turns out to be pure fantasy with zero substance.... The most honest thing House Republicans could do, in my view, is welcome Santos with open arms. The party embarked on the path of make-believe politics long before Santos came onto the scene. All he did was expand the frontier.... We've had lots of metaphorical empty suits in Congress over the years. Now comes the emptiest yet."

Morgan Watson of the Louisville Courier Journal: "Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and her husband, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, generally have stayed mum when ... Donald Trump slams them online, but on Thursday she responded after her ex-boss repeated a racist nickname he has used for her before. When asked about it during a televised interview with CNN, Chao called it a 'racist taunt' and said he's 'trying to get a rise out of us.... He says all sorts of outrageous things, and I don't make a point of answering any one of them,' said Chao, who was on CNN talking about Southwest Airlines' widespread and disastrous cancellations of flights this week.... Chao said Thursday it's 'helpful if the media does not repeat' the racist comment he keeps making about her."

Elon's Austerity Program: BYO Toilet Paper. Kate Conger, et al., of the New York Times: "Early on Christmas Eve, members of [Elon Musk]'s staff flew to Sacramento -- the site of one of Twitter's three main computing storage facilities -- to disconnect servers that had kept the social network running smoothly.... Over the past few weeks, Twitter had stopped paying millions of dollars in rent and services, and Mr. Musk had told his subordinates to renegotiate those agreements or simply end them. The company has stopped paying rent at its Seattle office, leading it to face eviction, two people familiar with the matter said. Janitorial and security services have been cut, and in some cases employees have resorted to bringing their own toilet paper to the office.... Since early November, Mr. Musk has sought to save about $500 million in nonlabor costs, according to an internal document seen by The New York Times. He has also laid off or fired nearly 75 percent of the company's work force since completing the purchase.... On Wednesday, users around the world reported service interruptions with Twitter."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "Kris Mayes, the Democratic candidate for attorney general in Arizona, prevailed on Thursday in a recount by a razor-thin margin over Abraham Hamadeh, a Republican, bringing clarity to one of the last undecided races of the midterms. The margin of victory for Ms. Mayes was 280 votes out of about 2.5 million ballots cast in the November election, said Judge Timothy J. Thomason of the Maricopa County Superior Court, who announced the recount's results in a brief judicial hearing. The recount reduced the margin between the two candidates by about half, with the Election Day results showing Mr. Hamadeh trailing Ms. Mayes by 511 votes. Mr. Hamadeh, whose legal effort to have himself declared the winner was dismissed by a judge on Friday, continued to sow doubt in the election results, saying in a post on Twitter that "we must get to the bottom of this election" and calling for ballots to be inspected. But during closing arguments in last week's trial, Mr. Hamadeh's lawyer, Timothy La Sota, acknowledged that he did not have any evidence of intentional misconduct or any vote discrepancies that would make up the gap between the candidates." CNN's report is here.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Friday is here: "Ukraine's air force said all 16 self-detonating drones that attacked the country were destroyed overnight. The Kyiv region's governor, Oleksiy Kuleba, also said early Friday that Ukrainian forces repelled a drone raid during the night, and air raid sirens wailed in the capital early Friday.... The conflict in Ukraine is deadlocked, according to the country's head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov. 'We can't defeat [Russia] in all directions comprehensively. Neither can they,' he told the BBC in an interview. 'We're very much looking forward to new weapons supplies, and to the arrival of more advanced weapons.'"

Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "A swarm of drones and a volley of cruise missiles rocked towns and cities across Ukraine on Thursday, the biggest assault in weeks and the latest in a wave of ever more sophisticated aerial duels pitting Russia's evolving tactics against Ukraine's growing arsenal of air defense weapons.... Ukraine's air defenses were at times overwhelmed. Iranian-made exploding drones, which Russia began acquiring last summer, were launched in a first wave, apparently to bog down air defenses before the cruise missile strikes, the Ukrainian air force said.... After the strikes, Russia's Defense Ministry released a picture on its official channel on Telegram, the social messaging app, showing a Kalibr cruise missile and a message: 'Kalibrs will never run out.' The White House condemned the strikes as part of Russia's 'barbaric war' and pledged to continue to help Ukraine defend itself."

Michael Biesecker & Erika Kinetz of the AP: "Ten months into Russia's latest invasion of Ukraine, overwhelming evidence shows the Kremlin's troops have waged total war, with disregard for international laws governing the treatment of civilians and conduct on the battlefield. Ukraine is investigating more than 58,000 potential Russian war crimes -- killings, kidnappings, indiscriminate bombings and sexual assaults. Reporting by The Associated Press and 'Frontline,' recorded in a public database, has independently verified more than 600 incidents that appear to violate the laws of war. Some of those attacks were massacres that killed dozens or hundreds of civilians and as a totality it could account for thousands of individual war crimes. As Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, told the AP, 'Ukraine is a crime scene." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I have thought for months that Vladimir Putin should be tried, in absentia, at the Hague. If he is found guilty, as he should be, he will never again be able to travel to a country that recognizes the International Criminal Court. That's not enough, but it's something.

Francesca Ebel of the Washington Post: "Russian Presiden Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met remotely via video link Friday -- an indication of Moscow's latest efforts to strengthen ties with Beijing as Russia's international isolation grows in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.... Xi said that the leaders were regularly 'in close, strategic contact' and noted that bilateral relations between Moscow and Beijing had expanded significantly this year.

Myanmar. Mike Ives & Matt Stevens of the New York Times: "Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's ousted civilian leader, was found guilty of corruption on Friday and sentenced to seven years in prison, almost two years after she was first detained by the military in a coup. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, 77, a Nobel laureate, had already begun serving a 26-year prison sentence in connection with more than a dozen charges she has faced since being detained." The Guardian's report is here.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Police arrested a 28-year-old man on Friday and charged him with murder in connection with the brutal killing of four University of Idaho college students who were found stabbed to death overnight in a home near their campus last month. The man, Bryan C. Kohberger, was arrested in Chestnuthill Township in the Pocono Mountains region of Pennsylvania. He was scheduled to appear at an extradition hearing next week, and the police in Moscow, Idaho, scheduled a news conference for later on Friday. Mr. Kohberger was listed as a Ph.D. student at Washington State University, which is less than 10 miles from the site of the murders, and had been studying criminal justice and criminology, according to the school's website."

The Washington Post includes photos of houses along Lake Erie that were encrusted in ice during the recent storm. Yahoo! News has some of the same photos here. Once they thaw out their homes & assess the damage, the homeowners will probably never want to see another adorable white ceramic Christmas village. Anyway, the photos depict a pretty amazing scene; the Post calls the pictures "surreal," & that's right.

December 29, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

The House January 6 committee has released another batch of witness transcripts. Links to the newly-released transcripts are here.

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Heidi Przybyla of Politico: "The Biden White House launched its first major broadside in response to incoming House Republicans likely to spearhead aggressive oversight of the administration. A top lawyer for the president ... said that oversight demands made by congressional Republicans during the last Congress would have to be started over. In respective letters to Reps. James Comer (R-Ky) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), White House Special Counsel Richard Sauber said that the Biden administration had no immediate plans to respond to a slew of records requests that both men made the past several weeks. In those letters..., Sauber described such requests as constitutionally illegitimate because both Jordan, who is expected to chair the House Judiciary Committee, and Comer, who is expected to head the Oversight Committee, made them before they had any authority to do so.... White House officials ... point to long-standing practice, going back to President Ronald Reagan's administration, that ranking members in the minority do not jump-start the accommodations process on formal investigative requests." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Not my idea of a "major broadside." It would be akin to telling a president-elect he can't issue executive orders until he's sworn in. Just stating the obvious.

Adam Goldman & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "In a letter sent this month to Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, [a group of agents who had been placed on leave and called themselves 'the Suspendables,] surfaced persistent accusations against the bureau, saying it had discriminated against conservative-leaning agents. The group's letter also falsely suggested that [a highly-decorated agent named George] Piro, who once ran the F.B.I.'s office in Miami, had played a suspicious role in the bureau's search this summer of Mar-a-Lago..., Donald J. Trump's private club and residence in Florida.... The attacks on Mr. Piro, and his angry rebuttal of them, are ‌e‌mblematic of a toxic dynamic that is increasingly central to Republican Party politics. Mr. Trump's supporters -- among them, Republicans poised to take over the House next month -- have seized on the letter's accusations and stepped up their assaults on the F.B.I., seeking to undermine the bureau just as it has assumed the lead in an array of investigations of Mr. Trump.

Representative Jim Jordan, the Ohio Republican who will be the Judiciary Committee's chairman next month, has pledged to investigate what he describes as the politicization of the F.B.I. as well as that of the Justice Department. In a taste of what is to come, the committee's Republican staff released a 1,000-page report last month that asserted that the F.B.I. hierarchy 'spied on President Trump's campaign and ridiculed conservative Americans.'... The Suspendables' letter and the House Republicans' report were both apparently drawn from statements by former F.B.I. agents who left the bureau under a cloud and then came forward as self-described whistle-blowers." ~~~

~~~ They Can't Handle the Truth. Hannah Allam of the Washington Post: "Republican leaders portray the far left and far right as equally dangerous, an assertion contradicted by White House assessments that 'the most persistent and lethal threats' to the country come from the violent right.... 'Any sober look' at the Buffalo shooter's hate-filled manifesto, Oren Segal of the Anti-Defamation League told [House] lawmakers, 'would recognize that attack as clearly a white-supremacist attack.'... Nevertheless, at a congressional hearing this month on the threat of violent white supremacy, two Republican lawmakers cherry-picked a word in the Buffalo killer's screed -- 'socialist' -- to cast him as a radical leftist. They did not note that the shooter was referring to National Socialism, the ideology of the German Nazi Party, as Democrats and witnesses on the panel pointedly clarified.... Once Republicans assume control of the House, [analysts] expect that GOP leaders will mute domestic-terrorism talk and steer the focus of inquiries toward 'radical leftists,' who are nowhere near as lethal or active, according to attack data."

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The Jan. 6 select committee's finding that Donald Trump lured followers to storm the Capitol does not absolve them of legal responsibility for their actions, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, the first opinion to cite the congressional panel's criminal referrals of the former president. U.S. District Court Judge John Bates cited the select committee's report and criminal referrals to swat down a Jan. 6 defendant's claim that he believed Trump had authorized him and other rioters to enter the Capitol when he urged the crowd to march down Pennsylvania Avenue. Bates, an appointee of President George W. Bush, ruled that defendant Alexander Sheppard should be prohibited from making the 'public authority' defense because there's simply no evidence Trump told his followers that entering the restricted grounds of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was legal. In fact, his incendiary rhetoric -- especially telling his supporters to 'fight like hell' -- may suggest Trump was asking them to break the law, Bates said. His words 'could signal to protesters that entering the Capitol and stopping the certification would be unlawful,' Bates found.... 'Thus, the conclusions reached here -- that even if protesters believed they were following orders, they were not misled about the legality of their actions ... is consistent with the Select Committee.s findings,' Bates wrote."

Another Win for the Obstructionist-in-Chief. Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on Wednesday withdrew the subpoena it had issued to ... Donald J. Trump, conceding that the lawmakers had run out of time to obtain his documents or testimony. The committee is set to dissolve on Jan. 3. It waited until October to issue a subpoena to Mr. Trump, who promptly sued the panel to try to block it.... Harmeet K. Dhillon, one of Mr. Trump's lawyers, celebrated the development on Twitter. 'After my firm filed suit on separation of powers grounds to block January 6 House Select Committee's illegitimate subpoena to President Trump over his activities while president -- the committee waved the white flag & withdrew subpoena,' she wrote.... [Committee chair Bennie] Thompson is sending similar letters to other witnesses as the panel wraps up its work,' including to Pennsylvania reprobate Doug Mastriano. CNN's report is here.

Jeremy Herb, et al., of CNN: "The January 6 committee released another batch of transcripts Tuesday, including two more of its interviews with blockbuster witness Cassidy Hutchinson and testimony from several other Trump White House officials.... The new batch of transcripts show the deepening divide between Hutchinson, the former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and [her attorney Stefan] Passantino[, who was paid by Trump allies,] just weeks before she hired hew new lawyer. The two bicker several times, according to the transcript of her May deposition, and Passantino cut off Hutchinson on a few occasions, interrupting her with warnings about her testimony, and sometimes trying to finesse what she said.... After Hutchinson parted ways with Passantino, her new attorney [Jody Hunt] told the January 6 committee during her June deposition that she needed to clarify and 'correct' some of her previous testimony, according to the newly released transcript....

"[In a later inteview, with Hunt as her attorney, Hutchinson] told the committee that she saw Meadows burn documents in his office fireplace around a dozen times -- about once or twice a week -- between December 2020 and mid-January 2021. On several occasions, Hutchinson said, she was in Meadows' office when he threw documents into the fireplace after a meeting. At least twice, the burning came after meetings with GOP Rep. Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican, who has been linked to the efforts to use the Justice Department to overturn the 2020 election." MB: So, uh, violation of the Official Records Act AND obstruction of justice AND maybe conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Nice work, Mark. (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: We have all commented at one time or another, on how uninterested Donald Trump was in learning the basics of the president* job, or even the most elementary, essential aspects of White House operations. Still, knowing all we know, the following story is remarkable: ~~~

     ~~~ "Many Calls & Many Meetings." Victor Nava of the New York Post: "Donald Trump spent nearly his full term as president before learning that his daily schedule was being made public -- at which point he ordered a stripped-down version of the document, a former aide testified. The surprising revelation was shared by former White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere in his testimony to the House Jan. 6 committee that was made public on Tuesday.... The White House daily schedule notably changed around Jan. 5, 2021, with details of Trump's daily comings and goings at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. omitted and replaced with 'boilerplate' language saying that the president would have 'many calls and have many meetings.'" MB: It's amazing he could find the toilet where he flushed the official presidential* records. ~~~

     ~~~ Alicia Menendez of MSNBC held up a typical daily schedule for a real president -- in this case, Biden -- and of course the page listed about a dozen events, each with a brief description. Then she held up a Trump "schedule" for January 6, 2021: "President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings. The President will depart for the Ellipse at 10:50am to deliver remarks at the Save America Rally."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, announced on Wednesday that he had been diagnosed with a 'serious but curable' form of cancer. Mr. Raskin, 60, who is a member of the House Jan. 6 committee and was recently chosen to become the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, said he had diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and would soon begin a course of outpatient chemo-immunotherapy. 'I expect to be able to work through this period but have been cautioned by my doctors to reduce unnecessary exposure to avoid Covid-19, the flu and other viruses,' Mr. Raskin said in a statement.... Few members of Congress have been as aggressive in trying to hold ... Donald J. Trump accountable for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as Mr. Raskin, a former constitutional law professor at American University and Maryland state senator."

Olivia Beavers of Politico: "While some of George Santos' soon-to-be colleagues are encouraging investigations into his many resume fabrications, Kevin McCarthy's speakership battle in a narrow majority is complicating his fate. The New York Republican, who has admitted to fabricating much of his personal and professional biography, is set to be sworn into Congress the same day the House will start votes for a new speaker. But House GOP leader McCarthy, with only four party votes to spare and an open rebellion among a handful of House conservatives, needs all the support he can get -- even if it comes from a member-elect steeped in scandal.... Right now, the Republican leader has five members threatening publicly to oppose his speakership bid on Jan. 3, which happens to be the same number required to block him from reaching the needed 218 votes."~~~

~~~ Pamela Brown, et al., of CNN: "Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating the finances of Rep.-elect George Santos, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. The news of the probe, being undertaken by the US attorney's office in the Eastern District of New York, comes as the Republican has admitted to lying about key parts of his biography. Santos has faced questions over his wealth and loans totaling more than $700,000 he made to his successful 2022 campaign." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If the prosecutors want an easy win, they should call Santos in for an interview. They'll have him on "making false statements to a federal agent" at his first sentence. ~~~

~~~ Michael Gold, et al., of the New York Times: "Days after Representative-elect George Santos admitted misrepresenting his background, a Long Island prosecutor said she would investigate whether he had committed any crimes.... Anne Donnelly [R], the Nassau County, N.Y., district attorney, said in a statement that the 'numerous fabrications and inconsistencies associated with Congressman-elect Santos are nothing short of stunning.'... In making his admissions, he has sought to explain his dishonesty as little more than routine résumé padding.... House Republican leaders have so far been silent amid the persistent questions about Mr. Santos, but he has gotten a tougher reception close to home. Ms. Donnelly is just one of several Long Island Republicans to show a willingness to examine him closely.... On Tuesday, Representative-elect Nick LaLota, a Republican who won election in a neighboring Long Island district, said the House Ethics Committee should investigate Mr. Santos. Nassau County's Republican Party chairman, Joseph G. Cairo Jr., said he 'expected more than just a blanket apology' from Mr. Santos. Another incoming member of New York’s Republican House delegation, Mike Lawler of Rockland County, sounded a similar refrain." ~~~

     ~~~ The story has been updated to reflect the federal prosecutor's inquiry. An NBC News story is here. ~~~

~~~ Funny Money. David Corn of Mother Jones: "... what's most intriguing [among George Santos' tall tales] is the story he has told about his personal finances: how [he] went from making $55,000 a year in 2020 to scoring between $3.5 million and $11.5 million in 2021 and 2022 and being able to funnel $700,000 into his recent campaign. Santos tried to explain this in an interview this week with Semafor.... Santos declared on financial disclosure statements that he made his millions through a company called Devolder Organization LLC, formed in May 2021. (His full name is George Devolder Santos.) This was weeks after the Florida investment firm called Harbor City Capital where he was working had been accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of running a Ponzi scheme. (Santos was not implicated in that purported con.)... [Santos' statements to Semafor do] not square with his initial description of Devolder as an $80 million fund that he managed -- nor with his earlier statement that the firm was dissolved prior to April 2022. And the numbers don't add up." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's pretty unlikely that someone who kept getting evicted for nonpayment of rent would suddenly -- and legally -- make millions of dollars in a year. There's an explanation here, and I'll bet it's not pretty. If the Eastern District or Nassau County doesn't figure it out quickly, I hope reporters can. Maybe Georgie Porgie amassed his small fortune via fake GoFundMe pleas: ~~~

     ~~~ Andrew Kaczynski & Em Steck of CNN: "CNN also reviewed more instances of Santos providing additional false history of his family's background. In one interview, Santos said his mother's family's historical Jewish name was 'Zabrovsky,' and later appeared to operate a GoFundMe campaign for a pet charity (which he falsely claimed was a 501(c)(3) nonprofit) under that alias. Genealogists CNN previously spoke with found no evidence of Jewish or Ukrainian heritage in his family tree." ~~~

~~~ Sadly, George's Mother Died. Again. Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "Rep.-Elect George Santos (R-NY) claimed his mother died in the Sept. 11 attacks, but just five months later tweeted she died in December 2016." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. ~~~

~~~ Every Word He Says is a Lie, Including 'And' and 'The.' Azi Paybarah of the Washington Post: "News of the investigation came as another detail in Santos's biography unraveled Wednesday. During his 2020 congressional race, he told a dramatic story on a podcast.... In the October 2020 interview, which resurfaced on social media Wednesday, Santos, referring to his parents, said: 'They sent me to a good prep school -- which was Horace Mann Prep in the Bronx. And in my senior year of prep school, unfortunately, my parents fell on hard times.' Santos went on to say that at the time his family couldn't 'afford a $2,500 tuition' and 'I left school [with] four months till graduation.' But a spokesman for the Horace Mann School told The Post that the school has no record of Santos attending the institution." ~~~

     ~~~ MB: See, George, Walter Mitty kept his fantasies to himself. The Thurber story is titled, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty."

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "The idea that immigrants carry infections into the country echoes a racist notion with a long history in the United States that associates minorities with disease.... In the early days of the pandemic..., the Trump administration turned to an obscure public health law to seal the southern border to migrants. Ostensibly, the rationale was that the restriction was needed as a way to control the pandemic. But nearly three years in, both the Trump and Biden administrations have instead relied on it as a tool to limit record numbers of migrants -- often fleeing persecution and violence -- from crossing into the country.... Now it is being treated almost exclusively as a stop-gap measure for a surge of border crossings.... Justice Neil Gorsuch accused the government of using the law as a pretext when the Supreme Court halted a trial judge's ruling that would have lifted the measure on Tuesday night.... The Biden administration, which first announced it would lift the policy last spring before it was stymied by litigation from Republican-led states, said the decisions over whether to extend or lift the rule fall solely to public health officials." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Justice Jackson joined Gorsuch in his dissent. Justices Sotomayor & Kagan also dissented. Gorsuch is right, a three-word sentence I will not likely often repeat. The rest of the confederate Supremes are behaving like the ghosts of Donald Trump & Stephen Miller, who at least had the authority to invoke Title 42. The justices don't. And they don't care, as long as they can limit immigration by any means, fake or not.

Epic Clusterfuck. Robert Chiarito, et al., of the New York Times: "Southwest [Airline]'s unique model -- including its 'point to point' system that does not return planes to major hubs, as many other airlines do -- has come under intense scrutiny after a winter storm last week disrupted travel plans across the United States. Southwest has been uniquely unable to get its planes back in the air after the storm. Some observers have also blamed outdated computer systems for Southwest's failures. Nearly 11,000 Southwest flights have been canceled since last Thursday, according to FlightAware. Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, said on 'Good Morning America' on Wednesday that 'meltdown' was 'the only word I can think of to describe what's happening at Southwest Airlines.... We are past the point where they could say that this is a weather-driven issue,' Mr. Buttigieg said. He added: 'What this indicates is a system failure, and they need to make sure that these stranded passengers get to where they need to go and that they are provided adequate compensation.'" ~~~

Ian Duncan & Justin George of the Washington Post: "Southwest Airlines' pilot and flight attendant unions warned for years that the company's rickety computer systems left the airline vulnerable. The carrier stuck with outdated technology and never heeded those warnings, they say.... The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association said Wednesday the collapse of the airline's operations was avoidable.... The Transport Workers Union, whose Local 556 represents flight attendants at Southwest, likewise said on Twitter on Wednesday that the meltdown was avoidable, and said that the airline should have invested in passengers and workers, rather than paying dividends to shareholders.... Meanwhile, Southwest's troubles may have been foreshadowed in a Dec. 21 internal company memo that highlighted a worker shortage in Denver, where Southwest has significant operations and which was pounded by the storm."

The Pandemic, Ctd. Sheryl Stolberg & Benjamin Mueller of the New York Times: "The Biden administration, fearful that a surge of coronavirus infections in Beijing could spawn a new and more dangerous variant, announced on Wednesday that it will require travelers from China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to present negative Covid-19 tests before entering the United States. The requirement will take effect on Jan. 5, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which made the announcement. Officials at the agency say they are deeply concerned over China's lack of transparency about its outbreak -- and, in particular, its failure to track and sequence variants and subvariants that are circulating within its borders. C.D.C. officials said the requirement for testing will apply to air passengers regardless of their nationality and vaccination status. It will also apply to travelers coming from China who enter the United States through a third country, or who connect through the United States to other destinations. Italy and Japan have already imposed similar restrictions, and India has mandated negative Covid-19 test reports and random screening at airports for passengers arriving from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand."

Tiffany Hsu of the New York Times: "Nearly three years into the pandemic, Covid-19 remains stubbornly persistent. So, too, does misinformation about the virus. As Covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths rise in parts of the country, myths and misleading narratives continue to evolve and spread, exasperating overburdened doctors and evading content moderators. What began in 2020 as rumors that cast doubt on the existence or seriousness of Covid quickly evolved into often outlandish claims about dangerous technology lurking in masks and the supposed miracle cures from unproven drugs, like ivermectin. Last year's vaccine rollout fueled another wave of unfounded alarm. Now, in addition to all the claims still being bandied about, there are conspiracy theories about the long-term effects of the treatments, researchers say.

"The ideas still thrive on social media platforms.... Twitter is of particular concern for researchers. The company recently gutted the teams responsible for keeping dangerous or inaccurate material in check on the platform, stopped enforcing its Covid misinformation policy and began basing some content moderation decisions on public polls posted by its new owner and chief executive, the billionaire Elon Musk.... Mr. Musk himself has used Twitter to weigh in on the pandemic, predicting in March 2020 that the United States was likely to have 'close to zero new cases' by the end of that April. (More than 100,000 positive tests were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the last week of the month.) This month, he took aim at Dr. Anthony S. Fauci.... Mr. Musk said Dr. Fauci should be prosecuted."

Beyond the Beltway

Michigan. Joey Cappelletti of the AP: "A Delaware trucker described as a co-leader of the conspiracy to kidnap Michigan's governor was sentenced to more than 19 years in prison Wednesday, a day after an accomplice received 16 years behind bars. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for Barry Croft Jr., 47, who was the fourth and final federal defendant to learn his fate. Croft and Adam Fox were convicted in August of conspiracy charges in Grand Rapids. Croft also was found guilty of possessing an unregistered explosive. They were accused of hatching a stunning plot to abduct Gov. Gretchen Whitmer from her vacation home just before the 2020 presidential election. The conspirators were furious over tough COVID-19 restrictions that Whitmer and officials in other states had put in place during the early months of the pandemic, as well as perceived threats to gun ownership."(Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times report is here.

New York. Justin Sondel of the Washington Post: "The city of Buffalo's response to the massive blizzard that left at least 34 people across the region dead came under growing attack Wednesday, as emergency responders continued to search for survivors and plows moved mini-mountains of snow that kept the city under a driving ban for a sixth consecutive day. Speaking at a daily briefing, Mark Poloncarz, the executive of Erie County, which includes Buffalo, slammed city leaders for failing to clear streets quickly and accused Mayor Byron W. Brown's administration of being disengaged in the coordinated local and state response. Poloncarz said the county 'took over' cleanup in one-third of Buffalo and had discussed with state officials the possibility of assuming responsibility for all plowing inside city limits during future large storms.... The blame-casting threatened to hamper coordination during the aftermath of the worst storm to hit the region since 1977 and drew fresh scrutiny to Brown, who has led the city for nearly 17 years. Brown was reelected in 2021 to a fifth term as a write-in candidate despite corruption scandals at City Hall and complaints about mismanagement in a deeply impoverished city."

New York. More Republican Criminals. Brendan Lyons of the Albany Times Union: "Jason T. Schofield, Rensselaer County's Republican elections commissioner, is scheduled to plead guilty to federal criminal charges in January in connection with an ongoing investigation of voter fraud by the U.S. Department of Justice.... Schofield's scheduled guilty plea to felony charges on Jan. 11 would mark the second conviction in the federal investigation that's being spearheaded by the FBI and has focused on the harvesting of absentee ballots in elections over the past two years. A source close to the case said Schofield's plea agreement includes a pledge to cooperate in the wide-ranging investigation that has also examined the use of county resources and employees to gather absentee ballots.... The FBI's ongoing investigation of voter fraud is running parallel to a similar investigation by the state attorney general's office.... The federal grand jury probe ... [also] led to the guilty plea of a former Troy city councilwoman, Kimberly Ashe-McPherson, a 61-year-old Republican who had been a councilwoman in North Troy for more than seven years." Other officials have been implicated. MB: So there's some voter fraud for ya, Donald. Too bad they're Republican fraudsters.

U.S. Virgin Islands. Emily Flitter of the New York Times: "The attorney general of the U.S. Virgin Islands is accusing JPMorgan Chase of helping Jeffrey Epstein illegally exploit women and girls, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan. The suit says JPMorgan provided banking services to Mr. Epstein after he had been convicted of sex charges and failed to report his suspicious activities. The lawsuit said the bank should have known about Mr. Epstein's illegal activities at a villa on Little St. James Island, an island he owned in the territory, and should have reported them to the authorities as part of its adherence to anti-money-laundering laws."

Way Beyond

Shira Rubin of the Washington Post: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu inaugurated the most right-wing government in Israel's history on Thursday, launching a turbulent chapter of national division that pits newly influential ultrareligious, ultranationalist politicians against an opposition that warns the country's democracy is in peril.... [Netanyahu's coalition has] already begun to pursue plans to legislate discrimination against minorities, alter the system of checks and balances, hollow out the Israeli judiciary, exert influence over the army and security forces, and allow harsher treatment of Palestinians in both Israel and the occupied territories.... Netanyahu has refused to hold the traditional transfer-of-power ceremony with [outgoing Prime Minister Yair] Lapid."

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Thursday are here: "Ukraine's armed forces said they shot down many of the Russian missiles that rained down Thursday morning and triggered air defense systems from the northeastern city of Kharkiv to the southern port city of Odessa.... Ukraine's military said air defenses brought down 54 of 69 cruise missiles."

How the Ukrainian Military Redrew the Battle Lines. Isabelle Khurshudyan, et al., of the Washington Post: "After Russia's invasion began on Feb. 24, Ukrainian troops forced Russia's retreat from Kyiv in an underdog triumph that ended the first stage of the conflict. Thwarted from conquering the capital, Russia concentrated its power in the south and east, pummeling Ukrainian forces until new, longer-range weapons arrived from the United States and Europe and helped stall Moscow's advances. Ukraine had survived but, after a half-year of war, one-quarter of its territory was still occupied and its military had failed to show it could launch an offensive to retake substantial ground. That was about to change. In early September, Ukrainian forces would steamroll across hundreds of square miles, routing the Russians and surprising themselves. The Kharkiv offensive revealed the inability of an undermanned and underequipped Russian force to hold territory across a vast front. It shocked the Kremlin, and it proved to Ukraine's supporters that they were not wasting billions in weapons and economic aid.... Kyiv's forces in November recaptured the only regional capital that Putin had seized since the start of the war.... Deepening cooperation with NATO powers, especially the United States, enabled Ukrainian forces -- backed with weapons, intelligence and advice -- to seize the initiative on the battlefield, expose Putin's annexation claims as a fantasy, and build faith at home and abroad that Russia could be defeated." The Guardian has a related story on the battle for Kyiv.

Vatican. Frances D'Emilio of the AP: "The health of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has worsened due to his age, and doctors are constantly monitoring the frail 95-year-old's condition, the Vatican said Wednesday. Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said Pope Francis, who asked the faithful earlier Wednesday to pray for Benedict, went to visit his predecessor in the monastery on Vatican grounds where the retired pontiff has lived since retiring in February 2013." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times report is here.

News Lede

New York Times: "Pelé, one of soccer's greatest players and a transformative figure in 20th-century sports who achieved a level of global celebrity few athletes have known, died on Thursday in São Paulo. He was 82.... A national hero in his native Brazil, Pelé was beloved around the world -- by the very poor, among whom he was raised; the very rich, in whose circles he traveled; and just about everyone who ever saw him play." The AP's obituary is here.

December 28, 2022

Late Morning Update:

Michigan. Joey Cappelletti of the AP: "A Delaware trucker described as a co-leader of the conspiracy to kidnap Michigan's governor was sentenced to more than 19 years in prison Wednesday, a day after an accomplice received 16 years behind bars. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for Barry Croft Jr., 47, who was the fourth and final federal defendant to learn his fate. Croft and Adam Fox were convicted in August of conspiracy charges in Grand Rapids. Croft also was found guilty of possessing an unregistered explosive. They were accused of hatching a stunning plot to abduct Gov. Gretche Whitmer from her vacation home just before the 2020 presidential election. The conspirators were furious over tough COVID-19 restrictions that Whitmer and officials in other states had put in place during the early months of the pandemic, as well as perceived threats to gun ownership."

Frances D'Emilio of the AP: "The health of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has worsened due to his age, and doctors are constantly monitoring the frail 95-year-old's condition, the Vatican said Wednesday. Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said Pope Francis, who asked the faithful earlier Wednesday to pray for Benedict, went to visit his predecessor in the monastery on Vatican grounds where the retired pontiff has lived since retiring in February 2013."

Jeremy Herb, et al., of CNN: "The January 6 committee released another batch of transcripts Tuesday, including two more of its interviews with blockbuster witness Cassidy Hutchinson and testimony from several other Trump White House officials.... The new batch of transcripts show the deepening divide between Hutchinson, the former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and [her attorney Stefan] Passantino[, who was paid by Trump allies,] just weeks before she hired hew new lawyer. The two bicker several times, according to the transcript of her May deposition, and Passantino cut off Hutchinson on a few occasions, interrupting her with warnings about her testimony, and sometimes trying to finesse what she said.... After Hutchinson parted ways with Passantino, her new attorney [Jody Hunt] told the January 6 committee during her June deposition that she needed to clarify and 'correct' some of her previous testimony, according to the newly released transcript....

"[In a later interview, with Hunt as her attorney, Hutchinson] told the committee that she saw Meadows burn documents in his office fireplace around a dozen times -- about once or twice a week -- between December 2020 and mid-January 2021. On several occasions, Hutchinson said, she was in Meadows' office when he threw documents into the fireplace after a meeting. At least twice, the burning came after meetings with GOP Rep. Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican, who has been linked to the efforts to use the Justice Department to overturn the 2020 election." MB: So, uh, violation of the Official Records Act AND obstruction of justice AND maybe conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Nice work, Mark.

~~~~~~~~~~

Toluse Olorunnipa of the Washington Post: "President Biden and his team have begun responding faster and more sharply to provocative comments and actions by ... Donald Trump and his allies, potentially preparing the ground for Biden's expected reelection announcement early next year. The rapid responses, coming in the weeks since Democrats outperformed expectations in the November midterms, come as some Democratic strategists see a political advantage in pointedly -- and frequently -- drawing a contrast with Trump, the Republican Party, and the Republican lawmakers poised to take over the House of Representatives." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Amy Wang & Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Tuesday signed a bill that would remove a bust at the U.S. Capitol of Roger B. Taney, the chief justice who wrote the majority Supreme Court opinion protecting slavery in Dred Scott v. Sandford. The measure passed the House and Senate by voice votes this month. It directs the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library to remove Taney's bust no more than 45 days after the bill is signed into law. The bill would also direct the committee to replace Taney's bust with one of Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice.... Taney's opinion ... came to be viewed as one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in history. A bust of Taney's likeness sits outside the Old Supreme Court Chamber on the first floor of the Capitol.... On the House floor Dec. 14, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said the bill was literally about 'who we put on a pedestal.'"

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The Biden administration is closing a major loophole in a new federal rule intended to regulate the sale of pistol parts that can readily be turned into untraceable homemade firearms, in an aggressive expansion of its crackdown on so-called ghost guns. On Tuesday, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives directed vendors who sell partially finished frames of Glock-style handguns == the pistol grip and firing mechanism -- to treat them like fully completed firearms, which are subject to federal regulations. The move, outlined in an open letter to federally licensed gun dealers, requires sellers to mark the parts with serial numbers, and for buyers to undergo criminal background checks."

Look for a Job as a Dowel Inspector, Buddy. Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "Every year, thousands of [Social Security disability] claimants ... find themselves blocked in the arduous process of applying for disability benefits, thanks to labor market data that was last updated 45 years ago.... The vast majority of the 12,700 [job titles] were last updated in 1977.... The government, using strict vocational rules, assesses someone's capacity to work and if jobs exist 'in significant numbers' that they could still do. But in reality, most of these occupations were offshored, outsourced, and shifted to skilled work decades ago. Many have disappeared altogether.... After spending at least $250 million since 2012 to build a directory of 21st century jobs an internal fact sheet shows, Social Security is not using it, leaving antiquated vocational rules in place...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

If you are a pollyanna who thinks House Republicans -- who were very happy with a fake president* -- may find their spines & send fake Rep.-elect George Santos packing, there's this from the New York Post: ~~~

~~~ Jon Levine of the New York Post, via marketwatch: "Senior House Republicans were so keenly aware of alleged inaccuracies and embellishments in U.S. Rep.-elect George Santos's professional biography, that the topic became a 'running joke,' multiple insiders close to House GOP leadership reportedly told the New York Post.... 'As far as questions about George in general, that was always something that was brought up whenever we talked about this race,' said one senior GOP leadership aide. 'It was a running joke at a certain point. This is the second time he's run and these issues we assumed would be worked out by the voters.'... A second insider close to GOP leadership called the allegations against Santos 'mostly stuff we already knew,' adding that 'there were questions. Things weren't adding up.' By the time we knew that there were questions and issues he was basically the nominee. So what can you do? He was the only Republican candidate.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: "House Republican leaders were silent on Tuesday after Representative-elect George Santos admitted to a laundry list of falsehoods about his background but still vowed to be seated in Congress. Mr. Santos acknowledged in a series of interviews on Monday that he lied about graduating from college and made misleading claims that he worked for Citigroup or Goldman Sachs. He also acknowledged owing thousands of dollars in unpaid rent and denied committing a crime anywhere in the world, despite a New York Times report to the contrary. The muted response from party leaders suggested that so far they were prepared to mete out little, if any, punishment to an incoming lawmaker who, while deceiving voters, flipped an open seat formerly held by a Democrat and helped Republicans secure their razor-thin House majority." ~~~

~~~ Santos Lies About Lying. Jacob Kornbluh of the Forward: "Congressman-elect George Santos, a Republican from New York who reportedly lied about his Jewish heritage and has admitted he fabricated key details of his resume, said in an interview Monday evening that he never claimed to be Jewish. 'I said I was "Jew-ish,"' Santos told The New York Post. However, in a position paper shared with Jewish and pro-Israel leaders during the campaign and obtained by the Forward, Santos called himself 'a proud American Jew.'" Firewalled. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol released on Tuesday 18 additional transcripts that provided more details about how ... Donald J. Trump considered 'blanket pardons' for those charged in connection with the Capitol riot, and how several of his top political allies pushed unsuccessfully to be included in such pardons.... Johnny McEntee, Mr. Trump's director of personnel, recalled in an interview how, during his final days in office, the former president had floated the idea of a 'blanket pardon' for the breach of the Capitol, but Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel, had rejected it.... In his testimony before the panel, Mr. Cipollone declined to discuss specific pardon discussions, but confirmed he had been opposed to the idea." ~~~

     ~~~ Links to the 18 newly-released transcripts are here (via the committee). MB: The conversations between Trump & Cipollone on pardons, as related by McEntee, are odd. It's almost as if Cipollone set Trump up for a fall. Either that, or he really believed no one in the White House "did anything wrong."

Should Donald Trump pretend to be shocked, shocked there was an insurrection going on at the Capitol on January 6, there are these details from the January 6 committee report, pulled out by Luke Broadwater of the New York Times (Dec. 23): "After giving a speech to his supporters at the Ellipse, Mr. Trump ran into a member of the White House staff and asked whether he or she had watched his speech on television. 'Sir, they cut it off because they're rioting down at the Capitol,' the employee said around 1:21 p.m., in an early indication Mr. Trump was aware of the violence, according to the report. Shortly after 2:44 p.m., Mr. Trump was made aware the riot had turned deadly. A Capitol Police officer had shot a rioter named Ashli Babbitt, and a handwritten note presented to the president -- dashed off onto a White House pocket card and preserved by the National Archives -- read: '1x civilian gunshot wound to chest @ door of House chaber[sic.].' A White House employee saw the note on the dining table in front of Mr. Trump, according to the committee's report. Still, Mr. Trump waited hours to call for his supporters to go home."

Trump's Very Bad Year Ends on a Low Point. Lauren Fox of CNN: "The House Ways and Means Committee will release [six years of] ... Donald Trump's tax returns Friday morning, a source familiar confirmed to CNN. The returns will be placed into the congressional record on Friday morning during a House pro forma session. That pro forma session will occur around 9 a.m. ET on Friday. There will also be a formal announcement Friday from the committee."

Looks as if Chaya Raichik is the latest right-wing cause célèbre: ~~~

~~~ Zachary Leeman of Mediaite: "The face behind the Libs of TikTok account was revealed Tuesday on Fox Nation's Tucker Carlson Today. Fox News host Tucker Carlson sat down with the formerly anonymous creator Chaya Raichik, who declared the 'LGBTQ community' has become a 'cult.'... Raichik made stunning comments in her interview with Carlson, accusing 'evil' people within the 'LGBTQ community' of trying to hurt kids." ~~~

~~~ Conover Kennard of Crooks & Liars: "... Chaya ... has over 1.7 million followers on Twitter, and she uses her account to falsely accuse the LGBTQ community of grooming children and spread hate online. This past summer, Chaya launched attacks on children's health facilities, targeting a hospital in Omaha in June and another in Pittsburgh in August, The Washington Post reported. Her dangerous rhetoric resulted in a flood of online harassment and phoned-in threats at both hospitals. Next, threats poured in against children's hospitals in Boston and Washington, D.C., after she targeted them in tweets." ~~~

~~~ What Else Has Chaya Been Doing? Extremism & Disinformation Research Newsletter: "Newly-released analysis of footage appears to show Chaya Raichik, the woman behind the LibsOfTikTok account, trespassing on restricted grounds of the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021. Today Chaya Raichik, a professional bigot whose anti-LGTBQ posts have been blamed for threats on children's hospitals, revealed her face for the first time in an interview with Tucker Carlson...." ~~~

~~~ So, Naturally.... David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Right-wing activist Chaya Raichik said that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) offered to 'hide' her after she was exposed as the person behind the @libsoftiktok Twitter account. In an interview that aired on Tuesday, Raichik told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that a DeSantis staffer offered her help despite her California residency. 'When I was doxxed, someone from Ron DeSantis' team called me and she said, "The governor wanted me to give you a message,'" she recalled. 'He said if you don't feel safe -- you or your family -- if you need a place to go, to hide, to stay, you can come to the governor's mansion.'"

Adam Liptak, et al., of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court said on Tuesday that a pandemic-era health measure that restricted migration at the southern border would remain in place for the time being, delaying the potential for a huge increase in unlawful crossings. In a brief unsigned order, the justices halted a trial judge's ruling that would have lifted the measure, known as Title 42, which has allowed even migrants who might otherwise qualify for asylum to be swiftly expelled at the border. The court said that it would hear arguments in the case in February and that the stay would remain in place pending a ruling. The justices said they would address only the question of whether the 19 mainly Republican-led states that had sought the stay could pursue their challenge to the measure. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil M. Gorsuch and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented." The AP's report is here.

Sahil Kapur & Allan Smith of NBC News remember "the seven most shocking results from the 2022 midterm elections."

Why Have Millions of Americans Emigrated? Andrew Van Dam of the Washington Post: "... very few Americans leave their homeland for political reasons.... Instead, Klekowski von Koppenfels's research with Helen B. Marrow of Tufts University shows that a large majority of Americans want to move abroad to explore or have an adventure. Emigration almost always has more than one cause, they say, and some especially common ones are the desire to retire abroad, work abroad and get out of a bad situation at home. However, the desire to explore -- 'to lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies,' as Kerouac wrote -- is the American impulse that dominates. And when Americans go abroad in search of adventure, they often find something else. A significant other or a significant paycheck turns a traveler into an expatriate before they know it." MB: Talk about burying a lede; this one was 19 grafs into the story.

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Stephanie Becker of CNN: "A Maricopa County judge on Tuesday ordered Arizona Republican Kari Lake to compensate Democratic Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs for some legal fees related to the election lawsuit Lake had brought challenging her loss, but he stopped short of sanctioning Lake for filing the lawsuit. Judge Peter Thompson had rejected Lake's lawsuit on Saturday, concluding that there wasn't clear or convincing evidence of misconduct and affirming Hobbs' victory. It was a major defeat for Lake, who had lost to Hobbs by about 17,000 votes and sued in an effort to overturn the election. She appealed that Christmas Eve ruling and will seek a direct review from the Arizona Supreme Court.... Attorneys for Hobbs -- the current secretary of state -- had charged that Lake and her lawyers knew their challenges to the election could not be substantiated, which would violate legal ethic rules. They wanted sanctions against Lake and her team. Thompson did not agree. 'The Court finds that Plaintiff's claims presented in this litigation were not groundless and brought in bad faith,' he wrote on Tuesday. But he ordered Lake to pay Hobbs $33,040.50 in compensation for expert witness fees and again reaffirmed the election of Hobbs, who will be sworn in on January 5."

Florida. Nicholas Nehamas of the Miami Herald: "A top aide to Gov. Ron DeSantis used a private email address with the alias 'Clarice Starling' -- a reference to the Hannibal Lecter serial killer novels -- to help his former client win a state contract to operate Florida's controversial migrant flight program, recently released public records show. The records suggest that Larry Keefe, DeSantis' public safety czar, wrote some of the language that the private contractor, Vertol Systems Company, used in its bid proposal to fly migrants from Texas to Democratic states. Keefe, a former U.S. attorney under the Trump administration, represented Vertol for many years in private practice. DeSantis appointed him last year as a top adviser with a portfolio that included combating illegal immigration. The emails between Keefe and his former client, Vertol CEO James Montgomerie, first reported by NBC6, show a close relationship that continued after Keefe entered government service. It was a relationship that helped Vertol land a lucrative taxpayer contract, which Keefe discussed without using his standard, state-issued email account." Firewalled. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Republicans are all so cruel & corrupt it's hard to keep up.

Michigan. Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "A man convicted in a plot to abduct Michigan's Democratic governor from her vacation home was sentenced on Tuesday to 16 years in federal prison, the longest so far for any of the defendants convicted in federal court in one of the country's most closely watched domestic terrorism cases. At two trials earlier this year, prosecutors repeatedly showed recordings and online posts in which the defendant, Adam Fox, called Gov. Gretchen Whitmer a 'tyrant,' railed against her Covid-19 restrictions and mused about a second American revolution. Prosecutors described him as a threat to the governor's safety and to democracy itself." CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Wednesday is here: "Moscow announced it would ban the sale of its oil to countries involved in capping its price on the global market, even as an official projected the Russian economy would shrink by up to 1 percent in 2023, marking a continuation of its slump this year.... Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lashed out at the United States and its allies, as he issued a fresh warning that the war in Ukraine will continue until Kyiv agrees to Moscow's demands of demilitarization."