September 24, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Evan Perez, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's attorneys are fighting a secret court battle to block a federal grand jury from gathering information from an expanding circle of close Trump aides about his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, people briefed on the matter told CNN. The high-stakes legal dispute -- which included the appearance of three attorneys representing Trump at the Washington, DC, federal courthouse on Thursday afternoon -- is the most aggressive step taken by the former President to assert executive and attorney-client privileges in order to prevent some witnesses from sharing information in the criminal investigation [of] events surrounding January 6, 2021.... Former Trump White House adviser and lawyer Eric Herschmann ... is not ... fighting the [grand jury] subpoena [he received]. Instead, Trump's lawyers are asking a judge to recognize the former President's privilege claims and the right to confidentiality around his dealings. Herschmann's grand jury testimony has been postponed."

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Career prosecutors have recommended against charging Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) in a long-running sex-trafficking investigation -- telling Justice Department superiors that a conviction is unlikely in part because of credibility questions with the two central witnesses, according to people familiar with the matter. Senior department officials have not made a final decision on whether to charge Gaetz, but it is rare for such advice to be rejected...." MB: Matt's Tip O' the Day for Lawbreakers: hang out with people too sleazy to be believed. It won't matter if they finger you.

On this Washington Post page, you can find out just how hot it was this summer in your home county (or any other county, of course). The page compares day & nighttime temp as well as rainfall to temps & precipitation prior years.

     ~~~ Watch to the end. Marie: I did laugh at the "Breaking Squirrel News," but, truth be told, my behavior would have been similar/identical to Squirrel Man's.

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Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: "Over the past week, >a federal appeals court in Atlanta -- along with Mr. Trump's choice for a special master ... -- undermined a bulwark of his effort to justify his actions: Both suggested that there was no evidence to support the assertion that Mr. Trump had declassified everything -- in writing, verbally or wordlessly -- despite what the former president may have said on TV. On Thursday, the special master, Judge Raymond J. Dearie, also appeared to take aim at another one of Mr. Trump's excuses -- that federal agents had planted some of the records when they searched his Mar-a-Lago estate. In an order issued after the appellate court had ruled, Judge Dearie instructed Mr. Trump's lawyers to let him know if there were any discrepancies between the documents that were kept at Mar-a-Lago and those that the F.B.I. said it had hauled away....

"On Thursday, Judge [Aileen] Cannon modified her order for the special master review to exclude documents marked as classified, in line with the appeals court decision. Nonetheless, the order seemed to raise new questions. Judge Cannon did not issue a written opinion explaining why she had taken that step before Mr. Trump indicated whether he would appeal to the Supreme Court. By pre-emptively removing the portions of the order that the appeals court had blocked, she may have rendered any further litigation over the matter moot. Mr. Trump's lawyers did not respond to requests for comment." ~~~

     ~~~ Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "The Mar-a-Lago special master on Thursday ordered Donald Trump's lawyers to state in a court filing whether they believe FBI agents lied about documents seized from the former president's Florida residence in a court-authorized search last month, or claimed to have taken items that were not actually in Trump's possession. In a Thursday afternoon filing, U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Dearie -- the special master -- told Trump's legal team to state by Sept. 30 whether they believe any of the seized items were incorrectly described in the Justice Department's 11-page inventory list, which said some of the documents were highly classified. Dearie also told them to say whether they are claiming that any items on the inventory list were not in fact taken from the premises. Trump has said on social media and in television interviews that the FBI planted items when they searched his Mar-a-Lago residence and private club on Aug. 8.... Dearie's order, in essence, demands that Trump's lawyers back up their client's claims." An NBC News story is here, and a CNN story is here.

     ~~~ Marie: So five judges whacked Trump in less than 24 hours: the three appellate judges, Dearie & even Cannon. I expect Cannon screwed Trump because she was so shaken by the Appellate Court's takedown of her stupid ruling that she didn't think to find out that she should give the Biggest Loser a chance to appeal to the Supremes. (Or she's so dumb she would not have thought of that in any event.) But Judge Dearie knew what he was doing when he forced Trump's lawyers to provide some proof that FBI agents had planted documents at Mar-a-Lardo. He was putting that line of bull to rest. Even if the FBI had planted incriminating docs, Trump could never prove it because I serious doubt he had kept his own inventory of what-all he had stolen. Of course, thieves probably don't usually inventory their take, so that's understandable. ~~~

     ~~~ And Another Thing. David Rohde of the New Yorker said on MSNBC last night that the FBI has a lead that Trump shared a classified document with a person not authorized to see it. Now, if Trump had declassified the docs, (using telepathy or other means) when he was president*, that would be okay. Those documents were marked "classified," but they were no longer classified. However, Rohde's remark brings up the more pressing -- and alarming -- issue: how many U.S. & what damaging information has Trump shared with unauthorized people? We already suspect/know that unauthorized people were handling the documents & had opportunities to rifle through them and choose some favorites, and now the FBI is developing evidence that Trump purposely shared government secrets with at least one unauthoized person. I still think the FBI should haul him in & interrogate him under a harsh light. Maybe that will happen.

Quinta Jurecic, et al., of Lawfare: "The decision by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon was a hot mess, as we and others detailed when she handed it down, and the grounds for an almost-inevitable appellate court intervention were obvious at the time. That said, the 29-page opinion is important in a number of respects.... Its unanimity and speed emphasize the fact that Judge Cannon's interference in the Justice Department's investigation was a gross impropriety, not a plausible legal position. That two of the panel members were, like Judge Cannon, appointed by President Trump further emphasizes that this is a matter of professionalism, not a matter of ideology or the sort of judicial philosophy that reasonably separates conservative from liberal jurists.... While the Eleventh Circuit emphasized that it was ruling on the narrow matter before it -- whether to stay Judge Cannon's ruling appointing a special master and enjoining the government from using the fruits of the Mar-a-Lago search with respect to 100 documents marked classified -- most of the logic of the opinion applies with equal force to the entire case.... In fact, if one takes [the appeals court ruling] at face value, it means the whole case should be thrown out.

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "As U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon ruled twice in the Mar-a-Lago documents case for the former president who nominated her to the bench, many legal experts -- including conservatives and executive-power advocates --; have strained to understand how she could have reached such conclusions about Donald Trump's claims. On Wednesday night, two fellow Trump nominees joined with another judge to provide the rebuke of Cannon's jurisprudence that those experts suggested might be coming.... They repeatedly rejected not just the Trump legal team's lack of arguments, but also Cannon's acceptance of them. Indeed, they suggested it was inexplicable that Cannon ruled for Trump even by her own logic." MB: I do wonder what lesson Cannon will take from this rebuke. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Charlie Savage of the New York Times explains presidential power to declassify information. It would be a good idea if Donald Trump read the article. Much of the article addresses the declassification system in Q&A format. Here's my favorite: "Can a president secretly declassify information without leaving a written record or telling anyone? That question, according to specialists in the law of government secrecy, is borderline incoherent." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Andrew Weissmann, speaking on MSNBC this morning or last night was amused by Trump's assertion that "if you're the president of the United States, you can declassify ... even by thinking about it." Weissmann called that the "Bewitched Defense." It is my firm opinion that to successfully raise that defense, Trump would have had to wiggle his porky snout.

Renato Mariotti in a Politico Magazine opinion piece: "It's not hard to see why [New York State Attorney General Letitia] James is taking such a hard line [against Donald Trump, et al., & the Trump Organization]. She has a winning hand.... James' lawsuit is full of seemingly damning evidence, outlining a wide-ranging scheme to defraud lenders by vastly inflating the value of Trump's assets.... James alleges that Trump and his kids did this approximately 200 times between 2011 and 2021, sometimes inflating the value of properties by as much as tenfold.... Perhaps the biggest reason James has such a winning hand is this: Trump dealt her the cards. In early August he invoked the Fifth Amendment some 440 times during his deposition in this case.... Trump, his son Eric, and others took the Fifth hundreds of times.... Taking the Fifth has severe consequences in this case.... The jury will likely be instructed they can infer that when Trump [and others] took the Fifth, [the] answer[s] would have been adverse to [them]."

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A Jan. 6 rioter who has dressed up as Adolf Hitler and held a security clearance was sentenced to four years in federal prison during a hearing on Thursday. Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, 32, of New Jersey, who was an Army reservist when he stormed the U.S. Capitol in January 2021, was convicted in May after he failed to convince jurors that he didn't know that Congress met at the Capitol, a claim he made on the stand to avoid a conviction for obstruction of Congress." MB: As Molly Ivins would have said, his improbable defense "probably sounded better in the original German." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Marianne Levine & Burgess Everett of Politico: "Even as House GOP leaders whipped against the post-Jan. 6 legislation this week [-- which would clean up the 19th-century Electoral Count Act that Trump tried to exploit to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell has encouraged his members to seek a deal with Democrats and is himself leaning toward backing the effort, according to senators in both parties.... The Senate's bipartisan bill already has support from 11 Republicans, more than enough to break a filibuster."

Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "In an explosive hearing in July, an unidentified former Twitter employee testified to the House Jan. 6 committee that the company had tolerated false and rule-breaking tweets from Donald Trump for years because executives knew their service was his 'favorite and most-used -- and enjoyed having that sort of power.' Now, in an exclusive interview with The Washington Post, the whistleblower, Anika Collier Navaroli, reveals the terror she felt about coming forward and how eventually that fear was overcome by her worry that extremism and political disinformation on social media pose an 'imminent threat not just to American democracy, but to the societal fabric of our planet.'... Twitter banned Trump two days after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, citing fears he could incite further violence. By that time, he had sent more than 56,000 tweets over 12 years, many of which included lies and baseless accusations about election fraud." Worth a read.

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "A federal watchdog on Thursday found that fraudsters may have stolen $45.6 billion from the nation's unemployment insurance program during the pandemic, using the Social Security numbers of dead people and other tactics to deceive and bilk the U.S. government. The new estimate is a dramatic increase from the roughly $16 billion in potential fraud identified a year ago, and it illustrates the immense task still ahead of Washington as it seeks to pinpoint the losses, recover the funds and hold criminals accountable for stealing from a vast array of federal relief programs.... To siphon away funds, scammers allegedly filed billions of dollars in unemployment claims in multiple states simultaneously and relied on suspicious, hard-to-trace emails. In some cases, they used more than 205,000 Social Security numbers that belonged to dead people. Other suspected criminals obtained benefits using the identities of prisoners who are ineligible for aid." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It appears state employees who processed these claims were as gullible as the marks who fall for emails telling them they have a big inheritance awaiting them in a Nigerian bank account, but they need to send $2,314 in processing & late fees to get the money out.

Digby has more on scammer Gov. Ron DeSantis' unrealized promise to fly migrants from San Antonio, Texas, to Delaware. Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) And of course, old-fashioned corruption is part of the story: ~~~

~~~ Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: The company that flew asylum-seekers from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha's Vineyard -- Destin[, Florida]-based Vertol Systems Company -- "'was familiar to a key member of the DeSantis administration: Larry Keefe, the state's "public safety czar" responsible for carrying out the governor's anti-immigration programs. The company also has a private jet that flew from Florida to San Antonio a week before charter flights took 48 migrants to Martha's Vineyard,' the Miami Herald reported. 'Before DeSantis hired Keefe, and before he was named U.S. Attorney for Florida's Northern District by ... Donald Trump, Keefe represented Vertol Systems in a dozen lawsuits between 2010 and 2017,' the newspaper reported. '... So far, Keefe's ties to Vertol Systems are the best explanation of why the state hired the company." MB: Nice to see Trump gets a cameo in another corruption story. ~~~

     ~~~ AND Gaetz! Marc Caputo of NBC News: "The air charter company Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration hired for his migrant-moving program has contributed big money to some top allies of the governor and was once legally represented by Rep. Matt Gaetz and his former partner [Larry Keefe], who is now Florida's 'public safety czar' in charge of immigration policy. DeSantis' administration has refused to release a copy of the $12 million contract with Vertol Systems Company Inc. for its role in administering the 'unauthorized alien' program -- which state Democrats sought to block with a lawsuit Thursday -- nor will the governor's office comment on the nearly $1.6 million the company has received to send migrants to so-called sanctuary cities that welcome immigrants.... The state budget authorizing the program specifies that 'unauthorized aliens' are supposed to be flown from 'this state' of Florida -- not any other state -- and Republicans who crafted the program this year said publicly that Venezuelans seeking asylum are not considered 'unauthorized aliens' because they're allowed to be in this country."

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "Christiane Amanpour was all set to interview Iran's president in New York on Wednesday when Iranian officials stepped in with a last-minute condition: The CNN host would have to wear a head covering, in deference to Iranian custom and an Islamic religious ritual. Amanpour said she refused -- at which point aides to president Ebrahim Raisi canceled the interview, setting off an incident that underscored tensions over women's rights in Iran. 'I refused to fold or cave to enable [the Iranians] to impose the laws of their land on our land,' Amanpour told The Washington Post on Thursday.... The incident comes as protests take place across Iran over Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died while in police custody last week. Amini was arrested in Tehran by Iran's 'morality police' over her public attire. Her family has disputed Iranian officials' claims that she died of heart failure. In protest, demonstrators have burned hijabs and other such coverings, and women have publicly cut their hair in defiance of the country's leadership. Security forces attempting to quell the protests have killed at least eight people, according to the human rights group Amnesty International."

Amy Wang & Min Joo Kim of the Washington Post: "South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was caught on a hot mic Wednesday insulting U.S. Congress members as 'idiots' who could be a potential embarrassment for President Biden if they did not approve funding for global public health. Yoon had just met with Biden at the Global Fund's Seventh Replenishment Conference in New York City. There, Biden had pledged $6 billion from the United States to the public health campaign, which fights AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria worldwide. The funding would require congressional approval. 'It would be so humiliating for Biden if these idiots don't pass it in Congress,' Yoon was overheard telling a group of aides as they left the event. Video of the exchange quickly went viral in South Korea, where Yoon took office in May as a political rookie. He has never held elected office before and lacks prior experience in foreign policy." MB: Gosh, I'm so upset.

Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "A jury in a federal civil case on Thursday found that Project Veritas, a conservative group known for its deceptive tactics, had violated wiretapping laws and fraudulently misrepresented itself as part of a lengthy sting operation against Democratic political consultants. The jury awarded the consulting firm, Democracy Partners, $120,000. The decision amounted to a sharp rebuke of the practices that Project Veritas and its founder, James O'Keefe, have relied on. During the trial, lawyers for Project Veritas portrayed the operation as news gathering and its employees as journalists following the facts.... Project Veritas said it would appeal the decision."

Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: "Alex Jones's initial day of testimony in a trial for damages after years of lying about the Sandy Hook shootings ended in chaos. Confronted on Thursday with the harm he had done by repeatedly lying on his Infowars radio and online show that Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie died in the massacre, was an actor, Mr. Jones erupted in a rant that drew a contempt threat by Judge Barbara Bellis of [Connecticut] State Superior Court. '... I'm done saying I'm sorry,' Mr. Jones responded, as his lawyer shouted objections.... At the end of the day, after the jury had gone, [Judge Bellis] warned Mr. Jones as well as his lawyer, Norm Pattis, that she would enforce a zero-tolerance policy on Friday for ignoring her orders about decorum in the courtroom. Mr. Pattis had repeatedly objected as his client shouted.... Mr. Jones's effort to defend himself on Thursday was punctuated by violations of the judge's order barring mentions of partisan politics or politicians." ~~~

     ~~~ Anna Merlan of Vice: While Alex Jones was on the stand yesterday, "he also managed to get in a plug for 'challenge coins' he's selling on the site, and publicly asked whoever has been anonymously sending him large crypto donations to keep doing it.... He spelled out the website where his audience can send crypto donations to him. [Plaintiffs' attorney Chris] Mattei asked incredulously if he was doing an ad; Jones responded, 'We're fighting the Deep State, we need to make money.'" Oh, read on.

Marie: It was a bad day in court for wingnuts: Trump, Fake Hitler, O'Keefe, Jones.

McKenna Oxenden of the New York Times: "Two New Jersey-based companies have agreed to pay a total of $325,000 in fines for selling a pesticide that federal officials say was falsely marketed as a disinfectant spray that could help eliminate the coronavirus, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The product, Zoono Microbe Shield, from Zoono USA and Zoono Holdings, was sold online through Amazon and other websites and to community centers and was even purchased by United Airlines during the height of the pandemic to disinfect cabins, the E.P.A. said Wednesday in a statement announcing the settlement. The E.P.A. said that while reviewing Zoono Microbe Shield's label, the agency discovered that it was sold with claims about public health that 'substantially differed' from what was registered with the agency, which is illegal, and that the claims were 'false' and 'misleading.'"

Karina Tsui> of the Washington Post: "Cities along the coasts of South and Southeast Asia are sinking -- even faster than similar cities elsewhere -- because of rapid, poorly controlled urbanization, scientists say, heightening risks already posed by rising sea levels."

Beyond the Beltway

Peter Stone of the Guardian: "Fossil fuel giant Koch Industries has poured over $1m into backing -- directly and indirectly -- dozens of House and Senate candidates who voted against certifying Joe Biden's win on 6 January 2021. Koch, which is controlled by multibillionaire Charles Koch, boasts a corporate Pac that has donated $607,000 to the campaigns or leadership Pacs of 52 election deniers since January 2021, making Koch's Pac the top corporate funder of members who opposed the election results, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks campaign spending. In addition, the Super Pac Americans for Prosperity Action to which Koch Industries has given over $6m since January 2021, has backed some election deniers with advertising and other communications support, as well as a few candidates Donald Trump has endorsed who tried to help him overturn the 2020 election, or raised doubts about the final results."

Florida. Richard Luscombe of the Guardian: "A Florida prosecutor suspended by Ron DeSantis for defying a new 15-week abortion law says a federal judge's decision to send his reinstatement appeal to trial means a reckoning is coming for the state's Republican governor. Andrew Warren, a Democrat, was removed as Hillsborough county state attorney on 4 August after saying he would not enforce the abortion ban or prosecute providers of gender transition treatment for young people. DeSantis cited Warren's alleged 'woke agenda' in reasons for his decision. At a hearing in Tallahassee on Monday, Judge Robert Hinkle denied motions from DeSantis to dismiss Warren’s lawsuit, and another by Warren seeking an immediate return to office, instead requesting their differences be settled at a trial in the coming weeks.... The closely watched case is expected to give clarity to DeSantis's power to purge elected officials who disagree with him."

Georgia Senate Race. Another Herschel Walker Lie. David Fahrenthold & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Back when he was a businessman running a food-distribution company, Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for Senate in Georgia..., pledged that 15 percent of [company] profits would go to charities, a promise the company said was 'part of its corporate charter.' For years, Mr. Walker's company named four specific charities as beneficiaries of those donations, including the Boy Scouts of America and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. But there is scant evidence that Mr. Walker's giving matched those promises. When The New York Times contacted those four charities, one declined to comment and the other three said they had no record or recollection of any gifts from the company in the last decade.... The Times's reporting did not conclusively prove that Mr. Walker's company failed to donate profits. It is possible that his company donated to other charities without naming them in public." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Indiana. Eliza Fawcett of the New York Times: "An Indiana judge temporarily halted the state's ban on most abortions on Thursday, a week after the law took effect. The decision came as part of a lawsuit brought by abortion providers challenging the state ban, which prohibits most abortions from conception. Indiana was the first state to pass new, sweeping restrictions on abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to the procedure in June. The judge's ruling for now restores wider legal rights to abortion in the state, which has played a prominent role in the nation's abortion debate, while the court case proceeds." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ohio Congressional Race. Josh Kraushaar of Axios: "House Republicans have withdrawn their [$1MM] advertising [budget] for Ohio Republican J.R. Majewski, a MAGA-aligned candidate who was at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riots.... [Rep. Marcy] Kaptur's [D] redrawn district -- which backed Trump by three points in 2020 -- once looked like an easy pickup for House Republicans. The GOP is now at risk of squandering another race because Republican primary voters nominated an extreme candidate.... The AP wrote: '[Majewski's] post-military career has been defined by exaggerations, conspiracy theories, talk of violent action against the U.S. government and occasional financial duress.... House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) campaigned for Majewski last month, seeing his race as key to the party's efforts to win back the House majority. Former President Trump didn't endorse Majewski, but praised him at an Ohio rally before the contested primary." ~~~

     ~~~ Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "J.R. Majewski, a Republican House candidate in northern Ohio, has frequently promoted himself as a combat veteran who served in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but the U.S. Air Force has no record that he served there, unraveling a central narrative of his political ascension that has been heralded by ... Donald J. Trump.... Mr. Majewski first gained attention in Ohio in 2020 by turning his lawn into a 19,000-square-foot 'Trump 2020' sign." See also CNN story linked on yesterday's page. ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Lemiuex in LG&$: "Amazing that a guy who turned his home into a literal shrine for Donald Trump would turn out to be a fake-macho liar. Entirely unforeseeable."

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 briefings for Friday are here: "Moscow launched referendums on Friday in four Ukrainian territories under its control, a dramatic escalation of the Kremlin's bid to consolidate control over swaths of the country.... The referendums on the prospect of joining Russia, illegal under Ukrainian and international law, will last five days for the separatist Luhansk and Donetsk territories, which make up the eastern Donbas region, as well as in the southern Kherson region and occupied parts of nearby Zaporizhzhia. Russian news agencies said that hundreds of polling stations would open and that refugees in Russia would be able to take part in the referendums, which have drawn global condemnation.... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attacked the legitimacy of the sham referendums. Speaking in Russian, he urged Russians to resist the military mobilization which Putin announced this week....

"The U.N. nuclear watchdog said 'detailed talks' about a safety zone at the Zaporizhzhia plant are underway.... Diplomats clashed over allegations of Russian war crimes at a heated U.N. Security Council meeting on Thursday. [U.S.] Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia's withdrawal from the Ukrainian cities of Izyum and Bucha revealed gruesome torture and killings that could not be dismissed as the actions of a few bad actors. In a brief appearance, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied the charges and condemned Western support for Kyiv before leaving the room."

Paul Sonne & John Hudson of the Washington Post: "The United States for several months has been sending private communications to Moscow warning Russia's leadership of the grave consequences that would follow the use of a nuclear weapon, according to U.S. officials, who said the messages underscore what President Biden and his aides have articulated publicly. The Biden administration generally has decided to keep warnings about the consequences of a nuclear strike deliberately vague, so the Kremlin worries about how Washington might respond, the officials said.... The attempt by the White House to cultivate what's known in the nuclear deterrence world as 'strategic ambiguity' comes as Russia continues to escalate its rhetoric about possible nuclear weapons use amid a domestic mobilization aimed at stanching Russian military losses in eastern Ukraine."

Robyn Dixon, et al., of the Washington Post: "Russian families bade tearful farewells on Thursday to thousands of sons and husbands abruptly summoned for military duty as part of President Vladimir Putin's new mobilization, while pro-war Russian nationalists raged over the release of commanders of Ukraine's controversial Azov Regiment in a highly secretive prisoner exchange.... More than 1,300 people were arrested at anti-mobilization protests in cities and towns across Russia on Wednesday and Thursday.... In the city of Togliatti, a military commissariat, or local military recruitment and draft office, was set on fire, one of dozens of similar attacks across Russia in recent months.... The dual backlash over mobilization and the prisoner exchange showed Putin facing his most acute crisis since the he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine." MB: Putin does seem to be on increasingly shaky ground. I sure hope he ends his rule not with a bang, but a whimper. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

CNBC: "Stocks tumbled on Friday to close out a brutal week for financial markets as surging interest rates and foreign currency turmoil heightened fears of a global recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 700 points to fall below 30,000 to a new low for the year. The 30-stock index is fell 20% from its high, known as bear market territory on Wall Street. It was last trading 756 points lower, or 2.5%. The S&P 500 fell 2.7% and headed for a new 2022 closing low, while the Nasdaq Composite slid about 2.8%."

September 22, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "A federal watchdog on Thursday found that fraudsters may have stolen $45.6 billion from the nation's unemployment insurance program during the pandemic, using the Social Security numbers of dead people and other tactics to deceive and bilk the U.S. government. The new estimate is a dramatic increase from the roughly $16 billion in potential fraud identified a year ago, and it illustrates the immense task still ahead of Washington as it seeks to pinpoint the losses, recover the funds and hold criminals accountable for stealing from a vast array of federal relief programs.... To siphon away funds, scammers allegedly filed billions of dollars in unemployment claims in multiple states simultaneously and relied on suspicious, hard-to-trace emails. In some cases, they used more than 205,000 Social Security numbers that belonged to dead people. Other suspected criminals obtained benefits using the identities of prisoners who are ineligible for aid." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It appears state employees who processed these claims were as gullible as the marks who fall for emails telling them they have a big inheritance awaiting them in a Nigerian bank account, but they need to send $2,314 in processing & late fees to get the money out.

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "As U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon ruled twice in the Mar-a-Lago documents case for the former president who nominated her to the bench, many legal experts -- including conservatives and executive-power advocates -- have strained to understand how she could have reached such conclusions about Donald Trump's claims. On Wednesday night, two fellow Trump nominees joined with another judge to provide the rebuke of Cannon's jurisprudence that those experts suggested might be coming.... They repeatedly rejected not just the Trump legal team's lack of arguments, but also Cannon's acceptance of them. Indeed, they suggested it was inexplicable that Cannon ruled for Trump even by her own logic." MB: I do wonder what lesson Cannon will take from this rebuke.

Charlie Savage of the New York Times explains presidential power to declassify information. It would be a good idea if Donald Trump read the article. Much of the article addresses the declassification system in Q&A format. Here's my favorite: "Can a president secretly declassify information without leaving a written record or telling anyone? That question, according to specialists in the law of government secrecy, is borderline incoherent." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Andrew Weissmann, speaking on MSNBC this morning or last night was amused by Trump's assertion that "if you're the president of the United States, you can declassify ... even by thinking about it." Weissmann called that the "Bewitched Defense." It is my firm opinion that to successfully raise that defense, Trump would have had to wiggle his porky snout.

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A Jan. 6 rioter who has dressed up as Adolf Hitler and held a security clearance was sentenced to four years in federal prison during a hearing on Thursday. Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, 32, of New Jersey, who was an Army reservist when he stormed the U.S. Capitol in January 2021, was convicted in May after he failed to convince jurors that he didn't know that Congress met at the Capitol, a claim he made on the stand to avoid a conviction for obstruction of Congress." MB: As Molly Ivins would have said, his defense "probably sounded better in the original German."

Digby has more on scammer Gov. Ron DeSantis' unrealized promise to fly migrants from San Antonio, Texas, to Delaware. Thanks to RAS for the link.

Georgia Senate Race. Another Herschel Walker Lie. David Fahrenthold & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Back when he was a businessman running a food-distribution company, Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for Senate in Georgia..., pledged that 15 percent of [company] profits would go to charities, a promise the company said was 'part of its corporate charter.' For years, Mr. Walker's company named four specific charities as beneficiaries of those donations, including the Boy Scouts of America and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. But there is scant evidence that Mr. Walker's giving matched those promises. When The New York Times contacted those four charities, one declined to comment and the other three said they had no record or recollection of any gifts from the company in the last decade.... The Times's reporting did not conclusively prove that Mr. Walker's company failed to donate profits. It is possible that his company donated to other charities without naming them in public."

Indiana. Eliza Fawcett of the New York Times: "An Indiana judge temporarily halted the state's ban on most abortions on Thursday, a week after the law took effect. The decision came as part of a lawsuit brought by abortion providers challenging the state ban, which prohibits most abortions from conception. Indiana was the first state to pass new, sweeping restrictions on abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to the procedure in June. The judge's ruling for now restores wider legal rights to abortion in the state, which has played a prominent role in the nation's abortion debate, while the court case proceeds."

Ukraine/Russia. Robyn Dixon, et al., of the Washington Post: "Russian families bade tearful farewells on Thursday to thousands of sons and husbands abruptly summoned for military duty as part of President Vladimir Putin's new mobilization, while pro-war Russian nationalists raged over the release of commanders of Ukraine's controversial Azov Regiment in a highly secretive prisoner exchange.... More than 1,300 people were arrested at anti-mobilization protests in cities and towns across Russia on Wednesday and Thursday.... In the city of Togliatti, a military commissariat, or local military recruitment and draft office, was set on fire, one of dozens of similar attacks across Russia in recent months.... The dual backlash over mobilization and the prisoner exchange showed Putin facing his most acute crisis since the he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine." MB: Putin does seem to be on increasingly shaky ground. I hope he ends his rule not with a bang, but a whimper.

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The Slo-Mo Trump Disaster Series, Episode 1,198 or So

** Bada Bing. Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Wednesday freed the Justice Department to resume using documents marked as classified that were seized from ... Donald J. Trump, blocking for now a lower court's order that had strictly limited the investigation into Mr. Trump's handling of government materials. In a strongly worded 29-page decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit set aside key parts of an order by a Florida federal judge that has kept the department from using about 100 files with classification markings in its inquiry into whether Mr. Trump illegally retained national defense documents and obstructed repeated efforts to recover them. The appeals court also agreed with the Justice Department that Mr. Trump's lawyers -- and an independent arbiter recently appointed to review the seized materials -- need not look at the classified documents that the F.B.I. carted away from Mr. Trump's estate, Mar-a-Lago, on Aug. 8. The Justice Department 'argues that the district court likely erred in exercising its jurisdiction to enjoin the United States' use of the classified records in its criminal investigation and to require the United States to submit the marked classified documents to a special master for review,' a three-judge panel of the appeals court wrote. 'We agree.'...

"The appeals court agreed with the Justice Department's argument that prosecutors needed access to the classified materials in order to assist the national security review. It also forcefully rebutted Mr. Trump's attempts to claim in public -- but not in court -- that he had declassified the sensitive records at issue. Mr. Trump 'suggests that he may have declassified these documents when he was president,' the appeals court wrote. 'But the record contains no evidence that any of these records were declassified.'... The appellate panel consisted of two other Trump appointees, Judges Britt Grant and Andrew L. Brasher, and Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum, an Obama appointee." Politico's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "The appeals court also disagreed with the rationale used by U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon in agreeing to have the classified documents reviewed by a special master... 'For our part, we cannot discern why [Trump] would have an individual interest in or need for any of the one-hundred documents with classification markings,' the court wrote, noting that the stay it issued is temporary and should not be considered a final decision on the merits of the case. The lower court 'abused its discretion in exercising jurisdiction ... as it concerns the classified documents,' the panel wrote....

"In particular, Cannon said that a risk assessment of the case ... could continue, while the criminal investigators were not allowed to use the classified documents for the time being. The Justice Department said such a distinction was impractical because much of the DNI's work would necessarily be done by FBI agents, and the two tasks were 'inextricably intertwined.' Cannon did not accept that characterization.... But the appeals court rejected her reasoning...: 'This distinction is untenable.' The panel also used its ruling to offer a public primer on how the government classifies and declassifies government secrets, and why that process is important." MB: IOW, the appeals court soundly rebuked Little Miss Judge Aileen. And they did it in one day.

~~~ A copy of the order, via Politico, is here.

I declassified the documents when they left the White House.... There doesn't have to be a process as I understand it. You're the president of the United States, you can declassify ... even by thinking about it. -- Donald Trump, on Fox "News" Wednesday night ~~~

~~~ Marie: Trump also said Wednesday night on the Fox "News" teevee, "I declassified everything." And he added that the reason for the search of Mar-a-Lardo was that they "were looking for the Hillary Clinton emails." Yeah, that's the first thing I thought. (Well, okay, it never occurred to me.) ~~~

     ~~~ Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "Legal experts on Wednesday largely disagreed with Donald Trump's Fox News argument that he had the >ability to declassify documents with his mind.... Attorney and former FBI Agent Asha Rangappa joked, 'he's actually invoking the Secret Telepathic Unilateral Preemptive Irreversible Declassification (S.T.U.P.I.D.) defense.'... On MSNBC, anchor Lawrence O'Donnell played a clip of the interview and asked national security lawyer Bradley Moss for analysis. 'Yeah, I saw that clip right before I came on and I tried not to burst out laughing,' Moss replied. Moss noticed that judges ruled three times during the Trump administration that the declassification process must occur." Includes video of the O'Donnell segment.

** Bada Boom. Kara Scannell of CNN: "The New York state attorney general filed a sweeping lawsuit Wednesday against ... Donald Trump, three of his adult children and the Trump Organization, alleging they were involved in an expansive fraud lasting over a decade that the former President used to enrich himself. In the more than 200-page lawsuit, Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, alleges the fraud touched all aspects of the Trump business, including its properties and golf courses. According to the lawsuit, the Trump Organization deceived lenders, insurers and tax authorities by inflating the value of his properties using misleading appraisals.... Trump and his children, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump, are named as defendants in the lawsuit. Allen Weisselberg, former CFO for the Trump Organization, and Jeff McConney, another longtime company executive, are also named. James said she believes state and criminal laws may have been violated and referred the matter to the US attorney's office for the Southern District of New York and the Internal Revenue Service." This is an update of a story linked yesterday. ~~~

     ~~~ Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "Attorney General Letitia James of New York filed a sweeping lawsuit on Wednesday that accused Donald J. Trump, his family business and three of his children of lying to lenders and insurers by fraudulently overvaluing his assets by billions of dollars. Ms. James is seeking to bar the Trumps, including Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka, from ever running a business in the state again.... The ... lawsuit ... lay out in new and startling detail how Mr. Trump's annual financial statements were a compendium of lies, according to Ms. James. The statements -- yearly records that include the company's estimated value of its holdings and debts -- wildly inflated the worth of nearly every one of its marquee properties, according to the lawsuit." ~~~

~~~ Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "Penalties being sought in the civil fraud suit brought by the New York state attorney general's office against Donald Trump and three of his adult children could potentially result in the end of the Trump Organization, his real estate empire, in its current form.... The restrictions being sought by the New York attorney general include permanent bans on Trump and his three children from serving as executives in any company in New York.... The other penalties being sought would prevent Trump from attempting to circumvent that principal restriction to establish his business under a different guise: [State AG Letitia] James is also seeking to bar Trump from acquiring commercial real estate and applying for loans in New York for five years. Trump could also lose two loyal executives named in the suit -- Trump Organization's chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, and its controller, Jeffrey McConney -- with James asking the New York state supreme court to bar them from serving in top roles of any company in New York.... Even some of the restrictions would spell the end of Trump's family business ... while any federal charges would complicate re-establishing it elsewhere."

Unwashed was wondering "if the Orange Jesus is singing this song to himself as he wanders about his personal space in Marred-a-Lardo given the news over the last few hours/days." @unwashed: I heard on the teevee yesterday that Trump was playing DJ at Mar-a-Lardo events, wherein he is spinning Bee Gees numbers. As of today, he can add "Going Down" to his playlist.

Luke Broadwater & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Virginia Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas and a conservative activist who pushed to overturn the 2020 election, has agreed to sit for an interview with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The development could represent a breakthrough for the committee, which for months has sought to interview Ms. Thomas, who goes by Ginni, about her communications with a conservative lawyer in close contact with ... Donald J. Trump." CNN's report, which broke the news, is here.

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "The House on Wednesday took the first major step to respond to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, voting mostly along party lines to overhaul the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act, the law that ... Donald J. Trump tried to exploit that day to overturn his defeat. The bill was the most significant legislative answer yet to the riot and the monthslong campaign by Mr. Trump and his allies to invalidate the 2020 presidential election, but it also underscored the lingering partisan divide over Jan. 6 and the former president's continuing grip on his party. It cleared a divided House, passing on a 229 to 203 vote. All but nine Republicans opposed the measure, wary of angering Mr. Trump and unwilling to back legislation co-written by Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming and a leader of the House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6 and what led to them. The partisan division could complicate future negotiations with the Senate, which is moving ahead with its own bipartisan version of the legislation that differs from the House bill in some significant respects." A Politico story is here.

Stephanie Lai of the New York Times: "Eugene Goodman, the Capitol Police officer who led a pro-Trump mob away from the entrance to the Senate chamber during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, testified for the first time on Monday about his experience holding off the rioters. Officer Goodman, whose heroism was captured in widely circulated video recorded by a reporter inside the Capitol, said rioters sprayed him with what he believed to be bear spray, threw objects at him and tried to shake him and other officers off some scaffolding during the storming of the building. He also recounted throwing up in reaction to the tear gas deployed by the Metropolitan Police when they arrived to reinforce the Capitol Police, who had been overrun.... His testimony came during the court trial of two men charged in connection with the riot.... Officer Goodman said that he attempted to prevent [defendant] Kevin Seefried from progressing toward the Senate chamber and that Mr. Seefried 'jabbed' at him three times with the Confederate flag he was holding."

The Washington Post publishes an excerpt of a book by its reporters Rachel Bade & Karoun Demirjian. The excerpt outlines how Mitch McConnell & most Senate Republicans quickly folded & decided against convicting Trump of his second impeachment. (Also linked yesterday.)

Ben Goggin of NBC News: "QAnon conspiracy theory videos with thinly veiled hashtags are bringing in millions of views on TikTok ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. In a review conducted by NBC News, users were found posting videos with emojis and slight wording variations in hashtags to evade QAnon hashtag bans, bringing attention to the conspiracy theory that helped fuel the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.... TikTok removed some of the videos, all of which were sent to the company in an NBC News inquiry, but many QAnon videos and hashtags continued to remain up on the platform. The findings come as ... Donald Trump is ramping up his public support of the conspiracy theory." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The appeal of QAnon must be that wild conspiracy theories are so much more exciting than their boring lives. I mean, most people go to a pizza place to just order pizza & eat it, but Democrats go to pizza places to eat baby flesh, swap child porn photos & maybe have sex with little children. After they leave the pizza place, the Jewish patrons go home & launch space lasers to start forest fires. It's all disgusting, but maybe more enchanting to believers than leading normal, unimaginative lives.

Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: On Wednesday, "the [Federal Reserve] raised rates by 0.75 percentage points for the third time this year and released new economic projections showing a significant slowdown in the economy later in 2022 and 2023. People are suffering from high inflation -- especially more vulnerable households, [Fed chair Jerome] Powell said -- and they'll ultimately suffer more, and for longer, if the Fed flinches in its commitment to pulling prices back down."

Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "Military officials and lawmakers on Wednesday painted a grim picture of recruiting efforts within the Defense Department, as a recent study suggests worrisome shortfalls could grow worse if more women decline to serve over restrictive abortion laws in many Republican-led states where U.S. personnel are based. The Pentagon has characterized the head winds in stark terms, saying its recruiting environment is the worst it has been since the end of the Vietnam War. Some of the military services will just barely meet their goals as the fiscal year ends later this month, officials said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The Army, the armed forces' largest branch, will miss its target by 30,000 soldiers, said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).... The confluence of problems [the military officials] described include: High school closures during the coronavirus pandemic that strained access to military prospects; a competitive job market luring talent away; and obesity and other health problems drying up an already small pool of Americans who physically qualify for enlistment."

Lisa Friedman & Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Senate voted on Wednesday to approve an international climate treaty for the first time in 30 years, agreeing in a rare bipartisan deal to phase out of the use of planet-warming industrial chemicals commonly found in refrigerators and air-conditioners. By a vote of 69 to 27 the United States joined the 2016 Kigali Amendment, along with 137 other nations that have agreed to sharply reduce the production and use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs. The chemicals are potent greenhouse gases, warming the planet with 1,000 times the heat-trapping strength of carbon dioxide. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, called the ratification 'a historic step forward to combating global warming in a huge way.' He predicted that the vote may count as one of the most important bipartisan accomplishments during this Congress. Twenty-one Republicans joined all present members of the Democratic caucus to approve the treaty, including Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader." Grist's story is here.

Marie: This site has what appears to be a pirated copy of a subscriber-firewalled Miami Herald article about how "Operatives linked to [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis promised to fly migrants to Delaware -- but left them stranded." Same headline, same lede. However, the linked article is riddled with grammatical mistakes and odd syntax that I doubt would appear in the Herald. I can't access the Herald article, but it probably conveys the same basic info more awkwardly conveyed in this linked version. I did not get any "dangerous site" warnings from my security apps about the linked page, but you know, click at your own risk. If the Raw Story or some other reliable outlet picks up the story, I'll link that instead.

Josh Campbell & Mary Kay Mallonee of CNN: "Leonard Francis, the former military contractor known as 'Fat Leonard' who orchestrated the largest corruption scandal in US Navy history, was arrested Tuesday morning by authorities in Venezuela at the request of the US Marshals Service, according to the agency. Francis is currently detained by authorities in Venezuela and US government officials have started proceedings with Venezuela in an attempt to seek extradition, Supervisory Deputy US Marshal Omar Castillo told CNN Wednesday."

Mark Walker of the New York Times: "The Transportation Security Administration is on pace this year to again break the record for the number of guns intercepted at airport security checkpoints, underscoring a persistent challenge for security officials amid brisk gun sales in the United States. So far this year, T.S.A. officers have already discovered more than 4,600 guns at airport checkpoints, and about 87 percent of them were loaded, according to the agency. Last year, the T.S.A. found nearly 6,000 guns at airport checkpoints, which itself was a record. The number of guns discovered at security checkpoints has been trending upward for more than a decade, with the only decrease coming during the pandemic.... When a gun is found at a checkpoint, the T.S.A. does not seize it. Instead, agents are instructed to call law enforcement to handle the situation. There is no federal criminal penalty for passengers caught with a gun at a checkpoint, but the T.S.A. can impose a fine of up to about $14,000 and the loss of PreCheck membership -- which allows for expedited security screening -- for up to five years. Potential criminal charges, if any, vary by state."

Daniel Victor & Amanda Holpuch of the New York Times: "In recent weeks, some people on TikTok, Twitter and other sites discovered years-old videos and images of people pouring blue-green NyQuil, a nighttime cold medicine, over chicken breasts in a pan or pot. It was, to be clear, a dangerous idea that no one should do -- it could lead to consuming unsafe levels of the product, and over-the-counter medicines should be used only as directed. But it was not clear if people were actually trying it themselves in significant numbers; most people commenting were expressing horror at the concept or making jokes about it. There have been no reports of hospitalizations or deaths related to NyQuil chicken, a tongue-in-cheek recipe that first surfaced in the notorious 4chan forum in 2017 and also received a spike of attention in January. Still, the new flurry of interest in recent weeks caught the attention of the Food and Drug Administration, which issued a straight-faced notice on Sept. 15 advising against participating in what it called 'a recent social media video challenge.'" MB: Well, gosh, there goes my favorite chicken dish. Guess I'll have to go back to Pollo al Pepto.

Scott Cacciola, et al., of the New York Times: "Bowing to what he called an 'unforgiving climate,' Robert Sarver said Wednesday that he planned to sell the Phoenix Suns and Mercury amid public pressure after an N.B.A. investigation found that he had mistreated team employees for years. It was a swift turnabout for Sarver, who seemed determined to hold onto his stakes in both basketball franchises after the N.B.A. last week fined him $10 million and suspended him from team operations for one year. According to the investigation's report, Sarver had engaged in more than a decade of workplace misconduct, including using racial slurs, making sexual remarks and treating women inequitably."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Marie: The top headlines of this Washington Post online edition this morning are, in this order, (1)Ukraine war briefings; (2) the Appeals Court ruling again the Trump/Cannon alliance; and (3) the growing popularity of pickle ball. Pickle ball? Really? A Russian president who is threatening nuclear war, a former American president* who is trying to keep the American secret docs he stole, and pickle ball. I guess we should be encouraged that pickle ball seemed a little less important to the WashPo editors than Putin's & Trump's shenanigans (although the Post tends to rotate the headlines a lot, so the emphasis could change).

Beyond the Beltway

Michigan Congressional Race. Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "A Michigan candidate for the US House backed by ... Donald Trump once railed against giving women the right to vote, arguing that America has 'suffered' since women's suffrage. John Gibbs, who defeated in the primary an incumbent Republican [-- Rep. Peter Meijer --] who had voted to impeach Trump, also made comments in the early 2000s praising an organization trying to repeal the 19th Amendment which also argued that women's suffrage had made the United States into a 'totalitarian state.' As a student at Stanford University in the early 2000s, Gibbs founded a self-described 'think tank' called the Society for the Critique of Feminism that argued women did not 'posess (sic) the characteristics necessary to govern,' and said men were smarter than women because they are more likely to 'think logically about broad and abstract ideas in order to deduce a suitable conclusion, without relying upon emotional reasoning.'...Gibbs is a former Trump administration official who served in the Department of Housing and Urban Development and was later nominated to be director of the Office of Personnel Management. CNN's KFile previously reported that Gibbs' history of conspiratorial and inflammatory tweets included baselessly accusing Democrats of taking part in satanic rituals and defending a notorious anti-Semitic troll banned by Twitter."

Minnesota. Remy Tumin & Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "A former Minneapolis police officer, Thomas Lane, was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday for his role in the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Mr. Lane, 39, who pleaded guilty in May to a second-degree manslaughter charge, has been serving a two-and-a-half-year federal sentence for violating Mr. Floyd's civil rights and will serve the three-year sentence concurrently. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped a more serious charge of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder."

Ohio Congressional Race. Brian Slodysko & James Laporta of the AP: "Campaigning for a northwestern Ohio congressional seat, Republican J.R. Majewski presents himself as an Air Force combat veteran who deployed to Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, once describing 'tough' conditions including a lack of running water that forced him to go more than 40 days without a shower. Military documents obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request tell a different story. They indicate Majewski never deployed to Afghanistan but instead completed a six-month stint helping to load planes at an air base in Qatar, a longtime U.S. ally that is a safe distance from the fighting. [Majewski's] ... post-military career has been defined by exaggerations, conspiracy theories, talk of violent action against the U.S. government and occasional financial duress.... [He] dabbled in politics as a pro-Trump hip-hop performer and promoter of the QAnon conspiracy theory. He was also at the U.S. Capitol during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.... Still, thanks to an unflinching allegiance to ... Donald Trump -- Majewski once painted a massive Trump mural on his lawn -- he also stands a chance of defeating longtime Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur in a district recently redrawn to favor Republicans." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: A photo of Majewski that accompanies the article shows me he is someone I would cross the street to avoid.

Pennsylvania. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: "A former Philadelphia police officer was convicted of voluntary manslaughter on Wednesday in the 2017 fatal shooting of an unarmed 25-year-old Black man after a high-speed chase that ended in a crash. Jurors convicted the former officer, Eric Ruch Jr., 34, of voluntary manslaughter and possession of an instrument of crime -- his handgun.... Jurors found that Mr. Ruch, who is white, had acted recklessly when he fired directly at Dennis Plowden Jr.'s head following the crash on Dec. 27, 2017."

Way Beyond

** Ukraine, et al.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Thursday are here: "U.S. and European leaders on Wednesday swiftly condemned ... Vladimir Putin's decision to call up as many as 300,000 reservists in his war against Ukraine, a move that sparked protests across Russia and soaring demand for one-way flights out of the country.... Two U.S. military veterans and five Britons were among the nearly 300 people released Wednesday as part of an elaborate prisoner exchange between Moscow and Kyiv. The deal, brokered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also led to the release of 215 Ukrainians and 55 Russians. [Ukraine's President Volodymyr] Zelensky's passionate appeal to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday focused on his desire for peace and 'just punishment' for Russia.... The U.N. Security Council will meet to discuss the war in Ukraine on Thursday during the U.N. General Assembly.... North Korea has denied claims that it exported weapons or ammunition to Russia and said it has 'no plans' to do so, according to a statement released Thursday by the government-run Korean Central News Agency."

Jim Tankersley, et al., of the New York Times: "President Biden used his first speech at the United Nations since the invasion of Ukraine to accuse one man, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, of seeking to 'erase' another nation from the map and of trying to drag the world back to an era of nuclear confrontation. Hours after Mr. Putin mobilized reservists for Ukraine and issued new threats to deploy Russia's nuclear arsenal, Mr. Biden drew a sharp contrast between Russia and the West and described a growing competition with China as it pursues its own authoritarian vision. 'Let us speak plainly,' Mr. Biden said as he opened his address to the General Assembly, accusing Mr. Putin of violating the U.N. Charter. 'A permanent member of the United Nations Security Council invaded its neighbor.'... 'If nations can pursue their imperial ambitions without consequences..., Mr. Biden went on, the post-World War II order crumbles. 'We will stand in solidarity against Russia's aggression.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the transcript of President Biden's remarks, as delivered, via the White House.

Roger Cohen of the New York Times: "Vladimir V. Putin's menacing televised address on Wednesday was much more than a bid to change the course of his faltering war against Ukraine. It attempted to invert a war of aggression against a neighbor into one of defense of a threatened 'motherland,' a theme that resonates with Russians steeped in patriotic history. Mr. Putin ... aimed at nothing less than altering the meaning of the war for his country, raising the stakes for the entire world. He warned the West in unmistakable terms -- 'this is not a bluff' -- that the attempt to weaken or defeat Russia could provoke nuclear cataclysm.... By veering far from his original objective of demilitarizing and 'de-Nazifying' all of Ukraine, he made a nonsense of the Kremlin's far-fetched claims that the war was proceeding according to plan, and tacitly acknowledged something he had always denied: the reality and growing resistance of a unified Ukrainian nation."

Mary Ilyushima of the Washington Post: "Within hours of President Vladimir Putin's speech declaring a partial military mobilization on Wednesday, men all over Russia -- including some who had tried for months to ignore the messy war in Ukraine -- suddenly found their lives thrown into chaos as they were summoned to duty. The men, mostly reservists under 35 who served in the army and have junior military ranks, were handed written notices in their offices or at their homes. In some cases, they had their identity documents checked on the street and were told to appear for a health check. Others got orders by telephone.... Flights to the few cities abroad still offering direct service to Russia -- most destinations have been cut off by sanctions -- were suddenly sold out. Google search trends showed a spike in queries like 'how to leave Russia' and even 'how to break an arm at home,' raising speculation some Russians were thinking of resorting to self-harm to avoid the war.... By Wednesday night, it was clear that the political backlash Putin feared -- and that led him to resist a mobilization for months despite repeated battlefield setbacks -- had begun."

AirLive: "Russian airlines have stopped selling tickets to Russian men aged 18 to 65 unless they can provide evidence of approval to travel from the Ministry of Defense. All flights from Russia to available foreign destinations were sold out Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin declared a 'partial' mobilization of the country's 25 million reservists."(Also linked yesterday.)

September 21, 2022

Late Morning Update:

** Kara Scannell of CNN: "New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a civil fraud lawsuit Wednesday against ... Donald Trump, according to court records. The case docket indicates the defendants are Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, Allen Weisselberg, Jeffrey Mcconney, The Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, The Trump Organization, Inc., and other businesses associated with Trump. This story is breaking and will be updated."

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "For those flabbergasted and dismayed by Judge Aileen M. Cannon's absurd ruling granting ... Donald Trump a special master's review of the sensitive documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday's hearing before the special master himself, Judge Raymond J. Dearie, came as a breath of fresh air -- and a reminder that not every judge is an unabashed partisan. As a preliminary matter, Dearie made clear that this was a civil case in which Trump had the burden to show he had some claim to get back documents seized under a properly served search warrant. That was already an improvement over Cannon, who seemed never to consider that vital prerequisite to any further ruling." And so forth.

The Washington Post publishes an excerpt of a book by its reporters Rachel Bade & Karoun Demirjian. The excerpt outlines how Mitch McConnell & most Senate Republicans quickly folded & decided against convicting Trump of his second impeachment.

AirLive: "Russian airlines have stopped selling tickets to Russian men aged 18 to 65 unless they can provide evidence of approval to travel from the Ministry of Defense. All flights from Russia to available foreign destinations were sold out Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin declared a 'partial' mobilization of the country's 25 million reservists."

~~~~~~~~~~

Via Scott Lemieux.

Charlie Savage & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "On Monday evening, lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump insisted that he should not have to formally declare in court whether, as he has claimed publicly, he had used his power before leaving office to declassify sensitive documents seized from his Florida home last month. But on Tuesday, in a separate court filing, Mr. Trump's lawyers argued that the Justice Department has not proved that those same documents ... continue to be classified, coyly hinting Mr. Trump might have declassified them. Mr. Trump, in other words, wants it both ways: He is arguing that he and his legal team should not have to state in a legal proceeding, where they could become subject to perjury charges or other penalties, that he declassified the documents, while also telling the courts that they should not accept the Justice Department's word that they remain classified." (Also linked yesterday.) This story has been updated to describe the hearing held yesterday. More on that by Politico, linked below. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: A WashPo story, linked yesterday, indicates that the Trump lawyers argued that Trump should not have to reveal his fake declassification excuse because they might want to use that fiction in his defense if he's indicted. In today's filing, according to the NYT story linked above, "The president has broad authority governing classification of, and access to, classified documents." So I'll just point out that Trump is not the president. Maybe his attorneys are planning an insanity defense: he thinks he's president so he thinks he can access and/or declassify whatever he wants. Trump's incarceration could end up being nothing more onerous than a short stay in an upscale mental-health facility. ~~~

The government gives me prima facie evidence that these are classified documents.... As far as I'm concerned, that's the end of it. -- Judge Raymond Dearie, Tuesday ~~~

     ~~~ ** Update. Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: “The senior federal judge tasked with reviewing the materials seized by the FBI from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate sharply questioned the former president's attorneys Tuesday during their first hearing before his courtroom. Judge Raymond Dearie pushed Trump's lawyers repeatedly for refusing to back up the former president's claim that he declassified the highly sensitive national security-related records discovered in his residence. "You can't have your cake and eat it,' said Dearie.... Dearie bristled at the effort by Trump's lawyers to resist his request for proof that Trump actually attempted to declassify any of the 100 documents that the Justice Department recovered from his estate. Without evidence from Trump, Dearie said his only basis to judge the classification level of the records was the fact that they all bear markings designating them as highly sensitive national security secrets.... Dearie ... noted that ... the burden of proof is on Trump to back up any assertion of privilege or other protected interest in the documents." (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ As Greg Sargent of the Washington Post wrote before the hearing: "This episode reveals the perils of lawyering by Fox News: If you tailor arguments to a forum where damning facts are never admitted as evidence and Trump's defenses never face real scrutiny, eventually you'll hit a wall of legal reality.... Dearie essentially asked Trump's lawyers to put up or shut up. And they chose Door No. 2.... What's darkly amusing here is that Trump's own claims that he declassified the documents are what led the special master to demand that Trump&'s lawyers put up or shut up." (Also linked yesterday.)

GOP State AGs File a "Yo Mama" Brief. Andrew Jeong & Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Texas's Ken Paxton and 10 other GOP state attorneys general came to the defense of ... Donald Trump on Tuesday in his legal fight over documents the FBI seized last month, filing an amicus brief in a federal appellate court that argued the Biden administration could not be trusted. In a 21-page document that repeated numerous right-wing talking points but that experts said advanced little new legal ground, the officials accused the Biden administration of 'ransacking' Mar-a-Lago ... during an Aug. 8 court-authorized FBI raid and of politicizing the Justice Department.... The amicus brief urges the appellate court to deny the appeal.... The GOP officials list a wide array of grievances against the Biden administration, including how it handled immigration law enforcement and its response to the coronavirus pandemic, that do not appear directly related to the case.... The brief is 'of course a political stunt,' said Jon D. Michaels, a law professor at the University of California at Los Angeles.... 'The officials are playing to the fierce MAGA bases in their states,' he said." See also Patrick's comment below.

Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "In May, New York passed a law giving adult sexual assault victims a one-time opportunity to file civil lawsuits, even if the statutes of limitations have long expired. Now, a writer who says former President Donald J. Trump raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s plans to use the law to sue Mr. Trump, according to court papers made public on Tuesday. The writer, E. Jean Carroll, had already sued Mr. Trump in 2019 for defamation, claiming that he had harmed her reputation when he branded her a liar and denied having attacked her. She plans to file her new case against Mr. Trump on Nov. 24, the start of a one-year window in which the law allows such suits to be filed, Ms. Carroll's lawyer, Roberta A. Kaplan, wrote in a letter to the federal judge overseeing the defamation lawsuit." The Guardian's story is here.

David Fahrenthold of the New York Times: "The Justice Department said on Tuesday that a federal grand jury had indicted 44 people on charges that they ran a brazen fraud against anti-hunger programs during the coronavirus pandemic, stealing $240 million by billing the government for meals they did not serve to children who did not exist. The case, in Minnesota, is the largest fraud uncovered in any pandemic-relief program, prosecutors said, standing out even in a period when heavy federal spending and lax oversight allowed a spree of scams with few recent parallels. The Minnesota operation, prosecutors said, involved faked receipts for 125 million meals. At times, it was especially bold: One accused conspirator told the government he had fed 5,000 children a day in a second-story apartment." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post story, by Tony Romm, has the grand jury indicting 47 people who defrauded the government of more than $250 million. (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story has been updated to report that 48 people have been indicted. Maybe that grand jury just keeps on indictin'. The Guardian's story is here.

     ~~~ Say, ya wanna know another flagrant Covid scam? Cruel hoaxer Ron DeSantis used Covid money to pick up 48 asylum-seekers from Texas and dump them, under false pretenses, on Martha's Vineyard. (Also linked yesterday.)

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "A group of Venezuelan migrants who were flown from Texas to Martha's Vineyard last week -- allegedly after being falsely promised work and other services -- have filed a class-action lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and other officials who arranged the flights, saying the officials used fraud and misrepresentation to persuade them to travel across state lines. The migrants said they were approached outside a shelter in San Antonio by people 'acting in concert' with the Florida officials 'pretending to be good Samaritans offering humanitarian assistance,' according to a copy of the complaint. The supposed Good Samaritans told the migrants that if they were willing to board airplanes to other states, they would receive employment, housing, educational opportunities and other assistance, the complaint alleged." ~~~

     ~~~ AP: "The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Boston, alleges that the migrants were told they were going to Boston or Washington, 'which was completely false,' and were induced with perks such as $10 McDonald's gift certificates." ~~~

~~~ Paul Blest of Vice: "A Texas sheriff [-- Sheriff Javier Salazar of Bexar County --] announced Monday that he would investigate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration flying Venezuelan migrants from San Antonio to Martha's Vineyard last week. And now, his office says, it's received 'numerous threats.'" MB: Probably not all that smart to threaten law enforcement officers. ~~~

~~~ Flight of the Bumble-Head. Priscilla Alvarez, et al., of CNN: "Delaware officials and volunteers began to make preparations Tuesday after reports and flight plans suggested a plane chartered to take migrants to Martha's Vineyard last week was about to bring a group of migrants from Texas to the president's home state. By Tuesday afternoon, though, there was no sign of such a flight, and the plane expected to depart Kelly Field in San Antonio had not even arrived at the departure airport.... [Flight-tracking] sites listed a route from Kelly Field in San Antonio to a brief stop in Crestview, Florida, and on to Georgetown, Delaware.... Jill Fredel, the director of communications for the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, said in a news conference Tuesday that ... the governor's office has not received any outreach from Florida or Texas, but noted the state is putting preparations in place just in case.... White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said the White House has coordinated with Delaware officials...." ~~~

     ~~~ According to the Vice story linked above, "... the flight from east Texas rerouted to Nashville, and is now scheduled to land in Bergen County, New Jersey Tuesday evening." ~~~

     ~~~ So Then. Karen Yi of the Gothamist: "Within hours of hearing a plane carrying asylum seekers might land in New Jersey, volunteers and organizers had assembled at the Teterboro Airport -- ready with diapers, food and greeting signs stuffed in their cars. But no migrants ever arrived. Instead, Ultimate Air Shuttle 11 touched down in Teterboro[, N.J.,] with only crew on board." MB: Who could possibly have guessed Ron DeSantis just might be a chicken?

Jonathan Allen of NBC News: "Sen. Lindsey Graham's national 15-week abortion ban would likely force many women to undergo invasive transvaginal ultrasounds before terminating pregnancies, according to doctors. Under the bill, which Graham introduced last week, physicians could be prosecuted for terminating pregnancies after 15 weeks, except in a handful of scenarios.... Doctors would be on the hook to ask each patient about the timing of her pregnancy 'and perform or cause to perform such medical examinations and tests' as needed to 'make an accurate determination of gestational age.' Because violations of Graham's proposed 15-week ban would be punishable by up to five years in prison, doctors say the legislation would create a powerful incentive to perform transvaginal ultrasounds to make an age judgment." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Is there any clause in the bill that says Lindsey gets to watch? Getting that probe shoved up your wazoo can be "uncomfortable," so I'll bet Lindsey would like to see that.

Even Alex Jones' Lawyers Are Crooked (Allegedly). Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: "A federal bankruptcy judge in Houston ordered new personnel to oversee the bankruptcy of Alex Jones's Infowars late on Tuesday, citing an ongoing lack of transparency, including over Mr. Jones's lavish personal spending. Judge Christopher Lopez dismissed Mr. Jones's attorney and chief restructuring officer in the bankruptcy of Free Speech Systems, Infowars' parent company, and expanded the duties of a Department of Justice-appointed trustee already monitoring the case. The judge authorized the trustee to hire additional legal and other help, specifying that any new hires must have 'no connection to any of these cases,' he said, citing a need to investigate 'insider relationships.'"

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ukraine, et al.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Wednesday are here: "... Vladimir Putin announced a 'partial mobilization' of troops in an address to his nation on Wednesday, framing the move to call up reservists as an attempt to defend Russian sovereignty against a West that seeks to use Ukraine as a tool to 'divide and destroy Russia.' His speech comes as Ukraine is in the midst of a counteroffensive and as Kremlin-backed officials press ahead with staged referendums that could result in Moscow annexing occupied parts of Ukraine -- an act that would mark a major escalation in the conflict. World leaders gathering in New York for the U.N. General Assembly have widely condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, describing it as a threat to global order and world peace."

Melissa Eddy of the New York Times: "The German government on Wednesday announced that it was taking over Uniper, previously the country's largest importer of Russian gas, to ensure the supply of energy to homes and businesses. The German state will spend 8 billion euros ($7.9 billion) to acquire shares in Uniper it does not already own, giving it a 99 percent stake. Fortum, a Finnish energy company, will sell its majority stake to the German government for €1.70 per share, a fraction of what Uniper's stock was worth before Russia invaded Ukraine in February, when it traded at around €40 per share. In July, the German government took a 30 percent stake in Uniper and agreed to a €15 billion rescue package to keep it from going under. The company is responsible for supplying about 40 percent of all gas used in Germany, including to hundreds of municipalities that provide heating to homes across the country." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I couldn't see how buying Uniper would help ensure a supply of gas, but it seems the company has purchased liquified natural gas from countries other than Russia.

David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Merrick Garland and his Ukrainian counterpart, Andriy Kostin, signed an agreement Tuesday aimed at formalizing cooperation over joint efforts to prosecute alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces in the war in Ukraine. The two men signed the memorandum of understanding after meeting at Justice Department headquarters in Washington, a show of partnership to step up international pressure amid evidence of new mass atrocities discovered after Ukrainian forces took back wide swaths of territory in recent weeks."

News Lede

New York Times: "Hurricane Fiona was slowly moving north toward Bermuda as a Category 4 storm early Wednesday after battering the Turks and Caicos Islands, largely knocking out Puerto Rico's power grid and drenching parts of the Dominican Republic earlier this week. The storm was more than 100 miles north of the northernmost island in the Turks and Caicos archipelago as it churned through the Atlantic Ocean at about 8 miles per hour on Wednesday morning, the National Hurricane Center said in a forecast. It had maximum sustained winds of 130 m.p.h and was forecast to approach Bermuda late Thursday after strengthening and shifting to the north-northeast."