June 3, 2022

Afternoon Update:

What Happens When a Republican MOC Opposes Child Sacrifice? Nicholas Fandos & Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: "In the wake of deadly mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, Representative Chris Jacobs of New York, a congressman serving his first full term in the House, stunned fellow Republicans by embracing a federal assault weapons ban and limits on high-capacity magazines.... It took only seven days for political forces to catch up with him. On Friday, facing intense backlash from party leaders, a potential primary from the state party chairman and a forceful dressing down from Donald Trump Jr., Mr. Jacobs announced that he would abandon his re-election campaign." CNN's report is here. MB: Now the GOP is just the Party of Sick Fucks.

** It Couldn't Have Happened to a Bigger Jerk. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Former Trump White House official Peter Navarro has been indicted on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress after refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department announced Friday. Navarro, who was a trade adviser to Trump, also revealed he received a grand jury subpoena in a lawsuit he filed Tuesday against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the bipartisan House committee. Navarro, 72, is charged with one contempt count involving his refusal to appear for a deposition and another involving his refusal to produce documents to the committee, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Washington. The indictment was returned Thursday and unsealed Friday, and Navarro is to make his initial appearance this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia." The Hill's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The DOJ's statement is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: At 1:00 pm ET, MSNBC reports that Navarro "is in federal custody" & will appear in court this afternoon. MB: Perp walk, please. ~~~

     ~~~ Update 2: So, according to MSNBC, the reason the FBI decided to keep Navarro's indictment under seal Thursday and then to toss him in the slammer before his court appearance was that officials were concerned he was a flight risk. Sure enough, agents picked up Pete at the airport, & clapped him into cuffs & legirons. Outstanding! MB: Lordy, I hope there is video.

** Top Trump Aide Warned Secret Service of Danger to Pence. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The day before a mob of ... Donald J. Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff called Mr. Pence's lead Secret Service agent to his West Wing office. The chief of staff, Marc Short, had a message for the agent, Tim Giebels: The president was going to turn publicly against the vice president, and there could be a security risk to Mr. Pence because of it. The stark warning -- the only time Mr. Short flagged a security concern during his tenure as Mr. Pence;s top aide -- was uncovered recently during research by this reporter for an upcoming book ... to be published in October."

Whitney Wild of CNN: "The US Capitol Police on Friday charged a retired New York police officer with unlawful possession of high-capacity magazines and unregistered ammunition, according to the agency. Officers arrested Jerome Felipe of Michigan around 5 a.m. ET Friday, the agency said. Felipe had parked his 2017 Dodge Charger near the Capitol and allowed officers to search it, according to a USCP statement. Officers found a 'BB gun, two ballistic vests, several high capacity magazines, and other ammunition in the car,' the statement said. Felipe, 53, presented officers with a fake badge with the words 'Department of the INTERPOL' printed on it, and made a statement that he was a criminal investigator with the agency, USCP said."

Portion of a Rolling Stone article republished in LG&$: "When the Supreme Court's draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade leaked, Sen. Susan Collins said she was flabbergasted, deeply troubled, even shocked. After all, soon-to-be-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh had promised her in 2018 that Roe was a matter of settled law -- despite his deeply conservative track record on abortion. Turns out, Collins ... was deliberately manipulated by Trump administration officials -- and a future Supreme Court Justice -- who viewed her as an easy mark. Two former senior Trump White House officials tell Rolling Stone that the pro-choice Collins wasn't even considered a serious threat to the devoutly conservative Kavanaugh. Instead, the team predicted she'd need only a vague assurance that the nominee would uphold the half-century-old ruling defending abortion rights. And they were right." ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Lemieux demurs: "... [The] bullshit is not Collins, it's the marginal voter in Maine. Collins knew what she was doing and what she was getting; the kayfabe is for Clinton/Biden-Collins voters who needed to be reassured that Roe was safe. It worked!" More on Susan So Concerned linked below.

Phil McCausland of NBC News: "Two state legislatures are considering measures that would permit teachers and other school staff to carry arms in the aftermath of the Texas elementary school shooting that killed 19 children last month, despite opposition from gun safety advocates, teachers' groups and school security experts. While the idea isn't new -- many Republican-controlled legislatures considered similar legislation after the 2018 Parkland, Florida, shooting -- it is a growing talking point as the country has witnessed a number of mass killings in the past few weeks. Two states, Ohio and Louisiana, are now considering either decreasing the requirements to arm school staff or permitting employees to carry a firearm after fulfilling the required training."

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Will Weissert & Zeke Miller of the AP: "President Joe Biden delivered an impassioned plea to Congress to take action against gun violence in an address to the nation Thursday night, calling on lawmakers to restore a ban on the sale of assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines after a string of mass shootings. If legislators fail to act, he warned, voters should use their 'outrage' to turn gun violence into a central issue in November's midterm elections. Speaking at the White House, Biden acknowledged the stiff political headwinds as he sought to drive up pressure on Congress to pass stricter gun limits after such efforts failed following past attacks. He said if Congress won't embrace all of his proposals, they must at least find compromise on other measures, like limiting access to firearms to those with mental health issues or raising the age to buy assault-style weapons from 18 to 21." ~~~

     ~~~ Michael Shear of the New York Times: "In a rare evening address to the nation, Mr. Biden dared Republicans to ignore the repeated convulsions of anger and grief from gun violence by continuing to block gun measures supported by large majorities in both parties, and even among gun owners. 'My God,' he declared from the Cross Hall, a ceremonial part of the White House residence, which was lined with candles in honor of victims of gun violence. 'The fact that the majority of the Senate Republicans don't want any of these proposals, even to be debated or come up for a vote, I find unconscionable. We can't fail the American people again.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the transcript, via the White House. MB: It was quite a good speech, except that the President didn't specifically say that Republicans were craven jackasses bent on sacrificing American lives to satisfy the gun lobby. He did briefly finger Republicans, though. ~~~

~~~ Manu Raju of CNN: "Senate Democrats are ready to drop some of their most pressing demands to restrict access to guns amid the nationwide onslaught of massacres. But even that may not be enough to reach a deal with Republicans. 'I'm certainly prepared for failure,' Sen. Chris Murphy, the Connecticut Democrat helping lead the talks, told CNN on Thursday.... Murphy, who is part of a bipartisan group of senators working behind the scenes to respond to deadly gun-related attacks nationwide, acknowledged in an interview that any accord would have to be 'incremental' in order to win at least 10 Republican votes to break a filibuster in the 50-50 Senate -- even as he expressed optimism that a deal could be reached by next week.... As House Democrats plan to move forward with a bill to ban so-called assault weapons, Senate Democrats are not even discussing a ban on firearms like AR-15s.... A push to raise the age to 21 for purchasing semi-automatic rifles has yet to gain much traction in Senate talks, as Republican opposition to the idea begins to mount and Democrats are uncertain whether it can win the necessary 60 votes to break a filibuster."

Realpolitik. Tyler Pager & John Hudson of the Washington Post: "President Biden is planning to visit Saudi Arabia later this month, a remarkable departure from his vow as a presidential candidate to treat the country as a 'pariah' state, according to three administration officials who requested anonymity to share details of a trip not yet announced. The president's trip to Riyadh follows broader efforts by his administration to build ties with the oil-rich nation to reduce the price of gas in the United States.... The stop in Saudi Arabia is expected to be added to Biden's overseas trip later this month, when he will travel to Israel, Germany and Spain, the officials said."

Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Thursday will move to restore authority to states and tribes to veto gas pipelines, coal terminals and other energy projects if they would pollute local rivers and streams, reversing a Trump-era rule that had curtailed that power. For 50 years, the Clean Water Act has given states and tribes the ability to review federal permits for industrial facilities and block projects that could discharge pollution into local waterways. Without their certification, the federal government cannot approve a project. Michael S. Regan, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said the agency was proposing a rule that 'builds on this foundation by empowering states, territories, and tribes to use congressionally granted authority to protect precious water resources while supporting much-needed infrastructure projects that create jobs and bolster our economy.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "The White House announced Thursday that it will launch a paid internship program as part of an effort to remove barriers for applicants from diverse backgrounds. 'Too often, unpaid federal internships have been a barrier to hard-working and talented students and professionals, preventing them from contributing their talents and skills to the country and holding them back from federal career advancement opportunities,' the White House said in a statement. The White House internship program had been on hold through President Biden's term because of the coronavirus pandemic. The first intern session of the Biden administration will start in the fall, and prospective interns can begin submitting their applications Monday, according to a White House website about the internship program."

Kate Kelly & David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times: "A House committee said on Thursday that it was investigating whether Jared Kushner ... traded on his government position to land a $2 billion investment in his new private equity firm from a prominent Saudi Arabian wealth fund. Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, the New York Democrat who leads the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, gave Mr. Kushner a two-week deadline in a letter sent on Thursday to furnish documents related to the Saudi fund's investment last year in his firm, Affinity Partners. She also asked for any personal correspondence between Mr. Kushner and the Saudi kingdom&'s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, during or after the Trump administration. The committee, Ms. Maloney wrote in the eight-page letter, is investigating 'whether your personal financial interests improperly influenced U.S. foreign policy during the administration of your father-in-law, former President Trump.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jamie Gangel, et al., of CNN: "Within minutes of the US Capitol breach on January 6, 2021, messages began pouring into the cell phone of White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Among those texting were Republican members of Congress, former members of the Trump administration, GOP activists, Fox personalities -- even the President's son. Their texts all carried the same urgent plea: ... Donald Trump needed to immediately denounce the violence and tell the mob to go home....One of the key questions the January 6 House committee is expected to raise in its June hearings is why Trump failed to publicly condemn the attack for hours, and whether that failure is proof of 'dereliction of duty' and evidence that Trump tried to obstruct Congress' certification of the election. The Meadows texts show that even those closest to the former President believed he had the power to stop the violence in real time." (Also linked yesterday.)

The DOJ Is Doing ... Something. Peter Stone of the Guardian: "Legal experts believe the US Justice Department has made headway with a key criminal inquiry and could be homing in on top Trump lawyers who plotted to overturn Joe Biden's election, after the department wrote to the House panel probing the January 6 Capitol attack seeking transcripts of witness depositions and interviews. While it's unclear exactly what information the DoJ asked for, former prosecutors note that the 20 April request occurred at about the same time a Washington DC grand jury issued subpoenas seeking information about several Trump lawyers including Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, plus other Trump advisers, who reportedly played roles in a fake electors scheme."

Stephen Fowler of Georgia Public Radio: Georgia "Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is one of the first subpoenaed witnesses to testify in front of a special grand jury impaneled in Fulton County as part of a wide-ranging investigation into efforts by Trump and others to subvert Georgia's election process and undo President Joe Biden's narrow victory. Raffensperger's testimony lasted for four hours and his wife, Tricia, spoke for about 10 minutes, according to someone briefed on the matter but not authorized to speak on his behalf.... The call [in which Trump asked Raffensperger to 'find' 11,780 votes] -- and its aftermath -- is only a fraction of what Willis and the grand jury could look at. In December..., Rudy Giuliani made numerous false and misleading claims to state lawmakers in unofficial hearings about elections. The Georgia GOP held a meeting where fake electors claimed to sign Electoral College documents as alternates. The U.S. Attorney in Atlanta abruptly resigned one day before the January 2021 runoffs. And Raffensperger held another call with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham in November 2020 where Raffensperger said Graham asked about rejecting absentee ballots. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Zachary Cohen, et al., of CNN: "Several close allies of Steve Bannon have been subpoenaed to testify before a New York state grand jury investigating his fundraising for a private border wall effort, people familiar with the investigation tell CNN. The subpoenas were sent to several witnesses in recent weeks, requiring them to appear and provide testimony for the Manhattan district attorney's probe, the people said.... The subpoenas are the clearest indication that the Manhattan district attorney's criminal investigation into Bannon's fundraising efforts is intensifying and could lead to possible charges.... The district attorney's office launched the criminal investigation into Bannon's 'We Build the Wall' crowd-fundraising activities early last year after Trump pardoned Bannon on federal fraud charges relating to the same alleged scheme."

Teevee News. Roxanne Roberts of the Washington Post: "Fifty years after the Watergate break-in, [John] Dean is the star of 'Watergate: Blueprint for a Scandal,' a new CNN special on the conspiracy and corruption that took down Richard M. Nixon's presidency. For Dean, the timing is fortuitous: The four-part series comes as the House prepares to begin public hearings on the Jan. 6 insurrection, which he plans to watch closely. The lesson is unmistakable: Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.... Dean may not be the hero America deserves but the one it needs. In the past few years, he has become a touchstone for political morality, an imperfect figure in uncertain times. At a screening Wednesday night at the National Archives, the 83-year-old reflected on his ambition, his mistakes and his concerns for democracy in a brief discussion with CNN's Jim Acosta." ~~~

~~~ Alayna Treene & Andrew Solender of Axios: "Former President Trump and his allies, in conjunction with top House GOP leadership and conservative groups, have begun pulling documents and coordinating a behind-the-scenes effort to counterprogram the Jan. 6 committee's televised hearings this month.... Republicans are plotting to compete with wall-to-wall cable coverage by using their own platforms to argue the committee is a partisan fishing expedition that lacks legal legitimacy.... [Trump] surrogates will be fanning the airwaves -- especially on networks and social media platforms they feel are more favorable to their cause.... Members of Congress and other conservative 'influencers' are also planning to write op-eds and push their own rapid responses through their personal social media."

Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) plans to unveil a strategy today outlining how Republicans would address climate change, energy and environmental issues if the party gains control of the House in the midterm elections...." MB: Needless to say, Kevin's "plan," which includes increasing U.S. fossil fuel production & exports, is an abomination designed to turn Earth into an uninhabitable planet.

Molly Roberts of the Washington Post profiles "concerned" Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) & calls the impending Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade Collins' "moment of truth." MB: Unless the Supremes do a turnaround & relegate Sam Alito's leaked opinion to the dustbin of history, it seems to me it's more a "moment of mendacity."

Colin Moynihan of the New York Times: "In February, [attorney Michael] Avenatti was convicted of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft as part of a scheme to steal almost $300,000 from [actor Stormy] Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford. On Thursday, Judge Jesse M. Furman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York sentenced Mr. Avenatti to four years in prison, saying ... he had ... committed 'brazen and egregious' crimes and 'breached the highest duty a lawyer owes' to a client." CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here.

Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "White House coronavirus response coordinator Ashish Jha said Thursday that long-awaited vaccinations for children younger than 5 could begin as early as June 21, pending decisions by regulators and public health officials. States can begin to order vaccines Friday, with 10 million doses initially available. States have been asked to prioritize distribution to high-risk children, hard-to-reach areas and sites such as children's hospitals that will be able to vaccinate large numbers of children quickly. Most shots are expected to be administered in pediatricians' offices. There are about 19 million children under 5 in the United States." Politico's report is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "The Florida Supreme Court refused on Thursday to step into a challenge to a new map of the state's 28 congressional districts approved by the Republican State Legislature, paving the way for November elections to be based on districts that a lower court said diluted the voting power of Black residents in violation of the State Constitution. The court's two-sentence denial said it was premature for the justices to intervene in a suit seeking to overturn the congressional map because the case had not yet wound its way through the state court system, which could take months or years. The new House map, personally ordered by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, dismantles a House district held by Representative Al Lawson, an African American Democrat, and strongly boosts Republican odds of capturing other competitive House seats." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Guardian's story is here.

Florida. Marc Caputo of NBC News: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration Thursday asked the state board regulating doctors to essentially ban transition-related care for transgender minors, according to a letter obtained by NBC News. The state Health Department made the request hours after another state agency issued a 46-page report to justify banning Medicaid coverage for transgender people of any age who want puberty blockers, hormone therapies or gender-assignment surgery. The two-pronged effort, which ensures DeSantis can act quickly and without the need for legislative approval, drew instant opposition from activists and medical professionals." MB: DeSantis must have a whiteboard in his office filled with a checklist of fanatical, hate-filled right-wing policy objectives, and he's checking them off, one by one.

New York. The Advantages of Living in a State Controlled by Democrats. Luis Ferré-Sadurní & Grace Ashford of the New York Times: "Democratic lawmakers in Albany plunged into the national [gun-safety] debate on Thursday, wielding supermajorities to enact protections denied elsewhere in the wake of recent mass shootings and a conservative shift in other states and on the Supreme Court. The State Legislature passed a broad package of gun bills that will raise the minimum age to buy a semiautomatic rifle to 21, ban most civilians from purchasing bullet-resistant body vests and revise the state's so-called red flag laws, making New York the first state to approve legislation following shootings in Buffalo and Texas that left a total of 31 dead. Lawmakers approved bills to broaden abortion protections and bolster voting rights, using the final hours of the 2022 legislative session to deliver the most robust response yet by a state in the face of federal gridlock.... Legislators also approved new measures to combat voter suppression under the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York, invoking the former congressman and civil rights leader in a nod to the voting rights bill that failed to pass in Congress. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a fellow Democrat who has already expressed support for many of the bills, is widely expected to sign them into law."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "As the war in Ukraine marked its 100th day, Africa was urgently seeking relief from the disruptions of critical supplies of grain and other staple foods. Some of the world's poorest countries face alarming levels of hunger and starvation and the United Nations has warned that Russia's naval blockade of Ukraine could lead to famines around the world. President Macky Sall of Senegal, the African Union chairman, was meeting with ... Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday at the Black Sea resort of Sochi to urge the Russian leader to lift the blockade on urgently needed cereals and fertilizer from Ukraine.... As sanctions tighten on Moscow, Russian troops are making slow but substantial gains in Ukraine.... President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Russian forces now controlled one-fifth of his country.... Ukrainian forces have retaken 20 small towns and villages in the south of the country, an official said on Thursday, as part of a counteroffensive at a time when Moscow is intensely focused on its offensive in the east." ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the New York Times' summary of developments Thursday. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here: "Ukraine marked 100 days of war Friday with its troops in brutal combat for the key eastern city of Severodonetsk, which is now mostly controlled by Russian forces.... President Volodymyr Zelensky said the military situation in the eastern region was dire and called the 20 percent of Ukraine under Russian occupation a 'zone of total catastrophe.'... Russia has urged China to provide more support as the Kremlin's war drags on, but Beijing has set limits on what it will do, wary of running afoul of Western sanctions. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday in an interview with The Washington Post that Ukraine faced a 'war of attrition' and had the right to seek the full expulsion of Russian forces from its territory." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here.

AP: "When Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in late February, the Russian president vowed his forces would not occupy the neighboring country. But as the invasion reached its 100th day Friday, Russia seemed increasingly unlikely to relinquish the territory it has taken in the war. The ruble is now an official currency in the southern Kherson region, alongside the Ukrainian hryvnia. Residents there and in Russia-controlled parts of the Zaporizhzhia region are getting offered Russian passports. The Kremlin-installed administrations in both regions have talked about plans to become part of Russia. The Moscow-backed leaders of separatist areas in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, which is mostly Russian-speaking, have shared similar intentions. Putin recognized the separatists' self-proclaimed republics as independent states two days before launching the invasion. Fighting has intensified in Ukraine's east as Russia seeks to 'liberate' all of the Donbas."

A Hundred Days of War. Michael Safi & Courtney Yusuf of the Guardian: "How the Russian invasion has unfolded, from the desperate fight for Mariupol to economic turmoil around the world."

Jacob Bogage & Evan Halper of the Washington Post: "The consortium of the world’s largest oil-producing countries agreed to boost fossil fuel production faster than expected Thursday as energy prices rise worldwide due to Russia's drawn-out war in Ukraine. The member nations of OPEC+ announced the group would add 648,000 barrels per day in July and August, a modest acceleration of plans that were already in motion to reverse drawdowns related to the pandemic. The boost in production came amid pressure from the White House for OPEC+ to do more to fill the gap created by sanctions on Russia. But while the White House touted the move as a positive step for global energy security, it is unlikely to provide much relief at the pump. Gas prices jumped to another record high Thursday, averaging $4.71 per gallon nationwide, according to AAA." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Politico's story is here.

Julian Barnes & Michael Forsythe of the New York Times: "The U.S. government leveled sanctions against a yacht management company and its owners, describing them as part of a corrupt system that allows Russian elites and ... Vladimir V. Putin to enrich themselves, the Treasury Department announced on Thursday. Imperial Yachts, which is based in Monaco and controlled by the Moscow-born Evgeniy Kochman, caters to Russian oligarchs. The Treasury Department said Mr. Kochman and his company provide yacht-related services to'Russia's elites, including those in President Putin's inner circle.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

U.K. The New York Times is live-updating events in Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee: "After the military pomp and pageantry of Thursday's Platinum Jubilee celebrations honoring Queen Elizabeth II's 70 years as Britain's monarch, the focus on Friday turned to a service at St. Paul's Cathedral and the first public appearance at the jubilee for her grandson Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan.... The queen had initially been expected to attend Friday's event, but Buckingham Palace said late Thursday that she had decided to skip the service after experiencing discomfort on a busy first day of festivities.... The queen appeared on the balcony at Buckingham Palace twice on Thursday, in the second instance uniting four generations of Britain's royal family in what was the symbolic centerpiece of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations. She was joined by three heirs to the British throne: her eldest son, Prince Charles; his eldest son, Prince William; and William's eldest son, Prince George. Also on the balcony were two of the queen's other children, Princess Anne and Prince Edward.... She also led the lighting of the Platinum Jubilee Beacon on Thursday evening from Windsor Castle, in a dual ceremony with Prince William." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates of the festivities are here. ~~~

~~~ Ziyu Zhang of CNN: "As Britain celebrates the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, an opulent 260-year-old gilded carriage is hitting the streets again for the first time in two decades. The Gold State Coach, which first transported a young Queen Elizabeth II from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey on her coronation day in 1953, will lead a spectacular procession on the streets of London as part of the Platinum Jubilee pageant on Sunday. Adorned with ornate sculptures of cherubs and tritons, as a show of national unity and strength, and featuring panel paintings, the eye-catching coach is [a] moving work of art."

News Ledes

CNN: "Two college students were shot to death Thursday evening in a church parking lot in Ames, Iowa, police said, before the shooter fatally turned his gun on himself. The shooting at the Cornerstone Church was the result of a 'domestic situation' between the shooter, a 33-year-old man from the city of Boone, and one of the women, said Story County Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald at a news conference Friday. Both women, ages 22 and 21, were students at nearby Iowa State University, he said."

CNBC: "The U.S. economy added 390,000 jobs in May, better than expected despite fears of an economic slowdown and with a roaring pace of inflation, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. At the same time, the unemployment rate held at 3.6%, just above the lowest level since December 1969."

New York Times: "One of the most dramatic manhunts in Texas history ended late Thursday when a convicted murderer who had escaped from a prison bus last month was killed in a shootout with the police, hours after he became the prime suspect in the killing of five people at a home, the authorities said. The convict, Gonzalo Artemio Lopez, had been the prime suspect in the murders of four minors and one adult whose bodies were discovered on Thursday at a home near where he had escaped in May. The authorities said he had taken a vehicle from the home ... to drive out of the area. Late on Thursday night, police officers in Jourdanton, Texas, spotted Mr. Lopez, 46, driving the missing vehicle and disabled it by putting spike strips on the road.... After a short chase, Mr. Lopez crashed the vehicle into a tree and began shooting at the officers, who returned fire and ultimately killed him.... Mr. Lopez, who was armed with an AR-15 rifle and a pistol, fired several rounds at the officers but none of them were [was!] struck'..." The AP's report is here.

June 2, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Christopher Cadelago & Laura Barrón-López of Politico: "President Joe Biden will deliver a special prime-time address on guns Thursday evening amid a slew of mass shootings and as negotiations continue on Capitol Hill to pass even modest changes to the nation's laws. The decision to give the speech was not made until midday Thursday ... underscoring the sense inside the White House that they needed to show more involvement on the issue. The speech will be delivered at 7:30 p.m. The topic, per the White House, will be 'the recent tragic mass shootings, and the need for Congress to act to pass commonsense laws to combat the epidemic of gun violence that is taking lives every day.'"

Julian Barnes & Michael Forsythe of the New York Times: "The U.S. government leveled sanctions against a yacht management company and its owners, describing them as part of a corrupt system that allows Russian elites and ... Vladimir V. Putin to enrich themselves, the Treasury Department announced on Thursday. Imperial Yachts, which is based in Monaco and controlled by the Moscow-born Evgeniy Kochman, caters to Russian oligarchs. The Treasury Department said Mr. Kochman and his company provide yacht-related services to 'Russia's elites, including those in President Putin's inner circle.'"

Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Thursday will move to restore authority to states and tribes to veto gas pipelines, coal terminals and other energy projects if they would pollute local rivers and streams, reversing a Trump-era rule that had curtailed that power. For 50 years, the Clean Water Act has given states and tribes the ability to review federal permits for industrial facilities and block projects that could discharge pollution into local waterways. Without their certification, the federal government cannot approve a project. Michael S. Regan, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said the agency was proposing a rule that 'builds on this foundation by empowering states, territories, and tribes to use congressionally granted authority to protect precious water resources while supporting much-needed infrastructure projects that create jobs and bolster our economy.'"

Kate Kelly & David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times: "A House committee said on Thursday that it was investigating whether Jared Kushner ... traded on his government position to land a $2 billion investment in his new private equity firm from a prominent Saudi Arabian wealth fund. Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, the New York Democrat who leads the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, gave Mr. Kushner a two-week deadline in a letter sent on Thursday to furnish documents related to the Saudi fund's investment last year in his firm, Affinity Partners. She also asked for any personal correspondence between Mr. Kushner and the Saudi kingdom's de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, during or after the Trump administration. The committee, Ms. Maloney wrote in the eight-page letter, is investigating 'whether your personal financial interests improperly influenced U.S. foreign policy during the administration of your father-in-law, former President Trump.'"

Jamie Gangel, et al., of CNN: "Within minutes of the US Capitol breach on January 6, 2021, messages began pouring into the cell phone of White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Among those texting were Republican members of Congress, former members of the Trump administration, GOP activists, Fox personalities -- even the President's son. Their texts all carried the same urgent plea: ... Donald Trump needed to immediately denounce the violence and tell the mob to go home....One of the key questions the January 6 House committee is expected to raise in its June hearings is why Trump failed to publicly condemn the attack for hours, and whether that failure is proof of 'dereliction of duty' and evidence that Trump tried to obstruct Congress' certification of the election. The Meadows texts show that even those closest to the former President believed he had the power to stop the violence in real time."

Stephen Fowler of Georgia Public Radio: Georgia "Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is one of the first subpoenaed witnesses to testify in front of a special grand jury impaneled in Fulton County as part of a wide-ranging investigation into efforts by Trump and others to subvert Georgia's election process and undo President Joe Biden's narrow victory. Raffensperger's testimony lasted for four hours and his wife, Tricia, spoke for about 10 minutes, according to someone briefed on the matter but not authorized to speak on his behalf.... The call [in which Trump asked Raffensperger to 'find' 11,780 votes] -- and its aftermath -- is only a fraction of what Willis and the grand jury could look at. In December..., Rudy Giuliani made numerous false and misleading claims to state lawmakers in unofficial hearings about elections. The Georgia GOP held a meeting where fake electors claimed to sign Electoral College documents as alternates. The U.S. Attorney in Atlanta abruptly resigned one day before the January 2021 runoffs. And Raffensperger held another call with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham in November 2020 where Raffensperger said Graham asked about rejecting absentee ballots.

Jacob Bogage & Evan Halper of the Washington Post: "The consortium of the world's largest oil-producing countries agreed to boost fossil fuel production faster than expected Thursday as energy prices rise worldwide due to Russia's drawn-out war in Ukraine. The member nations of OPEC+ announced the group would add 648,000 barrels per day in July and August, a modest acceleration of plans that were already in motion to reverse drawdowns related to the pandemic. The boost in production came amid pressure from the White House for OPEC+ to do more to fill the gap created by sanctions on Russia. But while the White House touted the move as a positive step for global energy security, it is unlikely to provide much relief at the pump. Gas prices jumped to another record high Thursday, averaging $4.71 per gallon nationwide...."

Colin Moynihan of the New York Times: "In February, [attorney Michael] Avenatti was convicted of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft as part of a scheme to steal almost $300,000 from [actor Stormy] Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford. On Thursday, Judge Jesse M. Furman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York sentenced Mr. Avenatti to four years in prison, saying ... he had ... committed 'brazen and egregious' crimes and 'breached the highest duty a lawyer owes' to a client." CNN's report is here.

Florida. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "The Florida Supreme Court refused on Thursday to step into a challenge to a new map of the state's 28 congressional districts approved by the Republican State Legislature, paving the way for November elections to be based on districts that a lower court said diluted the voting power of Black residents in violation of the State Constitution. The court's two-sentence denial said it was premature for the justices to intervene in a suit seeking to overturn the congressional map because the case had not yet wound its way through the state court system, which could take months or years. The new House map, personally ordered by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, dismantles a House district held by Representative Al Lawson, an African American Democrat, and strongly boosts Republican odds of capturing other competitive House seats."

~~~~~~~~~~

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden announced new shipments of baby formula from Europe on Wednesday as he prepared to meet with top officials from five baby food companies amid an ongoing shortage that has left parents desperately searching for ways to feed their infants. Enough Kendamil formula to make about four million bottles will be flown to locations across the United States during the next three weeks, White House officials said in a statement. The statement said that United Airlines had agreed to transport the formula from Heathrow Airport in London free of charge for purchase by parents at retail stores.... Two weeks ago, the president responded to severe shortages of baby formula by invoking the Defense Production Act and promising to use the military to speed delivery of baby formula from overseas. Since then, officials said the administration has flown the equivalent of 1.5 million eight-ounce bottles into the United States. Wednesday's announcement is set to more than double that amount, officials said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Meredith Lee of Politico: "The Biden administration has reached a deal to transport 1.25 million cans of baby formula from an Australian company into the U.S. amid shortages that have sent parents scrambling for supplies. The company, Bubs Australia, will send approximately 4.6 million bottles worth of its infant formula via two flights from Melbourne to Pennsylvania and California on June 9 and 11, respectively, the White House announced Wednesday afternoon.... Formula manufacturers, some of whom met with the president at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, said they knew immediately that the Abbott plant shutdown and recall would create serious supply issues.... Pressed by reporters after the meeting about the White House waiting until spring to respond, despite the fact that formula manufacturers knew right away that there would be problems, Biden responded, 'They did, but I didn't.' He added that he didn't realize the seriousness of the infant formula shortages until 'early April.' According to two Biden officials, the president wasn't briefed on the formula crisis for weeks after Abbott's Feb. 17 recall." ~~~

     ~~~ A Washington Post story, by Tyler Pager, is here: "It was unclear from the discussion whether the responsibility lay primarily with the industry, for not alerting federal officials of the imminent shortage; or with federal agencies that monitor the industry for not sufficiently conveying the problems to the White House; or with the White House itself, for not reacting faster to the crisis."

Aamer Madhani & Ellen Knickmeyer of the AP: "President Joe Biden is leaning towards making a visit to Saudi Arabia -- a trip that would likely bring him face-to-face with the Saudi crown prince he once shunned as a killer. The White House is weighing a visit that would also include a meeting of the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates) as well as Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, according to a person familiar with White House planning, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.... It comes as overriding U.S. strategic interests in oil and security have pushed the administration to rethink the arms-length stance that Biden pledged to take with the Saudis as a candidate for the White House."

Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "In the Education Department's largest group cancellation of federal student loans, the Biden administration will forgive $5.8 billion in debt held by 560,000 former students of the defunct for-profit chain Corinthian Colleges, the department said Wednesday. The decision covers people who were enrolled in Corinthian schools -- Everest Institute, WyoTech and Heald College -- from its founding in 1995 to its closure in 2015.... 'As of today, every student deceived, defrauded, and driven into debt by Corinthian Colleges can rest assured that the Biden-Harris Administration has their back and will discharge their federal student loans,' Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a news release.... Vice President Harris, who played an instrumental role in the investigation of Corinthian as California attorney general, is scheduled to join Cardona at the department on Thursday for remarks about the announcement.... The Obama administration ultimately approved thousands of claims before leaving office, but scores of applications languished at the department for years. The Trump administration tried to limit and delay loan cancellations, leading to lawsuits involving Corinthian and other students of for-profit colleges." A Common Dreams story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Of course the Trump administration tried to limit loan cancellations. The Corinthian schools reminded Betsy De Vos of her own investments in for-profit colleges & of Trump's completely fake "Trump University."

Betsy Swan of Politico: "The Jan. 6 select committee received materials this week from Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano.... Mastriano's previously unreported cooperation with the Capitol attack probe came in the form of a submission, obtained by Politico, that includes documents about his work to arrange buses that carried pro-Trump protesters to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. But when the select committee subpoenaed Mastriano, it specifically said he didn't need to send any materials related to official actions in his current position as a Pennsylvania state senator. Given that sizable carve-out, the vast majority of the materials Mastriano sent to the committee are public social media posts."

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The Jan. 6 select committee last week publicly released a long-hidden memo that a federal judge previously determined was evidence of 'likely' felonies by Donald Trump and attorney John Eastman.... It's a Dec. 13, 2020, email from a little-known attorney who had been advising Donald Trump's legal team, Kenneth Chesebro. He sent it to Rudy Giuliani, sketching out a plan for then-Vice President Mike Pence to halt the certification of Joe Biden's victory on Jan. 6, 2021. He dubbed it the '"President of the Senate" strategy.'Chesebro's memo became public last week as >a little-noticed exhibit in a legal battle between the Jan. 6 select committee and John Eastman.... U.S. District Court Judge David Carter ... wrote in his opinion that this memo 'likely furthered the crimes of obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States.' He ordered it released to the select committee under the 'crime-fraud' exception to attorney client privilege."

Reid Epstein & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "This spring, when Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama was fighting to win over conservatives in his campaign for Senate, he ran a television ad that boasted, 'On Jan. 6, I proudly stood with President Trump in the fight against voter fraud. But when Mr. Brooks placed second in Alabama's Republican primary last week, leaving him in a runoff, he said he was not concerned about fraud in his election.... Many ... Republicans [who objected to the 2020 presidential results] are accepting the results of their primaries without complaint.... This phenomenon was on clear display in 2020, when scores of Republicans who repeated allegations about a 'rigged' presidential race accepted their own victories based on the same ballots." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Democratic Voters Steal Elections; Republican Voters Are as Pure as the Driven Snow. Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "... many of the same Republicans who insisted that 'voter fraud' cast doubt on Donald Trump's 2020 loss mysteriously don't see fraud at play in elections that they win.... [This] embodies an actual principle of sorts: that when Republicans lose elections, the voting can be presumed illegitimate or suspect, and when Republicans win them, the voting can be presumed legitimate and above suspicion entirely.... Rep. Mo Brooks has now stepped forward to confirm this.... When the Times [story linked above] questioned Brooks..., he essentially gave away the game: 'Mr. Brooks offered a simple answer to why he's not worried about his race: There's no fraud in Republican primaries, he said.'... Pressed further by the Times, Brooks blithely suggested that in Alabama, the fraud took place 'in predominantly Democrat parts of the state.'... [Brooks' assertion is] meant to give some kind of patina of a public rationale for naked efforts to subvert election losses.... And the Alabama Republican's corroboration is noteworthy in light of emerging details [link is to Politico story by Heidi Przybyla, also linked below] about a complex new GOP plan to make this principle actionable in future elections." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dennis Aftergut in the Bulwark: "John Durham, the special counsel appointed days before the 2020 election by Donald Trump's attorney general William Barr, just lost the only trial he has brought to date in his long tenure.... Durham's loss was one more egg laid in the fetid henhouse where Barr first enlisted Durham to nest in May 2019, tasking him with proving the truth of a lie -- Donald Trump's favorite disinformation campaign at the time, that the FBI's 2016 Trump-Russia investigation was a 'witch hunt.'... As some commentators noted, the indictment [of Michael Sussmann] reeked of non-prosecutorial goals: It seemed that Durham was trying to justify the public money he'd wasted boosting Trump's false narrative that it was the big, bad Clinton campaign behind the Trump-Russia investigation.... Shoddy decisions and the paucity of results characterize Durham's whole tenure. Yet there are no signs that he intends to close up shop anytime soon." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Aishvarya Kavi of the New York Times: "A federal judge said on Wednesday that John W. Hinckley Jr., who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981, would be unconditionally released on June 15, according to a lawyer for Mr. Hinckley. Mr. Hinckley has been living in Virginia under various restrictions since 2016. The judge, Paul L. Friedman of Federal District Court in Washington, had set the June 15 release date in September with several conditions, including that Mr. Hinckley, 67, remain mentally stable."

Barbara Orutay & Michael Liedtke of the AP: "Sheryl Sandberg, the No. 2 executive at Facebook owner Meta, who helped turn its business from startup to digital advertising empire while also taking blame for some of its biggest missteps, is stepping down. Sandberg has served as chief operating officer at the social media giant for 14 years. She joined from Google in 2008, four years before Facebook went public."

Melody Schreiber of the Guardian: "The United States is now in its fourth-biggest Covid surge, according to official case counts -- but experts believe the actual current rate is much higher. America is averaging about 94,000 new cases every day, and hospitalizations have been ticking upward since April, though they remain much lower than previous peaks. But Covid cases could be undercounted by a factor of 30, an early survey of the surge in New York City indicates. 'It would appear official case counts are under-estimating the true burden of infection by about 30-fold, which is a huge surprise,' said Denis Nash, an author of the study and a distinguished professor of epidemiology at the City University of New York School of Public Health."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona Election Fraud! Bob Christie of the AP: "An Arizona woman indicted in 2020 on accusations of illegally collecting ballots apparently ran a sophisticated operation using her status as a well-known Democratic operative in the border city of San Luis to persuade voters to let her gather and in some cases fill out their ballots, according to records obtained by The Associated Press. Guillermina Fuentes, 66, and a second woman were indicted in December 2020 on one count of ballot abuse, a practice commonly known as 'ballot harvesting' that was made illegal under a 2016 state law. Additional charges of conspiracy, forgery and an additional ballot abuse charge were added last October.... The records show that fewer than a dozen ballots could be linked to Fuentes, not enough to make a difference in all but the tightest local races. It is the only case ever brought by the attorney general under the 2016 law, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court last year.... Although Fuentes is charged only with actions that appear on [a] videotape [of her collecting ballots in front of a San Luis cultural center] and involve just a handful of ballots, investigators believe the effort went much farther. Attorney general's office investigator William Kluth wrote in one report that there was some evidence suggesting Fuentes actively canvassed San Luis neighborhoods and collected ballots, in some cases paying for them." MB: Republicans are thrilled.

Michigan Gubernatorial Race. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "The Michigan Court of Appeals has unanimously rejected a legal challenge from Perry Johnson, a former leading GOP candidate for Michigan governor, who was one of five Republicans disqualified from the ballot because of invalid signatures on their nominating petitions. The Wednesday ruling means Johnson cannot appear on the Aug. 2 primary ballot, and it probably does not bode well for the other would-be candidates -- including former Detroit police chief James Craig and businessman Michael Markey -- who had filed similar legal challenges to try to continue their campaigns.... In a May 23 report, the Michigan elections bureau found that five GOP candidates for the gubernatorial nomination were ineligible to appear on the primary ballot because they had submitted thousands of invalid signatures on their nominating petitions. State investigators identified 36 people who circulated petitions for their campaigns 'who submitted fraudulent petition sheets consisting entirely of invalid signatures,' the bureau said. Democrats criticized the findings as 'proof ,,, of a massive forgery scheme,' while the campaigns for Johnson and Craig cast themselves as victims of signature gatherers...."

New York. Mark Berman & Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: "The White man accused of killing 10 people at a Buffalo grocery store on May 14 was indicted Wednesday on 25 counts, including domestic terrorism and murder as a hate crime, authorities said. The grand jury's indictment came more than two weeks after police say Payton Gendron, 18, traveled to a Tops Friendly Markets store in a Buffalo neighborhood and shot 13 people -- 11 of them Black. Before the rampage, investigators say, Gendron had said he subscribed to a racist ideology called the 'great replacement' theory." The Guardian's report is here.

Texas Gubernatorial Race. Jazmine Ulloa of the New York Times: "To loud cheers in a community gym on Wednesday evening, Beto O'Rourke, a former congressman from El Paso and the Democratic candidate for governor of Texas, renewed his criticism of Gov. Greg Abbott over the state's gun laws, which he said allowed an 18-year-old in Uvalde to slaughter 19 students and two teachers with a legally and easily acquired military-style weapon. Before an audience of more than 300 people, Mr. O'Rourke lashed out at the governor's decision to sign a law allowing anyone over 21 to carry a handgun without a permit or training. 'Not only did he not take action to save the lives of our kids,' Mr. O'Rourke said, 'he took action to make it more certain that we would lose the lives of our kids.'"

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russia accused the United States of escalating the war by sending advanced rocket systems to Ukraine, President Biden's boldest move since the war began Dmitri Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesman, said on Wednesday that delivering the weapons -- the most powerful provided since the start of the war -- was the United States 'deliberately and painstakingly pouring gasoline on the fire.' At the same time, some military experts said the U.S.'s insistence that Ukraine not fire into Russia with the weapons was an unfair check on the Ukrainian military.... On Wednesday, Russian forces advanced in street fighting in the ruins of the city of Sievierodonetsk, a target of their offensive. A local official said that Russian forces controlled most of the city but that Ukrainian soldiers were continuing to fight on the streets.... Germany on Wednesday promised to supply Ukraine with two more potentially significant donations of heavy weapons: an air-defense system and tracking radar to help the Ukrainian army locate sources of Russian heavy artillery. U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said the war was most likely far from a conclusion, saying that based on current assessments, 'We are still looking at many months of conflict.'" ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here: "Ukraine is suffering significant setbacks in parts of the country's east, amid grueling street-by-street battles in the key city of Severodonetsk, with the British Defense Ministry saying that most of the city is now in Russian hands. A spokesman for Ukraine's National Guard said Kyiv is 'making every effort to hold back the enemy,' even as up to 100 of its fighters are killed daily. The Russian-backed self-declared Luhansk People's Republic says it now controls all of the Luhansk region except the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. Ukrainian counteroffensives continue to frustrate Russia near Kherson, a southern city captured by the Kremlin in the early days of the war.... Germany said it will deliver the most modern air defense system it has to Ukraine, while Denmark voted to deepen defense relations with the European Union, in the latest sign of strengthening security ties on the continent after Russia's unprovoked invasion.&" ~~~

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

U.K. The New York Times is liveblogging the hoohah celebrating Queen Elizabeth's 70th year doing the U.K.'s top job. "Queen Elizabeth celebrates 70 years on the British throne -- her Platinum Jubilee -- with four days of festivities that begin Thursday with a military parade featuring hundreds of Army musicians, 240 horses, a Royal Air Force flyover, a gun salute and the royal family's appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace." ~~~

     ~~~ The Times has seven decades of photos of Elizabeth's reign here. Live video of the ceremonies appears on the Times' front page. The Washington Post also has live video on its front page.

News Ledes

New York Times: "A man carrying a rifle and a handgun opened fire in a medical office building in Tulsa, Okla., on Wednesday afternoon, killing four people and injuring several others before apparently taking his own life in the latest mass shooting to shock the country, the authorities said. In an interview late Wednesday night, Capt. Richard Meulenberg of the Tulsa Police Department said the attack was not random." This is a liveblog. CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ New York Times Update: "A man who underwent back surgery last month stormed a Tulsa, Okla., medical building on Wednesday and killed four people, including the doctor who performed the surgery, with two guns he had purchased in recent days, the authorities said. His weapons included an AR-15-style rifle he bought just hours before the killings. Chief Wendell Franklin of the Tulsa police said officers arrived at the medical office building on the campus of Saint Francis Hospital just before 5 p.m., within minutes of the gunfire starting, and rushed toward the site of the shooting. Chief Franklin said they found four victims, including two doctors. The gunman, who the chief said fatally shot himself, had been carrying a letter saying he blamed his surgeon for continuing back pain and intended to kill him and anyone who got in the way." CNN's report is here.

June 1, 2022

Morning/Afternoon Update:

Reid Epstein & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "This spring, when Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama was fighting to win over conservatives in his campaign for Senate, he ran a television ad that boasted, 'On Jan. 6, I proudly stood with President Trump in the fight against voter fraud. But when Mr. Brooks placed second in Alabama's Republican primary last week, leaving him in a runoff, he said he was not concerned about fraud in his election.... Many ... Republicans [who objected to the 2020 presidential results] are accepting the results of their primaries without complaint.... This phenomenon was on clear display in 2020, when scores of Republicans who repeated allegations about a 'rigged' presidential race accepted their own victories based on the same ballots."

Democratic Voters Steal Elections; Republican Voters Are as Pure as the Driven Snow. Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "... many of the same Republicans who insisted that 'voter fraud' cast doubt on Donald Trump's 2020 loss mysteriously don't see fraud at play in elections that they win.... [This] embodies an actual principle of sorts: that when Republicans lose elections, the voting can be presumed illegitimate or suspect, and when Republicans win them, the voting can be presumed legitimate and above suspicion entirely.... Rep. Mo Brooks has now stepped forward to confirm this.... When the Times [story linked above] questioned Brooks..., he essentially gave away the game: 'Mr. Brooks offered a simple answer to why he's not worried about his race: There's no fraud in Republican primaries, he said.'... Pressed further by the Times, Brooks blithely suggested that in Alabama, the fraud took place 'in predominantly Democrat parts of the state.'... [Brooks' assertion is] meant to give some kind of patina of a public rationale for naked efforts to subvert election losses.... And the Alabama Republican's corroboration is noteworthy in light of emerging details [link is to Politico story by Heidi Przybyla, also linked below] about a complex new GOP plan to make this principle actionable in future elections."

Dennis Aftergut in the Bulwark: "John Durham, the special counsel appointed days before the 2020 election by Donald Trump's attorney general William Barr, just lost the only trial he has brought to date in his long tenure.... Durham's loss was one more egg laid in the fetid henhouse where Barr first enlisted Durham to nest in May 2019, tasking him with proving the truth of a lie -- Donald Trump's favorite disinformation campaign at the time, that the FBI's 2016 Trump-Russia investigation was a 'witch hunt.'... As some commentators noted, the indictment [of Michael Sussmann] reeked of non-prosecutorial goals: It seemed that Durham was trying to justify the public money he'd wasted boosting Trump's false narrative that it was the big, bad Clinton campaign behind the Trump-Russia investigation.... Shoddy decisions and the paucity of results characterize Durham's whole tenure. Yet there are no signs that he intends to close up shop anytime soon."

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden announced new shipments of baby formula from Europe on Wednesday as he prepared to meet with top officials from five baby food companies amid an ongoing shortage that has left parents desperately searching for ways to feed their infants. Enough Kendamil formula to make about four million bottles will be flown to locations across the United States during the next three weeks, White House officials said in a statement. The statement said that United Airlines had agreed to transport the formula from Heathrow Airport in London free of charge for purchase by parents at retail stores.... Two weeks ago, the president responded to severe shortages of baby formula by invoking the Defense Production Act and promising to use the military to speed delivery of baby formula from overseas. Since then, officials said the administration has flown the equivalent of 1.5 million eight-ounce bottles into the United States. Wednesday's announcement is set to more than double that amount, officials said."

Forgot this one this morning: MSNBC: "President Biden met with New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the White House and praised her for efforts on climate change and combatting gun violence and stressing the important role they play as allies on the global stage." ~~~

~~~~~~~~~~

Josh Boak, et al., of the AP: "Focused on relentlessly rising prices, President Joe Biden plotted inflation-fighting strategy Tuesday with the chairman of the Federal Reserve [Jerome Powell], with the fate of the economy and his own political prospects increasingly dependent on the actions of the government's central bank. Biden hoped to demonstrate to voters that he was attuned to their worries about higher gasoline, grocery and other prices whiles still insisting an independent Fed will act free from political pressure. Like Biden, the Fed wants to slow inflation without knocking the U.S. economy into recession, a highly sensitive mission that is to include increasing benchmark interest rates this summer. The president said he would not attempt to direct that course as some previous presidents have tried." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Tyler Pager & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "The White House launched a new push Tuesday to contain the political damage caused by inflation after President Biden complained for weeks to aides that his administration was not doing enough to publicly explain the fastest price increases in roughly four decades. Aiming to demonstrate to the public that it is responding to its concerns, Biden met with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell in the Oval Office, wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about inflation and sent top aides across major networks to push the administration's economic message. The flurry of activity comes after Biden has privately grumbled to top White House officials over the administration's handling of inflation, expressing frustration over the past several months that aides were not doing enough to confront the problem directly, two people familiar with the president's comments said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations." ~~~

~~~ Kevin Liptak & Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen admitted Tuesday that she had failed to anticipate how long high inflation would continue to plague American consumers as the Biden administration works to contain a mounting political liability. 'I think I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take,' Yellen told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on 'The Situation Room' when asked about her comments from 2021 that inflation posed only a 'small risk.' The admission was the latest indication that the administration's expectations of a normalizing economy were thrown into disarray by the continuing pandemic and the war in Europe." MB: I blame the oil industry. Executives here and abroad are natural enemies of Democratic administrations, plus, of course, they have the overarching goal of keeping oil prices high all the time. You aren't just paying for the industry's incentives when you go to the gas pump. Everything from refrigerators to diapers costs more when haulers have to pay higher transportation costs to get raw materials to manufacturers, then get the finished goods to you. The oil industry has turned lemons -- the pandemic, the Ukraine war, etc. -- into lemonade.

Adam Cancryn of Politico: "The White House's focus on gas prices is bred from two sobering political conclusions top officials have made. The first is that they have little control over the problem. The second is that as prices rise at the pump, so do Democrats' odds of a midterm wipeout -- especially as the average U.S. gallon of gas hits fresh record highs.... In a frantic effort to try to slow gas prices that have risen by a dollar per gallon in just the last three months, Biden aides have internally debated a host of ideas.... The deliberations say they've snagged, in part, because each option comes with complicated tradeoffs and drawbacks...."

Sneaky Pete. Tim Stelloh & Gemma DiCasimirro of NBC News: "A local police chief in Uvalde, Texas, hasn't responded for a follow-up interview in a state investigation into the law enforcement response to an elementary school massacre..., an official said Tuesday. Peter Arredondo, the police chief of Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, participated in an initial interview but has not yet answered requests for follow-ups made two days ago, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety said.... Arredondo is said to be the incident commander who incorrectly believed the gunman to be a barricaded suspect and ordered officers to remain outside during the shooting. After more than an hour, federal agents disobeying the chief's orders entered the school and fatally shot the gunman. On Tuesday, Arredondo was sworn in as a newly elected member of the Uvalde City Council, Mayor Don McLaughlin [R] said in a statement. Officials canceled a ceremony for the event 'out of respect for the families who buried their children today, and who are planning to bury their children in the next few days,' McLaughlin said. But he added that all members, including Arredondo, who was elected this month, were sworn in Wednesday per the city charter." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If you will recall, in a previous statement, McLaughlin left the impression that the swearing-in would be postponed. But, as Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC pointed out last night, the city held the administration of the oath in secret and only revealed it, via a statement from the mayor, after the fact. So it appears that McLaughlin can find Arredondo, but Chief Pete is in hiding from Texas law enforcement officials who want to clarify whatever self-serving bull he gave them in his initial interview. I hope the town recalls both McLaughlin & Arredondo. ~~~

~~~ Josh Margolin & Aaron Katersky of ABC News: "The Uvalde Police Department and the Uvalde Independent School District police force are no longer cooperating with the Texas Department of Public Safety's investigation into the massacre at Robb Elementary School and the state's review of the law enforcement response, multiple law enforcement sources tell ABC News.... According to sources, the decision to stop cooperating occurred soon after the director of DPS, Col. Steven McCraw, held a news conference Friday during which he said the delayed police entry into the classroom was 'the wrong decision' and contrary to protocol."

Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "Four days after saying that the gunman who massacred children in a Uvalde, Tex., elementary school had gotten inside through a door 'propped open by a teacher,' the state agency investigating the massacre now says the educator had closed the door.... On Friday, Steven C. McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, seemed to suggest that an employee error played a critical role, saying that the unnamed teacher had previously propped open a door used as an 'access point' by the gunman. 'That back door was propped open,' McCraw said Friday. 'It wasn't supposed to be propped open; it was supposed to be locked.' In an interview with the San Antonio Express News, an attorney who said he represents the teacher ... said the educator had called 911 to report the gunman crashing his vehicle nearby and closed the door while still on the phone.... [Texas Public Safety spokesman Travis] Considine told The Washington Post that investigators had reviewed additional video evidence that let them 'determine that the teacher did indeed remove the rock from the door when she went back into the school, and shut the door.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This teacher might have been the first person in the school to alert police that the gunman was on the scene. So instead of praising her/him for warning them, officials try to finger her as the person who let the gunman into the school. Apparently, s/he had to hire a lawyer to defend her against the accusation.

Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "Although candidates in both parties have long used guns as a campaign prop, the images have in recent years become more prevalent, and intentionally provocative, in Republican advertising, holidays greetings and other forms of communication with the public. Such placements convey a cultural and political solidarity with conservatives more powerfully than most anything else, according to Republican strategists and aides.... 'These ads create a dangerous impression that firearms, and assault-style firearms specifically, are casual tools rather than dangerous weapons,' said Kris Brown, the president of Brady, a gun violence prevention organization. 'To use them to grandstand and to provocate is dangerous.'"

Ha! Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Michael Sussmann, a prominent cybersecurity lawyer with ties to Democrats, was acquitted on Tuesday of a felony charge that he lied to the F.B.I. about having no client in 2016 when he shared a tip about possible connections between Donald J. Trump and Russia. The verdict was a blow to the special counsel, John H. Durham, who was appointed by the Trump administration three years ago to scour the Trump-Russia investigation for any wrongdoing. The case centered on odd internet data that cybersecurity researchers discovered in 2016 after it became public that Russia had hacked Democrats and Mr. Trump had encouraged the country to target Hillary Clinton's emails. The researchers said the data might reflect a covert communications channel using servers for the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, a Kremlin-linked bank. The F.B.I. briefly looked at the suspicions and dismissed them.... ~~~

~~~ "Mr. Durham [whom AG Bill Barr appointed] used the case to put forward a larger conspiracy: that there was a joint enterprise to essentially frame Mr. Trump for collusion with Russia by getting the F.B.I. to investigate the suspicions so reporters would write about it -- a scheme involving the Clinton campaign; its opposition research firm, Fusion GPS; Mr. Sussmann; and a cybersecurity expert who brought the odd data and analysis to him. That insinuation thrilled supporters of Mr. Trump who share his view that the Russia investigation was a 'hoax,' and have sought to conflate the actual inquiry with sometimes thin or dubious allegations developed by private citizens. In reality, the Alfa Bank matter was a sideshow and tangent...." The AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Twump Is Vewy, Vewy Upset. "... Donald Trump took to his social media platform on Tuesday to rage against Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann being acquitted of lying to the FBI. 'Our Legal System is CORRUPT, our Judges (and Justices!) are highly partisan, compromised or just plain scared, our Borders are OPEN, our Elections are Rigged, Inflation is RAMPANT, gas prices and food costs are "through the roof," our Military "Leadership" is Woke, our Country is going to HELL, and Michael Sussmann is not guilty,' raged Trump. 'How's everything else doing? Enjoy your day!!!'" MB: The not-guilty verdict, of course, took the air out of the giant Trump-Barr-Durham hoax balloon. The effort to prove the Mueller investigation was a hoax has gone on for more than three years, and about the only thing they have to show for it is a not-guilty verdict on a single charge of lying to the FBI. ~~~

~~~ digby: "Waaaaaaah! Durham struck out and Trump is having a good old-fashioned cry. The problem here is that for his cultists, every time he loses (which is constantly), it just proves how rigged it is." digby points to several examples of the group complaint. MB: Mostly, they blame the "D.C. jury," which is to say, Black people. ~~~

~~~ Paul Waldman & Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "To appreciate the significance of this moment, you have to remember that Trump and Republicans have spent years working to show that there was never any serious cause for concern about the idea that Russia went to extraordinary lengths to try to swing the 2016 election to Trump.... Durham's flop is only the latest in a long string of failures. 'The Durham probe has turned into what conservatives always accused the Mueller probe of being: a politically premised fishing expedition that has failed to discredit its original target, namely the Russia investigation,' prominent national security lawyer Bradley Moss told us. None of these efforts have been able to disappear a fundamental truth: The stubborn facts show that Russiagate actually was an extraordinarily grave and disturbing scandal."

Another Trumpy Conspiracy Theory Flops. Jason Leopold & Ken Bessinger of BuzzFeed News: "A Justice Department probe found that members of the Obama administration did not seek to reveal the identity of General Michael Flynn 'for political purposes or other inappropriate reasons,' a newly disclosed report reveals. The document details the results of a months-long investigation into the so-called 'unmasking' of Flynn, who briefly served as National Security Advisor to ... Donald Trump.... Republicans later accused officials in the Obama administration of using their positions to reveal anonymized names in classified documents ... in order to target individuals in Trump's orbit. In May 2020, Trump's Attorney General, William Barr, ordered an investigation into the practice of unmasking.... The probe was one of several ordered up by Barr scrutinizing the origins of federal investigations into ties between Trump and the Russian government." The results of the DOJ report have been publicly reported before, but this is the first time the report itself has been made available.

Speaking of Flops. Larry Neumeister of the Huffington Post: "The judge who presided over Sarah Palin's libel case against The New York Times denied her request Tuesday for a new trial, saying she failed to introduce 'even a speck' of evidence necessary to prove actual malice by the newspaper. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff made the assertion in a written decision as he rejected post-trial claims from Palin's lawyers. Her attorneys had asked the judge to grant a new trial or disqualify himself as biased against her, citing several evidentiary rulings by Rakoff that they said were errors."

DOJ Hints It's Investigating Trump. Hugh Lowell of the Guardian: "Peter Navarro, a top White House adviser to Donald Trump, is being commanded by a federal grand jury subpoena to turn over to the justice department his communications with the former president, the former president's attorneys and the former president's representatives.... Certain elements [of the subpoena] appear to suggest that it is related to a new investigation examining potential criminality by the former president.... The confounding aspect of this grand jury subpoena, according to three former assistant US attorneys..., is that targets of investigations are rarely subpoenaed. And 'process' charges such as contempt do not require subpoenas for documents. But the fact that Trump is specifically named in the subpoena -- a reference that the justice department would not have made lightly -- and the specific requests for Navarro's communications with Trump could indicate that this is a criminal investigation examining Trump."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked a Texas law that would ban large social media companies from removing posts based on the views they express. The court's brief order was unsigned and gave no reasons, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications. The order was not the last word in the case, which is pending before a federal appeals court and may return to the Supreme Court. The vote was 5 to 4, with an unusual coalition in dissent. The court's three most conservative members -- Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr., Clarence Thomas and Neil M. Gorsuch -- filed a dissent saying they would have let stand, for now at least, an appeals court order that left the law in place while the case moved forward. Justice Elena Kagan, a liberal, also said she would have let the order stand, though she did not join the dissent and gave no reasons of her own."

The GOP Is Putting Ops in Place to Overturn 2022 Elections. >Heidi Przybyla of Politico: "Video recordings of Republican Party operatives meeting with grassroots activists provide an inside look at a multi-pronged strategy to target and potentially overturn votes in Democratic precincts: Install trained recruits as regular poll workers and put them in direct contact with party attorneys."

Kate Brumback of the AP: "Electronic voting machines from a leading vendor used in at least 16 states have software vulnerabilities that leave them susceptible to hacking if unaddressed, the nation's leading cybersecurity agency says in an advisory sent to state election officials. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, or CISA, said there is no evidence the flaws in the Dominion Voting Systems' equipment have been exploited to alter election results. The advisory is based on testing by a prominent computer scientist and expert witness in a long-running lawsuit that is unrelated to false allegations of a stolen election pushed by ... Donald Trump after his 2020 election loss.... Amid a swirl of misinformation and disinformation about elections, CISA seems to be trying to walk a line between not alarming the public and stressing the need for election officials to take action." MB: Expect the right to go nuts anyway.

Breaking: Margie Greene Is Still Remarkably Stupid. Jeremy Fuster of the Wrap: "First there was 'gazpacho' police. Now Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has made another equally as amusing vocabulary flub in an attempt to get across her latest conspiratorial claim about Democrats and 'fake meat,' which she says is manufactured in a 'peach tree dish.' On the far-right Georgia congresswoman's most recent broadcast of 'MTG Live,' the streaming broadcast that airs on her social media page, Greene claimed that the government wants 'surveillance on every part of your life,' including on when people are eating a cheeseburger. 'Which is very bad because Bill Gates wants you to eat this fake meat that grows in a peach tree dish so you'll probably get a little zap inside your body that'll say "No, don't eat a real cheeseburger, you need to eat the fake burger,"' Greene said with conviction." MB: I'll never forget when I was in the seventh grade, my science teacher made me put a peach pit in a little flat plastic dish & before that pit even looked like a peach tree it went & zapped me inside like I was Ben Franklin with the key & the kite or something. Science is dangerous. And I think the gazpacho should have arrested the science teacher.

Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: "The actor Kevin Spacey said on Tuesday that he will voluntarily travel to Britain to face criminal sexual assault charges, allowing the authorities there to formally charge him without having to pursue extradition proceedings. Last week, Britain's Crown Prosecution Service announced that law enforcement had authorized the charges, of four counts of sexual assault against three men, as well as one charge of 'causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.' But Mr. Spacey, 62, cannot be formally charged unless he enters England or Wales." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.

Benjamin Mueller & Eleanor Lutz of the New York Times: "Despite strong levels of vaccination among older people, Covid killed them at vastly higher rates during this winter's Omicron wave than it did last year, preying on long delays since their last shots and the variant's ability to skirt immune defenses. This winter's wave of deaths in older people belied the Omicron variant's relative mildness. Almost as many Americans 65 and older died in four months of the Omicron surge as did in six months of the Delta wave, even though the Delta variant, for any one person, tended to cause more severe illness. While overall per capita Covid death rates have fallen, older people still account for an overwhelming share of them." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Pennsylvania. Ariane de Vogue of CNN: "Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito agreed Tuesday to temporarily block a lower court decision that allows the counting of undated ballots in Pennsylvania in a case that could directly tip a judicial race and also impact the commonwealth's Republican US Senate primary. Alito, who has jurisdiction over the lower court involved in the case, issued an administrative stay in the case to give the justices more time to consider the issue.... At issue is a federal appeals court decision ordering the state to count undated mail-in ballots that were initially set aside. David Ritter, a Republican state judicial candidate in Lehigh County, wants the Supreme Court to block the appeals court decision, arguing that if the ballots were counted, he would lose his election to Democratic rival Zachary Cohen. How the justices decide the case in the under-the-radar-race could also impact more high-profile contests including the Republican Senate primary between David McCormick and Mehmet Oz, which has gone to a recount. Oz is currently leading by roughly 900 votes."

Virginia. Steve Descano, Fairfax County prosecutor, in a New York Times op-ed: "Almost two and a half years ago, I took my oath of office as prosecutor, and swore to protect my community from those who broke the law. The real threat, I now realize, may stem from those who write the law. If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the rights of thousands of Virginian women will be thrown into question.... Our governor has said that he is 'staunchly, unabashedly' against abortion and fully committed to 'going on the offense' against abortion rights in our legislature.... So when the court's draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked earlier this month, I committed to never prosecute a woman for making her own health care decisions. That means that no matter what the law in Virginia says, I will not prosecute a woman for having an abortion, or for being suspected of inducing one.... I hope prosecutors across the country will join me in choosing to lead on behalf of the women we represent." (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 United States is sending advanced rocket systems to Ukraine, the most significant weapons that President Biden has sent since the start of the war, fulfilling a longstanding demand from the Ukrainians and appearing to dismiss concerns that it would be seen by Russia as a provocation.... The head of Ukraine's regional military administration, Serhiy Haidai, said late Tuesday that Russian troops had taken over most of [Sievierodonetsk]. About 12,000 civilians, out of a prewar population of about 100,000, remain in the city, according to an aid group.... Russia is blocking the shipment of 22 million tons of grain in Ukraine, bombarding houses where wheat is stored and mining crop fields, said Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here: "Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry said Wednesday that its strategic missile forces -- responsible for nuclear deterrence and the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile -- were conducting exercises northeast of Moscow. The Kremlin has warned that any country providing advanced weaponry to Ukraine will face harsh repercussions. ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Wednesday are here.

President Biden, in a New York Times op-ed, outlines U.S. goals in Ukraine & lays out what the U.S. is or will be doing to aid Ukraine. ~~~

     ~~~ Peter Beaumont of the Guardian: "Joe Biden has confirmed he will send more advanced rocket systems to Kyiv, a critical weapon that Ukrainian leaders have been asking for as they struggle to stall Russian progress in the Donbas region. The medium-range high mobility artillery rocket systems are part of a new $700m tranche of security assistance for Ukraine from the US that will include helicopters, Javelin anti-tank weapon systems, tactical vehicles, spare parts and more, according to two senior administration officials. The weapons package will be formally unveiled on Wednesday. In a New York Times guest essay published on Tuesday, Biden said Russia's invasion of Ukraine will end through diplomacy but the United States must provide significant weapons and ammunition to give Ukraine the highest leverage at the negotiating table."

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "The Russian military, beaten down and demoralized after three months of war, is making the same mistakes in its campaign to capture a swath of eastern Ukraine that forced it to abandon its push to take the entire country, senior American officials say. While Russian troops are capturing territory, a Pentagon official said that their 'plodding and incremental' pace was wearing them down, and that the military's overall fighting strength had been diminished by about 20 percent. And since the war started, Russia has lost 1,000 tanks, a senior Pentagon official said last week.... Vladimir V. Putin of Russia appointed a new commander, Gen. Aleksandr V. Dvornikov, in April in what was widely viewed as an acknowledgment that the initial Russian war plan was failing."

Alan Rappeport & David Sanger of the New York Times: "The devastation in Ukraine brought on by Russia's war has leaders around the world calling for seizing more than $300 billion of Russian central bank assets and handing the funds to Ukraine to help rebuild the country. But the movement, which has gained momentum in parts of Europe, has run into resistance in the United States. Top Biden administration officials warned that diverting those funds could be illegal and discourage other countries from relying on the United States as a haven for investment.... Internally, the Biden administration has been debating whether to join an effort to seize the assets, which include dollars and euros that Moscow deposited before its invasion of Ukraine. Only a fraction of the funds are kept in the United States; much of it was deposited in Europe, including at the Bank for International Settlements in Switzerland. Russia had hoped that keeping more than $600 billion in central bank reserves would help bolster its economy against sanctions. But it made the mistake of sending half those funds out of the country."

Viktor Vlad. Victoria Kim of the New York Times: "The European Union's long-delayed deal to embargo Russian oil, finalized late Monday, effectively exempts Hungary from the costly step the rest of the bloc is taking to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. While Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, has cast his weekslong opposition to the deal as purely about shielding his country's economy, it was also the latest step in what has been a decade-long turn of Hungary's leadership toward closer alignment with Russia, at times at the expense of relations with its fellow members of the European Union and NATO. The pivot has occurred despite deep-seated suspicion in Hungary of Russian power and influence based on the history of Russian and Soviet troops brutally cracking down on Hungarian uprisings in 1848-49 and in 1956." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mali. Elian Peltier, et al., of the New York Times: "Mali has been fighting armed militants for the past decade, initially with the help of French and later European forces. But as the relationship has deteriorated between France and the Malian military junta, which seized power last year, French forces are withdrawing from Mali, and the [Russian] Wagner Group has moved in -- a step denounced by 15 European countries and Canada, as well as the United States.... [In March, in the central Malian town of Moura,] Malian soldiers and their Russian allies looted houses, held villagers captive in a dried-out riverbed and executed hundreds of men.... Both Malian soldiers and foreign mercenaries killed captives at close range, often without interrogating them, based on their ethnicity or clothes, according to witnesses. The foreigners marauded through the town, indiscriminately killing people in houses, stealing jewelry and confiscating cellphones to eliminate any visual evidence."

News Lede

New York Times: "A jury in Virginia on Wednesday found that the actor Johnny Depp had been defamed by his ex-wife Amber Heard in a 2018 op-ed, a verdict that handed the actor a victory in his long, messy battle over domestic abuse allegations. But the jury's decision was split, also finding that one of the three statements at the center of Ms. Heard's lawsuit, by one of Mr. Depp's lawyers at the time, had been defamatory. The jury awarded Mr. Depp $15 million in compensatory and punitive damages, but the judge capped the punitive damages total in accordance with legal limits, resulting in a total of $10.35 million. The jury awarded Ms. Heard $2 million in damages. The jury's decision came after a six-week trial that transfixed the nation...." MB: Count me as not transfixed. A CNN report is here.