December 9, 2021

Afternoon Update:

David Li of NBC News: "A Chicago jury Thursday reached guilty verdicts on five of six charges against 'Empire' actor Jussie Smollett, who was accused of falsely reporting he was the victim of a disturbing, hate-fueled beating. The panel, deliberating since Wednesday afternoon, weighed six counts of felony disorderly conduct against Smollett for telling police he was brutally assaulted on Jan. 29, 2019, at 2:45 a.m. in the Windy City's Streeterville neighborhood. The offenses are class 4 felonies and could be punishable by up to three years behind bars. But Smollett has a clean criminal record, making any jail time highly unlikely."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected ... Donald Trump's bid to keep his White House documents secret from a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, potentially setting up an emergency review by the Supreme Court. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld a lower court's opinion, which said that in a dispute between a current and past president over whether to release White House records, the sitting president must prevail. Judges Patricia A. Millett, Robert L. Wilkins and Ketanji Brown Jackson denied Trump's request for a preliminary injunction blocking the National Archives and Records Administration from releasing the first roughly 800 pages of disputed Trump papers after President Biden declined to assert executive privilege as requested by his predecessor, setting up the first of its kind constitutional controversy. The court stayed the opinion 14 days for Trump's legal team to appeal to the Supreme Court, as they requested at a Nov. 30 hearing in case of adverse ruling."

Aamer Madhani & Colleen Long of the AP: "President Joe Biden on Thursday opened the first White House Summit for Democracy by sounding an alarm about a global slide for democratic institutions and called for world leaders to 'lock arms' and demonstrate democracies can deliver. Biden called it a critical moment for fellow leaders to redouble their efforts to bolster democracies. In making the case for action, he noted his own battle to win passage of voting rights legislation at home and alluded to challenges to America's democratic institutions and traditions.... 'Here in the United States we know as well as anyone that renewing our democracy and strengthening our democratic institutions requires constant effort,' Biden said.... The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, said in its annual report that the number of countries experiencing democratic backsliding 'has never been as high' as the past decade, with the U.S. added to the list alongside India and Brazil."

Clare Foran, et al., of CNN: "The Senate voted on Thursday to advance a bill to create a fast-track process allowing Democrats to raise the federal debt limit without votes from Republicans, a crucial next step as lawmakers race the clock to avert a catastrophic debt default. A first-ever default would trigger financial disaster and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned the debt limit could be reached on December 15, leaving little time left to act.... The first vote to take place in the Senate on Thursday was a cloture vote to break a GOP filibuster, which required 60 votes to succeed. The vote tally was 64 to 36 and 14 Senate Republicans crossed the aisle to vote with Democrats...."

Reuters, republished by Yahoo! News: "A casket bearing the remains of former U.S. Senator Bob Dole, a three-time Republican presidential candidate and decorated World War Two veteran, was placed in the Capitol's Rotunda on Thursday as dignitaries gathered there for a memorial service.... President Joe Biden was on hand to deliver remarks. Dole's wife Elizabeth, also a former senator, stood at the top of the Capitol's East Front steps as a military honor guard carried his flag-draped casket up the steep incline to be placed in the building's storied Rotunda for the memorial service. Members of Congress and other invited guests paid their respects to Dole...."

The Old "I Forgot" Excuse. Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "A staffer on Capitol Hill was arrested Thursday morning after he allegedly brought a handgun into a House office building, U.S. Capitol Police said. Officers in the Longworth House Office Building spotted the image of a gun in a bag on an X-ray screen. The bag's owner, identified as 57-year-old Jeffrey Allsbrooks, was tracked down four minutes later and arrested, U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement. He is being charged with carrying a pistol without a license. Allsbrooks, who works for the House Chief Administrative Office, told officers he forgot the gun was in his bag, according to U.S. Capitol Police. It is unclear why officers didn't stop Allsbrooks at the security checkpoint and only later tracked him down."

Drip, Drip. Jamie Gangel & Zachary Cohen of CNN: "Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows provided the House select committee investigating the January 6 riot with text messages and emails that show he was 'exchanging with a wide range of individuals while the attack was underway,' according to a source with knowledge of the communications. The messages on Meadows' personal cell phone and email account, which were voluntarily handed over without any claim of executive privilege, relate to 'what Donald Trump was doing and not doing during the riot,' the source added. These communications offer a window into what people were texting to Meadows on January 6, what he was telling them about Trump in real time, and what the former President was doing for those hours while the Capitol was under attack and rioters were chanting 'Hang Mike Pence,' according to the source."~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You know other major media are working this story, so I don't think it will be long before we get a fuller account of the tunes Nero was fiddling while the Capitol was breached.

Jonathan Franklin of NPR: "Local officials in Washington, D.C., have passed a bill that will name a portion of the street outside the Saudi embassy after slain Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The 'Jamal Khashoggi Way Designation Act,' which passed unanimously on Tuesday, will serve as a reminder of the dangers faced by journalists across the world, noting that a free press is 'fundamental to our democracy,' said D.C. councilmember Brooke Pinto in a statement."

Laurie McGinley of the Washington Post: "Federal regulators Thursday authorized booster shots of Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine for 16- and 17-year-olds, a step that could bolster protection against delta, the dominant variant in the United States, and the emerging omicron version. The Food and Drug Administration's decision came the day after new data from the companies suggested that boosters may play a critical role in helping control the omicron variant by raising virus-fighting antibodies to block the pathogen, which echoed a finding by leading scientists in South Africa released earlier this week. The FDA's authorization is expected to be reviewed and endorsed by Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, perhaps as soon as Thursday. The clearance means 16- and 17-year-olds who received the initial two-shot series of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be able to get a booster six months after the second dose. The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are not authorized for anyone under 18."

New York, New York. Katie Glueck & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, announced on Thursday that she was dropping out of the governor's race and running instead for re-election. Her decision upends the high-profile race for governor and further solidifies Gov. Kathy Hochul's standing as the early front-runner." ~~~

~~~ New York, New York. Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "The New York State attorney general, Letitia James, is seeking to question ... Donald J. Trump under oath in a civil fraud investigation, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, an unusual move that comes at a critical juncture in a parallel criminal investigation into the former president. Ms. James, whose office is also participating in the criminal investigation being run by the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., is seeking to question Mr. Trump on Jan. 7 as part of her separate civil inquiry into his business practices. If Ms. James finds evidence of wrongdoing, she could file a lawsuit against Mr. Trump, but she could not file criminal charges. But her request comes as Mr. Vance is pushing to determine whether Mr. Trump or his family business, the Trump Organization, engaged in a pattern of criminal fraud by intentionally submitting false property values to potential lenders. Mr. Vance, a Democrat, did not seek re-election and is leaving office at the end of the year."

AND New York. Robin Pogrebin of the New York Times: "In the wake of growing outrage over the role the Sacklers may have played in the opioid crisis, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Sackler family jointly announced on Thursday that the Sackler name would be removed from seven exhibition spaces, including the wing that houses the Temple of Dendur."

Arkansas. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "Josh Duggar, a onetime star of the TLC reality show '19 Kids and Counting,' about a large family guided by conservative Christian values, was convicted on Thursday in federal court in Arkansas of downloading child sexual abuse imagery. A jury returned the verdict in the U.S. District Court in Fayetteville, Ark., one day after it began its deliberations in a case that drew widespread attention. Mr. Duggar, 33, was found guilty on one count of receiving child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines." The AP's report is here.

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Joe Biden Gives a Holiday Gift to America's Children. Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "President Biden on Wednesday set in motion a plan to make the federal government carbon neutral, ordering federal agencies to buy electric vehicles, to power facilities with wind, solar and nuclear energy, and to use sustainable building materials. In a series of executive orders, Mr. Biden directed the government to transform its 300,000 buildings, 600,000 cars and trucks, and use its annual purchases of $650 billion in goods and services to meet his goal of a federal government that stops adding carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by 2050.... Unlike most executive orders that undergo a lengthy and sometimes fractious regulatory process before they are enacted, procurement rules can take effect almost immediately, said Richard L. Revesz, a professor of environmental law at New York University. He called the executive orders 'very significant.'"

Alex Horton & Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The Army on Wednesday said it has approved Purple Heart awards for an additional 39 soldiers wounded in an Iranian ballistic missile strike nearly two years ago in western Iraq, a significant victory for troops whose brain injuries were downplayed by their commander in chief at the time..., Donald Trump. The announcement is official acknowledgment that the attack, a dramatic escalation by Tehran after a U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, was far more serious than Washington was willing to concede initially even though no fatalities occurred. More than 30 Purple Hearts were awarded previously to U.S. soldiers forced to take cover when 11 missiles ... slammed into Ain al-Asad air base on Jan. 8, 2020.... Trump responded to the lack of American fatalities by declaring on Twitter that 'All is well!' A few days later, he said some of the troops involved had 'headaches.' but that the situation was 'not very serious,' prompting a rebuke from veterans groups.... Alyssa Farah, a former Pentagon spokeswoman, said in a September podcast that the Trump White House leaned on the Defense Department to downplay the attack." The Army Times' report is here.

A "Colossal Waste of Resources." David Winkie of the Army Times: "For much of 2021, more than 4,000 [Army National] Guard personnel from 20 states helped monitor the U.S.-Mexico border alongside Customs and Border Protection personnel.... Most returned home in October, when a new Guard task force took over. This is the story of a task force that left soldiers at isolated observation posts for hours on end without the night vision goggles they needed. They ... fell asleep on the job while awaiting shipments of equipment for months, and only assisted in less than one in every five apprehensions. Legal restrictions on the use of Guardsmen left them with little more than watching as a mission.... When troops weren't on duty, most were at hotels in remote locations. Alcohol and drug abuse became so widespread that senior leaders issued breathalyzers and instituted alcohol restrictions that tightened as the misconduct incidents piled up.... At least 16 soldiers from the mission were arrested or confined for charges including drugs, sexual assault and manslaughter." Thanks to RAS for the link.

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) offered a forceful warning to Republican colleagues during a private lunch on Wednesday, saying former President Trump will come down hard on any GOP senators who vote for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) deal to set up a special pathway to raise the debt limit. In blunt remarks to the Senate Republican Conference, Graham harshly criticized McConnell for putting Senate Republicans in position to get 'shot in the back' over the deal.... Trump issued a blistering statement Wednesday evening that slammed McConnell for agreeing to a special process for raising the debt limit with a simple majority." MB: For Trump so loved his country that he was outraged at an effort to secure its full faith & credit -- because he thought international financial chaos might give him some small political advantage. And it looks as if Lindsey, whose presidential ambitions fell flat, is now eying McConnell's job.

** Jacqueline Alemany & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol said it is preparing to hold Mark Meadows, who served as ... Donald Trump's chief of staff, in criminal contempt for not complying with the panel's subpoena as it ramps up efforts to force former Trump administration officials to cooperate with its inquiry. Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) said in a letter sent Tuesday evening to Meadows's attorney, George Terwilliger III, that the panel's patience has run out.... In the letter, Thompson outlined some of the documents that Trump's former chief of staff has already provided to the committee, including a Nov. 7, 2020, email 'discussing the appointment of alternate slates of electors as part of a "direct and collateral attack" after the election.' Also mentioned in the letter is a Jan. 5 email 'regarding a 38-page PowerPoint briefing titled "Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 JAN" that was to be provided "on the hill"' and a Jan. 5 'email about having the National Guard on standby.' ~~~

"Meadows provided the committee last week with 'certain relevant messages' from 'saved and backed up phone data' from his personal cellphone, according to Thompson's letter. The text messages produced by Meadows include a Nov. 6, 2020, correspondence 'with a Member of Congress apparently about appointing alternate electors in certain states as part of a plan that the Member acknowledged would be "highly controversial" and to which Mr. Meadows apparently said, "I love it."'" MB: You can download the letter from Thomson (via the committee) by clicking on the link. I thought maybe Meadows -- I won't appear, I will appear, I won't appear flipflops were a form of delay, but it looks as if he really did change his mind again -- after Trump dissed his book. Some of the docs Meadows provided before deciding he was unable to lunch today would seem to be fairly incriminating. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Update. Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Mark Meadows ... filed suit on Wednesday against Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in an attempt to persuade a federal judge to block the committee's subpoenas.... His lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, accuses the committee of issuing 'two overly broad and unduly burdensome subpoenas' against him, including one sent to Verizon for his phone and text data."

Alan Feuer & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Ali Alexander, a prominent organizer of Stop the Steal rallies with ties to far-right members of Congress who sought to invalidate the 2020 election results, is cooperating with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, pledging to deliver a trove of documents that could shed light on the activities that preceded the attack. The participation of Mr. Alexander, who is scheduled to be deposed by the panel on Thursday, could provide insight into the nature and extent of the planning by ... Donald J. Trump and his Republican allies in Congress for their bid to overturn the election on Jan. 6. It could also help clarify whether and to what degree the prospect of violence was discussed or contemplated before or during the rampage." The article includes background on Alexander's participation in events & publishes snippets of his planned testimony before the committee, so it's worth a read.

A Trumped-up Case Gets Trumpier. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "When a special counsel accused a prominent cybersecurity lawyer of lying to the F.B.I. during a September 2016 meeting about Donald J. Trump's possible links to Russia, the indictment presented a lengthy narrative but the direct evidence appeared lean. The indictment said the lawyer, Michael A. Sussmann, had made a false statement by telling an F.B.I. official that he was not representing a client in presenting the information. Mr. Sussmann, who has pleaded not guilty, has denied saying that. No one else was present and their conversation was not recorded, so the direct and clearly admissible evidence appeared to boil down to one witness. This week, additional pieces of evidence emerged into public view that were not in the indictment -- one of which appears to dovetail with the accusation against Mr. Sussmann by the special counsel, John H. Durham, who was appointed during the Trump administration, while several others appear to conflict with it."

Jonathan Swan & Andrew Solender of Axios: "Donald Trump and his associates are systematically reshaping the Republican Party, working to install hand-picked loyalists across federal and state governments and destroy those he feels have been disloyal, sources close to the former president tell Axios.... If most or all of Trump's candidates win, he will go into the 2024 election cycle with far more people willing to do his bidding who run the elections in key states.... Trump is tapping his national network of allies to identify Republicans who were 'weak' in 2020 because they refused to go along with his efforts to overturn the election. No office has proven too small." ~~~

~~~ Lawrence Norten & Derek Tisler of the Brennan Center: "Election officials were some of the biggest heroes of the 2020 election. After a grueling year that saw a pandemic, unprecedented disinformation efforts, and the highest turnout in over a century, they stood up to pressure from political actors seeking to overturn or cast doubt on the election results in key states. This collective, bipartisan effort helped avoid a constitutional crisis last year. But the effort to sabotage our elections has only intensified, which is why Congress and state and local governments must take critical steps to protect against insider threats.... Following the threats, harassment, intimidation, political pressure, disinformation, and general exhaustion that election officials faced in 2020, many are choosing to leave the election administration field altogether.... And in many cases, the people seeking to fill these open positions are those who have been most activated by the conspiracies surrounding the 2020 election and the most determined to abuse their authority to ensure a different outcome in 2024.... States and counties should take the following actions (and, where appropriate, provide the funds necessary to support such mandates)[.]" Lead via Rachel Maddow.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed ready to take another step in requiring states to pay for religious education, with a majority of the justices indicating that they would not allow Maine to exclude religious schools from a state tuition program. The court has said that states may choose to provide aid to religious schools along with other private schools. The question in the new case was the opposite: Can states refuse to provide such aid if it is made available to other private schools?" MB: I sure hope the Pastafarians start up a school as soon as the Supremes decide in favor of these discriminatory religious schools.

Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "A pharmaceutical company formerly owned by Martin Shkreli will pay as much as $40 million to resolve price-gouging allegations brought by federal regulators and seven states. Vyera Pharmaceuticals, known as Turing when Shkreli ran the operation, acquired the rights to Daraprim, an anti-parasitic medication used to treat HIV patients and others with immunocompromised conditions, and raised the price of a pill from $17.50 to $750 -- more than 4,000 percent. It also blocked competitors from producing a generic version of the drug by restricting access to key ingredients, according to charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general from California, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Under the settlement filed in the Southern District of New York, Vyera and its parent company, Phoenixus AG, will pay $10 million up front and as much as $30 million over 10 years if their financial condition improves. They are required to make Daraprim available to generic competitors. Kevin Mulleady, who succeeded Shkreli as CEO, will be banned from owning, working or consulting for a pharmaceutical company for seven years."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Thursday are here: "The new omicron variant could increase the likelihood that people will need a fourth coronavirus vaccine dose earlier than expected, executives at pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said Wednesday. Boosters are likely to help control the variant, according to the company, which said early lab experiments suggest the standard two-dose regimen still provides some protection against severe illness from the variant."

Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "Pfizer and BioNTech said Wednesday that laboratory tests suggest a booster shot of their coronavirus vaccine offers significant protection against the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the virus. The companies said that tests of blood from people who had received only two doses found much lower levels of antibodies protecting against Omicron than against an earlier version of the virus. That suggests that two doses 'may not be sufficient to protect against infection' by the new variant, the companies said.... President Biden went out of his way to draw attention to Pfizer-BioNTech's findings on Wednesday, calling them 'very, very encouraging' and saying they showed that the vaccines remain a bulwark against the virus.... [But] scientists say it could take a month or more to really understand the new variant's threat."

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The Senate on Wednesday voted narrowly to roll back President Biden's vaccine and testing mandate for large employers, taking mostly symbolic action as Republicans escalate their protest of the administration's push to immunize Americans against a deadly pandemic. The vote was bipartisan, as two centrist Democrats -- Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana -- joined all 50 Republicans in voting to overturn the regulation, which has already been blocked amid a wave of litigation by large employers and Republican-controlled states. But the House is not expected to take up the measure, and administration officials said Mr. Biden would veto it should it reach his desk. For Republicans who forced the action, it was a prime opportunity to paint the administration's efforts to increase coronavirus vaccinations as federal overreach, a central component of their campaign message going into the midterm elections next year." The NBC News story is here.

Vaccine? No, Listerine. Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: "Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) recommended mouthwash as a treatment for the coronavirus during a town hall meeting Wednesday, immediately drawing criticism for suggesting gargling would offer protection. The senator has been criticized for spreading conspiracy theories about the coronavirus and has promoted the use of drugs that have shown little to no evidence that they are effective in treating covid-19. YouTube this year suspended his account for violating the company's medical misinformation policies. He has also expressed skepticism about the efficacy of coronavirus vaccine mandates and doses, which have undergone vigorous health testing. His latest remarks run up against medical advice from a major producer of mouthwash and health experts. 'Standard gargle, mouthwash, has been proven to kill the coronavirus,' Johnson said.... Though mouthwash can partially kill off parts of the coronavirus in a person's mouth, most infections occur through the nose, health experts said."

Charles Blow of the New York Times: "I am disappointed, and I am angry ... with all the people who are choosing not to get vaccinated. There was a point, earlier on in the pandemic, when vaccines were still scarce, when I tried to be tolerant with the holdouts.... But that time has long since passed for me.... I will not coddle willful ignorance anymore. I will not indulge the fool's errand of 'I'm still doing my own research' anymore, either. This virus has already killed nearly 800,000 Americans and infected nearly 50 million. We are now averaging about 120,000 new cases a day.... The only way out of this situation, for our country and the world, is through the vaccines." MB: Blow speaks for me. And I'm even angrier at people in positions of authority or high-status for spreading conspiracy theories that persuade the numbnuts to forego vaccination. Like Stupidest Sen. Ron Johnson & teevee ratings-whore TuKKKer.

Finland. PM Partying Like It's 2019. Reis Thebault of the Washington Post: "It was Saturday evening when Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin learned that a cabinet colleague and close contact had tested positive for the coronavirus. That information, however, did not derail her weekend plans, and the leader proceeded to party at a Helsinki nightclub until the wee hours, with photos showing her maskless in a crowd. Marin, who is fully vaccinated, later apologized for what she described as an indiscretion, yet images from that night have since gone viral.... The 36-year-old Social Democrat did not violate the country's public health rules, as Finland does not require vaccinated people to quarantine. But guidance does 'strongly recommend that you voluntarily avoid contact with people outside your household' while waiting for [test results].... [Marin] She tested negative for the virus Sunday, she said, and did so again Monday."

U.K. Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "For a week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain has denied damaging claims that his staff broke lockdown rules by holding a party last Christmas when such festivities were banned under government-imposed coronavirus restrictions. Late Tuesday, the government's story weakened when a video surfaced of senior staff members joking about just such a party four days after they had reportedly gathered to eat snacks, drink wine and play party games in Downing Street. The revelations have shaken Mr. Johnson's government, coming just as Britain and the rest of the world enter a second holiday season battered by the emergence of a new variant and faced by anger and frustration from exhausted citizens." ~~~

     ~~~ Guy Davies of ABC News: "U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing calls to resign over reports that members of his staff attended a Christmas party last year while the country was in lockdown."

Beyond the Beltway

Georgia. Perdue Says He Would Have Broken Law to Help Trump Overturn 2020 Election Results. Emma Hurt of Axios: Trump-backed "Georgia gubernatorial candidate David Perdue wouldn't have signed the certification of the state's 2020 election results if he had been governor at the time, the former Senate Republican told Axios.... When Gov. Brian Kemp signed the state's election certification, he pointed out that state law required him to do so.... Georgia's law does not offer the governor or the secretary of state the ability to not certify an election. Any challenge to an election's integrity must happen through the courts."

Illinois. Julia Jacobs & Mark Guarino of the New York Times: "The jury tasked with deciding whether Jussie Smollett falsely told the police that he had been the victim of a racist and homophobic assault began deliberations on Wednesday and started to grapple with the two differing narratives of what happened on a freezing Chicago night in 2019. Prosecutors have accused Mr. Smollett of orchestrating the attack himself by instructing two brothers, Abimbola Osundairo and Olabinjo Osundairo, to punch him just hard enough to create bruises, pour bleach on his clothing and place a rope around his neck like a noose while yelling racist and homophobic slurs. But the defense, which relied on more than seven hours of testimony by Mr. Smollett himself, has argued he was the victim of a real attack, perpetrated by the brothers, who then lied to investigators to avoid being prosecuted themselves."

North Carolina. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "The North Carolina Supreme Court ordered a two-month delay in the state's 2022 primary elections on Wednesday, giving critics of the state legislature's gerrymandered political maps additional time to pursue a legal battle to redraw them. The unsigned ruling was a setback for the Republican-controlled General Assembly, which created the maps and had argued that a delay in the primaries would sow chaos among both candidates and voters. The court ordered the March 8 primary elections for all offices postponed until May 17, citing 'the importance of the issues to the constitutional jurisprudence of this state, and the need for urgency' in deciding the maps' legality. New boundaries for state legislative districts and for North Carolina's 14 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives face three lawsuits filed by Democrats and voting-rights advocates in a state court in Raleigh. In a state split almost evenly between Republican and Democratic voters..., the new House map, for example, would all but ensure victory for G.O.P. candidates in 10 of the 14 districts, with a decent shot at winning an 11th seat."

Way Beyond

France. Rick Noack & Sarah Dadouch of the Washington Post: "The arrest of a man previously believed to have been a suspect in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has turned out to be a case of mistaken identity, the Paris prosecutor's office said Wednesday. The man was released from detention after 'thorough checks,' authorities said. The announcement came almost 30 hours after French authorities detained the man at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris."

Germany. Katrin Bennhold & Melissa Eddy of the New York Times: "After 16 years as leader of Germany and unofficial leader of Europe, [Angela] Merkel on Wednesday left the office she first took over when President George W. Bush was still in the White House in a characteristically understated way. 'Congratulations dear Mr. Chancellor, dear Olaf Scholz,' Ms. Merkel told her successor in a small gathering at the chancellery.... Ms. Merkel was the central political figure in Germany and Europe through four U.S. presidents and five British and eight Italian prime ministers. Her steady accretion of authority drew admirers and detractors alike, but she remained a singular source of stability for the continent through repeated crises." (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

AP: "The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits plunged last week to the lowest level in 52 years, more evidence that the U.S. job market is recovering from last year's coronavirus recession. Unemployment claims dropped by 43,000 to 184,000 last week, the lowest since September 1969, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week moving average, which smooths out week-to-week ups and downs, fell below 219,000, lowest since the pandemic hit the United States hard i March 2020."

December 8, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Jacqueline Alemany & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol said it is preparing to hold Mark Meadows, who served as ... Donald Trump's chief of staff, in criminal contempt for not complying with the panel's subpoena as it ramps up efforts to force former Trump administration officials to cooperate with its inquiry. Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) said in a letter sent Tuesday evening to Meadows's attorney, George Terwilliger III, that the panel's patience has run out.... In the letter, Thompson outlined some of the documents that Trump's former chief of staff has already provided to the committee, including a Nov. 7, 2020, email 'discussing the appointment of alternate slates of electors as part of a "direct and collateral attack" after the election.' Also mentioned in the letter is a Jan. 5 email 'regarding a 38-page PowerPoint briefing titled "Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 JAN: that was to be provided "on the hill"' and a Jan. 5 'email about having the National Guard on standby.' ~~~

"Meadows provided the committee last week with 'certain relevant messages' from 'saved and backed up phone data' from his personal cellphone, according to Thompson's letter. The text messages produced by Meadows include a Nov. 6, 2020, correspondence 'with a Member of Congress apparently about appointing alternate electors in certain states as part of a plan that the Member acknowledged would be "highly controversial" and to which Mr. Meadows apparently said, "I love it."'" MB: You can download the letter from Thomson by clicking on the link. I thought maybe Meadows -- I won't appear, I will appear, I won't appear flipflops were a form of delay, but it looks as if he really did change his mind again -- after Trump dissed his book. Some of the docs Meadows provided before deciding he was unable to lunch today would seem to be fairly incriminating.

Katrin Bennhold & Melissa Eddy of the New York Times: "After 16 years as leader of Germany and unofficial leader of Europe, [Angela] Merkel on Wednesday left the office she first took over when President George W. Bush was still in the White House in a characteristically understated way. 'Congratulations dear Mr. Chancellor, dear Olaf Scholz,' Ms. Merkel told her successor in a small gathering at the chancellery.... Ms. Merkel was the central political figure in Germany and Europe through four U.S. presidents and five British and eight Italian prime ministers. Her steady accretion of authority drew admirers and detractors alike, but she remained a singular source of stability for the continent through repeated crises."

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Paul Sonne, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin in a video call Tuesday not to mount a new invasion of Ukraine and laid out the economic and security costs Russia would face if the Kremlin chooses to go down that path, as the White House attempts to forestall a renewed war in Europe. Biden also offered a diplomatic route to end the war scare that has arisen since the Kremlin, for the second time this year, massed troops and materiel near the border with Ukraine, raising fears of an offensive far larger and more deadly than its invasion eight years ago." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story, by David Sanger & Michael Crowley, is here.

Useless Commission Writes 288-page Report. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The bipartisan commission appointed by President Biden to study possible changes to the federal judiciary unanimously approved a final report on Tuesday that flagged 'profound disagreement' among its members over the issue that led to the panel's creation: calls to expand or 'pack' the Supreme Court with additional justices. By a vote of 34 to 0, the commission approved a 288-page report that offered a critical appraisal of arguments for and against that and many other ideas for changes to the Supreme Court, including imposing 18-year term limits on justices and reducing their power to strike down acts of Congress. But the group did not offer specific recommendations."

A Win for Foghorn Leghorn, a Shame on the Senate. Emily Flitter of the New York Times: “Saule Omarova, a Cornell Law School professor whom critics painted as a communist after President Biden picked her for a key banking regulator job, withdrew from consideration for the post on Tuesday. In a letter to the White House, Ms. Omarova said it was 'no longer tenable' for her to seek the position of comptroller of the currency. Mr. Biden, who said Ms. Omarova had 'lived the American dream' by escaping her birthplace in the former Soviet Union and serving the United States, accepted her request. 'Saule would have brought invaluable insight and perspective to our important work on behalf of the American people,' he said in a statement. 'But unfortunately, from the very beginning of her nomination, Saule was subjected to inappropriate personal attacks that were far beyond the pale.'"

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The House on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a $768 billion defense policy bill after lawmakers abruptly dropped proposals that would have required women to register for the draft, repealed the 2002 authorization of the Iraq war and imposed sanctions for a Russian gas pipeline, in a late-year drive to salvage a bipartisan priority. The legislation, unveiled hours before the vote, put the Democratic-led Congress on track to increase the Pentagon's budget by roughly $24 billion above what President Biden had requested, angering antiwar progressives who had hoped that their party's control of the White House and both houses of Congress would lead to cuts to military programs after decades of growth. Instead, the measure provides significant increases for initiatives intended to counter China and bolster Ukraine, as well as the procurement of new aircraft and ships, underscoring the bipartisan consensus on Capitol Hill for continuing to spend huge amounts of federal money on defense initiatives, even as Republicans lash Democrats for spending freely on social programs.... The lopsided 363-to-70 vote on Tuesday sent the legislation to the Senate, where it is expected to pass with strong bipartisan support as soon as this week."

Emily Cochrane & Margot Sanger-Katz of the New York Times: "The House approved legislation on Tuesday that would pave the way for a swift increase in the debt ceiling amid a Republican blockade, after congressional leaders in both parties agreed to try an unusual maneuver that could avert the threat of a first-ever federal default. The 222-to-212 vote came after days of quiet bipartisan talks to resolve the stalemate culminated in a deal. Only one House Republican, Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, joined Democrats in voting in favor of the measure.... Its passage was not guaranteed in the evenly divided Senate, where Republicans have for weeks refused to let Democrats take up any bill to provide a long-term increase. But Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, signaled confidence that enough of his colleagues could accept the solution. The Treasury Department has said that it could breach the statutory limit on its ability to borrow to finance the federal government's obligations soon after Dec. 15 without congressional action." ~~~

~~~ Kelsey Snell of NPR tries to explain the Senate deal on raising the debt limit: "Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., agreed on a proposal that would allow the Senate to increase the federal borrowing limit without the threat of a Republican filibuster. The move is an attempt to end a months-long standoff as Republicans have refused to join Democrats in voting to increase the debt limit.... The approach combines a one-time change to Senate rules with a measure to prevent scheduled cuts to Medicare payments.... If the one-time change passes the Senate, the bill still needs to be signed into law by the president. Only then would the opportunity to increase the federal borrowing limit with a simple majority vote in the Senate kick off. The one-off agreement would allow Senate Democrats to avoid default, assuming the party is unified on the amount of borrowing power they're willing to allow. Democrats say their goal is to choose a figure that will resolve the debt limit until after the midterm elections in November 2022." MB: I still don't get it. It's two different bills, one on Medicare & one, after the first becomes law, could raise the debt limit by majority vote, sans filibuster? Good grief. ~~~

~~~ Well, Yes. Sarah Ferris, et al., of Politico: "The House passed a bill Tuesday night to expedite a debt ceiling fix in the Senate, allowing Democrats to essentially raise the nation's credit limit on their own and thwart a Christmastime default. The measure -- which is the result of an 11th-hour accord between party leaders -- tees up a new path for Congress to hike the nation's borrowing ability, preventing the Treasury Department from running out of cash as soon as this month.... Under the plan, at least 10 Senate Republicans would vote to allow Democrats to raise the debt ceiling with a simple majority. The Senate could start voting to allow this process Thursday, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he's 'confident' the plan has enough GOP support. But both chambers would need to actually hike the debt limit in a separate vote -- one that could take until early next week to clear both the House and Senate." MB: This is ridiculous. After this remarkable demonstration of GOP cowardice, Republicans should never, ever criticize any Democrat for anything less than a felony conviction. (On the other hand, if Mitch will broker this kind of nonsensical pact to ensure the full faith & credit of the USA, let's see if he'll do it for voter rights, too. [Okay, he won't.])

Marianna Sotomayor & Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post: "Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) plans to introduce a resolution Wednesday to strip Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) of her committee assignments for repeatedly making anti-Muslim remarks aimed at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), hoping the action forces House Democratic leadership to punish the lawmaker before the end of the year. Pressley's resolution, first obtained by The Washington Post, comes amid mounting pressure by House Democrats for Boebert to be reprimanded for her Islamophobic attacks that surfaced via video of the Colorado Republican suggesting at an event in her district over Thanksgiving break that Omar was a suicide bomber."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff under ... Donald J. Trump, on Tuesday informed the committee scrutinizing the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol that he was no longer willing to cooperate with its investigation, reversing a deal he reached with the panel just last week to sit for an interview and provide documents.... Instead, he proposed that Mr. Meadows answer questions in writing through what he called an 'orderly process' that would create a 'clear record of questions and related assertions of privilege.' The turnabout was the second in two weeks by Mr. Meadows, who had initially refused to comply with a subpoena from House panel in line with a directive from Mr. Trump, but told the panel last week that he would be willing to provide documents and sit for a voluntary interview." CNN's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Mike Lillis of the Hill: "The leaders of the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol are vowing to launch criminal charges against Mark Meadows if he refuses to cooperate in the probe.... Meadows ... is scheduled to testify privately before the panel on Wednesday.... 'if indeed Mr. Meadows refuses to appear, the Select Committee will be left no choice but to advance contempt proceedings and recommend that the body in which Mr. Meadows once served refer him for criminal prosecution,' [committee chair Bennie] Thompson [D-Miss.] [MB: and vice-chair Liz Cheney (R-Wy.)] said in a statement." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Meadows' memoir of his happy days in service of Trump was publicly released Tuesday. Meadows thought Trump would love the book. Instead, as Lillis reports, "Trump is reportedly livid about the book, characterizing it publicly as 'fake news.' And Meadows has since walked back his own narrative, saying it was misinterpreted by a liberal media hellbent on disparaging the former president." ~~~

~~~ Zachary Cohen, et al., of CNN: "The House select committee investigating the January 6 riot has formally subpoenaed the phone records of more than 100 people, a substantial number that includes former Trump officials and associates of the ex-President such as his one-time chief of staff Mark Meadows, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The committee has already begun receiving some data from phone providers, the sources said. The records do not include the content of the calls but rather details about who called or texted whom, when and for how long, giving them the ability to draw a web of communications before, during and after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. Congressional investigators also believe this data will help them piece together communications between those in ... Donald Trump's official orbit and the people who organized the rally that preceded the Capitol attack and rioters who participated in the violence. While the records do not include information about the substance of those communications, the panel believes it may be able to learn those details from individuals who are cooperating with the investigation.... An attorney for Meadows took issue with the subpoenas, writing in a letter to the committee on Tuesday that they are part of the reason his client will no longer cooperate with the panel." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: According to Meadows' attorney, the objection is that the records sweep would include phone calls that included "intensely personal communications." Really? Is Meadows worried the January 6 investigators will find out Meadows called his girlfriend/boyfriend 16 times? His masseuse? Sorry, Mark; I don't think they care about your "intensely personal" sex life (if you have one).

Dartunorro Clark of NBC News: "Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to ... Donald Trump, is refusing to be deposed or hand over documents to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, his attorney said in a letter dated Monday. The letter, which Stone provided to NBC News on Tuesday, invokes his Fifth Amendment right not to testify."

Rick Newman of Yahoo! News: "An 'investor presentation' [Donald Trump's new] company recently filed with the Securities and Exchange commission is provoking guffaws among business analysts, with laughable evasions and barely any business strategy. "It does feel like every public action by this company is designed give the impression that it is a joke," Bloomberg analyst Matt Levine wrote on Dec. 7. The oddest part of the [Trump Media & Technology Group] presentation is the 'technology team' listed on Slide 21. The company has apparently filled 30 important jobs already, but it only lists these team members with a first name and last initial. The chief technology officer is 'Josh A.' 'Steve E.' is VP of engineering. One of the senior mobile developers is 'BJ.' Are these real people or stand-ins? We may never know: As a footnote explains: 'personnel subject to change.' One key employee is very well known: Devin Nunes, the pro-Trump California Congressman who's quitting his job in January to become CEO of TMTG, with Trump as chairman. Nunes has no business experience, except for fishy ties to a family farm.... The New Yorker pointed out in a piece of satire [MB: by Andy Borowitz] speculating that Trump will stiff Nunes as he has done with many contractors and investors in his years as a real-estate developer. Maybe it's not satire." ~~~

     ~~~ Thanks to Ken W. for the link. Ken wrote in yesterday's Comments thread that he "can't wait until the stock goes public." MB: Sounds like one of those deals where the initial public offering is $40/share but soon becomes a penny stock. But still, an excellent opportunity to reduce one tax liability for stock gains. RAS also complimented Nunes on his excellent move to join Team Trump just as securities investigators are beginning to look into the shady financing of TMTG: "Nice of him to volunteer to be the latest fall guy." ~~~

~~~ A Giant Grift. Judd Legum of Popular Information calls TMTG "a $1.6 billion mirage. He points out that TMTG's merger with Digital World Acquisition Company (DWAC), a publicly-traded Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) -- the deal the SEC is investigating -- boosted DWAC's stock to $175/share, pretty amazing for a stock that was previously valued at $10/share. "[The value] has since settled in at around $43, which still values TMTG at almost $1.6 billion.... That's not bad for a company that has no product, no users, no publicly identified executives, and no revenue.... [Under the arrangement between TMTG DWAC, Donald] Trump, before TMTG has a single product or subscriber, could collect $1.3 billion.... It's a deal that makes Trump money and the investors money. The people holding the bag will be retail investors paying premium prices for a mirage of a company because they like Trump."

Meredith McGraw of Politico: "During Brett Kavanaugh's controversial 2018 Supreme Court confirmation hearings..., Donald Trump 'strongly considered' dropping the nominee and instead going with a 'stronger candidate,' according to a new book by Trump's former chief of staff Mark Meadows. It wasn't because of accusations that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford while in high school, but because he'd professed that he 'liked beer' during his hearings and was, in Trump's estimation, being too apologetic.... At the time he was having private reservations about Kavanaugh, Trump was publicly fighting for his confirmation, mocking Blasey Ford's testimony at a rally and brushing off concerns from GOP lawmakers about his viability as a Supreme Court nominee." McGraw has more on Meadows' book.

Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: "The Constitution, [Brett] Kavanaugh posited [during last week's Supreme Court hearing on Mississippi's anti-abortion law], is 'neutral' on abortion, 'neither pro-life nor pro-choice.' Consequently, 'this Court should be scrupulously neutral on the question of abortion ... rather than continuing to pick sides.'... The fundamental flaw here is that the Constitution exists in no small part to protect the rights of the individual against the tyranny of the majority. The Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment exist to put some issues off limits for majority rule -- as Justice Robert H. Jackson put it in a 1943 ruling protecting the right of Jehovah's Witness schoolchildren not to be forced to salute the flag.... The Supreme Court, in protecting abortion rights, isn't telling women what to do: It is preserving space for them to make their own decisions about their own pregnancies."

** Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "The mainstream media's fixation with false equivalency between the two political parties and fear of criticism from the right has led to distorted coverage and misleading characterizations of the assault on democracy.... A democracy that can no longer recognize existential threats is in no position to defend itself against shameless foes." Rubin provides plenty of examples of the GOP's assault & the media's euphemisms for these attacks. And she faults Democrats for being "apparently ... temperamentally unsuited to calling out their opponents as anti-democratic or un-American." ~~~

~~~ Dan Froomkin of Press Watch interviews Dana Milbank of the Washington Post about his recent column on journalists' being "accessories to the murder of democracy." MB: Froomkin & Milbank used to be colleagues at the WashPo, where Froomkin's blogposts about the White House were among the most popular opinion pieces. Inexplicable, Fred Hiatt fired Froomkin in June 2009, to the dismay & bewilderment of real journalists at other outlets. ~~~

~~~ Barton Gellman of the Atlantic: "Technically, the next attempt to overthrow a national election may not qualify as a coup. It will rely on subversion more than violence, although each will have its place. If the plot succeeds, the ballots cast by American voters will not decide the presidency in 2024. Thousands of votes will be thrown away, or millions, to produce the required effect. The winner will be declared the loser. The loser will be certified president-elect.... Democrats, big and small D, are not behaving as if they believe the threat is real. Some of them, including President Joe Biden, have taken passing rhetorical notice, but their attention wanders. They are making a grievous mistake.... For more than a year now, with tacit and explicit support from their party's national leaders, state Republican operatives have been building an apparatus of election theft.... Trump and his party have convinced a dauntingly large number of Americans that the essential workings of democracy are corrupt, that made-up claims of fraud are true, that only cheating can thwart their victory at the polls, that tyranny has usurped their government, and that violence is a legitimate response." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If, like me, you don't have a subscription to the Atlantic, Gellman's article would be a good place to "spend" a freebie. Gellman cites, at length, a project led by Robert Pape of the University of Chicago, which has conducted a number of surveys & analyses of the January 6 insurrectionists. Here's one finding that stood out for me: the team noticed a number of factors about the insurrectionists that surprised them. But "Only one meaningful correlation emerged. Other things being equal, insurgents were much more likely to come from a county where the white share of the population was in decline." ~~~

     ~~~ Although Gellman's central thesis comes as no surprise to us, I was struck by this statistic about the insurrectionists because of a snippet I heard on NPR as I was driving home Tuesday: a guest made an assertion I never thought of: the reason we are the only developed nation without a national healthcare system is racism; American politicians (in today's U.S. politics, read Republican politicians) don't want minorities to "get free stuff." Huh. That sure explains the virulent opposition to ObamaCare, doesn't it? More generally, the suggestions makes a lot of sense. When Republicans say "socialism" (or "communism" -- see story on Saule Omarova's withdrawal from consideration, linked above), they don't mean "not capitalism"; they mean "not white." Wow!

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Wednesday are here.

Allison Pecorin of ABC News: "Republican-led efforts to repeal President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate on private businesses will once again get a vote in the Senate Wednesday, and this time a repeal is expected to pass. The Senate will likely vote Wednesday on Republican Sen. Mike Braun's effort to repeal the mandate on private sector businesses with more than 100 employees. Every Republican signed onto the proposal.... Some moderate Democrats are expected to back the repeal effort.... Republicans are bringing up the repeal for a vote using a procedural tool called the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to overturn rules created by federal agencies and only requires 51 votes to pass the Senate. The bill would still need to go over to the House, where it is unlikely to be brought up by Democratic leadership."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Tuesday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Wisconsin. Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "A conservative group issued a report Tuesday saying it found no evidence of widespread fraud in Wisconsin's presidential election but believed officials did not closely follow all the state's voting laws. The report by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty provides Republicans with material they can use to argue Wisconsin's elections system needs to be overhauled. But it also includes findings Democrats can seize on to emphasize that there is no credible evidence to question Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in Wisconsin.... Despite ... finding [no evidence of fraud], the institute leveled numerous criticisms at how the election was conducted and contended changes need to be made for future contests. The report comes as Republicans who control the Assembly conduct their own review of the election at a cost of $676,000 to taxpayers. Former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who is overseeing that review, has focused on many of the same issues that WILL targeted in its report." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Wisconsin Republicans can't find any evidence of voter fraud, but they're going ahead in their tireless effort to ensure "election integrity" by limiting ballot access, gerrymandering & increasing GOP politicians' control over elections, especially federal elections (thanks, Ron Johnson!).

Way Beyond 

France, Turkey, etc. Ben Hubbard & Aurelien Breeden of the New York Times: "The French police arrested a Saudi man on Tuesday in connection with the assassination of the dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi, but French authorities warned that they were still verifying his identity. A French judicial official confirmed that the man, identified as Khalid Alotaibi, 33, was arrested at the Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport north of Paris on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued by Turkey, just before he was to board a flight for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A man by that name is accused of being a member of the team that killed Mr. Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018.... If his identity is confirmed, France could extradite him to Turkey to face charges there." A BBC News report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

December 7, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a video call Tuesday morning focused on growing tensions over Ukraine as Russia masses troops along the border, prompting fears of a Russian invasion of the Eastern European nation." At 1:25 pm ET, this story appears to be "in progress." MSNBC just received the White House's call readout.

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff under ... Donald J. Trump, on Tuesday informed the committee scrutinizing the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol that he was no longer willing to cooperate with its investigation, reversing a deal he reached with the panel just last week to sit for an interview and provide documents.... Instead, he proposed that Mr. Meadows answer questions in writing through what he called an 'orderly process' that would create a 'clear record of questions and related assertions of privilege.' The turnabout was the second in two weeks by Mr. Meadows, who had initially refused to comply with a subpoena from House panel in line with a directive from Mr. Trump, but told the panel last week that he would be willing to provide documents and sit for a voluntary interview." CNN's story is here.

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

Ben Hubbard & Aurelien Breeden of the New York Times: "The French police arrested a Saudi man on Tuesday in connection with the assassination of the dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi, but French authorities warned that they were still verifying his identity. A French judicial official confirmed that the man, identified as Khalid Alotaibi, 33, was arrested at the Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport north of Paris on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued by Turkey, just before he was to board a flight for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A man by that name is accused of being a member of the team that killed Mr. Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018.... If his identity is confirmed, France could extradite him to Turkey to face charges there." A BBC News report is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

President Biden, in a proclamation, on "a date which will live in infamy." ~~~

     ~~~ Audrey McAvoy of the AP: "A few dozen survivors of Pearl Harbor are expected to gather Tuesday at the site of the Japanese bombing 80 years ago to remember those killed in the attack that launched the U.S. into World War II."

Ellen Nakashima & Rick Maese of the Washington Post: "The United States will not send President Biden or any U.S. government official to the Beijing Winter Olympics in February to protest China's human rights abuses, the White House announced Monday, in a pointed snub to a country seeking to use the Games to enhance its global standing. Though largely symbolic -- the diplomatic boycott does not affect the ability of American athletes to participate in the Games -- it will be seen as a major affront by Washington's greatest military and economic competitor as China seeks to distract from its increasingly repressive policies at home and aggression abroad."

Trumped-up Charges? Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The defense team for a cybersecurity lawyer who was indicted in September by a Trump-era special counsel asked a judge on Monday to set a trial date sooner than the prosecutor wants -- while disclosing evidence recently turned over to them that appears to contradict the charge. The materials could make it harder for the special counsel, John H. Durham, to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the cybersecurity lawyer, Michael Sussmann, is guilty of the charge against him: making a false statement to the F.B.I. during a September 2016 meeting about possible links between Donald J. Trump and Russia. The newly disclosed evidence consists of records of two Justice Department interviews of the former F.B.I. official to whom Mr. Sussmann is accused of lying, each of which offers a different version of the key interaction than the version in the indictment. That official [-- James A. Baker --] is the prosecution's main witness.... Mr. Baker's accounts ... have been inconsistent...."

Jamie Gangel, et al., of CNN: "Marc Short, the former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, is cooperating with the January 6 committee, a significant development that will give investigators insight from one of the highest-ranking Trump officials, according to three sources with knowledge of the committee's activities. CNN is also reporting for the first time that the committee subpoenaed Short a few weeks ago. Short remains one of Pence's closest advisers and is a firsthand witness to many critical events the committee is examining, including what happened to Pence at the Capitol on January 6 and how ... Donald Trump pressured the former vice president not to certify the presidential election that day."

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Representative Devin Nunes, a California Republican who emerged as one of ... Donald J. Trump's most loyal and pugnacious allies, announced on Monday that he would resign from Congress after 19 years to become the chief executive officer of Mr. Trump's new media and technology company. Mr. Nunes faced almost impossible odds in being re-elected to the Central Valley district that his family has farmed for three generations. A new map emerging from an independent citizens' redistricting commission was almost certain to flip it from a district Mr. Trump won handily to one President Biden would have won. But political analysts and politicians in the district had predicted that Mr. Nunes ... would jump to a newly created, Republican-friendly district.... Mr. Nunes's decision to take over Mr. Trump's fledgling media enterprise instead of the influential House panel that writes tax and health care policy signals where he thinks power lies in the Republican Party and the conservative movement." Politico's story is here. Thanks to Ken W. for the lead. In yesterday's thread, unwashed speculated on the role of Devin Nunes' Cow in the Trump media empire. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Being a member of Congress cannot be a fun job. But there's hardly a worse, more humiliating job in the U.S. than "Donald Trump employee." ~~~

     ~~~ digby is bearish: "The odds of this enterprise ever making any money are very long. Trump is a terrible businessman and what Nunes knows about running a company and social media is confined to suing a twitter user and losing. Should work out great."

~~~ Matthew Goldstein & David Enrich of the New York Times: "Securities regulators have opened investigations into the planned merger of a nascent social media company backed by ... Donald J. Trump with a so-called blank-check company that raised nearly $300 million in an initial public offering in September. The investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority were disclosed Monday in a regulatory filing by Digital World Acquisition Corporation, the special purpose acquisition company that intends to merge with Trump Media Technology Group. Both regulators are looking for information regarding the trading in shares of Digital World. The S.E.C. is also looking into 'documents and communications' between Digital World and Trump Media.... The investigation ... comes after The New York Times reported that the chief executive of Digital World, Patrick Orlando, had talks with representatives of Trump Media as far back as March about doing a deal." The report is part of the Times' business updates for Monday. The Washington Post story is here. MB: I'll bet you're way surprised that a business deal involving Donald Trump could be suspect. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) CNBC has a story here.

Emma Brown, et al., of the Washington Post: "In the months after ... Donald Trump lost the November election, lawyer Sidney Powell raised large sums from donors inspired by her fight to reverse the outcome of the vote. But by April, questions about where the money was going -- and how much there was -- were helping to sow division between Powell and other leaders of her new nonprofit, Defending the Republic.... Records reviewed by The Washington Post show that Defending the Republic raised more than $14 million, a sum that reveals the reach and resonance of one of the most visible efforts to fundraise using baseless claims about the 2020 election. Previously unreported records also detail acrimony between Powell and her top lieutenants over how the money -- now a focus of inquiries by federal prosecutors and Congress -- was being handled." MB: I'll bet you're way surprised that a fundraising scheme cooked up by Donald Trump's lawyer could be suspect. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Audra Burch & Tariro Mzezewa of the New York Times: "The Justice Department announced on Monday that it had closed an investigation into the abduction and murder of Emmett Till, the African American teenager whose gruesome killing by two white men more than six decades ago in Mississippi helped begin the civil rights movement. In a news release dated Dec. 6, federal officials said there was not enough evidence to pursue charges in the case, which was reopened after a historian claimed in a book that Carolyn Bryant Donham, the central witness whose account of an encounter with Emmett led to his death, had recanted the most salacious portions of her story -- that he had grabbed her and made sexually suggestive remarks. Citing the statute of limitations and Ms. Donham's denial that she had ever changed her story, the Justice Department said it could not move forward with prosecuting her for perjury." A Politico report is here.

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Former senator Robert J. Dole, who died Sunday at age 98, will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol rotunda on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced Monday."

Bob Dole, in a Washington Post op-ed. Dole "drafted early in 2021 to be published around the time of his death": "We have overcome our biggest challenges only when we focused on our shared values and experiences. These common ties form much stronger bonds than political parties. I cannot pretend that I have not been a loyal champion for my party, but I always served my country best when I did so first and foremost as an American.... By leading with a shared faith in each other, we become America at its best: a beacon of hope, a source of comfort in crisis, a shield against those who threaten freedom. Our nation's recent political challenges remind us that our standing as the leader of the free world is not simply destiny. It is a deliberate choice that every generation must make and work toward. We cannot do it divided."

Matt Schudel of the Washington Post: "Fred Hiatt, a onetime foreign correspondent who in 2000 became The Washington Post's editorial page editor and greatly expanded the global reach of the newspaper's opinion writers in the era of 9/11, the election of Barack Obama and the destabilizing presidency of Donald Trump, died Dec. 6 at a hospital in New York City. He was 66. He had sudden cardiac arrest on Nov. 24 while visiting his daughter in Brooklyn, said his wife, Margaret 'Pooh' Shapiro, and did not regain consciousness. He had been treated for heart ailments in the past." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: “Federal health authorities issued a warning Monday against travel to several European countries as well as Jordan and Tanzania amid growing fears of the omicron variant, telling people to make sure they are fully vaccinated if they must visit. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said to avoid travel to France, Portugal, Cyprus, Andorra and Liechtenstein, grouping all in a Level 4 category that represents a 'very high' level of the coronavirus."

Beyond the Beltway

Georgia Gubernatorial Race. Amy Gardner & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: Donald Trump lobbied hard to get former Sen. David Perdue (R) to run against current Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, ensuring a nasty primary race.

Illinois. Sonia Rao of the Washington Post: "Former 'Empire' actor Jussie Smollett, facing six felony disorderly conduct charges for allegedly filing a false police report about being the victim of a hate crime, took the stand in a Chicago courtroom Monday to testify in his own defense. He reiterated his stance that there 'was no hoax.'"; Politico's report is here.

New York. Billionaire Thief. Tom Mashberg of the New York Times: "Michael H. Steinhardt, the billionaire hedge fund pioneer and one of New York's most prolific antiquities collectors, has surrendered 180 stolen objects valued at $70 million and been barred for life from acquiring any other relics, the Manhattan district attorney's office said in a statement Monday. The prosecutor's office struck an agreement with Mr. Steinhardt after a four-year multinational investigation that determined that the seized pieces had been looted and smuggled from 11 countries, trafficked by 12 illicit networks and appeared on the international art market without lawful paperwork, the office said." MB: I think the old fart should go to jail.

New York. Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "A woman who says she had a years-long sexual relationship with Jeffrey Epstein told jurors on Monday that Ghislaine Maxwell played a key role in facilitating their encounters, first telling her that Epstein was a philanthropist interested in helping young people and then encouraging her to give him massages. The former British model, actress and musician testified in Maxwell's sex-trafficking trial under the pseudonym Kate, although she has been named in interviews she has given in the past about alleged abuse by Epstein. Because she was not under the legal age of consent when she was involved with Epstein, jurors in U.S. District Court in Manhattan were told she is not one of Maxwell's alleged sex-trafficking victims."

Texas. Katie Benner, et al., of the New York Times: "The Justice Department sued Texas on Monday over the state's plan to redraw its voting districts, saying it would essentially make ballots cast by Black and Latino voters count for less than those of others. In announcing the suit, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said that the redistricting plan that the state's Republican-led legislature approved in October violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which says that voters cannot be denied equal access to the political process based on their race or ethnicity. The suit was the second in a little over a month to be filed by the Justice Department challenging Texas over voting. The department sued the state in early November over a new voting law that it argued would disenfranchise Texans who do not speak English, people with disabilities, older voters and those who live outside the United States." Politico's story is here.

Way Beyond

Germany. Geir Moulson of the AP: Chancellor Angela Merkel is "leaving office at age 67 to praise from abroad and enduring popularity at home. Her designated successor, Olaf Scholz, is expected to take office Wednesday. Merkel, a former scientist who grew up in communist East Germany, is bowing out about a week short of the record for longevity held by her one-time mentor, Helmut Kohl, who reunited Germany during his 1982-1998 tenure."

Haiti. Amanda Coletta of the Washington Post: "Three more of the 17 missionaries who were kidnapped by a notorious street gang in Haiti in October have been released, Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries said Monday. The three, who were freed Sunday night, 'are safe and seem to be in good spirits,' the organization said in a statement. Two other members of the group were released last month; 12 remain in captivity."