August 28, 2022

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Ironic that Friday was Women's Equality Day, designated so by Congress in the '70s. At a time when women all over the world should be blossoming, we're seeing stunning setbacks. There's a bizarre trend of punishing women, Saudi-style, for their sexuality. Sanna Marin, Finland's 36-year-old prime minister, is under fire for dancing with her friends in a country that always gets named 'the happiest country in the world' in the United Nations-sponsored World Happiness Report. What a grim, still-sexist world this is, when Marin is forced to tearfully apologize -- and take a drug test -- after video leaked of her letting loose.... The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, was cheered for chugging beers at a public concert while Marin was under fire for dancing at a private party."

Smooth Sailing. AP: "The U.S. Navy sailed two warships through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, in the first such transit publicized since U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan earlier in August, at a time when tensions have kept the waterway particularly busy. The USS Antietam and USS Chancellorsville are conducting a routine transit, the U.S. 7th Fleet said. The cruisers 'transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal State,' the statement said."

Alan Feuer & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Florida gave notice on Saturday of her 'preliminary intent' to appoint an independent arbiter, known as a special master, to conduct a review of the highly sensitive documents that were seized by the F.B.I. this month during a search of Mar-a-Lago..., Donald J. Trump's club and residence in Palm Beach. In an unusual action that fell short of a formal order, the judge, Aileen M. Cannon of the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida, signaled that she was inclined to agree with the former president and his lawyers that a special master should be appointed to review the seized documents.... Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Mr. Trump in 2020, set a hearing for arguments in the matter for Thursday in the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach -- not the one in Fort Pierce, Fla., where she typically works." The Hill's report is here.

Does This Orange Jumpsuit Make Me Look Fat? Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Since the release of the search warrant [on Mar-a-Lago], which listed three criminal laws as the foundation of the investigation, one -- the Espionage Act — has received the most attention. Discussion has largely focused on the spectacle of the F.B.I. finding documents marked as highly classified and Mr. Trump's questionable claims that he had declassified everything held at his residence. But by some measures, the crime of obstruction is as, or even more, serious a threat to Mr. Trump or his close associates. The version investigators are using, known as Section 1519, is part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a broad set of reforms enacted in 2002.... The heavily redacted affidavit [released Friday] provides new details of the government's efforts to retrieve and secure the material in Mr. Trump's possession, highlighting how prosecutors may be pursuing a theory that the former president, his aides or both might have illegally obstructed an effort of well over a year to recover sensitive documents that do not belong to him.... Section 1519's maximum penalty is 20 years in prison, which is twice as long as the penalty under the Espionage Act." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jeremy Herb & Annie Grayer of CNN: "Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines has sent a letter to the House Intelligence and House Oversight committee chairs, saying the intelligence community is conducting a damage assessment of the documents taken from ... Donald Trump's home in Mar-a-Lago, according to a letter obtained by CNN.... Several members of Congress have called for an intelligence damage assessment of the documents." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Notes from the Scene of the Crime. Niall Stanage of the Hill: "One of former President Trump's main claims about the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago is being undermined by Friday's release of a key affidavit. Trump has pushed the narrative that he and his lawyers were cooperating with the Department of Justice's (DOJ) inquiries about documents from his time in the White House. This, he claims, means that the Aug. 8 raid on his Florida estate was gratuitous.... Even in heavily redacted form, the affidavit points out that there was a prolonged process lasting around seven months in 2021 before Trump's team coughed up any documents at all.... [For instance,] according to a Trump legal filing earlier this week, one of the FBI agents, having been shown the storage room in which some documents were held, purportedly said, Now it all makes sense.' The same Trump filing refers to a June 8 letter in which the DOJ 'requested, in pertinent part, that the storage room be secured' -- a request that is implied to have been met when Trump told staff to put a second lock on the door. By contrast, the DOJ's affidavit quotes a letter on the same date -- presumably the same letter -- reiterating to a Trump lawyer that there was no 'secure location authorized for the storage of classified information' anywhere at the resort. The letter makes clear that the DOJ's request was not some generalized security check-up but a demand for the 'preservation' of the storage room in its 'current condition until further notice' -- phrasing that is far more redolent of an investigation of a possible crime scene than a friendly chat about padlocks." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Steve Benin of MSNBC: "The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Organized Crime Corruption and Reporting Project published a stunning report [Friday] on a young woman named Inna Yashchyshyn, who presented herself as Anna de Rothschild.... The report notes that this woman -- with a fake identity and shadowy background' -- allegedly bypassed the security at Mar-a-Lago with relative ease[.] The FBI has reportedly begun an inquiry into the matter.... Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who actually chaired the Senate Homeland Security Committee for six years, downplayed the seriousness of Trump's scandal last week because, as the Wisconsinite put it, Mar-a-Lago is 'a pretty safe place' and 'a secure location.'... There's overwhelming evidence to the contrary."~~~

     ~~~ A related straight news story by Edward Helmore of the Guardian is here. Yashchyshyn is the daughter of an Illinois truck driver.

Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: "In the nearly three weeks since the FBI searched ... Donald Trump's Florida home to recover classified documents, the National Archives and Records Administration has become the target of a rash of threats and vitriol.... Following the Aug. 8 FBI search, Trump and his allies unleashed a torrent of attacks on one of the most apolitical arms of the federal bureaucracy.... Trump's recent actions have whipped his followers into a fervor against the Archives, and he has empowered some of his most politically combative allies to represent him in negotiations with the agency.... In June, around the time the Justice Department stepped up its hunt for documents at Mar-a-Lago, Trump assigned two new Archives representatives who focused on pubicizing documents they claimed would vindicate Trump and damage the FBI: Kash Patel and John Solomon.... NARA's motto, Littera Scripta Manet, translates from Latin to 'the written word remains.' But in Trump's White House, the written word was often torn, destroyed, misplaced or hoarded.... Some NARA officials believe that there might still be more records missing, according to a person familiar with the matter." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I doubt that anyone who decides to embark upon a career as an archivist thinks, "Wow, this job is going to be fun. I'll be wrangling with presidents* & be in danger at every moment."

Emily Peck & Sara Fischer of Axios: "The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) refused Donald Trump's application for a trademark for 'Truth Social,' the name of his social media company earlier this month.... The USPTO found two other companies who already use the Truth Social wording, which would create what's known as 'likelihood of confusion' if Trump also got the mark. Typically, when a company files for a trademark -- the distinct brand-name it wishes to use exclusively -- lawyers vet the term to make sure there's no conflicts.... Trump can appeal, which trademark lawyers believe is likely.... The trademark refusal is just the latest setback for the former president's social media app and its parent company, which have been beset by a raft of issues over the past few months." MB: You might think Trump would have hired a patent attorney who knew how to apply for a patent, but I suppose he couldn't find any who would work for him without demanding a huge retainer. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's Truth Social website is facing financial challenges as its traffic remains puny and the company that is scheduled to acquire it expresses fear that his legal troubles could lead to a decline in his popularity. Six months after its high-profile launch, the site -- a clone of Twitter, which banned Trump after Jan. 6, 2021 -- still has no guaranteed source of revenue and a questionable path to growth, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings from Digital World Acquisition, the company planning to take Trump's start-up, the Trump Media & Technology Group, public. The company warned this week that its business could be damaged if Trump 'becomes less popular or there are further controversies that damage his credibility.' The company has seen its stock price plunge nearly 75 percent since its March peak and reported in a filing last week that it had lost $6.5 million in the first half of the year.” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jared's Dilemma: "There's Different Words." Annie Karni & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Making the rounds promoting his new memoir, Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of ... Donald J. Trump, this week ... [was asked] Did he agree with Mr. Trump's false claim that the 2020 election was stolen? 'I think that there's different words,' Mr. Kushner told the talk show host Megyn Kelly during a friendly interview.... Pressed to say whether Mr. Trump lost, Mr. Kushner demurred. 'I believe it was a very sloppy election,' he said. 'I think that there's a lot of issues that I think if litigated differently may have had different insights into them.' In reality, the words that election officials have used to describe the 2020 contest are 'the most secure in American history,' and judges across the country rejected nearly all of the several dozen lawsuits that allies of Mr. Trump filed alleging fraud. Mr. Kushner's reluctance to concede as much reflected the contortions he is now attempting as he tries to sell a book whose success hinges on his close ties to Mr. Trump. At the same time, he is seeking to keep his distance from the lies and misdeeds that paved the way for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Like the memoir itself, titled 'Breaking History,' the task involves a highly selective narrative that casts Mr. Kushner as a young star getting things done in the White House without getting his hands dirty." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yeah, it depends upon what the meaning of "lost" is. What a nitwit. Karni & Haberman have fun tearing into Jared in this straight news story.

Beyond the Beltway

Utah. Jim Acosta of CNN: "Utah independent Senate candidate Evan McMullin has accused a motorist of brandishing a firearm and pointing it at him and his wife as the couple was driving home from a campaign event in April. The allegation is described in a 'victim impact statement' filed by McMullin in the District Court for Utah County, Utah, this week.... In the filing, McMullin accused the motorist, Jack Aaron Whelchel, of making unprovoked threats that included forcing the couple's car into oncoming traffic, before aiming a firearm in a threatening manner. Whelchel was indicted in April on misdemeanor charges of making a threat with a dangerous weapon and disorderly conduct. Whelchel pleaded not guilty to both charges. McMullin testified as a witness during a preliminary hearing in July, at which he identified Whelchel as the motorist, but the candidate has not publicly mentioned the incident.... [Whelchel's attorney] said he expects the case to go to a jury trial after a scheduled hearing next month.... Whelchel's Facebook page features several far-right memes."

Way Beyond

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Sunday are here: "Local authorities in Zaporizhzhia are distributing potassium iodide tablets in case of a leak of radioactive material , and residents are lining up. The tablets helps counteract the effects of radioactive exposure by blocking the body's absorption of the radioactive form of iodine.... The [U.S.] State Department confirmed another U.S. citizen has died but did not identify them.... Vladimir Putin has ordered payments and welfare benefits be made to Ukrainians arriving in Russia, according to a law signed this weekend."

Pakistan's "Climate Catastrophe." Zarar Khan of the AP: "Deaths from widespread flooding in Pakistan topped 1,000 since mid-June, officials said Sunday, as the country's climate minister called the deadly monsoon season 'a serious climate catastrophe.' Flash flooding from the heavy rains has washed away villages and crops as soldiers and rescue workers evacuated stranded residents to the safety of relief camps and provided food to thousands of displaced Pakistanis. Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority reported the death toll since the monsoon season began earlier than normal this year -- in mid-June -- reached 1,033 people after new fatalities were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southern Sindh provinces."

News Lede

Washington Post: "Four people were dead after a man set a residence on fire, shot at people fleeing and was then killed by a police officer early Sunday in Houston, authorities said. Just after 1 a.m., the city's police and fire departments received calls about a fire and shooting at a house used as a rental facility, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said at a news conference. Firefighters arrived first but had to take cover when the gunman opened fire, although it was not clear if he was firing at them. Soon after that, police officers got to the scene and found the shooter in a parking lot across the street from the house. An officer shot and killed the man, who was dressed in black and armed with a shotgun, Finner said. Two residents were pronounced dead at the scene, and a third died at a hospital."

August 27, 2022

This Afternoon in Trumpster Dumpster Fire News:

Does This Orange Jumpsuit Make Me Look Fat? Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Since the release of the search warrant [on Mar-a-Lago], which listed three criminal laws as the foundation of the investigation, one -- the Espionage Act -- has received the most attention. Discussion has largely focused on the spectacle of the F.B.I. finding documents marked as highly classified and Mr. Trump's questionable claims that he had declassified everything held at his residence. But by some measures, the crime of obstruction is as, or even more, serious a threat to Mr. Trump or his close associates. The version investigators are using, known as Section 1519, is part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a broad set of reforms enacted in 2002.... The heavily redacted affidavit [released Friday] provides new details of the government's efforts to retrieve and secure the material in Mr. Trump's possession, highlighting how prosecutors may be pursuing a theory that the former president, his aides or both might have illegally obstructed an effort of well over a year to recover sensitive documents that do not belong to him.... Section 1519's maximum penalty is 20 years in prison, which is twice as long as the penalty under the Espionage Act."

Jeremy Herb & Annie Grayer of CNN: "Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines has sent a letter to the House Intelligence and House Oversight committee chairs, saying the intelligence community is conducting a damage assessment of the documents taken from ... Donald Trump's home in Mar-a-Lago, according to a letter obtained by CNN.... Several members of Congress have called for an intelligence damage assessment of the documents."

Notes from the Scene of the Crime. Niall Stanage of the Hill: "One of former President Trump's main claims about the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago is being undermined by Friday's release of a key affidavit. Trump has pushed the narrative that he and his lawyers were cooperating with the Department of Justice's (DOJ) inquiries about documents from his time in the White House. This, he claims, means that the Aug. 8 raid on his Florida estate was gratuitous.... Even in heavily redacted form, the affidavit points out that there was a prolonged process lasting around seven months in 2021 before Trump's team coughed up any documents at all.... [For instance,] according to a Trump legal filing earlier this week, one of the FBI agents, having been shown the storage room in which some documents were held, purportedly said, Now it all makes sense.' The same Trump filing refers to a June 8 letter in which the DOJ 'requested, in pertinent part, that the storage room be secured' -- a request that is implied to have been met when Trump told staff to put a second lock on the door. By contrast, the DOJ's affidavit quotes a letter on the same date -- presumably the same letter -- reiterating to a Trump lawyer that there was no 'secure location authorized for the storage of classified information' anywhere at the resort. The letter makes clear that the DOJ's request was not some generalized security check-up but a demand for the 'preservation' of the storage room in its 'current condition until further notice' -- phrasing that is far more redolent of an investigation of a possible crime scene than a friendly chat about padlocks."

Emily Peck & Sara Fischer of Axios: "The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) refused Donald Trump's application for a trademark for 'Truth Social,' the name of his social media company earlier this month.... The USPTO found two other companies who already use the Truth Social wording, which would create what's known as 'likelihood of confusion' if Trump also got the mark. Typically, when a company files for a trademark -- the distinct brand-name it wishes to use exclusively -- lawyers vet the term to make sure there's no conflicts.... Trump can appeal, which trademark lawyers believe is likely.... The trademark refusal is just the latest setback for the former president's social media app and its parent company, which have been beset by a raft of issues over the past few months." MB: You might think Trump would have hired a patent attorney who knew how to apply for a patent, but I suppose he couldn't find any who would work for him without demanding a huge retainer. ~~~

~~~ Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's Truth Social website is facing financial challenges as its traffic remains puny and the company that is scheduled to acquire it expresses fear that his legal troubles could lead to a decline in his popularity. Six months after its high-profile launch, the site -- a clone of Twitter, which banned Trump after Jan. 6, 2021 -- still has no guaranteed source of revenue and a questionable path to growth, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings from Digital World Acquisition, the company planning to take Trump's start-up, the Trump Media & Technology Group, public. The company warned this week that its business could be damaged if Trump 'becomes less popular or there are further controversies that damage his credibility.' The company has seen its stock price plunge nearly 75 percent since its March peak and reported in a filing last week that it had lost $6.5 million in the first half of the year."

~~~~~~~~~~

Reading Between the Redactions

Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: "The Justice Department's search of ... Donald J. Trump's Florida home was spurred by the discovery that he had retained a trove of highly classified material that included documents related to the use of 'clandestine human sources' in intelligence gathering, according to a redacted version of the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant. The portions of the affidavit made public on Friday describe the Justice Department's monthslong push to recover sensitive materials taken from the White House by a former president who viewed state documents as his private property, and now faces a department investigating the possibility he illegally obstructed those efforts.... There was 'probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found' at Mr. Trump's house, prosecutors wrote in the affidavit.... The redacted document did not offer details of what the possible obstruction might be, but the mention raised the possibility that the former president could face considerable legal peril.... The affidavit, which was sworn to on Aug. 5, also noted that the F.B.I. had 'not yet identified all potential criminal confederates nor located all evidence related to its investigation.'"

Glenn Thrush & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The Justice Department asked to search ... Donald J. Trump's Florida residence after retrieving an initial batch of highly classified national security documents, out of concern that their disclosure could compromise 'clandestine human sources' used in intelligence gathering, according to a redacted version of the affidavit used to obtain the warrant. The affidavit -- including more than three dozen pages of evidence and legal arguments presented by the Justice Department's national security division plus supporting documents -- describes the government's monthslong push to recover highly classified materials taken from the White House by a former president who viewed state documents as his private property." This is a liveblog that was updated numerous times Friday afternoon. Reporters' comments are informative. Following are a few items in the liveblog: ~~~

"Less than an hour after a heavily redacted copy of the affidavit used to justify the F.B.I.'s search of ... Donald J. Trump's residence in Florida was released on Friday, he and many of his allies were directing their ire toward the judge who signed the warrant. In a post on Truth Social, his social media platform, Mr. Trump named Judge Bruce Reinhart and falsely described the search of Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8 to retrieve classified documents as a 'break-in of my home.'...

[Another Lie.] "The General Services Administration, the federal agency charged with managing the government's property, rebutted on Friday a claim made by ... Donald J. Trump's aides that the agency had improperly packed hundreds of pages of documents with classified markings that were sent from the White House to Mr. Trump's home in Florida.... The agency said that it had no role in packing the boxes.... In the aftermath of the F.B.I.'s search of Mr. Trump's property two weeks ago, a top aide to Mr. Trump, Kashyap Patel, said ... that 'the G.S.A., not Trump, had mishandled the packaging of the documents.'... Around the same time, Mr. Trump's spokesman told NBC News that the former president was working to ensure that any items improperly moved by the General Services Administration were appropriately returned.'... The [GSA] said that while it was in charge of moving the boxes after they were packed[, shrink-wrapped & put on pallets], its personnel never examined the contents of the boxes, nor did it have any idea what was in them....

"A letter from the Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran to Jay Bratt, the top counterintelligence official in the national security division at the Justice Department, suggests that Trump had absolute declassification authority. But the letter does not state that Trump actually declassified any of these documents. Instead, the Trump adviser Kash Patel started making that claim around that time....

"A rare, unredacted line in a largely censored set of pages recounting events says that the National Archives made a request for the missing government documents on May 6, 2021, 'and continued to make requests until approximately late December 2021,' when Trump's office told them they had found 12 boxes that were ready for the agency to retrieve from Mar-a-Lago." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

     ~~~ The Washington Post story, by Perry Stein & Devlin Barrett, is here. According to a note, it will be updated frequently. "The details contained in the affidavit and unsealed Friday ... underscore the high stakes and unprecedented nature of a criminal probe into whether the former president and his aides took secret government papers and refused to return all of the material -- even in the face of demands from senior law enforcement officials.... 'There is also probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found,' the affidavit says.... Of the 38 pages in the affidavit, nearly half are entirely or mostly redacted." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Records the FBI obtained from Trump’s Florida home in advance of the Aug. 8 search bore indications they contained human source intelligence, intercepts under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and signals intelligence, as well as other tags indicating high sensitivity. Several of those tightly-controlled documents contained Trump's 'handwritten notes,' the partially-redacted affidavit detailing the Justice Department investigation says.... In those boxes [obtained early this year], agents found 184 unique documents, 25 of which were marked 'top secret,' 92 of which were marked 'secret,' and 67 of which were marked 'confidential' -- the lowest level of national security classification. Prosecutors also added in another court filing unsealed Friday that the ongoing criminal probe into government records stashed at Trump's Florida home has involved 'a significant number of civilian witnesses' whose safety could be jeopardized if their identities were revealed." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

     ~~~ Politico has a facsimile of the affidavit here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Amber Phillips of the Washington Post outlines top takeaways from the redacted affidavit.

More Big Lies. They could have had it anytime they wanted -- and that includes LONG ago. ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS ASK. The bigger problem is, what are they going to do with the 33 million pages of documents, many of which are classified, that President Obama took to Chicago? -- Donald Trump, on his fake Twitter site, August 12 ~~~

~~~ Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times:"The National Archives and the Justice Department tried and failed repeatedly for more than a year and a half to retrieve classified and sensitive documents from ... Donald J. Trump before resorting to a search of his Mar-a-Lago property this month, according to government documents and statements by Mr. Trump's lawyers. The documents, including an unsealed, redacted version of an affidavit from the Justice Department requesting a warrant to conduct the search, make clear the lengths to which the government went before pursuing a law enforcement action to recover the material. Here's a timeline of the events that led to the search." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie P.S. President Obama did not take any documents to Chicago. All of his presidential papers in the custody of the National Archives.

Julian Barnes & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: Clandestine human sources "risk imprisonment or death stealing the secrets of their own governments. Their identities are among the most closely protected information inside American intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Losing even one of them can set back American foreign intelligence operations for years. [They] ... are the lifeblood of any espionage service. This helps explain the grave concern within American agencies that information from undercover sources was included in some of the classified documents recently removed from Mar-a-Lago..., raising the prospect that the sources could be identified if the documents got into the wrong hands. Mr. Trump has a long history of treating classified information with a sloppiness few other presidents have exhibited. And the former president's cavalier treatment of the nation's secrets was on display in the affidavit underlying the warrant for the Mar-a-Lago search. The affidavit, released in redacted form on Friday, described classified documents being found in multiple locations around the Florida residence, a private club where both members and their guests mingle with the former president and his coterie of aides."

Yeah but, what with all the security at Mar-a-Lago, there's no possibility any foreign spies or shady characters got into Mar-a-Lago. ~~~

~~~ Nikki Schwab, et al., of the Daily Mail: "A Ukrainian woman posing as a member of the Rothschild banking dynasty successfully infiltrated Mar-a-Lago and former President Donald Trump's inner circle and is now being investigated by the FBI and Canadian authorities. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project were out with a report Friday on 33-year-old Inna Yashchyshyn, who told Florida socialites she was heiress Anna de Rothschild, and was 'fawned all over' by guests at Trump's private club.... Canadian law enforcement confirmed Yashchyshyn has been the subject of a major crimes unit investigation in Quebec since February, the Post-Gazette reported. Yashchyshyn started showing up at Mar-a-Lago last spring...." Yashchyshyn carries Ukrainian & Russian passports. Her Florida drivers license lists an address at a mansion where she had never lived. She was involved with a man whom she described in court as a violent criminal who held her hostage; he said she was a grifter. She apparently had connections with organized crime. Article includes a photo of Yashchyshyn posing with Trump & Lindsey Graham at Trump's Florida golf club. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "Former Attorney General William Barr attacked Donald Trump and his Republican supporters for again 'pandering to outrage,' this time over the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. Barr was pressed Thursday by journalist Bari Weiss on her podcast 'Honestly' on why Republicans should trust the legitimacy of the FBI search in the wake of Trump's attacks on the operation to retrieve government documents. An irritated Barr responded: 'Something I'm pretty tired of from the right is the constant pandering to outrage and people's frustrations. And picking and picking and picking at that sore without trying to channel those feelings in a constructive direction.' Barr said it's 'premature' to reach a conclusion about the Aug. 8 FBI search of Trump's resort and residence. Agents turned up 27 boxes of material, including 11 packets of classified material, including some top secret information.... Barr conceded it's 'hard to explain' why Trump would have held on to the official documents. He characterized vicious attacks on the FBI by Trump and his supporters as 'over the top.'"

New York Times Editors: "No matter how careful [Attorney General Merrick Garland is or how measured the prosecution might be, there is a real and significant risk from those who believe that any criticism of Mr. Trump justifies an extreme response. Yet it is a far greater risk to do nothing when action is called for. Aside from letting Mr. Trump escape punishment, doing nothing to hold him accountable for his actions in the months leading up to Jan. 6 could set an irresistible precedent for future presidents. Why not attempt to stay in power by any means necessary or use the power of the office to enrich oneself or punish one's enemies, knowing that the law does not apply to presidents in or out of office? More important, democratic government is an ideal that must constantly be made real. America is not sustained by a set of principles; it is sustained by resolute action to defend those principles.... Mr. Trump's actions have brought shame on one of the world's oldest democracies and destabilized its future. Even justice before the law will not erase that stain."

Andrew Weissmann in a New York Times op-ed: "The redacted affidavit is further proof that Mr. Trump's flouting of criminal statutes persisted for a long time and gives every appearance of being intentional.... The key questions that remain include what precisely is the full scope of what Mr. Trump took from the White House, why he took the documents and did not return them all and what he was doing with them all this time."

Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Donald Trump's attorneys late Friday made a new pitch for an independent review of the materials seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate. In a 12-page filing, they urged a federal judge to appoint a 'special master' to prevent the Justice Department from continuing to comb through dozens of boxes taken by FBI agents earlier this month. The reporters lay out the case as presented. A CNN report, by Tierney Sneed, finds other shortcomings in the motion's arguments. ~~~

     ~~~Marie: I'm no judge, but their arguments sound unpersuasive. The one point the attorney made -- that under a 1991 appeals court ruling, the president* has "virtually complete control' over his records -- doesn't look so helpful to Trump when you actually read the 1991 ruling. First, it applies only to the president* during his time in office. Second, he must notify the Archivist -- who then must notify the Congress -- if he intends to dispose of any records he considers inconsequential. Third, Trump didn't dispose of the records in question here; he stole them & maintained them in an unsafe place where prying eyes might find them. That's different from his usual ripping, flushing or trashing techniques. (I find it pretty funny that, by law, Trump was required to notify the Archivist that he was going to flush some papers down the toilet. Under that law, Trump would have had to wait a couple of weeks to flush. Eeew!) It looks to me that, except for notes to himself [eg., "Fire McGahn!!!], there should be a record of all of Trump's communications, as the people to whom he wrote any notes would have had to retain them.

** Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: President Biden on Thursday offered some harsh words about those of the 'extreme MAGA philosophy' currently hacking away at our democracy. 'It's not just Trump,' he said at a fundraiser. 'It's the entire philosophy that underpins the -- I'm going to say something: It's like semi-fascism.' He expanded on the theme later at a rally. 'The MAGA Republicans,' he said, are 'a threat to our very democracy. They refuse to accept the will of the people. They embrace -- embrace -- political violence.' Good for him. Those who cherish democracy need to call out the proto-fascist tendencies now seizing the Trump-occupied GOP. Republican candidates up and down the November ballot reject the legitimate outcome of the last election -- and are making it easier to reject the will of the voters in the next. Violent anti-government rhetoric from party leaders targets the FBI, the Justice Department and the IRS. A systemic campaign of disinformation makes their supporters feel victimized by shadowy 'elites. These are hallmarks of authoritarianism." Read on. ~~~

~~~ Marie: The one & only downside of defeating the fascists would be this: there will be no more absurd bullies, liars & lemmings to mock. We will have to satisfy ourselves with drunken old politicians taking dips with strippers in the Tidal Basin and congressmen stuffing their freezers with cold cash receipts of bribes. ~~~

~~~ Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post, in the first of several letters to her Dearest Mother: "I heard the good news today from Senator Grassley and Senator Cruz and many voices more: The Lord be praised, President Biden is starting a new army, 87,000 strong, and all armed, to work for the IRS. They shall burst into homes and knock down doors and wreak Biden's personal vengeance on the middle class, and every one shall have an AR-15. My dream is coming true. I am rushing to enlist; I am leaving the farm in your hands until my return from service in this glorious cause." MB: I do not want to give away the ending of this epistolary column, but suffice it to say that Biden's war against the American taxpayer disappoints Petri. I am sorry to tell you that, as a general rule, believing Chuck & Ted is bound to lead to disappointment.

There's a New Twitter Master at the White House. Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "... the White House [Twitter] account has been quiet and unassuming, largely regurgitating press releases and explaining [President] Biden's policies. Not anymore.... The White House account this week decided to hit back in uncharacteristically feisty -- and personal -- fashion after a number of Republicans hammered Biden's decision to wipe out up to $20,000 in student debt for many borrowers.... For the White House, the newly punchy tone seems to be part of a revamped strategy leading up to November's midterm elections, with Biden increasingly attacking Republicans directly and sometimes by name.... The White House also recently hired Megan Coyne ... in its Office of Digital Strategy. Coyne garnered widespread attention among Democrats for bringing humor and punchiness to a Ne Jersey state-run account with tweets that went viral."

Rebecca Robbins & Jenny Gross of the New York Times: "The vaccine manufacturer Moderna sued Pfizer and BioNTech on Friday, claiming that its rivals' Covid-19 shot copied groundbreaking technology that Moderna had developed years before the pandemic. The allegation of patent infringement sets up what could become a protracted and expensive legal battle between the companies behind coronavirus vaccines that have saved millions of lives worldwide and raised hopes for future medical products using similar messenger RNA, or mRNA, technology. Experts said Moderna's litigation, regardless of its outcome, was unlikely to impede access to Covid vaccines or chill the development of mRNA products. But the outcome could dictate whether Pfizer or Moderna controls and profits more from a powerful and lucrative medical technology."

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida suspended four elected members of the Broward County school board on Friday, following the recommendation of a grand jury impaneled to look into school safety and other issues after the mass school shooting in Parkland that left 17 people dead in 2018. In its report, which was released last week, the grand jury found that the four school board members -- and a fifth one who no longer holds that position -- had 'engaged in acts of incompetence and neglect of duty,' in part for what the grand jury described as mismanagement of an $800 million bond issue.... [Laurie Rich Levinson, one of those suspended,] said that all the suspended board members had won elections since the shooting. 'What country is this? Ms. Levinson, formerly the board chairwoman, said in an interview Friday. 'Governor DeSantis ... doesn't care about democracy and he overturned the will of the voters.' She added that Mr. DeSantis 'impaneled this grand jury under the guise of school safety as a pretext to remove school board members who did not fire the former superintendent.'" The board is nonpartisan, but all four suspended members are registered Democrats. A UPI story is here. ~~~

~~~ ** Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Dan Froomkin of Press Watch: "Mainstream-media journalists are completely unprepared to cover a presidential candidate who would use the power of the state against his political enemies, who stokes division with racist conspiracy theories, and who will do anything to entrench one-party control of the government. Yes, we've been through this before. But in 2016, the media at least had the excuse that it was new to them.... But here comes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.... And in some ways, he's much more dangerous to our democracy than Trump. He's an ideologue, not just a narcissist -- with a real track record of authoritarian governance. He isn't just tweeting idle threats, or enriching himself personally. He is already using his position of power to punish his enemies and reward his allies in furtherance of his political goals. His hyperbole and mendacity match and surpass Trump's. He doesn't just insult people who disagree with him, he accuses them of wanting to sexualize kindergartners.... Trump is a Trumpist. But DeSantis is a fascist."

GOP Fields Dangerous Candidates

Michigan. GOP to Nominate Fraudster/Conspiracy Theorist as State Attorney General. Alexandra Berson & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Bolstered by his association with [Donald Trump, Matthew] DePerno [-- well-known to state legislators & judges as am 'absurd' conspiracy theorist ---is poised to be nominated as the G.O.P. candidate for attorney general, the top legal official in the state, at a state party convention on Saturday. He is among a coterie of election deniers running for offices that have significant authority over elections, worrying some election experts, Democrats and some Republicans across the country. This month, the Michigan attorney general's office released documents that suggest Mr. DePerno was a key orchestrator of a separate plot to gain improper access to voting machines in three other Michigan counties." The article delves into DePerno's extremely dodgy career, which includes a 2020 scam in which he collected more than $400,000 for himself from a site calling itself "The 2020 Election Fraud Defense Fund." MB: No wonder Donald Trump endorses him.

Pennsylvania Governors Race. Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "Doug Mastriano, the far-right Republican nominee for governor of Pennsylvania, wore a Confederate uniform for a faculty photo at the Army War College that surfaced on Friday. The photo, from the 2013 to 2014 academic year, shows Mr. Mastriano wearing a gray military uniform, including a gray cap with yellow trim, and holding a Civil War-era firearm. It was first reported Friday evening by Reuters, which obtained it through a Freedom of Information Act request. Mr. Mastriano -- a retired Army colonel and now a state senator whose district includes Gettysburg, the site of the battle where the tide of the Civil War turned against the Confederacy -- is running for governor against the Pennsylvania attorney general, Josh Shapiro, a Democrat."

Way Beyond

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Saturday are here: "Russia and Ukraine accused each other of fresh shelling at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, just two days after the plant was cut off from Ukraine's electricity, causing a massive power outage and sparking international fears of a radiation disaster, before backup diesel generators kicked in. Inspectors from the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog are expected to visit the plant next week.... Shelling at the plant may result in hydrogen leakage, sputtering of radioactive substances and fires, Ukraine's nuclear power agency warned in a statement, as it accused Russian troops of 'repeatedly' targeting the facility over the past day. Russia's attack and control of the plant was a threat to 'the security of the whole world,' it added. Russia's ministry of defense meanwhile said Ukraine had fired shells at the facility in the past 24 hours. Negotiations for a visit to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by U.N. inspectors are nearing completion, but the Kremlin is insisting on a Russian media presence for the visit, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Washington Post. At the United Nations, Russia blocked the final draft of a declaration on a joint treaty on nuclear security after weeks of negotiations."

August 26, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Glenn Thrush & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The Justice Department asked to search ... Donald J. Trump's Florida residence after retrieving an initial batch of highly classified national security documents, out of concern that their disclosure could compromise 'clandestine human sources' used in intelligence gathering, according to a redacted version of the affidavit used to obtain the warrant. The affidavit -- including more than three dozen pages of evidence and legal arguments presented by the Justice Department's national security division plus supporting documents -- describes the government's monthslong push to recover highly classified materials taken from the White House by a former president who viewed state documents as his private property." This is a liveblog that is being updated Friday afternoon. Reporters' comments are informative. Following are a few items in the liveblog: ~~~

"Less than an hour after a heavily redacted copy of the affidavit used to justify the F.B.I.'s search of ... Donald J. Trump's residence in Florida was released on Friday, he and many of his allies were directing their ire toward the judge who signed the warrant. In a post on Truth Social, his social media platform, Mr. Trump named Judge Bruce Reinhart and falsely described the search of Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8 to retrieve classified documents as a 'break-in of my home.'...

[Another Lie.] "The General Services Administration, the federal agency charged with managing the government's property, rebutted on Friday a claim made by ... Donald J. Trump's aides that the agency had improperly packed hundreds of pages of documents with classified markings that were sent from the White House to Mr. Trump's home in Florida.... The agency said that it had no role in packing the boxes.... In the aftermath of the F.B.I.'s search of Mr. Trump's property two weeks ago, a top aide to Mr. Trump, Kashyap Patel, said ... that 'the G.S.A., not Trump, had mishandled the packaging of the documents.'... Around the same time, Mr. Trump's spokesman told NBC News that the former president was working to ensure that any items improperly moved by the General Services Administration were appropriately returned.'... The [GSA] said that while it was in charge of moving the boxes after they were packed[, shrink-wrapped & put on pallets], its personnel never examined the contents of the boxes, nor did it have any idea what was in them....

"A letter from the Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran to Jay Bratt, the top counterintelligence official in the national security division at the Justice Department, suggests that Trump had absolute declassification authority. But the letter does not state that Trump actually declassified any of these documents. Instead, the Trump adviser Kash Patel started making that claim around that time....

"A rare, unredacted line in a largely censored set of pages recounting events says that the National Archives made a request for the missing government documents on May 6, 2021, 'and continued to make requests until approximately late December 2021,' when Trump's office told them they had found 12 boxes that were ready for the agency to retrieve from Mar-a-Lago."

     ~~~ The Washington Post story, by Perry Stein & Devlin Barrett, is here. According to a note, it will be updated frequently. "The details contained in the affidavit and unsealed Friday ... underscore the high stakes and unprecedented nature of a criminal probe into whether the former president and his aides took secret government papers and refused to return all of the material -- even in the face of demands from senior law enforcement officials.... 'There is also probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found,' the affidavit says.... Of the 38 pages in the affidavit, nearly half are entirely or mostly redacted." ~~~

     ~~~ Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Records the FBI obtained from Trump’s Florida home in advance of the Aug. 8 search bore indications they contained human source intelligence, intercepts under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and signals intelligence, as well as other tags indicating high sensitivity. Several of those tightly-controlled documents contained Trump's 'handwritten notes,' the partially-redacted affidavit detailing the Justice Department investigation says.... In those boxes [obtained early this year], agents found 184 unique documents, 25 of which were marked 'top secret,' 92 of which were marked 'secret,' and 67 of which were marked 'confidential' -- the lowest level of national security classification. Prosecutors also added in another court filing unsealed Friday that the ongoing criminal probe into government records stashed at Trump's Florida home has involved 'a significant number of civilian witnesses' whose safety could be jeopardized if their identities were revealed."

     ~~~ Politico has a facsimile of the affidavit here.

Yeah but, what with all the security at Mar-a-Lago, there's no possibility any foreign spies or shady characters got into Mar-a-Lago. ~~~

~~~ Nikki Schwab, et al., of the Daily Mail: "A Ukrainian woman posing as a member of the Rothschild banking dynasty successfully infiltrated Mar-a-Lago and former President Donald Trump's inner circle and is now being investigated by the FBI and Canadian authorities. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project were out with a report Friday on 33-year-old Inna Yashchyshyn, who told Florida socialites she was heiress Anna de Rothschild, and was 'fawned all over' by guests at Trump's private club.... Canadian law enforcement confirmed Yashchyshyn has been the subject of a major crimes unit investigation in Quebec since February, the Post-Gazette reported. Yashchyshyn started showing up at Mar-a-Lago last spring...." Yashchyshyn carries Ukrainian & Russian passports. Her Florida drivers license lists an address at a mansion where she had never lived. She was involved with a man whom she described in court as a violent criminal who held her hostage; he said she was a grifter. Article includes a photo of Yashchyshyn posing with Trump & Lindsey Graham at Trump's Palm golf club.

~~~~~~~~~~

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Thursday night launched a push toward the midterm elections with a fiery speech in Rockville, Md., in which he cast the Republican Party as one that was dangerously consumed with anti-democratic forces that had turned toward 'semi-fascism.' It was some of the strongest language used by Biden, a politician long known -- and at times criticized for -- his willingness to work wit members of the opposite party. 'The MAGA Republicans don't just threaten our personal rights and economic security,' Biden said, referencing ... Donald Trump's Make America Great Again slogan. 'They're a threat to our very democracy. They refuse to accept the will of the people. They embrace -- embrace -- political violence. They don't believe in democracy.'" Read on. CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: When Barack Obama was president, the White House read Reality Chex. I expect President Biden's White House staff does, too.

Charlotte Alter of Time: "Many of the older conservatives who are angry at the idea that taxpayers might pay for student loan forgiveness went to school at a time when the government was heavily subsidizing higher education.... Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell called Biden's loan forgiveness plan 'student loan socialism' and said it was a 'slap in the face to every family who sacrificed to save for college.' But when McConnell graduated from the University of Louisville in 1964, annual tuition cost $330 (or roughly $2,500 when adjusted for inflation); today, it costs more than $12,000, a 380% increase. When House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who called the policy a 'debt transfer scam,' graduated from California State University, Bakersfield in 1989, tuition was less than $800; today, it's more than $7,500, a 400% increase when adjusted for inflation.... Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who called the policy 'UNFAIR' on Twitter..., graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 1955, when annual tuition cost roughly $159, or between $40 and $53 per quarter. Today, it costs more than $8,300, a nearly 500% increase even when adjusted for inflation."

Trolling MTG. Julia Mueller of the Hill: "The White House on Thursday called out Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Ga.) criticism of President Biden's plan to forgive some student loans, noting that the congresswoman had Paycheck Protection Program loans forgiven.... 'Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene had $183,504 in PPP loans forgiven,' the White House wrote, referring to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a lifeline extended to help small businesses stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.... The White House Twitter account has created a thread below its response to Greene's criticism, with similar responses to other Congressional critics of the student loan debt announcement. The congressmen whose PPP loan amounts were revealed include Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)."

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "On Wednesday, President Biden announced a plan to reduce most students' debt by $10,000, with lower-income students eligible for twice that amount.... Assuming it survives legal challenges, it will be a big deal for millions of Americans, although the overall economic impact will ... be limited.... A preliminary analysis by Goldman Sachs estimates that student loan payments will fall to 0.3 percent of personal income from 0.4 percent. This is supposed to feed the fires of inflation?... The Biden plan also calls for an end to the pandemic pause in payments, which will suck considerably more cash out of the economy than debt relief will put back in.... There's solid evidence that freeing former students from overhanging debt makes it easier for them to move to better jobs and increases their income.... And to Republicans whining that this plan does nothing for blue-collar Americans who didn't go to college, a question: What are you proposing to do for such people -- other than cut taxes on the rich and claim that the benefits will trickle down? So you should ignore the inflation scaremongers, whose numbers don't add up."

Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: "The Pentagon on Thursday announced sweeping changes aimed at reducing risks to civilians in U.S. military operations by fostering a culture in which those in the field view preventing such harm as a core part of their missions. A 36-page action plan directs broad changes at every level of military planning, doctrine, training and policy in not only counterterrorism drone strikes but also in any future major conflict. It includes emerging war-fighting tactics like attacks on satellites and computer systems. The directive -- which follows an investigative series by The New York Times into civilian deaths from American airstrikes -- contains 11 major objectives."

Glenn Thrush & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Thursday ordered that a redacted version of the affidavit used to obtain a warrant for ... Donald J. Trump's Florida residence be unsealed by noon on Friday -- paving the way for the disclosure of potentially revelatory details about a search with enormous legal and political implications. The decision by Judge Bruce E. Reinhart came just hours after the Justice Department submitted its proposal for extensive redactions to the document, in an effort to shield witnesses from intimidation or retribution if it is made public, officials said. Judge Reinhart appeared to accept the requested cuts and, moving more quickly than government lawyers had expected, directed the department to release the redacted affidavit in a brief two-page order issued from Federal District Court in Southern Florida. The order said that he had found the Justice Department's proposed redactions to be 'narrowly tailored to serve the government's legitimate interest in the integrity of the ongoing investigation.'" (This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Hill's report is here. CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Gabby Orr, et al., of CNN: "Not long after the National Archives acknowledged in February that it had retrieved 15 boxes of presidential records from ... Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, Trump began fielding calls from Tom Fitton..., the longtime head of the [right-wing] legal activist group Judicial Watch. [Fitton told Trump] ... it was a mistake to give the records to the Archives..., according to three sources familiar with the matter. Those records belonged to Trump, Fitton argued, citing a 2012 court case involving his organization that he said gave the former President authority to do what he wanted with records from his own term in office. The Judicial Watch president suggested to Trump that if the Archives came back, he should not give up any additional records...." As Akhilleus points out in today's Comments, Fitton is not a lawyer. MB: This jibes with Trump's well-worn practice of finding "advisors" to fit his own views rather than advisors who will give him counsel that fits the facts & the law.

Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "... on Thursday, [lawyers for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp argued] that the governor should not have to help with the ongoing criminal investigation into [2020] election meddling by testifying before a special grand jury. Mr. Kemp's legal team has accused Fani T. Willis, a Democrat and the local prosecutor leading the inquiry, of politicizing the investigation, and wants any testimony to take place after the polls close on his re-election bid in November.... The lawyers for Mr. Kemp made a number of arguments as to why he should not have to comply with the subpoena at all, but they were received skeptically by Judge Robert C.I. McBurney of Fulton County Superior Court, who did not immediately make a ruling.... In a sign of how widely her case is expanding, Ms. Willis also moved on Thursday to compel testimony from a number of additional Trump advisers, including Mark Meadows, his former chief of staff in the White House, and Sidney Powell, a lawyer who advanced the most aggressive conspiracy theories falsely claiming that the 2020 election was stolen. And Ms. Willis indicated in court filings that her investigation now encompasses 'an alleged breach of elections data' in rural Coffee County, Ga., which was part of a larger effort by Trump allies to infiltrate elections systems in swing states." ~~~

     ~~~ Mattnew Brown, et al., of the Washington Post: "The judge presiding over the grand jury investigation into possible election interference by Donald Trump and his allies expressed skepticism Thursday over arguments from Republicans that the prosecution, led by a Democratic district attorney, was politically motivated. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert C.I. McBurney did not immediately rule on a request from Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) to toss a subpoena for his testimony from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D). 'It is not my space' to focus on politics, McBurney said as lawyers for Kemp argued that the subpoena had already become a political issue this election season. 'I don't think it is the right forum' to debate the political ramifications of the case, said the judge."

Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Some of the biggest names at Fox News have been questioned, or are scheduled to be questioned in the coming days, by lawyers representing Dominion Voting Systems in its $1.6 billion defamation suit against the network, as the election technology company presses ahead with a case that First Amendment scholars say is extraordinary in its scope and significance. Sean Hannity became the latest Fox star to be called for a deposition by Dominion's legal team, according to a new filing in Delaware Superior Court. He is scheduled to appear on Wednesday. Tucker Carlson is set to face questioning on Friday. Lou Dobbs, whose Fox Business show was canceled last year, is scheduled to appear on Tuesday. Others who have been deposed recently include Jeanine Pirro, Steve Doocy and a number of high-level Fox producers, court records show.... The depositions are among the clearest indications yet of how aggressively Dominion is moving forward with its suit, which is set to go to trial early next year, and of the legal pressure building on the nation's most powerful conservative media company. There have been no moves from either side to discuss a possible settlement...."

Neal Boudette of the New York Times: "For years, as California has moved ahead with ambitious clean-air regulations, the state has had to prod the auto industry to go along. Now, in the push to electrify the nation's car fleet, it is California that is keeping up with automakers. Even before state regulators acted Thursday to ban sales of new internal-combustion vehicles by 2035, Detroit's Big 3 and their international rivals were setting increasingly aggressive targets for exclusively electric product lines.... 'To move everything to E.V.s in California doesn't seem outlandish and unattainable right now,' said Jessica Caldwell..., an auto-market researcher. 'But I'm sure each automaker will face challenges to achieve their targets, and a few may even struggle a bit.'"

Carter Sherman & Paul Blest of Vice: "A man who worked as a political director for Texas Right to Life, the premier anti-abortion group in the state, has been arrested for the online solicitation of a minor. Lucas 'Luke' Bowen, 33, was charged with the second-degree felony on August 3. A minor, under that statute, refers to anyone who's younger than 17 or who the arrested person believes to be younger than 17. Bowen allegedly 'knowingly' solicited a minor online 'with the intent' of engaging 'in sexual contact or sexual intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse,' according to a complaint filed by Montgomery County prosecutors obtained by The Courier of Montgomery County." MB: One reason people go to work for right-to-life organizations is that they love having a job where they get to talk all day about having sex with minors.

Adam Goldman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Two Florida residents pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday to stealing a diary and other belongings of President Biden's daughter, Ashley Biden, and selling them to the conservative group Project Veritas in the final weeks before the 2020 election. Aimee Harris, 40, and Robert Kurlander, 58, admitted they took part in a conspiracy to transport stolen materials from Florida, where Ms. Biden had been living, to New York, where Project Veritas has its headquarters. Prosecutors said Mr. Kurlander agreed as part of a plea deal to cooperate with the Justice Department's investigation into how the diary was acquired by Project Veritas, whose deceptive operations against liberal groups and traditional news organizations made it a favorite of ... Donald J. Trump.... Whether the Justice Department ultimately charges anyone who worked for Project Veritas is unclear." But an operative for Project Veritas, according to prosecutors, was involved in arranging the theft of some of Ms. Biden's belongings, and Project Veritas later demanded an interview with President Biden about the contents of the diary. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A Guardian report is here.

Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: "Sandy Hook victims' families asked a federal bankruptcy court on Thursday to order the Infowars conspiracy broadcaster Alex Jones to relinquish control over his company, saying he has 'systematically transferred millions of dollars' to himself and his relatives while claiming to be broke. In a filing in the bankruptcy court in Houston, the families of nine Sandy Hook victims said they sought to have a bankruptcy trustee who is already monitoring the case take control of Free Speech Systems, the parent company of Mr. Jones's misinformation-peddling media outlet.... Mr. Jones's claimed insolvency is at the heart of his efforts to avoid paying for the damage done by his Sandy Hook lies."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona Senate Race. Never Mind. Allan Smith & Marc Caputo of NBC News: "Arizona Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters softened his tone and scrubbed his website's policy page of tough abortion restrictions Thursday.... In an ad posted to Twitter on Thursday, Masters sought to portray his opponent, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, as the extremist on the issue while describing his own views as 'commonsense.'... Just after it released the ad, Masters' campaign published an overhaul of his website and softened his rhetoric, rewriting or erasing five of his six positions. NBC News took screenshots of the website before and after it was changed. Masters' website appeared to have been refreshed after NBC News reached out for clarification about his abortion stances."

North Dakota. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "The day before a near-total abortion ban would have taken effect in North Dakota, a judge put that law on hold Thursday afternoon, pending the conclusion of a legal challenge being mounted by the state's former sole abortion clinic. Burleigh County District Judge Bruce Romanick granted a preliminary injunction in a legal challenge brought by Red River Women's Clinic, which was North Dakota's only abortion clinic until it moved just across state lines earlier this month. Although the trigger ban has been blocked, the state will have no abortion clinic for the foreseeable future. The clinic relocated from Fargo to Moorhead, Minn., on Aug. 6 to stay open in the event that the North Dakota trigger ban went into effect. Tammi Kromenaker, the clinic's director, said Red River Women's Clinic would probably stay in Moorhead even if it wins its lawsuit and defeats the trigger ban, because Minnesota's abortion laws are far more permissive."

Texas. Johnny Get Your Gun. Eliza Fawcett of the New York Times: “A federal judge in Fort Worth struck down a Texas law on Thursday that prohibits adults under 21 from carrying handguns, on the grounds that the restriction violated the Second Amendment.... A lawsuit brought against the state in November 2021 by two adult plaintiffs under 21 and the Firearms Policy Coalition, a gun-rights advocacy nonprofit, challenged the constitutionality of the statute. The lawsuit argued that '18- to 20-year-old adults were fully protected by the Second Amendment at the time of its ratification.'... Judge [Mark] Pittman, who was nominated by ... Donald J. Trump in 2019, ordered the injunction stayed for 30 days, pending appeal...."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live briefings of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Electricity has been restored to Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Friday, narrowly averting a 'radiation accident,' says Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky. The facility was cut off from Ukraine's electricity grid a day earlier, causing a massive power outage before backup diesel generators kicked in. Zelensky warned that Europe remained 'one step away from a radiation disaster' as long as Russian troops controlled the plant.... Although now receiving power, [the plant] is not yet providing any power to the rest of the country.... Russia is using 21 sites in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, to detain, interrogate and process prisoners of war and civilians in so-called 'filtration camps,' a report by Yale University and the State Department has found. Its findings are based on data and commercial satellite imagery identifying with 'high confidence' the separate locations, it said, one of which contains 'potential graves.'" ~~~

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

John Hudson of the Washington Post: "Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant was cut off from the country's electricity grid, setting off a mass power outage in the adjacent area after fires damaged its last functioning transmission line, Ukraine's nuclear power company said Thursday. The incident renewed fears about safety at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP), which is also the largest atomic energy plant in Europe and is located in an area now occupied by invading Russian forces. Fighting in the vicinity of the plant has led to acute worries of a potential catastrophe and to calls from many world leaders for U.N. nuclear experts to be allowed to visit the site." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)