August 20, 2022

Lisa Friedman & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "Fresh off signing expansive climate legislation, President Biden and his administration are planning a series of executive actions to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help keep the planet from warming to dangerous temperatures, senior White House officials said. Mr. Biden is on track to deploy a series of measures, including new regulations on emissions from vehicle tailpipes, power plants and oil and gas wells, the officials said. In pushing more executive action, Mr. Biden is trying to make up for the compromises his party made on climate measures to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes the largest single American investment to slow global warming." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Executive orders are no substitute for legislation because a future climate-change-denying wingnut president beholden to special interests can, with the stroke of a pen, undo them. But this is still a take-that-Joe-Manchin move. Anyhow, good for President Joe.

Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said at a roundtable Friday that Democrats were forced to narrow a key provision of the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act because of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.... 'We had a senator from Arizona who basically didn't let us go as far as we needed to go with our negotiations and made us wait two years,' Manchin said in a video of the event that was viewed by NBC News. 'Those type of things -- I don't question anybody, everyone's responding to their own constituent base. But we did get something. And it's the first time we made a positive move in that.' The law allows Medicare to negotiate the cost of 10 drugs in 2026, a number that is slated to rise gradually in the years after. Many Democrats wanted to begin earlier and give the government broader power to negotiate prices with the industry." MB: Isn't it great that Manchin suddenly sees the downside to holding up a bill for a couple of years while you whittle away the beneficial provisions all your colleagues favor?

Aishvarya Kavi of the New York Times: "The leaders of two House panels sent letters on Friday to eight social media companies demanding that they take 'immediate action' to address threats on their platforms toward federal law enforcement officials after a surge in right-wing calls for violence following the F.B.I.'s search of ... Donald J. Trump's home in Florida. In the letters, Representatives Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York and the chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, and Stephen F. Lynch, Democrat of Massachusetts and the chairman of its National Security Subcommittee, also expressed concern about 'reckless statements' from Mr. Trump and some Republican members of Congress. The statements have 'coincided with a spike in social media users calling for civil war and violence toward law enforcement,' they said. The letters were sent to mainstream platforms like Twitter, TikTok and Facebook's parent company, Meta, as well as right-wing social media sites like Gab, Gettr and Rumble. A letter also went to Truth Social, Mr. Trump's social media site, which erupted with calls for violence last week...." A CNBC story is here.

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post points out that if Judge Bruce Reinhart does order the release of a redacted form the affidavit underlying the search warrant for Mar-a-Lago, it won't satisfy Trump or his lemmings. "If this document is released, Trump and many of his supporters will seize on the redactions as 'evidence' that the 'real rationale' for the search is being covered up -- and that the entire process is irredeemably illegitimate.... [Trump] is all but certain to do all he can to ensure that [release of the affidavit] only escalates [his followers'] rage."

Kaitlan Collins, et al., of CNN: "White House officials have privately expressed deep concern over the tranche of classified material taken to ... Donald Trump's home in Florida, including some documents that are only meant to be viewed only in secure government facilities.... Current administration officials have become increasingly concerned about what Trump took and whether that information ... could potentially put the sources and methods of the US intelligence community at risk.... Asked Wednesday whether [President] Biden needs to be briefed on the national security implications, White House chief of staff Ron Klain insisted the President would maintain his distance [from the DOJ investigation].... Intelligence officials have also expressed concern about what Trump might have taken.... Intelligence community representatives have had discussions with the Justice Department, congressional intelligence committees, and the National Archives in recent months about potentially missing sensitive documents, [a] source said." ~~~

~~~ Rudy, however, is not concerned ~~~

~~~ Wherein Giuliani Admits Trump Stole Classified Documents. Andrew Feinberg of the Independent, republished in Yahoo! News: "Donald Trump's former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on Thursday appeared to admit that Mr Trump had classified documents that are the property of the US government, during an appearance on the right-wing Newsmax television network. Mr Giuliani, who is currently facing disbarment for making false statements in the course of his representation of the ex-president during his push to overturn the 2020 election, was attempting to defend Mr Trump when he said the Espionage Act -- the law FBI agents said may have been violated when they asked for a warrant to search Mr Trump's home -- was 'really not about taking the documents.... It's about destroying them or hiding them or giving them to the enemy. It's not about taking them and putting them in a place that's roughly as safe as they were in in the first place,' he said.... Writing on Twitter, [national security law expert Bradley] Moss said: 'This is 100% false'. In fact, the section of the US criminal code referenced in the FBI's application for a search warrant ... makes it a crime for anyone 'entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document ... relating to the national defense' to '[permit] the same to be removed from its proper place of custody' with 'gross negligence'." MB: Because an unlocked basement closet at a Florida resort is "roughly as safe" as a SKIF. This throwing fake defenses at a wall the way some might toss ketchup to see if it sticks, is not going well for the Trumplodytes. See also Akhilleus' comment below. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Having a butler or usher cart classified from the Oval Office to the White House residence is part of Trump's "defense." It was, according to his defenders, SOP. Yet it strikes me that this "gross negligence" would include having someone without top-secret clearance tote the docs around the building. The same would be true for leaving the documents lying around the residence for Melanie & the maid to rifle through as Donald was fixing his hair (a 45-minute operation) or whatever. It would be worthwhile for the DOJ to find out exactly how this process worked & how the documents were (ha-ha) "secured" when they were being moved or left in the residence.

Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Friday turned down a request by Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina to avoid testifying next week before a special grand jury investigating attempts by former President Trump and his allies to overturn his November 2020 election loss in Georgia. The order, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Leigh Martin May, means that Mr. Graham, a South Carolina Republican and staunch Trump ally, is on track to appear in a closed-door session of the special grand jury on Tuesday at a downtown Atlanta courthouse. However, Mr. Graham already has taken his case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, which has the ability to step in to postpone his appearance. Judge May had earlier issued an order forcing the senator to give testimony, but Mr. Graham asked the judge to stay the order while he pursued his appeal in the case. On Friday, the judge wrote that 'the public interest would not be served' by granting a stay and delaying Mr. Graham's testimony." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I have a feeling this judge finds it a bit irregular that a South Carolina senator would be calling the top Georgia elections official & asking him to figure out a way to throw out a slew of ballots.

Judges Determined to Reveal that Bill Barr Is a Big Fat Liar. Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "A federal appeals court has ordered the release of a secret Justice Department memo discussing whether ... Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The unanimous panel decision issued Friday echoes that of a lower court judge, Amy Berman Jackson, who last year accused the Justice Department of dishonesty in its justifications for keeping the memo hidden. The panel of three judges, led by Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan, said that whether or not there was 'bad faith,' the government 'created a misimpression' and could not stop release under the Freedom of Information Act. The memo was written by two senior Justice Department officials for then-attorney general William P. Barr, who subsequently told Congress that there was not enough evidence to charge Trump with obstruction of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's inquiry.... 'The court's ... review of the memorandum revealed that the Department in fact never considered bringing a charge,' the [three-judge] panel wrote.” An AP story is here.

Senate Races 2022. Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "Republican Senate hopefuls are getting crushed on airwaves across the country while their national campaign fund is pulling ads and running low on cash -- leading some campaign advisers ... to demand an audit of the committee's finances, according to Republican strategists involved in the discussions.... The NRSC&'s retreat came after months of touting record fundraising..., according to Federal Election Commission disclosures. But the committee has burned through nearly all of it.... 'If they were a corporation, the CEO would be fired and investigated,' said a national Republican consultant.... The NRSC's chairman, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, has already taken heat from fellow Republicans for running ads featuring him on camera and releasing his own policy agenda that became a Democratic punching bag -- leading to jokes that 'NRSC' stood for 'National Rick Scott Committee' in a bid to fuel his own presumed presidential ambitions." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In my little state, I've seen/heard maybe a hundred TV ads for the Democratic candidate for Senate. I truly have no if she even has a Republican challenger. Anyway, I'm quite un-sad & unsurprised that Rick Scott is mismanaging/stealing other people's money. It's what he does. ~~~

~~~ Trump Fever. Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "GOP Senate candidates are underperforming in multiple states, as the homestretch of the midterms approaches.... [On Thursday, Mitch] McConnell said, 'Senate races are just different, they're statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.' Writing in Vanity Fair, Eric Lutz reported, "He didn't mention any of those candidates directly, but he almost certainly could have been talking about any of Donald Trump's handpicked contenders, who earned the former president's support seemingly for one of two reasons: He knows them from television, or they're loyalists who have organized their campaigns almost entirely around his 2020 election lies.... In reality, the Senate minority leader only has himself to blame for the rise of these dangerous weirdos.'... [In New York magazine, Jonathan Chait wrote,] '... The [GOP] Establishment is not worried about kooks being elected. It is worried about the kooks losing to Democrats.... And given that power is the only language Republicans seem to understand, the best hope defenders of democracy have is that the Republicans underperform in the midterm elections, and the party Establishment comes to regret its appeasement of Trump.'" (Both Vanity Fair & New York are subscriber-firewalled.)

House Races 2022. Trump Fever. Melanie Zanona of CNN: "The man in charge of the House GOP's campaign strategy has been doling out advice to Republican candidates and incumbents in key battleground races as they prepare for the general election: Don't be distracted by Donald Trump on the campaign trail, and instead focus on the issues Republicans believe will be most salient to voters in the midterms. The guidance from Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, relayed by three GOP sources familiar with the internal conversations, reflects a tacit acknowledgment among Republican leaders that the former president could knock the GOP's midterm messaging off course.... It also represents a shift from the strategy deployed in many Republican primaries, where embracing Trump -- or at least not alienating him and his base -- was seen as essential to survival.... 'I don't say his name, ever. I just avoid saying his name generally,' said one of the GOP lawmakers in a competitive race. 'I talk about the policies of his that I like.'" MB: Really? What policies? As far as I can tell, Trump's "policies" consist entirely of the old opera-singer warm-up: "Me me me me me."

Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: "Walmart is expanding its employee health-care plans to cover more situations in which its staff might seek an abortion, making the nation's largest private employer the latest firm to offer enhanced access to reproductive health services after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Arkansas-headquartered Walmart, which has 1.6 million employees in the United States, said it would cover abortions 'when there is a health risk to the mother, rape or incest.' It will also pay for the procedure in the event of miscarriage, a lack of fetal viability or an ectopic pregnancy, when a fetus implants outside the uterus. The company will provide 'travel support' for employees and dependents if they require access to a health service covered by Walmart's insurance plan but there is no viable provider within 100 miles of their location." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The way I read the report, Walmart will not cover abortions for employees experiencing a viable but unwanted pregnancy without extenuating circumstances. I might be wrong. But if I'm right, this isn't much of a concession, even though it will be a lifeline for a few employees.

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona Gubernatorial Race. Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "This week, GOP Arizona gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake caused controversy when she endorsed Jarrin Jackson -- an Oklahoma legislator who has proclaimed that 'the Jews' are evidence that 'evil exists' and that 'Jews will go to hell.' On Friday, a member of Congress [Ruben Gallego (D-Az.)] demanded to know whether she endorses those views -- and she responded with a bizarre attack insinuating he may have associated with a Chinese spy." Read the story for the details. Suffice it to say that Lake smeared both Gallego & Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) with a false accusation AND she did not rescind her endorsement of Jackson.

Florida. Philip Bump of the Washington Post puts Gov. Ron DeSantis's big election-fraud-arrests party into context. If you read Bump's column, you might just conclude that the "real fraudster" is -- Ron DeSantis. Includes the best "chart" ever. ~~~

     ~~~ Romy Ellenbogen & Bianca Ocasio of the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau: "Five of those arrested Thursday on voter fraud charges told the Herald/Times they believed they were able to vote and had faced no issue registering. They said they would not have voted had they known their previous convictions made them ineligible.... [Those arrested] were charged with a third-degree felony, which can result in up to $5,000 in fines and up to five years in prison." The article explains why these voters had no idea they were ineligible to vote.

     ~~~ Marie: Other than DeSantis's obnoxious showboating, the purpose of his so-called voter fraud team seems to be to pile on another gross form of voter suppression. Every ex-felon (and I think there are something like 20,000 of them), whether or not he can legally vote in Florida, will be afraid to do so in case there's some quirk somewhere in Republicans' bag of tricks that renders him both ineligible to vote AND eligible for arrest if he does so. This is another cruel stunt perpetrated on people who should be trying to put their lives back together by, among other things, participating in one of a citizen's most important civic responsibilities.

Georgia. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court a federal judge's ruling that the state had adopted voting rules that disadvantaged Black voters in violation of a federal civil rights law. In an unsigned order without noted dissents, the justices wrote that an appeals court's reason for staying the judge's ruling -- that it had come too close to the election in November -- was flawed because state officials had told the judge that there was enough time to make the required adjustments. The Supreme Court vacated the stay and returned the case to the appeals court for reconsideration. The court's order was an exception to what legal experts say is a growing trend: a near-categorical ban on late changes to state election procedures even when those changes have been ruled necessary to address illegal infringements of the right to vote. But the exception was based on an unusual concession from state officials and therefore may not have larger implications."

Georgia Senate Race. Justin Bailey of WMAZ (Macon): "Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker says he's declined an invitation to participate in a debate in Macon against Senator Raphael Warnock.... Warnock accepted the invitation to participate about a month ago." BUT WAIT. Walker has a very good excuse, and here it is: "I'm not going to respond to anything because you know that's not a debate, and you know that.... You've got people that are contributors to his campaign and it's in this room that only two people gonna see it on a Sunday night, I think. NFL Football, I am giving you an opportunity to be statewide so everybody can see what it is, see the contrast between the two of us. I don't know how you can ask for anything better." WMAZ: "The debate is set for a Thursday night, not a Sunday."

New York Congressional Race. Hope Everybody Got the "Joke." Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "A Republican candidate for Congress in New York said he was 'being facetious' when, in the same interview, he said the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, should be executed for authorising the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago.... The candidate, Carl Paladino, recently caused controversy when he praised Adolf Hitler, as 'the kind of leader we need today'. Paladino made his remark about the attorney general in an interview with the far-right site Breitbart. Paladino said: 'So we have a couple of unelected people who are running our government, in an administration of people like Garland, who should be not only impeached, he probably should be executed.'" MB: I suppose it isn't lost on Paladino that Garland is Jewish. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Say, Carl, if you're looking for an endorsement, give Kari Lake a call. She's totally good with those of you in the pro-Hitler crowd. Seriously, the Lakes, the Paladinos, they all bring me to tears. And they are dangerous.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russia and Ukraine both signaled their support for allowing international inspectors to visit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, after warnings from both sides of a possible attack on the plant, currently under Russian control, set the world on edge.... The Pentagon announced Friday that it would send Ukraine $775 million in anti-armor missiles, drones and other military hardware. The package includes more howitzers and ammunition to support ongoing artillery battles in the east, plus new types of small arms and blast-resistant vehicles to aid an anticipated counteroffensive in occupied areas to the south."

Loveday Morris, et al., of the Washington Post: "Dire warnings from Russia and Ukraine about a possible attack at a nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine sent some nearby residents fleeing Friday and others hunkering down amid heightened international fears of a radioactive disaster. The ominous threat to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, alarmed world powers and renewed calls by U.N. Secretary General António Guterres for an immediate cessation of hostilities and access for international nuclear experts. 'Any potential damage to Zaporizhzhia is suicide,' Guterres said after a meeting in Ukraine with President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Ukrainian officials said the Kremlin was behind explosions at the plant meant to create a 'provocation.'... Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of shelling the plant and risking a 'large-scale catastrophe.'"

FSB Intelligence Fail. Greg Miller & Catherine Belton of the Washington Post: "So certain were FSB [-- Russia's Federal Security Service --] operatives that they would soon control the levers of power in Kyiv, according to Ukrainian and Western security officials, that they spent the waning days before the war arranging safe houses ... for the planned influx of personnel.... The FSB's plans collapsed amid the retreat of Russian forces in the early months of the war. The communications exposing these preparations are part of a larger trove of sensitive materials obtained by Ukrainian and other security services.... They offer rare insight into the activities of the FSB -- a sprawling service that bears enormous responsibility for the failed Russian war plan and the hubris that propelled it.... The FSB has spent decades spying on Ukraine, attempting to co-opt its institutions, paying off officials and working to impede any perceived drift toward the West.... And yet, the agency failed to incapacitate Ukraine's government, foment any semblance of a pro-Russian groundswell or interrupt President Volodymyr Zelensky's hold on power. Its analysts either did not fathom how forcefully Ukraine would respond, Ukrainian and Western officials said, or did understand but couldn’t or wouldn't convey such sober assessments to Russian President Vladimir Putin."

Mexico. Mary Beth Sheridan & Kevin Sieff of the Washington Post: "Mexican authorities arrested the country's former attorney general on Friday and accused him of torture and forced disappearance in the mass kidnapping of 43 students in 2014, as the government made its boldest move yet to resolve one of the most severe human rights scandals in recent decades.... On Thursday, the government's point person on the case, Alejandro Encinas, labeled the disappearances a 'crime of state' that involved police, the armed forces and civilian officials, in addition to a drug-dealing gang based in Guerrero state. Scores of people have been arrested in the case, including police and alleged gang members, with many subsequently released because of a lack of evidence or signs that they were tortured. But Jesús Murillo Karam, the former attorney general detained Friday, was the highest-ranking former official to be charged." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Hard to tell, I guess, if there is substance to the charges against Murillo Karam or if this is a banana-republic-style arrest. And no, Bo, I'm not talking about the former AG's fashion choices.

August 19, 2022

Patricia Mazzei & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A federal judge ordered the government on Thursday to propose redactions to the highly sensitive affidavit that was used to justify a search warrant executed by the F.B.I. last week at ... Donald J. Trump's private home and club, saying he was inclined to unseal parts of it. Ruling from the bench, the judge, Bruce E. Reinhart, said it was 'very important' that the public have as 'much information' as it can about the historic search at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump's Florida residence, noting that there were portions of the affidavit that 'could be presumptively unsealed.'... Judge Reinhart's decision appeared to strike a middle course between the Justice Department, which had wanted to keep the affidavit entirely under wraps as its investigation into Mr. Trump's handling of classified documents continued, and a group of news organizations, which requested that it be released in full to the public....

"... Although Mr. Trump himself has called on social media for the affidavit to be released -- echoing similar demands made by congressional allies like Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina -- his lawyers were conspicuously absent from the legal proceeding surrounding the unsealing process. At any time, Mr. Trump could have filed papers asking Judge Reinhart to make the affidavit public, but he chose not to." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A Guardian story is here.

~~~ Jamie Gangel, et al., of CNN: "In the days since the FBI seized classified and top secret documents from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, the former President and his allies have claimed that Trump had a 'standing order' to declassify documents he took from the Oval Office to the White House residence. But 18 former top Trump administration officials tell CNN they never heard any such order issued during their time working for Trump, and that they believe the claim to be patently false.... 'Nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given,' said John Kelly, who served as Trump's chief of staff for 17 months from 2017 to 2019.... Mick Mulvaney, who succeeded Kelly as acting White House chief of staff, also dismissed the idea and told CNN he was 'not aware of a general standing order' during his tenure." ~~~

     ~~~ Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Thursday, Rolling Stone reported that FBI investigators are now questioning former Trump administration officials to check on the former president's alibi that he issued a 'standing order' to declassify the government material found at his Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Florida -- and that among those interrogated were top national security staff.... Prior reports have indicated that among the documents the FBI searched for as part of the Mar-a-Lago warrant were high-level nuclear weapons secrets -- which, according to legal experts, the president doesn't actually have unilateral authority to declassify even if he wants to." The Rolling Stone story, which is firewalled, is here.

Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "One of Donald J. Trump’s most trusted executives pleaded guilty on Thursday to conspiring with Mr. Trump's company to carry out a long-running tax scheme, an admission that painted a damning picture of the former president's family business but did not advance a broader investigation into the man himself. As part of the plea deal with the Manhattan district attorney's office, the executive, Allen H. Weisselberg, is required to testify at the company's trial if prosecutors choose to call on him, and to admit his role in conspiring with Mr. Trump's company to carry out the tax scheme." (Also linked yesterday.)

Senate races are just different, they're statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome. -- Sen. Mitch McConnell, on why the GOP may do poorly in the November election ~~~

~~~ Senate Races 2022. Mitch Knocks GOP Senate Candidates. Amy Wang & Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is warning that the GOP may not win back control of the Senate in November's midterm elections -- a cycle that typically would be favorable to the party not in power -- as a political action committee linked to McConnell stages a rescue effort in the Ohio Senate race. Asked Wednesday by reporters in Kentucky about his midterm predictions, McConnell said there's 'probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate.'" The NBC News story is here. MB: This is a swipe at Trump, too: it is Trump-endorsed candidates in states like Georgia, Pennsylvania & Ohio that the quality of the GOP candidates sucks.

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Tim Craig of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Thursday blocked Florida from enforcing a new state law that limits how private companies teach diversity and inclusion in the workplace, saying the measure violates the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression. In a ruling that took aim at one of Gov. Ron DeSantis's top priorities, U.S. District Court Judge Mark E. Walker said Florida has turned 'the First Amendment upside down' by trying to regulate how employers train employees on topics such as racial inclusion and gender equity.... The 'Stop Woke Act' ... prohibits trainings in public schools, colleges and universities, and workplaces that may cause someone to feel guilty or ashamed about the past collective actions of their race or sex.'... The injunction ... only blocks the enforcement of provisions of the law that deal with trainings offered by private employers."

Florida. Anthony Izaguirre of the AP: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday announced criminal charges against 20 people for illegally voting in 2020, the first major public move from the Republican's controversial new election police unit. The charges mark the opening salvo from the Office of Election Crimes and Security, which from its conception drew widespread criticism from Democrats and voting rights groups who feared the unit would serve as a political tool for the governor. DeSantis said the people charged were convicted of murder or a felony sexual offense and therefore exemptfrom a constitutional amendment that restores voting rights to some felons. He said most of those charged were from Broward, Miami-Dade or Palm Beach counties, all Democratic strongholds. He released few details." The 20 people were among more than 11 million Florida voters who cast ballots in the 2020 election.

Maryland Gubernatorial Race. Ovetta Wiggins & Erin Cox of the Washington Post: "Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has ratcheted up the rhetoric about GOP gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox, describing him earlier this week as mentally unstable. Hogan, who has previously called Cox a 'QAnon whack job,' described the GOP nominee as 'a nut' during a recent radio interview and reiterated his prediction that Cox has 'no chance whatsoever' of being elected as Maryland's governor in November. 'He's not, in my opinion, mentally stable,' Hogan, who is term-limited, said Wednesday on WGMD radio, based on the Eastern Shore. 'He wanted to hang my friend, Mike Pence, and took three busloads of people to the Capitol.'"

Pennsylvania Senate Race. Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "In Pennsylvania's contentious Senate race, Democratic nominee Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is hitting his Republican rival, Mehmet Oz, where he lives. Fetterman took aim Wednesday at the number of houses Oz owns.... 'I've never spoken to a PA resident who doesn't know how many houses they have ... let alone be off by 8,' Fetterman quipped on Twitter after a Tuesday report by the Daily Beast that Oz owns 10 properties -- far more than the two 'legitimate' houses he claimed in an exchange with a Democratic operative during a recent public event. Oz defended himself by saying he purchased his houses with his own money -- a swipe at Fetterman, who relied on significant financial assistance from his family until becoming lieutenant governor in 2019.... The social media spat comes as new prognostications show that the tight race is drifting in Fetterman's favor[.]" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It isn't as if Fetterman wasn't working; rather, he worked at extremely low-paying, public-service jobs: at AmeriCorps & as a $150/month small-town mayor.

West Virginia/Massachusetts. Eliza Fawcett of the Washington Post: "Three men were indicted in the death of the notorious gangster James (Whitey) Bulger, who was beaten to death four years ago in a West Virginia federal prison where he was serving a sentence for crimes that terrorized Boston in the 1970s and '80s, prosecutors said on Thursday. Fotios Geas, Paul J. DeCologero and Sean McKinnon were charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of West Virginia. All three men were incarcerated with Mr. Bulger in the Hazelton prison in Bruceton Mills, W.Va., where Mr. Bulger, 89, had been serving two life terms for his role in 11 murders committed when he controlled Boston's underworld for several decades.&" A Guardian report is here.

Wyoming. They Lie Even When They Win. Olivia Beavers of Politico: "After Donald Trump-backed Harriet Hageman claimed Wednesday night that Rep. Liz Cheney never fully conceded their Wyoming GOP primary race, the defeated incumbent released her receipts. Hageman told Fox News that Cheney had 'left a very brief two-second message on my cell phone' Tuesday night, without addressing 'any kind of concession or anything else.' According to audio provided by the Cheney campaign to Politico, however, Cheney called Hageman to concede the race at 8:13 p.m. on Tuesday night. Audible in the recording is an aide notifying Cheney that the Associated Press had just called the race for her opponent. 'Hi, Harriet, it is Liz Cheney calling,' Cheney is heard saying in the audio. 'It is about 8:13 on Tuesday the 16th, I'm calling to concede the election and congratulate you on the win. Thanks.' The recording contradicts the narrative Hageman offered host Sean Hannity on Wednesday about Cheney's call on primary night.... Cheney added that she never heard back from Hageman." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here: "Both Russia and Ukraine are warning of a possible attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, currently under Russian control, in southeastern Ukraine. Plant employees have been ordered to stay home, and Russia could be preparing to disconnect the plant from Ukraine's electricity grid. The United Nations has expressed alarm, warning that any damage to the plant would be 'suicide.' Here's the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe."

Liz Sly of the Washington Post: "Until this week, Ukrainians seemed to see President Volodymyr Zelensky as beyond reproach.... Comments he made to The Washington Post justifying his failure to share with Ukrainians details of repeated U.S. warnings that Russia planned to invade have punctured the bubble, triggering a cascade of public criticism unprecedented since the war began. Ordinary people tweeted their experiences of chaos and dislocation after an invasion for which they were unprepared, and described how they might have made different choices had they known what was coming. Public figures and academics wrote harsh critiques on Facebook of his decision to downplay the risk of an invasion, saying he bears at least some responsibility for the atrocities that followed. In the interview with The Post, published Tuesday, Zelensky cited his fears that Ukrainians would panic, flee the country and trigger economic collapse as the reason he chose not to share the stark warnings passed on by U.S. officials regarding Russia's plans."

August 18, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Patricia Mazzei & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A federal judge ordered the government on Thursday to propose redactions to the highly sensitive affidavit that was used to justify a search warrant executed by the F.B.I. last week at ... Donald J. Trump's private home and club, saying he was inclined to unseal parts of it. Ruling from the bench, the judge, Bruce E. Reinhart, said it was 'very important' that the public have as 'much information' as it can about the historic search at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump's Florida residence, noting that there were portions of the affidavit that 'could be presumptively unsealed.'... Judge Reinhart's decision appeared to strike a middle course between the Justice Department, which had wanted to keep the affidavit entirely under wraps as its investigation into Mr. Trump's handling of classified documents continued, and a group of news organizations, which requested that it be released in full to the public....

"... Although Mr. Trump himself has called on social media for the affidavit to be released -- echoing similar demands made by congressional allies like Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina -- his lawyers were conspicuously absent from the legal proceeding surrounding the unsealing process. At any time, Mr. Trump could have filed papers asking Judge Reinhart to make the affidavit public, but he chose not to."

Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "One of Donald J. Trump's most trusted executives pleaded guilty on Thursday to conspiring with Mr. Trump's company to carry out a long-running tax scheme, an admission that painted a damning picture of the former president's family business but did not advance a broader investigation into the man himself. As part of the plea deal with the Manhattan district attorney's office, the executive, Allen H. Weisselberg, is required to testify at the company's trial if prosecutors choose to call on him, and to admit his role in conspiring with Mr. Trump's company to carry out the tax scheme."

Wyoming. They Lie Even When They Win. Olivia Beavers of Politico: "After Donald Trump-backed Harriet Hageman claimed Wednesday night that Rep. Liz Cheney never fully conceded their Wyoming GOP primary race, the defeated incumbent released her receipts. Hageman told Fox News that Cheney had 'left a very brief two-second message on my cell phone' Tuesday night, without addressing 'any kind of concession or anything else.' According to audio provided by the Cheney campaign to Politico, however, Cheney called Hageman to concede the race at 8:13 p.m. on Tuesday night. Audible in the recording is an aide notifying Cheney that the Associated Press had just called the race for her opponent. 'Hi, Harriet, it is Liz Cheney calling,' Cheney is heard saying in the audio. 'It is about 8:13 on Tuesday the 16th, I'm calling to concede the election and congratulate you on the win. Thanks.' The recording contradicts the narrative Hageman offered host Sean Hannity on Wednesday about Cheney's call on primary night.... Cheney added that she never heard back from Hageman."

~~~~~~~~~~

Sharon La Franiere of the New York Times: "Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on Wednesday delivered a sweeping rebuke of her agency's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying it had failed to respond quickly enough and needed to be overhauled. In a meeting with senior staff, Dr. Walensky outlined in broad terms a plan to reorganize the agency's structure to prioritize public health needs and efforts to curb continuing outbreaks, and to put less emphasis on publication of scientific papers about rare diseases. The steps announced on Wednesday grew out of an external review Dr. Walensky had ordered in April, after months of scathing criticism of the C.D.C.'s response to the pandemic. Its public messages on masking and other mitigation measures were sometimes so confusing or abruptly modified that they seemed more like internal drafts than carefully considered proclamations. The public guidance has been 'confusing and overwhelming,' according to a briefing document provided by the agency. Leaders of the agency's Covid team rotated out after only a few months, leaving other senior federal health officials unsure about who was in charge. And important data were sometimes inexplicably released too late to inform federal decisions...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: :The Federal Trade Commission is threatening to sue an adtech company it alleges reveals people's visits to sensitive locations, including women's reproductive health clinics, according to a lawsuit against the agency. The agency's proposed complaint, against Idaho-based Kochava, argues the company violates laws that prohibit 'unfair or deceptive practices' by allowing its customers to license data collected from mobile devices that can identify people and track their visits to health-care providers. In addition to women's reproductive health clinics, the agency argues that the data can be used to trace people to therapists' offices, addiction recovery centers and other medical facilities.... The action is an early indication of how the agency might assert itself as a defender of health-related data, in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade inJune."

Anna Swanson of the New York Times: "The Biden administration said on Wednesday that it would begin formal trade negotiations with Taiwan this fall, after several weeks of rising tensions over the island democracy that China claims as its own. The announcement marks a step toward a pact that would deepen economic and technological ties between the United States and Taiwan, after initial talks were announced in June."

Everything Is Going Very, Very Smoothly

Uh Oh. Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors investigating the role that ... Donald J. Trump and his allies played in the events leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol have issued a grand jury subpoena to the National Archives for all the documents the agency provided to a parallel House select committee inquiry, according to a copy of the subpoena obtained by The New York Times. The subpoena, issued to the National Archives in May, made a sweeping demand for 'all materials, in whatever form' that the archives had given to the Jan. 6 House committee. Those materials included records from the files of Mr. Trump's top aides, his daily schedule and phone logs and a draft text of the president's speech that preceded the riot. It was signed by Thomas P. Windom, the federal prosecutor who has been leading the Justice Department's wide-ranging inquiry into what part Mr. Trump and his allies may have played in various schemes to maintain power ... -- chief among them a plan to submit fake slates of pro-Trump electors in states actually won by Joseph R. Biden Jr."

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "Allen H. Weisselberg, for decades one of Donald J. Trump's most trusted executives, has reached a deal to plead guilty on Thursday and admit to participating in a long-running tax scheme at the former president's family business -- a serious blow to the company that could heighten its risk in an upcoming trial on related charges. Mr. Weisselberg will have to admit to all 15 felonies that prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney's office accused him of, according to people with knowledge of the matter. And if he is called as a witness at the company's trial in October, he will have to testify about his role in the scheme to avoid paying taxes on lavish corporate perks, the people said. But Mr. Weisselberg will not implicate Mr. Trump or his family if he takes the stand in that trial, the people said, and he has refused to cooperate with prosecutors in their broader investigation into Mr. Trump, who has not been accused of wrongdoing. Even so, his potential testimony will put the Trump Organization at a disadvantage and is likely to make Mr. Weisselberg a central witness at the October trial, where the company will face many of the same charges." The AP's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This deal is a bit perplexing. It sounds as if Weisselberg could testify to something like, "Yes, the company policy was to violate the laws, but I'm not going to tell you whether or not Trump or Junior approved it." Update: Andrew Weissmann, appearing on MSNBC, said Weisselberg's deal is still bad news for Trump. Since Trump signed the checks, it will hardly be difficult for the prosecution to establish that Trump was in on the scam.

Richard Fausset of the New York Times: Rudy Giuliani "showed up shortly before 8:30 a.m. to appear before a Fulton County[, Georgia,] special grand jury conducting a criminal investigation into postelection meddling by Mr. Trump and his associates. Local prosecutors informed Mr. Giuliani's lawyers this week that he was a 'target' in that investigation, meaning that his indictment was possible." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. New Lede: "Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former lawyer for Donald J. Trump and a target in the criminal investigation into Mr. Trump's efforts to overturn Georgia's results in the 2020 presidential election, spent hours behind closed doors on Wednesday taking questions as part of a special grand jury proceeding. But a lawyer for Mr. Giuliani declined to say whether he answered any of them." ~~~

     ~~~ Matthew Brown & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis achieved a long-sought goa Wednesday, with former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani appearing for six hours before a grand jury investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election.... Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) filed a 121-page motion late Wednesday alleging that the sweeping probe was being pursued 'for improper political purposes,' and asking the court to kill a subpoena requiring his testimony later this month. Giuliani's attorneys declined to offer substantive details of his appearance, citing grand jury secrecy rules, but one of them said it had gone smoothly."

Alan Feuer & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday called on Republicans to stop attacking the nation's top law enforcement agencies over the F.B.I.'s search of Mar-a-Lago..., Donald J. Trump's Palm Beach, Fla., home.... Speaking at a political event in New Hampshire, Mr. Pence said that Republicans could hold the Justice Department and the F.B.I. accountable for their decisions 'without attacking the rank-and-file law enforcement personnel.'... Mr. Pence also said on Wednesday that he would consider talking to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol -- the clearest indication to date that he might be willing to participate in the panel's ongoing efforts." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A Guardian report is here.

Ah, Here's a Ray of Trumpy Sunshine. Josh Dawsey & Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump bombarded his supporters with more than 100 emails asking for money based on the FBI's search of the Mar-a-Lago Club for classified materials last week. They paid off. Contributions to Trump's political action committee topped $1 million on at least two days after the Aug. 8 search of his Palm Beach, Fla., estate, according to two people familiar with the figures. The daily hauls jumped from a level of $200,000 to $300,000 that had been typical in recent months.... The donations stayed unusually high for several more days and are still above average, both of these people said, though they have leveled off in recent days. There are more contributors than usual, these people said, and the average donation has climbed."

Jordan Libowitz & Lauren White of CREW: "The Secret Service knew of a threat to Nancy Pelosi on January 6th days before the insurrection, but did not pass it along until hours after the Capitol had been breached, according to Secret Service emails obtained by CREW. On January 4, Secret Service agents discovered a Parler account, which we've chosen not to name, posting a series of violent threats towards lawmakers.... At 5:55 pm on January 6, after hours of defending the United States Capitol from a violent mob, the United States Capitol Police received the post along with a message from the Secret Service: 'Good afternoon, The US Secret Service is passing notification to the US Capitol Police regarding discovery of a social media threat directed toward Speaker Nancy Pelosi.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A CNN report is here.

Will Steakin, et al., of ABC News: "In June of this year, seven weeks before the FBI raided ... Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in search of classified materials, former Defense Department appointee and outspoken Trump loyalist Kash Patel vowed to retrieve classified documents from the National Archives and publish them on his website. Trump had just issued a letter instructing the National Archives to grant Patel and conservative journalist John Solomon access to nonpublic administration records, according to reporting at the time.... Patel claimed Trump's White House counsel had blocked the release of those documents, and instead had them delivered to the National Archives.... 'I'm going to identify every single document that they blocked from being declassified at the National Archives, and we're going to start putting that information out next week,' [Patel said on a June 22 podcast].... 'I know what's there' in the Archives, said Patel [June 23]. 'I can't still talk about them, but the whole process is going to be: Identify the documents, whether it's Russiagate, Hunter Biden, impeachment, Jan 6th -- and put them out.'... As of last month, Patel was still pursuing his plan to publish documents currently in the National Archives." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Patel's threat then seems to be to damage Trump's political opponents. But this type of threat also suggests that Michael Cohen, whom I mentioned yesterday, was right when he hypothesized that Trump was retaining classified documents to use as leverage in the event the DOJ threatened to bring criminal charges against him. Update: Former DOJ prosecutor Andrew Weissmann suggested on MSNBC that Patel's threat probably alarmed the DOJ & caused increased urgency in collecting the secret documents Trump had squirreled away at Mar-a-Lago. ~~~

     ~~~ Update 2. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times addresses the Big Question: "Why did [Trump] insist on refusing to turn over government papers that by law did not belong to him, igniting another legal conflagration?... Here are the main possibilities. [1] Mr. Trump, a pack rat who for decades showed off knickknacks in his overstuffed Trump Tower office -- including a giant shoe that once belonged to the basketball player Shaquille O'Neal -- treated the nation's secrets as similar trinkets to brandish. [2] Mr. Trump embodied Louis XIV's phrase .L'état, c'est moi,' or 'I am the state.'... [3] Mr. Trump had little interest in the security of government documents or protocols to keep them protected.... Over time, Mr. Trump bristled against the guardrails people tried placing on him.... [4] [Some] advisers wondered if Mr. Trump kept some documents because they contained details about people he knew." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Haberman never says a word about the blackmail motive Michael Cohen suggested. I don't suppose the Times would let her do so if she had wanted to. It would be an accusation presented without evidence: a very Trumpy thing to do, of course, by not a journalistic thing. However, Haberman does drop a couple of clues that back up Cohen's blackmail hypothesis: "[Trump] sometimes asked to keep material after his intelligence briefings, but aides said he was so uninterested in the paperwork during the briefings themselves that they never understood what he wanted it for." And "Among the items that presidents are given on overseas trips are biographies of foreign leaders, a former administration official said. One version is unclassified and fairly routine. But the other is classified and can contain numerous personal details. One of the files the F.B.I. seized at Mar-a-Lago was marked 'info re: President of France,' about Emmanuel Macron."

Paul Kane of the Washington Post: Liz "Cheney used her defiant concession speech Tuesday night, after losing badly in the GOP primary to Trump's handpicked candidate, to promise a sustained campaign against the ex-president and his allies. She surrendered her rising-star status in Congress in a sacrificial manner toward a higher calling to take on the most powerful figure in her increasingly conspiratorial political party.... Congressional historians say ... What Cheney has done, in sacrificing her seat and yet fighting to the finish without wavering, is just not common in this era.... She has gained a level of attention that now dwarfs almost every other member of Congress, commanding a platform that all but a handful of other Republicans in the Capitol have attempted." Video of Cheney's concession speech is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

If you have a Washington Post subscription, you will want to listen to George Conway's dramatic reading of his Donald Trump-cookies column (August 16). Audio and column here. It's worth reading the very end of the column. (If you don't have a WashPo subscription, you can make due with a dramatic reading by comedian & Trump impersonator J-L Cauvin.) (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jan Hoffman of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Wednesday ordered three of the nation's largest pharmacy chains -- CVS, Walgreens and Walmart — to pay $650.5 million to two Ohio counties, ruling that the companies must be held accountable for their part in fueling the opioid epidemic. The decision is a companion piece to a November jury verdict that found the companies had continued to dispense mass quantities of prescription painkillers over the years while ignoring flagrant signs that the pills were being abused. The ruling is the first by a federal judge that assigns a firm money figure against the pharmacy chains for their roles in the opioid crisis. Here, the judge, Dan A. Polster of United States District Court in northern Ohio, who has overseen more than 3,000 cases in the opioid litigation, ruled that the pharmacies bore responsibility for one-third of the amount that Ohio's hard-hit Lake and Trumbull counties need to address the continuing damage wrought by the epidemic.... Representatives for CVS, Walgreens and Walmart ... said their companies would appeal."

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Sam Levine of the Guardian: "Florida Republicans intentionally targeted Black voters when they enacted new voting restrictions last year, the justice department said in a court filing on Wednesday. The department told a federal appellate court that a lower court had correctly evaluated claims of racial discrimination when it came to Florida's new law. In March, US District Judge Mark Walker blocked new restrictions on the availability of absentee ballot drop boxes, regulations for third party voter registration groups, and a ban on providing food and water to people standing in line to vote. The US court of appeals for the 11th circuit paused that ruling earlier this year while it considers an appeal from Florida officials."

Florida. Matt Dixon of Politico: "Ousted Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit arguing Gov. Ron DeSantis abused his power when suspending him from office over, among other things, a pledge to not prosecute women who violate Florida's new 15-week abortion ban.... Warren's lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida, alleges that DeSantis violated his First Amendment rights by suspending him for signing a pledge to not prosecute women for seeking abortions and his public statements opposing the criminalization of transgender people. He is asking the court to throw out DeSantis' executive order used to suspended him and to rule governors are not allowed to take similar actions moving forward. It also alleges DeSantis overstepped his authority to suspend elected officials from office because he did so with Warren only for signing pledges, rather than in response to an official action." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Florida. Another Teenager Forced to Give Birth. Brittany Shammas & Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "A Florida appeals court on Monday upheld a ruling that denied a 16-year-old an abortion out of concern she lacked the maturity to make the decision, despite her statements that she 'is not ready to have a baby.' The teenager, described in court documents as 'almost seventeen years-old and parentless' and identified only as Jane Doe 22-B, had submitted a handwritten petition seeking a waiver of the state's parental notification and consent requirements. Under Florida law, an abortion generally cannot be performed on a minor without the consent of a parent or guardian. In her petition, according to the appeals court, the teenager wrote that she is still in school and doesn't have a job, and that 'the father is unable to assist her.' Court records indicate she was 10 weeks pregnant at the time she sought a court's permission to end her pregnancy." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It is clear that anti-abortion laws not only sharply curtailed women's rights, they also attack children's rights. Cruelty is the point.

Massachusetts. Derek Hawkins & Meena Venkataramanan of the Washington Post: "New England's largest pediatric hospital said Wednesday that it was fending off a torrent of threats and harassment targeting staffers who treat transgender patients after conservative influencers attacked them in false and misleading social media posts. Boston Children's Hospital said it asked law enforcement for help protecting its employees and patients after facing 'a large volume of hostile internet activity, phone calls, and harassing emails including threats of violence toward our clinicians and staff.' It said the threats began last week after Twitter accounts popular on the far right circulated what the hospital called misinformation about its transgender care."

North Carolina Congressional Race. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "Trump-endorsed congressional candidate Bo Hines, the Republican nominee from North Carolina's 13th District, weighed in recently on all the talk about the United States becoming a banana republic, one of those nominal democracies where the rule of law is shaky. But Hines, a former college football player, spoke as if everybody was referring to Banana Republic, the clothing retailer. 'A lot of people have likened the situation going on right now, is, you know, they say we're in a Banana Republic,' he told radio host John Fredericks. 'I think that's an insult to Banana Republics across the country. I mean, at least the manager of Banana Republic, unlike our president, knows where he is and why he's there and what he's doing.' Hines's campaign retroactively labeled this 'a joke.' Ha!... Misunderstanding a universal idiom, particularly while maligning President Biden's mental acuity, suggests Hines is just not very PetSmart." After running through some other politicians' gaffes, Milbank suggests some new clothing lines for Republicans. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In fairness to Hines, I'm certain there are some politics-related sports memes I just don't get. I would not, however, try to use them in a sentence. I recall that when Massachusetts Senate candidate Martha Coakley (D) caught heat for responding to a question about a star Red Sox pitcher with a gaffe, I thought I would have responded to the question with, "I have no idea." Because I didn't. As for Martha, she lost to the intellectually-challenged Cosmo centerfold ex-Senator Scott Brown (R) in what was, at the time, a critical election.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Thursday are here: "U.N. Secretary General António Guterres is in Ukraine to review progress on a deal to release the country's grain exports, and strikes overnight pummeled Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.... The U.N. chief will meet the leaders of Ukraine and Turkey to address the nuclear threat from an escalation in fighting around the Zaporizhzhia plant in southern Ukraine.... Ukraine is activating a unit under the command of its special forces to attack far behind Russian lines, its defense minister said in an interview.... Kharkiv had one of its 'most tragic' nights in the war, the region's governor said early Thursday, describing Russian strikes.... Rescuers worked through the night in Kharkiv to douse fires and clear rubble, photos showed."

Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post: "Over the past six months, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has become an inspiring wartime leader and champion of his country. During an hour-long, wide-ranging interview with The Washington Post at the presidential office, where hallways are kept dark and are lined with sandbags to protect against Russian attack, Zelensky discussed U.S. warnings about Russia preparing to launch a full-scale invasion -- and if he believed them. [This] is a translated and lightly edited transcript of excerpts from the interview. The full transcript will be published at a later date." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Julian Borger of the Guardian: "Nineteen retired US generals and former officials have called on the Biden administration to step up the pace of arms supplies to Ukraine or run the risk of 'unintentionally seizing defeat from the jaws of victory'. They said that the US was providing enough weaponry to ensure a stalemate but not sufficient to help Ukraine recapture territory seized by Russia. The former officers, diplomats and other officials argue the administration is inhibited by fear of triggering a Russian escalation, possibly involving nuclear weapons -- but they argue that failure to defeat Vladimir Putin in Ukraine increases the danger of a confrontation with Moscow later 'on less favourable grounds'."

Saudi Arabia. Sarah Dadouch & Annabelle Timsit of the Washington Post: "Saudi Arabia quietly sentenced a woman last week to 34 years in prison over her Twitter activity, marking the longest Saudi sentence ever for a peaceful activist and launching a fresh wave of fear among the government's detractors, three rights groups said. The woman, Salma al-Shehab, was detained in January 2021 in Saudi Arabia, where she was on vacation, days before the Saudi citizen and mother of two was set to return to her home in Britain, according to rights groups. The charges against the 33-year-old all revolved around her Twitter activity, according to court documents. Shehab had been active on the social media platform during campaigns demanding the abolition of the country's guardianship system, which gives men legal control over certain aspects of female relatives' lives. She had called for the freeing of Saudi prisoners of conscience."