;)
The Commentariat -- August 14, 2020
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Edward Moreno of the Hill: "Marge Simpson says she's 'pissed off' after Trump campaign adviser Jenna Ellis tweeted this week that Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.) ... 'sounds like' her." ~~~
Marge Simpson has something to say. pic.twitter.com/viux96bAPf
— TheSimpsons (@TheSimpsons) August 14, 2020
Pete Williams of NBC News: "The top two officials at the Department of Homeland Security, acting Secretary Chad Wolf and Ken Cuccinelli, the senior official performing the duties of deputy secretary, are not legally qualified to hold those positions, a government watchdog concluded Friday. The Government Accountability Office said Wolf and Cuccinelli assumed those jobs under an order of succession that was issued by an acting secretary who himself had no authority to hold his job. That former acting head was Kevin McAleenan, who took over after the last Homeland secretary to be confirmed by the Senate, Kirstjen Nielsen, resigned. GAO's conclusion has no force of law, but the agency said it is referring its conclusion to the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general. Friday's findings could, however, be cited in lawsuits challenging DHS policies, including stricter immigration controls." A Washington Post story is here.
Aaron Gordon of Vice: "The United States Postal Service proposed removing 20 percent of letter sorting machines it uses around the country before revising the plan weeks later to closer to 15 percent of all machines, meaning 502 will be taken out of service, according to documents obtained by Motherboard.... USPS workers told Motherboard this will slow their ability to sort mail. One of the documents also suggests these changes were in the works before Louis DeJoy ... became postmaster general, because it is dated May 15, a month before DeJoy assumed office and only nine days after the Board of Governors announced his selection. The title of the presentation, as well as language used in the notice to union officials, undermines the Postal Service's narrative that the organization is simply 'mov[ing] equipment around its network' to optimize processing.... The May document clearly calls the initiative an 'equipment reduction.' It makes no mention of the machines being moved to other facilities.... Multiple sources within the postal service told Motherboard they have personally witnessed the machines, which cost millions of dollars, being destroyed or thrown in the dumpster."
Adam Edelman of NBC News: "Former President Barack Obama, in an interview released Friday, slammed ... Donald Trump for trying to 'actively kneecap the Postal Service' to affect mail-in voting in the 2020 election and urged lawmakers and citizens to take actions to 'protect the integrity' of the election.... Obama ... accused Republicans of having tried for years 'to discourage people’s votes from counting in all kinds of ways,' like voter identification laws and gerrymandering, but said Trump’s threats were 'unique to modern history.'"
Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "A former F.B.I. lawyer intends to plead guilty after he was charged with falsifying a document as part of a deal with prosecutors conducting their own criminal inquiry of the Russia investigation, according his lawyer and court documents made public on Friday. The lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, 38, who was assigned to the Russia investigation, plans to admit that he altered an email from the C.I.A. that investigators relied on to seek renewed court permission in 2017 for a secret wiretap on the former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, who had at times provided information to the spy agency. Mr. Clinesmith's lawyer said he made a mistake while trying to clarify facts for a colleague."
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here.
Joseph Guzman of the Hill: "The nation's leading infectious disease expert and White House coronavirus task force adviser said on Thursday he is not pleased with the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. as the nation continues to lead the rest of the world in the number of cases and deaths. 'Bottom line is, I'm not pleased with how things are going,' Anthony Fauci ... said during an exclusive conversation with National Geographic."
Carol Leonnig & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "The Secret Service sought to bolster its protection of the White House with surveillance aircraft and a Black Hawk helicopter carrying a 'fast rope' commando team after crowds protesting the police killing of George Floyd knocked down temporary barricades and one man got onto the complex grounds in late May, according to newly obtained government correspondence. That breach — combined with the throngs of protesters that converged outside the White House the night of May 29 -- prompted agents to rush President Trump to a reinforced bunker and spurred a deeper concern about the White House's vulnerability. In a letter a week later, the Secret Service asked U.S. Customs and Border Protection to provide aircraft that could be used in a rapid-response helicopter operation, the records show.... The Secret Service also asked CBP to help the agency gather information on protesters by flying a surveillance plane equipped with infrared imaging over the city starting that weekend."
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Helen Sullivan of the Guardian: "S.V. Dáte [of the Huffington Post] had waited five long years to ask Donald Trump one question: 'Mr President, after three and a half years [of Trump’s presidency], do you regret at all, all the lying you've done to the American people?' Confronted with Dáte's question at Thursday’s White House briefing, Trump ... asked, 'All the what?' Dáte: 'All the lying, all the dishonesties.' Trump: 'That who has done?' 'You have done,' said Dáte.... 'Tens of thousan--', he began to say, before Trump cut him off and called on another journalist, who asked a question about payroll tax.'" Mrs. McC: And shame on the payroll tax reporter -- along with every other "White House correspondent" who has failed to ask this or any similar question about Trump's lying. ~~~
** Kyle Murphy in Just Security: "I recently resigned as a senior analyst with the Defense Intelligence Agency after experiencing firsthand the actions of U.S. government leaders to suppress nonviolent dissent during the recent nationwide protests for racial justice. I was among the thousands of peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters tear-gassed in Lafayette Square and nearly knocked to the ground by the downdraft from a military helicopter hovering over Pennsylvania Avenue. In the course of my work, I have watched autocratic leaders around the world employ similar tactics, actions that often precede broader uses of violence against domestic opposition. Unidentified federal forces in cities across the United States committing abuses against demonstrators is an evolution in the Trump administration's authoritarian approach to dissent, not an anomaly. I left government service after more than a decade because I lost faith in the courage of the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to refuse unlawful orders from the President.... Recent events should be put in the context of a continuous slide toward authoritarianism.... Each day, Trump's approach looks more like the autocrats I warned about as an analyst."
Presidential Race, Etc.
Trump Brings Back Birtherism. Way back yesterday, I linked to an AP story reporting that conspiracy-minded dimwits were spreading a false claim on Facebook that Kamala Harris was not eligible to be president because her parents were immigrants. The Facebook users predicted that if Joe Biden became president and was subsequently unable to serve, we'd just have to skip right over the not-qualified Harris & immediately make Nancy Pelosi president. Those dummies of course skipped over something else: the Fourteenth Amendment, which grants full citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States." Harris was born in Oakland, California. So now..., ~~~
~~~ Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Trump on Thursday encouraged a racist conspiracy theory that is rampant among some of his followers: that Senator Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic vice-presidential nominee born in California, was not eligible for the vice presidency or presidency because her parents were immigrants. That assertion is false. Ms. Harris is eligible to serve. Mr. Trump, speaking to reporters on Thursday, nevertheless pushed forward with the attack, reminiscent of the lie he perpetrated for years that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya. 'I heard it today that she doesn't meet the requirements,' Mr. Trump said of Ms. Harris. 'I have no idea if that’s right,' he added. 'I would have thought, I would have assumed, that the Democrats would have checked that out before she gets chosen to run for vice president.'" Newsweek published a "widely-discredited" op-ed Wednesday by John Eastman “who has long argued that the United States Constitution does not grant birthright citizenship.... Mr. Eastman's column tries to raise questions about the citizenship of Ms. Harris's parents at the time of her birth, and argues that she may have 'owed her allegiance to a foreign power or powers'.... In an interview on Thursday, Laurence H. Tribe, a professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School, compared Mr. Eastman's idea to the 'flat earth theory' and called it 'total B.S.'" ~~~
~~~ Aamer Madhani, et al., of the AP: "... Donald Trump on Thursday gave credence to a false and racist conspiracy about Kamala Harris' eligibility to be vice president, fueling an online misinformation campaign that parallels the one he used to power his rise into politics." Mrs. McC: A perfect lede. ~~~
A little more about John Eastman from the AP article: "According to his bio..., he ... served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice [surprise, surprise!] Clarence Thomas. He also ran in the Republican primary to serve as California's attorney general in 2010. Eastman was defeated by a candidate who went on to lose to [surprise, surprise! Kamala] Harris."
I heard it today that [Harris] doesn't meet the requirements. And, by the way, the lawyer that wrote that piece is a very highly qualified, very talented lawyer. I have no idea if that's right. I would have assumed the Democrats would have checked that out. -- Donald Trump, remarks to reporters, Thursday
It's a open question, and one I think [Sen. Kamala] Harris should answer so the American people know for sure she is eligible.-- Trump campaign legal adviser Jenna Ellis, in comments to ABC News, Thursday
In 2018, Trump said he would end birthright citizenship. This year, the president and a legal adviser for his campaign are suggesting birthright citizenship perhaps never existed, at least not for some people born to immigrant postgraduate students in California in the 1960s, or at the very least not for one of them: Harris. -- Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post ~~~
~~~ Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Colin Kalmbacher of Law & Crime: "Newsweek editors Nancy Cooper and Josh Hammer would really like the world to think that they did not publish a racist article attacking Kamala Harris's eligibility to serve as vice president of the United States. In fact, Cooper and Hammer wrote an entirely separate article -- stylized as an 'editor's note' [here] -- to insist they are not racists for promoting the second great wave of American birtherism aimed at [Kamala] Harris, whose parents are Jamaican and Indian.... In essence, and most of the article and its arguments are not worth repeating, [John] Eastman is taking aim at the idea of birthright citizenship -- which is the standard that [United States v.] Wong Kim Ark [1898!] definitively established over 100 years ago -- but attempting to paint his own longstanding opposition to the concept as a debate among legal scholars where no such debate actually exists in any serious form whatsoever.... 'The entire editor's note here is also ridiculous,' noted immigration law expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick. 'There is no genuine scholarly debate about any of these issues. There are a handful of outliers like Eastman who try to argue that the Citizenship Clause is debatable, then there's the 99.9% of scholars who think that's bunk.'"
(~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: It's worth remembering that in 2008, "In order to counter the views of some pundits, a group of senators, including Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.)..., introduced a measure that clarifies that presumptive GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) is eligible to hold the office." McCain was born to American parents "on a U.S. naval base [in the Panama Canal Zone where his father was a Navy officer] and not in the U.S." McCain was then the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Neither Obama nor Clinton was a shoo-in to beat McCain, so this wasn't some gesture of noblesse-oblige; it was an act of common decency, something Donald Trump completely lacks.)
RNC Plans Illegal "Convention." Anita Kumar of Politico: "The Republican National Convention is coming to D.C. -- and to government property. The Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, a grand historic federal building located close to the Trump International Hotel, will serve as a 'central hub' for speeches, according to two people familiar with the plans.... The convention will spread out across federal properties in, and possibly, around Washington.... Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are expected to deliver their acceptance speeches on federal property -- including even the White House.... The unusual arrangement is already drawing ethical concerns that federal resources will be used for campaign events and that administration officials will violate the law by campaigning for the president on government property. And it's not lost on Trump critics that the president's flagship hotel, already a gathering spot for Republicans, will be conveniently located a short walk from the Mellon Auditorium.... Trump said Thursday that he plans to deliver his acceptance speech on the fourth and final night of the convention from the White House, though some aides had pushed him to choose another location.... Democrats asked for clarification on the issue from the Office of Special Counsel, the independent agency that probes possible Hatch Act violations. In a letter, the agency wrote that while Trump could deliver the speech from the White House, there could be Hatch Act implications 'for those employees, depending on their level of involvement with the event and their position in the White House.'" ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Kumar, who so likes to stay in the good graces of the Trumpies that she planned a going-away party for former Trump press secretary flak Sarah Sanders, calls the RNC's hoo-hah an "unusual arrangement." No, it's an unlawful arrangement.
As you read the stories linked below, keep in mind this Palm Beach Post report: ~~~
~~~ Hannah Morse of the Palm Beach Post: "For the second time as a Palm Beach County voter..., Donald Trump has requested a vote-by-mail ballot ahead of Florida's primary election on Tuesday. And the president who has just spent the past few weeks excoriating mail-in voting has less than a week to cast it. The request for himself and first lady Melania Trump came Wednesday, the Palm Beach County elections website shows. The ballot would have been picked up, not mailed to his Palm Beach private club, Mar-a-Lago, because the deadline to send out ballots has passed. Now it must travel to Washington, D.C., where the president and first lady can vote and then return before 7 p.m. Tuesday, when all mail-in ballots must be submitted."
Pure Trump. He doesn’t want an election. -- Joe Biden, on Donald Trump's opposition to aid to the USPS ~~~
~~~ ** Amy Gardner, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Thursday said he opposes both election aid for states and an emergency bailout for the U.S. Postal Service because he wants to restrict how many Americans can vote by mail, putting at risk the nation's ability to administer the Nov. 3 elections.... Trump's remarks prompted swift outcry from Democrats and even some Republicans, while voting rights advocates denounced what they described as an unprecedented threat by a sitting president to undermine the election for his own political benefit.... The Republican National Committee and conservative groups are pursuing an unprecedented effort to limit expansion of mail balloting before the November election, spending tens of millions of dollars on lawsuits and advertising aimed at restricting who receives ballots and who remains on the voter rolls.... And the RNC and Trump campaign advisers are now mapping out their post-election strategy, including how to challenge mail ballots without postmarks.... Trump's claims about voting by mail have been echoed by Attorney General William P. Barr, who has repeatedly said without evidence that mail-in voting could lead to a 'high risk' of fraud and interference by foreign countries. At the same time, changes put in place at the U.S. Postal Service by a top GOP donor have sparked mail delays across [the] country...." A Guardian story is here. ~~~
~~~ ** Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud. Felicia Sonmez & Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "President Trump said Thursday that he does not want to fund the U.S. Postal Service because Democrats are seeking to expand mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic, making explicit the reason he has declined to approve $25 billion in emergency funding for the cash-strapped agency. 'Now, they need that money in order to make the post office work, so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,' Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo. He added: 'Now, if we don't make a deal, that means they don't get the money. That means they can't have universal mail-in voting, they just can't have it.'" Mrs. McC: Many Americans have died for the democratic freedoms we enjoy. Trump wants to ensure that many more Americans die this year for that particular democratic freedom: the right to vote. This is premeditated murder. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Yeah, the Post has at least two major stories that cover much of the same ground, but this is a really, really big deal: a POTUS* using the power of his office to toss the lawful votes of potentially millions of Americans who are likely to vote for his opponent. ~~~
~~~ OR, as Inae Oh of Mother Jones' headline reads, "Trump Makes It Official: He's Sabotaging the Post Office to Rig the Election": "During a pandemic that he and his administration have badly mismanaged, the president is refusing to restart congressional negotiations for coronavirus relief if the legislation includes emergency funding for a service that, in addition to helping society function normally, would make voting safer and more accessible at the exact moment when requests for absentee ballots are soaring.... 'You'd never have a Republican elected in this country again,' Trump said back in March while discussing voting reforms aimed at expanding access to the ballot. Here at least we get to the core rationale that's likely governing Republican silence on the issue. They, like this president, worry that if more people are able to vote, Republicans will be less likely to win." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Jacob Pramuk of CNBC: "... Donald Trump will not support a coronavirus relief deal that includes 'voting rights' provisions backed by Democrats, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said Thursday. 'So much of the Democratic asks are really liberal, left wish lists -- voting rights and aid to aliens and so forth,' he told CNBC's 'Squawk on the Street' when asked about the administration's stalled aid talks with Democratic leaders."
"To Bind the National Together." The Postal Service shall have as its basic function the obligation to provide postal services to bind the Nation together through the personal, educational, literary, and business correspondence of the people. It shall provide prompt, reliable, and efficient services to patrons in all areas and shall render postal services to all communities. -- Title 9, U.S. Code
"A National Emergency": Trump's Attack on the USPS. Paul Waldman of the Washington Post: "The White House made sure that grants for the Postal Service would not be included in previous coronavirus pandemic rescue packages ('We told them very clearly that the president was not going to sign the bill if [money for the Postal Service] was in it,' an administration official told The Post in April), and as the problems at the Postal Service worsen seemingly by the day, Trump is sending the same message about any new rescue bill Congress might pass.... In 34 states, including the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, ballots can't just be postmarked by Election Day to count. It has to be received by Election Day. If you mail it three days before, thinking you did everything right, but it doesn't arrive at the board of elections until the day after the election, it's tossed in the trash. This is election theft in progress." Emphases added. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If you believe the oft-repeated canard, as I once did, that Trump's moves to toss mail-in ballots will hurt Republican candidates more than it will hurt Democrats, you have another think coming: ~~~
~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Democrats are now 50 points more likely [than Republicans] to say they're at least somewhat likely to vote by mail, with fully half saying they're very likely to do so. Meanwhile, the number of Republicans saying they will probably vote by mail has fallen to 22 percent." Mrs. McC: I found Bump's numbers rather confusing, so I checked the Monmouth poll itself (pdf): "Nearly half of all voters report they are either very (32%) or somewhat (17%) likely to cast their own general election ballot by mail. This includes 72% of Democrats and 48% of independents, but just 22% of Republicans." Emphasis added.
Notes from a Banana Republic. Steve M.: "This is a democracy, and while elected officials are partisans, they should be strictly non-partisan when dealing with election issues. If they use their power to put a thumb on the scale in their own favor so they'll win more elections, that's corrupt. That's a sign of an illiberal state. That means we're living in a degraded, debased parody of democracy. This needs to be explained to people. Americans don't understand it instinctively. That's why there's never been an outcry against the GOP's long-standing 'voter fraud' witch hunt, or the other efforts by Republican state officials to limit voting in Democratic-leaning precincts, such as closing down polling places so presumed Democratic voters often have to spend all day waiting to vote. Americans have never fully grasped the anti-democratic inclinations of the GOP, and most are likely to say 'Well, that's just partisan politics' based on the reporting of Trump's remarks.... The press is revealing that it's not equal to the task of reporting on President Trump's efforts to hamper mail-in voting."
Judge Calls Trump's Bluff. Katelyn Polanz of CNN: "A federal judge in Pennsylvania told the Trump campaign and the Republican Party that they must produce evidence they have of vote-by-mail fraud in the state by Friday. The judge's order, in a high-profile case about vote-by-mail in the battleground state, essentially forces the Trump campaign to try to back up ... Donald Trump's false claims about massive voter fraud in postal voting.... District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan [told] Republicans that they need to provide evidence of fraud to the Democratic Party and the Sierra Club, which are part of the lawsuit. The Democrats had asked for information and documents that would show steps the Republicans took to study the possibility of fraud, especially related to the use of dropboxes, ballot collection and mailed-in ballots in the primary elections. The Trump campaign and Republicans had refused to do so. But with Thursday's court order, they must answer questions from the Democratic groups and turn over records of communications -- or say they have none." ~~~
Portrait of a Corrupt Postmaster General. (Yeah, Louis DeLay thought this photo was so good he shared it.)
~~~ Jonathan Lai & Ellie Rushing of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "The U.S. Postal Service has warned Pennsylvania that some mail ballots might not be delivered on time because the state's deadlines are too tight for its 'delivery standards,' prompting election officials to ask the state Supreme Court to extend the deadlines to avoid disenfranchising voters. The warning came in a July 29 letter from Thomas J. Marshall, general counsel and executive vice president of the Postal Service, to Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, whose department oversees elections. That letter was made public late Thursday in a filing her Department of State submitted to the Supreme Court, asking it to order that mail ballots be counted as long as they are received up to three days after the Nov. 3 election date. If the court agrees, that could increase the likelihood that the results of the presidential race between Donald Trump and ... Joe Biden won't be known for days after the election.... Pennsylvania [is] a battleground state that was decided by less than 1% of the vote in 2016...." Firewalled. The Raw Story has a summary report here. ~~~
~~~ Aaron Gordon of Vice: "The United States Postal Service is removing mail sorting machines from facilities around the country without any official explanation or reason given, Motherboard has learned through interviews with postal workers and union officials. In many cases, these are the same machines that would be tasked with sorting ballots, calling into question promises made by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy that the USPS has 'ample capacity' to handle the predicted surge in mail-in ballots. Motherboard identified 19 mail sorting machines from five processing facilities across the U.S. that either have already been removed or are scheduled to be in the near future. But the Postal Service operates hundreds of distribution facilities around the country, so it is not clear precisely how many machines are getting removed and for what purpose." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Colin Kalmbacher of Law & Crime: "The process of removing those machines has stoked fears that ... Donald Trump and his allies ... are intentionally sabotaging mail operations in order to diminish the capability of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to sort and deliver mail-in ballots in a timely fashion.... 'Tampering with the mail and federal elections are crimes no matter who does it,' federal criminal defense attorney Tor Ekeland told Law&Crime. 'Just because you run the bank doesn't mean you get to steal the money. This reeks of mail and election fraud -- the scheme to defraud using the removal of mail sorting machines without reason as a means to inhibit mail in voting. These are felonies and should be investigated and prosecuted appropriately.'... 'If this is being done at the direction or suggestion of the President to intentionally slow or minimize voter participation, in other words to sabotage the election, then it's a clear abuse of Presidential power,' [former federal prosecutor Mimi Rocah] said in an email. 'Congress must act and the press must hold elected Republicans accountable for not stopping this.'"
~~~ Tess Riski of the Willamette (Oregon) Weekly: "A spokesman for the United States Postal Service confirmed that the agency has removed four blue boxes from Portland, and 27 from Eugene this week. The USPS plans to remove a few more boxes from Portland next week. 'The reason we're doing it is because of declining mail volume,' USPS spokesman Ernie Swanson told WW. "Ever since the pandemic came along, people are mailing less for some reason.'... Swanson said USPS is only removing mailboxes where there were already multiple boxes stationed next to each other. USPS has not removed any mailboxes in locations where there was only one, Swanson said.... Earlier today [Thursday]..., Donald Trump said he is intentionally undermining the USPS to make it more difficult to vote by mail, causing concern among Americans as the November election approaches."
(Dan Mangan of CNBC: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Thursday demanded that the U.S. Postal Service's internal ethics watchdog investigate what she suggested was 'corruption' in the purchase of Amazon stock options by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy after his appointment to that job. The Massachussetts Democrat Warren, in a tweet, wrote that DeJoy's 'investments in @USPS competitors were already deeply problematic. But his purchase of @Amazon stock options after his appointment is inexcusable,' she added.... A spokesperson for the OIG in an email to CNBC wrote, 'Inspector General Tammy L. Whitcomb received a congressional request last week and our office is reviewing it for appropriate response. We cannot comment on details of any ongoing work.'")
New Jersey. Brent Johnson of NJ.com: "November's elections in New Jersey ... will be mostly mail-in as the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect the state, Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to announce Friday.... That means all of the state's 6.2 million registered voters will be sent ballots to vote by mail in the Nov. 3 elections, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. There will also be a select number of local polling places across the state for people who choose to vote in person, the sources said."
Stupidest Senator Admits He's Corrupt. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Sen. Ron Johnson this week said his probe of Obama-era intelligence agencies would help ... Donald Trump win reelection, igniting fury from Democrats who say it was an explicit admission he's using his committee to damage Joe Biden's candidacy for president. 'The more that we expose of the corruption of the transition process between Obama and Trump, the more we expose of the corruption within those agencies, I would think it would certainly help Donald Trump win reelection and certainly be pretty good, I would say, evidence about not voting for Vice President Biden,' Johnson said in a little-noticed Tuesday interview with Minneapolis-based radio hosts Jon Justice and Drew Lee.... Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, similarly said during another radio interview this week that the evidence his committee had uncovered was so 'outrageous' that 'it should completely disqualify Biden from president.'... 'This damning acknowledgment totally exposes that Ron Johnson's disgraceful conduct is the definition of malfeasance,' said Biden spokesman Andrew Bates."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a request from Republicans to block a trial judge's ruling making it easier for voters in Rhode Island to cast absentee ballots during the coronavirus pandemic. The judge's ruling suspended a requirement that voters using mailed ballots fill them out in the presence of two witnesses or a notary. The Supreme Court's unsigned order included an explanation, which is unusual when its acts on emergency applications. The case differed from similar ones in which state officials had opposed changes to state laws ordered by federal judges, the order said. 'Here the state election officials support the challenged decree,' the order said, 'and no state official has expressed opposition.' The order added that Rhode Island's last election was conducted without the witness requirement, meaning that instituting a change now could confuse voters." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Thursday are here: "Officials across the United States reported at least 1,470 deaths on Wednesday, the highest single-day total yet in August, according to a New York Times database, and a reflection of the continued toll of the early-summer case surge in Sun Belt states. More than half the deaths reported on Wednesday were spread across five states that saw some of the most dramatic case spikes in June and July. Texas reported more than 300 deaths Wednesday. Florida more than 200. And Arizona, California and Georgia all reported more than 100 each. Even as the number of new cases has fallen from its late July peak, deaths have remained persistently high. For more than two weeks, the country has averaged more than 1,000 deaths a day, more than twice as many as in early July." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for coronavirus developments Thursday are here: "Several of the first U.S. schools to reopen their classrooms are already experiencing covid-19 outbreaks. The news is particularly grim in Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp (R) declined to issue an order requiring masks in schools. One district there has been forced to quarantine nearly 1,000 students and staff."
"Excess Deaths." Denise Lu of the New York Times: "Across the United States, at least 200,000 more people have died than usual since March, according to a New York Times analysis of estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is about 60,000 higher than the number of deaths that have been directly linked to the coronavirus. As the pandemic has moved south and west from its epicenter in New York City, so have the unusual patterns in deaths from all causes. That suggests that the official death counts may be substantially underestimating the overall effects of the virus, as people die from the virus as well as by other causes linked to the pandemic. When the coronavirus took hold in the United States in March, the bulk of deaths above normal levels, or 'excess deaths,' were in the Northeast, as New York and New Jersey saw huge surges.... But as the number of hot spots expanded, so has the number of excess deaths across other parts of the country."
Joe & Kamala Show Donnie & mike How the Job Is Done. Adam Edelman of NBC News: "Joe Biden on Thursday called on governors across the U.S. to issue mask-wearing mandates to stem the spread of COVID-19. 'Every single American should be wearing a mask when they're outside for the next three months, at a minimum,' Biden told reporters at a hotel in Wilmington, Delaware, with his newly minted running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif. 'Every governor should mandate mandatory mask-wearing,' he added. 'It's not about your rights, it's about your responsibilities,' Biden said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Matthew Choi of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Thursday launched a partisan attack on Joe Biden at a White House press briefing, inaccurately suggesting the presumptive Democratic nominee wanted a national mandate on mask wearing while assailing Biden as 'regressive,' 'anti-scientific' and 'defeatist.' Speaking to reporters from the lectern in the James S. Brady briefing room, Trump claimed Biden advocated a national mask mandate to fight the virus -- an act that Trump said ignored the different needs of individual states and trampled on governors' authority. Earlier Thursday, Biden and recently announced running mate Kamala Harris called on governors to issue mask mandates amid a national effort to curb the pandemic.... Trump himself urged Americans to wear masks during his briefing, saying it was the 'patriotic thing to do.' Trump also said Biden advocated 'locking all-Americans in their basements for months on end.'..." ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Audrey McNamara of CBS News: "This fall could be the worst in the history of American public health if people do not heed guidance from health officials to stop the coronavirus, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield warned Wednesday. Redfield said skyrocketing cases of COVID-19 combined with the annual flu season could create the 'worst fall' that 'we've ever had.... I'm asking you to do four simple things: wear a mask, social distance, wash your hands, and be smart about crowds. If you do those four things it will bring this outbreak down," Redfield said in an interview with WebMD. "But, if we don't do that ... this could be the worst fall from a public health perspective we've ever had." ~~~
Ben Casselman & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The federal aid to unemployed workers that President Trump announced last weekend looks likely to be smaller than initially suggested -- and it remains unclear when the money will start flowing, how long it will last or how many workers will benefit. The uncertainty comes at a delicate time for the economy. New applications for state unemployment benefits fell below one million last week for the first time since the pandemic took hold in March, the Labor Department said Thursday. But filings remain high by historical standards, and other measures show the economy losing momentum.... The Senate adjourned on Thursday until early September, and House members had already left Washington. The departures all but end any chance of a quick agreement on sending stimulus checks to American taxpayers, reviving lapsed unemployment benefits and providing billions of dollars for schools, testing, child care, small businesses, and state and local governments.... Here is what we know about the program and how it will work." Mrs. McC: Or not.
Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. More Kodak Shenanigans. Judd Legum of Popular Information: A $765 million loan from the Trump administration to Kodak to allow the company "to enter the generic pharmaceutical business ... is on hold, pending multiple investigations by the SEC and Congress..., [primarily because] ... [Kodak awarded its CEO] and other top executives lucrative options the day before the deal was announced.... [One] Kodak board member [who] took advantage of [Kodak's] temporary spike in stock price to secure a massive tax exemption [was George Karfunkel. He] and his wife ... 'donated 3 million of their 6.3 million Kodak shares to Congregation Chemdas Yisroel in Brooklyn, N.Y.' On that day, the donation was worth approximately $116.3 million, making it the largest charitable gift to a religious institution in history. As a result, the gift 'could generate tens of millions of dollars in income-tax benefits for the couple.'... What do we know about Congregation Chemdas Yisroel?... The only evidence of the congregation's presence is a 'small nameplate on the building's exterior.' Karfunkel has a history of trouble with the SEC." --s
Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "President Trump took a swing at his FBI director, Christopher A. Wray, on Thursday, expressing impatience with the bureau's level of cooperation with inquiries into its investigation of the Trump campaign in 2016. Speaking by phone with Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business, Trump railed against past investigations of his former adviser Carter Page, his former national security adviser Michael Flynn and his own conduct as president. Asked whether Wray was withholding FBI documents that could shed more light on those cases, Trump noted there was an election coming up before saying: 'I wish he was more forthcoming. He certainly hasn't been. There are documents that they want to get and that we have said we want to get. We are going to find out if he's going to give those documents. Certainly, he's been very, very protective.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Betsy Klein & Evan Perez of CNN: "... Donald Trump on Thursday again attacked his own FBI director, whom he appointed, and pushed Attorney General William Barr to pressure the Justice Department's investigation of the Russia probe.... 'Bill Barr has a chance to be the greatest of all time. But if he wants to be politically correct, he'll be just another guy,' [Trump said]. Barr said in an interview aired on Wednesday that he is aiming to release some conclusions from [John] Durham's investigation [of the investigation] ahead of the November election, putting a finer point on a timeline that has shifted in recent weeks and also opening up the possibility that the review could extend into the winter." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Literary Corner, Ha Ha. Kara Scannell of CNN: "Michael Cohen released the foreword of his upcoming book on Thursday, teasing what he claims is a behind-the-scenes exposé of his acts as ... Donald Trump's fixer -- from stiffing contractors on a business deal to lying about extra-marital affairs to the President's attempts to 'insinuate himself into the world of President Vladimir Putin.' 'I know where the skeletons are buried because I was the one who buried them,' Cohen wrote in the foreword, which was published Thursday on a website for his tell-all book 'Disloyal: A Memoir. The true story of the former personal attorney to President Donald J. Trump.'"
Bill Barr Sticks up for White (and Asian) Students. Anemona Hartocollis of the New York Times: "The Justice Department on Thursday accused Yale University of violating federal civil rights law by discriminating against Asian-American and white applicants, an escalation of the Trump administration's moves against race-based admissions policies at elite universities. The charge, coming after a two-year investigation, is the administration's second confrontation with an Ivy League school; two years ago, it publicly backed Asian-American students who accused Harvard in a lawsuit of systematically discriminating against them. The department's finding could have far-reaching consequences for the ongoing legal challenges to affirmative action, which are expected to eventually reach the Supreme Court."
Sarah Okeson of DC Report: "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, influenced by Donald Trump, hired a firm to look at a proposal for a copper and gold mine in southwest Alaska, home to sockeye salmon. The engineers, known to gloss over disaster potential, reached polar opposite conclusions of the Obama EPA. The EPA said the mine would result in a 'complete loss of fish habitat' in the world's largest sockeye salmon fishery.... AECOM, a Los Angeles-based global engineering firm ...claims the mine proposal, which has been scaled down 'would not be expected to have a measurable effect' on fish populations in Bristol Bay." --s
Anna Phillips of the Los Angeles Times: "The Trump administration has canceled plans to open tens of thousands of acres for oil and gas drilling near three national parks in Utah next month, a victory for environmentalists and residents angered by its proposal. In all, the Bureau of Land Management's plans had called for more than 114,000 acres of federal land across southern Utah to be auctioned off in September, one of many lease sales across the West planned for the end of this year. But from the outset, the proposal generated fierce debate because most of the land -- about 87,000 acres -- is close to three of the state's biggest tourist attractions: Arches, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef national parks." --s (Firewalled.)
Ankush Khardori of Slate: "Tuesday's four-hour hearing before the full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on whether District Judge Emmet Sullivan must grant the government's motion to dismiss Michael Flynn's case certainly had all the trappings of a legal proceeding.... However, it was, at bottom, a farce.... The way that Sullivan's attorney presented his case made it clear that the judge and the judicial system are now uninterested in revealing to the public the behind-the-scenes manipulation and possibly outright corruption that went into securing the Department of Justice's decision to let one of Donald Trump's closest former allies off of the hook. Because of this failure, the public may never learn the full extent of the stunningly irregular process through which the Justice Department intervened in the case.... Having been cowed by a conservative political-legal-media complex into taking this silly position, anything more than a pro forma hearing appears unlikely.... The end result will be vacuous legal proceduralism." --s
Bianca Quilantan of Politico: "A federal judge refused a multi-state effort to strike down Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' new Title IX rule, clearing the path for the policy to take effect Friday.... Attorneys general in 17 states and the District of Columbia have brought the lawsuit challenging DeVos' policy change, which mandates how colleges and K-12 schools must respond to reports of sexual misconduct. Former Vice President Joe Biden has vowed to put a 'quick end' to the controversial rule if he becomes the next president.
Peter Baker, et al., of the New York Times: "Israel struck an agreement with the United Arab Emirates on Thursday to establish 'full normalization of relations' even as it forgoes for now plans to annex occupied West Bank territory in order to focus on improving its ties with the rest of the Arab world. In a surprise statement issued by the White House, President Trump said he brokered a deal that will lead to Israel and the U.A.E. signing a string of bilateral agreements on investment, tourism, security, technology, energy and other areas while moving to allow direct flights between their countries and set up reciprocal embassies.... The extent of the president's role in forging the deal was not immediately clear. But he was eager to claim credit.... He was surrounded in the Oval Office by a large delegation of aides and officials who heaped praise on him, including Jared Kushner..., who has been spearheading Middle East peace efforts for more than three years." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Leela Jacinto of France 24: "A former senior Saudi intelligence officer [Saad Aljabri] in exile filed a lawsuit in a US court last week accusing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of plotting to kill him. The allegations, including using children as bargaining chips, have sparked calls for President Donald Trump ... to intervene on moral grounds.... As a right-hand man of Saudi Arabia's former interior minister, Aljabri was a key link between Saudi and Western intelligence services and privy to highly sensitive information on the kingdom's rulers.... The 170-page document details chilling but as yet unverified plots to target Aljabri. They include the arrival at a Canadian airport of a Saudi 'Tiger Squad' hit team -- similar to the one used to kill journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey -- to target Aljabri. The complaint also sheds light on the moves by global intelligence and law enforcement agencies to contain some of bin Salman's human rights excesses on foreign soil." --s
California. Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. James Ward of Visalia Times-Delta: "The Tulare County District Attorney has charged executives of the ousted company that ran Tulare Regional Medical Center with more than 80 combined felony and misdemeanor criminal counts, including suspicion of embezzlement, conspiracy, money laundering, grand theft, and campaign finance violations. Named in the charges were Healthcare Conglomerate Associates CEO Dr. Yorai Benzeevi, HCCA CFO Alan Germany, and HCCA attorney Bruce Greene.... The sprawling investigation spanned over six states including Arizona, Idaho, Maine, Georgia, Colorado, Michigan, and Washington D.C., Ward said. Fifty-eight total search warrants were served." --safari: Better get some Fox News lawyers.
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