The Commentariat -- July 12, 2020

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Sunday are here: "More than 15,000 new cases of the coronavirus were announced on Sunday in Florida, marking the highest single-day total of known cases in any state since the start of the pandemic.... Florida also saw single-day records in the counties that include Florida's largest cities, including Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Fort Myers, West Palm Beach, Pensacola and Sarasota."

Mrs. McCrabbie: Sorry, but this photo-op of Trump wearing a mask Saturday at Walter Reed Medical Center is ridiculous. He has to glower? He has to be in a hospital full of sick people to wear a mask? He has to be followed by an entourage of mask-wearing men in suits & military uniforms? Also, too, it's been reported staff had to beg him for a week before the hospital visit to don the mask, which includes the presidential* seal: ~~~

Justin Wise of the Hill: "President Trump late Saturday lashed out at a pair of Republican senators after they criticized his decision to commute the prison sentence of ... Roger Stone.... 'Do RINO'S Pat Toomey & Mitt Romney have any problem with the fact that we caught Obama, Biden, & Company illegally spying on my campaign? Do they care if Comey, McCabe, Page & her lover, Peter S, the whole group, ran rampant, wild & unchecked - lying & leaking all the way? NO!'"

Mariam Khan of ABC News: "House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., blasted Republicans for failing to stand up to the president and for not defending the 'rule of law,' after the president moved to commute the prison sentence of his longtime friend and former campaign adviser, Roger Stone. 'I think anyone who cares about the rule of law in this country is nauseated by the fact that the president has commuted the sentence of someone who willfully lied to Congress,' Schiff told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on 'This Week' Sunday.... When asked by Stephanopoulos if Trump's action was an impeachable offense, Schiff said it would be if Trump abused the pardon power to protect himself from criminal liability. But, Schiff noted, 'If the Republicans won't even say a word, of course they're not going to vote to impeach and convict.'"

Lindsey Suggests Bob Mueller Will Pay for Writing Op-Ed. Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) suggested Sunday that former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III may be invited to testify before his panel, although Graham did not give any details on the timing of any potential invitation. Graham's statement came one day after Mueller defended his office's prosecution of Roger Stone ... in a Washington Post op-ed.... In his statement Sunday, Graham suggested that he had reconsidered his position on allowing Mueller to testify in light of the former special counsel's op-ed. 'Apparently Mr. Mueller is willing -- and also capable -- of defending the Mueller investigation through an oped in the Washington Post,' Graham said. 'Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have previously requested Mr. Mueller appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about his investigation. That request will be granted.'"

Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's a part I accidentally left out of my outtakes from Michael Shear's NYT interview of Elaine Duke, former acting Homeland Security secretary: "She said she was especially taken aback, during the response to Hurricane Maria's devastation of Puerto Rico, when she heard Mr. Trump raise the possibility of 'divesting' or 'selling' the island as it struggled to recover. 'The president's initial ideas were more of as a businessman, you know,' she recalled. 'Can we outsource the electricity? Can we can we sell the island? You know, or divest of that asset?' (She said the idea of selling Puerto Rico was never seriously considered or discussed after Mr. Trump raised it.)" Island Swap: Buy Greenland (white people); sell Puerto Rico (browner people).

Kevin Blackstone of the Washington Post reminds us of "the most athletic activist feat during an era in which we have come to celebrate the notion of athlete activism[:]... Bree Newsome ... scal[ing] a 30-foot flagpole on the grounds of the South Carolina State House and snatch[ing] from its truck and finial with full dishonor a Confederate flag that flapped there..., as a rebuttal to racial justice for more than half a century.... She was arrested after coming down, flag in hand. '[Physicality] was significant,' Newsome Bass [now married] said. 'Because people see me do this labor of climbing up the pole as symbolic of the struggle to dismantle a white supremacist system.' A few weeks later, South Carolina removed the flag and stuck it in a museum." Newsome, who wasn't an athlete, got a Greenpeace activist to teach her to climb a flagpole. ~~~

~~~~~~~~~~

A Reprieve for Roger

Robert Mueller, in a Washington Post op-ed, whacks Donald Trump & defends the Russia investigation & the case against Roger Stone. "... I feel compelled to respond both to broad claims that our investigation was illegitimate and our motives were improper, and to specific claims that Roger Stone was a victim of our office.... Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so. Russia's actions were a threat to America's democracy.... The women and men who conducted these investigations and prosecutions acted with the highest integrity. Claims to the contrary are false." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Omertà. Sharon LaFraniere & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "Months before F.B.I. agents arrived in darkness at his Florida home to take him into custody, Roger J. Stone Jr. promised ..., 'I will never roll on Donald Trump'.... The president's decision on Friday to commute Mr. Stone's prison sentence for impeding a congressional inquiry and other crimes was extraordinary because federal prosecutors had suspected that Mr. Stone could shed light on whether Mr. Trump had lied to them under oath or illegally obstructed justice. Even Mr. Stone suggested a possible quid pro quo, telling a journalist hours before the announcement that he hoped for clemency because Mr. Trump knew he had resisted intense pressure from prosecutors to cooperate.... Mr. Trump repeatedly praised Mr. Stone and others for refusing to aid the investigation. In a December 2018 tweet, he singled out Mr. Stone for resisting 'a rogue and out of control prosecutor,' adding, 'Nice to know that some people still have "guts!"'" Mrs. McC: The relationship between Trump & Stone is an exemplar of how the Mafia & other crime organizations operate.

Jesse Byrnes & Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "GOP Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) on Saturday sharply condemned President Trump's commutation for ... Roger Stone.... 'Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president,' Romney tweeted Saturday morning.... Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) tweeted Friday before the commutation was announced that 'in my view it would be justified' for Trump to intervene, saying, 'This was a non-violent, first-time offense.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Zach Brendza of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Sen. Pat Toomey [R-Pa.] calls President Trump's commutation of Roger Stone's sentence a 'mistake.'" Mrs. McC: Toomey's "criticism" was mighty mealy-mouthed.

Emma Newburger of CNBC: "Attorney General William Barr spoke with ... Donald Trump about Roger Stone and recommended against granting him clemency, an administration official told NBC News. Other White House officials were also opposed to Trump's decision due to fears of political blowback, including Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, according to a person familiar with the matter. Another person familiar with the matter told NBC that advisors told the president that granting Stone clemency 'was a big mistake.' The official also said that the Department of Justice had nothing to do with the president's decision to commute Stone's sentence.... Barr had previously said that Stone's prosecution was 'righteous' and the sentence was fair, and defended his decision to oppose a stricter sentence for Stone."

"Worse Than Nixon." Jeffrey Toobin of the New Yorker: "... Nixon never gave a pardon, or commuted a sentence, of anyone implicated in the Watergate scandal. But, on Friday night, Donald Trump commuted the prison sentence of Roger Stone.... William Barr ... had already overridden the sentencing recommendation of the prosecutors who tried the case -- a nearly unprecedented act.... But Barr's unseemly interference ... was somehow not enough for the President.... The only trace of shame in Trump's announcement was that he delivered it on a Friday night -- supposedly when the public is least attentive.... The Stone commutation isn't just a gift to an old friend -- it is a reward to Stone for keeping his mouth shut during the Mueller investigation. It is, in other words, corruption on top of cronyism.... One of the touchstones of authoritarian political cultures is the use of the criminal-justice system to reward friends and punish enemies." (Also linked yesterday.)

Max Boot of the Washington Post: "... what makes Trump the worst president ever is not simply that he is colossally incompetent. It is that he is also thoroughly corrupt. It is hard to think of a single major decision he has made for the good of the country, rather than for his own advantage.... While seeking vengeance against those who spoke the truth about his ugly machinations, Trump has sought to reward those who broke the law on his behalf.... He is not just the worst president ever; he keeps getting worse."

Quinta Jurecic & Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare: "... the predictable nature of Trump's action should not obscure its rank corruption. In fact, the predictability makes the commutation all the more corrupt, the capstone of an all-but-open attempt on the president's part to obstruct justice in a self-protective fashion over a protracted period of time.... Trump publicly encouraged Stone not to cooperate with Robert Mueller's investigation, he publicly dangled clemency as a reward for silence, and he has now delivered. The act is predictable precisely because the corrupt action is so naked.... According to newly unsealed material in the Mueller report, [Stone is] a person who had the power to reveal to investigators that Trump likely lied to Mueller -- and to whom Trump publicly dangled rewards if Stone refused to provide Mueller with that information.... Trump clearly knew about and encouraged Stone's outreach to WikiLeaks, the unredacted report shows. Yet in written answers the president provided to Mueller's office..., Trump insisted that he did not recall ... any discussions with Stone of WikiLeaks." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

David Frum of the Atlantic: "The amazing thing about the Trump-Stone story is how much of it happened in the full light of day.... Stone told the journalist Howard Fineman why he lied and whom he was protecting. 'He knows I was under enormous pressure to turn on him. It would have eased my situation considerably. But I didn't.' You read that, and you blink. As the prominent Trump critic George Conway tweeted: 'I mean, even Tony Soprano would have used only a pay phone or burner phone to say something like this.' Stone said it on the record to one of the best-known reporters in Washington. In so many words, he seemed to imply: I could have hurt the president if I'd rolled over on him. I kept my mouth shut. He owes me." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

With the economy in the tank & millions of Americans out of work, the Lincoln Project -- with a little help from Trump -- obliterates Trump's only remaining campaign theme: the Nixonian, racist "law and order" dog-whistle:

Cohen's Re-imprisonment Unconstitutional. Ryan Goodman of Just Security: "On Thursday morning, Michael Cohen ... was returned to prison.... Cohen's reimprisonment followed his apparently being caught on camera at a NYC restaurant in violation of conditions of home confinement.... However..., as the New York Times' Maggie Haberman described, 'Cohen imprisonment wasn't related to NY Post photo of him at restaurant. When he went to switch from furlough to home confinement, he had to sign papers saying no media or publishing a book, which he refused to sign.'... I asked some of the country's leading First Amendment law experts for their views about the agreement Cohen was told to sign.... They are almost uniform in decrying the condition placed on Cohen by the Bureau of Prisons, an agency under William Barr's Justice Department.... Former Provost of the University of Chicago and Professor Geoffrey R. Stone calls the government's action 'patently unconstitutional.' Robert Corn-Revere says it is 'an obvious violation of his First Amendment rights.' The ACLU's Vera Eidelman writes that it is 'almost certainly unconstitutional.' Laura R. Handman ... writes that the government's action is a 'profound affront to the First Amendment ... all the more so when the content of what he would share would likely be ... information that is particularly vital to an informed public as they decide whether the President merits re-election.' Jameel Jaffer, Executive Director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University..., also not[ed] 'this gag order is to suppress speech about the president, which is speech at the core of the First Amendment's concern.'"

The New York Times' live updates for coronavirus developments Saturday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dennis Romero & Austin Mullen of NBC News: "The United States saw another record day for new coronavirus cases, surpassing 70,000 for the first time, according to an NBC News tally Friday.... Sunbelt states experiencing surges including California, Florida, Texas and Georgia contributed to the record tally. California reported 7,798 new cases Friday, and state officials said they're considering releasing about 8,000 inmates from a prison system battered by the virus. In South Florida, NBC Miami reported [t]hat seven area hospitals have no intensive care beds available as a result of being inundated with virus patients." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Eileen Sullivan & Erica Green of the New York Times: "Federal materials for reopening schools, shared the week President Trump demanded weaker guidelines to do so, said fully reopening schools and universities remained the 'highest risk' for the spread of the coronavirus. The 69-page document, obtained by The New York Times and marked 'For Internal Use Only,' was intended for federal public health response teams to have as they are deployed to hot spots around the country. But it appears to have circulated the same week that Vice President Mike Pence announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would release new guidelines, saying that the administration did not want them to be 'too tough.' It is unclear whether Mr. Trump saw the document, nor is it clear how much of it will survive once new guidance is completed.... And as Mr. Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos were trying to pressure local schools to comply with their reopening vision, the document was expressly saying the federal government should not override local judgment."

Yasmeen Abutaleb, et al., of the Washington Post: "... as the Trump administration has strayed from the advice of many of its scientists and public health experts, the White House has moved to sideline [Anthony] Fauci, scuttled some of his planned TV appearances and largely kept him out of the Oval Office for more than a month even as coronavirus infections surge in large swaths of the country. In recent days, the 79-year-old scientist and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has found himself directly in the president's crosshairs. During a Fox News interview Thursday with Sean Hannity, Trump said Fauci 'is a nice man, but he's made a lot of mistakes.'... Fauci has found other ways to get his message out, from online Facebook chats to podcasts and print media interviews. And in recent days, with coronavirus cases slamming hospitals in the South and West, he has been frankly critical of the U.S. response -- and implicitly, of the president." There's a rich bit about the White House's cancelling Fauci's network TV appearances after Fauci displeased King Donald.

Americans Subsidizing Hate. Roger Sollenberger of Salon: "Organizations listed as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) received millions of dollars in government-backed Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, according to data from the Small Business Administration. The Center for Media and Democracy was the first to report on the loans, which went to six nonprofits for a total of somewhere between $2,350,000 and $5,700,000.... The largest loan went to the American Family Association, which was allotted between $1 million and $2 million to support 124 jobs.... Between 2013 and 2017, the group reported combined revenues in excess of $105 million.... The SPLC listed AFA as a hate group in 2010 after former top official Bryan Fischer blamed gay men for the Holocaust.... Right-wing activist David Lane posted an article Tuesday on the AFA website calling antifa and Black Lives Matter an 'alliance between the two devils of Nazism and communism.'" --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Worth remembering: those millions are more gifts than loans: if the organizations meet (or claim to meet) certain criteria, the loan amounts are forgiven.

A Grieving Young Woman Speaks Truth to Power. Marisa Iati of the Washington Post: "When her father died of covid-19 last month, Kristin Urquiza minced no words assigning blame. Mark Urquiza, 65, should still be alive, his daughter wrote in a scathing obituary, published Wednesday in the Arizona Republic. 'His death is due to the carelessness of the politicians who continue to jeopardize the health of brown bodies through a clear lack of leadership, refusal to acknowledge the severity of this crisis, and inability and unwillingness to give clear and decisive direction on how to minimize risk,' she wrote. The searing tribute encapsulates the fury of critics who say governments a multiple levels are failing at their most basic duty: keeping citizens safe. The obituary also nods at the outbreak's disproportionate impact on black and Hispanic communities, which have experienced higher rates of coronavirus-related hospitalization and death. Among the leaders whom Kristin Urquiza feels failed her father, a Mexican American resident of Phoenix who worked in manufacturing, are Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) and the Trump administration. Ducey, she said, 'has blood on his hands' for beginning to reopen the state in early May, roughly three weeks before new infections started to rise quickly."

Michael Shear of the New York Times interviews Elaine Duke, the acting secretary of Homeland Security in 2017. "Ms. Duke's most lasting legacy is likely to be the memo she signed -- under pressure -- to end [DACA]. Her decision not to cite any specific policy reasons was at the heart of the Supreme Court's ruling, which said the Trump administration had failed to substantively consider the implications of terminating the program's protections and benefits. Ms. Duke said she did not include policy reasons in the memo because she did not agree with the ideas being pushed by [Stephen] Miller and [Jeff] Sessions: that DACA amounted to an undeserved amnesty and that it would encourage new waves of illegal immigration.... Ms. Duke [-- a Republican --] is the latest in a series of senior officials who have gone public to describe -- often in vivid, behind-the-scenes detail -- their discomfort and sometimes shock at the inner workings of the Trump presidency.... She described an administration that is often driven by ideology instead of deliberation, values politics over policy and is dominated by a president who embraces 'hate-filled, angry and divisive' language."

Chantal da Silva of Newsweek: "The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is set to launch a six-week 'Citizens Academy' course on immigration enforcement, which will include [six days of training over a six-week period starting in September] ...for citizens on how to arrest undocumented immigrants.... Included in the course would be training in 'defensive tactics, firearms familiarization and targeted arrests.... Speaking with Newsweek on Thursday..., Chicago Congressman Jesús 'Chuy' García said he was disturbed by the program, which he fears will lead to racial profiling, surveillance and potential violence.'... As a member of Congress, García had thought a program like this would have been brought to lawmakers' attention prior to its rollout, but it never was." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Absolutely horrifying. I wouldn't be surprised if Trump turned the "graduates" of his "Citizens Academy" into troops to defend him when he loses the election and refuses to leave the White House.

Jeremy Schwarz & Perla Trevizo of The Texas Tribune & Propublica: "[Tommy Fisher, president of North Dakota-based Fisher Industries, t]he builder of a privately funded border wall along the shores of the Rio Grande, agreed to an engineering inspection of his controversial structure, which experts say is showing signs of erosion that threatens its stability just months after the $42 million project was finished.... On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Randy Crane instructed attorneys to work out details of the inspection and to come to an agreement about fixes for a part of the 3-mile fence that violates a treaty with Mexico by deflecting too much water during floods." --s

Sopan Deb of the New York Times: "On Monday, the W.N.B.A. announced that its upcoming season would be 'dedicated to social justice with games honoring the Black Lives Matter movement.' It did not seem to be a relatively controversial or surprising message, considering how engaged W.N.B.A. players have been in the movement, which has also drawn support from a wide range of corporations and even the most controversy-averse sports leagues, like the N.F.L., since the killing of George Floyd in May. But the expression -- and the movement it supports -- bothered at least one W.N.B.A. owner, who also happens to be a sitting senator in the midst of a difficult campaign for her seat. Senator Kelly Loeffler, Republican of Georgia, is a co-owner of the Atlanta Dream and has been vocally criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement and the league's embrace of it. Loeffler is now facing widespread denunciations from players around the league. The W.N.B.A. commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, released a statement this week distancing the league from Loeffler. Now, the league is grappling with questions about whether an owner who appears to be fundamentally opposed to the league's stated values can remain in her position."

Presidential Race

Maureen Dowd compares the characters of Joe Biden & Donald Trump. Joe wins.

Fox "News" Execs Shocked & Horrified They Had a Racist on Staff. Aidan McLaughlin of Mediaite: "Fox News brass condemned the 'horrendous and deeply offensive racist, sexist and homophobic comments' secretly made by Tucker Carlson's lead writer in an internal memo sent to employees Saturday. CNN reported Friday evening that Fox News writer Blake Neff posted shockingly racist and sexist posts anonymously on an internet message board for years. The posts coincided with his time as the top writer of highly rated prime time show Tucker Carlson Tonight. Neff resigned from his position in response to CNN's reporting.... [The executives] added that Carlson will address the controversy on his show Monday night. The Fox News host did not address the CNN report on his show Friday -- though he took a vague shot at CNN."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Russia. Mary Ilyushina of CNN: Russian whistleblowers, environmental groups and reporters have exposed a huge Arctic oil spill near "the Siberian city of Norilsk, where six weeks ago a huge fuel tank at a power plant ruptured, spilling thousands of tons of diesel into the river.... The owner of the plant, the Nornickel metals giant, says the spill was quickly contained, and the damage limited." The spill has received rare public attention, including from Vladimir Putin. --s

News Lede

CNN: "Twenty-one people were injured after an explosion and fire on board a ship at the US Naval Base in San Diego, US Navy officials said. 'Seventeen Sailors and four civilians are being treated for non-life threatening injuries at a local hospital,' the US Navy said in a statement. The sailors on the USS Bonhomme Richard had 'minor injuries' from the fire and were taken to a hospital, Lt. Cmdr. Patricia Kreuzberger told CNN earlier Sunday. All of the crew is off the ship and accounted for, according to a tweet from the US Pacific Fleet Naval Surface Forces Sunday afternoon. Firefighters battled a three-alarm fire on the ship Sunday morning, SDFD's Mónica Muñoz said. Several different agencies worked to fight the blaze."

The Commentariat -- July 11, 2020

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates for coronavirus developments Saturday are here.

Dennis Romero & Austin Mullen of NBC News: "The United States saw another record day for new coronavirus cases, surpassing 70,000 for the first time, according to an NBC News tally Friday.... Sunbelt states experiencing surges including California, Florida, Texas and Georgia contributed to the record tally. California reported 7,798 new cases Friday, and state officials said they're considering releasing about 8,000 inmates from a prison system battered by the virus. In South Florida, NBC Miami reported [t]hat seven area hospitals have no intensive care beds available as a result of being inundated with virus patients."

Jesse Byrnes & Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "GOP Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) on Saturday sharply condemned President Trump's commutation for ... Roger Stone.... 'Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president,' Romney tweeted Saturday morning.... Sen. (R-S.C.) tweeted Friday before the commutation was announced that 'in my view it would be justified' for Trump to intervene, saying, 'This was a non-violent, first-time offense.'"

"Worse Than Nixon." Jeffrey Toobin of the New Yorker: "... Nixon never gave a pardon, or commuted a sentence, of anyone implicated in the Watergate scandal. But, on Friday night, Donald Trump commuted the prison sentence of Roger Stone.... William Barr ... had already overridden the sentencing recommendation of the prosecutors who tried the case -- a nearly unprecedented act.... But Barr's unseemly interference in the case was somehow not enough for the President.... The only trace of shame in Trump's announcement was that he delivered it on a Friday night -- supposedly when the public is least attentive.... The Stone commutation isn't just a gift to an old friend -- it is a reward to Stone for keeping his mouth shut during the Mueller investigation. It is, in other words, corruption on top of cronyism.... One of the touchstones of authoritarian political cultures is the use of the criminal-justice system to reward friends and punish enemies."

Quinta Jurecic & Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare: "... the predictable nature of Trump's action should not obscure its rank corruption. In fact, the predictability makes the commutation all the more corrupt, the capstone of an all-but-open attempt on the president's part to obstruct justice in a self-protective fashion over a protracted period of time.... Trump publicly encouraged Stone not to cooperate with Robert Mueller's investigation, he publicly dangled clemency as a reward for silence, and he has now delivered. The act is predictable precisely because the corrupt action is so naked.... According to newly unsealed material in the Mueller report, [Stone is] a person who had the power to reveal to investigators that Trump likely lied to Mueller -- and to whom Trump publicly dangled rewards if Stone refused to provide Mueller with that information.... Trump clearly knew about and encouraged Stone’s outreach to WikiLeaks, the unredacted report shows. Yet in written answers the president provided to Mueller's office..., Trump insisted that he did not recall ... any discussions with Stone of WikiLeaks."

David Frum of the Atlantic: The amazing thing about the Trump-Stone story is how much of it happened in the full light of day.... Stone told the journalist Howard Fineman why he lied and whom he was protecting. 'He knows I was under enormous pressure to turn on him. It would have eased my situation considerably. But I didn't.' You read that, and you blink. As the prominent Trump critic George Conway tweeted: 'I mean, even Tony Soprano would have used only a pay phone or burner phone to say something like this.' Stone said it on the record to one of the best-known reporters in Washington. In so many words, he seemed to imply: I could have hurt the president if I'd rolled over on him. I kept my mouth shut. He owes me."

~~~~~~~~~~

A Reprieve for Roger

Jesse Byrnes of the Hill: "P>resident Trump on Saturday morning defended his decision to commute the prison sentence for his longtime associate and political confidant Roger Stone.... 'Roger Stone was targeted by an illegal Witch Hunt that never should have taken place. It is the other side that are criminals, including the fact that Biden and Obama illegally spied on my campaign - AND GOT CAUGHT!' Trump tweeted."

Your Friday Night News Dump. Breaking at 7:53 pm ET: NBC News has confirmed that Donald Trump has phoned Roger Stone & told him he would commute Stone's prison sentence. ~~~

~~~ Update. Spencer Hsu & Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "President Trump has commuted the sentence of his former aide and longtime confidant Roger Stone, who was convicted at trial last year of obstructing a congressional investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. The president signaled his intentions on Twitter last month, saying Stone 'was a victim of a corrupt and illegal Witch Hunt' and 'can sleep well at night!' President Trump then told reporters Friday that he is 'looking at' pardoning Stone, as he continued to build suspense over whether he will intervene before Stone is scheduled to report to prison next week." ~~~

With this commutation, Trump makes clear that there are two systems of justice in America: one for his criminal friends, and one for everyone else. -- Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker, et al., of the New York Times: "In a lengthy statement released late on a Friday evening, the White House denounced the prosecution against Mr. Stone on what it called 'process based charges' stemming from 'the Russia Hoax' investigation. 'Roger Stone has already suffered greatly,' the statement said. 'He was treated very unfairly, as were many others in this case. Roger Stone is now a free man!' Punctuated by the same sort of inflammatory language and angry grievances characteristic of the president's Twitter feed, the official statement assailed 'overzealous prosecutors' working for ... Robert S. Mueller III, and the 'witch hunts' aimed at the president and his associates. It attacked the 'activist juror' who led the panel that convicted Mr. Stone and went on to complain about the show of force used by federal law enforcement agents when he was arrested.... The statement did not argue that Mr. Stone was innocent, only that he should not have been pursued." The statement is here. ~~~

~~~ Tierney Sneed of TPM: "The statement announcing the commutation pointed to several bogus conspiracies Stone, Trump and their allies pushed about federal prosecutors. It alluded to the debunked claim that prosecutors tipped off CNN to Stone's arrest. It reiterated Stone's allegations, already dismissed by a judge, that his jury was biased against him because the foreperson once tweeted negatively about Trump. And the statement asserted the prosecutors only 'set their sights on Mr. Stone' because they were 'desperate for splashy headlines to compensate for a failed investigation.'"

Just had a long talk with #RogerStone. He says he doesn't want a pardon (which implies guilt) but a commutation, and says he thinks #Trump will give it to him. 'He knows I was under enormous pressure to turn on him. It would have eased my situation considerably. But I didn't.' -- Journalist Howard Fineman, in a tweet Friday afternoon

In other words, Stone strongly implies, or outright admits, that Trump conspired with him in certain criminal acts, and a commutation should be Stone's reward for not incriminating -- "turning on" -- Trump. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ~~~

~~~ And So He Did. Mrs. McCrabbie: Dan Goldman, appearing on MSNBC, goes even further, saying that Stone's remarks about the possibility of "turning on" Trump were an implied threat to Trump, and Trump knew it. That is, if Trump didn't commute Stone's sentence, Stone would squeal on Trump from a prison cell. Trump issued the commutation to protect himself, not Stone, in Goldman's view. Makes sense. That's the way criminals communicate. In fact, we know that Trump spoke to Stone about the commutation, so whether or not the two used coded crime-family language, they managed to get on the same page. ~~~

~~~ Bill Kristol agrees with Goldman. Writing in the Bulwark: "Of course Donald Trump would have preferred to wait until November 3 to commute Roger Stone's sentence. But Stone had let it be known that he might talk if he had to set foot in prison for even a short time. And so he received his get out of jail card on July 10, four days before he was to report to the federal penitentiary.... Will no elected Republican now stand up and say to the president: You chose Stone; I choose Biden."

Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: "But wait. Someone who gets a pardon can no longer invoke the Fifth Amendment as a justification for refusing to testify in court. If Stone were called in some other case, he'd be required to spill any beans he had. But if I understand the law correctly, a commutation is more limited. The conviction stands, and the possibility of putting yourself in further jeopardy remains. Thus your Fifth Amendment rights stand. So if you wanted to help out a buddy, but you also wanted to make sure he couldn't be forced to provide dangerous testimony in the future, commutation sure seems like the best bet, doesn't it?" Mrs. McC: Trump would not have known of this distinction, but -- assuming Drum is right -- Trump's lawyers knew. On the other hand, a prosecutor could give Stone full immunity to get to Trump.

Aha! Here's another reason for the Friday night news dump: Harper Neidig of the Hill: "A federal appeals court on Friday denied Roger Stone's emergency motion to delay the start of his prison term, a move that came just an hour before President Trump stepped in to commute his longtime ally's sentence. A three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Stone's appeal after a federal judge set his reporting date for prison to Tuesday."

Rachel Maddow highlighted former prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky's testimony to Congress last month on "Stone's conduct" before the 2016 election & known communications between Stone & Trump. A transcript of Zelinsky's prepared statement is here. It's an easy read. Maddow also highlighted this graf from the Zelinsky statement that made her wonder about Trump's claim that he recently "aced" a cognitive test:

In his written answers to the Special Counsel's Office, President Trump denied remembering anything about his conversations with Stone during the summer of 2016, and he denied being aware that Stone had discussed WikiLeaks with anyone associated with the campaign. One week after submitting his written answers, President Trump criticized 'flipping' witnesses and stated that Stone was 'very brave' in indicating he would not cooperate with prosecutors. The Special Counsel's Report stated that the President's statements complimenting Stone 'support the inference that the President intended to communicate a message that witnesses could be rewarded for refusing to provide testimony that was adverse to the President[.]'

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Sounds like witness tampering to me. Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance suggested Trump could be prosecuted after he leaves office for commuting Stone's sentence in exchange for Stone's refusal to rat on Trump.

Washington Post Editors: "The president may have had the power to help his longtime friend. But that does not make it any less a perversion of justice -- indeed, it is one of the most nauseating instances of corrupt government favoritism the United States has ever seen. There is no doubt about Mr. Stone's guilt.... As Mr. Trump discussed granting clemency to his criminal friend, [even Bill] Barr publicly defended the sentence, perhaps to prevent a mutiny among Justice Department staff.... The president seems to be doing his best, within the confines of the U.S. constitutional system, to emulate the gangster leadership of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a man whose ruinous reign Mr. Trump has always admired. If the country needed any more evidence, Friday confirmed that the greatest threat to the Republic is the president himself."

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "Callers on President Trump in recent weeks have come to expect what several allies and advisers describe as a 'woe-is-me' preamble. The president rants about the deadly coronavirus destroying 'the greatest economy,' one he claims to have personally built. He laments the unfair 'fake news' media, which he vents never gives him any credit. And he bemoans the 'sick, twisted' police officers in Minneapolis, whose killing of an unarmed black man in their custody provoked the nationwide racial justice protests that have confounded the president. Gone, say these advisers and confidants..., are the usual pleasantries and greetings. Instead, Trump often launches into a monologue placing himself at the center of the nation's turmoil. The president has cast himself in the starring role of the blameless victim -- of a deadly pandemic, of a stalled economy, of deep-seated racial unrest, all of which happened to him rather than the country." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jeremy Diamond & Kevin Liptak of CNN: "... Donald Trump -- who has stubbornly refused to wear a mask in public, ridiculed those who have and done little to encourage his supporters to embrace the common sense public health measure -- has said he will wear a mask during a visit to Walter Reed National Medical Center on Saturday. He is also expected to be photographed wearing it, a photo opportunity that some of the President's aides practically begged him to agree to and hope will encourage skeptical Trump supporters to do the same. 'I'm going to Walter Reed to see some of our great soldiers who have been injured. Badly injured. And also see some of our Covid workers people who have such a great job,' Trump said. 'And I expect to be wearing a mask when I go into Walter Reed. You're in a hospital so I think it's a very appropriate thing.'... One presidential adviser described the effort as more than a week of 'lots of negotiation' and repeated 'pleading' by aides who urged the President to set an example for his supporters by wearing a mask on the visit."

Laurie McGinley & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "White House trade adviser Peter Navarro is leading a Trump administration effort to demand the Food and Drug Administration reverse course and grant a second emergency authorization for the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19.... Navarro, armed with a new study that he says shows the drug's effectiveness, is being cheered on by President Trump, who has long touted the drug as a 'game changer' and even used it himself as a possible preventive measure. Trump praised the study on Twitter this week, urging the FDA to 'Act Now.' The campaign also has been promoted by Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president's lawyer, and Laura Ingraham's show on Fox News. But Navarro, an economist..., faces serious challenges as he denounces what he calls 'media-induced hydroxy hysteria.' Scientists have widely criticized the new study, by Detroit's Henry Ford Health System, as flawed. In addition, just weeks ago the FDA revoked its emergency authorization for hydroxychloroquine after major studies found the medication wasn't effective for covid-19. And the unexpected revival of a politically fraught issue comes as FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn tries to shake off criticism he sometimes seems overly deferential to Trump."

Roger Sollenberger of Salon, via RawStory: "Charter schools across the country tapped the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for what could have been more than $1 billion, according to a preliminary analysis of Treasury Department data.... Treasury Department does not disclose specific dollar amounts, but breaks loans into maximum and minimum ranges. Salon's research did not make clear whether this analysis covered every charter school in the nation, but that seems unlikely. Regardless, the minimum total is roughly $500 million, and [a]t the maximum, the total would appear to exceed $1 ;billion." --s

Mississippi. Giacomo Bologna of the Mississippi Clarion Ledger (July 8): "Gov. Tate Reeves is warning the public to get tested for coronavirus if they have been in contact with a state lawmaker. The number of coronavirus cases linked to an outbreak at the Capitol has grown to 36, which includes 26 legislators, according to the state's top health official. Many politicians flouted recommendations to wear a mask inside the Capitol in recent weeks. Now, about one in six of Mississippi state lawmakers have tested positive for the coronavirus." Mrs. McC: No doubt most of these infected legislators are Republicans, though they could have made Democrats sick, too.

Stephen Collinson & Caitlin Hu of CNN: "Angela Merkel may not scream down the phone at ... Donald Trump -- but she knows how to insert a dagger. Trump, as well as Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro and Russia's Vladimir Putin, must have felt his ears burning when the German Chancellor demolished their approaches to the coronavirus in a speech [to the European Parliament] Thursday. 'As we are experiencing firsthand, you cannot fight the pandemic with lies and disinformation any more than you can fight it with hate or incitement to hatred," Merkel said. "The limits of populism and denial of basic truths are being laid bare.'" Emphasis added.

** Rafael Bernal of the Hill: "President Trump said Friday he intends to sign an executive order on immigration within the next month that he said will include a 'road to citizenship' for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. In an interview with Telemundo anchor José Díaz-Balart, Trump blamed Democrats from walking away from a deal on DACA and said the Supreme Court's decision last month blocking his administration's plan to end the Obama-era program gave him 'tremendous power.'" Here's Trump's word salad "explanation" of his "plan":

I'm going to do a big executive order. I have the power to do it as president and I'm going to make DACA a part of it. But, we put it in, and we'll probably going to then be taking it out. We're working out the legal complexities right now, but I'm going to be signing a very major immigration bill as an executive order, which Supreme Court now, because of the DACA decision, has given me the power to do that.... What I'm going to do is that they're going to part of a much bigger bill on immigration. It's going to be a very big bill, a very good bill, and merit-based bill and it will include DACA, and I think people are going to be very happy. But one of the aspects of the bill is going to be DACA. We're going to have a road to citizenship.

~~~ As Franco Ordoñez of NPR put it, "In an interview with Noticias Telemundo, Trump made a series of seemingly conflicting comments about his next steps." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: So it's going to be an executive order or a Congressional bill or something. DACA is going to be in or it's going to be out. Further, Trump's latest "interpretation" of the recent Supreme Court ruling that the Trump administration blew its attempt to kill President Obama's executive order establishing DACA is bananas. (At the time the Court announced its DACA decision last month, Trump denounced it as "horrible & politically charged" & tweeted, "Do you get the impression that the Supreme Court doesn't like me?") Bernal writes, "The White House attempted to clarify Trump's remarks a short time after the interview aired, saying any immigration deal would not include amnesty.... It's unclear whether the president can unilaterally grant a category of undocumented immigrants -- in this case DACA beneficiaries -- permanent legal status with a road to citizenship." Since Trump has spent several years trying to rescind DACA, it's hard to believe he wasn't just playing to Díaz-Balart's Latino audience. We'll end up with, "I never said that," and "It's the Democrats' fault."

Mrs. McCrabbie: In another Friday night news dump that Rachel Maddow highlighted, Bill Barr has dumped/promoted Richard Donoghue, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn), and replaced him with Seth DuCharme, who has been the EDNY U.S. Attorney before. This is like the move Barr attempted to pull against Geoffrey Berman of the SDNY, but Berman balked. I couldn't find a single print story on this Friday night, but here's the DOJ's press release. For some reason, Maddow suspects Barr has unrighteous ulterior motives.

Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in Manhattan has given lawyers for President Trump a Wednesday deadline to say whether he will further challenge a subpoena for his tax documents, part of an ongoing investigation by local prosecutors here into hush money payments made during the 2016 election season. The order by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero follows Thursday's highly anticipated Supreme Court ruling in favor of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who had been seeking the president's tax records as part of a probe into the Trump Organization's role in the payments.... Lawyers from Vance's office previously argued that delays could jeopardize their ability to file charges if any are warranted due to the timing of the payments as they apply to state statutes of limitations. The statute of limitations for a misdemeanor falsifying business records count has already passed, and the five-year deadline by which to bring a felony-level case over the transactions is approaching."

Jake Sherman of Politico: "Chris Cox..., Donald Trump's top liaison to the House of Representatives, has told associates he is leaving the White House, 15 hours after Politico raised questions about his alleged contacts with a former lobbying client while in government. On multiple occasions, Cox suggested while working in the White House that he was collecting intelligence or doing work after speaking to representatives and lobbyists from corporate interests, multiple sources said.... On Thursday afternoon, Politico raised a further series of questions about whether and how Cox was involved in a matter last month involving a former lobbying client that was pushing for help in the Trump administration...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ From Thursday afternoon's Politico Playbook: "On two occasions over the last few days, CHRIS COX -- who runs House outreach for the White House legislative affairs office -- suggested to colleagues he was doing errands and collecting political intelligence for lobbyist friends on K Street. COX told colleagues in the White House that he was seeking information on the executive orders that ... DONALD TRUMP was readying to issue so he could brief people downtown -- in other words, suggesting he wanted to give lobbyists a sneak peek." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ray Levy-Uyeda of Mic: "At least 68 people have driven their cars into Black Lives Matter protesters since May 25.... Data collected since late May by Ari Weil, deputy research director at the Chicago Project on Security and Threats of the University of Chicago, shows that vehicle assaults on protesters are increasingly common. According to NPR, Weil's research has found that 18 of the attacks were 'deliberate,' with many more still under investigation." --s

Whistling Dixie. Brad Kutner of Courthouse News: "Calling a Confederate general who led an uprising against the United States of America an 'American war veteran,' a state judge blocked the removal of any war monuments in the state capital Thursday afternoon. Richmond City Circuit Court Judge Bradley B. Cavedo delivered his ruling from the bench during an emergency hearing. The fight started when an anonymous Virginian claimed the July 1 removal of Confederate statutes -- ordered by Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney under emergency powers -- violated state law. Cavedo granted a similar request to block Virginia Governor Ralph Northam's attempt to remove of a Robert E. Lee Statue from state-owned land." Mrs. McC: Sorta like a statue of Emperor Hirohito at Pearl Harbor would be an homage to an American war veteran. Really, really stupid. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Oliver Darcy of CNN: "The top writer for Fox News host Tucker Carlson has for years been using a pseudonym to post bigoted remarks on an online forum that is a hotbed for racist, sexist, and other offensive content, CNN Business learned this week.... [Darcy reports some of the writer's online remarks.] And over the course of five years, [writer Blake] Neff has maintained a lengthy thread in which he has derided a woman and posted information about her dating life that has invited other users to mock her and invade her privacy. There has at times also been overlap between some material he posted or saw on the forum and Carlson's show.... In a recent article in the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, Neff said, 'Anything [Carlson is] reading off the teleprompter, the first draft was written by me.'... CNN Business contacted Neff for comment Thursday night. After he or someone acting on his behalf passed that email to Fox News spokespeople, a network spokesperson on Friday morning told CNN Business that Neff had resigned.

Elections 2020

This Matters. David Siders of Politico: "... while new voter registrations had plummeted amid the coronavirus pandemic, those who were registering in competitive states tended to be whiter, older and less Democratic than before.... For months last year and in early 2020, Democrats had been registering voters at a faster clip than Republicans in many competitive states that register by party, including Iowa, Florida, Maine, New Hampshire, Arizona and Nevada. That was in part a function of the Democratic Party's competitive presidential primary, and in part a reflection of animosity toward Trump. But the effect of the pandemic on voter registrations was severe.... In a majority of 10 [battleground] states..., registrations skewed older and whiter than before the pandemic."

Apparently the Crazy Man in the White House heard that his campaign against mail-in ballots was causing Republicans to shun them, so he contrived a fix:

Mail-In Ballot fraud found in many elections. People are just now seeing how bad, dishonest and slow it is. Election results could be delayed for months. No more big election night answers? 1% not even counted in 2016. Ridiculous! Just a formula for RIGGING an Election.... ....Absentee Ballots are fine because you have to go through a precise process to get your voting privilege. Not so with Mail-Ins. Rigged Election!!! 20% fraudulent ballots? -- Donald Trump, in a pair of tweets Friday

There's one big problem with that: Absentee and mail-in ballots are the same thing. --Kathryn Krawczyk of the Week

Krawczyk might think Trump is nuts, but it looks to me as if his plan is to assert that Republicans are filing honest absentee ballots and Democrats are stuffing ballotboxes with fake mail-in ballots. My guess is that Trump is right: there are plenty of Republicans dumb enough to fall for that. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Betsy Klein of CNN: "... Donald Trump's Portsmouth, New Hampshire, rally has been delayed, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Friday. McEnany told reporters aboard Air Force One that the rally would be postponed a week or two due to the impending storms in the area. The rally wa slated to be held outside at an airplane hangar amid the coronavirus pandemic.... Plans for an Alabama rally, which had been tentatively scheduled for July 11 before the New Hampshire rally was announced, were scrapped after local officials voiced opposition to holding a large gathering as cases rise in the state." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Amid ongoing concerns about President Trump attracting only small crowds at his re-election events, officials said Friday that his campaign was postponing a planned rally for the following evening in Portsmouth, N.H., citing safety concerns associated with an incoming tropical storm.... Current weather forecasts for Portsmouth indicate that the rain is supposed to stop there around noon on Saturday; the rally was scheduled for 8 p.m.... It was not clear whether the New Hampshire rally was on track to fill up. Aides were adamant they'd fill the venue. But people familiar with the sign-ups said the interest in the rally was significantly lower than for rallies that took place before the coronavirus paused campaigning. There was also a lack of local interest in the rally in Portsmouth, a blue town without a red base to draw from, according to a New Hampshire Republican familiar with the event." Mrs. McC: However, earlier reports did predict fairly severe weather, and I think there could have been a problem flying through the storm. ~~~

~~~ Monica Alba, et al., of NBC News: "Well before the call was made to postpone ... Donald Trump's Saturday re-election rally in New Hampshire, the warning lights were flashing red. There were no signs of the typical throngs of supporters camped out days in advance for a good spot; the Republican governor said he would skip it, advising anyone at high risk to stay home over coronavirus concerns; fears of a repeat of Tulsa's disappointing turnout weighed heavily; and then came the stormy weather reports, which could have further stifled attendance. By the time the campaign announced that the Portsmouth event was off, citing 'safety concerns' over a tropical storm barreling toward the Northeast on Friday afternoon, people close to the campaign said fears over low turnout also motivated the decision to scrap the event.... The decision to reschedule over bad weather is a 'convenient excuse' for the Trump 2020 team, one outside adviser [to Trump] told NBC News."

Dan Diamond of Politico: The Trump campaign's headquarters in Arlington, Va. "was shut down for its first deep cleaning in weeks after a senior campaign official tested positive for the virus. The decision to conduct the cleaning came after two months of flouting the Trump administration's own public health guidance: There are no face coverings or temporary barriers between desks at headquarters, and leaders have limited efforts to implement social distancing.... 'You get made fun of, if you wear a mask,' said one person. 'There's social pressure not to do it.'" Besides being contrary to CDC advice, the campaign's office configuration & policies violates state policies on social distancing & mask-wearing. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) decided to let it go to avoid a fight with the campaign.

Colby Hall of Mediaite: "After a quick debate [with Sean Hannity Thursday during a telephone interview] over whether [Joe] Biden recently revealed he had passed a COVID or cognitive test, Trump revealed that he is tested for the coronavirus all the time before saying that Biden 'didn't take a cognitive test because he couldn't pass one.' It was then that he revealed that he had submitted to a cognitive test himself. 'I actually took one very recently when I was -- when the radical left was saying "is he all there, is he all there?'" Trump offered. 'I proved I was all there because I aced it. I aced the test and he should take the same exact test, a very standard test.... I took it at Walter Reed, a medical center in front of doctors, and they were very surprised,' Trump continued. 'They said "that's an unbelievable thing. Rarely does anybody do what you just did."'" ~~~

~~~ Tommy Christopher of Mediaite lists the tasks on the "Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA), the test that Trump first took as president in 2018 according to then-White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson." For someone with normal cognitive skills, the tasks are simple, like, "Correctly identifying pictures of a lion, a rhinoceros, and a camel." Mrs. McC: This test seems to be given fairly commonly to people older than 65 as I know a number of people who have taken it. I've taken it at least three times, and I think I "aced" it each time -- except once when I forgot one of the items in a list of five things named earlier. I don't know why doctors would be "very surprised" that Trump passed unless they thought he was a basket case. And it simply is not credible that "They said 'that's an unbelievable thing. Rarely does anybody do what you just did.'" If doctors said that, they were lying, as I'm sure doing well on the simple test is neither "rare" nor "unbelievable." Most adults know what a camel looks like. ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... the White House would not say when he took [the test] or why. Mr. Trump boasted that his success on the test surprised his doctors as he continued his attempt to make a campaign issue of whether ... Joseph R. Biden Jr., was mentally fit.... Mr. Trump described taking the test after Mr. Hannity mentioned that Mr. Biden had said he had taken several cognitive tests. The president insisted that Mr. Biden must have meant tests he took for the coronavirus and that his rival 'couldn't pass' a cognitive test.... Mr. Trump is a difficult messenger for an attack on Mr. Biden as his own health has come under scrutiny."

Michael Balsamo of the AP: "Federal officials were so worried Jeffrey Epstein's longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell might take her own life after her arrest that they took away her clothes and bedsheets and made her wear paper attire while in custody, an official familiar with the matter told The Associated Press...The other protocols put in place for Maxwell's confinement include ensuring that she has a roommate in her cell, that she is monitored and that someone is always with her while she's behind bars, the official said." --s

The Commentariat -- July 10, 2020

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here.

Betsy Klein of CNN: "... Donald Trump's Portsmouth, New Hampshire, rally has been delayed, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Friday. McEnany told reporters aboard Air Force One that the rally would be postponed a week or two due to the impending storms in the area. The rally was slated to be held outside at an airplane hangar amid the coronavirus pandemic.... Plans for an Alabama rally, which had been tentatively scheduled for July 11 before the New Hampshire rally was announced, were scrapped after local officials voiced opposition to holding a large gathering as cases rise in the state."

Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "Callers on President Trump in recent weeks have come to expect what several allies and advisers describe as a 'woe-is-me' preamble. The president rants about the deadly coronavirus destroying 'the greatest economy,' one he claims to have personally built. He laments the unfair 'fake news' media, which he vents never gives him any credit. And he bemoans the 'sick, twisted' police officers in Minneapolis, whose killing of an unarmed black man in their custody provoked the nationwide racial justice protests that have confounded the president. Gone, say these advisers and confidants..., are the usual pleasantries and greetings. Instead, Trump often launches into a monologue placing himself at the center of the nation's turmoil. The president has cast himself in the starring role of the blameless victim -- of a deadly pandemic, of a stalled economy, of deep-seated racial unrest, all of which happened to him rather than the country."

Jake Sherman of Politico: "Chris Cox..., Donald Trump's top liaison to the House of Representatives, has told associates he is leaving the White House, 15 hours after Politico raised questions about his alleged contacts with a former lobbying client while in government. On multiple occasions, Cox suggested while working in the White House that he was collecting intelligence or doing work after speaking to representatives and lobbyists from corporate interests, multiple sources said.... On Thursday afternoon, Politico raiseda further series of questions about whether and how Cox was involved in a matter last month involving a former lobbying client that was pushing for help in the Trump administration...." ~~~

     ~~~ From Thursday afternoon's Politico Playbook: "On two occasions over the last few days, CHRIS COX -- who runs House outreach for the White House legislative affairs office -- suggested to colleagues he was doing errands and collecting political intelligence for lobbyist friends on K Street. COX told colleagues in the White House that he was seeking information on the executive orders that ... DONALD TRUMP was readying to issue so he could brief people downtown -- in other words, suggesting he wanted to give lobbyists a sneak peek."

Whistling Dixie. Brad Kutner of Courthouse News: "Calling a Confederate general who led an uprising against the United States of America an 'American war veteran,' a state judge blocked the removal of any war monuments in the state capital Thursday afternoon. Richmond City Circuit Court Judge Bradley B. Cavedo delivered his ruling from the bench during an emergency hearing. The fight started when an anonymous Virginian claimed the July 1 removal of Confederate statutes -- ordered by Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney under emergency powers -- violated state law. Cavedo granted a similar request to block Virginia Governor Ralph Northam's attempt to remove of a Robert E. Lee Statue from state-owned land." Mrs. McC: Sorta like a statue of Emperor Hirohito at Pearl Harbor would be an homage to an American war veteran. Really, really stupid.

~~~~~~~~~~

Trump, et al., v. the LawIs Not Going Well:

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for prosecutors in New York to see President Trump's financial records, a stunning defeat for Mr. Trump but a decision that probably means the records will be shielded from public scrutiny under grand jury secrecy rules until after the election, and perhaps indefinitely. In a separate decision, the court ruled that Congress could not, at least for now, see many of the same records." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: “The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected President Trump's assertion that he enjoys absolute immunity while in office, allowing a New York prosecutor to pursue a subpoena of the president's private and business financial records. In a separate case, the court sent a fight over congressional subpoenas for the material back to lower courts because of 'significant separation of powers concerns.' 'In our judicial system, "the public has a right to every man's evidence,"' Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote in the New York case, citing an ancient maxim. 'Since the earliest days of the Republic, "every man" has included the President of the United States.' In both cases, the justices ruled 7 to 2, with Trump nominees Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh joining the majorities. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented. Trump reacted angrily, and inaccurately, on Twitter: 'Courts in the past have given "broad deference". BUT NOT ME!'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The Supreme Court has delivered a split decision on subpoenas for ... Donald Trump's tax returns and financial records, unanimously rejecting his broadest claims of 'absolute' immunity in a New York state criminal investigation, but ruling that lower courts did not do enough to scrutinize congressional subpoenas for similar records. The pair of highly-anticipated decisions likely mean more delays and court proceedings on both subpoenas, increasing the odds that Trump makes it to the November election without the tax and financial details he has long resisted disclosing being turned over to the prosecutors and Congressional committees demanding them." The report has been updated. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Mrs. McCrabbie: Jeff Toobin calls the rulings "a legal defeat" for Trump but "a practical victory" since Trump can delay release of the returns (none of which would necessarily have become available to the public anyway).

Axios. "President Trump fired off a series of tweets on Thursday morning after the Supreme Court upheld a subpoena from the Manhattan district attorney for his financial records -- attacking the Obama administration, the Mueller investigation, the GOP-led Senate Judiciary Committee and others for allegedly undermining his presidency." The report cites the tweets -- so far. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Thursday derided New York City as a 'hellhole' as he complained about a Supreme Court ruling that upheld the Manhattan district attorney's subpoena to obtain his tax returns. 'This is purely political. I win at the federal level and we won very decisively and so they send it to New York,' Trump said of the pursuit of his financial records, which he has shielded from public view. 'You know what's going on in New York,' he continued. 'Everyone's leaving. It's turned out to be a hellhole, and they better do something about it because people are leaving New York. But this is a political witch hunt that just continues.'" ~~~

~~~ Here's a much calmer report on Trump's reaction to the rulings. He had a very civil conversation with Bart:

Toluse Olorunnipa & John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump reacted angrily to a pair of Supreme Court rulings about his financial records Thursday, taking to Twitter to call them 'not fair to this Presidency or Administration!' and describing himself as the victim of a 'political prosecution.' Hours later, the White House released a statement saying Trump was 'gratified' by one of the decisions and had been 'protected' in the other.... The decision will give Democrats, including ... Joe Biden, more ammunition in their attempts to raise ethical questions about a president who has fought relentlessly to keep his financial records out of the public eye, said Russell Riley, a presidential historian.... After the Supreme Court rulings were released, Biden took to Twitter to retweet a post from last October in which he described himself as 'one of the poorest men in government' during his decades-long Washington career. Biden has released 21 years of tax records, following the tradition of all major recent presidential candidates except for Trump."

Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "Michael D. Cohen, President Trump's onetime lawyer and fixer, was taken back into federal custody on Thursday after being furloughed from prison in May, federal officials said. 'Today, Michael Cohen refused the conditions of his home confinement and as a result, has been returned' to a federal Bureau of Prisons facility, the bureau said in a statement. The bureau's statement did not elaborate on what specifically Mr. Cohen had done, but one person briefed on his legal status said he had refused to sign papers agreeing to certain conditions related to media appearances and writing books." A CNN story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Spencer Hsu & Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department said Thursday that Roger Stone should report to prison next week as ordered by his sentencing judge despite his concerns about the deadly novel coronavirus.... The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit gave Stone until Friday to respond to the government.... The filing came one day after an interview in which Attorney General William P. Barr defended Stone's prosecution and prison sentence. 'I think the prosecution was righteous and I think the sentence the judge ultimately gave was fair,' Barr told ABC News." The Week has an item here. An ABC News report on the Barr interview is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Jerry Lambe of Law & Crime: "... Roger Stone, 67, appealed directly to ... Donald Trump, telling a news organization that the president should pardon him or commute his sentence in the interest of justice. 'I want the president to know that I have exhausted all my legal remedies and that only an act of clemency will provide justice in my case and save my life!' Stone, said in a Tuesday text message to Bloomberg." Mrs. McC: Actually, that's an indirect appeal; Stone made it through an intermediary. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ "He Was Framed." Kevin Liptak & Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "... Donald Trump implied in a pair of interviews Thursday that he was ready to grant clemency to Roger Stone.... Trump is widely expected to pardon or commute Stone's sentence, according to at least half a dozen sources close to the President. Asked by Fox News host Sean Hannity whether he's considered a pardon or commutation for Stone, Trump said during a phone interview, 'I am always thinking.... You'll be watching like everyone else in this case,' he said. In another interview, with radio host Howie Carr, Trump decried Stone's treatment at the hands of law enforcement and said he may grant his clemency plea. 'He was framed. He was treated horrible. He was treated so badly,' Trump said."

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal court judge is putting up a highly unusual fight against an appeals court ruling seeking to immediately shut down the prosecution of former national security adviser Michael Flynn for making false statements in the FBI's investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Lawyers for U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan filed a petition Thursday asking the full bench of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to review a 2-1 decision a panel of that court issued last month, directing Sullivan to cancel his plans for a hearing and instead grant the government's request to drop the case." (Also linked yesterday.)

Nicholas Fandos & Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "Geoffrey S. Berman, who was abruptly dismissed by President Trump last month from his post as the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, told lawmakers on Thursday that Attorney General William P. Barr tried unsuccessfully to pressure him to resign voluntarily, warning that a firing could ruin his career. Testifying before a closed-door hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, Mr. Berman recounted being summoned with no warning in June to a meeting with Mr. Barr at the Pierre Hotel in New York, in which the attorney general asked him to step down. Mr. Berman said he rebuffed Mr. Barr time and again during a tense, 45-minute discussion, telling him he would not resign and did not want to be fired, according to copies of his prepared statement obtained by The New York Times." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Thursday are here: "The surge in coronavirus cases in the United States ... is being driven largely by states that were among the first to ease virus restrictions as they moved to reopen their economies. Florida has seen its average new daily cases increase more than tenfold since it began reopening in early May. Cases in Arizona have jumped by 858 percent since beginning to reopen May 8. Cases in Texas have risen by 680 percent since beginning to reopen May 1. Epidemiologists had warned that reopening could lead to waves of new infections if it was done before the virus was contained, and before contact tracing was sufficiently ramped up enough to contain future outbreaks. ~~~

~~~ "As President Trump continued to press for a broader reopening, the United States set another record for new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, with more than 59,400 infections announced, according to a New York Times database. It was the fifth national record in nine days.... On Thursday, cases were decreasing in only two states -- Vermont and New Hampshire. In 14 states and territories, the number of cases was mostly the same. And in the rest of the country new cases were on the rise." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here: "Anthony S. Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease official, is advising that some states seriously consider 'shutting down' again if they are facing major resurgences of the virus -- a warning that conflicts with President Trump's push to reopen the country as quickly as possible.... A record 62,751 new infections were reported across the United States on Wednesday, including 9,979 in Texas and 11,694 in California. The total number of cases has surpassed 3 million in the United States, where the death toll is approaching 130,000." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "A normal president and a normal political party would be horrified by this turn of events. They would realize that they made a bad call and that it was time for a major course correction; they would start taking warnings from health experts seriously. But Trump ... seems completely untroubled by the toll from a pandemic that seems certain to kill more Americans than were murdered over the whole of the past decade. And he's doubling down on his rejection of expertise, this week demanding full reopening of schools in defiance of existing guidelines.... He has spent the past five months trying to will us back to where we were in February, when he was sitting on top of a moving train and pretending that he was driving it."

MEANWHILE, the abnormal President* is headed to Miami-Dade County today, an epicenter of the coronavirus, where he'll hold a series of meetings.

Here's a Change/Correction/"Clarification." Alex Harring of CNBC: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will soon issue additional safety guidelines on reopening schools this fall, but the agency doesn't plan to change its original recommendations that... Donald Trump criticized as too tough and expensive, CDC Director Robert Redfield said Thursday. Redfield said in an interview on ABC's 'Good Morning America' the additional documents don't ease the CDC's recommendations. He said the agency is providing more information for communities, care givers and schools on how to reopen safely. Vice President Mike Pence indicated Wednesday the agency would soften its recommendations. But when asked about the possibility, Redfield said there would be no changes." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

A Rare Covid Success Story. (Secret Recipe: Don't believe Trump.) Thanks to PD Pepe for the link. Here's a transcript of the PBS Newshour interview: ~~~

~~~ Lena Sun & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "As the country enters a frightening phase of the pandemic..., the CDC, the nation's top public health agency, is coming under intense pressure from President Trump and his allies, who are downplaying the dangers in a bid to revive the economy ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election. In a White House guided by the president's instincts, rather than by evidence-based policy, the CDC finds itself forced constantly to backtrack or sidelined from pivotal decisions. The latest clash between the White House and its top public health advisers erupted Wednesday, when the president slammed the agency's recommendation that schools planning to reopen should keep students' desks six feet apart, among other steps to reduce infection risks.... The CDC ... is increasingly isolated — a function both of its growing differences with the White House and of its own significant missteps earlier in the outbreak.... During a May lunch with Senate Republicans, Trump told the group the CDC 'blew it' on the coronavirus test and that he'd installed a team of 'geniuses' led by ... Jared Kushner to handle much of the response...."

Alexandra Alper of Reuters: "A reporter who attended White House briefings this week has tested positive for the coronavirus, the White House Correspondents' Association said on Thursday, raising further concerns about the health of staff and journalists working in the building. The individual, who wore a mask during press conferences with Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Monday and Wednesday, has no symptoms and spent no additional time at the White house this week, the group said, adding that it was contacting individuals who had been in close contact with the person."

Eric Levai of the Daily Dot: "White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany's parents received millions of dollars in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, according to data released by the Small Business Administration this week.... As long as the money is used to pay employees, and for rent and utilities, the government will forgive the entire loan.... According to the loan data, McEnany Roofing said it employs 141 people. In an interview with Fox News back in April, McEnany noted that the program was designed to go to companies with 10 or fewer employees.... When asked about the lack of transparency of the program, she noted that'We’re concerned with getting money to people right now. I mean, look, we're not concerned with cobbling a list together to please the media.'... Kayleigh McEnany has previously criticized government assistance...."

Jeff Cox of CNBC: "Weekly jobless claims were lower than expected last week as workers slowly returned to their jobs in the wake of rising coronavirus cases. Claims for the week ended July 4 totaled 1.314 million, compared with the 1.39 million expected from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. The total marked a decrease of 99,000 from a week earlier, according to the Labor Department." (Also linked yesterday.)

Zachary Cohen of CNN: "Secretary of Defense Mark Esper confirmed Thursday that he had been briefed on information regarding Russian payments to the Taliban, seemingly acknowledging that Russia's support for the militant group in Afghanistan is not a 'hoax' [perpetrated by Democrats], as ... Donald Trump has claimed. However, Esper also made clear that he has not seen intelligence that corroborates claims that American troops were killed as a result of the 'bounty' payments, walking a delicate line between acknowledging a well-known threat and potentially clashing with the President. Esper's comments came during a long-awaited appearance before the House Armed Services Committee, where lawmakers had their first opportunity to ask the defense secretary and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley about their knowledge of intelligence on Russia offering bounties to the Taliban for killing US troops in Afghanistan.... Milley acknowledged that the Trump administration was 'perhaps not' doing "as much as we could or should" to deter Russia and other foreign governments from supporting militant groups in Afghanistan."

Gen. Milley Thumbs His Nose at Trump. Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "The military's top officer on Thursday described Confederate leaders as traitors and said he is taking a 'hard look' at renaming 10 Army installations that honor them, despite President Trump's opposition to any changes. 'The Confederacy, the American Civil War was fought, and it was an act of rebellion,' the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, told members of the House Armed Services Committee. 'It was an act of treason at the time against the Union, against the Stars and Stripes, against the U.S. Constitution, and those officers turned their back on their oath.' The Army is now about 20 percent black, he said.... Last month, Trump rejected calls to rename installations after Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper signaled a willingness to do so, saying his administration 'will not even consider' that plan."

Indiana. Casey Smith of the AP: "An Indiana woman was arrested in a hit-and-run crash that sent one woman to the hospital and caused minor injuries to a man during a southern Indiana protest over the assault of a Black man by a group of white men, sheriff's officials said Thursday. Christi Bennett, 66, was booked into the Monroe County Jail early Thursday on preliminary charges of criminal recklessness and leaving the scene of an accident, Deputy Barry Grooms said. She was released a couple of hours later on $500 cash bond." (Also linked yesterday.)

Virginia. Wife of Prominent Black Man Outraged by Town's Support for Black Lives Matter. Patricia Sullivan of the Washington Post: "The banner says 'Welcome to Clifton where Black Lives Matter.' It was posted over the tiny Northern Virginia town's Main Street.... The gesture -- which Mayor William R. Holloway called 'a first step' to beginning discussions of racial equity -- drew mostly positive responses, according to the town clerk [of this] overwhelmingly white town.... But it prompted outrage from some residents of Fairfax County and nearby towns.... One critical email, which was shared with The Washington Post, was sent from the email account of Ginni Thomas..., who is married to Clarence Thomas, the only black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court."

Full Sharpiegate IG Report Released. Andrew Freedman & Jason Samenow of the Washington Post: "The Commerce Department inspector general issued a delayed and harshly critical report laying out how political pressure originating from the White House resulted in the issuance of a poorly crafted and unsigned National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) statement on Sept. 6, 2019. That statement backed President Trump's erroneous claims that Hurricane Dorian was likely to severely impact Alabama and criticized the agency's own meteorologists.... The episode foreshadowed subsequent Trump administration science controversies, including the White House's repeated dismissals of public health advice for responding to the coronavirus pandemic.... The inspector general's office had released summary findings from the report on June 29 prior to the release of the full report.... In response to the report, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, came out against acting NOAA administrator Neil Jacobs's pending nomination for the position." The Hill's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ A pdf of the full IG's report is here, via the IG.

Stop the Presses! Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is turning legal immigrants into undocumented ones. That is, the 'show me your papers' administration has literally switched off printers needed to generate those 'papers.' Without telling Congress, the administration has scaled back the printing of documents it has already promised to immigrants -- including green cards.... Of the two facilities where these credentials were printed, one, in Corbin, Ky., shut down production three weeks ago. The other facility, in Lee's Summit, Mo., appears to be operating at reduced capacity.... 'The administration has accomplished its goal of shutting down legal immigration without actually changing the law,'... says Anis Saleh, an immigration attorney in Coral Gables, Fla."

Elections 2020

Sean Sullivan & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "Joe Biden unveiled a proposal Thursday to spend $700 billion on American products and research, challenging President Trump's 'America First' agenda with a competing brand of economic nationalism.... Biden called for the federal government to spend $400 billion over four years on materials and services made in the United States, as well as $300 billion on U.S.-based research and development involving electric cars, artificial intelligence and similar technologies. He also advocated a 100-day 'supply chain review' that could require federal agencies to buy only medical supplies and other goods manufactured in the United States. And he urged an end to loopholes that let procurement officers and federal contractors get around existing 'Buy American' clauses.... Biden repeatedly castigated Trump and sounded populist notes that were reminiscent of his more liberal primary challengers."

Mrs. McCrabbie: Donald Trump is headed to Portsmouth, NH -- a city near the Atlantic coast -- Saturday for a semi-open-air rally. BUT, as Bobby Lee pointed out in yesterday's thread, so is Tropical Storm Fay. Forecast: Probability of rain: 85%. Expected precipitation: 1.86". Wind gusts (the hair!): 34 mph. We'll see how that goes.

Weird News. Annie Karni & Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "When President Trump first threatened to pull the Republican National Convention out of Charlotte, N.C., Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida started campaigning to bring the event to his state. But now, as convention planners in Jacksonville seek to raise tens of millions of dollars on an almost impossibly rushed time frame, and in the middle of a raging pandemic, the governor is hindering those efforts, interviews show. Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, has directed his top fund-raiser, Heather Barker, to tell donors not to give to the convention because of a personal dispute between the governor and Susie Wiles, his former campaign manager who is serving as an informal adviser to the convention planners, according to multiple people familiar with his actions." The Tampa Bay Times has a summary report here.

There Is Voter Mail Fraud. David Mack of BuzzFeed News: "A West Virginia mail carrier is facing prison time after admitting he attempted election fraud by changing the party registrations of people who had requested absentee ballots for the state's June primary, officials announced Thursday. Thomas Cooper, 47, of Dry Fork signed an agreement in which he pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to defraud the residents of West Virginia of a fair election and one count of injury to the mail."

Adam Liptak & Jack Healy of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled by a 5-4 margin that nearly half of Oklahoma is an Indian reservation in the eyes of the criminal-justice system, preventing state authorities from prosecuting offenses there that involve Native Americans. The decision was potentially one of the most consequential legal victories for Native Americans in decades. It was written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, a Westerner who has sided with tribes in previous cases and joined the court's more liberal members." A Hill story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Way Beyond the Beltway

** South Korea. Hyung-Jin Kim & Kim Tong-Hyung of the AP: "Police say the body of the missing mayor of South Korea's capital, Seoul, has been found. They say Park Won-soon's body was located in hills in northern Seoul early Friday, more than seven hours after they launched a massive search for him. Park's daughter had called police on Thursday afternoon to report him missing, saying he had given her a 'will-like' message before leaving home. A police officer said Park's body was found near a traditional restaurant and banquet hall located in the hills.... News reports say one of Park's secretaries had lodged a complaint with police on Wednesday night over alleged sexual harassment. Kim Ji-hyeong, a Seoul Metropolitan Government official, said Park did not come to work on Thursday for unspecified reasons and had canceled all of his schedule, including a meeting with a presidential official at his Seoul City Hall office." (Also linked yesterday.) A New York Times story is here.