;)
The Commentariat -- June 17, 2020
Afternoon Update:
Kate Brumback of the AP: "Prosecutors brought murder charges Wednesday against the white Atlanta police officer [Garrett Rolfe] who shot Rayshard Brooks in the back, saying that the black man posed no threat when he was gunned down and that the officer kicked him and offered no medical treatment as he lay dying on the ground.... The felony murder charge against Rolfe carries life in prison without parole or the death penalty. He was also charged with 10 other offenses punishable by decades behind bars. 'Mr. Brooks never presented himself as a threat,' [District Attorney Paul] Howard said. A second officer with Rolfe, Devin Brosnan, stood on a wounded Brooks' shoulder as he struggled for his life, according to Howard. Brosnan was charged with aggravated assault and other offenses but is cooperating with prosecutors and will testify, according to the district attorney, who said it was the first time in 40 such cases in which an officer has come forward to do this." The Washington Post's report is here.
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Wednesday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here.
Robert O'Harrow, et al., of the Washington Post: "As it races to create a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, the Trump administration this month announced that one of its largest pandemic-related contracts would go to a little-known biodefense company named Emergent BioSolutions.... The $628 million deal to help manufacture an eventual vaccine cemented Emergent's status as the highest-paid and most important contractor to the HHS office responsible for preparing for public health threats and maintaining the government's stockpile of emergency medical supplies.... Now, Emergent is the only maker of multiple drugs the government deems crucial for the Strategic National Stockpile, and the government is the company's primary customer, accounting for most of its revenue.... But Emergent's dominance has fueled new risks for national health preparedness, according to documents and former government officials. The industry consolidation has created 'vulnerabilities in the supply chain,' while also raising the prospect of inflated costs because of a lack of competition, according to a confidential report [commissioned by HHS] obtained by The Post.... Emergent's advocacy for biodefense spending over more than a decade was aided by influential allies in Washington and tens of millions of dollars in lobbying campaigns, documents show."
** Book Report. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, says in his new book that the House in its impeachment inquiry should have investigated President Trump not just for pressuring Ukraine to incriminate his domestic foes but for a variety of instances when he sought to intervene in law enforcement matters for political reasons. Mr. Bolton describes several episodes where the president expressed willingness to halt criminal investigations 'to, in effect, give personal favors to dictators he liked,' citing cases involving major firms in China and Turkey. 'The pattern looked like obstruction of justice as a way of life, which we couldn't accept,' Mr. Bolton writes, adding that he reported his concerns to Attorney General William P. Barr. Mr. Bolton also adds a striking new allegation by saying that Mr. Trump overtly linked trade negotiations to his own political fortunes by asking President Xi Jinping of China to buy a lot of American agricultural products to help him win farm states in this year's election." Read on. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I guess we know now why "the Justice Department filed a last-minute lawsuit against Mr. Bolton this week seeking to stop publication." Barr is totally implicated. As for Bolton, he apparently spills quite a bit of ink over chastising the House for not investigating other Trump misdeeds at the same time Bolton himself was keeping those misdeeds secret from the House. Phony jackass. ~~~
~~~ Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post also read Bolton's book. Mrs. McC: The most important thing Bolton nails down is that Trump did not just passively accept foreign interference in U.S. elections; he solicited foreign assistance -- more than once. And Bill Barr knew it. He knew it when he stood up there and mischaracterized the Mueller report. In a just world, Deputy Dawg would be in jail, too. ~~~
~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "At the heart of the [Justice Department's] lawsuit ... seeking to halt the release next week of John Bolton's tell-all book ... is the idea that Bolton's book contains classified information.... As the Justice Department's own suit admits, there was indeed a point at which the White House official who had worked extensively with Bolton decided that the manuscript of the book was free of classified information. Shortly thereafter, though, she was overruled by officials with closer ties to Trump -- and, in one case, thanks to an official with a history of politically charged actions benefiting Trump.... The official was Michael Ellis, the senior director for intelligence on the National Security Council.... The lawsuit says the additional review was conducted 'at the request of' Bolton's replacement as White House national security adviser, Robert O'Brien.... O'Brien has also proved to be one of Trump's most loyal aides, shifting the National Security Council from its traditional role of advising a president on policy to defending, implementing and enabling his preexisting policy ideas, according to a February New York Times analysis.... A former aide to the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes (Calif.), Ellis in 2017 was one of three White House officials involved in the handling of sensitive intelligence that was shared with Nunes to discredit the Russia investigation." ~~~
~~~ Theodore Boutrous, Jr., in a Washington Post op-ed: "The Trump administration's lawsuit against John Bolton is a paper tiger, designed for a showy roar of outrage but with little prospect of any real bite.... The complaint on its face demonstrates that this is just the latest example of Trump flouting the First Amendment and manipulating and abusing the national security apparatus for personal and political purposes to hide information of great public concern.... The biggest problem is that the administration is seeking a prior restraint of speech before it occurs -- not just damages for injuries allegedly caused by speech after the fact. The Supreme Court has never upheld a prior restraint on speech about matters of public concern.... The complaint doesn't even name the publisher as a defendant, and the books have already been printed and shipped to warehouses. Advance copies have been distributed to journalists and others. So even if the Justice Department can persuade a judge to enjoin Bolton, the non-parties remain free to disseminate the book." ~~~
~~~ Aaron Blake: "The most damning passage [in regard to Trump's disinterest in human rights] comes when Trump, in Bolton's telling, on two occasions actually encouraged Chinese President Xi Jinping to use concentration camps for Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang province[.... After Trump spoke to Xi about the Uighurs at the Osaka G-20 meeting in June 2019]..., Trump in July 2019 met with victims of political persecution, including Uighurs, and declared of his devotion to religious freedom, 'I don't think any president has taken it as seriously as me.' The White House announced shortly after the news [the Bolton was releasing his book] broke [on June 8, 2020,] that Trump had signed the 'Uighur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020.'"
~~~ Ha Ha. Here's an actual book review by Jennifer Szalai of the New York Times: "'The Room Where It Happened,' an account of [John Bolton's] 17 months as Trump's national security adviser, has been written with so little discernible attention to style and narrative form that he apparently presumes an audience that is hanging on his every word.... Bolton has filled this book's nearly 500 pages with minute and often extraneous details, including the time and length of routine meetings and even, at one point, a nap. Underneath it all courses a festering obsession with his enemies.... The book is bloated with self-importance, even though what it mostly recounts is Bolton not being able to accomplish very much. It toggles between two discordant registers: exceedingly tedious and slightly unhinged.... It's a strange experience reading a book that begins with repeated salvos about 'the intellectually lazy' by an author who refuses to think through anything very hard himself."
Tiffany Hsu of the New York Times: "Aunt Jemima, a syrup and pancake mix brand, will get a new name and image after Quaker Oats, its parent company, acknowledged that its origins were 'based on a racial stereotype.'" Thanks to Ken W. for the link. The NBC News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Racist? Whaddaya mean, racist? ~~~
~~~ Thanks to the Jim Crow Museum. Terry Nguyen of Vox has more on the history of the brand.
Ally Mutnick & Melanie Zanona of Politico: "The House's highest-ranking Republicans are racing to distance themselves from a leading GOP congressional candidate in Georgia after Politico uncovered hours of Facebook videos in which she expresses racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic views. The candidate, Marjorie Taylor Greene, suggested that Muslims do not belong in government; thinks black people' are held slaves to the Democratic Party'; called George Soros, a Jewish Democratic megadonor, a Nazi; and said she would feel 'proud' to see a Confederate monument if she were black because it symbolizes progress made since the Civil War. Greene finished first in a primary for a deep-red, northwest Georgia seat last week by a nearly two-to-one margin over the second-place candidate. She is entering an August runoff as the heavy favorite to secure the Republican nomination for a district where that is tantamount to winning the general election in November." Mrs. McC: I'm shocked to learn a red-clay Georgia GOP candidate is a racist.
A "Noble Cause." Emily Pettus of the AP: "After rejecting a proposal to move a Confederate monument, [Harry Sanders,] a white elected [county supervisor] in Mississippi said this week that African Americans 'became dependent' during slavery and as a result, have had a harder time 'assimilating' into American life than other mistreated groups.... In northeastern Mississippi's Lowndes County, supervisors voted along racial lines Monday against moving a Confederate monument that has stood outside the county courthouse in Columbus since 1912. The monument depicts a Confederate soldier and says the South fought for a 'noble cause.'... After the meeting, Sanders, a Republican, was quoted by the Commercial Dispatch as saying that other groups of people who had also been mistreated in the past -- he cited Irish, Italian, Polish and Japanese immigrants -- were able to successfully 'assimilate' afterward. 'The only ones that are having the problems: Guess who? The African Americans,' Sanders said. 'You know why? In my opinion, they were slaves. And because of that, they didn't have to go out and earn any money, they didn't have to do anything. Whoever owned them took care of them, fed them, clothed them, worked them. They became dependent, and that dependency is still there....'" Mrs. McC: I'm shocked to learn a Mississippi cotton-country GOP candidate is a racist.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Americans want law and order. They demand law and order. They may not say it, they may not be talking about it, but that's what they want. -- Donald Trump, Tuesday, at what was supposed to be a speech about reducing police misconduct ~~~
~~~ David Nakamura, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump announced executive action on police reforms Tuesday, but his plan was swiftly panned by Democrats and liberal groups as falling far short of the sweeping changes needed to address what they have called a culture of systemic racism and brutality that sparked nationwide protests. In a Rose Garden ceremony, Trump formally unveiled steps to offer new federal incentives for local police to bolster training and create a national database to track misconduct.... The event was heavy on symbolism as the president surrounded himself with uniformed officers and police union officials [Mrs. McC: almost all of them whitey-white], a show of solidarity that signaled he was unwilling to risk angering law enforcement communities that he considers a key part of his conservative political base.... Kate Bedingfield, Biden's deputy campaign manager, responded to Trump's false contention that the Obama administration had not tried to address police brutality by citing consent decrees with local police departments and an Obama executive order to limit the flow of military weapons to municipal police. She said Trump 'has spent the past three years tearing down the very reforms' the previous administration had pursued." ~~~
President Obama and Vice President Biden never even tried to fix this during their eight-year period. The reason they didn't try is they had no idea how to do it. -- Donald Trump, telling another whopper Tuesday
~~~ Jane Timm of NBC News: "... Donald Trump claimed Tuesday that his predecessor did not take action on reforming police.... But [President] Obama..., who confronted and addressed race and racism frequently, did take action to reform police and try to reduce bias in law enforcement. The Trump administration is well aware of that, too: It unraveled those changes.... In August 2017, Trump reversed an Obama policy that banned the military from selling surplus equipment to police, a measure that had been put in place amid criticism over the armored vehicles, tear gas and assault rifles used to control protests after the police killing of Michael Brown, 18, in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014. In addition, in September 2017, the Justice Department said it would stop the Obama-era practice of investigating police departments and issuing public reports about their failings. Those reports were used to demand change and negotiate consent decrees, legal agreements between local police and the Justice Department mandating reforms enforceable by courts.... Shortly before the president fired him..., [then-AG Jeff] Sessions issued a memo dramatically limiting the Justice Department's practice of using consent decrees." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Last night, Brian Williams interviewed David Litt, a one-time Obama speechwriter. Litt said that he could not have written a speech in which Obama knocked a political rival because, as a White House employee, he was not permitted by law to write political speeches. That is, any time Trump reads from a script in which he maligns another politician (and that's pretty often) -- unless Trump himself has altered the script -- his speechwriter has broken the law. Update: Jonathan Lemire of the AP, appearing on MSNBC this morning, seemed to indicate that Trump's dissing of Obama & Biden in yesterday's Rose Garden remarks was ad-libbed. ~~~
~~~ Jill Colvin, et al., of the AP: At the signing ceremony, "Donald Trump ... made no mention of the roiling national debate over racism spawned by police killings of black people. Trump met privately with the families of several black Americans killed in interactions with police before his Rose Garden signing ceremony and said he grieved for the lives lost and families devastated. But he quickly shifted his tone and devoted most of his public remarks to a need to respect and support 'the brave men and women in blue who police our streets and keep us safe.' He characterized the officers who've used excessive force as a 'tiny' number of outliers among 'trustworthy' police ranks.... At the signing event, he railed against those who committed violence during the largely peaceful protests while hailing the vast majority of officers as selfless public servants."
Amber Phillips of the Washington Post: "... a key committee in the chamber, the Senate Judiciary Committee, held its first big hearing on policing reform Tuesday. It came hours after President Trump announced an executive order on policing that focused on training." Phillips covers five takeaways from the hearing. Here's one: "In his opening remarks, Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) became the most high-profile Senate Republican yet to signal he's open to changing the legal protections for police officers, known as qualified immunity.... The White House has said it won't consider any changes to legal protections for officers from lawsuits." ~~~
~~~ Andrew Desiderio & Burgess Everett of Politico: "The Senate is unlikely to take up a police reform bill until after the Independence Day recess, Republican leaders said on Monday, raising the prospect that it could be a month or longer before a measure heads to ... Donald Trump's desk. A group of GOP senators, led by Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), is expected to file legislation this week that would address policing practices in the aftermath of the May 25 killing of George Floyd. But according to GOP leaders, any floor votes would likely have to wait until at least the week of July 20, after senators return from a two-week recess." (Also linked yesterday.)
Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday rejected calls to remove statues of Confederate figures from the Capitol, reiterating that he thinks the decision should be made by states. 'What I do think is clearly a bridge too far is this nonsense that we need to airbrush the Capitol and scrub out everybody from years ago who had any connection to slavery,' McConnell told reporters.... Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), are calling for the statues' removal.... 'Every state is allowed two statues. They can trade them out at any time.... A number of states are trading them out now. But I think that's the appropriate way to deal with the statue issue. The states make that decision,' McConnell told reporters last week.... However, on Tuesday, McConnell did signal an openness to renaming military installations named after Confederate figures, something President Trump has indicated he would oppose.... '... If it's appropriate to take another look at these names, I'm personally OK with that.... Whatever is ultimately decided, I don't have a problem with,' McConnell said." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Not surprisingly, McConnell's argument on the statues is disingenuous. He claims proponents of removing the aim "to airbrush the Capitol and scrub out everybody ... who had any connection to slavery," then pointed out that "there were eight presidents who owned slaves. Washington did. Jefferson did. Madison did. Monroe did." But members of Congress who want to remove statues of Confederate leaders & military men are not proposing to remove statues of slaveholders per se. They're asking to remove statues of men who took up arms against the United States in the cause of slavery. They're asking to remove homages to traitors. Washington, et al., kept slaves (more or less) in compliance with the laws & did not commit acts to treason to do so.
Alabama. Brad Harper of the Montgomery Advertiser: "Jackson Hospital pulmonologist William Saliski ... described the dire situation created by the coronavirus pandemic in Montgomery to its City Council before they voted on a mandatory mask ordinance.... 'The units are full with critically-ill COVID patients,' Saliski said. About 90% of them are Black.... 'This mask slows that down, 95% protection from something as easy as cloth.... If this continues the way it's going, we will be overrun.' More doctors followed him to the microphone, describing the dead being carried out within 30 minutes of each other, and doctors being disturbed when people on the street ask them if the media is lying about the pandemic as part of a political ploy.... The council killed the ordinance after it failed to pass in a 4-4 tie, mostly along racial lines.... Councilman Clay McInnis voted with three Black council members.... 'The question on the table is whether Black lives matter,' [resident William] Boyd said before the vote." Mrs. McC: Clearly, black lives do not matter to Montgomery's white councilmembers. But hey, what do a bunch of elitist doctors know? MAGA!
California. Andrew Blankstein & Ben Collins of NBC News: "An Air Force sergeant who was arrested in the fatal ambush of a Santa Cruz County deputy was charged Tuesday in connection with the killing of a federal security officer during George Floyd protests in Oakland last month, authorities said. Staff Sgt. Steven Carrillo, 32, was charged with murder and attempted murder in the killing of federal officer Dave Patrick Underwood, 53. Underwood was one of two officers who were shot May 29 while guarding the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building. The other officer was critically wounded in the drive-by attack. Both were members of Homeland Security's Federal Protective Service. Authorities said Carrillo and a second man traveled to Oakland with the intent to kill police and believed the large demonstrations spurred by the death of Floyd in Minneapolis -- which they were not a part of -- would help them get away it.... Carrillo's alleged accomplice, Robert Justus, was also charged with murder and attempted murder.... Investigators found inside Carrillo's vehicle a ballistic vest with a patch on it that featured an igloo and a Hawaiian-style print -- symbols associated with the far-right extremist 'Boogaloo' movement, according to his federal complaint."
Minnesota. Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "A Minnesota man was charged in connection with the burning down of a Minneapolis police station after a protest over the death of George Floyd turned violent. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) announced Tuesday that Dylan Shakespeare Robinson, 22, was charged with aiding and abetting arson at the Minneapolis Police Department's Third Precinct. Robinson, who was arrested Sunday in Breckenridge, Colo., made his first appearance earlier today in front of a federal judge in Denver. According to a criminal complaint filed against him, Robinson is suspected of lighting a Molotov cocktail that another person threw at the police precinct on May 28. He later allegedly threw an incendiary device into the building himself.... Branden Michael Wolfe, 23, of St. Paul was also charged last week with aiding and abetting arson in connection with the blaze."
New Mexico. Simon Romero of the New York Times: "Gunfire broke out during a protest Monday night in Albuquerque to demand the removal of a statue of Juan de Oñate, the despotic conquistador of New Mexico whose image has become the latest target in demonstrations across the country aimed at righting a history of racial injustice. As dozens of people gathered around a statue of Oñate, New Mexico's 16th-century colonial governor, shouting matches erupted over proposals to take it down and a man was shot, prompting police officers in riot gear to rush in. The man, who was not identified, was taken away in an ambulance, and the police took into custody several members of a right-wing militia who were dressed in camouflage and carrying military-style rifles. It was not clear whether any of them had fired the shot; witnesses said the gunman was a white man in a blue shirt." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "... a group of militia men sporting militarylike garb and carrying semiautomatic rifles formed a protective circle around the gunman [who shot four rounds]. The gunshots, which left one man in critical but stable condition, have setoff a cascade of public outcry denouncing the unregulated militia's presence and the shooting. On Tuesday morning, the Albuquerque Police Department announced that detectives had arrested Stephen Ray Baca, 31,in connection with the shooting.... 'The heavily armed individuals who flaunted themselves at the protest, calling themselves a "civil guard," were there for one reason: To menace protesters, to present an unsanctioned show of unregulated force,' New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) said in a statement. 'To menace the people of New Mexico with weaponry -- with an implicit threat of violence -- is on its face unacceptable; that violence did indeed occur is unspeakable.'... Police have not released any information about the suspected shooter or said whether they believe he has any connection to the armed militia." (Also linked yesterday.)
New York. Jacqueline Rose & Eric Levenson of CNN: "Martin Gugino, the 75-year-old protester who was pushed by two Buffalo, New York, police officers earlier this month, has a fractured skull and is not able to walk, his lawyer said in a statement provided to CNN on Monday."
North Carolina. Jim Morrill of the Charlotte Observer: "... a North Carolina lawmaker has lashed out at what he calls 'gutless wonders in public office who are bowing down to Black Lives Matter.' Republican Rep. Larry Pittman of Cabarrus County called protesters 'ignorant thugs,' 'criminals,' 'domestic terrorists' and 'vermin.' If they resist and attack police, he said they should 'shoot them.' 'This is war,' he wrote on Facebook Monday. 'Our people have a right to expect our leaders to be on our side, not surrender to the lawless, godless mob.' Pittman, 65, is running for his fifth term. He faces Democrat Gail Young in November. His Facebook post came in response to the protests for racial justice that have swept the country following the police killing of George Floyd of Minneapolis. 'These vermin don't care about George Floyd or any other individual, except maybe their financial sponsor, George Soros,' Pittman wrote." Pittman is a "pastor." Mrs. McC: Yeah. Right back atcha, Rev. Larry.
Oklahoma. Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Mike Gundy, the winningest football coach in Oklahoma State's history, apologized on Tuesday after he stirred outrage by wearing a T-shirt with the logo of a right-wing cable channel that aired commentary calling the Black Lives Matter movement 'a farce.... Gundy's apology and his public distancing from the One America News Network came after current and former Oklahoma State athletes condemned his decision to wear the shirt. The open outrage, a reflection of the growing power of players across college athletics, included criticism from Chuba Hubbard, Oklahoma State's premier tailback, who issued a public warning on Monday that he was prepared to boycott the university."
John Bowden of the Hill: "NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Monday that he would 'support' and 'encourage' an NFL team to sign former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick after facing criticism for not addressing Kaepernick's situation during a recent statement on racial issues and the league. During an interview with ESPN anchor Mike Greenberg, Goodell said that the league should have 'listened to our players earlier' on issues of race and the protests against police brutality during the national anthem's performance before games, a practice Kaepernick is credited with starting." (Also linked yesterday.)
Honduras. Frances Robles of the New York Times: "The president of Honduras has announced that he tested positive for the coronavirus, joining a small group of world leaders infected in the pandemic.... In a televised statement late Tuesday, President Juan Orlando Hernández said his wife and two of his two aides had also become infected. He said that he began feeling unwell over the weekend, and that the diagnosis was confirmed later Tuesday."
The Trumpidemic
If we stop testing right now we'd have very few cases. -- Donald Trump, Monday ~~~
~~~ Aamer Madhani & Mike Stobbe of the AP: "Trump's comment Monday was part of a broader administration effort to play down the pandemic, a push that public health experts and Democratic officials worry is sending a dangerous message to the American public as some parts of the country have seen a surge in cases in recent weeks.... Last week, the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation ... said rising rates of infections, hospitalizations and death 'are now occurring in the wake of eased or ended distancing policies.' Trump offered more rosy talk Tuesday, predicting that a vaccine would be available by year's end and adding that 'even without it, it goes away.'... Vice President Mike Pence, for his part, pushed back in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that the potential for a second wave of the virus was 'overblown.'... But public health experts say Trump and Pence's ebullience papers over concerning data that suggests that the virus remains a serious threat to Americans' health and the economy and that the slowing of social distancing and mitigation efforts risks a second wave of the coronavirus in the fall.... In the past week, hospitalization rates have increased in 11 states in the South and West." ~~~
~~~ Ryan Lizza & Renuka Rayasam of Politico: "... Mike Pence, the chair of the president's coronavirus task force, often played the role of bridge between [Trump & Anthony Fauci].... Pence abruptly reinvented himself as a coronavirus skeptic this week, with comments and an op-ed article that stray into pandemic denialism. In a conference call with governors, Pence incorrectly argued Monday that the spike in cases that almost half of the states are experiencing is simply a function of more testing. In a Wall Street Journal piece published [Tuesday] and headlined 'There Isn't a Coronavirus "Second Wave,"' Pence ... cherry-picked a handful of positive statistics.... By [Tuesday] afternoon, the news pages of the Journal contradicted much of what Pence had to say. In an interview with the paper, Fauci reiterated that the jump in cases 'cannot be explained by increased testing.' He warned that relaxed approaches to social distancing, such as congregating close to lots of people in large venues, and an aversion to mask-wearing would cause the disease to spread." Mrs. McC: Is this what Jesus would do, mikey? ~~~
But look, the freedom of speech, the right to peacefully assemble, is enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution. And the president and I are very confident that we're going to be able to restart these rallies. -- Mike Pence, Tuesday, defending Trump's First Amendment right to spread a deadly virus ~~~
~~~ Donald Trump, Super Spreader. Noah Weiland of the New York Times: "Officials in Tulsa, Okla., are warning that President Trump's planned campaign rally on Saturday -- his first in over three months -- is likely to worsen an already troubling spike in coronavirus infections and could become a disastrous 'super spreader.' They are pleading with the Trump campaign to cancel the event, slated for a 20,000-person indoor arena -- or at least move it outdoors. 'It's the perfect storm of potential over-the-top disease transmission,' said Bruce Dart, the executive director of the Tulsa health department. 'It's a perfect storm that we can't afford to have.' Tulsa County, which includes the city of Tulsa, tallied 89 new coronavirus cases on Monday, its one-day high since the virus's outbreak.... The number of active coronavirus cases climbed to 532 from 188 in a one-week period, a 182 percent increase; hospitalizations with Covid-19 almost doubled.... Mr. Trump said on Monday that criticism of the rally was the result of the news media 'trying to Covid Shame us on our big Rallies.'" ~~~
~~~ Erin Banco & Olivia Messer of the Daily Beast: "There's no need to talk about avoiding a second wave of the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci ... said on Tuesday, because the country is still in the first one.... Fauci also said he did not believe that cities would have to go back into lockdown (after having started the process of reopening) because of the virus' spread.... Asked if he would personally attend [Trump's Tulsa rally], Fauci said 'No.' 'I'm in a high risk category. Personally, I would not. Of course not,' he said, adding that when it came to Trump's rallies 'outside is better than inside, no crowd is better than crowd' and 'crowd is better than big crowd.'"
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Tuesday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Some Good News. Sarah Owermohle of Politico: "The inexpensive steroid dexamethasone is the first drug known to reduce risk of death in Covid-19 patients, British researchers announced Tuesday. The medicine cut deaths by up to a third in coronavirus patients on ventilators and cut deaths by one-fifth in patients on oxygen, according to data from a trial run by scientists at Oxford University. The trial randomly assigned 2,104 patients to receive dexamethasone and compared their outcomes to those of 4,321 patients who received standard care." (Also linked yesterday.)
More Magical Thinking. Rebecca Klar of the Hill: During his Rose Garden address on policing, "President Trump touted the development of an 'AIDS vaccine' on Tuesday as he predicted that scientists will create a vaccine for the coronavirus by the end of the year. An AIDS vaccine does not yet exist.... 'And they've come up with the AIDS vaccine. They've come up with -- or the AIDS. And they -- as you know, there's various things, and now various companies are involved. But the therapeutic for AIDS -- AIDS was a death sentence, and now people live a life with a pill. It's an incredible thing,' Trump added." Mrs. McC: Well said, Donald.
Phil Helsel of NBC News: "Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., said Monday that he, his wife and their son have ... COVID-19. In a statement, Rice called the illness the 'Wuhan Flu,' a term that has been criticized as inaccurate and even racist." (Also linked yesterday.) Mrs. McC: Rice is one of the Republicans who has refused to wear a mask to House sessions.
Matthew Choi of Politico: "Rep. Ilhan Omar's father died due to the coronavirus, the Minnesota congresswoman [D] announced Monday night." (Also linked yesterday.)
Tom Hamburger & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department filed a suit Tuesday seeking to block the release of a book by former White House national security adviser John Bolton, asserting that his much-anticipated memoir contains classified material. The moves sets up legal showdown between President Trump and the longtime conservative foreign policy hand, who alleges in his book that the president committed 'Ukraine-like transgressions' in a number of foreign policy decisions, according his publisher. 'The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,' is due to go on sale June 23, and has already been shipped to distribution centers across the country.... Legal experts said the White House will face an uphill battle, given long-standing precedents showing courts are averse to preemptively blocking publication of books on political topics." The New York Times report is here. There's an ABC News story here. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Somebody should tell Trump that he could avoid all these loser lawsuits if he would quit being such an asshole & giving people embarrassing secrets to tell. ~~~
~~~ Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The head of the Justice Department's civil division told staff members on Tuesday that he planned to resign after nearly two years in the post, according to an email obtained by The New York Times, making him the third top official at the department to step down in the past week. The official, Joseph H. Hunt, who previously was chief of staff to Jeff Sessions when he was the attorney general, did not say why he was leaving, and a Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on his departure. It came hours after the department filed a lawsuit signed by Mr. Hunt against ... John R. Bolton.... Besides Mr. Hunt, Brian A. Benczkowski, the head of the Justice Department's criminal division, said last week that he was leaving in July, and Noel J. Francisco, the solicitor general, told officials at the department that he planned to leave when the Supreme Court wrapped up its session this month. Mr. Hunt, a 20-year Justice Department veteran, led the division that defends presidential administrations in court -- and that has faced formidable pressure under Mr. Trump as it undertook deeply polarizing cases that career lawyers often refused to sign. So many lawyers in the division left or asked to be temporarily reassigned to other parts of the department that at one point it froze reassignment requests."
~~~ Mattathias Schwartz & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Two Justice Department officials have agreed to testify under subpoena before the House Judiciary Committee next week about politicization under Attorney General William P. Barr, setting up a likely fight with the department about what they will be permitted to say. House Democrats issued subpoenas on Tuesday to the two officials, including Aaron S.J. Zelinsky, one of the career prosecutors who quit a case against President Trump's friend Roger J. Stone Jr. after Mr. Barr and other senior officials decided to intervene to reverse their recommendation that Mr. Stone be sentenced in accord with standard guidelines and instead requested leniency. The other official who agreed to serve as a witness is John W. Elias, a career official in the Justice Department's antitrust division. The division opened an inquiry into a fuel efficiency deal between major automakers and the state of California; congressional Democrats have called the scrutiny politically motivated. Democrats are calling the officials whistle-blowers. The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, said in a statement that Mr. Barr has refused to testify himself, so the committee was moving forward with oversight of his actions without him." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Asawin Suebsaeng & Lachlan Cartwright of the Daily Beast: "This past Sunday, news broke that the president's niece, Mary Trump, was on track to publish a 'harrowing and salacious' book this summer about her world-famous uncle. By Sunday night, the president had been privately briefed on what he could expect from the upcoming book. By Tuesday, he had begun discussing siccing his lawyers on his niece. According to two people familiar with the situation, Donald Trump has told people close to him that he's getting his lawyers to look into the Mary Trump matter, to explore what could be done in the way of legal retribution -- or at least a threat -- likely in the form of a cease and desist letter. One of the sources ... said that in the past couple of days, the president appeared irked by news of her book and at one point mentioned that Mary had signed an NDA years ago."
Scott Stedman & Robert DeNault of Forensic News: "Walter Soriano, a target of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation into foreign election interference in 2016, appears to be a key middle-man connecting a network of Israeli hacking and surveillance firms to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and former Trump National Security Adviser, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. Under the umbrella of technology conglomerate NSO Group, two business entities appear critical to understanding the relationship between Soriano, Russian oligarchs, and Flynn. OSY Technologies and Circles [the OSY subsidiary hacking firm].... Flynn advised OSY Technologies from mid-2016 to January 2017.... Circles' direct parent company, OSY Technologies ... is actively contracted to work for ... Deripaska..., an associate of Paul Manafort.... Sources tell Forensic News that [the Israeli spy firm] Psy Group was also contracted to work for Deripaska and another Russian oligarch, Dmitry Rybolovlev. Soriano has also reportedly worked for both men. These connections emerge as U.S. investigators have focused on whether these Israeli intelligence companies operated as intermediaries for alleged coordination between the Trump Campaign and Russia." --s
Marianne Levine of Politico: "The Senate Ethics Committee has ended its investigation into Sen. Kelly Loeffler's stock trades, according to a letter sent Tuesday to the Georgia Republican. The news comes three weeks after Loeffler's office said the Justice Department had also dropped its probe into her stock trades.... 'Based on all the information before it, the Committee did not find evidence that your actions violated federal law, Senate Rules or standards of conduct,' [Deborah] Mayer[, the Ethics Committee's chief counsel,] said. 'Accordingly, consistent with its precedent, the Committee has dismissed the matter.'"
Elections 2020
Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "Vice President Pence said Tuesday that President Trump' campaign is considering 'outside activities' for his upcoming Tulsa rally as well as potentially moving the event to a different venue. 'It's all a work in progress. We have had such an overwhelming response that we're also looking at another venue, we're also looking at outside activities and I know the campaign team will keep the public informed as that goes forward,' Pence said on 'Fox & Friends' when asked whether the campaign had considered holding the event outside because of the coronavirus pandemic. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) told reporters on Monday that he had asked the campaign to consider moving Saturday's rally to another venue outside to accommodate more guests." Mrs. McC: "Outside activities"? Like summer-camp crafts? Woven MAGA bracelets? (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ See more on Trump's planned Tulsa rally linked above under "The Trumpidemic."
Trolling Trump. Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Tuesday, Fox News reported that the Lincoln Project, a political group run by anti-Trump conservatives, [was] set to air a new ad highlighting ... Donald Trump's apparent physical frailty walking down a ramp after giving the address at West Point last week.... The ad [was] slated to run in the Washington, D.C. area -- all but guaranteeing the president will see it on his own TV." ~~~
Bloomberg: "In Beijing..., officials have come around to support four more years of Trump.... The chief reason? A belief that the benefit of the erosion of America's postwar alliance network would outweigh any damage to China from continued trade disputes and geopolitical instability.... 'If Biden is elected, I think this could be more dangerous for China, because he will work with allies to target China, whereas Trump is destroying U.S. alliances,' said Zhou Xiaoming, a former Chinese trade negotiator and former deputy representative in Geneva. Four current officials echoed that sentiment, saying many in the Chinese government believed a Trump victory could help Beijing by weakening what they saw as Washington's greatest asset for checking China's widening influence." --s (Firewalled.) (Also linked yesterday.)
Iowa. Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa said Tuesday that she would issue an executive order to restore voting rights to paroled felons, ending Iowa's distinction as the last state in the country to strip all former felons of voting rights for life. As protests over police violence erupted across Iowa in recent weeks, as they have around the country, activists pressured the governor on the issue at the State Capitol. Supporters of Des Moines Black Lives Matter chanted 'let them vote' outside the Capitol on Monday, and along with other rights groups and state lawmakers, they met privately with the governor twice. Ms. Reynolds, a Republican, indicated on Tuesday that she would sign the executive order before the November presidential election, automatically restoring the voting rights of felons who have completed their sentences.... The details of Ms. Reynolds's executive order remain unclear. This month, she signed a Republican-backed bill that excludes former felons who committed certain crimes ... from automatically regaining voting rights, and that requires released felons to pay restitution before they can vote." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Reynolds' order has the potential to make a difference. The most recent polls have Biden & Trump in a statistical tie in Iowa, and Democrat Theresa Greenfield is currently a few polling points ahead of Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Hog Torturer), once considered a safe seat.
Nebraska. Mrs. McCrabbie: You know how I always say to vote for the Democratic candidate no matter how bad he is? Well, make that, "Unless you live in Nebraska, vote for the Democrat no matter how bad he is." ~~~
~~~ Grant Schulte of the AP: "The Nebraska Democratic Party called on its U.S. Senate nominee to drop out of the race Tuesday after he made sexually repugnant comments about a campaign staffer in a group text with her and other staffers. The party said its state executive committee voted unanimously on Monday evening to withdraw all of its resources from Chris Janicek's campaign. Janicek ... is challenging Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, who is seeking a second term.... The text messages, which were obtained by The Associated Press, were from a group chat involving Janicek and five other people, including the female staffer. At one point, he wrote that he had argued with her and then asked whether the campaign should spend money on 'getting her laid.' 'It will probably take three guys,' he wrote, before describing in graphic detail an imagined group sex scene involving the female staffer." ~~~
~~~ Maggie Astor of the New York Times: The Nebraska party's withdrawal of support "means that Mr. Janicek will not have access to any party resources, including money and voter file data. He will not be included in any Democratic campaign literature or on the party's website, and cannot hold events with county parties or other Democratic candidates.But there is no legal process to remove him from the ballot unless he files paperwork to withdraw."
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