The Commentariat -- May 30, 2020
Late Morning Update:
Trump's Childish Tweets du Jour (so far). Matthew Choi & Craig Howie of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Saturday morning warned protesters who forced the White House into partial lockdown would face 'vicious dogs' and 'ominous weapons' if they breached the building's perimeter, praised the actions of the Secret Service and appeared to call his supporters to defy authorities by staging a counter protest. 'Great job last night at the White House by the U.S. @SecretService. They were not only totally professional, but very cool. I was inside, watched every move, and couldn't have felt more safe. They let the "protesters" scream & rant as much as they wanted, but whenever someone.... ...got too frisky or out of line, they would quickly come down on them, hard - didn't know what hit them,' Trump tweeted. 'Big crowd, professionally organized, but nobody came close to breaching the fence. If they had they would.... ....have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. That's when people would have been really badly hurt, at least. Many Secret Service agents just waiting for action,' he added. The president also appeared to call for a counter protest, tweeting: 'Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???'... D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the partial lifting of lockdown measures Wednesday, though gatherings of more than 10 remain prohibited." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Needless to say, calling for a MAGA rally is INSANE in a city that (a) disallows gatherings of more than ten, (b) where anti-Trump protesters are likely to show up, and (c) where the vast majority of residents can't stand him.
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Everything Is Going Very Smoothly. Matt Zapotosky & Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "A global pandemic has now killed more than 100,000 Americans and left 40 million unemployed in its wake. Protests -- some of them violent -- have once again erupted in spots across the country over police killings of black Americans. President Trump, meanwhile, is waging a war against Twitter, attacking his political rivals, criticizing a voting practice he himself uses and suggesting that looters could be shot. America's persistent political dysfunction and racial inequality were laid bare this week.... Together, the events present a grim tableau of a nation in crisis -- one seared by violence against its citizens, plagued by a deadly disease that remains uncontained and rattled by a devastating blow to its economy."
~~~ Myah Ward of Politico: Joe Biden "condemned Trump for 'calling for violence against American citizens during a moment of pain for so many.... I'm furious, and you should be too.' Biden also decried the arrest of a CNN news crew early Friday, when police handcuffed reporter Omar Jimenez and led him away even after he produced his press credentials. He was quickly released and back on CNN's air less than 90 minutes later. Jimenez, who is black, was reporting on the protest and riots since the death of George Floyd.... 'This is not abstract: a black reporter was arrested while doing his job this morning, while the white police officer who killed George Floyd remains free,' Biden said. 'I am glad swift action was taken [to release Jimenez], but this, to me, says everything.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Philip Rucker & Toluse Olorunnipa of the Washington Post: "President Trump ... chose to inflame the tinderbox [in Minneapolis] ... when he issued an ultimatum to people protesting the death of a black man there under the custody of a white police officer.... Having contributed to another national cleavage over racial justice, a president who was elected to lead the nation through crises effectively retreated from the responsibility of doing so.... At the same time, Trump on Friday abdicated the traditional role of an American president abroad, ceding global leadership by announcing that he was 'terminating' U.S. membership in the World Health Organization.... Trump called an afternoon news conference in the Rose Garden, read a scripted statement railing against China and the WHO over the coronavirus pandemic, and then turned his back on journalists shouting questions about the unrest in Minneapolis....
"Trump's 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts' phrase has an ugly racial past. The phrase was notoriously used in 1967 by Miami's tough-talking police chief, Walter Headley, who was white, to warn robbers in the city's black neighborhoods that he could use shotguns and dogs at his command. Pressed by reporters, Trump claimed ignorance of the origins.... Trump earlier sought to explain his 'shooting starts' comment with an awkwardly constructed pair of tweets Friday afternoon claiming that he meant to convey that looting often can lead to shooting. 'It was spoken as a fact, not as a statement,' Trump wrote. 'It's very simple, nobody should have any problem with this other than the haters, and those looking to cause trouble on social media. Honor the memory of George Floyd!'" ~~~
~~~ Max Boot of the Washington Post: "More broadly, Trump is channeling the kind of 'law and order' rhetoric employed by the Republican Party beginning in the 1960s to woo Southern whites and working-class Northern whites away from the Democratic Party. Richard M. Nixon pioneered this so-called Southern Strategy, but he was much more subtle than Trump.... [But Trump] actually sounds more like George Wallace, who in 1968 echoed [Sheriff Walter] Headley by saying: 'When the looting starts, the shooting starts.'... In 1968, following the passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, Wallace ... focused on a 'law and order' message that drew on white voters' concerns about rising crime, urban riots, antiwar protests, liberal court rulings, busing and other hot-button issues. His slogan was 'Stand up for America.'... In Donald Trump, we have the closest thing we have ever had to having George Wallace in the White House -- and Republicans are nearly unanimous in their approbation. The president is pouring gasoline on the flames of racial division, and the Republican Party is holding the jerrycan for him. This is where the Southern Strategy has led after half a century." ~~~
~~~ Julie Pace of the AP: "Over 48 hours in America, the official death toll from the coronavirus pandemic topped 100,000, the number of people who filed for unemployment during the crisis soared past 40 million, and the streets of a major city erupted in flames after a handcuffed black man was killed by a white police officer. It' the kind of frenetic, fractured moment when national leaders are looked to for solutions and solace.... Donald Trump instead threw a rhetorical match into the tinderbox. 'When the looting starts, the shooting starts,' he declared ominously in a late-night tweet.... [Trump has] latched on to personal grievances and cast himself as a victim, while making only occasional references to the staggering loss of life across the country. He's willingly stoked partisan divisions over public health, and now racial divisions in the face of a death, rather than seeking opportunities to pull the nation together." ~~~
~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump simply does not accept that he has any institutional obligation of any kind as president to use the White House's formidable communications powers to calm the nation at moments of severe tension and hardship. Instead, he views it as beneficial to his reelection to actively incite further hatred.... Setting aside whether Trump will or even can ['assume control' over Minneapolis], the intent of the threat itself is the thing here -- not just to glorify violence but to glorify his willingness to threaten it against urban protesters, should they get out of hand.... Joe Biden offered another approach.... He appealed for calm while also calling for justice for the Floyd family and acknowledging the legitimate grievances of the protesters about systemic racism and police brutality. Biden noted that Floyd's 'final words' were 'Let me breathe, I can't breathe,' and added that this has 'ripped open anew' the 'wound' wrought by racism.... The core difference here is the recognition of a broader historical and societal context in which the protesters actually do have legitimate grievances." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Kaelan Deese of the Hill: "On Friday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called President Trump's tweet about protests in Minneapolis 'horrific,' adding, 'Donald Trump is calling for violence against Black Americans.' In her tweet about the president, Warren said, 'His advocacy of illegal, state-sponsored killing is horrific. Politicians who refuse to condemn it share responsibility for the consequences.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Fran Speilman of the Chicago Sun-Times: Chicago "Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday accused ... Donald Trump of trying to 'foment violence' and offered a vulgar response -- in code -- after he threatened Minneapolis rioters protesting the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. 'We see the game he's playing because it's so transparent and he's not very good at it. He wants to show failures on the part of Democratic local leaders to throw red meat to his base. His goal is to polarize, to destabilize local government and inflame racist urges. And we can absolutely not let him prevail,' Lightfoot said. 'I will code what I really want to say to Donald Trump. It's two words: It begins with F and ends with YOU.'" ~~~
~~~ Oops, He Did It Again. Davey Alba, et al., of the New York Times: "Amid the unrest in Minnesota, Mr. Trump posted a message on Twitter early Friday saying that 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts.' Twitter quickly prevented users from viewing the tweet without reading a brief notice that the post glorified violence, the first time it had applied such a warning on any public figure's tweets. The official White House account then reposted Mr. Trump's message; Twitter responded by adding the same notice." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Dan Lamothe & Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "President Trump's threat Friday to involve the military more deeply in the response to looting in Minneapolis pulled the military into a political fray over the issue, but he is unlikely to follow through despite his authority to deploy armed forces, defense officials and national security experts said.... Trump's tweets had parallels to his comments about the southern border in 2018, when he suggested that if migrants threw rocks at U.S. troops dispatched there, American forces should act as if the rocks are rifles. After a backlash, Trump said the migrants would not be shot.... By Friday afternoon, Trump appeared to backtrack on his late-night [looting-shooting] tweets." ~~~
~~~ BUT. James Laporta of the AP: "As unrest spread across dozens of American cities on Friday, the Pentagon took the rare step of ordering the Army to put several active-duty U.S. military police units on the ready to deploy to Minneapolis, where the police killing of George Floyd sparked the widespread protests. Soldiers from Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Drum in New York have been ordered to be ready to deploy within four hours if called, according to three people with direct knowledge of the orders. Soldiers in Fort Carson, in Colorado, and Fort Riley in Kansas have been told to be ready within 24 hours.... The get-ready orders were sent verbally on Friday, after ... Donald Trump asked Defense Secretary Mark Esper for military options to help quell the unrest in Minneapolis after protests descended into looting and arson in some parts of the city. Trump made the request on a phone call from the Oval Office on Thursday night that included Esper, National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien and several others."
Katie Benner & Emily Badger of the New York Times: "Attorney General William P. Barr on Friday labeled the images of the death of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis whom a white police officer knelt on for nearly nine minutes, as 'harrowing' and 'deeply disturbing' and vowed that the federal investigation into his death would proceed quickly.... Mr. Barr's announcement suggested no broader investigation into possible abuses in the Minneapolis Police Department, a move that local activists have demanded.... The Trump administration's years of inaction on police violence and President Trump's embrace of law enforcement have made civil rights advocates wary of the Justice Department's involvement in the Floyd case. The administration has largely dismantled police oversight efforts, curbing the use of federal consent decrees to overhaul local police departments. Mr. Barr has said that communities that criticize law enforcement may not deserve police protection, and Mr. Trump has encouraged officers not to be 'too nice' in handling suspects."
Protesting Violence with Violence
Sudhin Thanawala of the AP: "Demonstrators marched, stopped traffic and in some cases lashed out violently at police as protests erupted Friday in dozens of U.S. cities following the killing of George Floyd after a white officer pressed a knee into his neck while taking him into custody in Minnesota. Georgia's governor declared a state of emergency in one county to activate up to 500 members of the state National Guard 'to protect people & property in Atlanta.' Gov. Brian Kemp said in a pair of tweets early Saturday that the move came at the request of Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and in consultation with emergency officials. The Georgia National Guard will deploy 'immediately' to assist law enforcement, he said." More on Atlanta linked below.... About 1,000 protesters gathered in Oakland. They smashed windows, sprayed buildings with 'Kill Cops' graffiti and were met with chemical spray from police. Oakland Police were notifying a crowd that the demonstrationwas an unlawful assembly. Authorities said officers were injured when projectiles were thrown and that they were asking people to leave the area." Apparently the irony of violently protesting violence is lost on these vandals.
The New York Times is live-updating developments in the killing of George Floyd. Protesters May Give Trump His Way. "Minnesota's top officials acknowledged early Saturday morning that they had underestimated the destruction that protesters in Minneapolis were capable of inflicting as a newly issued curfew did little to stop people from burning buildings and turning the city's streets into a smoky battleground. Gov. Tim Walz [D] said at a news conference that the police and National Guard soldiers had been overwhelmed by protesters set on causing destruction days after George Floyd was pinned to the ground by an officer before dying.... State officials said that a series of errors and misjudgments -- including the Minneapolis police abandoning a precinct on Thursday that protesters overtook and burned -- had allowed demonstrators to create what Mr. Walz called 'absolute chaos.'... Mr. Walz did not rule out the possibility of bringing in the U.S. military."
The Washington Post's live updates of developments in the George Floyd case are here.
** Briana Bierschbach of the (Minneapolis) Star-Tribune: "Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman says [former Minneapolis policeman] Derek Chauvin has been charged with murder and manslaughter. Freeman said this moved with extraordinary speed, that the ivestigation is continuing into other three officers, Freeman says. He said they have never charged a case this quickly before. Earlier, Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said he just received information that the officer identified as Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd has been taken into custody by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension." A Politico story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ WCCO Minneapolis: “A lawyer has issued a statement from the wife of the now-arrested and charged former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, and she said she has filed for divorce. 'This evening, I spoke with Kellie Chauvin and her family. She is devastated by Mr. Floyd's death and her utmost sympathy lies with his family, with his loved ones and with everyone who is grieving this tragedy. She has filed for dissolution of her marriage to Derek Chauvin,' reads the statement released by Sekula Law Offices." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I know that not all racists are stupid, but I'd argue that stupid can enhance racism. So if you were wondering why cops are racists, Michael Moore (ca. 1999) is here to help:
~~~ BTW, according to a federal judge, stupid cops are A-OK. ABC News (Sept. 2000): "A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower court's decision that the city did not discriminate against Robert Jordan because the same standards were applied to everyone who took the test." This episode of Moore's "The Awful Truth" is helpful, too. ~~~
~~~ Philip Kennicott of the Washington Post: "That [Omar Jimenez], a journalist of color, was arrested by cops whose pale arms suggest that many of them are white, and that CNN, which has been a consistent object of President Trump's puerile and corrosive abuse, was the target raises deeply disturbing questions. Among them: How many police in America are loyal not to the public but to a racist brand of populism that has found in the president its vigorous avatar?" See yesterday's Commentariat for context. ~~~
Georgia. Richard Fausset & Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "Hundreds of demonstrators poured into the streets near Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park on Friday night, smashing windows and clashing with police officers in a protest that grew so tense that the city's mayor forcefully told people to go home. Not far from the park, the city's iconic tourist destination, some people climbed atop a large red CNN sign outside the media company's headquarters and spray-painted messages on it. Some people jumped on police cars. Others threw rocks at the glass doors of the Omni Hotel, eventually breaking the glass, and shattered windows at the College Football Hall of Fame, where people rushed in and emerged with branded fan gear. 'It's enough,' Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in an evening news conference. '... what are you changing by tearing up a city? You've lost all credibility now. This is not how we change America. This is not how we change the world.'"
Kentucky. Tessa Duvall, et al., of the Louisville Courier Journal: "For the second night in a row, angry protesters are crowding the streets and sidewalks of downtown Louisville -- setting fires, blocking traffic, breaking windows, burning flags and protesting the March death of Breonna Taylor, the unarmed black woman killed in her apartment by Louisville police. ~~~
~~~ CBS News: "At least seven people were shot Thursday night in Louisville during demonstrations calling for justice in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor. The Louisville Police Department issued a statement to CBS affiliate WLKY-TV confirming at least one person was in critical condition.... Hundreds took to the streets calling for the officers involved in Taylor's death to be arrested. The 26-year-old EMT was asleep in her Kentucky apartment just after midnight on March 13 when police entered with a 'no-knock' search warrant in a drug investigation and opened fire, killing her." ~~~
~~~ Brooke Seipel of the Hill: "A local Louisville, KY., reporter and camera operator were shot with pepper balls in the middle of a live broadcast on Friday covering protests against police brutality. Video of the encounter shows Kaitlin Rust, a reporter for CBS affiliate WAVE 3 News, narrating as she walks around the area of the protest before suddenly screaming: 'I'm getting shot!' Rust appears shocked but continues reporting, explaining what's happening as the camera focuses in on an officer pointing a gun with pepper bullets at the cameraman. 'It's okay it's those pepper bullets.' The anchors back in the studio then ask, 'who are they aiming at?' 'At us,' Rust responds. 'Directly at us.'" Here's video from WAVE3 News.
New York. Edgar Sandoval of the New York Times: "Protesters angry over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis clashed with the police across Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan on Friday night in a series of chaotic skirmishes and standoffs that left people injured on both sides. For the second night in a row, tensions flared in New York City, as thousands of people attended a demonstration at the perimeter of Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Some hurled bottles and debris at police officers, who responded with pepper spray. An abandoned police van was set on fire and at least two other police vehicles were vandalized, their windows shattered, all in the Fort Greene neighborhood near the arena." ~~~
~~~ NYC Bus Drivers Support Protesters. Jason Koebler of Vice: "Workers for New York City’s MTA are refusing to transport people arrested during protests against police brutality in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. A video of a bus driver refusing to transport people arrested during protests in front of Brooklyn's Barclays Center went viral Friday night. In the video, a crowd cheers a bus driver who appears to be refusing to sit behind the wheel: 'the NYPD is using a bus to transfer arrested protesters at the Barclays Center,' @berniebromanny, who shared the video, tweeted. 'However, the bus driver refused to drive it.' The video was viewed more than a million times in just over an hour.... Motherboard[/Vice] has confirmed that this is the official position of the union that represents MTA bus drivers."
Washington, D.C. Clarence Williams, et al., of the Washington Post: "Several hundred people gathered outside the White House in two successive tense and confrontational demonstrations occurring hours apart on Friday, both of them protesting the death of George Floyd.... Crowds continued to face off with police after 3 a.m. Saturday. Officers used what appeared to be gasses and sprays to disperse crowds, and protesters were throwing water bottles at a line of law enforcement amid the scene that remained tense more than 10 hours after the initial demonstration started. By about 3:30 a.m. police had issued two warnings to the crowd before a line of officers with shields were seen advancing on the group that was chanting 'black lives matter.'... It was not clear if the president and his family were in the White House at the time." ~~~
~~~ Brooke Seipel of the Hill: "The White House went into a brief lockdown on Friday evening as protests over the death of George Floyd raged nearby, according to reporters who said they were in the building at the time. NBC News White House correspondent Peter Alexander said on Twitter that he was on lockdown inside the building as protests in the building's vicinity were ongoing. He later tweeted that the lockdown had been lifted.
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.)
Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) said on Friday that he had tested positive for coronavirus antibodies, becoming the second senator in as many days to disclose that they had been infected with the disease. Casey, in a statement, said he had a 'low-grade fever and some mild flu-like symptom'" earlier in the spring and received an antibodies test last week to try to determine if he could donate blood plasma, which is being studied as a potential treatment for COVID-19. '... In an effort to help others fighting this virus, I will be making my first donation today in Taylor, Pennsylvania,' he said. The disclosure comes after Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said on Thursday that he had recently tested positive for coronavirus antibodies." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
** Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A sharply divided Supreme Court late Friday turned aside a church's urgent plea that California's coronavirus lockdown orders are putting an unconstitutional burden on religious freedom. Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court's liberals in rejecting a San Diego church's request for relief from Gov. Gavin Newsom's most recent directive limiting churches to 25% of their normal maximum capacity, with an absolute maximum of 100 people at any service. In a three-page opinion issued just before the stroke of midnight Washington time, Roberts said it would be unwise for the court to intervene on an emergency basis as state officials try to grapple with the ebb and flow of a pandemic caused by a highly infectious and sometimes deadly virus. 'The precise question of when restrictions on particular social activities should be lifted during the pandemic is a dynamic and fact-intensive matter subject to reasonable disagreement,' Roberts wrote.... The court's four other GOP appointees dissented, with three of them joining in an opinion written by ... Brett Kavanaugh. He said the California policy 'indisputably discriminates against religion.'" The New York Times' report is here. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie Note to Bart O'Kavanaugh: Where the majority of your colleagues disagree with you, the matter cannot, by definition, be "indisputable." It has been disputed.
South Carolina. Astead Herndon of the New York Times: "... South Carolina Republicans [-- including U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham & Tim Scott --] returned to the normal rhythm of the campaign trail, coronavirus all the same. [An] outdoor gathering [in Conway, S.C.,] on Thursday was a send-off event for Cleo Steele, a longtime Republican Party operative in Horry County, who is retiring to Ohio. Speakers shared the same microphone. Local and state political candidates greeted voters with handshakes and squeezed tight for pictures. Of all the people gathered outside the county Republican office -- many of them senior citizens -- fewer than a dozen wore masks.... According to interviews with more than a dozen attendees, the event was an active rejection of behavior that the hyper-conservative crowd has come to associate with liberal enemies in recent months -- wearing masks and gloves, staying six feet away from other people, avoiding physical touch... [Here's how the M.C., Robert Rabon, began the event:] He coughed into the microphone, and passed it to the first speaker."
Wisconsin. Daniela Silva of NBC News: "Wisconsin saw a record number of new coronavirus cases and deaths reported in a single day on Wednesday, two weeks after the state's Supreme Court struck down its statewide stay-at-home order.... Wisconsin also issued a record number of test results Wednesday, with more than 10,300 tests conducted, according to the department." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Michael Crowley, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump said Friday that his administration would 'begin the process' of ending the American government's special relationship with Hong Kong, including on trade and law enforcement, and that it was withdrawing from the World Health Organization, as part of a broad effort to retaliate against China. But the president was unclear about the speed and full scope of the actions, and his remarks left many questions unanswered.... Mr. Trump voiced a range of grievances against China's 'malfeasance,' angrily denouncing the country's trade and security practices and its crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong, as well as its influence at the W.H.O.... Mr. Trump delivered a scathing indictment of Chinese behavior that echoed an emerging line of attack in the president's re-election campaign, as he seeks to deflect blame for his administration's failure to stem the pandemic that has killed more than 100,000 Americans." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump took no questions & did not address those 100,000+ deaths. or the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, or his own threat to kill protesters. This was strictly a chickenshit teleprompter show.
Patricia Mazzei, et al., of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump's baseless insinuations that [Joe] Scarborough was involved in [Lori] Klausutis's death and had an affair with her reflect a callous pattern in which the president attacks his critics by going after their families or even ordinary people unconnected to Mr. Trump's grievance. They have become the collateral damage of a transactional president and his followers, whose online swarm lingers and continues to unsettle long after Mr. Trump has moved on to the next outrage.... Mr. Trump has gone after the dead and their families before, usually because he regards them as political opponents. In 2016, he claimed that the Gold Star mother of a Muslim soldier was not 'allowed' to speak alongside her husband at the Democratic National Convention. He relentlessly insulted Senator John McCain of Arizona for months after his death. When former Representative John D. Dingell Jr. died last year, Mr. Trump mocked his widow, Representative Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, and implied that her late husband was 'looking up' from hell." The story details accounts from some ordinary citizens who continue to be harassed years after Trump targeted them. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Trump Makes Another "Screw the Victims" Decision. Erica Green of the New York Times: "President Trump vetoed a bipartisan resolution on Friday to overturn new regulations that significantly tighten access to federal student loan forgiveness, siding with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos over veterans' organizations that say her rules will harm veterans bilked by unscrupulous for-profit colleges. The veto will allow stringent rules for students seeking loan forgiveness to take effect on July 1. The rules toughen standards established under the Obama administration for student borrowers seeking to prove their colleges defrauded them and to have their federal loans erased. Even if some borrowers can show they were victims of unscrupulous universities, they could be denied relief unless they can prove their earnings have been adversely affected."
Your Friday Night Docudump. Devlin Barrett & Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "Transcripts of phone calls in late 2016 between President Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn and a Russian diplomat were released Friday, showing that the two did discuss sanctions as the incoming administration sought to avoid escalating the conflict over Russian interference in the presidential election. The conversations were secretly monitored by U.S. agents as part of intelligence-gathering on then-Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents in early 2017 when he was asked if he discussed sanctions with the ambassador. He has since argued he was unfairly targeted by the FBI, and earlier this month the Justice Department asked a judge to toss out his guilty plea.... Flynn's message to Moscow was: 'Do not allow this administration to box us in right now!' according to the transcript. 'I know you have to have some sort of action,' Flynn said, but he added he would like Russia 'to only make it reciprocal; don't go any further than you have to because I don't want us to get into something that have [sic] to escalate to tit-for-tat.'" A Politico story is here.
Matthew Karnitschnig, et al., of Politico: "German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rebuffed Donald Trump's invitation to attend a G-7 summit, which the president is keen to portray as a symbol of a return to normality from the upheaval of the coronavirus crisis. 'The federal chancellor thanks President Trump for his invitation to the G-7 summit at the end of June in Washington. As of today, considering the overall pandemic situation, she cannot agree to her personal participation, to a journey to Washington,' German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told Politico on Friday."