The Commentariat -- February 1, 2020

With no real witnesses, the Senate will be moving into Alice in Wonderland territory. Following the trial of the Knave of Hearts, the Queen of Hearts pronounced 'sentence first, verdict after.' In the Senate, with no witnesses, this sequence will change. It will be 'verdict first, trial never.' -- Stephen Gillers, NYU Law professor, in a Just Security op-ed, January 27

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: As I understand it, the next Senate impeachment proceeding will be debate beginning Monday @11 am ET, without the CJ. Debate will continue into Tuesday, but Tuesday night everyone moseys over to the House for the SOTU extended boast. Then the Senate will vote to acquit the SOB, with the CJ presiding, beginning @4 pm ET Wednesday. Here's a CNN story by Jeremy Herb & others on how that schedule came to be. However, when McConnell asked for & got the adjournment Friday, I don't think he had the schedule nailed down, as the story suggests.

Michael Shear & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The Senate brought President Trump to the brink of acquittal on Friday of charges that he abused his power and obstructed Congress, as Republicans voted to block consideration of new witnesses and documents in his impeachment trial.... The Democrats' push for more witnesses and documents failed 49 to 51, with only two Republicans, Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine, joining Democrats in favor. A vote on the verdict is planned for Wednesday.... Senators recessed the trial for the weekend and will return Monday for closing arguments, with a vote on the verdict on Wednesday. The timetable will rob Mr. Trump of the opportunity to use his State of the Union address scheduled for Tuesday night [Mrs. McC: and a Super Bowl Sunday interview] to boast about his acquittal.... Instead, he will become the second president to deliver the speech during his own impeachment trial....

"The president has insisted that he did nothing wrong, calling a July telephone conversation in which he asked the president of Ukraine to investigate his political rivals 'perfect' and the impeachment inquiry a 'sham.' For months, he has demanded that his allies deliver nothing less than an absolute defense of his actions. But while they were poised to acquit him, several Republicans offered words of criticism, instead. Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, said that 'some of the president's actions in this case -- including asking a foreign country to investigate a potential political opponent and the delay of aid to Ukraine -- were wrong and inappropriate.' Senator Marco Rubio of Florida [said]..., 'Just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interest of the country to remove a president from office,' he said."

Shorter Marco: "He did it, it's impeachable, don't count on me." -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Addy Baird, et al., of BuzzFeed News: "After days of arguments and questioning in ... Donald Trump's impeachment trial, many Republican senators have come to the same conclusion: The president did it, and they don't care."

The New York Times' live updates of Friday's impeachment proceedings are here. "Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, called a recess after the vote, but gave no indication how long it would last."

"... Adam B. Schiff ... rose one final time on Friday to appeal to a Senate that had already essentially made up its mind against him. Vote for additional witnesses and documents, he implored them, or risk 'long lasting and harmful consequences long after this impeachment trial is over.' Mr. Schiff's warning to senators was threefold: First, he said, it would set a dangerous precedent for every future impeachment trial that witnesses and evidence were not necessary; second, the facts about Mr. Trump's pressure campaign on Ukraine will come out regardless; and third, Americans will see that for the president, there is a double standard of justice." ~~~

~~~ "Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, said Friday she would vote against including new witnesses and documents in President Trump's impeachment trial.... In a statement released just as the House managers began pleading their case for witnesses, Ms. Murkowski called their impeachment articles too 'rushed and flawed' to warrant prolonging the trial. But she also said she had become convinced that the Senate would be unable to deliver a fair trial...." ~~~

"John F. Kelly, President Trump's former chief of staff and secretary of homeland security, said on Friday that the Senate would be known forever as a body that 'shirks its responsibilities' if it wraps up the trial of his former boss without hearing witnesses." (Also linked yesterday.)

Washington Post Editors: "REPUBLICAN SENATORS who voted Friday to suppress known but unexamined evidence of President Trump'’s wrongdoing at his Senate trial must have calculated that the wrath of a vindictive president is more dangerous than the sensible judgment of the American people, who, polls showed, overwhelmingly favored the summoning of witnesses. That's almost the only way to understand how the Republicans could have chosen to deny themselves and the public the firsthand account of former national security adviser John Bolton, and perhaps others, on how Mr. Trump sought to extort political favors from Ukraine. The public explanations the senators offered were so weak and contradictory as to reveal themselves as pretexts.... We can hope only that voters who wanted that evidence to be heard in the trial will respond by showing incumbent senators they are a force to be reckoned with, as much as the bully in the White House." ~~~

~~~ New York Times Editors: "... no one ever lost money betting on the cynicism of today's congressional Republicans. The move [against calling for witnesses & documents] can only embolden the president to cheat in the 2020 election. [See George Soros' NYT op-ed linked under "Presidential Race" below.] The vote also brings the nation face to face with the reality that the Senate has become nothing more than an arena for the most base and brutal -- and stupid -- power politics. Faced with credible evidence that a president was abusing his powers, it would not muster the institutional self-respect to even investigate.... Every impeachment trial in American history had included witnesses.... It's not Congress as an institution that has failed [as Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)]; it's Senate Republicans. They didn't refuse to hold a fair trial so much as they refused to hold any trial at all.... The Senate may acquit Mr. Trump, but it will not, it cannot, exonerate him. Mr. Trump is the most corrupt president in modern times...."

** Maggie Haberman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "More than two months before he asked Ukraine's president to investigate his political opponents, President Trump directed John R. Bolton, then his national security adviser, to help with his pressure campaign to extract damaging information on Democrats from Ukrainian officials, according to an unpublished manuscript by Mr. Bolton. Mr. Trump gave the instruction, Mr. Bolton wrote, during an Oval Office conversation in early May that included the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, the president's personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, who is now leading the president's impeachment defense. Mr. Trump told Mr. Bolton to call Volodymyr Zelensky, who had recently won election as president of Ukraine, to ensure Mr. Zelensky would meet with Mr. Giuliani, who was planning a trip to Ukraine to discuss the investigations that the president sought, in Mr. Bolton's account. Mr. Bolton never made the call, he wrote. The previously undisclosed directive that Mr. Bolton describes would be the earliest known instance of Mr. Trump seeking to harness the power of the United States government to advance his pressure campaign against Ukraine, as he later did on the July call with Mr. Zelensky...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill has a summary report on the NYT story: "Cipollone's involvement in meetings about the pressure campaign on Ukraine would place additional scrutiny on the White House counsel. While leading Trump's defense in the impeachment trial, Cipollone has insisted there is no evidence of wrongdoing by the president and argued that the Senate does not need to hear from Bolton." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ According to this Yahoo! news story by David Knowles, either Bolton is lying or everyone else is. Trump said the meeting "never happened," Rudy tweeted, "The meeting the Times describes is a lie," and Mulvaney has claimed he always stepped out of a room when Rudy & Trump were in it to avoid compromising Trump & Rudy's client-lawyer confidentiality. Not sure what Cipollone has said during the course of the trial & elsewhere that would suggest the meeting "never happened." Knowles notes that "Records unearthed by House investigators, however, show that Giuliani's months-long pressure campaign on Ukraine overlapped with the May meeting alleged in Bolton's book." Mrs. McC: So who ya gonna believe, the POTUS*, his chief-of-staff, and two lawyers or one guy hawking a book?... Oh, the bookseller. ~~~

~~~ Paul Waldman & Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Stephen Gillers, a professor at the New York University School of Law, told us that this raises serious questions about the propriety of [Pat] Cipollone's role as Trump's chief counsel. As Gillers wrote in a recent piece, Cipollone had an obligation, at a minimum, to disclose all his own knowledge of the facts surrounding the case. As Gillers wrote, a legal ethics rule known as the 'advocate-witness rule' says that 'when a lawyer should be a witness at trial, she cannot also be an advocate in the courtroom.' Now [John] Bolton has placed Cipollone right in the room with Trump as he ordered Bolton to pressure the Ukrainian president to work with Trump's personal lawyer to set up a shadow operation that would subvert our foreign policy and national interest to Trump's corrupt political ends.... The new Bolton revelations show that the trial has been even more corrupted by Trump and his team than we thought in another important way.' ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Chait: "Giuliani's role is the deepest, darkest cesspool in the Ukraine scandal. Probably for that reason, Trump and his lawyers have consistently denied knowledge of Giuliani's activities. Last November, in an interview with Bill O'Reilly, Trump repeatedly denied having directed Giuliani's work in Ukraine.... Earlier this month, Trump was asked about a signed letter by Giuliani to Zelensky, stating that he was representing Trump as a personal lawyer, with Trump's knowledge and permission. Trump again dissembled.... Meanwhile, Trump and his legal team maintain that this whole agenda was being driven in service of Trump's alleged desire to clean up corruption in Ukraine. As pathetic as Trump's defense may be, no element is as incriminating on its face as Giuliani's work. Even conceding it existed is to admit guilt. But Bolton apparently has the receipts." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Another "murky" Rudy deal was his advocacy for "Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, for whom Giuliani has said he did consulting work, [who] was on the verge of being fired by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from a separate post as the appointed head of the city administration, a move that would greatly reduce his power," according to Rosalind Helderman & others of the Washington Post. However, Rudy asked top Zelensky aide Andriy Yermak to keep Klitschoko in the administration. As Ronen Bergman & others of the New York Times put it, "But despite the fact that Mr. Zelensky's cabinet approved Mr. Klitschko's removal, he remains there today, leaving his adversaries in the murky and lucrative world of Ukrainian municipal politics to wonder whether Mr. Trump's personal attorney may have tipped the scales in his favor."

Steve Benen of MSNBC: "The lawyer for Lev Parnas ... reached out to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) this afternoon, sending him a letter signaling what Parnas would say if he's allowed to testify in the trial as a witness under oath. From the letter (pdf): 'If Lev Parnas was called as a witness, he would provide testimony based upon personal knowledge, corroborated by physical evidence..., which is directly relevant to the president's impeachment inquiry.... Mr. Parnas would testify to the efforts he and a handful of Republican operatives engaged in over a period of months, to remove Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and gather 'dirt' on Joe and Hunter Biden. Mr. Parnas would testify that those holding various roles in this plot included GOP super PAC America First, President Trump, Vice President Pence, former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General Bill Barr, Sen. Lindsey Graham, Congressman Devin Nunes, Nunes' Staffer Derrick Harvey, Journalist John Soloman, Attorneys Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing, [Rudy] Giuliani, and others. He is prepared to review and explain relevant phone records, text messages, and other evidence in connection with these activities.'" (Also linked yesterday.) Here's an NBC News story by Josh Lederman & Lisa Ferri.

Abilgail Williams & Phil Helsel of NBC News: "Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, a central figure in the impeachment investigation..., retired from the State Department on Friday after three decades in the foreign service...."

Mrs. McCrabbie: To me, the worst part of this corrupt scheme was not Trump & Giuliani's going after the Bidens or even after Marie Yovanovitch (tho that was horrible). It was the repeated, relentless attempts to corrupt & compromise a new Ukrainian government, one the U.S. needed to promote "our" values in the region & stand up to Russia's aggression & anti-democratic mores. And no Republican -- that includes you, Lisa Murkowski -- is off the hook for aiding & abetting this gross abuse of U.S. power. Every American who has a Republican representative in Congress should ask him what he stands for, bearing in mind that the true answer is, "Myself." Throw the bums out. The vote to acquit (or in the case of House members, against impeachment) should be a badge of shame tattooed on their foreheads. It should, and sometimes will, be the first line of their obituaries.

** Michael Biesecker of the AP: "Charity watchdogs for years have raised concerns about the blurred lines between for-profit businesses tied to [Trump "lawyer" Jay] Sekulow and the complex web of non-profit entities he and his family control. The Associated Press reviewed 10 years of tax returns for the ACLJ [American Center for Law and Justice, a non-profit Christian legal advocacy group] and other charities tied to Sekulow.... The records from 2008 to 2017, the most recent year available, show that more than $65 million in charitable funds were paid to Sekulow [and his family].... All six of the [ACLJ] charity's paid board members share the last name Sekulow, including Jay's wife, Pam, and their sons, Jordon and Logan." --safari: A deep dive into Sekulow's life of scams. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Applicable maxim: If you work for Trump, you're a fool or a crook. Corollary: Seculow is not a fool. Ergo ....

Only While Christians Need Apply. Maria Sacchetti, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump added six countries to his administration's travel ban Friday -- including ­Nigeria, Africa's most populous country -- in a widely anticipated expansion that Democrats blasted as 'clearly discriminatory' against people from predominantly black and Muslim nations. Citing national security concerns, officials at the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department said Trump's proclamation would bar most citizens of Nigeria, Eritrea, Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan from coming to work and live in the United States. Two nations, Tanzania and Sudan, would be banned from applying for the visa lottery, which issues up to 50,000 visas a year worldwide to countries with historically low migration to the United States. The new ban takes effect Feb. 22; travelers who have received visas or are in transit at that time will not be affected."

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: The only "experience" Trump brought to the top job was his "professional" career building tall things. Let's see how well his sole area of "expertise" has worked out: ~~~

     ~~~ Bienvenido a los Estados Unitos. Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "President Trump's border wall probably will require the installation of hundreds of storm gates to prevent flash floods from undermining or knocking it over, gates that must be left open for months every summer during 'monsoon season' in the desert, according to U.S. border officials, agents and engineers familiar with the plans. The open, unmanned gates in remote areas already have allowed for the easy entry of smugglers and migrants into the United States." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Thursday, we learned from Matt Stieb of New York that "... on Wednesday, Customs and Border Protection confirmed to CNN that newly-installed wall panels in Calexico, California were knocked down by wind gusts of up to 37-miles-per-hour, causing the metal slats to timber into Mexican territory[.]... The wall has faced a few setbacks that contradict Trump's claims of near-impenetrability, like in November when the Washington Post reported that smugglers were using reciprocating saws -- available for less than $100 -- to cut through sections of the steel-bollard barrier in minutes. And though the president has claimed that no one would be able to climb the wall, smugglers have found a simple summiting method, using rebar ladders to hoist up one side, and rope ladders to scale down the other."

Kayla Tausche of CNBC: "In November 2017 ... Trump was on a 12-day tour through Asia, his second major international trip since taking office.... What wasn't on the White House or State Department agendas: a meeting with private equity investors convened by Jared Kushner ... and U.S. Ambassador Terry Branstad.... At the time of the meeting, the Kushner family was under fire for its pursuit of overseas investors.... The meeting and its guest list ... was arranged by Wendi Deng Murdoch, a longtime friend of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.... CNBC filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act with the State Department [about the meeting].... The State Department acknowledged the request on Dec. 11, 2017, but suggested getting the information would take a long time.... Last October, the department finally provided a date: July 23, 2021 -- 3½ years after the original filing. Put another way: 1,323 days. During the first two years of the Trump presidency, the State Department processed 83% of 'complex' requests in less than 400 days, according to analysis of public data available on FOIA.gov." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Not surprisingly, the most corrupt administration ever is also the least transparent.

Joe Heim of the Washington Post: "The Library of Congress abandoned plans last year to showcase a mural-size photograph of demonstrators at the 2017 Women's March in Washington because of concerns it would be perceived as critical of President Trump, according to emails obtained by The Washington Post. The massive 14-by-10-foot print of the photograph -- showing tens of thousands of demonstrators filling Pennsylvania Avenue NW for the Women's March on Jan. 21, 2017 -- was envisioned by the library as one of the dominant displays of the 'Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote' exhibit celebrating the centennial of women's right to vote. Instead, the exhibit opened June 4 with that photograph replaced by an image of eight people taking part in a Women's March in Houston. The change was made so late in the process -- just five days before the exhibit opened -- that the photographer who captured the original image, Kevin Carroll, is credited in the exhibit's brochure and the photographer of the replacement image is not.... The National Archives said two weeks ago it made a mistake when it blurred out anti-Trump signs from a large photograph, also of the 2017 Women's March but by a different photographer...." ~~~

~~~ OR, we could just pretend anti-Trump protests never happened at all. Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Sarah Blaskey, et al., of the Miami Herald: "A Connecticut woman chastised for dancing on her car at a Palm Beach hotel late Friday morning ended up driving away and crashing her vehicle through two security barricades outside Mar-a-Lago..., drawing gunfire from law enforcement officers, before leading a police helicopter on a chase that ended in her arrest. Hannah Roemhild, 30, a trained opera singer, is now in the custody of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. 'This is not a terrorist thing,' Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said at a Friday afternoon news conference. 'This is somebody that obviously was impaired somehow.'"

Presidential Race

George Soros in a New York Times op-ed: "I believe that Mr. Trump and Facebook's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, realize that their interests are aligned -- the president's in winning elections, Mr. Zuckerberg's in making money.... Mr. Zuckerberg met with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office on Sept. 19, 2019.... [In] an interview on the sidelines at the World Economic Forum on Jan. 22..., Mr. Zuckerberg [said that Trump] 'told me that I'm No. 1 in the world in Facebook.' Mr. Trump apparently had no problem with Facebook's decision not to fact-check political ads.... Facebook's decision not to require fact-checking for political candidates' advertising in 2020 has flung open the door for false, manipulated, extreme and incendiary statements. Such content is rewarded with prime placement and promotion if it meets Facebook-designed algorithmic standards for popularity and engagement. What's more, Facebook's design tends to obscure the sources of inflammatory and false content, and fails to adequately punish those who spread false information. Nor does the company effectively warn those who are exposed to lies." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Democrats should run ads against Facebook: "If you saw it on Facebook, it's probably a lie." In the meantime, it is hard to see how the U.S. differs from Russia in the countries' systems of government of, by and for oligarchs. We are all Russians now. Alas, most of us are serfs, trodden & abused by our masters.

Nishita Jha of BuzzFeed News: "A former aspiring actor [Jessica Mann] testified Friday that Harvey Weinstein forced oral sex on her, raped her, and then manipulated her into a sexually humiliating relationship, which she said included him wanting to film her having sex, urinating on her, and asking if she liked his 'big Jewish dick.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Pilar Melendez of the Daily Beast: "'The first time I saw him fully naked, I thought he was deformed and intersex,' [Jessica Mann] said, as Weinstein put his head into his hand. 'He has extreme scarring that I didn't know if he was a burn victim but it didn't make sense. He does not have testicles and it appears that he has a vagina.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Way Beyond the Beltway

Kevin Rawlinson of the Guardian (@18:00 ET in Friday's liveblog): "The United Kingdom has left the European Union. As the clock struck 11pm GMT, the nation officially enacted the biggest constitutional change in living memory and, in doing so, became the first member state ever to leave the EU." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Commentariat -- January 31, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Kevin Rawlinson of the Guardian (@18:00 ET in Friday's liveblog): "The United Kingdom has left the European Union. As the clock struck 11pm GMT, the nation officially enacted the biggest constitutional change in living memory and, in doing so, became the first member state ever to leave the EU."

Mrs. McCrabbie: The motion to issue subpoeanas for documents & witnesses in the impeachment proceedings against Trump failed 51-49, with Romney & Collins voting with Democrats.

The New York Times' live updates of the impeachment proceedings are here. "Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, called a recess after the vote, but gave no indication how long it would last."

"... Adam B. Schiff ... rose one final time on Friday to appeal to a Senate that had already essentially made up its mind against him. Vote for additional witnesses and documents, he implored them, or risk 'long lasting and harmful consequences long after this impeachment trial is over.' Mr. Schiff's warning to senators was threefold: First, he said, it would set a dangerous precedent for every future impeachment trial that witnesses and evidence were not necessary; second, the facts about Mr. Trump's pressure campaign on Ukraine will come out regardless; and third, Americans will see that for the president, there is a double standard of justice." ~~~

~~~ "Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, said Friday she would vote against including new witnesses and documents in President Trump's impeachment trial.... In a statement released just as the House managers began pleading their case for witnesses, Ms. Murkowski called their impeachment articles too 'rushed and flawed' to warrant prolonging the trial. But she also said she had become convinced that the Senate would be unable to deliver a fair trial...." ~~~

"John F. Kelly, President Trump's former chief of staff and secretary of homeland security, said on Friday that the Senate would be known forever as a body that 'shirks its responsibilities' if it wraps up the trial of his former boss without hearing witnesses."

** Maggie Haberman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "More than two months before he asked Ukraine's president to investigate his political opponents, President Trump directed John R. Bolton, then his national security adviser, to help with his pressure campaign to extract damaging information on Democrats from Ukrainian officials, according to an unpublished manuscript by Mr. Bolton. Mr. Trump gave the instruction, Mr. Bolton wrote, during an Oval Office conversation in early May that included the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, the president's personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, who is now leading the president's impeachment defense. Mr. Trump told Mr. Bolton to call Volodymyr Zelensky, who had recently won election as president of Ukraine, to ensure Mr. Zelensky would meet with Mr. Giuliani, who was planning a trip to Ukraine to discuss the investigations that the president sought, in Mr. Bolton's account. Mr. Bolton never made the call, he wrote. The previously undisclosed directive that Mr. Bolton describes would be the earliest known instance of Mr. Trump seeking to harness the power of the United States government to advance his pressure campaign against Ukraine, as he later did on the July call with Mr. Zelensky...." ~~~

     ~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill has a summary report on the NYT story: "Cipollone's involvement in meetings about the pressure campaign on Ukraine would place additional scrutiny on the White House counsel. While leading Trump's defense in the impeachment trial, Cipollone has insisted there is no evidence of wrongdoing by the president and argued that the Senate does not need to hear from Bolton."

Steve Benen of MSNBC: "The lawyer for Lev Parnas ... reached out to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) this afternoon, sending him a letter signaling what Parnas would say if he's allowed to testify in the trial as a witness under oath. From the letter (pdf): 'If Lev Parnas was called as a witness, he would provide testimony based upon personal knowledge, corroborated by physical evidence..., which is directly relevant to the president's impeachment inquiry.... Mr. Parnas would testify to the efforts he and a handful of Republican operatives engaged in over a period of months, to remove Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and gather 'dirt' on Joe and Hunter Biden. Mr. Parnas would testify that those holding various roles in this plot included GOP super PAC America First, President Trump, Vice President Pence, former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General Bill Barr, Sen. Lindsey Graham, Congressman Devin Nunes, Nunes' Staffer Derrick Harvey, Journalist John Soloman, Attorneys Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing, [Rudy] Giuliani, and others. He is prepared to review and explain relevant phone records, text messages, and other evidence in connection with these activities.'"

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: The only "experience" Trump brought to the top job was his "professional" career building tall things. Let's see how well his sole area of "expertise" has worked out: ~~~

     ~~~ Bienvenido a los Estados Unitos. Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "President Trump's border wall probably will require the installation of hundreds of storm gates to prevent flash floods from undermining or knocking it over, gates that must be left open for months every summer during 'monsoon season' in the desert, according to U.S. border officials, agents and engineers familiar with the plans. The open, unmanned gates in remote areas already have allowed for the easy entry of smugglers and migrants into the United States." ~~~

     ~~~ Just yesterday, we learned from Matt Stieb of New York that "... on Wednesday, Customs and Border Protection confirmed to CNN that newly-installed wall panels in Calexico, California were knocked down by wind gusts of up to 37-miles-per-hour, causing the metal slats to timber into Mexican territory[.]... The wall has faced a few setbacks that contradict Trump's claims of near-impenetrability, like in November when the Washington Post reported that smugglers were using reciprocating saws -- available for less than $100 -- to cut through sections of the steel-bollard barrier in minutes. And though the president has claimed that no one would be able to climb the wall, smugglers have found a simple summiting method, using rebar ladders to hoist up one side, and rope ladders to scale down the other."

Nishita Jha of BuzzFeed News: "A former aspiring actor [Jessica Mann] testified Friday that Harvey Weinstein forced oral sex on her, raped her, and then manipulated her into a sexually humiliating relationship, which she said included him wanting to film her having sex, urinating on her, and asking if she liked his 'big Jewish dick.'" ~~~

~~~ Pilar Melendez of the Daily Beast: "'The first time I saw him fully naked, I thought he was deformed and intersex,' [Jessica Mann] said, as Weinstein put his head into his hand. 'He has extreme scarring that I didn’t know if he was a burn victim but it didn't make sense. He does not have testicles and it appears that he has a vagina.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

The Guardian's liveblog of today's developments is here. @9:41 am ET: "A spokesperson for Mitt Romney has confirmed the Republican senator intends to vote in favor of calling witnesses in the impeachment trial."

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Per Manu Raju of CNN: Susan Collins issued a statement at about 10:50 pm ET Thursday that she would vote for witnesses & documents. Lisa Murkowski said in a statement she's still thinking about it & won't make a statement Thursday. Mitt Romney has been pushing for witnesses. Lamar Alexander said he has made a decision, has informed Mitch McConnell of it & will put out a statement within about an hour (of 10:45 pm ET). ** Update: Alexander said no to witnesses & docs. ~~~

~~~ Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced Thursday night that he will vote against a motion to consider subpoenas for additional witnesses and documents at the impeachment trial, putting the chamber on track to acquit President Trump on Friday or Saturday. 'There is no need for more evidence to prove that the president asked Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden< and his son, Hunter; he said this on television on October 3, 2019, and during his July 25, 2019, telephone call with the president of Ukraine,' Alexander said in a statement released shortly after the Senate ended 16 hours of questions to the impeachment managers and lawyers for Trump's defense." ~~~

     ~~~ Nicholas Fandos, et al., of the New York Times: "Mr. Alexander's statement was a strong indication that Republicans had lined up the votes to block a call for more witnesses and documents on Friday and press toward a quick acquittal in the third presidential impeachment trial in history. His opposition was a significant victory for the White House and Republican leaders.... In announcing his stance, Mr. Alexander effectively conceded that the president had engaged in a corrupt effort to leverage taxpayer money to advance his own political objectives -- the basis of the abuse-of-power charge against him -- but said he had concluded such actions were not impeachable. He called the second charge, obstruction of Congress, 'frivolous.'" Mrs. McC: Because, naturally, a member of the royal court Congress would consider it "frivolous" when another branch of government's strips Congress of its Constitutional prerogatives. The GOP is more radical than any American fringe party. ~~~

~~~ Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Thursday night that she will vote to allow new witnesses and documents as part of President Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate. Collins is the first Republican senator to formally say she will vote yes on a blanket up-or-down vote, scheduled for Friday, that would open the door to hearing from new witnesses as part of the Senate proceeding." ~~~

~~~ Mike DeBonis, et al., of the Washington Post: "The impeachment trial of President Trump is headed for a critical vote Friday that will determine whether the Senate hears from witnesses over allegations that the president pressured Ukraine to launch investigations for his own political benefit. But Senate Republicans are increasingly confident no new testimony will be heard and they can start on a sprint toward Trump's acquittal.... Some Republicans said they hope the trial will be completed Friday with a vote to acquit Trump.... One outside possibility is that the Senate will deadlock on the question of calling witnesses. That would put Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in the position of breaking the tie -- a role Democrats are urging him to play. But there is little expectation Roberts would weigh in on such a politically thorny question and instead would allow the tie to result in no witness being subpoenaed." A Politico story is here.

Marina Pitofsky of the Hill: "Former national security adviser John Bolton at a private event on Thursday defended the officials who testified in the House impeachment inquiry into President Trump. Bolton, speaking in Austin, Texas, said members of the Trump administration should 'feel they're able to speak their minds without retribution,' KXAN reported. The former national security adviser defended former National Security Council senior director for Europe and Russia Fiona Hill, former top National Security Council aide Tim Morrison, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, Bill Taylor, the former top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine and former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, the outlet reported." Mrs. McC: You didn't testify, Mr. Mustache, because ... book sales???

Mara Gay of the NYT editorial board said on MSNBC Thursday night something I've been thinking about throughout this Potemkin trial: that she felt just as she felt growing up black -- that her country had failed her. No matter what color we are, today is a day the best of us are all black Americans. The worst of us -- and there are millions of them -- have carelessly accepted or support the right-wing machine.

Adam Schiff is remarkable. Listen to how he not only thinks on his feet but also nails it on his feet:

Mrs. McCrabbie: As Adam Schiff said in yesterday's proceedings, "You can't make this stuff up." Trump's lawyers are of course arguing that the House has no authority to subpoena the President* so the second article of impeachment is invalid and Trump must be acquitted. According to Schiff, the DOJ was in court yesterday arguing that the courts have no jurisdiction over the executive to force the President* to answer Congressional subpoenas. "What's the remedy, then?" a judge asked the DOJ lawyers. The DOJ's response: "Impeachment!"

Here are the New York Times' live updates of yesterday's impeachment proceedings. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Sheryl Stolberg & Michael Shear: "After failing to get Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. to read the name of the person widely thought to be the whistle-blower whose complaint prompted the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, did so himself on Thursday. Mr. Paul, who left the Senate chamber while the impeachment trial was in session to hold a news conference about Mr. Roberts's refusal to read his question, said it 'deserved to be asked.' He said the question had nothing to do with the whistle-blower, then he proceeded to read it aloud and name the person." See also Akhilleus's earlier comment in yesterday's thread.

I Didn't Say What You Heard Me Say on Those Lying Videotapes. Quint Forgey of Politico: "Alan Dershowitz ... on Thursday claimed the media twisted his words when he made the controversial legal argument that a president could engage in a quid pro quo for personal political benefit as long as the president believes his or her reelection is in the public interest. In a series of a dozen tweets, the former Harvard law professor and prominent criminal defense lawyer claimed that 'CNN, MSNBC and some other media willfully distorted my answers' from Wednesday's Senate impeachment trial proceedings.... 'I hear he's correcting it on TV today. That seems to be Mr. Dershowitz's pattern,' [Chuck] Schumer said at a news conference in the Capitol. 'He gives a statement on the floor and then spends the next day correcting it. What a load of nonsense.'" ~~~

Taking advantage of the fact most of their viewers didn't actually hear the senate Q and A, CNN, MSNBC and some other media willfully distorted my answers. -- Alan Dershowitz, in a tweet today ~~~

     ~~~ You horrible people have mischaracterized Alan Dershowitz because you listened to the left-wing, lamestream media. In responses to Dersh's tweet in his Twitter thread, Elie Honig (CNN) and Barbara McQuade (MSNBC), however, disagree, for some reason: like -- because what Alan said. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

~~~ ** "The Normalization of Lawlessness." Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "... the wave of outrage [against Dershowitz's presentation] underscored how the politics of the Trump era -- and his lawyers' efforts to help Mr. Trump advance his agenda and defend himself from scrutiny -- have become infused with concerns about executive power overreach.... The list of ways in which Mr. Trump and his legal team have pushed limits is growing." Read on, as Charlie counts the ways.... "Adam Schiff ... told the Senate on Thursday that Mr. Trump's team had embraced the vision of a presidency that exists above the law -- 'when the president does it, that means it is not illegal' -- that Richard Nixon famously articulated to defend his conduct after Watergate. 'We are right back to where we were a half-century ago -- and I would argue we may be in a worse place because this time, this time that argument may succeed,' Mr. Schiff said, accusing Trump defenders of embracing 'the normalization of lawlessness' by a president."

Josh Marshall of TPM: "I've said many times that it's the Republican Senate rather than Donald Trump who is on trial in this exercise.... What we have seen is more and more evidence or at least a clearer and clearer illustration of what Senate Republicans will accept from President Trump. No real trial. No witnesses. Open arguments that using state power to coerce foreign leaders to sabotage U.S. elections is fine and indeed proper.... But even if Trump is not reelected we will still have the very same people now helping to finalize Trump's cover up either running the Senate or in sufficient numbers to block its action if they don't get their way. We'll have a judiciary that has been stacked over the last three years to perpetuate GOP political rule.... He might be booted next year but the climate and bases of support that made him possible won't have gone anywhere." --s

Mitch Gets Felicitous Lessons in Quid-Pro-Quos. Ben Tobin & Morgan Watkins of the Louisville Courier Journal: "Several members of ... Donald Trump's impeachment defense team recently gave money to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's 2020 reelection campaign, a Courier Journal analysis of campaign finance data found. Ken Starr ... gave the maximum individual contribution allowed -- $2,800 -- to the McConnell Senate Committee on July 31, 2019.... [Starr] ... has given to every McConnell reelection campaign since 2002. Another member of the president's impeachment defense team, Robert Ray, gave a total of $5,600 to the McConnell Senate Committee through two separate donations -- one for the primary election, one for the general -- on Sept. 30, 2019. Ray ... did not donate to previous McConnell reelection efforts, according to campaign finance data from the Federal Election Commission." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

AND in yesterday's Comments, Linda in Denver explained Chauncey Gardiner's Cory Gardner's motives for opposing witnesses in the "trial." Insightful.

Edward Wong of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday that the Trump administration was committed to supporting Ukraine in its defense against aggression by Russia, which invaded and annexed part of the country and is supporting a separatist insurgency.... Mr. Pompeo and [Ukraine's president Volodymyr] Zelensky met before noon in the president's office in central Kyiv.... Mr. Pompeo said no visit [between Donald Trump & Zelensky] had been scheduled. "We'll find the right time," he said.

Natasha Bertrand & Daniel Lippman of Politico: "A national security aide to Vice President Mike Pence and key witness in the House's impeachment of ... Donald Trump will be leaving her post in the vice president's office early to join Central Command, according to two people with knowledge of her plans. The aide, Jennifer Williams, will be leaving the White House as soon as Monday and plans to join CENTCOM in the spring as a deputy foreign policy adviser, one of the people said. She will be advising the command on Middle East policy issues and has had the job lined up since last fall."

Marcy Wheeler (@emptywheel) lays out a completely different view of the prosecutor's memo in the Flynn sentencing. She writes that it does not really differ from the guideline recommendation. Wheeler thinks the memo is responsive to Judge Sullivan's previous rulings and his stated views of Flynn's actions (and the Petraeus sentence): "And, yes, they mention probation, just like Flynn did. But in doing so, they almost certainly did so in a way that only exacerbates Sullivan's innate disgust with powerful people who ask for special treatment." -- Anonymous, in yesterday's Comments (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Dress: Speaking of Impeachment Trials of Yore.... Jennifer Peltz of the AP: Lawyers for a woman who accuses ... Donald Trump of raping her in the 1990s are asking for a DNA sample, seeking to determine whether his genetic material is on a dress she says she wore during the encounter. Advice columnist E. Jean Carroll's lawyers served notice to a Trump attorney Thursday for Trump to submit a sample on March 2 in Washington for 'analysis and comparison against unidentified male DNA present on the dress.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

"Astonished by Trump's Ignorance." Rachel Premack of Business Insider: "A leaked audio recording of a 2018 dinner with ... Donald Trump and key donors has provided new insight into the president's dealings with Ukraine as well as something else: The president's knowledge of trucking is less than comprehensive.... Trump [thought semis run on gasoline, not diesel, and] appeared unaware that truck drivers have safety regulations that prevent them from driving more than 11 hours a day.... 'You mean they can only drive so much?' Trump said in the recording. 'Like a pilot? I didn't know that.'... Trucking executives and industry experts who listened to the tape told Business Insider they were astonished by Trump's ignorance." --s

AP: "Attorney General William Barr on Thursday named Timothy Shea, one of his closest advisers, to be the next top prosecutor in the nation's capital. Shea will lead the largest United States attorney's office in the country, which has been historically responsible for some of the most significant and politically sensitive cases the Justice Department brings in the U.S. He ... was Barr's right-hand man helping institute reforms at the federal Bureau of Prisons after Jeffrey Epstein's death at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.... As the U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia, Shea would oversee some of the lingering cases from special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, along with a number of politically charged investigations." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is Big Bill Barr putting his Big Fat Thumb on the scales of justice. It cannot be a good thing.

Look for the Silver Lining. Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the Chinese coronavirus -- which has killed 171 in China and infected more than 8,100 people -- could 'help' to bring jobs to the United States because companies will be moving operations away from impacted areas. During an appearance Thursday morning on Fox Business, Ross said that he didn't 'want to talk about a victory lap over a very unfortunate, very malignant disease,' and expressed sympathy for the victims. But he said the pneumonia-like virus would be a consideration for American businesses that are scrambling to determine how the outbreak will affect their supply chains." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jesse Naranjo of Politico: "The House on Thursday approved two measures aimed at clawing back ... Donald Trump's war powers, a direct result of recent aggression between Iran and the United States that culminated earlier this month in missile attacks on Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops. The votes, which passed with four Republican defections on one measure and 11 on the other, mark a victory for anti-war lawmakers who have long sought to rein in the executive's ability to use military force without congressional authorization." ~~~

     ~~~ Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "Both measures have earned limited Republican support and are expected to face difficult odds in the Senate, where GOP leaders can easily block them from coming to the floor for a vote."

Presidential Race

This Should Shake Up The Race. Julia Manchester of the Hill: "Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney (D) dropped out of the Democratic presidential primary on Friday just days before Monday's Iowa Caucuses.... Delaney [said] that his support [in Iowa] was strong enough to peel away votes from other moderate candidates."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Judd Legum of Popular Info: "In October, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the creation of a new 'Facebook News' tab ... [']curated by a team of diverse and seasoned journalists.'... [A]s the United States heads toward election day, Facebook says it will make the tab widely available.... But who is the 'team' behind Facebook News?... [T]he person in charge of Facebook News is former NBC News anchor Campbell Brown [who has her own website].... The74, with funding from Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. On Tuesday, NBC News reported that Facebook was hiring Jennifer Williams, an executive producer for Fox News, 'to head video strategy for Facebook News.' Williams spent a dozen years as a senior producer on Fox & Friends.... Williams will be part of Facebook's news curation team, which means she will be selecting content to be featured in the News tab." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Subscriber-firewalled, but you can read an unspecified number of posts without paying up. Legum spends some effort in knocking Williams in this post, appropriately enough, but as I recall, Brown -- who is married to former Bushie Daniel Senor -- is as much a winger as Williams. Thanks, Zuck!

P. J. Huffstutter of Reuters: "U.S. farm bankruptcy rates jumped 20% in 2019 - to an eight-year high - as financial woes in the U.S. agricultural economy continued in spite of massive federal bail-out funding, according to federal court data.... The increase in cases had been somewhat expected, bankruptcy experts and agricultural economists said, as farmers face trade battles, ever-mounting farm debt, prolonged low commodity prices, volatile weather patterns and a fatal pig disease that has decimated China's herd.... Nearly one-third of projected U.S. net farm income in 2019 came from government aid and taxpayer-subsidized commodity insurance payments, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture." --s

Way Beyond the Beltway

China. The New York Times' live updates on developments re: the coronavirus are here. "The [U.S.] State Department on Thursday night issued a travel advisory telling Americans not to travel to China because of the public health threat posed by the dangerous new coronavirus."

Israel. Joseph Menn & Jack Stubbs of Reuters: "The FBI is investigating the role of Israeli spyware vendor NSO Group Technologies in possible hacks on American residents and companies as well as suspected intelligence gathering on governments, according to four people familiar with the inquiry.... NSO is known in the cybersecurity world for its 'Pegasus' software [and] other tools that can be delivered in several ways. The software can capture everything on a phone, including the plain text of encrypted messages, and commandeer it to record audio. A business strategy firm retained on behalf of Amazon.com Inc Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, FTI Consulting, said this month that NSO could have supplied the software it said Saudi Arabia used to hack Bezos' iPhone." --s

Jason Burke of the Guardian: "Islamic State has begun to reassert itself in its heartlands in the Middle East and continues to seek opportunities to strike in the west, the United Nations has said.... The report portrays an organisation that has suffered significant setbacks but is tenacious, well-funded and still poses a considerable local and international threat." --s

The Commentariat -- January 30, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Adam Schiff is remarkable. Listen to how he not only thinks on his feet but also nails it on his feet:

Mrs. McCrabbie: As Adam Schiff said in today's proceedings, "You can't make this stuff up." Trump's lawyers are of course arguing that the House has no authority to subpoena the President* so the second article of impeachment is invalid and Trump must be acquitted. According to Schiff, the DOJ is in court today arguing that the courts have no jurisdiction over the executive to force the President* to answer Congressional subpoenas. "What's the remedy, then?" a judge asked the DOJ lawyers. The DOJ's response: "Impeachment!"

Here are the New York Times' live updates of today's impeachment proceedings. ~~~

~~~ Sheryl Stolberg & Michael Shear: "After failing to get Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. to read the name of the person widely thought to be the whistle-blower whose complaint prompted the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, did so himself on Thursday. Mr. Paul, who left the Senate chamber while the impeachment trial was in session to hold a news conference about Mr. Roberts's refusal to read his question, said it 'deserved to be asked.' He said the question had nothing to do with the whistle-blower, then he proceeded to read it aloud and name the person." See also Akhilleus's earlier comment in today's thread.

Taking advantage of the fact most of their viewers didn't actually hear the senate Q and A, CNN, MSNBC and some other media willfully distorted my answers. -- Alan Dershowitz, in a tweet today

     ~~~ You horrible people have mischaracterized Alan Dershowitz because you listened to the left-wing, lamestream media. In responses to Dersh's tweet, Elie Honig (CNN) and Barbara McQuade (MSNBC) disagree for some reason: like -- because what Alan said. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

~~~ "I Don't Want to Know What You Did Last Summer." Stephen Colbert Explains the Trial:

Mitch Gets More Felicitous Lessons in Quid-Pro-Quos. Ben Tobin & Morgan Watkins of the Louisville Courier Journal: "Several members of ... Donald Trump's impeachment defense team recently gave money to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's 2020 reelection campaign, a Courier Journal analysis of campaign finance data found. Ke Starr ... gave the maximum individual contribution allowed -- $2,800 -- to the McConnell Senate Committee on July 31, 2019.... [Starr] ... has given to every McConnell reelection campaign since 2002. Another member of the president's impeachment defense team, Robert Ray, gave a total of $5,600 to the McConnell Senate Committee through two separate donations -- one for the primary election, one for the general -- on Sept. 30, 2019. Ray ... did not donate to previous McConnell reelection efforts, according to campaign finance data from the Federal Election Commission."

AND in today's Comments, Linda in Denver explains Chauncey Gardiner Cory Gardner's motives.

Marcy Wheeler (@emptywheel) lays out a completely different view of the prosecutor's memo in the Flynn sentencing. She writes that it does not really differ from the guideline recommendation. Wheeler thinks the memo is responsive to Judge Sullivan's previous rulings and his stated views of Flynn's actions (and the Petraeus sentence): "And, yes, they mention probation, just like Flynn did. But in doing so, they almost certainly did so in a way that only exacerbates Sullivan's innate disgust with powerful people who ask for special treatment." -- Anonymous, in today's Comments

The Dress: Speaking of Impeachment Trials of Yore.... Jennifer Peltz of the AP: Lawyers for a woman who accuses ... Donald Trump of raping her in the 1990s are asking for a DNA sample, seeking to determine whether his genetic material is on a dress she says she wore during the encounter. Advice columnist E. Jean Carroll's lawyers served notice to a Trump attorney Thursday for Trump to submit a sample on March 2 in Washington for 'analysis and comparison against unidentified male DNA present on the dress.'"

Look for the Silver Lining. Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the Chinese coronavirus -- which has killed 171 in China and infected more than 8,100 people -- could 'help' to bring jobs to the United States because companies will be moving operations away from impacted areas. During an appearance Thursday morning on Fox Business, Ross said that he didn't 'want to talk about a victory lap over a very unfortunate, very malignant disease,' and expressed sympathy for the victims. But he said the pneumonia-like virus would be a consideration for American businesses that are scrambling to determine how the outbreak will affect their supply chains.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Vast Cover-up Conspiracy, Ctd. Sheryl Stolberg & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The White House and Senate Republicans worked aggressively on Wednesday to discount damaging revelations from John R. Bolton and line up the votes to block new witnesses from testifying in President Trump's impeachment trial, in a push to bring the proceeding to a swift close. As the Senate opened a two-day, 16-hour period of questioning from senators, Mr. Trump laced into Mr. Bolton.... The president described Mr. Bolton on Twitter as a warmonger who had 'begged' for his job, was fired, and then wrote 'a nasty & untrue book.' On Capitol Hill, Mr. Trump's aides circulated a letter informing Mr. Bolton that the White House was moving to block publication of his forthcoming book, in which he wrote that the president refused to release military aid to Ukraine until its leaders committed to investigating his political rivals. That is a core element of the Democrats' case.... Before the trial convened, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, and other Republicans signaled that they were regaining confidence that they would be able to cobble together the 51 votes needed to block new witnesses and documents and bring the trial to an acquittal verdict as soon as Friday, after the revelations from Mr. Bolton, reported Sunday by The New York Times, had threatened to knock their plans off course." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The concensus on MSNBC this morning is that the call for witnesses will get a the most three GOP votes, leaving a tie that "they" say goes to no witnesses. CJ Roberts could break the tie, but who thinks -- if he did -- that he would come down on the side of witnesses?

     ~~~ Ernest Luning of Colorado Politics: "U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner [R-Colo.] said Wednesday that he thinks the Senate has heard from enough witnesses in ... Donald Trump's impeachment trial.... Gardner had previously been noncommittal about Democrats' demands to call more witnesses, including Bolton...."

Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "... the question of who [in the White House] did review [John Bolton's] book -- and to what extent -- has become a subject of the Senate impeachment trial of Mr. Trump. The White House has acknowledged that National Security Council staff members reviewed the draft, and that they briefed the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone. But the president's impeachment defense lawyers -- Mr. Cipollone among them -- insisted on Wednesday that they were unaware it contained the explosive revelation by Mr. Bolton, the former national security adviser, that Mr. Trump had directly linked aid for Ukraine to investigations he sought for personal gain.... Patrick F. Philbin, a deputy White House counsel and one of Mr. Trump's lawyers, said on the Senate floor..., 'We assumed Mr. Bolton was disgruntled and wouldn't be saying a lot of nice things about the president, but no one told us anything like that.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Maggie Haberman of the New York Times reported Monday, Jan. 27 @9:51 am ET: "John Ullyot, a spokesman for the National Security Council, issued a carefully worded statement on Monday morning, 16 hours after the Times story was published. 'Ambassador Bolton's manuscript was submitted to the N.S.C. for pre-publication review and has been under initial review by the N.S.C.,' he said. 'No White House personnel outside N.S.C. have reviewed the manuscript.'" Mrs. McC: I guess it depends upon what the meaning of "reviewed" is. In addition, Trump -- who, admittedly, can't read -- tweeted this about the book yesterday: "All Classified National Security." Really? Where did he come up with that idea?

AND There's This from Barnes' report: "The lawyers asked career civil servants, not political appointees, to review the book, in an effort to ensure it was handled similarly to any other book written by a former official with access to classified secrets, the officials said.... One of the career lawyers, Yevgeny Vindman, did not take part in the review to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. His twin brother is Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, a Pentagon official detailed to the National Security Council and a key witness about the president's Ukraine dealings in the impeachment hearings." ~~~

     ~~~ Courtney Hagle of Media Matters (Jan. 28): "... Breitbart News swiftly posted a conspiratorial smear against the brother of Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman.... Breitbart claimed 'a source close to the Trump administration' told the outlet that Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, Alexander's brother, 'is in charge of reviewing all publications by current and former NSC officials,' which would include Bolton's book manuscript.... Fox News' John Roberts tweeted on January 27 that his sources say Yevgeny 'is NOT part of the NSC team vetting John Bolton's manuscript.' Still, that didn't stop right-wing media figures -- including some from Roberts' own network -- from promoting the smear that the leak of Bolton's book manuscript was a conspiracy stemming from the Vindmans." ~~~

I find it highly unlikely that a very experienced official such as Ambassador Bolton, the former national security adviser, would put top-secret material in his manuscript. -- Kevin Carroll, who represents other former officials trying to publish a book, to the New York Times ~~~

~~~ Meredith McGraw of Politico: "The White House sent a letter last week to John Bolton's attorney informing him that Bolton's forthcoming book revealing sensitive details about his conversations with ... Donald Trump could not be published because it contained classified information. An official with the National Security Council sent the letter on Jan. 23 to Charles Cooper, shortly before The New York Times published an explosive article detailing how Bolton planned to reveal that Trump directly tied the withholding of foreign aid to Ukraine as he pressured the country to launch investigations into his political rivals.... 'Under federal law and the nondisclosure agreements your client signed as a condition for gaining access to classified information, the manuscript may not be published or otherwise disclosed without the deletion of this classified information,' Ellen Knight of the National Security Council Records Management Division wrote to Cooper." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

BREAKING: Rep. ENGEL reveals that BOLTON called him in September and told him to look into the Marie Yovanovitch ouster.

The committees had already started an investigation into Ukraine matters, but Bolton appears to have supported their effort. >>> pic.twitter.com/a54uwGKkaL

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 29, 2020

     ~~~ Bolton's Revenge. Josh Marshall of TPM: "... this news really confirms what has long been suspected without public proof: that Bolton has had a clear hand driving this whole scandal forward from the beginning. Or at least since his ouster or resignation on Sept. 10." (Also linked yesterday.)

Erica Werner, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump's legal team ... argu[ed] that presidents could do nearly anything so long as they believe their reelection is in the public interest. The assertion from Alan Dershowitz ... made his comments as the Senate launched into a question-and-answer session in the second week of the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history. Following a model established during President Bill Clinton';s impeachment, senators wrote their questions on slips of paper that Senate pages passed to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.... Roberts then read the questions out loud from the dais, glancing over his glasses as he addressed the queries either to the White House defense team or the seven House Democratic impeachment managers." ~~~

~~~ L'état, C'est Moi. Alan Smith of NBC News (from NBC's liveblog @3:41 pm ET): "Alan Dershowitz argued that a quid pro quo involving a president's political benefit was fine because all presidents believe their elections are in the public's interest." Mrs. McC: No wonder Trump thinks he's king. He listens to idiots like Dershowitz who tell him he is. (Also linked yesterday.)

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "We seem to have passed the point where Trump will be able to claim legitimate vindication from acquittal. His cultists will think he has been cleared. But to the 75 percent or so of voters who see witnesses as necessary, the trial is more likely to be regarded as the last frantic gasps of a president who cannot grasp that his own political interests diverge from the nation's. In following him down this path, Republicans will be seen as accomplices and entirely unfit to hold power."

~~~ CJ Thwarts Li'l Randy's Plot to Expose Whistleblower. John Bresnahan of Politico: "Chief Justice John Roberts has communicated to senators that he will not read aloud the alleged Ukraine whistleblower's name or otherwise publicly relay questions that might out the official, a move that's effectively blocked Sen. Rand Paul from asking a question. In a behind-the-scenes fight, Paul, a Kentucky Republican, has composed questions that violate Roberts's edict, according to several Republicans familiar with the dynamics.... Paul -- who has strongly opposed the impeachment proceedings against ... Donald Trump -- has been floating the alleged whistleblower's name in media interviews for months.... Roberts was allowed to screen senators' questions before they were submitted for reading on the Senate floor, the sources noted."

The New York Times' live update page for Wednesday's developments is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Patricia Mazzei: "Lev Parnas..., who worked with the president's personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, to pressure Ukraine's government to investigate political rivals of President Trump, had hoped to watch the impeachment trial up close. But he could not get around the special security restrictions at the Capitol because Mr. Parnas, who is under house arrest, wears an electronic ankle monitor. Still, his arrival created a tizzy at the office of Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, when Mr. Parnas and his lawyers arrived to pick up their Senate gallery passes."

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The new legal team for former national security adviser Michael Flynn unleashed a withering assault Wednesday on Flynn's old lawyers, accusing them of a conflict of interest so severe that it merits allowing the ex-Trump aide to withdraw the guilty plea he entered more than two years ago.... Flynn also submitted a formal, written statement to the court on Wednesday proclaiming his innocence and seeking to explain why he pleaded guilty to a crime he now says he didn't commit. 'I am innocent of this crime and I wish to withdraw my plea,' Flynn wrote in his new declaration. 'In truth, I never lied.'" ~~~

~~~ Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Prosecutors backed away from their recommendation that former national security adviser Michael Flynn serve up to six months in prison, saying in a court filing Wednesday that probation remained a 'reasonable sentence' that they would not oppose. The filing comes as Flynn continues his effort to withdraw his guilty plea in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's Russia probe. Prosecutors did not explain in their filing why they reemphasized probation as a reasonable sentence for Flynn. The shift represents the latest turn in the case in which federal prosecutors once held up Flynn as a model cooperator and suggested probation but shifted their stance to include prison time after Flynn hired a new defense team, attacked investigators and undermined the prosecution of his former business partner."

He Huffed and He Puffed ... And the Wall Came Tumbling Down. Matt Stieb of New York: "On the campaign trail and trips to the southern border, President Trump has called his big, beautiful wall 'tough' [and] 'virtually impenetrable.'... On a September visit to the Otay Mesa border site in San Diego, he boasted, 'This wall is not something that can be really knocked down.' But on Wednesday, Customs and Border Protection confirmed to CNN that newly-installed wall panels in Calexico, California were knocked down by wind gusts of up to 37-miles-per-hour, causing the metal slats to timber into Mexican territory[.]... The wall has faced a few setbacks that contradict Trump's claims of near-impenetrability, like in November when the Washington Post reported that smugglers were using reciprocating saws -- available for less than $100 -- to cut through sections of the steel-bollard barrier in minutes. And though the president has claimed that no one would be able to climb the wall, smugglers have found a simple summiting method, using rebar ladders to hoist up one side, and rope ladders to scale down the other." Mrs. McC: In Florida, we call 37-mph air movement a "breeze."

The Incredible Lightness of Hubris 

Matt Stieb of New York: "... when justifying his fitness for taking on the 72-year Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Speaking with Sky News Arabia on Wednesday, [Jared] Kushner explained why -- nepotism aside -- he was the right man ... [to take] on the 72-year Israeli-Palestinian conflict]: 'I've been studying this now for three years. I've read 25 books on it, I've spoken to every leader in the region, I've spoken to everyone who's been involved in this.' That's all but impossible, considering that the Palestinian National Authority has rejected Trump administration invitations to come to the table, aware that any deal made by the current White House would be designed to exert power in the region and to benefit Benjamin Netanyahu." The expert Jared also apparently never heard of Israeli politician Yossi Beilin, who was instrumental in cementing the 1993 Oslo accords; Kushner dismissed Beilin as an example of "random individuals who don't have a lot of say or maybe knowledge." ~~~

~~~ This Is Rich. Justine Coleman of the Hill: "... Jared Kushner said Tuesday that Palestinians have a 'big opportunity' with President Trump's Middle East peace plan, saying if they reject the plan 'they're going to screw up another opportunity.'... 'It's a big opportunity for the Palestinians,' he said. 'And they have a perfect track record of blowing every opportunity they've had in their past.'... Palestinian leaders were not included in the negotiations after cutting off contact with the U.S. in 2017." Mrs. McC: Opinions I've scanned say the plan is heavily-weighted against Palestinian interests. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Juan Cole, for instance, after writing unflattering descriptions of the plan's authors, goes on to lay out the "Top 5 ways Trump plan for Palestinians is a Crime against Humanity." So, uh, not so good. (Also linked yesterday.)

Juliegrace Brufke & Scott Wong of the Hill: "Rep. Doug Collins's decision to run for the Senate in Georgia will set in motion a game of musical chairs that could put two of President Trump's most loyal defenders in the top GOP slots of the House Judiciary and Oversight committees. Collins has been serving as the top Republican on the powerful Judiciary Committee since January 2019, but House GOP conference rules require lawmakers to relinquish chairman or ranking member posts once they launch bids for higher office.... A key GOP lawmaker said [Jacketless Jim] Jordan is in a strong position for the Judiciary job.... That would open up the top GOP job on [the] Oversight [Committee], which some lawmakers said could temporarily be filled by another Trump loyalist, retiring Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.)."

Presidential Race

Sydney Ember & Lazaro Gamio of the New York Times have composed an 10-question interactive quiz to help you figure out which of the top eight Democratic presidential candidates you most agree with. Mrs. McC: I took the quiz & the quiz-makers couldn't decide: I most agreed with two candidates: Sanders & Warren.

Street Money. Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "Allies of Donald Trump have begun holding events in black communities where organizers lavish praise on the president as they hand out tens of thousands of dollars to lucky attendees. The first giveaway took place last month in Cleveland, where recipients whose winning tickets were drawn from a bin landed cash gifts in increments of several hundred dollars, stuffed into envelopes. A second giveaway scheduled for this month in Virginia has been postponed, and more are said to be in the works.... The cash giveaways are organized under the auspices of an outside charity, the Urban Revitalization Coalition, permitting donors to remain anonymous and make tax-deductible contributions. The organizers say the events are run by the book and intended to promote economic development in inner cities. But the group behind the cash giveaways is registered as a 501(c)3 charitable organization. One leading legal expert on nonprofit law said the arrangement raises questions about the group's tax-exempt status, because it does not appear to be vetting the recipients of its money for legitimate charitable need."

Senate Race. Justin Wise of the Hill: "Republican Rep. Doug Collins (Ga.)..., on Wednesday announced that he is launching a 2020 primary challenge against Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.).

"This Is How the Industry Works." Jan Ransom of the New York Times: Dawn "Dunning [-- a waitress and aspiring actor from Ohio --] testified [in Harvey Weinstein's rape trial --] that at one meeting, Mr. Weinstein suggested she agree to a threesome with him and one of his assistants to advance her career, telling her, 'This is how the industry works.' [Tara] Wulff [-- another waitress & aspiring actor --] said she had met Mr. Weinstein to discuss a movie role when he raped her inside of his Manhattan loft. Ms. Dunning and Ms. Wulff were the latest women to testify against Mr. Weinstein at his long awaited trial in [New York] State Supreme Court in Manhattan, which is widely seen as a watershed moment in the #MeToo era. In all, six women have agreed to testify for the prosecution about their allegations that Mr. Weinstein sexually assaulted them."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Maia de la Baume & David Herszenhorn of Politico: "The European Parliament on Wednesday ratified the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and bid farewell to its British members, capping a two-hour-long debate and more than three-and-a-half years of tortured negotiations between Brussels and the first country to ever quit the EU. It was a strange and emotional day -- one that an overwhelming majority of the Parliament had hoped would never come -- with a profusion of farewell parties that involved bagpipes, EU flags and various versions of the song 'Auld Lang Syne.' One rendition was by MEPs, many in tears, who held hands and linked arms as they sang in the plenary immediately after casting their historic vote. The tally was 621 to 49 with 13 abstentions, and it provided certainty -- finally -- that the U.K. would make an orderly departure from the EU at the stroke of midnight (Brussels time) on Friday." The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

New York Times: "Fred Silverman, who as a top executive at CBS, ABC and finally NBC was one of the most powerful people in the three-network era -- a force behind the success of beloved series like 'All in the Family,' 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show,' 'M*A*S*H,' 'Laverne & Shirley' and 'Hill Street Blues' -- died on Thursday at his home in the Pacific Palisades section of Los Angeles. He was 82."