The Commentariat -- November 29, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Mujib Mashal of the New York Times: "After abruptly axing nearly a year of delicate peace talks with the Taliban in September, President Trump put the negotiations back on the front-burner this week in a similarly jolting fashion by seeming to demand a cease-fire that his negotiators had long concluded was overly ambitious. Despite a sense of relief at the prospect of resuming talks to end the 18-year conflict, Western diplomats and Taliban leaders were scrambling to figure out whether Mr. Trump had suddenly moved the goal posts for negotiations. They were particularly confused by his remarks, made during an unannounced Thanksgiving visit to Afghanistan, that the United States was once again meeting with the Taliban to discuss a deal, but that 'we're saying it has to be a cease-fire.' Demanding a cease-fire would amount to a big shift in the American position and require a significant new concession from the Taliban -- one that the Americans have little leverage to extract." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: All easily explained by the maxim, "Trump doesn't know what he's doing."

Susan Simpson of Just Security: "At the heart of the impeachment inquiry, members of Congress may have been mistakenly led to believe that there were two phone calls between ... Donald Trump and Ambassador Gordon Sondland in early September -- with the second call having the possibility of helping the President's case. That's not what happened. There was only one call, and it was highly incriminating. The call occurred on September 7th. In this call, Trump did say there was 'no quid pro quo' with Ukraine, but he then went on to outline his preconditions for releasing the security assistance and granting a White House visit. The call was so alarming that when John Bolton learned of it, he ordered his deputy Tim Morrison to immediately report it to the National Security Council lawyers.... Sondland ... testified [in the public hearing that the September 9 call] was a brief conversation, in which he asked President Trump a single question, '... What do you want from Ukraine? And as I recall, he was in a very bad mood. It was a very quick conversation. He said: I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo. I want Zelenskyy to do the right thing.' [This of course is the claim Trump reiterated, reading from notes on the White House lawn, & which was later set to music, and which Trump has repeated.] Whether due to a faulty memory, or due to intentional deceit, Sondland's testimony about the 'no quid pro quo' call omitted the most critical part of the conversation: President Trump's rejection of the compromise offer for the Prosecutor General to announce the investigations, and his demand that Zelenskyy himself do it. The 'no quid pro quo' call was, in reality, a 'here is the specific quid pro quo I want' call." And it occurred on September 7. Emphasis original. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is sort of a follow-on to the Washington Post report also linked here Thursday in which Aaron Davis & others sussed out that a phone call Gordon Sondland said took place on Sept. 9 never happened. As the Post reporters noted, "would have occurred before dawn in Washington. And the White House has not located a record in its switchboard logs of a call between Trump and Sondland on Sept. 9, according to an administration official." Simpson said the Post published its report while her "article was in the publication process." It's a long article, but you can skim it (as I did), and still find her argument convincing -- & damning Trump.

Alissa Rubin of the New York Times: "Pressured by an expanding protest movement and a rising death toll, Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi of Iraq said Friday that he would submit his resignation to Parliament, taking the country into greater uncertainty and possibly months of turmoil ahead.... Deep seated anger over corruption and Iran's influence in Iraqi politics are the major drivers of the protests across Iraq." The AP story is here.

BBC: "Two members of the public have died and another three people were injured in a stabbing attack at London Bridge, the Met Police's commissioner has said. Cressida Dick told a press conference the stabbing attack, which has been declared a terrorist incident, began at an event at Fishmonger's Hall. Within five minutes of being called officers confronted the suspect - who was shot dead by police - she said. The suspect was wearing what is thought to have been a hoax explosive device." The Guardian is updating developments.

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Michael Crowley of the New York Times: "President Trump paid an unannounced Thanksgiving visit to American troops in Afghanistan on Thursday and declared that he had reopened peace negotiations with the Taliban less than three months after scuttling talks in hopes of ending 18 years of war. 'The Taliban wants to make a deal, and we're meeting with them,' Mr. Trump said during a meeting with Afghanistan's president, Ashraf Ghani, at the main base for American forces north of Kabul. 'We're going to stay until such time as we have a deal, or we have total victory, and they want to make a deal very badly,' Mr. Trump added even as he reaffirmed his desire to reduce the American military presence to 8,600 troops, down from about 12,000 to 13,000." The AP story is here.

Jonathan Chait: "... the New York Times and Washington Post both have new stories [linked below] about [Rudy] Giuliani pursuing business deals with Ukrainian government officials at the same time he was lobbying them on Trump's behalf.... The first and most important thing to understand about these deals is that there is no possible set of mitigating circumstances that might make the negotiations remotely ethical." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Erin Banco & Betsy Swan of The Daily Beast: "Even before Gordon Sondland's work in Ukraine set off alarm bells, senior U.S. officials were raising concerns about his communications with officials from Romania -- including his efforts to get White House access for a politician [Liviu Dragnea, a Romanian politician] with a history of pushing back against anti-corruption reforms.... Sondland ... often hosted meetings with Romanian officials without consulting the National Security Council (NSC). His increasingly close relationship with one of those officials, former deputy prime minister Ana Birchall, generated significant concerns within the NSC.../ Ana Birchall has a history of opposing anti-corruption measures in her country and for years supported Liviu Dragnea." --s ~~~

~~~ Because He's a Trumpy Kinda Guy. David Herszenhorn of Politico: Gordon Sondland, "the U.S. ambassador to the EU..., has no intention of resigning over allegations of sexual misconduct, a close associate said Thursday. Sondland has flatly denied the accusations, made by three women, who allege he engaged in inappropriate behavior years before he was named Trump's envoy to the EU."

Nicholas Confessore & Alexandra Alter of the New York Times: "At least nine Republican organizations, G.O.P. candidates or advocacy groups are selling [Donald Trump, Jr.,'s book] 'Triggered' or promoting Mr. Trump's book tour, according to emails obtained by The New York Times, interviews and disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission. The president's son has emerged over the past few years as a political star in his own right, often said to be considering a run for office. It is neither illegal nor uncommon for candidates and political organizations to use books in fund-raising drives.... But the breadth of the Republican establishment's effort behind Mr. Trump is striking for a noncandidate whose most significant claim to fame remains his parentage, and who has sought to deflect criticism of his recent attacks on impeachment witnesses by asserting that he is merely a 'private citizen.' And it underscores the unusual cross-pollination between the Trump family's political ambitions, its business ventures and the party President Trump now leads.... Earlier this month, the R.N.C. denied making large bulk purchases of the book, a practice that some best-seller lists, including that of The Times, may penalize authors for when ranking sales. But F.E.C. records released last week showed that it spent almost $100,000 on copies on Oct. 29...." The Raw Story has a summary of the story here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Gee, I wonder if they'll help me sell my new book, 1,001 Stupid Things Donald Trump Has Said & Done. It comes with a special bonus: a pass to read a firewalled online addition to the book every day. More than one entry daily often available.

Chantal Da Silva of Newsweek: "Ken Cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, was reportedly forced to retreat from a Thanksgiving Eve bash on Wednesday after former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley tore into him over his role in enforcing the Trump administration's hardline immigration policies. According to one witness, Siobhan Houton Arnold, who tweeted about the incident, O'Malley 'drove' Cuccinelli out of the Dubliner, a Capitol Hill pub meant to be popular among Gonzaga High School graduates, a school both men had attended, graduating five years apart in the 1980s, according to The Washington Post. 'Martin O'Malley just drove Ken Cuccinelli out of the Dubliner in DC w/ a passion-laced and shame-invoking tirade on behalf of immigrant refugee children!!!' Arnold said in her tweet.... The former governor said he also was not the only one to air his grievances with Cuccinelli, who he described as 'the son of immigrant parents who cages children for a fascist president,' that evening." ~~~

~~~ Laura Vozzella & Marisa Iati of the Washington Post: "Both O'Malley and Cuccinelli described a confrontation that involved O'Malley hotly criticizing Cuccinelli's politics. And both said they eventually ended up face-to-face with O'Malley asking Cuccinelli if he wanted to throw a punch."

Melissa Lemieux of Newsweek: "WholeFoods Magazine has named Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as its Man of the Year for championing a hemp growing project in his home state of Kentucky. Twitter users have cried foul, though, and now they are trying to boycott the Whole Foods Supermarkets chain, which has nothing to do with the magazine."

Pete Hegseth, the Fox "News" host who most recently made the news for his advocacy for war criminal Eddie Gallagher is not only morally bankrupt, he is far more ignorant than any U.S. elementary school graduate should be. Yesterday, I linked a scene from the 1993 film "Addams Family Values," in which the character Wednesday (Christina Ricci) plays Pocahontas in a summer camp Thanksgiving play. Apparently the movie was where Pete learned his American history. Anyone who passed 5th-grade history knows that Pocahontas had nothing to do with the New England settlers. P.S. I checked Hegseth's bio to see if maybe he had a good excuse for his ignorance of early American history, like "raised by wolves in Mongolia." But no. Pete was graduated from Princeton & has a masters degree from the JFK School at Harvard. Someone should check to see if those schools are accredited. ~~~

~~~ Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Justin Wise of the Hill: "Fox News host Pete Hegseth echoed language from President Trump on Thursday while taking a shot at Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), saying that it was 'fitting' the 'Fox & Friends' morning program was talking about "Pocahontas" on Thanksgiving. Hegseth used the name Pocahontas, which Trump deploys to mock Warren's claims of Native American ancestry, as a panel discussed Warren's recent drop in polls focused on the 2020 Democratic presidential primary."

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Sabrina Caserta of the AP: "The beloved balloons flew, but lower than usual, in a windy Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade after an anxious weather watch. Wind had threatened to ground the giant inflated characters. But officials announced less than an hour before Thursday's start time that the balloons could fly, if in a down-to-Earth way. As the parade continued -- even while city emergency officials sent out a public alert about wind gusts -- handlers struggled with some balloons and pulled them close to the ground. Meanwhile, winds did keep giant balloons out of Philadelphia's Thanksgiving Day parade." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ohio. Jessica Glenza of the Guardian: "A bill to ban abortion introduced in the Ohio state legislature requires doctors to 'reimplant an ectopic pregnancy' into a woman's uterus -- a procedure that does not exist in medical science – or face charges of 'abortion murder'. This is the second time practising obstetricians and gynecologists have tried to tell the Ohio legislators that the idea is currently medically impossible.... An ectopic pregnancy is a life-threatening condition, which can kill a woman if the embryonic tissue grows unchecked. In addition to ordering doctors to do the impossible or face criminal charges, House Bill 413 bans abortion outright and defines a fertilized egg as an 'unborn child'. It also appears to punish doctors, women and children as young as 13 with 'abortion murder' if they 'perform or have an abortion'. This crime is punishable by life in prison. Another new crime, 'aggravated abortion murder', is punishable by death, according to the bill. The bill [has two sponsors]..., and [is] co-sponsored by 19 members of Ohio's 99-member House."

Way Beyond

China, Hong Kong. Yanan Wang of the AP: "China reacted furiously Thursday to ... Donald Trump's signing two bills aimed at supporting human rights in Hong Kong, summoning the U.S. ambassador to protest and warning the move would undermine cooperation with Washington. Hong Kong, a former British colony that was granted semi-autonomy when China took control in 1997, has been rocked by six months of sometimes violent pro-democracy demonstrations. Thousands of pro-democracy activists crowded a public square in downtown Hong Kong on Thursday night for a 'Thanksgiving Day' rally to thank the United States for passing the laws and vowed to 'march on' in their fight." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

U.K. Boris Was Not Amused. Alex Wickham & Mark Di Stefano of BuzzFeed News: "The Conservative Party is threatening to review Channel 4's public service broadcasting obligations after the broadcaster replaced Boris Johnson with an ice sculpture at Thursday night's election debate. In a dramatic escalation of the war of words between the Tories and Channel 4 that will likely provoke outcry, a Conservative source told BuzzFeed News that if they win the coming election they will reassess the channel's public service broadcasting licence.... The inflammatory move came after Channel 4 said it would empty-chair the prime minister and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage at its climate change leaders' debate, after the two leaders declined to take part.... Channel 4 is unique among UK broadcasters in that it is a publicly owned' public service broadcaster', which means it has licensing obligations imposed on it by the regulator Ofcom including requirements for impartial news, current affairs, original programming and production outside of London." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's hoping the sculptures melted during the broadcast.

The Commentariat -- November 28, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Jonathan Chait: "... the New York Times and Washington Post both have new stories [linked below] about Giuliani pursuing business deals with Ukrainian government officials at the same time he was lobbying them on Trump's behalf.... The first and most important thing to understand about these deals is that there is no possible set of mitigating circumstances that might make the negotiations remotely ethical."

Sabrina Caserta of the AP: "The beloved balloons flew, but lower than usual, in a windy Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade after an anxious weather watch. Wind had threatened to ground the giant inflated characters. But officials announced less than an hour before Thursday's start time that the balloons could fly, if in a down-to-Earth way. As the parade continued -- even while city emergency officials sent out a public alert about wind gusts -- handlers struggled with some balloons and pulled them close to the ground. Meanwhile, winds did keep giant balloons out of Philadelphia's Thanksgiving Day parade."

Yanan Wang of the AP: "China reacted furiously Thursday to ... Donald Trump's signing two bills aimed at supporting human rights in Hong Kong, summoning the U.S. ambassador to protest and warning the move would undermine cooperation with Washington. Hong Kong, a former British colony that was granted semi-autonomy when China took control in 1997, has been rocked by six months of sometimes violent pro-democracy demonstrations. Thousands of pro-democracy activists crowded a public square in downtown Hong Kong on Thursday night for a 'Thanksgiving Day' rally to thank the United States for passing the laws and vowed to 'march on' in their fight."

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Or Something Like This. Painting by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, ca. 1914"Everything You Learned about the First Thanksgiving Is Wrong." Maya Salam of the New York Times: The main course was venison brought by Wampanoag men, there's no direct evidence the Pilgrims ate turkey, and they didn't call themselves Pilgrims but "separatists." The separatists didn't come seeking religious freedom; they came to set up an entrepreneurial theocracy. And Squanto spoke English because he'd been captured by an Englishman & sold into slavery years earlier (even that story is complicated & essential parts of it unknown). Mrs. McC: In other words, the "Pilgrims" were a lot like many present-day Americans: insular, religiously intolerant & avaricious. Pass the sweet potatoes corn meal mush, please.

Also not necessarily historically accurate:

Trump Vows to Save "Thanksgiving." Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "The Trump-Fox News Feedback Loop was on full display Wednesday morning when ... Donald Trump's favorite morning show backed his patently absurd claim that liberals want to change the name of Thanksgiving -- an idea he obviously got from Fox's recent round-the-clock 'War on Thanksgiving' coverage. At his Tuesday night campaign rally in Florida, the president insisted that 'some people' want to change the name of the holiday and 'don't want to use the term Thanksgiving,' likening this supposed anti-Thanksgiving sentiment to another infamous right-wing media invention. 'And that was true with Christmas. Now everybody is using Christmas again. And remember I said that,' Trump declared. 'Now we're gonna have to do a little work on Thanksgiving. People have different ideas on why it shouldn't be called Thanksgiving. Everybody here loves the name Thanksgiving and we're not changing it!' During Wednesday morning's broadcast of Fox & Friends, the hosts appeared to give credence to the president's conspiracy, all while sidestepping the role their network had in planting the idea in his head." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Somebody please tell me what I'm supposed to call today's holiday now that it's not Thanksgiving anymore. "Thursday"? ~~~

~~~ Update. The Thanksgiving war is real. I lost an uncle at the battle of Cranberry Hill. He was going upriver on a gravy boat that got ambushed by Col. 'Cornbread' Stuffing's men. Bones everywhere --- he died of heartburn. Tried to hold on until Black Friday but just couldn't. I'll be thinking of him tomorrow when I go shopping for all those overpriced bargains. -- Forrest M., in today's Comments

New York Times: "Two major storm systems have paralyzed large parts of the nation just ahead of Thanksgiving. Though the storms were weakening, holiday travel issues were likely to continue into the weekend." The story is being updated. The Weather Channel's main page has links to a number of weather horror stories, to a travel forecast, & of course to the weather outlook for your, uh, Thursday or whatever, & beyond.

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: In case venison is not your entree today & you are asked to carve a turkey, there are quite a few YouTube videos advising how to do it. The Washington Post has a story with helpful graphics on the art of bird-carving.

William Saletan of Slate: "Republicans claim that two private remarks by ... Donald Trump clear him of wrongdoing in the Ukraine scandal. The first remark, supposedly made on Aug. 31 to Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, was that Trump would 'never' require Ukraine to do anything for him in order to get military aid he had suspended. The second remark, made on Sept. 7 or Sept. 9 to Gordon Sondland..., was that Trump wanted 'nothing' from Ukraine [Mrs. McC: The 'no quid pro quo' conversation].... But now it turns out that by the time Trump spoke to Johnson, the president already knew he was under investigation for extorting Zelensky. This discovery, reported on Tuesday night [also linked yesterday] by the New York Times, inverts the meaning of Trump's statements to Johnson and Sondland. Trump wasn't telling the truth. He was launching his cover story." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ About That "No Quid Pro Quo" Call. Aaron Davis, et al., of the Washington Post: Gordon "Sondland's recollection of a phone conversation that he said took place on Sept. 9 has emerged as a centerpiece of Trump's defense as House Democrats argue in an impeachment inquiry that he abused his office to pressure Ukraine to investigate Democrats. However, no other witness testimony or documents have emerged that corroborate Sondland's description of a call that day. Trump himself, in describing the conversation, has referred only to the ambassador's account of the call, which -- based on Sondland's activities -- would have occurred before dawn in Washington. And the White House has not located a record in its switchboard logs of a call between Trump and Sondland on Sept. 9, according to an administration official.... But there is evidence of another call between Trump and Sondland that occurred a few days earlier -- one with a very different thrust, in which the president made clear that he wanted his Ukrainian counterpart to personally announce investigations into Trump's political opponents.... The way witnesses [Tim Morrison & Bill Taylor] describe a call between the two men in early September ... [is that] Trump said he was not seeking a 'quid pro quo,' but he also relayed a specific demand ... that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky personally and publicly announce the investigations Trump was seeking." Emphasis added. The Raw Story has a summary report here. More on Sondland linked below.

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "As Rudolph W. Giuliani waged a public campaign this year to unearth damaging information in Ukraine about President Trump's political rivals, he privately pursued hundreds of thousands dollars in business from Ukrainian government officials, documents reviewed by The New York Times show. Mr. Giuliani ... has repeatedly said he has no business in Ukraine, and none of the deals was finalized. But the documents indicate that while he was pushing Mr. Trump's agenda with Ukrainian officials eager for support from the United States, Mr. Giuliani also explored financial agreements with members of the same government.... Prosecutors and F.B.I. agents in Manhattan are examining whether Mr. Giuliani was not just working for the president, but also doing the bidding of Ukrainians who wanted [Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch] removed for their own reasons...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
~~~

~~~ Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "These negotiations were in early 2019 -- not long before Giuliani put the prosecutor, Yuri Lutsenko, in touch with John Solomon, a right-leaning US journalist then at The Hill.... Solomon publicized Lutsenko's claims, many of which Lutsenko later withdrew, winning the prosecutor attention from Trump's circle. Lutsenko used that access to influence US policy toward Ukraine, helping to force the ouster of Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, who was critical of Lutsenko.... [Giuliani's] negotiation with Lutsenko, while particularly brazen, is just one of many engagements for which the former mayor has drawn accusations of acting as unregistered foreign agent.... Giuliani has never registered as a foreign agent with the Justice Department. Nor has he registered as a lobbyist of any kind. In various public statements, he has said he doesn't need to.... [His] excuses may not get Giuliani off the hook on foreign lobbying laws. You don't have to be paid to be considered a foreign agent under FARA, a World War II-era law that requires anyone promoting the interests of foreign clients to register with the Justice Department and detail their efforts."

~~~ Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Rudolph W. Giuliani negotiated earlier this year to represent Ukraine's top prosecutor for at least $200,000 during the same months that Giuliani was working with the prosecutor to dig up dirt on vice president Joe Biden, according to people familiar with the discussions. The people said that Giuliani began negotiations with Ukraine's top prosecutor, Yuri Lutsenko, about a possible agreement in February. In the agreement, Giuliani's company would receive payment to represent Lutsenko as the Ukrainian sought to recover assets he believed had been stolen from the government in Kyiv, those familiar with the discussions said.... The people said that another retainer agreement, drafted in March, called for Giuliani Partners to receive $300,000 from the Ministry of Justice for help locating the supposedly stolen assets.... The talks occurred as Giuliani met with Lutsenko in New York in January and then in Warsaw in February while he was also gathering information from Lutsenko on two topics Giuliani believed could prove useful to Trump: the involvement of Biden, and his son, Hunter, in Ukraine and allegations that Ukraine, not Russia, had interfered in the 2016 election.... A person familiar with the negotiations described a series of contracts that were drafted earlier this year in which Giuliani would have worked for Lutsenko or separately, the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Hill has a summary of the NYT & WashPo stories. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump was right when about one thing he told Bill O'Reilly (story linked yesterday) while trying to distance himself from Rudy: "Rudy has other clients, other than me. He's done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years." Trump's "Rudy who?" chat with O'Reilly seems to have been a "response" to the NYT & WashPo stories linked above, in that reporters most likely called the White House for comment yesterday. The distancing from Rudy also may mean Trump is keeping tabs on the SDNY investigation of the Three Stooges, and that the investigation is not going well Rudy. BTW, if Trump was so concerned about corruption in Ukraine, why would he hire a lawyer who has "done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years"? Wouldn't that lawyer have been working with corrupt Ukrainians over the years? ~~~

     ~~~ digby: "Put simply, Rudy was doing with Trump what they accuse Biden and his son of doing. Of course. And it's much, much worse since they were simultaneously doing Russia's bidding and putting lives on the line in the war with Ukraine." ~~~

~~~ Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "Rudy Giuliani acknowledged this week meeting with a lawyer for a Ukrainian oligarch who he had previously said he had 'nothing to do with.'... Asked about the discrepancy, Giuliani called CNN's inquiry 'horseshit' and 'trickery,' and said previous responses to CNN were not misleading."

Lauren Egan of NBC News: "... Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that he did not direct his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to have Ukraine dig up dirt on his political rivals, contradicting testimony from several witnesses in the House impeachment inquiry.... [But] public testimony in the impeachment inquiry from multiple senior diplomats portrayed Giuliani as the driver behind Trump's pressure campaign to get Ukraine to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden and a leading voice in the spread of debunked conspiracies that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. Trump asked Zelenskiy to get in touch with Giuliani in the July 25 phone call that ultimately led to the impeachment inquiry.... In testimony from two key witnesses alone, Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union and Kurt Volker, then the U.S. special representative for Ukraine, Giuliani was mentioned more than 430 times, highlighting his outsize influence in Ukraine policy.... Giuliani has maintained that there was nothing illegal or improper about his actions, even tweeting publicly about conducting an 'investigation' on Trump's behalf."

Just Kidding, Donald! Karen Friefeld of Reuters: "... Rudy Giuliani called the president this week to reassure him that he had been joking when he told media outlets he had 'insurance' if Trump turned on him in the Ukraine scandal, Giuliani's lawyer said on Wednesday. The attorney, Robert Costello, said Giuliani 'at my insistence' had called Trump 'within the last day' to emphasize that he had not been serious when he said he had an 'insurance policy, if thrown under the bus.'" Mrs. McC: Nice try, Rudy. Trump knows what you have on him.

Harper Neidig of the Hill: "A federal district judge on Wednesday issued a temporary stay of her order that former White House counsel Don McGahn comply with House Democrats' subpoena for testimony. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, an Obama appointee on the district court in D.C., granted McGahn's request for a temporary stay while she deliberates on whether to issue a lengthier one to allow him to appeal her decision. The House Judiciary Committee, which had asked the court to enforce its subpoena for President Trump's former legal adviser, said it would not oppose a temporary stay." ~~~

~~~ Update. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal appeals court on Wednesday evening stayed a lower-court ruling that former Trump White House counsel Donald McGahn must comply with a House subpoena after the administration appealed, arguing the battle poses great consequences for the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted an administrative stay while it considers a longer-term order, and fast-tracked oral arguments in the case for a hearing Jan. 3. The stay came after U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of Washington on Monday found no basis for a White House claim that the former counsel is 'absolutely immune from compelled congressional testimony,' saying 'Presidents are not kings' and raising the possibility that McGahn could be forced to testify before the House Judiciary Committee as part of its impeachment inquiry."

Gordon Sondland, Sexual Predator. Allegedly. Julia Silverman, et al., of Portland Monthly & Maryam Jameel & Doris Burke of ProPublica: "Three women say they faced sexual misconduct by Gordon Sondland before he was the U.S. ambassador to the European Union and at the center of the presidential impeachment inquiry. They say he retaliated against them professionally after they rejected his advances. In one case, a potential business partner recalls that Sondland took her to tour a room in a hotel he owns, only to then grab her face and try to kiss her. After she rejected him, Sondland backtracked on investing in her business. Another woman, a work associate at the time, says Sondland exposed himself to her during a business interaction. She also recalls falling over the back of a couch trying to get away from him. After she made her lack of interest clear, she says Sondland called her, screaming about her job performance. A third woman, 27 years Sondland's junior, met him to discuss a potential job. She says he pushed himself against her and kissed her. She shoved him away. She says his job help stopped. All three women have agreed to be named in this story. In all the cases, friends, family members or colleagues of the women recall being told about the encounters at the time.... Sondland denies the allegations." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Should be quite a nice Thanksgiving Day dinner at the Sondland residence.

Impeachment Then. When Some Republicans Were Heroes. Timothy Smith of the Washington Post: "William D. Ruckelshaus, a pragmatic and resolute government official who shaped the Environmental Protection Agency in the early 1970s as its first administrator and returned to the agency a decade later to restore its shattered morale after its watchdog powers had been muzzled, died Nov. 27 at his home in Medina, Wash. He was 87.... In a long career in government and private industry, Mr. Ruckelshaus was widely promoted as 'Mr. Clean' as much for his uprightness as for his role with the EPA. He cemented his reputation for unshakable integrity when, in 1973, as President Richard Nixon's deputy attorney general, he defied a presidential order to fire the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate break-in." Ruckelshaus's New York Times obituary is here.

More on Other Trump Scandals:

Heather Vogell of ProPublica: "Donald Trump's business reported conflicting information about a key metric to New York City property tax officials and a lender who arranged financing for his signature building, Trump Tower in Manhattan, according to tax and loan documents obtained by ProPublica. The findings add a third major Trump property to two for which ProPublica revealed similar discrepancies last month. In the latest case, the occupancy rate of the Trump Tower's commercial space was listed, over three consecutive years, as 11, 16 and 16 percentage points higher in filings to a lender than in reports to city tax officials, records show."

Scott Stedman of Forensic News: "Thomas Bowers, a former Deutsche Bank executive and head of the American wealth-management division, killed himself in Malibu, California, on Tuesday, November 19th, according to the Los Angeles county coroner's initial report.... Bowers was the boss of Donald Trump's banker Rosemary Vrablic, according to a New York Times article in early 2019. Vrablic approved over $300 million dollars in high risk loans for Trump starting in 2010. Vrablic's other clients have included Jared Kushner.... One source who has direct knowledge of the FBI's investigation into Deutsche Bank said that federal investigators have asked about Bowers and documents he might have."

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Michael Flynn..., Donald Trump's first national security adviser, will not be sentenced on December 18 as previously planned, a federal judge said Wednesday, to await the release of an internal Justice Department report on FBI surveillance. Judge Emmet Sullivan agreed with prosecutors and Flynn's lawyers, who asked for Flynn's long-awaited sentencing hearing to be delayed because they won't be fully prepared for it until the DOJ inspector general's report regarding FBI surveillance as part of its early Russia probe is published. The inspector general's review is due out December 9." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Wednesday signed legislation offering support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, one week after it passed the House and Senate with veto-proof majorities. The White House made the announcement that Trump had signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act despite protests from officials in Beijing, who complain that the legislation meddles in their domestic matters.... The legislation imposes sanctions on individuals who commit human rights violations in Hong Kong and blocks them from entering the United States." The Washington Post story is here.

Former Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer in a Washington Post op-ed: "... military justice works best when senior leadership stays far away. A system that prevents command influence is what separates our armed forces from others. Our system of military justice has helped build the world's most powerful navy; good leaders get promoted, bad ones get moved out, and criminals are punished.... President Trump involved himself in the [Gallagher] case almost from the start.... The president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices." ~~~

~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Former Navy Secretary Richard Spencer on Wednesday admonished President Trump for repeatedly involving himself in an internal review of a Navy SEAL whose case led to controversy and Spencer's ouster over the weekend. Spencer penned an op-ed in The Washington Post in which he laid out multiple instances in which Trump attempted to intervene in a military review of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, who was accused and later acquitted of several war crimes." ~~~

~~~ Barbara Starr & Nicole Gaouette of CNN: "Tensions that have been mounting for months between some of the nation's most senior military officers and ... Donald Trump are boiling over after his decision to intervene in the cases of three service members accused of war crimes. A long-serving military officer put it bluntly, telling CNN 'there is a morale problem,' and senior Pentagon officials have privately said they are disturbed by the President's behavior. Dismay in the Pentagon has been building over Trump's sporadic, impulsive and contradictory decision-making on a range of issues, including his sudden pullback of troops in Syria. But now there are new and significant worries, as multiple military officials and retired officers say Trump's intervention into high-profile war crimes cases cannot be ignored."

~~~ Adam Serwer of the Atlantic: "Donald Trump is a war-crimes enthusiast.... Although Trump was talked out of authorizing torture by his advisers, the president's ardor for violations of the laws of war has manifested itself in his decisions to intervene in war-crimes cases.... In four separate cases since the beginning of his presidency, and for the first time in the history of modern warfare, an American president has aided service members accused or convicted of war crimes, against the advice of his own military leadership. The clearances eroded the rule of law, as well as institutional safeguards against authoritarianism and the politicization of the military. But they were also a rational extension of Trumpist nationalism, which recognizes no moral, legal, or institutional restraints on the president worth upholding, and which sees violence against outsiders as a redemptive expression of national loyalty." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Shocking Report Will Reveal Barack Obama Is Not a Master Spy. Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "The Justice Department's inspector general found no evidence that the F.B.I. attempted to place undercover agents or informants inside Donald J. Trump's campaign in 2016 as agents investigated whether his associates conspired with Russia's election interference operation, people familiar with a draft of the inspector general's report said. The determination by the inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, is expected to be a key finding in his highly anticipated report due out on Dec. 9 examining aspects of the Russia investigation. The finding also contradicts some of the most inflammatory accusations hurled by Mr. Trump and his supporters, who alleged not only that F.B.I. officials spied on the Trump campaign but also at one point that former President Barack Obama had ordered Mr. Trump's phones tapped.... The finding is one of several by Mr. Horowitz that undercuts conservatives' claims that the F.B.I. acted improperly in investigating several Trump associates starting in 2016. He also found that F.B.I. leaders did not take politically motivated actions in pursuing a secret wiretap on a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page -- eavesdropping that Mr. Trump's allies have long decried as politically motivated. But Mr. Horowitz will sharply criticize F.B.I. leaders for their handling of the investigation in some ways, and he unearthed errors and omissions when F.B.I. officials applied for the wiretap, according to people familiar with a draft of the report." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: C'mon, you-all were sure Barack was down in the bowels of Trump Tower just a-tippity-tip-tappin' them wires. Drat! Turns out it was not Barack in the basement with a bug. Another Trump conspiracy theory bites the dust. (Well, okay, Trump probably won't give up on it. Stay tuned for Sean Hannity's report on Michael Horowitz, deep-state mole for George Soros & the international liberal cabal.)

Mark Walker & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "An examination of Federal Emergency Management Agency data and records demonstrates the degree to which the recovery from Hurricanes Maria and Irma on America's Caribbean islands has been stalled compared with some of the most disaster-prone states on the mainland, leaving the islands' critical infrastructure in squalor and limbo.... That disparity underscored how a federal government in Washington has treated citizens on the mainland, with voting representatives in Congress and a say in presidential contests, compared with citizens on the islands. Further complicating the recovery are issues of corruption, often amplified by President Trump and, islanders say, questions of race." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Tim Apple Is Doing Putin's Bidding. Chris Welch of the Verge: "When used within Russia, Apple's Maps and Weather apps now list Crimea as being a Russian territory. The move, reported by BBC News, is the latest example of Apple kowtowing to a government's demands to keep its devices and services in good standing. The company faced significant criticism in October for removing the Taiwanese flag emoji from the iOS keyboard in Hong Kong. This latest change stems from Russia's roundly condemned annexation of Crimea in 2014. It only applies when Crimea is viewed or searched for with Apple Maps inside Russia; elsewhere in the world, Crimea isn't labeled as Russian territory."

The Commentariat -- November 27, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Shocking Report Will Reveal Barack Obama Is Not a Master Spy. Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "The Justice Department's inspector general found no evidence that the F.B.I. attempted to place undercover agents or informants inside Donald J. Trump's campaign in 2016 as agents investigated whether his associates conspired with Russia's election interference operation, people familiar with a draft of the inspector general's report said. The determination by the inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, is expected to be a key finding in his highly anticipated report due out on Dec. 9 examining aspects of the Russia investigation. The finding also contradicts some of the most inflammatory accusations hurled by Mr. Trump and his supporters, who alleged not only that F.B.I. officials spied on the Trump campaign but also at one point that former President Barack Obama had ordered Mr. Trump's phones tapped.... The finding is one of several by Mr. Horowitz that undercuts conservatives' claims that the F.B.I. acted improperly in investigating several Trump associates starting in 2016. He also found that F.B.I. leaders did not take politically motivated actions in pursuing a secret wiretap on a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page -- eavesdropping that Mr. Trump's allies have long decried as politically motivated. But Mr. Horowitz will sharply criticize F.B.I. leaders for their handling of the investigation in some ways, and he unearthed errors and omissions when F.B.I. officials applied for the wiretap, according to people familiar with a draft of the report."

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: C'mon, you-all were sure Barack was down in the bowels of Trump Tower just a-tippity-tip-tappin' them wires. Drat! Turns out it was not Barack in the basement with a bug. Another Trump conspiracy theory bites the dust. (Well, okay, Trump probably won't give up on it. Stay tuned for Sean Hannity's report on Michael Horowitz, deep-state mole for George Soros & the international liberal cabal.)

William Saletan of Slate: "Republicans claim that two private remarks by ... Donald Trump clear him of wrongdoing in the Ukraine scandal. The first remark, supposedly made on Aug. 31 to Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, was that Trump would 'never' require Ukraine to do anything for him in order to get military aid he had suspended. The second remark, made on Sept. 7 or Sept. 9 to Gordon Sondland..., was that Trump wanted 'nothing' from Ukraine [Mrs. McC: The 'no quid pro quo' conversation].... But now it turns out that by the time Trump spoke to Johnson, the president already knew he was under investigation for extorting Zelensky. This discovery, reported on Tuesday night [also linked below] by the New York Times, inverts the meaning of Trump's statements to Johnson and Sondland. Trump wasn't telling the truth. He was launching his cover story."

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "As Rudolph W. Giuliani waged a public campaign this year to unearth damaging information in Ukraine about President Trump's political rivals he privately pursued hundreds of thousands dollars in business from Ukrainian government officials, documents reviewed by The New York Times show. Mr. Giuliani ... has repeatedly said he has no business in Ukraine, and none of the deals was finalized. But the documents indicate that while he was pushing Mr. Trump's agenda with Ukrainian officials eager for support from the United States, Mr. Giuliani also explored financial agreements with members of the same government.... Prosecutors and F.B.I. agents in Manhattan are examining whether Mr. Giuliani was not just working for the president, but also doing the bidding of Ukrainians who wanted [Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch] removed for their own reasons...." ~~~

~~~ Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Rudolph W. Giuliani negotiated earlier this year to represent Ukraine's top prosecutor for at least $200,000 during the same months that Giuliani was working with the prosecutor to dig up dirt on vice president Joe Biden, according to people familiar with the discussions. The people said that Giuliani began negotiations with Ukraine's top prosecutor, Yuri Lutsenko, about a possible agreement in February. In the agreement, Giuliani's company would receive payment to represent Lutsenko as the Ukrainian sought to recover assets he believed had been stolen from the government in Kyiv, those familiar with the discussions said. The talks occurred as Giuliani met with Lutsenko in New York in January and then in Warsaw in February while he was also gathering information from Lutsenko on two topics Giuliani believed could prove useful to Trump: the involvement of Biden, and his son, Hunter, in Ukraine and allegations that Ukraine, not Russia, had interfered in the 2016 election.... A person familiar with the negotiations described a series of contracts that were drafted earlier this year in which Giuliani would have worked for Lutsenko or separately, the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump was right when about one thing he told Bill O'Reilly (story linked below) while trying to distance himself from Rudy: "Rudy has other clients, other than me. He's done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years." Trump's "Rudy who?" chat with O'Reilly seems to have been a "response" to the NYT & WashPo stories linked above, in that reporters most likely called the White House for comment yesterday. The distancing from Rudy also may mean Trump is keeping tabs on the SDNY investigation of the Three Stooges, and that the investigation is not going well Rudy. BTW, if Trump was so concerned about corruption in Ukraine, why would he hire a lawyer who has "done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years"? Wouldn't that lawyer have been working with corrupt Ukrainians over the years?

Adam Serwer of the Atlantic: "Donald Trump is a war-crimes enthusiast.... Although Trump was talked out of authorizing torture by his advisers, the president's ardor for violations of the laws of war has manifested itself in his decisions to intervene in war-crimes cases.... In four separate cases since the beginning of his presidency, and for the first time in the history of modern warfare, an American president has aided service members accused or convicted of war crimes, against the advice of his own military leadership. The clearances eroded the rule of law, as well as institutional safeguards against authoritarianism and the politicization of the military. But they were also a rational extension of Trumpist nationalism, which recognizes no moral, legal, or institutional restraints on the president worth upholding, and which sees violence against outsiders as a redemptive expression of national loyalty."

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Michael Flynn..., Donald Trump's first national security adviser, will not be sentenced on December 18 as previously planned, a federal judge said Wednesday, to await the release of an internal Justice Department report on FBI surveillance. Judge Emmet Sullivan agreed with prosecutors and Flynn's lawyers, who asked for Flynn's long-awaited sentencing hearing to be delayed because they won't be fully prepared for it until the DOJ inspector general's report regarding FBI surveillance as part of its early Russia probe is published. The inspector general's review is due out December 9.

Mark Walker & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "An examination of Federal Emergency Management Agency data and records demonstrates the degree to which the recovery from Hurricanes Maria and Irma on America's Caribbean islands has been stalled compared with some of the most disaster-prone states on the mainland, leaving the islands' critical infrastructure in squalor and limbo.... That disparity underscored how a federal government in Washington has treated citizens on the mainland, with voting representatives in Congress and a say in presidential contests, compared with citizens on the islands. Further complicating the recovery are issues of corruption, often amplified by President Trump and, islanders say, questions of race."

~~~~~~~~~~

Kyle Cheney, et al., of Politico: "The House Judiciary Committee will hold its first hearing next week on the impeachment of ... Donald Trump, as Democrats move quickly to the next stage of a process that is likely to lead to the third-ever presidential impeachment before the end of the year. The hearing, scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 4, will feature a panel of constitutional experts and focus on the definition of an impeachable offense and the 'procedural application of the impeachment process,' according to committee aides." ~~~

~~~ Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday invited President Trump's legal team to participate in its first public impeachment hearing next week, when lawmakers plan to convene a panel of constitutional scholars to inform their debate over whether the president's actions warrant his removal from office.... Mr. Nadler asked the White House to inform him by Sunday if the president or his lawyer wants to participate in the initial hearing, and reminded Mr. Trump that House rules empower him as chairman to curtail that involvement if 'you continue to refuse to make witnesses and documents available' related to the inquiry." Nadler also told Trump his lawyers would have to behave themselves "consistent with the rules of decorum and with the solemn nature of the work before us." A CNN story is here.

** Michael Schmidt, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump had already been briefed on a whistle-blower's complaint about his dealings with Ukraine when he unfroze military aid for the country in September, according to two people familiar with the matter. Lawyers from the White House counsel's office told Mr. Trump in late August about the complaint, explaining that they were trying to determine whether they were legally required to give it to Congress, the people said. The revelation could shed light on Mr. Trump's thinking at two critical points under scrutiny by impeachment investigators: his decision in early September to release $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine and his denial to a key ambassador around the same time that there was a 'quid pro quo' with Kyiv. Mr. Trump used the phrase before it had entered the public lexicon in the Ukraine affair. Mr. Trump faced bipartisan pressure from Congress when he released the aid. But the new timing detail shows that he was also aware at the time that the whistle-blower had accused him of wrongdoing...." A summary of the Times report appears in the Hill.

Jeremy Herb, et al., of CNN: "The White House budget office's first official action to withhold $250 million in Pentagon aid to Ukraine came on the evening of July 25, the same day ... Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone, according to a House Budget Committee summary of the office's documents. That withholding letter, which was among documents provided to the committee, was signed by a career Office of Management and Budget official [Mark Sandy], the summary states. But the next month, OMB political appointee Michael Duffey signed letters taking over the decision to withhold both the Pentagon and State Department aid to Ukraine from the career official. A hold was placed on the Ukraine aid at the beginning of July, and the agencies were notified at a July 18 meeting that it had been frozen at the direction of the President, a week before the Trump-Zelensky call.... Sandy testified before House impeachment investigators in a closed-door deposition, while Duffey defied a subpoena." See related WashPo story by Erica Werner, linked below.

Olivia Beavers of the Hill: "House Democrats on Tuesday released the remaining witness transcripts from their impeachment inquiry into President Trump. The three House committees that led the closed-door depositions released interviews with Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of State in charge of European and Eurasian Affairs, and Mark Sandy, a senior Office of Management and Budget official. The document release comes as the House Intelligence Committee plans to work through the Thanksgiving holiday to compile a report for the House Judiciary Committee to use in determining whether to draft articles of impeachment against Trump over allegations that he pressed Ukraine's president to interfere in the 2020 election by opening two investigations that would benefit Trump politically." ~~~

~~~ Here is the transcript of Sandy's testimony, via the Hill. Here is Reeker's testimony, also via the Hill. ~~~

~~~ ** Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "Two officials at the White House Office of Management and Budget recently resigned while voicing concerns over the holdup on Ukraine aid, a career employee of the agency told impeachment investigators, according to a transcript of his testimony released Tuesday. Mark Sandy, the only OMB official to testify in the impeachment inquiry, did not name the employees in question. He said one worked in the OMB legal division and described that person as having a 'dissenting opinion' about how the security assistance to Ukraine could be held up in light of the Impoundment Control Act, which limits the ability of the executive branch to change spending decisions already made by Congress. The other person, who resigned in September, 'expressed some frustrations about not understanding the reason for the hold,' Sandy said. Sandy, the agency's deputy associate director for national security programs, testified on Nov. 16, becoming the first OMB official to do so after political appointees at the agency defied congressional subpoenas to participate in the House Democrats' impeachment inquiry. His testimony is the first public confirmation that the dispute at the OMB over handling of the Ukraine aid became so intense that it contributed to resignations from the agency."

** Why Are There Big Ole Tire Tracks on Your Jacket, Rudy? Bloomberg (partial) via digby: "Donald Trump denied directing Rudy Giuliani to go to Ukraine to look for dirt on his political rivals, in an interview with former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly. 'No, I didn't direct him, but he is a warrior, he is a warrior,' Trum told O'Reilly in an interview streamed on the internet on Tuesday. Giuliani has said publicly that he conducted an investigation 'concerning 2016 Ukrainian collusion and corruption' on Trump' behalf. Asked by O'Reilly what Giuliani was doing in Ukraine, Trump said 'you have to ask that to Rudy.' 'Rudy has other clients, other than me,' Trump said. 'He's done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Allow me to remind Rudy what Trump said when asked on AF1 why Michael Cohen had paid Stormy Daniels $130K: "You'll have to ask Michael Cohen." Kinda word-for-word, isn't it, Rudy? Just change the name of the crooked lawyer. Jeff Mason of Reuters (April 5, 2018): "Asked if he knew about the payment to Daniels, Trump said 'No.' Asked if he knew where the money came from to pay Daniels, Trump told reporters, 'No, I don't know.'" Oh, P.S. Both of those were lies, as Mueller's team proved. Better hang onto that iPhone with all the evidence, Rudy. ~~~

     ~~~ Anyhow, Trump -- who says he has "one of the greatest memories of all time," seems to have forgot all about that "perfect" phone call with President Zelensky. You know, the call where Trump asks Zelensky to find out about the Crowdstrike server, the call where Trump tells Zelensky he wants him to talk to Giuliani about the server. "Rudy very much knows what's happening and he is a very capable guy. If you could speak to him, that would be great." Trump says again moments later, "I will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call." and again, "I will tell Rudy and Attorney General Barr to call." (Trump told Zelensky he wanted him to look into the Bidens & to talk to Bill Barr about their corrupt acts: "The other thing, there's a lot of talk about Biden's son. that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that, so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it.") But, no, Trump has no idea what Rudy was doing in Ukraine. You have to ask Rudy. ~~~

     ~~~ digby (linked above): "Rudy Giuliani put a lot of people behind bars over the course of many years. There is no way in hell that he will allow himself to go to jail like Cohen and Manafort even for a day."

This is attorney client privilege so I will withstand whatever malicious lies or spin you put on it. -- Rudy Giuliani, to the Washington Post in response to the story that follows ~~~

~~~ Rudy Giuliani, International Man of Misery. Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "While in Spain [in August to press a top aide of Ukraine President Zelensky to investigate the Bidens, Rudy] Giuliani stayed at a historic estate belonging to Venezuelan energy executive Alejandro Betancourt López, who had hired Trump's personal attorney to help him contend with an investigation by the Justice Department into alleged money laundering and bribery, according to people familiar with the situation. A month later, Giuliani was one of several lawyers representing Betancourt in Washington. The lawyers met with the chief of the Justice Department's criminal division and other government attorneys to argue that the wealthy Venezuelan should not face criminal charges as part of a $1.2 billion money-laundering case filed in Florida last year, said the people.... Betancourt is not one of the eight men charged in the case.... But ... he is referred to in the criminal complaint as a uncharged co-conspirator, as previously reported by the Miami Herald. Giuliani's representation of Betancourt -- which has not been previously disclosed -- is a striking example of how Trump's lawyer has continued to offer his services to foreign clients with interests before the U.S. government while working on behalf of the president. And it shows how Giuliani -- who says he was serving as Trump's attorney pro bono -- has used his work for paying clients to help underwrite his efforts to find political ammunition in Ukraine to benefit the president." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times report is here.

Pompeo Has Been Drinking the Red Kool-Aid. John Hudson of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that a debunked conspiracy theory pursued by President Trump accusing Ukraine, not Russia, of interfering in the 2016 presidential election by hacking the network of the Democratic National Committee is a worthy subject of investigation. In a news conference at the State Department, Pompeo was asked if the United States and Ukraine should investigate the conspiracy theory, which several former senior Trump officials have called a 'fictional narrative' with 'no validity.' 'Anytime there is information that indicates that any country has messed with American elections, we not only have a right but a duty to make sure we chase that down,' Pompeo told reporters.... Trump repeated this idea on Fox News last week. 'They gave the server to CrowdStrike..., which is a company owned by a very wealthy Ukrainian, and I still want to see that server.' CrowdStrike is not run by a wealthy Ukrainian. It is a California-based company co-founded by a Russian-born American tech executive." ~~~

~~~ Nicole Gaouette & Kylie Atwood of CNN: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refused to counter a discredited conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election and sidestepped a question about his willingness to testify before the House impeachment inquiry.... Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday morning that he would 'love to have Mike Pompeo, Rick Perry, Mick Mulvaney and many others testify about the phony Impeachment Hoax.' Asked about the tweet during a briefing with reporters at the State Department, Pompeo said 'when the time is right all good things happen.'... n the past Pompeo, who was Trump's first CIA director, has said that he supports the intelligence that Russian interfered in the 2016 election. But in recent months he has also suggested -- based on no evidence -- that Joe Biden could have interfered in the election."

Sergii Leschenko in the Kyiv Post: "To some of U.S. President Donald Trump's entourage, it's 'the conspiracy of the black ledger.' They're convinced that the exposure of Paul Manafort's secret payments in Ukraine was part of a scenario to destroy Trump 2016 presidential campaign by tarring Manafort, who was then Trump's campaign manager.... I want Ukrainian citizens, American politicians, and international journalists to operate with the first-hand information and not be victims of random claims or deliberate misinformation. Here's the true story as I know it:" --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Leschenko is a former member of the Ukraine parliament &, briefly, an advisor to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. A prolific political writer & blogger, Leschenko obtained 22 pages of the 800-page "black ledger" from a source, but it was not until three months later that a former top official in Ukraine's Security Service said the full ledger was dropped on his doorstep. The ledger details corrupt transactions involving former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych & politicians connected to Yanukovych. Leschenko's report is pretty interesting.

Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "The Justice Department asked a federal judge Tuesday to put a temporary pause on her ruling that orders former Trump White House counsel Don McGahn to testify in the House impeachment probe, saying it needs the delay to pursue an appeal. While expected, the move from DOJ means that the primary congressional panel responsible for drafting articles of impeachment against ... Donald Trump likely won't hear anytime soon from McGahn, one of the star witnesses in special counsel Robert Mueller's final report." (Also linked yesterday.)

Guardian @ 9:37 ET: “A lawyer who represents [John] Bolton and his former deputy at the national security council, Charles Kupperman, said the ruling in Don McGahn's case does not apply to his clients.... The officials' attorney argued that, because the House judiciary committee was specifically not seeking information from McGahn on 'sensitive topics of national security or foreign affairs,' the ruling could not provide guidance on whether his clients should testify." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Gee, I guess the Bolton/Kupperman lawyer didn't do a very good job of reading the ruling. As Charlie Savage of the NYT wrote (linked below), Judge Jackson "wrote that the law required not just Mr. McGahn, but 'other current and former senior-level White House officials' who receive a subpoena to appear, and that it made no difference 'whether the aides in question are privy to national security matters, or work solely on domestic issues.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Peter Baker of the New York Times talked to Bolton/Cooperman lawyer Charles Cooper. Cooper asserted that Judge Jackson made only "passing references" to national security matters, and those passing references “'are not authoritative on the validity of testimonial immunity for close White House advisers' whose 'responsibilities are focused exclusively on providing information and advice to the president on national security.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Andrew Desderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The House Oversight and Reform Committee filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to enforce the panel's subpoenas seeking information about the Trump administration's failed efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.... The suit is an indication that Democrats believe their hand has been strengthened by the victory in the McGahn case as they seek documents related to other subpoenas that the Trump administration has defied. The House first voted to enforce the subpoenas in July, formally holding Barr and Ross in contempt of Congress for defying the committee's subpoenas seeking information about the administration's ultimately unsuccessful efforts to add a citizenship question to next year's census. The Justice Department declined to prosecute Barr or Ross for flouting the requests, arguing that the information Democrats were seeking was protected by executive privilege." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story is here.

This Explains a Lot. Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's something I didn't know or forgot: one of Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher's attorneys is Marc Mukasey, the son of former U.S. Attorney General Mike Mukasey. Mukasey ALSO is one of Trump's attorneys in the Deutsche Bank/Capital One suit (lost that one yesterday). Mukasey, of course, has been working on both of these cases at the same time. But wait, there's more: Mukasey ALSO was a long-time law partner of Rudy Giuliani." Looks like we can stop blaming Fox "News" for Trump's interest in helping out war criminal Gallagher. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Addition to the Stupid Trump Remarks Log. Jonathan Chait: "[Monday], President Trump signed the Women&'s Suffrage Centennial Commemorative Coin Act. The effect of this law is self-explanatory -- it creates a coin to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, ratifying women's suffrage. Or, at least, it is self-explanatory to everybody except Donald Trump, who was mystified as to why the 100th anniversary was not recognized earlier. After working his way through the prepared remarks, Trump interjected with his own riff. 'They've been working on this for years and years,' he said, suddenly wondering, 'And I'm curious, why wasn't it done a long time ago, and also -- well, I guess the answer to that is because now I'm president, and we get things done. We get a lot of things done that nobody else got done.'" After Sen. Marsha Blackburn (no genius herself) explained to Trump how the bill commemorates the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment & that it passed Congress without opposition, Trump again asked why it wasn't done sooner. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I shouldn't be laughing. This is just one more indication of Trump's severe cognitive disorder. He doesn't (or no longer) knows that centennial means "100th anniversary," and he could not make the connection between what Blackburn explained -- "100 years" -- and a centennial event. This is also a function of his egomania: part of the reason he couldn't understand it is that he needed to make the point that previous presidents (Obama!) had screwed up by not celebrating this particular centennial years ago.

The Downside of Cloven Hooves. No reasonable person would believe that Devin Nunes' cow actually has a Twitter account, or that the hyperbole, satire and cow-related jokes it posts are serious facts. It is self-evident that cows are domesticated livestock animals and do not have the intelligence, language, or opposable digits needed to operate a Twitter account. Defendant 'Devin Nunes' Mom' likewise posts satirical patronizing, nagging, mothering comments which ostensibly treat Mr. Nunes as a misbehaving child. -- Adam Parkhomenko, in a court filing, asking to quash a subpoena from Devin Nunes

Sorry, Adam, Devin is not a "reasonable person." Not sure about his cow & his mom. But thanks for trying to explain to Devin the importance of oppositional digits to effective Twitter usage. Don't expect him to get it, though. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ~~~

~~~ Hannah Wiley of the Sacramento Bee: "A Democratic strategist is refusing to disclose communications that could reveal the identity of anonymous Twitter users who criticize Rep. Devin Nunes, arguing in a new court filing that the accounts are clearly satirical expressions of political speech. Nunes, R-Tulare, has sued Twitter and anonymous social media users who run accounts known as Devin Nunes' Cow and Devin Nunes' Mom. Nunes' attorney last month issued a subpoena demanding records about them from former Democratic National Committee employee Adam Parkhomenko.... Parkhomenko's attorney argues that the Twitter accounts' language 'does not constitute defamation' and that courts are tasked with protecting anonymous communications in the interest of freedom of speech."

Emma Farge & Stephanie Nebehay of Reuters: "Greenhouse gas emissions surged to a record level last year and world temperatures could rise by more than twice the globally agreed warming limit if nothing is done, a U.N. report showed on Tuesday." --s The New York Times report is here. A WashPo report was linked yesterday.