The Commentariat -- May 10, 2019
The Trump Scandals, Ctd.
Katelyn Polantz & Kate Sullivan of CNN: "Judge Amit Mehta plans next week to weigh the major legal issues raised in ... Donald Trump's challenge of a congressional subpoena for his accounting firm's records, according to an order issued Thursday -- putting the case on an even faster track than it previously looked to be. Congress has subpoenaed Trump and his business' accounting records from the firm Mazars USA, and Trump's personal legal team sued to stop the records from being turned over. A hearing is now scheduled for May 14."
Sheryl Stolberg & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that the United States was in a 'constitutional crisis' and warned that House Democrats might move to hold more Trump administration officials in contempt of Congress if they continued their refusals to comply with committee subpoenas.... Ms. Pelosi said Democrats would bring the contempt citation [against AG William Barr] to the floor for a vote of the full House 'when we are ready.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Katherine Tully-McManus of Roll Call goes in search of the Capitol jail: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi resurfaced one of the Capitol’s most enduring mysteries when answering a question about whether Democrats might imprison Trump administration officials who defy Congress: the House jail.... 'We do have a little jail down in the basement of the Capitol, but if we were arresting all of the people in the administration, we would have an overcrowded jail situation. And I'm not for that,' Pelosi said Wednesday at a Washington Post live event.... Capitol Police officers from multiple divisions told CQ Roll Call that no House jail exists, though Capitol Police headquarters on D Street Northeast does have a holding facility.... There once was a cell in the Capitol basement to hold those in contempt, but it is long gone.... A senior House Democratic aide told CQ Roll Call that the sergeant-at-arms could use existing spaces in the Capitol to hold someone, as has been done in the past." Mrs. McC: More like a "gaol," then. (Also linked yesterday.)
Annie Karni of the New York Times: "resident Trump said on Thursday that he would leave it up to Attorney General William P. Barr to decide whether Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, may testify before Congress on the Russia investigation. His comments were a seeming reversal, since Mr. Trump wrote over the weekend on Twitter that Mr. Mueller should not be allowed to appear before Congress. Mr. Barr has told lawmakers that he has no objection to letting Mr. Mueller talk to them. In a surprise, 45-minute news conference in the Roosevelt Room, his first since the release of the special counsel's report, Mr. Trump also said he was' pretty surprised' that his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was subpoenaed to testify in front of the Senate about his contacts with Russians during the 2016 campaign.... 'My son is a good person,' Mr. Trump said. 'My son testified for hours and hours. My son was totally exonerated by Mueller.'... Mr. Trump, who for months has been advised not to personally attack Mr. Mueller, described him on Thursday as 'somebody that is in love with James Comey.'... He also appeared to hedge on claiming that the Mueller report cleared him of obstruction of justice, telling reporters that the findings showed that there was 'no collusion and, essentially, no obstruction.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "The President ... went off on several tangents related to Trump Jr.'s involvement in the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer. Trump worked in references to a favorite Republican target -- the dossier compiled by a former British intelligence officer -- as well as phone calls Don Jr. made to an unknown number while planning the infamous meeting." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: It depends upon what the definition of "a good person" is, I guess. But Mueller definitely did not "totally exonerate" Junior. ...
... Burgess Everett & Marianne Levine of Politico: Sen. "Richard Burr [R-NC] faces intense pressure from Republicans to drop his subpoena of ... Donald Trump's eldest son and quickly wrap up the Senate Intelligence Committee's Russia probe. But despite a day facing attacks from the highest rungs of party leadership, Burr is unmoved, according to colleagues in both parties.... To many Republicans, the news of Trump Jr.'s subpoena presented a painful dilemma: Stand with a respected GOP chairman who has held together his committee for years during a contentious probe, or with a president who takes vengeance on fellow Republicans who cross him and his family."
Trump's 2020 Campaign Already Attempting to Conspire with a Foreign Power. Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer, is encouraging Ukraine to wade further into sensitive political issues in the United States, seeking to push the incoming government in Kiev to press ahead with investigations that he hopes will benefit Mr. Trump. One is the origin of the special counsel's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. The other is the involvement of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., son in a gas company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch. Mr. Giuliani's plans create the remarkable scene of a lawyer for the president of the United States pressing a foreign government to pursue investigations that Mr. Trump's allies hope could help him in his re-election campaign. And it comes after Mr. Trump spent more than half of his term facing questions about whether his 2016 campaign conspired with a foreign power."
Trump Campaign + Foreign Power, Ctd. Jay Weaver, et al., of the Miami Herald: "The FBI has opened a public corruption investigation into Republican donor and South Florida massage-parlor entrepreneur Li 'Cindy' Yang, focusing on whether she illegally funneled money from China into the president's re-election effort or committed other potential campaign-finance violations, the Miami Herald has learned.... The investigation could raise complications for a president who, after the Mueller report was delivered to Congress last month, might have hoped to put an end to controversy over foreign influence potentially benefiting his campaign.... The reports about potential Chinese influence come as Trump is in the midst of intense trade negotiations with China over tariffs on imports."
** Lily Batchelder in a New York Times op-ed: "The latest bombshell Times story on the president's tax history confirms what we already suspected: Donald Trump is a terrible businessman.... The latest story also shows how we do a terrible job of adequately taxing the wealthy.... But perhaps most important, the story reinforces the need for a congressional investigation of the president's tax returns.... As the Times has documented, there is ample evidence that his father's estate -- of which he was the executor -- engaged in tax evasion and outright fraud, failing to pay about $500 million in estate taxes.... Other reports have documented numerous instances where Mr. Trump has taken sketchy or unlawful tax positions.... The latest revelations about the president's eye-popping tax losses provide fresh grounds for concern that he has violated tax laws.... There is ample reason to fear that conflicts of interest have infected his approach to tax policy. When campaigning, Mr. Trump promised to close tax loopholes based on his expert knowledge of them. But instead, the 2017 tax bill seemed designed to lower taxes on him and his family through special carve-outs.... Subsequent Treasury regulations have also been great news for real estate developers.... All of this raises the question of whether the president steered the 2017 tax bill and subsequent regulations in directions that personally benefited him and his family. Moreover, because Mr. Trump is the only president for at least 40 years not to liquidate his business assets or put them in a blind trust, concerns about his financial conflicts of interest are uniquely heightened." ...
... Frank Rich: "[T]his latest investigative report by the Times [about his $1 billion business losses] is anything less than conclusive and devastating in its exposure of the lies that have abetted Trump's self-portrait as a business genius. But how one wishes this and other exposés like it had appeared in 2016 or before.... The laxness of the Trump coverage [during the 2016 elections] -- not just by the Times but by most major news organizations -- helps account for the strange persistence of that mythology [of his being a bigly business genius] despite all the evidence to the contrary uncovered by the Times, the Post, and other outstanding organs of investigative journalism over the past few years." --s ...
... Charles Leerhsen, in Yahoo! News: "... from late 1988 to 1990, I was his ghostwriter, working on a book that would be called 'Surviving at the Top.'... There was a stretch of months when ... the banks seemed to accept the version of him depicted in his first book, 'The Art of the Deal,' which we now know from his previous ghostwriter, Tony Schwartz, was entirely invented.... Often they came up with things he could say yes to before he could think of them himself. As a result, a failing real estate developer who had little idea of what he was doing and less interest in doing it once he'd held the all-important press conference wound up owning three New Jersey hotel-casinos, the Plaza Hotel, the Eastern Airlines Shuttle and a 281-foot yacht.... But Trump's portfolio did not jibe with what I saw each day -- which to a surprisingly large extent was him looking at fabric swatches.... The main thing about fabric swatches was that they were within his comfort zone -- whereas, for example, the management of hotels and airlines clearly wasn't.... Trump's King Midas period ended in early 1990, when news broke about his looming bankruptcy." Thanks to Aunt Hattie for the lead.
Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Federal prosecutors handling Roger Stone's case were ordered on Thursday to turn over to a judge any unredacted sections of special counsel Robert Mueller's report relating to the longtime GOP operative that could help prepare his defense for their upcoming trial. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson in a one-paragraph order gave the U.S. attorneys handling the Stone case until Monday to provide her with portions of Mueller's report that deal with Stone 'and/or "the dissemination of hacked materials"' that were leaked during the 2016 presidential campaign to the detriment of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton."
"Moral Turpitude." Keith Alexander & Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "The D.C. Court of Appeals on Thursday disbarred Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, because Manafort has been convicted of obstruction of justice and conspiracy.... The D.C. bar's decision came after the court's disciplinary committee issued a report in March that recommended Manafort be disbarred because of crimes 'involving moral turpitude.'"
Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "National advocacy groups on Thursday delivered to Congress multiple petitions of what they said contained 10 million signatures from people who support the impeachment of ... Donald Trump. They delivered the signatures to Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., who has introduced a bill that would direct the House Judiciary Committee to investigate whether Trump committed impeachable offenses -- an issue that has been heating up among congressional Democrats and presidential contenders. MoveOn spearheaded the effort that included groups such as Need to Impeach, CREDO and the organizers behind the annual Women's March."
Alan Rappeport & Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Thursday that the United States would raise tariffs on $200 billion of worth of Chinese goods on Friday morning and begin the process to tax nearly all of China's imports as he accused Beijing of trying to renegotiate' a trade deal. But Mr. Trump, who made his comments ahead of a pivotal meeting between United States and Chinese officials on Thursday afternoon, suggested an agreement could still be within reach, saying he had received a 'beautiful letter' from Chinese President Xi Jinping and would probably speak to him by phone.... Mr. Trump's toughened stance toward China has rattled American businesses.... The tariffs that would go into effect on Friday include many consumer products that Americans rely on from Beijing, like seafood, luggage and electronics. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... ** The story has been updated. New Lede: "President Trump escalated his trade war with China on Friday morning, raising tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods and taking steps to tax nearly all of China's imports as punishment for what he said was Beijing's attempt to 'renegotiate' a trade deal. Mr. Trump's decision to proceed with the tariff increase came after a pivotal round of trade talks in Washington on Thursday night failed to produce an agreement to forestall the higher levies. The White House said talks would resume again on Friday...." ...
... Matthew Phillips & Amy Tsang of the New York Times: "The resurgence of trade tensions between the United States and China, along with contradictory color commentary from President Trump, whipsawed stock markets again Thursday. The S&P 500 notched its fourth straight daily decline, though the benchmark index pared its worst losses after President Trump suggested a trade deal could still be within reach, adding that he had received a 'beautiful letter' from Chinese President Xi Jinping and may speak to Chinese leader on the phone. The comments helped the S&P 500 regain some ground, to close down 0.3 percent Thursday, after having fallen as much as 1.5 percent earlier in the day." ...
... Paul Krugman looks at the many ways Trump hurts his biggest supporters: rural Americans. His trade "policies" constitute one of them.
Eileen Sullivan & Benjamin Weisner of the New York Times: "The United States has seized a Nort Korean shipping vessel that was violating American law and international sanctions, the Justice Department announced Thursday, a move certain to escalate tensions already on the rise between the two nations because of recent North Korean weapons tests. Prosecutors said the carrier ship, the Wise Honest, was being used to export North Korean coal, a critical sector of the North's economy that the United States and the United Nations have aggressively imposed sanctions on in an effort to force Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons program." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Tara Palmeri of ABC News: "Ahead of the second summit in Hanoi, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un requested as part of the agreement between the countries moving forward that the U.S. send 'famous basketball players' to normalize relations between the two countries, according to two U.S. officials.... The request was made in writing, officials said, as part of the cultural exchange between the two countries, and at one point the North Koreans insisted that it be included in the joint statement on denuclearization. The North Koreans also made a request for the exchange of orchestras between the two countries." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Trump Slurs Kerry with False Charges. Maegan Vazquez of CNN: "... Donald Trump on Thursday accused former Secretary of State John Kerry of violating the Logan Act by taking part in negotiations with Iran's government.... Trump alleged that Kerry 'is talking to Iran and has been. He's had many meetings and phone calls and he's telling him what to do.'... Kerry promptly denied the President's accusation.... Since the act's creation [in 1799], correspondence and interaction between Americans -- lawmakers, former lawmakers, and citizens alike -- has become increasingly common. It's also common for former secretaries of states and diplomats to stay in touch with their counterparts around the world.... Last October, Kerry told reporters that he had not met with Iranians since the US pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 and had seen Iran's foreign minister at a few international security meetings.... A source close to the former secretary of state said Kerry hasn't talked with Iranian officials since President Trump announced the US was pulling out of the Iran deal last year. Prior to the withdrawal, the source said Kerry did communicate with the Iranians to urge them to stay in the deal. The source also denied that Kerry ever discouraged the Iranians from talking to Trump." Vazquez goes on to demonstrate how Michael Flynn potentially did violate the act by undermining Obama administration policies, although he was not charged. ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "'I'd like [Iran] to call me,' Trump said. 'You know, John F. Kerry speaks to them a lot. John F. Kerry tells them not to call. That's a violation of the Logan Act. And frankly, he should be prosecuted on that. But my people don't want to do anything that's -- only the Democrats do that kind of thing.' Trump trailed off when he started to talk about what his 'people' thought of the idea of prosecuting Kerry, making it sound as if he had broached the topic with somebody. That's important, because it suggests he may have floated the idea of prosecuting yet another of his political adversaries.... Just last week, Attorney General William P. Barr struggled with a question from Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) about whether Trump or the White House had requested any specific investigations.... [Trump's remark] 'brings the whole Michael Flynn situation rushing back -- and suggests Trump has pulled a 180 on the application and importance of the Logan Act.... At the time, Trump seemed largely unconcerned [that Flynn was negotiating with Russia during the transition. He] said: 'It certainly would have been okay with me if he did it. I would have directed him to do it if I thought he wasn't doing it.'"
Connor O'Brien, et al., of Politico: "... Donald Trump plans to nominate acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan to be the Pentagon's permanent chief, the White House announced Thursday, ending months of uncertainty following the abrupt resignation of Jim Mattis. The news came two weeks after the Pentagon's inspector general cleared Shanahan of allegations that he had shown preferential treatment toward Boeing, where he was an executive until 2017. But Shanahan's nomination did not come immediately -- or easily -- even after the probe ended. In fact, Shanahan traveled to the White House twice during the past two weeks thinking the president would nominate him, only to return to the Pentagon empty-handed, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. On one of those occasions, Trump instead reamed out Shanahan over the Pentagon's progress in building barriers on the Southern border. In the end, though, Shanahan developed a rapport with the president, who used to simply refer to him as 'the Boeing guy.'"
Lachlan Markay & Jackie Kucinich of The Daily Beast: "President Donald Trump on Wednesday weighed in [via Twitter] on an obscure piece of legislation granting rights to a Native American tribe seeking a casino in Massachusetts...while taking a jab at potential Democratic 2020 rival Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), whom he dubbed 'Pocahontas' and who has supported previous versions of the legislation.... His engagement on the casino legislation ... was a seemingly random aside.... But it may not have been random at all. At least two Trump-connected firms were hired this year to lobby on behalf of Twin River Management Group, which owns a casino in Rhode Island that would directly compete with one planned by the Mashpee Wampanoag.... One of those those firms is run by Trump adviser Matt Schlapp, who has, since January, been lobbying Congress and the White House." --s
Medlar's Sports Report. David Nakamura & Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "It was an iconic baseball celebration: Boston Red Sox catcher Christian Vázquez leaping into the arms of pitcher Chris Sale after the final out of the World Series last fall, teammates in perfect unison. But on Thursday, the star players were far apart. Sale was at the White House, where the 2018 champions were honored by President Trump. Vázquez was home in Boston, one of at least 10 players, all Latino or African American, who elected not to attend.... What had once been feel-good ceremonies at the White House have become pitched moments of cultural reckoning. From famous sports heroes to lesser-known Olympians to the stars of the performing arts, the toxicity of the Trump era has led once apolitical entertainers to pick a side, and, in doing so, render a judgment on the president himself." ...
... Anyhow, Congrats to the Boston Red Socks, World Cup Series Champs. Andrew Joseph of USA Today: "Just hours after the official White House website listed its event between President Trump and the Boston Red Sox as the 'Red Socks,' the sports-challenged communications department made another blunder at Boston's expense. Apparently, the Red Sox had not only won the 2018 World Series but they were also the 2018 'World Cup Series Champions.' At least, that was how the official White House transcript referred to the World Series champs."
They Really Don't Care, Do They? Ctd. Tracy Jan of the Washington Post: "The Department of Housing and Urban Development acknowledged that a Trump administration plan to purge undocumented immigrants from public housing could displace more than 55,000 children, all of whom are legal U.S. residents or citizens. The proposed rule, published Friday in the Federal Register, would tighten regulations against undocumented immigrants accessing federally subsidized housing to 'make certain our scarce public resources help those who are legally entitled to it,' HUD Secretary Ben Carson said last month. But the agency's analysis of the rule's regulatory impact concluded that half of current residents living in households potentially facing eviction and homelessness are children who are legally qualified for aid." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: If Carson would just admit he doesn't give a rat's ass about other people's children, I'd respect him more (but certainly not much) than I do when he spouts deceptive pap about "our scarce public resources" (why are they scarce, Ben?) & a Big Lie about "who are legally entitled to it." One thing Ben Carson has taught me: you don't have to be all that bright to be a world-famous brain surgeon. He's so Christian, isn't he? If that painting of Ben & Jesus is truly miraculous, it would be in the attic now, with Jesus hurling thunderbolts at a very-Dorian-Gray Carson.
Amanda Gomez of ThinkProgress: "The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill that would block the Trump administration from granting states the leeway to skirt Obamacare rules -- a measure designed to ensure that patients with pre-existing conditions continue to receive affordable robust coverage -- in a 236 to 183 vote.... 183 Republicans voted against it -- including members [Andy Barr (KY), Ted Budd (NC), and Scott Perry(PA)] who vowed in 2018 that they would protect people with pre-existing conditions." --s
** Josh Israel of ThinkProgress: "Despite several campaign promises to change the way Congress legislates and get things done, the U.S. Senate, under the leadership of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), has not had a recorded vote on a bill in more than a month.... A ThinkProgress review of the Senate's roll call votes reveals that, since an April 1 cloture vote on an appropriations bill, the chamber has devoted virtually all of its roll call votes to confirmation of Trump appointees.... On April 2 and 3, McConnell rammed through a rule change -- ... a procedural maneuver he previously decried ... -- to reduce the time allowed for debate before confirmation votes. Since then, the body has confirmed 11 lifetime judgeships and 11 executive branch nominees.... Senate Democrats have noticed that the place McConnell once called 'the greatest deliberative body in the world' has stopped deliberating about appropriations, immigration, health care, gun violence, infrastructure, entitlements, and everything else." --s
Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd.
Crooks Like Trump. Ben Scheckinger in Politico Magazine: Last month, [John] Lambert, co-founder of Students for Trump, was arrested "on charges of wire fraud. According to the federal government, at the same time he was building a nationwide political network and serving as one of the most visible young faces of Trump's populist movement, Lambert was also posing online as a high-powered New York lawyer, eventually making off with tens of thousands of dollars in fees he stole from unwitting clients seeking legal services. Lambert's rise to prominence and recent indictment offer a cautionary tale of an ambitious young man caught up in Trump's allure -- a get-rich-quick fantasy of the American dream -- who allegedly managed to create his own reality on the internet, only to have the real world come barging in. It also shines a spotlight on the chaos and confusion of Trump's ramshackle 2016 campaign, and the cast of characters who sought fame and fortune by riding in his slipstream. Trump ran as a 'law and order' candidate. But time and again, the mogul has drawn outlaws and alleged outlaws into his fold.... Despite Lambert's personal problems, and the campaign's disavowal, the group he launched continues to enjoy the president's seal of approval."
Ben Popken of NBC News:"A co-founder of Facebook called for the government to break up the tech giant in an op-ed article Thursday in The New York Times. 'The Facebook that exists today is not the Facebook that we founded in 2004,' Chris Hughes, who started Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg in their Harvard dorm, told NBC News after the op-ed was published. 'And the one that we have today I think is far too big. It's far too powerful. And most importantly, its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is not accountable,' Hughes said of his former business partner.... In response to the op-ed article, Nick Clegg, the company's vice president of global affairs..., [said,] 'Accountability of tech companies can only be achieved through the painstaking introduction of new rules for the internet. That is exactly what Mark Zuckerberg has called for. Indeed, he is meeting Government leaders this week to further that work.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Facebook Creates Extremist Content. Desmond Butler & Barbara Ortutay of the AP: "... a confidential whistleblower's complaint to the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained by The Associated Press alleges [that Facebook] ... is inadvertently making use of propaganda by militant groups to auto-generate videos and pages thatcould be used for networking by extremists.... The AP found that as of this month, much [supposedly] banned content ... -- an execution video, images of severed heads, propaganda honoring martyred militants — slipped through the algorithmic web and remained easy to find on Facebook.... Facebook also faces a challenge with U.S. hate groups. In March, the company announced that it was expanding its prohibited content to also include white nationalist and white separatist content -- previously it only took action with white supremacist content. It says that it has banned more than 200 white supremacist groups. But it's still easy to find symbols of supremacy and racial hatred."
TurboTax Stiffs Taxpayers It Cheated. Justin Elliott & Meg Marco of ProPublica: "The makers of TurboTax have long been luring customers into paying for a service that they promised the government they'd give away for free. Now they're lying to customers to avoid giving refunds. We've heard from 16 people who say they were denied refunds and told that the truly free version -- Free File -- is a government product that's not run by TurboTax. Ten others reported being told that ProPublica's stories were inaccurate, or that our coverage is 'fake news' or 'fictitious.' None of that is true.... Several people gave us recordings of their calls.... TurboTax's Free File product is created and run by the company. It is offered as part of a deal between the tax software industry and the government. The deal is specifically designed to keep the IRS from creating its own free online filing system." Includes audio.
Josh Kovensky of TPM: "... beneath the surface, [the NRA] is in turmoil. New York Attorney General Letitia James is conducting a wide-ranging investigation into alleged financial mismanagement at the NRA, while the group is embroiled in a messy lawsuit with its longtime image-maker, Ackerman McQueen ... as part of an apparent internal investigation into whether the firm has been siphoning money out of the gun lobby, allegations that Ackerman denies. Then there's Carry Guard. The program -- which offers combat training and liability insurance for shootings carried out in 'self-defense' -- was founded in 2017 to keep money flowing into the NRA's dwindling coffers after President Trump's surprise election.... Multiple states have banned the program and are investigating whether the NRA violated state law regarding the marketing and sale of insurance.... The [NRA] group adds without the [Carry Guard insurance] coverage, it would be unable 'to continue its existence as a not-for-profit organization and fulfill its advocacy objectives.'" --s
Beyond the Beltway
Alabama. Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "The Alabama Senate on Thursday postponed debate on a proposal to outlaw most abortions in the state, delaying a measure that is intended to serve as a direct challenge to the Supreme Court's holding that a woman has a constitutional right to end a pregnancy. Faced with a procedural dispute and open divisions among Republicans over how far the abortion ban should go, the Senate abruptly adjourned until Tuesday. As the chaos played out on the Senate floor, where lawmakers clashed over whether the state should allow abortions in cases of rape or incest, supporters and critics alike acknowledged that the bill, the most far-reachin effort in the nation this year to curb abortion, was still likely to become law.... On Thursday, in a maneuver that set off a chorus of shouts and screams in the Senate, some Republicans sought to abandon a provision -- backed by other Republicans -- that would have allowed exceptions to the abortion ban in cases of rape or incest.... The House has already passed the measure without those exceptions....