;)
The Commentariat -- April 24, 2019
Afternoon Update:
Say What? John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump suggested Wednesday that he would ask the Supreme Court to intervene if Democrats move to impeach him -- a notion that legal experts said showed a misunderstanding of the Constitution.... The Constitution delegates impeachment proceedings to Congress, not the courts. Trump mentioned the idea briefly in morning tweets in which he lashed out at Democrats who are continuing to investigate him after the release of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's report. 'I DID NOTHING WRONG,' Trump wrote. 'If the partisan Dems ever tried to Impeach, I would first head to the U.S. Supreme Court. Not only are there no "High Crimes and Misdemeanors," there are no Crimes by me at all.'... The notion was ridiculed by several legal experts, including Laurence Tribe, a Harvard law professor, who accused Trump of 'idiocy.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The ignorance of the man continues to astound.
Andrew Kaczynksi & David Shortell of CNN: "William Barr said in a 1998 interview that he was 'disturbed' that Attorney General Janet Reno had not defended independent counsel Ken Starr from 'spin control,' 'hatchet jobs' and 'ad hominem attacks.' Two decades later, Barr is now attorney general himself -- and defending another president who has repeatedly blasted a special counsel's investigatio of his activities. Barr stayed silent as President Donald Trump railed against special counsel Robert Mueller's 'witch hunt.'... Barr's 1998 comments about 'spin control' came several months after he co-authored a public statement with three fellow former attorneys general expressing concern that attacks on Starr from officials in the Clinton administration appeared 'to have the improper purpose of influencing and impeding an ongoing criminal investigation and intimidating possible jurors, witnesses and even investigators.'" --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Barr did more than "stay silent." He excused Trump's hundreds of attacks on investigators, Mueller & the Justice Department, saying that poor Trump was "frustrated & angry" at them. Another IOKIYAR moment. I hope someone in Congress (or the press) asks Barr why it wasn't okay for Clinton to be "frustrated & angry," but it's a good reason for Trump to make unsubstantiated claims about federal officials.
Your Typical Trumpie. Dartagnan of Daily Kos cites a story by Jack Newsham of the firewalled New York Law Journal: "A Tennessee man charged by New York prosecutors with pretending to be a Manhattan lawyer and taking thousands from would-be clients was the co-founder of Students for Trump, a national group that mobilized college campuses in the run-up to the 2016 election and plans to do so again in 2020. John Lambert, 23, was arrested last week and charged by Southern District of New York prosecutors with wire fraud for having invented a lawyer persona named 'Eric Pope' that he used to solicit legal work online. ALM reported last week that the fake firm website he created appeared to have attorney biographies cribbed from senior partners at Cravath, Swaine & Moore." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. Mrs. McC: Too bad Lambert might be on his way to jail. He sounds like the perfect candidate for a job in the Trump White House.
Darren Samuelsohn, et al., of Politico: "Team Trump's bellicose tweets and public statements in the last few days are potentially exposing Trump to fresh charges of witness intimidation, obstruction of justice and impeding a congressional investigation -- not to mention giving lawmakers more fodder for their presidential probes -- according to Democrats and legal experts. Already, a fusillade of verbal assaults aimed at former White House counsel Don McGahn, a star witness in the Mueller report, have sparked questions about obstruction and witness intimidation as Democrats fight the Trump White House to get McGahn's documents and testimony. 'This is risky,' said William Jeffress, a prominent Washington defense attorney who represented President Richard Nixon after he left the White House. 'I find it surprising because he's taking these shots at witnesses who gave information to Mueller, and I think he's got to be careful because there's an explicit federal statute punishing retaliation against witnesses.'... The White House signaled Thursday they'd invoke executive privilege to block the Democrats' subpoena for McGahn, and Chairman Jerry Nadler swung back that the move 'represent[s] one more act of obstruction by an Administration desperate to prevent the public from talking about the President's behavior.'"
Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Nancy Pelosi has rebuffed pressure to initiate an impeachment inquiry by arguing that there are other means of holding President Trump accountable for his corruption and wrongdoing.... 'It is also important to know that the facts regarding holding the President accountable can be gained outside of impeachment hearings.' That's true. But what happens if the White House will not allow Congress to get access to the 'facts' that are necessary to carry out the task of 'holding the President accountable'?... If the White House continues down this path [of obstruction], it will make it still harder for House Democrats to resist an impeachment inquiry. Because if they launch one, their legal case ... will get even stronger than it already is.... If Trump blocks them from doing that, it would seem to force their hand and require an impeachment inquiry." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I wonder: has Pelosi purposely set a trap for Trump? "Ooh, Donald, we really didn't want to impeach you, but your continuing obstruction leaves us no choice."
Mark Stern of Slate: "By all indications, the Supreme Court is poised to let the Trump administration add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.... Hispanics and immigrants will be undercounted, leading to overrepresentation in the House of Representatives and state legislatures of disproportionately white and rural regions. The result will entrench Republican power into the 2030s, depriving Democrats of representation in Congress and state legislatures, as well as electoral votes. States with large immigrant communities will lose billions in federal funding. Ultimately, the citizenship question is not some wonks dispute about proper census protocol. It is a dispute over who counts in America.... In his opinion blocking the citizenship question, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman listed six separate ways that the administration violated the law in its effort to rig the census.... To reverse Furman..., these justices deployed credulity and hypocrisy in equal measure, abandoning their principles to reach the outcome desired by the Trump administration and the Republican Party. It was a very bad day for truth at the Supreme Court." ...
... MEANWHILE, Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "... Donald Trump wrote online Wednesday that 'the American people deserve to know who is in this country,' breaking with the Justice Department in its defense of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' efforts to place a citizenship question on next year's census questionnaire. The Commerce Department, in defending its efforts to ask everyone in the country next year if they are U.S. citizens, has said the question would be inserted at the request of the Justice Department as part of an effort to better protect voting rights. But Trump on Wednesday offered his own rationale for why the question is needed." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: In other words, Trump's rationale is, "Let's tell the 'real' American people about all the scary, terrorist non-citizens living in their neighborhoods."
Campbell Robertson of the New York Times: At about 6 pm this evening, Texas will execute "John William King, 44, sentenced to die for his role in the 1998 murder of James Byrd Jr. in the East Texas town of Jasper.... Mr. King and two other white men attacked Mr. Byrd, a 49-year-old black man who had been offered a late-night ride home in a perverted gesture of neighborliness. The men beat him, spray-painted his face, chained him to the back of a pickup truck and dragged him to his death on an isolated back road. The motive seemed shockingly clear-cut: Mr. King had come out of a stint in prison a committed white supremacist, his body a billboard of racist tattoos, including one depicting a black man hanged in a noose. Less than a year after the killing, Mr. King became the first white man in modern Texas history to be sentenced to death for killing a black person."
Kareen Fahim of the Washington Post: "Saudi Arabia said Tuesday it had executed 37 people convicted of terrorism-related offenses, bringing the number of executions there in the first four months of the year to 105, according to the Saudi interior ministry and Reprieve, a human rights group that tracks the use of the death penalty in the kingdom. It was the largest mass execution in Saudi Arabia since early 2016, when 47 people were put to death, also on terror-related charges. The vast majority of those executed on Tuesday were members of Saudi Arabia's Shiite Muslim minority, according to Shiite activists. Those put to death included at least three people who were minors at the time of their alleged crimes and confessed to prosecutors' charges under torture, according to Reprieve, which said it provided assistance to five of the people executed."
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Robert Costa, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Tuesday said he is opposed to current and former White House aides providing testimony to congressional panels..., intensifying a power struggle between his administration and House Democrats. In an interview with The Washington Post, Trump said that complying with congressional requests was unnecessary after the White House cooperated with ... Robert S. Mueller III's probe of Russian interference and the president's own conduct in office. 'There is no reason to go any further, and especially in Congress where it's very partisan -- obviously very partisan,' Trump said. Trump's comments came as the White House made it clear that it plans to broadly defy requests for information from Capitol Hill, moving the two branches of government closer to a constitutional collision.... White House lawyers plan to tell attorneys for administration witnesses called by the House that they will be asserting executive privilege over their testimony, according to two officials familiar with internal plans.... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Tuesday the findings of the Mueller report, the investigations by congressional committees and the White House response had created a pivotal 'moment in our history.'... Legal experts said that a White House effort to assert executive privilege over possible testimony by McGahn and other former and current aides who spoke to the special counsel will face legal challenges. 'It seems to me executive privilege was waived when [Don] McGahn was permitted to give testimony and to be interviewed by special counsel Mueller,' said former Watergate prosecutor Richard Ben-Veniste." ...
... Matt Stieb of New York: "Elsewhere this week, the Trump administration defied House Democrats requests to hand over the president's tax returns, and directed former White House personnel security director Carl Kline to ignore a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee, resulting in a contempt of Congress charge for Kline. In this context, it appears that Trump's open admission that he intends to stymie Congress wasn't given with controversial intent -- at this point, denying the House its regulatory purview is just White House operating procedure." ...
... Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post: "The White House plans to fight a subpoena issued by the House Judiciary Committee for former White House counsel Donald McGahn to testify, according to people familiar with the matter, setting up another showdown in the aftermath of the special counsel report. The Trump administration also plans to oppose other requests from House committees for the testimony of current and former aides about actions in the White House described in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's report, according to two people familiar with internal thinking.... White House lawyers plan to tell attorneys for administration witnesses called by the House that they will be asserting executive privilege over their testimony, officials said.... McGahn's lawyer, William Burck, began discussions with the Judiciary Committee about his potential testimony after the panel issued a subpoena Monday, according to people familiar with the matter." ...
... Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump and his surrogates began attacking [former White House counsel Don] McGahn shortly after the report by ... Robert S. Mueller III revealed he was the chief witness to the president's attempts to undermine the inquiry. In an interview on Monday..., Rudy Giuliani challenged Mr. McGahn's motives and memory and accused investigators of ignoring inconsistencies in his assertions.... Mr. Giuliani acknowledged that he was amping up attacks on Mr. McGahn in an attempt to undermine the Mueller report as Democrats called for their congressional leaders to use it as a basis for impeachment proceedings." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Aaron Lorenzo of Politico: "Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin left little doubt Tuesday that the administration will reject a congressional request for ... Donald Trump's tax returns by a self-imposed May 6 target for a 'final decision,' setting the stage for a legal battle that will test the limits of congressional oversight. In a 10-page letter to House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.), who formally requested Trump's returns on April 3, Mnuchin questioned Neal's motives and laid out 'some of the legal concerns' the administration has with the request. While Neal has argued that the committee needs to see the returns as part of its oversight of the IRS, Mnuchin wrote that is a 'pretext' for the Democrats'; aim to make Trump's returns public, which Mnuchin called 'constitutionally suspect.'"
Joe Light of Bloomberg News: "At a meeting of House leaders earlier this month, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler suggested fining officials personally if they deny or ignore subpoenas, according to a person who attended the meeting. Nadler’s idea, the person said, was to put teeth in his party's numerous investigative queries, many of which Trump officials are stonewalling or simply ignoring. Nadler even mentioned jailing administration officials as a consequence for contempt of Congress, though he surmised such a plan might be unrealistic, added the person, who requested anonymity to discuss a closed-door session. The person said the idea surprised many in the room but seemed to have been researched as a serious option by Nadler or his staff." Mrs. McC: Go for it, Jerry.
Adam Liptak of the New York Times examines the historical record to conclude that obstruction of justice is an impeachable offense. "The articles of impeachment in both cases [-- Richard Nixon & Bill Clinton --] identified one sort of presidential conduct that the Constitution cannot tolerate: the corrupt use of power to frustrate lawful investigations.... Frank O. Bowman III, a law professor at the University of Missouri..., said that 'the similarities between Trump's case and Nixon's are sufficiently numerous and striking that they make out a strong case for Trump's impeachment. Both Nixon and Trump attempted, sometimes successfully, to induce witnesses to refuse cooperation with prosecutors or to lie.... Their methods were similar. Both on some occasions attempted to directly convince subordinates to lie. Both Nixon and Trump dangled pardons as incentives for witnesses to keep quiet. Both Trump and Nixon repeatedly lied to the public about the investigations,' Mr. Bowman said, noting that the articles of impeachment against Mr. Nixon relied on those public statements.... The accusations against Mr. Nixon and Mr. Clinton were quite different, of course, but both focused on obstruction of justice." ...
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The report by Robert S. Mueller III ... explored about a dozen episodes in which President Trump's actions raised concerns about obstruction of justice. Mr. Mueller stopped short of concluding whether Mr. Trump committed that crime, but the report made clear that others can use the evidence to make that call. Mr. Mueller's investigators made an oblique reference to possible impeachment proceedings and noted that after Mr. Trump leaves office, he will lose the temporary immunity the Justice Department says sitting presidents enjoy.... Mr. Mueller also devoted over a dozen pages to rebutting a sweeping argument offered by Mr. Trump's lawyers -- and Attorney General William P. Barr, who has said he believes Mr. Trump did not violate obstruction laws: that Congress cannot make it a crime for a president to abuse his official powers to impede an investigation. Here is a look at several of the more significant events the report explores[.]" ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Trump's refusals to comply with and attempts to quash subpoenas, IMO, are simply continuing the obstruction & should constitute another article of impeachment. He and those who abet him are depriving the Congress of the ability to fulfill its oversight duties. And I think Trump's maximal resistance to cooperating with a co-equal branch of government, rather than delaying impeachment, should accelerate the process. If House Democrats can't conduct a fuller investigation, they'll have to proceed with what they have. And that's plenty. ...
... Josh Marshall: "Democrats need to find a language for the political debate that makes clear these are not tedious legal processes which will run their course. They are active cover-ups and law breaking, ones that confirm the President's bad acting status and add to his and his top advisors legal vulnerability."
Darren Samuelsohn, et al., of Politico: "Dozens of overlooked nuggets are buried deep inside the special counsel's 448-page report that raise yet more intriguing questions about Russia's meddling in the 2016 election and shed new light on charges Mueller considered and dropped, who dished on the president, who evaded Mueller's attempts to secure an interview, what happened to the FBI's mysterious counterintelligence investigation and why a Russian Olympic weightlifter mistakenly ended up on the public radar." The reporters highlight some of those "nuggets." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Paul Krugman: "The fact is that the occupant of the White House betrayed his country. And the question everyone is asking is, what will Democrats do about it? But notice that the question is only about Democrats. Everyone (correctly) takes it as a given that Republicans will do nothing. Why? Because the modern G.O.P. is perfectly willing to sell out America if that's what it takes to get tax cuts for the wealthy." (Also linked yesterday.)
Let's Ask Jared. Allan Smith of NBC News: White House senior adviser Jared Kushner said Tuesday that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation was worse for the country than Russian electoral interference, which he downplayed as 'a couple of Facebook ads.' Speaking at the Time 100 Summit, Kushner ... was asked repeatedly about Mueller's report." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... As Ken W. noted in yesterday's thread, the New York Times reported in October 2017, "Russian agents intending to sow discord among American citizens disseminated inflammatory posts that reached 126 million users on Facebook, published more than 131,000 messages on Twitter and uploaded over 1,000 videos to Google's YouTube service." Mrs. McC: As I recall, later admissions by social media pushed up those numbers. Lawrence O'Donnell said experts have estimated that 90 percent of the electorate had seen at least some social media messages generated by Russians. Jared's assertion that Mueller was worse than the Russians -- because that's really what he said -- is intolerable. I regret that imperious punk probably will never end up in jail as did his father. ...
... Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "The Justice Department, however, is offering a starkly different assessment [from Kushner's] of the potential dangers of a Russian intelligence operation to U.S. national security -- and argues that it doesn't take a master spy to do serious harm. In a little-noticed court filing on Friday, an expert witness for the government, Robert Anderson Jr., a former assistant director of the FBI's counterintelligence division, outlined how the activities of Russian gun-rights activist Mariia Butina during the election contained all the hallmarks of a sophisticated intelligence operation.... Allowing Russia to 'bypass formal channels of diplomacy, win concessions, and exert influence within the United States' by entertaining backchannel lines of communication could result in' commensurate harm to the United States, including harm to the integrity of the United States' political processes and internal government dealings, as well as to U.S. foreign policy interests and national security,' Anderson wrote." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie. Say, Jared, remember that time you tried to set up a back channel with Russia? You forgot to mention that. In Jared's defense, the Boy Wonder is known as the "Trump Whisperer," so maybe he says this stuff just to appease his father-in-law: ...
... Don't Tell Trumpelthinskin. Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: "In the months before Kirstjen Nielsen was forced to resign, she tried to focus the White House on one of her highest priorities as homeland security secretary: preparing for new and different Russian forms of interference in the 2020 election. President Trump's chief of staff [Mick Mulvaney] told her not to bring it up in front of the president.... Officials said she had become increasingly concerned about Russia's continued activity in the United States during and after the 2018 midterm elections.... But in a meeting this year..., Mulvaney ... made it clear that Mr. Trump still equated any public discussion of malign Russian election activity with questions about the legitimacy of his victory.... Even though the Department of Homeland Security has primary responsibility for civilian cyberdefense, Ms. Nielsen eventually gave up on her effort to organize a White House meeting of cabinet secretaries to coordinate a strategy to protect next year's elections." Mrs. McC: Apparently everyone who has to deal with Trump approaches him with fear & dread. FYI, Donnie, that's not "respect."
** Joe Romm of ThinkProgress: "In October 2016, Pennsylvania social media accounts promoted 'Miners for Trump' rallies around the state with a picture of a gritty coal miner. The rallies coincided with a series of presidential campaign rallies by then-candidate Donald Trump. It turns out the social media promotions were ... the work of the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russia troll farm.... The Russians ran paid advertising for these rallies on Facebook, featuring repeated images of 'Trump digs coal' signs from real Trump rallies.... Trump ended up winning Pennsylvania by a mere 44,000 votes, a margin of under 1%." --s
Trump Calls Oval Office Confab to Complain Twitter Has Removed His Spam Followers. Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Tuesday met privately with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey ... initiated by the president.... The meeting came as Trump continues to attack the tech industry, threatening to regulate Facebook, Google and Twitter out of concern that they censor conservatives online -- an allegation those companies fiercely deny. The president's latest salvo arrived just hours before he met with Dorsey: Trump accused Twitter of playing 'political games' and tampering with his nearly 60 million followers. A significant portion of the meeting focused on Trump's concerns that Twitter quietly, and deliberately, has limited or removed some of his followers.... But Twitter long has explained that follower figures fluctuate as the company takes action to remove fraudulent spam accounts. In the meeting, Dorsey stressed that point...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Now try to imagine President Obama's calling such a meeting. Yeah, I know you can't. ...
... Sophie Weiner of Splinter: "This is truly high level Trump brain: assuming you've lost followers due a plot nefarious liberals (or whatever Dorsey's Castaway-looking fascist sympathizing ass is) rather than the platform attempting to cut down on the extremely high percentage of users who are bots.... The fundamental problem here is that conservatives just can't seem to understand that Twitter policy might not be about them. If they lose their account, or lose some bot followers, it must be because of prejudice on the part of the company against them. This is same company, mind you, who still hasn't seriously tried to limit the number of Nazis using their platform."
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Weiner points out that "Trump's tweets are in the public interest, and thus are allowed, however awful [or threatening]. But the company says that it will soon add labels on tweets like Trump's that violate their rules." Wow! I hope there's video of Trump's brain exploding the first time Trump gets a Twitter bad note. ...
... MEANWHILE, Eliana Johnson of Politico: "... Donald Trump escalated his feud with the media by another degree on Tuesday, ordering officials in his administration to boycott Saturday's annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner.... The move came after Trump spent the morning insulting the news media on Twitter, calling MSNBC's Joe Scarborough a 'Psycho' and musing about New York Times reporters getting 'down on their knees' to apologize to him after his 2020 re-election victory.... The president's Tuesday order reversed previous White House guidance indicating that Trump aides were free to attend this year's event.... Trump is the first president to order administration officials to boycott the dinner. He is also the first president not to attend the dinner himself since Ronald Reagan missed the event in 1981, when he was recovering from an assassination attempt."
Trumpsylvania on the Jordan. Matt Stieb: Israeli PM Benjamin "Netanyahu -- aware that, for Trump, seeing his name on a residential complex is one of the great joys in life -- announced on Tuesday that he intended to pay him back for his support by requesting that a new Jewish settlement in the Golan Heights be named after the American president. 'All Israelis were deeply moved when President Trump made his historic decision to recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights,' Netanyahu said in a video recorded during a Passover visit to the region with his family. 'Therefore, after the Passover holiday, I intend to bring to the government a resolution calling for a new community on the Golan Heights named after President Donald J. Trump.'"
Shane Croucher of Newsweek: "Activists said they were prepared to cause 'maximum disruption' to ... Donald Trump's U.K. state visit, which will take place in June. Buckingham Palace announced on Tuesday it has invited Trump for a formal state visit with all its accompanying royal pomp in a move set to provoke backlash from the president's U.K. critics. Nick Dearden, who helped organize London's mass protests against Trump’s two-day working visit last year, said plans were already underway for when the president arrives, including a 'big demo.'" Mrs. McC: Yo, Your Majesty, you might want to abdicate between now & then. You've endured 20 minutes with Trump already. That's enough.
Michelle Cottle of the New York Times: "Tuesday saw yet another record broken by the Trump White House: the longest run without an official news media briefing.... Since the first of the year, Ms. Sanders has held two formal briefings. She has also developed a frustrating reputation for not responding to media inquiries in general.... In January, [Trump] even directed Ms. Sanders (in a tweet) 'not to bother' with briefings anymore. Is a White House press secretary unwilling to interact with the press earning her taxpayer-funded salary? In Ms. Sanders's case, the growing lack of access is arguably less troubling than the lack of credibility -- a problem highlighted in last Thursday's release of the Mueller report.... [Sanders' lies] surely endear the press secretary to this president. While they don't reflect well upon her, they testify first and foremost to how ill suited Mr. Trump is to his own role."
D. Parvaz of ThinkProgress: "Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-and-law and senior adviser charged with delivering a Middle East peace plan, on Tuesday told the Time100 Summit that his plan would not focus on a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. That approach, 'failed' and that 'new and different ways to reach peace must be tried,' said Kushner.... Kushner -- who without explanation compared Palestinians in Gaza to Houthi rebels in trying to overthrow the government in Yemen -- said the plan now will be revealed in June." --s
Jim Tankersley of the New York Times reviews some of the extreme sexist writings of Stephen Moore, whom Donald Trump has said he would nominate for the Federal Reserve board. Maybe not the most disgusting, but the most on-point, since part of the Fed's mandate is to "promote effectively the goals of maximum employment," is this: "His more recent writings include an early version of what has become a popular argument among some conservative media figures, such as the Fox News host Tucker Carlson, that rising wages for women could have adverse consequences for men, and society. In 2014, Mr. Moore critiqued a Democratic proposal to combat gender discrimination in a column for National Review. 'The crisis in America today isn't about women's wages; it's about men's wages,' he wrote." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
"Trump's Swamp," Ctd.
Juliet Eilperin & Dino Grandoni of the Washington Post: "The Interior Departments Office of Inspector General has opened an investigation into whether six of President Trump's appointees have violated federal ethics rules by engaging with their former employers or clients on department-related business. The new inquiry, which the office confirmed in an April 18 letter to the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, is looking into senior Interior officials, including Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Doug Domenech, White House liaison Lori Mashburn, three top staffers at the Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs, and the department's former energy policy adviser. The Campaign Legal Center detailed the officials' actions in a Feb. 20 letter to the inspector general's office, suggesting a probe is warranted. To avoid conflicts of interest, Trump signed an executive order days after taking office that requires appointees to recuse themselves from specific matters involving their former employers and clients for two years. The complaint, which cites reports in HuffPost and the Guardian as well as extensive public records, outlines how a half-dozen political appointees at Interior continued to discuss policy matters with organizations that had employed them in the past."
E. A. Crunden of ThinkProgress: "The revolving door between the Trump administration and the industries it is meant to regulate is whirring on, with the former heads of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Interior Department (DOI) now actively employed in efforts including fossil fuel lobbying and consulting for a mining corporation. Former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt has registered as a lobbyist in Indiana, disclosing that he will be advocating on behalf of energy and natural resources interests. His new line of work -- which includes lobbying for coal -- comes shortly after former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced his new position as a consultant and board member for a Nevada mining company." --s
Zachary Seigel of The Daily Beast: "Two major U.S. cities are trying to open facilities to save drug users' lives, but the Trump administration is trying to stop them, arguing the facilities are no different than crack houses. Seattle and Philadelphia plan to curb overdose deaths by opening facilities where drug users can ingest illicit substances like heroin under medical supervision.... [O]ver 100 such facilities currently operate in several countries, and public health experts consider them a staple of a robust strategy to prevent overdoses.... President Trump campaigned on ending the overdose crisis, but federal prosecutors appointed by his administration are thwarting cities from pursuing effective strategies.... In 2017, more than 72,000 people died from drug overdoses in the U.S." --s
The Crucifiction of Steve King, as Described by Steve King. Matt Stieb: "At a town hall meeting in Cherokee, Iowa, [on Tuesday, Rep. Steve] King [R-Iowa] described the experience of being on the receiving end of a 421-1 House vote to rebuke him for his statement to the Times [that white supremacy isn't offensive]: 'When I have to step down to the floor of the House of Representatives, and look up at those 400-and-some accusers, you know we just passe through Easter and Christ's passion, and I have better insight into what He went through for us.'"
Presidential Race 2020
Mike Memoli & Allan Smith of NBC News: "Former Vice President Joe Biden will announce his presidential bid on Thursday morning with an online video, two sources close to Biden with direct knowledge of the planning confirmed to NBC News." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Congressional Races 2020. Josh Israel of ThinkProgress: "The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the campaign arm of the Senate Republicans, has launched a series of billboards attacking several Democratic candidates over their supposed support for Medicare for All. Not all of the Democrats who are being targeted actually support Medicare for All, and some have explicitly opposed the idea." --s
Robert Barnes & Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court's ideological divide was on full display Tuesday, and it seemed from their questioning that the court's conservatives were likely to defer to the Trump administration on adding a question concerning citizenship to the 2020 Census form sent to every American household. The court's liberal justices were skeptical of the case offered by Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco, who represented the administration. They peppered him with questions, and the exchanges between Francisco and Justice Sonia Sotomayor at times seemed tense.... 'Enumeration is how many people reside here,' Sotomayor said. 'Not how many are citizens.'... [Commerce Secretary Wilbur] Ross has maintained that the information is important for several reasons, including enforcement of the Voting Rights Act." The confederate judges seemed to buy that argument. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Too bad Trump broke my hypocrisy meter. The idea of the Trump administration's showing concern for voting rights caps only the conservo-Supremes pretense that their side -- who struck down most of the VRA -- now suddenly propose that supporting voting rights is an excellent argument. The likely outcome is just another piece of wingers' efforts to put their thumbs on the scales to suppress voting rights. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... The New York Times story, by Adam Liptak, is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Maxine Bernstein of the Oregonian: "U.S. District Judge Michael J. McShane late Tuesday said he'll grant a preliminary injunction against new federal restrictions that bar taxpayer-funded family planning clinics from referring patients to abortion providers, calling the rule a 'ham-fisted approach to public health policy.' Oregon is one of 20 states and the District of Columbia that challenged the Trump administration's changes to the Title X family planning program in U.S. District Court in Oregon, along with Planned Parenthood affiliates and the American Medical Association.... McShane said the so-called 'gag rule' -- barring physicians from referring patients who don't want to continue their pregnancies to an abortion provider -- prevents doctors from behaving like medical professionals. The judge also found that it would create a class of low-income women who couldn't receive a full range of medical care options, foster a 'geographic vacuum' in reproductive health care clinics and likely cause an increase in abortions due to more unwanted pregnancies. He said the rule, which is set to go into effect May 3, represents an 'arrogant assumption' that government is better suited to direct health care instead of providers." Mrs. McC: McShane is an Obama appointee.
Dave Philipps of the New York Times: "Navy SEAL commandos from Team 7's Alpha Platoon said they had seen their highly decorated platoon chief commit shocking acts in Iraq. And they had spoken up, repeatedly. But their frustration grew as months passed and they saw no sign of official action. Tired of being brushed off, seven members of the platoon called a private meeting with their troop commander in March 2018 at Naval Base Coronado near San Diego. According to a confidential Navy criminal investigation report obtained by The New York Times, they gave him the bloody details and asked for a formal investigation. But ... the troop commander and his senior enlisted aide -- both longtime comrades of the accused platoon leader, Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher -- warned the seven platoon members that speaking out could cost them and others their careers, according to the report." Among the heinous crimes the men accused Gallagher of committing: "Stabbing a defenseless teenage captive to death. Picking off a school-age girl and an old man from a sniper's roost. Indiscriminately spraying neighborhoods with rockets and machine-gun fire." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Emily Holden of the Guardian: "An increasing number of Americans live in places with unhealthy levels of smog or particulate air pollution -- both of which are being made worse by climate change, according to a new report. Air quality in the US has been improving since the 1970s, but that progress may be backsliding and 43% of Americans are now living in places where they are breathing unsafe air, according to the American Lung Association report.... In comparison, more than 5.5 billion people worldwide, 75% of the population, live in places that do not meet the World Health Organization standard for limiting particle pollution[.]" --s
James Barron of the New York Times: "The Boy Scouts have kept files going back decades showing that nearly 8,000 volunteers have been excluded from the organization because they had been accused of sexually abusing children, according to a review by an expert on child sexual abuse. The expert, Janet Warren, a professor at the University of Virginia, revealed the scope of the reported abuse when she testified as an expert witness in a trial involving allegations of child sexual abuse at a children's theater in Minneapolis. Ms. Warren said during her testimony that she had been hired by the Boy Scouts and spent five years reviewing data known as the 'perversion files' that contained information on volunteers whose involvement in the group had been ended 'because of reasonable allegations of child sexual abuse.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: When I was growing up, I think a lot of people -- both Scouts & parents -- assumed Scout leaders would make passes at the boys. Some boys treated successfully evading the scoutmaster as worthy of a merit badge. (In this, the Scouts were different from the priesthood, as people expected priests to be holy men & abuse came as a shock that few handled well; Scout leaders, not so much.) The number of abusers over the years is surely much higher than 8,000 because many were never reported.
Beyond the Beltway
Kansas. Lara Korte of The Kansas City Star [Apr. 16th]: "Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's power to fill vacancies in some top state posts would be stripped and given to party leadership under new legislation introduced in the House. Under the state Constitution, the governor holds the power to appoint a replacement if the office of the attorney general or secretary of state becomes vacant. HCR 5013, however, would allow the legislature to move that power to party delegates.... The appointment power would fall to the delegates of whichever party last held the executive office.... The legislation may be a sign that Republicans are expecting top leaders to depart before their terms end in 2022." --s ...
Edward McKinley of The Kansas City Star: "After his son was accused and subsequently expelled from Washington University in St. Louis last year through the school's Title IX process, a leading Jefferson City lobbyist launched a campaign to change the law for every campus in the state. Richard McIntosh has argued to legislators that Title IX, the federal law barring sexual discrimination in education and mandating that schools set up internal systems to police sexual violence, is tilted unfairly against the accused.... Across the state, university presidents, Title IX administrators, student groups and victim advocacy groups have vehemently opposed the legislation." --s
Way Beyond
Sri Lanka. New York Times: "The Islamic State claimed responsibility on Tuesday for the Easter Sunday bombings at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka, as the government there raised the number of people killed to 321. The group's Amaq news agency called the bombers 'Islamic State fighters.' The government said the bombings might have been in retaliation for the killing of 50 people last month at mosques in New Zealand, and that two Islamist extremist groups might have been involved, not one. The F.B.I. has joined the investigation, officials said, as recriminations continued over the Sri Lanka government's failure to act on warnings that terrorists were planning to attack churches. The country's highest Roman Catholic prelate joined those chastising the government." This is a liveblog. (Also linked yesterday.)
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