The Commentariat -- March 4, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Dan Mangan of CNBC: "House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., on Monday blasted Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio for an 'inane AND anti-Semitic' tweet that spelled billionaire hedge-fund operator Tom Steyer's last name with a '$.'"

Predicate to an Impeachment. Manu Raju & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler on Monday announced a sweeping investigation into ... Donald Trump's campaign, businesses, transition and administration, a probe that would lay the groundwork for Democrats if they choose to pursue impeachment proceedings against the President. The Judiciary Committee on Monday sent letters to 81 people and entities -- including the White House, the Justice Department, senior campaign officials, Trump Organization officials and the President's sons -- marking the start of a broad investigation that will tackle questions including possible corruption, obstruction of justice, hush-money payments to women, collusion with Russia and allegations of the President abusing his office and using it for personal gain. They are demanding responses within two weeks." ...

... Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "In the two months since they took control of the House, Democrats have begun investigating members of the president's cabinet, his businesses, his campaign, his inaugural committee and his ties to key foreign powers, including Russia and its attempts to disrupt the 2016 presidential election. But Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, the Judiciary Committee chairman, made clear on Monday that the new majority intends to train its attention on actions at the heart of Mr. Trump's norm-bending presidency -- actions that could conceivably form the basis of a future impeachment proceeding.... In a statement released Monday, Mr. Nadler said that it was imperative to 'begin building the public record' of what he has contended are Mr. Trump's abuses."

Matt Shuham of TPM: "... Donald Trump ordered his chief of staff and top economic adviser to pressure the Justice Department to intervene against AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner in 2017, according to a New Yorker report (also linked below). The Justice Department eventually did intervene, unsuccessfully. In late summer 2017, The New Yorker reported, a few months before the Justice Department formally filed suit to block the deal, Trump ordered Gary Cohn, then his chief economic adviser, to pressure the Justice Department to oppose the acquisition. The magazine, citing an unnamed 'well-informed source,' reported that Trump told White House chief of staff John Kelly and Cohn in an Oval Office meeting: 'I've been telling Cohn to get this lawsuit filed and nothing's happened! I've mentioned it fifty times. And nothing's happened. I want to make sure it's filed. I want that deal blocked!' According to the same source, Cohn, who announced his resignation in March 2018, told Kelly on the way out of the meeting: 'Don't you fucking dare call the Justice Department. We are not going to do business that way.'... The same New Yorker report, which focused on the relationship between Fox News and the President, also revealed that a Fox News reporter uncovered Trump's hush money payment to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign, but that Fox News blocked the publication of the story. An executive reportedly told the reporter: 'Good reporting, kiddo. But Rupert [Murdoch], wants Donald Trump to win. So just let it go.'" ...

... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd." Ronn Blitzer of Law & Crime: "The [New Yorker] article states that reporter Diana Falzone spent much of 2016 working on the story, and 'had obtained proof that Trump had engaged in a sexual relationship in 2006 with a pornographic film actress calling herself Stormy Daniels.' Falzone had also reportedly uncovered information related to the nondisclosure agreement that Daniels later signed, and how her attorney had worked with then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen.... Falzone was reportedly ready to go with this story in October 2016, but it never saw the light of day, despite having confirmation from Daniels' former manager and ex-husband, in addition to emails between Cohen and Daniels' former attorney. After getting the run-around from different editors, Falzone's article was eventually shot down for good by Ken LaCorte, who was the head of FoxNews.com, the New Yorker reported."

Ana Herrero & Rick Gladstone of the New York Times: "Juan Guaidó, the Venezuelan opposition leader who defied a travel ban and left the country more than a week ago, returned Monday in what could turn into a new showdown with President Nicolás Maduro."

Elisabetta Povoledo of the New York Times: "Pope Francis announced on Monday that he would open archives from the pontificate of Pius XII, possibly allowing historians to shed light on the actions of the pope during World War II, in particular his response to the Holocaust. Some critics of Pius XII maintain that he was shamefully silent during the Nazi massacre of Jews during the war, while others claim he saved thousands of lives by tasking the Roman Catholic Church with assisting victims of persecution."

Juliette Garside & Caelainn Barr of the Guardian: "A charity run by Prince Charles received donations from an offshore company that was used to funnel vast amounts of cash from Russia in a scheme that is under investigation by prosecutors, the Guardian can reveal. Money flowing through the network included cash that can be linked to some of the most notorious frauds committed during Vladimir Putin's presidency. In all, it is estimated that $4.6bn (£3.5bn) was sent to Europe and the US from a Russian-operated network of 70 offshore companies with accounts in Lithuania. The details have emerged from 1.3m banking transactions obtained by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and the Lithuanian website 15min.lt. Shared with media partners including the Guardian, the data represents one of the largest ever banking leaks.There is no suggestion that end recipients of funds were aware of the original source of the money, which arrived via a disguised route."

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The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

It's the Democrats' Fault. Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "President Trump said Sunday that the congressional testimony of Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer and fixer, was in part responsible for the collapse in negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear program last week -- continuing to vent about the investigations encircling him and his associates.... 'For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the "walk,"' he tweeted. 'Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!'... And earlier Sunday evening, he tweeted -- as he has done many times before -- about 'Presidential Harassment' from 'crazed' Democrats, calling it at the 'highest level in the history of our Country.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: That's right, Donnie. It had nothing to do with the fact that you never should have given Li'l Kim another moment on the world stage, your complete lack of preparation & your own not-surprising failure to charm Kim into doing something that everyone who watches the nightly news knew Kim wasn't ever going to do. BTW, the reason Mike Pompeo joined you on the dais during your N.K. presser was in hopes of muzzling you. It didn't work. Deirdre Shesgreen of USA Today: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refused to say if he believes that Kim Jong Un did not know about Otto Warmbier's mistreatment while the American college student was imprisoned in North Korea, as President Trump has asserted." Oh, and here's John Bolton on "Fox 'News' Sunday" trying to clean up after you: "It's not taking the word. He said I'm going to take -- when he says, 'I'm going to take him at his word,' it doesn't mean that he accepted as reality, it means that he accepts that's what Kim Jong-un said." Okay then: "I take him at his word" does not mean "I take him at his word."

Quinn Scanlan of ABC News: "Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said that his committee will be issuing document requests on Monday to dozens of individuals. 'Tomorrow, we will be issuing document requests to over 60 different people and individuals from the White House to the Department of Justice, Donald Trump, Jr., Allen Weisselberg, to begin the investigations to present the case to the American people about obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power,' Nadler said on 'This Week' Sunday.... 'Do you think the president obstructed justice?' asked ... George Stephanopoulos. 'Yes, I do,' Nadler said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Kelsey Tamborrino of Politico: "The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday lawmakers have found 'enormous amounts of evidence' into potential collusion between the presidential campaign of Donald Trump and the Russians during the 2016 election. Mark Warner of Virginia made his remarks in response to an assertion that there is 'no factual evidence of collusion' from the Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who is chairman of the Intelligence Committee.... Warner's House Intelligence Committee counterpart, Adam Schiff, said Sunday on CBS' 'Face the Nation' that there's both 'direct evidence' and 'abundant circumstantial evidence' of collusion with Russia." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: “Lawmakers are investigating whether President Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen was involved in any discussions about possible pardons -- which they view as a potentially ripe area of inquiry into whether anyone sought to obstruct justice, people familiar with the matter said. Cohen has said publicly he never asked for -- and would not accept -- a pardon from Trump. But people familiar with the matter said his knowledge on the topic seems to extend beyond that statement. Privately, lawmakers on the House and Senate Intelligence committees pressed Cohen last week on whether he had had any discussions about a possible pardon and, if so, when and with whom those conversations took place, the people said.... Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, declined to comment on the closed-door testimony, though he said on MSNBC on Thursday night that 'new information was developed that could be game-changing,' and that it was about 'lying and obstruction evidence.'"

Roger Stone Cannot STFU.Dan Mangan of CNBC: "Roger Stone on Sunday suggested he has been 'framed' by special counsel Robert Mueller in an Instagram post that appeared to run afoul of a judge's barely week-old gag order barring ... Donald Trump's longtime friend from criticizing the prosecutors in the criminal case against him. Stone deleted the only image in that multi-image post that included 'Who framed Roger Stone' language shortly after CNBC emailed his lawyer to ask about it.... The gag extends to 'posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other form of social media.' If Stone violates the order, Jackson could order him jailed without bail until his trial."

Thanks to Rand Paul, Trumpy-Dumpty's Wall Just Had a Great Fall. Dan Sergent of the Bowling Green Daily News: "The Republican Party cheerleading session that is the Southern Kentucky Lincoln Day Dinner veered slightly off course Saturday with this pronouncement by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Bowling Green: 'I can't vote to give extra-Constitutional powers to the president.' In a speech to the crowd of nearly 200 Republican officeholders and supporters at Western Kentucky University's Augenstein Alumni Center, Paul interjected, in a speech devoted largely to praising the work of ... Donald Trump, his opinion that Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the Mexican border is a dangerous precedent.... Three GOP senators -- Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina -- have already said they will vote to derail the emergency declaration. If Paul joins them and the Senate's 47 Democrats, the president will need to veto the measure in order to get his emergency money." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Intel Briefers Cater to Dumbcluck-in-Chief. Julian Barnes & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "In an effort to accommodate President Trump, who has attacked them publicly as 'naïve' and in need of going 'back to school,' the nation's intelligence agencies have revamped their presentations to focus on subjects their No. 1 customer wants to hear about -- economics and trade. Intelligence officers, steeped in how Mr. Trump views the world, now work to answer his repeated question: Who is winning? What the president wants to know, according to former officials, is what country is making more money or gaining a financial advantage." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: You can see why Michael Cohen threatened to kill the registrars who keep the records of Trump's grades. I doubt he even got "gentlemen's 'C's," because he professors probably thought associating "Trump" & "gentleman" was ridiculous.

Washington Post Editors: "President Trump's hypocrisy seldom comes packaged in such a neat bundle as it did recently when he insisted that European governments 'take back' hundreds of their citizens captured while fighting for the Islamic State. Five days later, he proudly asserted the United States refuses to do the same in the case of an American woman who married three Islamic State fighters and is now in custody in Syria."

Guess What Li'l Kim's Hackers Were Doing While Trump Was Kissing His Ample Ass. Nicole Perlroth of the New York Times: "North Korean hackers who have targeted American and European businesses for 18 months kept up their attacks last week even as President Trump was meeting with North Korea's leader in Hanoi. The attacks, which include efforts to hack into banks, utilities and oil and gas companies, began in 2017, according to researchers at the cybersecurity company McAfee, a time when tensions between North Korea and the United States were flaring. But even though both sides have toned down their fiery threats and begun nuclear disarmament talks, the attacks persist."

Isabel Debre of the AP: "The United States has officially shuttered its consulate in Jerusalem, downgrading the status of its main diplomatic mission to the Palestinians by folding it into the U.S. Embassy to Israel. For decades, the consulate functioned as a de facto embassy to the Palestinians. Now, that outreach will be handled by a Palestinian affairs unit, under the command of the embassy. The symbolic shift hands authority over U.S. diplomatic channels with the West Bank and Gaza to ambassador David Friedman, a longtime supporter and fundraiser for the West Bank settler movement and fierce critic of the Palestinian leadership." Mrs. McC: As far as I can tell, cutting off diplomatic ties to Palestine is part of Jared Kushner's Middle East peace plan. I'm not kidding here.

Phil McCausland & Mariana Atencio of NBC News: "Parents deported to Central America by U.S. immigration officials returned to the southern border Saturday to demand asylum and reunification with the children they were forced to leave behind. The 29 parents, who were sent back to their home countries last year after crossing illegally into the U.S. with their children, traveled over the past month with immigration lawyers, religious leaders and other supporters in the hope of rejoining their kids."

Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "On America's southern border, migrant women and girls are the victims of sexual assaults that most often go unreported, uninvestigated and unprosecuted. Even as women around the world are speaking out against sexual misconduct, migrant women on the border live in the shadows of the #MeToo movement.... Undocumented women making their way into American border towns have been beaten for disobeying smugglers, impregnated by strangers, coerced into prostitution, shackled to beds and trees and -- in at least a handful of cases -- bound with duct tape, rope or handcuffs.... Much of [the violence] happens after women reach the supposed safety of the United States.... At least five of the women who were assaulted -- in one case, bound with duct tape, raped and stabbed -- were attacked ... by on-duty Border Patrol agents and Customs officers." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Sadly, we now have a documented case of a migrant woman who was bound with duct tape (though not necessarily on her face, as Trump has claimed) raped & stabbed -- by a U.S. official.

Lee Fang & Nick Surgey of The Intercept: "On the first day the new Congress was in session in January, Rep. John Sarbanes, a Democrat from Maryland, introduced the For the People Act, known in the House of Representatives as H.R.1. The sweeping bill seeks to revamp lobbyist registration, campaign financing, and voting rights.... By the end of the month, hearings were held on Capitol Hill. One of the witnesses before the House Judiciary Committee hearings was Hans von Spakovsky, a former Federal Election Commission member who is now a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation.... In his prepared testimony, he wrote that H.R.1 is 'clearly unconstitutional,' complaining that its provisions 'come at the expense of federalism.' Just two weeks later, however, as von Spakovsky addressed a private gathering of conservatives, he was considerably more candid about his reason for opposing the bill.... Von Spakovsky explained that expanded voting rights and nonpartisan redistricting could imperil GOP political power." --s ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: It is "secret" but obvious confederate orthodoxy that "voting rights" should be cut back to what they were in 1789, when -- in most states -- only white, propertied men could vote. Our anti-democratic Electoral College, of course, is a vestige of that system.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. "State TV/Servile Propaganda Ops" Edition. Jane Mayer of the New Yorker in a long piece on Fox "News": "As the President has been beset by scandals, congressional hearings, and even talk of impeachment, Fox has been both his shield and his sword. The White House and Fox interact so seamlessly that it can be hard to determine, during a particular news cycle, which one is following the other's lead. All day long, Trump retweets claims made on the network; his press secretary, Sarah Sanders, has largely stopped holding press conferences, but she has made some thirty appearances on such shows as' Fox & Friends' and 'Hannity.' Trump, [Prof. Nicole] Hemmer says, has 'almost become a programmer.... Nothing has formalized the partnership between Fox and Trump more than the appointment, in July, 2018, of Bill Shine, the former co-president of Fox News, as director of communications and deputy chief of staff at the White House.... [Confederate Bill] Kristol contends that Shine's White House appointment is a scandal....' It's astounding that Shine -- the guy who covered up [Roger] Ailes's horrible behavior -- is the deputy chief of staff!'"

Caleb Ecarma of Mediaite: "Conservative Political Action Conference organizers threatened to ban every Mediaite reporter after a private complaint from ex-White House official Seb Gorka, who was caught on video shoving this reporter at the right-wing gathering last year." ...

... Aidan McLaughlin of Mediaite: "Seb Gorka, pundit turned White House staffer turned pundit, is no longer a Fox News contributor, the network confirmed to Mediaite. Gorka, a self-proclaimed national security expert, worked as a contributor for Fox News before he joined the Trump administration (to apparently wreak havoc on the National Security Council). He returned to Fox News in November 2017 shortly after he was reportedly forced out of the administration by former chief of staff John Kelly. When reached for comment, Gorka replied to Mediaite with a furious torrent of emails, the first of which accused this reporter of being in a 'drug-induced haze.' 'You really are obsessed with me aren't you. I'd be flattered if you weren't a washed-out hack,' Gorka wrote in a second email." Mrs. McC: I'd describe this as a Gorka meltdown, but it's Gorka's standard MO. All the best people, you know.

"The Neo-Nazi Plot Against America." Vegas Tenold of the Guardian: "Increased violence from far-right activists at a time when the administration is friendlier toward their goals is not without historical precedent, said the University of Chicago historian Kathleen Belew, the author of Bring the War Home: the White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. Belew explained that the far right's affinity for Donald Trump might mean more violence during his time in the White House, not less. 'The last time the movement underwent a major revolutionary turn was under the Reagan administration, during a moment of supposedly friendly state power,' she said.... 'What we've seen in the Trump-era is that a lot of the people on the fringes see opportunities for political engagement where they didn't see it before,' said Berger. 'The question is: what happens when that window closes?'" --s

Presidential Race 2020. Julie Turkewitz of the New York Times: "John Hickenlooper, the two-time Colorado governor ... who has overseen Colorado's remarkable economic expansion, declared his candidacy for president on Monday. Mr. Hickenlooper, 67, a socially progressive, pro-business Democrat who has called himself an 'extreme moderate,' had long said he was considering a run, and made early visits to Iowa and New Hampshire."

Beyond the Beltway

Sarah Mervosh of the New York Times: "A woman in Los Angeles was sentenced to 15 years in prison this past week for what the authorities said was an unprovoked attack on an elderly man last year. The woman, Laquisha Jones, 30, was accused of beating the man with a brick and telling him to 'go back to your country,' the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office said. Ms. Jones was sentenced Thursday after pleading no contest to an elder abuse charge, as part of a plea agreement in December."

** Daniel Trotta of Reuters: "A rapidly growing number of counties in at least four states are declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries, refusing to enforce gun-control laws that they consider to be infringements on the U.S. constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Organizers of the pro-gun sanctuaries admit they took the idea from liberals who have created immigration sanctuaries across the United States where local officials defy the Trump administration's efforts to enforce tougher immigration laws. Now local conservatives are rebelling against majority Democratic rule in the states." --s

News Ledes

New York Times: "Luke Perry, who burst onto the television scene and countless fan-magazine covers in 1990 as one of the core cast members of the Fox drama 'Beverly Hills, 90210,' then went on to a busy career in television and film that included, most recently, the CW series 'Riverdale,' died on Monday in Los Angeles. He was 52. His family announced the death. He had been hospitalized after a stroke last Wednesday."

USA Today: "First responders scoured debris Monday searching for missing people after several tornadoes devastated communities in the Southeast. At least 23 people died in one Alabama county, Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said. Officials expect the numbers to rise as they assess damage and begin recovery. Lee County Coroner Bill Harris told The Associated Press that he had to call in help from the state because there were more bodies than his office could handle."

The Commentariat -- March 3, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Thanks to Rand Paul, Trumpy-Dumpty's Wall Just Had a Great Fall. Dan Sergent of the Bowling Green Daily News: "The Republican Party cheerleading session that is the Southern Kentucky Lincoln Day Dinner veered slightly off course Saturday with this pronouncement by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Bowling Green: 'I can't vote to give extra-Constitutional powers to the president.' In a speech to the crowd of nearly 200 Republican officeholders and supporters at Western Kentucky University's Augenstein Alumni Center, Paul interjected, in a speech devoted largely to praising the work of ... Donald Trump, his opinion that Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the Mexican border is a dangerous precedent.... Three GOP senators -- Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina -- have already said they will vote to derail the emergency declaration. If Paul joins them and the Senate's 47 Democrats, the president will need to veto the measure in order to get his emergency money."

Quinn Scanlan of ABC News: "Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said that his committee will be issuing document requests on Monday to dozens of individuals. 'Tomorrow, we will be issuing document requests to over 60 different people and individuals from the White House to the Department of Justice, Donald Trump, Jr., Allen Weisselberg, to begin the investigations to present the case to the American people about obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power,' Nadler said on 'This Week' Sunday.... 'Do you think the president obstructed justice?' asked ... George Stephanopoulos. 'Yes, I do,' Nadler said." ...

... Kelsey Tamborrino of Politico: "The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday lawmakers have found 'enormous amounts of evidence' into potential collusion between the presidential campaign of Donald Trump and the Russians during the 2016 election. Mark Warner of Virginia made his remarks in response to an assertion that there is 'no factual evidence of collusion' from the Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who is chairman of the Intelligence Committee.... Warner's House Intelligence Committee counterpart, Adam Schiff, said Sunday on CBS' 'Face the Nation' that there's both 'direct evidence' and 'abundant circumstantial evidence' of collusion with Russia."

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Presidential Race 2020. Gregory Krieg of CNN: "Bernie Sanders on Saturday spoke about his father's escape from Europe, where 'virtually his entire family there was wiped out by Hitler and Naz barbarism.' He talked about the 'three-and-a-half room, rent-controlled apartment' his parents and brother shared in Flatbush, not far from here in Brooklyn. He recalled his mother, who died soon after Sanders began college, and her dream -- unrealized -- of moving to 'a home of our own.'But then, in the midst of delivering the most personal remarks of his political career at the first major rally of his 2020 campaign, Sanders veered off the somber script. 'I know where I came from!' he howled, a hint of exuberance in his voice. 'And that is something I will never forget.'... The crowd of around 13,000 supporters, according to a campaign estimates..., roared back." ...

... Bernie & Larry David Find Their Roots:

MEANWHILE. Just so you know, Donald Trump has slipped right into dictator territory with a two-hour-plus speech at CPAC. ...

... Andrew Restuccia of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Saturday delivered a scorched-earth speech to conservative activists, calling the Russia investigation 'bullshit,' adopting a southern accent to mock his former attorney general, and asserting that some members of Congress 'hate our country.'... The president also revisited his infamous 2016 appeal to Russia to hack Hillary Clinton's emails, arguing that he was just joking and criticizing the press for taking his comments seriously. 'So everybody is having a good time, I'm laughing, we're all having fun. Then that fake CNN and others say, "He asked Russia to go get the emails. Horrible,"' Trump continued, adding,'These people are sick, and I'm telling you, they know the game and they play it dirty, dirtier than anybody has ever played the game.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Saturday, Trump claimed he made the hacking "joke" in front of an audience of 25,000 people; in fact, he was speaking to a small group of press, and it wasn't a "joke." Here's a contemporaneous report (July 27, 2016) by Benjy Sarlin of NBC News: "On Wednesday, Trump publicly called on Russian intelligence agents to hack Hillary Clinton's emails and release the results, a direct appeal to a foreign power to commit espionage that came as Trump faced increased scrutiny over his ties to Putin. 'Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,' Trump said at a press conference in Florida.... When NBC News' Katy Tur asked Trump whether he had qualms about encouraging the release of stolen intelligence, he told her to 'be quiet.' 'If Russia or China or any other country has those e-mails, I mean, to be honest with you, I'd love to see them,' he said.... And, in case Trump's pleas to Russia were not obvious enough, he told a reporter he would not warn Putin against influencing the American election. 'I'm not going to tell Putin what to do -- why should I tell Putin what to do?' Trump said.... Russia has been widely blamed by experts for hacking the Democratic National Committee's emails. The release of some of those by WikiLeaks prompted DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign this week just one day before her party's national convention began. FBI Director James Comey has said it's unclear if Clinton's private email server, which Trump referred to in his remarks, has been hacked." ...

... Here's the Washington Post's report on Trump's demagoguery, by Seung Min Kim & Brian Fung. ...

... Brian Fung: "A new executive order from the White House will aim to make federal research funding for colleges and universities contingent on their support for 'free speech,' President Trump said Saturday. The announcement, during Trump's address to the Conservative Political Action Conference, appeared to target complaints by some university critics that institutions of higher education stifle right-wing viewpoints. 'If they want our dollars, and we give it to them by the billions, they've got to allow people like Hayden and many great young people, and old people, to speak,' Trump said, bringing onstage a young conservative, Hayden Williams, who was physically attacked last month while tabling for a conservative organization at the University of California at Berkeley.... Trump told the CPAC crowd, meeting at National Harbor, Md., that he planned to sign the order 'very soon' but did not provide specifics or say whether a draft has already been prepared.... Trump's policy could inadvertently disqualify many religious academic institutions from receiving federal research funding, to the extent that their religious beliefs prohibit certain views or speakers on campus." ...

... March of the Lemmings. Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Acquiescence to Trump is now the defining trait of the Republican Party more than two years into his presidency -- overwhelming and at times erasing principles that conservatives viewed as the foundation of the party for more than a half century. Trump's ownership of the GOP was on vivid display again Saturday, when the president appeared at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland, an annual gathering that has transformed into a raucous celebration of Trump, featuring propaganda-style art and a speaker who declared that the president was 'chosen by God.'... In interviews over the past week, Republicans on Capitol Hill offered an array of reasons for their unflinching loyalty to Trump as the 2020 campaign begins to take shape: a deep-seated fear of his pull with their supporters in primary races; fraying consensus about conservatism as nationalism takes hold of the party; and shared partisan disdain for Trump's perceived enemies in the news media and the Democratic Party.... Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) publicly acknowledged what many Republicans say privately: The GOP is wholeheartedly accepting behavior and policies from Trump that would spark outrage from a Democratic president...."

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Grifter-in-Chief. #realDonaldTrump used his official Twitter account yesterday to boast about one of his Scottish golf courses: "Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world. Also, furthers U.K. relationship!" March 2. As part of the tweet, Trump retweeted a promotion for the course, which the course's architect wrote. ...

5 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) § 2635.702: "An employee shall not use his public office for his own private gain, for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise...."

Trump's latest tweet about his golf course not only used the prestige of the presidency to promote his business - squalid, possibly illegal - but also directly linked the US-UK relationship to his golf courses. Was that some kind of request? Or threat? -- David Frum in a tweet

This is Trump's most explicit commingling of personal interests and public office to date.... This is shameless, corrupt and repugnant presidential profiteering. -- Walter Shaub of CREW, formerly head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.

The Framers adopted the Foreign Emoluments Clause because they were deeply concerned that the nation's leaders might put their financial self-interest above the national interest. -- Brianne Gorod, chief counsel for the Constitutional Accountability Center

Trump claimed that the Aberdeen course improves relations with the United Kingdom. The reality is that it has incited a long-running feud between Trump and the Scottish government because of Trump's opposition to a wind farm planned just off the coast. Trump sued the Scottish government over the wind farm, claiming it would hurt the views from the golf course, and he lost. The wind farm has begun operation. Just days ago, a Scottish court ruled Trump will have to pay the Scottish government back for the legal costs associated with the lawsuit. -- David Fahrenthold & Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post

Christian Vasquez of Politico: "... Donald Trump said Saturday that a 'just released' manuscript of a book written by Michael Cohen would show his longtime personal lawyer had lied to Congress, without offering further evidence for the explosive claim. 'Virtually everything failed lawyer Michael Cohen said in his sworn testimony last week is totally contradicted in his just released manuscript for a book about me. It's a total new love letter to "Trump" and the pols must now use it rather than his lies for sentence reduction!' Trump tweeted. It's not yet clear whether the manuscript exists, if Trump has actually seen it or if he is simply continuing a line of attack started on Friday, when the president demanded Congress obtain the alleged manuscript as proof that Cohen was lying in his testimony." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Of course this is nonsense at every level. Hagiographic books are not written under oath. As to the book's "release," I'm guessing the White House got a copy for vetting & a Trump enforcers read it.

Nicholas Kristof: "Jared Kushner slipped quietly into Saudi Arabia this week for a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman[.]... Of all the harebrained and unscrupulous dealings of the Trump administration in the last two years, one of the most shocking is a Trump plan to sell nuclear reactors to Saudi Arabia that could be used to make nuclear weapons.... This is abominable policy tainted by a gargantuan conflict of interest involving Kushner. Kushner;s family real estate business had been teetering because of a disastrously overpriced acquisition he made of a particular Manhattan property called 666 Fifth Avenue, but last August a company called Brookfield Asset Management rescued the Kushners by taking a 99-year lease of the troubled property -- and paying the whole sum of about $1.1 billion up front. Brookfield also owns Westinghouse Electric, the nuclear services business trying to sell reactors to Saudi Arabia.... It may be conflicts like these, along with even murkier ones, that led American intelligence officials to refuse a top-secret security clearance for Kushner."

Jelani Cobb of the New Yorker: "A defining trait of Donald Trump -- and, thereby, of Trumpism -- has been abiding avarice frustrated by an equal level of incompetence.... Yet the net result of [Michael] Cohen's testimony indicated that, whatever his previous deficiencies, he's done a great deal of learning on the job. He parried and jabbed with the Republicans on the committee, more than once blocking what they'd apparently perceived as a surefire line of attack. At times, they appeared outmatched.... Perhaps Cohen's true calling is the theatre, and his demeanor throughout the day -- slightly slumping shoulders, a hangdog expression -- was evidence of a master thespian at work." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: There are few more impressive feats than spending a full day beating off a string of rabid Congressmembers aligned against you. When Hillary Clinton did it in 2016, she wowed us. But Clinton is smart as a whip. Cohen, not so much. So one thing Cohen proved this week is that not only are our Republican "leaders" morally bankrupt, they're pretty stupid & incompetent, too. BTW, if you think it's easy to stand up to competent questioning by an MOC, look what happened last week to Equifax CEO Mark Begor (whom one would expect to be fairly bright, wily & well-prepped) when freshman Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) got her 5 minutes:

Alex Shephard of the New Republic argues what should be -- but isn't necessarily -- obvious: soaking the rich to pay for programs like Medicare for All & the Green New Deal is good politics. Poll after poll shows that the American public favors more benefits for themselves & higher taxes for the rich. "The answer is to merge a number of the Democratic plans floated by presidential candidates and politicians like Ocasio-Cortez into a larger program aimed at creating a fairer economy, providing universal health care, and decarbonizing the economy -- and to be clear about exactly how they plan to pay for it. The politics of taxes are changing. Now the Democrats need to change their message accordingly."

So this ex-con, a black guy named James Stern, buys this Neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist Movement. Katie Mettler of the Washington Post reports.

News Lede

New York Times: "At least 14 people in Alabama were killed after tornadoes touched down in the Southeast on Sunday, leaving a trail of devastation, an official said. The tornadoes were part of a series of storms that moved east through Alabama, Georgia and Florida. They uprooted trees and blasted through homes, video footage and photographs posted on Twitter showed."

The Commentariat -- March 2, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Just so you know, Trump has slipped right into dictator territory with a two-hour-plus speech at CPAC. ...

... Andrew Restuccia of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Saturday delivered a scorched-earth speech to conservative activists, calling the Russia investigation 'bullshit,' adopting a southern accent to mock his former attorney general, and asserting that some members of Congress 'hate our country.'... The president also revisited his infamous 2016 appeal to Russia to hack Hillary Clinton's emails, arguing that he was just joking and criticizing the press for taking his comments seriously. 'So everybody is having a good time, I'm laughing, we're all having fun. Then that fake CNN and others say, "He asked Russia to go get the emails. Horrible,"' Trump continued, adding,'These people are sick, and I'm telling you, they know the game and they play it dirty, dirtier than anybody has ever played the game.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Saturday, Trump claimed he made the hacking "joke" in front of an audience of 25,000 people; in fact, he was speaking to a small group of press, and it wasn't a "joke." Here's a contemporaneous report (July 27, 2016) by Benjy Sarlin of NBC News: "On Wednesday, Trump publicly called on Russian intelligence agents to hack Hillary Clinton's emails and release the results, a direct appeal to a foreign power to commit espionage that came as Trump faced increased scrutiny over his ties to Putin. 'Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,' Trump said at a press conference.... When NBC News' Katy Tur asked Trump whether he had qualms about encouraging the release of stolen intelligence, he told her to 'be quiet.' 'If Russia or China or any other country has those e-mails, I mean, to be honest with you, I'd love to see them,' he said.... And, in case Trump's pleas to Russia were not obvious enough, he told a reporter he would not warn Putin against influencing the American election. 'I'm not going to tell Putin what to do -- why should I tell Putin what to do?' Trump said.... Russia has been widely blamed by experts for hacking the Democratic National Committee's emails. The release of some of those by WikiLeaks prompted DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign this week just one day before her party's national convention began. FBI Director James Comey has said it's unclear if Clinton's private email server, which Trump referred to in his remarks, has been hacked."

~~~~~~~~~~

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Frank Rich has thoughts on national security hazard & international grifter Jared Kushner, Republicans' response to Michael Cohen's testimony & the GOP's history of rampant & overt racism.

Morgan Chalfont of the Hill: "House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) is demanding that President Trump's White House comply with an ongoing investigation into the security clearance process, accusing the White House of stonewalling congressional requests for documents and transcribed interviews. Cummings also raised concerns Friday about the actions by President Trump and others in the White House in reaction to a New York Times report that Trump ordered then-chief of staff John Kelly to grant his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a top-secret security clearance despite issues raised by the intelligence community and then-White House lawyer Donald McGahn. 'If true, these new reports raise grave questions about what derogatory information career officials obtained about Mr. Kushner to recommend denying him access to our nation's most sensitive secrets, why President Trump concealed his role in overruling that recommendation, why General Kelly and Mr. McGahn both felt compelled to document these actions, and why your office is continuing to withhold key documents and witnesses from this Committee,' Cummings wrote in a letter to White House counsel Pat Cipollone on Friday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... "Rachel Maddow highlights the changes in public statements issued by Jared Kushner attorney Abbe Lowell, which appear to be an effort by Lowell to make sure he isn't thrown under the bus for his client's duplicity on how he got his security clearance." Video. ...

... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: All the pundits are asking why Trump & Ivanka (and apparently Jared, too, to his own attorney) are lying about something Donald has the legal right to do. Their best guesses are something about nepotism or embarrassment (as if anything could embarrass Trump). But I think Trump's reasons are obvious & nefarious. The benign reason for the lies is that passing out security clearances on the flimsy basis of family ties is an egregious breach of national security. But the corrupt reason is that Trump wants Jared be able to weaponize top secrets. Of course Jared might put some secrets to a public purpose if that purpose would enhance the family's status is some way. But what about the private utility of state secrets? For instance, wouldn't it be way easier to get a billion-dollar loan from Prince Mohammed bin Salman if Jared could wave in front of him secret evidence proving bin Salman's role in Jamal Khashoggi's murder? This is a crime family, and Kompromat is a valuable commodity in that line of work.

Heidi Przybyla of NBC News: "The top tax-writing committee in the House is readying a request for years of ... Donald Trump';s personal tax returns that is expected to land at the Internal Revenue Service as early as the next few weeks, according to congressional aides involved in the process. And Democrats are prepared to 'take all necessary steps,' including litigation, in order to obtain them. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., has asked the committee's attorneys to prepare the request, according to two aides involved in the process. Neal has also contacted the chairs of several other House investigative committees..., asking them to provide detailed arguments for why they need the president's tax returns to conduct their probes."

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump sought to attack the credibility Friday of his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen by pointing to a book Cohen has reportedly proposed that depicts Trump far more favorably than did the scathing testimony he delivered to Congress this week. 'Book is exact opposite of his fake testimony, which now is a lie!' Trump said in morning tweets, in which he accused Cohen of committing perjury during a congressional hearing and called on Congress to demand the book manuscript, which Trump claimed was recently finished. 'Your heads will spin when you see the lies, misrepresentations and contradictions against his Thursday testimony,' Trump wrote. 'Like a different person! He is totally discredited!'"

Alexander Burns & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "With [Michael] Cohen's appearance before a House committee, the public airing of ethical transgressions by Mr. Trump reached a new phase, one that may be harder to ignore for friends and foes alike. The spectacle of Mr. Trump's onetime enforcer denouncing him in televised proceedings, detailing a catalog of allegations of cruelty and crimes, signaled the pressure the president's already strained coalition could feel in the coming months as Congress scrutinizes him, and as the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III completes his investigation.... In the electoral arena, Mr. Trump's political survival has long depended on his ability to marry the unbending support of his fiercest followers with the ambivalent backing of more traditional right-of-center voters -- people who view him as a distasteful character but favor his economic policies, or who preferred him over Hillary Clinton in 2016.... It may grow more difficult for Mr. Trump to reforge his 2016 coalition if he faces protracted humiliation of the sort inflicted by Mr. Cohen."

Mrs. McCrabbie: In case you didn't think the Trump Organization was a criminal enterprise (or at least the best facsimile of a crime family Trump could organize), meet the "Big Squid," as the Trump Org's former veep Barbara Res said "everybody" called Matthew Calamari, who started out as Trump's bodyman but eventually became the organizations chief operating officer. Allyson Chiu of the Washington Post obliges. And yeah, according to a Trump biography, the Big Squid once told Trump he would kill for him.

Trump's New Fixer Fixes Former Fixer. Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has fallen under investigation for an apparent threat against Michael Cohen -- which he may have made at ... Donald Trump's request.... Edward-Isaac Dovere, a staff reporter for The Atlantic, tweeted Thursday that he overheard a phone conversation between Gaetz and Trump, whom he said called the Florida Republican from Hanoi to discuss the Cohen testimony and apparent threat. I was happy to do it for you,' Gaetz said, according to Dovere. 'You just keep killing it.' Gaetz later refused to discuss the call, [telling Dovere he didn't discuss his phone calls with Trump]...."(Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: It isn't clear from Gaetz's remark to Trump that Trump asked Gaetz to send the tweet threatening to out Michael Cohen's purported extra-marital sex life. Gaetz could have been freelancing. On the other hand, how would Gaetz, who is from Florida, know Cohen had or was rumored to have had affairs? Trump of course would have been much morely likely to know this. So it seems to me that -- at the very least -- Trump provided the dirt for Gaetz's tweet. Did he direct Gaetz to send the tweet? Nah. He likely said something like, "Michael has had all these affairs. Wouldn't it be something if somebody tweeted them out right before he's scheduled to testify on TV? It would be great if the tweet said Michael's wife would be banging everybody in the building (except Jarad!) while the rat is in the clink." Because, you know, that's the way the capo dei capi gives orders to his capi. ...

... Alex Daugherty of the Tampa Bay Times: "Matt Gaetz ... laughed off a Florida Bar inquiry into his tweets, which claimed, the night before former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen testified in a congressional hearing, that Cohen had extramarital relations, statements that invited claims of witness intimidation. And he also vigorously denied claims that he's been in touch with anyone at the White House regarding Cohen's testimony this week, after a reporter said Gaetz had a phone conversation with ... Donald Trump while the president was in Vietnam.... Recent conversations between Trump and Gaetz could mean that the president is coordinating with allies to discredit Cohen.... Gaetz tried to formally join Wednesday's Oversight Committee hearing to question Cohen even though he is not a committee member, but he said Democrats blocked his request. Members often join committee hearings they are not a part of when they are particularly interested in an issue. The request is usually granted. Florida Sen. Rick Scott said Gaetz's actions in recent days were 'embarrassing.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Either Gaetz is lying or Dovere is. Not only did Dovere overhear Gaetz's end of the phone conversation with Trump, when Dovere asked Gaetz about the call, Gaetz told Dovere he never discussed his conversations with Trump. That sure would indicate Gaetz had had the conversation with Trump which Dovere overheard. Gaetz is a jerk, he's indiscreet, and he's a liar. ...

     ... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly elaborates: according to a question Gaetz asked during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Trump administration's family separation policy, Gaetz seems to think that it's okay for children to be sexually abused in U.S. border custody as long as custodians don't abuse them more often than human traffickers do. Mrs. McC: I guess I overestimated Gaetz in the preceding graf. ...

... Tim Egan of the New York Times: "It's been clear, ever since the last of the never-Trumpers were rooted out of the party, that the G.O.P. would be an extension of the grime and grift of Trump's personal brand. But now the enablers are willing to do what Cohen said he once did for Trump -- take a bullet for him.... Among Cohen's duties as Trump fixer was to threaten people; he did this maybe 500 times, by his recounting. That job has been taken over by Republican elected officials like Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida. He threatened Cohen on the eve of his testimony, mentioning his family in an ominous tweet. Initially, Gaetz compared witness intimidation to the 'marketplace of ideas.' Sure.... In years to come, people will ask, 'What did we do to make sure our democracy is intact?' as Representative Elijah Cummings, the committee chairman, put it. For Trump's new fixers, Cohen gave them an answer: 'I did the same thing you're doing now.'"

Manu Raju of CNN: "Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline, who chairs the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, said that [Sean] Hannity's latest comments suggest he has information about hush money payments made by ... Michael Cohen to keep ... [Donald Trump]'s alleged extramarital affairs quiet in the days before the 2016 election.... 'Sean Hannity volunteered first-hand knowledge about Michael Cohen's actions last night,' Cicilline spokesman Francis Grubar told CNN. 'If he was lying, it wouldn't be the first time. This is the same guy who claimed inside knowledge that Russia didn't hack the DNC until a federal judge ordered him to stop. Regardless, if he feels he has information that's relevant to this investigation, he should share it under oath before Congress.' On his television program Thursday night, Hannity told Trump that Cohen told him 'at least a dozen times' that 'he made the decision on the payments -- and he didn't tell you.'"

Uh-Oh. Christian Vasquez of Politico: "The judge in charge of Roger Stone's criminal trial on Friday demanded to know why the court wasn't made aware of the 'imminent general release' of a book that could include discussion of the longtime Trump adviser's legal proceedings, potentially violating a gag order. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson broadened an initial gag order against Stone on Feb. 21 after Stone's Instagram post featured an image of the judge with what looked like gunsight crosshairs in it. Under Jackson's order, Stone can't make any public comments of any kind about the charges he's facing from Special Counsel Robert Mueller.... Jackson gave Stone's lawyers until Monday to explain why they didn't tell her until this week about the looming publication, which she emphasized 'was known to the defendant.'" The book is probably one titled, The Myth of Russian Collusion: The Inside Story of How Donald Trump REALLY Won, an update of a book Stone wrote in 2017. Mrs. McC: Maybe he can update it again while he's in jail for violating his gag order.

Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "Lawyers for Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, asked a federal judge in Northern Virginia on Friday to show leniency when he sentences Mr. Manafort next week, casting him as a loyal, compassionate, idealistic man who has learned a 'harsh lesson.'... Earlier this week [in the Washington, D.C., case], citing new information from a cooperating witness, prosecutors appeared to correct one element of their allegations that Mr. Manafort had lied to them about his contacts with a Russian business associate whom they have linked to Russian intelligence. Mr. Manafort's lawyers seized upon that apparent admission of an error, telling [Virginia] Judge [T.S.] Ellis that the prosecutors'; revised account of their evidence cast Mr. Manafort in a more favorable light. But just as they filed their pleadings, Judge [Amy] Jackson ruled that she stood by her conclusion that Mr. Manafort had lied about his interactions with the Russian associate..., as well as about two other matters." ...

... Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News: "... Paul Manafort on Friday continued to attack special counsel Robert Mueller, accusing Mueller's office of not only vilifying him, but also of spreading misinformation.' Manafort and his lawyers have used pre-sentencing memos not only to lobby for a lower prison sentence, but also to criticize the special counsel's office -- something they've had limited opportunities to do, given a gag order imposed early on. In a sentencing memo filed Friday in Manafort's case in federal court in Virginia, his lawyers wrote that Mueller had unfairly impugned Manafort's character." ...

... According to Rachel Maddow, the pleading characterized Manafort as an altar boy (literally) & repeatedly suggested he should get off with a light sentence because "no collusion," something that has nothing whatsoever to do with the Virginia charges for which Manafort was convicted.

Be Careful What You Ask for. Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes [R-Trump] called Friday for full transparency from special counsel Robert Mueller if his final report on Russian election interference is made public, demanding that any release include every piece of evidence that Mueller used to compile the report. The California Republican, in an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference..., prefaced his proposal by saying he doesn't believe 'Mueller has any report to put out that would be worthwhile, with anything new.... I want email, I want everybody that they wiretapped, every warrant that they got, every single thing that Mueller used....'"

A Big Freebie for Li'l Kim. Courtney Kube, et al., of NBC News: "The U.S. military is preparing to announce that annual large-scale joint exercises conducted with South Korea every spring will no longer be held, according to two U.S. defense officials. The major U.S.-South Korea exercises are being curtailed as part of the Trump administration's effort to ease tensions with North Korea, the officials said. The exercises -- known as Key Resolve and Foal Eagle -- will be replaced with smaller, mission-specific training, according to the officials.... Word of the planned announcement comes less than 48 hours after a summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un came to an abrupt end with no agreement. Trump said afterward that the annual military drills with South Korea were 'very, very expensive' and the government in Seoul should pay more for them. U.S. officials said the decision is not related to the summit in Hanoi but has been under consideration for some time." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

David Nakamura & Susan Svrluga of the Washington Post: "The parents of Otto Warmbier, the American college student who died after being detained for 17 months in North Korea, on Friday directly blamed leader Kim Jong Un for their son's death a day after President Trump said he believed Kim's account that he was not responsible. 'We have been respectful during this summit process. Now we must speak out,' Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in a statement. 'Kim and his evil regime are responsible for the death of our son Otto. Kim and his evil regime are responsible for unimaginable cruelty and inhumanity. No excuse or lavish praise can change that. Trump said at a news conference in Hanoi that Kim felt 'very badly' about Otto Warmbier's death in 2017, several days after being released in a coma from captivity in North Korea. 'He tells me that he didn't know about it, and I will take him at his word,' Trump said, responding to a question from a Washington Post reporter." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Update. Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump on Friday sought to clean up his widely criticized claim that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not know about the treatment of U.S. college student Otto Warmbier, saying 'I hold North Korea responsible' for Warmbier's 'mistreatment and death.' In a pair of tweets, Trump claimed that his initial comments at a Thursday news conference following his failed nuclear summit with Kim were 'misinterpreted.'... Trump's new comments, however, do not directly address whether he believes Kim bears responsibility for the death of Warmbier, who died in 2017 shortly after being released from a 17-month stint in a Nort Korean prison." ...

     ... Mary March of the Hill: "CNN host Jake Tapper condemned President Trump's remarks Friday seeking to clean up his claims that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was unaware of the treatment of American college student Otto Warmbier. 'There's no misinterpretation here. It's very clear,' Tapper said of Trump's remarks. 'The Warmbiers say that Kim is responsible, along with North Korea, and President Trump says he takes Kim at his word that he wasn't.'" ...

... Jerry Dunleavy of the Washington Examiner: "President Trump's belief that North Korea leader Kim Jong Un was unaware of the torture of American hostage Otto Warmbier has been undermined by previously-unreported court testimony." Dunleavy recites the ruling (a $501MM judgment against North Korea for Otto Warmbier's torture & death) & certain testimony in a federal case indicating Kim would have directed Warmbier's treatment while holding him hostage to further its nuclear policy goals. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The Examiner is a right-wing publication, but I'm going to assume its reporting is accurate here, especially because Dunleavy includes a copy of the transcript of an evidentiary hearing (which I didn't read). So Trump did not only show deep disrespect for the Warmbier family, he also undermined the finding of a federal court, a decision that was widely-reported. I know Nancy LeTourneau picked Matt Gaetz as dirtbag of the week, but really, that's an award Trump always wins.

Julie Brown of the Miami Herald: "A court hearing on whether to unseal sensitive documents involving the alleged sex trafficking of underage girls by Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein -- and the possible involvement of his influential friends -- will play out in a New York City courtroom next week. But ... an attorney for lawyer Alan Dershowitz wrote a letter to the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Tuesday, asking whether the media should be excluded from the proceeding because his oral arguments on behalf of his client could contain sensitive information that has been under seal. The appeals court had not responded to his concern as of Friday, but if the hearing is closed during his lawyer's argument, it would represent the latest in a long history of successful efforts to keep details of Epstein's sex crimes sealed. Dershowitz, a professor emeritus at Harvard, constitutional law expert and criminal defense attorney, represented Epstein, who in 2008 received what many consider an unusually light sentence for sexually abusing dozens of girls at his Palm Beach mansion.... Last week, a federal judge ruled that [Alexander] Acosta, [then the U.S. attorney in Miami and] now ... Donald Trump's secretary of labor, violated the law because he and other prosecutors deliberately kept the deal secret from Epstein's victims...."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. The Washington Post has issued a super-correction of its original January 19 story on an incident between high school students & a Native-American activist.

Kendra Pierre-Louis of the New York Times: "Fish populations are declining as oceans warm, putting a key source of food and income at risk for millions of people around the world, according to new research published Thursday. The study found that the amount of seafood that humans could sustainably harvest from a wide range of species shrank by 4.1 percent from 1930 to 2010, a casualty of human-caused climate change. 'That 4 percent decline sounds small, but it's 1.4 million metric tons of fish from 1930 to 2010,' said Chris Free, the lead author of the study, which appears in the journal Science."