;)
The Commentariat -- February 26, 2019
Afternoon Update:
GOP Congressman Threatens Cohen. Aidan McLaughlin of Mediaite: "Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) taunted Michael Cohen Tuesday, accusing ... [him] of having an affair and warning details would be revealed this week.... 'Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends?' Gaetz asked Cohen on Twitter the night before his appearance before the House committee. 'Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she'll remain faithful when you're in prison,' he added. 'She's about to learn a lot...'"
L'il Kim Kicks U.S. Journalists out of Press Center. David Nakamura & John Hudson of the Washington Post: "What happens when the authoritarian ruler of North Korea checks into a hotel teeming with American journalists filing round-the-clock news reports? The free press loses -- or at least it did Tuesday after Kim Jong Un arrived a day ahead of his two-day summit with President Trump.... Not long before Kim arrived [in Hanoi], a notice was distributed to the press corps that the filing center [in the Melia hotel] would be moved to a separate site for the international press corps at the Cultural Friendship Palace.... One member of hotel management called the North Korean moves 'unprecedented' and said he was forced to turn over control of the entire hotel to the North Koreans."
Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Roger Stone associate Andrew Miller will have to testify to a grand jury in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation or will go to jail, a three-judge panel at the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday morning, in an endorsement of Mueller's authority as a prosecutor. The court agreed with a trial-level judge's ruling that Miller should be held in contempt of court and jailed for refusing to testify under a grand jury subpoena from Mueller."
Matthew Choi of Politico: "... Hillary Clinton wants Congress to 'connect the dots' of the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, saying in an interview that lawmakers on Capitol Hill should be more aggressive in digging into alleged ties between ... Donald Trump and the Russian government. The 2016 Democratic nominee -- who once worked as an attorney for the House Judiciary Committee during the Richard Nixon impeachment inquiry -- advocated more Congressional hearings to help the public piece together what's already been made publicly available about the investigation into a more digestible narrative.... Clinton said that during the Watergate investigation, Congressional hearings were instrumental to informing the press and public about the Nixon probe. She said Mueller's investigation is obscured not only be its secrecy, but also by legal jargon ... that may be unknown to many parts of the general public."
Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The U.S. military blocked Internet access to an infamous Russian entity seeking to sow discord among Americans during the 2018 midterms, several U.S. officials said.... The strike on the Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg, a company underwritten by an oligarch close to President Vladimir Putin, was part of the first offensive cyber campaign against Russia designed to thwart attempts to interfere with a U.S. election, the officials said.... The operation marked the first muscle-flexing by U.S. Cyber Command, with intelligence from the National Security Agency, under new authorities it was granted by President Trump and Congress last year to bolster offensive capabilities.... Russia's tactics are evolving, and some analysts were skeptical of the deterrent value on either the Russian troll factory or on Putin, who, according to U.S. intelligence officials, ordered an 'influence' campaign in 2016 to undermine faith in U.S. democracy."
Mrs. McCrabbie: I've had MSNBC on about half the morning while I was doing stuff, and most of the hosts & guests are giving Michael Cohen the Sarah Sanders treatment: "He a convicted liar so you can't believe a word he says." Never a word about the Liar-in-Chief.
Ivanka Has Some Thoughts. Rebecca Falconer of Axios: "When asked [in a Fox 'News" interview] what she would say to people to whom [Alexandra] Ocasio-Cortez's new deal policy appealed, [Ivanka] Trump said: 'I don't think most Americans, in their heart, want to be given something.... People want to work for what they get. So, I think that this idea of a guaranteed minimum is not something most people want.'" Mrs. McC: Luckily, Ivanka has not had to suffer the humiliation of someone "giving her something." No guaranteed minimum wage for her; Ivanka wants to works for the money. Pulled herself up by designer bootstraps, I reckon. More scientific evidence that the lack of a self-awareness gene is hereditary.
BUT Maybe Today's Hypocrites Prize should go to Andy Biggs & David Perdue. Juliegrace Brufke of the Hill: "Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) on Thursday are slated to introduce companion resolutions declaring the national debt a threat to the country's national security. The introduction of the resolutions comes just days ahead of Congress's March 2 debt limit deadline. The resolutions note that the total outstanding public debt surpassed $22 trillion in February with total interest exceeding $192 billion for fiscal year 2019. They call on Congress to return to regular order, adding that a balanced federal budget hasn't been signed since 1997." Mrs. McC: Both Biggs and Perdue voted from Trump's deficit-exploding tax "reform" bill, which of course also balloons the national debt."
Bess Levin of Vanity Fair: "When you're actively working for the president of the United States, you can't just come out and publicly say, 'This guy is a complete and total moron,' however accurate or obvious the statement may be.... In an interview with Marketplace's Kai Ryssdal, [former Fed chair Janet] Yellen was asked, point blank: 'Do you think the president has a grasp of macroeconomic policy?' And instead of dancing around the issue..., she responded, 'No, I do not.' And, apparently, macroeconomics is just one of several things she thinks President Buy and Sell knows nothing about, the others being international trade, business, and the entire purpose of the Federal Reserve." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yellin also expressed concern about "Trump's apparent lack of understanding about the Federal Reserve being an independent organization, and how crucial it is for the economy that Americans have confidence in the central bank." So during Senate hearings today ....
Wow. Sen. Schatz asks Powell if the White House has ever communicated with him about rates. Very long awkward pause. Powell says probably not appropriate for him to comment on conversations with other government officials. -- Kate Davidson of the Wall Street Journal, in a tweet
Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain bowed on Tuesday to overwhelming pressure to reduce the risk of a disorderly departure from the European Union, accepting that Parliament should have the chance to delay Britain's exit if it rejects her withdrawal plans next month. Mrs. May's concession, in the face of an internal rebellion, was the latest in a long line of retreats as she has struggled to cajole her fractious party into supporting a revised version of ... Brexit that lawmakers threw out by a massive margin last month. Mrs. May's hand was forced by rebels in her own Conservative government, who had threatened to vote on Wednesday for an amendment that could force her to request an extension of Brexit talks if she is unable to get her blueprint through Parliament."
*****
Cadet Bonespurs Marches to Hanoi
CBS/AP: "Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday that the United States had asked Moscow's advice in dealing with North Korea ahead of a summit between ... Donald Trump and the North Korean leader.... The Trump administration has not confirmed any outreach to Moscow over the negotiations with the Kim regime. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had not discussed the summit in Hanoi with Donald Trump directly." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: As Rachel Maddow reminds us, during the first Trump-Kim summit, Trump gave Kim a very nice gift Kim: he ordered the U.S. to pull out of the annual U.S.-South Korea military exercises. In return, Trump asked & got no concessions from Kim. And where did the Great Dealmaker get this idea to give away the store*? Why, from Vladimir Putin.
The Trump Scandals, Ctd.
Previews of Coming Attractions. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Michael D. Cohen ... is planning on portraying ... [Donald Trump] in starkly negative terms when he testifies Wednesday before a House committee, and on describing what he says was Mr. Trump's use of racist language, lies about his wealth and possible criminal conduct. Mr. Cohen's plans were laid out in broad strokes by a person familiar with what he intends to say in his testimony. And they indicate that Mr. Cohen will use documents and his personal experiences to support his statements." ...
... Matt Zapotosky & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Cohen is expected to present records of Trump's finances and recall alleged instances 'where Trump used high numbers for his purposes, such as getting on the top 10 wealthiest people on the Forbes list, and low numbers, when it came time to paying real estate taxes,' [a] person [familiar with Cohen's planned testimony] said." The reporters then play "20 Questions," speculating on what lawmakers may ask Cohen.
Rosenstein Throws Ice Water on Mueller Report. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Rod Rosenstein, the outgoing deputy attorney general, said Monday that Americans should be confident that Attorney General William Barr will make an appropriate decision about whether to publicly release special counsel Robert Mueller's expected report on alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.... However..., [Rosenstein], who is expected to step down from his post next month, repeatedly expressed caution Monday about publicly airing allegations against individuals who haven't been charged with crimes. That concern could complicate efforts to publicly disclose a detailed account of Mueller's investigation. 'If we aren't prepared to prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt in court, then we have no business making allegations against American citizens,' Rosenstein told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 'I know there's a tension there.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is a neat Catch-22. (1) Our in-house policy is that we can't bring an indictment against Trump; (2) therefore, we can't prove our case in court; (3) therefore, it would be wrong to tell you about Trump's illegal & corrupt activities. ...
... Noah Weiland & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times profile "Andrew D. Goldstein, 44, a former Time magazine reporter who is now a lead prosecutor for Mr. Mueller in the investigation into whether the president obstructed justice.... Mr. Goldstein, the lone prosecutor in Mr. Mueller's office who came directly from a corruption unit at the Justice Department, has conducted every major interview of the president's advisers.... As evidence [of obstruction] built over two years, Mr. Goldstein functioned as a repository of conversations that Mr. Trump had with lawyers, advisers and top law enforcement officials from early 2017 on. Among Mr. Goldstein's jewels, according to Mr. Trump's lawyers: exhaustive notes taken by Annie Donaldson, Mr. McGahn's former chief of staff, which detailed in real time Mr. Trump's behavior in the West Wing."
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Every time I have a glimmer of hope that Mueller might throw the book at Trump, I read something like Rosenstein's remarks & the Goldstein profile & return to the grim reality that "the system" is designed to let the most corrupt president* in history skate. The Mueller "investigation" is beginning to look like an elaborate, expensive effort to exonerate Trump & his top made men & women. It will be a great boost to Trump's re-election campaign; Trump can claim that even the "13 Angry Democrats" who conducted the "witch hunt" couldn't find the tiniest hint of corruption against him or his family. And any voter who's had to face off against a government agent (and that's most of us -- ever apply for a building permit? get a traffic ticket?) will sympathize. ...
... digby's take matches mine: "... the [Times] article ... begins to sound like a warning that everyone had better pour themselves a big drink because this thing probably isn't going anywhere.... Unless they have Trump on tape saying 'I've got to fire that James Comey or my handler Comrade Putin will be so angry' it won't be surprising if they decide that he's so damned stupid that he didn't indent to obstruct justice because he literally doesn't understand what it is." ...
... BUT. Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Even if special counsel Robert Mueller finishes his work without filing new charges..., Donald Trump and his associates won't be in the clear.... Federal prosecutors in New York are examining Trump's 2016 campaign, inauguration and businesses. Congress has given the Justice Department dozens of hearing transcripts that could contain lies told under oath. State and local prosecutors have reportedly prepped new charges that can’t be erased with a presidential pardon. And a slate of sealed indictments sit in the Washington, D.C., federal courthouse, raising the prospect that some in Trump's circle may have already been indicted and just don't know it.... While Mueller could charge others before closing up shop, it's also possible that he has already placed more indictments like ticking time bombs into the federal court system. Seventeen cases filed there so far this year remain under seal, as well as another 57 from last year."
Asawin Suebsaeng & Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "The president made clear to his outside legal team, which includes Rudy Giuliani and Jay Sekulow, that he didn't want his lawyers going anywhere -- even after the Mueller probe ends. The conversations served as a private admission that federal investigations bedeviling his first term in office will be haunting him for possibly years to come. The president broached the topic of keeping his team together starting late last year ... by discussing other legal woes he might face after the Special Counsel's Office submits its report to the Department of Justice. Trump's focus at the time? The Southern District of New York." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Dominique Jackson of the Raw Story: "According to The Wall Street Journal, The Huse Judiciary Committee believes it has evidence of ... Donald Trump's communication with his former acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker about his former fixer and personal lawyer Michael Cohen. The committee says it has evidence of Trump meddling into the 2018 investigation into Cohen and the Southern District of New York's probes into the Trump Organization. 'Talking to advisers, Mr. Trump appeared concerned that an "out-of-control prosecutor" examining a person involved in large business transactions would easily be able to find a "technical violation,"' the report said." ...
... The WSJ report (firewalled) is here. The first two grafs, via Political Wire, are: "The House Judiciary Committee believes it has evidence that President Trump asked Matthew Whitaker, at the time the acting attorney general, whether Manhattan U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman could regain control of his office's investigation into Mr. Trump's former lawyer and his real-estate business. There is no sign Mr. Whitaker acted on any request from Mr. Trump, which the New York Times reported last week. But the House Judiciary Committee is investigating whether Mr. Whitaker may have perjured himself in his appearance before the panel earlier this month."
John Wagner & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "A lawyer for the Trump Organization has asked the House Judiciary Committee to cease any investigations related to it, claiming that the panel's work has been tainted by its hiring of an outside lawyer whose firm has represented Trump's company. In a letter Monday to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Trump Organization lawyer Alan S. Futerfas objected to the committee's hiring of Berry H. Berke on the grounds that his law firm, Kramer Levin, has represented the Trump Organization on an array of issues. Futerfas raised similar concerns in a letter last week to House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), saying that his panel works closely with Nadler's committee. In a statement, Kramer Levin called the Trump Organization's letter to Nadler 'baseless.'.... Kramer Levin said Berke was working for the Judiciary Committee in his personal capacity and that the firm would not receive any compensation or provide legal support." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
CREW Press Release: "There is compelling evidence that President Trump may have personally committed up to eight criminal campaign finance and related offenses while running for president and during his first year in office, according to a report released today by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). In a new report, A Campaign to Defraud, CREW combs through the facts behind these apparent crimes, based on admissions by two of President Trump's likely co-conspirators and news reports, detailing how criminal law can already be applied to publicly known facts. Most of President Trump's potential violations are related to illegal campaign contributions meant to cover up evidence of Trump's affairs with two women, preventing voters from learning the truth about his behavior ahead of the election, though at least one continued well into his first year in office.... Trump's conduct ... may trigger criminal penalties." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Cheating, Lying Crook (But Not a Murderer!) Throws Himself on Mercy of Court. Darren Samuelsohn & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Lawyers for Paul Manafort ... pleaded on Monday for a federal judge to spare their 69-year-old client from a sentence that would essentially send him to prison for the rest of his life. In a 47-page filing, Manafort's attorneys described a client who has been 'personally, professionally, and financially' broken by special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation and who deserves a sentence 'significantly' below the statutory maximum of 10 years he faces after pleading guilty in Washington to a pair of conspiracy charges." ...
... AND here's a great reason Manafort should get a light sentence, according to his lawyers: "This case is not about murder, drug cartels, organized crime, the Madoff Ponzi scheme or the collapse of Enron." Right. Manafort hasn't murdered anybody (as far as we know), so let him off easy.
Everything Trump Does Is Screwed up. Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed News: "A newly released document regarding former acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker's appointment shows that, at the earliest..., Donald Trump authorized Whitaker to lead the Justice Department a day later than officials previously said was the case. White House and Justice Department officials previously had repeatedly declined to make public a copy of Trump's memorandum designating Whitaker the acting attorney general this past November. A copy of the document, obtained by BuzzFeed News in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, suggests why that was the case: The document raises several questions about the timing of and process involved in Whitaker's appointment.... In addition to the big questions of when [Jeff] Sessions' tenure formally ended and when Whitaker's formally began, the obtained memorandum also leaves unclear when DOJ was formally notified of Whitaker's appointment and wh the Executive Secretariat's notation signifies that DOJ did not receive the appointment memorandum until late at night Nov. 13[, nearly a week after the date the administration claimed Whitaker had become acting AG]." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump had been planning for months to dump Sessions & replace him with a lackey like Whitaker. Yet with months to prepare, somehow Trump & his not-ready-for-primetime crew couldn't even get the paperwork right.
Everything Trump Says Is a Lie. Holmes Lybrand of CNN: "During an address to US governors Monday morning..., Donald Trump ... claimed that his daughter Ivanka had 'created millions of jobs.'... No matter how you spin it, that's not true." Ivanka co-chaired, with Wilbur Ross, a jobs training program that tracked closely to what companies had already planned over a five-year period beginning less than a year ago. They aren't "jobs," per se, & there aren't millions of them.
Casey Michel of ThinkProgress: "In a Monday morning appearance on Fox News, Donald Trump, Jr., insisted that the president's 2016 campaign team has been unfairly targeted by a 'Stalinist' special counsel Robert Mueller -- and that crimes committed before the election shouldn't count as 'actual crimes.'... It was unclear what crimes Trump Jr. might have been alluding to...." Mrs. McC: Because, like the Old Man, Junior just makes up stuff. Now would be a good time for Special Counsel Stalin to indict Junior. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Burgess Everett & Marianne Levine of Politico: "... Donald Trump is on the verge of a bipartisan rejection of his emergency declaration at the border in what would be an embarrassing rebuke by a Congress opposed to his immigration agenda. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on Monday night said he would join Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, along with 47 Senate Democrats to block Trump's attempts to secure billions for his border wall after lawmakers effectively stiffed him. Now just one more GOP senator's support for a resolution to block Trump's bid would send the measure to Trump's desk and force a veto.... Interviews on Monday with more than a dozen GOP senators who have been publicly critical of Trump's unilateral maneuver or warned him not to deploy it were cagey about their intentions...." ...
... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Monday cautioned fellow Republicans against falling into a Democratic 'trap' as lawmakers prepare to vote this week on legislation rejecting his declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border. A measure is expected to pass easily in the Democratic-controlled House on Tuesday, forcing a difficult vote for GOP senators, who will have to weigh whether to support Trump on a move that even some in his party have criticized as circumventing the will of Congress. 'I hope our great Republican Senators don't get led down the path of weak and ineffective Border Security,' Trump said in a tweet Monday. 'Without strong Borders, we don't have a Country - and the voters are on board with us. Be strong and smart, don't fall into the Democrats "trap" of Open Borders and Crime!'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This notion that "without strong borders, we don’t have a country," is ridiculous & racist. "We" had a country until 1882 with no anti-immigration laws whatsoever. In 1882, Congress passed the first racist anti-immigrant act, which targeted Chinese immigrants. ...
... Todd Richmond of the AP: "Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers [D] on Monday ordered the state's National Guard troops to withdraw from the border with Mexico.... The governor said about 112 troops are currently serving in Arizona but keeping the borders safe and protecting immigrants seeking asylum is the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol's job. He said there's not enough evidence to support Republican ... Donald Trump's declaration that a national emergency exists and there's no justification for Wisconsin troops to remain.... Adam Kinzinger, a Republican congressman from Illinois, tweeted on Monday that he is a member of the Wisconsin National Guard and criticized Evers for his decision. In a series of tweets, he said he was sent to the border as a member of the Wisconsin National Guard and his crew caught a man crossing the border with 70 pounds of methamphetamine."
Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump said Monday that a U.S. citizen held captive in Yemen for more than a year has been reunited with his family. The president announced on Twitter that Danny Burch 'has been recovered and reunited with his wife and children.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
A Note from Your Racist President*. Alex Marshall of the New York Times: "On Sunday night, Spike Lee won his first competitive Oscar, then made an acceptance speech that gained a standing ovation. But the events did not please at least one person apparently watching: President Trump. On Monday, he called Lee's speech a 'racist hit on your President.' Lee opened his speech, after winning best adapted screenplay for 'BlacKkKlansman,' by discussing slavery and his family's experiences of it. 'I give praise to our ancestors, who have built this country into what it is today along with the genocide of the native people,' he said. 'The 2020 presidential election is around the corner,' Lee said. 'Let's all mobilize. Let's all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate.' Lee did not mention the president in his speech, but that call to action seems to have angered him. 'Be nice if Spike Lee could read his notes, or better yet not have to use notes at all, when doing his racist hit on your President,' Trump said in a tweet in the early hours of Monday morning.' The president's policies had 'done more for African Americans (Criminal Justice Reform, Lowest Unemployment numbers in History, Tax Cuts, etc.) than almost any other Pres!' the president added." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yes, I too recall when Trump freed the slaves & jammed the Civil Rights Act through Congress. ...
... Michael Tesler in the Washington Post: "The president's recent accusations of black racism are part of a longer and larger pattern. An August 2017 analysis by The Post's Christopher Ingraham found that Trump is three times more likely to accuse African Americans of racism on Twitter than whites[.]... Trump's accusations of black racism may be hypocritical, but they're not surprising. After all, whites who hold unfavorable views about African Americans believe that blacks are likely racist." Mrs. McC: IOW, when Trump calls black people racists, it's because Trump is a racist. But you knew that.
Beth Reinhard & Alice Crites of the Washington Post: "A staffer on Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign says he kissed her without her consent at a small gathering of supporters before a Florida rally, an interaction that she alleges in a new lawsuit still causes her anguish. In interviews with The Washington Post, and in the lawsuit, Alva Johnson said Trump grabbed her hand and leaned in to kiss her on the lips as he exited an RV outside the rally in Tampa on Aug. 24, 2016. Johnson said she turned her head and the unwanted kiss landed on the side of her mouth, which she called 'super-creepy and inappropriate.'... In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders dismissed Johnson's allegation as 'absurd on its face.'" Mrs. McC: One would think there would be photos or videos. ...
... Ronan Farrow of the New Yorker: "The most legally significant aspect of Johnson's suit may ultimately be something the complaint does not explicitly address: the pervasive use of nondisclosure agreements by Trump during his campaign and in his Administration. Johnson's suit is at least the sixth legal case in which Trump campaign or Administration employees have defied their nondisclosure agreements." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Anne Gearan, et al., of the Washington Post: "In a meeting with regional leaders, Vice President Pence on Monday announced minor new U.S. sanctions against loyalists of President Nicolás Maduro and called on other nations to follow the Trump administration's lead in freezing the assets of Venezuela's state oil giant PDVSA -- a move meant to further cut Maduro's international cash flow. Following a weekend that saw the Venezuela military and pro-government militias violently put down an opposition attempt to break Maduro's blockade of humanitarian aid, Pence arrived in Bogota to reiterate that Washington will not back away from diplomatic confrontation. His trip comes as some in the Venezuelan opposition have begun openly calling for the use of 'force' to oust Maduro's socialists from power." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Brian Stelter of CNN: "The Univision network said six of its staffers, including veteran anchorman Jorge Ramos, were briefly detained at the presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on Monday. Ramos and the crew members were released a little less than three hours after the episode began.... The network said Ramos was in Caracas to interview embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Univision spokesman Jose Zamora said Maduro objected to Ramos' questions.... Ramos ...said [in a Univision report that] Maduro 'got up from the interview after I showed him the videos of some young people eating out of a garbage truck. They interrogated us. They put us in a security room. They turned off the lights, he said.... [Zamora] said government aides confiscated the network's equipment.... Pedro Ultreras, a member of the Univision team in Venezuela, tweeted late Monday that immigration officials told the journalists that they will be expelled from Venezuela and must leave Tuesday morning."
** MEANWHILE, at the Kids' Table. Ishan Tharoor of the Washington Post: "As President Trump meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi this week, there will be another eye-catching audience between a top White House official and a bloodstained autocrat. Jared Kushner ... will meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a seven-day, five-country tour of the Middle East. The trip is intended to advance the White House's long-awaited project for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. In an interview with Sky News Arabia while in the United Arab Emirates on Monday, Kushner said that his plan, long clouded in secrecy, was 'very detailed' and would safeguard the 'dignity' of all in the region.... Veteran Mideast watchers say the endeavor will be 'dead on arrival.' The Palestinians have preemptively rejected Kushner's efforts following Trump administration moves they consider anti-Palestinian. Those actions, as Financial Times columnist Edward Luce pointed out, are ones Kushner conspicuously pushed for." Read on for a summary of Prince Jared's "murky" White House career. The family that grifts together stays together. ...
... What About This, Jared? Shane Kavanaugh of the Oregonian: "The State Department has indicated little hope of bringing back a Saudi citizen to the United States after he fled before his manslaughter trial in Portland. The department confirmed an earlier report in The Oregonian/OregonLive that Abdulrahman Sameeer Noorah is in Saudi Arabia.... The letter to U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore ... seemed to suggest any resolution was outside of its purview. 'The United States and Saudi Arabia do not have a bilateral extradition treaty...,' wrote Mary Elizabeth Taylor, the department's assistant secretary of legislative affairs. 'Therefore, the law enforcement options available are limited.' Taylor added: 'At this point, the State Department has no concrete, credible evidence as to how Mr. Noorah effected his escape.' The letter ... seems to undercut the accounts of federal law enforcement officials, who told The Oregonian/OregonLive last year they believe the Saudi government help[ed] Noorah, then-21-year-old college student, escape prosecution in 2017."
Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Labor Secretary R. Alexander Acosta is facing rising pressure -- and a possible summons to testify before Congress -- over the lenient plea bargain that he helped negotiate as Miami's top federal prosecutor with a wealthy acquaintance of President Trump's accused of trafficking children for sex. Members of Florida's House delegation have been in talks with the chairmen of the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees about calling Mr. Acosta to publicly answer questions about a 2006 plea agreement with the investor and Trump acquaintance Jeffrey E. Epstein, who was accused of sex offenses involving girls as young as 14. He pleaded guilty to more minor prostitution charges.... 'The Trump administration needs to get him the heck out of there -- this is the person we have enforcing the country's child labor laws,' said Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, one of 19 House Democrats who have called on Mr. Acosta to resign over what they called a 'despicable' deal."
Alice Ollstein of Politico: "The Senate on Monday rejected a bill making it a felony for a doctor to harm or neglect an infant who survives an 'attempted abortion,' part of a Republican effort to squeeze Democrats ahead of the 2020 campaign. The vote split mainly along party lines, 53-44. Democratic Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Doug Jones of Alabama and Joe Manchin of West Virginia crossed the aisle to vote for it; no Republicans broke ranks. Sixty votes are required for the bill to advance.... 'This is pure Mitch McConnell. It's all aimed at keeping his base in line, while the president grows increasingly unpopular,' [Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)] said. 'We're not doing infrastructure, we're not doing health care. We're not doing anything that matters to help our country. It's just votes on abortion and other kinds of divisive votes he's going to bring.'" ...
... Justin Wise of Politico: "'Senate Democrats just voted against legislation to prevent the killing of newborn infant children,' Trump claimed on Twitter on Monday. 'The Democrat position on abortion is now so extreme that they don't mind executing babies AFTER birth.'... The bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), was introduced with the intention of responding to a controversy in Virginia over late-term abortion."
Brooke Seipel of the Hill: "The White House on Monday issued a statement warning that President Trump would veto proposed legislation to enhance background checks for gun purchases if it passes the House and Senate. The legislation in question, H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112, would require universal background checks and close a so-called Charleston loophole that the shooter used in the 2015 massacre at a historic black church to buy a gun. One of the measures is a bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by Reps. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Pete King (R-N.Y.). Both bills are expected to pass the House along party lines with limited support from Republicans when they vote ;on it this week."
Presidential Race 2020. Michael Burke of the Hill: "More than 60 former staffers of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) have defended the senator as a 'mentor and a friend' in response to news reports that she has mistreated her staff over the years. The staffers came to Klobuchar's defense in a letter posted to Medium on Sunday. The staffers wrote that some of them were among those contacted by The New York Times and other outlets but that their 'positive' experiences were not fully reported." ...
... Sarah Jones of New York: "Klobuchar's gender doesn't mitigate the actual substance of the complaints against her.... A candidate who doesn't respect her own staff invites valid skepticism that she'd safeguard American workers as president."
Just a Coincidence. Dan Vergano of BuzzFeed News: "American Media Inc., the National Enquirer's publisher, has put out a new magazine celebrating the Trump's administration's Space Force and bashing Elon Musk -- but denies that the federal government or the private space industry had any influence on the publication. Although the estimated $13 billion price tag for this proposed sixth branch of the US military has been met with only lukewarm support in Congress, AMI anticipated the move with 97 pages of propaganda, the 'United States Space Force' magazine, on sale at drugstores and airport newsstands through April for $13.99."
Livia Albeck-Ripka of the New York Times: "Cardinal George Pell, the highest-ranking Roman Catholic leader ever convicted of sexual abuse, will not face a second trial on an additional round of assault allegations involving young boys. The earlier verdict was unsealed on Tuesday only after prosecutors decided they could not proceed with the second trial after a legal setback. The decision came just days before the cardinal was set to be sentenced for abusing two 13-year-old choirboys more than two decades ago. Cardinal Pell, 77, was found guilty in December of sexually assaulting the boys. But a judge barred news outlets from publishing anything about the verdict, citing concerns that coverage might influence a jury in the second trial. On Tuesday, with the new trial no longer in the works, the judge lifted the gag order. The earlier case related to abuse that took place in 1996. A former adviser to Pope Francis, the cardinal was found guilty of forcing oral sex onto a 13-year-old boy after Sunday Mass in the sacristy of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne[, Australia]. At the time, Cardinal Pell was the city's archbishop."
Way Beyond the Beltway
Britain. Brexit Redux? Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Britain's opposition Labour Party said on Monday that it was prepared to support a second referendum on withdrawal from the European Union, a shift that could have significant ramifications for the fate of Brexit and for the country's future. After the resignations of nine Labour Party members last week, and amid the prospect of more, the party's leader, Jeremy Corbyn, dropped his longstanding resistance to a second vote on leaving the bloc. Mr. Corbyn's support for a new vote is certainly no guarantee a new vote will happen. Still, it will cheer pro-European Britons, who have been fighting to reverse the outcome of the 2016 referendum decision." ...
... MEANWHILE. Tim Ross of Bloomberg News: PM "Theresa May is considering a plan to delay Brexit and stop the U.K. leaving the European Union with no deal next month, according to people familiar with the situation." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: For a casual observer -- such as I -- for some time it's been easy to come away with the impression that Brexit is never going to happen. That would be a good thing.
Iran. Ben Hubbard & David Sanger of the New York Times: "Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran announced Monday that he was resigning, in what seemed a sudden end to the tenure of one of the Islamic Republic's best-known figures abroad. Mr. Zarif, an American-educated diplomat who was an architect of the Iranian nuclear deal, announced that he was stepping down in a post on his Instagram account.... Mr. Zarif's public resignation in a country where governance is usually conducted behind closed doors seemed to indicate escalating tensions between the country's hard-liners and President Hassan Rouhani."
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