The Commentariat -- January 17, 2019

Afternoon Update:

William Broad & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "President Trump announced Thursday the results of a missile defense review that he said would update a decades-old system and protect the United States from emerging threats -- adopting a Cold War stance while also promoting futuristic ambitions with his much-touted Space Force.... Mr. Trump also offered condolences to the families of four Americans killed in Syria a day earlier and lashed out at Democrats in Congress for refusing to fund a wall on the border with Mexico -- the central issue that has prompted the government shutdown, now in its fourth week. He accused Speaker Nancy Pelosi of prohibiting Democrats from negotiating with him, calling border security 'another critical matter of national security.' 'Nothing else is going to work,' Mr. Trump said of building a wall. He also said the Democratic Party had been 'hijacked by the open borders fringe.'" ...

... Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: "The bombing [in Syria that killed 19, including four Americans] raised new questions about Mr. Trump's surprise decision last month to end the American ground war in Syria. Critics of the president's plans, including members of his own party, said Mr. Trump's claim of victory over the Islamic State may have emboldened its fighters and encouraged Wednesday's strike." This story is a substantial of one linked below. ...

... Joe Concha of the Hill: "Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reported that a senior foreign diplomat had told the network that the deadly suicide attack on U.S. troops in Syria was a 'direct result of the announcement made by President Trump that U.S. forces are pulling out.' 'U.S. allies remain up in arms about the U.S. announcing it is pulling out of Syria,' Griffin reported on Fox News chief anchor Shepard Smith's newscast on Wednesday afternoon."

Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration separated thousands more migrant children from their parents at the U.S. border than has previously been made public, according to an investigative report released Thursday, but the federal tracking system has been so poor that the precise number is hazy. According to the report issued by the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services, the separated children include 118 taken between July and early November -- after the administration halted a short-lived family separation effort that provoked a political firestorm and public outrage. The report estimates that thousands of other youngsters were taken starting early in the Trump administration, months before the government announced it would separate children in order to criminally prosecute their parents, through late last spring. Although previous administrations also separated minors from adults at the border in some instances -- usually when they suspected the child was smuggled, or the parent appeared to be unfit -- the report documents a sharp increase in separations under Trump. Based on available records, separated children accounted for 0.3 percent of all unaccompanied minors taken into HHS custody in late 2016, near the end of the Obama administration. By August of 2017, the percentage had increased more than tenfold, to 3.6 percent."

Ha Ha. Eileen Sullivan & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Rudolph W. Giuliani backtracked on Thursday from a surprising assertion he made a night earlier that left open the possibility that Trump campaign aides might have coordinated with Russia's election interference in 2016. 'There was no collusion by President Trump in any way, shape or form,' Mr. Giuliani said in a statement on Thursday.... 'Likewise, I have no knowledge of any collusion by any of the thousands of people who worked on the campaign.'... Mr. Giuliani was seeking to clarify an interview on Wednesday night in which he stopped short of defending Trump campaign aides, drawing speculation that he might have inside knowledge of possible coordination with Russia.... Mr. Giuliani's backpedaling was the latest in a series of conflicting comments he has made about the investigation of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. The evolution of his statements have suggested shifts in the president's defense strategy, often following developments in the investigations.... Mr. Trump has maintained that his campaign never aided Russia's meddling, even as the special counsel inquiry has revealed communications between Russians and some Trump campaign aides." ...

... Kate Sullivan of CNN: "The House Judiciary Committee chairman said Wednesday that his panel would subpoena special counsel Robert Mueller's final report if William Barr..., Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general, does not release it to the public. 'If necessary, our committee will subpoena the report. If necessary, we'll get Mueller to testify,' Rep. Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat, told CNN's Anderson Cooper.... 'The American people need the information here.'"

Donovan Slack of USA Today: "An investigation of former Veterans Affairs secretary David Shulkin largely cleared him of allegations he misused his security detail for shopping and other errands, but concluded he violated ethics rules by allowing his driver to provide transportation for his wife, the VA inspector general said in a report Thursday. Investigators determined Shulkin permitted his driver to transport his wife on several occasions.... Using government vehicles for unofficial purposes was prohibited in this case, and the personal transportation services would have qualified as a gift, the inspector general concluded. Federal ethics rules bar employees from accepting gifts from subordinate staff."

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), who was just elected to a fifth term, announced Thursday that he is resigning from Congress later this month to accept a job in the private sector[.]... The former prosecutor was one of the first House Republicans to endorse Donald Trump and he was an informal adviser to the candidate. Marino has won handily in his heavily Republican Pennsylvania district, but faced a new reality as Democratic seized majority control of the House last November.... President Trump nominated Marino to be the nation's drug czar in 2017, but Marino withdrew from consideration following a Washington Post/'60 Minutes' investigation detailing how the lawmaker helped steer legislation through Congress that weakened the Drug Enforcement Administration's ability to go after drug distributors, even as opioid-related deaths continue to rise."

*****

Eric Schmitt & Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "American troops were among 15 people killed on Wednesday in a suicide bombing in northern Syria that was claimed by the Islamic State, just weeks after President Trump ordered the withdrawal of United States forces with what he declared the extremist group's defeat. The attack targeted a restaurant in the northern city of Manbij where American soldiers would sometimes stop to eat during their patrols of the area, residents said. After the blast, a number of Americans were evacuated by helicopter, they said. It was not immediately clear how many had been in the area at the time of the blast." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Pence Says What He's Told to Say, No Matter the Facts on the Ground. Jennifer Hansler of CNN: "On the same day that an ISIS-claimed attack killed US service members in Syria, Vice President Mike Pence declared that 'the caliphate has crumbled and ISIS has been defeated.' Pence's remark to the Global Chiefs of Mission conference at the US State Department came about an hour after the US-led coalition confirmed that American troops had been killed in an explosion in Manbij. 'U.S. service members were killed during an explosion while conducting a routine patrol in Syria today. We are still gathering information and will share additional details at a later time,' the tweet from Operation Inherent Resolve said. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, which the ISIS-affiliated Amaq agency said was carried out by a suicide bomber with an explosive vest." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Well, Maybe pence Stepped out Here. David Sanger of the New York Times: "Vice President Mike Pence told American ambassadors on Wednesday that North Korea has failed to take any substantive steps to give up its nuclear weapons, even as President Trump is moving toward a second meeting with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader. 'While the president has started a promising dialogue with Chairman Kim,' Mr. Pence told the gathering at the State Department, 'we still await concrete steps by North Korea to dismantle the nuclear weapons that threaten our people and our allies in the region.' With the unequivocal statement, Mr. Pence seemed to directly contradict the president's claim on Twitter, after his first summit meeting in June, that 'there is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.' At the time, many of Mr. Trump's top aides cringed at the declaration, fearing it would take the economic pressure off the North to disarm."

The Trump Shutdown, Ctd.

Trump Exploits Unpaid Workers for His Own Gain. Nancy Cook of Politico: "The Trump administration is pushing the legal boundaries of a government shutdown, fueling fears that the president is manipulating federal agencies and workers to soften the political blow against him. In recent days, agencies have called back to work thousands of furloughed federal employees, restarted services and pursued key policies at shuttered agencies. The activity has legal experts, administration officials and veterans of past shutdowns questioning what actually constitutes a government shutdown if the administration can simply resurrect its preferred services and à la carte policy to-do list nearly a month after funding technically expired for several agencies. So far, the Trump administration has continued to plow forward on its controversial immigration policies, brought back workers to ensure government assistance gets to farmers and ranchers -- a key constituency -- and is weighing whether to recall workers would could assist in the federal rulemaking process that has been stymied during the shutdown, according to administration officials. 'What they are doing is making an obligation and policy without Congress's approval,' said Barry Anderson, former deputy director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. 'Congress is saying there is no money for this and Trump is still doing it.'... Already, House Democrats are questioning some these shutdown decisions, focusing most recently on an Interior Department decision to bring back employees working on offshore drilling efforts, another politically divisive policy move. They slammed the move as illegal and demanded an end to it." ...

... Katie Rogers & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "As the government shutdown stretches into its fourth week, the Trump administration is reinterpreting longstanding rules to open the federal government piece by piece, forcing thousands of workers to report to work without pay, many of them in sectors that could minimize damage to the president's base.... In past shutdowns, only workers deemed 'essential' to protecting life and property -- a category that would include people like Secret Service agents -- were allowed to work."

Katie Mettler of the Washington Post: "... in public remarks at the White House, at the border and at farming conventions, the president has been talking about tape on the mouths of migrant women. On at least eight occasions over a period of 12 days this month, the president has argued publicly for his proposed wall on the southern border by claiming without evidence that traffickers tie up and silence women with tape before illegally driving them through the desert from Mexico to the United States in the backs of cars and windowless vans. In Trump's telling, the adhesive is sometimes blue tape. Other times it is electrical tape or duct tape.... With an eerie specificity, Trump has characterized these acts as commonplace. Yet human-trafficking experts and advocates for immigrant women have said they are perplexed by this increasingly repeated story in Trump's repertoire -- and are at a loss for where he got his information. It was not from them, they say; in fact, they have no idea what he is talking about." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Could what Mettler describes as Trump's "salacious and graphic" descriptions have anything to do with a preference for tying up women & silencing them? Nah. It's just that some of his lies are weirder than others. Maybe.

Juliegrace Brufke of the Hill: "The House passed a Democratic-backed emergency disaster relief bill on Wednesday that includes an amendment funding the federal government through early February. The bill passed in a 237-187 vote, with six Republicans joining Democrats in voting for the measure, which would reopen parts of the government and fund them through Feb. 8. The legislation introduced by House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) would provide $12.1 billion in disaster relief funding for areas impacted by Hurricane Florence, Hurricane Michael and the California wildfires, as well as other areas impacted by natural disasters last year. The measure is not expected to be taken up in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has vowed to not bring any spending measure to reopen the government to the floor unless President Trumphas signaled he will sign it."

#WheresMitch? Freshman Democrats Went on a Mitch Hunt. They Didn't Find Him. Lesley Clark of McClatchy News: "On Wednesday, [Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York..., called [Mitch] McConnell out on Twitter and for the second time in two days joined a parade of House freshmen who crossed from the House to the Capitol and over to McConnell's Senate office. They delivered a letter calling on McConnell to put the House spending bills up for a vote 'so that we can end this manufactured crisis.'... 'We're here doing our jobs,' Ocasio-Cortez said, standing by McConnell's office. 'We have voted, repeatedly, over and over again to re-open the government. Where's Mitch? That's my question.' She accused McConnell of ducking the members of Congress and said the freshmen wanted to have a 'conversation with him about getting people their paychecks.' McConnell's office provided the House members with use of a copier to run off more letters and McConnell's deputy chief of staff, Don Stewart, said he told them he'd deliver the letter to McConnell."

Jordyn Phelps of ABC News: "A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers from the House Problem Solvers Caucus sat down with President Trump at the White House Wednesday as the president continues to demand funding to build a southern border wall as a condition for ending the partial government shutdown.... The seven Democrats who attended Wednesday's meeting released a statement as they arrived at the White House saying they accepted the president's invitation in order to relay their message that the government must be reopened as a precondition for further in-earnest conversations."

Heather Caygle & Rachel Bade of Politico: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday asked ... Donald Trump to reschedule his State of the Union address -- or deliver it in writing -- as long as the government remains shut down. Pelosi said the partial shutdown has hamstrung both the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security, potentially harming the security planning that precedes the primetime address." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I look forward to the first SOTU written in crayon. ...

... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "The Trump administration on Wednesday pushed back on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) claim that 'security concerns' caused by the partial government shutdown should force the postponement of President Trump's State of the Union address. 'The Department of Homeland Security and the US Secret Service are fully prepared to support and secure the State of the Union,' Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said on Twitter.... White House officials have been considering using the president's annual address to the nation to admonish Democrats over the shutdown and their opposition to Trump's request for $5.7 billion in funding for a border wall." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Kirstjen there doesn't seem to understand the concept of how to deal with an unwelcome guest. You make up a fake excuse to uninvite them. It's kinda like British Queen Elizabeth's "welcome" to Trump. As a heads-of-state of countries that used to have a "special relationship," Elizabeth was had to invite the Trumps to tea. But she made it a very short, low-key affair, and the other royals all stayed away. No photos of a tête-à-tête in the Queen's parlor, no snaps of Trump playing with the grandkids. ...

... Speaking of Trump's playing with kids ...

... The Bloody Hand of Trump. Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "... the back of Trump's right hand was covered with an adhesive bandage during a Thursday trip to McAllen, Texas, with blood visibly seeping through the dressing. His hand was similarly bandaged again on Monday as he departed for a trip to New Orleans.... The White House said on Tuesday that Trump sustained the injury while playing with his 12-year-old son. 'The President was having fun and joking around with his son Barron and scratched his hand,' White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told Politico." Uh-huh.

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "The partial government shutdown is inflicting far greater damage on the United States economy than previously estimated, the White House acknowledged on Tuesday, as President Trump's economists doubled projections of how much economic growth is being lost each week the standoff with Democrats continues. The revised estimates from the Council of Economic Advisers show that the shutdown, now in its fourth week, is beginning to have real economic consequences. The analysis, and other projections from outside the White House, suggests that the shutdown has already weighed significantly on growth and could ultimately push the United States economy into a contraction.... Mr. Trump, who has hitched his political success to the economy, also faces other economic headwinds, including slowing global growth, a trade war with China and the waning effects of a $1.5 trillion tax cut." (Also linked yesterday.)

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

Jessica Taylor of NPR: "Officials leasing the Old Post Office Building for the Trump International Hotel in Washington improperly ignored the Constitution's anti-corruption clauses when they continued to lease the government property to President Trump even after he won the White House, according to an internal federal government watchdog. The Inspector General for the General Services Administration, the agency that leased the building to Trump in 2013, said in a report published Wednesday that agency lawyers decided to ignore the constitutional issues when they reviewed the lease after Trump won the 2016 election. 'The GSA Office of General Counsel recognized that the President's business interest in the lease raised issues under the U.S. Constitution that might cause a breach of the lease, yet chose not to address those issues,' said Inspector General Carol F. Ochoa." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Garrett Graff of Wired: "It would be rather embarrassing for Donald Trump at this point if Robert Mueller were to declare that the president isn't an agent of Russian intelligence.... We've reached a point in the Mueller probe where there are only two scenarios left: Either the president is compromised by the Russian government and has been working covertly to cooperate with Vladimir Putin after Russia helped win him the 2016 election -- or Trump will go down in history as the world's most famous 'useful idiot,' as communists used to call those who could be co-opted to the cause without realizing it." ...

... Conservative Charles Sykes of the Bulwark: "Hanlon's Razor is a common sense aphorism [link fixed] that reminds us, 'Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.' It is a distant cousin of the more famous Occam's Razor, which postulated that simpler explanations are more likely to be correct than complex and convoluted theories. So, the question I've been asking is whether Hanlon's Razor can be applied to the question of Trump's bizarre romance with Vladimir Putin. Is it malice? Or stupidity?... There are really only two plausible explanations for all of this: (1) Donald Trump is a witting tool of Russia, either from conviction or because of some, as yet unknown, kompromat, or (2) he is a naive fool whose vanity blinds him to the depths of his ignorance and recklessness." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: If Vladimir Putin is as wily as many U.S. intel specialists think he is, he did not hire Trump as an asset. As Trump himself has claimed, Vlad told him that "Moscow's cyberoperators are so good at covert computer-network operations that if they had dipped into the Democratic National Committee's systems, they would not have been caught." Remember, it took the CIA a decade to catch dangerous double-agent Aldrich Ames. But Trump is a blundering buffoon. His support for all things Russia is so obvious that the FBI started investigating his ties to Russia soon after he took office, & they were investigating Trump's subordinates months before that. The AP reported yesterday, "Top Russian officials ridiculed the idea that ... Donald Trump could have worked for Russia's interests, dismissing them Wednesday as 'absurd' and 'stupid.' They could be telling the truth. Trump clearly is not qualified for the job.

Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "Rick Gates, the former campaign aide to Donald Trump, is cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into whether individuals from the Middle East worked with the Trump campaign to influence the election, according to two individuals with first-hand knowledge of the investigation. Gates has answered questions specifically about Psy Group, an Israeli firm that ex-employees say drew up social media manipulation plans to help the Trump campaign, according to sources familiar with the questions. Mueller's team also asked Gates about interactions with Psy Group's owner, Joel Zamel, and Lebanese-American businessman George Nader, who worked as an emissary for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the sources said.... Gates requested proposals in 2016 from Psy Group that would help Trump in his campaign for president, The New York Times reported last year. Those proposals included social media manipulation tactics such as creating fake avatars to engage voters and Republican campaign delegates.... Psy Group employees told The Daily Beast they have been interviewed by the FBI...."

Rudy Contradicts Donaldovich. Again. Caroline Kelly of CNN: "Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday that he never denied ... Donald Trump's campaign colluded with the Russian government during the 2016 campaign, only that the President himself was not involved in collusion. In an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo..., Giuliani ... said he doesn't know if other people in the campaign, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, were working with the Kremlin during the 2016 presidential race. 'I never said there was no collusion between the campaign, or people in the campaign,"' Giuliani said.... 'I said the President of the United States....' It's another remarkable statement from Giuliani, given that the President and his supporters have repeatedly denied any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. A person familiar with the matter told CNN last week that Manafort, while serving as Trump's campaign chairman, tried to send internal polling data from the Trump campaign with two Kremlin-supporting Ukrainian oligarchs through his associate Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian national who is linked to Russian intelligence. When Cuomo asked if Manafort sharing such data with foreign agents constituted collusion, Giuliani said Trump never shared the polling data himself and only found out about it recently in the news."

Here's a screenshot of a New York mag "Daily Intelligencer" "report" on Mueller's redacted court filing supporting prosecutors' claims that Paul Manafort lied to investigators (related story linked below):

Matt Novak of Gizmodo: "According to a strange new report in the Wall Street Journal..., Michael Cohen hired a small tech company called RedFinch Solutions to rig online polls in favor of Trump.... Cohen even paid to have a vanity Twitter account made called WomenForCohen which described the attorney as 'strong' a 'pit bull,' and, perhaps least convincing, a 'sex symbol.'... According to the WSJ, the guy who operates the tiny tech company hired by Cohen, John Gauger, got stiffed on payment. Gauger also claims that the fraction of the money he was finally paid was only paid in cash that was stuffed inside of a Walmart shopping bag. Seriously.... Gauger is also reportedly the CIO at Liberty University in Virginia, operated by Trump ally and morally confused sack of shit Jerry Falwell Jr.... Ultimately, Cohen billed the Trump Organization for the full $50,000 despite only paying out the roughly $13,000 in cash to Gauger."

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate on Wednesday narrowly rejected a Democratic-led effort to block President Trump from lifting sanctions against three Russian businesses. Senators voted 57-42 to end debate on the resolution, falling short of the 60 votes needed. With all Democrats supporting the measure, they needed to win over 13 GOP senators." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mrs. McCrabbie: Constitutional law professor Larry Tribe was on MSNBC & made the same point I did yesterday: that Bill Barr has set up a fail-safe excuse for never releasing negative and incriminating information about Trump. Bob Mueller -- who also reportedly believes a president* cannot be indicted -- should rethink that, given Barr's Senate testimony. If Mueller were to indict Trump -- even if the Supremes eventually decide that Trump is untouchable -- he can load the indictment & subsequent filings with whatever evidence he has collected against Trump. Alternatively, I suppose Mueller also could get in a good deal of incriminating evidence against Individual A into indictments of Trump's associates. I suspect this second method necessarily would leave significant gaps in the narrative, but it might be better than nothing Barring a successful legal challenge from the House (which could include subpoenaing Mueller to testify), I don't see another way for the public -- and the House -- to find out what Mueller's team has uncovered about Trump. ...

... Michael Schmidt & Charlie Savage of the New York Times review the options.

The Trump-Tyson Plan: No Plan. Jonathan Swan of Axios: "When a frustrated adviser once tried to convince President Trump to consider a strategic plan, the president launched into a story about his friend Mike Tyson, the former world heavyweight boxing champion.... 'Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth,' Trump said, echoing a famous Tyson quote. I had asked the adviser whether Trump ever expressed frustration that his West Wing lacked enough of a plan for the crises ahead. 'He gets frustrated when there is a plan,' the adviser said. 'He's not a guy who likes a plan. ... There's an animosity towards planning, and there's a desire to pick fights that have nothing to do with us.' 'We can plan all this stuff out but it'll change,' the president continued. 'So let's just not go through the effort.' The adviser said that Trump's 'main view was that all this stuff wasn't predictable, ... which is unfortunately not accurate. ... It absolutely is predictable.' Trump used the Tyson quote as evidence that detailed strategic plans are pointless and said, in the adviser's recollection, 'We've just gotta fight every day and that's how we win.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Uh, About The U.S. Trade Deficit. In the abstract to a paper by Andrew Rose of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Rose writes, "I conservatively estimate that the >20 percentage point decline in foreign approval of American leadership between 2016 (the final year of Obama's presidency) and 2017 (Trump's first year) lowered American exports by at least $3 billion." Via New York's Daily Intelligencer. Mrs. McC: Somebody should tell Trump if he's as concerned about the trade deficit as he continually claims to be, he should quit his job.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Federal authorities on Wednesday arrested a metro Atlanta man they said was plotting to attack the White House but instead got entangled with the FBI. Hasher Jallal Taheb, 21, of Cumming, was taken into custody in Gwinnett County while allegedly trying to exchange his vehicle for explosives. He later appeared in court in downtown Atlanta in the case brought the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. Authorities said Taheb was acting alone and they made no accusation that had ties to any terrorist group. He was arrested after a tip from a resident who said the young man had been radicalized." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm guessing, based on very sketchy information, that Taheb is a native-born black American. If I'm right (and I'm not sure I am), obviously Trump's Muslim ban would not have caught him.

Alexander Kaufman of the Huffington Post: "Andrew Wheeler, the former coal lobbyist chosen by ... Donald Trump to serve as the next Environmental Protection Agency administrator, downplayed the threat of climate change at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. He refused to call the rapid warming of the planet a crisis. He repeatedly misrepresented his own agency's findings about a rule to gut an Obama-era power plant regulation, inflating the emissions cuts the new proposal would mandate. He even mixed up two of the most important climate science reports to come out in the last three months, admitting he hadn't fully read the report co-authored by researchers at his own agency. 'I believe climate change is a global issue that must be addressed globally,' Wheeler said. 'I would not call it the greatest crisis, no sir.' It was a brazen if not unexpected stance from the nominee to become the EPA's 15th administrator. Wheeler isn't new to the job: Last month, he became the longest-serving acting chief in the agency's history, having taken over in July when former Administrator Scott Pruitt resigned in disgrace amid mounting scandals."

Tracy Jan, et al., of the Washington Post: "A top Department of Housing and Urban Development official is leaving the agency Thursday following disagreements with other members of the Trump administration over housing policy and the White House's attempt to block disaster-recovery money for Puerto Rico, according to five people with direct knowledge of the situation. Deputy Secretary Pam Patenaude, second-in-command at the agency helmed by Ben Carson and widely regarded as HUD's most capable political leader, is said to have grown frustrated by what a former HUD employee described as a 'Sisyphean undertaking.'" Mrs. McC: The story makes Patenaude sound like the only political appointee at HUD who had any institutional experience or who gave a rat's ass about carrying out its mission. That may be so. So what is she going to do with her retirement? 'I'm going to continue to be supportive of the president and his agenda. I'm going to be working very hard for his reelection." Excellent.

Hachette Job. Axios: "Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie settles scores in 'Let Me Finish,' a memoir out Jan. 29 from Hachette Books, writing that President Trump 'trusts people he shouldn't, including some of the people who are closest to him.'... Christie asserts that Trump has a 'revolving door of deeply flawed individuals -- amateurs, grifters, weaklings, convicted and unconvicted felons -- who were hustled into jobs they were never suited for, sometimes seemingly without so much as a background check via Google or Wikipedia.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Ed Pilkington & Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Chris Christie, who was ousted as chairman of Donald Trump's White House transition team in 2016, has written a blistering attack on Jared Kushner, whom he accuses of having carried out a political 'hit job' on him as an act of revenge for prosecuting his father, Charles Kushner, a decade ago.... Even for a White House that has generated an extraordinary cornucopia of hypercritical kiss-and-tell books, Christie's is exceptional for its excoriating description of events at which he was present." (Also linked yesterday.)

Will Sommer of the Daily Beast: "Notorious alt-right figure and Holocaust denier Chuck Johnson met with two Republican lawmakers in Congress on Wednesday. Johnson's visit was first noted by a HuffPost reporter, who tweeted a picture of Reps. Andy Harris (R-MD) and Phil Roe (R-TN) walking with Johnson.... Johnson, a former Breitbart reporter, has denied the magnitude of the Holocaust, expressing doubt that gas chambers were real and questioning whether six million Jews were really killed -- a figure that has been well documented by scholars and historians. He also ran crowdfunding efforts for white supremacist causes, including the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer. In statements, the lawmakers confirmed that they had met with Johnson to discuss genetic testing and DNA, but claimed they weren't aware of Johnson's history of making racist statements."

Presidential Race 2020. Laura Santhanam of PBS News: "With the 2020 presidential election already underway, 57 percent of registered voters said they would definitely vote against ... Donald Trump, according to the latest poll from the PBS NewsHour, NPR and Marist. Another 30 percent of voters said they would cast their ballot to support Trump, and an additional 13 percent said they had no idea who would get their vote."

Beyond the Beltway

Sarah Mervosh & Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: "John Engler, the interim president of Michigan State University, plans to resign after recent remarks he made that some of the victims of the former university and U.S.A. Gymnastics doctor Lawrence G. Nassar appeared to be enjoying 'the spotlight,' a member of the university's board of trustees said Wednesday evening.... Mr. Engler, a former three-term Republican governor of Michigan, has been criticized by ... board members in recent days.... Mr. Engler, 70, has served as interim president of the university since early last year, after Lou Anna K. Simon resigned as president the same day that Dr. Nassar was sentenced for sexual abuse. She was later charged with lying to the police about what she knew of the abuse allegations against Dr. Nassar."

Way Beyond

Heather Stewart, et al., of the Guardian: "Theresa May has survived as prime minister after weathering a dramatic no-confidence vote in her government, but was left scrambling to strike a Brexit compromise that could secure the backing of parliament. In a statement in Downing Street on Wednesday night, the prime minister exhorted politicians from all parties to 'put aside self-interest, and promised to consult with MPs with 'the widest possible range of views' in the coming days. She had earlier announced that she would invite Jeremy Corbyn and other party leaders for immediate talks on how to secure a Brexit deal, although Labour later said Corbyn would decline the invitation unless no-deal was taken off the table."

The Commentariat -- January 16, 2019

Morning/Afternoon Update:

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate on Wednesday narrowly rejected a Democratic-led effort to block President Trump from lifting sanctions against three Russian businesses. Senators voted 57-42 to end debate on the resolution, falling short of the 60 votes needed. With all Democrats supporting the measure, they needed to win over 13 GOP senators."

Here's a screenshot of a New York mag "Daily Intelligencer" "report" on Mueller's redacted court filing supporting prosecutors' claims that Paul Manafort lied to investigators (related story linked below):

The Trump-Tyson Plan: No Plan. Jonathan Swan of Axios: "When a frustrated adviser once tried to convince President Trump to consider a strategic plan, the president launched into a story about his friend Mike Tyson, the former world heavyweight boxing champion.... 'Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth,' Trump said, echoing a famous Tyson quote. I had asked the adviser whether Trump ever expressed frustration that his West Wing lacked enough of a plan for the crises ahead. 'He gets frustrated when there is a plan,' the adviser said. 'He's not a guy who likes a plan. ... There's an animosity towards planning, and there's a desire to pick fights that have nothing to do with us.' 'We can plan all this stuff out but it'll change,' the president continued. 'So let's just not go through the effort.' The adviser said that Trump's 'main view was that all this stuff wasn't predictable, ... which is unfortunately not accurate. ... It absolutely is predictable.' Trump used the Tyson quote as evidence that detailed strategic plans are pointless and said, in the adviser's recollection, 'We've just gotta fight every day and that"s how we win.'"

Eric Schmitt & Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "American troops were among 15 people killed on Wednesday in a suicide bombing in northern Syria that was claimed by the Islamic State, just weeks after President Trump ordered the withdrawal of United States forces with what he declared the extremist group's defeat. The attack targeted a restaurant in the northern city of Manbij where American soldiers would sometimes stop to eat during their patrols of the area, residents said. After the blast, a number of Americans were evacuated by helicopter, they said. It was not immediately clear how many had been in the area at the time of the blast." ...

... Pence Says What He's Told to Say, No Matter the Facts on the Ground. Jennifer Hansler of CNN: "On the same day that an ISIS-claimed attack killed US service members in Syria, Vice President Mike Pence declared that 'the caliphate has crumbled and ISIS has been defeated.' Pence's remark to the Global Chiefs of Mission conference at the US State Department came about an hour after the US-led coalition confirmed that American troops had been killed in an explosion in Manbij. 'U.S. service members were killed during an explosion while conducting a routine patrol in Syria today. We are still gathering information and will share additional details at a later time,' the tweet from Operation Inherent Resolve said. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, which the ISIS-affiliated Amaq agency said was carried out by a suicide bomber with an explosive vest."

Heather Caygle & Rachel Bade of Politico: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday asked ... Donald Trump to reschedule his State of the Union address -- or deliver it in writing -- as long as the government remains shut down. Pelosi said the partial shutdown has hamstrung both the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security, potentially harming the security planning that precedes the primetime address." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I look forward to the first SOTU written in crayon.

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "The partial government shutdown is inflicting far greater damage on the United States economy than previously estimated, the White House acknowledged on Tuesday, as President Trump's economists doubled projections of how much economic growth is being lost each week the standoff with Democrats continues. The revised estimates from the Council of Economic Advisers show that the shutdown, now in its fourth week, is beginning to have real economic consequences. The analysis, and other projections from outside the White House, suggests that the shutdown has already weighed significantly on growth and could ultimately push the United States economy into a contraction.... Mr. Trump, who has hitched his political success to the economy, also faces other economic headwinds, including slowing global growth, a trade war with China and the waning effects of a $1.5 trillion tax cut."

Hachette Job. Axios: "Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie settles scores in 'Let Me Finish,' a memoir out Jan. 29 from Hachette Books, writing that President Trump 'trusts people he shouldn't, including some of the people who are closest to him.'... Christie asserts that Trump has a 'revolving door of deeply flawed individuals -- amateurs, grifters, weaklings, convicted and unconvicted felons -- who were hustled into jobs they were never suited for, sometimes seemingly without so much as a background check via Google or Wikipedia.'" ...

... Ed Pilkington & Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Chris Christie, who was ousted as chairman of Donald Trump's White House transition team in 2016, has written a blistering attack on Jared Kushner, whom he accuses of having carried out a political 'hit job' on him as an act of revenge for prosecuting his father, Charles Kushner, a decade ago.... Even for a White House that has generated an extraordinary cornucopia of hypercritical kiss-and-tell books, Christie's is exceptional for its excoriating description of events at which he was present."

*****

Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "Attorney general nominee William P. Barr suggested Tuesday that any report written by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III might not be made public, signaling the possibility of future battles within the government over his findings. The remarks by Barr, who is expected to be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate, highlight the uncertainty surrounding how he will grapple with what many expect will be the final steps of Mueller's investigation into President Trump, his advisers and Russian interference in the 2016 election.... In a sign of potential fights to come, Barr said any report from Mueller would probably be treated like internal Justice Department prosecution memos that are kept secret. In a chippy back-and-forth with Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Barr cast doubt on the notion that Mueller's report might be made public.... Barr said he ... would not commit to following the recommendation of ethics officials if they saw a reason for him to recuse from overseeing the Russia investigation." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Barr has set up a perfect Catch-22 here. On the one hand, he wrote in his infamous 19-page memo that a president "can't be prosecuted for obstruction of justice on a basis of acts that don't strictly involve impairment of evidence." In addition, there are DOJ memos, which Mueller is expected to follow, opining that a president or a president* cannot be indicted for any crimes while s/he remains in office. On the other hand, Barr said in Senate testimony yesterday, "If you're not going to indict someone, you don't stand up there and unload negative information about the person. That's not the way the department does business." (This came in response to questions about Jim Comey's remarkable Hillary-Clinton-was-extremely-careless presser.) Since (1) Trump can't be charged & (2) Barr won't "unload negative information" about He Who Cannot Be Charged, there is no way Barr will divulge what the Mueller team has found out about Trump's bad behavior. The "report" the public receives may contain damning information about Trump's underlings, but it will be silent about Trump. Unless the House can remedy Barr's likely decision through some (probably protracted) legal action, Barr will render Mueller's report essentially useless for present-day purposes. It will be 25 years or more before Mueller's report is declassified.

New York Times reporters live-updated William Barr's Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... The Washington Post's live updates are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Marianne Levine & Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Attorney General nominee William Barr ... told Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that he did not think Mueller 'would be involved in a witch hunt,' a term Trump has used repeatedly to deride the investigation. Barr also told the Judiciary Committee that he agreed with former Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation -- the primary reason Trump soured on Sessions." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Graham Adorns Tin Foil Hat. Jackie Kucinich & Spencer Ackerman of The Daily Beast: "Newly minted Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) wasted no time in bringing in right-wing conspiracy theories about FBI and Justice Department misconduct into the confirmation hearing of President Trump's attorney general nominee William Barr, asking him to 'clean up this place' should he be installed as the nation's top cop." --s ...

... Barr Thought the Mueller Probe Was Unwarranted. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: In 2017, William P. Barr' ... appeared to advocate more investigations of the Clintons. But Barr's attempt to explain away those comments didn't make a whole lot of sense. And in sum, they suggest he didn't think much of Mueller's collusion investigation, either. Barr was confronted with a New York Times report in which he had said there was more to substantiate an investigation of Hillary Clinton for the Uranium One deal than the probe into potential Trump campaign collusion with Russia.... This was especially significant because the Uranium One claims have largely been dismissed as conspiracy theories, including by The Washington Post's Fact Checker.... Shortly after [the Senate confirmation] exchange, Times reporter Peter Baker released the whole email Barr sent him at the time[, which included this opinion: '... the ultimate question is whether the matter warrants investigation, and I have long believed that the predicate for investigating the uranium deal, as well as the foundation, is far stronger than any basis for investigating so-called "collusion."']... Asked to account for the full email later in the hearing, Barr explained that he wasn't particularly keen on a criminal investigation into the Clinton Foundation, either.... Okay, but even if you accept the idea that Barr wasn't so gung-ho about investigating the Clintons -- which is perhaps plausible -- the email makes it abundantly evident that he thought there was even less to prompt the Russian collusion probe than those investigations." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: You would be excused for suspecting Barr was a political hack & not as devoted to "the rule of law" he claimed to be during the hearing. Incidentally, Dick Durbin did ask Barr (as I suggested yesterday) why the hell he would take a job working for an ass like Trump, & his answer was "blah-blah rule of law blah-blah I'm an old guy." (slight paraphrase)

... Trumpian Qualifications. Scott Bixby of The Daily Beast: "Decades before President Donald Trump nominated William Barr to retake the reins at the Department of Justice, Barr used the post to indefinitely detain hundreds of HIV-positive asylum-seekers at a Guantanamo Bay detention center, deemed an 'HIV prison camp' by a federal judge who ruled the quarantine to be in gross violation of the U.S. Constitution. That policy, part of a program that at its peak held more than 12,000 Haitian refugees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, helped lay the legal groundwork for the indefinite incarceration of 'enemy combatants' in the War on Terror -- and institutionalized the detention system that President Trump has made a cornerstone of his immigration policy." --s

The Trump Shutdown, Ctd.

Theater of the Absurd. Julie Davis & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "The Trump administration said Tuesday that it would summon tens of thousands of federal employees back to work without pay to get the government running amid a partial shutdown well into its third week, as the White House and increasingly agitated lawmakers on Capitol Hill cast about for a way to end the stalemate. On a day of inertia and theatrics in Washington, the partisan disconnect fueling the deadlock was on full -- sometimes absurd -- display. House Democrats spurned an invitation by President Trump to a bipartisan lunch at the White House, drawing howls of outrage from Mr. Trump's team, while Democrats dismissed the steak-and-potatoes meal as little more than a photo opportunity. A group of House Democratic freshmen marched across the Capitol -- with reporters in tow &-- to publicly confront Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, with demands to end the impasse. But Mr. McConnell was not in his office, so they left a note. In between the choreographed scenes of non-negotiation, Republicans and Democrats toiled privately to find a solution that Mr. Trump would accept. The talks were expected to continue Wednesday, after the president issued yet another invitation to a group of centrists from both parties, the Problem Solvers Caucus, who were scheduled to attend a meeting with him in the Situation Room." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: This entire farce, of course, swirls around a mad king whom all the other actors are devising schemes to appease or to trick into reopening the realm. I'm waiting for the scene where we find Nancy or Chuck hiding in a White House closet. Sadly, many in the audience are not able to laugh till some character foils the mad king.

Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration on Tuesday said it has called back tens of thousands of federal workers to fulfill key government tasks, including disbursing tax refunds, overseeing flight safety and inspecting the nation's food and drug supply, as it seeks to blunt the impact of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The nearly 50,000 furloughed federal employees are being brought back to work without pay -- part of a group of about 800,000 federal workers who are not receiving paychecks during the shutdown, which is affecting dozens of federal agencies large and small. A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a bid by unions representing air traffic controllers and other federal workers to force the government to pay them if they are required to work."

Nice Try, Senators. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Republicans blocked a House-passed package to the federal government for a second time in as many weeks on Tuesday. Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen (Md.) and Ben Cardin (Md.) asked for consent to take up a package of bills that would reopen the federal government. One bill would fund the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 8, while the other would fund the rest of the impacted departments and agencies through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. Under Senate rules, any senator can ask for consent to vote on or pass a bill, but any senator can object. [Mitch] McConnell blocked the two bills, saying the Senate wouldn't 'participate in something that doesn't lead to an outcome.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Nice Try, Trump. Jordan Fabian & Scott Wong of the Hill: "No Democrats will attend a lunch on Tuesday with President Trump designed to reach an agreement to end the government shutdown and fund a border wall, the White House said. Trump had invited several moderate House Democrats to the White House in an effort to undermine Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has refused to grant Trump his demand for $5.7 billion in wall funding. But the group turned down the invitation.... In a private meeting Monday night, Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told fellow leaders they were fine with rank-and-file members meeting with Trump, according to a source in the meeting. Pelosi joked to Hoyer: 'They can see what we've been dealing with. And they'll want to make a citizen&'s arrest.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "The Federal Aviation Administration is bringing thousands of furloughed inspectors and engineers back to work as the partial government shutdown drags on, the agency said on Tuesday. The agency'’s announcement came after unions representing aviation safety inspectors and air traffic controllers raised concerns that the lengthy shutdown was eroding the safety of the nation's air travel system. It is one of the largest changes made by a government agency since the shutdown last month to address the need to maintain an essential service." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

All five of the presidents whom I worked for, Republicans and Democrats, wanted a word-for word set of notes, if only to protect the integrity of the American side of the conversation against later manipulation by the Soviets or the Russians. -- Victoria Nuland, career diplomat ...

... ** Peter Baker of the New York Times: "The first time [Trump & Putin] met was in Germany. President Trump took his interpreter's notes afterward and ordered him not to disclose what he heard to anyone. Later that night, at a dinner, Mr. Trump pulled up a seat next to President Vladimir V. Putin to talk without any American witnesses at all. Their third encounter was in Vietnam when Mr. Trump seemed to take Mr. Putin's word that he had not interfered in American elections. A formal summit meeting followed in Helsinki, Finland, where the two leaders kicked out everyone but the interpreters. Most recently, they chatted in Buenos Aires after Mr. Trump said they would not meet because of Russian aggression. Mr. Trump has adamantly insisted there was 'no collusion' with Russia during his 2016 presidential campaign. But each of the five times he has met with Mr. Putin since taking office, he has fueled suspicions about their relationship. The unusually secretive way he has handled these meetings has left many in his own administration guessing what happened and piqued the interest of investigators.... The mystery surrounding the meetings seems to have drawn attention from the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, who is examining ties between the president and Russia. And it has generated a furor in Congress, where Democrats are pushing to subpoena the notes of the president's interpreters or perhaps the interpreters themselves."

** David Corn of Mother Jones: "Trump has never fully confronted a fundamental fact of the Trump-Russia scandal: He was a legitimate counterintelligence concern for US intelligence as soon as he became the Republican nominee for president.... So here's a question that should be posed to Trump: Why did you repeatedly assert that Russia was not attacking the United States after you were told by US intelligence experts it was?... [T]he American citizenry does not need any report to know that Trump repeatedly acted as if he were a Moscow asset. And the fact that this has not caused a greater uproar is perhaps one of the most disconcerting and absurd elements of the entire scandal." --s

Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "A group of 11 Republican senators broke ranks with their leadership and the administration on Tuesday to side with Democrats in a showdown over sanctions on Russia, underscoring the political sensitivity of the issue amid questions about President Trump's relationship with Moscow. The Republicans voted with Democrats seeking to keep sanctions in place on companies controlled by an influential Russian oligarch with connections to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. The 11 Republican votes allowed Senate Democrats to advance a measure that would reverse a decision last month by the Treasury Department to lift sanctions that it imposed last year on companies controlled by the oligarch, Oleg V. Deripaska, including the aluminum giant Rusal. The Treasury Department's decision would leave in place personal sanctions on Mr. Deripaska and require him to give up control over Rusal and two linked companies, EN+ and JSC EuroSibEnergo."

Liar, Liar. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Prosecutors working for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III have intensively scrutinized Paul Manafort's activities after President Trump's election -- including after Manafort was criminally charged -- and indicated they have extensive details not yet made public about Manafort's interactions with former Russian aide Konstantin Kilimnik and others, a Tuesday court filing showed. Although heavily redacted, the documents state that Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, claimed he was trying to get people appointed in the new presidential administration. The filing also states that in another Justice Department investigation, Manafort provided information that appears related to an event while he was with the campaign in August 2016. Prosecutors also showed keen interest in a $125,000 payment made in June 2017 that Manafort characterized in three ways that were contradicted, the filing says, by his tax filings and exchanges with his tax preparer. Prosecutors filed a 31-page affidavit from an FBI agent, plus another 406 nearly fully blacked-out exhibits, after a federal judge last week ordered them to lay out the 'factual and evidentiary basis' for their claims that Manafort lied repeatedly after his plea deal and has breached his cooperation agreement."

PBS News: "Rick Gates, a former senior campaign aide to ... Donald Trump, will have to wait at least another two months for his sentencing date in the Russia investigation, prosecutors said Tuesday. In a new court filing, special counsel Robert Mueller's team said they're not ready for Gates' sentencing because he is continuing to cooperate with 'several' ongoing investigations. It's unclear if the delay is an indication of the timeline of Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference or a reflection of the status of the other investigations."

Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "When Michael Cohen appears before the House Oversight Committee next month, his public testimony will be severely limited thanks to his ongoing cooperation with multiple federal investigations. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Cohen will be prevented from discussing matters he divulged to both special counsel Robert Mueller and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office. That means the public may learn less than they hoped about matters involving Cohen's contacts with Russia, hush-money payments Cohen made to women on Trump's behalf, and the Trump Organization's finances. But the Feb. 7 open hearing is still highly anticipated given Cohen's dramatic public break with President Trump over the past year after nearly a decade in Trump's service."

MEANWHILE. Rachel Bade of Politico: "Embattled acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker will testify before Congress on Feb. 8, setting up dual blockbuster hearings that week as House Democrats launch their much-awaited oversight into Donald Trump's presidency. The House Judiciary Committee announced Tuesday that Whitaker will appear one day after Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, testifies before the House Oversight Committee. The two hearings, both made-for-TV moments, will almost certainly create a headache for the president as special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into his 2016 presidential campaign enters its 20^th month."

Great being with the National Champion Clemson Tigers last night at the White House. Because of the Shutdown I served them massive amounts of Fast Food (I paid), over 1000 hamberders etc. Within one hour, it was all gone. Great guys and big eaters! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet Tuesday ...

... How Many Hamberders Would a Hamberdler Buy if a Hamberdler Would Be Trump? Aaron Rupar of Vox: "... an amusing tweet ... Donald Trump posted Tuesday morning illustrates just how easily he exaggerates and contradicts himself.... Speaking to reporters just before players showed up, Trump proudly displayed the spread of 'great American food,' and said, 'we have 300 hamburgers, many, many french fries -- all of our favorite foods.' Three hundred hamburgers is a lot of burgers, even for a football team. But it apparently wasn't enough for Trump. Within a matter of minutes, the number grew exponentially. Addressing the players, Trump claimed to have purchased 1,000 hamburgers.... On Tuesday morning, Trump tweeted that the number of burgers he purchased had grown again to 'over 1000 hamberders [sic] etc.' (He later reposted the tweet without the typo.)" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Rupar writes, "Photos of the event suggest something along the lines of the lower number is accurate." Yeah but the pix don't show the 700 Big Macs Trump ordered be sent directly to the residence.

karen pence has finished embroidering Jesus sayings on her Oval Office curtains & has obtained other artsy employment:

... Eli Rosenberg of the Washington Post: "The school where Vice President Pence's wife, Karen, has accepted a part-time job teaching art requires potential employees to affirm certain religious beliefs that seek to exclude homosexual and transgender applicants, including that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. Immanuel Christian School, a private K-8 school in Springfield, Va., outside of Washington, sets forth the position in its employment application for teachers and support staff in a section that requires applicants to initial a set of standards that begins with a promise that they are born-again Christians. One of the items is a pledge to 'live a personal life of moral purity.'... Another section [of the school's job application] asks prospective teachers to explain their view of the debate about creation and evolution." ...

... Rebecca Klein of the Huffington Post has more. Mrs. McC: I would be thinking karen's idea of teaching art was sitting the kids down with paint-by-number kits of the Last Supper, but I'm not sure a picture of men wearing dresses & partying together sets the "right tone."

Michael Wines of the New York Times: "A federal judge blocked the Commerce Department on Tuesday from adding a question on American citizenship to the 2020 census, handing a legal victory to critics who accused the Trump administration of trying to turn the census into a tool to advance Republican political fortunes. The ruling marks the opening round in a legal battle with potentially profound ramifications for federal policy and for politics at all levels, one that seems certain to reach the Supreme Court before the printing of census forms begins this summer. I a lengthy and stinging ruling, Judge Jesse M. Furman of the United States District Court in Manhattan said that Wilbur L. Ross Jr., the commerce secretary, committed 'a veritable smorgasbord' of violations of federal procedural law when he ordered the citizenship question added." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Where Are They Now?, Ctd. Kyla Mandel of ThinkProgress: "Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has quickly found new work as a senior vice president for the blockchain investment firm Artillery One. Zinke, who in the past has touted his bachelor's degree in geology, will be making his first appearance for the firm at a cryptocurrency conference in St. Moritz, Switzerland.... Blockchain is a decentralized, public ledger that forms the technological backbone of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. The new role marks a clear shift away from Zinke's political career towards a focus on technology and finance. It is unclear what Zinke's background in the military, government, or his Montana-based business ventures brings to the table, other than his high-level government connections." --s

Des Moines Register Editors: "Congressman Steve King should resign. He has lost even the potential to effectively represent his Iowa constituents because of his abhorrent comments about white nationalism and white supremacy. The move by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to strip King of his committee assignments leaves Iowa without a seat on the vital House Agriculture Committee, as well as judiciary. It also leaves King with far less opportunity to work for his constituents on critically important rural development issues. Not that King has seemed particularly interested in working for his district in recent years. Instead of holding town-hall meetings with his constituents, King spent many congressional breaks globe-trotting to Europe and hobnobbing with hard-right, nationalist leaders.... King has often made Iowa a laughing stock on the national stage with his offensive and absurd remarks about undocumented immigrants, comparing them to dogs or disparaging them as drug mules with calves the size of cantaloupes." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Lordy, that's harsh. Someone who's likely to be as upset as the Register's editors by the Fall of Steve is his good friend and fellow white nationalist Donald J. Trump. Iowans may need a rep on the ag committee, but Trump needs Racist Steve on the House Judiciary Committee if & when that committee takes up impeachment proceedings. ...

... Sioux City (Iowa) Journal Editors: "It's time for Steve King to go. He should resign his seat in the U.S. House. A new election should be held for voters in Iowa's 4th Congressional District to choose a replacement. After near-universal condemnation from both sides of the political aisle, a vote by House Republicans o Monday to strip him of all committee assignments, approval by the full House on Tuesday of a resolution (King voted for the resolution) rejecting 'white nationalism' and 'white supremacy' meant to, according to Roll Call, rebuke him and introduction in the House this week of two measures to censure him following his 'white supremacy' comment in a Jan. 10 New York Times story, whatever measure of influence or effectiveness King possessed in the House is, in our view, gone. He is today, it appears to us, largely an outcast within the body in which he serves." ...

... Lissandra Villa of BuzzFeed News: "The House voted almost unanimously on a resolution to reprimand Rep. Steve King for his most recent racist comments, with only one member dissenting -- but it wasn't King. The resolution, a formal rebuke of the Iowa lawmaker, mentions King only once and focuses instead on renouncing white supremacy and white nationalism. King himself said before the vote that he'd enthusiastically support it. The only member to oppose the bill was Rep. Bobby Rush, an Illinois Democrat, who says his party's resolution didn't go far enough. Scott sponsored legislation to censure King, a more serious rebuke, which he plans to continue pursuing. Rush said that King's own vote for the resolution 'tells you that this resolution is not worth the paper it's written on.'" ...

I want to see someone who is going to make our country great again, which is basically the same thing as Steve. He is a special guy, a smart person, with really the right views on almost everything.... [We're so in sync], we don't have to compare notes. -- Donald Trump, on Steve King, at a fundraiser for King, October 2014 ...

... What About Trump? Washington Post Editors: "Republican leaders in Congress are shocked, shocked that their fellow GOP colleague Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), whose racist remarks have been his political signature for more than a decade, turns out to be . . . a racist.... Having lost 40 House seats in the November midterms, the GOP's congressional capos, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), seem to be calculating that it may diminish the party's brand for elected Republicans to demonize, mock, disparage and demean minorities. With one exception, of course: President Trump.... The president's résumé of racially loaded, coded and hateful commentary is so well known that it often earns no notice from his party's bigwigs on Capitol Hill; it is a feature, not a bug, of his political persona.... For the most part..., Mr. Trump's bigoted statements are ignored and minimized by Republicans, lest they incur the wrath of the president or his supporters. A small fish such as Mr. King is a different matter: His most recent racist eruption is a vehicle for latent Republican anxiety that the nation's long-term demographic trends spell trouble for a party whose appeal has narrowed overwhelmingly to whites."

Mark Stern of Slate: "On Tuesday, the Supreme Court handed a victory to American workers, ruling unanimously that independent contractors who work in transportation may not be forced into mandatory arbitration. (Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who joined the bench after argument, did not participate.) The decision is a remarkable win for labor rights from a court that typically favors corporate interests over working people. And it will allow hundreds of thousands of contractors to vindicate their rights in court, collectively, rather than in costly and unjust arbitration. Tuesday's case, New Prime v. Oliveira, involves a dispute between a trucking company (New Prime) and one of its drivers, Dominic Oliveira." Read the whole thing, as much for the decision as for the way New Prime treated Oiveira. Funny thing, the author of the opinion is Neil Gorsuch, who has hardly been a friend to truckers.

Presidential Race 2020.

... Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, an outspoken advocate for women's causes and electing more women to office, is herself entering the 2020 race for the White House, becoming the latest candidate to join what is expected to be a crowded Democratic primary to take on President Trump. In an appearance Tuesday on 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,' Ms. Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, said she was forming an exploratory committee to raise money and travel the country for her run. She is scheduled to start campaigning within days, with plans to spend the weekend in Iowa."

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Ari Berman of Mother Jones: "Despite its progressive reputation, New York has long had some of the most restrictive voting laws in the country. That will soon change. The Democratic-controlled state Legislature passed a sweeping election reform package on Monday ... which must be approved by voters at a later date. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has pledged to sign the bills." --s

Way Beyond

Heather Stewart of the Guardian: "Theresa May has sustained the heaviest parliamentary defeat of any British prime minister in the democratic era after MPs rejected her Brexit deal by a resounding majority of 230. The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, immediately moved to sieze the initiative, tabling a vote of no confidence in the government.... Brexit-supporting Conservatives joined with opposition parties and the Democratic Unionist party to trounce the government in the 'meaningful vote', which the prime minister delayed before Christmas in the vain hope of winning over waverers. Following the defeat, May immediately invited a formal vote of no confidence in her own government, which she said would be voted on as soon as Wednesday." ...

     ... Brian Williams of MSNBC (surprisingly) introduced the Brexit vote news by noting that the Brexit campaign was Putin's first big foray into destabilizing Europe. What he didn't mention was Trump's vociferous support for Brexit & his collaboration/collusion with its advocates like Nigel Farage.

The Commentariat -- January 15, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Heather Stewart of the Guardian: "Theresa May has sustained the heaviest parliamentary defeat of any British prime minister in the democratic era after MPs rejected her Brexit deal by a resounding majority of 230. The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, immediately moved to sieze the initiative, tabling a vote of no confidence in the government.... Brexit-supporting Conservatives joined with opposition parties and the Democratic Unionist party to trounce the government in the 'meaningful vote', which the prime minister delayed before Christmas in the vain hope of winning over waverers. Following the defeat, May immediately invited a formal vote of no confidence in her own government, which she said would be voted on as soon as Wednesday." ...

     ... Brian Williams of MSNBC (surprisingly) introduced the Brexit vote news by noting that the Brexit campaign was Putin's first big foray into destabilizing Europe. What he didn't mention was Trump's vociferous support for Brexit & his collaboration/collusion with its advocates like Nigel Farage.

New York Times reporters are live-updating William Barr's Senate confirmation hearing. ...

... The Washington Post's live updates are here. ...

... Marianne Levine & Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Attorney General nominee William Barr ... told Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that he did not think Mueller 'would be involved in a witch hunt,' a term Trump has used repeatedly to deride the investigation. Barr also told the Judiciary Committee that he agreed with former Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation -- the primary reason Trump soured on Sessions."

Nice Try, Senators. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Republicans blocked a House-passed package to reopen the federal government for a second time in as many weeks on Tuesday. Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen (Md.) and Ben Cardin (Md.) asked for consent to take up a package of bills that would reopen the federal government. One bill would fund the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 8, while the other would fund the rest of the impacted departments and agencies through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. Under Senate rules, any senator can ask for consent to vote on or pass a bill, but any senator can object. [Mitch] McConnell blocked the two bills, saying the Senate wouldn't 'participate in something that doesn't lead to an outcome.'" ...

... Nice Try, Trump. Jordan Fabian & Scott Wong of the Hill: "No Democrats will attend a lunch on Tuesday with President Trump designed to reach an agreement to end the government shutdown and fund a border wall, the White House said. Trump had invited several moderate House Democrats to the White House in an effort to undermine Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has refused to grant Trump his demand for $5.7 billion in wall funding. But the group turned down the invitation.... In a private meeting Monday night, Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told fellow leaders they were fine with rank-and-file members meeting with Trump, according to a source in the meeting. Pelosi joked to Hoyer: 'They can see what we've been dealing with. And they'll want to make a citizen's arrest.'" ...

... Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "The Federal Aviation Administration is bringing thousands of furloughed inspectors and engineers back to work as the partial government shutdown drags on, the agency said on Tuesday. The agency's announcement came after unions representing aviation safety inspectors and air traffic controllers raised concerns that the lengthy shutdown was eroding the safety of the nation's air travel system. It is one of the largest changes made by a government agency since the shutdown last month to address the need to maintain an essential service."

Great being with the National Champion Clemson Tigers last night at the White House. Because of the Shutdown I served them massive amounts of Fast Food (I paid), over 1000 hamberders etc. Within one hour, it was all gone. Great guys and big eaters! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet Tuesday ...

... How Many Hamberders Would a Hamberdler Buy if a Hamberdler Would Be Trump? Aaron Rupar of Vox: "... an amusing tweet ... Donald Trump posted Tuesday morning illustrates just how easily he exaggerates and contradicts himself.... Speaking to reporters just before players showed up, Trump proudly displayed the spread of 'great American food,' and said, 'we have 300 hamburgers, many, many french fries -- all of our favorite foods.' Three hundred hamburgers is a lot of burgers, even for a football team. But it apparently wasn't enough for Trump. Within a matter of minutes, the number grew exponentially. Addressing the players, Trump claimed to have purchased 1,000 hamburgers.... On Tuesday morning, Trump tweeted that the number of burgers he purchased had grown again to 'over 1000 hamberders [sic] etc.' (He later reposted the tweet without the typo.)" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Rupar writes, "Photos of the event suggest something along the lines of the lower number is accurate." Yeah but the pix don't show the 700 Big Macs Trump ordered be sent directly to the residence.

Michael Wines of the New York Times: "A federal judge blocked the Commerce Department on Tuesday from adding a question on American citizenship to the 2020 census, handing a legal victory to critics who accused the Trump administration of trying to turn the census into a tool to advance Republican political fortunes. The ruling marks the opening round in a legal battle with potentially profound ramifications for federal policy and for politics at all levels, one that seems certain to reach the Supreme Court before the printing of census forms begins this summer. In a lengthy and stinging ruling, Judge Jesse M. Furman of the United States District Court in Manhattan said that Wilbur L. Ross Jr., the commerce secretary, committed 'a veritable smorgasbord' of violations of federal procedural law when he ordered the citizenship question added."

*****

A reminder that if you pay quarterly federal taxes, today is the deadline for the fourth quarter. I e-paid last night; I wasn't sure the site would work, what with the IRS being furloughed & all, but it turns out the gummit is still happy to take your money any way it can get it. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Annie Karni & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Monday that he has rejected a proposal by Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina to temporarily reopen the government in an effort to jump-start talks with Democratic lawmakers on funding a border wall. 'I did reject it,' Mr. Trump said of the proposal, speaking to reporters as he boarded Marine One outside of the White House, en route to delivering a speech to a farm convention in New Orleans." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Still Not Ready for His Close-up. Michelle Goldberg: "Trump has turned out to be the Norma Desmond of authoritarians, a senescent has-been whose delusions are propped up by obsequious retainers. From his fantasy world in the White House, he barks dictatorial and often illegal orders, floats conspiracy theories, tweets insults and lies unceasingly. But much of the time he's not fully in charge. He has the instincts of a fascist but lacks both the discipline and the loyal lieutenants he'd need to create true autocracy. That doesn't mean, however, that the country isn't coming undone.... As of this writing, the president has rejected every way out of the government shutdown save full capitulation by House Democrats.... The shutdown throws our crisis into high relief. For the first two years, Trump destroyed American norms, standards and conventions. Now he's cavalierly destroying American lives." ...

... "M.I.A. MITCH." Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post: "The man who declared in 2014 that he's 'the guy that's gotten us out of shutdowns' is facing mounting pressure, 25 days into this year's longest-running government closure, to lend that expert touch to this stubborn impasse. The pressure is coming not just from Democrats but from unpaid federal workers, including from his home state of Kentucky. Some workers are lining the streets of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's Lexington office, holding posters that read: 'Mitch give us a vote on the floor' and '5 federal prisons in KY = thousands without pay." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Once again, Mitch threw in his lot with the Wrong Guy, and now the Wrong Guy has left Mitch in an untenable position, too. And don't think the Wrong Guy gives a flying fuck.

Dangerous Times -- This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

Julian Barnes & Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "There are few things that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia desires more than the weakening of NATO, the military alliance among the United States, Europe and Canada that has deterred Soviet and Russian aggression for 70 years. Last year, President Trump suggested a move tantamount to destroying NATO: the withdrawal of the United States. Senior administration officials told The New York Times that several times over the course of 2018, Mr. Trump privately said he wanted to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Current and former officials who support the alliance said they feared Mr. Trump could return to his threat as allied military spending continued to lag behind the goals the president had set. In the days around a tumultuous NATO summit meeting last summer, they said, Mr. Trump told his top national security officials that he did not see the point of the military alliance.... Now, the president's repeatedly stated desire to withdraw from NATO is raising new worries among national security officials amid growing concern about Mr. Trump's efforts to keep his meetings with Mr. Putin secret from even his own aides, and an F.B.I. investigation into the administration's Russia ties."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post points out that Mike Pompeo also offered up only a non-denial denial when asked about the NYT report that the FBI had been investigating Trump as a possible national security threat. His non-answer, which he essentially repeated in response to a follow-up question about whether or not he knew about the FBI investigation: "I'm not going to comment on New York Times stories, but I'll certainly say this: The -- the notion that President Trump is a threat to American national security is absolutely ludicrous." Blake writes, "... given Pompeo's proximity to all this -- as both secretary of state and then-CIA director -- he's in a unique position to offer the most ironclad denial of basically anybody not named Trump or Mueller.... The fact that Pompeo wouldn't quite go there might be more significant even than Trump's non-denial-turned-actual-denial." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Pamela Brown, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's legal team rebuffed special counsel Robert Mueller's request in recent weeks for an in-person session with Trump to ask follow-up questions. The request was made after Trump's team submitted written answers to a limited number of questions from Mueller's team focusing on before Trump was in office.... The Trump team appears to have hardened its position." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: If it's true that Trump has been a target of Mueller's investigation, I don't see why Trump would agree to an interview. Even the president* has a Fifth-Amendment right, and he's almost guaranteed to incriminate himself.

Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "The day after Comey was fired, [FBI attorney Lisa Page & her lover FBI counterintelligence officer Peter Strzok] exchanged a message that has drawn the interest of Republicans. It said, 'And we need to open the case we've been waiting on now while Andy is acting.' In her [closed-door] testimony [before a House committee], Lisa Page confirmed that 'Andy' was a reference to ... Andrew McCabe. In her testimony Page ... confirms that 'the case we've been waiting on' means that even prior to Comey's firing, the FBI had been considering opening an investigation into the president specifically. This is confirmation of what I've said all along, which was that the intelligence community has long considered Donald Trump as a possible Russian agent. But ... the inquisitors didn't understand what the investigation was about and Page was not allowed to tell them." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: It's worth noting that Comey, McCabe & Strzok have all been fired, as was Jeff Sessions. Page left the FBI, as did James Baker, whom Congressional Republicans charged, apparently without evidence, of leaking the Steele dossier. Trump planned to fire Robert Mueller. He has repeatedly disparaged Mueller's investigators, the FBI in general & Rod Rosenstein in particular. It's pretty hard not to suspect that most or all of these firings were predicated not on these officials' misdeeds but on their efforts to investigate Donald Trump.

At the Kleptocracy's Ball. Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "Private donors put up $107 million to usher Donald J. Trump into office in style two years ago, and it is now clear just how enthusiastically his inaugural committee went to town with it. There was $10,000 for makeup for 20 aides at an evening inaugural event. There was another $30,000 in per diem payments to dozens of contract staff members, in addition to their fully covered hotel rooms, room service orders, plane tickets and taxi rides, including some to drop off laundry. The bill from the Trump International Hotel was more than $1.5 million.... Over all, the Trump team's spending appears 'astronomical,' said Emmett S. Beliveau, who was chief executive of Mr. Obama's first inaugural committee.... Disclosure of the spending details comes at a time when the inaugural committee is facing legal scrutiny over the donations that funded it. Inaugural committees are required to document every donation with the Federal Election Commission, and the Trump team's reports are now under investigation by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Investigators are also looking into whether any foreign donations, which are illegal in the United States, were passed through Americans, and whether any donations went unrecorded

Katie Benner of the New York Times: "William P. Barr, President Trump's nominee for attorney general, promised on Monday that he would allow the special counsel to continue his investigation, seeking to allay Democrats' fears that he might shut down the inquiry. 'It is in the best interest of everyone -- the president, Congress, and, most importantly, the American people -- that this matter be resolved by allowing the special counsel to complete his work,' Mr. Barr said in written testimony that he plans to deliver on Tuesday at the start of his two-day confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.... But Mr. Barr also included a subtle caveat, limiting his assurances about the Mueller investigation to the issues under his control:... That qualification could be important because Mr. Barr has long advanced a philosophy of strong executive powers under which any administration decision is ultimately the president's to make. His views also include the notion that the president is the nation's top law-enforcement official, not the attorney general." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie Translation: "If President* Trump tells me to knee-cap my old pal Bob Mueller, I have a sledge hammer at the ready." ...

I read your memorandum with great surprise. [In all my years reviewing nominations, I have never seen a nominee write] such an in depth legal memorandum for no reason. -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein, in a letter to Bill Barr (section is brackets is paraphrased) ...

... Ariane de Vogue of CNN: "Attorney General nominee William Barr shared a controversial memo last year with nearly all of ... Donald Trump's lawyers concluding that an aspect of special counsel Robert Mueller's case could be 'fatally misconceived,' Barr acknowledged Monday. Barr's 19-page memo -- which concluded that Trump's publicly reported interactions with ex-FBI Director James Comey could not constitute obstruction of justice -- was addressed to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Assistant Attorney General Steve Engel and released as a part of Barr's Senate questionnaire last month. But it was previously unclear who else had seen it. In a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham Monday night, Barr said that he had sent it to White House special counsel Emmet Flood, Solicitor General Noel Francisco and his former Justice Department colleague Pat Cipollone who is now White House counsel. He also discussed the issues raised in the memo with Trump lawyers Marty and Jane Raskin and Jay Sekulow. In addition he sent a copy, or had a conversation about the contents of the memo with Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Jared Kushner. In Tuesday's testimony, Barr will say he distributed the memo 'broadly' so that other lawyers 'would have the benefit of my views.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The memo, of course, was Barr's job application essay, and he wanted as many Trump whisperers as possible to see it. He didn't send a 19-page memo to Trump, of course, because Trump can't read anything longer than half a page with a lot of white space, large print & bullet points, but de Vogue reports "Barr discussed the memo with Trump prior to his nomination...."

... Mrs. McCrabbie: One reason the Senate will definitely confirm Bill Barr: every one of them knows he's the best Trump can get. Still, there's something essential I don't get & I think senators should ask him: why would you even take this lousy job? Maybe you want to be "relevant" again, but relevance is relative. Every single person in this administration or who has left -- sometimes by being escorted out the door on the arms of armed guards -- comes out with a ruined reputation. You won't be a week in the job before your own boss publicly humiliates you. And that's only the beginning. You can count on repeated invitations from our House neighbors to a grilling in the hot seat. You'll probably have to hire your own personal attorney. "Attorney General in Trump Administration" is not something anyone would put on hisrésumé. ...

... Josh Lederman of NBC News: "William Barr ... once warned of a lack of 'political supervision' at the Justice Department that he said gave too much leeway to career prosecutors and made it 'very easy for prosecutors to go hunting for scalps.' Barr, who will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, told an interviewer during compilation of an oral history of the George H.W. Bush administration in 2001 that 'the idea that the Department of Justice has to be independent' had gained ground following the Watergate scandal and risked going too far.... In the oral history..., Barr also spoke fervently about his opposition to the independent counsel law.... Although the law that Barr was criticizing is no longer in effect, it was replaced by a system that continues to face some of the same criticisms leveled by Barr and others." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: "Political supervision," huh? Another questions senators should ask Barr is, "Don't you think it's Trump who needs supervision?" It would be hilarious if Barr waffled on this a bit to try to please both Trump & the Senate, and Trump responded in a huff of indignation by withdrawing Barr's nomination. ...

... Okay, here are some real questions members of the Judiciary Committee should ask Barr, questions that have been asked of nominees before: ...

... Mikhaila Fogel, et al., of Lawfare: "The controversy over Barr boils down to a simple anxiety: Given his public statements about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference, his actions with respect to it and his known views on matters of executive power, is he the proper person to oversee the Mueller probe?... Twice in 1973, the committee confronted nominees to head the Justice Department as the Watergate investigation was unfolding -- first when President Nixon nominated Elliot Richardson and second when, following the Saturday Night Massacre, he appointed William Saxbe.... In both cases, the hearings were dominated by senators seeking confidence that the new attorney general would allow an independent and impartial investigation of Watergate to go forward to completion." The writers propose "15 questions drawn from those hearings which senators may wish to pose to Barr[.]"

... "Donald Trump & His Team of Morons." Paul Krugman: "To be a modern conservative is to spend your life inside what amounts to a cult, barely exposed to outside ideas or even ways of speaking. Inside that cult, contempt for ordinary working Americans is widespread.... So is worship of wealth. And it can be hard for cult members to remember that you don't talk that way to outsiders. Then there's the Trump effect. Normally working for the president of the United States is a career booster.... Trump' presidency, however, is so chaotic, corrupt and potentially compromised by his foreign entanglements that anyone associated with him gets tainted -- which is why after only two years he has already left a trail of broken men and wrecked reputations in his wake."

... Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court, without comment, turned away a challenge Monday to Matthew G. Whitaker's appointment as acting attorney general. Washington lawyer and Supreme Court practitioner Thomas C. Goldstein has intervened in cases in Nevada and Maryland to say that President Trump did not have the legal authority to appoint Whitaker, who had been chief of staff to Jeff Sessions when Trump forced out his attorney general in November. The justices denied the Nevada case and its attempt to substitute Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein for Whitaker. The Maryland case is still before a federal judge there.... Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh, in coordination with Goldstein, has also challenged the validity of Whitaker's appointment as part of a pending case in federal court in Baltimore seeking to uphold a key section of the Affordable Care Act. U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander has not yet ruled on the state's motion to replace Whitaker with Rosenstein."

Erin Banco, et al., of the Daily Beast: "The Special Counsel's Office and federal prosecutors in Manhattan are scrutinizing a meeting involving former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, one-time National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and dozens of foreign officials, according to three sources familiar with the investigations. The breakfast event ... took place ... at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 18, 2017.... About 60 people were invited, including diplomats from governments around the world.... The breakfast has come under scrutiny by federal prosecutors in Manhattan as part of their probe into whether the Trump inaugural committee misspent funds and if donors tried to buy influence in the White House.... The Special Counsel's Office is also looking at the breakfast as part of its investigation into whether foreigners contributed money to the Trump inaugural fund and PAC by possibly using American intermediaries.... Robert Mueller's team has asked Flynn about the event.... Nunes ... has not been accused of any wrongdoing...."

More International Policy by Tweet. Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the New York Times: "President Trump threatened Turkey on Sunday with harsh economic sanctions if it attacks Kurdish forces in Syria after American troops withdraw from the country in the coming months. 'Will devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds,' Mr. Trump said on Twitter, suggesting that there would be a 20-mile safe zone around the group after American forces leave. He added, 'Likewise, do not want the Kurds to provoke Turkey.' Mr. Trump's tweets marked the first public threat toward Turkey, a NATO ally, over the Kurds and seemed to offer a blanket of protection for the group, a band of American-backed militias that the Turkish government sees as terrorists." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... AND Screwing Things Up in the Process. John Hudson & Kareem Fahim of the Washington Post: "As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo crisscrossed the Middle East this week to explain the U.S. military withdrawal from Syria, he repeated that he was 'confident' and 'optimistic' that he was nearing a deal with Turkey on a mutually agreeable exit plan. But a pugnacious tweet from President Trump on Sunday night vowing to 'devastate' the Turkish economy if Ankara attacks U.S.-backed Kurds revealed a much wider chasm between the two sides and prompted a new round of recriminations from Turkey. Hours later, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu blasted Trump's 'threatening language...,' adding: 'You will not get anywhere by threatening Turkey's economy.' The row marked the second time in a week that the White House has intervened in negotiations led by the State Department in a way that infuriated Turkey and caught U.S. diplomats flat-footed. In trying to explain Trump's tweets on Monday, Pompeo told reporters in Riyadh that he assumed Trump meant the United States would levy sanctions on Turkey if it attacked the Kurds but that he did not know for certain.... [Pompeo said] that he had not talked to Trump about the tweet." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Frida Ghitis in Politico Magazine: "The world has become hostage to the president's 280-character digital bursts. But the real-world consequences are all too real. Just ask a Syrian.... The Trump administration has staged quite a foreign policy spectacle in recent weeks, with top officials, including the president, publicly battling out differences over Syria -- over the future of the Middle East, in fact -- churning out a befuddling series of statements, counterstatements, affirmations and contradictions about what the U.S. intends to do, is already doing, or would never do.... The Syria policy show has become ... a case study on why the United States needs a functioning process for designing and implementing foreign policy. Without it, as the entire world can see, what results is an incoherent mess with the potential to further destabilize unstable regions, signaling that the United States is an undisciplined, unreliable and untrustworthy ally." Read on ...

... Juan Cole: "National Security Adviser John Bolton lied his face off when he told Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on his recent Mideast junket that he was sure Iran's leaders are dedicated to acquiring deliverable nuclear weapons. Nuclear security expert Joe Cirincione shredded Bolton over his false assertion, which is contradicted by UN inspectors and US intelligence. Bolton made sure to tell Netanyahu this so that Netanyahu could quote Bolton in his own fantasy-filled and inflammatory speeches urging an attack on Iran.... Ironically, when [Jim] Mattis first met Bolton, he joked that he had heard that he was 'the Devil.'... So then toward the end of his tenure Mattis found out that we weren’t wrong about Bolton, and he had been foolish to be so insouciant.... I'm not sure exactly what the Democratic House can do to forestall Bolton's peculiar Iranomania from plunging us into another generation of war and instability and bankruptcy. But they should do what they can to get the madman out of office." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive? Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization? -- Rep. Steve King, to the New York Times last week ...

... Watch the first minute (as marked on the video) wherein the Racist-in-Chief pretends he doesn't know who White Supremacist Rep. Steve King is & knows nothing about King's defense of white nationalism & white supremacy:

... Trip Gabriel, et al., of the New York Times: "House Republican leaders removed Representative Steve King of Iowa from the Judiciary and Agriculture Committees on Monday night as party officials scrambled to appear tough on racism and contain damage from comments Mr. King made to The New York Times questioning why white supremacy is considered offensive. The punishment came on a day when Mr. King was denounced by an array of Republican leaders, though not President Trump. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, suggested Mr. King find 'another line of work' and Senator Mitt Romney said he should quit. And the House Republicans, in an attempt to be proactive, stripped him of the committee seats in the face of multiple Democratic resolutions to censure Mr. King that are being introduced this week." ...

... ** Adam Serwer of the Atlantic: "While it is heartening to see that King's antics have finally drawn a unified response of condemnation from the right, the reactions seem to miss the obvious point that there is little daylight between Steve King and ... Donald Trump.... Unlike King however, the president has the authority, by himself, to make his views into policy. From his travel ban to his child-separation policy to his revocation of protections for immigrants brought here as children, he has pursued discriminatory policies with a commitment he has shown for few other campaign promises. Even now, the federal government remains shut down, its workforce denied payment for their labor, all in pursuit of the construction of a taxpayer funded symbolic monument of disapproval towards immigrants of Latin American descent.... On Sunday night, Trump tweeted a column from Pat Buchanan arguing that the president should seize executive power and build the wall without approval from Congress.... Such a barrier is made necessary, Buchanan argues, because of the increasing diversity of the United States.... 'The more multiracial, multiethnic, multicultural, multilingual America becomes -- the less it looks like Ronald Reagan's America -- the more dependably Democratic it will become,' he argues in the same column." ...

... As Chris Hayes of MSNBC pointed out, Mitch McConnell & his Congressional confreres are still pursuing King & Buchanan's ethno-nationalist policy to build that wall. At the expense of a working government, I would add.

Tom Vanden Brook of USA Today: "The Pentagon will send a fresh deployment of active-duty troops to the southern border at the request of officials from the Department of Homeland Security. Late Monday, the Pentagon also announced that deployments of active-duty troops would extend through September. The new contingent of troops will include combat engineers to fortify border crossings and aviation units to help ferry Border Patrol agents, according to a Defense Department official who was not authorized to speak publicly. The troops will also help with surveillance at the border, according to the Pentagon statement." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So take some pictures of engineers "fortifying border crossings," label them, "Army troops build Great Wall of Trump to Keep Murderers & Rapists out of USA," send the pix to Trump so he thinks he "won" along with the bill to re-open the government.

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Ivanka Trump ... will play a role in helping to select the next head of the World Bank, the White House said Monday. Ms. Trump, who had been rumored to be a contender for the position herself, will not be a candidate, a Trump administration official said. But she will assist the Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, and the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, in choosing a successor to Jim Yong Kim, the current president of the World Bank who announced last week he would be stepping down. Mr. Mnuchin called Ms. Trump last week and asked her if she would be involved, an administration official said. Jessica Ditto, a White House spokeswoman, said Ms. Trump was asked because 'she's worked closely with the World Bank's leadership for the past two years.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: What Jessica Ditto says isn't very important, but I am obligated to cut & paste the phrase, "Ditto, a White House spokeswoman."

Richard Hasen in Slate: "The Democrats' first order of business as they took control of the 116^th Congress was introducing H.R. 1, the colossal 'For the People Act.' This 571-page behemoth of a bill covering voting rights, campaign finance reform, ethics improvements, and more was a perfect reminder of just how much power the Constitution gives Congress to make elections better in this country and, sadly, of how partisan the question of election reform has become.... The bill now has 221 co-sponsors, all Democrats, including almost every Democrat in the House. It's disheartening that bipartisan movement on election reform is no longer possible and that few of the significant improvements in the bill stand a chance of becoming law until Democrats have control of the Senate and the presidency. Even then some of its provisions could be blocked by a conservative-leaning Supreme Court. But if and when Democrats ever do return to full power in Washington, H.R. 1 should remain the top priority. Though there is room for some improvements, the 'For the People Act' would go an enormous way toward repairing our badly broken democracy." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is why you vote for Democrats even when they're jerks.

Thomas Novelly of the Louisville Courier Journal: "Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, one of the fiercest political critics of socialized medicine, will travel to Canada later this month to get hernia surgery. Paul ... said the operation is related to an injury in 2017 when his neighbor, Rene Boucher, attacked him while Paul was mowing his lawn. He is scheduled to have the outpatient operation at the privately adminstered Shouldice Hernia Hospital in Thornhill, Ontario during the week of Jan. 21, according to documents from Paul's civil lawsuit against Boucher filed in Warren Circuit Court.... While Shouldice Hernia Hospital is privately owned -- like many Canadian hospitals -- it receives a majority of its funding from the Ontario government and accepts the Ontario's Hospital Insurance Plan."

Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "Joseph Lieberman, the former Connecticut senator and Democratic vice presidential candidate, is working for a company he once called a national security threat. In November, Lieberman registered as a lobbyist for ZTE, a Chinese telecom giant with close links to the country's government." Mrs. McC: Al Gore is one of the few Democratic presidential candidates I did nothing to help except to vote for him. Joe is why.

Alice Ollstein of Politico: "A federal judge in Pennsylvania put a nationwide block on Trump administration rules that would have allowed virtually any employer to deny workers' birth control coverage, one day after a federal judge halted the rules in a group of states. In her ruling Monday afternoon, Judge Wendy Beetlestone sided with a group of Democratic attorneys general challenging the administration's policy as unconstitutional and in violation of the Affordable Care Act. The Trump rules, which would allow employers broad leeway to claim a religious or moral objection to covering birth control, were set to take effect Monday. Beetlestone's ruling is more sweeping than a similar decision Sunday night in a different court. U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam in Northern California issued a partial injunction blocking the policy from taking effect in 13 states and Washington, D.C., that were behind a separate lawsuit."

Beyond the Beltway

Jesse McKinley & Vivian Wang of the New York Times: "After years of lagging behind other states, New York radically overhauled its system of voting and elections on Monday, passing several bills that would allow early voting, preregistration of minors, voting by mail and sharp limits on the influence of money. The bills, which were passed by the State Legislature on Monday evening, bring New York in line with policies in other liberal bastions like California and Washington, and they would quiet, at least for a day, complaints about the state's antiquated approach to suffrage. Their swift passage marked a new era in the State Capitol. Democrats, who assumed full control this month after decades in which the Legislature was split, say they will soon push through more of their priorities, from strengthening abortion rights to approving the Child Victims Act, which would make it easier for victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue their assailants.... Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat elected to a third term in November, is expected to sign the package of voting bills, which would also merge state and primary elections into the same day; New York was the only state that held separate state and federal primary elections last year, potentially depressing voter turnout."

Way Beyond

Heather Stewart of the Guardian: British PM "Theresa May appears to be on course for a crushing defeat in the House of Commons as Britain's bitterly divided MPs prepare to give their verdict on her Brexit deal in the 'meaningful vote' on Tuesday. With Downing Street all but resigned to losing by a significant margin, Guardian analysis pointed to a majority of more than 200 MPs against the prime minister. Labour sources said that unless May made major unexpected concessions, any substantial margin against her would lead Jeremy Corbyn to call for a vote of no confidence in the government -- perhaps as soon as Tuesday night. But since Conservative MPs are unlikely to offer Corbyn the backing he would need to win a no-confidence vote, he would then come under intense pressure to swing Labour's weight behind a second referendum. Cabinet ministers have not yet been told how May plans to keep the Brexit process on track if her deal is defeated – and they remain split on how she should proceed."

News Lede

New York Times: "Carol Channing, whose incandescent performances as the gold-digging Lorelei Lee in 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' and the matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi in 'Hello, Dolly!' made her a Broadway legend, died early Tuesday at her home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. She was 97."