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Public Service Announcement
Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."
Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion —reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.
Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”
New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~
~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”
New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”
Click on photo to enlarge.
~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI."
Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”
New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”
Margaret Brennan of CBS News: "Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, had been planning to exit his post in February 2019. But sources tell CBS News that he informed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he will accelerate his departure due to a strong disagreement with President Trump's snap decision to withdraw 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, effectively abandoning U.S. allies in the region. McGurk submitted his resignation on Friday, just one day after Defense Secretary James Mattis quit his post citing fundamental disagreements with the commander-in-chief -- including one over the importance of honoring U.S. alliances."
*****
Updated. Again. Julie Davis & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The federal government shut down early Saturday after congressional and White House officials failed to find a compromise on a spending bill that hinged on President Trump's demands for $5.7 billion for a border wall. It is third shutdown in two years of unified Republican rule in Washington, and it will stop work at nine federal departments and several other agencies. Hundreds of thousands of government employees are affected. Any hope of a compromise ended about 8:30 p.m. Friday, when both the House and the Senate had adjourned with no solution in sight. Talks are expected to begin again on Saturday. A burst of late-afternoon activity could not break the deadlock, even as Vice President Mike Pence met with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, and senior House Republicans, searching for a solution to a logjam that Mr. Trump has shown little interest in breaking." (This is another update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: In an earlier update to this story, we learned, "Mr. Trump shelved plans to go to his winter estate in Florida...." Boo-fucking-hoo. A Trumpertantrum forces Trumpty-Dumpty to postpone his golfing vacation. Mind you, earlier this week, pence assured Senate leadership that Trump would sign the continuing resolution that the Senate passed Wednesday, a plan foiled by Trump's fear of criticism by such political philosophers as Ann Coulter & Rush Limbaugh. ...
... "Shutdown? More Like a Breakdown."New York Times \ Editors: "The spectacle began gearing up early last week, when, in an Oval Office tête-à-tête with ... Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, the president boasted that he would be 'proud' to bring parts of the government to a halt if Congress did not hand over $5 billion for his border wall. He stuck with this position for basically a week, until, come Tuesday, he executed a tidy flip-flop, sending word via his press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, that he would, in fact, accept a stopgap bill that did not include money for a border wall. Lawmakers promptly slapped together such a plan, zipped it over to the White House and hit the road for Christmas break.... [Then] Unable to bear the scorn of [Ann] Coulter and Rush Limbaugh and his cheerleaders at 'Fox & Friends,' Mr. Trump promptly reversed course. On Thursday, he rejected Congress's temporary funding deal, declaring that either he'd get his $5 billion for a wall (or as he now calls it, 'steel slats') or Americans would get a 'Democrat shutdown.'... By Friday, he was in full attack mode. During morning Executive Time, he let loose with a classic Twitter barrage.... At an afternoon bill signing, the president continued trying to shift blame onto Democrats...." ...
... Wait, Wait. There's More. Sarah Mervosh of the New York Times: "... President Trump late Friday called on Senate Democrats to approve funds for border security in a video recording posted to Twitter, in which he paired sweeping references to crime with incendiary footage of people moving in large crowds. 'It's very dangerous out there,' Mr. Trump said, as the screen flashed to groups of people, including a scene of a crowd banging on a fence. 'Drugs are pouring in, human trafficking, so many different problems, including gangs like M.S. 13. We don't want them in the United States.'... He stressed the need for border security, which he described as 'a wall or a slat fence or whatever you want to call it.'" Includes video, which is unintentionally funny. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: One of the White House staff dispatched to the hill to try to hammer out a compromise that will mollify the Whiney Baby in the White House, as well as the screaming Freedom Caucus (of which he was a founding member), is all-purpose aide & soon-to-be chief-of-staff Mick Mulvaney. What with the mollification factor being (the) Great Wall of Trump, the following is ironic:
... Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "Mick Mulvaney once called ... Donald Trump's views on a border wall and immigration 'simplistic' and 'absurd and almost childish.'... [Mulvaney said in August 2015,] 'The fence doesn't solve the problem. Is it necessary to have one, sure? Would it help? Sure. But to just say build the darn fence and have that be the end of an immigration discussion is absurd and almost childish for someone running for president to take that simplistic of [a] view.'... 'The fence is an easy thing to sell politically,' Mulvaney said. 'It's an easy thing for someone who doesn't follow the issue very closely to say, "oh, well that'll just solve everything, build the fence."'"
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Apparently everybody -- House, Senate & President* -- agrees on most of terms of funding. The only sticking point is (the) wall. So my suggestion to break the impasse is that the House & Senate vote to send a huge bill to Mexico for (the) wall to comport with Trump's campaign promise. Problem solved. More seriously, the "slat fence" aside is a big concession. We already have "slat fencing" at the U.S.-Mexico border, and Democrats don't oppose adding to & repairing it. So redefining "wall" as "slat fence" may be the real way to end the shutdown. Plus, I think a fence will work very well:
** Matthew Lee & Susannah George of the AP: "... Donald Trump's decision to withdraw American troops from Syria was made hastily, without consulting his national security team or allies, and over strong objections from virtually everyone involved in the fight against the Islamic State group, according to U.S. and Turkish officials. Trump stunned his Cabinet, lawmakers and much of the world with the move by rejecting the advice of his top aides and agreeing to a withdrawal in a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week, two U.S. officials and a Turkish official briefed on the matter told The Associated Press." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: According to the report, even "Erdogan cautioned Trump against a hasty withdrawal...." When you read the back-and-forth, you'll likely agree with Jeet Heer:
... Jeet Heer: "From [the AP's] reporting, it seems likely that it was neverErdogan's intention to get the United States to withdraw. Rather he made the demand as a bargaining move, to get other, lesser goals. Trump, displaying his mastery of the art of the deal, gave in to Erdogan's maximum position." So it turns out that not only is Trump a bad negotiator because he doesn't begin to understand or appreciate the stakes, he also doesn't comprehend basic negotiating strategy. As we've learned again & again, Trump's "dealmaking strategy" is simply to be untrustworthy; that is, to make a commitment, then renege on it.
... ** Update. Karen DeYoung, et al., of the Washington Post: "When he spoke to President Trump on the telephone a week ago Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's agenda had not changed from when they met two weeks earlier at the Group of 20 summit in Argentina.... The Islamic State, according to Trump himself, had been defeated, Erdogan said. Turkey's military was strong and could take on any remaining militant pockets. Why did some 2,000 U.S. troops still need to be there? 'You know what? It's yours,' Trump said of Syria. 'I'm leaving.' The call, shorthanded in more or less the same words by several senior administration officials, set off events that, even by the whirlwind standards of Washington in the Trump years, have been cataclysmic. They ended, for the moment at least, with Thursday's resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. This account of the tumultuous past week is drawn from interviews with government officials in the White House and across national security departments...." ...
... Andrew Desiderio of the Daily Beast: "The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee revealed on Friday that the U.S. military was planning a 'major clearing operation' targeting ISIS before ... Donald Trump decided abruptly this week to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria. '... We were six weeks away from a major clearing operation that has been planned for a long time. I got briefed on this a year ago -- with ISIS in the Euphrates River Valley,' Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) said Friday on Capitol Hill.... Corker said 'at least 20,000' ISIS fighters are still in the region. The 'major clearing operation ... would have changed the dynamic tremendously' in Iraq and Syria, where ISIS has lost significant territory in recent years.... 'So to pull the plug -- it's just hard to understand,' Corker said.... 'If you want to move away from Syria, why wouldn't you do it after you've done the work that you've been planning for so long?'"
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "'Fox and Friends' host Brian Kilmeadeon Friday morning tore intoTrump's ... controversial decision ... to pull U.S. troops out of Syria -- and he did it right to the face of Trump's own press secretary, Sarah Sanders. Kilmeade even went so far as to say that the president was paving the way for a revitalized Islamic State, also known as ISIS. 'He also is doing exactly what he criticized President Obama for doing,' Kilmeade told Sanders. 'He said President Obama is the founder of ISIS; he just re-founded ISIS, because they have 30,000 men there and they are already striking back with our would-be evacuation. The president is really on the griddle with this. 'Leaving is helping,' Kilmeade added, repeating: 'Leaving is helping.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... David Sanger of the New York Times: "... more convinced than ever that his initial gut instincts about retreating from a complex world of civil wars and abstract threats was right, Mr. Trump has rid himself of the aides who feared the president was undercutting America's long-term national interests. Now the president appears determined to assemble a new team of advisers who will not tell him what he cannot do, but rather embrace his vision of a powerful America that will amass a military that will enforce national sovereignty and bolster American deal-making -- but not spend time nurturing the alliance relationships that Mr. Mattis, in a remarkable resignation letter, makes clear are at the core of American power."
... Conservative Bret Stephens of the New York Times has some words of advice for Anonymous: "In September, you acknowledged that you were a member of the 'quiet resistance' within Donald Trump's administration. You told us that you and others were 'working diligently' to 'frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.'... You also believed that your efforts to resist Trump were often successful.... You were wrong.... A president who sticks it to his own team while sticking with a foreign strongman is not worth sticking by.... You must know by now that you are no longer keeping a bad thing from getting worse. All you are doing is disguising how bad it is, thereby helping it to become worse."
Eliana Johnson & Burgess Everett of Politico: "... Donald Trumpfaces a dangerous erosion of support among rank-and-file Republicans thanks to a series of jarring recent moves that have alienated even some close GOP allies. From his defense of Saudi Arabia's crown prince over the murder of a dissident journalist to his abrupt decision to pull American troops out of Syria to his demand for a government shutdown, Trump has been angering friendly lawmakers, leading some who typically kept their disagreements to themselves to speak up.... 'Going to the base of the base means that Republican senators are going to start disagreeing with you, because that's not their party,' said Matthew Continetti, editor-in-chief of the conservative Washington Free Beacon.... Also aggravating Republicans is Trump's sheer unpredictability, which was evident from his unclear and shifting positions on the budget talks." ...
... Ditto. Jonathan Martin, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump's near-simultaneous decisions this week to force a government shutdown over his demand to fund a border wall and withdraw American troops from Syria and Afghanistan have imperiled the fragile Republican coalition, exacerbating the party’s fears about what may become of his presidency -- and its own electoral prospects in 2020. By placating the far right on immigration, embracing his instincts on foreign policy and unnerving investors with his trade wars and policy gyrations, Mr. Trump is elevating the nativist and noninterventionist elements of his party. In doing so, he is deeply straining his most important links to mainstream Republican governance, and the national security hawks and conservative business executives who have long been pillars of the right. And by disregarding the counsel of seasoned advisers, Mr. Trump demonstrated that he does not grasp how damaging his impulsive behavior was to his party in last month's elections, when his party lost 40 seats in the House, senior Republicans said Friday." ...
... Yes, But Russia Is Elated. Julia Davis of the Daily Beast counts the ways, from the Syrian pullout to the lifting of sanctions against Oleg Deripaska's aluminum producer Rusal. "Discussing the planned departure of the U.S. from Syria, state TV host Olga Skabeeva pondered why Trump suddenly decided to leave at this point in time: 'Americans say, it's because he is beholden to Putin. Is that logical? Yes, it is.'"
Bob Mueller, Take Note. Laura Jarrett & Pamela Brown of CNN: "... Donald Trump has at least twice in the past few weeks vented to his acting attorney general, angered by federal prosecutors who referenced the President's actions in crimes his former lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. Trump was frustrated, the sources said, that prosecutors Matt Whitaker oversees filed charges that made Trump look bad. None of the sources suggested that the President directed Whitaker to stop the investigation, but rather lashed out at what he felt was an unfair situation.... The first known instance took place when Trump made his displeasure clear to ... Whitaker after Cohen pleaded guilty November 29 to lying to Congress about a proposed Trump Tower project in Moscow.... Over a week later, Trump again voiced his anger at Whitaker after prosecutors in Manhattan officially implicated the President in a hush-money scheme to buy the silence of women around the 2016 campaign -- something Trump fiercely maintains isn't an illegal campaign contribution. Pointing to articles he said supported his position, Trump pressed Whitaker on why more wasn't being done to control prosecutors in New York who brought the charges in the first place, suggesting they were going rogue."
... Mrs. McCrabbie: You know, "pressing" the AG "to control prosecutors" has to be right there on the definitions page of the DOJ manual on obstruction of justice. Plus, here's a fun question: Who leaked this exchange? Obviously, it was someone who wanted to protect the Mueller investigation. Now that it's out that Trump urged Whitaker "to control prosecutors," Whitaker absolutely cannot do that without implicating himself in a conspiracy to obstruct justice. ...
... Josh Marshall: "It is clear as day that Jeff Sessions was fired and replaced by Whitaker because Trumpwanted an AG who would represent him and protect him." Marshall figures Whitaker hasn't come through for Trump because (a) Rob Mueller & Rod Rosenstein "are major DC law enforcement and national security heavyweights who have a lot of clout, reputation and experience. Whitaker meanwhile is basically a punk...." and (b) He was quickly overtaken by his own scandals and possible legal jeopardy."
Sadly, Trump is not content to shutter the government, destroy U.S. international policy & curb the Mueller investigation. Now, he wants to upend the markets, too: ...
... Jennifer Jacobs, et al., of Bloomberg News: "... Donald Trumphas discussed firing Federal Reserve ChairmanJerome Powell as his frustration with the central bank chief intensified following this week's interest-rate increase and months of stock-market losses, according to four people familiar with the matter. Advisers close to Trump aren't convinced he would move against Powell and are hoping that the president's latest bout of anger will dissipate over the holidays, the people said on condition of anonymity. Some of Trump's advisers have warned him that firing Powell would be a disastrous move. Yet the president has talked privately about firing Powell many times in the past few days, said two of the people. Any attempt by Trump to push out Powell would have potentially devastating ripple effects across financial markets, undermining investors' confidence in the central bank's ability to shepherd the economy without political interference."
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "A divided Supreme Court on Friday refused to allow the Trump administration to immediately enforce a new policy of denying asylum to those who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. ... sided with the court's four liberals in denying the request, which lower courts had stopped after finding it a likely violation of federal law. For the first time on a contested issue, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh ... noted his agreement with the court's other conservatives. He and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch ... would have granted the administration's request to let the order go into effect. The decision was about whether to lift a lower court's stay of Trump's new asylum regulation, not on the merits of his plan. The legal fight on that could return to the Supreme Court."
Dan Berman of CNN: "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had two cancerous nodules removed from her left lung Friday at a New York hospital, the Supreme Court announced. There is no evidence of any remaining disease, says a court spokesperson, nor is there evidence of disease elsewhere in the body." (Also linked yesterday.)
... Katia Hetter, et al., of CNN: "The solstice this year will be extra special because it will be followed the next day by a full moon known as the Cold Moon, and you might be able to see a meteor shower to boot."
On the Darkest Day of the Year, the U.S. Government Is in Chaos
President Trump is plunging the country into chaos. -- Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Thursday (no link)
Afternoon Update:
Dan Berman of CNN: "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had two cancerous nodules removed from her left lung Friday at a New York hospital, the Supreme Court announced. There is no evidence of any remaining disease, says a court spokesperson, nor is there evidence of disease elsewhere in the body."
Mrs. McCrabbie: Mitch McConnell at about 12:30 pm ET set up a Senate vote on the House continuing resolution that include $5BB for Great Wall of Trump (that would be "the Great Wall of Trump" but for the observations of Josh Marshall (linked below) & Monoloco in today's Comments.
Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Trump warned early Friday that a partial government shutdown 'will last for a very long time,' seeking to blame Democrats for a potential government funding lapse that he said last week he would proudly own.... The president also urged Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, to endorse the 'Nuclear Option' and abolish the ability of the minority party to filibuster and delay votes over spending measures." Mrs. McC: Senate rules preclude the use of the so-called nuclear option on budgetary legislation.
** Matthew Lee & Susannah George of the AP: "... Donald Trump's decision to withdraw American troops from Syria was made hastily, without consulting his national security team or allies, and over strong objections from virtually everyone involved in the fight against the Islamic State group, according to U.S. and Turkish officials. Trump stunned his Cabinet, lawmakers and much of the world with the move by rejecting the advice of his top aides and agreeing to a withdrawal in a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week, two U.S. officials and a Turkish official ... told The Associated Press."
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: “'Fox and Friends' host Brian Kilmeadeon Friday morning tore intoTrump's ... controversial decision ... to pull U.S. troops out of Syria -- and he did it right to the face of Trump's own press secretary, Sarah Sanders. Kilmeade even went so far as to say that the president was paving the way for a revitalized Islamic State, also known as ISIS. 'He also is doing exactly what he criticized President Obama for doing,' Kilmeade told Sanders. 'He said President Obama is the founder of ISIS; he just re-founded ISIS, because they have 30,000 men there and they are already striking back with our would-be evacuation. The president is really on the griddle with this. 'Leaving is helping,' Kilmeade added, repeating: 'Leaving is helping.'"
*****
Will the last adult leaving this White House turn off the lights. ...
Will the last person to leave the Trump administration please remember to leave food and water behind for Mick Mulvaney, who will be left doing all the jobs? -- J.T. Levy in a tweet
** Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump began Thursday under siege, listening to howls of indignation from conservatives over his border wall and thrusting the government toward a shutdown. He ended it by announcing the exit of the man U.S. allies see as the last guardrail against the president's erratic behavior: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, whose resignation letter was a scathing rebuke of Trump's worldview. At perhaps the most fragile moment of his presidency -- and vulnerable to convulsions on the political right -- Trump single-handedly propelled the U.S. government into crisis and sent markets tumbling with his gambits this week to salvage signature campaign promises. The president's decisions and conduct have led to a fracturing of Trump's coalition. Hawks condemned his sudden decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. Conservatives called him a 'gutless president' and questioned whether he would ever build a wall. Political friends began privately questioning whether Trump needed to be reined in." ...
... Susan Glasser of the New Yorker: "... all the chaos at year's end is a powerful reminder that the manner in which the President operates is so outside of any normal parameters for governing, so disdainful of process, and so heedless of consequences that his decisions don't resolve crises so much as create them.... ... This [latest] debacle has all the elements we have come to associate with Trump's Presidency: the imperious Twitter decree; the reckless and untrue claims; the snubbing of advice from experts, allies, and his own staff; the transparent effort to distract from one set of scandals by creating another.... When we look back on 2018, it may not be to recall all the crazy things that happened when Donald Trump was President. A year from now, it may appear as the quiet before the storm."
Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "Jim Mattis, the four-star Marine general turned defense secretary, resigned on Thursday in protest of President Trump's decision to withdraw 2,000 American troops from Syria, where they have been fighting the Islamic State. Mr. Trump announced the resignation in two tweets Thursday evening, and said Mr. Mattis will leave at the end of February. Officials said Mr. Mattis went to the White House on Thursday afternoon in a last attempt to convince Mr. Trump to keep American troops in Syria. He was rebuffed, and told the president that he was resigning as a result. Hours later, the Pentagon released Mr. Mattis's resignation letter, in which he implicitly criticized his commander in chief.... His departure leaves the Trump administration without one of the few officials viewed as standing between a mercurial president and global tumult. The president said he would name Mr. Mattis's replacement shortly." ...
... Julie Pace & Zeke Miller of the AP: "The shrinking circle around Trump is now increasingly dominated by a small cadre of longtime Trump loyalists and family members, ex-Fox News talent and former GOP lawmakers who were backbenchers on Capitol Hill before being elevated by the president. Attracting top flight talent will only get more difficult as more investigations envelope the White House once Democrats take over the House in January.... Mattis and outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Joseph Dunford became almost weekly dinner guests of the president early in his administration.... The seemingly informal briefings for the president were in fact carefully orchestrated persuasion sessions designed to ease the president into abandoning some of his disruptive campaign rhetoric and accepting the advice of his senior national security advisers. But Mattis' departure highlights how those early efforts delayed Trump's disruption, rather than averting it.... Trump's split with Mattis followed a pattern of public breakdowns with advisers who served as guardrails in the administration." ...
... David Rothkopf of the Daily Beast: Thursday "Trump's most highly regarded aide sent a message to the world and in particular to those responsible for presidential oversight on Capitol Hill. The president is not only outside the mainstream in his thinking, he is out of control. The man who controls the world's most powerful military and the resources of the world's richest government, is beyond assistance, beyond redemption, beyond influence other than by our enemies and his greed and narcissism. That was more than a letter of resignation provided today by Mattis, it was a bright red line in American history. We will be judged by how we respond to his clear and courageous message." ...
... "The Last Grown-up Is Gone." Fred Kaplan of Slate: "Secretary of Defense James Mattis didn’t just resign on Thursday; he resigned in protest over the president's policies -- the first time a Cabinet secretary has done that since Cyrus Vance quit his job as secretary of state, 40 years ago, over Jimmy Carter's failed rescue attempt of the U.S. hostages in Iran. President Trump tried to disguise this fact, tweeting late on Thursday that Mattis 'will be retiring, with distinction, at the end of February.' But administration officials don't 'retire.' They 'resign,' and Mattis -- who already did retire as a four-star general from the Marine Corps in 2013 -- is resigning with bitterness and fatigue." Mrs. McC: The White House did not release Mattis's resignation letter; Mattis did, according to TV news reports. ...
... Vera Bergengruen of BuzzFeed News: "... a letter from Mattis made clear the decision was not that harmonious.... The decision comes a day after Trump announced he'd withdraw troops from Syria, which Mattis opposes, and reports that he may also withdraw troops from Afghanistan.... Mattis personally hand-delivered his resignation letter to the White House on Thursday, a defense official confirmed to BuzzFeed News. When he returned to the Pentagon, he told his staff.... Mattis's restraint reportedly frustrated the president. As their relationship grew more strained in the second year of his presidency, Trump privately downgraded the defense secretary [from 'Mad Dog'] to 'Moderate Dog' and started to signal that he could soon make a change at the Pentagon. In an interview in October, Trump seemed to dismiss Mattis by calling him 'sort of a Democrat,' and saying he 'may leave.' It was no secret that Mattis opposed many of Trump's decisions in the White House, including decertifying the Iran deal, withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum, and moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv." ...
... The report includes a copy of Mattis's resignation letter. ...
... Nick Wadhams of Bloomberg: "Mattis's abrupt resignation as defense secretary and Trump's rapid-fire moves to reshape the U.S. military footprint abroad are provoking fears that there's no one left to restrain the president's most combative and isolationist impulses.... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell -- usually loathe to criticize the president -- said he was 'distressed' over the departure of Mattis, who he said had a 'clear-eyed understanding of our friends and foes.' 'It is regrettable that the president must now choose a new Secretary of Defense,' McConnell said. 'But I urge him to select a leader who shares Secretary Mattis's understanding of these vital principles.'... [Sen. Marco] Rubio [R-Fla.] said Mattis's resignation letter 'makes it abundantly clear that we are headed towards a series of grave policy errors which will endanger our nation, damage our alliances & empower our adversaries.'... Mattis's exit may augur a fundamental change in the way adversaries and allies approach the administration, a trend that's already visible with North Korea. Kim Jong Un's regime has all but shut out [Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo and his chief envoy, Steve Biegun, instead looking to deal with the president himself, knowing he is the ultimate authority.'"
... Juan Cole: "[I]t certainly is the case that Mattis has often restrained Trump's worse instincts.... But if you were going to judge Mattis's performance as Secretary of Defense, you'd have to look at his performance with regard to military challenges.... In 2017, US airstrikes in the [Mideast] region killed 215% as many civilians as had died in them the year before. Trump may have ordered it, but Mattis could have pushed back the way he did on other issues. There is no evidence he did.... Mattis was losing Afghanistan, as even the right wing Weekly Standard admitted, and can't be accounted as a success story on that front.... Mattis tried to whitewash the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in testimony on the hill, saying there is no 'smoking gun.' Mattis isn't a knight in shining armor but another right wing general of the Westmoreland sort, who will always win your war for you if you just let him play dirty enough and give him enough men and money and decades." --s ...
... Josh Rogin of the Washington Post: "President Trump's surprise decision to rapidly withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria is meeting with intense criticism by foreign policy experts, who denounce it as strategically stupid, reckless for national security and a blow to America's global credibility. But inside Syria, the consequences are even more serious. For one example, 50,000 Syrian civilian refugees living under the direct protection of the U.S. military are suddenly fearing for their lives.... They are near starvation, effectively under siege and living in squalor. But despite their situation, they will tell anyone who will listen that they are grateful to be free from the grasp of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and that they are depending on the United States to keep them safe and alive. On Wednesday, Trump put their lives at grave risk with a single tweet."
Breaking This Morning. Washington Post: "Turkish president announces delay of planned offensive in Syria, welcomes Trump decision to pull out troops. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish forces are still planning to invade northeast Syria in the coming months and 'cleanse' the region of both Kurdish militias and Islamic State forces. Turkey has long opposed the U.S. partnership with Kurdish forces in the battle against the Islamic State. This is a developing story. It will be updated."
... Courtney Kube, et al., of NBC News: "The White House has ordered the Pentagon to draw up plans for a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, two defense officials and a person briefed on the matter told NBC News. The plans are due shortly after the new year, according to the officials. They cautioned that no decision has been made, but President Trump wants to see options. The White House has asked the Pentagon to look into multiple options, including a complete withdrawal, the officials said." ...
... Update. Uh, Looks Like Chief Seat-of-the-Pants Decided Not to Wait for, You Know, Plans. Thomas Gibbon-Neff of the New York Times: "The Trump administration is withdrawing roughly 7,000 troops from Afghanistan in the coming months, two defense officials said Thursday, around half of what the American military has there now. Mr. Trump made the decision at the same time he decided he was pulling American forces out of Syria, one official said. The move is likely one of the first steps to end the United States' involvement in the 17-year-old war. The 14,000 American troops currently in Afghanistan are divided between training and advising Afghan forces and a counterterror mission against groups like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda. The reduction, one official said, is in an effort to make Afghan forces more reliant on their own troops and not Western support."
Haley Britzky of Axios: "President Trump tweeted Friday that it would be a 'Democrat Shutdown' if Senate Democrats vote down the short-term spending bill that the House passed last night, which includes $5.7 billion for Trump's border wall. 'Senator Mitch McConnell should fight for the Wall and Border Security as hard as he fought for anything. He will need Democrat votes, but as shown in the House, good things happen. If enough Dems don't vote, it will be a Democrat Shutdown! House Republicans were great yesterday!'... Trump said last week that he'd be 'proud to shut down the government,' and said he would take full responsibility for a shutdown over border security." ...
... Erica Werner, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump threatened Thursday to veto a stopgap spending bill unless it includes billions of dollars to build a wall along the Mexico border, sending large parts of the federal government lurching toward a shutdown starting Saturday.... House Republican leaders hurried to appease the president, pulling together a bill that would keep the government funded through Feb. 8 while also allocating $5.7 billion for the border wall. The bill included an additional nearly $8 billion for disaster relief for hurricanes and wildfires. The measure passed the House on a near-party-line vote of 217-185 Thursday night, over strident objections from Democrats.... But the House vote only hardened Washington's budget impasse barely 24 hours away from the shutdown deadline. Democrats have the Senate votes to block any bill that includes funding for Trump's wall, and Trump says he'll veto any bill that doesn't." ...
... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Thursday that President Trumpwill not sign a stopgap spending bill over concerns about border security, a decision that increases the risk of a government shutdown.... In a minute-long statement on the driveway outside the West Wing, the Speaker said lawmakers would work on adding border security measures to the funding bill but did not specifically mention border-wall funding." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jordain Carney of the Hill: "GOP senators emerged from [a] closed-door meeting in visible disbelief that President Trump is refusing to sign a seven-week stopgap measure to fund the government that cleared the chamber by a voice vote less than 24 hours ago. Senate GOP leadership appeared confident on Wednesday that Trump would sign the stopgap, which will fund approximately 25 percent of the government, as long as they kept poison pill policy riders out of it. But Trump, under fire from conservative pundits and lawmakers, reversed course Thursday. 'Are you ruining my life?' GOP Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) joked to The Hill when told about the decision.... Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who is retiring in early January, started laughing when he was told of Trump's decision. 'Well, why not?"' he quipped, asked why he was laughing, adding that he was 'not really' surprised by Trump's decision.... Scores of senators have already left town after the Senate cleared the stopgap bill Wednesday night." ...
... Jonathan Chait: "Government shutdowns are rare, and almost always ineffective, expressions of conflict between opposing parties in control of Congress and the White House. President Trump's plan to shut down the government is something different: an expression of conflict between his campaign promises and reality. Trump famously campaigned on a promise of building a wall on the southern border, and forcing Mexico to pay for it. He has two problems fulfilling this promise. First, Mexico is not going to pay for the wall under any circumstances. And second, Congress might pay for it, but only under circumstances Trump's base won't accept.... [Faced with these realities,] you could see the outline of a plan. Trump would wheedle some money out of Democrats, rebrand the tweaked NAFTA as Mexico 'paying' for it, rebrand the fence [which Democrats would approve] as a wall, and say he won.... But then right-wing media threw a fit.... For whatever reason, they're not going along with the plan of pretending the wall is getting built, and instead they're demanding Trump shut down the government to get the wall. And when right-wing infotainers demanded this, Trump 'alternately seethed and panicked about the stream of invective he's hearing from allies on television,' as Politico reports." ...
... Graham Goads Chump. Nicole Lafond of TPM: "Just as White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that President Trump didn't want to go any further without border wall funding, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) encouraged Trump to 'dig in' and 'force' lawmakers to give him wall funding instead of signing the continuing resolution." --s ...
... Sarah Ferris & John Bresnahan of Politico: "The House Republican caucus was thrown into chaos Thursday as conservatives revolted against a funding bill that includes no new money for ... Donald Trump's border wall. On the brink of a Christmastime shutdown, House Speaker Paul Ryan is confronting resistance from rank-and-file Republicans, who have begun personally egging on Trump to force a shutdown over the wall. The odds of a shutdown rose dramatically Thursday as Freedom Caucus leaders Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan headed to the White House for a sit-down with Trump himself. Ryan and his deputies began making plans to put a funding bill on the floor that would deliver $5 billion to the border wall, in an attempt to make good on Trump's promise in the final days of a GOP-controlled Congress.... The issue erupted Thursdayduring a raucous closed-door meeting." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Moving the Goalposts. Josh Marshall of TPM: "For reasons that are not entirely clear to me the word has apparently come down from the White House that the wall, as in the wall to be built along the southern border, must now be called 'wall'. In other words, no definite article, no 'the'." Marshall cites examples. --s ...
... Catie Edmondson & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Here's what to expect if government funding expires on Saturday." ...
... But, you know, who cares?Trump is still planning to go to Mar-a-Lago this weekend, per White House aide. -- Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post, in a tweet
... AND in related news...,
... Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "In two hours on Thursday, President Trump publicly unveiled an expansive farm bill, railed against the dangers of illegal immigration, fought with Congress over funding for a border wall and announced the departure of Jim Mattis, his defense secretary, who is resigning over what he regards as the president's ill-planned decision to pull back American troops from Syria. Why not throw in a video of himself singing the theme song from the 1960s sitcom 'Green Acres'?... It was most likely meant to boost the president as he celebrated the passage of a sweeping, $867 billion farm bill -- a result of rare bipartisan compromise that critics say his administration is already seeking to undermine by using regulatory power to restrict access to food stamps." ...
... Madison Kircher of New York: "For context, Trump and [Megan] Mullally's performance was part of a gimmick at that year's Emmy's called 'Emmy Idol,' where different celebrities performed theme songs throughout the night. Trump and Mullally were eventually declared the winners and Trump called her the next day to thank her and let her know they 'really needed to win that.' Apropos of, well, everything, Trump has never won a real Emmy and definitely isn't bitter about that fact at all." Mrs. McC: Tell Trump your job, and he'll stereotype you, too. ...
... "Trump Will Always Find a Way to Punish the Poor." Sarah Jones of New York: "On Thursday, the USDA announced a proposed rule that would, if it goes into effect, attach strict work requirements to [SNAP] the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps.... The rule would accomplish something congressional Republicans failed to do in the farm bill: expand work-for-welfare and ultimately shrink entitlement programs like SNAP.... SNAP already has work requirements in place, but states have some flexibility in how they decide to structure the programs[.]... Trump backed work requirements, but without Congress in his corner, he had to find another way to get the job done. Thus, the USDA. Trump, it turns out, can be consistent when he pleases.... Low unemployment is a convenient justification for policies to which Trump was already committed: tax cuts for the wealthy, welfare cuts for everyone else."
This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.
Pete Williams & Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "Special counsel Robert Muelleris nearing the end of his historic investigation into Russian election interference and is expected to submit a confidential report to the attorney general as early as mid-February, government officials and others familiar with the situation tell NBC News.... The sources who spoke to NBC News warn that a few major outstanding matters could complicate Mueller's endgame. One is Mueller's desire to interview the president about all aspects of his investigation, including obstruction of justice matters about which the president has refused to answer questions. If Mueller moved to subpoena the president, that could spark months of litigation that could delay his report. A source ... says Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker would have to approve any such subpoena."
... Charlie Savage & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Matthew G. Whitaker, who was installed last month as acting attorney general by President Trump, has cleared himself to supervise the special counsel's investigation, rejecting the recommendation of career Justice Department ethics specialists that he recuse himself, a senior department official said on Thursday. The development came soon after the disclosure that the president's nominee for attorney general, William P. Barr, had written a memo this spring in which he strongly criticized one of the main lines of inquiry by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III -- whether Mr. Trump had committed obstruction of justice. Disclosure of the memo raised questions about whether Mr. Barr would order Mr. Mueller to shut down that component of the inquiry if the Senate confirmed him. Together, the developments underscored the potential threats to Mr. Mueller's ability to complete his work without interference at a time when his inquiry appears to be drawing closer to the White House and the president's most trusted associates." ...
... ** Devlin Barrett & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "A senior Justice Department ethics official concluded acting attorney general Matthew G. Whitakershould recuse from overseeing special counselRobert S. Mueller III's probe examining President Trump, but advisers to Whitaker recommended the opposite and he has no plans to step aside, people familiar with the matter said. Earlier Thursday, a different official, who spoke on the condition they not be named, said ethics officials had advised Whitaker need not step aside, only to retract that description hours later. The advice to stay away from the Mueller probe underscores the high stakes and deep distrust -- within Congress and in some corners of the Justice Department -- surrounding Whitaker's appointment as the nation's top law enforcement official until the Senate votes on the nomination of William P. Barr to take the job.... Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) said Whitaker's disregarding the opinion of a senior ethics official was 'deeply alarming' and 'only reinforces the probability that his antagonism toward the Mueller probe was the sole reason for his selection as Acting Attorney General in the first place.'" ...
... Here's the New York Times story, by Charlie Savage, on AG nominee William Barr's memo bitching about the Mueller investigation. "Separately, a Justice Department official said on Thursday that Matthew G. Whitaker, the acting attorney general, had met with ethics experts at the Justice Department and would not be recusing himself from the Mueller investigation." (Related stories also linked yesterday.) ...
... Jonathan Chait: "It-s entirely possible -- indeed, it seems quite likely -- Trump was aware of the memo. The assertion by the Journal source that the memo 'played no role' in Trump's selection of Barr is therefore extremely hard to accept at face value. We know Trump is obsessed with finding an attorney general who will suppress the Mueller investigation. His candidate wrote a memo attacking Mueller, and submitted it to Trump's lawyer, who may or may not have informed others of the memo's existence. The worst-case scenario for Barr is that he opened a covert back channel to the administration and campaigned for the role of being Trump's Roy Cohn. The best-case scenario is that he merely created the appearance of impropriety. Barr, in this scenario, merely happens to be a fanatical proponent of executive power who expresses his passion for the issue by writing long memos in his spare time." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Wish you had a high-ranking job in the Justice Department? Attorney General, maybe? Here's how to apply: (1) Go on the teevee a lot & bash the special counsel probe (Whitaker). (2) OR send an unsolicited 20-page memo to the Justice Department (be sure to send copy to White House) bashing the special counsel probe (Barr). Of course it could be just a remarkable coincidence that "bash special counsel" shows up in both application processes.
Bob Mueller, Take Note. Anna Massoglia of Open Secrets: "The Trump campaign funneled money to ad buyers alleged to have facilitated illegal coordination between the campaign and the NRA by routing funds through a secretive LLC that appears to be little more than a shell company, an investigation by the Center for Responsive Politics has found. While the Trump campaign stopped reporting payments to ad buyers alleged to have facilitated illegal coordination between the campaign and the NRA after the 2016 election cycle, Trump's 2020 campaign has continued to deploy the same individuals working for the firms at the center of the controversy through payments to Harris Sikes Media LLC -- a low-profile limited-liability company operating with no website or public-facing facade whatsoever. Facing the illegal coordination allegations are National Media, Red Eagle Media Group and American Media & Advocacy Group (AMAG), closely tied consultancies that share staff, resources and adjacent storefronts in Alexandria, Va." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump does seem awfully fond of employing those secretive shell LLCs to get around campaign finance laws. (See Daniels, Stormy.)
** Anthony Cormier & Jason Leopold of BuzzFeed News: "US Treasury Department officials used [an unsecured] Gmail back channel with the Russian government as the Kremlin sought sensitive financialinformation on its enemies in America and across the globe, according to documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News. The extraordinary unofficial line of communication arose in the final year of the Obama administration -- in the midst of what multiple US intelligence agencies have said was a secret campaign by the Kremlin to interfere in the US election. Russian agents ostensibly trying to track ISIS instead pressed their American counterparts for private financial documents on at least two dozen dissidents, academics, private investigators, and American citizens. Most startlingly, Russia requested sensitive documents on Dirk, Edward, and Daniel Ziff, billionaire investors who had run afoul of the Kremlin. That request was made weeks before a Russian lawyer showed up at Trump Tower offering top campaign aides 'dirt' on Hillary Clinton -- including her supposed connection to the Ziff brothers. Russia's financial crimes agency, whose second-in-command is a former KGB officer and schoolmate of President Vladimir Putin, also asked the Americans for documents on executives from two prominent Jewish groups, the Anti-Defamation League and the National Council of Jewish Women, as well as Kremlin opponents living abroad in London and Kiev.... Russia's attempts to extract information about Western targets triggered alarms inside the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN...."
Ken Dilanian: "Soon after the Democrats take control of the House next year, Rep. Richard Neal, who will be the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, expects to send a letter to Treasury SecretarySteve Mnuchin requesting copies of Donald Trump's [tax] returns.... A 1924 federal law -- 26 U.S. Code § 6103 -- mandates that the Treasury secretary 'shall furnish' the tax returns of any individual for private review by the chairmen of the House and Senate tax committees. Committee sources could find no evidence that it had ever been used to obtain somebody's tax return. But they say the law, which was passed to monitor conflicts of interest in the executive branch, is clear.... But Neal has said he also expects that the Treasury Department -- and perhaps Trump himself -- will put up a ferocious legal fight.... If and when he does get them, Neal and the Democrats plan to make the returns public, Congressional sources told NBC News.... Legal experts say ... it's a near certainty that special counsel Robert Mueller's team, and perhaps federal prosecutors in Manhattan, long ago obtained Trump's tax returns, meaning not just his personal returns, but those associated with every company he controls."
"Gohmert Wisdom", Ctd. Frank Dale of ThinkProgress: "Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) attempted to defend President Donald Trump's family separation policy on Thursday by implying it is no different than special counsel Robert Mueller pursuing the prosecution of Paul Manafort, thereby separating him from his own adult children." --s
Katelyn Marmon of ThinkProgress: "Only Congress can amend U.S. immigration policy. But to bypass it, the Trump administration has focused on asylum, over which the executive branch can exercise more control. The Trump administration has spent the last two years reshaping the asylum policies in unprecedented ways, resulting in confusion across the board for immigrants and advocates alike. Here are three big ways the Trump administration has changed asylum over the last two years. This list is not exhaustive, but it highlights the multi-pronged approach the administration is employing to restrict asylum." --s
Alex Emmons of The Intercept: "ON JANUARY 30, 2017, then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer announced that the Pentagon had conducted a 'very successful' special operations raid against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen. The raid resulted in the deaths of 'an estimated 14 AQAP members' and one U.S. service member, later identified as Navy Seal William 'Ryan' Owens, Spicer said..... But ... the Pentagon privately assessed that the raid had killed more than twice as many people as it had initially said.... Those numbers contradict on-the-ground reporting, which found that most of the dead were villagers who mistook the SEALs for members of a Yemeni rebel group known as the Houthis, their local adversaries. Those killed included at least six women and 10 children under the age of 13, residents said." --s
Mick Moved to the Shit List. Mike Allen, et al. of Axios: "[O]fficials at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue tell us that Trumpis complaining about his& incoming chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, in conversations inside the West Wing and with Capitol Hill. Trump asked one trusted adviser: 'Did you know [Mulvaney] called me "a terrible human being" back during the campaign?' We're told that Trump was furious when the slight surfaced[.]" --s
A Very Special White House Retirement Plan. Maggie Haberman & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "After weeks of discussions about his future, Zachary D. Fuentes, the 36-year-old deputy White House chief of staff..., told colleagues that after his mentor, John F. Kelly, left his job as chief of staff at the end of the year, he would 'hide out' at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House, for six months, remaining on the payroll in a nebulous role. Then, in July, when he had completed 19 years of service in the Coast Guard, Mr. Fuentes -- an active-duty officer -- would take advantage of an early retirement program. The program ... had lapsed for Coast Guard officials at the end of the 2018 fiscal year, and, according to people briefed on the discussions, Department of Homeland Security officials began pressing Congress in November to reinstate it. Administration officials said they had been told that Mr. Fuentes discussed the program with officials at the Department of Homeland Security, and after reporters raised questions with lawmakers of both parties, a provision to reinstate it was abruptly pulled from a House bill on Wednesday. The White House declined to answer questions about whether Mr. Fuentes had pressed to have the program restarted...."
Mrs. McCrabbie: So I suppose you won't be surprised to find out that the guy who is running a GoFundMe page to build the Great Wall of Trump is a right-wing nut. Ben Collins & Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News: "... Brian Kolfage spent a large portion of the fundraising campaign's description outlining his past.... The fundraising page doesn't mention Kolfage's most recent business venture, a Facebook page titled Right Wing News and a ring of affiliate sites that frequently trafficked in conspiracy theories. In October, Right Wing News was pulled down by Facebook in a sweep of more than 559 pages that the company said were 'using fake accounts ... to drive traffic to their websites' or 'were ad farms using Facebook to mislead people into thinking that they were forums for legitimate political debate.' Days after the pulldown, Kolfage created a group called Fight4FreeSpeech, which accepts donations, and is also not referenced in the GoFundMe.... [Kolfage's] sites often trafficked in false, inflammatory and racist content.... Kolfage told NBC News he didn't want to mention Right Wing News or Fight4FreeSpeech because he 'didn't want it to be a distraction.'"
Judy Kurtz of the Hill: "Former President Obamadid his best Santa Claus impression while making a surprise hospital visit at Children's National Health System in Washington." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
I only read the Constitution for the articles. -- Ilya Shapiro, conservative lawyer
Funny, But. That should be "I read the Constitution only for the Articles." -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie, liberal pedant
Scott Shane & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "As Russia’s online election machinations came to light last year, a group of Democratic tech experts decided to try out similarly deceptive tactics in the fiercely contested Alabama Senate race, according to people familiar with the effort and a report on its results. The secret project, carried out on Facebook and Twitter, was likely too small to have a significant effect on the race, in which the Democratic candidate it was designed to help, Doug Jones, edged out the Republican, Roy S. Moore. But it was a sign that American political operatives of both parties have paid close attention to the Russian methods, which some fear may come to taint elections in the United States." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Matt Phillips of the New York Times: "Stocks tumbled yet again on Thursday, a day after the Federal Reserve pushed forward with another interest-rate increase and offered few signs that it would sharply slow the pace of monetary tightening as many had hoped. The S&P 500-stock index declined 1.6 percent, and the Dow Jones industrial index fell 2 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 1.6 percent, pushing it 19.5 percent below its late-August peak. A decline of 20 percent marks the official start of a bear market. On its own, the broader S&P 500 is down more than 15 percent from its peak, within spitting distance of entering a bear market and ending the long bull rally that began in early 2009."
Laura Davison & Shobhana Chandra of Bloomberg News, via Yahoo! News: "The amount of offshore cash corporations are bringing back to the U.S. dropped sharply for a second straight quarter, falling short of the trillions of dollars ... Donald Trump had promised would result from his tax overhaul.... Trump has said, without specifying his source, that he expects more than $4 trillion to return to the U.S., which will help to create jobs and more investment." Thanks to PD Pepe for the link....
... Mrs. McCrabbie BTW: Trump's $4 trillion estimate, not surprisingly, does not make any sense. According to an expert the reporters cite, "The amount of cash accumulated offshore is probably closer to $2.5 trillion than $4 trillion." Even if the amount were $4 trillion, for various reasons, companies would not repatriate 100% of it. As it is, assuming the expert is right, there's not more than about $2.5 trillion out there to repatriate, and again, corporations will not bring 100% of that back into the U.S. (Also linked yesterday.)
Natalie Kitroeff & Jessica Silver-Greenberg of the New York Times: "Discrimination against pregnant women and new mothers remains widespread in the American workplace. It is so pervasive that even organizations that define themselves as champions of women are struggling with the problem. That includes Planned Parenthood, which has been accused of sidelining, ousting or otherwise handicapping pregnant employees, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees. In interviews and legal documents, women at Planned Parenthood and other organizations with a feminist bent described discrimination that violated federal or state laws -- managers considering pregnancy in hiring decisions, for example, or denying rest breaks recommended by a doctor.... Some of those employers saw accommodating expecting mothers as expensive and inconvenient. Others were unsympathetic to workers seeking special treatment."
Daniel Burke of CNN: "In yet another blow to the Catholic Church in the United States, Illinois' attorney general says the state's six dioceses have failed to disclose accusations of sexual abuse against at least 500 priests and clergy members. Illinois' dioceses have released lists publicly identifying 185 clergy members who had been credibly accused of child sex abuse. But state Attorney General Lisa Madigan said preliminary findings in her investigation reveal that the church failed to disclose sexual abuse allegations against at least 500 additional priests and clergy members. In many cases, the accusations have 'not been adequately investigated by the dioceses or not investigated at all,' Madigan's office said in a statement Wednesday. What's more, the statement added, the church often failed to notify law enforcement authorities or the state's Department of Children and Family Services about the allegations." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Way Beyond the Beltway
Barak Ravid in Axios: "More than three months ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin's national security adviser Nikolai Patrushevgave his Israeli counterpart ... an unofficial proposal for a deal between the U.S. and Russia on Syria and Iran.... The Russian proposal would have tied a U.S. withdrawal from Syria to an Iranian exit from the country, and provided the U.S. and Israel more influence over a future political settlement in Syria. However, it also called for a freeze on U.S. sanctions on Iran -- something Netanyahu found unacceptable." --s
Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Thursday that President Trumpwill not sign a stopgap spending bill over concerns about border security, a decision that increases the risk of a government shutdown.... In a minute-long statement on the driveway outside the West Wing, the Speaker said lawmakers would work on adding border security measures to the funding bill but did not specifically mention border-wall funding."
Judy Kurtz of the Hill: "Former President Obama did his best Santa Claus impression while making a surprise hospital visit at Children's National Health System in Washington." ...
Sarah Ferris & John Bresnahan of Politico: "The House Republican caucus was thrown into chaos Thursday as conservatives revolted against a funding bill that includes no new money for ... Donald Trump's border wall. On the brink of a Christmastime shutdown, House Speaker Paul Ryan is confronting resistance from rank-and-file Republicans, who have begun personally egging on Trump to force a shutdown over the wall. The odds of a shutdown rose dramatically Thursday as Freedom Caucus leaders Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan headed to the White House for a sit-down with Trump himself. Ryan and his deputies began making plans to put a funding bill on the floor that would deliver $5 billion to the border wall, in an attempt to make good on Trump's promise in the final days of a GOP-controlled Congress.... The issue erupted Thursday during a raucous closed-door meeting."
Laura Davison & Shobhana Chandra of Bloomberg News, via Yahoo! News: "The amount of offshore cash corporations are bringing back to the U.S. dropped sharply for a second straight quarter, falling short of the trillions of dollars ... Donald Trump had promised would result from his tax overhaul.... Trump has said, without specifying his source, that he expects more than $4 trillion to return to the U.S., which will help to create jobs and more investment." Thanks to PD Pepe for the link. Mrs. McC BTW: Trump's $4 trillion estimate, not surprisingly, does not make any sense. According to an expert the reporters cite, "The amount of cash accumulated offshore is probably closer to $2.5 trillion than $4 trillion." Even if the amount were $4 trillion, for various reasons, companies would not repatriate 100% of it. As it is, assuming the expert is right, there's not more than about $2.5 trillion out there to repatriate, and again, corporations will not bring 100% of that back into the U.S.
Bob Mueller, Take Note. Anna Massoglia of Open Secrets: "The Trump campaign funneled money to ad buyers alleged to have facilitated illegal coordination between the campaign and the NRA by routing funds through a secretive LLC that appears to be little more than a shell company, an investigation by the Center for Responsive Politics has found. While the Trump campaign stopped reporting payments to ad buyers alleged to have facilitated illegal coordination between the campaign and the NRA after the 2016 election cycle, Trump's 2020 campaign has continued to deploy the same individuals working for the firms at the center of the controversy through payments to Harris Sikes Media LLC ... a low-profile limited-liability company operating with no website or public-facing facade whatsoever. Facing the illegal coordination allegations are National Media, Red Eagle Media Group and American Media & Advocacy Group (AMAG), closely tied consultancies that share staff, resources and adjacent storefronts in Alexandria, Va." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump does seem awfully fond of employing those secretive shell LLCs to get around campaign finance laws. (See Daniels, Stormy.)
Here's the New York Times story, by Charlie Savage, on William Barr's memo bitching about the Mueller investigation. "Separately, a Justice Department official said on Thursday that Matthew G. Whitaker, the acting attorney general, had met with ethics experts at the Justice Department and would not be recusing himself from the Mueller investigation." ...
... Jonathan Chait: "It's entirely possible indeed, it seems quite likely -- Trump was aware of the memo. The assertion by the Journal source that the memo 'played no role' in Trump's selection of Barr is therefore extremely hard to accept at face value. We know Trump is obsessed with finding an attorney general who will suppress the Mueller investigation. His candidate wrote a memo attacking Mueller, and submitted it to Trump's lawyer, who may or may not have informed others of the memo's existence. The worst-case scenario for Barr is that he opened a covert back channel to the administration and campaigned for the role of being Trump's Roy Cohn. The best-case scenario is that he merely created the appearance of impropriety. Barr, in this scenario, merely happens to be a fanatical proponent of executive power who expresses his passion for the issue by writing long memos in his spare time."
Daniel Burke of CNN: "In yet another blow to the Catholic Church in the United States, Illinois' attorney general says the state's six dioceses have failed to disclose accusations of sexual abuse against at least 500 priests and clergy members. Illinois' dioceses have released lists publicly identifying 185 clergy members who had been credibly accused of child sex abuse. But state Attorney General Lisa Madigan said preliminary findings in her investigation reveal that the church failed to disclose sexual abuse allegations against at least 500 additional priests and clergy members. In many cases, the accusations have 'not been adequately investigated by the dioceses or not investigated at all,' Madigan's office said in a statement Wednesday. What's more, the statement added, the church often failed to notify law enforcement authorities or the state's Department of Children and Family Services about the allegations."
I only read the Constitution for the articles. -- Ilya Shapiro, conservative lawyer
Funny, But. That should be "I read the Constitution only for the Articles." -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie, liberal pedant
Scott Shane & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "As Russia's online election machinations came to light last year, a group of Democratic tech experts decided to try out similarly deceptive tactics in the fiercely contested Alabama Senate race, according to people familiar with the effort and a report on its results. The secret project, carried out on Facebook and Twitter, was likely too small to have a significant effect on the race, in which the Democratic candidate it was designed to help, Doug Jones, edged out the Republican, Roy S. Moore. But it was a sign that American political operatives of both parties have paid close attention to the Russian methods, which some fear may come to taint elections in the United States.
*****
Elaine Cochrane of the New York Times: "Moving to head off a looming government shutdown, the Senate passed a stopgap spending bill on Wednesday night that would keep the government funded through Feb. 8 -- and would punt the impasse over a southern border wall to the new year and a divided Congress. The bill was expected to pass the House on Thursday and be sent to President Trump before the midnight Friday deadline, when funding would lapse for nine federal departments. The measure poses an uncomfortable political problem for Mr. Trump among his far-right supporters, even though it remained unclear if the president, who has been a volatile factor throughout the spending debate, would sign such a measure without the $5 billion he has demanded for a border wall.... Conservatives were already condemning the president's seeming capitulation on his signature campaign promise." ...
... Yes, But Not to Worry. Brent Griffiths of Politico: "Brian Kolfage, a 37-year-old Florida resident who was severely wounded in the Iraq war, has started a GoFundMe campaign to complete Trump's signature pledge. The campaign has raised over $2 million in the three days since it started, with an overall goal of $1 billion." Mrs. McC: Go for it, Kolfage. If citizens want to waste their money on a ridiculous project, it's no more ridiculous than my buying Christmas decorations. Wall construction will create jobs for Americans (definitely including some undocumented ones). It's true that somehow or other, the von Trump Family Grifters will take a cut, but we can blame that on the same fools who crowd-fund the wall.
Helene Cooper, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump is considering pulling 2,000 United States ground troops out of Syria in a move that would seek to describe the four-year American-led war against the Islamic State as largely won, officials said Wednesday. 'We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,' the president said in a Twitter post on Wednesday morning. He offered no details on his plans for the military mission in Syria.... A formal withdrawal announcement could come as early as Wednesday, administration officials said. But Pentagon officials were still trying to talk the president out of it, arguing that such a move would betray Kurdish allies who have fought alongside American troops in Syria and who could find themselves under attack in a military offensive now threatened by Turkey." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Update. New Lede: "President Trump has ordered a rapid withdrawal of all 2,000 United States ground troops from Syria within 30 days, declaring the four-year American-led war against the Islamic State as largely won, officials said Wednesday." ...
... Joby Warrick & Souad Mekhennet of the Washington Post: "Even as the territory claimed by the Islamic State continues to shrink, the group remains a powerful and deadly force across large swaths of Syria and Iraq. In some regions, the Islamist militants appear to be gaining ground, reconstituting themselves as a brutal insurgency bent on killing local leaders and police officers and terrorizing populations, officials and analysts say.... For many security experts, the depiction of the Islamic State as 'defeated' -- as President Trump declared in a Twitter post Wednesday -- is not only inaccurate, but is also dangerously misleading. Despite its setbacks, the group maintains a formidable presence in Syria and Iraq, commanding cadres of fanatical, highly trained fighters believed to number in the thousands, including many who went into hiding after the fall of the group's self-declared caliphate." ...
... Karoun Demirjian, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Wednesday delivered a parting snub to one of his biggest congressional critics, as even his Republican allies laid into administration officials for the White House's surprise announcement that U.S. troops would be withdrawing from Syria because, as the president put it on Twitter, Islamic State forces there had been 'defeated.'... Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) ... [went] to the White House for a previously scheduled meeting with Trump where he planned to ask him about the Syria decision. Instead, while he was waiting, Trump canceled on him without explanation.... Corker was one of several lawmakers to express shock that Trump would 'wake up and make this kind of decision' to pull out of Syria 'with this little communication, with this little preparation.'... 'This is chaos. I can only imagine how it's playing in Syria,' said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a Trump confidant on some matters but a critic of the president on foreign policy. 'I have the same feeling about this as I did in Iraq: Over time, this is not going to play well.... Graham went to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis for answers on just what Trump's decision meant, later telling reporters that he might introduce a resolution condemning the decision. Meanwhile, over a lunch on Capitol Hill, other GOP senators excoriated Vice President Pence for supporting Trump's move." ...
... Josh Rogin of the Washington Post: "On Monday, the U.S. special representative for Syria engagement publicly pledged that the U.S. commitment to Syria would not waiver. The very next day, Trump reportedly decided to rapidly withdraw all U.S. troops there. Trump appears to be discarding his entire Syria and Iran strategy at a single stroke, giving up any and all U.S. influence in the region -- and disregarding the advice of his top national security officials. If he follows through, Trump's decision will have devastating and dangerous consequences for the United States, the region and the Syrian people.... Trump is now contradicting what all of his other top national security officials have been telling the world for months.... Trump is abandoning all of the partner forces the United States has been fighting with over the years. We've also spent billions of dollars building and supporting them." ...
... Barbara Starr, et al., of CNN: "The decision, a sharp reversal from previously stated US policy, surprised foreign allies and lawmakers, sparking rebukes, rebuttals and warnings of intensified congressional oversight, even as the White House said troops are already on their way home.... The President's decision flew in the face of policy statements by administration officials just days earlier and military statements about the threat of ISIS, highlighting the continuing dysfunction at the most senior levels of Trump's administration.... Many analysts said a withdrawal of ground forces will please US enemies by clearing the way in Syria for the Assad regime, Russia and Iran." Mrs. McC: And Turkey. ...
... Kori Schake in the Atlantic: "The Trump administration has unexpectedly decided to rapidly withdraw U.S. forces from Syria, where they have been fighting ISIS. This decision, which demonstrates that the president's National Security Strategy does not govern his policies, will have deleterious effects across the strategic waterfront: throwing Syria policy into chaos; rewarding Iranian regional destabilization and Russian intervention; alarming Kurdish forces and American allies fighting in the region, as well as countries to which jihadists might return; and calling into question America's commitment to stabilizing Iraq and Afghanistan. All of these priorities have been capriciously sacrificed by President Trump for no apparent reason other than that he campaigned on withdrawal and wants it to happen now. There has been no precipitating event to drive a policy change." ...
... Jeet Heer: "Withdrawing from Syria is not, on the face of it, an inherently bad or indefensible policy. But what is undeniably dangerous is the chaotic manner the policy is being executed and the mixed messages being sent to the world. The incoherence increases the chance of greater conflict, as Americ's friends and rivals will see the country as a fickle and untrustworthy actor on the world stage." ...
... Anton Troianovski of the Washington Post: "Russian President Vladimir Putinpraised President Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, describing the American presence there as illegitimate and the Islamic State as largely defeated on the ground. Putin told journalists at his annual year-end news conference that the Islamic State has suffered 'serious blows' in Syria. 'On this, Donald is right. I agree with him,' Putin said.... Moments after Putin's statement, Trump tweeted about his decision to withdraw troops. He noted the presence of Russian, Iranian and Syrian forces, also enemies of the Islamic State, and said the United States was doing their work for them. 'Time for others to finally fight,'he said in a follow up tweet." ...
... Martin Chulov & Andrew Roth of the Guardian: "The Kurdish-led force that has led the ground war against Islamic State in Syria has condemned the White House's surprise decision to withdraw US troops from the country and claimed it will spark a revival of the terror group. The Syrian Democratic Forces, a group of Kurdish and Arab units raised by Washington specifically to fight Isis, said the Trump administration's move would have 'dangerous implications for international stability'. The planned US pullout was announced as Turkey was preparing to send its military into Syria to confront Kurdish militias that it says threaten its sovereignty. The US-backed Kurds are drawn from the same Kurdish groups -- a point that has caused friction between Ankara and Washington throughout the four-year campaign against Isis.... On Wednesday morning, days after speaking by phone with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Trump tweeted: 'We have defeated Isis in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency' -- a claim at odds with his own administration's assessments."
... Mrs. McCrabbie: If you're wondering why Trump suddenly decided, against the advice of the Pentagon & his own national security team, to pretend ISIS in Syria has been defeated so the U.S. should withdraw all troops, look no further than the collapse of the Great Wall of Trump. (Also too, Putin must be all smiles.) ...
... Update. Sen. Claire McCaskill, who is on the Armed Services Committee, appeared on Rachel Maddow's show, & agreed with me that Trump had pulled this stunt out of his hat to change the subject from his capituation on the Great Wall. ...
... Update 2. Mrs. McCrabbie: I'll have to amend my own earlier "analysis." It can't be a coincidence that Trump made this decision the day before Putin's annual press conference & just days after he spoke with Erdogan. Yeah, Putin is grinning ear-to-ear. And so is Erdogan. This is another of Trump's installment payments for his initiation into the International Thugs Club. ...
... Brett Samuels of the Hill: "House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday criticized PresidentTrump's decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria, and raised concerns that the timing of the announcement coincided with new developments in the legal proceedings for former national security adviser Michael Flynn.... 'All Americans should be concerned that this hasty announcement was made on the day after sentencing in criminal proceedings began against the President's former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who admitted that he was a registered foreign agent for a country with clear interests in the Syrian conflict.'... Flynn has admitted he failed to register as a foreign agent for the Turkish government as part of a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller." ...
... Wait, wait, more goodies for Putin ...
... This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.
Saleha Mohsin & Daniel Flatley of Bloomberg News: "The Trump administration is ready to remove sanctions on Russian billionaireOleg Deripaska's aluminum company, United Co. Rusal, after reaching an agreement to significantly reduce his ownership stake. Deripaska will remain under U.S. sanctions and his property will remain blocked, but Treasury intends to remove financial restrictions on Rusal, En+ Group Plc and JSC EuroSibEnergo. The move will take effect in 30 days unless Congress blocks the action, the Treasury Department said in a statement Wednesday.... The Treasury secretary highlighted that Deripaska, not the companies, was the intended target of U.S. sanctions imposed in April on associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, joined by Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the top-ranking Democrats respectively on the Banking and Foreign Relations committees, said the decision 'raises key questions that the administration will need to answer about whether the structural and governance changes made by these companies are sufficient to ensure that Deripaska is no longer in the driver's seat.'" ...
... Matt Naham of Law & Crime: "If Deripaska sounds like a familiar name, that's because he reportedly paid former Trump campaign chairman and convicted felon Paul Manafort to help Vladimir Putin by lobbying for 'Putin-friendly oligarchs in Ukraine, and for pro-Russian governments in Georgia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, from 2006 through at least 2009.'" Mrs. McC: Deripaska is close to Putin. ...
... BUT. Matthew Choi of Politico: "The Trump administration rolled out a new spate of sanctions on Russian entities on Wednesday, targeting the country's hacking in international organizations and the two Russian nationals who allegedly carried out an assassination attempt on a former KGB spy in the United Kingdom last March. The sanctions focus on agents of Russia's main foreign military intelligence body, the GRU, and a Russian digital propaganda and disinformation company, the Internet Research Agency. Both organizations have been the subject of past sanctions for interfering in the 2016 elections, but Wednesday's action expands the list of targeted individuals."
Carol Leonnig, et al., of the Washington Post: "Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III asked the House Intelligence Committee on Friday for an official transcript of Trump adviser Roger Stone's testimony, according to people familiar with the request, a sign that prosecutors could be moving to charge him with a crime. It is the first time Mueller has formally asked the committee to turn over material the panel has gathered in its investigation of Russian interference of the 2016 campaign.... The move suggests that the special counsel is moving to finalize his months-long investigation of Stone -- a key part of Mueller's inquiry into whether anyone in President Trump's orbit coordinated with the Russians.... Securing an official transcript from the committee would be a necessary step before pursuing an indictment that Stone allegedly lied to lawmakers, legal experts said."
Dan Mangan of CNBC: "Someone on Wednesday filed a document saying something in connection with a criminal case against ... Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. But who filed it and what it says are a mystery. The document, which is sealed from public view, was 'placed in vault' at U.S. District Court in Manhattan, according to a docket entry."
** Sadie Gurman & Aruna Viswanatha of the Wall Street Journal: "William Barr, President Trump's choice for attorney general, sent an unsolicited memo earlier this year [firewalled] to the Justice Department that excoriated special counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry into potential obstruction of justice by Mr. Trump, saying it is based on a 'fatally misconceived' theory that would cause lasting damage to the presidency and the executive branch. The 20-page document, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, provides the first in-depth look at Mr. Barr's views on the special counsel's Russia investigation, which he would likely oversee if confirmed. In the memo, Mr. Barr ... wrote he was concerned about the part of Mr. Mueller's probe that, according to news reports in the Journal and elsewhere, has explored whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice in asking then-FBI director James Comey to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Mike Flynn's contacts with Russia, and by later firing Mr. Comey. Mr. Barr's memo, dated June 8 and sent to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, argues that, based on the facts as he understands them, the president was acting well within his executive-branch authority.... Mr. Barr's memo is peppered with strongly worded phrases about the peril he sees in Mr. Mueller's reading of the law, as he understood it. He described Mr. Mueller's approach as 'grossly irresponsible' with 'potentially disastrous implications' for the executive branch. He also wrote: 'Mueller should not be permitted to demand that the President submit to interrogation about alleged obstruction.'" Mrs. McC: The WSJ accidentally allowed me to open this page in a private window. Don't expect to do the same unless you're a WSJ subscriber. ...
Rebecca Ballhaus & Joe Palazzolo of the Wall Street Journal: "Sworn statements by President Trump dating back several decades indicate he has a deep understanding of campaign-finance laws [firewalled], legal experts say, which could be critical if investigators ever pursue a case against him over his alleged direction of hush-money payments in the 2016 campaign. Mr. Trump's statements were made as part of a 2000 regulatory investigation into his casino company and in 1988 testimony for a government-integrity commission. They contrast with the portrayal by some of the president's allies that he is a political novice with little understanding of campaign-finance laws and therefore couldn't be charged with violating them. In 2000, the Federal Election Commission investigated allegations that Trump Hotels & Casinos violated the law related to a fundraising event for a Senate candidate. Mr. Trump's sworn affidavit 'indicates that Trump had a very thorough understanding of federal campaign finance law, especially regarding what he could and could not legally do when raising money for a federal candidate,' said Brett Kappel, an election-law lawyer...."
Chris Sommerfeldt & Theresa Braine of the New York Daily News: "President Trump signed a 'bulls[hi]t' letter of intent to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 campaign, Rudy Giuliani conceded Tuesday -- just two days after the former New York mayor claimed the missive had not been signed. Giuliani refused to acknowledge he told CNN's Dana Bash on camera Sunday that Trump didn't put his John Hancock on the Oct. 28, 2015 letter. 'I don't think I said nobody signed it,' Giuliani told the Daily News, even though he literally told Bash 'no one signed' the letter. In a stunning contradiction, Giuliani told The News that 'of course' Trump signed it. 'How could you send it but nobody signed it?' he said.... Giuliani claimed the letter was 'bulls[hi]t' because it didn't go anywhere. 'That was the end of it,' Giuliani said. 'It means nothing but an expression of interest that means very little unless it goes to a contract and it never did.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Dana Milbank: "The 'fool' has been a dramatic fixture at least since Shakespeare scribbled, and [Rudy] Giulianiis the fool for our time. Occasionally he speaks accidental truths, but mostly he plays the clown. He's America's crazy uncle...." Milbank reprises some of Giuliani's greatest hits.
Samatha Vinograd, a member of President Obama's National Security Council, writes an op-ed in Politico Magazineabout the extent of Michael Flynn's criminality. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: What caught my attention in Vinograd's essay was this: "National security advisers are supposed to have one customer: the president of the United States. It's disturbing that President Trump doesn't seem bothered that his top aide on foreign policy was serving other [foreign] clients." Actually, I find it quite likely that Flynn -- at least in regard to Russia -- was serving one customer: Donald Trump. Flynn may have lied about & and omitted disclosing his relationship with Turkey to cover his own ass, but his lies to the FBI about his contacts with Russia were surely on orders from Trump. One day Bob Mueller will let us know. ...
... Marcy Wheeler: "By yesterday morning, [Judge] Emmet Sullivan probably became one of the few people outside Mueller's team and his DOJ supervisors that understands the activities that Trump and his associates, including Flynn, engaged in from 2015 to 2017. He understands not just the significance of Flynn's lies, but also how those lies tied to graft and conspiracy with foreign countries -- countries including, but not limited to, Russia. It should gravely worry the Trump people that Sullivan's comments about whether Flynn's behavior was treasonous came from someone who just read about what the Mueller investigation has discovered.... By filing a [false] registration [i.e., foreign agent's statement] in March 2017 specifically denying what all the [Turkey] co-conspirators knew -- that Flynn Intelligence Group was actually working for Turkey..., it prevented the public and the government from assessing the import of Flynn's actions in trying to force DOJ to deem [Fethullah] Gulen a terrorist who could be extradited to Turkey. And frankly, so long as Flynn continued to hide that detail, it made him susceptible to pressure if not blackmail from Turkey."
Tangled Web, Ctd. Carrie Levine of the Center for Public Integrity: "An aide to National Security Adviser John Boltonsought to schedule a meeting for him with a Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk during Bolton's official trip to Ukraine last August, according to new disclosure filings.... The August meeting ultimately did not take place, and it's unclear why Bolton's aide sought it. But Bolton and Pinchuk have financial ties dating to before Bolton joined the Trump administration: Pinchuk's foundation had paid Bolton a combined $115,000 for his participation in two panel discussions -- one during September 2017 and the other in February 2018, according to Bolton's federal personal financial disclosure.... A steel magnate, Pinchuk has also drawn notice in the U.S. for his relationship with Trump. The New York Timesreported in April that the ... Special Counsel's Office ... was investigating a $150,000 donation Pinchuk made in September 2015 to Trump's foundation. Early in his presidential campaign, Trump deemed Pinchuk a 'very, very special man, a special entrepreneur.' The payment was in exchange for a 20-minute appearance Trump made via video to a conference in Kiev, according to the Times, which reported scrutiny of the payment was part of a broader examination of foreign money flowing to Trump and his associates." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
There's a New Day Dawning, but It Will Be a Nightmare for Trump. Rachel Bade & John Bresnahan of Politico: "Incoming House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings on Wednesday sent more than 50 letters to multiple agencies and departments as well as the Trump Organization and Trump's personal attorneys requesting documents on a series of scandals that have plagued the White House. The Maryland Democrat is asking for more information on the administration's handling of hurricanes Irma and Maria, Trump's controversial family separation policy at the border, the White House decision to revoke the security clearances of high ranking former officials who became Trump critics, and more. While the documents are not subpoenas, Cummings' letters lay the groundwork for a much more aggressive oversight of the executive branch in the next two years." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News: "A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a defamation lawsuit against BuzzFeed News over the publication of a dossier in January 2017 that alleged several years of links between Russia and then-president-elect Donald Trump. A Cypriot businessman, Aleksej Gubarev, was named in the dossier, and his name wasn't redacted in the version originally published by BuzzFeed. Gubarev sued shortly after the article came out, claiming he was defamed by having his name included. US District Judge Ursula Ungaro in Florida found that BuzzFeed News was shielded against defamation claims because the dossier was the subject of official proceedings -- both Trump and then-president Barack Obama had been briefed on it, according to reporting at the time, and the FBI investigated allegations in the documents. The judge concluded that BuzzFeed News was protected by what's known as the 'fair report' privilege."
The von Trump Family Grifters. Charles Blow has a good question: "How can a family that can't run a charity run a country?" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie has the answer: They can't, but they use the same corrupt, lying, cheating, unlawful tactics to run the country as they used to run the charity.
Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve announced a widely expected quarter-point increase in its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday, and signaled that it plans to continue raising rates next year. The Fed emphasized the strength of economic growth in a statement released after a two-day meeting of its policymaking committee. It said firms keep adding jobs and consumers keep spending money. The statement made no mention of recent turbulence in financial markets." (Also linked yesterday.)
Judge Sullivan Is on a Roll. Ted Hesson of Politico: "A federal judge on Wednesday struck down most of a Trump administration policy that turned away asylum seekers who claimed to suffer domestic violence or gang violence. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that policies blocking the alleged victims from obtaining 'credible fear' of return to their home country -- the first step in an asylum claim -- violates federal immigration law. The decision bars the Trump administration from rapidly deporting such asylum seekers and represents another legal setback in ... Donald Trump's battle to discourage migrants from trekking to the U.S.-Mexico border.... Sullivan called the new standards 'arbitrary' and 'capricious,' and ruled that they violated federal regulatory law in addition to immigration statutes.... The Justice Department on Tuesday swiftly filed a motion to stay a broad application of the ruling while it decides whether to appeal the order." ...
... Emily Birnbaum of the Hill: "The White House on Wednesday night slammed a judge's ruling from earlier in the day blocking President Trump's asylum ban, calling it 'the latest example of judicial activism.' 'Today, a court has, once again, overridden and undermined United States immigration law,' White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement." Mrs. McC: That's so odd, because when a federal judge struck down the Affordable Care Act on a convoluted excuse that legal experts on left & right agreed -- besides being downright nutty -- took "judicial activism" to a whole new level, Trump was jubilant.
Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "A federal judge Wednesday rejected a request from the Trump administration to dismiss a lawsuit challenging its addition of a question regarding citizenship to the 2020 census. U.S. District Court Judge George J. Hazel's ruling paves the way for a trial in January to determine if the question is constitutional."
Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "Even before he participates in his first public meeting on Thursday, Bernard McNamee, the newest member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), is facing multiple calls for his recusal from cases related to the resilience of the electric power grid. Environmental and public interest groups believe McNamee's past work on President Donald Trump's coal and nuclear bailout proposals disqualify him from voting on those issues when they come before FERC." --s
Criminal Justice Reform as a Racist Project. Katie Zezima & Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "The criminal justice bill headed to President Trump by week's end is the culmination of a major pivot by the Republican Party from the punitive, law-and-order stance of the 1980s to policies that include cutting prison sentences for some offenders. The political and ideological shift comes as crime rates have dropped, the opioid crisis has ravaged the country and prison populations, after reaching record highs, are on the decline.... [The change] also has a financial component: Republicans said revising the criminal justice system will save money by moving people convicted of low-level offenses out of prison and into programs that will help reduce the recidivism rate.... Many Republicans have also embraced treating drug addiction as a public health issue rather than one for the criminal justice system, with a realization that authorities cannot arrest their way out of the opioid epidemic.... One difference between now and the 1980s is that the opioid epidemic has primarily affected white, rural communities, though the rates of overdose death are now skyrocketing among African Americans due to fentanyl."
Beyond the Beltway
Kansas. Kate Riga of TPM: "When the Kansas state government reconvenes in January, three of its formerly Republican members will report as freshly minted Democrats. The two state senators and one state representative, all women, cited varying sources of their discontent within the GOP. State Sen. Barbara Bollier started the trend last week, as first reported by the Kansas City Star.... Her fellow state Sen. Dinah Sykes followed her lead Wednesday, also citing complaints with being a moderate trying to operate in an increasingly partisan Republican party.... State Rep. Stephanie Clayton jumped on the bandwagon too, citing a specific issue: education." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Michigan. Josh Israel of ThinkProgress: "After Republicans lost their hold on key political positions in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky in the 2018 Blue Wave, lame duck legislative Republicans have drawn national attention for their efforts to strip power from the newly elected Democrats.... But it appears [in Michigan] their effort to strip Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) of her powers may have been a bridge too far for the state's House. A bill to take away campaign finance oversight from the new Secretary of State ... passed the Senate earlier this month.... State Rep. Aaron Miller (R) said Wednesday that the House Elections and Ethics Committee, which he chairs, would not consider the bill during the lame duck session, due to 'lack of support.' That likely means the bill is dead[.]" --s
Way Beyond
Brazil Targets Foot. Shoots. Reuters in the Guardian: "Brazil has failed to replace nearly one third of the thousands of Cuban doctors who exited the country after a diplomatic spat..., the health ministry has said. Brazil's president-elect, Jair Bolsonaro, had criticized Cuba's involvement in a government healthcare program, saying that Cuban doctors were being used as 'slave labor' because Havana took 75% of their salaries. In response, Cuba's government pulled out of the cooperation agreement ... leaving more than 8,000 doctor positions vacant.... The money the [Cubans] doctors earned in Brazil under the program was considered good by Cuban standards, even after the government took its portion. Bolsonaro ... has ... said that he would take all action 'within the rule of law and democracy' to oppose the governments of Venezuela and Cuba." --s
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