;)
The Commentariat -- Nov. 29, 2018
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump on Thursday announced he would not meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin as planned at the G-20 summit over tensions with Ukraine. The announcement, which came on Twitter, came roughly an hour after Trump told reporters the meeting would 'probably' go ahead as planned. 'Based on the fact that the ships and sailors have not been returned to Ukraine from Russia, I have decided it would be best for all parties concerned to cancel my previously scheduled meeting in Argentina with President Vladimir Putin,' Trump wrote ... en route to the Group of 20 summit."
Brett Samuels of the Hill: "... Rudy Giuliani on Thursday slammed Michael Cohen and special counsel Robert Mueller in the wake of a new plea agreement between the two parties, saying the timing of the announcement was meant to harm President Trump.... Giuliani ... said that Mueller timed Cohen's guilty plea to coincide with Trump's departure for the Group of 20 (G20) Summit in Argentina. He likened Thursday's announcement to when Mueller announced charges against a dozen Russian military officers days before the president met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia."
** Benjamin Weiser, et al., of the New York Times: "Michael D. Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, who pleaded guilty in August to breaking campaign finance laws, made a surprise appearance in a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday morning and pleaded guilty to a new criminal charge.... At the court hearing, Mr. Cohen admitted to making false statements to Congress about his efforts to build a Trump Tower deal in Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign. That real estate deal has been a focus of the special counsel investigation into whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russian operatives.In written testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr. Cohen played down the extent of his contact with the Kremlin about the potential project and made other false statements about the negotiations.... The new guilty plea in Federal District Court marks the first time the office of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has charged Mr. Cohen." ...
... George Stephanopoulos, et al., of ABC News: "Special counsel Robert Mueller has reached a tentative deal with Michael Cohen..., sources told ABC News. Cohen appeared in federal court in Manhattan Thursday where he entered a guilty plea for misstatements to Congress...." ...
... Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel deciphers Cohen's guilty plea: "... what [Cohen] testified to will implicate Trump and Don Jr directly. Here's what the information says Cohen lied to cover up: Cohen continued to pursue a Trump Tower Moscow deal for far longer than he testified he did, and briefed 'family' on it, which presumably includes Don Jr (who therefore lied to Congress about it)[.]... The plans continued after the campaign got information about emails and were specifically structured around Trump getting the nomination; they ended when the DNC hack was reported[.]... Cohen was in direct communication with Putin's press secretary] Dmitry Peskov's office; and Putin's office contacted Felix Sater [a former mobster &, um, business associate of Donald Trump].... And all this is just what Mueller wants us to know." ...
... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "While Trump was not directly accused of any wrongdoing, the charge [against Michael Cohen] brings the president closer to an effort to obstruct probes into alleged contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia.... In the new criminal charge unveiled Thursday, Cohen admitted that while he told the House and Senate Intelligence Committees last year that consideration of the proposed Moscow 'Trump Tower' project ceased by January 2016 -- around the time of the Iowa caucuses in the presidential race -- the business proposal remained under discussion through 'as late as approximately June 2016.' If the Moscow project in fact remained live through June 2016, it could have been a significant factor in the decision by various Trump aides and family members to attend [the infamous] June 7, 2016 'Trump Tower' meeting.... Speaking on the White House lawn on Thursday, Trump dismissed Cohen's latest admissions as fabrications. 'He's lying, very simply, to get a reduced sentence,' the president said, repeatedly calling Cohen 'weak.' However, Trump also defended the Moscow-focused real estate development drive as legitimate.... 'It was during the early part of '16 and I guess even before that. It lasted a short period of time. I didn't do the project. I decided not to do the project,' the president said. 'So, we're not talking about doing a project. We're talking about not doing a project.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Got that? He's not doing the project. Anyhow, Gerstein reports that Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) plans to bring Cohen back to testify before the House Intelligence Committee. "'It means that when the president was representing during the campaign that he had no business interest in Russia, that that wasn't true,' Schiff said of the deal." ...
... Here's a reproduction of the "Criminal Information" filed in the Cohen case today, courtesy of Lawfare.
David Graham of the Atlantic: "Until recently, the connection between those Russian efforts [to undermine Hillary Clinton's campaign] and Trump allies has remained somewhat obscure and speculative. But recent developments have started to flesh out the picture. Russia used WikiLeaks as a conduit -- witting or unwitting -- and WikiLeaks, in turn, appears to have been in touch with Trump allies. The key remaining questions are what WikiLeaks knew and what Trump himself knew.... While Russia's authoritarianism and suppression of free expression are at odds with WikiLeaks's stated principles, Raffi Khatchadourian noted in a 2017 New Yorker profile that [Julian] Assange has tended to view Russia as an important counterweight to American empire, and has perhaps thus tended to overlook its flaws.... Trump continues to deny that there were any connections between his campaign and Russia. By now, there's enough evidence to treat this as seriously as much of what he says -- which is to say, with the presumption it's hogwash. There is not at this point any public information that connects the president directly to Russian interference in the election, but the emerging evidence strongly suggests that Trump confidants were given forewarning about Russian moves designed to hurt Clinton and boost Trump -- and that WikiLeaks was the middle man that made all of it possible."
Harry Litman in a Washington Post op-ed: "... when [Paul] Manafort entered into the cooperation agreement with the government, he ceased to have a common interest with other defendants, including the president, as a matter of law. As former U.S. attorney Chuck Rosenberg put it, having signed with the Yankees, he couldn't give scouting reports to the Red Sox.... The open pipeline between cooperator Manafort and suspect Trump may have been not only extraordinary but also criminal. On Manafort and [his lawyer Kevin] Downing's end, there is a circumstantial case for obstruction of justice. What purpose other than an attempt to 'influence, obstruct, or impede' the investigation of the president can be discerned from Manafort's service as a double agent? And on the Trump side, the communications emit a strong scent of illegal witness tampering (and possibly obstruction as well). Proving those charges would require a fight."
Maxime Schlee of Politico: French President "Emmanuel Macron told Argentine newspaper La Nacion that while the alliance between France and the U.S. is 'historic,' some of ... Donald Trump's recent decisions 'have been done to the detriment of his allies.'... Speaking from Buenos Aires, where he arrived Wednesday for the G20 summit, Macron warned against the risk of a 'tête-à-tête between China and the United States and a trade war that is destructive for everyone.'"
Luke Harding of the Guardian: "Police in Germany have raided the offices of Deutsche Bank in connection with the Panama Papers revelations and as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering. About 170 police officers, prosecutors and tax inspectors searched six Deutsche Bank officers in and around Frankfurt, the public prosecutor's office said." --s
Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "Ted Malloch, a London-based [American] academic close to [Nigel] Farage, was allegedly passed a request from a longtime Trump adviser [Roger Stone] to get advance copies of emails stolen from Trump's opponents by Russian hackers and later published by WikiLeaks. The allegation emerged in a draft legal document drawn up by Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 election and any collusion with Trump's campaign team.... [Malloch] was stopped and questioned by the FBI in March upon his arrival at a US airport and said his mobile phone was inspected by investigators. Mueller later subpoenaed him to appear before a grand jury considering the inquiry's findings.... Last year Glenn Simpson..., whose firm prepared the explosive Trump-Russia dossier in 2016, told congressional investigators: 'I think Ted Malloch is an important person in this whole picture.' Simpson urged authorities to examine the activities of Malloch and Farage, who has denied any involvement." --s
** "All the Best People", Ctd. Julie Brown of The Miami Herald has a long investigative piece on how Trump's current Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta, covered up the sex crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and all his pervert friends" "The eccentric hedge fund manager [Epstein], whose friends included former President Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Prince Andrew, was also suspected of trafficking minor girls, often from overseas, for sex parties at his other homes in Manhattan, New Mexico and the Caribbean, FBI and court records show. Facing a 53-page federal indictment, Epstein could have ended up in federal prison for the rest of his life..., [but] a deal was struck -- an extraordinary plea agreement that would conceal the full extent of Epstein's crimes and the number of people involved. Not only would Epstein serve just 13 months in the county jail, but the deal -- called a non-prosecution agreement -- essentially shut down an ongoing FBI probe into whether there were more victims and other powerful people who took part in Epstein's sex crimes.... This is the story of how Epstein ... was able to manipulate the criminal justice system, and how his accusers, still traumatized by their pasts, believe they were betrayed by the very prosecutors who pledged to protect them." --s
Mark Stern of Slate: "Welcome to the topsy-turvy world of civil asset forfeiture, also known as legalized theft. Every year, the federal and state governments obtain billions of dollars thanks to the work of prosecutors who expropriate property with some tenuous connection to a crime. Most states use the money to fund law enforcement, called policing for profit. Indiana also lets private attorneys file forfeiture claims against defendants, earning contingency fees and a share of the profit. That's what happened to [Tyson] Timbs -- so he sued, insisting that extreme forfeiture violates the Constitution. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court signaled that it agreed, with an unusual coalition of justices assailing the practice. A decision for Timbs could curb law enforcement abuses across the country, limiting one of the most scandalous components of our criminal justice system." Read on; the Constitutional arguments are interesting, at least to me, Mrs. Bea McCrabbie.
*****
Election 2018
Julie Davis of the New York Times: "Representative Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday handily won the Democratic nomination to be speaker when her party claims the House majority in the new Congress, but with 32 Democrats voting no, she was well short of the number she will need to reclaim the gavel in January. In a secret-ballot vote that dramatized rifts among Democrats only weeks after midterm election victories handed them House control, Ms. Pelosi, who is the first woman to be speaker, won support from 203 Democrats. Beyond the 32 no votes, three ballots were blank. To become speaker, she must win 218 votes in a House floor vote on Jan. 3, so the tally will touch off what promises to be an intensive period of arm-twisting and cajoling to reach her goal. It also gives some time for a serious challenger to emerge." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
Let this be a message to every Republican. If you come for Americans' livelihoods, we WILL come for your seats. -- Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in a tweet yesterday ...
... MEANWHILE. Mark Barabak of the Los Angeles Times: Democrat "TJ Cox defeated three-term Republican Rep. David Valadao on Wednesday [in California's Central Valley], giving Democrats a gain of seven House seats in California and 40 nationwide -- the party's strongest midterm showing since the Watergate era in the mid-1970s. Cox clinched his victory more than three weeks after election day, when updated results from Fresno and Kings counties pushed his lead over Valadao to 529 votes. The contest was the country's last remaining undecided congressional contest. Cox, 55, trailed the GOP lawmaker by nearly 4,400 votes on election night but steadily gained ground as mail-in and other ballots tipped his way." ...
... Ed Kilgore: Democrats "flipped 43 seats and lost three of their own.... It was a pretty impressive performance by the Donkey Party, reflected not just in seats gained but in an eight-point margin in the national House popular vote. Add in the fact that this midterm generated the highest turnout (an estimated 49.4 percent of eligible voters) of any non-presidential election since 1914, and it was a banner year altogether."
We'll dedicate this one to Senator Cindy White-Hide Hyde-Smith:
... Jelani Cobb of the New Yorker: "The pre-Trump Republican Party certainly relied on the support of whites who held racially bigoted views, but it struggled for plausible deniability in such matters. With Trump, the racism is out in the open and so, in some cases, is the willingness of the electorate to tolerate it. The Mississippi race reinforced something that has been impossible to avoid but difficult to accept: Trump's imprimatur actually helped some Republicans win elections. Nina Simone titled her racial-justice protest song 'Mississippi Goddam.' The shame isn't just that the song remains resonant fifty-four years after it was released but that, looking at the landscape of 2018, there are still so many other places she could sing about." Thanks to PD Pepe for the link.
This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.
Trump is, without any doubt, the most treacherous, dishonest, shifty character in American political history and he has surrounded himself with equally two-faced, self-dealing crooks. -- Akhilleus, in yesterday's Comments ...
... Obstruction, Collusion in Plain Sight, Ctd. Trump & the Three Stooges. Marisa Schultz & Nikki Schwab of the New York Post: President Trump said "he's never discussed a pardon for Paul Manafort..., but it's 'not off the table.' 'It was never discussed, but I wouldn't take it off the table. Why would I take it off the table?' the president said during an Oval Office interview. He ripped special counsel Robert Mueller's probe and charged that Manafort, former political adviser Roger Stone and Stone's associate Jerome Corsi were all asked to lie by the special counsel. 'If you told the truth, you go to jail,' Trump said.... 'It's actually very brave,' he said of [Manafort, Stone & Corsi]. 'And I'm telling you, this is McCarthyism. We are in the McCarthy era.'" (Mrs. McC: I got a warning from my anti-virus program that this was "a high-risk site.") More on Trump's remarkable Post interview linked below. ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: If Trump's behavior is any barometer, Mueller must have Trump in a high-pressure squeeze. Suppose you had done something that was maybe a teensy bit sketchy & the cops were questioning you about it. Wouldn't you be super-nice to the cops, try to befriend them and all, in the hope they would just let it go? You would not berate them for fear the affront would irritate them & inspire them to dig deeper. Yet Trump is viciously attacking the "cops" daily. To my mind, that demonstrates consciousness of guilt and/or knowledge (or suspicion) of a mountain of evidence implicating him. ...
... Josh Marshall: "... when [Trump] says about a possible pardon for Paul Manafort 'Why would I take it off table?' he says clearly that he sees it as a tool to defend himself against the Mueller probe. And that's a high crime in and of itself. He doesn't have to issue the pardon to use it as such a tool."
... Elura Nanos of Law & Crime: "Donald Trump has always been very proud of the size of his pardon power. He's swung it around with Joe Arpaio, with Scooter Libby, and now, with Paul Manafort. Time for a reality check. If Trump throws a presidential pardon Manafort's way, not only might it go badly for Trump -- it'll be even worse for Manafort.... A Manafort pardon could constitute proof positive of an unbelievably shady deal whereby Manafort feigned cooperation with Mueller only to act as informant for Trump.... As soon as Mueller is done with Manafort, New York is ready." ...
... Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "Some legal experts believe that the feeding of information by Manafort's lawyers to the Trump legal team could amount to obstruction of justice or witness tampering, if Manafort disclosed confidential information or the president's side discussed the possibility of a pardon. But that would depend on exactly what was said.... Legal experts told NBC News the conversations among the lawyers would not be covered by attorney-client privilege -- meaning Mueller in theory could haul Giuliani before the grand jury and force him to testify under oath about them. 'If you are trying to corruptly influence his testimony by dangling a pardon, that could be witness tampering,' Daniel Goldman, a former federal prosecutor..., said on 'Andrea Mitchell Reports.'... As a matter of law, the experts say, a joint defense agreement can only exist between people who have a common legal interest. Once Manafort began cooperating with Mueller, he ceased to have a common interest with Trump, a subject of the investigation.... Once people involved in litigation no longer have a common interest -- even if they say they do, courts have ruled -- the conversations are not protected." ...
... Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "... Paul Manafort may have made misstatements to special prosecutor Robert Mueller's investigators about his overseas interests, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Citing 'people familiar with the matter,' The Journal reported his misleading statements about his 'personal business dealings' and communications with Konstantin Kilimnik." ...
... Ken White, in a New York Times op-ed: "... that Mr. Manafort's lawyers have been spilling the details of their client's cooperation to Trump lawyers under the cover of ... a joint defense agreement -- is shocking. The revelation is a potential catastrophe for everyone involved. It's a blow to Mr. Mueller's team, because their questions to Mr. Manafort -- repeated to Mr. Trump's lawyers -- may be a road map to at least part of the special counsel investigation. Mr. Trump's lawyers can now adjust their defense, and the president's responses, based on what they've learned about Mr. Mueller's focus and what he knows or doesn't know. And ... the prosecutors lost [Mr. Manafort] as a cooperating witness and can no longer pursue any theory relying on his testimony. It's a blow to Mr. Manafort, who will receive no sentencing credit for his brief cooperation. It's a blow to Mr. Manafort's lawyers; no federal prosecutor will ever trust them again. And it's a blow to Mr. Trump, who has overplayed his hand, because Mr. Mueller may now be able to delve into the Trump lawyers' conversations with Mr. Manafort's lawyers." ...
... Matthew Mosk, et al., of ABC News: "The special counsel team that prosecuted Manafort on federal financial charges related to his lobbying work in Ukraine has laid down ... 'a trail of bread crumbs' that could allow city or state prosecutors from New York -- where Manafort has maintained multiple residences, including a condominium in Trump Tower -- to pursue charges of their own.... Matt Olsen, a former federal prosecutor, now an ABC News consultant, said if there was a breach of his cooperation agreement, the special counsel has wide latitude to bring further legal action against Manafort if there is cause to, including any activity he described during his talks with the special counsel. 'The government is relieved of any obligations -- they can use the information from him in any way they want, including directly against Manafort,' Olsen said. 'Including in a state court trial.'" ...
... digby: "I don't think we need to look for any other metaphors to explain this president. He's just a cheap mob boss. Nothing more."
... Uh-oh. Dana Bash, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump told special counsel Robert Mueller in writing that Roger Stone did not tell him about WikiLeaks, nor was he told about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between his son, campaign officials and a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton, according to two sources familiar with the matter. One source described the President's answers without providing any direct quotes and said the President made clear he was answering to the best of his recollection.... These written answers could be subject to criminal charges if false." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... So What Were These Calls All About? Manuel Roig-Franzia, et al., of the Washington Post: "In recent months, the Trump Organization turned over to Mueller's team phone and contact logs that show multiple calls between the then-candidate and [Roger] Stone in 2016, according to people familiar with the material. The records are not a complete log of their contacts -- Stone told The Washington Post on Wednesday that Trump at times called him from other people's phones.... The calls almost always came deep into the night.... [Jerome Corsi] provided The Post and other news organizations with a draft filing by prosecutors describing his interactions with Stone -- including an Aug. 2, 2016, email in which the right-wing author alerted Stone that he heard WikiLeaks was planning a major release of 'very damaging' [for Hillary Clinton] material. The next day, Stone had one of his private talks with Trump, Stone said on a 2016 Infowars broadcast first reported by CNN." ...
... John Santucci of ABC News: "The list of questions special counsel Robert Mueller submitted to ... Donald Trump included a query about a controversial change to the Republican party's convention platform in July 2016 regarding the U.S. providing arms to Ukraine, according to sources familiar with the president's responses.... On July 18, party insiders took the unusual step of watering down its formal position on whether the U.S. should help protect Ukraine from Russian incursions -- a move viewed as a surprising concession to the Russian government at a time of tension in Ukraine. The platform change took place during the Republican convention organized by then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Manafort had previously worked for a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party.... Sources tell ABC News the president told Mueller he was not aware of the platform change to the best of his recollection. That would be consistent with his answer to a question about the matter to ABC News's George Stephanopoulos during the summer of 2016. 'I wasn't involved in that. Honestly, I was not involved,' Trump said at the time."
... Asawin Suebsaeng & Scott Bixby of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump, who built his political rise on promoting far-right birther claims against President Barack Obama, does in fact have a joint defense agreement with leading birther conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi, The Daily Beast has confirmed. Rudy Giuliani ... said in a brief phone interview Wednesday morning that the joint defense agreement that Corsi had earlier claimed existed does actually exist. Giuliani said he confirmed this with Jane Raskin, another member of the Trump legal team, adding that the agreement is a recent development. Giuliani also said he has talked about the agreement and Corsi with President Trump in recent days, and that Trump told him he 'vaguely knows' Corsi, but 'doesn't remember the last time they spoke.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... In case Jerome Corsi reminds you of your sweet little ole grandpa:
... Stone & Corsi Tortured a Bereaved Family With What They Knew Was a Lie. Will Sommer of the Daily Beast: "Russian hackers weren't the ones behind the theft of Democratic emails that upended the 2016 presidential race, conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi told his InfoWars fans last year. Instead, Corsi said, Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich had stolen the emails and was murdered in revenge for the heist. But Corsi was lying. In an email to Trump confidante Roger Stone in 2016, Corsi acknowledged that in fact hackers were behind the email theft, according to newly released messages. Despite that admission, both Corsi and Stone played key roles promoting the conspiracy theory about Rich. Stone became one of the first major figures in Trump's orbit to suggest Rich was murdered over the emails, tweeting on August 10, 2016 that Rich had 'ties to DNC heist.' In 2017, after Rich's parents begged right-wing media personalities to stop pushing conspiracy theories about their son, Corsi put the blame for the email theft on Rich in a three-part InfoWars series."
Aaron Blake of Washington Post: In the New York Times story by Michael Schmidt & others, linked below, "Rudolph W. Giuliani practically brags about having pulled one over on Mueller by gleaning key information from the arrangement.... The Trump team is saying this highly unusual arrangement was used to gain a strategic advantage. It isn't even pretending these were harmless status updates. Giuliani is gloating about having gamed the legal system.... Mueller's team could decide that this arrangement has amounted to witness tampering or obstruction, or that it adds to a mountain of evidence on that latter count.... 'If the purpose was to gather information about what's going on in the investigation and share it back with others who are potential subjects of the investigation so that they can take steps to ensure that the investigation does not come to fruition,' former federal prosecutor Barbara McQaude said Tuesday night on MSNBC, 'I think that could amount to obstruction of justice.' Some former federal prosecutors offered similar takes.... Mueller may now have reason to probe the contacts between the two legal teams, and those contacts became no longer privileged after Manafort signed his cooperation deal."(Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Ken Meyer of Mediaite: "ABC News chief legal analyst and Mediaite founder Dan Abrams says Paul Manafort might be trying to pull a double bluff with his plea deal with Robert Mueller and his apparent coordination with President Trump's legal team.... 'It's starting to feel like he was on a fact-finding mission for the Trump team to figure out exactly what do they want, what kind of questions are they asking, et cetera.' [Abrams said.]... Manafort might be banking on a presidential pardon. 'By saying "I'm with you, prosecutors," and then not just not cooperating, but -- according to prosecutors -- lying repeatedly ... You have to believe he thinks he's got another option here,' Abrams explained." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Natasha Bertrand & Scott Stedman of the Atlantic: "... a letter now being investigated by the House Intelligence Committee and the FBI indicates that [George] Papadopoulos is still in the crosshairs of investigators probing a potential conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. The letter, dated November 19..., was sent to Democratic Representative Adam Schiff's office by an individual who claims to have been close to Papadopoulos in late 2016 and early 2017.... The letter was also obtained by federal authorities, who are taking its claims 'very seriously,' said two U.S. officials.... The statement makes a series of explosive but uncorroborated claims about Papadopoulos's alleged coordination with Russians in the weeks following Trump's election..., including that Papadopoulos said he was 'doing a business deal with Russians which would result in large financial gains for himself and Mr. Trump.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: There's no reason to believe this story other than -- given the players -- it sounds so believable. You might sensibly say to yourself, "Ha! A two-bit hustler like George Papadopoulous brags to an acquaintance about some deals involving Trump? Nobody is going to take that 'very seriously.'" Well, yeah but. That's pretty much how the inquiry into "This Rusher Thing" got started.
Trump Threatens Democrats. Marisa Schultz & Nikki Schwab of the New York Post: "President Trump said Wednesday that if House Democrats launched probes into his administration -- which he called 'presidential harassment' -- they’d pay a heavy price. 'If they go down the presidential harassment track, if they want go and harass the president and the administration, I think that would be the best thing that would happen to me. I'm a counter-puncher and I will hit them so hard they'd never been hit like that,' he said during a 36-minute Oval Office sitdown. The commander-in-chief said he could declassify FISA warrant applications and other documents from Robert Mueller's probe -- and predicted the disclosure would expose the FBI, the Justice Department and the Clinton campaign as being in cahoots to set him up." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Why do I think Democrats are not cowering in fear?
... Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Donald Trump suggested without evidence on Wednesday that special counsel Robert Mueller and his team are bullying witnesses into lying about collusion in order to be spared punishment, marking the president's latest attempt to discredit the Russia probe. The president on Wednesday complained in a tweet that 'While the disgusting Fake News is doing everything within their power not to report it that way, at least 3 major players are intimating that the Angry Mueller Gang of Dems is viciously telling witnesses to lie about facts & they will get relief.'" ...
... Kyle Cheney of Politico: "... Donald Trump appeared to accuse his own deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, of treason on Wednesday, posting a meme to his Twitter feed that shows an image of Rosenstein and a slew of Trump critics behind bars. The image also included special counsel Robert Mueller, former FBI Director James Comey, former national intelligence director James Clapper and Bill and Hillary Clinton. Their picture was overlaid with the words, 'Now that Russia collusion is a proven lie, when do the trials for treason begin?'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Update. Marisa Schultz & Nikki Schwab: "It was no accident that President Trump Wednesday retweeted an image of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein locked up. When asked during an interview with The Post: 'Why do you think he belongs behind bars?' Trump responded: 'He should have never picked a Special Counsel.'" Mrs. McC: In other words, if you cross or even displease Trump, you belong in jail. This is one dangerous maniac. ...
... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump on Wednesday hinted he may support new tariffs on auto imports as his latest response to General Motors' decision to shutter U.S. factories and lay off workers. In a series of tweets, Trump argued that a longstanding 25 percent tariff on light trucks has boosted U.S. auto manufacturers and that the same approach could work for cars. 'If we did that with cars coming in, many more cars would be built here and G.M. would not be closing their plants in Ohio, Michigan & Maryland. Get smart Congress,' Trump wrote. The president said major auto exporting countries 'have taken advantage of the U.S. for decades" and warned 'that the president has great power on this issue.' 'Because of the G.M. event, it is being studied now!' he wrote." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Rebecca Morin of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday shared a post from a parody account of Vice President Mike Pence giving thanks 'for every day Hillary Clinton is not president.' The post was originally shared by @MikePenceVP, a profile that uses the same photo as one of Pence's verified accounts but describes itself as a 'fan account. My Goal is to expose liberal hypocrisy and Fake News Bias.' The vice president’s official Twitter accounts are @VP and @Mike_Pence." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Dana Milbank: "... after two long years, the truth is finally catching up with Trump and his winged whoppers. In recent days, Trump’s bogus claims about the economy, the Russia inquiry, the judiciary, climate change, the midterms, race and national security have been crumbling, publicly, for all to see.... It is too late to undo much of the damage caused by Trump's deceptions. But recent days give hope that, though limping and bedraggled, the truth still is the truth." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Mark Landler, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump is projecting a steely facade as he prepares for a critical meeting on trade this weekend with President Xi Jinping of China. But behind his tough talk and threats of higher tariffs is a creeping anxiety about the costs of a prolonged trade war on the financial markets and the broader economy. That could set the stage for a truce between the United States and China, several American officials said, in the form of an agreement that would delay new tariffs for several months while the world's two largest economies try to work out the issues dividing them.... Mr. Trump has signaled a new willingness to make a deal with Mr. Xi, a leader he has treated solicitously and will meet over dinner on Saturday in Buenos Aires, after a summit meeting of leaders of the Group of 20 industrialized nations." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "Emerging signs of weakness in major economic sectors, including auto manufacturing, agriculture and home building, are prompting some forecasters to warn that one of the longest periods of economic growth in American history may be approaching the end of its run. The economy has been a picture of health, expanding at a 3.5 percent annual pace during the third quarter and driving the unemployment rate to 3.7 percent, the lowest level in almost half a century. But General Motors' plan to cut 14,000 jobs and shutter five factories reinforces other recent indications that the better part of the expansion is now in the rearview mirror." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jake Sherman & Anna Palmer of Politico: "Nine days ahead of a deadline that could trigger a partial government shutdown, with no solution in sight, the president told Politico in a Tuesday Oval Office interview that he is unflinchingly firm Congress must send him a bill approving $5 billion for his wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, and said he would 'totally be willing' to shut down the government if he doesn't get it. Democratic leaders -- including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) -- have said they would approve $1.6 billion for the wall, placing the two sides billions of dollars apart as the lame-duck session begins." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Adam Raymond of New York: "The Trump administration will soon ban bump stocks, the aftermarket devices allowing semi-automatic weapons to fire multiple shots in rapid succession, CNN reported Wednesday. The move will come nearly 14 months after Stephen Paddock used bump stocks to help him kill 58 people at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas.... The bump stock ban is, and has always been a smokescreen. Making these devices illegal will do nothing to reduce gun violence in the U.S. That's why they've become an easy target for the Trump administration. Banning bump stocks won't make people safer, but it's a simple way to pretend to. Bump stocks are a novelty. Few people knew what they were before the Las Vegas shooting, and those who did largely considered them unreliable and impractical. There are also other devices that have the same effect on semi-automatic weapons."
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke introduced POTUS by calling him 'the man who brought Christmas back' at tonight's tree lighting ceremony, per pool report. -- WashPo reporter Josh Dawsey, in a tweet yesterday ...
... Joey W., in a tweet replying to Dawsey
Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "A key Senate committee on Wednesday postponed a vote on President Trump's pick to lead the main agency handling immigration enforcement, as a coalition of unions ... representing Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel ... raised 'serious concern' about Ronald D. Vitiello's ability to effectively oversee the agency. The delay comes at a time when the nation is facing a crisis on the border and Trump is pressuring agencies and Congress on an immigration crackdown. The timing is also critical, because all nominations will expire at the end of the year if the Senate doesn't act on them." Mrs. McC: Ha Ha Ha. One of the unions' "serious concerns" was that in March 2016 Vitiello reportedly compared Trump to Dennis the Menace. Very unfair to Dennis, IMO. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Spencer Ackerman, et al., of the Daily Beast: "The White House blocked CIA Director Gina Haspel from attending a highly anticipated Senate briefing on Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary James Mattis told senators on Wednesday. 'The most persuasive presence at this briefing was an empty chair -- a chair that should have been occupied by Gina Haspel, head of the Central Intelligence Agency,' Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) told reporters. 'We were told at this briefing that it was at the direction of the White House that she not attend.'" ...
... Mister Mustache Lied. Mrs. McCrabbie: As you may recall from way back yesterday ... Julian Borger of the Guardian: "Officials said that the decision for Haspel not to appear in front of the committee came from the White House, but the national security adviser, John Bolton, denied it. 'Certainly not,' he told reporters, but left it unclear why there would be no intelligence presence." ...
... Caitlin Oprysko: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday said that in his view, there is no 'direct reporting' that would link Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month. Pompeo spoke to reporters after briefing senators on the incident along with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, telling the press gaggle that his assessment was well-informed.... CIA Director Gina Haspel, who traveled to the region to investigate Khashoggi's killing, and who has listened to an audio recording of the murder, was not present at Wednesday's briefing." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Julian Borger of the Guardian: "The Trump administration has attempted to persuade the Senate not to cut off US military support to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, arguing that it was in the US national interest and was helping to limit civilian casualties. The defence secretary, James Mattis, and the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, presented a classified briefing to the full Senate, in a last-minute effort to block a bipartisan measure that invokes the War Powers Resolution to end US involvement in the Yemen war. However, several senators who had opposed the same measure in March declared themselves unconvinced, with several complaining about the absence of the CIA director, Gina Haspel, who they wanted to brief the Senate about the murder of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. The CIA has reportedly assessed that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, most likely ordered the killing of the dissident journalist in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October. Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, said Haspel's failure to appear was 'outrageous' and a 'cover-up'. Tells me volumes about what's really going on here,' Menendez told reporters after the briefing, indicating he would support the Yemen bill, which he had opposed in March." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Update. Let's See How That Worked out for the Trumpeteers. Elana Schor of Politico: "The Senate delivered a stunning rebuke to the Trump administration on Wednesday, voting overwhelmingly to advance a measure yanking U.S. support for Saudi-backed forces at war in Yemen. The 63-37 vote, in which 14 Republicans joined every Democrat in voting to move forward on the bipartisan Saudi resolution, came hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis failed to sway key undecided senators with an appeal to hold off lest they upset progress of nascent talks on a cease-fire in Yemen.... The Senate has to take another vote, expected next week, to formally open debate on U.S. policy toward the Saudis that seeks to take further action against them for Khashoggi's death.... The White House issued a statement warning of a possible Trump veto if the resolution were to pass.... The final vote count on Wednesday was short of the two-thirds majority that would be needed to override a Trump veto...." ...
I'm not going to blow past this. If that briefing is not given soon, it's gonna be hard for me to vote for any spending bill.... I'm talking about any key vote. Anything that you need me for to get out of town, I ain't doing it until we hear from the CIA. -- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), yesterday ...
... Gardiner Harris, et al., of the New York Times: "Furious over being denied a C.I.A. briefing on the killing of a Saudi journalist, senators from both parties spurned the Trump administration on Wednesday with a stinging vote to consider ending American military support for the Saudi-backed war in Yemen. The Senate voted 63 to 37 to bring to the floor a measure to limit presidential war powers in Yemen. It was the strongest signal yet that Republican and Democratic senators alike remain vehemently skeptical of the administration's insistence that the Saudi crown prince cannot, with certainty, be blamed for the death of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi."
** Phil McCausland of NBC News: "For weeks, student veterans across the country have raised an alarm about delayed or incorrect GI Bill benefit payments, which the Department of Veterans Affairs has blamed on computer issues. But on Wednesday, the department told congressional staffers that it would not reimburse those veterans who were paid less than they were owed.... The news conflicts with a promise VA officials made to a House committee earlier this month that it would reimburse those veterans who received less than the full amount they were due. According to [committee] aides, however, the VA said it could not make retroactive payments without auditing its previous education claims, which it said would delay future claims. The aides asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly. NBC News previously reported that some veterans were forced into desperate financial straits stemming from a change in calculating housing allowances under the Forever GI Bill, which ... Donald Trump signed into law in July 2017."
EPA Head Pushes an Anti-Science Conspiracy Theory. Uh, Without Evidence, Natch. Alex Guillen of Politico: "Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler on Wednesday accused the Obama administration of tilting last week's federal climate change report to focus on the worst-case outcomes -- and indicated that the Trump administration could seek to shape the next big study of the issue.... The report, released on the day after Thanksgiving, was the first major climate assessment produced predominantly during Trump's presidency. But Wheeler still maintained that Trump's predecessor was the driving force behind it. 'The drafting of this report was drafted at the direction of the Obama administration,' Wheeler said. 'And I don't know this for a fact -- I wouldn't be surprised if the Obama administration told the report's authors to take a look at the worst case scenario for this report,' added Wheeler, who said he had not discussed the report with Trump.... The Obama White House official who initiated the assessment flatly denied Wheeler's contention. 'Mr. Wheeler's insinuation is absolutely false,' John Holdren, who served as Obama's science adviser, told Politico in an email. Holdren says he called on the U.S. Global Change Research Program to conduct a thorough study, and that he had no role in selecting the report's authors." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate advanced a controversial judicial pick for President Trump on Wednesday after Vice President Pence cast a tie-breaking vote for the nomination. Senators were deadlocked 50-50 to end debate on Thomas Farr's nomination to be a district judge for the eastern district of North Carolina. Pence, presiding over the chamber, then cast the tie-breaking vote.... Farr's nomination has drawn intense opposition from Democrats and their outside group allies, who warn that, if confirmed, he'll use his position as a federal judge to rule against minorities. Part of their opposition dates back to the 1990s, when Farr defended Jesse Helms' campaign after the Justice Department investigated it for mailing postcards to more than 120,000 North Carolinians, most of whom were black voters, suggesting they were ineligible to vote and could be prosecuted for voter fraud.... Farr was also part of a group of lawyers hired to defend congressional and legislative boundaries approved by the North Carolina legislature, some of which were later struck down in federal court." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Sarah Gray of Business Insider (Nov. 26): "Fifteen attorneys general filed an amicus brief on Monday supporting Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh's motion to block Matthew Whitaker from serving as US attorney general.... The amicus brief from the 15 attorneys general ... argues that the legal uncertainty around Whitaker makes it difficult for the states to coordinate law enforcement agencies with the Department of Justice, and thus impacts the residents of the 14 states plus the District of Columbia."
Betsy Woodruff & Kate Briquelet of the Daily Beast: "Michael Avenatti sued Donald Trump for defaming Stormy Daniels against her wishes, Daniels told The Daily Beast in a statement on Wednesday. Avenatti also started a new fundraising site to raise money for her legal defense fund without telling her, Daniels said. She said she is not sure whether or not she will keep Avenatti on as her lawyer.... Stephen Gillers, a New York University Law School professor..., said Avenatti could face serious problems if he sued Trump against Daniels' wishes." The reporters report the full statements of Daniels & Avenatti.
Beyond the Beltway
Wes Parnell and John Annese of the New York Daily News: "A Jewish professor and Holocaust scholar at Columbia Teacher's College said she found two swastikas and an anti-Semitic slur spray-painted on her office wall Wednesday. Elizabeth Midlarsky said she first saw the hate symbols, which included the word 'YID' scrawled on a wall outside her office, when she arrived at work at the Ivy League campus at about 1 p.m."
Share Article 
