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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.”
Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”
Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."
I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't wanna know. Some things are best left unsaid. I want to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can't be expressed in words and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a great place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away. And for the briefest of moments, every last man at Shawshank felt free. -- Red Redding (Morgan Freeman), "Shawshank Redemption" ~~~
~~~ Thanks to RAS for the greetings. ~~~
~~~ Things to Do Today Having Nothing to Do with the Super Bowl: Bake a cake; Mix yourself an elaborate cocktail; Catch up on a Netflix series; Go out to a movie; Go sledding, skiing or ice-skating; Go out to dinner at a normally-crowded restaurant; Make a Valentine's card; Take a walk, if weather allows; Go for a drive; Curl up with a book; Take down the last of the holiday decorations; Go shopping, virtually or really; Phone a distant friend who would never watch the Super Bowl; Do a jigsaw or NYT crossword puzzle; Do a craft project; Tidy up a spare room, closet, kitchen cupboard, whatever; Start gathering your tax papers; Work on that scrapbook you put down in 2019; Watch an opera (play a YouTube video on your TV & open English subtitles).
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Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "The Senate on Sunday pushed a $95 billion emergency aid bill for Ukraine and Israel past a critical hurdle, with a bipartisan vote that kept it on track for passage within days. The vote was 67-27 to move forward on the package, which would dedicate $60.1 billion to helping Kyiv in its war against Russian aggression, send $14.1 billion to Israel for its war against Hamas and fund almost $10 billion in humanitarian assistance for civilians in conflict zones, while addressing threats to the Indo-Pacific region. In a rare Sunday session, 18 Republicans joined Democrats to advance the measure, which leaders hope the Senate will approve as early as Tuesday.... But steep hurdles still remain for the bill in the Republican-led House, where it faces staunch opposition fueled by the 'America First' stance of ... Donald J. Trump."
Yasmeen Abutaleb, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden and his top aides are closer to a breach with Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu than at any time since the Gaza War began, no longer viewing him as a productive partner who can be influenced even in private, according to several people familiar with their internal discussions. The mounting frustration with Netanyahu has prompted some of Biden's aides to urge him to be more publicly critical of the prime minister over his country's military operation in Gaza, according to six people familiar with the conversations.... The president, a staunch supporter of Israel who has known Netanyahu fo more than 40 years, has been largely reluctant to take his private frustrations public so far, according to the people. But he is slowly warming to the idea, they said, as Netanyahu continues to infuriate Biden officials with public humiliations and prompt rejections of basic U.S. demands." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Bibi, Joe wants you to read this "leaked" report.
Marie: It is not only our democracy that is on the line in the upcoming presidential election. It's all of them. Even Peter Both-Side Baker has the sense to be alarmed: ~~~
Peter Baker of the New York Times: Donald Trump "took [his antipathy to NATO] to a whole new level over the weekend, declaring at a rally in South Carolina that not only would he not defend European countries he deemed to be in arrears from an attack by Russia, he would go so far as to 'encourage' Russiato do whatever the hell they want' against them. Never before has a president of the United States -- even a former one aspiring to reclaim the office -- suggested that he would incite an enemy to attack American allies.... Mr. Trump's rhetoric foreshadows potentially far-reaching changes in the international order if he wins the White House again in November with unpredictable consequences. What's more, Mr. Trump's riff once again raised uncomfortable questions about his taste in friends. Encouraging Russia to attack NATO allies ... is a stunning statement that highlights his odd affinity for President Vladimir V. Putin, who has already proved his willingness to invade neighboring countries that do not have the protection of NATO.... Just the suggestion that the United States could not be depended on would negate the value of [U.S.] alliances, prompt longtime friends to hedge and perhaps align with other powers and embolden the likes of Mr. Putin and Xi Jinping of China." ~~~
David Sanger of the New York Times: "Long before Donald J. Trump threatened over the weekend that he was willing to let Russia 'do whatever the hell they want' against NATO allies that do not contribute sufficiently to collective defense, European leaders were quietly discussing how they might prepare for a world in which America removes itself as the centerpiece of the 75-year-old alliance.... The larger implication of his statement is that he might invite President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to pick off a NATO nation, as a warning and a lesson to the 30 or so others about heeding Mr. Trump's demands.... [Trump's] statement stunned many in Europe, especially after three years in which President Biden, attempting to restore the confidence in the alliance lost during Mr. Trump's four years in office, has repeatedly said that the United States would 'defend every inch of NATO territory.' Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, which comprises Europe's heads of government and defines their common policies, wrote that 'reckless statements' like Mr. Trump's 'serve only Putin's interest.'... In a statement on Sunday, [outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens] Stoltenberg said, 'Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the U.S., and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk.'" A related BBC News report is here. And another BBC News report is here.
... at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory. -- Robert Hur, Special Counsel
At trial, Mr. Trump would likely present himself to a jury, as he does every day, as an unsympathetic, narcissistic, vicious, elderly man with a poor memory, poor judgment, no morals, no impulse control, and as a danger to democracy and international stability. -- Marie, Special Report
Marie: Contributor Patrick spent a part of his Super Bowl Sunday editing the nearly-400-page special counsel Robert Hur's report on President Biden's retention of a few classified documents. As a public service, I am republishing Patrick's entire edition of the report. Do read it in full:
There is no evidence that improper storage of these documents was not sloppy filing. We could obtain no evidence showing who did that. Case closed. -- Full Report on President Biden's Retention of Classified Documents, Patrick's edition
Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "White House officials and Democrats fanned out to defend President Biden's mental fitness on Sunday, reflecting the rising anxiety in the president's administration over a special counsel report that fueled concern about his age. 'This is a report that went off the rails,' Bob Bauer, Mr. Biden's personal lawyer, said on CBS's 'Face the Nation.' 'A shabby work product.'... Democrats have gone on the offensive to discredit what they say is a partisan hit that potentially violated Justice Department policy, specifically taking issue with the descriptions questioning Mr. Biden's memory."
The most important thing to remember, though, is the president was found to have been engaged in no wrongdoing. Unlike President Trump, [who] has 91 felony counts pending against him. And, by the way, in over all the depositions that President Trump has taken in those cases, it says he doesn't remember or doesn't know, over 1,000 times. -- Mitch Landrieu, Biden campaign co-chair, Sunday on "Meet the Press"
Charles Pierce of Esquire: Merrick Garland "needs to be thanked for his service and then shown the door. He is not equipped to use all the tools god gave the Department of Justice to thwart the genuine threat to the Republic that is El Caudillo del Mar-A-Lago, and the dangerous political climate he has created. The former president* should have been charged federally with insurrection literally years ago.... The DOJ should have gone hammer-and-tongs after all the members of Congress who had the slightest connection with the insurrection. Somebody higher than the bear spray crowd should have been arrested and held until trial.... This business ... should have been the very first item on Garland's plate when he walked in the door.... Thursday was the end for me. Appointing a Republican hack like Robert Hur to 'investigate' the non-crimes of the president was bad enough, but then to allow Hur to pile on a political hit piece about the president's memory, thereby normalizing one of the former president*'s attack lines on DOJ stationery, is not admirably fair-minded, it's constitutionally suicidal." (Firewalled.)
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Andrew Weissmann & Ryan Goodman in Just Security on the "Real' Hur report: "The Special Counsel Robert Hur report has been grossly mischaracterized by the press. The report finds that the evidence of a knowing, willful violation of the criminal laws is wanting. Indeed, the report, on page 6, notes that there are 'innocent explanations' that Hur 'cannot refute.' That is but one of myriad examples we outline in great detail below of the report repeatedly finding a lack of proof. And those findings mean, in DOJ-speak, there is simply no case. Unrefuted innocent explanations is the sine qua non of not just a case that does not meet the standard for criminal prosecution -- it means innocence. Or as former Attorney General Bill Barr and his former boss would have put it, a total vindication (but here, for real)."
Presidential Race
The Latest from the Treasonous Narcissist. Marianne Levine of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trumpramped up his attacks on NATO on Saturday, [at a rally in South Carolina,] claiming he suggested to a foreign leader that he would encourage Russia to do 'whatever the hell they want' to member countrieshe views as not spending enough on their own defense. 'One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, "Well, sir, if we don't pay and we're attacked by Russia, will you protect us?,"' Trump said during a rally at Coastal Carolina University. 'I said, "You didn't pay. You're delinquent." He said, "Yes, let's say that happened." No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.'... 'Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged -- and it endangers American national security, global stability, and our economy at home,' White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement....
"At one point in the speech, he attacked [former S.C. Gov. Nikki] Haley's husband, a service member who is currently deployed overseas. 'Where's her husband? Oh he's away' Trump said. 'He's gone. He knew, he knew.'" CNN's report on Trump's NATO remarks is here. The New York Times story is here. The NBC News report about Michael Haley is here.
Someone who continually disrespects the sacrifices of military families has no business being commander in chief. -- Nikki Haley, responding, in a statement, to Trump's remarks about her husband
~~~ Marie: (1) Do you think "the president of a big country" would address Trump as "sir"? (2) And here we were wondering, "Where's Melanie?" I don't think the lovely Mrs. Trump has showed up on the campaign trail once this campaign season. And she is not serving the country; as far as we know, she's gone shopping.
Before That. Bidensylvania? Joeland? Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "During his speech Friday night in Harrisburg, [Pa., Donald Trump] ... told the crowd that a President Joe Biden win in November would be bad news for the state. 'We're not going to have Pennsylvania. They'll change the name,' Trump stated. 'They're going to change the name of Pennsylvania.'"
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New Jersey Senate Race. Daniel Han of Politico: "Rep. Andy Kim on Saturday won by a wide margin in New Jersey's first Democratic convention in the Senate primary to replace indicted Sen. Bob Menendez, handing first lady Tammy Murphy a stinging defeat in her home county. Murphy has been presumed the frontrunner because of her high-profile status as the first lady, her massive fundraising capabilities and, most importantly, the early support she's received from county party leaders in the state's most Democratic-rich areas. But she failed to lock up support in Monmouth County, located along the Jersey Shore. Kim won the contest in a blowout, winning 56.8 percent of the vote. Murphy won 38.8 percent while another candidate, progressive labor activist Patricia Campos-Medina, won 4.2 percent.... Kim, speaking with reporters after the vote, said he came into the contest and 'legitimately did not know' what the outcome would be." MB: You have to read most of the article to figure out that Kim's win is only in Monmouth County, not in the whole state.
North Carolina/Florida. Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: A bookstore in Asheville, North Carolina, accepted eight tons of books banned in Florida for discussing race, gender & sexual orientation. Firestorm Books "is now sending them to anyone who requests them. Many of the books are heading back to Florida."
Oklahoma. Emily Schmall of the New York Times: "A judge in Oklahoma who exchanged 500 text messages with her bailiff while presiding over the murder trial of a man accused of beating a toddler to death resigned on Friday. Traci Soderstromstepped down from her position as a district judge in Lincoln County ahead of a special court trial that was scheduled to begin on Monday, according to a resignation letter distributed to local news outlets. Ms. Soderstrom faced removal from the bench for gross neglect of duty, gross partiality in office and other judicial conduct prohibited by the state's Constitution.... Ms. Soderstrom and the bailiff 'called murder trial witnesses liars, admired the looks of a police officer who was testifying, disparaged the local defense bar, expressed bias in favor of the defendant and displayed gross partiality against the state,' M. John Kane IV, the chief justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, wrote in the petition.... The judge's cellphone use came to public attention in July, after The Oklahoman published more than 50 minutes of courtroom security footage and reported that it showed the judge texting and scrolling Facebook during Mr. Martzall's trial."
AND the GOP becomes one rep more MAGA. ~~~
~~~ Wisconsin Congressional Race. Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "Representative Mike Gallagher, Republican of Wisconsin, announced on Saturday that he would not run for re-election, just days after breaking with his party to cast a decisive vote against impeachment charges for Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary. Mr. Gallagher, who is in his fourth congressional term, is joining dozens of other lawmakers who have decided to call it quits. But the timing of his decision was striking nonetheless, coming on the heels of his impeachment vote -- which had already earned him a primary challenger -- and his relative youth, compared with others who are planning to retire from Congress." The AP story is here.
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Hungary. Andrew Higgins of the New York Times: "The president of Hungary, a loyal and largely powerless ally of the country's authoritarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, resigned on Saturday amid a public outcry over her pardoning of a man implicated in a sex abuse scandal at a children's home. President Katalin Novak, an outspoken champion of traditional values and Hungary's former minister of family affairs, announced her resignation on television, the latest in a series of prominent figures in Mr. Orban's conservative governing Fidesz party felled by sex scandals."
Pakistan. Christina Goldbaum of the New York Times: "The party of the imprisoned former prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, won the most seats in parliamentary elections this week, delivering a strong rebuke to the country's powerful generals and throwing the political system into chaos. While military leaders had hoped the election would put an end to the political turmoil that has consumed the country since Mr. Khan's ouster in 2022, it has instead plunged it into an even deeper crisis, analysts said. Never before in the country's history has a politician seen such success in an election without the backing of the generals -- much less after facing their iron fist."
I'm well-meaning, and I'm an elderly man, and I know what the hell I'm doing. I've been president and I put this country back on its feet. -- President Joe Biden, White House remarks, Thursday evening
Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury ... as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory. -- Special Counsel Robert Hur, report
When the markets crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. -- Senator Joe Biden, to Katie Couric, 2008 ~~~
~~~ For a free subscription to Reality Chex, find two errors in Biden's 2008 remark. Yeah, fractured history is a Biden specialty. -- Marie
Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "The White House on Friday called the special counsel's report into President Biden's handling of classified material politically motivated, escalating its attempts to discredit a document that characterized the president as elderly and forgetful. Vice President Kamala Harris suggested that the report was more of a political attack than an unbiased legal document. Ian Sams, a spokesman for the White House Counsel's Office, said the report was 'inappropriate' and 'troubling.'...
"'The way the president's demeanor in that report was characterized could not be more wrong on the facts and clearly politically motivated,' Ms. Harris said in response to questions from reporters at the White House. She also said Mr. Biden had sat down for in-person interviews with the special counsel's office just a day after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. 'It was an intense moment for the commander in chief of the United States of America,' Ms. Harris said. 'He was in front of it all, coordinating and directing leaders who are in charge of America's national security.'"
Kierra Frazier of Politico: "Former Attorney General Eric Holderslammed Special CounselRobert Hur's report that contained observations on President Joe Biden's memory. 'Special Counsel Hur report on Biden classified documents issues contains way too many gratuitous remarks and is flatly inconsistent with long standing DOJ traditions,' Holder said in a post on X early Friday morning. 'Had this report been subject to a normal DOJ review these remarks would undoubtedly have been excised.'... Tommy Vietor, a former Obama White House aide who now co-hosts Pod Save America, said the report was filled with 'ad hominem attacks' and was 'just a right-wing hit job from within Biden's own DOJ.' 'Hur, a lifelong Republican and creature of DC, didn't have a case against Biden, but he knew exactly how his swipes could hurt Biden politically,' saidJim Messina, Barack Obama's 2012 campaign manager."
Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: Robert Hur's "extensive discussions of [President Biden's cognitive condition] were not merely gratuitous -- they constituted an egregious transgression of prosecutorial boundaries.... [Hur's] portrayal of Biden as a doddering old man is inconsistent with what I hear from those who have frequent interactions with him. But assuming its accuracy, the details go far beyond what is appropriate to explain the decision to decline prosecution, and far beyond Hur's brief.... Prosecutors are supposed to remain above the partisan fray, not embroiled in it.... A responsible prosecutor would have taken care to avoid what Hur has done, which is to let his report become a potent -- perhaps even lethal -- weapon in the coming campaign." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yes, but if you credit Hur with writing, not a report, but a rambling, incoherent novel of the Look Homeward, Angel genre, then maybe it's a coming-of-aging story about a protagonist whom Hur decides to call "Joe Biden": ~~~
~~~ Marcy Wheeler: "Hurspent a year trying to find facts that would allow him to charge Joe Biden, charge a President, doing backflips with the evidence along the way, and then writing up a report that provides far more evidence about 40 year old documents covered by Speech and Debate than we'll ever learn about the stolen documents at Mar-a-Lago. This was never an ethical prosecutorial pursuit. It was always about writing a novel for a rabid audience." MB: This is one of Wheeler's long proofs, but Hur gives her a lot of material to work through.
Paul Campos in LG&$: "It's difficult to overstate what an absolutely astonishing own goalMerrick Garland scored by appointing Robert Hur to lead the Biden documents case.... So why did Merrick Garland do this incredibly stupid and reckless thing?... Because Robert Hur was Executive Editor of the Stanford Law Review, and clerked for the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and was a partner at Gibson Dunn, and somebody with that kind of impeccable legal pedigree wouldn't ever be a partisan hack, because if he was that would call into question the impeccable judgment of the other Elite Lawyers who anointed appointed him to those exalted offices, where Objective Legal Analysis always wins out over Partisan Political Considerations, because only the Very Best People get those kinds of jobs, because ... OK I can't do this any more.
"Merrick Garland should be fired immediately. He has one of the most important jobs in the United States, and he's absolutely terrible at it, which is a bad combination, especially when there's a little light sedition in the air.... This guy might as well be a Republican plant, but the really sad part is that I don't doubt for a second that he's as sincere as Linus in the pumpkin patch, waiting for the Spirit of the Law to bring presents to all the good little boys and girls...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yesterday I wrote, "If Merrick Garland had any balls, he would make a public statement condemning the tenor of the so-called report." Apparently, President Biden thinks Garland should have gone further: ~~~
Jonathan Lemire & Sam Stein of Politico: "Joe Biden has told aides and outside advisers that Attorney General Merrick Garlanddid not do enough to rein in a special counsel report stating that the president had diminished mental faculties, according to two people close to the president, as White House frustration with the head of the Justice Department grows.... Biden and his closest advisers ... put part of the blame [for 'gratuitous and misleading' descriptions of Biden in the report] on Garland, who they say should have demanded edits to Hur's report, including around the descriptions of Biden's faltering memory.... Frustration within the White House at Garland has been growing steadily. Last year, Biden privately denounced how long the probe into his son was taking.... And the elder Biden, the people said, told ... confidants that Garland should not have eventually empowered a special counsel to look into his son, believing that he again was caving to outside pressure. In recent weeks, President Biden has grumbled to aides and advisers that had Garland moved sooner in his investigation into ... Donald Trump's election interference, a trial may already be underway or even have concluded, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss private matters." The story recount anonymous DOJ reactions. ~~~
~~~ Marie: This looks like one of those anonymously-sourced reports that the White House wants out there. "Confidants" don't rat on the President.
Adam Nagourney of the New York Times: "For veterans of Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign for president, [Thursday] brought back painful memories. The special counsel's report on the handling of classified documents by President Biden instantly recalled how James Comey, then the F.B.I. director, concluded his investigation of Clinton for her handling of classified documents when she was secretary of state.... Hur and Comey -- both Republicans investigating Democrats -- ... adorn[ed] their exonerations with harsh and damaging criticisms. Comey called Clinton 'extremely careless' in her actions. That fueled a flood of critical media coverage, including in The New York Times, and handed a cudgel to her opponent, Donald Trump. To this day, many Democrats blame Comey -- who went on to reopen briefly, and then shut down, that investigation 11 days before Election Day -- as well as the news media for her loss.... Hur ... appeared to offer a cudgel to Trump, and fueled fears among Democrats about Biden's fitness as a candidate."
David McAfee of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump Friday was hit with a stream of criticism for several verbal slip-ups at an event for the NRA in Pennsylvania. The former president slurred when saying the word 'subsidies,' said 'dino-dollars' instead of 'dollars'" and even said he doesn't like being frontpage news every time he 'said one word a little bit mispronunciation.' He also said that three years ago things were great, despite that being when Joe Biden became president, and he claimed twice there were no terror attacks during his tenure as president. He also said that Biden hasn't spoken in months despite him addressing press last night.... Trump also appeared to mistake what day it was, saying, 'If I wasn't here, I'd be having a nice Saturday afternoon.' He said that, of course, on a Friday. This one was also picked up by Biden-Harris HQ. 'It is Friday night,' the account wrote." ~~~
~~~ Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Marie: For a while yesterday (Friday), the New York Times' top online story, by Shane Goldmacher & others, was about this: "... at a last-minute news conference on Thursday night..., a visibly angry Mr. Biden made the exact type of verbal flub that has kept Democrats so nervous for months, mistakenly referring to the president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, as the 'president of Mexico' as he tried to address the latest developments in the war in Gaza." But Biden did not "try to address" developments in Gaza. Rather, he addressed them at length, correctly as far as I know, and off-the-cuff as this was not a topic slated to be discussed at the presser. The story is 35 paragraphs long (albeit the grafs are short). Nowhere in those 35 paragraphs do the reporters mention Biden's recitation of the status of Gaza, a series of remarks that make it abundantly clear Biden knew exactly what he was talking about & that he had full command of the facts. (The report does, however, refer again to "Mr. Biden's mix-up of Egypt and Mexico.") Biden did not "mix up" Egypt & Mexico. He spoke lucidly about Egypt's, not Mexico's, participation in the Gaza crisis. He misspoke. Biden has been famous for misspeaking/making gaffes for decades. This is not a sign of old age; it's a sign of a persistent Biden quirk. ~~~
~~~ The next day (being Friday), Donald Trump -- the leader of the Insurrectionist/Putin party -- gave a prepared address to the NRA, where he "bragged ... that he 'did nothing' about guns during his term in the White House despite 'great pressure.'" So Trump didn't know what day it was and Biden said "Mexico" when he meant "Egypt." Biden was not confused. Trump was confused. But that is not worthy of so much as a NYT mention even in a story about Trump's NRA speech (also linked below) co-authored by the reporter who wrote the lead NYT story Thursday on Hur's report on how addled Biden is. ~~~
~~~ Oh, wow. This morning's online top-o'-the-page NYT story: Peter Both-Sides Baker asks, "How Old Is Too Old to Be President? An Uncomfortable Question Arises Again." In fairness to Mr. Both-Sides, he does also address Trump's cognitive impairment: "Mr. Trump, too, will have to quell concerns about his cognitive health, something that was a serious enough worry while he was in office that many of his aides privately believed he was not fit." And the Times' lead editorial?: "The Challenges of an Aging President." ~~~
~~~ digby: Joe Biden "has always been a gaffe machine. Always. Now it's attributed to his age, a lie promulgated by the right and aided and abetted by the media jackels, as we saw at the press conference [Thursday] night.... Biden's mental faculties are fine. he's no different than he always was in that way, which is a garrulous, rambling speaker whose mouth gets ahead of his brain. But he looks old and that's what people are reacting to. It's not relevant because all you have to do is look at his presidency to see that he is perfectly capable of doing the job. The Republicans know that which is why they are relying almost exclusively on this attack to neutralize the obvious problem they have with a corrupt, half-wit rapist at the top of their ticket.... I don't know what to say about the political press. They are beyond hope I'm afraid. Their performance [Thursday] night was as bad as any I've ever seen."
Marie: In today's Comments, Ken W. posits that Biden has made more misstatements about history than has Trump. Maybe. But there's this:
Robert Draper & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "A lawyer for the chief witness against Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, said on Friday that the witness was cooperating with a House Ethics Committee investigation into whether Mr. Gaetz had sex with an underage girl while he was serving in Congress. Fritz Scheller, a lawyer for Mr. Gaetz's former friend and political ally Joel Greenberg, said he provided documents to the committee related to claims Mr. Greenberg has made about Mr. Gaetz. Mr. Greenberg previously told federal investigators that he had witnessed Mr. Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old girl. 'Mr. Greenberg has and will cooperate with any congressional request,' Mr. Scheller said in an email on Friday."
The Trials of Trump
"Selective Persecution." Michael Gold & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump ... blasted on Friday a special counsel's decision not to charge President Biden for his handling of classified material, accusing prosecutors of an unfair double standard. 'You know, look, if he's not going to be charged, that's up to them. But then I should not be charged,' Mr. Trump said at an event in Harrisburg, Pa. 'This is nothing more than selective persecution of Biden's political opponent: me.'... Mr. Trump said he had cooperated 'with the very hostile and unfriendly feds' more than Mr. Biden, a claim unsupported by any evidence.... Mr. Hur's report said the president fully cooperated with his investigation...."
Smith to Cannon: You Don't Know WTF You're Doing. Katherine Doyle of NBC News: "The special counsel prosecuting Donald Trump has asked the judge in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case to reconsider an order the government argues could identify more than two dozen witnesses and threaten their safety and testimony. Trump's lawyers have asked for unredacted documents to be turned over, which lawyers for special counsel Jack Smith want to block. In a 24-page filing in federal court in Florida, prosecutors for Smith said the court applied the wrong legal standard when U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the case, ordered the unsealing of materials.... Smith argued that making the filings public would disclose the identities of witnesses prepared to testify against Trump, including career civil servants and former Trump advisers, and what they said to federal investigators and the grand jury.... Trump has lashed out at 'the Gestapo' agents who conducted the 'raid,' and at the time of the search.... Cannon issued an order in response on Friday that delayed her initial decision." Emphasis added. ~~~
~~~ Joyce Vance said on MSNBC that "Smith may be on track to go to the 11th Circuit & request a writ of mandamus ordering Cannon to reverse her decision to expose these witnesses." ~~~
~~~ Zoe Richards of NBC News: "A Texas woman accused of making death threats against the judge presiding over ... Donald Trump]s classified documents case was sentenced Friday to three years in prison. Tiffani Shea Gish, of Houston, was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release, the Justice Department said in a news release.... According to court documents, Gish had admitted to federal marshals that she left messages for [Judge Aileen] Cannon, warning the judge that she was 'marked for assassination' and that she planned to shoot her in front of her family.... [Another] Texas woman was charged last year in connection with threats to U.S. District JudgeTanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump's federal election interference case."
Brandi Buchman of Law & Crime: "In a new motion, special counsel Jack Smith shredded Donald Trump's latest attempt to indefinitely delay the classified documents case in Florida before U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, urging the court to resist the former president's efforts to 'stop at nothing' to delay facing a jury. '... the tactics they deploy are relentless and misleading -- they will stop at nothing to stall the adjudication of the charges against them by a fair and impartial jury of citizens...,' Smith wrote in the 9-page brief filed in Florida late Thursday.... Trump's lawyers were either simply unprepared or were flatly ignoring court orders, according to the special counsel, and now, three months on, as Trump's team has filed requests to adjourn the case completely, they still come asking for more time to file pretrial documents.... Most offensive to the special counsel is Trump's attempt to dismiss the 40-some charges he faces for alleged illegal retention of sensitive and classified documents by attempting to advance an argument of 'presidential immunity.' The conduct charged took place after Trump left office, Smith wrote."
Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "A lawyer for one of ... Donald J. Trump's co-defendants in the Georgia election case suggested on Friday that the two prosecutors leading the case had lied about when their romantic relationship started. The defense lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, said that a witness she hoped to put on the stand could testify that the romantic relationship between Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, and the special prosecutor managing the Trump case, Nathan J. Wade, had begun before Ms. Willis hired Mr. Wade. That would contradict Mr. Wade, who said in a recent affidavit that his relationship with Ms. Willis had not begun until 2022, after his hiring. The affidavit was attached to a court filing made by Ms. Willis. Ms. Merchant identified the witness as Terrence Bradley, a lawyer who once worked in Mr. Wade's law firm and for a time served as Mr. Wade's divorce lawyer.... Ms. Merchant, on Friday, wrote that Mr. Bradley had 'obtained information about the relationship between Wade and Willis directly from Wade when Wade was not seeking legal advice from Bradley.'... [Judge] Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court, has scheduled a hearing on the allegations for Thursday." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Seems to me that if Merchant can establish that Wade lied in an affidavit & if Willis did not correct the lie, McAfee should remove them both from the case.
Presidential Race
Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "A single day rarely encapsulates the fundamental issues of a presidential campaign, but the events of Thursday came close. Over a period of 12 hours, Election 2024 was vividly displayed as a choice between one candidate accused of criminal misconduct and the subversion of democracy, and another battling public concerns about his age and mental acuity.... After Thursday's events, it was also clear, as if it weren't before, that this campaign will be fought almost entirely on negative turf, a dispiriting prospect for an already sour electorate." MB: I don't often say this of Balz, but I do think he gets the basic points right, except for his claim that Biden "confused the president of Egypt with the president of Mexico."
Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "In a federal election complaint filed on Friday, the Democratic National Committee accused Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a super PAC backing his independent presidential bid of illegally coordinating on a $15 million petition drive intended to qualify him for the ballot in several states that could be crucial to President Biden's re-election prospects. The 11-page complaint to the Federal Election Commission described the arrangement as an in-kind contribution to Mr. Kennedy's campaign by the super PAC, American Values 2024, one that violated federal campaign finance laws and breached long-established financial barriers between candidates and outside groups." A CBS News report is here.
Wisconsin. Alyce McFadden & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Elections officials in Wisconsin voted that the Green Party is eligible to appear on presidential election ballots, a move that could affect the result in a critical battleground state where the winner has been decided by narrow margins. At a meeting of the Wisconsin Elections Commission on Thursday, the commissioners voted unanimously to grant the party's petition, so long as the final paperwork requirements are met. Wisconsin state law guarantees ballot access to parties that receive 1 percent of total votes in a previous election and submit a petition to the elections commission.... Recent polls suggest a close race between President Biden and ... Donald J. Trump.... In 2016, the Green Party candidate Jill Stein won just more than 31,000 votes in Wisconsin, a total that left her fourth in the state but was more than the difference in votes between ... Hillary Clinton and Mr. Trump, who won by a margin of less than 1 percent and took all ten of the state's electoral delegates. In the 2020 presidential election, no Green Party candidate appeared on ballots in Wisconsin. Mr. Biden won the state by less than 1 percent. Ms. Stein has announced that she will seek the Green Party's nomination again this year." ~~~
~~~ Marie: If Green party members care about this country, they will select "None of the Above" and bow out of battleground contests.
News About the Terrible Biden Economy. Edward Moreno & Joe Rennison of the New York Times: "Stocks rose on Friday, with the S&P 500 index closing above 5,000 for the first time amid a rally fueled by better-than-expected earnings reports. The move comes less than a month after the index returned to record territory, surpassing a high set in January 2022. The benchmark, which tracks the stock performance of the largest companies in America, is the foundation of many portfolios and retirement plans and is the most common gauge of sentiment on Wall Street. The rally in the stock market has come with inflation cooling, corporate profits growing and lower borrowing costs on the horizon." The NBC News report is here. ~~~
~~~ Jeff Cox of CNBC: "The prices consumers pay in the marketplace rose at an even slower pace than originally reported, according to closely watched revisions the government released Friday. Updates to the consumer price index showed that the broad basket of goods and services measured increased 0.2% on the month, less than the originally reported 0.3%, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said. While the change is only modest, it helped confirm that inflation was moderating as 2023 ended, giving more leeway to the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates later this year."
Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "An academic journal publisher this week retracted two studies that were cited by a federal judge in Texas last year when he ruled that the abortion pill mifepristone should be taken off the market. Most of the authors of the studies are doctors and researchers affiliated with anti-abortion groups, and their reports suggested that medication abortion causes dangerous complications, contradicting the widespread evidence that abortion pills are safe. The lawsuit in which the studies were cited will be heard by the Supreme Court in March.... The publisher, Sage Journals, said it had asked two independent experts to evaluate the studies, published in 2021 and 2022 in the journal Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology, after a reader raised concerns. Sage said both experts had 'identified fundamental problems with the study design and methodology, unjustified or incorrect factual assumptions, material errors in the authors' analysis of the data, and misleading presentations of the data that, in their opinions, demonstrate a lack of scientific rigor and invalidate the authors' conclusions in whole or in part.'"
Marie: It's fair to say the odds were mighty low that I would link a Daily Mail column by Boris Johnson. But here ya go: ~~~
~~~ Boris Johnson in the Daily Mail: "Putin's interview with his fawning stooge Tucker Carlsonwas straight out ofHitler's playbook.... In his fawning, guffawing, slack-jawed happiness at having a ‘scoop’, [Carlson] betrayed his viewers and listeners around the world. He didn’t ask tough questions.... Not once did he even try to dam the flow of lies from Putin. Instead he gasped fanboyishly at Putin’s alleged erudition, boneheadedly accepting the Russian leader’s mixture of semi-masticated Wikipedia and outright falsehood...."
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Maryland Senate Race. Michael Bender of the New York Times: “Larry Hogan, the popular Republican former governor of Maryland, announced on Friday that he would run for the state’s open Senate seat, a surprising move that immediately made the state a top battleground for control of the chamber.... Mr. Hogan has been one of his party’s most vocal critics of ... Donald J. Trump and has endorsed former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina for the Republican nomination.... Senator Steve Daines, a Montana Republican and the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, welcomed Mr. Hogan into the race....”
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Israel/Palestine, et al.
Reid Epstein & Erica Green of the New York Times: “In a closed-door meeting with Arab American leaders in Michigan this week, one of President Biden’s top foreign policy aides acknowledged mistakes in the administration’s response to the war in Gaza, saying he did not have 'any confidence' that Israel’s government was willing to take 'meaningful steps' toward Palestinian statehood.... The remarks came after months of public and private admonitions from the Biden administration for Israel to take a more surgical approach in a conflict that has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza.... The Biden aide, Jon Finer, a deputy national security adviser, offered some of the administration’s clearest expressions of regret for what he called 'missteps' it had made from the beginning of the violence, and he pledged that it would do better.”
Aaron Boxerman, et al., of the New York Times: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuhas ordered the Israeli military to draw up plans to evacuate Rafah, a Gazan city packed with more than a million people, in advance of an expected ground offensive that has set off international alarm.... Many civilians in Rafah are sheltering in rickety tents made of plastic and wood and say there is nowhere left in Gaza to avoid Israeli shelling.... On Friday, UNICEF warned against any escalation in Rafah, where, it said, more than 600,000 children and their families had been displaced.”
Ukraine, et al.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs & David Sanger of the New York Times: “President Biden and Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany used a meeting at the Oval Office on Friday to pressure Congress to pass billions more in aid for Ukraine, as legislative dysfunction and opposition among some Republicans have left the critical package in limbo. 'Hopefully Congress, the House, will follow you and make a decision on giving the necessary support because without the support of the United States and without the support of European states, Ukraine will not have a chance to defend its own country,' Mr. Scholz said in opening remarks before their meeting. Mr. Biden had a more blunt assessment of the congressional gridlock. 'The failure of the United States Congress, if it occurs, not to support Ukraine is close to criminal neglect,' Mr. Biden said. 'It is outrageous.'” ~~~
~~~ Before Likely Senate Passage, GOP Senators Demand Stunt Amendments. Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: “The long-stalled emergency national security package to send aid to Ukraine and Israel is back on track in the Senate and headed toward passage within days — but not before Republican senators try to take a few partisan shots at the legislation. The senators are slowing progress on the $95 billion measure as they seek votes on proposed revisions, particularly concerning border security — despite having voted this week to kill a version of the bill that included a bipartisan deal to crack down on immigration.... [Senate Republicans] are settling for staging a series of votes that aim to show the right-wing Republican base, the G.O.P.-led House and ... Donald J. Trump that they tried to muscle through tough new border policies — and blame Democrats for blocking them. Senators planned a rare weekend session to work through the bill, with a critical vote on the legislation expected Sunday. Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and minority leader who has been a vocal champion of aiding Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression, urged his colleagues to either fall in line behind the bill or at least allow it to advance to a final vote.” The Hill's report is here.
U.K. Your Royal Gossip Fix, Ctd. Mark Landler of the New York Times: “Prince Harry has settled his privacy claims against a British tabloid publisher, his lawyer told a London court on Friday, two months after a judge found the publisher guilty of 'widespread and habitual' hacking of the prince’s cellphone. The settlement with Mirror Group Newspapers — which his lawyer said would amount to at least 400,000 pounds, or $504,000 — brings to an end one battle in Harry’s long-running war against the press over its intrusive coverage of his private life.... In addition to paying for the costs of the case, the Mirror Group would pay additional “significant” damages, the prince’s lawyer, David Sherborne, said.... In his statement, Harry singled out Piers Morgan, a prominent TV personality and a former editor of The Daily Mirror, saying Mr. Morgan 'knew perfectly well what was going on.' Mr. Morgan’s 'contempt for the court’s ruling and his continued attacks ever since demonstrate why it was so important to obtain a clear and detailed judgment,' Harry said.”
I'm well-meaning, and I'm an elderly man, and I know what the hell I'm doing. I've been president and I put this country back on its feet. -- President Joe Biden, White House remarks, Thursday evening
Mr. Biden would likely present himself ... as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory. -- Special Counsel Robert Hur, report
Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "The White House on Friday called the special counsel's report into President Biden's handling of classified material politically motivated, escalating its attempts to discredit a document that characterized the president as elderly and forgetful. Vice President Kamala Harris suggested that the report was more of a political attack than an unbiased legal document. Ian Sams, a spokesman for the White House Counsel's Office, said the report was 'inappropriate' and 'troubling.'...
"'The way the president's demeanor in that report was characterized could not be more wrong on the facts and clearly politically motivated,' Ms. Harris said in response to questions from reporters at the White House. She also said Mr. Biden had sat down for in-person interviews with the special counsel's office just a day after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. 'It was an intense moment for the commander in chief of the United States of America,' Ms. Harris said. 'He was in front of it all, coordinating and directing leaders who are in charge of America's national security.'"
Kierra Frazier of Politico: "Former Attorney General Eric Holder slammed Special CounselRobert Hur's report that contained observations on President Joe Biden's memory. 'Special Counsel Hur report on Biden classified documents issues contains way too many gratuitous remarks and is flatly inconsistent with long standing DOJ traditions,' Holder said in a post on X early Friday morning. 'Had this report been subject to a normal DOJ review these remarks would undoubtedly have been excised.'... Tommy Vietor, a former Obama White House aide who now co-hosts Pod Save America, said the report was filled with 'ad hominem attacks' and was 'just a right-wing hit job from within Biden's own DOJ.' 'Hur, a lifelong Republican and creature of DC, didn't have a case against Biden, but he knew exactly how his swipes could hurt Biden politically,' saidJim Messina, Barack Obama's 2012 campaign manager."
Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: Robert Hur's "extensive discussions of [President Biden's cognitive condition] were not merely gratuitous -- they constituted an egregious transgression of prosecutorial boundaries.... [Hur's] portrayal of Biden as a doddering old man is inconsistent with what I hear from those who have frequent interactions with him. But assuming its accuracy, the details go far beyond what is appropriate to explain the decision to decline prosecution, and far beyond Hur's brief.... Prosecutors are supposed to remain above the partisan fray, not embroiled in it.... A responsible prosecutor would have taken care to avoid what Hur has done, which is to let his report become a potent -- perhaps even lethal -- weapon in the coming campaign." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yes, but if you credit Hur with writing, not a report, but a rambling, incoherent novel of the Look Homeward, Angel genre, then maybe it's what you might call a coming-of-aging story about a protagonist whom Hur calls "Joe Biden": ~~~
~~~ Marcy Wheeler: "Hurspent a year trying to find facts that would allow him to charge Joe Biden, charge a President, doing backflips with the evidence along the way, and then writing up a report that provides far more evidence about 40 year old documents covered by Speech and Debate than we'll ever learn about the stolen documents at Mar-a-Lago. This was never an ethical prosecutorial pursuit. It was always about writing a novel for a rabid audience." MB: This is one of Wheeler's long proofs, but Hur gives her a lot of material to work through.
Paul Campos in LG&$: "It's difficult to overstate what an absolutely astonishing own goalMerrick Garland scored by appointing Robert Hur to lead the Biden documents case.... So why did Merrick Garland do this incredibly stupid and reckless thing?... Because Robert Hur was Executive Editor of the Stanford Law Review, and clerked for the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and was a partner at Gibson Dunn, and somebody with that kind of impeccable legal pedigree wouldn't ever be a partisan hack, because if he was that would call into question the impeccable judgment of the other Elite Lawyers who anointed appointed him to those exalted offices, where Objective Legal Analysis always wins out over Partisan Political Considerations, because only the Very Best People get those kinds of jobs, because ... OK I can't do this any more.
"Merrick Garland should be fired immediately. He has one of the most important jobs in the United States, and he's absolutely terrible at it, which is a bad combination, especially when there's a little light sedition in the air.... This guy might as well be a Republican plant, but the really sad part is that I don't doubt for a second that he's as sincere as Linus in the pumpkin patch, waiting for the Spirit of the Law to bring presents to all the good little boys and girls...."
Robert Draper & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "A lawyer for the chief witness against Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, said on Friday that the witness was cooperating with a House Ethics Committee investigation into whether Mr. Gaetz had sex with an underage girl while he was serving in Congress. Fritz Scheller, a lawyer for Mr. Gaetz's former friend and political ally Joel Greenberg, said he provided documents to the committee related to claims Mr. Greenberg has made about Mr. Gaetz. Mr. Greenberg previously told federal investigators that he had witnessed Mr. Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old girl. 'Mr. Greenberg has and will cooperate with any congressional request,' Mr. Scheller said in an email on Friday."
Brandi Buchman of Law & Crime: "In a new motion, special counsel Jack Smith shredded Donald Trump's latest attempt to indefinitely delay the classified documents case in Florida before U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, urging the court to resist the former president's efforts to 'stop at nothing' to delay facing a jury. '... the tactics they deploy are relentless and misleading -- they will stop at nothing to stall the adjudication of the charges against them by a fair and impartial jury of citizens...,' Smith wrote in the 9-page brief filed in Florida late Thursday.... Trump's lawyers were either simply unprepared or were flatly ignoring court orders, according to the special counsel, and now, three months on, as Trump's team has filed requests to adjourn the case completely, they still come asking for more time to file pretrial documents.... Most offensive to the special counsel is Trump's attempt to dismiss the 40-some charges he faces for alleged illegal retention of sensitive and classified documents by attempting to advance an argument of 'presidential immunity.' The conduct charged took place after Trump left office, Smith wrote."
Edward Moreno & Joe Rennison of the New York Times: "Stocks rose on Friday, with the S&P 500 index closing above 5,000 for the first time amid a rally fueled by better-than-expected earnings reports. The move comes less than a month after the index returned to record territory, surpassing a high set in January 2022. The benchmark, which tracks the stock performance of the largest companies in America, is the foundation of many portfolios and retirement plans and is the most common gauge of sentiment on Wall Street. The rally in the stock market has come with inflation cooling, corporate profits growing and lower borrowing costs on the horizon."
U.K. Your Royal Gossip Fix, Ctd. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Prince Harry has settled his privacy claims against a British tabloid publisher, his lawyer told a London court on Friday, two months after a judge found the publisher guilty of 'widespread and habitual' hacking of the prince's cellphone. The settlement with Mirror Group Newspapers -- which his lawyer said would amount to at least 400,000 pounds, or $504,000 -- brings to an end one battle in Harry's long-running war against the press over its intrusive coverage of his private life.... In addition to paying for the costs of the case, the Mirror Group would pay additional 'significant' damages, the prince's lawyer, David Sherborne, said.... In his statement, Harry singled out Piers Morgan, a prominent TV personality and a former editor of The Daily Mirror, saying Mr. Morgan 'knew perfectly well what was going on.' Mr. Morgan's 'contempt for the court's ruling and his continued attacks ever since demonstrate why it was so important to obtain a clear and detailed judgment,' Harry said."
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The Report
Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The special counsel investigating President Biden said in a report released on Thursday that he had decided 'no criminal charges are warranted' against Mr. Biden over his handling of classified material after leaving the vice presidency in early 2017, but had found evidence that Mr. Biden had willfully retained and disclosed some sensitive material. Robert K. Hur, the special counsel, said in his highly unflattering report that Mr. Biden had left the White House after his vice presidency with classified documents about Afghanistan and notebooks with handwritten entries 'implicating sensitive intelligence sources and methods' taken from internal White House briefings. The report said that Mr. Biden had shared the content of the notebooks with a ghostwriter who helped him on his 2017 memoir, 'Promise Me, Dad' even though he knew some of it was classified. While Mr. Hur decided not to prosecute Mr. Biden, some of his reasons for doing so are likely to raise new questions about the president's conduct and his mental state....' Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview with him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,' Mr. Hur wrote."
"White House officials said Mr. Biden had fully cooperated with the investigation and that he took the handling of classified information seriously. 'We disagree with a number of inaccurate and inappropriate comments in the special counsel's report. Nonetheless, the most important decision the special counsel made -- that no charges are warranted -- is firmly based on the facts and evidence,' Richard Sauber, a special counsel for Mr. Biden, said in a statement.... In the report's introduction, Mr. Hur cited Mr. Biden's cooperation with investigators, in stark contrast with ... Donald J. Trump's behavior when documents were discovered at his resort in Florida, as one of the factors in his decision not to bring charges.... Mr. Hur could not establish whether classified documents discovered at Mr. Biden's house had been willfully retained, or whether they had been obtained during his vice presidency and sloppily stored." (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~ Politico's report, by Betsy Swan, is here: "Biden's memory lapse was a common theme throughout Hur's report.... One of [Biden's] attorneys, Bob Bauer, took umbrage with the portrayal, accusing Hur of 'essentially, "trashing" the subject of an investigation' with 'extraneous, unfounded and irrelevant critical commentary.' Biden's attorneys also wrote directly to Hur and his team before the report's publication to complain about the focus on the president's memory lapses. As documented in the report, they called the focus 'gratuitous' and urged Hur to revise his summarizations, saying it was beyond his 'expertise and remit.'... Biden addressed the report during an appearance at a retreat for House Democrats on Thursday afternoon. 'I was pleased to see the special counsel make clear the stark differences between this case and Trump's,' he said, 'The special counsel in my case decided against moving forward with any charges. This matter is now closed.' He banged the podium with a fist." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The report, via the DOJ, is here. It begins with an executive summary. President Biden's statement, via the White House, is here.(Also linked yesterday.)
Marie: You are not mistaken. This report was Jim Comey on steroids. Remember when Comey released the FBI's report recommending no charges against Hillary Clinton for her home server blunder but then trashed her in a press conference ostensibly called to clear her? (Not to be confused with the "October Surprise," which arguably cost Clinton the election.) Joy Reid pointed out on MSNBC last night that at the bottom of the first page of the executive summary (p. 5 of the linked report), Hur writes, "Mr. Biden has long seen himself as a historic figure.... He believed his record during decades in the Senate made him worthy of the presidency...." This is not how a factual DOJ report is supposed to be written. As President Biden's attorneys wrote, Hur went beyond his "expertise and remit." An analogous Mueller report might have begun, "Mr. Trump is an ignorant, narcissistic sociopath with autocratic tendendies who should never have ascended to any public office, let along the presidency*." It didn't. ~~~
~~~ As to Biden's being "a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory," his interviewers asked him questions going back 40 years. I sat for a deposition when I was "a well-meaning 50-year-old woman" with no cognitive problems. When I was asked about a letter I had written when I was 21 years old, I did not remember the letter. At all. Ari Melber of MSNBC pointed out that lawyers usually advise their clients to say, "I don't recall" when asked about something they couldn't remember. And you don't have to be a doddering old codger with a faulty memory to forget dates and specifics. Most of us don't remember much about uneventful matters that occurred decades ago. Hur's characterization of President Biden is over the top, politically-motivated and in extremely bad form. It reflects poorly on him more than it does on Biden. P.S. If Merrick Garland had any balls, he would make a public statement condemning the tenor of the so-called report.
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The investigation into Mr. Biden’s handling of the documents ... [made] such startling assertions that they prompted a fiery and emotional attempt at political damage control from the president within hours. Speaking to the cameras from the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House, Mr. Biden on Thursday evening blasted the report by Robert K. Hur, the special counsel, accusing the report's authors of 'extraneous commentary' about his age and mental capacity.... The president's lawyers, Bob Bauer and Richard Sauber, took exception in a Feb. 5 letter with Mr. Hur's description of the president's memory. 'It is hardly fair to concede that the president would be asked about events years in the past, press him to give his "best" recollections and then fault him for his limited memory,' the lawyers wrote. 'The president's inability to recall dates or details of events that happened years ago is neither surprising nor unusual.'...
"The tough language by Mr. Hur could set the stage for Mr. Trump and his allies to launch a fresh round of political attacks on Mr. Biden for doing the very same kinds of things Mr. Trump is accused of doing.... Republicans began using the report to attack Mr. Biden almost immediately, sometimes going much further than the prosecutor's actual conclusions. Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, said on social media, falsely, that 'the special counsel decided not to bring charges against Biden because they believe he has age related dementia.'" NPR's report is here. ~~~
Josh Marshall of TPM: "... this is another example of the universal rule: Republican special counsels are chosen to investigate Democrats. And Republican special counsels are chosen to investigate Republicans. It may not have been a great idea for Merrick Garland to have a two-time Trump appointee investigate Joe Biden. But here we are. Robert Hur totally slimed Biden with these gratuitous comments about his mental acuity and memory.... Even if you assume they are the product of a good faith evaluation they are still wildly inappropriate. DOJ guidelines make clear that if you're not bringing charges you don't bash the subject of the investigation in your announcement (a laJames Comey). You certainly aren't supposed to affirmatively attempt to demean the subject of the investigation with clearly political attacks that aren't even related to what you're investigating." MB: On the other hand, Hur did not find a blue dress. ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: Ditto. "It's very bad, but at this late date it has to hang onGarland at least as much as Hur himself. He was doing what anybody should have expected him to do."
Samantha Latson of Politico: "Donald Trump and his GOP presidential rival Nikki Haleyeach slammed a Justice Department special counsel decision Thursday not to charge President Joe Biden for mishandling classified documents.... 'THIS HAS NOW PROVEN TO BE A TWO-TIERED SYSTEM OF JUSTICE AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL SELECTIVE PROSECUTION! The Biden Documents Case is 100 times different and more severe than mine,' Trump, who faces criminal prosecution for deliberately retaining classified material, said in a statement. 'I did nothing wrong, and I cooperated far more. What Biden did is outrageously criminal.'... Haley also used the decision to take a jab at both Biden and her rival Trump: 'Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump were reckless with classified documents,' she wrote on social media platform X. "If Biden's defense is old age and forgetfulness, Trump can easily make the same claim....'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Maybe the upside of narcissism is that it doesn't require any coordination with facts. A narcissist can lie with alacrity, as Trump does here. He doesn't have to read; he doesn't have to study; he doesn't have to rationalize or make excuses; he just flips off the world and presents his own fantasies as reality.
Presidential Race
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court seemed poised on Thursday to issue a lopsided decision rejecting a challenge to ... Donald J. Trump's eligibility to hold office again. Justices across the ideological spectrum expressed skepticism about several aspects of a ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court that Mr. Trump's conduct in trying to subvert the 2020 race made him ineligible to hold office under a constitutional provision that bars people who have sworn to support the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection.... The ruling is likely to resolve not only whether Mr. Trump may appear on the Colorado primary ballot but also whether he is eligible to run in the general election. Indeed, the decision in the Colorado case will almost certainly apply to any other state where Mr. Trump's eligibility to run has been challenged, including Maine, where the state's top elections official ruled he should be excluded from the ballot. There was very little discussion of the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol or of Mr. Trump's role in it. But a majority of the justices indicated that they were prepared to rule that individual states may not disqualify candidates in a national election unless Congress first enacts legislation allowing them to do so. Some justices also seemed open to two other arguments: that the post-Civil War prohibition at issue, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, bars candidates from holding office, as opposed to running for it, and that the president is not among the officials to whom the provision applies."
Traditionally the idea of state's rights has been the purview and preponderant obsession of the wingers on the court.... But of course if that means states get to decide stuff the wingers don't cotton to, then that state's rights stuff is right out. The only thing consistent about them is the belief that their side needs to win no matter what. -- Akhilleus, in yesterday's thread
They are textualists only when textualism provides a means to and end -- like when they say, "Well, we have to give everybody a gun because it says so right here in the Second Amendment." But when a purported 'close reading' does not suit them, suddenly they are pragmatists. -- Chris Hayes of MSNBC, Thursday (very loose paraphrase)
You do have to wonder how the Supremes would have reacted had Hillary Clinton led a motley army into the Capitol to try to prevent Joe Biden from counting electoral votes in 2016. Would she still be eligible to run for president? Just asking. -- Marie
Chris Geidner of Law Dork: "... the U.S. Supreme Court appeared all but certain to rule that, at least under current federal law, Donald Trumpcan appear on Colorado's Republican presidential primary ballot, reversing the Colorado Supreme Court's decision to the contrary.... The justices appeared to be more concerned about what removing Trump from the ballot would do rather than whether the Constitution says he is disqualified."
Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: "After saying he'd listened to the Supreme Court oral arguments Thursday..., Trump reverted to one of his signature falsehoods.... Trump ... referred to what his detractors 'kept saying about what I said right after the insurrection ... if it was an insurrection.' He claimed that what he really did was offer 'very beautiful, very heartwarming statements' during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. He also suggested people should view the video he posted late in the day -- or as he put it, 'very shortly after.' That would be hard. The video was removed from YouTube and other social media shortly after being posted, on the grounds that it violated the terms of service by spreading false information about the 2020 election." Kessler provides a timeline of the events of the day and Trump's responses. It's a useful and shocking reminder of what a horrible human being Trump is. ~~~
~~~ Marie: CNN played live bits of Trump's remarks after the hearing. They kept cutting out because, as Jake Tapper said, Trump was lying so much and just giving a campaign speech. What was more startling than the lies was how infantile Trump is. If he listened to the hearing, why didn't he say any more about it than "they did a good job," or words to that effect. Instead, he rambled on about extraneous matters: "We're at 90% in Nevada, I think we're at 90% everywhere, Joe Biden sucks, blah, blah." Don't tell me Joe Biden is off his game when Trump is totally out of it, reduced to toddler babble. I suspect his aides tell him how good his poll numbers are the way you tell a severely intellectually disabled person that the stick figures he drew are great, and the poor fellow is able to parrot back, "I did good, didn't I?"
Michael Gold of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trumpglided to victory in Nevada's Republican caucuses on Thursday, an outcome all but guaranteed because he was the only major candidate on the ballot. The Associated Press declared Mr. Trump the winner shortly after caucus sites closed in Nevada, giving him his fourth straight triumph in a Republican nominating contest that awards delegates this year."
Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Hannity Promotes Violence Against Strangers on Live TV. Jake Offenhartz of the AP: "Members of the Guardian Angels roughed up a man during a live interview on Fox News Tuesday night, then misidentified him as a 'migrant' in a primetime segment meant to highlight disorder and crime caused by new arrivals to New York City. The bizarre altercation played out as Curtis Sliwa, founder of the anti-crime patrol group, was speaking to Sean Hannity from Times Square, flanked by volunteers in their signature red berets and bomber jackets. As some Guardian Angels began leaving Sliwa's side to attend to an off-screen disturbance, the camera panned to show them confronting an unidentified man, pushing him to the sidewalk and placing him in a headlock. 'In fact, our guys have just taken down one of the migrant guys...,' Sliwa told Hannity.... The man is not a migrant, but a New Yorker from the Bronx, police said Wednesday afternoon. Though Sliwa claimed the man had been caught shoplifting, police provided no evidence to support the allegation.... Police said the man was issued a disorderly conduct summons because he was acting in a loud and threatening manner on a public sidewalk.... Sliwa said he had believed the man was a migrant because he was 'speaking Spanish.'..." ~~~
~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Hannity "welcomed Sliwa back at the end of the show to explain what happened. 'Well, he had been shoplifting first,' Sliwa claimed. 'The Guardian Angels spotted him, stopped him. He resisted. And let's just say we gave him a little pain compliance.' Hannity chuckled. 'His mother back in Venezuela felt the vibrations. He's sucking concrete. The cops scraped off the asphalt.'... That Fox News carried the scuffle live was a function of a number of bad decisions, certainly. But all of them were downstream from the same point of origin: wanting to cast New York City, once again, as collapsing metropolis overrun by criminal immigrants."
The Trials of Trump & the Trump Gang
Igor Derysh of Salon: "Legal experts sounded the alarm after the judge overseeing Donald Trump's classified documents case rejected special counsel Jack Smith's bid to keep government witnesses secret. Smith's team opposed making information public that could reveal the identity or any personal identifying information of any potential witnesses in the case or any transcripts or other documents they may have provided, citing concerns about witness intimidation. Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ruled in Trump's favor on the matter, writing: '... the Special Counsel has not set forth a sufficient factual or legal basis warranting deviation from the strong presumption in favor of public access to the records at issue.'... Longtime Harvard Law Prof. Laurence Tribe said he hopes Tuesday's order 'will trigger a motion to remove her.... The 11th Circuit might well agree this was the last straw. Compromising national security is a bridge too far,' he tweeted. 'It is impossible to overstate how awful and unethical is Aileen Cannon,' addedNorman Ornstein, emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. 'Clearly has no business being a judge at any level.'" ~~~
~~~ So Then.... Mike Levine & Katherine Faulders of ABC News: "Federal authorities are currently investigating a series of threats made online to a potential witness related to special counsel Jack Smith's classified documents case against ... Donald Trump, according to a new court filing from Smith's team. In the filing late Wednesday in federal court in Florida, Smith's team asked U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ... to let them file an exhibit under seal because, they wrote, 'The exhibit describes in some detail threats that have been made over social media to a prospective Government witness and the surrounding circumstances, and the fact that those threats are the subject of an ongoing federal investigation being handled by a United States Attorney's Office.'"
They're Going to Take Him Away, Away. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Thursday ordered former Trump White House aide Peter Navarroto begin serving a four month-prison term for ignoring a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, rejecting his request to stay free while he appeals his conviction on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress.... In a 12-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta said that none of Navarro's claims posed a 'substantial question of law' or a close call. Unless the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia stays his sentence imposed Jan. 25, Mehta ordered, Navarro 'shall report to the designated Bureau of Prisons ('BOP') facility on the date ordered by the BOP.' Navarro has not received a reporting date and is expected to ask the circuit court to intervene."
Dino Grandoni of the Washington Post: "Michael Mann, a prominent climate scientist, won his long-standing legal battle against two right-wing bloggers who claimed that he manipulated data in his research and compared him to convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky, a major victory for the outspoken researcher. A jury in a civil trial in Washington on Thursday found that the two writers, Rand Simberg and Mark Steyn, defamed and injured the researcher in a pair of blog posts published in 2012, and awarded him more than $1 million. 'I hope this verdict sends a message that falsely attacking climate scientists is not protected speech,' Mann said in a statement[.] Mann's victory comes amid heightened attacks on scientists working not just on climate change but also on vaccines and other issues." The AP's report is here.
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Israel/Palestine, et al.
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Friday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: President "Biden's comments [that Israel's attacks on Gaza are 'over the top'] follow National Security Council spokesman John Kirby saying 'we would not support' a major Israeli military operation in crowded Rafah under current conditions, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying he had conveyed 'profound concerns' to Israel about inflammatory rhetoric and actions, calling for it to address the high civilian death toll. Biden also issued a memorandum laying out standards for countries that receive U.S. weapons and, for the first time, requires the administration to submit an annual report to Congress about whether they are meeting the requirements. It comes after Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about the extent of Israels campaign in Gaza." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Friday are here.
Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Thursday said Israel's military campaign in Gaza has been 'over the top' in his sharpest rebuke yet and said he hoped the current negotiations over a release of hostages in exchange for a long-term pause could lay the groundwork to change the course of the war.... Biden, who has been resistant to speak in detail about the suffering in Gaza, also spoke in the most visceral terms yet about the desperation in the enclave. 'I've been pushing really hard to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza. A lot of innocent people are starving. A lot of innocent people are in trouble and they're dying and it's got to stop,' Biden said. The comments mark a stunning turnaround for Biden, who has an emotional attachment to Israel and has largely refused to criticize the country even as anger grows among left-leaning parts of the Democratic base over the war in Gaza and its enormous civilian toll."
Ukraine, et al.
Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "A sweeping emergency aid bill for Ukraine and Israel inched ahead in the Senate on Thursday, providing glimmers of hope for the measure after a series of setbacks. But hurdles remained as Republicans slow-walked progress, demanding changes and feuding internally over whether to back it. In a bipartisan show of support, the Senate voted 67 to 32 to advance the bill, with 17 Republicans joining Democrats to move it forward. The legislation would provide $60.1 billion for Ukraine, $14.1 billion for Israel and $10 billion in humanitarian aid for civilians in global conflicts. But many Republicans were still withholding their backing as they demanded changes to the package, and many others opposed it outright. 'We hope to reach an agreement with our Republican colleagues on amendments,' Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said. 'We are going to keep working on this bill until the job is done.'" (Also linked yesterday
Andrew Kramer & Mark Santora of the New York Times: "President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Thursday removed his top general as part of a sweeping overhaul of his military command, the most significant shake-up in Ukrainian leadership since Russia invaded almost two years ago. The dismissal ended weeks of speculation about the fate of the commander, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, whose relationship with Mr. Zelensky had deteriorated as Ukraine failed to make a breakthrough in its counteroffensive last summer and fall. Mr. Zelensky was prepared to fire the general 10 days ago before temporarily backing off, Ukrainian officials have said. The upheaval comes at a difficult moment for Ukraine in the war, amid intensified Russian attacks, partisan wrangling in the United States over providing aid to the government in Kyiv and the tensions between Ukraine's civilian and military leadership. General Zaluzhny will be replaced by Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, the head of Ukraine's ground forces, the president said." (Also linked yesterday.)
Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "Speaking to Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, [Vladimir] Putin called on the United States to 'make an agreement' to cede Ukrainian territory to Russia in order to end the war. He sought to appeal directly to American conservatives just as Republican lawmakers are holding up aid to Ukraine on Capitol Hill, echoing the talking points of politicians like ... Donald J. Trump who say that the United States has more pressing priorities than a war thousands of miles away.... Much of the interview constituted a familiar Kremlin history lesson about Russia's historical claim to Eastern European lands, beginning in the ninth century, that Mr. Putin made little effort to distill for American ears.... Mr. Carlson pressed Mr. Putin to release [Evan] Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal correspondent whom Russia arrested last year on espionage accusations that The Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny. Mr. Putin said 'the dialogue continues' on his fate, hinting that the Kremlin was holding out for a favorable offer from the United States to release him as part of a prisoner swap."
News Lede
New York Times: "Seiji Ozawa, the high-spirited Japanese conductor who took the Western classical music world by storm in the 1960s and '70s and was music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1973 to 2002, died on Feb. 6 in Tokyo. He was 88."
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