The Commentariat -- May 13, 2018

Late Morning Update:

Paul Mozur & Raymond Zhong of the New York Times: "President Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday that he was working with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to prevent the collapse of the Chinese electronics giant ZTE, which shut down major operations after being sanctioned by the United States Department of Commerce last month. 'Too many jobs in China lost,' Mr. Trump wrote. 'Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!'... The department last month banned shipments of American technology to ZTE for seven years, saying the company had failed to reprimand employees who violated American trade controls on Iran and North Korea.... Mr. Trump's tweet on Sunday left many scratching their heads. The president has taken a tough stance on what his administration deems unfair trade practices by the Chinese government. And he has trumpeted his efforts to safeguard American jobs even if it means creating economic strain in other countries.... If Mr. Trump was announcing a huge concession with his tweet, it was without any indication of what he might have gotten in return." ...

... Chas Danner of New York: "In a followup tweet on Sunday afternoon, Trump seemed to be addressing backlash to his announcement...: 'China and the United States are working well together on trade, but past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries. But be cool, it will all work out!'... There is also some understandable concern that the often impulsive and ill-informed president is -- for reasons unknown -- undermining his own Commerce Department and potentially weakening their ability to punish other companies with legal action in the future[.]"

... MEANWHILE. Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "Donald Trump is prepared to impose sanctions on European companies that do business in Iran following his withdrawal of the US from the international nuclear deal, his administration reiterated on Sunday. Trump's most senior foreign policy aides signalled that the US would continue pressuring allies to follow Washington in backing out of the pact, which gave Tehran relief from sanctions in exchange for halting its nuclear programme. John Bolton, Trump's national security adviser, predicted that 'the Europeans will see that it's in their interests to come along with us' rather than continue with the 2015 deal, under which major European corporations have signed billions of dollars of contracts in Iran. Asked on CNN's State of the Union whether that meant the Trump administration would impose sanctions against those firms, Bolton said: 'It's possible. It depends on the conduct of other governments.'" ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Okay, then, we're going to punish our friends who are trying to save the world from a nuclear Iran, but we're going to help a major Chinese company which has been cited for, among other things, violating sanctions against Iran.

Secretary DeVos has filled the department with for-profit college hacks who only care about making sham schools rich and shutting down investigations into fraud. -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) ...

... The Grifters, Ctd. Danielle Ivory, et al., of the New York Times: "Members of a special team at the Education Department that had been investigating widespread abuses by for-profit colleges have been marginalized, reassigned or instructed t focus on other matters, according to current and former employees. The unwinding of the team has effectively killed investigations into possibly fraudulent activities at several large for-profit colleges where top hires of Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, had previously worked. During the final months of the Obama administration, the team had expanded to include a dozen or so lawyers and investigators who were looking into advertising, recruitment practices and job placement claims at several institutions, including DeVry Education Group. The investigation into DeVry ground to a halt early last year. Later, in the summer, Ms. DeVos named Julian Schmoke, a former dean at DeVry, as the team's new supervisor.... Ms. DeVos has taken a number of actions to roll back or delay regulations that sought to rein in abuses and predatory practices among for-profit colleges...."

L.M. Sixel of the Houston Chronicle: "Michael R. Bloomberg, media mogul, philanthropist and former mayor of New York City, asked the 2018 graduating class of Rice University to reject the divisive rhetoric and growing incivility on display in Washington and around the country as they leave to launch their own careers. The country is more divided now than it has been since the Civil War, Bloomberg told the graduates and their families. Bloomberg lamented an era during which 'alternative facts' and 'post-truth' have entered the nation's vocabulary, and like-minded groups huddle together, drowning out the opinions of others and rejecting scientific and other evidence that contradicts their world views. 'How did we go from a president who could not tell a lie,' Bloomberg said, referring to George Washington, 'to politicians who can not tell the truth?'... Some federal agencies have banned workers from using the words 'climate change,' showing that officials at the highest levels of power see the plain truth as a threat, he said.... 'And so here we are, in the midst of an epidemic of dishonesty, and an endless barrage of lies.'"

When the "Communications" Office Is the "Stonewall Office." Avery Anapol of the Hill: "After dozens of calls for an official apology, the White House is still dodging questions over a comment made by one of its staffers. White House spokesman Hogan Gidley on Sunday refused to comment directly on special assistant Kelly Sadler mocking Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) brain cancer. Gidley, who was confronted about the comment on 'Fox & Friends,' said he was not present at the meeting, and therefore he does not know 'if the comment was even made.' 'Look, I wasn't in the meeting, I didn't hear the comment,' he said when asked if he thought the comment was 'kind.' Host Ed Henry shot back, 'You've heard the comment now, was it kind?' 'I don't know if the comment was even made or not," Gidley responded. 'I wasn't in the meeting.'"

*****

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "The frantic final days before Mr. Trump's announcement [that he was pulling the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal] demonstrate that the Iran deal remained a complicated, divisive issue inside the White House, even after the president restocked his war cabinet with more hawkish figures like [Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo and John R. Bolton, the new national security adviser.... Mr. Bolton is emerging as an influential figure, with a clear channel to the president and an ability to control the voices he hears. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who opposed leaving the deal but did not push the case as vocally toward the end, appears more isolated. And Mr. Pompeo may play a swing role, a hard-line former congressman and C.I.A. director who, in his new job, seems determined to give diplomacy a fair shot."

Kim Tong-Hyung of the AP: "North Korea said Saturday that it will dismantle its nuclear test site in less than two weeks, in a dramatic event that would set up leader Kim Jong Un's summit with ... Donald Trump next month. Trump welcomed the 'gracious gesture.' In a statement carried by state media, North Korea's Foreign Ministry said all of the tunnels at the country's northeastern testing ground will be destroyed by explosion, and observation and research facilities and ground-based guard units will also be removed.... Analysts say that while the closure of the site is important, it doesn't represent a material step toward full denuclearization."

Rudy Continues Marching in that Parade Where He Steps on Trump's Fictions. Brian Stelter of CNN: "With five simple words, 'the president denied the merger,' President Trump's new lawyer Rudy Giuliani contradicted months of statements by the White House and the Justice Department. The subject was AT&T's $85 billion bid for Time Warner, the parent company of CNN. Giuliani is now back-tracking. 'He told me directly he didn't interfere,' Giuliani told CNN's Dana Bash on Saturday morning.... On Saturday morning, the White House said Giuliani got it wrong. 'The Department of Justice denied the deal,' press secretary Sarah Sanders told CNN Saturday morning, reiterating the administration's past position." ...

... Benjamin Hart of New York: "Trump has personally railed against the Time Warner-AT&T deal, a stance that may well have more to do with his burning hatred of CNN than anything else. The Department of Justice's opposition to the detail raised eyebrows because, while its position may be defensible on antitrust grounds, it doesn't fit with the rest of the Trump administration's laissez-faire ideology. The Trump administration has insisted that the president's personal opinions have nothing to do with the DOJ's position. Someone apparently forgot to send Giuliani the memo, and on Saturday, he once again had to walk back a careless remark."

How Corrupt Is Trump? Max Greenwood of the Hill: "President Trump's flagship golf club in Scotland received thousands of dollars from the U.S. government for VIP hotel stays, Scottish newspaper The Scotsman reported. The payments amounted to more than £5,600 -- about $7,600 -- and marks the first known instance that one of the president's Scottish properties has received U.S. government money.... Citing a source at Trump Turnberry, The Scotsman reported that the hotel stays were connected to Trump's upcoming trip to the United Kingdom. The trip to the U.K. -- set for July -- also includes a stop in Scotland. The payment was authorized by the State Department's Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, and then transferred to the resort by the U.S. Embassy in London, The Scotsman reported."

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

A Lousy Investment. Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "Like other firms that hired [Michael] Cohen for his connections, Columbus Nova ended up disappointed with the fixer. The Columbus Nova sources said Cohen failed to deliver the big fish. 'He couldn't bring in the volume of introductions,' one of the sources recalled. As a result, [Columbus Nova U.S. CEO Andrew] Intrater, after consulting with Cohen, stopped making payments to Cohen about halfway through the year, the sources said. In their account, it turns out, Cohen was a lousy investment for the firm." (Also linked yesterday.)

"Nunes vs. the DOJ." Nicholas Fandos & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The relationship between the Justice Department and [Rep. Devin] Nunes [R-Ca.] has so eroded that when he trekked down Pennsylvania Avenue on Thursday from the Capitol to the department to discuss his latest request, Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, a Republican colleague and former federal prosecutor, tagged along at the encouragement of the House speaker to help keep the meeting civil, according to a person familiar with the matter. Democrats believe the pattern is clear: Mr. Nunes is abusing his authority to undermine the Russia investigation.... Top officials at the Justice Department have privately expressed concern that the lawmakers are simply mining government secrets for information they can weaponize against those investigating the president, including the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Sarah Westwood & Sara Murray of CNN: "A former senior campaign and transition aide to ... Donald Trump recently inked a deal to help a Russian oligarch's conglomerate shed sanctions the Trump administration slapped on them last month. Bryan Lanza, who is in regular contact with White House officials, is lobbying on behalf of the chairman of EN+ Group, an energy and aluminum firm presently controlled by Oleg Deripaska, according to several sources. Deripaska is a billionaire who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and was the target of US sanctions imposed last month. Lanza is also a CNN contributor.... The deal is the latest brazen example of how Trump's 'drain the swamp' campaign pledge has led to little change in a town where paying for access is a lucrative industry." Mrs. McC: Your move, CNN.

Dominic Holden of BuzzFeed: "The Trump administration on Friday rolled back rules that allowed transgender inmates to use facilities that match their gender identity, including cell blocks and bathrooms, thereby reversing course on an Obama administration effort to protect transgender prisoners from sexual abuse and assault. The Bureau of Prisons now 'will use biological sex' to make initial determinations in the type of housing transgender inmates are assigned, according to a notice posted Friday evening that modifies the previous policy."

Ben Mathis-Lilly of Slate: John Kelly, who doesn't think immigrants can assimilate, should visit some of the U.S.'s great cities.... "New York City, where I live, is home to 3 million people who were born abroad, many of whom were or are undocumented.... Why doesn't John Kelly think about New York's 3 million immigrants -- or those immigrants in such other appealing and diverse American population centers as Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, and Washington, D.C. -- when he thinks about successful 'assimilation' into American culture? Probably because of the self-justifying right-wing premise that 'America' means 'a low-density area of working-class white people.'..." ... Mrs. McC: Funny thing is, John, most Americans don't live in "real America" (tho they might have country houses there!).

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The White House probably thinks it cannot punish Kelly Sadler for her awful comment about John McCain because President Trump has also said nasty things about McCain. It may worry that showing her the door would set a troubling precedent for a president who may one day cross a very similar line. Welcome to the ongoing degradation of our political discourse. Destination: No end in sight.... The comment, as it happens, was first reported Thursday just hours after a Fox Business Network pundit suggested McCain had given up key information while being tortured as a prisoner of war -- a claim for which the network soon apologized. But while Trump's favorite cable news company was quick to atone for merely airing someone else's view that crossed a line, the White House is apparently not going to take any public action for a staffer talking blithely about the death of an American war hero." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Tara Palmieri of ABC News: "Press secretary Sarah Sanders scolded her staff Friday for the derogatory comment about Sen. John McCain leaked from a closed-door meeting, according to multiple senior White House officials. Sanders called the comment 'unacceptable,' but was said to be more upset about the leak than the off-handed comment from White House staffer Kelly Sadler that McCain's opposition to their CIA director nominee Gina Haspel 'doesn't matter, because he's dying anyway.' She was at the meeting standing at the other side of the room and did not apologize for the comment, according to people in the room." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Jonathan Swan of Axios has more about the meeting where Mrs. Huckleberry reamed out her "team" for leaking the Sadler remark. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Luis Sanchez of the Hill: "White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney on Saturday defended the White House aide who made a derisive comment about Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), saying the real issue was that the 'bad joke' had been leaked to the press. 'This was a private meeting inside the White House. It was a joke. It was a badly considered joke that she said fell flat,' Mulvaney, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said during an appearance on Fox News. But Mulvaney argued that the leak of the comment posed the greater issue: 'The leak was designed to hurt that person. Also, it completely ignored the harm it would do to the McCain family, which is doubly inconsiderate.'" Mrs. McC: Fortunately, we all already knew Mulvaney was a flaming ass. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Josh Delk of the Hill: "Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu (Calif.) chided White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Saturday, arguing that leaks from White House staff might stop if officials behaved 'normally.' Lieu, one of President Trump's most vocal critics in Congress, offered the mocking advice after Sanders reportedly scolded her staff for allowing the leak of a derisive comment about Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) this week. 'One way to prevent leaks is if Administration officials stopped saying demeaning things, stopped wasting taxpayer funds, and started behaving normally. Then the leaks wouldn't be of interest to the American people. Get it?' Lieu tweeted." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

"Trump Totally Supports Pruitt's Decision to Wine and Dine an Accused Sex Offender." Bess Levin of Vanity Fair: "The fact that [Scott Pruitt] was able to hold onto his job after all [his bad press], despite working for a guy who supposedly takes great pleasure in firing people, suggests that there is basically nothing Pruitt could do that would result in his dismissal. Not even entertaining an alleged pederast on the taxpayer dime.... During a meeting at the White House, the president was asked if he still had confidence in the E.P.A. administrator, to which Trump responded, 'Yes, I do.' That question presumably came up because a day earlier, The New York Times had reported that Pruitt shared a meal at a five-star restaurant in Italy with, among others, Cardinal George Pell, a Vatican official the E.P.A reportedly knew was under investigation for alleged child sexual abuse."

E. A. Crunden of ThinkProgress: "Science Magazine reported Wednesday that the White House has ended NASA's Carbon Monitoring System (CMS), a $10 million-per-year program that has supported 65 projects since 2010. The effort measures carbon dioxide and methane using satellites and similar mechanisms.... Among other things, with the CMS gone it will be challenging to verify the emission reductions laid out by the Paris climate agreement in 2016.... The decision to end the CMS marks a major swipe at NASA's climate efforts and indication of what the agency may look like under Jim Bridenstine, who took over last month.... A Republican Oklahoma congressman, Bridenstine is the first elected official to serve in this position.... He is also a climate science denier without any scientific credentials." --safari

Two Bigots in a Pod. David Badash in RawStory: "Pastor Robert Jeffress, a Fox News contributor, megachurch Baptist preacher from Dallas, and close Trump ally and surrogate, has been chosen by the Trump administration to lead a prayer at Monday's opening dedication celebration of the new -- and highly controversial -- U.S. embassy in Jerusalem ... Jeffress ... has a long history of delivering incendiary and bigoted remarks.... In short, Jeffress says that if you're not a Christian -- and a certain type of Christian -- you're going to hell.... He has said Islam promotes pedophilia, and is 'evil,' 'violent,' and a 'false' religion.... [In an interview on Fox, he said] 'Islam is wrong, it is a heresy from the pit of Hell; Mormonism is wrong, it is a heresy from the pit of Hell, and, 'Judaism, you can't be saved being a Jew.'" --safari: You paying any attention Bibi?

Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "Sen. Joe Donnelly on Saturday became the second Democrat to announce he will cast his vote in favor of CIA director nominee Gina Haspel -- boosting her prospects of being confirmed. Donnelly, a Democrat in a heavily Republican state that voted for Donald Trump in 2016, faces a tough reelection battle against self-described Republican outsider Mike Braun in November. Donnelly voiced his support for Haspel on Twitter Saturday morning, saying he believes Haspel learned from the past and has the experience needed as the U.S. faces 'dynamic and challenging security threats.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

"A War on Brown People." Tom Eblen of the Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader: "Eddie Devine voted for ... Donald Trump because he thought he would be good for American business. Now, he says, the Trump administration's restrictions on seasonal foreign labor may put him out of business. 'I feel like I've been tricked by the devil,' said Devine, owner of Harrodsburg-based Devine Creations Landscaping. 'I feel so stupid.'... Devine said he believed Trump's America-first promises. But cutting off a good supply of seasonal foreign labor when Americans won't take those jobs is only hurting American business owners and the U.S. workers they employ, he said. These workers aren't immigrants, and there is no path to U.S. citizenship. When their seasonal work is done, they return home. That's why Devine thinks the Trump administration's stifling of guest-worker programs has more to do with racism than economics. 'I think there's a war on brown people,' he said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

"War on the Poor", Ctd. Rebekah Entralago of ThinkProgress: "Next week, the House will vote on a farm bill largely constructed by Republicans.... One of the most controversial parts of the farm bill are the tough work requirements for SNAP recipients.... Data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation show 58 percent of working-age, nondisabled SNAP households are employed while receiving benefits; that figure rises to 62 percent for households with children. Hidden in the House farm bill draft, however, is a sinister measure that could harm families receiving SNAP who are already working, the very group the GOP claims to support." --safari

Jon Schwarz of The Intercept: "The National Rifle Association has always been clear about drugs: They're terrifying.... It seems odd, then, that the next president of the NRA will soon be Oliver North, who spent years in the 1980s working together with large-scale cocaine traffickers and protecting a notorious narco-terrorist from the rest of the U.S. government. This reality about North has been largely covered up, first by North himself and then by Fox News and the passage of time. Thirty years later, it's been almost totally forgotten. But the facts remain genuinely appalling." --safari: Lots of details in this report, and one I didn't know: "[North and then-dictator and known drug trafficker of Panama Manuel Noriega] discussed sabotaging a Nicaraguan airport and oil refinery, as well as creating a program to train Contra and Afghan mujahedeen commandos in Panama with Israeli help."

Beyond the Beltway -- News from "Real America"

Jacey Fortin of the New York Times: "Gov. Mary Fallin of Oklahoma signed a bill on Friday that gay rights groups said would allow private adoption agencies to discriminate against L.G.B.T. couples on religious grounds when placing children. The law would allow the agencies to choose not to place children in certain homes if it 'would violate the agency's written religious or moral convictions or policies.' Critics of the law, which also applies to private agencies working in foster care, said it was unconstitutional and harmful to children."

You Might Think This Law Is Unnecessary. Apparently Not. Stephanie Griffith of ThinkProgress: "As of this week, it is illegal for police in Kansas to have sexual relations with people they've detained in a traffic stop, or are otherwise holding in custody.... The legislation was signed into law on Thursday by the state's Republican governor Jeff Colyer. According to the Kansas City Star, the new law makes it a crime for a police officer to have sex with a detained person 'during the course of a traffic stop, a custodial interrogation, an interview in connection with an investigation, or while the law enforcement officer has such person detained.'"

Way Beyond

Kim Willsher of the Guardian: "A knifeman killed one person and injured four others, one of them critically, before being shot dead by police in Paris. The attacker struck in one of the most popular areas of the city, near the celebrated opera house and theatres.... The knifeman, dressed entirely in black, lunged at people at random crying 'Allahu Akbar', according to witnesses. This was confirmed by public prosecutor François Molins. He was carrying no identity papers...."

"The Man with the Golden Arm." If you're looking for a feel-good story, Amy Wang of the Washington Post is at your service. She profiles James Harrison, an 81-year-old Australian who has helped something like 2.4 million babies because his blood contains a rare antibody, & he has donated blood every week since he was 18. "... his plasma has been used to make millions of Anti-D injections, according to the Red Cross." And, no, Donald Trump, he didn't take a dime for it.

The Commentariat -- May 12, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Luis Sanchez of the Hill: "White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney on Saturday defended the White House aide who made a derisive comment about Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), saying the real issue was that the 'bad joke' had been leaked to the press. 'This was a private meeting inside the White House. It was a joke. It was a badly considered joke that she said fell flat,' Mulvaney, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said during an appearance on Fox News. But Mulvaney argued that the leak of the comment posed the greater issue: 'The leak was designed to hurt that person. Also, it completely ignored the harm it would do to the McCain family, which is doubly inconsiderate.'" Mrs. McC: Fortunately, we all already knew Mulvaney was a flaming ass. ...

... Josh Delk of the Hill: "Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu (Calif.) chided White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Saturday, arguing that leaks from White House staff might stop if officials behaved 'normally.' Lieu, one of President Trump's most vocal critics in Congress, offered the mocking advice after Sanders reportedly scolded her staff for allowing the leak of a derisive comment about Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) this week. 'One way to prevent leaks is if Administration officials stopped saying demeaning things, stopped wasting taxpayer funds, and started behaving normally. Then the leaks wouldn't be of interest to the American people. Get it?' Lieu tweeted."

Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "Sen. Joe Donnelly on Saturday became the second Democrat to announce he will cast his vote in favor of CIA director nominee Gina Haspel -- boosting her prospects of being confirmed. Donnelly, a Democrat in a heavily Republican state that voted for Donald Trump in 2016, faces a tough reelection battle against self-described Republican outsider Mike Braun in November. Donnelly voiced his support for Haspel on Twitter Saturday morning, saying he believes Haspel learned from the past and has the experience needed as the U.S. faces 'dynamic and challenging security threats.'"

"Nunes vs. the DOJ." Nicholas Fandos & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The relationship between the Justice Department and [Rep. Devin] Nunes [R-Ca.] has so eroded that when he trekked down Pennsylvania Avenue on Thursday from the Capitol to the department to discuss his latest request, Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, a Republican colleague and former federal prosecutor, tagged along at the encouragement of the House speaker to help keep the meeting civil, according to a person familiar with the matter. Democrats believe the pattern is clear: Mr. Nunes is abusing his authority to undermine the Russia investigation.... Top officials at the Justice Department have privately expressed concern that the lawmakers are simply mining government secrets for information they can weaponize against those investigating the president, including the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The White House probably thinks it cannot punish Kelly Sadler for her awful comment about John McCain because President Trump has also said nasty things about McCain. It may worry that showing her the door would set a troubling precedent for a president who may one day cross a very similar line. Welcome to the ongoing degradation of our political discourse. Destination: No end in sight.... The comment, as it happens, was first reported Thursday just hours after a Fox Business Network pundit suggested McCain had given up key information while being tortured as a prisoner of war — a claim for which the network soon apologized. But while Trump's favorite cable news company was quick to atone for merely airing someone else's view that crossed a line, the White House is apparently not going to take any public action for a staffer talking blithely about the death of an American war hero." ...

... Tara Palmieri of ABC News: "Press secretary Sarah Sanders scolded her staff Friday for the derogatory comment about Sen. John McCain leaked from a closed-door meeting, according to multiple senior White House officials. Sanders called the comment 'unacceptable,' but was said to be more upset about the leak than the off-handed comment from White House staffer Kelly Sadler that McCain's opposition to their CIA director nominee Gina Haspel 'doesn't matter, because he's dying anyway.' She was at the meeting standing at the other side of the room and did not apologize for the comment, according to people in the room." ...

... Jonathan Swan of Axios has more about the meeting where Mrs. Huckleberry reamed out her "team" for leaking the Sadler remark.

A Lousy Investment. Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "Like other firms that hired [Michael] Cohen for his connections, Columbus Nova ended up disappointed with the fixer. The Columbus Nova sources said Cohen failed to deliver the big fish. 'He couldn't bring in the volume of introductions,' one of the sources recalled. As a result, [Columbus Nova U.S. CEO Andrew] Intrater, after consulting with Cohen, stopped making payments to Cohen about halfway through the year, the sources said. In their account, it turns out, Cohen was a lousy investment for the firm."

"A War on Brown People." Tom Eblen of the Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader: "Eddie Devine voted for ... Donald Trump because he thought he would be good for American business. Now, he says, the Trump administration's restrictions on seasonal foreign labor may put him out of business. 'I feel like I've been tricked by the devil,' said Devine, owner of Harrodsburg-based Devine Creations Landscaping. 'I feel so stupid.'... Devine said he believed Trump's America-first promises. But cutting off a good supply of seasonal foreign labor when Americans won't take those jobs is only hurting American business owners and the U.S. workers they employ, he said. These workers aren't immigrants, and there is no path to U.S. citizenship. When their seasonal work is done, they return home. That's why Devine thinks the Trump administration's stifling of guest-worker programs has more to do with racism than economics. 'I think there's a war on brown people,' he said."

*****

Robert Pear & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump vowed on Friday to 'derail the gravy train for special interests' as he outlined what he called a comprehensive strategy to lower the cost of prescription drugs by promoting competition and pressing foreign countries to raise their drug prices to alleviate pressure on American consumers. But he dropped the popular and populist proposals of his presidential campaign, opting not to have the federal government negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare or allow American consumers to import low-cost prescriptions from abroad.... Ronny Gal, a securities analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, said the president's speech was 'very, very positive to pharma,' and he added, 'We have not seen anything about that speech which should concern investors' in the pharmaceutical industry." ...

... Paul Waldman: "This could have been written by the drug companies. The best part is a provision to force other countries to pay more for drugs, which would boost pharmaceutical profits by so much that they'd reduce prices in in the U.S. Or maybe they wouldn't, but we can trust them, right? Kind of like how the corporate tax cut was going to trickle down to workers." ...

... Jonathan Chait: "One of Donald Trump's most well-received and attention-grabbing campaign promises was that he would allow the federal government to negotiate the price of prescription drugs it covers through Medicare." But Trump dropped that plan. "Donald Trump ran for president as an economic populist. This fact has been largely forgotten, buried by the flurry of bizarre and outrageous actions.... Voters actually saw Trump as more moderate than any Republican presidential candidate since 1972. And he has violated every one of his promises.... Trump has not merely forgotten these promises, his administration has embraced Washington sleaze with unprecedented gusto.... Many of these promises were feasible if Trump actually wanted to follow through on them. Instead, the only promises he has kept are the ones that put money in the pockets of Trump and his cronies."

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump's fury at [Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen] Nielsen was a long time coming, White House officials said. They described it as part of the president's longstanding desire to close the United States' borders and part of his increasing belief that his administration is moving too slowly to make good on the central promise of his 2016 presidential campaign.... In testimony to a congressional committee on Tuesday, the day before the president's tirade at the cabinet meeting, Ms. Nielsen urged people seeking asylum to present themselves at United States ports of entry rather than trying to sneak into the country. Aides say she was trying to send a strong message about not breaking the law. But many hard-line conservatives viewed her statement as an invitation to asylum seekers, many of whom end up living in the United States for years while their claims are adjudicated."

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

... it would be wise and seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of foreigners into the administration of our national government and to declare expressly that the commander in chief of the American army shall not be given to, nor devolve on, any but a natural born citizen. -- John Jay, letter to George Washington, 1787

Hard as they tried, the founders could do nothing about Donald Trump, a "natural born citizen" who nonetheless is a sleeper beholden to "foreigners." -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

John Santucci, et al., of ABC News: "Special counsel Robert Mueller's team has questioned several witnesses about millions of dollars in donations to ... Donald Trump's inauguration committee last year, including questions about donors with connections to Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, sources with direct knowledge told ABC News.... Several donors with those ties contributed large sums to the non-profit fundraising entity -- gifts that topped out at $1 million dollars, according to public records.... Those interviewed included longtime Trump friend and confidant Thomas Barrack, who oversaw the fundraising effort.... Special counsel investigators have also asked witnesses about specific inauguration donors, including American businessmen Leonard Blavatnik, and Andrew Intrater." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Russ Choma of Mother Jones: "The inaugural committee's finances have been curious from the start. Prior administrations placed limits on donations in an effort to tamp down accusations of influence buying, but the Trump administration enthusiastically raised money -- with no limits."

John Bowden of the Hill: "Special counsel Robert Mueller has reportedly probed outreach by President Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen to Ford Motor Co. in January 2017 offering consulting services, an offer that was rejected. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Cohen approached the company's office in Washington, D.C., over the phone to discuss possible consulting work, but was rejected by Ford's head of government affairs, Ziad Ojakli. Ojakli has since been interviewed by Mueller's team about his interactions with Cohen and investigators have requested emails and records from the company, the Journal reported."

Tim Mak of NPR: "The FBI warned four years ago that a foundation controlled by the Russian oligarch who allegedly reimbursed Donald Trump's personal lawyer might have been acting on behalf of Russia's intelligence services. FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Lucia Ziobro wrote an unusual column in the Boston Business Journal in April of 2014 to warn that a foundation controlled by Russian energy baron Viktor Vekselberg might be part of a Moscow spying campaign that sought to siphon up American science and technology. 'The foundation may be a means for the Russian government to access our nation's sensitive or classified research, development facilities and dual-use technologies with military and commercial applications,' Ziobro wrote. 'This analysis is supported by reports coming out of Russia itself.'" Mrs. McC: Let's see how long it takes Devin Nunes to decide to investigate Ziobro. (Also linked yesterday.)

Judd Legum of ThinkProgress: "Over the past few days, Michael Avenatti, the attorney for Stormy Daniels, has been steadily releasing what appear to be private communications between Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's longtime attorney, and Keith Davidson, who represented Daniels.... [I]t appears that Davidson turned over these communications to Avenatti as part of Daniels' case file.... Avenatti's stockpile of emails potentially presents big problems for Cohen, Davidson -- and possibly President Donald Trump. The nature of Cohen's relationship with Davidson is key." --safari: Keith Davidson is reportedly cooperating with the feds in the Cohen probe.

Brian Stelter of CNN: "'AT&T hiring Michael Cohen as a political consultant was a big mistake,' the company's CEO Randall Stephenson said Friday morning. AT&T paid Cohen ... $600,000 through a contract that ended in December 2017. The payments are now under scrutiny in part because Cohen is under federal investigation. 'To be clear, everything we did was done according to the law and entirely legitimate. But the fact is, our past association with Cohen was a serious misjudgment,' Stephenson wrote in a memo to employees. 'In this instance, our Washington D.C. team's vetting process clearly failed, and I take responsibility for that,' he added. Stephenson announced that Bob Quinn, one of the executives involved in the Cohen deal, 'will be retiring.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

David Voreacos, et al., of Bloomberg: "Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, was informed about allegations of sexual misconduct by then-New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman around 2013, according to a letter filed in Manhattan federal court on Friday.... In a tweet on Sept. 11, 2013, Trump took aim at Schneiderman while also referring to New York politicians who'd resigned over allegations of sexual misconduct, Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer. 'Weiner is gone, Spitzer is gone -- next will be lightweight A.G. Eric Schneiderman. Is he a crook? Wait and see, worse than Spitzer or Weiner,' Trump tweeted." (Also linked yesterday.)

S.V. Date of the Huffington Post: "Donald Trump's longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen was paid millions of dollars in consulting fees by corporate clients, but never discussed those clients with the president, Trump's new lawyer said Friday. 'The president had no knowledge of it,' Rudy Giuliani told HuffPost in an interview.... He said the fact that Cohen has become involved in the probe shows that Mueller has been unable to make headway on the idea of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.... '... The guy [Cohen] is really collateral damage,' Giuliani said."

Jonathan Lemire of the AP: "... Donald Trump and his lawyers likely won't decide whether he will answer questions from Russia probe investigators until after his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next month, according to the president's legal team. Rudy Giuliani, the president's new attorney, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday that any preparation with Trump for a possible interview with federal investigators would likely be delayed until after the June 12 summit in Singapore because 'I wouldn't want to take his concentration off something far, far more important.'"

Rudy Says He's too Good to "Get Involved with Pimps." Allan Smith of Business Insider: "... Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on Friday escalated his battle with Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels." Avenatti has offered to debate Giuliani, but "During a phone interview with Business Insider, Giuliani said he wouldn't debate Avenatti because the lawyer was 'pimping for money.' 'I don't get involved with pimps,' Giuliani said." Mrs. McC: Keep it classy, Rudy.

Derek Hawkins of the Washington Post: "The massive trove of Facebook ads House Intelligence Committee Democrats released Tuesday provides a stunning look into the true sophistication of the Russian government's digital operations during the presidential election.... The ads clearly show how Russia weaponized social media, the senior Democrat on the panel investigating Moscow's interference in the presidential election said.... 'The future of these campaigns is hybridization -- in terms of state and criminal actors working together,' [Peter] Singer ... a strategist at the New America think tank ... told me.... Facebook acknowledged Thursday it had not anticipated the two-pronged approach.... 'This will never be a solved problem because we're up against determined, creative and well-funded adversaries,' Facebook said." ...

... Nick Penzenstadler, et al., of USA Today: "The Russian company charged with orchestrating a wide-ranging effort to meddle in the 2016 presidential election overwhelmingly focused its barrage of social media advertising on what is arguably America's rawest political division: race. The roughly 3,500 Facebook ads were created by the Russian-based Internet Research Agency, which is at the center of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's February indictment of 13 Russians and three companies seeking to influence the election. While some ads focused on topics as banal as business promotion or Pokémon, the company consistently promoted ads designed to inflame race-related tensions. Some dealt with race directly; others dealt with issues fraught with racial and religious baggage such as ads focused on protests over policing, the debate over a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico and relationships with the Muslim community. The company continued to hammer racial themes even after the election."

Heidi Przybyla & Mike Memoli of NBC News: "If Congress can't protect special counsel Robert Mueller's job, perhaps it can protect his work. That's the thinking among several lawmakers on Capitol Hill, who are discussing ways to safeguard the special counsel's investigation into possible ties between the Trump 2016 campaign and Russia amid ... Donald Trump's escalating attacks.... Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who helped draft a bipartisan bill to protect Mueller that passed the Judiciary Committee late last month, confirmed to NBC News on Thursday that talks are underway for a 'Plan B' after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to bring the original legislation for a floor vote. The discussions 'involve assuring the evidence is preserved and reports are done if the special counsel is fired or other political interference is undertaken by the president,' Blumenthal told NBC News. Notably, Blumenthal added, some GOP senators are participating in the effort." (Also linked yesterday.)

Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "The GOP is no longer the Party of Reagan. It]s the Party of Michael Cohen. Saint Ronald and his acolytes preached that the way to get ahead in the United States was to work hard and never rely on government to help you out. By contrast, consider the Cohen blueprint for achieving the American Dream: Work minimally, if you can, and leverage government connections whenever possible.... Cohen is hardly the only prominent Trumpster invoking White House connections in an effort to make bank.... It's tempting to see ... these unsavory stories as unique to Trump, his extended family or his administration. But in fact they are illustrative of exactly the kind of economy that Trump's party is intent on creating. Shielding officials from public scrutiny, rolling back campaign finance law, and kneecapping enforcement of existing laws and regulations designed to protect the public are precisely the conditions that help grifters and swamp monsters thrive."

Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "White House chief of staff John Kelly said he believes the vast majority of undocumented immigrants crossing the southern border into the US do not assimilate well because they are poorly educated. 'Let me step back and tell you that the vast majority of the people that move illegally into United States are not bad people. They're not criminals. They're not MS13,' Kelly told NPR in an interview released late Thursday, referring to the criminal gang. 'But they're also not people that would easily assimilate into the United States into our modern society.'... [He] said the undocumented immigrants don't speak English and are 'overwhelmingly rural people' from countries where 'fourth-, fifth-, sixth-grade educations are kind of the norm.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Likely the same could be said of Kelly's immigrant ancestors, tho they may have spoken a version of English.* ...

... * ** Mrs. McCrabbie: The indispensable Philip Bump of the Washington Post consults Kelly's family tree. Bump finds, not surprisingly, that Kelly's ancestors perfectly fit Kelly's definition of undesirable immigrants: They were ... not people that would easily assimilate into the United States & into mainstream society.... Some didn't speak English (and apparently never learned English even after living in the U.S. for decades) and were "rural people" from countries where fourth-, fifth-, sixth-grade educations (or less) were the norm. Kelly's four great grandfathers, immigrants all, were respectively a cooper, a railroad worker, a wagon driver & a fruit peddler. These were not wealthy aristocrats, captains of industry, college professors or medical doctors who frequented the salons of Boston's high society. But they were workers who did the essential jobs that impoverished, "poorly-educated" (the very people Trump says he loves) that immigrants have often performed. A complete lack of self-awareness & empathy is not just a Trump trait: it applies to the top people in his administration, too. ...

... If for any reason you'd like to read more Kelly, here's the full transcript of the NPR interview. ...

... The chairperson of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Michelle Lujan Grisham, is not amused: "The Chief of Staff's bigoted comments about immigrants seeking refuge are a slap in the face to the generations of people who have come from foreign lands to contribute to the richness of our nation. I would like to remind General Kelly that the intolerant and ignorant ideas he espoused from the White House are exactly the same comments and attitudes that were prevalent against all of our families. It wasn't right then, and it isn't right now." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Eric Levitz of New York: "... the most conspicuous flaw in Kelly’s argument is that it does precisely nothing to justify separating asylum seekers from their children. And the White House chief of staff's attempt to justify the administration's decision to strip temporary protected status (TPS) from hundreds of thousands of longtime legal U.S. residents was even more lackluster: '... I can't pick and choose what laws to enforce. I would be, I should be thrown out of the job if I do that.' The idea that the Trump administration was legally obligated to revoke the legal status of over 1 million longtime U.S. residents (a figure that includes 700,000 Dreamers and more than 300,000 TPS recipients) is simply false. Multiple federal courts have found the DACA program constitutional.... A bipartisan group of senators reached agreement on a bill that would have provided those populations with legislative protection from deportation -- the White House shot it down. John Kelly surely understands all this. He just doesn't want you to." ...

... Jennifer Rubin takes Kelly to the woodshed: "Actually, current immigrants assimilate just as well as immigrant in past generations, according to a slew of data-rich studies. The chief of staff chooses either to lie or not to inform himself about basic facts relevant to hugely consequential policies he champions. He aptly reflect the prejudices of his boss and the thinking behind the cruel policies (such as ending protection for 'dreamers' and separating families) that he and Trump doggedly pursue." She has more to say. (Also linked yesterday.)

Pruitt Dines with Accused Child Sex Abuser, Hides It, Then Staff Lies about It. Eric Lipton & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, dined last year in Rome with Cardinal George Pell, a prominent climate-science denialist and Vatican leader who was also facing sexual abuse allegations. The E.P.A. later released official descriptions of the dinner that intentionally did not mention the cardinal's presence, according to three current and former E.P.A. officials. Kevin Chmielewski, Mr. Pruitt's former deputy chief of staff for operations, said in an interview that top political appointees at the agency feared that the meeting would reflect poorly on Mr. Pruitt if it were made public. Twenty days after the dinner, authorities in Australia charged Cardinal Pell with sexual assault; he has denied the charges.... On Friday, Jahan Wilcox, an E.P.A. spokesman, issued a statement confirming the June 9 meal took place while emphasizing that it 'was not a private one-on-one dinner' and saying that Mr. Pruitt wasn't aware of the allegations against Cardinal Pell. He also said the E.P.A. had no knowledge the cardinal would be attending the dinner. However, emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show that as early as May 12, Mr. Pruitt's scheduler, Millan Hupp, was working on plans for Mr. Pruitt to meet with Cardinal Pell. 'Dinner with Cardinal Pell and others,' an email says, proposing the dinner for June 7...."

Arthur Allen of Politico: "The first stage of a multibillion-dollar military-VA digital health program championed by Jared Kushner has been riddled with problems so severe they could have led to patient deaths, according to a report obtained by Politico. The April 30 report expands upon the findings of a March Politico story in which doctors and IT specialists expressed alarm about the software system, describing how clinicians at one of four pilot centers, Naval Station Bremerton, quit because they were terrified they might hurt patients, or even kill them.... The unclassified findings could further delay a related VA contract with Cerner Corp., the digital health records company that began installing the military's system in February 2017."

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Sen. John McCain is 2,200 miles from Washington and hasn't been on Capitol Hill in five months, but he showed this week that he remains a potent force in national politics and a polarizing figure within the Republican Party. From his home in Sedona, Ariz., where he is receiving treatment for an aggressive and typically fatal type of brain cancer, McCain has challenged and praised the Trump administration's actions on national security -- his voice limited to news releases and Twitter. But his declaration Wednesday in opposition to Gina Haspel, President Trump's nominee for CIA director, has uniquely roiled the political scene. The denunciation has prompted reactions from fellow senators and a former vice president, as well as intemperate remarks from some Republicans aligned with Trump, including a White House aide." ...

... Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "Meghan McCain responded Friday to a White House staffer who joked about her father's brain cancer, saying her family was doing well.... 'I don't understand what kind of environment you're working in when that would be acceptable and then you can come to work the next day and still have a job,' McCain said on 'The View' Friday. On Thursday, Kelly Sadler, a special assistant who handles surrogate communications, told other staffers that McCain's opposition to ... Donald Trump's CIA director nominee Gina Haspel does not matter because 'he's dying anyway.'..." Mrs. McC: During her daily press briefing, First Stepford Wife Mrs. Huckleberry refused to address the matter, saying she would "not validate a leak." She did concede that Sadler still worked at the White House. ...

... Peter Baker of the New York Times: "The White House declined on Friday to renounce or apologize for an aide whose joke at a meeting that Senator John McCain was irrelevant because he would soon die went viral, outraging relatives, friends and admirers of the ailing lawmaker. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said she would not comment on a closed-door meeting where the joke was made. And she offered no words of regret over the remark or sympathy for Mr. McCain, a Republican senator and two-time presidential candidate who is battling brain cancer at his Arizona ranch.... Mr. McCain's friends lashed out at the White House for gross insensitivity. 'People have wondered when decency would hit rock bottom with this administration,' former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said in a statement. 'It happened yesterday. Given this White House's trail of disrespect toward John and others,' he added, 'this staffer is not the exception to the rule; she is the epitome of it.'" Fox "News" says it has cut ties with & will not book Thomas G. McInerney, a retired 3-star general who derided McCain on air, calling him "Songbird John" for supposedly succumbing to torture during the years McCain was a prisoner-of-war in Viet Nam.

Travels with Pompeo. Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "The State Department normally craves elaborate planning and procedures for everything. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's 13-hour visit to North Korea had little of that. I had a view of the improvisational quality of his trip because, in a tongue-twister of an adventure, I was one of two reporters who traveled with Pompeo to Pyongyang to pick up three prisoners from North Korea and bring them home to the United States. The degree of uncertainty that hovered over the trip extended to Pompeo himself, just two weeks into his new job as the administration's top diplomat. Pompeo said he had no guarantees when he flew in Wednesday morning whether he would be allowed to leave with the three Americans who had been detained for more than a year on charges of espionage and hostile acts. Neither he nor his staff knew whom he would meet with, or when. An Associated Press reporter and I had little advance notice of our departure time or even day, and no promises we'd be able to see much of anything." (Also linked yesterday.)

Avery Anapol of the Hill: "A top nuclear expert has resigned from the State Department following President Trump's decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal. Richard Johnson, acting assistant coordinator in the agency's Office of Iran Nuclear Implementation, stepped down this week, according to Foreign Policy. Johnson had been involved in negotiations with European countries working to save the deal. 'I am proud to have played a small part in this work, particularly the extraordinary achievement of implementing the [deal] with Iran, which has clearly been successful in preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon,' Johnson said in an email to colleagues about his departure."

Making Us Safer. Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "The top White House official responsible for leading the U.S. response in the event of a deadly pandemic has left the administration, and the global health security team he oversaw has been disbanded under a reorganization by national security adviser John Bolton. The abrupt departure of Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer from the National Security Council means no senior administration official is now focused solely on global health security. Ziemer's departure, along with the breakup of his team, comes at a time when many experts say the country is already underprepared for the increasing risks of a pandemic or bioterrorism attack. Ziemer's last day was Tuesday, the same day a new Ebola outbreak was declared in Congo. He is not being replaced.... The personnel changes, which Morrison and others characterize as a downgrading of global health security, are part of Bolton's previously announced plans to streamline the NSC." (Also linked yesterday.)

Snakes. Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "[I]n one of the most predictable developments since the sun rose in the east on the day of Trump's inauguration, the Judiciary Committee's current chair, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has not given Democratic senators the same veto power [known as the 'blue slip'] that [Pat] Leahy gave Republicans.... On Thursday ... the Senate Judiciary Committee's Democrats released a long report describing how 'how President Trump and Republicans are working to stack the federal judiciary, particularly circuit courts.'... But Democrats have no standing to complain about the blue slip.... They knew Chuck Grassley was a snake when they let him in." --safari ...

... Blowing Smoke. Tierney Sneed of TPM: "Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said he would follow what Republican in 2016 dubbed the 'Biden rule' -- that Supreme Court vacancies open within a year before a presidential election shouldn't be filled until after the presidential election -- if it happened before the 2020 election. He added that President Trump and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) would not agree with the Biden rule if the vacancy opened under Trump." --safari

Senate Race. Sore Loser. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Ex-coal CEO Don Blankenship, who lost the GOP primary bid in West Virginia this week, is actively plotting how to undercut state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's [R] Senate candidacy." Blankenship also dislikes Sen. Joe Manchin (D), whom Morrisey is challenging. (Also linked yesterday.)

Gail Collins: "Planned Parenthood has been a flash point ever since 1916, when Margaret Sanger was arrested for handing out birth control information. These days, its opposition seems particularly obsessed. Yet at the same time the organization is becoming more and more popular. A recent Fox News survey found it had a 58 percent favorable rating -- the top in a crop that included everything from labor unions to Donald Trump. In a similar NBC News poll, Planned Parenthood came in ahead of the F.B.I. and everyone else on the questionnaire, including the Republican Party."

Beyond the Beltway

Only White People Need Apply. Jeff Stein & Andrew Van Dam of the Washington Post: "Michigan Republicans' plan to require some recipients of government health insurance to work would disproportionately affect black people, a Washington Post analysis of new data from state health officials reveals. State Republicans are moving a proposal through the legislature that would impose work requirements on some Medicaid recipients.... The proposal would exempt people living in counties where the unemployment rate tops 8.5 percent, a provision GOP lawmakers say is aimed at protecting those living in areas where job opportunities are scarce.... This exemption would overwhelmingly benefit white people while leaving the work requirements in place for all but a sliver of the affected African American population."

Louis Lucero of the New York Times: "Gov. Mary Fallin of Oklahoma vetoed a bill on Friday that would have eliminated the need for training and permits to carry a gun in public, dealing a blow to gun-rights activists in one of the most firearm-friendly states. The bill, which had broad support in the state's Republican-controlled Legislature but had troubled some law enforcement officials, 'would have eliminated the requirement to complete a short firearms safety and training course from a certified instructor and demonstrate competency with a pistol before carrying a gun in public,' according to the governor's office."

Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "Sheldon Silver, the former powerful Democratic speaker of the New York State Assembly, was found guilty of federal corruption charges on Friday, less than a year after his first conviction on the same charges was thrown out. During his two-week trial in Manhattan, prosecutors showed that Mr. Silver, 74, had obtained nearly $4 million in illicit payments in return for taking a series of official actions that benefited a cancer researcher at Columbia University and two real estate developers in New York." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Commentariat -- May 11, 2018

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "Sheldon Silver, the former powerful Democratic speaker of the New York State Assembly, was found guilty of federal corruption charges on Friday, less than a year after his first conviction on the same charges was thrown out. During his two-week trial in Manhattan, prosecutors showed that Mr. Silver, 74, had obtained nearly $4 million in illicit payments in return for taking a series of official actions that benefited a cancer researcher at Columbia University and two real estate developers in New York."

John Santucci, et al., of ABC News: "Special counsel Robert Mueller's team has questioned several witnesses about millions of dollars in donations to ... Donald Trump's inauguration committee last year, including questions about donors with connections to Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, sources with direct knowledge told ABC News.... Several donors with those ties contributed large sums to the non-profit fundraising entity -- gifts that topped out at $1 million dollars, according to public records.... Those interviewed included longtime Trump friend and confidant Thomas Barrack, who oversaw the fundraising effort.... Special counsel investigators have also asked witnesses about specific inauguration donors, including American businessmen Leonard Blavatnik, and Andrew Intrater."

Tim Mak of NPR: "The FBI warned four years ago that a foundation controlled by the Russian oligarch who allegedly reimbursed Donald Trump's personal lawyer might have been acting on behalf of Russia's intelligence services. FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Lucia Ziobro wrote an unusual column in the Boston Business Journal in April of 2014 to warn that a foundation controlled by Russian energy baron Viktor Vekselberg might be part of a Moscow spying campaign that sought to siphon up American science and technology. 'The foundation may be a means for the Russian government to access our nation's sensitive or classified research, development facilities and dual-use technologies with military and commercial applications,' Ziobro wrote. 'This analysis is supported by reports coming out of Russia itself.'" Mrs. McC: How long till Devin Nunes to decide to investigate Ziobro.

Heidi Przybyla & Mike Memoli of NBC News: "If Congress can't protect special counsel Robert Mueller's job, perhaps it can protect his work. That's the thinking among several lawmakers on Capitol Hill, who are discussing ways to safeguard the special counsel's investigation into possible ties between the Trump 2016 campaign and Russia amid ... Donald Trump's escalating attacks.... Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who helped draft a bipartisan bill to protect Mueller that passed the Judiciary Committee late last month, confirmed to NBC News on Thursday that talks are underway for a 'Plan B' after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to bring the original legislation for a floor vote. The discussions 'involve assuring the evidence is preserved and reports are done if the special counsel is fired or other political interference is undertaken by the president,' Blumenthal told NBC News. Notably, Blumenthal added, some GOP senators are participating in the effort."

David Voreacos, et al., of Bloomberg: "Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, was informed about allegations of sexual misconduct by then-New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman around 2013, according to a letter filed in Manhattan federal court on Friday.... In a tweet on Sept. 11, 2013, Trump took aim at Schneiderman while also referring to New York politicians who'd resigned over allegations of sexual misconduct, Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer. 'Weiner is gone, Spitzer is gone -- next will be lightweight A.G. Eric Schneiderman. Is he a crook? Wait and see, worse than Spitzer or Weiner,' Trump tweeted."

Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "White House chief of staff John Kelly said he believes the vast majority of undocumented immigrants crossing the southern border into the US do not assimilate well because they are poorly educated. 'Let me step back and tell you that the vast majority of the people tha move illegally into United States are not bad people. They're not criminals. They're not MS13,' Kelly told NPR in an interview released late Thursday, referring to the criminal gang. 'But they're also not people that would easily assimilate into the United States into our modern society.'... [He] said the undocumented immigrants don't speak English and are 'overwhelmingly rural people' from countries where 'fourth-, fifth-, sixth-grade educations are kind of the norm.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Likely the same could be said of Kelly's immigrant ancestors, tho they may have spoken a version of English. ...

... The chairperson of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Michelle Lujan Grisham, is not amused: "The Chief of Staff's bigoted comments about immigrants seeking refuge are a slap in the face to the generations of people who have come from foreign lands to contribute to the richness of our nation. I would like to remind General Kelly that the intolerant and ignorant ideas he espoused from the White House are exactly the same comments and attitudes that were prevalent against all of our families. It wasn't right then, and it isn't right now." ...

... Jennifer Rubin takes Kelly to the woodshed: "Actually, current immigrants assimilate just as well as immigrant in past generations, according to a slew of data-rich studies. The chief of staff chooses either to lie or not to inform himself about basic facts relevant to hugely consequential policies he champions. He aptly reflect the prejudices of his boss and the thinking behind the cruel policies (such as ending protection for 'dreamers' and separating families) that he and Trump doggedly pursue." She has more to say.

Travels with Pompeo. Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "The State Department normally craves elaborate planning and procedures for everything. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's 13-hour visit to North Korea had little of that. I had a view of the improvisational quality of his trip because, in a tongue-twister of an adventure, I was one of two reporters who traveled with Pompeo to Pyongyang to pick up three prisoners from North Korea and bring them home to the United States. The degree of uncertainty that hovered over the trip extended to Pompeo himself, just two weeks into his new job as the administration's top diplomat. Pompeo said he had no guarantees when he flew in Wednesday morning whether he would be allowed to leave with the three Americans who had been detained for more than a year on charges of espionage and hostile acts. Neither he nor his staff knew whom he would meet with, or when. An Associated Press reporter and I had little advance notice of our departure time or even day, and no promises we'd be able to see much of anything."

Making Us Safer. Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "The top White House official responsible for leading the U.S. response in the event of a deadly pandemic has left the administration, and the global health security team he oversaw has been disbanded under a reorganization by national security adviser John Bolton. The abrupt departure of Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer from the National Security Council means no senior administration official is now focused solely on global health security. Ziemer's departure, along with the breakup of his team, comes at a time when many experts say the country is already underprepared for the increasing risks of a pandemic or bioterrorism attack. Ziemer's last day was Tuesday, the same day a new Ebola outbreak was declared in Congo. He is not being replaced.... The personnel changes, which Morrison and others characterize as a downgrading of global health security, are part of Bolton's previously announced plans to streamline the NSC."

Brian Stelter of CNN: "'AT&T hiring Michael Cohen as a political consultant was a big mistake,' the company's CEO Randall Stephenson said Friday morning. AT&T paid Cohen ... $600,000 through a contract that ended in December 2017. The payments are now under scrutiny in part because Cohen is under federal investigation. 'To be clear, everything we did was done according to the law and entirely legitimate. But the fact is, our past association with Cohen was a serious misjudgment,' Stephenson wrote in a memo to employees. 'In this instance, our Washington D.C. team's vetting process clearly failed, and I take responsibility for that,' he added. Stephenson announced that Bob Quinn, one of the executives involved in the Cohen deal, 'will be retiring.'"

Senate Race. Sore Loser. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Ex-coal CEO Don Blankenship, who lost the GOP primary bid in West Virginia this week, is actively plotting how to undercut state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's [R] Senate candidacy." Blankenship also dislikes Sen. Joe Manchin (D), whom Morrisey is challenging.

*****

Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump announced on Thursda that his meeting with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, will be held on June 12 in Singapore. The announcement came in a tweet...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Do read Patrick's comment in yesterday's thread on why Trump & entourage greeted the Americans freed by North Korea but accidentally forgot to invite their families. Because "protocol." Also, too, I just heard a clip of Trump boasting during the hoopla that the Trump show was breaking all 3 am TV ratings. ...

Katie Rogers: Trump & pence went to Elkhart, Indiana, last night for a rally ostensibly in support of U.S. Senate candidate Mike Braun. Trump told some whoppers, took credit for the Obama recovery & bringing "respect" back to the U.S. through his brilliant "America First" strategy, & basked in the adulation of the crowd. "Mr. Trump disparaged a litany of opponents, saving much of his ire for Senator Joe Donnelly, the chamber's most vulnerable Democrat, who will face Mr. Braun in November."

"Let Them Eat Trump Steaks." Paul Krugman: Despite his general disinterest, "there are some policy issues [Trump] really does care about. By all accounts, he really hates the idea of people receiving 'welfare,' by which he means any government program that helps people with low income, and he wants to eliminate such programs wherever possible.... Here we have a man who inherited great wealth, then built a business career largely around duping the gullible -- whether they were naïve investors in his business ventures left holding the bag when those ventures

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

How creepy is this guy? ...

     ... George Will -- of all people -- answers the creepy question, in a column on "America's most repulsive public figure."

Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "Three days after President Trump was sworn into office, the telecom giant AT&T turned to his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, for help on a wide portfolio of issues pending before the federal government -- including the company's proposed merger with Time Warner, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. The internal documents reveal for the first time that Cohen's $600,000 deal with AT&T specified that he would provide advice on the $85 billion merger, which required the approval of federal antitrust regulators. Trump had voiced opposition to the merger during the campaign and his administration ultimately sided against AT&T. The Department of Justice filed suit in November to block the deal, a case that is still pending.... It is unclear what insight Cohen -- a longtime real estate attorney and former taxi cab operator -- could have provided AT&T on complex telecom matters." Emphasis added.

David Corn & Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "An attorney for [Columbus Nova] released a statement insisting the money [Michael] Cohen had received from Columbus Nova had not originated with the [Russian] oligarch [Viktor Vekselberg.]... There was one big problem with that statement: Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show Columbus Nova has had a close organizational association with Vekselberg's Renova Group.... [Before Vekselberg's corporation Renova Group took down its Website in the wake of U.S. sanctions against Velselberg & Renova,] the firm's site listed Columbus Nova as part of the larger Renova Group, suggesting it was a subsidiary.... Consequently, it would be reasonable for any investigation of Trump-Russia contacts to scrutinize the large payments from Intrater and Columbus Nova to Cohen, Trumps's inauguration committee, the Trump campaign, and the GOP."

Margaret Hartmann wrote a very good summary of the Cohen slush fund scam -- on what we knew as of yesterday. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Yo, Rudy, Get Out! Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "...Rudolph W. Giuliani, abruptly resigned from his law firm, Greenberg Traurig, the firm announced on Thursday, then promptly undercut his recent statements defending the president.... Firm partners had chafed over Mr. Giuliani's public comments about payments that ... Michael D. Cohen made to secure the silence of a pornographic film actress.... Mr. Giuliani suggested that such payments were common at his firm.... 'Speaking for ourselves, we would not condone payments of the nature alleged to have been made or otherwise without the knowledge and direction of a client[,' a spokesperson for the law firm said.]... Firm members bristled in 2016 when Mr. Giuliani played an aggressive, pit-bull-style surrogate role on Mr. Trump's behalf during the presidential campaign. After Mr. Trump's inauguration, when it became clear that Mr. Giuliani would not get the job he wanted -- secretary of state -- he kept a relatively low profile at the request of his colleagues."

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "A prominent House Republican plans to ask a federal financial watchdog to audit the office of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, opening a new front of GOP attack on the secretive probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible ties to President Trump's campaign. The pending request -- from Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), an outspoken Trump defender who chairs the conservative House Freedom Caucus as well as a House oversight subcommittee -- appears to be mainly calibrated to force the disclosure of a three-page Justice Department memo spelling out the authorized scope of Mueller's investigation. Meadows, speaking Thursday during a taping of C-SPAN's 'Newsmakers' that is to air Sunday, said he believed the audit is required under federal law and could not be completed without an unredacted copy of the memo written in August 2017 by Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein." Emphasis added.

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday released about 3,400 Facebook ads purchased by Russian agents around the 2016 presidential election on issues from immigration to gun control, a reminder of the complexity of the manipulation that Facebook is trying to contain ahead of the midterm elections. The ads, from mid-2015 to mid-2017, illustrate the extent to which Kremlin-aligned forces sought to stoke social, cultural and political unrest on one of the Web's most powerful platforms. With the help of Facebook's targeting tools, Russia's online army reached at least 146 million people on Facebook and Instagram, its photo-sharing service, with ads and other posts, including events promoting protests around the country." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Olivia Solon & Julie Wong of the Guardian provide numerous examples of the scope of the ads. For instance, "In one particularly brazen example, ads were run promoting both a 'Pro-Beyonce Protest Rally' and an 'Anti-Beyonce Protest Rally' scheduled for the same time time and place following the controversy over the artist's performance at the 2016 Super Bowl. The pro-Beyoncé ad was targeted at users designated as having African American behaviors. The anti-Beyoncé ad was targeted narrowly at people who had studied to become a police officer or whose job title matched a list of law enforcement or military titles, including officer, colonel, major general (United States), master sergeant, commander (United States), sergeant, brigadier general, petty officer, chief petty officer, lieutenant commander, squadron leader, 911 dispatcher or rear admiral."

     ... Links to the ads, grouped by date, are here. The Democrats' statement, which is worth reading, is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

RealDonaldTrump. Paul Campos, in New York, makes a compelling case that the real "David Denniston" in a $1.6MM settlement of a paternity settlement was not Elliott Broidy but Donald Trump. "If it turns out that Trump had an affair with [Playboy model Shera] Bechard, and that Broidy paid a massive bribe to the president to help cover the affair up, this will prove to be another instance of the administration's perverse ability to generate fake news about a scandal, in order to obscure the even more scandalous truth." Mrs. McC: This is not a new rumor, but Campos' dissection of the body of evidence gives it some credibility. Wonder if Trump's evangelical fan base would reject him if he had paid a woman a bundle to have an abortion.

Michael Shear & Nicole Perlroth of the New York Times: "Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, told colleagues she was close to resigning after President Trump berated her on Wednesday in front of the entire cabinet for what he said was her failure to adequately secure the nation's borders, according to several current and former officials familiar with the incident. Ms. Nielsen, who is a protégée of John F. Kelly..., has drafted a resignation letter but has not submitted it, according to two of the people.... Mr. Trump's anger toward Ms. Nielsen at the cabinet meeting was part of a lengthy tirade in which the president railed at his entire cabinet about what he said was their lack of progress toward sealing the country's borders against illegal immigrants, according to one person who was present at the meeting.... One persistent issue has been Mr. Trump's belief that Ms. Nielsen and other officials in the department were resisting his direction that parents should be separated from their children when families cross illegally into the United States, the people said." Emphasis added. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Oh, boo-fucking-hoo. Nielsen can't handle a little Trumpertantrum. But she's good with this: ...

... ** Richard Gonzales & John Burnett of CNN: "Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen defended the administration's 'zero tolerance' policy that calls for separating families who cross the border illegally, saying the undocumented immigrants shouldn't get special treatment.... 'Illegal aliens should not get just different rights because they happen to be illegal aliens,' she said].... The administration had been separating families for months before the recent policy.... Also on her watch, DHS has canceled temporary protected status for immigrants from a number of countries...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: On the other hand, Nielsen is blonde. ...

... Josh Dawsey & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "President Trump berated Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in a dispiriting Cabinet meeting on immigration Wednesday, according to three administration officials, but her colleagues denied reports that she has threatened to quit.... [Trump's] blowup lasted more than 30 minutes, according to a person with knowledge of what transpired, as Trump's face reddened and he raised his voice, saying Nielsen needed to 'close down' the border."

... ** Masha Gessen of the New Yorker, an immigrant from Russia, knows whereof she speaks: "The American government has unleashed terror on immigrants, and in doing so has naturally reached for the most effective tools" -- separating families."

Helene Cooper, et al., of the New York Times: "A Defense Department investigation of a Special Forces mission in Niger released Thursday found widespread problems across all levels of the military operation, but concludes that 'no single failure or deficiency' led to the deaths of four American soldiers who were among a team of Green Berets ambushed last fall by fighters aligned with the Islamic State. The unclassified executive summary of the investigation offers only a glimpse of the decisions and actions that led to the firefight on Oct. 4 after the 11-man team searched, unsuccessfully, for a local militant leader in western Niger."

Chris Mooney & Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "Internal changes to a draft Defense Department report de-emphasized the threats climate change poses to military bases and installations, muting or removing references to climate-driven changes in the Arctic and potential risks from rising seas, an unpublished draft obtained by The Washington Post reveals. The earlier version of the document, dated December 2016, contains numerous references to 'climate change' that were omitted or altered to 'extreme weather' or simply 'climate' in the final report, which was submitted to Congress in January 2018. While the phrase 'climate change' appears 23 separate times in the draft report, the final version used it just once." Mrs. McC: Reminds me of a two-year-old who covers her eyes & says, "You can't see me." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jonathan Easley & Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "A White House official mocked Sen. John McCain's brain cancer diagnosis at an internal meeting on Thursday, a day after the Arizona Republican announced his opposition to President Trump's nominee for CIA director, Gina Haspel. Special assistant Kelly Sadler made the derisive comments during a closed-door White House meeting of about two-dozen communications staffers on Thursday morning. 'It doesn't matter, he's dying anyway,' Sadler said, according to a source familiar with the remarks at the meeting.... Sadler is a former opinion editor for The Washington Times. At the White House, she focuses on illegal immigration...." ...

... Eli Okun of Politico: "Former Vice President Dick Cheney said the U.S. should restart its enhanced interrogation techniques -- often considered torture -- after the issue was thrust to the forefront during Gina Haspel's confirmation fight to become CIA director. 'If it were my call, I would not discontinue those programs,' he said in an interview that aired Thursday morning on Fox Business. 'I'd have them active and ready to go, and I'd go back and study them and learn.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: As David Smith of the Guardian noted (linked yesterday), during his Senate confirmation hearing, Haspel said she didn't believe Trump would ask her to waterboard prisoners. "This prompted scornful laughter from the public gallery. During his presidential election campaign, Trump vowed to authorise waterboarding and 'a hell of a lot worse'." Darth Vader reminds us that Trump is hardly isolated in his preference for torture. Haspel's "it won't be a problem" assertion is either naive (I doubt that) or an admission that all she needs is a green light to go back into full-torture mode. ...

... Media Matters: Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, a military analyst appearing on Fox Business "News," in arguing that the U.S. should torture prisoners, said, "The fact is, is John McCain -- it worked on John. That's why they call him 'Songbird John.' The fact is those methods can work, and they are effective, as former Vice President Cheney said. And if we have to use them to save a million American lives, we will do whatever we have to." The host of the show, Charles Payne, later apologized, & Fox said McInerney had not been a paid Fox analyst for nearly a year.

... Washington Post Editors: Gina Haspel "has a dark chapter in her past: her supervision of a secret prison in Thailand where al-Qaeda suspects were tortured, and her subsequent involvement in the destruction of videotapes of that shameful episode. As Sen. Mark R. Warner (Va.), the ranking Democrat on the committee, made clear from the outset, Ms. Haspel needs to clearly repudiate that record. She must confirm that techniques such as waterboarding -- now banned by law -- were and are unacceptable, and she must make clear that she herself will never again accept orders to carry out acts that so clearly violate American moral standards, even if they are ordered by the president and certified by administration lawyers as legal. Ms. Haspel did not meet that test ... [which] makes it impossible for us, and others for whom the repudiation of torture is a priority, to support Ms. Haspel's nomination."

Pruitt Watch. Mrs. McCrabbie: I heard on the teevee that Scott Pruitt is to have a "routine" meeting with Donald Trump today. Is this the Friday Pruitt will have to pack his office paraphernalia in a cardboard box?

Rebecca Shabad & Alex Moe of NBC News: "Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday dismissed an effort by a group of House Republicans to circumvent the normal legislative process and force floor votes on a pack of immigration proposals. 'We never want to turn the floor over to the minority. What I don't want to do is have a process that just ends up with a veto,' Ryan said at his weekly news conference, after being asked about the discharge petition -- a maneuver that can be used to force votes on the House floor -- filed a day earlier by a group of moderate House Republicans. The Wisconsin Republican added that he doesn't want to have a 'spectacle on the floor.'" Mrs. McC: There's a good reason for Ryan's refusal to help DACA-eligible young people: he is fundamentally evil. This is harder to see in Ryan than in Trump & other firebrands, because Ryan effects a choir boy's good manners instead of snarling & sniping, but the fact is that he's meaner than a junkyard dog.

Naked Politics. Rebecca Morin of Politico: "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley on Thursday encouraged Supreme Court justices flirting with retirement to immediately step down, saying he would like to push through a nominee before the midterm elections." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Aaron Davis & Shawn Boberg of the Washington Post: "For years, Fox News host Sean Hannity has poured his fortune into a surprising side venture: a vast portfolio of rental properties in working-class neighborhoods. He described those holdings in compassionate terms when they came to light last month, saying he invests in places that 'otherwise might struggle to receive such support.' But a Washington Post analysis shows that managers at Hannity's four largest apartment complexes in Georgia have taken an unusually aggressive approach to rent collection. They have sought court-ordered evictions at twice the statewide rate -- in a state known for high numbers of evictions and landlord-friendly laws -- and frequently have done so less than two weeks after a missed payment. Property managers at the complexes sought to evict tenants more than 230 times in 2017, court records show. At one, a 112-unit subdivision in a suburb west of Atlanta, 94 eviction actions were filed last year...."

Argumentum ad nigrum Americanus. Bryan Schatz of Mother Jones: In a Washington Times interview, Oliver North, the new president of the NRA, "claimed that the NRA's leaders are the victims of 'civil terrorism' at the hands of gun safety advocates. He referenced unspecified 'threats' and noted that vandals splashed fake blood on a NRA official's Virginia home. He likened this treatment to that of black Americans during the era of legally sanctioned racial segregation."