The Ledes

Monday, September 30, 2024

New York Times: “Kris Kristofferson, the singer and songwriter whose literary yet plain-spoken compositions infused country music with rarely heard candor and depth, and who later had a successful second career in movies, died at his home on Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday. He was 88.”

~~~ The New York Times highlights “twelve essential Kristofferson songs.”

The Wires
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The Ledes

Sunday, September 29, 2024

Washington Post: “Towns throughout western North Carolina ... were transformed overnight by ... [Hurricane Helene]. Muddy floodwaters lifted homes from their foundations. Landslides and overflowing rivers severed the only way in and out of small mountain communities. Rescuers said they were struggling to respond to the high number of emergency calls.... The death toll grew throughout the Southeast as the scope of Helene’s devastation came into clearer view. At least 49 people had been killed in five states — Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. By early counts, South Carolina suffered the greatest loss of life, registering at least 19 deaths.”

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Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

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.'”

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Friday
Apr272018

The Commentariat -- April 28, 2018

Late Morning Update:

Elizabeth Drew of the New Republic reviews This Week in Trump, with an emphasis on Thursday. Mrs. McC: Sadly, she wrote before the Judge in the Stormy Daniels case put the civil suit on a 90-day hold. But as legal scholar Paul Butler said on MSNBC Friday, "Cohen won [that] battle, but the lost the war"; the reason Judge Otero gave for delaying the civil proceedings was that it was likely Cohen soon would be indicted on related charges. (Related story linked below.)

*****

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "With news breaking that the North and South Korean leaders agreed to work toward the 'common goal' of denuclearization and a formal end of the 65-year-old war on the Korean Peninsula this year, Trump was more ebullient than most.... 'KOREAN WAR TO END! The United States, and all of its GREAT people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!' [Trump tweeted].... [And] 'Please do not forget the great help that my good friend, President Xi of China, has given to the United States, particularly at the Border of North Korea. Without him it would have been a much longer, tougher, process!'.... This is premature, to say the least. If there's one thing everyone agrees upon, it's that the 'process' is really just beginning. The news was big, if not unprecedented, but we've had agreements between North and South Korea before, and they haven't panned out. Trump's tweets weren't just spiking the football but 'spiking the ball while still in the locker room before the coin is tossed to start the game,' said Thomas Weiss, a scholar at the City University of New Yorkwho has studied North Korea." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I'd give the prize jointly to leaders like Merkel, Macron & Trudeau who manage to be civil to Trump. They're far more polite than I could be. ...

... Anne Gearan writes this morning's top WashPo story, headlined "Trump rebrands diplomatic norms as events in Asia, Europe and elsewhere spin on his axis." Mrs. McC: To the extent that the leader of a powerful country is bound to be an important player, Trump is right. And to the extent that villainous leaders will attract outsized attention as others try to contain or restrain them, Trump is right. But as an agent for world peace or something like that, not so much. ...

... Max Boot in the Washington Post: "... it's a good thing the two Korean leaders are meeting and talking. It is certainly better than the saber-rattling we saw last year, with North Korea testing nuclear weapons and missiles, and President Trump responding with threats to rain down 'fire and fury.' But let's not imagine that Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un are making 'historic' breakthroughs with their summit declaration. It is full of lofty but empty language promising 'no more war on the Korean Peninsula.'... There is very little of substance here.... The two Koreas do not have the power to conclude a peace treaty because South Korea was not a party to the 1953 armistice. It was an agreement between the United States (acting on behalf of the United Nations Command), China and North Korea. If there is to be a peace treaty, it will involve those powers, not just South Korea.... Kim ... is pursuing his family's old policy of mixing provocations such as missile tests with peace offensives designed to convince the West to relax sanctions and extend his odious regime a life line." ...

... Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Trump and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany made no attempt on Friday to hide their disagreements over the future of the Iran nuclear deal and trade relations between the United States and Europe after a day of White House meetings that appeared to have produced no breakthroughs on major disputes. Mr. Trump and Ms. Merkel, who have had a chilly relationship from the start, steered away from the kind of awkward confrontations that have characterized past meetings, going out of their way to compliment each other and accentuate areas of agreement. But Mr. Trump pressed his complaint that the trade relationship between the United States and Europe was 'unfair,' and Ms. Merkel made clear that the president had not made the commitment she was seeking -- permanently exempting the European Union from the steel and aluminum tariffs he imposed in March."

... Adam Raymond of New York: "Who deserves credit for this momentous meeting and the push toward peace? Donald Trump, says South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha. 'He's been determined to come to grips with this from day one,' she recently told CNN. And he may soon have a Nobel Peace Prize to show for it. Trump and Kim are currently the favorites to win the prize, according to one British oddsmaker, and some of Trump's aides are telling reporters that a lasting thaw between North and South Korea should win Trump the award."

This Russia Thing, Ctd. Collusion, Hiding in Plain Sight:

Karoun Demirjian, et al., of the Washington Post: "House Intelligence Committee Republicans released a redacted version of their final report from a year-long probe into Russia's 'multifaceted' influence operation, generally clearing President Trump and his associates of wrongdoing while accusing the intelligence community and the FBI of failures in how they assessed and responded to the Kremlin's interference in the 2016 election. The report accuses the intelligence community of 'significant intelligence tradecraft failings,' suggesting that Russia's main goal was to sow discord in the United States and not to help Trump win the election. It says investigators found 'no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded, coordinated, or conspired with the Russian government' -- even as it details contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russians or Russian intermediaries. Trump seized on the report to call for an end to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's criminal investigation into whether his campaign coordinated with Russia. 'Just Out: House Intelligence Committee Report released. "No evidence" that the Trump Campaign "colluded, coordinated or conspired with Russia,"' Trump wrote. 'Clinton Campaign paid for Opposition Research obtained from Russia- Wow! A total Witch Hunt! MUST END NOW!' But committee Democrats quickly charged that their Republican colleagues had rushed to end their work prematurely in a 'a systematic effort to muddy the waters and to deflect attention away from the President.'" See links to related story & report -- both marked "NEW" -- at the top of yesterday's Commentariat. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Here is the response of Democrats on the committee (pdf). ...

... Charles Savage & Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "Here are five takeaways [from the GOP report]: One after another, the Republican report explains away links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.... [The report] raised doubts about one key finding of intelligence agencies: that the Russian government wanted to help Donald J. Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, rather than just to sow discord.... The Republican report echoed several talking points circling among Mr. Trump's allies on conservative news and opinion outlets. For example, the report dovetails with the script-flipping narrative that a dossier alleging complicity between Trump associates and Russia compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British spy, was itself a Russian plot.... The Republican report was often skeptical in tone about statements and testimony by people who put forward information that could be damaging to Mr. Trump, and more credulous about statements in his favor.... The Republican report is scathing about leaks to the news media that have brought to light various information about Trump-Russia contacts." ...

... Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "One particularly notable example of the committee's less-than-zealous approach to the investigation is its analysis of the infamous June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting at which Trump Jr. and other top Trump aides met with a Russian lawyer in an effort to acquire damaging information about Hillary Clinton from the Kremlin.... According to the Democrats' report, Trump Jr. exchanged calls about the meeting with Emin Agalarov on June 6 at [Rob] Goldstone's request. The first call was at 4:04 pm. At 4:27 pm, prior to Trump Jr.'s second call with Emin, Trump Jr. received a call from a 'blocked' number. Trump Jr. told the committee last year he did not know who had called him. The Democrats note, however, that Corey Lewandowski, Trump's first campaign manager, told the committee that Trump Sr.'s 'primary residence has a blocked [phone] line.' Democrats say they made 'repeated efforts to obtain the home or cell phone records for then-candidate Trump to determine whether the blocked call was Trump Jr.'s father.' But, they note, 'the Majority was unwilling to pursue the matter.'" ...

... Paul Waldman & Greg Sargent: "Although [the GOP report] is meant to exonerate President Trump and everyone around him, what it actually does is bring the utter degradation and disgrace of that committee to its fullest expression. By contrast, there may be real news in the Democrats' response to the report.... If Trump Jr. did inform his father of the meeting in between calls with Emin Agalarov, it would be absolutely explosive news.... If the Democratic response is accurate, what we know is that Republicans didn't want to find out one way or the other. 'It speaks to all the majority was determined to ignore, and the fundamental unseriousness of what they did,' [ranking committee Democrat Adam] Schiff [Calif.] said.... It's possible special counsel Robert S. Mueller III will take an interest in these phone records, if he hasn't already." ...

... Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed: "A direct line of communication between the Kremlin-connected Agalarov family and the Trump family was open during the transition after ... Donald Trump's presidential election, BuzzFeed News has learned. The 'first of a series' of text messages was sent between Emin Agalarov and Donald Trump Jr. two days after the 2016 election, a source familiar with the communications told BuzzFeed News. The communications continued through at least mid-December 2016, according to information made public Friday. It is not clear how many messages were sent, whether Trump Jr. sent any of them, or how many were sent by either party -- although BuzzFeed News confirmed that multiple messages were sent.... After the short [June 9, 2016, Trump Tower] meeting [among Junior, Manafort, Kushner & the Russians], according to the Democrats' report, the group -- excluding Trump Jr., Manafort, and Kushner -- went to the bar in Trump Tower. While there, Kaveladze took a call from Aras Agalarov. The next day, Aras had 'an expensive painting' delivered to Trump [Sr.]," supposedly a birthday gift. Trump's birthday is June 14. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie BTW: It's fair to say that not only Natalia V. Veselnitskaya -- the lawyer who represented Russian interests at the meeting & has now admitted to her ties to Russia's prosecutor general -- but also the Agalaraovs were acting as agents for the Kremlin. ...

... Jeremy Herb of CNN: "The Russian oligarch and Russian lawyer who were key players in the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting reached out to Trump's team after Donald Trump was elected President to try to lobby on the Russian sanctions they sought to overturn, according to Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee. Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the intelligence panel, told CNN's Jim Sciutto on Friday that Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya reached out to the Trump family after the election with a request to follow up on efforts to repeal the Magnitsky Act, the 2012 Russian sanctions the US enacted over human rights abuses. Veselnitskaya was the Russian lawyer at the center of the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, where Donald Trump Jr. expected to receive damaging information on Hillary Clinton but instead Veselnitskaya focused on the repeal of the sanctions.... In addition, another effort to reach out to Trump's team after the election came from Aras Agalarov, the Azerbaijani-Russian oligarch who also has ties to the Trump Tower meeting.... Trump's team has denied there was any follow up after the [June 2016] Trump Tower meeting."

... Betsy Woodruff & Adam Rawnsley of the Daily Beast: "Before traveling to Russia in 2015 for a dinner hosted by a propaganda network, retired Gen. Michael Flynn and his son, Michael Flynn Jr., went to the home of Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak for a private meeting. That was just one of several findings in a new, long-awaited report from House intelligence committee Republicans...." ...

... AND, in a tweet Michael Isikoff of Yahoo! News suggests that the report reveals that Michael Flynn had prior knowledge of the Russian hacks ("nation-states") & WikiLeaks impending release of DNC e-mails: ".@wikileaks released DNC emails on 7/22/16. Per House intel report, one week earlier, on 7/15, Flynn wrote email saying: 'There are a number of things happening (and will happen) this election via cyber operations (by both hackivists, nation-states & the DNC')." ...

... Martin Longman, in the Washington Monthly, has quite a good, concise post on incontrovertible evidence of collusion between Trump & Russia that somehow went over the heads of Nunes, Conaway & Co.: "The basic conspiracy is that Trump adopted positions towards Russia in return for their assistance in helping him win. That's so observable that it's essentially proven." Longman elaborates. Lots of quids & quos.

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has lost his lawsuit claiming that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and special counsel Robert Mueller exceeded their authority in charging him with alleged crimes that he says have nothing to do with the 2016 campaign. A judge said Friday that Manafort can't use this lawsuit to stop the special counsel's office from continuing to pursue an investigation of him. 'A civil case is not the appropriate vehicle for taking issue with what a prosecutor has done in the past or where he might be headed in the future,' Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the US District Court in Washington, DC, wrote Friday." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beth Reinhard of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Friday granted Michael Cohen's request for a delay in a lawsuit brought against him by porn star Stormy Daniels, saying it appeared likely Cohen will be indicted in a related criminal investigation. Judge S. James Otero's order for a 90-day stay comes two days after Cohen, PresidentTrump's personal attorney, said he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself in the lawsuit.... Cohen's declaration cited the investigation by federal prosecutors in New York, who are examining his role in quashing embarrassing stories about Trump during the 2016 campaign.... Otero said Friday that the issues in the civil dispute with Daniels overlap with the criminal probe into Cohen.... It is not uncommon for defendants facing both civil liability and criminal prosecution to request a pause in civil proceedings to avoid giving sworn testimony and producing documents that could prove incriminating."

Sara Murray of CNN: "The National Rifle Association is setting aside years of documents related to its interactions with a Kremlin-linked banker, as the gun-rights group appears to be bracing for a possible investigation, according to sources familiar with the situation. The NRA has faced fresh scrutiny from congressional investigators about its finances and ties to Alexander Torshin, one of the 17 prominent Russian government officials the US Treasury Department recently slapped with sanctions. The gun-rights group has said it is reexamining its relationship with Torshin, who is a lifetime NRA member, in the wake of the sanctions. The renewed attention has highlighted the close-knit if sometimes uneasy alliance between top NRA officials and Torshin -- a relationship that ensnared members of Trump's team during the presidential campaign, inviting further congressional scrutiny.... The NRA recently found itself facing allegations that the FBI was investigating whether Torshin illegally funneled money through the group to bolster Trump, according to a McClatchy report."

Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump is tweeting this morning, which is the same thing as writing "Trump is lying this morning": "....Allegations made by Senator Jon Tester against Admiral/Doctor Ron Jackson are proving false. The Secret Service is unable to confirm (in fact they deny) any of the phony Democrat charges which have absolutely devastated the wonderful Jackson family. Tester should resign. The..... great people of Montana will not stand for this kind of slander when talking of a great human being. Admiral Jackson is the kind of man that those in Montana would most respect and admire, and now, for no reason whatsoever, his reputation has been shattered. Not fair, Tester!" Tester of course did not make any allegations against Jackson. Rather, the allegations came from members of the military, specifically those who worked in the White House. ...

     ... Update. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump on Saturday called for the resignation of Senator Jon Tester, the Montana Democrat who helped thwart his effort to install the White House physician in the cabinet, suggesting that the president may try to exact retribution in the fall congressional elections in a state that he won by a wide margin.... The president has been sharply criticizing Mr. Tester for days, singling out the Democrat while ignoring Republican opposition that had built to Dr. Jackson's nomination. Mr. Tester, the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, took the lead in publicly questioning Dr. Jackson's record, but he had the support of Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia, the Republican chairman of the committee, who signed a joint statement with him saying the issues should be investigated." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: It's probably worth noting, too, that Sens. Tester & Isakson were doing their Constitutionally-prescribed duty to "advise" the president, and "consent" does not necessarily follow. That is, we have a president who thinks a senator should resign for doing his job. ...

... Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "For months, Donald Trump has discussed replacing his chief of staff, John Kelly, who has attempted, with increasing futility, to rein in the president's impulses.... For the past few weeks, Trump has often governed as if Kelly weren't there, as evidenced by [Thursday's] Fox & Friends interview, during which the president essentially undermined his own legal defense. The cringe-inducing telephone interview was precisely the kind of unscripted media appearance the chief of staff had made a point of preventing.... According to sources familiar with the situation, White House officials and Trump confidantes are currently discussing the possibility of moving Kelly to head the Department of Veterans Affairs. 'They're looking for a place for Kelly to land that won't be embarrassing for him,' one Republican briefed on the conversations said."

Closing the Barn Door after the Horse Has Bolted. Amy Gardner & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "The White House on Friday said officials had conducted a thorough review of presidential physician Ronny L. Jackson's vehicle records and found three minor incidents but no evidence that he 'wrecked' a car after drinking at a Secret Service going-away party, as was alleged in a document released by Senate Democrats this week.... Also Friday, the Secret Service issued a statement denying the details of a published report that agents had intervened on an overseas trip to prevent Jackson from bothering then-President Barack Obama. According a report from CNN, Jackson had pounded on another White House official's hotel room door close enough to the president's room to risk disturbing him.... All of it has emboldened President Trump and the White House to accuse [Sen. Jon] Tester [D-Mont.] of a smear campaign -- and has muddied the case against Jackson...." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Judge for yourself, but in regard to the alleged car accident, I find the "proof" unconvincing. Human nature being what it is, it is not unreasonable to suppose that Jackson reported minor fender-benders for which he was or was not responsible but accidentally forgot to report wrecking a car while drunk-driving. I'm not saying that's what happened; I'm saying it's plausible. In addition, I would not be surprised if the Secret Service also accidentally forgot to write a report re: the supposed hotel incident. It wouldn't be the first time the Secret Service covered up an embarrassing incident. In addition, I would not trust a Trump White House "investigation" any more than I do the House Republicans' No Collusion fictional narrative.

Jennifer Dlouhy of Bloomberg: "The Environmental Protection Agency’s internal watchdog will probe Administrator Scott Pruitt's unorthodox rental of a Capitol Hill condominium from a lobbyist, marking at least the 10th federal investigation of the agency's chief.... Previously, EPA's top ethics officer said the lease itself didn't violate federal ethics regulations barring certain gifts. But the ethics officer didn't examine whether the arrangement with a lobbyist violated other ethics rules, nor whether the actual use of the space was consistent with the lease agreement." (Open link in private window.)

Sheila Kaplan of the New York Times: "The high salary set for the newly appointed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has come under criticism from Senate Democrats and watchdog groups who questioned the use of an exemption to pay him nearly twice as much as his predecessors. Dr. Robert R. Redfield, who became the director in March, is receiving $375,000 a year, a substantially higher salary than the heads of many other government agencies. It was granted under a provision known as Title 42, which gives the department the authority to pay staff more than the approved government rate if the personnel provide a specific scientific need that cannot otherwise be filled.... 'It is difficult to understand why someone with limited public health experience, particularly in a leadership role, is being disproportionately compensated for his work,' compared to others in comparable government roles, wrote Senator [Patty] Murray [Wash.], the ranking Democrat on the committee that oversees federal health agencies."

Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "In a letter released Friday, nearly 20 Senate Democrats said they want the Department of Homeland Security to hand over documents shedding more light on [acting ICE chief Thomas] Homan and his formal nomination to become the next director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The nomination of Homan, who has been leading the immigration agency in an acting capacity since the beginning of Trump's presidency, has stalled since it was officially submitted to the Senate on Nov. 14, 2017.... Homan has projected a hard-line approach to immigration enforcement, including his declaration last year that immigrants 'should be afraid' under the Trump administration if they entered the United States illegally. Democratic senators said DHS needs to give more information to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee before the nomination can proceed, but the department has yet to do so. The fact that it took Trump nearly 10 months to officially nominate an ICE director was also 'striking,' Democrats wrote, 'given the priority this Administration claims to place on immigration enforcement.'" ...

... Paige St. John & Joel Rubin of the Los Angeles Times: "... Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents repeatedly target U.S. citizens for deportation by mistake, making wrongful arrests based on incomplete government records, bad data and lax investigations, according to a Times review of federal lawsuits, internal ICE documents and interviews. Since 2012, ICE has released from its custody more than 1,480 people after investigating their citizenship claims, according to agency figures. And a Times review of Department of Justice records and interviews with immigration attorneys uncovered hundreds of additional cases in the country's immigration courts in which people were forced to prove they are Americans and sometimes spent months or even years in detention." The story of Davino Watson, a U.S. citizen whom ICE held fo4 3-1/2 years, is horrifying. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.), who previously announced his retirement from Congress following reports he had paid a secret settlement to a staffer who accused him of harassment, resigned outright Friday. His resignation came as the House Ethics Committee continued a probe into his behavior that could have resulted in serious sanctions. The former aide, a younger woman, alleged that Meehan had confessed romantic feelings for her after she became involved with another man. Meehan, she alleged, later retaliated after she repelled his advances.... Meehan said that within 30 days he will repay taxpayers for the $39,000 settlement that was paid as a severance payment to his former staffer.... Meehan's departure could prompt a special election in his suburban Philadelphia district. That decision will be made by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D), who is also considering whether to hold a special election in the Allentown-area district that Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) is expected to vacate later this year." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Juliegrace Brufke of the Hill: "The House rejected a resolution on Friday that would have set up a select committee to investigate Patrick Conroy's dismissal as House chaplain. In a 215-171 mostly party-line vote, the House turned aside the measure from House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley's (N.Y.), who argued it was necessary to look into the 'motivations and actions' behind Conroy's dismissal. Conroy announced his retirement as chaplain earlier this month, a decision most members thought was voluntary until Thursday, when it emerged that Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) had pushed him out." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... He Persisted. Dana Milbank: "Praying for the poor is now apparently a firing offense in the corridors of power. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) did not give a reason when his chief of staff this month told the Rev. Patrick Conroy, a Jesuit priest and House chaplain, to resign or face dismissal. But we know this much: Ryan's office complained to Conroy about a prayer he offered on the House floor during the tax overhaul debate that those who 'continue to struggle' in the United States would not be made 'losers under new tax laws.' Ryan admonished the priest after the Nov. 6 prayer, saying, 'Padre, you just got to stay out of politics,' Conroy told the New York Times. He was warned. He was given an explanation. Nevertheless, he persisted. Over the five months since Ryan's warning, Conroy dared to continue to preach the teachings of Jesus on the House floor[.]" ...

... "Will No One Rid Me of This Meddlesome Priest?" Gail Collins: "Ryan himself is leaving Congress at the end of the year. When he announced his retirement, some malcontents muttered that he ought to step down from the speaker's job now and give someone else a turn. No way. 'I intend to run through the tape, to finish the year,' said the man who loves everything about physical fitness, including metaphors. 'Paul Ryan's giving himself that luxury,' said [Rep. Gerald] Connolly [D-Va.]. 'Why wouldn't you give it to the chaplain?'"

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A divided federal appeals court panel has thrown out a challenge to a revised voter identification law the state of Texas passed last year after an earlier measure ran into legal trouble. In a 2-1 decision on Friday, a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel overturned a district court judge's ruling that the 2017 law, known as Senate Bill 5, unconstitutionally discriminated against minority voters. The new decision was not a surprise since a three-judge panel of the same court stayed the lower court's ruling in September, allowing the state to put the new law into effect. The same judge who sharply dissented from the decision last year, James Graves Jr., dissented again on Friday. However, the other two judges on the panel who ruled on Friday, Edith Jones and Patrick Higginbotham, were not part of the earlier stay ruling.... Jones and Higginbotham are appointees of President Ronald Reagan. Graves was appointed by President Barack Obama."

Michael de la Merced of the New York Times: "Sprint and T-Mobile are in advanced discussions about merging, and a deal could be announced as soon as this weekend, people briefed on the matter said on Friday. A combination of the two companies would complete one of the telecommunications industry's most long-awaited transactions and would create the third-largest wireless carrier in the United States, with more than 127 million customers. Sprint and T-Mobile have tried to negotiate a merger twice before." (Also linked yesterday.)

Hannity Should Rename His Show "The Simon Legree Hour." Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "The number of eviction orders obtained against tenants in a Georgia apartment complex owned by Sean Hannity has sharply increased since the property was bought by the Fox News host.... The court records suggest the rate of eviction orders at Hampton Place [-- a Georgia apartment complex --] has increased by more than 400% under Hannity's ownership." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: You might wonder why Hannity has bought two apartment complexes in Georgia since he seems to have no particular connection to the state. Maybe this explains it: "'Georgia is one of the harshest states for tenants,' said [Lindsey] Siegel[, a Georgia legal aid attorney]. 'You can be evicted for being a single day late on your rent -- regardless of whether you've paid on time for the past five years.'" ...

... Matt Pearce & Jenny Jarvie of the Los Angeles Times: "Since [Hannity's heretofore secret limited-liability partnership] SPMK took over [another Georgia apartment complex called Lithia Springs], the homes got renovated. Old carpets were replaced with hardwood floors; kitchens got new cabinets and appliances. Outside fresh siding went up and flower beds were filled with uniform rows of privet and pink roses. But longtime tenants of this predominantly blue collar, African American neighborhood also said their monthly payments on their small two-bedroom apartments had gone up 50% over the last five years, increasing from about $650 to as much as $1,000. Rents are rising nationally. But a rate increase of roughly 10% a year since 2013 is surprisingly high, about double the rate of rentals in the Lithia Springs area, said Dan Immergluck, a professor at Georgia State University's Urban Studies Institute...."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: This Guardian story, by Jon Henley, about Brigitte Macron & Melania Trump is notable for its correction. If you read the correction & are not sure what I mean, you might be (a) a man or (b) a fan of Phyllis Schlafly. If neither, please do try to catch up. P.S. If you think omitting the spouses' age differences would have been best, well, yeah.

Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter: "Tom Brokaw, the NBC News anchor who has served as a distinguished anchor emeritus since stepping down as anchor of Nightly News in 2004, penned a blistering rebuttal to accusations that he subjected an underling to unwanted advances in the 1990s when he was the network&'s biggest star and she was a 28-year-old just starting out in network news." Guthrie publishes the entire e-mail Brokaw wrote to some NBC News colleagues. Here's one sentence: "I was ambushed and then perp walked across the pages of The Washington Post and Variety as an avatar of male misogyny, taken to the guillotine and stripped of any honor and achievement I had earned in more than a half century of journalism and citizenship." ...

... Katie Kilkenny of the Hollywood Reporter: "One day after two women alleged Tom Brokaw sexually harassed them at NBC News in the 1990s, a cadre of female journalists including Rachel Maddow, Andrea Mitchell and Maria Shriver have signed a letter characterizing the veteran journalist as "a man of tremendous decency and integrity.... On Friday, Mika Brzezinski also voiced her support for the journalist, tweeting, 'Add me to the list.'" Kilkenny appends the full letter & signators. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is a standard "Well, he didn't assault me" letter that big corporations use to defend their top guys against victims of assault, thus victimizing the victims again. Shame on the signers, each and every one of them. I believe the women. As for Brokaw's "honor," I suspect he truly doesn't remember assaulting Linda Vester & the other woman. It's the kind of thing men forget. But women don't.

Beyond the Beltway

Clint Rainey of New York: "James Shaw Jr. -- the customer being celebrated as 'the Waffle House hero' (and, now, 'Tennessee's hero') who saved lives by wrestling the suspect to the ground -- topped his heroism during the actual shooting by setting up a GoFundMe just hours later that asked for money to give to the victims' families. His initial goal: a somewhat ambitious $15,000. His current amount, raised after just four days: $172,822. Nearly 5,000 people have chipped in so far.... Meanwhile, Yashar Ali, the journalist who saw Shaw's crowdfunding effort and decided the world also owed this man something, has raised even more over on his separate GoFundMe page. A well-connected politics reporter with 261,000 Twitter followers, Ali has managed, as of this writing, to collect $182,311 in three days from more than 5,700 people.... You can find James Shaw's page for the victims' families here. And Yashar Ali’s page for Shaw here."

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Thursday
Apr262018

The Commentariat -- April 27, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Karoun Demirjian, et al., of the Washington Post: "House Intelligence Committee Republicans released a redacted version of their final report from a year-long probe into Russia's 'multifaceted' influence operation, generally clearing President Trump and his associates of wrongdoing while accusing the intelligence community and the FBI of failures in how they assessed and responded to the Kremlin's interference in the 2016 election. The report accuses the intelligence community of 'significant intelligence tradecraft failings,' suggesting that Russia's main goal was to sow discord in the United States and not to help Trump win the election. It says investigators found 'no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded, coordinated, or conspired with the Russian government' -- even as it details contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russians or Russian intermediaries. Trump seized on the report to call for an end to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's criminal investigation into whether his campaign coordinated with Russia. 'Just Out: House Intelligence Committee Report released. "No evidence" that the Trump Campaign "colluded, coordinated or conspired with Russia,"' Trump wrote. 'Clinton Campaign paid for Opposition Research obtained from Russia- Wow! A total Witch Hunt! MUST END NOW!' But committee Democrats quickly charged that their Republican colleagues had rushed to end their work prematurely in a 'a systematic effort to muddy the waters and to deflect attention away from the President.'" See links to related story & report -- both marked "NEW" -- below.

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has lost his lawsuit claiming that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and special counsel Robert Mueller exceeded their authority in charging him with alleged crimes that he says have nothing to do with the 2016 campaign. A judge said Friday that Manafort can't use this lawsuit to stop the special counsel's office from continuing to pursue an investigation of him. 'A civil case is not the appropriate vehicle for taking issue with what a prosecutor has done in the past or where he might be headed in the future,' Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the US District Court in Washington, DC, wrote Friday." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Paige St. John & Joel Rubin of the Los Angeles Times: "... Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents repeatedly target U.S. citizens for deportation by mistake, making wrongful arrests based on incomplete government records, bad data and lax investigations, according to a Times review of federal lawsuits, internal ICE documents and interviews. Since 2012, ICE has released from its custody more than 1,480 people after investigating their citizenship claims, according to agency figures. And a Times review of Department of Justice records and interviews with immigration attorneys uncovered hundreds of additional cases in the country's immigration courts in which people were forced to prove they are Americans and sometimes spent months or even years in detention." The story of Davino Watson, a U.S. citizen whom ICE held fo4 3-1/2 years, is horrifying.

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.), who previously announced his retirement from Congress following reports he had paid a secret settlement to a staffer who accused him of harassment, resigned outright Friday. His resignation came as the House Ethics Committee continued a probe into his behavior that could have resulted in serious sanctions. The former aide, a younger woman, alleged that Meehan had confessed romantic feelings for her after she became involved with another man. Meehan, she alleged, later retaliated after she repelled his advances.... Meehan said that within 30 days he will repay taxpayers for the $39,000 settlement that was paid as a severance payment to his former staffer.... Meehan's departure could prompt a special election in his suburban Philadelphia district. That decision will be made by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D), who is also considering whether to hold a special election in the Allentown-area district that Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) is expected to vacate later this year."

Juliegrace Brufke of the Hill: "The House rejected a resolution on Friday that would have set up a select committee to investigate Patrick Conroy's dismissal as House chaplain. In a 215-171 mostly party-line vote, the House turned aside the measure from House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley's (N.Y.), who argued it was necessary to look into the 'motivations and actions' behind Conroy's dismissal. Conroy announced his retirement as chaplain earlier this month, a decision most members thought was voluntary until Thursday, when it emerged that Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) had pushed him out."

Michael de la Merced of the New York Times: "Sprint and T-Mobile are in advanced discussions about merging, and a deal could be announced as soon as this weekend, people briefed on the matter said on Friday.A combination of the two companies would complete one of the telecommunications industry's most long-awaited transactions and would create the third-largest wireless carrier in the United States, with more than 127 million customers. Sprint and T-Mobile have tried to negotiate a merger twice before."

*****

** War on the Poor. Paul Krugman: "Last year, Trump and his allies in Congress devoted most of their efforts to coddling the rich; this was obviously true of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, but even the assault on Obamacare was largely about securing hundreds of billions in tax cuts for the wealthy. This year, however, the G.O.P.'s main priority seems to be making war on the poor.... The interesting question is not whether Trump and friends are trying to make the lives of the poor nastier, more brutal and shorter. They are. The question, instead, is why.... Pretty clearly, the pain this war will inflict is a feature, not a bug. Trump and his friends aren't punishing the poor reluctantly, out of the belief that they must be cruel to be kind. They just want to be cruel.... Glenn Thrush of The New York Times reported, 'Mr. Trump, aides said, refers to nearly every program that provides benefits to poor people as welfare, a term he regards as derogatory.'"

NEW. Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday renewed his attacks on the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey, kicking off a morning Twitter barrage by once again accusing Mr. Comey of leaking classified information and lying to cover it up, even as the leaders of North and South Korea held a historic meeting hours earlier. In a tweet, Mr. Trump called Mr. Comey 'either very sick or very dumb,' saying his fired F.B.I. chief did not understand the severity of his actions in having details about his interactions with the president provided to a reporter. 'Remember sailor!' Mr. Trump added, a month after he pardoned a United States sailor who had pleaded guilty to illegally retaining national defense information and obstruction of justice.... In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Mr. Comey pushed back against the accusation that he had leaked classified information. 'That memo was unclassified then, it's still unclassified,' Mr. Comey said. Mr. Comey said Mr. Trump was the one who was making a 'false statement.'"

NEW. Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "The House Intelligence Committee on Friday released its final report on Russian election meddling, marking an end to the fraught political battle over the investigation. The final report reiterated the findings and conclusions made public last month by the committee's Republican majority. The committee found that there was 'no evidence' of collusion or coordination between Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and the Kremlin. The summary also said that the committee agreed with a number of the intelligence community's prior judgments on the matter, 'except with respect to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's supposed preference for candidate Trump.'... In a statement accompanying the Friday release, Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas..., lamented the number of redactions made to the report by the intelligence community...." Thanks to MAG for the link. ...

ย ย ย ย  ... For you fiction lovers, No Collusion is here (pdf). 253 pp.

NEW. AP: "... Donald Trump's personal attorney, whose business dealings are being investigated by the FBI, and his father-in-law have lent $26 million in recent years to a taxi mogul who is shifting into the legalized marijuana industry, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. Semyon 'Sam' Shtayner, a longtime business associate of Michael Cohen's father-in-law, created Nevada-based Cannaboss LLC the day before the 2016 election. A few months later, he took a majority position in a company that is provisionally licensed to cultivate medicinal marijuana and produce edibles, the records show."

NEW. Andrew Kramer & Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "The Russian lawyer who met with Trump campaign officials in Trump Tower in June 2016 on the premise that she would deliver damaging information about Hillary Clinton has long insisted she is a private attorney, not a Kremlin operative trying to meddle in the presidential election. But newly released emails show that in at least one instance two years earlier the lawyer, Natalia V. Veselnitskaya, worked hand in glove with Russia's chief legal office to thwart a Justice Department civil fraud case against a well-connected Russian firm. Ms. Veselnitskaya also appears to have recanted her earlier denials of Russian government ties. During an interview to be broadcast Friday by NBC News, she acknowledged that she was not merely a private lawyer but a source of information for a top Kremlin official, Yuri Y. Chaika, the prosecutor general."

NEW. Gina Kolata of the New York Times: "... regulators and medical experts were taken aback by allegations that Dr. Ronny Jackson, personal physician to President Obama and President Trump, handed out [Ambien] pills to White House staff and to reporters on such trips. The practice may have been accepted, but it is also illegal. 'You could be prosecuted,' said Melvin Patterson, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration." Jackson had denied the allegations. ...

... NEW. M.J. Lee & Juana Summers of CNN: "The White House medical unit frequently functioned as a 'grab and go' clinic where mid-level staffers to the most senior officials could obtain prescription drugs without being examined by a doctor, casually pick up the powerful sleeping aid Ambien even for their children, and get drugs that were not prescribed to the person actually taking the medication. These examples, described to CNN by five of the medical unit's former and current employees and which appear to represent the more problematic practices there, were endorsed by Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, a doctor."

Peter Baker & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump distanced himself from his longtime lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, on Thursday, saying that a federal criminal investigation was focused on Mr. Cohen's business dealings and had nothing to do with his legal representation of the president.... The president acknowledged that Mr. Cohen represents him in connection with Stephanie Clifford, the pornographic film actress known as Stormy Daniels.... Michael Avenatti, Ms. Clifford's attorney, quickly seized on the president's comments, suggesting they would help her lawsuit trying to nullify the 2016 nondisclosure agreement by proving Mr. Trump's involvement in the effort to keep her quiet before the election.... 'The president's statements this morning are very, very damaging to him in our case,' Mr. Avenatti [said on MSNBC]. 'It directly contradicts what he said on Air Force One relating to his knowledge, or lack thereof, of the agreement of $130,000.'... The president's discussion of Mr. Cohen's legal troubles came during an expansive, wide-ranging and at times rambling half-hour telephone interview on Fox. At times, it sounded as if he was shouting into the phone." Read on, for your amusement. See related Fox "News" story below, linked earlier today. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Legal experts don't agree on the impact of Trump's remarks today re: the Clifford case. But they do seem to agree that Trump didn't do himself any favors when he spoke about the case. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Here's the transcript of the Trump/"Fox & Friends" interview, annotated by Aaron Blake. Thanks to Patrick for the heads-up. See also Patrick's comment on the interview, below. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Jonathan Chait: "In the interview, Trump's sense of persecution was so acute he was barely able to concentrate on an open invitation to tout his own success, the thing he does best.... But the most disturbing moment came at the very end, when Trump threatened to force the Department of Justice to adopt his own chosen priorities, ignoring the 'phony' charges against him, and prosecuting the 'real' ones against his opponents[.]... At this point, astonishingly, the embarrassed hosts ushered Trump off the phone, insisting he must be busy -- likely the only time in memory a 'journalist' has cut short an interview with the president of the United States. Trump is making his intentions perfectly clear. He wants the Department of Justice to lock up his political opponents and witnesses to his misbehavior. And he wants it to stop investigating his own misdeeds.... Trump is, on national television, making existential threats to the rule of law." (Also linked yesterday.)

Allan Smith & Sonam Sheth of Business Insider: "US District Court Judge Kimba Wood said she would appoint a special master in [Michael] Cohen's case to initially review documents seized during the FBI's raids on Cohen's home, office, and hotel room. The special master will determine whether something falls under protected attorney-client privilege and what prosecutors could use against Cohen. Wood appointed Barbara Jones, a partner at Bracewell who specializes in white-collar litigation and a former federal judge for the Southern District of New York, as the special master. Jones was not one of the candidates submitted by Cohen's team or by the government to serve as the special master." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Max Greenwood of the Hill: "Federal prosecutors in New York argued on Thursday that public statements by President Trump and Fox News host Sean Hannity indicate that materials seized from attorney Michael Cohen are 'unlikely' to contain large amounts of privileged information. The filing came the same morning that Trump called into 'Fox & Friends' for an interview in which he claimed that Cohen, one of his longtime associates and confidants, performed only 'a tiny, tiny little fraction' of his legal work. Hannity, who was named earlier this month as one of Cohen's few other clients, has said that he never retained the attorney's legal services in an official sense and that their discussions focused on real estate.... Lawyers for Trump and Cohen have argued that many of the records seized are covered by attorney-client privilege.... Trump, however, appeared to undercut that argument, at least in part, on Thursday morning, when he insisted that Cohen did not perform much legal work for him and that investigators were primarily focused on Cohen's business dealings. 'This has nothing to do with me,' Trump said on 'Fox & Friends.' 'I've been told I'm not involved.'"

Michael Avenatti, Stephanie Clifford's attorney has an interesting theory: that the $1.6 million hush-money payout made by Trump rainmaker Elliott Broidy through Michael Cohen was to settle a paternity suit brought not against Broidy but against Trump (or possibly Hannity). Travis Gettys of the Raw Story reports. Mrs. McC: If you follow Avenatti's logic, I think you'll conclude that his theory is highly plausible.

The Week: Michael "Cohen, who has been Trump's personal attorney for years, is apparently going through a bit of a rough patch with the president, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. Trump reportedly sought to distance himself from his longtime fixer once he decided to run for office, and apparently privately described him as a 'bull in a china shop' with a tendency to make problems worse. Cohen was disappointed that Trump didn't tap him to run his campaign or to work as White House chief of staff, the Journal reports. And his frustration has mounted as Trump publicly downplays his relationship with Cohen in the face of allegations of an affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels, whom Cohen paid $130,000 in a hush agreement in 2016. The attorney reportedly shared his feelings with the president from afar, telling him in a phone call last year: 'Boss, I miss you so much. I wish I was down there with you.'" Mrs. McC: Unrequited love? More likely a plea for a White House job.

Sarah Lynch of Reuters: "U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday defended his decision not to appoint a second special prosecutor to investigate Republicans' concerns about the FBI by noting that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe had already taken on 'a life of its own.' Speaking to a U.S. House appropriations panel during a routine budget hearing, Sessions told lawmakers that the Justice Department needed to 'be disciplined and stay within our classical procedure and rules' before rushing to hire more special counsels.... 'This thing [the Mueller investigation],' he continued, 'needs to conclude.' Sessions staunchly defended the FBI, calling its director, Christopher Wray a 'man of integrity,' and warned lawmakers not to 'smear everybody' at the department."

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation on Thursday to protect special counsel Robert Mueller. In a 14-7 vote, the panel approved the bipartisan proposal that deeply divided Republicans on the committee. With every committee Democrat backing the legislation, only one Republican was needed to secure passage. In the end, four Republicans voted for the bill: Sens. Thom Tillis (N.C.), >Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.). Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch (Utah), Mike Lee (Utah), John Cornyn (Texas), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Ben Sasse (Neb.), John Kennedy (La.) and Ted Cruz (Texas) opposed it." (Also linked yesterday.)

Lisa Rein, et al., of the Washington Post: "Ronny L. Jackson's withdrawal from consideration to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs stanched an immediate political crisis for the Trump White House, but it sparked new questions over his future as the president's doctor and the fate of the embattled agency.... Congressional Democrats said the admiral's nomination for a second star would not be considered until the Pentagon addresses allegations that he drank excessively on the job and oversaw a hostile working environment in the White House medical office.... There were growing bipartisan calls Thursday for additional investigations into Jackson's professional history.... Trump made no mention of Jackson's withdrawal Thursday morning at a previously scheduled event with wounded military veterans. Trump touted reforms underway at VA and recognized [acting secretary Robert] Wilkie for 'doing a great job.'" ...

... Julie Davis, et al., of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. first gave the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, a file containing spousal abuse allegations against Rob Porter in March 2017, according to a detailed new timeline the bureau has given to Congress that casts further doubt on the West Wing's account of how accusations against one of President Trump's closest advisers were handled.... A former federal law enforcement official said the violent abuse allegations were included in that file.... The White House ... has issued several competing accounts of how Mr. Trump's team handled the allegations, which they insisted no senior officials knew about until just before Mr. Porter left his job.... The White House's contention that Mr. McGahn never saw the original F.B.I. report comes as it is facing fresh questions about its process for vetting personnel for top posts ..." after the Ronny Jackson debacle.

Peter Baker & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "By the time the sun set Thursday, Dr. Ronny L. Jackson was a failed cabinet nominee whose life had been picked apart for public consumption, and Michael D. Cohen was back in court facing possible criminal prosecution. A ride on President Trump's bullet train can be thrilling, but it is often a brutal journey that leaves some bloodied by the side of the tracks. In only 15 months in office, Mr. Trump has burned through a record number of advisers and associates who have found themselves in legal, professional or personal trouble, or even all three. Half of the top aides who came to the White House with Mr. Trump in 2017 are gone, many under painful circumstances, either because they fell out with the boss or came under the harsh scrutiny that comes with him.... Proximity to Mr. Trump has been a crushing experience for many who arrived with stellar careers and independent reputations yet ended up losing so much.... All of them, of course, had varying degrees of responsibility for the troubles that would ultimately befall them." ...

... ** A Diffeent Take on "the Swamp." Masha Gessen of the New Yorker: "Appointing people to run federal agencies who are opposed to the work and, sometimes, to the very existence of those agencies is an established gesture of the Trump Presidency. Scott Pruitt all but promised to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency during his confirmation hearing, last January. Rick Perry, the Energy Secretary, once wanted to abolish the Department of Energy, though he apparently didn't understand what the department was. Betsy DeVos, a stranger to and an apparent foe of public schools, became the Secretary of Education. In a distinct but related kind of gesture, Trump has appointed people who are clearly unqualified for their jobs, as when he made Ben Carson the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, or when he tapped [Ronny] Jackson for Veterans Affairs. The two kinds of gestures send messages consistent with the themes of Trump's never-ending Presidential campaign: he sees the U.S. government as a 'swamp' that is best drained by destruction. He also continues to reprise his television persona of the boss whose power is displayed through hiring and firing -- the more unpredictably and dramatically, the better." Read on. ...

... Another Resignation for Cause. Chris D'Angelo & Travis Waldron of the Huffington Post: "Bryan Rice has resigned just six months after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke appointed him to lead the Bureau of Indian Affairs, multiple sources familiar with the situation told HuffPost.... The resignation comes roughly two weeks after the agency's internal watchdog concluded that poor Interior Department staff record keeping >made it impossible to determine if the reassignment of dozens of senior agency staff last year was legal. Nearly a third of the transferred staffers were Native American, Talking Points Memo reported.... Rice is a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and previously led Interior]s Office of Wildland Fire beginning under the Obama administration in 2016."

Coral Davenport & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency chief facing accusations of ethical infractions and lavish spending, vowed on Capitol Hill on Thursday that the charges against him were false and that decisions involving illegal actions had been made by his staff members without his knowledge. His supporters said that he may have succeeded in saving his job, for now.... Democrats, who have called for his resignation, sought to force Mr. Pruitt to accept culpability for a variety of ethical missteps.... Republicans, after briefly chastising Mr. Pruitt in their opening remarks, appeared largely sympathetic to the administrator, asking Mr. Pruitt friendly questions that appeared calculated to allow him to talk about his policy proposals.... Mr. Pruitt is now the subject of 10 federal investigations...." ...

... Brady Dennis & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "... Scott Pruitt was unapologetic about his leadership during the first of two Capitol Hill hearings Thursday but conceded that he had known in advance of an aide's significant raise -- among the many controversies that has put his position on the line. Testifying before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on environment for three hours, Pruitt walked back previous denials of having any involvement in the salary discussion for agency senior counsel Sarah Greenwalt. She and another staffer got pay hikes this spring over the objections of officials in the White House Personnel Office.... Pruitt spent the hearing attributing the vast majority of allegations about his ethics and management decisions to policy critics...." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Robert Redford in a Washington Post op-ed: "... Pruitt's failings in ethics and judgment are only part of a much larger problem: Pruitt has failed at the core responsibility of his job.... Pruitt has become a one-man public-health risk to the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. From day one, he has worked to gut the EPA and hamstring its ability to protect the environment and public health. He works on behalf of the fossil-fuel industry and other industrial polluters, not the American people. That's the greatest scandal -- and the reason, first and foremost, he's got to go."

Karoun Demirjian & Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "The Senate confirmed Mike Pompeo as secretary ofstate on Thursday despite lingering objections from Democrats who've questioned his record of hawkish policy positions and past controversial statements about minority groups. The split vote represents the political scrutiny Pompeo is likely to encounter as he moves from the CIA to the State Department, where he'll face the simultaneous challenges of reinvigorating an agency beset by flagging morale and answering for a president who is prone to impulsiveness." (Also linked yesterday.)

AP: "Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Thursday emphasized the value of certain aspects of the Iran nuclear agreement, even as ... Donald Trump considers pulling out of the 2015 deal, which he has attacked repeatedly and this week called 'insane.' Without explicitly giving his opinion about whether the United States should stick with the agreement, Mattis said that after reading the full text of the deal three times, he was struck by provisions that allow for international verification of Iran's compliance. He said that since becoming defense secretary in January 2017, he also has read what he called a classified protocol in the agreement. 'I will say it is written almost with an assumption that Iran would try to cheat,' he said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. 'So the verification, what is in there, is actually pretty robust as far as our intrusive ability to get in' with representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency to check on compliance."

... independent expenditures do not lead to, or create the appearance of, quid pro quo corruption. -- Justice Anthony Kennedy, majority opinion, Citizens United v. FEC ...

... Eliza Relman of Business Insider: "Ethics experts say Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget director and interim head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, should be investigated for potentially violating federal bribery laws after he admitted that, as a congressman, he only gave meetings to lobbyists who donated to his campaign.... 'If I were at the Department of Justice, I'd send an FBI agent to start looking at correlating the lobbyist donations,' [Norm] Eisen[, a top Obama administration ethics official,] said. 'I would have the FBI look at his decision-making right up to the present, correlate it with lobbyist campaign contributions, and then go talk to him.' Richard Painter, President George W. Bush's top ethics lawyer, told Business Insider that Mulvaney's admission that he exchanged money for access 'puts a target on his back.'"

Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "The big takeaway from the first year of Trump's presidency is that the country's institutions largely have checked him.... But one institution has sorely failed in its constitutional duty to restrain the president. Time and again, the Republican-controlled Congress has ignored, defended, or outright enabled Trump's authoritarian excesses."

Ron Nixon of the New York Times: "A top official with the Department of Health and Human Services [Steven Wagner] told members of Congress on Thursday that the agency had lost track of nearly 1,500 migrant children it placed with sponsors in the United States, raising concerns they could end up in the hands of human traffickers or be used as laborers by people posing as relatives.... The children were taken into government care after they showed up alone at the Southwest border. Most of the children are from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, and were fleeing drug cartels, gang violence and domestic abuse, government data shows." Mrs. McC: Here, at least, is an example of Congress's using its oversight function in a meaningful way.

Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "The Senate Ethics Committee 'severely admonished' Senator Robert Menendez on Thursday for accepting gifts from a wealthy doctor while using his position as a senator to promote the doctor's personal and financial interests. It also ordered Mr. Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, to repay the market value of all improper gifts he has not already repaid. The admonition stems from the same actions for which Mr. Menendez was indicted in 2015. His trial -- in which the doctor, Salomon E. Melgen, was a co-defendant -- ended with a deadlocked jury in November 2017, and the federal government chose not to retry Mr. Menendez."

Kasie Hunt, et al., of NBC News: "Speaker Paul Ryan has ousted the chaplain of the House of Representatives ... -- a move that's outraged members of both parties who have come to the defense of the Jesuit priest. The Rev. Patrick Conroy wrote in an April 15 letter to Ryan...: 'As you have requested, I hereby offer my resignation as the 60th Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives.'... Conroy has been blunt in some of his remarks, including a prayer about the GOP tax bill that he offered on the House floor on Nov. 6, 2017.... 'May their efforts these days guarantee that there are not winners and losers under new tax laws, but benefits balanced and shared by all Americans.'... When Ryan gave [Minority Leader Nancy] Pelosi the advance notice about Conroy's departure, she made it clear that she disagreed with the speaker and that she had received only positive feedback about Conroy's service, a Pelosi aide said. Then-Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, nominated Conroy as chaplain in May 2011, in consultation with Pelosi, and he was sworn in that month."

Graham Bowley & Jon Hurdle of the New York Times: "A jury found Bill Cosby guilty Thursday of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his home ... 14 years ago, capping the downfall of one of the world's best-known entertainers, and offering a measure of satisfaction to the dozens of women who for years have accused him of similar assaults against them. On the second day of its deliberations at the Montgomery County Courthouse in this town northwest of Philadelphia, the jury returned to convict Mr. Cosby of three counts of aggravated indecent assault against Andrea Constand, at the time a Temple University employee he had mentored. The three counts -- penetration with lack of consent, penetration while unconscious, and penetration after administering an intoxicant -- are felonies, each punishable by up to 10 years in state prison, though the sentences could be served concurrently." (Also linked yesterday.)

Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "Matt Lauer is not the only prominent anchor at NBC who allegedly sought inappropriate relationships with younger women. Linda Vester, a former NBC correspondent, told The Post that legendary anchor Tom Brokaw made unwanted advances toward her on two occasions in the 1990s, including a forcible attempt to kiss her. Vester was in her 20s and did not file a complaint. Brokaw denied anything untoward happened with Vester. Another woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, also told The Post that Brokaw acted inappropriately toward her in the '90s, when she was a young production assistant and he was an anchor. He said no such incident happened. NBC acted quickly to dismiss Lauer, but it is facing a wave of internal and outside skepticism that it can reform a workplace in which powerful men such as Lauer were known to pursue sexual relationships with more junior women." Read on. Brokow is a creep & a liar, IMO. Not sure which angers me the most: the harassment or the lying denials. ...

... Elizabeth Wagmeister & Ramin Setoodeh of Variety have more on Vester's accusations against Brokaw. Mrs. McC: I have never liked the sanctimonious Brokaw even tho he -- or one of his producers -- did solve one of the great mysteries of my life.

Thomas Fuller of the New York Times: "The Golden State Killer raped and murdered victims all across the state of California in an era before Google searches and social media.... But it was technology that got him. The suspect, Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested by the police on Tuesday.... Investigators used DNA from crime scenes that had been stored all these years and plugged the genetic profile of the suspected assailant into an online genealogy database. They found distant relatives of Mr. DeAngelo's and, despite his years of eluding the authorities, traced their DNA to to his front door.... Representatives at 23andMe and some other gene testing services denied on Thursday that they had been involved in identifying the killer."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Kevin Poulsen of the Daily Beast: "MSNBC host Joy Reid claims that recently unearthed homophobic articles attributed to her are fakes. And she says a cybersecurity consultant has proof that her old blog has been hacked. But that consultant, Jonathan Nichols, had trouble producing the promised evidence. And what he did produce failed to withstand scrutiny, according to a Daily Beast analysis. Blog posts that Nichols claimed do not appear on the Internet Archive are, in fact, there. The indicators of hacked posts don't bear out.... Presented with that information on Thursday, Nichols acknowledged his error."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "The leaders of North and South Korea agreed on Friday to work to remove all nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula and, within the year, declare an official end to the Korean War that ravaged the two nations from 1950 to 1953. At a historic summit meeting, the first time a North Korean leader had ever set foot in the South, the leaders vowed to negotiate a peace treaty to replace a truce that has kept an uneasy peace on the divided Korean Peninsula for more than six decades, while ridding it of nuclear weapons.... Friday's agreement between Mr. Moon and Mr. Kim was short on such specifics." ...

... David Sanger & Choe Sang-Hun: "Kim Jong-un on Friday became the first North Korean leader to set foot in South Korean-controlled territory, starting a historic summit meeting with the South's president that will test Mr. Kim's willingness to bargain away his nuclear weapons. Mr. Kim's decision to cross into the world's most heavily armed border zones, a prospect that seemed unthinkable just a few months ago, was broadcast live in South Korea, where all eyes and ears are focused on the intentions of the North's 34-year-old leader. For South Korea's president, Moon Jae-in, who has placed himself at the center of diplomacy to end the nuclear standoff with the North, the meeting presents a formidable task: finding a middle ground between a cunning enemy to the North and an impulsive ally in the United States. The historic encounter at the Peace House, a conference building on the South Korean side of the border village of Panmunjom, could set the tone for an even more critical meeting planned between Mr. Kim and President Trump."

News Lede

Washington Post: "The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in the first three months of 2018, the Commerce Department said Friday. The results were slightly above Wall Street analysts' forecasts of 2 percent annual growth rate and represented an expected slowing from the fourth quarter's 2.9 percent growth rate. The $20 trillion economy also turned in a better showing than most recent first quarters, which government reports have struggled to accurately assess because of seasonal issues. Financial market reaction was subdued in early trading. The Commerce Department report was the first since President Trump's tax cut took effect on January 1. The centerpiece of the tax overhaul was a reduction in corporate taxes aimed at boosting investment and jobs. So far, the results are mixed. The Commerce Department report showed a robust contribution from business investment, which rose more than 6 percent.That seemed at odds with Thursday's Census Bureau report that nondefense capital goods orders, excluding aircraft, fell 0.1 percent in March and that preliminary results from earlier months had been revised lower. Weakness in the GDP report also was evident in government outlays and consumer spending, which slowed to a 1.1 percent gain from 4 percent in the final quarter of 2017. Slumping auto sales were a major contributor."

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Wednesday
Apr252018

The Commentariat -- April 26, 2018

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Graham Bowley & Jon Hurdle of the New York Times: "A jury found Bill Cosby guilty Thursday of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his home ... 14 years ago, capping the downfall of one of the world's best-known entertainers, and offering a measure of satisfaction to the dozens of women who for years have accused him of similar assaults against them. On the second day of its deliberations at the Montgomery County Courthouse in this town northwest of Philadelphia, the jury returned to convict Mr. Cosby of three counts of aggravated indecent assault against Andrea Constand, at the time a Temple University employee he had mentored. The three counts -- penetration with lack of consent, penetration while unconscious, and penetration after administering an intoxicant -- are felonies, each punishable by up to 10 years in state prison, though the sentences could be served concurrently."

Brady Dennis & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "... Scott Pruitt was unapologetic about his leadership during the first of two Capitol Hill hearings Thursday but conceded that he had known in advance of an aide's significant raise -- among the many controversies that has put his position on the line. Testifying before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on environment for three hours, Pruitt walked back previous denials of having any involvement in the salary discussion for agency senior counsel Sarah Greenwalt. She and another staffer got pay hikes this spring over the objections of officials in the White House Personnel Office.... Pruitt spent the hearing attributing the vast majority of allegations about his ethics and management decisions to policy critics...."

Karoun Demirjian & Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "The Senate confirmed Mike Pompeo as secretary of state on Thursday despite lingering objections from Democrats who've questioned his record of hawkish policy positions and past controversial statements about minority groups. The split vote represents the political scrutiny Pompeo is likely to encounter as he moves from the CIA to the State Department, where he'll face the simultaneous challenges of reinvigorating an agency beset by flagging morale and answering for a president who is prone to impulsiveness."

Allan Smith & Sonam Sheth of Business Insider: "US District Court Judge Kimba Wood said she would appoint a special master in [Michael] Cohen's case to initially review documents seized during the FBI's raids on Cohen's home, office, and hotel room. The special master will determine whether something falls under protected attorney-client privilege and what prosecutors could use against Cohen. Wood appointed Barbara Jones, a partner at Bracewell who specializes in white-collar litigation and a former federal judge for the Southern District of New York, as the special master. Jones was not one of the candidates submitted by Cohen's team or by the government to serve as the special master."

Peter Baker & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump distanced himself from his longtime lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, on Thursday, saying that a federal criminal investigation was focused on Mr. Cohen's business dealings and had nothing to do with his legal representation of the president.... The president acknowledged that Mr. Cohen represents him in connection with Stephanie Clifford, the pornographic film actress known as Stormy Daniels.... Michael Avenatti, Ms. Clifford's attorney, quickly seized on the president's comments, suggesting they would help her lawsuit trying to nullify the 2016 nondisclosure agreement by proving Mr. Trump's involvement in the effort to keep her quiet before the election.... 'The president's statements this morning are very, very damaging to him in our case,' Mr. Avenatti [said on MSNBC]. 'It directly contradicts what he said on Air Force One relating to his knowledge, or lack thereof, of the agreement of $130,000.'... The president's discussion of Mr. Cohen's legal troubles came during an expansive, wide-ranging and at times rambling half-hour telephone interview on Fox. At times, it sounded as if he was shouting into the phone." Read on, for your amusement. See related Fox "News" story below, linked earlier today. ...

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Legal experts don't agree on the impact of Trump's remarks today re: the Clifford case. But they do seem to agree that Trump didn't do himself any favors when he spoke about the case. ...

... Here's the transcript of the Trump/"Fox & Friends" interview, annotated by Aaron Blake. Thanks to Patrick for the heads-up. See also Patrick's comment on the interview below. ...

... Jonathan Chait: "In the interview, Trump's sense of persecution was so acute he was barely able to concentrate on an open invitation to tout his own success, the thing he does best.... But the most disturbing moment came at the very end, when Trump threatened to force the Department of Justice to adopt his own chosen priorities, ignoring the 'phony' charges against him, and prosecuting the 'real' ones against his opponents[.]... At this point, astonishingly, the embarrassed hosts ushered Trump off the phone, insisting he must be busy -- likely the only time in memory a 'journalist' has cut short an interview with the president of the United States. Trump is making his intentions perfectly clear. He wants the Department of Justice to lock up his political opponents and witnesses to his misbehavior. And he wants it to stop investigating his own misdeeds.... Trump is, on national television, making existential threats to the rule of law."

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation on Thursday to protect special counsel Robert Mueller. In a 14-7 vote, the panel approved the bipartisan proposal that deeply divided Republicans on the committee. With every committee Democrat backing the legislation, only one Republican was needed to secure passage. In the end, four Republicans voted for the bill: Sens. Thom Tillis (N.C.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.). Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch (Utah), Mike Lee (Utah), John Cornyn (Texas) Mike Crapo (Idaho), Ben Sasse (Neb.), John Kennedy (La.) and Ted Cruz (Texas) opposed it."

*****

** Nicholas Fandos & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "The White House withdrew the nomination of Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, the White House physician, to lead the Veterans Affairs Department on Thursday after lawmakers went public with a torrent of accusations leveled against him by nearly two dozen current and former colleagues from the White House medical staff. In a statement released Thursday morning, Dr. Jackson announced that he was withdrawing his name for consideration to be the secretary of Veteran Affairs. 'Unfortunately, because of how Washington works, these false allegations have become a distraction for this president and the important issue we must be addressing -- how we give the best care to our nation's heroes,' Dr. Jackson said in a statement provided by the White House press office. He said that the charges against him were 'completely false and fabricated.' Within minutes of the withdrawal, President Trump lamented the loss of his nomination, and said that Senator Jon Tester of Montana, the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, would 'have a big price to pay' for undercutting Dr. Jackson." (See links to related stories below.)

He's an admiral, highly respected, a real leader. And I watched Jon Tester of Montana, a state I won by over 20 points, they love me and I love them. Jon Tester, I think this is going to cause him a lot of problems in his state. He took a man who is an incredible man, an incredible man [and smeared him]. These are all false accusations. These are false. They're trying to destroy a man. -- Donald Trump, in a call-in to "Fox & Friends" this morning

It's always somebody else's fault. And news organizations are likely to find evidence that the accusations are not false. Isn't there an accident report or insurance claim on the vehicle Jackson allegedly smashed? -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...

... For instance, in the Times report above, there's this:

The New York Times spoke with two former members of the White House medical office staff on Wednesday, both of whom described a culture under Dr. Jackson where medications were freely distributed and lightly accounted for. They both said they had witnessed Dr. Jackson intoxicated during White House travel, and said it was a regular occurrence while overseas. Both of the former officials separately told of a standing order to leave a bottle of rum and Diet Coke in Dr. Jackson's hotel room on official travel. And both said they had been uncomfortable enough with Dr. Jackson's behavior to file complaints at the time with the White House Military Office.


Brooke Singman of Fox "News": "President Trump, in a fiery ... interview with 'Fox & Friends,' blasted former FBI Director James Comey on Thursday as a 'liar and a leaker' who is 'guilty of crimes' -- while issuing a stern warning to the Justice Department about the Russia probe. He said he tries to 'stay away' from the Justice Department's affairs, 'but at some point I won't.' He suggested the DOJ hasn't adequately scrutinized Comey and others amid the focus on the Russia probe.... 'Michael [Cohen] would represent me on some things ... like with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal he represented me, and you know, from what I see, he did absolutely nothing wrong,' Trump said. 'There were no campaign funds going into this.'" ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: "Did absolutely nothing wrong"? Then we wonder why ...

... The President's Lawyer Takes the Fifth. Emma Brown & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen on Wednesday told a federal judge that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself in a lawsuit brought by adult entertainer Stormy Daniels. Cohen's declaration, in support of his request to pause proceedings in the civil case, cited an 'ongoing criminal investigation by the FBI and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.'... In 2016, Trump sneered at Hillary Clinton aides for exercising their right not to self-incriminate during a congressional investigation into her private email server. 'The mob takes the Fifth,' Trump said at one campaign rally, according to the Associated Press. 'If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?' Yet in 1990, Trump himself took the Fifth to avoid answering 97 questions in a divorce deposition, the AP noted."

Josh Margolin of ABC News: "In a filing Wednesday afternoon, attorneys for ... Donald Trump told the federal judge overseeing the investigation of his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, that Trump would, as necessary, personally review documents to ensure that privileged information is not revealed accidentally to the FBI or prosecutors. '... Our client will make himself available, as needed, to aid in our privilege review on his behalf,' wrote attorneys Joanna Hendon, Christopher Dysard and Reed Keefe in their filing. The filing is part of the ongoing effort by Cohen and Trump to get the first crack at reviewing records seized earlier this month from Cohen's home, hotel and office. So far, US District Judge Kimba Wood has ruled against Cohen and Trump, though she has said she would be willing to consider their backup request to have an independent third-party review record before prosecutors and agents do." ...

... Pocketa-Pocketa-Pocketa. The Secret Life of JeffBo Sessions. Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions evaded lawmakers' questions on Wednesday about whether his longstanding recusal from campaign-related investigations extended to the Justice Department inquiry into President Trump's personal lawyer, saying only that he would not confirm the existence of the investigation itself.... Mr. Sessions said he would recuse himself if a connection were made between the Cohen and Russia investigations. But he declined to say whether he had discussed his involvement in the Cohen case with anyone outside the Justice Department, including the president, or whether Mr. Trump or any other administration official had discussed pardoning [Michael] Cohen.... Mr. Sessions also demurred when asked whether he would quit if the president or his allies fired Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, who oversees the special counsel investigation. 'The question calls for speculation,' Mr. Sessions said. 'I am not able to do that.'" ...

... Eric Tucker of the AP: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday defended ... Donald Trump's right to pardon former Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former Bush administration official I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby. Both of those pardons were issued by Trump and bypassed the involvement of the Justice Department and its pardon attorney, which historically reviews petitions for clemency. Sessions made the comments at a Senate subcommittee hearing where Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, reminded him that as a Republican senator from Alabama, Sessions had once defended the role and value of the Justice Department's pardon attorney.... 'It's clearly within the power of the president to execute pardons without the pardon attorney,' Sessions said."

Robert Costa & Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump's new personal lawyer dealing with the ongoing probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, met with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III on Tuesday to reopen negotiations for a presidential interview, according to three people familiar with the talks. Giuliani, who joined Trump's legal team last week, conveyed the ongoing resistance of Trump and his advisers to an interview with federal investigators, but did not rule out the possibility, the people said, adding that Giuliani pressed Mueller for clarity on when the probe is expected to end. In response, Mueller reiterated that he would like a chance to ask Trump questions about steps he took during the transition and early months of his administration, the people said. The special counsel emphasized, as he did in conversations in March with Trump's team, that an interview is essential for investigators to understand Trump's intent in making key decisions as they seek to wrap up the portion of the probe focused on potential obstruction of justice."


** Macron Calls Trump Plans "Very Insane." Ben Smith of BuzzFeed: "French President Emmanuel Macron believes ... Donald Trump will pull out of the Iran nuclear deal as part of 'a strategy of increasing tension,' Macron told reporters at the conclusion of his high-profile, whirlwind trip to the United States. 'My view -- I don't know what your president will decide -- is that he will get rid of this deal on his own, for domestic reasons,' Macron told a group of a dozen reporters and editors in an exchange at George Washington University on Wednesday. The comment marked a recognition that even the theatrical personal chemistry between Trump and Macron couldn't dramatically shift Trump's plans, and that his trip was largely focused on containing the aftermath of US withdrawal. And Macron mixed personal praise and some optimism about Trump with sharp disapproval of US plans to pull out of treaties it had recently joined. 'It can work in the short term but it's very insane in the medium to long term,' he said of the US decision 'to change [its] opposition so often.'" ...

... Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday delivered an impassioned call for multilateralism and U.S. engagement in the world, saying it was 'an essential part of our confidence in the future.' Speaking to a joint session of Congress, amid frequent standing ovations and cheers, Macron recalled the long history of U.S.-French relations and shared values and culture on everything from democracy and freedom to human and civil rights, literature, jazz and the 'Me Too' movement.... Much of what he said, although couched in stirring and global terms, posed a direct challenge to the Trump administration, and the U.S. president with whom he has said he has a special relationship. Macron expressed his hope that the United States would reenter the Paris climate accord, which President Trump exited early in his administration.... Macron also called for resolution of trade disputes through negotiation and the World Trade Organization, indirectly criticizing Trump's imposition of tariffs.... On Iran, he repeated his support for the nuclear trade deal and outlined a four-part solution to Trump's concerns about the deal and Iranian expansionism in the Middle East." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post: "In his speech to American lawmakers, [Emmanuel Macron] offered a comprehensive rejection of the main tenets of Trumpism, excoriating 'extreme nationalism' and protectionism, championing climate-change science and defending the international liberal order. 'You can play with anger and fear for a time,' Macron said, alluding to the themes that fuel right-wing nationalist movements in the West, 'but they do not construct anything.' Macron went on, urging his American audience to look beyond borders and walls. 'We can choose isolationism. But closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world,' he said. And he bristled at the rise of autocrats and illiberal democrats, which include some leaders favored by Trump: 'I don't share fascination for new strong powers and the illusion of nationalism,' he said." ...

... The Hermeneutics of the Hat. Adele Stan of the American Prospect: "For the first meeting of the president and first lady with the first couple of France, Melania wore a statement-making, broad-brimmed white hat. It was an unusual sight; in the modern age, the wearing of outfit-matching hats is viewed as quaint. The newspapers couldn't get enough of it, searching for clues as to its meaning. But really, it's not that deep, people. As befits her husband's managerial style, Melania's hat provided a mad distraction from the chaos surrounding his administration, not to mention the accelerating pace of the groundwork underway for the construction of an authoritarian state." Read on. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

All the Best People, Ctd.

Jeff Zeleny, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump is beginning to wonder aloud whether his embattled Veterans Affairs nominee should step aside 'before things get worse' and White House aides are now preparing for that possibility, White House officials told CNN. New allegations of improper behavior against Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician, came as a surprise in the West Wing when they were published by Senate Democrats Wednesday afternoon and have left the President and his aides more uncertain about whether Jackson's nomination can move forward, three White House officials said.... Trump was also astonished that few have publicly come to Jackson's defense leading the President to believe Jackson's fate is more perilous than it seemed.... While the White House was preparing for the possibility Jackson could withdraw, it was not clear Wednesday evening whether Jackson was leaning toward dropping out or pressing forward." ...

... Amy Gardner, et al., of the Washington Post: "White House physician Ronny L. Jackson has grown frustrated with the nomination process to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs and has told colleagues he may remove his name from consideration, according to two White House officials with knowledge of his deliberations. Jackson's indecision was brewing even before Capitol Hill Democrats on Wednesday released new allegations of professional misconduct, including the claim that Jackson had wrecked a government vehicle after getting drunk at a Secret Service going-away party." ...

... Burgess Everett of Politico: "GOP support for the Veterans Affairs nominee has cratered in the face of allegations of misconduct as White House physician. Jackson already faced serious doubts over his lack of management experience. At this point, it would take a miraculous comeback by Jackson to survive at least two more weeks of scrutiny and growing discomfort among Republican senators over his nomination." ...

... ** Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, the White House physician nominated to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, provided 'a large supply' of Percocet, a prescription opioid, to a White House military office staff member, throwing his own medical staff 'into a panic' when the medical unit could not account for the missing drugs, according to a summary of questionable deeds compiled by the Democratic staff of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. A nurse on his staff said Dr. Jackson had written himself prescriptions, and when caught, he asked a physician assistant to provide the medication. And at a Secret Service going away party, the doctor got intoxicated and 'wrecked a government vehicle,' according to the summary.... White House officials on Wednesday ratcheted up their public defense of Dr. Jackson, calling charges of workplace misconduct leveled against him 'outrageous' even as new incidents of questionable conduct surfaced." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Here's the Senate Democrats' two-page summary of the allegations -- so far -- against Jackson (via the WashPo). ...

If we don't get tough on the drug dealers, we are wasting our time. And that toughness includes the death penalty. -- Donald Trump, in Mancehster, N.H., March 19, 2018 ...

Is there a special get-out-of-the-electric-chair-free pass for physicians to the President? -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...

... Richard Friedman, in a New York Times op-ed, suggests Ronny Jackson should not be practicing medicine if the allegations of his "candyman" approach to dispensing drugs are true.

Pruitt Will Blame Staff for His Ethical Lapses. Lisa Friedman & Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "As Scott Pruitt ... prepares to testify before Congress on Thursday amid a series of spending and ethics investigations, an internal E.P.A. document indicates that he may blame his staff for many of the decisions that have put a cloud over his tenure at the agency. The document, known as the 'hot topics' list, appears to lay out talking points for Mr. Pruitt's two sessions before the House of Representatives. It suggests that Mr. Pruitt is prepared to say that he now flies coach when traveling; that others were responsible for giving two close aides who used to work for him in Oklahoma substantial pay raises; and that E.P.A. officials who were reassigned or demoted after challenging his spending all had performance issues. The document, which The New York Times has reviewed and the veracity of which the E.P.A. did not dispute, seemed to be a work in progress." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Evidently, Bankers Paid Enough to Play. Stacy Cowley of the New York Times: "Financial companies have worked to diminish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's powers since the day the agency was created. Now, they're on the brink of having one of their top demands granted: an end to the regulator's public database of complaints about their products and services. Since 2011, the bureau has maintained an open, searchable record of more than one million consumer reports about inaccurate debt \ collections, illegal fees, improper overdraft charges, mistakes on loans and other problems. By law, the consumer bureau has to collect those complaints. But it is not legally required to share them online. Mick Mulvaney, the bureau's acting director, hinted Tuesday that he would like to end that public access. 'I don't see anything in here that says I have to run a Yelp for financial services sponsored by the federal government,' he said at a banking industry conference in Washington. 'I don't see anything in here that says that I have to make all of those public.'" ...

Nothing says drain the swamp like telling a room full of bankers to give more money to politicians who put the interests of banks ahead of people. -- Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), in a Wednesday morning tweet ...

... Jonathan Chait: "Tuesday, [Mick Mulvaney] met with lobbyists and executives from the banking industry, promising further steps to gut regulations to prevent them from cheating customers. That's not even the scandalous part! The scandalous part is that Mulvaney asked the executives and lobbyists to donate more money, and told them the more they donated, the more influence they would have. Mulvaney didn't offer this as a sad concession to reality but an actual principle of governance he had personally abided[.]... The levels of corruption in this administration are simply staggering, and they range from open self-enrichment to openly selling policy to the highest bidder. The completely accurate sense that Trump and his party are out to get themselves and their friends rich is the administration's gaping vulnerability. What's especially odd is that nobody in the administration seems to have taken even cursory steps to address or paper over this weakness. They're all just grabbing as much cash for themselves and their allies as they can, while they can." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "It is hard to decide what is the worse thing here -- Mulvaney's pay-to-play operation, his shamelessness in bragging about it or Republicans' utter indifference to it."

"Great Society" May Shrink Further. Tracy Jan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson proposed far-reaching changes to federal housing subsidies Wednesday, tripling rent for the poorest households and making it easier for housing authorities to impose work requirements. Carson's proposals, and other initiatives aimed at low-income Americans receiving federal assistance, amount to a comprehensive effort by the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress to restrict access to the safety net and reduce the levels of assistance for those who do qualify. The ambitious effort to shrink federal assistance has been dubbed 'Welfare Reform 2.0', after Bill Clinton's overhaul of the welfare system in 1996. The proposals -- affecting housing, food stamps and Medicaid -- would require congressional approval."

Dr. Seuss, 1941.Nicholas Kristof: "A lifetime ago, Anne Frank's family applied for visas to the United States to escape Hitler, but we rejected the Franks and other desperate Jewish refugees. We thought: This is Europe's problem, not ours, and we don't want to be overrun by 'those people.' Today President Trump is again slamming the door on desperate refugees. Indeed, the Trump administration is going a step further by wrenching children from the arms of asylum-seekers, apparently as a way of inflicting gratuitous cruelty to discourage new arrivals." (See related stories re: yesterday's Supreme Court hearing & the National Museum for Peace & Justice, linked below.) ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: I was surprised by Kristof's assertion about the Franks' failed attempt to immigrate to the U.S., but it's true. The U.S. has an unbroken history of racism & xenophobia. Far more often than not, we choose "leaders" who reflect those prejudices. As Patrick wrote in yesterday's thread, "[Trump] he is a symptom, not a cause. While it is good when symptoms are alleviated, we still have to deal with the damage and the chronic condition."

Betsy Woodruff & Adam Rawnsley of the Daily Beast: "Brian Ballard, viewed by some as the lobbyist closest to ... Donald Trump, is working for an ally of Syria's brutal dictator, Bashar al-Assad. Ballard's firm, Ballard Partners, disclosed on March 15 that it has taken on a Dubai-based trading company called ASM International General Trading LLC as a client. A Daily Beast analysis of open source materials ... indicates that ASM International General Trading is affiliated with a member of Syria's wealthy Foz family of international businessmen, which reportedly has close links to the Assad regime. Reached for comment, Ballard told The Daily Beast his firm will cut ties with the company if it has links to Assad.... Ballard's firm also represents an anti-Assad group...."


Senate Races. Gail Collins on Mitt Romney's candidacy for the U.S. Senate. "We need [a] principled national voice, not just a guy who bounces around on issues like a well-coiffed rubber ball. Romney has to do better. Otherwise, we'll go back to discussing the time he drove to Canada with the family dog strapped to the car roof." Also, too, Collins gives a little space to Don Blankenship, a West Virginia GOP Senate candidate & "a former coal mining executive who hopes voters will be so enamored with his pro-business platform they'll ignore his role in a fatal mine explosion, the poisoning of local drinking water and the fact that he actually seems to live near Las Vegas."

Robert Barnes, et al., of the Washington Post: "The conservative majority on the Supreme Court seemed to agree Wednesday that President Trump has the authority to ban travelers from certain majority-Muslim countries if he thinks that it is necessary to protect the country. Lower courts have struck down each of the three iterations of the president's travel-ban proclamation, the first of which was issued just a week after he took office in January 2017. But the conservative-leaning Supreme Court may be Trump's best hope, and it gave the administration a boost by allowing the ban to go into effect in December while considering the challenges to it." If you want to listen to the arguments, the WashPo currently has audio on its front page. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which opens on Thursday, is a place unlike any other in the United States. Together with a new Legacy Museum which also opens this week, it addresses head on a subject that has been marked by a booming silence until now -- the enforcement of white supremacy in America through racial terrorism in the form of lynching, as well as its other guises: slavery, segregation and modern mass incarceration. The memorial records and honors the more than 4,000 people of color ... who lost their lives to terror lynching. It is the brainchild of Bryan Stevenson, a civil rights lawyer who for the past 25 years has been a firebrand for justice in a region that is so often resistant to it. He has championed the most desperate and vulnerable in the deep south, from 125 death row inmates he has helped avoid execution to children as young as 13 condemned to die behind bars."

Ken Belson & Mark Leibovich of the New York Times on an October 2017 meeting among NFL owners & players re: what to do about Trump. Here are more comments owners made about Trump. Mrs. McC: Medlar pointed out the main story to me yesterday, & I didn't want to read it. But I succumbed this morning, & the read was worthwhile. In a happier future, as we reflect on the Trumpocalypse, we may remember his favorable comments about the Charlottesville white supremacists as the most shocking, but his repeated attacks on NFL players protesting for equal justice are nearly as offensive. (And let's not forget the weasly lemming mike pence spent a bundle of taxpayer dollars to stage a phony "walkout" against players' protests.)

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. I Can't Believe I Said That. Brian Feldman of New York: "In late 2017, political commentator and MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid became the center of what was at the time a minor social-media controversy after it emerged that she had written numerous homophobic comments on her old blog, the Reid Report.... On Monday, Mediaite published more old posts that are not flattering to Reid.... But the saga got even weirder when, instead of apologizing, Reid issued a confounding statement on the matter, claiming that she was the victim of a hack and that the material was 'manipulated' and 'fabricated.'... To hear Reid's lawyers tell it, someone either hacked her blog or the Internet Archive. The claim is not impossible but it is highly, highly suspect -- the Internet Archive found no evidence of this and there is no precedent for it.... What should be clear about this whole situation is that absolutely nothing lines up.... What this looks like is a very elaborate, incoherent smokescreen to avoid taking responsibility." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jason Schwartz & Cristiano Lima of Politico: "Popular MSNBC host Joy Reid will remain on the air amid a controversy over what appear to be old posts expressing anti-gay views on her now-defunct personal blog, an NBC spokesperson said.... NBC representatives declined to say whether the network itself will investigate the posts."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Stephen Chen of the South China [Hong-Kong] Morning Post: "North Korea's mountain nuclear test site has collapsed, putting China and other nearby nations at unprecedented risk of radioactive exposure, two separate groups of Chinese scientists studying the issue have confirmed. The collapse after five nuclear blasts may be why North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared on Friday that he would freeze the hermit state's nuclear and missile tests and shut down the site, one researcher said. The last five of Pyongyang's six nuclear tests have all been carried out under Mount Mantap at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Korea's northwest. One group of researchers found that the most recent blast tore open a hole in the mountain, which then collapsed upon itself. A second group concluded that the breakdown created a 'chimney' that could allow radioactive fallout from the blast zone below to rise into the air." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: What? Why, just this Tuesday, President* Trump told us Kim was "very honorable based on what we are seeing." This tells me Mike Pompeo, who is Trump's man in North Korea (besides being CIA director & Secretary of State-designate), has either been lying to Trump during daily briefings, or Trump needs more visual aids to understand the concept of "mountain collapses, radioactive material escapes into the air." Can't some crafter at State or the CIA make a dandy little mode of a collapsing mountain with smoke spewing out the "chimney"? C'mon, Mike, you can say, "Mountain fall down go boom." I'm sure Trump would find it almost as much fun as fake-driving a Mack truck.

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