The Commentariat -- May 10, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump announced on Thursday that his meeting with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, will be held on June 12 in Singapore. The announcement came in a tweet...."
Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday released about 3,400 Facebook ads purchased by Russian agents around the 2016 presidential election on issues from immigration to gun control, a reminder of the complexity of the manipulation that Facebook is trying to contain ahead of the midterm elections. The ads, from mid-2015 to mid-2017, illustrate the extent to which Kremlin-aligned forces sought to stoke social, cultural and political unrest on one of the Web's most powerful platforms. With the help of Facebook's targeting tools, Russia's online army reached at least 146 million people on Facebook and Instagram, its photo-sharing service, with ads and other posts, including events promoting protests around the country." ...
... Links to the ads, grouped by date, are here. The Democrats' statement, which is worth reading, is here.
Chris Mooney & Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "Internal changes to a draft Defense Department report de-emphasized the threats climate change poses to military bases and installations, muting or removing references to climate-driven changes in the Arctic and potential risks from rising seas, an unpublished draft obtained by The Washington Post reveals. The earlier version of the document, dated December 2016, contains numerous references to 'climate change' that were omitted or altered to 'extreme weather' or simply 'climate' in the final report, which was submitted to Congress in January 2018. While the phrase 'climate change' appears 23 separate times in the draft report, the final version used it just once." Mrs. McC: Reminds me of a two-year-old who covers her eyes & says, "You can't see me."
Margaret Hartmann writes a very good summary of the Cohen slush fund scam -- on what we know so far.
Eli Okun of Politico: "Former Vice President Dick Cheney said the U.S. should restart its enhanced interrogation techniques -- often considered torture -- after the issue was thrust to the forefront during Gina Haspel's confirmation fight to become CIA director. 'If it were my call, I would not discontinue those programs,' he said in an interview that aired Thursday morning on Fox Business. 'I'd have them active and ready to go, and I'd go back and study them and learn.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: As David Smith of the Guardian noted, during his Senate confirmation hearing, Haspel said she didn't believe Trump would ask her to waterboard prisoners. "This prompted scornful laughter from the public gallery. During his presidential election campaign, Trump vowed to authorise waterboarding and 'a hell of a lot worse'." Darth Vader there reminds us that Trump is hardly isolated in his preference for torture. Haspel's "it won't be a problem" assertion is either naive (I doubt that) or an admission that all she needs is a green light to go back into full-torture mode.
Naked Politics. Rebecca Morin of Politico: "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley on Thursday encouraged Supreme Court justices flirting with retirement to immediately step down, saying he would like to push through a nominee before the midterm elections."
Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "In a new excerpt of Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) memoir published in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, the senator reveals how he got his hands on the now-infamous Steele dossier that claimed ... Donald Trump has been completely compromised by the Russian government. According to McCain, it was a retired British diplomat -- former U.K. ambassador to Russia Andrew Wood -- who gave him a copy of Steele's dossier.... Later in the excerpt, McCain explains how Putin's election meddling to help Trump win fits in with his broader strategy of undermining Western democracy." McCain gave the dossier to Jim Comey (Mrs. McC: who already had a copy which he received from Christopher Steele).
*****
Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "Three American prisoners freed from North Korea arrived [at Andrews AFB] early Thursday to a personal welcome from President Trump, who traveled to an air base in the middle of the night to meet them. Waving their hands and flashing peace signs, the freed prisoners -- Kim Dong-chul, Tony Kim and Kim Hak-song -- descended the stairs of their plane, flanked by the president and senior administration officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who had flown to Pyongyang, the North’s capital, to secure their release.... 'We want to thank Kim Jong-un, who really was excellent to these three incredible people[,' Trump said.... Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen Pence, Mr. Pompeo and the first lady, Melania Trump, were among those who traveled to the base to welcome the three men."
Peter Baker & Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "Three American prisoners freed by North Korea were flying back to the United States on Wednesday, heading toward an air base where President Trump planned to personally welcome them home as he celebrates a diplomatic breakthrough in advance of nuclear talks. The three prisoners, all American citizens of Korean descent, were described as healthy and able to walk on their own after months of imprisonment by one of the world's most repressive governments. They were scheduled to land at 2 a.m. Thursday at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, where Mr. Trump intended to greet them." ...
... Choe Sang-Hun: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo extended an olive branch to senior North Korean officials on Wednesday: 'All the opportunities your people so richly deserve' in exchange for the shutting down of the North's nuclear weapons program. 'For decades, we have been adversaries,' Mr. Pompeo said in a toast during a lunch in honor of his visit to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. 'Now we are hopeful that we can work together to resolve this conflict, take away threats to the world and make your country have all the opportunities your people so richly deserve.' Mr. Pompeo arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday on a mission to smooth any remaining wrinkles in the weekslong preparations for a planned summit meeting between North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, and President Trump, according to pool reports by journalists traveling with Mr. Pompeo."
Europeans Try to Mop up after Trump. Patrick Wintour & Julian Borger of the Guardian: "The European Union is scrambling to arrange a crisis meeting with Iran after Donald Trump pulled out of the nuclear agreement, as the Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said Europe had a 'very limited opportunity' to save the deal. A day after the US president broke with the landmark 2015 agreement and warned he would seek to hit European businesses that continued to trade with Tehran, the EU vowed to take steps to immunise firms from any US sanctions."
This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.
"He Was Good on It." Brian Bennett of Time: "President Trump told his lawyers on Tuesday night he didn't know about payments made to his personal attorney by a Russian oligarch and businesses lobbying the federal government.... 'I don't know anything about it,' Trump told his lawyers, according [to Rudy] Guiliani's recollection of [a] phone call [with Trump & attorney Jay Sekulow].... 'He was good on it,' Guiliani said. 'Nobody's concerned about it. It doesn't involve us....' ... Asked if the President directed Cohen to accept payments from companies like Novartis and AT&T, Guiliani said, 'I have no idea. I doubt it.'" ...
... M.J. Lee, et al., of CNN: "According to multiple people familiar with [Michael] Cohen's conduct following the election, he aggressively pitched himself to potential clients, reminding them of his proximity to the most powerful man in the world. Those efforts landed Cohen lucrative consulting deals. New reporting this week revealed that in the months following the 2016 election, Cohen received hundreds of thousands of dollars from powerful entities based in and outside of the United States. 'I don't know who's been representing you, but you should fire them all. I'm the guy you should hire. I'm closest to the President. I'm his personal lawyer,' was how one GOP strategist described Cohen's sales pitch.... White House press secretary Sarah Sanders wouldn't address the Cohen payments during a briefing with reporters Wednesday." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Matt Miller -- a genteel, cautious commentator for MSNBC -- could not help but compare Cohen to a "Sopranos" goombah shaking down shopkeepers (like AT&T) for protection money. And Miller didn't mind noting that the wiseguys take their cuts, but the bulk of their collections are kicked up to the capo. ...
... Michael Kranish, et al., of the Washington Post: "One of Cohen's highest-paying ventures was with Squire Patton Boggs, the lobbying firm that boasts former Senate majority leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and former senator John Breaux (D-La.) as counsel. Squire Patton Boggs was unprepared for a Trump presidency, according to a person familiar with the matter. Hiring Cohen for $500,000 was 'a no-brainer,' said a person at the firm familiar with the contract. 'The perception of having the president's personal lawyer' working with the firm was helpful 'from an optics perspective' with the administration.... The firm says its initial plan that Cohen would jointly represent clients did not pan out."
.... Mrs. McCrabbie: If you are confused by the changing stories of the "work" Cohen did for Novartis, AT&T & Korea Aerospace Industries, that's because, well, their stories keep changing. Since Novartis & AT&T have known for six months that their payments to Cohen were subjects of Mueller's investigation, you might think the PR geniuses at those major corporations would have been ready with plausible explanations when the press inevitably came calling. They were not. ...
... Tracy Connor, et al., of NBC News: "... Michael Cohen contacted the drug giant Novartis after the 2016 election 'promising access' to the new administration, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller later requested information from the company about the offer, a senior official inside Novartis told NBC News on Wednesday.... [After Cohen promised Novartis access,] Novartis then signed a one-year, $1.2 million contract with Cohen.... AT&T sent an email to its employees on Wednesday with details about its dealings with Cohen. 'In early 2017, as President Trump was taking office, we hired several consultants to help us understand how the President and his administration might approach a wide range of policy issues important to the company...," said the email.... Getting into a cab in Manhattan on Wednesday morning, Cohen told reporters that [Michael] Avenatti's report 'is inaccurate.' Later, his attorney filed a complaint letter with a federal judge that did not dispute the payments from Columbus, Novartis, AT&T and KAI but said smaller transactions that were lusted [sic.] by Avenatti were actually tied to different people named Michael Cohen...." ...
... Michael Kranish & Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's team sought information last November from Novartis, a major pharmaceutical company that paid a company created by President Trump's lawyer, the drug company said Wednesday. The interest by Mueller, who is investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 election, indicates that the special counsel is scrutinizing clients that paid Michael Cohen while he served as Trump's personal attorney...." Novartis offered a really flimsy excuse for paying Cohen, cited in the WashPo report & in the CNBC report below. "Separately, Korean Aerospace Industries confirmed to The Washington Post that it paid $150,000 to Cohen's company, but spokesman Oh Sung-keon said that it was not aware of its connection to Trump. The company said [Mrs. McC: hilariously] that it paid Cohen's firm 'to inform reorganization of our internal accounting system.' The company is in contention for a multibillion joint U.S. contract with Lockheed Martin for jet trainers. Lockheed said Wednesday it was not aware of any connection between Korea Aerospace and Cohen." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Dan Mangan of CNBC: "Drug giant Novartis paid ... Michael Cohen more than $1 million for health-care policy consulting work that he actually ended up being 'unable' to do, the company said Wednesday.... Novartis said it signed a one-year contract with Cohen's shell company, Essential Consultants, for $100,000 per month in February 2017, shortly after Trump was inaugurated as president. Novartis said it believed Cohen 'could advise the company as to how the Trump administration might approach certain U.S. health-care policy matters, including the Affordable Care Act.' But just a month after signing the deal, Novartis executives had their first meeting with Cohen, and afterward 'determined that Michael Cohen and Essentials Consultants would be unable to provide the services that Novartis had anticipated.'... 'As the contract, unfortunately, could only be terminated for cause, payments continued to be made until the contract expired by its own terms in February 2018,' Novartis said. That means that Cohen was paid up to $1.2 million for his work. Novartis did not immediately disclose the total amount paid." (The WashPo story cites a shorter time period over which Cohen was paid, concluding that Novartis paid Cohen about $400K.) (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed: "In its statement, Novartis [said], "... the engagement of Essential Consultants predated Vas Narasimhan becoming Novartis CEO. Dr. Narasimhan had no involvement whatsoever with this arrangement.' Narasimhan took over as CEO of Novartis in February.... Narasimhan was among other executives who had dinner with Trump when the president attended Davos earlier this year. A Novartis spokesperson told BuzzFeed News the dinner was 'organized by the Swiss government.'... AT&T, another company that has acknowledged paying Cohen's company, also acknowledged Wednesday evening that it, too, was contacted in late 2017 by the special counsel's office and that it, too, 'cooperated fully.'... Another company that paid Cohen was Columbus Nova LLC, an investment firm run by Andrew Intrater that is linked to Renova Group, a company owned by [Intrater's cousin] Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.... Intrater's biography -- which had been available online on Tuesday evening, according to the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine -- was not available Wednesday. In the now-removed biography, it described Columbus Nova as 'the US investment vehicle for the Renova Group' and noted that Intrater 'is a former Director and current Member of the Executive Board of Renova Group.'" ...
... Kevin Drum: "Why would anyone think that Donald Trump's famously obnoxious bagman and fixer had any expertise in US health care policy? Answer: No one does. Why would Novartis hold one meeting and then pay Cohen $1.2 million anyway? Answer: As a bribe, more or less.... You take a look at what Trump does to companies he's annoyed with -- Comcast, Boeing, Amazon, etc. -- and who needs the grief? Just hire the insider dude for 'consulting' and be done with it. Just praise Trump and move on. It's what companies do in banana republics around the world, and America is lately little more than a really big banana republic."
... It Was Just a "Coincidence." Justin Elliott of ProPublica: "The news on Tuesday that the same shell company that Michael Cohen ... had used to pay $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels had also received about $500,000 in 2017 from [Columbus Nova --] a firm linked to a Russian oligarch [--] set off a frenzy of commentary on Twitter and cable TV.... Another longtime Trump personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, also represented Columbus Nova in recent years in a commercial case. A spokesman for Kasowitz said the case settled in early 2017. As ProPublica reported last year, Cohen spent a short period in February 2017 working at the offices of Kasowitz Benson Torres..., alarming several lawyers at the firm who worried about the brash attorney's reputation. That was at the beginning of the period, between January and August 2017, when Columbus Nova made its payments to Cohen.... [A spokesman for Columbus Nova] said ... it was a coincidence that the firm had used two lawyers who also represent Trump." ...
... Adam Davidson of the New Yorker: "Columbus Nova, which is based in New York City..., is a company technically owned by others but which looks after money owned and controlled in large part -- if not entirely -- by Vekselberg and his family.... It's the kind of clever corporate structure that allows a lawyer, at a crisis moment such as this, to say truthfully that the company is not owned and controlled by the man who owns and controls everything of value within the firm." ...
... Eli Rosenberg of the Washington Post: "A company at the center of widening questions involving ... Michael Cohen is listed as the organization behind a string of websites targeted toward white nationalists and other members of the alt-right. Columbus Nova, a company whose U.S. chief executive, Andrew Intrater, and Russian investment partner Viktor Vekselberg have both reportedly been interviewed by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III&'s team, is listed as the registrant behind a handful of domains for websites named after the alt-right that were created during the 2016 election. It is unclear if any of these websites were launched or ever hosted content.... These sites ... were all registered in the two days following a speech given by then candidate Hillary Clinton in August 2016 in which she excoriated the far-right movement known for its extremist, racist, anti-Semitic and sexist viewpoints. The sites are not currently operational.... Intrater's brother, Frederick, a design manager at Columbus Nova, is named along with the company on the registration databases for the websites.... [A] spokesman [for Columbus Nova] said that Columbus Nova was not aware that the sites had been registered before Wednesday."
... Watergate Lives! Frank Rich: Michael Avenatti "has unveiled an example of collusion so flagrant that it made Trump and Rudy Giuliani suddenly go mute: a Putin crony's cash turns out to be an essential component of the racketeering scheme used to silence Stormy Daniels and thus clear Trump's path to the White House in the final stretch of the 2016 election. Like the Nixon campaign slush fund that Woodward and Bernstein uncovered, this money trail also implicates corporate players hoping to curry favor with a corrupt president.... Both the Nixon and Trump slush funds were initially set up to illegally manipulate an American presidential election, hush money included. But the Watergate burglars' dirty tricks, criminal as they were, were homegrown. Even Nixon would have drawn the line at colluding with Russians -- or, in those days, the Soviets -- to sabotage the Democrats." ...
... On That Same Note. Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "Routine denials aside, Viktor Vekselberg is very close to Vladimir Putin and he put a half a million dollars in Michael Cohen's slush fund where it was commingled with money used to silence women who had information that would be damaging to the president. I can hardly think of a less prudent thing to do than to take money from the Kremlin, but to take it and put it into the same account as the one used to cover up the president's affairs is reminiscent of paying the Watergate burglars with a cashier's check in the name of an RNC finance chairman [Ken Dahlberg]. It looks like Trump is destined to repeat all of Nixon's mistakes, and to meet the same fate." Mrs. McC: A short, fun read that draws a specific parallel between CREEP carelessness & what is probably Michael Cohen's SOP. You can bet forensic accountants on Bob Mueller's staff figured out many of Cohen's crooked stunts in next to no time. I would be shocked if the entities Michael Avenatti found had been filling Cohen's coffers were the only ones that had sought Cohen's "consulting" services. And I would be just as shocked if Cohen bagged the millions he got from these entities & didn't share with the boss.
Beth Reinhard & Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "The Treasury Department's inspector general is investigating whether confidential banking information related to a company controlled by ... Michael Cohen may have been leaked, a spokesman said. Rich Delmar, counsel to the inspector general, said that in response to media reports the office is 'inquiring into allegations' that Suspicious Activity Reports on Cohen's banking transactions were 'improperly disseminated.'... In an interview, [Michael] Avenatti [-- who initially released information about some of the payments to Cohen's LLC --] declined to reveal the source of his information. 'The source or sources of our information is our work product, and nobody's business,' Avenatti said. 'They can investigate all they want, but what they should be doing is releasing to the American public the three Suspicious Activity Reports filed on Michael Cohen's account. Why are they hiding this information?'... Avenatti has been calling on the Treasury Department for weeks to release reports of unusual banking transactions by Cohen. He came up with a social media hashtag: #releasetheSAR, using the acronym for a Suspicious Activity Report.... It is not uncommon for journalists, lawyers and others in the public eye to receive unauthorized leaks of sensitive information, and there is nothing improper in receiving such information." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team has spoken with Blackwater founder Erik Prince, two sources familiar with the matter tell The Daily Beast.... Prince attended a now-controversial meeting with the head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund in the Seychelles Islands on Jan. 11, 2017 -- just over a week before Inauguration Day. The Washington Post reported that Mueller is interested in potential efforts at the Seychelles meeting to set up a backchannel between the Trump administration and the Kremlin."
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A Russian company tied to a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin entered a not-guilty plea Wednesday in a U.S. criminal case charging that it funded internet trolls and polarizing social media advertisements in a bid to boost Donald Trump's chances of winning the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors from special counsel Robert Mueller's office allege that the firm, Concord Management and Consulting LLC, was controlled by a Russian oligarch known as Putin's chef, Yevgeniy Prigozhin. He is one of the 13 individuals charged in the case."
Devlin Barrett & Kevin Leonnig of the Washington Post: "A subpoena that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) issued to the Justice Department last week made a broad request for all documents about an individual who people close to the matter say is a sensitive, longtime intelligence source for the CIA and FBI. The Justice Department has refused to provide the documents. Intelligence officials say the material could jeopardize the source.... The subpoena ... demands 'all documents referring or related to the individual referenced in Chairman Nunes' April 24, 2018 classified letter to Attorney General Sessions.' That is the only material the subpoena seeks. In an interview Wednesday, Nunes maintained that he was 'not interested in any individual.'... Senior intelligence officials alarmed by Nunes's subpoena warned White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly last week that the information being sought could not be turned over because it could do serious damage to intelligence-sharing relationships with other countries.... Kelly and President Trump sided with the Justice Department.... Partly as a result of [renewed] discussions [Tuesday], the Justice Department has invited Nunes to a classified meeting Thursday in the hopes of resolving the impasse...." ...
... Kevin Drum: "Nunes ... is so obsessed with covering for Donald Trump that ... if that means pretending that the FBI, CIA, NSA, and every other federal agency is corrupt, so be it. If it means leaking information that could get people killed, that's probably OK too. And Paul Ryan is perfectly fine with this. Welcome to the Republican Party in 2018."
Benjamin Siegel & Matthew Mosk of ABC News: "Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee have received new materials from the estate of Peter Smith, a GOP operative who reportedly led a campaign to obtain missing Hillary Clinton emails from Russian hackers during the 2016 presidential race, sources familiar with the materials production tell ABC News.... Smith's records are of interest to congressional investigators continuing to probe potential contacts between the Trump campaign - and those within the campaign's orbit - and Russia.... The acquisition of documents from Smith's estate is the latest indication that Democrats are continuing their investigation after Republicans released a report that found no evidence of wrongdoing by the Trump campaign but criticized the intelligence community and actions taken by Trump associates."
Leo Shane of the Military Times: "Speaking to a crowd of military spouses on Wednesday..., Donald Trump incorrectly claimed that his administration gave service members their first pay raise in 10 years, a moment he was 'proud' to oversee. In fact, troops have seen a pay raise of at least 1 percent every year for more than 30 years. The 2018 military pay raise -- which was 2.4 percent -- was the largest for the armed forces in eight years."
Matthew Rosenberg & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Gina Haspel, President Trump's nominee to the lead the Central Intelligence Agency, defended the agency's torture of terrorism suspects as her confirmation hearing on Wednesday served as another reckoning of the extraordinary measures the government employed in the frantic hunt for the Sept. 11 conspirators. Ms. Haspel, a 33-year C.I.A. veteran who oversaw a secret prison in Thailand in 2002 while a Qaeda suspect was waterboarded there, said that she and other spies were working within the law. Though the C.I.A. should never resume that type of work, she said, its officers should also not be judged for doing it." ...
... David Smith of the Guardian: "Donald Trump's choice for head of the Central Intelligence Agency struggled on Wednesday to tell US senators how she would respond if the president asked her to reintroduce the waterboarding of terrorist suspects. Gina Haspel, grilled about her time running a covert detention site where suspects were brutally interrogated during George W Bush's 'war on terror', failed to explicitly condemn such techniques as immoral. Twice the hearing on Capitol Hill was interrupted by protesters, one of whom yelled: 'Bloody Gina! You are a torturer,' before being dragged out by police. Senator Susan Collins, a Republican, asked what Haspel would do as head of the CIA if Trump ordered waterboarding -- which simulates drowning -- on a high-value suspect. 'Senator, I would advise,' she began, then restarted her answer: 'I do not believe the president would ask me to do that.' This prompted scornful laughter from the public gallery. During his presidential election campaign, Trump vowed to authorise waterboarding and 'a hell of a lot worse'." Asked again by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) to answer the question, Haspel again deflected. ...
... Eli Okun of Politico: "CIA director nominee Gina Haspel tangled with Democrats at a crucial confirmation hearing Wednesday, where she came under fire for her involvement with the harsh interrogation methods of the George W. Bush era. But Haspel defended her moral compass before the Senate Intelligence Committee and promised not to restart the CIA's controversial interrogation program.... Here are some key moments from the confirmation hearing: Haspel vowed not to push the CIA to act in ways she considered immoral -- even if the president ordered it.... Haspel pledged she would not restart the harsh interrogation program.... Haspel said torture doesn't work -- but hedged on whether 'enhanced interrogation' methods worked after the Sept. 11 attacks.... Haspel defended her role in the destruction of tapes of waterboarding, a technique considered torture that Congress later outlawed.... Haspel refused to say whether she ever called for the interrogation program to be continued." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jacqueline Thomsen & Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) came out against Gina Haspel, President Trump's nominee to be CIA director, on Wednesday...." ...
... Dana Milbank: "As I sat in the hearing room watching Gina Haspel's confirmation hearing..., I felt an overwhelming sense of relief ... that Tom Cotton wasn't nominated to run the CIA. Cotton ... had been the front-runner for the position.... Haspel's flaws are nothing compared with those of Cotton, who has surpassed Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) as the most disliked member of the Senate. He used his five minutes of questioning time to 'clear up' and to 'take exception to' the 'entirely false' things his colleagues said, peppering his remarks with gratuitous partisan swipes.... Colleagues and staff on the Hill report that he can be as nasty privately as he is publicly, as uncivil to Republicans as he is to Democrats."
Glenn Thrush & Stacy Cowley of the New York Times: "Mick Mulvaney, the interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will move the agency's student loan division into the bureau's consumer information unit, a shift that career officials fear will sidetrack a major enforcement case the agency is pursuing against Navient, the nation's largest student loan collector. The change, outlined in an email sent to the bureau's staff Wednesday morning, is part of an effort by Mr. Mulvaney to refocus the agency away from its consumer finance enforcement and rule-writing mission and more toward providing consumers with information about their legal rights.... Among the bureau's career staff, the shift was regarded as a new attack on one of the bureau's core statutory functions, and another attempt by Mr. Mulvaney and his team to dismantle a consumer watchdog reviled by President Trump."
"Diplomacy," Trump-Style. Rick Noack of the Washington Post: "For the past year, German officials have been urging their U.S. counterparts to send a new ambassador to Berlin. But ... within hours of assuming his new post on Tuesday, [Amb.] Richard Grenell triggered harsh criticism in this Trump-weary country after appearing to threaten one of the American president's frequent targets: German businesses. In a tweet following President Trump's announcement to leave the Iran nuclear deal, Grenell wrote that 'German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately.'... The remarks, which were widely perceived as a threat here, came only an hour after the U.S. Embassy in Berlin took to Twitter to announce that Grenell had officially arrived in the German capital.... Business associations and leading European politicians immediately lashed out at him...." (Also linked yesterday.)
Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "A small group of Republicans has launched an effort to sidestep House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and put immigration legislation on the House floor this year in a bid to secure protections for young undocumented immigrants. Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) filed a discharge petition Wednesday morning that, if signed by a majority of House members, would force votes on immigration bills under a so-called 'queen of the hill' rule. Whichever of those bills receives the most votes, exceeding a majority, would pass the House -- a setup that is calibrated to secure passage of a bipartisan compromise. By Wednesday afternoon, 16 more Republicans had also signed the discharge petition alongside Curbelo. Most, but not all, represent swing districts with significant Latino constituencies or are retiring from the House."
Rachel Bade & Heather Caygle of Politico: "Two lawmakers on Tuesday evening erupted into a shouting match on the House floor over Speaker Paul Ryan's firing -- and then reinstatement -- of the House chaplain, reigniting a contentious religious fight the Wisconsin Republican hoped would fade. No. 4 House Democrat Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.), who is Catholic, and Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) got up in each other's faces on the House floor and squabbled over the merits of a special investigation into the dismissal.... The confrontation started after Crowley offered a privilege resolution to establish a select committee to investigate Conroy's forced resignation.... The two men bickered as their faces turned red. Crowley gestured his thumb to the GOP side of the chamber, telling MacArthur to get back to the Republican side of the chamber. MacArthur wouldn't move. Eventually House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) came over to try to calm both men.... MacArthur, who is Episcopalian, said he was offended by Crowley's actions." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: MacArthur should listen to the sermon more often. Episcopalians agree with the prayers Father Patrick Conroy offered which so offended some House Republicans. "Real Episcopalians" are pretty liberal, if sometimes in a noblesse-oblige manner. Religion is a great way to civilize the unruly, isn't it?
Congressional Races
Jake Sherman & Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has cut a $30 million check to the House GOP-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund, a massive cash infusion that top Republicans hope will alter the party's electoral outlook six months before Election Day. The long-sought donation was sealed last week when, according to two senior Republicans, House Speaker Paul Ryan flew to Las Vegas to meet with the billionaire at his Venetian Hotel."
Charlie Mahtesian in Politico Magazine: "During an election season when the House seems to be a lost cause for Republicans and nearly every indicator suggests massive Democratic gains in November, the outlook for wresting the Senate away from the GOP remains grim.... It's hard to overstate the degree of difficulty in flipping the Senate this year. As Nate Silver has noted, it's possible that Democrats are confronting the worst Senate map ever -- as in, since direct Senate elections began in 1914."
Alex Isenstadt: "... Donald Trump connected by phone on Wednesday with Don Blankenship, the former coal baron and ex-con whose Senate candidacy he helped sink. Trump and Blankenship spoke briefly, according to three people familiar with the discussion. The conversation was described as straightforward, polite and cordial, with the president calling to exchange pleasantries and offer his congratulations on waging the campaign." ...
... Mrs. McC: Blankenship had threatened to run as a third-party candidate if he lost the primary, but as Ella Nilsen of Vox explained, "West Virginia has a 'sore loser' or 'sour grapes' law. Candidates 'affiliated with a recognized political party who run for election in a primary election' and lose the nomination cannot turn around, register as a minor-party candidate, and run again in the general election." Anyway, if Blankenship thinks Trump was sporting to call him, he should bear in mind that neither he nor Trump is sporting. Trump just wanted to make sure Blankenship wouldn't cause trouble for the primary's winner, Patrick Morrisey.
Christine Hauser of the New York Times: "The Mormon Church and the Boy Scouts of America are ending their partnership after 105 years as the church's worldwide membership grows and it develops youth programs that are more aligned with its own teachings. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Tuesday that it would end Boy Scouts programs for church members. The decision, which it said was made jointly with the Boy Scouts, will take effect at the end of next year.... The announcement takes a change made last year one step further. In May 2017, the church said that it would partly end its participation in Boy Scout programs for youths between the ages of 14 and 18, but that it would allow members ages 8 through 13 to continue to participate.... In recent years, the Boy Scouts of America have expanded rights for gay people. It ended its ban on openly gay youths participating in its activities in 2013, and ended its ban on openly gay adult leaders two years later. In 2017, the group reversed its stance of more than a century by deciding to accept members based on the gender listed on their application, a decision that paved the way for transgender boys to join."
Way Beyond the Beltway
So Far, Trump's Iran Move Is Going Very Well. Oliver Holmes of the Guardian: "Arch-enemies Iran and Israel edged closer to all-out war on Thursday after Israel's military said its positions in the Golan Heights were fired at with a barrage of Iranian rockets, prompting it to respond with extensive strikes targeting Tehran's forces across Syria. The attack, if confirmed, would mark the first time Iran has fired rockets in a direct strike on Israeli forces, dramatically ratcheting up what has for years been a conflict fought through proxies.... The occupied Golan Heights has been on high alert since Donald Trump confirmed he was pulling the US out of the Iran nuclear deal."
News Lede
New York Times: "Five senior Islamic State officials have been captured, including a top aide to the group's leader, in a complex cross-border sting carried out by Iraqi and American intelligence, two Iraqi officials said Wednesday. The three-month operation, which tracked a group of senior Islamic State leaders who had been hiding in Syria and Turkey, represents a significant intelligence victory for the American-led coalition fighting the extremist group and underscores the strengthening relationship between Washington and Baghdad."
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