The Commentariat -- May 1, 2018
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
It's Only Tuesday. Kevin Sullivan, et al., of the Washington Post: "A controversial trip to Morocco by Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt last December was partly arranged by a longtime friend and lobbyist, who accompanied Pruitt and his entourage at multiple stops and served as an informal liaison at both official and social events during the visit. Richard Smotkin, a former Comcast lobbyist who has known the EPA administrator for years, worked for months with Pruitt's aides to hammer out logistics, according to four individuals familiar with those preparations. In April, Smotkin won a $40,000-a-month contract, retroactive to Jan. 1, with the Moroccan government to promote the kingdom's cultural and economic interests. He recently registered as a foreign agent representing that government.... The visit's cost exceeded $100,000, more than twice what has been previously reported -- including $16,217 for Pruitt’s Delta airfare and $494 for him to spend one night at a luxury hotel in Paris. He was accompanied by eight staffers and his round-the-clock security detail." ...
... Carol Davenport of the New York Times: "Two top aides to Scott Pruitt, the chief of the Environmental Protection Agency who is facing an array of questions related to his spending and management of the agency, have resigned under increased scrutiny over their roles at the E.P.A. The departures include Albert Kelly, who ran the agency's Superfund program..., and Pasquale Perrotta, who served as the chief of security for Mr. Pruitt and helped build an unusual and costly protective apparatus around him. Mr. Kelly, widely known as Kell, was a longtime business associate of Mr. Pruitt's in his home state of Oklahoma who previously had a banking career before being barred from working in the finance industry. Before joining the E.P.A. Mr. Kelly led an Oklahoma bank that issued a mortgage for a home purchased by Mr. Pruitt through a shell company registered to another business partner of Mr. Pruitt's, Kenneth Wagner. Mr. Wagner now holds a senior position at the E.P.A.... Officially, Mr. Perrotta..., known as Nino..., led Mr. Pruitt's protective detail, but he played a larger role at the E.P.A. by arguing that the security needs of the agency justified some management, personnel and spending decisions at the agency. Mr. Perrotta's influence placed him at the center of inquiries by the E.P.A. inspector general"s office...."
Eric Tucker of the AP: "Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is defending himself following a report that some House Republicans have drafted articles of impeachment against him. At a Newseum event Tuesday, Rosenstein took aim at allies of ... Donald Trump who drafted the document." ...
Chris Mooney of the Washington Post: "Eighteen states on Tuesday sued President Trump's administration over its push to 'reconsider' greenhouse gas emission rules for the nation's auto fleet, launching a legal battle over one of President Barack Obama's most significant efforts to address climate change. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt in April said he would revisit the Obama-era rules, which aim to raise efficiency requirements to about 50 miles per gallon by 2025. Pruitt's agency said that the standards are 'based on outdated information' and that new data suggests 'the current standards may be too stringent.' But in the lawsuit, the states contend that the EPA acted 'arbitrarily and capriciously' in changing course on the greenhouse gas regulations."
Anna R. Schecter of NBC News: "In February 2017, a top White House aide who was Trump's longtime personal bodyguard, along with the top lawyer at the Trump Organization and a third man, showed up at the office of Trump's New York doctor without notice and took all the president's medical records. The incident, which Dr. Harold Bornstein described as a 'raid,' took place two days after Bornstein told a newspaper that he had prescribed a hair growth medicine for the president for years. In an exclusive interview in his Park Avenue office, Bornstein told NBC News that he felt 'raped, frightened and sad' when Keith Schiller and another 'large man' came to his office to collect the president's records on the morning of Feb. 3, 2017. At the time, Schiller, who had long worked as Trump's bodyguard, was serving as director of Oval Office operations at the White House."
Glenn Kessler, et al., of the Washington Post: "In the 466 days since he took the oath of office, President Trump is now averaging nearly 6.5 false or misleading claims a day -- a number that keeps creeping up. He also has a proclivity to repeat, over and over, many of his statements, according to a Post analysis.... [He] has made 3,001 false or misleading claims as president." ...
... Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "Criminal convictions, once seen as career-enders [for politicians], are no longer disqualifying [Republican candidates]. In the era of President Trump, even time spent in prison can be turned into a positive talking point, demonstrating a candidate's battle scars in a broader fight against what he perceives as liberal corruption. In a startling shift from 'law-and-order Republicans,' Trump has attacked some branches of law enforcement, especially those pursuing white-collar malfeasance, as his allies and former campaign officials are ensnared in various investigations. Following his lead, Republican Senate candidates with criminal convictions in West Virginia and Arizona have cast themselves as victims of the Obama administration's legal overreach. Another former Trump adviser who has pleaded guilty to a felony has also become an in-demand surrogate, as Republicans jump at the chance to show their opposition to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.... Former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to a felony count of lying to the FBI, has become an unexpected star on the Republican campaign trail...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is where Democrats are screwing up again. Instead of recruiting all these goody-two-shoes reformist ladies, Democratic recruiters should be standing at the prison gates beckoning the newly-released. I mean, think how good a guy who had kited a lot of checks or actually robbed a bank at gunpoint would be at fundraising? ...
... When Is a Typo Not Just a Typo? Daniel Drezner of the Washington Post has a great column on the Trump White House's unpresidented sloppiness. Drezner cites Suzanne Maloney of the Brookings Institution: "The correction to today's White House statement on Iran is not a typo; it's an error of unimaginable incompetence. It reflects lack of capacity at the highest levels of this administration to vet information, accurately identify real-time challenges, and devise serious responses."
Kirk Semple of the New York Times: "Several members of the Latin American migrant caravan that has enraged President Trump were allowed to step onto United States territory to apply for asylum late Monday, ending a border standoff that had lasted more than a day and marking the beginning of the final chapter of the group's monthlong odyssey. Shortly after 7 p.m. local time, eight migrants who, like most of the caravan's participants, said they were fleeing violence in their homeland, passed through the metal gate separating Tijuana from San Diego, entered the immigration checkpoint and began the process to petition for sanctuary, caravan organizers said."
Adam Baidawi of the New York Times: "Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican's third-highest-ranking official, must stand trial on several charges of sexual abuse, an Australian court ruled on Tuesday, promising to prolong a case that has already dragged on for months, and which many see as a moment of reckoning for a church racked by scandal. Belinda Wallington, a Melbourne magistrate, found there was sufficient evidence for prosecutors to bring the cardinal's case to trial, ending a two-month pretrial hearing, in which witnesses described abuse they said took place decades ago."
*****
This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.
So disgraceful that the questions concerning the Russian Witch Hunt were 'leaked' to the media. No questions on Collusion. Oh, I see...you have a made up, phony crime, Collusion, that never existed, and an investigation begun with illegally leaked classified information. Nice! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet this morning ...
It's hard to guess what Trump thinks "collusion" is. By my cursory count, the Times report lists 13 questions that directly address collusion & others that touch upon it. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...
... ** Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Robert S. Mueller III ... has at least four dozen questions on an exhaustive array of subjects he wants to ask President Trump to learn more about his ties to Russia and determine whether he obstructed the inquiry itself, according to a list of the questions obtained by The New York Times.... They deal chiefly with the president's high-profile firings of the F.B.I. director and his first national security adviser, his treatment of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and a 2016 Trump Tower meeting between campaign officials and Russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton. But they also touch on the president's businesses; any discussions with his longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, about a Moscow real estate deal; whether the president knew of any attempt by Mr. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to set up a back channel to Russia during the transition; any contacts he had with Roger J. Stone Jr., a longtime adviser who claimed to have inside information about Democratic email hackings; and what happened during Mr. Trump's 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant." ...
... ** Here's the list of Mueller's questions. Matt Apuzzo & Michael Schimidt of the NYT analyze the questions. ...
... Margaret Hartmann runs down the theories as to why someone on Trump's side leaked Mueller's questions. (As Apuzzo & Schmidt write, the questions were "read by the special counsel investigators to the president's lawyers, who compiled them into a list. That document was provided to The Times by a person outside Mr. Trump's legal team." So the (valid) theories Hartmann suggests are "to convince Trump not to do the interview..., to convince the public that Mueller is biased..., [and] to convince Congress to stop Mueller." Hartmann elaborates. ...
This New York Times thing, put it in your fireplace and burn it, because we have sources that say -- half of these questions are dumb anyway. Oh, what was in your mind at the time? You don't punish people or charge people -- not that you can charge a sitting president, and the president has every right to fire anybody he wants -- for the thoughts they have in their head. -- Sean Hannity, on his teevee show last night
You might think Hannity doesn't understand the legal concept of intent. If I accidentally step on your foot while we're dancing, I have not committed a crime. If I purposely dig my heel into your instep because I want to hurt you, I've committed assault & battery. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie
Katherine Faulders, et al., of ABC News: "The Trump campaign has spent nearly $228,000 to cover some of the legal expenses for ... Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen, sources familiar with the payments tell ABC News, raising questions about whether the Trump campaign may have violated campaign finance laws. Federal Election Commission records show three payments made from the Trump campaign to a firm representing Cohen. The 'legal consulting' payments were made to McDermott Will and Emery -- a law firm where Cohen's attorney Stephen Ryan is a partner -- between October 2017 and January 2018. Cohen has said that he did not have a formal role in the Trump campaign, and it is illegal to spend campaign funds for personal use -- defined by the FEC as payments for expenses 'that would exist irrespective of the candidate's campaign or responsibilities as a federal officeholder.'... In 2017, the Trump campaign also paid legal fees to the attorneys representing top aides -- and family members -- tangled in the ongoing Russia probes. The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee paid $514,000 in legal fees for Donald Trump Jr, and in January, the Trump campaign paid more than $66,000 to the law firm representing former Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jonathan Chait: Michael "Cohen is not, as I assumed..., an unethical lawyer who enjoys acting like a goon. He is (almost certainly) a crook who happens to have a law degree.... What adds an extra layer of danger to Trump is that the alleged crimes with which Cohen could be charged are all state crimes. That is important because Trump can only pardon people for federal crimes.... In that case, the best defense Trump has left is to discredit Cohen altogether, and make the case that he is fabricating evidence against the president to save his own skin.... [A negative story about Cohen that is hyped on the front page of the most recent] National Enquirer is an indication that Trump is seriously desperate. Discrediting Cohen is a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency move that makes no sense unless Cohen has already flipped." ...
... Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen was in communication with the then-presidential candidate the day Cohen wired hush money to Stormy Daniels, according to previously unreported tweets." Woodruff provides the evidence, which are tweets that have nothing to do with Daniels but indicate Trump had given Cohen the task of helping a homeless woman who had made the news after she "was assaulted while trying to keep vandals from defacing Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame." ...
... Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "... we're primarily talking about people who are potential witnesses against the president. When he pays their legal bills, that gives them an incentive to shade their testimony. The lawyers and courts can sort out what's legal and what's a violation of campaign finance laws, but there's a bigger ethical issue here."
Robert Costa, et al., of the Washington Post: "Conservative House allies of President Trump have drafted articles of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the ongoing special counsel probe, setting up a possible GOP showdown over the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The document, which was obtained by The Washington Post, underscores the growing chasm between congressional Republican leaders, who have maintained for months that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III should be allowed to proceed, and rank-and-file GOP lawmakers who have repeatedly battled the Justice Department during the past year. The draft articles, which one of its authors called a 'last resort,' would be unlikely to garner significant support in Congress. But the document could serve as a provocative political weapon for conservatives in their standoff with Mueller and the Justice Department."
Michelle Goldberg: "Under Trump, the central battle in our culture is between truth and power. The truth hidden among the propaganda in the House Intelligence Committee's majority report is that power is winning."
Emma Loop of BuzzFeed: "Former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein says she and her campaign have finished turning over hundreds of documents to the top congressional committee investigating Russian election interference in 2016 -- but she is refusing to hand over some documents that she argues are protected by the Constitution." The documents Stein is withholding regard "communications with 'Russian persons,' while the other asked for 'all communications related to the campaign's policy discussions regarding Russia.'... Stein ... says she did turn over materials related to her 2015 trip to Moscow to attend a conference, where she was photographed sitting at the same dinner table as Russian President Vladimir Putin and future White House national security adviser Michael Flynn."
Sarah Fitzpatrick & Tracy Connor of NBC News: "Adult film star Stormy Daniels has filed a defamation suit against ... Donald Trump for a tweet that said a forensic sketch of a man who allegedly threatened her in 2011 was 'a total con job.'"
Steven Mufson & Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "President Trump at the last minute on Monday evening announced he would again postpone imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union, pushing off a key economic decision while he tries to prod foreign leaders into making trade-related concessions. The White House said in a statement the administration had reached agreements on metals imports with Argentina, Australia, and Brazil, saying more details would be finalized shortly."
John Bolton Fucks Up Daily
** Cody Fenwick of AlterNet: "MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell looked absolutely flabbergasted Monday night as she read the latest statement from the White House on Iran's nuclear capabilities, a statement she told viewers was essentially a flat-out lie.... The White House released the following statement: 'The United States is aware of the information just released by Israel and continues to examine it carefully. This information provides new and compelling details about Iran's efforts to develop missile-deliverable nuclear weapons. These facts are consistent with what the United States has long known: Iran has a robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program that it has tried and failed to hide from the world and from its own people. The Iranian regime has shown it will use destructive weapons against its neighbors and others. Iran must never have nuclear weapons.' Mitchell ... noted that it contradicts what former CIA Director Mike Pompeo testified to before Congress earlier this month.... [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu's presentation ... did not include any evidence that the country has violated the deal, and it does not suggest that the country has a 'robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program.' 'This is basically a lie about US intelligence,' Mitchell said of the White House statement. 'It's stunning.'" Emphasis added. ...
... SO THEN. Aidan McLaughlin of Mediaite: "The White House made a pretty massive correction to one of its statements on Monday, after falsely claiming Iran 'has' a nuclear weapons program, in response to Israel's announcement on the country's alleged development of nuclear weapons.... As pointed out by a number of stunned reporters on Twitter, a fairly significant correction was made to the statement posted on the White House website. 'Iran has a robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program,' was changed to 'Iran had a robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program.'" ...
... Mitchell was still aghast: "They say it was a 'clerical' error. How does a statement of this import, putting the White House at odds with the entire U.S. intelligence community, get sent out so carelessly? And why did they correct it on the website but not issue a new statement?" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Some outlets are blaming Mrs. Huckleberry for the screw-up. But Huckleberry doesn't initiate policy statements. And she should not be the final proofreader on something of such international importance. This has to be Bolton's handiwork, IMO. As Mitchell pointed out on MSNBC, the statement could not have come from Pompeo, who was in the air at the time. Thank the Fates we're not dead yet.
** John Kelly Calls Trump an "Idiot"; Denies It. Carol Lee, et al., of NBC News: "White House chief of staff John Kelly has eroded morale in the West Wing in recent months with comments to aides that include insulting the president's intelligence and casting himself as the savior of the country, according to eight current and former White House officials. The officials said Kelly portrays himself to Trump administration aides as the lone bulwark against catastrophe, curbing the erratic urges of a president who has a questionable grasp on policy issues and the functions of government. He has referred to Trump as 'an idiot' multiple times to underscore his point, according to four officials who say they've witnessed the comments. Kelly called the allegations 'total BS.'" Read on. Kelly is quite proud of killing DACA relief, for instance. ...
... The Idiot Replies. The White House is running very smoothly despite phony Witch Hunts etc. There is great Energy and unending Stamina, both necessary to get things done. We are accomplishing the unthinkable and setting positive records while doing so! Fake News is going 'bonkers!' -- Donald Trump, in a tweet last night
Jill Colvin of the AP: "More than a year has passed since ... Donald Trump held the only solo news conference of his administration -- a rollicking, hastily arranged, 77-minute free-for-all during which he railed against the media, defended his fired national security adviser and insisted nobody who advised his campaign had had contacts with Russia. 'President Trump is more accessible than most modern presidents and frequently takes questions from the press,' says White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The president often answers shouted questions at so-called pool sprays, in which a small group of rotating reporters is given access to events such as bill signings and Cabinet lunches. Trump has also taken to answering shouted questions on the White House lawn as he arrives at and departs the White House.... But the format also gives the president far more control than he would have during a traditional question-and-answer session. Trump can easily ignore questions he doesn't like and dodge follow-ups in a way that would be glaring in a traditional news conference." (Also linked yesterday.)
Daniel Politi of Slate: "Guns will be banned from the premises when Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a National Rifle Association convention in Dallas on Friday. Before and during the speech, attendees are prohibited from bringing 'firearms and firearm accessories, knives or weapons of any kind,' the NRA wrote as it announced Pence's presence at the conference. The NRA is blaming the Secret Service.... 'Wait wait wait wait wait wait you're telling me to make the VP safe there aren't any weapons around but when it comes to children they want guns everywhere?' asked Matt Deitsch, a Parkland student who helped organize the March for Our Lives rally." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Update. AP: "... Donald Trump will be at the National Rifle Association convention in Dallas on Friday. A White House official said Monday that Trump will attend the group's annual meeting." Mrs. McC: No guns again, I guess. (Also linked yesterday.)
Maya Averbuch & Joshua Partlow of the Washington Post: "A group of Central American asylum seekers spent Monday languishing on the ground outside a border crossing after U.S. officials said they did not have space to process them, in what has become a high-profile test of Trump administration immigration policies. On one side of the standoff are about 150 migrants who cite their right to seek shelter from persecution back home and have traveled through Mexico in a caravan to highlight the suffering of asylum seekers. On the other side is the Trump administration, which is trying to crack down on illegal immigration and says many asylum claims are fraudulent. President Trump tweeted last week that he had ordered the secretary of homeland security 'not to let these large Caravans of people into our Country,' adding, 'It is a disgrace.' But under international treaties it has signed, the U.S. government is obliged to allow foreigners to apply for asylum." This was a breaking story when I linked it, & it will be updated.
Noah Lanard of Mother Jones: "Thomas Homan, the acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is retiring, he announced on Monday. Since taking over ICE last year, Homan has become the face of Trump's immigration crackdown and made headlines for saying that all undocumented immigrants 'should be uncomfortable.'... In 2017, ICE arrests increased by 41 percent, while arrests of people without criminal records nearly tripled, from 17,000 to 46,000.... Donald Trump nominated Homan to be ICE's permanent director in November. Mother Jones reported earlier this month that the Senate Homeland Security Committee had still not received the biographical information needed to advance his nomination. Last week, 17 Democratic senators called on DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to provide the missing documents. An ICE official told Mother Jones that Homan informed DHS leadership earlier this year that he planned to retire in the summer due to family considerations.... During the Obama administration, Homan was seen as a loyal civil servant who was willing to compromise. Some of his former colleagues have been shocked by his rhetoric under Trump...."
... Anita Kumar & Franco Ordoñez of McClatchy News: "The acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Thomas Homan, announced his retirement on Monday, and his departure was driven in part out of frustration that his agency was cut out of negotiations with Congress over protecting so-called Dreamers, two people familiar with the situation told McClatchy. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen insisted on negotiating with members of Congress herself and would not allow Homan ... [and other ICE officials] to be involved, the two people said.... An ICE official disputed that the Dreamer negotiations prompted Homan's departure."
Manu Raju of CNN: "Vice President Mike Pence's physician privately raised alarms within the White House last fall that ... Donald Trump's doctor may have violated federal privacy protections for a key patient -- Pence's wife, Karen -- and intimidated the vice president's doctor during angry confrontations over the episode. The previously unreported incident is the first sign that serious concerns about Ronny Jackson's conduct had reached the highest levels of the White House as far back as September -- months before White House aides furiously defended Jackson's professionalism, insisted he had been thoroughly vetted and argued allegations of misconduct amounted to unsubstantiated rumors. The episode -- detailed in three memos by Pence's physician -- is also the first documentation that has surfaced involving a specific allegation of medical misconduct by Jackson.... Karen Pence asked her physician to direct the vice president's top aide, Nick Ayers, to inform White House chief of staff John Kelly about the matter. Subsequent memos from Pence's doctor suggested Kelly was aware of the episode." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: See the NBC story about Kelly, linked above. This is another instance where Kelly took the side of a man over the rights of a woman -- the wife of the Vice President. ...
... Seung Min Kim & Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The Pentagon's investigative arm has started to examine the matter involving Ronny L. Jackson, the Navy rear admiral whose nomination to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs collapsed last week amid allegations he mistreated White House medical staffers and improperly dispensed medications, among other accusations. Tom Crosson, a Defense Department spokesman, said Monday that the Pentagon's inspector general has received the allegations and is looking into the issue further to see if a formal probe is necessary.... 'The Inspector General's office will determine what investigations or actions are warranted regarding these allegations and complaints,' Crosson said." ...
... Ted Barrett of CNN: "The chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee refused Monday to agree with ... Donald Trump's criticism of the panel's top Democrat, Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, nor the President's call for the Montana Democrat to resign in the wake of the Dr. Ronny Jackson scandal. 'I'm not in the critiquing business,' Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican, told reporters in the Capitol.... Isakson defended Tester's decision to publicly release the allegations against Jackson, saying that 'every senator has the right to exercise their options' and 'that's the way it should be.'"
Jarrett Renshaw & Chris Prentice of Reuters: "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has granted a financial hardship waiver to an oil refinery owned by billionaire Carl Icahn, a former adviser to ... Donald Trump, exempting the Oklahoma facility from requirements under a federal biofuels law, according to two industry sources briefed on the matter. The waiver enables Icahn's CVR Energy Inc ... to avoid tens of millions of dollars in costs related to the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. The regulation is meant to cut air pollution, reduce petroleum imports and support corn farmers by requiring refiners to mix billions of gallons of biofuels into the nation's gasoline and diesel each year.... But the exemption for CVR's Wynnewood, Oklahoma plant prompted criticism from a corn state lawmaker and the powerful corn lobby, which has already accused Trump's EPA of overusing the hardship waiver program in a way that hurts demand for ethanol."
Kyra Phillips, et al., of ABC News: "A whistleblower from the Environmental Protection Agency says that Administrator Scott Pruitt was 'bold-faced' lying when he told members of Congress that no EPA employees were retaliated against for raising concerns about his spending decisions.... Former deputy chief of staff Kevin Chmielewski said he was '100 percent' forced out after raising concerns about Pruitt's spending on first-class travel. Chmielewski said chief of staff Ryan Jackson called him into his office and said: 'Hey -- Administrator Pruitt either wants me to fire you or put you in an office so that he doesn't have to see you again,' Chmielewski told ABC News, adding that 'And in addition to that, he wants to put Millan (Hupp) in your spot, as your title and your pay grade.'... Hupp was one of the aides that was granted a controversial raise that Pruitt said he reversed and that he didn't know the specific amount. Chmielewski said the raise was '100 percent Pruitt.'"
Arthur Allen of Politico: "A West Palm Beach doctor's ties to Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago social circle have enabled him to hold up the biggest health information technology project in history -- the transformation of the VA's digital records system. Dr. Bruce Moskowitz, an internist and friend of Trump confidant Ike Perlmutter, who advises the president informally on vet issues, objected to the $16 billion Department of Veterans Affairs project because he doesn't like the Cerner Corp. software he uses at two Florida hospitals, according to four former and current senior VA officials. Cerner technology is a cornerstone of the VA project.... IT specialists at the VA felt that [Moskowitz] was out of his league in evaluating the Cerner deal.... [A source] said Moskowitz's involvement was one of the irritants in [former VA Secretary David] Shulkin's dealings with other White House-appointed officials, which contributed to his being fired March 28." (Also linked yesterday.)
Marco's Major Gaffe. Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "'There is still a lot of thinking on the right that if big corporations are happy, they're going to take the money they're saving and reinvest it in American workers, ... '[Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)] told the Economist in a recent interview. 'In fact they bought back shares, a few gave out bonuses; there's no evidence whatsoever that the money's been massively poured back into the American worker.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Sometimes, especially right around election time & when no actual Senate votes depend upon it, Marco sounds remarkably like a Democrat. Not to worry, Mitch, when you need Marco's vote, you've got it. ...
... Matt Phillips & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "Republicans sold the 2017 tax law as 'rocket fuel' for American investment and growth, saying that corporations -- flush with cash from lower tax rates -- would channel money back into the economy by building factories and offices and investing in equipment, which would help companies grow and provide winnings for workers.... But, so far, hard evidence of such an acceleration has yet to appear in economic data, which show more of a steady investment roll than a rapid escalation."
Senate Race. Paul Walsh of the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune: "Richard Painter, a longtime Republican who was chief ethics lawyer for George W. Bush's White House, intends to run for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota this year as a Democrat, according to a filing he made recently with federal elections officials. Painter, a persistent and frequent critic of ... Donald Trump on national cable TV news appearances and on Twitter, is expected to announce his candidacy at a Monday news conference. He's running for Democrat Al Franken's former seat. Franken resigned Jan. 2 in the wake of numerous sexual harassment allegations. Gov. Mark Dayton appointed Lt. Gov. Tina Smith to be his successor. That seat is up this fall in a special election, and Smith has said she intends to run for the right to finish the term through 2020." (Also linked yesterday.)
Adding Insult to Injury. Amir Vera of CNN: "Failed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore says the women who accused him of sexual assault were part of a political conspiracy, according to a lawsuit filed Monday. The suit was jointly filed with his wife, Kayla, about an hour before the two held a news conference. It was Moore's first public appearance since election night in December, when Moore, a Republican, was upset by Democrat Doug Jones. The defendants include three women who made accusations against Moore as well as two other people."
Annals of "Education." Matthew Barakat of the AP: "Virginia's largest public university granted the conservative Charles Koch Foundation a say in the hiring and firing of professors in exchange for millions of dollars in donations, according to newly released documents. The release of donor agreements between George Mason University and the foundation follows years of denials by university administrators that Koch foundation donations inhibit academic freedom. University President Angel Cabrera wrote a note to faculty Friday night saying the agreements 'fall short of the standards of academic independence I expect any gift to meet.' The admission came three days after a judge scrutinized the university's earlier refusal to release any documents.... Cabrera's admission that the agreements fall short of standards for academic independence is a stark departure from his earlier statements on the issue."
Masha Gessen of the New Yorker: Michelle "Wolf's monologue [at the White House Correspondents' dinner] -- sharp, unflinching, and pointedly unfunny in places -- called bullshit on the role laughter has been performing in Trump's America.... I recognize laughter in the age of Trump as though it were a cousin of anti-totalitarian laughter.... Political satire in less troubled times exaggerates existing facts, pointing out the absurdities inherent in all ideologies, or playing up smaller disagreements and failures for bigger laughs. But Trump is hard to exaggerate -- it is enough, it seems, merely to mirror him.... Wolf's routine burst the bubbles of civility and performance, and of the separation of media and comedy." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The real trouble with Wolf's performance is that she didn't know where she was. What if the eulogists at Barbara Bush's funeral had got up & said what a horrible person she was? That she was mean to her children -- she was -- that she made cutting remarks -- she did -- and that she said racist things -- she did. At a social event like the correspondents' dinner or a cocktail party, one is supposed to observe the conventions of civility. Wolf was confrontational, which is fine and necessary in other contexts, but a party is not the appropriate place for a fight. Jon Stewart mercilessly mocked Bill O'Reilly almost nightly -- except when Stewart had O'Reilly as a guest on his show. Oddly, even Donald Trump knows how to behave in social situations. He's been nice to Dreamers, polite to Nancy Pelosi & Chuck Schumer, and pleasant to Muhammadu Buhari, the president of a "shithole country," etc. It's not till his guests leave that Trump trashes them. There was little wrong with what Wolf said; it was where she said it. Conventions of civility are not for nothing. ...
... So You Think You Want to Be Famous?
Steve M. (April 28): "Whether or not you liked Michelle Wolf's comedy routine at [the] White House Correspondents' Dinner, give her credit for this: The president held one of his Nuremberg rallies last night, but everyone in the media is talking about Wolf's jokes instead. She upstaged Donald Trump! The press found her more fascinating! Since 2015, how many people have been able to say that? Of course, the attention was mostly negative[.]" ...
... THEN. Steve M. (April 30): "In the comments to my post about Michelle Wolf and the White House Correspondents' Dinner, a troll made a claim I'd previously seen on Twitter: ... 'And the Trump effect hits again: a mere 24 hours after Wolf's failed dinner routine, her 2009 arrest record for beastiality is exposed.' Wolf was arrested for bestiality? Not only is this boob-bait for morons, it's the most transparently fake boob-bait imaginable. Snopes explains: ... 'This image [of a fake bestiality 'newspaper' story about Wolf] was created with a fake newspaper clip generator which allows users to make their own realistic headlines in just a few minutes.'... How stupid do you have to be to fall for this? Unfortunately for America, not too stupid to vote."
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