;)
December 21, 2022
~~~ As a holiday gift, the goddess Marie promises to everyone residing in the Northern Hemisphere that she will make each day grow a little longer. This gift expires in six months.
Afternoon Update:
Zeke Miller, et al., of the AP: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked President Joe Biden, U.S. lawmakers and 'ordinary people' of America for their support as he visited the White House on Wednesday. Biden told Zelenskyy that Ukrainians 'inspire the world,' before the two leaders began an Oval Office summit that was Zelenskyy's first known trip outside his home country since Russia invaded in February." ~~~
Presidents Biden & Zelensky meet in the White House (a tearjerker):
Marie: It's impossible not to notice that today's top U.S. news is about a man who is one of the world's great fighters for democracy (Zelensky) and one of the world's most determined destroyers of democracy (Trump).
Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "FBI officials had a lot to worry about in late July as they discussed whether to search one of Donald Trump's homes for evidence of crimes. Two concerns were paramount: Any search warrant should be authorized by the attorney general himself, and they did not want the former president to be at Mar-a-Lago when it happened. The FBI also was wary of the remote possibility of a 'blue on blue' confrontation -- between the federal agents searching the location and the Secret Service agents who guard the former president, according to people familiar with the matter, who like others interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions." This is a blow-by-blow account of why it took so long for agents to conduct a search of Mar-a-Lago; the big hold-up, according to the report, was caused by FBI agents in the Washington, D.C. field office who didn't want to conduct a criminal investigation of the White House papers thief.
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Marie: I haven't figured out yet what time President Zelensky will address Congress, but according to the Washington Post, it will be after his presser with President Biden, which is to be held at 4:30 pm ET. Speaker Pelosi's page indicates the date is today but there's no indication of the time. Update: According to NBC News, the joint session is to begin at 7:30 pm ET.
I've long felt Donald Trump didn't want his tax return information released because it exposes him as a wildly unsuccessful businessman. In 2019, we obtained a printout of Trump's official Internal Revenue Service tax transcripts from 1985 to 1994, when Trump lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer. That's right -- more money than any other individual in the country. -- Susanne Craig of the New York Times, from the liveblog ~~~
~~~ Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The House Ways and Means Committee voted Tuesday to publicly release the tax returns of ... Donald J. Trump, the culmination of a yearslong battle during which he defied modern tradition by keeping his finances confidential during his campaign and while in office.... After debating behind closed doors for about three hours and 20 minutes on Tuesday, the Democrat-controlled committee approved the release of six years' worth of Mr. Trump's tax returns 24 to 16. But it could take some time before anything is available to the public. Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat on the committee, told CNN that release of the full cache of tax documents could be delayed for 'a few days' in order to carry out redactions of personal information, such as Social Security numbers. The chairman of the committee, Representative Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Massachusetts, said the decision to release the information 'was not about being punitive. This was not about being malicious.' He also praised the panel's members because there were no leaks of sensitive information. The ranking member, Representative Kevin Brady, Republican of Texas, condemned the decision after the vote. 'So regrettably, the deed is done,' he said. 'What was clear today is that public disclosure of President Trump's private tax returns has nothing to do with the stated purpose of reviewing the I.R.S. presidential audit process.'" This is a liveblog. (Also linked yesterday evening.) ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's report is here. CNN's main report is here. ~~~
~~~ The main House Ways & Means Committee report, via the committee, is here (pdf).
The Biggest Failure. Mike McIntire, et al., of the New York Times: "In his first three years as president, Donald J. Trump paid $1.1 million in federal income taxes before paying no tax as his income dwindled and losses once again mounted in 2020, according to tax data released Tuesday by a House committee. The data, which includes details of Mr. Trump's federal tax returns from 2015 through his full term in the White House, shows that he began his presidency suffering the sort of large business losses that had defined much of his career and paid almost nothing in income tax. But his fortunes changed in 2018, as he reported $24.3 million in adjusted gross income and paid nearly $1 million in federal tax.... The raw tax returns ... are expected to be released in coming days. The new information adds to what is publicly known about Mr. Trump's income tax history, something he had fought for years to keep hidden.... His reports to the I.R.S. portrayed a businessman who took in hundreds of millions of dollars a year, yet racked up chronic losses that he aggressively employed to avoid paying taxes.... Tuesday's report also raises questions about some of Mr. Trump's business practices, and the committee has requested that the I.R.S. investigate some of them further. Among them are his charitable contributions."
** Oh, How Could This Have Happened? Benjamin Guggenheim of Politico: "The IRS didn't audit the personal tax returns filed by ... Donald Trump during his first two years in office, despite an agency program that mandates scrutiny of every president's tax information, a House committee said Tuesday. Trump filed his 2015, 2016 and 2017 tax returns during his first two years as president, which should have triggered an IRS examination of those returns under a Watergate-era policy, according to the report by the House Ways and Means Committee. However, the agency did not initiate an audit of any of the returns that Trump filed while in office until April 3, 2019. That was the same day that committee Chair Richard Neal (D-Mass.) first asked IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig to provide Neal six years of Trump's tax returns and any audits of those returns. Only one such examination -- that of the former president's 2016 return -- was flagged as a mandatory president audit. And three personal tax returns that Trump filed while in office for tax years 2017, 2018 and 2019 weren't selected for scrutiny until after he left the White House. The report reveals glaring problems for a program that is supposed to assure Americans that the president is abiding by the law, Joe Thorndike, a longtime tax historian, said." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Donald Trump in the biggest tax cheat to ever have sat his butt behind the Oval Office desk, and the only one whose eponymous company has been found criminally liable for cheating on its taxes. ~~~
~~~ Michael Kranish, et al., of the Washington Post: "... the committee revealed that the Internal Revenue Service did not audit Trump's returns during his first two years in office, despite a rule mandating such reviews, and never completed any audits while he served. The IRS began its first audit of Trump's returns on the same day that Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) sent a written request in April 2019 for the information and then assigned the bulk of the work to just one agent, the panel said. Democrats on the committee said their investigation suggests Trump had not been correct in claiming during his 2016 campaign that he could not release the records himself because of an ongoing IRS audit. They also urged Congress to adopt a new law ordering mandatory IRS reviews of presidential taxes and the public release of some information. That IRS's inaction came despite the fact that Trump's tax forms raise serious questions about how he used deductions to avoid paying taxes in some years, according to a separate report released on Tuesday by the Joint Committee on Taxation. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Tex.), a member of the Ways and Means Committee, said in a CNN interview that the returns showed there were 'tens of millions of dollars in these returns that were claimed without adequate substantiation.'"
~~~ The House Ways & Means Committee's report on the mandatory tax audit, via the committee, is here (pdf).
Say, let's see what Trump's "top ethics lawyer" has been up to: ~~~
~~~ Katelyn Polantz, et al., of CNN: "The January 6 committee made a startling allegation on Monday, claiming it had evidence that a Trump-backed attorney urged a key witness to mislead the committee about details they recalled. Though the committee declined to identify the people, CNN has learned that Stefan Passantino, the top ethics attorney in the Trump White House, is the lawyer who allegedly advised his then-client, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, to tell the committee that she did not recall details that she did, sources familiar with the committee's work tell CNN. Trump's Save America political action committee funded Passantino and his law firm Elections LLC, including paying for his representation of Hutchinson, other sources tell CNN. Hutchinson asked about the financial set up at the time but was never told the details, according to the committee.... Before her public testimony, Hutchinson dropped Passantino and got a new lawyer. When asked about pressure on Hutchinson after Monday's hearing, committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren told CNN: 'She was advised to say that she didn't recall something when she did. So that's pretty serious stuff.'" (Also linked yesterday evening.) ~~~
~~~ In today's Comments, we learn that Akhilleus is all surprised by this. ~~~
~~~ Maggie Haberman & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "A former lawyer [-- Stefan Passantino --] for a White House aide [-- Cassidy Hutchinson --] who became a key witness for the House Jan. 6 committee took a leave of absence from his law firm on Tuesday and defended himself against what he said were false insinuations by the panel that he had interfered with his client's testimony."
Robert Costa, et al., of CBS News: "Nick Luna, a former White House aide to ... Donald Trump, told the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol that he witnessed Trump 'tearing' documents, according to audio files of Luna's deposition that were obtained by CBS News.... According to the Presidential Records Act, federal law requires that presidential records are carefully preserved and then handed over to the National Archives.... The audio files also reveal that Luna testified that White House chief of staff Mark Meadows had instructed him to not enter the room ahead of a meeting with state Republican legislators who wanted to overturn the 2020 presidential election. 'There was one instance where it would normally be my job to go in and make sure that [the] president is comfortable in wherever the situation is,' Luna told the committee. 'And I remember, specifically, this instance [Meadows] had said, 'Do not, don't come in, don't come into the room today.'"
Michael Shear & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine will meet with President Biden at the White House on Wednesday and later deliver a prime-time address to a joint session of Congress, a daring trip abroad intended to reaffirm American support for his country, White House officials announced late Tuesday night.... Senior administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of concerns about Mr. Zelensky's safety, said the risks involved in such a visit -- with the wartime leader leaving his country for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine in February -- were high, and that planning for his arrival had been conducted under intense secrecy." ~~~
~~~ Phil Mattingly, et al., of CNN: "President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are planning to meet at the White House on Wednesday, according to two sources familiar with the planning underway, in what would be a surprise visit that could change based on security concerns. The visit, which hasn't been finalized and has remained tightly held due to security concerns, will coincide with the administration's intent to send the country a new defense assistance package that will include Patriot missile systems. It would mark Zelensky's first trip outside Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in February of this year. His potential visit to Washington could also include an address to Congress. The White House declined to comment on a potential visit or Biden announcement or new security assistance announcements. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wouldn't confirm reports Zelensky would be coming to the Capitol on Wednesday, saying, 'I don't know that that's going to happen.'" (Also linked yesterday evening.)
Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "The Drug Enforcement Administration said Tuesday it has seized more than 379 million potentially fatal doses of illegal fentanyl this year, as Mexican drug-trafficking organizations continue to flood the United States with the cheap synthetic opioid responsible for record numbers of U.S. overdose deaths. The agency said it has confiscated more than 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder and 50.6 million illegal fentanyl tablets so far in 2022. That was twice the number of tablets seized in 2021, when more than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses. Two-thirds of those deaths were caused by fentanyl, according to U.S. public health data. Anne Milgram, the DEA administrator, said the seizures recorded by the agency this year contained enough fentanyl 'to kill everyone in the United States,' home to about 330 million residents."
A Bloodless Coup-Preventive. Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "The omnibus spending bill has been released, and buried inside it are provisions that would reform the Electoral Count Act of 1887, which governs how Congress counts presidential electors. Trump's effort to subvert his presidential reelection loss exploited many weaknesses in the ECA that would be fixed if the omnibus passes, as expected. Strikingly, all this is happening with little noise from right-wing media or MAGA-loyal lawmakers. A bipartisan group of senators negotiated these reforms for months with the support of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and they will likely be backed by many or even most GOP senators. Trump himself has been surprisingly mute.... Just about every main ECA reform in the omnibus responds directly to what Trump did [in 2020 & 2021].... This is an easy way for Republicans to do something about the Trump threat. It's highly technical and doesn't require direct condemnation of Trump himself.... No one should confuse this with a full-scale outbreak of pro-democracy sentiment among Republicans."
Why, it's almost as if Republicans are in disarray: ~~~
~~~ McCarthy, House Wingers Threaten Senate Republicans. Lauren Fox & Clare Foran of CNN: "As House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy forges ahead in his quest to secure 218 votes to be the next speaker of the House, he is vowing to take a hard line in the future against any GOP senator who votes to pass the $1.7 trillion spending bill this week. McCarthy wrote on Twitter, 'when I'm Speaker,' bills from any senator who votes for the spending package will be 'dead on arrival' in the House of Representatives.... [McCarthy was responding to Rep Chip] Roy and 12 other Republicans sent a letter to GOP senators on Monday saying that if the government funding bill passes, they would oppose and whip against 'any legislative priority of those senators who vote for this bill.'... While McCarthy made similar comments during a press conference last week, it's just the latest sign of the lengths to which the House Republican leader is going in an attempt to pacify and win over conservatives who are still on the fence about voting for him for speaker.... Senate GOP Whip John Thune on Tuesday downplayed the threat by McCarthy that he would block bills in the next Congress backed by senators who vote for the spending package." ~~~
~~~ Al Weaver of the Hill: "GOP senators had a message for a group of current and incoming House Republicans threatening to stop any bill supported by someone who votes for the omnibus spending package in its tracks: We don't care.... 'That doesn't sound like a recipe for working together in the best interest of the country, so I think this is just words spoken during the heat of passion,' Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), an ally of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is an 'aye' vote for the omnibus." ~~~
~~~ Alex Griffing of Mediaite: "... Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) dropped a 25-tweet thread on Tuesday in support of Rep. Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) embattled bid to become House speaker. In the thread, Greene took aim at her 'friends' in the House GOP conference and offered them some very tough words. 'It's time for my friends in the Never Kevin Caucus to stop lying to the base just bc they don't like Kevin McCarthy,' Greene wrote at the end of the thread.... Greene's thread came a day after she hit back at fellow MAGA hardliner Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) who took a jab at Greene over her support for McCarthy."
Ryan Mac & Kate Conger of the New York Times: "Elon Musk said on Tuesday that he would resign as Twitter's chief executive when he found 'someone foolish enough to take the job,' two days after he had asked his 122 million Twitter followers whether he should step down as the leader of the social media site and a majority of respondents answered yes." The Guardian's story is here. MB: Oh, pick me, Elon. I am an obnoxious know-it-all who knows squat about running an employee-friendly business, knows less about Twitter but am vaguely in favor of the free exchange of ideas. I should fit right in. ~~~
~~~ About That "Stalker." David Ingram & Andrew Blankstein of NBC News: "Police in Southern California said Tuesday they were seeking additional information about an incident last week that Twitter CEO Elon Musk said prompted him to crack down on accounts that track whereabouts of private jets -- including his.... In a statement Tuesday, police in South Pasadena said that the incident involved a member of Musk's security team, whose vehicle hit the car of a man he alleged was following him. The police called the security team member a 'suspect.' They did not say what crimes they suspected him of committing, but said they were investigating a report of 'an assault with a deadly weapon involving a vehicle.'" MB: IOW, there was no "stalker," and Musk's own security person was the one who allegedly committed a potentially-deadly crime.
Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "Wells Fargo will pay a $3.7 billion penalty -- including $2 billion to consumers -- to resolve claims that it bungled borrowers' auto and mortgage loans, charged illegal overdraft fees and seized account holders' funds, federal regulators announced Tuesday. The payments ordered by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau settle claims of wrongdoing that extend as far back as 2015 and harmed as many as 16 million consumer accounts, officials said. 'Wells Fargo's rinse-repeat cycle of violating the law has harmed millions of American families,' CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. 'The CFPB is ordering Wells Fargo to refund billions of dollars to consumers across the country. This is an important initial step for accountability and long-term reform of this repeat offender.'... [The settlement] comes after the CFPB disciplined the bank in previous years for violations regarding student loan servicing, mortgage kickbacks, fake accounts and illegal auto loan practices." CNBC's story is here.
Beyond the Beltway
Texas. April Rubin of the New York Times: "A former Fort Worth police officer who was found guilty of manslaughter last week for killing a woman by firing a shot through a window of her home was sentenced on Tuesday to almost 12 years in prison. The former officer, Aaron Dean, 38, was sentenced to 11 years, 10 months and 12 days in prison by a jury in Tarrant County District Court in the October 2019 killing of Atatiana Jefferson, 28.... The officer, who is white, was responding to a call from a concerned neighbor who reported that doors to Ms. Jefferson's house were open late at night. Ms. Jefferson, who was Black, was playing video games with her 8-year-old nephew and had left the doors open to ventilate smoke after burning hamburgers. Ms. Jefferson, hearing a strange noise outside the house, grabbed the gun she kept in her purse and went to look out her bedroom window. Mr. Dean yelled at her to put her arms up and immediately fired a single shot through her window, body camera footage released two days after the shooting showed."
Virginia Congressional Race. Meagan Flynn & Gregory Schneider of the Washington Post: "Democrats came out in droves across the 4th Congressional District on Tuesday to nominate a successor to Rep. A. Donald McEachin, who died last month -- turnout that exceeded expectations at jampacked voting sites all day.... The Democratic Party of Virginia, which had initially printed 25,000 ballots, had to print 5,000 to 10,000 more after it became clear midway through the day that turnout wasn't slowing. More than 26,400 people came out to vote in the party-run firehouse primary at eight locations across the Richmond-anchored district, a party spokesman said.... The truncated campaign -- with no TV ads, very little campaign infrastructure and almost no time for anything but getting out the vote -- unfolded rapidly based on the date Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) set for a special election: Feb. 21. Under state law, nominees must be chosen at least 60 days before the special election -- so by Friday.... Ballots will not be counted until Wednesday starting at 10 a.m.... Republicans selected their nominee, Leon Benjamin, who twice lost to McEachin by more than 20 points, at a party canvass on Saturday."
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al. See related stories linked above, about President Zelenky's visit to Washington, D.C.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Wednesday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.
Afghanistan. Hikmat Noori of the Guardian & Agencies: "Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have ordered an indefinite ban on university education for the country's women, the ministry of higher education said in a letter issued to all government and private universities.... The ban on higher education comes less than three months after thousands of girls and women sat university entrance exams across the country, with many aspiring to choose engineering and medicine as future careers."
News Lede
Washington Post: "A massive storm system is set to snarl holiday travel and bring an onslaught of wintry weather to millions across the Plains, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, Northeast and even interior Mid-Atlantic. The developing cyclone will deliver heavy snow and blizzard conditions to some and downpours to others between Wednesday and Friday night, all coming at a time of year when more than 110 million Americans are expected to take to the roads and air. The potential exists for serious travel disruptions at major airport hubs in the Midwest and Great Lakes, including Chicago's O'Hare International, where heavy snow and howling winds are expected -- with the worst conditions late Thursday into Friday. The combination of snow and wind will bring visibility down to near zero at times."
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Reader Comments (13)
Hang on…Fatty had…an ethics attorney? And not just one, right? Because the article linked above mentions a “top ethics attorney”. So…multiple ethics attorneys?
What did they do? They must have been pointing out to Trump all the other people who had ethics problems. Oh yeah, and advising Trump apparatchiks how not to have ethics.
A Trump ethics attorney. Wow. Isn’t that a little like white supremacists having a diversity training specialist on staff?
Must be one-a them whatchamacallit, black swan thingies.
So…the IRS wasn’t auditing Fatty’s returns like he said? Like when people said “Hey, Donald! How ‘bout showing your tax returns?” “No can do. IRS is auditing me. Wait til they’re through.”
So that was…A LIE?!?
Oh man. Gotta lie down…
But the IRS had no problem auditing people Fatty considered enemies. Funny how that works.
The Musk ox is looking for someone to replace him as CEO. I hear he’s hired OJ Simpson who’ll help in the search when he’s not busy looking for the person who really killed his wife. No breath holding out there.
So TFG went to Washington to fix it.
Have to give him some credit. He apparently fixed the Electoral Count law and he may soon succeed in righting one glaring IRS shortcoming.
I'm a little disappointed that shoring up the emoluments provisions still seem out of reach but I will give him this: He brought a dusty old Constitutional provision back to the nation's attention, and just as he said: He alone could have done it.
Had to have the mister apply a splash of ice cold water in my face cuz like Ak, the news of Fatty's tax returns were just too much for me–-almost fainted after listening to the report. Seriously––that this info should come out now is not only laughable but for the IRS a dereliction of duty.
And Marie: didn't you have problems with Wells Fargo?
@P.D. Pepe: Yes, I did have a Wells Fargo account, and like everybody else, I had some trouble with the company. I think I gave away all the money in the account, but I'm going to check my old correspondence and see if WF may owe me or the entity I gave the money to might have some reimbursement coming.
Can't finish what you don't start. TFG did say that he would only release his taxes after the IRS finished auditing him.
I did see some people on TV questioning the reasons for releasing Trump's taxes publicly. How about the fact that he has already declared he is running in 2024 again and we know he won't release them himself? We also know that he and his family have many foreign business entanglements. Or that he used his presidency to line his own pockets for four years.
My Kevin is making threats. Ooooh. Should we be scared?
Isn’t this a little like a pouty five year old saying “I know you are, but what am I?”
As or the threats of obstruction coming from the right wingers in the HoR to the Senate, they might want to stop and think that so much of their plan for obstruction of Democratic policy depends on the Senate.
IOW, don't piss on someones shoes while you're asking for a favor.
Bobby Lee,
That advice only works for people who aren’t ideological, imbecilic robots.
I find it interesting that both top people in the news today became known to the general population through TV. They each portrayed powerful characters. The difference is that one of them actually has a soul.
Can’t wait to hear how the authoritarian, fascist, Putinistas in the Party of Traitors go after Zelensky and Biden for daring to stand up to Putin’s murdering of innocent civilians in his attempt to beat a neighboring country into submission (a scheme that has backfired embarrassingly for Trump’s BFF).