;)
Tuesday
Jan102023
January 11, 2023
Late Morniing/Afternoon Update:
Carol Lee & Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "Aides to President Joe Biden have discovered at least one additional batch of classified documents in a location separate from the Washington office he used after leaving the Obama administration, according to a person familiar with the matter.... The classification level, number and precise location of the additional documents was not immediately clear. It also was not immediately clear when the additional documents were discovered and if the search for any other classified materials Biden may have from the Obama administration is complete." ~~~
~~~ Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "President Joe Biden got an assist on Fox News when Karl Rove broke out the whiteboard to show how Biden's classified documents issue is much less serious than the probe into ... Donald Trump's handling of classified docs.... [Rove said,] "... there are differences. For example, how many documents in Biden's case, there appear to be about 10. In the case of President Trump, hundreds.... We don't yet know how the documents got to the Biden office connected with his activities on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania. We know that President Trump ordered the removal of the documents to Mar-a-Lago.... When ... the Biden people found out about it, they called immediately, called the appropriate authorities and turned them over. We spent a year and a half watching the drama unfold in Mar-a-Lago, and it had to end in a police search to recover the documents. But still..., this is going to create lots of headaches for the Department of Justice in deciding how to handle President Trump's issues, because now they have an issue that, in, at least in the minds of a lot of ordinary Americans, are going to be conflated as being roughly the same."
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: House Republicans "have made it clear that their primary mission in the 118th Congress will be investigating the Biden administration, including inquiries they say could lead to the potential impeachment of President Biden and several cabinet members. Preparing to use their new subpoena power, Republicans have already created three special investigative committees or subcommittees, but they expect to carry out many more inquires under existing committees they now control. Some of the investigations may involve multiple panels, and top Republicans are jockeying for the biggest and most prominent pieces.... Republicans have already introduced a host of impeachment articles against the president and members of his cabinet.... Here is a road map of the investigations[.]" ~~~
~~~ Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House Oversight Committee took its first significant action under new Republican leadership on Wednesday, pressing the Treasury Department for information about President Biden's family finances and demanding that Twitter executives appear before lawmakers next month to address accusations that they sought to hide information about the Bidens' business dealings. Representative James R. Comer, Republican of Kentucky and the new chairman of the committee, has pledged for months to investigate Mr. Biden's family and its business connections. His staff members obtained the contents of a laptop owned by Hunter Biden, the president's son, whose business activities are under federal investigation. But now that Mr. Comer has subpoena power, he is in a position to expand and escalate his inquiry." ~~~
~~~ Marie: We probably should have stopped treating Republicans as a political party a long time ago. When a group's "primary purpose" is to tear down government rather than to form a government, when in fact the group can barely manage to form a government because the flamethrowers are concerned they won't get big enough torches, when the majority of the group supports a coup & a number of them countenance or excuse violence in executing the coup, I don't think that group can be considered a political party in the traditional sense. They're revolutionaries or agitators or anachists or or something. You can probably think of a better term.
Get Out! Michael Gold & Grace Ashford of the New York Times: "Dozens of Republican officials in New York State, including four recently elected congressmen, urged Representative George Santos to resign on Wednesday in a fracturing of local party support for Mr. Santos. Their call represented a sharp break from congressional Republican leaders, who insisted they would not push the embattled congressman to resign.... House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that he not only would resist calls to push Mr. Santos out, but that he planned to seat him on a congressional committee. 'The voters elected him to serve,' Mr. McCarthy told reporters in Washington, adding that Mr. Santos 'has to answer to the voters and the voters can make another decision in two years.'" This is an update of a story liked earlier.
~~~ Not Surprisingly.... Joe Anuta & Julia Marsh of Politico: "Rep. George Santos refused to resign Wednesday despite a parade of Republican Nassau County officials demanding he step down." ~~~
~~~ Brian Schwartz of the CNBC: "A member of George Santos' political team had a plan to raise money for the Republican congressman's campaign: Impersonate the chief of staff of now House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Wealthy donors received calls and emails from a man who said he was Dan Meyer, McCarthy's chief of staff, during the 2020 and 2022 election cycles, according to people familiar with the matter. His name was actually Sam Miele, and he worked for Santos raising money for his campaign, according to one GOP donor who contributed to Santos' campaign.... 'We were duped,' said a Republican political strategist close to GOP donors and the leadership of the Republican Jewish Coalition." MB: Shall this too pass, Kevin? ~~~
~~~ Scott Wong, et al., of NBC News: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday that embattled freshman GOP Rep. George Santos, who is facing growing calls to resign after admitting to fabricating much of his personal biography, should not be seated on any top committees.... Although Democrats and some Republicans have said Santos should not receive any committee assignments at all, McCarthy confirmed later in the day that Santos would serve on at least one." MB: So is that it, Kevin? No plum committee assignments? Harsh! ~~~
~~~ Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "When Representative George Santos of New York first expressed interest in running for a suburban New York City House seat in 2020, the Nassau County Republican Committee sent him a standard vetting questionnaire and asked to see his qualifications. The résumé Mr. Santos handed over was impressive.... If the Nassau Republicans had dug into any of the claims, they would probably have found that much of Mr. Santos's account was baldly fabricated. Instead, without another candidate interested in the race, they ... took Mr. Santos's word and offered their full backing, re-upping in 2022 to help deliver him to victory. The episode marks an early example of a yearslong pattern of political deception, when Mr. Santos lied to his own party and faced no immediate repercussions.&" The Times proves a copy of the two-page document. MB: The failure of scrutiny here is mindblowing. My rep here has quite a solid resumé, but I have no doubt I can make up an even more impressive one. Get ready to address me as Congresswoman.
From the New York Times livebog of developments in U.S. air transportation delays & cancellations: "The Federal Aviation Administration lifted an order to ground all flights across the United States shortly before 9 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday after a system failure left pilots, airlines and airports without crucial safety information for hours. The agency said that 'normal air traffic operations are resuming gradually across the U.S.'... More than 5,000 flights within, into or out of the United States had been delayed on Wednesday, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking service.... President Biden said that he had spoken with Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, and that he had asked him to report back when a cause for the failure had been identified." ~~~
~~~ CNN is liveblogging developments in the FAAs's computer-system failure that caused a nationwide pause on air traffic.
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Six months after the Supreme Court struck down a New York law that placed strict limits on carrying guns outside the home, the court refused to block a new law enacted in response to that ruling. The court's brief, unsigned order gave no reasons, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications. Challenges to the new law remain pending before the federal appeals court in New York. In a statement, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, said the law 'presents novel and serious questions.' But he added that the appeals court should address those questions first, so long as it does so promptly."
~~~~~~~~~~
Michelle Chapman of the AP: "A computer outage at the Federal Aviation Administration brought flights to a standstill across the U.S. on Wednesday, with hundreds of delays quickly cascading through the system at airports nationwide. The FAA ordered all U.S. flights to delay departures until 9 a.m. Eastern, though airlines said they were aware of the situation and had already begun grounding flights. At 7:30 a.m. Eastern, there were more than 1,200 delayed flights within, into or out of the United States, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. More than 100 have been cancelled." NBC News is reporting that the White House is saying that at this point, there's no evidence of a cyberattack.
Toluse Olorunnipa, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Tuesday vowed to reform and streamline the flow of migrants from Mexico to the United States, asserting they are getting control of the volatile issue and taking aim at conservatives for resisting their efforts. 'We're working together to address this challenge in a way that upholds our nations' laws and protects the human rights of migrants escaping desperate circumstances,' Biden said, adding that 'my Republican friends in Congress should join us in solutions.' López Obrador, who has not been shy about challenging American policies toward his country, praised Biden's approach, referring indirectly to ... Donald Trump's efforts to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. 'You, President Biden, you are the first president of the United States in a very long time that has not built even one meter of wall,' López Obrador said. 'And we thank you for that, sir -- although some might not like it, although the conservatives don't like it.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: At least by Mexican political standards, López Obrador is a conservative and was no fan of President Biden. ~~~
~~~ Michael Shear & Anushka Patil of the New York Times: "President Biden defended his handling of the border on Tuesday, saying the level of migration was 'a real strain' on both Mexico and the United States as he completed a two-day summit with the leaders of Canada and Mexico aimed in part at securing cooperation in the effort to stem the record-breaking migration across the hemisphere. 'We're true partners, the three of us,' President Biden said at a news conference after a roughly two-hour meeting at Mexico's National Palace [with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico & Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada].... The North American Leaders' Summit served as a forum to discuss economic cooperation, drug trafficking, migration, climate change and more." This is part of a liveblog.
Glenn Thrush & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "President Biden said Tuesday he was 'surprised' to learn in November that his lawyers found classified government documents in his former office at a think tank in Washington, and he said he does not know what information they contain.... The Justice Department is reviewing the discovery to determine how to proceed.... The White House has stressed that the circumstances are different [from Donald Trump's theft of documents] -- that Mr. Biden had neither been notified that he had official records nor been asked to return them, and his team promptly revealed the discovery to the archives and returned them within a day.... [Mr. Biden] also distanced himself from the matter, suggesting that someone else had brought the files there without his knowledge. 'After I was briefed about the discovery, I was surprised to learn that there are any government records that were taken to that office,' he said at news conference in Mexico, where he appeared with Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the president of Mexico, and Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister. ~~~
~~~ Charlie Savage of the New York Times attempts to lay out the differences, based on partial information, between Biden's & Trump's retention of classified documents: "... the available information suggests there were significant differences in how the documents came to light, their volume and --- most important -- how Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden responded. Mr. Trump and his aides resisted the government's repeated efforts to retrieve them all, while Mr. Biden's lawyers reported the problem and the White House says it has fully cooperated. These apparent differences have consequential legal implications." There's much more. ~~~
~~~ Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "The US justice department is intensifying its investigation of Donald Trump's unauthorized retention of national security materials as it prepares to question the people who searched the former president's properties at the end of last year and found more documents with classified markings. The department was given a general explanation from Trump's lawyers at the time about who conducted the search.... But the department, unsatisfied with that accounting, last week convinced a federal judge in a sealed hearing to force Trump's lawyers to give the names of the people who retrieved the documents with an intent to question them directly.... The pattern of prosecutors now seeking judicial intervention at every turn signals an aggressive posture from the special counsel Jack Smith...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marcy Wheeler writes a post on the Biden confidential documents in which she calls out "insanely bad reporting, including this article from the NYT == with four reporters bylined and two more contributing." That's the same NYT article linked below. In addition to other faults Wheeler finds with the Times reporters, she says they fail to "note that Biden is not complaining that this is under investigation, whereas Trump has never shut up about it. Indeed, a key part of Trump's defense has been that NARA had no authority to refer the matter for investigation. So Trump's embrace of this investigation eliminates a claim he has been relying on in his own defense. Another amusing difference is that for the entirety of the Trump Administration, Biden continued to have clearance; Biden decided not to continue intelligence briefings for Trump shortly after he launched a coup attempt.... But there's something else missing from the coverage so far: it's not even clear that the documents had been in Biden's possession, as opposed to another of his former staffers at the Obama White House. As CBS noted [also linked below], Tony Blinken was the Managing Director at the start, followed by Steve Richetti.... In other words, it might not even be a Biden thing." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough did an extended comedy bit mocking comparisons between President Joe Biden's self-reported and immediately-returned classified documents and the criminal probe into ... Donald Trump over classified docs." Video & transcript of route included. ~~~
~~~ Jamie Gangel & Marshall Cohen of CNN have an update on information about the documents found in President Biden's private office at U. Penn. MB: IMO, the opportunities for innocent explanations abound as to how those docs got there & stayed there, as long as Biden doesn't suddenly have a Trumpertantrum & declare, "It's not theirs; it's mine." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Steve Benen of MSNBC: "What Republicans don't seem to realize is that the story about Biden's classified documents makes Trump look worse, not better."
... it's not just the usual efforts by members on the other side of the aisle to once again do Donald Trump's dirty work; this time they're trying to protect themselves.... Let's call it what it really is. It is 'the Republican Committee to Obstruct Justice.' -- Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.) ~~~
~~~ Snarling Mad Dog Unleashed on Federal Agencies. Luke Broadwater & Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "A divided House voted on Tuesday to launch a wide-ranging investigation into federal law enforcement and national security agencies, as Republicans promised to use their new power in Congress to scrutinize what they said was a concerted effort by the government to silence and punish conservatives at all levels, from protesters at school board meetings to ... Donald J. Trump. On a party-line vote of 221 to 211 with all Democrats opposed, the House approved the formation of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which is to be chaired by Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, the incoming chairman of the Judiciary Committee and a staunch ally of Mr. Trump. Mr. Jordan, who was deeply involved in Mr. Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, has for months been investigating what he says is a bias in federal law enforcement against conservatives.... [The make-up of the panel] could result in lawmakers trying to scrutinize a Justice Department investigation while the department examines some of those same lawmakers' conduct concerning the events of Jan. 6." ~~~
~~~ "Mutually Assured Obstruction." Kyle Cheney, et al., of Politico: "GOP lawmakers dramatically escalated their standoff with the administration on Tuesday by approving on a party-line vote a wide-ranging investigative panel to probe what they call the 'weaponization of government.' It's a broad mandate that will allow the party to look into any government agency or program that it views as suspect, including the FBI, IRS and the intelligence community -- making good on a key demand of a band of hardline conservatives who opposed Speaker Kevin McCarthy's bid for the gavel.... The Justice Department is certain to fiercely protect its most sensitive investigative files and prosecutors are simply not going to hand over information on open criminal probes, legal experts say.... House Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry (R-Va.) [-- who is under investigation by the DOJ --] ... declined to rule out serving on the panel in an ABC interview on Sunday, asking: 'Why should anybody be limited just because someone has made an accusation? Everybody in America is innocent until proven otherwise.' Both Perry and [Jim] Jordan were subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 select committee to testify about events surrounding the Capitol attack by a mob of the former president's supporters. Both declined to comply with the subpoena."
Marie: One big thing I missed yesterday while wrestling with my computer (the computer won) was news about My Kevin's Secret Addendum. So here's what we know: ~~~
~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Even as he was [touting transparency], though, [Speaker Kevin] McCarthy (R-Calif.) was being rather opaque about the agreement that had gotten him to that point: namely, the parameters of a still-mysterious deal he cut with the hard-right Freedom Caucus to secure its members' votes in the speaker election. Punchbowl News on Monday first reported the existence of a three-page document outlining the terms, which it referred to as an 'addendum.' The whole thing remains shrouded in mystery: McCarthy is now reportedly denying the existence of an official 'addendum.' But some members have confirmed they've seen such a document, and top McCarthy allies have either talked around its existence or flatly declined to discuss the matter.... Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) [said]: 'I'm not at liberty to discuss whether I've seen it or not.'... Many Republicans are in the dark about it. (Punchbowl reported that members aren't allowed to keep a copy, apparently for fear of it leaking.)" Blake goes on to speculate what-all is in the 3 top-secret pages. ~~~
~~~ Here's the original Punchbowl News story by Jake Sherman & John Bresnahan. ~~~
~~~ Andrew Solender of Axios: "A private document that only some House Republicans have seen and others refuse to talk about could play an outsized role in the governance of the chamber over the next two years.... One of those concessions is three seats set aside for conservatives on the Rules Committee, as well as representation for them on the powerful Appropriations Committee. Other McCarthy giveaways include votes on congressional term limits and a select committee on the weaponization of the federal government, a debt limit strategy and a more open amendment process on appropriations bills." ~~~
~~~ Anyway, George Santos Is Happy . He really likes the new House rules package that severely weakens the House ethics committee. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Every Move You Make, Every Step You Take, We'll Be Watching You. Mike Lillis of the Hill: "House Democrats will participate in all of the various special committee investigations being teed up by GOP leaders, the Democrats' caucus chairman vowed on Tuesday.... 'It's in our best interest to make sure we are representing the will of the caucus and the American public, and that Republicans don't have an opportunity behind closed doors to shape, and to add to, these conspiracy theories,' [Rep. Pete] Aguilar [D-Calif.] said."
Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "The far-right internet provocateur 'Baked Alaska,' known to his family and friends as Anthime 'Tim' Gionet, who live-streamed his hour-long romp through the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to about 16,000 people, was sentenced Monday to 60 days in jail. It is not the first time Gionet, who pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor of illegally parading through the Capitol, received jail time for live-streaming his involvement in a crime. In December 2020, he live-streamed himself spraying pepper gel at a bouncer ejecting him in Scottsdale, Ariz., netting a 30-day jail term. Soon after, Gionet streamed himself tearing down a menorah and Hanukkah sign outside the Arizona Capitol, for which he received a fine.... Gionet was once a journalist for BuzzFeed before turning to right-wing websites where he posted videos and developed a following." ~~~
~~~ Marie: A photo of him accompanying the article suggests he fancies himself quite the dude. He's not. He's a wretched, raving asshole.
Richard Painter, in an MSNBC opinion piece: Donald Trump's "tax returns reveal that [he] had foreign bank accounts from 2015 to 2020. These include a bank account in China from 2015 to 2017, which reportedly is connected to Trump International Hotels Management business in China. The tax returns also showed that Trump had business dealings in Azerbaijan, Brazil, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Georgia, Grenada, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, Panama, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Qatar, South Korea, St. Maarten, St. Vincent, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. The drafters of our Constitution were well aware of the threat of foreign influence over U.S. office holders when they wrote the Emoluments Clause, which prohibits anyone holding a position of trust with the United States government from receiving any emoluments -- i.e. profits and benefits -- from any foreign state.... Our country took an enormous national security risk not seeing Trump's tax returns from the beginning of his presidency."
Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "Allen H. Weisselberg, once one of Donald J. Trump's most loyal lieutenants, was sentenced on Tuesday to five months at the Rikers Island jail complex for his role in a tax fraud scheme that led to the conviction of the Trump Organization last year. A state court judge handed down the sentence after Mr. Weisselberg, 75, who worked for the Trump family for the past half-century, testified as the prosecution's star witness at the trial of the company. Mr. Weisselberg, its former chief financial officer, had been facing years in prison. Under a plea deal, he agreed to testify truthfully in exchange for a punishment that, with good behavior, might last no more than 100 days." (Also linked yesterday.) The AP's report is here.
Twitter Bans D.C. Bus System Account for Keeping Riders Informed. Or Something. Justin George & Faiz Siddiqui of the Washington Post: "Twitter suspended the account of the D.C. area's largest bus transit system on Tuesday for unknown reasons but restored it over six hours later. Metro officials said they weren't told why the social media company suspended the account. Before the suspension, Metro officials said, the account had not posted anything other than standard content, which includes delay and detour updates, customer-service-related tips, and replies to customer complaints or concerns. The sudden ban of the account Metro uses to inform bus riders of delays, scheduling changes and other information launched the public transit agency into a debate over censorship, casting the nation's third-largest transit system as a victim of billionaire tech mogul and Twitter chief executive Elon Musk's controversial recent suspensions of journalists and alleged rulebreakers. But unlike in some other cases, no apparent cause was given for the ban of the @metrobusinfo account."
Beyond the Beltway
California Senate Race 2024. Kelly Hooper of Politico: "Rep. Katie Porter on Tuesday launched her 2024 campaign for Sen. Dianne Feinstein's seat -- even though the Democratic incumbent hasn't yet announced her widely expected plans to retire."
Illinois. C Mandler of CBS News: "Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker [D] signed into law a bill banning the sale and distribution of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines on Tuesday evening. The ban takes effect immediately. The House voted 68-41 to approve the Protect Illinois Communities Act last week, and the bill passed the Illinois Senate by a 34-20 margin on Monday before heading to Pritzker's desk."
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al. 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. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Wednesday is here: "Fierce fighting is taking place in the salt mining town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, just six miles from the strategic city of Bakhmut.... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he has decided to revoke the citizenship of four pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians. One of them, Viktor Medvedchuk, led Ukraine's most prominent Kremlin-aligned political party and was charged with treason in 2021.... The Pentagon is planning to bring Ukrainian troops to the United States for training on the Patriot missile defense system, U.S. officials said Tuesday. The training will take place at Fort Sill, covering about 145 square miles southwest of Oklahoma City, and could begin as soon as next week.... The U.S. plan to train Ukrainian troops shows 'Washington's de facto involvement' in the war, Anatoly Antonov, Russia's ambassador to the United States, said late Tuesday...."
Brazil. The Washington Post's live updates of developments in Brazil's political unrest are here.
News Lede
New York Times: "An unrelenting series of pounding storms over at least 11 days has left no part of California untouched -- flooding towns from north to south, loading inland mountains with snow and transforming the often dry Los Angeles River into a raging channel. At least 17 people have died in the downpours, which started in late December and stretched into the new year. And more rain is expected. As of Tuesday morning, amid the latest round of rain, nearly 100,000 residents were under evacuation orders or warnings, state officials said, and about 220,000 utility customers were without power." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times has live updates of developments here.
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Reader Comments (14)
Last night Joy Reid had Byron Donalds (the guy that some voted for Speaker) on her program and took him to task-–-one of the best back and forthing I've seen in a long time. Watch video below with transcript.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joy-reid-byron-donalds-diversity-statement_n_63be88e7e4b0cbfd55ee22fb
Might an agnostic be given permission to deliver a Sunday Sermon on Wednesday?
Hope so.
"Two years to the week since the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021, House Republicans again displayed their party’s penchant for anarchy.
Only after an embarrassing fifteen votes, the newly minted Republican House finally established some semblance of order. The 118th Congress has named Kevin McCarthy as Speaker, approved rules for the new session and taken its first substantive legislative vote.
The first vote of the new congress told us a lot. Republicans voted to strip the IRS of the money from the Inflation Reduction Act intended to improve its auditing capability and customer service. Apparently, Republicans want neither. The IRS is their foresworn enemy. For them, hating the IRS is a matter of principle.
Considerations of principle also apply to two other Republican initiatives. As part of the new Congress' rules package, Republicans voted to hamstring the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent body charged with investigating possible ethical violations by Congressional members (yahoo.com). With so many Republican legislators complicit in the Jan. 6 insurrection now likely targets of investigation, it’s only logical that when it comes to ethics, the primary Republican principle is to have no principles at all.
The principle of no principles is also at play in the House Republicans’ promise to establish a Judicial sub-committee to investigate the Justice Department for the prosecutions it has already brought against Jan 6 insurrectionists and those it might yet file against the former president and others who encouraged and orchestrated the attack (cnn.com).
Anarchy is a state of disorder due to rejection of authority’s existence or validity.
Following the path of those who attempted to subvert the 2020 election, by making the IRS, the Office of Congressional Ethics, and the Justice Department its principal targets, the Law and Order Party has confirmed itself as the Party of Anarchy."
Will we ever find out which trump worshipper planted classified
documents in President Biden's former office?
Not holding my breath.
Ken,
You can be sure that were a Democratic rep to come under fire for questionable activity, the Freeeedom Cock-us traitors would make a bee line to the Congressional Ethics office to take down the “Closed until further notice” sign and declare that they have ALWAYS been staunch supporters of ethics in political dealings.
Bystanders should take care, at that point, to remove their persons to a safe distance lest they be struck by the imminent lightning bolt.
Democrats need to make sure they don’t make the same mistake the traitors made when turning up their noses at sitting on the J6 committee.
They need to keep a close watch on whatever slimy schemes emanate from any committee set up by a liar, traitor, and supporter of sexual abuse of minors like Gym Jordan.
The lack of transparency in the way this secret addendum is being handled does not extend to the public pronouncements by the traitors. Jordan, who has been screaming about investigating what the morons have taken to calling the “weaponization” of government agencies (ie, doing their jobs), gives the plan away by the use of the word “weaponization”, for that is exactly what he’s planning to do with his new found congressional powers.
I’m tempted to say, well fine, let these dogs gnaw at the Hunter Biden laptop-FBI bone for the next two years. It’ll keep them from more dangerous, anti-democratic pursuits. But “dangerous anti-democratic pursuits” is their middle name.
What I’m not tempted to say is that at least the MSM will finally cover the upcoming jury rigged “investigations for the political hackery they stink of, because we all know that Both-siderism and What-aboutism will be controlling the media landscape for the next two years. Along with the usual Stenographers-R-Us approach to “journalism”.
The Times will be right on it.
Worth a read, I thought.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/11/opinion/republicans-kevin-mccarthy-house.html
Caused me to say I have no trouble with conservatives as long as they are trying to conserve the right things.
A white male-dominated, inequitable, racist, homophobic society that rejects reality?
Not so much.
I just heard the damned dumbest thing on the teevee. According to Andrea Mitchen, former prosecutor Barbara McQuade said it was going to be way too hard for the DOJ to prosecute Trump for stealing classified docs & other presidential* records because Joe Biden. That's like saying a busy mother who doesn't notice her toddler swiped a candy bar off the grocery shelf is as guilty of shoplifting as is somebody who stuffed her coat with packages of filet mignon & walked out of the store without paying.
Marie,
Just a few weeks ago, I heard McQuade say that the docs steal would be an open and shut case. I’m guessing what she really means is that Creampuff Casper Milquetoast Garland would be afraid to bring the case because it would look like he wasn’t being fair to poor fat boy.
It’s like we can just never win.
Bill (dis) Barr or Beauregard Sessions would indict a Democratic president six times over if things were reversed.
And Illinois can forget about that assault weapons ban. Some gun knobbers will sue and the Supreme Court will grab it right away, put it on their secret shadow docket and kill that ban. It sounds too much like an infringement on the sacred rights of the poor gun owners who can never catch a break. HitMan Sam and Porno Clarence will put a stop to that pansy-ass liberal shit. Guns for everyone!
Seeing Carl Rove side with Biden makes me wonder if he or his friends have dealt with the same problem as Joe is now. Unless there is a personal connection Republicans almost never side with Democrats. If Biden's accidentally holding on to classified documents were deemed illegal then we would probably find quite a number of former Republican officials looking at charges also. It doesn't sound like the National Archives do a great job of tracking where their classified documents end up. Maybe some extra funding by those rich tax cheats would help them keep track.
RAS
Couldn't find a more recent assessment of the classification swamp but this one from from 2016 provides some idea of its extent.
It's an archivist's super-sized migraine...
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/government-classifying-too-many-documents
@RAS, I don't believe that it's NARA's responsibility to keep track of classified documents before-the-fact. I do believe that it is the responsibility of the agencies that produce the documents to keep track of the distribution of their own information. My perception is that NARA is more of an after-the-fact record-keeping librarian to act as an organizing repository for records that are sent to them.
I know nothing about the inner workings of how classified papers are recorded, categorized and logged for distribution/recovery. During this whole escapade I've been wondering about how the outer sleeves are linked to the papers contained therein. I would expect that there would be a pretty-well established system in place to tie the two together. Invisible ink, UV-readable marking, watermarks that show up when photocopied, microprinting identifiers...something to link the sleeve with the contents that's maintained in a distribution database and to prevent the unauthorized duplication/transference of important records.
If such systems don't exist, my question is why not.
Perhaps Patrick can provide some insight to those of us not in the know.
You are right that I didn't consider all the over classified documents from all over the government that they have to deal with. I was thinking about the reports that I read about Trump taking out documents from the Archives and them having records of what was checked out and what wasn't returned.
I'm sure, like many parts of our government, they are underfunded and understaffed for the job they are meant to do. Especially considering the sensitive nature of some of the records they handle.
RAS, again, TFG did not take documents from NARA. He failed to provide them to it.