;)
The Commentariat -- July 24, 2019
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
In the Intelligence Committee hearing, Mueller told Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) that Trump's repeated public embrace of WikiLeaks -- which he had identified earlier as "a hostile foreign entity" -- was more than problematic: "Problematic is an understatement in terms of what it displays, giving some hope or some boost to what is and should be illegal activity."
... Also in the Intelligence Committee hearing, Rep. Sean Maloney (D-NY) asked Mueller why he didn't pursue a subpoena of Trump. A very interesting exchange:
... Another highlight of the afternoon hearing: PBS: "... Robert Mueller told Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., that ... Donald Trump did not answer many questions that were asked as part of the Russia investigation. 'Isn't it fair to say that the president's written answers were not only inadequate and incomplete, because he didn't answer many of your questions, but where he did that his answers showed he wasn't always being truthful?' Demings asked Mueller. 'I would say generally,' Mueller said":
Jerry Nadler began the questioning of Robert Mueller, in what was a highlight of this morning's Judiciary Committee hearing:
... Ted Lieu elicits the most significant response from Mueller re: obstruction:
... Ted Lieu is one of the sharpest tacks on the board. Update: Mueller tried to clean up his response to Lieu during the afternoon session before the House Intelligence Committee, "correcting" his answer to say he "did not make a determination" on obstruction. So Wow! followed by "never mind." ...
... Here are Andrew Desiderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico on the correction: "Mueller, however, corrected himself during the second portion of his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, saying, 'That is not the correct way to say it.' Mueller clarified his response by noting instead that the Justice Department policy that prohibits the indictment of a sitting president meant that he 'did not reach a determination as to whether the president committed a crime.'" That's not quite a reversal of his initial testimony. The Politico report is a pretty good summary of what's transpired so far.
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump started shouting on Twitter before 7 a.m. on Wednesday, venting about what he called the 'Greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. history' as Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, was headed to Capitol Hill to testify in the Russia inquiry.... By 8:10, the president had posted seven more times, delivering a kind of Twitter greatest hits --; punctuated by capital letters and exclamation points -- in which he portrayed himself as the innocent victim of an illegal crusade by Mr. Mueller, Democrats and the country's intelligence community. He said that his accusers were part of an 'illegal and treasonous attack on our Country.'... On Tuesday, Mr. Trump had shrugged off the impending testimony, telling reporters that he would not watch the hearings on Wednesday, then admitting that 'maybe I'll see a little bit of it.' But the president's early morning online activities betrayed his real intentions, indicating once again that Mr. Trump appeared consumed by the investigation that had dominated much of his presidency.... Wednesday morning, Mr. Trump appeared to threaten Mr. Mueller with prosecution for lying to Congress if the special counsel claimed during his testimony that he did not apply for the job of F.B.I. Director the day before he was appointed to lead the Russia probe. 'Hope he doesn't say that under oath in that we have numerous witnesses to the interview, including the Vice President of the United States!.'..." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: On that last point, it looks as if Mueller's friend Bill Barr will be prosecuting him. During the hearing, Louie Goemert asked a question predicated on the assertion that Mueller applied to Trump for the FBI job. Though Goemert was talking over Mueller, I believe Mueller said something to the effect of "I didn't apply for the job." Update: Later, Greg Steube (R) asked Mueller about applying for the FBI job, & Mueller said he did not. He said the purpose of the interview with Trump was to inform Trump about what the FBI director's job involved (paraphrase). Get out your handcuffs, Sheriff Bill.
~~~~~~~~~~
... Again. New York Times reporters are liveblogging the Mueller hearings. There is also a livefeed of the hearings on the linked page. ...
... Robert Mueller is scheduled to begin testifying before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday morning at 8:30 am ET.
Morgan Chalfont of the Hill: "House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Tuesday told former special counsel Robert Mueller that the Justice Department's instruction that he limit his testimony to the four corners of his public report should have 'no bearing' on his congressional appearance. Schiff, who wrote to Mueller on the eve of his highly-anticipated testimony on Capitol Hill, also accused the Justice Department of trying to obstruct legitimate investigations by Congress by saying that Mueller's testimony should remain within the boundaries of his 448-page redacted report. 'The DOJ Letter attempts unduly to circumscribe your testimony and represents yet another attempt by the Trump Administration to obstruct the authorized oversight activity and legitimate investigations of the Committee,' Schiff wrote to Mueller in a letter provided by a committee aide Tuesday evening." ...
... Lawrence O'Donnell reported that Jerry Nadler, the Judiciary Committee chair, wrote a similar letter to Mueller Tuesday night. The letter seems to be consistent with remarks Nadler made in a CNN interview earlier in the day.
Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Robert S. Mueller III's longtime right-hand aide will appear beside him at the witness table during Wednesday's hearing with the House Judiciary Committee to assist as needed as the former special counsel answers questions about his investigation, people familiar with the hearing said. The Judiciary Committee signed off on the unusual arrangement after Mr. Mueller made a last-minute request that the aide, Aaron Zebley, be sworn in as a witness alongside him. If Democrats had agreed, lawmakers could have questioned Mr. Zebley directly, potentially upending carefully laid plans by Democrats and Republicans over how to use their scant time with Mr. Mueller. Instead, as a counsel to Mr. Mueller, Mr. Zebley will not be under oath or theoretically allowed to answer lawmakers' queries. But he can confer privately with Mr. Mueller, 74, if the former special counsel needs assistance or guidance about how to respond." ...
... Rachel Maddow reported that in the Intelligence Committee hearing, Aaron Zebley will be sworn in, so he will be answering questions. This is an agreement that was just reached Tuesday night between Mueller & the Intel Committee. ...
So Robert Mueller has now asked for his long time Never Trumper lawyer to sit beside him and help with answers. What's this all about? His lawyer represented the 'basement server guy' who got off free in the Crooked Hillary case. This should NOT be allowed. Rigged Witch Hunt! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet late Tuesday ...
Here's who Trump means by basement server guy." -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...
... Surprise! "Executive Time" Runs All Day Today. John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump's schedule remains open for most of Wednesday as former special counsel Robert Mueller plans to testify before Congress on his investigation into Russia's election interference. A White House press guidance released Tuesday evening showed no events scheduled until late in the afternoon, when Trump is expected to ... [travel] to Wheeling, Va., where he will hold a campaign rally.... Trump has insisted in recent days that he does not plan to watch the full hearing, clarifying to reporters that he may see 'a little bit' of it during the day. 'No, I&'m not going to be watching -- probably -- maybe I'll see a little bit of it. I'm not going to be watching Mueller because you can't take all those bites out of the apple,' Trump said on Monday."
I was surprised to hear there was anything negative in the Mueller report at all about President Trump. I hadn't heard that before. I've mainly listened to conservative news and I hadn't heard anything negative about that report, and President Trump has been exonerated. -- Cathy Garnaat, a Republican voter who attended Justin Amash's May town hall in which he explained why he supported impeaching Trump
Lies & the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. Elaina Plott of the Atlantic: Garnatt's "words represent a perception gap distilled, a tidy summary of how many Americans navigated the space between commentary on the Mueller report and the report itself. They underscore just how successfully Attorney General William Barr exploited that space, harnessing the power of television to set the narrative of the report.... And they affirm the challenge Democrats face ... in their attempt to make Mueller's words resonate when, in an era defined by the laws of entertainment, they may well have missed their moment.... In the Trump era, most stories have a day- or even an hour-long shelf life, meaning the immediate spin on the most crucial of events is often the one most likely to stick." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm guessing "No Collusion! No Obstruction!" will be PolitiFact's Lie of the Year. I know it's mine. But it won't matter. Every elected Republican is happy to ride that lie into battle as if it were a great white armored steed. The party is 100 percent corrupt. I'd like to hear Bob Mueller today say unequivocally, "'No Collusion! No Obstruction!' is a lie." But he's a Republican, and that would be, you know, "outside the four corners of the report."
Martin Matishak of Politico: "House and Senate Democrats on Tuesday used the pending testimony from former special counsel Robert Mueller to launch a full-scale assault on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over his ongoing efforts to block congressional efforts to pass election security legislation. 'The only people that are stopping these kinds of common-sense measures from becoming law of the land are ... leader McConnell and President Trump,' Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the Senate Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, said during a Capitol Hill press conference. While Republicans and Democrats alike have attempted to pass a variety of legislation to improve election security over the past two years in response to Russian interference, McConnell has repeatedly stood in the way of the bills and argued against the need for a greater federal role to protect voting." ...
... Doina Chiacu of Reuters: "Russia is determined to interfere in U.S. elections despite sanctions and other efforts to deter such actions before the next presidential election in 2020, FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Tuesday ... during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing."
Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the Democrat-led House Ways and Means Committee, as well as New York state's attorney general and its tax chief, to block the disclosure of years of his tax returns. The president's lawsuit, which was filed 'in his capacity as a private citizen,' came less than a month after the Ways and Means Committee sued the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to obtain Trump's federal returns. Trump's new legal action intervenes in that suit, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C." Mrs. McC: Trump must have some mighty high crimes & misdemeanors hiding in those returns. The backdrop for this suit is that for the last half-century, all major-party presidential nominees have released at least some tax returns, including rich candidates like Mitt Romney & the Bushes.
Trump Lies to Kids about President Powers, Democrats, Other Stuff. Zack Ford of ThinkProgress: "... Donald Trump was candid about the unlimited power he believes he has during a speech at the Turning Point USA Teen Student Action Summit on Tuesday. After reasserting that investigations into Russia's election meddling found 'no collusion,' Trump claimed, 'Then I have an Article II, where I have the right to do whatever I want as President. But, I don';t even talk about that ... because they did a report and there was no obstruction.'... In recent months, the president has ramped up his rhetoric on the topic, signaling both his misunderstanding of the executive powers outlined in the Constitution as well as his intent to abuse them.... The rest of Trump's speech Tuesday was chock full of extremism. He reiterated his attacks on several congresswomen of color and lied about voter fraud to claim that the elections in California and other states were 'rigged' thanks to undocumented immigrants." Mrs. McC: Trump's lies, especially when directed at teenagers, should constitute an impeachable offense, IMO. ...
They vote many times, not just twice, not just three times. They vote -- it's like a circle. They come back; they put a new hat on. They come back; they put a new shirt. And in many cases, they don't even do that. You know what's going on. It's a rigged deal. -- Donald Trump, "explaining" to teenagers how undocumented workers vote in the U.S. ...
... Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Trump on Tuesday repackaged campaign rally red meat into child-size portions for a gathering of young supporters.... The president ... used his time at the conference to paint a dark picture of immigrants and the election system, falsely claiming that undocumented immigrants can vote, and then accusing the election system in states like California of being rigged.... [He] again said [Rep. Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez had called Americans 'garbage.' She did not.... 'She's vicious,' Mr. Trump said ... about ... Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. 'She's like a crazed lunatic.'" Mrs. McC: Projection, Donald?
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal jury on Tuesday convicted Bijan Rafiekian, a former business partner of Michael Flynn [& an advisor to Trump's transition team], on a pair of foreign-agent felony charges stemming from work the two men did for Turkish interests during the final months of the Trump presidential campaign in 2016. The verdicts, returned by jurors in Alexandria, Va., after a weeklong trial and only about four hours of deliberation, amount to a belated courtroom victory for special counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated the $600,000 lobbying and public relations contract at the heart of the case and then handed the matter off to other federal prosecutors...." The prosecution hit a major snag when prosecutors determined that Flynn -- who was to be a key witness in the trial -- "submitted false information" to the DOJ. "In Flynn's absence, prosecutors relied on emails, Skype chats and other witnesses to make their case...."
They're saying 'Britain Trump' They call him Britain Trump, and people are saying that's a good thing. They like me over there. That's what they wanted. That's what they need. -- Donald Trump, referring to Boris Johnson in a speech Tuesday
"They" may call Boorish Johnson "the British Trump," but no English-speaking person without a language disorder calls him "Britain Trump." -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...
... Edward Wong & David Sanger of the New York Times: "With his showmanship, his fondness for broad declarations and his transactional politics, [Boris] Johnson, or 'BoJo' as he is commonly known, is cut from Trumpian cloth. 'Britain is in an existential crisis, and the U.S. is in a form of crisis,' said R. Nicholas Burns, one of the top State Department officials under former President George W. Bush. 'Both of their leaders are mercurial, and they're entirely unpredictable.'... Both men are forces looking to shatter decades-old institutions that have bound together Western democracies. Mr. Trump has talked of withdrawing from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, while Mr. Johnson aims to carry out Brexit, Britain's divisive plan to leave the European Union -- even if he has to do it without an agreement wit Brussels."
Potemkin Village, HHS-Style. Emily Green of Vice: "When the Department of Health and Human Services wanted to show how well it was treating unaccompanied minors in its custody, it invited journalists and politicians to visit a new emergency shelter in Carrizo Springs, Texas, which had soccer fields, a gazebo, and well-equipped classrooms. Yet less than a month after it opened, that facility is shutting down...." Emphasis added. Read on. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Graham Kates of CBS News: "An unprecedented number of unaccompanied migrant children are at risk of spending the rest of their childhoods in federal custody, CBS News learned in an exclusive interview with the head of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the agency that cares for these children.... 'Unfortunately, I have well over 4,000 of those children in my care at this time...,' the director, Jonathan Hayes, told CBS News in June. 'So conceivably someone could come into our care at 15 years old and not have an identifiable sponsor in the United States and remain with us for a few years.' On their 18th birthdays, many of the children will be taken from ORR's youth holding facilities, referred to as shelters, to adult detention centers operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The number of children in this group has risen sharply in recent years, an 'alarming' and 'deeply concerning' trend, according to three former agency officials who spoke with CBS News." ...
... Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "More than 2,000 migrants who were in the United States illegally were targeted in widely publicized raids that unfolded across the country last week. But figures the government provided to The New York Times on Monday show that just 35 people were detained in the operation." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Brooklyn Dance of the Tennessean: "Neighbors and activists gathered for hours in a Hermitage [-- a Nashville suburb --] driveway Monday morning while they said two Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers attempted to talk a man and his 12-year-old son into getting out of their van. Eventually, more than 10 bystanders linked arms around the van, creating a pathway for the pair to enter their house. ICE public information officer in Nashville Bryan Cox said the officers then drove away to deescalate the situation. Neighbors ... said they have seen an unmarked, white F-150 truck roaming the neighborhood for the past two weeks, but didn't think much of it until this morning, when the truck began to flash red and blue lights." Read on for how events unfolded....
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Quite heartening. The Parable of the Good Samaritan is one answer to the question, "Who is my neighbor?" So is the Parable of the Good People of Nashville. Go & do likewise. ...
... Obed Manual in the Dallas Morning News: "An 18-year-old Dallas-born U.S. citizen has been in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for more than three weeks, his attorney says. Now his family fears he may be deported.... [Francisco] Galicia wasn't allowed to use the phone for the three weeks he was in CBP custody, [his mother] said. Francisco's brother Marlon, who was born in Mexico, signed a voluntary deportation form after the CBP detained him for two days. "The Dallas Morning News reviewed a copy of the birth certificate [which Francisco's mother presented to CBP officials] and it lists Galicia as having been born at Parkland Memorial Hospital on December 24, 2000." Mrs. McC: Yes, but he "looks Mexican." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Update. Obed Manuel in the Dallas Morning News: "Francisco Erwin Galicia, the Dallas-born U.S. citizen who spent three weeks in U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, was released Tuesday afternoon. Galicia's case garnered national attention. The Dallas Morning News first reported on Monday that the 18-year-old had been held in CBP and ICE custody since June 27.... Galicia's detention appears to have been a bureaucratic mix up related to the fact that he had a U.S. birth certificate and also, years earlier, a Mexican visitor's visa to travel to the U.S. from Mexico. Neither ICE nor CBP have responded to repeated requests for comment.... [Francisco's brother Marlong, who was born in Mexico, & traveled with Francisco to Mexico,] was deported ... and is now in Reynosa[, Mexico,] with his grandmother." There were some complications because Francisco also held a visitors visa that falsely claim[ed] that he was born in Mexico." As Chris Hayes put in Tuesday night, Francisco was detained "because of the color of his skin."
Thanks, Betsy! Erica Green & Stacy Cowley of the New York Times: "Dream Center Education Holdings, a subsidiary of a Los Angeles-based megachurch, had no experience in higher education when it petitioned the federal Education Department to let it take over a troubled chain of for-profit trade schools.... The purchase was blessed [by the Education Department] despite Dream Center's lack of experience and questionable finances by an administration favorable to for-profit education. But barely a year later, the company tumbled into insolvency, dozens of its colleges closed abruptly and thousands of students were left with no degree after paying tens of thousands of dollars in tuition.... Company emails, documents and recordings show that part of why Dream Center kept going is that it thought the Education Department, which under [Betsy] DeVos has rolled back regulations on for-profit education, would try to keep it from failing. Mr. Barton emailed other Dream Center executives that the department's head of higher education policy -- Diane Auer Jones, a former executive and lobbyist for for-profit colleges -- had pulled strings to help the company's schools in their effort to regain a seal of approval from an accreditor, despite their perilous positions. In another instance, Dream Center's chief operating officer told faculty at an endangered campus that Ms. Jones was changing departmental regulations to help the schools obtain accreditation retroactively." (Also linked yesterday.)
Daisuke Wakabayashi, et al., of the New York Times: "The Justice Department said on Tuesday that it would start an antitrust review into how internet giants had accumulated market power and whether they had acted to reduce competition. Similar inquiries are underway in Congress and at the Federal Trade Commission, which shares antitrust oversight responsibilities with the Justice Department.... Attorney General William P. Barr himself has plunged into the conversation about tech power. On Tuesday, he said in a speech in Manhattan that tech companies should stop using advanced encryption and other security measures that effectively turn devices into 'law-free zones,' essentially criticizing Apple and its iPhones without naming them." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: If this were a normal administration, you would consider the DOJ's investigation to be a good thing, but I suspect the "antitrust review" will end up focusing on how social media are so unfair to Donald Trump & his loony, white-nationalist, conspiracy-theorizing backers.
** Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Thousands of emergency workers who rushed to the rubble of the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11 attacks will be granted health care and other compensation for the rest of their lives. The Senate on Tuesday gave final approval to legislation that would care permanently for those who have grown deathly ill from the toxins of ground zero. White House officials said President Trump was expected to sign it. Even before the Senate's 97-to-2 vote was gaveled to a close, retired New York firefighters and police officers, advocates and Jon Stewart, the comedian who championed the legislation, had leapt to their feet in the usually hushed chamber to lead a standing ovation.... Senators rejected two amendments that sought to curtail the measure's cost.... One of those amendments, introduced by Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, would have offset the cost of the legislation with spending cuts. Another, proposed by Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, would have capped the fund at the Congressional Budget Office's $10.2 billion estimate over the next 10 years.... Mr. Lee and Mr. Paul were the only 'no' votes...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Both Paul & Lee voted for Trump's deficit-ballooning massive tax cut for corporations & rich people. So that's a yes for rich people & a no for first responders. As for Trump's signing the bill, that's pro forma since Congress could override a veto.
Kadia Goba, et al., of BuzzFeed News: “The House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday night to formally oppose the Palestinian-backed movement to boycott Israel, over the objections of Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. The measure, H.Res.246 opposes 'efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel and the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement [BDS] targeting Israel,' according to the bill's text. BDS -- a movement which began in 2005 -- calls for groups to apply economic pressure to Israel to achieve Palestinian independence in the Middle East. The Senate passed a similar bill amid concerns that the legislation violates the First Amendment. The bill passed the House Tuesday 398-17 with five members voting 'present' to abstain from the vote. Sixteen Democrats opposed the bill, including Omar and Tlaib. Just one Republican voted against the measure, Rep. Thomas Massie."
Ryan Browne of CNN: "The Senate Tuesday voted overwhelmingly 90 to 8 to confirm ... Donald Trump's pick for secretary of defense, Mark Esper, giving the Pentagon its first permanent chief since James Mattis stepped down in January. While he received broad bipartisan backing, several Democratic presidential hopefuls including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren voted against Esper who had been Army Secretary and had briefly served as the acting secretary of defense after Trump's initial pick to replace Mattis, Patrick Shanahan's nomination dramatically imploded last month."
Presidential Race 2020. Hassan Kanuof & Andrew Wallander of Bloomberg: "Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential campaign has been hit with an unfair labor practice complaint alleging illegal employee interrogation and retaliation against staffers. The July 19 complaint to the National Labor Relations Board, filed by an unnamed individual in Indiana, was posted to the agency's website late July 22. It comes as tense negotiations between the Sanders campaign and the union representing staffers recently boiled over publicly. The Washington Post reported July 23 that unionized organizers for the campaign had won a pay raise and reached a compromise to reduce the hours of some workers.... The charge [on the NLRB docket] also alleges that the campaign unlawfully discharged an employee, modified a labor contract, and engaged in illegal discipline.... Sanders has made worker rights a key part of this platform in the race for the Democrat White house nomination." ...
... Devan Cole of CNN: "Sen. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday that his campaign has reached a deal with its unionized staffers to increase their pay following negotiations, defusing an issue that threatened to distract his populist messaging for higher wages.... Last week, Sanders defended the salary of his staffers, who unionized earlier this year, following a Washington Post report detailing campaign field staff's frustration that in some cases, long hours and six-day weeks were driving down their hourly compensation. 'I was insistent that everybody on our staff make at least $15 an hour, and in fact they're making $17 an hour,' Sanders told CNN's Poppy Harlow on 'Newsroom' Tuesday. 'The offer that we made to the union several months ago would have accomplished that. And I'm happy to tell you, by the way, that offer was just accepted.'"
Congressional Race 2020. QAnon Candidate Challenges Ilhan Omar. Jared Holt of Right Wing Watch: "Danielle Stella, a Republican candidate seeking to unseat Rep. Ilhan Omar from the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020, firmly supports the QAnon conspiracy theory, according to someone identifying themselves as communications volunteer who responded to Right Wing Watch's inquiry. QAnon is a Trump-era phenomena centered on a conspiracy theory that alleges that Trump administration insiders have been dropping clues, in the form of cryptic riddles posted on anonymous imageboards, about a supposed secret plan to take down the 'deep state' and a worldwide network of satanic pedophiles said to include A-list Hollywood figures and top-level Democrats. Believers, who call themselves' anons,' dedicate themselves to decoding the posts."
Trump's Tweets & Fox "News" Led to Pipe Bombs. Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "Cesar Sayoc, the fanatical Donald Trump fan who mailed package bombs to the president's political opponents, is a cognitively limited sexual abuse survivor who thought of the now-president as a 'surrogate father' and came to believe in an 'alternative reality' fueled in part by Trump's attacks on his political opponents, his attorneys told a federal court on Monday. Sayoc has admitted to mailing pipe bombs to Democratic politicians, media figures and celebrities he perceived as Trump's enemies last fall, and pleaded guilty to several federal crimes in March.... 'A rational observer may have brushed off Trump's tweets as hyperbole, but Mr. Sayoc took them to heart,' according to Sayoc's attorneys.... Sayoc 'began watching Fox News religiously,' started following political news on Facebook and and 'threw himself into' Trump's campaign...." (Also linked yesterday.)
David Enrich & Jo Becker of the New York Times: "As Deutsche Bank officials this year scrambled to extricate themselves from a yearslong relationship with Jeffrey Epstein..., they uncovered suspicious transactions in which Mr. Epstein had moved money out of the United States. Deutsche Bank reported the transactions to a federal agency in charge of policing financial crimes, according to three people familiar with the bank&'s internal processes. The report came as the bank started looking for signs that Mr. Epstein was using his financial resources for the purposes of sex trafficking.... At least one bank dropped Mr. Epstein as a client in the years after his guilty plea. But it wasn't until late last year, after The Miami Herald published an investigation into the earlier sexual abuse allegations, that Deutsche Bank decided to sever ties with him.... Deutsche Bank officials are still trying to determine what Mr. Epstein was using his accounts for, including where and to whom he had previously moved money."
Beyond the Beltway
** Puerto Rico. Steve Almasy, et al., of CNN: "Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló is expected to resign Wednesday after more than a week of protests that rocked the island's capital city, a source familiar with the situation told CNN. Thousands have jammed the streets of San Juan calling for the governor's resignation after Puerto Rico's Center for Investigative Journalism published a series of group messages between the governor and his inner circle that included homophobic and misogynistic language and jokes about Hurricane Maria victims. Demonstrators were determined to stay on the streets until Rosselló stepped down, fed up with years of government corruption, high poverty rates, crushing debt and a painfully slow recovery since the 2017 disaster. Overnight Wednesday, an energetic crowd filled the streets outside the governor's mansion waving flags and banners after news of the governor's anticipated announcement broke." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Guess we'd better get out our flags & banners & march on the White House.
Way Beyond
Ben Westcott, et al., of CNN: "Warplanes from four countries faced off Tuesday in a chaotic and unprecedented confrontation above a small, disputed island off the coast of South Korea and Japan. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a statement claiming they had fired more than 300 warning shots at a Russian A-50 command and control military aircraft early Tuesday morning after it had twice violated the country's airspace, the first such incident between the countries. Moscow furiously denied Seoul's account of the encounter, claiming that South Korean military jets had dangerously intercepted two of its bombers during a planned flight over neutral waters. But in a statement Tuesday afternoon, Japan's Ministry of Defense backed up South Korea's claims, saying the A-50 had flown over the islands and that Tokyo had scrambled fighters to intercept. In a further complication, both South Korea and Japan said that two Chinese H-6 bombers had joined the Russian military aircraft on sorties through the region as well." (Also linked yesterday.)
Here's the New York Times' story, by Stephen Castle, on Boris Johnson's becoming Conservative party leader & new British PM. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... "Ivanka Trump Congratulates Boris Johnson On Becoming PM Of Nonexistent Country." Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "Ivanka Trump congratulated British lawmaker Boris Johnson for his imminent appointment as prime minister of the ... 'United Kingston' instead of United Kingdom." "Look Daddy.....I'm governmenting!!!" wrote Twitter wag Kim. Thanks to forrest m. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
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Don't know if the numbers are reliable, but this from the new Edsall snapped me awake this AM:
"In a May GQ article, “The Democratic Party Is Waging a War Against Its Very Own Base,” Tory Gavito, president of Way to Win, and Sean McElwee, co-founder of Data for Progress, made the case for mobilization of left-leaning voters who cast ballots in 2012 but sat out 2016.
Gavito and McElwee produced the accompanying chart, which shows that if these voters had gone to the polls in 2016, they would have given victories to Hillary Clinton in Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. And of course, with these victories, Clinton, not Trump, would be president."
Estimates of the decline in liberal Democratic turnout in four key states compared to Donald Trump’s margin of victory.
(Ken's editorial insertion: Since I couldn't reproduce the chart in chart form the numbers that appear should be read thusly: First number in the display is the Pretender's victory margin. The second estimated number of progressives who did not vote. State names follow numbers)
Trump margin
of victory:
Progressive 2012 voters
who didn’t vote in 2016:
112,911 votes
304,000
Florida
44,292
250,000
Pennsylvania
22,748
103,000
Wisconsin
10,704
77,000
Michigan
By The New York Times | Source: Data for Progress"
My conclusion: These absent progressives did even more harm to the country than the Nader idiots did in 2000. Sometimes it's hard to like your friends..
Guess it didn't snap me all the way awake. Forgot the link.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/24/opinion/2020-progressive-candidates.html?
Typically, one would assume that the President of the United States, appearing before a group of impressionable kids, would take the high ground, talk about hard work, integrity, family, duty, kindness to others, loyalty, and love.
Not Trump. For this asshole an appearance anywhere, before any group, for any reason, is just another opportunity to talk about one thing and one thing only: himself.
So instead of uplifting words from the president, these kids got the trademark Trump brew of nastiness, personal grievances, racism, hatred, braggadocio, and resentment, held together by his ever present not so secret ingredient, but one that is absolutely vital for maintaining his image of himself: lies, lies, and more lies. Oh. Did I mention lies?
Such a disgrace. Such a small, mean, vicious little man.
For quite some time, most of us held out hope that Bob Mueller's investigation would open the ball on this whining bag of criminality and mendacity. Well, that didn't work out as we hoped it might. But this morning he has one last chance to stick a pin in this bloated slob. I heard his opening statement and the first ten minutes or so of the hearing.
Hopes dashed again.
The problem is that people like Mueller play fair (too fair, in this case). And Trump and the Party of Traitors count on that. They need people like Mueller to play it straight so they can get away with their machinations, lies, and treasonous actions. The press is no help either. They're still stuck in the "On one hand, but then on the other" both-siderism.
So now it's up to Democrats. If they can stop beating each other up for ten minutes.
...eight minutes, nine minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes, three hours...
Nope.
We're screwed.
Took a quick peek at a monitor to see how the hearing is going. Saw Mueller say he wasn’t going to get into this and wouldn’t address that. Then noticed all the R’s grinning from ear to ear.
They’re getting just what they want.
Truth, justice, the American people? Not so much.
It is clear that it isn't going well. The Rs are screaming and the Ds are being rational and reasonable. Neither of which is a winning strategy. It is clear that the most important talking point by the Rs is that poor DJT should be innocent until PROVEN guilty, like any citizen. Since Mueller and the DOJ and crapweasel Barr have declined to indict, then it has not be proven, and is therefore false. Not only is he not guilty, but he is wholly innocent. And, look over there! Fusion GPS! Peter Whatsisname! Poor innocent lovely Dump!
Just what we thought-- my daughter just said one word after 2 and 1/2 hours: "Pointless."
Be= been
@Jeanne: This hearing should not have followed the standard format of allowing a Republican to follow a Democrat in questioning Mueller. I suppose there's some kind of House rule on that, but it would have gone a lot better if the Democrats had all questioned Mueller, then let the Republicans start insulting him. The back-and-forth is disorienting, tho I'm not sure I agree it's "pointless," because the media lords have predetermined "there will be soundbites." Of course, the soundbites played on Fox "News" will be way different from those aired on MSNBC, so Foxbots like Ms. Garnaat, cited above, will remain oblivious to the facts Mueller laid out in his report.
It wasn't a hearing. It was a telling. Or rather ..."I'm gonna talk the full five minutes of my time, you'll get no time to response, Bob." At least that's the way the Republican attack on Mueller came across. On the other hand, Mueller's constant refrain "...as the Report states." without offering further clarification came across as evasive.
He's not a polished speaker and appears very awkward. But, there were times when he actually did attempt to answer more fully and was rudely cut off. I felt that Nadler should have stopped proceedings and allowed him to finish.
@ Mrs. Bea
I thought the back and forth turned out to somewhat helpful, especially when the R closing statement about the pointlessness of the investigation was followed by the screen shot of the statistics of the number of indictments resulting from the investigation. Another great contrast was when the Rs tried to portray Mueller as biased partisan, but the D (forgot the state he's from) recounted the number of republican presidents he'd served under and the unanimous senate nomination approvals. It's true that the event was very scripted and planned from both sides, and hard to follow, but we knew that going into this - that it wasn't going to be about new information from Mueller, it was going to be about laying the case for the next step, and if the dems don't step up to recommending impeachment, that step will be off a cliff.
MAG:
I’m “with” your entire comment.
Adding -
Mueller appears inexperienced with (and disoriented by) being on-camera. Add on the factors of a distracting environment (multiple cameras - vid & photo - with crews’ continual movements in front of him). Wondered about the acoustics / Mueller’s ability to hear.
Mrs. B.McC:
Thank you for the Live link caught while in transit!
The rushed timing felt like alternate (Confed-side) firing squads.
The second round went better.
And from Charles Pierce's take on the first round:
"...And the fact that Mueller wasn't exactly Richard Pryor while delivering his answers doesn't matter a damn. He said the president* is a crook. Everyone in Congress knows it, and they knew it before Wednesday even had dawned. But now there's video."
To cross the pond to the United Kingston for a moment, methinks it shan’t be long before we hear Boorish Johnson whine “Who knew Brexit could be so hard?”
As Trump found out (even if it doesn’t seem to mean much to him), it’s a lot easier to sling the bullshit, tell the lies, and rile the rubes than it is to actually do the governmenting (ask Princess Ivanka!).
@MAG: Yes, thanks, the second round went much better and I'll dismiss my own dish of dimes by agreeing with old Charlie who sometimes is right as rain.
Let's see what He, who shall not be named, has to say at his rally tonight.
Still and all, for Mueller to step out (the Barr) line and comment on what Trump (and Barr's) pals the Russians are doing now and will do in the next Trump Stolen Election Attempt, it strikes me as outrageous that he couldn't see himself clear to pointing out that despite not being able to connect all the dots, there was plenty of evidence that the Trump campaign benefited greatly from Russian interference and intends to do so once again.
The fact that he didn't make that leap indicates (as I mentioned earlier) that he will play it straight no matter what, and hope that conscientious members of Congress will take matters into their own hands. The problem is that more than half the Congress LOVES this interference and hates democracy, especially if it boots their favored racist asshole out of office.
Mueller cannot be so obtuse as to believe that Republicans will take his work at face value and do what needs to be done. They are TRAITORS. He HAS to know this.
And their president is a traitor as well.
If that doesn't bother Mueller, then he can retire and go play horseshoes or gin rummy or read biographies of past presidents.
But if it DOES, then what in the holy hell does he intend to do about it? He had Excalibur in his hands today. Instead of wielding it, he set it aside and told everyone to refer to citations listed, overleaf.
The building is on fire and Mueller suggests that no one play with matches.
Thanks, Bob.