;)
The Commentariat -- June 13, 2019
Afternoon Update:
** Good Riddance. Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "Sarah Huckabee Sanders will leave her post as White House press secretary at the end of the month, President Trump announced on Thursday."
It's the Media's Fault. Also Prince of Whales. Peter Baker & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "President Trump on Thursday defended his willingness to accept campaign help from Russia or other foreign governments by equating it to the sort of diplomatic meetings he holds with world leaders as the nation's chief executive.... 'I meet and talk to "foreign governments"' every day,' he wrote Thursday on Twitter. 'I just met with the Queen of England (U.K.), the Prince of Whales, the P.M. of the United Kingdom, the P.M. of Ireland, the President of France and the President of Poland. We talked about "Everything!"' he added, misspelling the title of Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, before fixing and reposting it. 'Should I immediately call the FBI about these calls and meetings?' he continued. 'How ridiculous! I would never be trusted again. With that being said, my full answer is rarely played by the Fake News Media. They purposely leave out the part that matters.' The comparison was startling even for Mr. Trump. Having tea with the queen of England is hardly the same as taking clandestine help from agents of President Vladimir V. Putin as part of a concerted campaign by Russian intelligence to tilt an American presidential election." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is even more astounding than Baker & Fandos let on. It's an honor-among-thieves defense in which Trump promises U.S. adversaries that he'll keep their secrets if they dish dirt that benefits him. Very mob-bossy. See Patrick's commentary below explaining what happens when a foreign official speaks by phone to a "real" president.
Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Thursday hailed Michael Flynn's move to hire a lawyer who has been a fierce critic of the FBI's investigation into the former national security adviser. 'General Michael Flynn, the 33 year war hero who has served with distinction, has not retained a good lawyer, he has retained a GREAT LAWYER, Sidney Powell,' Trump tweeted. 'Best Wishes and Good Luck to them both!' The message from Trump is one of the strongest indicators Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about his contacts with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition, remains in the president's good graces and hints that a pardon might still be within the realm of possibility." Mrs. McC: I suspect Flynn has something on Trump that Flynn hasn't divulged or that Trump thinks Flynn hasn't divulged.
Adam Edelman of NBC News: "The House Intelligence Committee on Thursday issued subpoenas to ... Michael Flynn and former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates, as part of the panel's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The subpoenas are for both testimony and documents, the committee's chairman, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a statement."
Jordan Fabian & Al Weaver of the Hill: "A federal watchdog agency on Thursday urged President Trump to remove Kellyanne Conway as White House counselor over repeated violations of the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in elections in their official capacity. The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) sent a 16-page report to Trump accusing Conway of breaking the law on numerous occasions ... 'by disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity during television interviews and on social media' and calling on the president to oust her 'immediately.' 'As a highly visible member of the administration, Ms. Conway's violations, if left unpunished, would send a message to all federal employees that they need not abide by the Hatch Act's restrictions,' special counsel Henry Kerner wrote to Trump. 'Her actions thus erode the principal foundation of our democratic system -- the rule of law.' The White House immediately rejected the office's recommendation that Conway be fired, saying its findings are 'deeply flawed and violate her constitutional rights to free speech and due process.'"
Ted Hesson & Anita Kumar of Politico: "John Zadrozny, an ally to White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, is expected to head to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to four people familiar with the plan. Zadrozny is an official at the State Department; he previously worked for the Domestic Policy Council. At USCIS he may become deputy chief of staff, two current and former Homeland Security Department officials briefed on the move told Politico. Zadrozny will join the team of newly installed USCIS acting Director Ken Cuccinelli, a vocal immigration hard-liner. As Virginia attorney general earlier this decade, Cuccinelli backed measures to end birthright citizenship and to deny unemployment benefits to workers who didn't speak English."
Richard Pérez-Peña, et al., of the New York Times: "Apparent attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday forced their crews to abandon ship and left one vessel ablaze, a month after four tankers were damaged in the same area, raising alarms about the security of a vital passageway for much of the world's petroleum. The early morning incidents, which two shipping companies involved and the White House described as attacks, elevated tensions in a region already unsettled by the escalating conflict between the United States and some of its allies, and Iran.... It was not immediately clear how the most recent incidents unfolded or who was involved, just as the circumstances of last month's attacks remain murky." Japan's PM Shinzo Abe was visiting Iran Wednesday, and MSNBC is reporting that the tankers were carrying oil bound for Japan.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The Trump Scandals, Ctd.
** Trump Invites Foreign Governments to Collude with Him. Lucien Bruggeman of ABC News: "... Donald Trump may not alert the FBI if foreign governments offered damaging information against his 2020 rivals during the upcoming presidential race, he said, despite the deluge of investigations stemming from his campaign's interactions with Russians during the 2016 campaign. Asked by ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos in the Oval Office on Wednesday whether his campaign would accept such information from foreigners -- such as China or Russia -- or hand it over the FBI, Trump said, I think maybe you do both.' 'I think you might want to listen, there isn't anything wrong with listening,' Trump continued. 'If somebody called from a country, Norway, [and said] "we have information on your opponent" -- oh, I think I'd want to hear it.'... 'It's not an interference, they have information -- I think I'd take it,' Trump said. 'If I thought there was something wrong, I'd go maybe to the FBI -- if I thought there was something wrong. But when somebody comes up with oppo research, right, they come up with oppo research, "oh let's call the FBI." The FBI doesn't have enough agents to take care of it. When you go and talk, honestly, to congressman, they all do it, they always have, and that's the way it is. It's called oppo research.'... 'The FBI director said that is what should happen," Stephanopoulos replied, referring to comments FBI Director Christopher Wray made during congressional testimony last month, when he told lawmakers 'the FBI would want to know about' any foreign election meddling.... 'The FBI director is wrong, because frankly it doesn't happen like that in life,' Trump said." Includes video. ...
... Here's a clip from ABC News' nightly report that includes Trump's remarks reported above:
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: This is "Russia, if you're listening ..." on steroids. Trump is now POTUS* & he has said openly he will violate federal law & use his powerful position to obtain oppo research from foreign powers. This is not about illegal acts Trump committed in the past; it's about ongoing breaches. "Nancy Pelosi, if you're listening...," this is an essential element in an Article of Impeachment. "Chris Wray, if you're listening...," better get a FISA warrant to "tap Trump's wires." ...
... Rick Hasen: "Trump Says He Would Accept Foreign Government In-Kind Contributions of Opposition Research in the 2020 Elections, in Violation of American Law.... In a few pieces in Slate, I explained why an offer of free opposition research from a foreign government is a crime, and there is no good First Amendment defense for doing so. (I also have explained that the Steele Dossier involved the payment at market rates from a foreign individual for services, which is legal.) I'm not going to rehash it all here. Click the links for more." ...
... Another Whopper. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump has sought to characterize Mr. Mueller's report as complete exoneration. He took it a step further on Wednesday during an earlier meeting with reporters when he claimed that Mr. Mueller's report actually said that 'we rebuffed them' when the Russians tried to help.... In actuality, Mr. Mueller's report documented numerous contacts between Mr. Trump's campaign and Russian figures throughout the 2016 campaign." ...
... Jonathan Chait: "... Trump reiterated his view that he would not go to the FBI. Trump hates flippers, he's a stand-up guy, not a rat, and he respects the omertà: 'I'll tell you what, I've seen a lot of things over my life. I don't think in my whole life I've ever called the FBI. In my whole life. You don't call the FBI. You throw somebody out of your office, you do whatever you do,' Trump continued. 'Oh, give me a break -- life doesn't work that way.' Trump continues to show every sign of hoping and expecting to benefit from foreign collusion in 2020.... His message to Russia, or any other government that wants a close relationship with him, is obvious: Do anything you can to help me win." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The initial, visceral impression I got watching that clip of Trump defending the acceptance of foreign aid was "mob boss defends stupid son." Say, an episode where Tony Soprano tells the school principal that A.J. was a good boy despite having ripped off a bunch of gym equipment: "Hey, this is what kids do. It's human nature. It's pretty harmless, Mrs. McCrabbie. You don't want any harm to come to anybody, do you?" As Chait writes, the POTUS* has the mindset of the head of a crime family. (The difference, as far as we know, is that he beats up & slaughters his enemies metaphorically rather than actually.) Maybe we should blame David Chase & Martin Scorsese for this presidency*. ...
... Dylan Scott of Vox: "Mueller's report contained at least 140 contacts between Trump and Russian associates. Officials from other countries -- United Arab Emirates, China, Israel, and Mexico -- have reportedly discussed trying to manipulate Jared Kushner..., a key target for foreign contacts during the campaign and in the White House due to his focus on foreign policy and his family's real estate business. Kushner himself said in a recent interview with Axios he was unsure whether he'd tell the FBI if Russians contacted him to request another meeting similar to the infamous Trump Tower appointment in 2016.... While Trump's answer to the same question now sounds like Kushner's, the president told reporters a month ago he would not accept help from a foreign adversary during the 2020 presidential campaign. 'I don't need it,' he said at the time." ...
... Ben Bradlee, Jr., in the New Yorker: "Trump ... crowed on Twitter..., 'No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION....' That statement was false on all three counts. Mueller's report explicitly did not exonerate Trump, and it cited at least ten possible instances of Trump's obstruction of justice, while noting that Justice Department policy prevented the filing of criminal charges against a sitting President. Mueller made no judgment on collusion, meanwhile, because that isn't a crime.In the political and popular vernacular, collusion has been incorrectly conflated with its legal equivalent: criminal conspiracy.... But the special counsel noted in his report that there were 'numerous links' (i.e., contacts) between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign.... Most Americans would doubtless consider it unacceptable for a Presidential candidate to collaborate with a foreign enemy to win an election. But Trump, by endlessly repeating his 'no collusion' mantra, has been strikingly successful in inoculating himself ... against the politically explosive charge that he was in cahoots with the Russians."
Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "Special counsel Robert Mueller's report failed to address crucial questions about ... Donald Trump's relationship with Russia that the FBI may still be investigating, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Wednesday as he kicked off a hearing designed to spotlight those issues. 'Of all the questions that Mueller helped resolve, he left many critical questions unanswered -- what happened to the counterintelligence investigation?,' Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said as he opened a hearing on counterintelligence issues. 'Were there other forms of compromise, like money laundering, left out, uninvestigated or referred to other offices? Were individuals granted security clearances that shouldn't have them? And are there individuals still operating in the administration that leave America vulnerable?' ... Wednesday's hearing ... featured testimony from two former FBI counterintelligence officials and conservative commentator.... The Republican witness at the hearing, Andrew McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor who writes for National Review, testified that members of the Trump campaign should have called the FBI when Russians approached them with offers of assistance. But Republican lawmakers dismissed any notion that the Trump campaign behaved inappropriately."
Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: "Justice Department officials intend to interview senior C.I.A. officers as they review the Russia investigation, according to people briefed on the matter, indicating they are focused partly on the intelligence agencies' most explosive conclusion about the 2016 election: that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia intervened to benefit Donald J. Trump. The interview plans are the latest sign the Justice Department will take a critical look at the C.I.A.'s work on Russia's election interference. Investigators want to talk with at least one senior counterintelligence official and a senior C.I.A. analyst, the people said. Both officials were involved in the agency's work on understanding the Russian campaign to sabotage the election in 2016. While the Justice Department review is not a criminal inquiry, it has provoked anxiety in the ranks of the C.I.A., according to former officials."
Nicholas Fandos & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Donald Trump Jr. told Senate investigators on Wednesday that he did not inform his father at the time about a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer promising 'dirt' on Hillary Clinton and that he was not kept abreast of negotiations over a proposed real estate project in Moscow, a person familiar with his testimony said. The younger Mr. Trump, in roughly three hours of closed-door questioning in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that he had nothing to correct fro past statements that he had given that panel and other congressional bodies -- despite claims by former Trump aides to the contrary. Questioning appeared to focus on two of the most scrutinized issues of the 2016 presidential campaign: a meeting in Trump Tower in Manhattan between top Trump campaign officials and a Russian emissary, and the extensive efforts of the Trump Organization to secure a major development in Moscow even as Donald J. Trump was running for president."
Manu Raju & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "Former White House aide Hope Hicks has agreed to testify next Wednesday behind closed doors, the House Judiciary Committee announced Wednesday. The committee plans to release a transcript of the interview afterward. The scheduled interview with Hicks, a longtime Trump campaign aide and former White House communications director, is the first case where a member of Trump's inner circle will appear before the committee as part of its investigation into possible obstruction of justice.... The Judiciary Committee plans to ask questions about Hicks' time at the White House and during the campaign, according to two sources, but it remains to be seen whether the White House will assert executive privilege to prevent her from answering about her time at White House.... Last week, the White House directed Hicks and former White House deputy counsel Annie Donaldson not to provide any documents to the committee involving their time at the White House...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is not a victory for the Judiciary Committee. It's not getting the telegenic Hicks on camera -- which is a major goal of the committee -- and there's no reason to think Hicks will answer critical questions about Trump's actions while in office, like that tarmac episode where Trump created a false statement about the Trump Tower "adoption" meeting. Moreover, if Hicks has notes & other documents from her White House stint that would be helpful, it doesn't appear she will produce them.
Emoluments Galore! Shelby Hanssen & Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "Representatives of at least 22 foreign governments appear to have spent money at Trump Organization properties, an NBC News review has found, hinting at a significant foreign cash flow to the American president that critics say violates the U.S. Constitution. The extent and amount of foreign spending at Trump's hotels, golf clubs and restaurants is not known, because the Trump Organization is a private company and declines to disclose that information. Trump promised to donate any profits from foreign governments, and the Trump Organization has sent$343,000 to the U.S. Treasury for 2017 and 2018. The company did not release underlying numbers to support that figure.... Donald Trump is the first president in modern history to retain ownership of a business empire while in office. He says the company is being run by his sons, but he continues to derive income from the various businesses...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Tierney Sneed & Matt Shuham of TPM: "Former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn has hired attorney Sydney Powell to replace his legal team. Powell bashed Mueller's tactics in commentary before she was hired by Flynn, suggesting Flynn might be doubling down on a strategy to cast doubt on his guilty plea even as he continues to cooperate with prosecutors.... Legal experts have said it would be 'suicidal' for Flynn to escalate any attacks on the FBI while he awaits his sentence. Yet he has hired a lawyer who has done just that, in punditry on Twitter and on television.... Her commentary has focused specifically on Flynn's case and claims that he did not commit the crimes he pleaded guilty to.&" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "Somehow nepotism seems to rankle more than grift alone.... It's worth recognizing that currently, the United States of America is not just in thrall to the billionaires. It's in thrall to the children, and the wives, and also the pool boys of the billionaires.... [T]he problem with the Trump administration's seemingly bottomless capacity to fill the swamp with money and influence is that the swamps are now noticeably teeming with unfit, uninteresting, and unqualified children and spouses.... The Trump family took something American elites have done in stealth and discretion for decades and tried to turn it into a sales pitch: 'Nobody does nepotism like we do nepotism.'... The idea of American meritocracy was imperfect from the founding, but it's never been as transparently laughable as it is today." --s
"What is Being Hidden?" Julie Davis & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A House committee voted on Wednesday to recommend that the House hold two cabinet secretaries in contempt of Congress, hours after President Trump invoked executive privilege to block disclosure of crucial documents on the decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The House Oversight and Reform Committee's contempt recommendation for Attorney General William P. Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross sets up a possible vote on the House floor in the coming weeks. It was the culmination of a monthslong dispute with the administration over the panel's efforts to compel testimony from top officials and documents related to the census question. The vote was mostly along party lines, with only one Republican, Representative Justin Amash of Michigan, the sole member of his party to call for Mr. Trump's impeachment, supporting it.... Before the contempt vote, the Justice Department informed Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland and the [Oversight] committee chairman, that Mr. Trump had decided to invoke his secrecy powers because Mr. Cummings had 'chosen to go forward with an unnecessary and premature contempt vote.' 'We must protect the integrity of the census, and we will stand up for Congress's authority under the Constitution to conduct meaningful oversight,' Mr. Cummings....' 'This begs the question,' Mr. Cummings added, 'what is being hidden?'" (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.) ...
... What Is Being Hidden Is Racism, Election-Rigging & Economic Discrimination against Blue Regions. Rafi Schwartz of Splinter: "As part of a federal lawsuit against the citizenship question's inclusion, lawyers for the ACLU provided documents from the late former Republican National Committee redistricting chairman-turned gerrymandering consultant Dr. Thomas Hofeller, which showed the clearest look to date at the GOP's racist effort to use the Census to skew elections to their advantage.... [Hofeller] concluded that the effect of a citizenship question on reworking election district maps would be 'advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites.' Subsequently, parts of Hofeller's documents were reportedly included 'word-for-word' in a Department of Justice letter to the Census Bureau over including a citizenship question the census." Mrs. McC: It's kinda quaint that the administration wants to hide their racist election-rigging, isn't it? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jay Michaelson of the Daily Beast: "In the case of the census, Trump administration officials may have violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), and perhaps even the constitution. But in brazenly defying congressional subpoenas, they have flouted the rule of law itself, not to mention Congress's constitutionally-mandated powers. In some ways, the cover-up is even worse than the crime.... It's clear ... that [Commerce Secretary Wilbur] Ross lied under oath to Congress. As Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) pointed out in [Wednesday's] hearing, Ross said that he only added the citizenship question in December, 2017, after a request from the Department of Justice and a public comment period. But a letter Ross wrote seven months earlier, in May 2017, said that he had already requested the question be added. That makes the entire public process a sham, and means that Ross's underlings violated the APA by falsifying the record.... Ross [also] lied under oath about his meetings with White House advisors Steve Bannon and Kris Kobach, both ardent nationalists. DOJ officials lied about the influence of [GOP gerrymandering guru Thomas] Hofeller, covered up their conversations about changing census confidentiality rules to share data with ICE, and lied about the chain of events leading up to the proposed change. Most importantly, it's now abundantly clear that the proffered rationale for the question -- to aid in the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act -- is pure pretext.... The real rationale is right there in the Hofeller memos: to dilute the power of non-white communities by omitting non-citizens from congressional district apportionment." ...
... Cristina Cabrera of TPM: "George Conway, the husband of senior White House advisor Kellyanne Conway, wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post on Wednesday calling for the impeachment of ... Donald Trump. Conway, an outspoken critic of Trump on Twitter, penned the op-ed with Georgetown law professor Neal Katyal in response to the President's latest brief fighting the House Oversight Committee's subpoenas. In the brief, Trump argues that Congress can't investigate the President unless it's for impeachment proceedings. 'It's a spectacularly anti-constitutional brief, and anyone who harbors such attitudes toward our Constitution's architecture is not fit for office,' Conway and Katyal write. 'Trump's brief is nothing if not an invitation to commencing impeachment proceedings that, for reasons set out in the Mueller report, should have already commenced.' 'Every principle behind the rule of law requires the commencement of a process now to make this president a former one,' Conway and Katyal write at the end of the column." The op-ed is here.
Josh Israel & Melanie Schmitz of ThinkProgress: "...Donald Trump is considering moving 2,000 American troops from Germany to Poland. On Wednesday, he explained that his reasoning for doing so was because he simply liked Polish President Andrzej Duda and his wife." --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: As Israel & Schmitz point out, "Trump made the comments Wednesday during a joint Rose Garden press conference with Duda, who has pushed to dismantle his country's independent judiciary, promoted Holocaust denial, and launched an assault on the free press." But as you might surmise, the whimsical redeployment of U.S. troops is perfectly reasonable when you really like an authoritarian leader.
** Fred Kaplan of Slate: "America’s European allies are finally spending more on defense, but the Trump administration is raising hell about it because some of the allies want to spend the money on weapons made in their own countries.... It would be funny if it weren't so damaging. The whole episode bolsters suspicions that the United States is interested more in enriching its own military-industrial complex than in improving the common defense. As a result, trans-Atlantic tensions, which Trump has done much to brew, will likely thicken. The case for higher European defense budgets will lose legitimacy if it comes to be seen as a mere appendage to Trump's 'America First' campaign." --s
Mexico Ignores Trump, Goes to Jared. Erin Banco & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "It was Friday night last week and top officials in Mexico, including those in the president and foreign minister's offices, were alerted by their aides that Donald Trump had tweeted, again.... Most times they ignored the missives, believing that Trump's public statements were often divorced from the reality of the negotiations, according to individuals with direct knowledge of that strategy. Instead, they relied on what Mexican officials viewed as a better source of information from inside the Trump administration: Jared Kushner.... Tapping on Kushner for clarity has become a semi-official policy in the top ranks of the offices of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Catherine Garcia of the Week: "A new study has found that the Pentagon emits more greenhouse gas emissions in one year than several industrialized countries, including Sweden and Portugal. The Department of Defense is the world's single largest consumer of oil, and in 2017, the Pentagon released 59 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, the study states. 'If it were a country, it would have been the world's 55th largest greenhouse gas emitter,' study author Neta Crawford, a political scientist at Boston University, writes."
Grace Segers & Emily Tillett of CBS News: "The House Judiciary Committee unanimously passed a bill which would permanently reauthorize the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund Wednesday, the day after comedian Jon Stewart gave impassioned testimony in support of the bill in video that quickly went viral. The bill will now go to the floor for a full vote in the House of Representatives, where it is likely to pass. It's unclear whether Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will take up the bill in the Senate, although Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Wednesday that he was 'imploring, pleading, even begging' McConnell to bring the bill to the floor as soon as it passes in the House."
Kellie Mejdrich of Roll Call: "A routine House debate nearly exploded Wednesday when California Democrat Norma J. Torres implied her Republican colleagues were 'sex-starved males' for opposing abortion.... Torres, one of the newest members of the House Rules Committee, clearly broke House Rules -- members cannot personally impugn their colleagues on the floor." Mrs. McC: It seems to me "sex-obsessed males" would be more accurate. One result of the feminist movement is that it has stifled men's lewd and sexually-suggestive remarks -- once socially-acceptable means to sublimate actual sexual activity -- even as it has liberated women to speak about sex, a once-taboo subject. The prominence & virulence of the anti-abortion movement is a result of this, and related, reasons.
Rep. Duncan Hunter's Wife Cops a Plea, Flips on Duncan. Jeff McDonald of the San Diego Union-Tribune: "Margaret Hunter, the wife of longtime East County Congressman Duncan D. Hunter [R-Lunatic] who was co-indicted with her husband last summer, has agreed to change her plea of not guilty and is scheduled to appear in federal court Thursday morning.... Hunter and wife were indicted in August on 60 criminal counts related to what prosecutors allege was a yearslong misuse of campaign donations to the congressman's re-election fund. Each of the defendants pleaded not guilty to all charges last year.... Experts say a change-of-plea hearing almost certainly means Margaret Hunter is now working with prosecutors."
Presidential Race 2020
Frank Rich: "I have no idea who is going to be the Democratic nominee, but I don't think it's going to be Biden. One of the several reasons is that by focusing solely on Trump 17 months before Election Day and refusing to engage with any of his Democratic opponents, he is disrespecting not just those opponents but the majority of voters in his own party.... As for Trump, he is making the mistake of refighting the last war. He is lazy, and by assuming that he'll face Biden, an Establishment party figure, he's betting that he can recycle his Jeb Bush-Hillary Clinton playbook from four years ago.... Meanwhile the Trump-Biden split-screen duel in Iowa is fun in its way, given that Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon are unavailable to make any more sequels to Grumpy Old Men."
Brian Schwartz of CNBC: "Howard Schultz, the billionaire former CEO of Starbucks who is considering an independent run for president, is taking the summer off from political activities and has laid off several staffers -- but he is sticking with veteran strategist Steve Schmidt.... Schmidt himself has gone dark.... On Wednesday, Schultz released a statement saying that he was recovering from three back surgeries. He said he would be 'back in touch after Labor Day' but did not say whether his next announcement will about a potential presidential run."
Congressional Races 2020. Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Donald Trump and his top allies are moving to make Justin Amash pay for becoming the sole Republican congressman to call for the president's impeachment. Trump and his top advisers have discussed the prospect of backing a primary challenge to the Michigan lawmaker -- a highly unusual move for a president against a member of his own party that would effectively amount to a warning shot to other Republicans thinking of crossing him.... Amash is not the only sitting Republican incumbent that the Trump team has its eye on. Trump advisers are growing increasingly annoyed by Texas Rep. Will Hurd, a frequent critic of the president's immigration policies. Last week, Trump's reelection campaign took the rare step of sending a tweet taking the swing-district congressman to task over one of his cable news appearances. The president also met recently with Rep. Mark Walker, a North Carolina Republican who is weighing a primary challenge to Sen. Thom Tillis. Last year, Tillis co-sponsored legislation to protect then-special counsel Robert Mueller, and he initially opposed the president's emergency declaration to build a border wall before ultimately voting for it." (Also linked yesterday.)
David Eggert of the AP: "A former dean who had oversight of now-imprisoned sports doctor Larry Nassar at Michigan State University was found guilty Wednesday of neglect of duty and misconduct in office but acquitted on a more serious criminal sexual conduct charge. William Strampel, the ex-dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine, was the first person charged after Michigan's attorney general launched an investigation 1½ years ago into how Michigan State handled complaints against Nassar, a former USA Gymnastics team physician who pleaded guilty to molesting female athletes and possessing child pornography. Strampel, 71, had been accused of abusing his power to sexually proposition and harass female students for years and not enforcing patient restrictions imposed on Nassar following a 2014 sexual misconduct complaint. Jurors acquitted him of felony criminal sexual conduct in the second degree, a charge that could have sent him to prison for up to 15 years, for grabbing the buttocks of one student at a fundraising ball. He still faces up to five years in prison on the felony misconduct conviction, which stems from a charge that he used his public office to sexually harass, demean and proposition students who met with him to discuss academic issues." ...
... Molly Olmstead of Slate has more details on accusations made against Strampel. Mrs. McC: I hope the court sentences him to the full five years. When a person in a position of power & authority does to young women what they asserted Strampel did -- and there's no reason to disbelieve them -- it's far worse than when an ordinary creep makes equally-egregious assaults.
Kate Taylor & David Chen of the New York Times: "A former Stanford sailing coach who on Wednesday became the first person to be sentenced in the nation's largest-ever college admissions fraud prosecution has avoided prison time, receiving a far lighter punishment than prosecutors had sought. The coach, John Vandemoer, who was accused of taking bribes from a corrupt college consultant, was ordered to spend a single day in jail -- time the judge said he had already served -- and six months in home confinement as part of two years of supervised release. Prosecutors had called for a 13-month sentence, and the lighter penalty raised uncertainties about the future of the sprawling case, which has so far brought criminal charges against 50 people...."
Beyond the Beltway
Driving While Black Is a Moving Violation in Missouri. Michelle Lou of CNN: "Black drivers are 91% more likely than whites to be pulled over by police, a report from the Missouri Attorney General has found." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
News Lede
New York: "David Ortiz, the retired baseball star that millions of residents of the greater Boston area call Big Papi, was shot on June 9 at a bar in east Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Details are still emerging from the shooting, but with each piece of new information, it appears to be one of the most bizarre acts of gun violence involving an athlete in a decade."
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Reader Comments (27)
Let's face it, the Emoluments Clause exists only on a thin sheet of parchment paper, a theoretical what-aboutism that, given its old-fashioned name, serve no purpose in the real world.
If a Holiday Inn Presidunt* keep his chain of hotels, and foreign leaders intentionally cozy up under the covers at Holiday Inn, and the money goes to the Presidunt*s bank account, then the Presidunt* just got paid.
We need to wake up to the reality that our system of government allows the Presidunt* to take foreign bribes, and obscures that fact through flunky grammarians and pointy-hats debating 18th Century linguistics.
@PDPepe
Thank you so much for posting the PBS interview illustrating
the physical, sexual and psycholodgical abuse of nuns. Common day-to-day and geographically widespread occurrences, which must stop.
Regarding Jon Stewart: Like yourself, I’ve long been an admirer.
He is a true “mensch”. To wit . . .
“After emotional testimony from 9/11 responders, House panel votes to replenish victims fund” - The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/after-emotional-testimony-from-911-responders-house-panel-votes-to-replenish-victim-fund/2019/06/12/826ffa1e-8d27-11e9-8f69-a2795fca3343_story.html?utm_term=.f1512a3a4d88
How much more do they need?
While Nancy and Chuck and the Democrats hover over rule books, and Fox and the MSM yell that they must play fair, the Republicans are out back behind the Capitol building cooking hot dogs over a burning Constitution, and Trump, right out loud says “Rules? What rules? We don’t need no stinkin’ rules. Rules are only for Democrats.”
We are being slowly roasted here over that fire the Republicans have set for us. For fuel they use the founding documents and reams of federal statutes.
What more do these people need? Trump rode to power ahead of a perfect storm of ratfucking, lies, and foreign and domestic intervention and he’s doing it again. Only this time Democrats are actively (or inactively) helping him.
I’m gonna be sick.
Wait, I already am sick.
Have to hand it to the R's. No danger they will be subject to the foolish consistency Emerson associated with small minds..
On the one hand, they have pretended to adhere to strict constructionism, claiming nothing exists if it does not appear in the original documents , dress up in tri-corns and periwigs, wave the founding documents in their opponents' faces, worship the founding fathers for their unparalleled wisdom and imply that the only time in history when all was right with the world was the late 1700's.
Then we have the scene Akhilleus paints (brilliantly), where the Constitution (what emoluments?) means no more than laws passed in the wake of Teapot Dome (the congressional right to request copies of tax returns from ANYONE) or the prohibition against foreign nationals ("nationals," not foreign intelligence agents, Mr. Barr, as you attempted to deflect in answering a question in recent congressional testimony).
Over the years, the R's have cynically adopted causes of convenience, inviting multiple one-issue voters to march under their banner: guns, gays and god, the most familar. With the advent of the Pretender, the days of their Consitutional Cause are obviously over, and, with the new and increasingly public alliances the R's are forging with right wing governments around the world, there "nationalist" banner under which they have marched is already dirty and tattered.
They are very close to just admitting to all--shouting to the world in fact-- their only real and abiding cause is Cash.
Will be interesting to see what all those strict constructionists from the Federal Society the Pretender and Mitch are placing in our courts will. make of all this.
Well, if that don't take the cake! Our esteemed King of the hill came right out and spilled the beans–– sure enough, he'd take any foreign interference –-dirt–-on anyone or anything cuz, why not? Makes sense to him. Alarm bells rang all over the TV stations last night––and somewhere in Norway people were scratching their heads. Will this blunder–-can we call it that?––finally do the trick?
Lawrence Tribe warned about pursuing impeachment, said it posed grave risks. The main threat is that impeachment "turbocharges forces of dysfunction and despair in our democracy" and leaves an embittered minority that regards the process as an illegitimate coup. But isn't that what we already have? But as time went on Tribe changed his mind:
"I've warned that impeachment talk is dangerous, but the time has come."
He came to this conclusion after reading the Mueller report.He no longer sees the the likelihood of conviction and removal as a deterrent. Hearings should begin immediately with the Mueller report providing the road map.
Quite a few books on impeachment have come out recently. One, by the Yale constitutional scholar, Charles Black, written in 1974 has been re-issued with additional material. The original arrived during the Nixon crisis. It was written for "the citizen"––it didn't instruct readers "what to think" but rather "how to think" about the specific impeachment questions. Black made clear that he disliked Nixon "from my youth" but the idea of the impeachment of Nixon or any other president, left him deeply uneasy, with "a very strong sense of the dreadfulness of the step of removal, of the deep wounding such a step must inflict on the country." He felt that this course should be approached like high risk surgery–-to be resorted to only when the rightness of diagnosis and treatment is sure.
The time has come––we are sure.
Addenda:
Got in a hurry. Make that Federalist Society. And a second thought. There is evidence that the new generation of those Federalist Society constructionists are really corporatists, tho' corporations don't even appear in their revered Constitution...
@Aunt Hattie: A friend of mine, an ex-nun, used to refer to herself comically as a divorced "Bride of Christ" ––told me some pretty smarmy stories about what goes on in the those hallowed halls. The Catholic Church is a bureaucracy run by a cabal of old men in robes and until that changes nothing will change.
Ken,
No, corporations are not mentioned in the Constitution, but as the Dark Lord Scalia once suggested, the founders would clearly have protected them had they thought about it. If strict constructionism gets in the way of current Confederate requirements, they do the Casuistry Dance, and PRESTO! whatever they need is suddenly and miraculously "supported" by the founders. Who knew?
Doing a little research for another topic recently, I was equal parts amused and outraged by an article by a Federalist dweeb claiming that the American Revolution, including the victory over Great Britain, was the sole work of conservatives, when actual conservatives of that era were shipping out to London or skeedaddling off to Canada as fast as ever they could go once revolution was in the wind.
The idea that such as Sam Adams and the rebel rousing gadfly Paul Revere were 18th century versions of Sean Hannity and Louie Gohmert is about the stupidest thing I've ever read. But, they need always to not just be right, but be the sole reason for America itself.
In the meantime, here we have Mitch and Elaine doing their best Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos impersonations. If it turns out that Elaine Chao has a gigantic shoe collection, just call me Kreskin. They operate as if the federal government is their private piggy bank and that there are no stops on their greed. They're pretty much correct.
And a few blocks over, there's Trump and his grifting, greedy, grasping brood, salivating over the prospect of four more years of pocket lining. Lemme tell ya, if these people get another four years, and it looks very much like that is a better than 50-50 proposition at this point, there won't be a stick left standing when they finally slither out of Washington. Four more years of this? By that time it's entirely likely that Trump will have appointed two more Supremes, and then it's Katy bar the door. It will be Sotomayor and Kagan against the seven Nazi dwarfs. The next two Trumpy justices will make the judges tried and sentenced at Nuremberg look positively Solomonic. By then all federal judges will be taking an oath to Trump.
And what will the country look like? Roe will be dead. As will be protections for consumers, workers, women, minorities, immigrants. Everyone except white Christian Republicans will be cast out into the night. It will be open season for the crooks and traitors. There will be no foreign policy anymore. Nor domestic policy. The whole thing will be a race to see who can clean out the coffers with as much as they can carry before the Trumpy years are over.
I have another question.
Where is Barack Obama? I know he wants to "do the right thing" and stay out of it all, but how can he justify that at this point? He doesn't have to come out in favor of any one Democratic candidate, but he can start working to rouse voters who typically don't show up. If those people can be moved to get out and vote, we can beat the 40% who are dying to put traitors back in power for another four years.
It might seem a difficult to impossible job to unseat Ferdinand and Imelda and the Trump Crime Family, take back the Senate AND the White House, but it will be absolutely impossible if we don't try.
Time is tight. With every day that passes, the R's and their treasonous overlord grip the reins of power more securely.
And you're right. They all want something for themselves. Cash. But also power.
Conservatives certainly did NOT make this country, but they can most definitely destroy it.
Trump comes right out and says he will happily break the law in order to stay in power, and he'll be equally happy to get help from foreign powers that have no interest in America other than being able to get something from him, the transactional president.
We've been boiling in the pot so long this sounds like just More Trump. But it's an absolutely stunning admission. One that should guarantee instant defenestration the day the polls open up (actually, it should happen way before then, but Nancy is not cool with giving a traitor what he deserves).
But will it matter?
The quick answer is: no.
Look, I know Trump is a traitor and crook, you know it. A fair number of other people know it. But tens of millions simply don't care. Either they're too low information to come up with an informed opinion or they're Kool-Aid guzzlers. Or they're dyed in the wool "Both Siders" and will never show up to vote, just to, ya know, let everyone see how hip and above it all they are.
Here's how it works. Let's take the Times. The New York Times might print some opinion pieces about Trump, but it will also go waaaaay out of its way to point out that Joe Biden was for the Hyde Amendment and is a piece of shit, and too old. They'll also remind readers that Warren, American Indian, something, something, problem. Then there'll be the investigations that turn up a misspelling in Harris's eighth grade geography paper. Clearly, these revelations are on a par with Trump begging foreign powers to help him ratfuck the election.
Both sides, ya know?
Confusion and depression will reign. The MSM will help Trump like they did last time. Russia will help too. Hell, even China might help. Better to deal with an idiot than someone who knows what's going on, right? And James Comey might write a book saying that while he was in the FBI, there was talk about looking at a parking ticket Kamala Harris might have had fixed for a constituent. IMPEACH!
If Democrats don't figure out something, and soon, we are soooo fucked.
The whole dust-up about DiJiT's assertion, that he would not necessarily inform the FBI if a foreign power offered him oppo, shows just how "unpresidented" he is.
He said something like "the real world doesn't work that way."
In the real world of U.S. presidents, there is a note taker in the room when the president speaks with official foreigners. The note taker is usually a career person who may or may not be attached to the WH staff at the time. The notes from the meeting are distributed to the pertinent agencies through the NSC process. If the WH Counsel doesn't call the FBI to check in about the oppo offer, the FBI would contact the WH Counsel pretty quickly. WH, DOJ, State would quickly review the nature of the offer and whether the USG needed to take an action.
The president doesn't have to think about whether to notify the FBI, it would happen automatically.
But ... we can tell that this prezdet doesn't allow notes and tells interpreters to eat their crib sheets.
Why is that? Maybe because he's not a "real president."
And as if to prove my point about the MSM helping Trump by shrugging off his declaration of intent to break the law (again) and invite help from antagonistic foreign powers to steal an election, here's the front page of the Washington Post.
See any mention of Trump's incredible statement? It made page A4, but nothing on the front page.
And now here's the Times front page.
Anything? Nope. Oh, there's a headline above the fold about how the CIA Is being investigated by Barr for daring to look at Trump's involvement with Russians. THAT makes the front page. Fake news invented by Trump. Also a story about cab drivers in NY City. But actual proof of lawbreaking on the part of the president, from his own mouth, promising to commit treason (again) to get re-elected?
Meh. Maybe later. You can maybe find it on p. 53, below a story about a baby who came back from the dead with Jesus' autograph on his rattle.
Tick-tock.
The fact is that Trump is a crook. He's always been a crook. He's still a crook. He has always operated outside the law. He clearly believes that people who play by the rules, who abide by the law, are losers and schmucks.
This is, effectively, all you need to know about this asshole. Are you listening Nancy?
He NEVER goes by the book on anything and doesn't feel like he should have to. This is how he operates his business, on a purely transactional what can you do for me, basis, stiffing people where he can, reneging on promises, lying about his intentions, then leaving others to pick up the check. And this is how he operates as "president". He sees no need to change now. And why should he? He has half the government in his pocket, including the Supreme Court and more federal judges as the days go by. He gets help from right-wing media AND the so-called professional media. A few liberals and crybabies might complain, but he's not being made to toe the line by anyone. Nancy Pelosi says "Wait and see" to his every outrage.
Nixon, infamously, had to declare to a country who believed otherwise, that he was "not a crook". Trump proudly declares to a country, most of whom are sure of it, that "I AM a crook. And proud of it." Then adds the rejoinder that everyone else is a crook too.
How proud Republicans must be!
I am mostly speechless over this latest outrage by the person who is supposedly our presidunce. Accent on the dunce part. I think everything has been said in response to this column and I can't add a thing. My stomach is a mess and I am too depressed to enjoy much-- I know so many people feel the same. I just wrote to my limp senator, Bob Casey, wondering if the Senate even exists anymore. I think that Pelosi is totally clear: the Rs can do anything they want, and the Ds will do nothing. The committee chairs waffle continually on causing any consequences-- maybe they can study it a bit more... And yes, thank you, NYT and WaPo: totally useless rags.
@Jeanne: I think Trump is making me crankier than usual. Yesterday I yelled at a guy who was letting children in his charge vandalize the park across the road from me. Normally, I would have politely but firmly explained to him that vandalism isn't nice & that he should get a handle on the kids. Instead, I told him to get control of those kids or I'd call the cops, and my tone was hardly friendly.
Marie,
Did the kids look like Uday and Qusay? I guess if they weren’t shooting dogs and kitties with high powered rifles it was some other kids.
Not just anger, Bea, but mounting paranoia here on another beautiful in the beautiful Skagit Valley.
Gulf of Oman, Gulf of Tonkin?
Think Bolton flipped the switch?
Wish I didn't believe it's a possibility...
Wonder why I don't trust these thoroughly corrupt yahoos.
At all.
@PD Pepe
<< The Catholic Church is a bureaucracy run by a cabal of old men in robes and until that changes nothing will change.>>
Yes! And I can readily imagine the hateful tales told by your friend. The sister of a colleague is a former (liberated) “bride”. Gut wrenching, infuriating. Yes. This - and all like crimes - must (finally) end. (Mea Culpa Maxima ;) re: my rusty link to Jon Stewart. Operating in a time-zone warp.)
@Mrs. Bea McC.
I’ve a few pals who work in the mental health field and have conveyed the exponential uptick in appointments from current, returning and new patients since this last “campaign”. My own fuse has shortened.
(Culpa <=> Maxima = Doh!)
“Spouting off: Trump boasts of meeting ‘Prince of Whales’ | Donald Trump” | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/13/spouting-off-trump-boasts-of-meeting-prince-of-whales
(hope this wasn’t already posted)
Samantha Bee is not happy about YouTube algorithms, either:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwEM0ib6ZbU
This doesn't come up as a choosable thing for me, I had to click on the little rectangle on her screen at the very end of a different Full Frontal segment. Funny, as if You Tube doesn't want you to see it...
Hmm: Comment went into the ether.
Samantha Bee has an excellent piece about YouTube's algorithm, but I have only been able to reach it by clicking on the link within her page at the end of a different segment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwEM0ib6ZbU
Aunt Hattie,
Too bad there's no dauphin for Trump to meet, otherwise he could have bragged about meeting a whale and a dolphin.
@Akhilleus: Seems to me that technically (sort of) Charles is both the Prince of Whales & the Dolphin. When he met with Trump to talk about climate change, however, he was a man with a porpoise. I apologize.
@Mrs. Bea: Looks like you're fishing for a compliment, unlike
the president* who's fishing with no bait.
Ms. Bea:
regarding sea life: Thanks, I needed that.
So Liarby is leaving, I see.
Fortunately for taxpayers she need not be replaced.
She has held almost no press briefings for months now and the Pretender likes to do all the talking himself anyway because he believes no one else can communicate as well as he.
He's right insofar as it's true no one else can begin to communicate like he does.
Pretty funny that President Honest & Discreet is worried that other world leaders won’t trust him if he calls the FBI when a foreign power comes to him offering to help him win another election. No one trusts you NOW, you idiot. Only complete naifs trust a professional liar, someone whose word is only good until Sean Hannity scares him into a 180, or until he decides that serious promises and assurances are only made by losers.
“Waaaah. They won’t trust me!” Like anyone over the age of three trusts him now.