;)
The Commentariat -- November 8, 2019
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Friday said there should be no public hearings in the impeachment inquiry as he railed against the process unfolding in the House. 'They shouldn't be having public hearings. This is a hoax,' Trump said as he left the White House for events in Georgia. The comments mark a sharp break from Trump's allies, who have spent recent weeks complaining about the lack of transparency in the ongoing impeachment inquiry. The first public hearings in the process are set to take place next week.... Trump on Friday downplayed the potentially damaging effects of [witness] transcripts [which the House has released], claiming he was unfamiliar with many of the witnesses and that none of them had first-hand information. 'I'm not concerned about anything,' Trump said. 'The testimony has all been fine. I mean for the most part, I've never even heard of these people. There are some very fine people. You have some Never Trumpers. It seems that nobody has any first-hand knowledge.' The president asserted that all that counts are the call notes from his July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky." ~~~
I hardly knew the gentleman. -- Donald Trump, this morning, on Gordon Sondland ~~~
~~~ Quint Forgey of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Friday said he would turn over the transcript of a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky which preceded the July conversation between the two leaders that ignited House Democrats' impeachment inquiry. 'I had a second call with the president which actually, I believe, came before this one, and now they all want that one. And if they want it, I'll give it to them,' Trump told reporters outside the White House, presumably referring to congressional impeachment investigators. 'I haven't seen it recently, but I'll give it to them.'... [Trump phoned] Zelensky in the hours after his election on April 21, and although various reporting has stated that Trump raised the issue of Ukrainian corruption, little is publicly known about the details of the discussion." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I heard Trump's chopper talk this morning. It was pathetic. He repeated himself; then he repeated himself; then he said the same thing again. Frightening. He also said he barely knew Gordon Sondland -- the million-dollar-donor Trump charged with carrying out the rogue Ukraine policy -- so I guess Gordy is pretty close to officially under the bus.
Not the Best-laid Plan. Jonathan Chait: House Republicans "plan to make the case that [Trump's] deputies 'could have acted on their own to influence Ukraine policy.' So the whole scheme was going on right under Trump's nose, without his knowledge or participation?... The president has developed a lifelong aversion, honed through years of directing shady and outright criminal schemes, to any of his advisers taking notes in a meeting with him.... And so, while European Union envoy Gordon Sondland has testified that Trump directed him to withhold diplomatic favors from Ukraine to compel investigations of Trump's domestic enemies, he has no physical evidence.... Yet the emerging plan to present Sondland as the true mastermind of the Trump administration's Ukraine scheme, and Trump as an ignorant bystander, is going to run into several massive problems.... It relies on the assumption not only that Sondland was acting alone, but so too were several other Trump officials, all in pursuit of the same extortion plot[:] Mick Mulvaney, who has publicly admitted a quid pro quo..., Mike Pence ... when he publicly affirmed that the aid was tied to Ukraine investigating the Bidens.... [Rudy] Giuliani has stated repeatedly that his work was undertaken at Trump's direction ('I don’t do anything that involves my client without speaking with my client.')... Then there is the wee fact that Trump actually has revealed his own involvement."
Mrs. McCrabbie: In his nutso Chopper Talk "press conference" this morning, Donald Trump responded to a question about Jeff Sessions' run for Senate by remarking that Sessions "has said nice things about me." Yes, yes, he has. Sessions is kicking off his Senate campaign with an appeal, not to Alabamians, but to a Florida man:
Olivia Gazis, et al., of CBS News: "House Republicans plan to announce Congressman Jim Jordan as an addition to the House Intelligence Committee, replacing Congressman Rick Crawford. The pugilistic Jordan, a former wrestling coach known for his avoidance of suit jackets, has been a strong defender of President Trump as the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee and a prominent member of the House Judiciary Committee. Republican leaders in the House are hoping that Jordan can bring his combative questioning style to the first open hearings in the impeachment inquiry held by the Intelligence Committee next week. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has sole discretion over Intelligence Committee assignments. A spokesman for Crawford did not return a request for comment." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Jordan may be muscling his way into a more prominent role in the impeachment doings, but he has other problems:
~~~ Corky Siemaszko of NBC News: "A professional referee says in a lawsuit filed Thursday that disgraced doctor Richard Strauss masturbated in front of him in a shower after a wrestling match at Ohio State University, and that he reported the encounter directly to Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who was then the assistant coach. 'Yeah, that's Strauss,' Jordan and then-head coach Russ Hellickson replied, according to the lawsuit, when the referee, identified in court papers as John Doe 42, told them about the incident. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Ohio, implies that Jordan's response to the incident, which the referee said happened in 1994, was essentially a shrug. John Doe 42 is the second person to say he told Jordan directly about either being approached or molested by Strauss, who was found by independent investigators to have sexually abused 177 male students over two decades."
Normon Solomon in TruthDig: "The donations from billionaires to the current Democratic [presidential] candidates could be viewed as a kind of Oligarchy Confidence Index, based on data from the Federal Election Commission. As reported by Forbes, Pete Buttigieg leads all the candidates with 23 billionaire donors, followed by 18 for Cory Booker, and 17 for Kamala Harris. Among the other candidates who have qualified for the debate coming up later this month, Biden has 13 billionaire donors and Amy Klobuchar has 8, followed by 3 for Elizabeth Warren, 1 for Tulsi Gabbard, and 1 for Andrew Yang. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders has zero billionaire donors. (The tenth person who has qualified for the next debate, self-funding billionaire candidate Tom Steyer, is in a class by himself.) Meanwhile, relying on contributions from small donors, Sanders and Warren 'eagerly bait, troll and bash billionaires at every opportunity,' in the words of a recent Los Angeles Times news story." Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the lead & Forrest M. for the link.
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A Subpoena at Midnight. Alayna Treene of Axios: "The House committees investigating President Trump and Ukraine issued a subpoena Thursday night for acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to testify on Friday morning as part of their impeachment inquiry, two sources familiar tell Axios.... Mulvaney is the highest-ranking White House official to be subpoenaed yet, and the midnight-hour move suggests the committees are reaching into the final phase of their private investigation as they prepare to take their inquiry public next week. The committees first subpoenaed Mulvaney to turn over documents in October, but subpoenaing him to appear for a hearing is a further escalation...." ~~~
~~~ Update. Katie Flaherty of NBC News: "Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney will skip a scheduled deposition Friday before the House committees leading the impeachment inquiry into ... Donald Trump, despite receiving subpoena for his attendance, a senior administration official told NBC News. 'He won't be showing up,' the official said."
NPR: "House investigators have [just] released the deposition by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent, who talked behind closed doors about the Ukraine affair." A pdf of the transcript, via the House, is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
Mr. Giuliani, at that point, had been carrying on a campaign for several months full of lies and incorrect information about Ambassador Yovanovitch.... His assertions and allegations against former Ambassador Yovanovitch were without basis, untrue, period.... Potus wanted nothing less than President Zelenskiy to go to the microphone and say investigations, Biden and Clinton. Basically there needed to be three words in the message, and that was the shorthand. -- Deputy Secretary of State George Kent, in a House deposition, October 15 ~~~
~~~ Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post: "... senior State Department official [George Kent] described President Trump's shadow efforts to force Ukraine's leadership to open investigations that would benefit him politically in perhaps the starkest terms to date, according to a transcript of his impeachment testimony released Thursday. Deputy Assistant Secretary ... Kent, who oversaw Ukraine policy, told lawmakers that to get an Oval Office meeting, Trump was demanding that the country's new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, promise to open investigations into the 2016 U.S. election, Trump's former rival Hillary Clinton and former vice president Joe Biden.... Trump 'wanted nothing less than President Zelensky to go to a microphone and say investigations, Biden and Clinton,' Kent told House impeachment investigators. Kent's assessment came from a summary of a conversation that Trump had with Gordon Sondland, a Trump megadonor turned diplomat, who from his perch in Brussels had seized control of Ukraine policy." ~~~
~~~ Nahal Toosi, et al., of Politico: George "Kent testified in a closed session on Oct. 15, telling lawmakers that, like other career diplomats, he was essentially cut out of decisions about Ukraine due to maneuvering by other administration officials and outsiders, including Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Kent accused Giuliani of conducting a 'campaign of lies' about the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, that led to her early recall from Kyiv.... At one point, after Giuliani slammed Yovanovitch, Kent and others in a May 2019 interview, Kent was told by his superiors to 'keep my head down and lower my profile in Ukraine,' he said. The instruction came via an intermediary from David Hale, the undersecretary of State for political affairs, according to Kent's understanding. It wasn't clear if Hale had talked to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about it." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ An Easy Mark. Josh Lederman of NBC News: "A senior U.S. diplomat told Congress that he was briefed on conversations ... Donald Trump had with Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban in which the two foreign leaders talked Trump into a negative view about Ukraine and its new leader. George Kent ... told House investigators that Putin and Orban, along with Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, had 'shaped the president's view of Ukraine and (President Volodymyr) Zelenskiy.' He said Trump's conversations with the two leaders accounted for the change in Trump's view of Zelenskiy from 'very positive' after their first call on April 21 to 'negative' just one month later when he met with advisers on Ukraine in the Oval Office. In the interim, Trump spoke by phone with Putin on May 3, and hosted Orban at the White House on May 13. Kent's description of those conversations, included in the transcript of his deposition by the House released Thursday, feeds into longstanding concerns from national security experts that the president's views on key foreign issues are being influenced by Putin and other autocratic leaders such as Orban."
Franco Ordoñez & Mara Liasson of NPR: "A top aide to Vice President Pence arrived Thursday to testify in the ongoing House impeachment inquiry into President Trump. Jennifer Williams is a longtime foreign service officer who was assigned to be the vice president's special adviser for Europe and Russia in the spring. She would be the first person from the vice president's office to testify in the probe of whether the president withheld military aid from Ukraine while seeking a political favor. She will be the third person who was listening in on the July 25 call between Trump and Urainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to testify, a White House aide confirmed to NPR's Mara Liasson." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Rene Marsh, et al., of CNN: "An aide to Vice President Mike Pence who listened to the call between ... Donald Trump and the Ukrainian President told impeachment inquiry investigators on Thursday that she found the conversation to be unusual because it was political in nature, according to two sources familiar with the testimony. Jennifer Williams, an aide in the vice president's office and a long time State Department staffer, said the phone call did not have the normal tone of a diplomatic call. Williams did not raise concerns about the call with her superiors.... She did not know of any request from Trump to Pence to bring up investigations during a meeting the vice president had in Warsaw with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on September 1.... [She] ... testified she did not know if the vice president read the transcript [of the Trump/Zelensky call]. Pence himself has repeatedly insisted that Trump did nothing wrong but has not clarified how much he knew about efforts to pressure Ukraine and the parallel Ukraine policy that Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and others were leading.... Williams testified that she had limited information about why military aid was being withheld from Ukraine. She was puzzled about it, but was kept in the dark about the decision-making process. She described herself as someone who stayed in her lane and wasn't pushing to understand why the aide was withheld."
Carol Leonnig & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "Former national security adviser John Bolton is willing to defy the White House and testify in the House impeachment inquiry about his alarm at the Ukraine pressure campaign if a federal court clears the way, according to people familiar with his views. Bolton could be a powerful witness for Democrats: Top State Department and national security officials have already testified that he was deeply concerned about efforts by Trump and his allies to push Ukraine to open investigations into the president's political rivals while the Trump administration held up military aid to that country. The former national security adviser, who abruptly left his post in September, is expected to confirm their statements and describe his conversations with Trump, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing inquiry.... It remains unclear how quickly that could happen -- and whether it would be in time for Bolton to be called as a witness in the public House impeachment hearings, which are scheduled to begin next week. On Wednesday, House Democrats said they are awaiting a key test case involving former White House counsel Donald McGahn, in which a district-court decision could come by the end of this month." Mediaite has the story here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "House impeachment investigators are moving on from John Bolton. The former national security adviser refused to appear for his scheduled deposition Thursday morning, a House Intelligence Committee official said, and his lawyer informed the panel that Bolton would take the House to court if he is subpoenaed. So instead of fighting a court battle that could take months, the official added, Bolton's refusal to testify will be used as evidence of obstruction of Congress against ... Donald Trump.... Bolton's defiance of Congress comes a day after the House withdrew its subpoena for Charles Kupperman, Bolton's former deputy who had asked a federal court to decide whether he had to comply with the subpoena.... In withdrawing the subpoena for Kupperman, lawyers for the House told a federal court that the former aide should abide by an impending decision in the House's bid to secure testimony from former White House counsel Don McGahn." Bolton & Kupperman had the same attorney. (Also linked yesterday.)
Meredith McGraw of Politico: "Earl Matthews, a senior National Security Council official who attended several of the meetings now at the center of the congressional impeachment inquiry, will depart from his job on Friday.... Matthews ... was part of a small group that sat in on meetings with Ukrainian officials that House Democrats are now scrutinizing as they investigate whether ... Donald Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate a political rival.... Still, Matthews has not been pulled into the Democrats' impeachment probe, according to an administration official.... An administration official only confirmed that the U.S. Army did not extend Matthews' rotation with the White House." (Also linked yesterday.)
The Corrupt Buffoon & His Band of Zany Blockheads. Episode 397: "The Great Greenland Purchase"
~~~ The Check Is in the Mail. Sorry, Trying to Buy Greenland. Yuliya Talmazan of NBC News: "In his testimony [before the House Intel Committee, [Bill] Taylor was asked about his remark that secretaries of defense and state, the CIA director and the national security advisor sought a joint meeting with President Trump to change his mind on withholding military aid from Ukraine, but such a meeting was 'hard to schedule.' He pointed out that it was due to a scheduling issue, but also the president's keen interest in buying Greenland from Denmark. 'I think this was also about the time of the Greenland question, about purchasing Greenland, which took up a lot of energy in the [National Security Council],' Taylor told the lawmakers. 'That's disturbing for a whole different reason,' House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., responded to Taylor, according to the transcript." Mrs. McC: Ah, yeah. If this were a comedy short, you'd be laughing your head off. It's like Ralph Kramer is running the country. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Congress' nonpartisan watchdog said Thursday it is reviewing the Trump administration's decision this summer to hold up hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid for Ukraine to determine whether officials violated appropriations law by not notifying Congress of the hold.... A spokesman for the Government Accountability Office confirmed that the agency is reviewing whether the administration violated appropriations law by failing to notify Congress of the development after Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) requested the review during a Senate Budget Committee hearing last week.... The review is a request for a legal opinion rather than an investigation, because the agency does not have subpoena or enforcement power.... Politico first reported in August about the freeze placed on $250 million in funds meant to help Ukraine deter Russian aggression, despite the money already having been appropriated by Congress.... The White House then acquiesced to bipartisan pressure and removed the hold weeks later, after it came to light."
Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "Aides to Ukraine's leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, decided that military aid and support for peace talks outweighed the risks of appearing to take sides in American politics.... Government officials, lawmakers and others close to the Zelensky government have revealed new details of how high-level Ukrainian officials ultimately decided to acquiesce to President Trump's request -- and, by a stroke of luck, never had to follow through.... Even as [senior Zelensky aide Andriy] Yermak negotiated the wording [in a tug-of-war with U.S. envoy Kurt Volker] in August, the stakes were clear. While rumors had been swirling for months about a possible hold on military aid, by early August high-level Ukrainian officials had confirmed the freeze.... In September..., [Ambassador Gordon Sondland] explained in blunt terms to Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Yermak, there was little chance the aid would be forthcoming until they made the public statement on the investigations.... Mr. Trump wanted the Ukrainian president to speak on CNN, William B. Taylor Jr., the top American diplomat in Ukraine, testified.... Finally bending to the White House request, Mr. Zelensky's staff planned for him to make an announcement in an interview on Sept. 13 with Fareed Zakaria, the host of a weekly news show on CNN. Though plans were in motion to give the White House the public statement it had sought, events in Washington saved the Ukrainian government from any final decision and eliminated the need to make the statement.... Word of the freeze in military aid had leaked out, and Congress was in an uproar. Two days before the scheduled interview, the Trump administration released the assistance and Mr. Zelensky's office quickly canceled the interview." (Also linked yesterday.)
MEANWHILE, Freedom Caucus to the Rescue! Karoun Demirjian & Rachel Bade of the Washington Post: “House Republicans’ latest plan to shield President Trump from impeachment is to focus on at least three deputies — U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, Trump’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, and possibly acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney — who they say could have acted on their own to influence Ukraine policy.... As Republicans argue that most of the testimony against Trump is based on faulty secondhand information, they are sowing doubts about whether Sondland, Giuliani and Mulvaney were actually representing the president or freelancing to pursue their own agendas. The GOP is effectively offering up the three to be fall guys.... By raising questions about the motivation of Trump’s top lieutenants on Ukraine policy, the GOP hopes to undermine the reliability of otherwise incriminating testimony from several current Trump administration officials.... Sondland 'made a presumption,' House Oversight Committee member Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told reporters, stressing that 'what Sondland was told by the president ... [is] there was no quid pro quo.'... 'There is no direct linkage to the president of the United States,” Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) told reporters this week, contending that while lawyers normally coordinate with their clients, Giuliani is a special case. 'There are a whole lot of things that he does that he doesn’t apprise anybody of.'... Some congressional Republicans have suggested that Mulvaney was simply exercising his own well-documented penchant for cutting foreign aid....” ~~~
~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: “Here are four facts revealing this new line to be epic nonsense.... [1] Trump personally ordered acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to inform budget officials that the aid that had already been appropriated by Congress was being frozen, officials told The Post.... [2] Giuliani publicly confirmed the whole plot, and that he was acting at Trump’s direction.... [4] Texts between Sondland and other ambassadors and Ukrainian officials show him negotiating, at the direction of Giuliani and [Trump], for Ukraine’s 'anti-corruption statement' to mention both the 2016 Ukraine-hack conspiracy theory and Burisma.... [4] On Sept. 1, the same day Sondland informed a top Zelensky aide that the military aid was conditional, Vice President Pence ... informed Zelensky that the administration was 'still looking at' the aid, i.e., it was on hold. Pence also told Zelensky he needed to do more to fight 'corruption.'”
** Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sidestepped questions about his lack of support for Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine who was abruptly recalled from her post earlier this year amid a smear campaign seeking her removal." Oh, read on. What an arrogant, lying ass. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ “A Tortured Response.” John Hudson of the Washington Post: “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo offered a tortured response Thursday to questions about the sworn impeachment testimony of his former senior adviser Michael McKinley, who told investigators last month that he approached Pompeo three times with concerns about a campaign to undermine the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. At a news conference in Germany, Pompeo denied discussing the issue with McKinley in May, after Marie Yovanovitch had been recalled from her posting in Kyiv, but appeared to evade the fact that McKinley’s testimony referenced conversations between he [him!] and Pompeo in September. Pompeo has faced criticism about his decision not to defend Yovanovitch ever since details of her removal became public.... 'When Ambassador Yovanovitch returned to the U.S., he didn’t raise that issue with me,' Pompeo said Thursday. He added that because McKinley’s focus wasn’t Ukraine 'it shouldn’t surprise anyone that in May when that took place, he didn’t say a thing to me.'... Last month, Pompeo told ABC News that McKinley never said a 'single thing' about Yovanovitch to him.” ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Tortured? No, Mike, you're an arrogant, lying ass. And the people you stuck it to -- the people you were supposed to defend against the Great Orange Menace & Rabid Rudy -- they're paying you back for those lies & your swaggering arrogance, and they're paying you back under oath, and ultimately on the front pages of the nation's newspapers. ~~~
I keep a Bible open on my desk to remind me of God and his word, and the truth. -- Mike Pompeo, April 2019
Reading ... about Pompeo's habit of keeping a bible at his desk, I thought of trying out the old 'see what the bible says' game. Open at random and check the verses where your unplanned eye falls. Here's what I got, thinking of 'Pompeo':
" ' As for the virtuous man who is poor. let us oppress him;
let us not spare the widow,
nor respect old age, white-haired with many years.
Let our strength be the yardstick of virtue,
since weakness argues its own futility.
Let us lie in wait for the virtuous man, since he annoys us ... "-- Wisdom 2:10 (The Jerusalem Bible)
The chapter heading is 'Life as the godless see it', so the voices of the above verses are the godless speaking. Very republican. Pompeo-esque. -- Patrick, in yesterday's Comments
Pompeo is a Protestant Christian, so most likely the Bible on his desk does not include the Book of Wisdom, which is too bad. P.S. Wisdom is a girl. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie
Marcy Wheeler, who apologizes for being long-winded, is not all that impressed with the WashPo's report (linked here yesterday) that Bill Barr took the bold step of refusing to hold a made-for-teevee presser completely exonerating Trump of any and all crimes related to the Ukraine extortion conspiracy on accounta all that other stuff Barr did to cover for the Corrupt Buffoon & His Band of Zany Blockheads: "So, at a time after someone had already shared Ukrainian information with the Barr-micromanaged [John] Durham investigation, after Barr had met with lawyers who were trading that access for propaganda to feed Durham, after Barr’s DOJ had scoped the whistleblower complaint to ensure it would not tie the complaint to the fully predicated criminal investigation in SDNY, after DOJ failed to turn over the complaint to FEC as required by a memorandum of understanding, after DOJ created an excuse to delay sharing the whistleblower complaint with Congress as mandated by law, after DOJ tried to hide Barr’s own involvement from Congress by overclassifying that fact … after all those overt acts that, depending on Barr’s understanding of what he got briefed way back in February and learned in multiple different ways since then, might amount to overt acts in the conspiracy SDNY has already charged [Lev] Parnas and [Igor] Fruman in, Barr declined to go out before cameras and comment on an ongoing investigation (which is, remember, what Jim Comey was ostensibly fired for) by publicly exonerating the President." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Chris Hayes suggested a plausible reason Barr might have opted out of giving a press conference about the Ukraine scheme: see, reporters show up for press conferences, and those reporters just might ask Barr about his own part in the whole Ukraine scheme. Any honest answers he gave (as if!) might tend to incriminate Bill as a co-conspirator. Can the U.S. attorney general plead the Fifth during a press conference?
Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "A lawyer for the Ukraine whistleblower, whose complaint document triggered the House impeachment inquiry of ... Donald Trump, has sent a letter to the White House warning the President to 'cease and desist' attacking his client. 'I am writing out of deep concern that your client, the President of the United States, is engaging in rhetoric and activity that places my client, the Intelligence Community Whistleblower, and their family in physical danger,' Andrew Bakaj wrote to White House counsel Pat Cipollone in a Thursday letter obtained by CNN's Anderson Cooper.... Trump has repeatedly attacked the whistleblower and tried to discredit the individual, saying he, Trump, deserves to 'meet his accuser' and has demanded the whistleblower's identity be revealed."
Erica Orden of CNN: "A New York state judge ordered ... Donald Trump to pay $2 million to a collection of nonprofit organizations in connection with a settlement with the New York state attorney general's office to resolve a civil lawsuit alleging the foundation unlawfully coordinated with the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. In her decision filed Thursday, Justice Saliann Scarpulla found that 'Mr. Trump breached his fiduciary duty to the Foundation,' including by 'allowing his campaign to orchestrate' a televised fundraiser ostensibly for the foundation in Des Moines, Iowa, in January 2016, and allowing the campaign to direct the distribution of the money raised from that event 'to further Mr. Trump's political campaign.' In her decision, however, the judge didn't impose one of the outcomes the attorney general's office sought: a ban on Trump and his children serving on the board of any other New York nonprofit. She also declined to order Trump to pay punitive damages.... Trump ... had vowed to fight the lawsuit, tweeting last year, 'I won't settle this case!' But the lawyers on both sides ... came to a 'consensual resolution of the bulk of this proceeding' in October, the judge said in her decision, and agreed that the judge would determine the amount of damages Trump would be required to pay. The settlement comes in the wake of an agreement by the foundation in December to dissolve under judicial supervision." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The settlement, which was finalized last month and announced on Thursday in the judge’s order, included a detailed admission of misconduct that is rare for the president, who has long employed a scorched-earth approach toward fighting lawsuits. Among Mr. Trump’s admissions in court papers: The charity gave his campaign complete control over disbursing the $2.8 million that the foundation had raised at a fund-raiser for veterans in Iowa in January 2016, only days before the state’s presidential nominating caucuses. The fund-raiser, he acknowledged, was in fact a campaign event." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: So now I think we know why the New York Don suddenly decided last week to become "a Florida man." If you're an old con man to set in your ways to take up residence on an exotic island ostensibly under foreign control, Florida is the place for you. It's full of old con men.
Ana Swanson, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States and China have agreed that an initial trade deal between the two countries would roll back a portion of the tariffs they are placing on each other’s products, officials from both countries said, a significant step toward defusing tensions between the world’s largest economies. The agreement has not yet been completed, and a deal could fail to materialize as it has in previous rounds of negotiations. But if a pact is reached, the Trump administration has committed to cutting some tariffs, American officials and other people with knowledge of the negotiations said."
Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: “French President Emmanuel Macron shocked allies in an interview published on Thursday, saying that he did not know whether NATO’s commitment to collective defense was still valid and that the alliance was experiencing 'brain death' because of a lack of strategic coordination and leadership from the United States. 'What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO,' Mr. Macron told The Economist magazine. He said the United States under President Trump appeared to be 'turning its back on us,' notably by pulling troops out of northeastern Syria without notice, and he called on Europeans, as he has often done, to do more in their own defense with the aim of 'strategic autonomy.'’’ CNN's story is here. The Economist's interview (translated into English) is here; you have to "register" to read the interview. Mrs. McC: I didn't.
Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: “The top American diplomat on the ground in northern Syria has criticized the Trump administration for not trying harder to prevent Turkey’s military offensive there last month — and said Turkish-backed militia fighters committed 'war crimes and ethnic cleansing.' In a searing internal memo, the diplomat, William V. Roebuck, raised the question of whether tougher American diplomacy, blunter threats of economic sanctions and increased military patrols could have deterred Turkey from attacking. Similar measures had dissuaded Turkish military action before.” (Also linked yesterday.) Here's the memo, via the NYT. A related Guardian story, by Julian Borger, is here.
Book Report: "A Warning"
Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: “Senior Trump administration officials considered resigning en masse last year in a 'midnight self-massacre' to sound a public alarm about President Trump’s conduct, but rejected the idea because they believed it would further destabilize an already teetering government, according to a new book by an unnamed author. In 'A Warning' by Anonymous, obtained by The Washington Post ahead of its release, a writer described only as 'a senior official in the Trump administration' paints a chilling portrait of the president as cruel, inept and a danger to the nation he was elected to lead. The author — who first captured attention in 2018 as the unidentified author of a New York Times opinion column — describes Trump careening from one self-inflicted crisis to the next.... The book depicts Trump as making misogynistic and racist comments behind the scenes.... One theme laced throughout the book is Trump’s indifference to the boundaries of the law.... The author portrays Trump as fearful of coups against him and suspicious of note-takers on his staff.... 'He stumbles, slurs, gets confused, is easily irritated, and has trouble synthesizing information, not occasionally but with regularity.'...” The Guardian has a story based on Rucker's report.
Alex Johnson of NBC News: "... Donald Trump's behavior can be so erratic that most top administration officials have pre-written resignation letters ready to submit, an anonymous author claiming to be a senior official in the Trump administration says in a book scheduled to be published this month. To complicate matters, the president's decision-making abilities are getting worse with time, according to excerpts of 'A Warning' that were obtained and read Thursday night on MSNBC's 'The Rachel Maddow Show.'" The Maddow segment is embedded at the top of Johnson's story.
of the New York Times: “'A Warning,' Anonymous says, is intended for a 'broad audience,' though to judge by the parade of bland, methodical arguments (Anonymous loves to qualify criticisms with a lawyerly 'in fairness'), the ideal reader would seem to be an undecided voter who has lived in a cave for the past three years, and is irresistibly moved by quotations from Teddy Roosevelt and solemn invocations of Cicero.... Everything in the text of 'A Warning' suggests a dyed-in-the-wool establishment Republican.... Yes, Anonymous is happy about the conservative judicial appointments, the deregulation, the tax cuts; what rankles is the 'unbecoming' behavior, the 'unseemly antics.'... Toward the end of the book, an earlier quote from Mr. Trump kept coming back to me, unbidden: 'These are just words. A bunch of words. It doesn’t mean anything.'”
Darren Samuelsohn & Josh Gerstein of Politico report on Thursday's testimony in Roger Stone's trial: "Federal prosecutors unveiled a barrage of evidence against ... Stone as they tried to show that Stone bullied an associate to stay silent when a House committee investigating Russia’s 2016 election interference came calling. It all made for riveting courtroom drama at Stone’s trial on charges of obstruction of Congress, lying and witness tampering as jurors heard all the juicy details from a variety of crude communications between Stone and the liberal talk show host Randy Credico — the witness Stone is charged with threatening and trying to silence.... Credico..., a comic and impressionist..., took the stand for the prosecution and had many in the jury box chortling with his wisecracks and a slew of vintage TV and film references. His testimony also triggered repeated interventions by the prosecution and the federal judge to stop with the digressions and keep his responses from devolving into a stand-up act.... Credico’s rollicking testimony followed a much more buttoned-down presentation from a former FBI agent who adopted a clinical tone as she read into the record a series of vulgar threats and insults Stone unleashed at his acquaintance as the federal investigations heated up." ~~~
~~~ Charlie Gile & Dareh Gregorian of NBC News report on the Stone trial here. "The Godfather" and a Bernie Sanders impression are featured. Dan Friedman has the story for Mother Jones. The three stories have different emphases.
Presidential Race 2020, Billionaires Edition
Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Michael R. Bloomberg is actively preparing to enter the Democratic presidential primary and is expected to file paperwork this week designating himself as a candidate in at least one state with an early filing deadline, people briefed on Mr. Bloomberg’s plans said. Mr. Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and billionaire businessman, has been privately weighing a bid for the White House for weeks and has not yet made a final decision on whether to run, an adviser said. But in the first sign that he is seriously moving toward a campaign, Mr. Bloomberg has dispatched staffers to Alabama to gather signatures to qualify for the primary there. Though Alabama does not hold an early primary, it has a Friday deadline for candidates to formally enter the race." CNN's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Steve M. "This is one time when I think people in the media should get out of their bubble. Bloomberg is not famous nationwide. When he's polled, more people don't know who he is than like him or dislike him. He's basically Tom Steyer, except Eastern, so he gets more media coverage. He's also sour-tempered and uncharismatic -- you know, a perfect candidate for the party of Barack Obama and JFK.... He'll be out by Super Tuesday -- and we just have to hope that he doesn't get it into his head to run third party. If he does, he could muster just enough support in a few Northeast states to make, say, New Jersey or New Hampshire easier for Trump to win. It's a ridiculous distraction." Read on. Steve takes apart Alex Burns' nutso speculation. ~~~
~~~ Erik Loomis of LG&$: Bloomberg "stands for nothing but capital and this is not what even Biden voters want. He certainly stands for the Wall Street establishment that is scared by Elizabeth Warren. And hey, since I’ve been told repeatedly on Left Twitter and Jacobin that Warren is a NEOLIBERAL CAPITALIST LOVER OF CAPITALISM, maybe we can all unite around yet another old white man!" ~~~
~~~ Elizabeth Warren & Bernie Sanders welcome Mike Bloomberg to the race. Sort of.
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Yeah But. Will Bloomberg buy endorsements from Alabama state legislators & small-town mayors? ~~~
Alexandra Jaffe of the AP: “A top aide to Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer in Iowa privately offered campaign contributions to local politicians in exchange for endorsing his White House bid, according to multiple people with direct knowledge of the conversations. The overtures from Pat Murphy, a former state House speaker who is serving as a top adviser on Steyer’s Iowa campaign, aren’t illegal — though payments for endorsements would violate campaign finance laws if not disclosed. There’s no evidence that any Iowans accepted the offer or received contributions from Steyer’s campaign as compensation for their backing.... Tom Courtney, a former Democratic state senator from southeastern Iowa who’s running for reelection to his old seat, told The Associated Press that the financial offer 'left a bad taste in my mouth.' Murphy said concerns about his outreach were the result of a 'miscommunication.' As Steyer met with voters in Bluffton, South Carolina, on Thursday, the first question posed to him was about the AP report. He said that he learned about the allegations while driving to the event and that no payments had gone to officials in Iowa.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Elections 2019. Richard Hasen in Slate: "Will the Kentucky Legislature assist Matt Bevin in stealing the governor’s race from Democrat Andy Beshear, who appeared to have won Tuesday’s election by about 5,000 votes?... On Wednesday Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers raised the prospect that his institution, not the voters, could determine the outcome of the race. If Stivers [tries that stunt], the election would likely end up in federal court.... Either way, that we’re even discussing this potentiality one year before Donald Trump — who has repeatedly challenged the vote totals in his 2016 election victory — is set to face reelection is a wrenching sign for our already-damaged democracy.... We have already seen Republican state legislatures in places like Wisconsin and North Carolina go so far as to strip powers from incoming Democratic governors.... Bevin ... so far he has suspiciously refused to provide details of his claims [of voting irregularies]." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Daniel Desrochers of the Lexington Herald-Leader: “A growing number of Republican lawmakers are urging Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, a fellow Republican, to either provide evidence of the voting 'irregularities' he has alleged or concede Tuesday’s election to Gov.-elect Andy Beshear, who defeated him by 5,189 votes.... Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, first raised the possibility of the tight election being decided by the Republican-led legislature Tuesday night when he explained the process that would occur if Bevin decided to challenge the results of the race. Bevin bolstered that speculation Wednesday by claiming that thousands of absentee ballots were counted illegally without presenting any proof to back up his claim.'” See also Charles Pierce's post, linked next.
Beyond the Beltway
Charles Pierce: "... the authoritarian rot that produced the current president* is present in the Republican Party at all levels. Democratic success in elections, unless it is achieved by overwhelming margins, is in the eyes of Republicans prima facie illegitimate. It started with Bill Clinton and it’s gotten worse ever since." Pierce cites examples; the history behind the first one is a killer. Really.
Way Beyond
Two Jerks Walked into a Brazilian Radio Studio.... Tasneem Nashrulla & Maura Albano of BuzzFeed News: "Glenn Greenwald got into a fistfight with Augusto Nunes, a far-right Brazilian journalist, during the live taping of a radio show in Brazil. The two journalists had a heated exchange over Nunes' previous comments about Greenwald's children with his husband, Brazilian politician David Miranda.... Greenwald then repeatedly call Nunes a coward, prompting Nunes to strike him. The two men then exchanged slaps and shoves as others on the show intervened and pried them apart. But not before Greenwald made one last attempt to strike Nunes in the face." Includes video (I couldn't get the audio, but that doesn't mean you can't). (Also linked yesterday.)
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Reader Comments (9)
The excerpts from "Warning" read like someone who may still be working in the administration, who is screaming fire but is frustrated that others won't pull the extinguisher. There's a debate about whether he/she should have revealed their identity and come forward to testify as others have bravely done. My guess is––and I'm being kind here–- that he/she, as I said, is still part of the circus.
Let's take Mattis, for instance on this matter. You would think since he resigned he would come forth with his deep concerns but he hasn't and even in his book there is scant information. I, personally, find this a dereliction of duty and also a bit strange.
So Bloomberg is, perhaps, once again tossing his hat into this presidential ring-a-ding. He, like other big shots, are terrified of Warren and Bernie. For extremely rich people who confuse net-worth with human worth, the prospect of losing out on billions is an outrageous possibility. They. by the way, would never agree with this assessment––they simply want to preserve the status quo cuz it works so well and keeps the country humming along like THEY want it to.
Here's a run-down from Truthdig:
The donations from billionaires to the current Democratic candidates could be viewed as a kind of Oligarchy Confidence Index, based on data from the Federal Election Commission. As reported by Forbes, Pete Buttigieg leads all the candidates with 23 billionaire donors, followed by 18 for Cory Booker, and 17 for Kamala Harris. Among the other candidates who have qualified for the debate coming up later this month, Biden has 13 billionaire donors and Amy Klobuchar has 8, followed by 3 for Elizabeth Warren, 1 for Tulsi Gabbard, and 1 for Andrew Yang. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders has zero billionaire donors.
@P.D. Pepe: Thanks. Links, please. I'd like to link the billionaire donors story.
Nice numbers, P.D.
They say so much, don't they, without being explicit?
Or if they don't say all that much explicitly, they do raise a raft of questions.
Should we take them to mean that because Sanders is billionaires' least favorite, he is the best candidate?
Are there some billionaires with a conscience? Maybe the one backing Warren? Does having a ton of money necessarily make one "bad?"
Is there something "wrong" with Mayor Pete that I don't know? (I know there's something wrong with Cory and Joe.)
Or there always something wrong with money itself? Always? Or only when mixed with elections?
ls the problem not with money itself but when it (along with other resources) is not more evenly distributed?
When the distribution is so uneven, as it is here and around the world, does democracy have any hope of survival?
Short answer to the last: I think not.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/billionaires-have-declared-all-out-war-on-sanders-and-warren/
In case P.D. is busy.
Thanks, Forest.
@AK: Your question about Mayor Pete: I think he's considered by some progressives to be more of a conservative liberal. By the way, heard last night that Eric Holder is thinking of running. I had heard that a year ago but then nothing came of it.
Here's a Slate story about that creep Steven Menashi ––makes me sick that he would get even one vote. If you read this, note how Sen. John Kennedy (Rep) has flip flopped on this guy in a most deplorable way–-how can these people live with themselves???? John, by the way, is the lout that called Nancy P. "dumb" at the recent Trump rally.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/11/menashi-confirmation-second-circuit-nominee-senate-vote.html
Tim Egan raises some of the same questions most of us have had about the Democrats' presidential field--and answers some of them.
He lives in my blue-red state and it sounds like he has personal family experience with that sort of psychological-political split.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/opinion/warren-biden-trump.html?
@ PD
Regarding Mattis. He's not a politician. His duty (even now as retired) is and was solely to the military. If he openly criticized the commander in chief he would be undermining the institution of chain of command. I think his silence is very respectable. We can only hope that the military commanders have grandchildren and a conscience, and that there is some space in the halls of the pentagon where leadership can collectively appraise the commander in chief's sanity and abilities and plan accordingly.
One wonders if there will be a thorough "house cleaning" after the release of The Warning.
If hypothetically all of the Whitehouse staff had turned in their prewritten resignation letters after Charlottesville, as Anonymous (The Warning author) regretfully wonders, what would have happened? Would a mass walk-out have changed anything for the better? I doubt it.
@Periscope: I am sending you an excellent piece by Fred Kaplan that may change your perspective. Let me know what you think:
THE DEFEAT OF GENERAL MATTIS;
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/11/21/defeat-of-general-mattis/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/11/21/defeat-of-general-mattis/
@P.D. Pepe: Thanks very much for the link to Fred Kaplan's book review. Here's the money quote for @Periscope's edification: "... this is his problem: he regards 'the Defense Department' and 'the military' as synonyms, when in fact the former is supposed to supervise and, when necessary, rein in the latter. We don’t want the military to be engaged in politics; but the Defense Department is inherently political, and so is the office of secretary of defense. Yet during his time in that position, Mattis saw himself above all as a general, not as a cabinet secretary whose obligations to the public and the Constitution superseded his military creed. Evidently, he still does."
Kaplan has it just right, I think, & I appreciate your pointing that out.
In his farewell address, Jimmy Carter said, (and I think some other leaders used the same language) "In a few days, I will lay down my official responsibilities in this office — to take up once more the only title in our democracy superior to that of president, the title of citizen." Mattis took off his uniform & took on a civilian position; he's a smart man, but he has made the mistake of not recognizing that his responsibility as a citizen trumped his former responsibilities as a military leader.