The Ledes

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

The New York Times is live-updating developments Tuesday as powerful Hurricane Milton moves through the Gulf of Mexico toward Central Florida.

New York Times: “Cissy Houston, a Grammy Award-winning soul and gospel star who helped shepherd her daughter Whitney Houston to superstardom, died on Monday at her home in Newark. She was 91.”

The Wires
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The Ledes

Monday, October 7, 2024

Weather Channel: “H​urricane Milton has rapidly intensified into a Category 3 and hurricane and storm surge watches are now posted along Florida's western Gulf Coast, where the storm poses threats of life-threatening storm surge, destructive winds and flooding rainfall by midweek. 'Milton will be a historic storm for the west coast of Florida,' the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay said in a briefing Monday morning.” ~~~

     ~~~ New York Times live updates are here for what is now a Cat 5 hurricane. 

CNN: “This year’s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their work on the discovery of microRNA, a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated. Their research revealed how genes give rise to different cells within the human body, a process known as gene regulation. Gene regulation by microRNA – a family of molecules that helps cells control the sort of proteins they make – ... was first revealed by Ambros and Ruvkun. The Nobel Prize committee announced the prestigious honor ... in Sweden on Monday.... Ambros, a professor of natural science at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, conducted the research that earned him the prize at Harvard University. Ruvkun conducted his research at Massachusetts General Hospital, and is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School.”

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Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

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Friday
Oct042019

The Commentariat -- October 5, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Ben Lefebvre & Daniel Lippman of Politico: "Energy Secretary Rick Perry urged Ukraine's president to root out corruption and pushed the new government for changes at its state-run oil and gas company, people familiar with his work said Friday -- indications that he was more deeply involved than previously known in ... Donald Trump's efforts to pressure officials in Kiev.... Perry..., is expected to resign next month, attended [Ukraine President] Zelensky's May inauguration in Kiev in place of Vice President Mike Pence. In addition, he was one of the administration's 'three amigos' on Ukrainian policy, along with Kurt Volker, the U.S. special representative for the Ukraine conflict, and Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, as Sondland described their relationship in a July broadcast interview." Mrs. McC: It appears from the report that Perry was pushing the new Ukraine government to put his (Perry's) friends on the board of Naftogaz, Ukraine's state-owned natural gas company. "Two long-time energy executives based in Perry's home state of Texas were among those under consideration for that role, one source familiar with the administration's dealings with the company said." ~~~

     ~~~ AND you know there has to be something in this for the Trump Crime Family: "Among Perry's numerous visits with Zelenksy and other Ukraine officials in the past year was a dinner with Zelensky, Jared Kushner and other officials in June, according to a government photo taken by the U.S. of the event."

Zachary Cohen & Caroline Kelly of CNN: "A House Foreign Affairs Committee aide told CNN that 'Secretary Pompeo has failed to meet the deadline to produce documents required by the subpoena. However, the State Department has contacted the Committees on this matter and we hope the Department will cooperate in full promptly. Apart from the outstanding subpoena, we look forward to hearing from Ambassadors Sondland and Yovanovitch next week.'"

Keeping It Classy. Somebody please wake up Mitt Romney and tell him that my conversation with the Ukrainian President was a congenial and very appropriate one, and my statement on China pertained to corruption, not politics. If Mitt worked this hard on Obama, he could have won. Sadly, he choked! Mitt Romney never knew how to win. He is a pompous 'ass' who has been fighting me from the beginning, except when he begged me for my endorsement for his Senate run (I gave it to him), and when he begged me to be Secretary of State (I didn't give it to him). He is so bad for R's! -- Donald Trump, in two tweets this morning

~~~~~~~~~~

Donald Trump is attacking the sovereignty of our country. -- John Dean on CNN, Friday

Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "House impeachment investigators widened the reach of their inquiry on Friday, subpoenaing the White House for a vast trove of documents and requesting more from Vice President Mike Pence to better understand President Trump's attempts to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals. The subpoena, addressed to Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, calls for documents and communications that are highly delicate and would typically be subject in almost any White House to claims of executive privilege. If handed over by the Oct. 18 deadline, the records could provide keys to understanding what transpired between the two countries and what steps, if any, the White House has taken to cover it up.... For more than six hours on Friday, the House Intelligence Committee questioned the intelligence community's independent watchdog who first fielded a whistle-blower complaint that has spurred the formal impeachment inquiry into Mr. Trump. Michael Atkinson ... had received the complaint and explained his own preliminary investigation into its validity before seeking to deliver it to Congress. 'What the inspector general said last time was, the whistle-blower pulled the fire alarm,' Representative Mike Quigley, Democrat of Illinois, told reporters. 'We have now seen the smoke and the fire.'" This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.

     ~~~ Politico's story is here. The Guardian's story is here.

Uh-oh. Michael Schmidt & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "A second intelligence official who was alarmed by President Trump's dealings with Ukraine is weighing whether to file his own formal whistle-blower complaint and testify to Congress, according to two people briefed on the matter. The official has more direct information about the events than the first whistle-blower, whose complaint that Mr. Trump was using his power to get Ukraine to investigate his political rivals touched off an impeachment inquiry. The second official is among those interviewed by the intelligence community inspector general to corroborate the allegations of the original whistle-blower, one of the people said.... Whistle-blowers have created a new threat for Mr. Trump. Though the White House has stonewalled Democrats in Congress investigating allegations raised in the special counsel's report that Mr. Trump obstructed justice, the president has little similar ability to stymie whistle-blowers from speaking to Congress." The Hill's summary of the NYT report is here.

Barr, DOJ Ignored CIA Criminal Referral of Trump re: Ukraine. Ken Dilanian of Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "Weeks before the whistleblower's complaint became public, the CIA's top lawyer made what she considered to be a criminal referral to the Justice Department about the whistleblower's allegations that ... Donald Trump abused his office in pressuring the Ukrainian president, U.S. officials familiar with the matter tell NBC News. The move by the CIA's general counsel, Trump appointee Courtney Simmons Elwood, meant she and other senior officials had concluded a potential crime had been committed, raising more questions about why the Justice Department later declined to open an investigation.... Elwood ... participated in a conference call with the top national security lawyer at the White House and the chief of the Justice Department's National Security Division. On that call, Elwood and John Eisenberg, the top legal adviser to the White House National Security Council, told the top Justice Department national security lawyer, John Demers, that the allegations merited examination by the DOJ, officials said.... A DOJ official said Attorney General William Barr was made aware of the conversation with Elwood and Eisenberg, and their concerns about the president's behavior, in the days that followed. Justice Department officials now say they didn't consider the phone conversation a formal criminal referral because it was not in written form.... A separate criminal referral came later from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence which was based solely on the whistleblower's official written complaint." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Alex Ward of Vox: "... as NBC News explains, 'Justice Department officials have said they only investigated the president's Ukraine call for violations of campaign finance law because it was the only statute mentioned in the whistleblower's complaint.'... Now here's the kicker: The CIA's criminal referral wasn't about campaign finance law, according to NBC News. This means DOJ essentially ignored the CIA criminal referral -- which apparently included concerns that other laws besides campaign finance law may have been broken -- all because it was made over the phone." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I should like to point out to Bill Barr that "but it was just a phone call" and "gee, the whistleblower didn't cite all the laws Trump broke" are as valid excuses as "it's Trump being Trump" (see Ron Johnson in yesterday's Commentariat) and "Trump was only joking" (see Marco Rubio below) and "the Constitution made me do it" (Trump's latest).

Quint Forgey of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Friday defended his brazen call for foreign governments to interfere in the 2020 election by launching investigations into the Bidens, repeatedly claiming he is duty-bound to encourage such probes and insisting his motivations are apolitical. 'This is not about politics. This is about corruption,' Trump told reporters outside the White House. 'And if you look and you read our Constitution and many other things, I have an obligation to look at corruption. I have an actual obligation and a duty.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "... Donald Trump denied he would seek to tie a potential investigation into the Biden family to any trade deal with China, however he again pressed Beijing to investigate unfounded claims against his political rival. Speaking to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House Friday, Trump reiterated that he believes he has the authority as president to ask a foreign government to open investigations into anyone he suspects of being corrupt.... His comments come a day after he openly called for President Xi jinping to look into possible corruption by the Bidens, continuing to spread claims that no evidence has supported. Trump first appeared to link the two prospects speaking to reporters Thursday. The president asserted then that he and the U.S. would have the upper hand on China when high-stakes trade talks resume in Washington next week, saying he has 'a lot of options on China' and 'if they don't do what we want, we have tremendous power.'... On Friday, Trump appeared to adopt a new line of defense as he spoke with reporters, repeatedly telling them that his main motivator was rooting out corruption, rather than damaging the electoral prospects of any singular political opponent. Asked by one reporter, however, if he could name any corruption investigations he was pursuing that did not involve a political opponent, the president responded that he 'would have to look.' Moments later, unprompted, he issued his invitation for China to examine whether there was wrongdoing by the Bidens." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ From the Washington Post's liveblog @10:30 am ET: "In the midst of several midmorning tweets, Trump identified the purported employer of the whistleblower as the CIA. In the tweet, Trump quoted longtime Republican operative Ed Rollins from an appearance on Fox News. 'I think it's outrages that a Whistleblower is a CIA Agent,' Trump quoted Rollins as saying, misspelling 'outrageous.'" @10 am ET: "Beginning this weekend, the Trump campaign is airing more than $1 million worth of TV ads in early primary states that accuse Joe Biden and his son Hunter of corruption in Ukraine, according to Brad Parscale, Trump's campaign manager. The commercials will air in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, Parscale tweeted." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ "Me! Me!" Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: During the chopper chat, Trump started out cocky (Mrs. McC: he was boasting about the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years). But he shifted "into the aggrieved alternate reality that has consumed him since House Democrats launched their impeachment inquiry.... 'I feel there was in the 2016 campaign -- there was tremendous corruption against me,' said Trump, transforming himself -- a man who has now publicly asked no fewer than three foreign countries (Russia, Ukraine and China) to look into his political opponents -- into the victim of corrupt behavior.... 'I was investigated, I was investigated, okay?' he said, before pointing at himself -- two rapid-fire taps to his right breast -- and adding: 'Me! Me!' He barked at the media that it was he who ran, he who won, he who was investigated, before accusing the assembled press: 'You won't say that, will you?'... 'I was investigated. I was investigated. And they think it could have been by U.K. They think it could have been by Australia. They think it could have been by Italy. So when you get down to it, I was investigated by the Obama administration. By the Obama administration,' he concluded, shouting now, and using both hands to point at himself, 'I was investigated.' It was unclear, exactly, to which unfounded, unproven theory Trump was referring."

One Ringy-dingy. Carol Leonnig, et al., of the Washington Post: "Starting long before revelations about Trump's interactions with Ukraine's president rocked Washington, Trump's phone calls with foreign leaders were an anxiety-ridden set of events for his aides and members of the administration, according to former and current officials. They worried that Trump would make promises he shouldn't keep, endorse policies the United States long opposed, commit a diplomatic blunder that jeopardized a critical alliance, or simply pressure a counterpart for a personal favor. 'There was a constant undercurrent in the Trump administration of [senior staff] who were genuinely horrified by the things they saw that were happening on these calls,' said one former White House official.... 'Phone calls that were embarrassing, huge mistakes he made, months and months of work that were upended by one impulsive tweet.'... In one of his first calls with a head of state, President Trump fawned over Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling the man who ordered interference in America's 2016 election that he was a great leader and apologizing profusely for not calling him sooner. He pledged to Saudi officials in another call that he would help the monarchy enter the elite Group of Seven, an alliance of the world's leading democratic economies. He promised the president of Peru that he would deliver to his country a C-130 military cargo plane overnight, a logistical nightmare that set off a herculean scramble in the West Wing and Pentagon."

Jonathan Chait: "Trump is claiming the absolute right to demand investigations of any American by any country. The president exerts unilateral control over the most powerful government on Earth. He is announcing to every foreign state that American relations with his government -- and, should he prevail, every future government -- can and will be influenced by their willingness to put their judicial or quasi-judicial systems at the disposal of his reelection campaign.... The pretext that somehow Trump is advancing the cause of good government by demanding international anti-corruption probes is a morbid joke.... He is pressing notoriously corrupt states to deliver a predetermined outcome.... The favor he is bartering for is the insinuation of guilt. And Trump himself is obviously indulging in corruption on a scale unprecedented in presidential history.... His demands are not intended to clamp down on corruption, but to cheapen the currency of the language, so that he can more easily dismiss his own gross behavior as standard procedure.... The brutally simple choice...[:] Either ... hand the president the absolute right, now and forever, to use American foreign policy as a lever to discredit their political rivals, or ... vote to impeach." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Friday broke sharply with President Trump's call for China and Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, calling it 'wrong and appalling.' 'When the only American citizen President Trump singles out for China&'s investigation is his political opponent in the midst of the Democratic nomination process, it strains credulity to suggest that it is anything other than politically motivated,' Romney said in a statement, which he also tweeted out. [In a second tweet, Romney wrote,] 'By all appearances, the President's brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Excuse #2. Trump Was Only Kidding. Connor Mannion of Mediaite: When a reporter asked Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) what he thought of Donald Trump's asking China to investigate Joe Biden, Rubio said, "I don't think it's a real request, I think he did it to get you guys. I think he did it to provoke you to ask me and others and get outraged by it. Like I said, he plays it like a violin and everyone falls right into it. I don't think it's a real request." Mrs. McC: It's a great argument, of course, but I can't quite picture people falling into violins. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump is not a patriot.... Again and again, he has harmed the nation's interests to further his own.... Trump has many undesirable attributes: He lies, he chases conspiracy theories, he's racist, he abuses power, he&'s cruel. The common thread -- a unified theory of Trump, if you will -- is that the man who promised an 'America First' agenda is instead pursuing a 'Trump First' agenda. This is the Me Presidency." Milbank writes a laundry list of Trump's unpatriotic remarks & deeds. Of course the list is longer than Milbank can fit into a newspaper column.

David Frum of the Atlantic: Gerald "Ford's intact reputation enabled Congress and the country to turn the page definitively in August 1974. Nixon's most tainted appointees had been forced from office before him.... Donald Trump may not know much of this history, but he intuits its lessons. From the beginning, he has appeared determined to implicate as many members of his administration as possible in his scandal -- Vice President Mike Pence heading the list.... Pence seems to have been involved up to the eyeballs in the Ukraine plot. His team's messaging -- Yes, he pressed the Ukrainians to investigate corruption, but he never appreciated that Trump's true purpose was to pursue the Bidens -- fails the laugh test.... If the Senate ever could muster the integrity to remove Trump from office, there would be ... a vice president who participated in Trump's dirty schemes, from staying at a remote resort to direct government funds to Trump's failing Irish golf course to extorting an invaded country to fabricate political dirt to help Trump's reelection. Trump's compromised attorney general remains on the job, as does his apparently compromised secretary of state.... Pence betrayed his most important duty as vice president: Be ready to step into the nation&'s highest office should the need arise." ~~~

     ~~~ Nikki Haley Reminds Trump There's an AlterVeep Waiting in the Wings. Molly Prince of Daily Wire: "Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley praised ... Donald Trump on Friday and further commended his record on foreign policy as one that 'every American should be proud of.'" Mrs. McC: Yes, because, as Thomas Pickering -- a Republican diplomat who previously had Haley's U.N. gig -- told the AP (linked below), "We have come into a situation where not only unpredictability is the hallmark of the United States, but unreliability as well. The wisdom and judgment that the United States was known for has been diminished."

I have known former vice president Biden for 24 years, and the suggestion that he would be influenced in his duties as vice president by money for his son simply has no credibility to me. I know him as a man of integrity and dedication to our country. -- Kurt Volker, in his opening statement to the joint House committee, Thursday ~~~

~~~ Paul Sonne & Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post: "Kurt Volker, the former U.S. special representative to Ukraine, defended former vice president Joe Biden in a statement to Congress on Thursday and said he was trying to run interference on information being supplied to President Trump by former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, to secure continued U.S. support for the government in Ukraine. Volker, who as of Thursday was the executive director of the McCain Institute for International Leadership, said he did not believe allegations Giuliani has leveled against Biden, namely that Biden was influenced in his dealings with the Ukrainian leadership by his son's presence on the board of a Ukrainian gas company whose owner was being probed by authorities in Kiev. Cindy McCain, a Biden friend, chairs the McCain Institute.... Volker also pleaded ignorance of Trump's July 25 call in which he raised investigating Burisma and Biden with Zelensky, saying he received a general readout of the conversation from people who described it as a good, congratulatory call.' He said he learned the full details about the call only when it was released late last month." ~~~

     ~~~ Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "Volker repeatedly emphasized during his remarks he did not believe the allegations against Biden to be credible.... Volker also testified that he told ... Rudy Giuliani that accusations against the former vice president and 2020 Democratic candidate were 'not credible.'" ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times: "The former State Department special envoy for Ukraine told congressional investigators that Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump's personal attorney, insisted that Ukraine specifically commit to investigate involvement in the 2016 election and a firm tied to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. During testimony behind closed doors on Thursday, Kurt D. Volker, the special envoy, said Mr. Giuliani rejected a generic draft statement that Ukraine's government had agreed to issue committing to fighting corruption generally. While Mr. Giuliani's efforts to pressure Ukraine have been known, Mr. Volker's account provides new details about how the president's personal lawyer inserted himself into foreign policy to benefit Mr. Trump politically. Mr. Giuliani 'said that in his view, the statement should include specific reference to "Burisma" and "2016,"' Mr. Volker told the investigators, according to a person who has seen the testimony.... Mr. Volker sought in his testimony to distance himself from the pressure campaign by the president and Mr. Giuliani. 'At no time was I aware of or took part in an effort to urge Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Biden,' he told investigators." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Christopher Miller, et al., of BuzzFeed News: "In his prepared testimony Thursday, [Kurt] Volker said he wanted to make five key points clear: His 'efforts were entirely focused on advancing U.S. foreign policy goals with respect to Ukraine.' 'Second, in May of this year, I became concerned that a negative narrative about Ukraine, fueled by assertions made by Ukraine's departing Prosecutor General, was reaching the President of the United States, and impeding our ability to support the new Ukrainian government as robustly as I believed we should. 'Third, at no time was I aware of or took part in an effort to urge Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Biden.' Volker said that in the text messages he shared with Congress, 'Vice President Biden was never a topic of discussion.' However, the texts do explicitly mention Burisma, the Ukraine gas company where the presidential candidate's son Hunter Biden served on the board 'Fourth, while executing my duties, I kept my colleagues at the State Department and National Security Council informed, and also briefed Congress, about my actions.' Fifth and finally, I strongly supported the provision of U.S. security assistance, including lethal defensive weapons, to Ukraine throughout my tenure." The reporters elaborate on those points. The report includes a copy of Volker's opening remarks. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Rachel Frazin of the Hill: "U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland is expected to appear for his scheduled House deposition next week, a House committee official confirmed to The Hill.... Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ... said [State Department] officials would not show up for the depositions, although since then, one of the officials [Mrs. McC: -- Kurt Volker --] has been questioned by lawmakers. Mrs. McC: And former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch has agreed to appear Oct. 11. Now read this ~~~

As I said on the phone, I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign. -- Bill Taylor, U.S. diplomat leading Ukraine Embassy [9/9/19, 12:47:11 AM]

Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump's intentions. The President has been crystal clear no quid pro quo's of any kind. The President is trying to evaluate whether Ukraine is truly going to adopt the transparency and reforms that President Zelensky promised during his campaign I suggest we stop the back and forth by text If you still have concerns I recommend you give Lisa Kenna or S a call to discuss them directly. Thanks. -- Gordon Sondland [9/9/19, 5:19:35 AM] (Emphasis added.) ~~~

     ~~~ Really, Gordo? This is the message digby IDed as a CYA effort (see yesterday's Commentariat). And think about it. Who thumbs out a text like that? According to Rachel Maddow, during the 4-1/2-hour delay between Taylor's text & Sondland's, Sondland called the White House. BTW, in his chopper chat on Friday, Sondland's manufactured denial of a quid pro quo was the only part of the text exchange among Taylor, Sondland & Volker that Trump cited. Isn't that a surprise -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie~~~

~~~ ** Epic Fail. Dumbest Senator Tries to Help Trump, but Reveals Proof of Quid Pro Quo. Andrew Prokop & Jen Kirby of Vox: Gordan Sondland, the U.S. Ambassador to the E.U., told Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) "that the Trump administration was blocking hundreds of millions of dollars in US military aid to Ukraine until the country agreed to launch investigations Trump was demanding.... Johnson [told the Wall Street Journal] that ... Sondland told him in late August that the administration was demanding Ukraine investigate 'what happened in 2016,' and that if President Trump had 'confidence' in the investigation, he'd 'release the military spending.'... [Wait, wait, there's more.] According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Molly Beck [and others]..., Johnson said in a separate interview that Trump did say he was considering withholding the aid because he wanted to find out 'what happened in 2016.' Johnson said he asked Trump whether he could tell Ukraine's president the aid was on the way anyway, to dispel the government's fears, but 'I didn't succeed.'" Emphasis added. The WSJ report is here. ~~~

~~~ ** Greg Miller, et al., of the Washington Post: "By mid-May, the U.S. relationship with Ukraine was unraveling: The U.S. ambassador had been recalled home for no apparent reason, the country's new president was anxious about U.S. support, and President Trump's personal lawyer was hawking Kiev conspiracy theories. Amid this turbulence, an unexpected figure stepped forward to assert that he was now in charge of the U.S.-Ukraine relationship. Gordon Sondland ... had no apparent standing to seize this critical portfolio, nor any apparent qualifications as a diplomat beyond the $1 million he'd given to Trump's inauguration. But when some in the White House and State Department sought to block his power grab, current and former U.S. officials said, he rebuffed their demands to know who had granted him such authority with two words: 'The president.'... Newly released texts exchanged by Sondland, Volker and other U.S. officials ... read like a government-sanctioned shakedown. Again and again, they make clear that Ukraine's new president, Volodymyr Zelensky would not get military aid or the Oval Office invitation he coveted until he committed to investigations that Trump hoped would deliver damaging information on former vice president Joe Biden and undermine the origins of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Rather than official State Department email, the text exchanges between the diplomats took place over WhatsApp, a U.S. official said." Emphasis added. This is a longish read; it's pretty interesting. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: One of the talking points the White House accidentally sent to Democrats last week was, "Let's be clear, there was no quid pro quo for Ukraine to get U.S. aid in exchange for looking into Biden or his son." Quite a few Republicans took to the airwaves & the hinterlands with that fiction. Indeed, after Johnson's revelatory interviews, "... Johnson's office stressed [to NBC News] that the term 'quid pro quo' was not used," as if nothing is true unless expressed in Latin. That is, "IF you smear my opponent, THEN I'll give you $400MM" is not corrupt (and in this case, illegal) because English.

Ben Fox, et al., of the AP: "The State Department has been deeply shaken by the rapidly escalating impeachment inquiry, as revelations that ... Donald Trump enlisted diplomats to dig up dirt on a political rival threaten to tarnish its reputation as a nonpartisan arm of U.S. foreign policy, former senior officials said Friday.... With Washington in tumult over the escalating impeachment inquiry, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo toured southeast Europe on Friday, trying to ignore the furor back home.... His staff steadfastly refused to comment on the latest developments in the rapidly unfolding drama, including at a briefing for reporters at his last stop of the day in Athens.... Trump has had a tense relationship with the State Department since he took office, repeatedly proposing to slash its budget, leaving key posts unfulfilled and choosing political appointees over career foreign service officers for ambassadorships to a greater degree than other recent presidents have. His ouster of U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, a respected career officer, and his dismissal of her as 'bad news' in the call left many diplomats dismayed.... 'The Ukraine affair] is only the latest in a large number of very damaging things that have been done to the State Department,' said Thomas Pickering, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Russia under President George H.W. Bush. 'It represents a new low in basically ignoring and indeed punishing the people who have made a professional commitment to the country and Constitution.'"

Just a Coincidence. Rachel Frazin of the Hill: "President Trump has ordered a significant staff cut at the White House National Security Council (NSC),Bloomberg reported late Friday, citing five people familiar with the matter. Some of the individuals reportedly said that the move was part of an effort under new national security adviser Robert O'Brien, who told officials of the reduction alongside acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney this week. Two people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the change was due to O'Brien's leadership and Trump's wish to increase agency efficiency. The news outlet noted that the NSC grew under former President Obama and about 310 people work there now. However, Bloomberg noted that the changes also come as Trump faces scrutiny over a whistleblower complaint...."

The Oranges of Trump's Ukraine Conspiracy Theory. Ben Collins of NBC News: "An anonymous post from March 2017 on the far-right 4chan message board teased a conspiracy theory that would eventually make its way to the White House. 'Russia could not have been the source of leaked Democrat emails released by Wikileaks,' the post teased, not citing any evidence for the assertion. The post baselessly insinuated that CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that worked with the Democratic National Committee and had been contracted to investigate a hack of its servers, fabricated a forensics report to frame Russia for election interference.... In the years that followed the original 4chan post, at least three different but related conspiracy theories would warp and combine on the fringes of the internet, eventually coalescing around Ukraine's supposed role in helping Trump's 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton. Ukraine wasn't originally part of the theory, but in July,

Brian Faler of Politico: "An independent watchdog at the Treasury Department is looking into how the agency handled House Democrats'; demands for ... Donald Trump's tax returns. Acting Inspector General Rich Delmar said he will investigate who was consulted on the issue and how the department came to reject Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal's demands for the records, a decision the Massachusetts Democrat is now fighting into court." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "The inspector general investigation is in response to a request from Representative Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts, the Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who has been leading congressional efforts to gain access to Mr. Trump's financial information.... An Internal Revenue Service whistle-blower filed a complaint over the summer claiming that senior Treasury officials tried to exert improper influence over the [mandatory] audit [of Trump's tax returns]. According to a government official familiar with its contents, it claims that political appointees in the Treasury Department were pressuring I.R.S. officials to ignore the requirement to scrutinize Mr. Trum's returns. A person familiar with the complaint said the allegations did not directly implicate [Treasury Secretary Steven] Mnuchin."


No Poor People Allowed. Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "The White House late Friday issued a proclamation saying it would deny visas to immigrants who 'will financially burden' the U.S. health-care system starting Nov. 3, demanding that foreign nationals prove that they have insurance or can cover their own health care costs before entering the United States." This is a brief breaking story at 10 pm ET Friday. Update: The BuzzFeed News story is here. ~~~

~~~ Scott Bixby of the Daily Beast: "A U.S. Customs and Border Protection official reportedly refused to allow a reporter through customs on Thursday unless he answered the repeated question 'You write propaganda, right?' in the affirmative, at least the third such incident involving harassment of a journalist by a passport official this year. Ben Watson, a news editor at Defense One, was returning to the United States from a reporting assignment in Denmark when a USCBP official, after asking whether Watson was carrying any undeclared foods, inquired into his profession. When Watson responded that he worked in journalism, the official began repeatedly badgering him into 'admitting' that he writes propaganda, Watson wrote of his experience."

Let Them Eat Dirt. Lola Fadulu of the New York Times: "The Agriculture Department moved again this week to cut spending on food stamps, this time proposing changes that would slice $4.5 billion from the program over five years, trimming monthly benefits by as much as $75 for one in five struggling families on nutrition assistance. The latest plan would cut benefits for 19 percent of households on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly called food stamps, while increasing benefits for 16 percent. Almost 8,000 households would lose benefits entirely. Those cuts would be concentrated in cold northern states that would be most affected by a change in the way heating costs are calculated. The number of families losing benefits is a tiny percentage of the nearly 40 million people who receive benefits, and even $4.5 billion over five years is a trim for a program that cost $68 billion in 2018 alone. But the latest move is the third time the Trump administration has moved to cut food stamps. In December, the Agriculture Department said it sought to place more stringent work requirements on the program. In July, the administration proposed a rule that would strip more than three million people of their benefits. The public comment periods for both those proposals have ended, and final rules are expected soon."

Lying to the Old Folks on Our Dime. Annie Karni & Abby Goodnough of the New York Times: "President Trump on Thursday delivered a campaign-style speech to an audience of elderly voters, pitching a new executive order that aims to improve private Medicare plans as the responsible alternative to the 'Medicare for all' policies supported by some of his Democratic political opponents. 'Standing in solidarity with our nation's seniors, I declare once again that America will never be a socialist country,' Mr. Trump told a crowd at the Villages in Florida, the country's largest retirement community, where the population is overwhelmingly white and conservative and where many residents are veterans.... But while Mr. Trump's speech suggested that the Democratic proposals for expanding coverage put retirees' access to health care in grave danger, the plans would not actually diminish their benefits.... Mr. Trump's speech, delivered from behind a lectern with a presidential seal, was billed as an official White House event and his travel was not paid for by his campaign. But it was almost indistinguishable in much of its content from the remarks Mr. Trump delivers at his 'Make America Great Again' rallies." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

the president tells audience in the east room that john adams - 'no. 6' - was the first president to live in the white house. john adams, for what it's worth, was our nation's second president -- Justin Sink, in a tweet

Some of Sink's Twitter followers stood up for Trump: One said Trump probably doesn't know there were two Presidents Adams. Another was worried: "wait until he hears about grover cleveland!" And a third explained why Trump was absolutely right: "John Adams wore #6 for his high school football team." -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Update: Trump made the remark at an event for young African Americans -- so, ya know, teaching our kids good. And, apparently, he's using a stale lesson plan: David Smith of the Guardian: "Oddly, Trump made the same mistake at the same event last year.

CORRECTION. I'VE BEEN SNOPED! Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: On September 24 & 25, I embedded a tweet with a photo of men climbing over a border wall. The Twitter-user wrote, "... Mexicans have turned Trump's wall into a tourist attraction & are playing a game to see who can climb it the fastest, no ladders or ropes needed. The record is 45 seconds" Trump, in a visit to his wall, had claimed on September 18 that the government had invited 20 "world-class mountain-climbers" to try to scale various border-fence prototypes, and that his "was the one that was hardest to climb." So I found the tweet pretty hilarious (and dismaying, considering all the money that was going to waste on the supposedly-unscalable wall). Well, the tweet and the photo were bunk. ~~~

     ~~~ Dan MacGuill of Snopes (Sept. 24): "... the video footage and still images used to contradict and ridicule the president's claim that 'this wall can't be climbed' were either captured in 2016, before construction began on Trump's long-promised border fence, and even before he became president, or at a section of fencing that is clearly, visibly different from the one the president showed off in September 2019.... [The tweet I republished] showed a stretch of fencing at San Ysidro, California, captured by NBC News in November 2018 ... [and] was clearly different from the one unveiled by Trump in September 2019." Mrs. McC: I apologize. I definitely should have checked Snopes before posting that tweet. ~~~

~~~ Brooke Seipel of the Hill (Oct. 4): "A rock climber plans to hold a border wall climbing competition after President Trump recently declared a new section of his border wall with Mexico 'impossible to climb,' according to a new report from climbing magazine Rock and Ice. Rick Weber -- a 75-year-old retired engineer, and active rock climber certified by American Mountain Guide Association as a Single Pitch Instructor -- writes that he has built a replica of an 18-foot tall section of steel border wall and has invited rock climbers to compete in the climb on Oct. 11 and 12.... Some professionals told The Daily Beast last month that [Trump's] claim was 'preposterous.' Jesse Grupper, a gold medalist in this year's USA Climbing Sport & Speed Open National Championships, said he 'never heard of any climbers ever being recruited to try and climb a border wall.' Weber wrote in the post announcing his competition that 'no one in our climbing community knows any of these 20 mountaineers.'"

Presidential Race 2020

Ali Vitali of NBC News: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has raised $24.6 million during the past three months, her campaign said Friday, beating her last quarter haul of $19.1 million and quadrupling her $6 million total from the first quarter of the year. The announcement comes as Warren, who has eschewed high-dollar events in favor of targeting small-dollar donations -- continues to solidify her place at or near the top of the Democratic presidential field in both polling and fundraising. She was outpaced only by fellow progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders -- who leads the pack with $25.3 million raised in the third quarter -- and dwarfed the fundraising totals announced Thursday by former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign. Biden raised $15.2 million in the third quarter." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Ed Kilgore of New York: "At the moment, you could say the Democratic race remains dominated by the Big Three of Warren, Biden, and Sanders (in whatever order you choose to rank them), with fundraising dominating by a Big Four (those three plus Pete Buttigieg, who raised $24 million in the third quarter and $19 million in the fourth). Everyone trailing these candidates in either metric needs to make a move soon as voters prepare to vote." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Adam Kelsey, et al., of ABC News: "The health issue that led to Sen. Bernie Sanders' hospitalization on Tuesday night in Las Vegas has been diagnosed as a heart attack.... A joint statement from the physicians who treated Sanders, Arturo E. Marchand Jr. and Arjun Gururaj, said Sanders suffered from a myocardial infarction and was transferred to Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center. 'The Senator was stable upon arrival and taken immediately to the cardiac catheterization laboratory, at which time two stents were placed in a blocked coronary artery in a timely fashion. All other arteries were normal,' they said. 'His hospital course was uneventful with good expected progress.... Sanders left Desert Springs Hospital on Friday, walking out on his own. The senator waved to reporters and said he felt 'great, great, thank you' before climbing into an awaiting SUV." The New York Times story is here.

Nicole Perlroth of the New York Times: "Iranian hackers have been targeting the email accounts of at least one presidential campaign, as well as those of American journalists and current and former United States government officials, according to Microsoft. In a report released on Friday, Microsoft said the hackers, with apparent backing from Iran&'s government, made more than 2,700 attempts to identify the email accounts of current and former government officials, journalists covering political campaigns and accounts associated with one major presidential campaign. Microsoft would not name the campaign." Mrs. McC: Iran, if you're listening, I hope it's Trump's campaign you're set on hacking. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The story has been updated just for me: "Though the company would not identify the presidential campaign involved, two people with knowledge of the hacking ... said it was President Trump'." Thanks, Ken W.!

Beyond the Beltway

Florida Justice. Jessica Campisi of the Hill: "A 21-year-old Florida man [-- Deandre Somerville --] who overslept for jury duty was sentenced to jail for 10 days.... During his hearing, Circuit Civil Judge John Kastrenakes said the trial [Someville missed] had been delayed by 45 minutes because of Somerville, whose conduct 'impeded the due administration of justice.' Kastrenakes convicted Somerville of direct criminal contempt, handing him a 10-day jail sentence as well as 12 months probation, 150 hours of community service and an order to write an apology letter, Fox 6 reported.... Somerville's public defender appealed the sentence, and a judge on Friday lowered his sentence to three months probation and 30 hours of community service." So Somerville, who previously had no criminal record, has one now.

     ~~~ Mrs. McC: Did I mention Somerville is black and Kastrenakes is white? But I'm sure that has nothing to do with the conviction. I was wondering if criminal contempt of court was a felony. According to Florida attorney Damian Zimmerman, "... criminal contempt is actually not a misdemeanor or a felony. Technically, it falls into the category of 'common law crimes.'... Under Florida law, contempt can be punished by a fine of $500 and between 6-12 months in jail depending on if a jury verdict was involved. 12 months is equivalent to the maximum sentence for a first degree misdemeanor. Check out Florida statute 775.02 and Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.830."

Way Beyond

John Leicester & Eileen Ng of the AP: "With subway services shut down, the wearing of face masks criminalized at rallies and Hong Kong's leader reaffirming her determination not to let rioters get the upper hand, anti-government protests that have shaken the city diminished in intensity Saturday but didn't stop. Marchers still came out to defy the new ban on face coverings that the government of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory says have made the identification of violent protesters difficult for police Shielded under umbrellas, many wearing masks, several hundred demonstrators clogged a thoroughfare in the central business district, carrying a yellow banner marked 'Glory to Hong Kong' and shouting, 'Hong Kong, resist!' Scattered gatherings of protesters in masks popped up elsewhere, too, with some holding hands in a human chain. But protester numbers Saturday afternoon appeared down from previous weekends when tens of thousands flooded the streets."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (5)

I hope the president* can get in some cheating at golf this weekend.
He deserves a break after a grueling week spent doing a crime,
covering up the crime, confessing to the crime, denying it was a
crime and then topping it off by doing another f______ crime.

October 5, 2019 | Unregistered Commenterforrest morris

MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN
go out in the midday sun,
while Fatty Warbucks & his "others"
are melting slowly––Oh, such fun!

And for something entirely different but certainly connected:
I was not aware of this transformation that Trump has executed in the immigration courts. According to Madeleine Schwartz who wrote a long piece on immigration, Sessions and now Barr has taken legislation passed quietly over the years and used it to drive through large-scale changes to immigration rights. Unlike the judges in federal or state courts, immigration judges don't have judicial independence. They are part of the executive branch rather than the judicial branch. They can be fired or reassigned by the A.G. and they face sanctions if they don't process cases rapidly.

The Trump administration has hired nearly two hundred new judges and plans to add at least a hundred more. Nearly half of sitting judges were appointed by Trump, and about half had previously been attorneys for ICE. You can well imagine the court proceedings. We do what Daddy wants––or else.

October 5, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterP.D. Pepe

@PD: How about calling him Fatty Morebucks? But your point about appointments is and has been happening all along. I'm reading "The Fifth Risk" by Michael Lewis...a very stunning chapter is about the so-called transition team and how appointees were selected. Qualifications? Who needs qualifications as long as you are 'loyal' to Fatty.

October 5, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterMAG

What protection is available to black defendants when they must appear before judge John Kastrenakes? He has just destroyed the life of a young black man for a trivial offence. Apparently a "Jim Crow" Floridian determined to punish uppity blacks that do not know their place. This judge shames the State of Florida.
Damian Zimmerman needs a champion with some clout to counter this abusive judge.

October 5, 2019 | Unregistered Commentercarlyle

Since Trump is so concerned with corruption these days I wonder if anyone in the press asked him about one of his earliest congressional supporter's, Chris Collins, resignation and guilty plea for insider trading?

October 5, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterRAS
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