The Conversation -- August 23, 2023
Marie: If Donald Trump can pre-tape his response to the GOP debate, there's no reason the Lincoln Project can't pre-tape the debate itself (which, let's face it, will be fake anyway):
~~~ Marie: Akhilleus's comment in today's thread about the GOP presidential* debate reminded me of views of MAGA voters which Chris Hayes shared last night:
Huh. From CNN's liveblog of developments in Russia's war on Ukraine: "Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is listed among passengers on board a plane that crashed north of Moscow, according to Russian state media." MB: That's the whole story now. Expect lots more. It appears that accidentally falling out a sixth-floor window was not dramatic enough an end to Prigozhin. ~~~
~~~ From the New York Times' liveblog: "Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the Russian mercenary leader of the private Wagner paramilitary group, was listed on the passenger roster of a private jet that crashed in Russia on Wednesday, killing all 10 people aboard, Russia's aviation authority said. Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said that the plane, an Embraer jet, crashed in the Tver region, north of Moscow, according to the state news agency TASS. Minutes later, the news agency, citing Russia's aviation authority, said that Mr. Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on the plane."
Danny Hakim, et al., of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani turned himself in on Wednesday in the racketeering case against ... Donald J. Trump and his allies, surrendering at the Atlanta jail where the defendants are being booked. Mr. Giuliani, whose bond was set at $150,000, arrived in Atlanta as another defendant in the sprawling case, the lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, filed a motion seeking a speedy trial. Under that scenario, which Georgia law allows, the trial for all 19 people indicted in the case would have to start no later than Nov. 3.... Bond for another defendant, Sidney Powell, one of the most prominent lawyers who advanced false claims of vote fraud and advised Mr. Trump to fight his election loss, was set Wednesday at $100,000.... Three of the 19 defendants have filed to remove the case to federal court: Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official; Mark Meadows, Mr. Trump's former White House chief of staff; and [former Georgia Republican party chair David] Shafer. Mr. Clark and Mr. Meadows have also filed court papers seeking to block their arrest." This is an update of a story linked earlier Wednesday.
Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota injured himself playing basketball with his staff on Tuesday and was taken to an emergency room ahead of his planned appearance at Wednesday's first Republican presidential primary debate. Mr. Burgum, 67, injured his leg, according to two campaign aides, and it was unclear on Wednesday morning whether he would be able to stand at the debate." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Only the party of torture would consider making a guy with a newly-injured leg stand up during a two-hour debate.
South Carolina. Kate Zernike of the New York Times: "The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the state's new near-total ban on abortion by a 4-1 vote, reversing a decision it had made in January that struck down a similar ban and declared that the State Constitution's protections for privacy included a right to abortion. The court's decision was not unexpected, because the makeup of the bench had changed, and Republicans in the State Legislature had passed a new abortion law in the hopes that it would find a friendlier audience with the new court. The decision in January was written by the court's only female justice; she retired and South Carolina now has the nation's only all-male high court."
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Jeremy Diamond of CNN: "President Joe Biden has tapped Ed Siskel, the former White House attorney who helped manage the Obama White House's response to the Benghazi and Solyndra investigations, to serve as his next White House counsel. Siskel will step into the role next month, the White House said, as Biden is charging into a reelection battle and at a time when the various judicial and congressional investigations circling around the president, his family and his administration are entering a critical stage. Biden could soon be interviewed by federal investigators as part of the special counsel investigation into his handling of classified documents; the US attorney investigating the president's son Hunter has just been named a special counsel; and House Republicans, who are already investigating Biden on several fronts, are eyeing a potential impeachment inquiry into the president. He succeeds White House counsel Stuart Delery, who announced last week he will step down after a little over a year in the top role." (Also linked yesterday.)
The Trump Crime Family -- Begins to Break Up
CNN is liveblogging today's updates of developments in the Georgia RICO case against Trump & 18 other (alleged!) criminals. Two defendants surrendered early this morning: former state GOP chairman David Shafer and former Coffey County chair Cathy Latham.
It's Showtime! Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "Donald Trump is expected to surrender at the Fulton county jail on Thursday evening on racketeering and conspiracy charges over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia, according to two people.... The former president -- seeking to distract from the indignity of the surrender by turning things into a circus -- in essence had his lawyers negotiate the booking to take place during the prime viewing hours for the cable news networks."
Self-Interests Are Breaking Up That Old Gang of Mine. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Former Georgia Republican Party Chair David Shafer said attorneys for ... Donald Trump, his campaign and the local GOP were responsible for urging him to assemble a slate of false presidential electors that are now at the heart of a sprawling racketeering case. Shafer is among the 18 defendants indicted in Fulton County, Georgia, alongside Trump as part of a conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election. 'Mr. Shafer and the other Republican Electors in the 2020 election acted at the direction of the incumbent President and other federal officials,' Shafer's attorney wrote in a petition seeking to move the Fulton County case to federal court. To bolster his proposition, Shafer provided new documents that underscore the Trump campaign's close involvement in efforts to assemble a group of pro-Trump activists on Dec. 14, 2020 to sign documents claiming to be Georgia's legitimate presidential electors.... The filing underscores the tensions likely to manifest among the 19 defendants as ... defendants seek to shift culpability to others charged in the alleged conspiracy."
I am not granting any extensions. I gave 2 weeks for people to surrender themselves to the court. Your client is no different than any other criminal defendant in this jurisdiction. The two weeks was a tremendous courtesy. At 12:30 pm on Friday I shall file warrants in the system. -- Fani Willis, to Mark Meadows' attorney, in an email Tuesday ~~~
~~~ Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Mark Meadows is urging a federal judge to step in before Georgia prosecutors arrest him this week on charges that he conspired with Donald Trump to subvert the 2020 election. The former Trump White House chief of staff is racing to move the state criminal case into federal court and ultimately have the charges dismissed. He says the charges against him in Georgia stem from his work as Trump's chief of staff, a federal role that should make him immune to the local charges.... Meadows' urgency was sparked by Fulton County District Attorney Fani WillisSteven] Jones has a chance to make a ruling, expected next week.... Former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark has similarly asked Jones to prohibit Willis from arresting him by Friday, contending that his role in Trump's administration should also make him immune from the state-level charges. He has filed a motion for an emergency stay fro Jones...."
Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "Marc Short, who served as chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence, called Mark Meadows a 'ringleader' in the attempt to overthrow the 2020 presidential election.... '... Mark was a ringleader of much of the events that happened around January 6th. He was somebody who, the president sought to find additional attorneys who gave advice different than the White House counsel, and it was very central to the events that happened on that day,' [Short said on CNN Tuesday.] He went on to say, 'There were a lot of conversations leading up to this, and Mark was central to pulling together many of those who were, I think, whispering falsehoods into the president's ear.'"
CNN live-updated developments Tuesday in Fulton County, Georgia's Trump Crime Family RICO case. John Eastman and Scott Hall have surrendered at the Fulton County jail. Jeff Clark, Acting U.S. A.G. for a few hours, has filed motions in federal court arguing the Fulton County D.A. has no jurisdiction over his conduct & asks the court to dismiss all charges against him. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ NBC News' live updates for Tuesday are here. Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times write a kind of round-up story on who-all did what in regard to Fulton County's charges against them.
Rudy Can't Find a Lawyer. Nick Robertson of the Hill: "Rudy Giuliani ... has not found a Georgia-based lawyer to represent him in the state's prosecution on claims that he assisted a scheme to overturn the 2020 election.... He is relying on the assistance of one of the case's unindicted co-conspirators, Bernie Kerik, to negotiate his bail and surrender terms with Georgia prosecutors, CNN reports. Kerik is not an attorney.... Giuliani must negotiate bail and turn himself in to Georgia authorities by the Friday deadline and will require a Georgia-licensed attorney to sign off on any bail agreements."
Ver-r-r-ry Interesting. Daniel Barnes & Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "A key witness against ... Donald Trump and his two co-defendants in the Mar-a-Lago documents case recanted previous false testimony and provided new information implicating the defendants after switching lawyers, according to a new court filing by special counsel Jack Smith's office. Yuscil Taveras, the director of information technology at Mar-a-Lago, changed his testimony regarding efforts to delete security camera footage at Trump's Florida club in July after changing from a lawyer paid for by Trump's Save America PAC to a public defender, according to the filing. The revised testimony led to last month's superseding indictment against Trump and his two co-defendants.... 'Immediately after receiving new counsel, Trump Employee 4 retracted his prior false testimony and provided information that implicated [Walt] Nauta, (Carlos) De Oliveira, and Trump in efforts to delete security camera footage, as set forth in the superseding indictment,l the filing said." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Gosh, it's almost as if Taveras' Trump-paid lawyer Stanley Woodward induced Taveras to lie to a grand jury in order to protect Trump. Chief Judge Boasberg, whom prosecutors ask to hold a Garcia (conflict-of-interest) hearing on Woodward's representation of more than one client in the case, as well as the bar(s) to which Woodward belongs, should take a look at Woodward's ethics failures here. He is required by law to represent the best interests of his client, not those of the guy who writes the checks. Encouraging a client to perjure himself, thus expose himself to criminal charges, is not part of a lawyer's job. Ever. ~~~
~~~ Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: “Special counsel Jack Smith's team revealed the details of the employee's about-face as part of a filing demanded by Florida-based U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the classified records case against the former president.... Assistant special counsel David Harbach, who signed the new filing, said [attorney Stanley] Woodward appeared to be stoking concerns about the use of the D.C. grand jury to gain a 'tactical advantage' for both [Walt] Nauta and [Donald] Trump, whose PAC is covering Woodward's legal bills." ~~~
~~~ The government's filing, via Politico, is here.
Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times: Former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has taken "wary steps ... to navigate legal and political peril as prosecutors in Washington and Georgia closed in on Mr. Trump, seeking to avoid being charged himself while also sidestepping the career risks of being seen as cooperating with what his Republican allies had cast as partisan persecution of the former president.... The full extent of what he shared with federal prosecutors remains closely held, as are the terms under which he spoke to them.... While Mr. Meadows's strategy of targeted assistance to federal prosecutors and sphinxlike public silence largely kept him out of the 45-page election interference indictment that [special counsel Jack] Smith filed against Mr. Trump in Washington, it did not help him avoid similar charges in Fulton County, Ga. Mr. Meadows was named last week as one of Mr. Trump's co-conspirators...." MB: The reporters convey what seems to be inside information about Meadows' maneuvers. (Also linked yesterday.)
The Trump family have been involved in grifting for quite some time. -- Chris Christie, in June, on CNN ~~~
~~~ The Trump International Crime Family. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "After his fourth indictment..., Donald J. Trump last week posted a video online accusing President Biden and his family of being criminals. 'The Biden crime family,' he claimed, had received millions of dollars from foreign countries.... For Mr. Trump, outrage is a selective commodity when it comes to presidential families taking millions of dollars from foreign countries. During his four years in the White House and in the more than two and a half years since, Mr. Trump and his relatives have been on the receiving end of money from around the globe in sums far greater than anything Hunter Biden, the president's son, reportedly collected.... Mr. Trump also permitted his family to take positions in government that blurred the lines when it came to their private interests. Unlike Hunter Biden, Mr. Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner both served on the White House staff, where they could shape policies of concern to overseas businesses.... No hard evidence has emerged that [Joe] Biden, while vice president, personally participated in or profited from the business deals or used his office to benefit his son's partners."
Jason Wilson of the Guardian: "The founder and sponsor of a far-right network of secretive, men-only, invitation-only fraternal lodges in the US is a former industrialist who has frequently speculated about his future as a warlord after the collapse of America, a Guardian investigation has found. Federal and state tax and company filings show that the Society for American Civic Renewal (SACR) and its creator, Charles Haywood, also have financial ties with the far-right Claremont Institute [MB: John Eastman's outfit].... One idea he has repeatedly raised on [his] website is that he might serve as a 'warlord' at the head of an 'armed patronage network' or 'APN', defined as an 'organizing device in conditions where central authority has broken down' in which the warlord's responsibility is 'the short- and long-term protection, military and otherwise, of those who recognize his authority and act, in part, at his behest'." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I want to make clear that the article doesn't say a thing about Donald Trump, except indirectly: "Haywood was one of the first on the right to try to rehabilitate the rioters who stormed the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. Just over two months after that incident, he praised it as an 'electoral justice protest', commenting that 'the Protest was pretty awesome in every way. Its most precise analog in American history ... is the Boston Tea Party.'" Still, it's difficult for me not to connect the dots from Haywood to Eastman to Trump.
Heidi Przybyla of Politico: "Washington D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb is investigating judicial activist [and Federalist Society poobah & matchmaker] Leonard Leo and his network of nonprofit groups.... It comes after Politico reported in March that one of Leo's nonprofits -- registered as a charity -- paid his for-profit company tens of millions of dollars in the two years since he joined the company. A few weeks later, a progressive watchdog group filed a complaint with the D.C. attorney general and the IRS requesting a probe into what services were provided and whether Leo was in violation of laws against using charities for personal enrichment.... The news of the investigation comes as the nonprofit that was a subject of the complaint quietly relocated in recent weeks from the capital area to Texas, according to paperwork filed in Virginia and Texas."
Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "Averting a strike that could have shaken the U.S. economy, the union representing more than 300,000 United Parcel Service employees announced Tuesday that its members had ratified a new labor agreement with the shipping giant. The union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said that its UPS members approved the five-year contract with more than 86 percent support."
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Somini Sengupta of the New York Times: "Texas has shipped ... a busload of migrants who had crossed the border from Mexico ... into Los Angeles as it was struggling to keep residents safe from Tropical Storm Hilary. The busload of 37 migrants left the border city of Brownsville at 5 p.m. on Sunday, just as Southern California and much of the surrounding area was in a state of emergency, according to a coalition of advocacy groups that received them. They arrived around 6:30 p.m. Monday.... Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles called the decision 'evil.' On X..., she wrote that 'while we were urging Angelenos to stay safe, the Governor of Texas was sending a bus with families and toddlers straight towards us KNOWING they'd have to drive right into an unprecedented storm.'" Thanks to RAS for the lead. MB: It's a shame that the U.S. does not recognize the International Criminal Court in the Hague, because Greg Abbott should be tried for crimes against humanity. (Also linked yesterday.)
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Reader Comments (17)
The 36 Republican members of the House Freedom Caucus have
come up with a list of demands "or we'll shut down the government."
The chairman of this group is Jim Jordan.
Many of the 36 are former Tea Party members, which explains a lot.
The number one issue: Let trump walk or government shuts down.
Ensure passage of a draconian immigration law.
End "woke" policies in the U.S. military (I don't understand that one).
https://www.thedailybeast.com/house-freedom-caucus-let-trump-
walk-or-well-shut-down-the-government
Edsall, if you can stand it:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/23/opinion/trump-desantis-republican-party.html
The message: The Pretenders' supporters prefer the genuine fake.
@Forrest Morris: It is not surprising that the Freeeeedom Caucus would demand the charges against Trump be dropped because (1) they know he's guilty, so dropping the charges is the only way they can be sure he'll get off; and (2) many of them are Trump Crime Family capos who are implicated in crimes for which Trump is charged (and a few of the capos still could be charged).
I'm all for letting trump walk:
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from the police van to the entrance of a prison, in chains and cuffs.
But I don't think that's what the Freedom Caucus meant.
"The Trump family have been involved in grifting for quite some time." -- Chris Christie
And Chris was friends with the grifter for twenty years and help promote TFG to the most powerful position in the world while knowing exactly who he is. The media is always propping up losers like Christie in the myth of finding a reasonable Republican despite that 99% of what he says and thinks is utter trash. It's fake outrage in order to try to remain relevant and in the spotlight. In that way Christie is truly a Republican.
A long ride
"A jet ski rider detained by South Korea for allegedly entering the country illegally is a prominent Chinese dissident who rode hundreds of miles across the sea to escape from China, activists say.
He is suspected of traveling from China’s eastern Shandong province, which lies about 400 kilometers (250 miles) across the Yellow Sea from Incheon. Carrying only a helmet, binoculars and a compass, the man had also tied five 25-liter (6.6 gallon) fuel tanks to the jet ski, the release added."
Forrest,
Regarding any possible Trumpy imprisonment, I’m thinking…..hmmm…Black Hole of Calcutta.
Sound about right?
From MBs old stomping grounds. Sanctuary cities, why not Sanctuary counties?
https://winknews.com/2023/08/22/collier-county-proposes-to-become-bill-of-rights-sanctuary-county/
@Bobby Lee: Interesting. This is pretty much what those right-wing sheriffs are proposing, but without the guns. But is it without the guns? What happens when the Feds show up to enforce a federal law Collier County officials have somehow decided is "unconstitutional"? (How they determine constitutionality, I don't know. Do they ask Sam Alito? Do they hold a county commission vote?) Will the Collier County sheriff politely ask the Feds to go away? Or will he greet them with force?
In any event, those nice rich, patriotic Americans wintering in Naples may soon be holding posh fundraisers not for the usual causes but for the Army of Collier County.
Maybe the first battle of the New Civil War will be between Collier & neighboring Monroe County, wherein lies the Conch Republic.
After Congress gets back in session (you need a vacation when all
you do is sit on your ass and do nothing) McCarthy says the
impeachment of Joe Biden will begin.
He hasn't turned over the paper work we've requested. We need
bank statements, credit card statements ( and receipts from the dry
cleaners probably).
Seems like Biden has been making public the tax statements for
about the last 30 years or so.
Did trump turn over 30 years of tax statements?
https://news.yahoo.com/mccarthy-house-could-launch-impeachment-
233828941.html
Gee…Prigozhin dies in a mysterious plane crash? Who’d a thunk it?
Big surprise…
The surprise is it didn’t happen sooner…
A piece in the Times says that DeSantolini’s mission in tonight’s “debate” thingie is to show that he’s the top dog of the non-Trump loser crew.
One might think his mission would be to not look like an authoritarian, racist putz piece of shit. Oh, wait. He’s preening for R voters. Then I guess his mission IS to look like an authoritarian, racist putz piece of shit.
You got this, Ronito.
In the clip of Pres. Biden petting a dog, that wasn't really a dog.
It had white boots on. It was DeSantis in disguise, spying on Biden.
For all of us who are sick to death of the Rich Men ballad and its problematic lyrics, here is a much better alternative.
Forrest,
Was the dog rabid? Then yes, it was Go-Go Boots Ron. Put him down before he bites someone else.
Hey, do you think Putin’s murder of Prigozhin (accident? Please…) will give Trumpskyev any ideas? Man, he’d have to engineer a shitload of “accidental plane crashes” to guarantee none of his weasels would be alive to rat him out in court. It takes a lot to make America great again, again, again, again.
With their shotgun approach to any law passed since 1789 it will be instructive to see how they handle things like the five pounds of meth and five ounces of fentamyl just seized in neighboring Lee county.