The Commentariat -- February 12, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Attorney General William Barr has accepted an invitation to testify to the House Judiciary Committee on March 31, ending a year-long standoff that began when the panel first demanded his testimony in the aftermath of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. The arrangement comes as Democrats have demanded answers about Barr's apparent intervention in the sentencing of ... Donald Trump's longtime ally Roger Stone, who was convicted last year on charges that he lied to congressional investigators and threatened a witness.... On Wednesday morning, Trump hailed Barr for 'taking charge' of the [Stone] matter, confirming suggestions that it was the attorney general himself who intervened."

Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman "is not under Army investigation, a knowledgeable Defense Department official told The Daily Beast. But veteran Army officers caution that the lack of an investigation does not necessarily mean ... Vindman has escaped reprisal. Ever since Vindman was escorted out of the White House on Friday, along with his twin brother, there has been intense speculation over the future of his military career. Vindman has returned to the Department of the Army.... The Defense official said the Army was not investigating Vindman -- an indication that, thus far, the Army does not see Vindman as committing a professional infraction by testifying to the inquiry. The durability of that assessment stands as a key question affecting civilian-military relations in the post-impeachment phase of Trump's presidency. In an indication of how treacherous the military considers the politics of the Vindman episode, not even retired officers would speak on the record for this story.... In the military's 'up or out' culture, being denied a promotion to colonel by the next Army promotions board will spell the end of Vindman's service."

** Liz Roscher of Yahoo! Sports: "Ohio congressman and former Ohio State assistant wrestling coach Jim Jordan has been accused of participating in the cover-up of widespread sexual abuse in OSU's wrestling program. Jordan was accused by Adam DiSabato, who was the team captain in the late 1980s and early 1990s. DiSabato was appearing in front of a hearing in the Ohio legislature as a witness for House Bill 249, which would waive the statute of limitations and allow the OSU athletes who had been abused to sue the university. DiSabato told the House Civil Justice Committee that several team officials, including Jordan, were aware that the team's open shower facilities put them at risk of being abused and harassed by a team doctor, but did nothing about it. Then DiSabato detailed a phone conversation between him and Jordan, in which Jordan asks DiSabato to help him cover up wrongdoing. Via Cleveland.com: '[DiSabato] ... said Jordan called him repeatedly in July 2018, after media outlets quoted his brother, Michael DiSabato, saying Strauss' abuse was common knowledge to those surrounding the wrestling program, including Jordan. 'Jim Jordan called me crying, groveling... begging me to go against my brother.... That's the kind of cover-up that's going on there,' he said." Emphasis added. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm assuming Adam DiSabato's testimony was made under oath; that is, he wasn't just making up stuff to impress his buddies.

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Deval L. Patrick, the former Massachusetts governor, has suspended his campaign for president, he said, a day after the New Hampshire primary." A Hill report is here.

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen.Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) is demanding that Attorney General William Barr testify publicly over the Justice Department's decision to reduce the recommended sentence for Trump associate Roger Stone. Harris is asking Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to call Barr before the panel, of which she is a member." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has little interest in investigating the Justice Department's abrupt reversal on a sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone -- rebuffing a Democratic demand sparked by ... Donald Trump's attacks on the federal prosecutors in the case. Graham, a staunch Trump ally, said Wednesday he did not intend to bring Attorney General William Barr in for testimony aside from the committee's general oversight of the Justice Department. And while Senate Republicans broadly criticized Trump's Twitter forays into the case, they said further investigation was not warranted -- dismissing Democrats' calls for congressional action over allegations of politically motivated favoritism."

Dan Scanlan of the Florida Times Union: "A Jacksonville, Florida, man jailed after crashing a minivan through a tent of Republican volunteers in a Walmart parking lot told investigators he does not like ... Donald Trump and that he felt "someone had to take a stand," according to his arrest report.

Jason Horowitz & Elisabetta Povoledo of the New York Times: "Pope Francis has for now rejected a landmark proposal by bishops to allow the ordination of married men in remote areas, a potentially momentous change that conservatives had warned would set the Roman Catholic Church on a slippery slope toward lifting priestly celibacy and weakening church traditions. Francis' decision, in a papal letter made public on Wednesday, surprised many given the openness he had displayed on the subject and his frequently expressed desire for a more collegial and less top-down church."

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Jonathan Martin & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders narrowly won the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, consolidating support on the left and fending off a late charge by two moderate rivals to claim his second strong showing in two weeks and establish himself as a formidable contender for the Democratic nomination. Mr. Sanders had about 26 percent of the vote with 90 percent of the ballots counted, while former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., was a close second. Mr. Buttigieg split the centrist vote with Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who surged in New Hampshire to finish in third. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Mr. Sanders's progressive rival, finished a distant fourth in her neighboring state, and in a stinging blow to his candidacy, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. finished fifth. The results raised immediate questions about how much longer Mr. Biden and Ms. Warren, onetime front-runners, could afford to continue their campaigns." An ABC News story is here.

Matt Flegenheimer & Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "The revolution has not come. Bernie Sanders is looking like the front-runner anyway. The more moderate, non-Sanders alternatives combined to far outpace the liberal Vermont senator's vote share here on Tuesday night, with Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of a small Indiana city, again holding him to a virtual draw. His predictions of runaway progressive turnout remain unproved. But the two fading former favorites who once seemed to have a hold on the liberal establishment and the moderate establishment -- Senator Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. -- lost, badly. Two other professed unity candidates, Mr. Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar, performed well in New Hampshire but have shown little capacity to resonate with nonwhite voters so far."

Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "After months of trying to find her place in this crowded field, [Sen. Amy] Klobuchar (D-Minn.) seemed to have hit a stride.... Then, Tuesday night, came the stunning result: a third-place finish in New Hampshire, surpassing her better-funded and better-known rivals, former vice president Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and rocketing from the bottom tier of a crowded field to the center of the race.... Her challenge now is to keep that momentum building as the Democratic nominating contest moves to states where she has spent far less time campaigning -- and where she will face higher-polling candidates with more money and larger campaign operations.... More than two-thirds of her supporters said they made their decision in the last few days."

The New York Times has New Hampshire primary results here. The Times also has results for top candidates on the front page, so free to nonsubscribers. BuzzFeed News has results here, and they're more up-to-date than the Times', at least at 7:34 pm ET Tuesday. Update: Maybe the Times had a glitch. The paper seems to be catching up now. ~~~

~~~ NBC News has a livefeed of video of results, with Chuck Todd moderating.

Amy Wang & Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Michael Bennet, the Colorado senator and former public school superintendent, is ending his campaign for the presidency, he said.... Bennet did not announce support for any other candidate and hinted that the state would 'see me again' in the future. But he reiterated that his party would be best served by a nominee with broad appeal and a popular agenda, focusing on expanding access to education and fighting climate change."

Dave Weigel & Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Andrew Yang, a Democratic businessman who campaigned on giving every adult American a monthly check for $1,000, will end his campaign for president after a disappointing showing in the New Hampshire primary. 'I am a numbers guy,' Yang said in an interview before addressing supporters at Manchester's Puritan Backroom. 'In most of these [upcoming] states, I'm not going to be at a threshold where I get delegates, which makes sticking around not necessarily helpful or productive in terms of furthering the goals of this campaign.' Yang said he had not decided whether to endorse another candidate, though campaigns have reached out."

Ed Kilgore of New York: "... there are three bigger obstacles on the road to victory that Buttigieg and Klobuchar face that their centrist antecedents didn't encounter. The first is a lack of post-New Hampshire campaign infrastructure. Buttigieg poured all his resources into the first two states, and Klobuchar, having no other options, did as well.... The second problem is that both Buttigieg and Klobuchar have serious diversity problems in their electoral bases.... And the third problem is that even if Joe Biden eases out of the race, a battle to keep Sanders and Bloomberg from snatching the nomination would be extremely difficult for Pete or Amy.... The odds are high that Buttigieg and Klobuchar will hit a wall in Nevada and in South Carolina, and will give way to Sanders and Bloomberg on, or shortly after, Super Tuesday."

The New York Times' liveblog of New Hampshire primary developments for Monday is here.

Stop and Smash. Alexandra Jaffe of the AP: "Mike Bloomberg is under fire for resurfaced comments in which he says the way to bring down murder rates is to 'put a lot of cops' in minority neighborhoods because that's where 'all the crime is.' The billionaire and former New York mayor made the comments at a 2015 appearance at the Aspen Institute, as part of an overall defense of his support for the controversial 'stop and frisk' policing tactic that has been found to disproportionately affect minorities. Bloomberg launched his Democratic presidential bid late last year with an apology for his support for the policy_and on Tuesday, after the comments resurfaced, he reiterated his apology and said his 2015 remarks 'do not reflect my commitment to criminal justice reform and racial equity.'... [In the taped speech,] Bloomberg says that '95 percent of murders and murder victims are young male minorities.... And to 'get the guns out of the kids hands,' Bloomberg says, police must 'throw 'em against the wall and frisk 'em.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ "Total Racist" Calls Out Racist. Kevin Brueninger of CNBC: "... Donald Trump slammed Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday as a 'TOTAL RACIST' over a 2015 audio clip in which Bloomberg defended the 'stop and frisk' police practice. In reply to Trump's tweet, Bloomberg said, 'I am not afraid of you and I will not let you bully me or anyone else in America.' Bloomberg made his comments defending stop and frisk in 2015, years before the three-term former New York mayor disavowed the policy in advance of launching his presidential bid in November." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Jill Filipovic in a CNN opinion piece: "If you need proof that Michael Bloomberg is the absolute wrong person to lead the diverse Democratic coalition to victory in 2020, look no further than a recently resurfaced 2015 recording of him defending not only the controversial policy of stop-and-frisk but violent, racist policing in New York City.... [Bloomberg's claim that 95% of murderers & victims were young black men] is actually not true.... This is no small thing. This is about decency, judgment and the very basics of leading a party that is fueled by voters of color and claims to stand for basic fairness and justice." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The most surprising part to me is that Bloomberg made these racist remarks out in the open at an Aspen symposium. Apparently, he thought all white rich people think alike, and he could say the reprehensible things out loud.

Blackburn Blocks Election Bill to Rein in Trump's Cheating. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Republicans blocked an effort by Democrats to unanimously pass three election security-related bills Tuesday, marking the latest attempt to clear legislation ahead of the November elections. Democrats tried to get consent to pass two bills that require campaigns to alert the FBI and Federal Election Commission (FEC) about foreign offers of assistance, as well as legislation to provide more election funding and ban voting machines from being connected to the internet. But Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) opposed each of the requests. Under the Senate's rules, any one senator can ask for unanimous consent to pass a bill, but any one senator can object and block their requests." (Also linked yesterday.)

Catherine Garcia of the Week: "President Trump easily won the New Hampshire Republican primary on Tuesday, but his challenger, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, was able to secure nearly 10 percent of the vote. With 85 percent of precincts reporting, Trump has 85.7 percent of the vote, and Weld has 9.2 percent of the vote. Write-in candidates received 5.3 percent."

Time for Some Traffic Problems in Manchester, N.H. AP: "Eager to put on a show of force in a general-election battleground state..., Donald Trump tried to rattle Democrats on Monday with a rally in New Hampshire on the eve of the state's first-in-the-nation primaries.... Before leaving Washington, Trump said he had planned the rally to rattle Democrats and demonstrate his strength in the state before the primary vote.... Advisers also hoped that Secret Service moves in downtown Manchester to secure the area for the president's arrival would also make it harder for Democratic candidates and their supporters to transverse the state's largest city in the hours before the primary's first votes are cast, according to Trump campaign officials not authorized to discuss internal deliberations publicly." Emphasis added. (Also linked yesterday.)

Impeachment Fallout, Ctd.

Kate Brannen of Just Security: Just Security obtained a number of unredacted emails from the Office of Budget & Management previously released on Jan. 22 in highly-redacted form, "under the condition that they not be reprinted. Similar to the unredacted emails Just Security reported on in January, these new emails shed further light on the standoff that took place between the Pentagon and OMB over Trump's hold on Ukraine funding. They confirm that OMB, including the general counsel's office, was fully in the loop about the Pentagon's concerns and took active steps to bury them. They also expose the extent to which OMB misled, and even lied to, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a congressional investigative body, as the GAO tried to understand the circumstances surrounding the funding hold. To this day, and through these redacted documents, OMB is continuing its efforts to keep its knowledge of the Pentagon's legal worries a secret, blacking out the portions of the emails where DoD officials voiced their concerns and where OMB staffers acknowledged them. The Washington Post reported earlier this month that [OMB general counsel Mark] Paoletta reviewed the redactions before the documents were released. (Also linked yesterday.)

** Tim O'Donnell of the Week: "The impeachment fallout continues. The New York Post reported Tuesday that Elaine McCusker, the acting Pentagon comptroller, will have her nomination for the permanent position rescinded by the White House. And, surprise, it has to do with Ukraine. In January, emails sent from McCusker questioning President Trump's directive to freeze about $250 million in Ukrainian military aid were leaked just before the president's Senate impeachment trial." The New York Post story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Jonathan Chait: "What's especially chilling about this move is the reason for the retaliation. McCusker is losing her job because she attempted to follow the law. There's no cover story to rationalize it. That is the cover story. 'This administration needs people who are committed to implementing the president's agenda, specifically on foreign policy, and not trying to thwart it,' a White House official tells the [New York Post].... Emails show McCusker advising budget officials as to what the law said. She was not acting especially rigid about it.... The Government Accountability Office later examined the question, and found that McCusker was right. Holding up the aid was indeed illegal.... Trump is making it perfectly clear throughout the federal government. Anybody who stands in his way will be punished, even if they are on the side of the law. And his allies will be protected, even if they violate it."

Trump Has Learned His Lesson, Ctd.

** The Capo & His Consigliere: Barr Is Now Trump's Full-time Fixer. Carol Lee, et al., of NBC News: Jessie Liu, "the U.S. attorney who had presided over an inconclusive criminal investigation into former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe was abruptly removed from that job last month in one of several recent moves by Attorney General William Barr to take control of legal matters of personal interest to ...Donald Trump, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.... Senior officials at the Justice Department also intervened last month to help change the government's sentencing recommendation for Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who pled guilty to lying to the FBI. While once the prosecutors in the case had recommended up to six months in jail for Flynn, their latest filing now says they believe probation would be appropriate.... Senior officials at the Justice Department also intervened last month to help change the government's sentencing recommendation for Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who pled guilty to lying to the FBI. While once the prosecutors in the case had recommended up to six months in jail for Flynn, their latest filing now says they believe probation would be appropriate."

We sent him on his way to a much different location, and the military can handle him any way they want. General Milley has him now. I congratulate General Milley. He can have him. And his brother, also. We'll find out. We will find out. But he reported very inaccurate things. -- Donald Trump, in what will happen to Alexander & Yevgeny Vindman, Tuesday

Clearly, Trump is thinking waterboarding would work well to facilitate "finding out." -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

** Philip Rucker & Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Trump escalated his campaign of retribution against his perceived impeachment enemies Tuesday, railing in the Oval Office about a decorated combat veteran who testified about the president's conduct with Ukraine.... 'The military can handle him any way they want,' Trump said of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who was ousted from his position on the National Security Council last Friday and reassigned to the Pentagon. Asked whether he was recommending the military take disciplinary action against Vindman..., Trump replied, 'They're going to certainly, I would imagine, take a look at that.' Trump also leaped to the defense Tuesday of Roger Stone.... Stoking new worries about improperly politicizing the Justice Department, Trump admonished federal prosecutors for recommending a seven- to nine-year sentence for Stone.... Trump provided fresh evidence that he feels emboldened and will say and do as he pleases after the Republican-controlled Senate voted last week to acquit him in the impeachment trial. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said Trump's actions in recent days have seemed 'almost delightedly vengeful' and are cause for 'very deep and profound concern and alarm. It completely explodes this delusion that he's learned his lesson and he will turn over a new leaf, which was magical thinking from the start and a fig leaf for a number of my Republican colleagues.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Politico has a story on Trump's threat that the Department of Defense would retaliate against Vindman here.

Spencer Hsu, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Tuesday withdrew the nomination of former U.S. attorney Jessie K. Liu of the District of Columbia to a high-ranking Treasury Department post after being lobbied by critics of her office's handling of cases, including ones inherited from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, two people familiar with the decision said.... In the job, Liu oversaw late-stage courtproceedings for top Trump aides and Mueller defendants, including Trump's 2016 deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, as well as the November trial and conviction of longtime Trump political adviser Roger Stone.... Treasury officials believe Trump himself made the call to withdraw Liu...."

** Prosecutor Proposes, Trump Disposes. Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department plans to reduce its sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, a longtime confidant of President Trump, after top officials professed to be blindsided by the seven-to-nine-year penalty prosecutors urged a judge to impose, a senior Justice Department official said Tuesday. In a stunning rebuke of career prosecutors that immediately raised questions about political interference in the case, a senior Justice Department official said the department 'was shocked to see the sentencing recommendation in the Roger Stone case last night. That recommendation is not what had been briefed to the department,' the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.... The statement came hours after Trump tweeted about the sentence prosecutors recommended, saying: 'This is a horrible and very unfair situation. The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them. Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice!' The senior Justice Department official, though, said the decision to revise prosecutors' recommendation came before Trump's tweet." Mrs. McC: So what now? Thirty days of home detention. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. New Lede: "All four career prosecutors handling the case against Roger Stone ... asked to withdraw from the legal proceedings Tuesday -- and one quit his job entirely -- after the Justice Department signaled it planned to reduce their sentencing recommendation for the president's friend. Jonathan Kravis, one of the prosecutors, wrote in a court filing he had resigned as an assistant U.S. attorney, leaving government altogether. Three others -- Aaron S.J. Zelinsky, Adam Jed and Michael Marando -- asked a judge's permission to leave the case. Zelinsky, a former member of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's team, also indicated in a filing he was quitting his special assignment to the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office, though a spokeswoman said he will remain an assistant U.S. attorney in Baltimore. A CNN story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ John Kruzel of the Hill: "... in a rebuke to the career prosecutors, the DOJ on Tuesday told the judge in the case to apply 'far less' to Stone's sentence. 'The government respectfully submits that a sentence of incarceration far less than 87 to 108 months' imprisonment would be reasonable under the circumstances,' the DOJ wrote in a memo late Tuesday afternoon." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Jeremy Stahl of Slate: "... Timothy Shea -- a longtime adviser to Barr and newly minted interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia -- issu[ed] a new recommendation. The original sentencing recommendation, Shea wrote, 'does not accurately reflect the Department of Justice's position on what would be a reasonable sentence in this matter' and 'could be considered excessive and unwarranted under the circumstances.' The substitute request ... noted that a sentence of three to four years would be more 'typical.' The memo also asked that the judge 'consider the defendant's advanced age, health, personal circumstances, and lack of criminal history in fashioning an appropriate sentence' -- a request more typical of defense counsel than of prosecutors.... Lead House impeachment manager Adam Schiff said the change was in keeping with 'the gravest threat to the rule of law in America in a generation.' Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a letter to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz saying that the 'situation has all the indicia of improper political interference in a criminal prosecution' and asking that Horowitz 'conduct an expedited review of this urgent matter and issue a public report with your findings and recommendations as soon as possible.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Catherine Garcia of the Week: "President Trump on Tuesday night attacked the judge presiding over his friend and adviser Roger Stone's criminal case.... 'Is this the Judge that put Paul Manafort in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, something that not even mobster Al Capone had to endure?' he tweeted. 'How did she treat Crooked Hillary? Just asking!'" ~~~

Congratulations to Attorney General Bill Barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought. Evidence now clearly shows that the Mueller Scam was improperly brought & tainted. Even Bob Mueller lied to Congress! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet last night

~~~ Betsy Swan of the Daily Beast: "A federal prosecutor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the apparent involvement of Attorney General Bill Barr in overriding the sentencing recommendation was remarkable. 'We've long known that Trump views his political opponents as crooks and his allies as righteous, regardless of the facts or the law.... What's remarkable now is that Barr appears to share that same corrupt view,' the prosecutor said. A current Justice Department official said it was 'not often DOJ leaps to the defense of people who threaten witnesses and judges, and who commit perjury.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm not that it's better that Barr may have made the decision before Trump tweeted his complaints, as Justice claims. Which is better: Trump signals to Barr to interfere in a prosecutorial decision OR Barr doesn't even need the signal to do the deed?

~~~ Jonathan Chait: "Trump's coy promise [in the tweet recited above] to take care of Stone is the latest step in a public communication between the two longtime partners.... Trump's all-but promise to pardon Stone or commute his sentence is the next step in completing the bargain between them.... William Barr's Department of Justice has made decision after decision that benefits Trump, the merits of which run from questionable to baffling. Covering up Trump's misconduct is easy when he has the pardon power. When he has Barr backing him up, it is trivially easy.... This is a situation that screams out that the Department is interfering to protect Trump's cronies." ~~~

~~~ Marcy Wheeler: "... after DOJ recommended what Roger Stone's own memo makes clear is a a guidelines sentence yesterday, top DOJ officials almost certainly named Bill Barr have objected and announced they're going to lower the recommendation. I believe the brazenness of this fight may be a reflection of the damaging information Roger Stone may have about Trump's own conduct.... Bill Barr was brought in as AG to bury abundant evidence that Trump was personally involved in efforts to maximize the Russian operation, to deny all the ways that Trump did cheat to win. From his initial misleading claims in the wake of the report's release, he was always suppressing the centrality of Roger Stone in all this." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Other experts react with horror. (Also linked yesterday.)

Mrs. McCrabbie: The Great Thing about Trump's America is that you no longer have to go through the hassles of travel to visit a banana republic. You don't have to learn Useful Phrases for Travelers in another language. You don't need shots. You can drink the water (presuming you don't live in Flint, Newark or near a fracking operation). Just sit back, look out the window & behold your very own slice of banana republic. ~~~

~~~ Here's a swell graf from Peter Baker's NYT story about Trump Unbound that highlights an, um, different view of what constitutes a banana republic: "'The president is entitled to staffers that want to execute his policies, that he has confidence in,' said Robert C. O'Brien, the national security adviser, who supervised Colonel Vindman and his brother, Yevgeny Vindman, also an Army lieutenant colonel, who was dismissed last week from the National Security Council staff even though he did not testify in the House hearings. 'We're not a banana republic where lieutenant colonels get together and decide what the policy is.'"

Fed Chair Tries to Explain Basic Macroeconomics to House Dummies. Heather Long of the Washington Post: "Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome H. Powell told Congress on Tuesday that now would be a good time to reduce the federal budget deficit, which is expected to top $1 trillion this year. 'Putting the federal budget on a sustainable path when the economy is strong would help ensure that policymakers have the space to use fiscal policy to assist in stabilizing the economy during a downturn,' Powell said in testimony to the House Financial Services Committee. In past recessions, the Fed has played a large role in reviving the economy by sharply cutting interest rates. But Powell has been warning lawmakers that the central bank won't have much ammunition left to fight the next downturn because interest rates are so low (the benchmark rate is just below 1.75 percent, far below rates above 5 percent in the past). More government spending is likely to be needed to aid the economy in the next recession. The Fed chair's warning comes as the U.S. federal debt has grown by about $3 trillion since President Trump took office, and the president's latest budget proposal submitted this week would add another $5 trillion to the debt over the coming decade."

Weird News. Trump's DOJ Favors Hookers for Jesus over Catholic Charities. Sarah Lynch of Reuters: "A U.S. Justice Department anti-human trafficking grant program is facing internal complaints, after two nonprofits were denied funding in favor of two less established groups whose applications were not recommended by career DOJ officials. The awarding of more than $1 million total to the two groups, Hookers for Jesus in Nevada and the Lincoln Tubman Foundation in South Carolina, has triggered a whistleblower complaint filed by the Justice Department's employee union to the department's Inspector General. An internal department memo seen by Reuters shows that as of September 12, two long-established nonprofits -- the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Palm Beach and Chicanos Por La Causa of Phoenix -- were originally on the list of recommended grant winners after receiving high marks from outside contractors hired to review applications. The annual grants help nonprofits and local governments aid human trafficking victims. Later that month, those two organizations were replaced as recommended recipients by Hookers for Jesus and the Lincoln Tubman Foundation, which both received lower rankings from the outside reviewers." (Also linked yesterday.)

Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "For more than half a century, governments all over the world trusted a single company to keep the communications of their spies, soldiers and diplomats secret. The company, Crypto AG, got its first break with a contract to build code-making machines for U.S. troops during World War II. Flush with cash, it became a dominant maker of encryption devices for decades.... The Swiss firm made millions of dollars selling equipment to more than 120 countries well into the 21st century. Its clients included Iran, military juntas in Latin America, nuclear rivals India and Pakistan, and even the Vatican. But what none of its customers ever knew was that Crypto AG was secretly owned by the CIA in a highly classified partnership with West German intelligence. These spy agencies rigged the company's devices so they could easily break the codes that countries used to send encrypted messages. The decades-long arrangement, among the most closely guarded secrets of the Cold War, is laid bare in a classified, comprehensive CIA history of the operation...."

Edmund Lee of the New York Times: "... a federal judge ruled in favor of T-Mobile's planned takeover of Sprint. The long-in-the-works merger would combine the nation's third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers, creating a telecommunications giant to take on AT&T and Verizon. The new company, to be called T-Mobile, would have about 100 million customers."

Beyond the Beltway

Todd Feurer of CBS News Chicago: "Actor Jussie Smollett has been indicted on six new charges of disorderly conduct, accusing him of filing false police reports claiming he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack last year. A special Cook County grand jury handed down the new indictment on Tuesday, following a six-month investigation by special prosecutor Dan Webb."

The Commentariat -- February 11, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Time for Some Traffic Problems in Manchester, N.H. AP: "Eager to put on a show of force in a general-election battleground state..., Donald Trump tried to rattle Democrats on Monday with a rally in New Hampshire on the eve of the state's first-in-the-nation primaries.... Before leaving Washington, Trump said he had planned the rally to rattle Democrats and demonstrate his strength in the state before the primary vote.... Advisers also hoped that Secret Service moves in downtown Manchester to secure the area for the president's arrival would also make it harder for Democratic candidates and their supporters to transverse the state's largest city in the hours before the primary's first votes are cast, according to Trump campaign officials not authorized to discuss internal deliberations publicly." Emphasis added.

Kate Brannen of Just Security: Just Security obtained a number of unredacted emails from the Office of Budget & Management previously released on Jan. 22 in highly-redacted form, "under the condition that they not be reprinted. Similar to the unredacted emails Just Security reported on in January, these new emails shed further light on the standoff that took place between the Pentagon and OMB over Trump's hold on Ukraine funding. They confirm that OMB, including the general counsel's office, was fully in the loop about the Pentagon's concerns and took active steps to bury them. They also expose the extent to which OMB misled, and even lied to, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a congressional investigative body, as the GAO tried to understand the circumstances surrounding the funding hold. To this day, and through these redacted documents, OMB is continuing its efforts to keep its knowledge of the Pentagon's legal worries a secret, blacking out the portions of the emails where DoD officials voiced their concerns and where OMB staffers acknowledged them. The Washington Post reported earlier this month that [OMB general counsel Mark] Paoletta reviewed the redactions before the documents were released.

Blackburn Blocks Election Bill to Rein in Trump's Cheating. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Republicans blocked an effort by Democrats to unanimously pass three election security-related bills Tuesday, marking the latest attempt to clear legislation ahead of the November elections. Democrats tried to get consent to pass two bills that require campaigns to alert the FBI and Federal Election Commission (FEC) about foreign offers of assistance, as well as legislation to provide more election funding and ban voting machines from being connected to the internet. But Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) opposed each of the requests. Under the Senate's rules, any one senator can ask for unanimous consent to pass a bill, but any one senator can object and block their requests."

Trump Has Learned His Lesson, Ctd.

Prosecutor Proposes, Trump Disposes. Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department plans to reduce its sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, a longtime confidant of President Trump, after top officials professed to be blindsided by the seven-to-nine-year penalty prosecutors urged a judge to impose, a senior Justice Department official said Tuesday. In a stunning rebuke of career prosecutors that immediately raised questions about political interference in the case, a senior Justice Department official said the department 'was shocked to see the sentencing recommendation in the Roger Stone case last night. That recommendation is not what had been briefed to the department,' the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.... The statement came hours after Trump tweeted about the sentence prosecutors recommended, saying: 'This is a horrible and very unfair situation. The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them. Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice!' The senior Justice Department official, though, said the decision to revise prosecutors' recommendation came before Trump's tweet." Mrs. McC: Yeah, right. So what now? Thirty days of home detention. ~~~

~~~ Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "Following news of the Justice Department's plan to reduce its recommendation, Aaron Zelinsky, who investigated Stone under special counsel Robert Mueller and helped to prosecute the case, filed a 'notice of withdrawal' as government counsel in the case. A footnote the filing says that Zelinsky .... 'has resigned effective immediately' from his job as Special Assistant United States Attorney for District of Columbia." ~~~

     ~~~ Update: According to the New York Times, Zelinsky "withdrew from the case. He also resigned from a special assignment with the United States attorney's office in Washington, though he will continue to work for the Justice Department in Baltimore." CNN is reporting @ about 5 pm ET, that two other prosecutors have resigned from the case and the DOJ has filed a brief with the court recommending a lesser sentence but not specifying that new recommended sentence. Former Govs. Jennifer Granholm (D-Mich.) & John Kasich (R-Ohio) expressed outrage on a CNN roundtable. ~~~

     ~~~ John Kruzel of the Hill: "Three of the four Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors who recommended Roger Stone be sentenced to seven to nine years in prison left the case Tuesday after top officials sought to reduce their sentencing request. In a one-sentence filing to the U.S. District Court, prosecutor Timothy J. Shea withdrew from the case. He followed two others, lawyer Jonathan Kravis and prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky. Kravis left the DOJ entirely, announcing his resignation as an assistant U.S. attorney. The three were involved in providing the initial sentencing guidance for Stone. But in a rebuke to the career prosecutors, the DOJ on Tuesday told the judge in the case to apply 'far less' to Stone's sentence. 'The government respectfully submits that a sentence of incarceration far less than 87 to 108 months' imprisonment would be reasonable under the circumstances,' the DOJ wrote in a memo late Tuesday afternoon." Update: According to CNN, now all four federal prosecutors have resigned from the case. ~~~

~~~ Marcy Wheeler: "... after DOJ recommended what Roger Stone's own memo makes clear is a a guidelines sentence yesterday, top DOJ officials almost certainly named Bill Barr have objected and announced they're going to lower the recommendation. I believe the brazenness of this fight may be a reflection of the damaging information Roger Stone may have about Trump's own conduct.... Bill Barr was brought in as AG to bury abundant evidence that Trump was personally involved in efforts to maximize the Russian operation, to deny all the ways that Trump did cheat to win. From his initial misleading claims in the wake of the report's release, he was always suppressing the centrality of Roger Stone in all this." ~~~

~~~ Other experts react with horror. ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The Great Thing about Trump's America is that you no longer have to go through the hassles of travel to visit a banana republic. You don't have to learn Useful Phrases for Travelers in another language. You don't need shots. You can drink the water (presuming you don't live in Flint, Newark or near a fracking operation). Just sit back, look out the window & behold your very own slice of banana republic.

Stop and Smash. Alexandra Jaffe of the AP: "Mike Bloomberg is under fire for resurfaced comments in which he says the way to bring down murder rates is to 'put a lot of cops' in minority neighborhoods because that's where 'all the crime is.' The billionaire and former New York mayor made the comments at a 2015 appearance at the Aspen Institute, as part of an overall defense of his support for the controversial 'stop and frisk' policing tactic that has been found to disproportionately affect minorities. Bloomberg launched his Democratic presidential bid late last year with an apology for his support for the policy_and on Tuesday, after the comments resurfaced, he reiterated his apology and said his 2015 remarks 'do not reflect my commitment to criminal justice reform and racial equity.'... [In the taped speech,] Bloomberg says that '95 percent of murders and murder victims are young male minorities.... And to 'get the guns out of the kids hands,' Bloomberg says, police must 'throw 'em against the wall and frisk 'em.'" ~~~

~~~ "Total Racist" Calls Out Racist. Kevin Brueninger of CNBC: "... Donald Trump slammed Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday as a 'TOTAL RACIST' over a 2015 audio clip in which Bloomberg defended the 'stop and frisk' police practice. In reply to Trump's tweet, Bloomberg said, 'I am not afraid of you and I will not let you bully me or anyone else in America.' Bloomberg made his comments defending stop and frisk in 2015, years before the three-term former New York mayor disavowed the policy in advance of launching his presidential bid in November."

Weird News. Trump's DOJ Favors Hookers for Jesus over Catholic Charities. Sarah Lynch of Reuters: "A U.S. Justice Department anti-human trafficking grant program is facing internal complaints, after two nonprofits were denied funding in favor of two less established groups whose applications were not recommended by career DOJ officials. The awarding of more than $1 million total to the two groups, Hookers for Jesus in Nevada and the Lincoln Tubman Foundation in South Carolina, has triggered a whistleblower complaint filed by the Justice Department's employee union to the department's Inspector General. An internal department memo seen by Reuters shows that as of September 12, two long-established nonprofits -- the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Palm Beach and Chicanos Por La Causa of Phoenix -- were originally on the list of recommended grant winners after receiving high marks from outside contractors hired to review applications. The annual grants help nonprofits and local governments aid human trafficking victims. Later that month, those two organizations were replaced as recommended recipients by Hookers for Jesus and the Lincoln Tubman Foundation, which both received lower rankings from the outside reviewers."

~~~~~~~~~~

In case you missed it, it's primary day in New Hampshire. Mark Murray & Carrie Dann of NBC News: "'Undeclared' voters may vote in either a state or a presidential primary. They have to choose a Democratic or a Republican ballot at their polling places. After choosing a ballot, voters will become registered members of that party unless they specifically fill out a form confirming that they want to return to 'undeclared' status. While 'undeclared' voters can vote in either the Republican or the Democratic primary, registered Republicans can't vote in the Democratic primary and vice versa." According to a tool on Pete Buttigieg's Website, "You can register to vote on Primary Day. It makes it easier to do so if you bring proof of identity and age (photo ID), citizenship (passport), and domicile (a driver's license, a piece of mail, a lease). If you can't bring any of these documents, don't worry! You can still sign a simple statement to register and vote on Election Day."

The New York Times' liveblog of New Hampshire primary developments for today is here.

The New York Times' liveblog of New Hampshire pre-primary events Monday is here.

CNN: "Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar won the most votes when a little more than two dozen New Hampshire residents in three tiny townships cast their ballots shortly after midnight in Tuesday's first-in-the-nation primary. Dixville Notch in the state's northern tip, nearby Millsfield, and Hart's Location, further south and tucked in the White Mountains, are the first places to declare primary results because voters cast ballots so early.... [Michael] Bloomberg, who isn't on the ballot in New Hampshire, won the first votes of Tuesday's Democratic and Republican primaries as a write-in candidate in the township of Dixville Notch."

Jon Keller of CBS Boston: "This New Hampshire primary has been a rollercoaster ride, with one last hairpin turn in the final night of the exclusive WBZ/Boston Globe/Suffolk University tracking poll. Bernie Sanders appears to be cementing his hold on first place with 27 percent, while Pete Buttigieg, who had surged into a virtual tie with Sanders as the week ended, in second with 19 percent. And Amy Klobuchar continues her momentum from last night with a 14 percent showing, good for third place. However, she is still within the poll's 4.4 percent margin of error of Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren, who placed within a fraction of each other in fourth and fifth place." Mrs. McC: Yes, but it's boring Donald Trump. (Also linked yesterday.)

"Did a Debate Actually Make a Difference for a Change?" Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "By the end of [Friday night's Democratic presidential debate], Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) had left little doubt as to the candidate she most wants to undercut: Pete Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Ind.... Since then? Well, Klobuchar and Buttigieg have moved in exactly the directions that she would have hoped, given her attacks." As Bump ticks off Klobuchar's debate attacks on Buttigieg, it's clear she threw the book at him. Oh wait, maybe that's not the metaphor I want to use.

Indecision 2020. Ryan Lizza of Politico: "The same dynamic that led to [Joe Biden's] underwhelming showing [in Iowa] is starting to define the race: Democrats don&'t have an obvious candidate who they can rally around. Indecision is the most common theme I encountered among voters at more than a dozen events in New Hampshire since Friday. (Perhaps this should have been more obvious when even The New York Times editorial board couldn't pick a single candidate.) There's no reason to think the choice will get easier after Tuesday. What's driving the indecision is not a plethora of great choices, but the fact that there are seven candidates in the mix, each of whom has at least one very serious flaw." And Lizza is happy to tell you what those flaws are. Mrs. McC: Fortunately for Republicans, the Democratic nominee's opponent in the general election is like totally flawless.

Quinnipiac University: "In the wake of the Iowa caucuses and heading into the New Hampshire primary, there is a dramatic shift in the Democratic primary race for president as Senator Bernie Sanders claims frontrunner status for the first time, overtaking former Vice President Joe Biden, according to a Quinnipiac ... University national poll released today. Sanders gets 25 percent of the vote among Democratic voters and independent voters who lean Democratic, while Biden gets 17 percent, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg receives 15 percent, Senator Elizabeth Warren gets 14 percent, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg receives 10 percent, and Senator Amy Klobuchar gets 4 percent. No other candidate tops 2 percent." Via Steve M. ~~~

~~~ Billionaires Bump off Biden. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "... the [Quinnipiac] poll suggests that Biden's support is being cannibalized by former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg. At the same time, Biden's planned path to resurrection may have been largely cut off by another billionaire, businessman Tom Steyer."

Our country has a rich history of presidents who respected the power, decorum, and influence of their office.

Unfortunately, that rich history ended the day Trump became president. pic.twitter.com/3QEncsTiNA

— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) February 9, 2020

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Clearly, it doesn't matter who opposes Trump in the 2020 election; he will spread lies about that person. (See Tina Nyugen's report, linked below, on Trump's latest Ukraine conspiracy theory -- Romney is implicated!) The trick is to know how to turn those lies against Trump & makes Trump's lies a lie-ability. We know Biden can't do it, and we know that early on Trump's attacks upended Warren's campaign. So far, it looks as if Bloomberg is most effective against Trump's attacks. Klobuchar did well when Trump mocked her snowy kickoff rally, and Buttigieg did okay, too. So far Sanders hasn't had much to fend off because Trump is promoting him, hoping Sanders will win the nomination and Trump can attack, among other things, Bernie's socialist label.

Jim Tankersley, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump released a $4.8 trillion budget proposal on Monday that includes a familiar list of deep cuts to student loan assistance, affordable housing efforts, food stamps and Medicaid, reflecting Mr. Trump's election-year effort to continue shrinking the federal safety net. The proposal, which must be approved by Congress, includes additional spending for the military, national defense and border enforcement, along with money for Mr. Trump's Space Force initiative and an extension of the individual income tax cuts that were set to expire in 2025. Its biggest reduction is an annual 2 percent decrease in spending on discretionary domestic programs, like education and environmental protection." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Aaron Rupar of Vox: "... Donald Trump posted a tweet on Saturday vowing, 'We will not be touching your Social Security and Medicare in Fiscal 2021 Budget.' One day later, the Wall Street Journal published a report indicating that Trump is doing exactly that with his budget proposal.... That Trump is proposing cuts to these programs isn't surprising -- his 2020 budget cut all three as well. It&'s a long-running contradiction for the president. He often says he won't touch these entitlement programs, but he's continued to employ Republican party officials who make cutting these programs center to their work.... The president is either brazenly lying about his 2021 budget or doesn't know what's in it."

S.V. Date of the Huffington Post: Donald Trump "created 1.5 million fewer jobs in his first three years in office than predecessor Barack Obama did in his final three. Newly revised figures from Trump's own Department of Labor show that 6.6 million new jobs were created in the first 36 months of Trump's tenure, compared with 8.1 million in the final 36 months of Obama's ― a decline of 19% under Trump, according to a HuffPost analysis.... [Despite the fact that jobs-growth numbers can be misleading as economic indicators,] the statistics belie Trump's frequent claims that he turned around Obama's poor management of the economy."

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Oliver Darcy of CNN: "The publisher of Stars and Stripes, the military's editorially independent newspaper which covers issues relevant to members of the armed forces, said he was notified on Monday that the Department of Defense intends to eliminate some of the publication's funding starting in 2021.... Stars and Stripes was first produced during the Civil War by Union soldiers. It was later revived during the first World War and has printed regularly since World War II. Stars and Stripes said it distributed more than 7 million copies of its US Weekly edition in 2019 and served an online audience of 18.8 million unique visitors.... According to a story published Monday about the proposed funding cuts, Stars and Stripes receives most of its funding from sales, subscriptions, and advertising, but relies on government funding to back overseas reporting and distribution."

"Thanks Obama." Jordan Weissman of Slate: "... Donald Trump has always exaggerated the strength of his jobs record.... But it turns out, the reality of it was even weaker than the official data let on.... On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest batch of employment numbers, along with its annual benchmark revisions adjusting its estimates from prior months.... In the end, the economy has added fewer jobs in every year of his presidency than it did during Obama's final one. There never was much of a Trump bump." --s

Kylie Atwood & Vivian Salama of CNN: "President Donald Trump has told top foreign policy advisers that he does not want another summit with Kim Jong Un before the presidential election in November, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.... One official familiar with the administration's efforts with North Korea bluntly described the negotiations as 'dead.'... Last month, a top adviser to Kim said North Korea has no intention of engaging in talks this year." --s

Impeachment Fallout, Ctd.

Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Monday said he will still aim to work with President Trump on some items even after the president attacked him with a slew of insults following the senator's vote to remove him from office.... Trump ramped up his attacks on Manchin over the weekend, calling the Democrat a 'puppet' on Saturday, and referring to him as 'Senator Joe Munchkin' in a subsequent Sunday morning tweet.... 'Do you think names bother me?' Manchin said in an appearance on MSNBC. 'Do I look like I'm small and fragile? Names don't bother me and the president knows he can't get to me that way.' Manchin said he is not 'going to retaliate' against Trump and called the president's remarks 'immature.'" ~~~

~~~ Besides, It's Trump Who Is Short & Fat. David Knowles of Yahoo! News: "As for Trump's insult nickname ['Joe Munchkin'], Manchin observed, 'I'm taller than him and a little bit bigger than he is, not heavier. He's much heavier than me, but I'm a little bit taller than him, so I guess he got that a little bit off.'"

Barr Tries to Suggest Giuliani Is Like Any Crackpot Phoning in Tips to the FBI. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Attorney General Bill Barr went out of his way Monday to express skepticism about information ... Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani is offering on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, but Barr also made clear the Justice Department is open to receiving whatever Giuliani wants to share. Addressing comments by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that he'd arranged for Giuliani to present Justice officials with fruits of his on-the-ground research into the Bidens and Ukraine, Barr said information originating in Ukraine must be treated with caution. 'The Department of Justice has the obligation to have an open door to anybody who wishes to provide us information that they think is relevant,' Barr said in response to a reporter's question at a news conference on unrelated database hacking charges..... Barr left the news conference Monday without taking any follow-up questions, but FBI Deputy Director David Bowditch said any report from Giuliani would be handled in the usual course. 'We're taking information as we would in any case. We will evaluate it appropriately,' Bowditch said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ A Washington Post story by Matt Zapotosky & Devlin Barrett is here. "A Justice Department official said Giuliani had 'recently' shared information with federal law enforcement officials through the process described by Barr. Two people familiar with the matter said the information is being routed to the U.S. attorney's office in Pittsburgh.... That Giuliani would have a direct pipeline to the Justice Department for providing information on a political rival of Trump raised fears among some legal analysts that federal law enforcement was being conscripted into doing campaign work for the president.... The House Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), wrote to Barr on Monday saying that 'any official relationship between Mr. Giuliani and the Department raises serious questions about conflicts of interest -- both for the Department, generally, and for you, specifically.'... The matter is complicated, too, because Giuliani is under investigation by the Justice Department." Related stories linked yesterday. Everybody but Trump is treating Rudy like the avaricious, publicity-hounding nutter he is. ~~~

~~~ "Lindsey Graham Implicates William Barr in Massive Scandal, on Live Television." Jonathan Chait: "[Sunday], Senator Lindsey Graham appeared on Face the Nation and blurted out an apparent confession of what, if true, would be a scandal of Nixonian proportions. Graham reported he had spoken with Attorney General William Barr that morning. 'The Department of Justice is receiving information coming out of the Ukraine from Rudy,' he reported, explaining that Barr 'told me that they've created a process that Rudy could give information and they would see if it's verified.'... Graham defends this on the grounds that Giuliani is a 'crime fighter,' a label Trump himself has used. But there is no 'crime fighter' badge that lets you go into private practice with a bunch of crooks, and have your allegations given special attention by the authorities.... Normally, people who are being investigated by the DOJ don't have a special back channel that lets them feed allegations of their own to th attorney general.... Barr confirmed today that the Department has 'established an intake process,' because it 'has an obligation to have an open door to anybody.' But if it has an obligation to have an open door to anybody, hasn't that open door always existed? Why did Barr have to establish a new one?" ~~~

~~~ Lindsey Smears Vindman. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) gave his first Sunday show interview in the post-impeachment era of Donald Trump's presidency. And it was something.... Now that the [Ukraine conspiracy] theories don't need to be vouched for in the name of defending Trump, Graham appears to be distancing himself from them. (He even entertained the idea that Trump's own lawyer might be getting manipulated by Russia, which it bears emphasizing is extraordinary.) But the most interesting exchange might have come toward the end, when Graham defended Trump's retaliatory removal of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman.... Graham speculated that Vindman might have been part of some kind of plot against Trump.... '... He's never been asked questions, did you leak to the whistleblower?' Graham said. 'People in his chain of command have been suspicious of him regarding his political point of view.'... Vindman ... said he does not know who the whistleblower is. In other words, he is saying he was not knowingly part of any plot to blow the whistle.... Vindman said explicitly that the [intelligence] person he spoke with was cleared to receive such information."

Marianne Levine of Politico: "Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is asking that every agency inspector general investigate retaliation against whistleblowers who report presidential misconduct, after the firing of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman from the National Security Council. Schumer's letter [is] to 74 inspectors general.... In a letter to Acting Inspector General Glenn Fine at the Defense Department, Schumer described the NSC firings [of Vindman & his brother Yevgeny] as 'part of a dangerous, growing pattern of retaliation against those who report wrongdoing only to find themselves targeted by the President and subject to his wrath and vindictiveness.'"

Ryan Goodman & Joshua Geltzer of Just Security, republished in Slate: "What has been labelled the 'Friday Night Massacre' should be understood as an escalation in ... Donald Trump's ongoing efforts that threaten American democratic institutions.... The broader pattern in which the Friday events fit leads us to a far more ominous conclusion. These recent purges of U.S. officials are a direct extension of Trump's three-year project of politicization of the executive branch, an early move generally taken by autocrats who seek to exploit their election by consolidating power. It is important to take a step back and diagnose, as precisely as possible, the threat to American democracy and the broader pattern."

Tina Nguyen of Politico: "The MAGA machine is attempting to turn President Donald Trump's latest nemesis -- Sen. Mitt Romney -- into the next Hunter Biden. Trump in recent days took a new turn in his attacks on the Utah senator, veering from assailing his character and loyalty and tossing him into the wilds of Ukraine. Trump over the weekend retweeted several conservative personalities and stories attempting to connect the Republican senator to the Ukrainian energy company Burisma and its former board member Hunter Biden.... The allegation was featured in several far-right blog posts [that Donald retweeted]: A senior adviser from Romney's 2012 presidential campaign was on Burisma's board of directors, and that by voting to impeach Trump last week, Romney was covering for his fellow swamp crony. At one point, the president retweeted a random follower's newfound suspicion: 'Romney is covering up his part in corruption in Ukraine. This has nothing to do with truth or God. He is a desperate man. The truth will come out.'" --s

Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: "Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has faced a bitter GOP backlash after casting the lone Republican vote for President Trump's impeachment. There have been angry tweets and calls for the party to expel the man it once nominated to lead the country. On Sunday, one influential conservative went so far as to say he could not be sure of Romney's safety at a major right-wing gathering, alarming some of the Utah senator's defenders and -- in some critics' eyes -- crossing a line from outrage to threat. Matt Schlapp, chairman of the Conservative Political Action Conference [CPAC], made the controversial comments Sunday as he explained why Romney would be excluded from this year's four-day event.... 'This year, I would actually be afraid for his physical safety, people are so mad at him.'" A TPM story is here. --s ~~~

~~~ Married to the Mob. Mrs. McCrabbie: Matt Schlapp is married to Mercedes Schlapp, a former Trump White House communications honcho who is currently working on Trump's 2020 campaign.

Leah Litman in Slate: The conservatives on the Supreme Court are as complicit in Trump's abuses of office as are GOP senators. By blessing Trump's thinly-disguised Muslim ban. "the justices ... acknowledged that the entry ban may very well have been motivated by anti-Muslim animus. But they claimed that, in light of the president's expansive powers over immigration, the court would uphold the entry ban so long as someone could think that the ban had a valid purpose.... It does not take a genius to see how that decision signals that the court is unwilling to stop the president from making policy based on bigoted, thinly veiled Islamophobia or racism. The president received the message and has run with it.... Neither the Senate nor the Supreme Court has been willing to stand up to the president for abusing the powers of his office for personal benefit or to stoke bigotry for partisan ends.... It is unclear what, if anything, can stop him now."

Spencer Hsu, et al., of the Washington Post: "Federal prosecutors on Monday said longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone deserves a sentence of 7 to 9 years in prison for lying to Congress and tampering with a witness related to his efforts to learn about hacked Democratic emails during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The sentencing filing came after days of tense debate within the U.S. attorney's office in Washington about the proper prison term for the sixth Trump associate convicted and last person indicted in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation. Frontline prosecutors, some previously with Mueller's team, argued for a sentence on the higher end for Stone than some of their supervisors were comfortable with, according to two people familiar with the discussions." A CNN story is here. Mrs. McC: It's sort of a moot point. You know Trump will pardon Roger within a week of the November election -- unless Trump (a) loses AND (b) refuses to concede.

Matt O'Brien of the AP: "Amazon wants ... Donald Trump to submit to questioning over the tech company' losing bid for a $10 billion military contract. The Pentagon awarded the cloud computing project to Microsoft in October. Amazon later sued, arguing that Trump's interference and bias against the company harmed Amazon's chances.... The Pentagon was preparing to announce its decision between finalists Amazon and Microsoft when Trump publicly waded into the fray in July. Trump said then that other companies told him the contract 'wasn't competitively bid,' and he said the administration would 'take a very long look.'... Amazon is looking for more information about what happened before and after Trump ordered the review. Amazon's court filing cites an alleged comment that surfaced in a recent book that said Trump in 2018 privately told then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to 'screw Amazon' out of the contract.... Besides seeking Trump's deposition, Amazon is also asking to depose Mattis, current Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other government officials. Amazon said it wants more information about the 'unusual timing' of Esper recusing himself from the decision-making process because of his son's work for IBM. That came in October, long after IBM was no longer in the running for the contract and despite Esper earlier pledging to take a 'hard look' at the bids after Trump ordered the review."

Matt Zapotosky & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Attorney General William P. Barr announced Monday that the Justice Department would sue two so-called 'sanctuary' jurisdictions ... over policies he considers overly friendly to those in the country unlawfully, as part of a renewed effort to get cities and states on board with the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. In separate complaints filed in federal court, the Justice Department sought to block a New Jersey policy that limits how state and local authorities can share information with federal immigration officials and to stop a King County, Wash., directive that prevents immigration authorities from using an international airport there for deportations. King County includes the city of Seattle."

Eric Geller of Politico: "Federal prosecutors announced charges Monday against four Chinese intelligence officers for hacking the credit-reporting giant Equifax in one of the largest data breaches in history. Officials said the massive hack by the members of China's People's Liberation Army underscored Beijing's aggressive pattern of stealing private data to improve its intelligence operations and boost the performance of its domestic companies.... FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich described the Equifax breach as 'the largest theft of sensitive [personally identifying information] by state-sponsored hackers ever recorded.'"

Travis Gettys in Salon: "The nation's leading manufacturing group [The National Association of Manufacturers] announced an award to Ivanka Trump with language sounding an awful lot like one of the president's glib banalities.... NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons ... [laid it on thick]. 'Like no one in government has ever done, she has provided singular leadership and shown an unwavering commitment to modern manufacturing in America.'" --s

Michael Hobbes of the Huffington Post has a long article on today's Golden Age of White Collar Crime in America --s Thanks to unwashed for the link.

Way Beyond the Beltway

China. Keith Bradsher of the New York Times: "More than two weeks after China locked down a major city to stop a dangerous viral outbreak, one of the world's largest economies remains largely idle. Much of the country was supposed to have reopened by now, but its empty streets, quiet factories and legions of inactive workers suggest that weeks or months could pass before this vital motor of global growth is humming again. The global economy could suffer the longer China stays in low gear. It has been hampered by both the outbreak and its own containment efforts, a process that has cut off workers from their jobs and factories from their raw materials.... 'It's like Europe in medieval times,' said Jörg Wuttke, the president of the European Chamber of Commerce in China, 'where each city has its checks and crosschecks.'" ~~~

~~~ Ben Dooley & Motoko Rich of the New York Times: "As coronavirus cases rapidly multiply on the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess, the more than 2,500 passengers on board live in effective isolation. They receive meals in their cabins. They keep an officially mandated distance of six feet from each other for the few minutes each day when they are allowed on deck for walks. Below decks..., hundreds of crew members are eating, living and working elbow to elbow as they try to keep life as comfortable as possible for those above. They line up for simple buffet meals and then sit down together to eat. Bathrooms are shared by up to four people, and cabins often by two. These conditions have raised fears that a quarantine meant to halt the virus's spread on board, and keep the contagion from expanding on Japan's shores, is endangering the health and safety of the crew."

News Lede

The New York Times' live updates of developments in the coronavirus epidemic are here.

The Commentariat -- February 10, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Jim Tankersley, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump released a $4.8 trillion budget proposal on Monday that includes a familiar list of deep cuts to student loan assistance, affordable housing efforts, food stamps and Medicaid, reflecting Mr. Trump's election-year effort to continue shrinking the federal safety net. The proposal, which must be approved by Congress, includes additional spending for the military, national defense and border enforcement, along with money for Mr. Trump's Space Force initiative and an extension of the individual income tax cuts that were set to expire in 2025. Its biggest reduction is an annual 2 percent decrease in spending on discretionary domestic programs, like education and environmental protection."

Jon Keller of CBS Boston: "This New Hampshire primary has been a rollercoaster ride, with one last hairpin turn in the final night of the exclusive WBZ/Boston Globe/Suffolk University tracking poll. Bernie Sanders appears to be cementing his hold on first place with 27 percent, while Pete Buttigieg, who had surged into a virtual tie with Sanders as the week ended, in second with 19 percent. And Amy Klobuchar continues her momentum from last night with a 14 percent showing, good for third place. However, she is still within the poll's 4.4 percent margin of error of Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren, who placed within a fraction of each other in fourth and fifth place." Mrs. McC: Yes, but it's boring Donald Trump.

Barr Suggests Giuliani Is Like Any Crackpot Phoning in Tips to the DOJ. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Attorney General Bill Barr went out of his way Monday to express skepticism about information ... Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani is offering on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, but Barr also made clear the Justice Department is open to receiving whatever Giuliani wants to share. Addressing comments by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that he'd arranged for Giuliani to present Justice officials with fruits of his on-the-ground research into the Bidens and Ukraine, Barr said information originating in Ukraine must be treated with caution. 'The Department of Justice has the obligation to have an open door to anybody who wishes to provide us information that they think is relevant,' Barr said in response to a reporter's question at a news conference on unrelated database hacking charges..... Barr left the news conference Monday without taking any follow-up questions, but FBI Deputy Director David Bowditch said any report from Giuliani would be handled in the usual course. 'We're taking information as we would in any case. We will evaluate it appropriately,' Bowditch said." ~~~

     ~~~ Related stories linked below. Everybody but Trump is treating Rudy like the avaricious, publicity-hounding nutter he is.

~~~~~~~~~~

Will be in Manchester, New Hampshire, tonight for a big Rally. Want to shake up the Dems a little bit - they have a really boring deal going on. Still waiting for the Iowa results, votes were fried. Big crowds in Manchester! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet this morning

Zach Montellaro of Politico: "Pete Buttigieg has narrowly edged out Bernie Sanders for delegates from last week's Iowa caucuses, according to an announcement late Sunday by the state Democratic Party. Updated results from the party show Buttigieg with 26.2 percent of state delegate equivalents, compared to 26.1 percent for Sanders. Elizabeth Warren (18 percent) was third, and Joe Biden (15.8 percent) was fourth. According to the state Democratic Party, Buttigieg is projected to win 14 delegates to the national convention this summer in Milwaukee, while Sanders will get 12 delegates. Warren will receive eight delegates, Joe Biden will get six, and Amy Klobuchar will receive a single delegate. Sanders did have the support of more caucus-goers, both on the first and final alignments. But because of the caucus rules, he will receive slightly fewer delegates. The announcement came after a review by the party of precincts with apparent mistakes in their results." The page includes a graph of the delegate count & second-round vote totals. A Washington Post story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "... errors in the result tabulations have led several news organizations, including The New York Times, to refrain from calling the race. And shortly after the party's announcement, Senator Bernie Sanders's campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, said the campaign would be calling for a partial recanvass of the results.... The Associated Press, which historically verifies election results and makes calls on the outcome of races, has not allotted the final delegate to Mr. Buttigieg because of the errors in the caucus results-counting, nor has The A.P. declared a winner in the Iowa race."

~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: There's a front-page story in today's New York Times titled, "How the Iowa Caucuses Became an Epic Fiasco for Democrats." It's a lo-o-ong story with four writers on the byline. And the story is hardly unique: it's one of dozens of such stories that have appeared in news outlets over the past six days. Really? Now let's get on the way-back machine and see how the NYT treated the Iowa Republican caucuses of 2012, when the winner of the caucus -- Mitt Romney -- was declared, only to be demoted to second place when a recount put Rick Santorum in the top spot. There's a blogpost -- that is, a post that doesn't appear in the print version of the Times -- dated more than two weeks after the announcement of Mitt's victory, about Santorum's "claiming a belated victory" and the Iowa Republican party saying there would be no official winner. There's another blogpost saying that other GOP primary news "overshadowed" Santorum's win. Finally, a third blogpost by Andrew Rosenthal (I think he headed the NYT editorial page at the time) titled "And the Official Winner in Iowa Is ... Who Cares?" and a fourth post by statistician Nate Silver (which I can't access) also saying that Santorum's win isn't likely to change anything. Why is it that the Democrats' screw-up is an "epic fiasco" and the Republicans' miscount gets a "meh"?

Grumpy Old Man. Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: "Madison Moore..., [a] student at Mercer University in Georgia..., [asked Joe Biden] ... a version of what's been asked of the former vice president since his disappointing fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses: 'How do you explain the performance in Iowa, and why should voters believe that you can win the national election?' What happened next left her a little shaken, Moore said. Biden said it was legitimate question, but then turned the spotlight back on her, asking: 'Iowa's a caucus. Have you ever been to a caucus?' When she indicated yes, he rebuked her 'No, you haven't. You're a lying dog-faced pony soldier.'" Emphasis added. A video of the exchange accompanies the story, so it's definitely true. ~~~

     ~~~ Matthew Dessem of Slate has more on the "origins" of the insult.

Jon Keller of CBS Boston: "All week long, the story has been the rise of Pete Buttigieg to co-frontrunner status with Bernie Sanders. The latest exclusive WBZ/Boston Globe/Suffolk University tracking poll shows they're still co-leaders within the poll's 4.4% margin of error, with Sanders holding steady at 24% and Buttigieg slipping a bit to 22%. Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden remain static in third and fourth places with 13% and 10% respectively. But now there's another candidate on a bit of a roll. Amy Klobuchar is right behind Biden now at 9%, up three points over Friday night. She appears to be the only candidate to get a boost from Friday's debate, with two-thirds of the poll taken during and after that event."

Here's Politico's summary of Sunday's events in New Hampshire's Democratic primaries. New York Times live updates are here. The whole final sprint reminds me of Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign speech when he asked New Hampshire voters to give him a second chance, in exchange for which he promised to be with them "till the last dog dies." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

David Masciotra in Salon: "The recent events of Trump's acquittal in the Senate, his State of the Union address and his spiteful, rambling monologue at the White House on Thursday have collectively acted as the flatline on the heart monitor of decency. As decency dies, American life becomes ever more precarious." Thanks to NJC for the link. Mrs. McC: What Masciotra is talking about here is what conventional pundits were calling "institutional norms" after Trump's inauguration. But, at bottom, Trump violates those norms because, as Masciotra writes, he has "no sense of decency." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

I DON'T UNDERSTAND THESE PEOPLE. Sabrina Tavernise of the New York Times: "Republicans in Wisconsin did not immediately warm to Mr. Trump.... But in about two dozen interviews over three days, many Republicans said that while they voted for Mr. Trump reluctantly in 2016, they no longer felt hesitant.... 'He's from New York, and I thought nothing good could come out of New York,' said Marge Ingold, a retired business owner who voted for Mr. Cruz in the primary. She is now a firm Trump supporter. 'He believes what we believe,' she said. 'He is standing up for the people.'" Mrs. McC: Assuming Tavernise did some or all of her own field interviews (there's no joint credit for the article) & that she IDed herself as a NYT reporter, Marge there knew she was talking to a New Yorker when she said nothing good could come out of New York.

Jon Haworth of ABC News: "A man has been arrested after allegedly deliberately driving a van into a tent full of Trump supporters who were working to register new voters at a shopping center parking lot [in Jacksonville, Florida].... The driver narrowly missed several people in the tent and fled the scene after the incident by car." Donald Trump threatened "tough guys"; RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel & both Florida Senators Marco Rubio & Rick Scott, tweeted assertions that the attack was politically motivated. Mrs. McC: However, the article does not indicate a motive. It's certainly possible, but the driver could just be a nut.

Caitlin Emma of Politico: "... Donald Trump's budget request on Monday will pitch billions of dollars in cuts to non-defense spending despite a budget deal he already negotiated with Congress, in addition to seeking major savings by targeting the federal safety net, a senior administration official told Politico on Sunday. Trump also will ask Congress for a slight spending increase for the Pentagon as he releases his $4.8 trillion budget blueprint for the upcoming fiscal year -- all proposals sure to be rejected by Democrats who control the House.... The president's budget plan once again assumes more robust economic growth than what most economists predict at 3 percent over the next decade, driven by the implementation of his policies. And as with his previous budget proposals, Trump is once again seeking deep and unrealistic cuts to a number of federal agency budgets, and the cuts are unlikely to be embraced by Congress." Emphasis added. ~~~

~~~ Medicare, Too! Inae Oh of Mother Jones: "The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday..., 'The White House proposes to cut spending by $4.4 trillion over a decade. Of that, it targets $2 trillion in savings from mandatory spending programs, including $130 billion from changes to Medicare prescription-drug pricing, $292 billion from safety-net cuts -- such as work requirements for Medicaid and food stamps -- and $70 billion from tightening eligibility access to federal disability benefits.'... If Trump does unveil his budget tomorrow as expected, it will have been less than a week since his State of the Union address where he vowed to protect Medicare and Social Security. That itself was a galling shift from what he had said just two weeks before, when he publicly threatened to go after those very programs." ~~~

~~~ Social Security, Too! Matt Stieb of New York: "In addition to the targeting of Medicare prescription-drug pricing, the budget also intends to cut the Social Security Disability Insurance program providing benefits to disabled members of the workforce; last year, the administration recommended a $10 billion cut to the program. Shortly after reports on the budget emerged, Trump doled out some low-effort PR management to save face: 'We will not be touching your Social Security or Medicare in Fiscal 2021 Budget. Only the Democrats will destroy them by destroying our Country's greatest ever Economy!' [Trump tweet-lied.]"

Paulina Ferozi of the Washington Post: "Construction crews began blasting sites within Arizona's Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument as part of the construction of President Trump's border barrier, and the affected areas include sites sacred to Native American groups, according to a congressman from Arizona and advocates. The Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is an internationally recognized biosphere reserve -- meaning it has plants and animals so rare that the United Nations has given it a special designation. It includes about 330,000 acres of designated wilderness and is home to ancestral grounds sacred to the Tohono O'odham Nation, one of at least a dozen Native American groups that claim connections to grounds within the monument." Mrs. McC: This is similar to an Intercept story linked last week, with more emphasis here on the Native American sacred sites.

Another Scam from Trump's "Reality" Show SOTU: "Failing Government Schools." Maddie Hanna & Kristen Graham of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "... Donald Trump turned a Philadelphia fourth grader into a poster child for the school-choice movement Tuesday when he told the nation that thousands of students were 'trapped in failing government schools' and announced that the girl was at last getting a scholarship to attend the school of her choice.... Because of a scholarship personally paid for by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the president told Janiyah Tuesday night, 'you will soon be headed to the school of your choice.' But Janiyah Davis already attends one of the city's most sought-after charter schools, The Inquirer has learned. In September, months before she was an honored guest at Trump's State of the Union address, she entered Math, Science and Technology Community Charter School III ... -- meaning

Lindsey Backs Off the Crazy, Leaves It to Bill Barr. Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) ... appeared to back away [Sunday] from his assertions in recent weeks that he would lead a probe into former vice president Joe Biden's time overseeing Ukraine policy.... [Graham] said Sunday that the Justice Department is vetting information that President Trump's personal attorney has delivered regarding Hunter Biden's work on the board of a Ukrainian energy company. Graham, citing an early-morning conversation with Attorney General William P. Barr, said that Rudolph W. Giuliani is giving his information to national security experts.... He warned that Giuliani might be getting bad information from his trips to Ukraine as part of a disinformation campaign by Russian security experts.... Graham said he called Barr and Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Sunday morning after hearing about Giuliani's interview Saturday night on Fox News's 'Watters' World.'... 'Lindsey, get started. Yes, I have -- I have what I used to call when I was U.S. attorney, a smoking gun,' Giuliani said. Then, just as 'Face the Nation' started Sunday morning, Trump sent out a tweet urging Graham to launch an undefined investigations..., which CBS's Margaret Brennan read to the senator on air." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Lest you think this is Lindsey suddenly exhibiting a profile in courage, let me remind you of this story we linked Friday afternoon: Jordain Carney of the Hill: "A pledge to investigate the Bidens and Ukraine once the impeachment trial wraps is sparking divisions among Senate Republicans.... Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a vocal ally of Trump's, is pledging 'oversight.' Other GOP senators are warning that it's time for the Senate to move on after a weeks-long divisive fight that left scars on the chamber's normally clubby atmosphere. 'I know there's been some discussion about the Judiciary Committee taking a look at that. I think what I would like to see happen around here is a return to normalcy,' said Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 2 Republican senator...." IOW, Lindsey got told.

Mr. Romney Goes to Washington. Eliot Cohen in the Atlantic: "Viewed from [the] perspective [of 50 years], the most important thing about the impeachment of Donald Trump will probably be Mitt Romney's speech explaining his vote to convict the president of abuse of power. In the near term, that speech will do neither Romney nor his cause any good. The armies of trolls and sneering louts will come after him, their jeers all the louder because they emanate from a terrified emptiness within. Shambling, tongueless, and invertebrate politicians who deep down know better will resent Romney for having the courage to say what they believed, but dared not utter. But that speech will last. When future anthologies of great American political speeches are published by the Library of America, Romney's remarks will be there." Mrs. McC: Personally, I thought Adam Schiff's closing argument was more eloquent than Romney's, but it didn't take the moral grit Romney's did.

AP: "A man carrying a knife was arrested outside the White House after he told a U.S. Secret Service officer that he was there to kill the president, police said. Roger Hedgpeth ... approached a Secret Service officer who was patrolling outside the White House and said he was there to 'assassinate' ... Donald Trump and 'I have a knife to do it with,' according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press. Police found a 3 1/2-inch knife in a sheath on his left hip, and Hedgpeth also had an empty pistol holster on his right hip, authorities said." Mrs. McC: Possibly not the most carefully thought-through plan.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ireland. Rory Carroll of the Guardian: "Sinn Féin will try to form a government in Ireland after apparently winning more votes than any other party in Saturday's general election -- a historic result that upended the political system.... Sinn Féin, once a pariah for its IRA links, won almost a quarter of first-preference votes, possibly pipping Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, two centrist rivals that have taken turns ruling Ireland for a century. It rode a wave of anger over homelessness, soaring rents and hospital waiting lists as well as disillusionment with the traditional political duopoly."

Israel. Now, This Is an "Epic Fiasco." Emma Tucker of the Daily Beast: "The personal information of over six million citizens was leaked after Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party uploaded the full register of Israeli voters to an app, Haaretz reported Sunday. The information includes full names, identity card numbers, addresses, genders, phone numbers, and other personal details.... The vulnerability in the application reportedly allowed for anyone to easily download the entire voter registry on a computer.... Israeli political parties receive the information of voters before the elections and vow to protect their privacy.... The data [include] ... users in countries abroad such as the United States, Russia, and China...." Emphasis added.

News Ledes

AP: "Mainland China's death toll from the new virus outbreak has risen to 811, surpassing the number of fatalities in the 2002-2003 SARS pandemic. However, the number of new cases reported over the last 24 hours on Sunday fell significantly from the previous period, something experts see as a sign the spread of the virus may be slowing. Another 89 deaths were reported, while 2,656 new cases were added for a total of 37,198. On Saturday, 3,399 cases were reported for the previous 24 hours. SARS is widely considered to have killed 774 people and sickened 8,098, mainly in mainland China and Hong Kong. The response this time has been much quicker and countries around the world are enforcing stricter measures to contain the spread."

AP: "A gunman described as a soldier angry over a financial dispute killed two people and then went on a far bloodier rampage Saturday in northeastern Thailand, shooting as he drove to a busy mall where shoppers fled in terror. At least 21 people were killed in all, 31 were injured and others were believed to be still inside the building as more gunshots rang out early Sunday."

AP: "Robert Conrad, the rugged, contentious actor who starred in the hugely popular 1960s television series 'Hawaiian Eye' and 'The Wild, Wild West,' died Saturday. He was 84."

AP: "Orson Bean, the witty actor and comedian who enlivened the game show 'To Tell the Truth' and played a crotchety merchant on 'Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,' was hit and killed by a car in Los Angeles, authorities said. He was 91."

New York: Friday "the National Transport Safety Board released its preliminary report into the January 26 helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others. For the first time, it revealed that moments before impact the pilot deliberately broke FAA regulations meant to prevent just such kinds of accidents. As previously reported, in the minutes prior to the crash, pilot Ara Zobayan was flying just a few hundred feet over the floor of the San Fernando Valley, which lies at an elevation of 800 feet. An opaque layer of overcast clouds covered the area at an altitude of 1,900 feet. As Zobayan reached the southwestern edge of the valley and crossed into Calabasas, the ground below him climbed higher until he was zooming 150 mph over the road at scarcely more than 100 feet...."