The Commentariat -- December 31, 2019

Afternoon Update:

The Democrats will do anything to avoid a trial in the Senate in order to protect Sleepy Joe Biden, and expose the millions and millions of dollars that 'Where's Hunter, & possibly Joe, were paid by companies and countries for doing NOTHING. Joe wants no part of this mess! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet Tuesday ~~~

~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Trump is now openly calling for his impeachment trial to be converted into something that is purely devoted to serving his own political needs -- one that only includes witnesses that will help him keep smearing potential 2020 opponent Joe Biden, but has no meaningful relevance whatsoever to the corrupt conduct for which he has been impeached.... Incredibly, this comes as Senate Republicans push for a trial that features none of the witnesses who actually do have direct knowledge of that very same corrupt conduct.... They are doing this to protect Trump -- and themselves --- because he's guilty as charged, and they know it.... There's a deep irony here: Biden actually did work for years to root out kleptocracy and corruption in Ukraine, explicitly describing this as essential to drawing it into the Western orbit, and away from Russian predation, serving our national interests. By contrast, Trump actually does not care a whit about corruption in Ukraine. He used it as his cover story for extorting the Ukrainian president to help him advance his own kleptocratic and corrupt designs, subverting our national interests to his own."

Thomas Franck of CNBC: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday blamed Iran for planning an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq and promised to hold Tehran 'fully responsible.' 'Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will,' the president wrote on Twitter. 'Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible.' 'In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!' he added.... Trump's tweet came after dozens of angry Iraqi Shiite militia supporters stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad and set fire to a reception area on the grounds earlier in the day. The Iraqi supporters, many dressed in military apparel, pushed into the compound using cars to break through its gate. The protesters hung a poster on the wall saying, 'America is an aggressor.'" Mrs. McC: I'm sure our embassy personnel feel a lot safer knowing Trump is threatening Iran & Iraq from the comfort of Mar-a-Lago.

Senate Race 2020. Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski took to Twitter on Tuesday to announced that he will not run for Senate in New Hampshire.... 'After much consideration I have decided to forgo a campaign for the US Senate,' he tweeted. 'While taking on a career politician from the Washington swamp is a tall order, I am certain I would have won. My priorities remain my family and ensuring that @realDonaldTrump is re-elected POTUS.'" Mrs. McC: No, no, I would have won had I run. Corey has figured out the best way not to lose: don't even try. What a jerk. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: A December poll showed incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D) beating Lewandowski 58%-35%.

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Welcoming the new year in Auckland, New Zealand:

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: Mitch "McConnell badly needs the media's both-sidesing instincts to hold firm against the brute facts of the situation. If Republicans bear the brunt of media pressure to explain why they don't want to hear from witnesses, that risks highlighting their true rationale: They adamantly fear new revelations precisely because they know Trump is guilty -- and that this corrupt scheme is almost certainly much worse than we can currently surmise. That possibility is underscored by the Times report [linked here yesterday], a chronology of Trump's decision to withhold aid to a vulnerable ally under assault while he and his henchmen extorted Ukraine into carrying out his corrupt designs. The report demonstrates in striking detail that inside the administration, the consternation over the legality and propriety of the aid freeze -- and confusion over Trump's true motives -- ran much deeper than previously known, implicating top Cabinet officials.... We now have a much clearer glimpse into the murky depths of just how much more these officials know about the scheme -- and just how much McConnell and Trump are determined to make sure we don't ever learn." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: To me, the most important effect of the NYT report is that it proves that Trump's top international affairs advisors -- the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense & National Security Advisor -- made him aware that by withholding the Ukraine funding he was working against U.S. security interests. Senators, the supposed triers of fact in the impeachment process, can no longer pretend Trump may have made a bad call but only because he didn't know what he was doing. He knew. All the aides who mattered ganged up and told him so, according to the Times story.

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A federal judge on Monday scrapped an effort by a former top aide to John Bolton to determine whether he could be required to testify before House impeachment investigators, declaring the matter moot and outside the court's power to resolve. Charles Kupperman, who was Bolton's deputy when Bolton was national security adviser, filed suit in October after he was subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee but ordered to ignore the subpoena by ... Donald Trump. In his suit, Kupperman asked for a judge's help to resolve the conflicting demands. The matter was put before Judge Richard Leon, a federal judge in the D.C. District Court. But before Leon could weigh in, the House withdrew its subpoena for Kupperman's testimony, declaring it a transparent effort to stonewall the impeachment investigation and mire it in months of legal delays. Both the House and the White House asked Leon to dismiss the case, and Leon ultimately agreed." The New York Times story is here. ~~~

      ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Cheney characterizes the dismissal as freeing both Bolton & Kupperman from testifying, which is how I would have interpreted it, too. However, Neal Katyal was on the teevee & said dismissal of Kupperman's suit means Boltonlost his excuse not to testify inasmuch as Bolton has claimed he was waiting for a decision on the Kupperman suit before determining whether or not he would testify.

Mac Bishop, et al., of NBC News: "Trump's attempt to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden has ... exposed the cracks in the West's response to an emboldened Russia, inflicted permanent damage on Ukraine and heightened the risk of Moscow extending its influence in the country, according to democracy advocates and military experts." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Betsy Swan of the Daily Beast: "Lev Parnas ... is looking to share more material with congressional investigators, according to a letter his lawyer has sent to a federal judge.... In the letter, Parnas'lawyer Joseph Bondy said the Justice Department will share materials with his client on Tuesday that it seized from his home and at his arrest. The materials include documents and the contents of an iPhone. Bondy then asked Judge Paul Oetken of the Southern District of New York to allow him to share those materials with the House Intelligence Committee.... The Justice Department has said it does not object to him giving the material to Congress."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Two Girls Chatting. Mehdi Hasan of the Intercept: "... [Margaret] Brennan's interview with Ivanka [Trump] -- which was ... pegged to the new policy of paid parental leave for federal government workers -- could be considered a low point in 'Face the Nation's storied 65-year history.... To quote liberal writer Eric Boehlert, 'for most Sunday shows, the blueprint remains the same: book a Republican and let them talk.' When Brennan asked Ivanka to address the cruel and callous policy of family separation at the border and the '900 children who remain separated from their families,' the senior adviser to the president dodged the question, claiming 'immigration is not part of my portfolio,' before quickly changing the subject to human trafficking. Yet there was no follow-up, no pushback whatsoever, from the 'Face the Nation' host.&" (Also linked yesterday.) Related story linked yesterday. ~~~

~~~ Aaron Rupar of Vox: "... given the way it obscured key facts, host Margaret Brennan's approach to interviewing the president's elder daughter and senior adviser would've fit right in on Fox & Friends.... Brennan described Ivanka as 'vocal in your opposition' to the inhumane family separation policy her father implemented in April 2018, noting that she described the policy as a 'low point.' But Ivanka was not in fact 'vocal' in opposition to the policy -- in fact, the opposite is the case.... Ivanka ... only spoke out in opposition to the family separation policy after her father signed an executive order in June 2018 ending it. She was conspicuously silent in the days leading up to that point...."

Rudy Is Not the Only Trump Ally Messing with Maduro. Joshua Goodman of the AP: "Erik Prince, a major Republican donor and founder of controversial security firm Blackwater, has been referred to the U.S. Treasury Department for possible sanctions violations tied to his recent trip to Venezuela for a meeting with a top aide of President Nicolas Maduro, two senior U.S. officials said. There's no indication that Prince, whose sister is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, will be sanctioned for the meeting last month in Caracas with Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodriguez. But the fact the visit was flagged underscores the concern of officials in the Trump administration over what appeared to be an unauthorized diplomatic outreach to Maduro.... It also marks something of a reversal for Prince, who earlier in 2019 was thought to have been pitching a plan to form a mercenary army to topple Maduro. A person familiar with Prince's visit said he had been asked to travel to Venezuela by an unidentified European businessman with longstanding ties to the oil-rich nation." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: We will never know how many of Trump's little buddies are running around the world acting as "back channels" for Trump & trying to put together shady deals. But it's fair to assume the level of corruption is staggering.

All the Best People, Ctd. Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump's White House hired an Ohio telemarketer who twice filed for bankruptcy for his telemarketing company and owes hundreds of thousands of dollars to the IRS. The president's 2016 campaign paid $1.2 million to Victory Solutions LLC, which owed the IRS and was facing numerous lawsuits, and its chief executive Shannon Burns went to work last year in the White House as a part-time advance associate, reported The Daily Beast." (The Daily Beast story is subscriber-firewalled.)

Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "The United States military on Sunday struck five targets in Iraq and Syria controlled by an Iranian-backed paramilitary group, the Pentagon said, a reprisal for a rocket attack on Friday that killed an American contractor." (This is an update & an expansion of a Reuters story linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Alissa Rubin & Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "Iraq has been caught for years in a tug of war between its two most powerful patrons, the United States and Iran. In recent months, public opinion began to tilt against Iran, with street protests demanding an end to Tehran's pervasive influence. But American airstrikes that killed two dozen members of an Iranian-backed militia over the weekend have now made Washington the focus of public hostility, reducing the heat on Tehran and its proxies. Iraqi leaders accused the United States on Monday of violating Iraq's sovereignty and expressed fear that increasing tensions between the United States and Iran could escalate into a proxy war on Iraqi soil.... Anti-Iranian slogans have given way to anti-American ones. Demonstrators and others attacked what they deemed to be America's disproportionate response in killing 24 militiamen in retaliation for the death of one American contractor." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Washington Post: "Hundreds of Iraqis converge on U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to protest airstrike that killed members of Iran-backed militia. A spokesman for the Kataib Hezbollah militia said the demonstrators plan to remain outside until the embassy shuts down and U.S. diplomats leave Iraq." @ 5 am ET, this is a breaking news story. The Hill has a story here.

Jesse Drucker & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "The overhaul of the federal tax law in 2017 was the signature legislative achievement of Donald J. Trump's presidency. The biggest change to the tax code in three decades, the law slashed taxes for big companies.... But big companies wanted more -- and, not long after the bill became law in December 2017, the Trump administration began transforming the tax package into a greater windfall for the world's largest corporations and their shareholders.... The process of writing the rules [that determine how laws are administered], conducted largely out of public view, can determine who wins and who loses. Starting in early 2018, senior officials in President Trump's Treasury Department were swarmed by lobbyists seeking to insulate companies from the few parts of the tax law that would have required them to pay more.... Thanks in part to the chaotic manner in which the bill was rushed through Congress -- a situation that gave the Treasury Department extra latitude to interpret a law that was, by all accounts, sloppily written -- the corporate lobbying campaign was a resounding success." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Presidential Race 2020

Annie Grayer & Ryan Nobles of CNN: "Sen. Bernie Sanders is in 'good health,' nearly three months after suffering a heart attack, the attending physician at the US Capitol said in a letter released Monday. The physician, Brian Monahan, said in a summary of the Vermont senator's health that Sanders is no longer taking several of the medications initially prescribed to him after the heart attack." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Will Sommer of the Daily Beast: "A Texas judge has ordered [Friend of Donald] Alex Jones and his InfoWars hoax website to pay more than $100,000 in court costs and legal fees, marking the latest court victory for a Sandy Hook family suing Jones for his promotion of conspiracy theories about the 2012 shooting."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Cristina Cabrera of TPM: "On Sunday, the New York Times revised conservative columnist Bret [Bedbug] Stephens' op-ed 'The Secrets of Jewish Genius,' which claimed that Ashkenazi Jews are intellectually superior, due to overwhelming backlash over the column citing a racist study. Shortly after the op-ed was published on Friday, critics assailed Stephens and the Times for pushing the kind of race science favored by white supremacists.... New York Times Magazine contributor Jody Rosen noted that one of the studies Stephens cited, 'Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence,' was co-authored by white supremacist and eugenicist Henry Harpending. In a lengthy editor's note, the Times stated it had removed the study from the op-ed. 'After publication Mr. Stephens and his editors learned that one of the paper's authors, who died in 2016, promoted racist views,' the note read. 'Mr. Stephens was not endorsing the study or its authors' views, but it was a mistake to cite it uncritically.' The Times also asserted that it was 'not [Stephens'] intent' to argue that 'Jews are genetically superior.' However, critics pointed out that ... Stephens, in fact, endorse[d] the study on Jewish intelligence by prefacing it with the sentence 'When it comes to Ashkenazi Jews, it's true.'..." ~~~

~~~ Jack Shafer of Politico: "The Times disavowal and re-edit (tellingly neither co-signed nor acknowledged by Stephens) was too little and too late...."

Mike Schneider of the AP: "The past year' population growth rate in the United States was the slowest in a century due to declining births, increasing deaths and the slowdown of international migration, according to figures released Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau. The U.S. grew from 2018 to 2019 by almost a half percent, or about 1.5 million people, with the population standing at 328 million this year, according to population estimates. That's the slowest growth rate in the U.S. since 1917 to 1918, when the nation was involved in World War I, said William Frey, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution." Mrs. McC: Also in 1918, 500,000 to 675,000 people living in the U.S. died in the influenza pandemic. Obviously, slowing population growth leads to a slowing economy.

Beyond the Beltway

Kansas. Cop Caught on Tape. Ben Kesslen & Doha Madani of NBC News: "A Kansas police officer resigned Monday after fabricating a story that employees at a McDonald's wrote the words "F---ing Pig' on his coffee cup.... The ex-officer, who remained unidentified, is a former military police officer in the Army and had been on the small town's force for two months.... The McDonald's in Junction City, about 25 miles north of Herington near Fort Riley Army Base, said Sunday that after reviewing surveillance video, representatives were confident that was no employee wrote the message."

New York. Elisha Fieldstadt of NBC News: "Prosecutors on Monday filed federal hate crime charges against the 37-year-old man accused of storming a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi's home in Monsey, New York, with a machete and wounding five people.... Authorities ... discovered handwritten journals in [the suspect's] home that contained anti-Semitic writings. On one page, he had drawn a Star of David and a Swastika, and written about 'Nazi culture' and 'Adolf Hitler,' according to a federal criminal complaint filed Monday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

New York City. Ed Shanahan of the New York Times: "Michael J. Reynolds, a New York City police officer ... who is white, [was visiting Nashville, Tennessee, when he] kicked in a black woman's door in a drunken rage, threatening her and her sons with a racist slur and obscenities. 'I'll break every bone in your neck,' he said in a rant that included two expletives. He then fled to his nearby Airbnb rental just before the police arrived. This month, he was sentenced to 15 days in jail and three years' probation after pleading no contest to four misdemeanors as a result of the episode, court records show. As of Monday, though, he remained an officer, stirring a growing backlash against the New York Police Department. More than 10,000 people signed an online petition demanding his dismissal and supporting the woman whose home he invaded.... The Police Department said last week that Officer Reynolds was on 'modified duty' and that the disciplinary process was awaiting the Nashville case's conclusion. Asked about the matter again on Monday, a top department official said the process 'was moving forward and questioning will take place imminently.'" Read on. Reynolds' actions would terrify anyone, and the victims had done nothing whatsoever to provoke him.

New York City. Trump Was Right: Wind Energy Is Dangerous. Craig McCarthy of the New York Post: "A shoddy wind turbine fell apart in the Bronx on Monday when it couldn't handle its own power source -- gusty winds. The blade damaged a nearby car and an illuminated billboard when it flew off the 250-foot structure in Baychester at about 1:20 p.m., police said. There were no injuries reported. Local politicians rushed to the scene and blasted the 'hastily' constructed alternative-energy source. The turbine started spinning on Dec. 17, providing power to nearby buildings, according to the Bronx Times."

West Virginia. Janelle Griffith of NBC News: "West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said Monday he has approved the recommendations from a report calling for the firing of all correctional officer cadets who participated in a Nazi salute during a class photo. The photo of Basic Training Class 18, released by the state's Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety on Dec. 5 with the employees' faces blurred, shows about 30 uniformed trainees posing with their right arms raised, most of them with their hands also extended. The words 'Hail Byrd!' also appear at the top of the image. Three people -- two academy trainers and a cadet -- were fired days after the photo was released and 34 others suspended without pay amid the investigation by the department and its Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation.... The use of the gesture began two to three weeks into training as one that the cadets have described as a 'sign of respect' for an individual identified as 'Instructor Byrd.' Byrd told investigators she was unaware of the 'historical or racial implications of the gesture' and reported it was 'simply a greeting,' according to the report. But her statement was contradicted by multiple sources, the report released Monday says." Byrd told a staffer that the salute signified that "I'm a hard-ass like Hitler."

Way Beyond

Japan/Lebanon. Emily Flitter of the New York Times: "Carlos Ghosn, the former chairman of Nissan who was facing charges of financial wrongdoing in Japan, has fled the country, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Mr. Ghosn is currently in Beirut, Lebanon, said two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Mr. Ghosn is a citizen of France, Brazil and Lebanon. The circumstances under which Mr. Ghosn left Japan were not immediately clear. But he enjoys widespread public support in Lebanon, where he spent much of his youth and retains family connections." A CNN story is here.

The Commentariat -- December 30, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Annie Grayer & Ryan Nobles of CNN: "Sen. Bernie Sanders is in 'good health,' nearly three months after suffering a heart attack, the attending physician at the US Capitol said in a letter released Monday. The physician, Brian Monahan, said in a summary of the Vermont senator's health that Sanders is no longer taking several of the medications initially prescribed to him after the heart attack."

Elisha Fieldstadt of NBC News: "Prosecutors on Monday filed federal hate crime charges against the 37-year-old man accused of storming a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi's home in Monsey, New York, with a machete and wounding five people.... Authorities ... discovered handwritten journals in [the suspect's] home that contained anti-Semitic writings. On one page, he had drawn a Star of David and a Swastika, and written about 'Nazi culture' and 'Adolf Hitler,' according to a federal criminal complaint filed Monday."

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: Mitch "McConnell badly needs the media's both-sidesing instincts to hold firm against the brute facts of the situation. If Republicans bear the brunt of media pressure to explain why they don't want to hear from witnesses, that risks highlighting their true rationale: They adamantly fear new revelations precisely because they know Trump is guilty -- and that this corrupt scheme is almost certainly much worse than we can currently surmise. That possibility is underscored by the Times report [linked below], a chronology of Trump's decision to withhold aid to a vulnerable ally under assault while he and his henchmen extorted Ukraine into carrying out his corrupt designs. The report demonstrates in striking detail that inside the administration, the consternation over the legality and propriety of the aid freeze -- and confusion over Trump's true motives -- ran much deeper than previously known, implicating top Cabinet officials.... We now have a much clearer glimpse into the murky depths of just how much more these officials know about the scheme -- and just how much McConnell and Trump are determined to make sure we don't ever learn."

Mac Bishop, et al., of NBC News: "Trump's attempt to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden has ... exposed the cracks in the West's response to an emboldened Russia, inflicted permanent damage on Ukraine and heightened the risk of Moscow extending its influence in the country, according to democracy advocates and military experts."

Jesse Drucker & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "The overhaul of the federal tax law in 2017 was the signature legislative achievement of Donald J. Trump's presidency. The biggest change to the tax code in three decades, the law slashed taxes for big companies.... But big companies wanted more -- and, not long after the bill became law in December 2017, the Trump administration began transforming the tax package into a greater windfall for the world's largest corporations and their shareholders.... The process of writing the rules [that determine how laws are executed], conducted largely out of public view, can determine who wins and who loses. Starting in early 2018, senior officials in President Trump's Treasury Department were swarmed by lobbyists seeking to insulate companies from the few parts of the tax law that would have required them to pay more.... Thanks in part to the chaotic manner in which the bill was rushed through Congress -- a situation that gave the Treasury Department extra latitude to interpret a law that was, by all accounts, sloppily written -- the corporate lobbying campaign was a resounding success."

Two Girls Chatting. Mehdi Hasan of the Intercept: "... [Margaret] Brennan's interview with Ivanka [Trump] -- which was ... pegged to the new policy of paid parental leave for federal government workers -- could be considered a low point in 'Face the Nation''s storied 65-year history.... To quote liberal writer Eric Boehlert, 'for most Sunday shows, the blueprint remains the same: book a Republican and let them talk.' When Brennan asked Ivanka to address the cruel and callous policy of family separation at the border and the '900 children who remain separated from their families,' the senior adviser to the president dodged the question, claiming 'immigration is not part of my portfolio,' before quickly changing the subject to human trafficking. Yet there was no follow-up, no pushback whatsoever, from the 'Face the Nation' host."

Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "The United States military on Sunday struck five targets in Iraq and Syria controlled by an Iranian-backed paramilitary group, the Pentagon said, a reprisal for a rocket attack on Friday that killed an American contractor." (This is an update & an expansion of a Reuters story linked below.)

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** Eric Lipton, et al., of the New York Times: "Interviews with dozens of current and former administration officials, congressional aides and others, previously undisclosed emails and documents, and a close reading of thousands of pages of impeachment testimony provide the most complete account yet of the 84 days from when Mr. Trump first inquired about the money to his decision in September to relent. What emerges is the story of how Mr. Trump's demands sent shock waves through the White House and the Pentagon, created deep rifts within the senior ranks of his administration, left key aides like [Mick] Mulvaney under intensifying scrutiny -- and ended only after Mr. Trump learned of a damning whistle-blower report and came under pressure from influential Republican lawmakers.... Opposition to the order from his top national security advisers was more intense than previously known. In late August, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper joined Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and John R. Bolton, the national security adviser at the time, for a previously undisclosed Oval Office meeting with the president where they tried but failed to convince him that releasing the aid was in interests of the United States.... Mr. Mulvaney is shown to have been deeply involved as a key conduit for transmitting Mr. Trump's demands for the freeze across the administration."

Erin Banco & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "In the weeks leading up to their impeachment trial, senators on Capitol Hill are actively avoiding meeting with ... Rudy Giuliani -- partly because they fear he might try to pass off Russian conspiracy theories as fact, according to interviews with more than half a dozen Republican and Democratic lawmakers and aides.... When he arrived back in Washington [after a trip to Kiev last month], Giuliani updated Trump, according to two individuals with knowledge of their conversation, and said publicly the president asked him to brief Republican senators about the information he gathered.... Both Democrat and Republican senators have steered clear of the president's personal attorney over concern that the information he is trying to disseminate originated from figures in Ukraine known for spinning the truth or spreading outright lies.... 'My advice to Giuliani would be to share what he got from Ukraine with the IC [intelligence community] to make sure it's not Russia propaganda...,' [Lindsey Graham said]."

"A Hand Grenade Who's Going to Blow Everybody Up." Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Rudolph W. Giuliani and then-Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.) ... were part of a shadow diplomatic effort, backed in part by private interests, aimed at engineering a negotiated exit to ease [Venezuela's] President Nicolás Maduro from power and reopen resource-rich Venezuela to business, according to people familiar with the endeavor...' provid[ing] another example of how Giuliani used his private role to insert himself into foreign diplomacy, alarming administration officials confused about whose interests he was representing.... Giuliani's willingness to talk with Maduro in late 2018 flew in the face of the official policy of the White House, which, under national security adviser John Bolton, was then ratcheting up sanctions and taking a harder line against the Venezuelan government. Around the time of the phone call, Giuliani met with Bolton to discuss the off-the-books plan to ease Maduro from office -- a plan Bolton vehemently rejected, two people familiar with the meeting said." Of course Lev Parnas, (allegedly) crooked Venezuelan businessmen -- at least one of whom is Giuliani's client -- & the Grand Havana Room cigar bar in Manhattan figure in. Because these are Trump people. Slate has a summary report here.

Justine Coleman of the Hill: Sen. "Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) questioned whether Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will 'try to rig' the impeachment trial by teaming up with President Trump. Van Hollen told Jon Karl on ABCs 'This Week' that Senate Democrats are pushing for a 'fair trial' where they are permitted to call witnesses and obtain necessary documents.... 'We keep hearing President Trump say he's going to be exonerated,' he added. 'Look, if you have a rigged trial there's no exoneration in acquittal.'"

Ah, Those "New York Values" Are the Problem. Melissa Quinn of CBS News: "Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma criticized President Trump for his tweets and language, saying he doesn't believe the president is someone who young people can look up to. 'I don't think that President Trump as a person is a role model for a lot of different youth. That's just me personally,' Lankford said on 'Face the Nation.' 'I don't like the way that he tweets, some of the things that he says, his word choices at times are not my word choices. He comes across with more New York City swagger than I do from the Midwest and definitely not the way that I'm raising my kids.'" Mrs. McC: Thanks for your insights, Jim. Blaming NYC "swagger" for Trump's behavior is lame under any circumstance, and under the circumstance that most New Yorkers despise Trump makes your argument ridiculous. (In Manhattan, Clinton beat Trump 86%-10% in 2016; of the five boroughs, only on Staten Island did Trump top Clinton.) Trump doesn't talk like a New Yorker; he talks like a mobster.

Reuters: "Russia said it had thwarted terror attacks reportedly planned in St Petersburg as the result of a tip from Washington, as President Vladimir Putin personally thanked his US counterpart Donald Trump. Russian news agencies cited the Federal Security Service (FSB) as saying that as a result of the information, two Russians had been detained on 27 December on suspicion of plotting attacks during new year festivities in St Petersburg." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "... on Sunday, the Kremlin statement said Mr. Putin had ... thanked Mr. Trump for 'information transmitted through the channels of U.S. special services.' It said the two leaders had also discussed other 'issues of mutual interest,' but did not spell them out. The White House did not respond to a request for comment."

In Keeping with Family Tradition, Ivanka Lies, Takes Credit for Legislation She Didn't Back. James Downie of the Washington Post: "Disgracefully, the United States remains one of just three countries in the world without statutory paid maternity leave. This month finally saw some small progress toward fixing this injustice when Trump's father signed a defense-spending bill that instituted 12 weeks of paid parental leave for government workers. From her CBS interview, in which [Ivanka] Trump touted '2½ years of building our coalitions of support for this policy,' you'd think this was the result of years of Trump's hard work. The truth is rather different. According to The Post, it's her father's opponents whom government workers have to thank for the new benefits: In negotiations over the defense bill, House Democrats used President Trump's desire for a Space Force to extract funding for the new paid leave policy.... The paid family leave bills that Ivanka Trump has supported don't look like the straightforward 12 week guarantee in the defense bill. In the Brennan interview, Trump touted a bill advanced by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.). Rather than paid leave, the Cassidy-Sinema bill would offer families a loan of up to $5,000 to cover time off, and which would be repaid by cuts to the families' child tax credits.... [But] the new parental leave benefits for government employees closely resemble those in the FAMILY Act, proposed by Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), which would provide all workers with 12 weeks of paid leave. Yet in her interview with [CBS's Margaret] Brennan, Trump dismissed the FAMILY Act as 'stale.'" Since she didn't prevaricate quite enough about family leave legislation, she also lied about how family leave was instituted at her own company -- she fought it. ~~~

~~~ David of Crooks & Liars: "... Ivanka Trump declined to criticize her father's administration over its family separation policy for immigrants. In a highly publicized interview that aired on Sunday, CBS host Margaret Brennan asked Trump about the family separations policy in light of her concern for all children. '... Homeland Security says there's still around 900 children who remain separated from their families,' Brennan told Trump. 'Is that something that you continue to remain engaged on?' 'Well, immigration is not in part of my portfolio,' Trump replied. 'Obviously, I think everyone should be engaged and the full force of the U.S. government is committed to this effort of border security, to protecting the most vulnerable.'" She went on to talk about human trafficking, which was not part of the question. Then Brennan said, "Ivanka Trump, thank you very much." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Great suck-up interview, Maggie; thanks for not asking any embarrassing follow-up questions like, "Whaddaya mean, 'not in my portfolio'? You're a mother, for Pete's sake. Look at you, you're getting someone to iron your damned hair while your father & his henchmen are ripping babies from their mothers' arms. And your response is 'not in my portfolio? Get out!" Please, get me a good producer & researcher & I'll show Brennan & Chuck Todd how to interview politicians.

Bonus. Especially if you are a snob (count me in!), but even if you're not, you may enjoy David Roth's "Unified Theory of the Trumps' Creepy Aesthetic" (Dec. 19) in the New Republic.

Ahmed Rashid, et al., of Reuters: "A top Iraqi militia leader warned of a strong response against U.S. forces in Iraq following air strikes in Iraq and Syria overnight that hit several bases of his Iranian-backed group and killed at least 25 people. The U.S. military carried out air strikes on Sunday against the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia group in response to the killing of a U.S. civilian contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base, officials said."

Presidential Race 2020

David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "Our process for selecting presidential nominees is badly flawed.... It has come to resemble a reality television show, in which a pseudo-scientific process (polls plus donor numbers) winnows the field. The winner is then chosen by a distorted series of primaries and caucuses: The same few states always get outsize influence, and a crude, unranked voting system can produce a nominee whom most people don't want.... When voters are given the dominant role in choosing a nominee -- as with primaries here -- only an unrepresentative subset tends to participate, which skews the process." Leonhardt has some limp suggestions to improve it.... The seven candidates who made the last Democratic debate stage all have their strengths, but as a group, they offer an indictment of the nomination process. There are three candidates in their 70s -- and no African-American or Latino. There are two people who have never won an election -- and zero who have ever run a state. Of course, the biggest sign that the process is broken isn't any of those seven. It is the man in the Oval Office."

Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "... Michael R. Bloomberg is ... spending millions each week in an online advertising onslaught [attacking Donald Trump] that is guided by polling and data that he and his advisers believe provide unique insight into the president's vulnerabilities. The effort, which is targeting seven battleground states where polls show Mr. Trump is likely to be competitive in November, is just one piece of an advertising campaign that is unrivaled in scope and scale. On Facebook and Google alone, where Mr. Bloomberg is most focused on attacking the president, he has spent $18 million on ads over the last month.... That is on top of the $128 million the Bloomberg campaign has spent on television ads.... Those amounts dwarf the ad budgets of his rivals, and he is spending at a faster clip than past presidential campaigns as well. Mr. Bloomberg is also already spending more than the Trump campaign each week to reach voters online.... In swing states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that are likely to decide whether Mr. Trump gets re-elected, the president's campaign and its allies have already been advertising on his behalf for more than a year. Mr. Bloomberg's campaign is focusing its efforts there, hoping to erode Mr. Trump's standing."~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Bloomberg is not likely to be the Democrats' nominee, but he seems to be helping the candidate who will be.

Marisa Iati of the Washington Post: "Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon known for promoting voting rights, announced Sunday that doctors diagnosed him with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, which typically has a poor prognosis. Lewis (D-Ga.), who has served in Congress since 1987, said he planned to return to Washington soon to continue working and to undergo treatment over the next several weeks. He said he might miss some votes during that time." A Hill report is here.

"The Decade from Hell": New Republic Writers Condemn the Past Decade:

Alex Shephard: "The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, which [Jon Stewart] hosted [in October 2010] with his then-Comedy Central colleague Stephen Colbert, was an attempt to shame a media industry addicted to theatrical conflict and shallow analysis. It was also meant to showcase common ground typically lacking in political coverage.... The rally was a huge success: 200,000 people crowded the Mall in Washington, D.C.... But it hasn't aged well. Stewart's call for Americans to transcend party lines and concentrate on their shared aspirations is embarrassing to watch in 2019.... It serves as a milestone in recent political history: a nadir in the left's years-long refusal to reckon with the extremist right."

Nick Martin: "Three days after Stewart and Colbert's rally and their call for a return to normalcy, midterm elections were held across the country. Most headlines and politics-watchers focused on the dramatic Republican gains in the House of Representatives. But the results that would most profoundly shape American politics came not at the national level, but in the state houses and senates, the chambers where state budgets are set and national policies and political movements start their journeys."

Alex Pareene: "The story of American politics over the past decade is that of a [Democratic] party on the cusp of enduring power and world-historical social reform, and how these once imaginable outcomes were methodically squandered.""

Ganesh Sitaraman: "With the 2008 financial crash and the Great Recession, the ideology of neoliberalism lost its force. The approach to politics, global trade, and social philosophy that defined an era led not to never-ending prosperity but utter disaster. 'Laissez-faire is finished,' declared French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan admitted in testimony before Congress that his ideology was flawed. In an extraordinary statement, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd declared that the crash 'called into question the prevailing neoliberal economic orthodoxy of the past 30 years -- the orthodoxy that has underpinned the national and global regulatory frameworks that have so spectacularly failed to prevent the economic mayhem which has been visited upon us.'"

Libby Watson: "The last decade's misadventures in health care reform -- the fight to pass the ACA; the unhinged response of its opponents; the efforts, successful and unsuccessful, to undermine the law; and the rapid, unprecedented rise of a movement to replace it with something far bigger and more radical --— holds a clear lesson for the future. Passing a bill crafted with industry approval and based on ideas originated with the Heritage Foundation and Mitt Romney -- and then insisting that it's the most progressive thing since the New Deal and we should all be grateful for it -- set the party up for the single-payer movement that's happening now. If only this had been its intention."

Otherwise, things went very well.

News Lede

AP: "A man pulled out a shotgun at a Texas church service and fired on worshippers Sunday, killing two people before he was shot to death by congregants who fired back, police said. Authorities at a Sunday evening news conference praised the two congregants who opened fire as part of a volunteer security team at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement. It was unclear if the two people who were killed were the two who shot at the gunman."

The Commentariat -- December 29, 2019

Jan Wolfe of Reuters: "... Joe Biden on Saturday said there would be 'no legal basis' for Republicans to subpoena his testimony in ... Donald Trump's impeachment trial, clarifying remarks from Friday that drew criticism. 'I want to clarify something I said yesterday. In my 40 years in public life, I have always complied with a lawful order and in my eight years as VP, my office -- unlike Donald Trump and Mike Pence -- cooperated with legitimate congressional oversight requests,' Biden said on Twitter. 'But I am just not going to pretend that there is any legal basis for Republican subpoenas for my testimony in the impeachment trial,' Biden added. The statement came one day after Biden said in an interview with the Des Moines Register that he would not comply with a Senate subpoena because it would be a tactic by Trump to distract from the president's wrongdoing. Some legal experts and commentators had criticized Biden for his remarks to the Iowa newspaper, noting that the White House's refusal to comply with congressional subpoenas was part of the reason why Trump had been impeached." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Just to clarify, Biden is not "clarifying" his earlier remarks. "Clarifying" is elaborating on or rephrasing a statement that was confusing or could be misunderstood. Biden's original remark was pretty damned comprehensible: one of the interviewers asked, "Do you stand by your original statement that you wouldn't comply if you were subpoenaed to testify in an impeachment trial before the Senate?" Biden answered "Correct," then went on to say why he would not comply. (See video on the linked page.) He's taking that back, not clarifying the meaning of "correct." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times gets it right: "Joseph R. Biden Jr. backtracked on Saturday from his stated position that he would not comply with a subpoena to testify in President Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate. Instead, he declared that he would abide by 'any subpoena that was sent to me' even as he insisted there was no justification for calling him as a witness. A day after reaffirming that he would not comply with a subpoena, Mr. Biden tried twice on Saturday to clarify his remarks, asserting that there would be no 'legal basis' for such a subpoena but left it unclear, for much of the day, if he would ultimately comply with one. Then, questioned by a voter about the issue of compliance with subpoenas, Mr. Biden answered unequivocally. 'I would obey any subpoena that was sent to me,' he said at a town hall-style event in Fairfield[, Iowa]. Mr. Biden's 180-degree turn on whether he would comply with a subpoena was one of the starkest and swiftest reversals by a candidate in the Democratic primary campaign, and came after he faced questions and criticism about whether his initial stand would run counter to the rule of law." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This mini-brouhaha demonstrates anew Biden's remarkable inability to field the inevitable questions about Ukraine. Of course, he would still be a far better president* than Trump, who blatantly lies about his "perfect" phone call, whines about persecution, & personally attacks those who call him out for abusing his office.

David Frum of the Atlantic: "... in the early hours of Friday morning, December 27, Trump retweeted a supporter who named the presumed whistleblower in the text of the tweet. This is a step the president has been building toward for some time.... Lawyers debate whether the naming of the federal whistleblower is in itself illegal. Federal law forbids inspectors general to disclose the names of whistleblowers, but the law isn't explicit about disclosure by anybody else in government. What the law does forbid is retaliation against a whistleblower. And a coordinated campaign of vilification by the president's allies -- and the president himself -- surely amounts to' retaliation' by any reasonable understanding.... Trump is organizing from the White House a conspiracy to revenge himself on the person who first alerted the country that Trump was extorting Ukraine to help his re-election: more lawbreaking to punish the revelation of past law-breaking.... He is a president with the mind of a gangster, and as long as he is in office, he will head a gangster White House." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "By Saturday morning, Trump's retweet had been deleted.... Federal laws offer only limited protection for those in the intelligence community who report wrongdoing, and those in the intelligence community have even fewer protections than their counterparts in other agencies. The 1998 Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act did not detail any protections for whistleblowers from retaliation -- instead merely describing the process to make a complaint.... In the days after Christmas, Trump retweeted more than a dozen posts from users affiliated with QAnon, the conspiracy theory that there is a 'deep state' secretly plotting to take down Trump. The FBI has identified QAnon as a potential domestic terrorism threat." ~~~

     ~~~ Brian Stelter of CNN: "Other [Trump] retweets were also reversed, including pro-Trump and anti-Democrat memes from suspicious-looking Twitter accounts. But his whistleblower-related post was the most noteworthy because nearly every public official involved in the impeachment inquiry agreed that the identity of the original complainant should be protected.... Some of the accounts [Trump retweeted] show signs of being run by spam operations, but others appear to be genuine, passionate Trump supporters....Ultimately, what the President's tweetstorm reveals -- in unflattering detail -- is his sketchy sources of information. Twitter spokesman Nick Pacilio confirmed to CNN Saturday afternoon that the platform has suspended some of the pro-Trump accounts that Trump had promoted Friday night....He also retweeted people calling Democrats 'rats' and videos claiming to prove 'collusion between DNC & Ukraine during 2016 Presidential campaign.' There has been no evidence of collusion between the Democratic National Committee and Ukraine in the last election. Vox's Aaron Rupar ... wrote on Twitter Friday night, 'The President of the United States has, today alone, retweeted 2 QAnon fan accounts, a Pizzagate account, an account that compared his following to a cult, and an account that described [President] Obama as "Satan's Muslim Scum."'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As a reminder to the understandably benumbed: a real president would not retweet any of this crapola.

Greg Robb of MarketWatch: "... Donald Trump's strategy to use import tariffs to protect and boost U.S. manufacturers backfired and led to job losses and higher prices, according to a Federal Reserve study released this week.... While the tariffs did reduce competition for some industries in the domestic U.S. market, this was more than offset by the effects of rising input costs and retaliatory tariffs, the study found." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Deborah Pearlstein in the Atlantic: "In his efforts to mask the seriousness of his actions around Russia and Ukraine..., Donald Trump has taken aim at one essential democratic institution after another -- questioning the legitimacy of the press, the intelligence community, the courts, and, most recently, the House of Representatives itself. But he has so far mostly held his fire against both 'his generals' and 'our boys' in America's military.... The military's generally steadying reactions to the president's worst moments of volatility have given members of Congress on both sides of the aisle reason to hope that the Pentagon at least will remain a check on presidential impulse that might really compromise national security, should other checking institutions fail. But hoping that a president will defer to the judgment of the professional military is a sign that something has gone very wrong in America's constitutional infrastructure." Read on. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Vanity Cameo. About That "Home Alone 2" Trump Cameo that the CBC Cut. Theresa Braine of the New York Daily News: In the clip, "Trump directs [Macauley] Culkin's character to a pay phone in the Plaza Hotel, which the not-yet-president owned at the time.... In truth, the scene was never meant to be part of [the film]. Trump routinely mandates that in return for filming at one of his properties, he has to be in a scene, according to many in the movie industry. 'The deal was that if you wanted to shoot in one of his buildings, you had to write him in a part,' Matt Damon told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017. '[Director] Martin Brest had to write something in "Scent of a Woman" -- and the whole crew was in on it. You have to waste an hour of your day with a bulls--t shot: Donald Trump walks in and Al Pacino's like, "Hello, Mr. Trump!" -- you had to call him by name -- and then he exits. You waste a little time so that you can get the permit, and then you can cut the scene out. But I guess in "Home Alone 2" they left it in.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

** Science v. Sharpie. Facts Are Their Enemies. Brad Plumer & Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "In just three years, the Trump administration has diminished the role of science in federal policymaking while halting or disrupting research projects nationwide, marking a transformation of the federal government whose effects, experts say, could reverberate for years. Political appointees have shut down government studies, reduced the influence of scientists over regulatory decisions and in some cases pressured researchers not to speak publicly. The administration has particularly challenged scientific findings related to the environment and public health opposed by industries such as oil drilling and coal mining. It has also impeded research around human-caused climate change, which President Trump has dismissed despite a global scientific consensus."

Senate Race 2020. Bruce Schreiner of the AP: "Calling her party's victory in the Kentucky governor's race a jolt of momentum for her own bid to unseat a Republican incumbent, Democrat Amy McGrath on Friday officially filed to challenge Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in what looms as a bruising, big-spending campaign next year.McGrath, a retired Marine combat pilot, touted many of the same issues -- health care and good-paying jobs -- that Andy Beshear highlighted in ousting Republican incumbent Matt Bevin in last month's election for governor.... McGrath became the latest in a crowded field of candidates from both parties to file for McConnell's seat. McGrath, who lost a hotly contested congressional race last year, has shown her mettle as a fundraiser, raking in nearly $11 million in her first few months as a Senate candidate, giving her a huge advantage over other Democratic candidates. McConnell has his own bulging campaign fund." (Also linked yesterday.)

Lisa Pane of the AP: "A database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University shows that there were more mass killings in 2019 than any year dating back to at least the 1970s, punctuated by a chilling succession of deadly rampages during the summer. In all, there were 41 mass killings, defined as when four or more people are killed excluding the perpetrator. Of those, 33 were mass shootings. More than 210 people were killed."

AFP (Dec. 27): "The United Nations on Friday approved a Russian-led bid that aims to create a new convention on cybercrime, alarming rights groups and Western powers that fear a bid to restrict online freedom. The General Assembly approved the resolution sponsored by Russia and backed by China, which would set up a committee of international experts in 2020.... The United States, European powers and rights groups fear that the language is code for legitimizing crackdowns on expression, with numerous countries defining criticism of the government as 'criminal.'... Human Rights Watch called the UN resolution's list of sponsors 'a rogue's gallery of some of the earth's most repressive governments.'"

Danielle Paquette of the Washington Post: "What started as an anniversary promotion called the Year of Return -- a government-funded call for the African diaspora to explore Ghana four centuries after the first slave ship reached Virginian soil -- has enticed some Americans to stay for good. Officials in this West African nation of roughly 29 million people say interest has overwhelmed the tourism office as the annual flood of visitors has more than doubled and A-list celebrities spark frenzies around the capital.... The rush to Ghana, where millions of Africans were forced into servitude before the slave trade ended in 1870, intensified after [derogatory] tweets from President Trump." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I hope I'm wrong, but this does not sound like a story with a happy ending. Paquette cites two visitors: one, an American used-car salesman who has moved to Ghana to "explore business opportunities," and two, a rapper who stayed in a $12,000-a-night hotel in a country where the average annual income is just over $2,000. Sounds less like a development program than an exploitation program.

News Lede

New York Times: "An intruder with a large knife burst into the home of a Hasidic rabbi in a New York suburb [Rockland County] on Saturday, stabbing and wounding five people just as they were gathering to light candles for Hanukkah, officials and a witness said.... Police officials announced around midnight that a suspect had been caught.... The attack came after a surge in anti-Semitic violence in the New York region. On Friday, the police in New York City stepped up patrols in three Brooklyn neighborhoods after what officials called an 'alarming' increase in incidents." A CBS New York story is here.