The Commentariat -- December 16, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Glenn Kessler, et al., of the Washington Post: "In 2017, President Trump made nearly 1,999 false or misleading claims. In 2018, he added another 5,689, for a total of 7,688. Now, with a few weeks still left in 2019, the president already has more than doubled the total number of false or misleading claims in just a single year. As of Dec. 10, his 1,055th day in office, Trump had made 15,413 false or misleading claims, according to the Fact Checker's database that analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement he has uttered. That's an average of more than 32 claims a day since our last update 62 days ago."

Rudy Speaks! Again. Guardian impeachment liveblog at 13:44 ET Monday: "Rudy Giuliani ... said in a New Yorker interview that he wanted Maria Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, 'out of the way' as he pushed for investigations into Joe Biden. 'I believed that I needed Yovanovitch out of the way,' Giuliani told the magazine last month, according to a newly published article. 'She was going to make the investigations difficult for everybody.' Democrats will likely point to Giuliani's comments as evidence that Trump abused his power by recalling Yovanovitch, a widely praised career diplomat whose reputation was smeared by some of the president's allies."

Brendan Pierson of Reuters: "An associate of ... Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Monday urged a judge to let him stay free on bail while he awaits trial, denying prosecutors' accusations that he lied about receiving a $1 million payment from Russia shortly before he was arrested. A lawyer for Lev Parnas, who is charged with campaign finance crimes, said the payment was a loan to Parnas' wife [Svetlana], and that it had been disclosed to authorities before his bail was set." Mrs. McC: Another thing dese guys think wives are for is to aid & abet them in nefarious schemes.

Kyle Cheney & Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "... Donald Trump committed criminal bribery and wire fraud, the House Judiciary Committee alleges in a report that will accompany articles of impeachment this week. The report, a 169-page assessment of the case for Trump's removal from office, contends that Trump committed 'multiple federal crimes' -- ones that Democrats addressed under the broad umbrella of 'abuse of power,' the first article of impeachment against the president. 'Although President Trump's actions need not rise to the level of a criminal violation to justify impeachment, his conduct here was criminal,' the panel's Democrats argue, labeling Trump's behavior 'both constitutional and criminal in character' and contending that the president 'betrayed the people of this nation' and should be removed from office.... The panel's Democrats cite his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani's trip to Ukraine just last week as evidence that Trump intends to continue the alleged scheme. Trump's lack of remorse over the Ukraine allegations, Democrats claim, is evidence that he poses a 'continuing threat if left in office.'... The staff report, which was filed to the House Rules Committee just after midnight Monday, argues that Trump directed a months-long scheme to solicit foreign interference in the 2020 election, the allegation that forms the core of the two articles of impeachment -- abuse of power and obstruction of Congress -- approved by the Judiciary Committee last week.... The Judiciary Committee's report presents the panel's most thorough analysis yet of why Democrats believe the accusations against Trump are worthy of immediate impeachment and a recommendation that the Senate remove Trump from office. It comes a day before the Rules Committee formally considers the articles of impeachment, ahead of a likely Wednesday vote on the House floor." ~~~

     ~~~ The full report, via NPR, is here. ~~~

~~~ Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The House Judiciary Committee formally presented its case for impeaching President Trump in a 658-page report published online early Monday morning, arguing just days before a final vote in the House that he 'betrayed the nation by abusing his high office.' The report, which echoes similar documents produced after the committee's approval of impeachment articles for Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Bill Clinton, contains no new allegations or evidence against Mr. Trump. But it offers a detailed road map for the two articles of impeachment the committee approved.... The report includes a scathing 20-page dissent from Representative Doug Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, who accuses Democrats on the panel of conducting an unfair process in a partisan attempt to drive Mr. Trump from office because of their dislike of him and his policies."

Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "About 400 of America's largest corporations paid an average federal tax rate of about 11 percent on their profits last year, roughly half the official rate established under President Trump's 2017 tax law, according to a report released Monday. The 2017 tax law lowered the U.S. corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, but in practice large companies often pay far less than that due to deductions, tax breaks and other loopholes. In the first year of the law, the actual amount corporations paid in federal taxes on their incomes -- their so-called 'effective rate' -- was 11.3 percent on average, possibly its lowest level in more than three decades, according to a report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank.... The report also found that 91 corporations in the Fortune 500, many worth billions of dollars, paid no federal taxes last year." Greenwich Time has Stein's report here.

Sharay Angulo of Reuters (Dec. 14): "Mexico's deputy foreign minister, Jesus Seade, said on Saturday he sent a letter to the top U.S. trade official expressing surprise and concern over a labor enforcement provision proposed by a U.S. congressional committee in the new North American trade deal.... An annex for the implementation of the treaty that was presented on Friday in the U.S. House of Representatives proposes the designation of up to five U.S. experts who would monitor compliance with local labor reform in Mexico. 'This provision, the result of political decisions by Congress and the Administration in the United States, was not, for obvious reasons, consulted with Mexico,' Seade wrote in the letter. 'And, of course, we disagree.'"

Joe Biden, Can You Hear Me? Saira Asher of BBC News Singapore: "If women ran every country in the world there would be a general improvement in living standards and outcomes, former US President Barack Obama has said. Speaking in Singapore, he said women aren't perfect, but are 'indisputably better' than men. He said most of the problems in the world came from old people, mostly men, holding onto positions of power."

Senate Race 2020. Benjamin Fearnow of Newsweek: "Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is statistically tied with Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison, with the staunch pro-Trump incumbent seeing his favorability ratings plummet among independent voters. Graham, who was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002, is clinging to a 2-percentage point lead over Harrison, 47 to 45 percent, with nearly 10 percent of voters surveyed still remaining undecided about their 2020 vote."

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Burgess Everett of Politico: "In a letter sent on Sunday evening to [Mitch] McConnell, the majority leader, [Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer says Senate Democrats want to hear testimony from four administration witnesses, including acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton. There is almost no chance Senate Republicans would vote to subpoena those witnesses without assent from the White House and calling their own preferred witnesses. Schumer also proposes that the trial process begin on Jan. 6, with the trial itself starting on Jan. 9, and asks for a structure similar to the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in 1999." Schumer's letter is here. The New York Times story is here.

Chandelis Duster & Kevin Bohn of CNN: "House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff on Sunday said he would like for some witnesses to be called during the expected Senate impeachment trial against ... Donald Trump and for withheld administration documents to be introduced as evidence. 'I think there are any number of witnesses that should be called in the Senate trial, and many witnesses the American people would like to hear from that the administration has refused to make available,' Schiff told ABC's 'This Week.' 'And perhaps of equal and if not greater importance are the thousands and thousands of documents that the administration refuses to turn over. I would hope that every senator of both parties would like to see the documentary evidence.'"

Aubree Weaver of Politico: "'It isn't just the president who's on trial in an impeachment proceeding,' Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois told CBS' Margaret Brennan on Sunday. 'The Senate is on trial, and we have a constitutional responsibility.'... 'I hear people like Sen. [Mitch] McConnell talking about the fact that he sat down with the folks at the White House,' Durbin added, referring to the Senate majority leader. 'He's already made his decision even before he's taken his oath to promise impartial justice. He sees no need for us to spend a lot of time. My friend, Sen. Lindsey Graham, refers to the whole thing as a crock.['] Durbin said he believes McConnell needs to sit down Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to start the proceedings in a bipartisan fashion -- just as former Republican Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott sat down with Democratic Minority Leader Tom Daschle during the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in the late '90s."

Karoun Demirjian & Steven Mufson of the Washington Post: "House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler accused Senate Republicans of violating their oath to be impartial jurors in an impeachment trial, as GOP senators defended their right to work for President Trump's acquittal.... Senators take an oath to 'do impartial justice' at the start of any impeachment trial -- but several Republican senators argued that impartiality doesn't cover politics.... 'Senators are not required, like jurors in a criminal trial, to be sequestered, not to talk to anyone, not to coordinate. There's no prohibition,' Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said on 'This Week,' calling impeachment 'inherently a political exercise' and Trump's impeachment a 'partisan show trial.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Riley Beggin of Vox covers much of the same subject matter. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: These yahoos are too dumb to realize that the more they make a travesty of the Senate "trial," and the more they boast about deciding for Trump before they hear evidence, the more obvious it will be to Americans who pay only scant attention to the news that the Senate proceedings are a sham. I think this tactic could blow up in their faces. For better or for worse, Americans will equate the Senate trial with a criminal trial, and they've all watched enough teevee to know jurors are excused if deemed for some reason to be partial & can be prosecuted if they are found to have lied about some specific bias or foreknowledge they might have.

Rachel Bade of the Washington Post: "A private campaign is underway to draft Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.) as an impeachment manager in the Senate trial of President Trump, a bid to diversify House Democrats' appeal to voters with a rare conservative voice. A group of 30 freshman Democrats, led by Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), has asked House leaders to consider the libertarian, who left the Republican Party earlier this year, for the small group tasked with arguing its case for removing Trump in the upper chamber, according to several Democratic officials. The thinking, according to these people, is that Amash would reach conservative voters in a way Democrats can't, potentially bolstering their case to the public. He also would provide Democrats cover from GOP accusations that they're pursuing a partisan impeachment; Amash is one of the most conservative members of the House and a vocal Trump critic.

"A Republic if You Can Keep It." Elizabeth Drew in a New York Times op-ed: "The current proceedings have demonstrated how fragile the Constitution's impeachment clause is.... Today's partisanship is more intense than ever.... In our highly polarized world, a strong-willed president like Mr. Trump can limit impeachment -- and possibly wreck it.... Unless our political system undergoes a radical change, we could be on the brink of having no check on the president, no matter how radically he defies the Constitution."

David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Support for impeaching ... Donald Trump hit a record high of 54% in a Fox News poll that was released on Sunday. Half of those surveyed told Fox News that the president should be impeached and removed. An additional 4% believe that the president should only be impeached. In all, 13 percent more respondents thought that the president should be impeached than those who thought he shouldn't.... In October, Trump lashed out at Fox News after the network published a poll that found a majority of registered voters backed impeachment. Since that time, Trump has tried to create the false narrative that support for impeachment is waning."

John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump on Sunday tweeted that Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) teeth were 'falling out of her mouth' during a press conference days earlier in which she was discussing the impeachment inquiry. The comment came as part of a retweet of Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who had quote-tweeted a clip of Pelosi explaining why bribery was not one of the articles of impeachment filed by House Democrats against the president last week. 'Because Nancy's teeth were falling out of her mouth, and she didn't have time to think!' Trump tweeted, apparently responding to the reporter's question in the clip.... The president's remark is just the latest in a series of increasingly personal attacks he has aimed at the Speaker in recent weeks...." ~~~

~~~ Wait, Wait, There's More. Aubree Weaver of Politico: "Former FBI Director James Comey on Sunday said he was 'wrong' about the bureau's use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in the Russia investigation, prompting ... Donald Trump to question whether jail time was warranted for the director he fired in 2017.... 'I was overconfident in the procedures that the FBI and Justice had built over 20 years. I thought they were robust enough. It's incredibly hard to get a FISA.... [IG Michael Horowitz is] right: There was real sloppiness,' Comey added. A few hours later, Trump seized on those comments.... 'So now Comey's admitting he was wrong,' the president wrote on Twitter. 'Wow, but he's only doing so because he got caught red handed. He was actually caught a long time ago. So what are the consequences for his unlawful conduct. Could it be years in jail? Where are the apologies to me and others, Jim?' Trump also went after Horowitz, who has served as inspector general since 2012. 'As bad as the I.G. Report is for the FBI and others, and it is really bad, remember that I.G. Horowitz was appointed by Obama,' Trump tweeted. 'There was tremendous bias and guilt exposed, so obvious, but Horowitz couldn't get himself to say it. Big credibility loss. Obama knew everything!'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Another example of how nuts Trump is. Comey admits "mistakes were made" while he was on the job. It's rare for Comey (and many of us) to admit error, but it's admirable. For that, Trump suggests he should be criminally prosecuted & jailed, then jumps to the assumption that Comey & President Obama were diabolically plotting "everything." Donald Trump is stark staring mad. Wouldn't it be ironic if, just as the Senate declined to remove him from office, Trump went so off his rocker that the Cabinet had no choice but to invoke the 25th Amendment?

International Cloak & Dagger Section

Edward Wong & Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "The American government secretly expelled two Chinese Embassy officials this fall after they drove on to a sensitive military base in Virginia, according to people with knowledge of the episode. The expulsions appear to be the first of Chinese diplomats suspected of espionage in more than 30 years. American officials believe at least one of the Chinese officials was an intelligence officer operating under diplomatic cover, said six people with knowledge of the expulsions. The group, which included the officials' wives, evaded military personnel pursuing them and stopped only after fire trucks blocked their path. The episode in September, which neither Washington nor Beijing made public, has intensified concerns in the Trump administration that China is expanding its spying efforts in the United States as the two nations are increasingly locked in a geopolitical and economic rivalry. American intelligence officials say China poses a greater espionage threat than any other country." ~~~

     ~~~ James West of Mother Jones has a summary report. "Some of the early details reported by the Times ... could have been lifted from a pulpy television spy drama like The Americans: Some of the early details reported by the Times, quoting 'six people with knowledge of the expulsions,' could have been lifted from a pulpy television spy drama like The Americans...."

Guardian: "Erik Prince, founder of the private security firm Blackwater and prominent supporter of Donald Trump, made a secret visit to Venezuela last month and met Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez -- one of Nicolás Maduro's closest allies. The visit ... came just eight months after Prince floated a plan to deploy a private army to help topple the Venezuelan leader. It was unclear what Prince, the brother of Trump's education secretary, Betsy DeVos, discussed with Rodríguez. The meeting was first reported by Bloomberg. A meeting with Rodríguez, who is under US sanctions, could raise questions about whether Prince might have run afoul of US law, which prohibits Americans from virtually any business dealings with sanctioned individuals and specifically with the Venezuelan government. The Venezuelan vice-president's office also oversees the country's national intelligence service." --s

Presidential Race 2020

Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: Joe "Biden[, senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for most of the Iraq war,] got the Iraq war wrong before and throughout invasion, occupation, and withdrawal. Convenient as it is to blame Bush -- who, to be clear, bears primary and eternal responsibility for the disaster -- Biden embraced the Iraq war for what he portrayed as the result of his foreign policy principles and persisted, most often in error, for the same reasons.... Biden is the last of the pre-Obama generation of Democratic foreign policy grandees who enabled the Iraq war. John Kerry and Hillary Clinton both lost their presidential bids, saddled in both cases with the legacy of the war they supported. Now Biden confronts rivals like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who are both sketching out foreign policies that begin with ending a generation of war." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As Mark Landler recalled in a 2017 NYT story, "Mr. Obama was a state senator from Illinois in October 2002 when he famously condemned Iraq as a 'dumb war.'" Those of you who remember the 2008 Democratic presidential primary will likely remember that what distinguished Barack Obama from candidates like Clinton & Biden was that, unlike them, he opposed the Iraq War in real time. I think that, ultimately, that 2002 speech of a young state senator is why he won the Democratic primary and ultimately the presidency (over "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" McCain). Whether Iraq will be a factor so many years later, I don't know, but I do know that Trump -- who falsely claims to have contemporaneously opposed the Iraq War -- will hammer Biden for his support of it. Biden's long record has plenty of pickings for Trump to exploit & exaggerate, and this is but one of them.

Thanks to Ken W. & Son for the photo, snapped in Palo Alto, Calif.

Emma Newburger of CNBC: "Wedding website Zola will no longer run advertisements on the Hallmark Channel after the network removed four commercials that featured two brides kissing each other." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Aimee Ortiz of the New York Times: "Hallmark apologized on Sunday after facing days of backlash for pulling four television ads that featured brides kissing each other.... Hallmark said in [a] statement that it would work with GLAAD, a national L.G.B.T.Q. media advocacy organization, 'to better represent the L.G.B.T.Q. community across our portfolio of brands,' and that it planned on contacting Zola to 're-establish our partnership and reinstate the commercials.'" Mrs. McC: I'd suggest, as a means of atonement, Hallmark create a line of greeting cards for bigots who can't find their own appropriate words of apology. You know, "I wouldn't have called you a [gay slur] if I'd known how sensitive you are," and "I'll never show up in blackface again, Bro," and "Really, I love the Jews. Jesus, my daughter married one of you people." But maybe classier, and in a fancy script font. When you care enough to send the very best.

Beyond the Beltway

Arkansas. AP: "Federal prosecutors have recommended a reduced sentence for a New Jersey political consultant [Donald 'D.A.' Jones] caught in an Arkansas political corruption case.... Prosecutors on Thursday filed a memorandum that was first reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette saying Jones should receive prison time, but deserves an unspecified reduced sentence because of his cooperation in the wide-ranging case that led to the convictions of several former Arkansas lawmakers.... Jones pleaded guilty in 2017 to conspiracy and admitted paying $219,000 in kickbacks to lobbyist Milton 'Rusty' Cranford of Rogers and $45,000 to former state Rep. Eddie Cooper of Melbourne. Cranford and Cooper both pleaded guilty. Cranford admitted bribing former Sen. Jon Woods, Rep. Hank Wilkins and Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson in an effort to increase revenue for the Missouri-based nonprofit Preferred Family HealthCare. Woods was convicted and is appealing while Wilkins and Hutchinson, the nephew of Gov. Asa Hutchinson and son of former U.S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson, each pleaded guilty." --s

Iowa. Nothing Is Racist if You Say It's Not Racist. Fox 32 Chicago: "A homeowner living next to an elementary school in Iowa is facing backlash for painting Confederate battle flags and swastikas on pallets around his property. The symbols are clearly visible from the school. School officials say the students, who are about 60% nonwhite, see the symbols when arriving and leaving the school and even from the playground.... 'It's a free country,' [homeowner] William Stark said. 'I'll put it out there if I want to.'... [He said] "people shouldn't construe the painted pallets as racist. 'They don't know their history, evidently,' Stark said. 'That's the only reason I can think of that they can think anything bad about it -- they don't know their history.'" Mrs. McC: Also too, this report gets my vote for the Best Both-Sides Report of the Year. Not once does the report make a value judgment. The reporter just records what Stark says & what unnamed "school officials" say.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Denmark/China. Editors of Berlingske: "Huawei likes to present itself as an independent, privately owned company which does not take orders from the Chinese state.... [According a leaked audio clip], a Faroese [Faroe Islands] government official states that the Chinese ambassador to Denmark, Mr. Feng Tie, threatened leading members of the Faroese government in order to secure a contract for Huawei to develop a 5G network. If the company was not awarded this contract, the Chinese government would drop a proposed free trade agreement with the Faroe Islands. This information exposes the extent to which the Chinese state is willing to use its economic power to blackmail a tiny nation into securing contracts for Huawei. It is thus a mere illusion to think that Huawei is a private company like any other. Huawei is a pawn in China's quest for global technological dominance." --s

India/Kashmir. Niha Masih, et al., of the Washington Post: India's shutdown of Kashmir's Internet access has "entered its 134th day Monday, [and] is now the longest ever imposed in a democracy, according to Access Now.... Only authoritarian regimes such as China and Myanmar have cut off the Internet for longer. India imposed the shutdown on Aug. 5, when authorities revoked Kashmir'autonomy and statehood, snapped all communications and detained the region's mainstream politicians. Landlines and calls on some mobile phones were subsequently restored, but the Internet remains blocked...." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Now ask yourself, "Could this happen in the U.S.?" Maybe in certain neighborhoods, say, where some of "those people" weren't sufficiently "respectful" of law enforcement? Or maybe in parts of Nancy Pelosi's "dangerous and disgusting Slum"/district?

North Korea. The Art of No Deals. AP in Politico: "North Korea said Saturday that it successfully performed another 'crucial test' at its long-range rocket launch site that will further strengthen its nuclear deterrent. The test possibly involved technologies to improve intercontinental ballistic missiles that could potentially reach the continental United States.... The announcement suggests that the country is preparing to do something to provoke the United States if Washington doesn't back down and make concessions to ease sanctions and pressure on Pyongyang in deadlocked nuclear negotiations." --s

The Commentariat -- December 15, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Karoun Demirjian & Steven Mufson of the Washington Post: "House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler accused Senate Republicans of violating their oath to be impartial jurors in an impeachment trial, as GOP senators defended their right to work for President Trump's acquittal.... Senators take an oath to 'do impartial justice' at the start of any impeachment trial -- but several Republican senators argued that impartiality doesn't cover politics.... 'Senators are not required, like jurors in a criminal trial, to be sequestered, not to talk to anyone, not to coordinate. There's no prohibition,' Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said on 'This Week,' calling impeachment 'inherently a political exercise' and Trump's impeachment a 'partisan show trial.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: These yahoos are too dumb to realize that the more they make a travesty of the Senate "trial," and the more they boast about deciding for Trump before they hear evidence, the more obvious it will be to Americans who pay only scant attention to the news that the Senate proceedings are a sham. I think this tactic could blow up in their faces. For better or for worse, Americans will equate the Senate trial with a criminal trial, and they've all watched enough teevee to know jurors are excused if deemed for some reason to be partial & can be prosecuted if they are found to have lied about some specific bias or foreknowledge they might have.

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"Impeach." New York Times Editors: "... the story told by the two articles of impeachment approved on Friday morning by the House Judiciary Committee is short, simple and damning: ... Donald Trump abused the power of his office by strong-arming Ukraine, a vulnerable ally, holding up hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid until it agreed to help him influence the 2020 election by digging up dirt on a political rival. When caught in the act, he rejected the very idea that a president could be required by Congress to explain and justify his actions, showing 'unprecedented, categorical and indiscriminate defiance' in the face of multiple subpoenas. He made it impossible for Congress to carry out fully its constitutionally mandated oversight role, and, in doing so, he violated the separation of powers, a safeguard of the American republic.... The president insists he is innocent of any wrongdoing, yet he refuses to release any administration documents or allow any administration officials to testify -- though, if his assertions are in fact true, those would presumably exonerate him..... Republican legislators ... have been working overtime to abet the president's wrongdoing. They have spread toxic misinformation and conspiracy theories to try to justify his actions and raged about the unfairness of the inquiry.... [Mitch] McConnell there was 'no chance' the Senate would vote to convict. For now, that leaves the defense of the Constitution, and the Republic, to the House of Representatives." ~~~

     ~~~ Rebecca Leber of Mother Jones: "It's significant, and rather unusual, for the Times to take such a firm stand on impeachment. Editorial page editor James Bennet shed light on their reluctance to call for earlier impeachment inquiries both of Trump and for Andrew Johnson in 1868, Richard Nixon in 1974 and Bill Clinton in 1998...."

The Emptiest Suit in the Senate. Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Saturday that he's made up his mind that President Trump should be acquitted, dismissed the notion that he has to be a 'fair juror' and said he doesn't see the need for a formal trial in the Senate. Graham, a staunch defender of the president, made the comments overseas during an interview with CNN International at the Doha Forum in Qatar.... On Saturday, a clip of Graham during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton made the rounds on social media, showing the then-representative make an appeal to his colleagues not to rush through the process or make a judgment before it's over.... Graham said then, 'Members of the Senate have said, "I understand everything there is about this case, and I won't vote to impeach the president." Please allow the facts to do the talking.... Don't decide the case before the case's end.'" The CNN story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Aliza Worthington of Crooks & Liars: "Whatever you do, DON'T remind [Lindsey] of [1998 video of Lindsey begging Democrats to consider the impeachment of Bill Clinton carefully,] by tweeting that video to him at @LindseyGrahamSC . DEFINITELY don't call him at his Washington, DC office at (202) 224-5972 to applaud him for his 1998 plea to his fellow senators to 'Please let the facts do the talking.' I certainly hope you will NOT write to him at his DC office to remind him of his 1998 concern that 'people have made up their mind in a political fashion that will hurt this country long term. Here is the address at which you should NOT write him: 290 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510. And, for the love of all things holy, PLEASE REFRAIN from clicking this link to send 2019 Lindsey Graham a message about when 1998 Lindsey Graham urged, 'Do justice to the case. Don't decide the case before the case is in.' Thank you." ~~~

~~~ Burgess Everett of Politico: "Sen. Lindsey Graham is inviting Rudy Giuliani to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about his recent trip to Ukraine. In an interview airing on Face the Nation Sunday, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman said that Giuliani ... could appear before his committee separately from the impending Senate impeachment trial."

** The New Rudy Is Just Like the Old Rudy. Clyde Haberman (Maggie's dad) in BuzzFeed News: "What is going on with Rudy Giuliani? The man who long enjoyed the flattering if empty sobriquet 'America's mayor' often comes across as completely unhinged these days, as when he screamed 'Shut up, moronShut up, shut up!' at an antagonist on Fox News not that long ago.... The reality, as clear-eyed New Yorkers could tell you, is that this is the same tower of truculence Giuliani has always been: a kiss-up, kick-down kind of guy, someone fittingly described by the late columnist Jimmy Breslin as 'a small man in search of a balcony.'"

Jonathan Martin & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Representative Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, a moderate Democrat who is among his party's staunchest opponents of impeaching President Trump, told aides on Saturday that he is planning to switch parties and declare himself a Republican as soon as next week, just as the House is casting its historic votes on articles of impeachment. At a White House meeting on Friday, Mr. Van Drew sought Mr. Trump's blessing for the move, which could be critical to his ability to avoid a primary challenge next year, and the president urged him to make the jump, according to two Democrats and one Republican...." A Politico story is here.

Evan Semones of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Saturday lit into Fox News' decision to interview two of his politico foes -- James Comey and Rep. Adam Schiff.... 'Hard to believe that @FoxNews will be interviewing sleazebag & totally discredited former FBI Director James Comey, & also corrupt politician Adam 'Shifty'Schiff,' Trump tweeted. 'Fox is trying sooo hard to be politically correct, and yet they were totally shut out from the failed Dem debates!' In a subsequent tweet, Trump likened the conservative cable network to 'Commiecast MSNBC' and 'Fake News CNN,' saying they'd 'die together as other outlets take their place.' Fox announced this week that the former FBI director and House Intelligence Committee chairman would sit for separate interviews with Chris Wallace on 'Fox News Sunday.'"

"Truth Decay." David Smith of the Guardian: "... as impeachment looms, [Donald Trump's] allies appear to be waging an increasingly frantic political and media counter-offensive that puts truth itself in the dock. A bewildering array of fake news, warped facts and conspiracy theories have been propagated in the past week by conservative media, Republican politicians, White House officials and the president in his own defence.... Trump has far more tools at his disposal than Richard Nixon or Bill Clinton did when facing impeachment in the 1970s and 90s. No matter how outlandish, his assertions are amplified and seldom questioned by loyal hosts on Rupert Murdoch's Fox News network.... [The false assertions are] further augmented by social media.... This calibrated, multi-pronged Republican assault has left the nation in what some call a state of 'truth decay' as all sense of shared reality breaks down. The tactics offer a chilling preview of how the president intends to fight next year's election." --s

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Carter Page fought the law, and the law lost. The former Trump campaign adviser was one of the first four suspects identified by the FBI in the early days of its investigation of President Trump's 2016 campaign aides, and the only one of that group to have his electronic communications secretly targeted by a U.S. foreign intelligence court. But when the dust settled three years later, he was also the only one of the four without a criminal conviction -- a feat all the more remarkable in that he did much of it without a lawyer.... Page had declared that the year-long surveillance of his communications was an abuse of government power, and he received a significant measure of vindication last Monday in a 434-page report from Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz. Horowitz concluded that the FBI made 17 significant errors or omissions in its applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to surveil Page. 'It doesn't vindicate anyone at the FBI who touched this, including the leadership,' Horowitz told Congress."

William Saletan of Slate runs down the remarkable passel of lies Bill Barr has told about the Russia investigation. It's quite a stunning list and a prime example of what David Smith of the Guardian calls "truth decay." The actual truth is that any defenses of Trump require the defenders to lie. And they're happy to do it.

David Rogers of Politico: "... Donald Trump's border wall is facing a surprising new legal hurdle down in Texas: an obscure legislative provision crafted by House Republicans in 2014 when the GOP was targeting then-President Barack Obama's budget powers. The amendment, carried forward into current law, has resurfaced with a vengeance in El Paso, Texas. U.S District Court Judge David Briones has been quoting back its words in a series of rulings against Trump's decision to take $3.6 billion from military construction projects to expedite his wall. As first adopted, the Republican language specifically prohibited Obama from taking any step to 'eliminate or reduce funding for any program, project, or activity as proposed in the President's budget request' until it's cleared with Congress. The triggering event was a relatively narrow dispute in 2013 over funding for space exploration. But when they were enacted in Jan. 2014, the restrictions applied government-wide. And a year later, under full Republican control, Congress added the word 'increase' alongside 'eliminate or reduce' funding. What goes around, in other words, comes around. But what's most remarkable is how much the legislative phrasing -- aimed squarely at Obama -- applies directly to the current fight involving Trump."

Donald Trump's ideal woman is vapid, accommodating & pretty. The Trumpettes oblige:

~~~ Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post rips supposed anti-bullying crusader Melania Trump for her response-excuse (actually, Stephanie Grisham's response-excuse) re: Donald Trump's bullying 16-year-old Greta Thunberg. ~~~

~~~ Otillia Steadman of BuzzFeed News: "At the Doha Forum in Qatar..., in a room packed with high level officials from around the world, [Ivanka] Trump answered admiring questions about her pet project advocating for women's economic development from a spokesperson for her own government, who is also working on the project.... The forum typically hosts tough interviews, and an array of senior leaders took hard questions before and after Trump spoke."

Courtney Kube & Carol Lee of NBC News: "The Trump administration intends to announce the drawdown of about 4,000 troops from Afghanistan as early next week, according to three current and former U.S. officials. The withdrawal will leave between 8,000 and 9,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the officials said. The announcement would come just days after Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad rejoined diplomatic talks with the Taliban, which had broken down in September.... The U.S. has between 12,000 and 13,000 troops in Afghanistan now. The officials would not say when the drawdown would begin, but did characterize it as a phased withdrawal that would occur over a few months." --s

Presidential Race 2020

Ruby Cramer of BuzzFeed News: "Cory Booker has asked his fellow presidential candidates to sign a letter petitioning the Democratic National Committee to make its debate qualification rules less exclusionary. All seven participants in next week's debate, as well as Julián Castro, who also has not qualified, have signed the letter, a DNC official said on Saturday afternoon. Booker, the 50-year-old New Jersey senator who has struggled to move beyond low single digits in national and early-state polls, failed to qualify for the Democratic debate next week in Los Angeles.... Booker has upped his criticisms of the DNC's process over the last two weeks, particularly since Sen. Kamala Harris ended her campaign. The party, he said, is enforcing 'artificial rules' that would have hurt successful past candidates like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama while allowing billionaires like Tom Steyer to get onto the debate stage.... In a statement provided on Saturday, DNC communications director Xochitl Hinojosa defended the debate qualification criteria as 'extremely low.'" ~~~

~~~ Alex Thompson & Elena Schneider of Politico: "The Democratic National Committee is pushing back against a request from the party's presidential candidates to change debate requirements to allow Cory Booker and Julián Castro to appear on the January stage." The article includes a longer statement from the DNC & a complaint about Booker from a gutless unnamed "rival campaign operative."

Heather Murphy of the New York Times: "The Hallmark Channel pulled four TV ads featuring brides kissing each other on Thursday after a targeted campaign by a conservative group. Asked to explain why the ads had been rejected, an employee of Hallmark's parent company said the channel did not accept ads 'that are deemed controversial,' according to an email exchange shared with The New York Times. A spokesman for Hallmark said the women's 'public displays of affection' violated the channel's policies, but he declined to comment on why a nearly identical ad featuring a bride and groom kissing was not rejected.... Tensions over the ads coincided with a potential shift at the Hallmark Channel. This month Bill Abbott, Crown Media's chief executive, announced that he was 'open' to airing Christmas movies that feature L.G.B.T.Q. families, according to The Advocate." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Besides discriminating against gay couples, by eliminating those ads, the network is leaving viewers with the impression that the advertiser Zola, a wedding Website service, is strictly for straight couples. Like millions of Americans, I object to the "Cars for Kids" ad. I wonder if the networks will stop running the ad because we hate it. I hate the ads for something that is supposed to straighten bent penises; it features a bent banana. The "conservative" group is just a stupid bigotry-advocacy organization. The channel made a huge mistake in caving to them. Now I won't be watching their fabulous boy-meets-girl-at-Christmas movies (as if I would have done), just in case the movies might have scenes where the couples kiss.

The Commentariat -- December 14, 2019

Olivia Beavers & Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment Friday that charge President Trump with high crimes and misdemeanors, setting up a historic House vote next week that all but guarantees Trump will be just the third president to be impeached in U.S. history. The articles, which charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, were passed out of the committee along strict party lines, with 23 Democrats voting to send the measures to the full House, which is expected to approve them next week. One Democrat, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), was absent after undergoing an unexpected medical procedure earlier in the week." The New York Times report, by Nicholas Fandos, is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Oops! Jim Dwyer & Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "... Mr. Trump did not mention Mr. Giuliani or his unpaid labor on the annual financial disclosure he filed in May, which requires that the value and source of gifts -- including free legal work -- be publicly listed. That requirement is cut and dried, said Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. She cited guidance from the Office of Government Ethics, issued in November 2017, that states federal officials must disclose 'gifts of legal defenses -- in kind or by payment of the fees.' 'The purpose is to ensure the public has an opportunity to see whether there is any kind of corrupting influence,' said Ms. Clark.... The economic value of [Giuliani's] services to the president could be considerable. Mr. Giuliani has said that at the height of the Mueller inquiry, representing Mr. Trump amounted to a full-time job. Partners at major law firms can bill their clients as much as $1,500 an hour. To serve as Mr. Trump's lawyer, Mr. Giuliani left a firm where he was making $6 million a year." ~~~

     ~~~ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Mrs. McCrabbie: This sounds like an ideal time for Trump to apply Steve Martin's old advice on how to get a million dollars without paying taxes on it: "First, get a million dollars (in this case, in legal services). Then, when the tax man comes to your door, you look him in the eye and say two simple words: 'I... forgot.'"

John Fritze of USA Today: "... Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, was seen entering the White House Friday, just as the House Judiciary Committee was taking a historic series of votes to approve articles of impeachment against the president. Giuliani, a central figure in the events driving the Democratic impeachment push, has said he wants to brief U.S. officials on the findings of his recent trip to Ukraine. It was not immediately clear if Giuliani was meeting with Trump." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Kristen Welker of NBC News (@4:59 pm ET Friday): "Rudy Giuliani confirmed via text he did meet with Trump at the White House on Friday. 'I'm caught going to meet with my client? Is that an impeachable offense?' he added." ~~~

~~~ Alex Ward of Vox: "... Donald Trump's entire impeachment mess began over his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden's family and Democrats with the help of his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.... Giuliani recently returned from a trip to Kyiv this month in which he interviewed local officials to learn more about Hunter Biden ... and his time on the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma. He also wanted to prove the conspiracy theory ... that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 presidential election. After landing in New York last Saturday, according to the Wall Street Journal, the president called his attorney while the plane was still taxiing. 'What did you get?' Trump asked, according to the Journal's Friday interview with Giuliani. 'More than you can imagine,' the former New York City mayor replied, noting he would be putting his findings in a 20-page report. One almost has to respect (while remaining appalled at) how brazen Giuliani's admission is here. He's openly telling the Wall Street Journal that his anti-Biden investigation in Ukraine continues, and that Trump is still interested in knowing about it." ~~~

~~~ Matt Naham of Law & Crime: "Is that a folder -- or a dossier, if you will -- tucked under Giuliani's arm? [Naham comments on a photo of Giuliani entered the White House.]... 'Mafia in action at the White House. This is just so surreal.' [former prosecutor Mimi Rocah tweeted].... 'Trump has been emboldened, not chastened, by impeachment. His personal attorney is at the WH right now after his trip to Ukraine to continue to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, the heart of this impeachment itself. And GOP is no longer lodging any protest. This is the reality for 2020.' [CNN host Jim Sciutto tweeted]." ~~~

      ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: When Bill Clinton got caught by the blue dress (after he gave his DNA to the Starr chamber), he apologized for his behavior & implied there would be no more bimbo eruptions during his tenure in office. That's a huge difference. Trump, besides refusing to cooperate with House investigations, not only has not apologized, he sees nothing wrong with his actions and is continuing the offending behavior in an in-your-face manner. And Mitch McConnell, along with almost all other elected Republicans in Washington, is egging Trump on. We are living in dangerous times. ~~~

~~~ Josh Kovensky of TPM: "Rudy Giuliani has yet another new anti-Joe Biden theory ready to go, conjured up during his trip to Hungary and Ukraine last week. The latest Rudy eruption makes the fantastical and unsubstantiated allegation that the U.S. embassy in Kyiv, under the tenure of former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and under the direction of Vice President Joe Biden, diverted a whopping $5.3 billion in American aid that was intended for the embattled former Soviet republic. It gets better though. [George] Soros is involved. Of course. Biden and Yovanovitch, as Rudy's theory goes, moved the funds to the embassy's 'favored' non-governmental organizations which, you may not be surprised to learn, allegedly have ties to the billionaire philanthropist and bogeyman of the right." ~~~

~~~ AND Have You Heard This One? Josh Kovensky (Dec. 10): "The Ukrainians who met with Giuliani have announced, on their own, what they told the President's lawyer. What emerges is a new conspiracy theory positing an elaborate scheme involving the Franklin Templeton investment fund, [President] Obama, and [Adam] Schiff.... Oleksandr Dubinsky..., known in Ukraine in part for his ties to a local oligarch with certain legal issues pending in the U.S..., uploaded a video last week in which he retells what he claims to have told Giuliani.... Without providing any evidence to support the claim, Dubinsky said in the video that $7 billion that had been stolen from the Ukrainian budget via various corruption schemes was laundered into the U.S. by being used to purchase an equal amount in bonds issued by the Ukrainian government.... The investment manager overseeing the alleged scheme was also one of the Obama campaign's biggest donors, Dubinsky said.... Giuliani tweeted last week that Schiff is an 'investor' in Franklin Templeton. 'Working on an important project with @OANN, [right-wing One America 'News' Network] intended to bring before the American people information Schiff (recently disclosed investor in Franklin Templton) "Star chamber" proceedings have covered up,' [Giuliani tweeted].... Schiff's connection to the mutual fund company appears to be as passive and insignificant as that of a typical investor with money in Fidelity, Schwab, or Vanguard." ~~~

     ~~~ safari, who linked both of Kovensky's posts, points out that Kovensky was formerly a reporter for the Kyiv Post. ~~~

     ~~~ digby: "If Trump pushes this publicly, you would think the Republicans would feel compelled to not only convict Trump and remove him from office, but have him hospitalized. This is lunacy and if it makes you feel crazy too, I'm pretty sure that's part of the plan." Mrs. McC: Actually, I expect Lindsey Graham, who already has opened an "investigation" into Joe & Hunter Biden's activities re: Ukraine, to incorporate Rudy's "findings" into the Senate "investigation." Further, if Biden is the Democratic nominee, the "investigation" will drag on throughout the fall, and we'll have a repeat of Hillary Clinton's 11-hour grilling before a House Benghaaazi! committee -- only Biden won't hold up in the admirable way Clinton did.

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "In a late Thursday interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, [Mitch] McConnell (R-Ky.) all but guaranteed a Trump acquittal, saying there was 'zero chance' the president would be removed from office, and promised 'total coordination' with the White House and Trump's defense team.... Those remarks infuriated House Democrats as they voted to advance the fourth-ever set of presidential impeachment articles toward a Senate trial where, they said, the fix appeared to be in.... Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) ... call[ed] on McConnell to recuse himself from the Senate proceedings based on his Fox News remarks. 'He's working hand in hand with the White House, the president's attorney, and yet we are supposed to expect him to manage a fair and impartial impeachment inquiry?' she said. 'They've screamed "bias," "kangaroo court," "witch hunt" and everything else. ... When the Senate majority leader stands at the microphone and says I'm basically going to coordinate with the president's attorney, that scares me.'... Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) tweet[ed], 'The Majority Leader proudly announcing he is planning to rig the impeachment trial for Trump.'"

** "Vindman Rule." Alex Marquardt, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's senior aides have further restricted the number of administration officials allowed to listen to the President's phone calls with foreign leaders since his July 25 call with Ukraine's President was revealed and became the centerpiece of the impeachment inquiry, according to multiple White House sources. Transcripts of Trump's calls with world leaders are also disseminated to a far smaller group of people inside the White House, those administration sources say, continuing an effort to limit the number of people with insight and information about the conversations. Nobody is allowed on the calls,' a White House official said.... 'The barn door officially closed after the horse escaped.'... Gone from the calls are some of the career staffers and detailees whose roles included taking notes and providing edits to the eventual transcript of the conversations meant to clarify what was said." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Congressional oversight chairs should "object in the strongest terms" to the administration's hiding the substance of Trump's calls with foreign leaders. Trump is supposed to be using these calls to advance U.S. interests & policies. If he's not -- and we know he's not -- the Congress should know about it. Limiting the number of people on the call to Trump loyalists who won't blow the whistle or even testify under subpoena to any wrongdoing is a huge national security risk.

Alexander Nazaryan of Yahoo! News: "A district court judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered administration lawyers to explain why, for more than two years, the White House has refused to turn over to the State Department an interpreter's notes from a meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. That meeting took place in the summer of 2017, during a summit of the G-20 nations in Hamburg, Germany. The two men got along so well that the meeting, which was supposed to last an hour, ran to 137 minutes. In the room with Putin were Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, along with two interpreters — one American and the other Russian. As the lengthy meeting concluded, Trump confiscated notes from the State Department interpreter, thus depriving American diplomats -- and, according to an ongoing lawsuit, the American public -- of the lone U.S. government record of what exactly was said.... Judge Trevor McFadden rejected the administration's argument that the notes were a presidential record outside the purview of the Federal Records Act, which describes how executive-branch agencies must preserve documents."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether President Trump can block the release of his financial records, setting the stage for a blockbuster ruling on the power presidents to resist demands for information from prosecutors and Congress. The court's ruling, expected by June, could give the public a look at information the president has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect. Or the justices could rule that Mr. Trump's financial affairs are not legitimate subjects of inquiry so long as he remains in office. Either way, the court is now poised to produce a once-in-a-generation statement on presidential accountability.... Mr. Trump asked the court to block three sets of subpoenas, and the justices agreed to decide his appeals in all three. All of the subpoenas sought information from Mr. Trump's accountants or bankers, not from Mr. Trump himself, and the firms have indicated that they will comply with the court's ruling." (Also linked yesterday.) The NBC News report is here. ~~~

~~~ Ian Millhiser of Vox: "The stakes in these cases are massive, and go well beyond the question of whether a particular subpoena may be enforced. A decision for Trump could give the president broad new immunity from oversight that would extend far beyond this one case. Under existing law, Trump's legal arguments are exceedingly weak, so a decision embracing those arguments could completely rework the balance of power between Congress and the presidency."

Try Again, Mike. Michael Wilner of the Wichita Eagle: "A federal judge ordered the State Department on Friday to expand its search for records of communication between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and ... Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, regarding Ukraine policy. The State Department released a number of records last month documenting contact between the two men. But Judge Christopher Cooper, on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled on Friday that the department arbitrarily limited its search for documents with a cut-off date of August 2. The State Department was given a January 8 deadline to release all records documenting emails, text messages, call logs and scheduled meetings on Ukraine policy that were dated until October 18. The court ruled that the department had 'not adequately justified why its Executive Secretariat used a cut-off date.'... The same judge in a separate case has ordered Kurt Volker, Trump's former special envoy to Ukraine, to produce his calendar entries texts with Giuliani regarding Ukraine policy by January 10."

James Stewart of the New York Times: "The [DOJ inspector general's] report [on the origins of the Russia investigation] 'was far worse than expected,' the president asserted -- after already predicting it would be 'devastating.' 'This was an attempted overthrow and a lot of people were in on it and they got caught, they got caught red-handed,' Mr. Trump said in the Cabinet Room at the White House. Attorney General William Barr was quick to pile on, too[.] Media coverage and Senate hearings quickly shifted to the F.B.I.'s procedural failings, which [IG Michael] Horowitz labeled 'gross incompetence.' By the end of the week, Americans could be forgiven for thinking that the F.B.I. was indeed part of some sinister coup attempt -- precisely the opposite of what Mr. Horowitz had concluded.... To a striking degree, Mr. Trump and his allies have turned the [inspector general's] post into a potent weapon aimed at his supposed enemies in the federal law enforcement agencies. Their ability to wreak political havoc with the latest Horowitz report is part of what has now become a clear pattern: Call for an investigation of a favorite Trump target; speculate about the likely outcome; seize on any collateral evidence that emerges; spin the results; then move quickly to the next investigation. Repeat."

Alan Rappeport, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States and China said they had agreed to an initial trade deal that would reduce tariffs on some Chinese goods and increase purchases of American farm products, a significant de-escalation in the 19-month battle that has rattled the world economy.... The limited agreement was widely viewed as a détente that would prevent an escalation of tariffs ahead of the 2020 election and could help reignite trade between the world's largest economies. But the preliminary pact lacked the magnitude of change that Mr. Trump had promised to deliver before talks broke down earlier this year and many details that have hampered past agreements continued to be in flux, including the size of China's agricultural purchases." A CNBC story is here. Mrs. McC: Trump of course called the limited agreement "phenomenal" and "amazing." (Also linked yesterday.)

AND in our Continuing Series, "Everything Trump Says Is a Lie":

~~~ All Jewish People Speak Alike. Sad. J.M. Rieger of the Washington Post: "Touting his accomplishments during a second Hanukkah reception at the White House on Wednesday, President Trump recalled a conversation he said he had with real estate developer Charles Kushner. 'I said, "Charlie, let me ask you, what's bigger for the Jewish people: giving the embassy to Jerusalem, it becomes the capital of Israel. What's bigger? That or the Golan Heights?" He said, "Neither." I said, "What does that mean?" He said, "The biggest thing of all is what you did by ending the Iran nuclear catastrophe,"' Trump said to applause from the audience. 'I think that's true.' It was remarkably similar to a story Trump told at the first White House Hanukkah reception just four hours prior, this time recalling a conversation he said he had with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft." Four days earlier, it was the same conversation he had with Sheldon Adelson. In September he had the exact same exchange with "people." "The White House declined to comment." There's a "Sir" tell in the first iteration. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The point of the story, of course, is that Trump has done three wonderful things for Israel. As we already knew, Trump is so desperate for praise that he makes up anecdotes about people praising him. This is pretty amazing for anyone who hold any sort of power, much less a POTUS*; people actually do praise them all the time, at least to their faces. Sad!

Derek Chollet reviews Peter Bergen's book Trump and His Generals in a Washington Post op-ed. "Bergen traces the ways Trump's fanboy fascination with 'his' generals transformed into deep frustration with their caution and ethical code.... As Bergen tells it, [Jim] Mattis and [H.R.] McMaster were motivated to work for Trump by their perceptions of the Obama administration's failures, especially in the Middle East. They thought Obama had squandered American leadership by not enforcing the red line in Syria, ceding ground to Moscow, withdrawing from Iraq and being too timid in the fight against the Islamic State. Ironically, they ended up serving a president who wanted out of the region far more than Obama ever did.... They found themselves doing everything possible to save Obama policies (like the Iran nuclear agreement) that Trump was determined to destroy."

Melanie: Okay for Donald to Bully Teenaged Girl. Maggie Serota of Spin: "First lady and anti-bullying advocate Melania Trump apparently thinks it's fine for her husband ... to bully 16-year-old climate change activist Greta Thunberg. When asked by reporters how she squares her anti-bullying initiative Be Best with ... Donald Trump's tweet telling the teen to 'work on her Anger Management problem,' the first lady seemed unbothered by her husband's behavior. '... she will continue to do all she can to help children. It is no secret that the President and First Lady often communicate differently -- as most married couples do,' read a statement issued from the White House to CNN reporter Kate Bennett. 'Their son is not an activist who travels the globe giving speeches. He is a 13-year-old who wants and deserves privacy.'... Melania just issued a public statement condemning impeachment witness Pamela Karlan for invoking Trump's 13-year-old son Barron Trump's name while making a point about the limitations of presidential power. 'A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics. Pamela Karlan, you should be ashamed of your very angry and obviously biased public pandering, and using a child to do it,' Melania Trump tweeted." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Karlan never said anything to disparage or characterize Barron. Her remark during testimony was, "The Constitution says there can be no titles of nobility, so while the president can name his son Barron, he cannot make him a baron." Later during her testimony, Karlan apologized for the remark. Oh, and there's this bizarro tweet from Trump's campaign. I did not make this up; Newsweek has the story:

When it comes to keeping his promises, there's only one Person Of The Year:

✅Booming Economy
✅Record Job Creation
✅Historic Tax Cuts
✅#AmericaFirst Trade Deals
✅ISIS Destroyed
✅Building the Wall#TIMEPOY #PromisesMadePromisesKept pic.twitter.com/pe1CNB7KKz

— Trump War Room (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TrumpWarRoom) December 11, 2019

Presidential Race 2020. Zeeshan Aleem of Vox: "On Friday afternoon, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) declared that she was willing to boycott next week's Democratic debate at Loyola Marymount University in California in solidarity with campus workers who are picketing for better pay and health care. She immediately set off a domino effect that would eventually see every other Democratic presidential candidate who qualified for the debate make the same pledge. Unite Here Local 11 -- a union that represents 150 cooks, dishwashers, cashiers, and servers on LMU's campus who are employed by the food services company Sodexo -- plans to picket at the debate next Thursday to express their disapproval of Sodexo's handling of negotiations with the union. 'Honestly, the proposals are relatively modest ― living wage, improvements on health care,' Susan Minato, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, told HuffPost. 'So we did not anticipate that there would be ... difficulty over it. But we were wrong. They abruptly canceled negotiations.'"

Beyond the Beltway

California. Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee: "In a stunning rebuke to PG&E Corp., Gov. Gavin Newsom late Friday rejected the utility's plan to pay Northern California wildfire victims and exit bankruptcy. In a letter to PG&E Chief Executive Bill Johnson, the governor declared that the company's proposal doesn't go far enough to make it 'positioned to provide safe, reliable and affordable service.'"

** Georgia. Excellent Voter Suppression Method: Shutter the Polling Places. Mark Niesse & Nick Thieme of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Amid widespread voter distrust of government oversight of elections and questions about ballot access, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution conducted a unique statistical analysis to learn how precinct closures and distance to the polls impact voting. The AJC mapped Georgia's 7 million registered voters and compared how distance to their local precincts increased or decreased from 2012 to 2018. During that time, county election officials shut down 8% of Georgia's polling places and relocated nearly 40% of the state's precincts. The AJC's analysis ... showed a clear link between turnout and reduced voting access. The farther voters live from their precincts, the less likely they are to cast a ballot. Precinct closures and longer distances likely prevented an estimated 54,000 to 85,000 voters from casting ballots on Election Day last year.... And the impact was greater on black voters than white ones, the AJC found."

Kentucky. Ben Tobin of the Louisville Courier Journal: "Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers [R] is calling on the U.S. Attorney's Office to investigate the pardons issued by former Gov. Matt Bevin. The Courier Journal first reported Wednesday that Bevin issued hundreds of pardons during his last days in office. Those pardoned included a man who was convicted of raping a 9-year-old in Kenton County and other convicted killers. 'From what we know of former Governor Bevin's extreme pardons and commutations, the Senate Republican Majority condemns his actions as a travesty and perversion of justice,' Stivers said.... Stivers' statement came hours after two Democratic legislators, Senate Democratic Floor Leader Morgan McGarvey and state Rep. Chris Harris called on Attorney General-elect Daniel Cameron to appoint an independent special prosecutor to investigate potential criminal wrongdoing involving Bevin's pardon of Patrick Brian Baker." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Also too, I'd like to know if Bevin showed his peculiar "mercy" to any criminals of color. The mugshots I've seen of his lucky pardon recipients are of white people.

Wisconsin. Bruce Vielmetti & Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "An Ozaukee County judge on Friday ordered the state to remove hundreds of thousands of people from Wisconsin's voter rolls because they may have moved. The case is being closely watched because of the state's critical role in next year's presidential race. Circuit Judge Paul Malloy also denied the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin's petition to intervene. Lawyers for the League and for the Wisconsin Elections Commission indicated they will appeal and asked Malloy to stay his ruling pending those appeals, but he declined. At issue is a letter the state Elections Commission sent in October to about 234,000 voters who it believes may have moved. The letter asked the voters to update their voter registrations if they had moved or alert election officials if they were still at their same address. The commission planned to remove the letter's recipients from the voter rolls in 2021 if it hadn't heard from them. But Malloy's decision would kick them off the rolls much sooner, and well before the 2020 presidential election."