The Commentariat -- November 28, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Jonathan Chait: "... the New York Times and Washington Post both have new stories [linked below] about Giuliani pursuing business deals with Ukrainian government officials at the same time he was lobbying them on Trump's behalf.... The first and most important thing to understand about these deals is that there is no possible set of mitigating circumstances that might make the negotiations remotely ethical."

Sabrina Caserta of the AP: "The beloved balloons flew, but lower than usual, in a windy Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade after an anxious weather watch. Wind had threatened to ground the giant inflated characters. But officials announced less than an hour before Thursday's start time that the balloons could fly, if in a down-to-Earth way. As the parade continued -- even while city emergency officials sent out a public alert about wind gusts -- handlers struggled with some balloons and pulled them close to the ground. Meanwhile, winds did keep giant balloons out of Philadelphia's Thanksgiving Day parade."

Yanan Wang of the AP: "China reacted furiously Thursday to ... Donald Trump's signing two bills aimed at supporting human rights in Hong Kong, summoning the U.S. ambassador to protest and warning the move would undermine cooperation with Washington. Hong Kong, a former British colony that was granted semi-autonomy when China took control in 1997, has been rocked by six months of sometimes violent pro-democracy demonstrations. Thousands of pro-democracy activists crowded a public square in downtown Hong Kong on Thursday night for a 'Thanksgiving Day' rally to thank the United States for passing the laws and vowed to 'march on' in their fight."

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Or Something Like This. Painting by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, ca. 1914"Everything You Learned about the First Thanksgiving Is Wrong." Maya Salam of the New York Times: The main course was venison brought by Wampanoag men, there's no direct evidence the Pilgrims ate turkey, and they didn't call themselves Pilgrims but "separatists." The separatists didn't come seeking religious freedom; they came to set up an entrepreneurial theocracy. And Squanto spoke English because he'd been captured by an Englishman & sold into slavery years earlier (even that story is complicated & essential parts of it unknown). Mrs. McC: In other words, the "Pilgrims" were a lot like many present-day Americans: insular, religiously intolerant & avaricious. Pass the sweet potatoes corn meal mush, please.

Also not necessarily historically accurate:

Trump Vows to Save "Thanksgiving." Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "The Trump-Fox News Feedback Loop was on full display Wednesday morning when ... Donald Trump's favorite morning show backed his patently absurd claim that liberals want to change the name of Thanksgiving -- an idea he obviously got from Fox's recent round-the-clock 'War on Thanksgiving' coverage. At his Tuesday night campaign rally in Florida, the president insisted that 'some people' want to change the name of the holiday and 'don't want to use the term Thanksgiving,' likening this supposed anti-Thanksgiving sentiment to another infamous right-wing media invention. 'And that was true with Christmas. Now everybody is using Christmas again. And remember I said that,' Trump declared. 'Now we're gonna have to do a little work on Thanksgiving. People have different ideas on why it shouldn't be called Thanksgiving. Everybody here loves the name Thanksgiving and we're not changing it!' During Wednesday morning's broadcast of Fox & Friends, the hosts appeared to give credence to the president's conspiracy, all while sidestepping the role their network had in planting the idea in his head." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Somebody please tell me what I'm supposed to call today's holiday now that it's not Thanksgiving anymore. "Thursday"? ~~~

~~~ Update. The Thanksgiving war is real. I lost an uncle at the battle of Cranberry Hill. He was going upriver on a gravy boat that got ambushed by Col. 'Cornbread' Stuffing's men. Bones everywhere --- he died of heartburn. Tried to hold on until Black Friday but just couldn't. I'll be thinking of him tomorrow when I go shopping for all those overpriced bargains. -- Forrest M., in today's Comments

New York Times: "Two major storm systems have paralyzed large parts of the nation just ahead of Thanksgiving. Though the storms were weakening, holiday travel issues were likely to continue into the weekend." The story is being updated. The Weather Channel's main page has links to a number of weather horror stories, to a travel forecast, & of course to the weather outlook for your, uh, Thursday or whatever, & beyond.

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: In case venison is not your entree today & you are asked to carve a turkey, there are quite a few YouTube videos advising how to do it. The Washington Post has a story with helpful graphics on the art of bird-carving.

William Saletan of Slate: "Republicans claim that two private remarks by ... Donald Trump clear him of wrongdoing in the Ukraine scandal. The first remark, supposedly made on Aug. 31 to Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, was that Trump would 'never' require Ukraine to do anything for him in order to get military aid he had suspended. The second remark, made on Sept. 7 or Sept. 9 to Gordon Sondland..., was that Trump wanted 'nothing' from Ukraine [Mrs. McC: The 'no quid pro quo' conversation].... But now it turns out that by the time Trump spoke to Johnson, the president already knew he was under investigation for extorting Zelensky. This discovery, reported on Tuesday night [also linked yesterday] by the New York Times, inverts the meaning of Trump's statements to Johnson and Sondland. Trump wasn't telling the truth. He was launching his cover story." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ About That "No Quid Pro Quo" Call. Aaron Davis, et al., of the Washington Post: Gordon "Sondland's recollection of a phone conversation that he said took place on Sept. 9 has emerged as a centerpiece of Trump's defense as House Democrats argue in an impeachment inquiry that he abused his office to pressure Ukraine to investigate Democrats. However, no other witness testimony or documents have emerged that corroborate Sondland's description of a call that day. Trump himself, in describing the conversation, has referred only to the ambassador's account of the call, which -- based on Sondland's activities -- would have occurred before dawn in Washington. And the White House has not located a record in its switchboard logs of a call between Trump and Sondland on Sept. 9, according to an administration official.... But there is evidence of another call between Trump and Sondland that occurred a few days earlier -- one with a very different thrust, in which the president made clear that he wanted his Ukrainian counterpart to personally announce investigations into Trump's political opponents.... The way witnesses [Tim Morrison & Bill Taylor] describe a call between the two men in early September ... [is that] Trump said he was not seeking a 'quid pro quo,' but he also relayed a specific demand ... that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky personally and publicly announce the investigations Trump was seeking." Emphasis added. The Raw Story has a summary report here. More on Sondland linked below.

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "As Rudolph W. Giuliani waged a public campaign this year to unearth damaging information in Ukraine about President Trump's political rivals, he privately pursued hundreds of thousands dollars in business from Ukrainian government officials, documents reviewed by The New York Times show. Mr. Giuliani ... has repeatedly said he has no business in Ukraine, and none of the deals was finalized. But the documents indicate that while he was pushing Mr. Trump's agenda with Ukrainian officials eager for support from the United States, Mr. Giuliani also explored financial agreements with members of the same government.... Prosecutors and F.B.I. agents in Manhattan are examining whether Mr. Giuliani was not just working for the president, but also doing the bidding of Ukrainians who wanted [Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch] removed for their own reasons...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
~~~

~~~ Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "These negotiations were in early 2019 -- not long before Giuliani put the prosecutor, Yuri Lutsenko, in touch with John Solomon, a right-leaning US journalist then at The Hill.... Solomon publicized Lutsenko's claims, many of which Lutsenko later withdrew, winning the prosecutor attention from Trump's circle. Lutsenko used that access to influence US policy toward Ukraine, helping to force the ouster of Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, who was critical of Lutsenko.... [Giuliani's] negotiation with Lutsenko, while particularly brazen, is just one of many engagements for which the former mayor has drawn accusations of acting as unregistered foreign agent.... Giuliani has never registered as a foreign agent with the Justice Department. Nor has he registered as a lobbyist of any kind. In various public statements, he has said he doesn't need to.... [His] excuses may not get Giuliani off the hook on foreign lobbying laws. You don't have to be paid to be considered a foreign agent under FARA, a World War II-era law that requires anyone promoting the interests of foreign clients to register with the Justice Department and detail their efforts."

~~~ Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Rudolph W. Giuliani negotiated earlier this year to represent Ukraine's top prosecutor for at least $200,000 during the same months that Giuliani was working with the prosecutor to dig up dirt on vice president Joe Biden, according to people familiar with the discussions. The people said that Giuliani began negotiations with Ukraine's top prosecutor, Yuri Lutsenko, about a possible agreement in February. In the agreement, Giuliani's company would receive payment to represent Lutsenko as the Ukrainian sought to recover assets he believed had been stolen from the government in Kyiv, those familiar with the discussions said.... The people said that another retainer agreement, drafted in March, called for Giuliani Partners to receive $300,000 from the Ministry of Justice for help locating the supposedly stolen assets.... The talks occurred as Giuliani met with Lutsenko in New York in January and then in Warsaw in February while he was also gathering information from Lutsenko on two topics Giuliani believed could prove useful to Trump: the involvement of Biden, and his son, Hunter, in Ukraine and allegations that Ukraine, not Russia, had interfered in the 2016 election.... A person familiar with the negotiations described a series of contracts that were drafted earlier this year in which Giuliani would have worked for Lutsenko or separately, the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Hill has a summary of the NYT & WashPo stories. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump was right when about one thing he told Bill O'Reilly (story linked yesterday) while trying to distance himself from Rudy: "Rudy has other clients, other than me. He's done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years." Trump's "Rudy who?" chat with O'Reilly seems to have been a "response" to the NYT & WashPo stories linked above, in that reporters most likely called the White House for comment yesterday. The distancing from Rudy also may mean Trump is keeping tabs on the SDNY investigation of the Three Stooges, and that the investigation is not going well Rudy. BTW, if Trump was so concerned about corruption in Ukraine, why would he hire a lawyer who has "done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years"? Wouldn't that lawyer have been working with corrupt Ukrainians over the years? ~~~

     ~~~ digby: "Put simply, Rudy was doing with Trump what they accuse Biden and his son of doing. Of course. And it's much, much worse since they were simultaneously doing Russia's bidding and putting lives on the line in the war with Ukraine." ~~~

~~~ Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "Rudy Giuliani acknowledged this week meeting with a lawyer for a Ukrainian oligarch who he had previously said he had 'nothing to do with.'... Asked about the discrepancy, Giuliani called CNN's inquiry 'horseshit' and 'trickery,' and said previous responses to CNN were not misleading."

Lauren Egan of NBC News: "... Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that he did not direct his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to have Ukraine dig up dirt on his political rivals, contradicting testimony from several witnesses in the House impeachment inquiry.... [But] public testimony in the impeachment inquiry from multiple senior diplomats portrayed Giuliani as the driver behind Trump's pressure campaign to get Ukraine to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden and a leading voice in the spread of debunked conspiracies that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. Trump asked Zelenskiy to get in touch with Giuliani in the July 25 phone call that ultimately led to the impeachment inquiry.... In testimony from two key witnesses alone, Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union and Kurt Volker, then the U.S. special representative for Ukraine, Giuliani was mentioned more than 430 times, highlighting his outsize influence in Ukraine policy.... Giuliani has maintained that there was nothing illegal or improper about his actions, even tweeting publicly about conducting an 'investigation' on Trump's behalf."

Just Kidding, Donald! Karen Friefeld of Reuters: "... Rudy Giuliani called the president this week to reassure him that he had been joking when he told media outlets he had 'insurance' if Trump turned on him in the Ukraine scandal, Giuliani's lawyer said on Wednesday. The attorney, Robert Costello, said Giuliani 'at my insistence' had called Trump 'within the last day' to emphasize that he had not been serious when he said he had an 'insurance policy, if thrown under the bus.'" Mrs. McC: Nice try, Rudy. Trump knows what you have on him.

Harper Neidig of the Hill: "A federal district judge on Wednesday issued a temporary stay of her order that former White House counsel Don McGahn comply with House Democrats' subpoena for testimony. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, an Obama appointee on the district court in D.C., granted McGahn's request for a temporary stay while she deliberates on whether to issue a lengthier one to allow him to appeal her decision. The House Judiciary Committee, which had asked the court to enforce its subpoena for President Trump's former legal adviser, said it would not oppose a temporary stay." ~~~

~~~ Update. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal appeals court on Wednesday evening stayed a lower-court ruling that former Trump White House counsel Donald McGahn must comply with a House subpoena after the administration appealed, arguing the battle poses great consequences for the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted an administrative stay while it considers a longer-term order, and fast-tracked oral arguments in the case for a hearing Jan. 3. The stay came after U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of Washington on Monday found no basis for a White House claim that the former counsel is 'absolutely immune from compelled congressional testimony,' saying 'Presidents are not kings' and raising the possibility that McGahn could be forced to testify before the House Judiciary Committee as part of its impeachment inquiry."

Gordon Sondland, Sexual Predator. Allegedly. Julia Silverman, et al., of Portland Monthly & Maryam Jameel & Doris Burke of ProPublica: "Three women say they faced sexual misconduct by Gordon Sondland before he was the U.S. ambassador to the European Union and at the center of the presidential impeachment inquiry. They say he retaliated against them professionally after they rejected his advances. In one case, a potential business partner recalls that Sondland took her to tour a room in a hotel he owns, only to then grab her face and try to kiss her. After she rejected him, Sondland backtracked on investing in her business. Another woman, a work associate at the time, says Sondland exposed himself to her during a business interaction. She also recalls falling over the back of a couch trying to get away from him. After she made her lack of interest clear, she says Sondland called her, screaming about her job performance. A third woman, 27 years Sondland's junior, met him to discuss a potential job. She says he pushed himself against her and kissed her. She shoved him away. She says his job help stopped. All three women have agreed to be named in this story. In all the cases, friends, family members or colleagues of the women recall being told about the encounters at the time.... Sondland denies the allegations." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Should be quite a nice Thanksgiving Day dinner at the Sondland residence.

Impeachment Then. When Some Republicans Were Heroes. Timothy Smith of the Washington Post: "William D. Ruckelshaus, a pragmatic and resolute government official who shaped the Environmental Protection Agency in the early 1970s as its first administrator and returned to the agency a decade later to restore its shattered morale after its watchdog powers had been muzzled, died Nov. 27 at his home in Medina, Wash. He was 87.... In a long career in government and private industry, Mr. Ruckelshaus was widely promoted as 'Mr. Clean' as much for his uprightness as for his role with the EPA. He cemented his reputation for unshakable integrity when, in 1973, as President Richard Nixon's deputy attorney general, he defied a presidential order to fire the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate break-in." Ruckelshaus's New York Times obituary is here.

More on Other Trump Scandals:

Heather Vogell of ProPublica: "Donald Trump's business reported conflicting information about a key metric to New York City property tax officials and a lender who arranged financing for his signature building, Trump Tower in Manhattan, according to tax and loan documents obtained by ProPublica. The findings add a third major Trump property to two for which ProPublica revealed similar discrepancies last month. In the latest case, the occupancy rate of the Trump Tower's commercial space was listed, over three consecutive years, as 11, 16 and 16 percentage points higher in filings to a lender than in reports to city tax officials, records show."

Scott Stedman of Forensic News: "Thomas Bowers, a former Deutsche Bank executive and head of the American wealth-management division, killed himself in Malibu, California, on Tuesday, November 19th, according to the Los Angeles county coroner's initial report.... Bowers was the boss of Donald Trump's banker Rosemary Vrablic, according to a New York Times article in early 2019. Vrablic approved over $300 million dollars in high risk loans for Trump starting in 2010. Vrablic's other clients have included Jared Kushner.... One source who has direct knowledge of the FBI's investigation into Deutsche Bank said that federal investigators have asked about Bowers and documents he might have."

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Michael Flynn..., Donald Trump's first national security adviser, will not be sentenced on December 18 as previously planned, a federal judge said Wednesday, to await the release of an internal Justice Department report on FBI surveillance. Judge Emmet Sullivan agreed with prosecutors and Flynn's lawyers, who asked for Flynn's long-awaited sentencing hearing to be delayed because they won't be fully prepared for it until the DOJ inspector general's report regarding FBI surveillance as part of its early Russia probe is published. The inspector general's review is due out December 9." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Wednesday signed legislation offering support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, one week after it passed the House and Senate with veto-proof majorities. The White House made the announcement that Trump had signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act despite protests from officials in Beijing, who complain that the legislation meddles in their domestic matters.... The legislation imposes sanctions on individuals who commit human rights violations in Hong Kong and blocks them from entering the United States." The Washington Post story is here.

Former Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer in a Washington Post op-ed: "... military justice works best when senior leadership stays far away. A system that prevents command influence is what separates our armed forces from others. Our system of military justice has helped build the world's most powerful navy; good leaders get promoted, bad ones get moved out, and criminals are punished.... President Trump involved himself in the [Gallagher] case almost from the start.... The president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices." ~~~

~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Former Navy Secretary Richard Spencer on Wednesday admonished President Trump for repeatedly involving himself in an internal review of a Navy SEAL whose case led to controversy and Spencer's ouster over the weekend. Spencer penned an op-ed in The Washington Post in which he laid out multiple instances in which Trump attempted to intervene in a military review of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, who was accused and later acquitted of several war crimes." ~~~

~~~ Barbara Starr & Nicole Gaouette of CNN: "Tensions that have been mounting for months between some of the nation's most senior military officers and ... Donald Trump are boiling over after his decision to intervene in the cases of three service members accused of war crimes. A long-serving military officer put it bluntly, telling CNN 'there is a morale problem,' and senior Pentagon officials have privately said they are disturbed by the President's behavior. Dismay in the Pentagon has been building over Trump's sporadic, impulsive and contradictory decision-making on a range of issues, including his sudden pullback of troops in Syria. But now there are new and significant worries, as multiple military officials and retired officers say Trump's intervention into high-profile war crimes cases cannot be ignored."

~~~ Adam Serwer of the Atlantic: "Donald Trump is a war-crimes enthusiast.... Although Trump was talked out of authorizing torture by his advisers, the president's ardor for violations of the laws of war has manifested itself in his decisions to intervene in war-crimes cases.... In four separate cases since the beginning of his presidency, and for the first time in the history of modern warfare, an American president has aided service members accused or convicted of war crimes, against the advice of his own military leadership. The clearances eroded the rule of law, as well as institutional safeguards against authoritarianism and the politicization of the military. But they were also a rational extension of Trumpist nationalism, which recognizes no moral, legal, or institutional restraints on the president worth upholding, and which sees violence against outsiders as a redemptive expression of national loyalty." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Shocking Report Will Reveal Barack Obama Is Not a Master Spy. Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "The Justice Department's inspector general found no evidence that the F.B.I. attempted to place undercover agents or informants inside Donald J. Trump's campaign in 2016 as agents investigated whether his associates conspired with Russia's election interference operation, people familiar with a draft of the inspector general's report said. The determination by the inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, is expected to be a key finding in his highly anticipated report due out on Dec. 9 examining aspects of the Russia investigation. The finding also contradicts some of the most inflammatory accusations hurled by Mr. Trump and his supporters, who alleged not only that F.B.I. officials spied on the Trump campaign but also at one point that former President Barack Obama had ordered Mr. Trump's phones tapped.... The finding is one of several by Mr. Horowitz that undercuts conservatives' claims that the F.B.I. acted improperly in investigating several Trump associates starting in 2016. He also found that F.B.I. leaders did not take politically motivated actions in pursuing a secret wiretap on a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page -- eavesdropping that Mr. Trump's allies have long decried as politically motivated. But Mr. Horowitz will sharply criticize F.B.I. leaders for their handling of the investigation in some ways, and he unearthed errors and omissions when F.B.I. officials applied for the wiretap, according to people familiar with a draft of the report." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: C'mon, you-all were sure Barack was down in the bowels of Trump Tower just a-tippity-tip-tappin' them wires. Drat! Turns out it was not Barack in the basement with a bug. Another Trump conspiracy theory bites the dust. (Well, okay, Trump probably won't give up on it. Stay tuned for Sean Hannity's report on Michael Horowitz, deep-state mole for George Soros & the international liberal cabal.)

Mark Walker & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "An examination of Federal Emergency Management Agency data and records demonstrates the degree to which the recovery from Hurricanes Maria and Irma on America's Caribbean islands has been stalled compared with some of the most disaster-prone states on the mainland, leaving the islands' critical infrastructure in squalor and limbo.... That disparity underscored how a federal government in Washington has treated citizens on the mainland, with voting representatives in Congress and a say in presidential contests, compared with citizens on the islands. Further complicating the recovery are issues of corruption, often amplified by President Trump and, islanders say, questions of race." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Tim Apple Is Doing Putin's Bidding. Chris Welch of the Verge: "When used within Russia, Apple's Maps and Weather apps now list Crimea as being a Russian territory. The move, reported by BBC News, is the latest example of Apple kowtowing to a government's demands to keep its devices and services in good standing. The company faced significant criticism in October for removing the Taiwanese flag emoji from the iOS keyboard in Hong Kong. This latest change stems from Russia's roundly condemned annexation of Crimea in 2014. It only applies when Crimea is viewed or searched for with Apple Maps inside Russia; elsewhere in the world, Crimea isn't labeled as Russian territory."

The Commentariat -- November 27, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Shocking Report Will Reveal Barack Obama Is Not a Master Spy. Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "The Justice Department's inspector general found no evidence that the F.B.I. attempted to place undercover agents or informants inside Donald J. Trump's campaign in 2016 as agents investigated whether his associates conspired with Russia's election interference operation, people familiar with a draft of the inspector general's report said. The determination by the inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, is expected to be a key finding in his highly anticipated report due out on Dec. 9 examining aspects of the Russia investigation. The finding also contradicts some of the most inflammatory accusations hurled by Mr. Trump and his supporters, who alleged not only that F.B.I. officials spied on the Trump campaign but also at one point that former President Barack Obama had ordered Mr. Trump's phones tapped.... The finding is one of several by Mr. Horowitz that undercuts conservatives' claims that the F.B.I. acted improperly in investigating several Trump associates starting in 2016. He also found that F.B.I. leaders did not take politically motivated actions in pursuing a secret wiretap on a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page -- eavesdropping that Mr. Trump's allies have long decried as politically motivated. But Mr. Horowitz will sharply criticize F.B.I. leaders for their handling of the investigation in some ways, and he unearthed errors and omissions when F.B.I. officials applied for the wiretap, according to people familiar with a draft of the report."

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: C'mon, you-all were sure Barack was down in the bowels of Trump Tower just a-tippity-tip-tappin' them wires. Drat! Turns out it was not Barack in the basement with a bug. Another Trump conspiracy theory bites the dust. (Well, okay, Trump probably won't give up on it. Stay tuned for Sean Hannity's report on Michael Horowitz, deep-state mole for George Soros & the international liberal cabal.)

William Saletan of Slate: "Republicans claim that two private remarks by ... Donald Trump clear him of wrongdoing in the Ukraine scandal. The first remark, supposedly made on Aug. 31 to Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, was that Trump would 'never' require Ukraine to do anything for him in order to get military aid he had suspended. The second remark, made on Sept. 7 or Sept. 9 to Gordon Sondland..., was that Trump wanted 'nothing' from Ukraine [Mrs. McC: The 'no quid pro quo' conversation].... But now it turns out that by the time Trump spoke to Johnson, the president already knew he was under investigation for extorting Zelensky. This discovery, reported on Tuesday night [also linked below] by the New York Times, inverts the meaning of Trump's statements to Johnson and Sondland. Trump wasn't telling the truth. He was launching his cover story."

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "As Rudolph W. Giuliani waged a public campaign this year to unearth damaging information in Ukraine about President Trump's political rivals he privately pursued hundreds of thousands dollars in business from Ukrainian government officials, documents reviewed by The New York Times show. Mr. Giuliani ... has repeatedly said he has no business in Ukraine, and none of the deals was finalized. But the documents indicate that while he was pushing Mr. Trump's agenda with Ukrainian officials eager for support from the United States, Mr. Giuliani also explored financial agreements with members of the same government.... Prosecutors and F.B.I. agents in Manhattan are examining whether Mr. Giuliani was not just working for the president, but also doing the bidding of Ukrainians who wanted [Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch] removed for their own reasons...." ~~~

~~~ Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Rudolph W. Giuliani negotiated earlier this year to represent Ukraine's top prosecutor for at least $200,000 during the same months that Giuliani was working with the prosecutor to dig up dirt on vice president Joe Biden, according to people familiar with the discussions. The people said that Giuliani began negotiations with Ukraine's top prosecutor, Yuri Lutsenko, about a possible agreement in February. In the agreement, Giuliani's company would receive payment to represent Lutsenko as the Ukrainian sought to recover assets he believed had been stolen from the government in Kyiv, those familiar with the discussions said. The talks occurred as Giuliani met with Lutsenko in New York in January and then in Warsaw in February while he was also gathering information from Lutsenko on two topics Giuliani believed could prove useful to Trump: the involvement of Biden, and his son, Hunter, in Ukraine and allegations that Ukraine, not Russia, had interfered in the 2016 election.... A person familiar with the negotiations described a series of contracts that were drafted earlier this year in which Giuliani would have worked for Lutsenko or separately, the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump was right when about one thing he told Bill O'Reilly (story linked below) while trying to distance himself from Rudy: "Rudy has other clients, other than me. He's done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years." Trump's "Rudy who?" chat with O'Reilly seems to have been a "response" to the NYT & WashPo stories linked above, in that reporters most likely called the White House for comment yesterday. The distancing from Rudy also may mean Trump is keeping tabs on the SDNY investigation of the Three Stooges, and that the investigation is not going well Rudy. BTW, if Trump was so concerned about corruption in Ukraine, why would he hire a lawyer who has "done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years"? Wouldn't that lawyer have been working with corrupt Ukrainians over the years?

Adam Serwer of the Atlantic: "Donald Trump is a war-crimes enthusiast.... Although Trump was talked out of authorizing torture by his advisers, the president's ardor for violations of the laws of war has manifested itself in his decisions to intervene in war-crimes cases.... In four separate cases since the beginning of his presidency, and for the first time in the history of modern warfare, an American president has aided service members accused or convicted of war crimes, against the advice of his own military leadership. The clearances eroded the rule of law, as well as institutional safeguards against authoritarianism and the politicization of the military. But they were also a rational extension of Trumpist nationalism, which recognizes no moral, legal, or institutional restraints on the president worth upholding, and which sees violence against outsiders as a redemptive expression of national loyalty."

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Michael Flynn..., Donald Trump's first national security adviser, will not be sentenced on December 18 as previously planned, a federal judge said Wednesday, to await the release of an internal Justice Department report on FBI surveillance. Judge Emmet Sullivan agreed with prosecutors and Flynn's lawyers, who asked for Flynn's long-awaited sentencing hearing to be delayed because they won't be fully prepared for it until the DOJ inspector general's report regarding FBI surveillance as part of its early Russia probe is published. The inspector general's review is due out December 9.

Mark Walker & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "An examination of Federal Emergency Management Agency data and records demonstrates the degree to which the recovery from Hurricanes Maria and Irma on America's Caribbean islands has been stalled compared with some of the most disaster-prone states on the mainland, leaving the islands' critical infrastructure in squalor and limbo.... That disparity underscored how a federal government in Washington has treated citizens on the mainland, with voting representatives in Congress and a say in presidential contests, compared with citizens on the islands. Further complicating the recovery are issues of corruption, often amplified by President Trump and, islanders say, questions of race."

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Kyle Cheney, et al., of Politico: "The House Judiciary Committee will hold its first hearing next week on the impeachment of ... Donald Trump, as Democrats move quickly to the next stage of a process that is likely to lead to the third-ever presidential impeachment before the end of the year. The hearing, scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 4, will feature a panel of constitutional experts and focus on the definition of an impeachable offense and the 'procedural application of the impeachment process,' according to committee aides." ~~~

~~~ Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday invited President Trump's legal team to participate in its first public impeachment hearing next week, when lawmakers plan to convene a panel of constitutional scholars to inform their debate over whether the president's actions warrant his removal from office.... Mr. Nadler asked the White House to inform him by Sunday if the president or his lawyer wants to participate in the initial hearing, and reminded Mr. Trump that House rules empower him as chairman to curtail that involvement if 'you continue to refuse to make witnesses and documents available' related to the inquiry." Nadler also told Trump his lawyers would have to behave themselves "consistent with the rules of decorum and with the solemn nature of the work before us." A CNN story is here.

** Michael Schmidt, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump had already been briefed on a whistle-blower's complaint about his dealings with Ukraine when he unfroze military aid for the country in September, according to two people familiar with the matter. Lawyers from the White House counsel's office told Mr. Trump in late August about the complaint, explaining that they were trying to determine whether they were legally required to give it to Congress, the people said. The revelation could shed light on Mr. Trump's thinking at two critical points under scrutiny by impeachment investigators: his decision in early September to release $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine and his denial to a key ambassador around the same time that there was a 'quid pro quo' with Kyiv. Mr. Trump used the phrase before it had entered the public lexicon in the Ukraine affair. Mr. Trump faced bipartisan pressure from Congress when he released the aid. But the new timing detail shows that he was also aware at the time that the whistle-blower had accused him of wrongdoing...." A summary of the Times report appears in the Hill.

Jeremy Herb, et al., of CNN: "The White House budget office's first official action to withhold $250 million in Pentagon aid to Ukraine came on the evening of July 25, the same day ... Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone, according to a House Budget Committee summary of the office's documents. That withholding letter, which was among documents provided to the committee, was signed by a career Office of Management and Budget official [Mark Sandy], the summary states. But the next month, OMB political appointee Michael Duffey signed letters taking over the decision to withhold both the Pentagon and State Department aid to Ukraine from the career official. A hold was placed on the Ukraine aid at the beginning of July, and the agencies were notified at a July 18 meeting that it had been frozen at the direction of the President, a week before the Trump-Zelensky call.... Sandy testified before House impeachment investigators in a closed-door deposition, while Duffey defied a subpoena." See related WashPo story by Erica Werner, linked below.

Olivia Beavers of the Hill: "House Democrats on Tuesday released the remaining witness transcripts from their impeachment inquiry into President Trump. The three House committees that led the closed-door depositions released interviews with Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of State in charge of European and Eurasian Affairs, and Mark Sandy, a senior Office of Management and Budget official. The document release comes as the House Intelligence Committee plans to work through the Thanksgiving holiday to compile a report for the House Judiciary Committee to use in determining whether to draft articles of impeachment against Trump over allegations that he pressed Ukraine's president to interfere in the 2020 election by opening two investigations that would benefit Trump politically." ~~~

~~~ Here is the transcript of Sandy's testimony, via the Hill. Here is Reeker's testimony, also via the Hill. ~~~

~~~ ** Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "Two officials at the White House Office of Management and Budget recently resigned while voicing concerns over the holdup on Ukraine aid, a career employee of the agency told impeachment investigators, according to a transcript of his testimony released Tuesday. Mark Sandy, the only OMB official to testify in the impeachment inquiry, did not name the employees in question. He said one worked in the OMB legal division and described that person as having a 'dissenting opinion' about how the security assistance to Ukraine could be held up in light of the Impoundment Control Act, which limits the ability of the executive branch to change spending decisions already made by Congress. The other person, who resigned in September, 'expressed some frustrations about not understanding the reason for the hold,' Sandy said. Sandy, the agency's deputy associate director for national security programs, testified on Nov. 16, becoming the first OMB official to do so after political appointees at the agency defied congressional subpoenas to participate in the House Democrats' impeachment inquiry. His testimony is the first public confirmation that the dispute at the OMB over handling of the Ukraine aid became so intense that it contributed to resignations from the agency."

** Why Are There Big Ole Tire Tracks on Your Jacket, Rudy? Bloomberg (partial) via digby: "Donald Trump denied directing Rudy Giuliani to go to Ukraine to look for dirt on his political rivals, in an interview with former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly. 'No, I didn't direct him, but he is a warrior, he is a warrior,' Trum told O'Reilly in an interview streamed on the internet on Tuesday. Giuliani has said publicly that he conducted an investigation 'concerning 2016 Ukrainian collusion and corruption' on Trump' behalf. Asked by O'Reilly what Giuliani was doing in Ukraine, Trump said 'you have to ask that to Rudy.' 'Rudy has other clients, other than me,' Trump said. 'He's done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Allow me to remind Rudy what Trump said when asked on AF1 why Michael Cohen had paid Stormy Daniels $130K: "You'll have to ask Michael Cohen." Kinda word-for-word, isn't it, Rudy? Just change the name of the crooked lawyer. Jeff Mason of Reuters (April 5, 2018): "Asked if he knew about the payment to Daniels, Trump said 'No.' Asked if he knew where the money came from to pay Daniels, Trump told reporters, 'No, I don't know.'" Oh, P.S. Both of those were lies, as Mueller's team proved. Better hang onto that iPhone with all the evidence, Rudy. ~~~

     ~~~ Anyhow, Trump -- who says he has "one of the greatest memories of all time," seems to have forgot all about that "perfect" phone call with President Zelensky. You know, the call where Trump asks Zelensky to find out about the Crowdstrike server, the call where Trump tells Zelensky he wants him to talk to Giuliani about the server. "Rudy very much knows what's happening and he is a very capable guy. If you could speak to him, that would be great." Trump says again moments later, "I will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call." and again, "I will tell Rudy and Attorney General Barr to call." (Trump told Zelensky he wanted him to look into the Bidens & to talk to Bill Barr about their corrupt acts: "The other thing, there's a lot of talk about Biden's son. that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that, so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it.") But, no, Trump has no idea what Rudy was doing in Ukraine. You have to ask Rudy. ~~~

     ~~~ digby (linked above): "Rudy Giuliani put a lot of people behind bars over the course of many years. There is no way in hell that he will allow himself to go to jail like Cohen and Manafort even for a day."

This is attorney client privilege so I will withstand whatever malicious lies or spin you put on it. -- Rudy Giuliani, to the Washington Post in response to the story that follows ~~~

~~~ Rudy Giuliani, International Man of Misery. Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "While in Spain [in August to press a top aide of Ukraine President Zelensky to investigate the Bidens, Rudy] Giuliani stayed at a historic estate belonging to Venezuelan energy executive Alejandro Betancourt López, who had hired Trump's personal attorney to help him contend with an investigation by the Justice Department into alleged money laundering and bribery, according to people familiar with the situation. A month later, Giuliani was one of several lawyers representing Betancourt in Washington. The lawyers met with the chief of the Justice Department's criminal division and other government attorneys to argue that the wealthy Venezuelan should not face criminal charges as part of a $1.2 billion money-laundering case filed in Florida last year, said the people.... Betancourt is not one of the eight men charged in the case.... But ... he is referred to in the criminal complaint as a uncharged co-conspirator, as previously reported by the Miami Herald. Giuliani's representation of Betancourt -- which has not been previously disclosed -- is a striking example of how Trump's lawyer has continued to offer his services to foreign clients with interests before the U.S. government while working on behalf of the president. And it shows how Giuliani -- who says he was serving as Trump's attorney pro bono -- has used his work for paying clients to help underwrite his efforts to find political ammunition in Ukraine to benefit the president." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times report is here.

Pompeo Has Been Drinking the Red Kool-Aid. John Hudson of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that a debunked conspiracy theory pursued by President Trump accusing Ukraine, not Russia, of interfering in the 2016 presidential election by hacking the network of the Democratic National Committee is a worthy subject of investigation. In a news conference at the State Department, Pompeo was asked if the United States and Ukraine should investigate the conspiracy theory, which several former senior Trump officials have called a 'fictional narrative' with 'no validity.' 'Anytime there is information that indicates that any country has messed with American elections, we not only have a right but a duty to make sure we chase that down,' Pompeo told reporters.... Trump repeated this idea on Fox News last week. 'They gave the server to CrowdStrike..., which is a company owned by a very wealthy Ukrainian, and I still want to see that server.' CrowdStrike is not run by a wealthy Ukrainian. It is a California-based company co-founded by a Russian-born American tech executive." ~~~

~~~ Nicole Gaouette & Kylie Atwood of CNN: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refused to counter a discredited conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election and sidestepped a question about his willingness to testify before the House impeachment inquiry.... Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday morning that he would 'love to have Mike Pompeo, Rick Perry, Mick Mulvaney and many others testify about the phony Impeachment Hoax.' Asked about the tweet during a briefing with reporters at the State Department, Pompeo said 'when the time is right all good things happen.'... n the past Pompeo, who was Trump's first CIA director, has said that he supports the intelligence that Russian interfered in the 2016 election. But in recent months he has also suggested -- based on no evidence -- that Joe Biden could have interfered in the election."

Sergii Leschenko in the Kyiv Post: "To some of U.S. President Donald Trump's entourage, it's 'the conspiracy of the black ledger.' They're convinced that the exposure of Paul Manafort's secret payments in Ukraine was part of a scenario to destroy Trump 2016 presidential campaign by tarring Manafort, who was then Trump's campaign manager.... I want Ukrainian citizens, American politicians, and international journalists to operate with the first-hand information and not be victims of random claims or deliberate misinformation. Here's the true story as I know it:" --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Leschenko is a former member of the Ukraine parliament &, briefly, an advisor to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. A prolific political writer & blogger, Leschenko obtained 22 pages of the 800-page "black ledger" from a source, but it was not until three months later that a former top official in Ukraine's Security Service said the full ledger was dropped on his doorstep. The ledger details corrupt transactions involving former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych & politicians connected to Yanukovych. Leschenko's report is pretty interesting.

Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "The Justice Department asked a federal judge Tuesday to put a temporary pause on her ruling that orders former Trump White House counsel Don McGahn to testify in the House impeachment probe, saying it needs the delay to pursue an appeal. While expected, the move from DOJ means that the primary congressional panel responsible for drafting articles of impeachment against ... Donald Trump likely won't hear anytime soon from McGahn, one of the star witnesses in special counsel Robert Mueller's final report." (Also linked yesterday.)

Guardian @ 9:37 ET: “A lawyer who represents [John] Bolton and his former deputy at the national security council, Charles Kupperman, said the ruling in Don McGahn's case does not apply to his clients.... The officials' attorney argued that, because the House judiciary committee was specifically not seeking information from McGahn on 'sensitive topics of national security or foreign affairs,' the ruling could not provide guidance on whether his clients should testify." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Gee, I guess the Bolton/Kupperman lawyer didn't do a very good job of reading the ruling. As Charlie Savage of the NYT wrote (linked below), Judge Jackson "wrote that the law required not just Mr. McGahn, but 'other current and former senior-level White House officials' who receive a subpoena to appear, and that it made no difference 'whether the aides in question are privy to national security matters, or work solely on domestic issues.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Peter Baker of the New York Times talked to Bolton/Cooperman lawyer Charles Cooper. Cooper asserted that Judge Jackson made only "passing references" to national security matters, and those passing references “'are not authoritative on the validity of testimonial immunity for close White House advisers' whose 'responsibilities are focused exclusively on providing information and advice to the president on national security.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Andrew Desderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The House Oversight and Reform Committee filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to enforce the panel's subpoenas seeking information about the Trump administration's failed efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.... The suit is an indication that Democrats believe their hand has been strengthened by the victory in the McGahn case as they seek documents related to other subpoenas that the Trump administration has defied. The House first voted to enforce the subpoenas in July, formally holding Barr and Ross in contempt of Congress for defying the committee's subpoenas seeking information about the administration's ultimately unsuccessful efforts to add a citizenship question to next year's census. The Justice Department declined to prosecute Barr or Ross for flouting the requests, arguing that the information Democrats were seeking was protected by executive privilege." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story is here.

This Explains a Lot. Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's something I didn't know or forgot: one of Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher's attorneys is Marc Mukasey, the son of former U.S. Attorney General Mike Mukasey. Mukasey ALSO is one of Trump's attorneys in the Deutsche Bank/Capital One suit (lost that one yesterday). Mukasey, of course, has been working on both of these cases at the same time. But wait, there's more: Mukasey ALSO was a long-time law partner of Rudy Giuliani." Looks like we can stop blaming Fox "News" for Trump's interest in helping out war criminal Gallagher. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Addition to the Stupid Trump Remarks Log. Jonathan Chait: "[Monday], President Trump signed the Women&'s Suffrage Centennial Commemorative Coin Act. The effect of this law is self-explanatory -- it creates a coin to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, ratifying women's suffrage. Or, at least, it is self-explanatory to everybody except Donald Trump, who was mystified as to why the 100th anniversary was not recognized earlier. After working his way through the prepared remarks, Trump interjected with his own riff. 'They've been working on this for years and years,' he said, suddenly wondering, 'And I'm curious, why wasn't it done a long time ago, and also -- well, I guess the answer to that is because now I'm president, and we get things done. We get a lot of things done that nobody else got done.'" After Sen. Marsha Blackburn (no genius herself) explained to Trump how the bill commemorates the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment & that it passed Congress without opposition, Trump again asked why it wasn't done sooner. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I shouldn't be laughing. This is just one more indication of Trump's severe cognitive disorder. He doesn't (or no longer) knows that centennial means "100th anniversary," and he could not make the connection between what Blackburn explained -- "100 years" -- and a centennial event. This is also a function of his egomania: part of the reason he couldn't understand it is that he needed to make the point that previous presidents (Obama!) had screwed up by not celebrating this particular centennial years ago.

The Downside of Cloven Hooves. No reasonable person would believe that Devin Nunes' cow actually has a Twitter account, or that the hyperbole, satire and cow-related jokes it posts are serious facts. It is self-evident that cows are domesticated livestock animals and do not have the intelligence, language, or opposable digits needed to operate a Twitter account. Defendant 'Devin Nunes' Mom' likewise posts satirical patronizing, nagging, mothering comments which ostensibly treat Mr. Nunes as a misbehaving child. -- Adam Parkhomenko, in a court filing, asking to quash a subpoena from Devin Nunes

Sorry, Adam, Devin is not a "reasonable person." Not sure about his cow & his mom. But thanks for trying to explain to Devin the importance of oppositional digits to effective Twitter usage. Don't expect him to get it, though. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ~~~

~~~ Hannah Wiley of the Sacramento Bee: "A Democratic strategist is refusing to disclose communications that could reveal the identity of anonymous Twitter users who criticize Rep. Devin Nunes, arguing in a new court filing that the accounts are clearly satirical expressions of political speech. Nunes, R-Tulare, has sued Twitter and anonymous social media users who run accounts known as Devin Nunes' Cow and Devin Nunes' Mom. Nunes' attorney last month issued a subpoena demanding records about them from former Democratic National Committee employee Adam Parkhomenko.... Parkhomenko's attorney argues that the Twitter accounts' language 'does not constitute defamation' and that courts are tasked with protecting anonymous communications in the interest of freedom of speech."

Emma Farge & Stephanie Nebehay of Reuters: "Greenhouse gas emissions surged to a record level last year and world temperatures could rise by more than twice the globally agreed warming limit if nothing is done, a U.N. report showed on Tuesday." --s The New York Times report is here. A WashPo report was linked yesterday.

The Commentariat -- November 26, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Andrew Desderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The House Oversight and Reform Committee filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to enforce the panel's subpoenas seeking information about the Trump administration's failed efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.... The suit is an indication that Democrats believe their hand has been strengthened by the victory in the McGahn case as they seek documents related to other subpoenas that the Trump administration has defied. The House first voted to enforce the subpoenas in July, formally holding Barr and Ross in contempt of Congress for defying the committee's subpoenas seeking information about the administration's ultimately unsuccessful efforts to add a citizenship question to next year's census. The Justice Department declined to prosecute Barr or Ross for flouting the requests, arguing that the information Democrats were seeking was protected by executive privilege."

This Explains a Lot. Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's something I didn't know or forgot: one of Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher's attorneys is Marc Mukasey, the son of former U.S. Attorney General Mike Mukasey. Mukasey ALSO is one of strong> Trump's attorneys in the Deutsche Bank/Capital One suit (lost that one yesterday). Mukasey, of course, has been working on both of these cases at the same time. But wait, there's more: Mukasey ALSO was a long-time law partner of Rudy Giuliani." Looks like we can stop blaming Fox "News" for Trump's interest in helping out war criminal Gallagher.

This is attorney client privilege so I will withstand whatever malicious lies or spin you put on it. -- Rudy Giuliani, to the Washington Post in response to the story that follows ~~~

~~~ Rudy Giuliani, International Man of Misery. Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "While in Spain [in August to press a top aide of Ukraine President Zelensky to investigate the Bidens, Rudy] Giuliani stayed at a historic estate belonging to Venezuelan energy executive Alejandro Betancourt López, who had hired Trump's personal attorney to help him contend with an investigation by the Justice Department into alleged money laundering and bribery, according to people familiar with the situation. A month later, Giuliani was one of several lawyers representing Betancourt in Washington. The lawyers met with the chief of the Justice Department's criminal division and other government attorneys to argue that the wealthy Venezuelan should not face criminal charges as part of a $1.2 billion money-laundering case filed in Florida last year, said the people.... Betancourt is not one of the eight men charged in the case.... But ... he is referred to in the criminal complaint as a uncharged co-conspirator, as previously reported by the Miami Herald. Giuliani's representation of Betancourt -- which has not been previously disclosed -- is a striking example of how Trump's lawyer has continued to offer his services to foreign clients with interests before the U.S. government while working on behalf of the president. And it shows how Giuliani -- who says he was serving as Trump's attorney pro bono -- has used his work for paying clients to help underwrite his efforts to find political ammunition in Ukraine to benefit the president."

Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "The Justice Department asked a federal judge Tuesday to put a temporary pause on her ruling that orders former Trump White House counsel Don McGahn to testify in the House impeachment probe, saying it needs the delay to pursue an appeal. While expected, the move from DOJ means that the primary congressional panel responsible for drafting articles of impeachment against ... Donald Trump likely won't hear anytime soon from McGahn, one of the star witnesses in special counsel Robert Mueller's final report."

Guardian @ 9:37 ET: "A lawyer who represents [John] Bolton and his former deputy at the national security council, Charles Kupperman, said the ruling in Don McGahn's case does not apply to his clients.... The officials' attorney argued that, because the House judiciary committee was specifically not seeking information from McGahn on 'sensitive topics of national security or foreign affairs,' the ruling could not provide guidance on whether his clients should testify." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Gee, I guess the Bolton/Kupperman lawyer didn't do a very good job of reading the ruling. As Charlie Savage of the NYT wrote (linked below), Judge Jackson "wrote that the law required not just Mr. McGahn, but 'other current and former senior-level White House officials' who receive a subpoena to appear, and that it made no difference 'whether the aides in question are privy to national security matters, or work solely on domestic issues.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Peter Baker of the New York Times talked to Bolton/Cooperman lawyer Charles Cooper. Cooper asserted that Judge Jackson made only "passing references" to national security matters, and those passing references "'are not authoritative on the validity of testimonial immunity for close White House advisers' whose 'responsibilities are focused exclusively o providing information and advice to the president on national security.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

John Kruzel of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Monday granted President Trump's request to temporarily stay a subpoena for his financial records from the House Oversight Committee, while the court considers whether to take up his appeal in the case." ~~~

~~~ Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The court's action signals that, even as Congress considers impeaching Trump, the court will undertake a more complete consideration of the legal powers of Congress and state prosecutors to investigate the president while he is in office. The court instructed Trump's lawyers to file a petition by Dec. 5 stating why the court should accept the case for full briefing and oral argument. If the petition is eventually denied, the lower-court ruling will go into effect. If accepted, the case probably will be heard this term, with a decision before the court adjourns at the end of June." An AP story is here.

... the primary takeaway from the past 250 years of recorded American history is that Presidents are not kings. -- Judge Ketanji Brown, in a ruling that Don McGahn must comply with a Congressional subpoena ~~~

~~~ ** John Kruzel of the Hill: "A federal judge on Monday ruled that former White House counsel Don McGahn must comply with a subpoena and testify to Congress, delivering a significant win to House Democrats amid their impeachment inquiry into President Trump. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, an Obama appointee, means that McGahn is obligated to comply with a House Judiciary Committee subpoena from April seeking to compel his testimony.... Jackson's decision is likely to be appealed.... Democrats have held open the possibility of pursuing issues investigated by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, including Trump's possible obstruction of justice. If House Democrats pursue that course, McGahn's testimony could prove critical given the central role he played in that particular phase of the probe, which examined 10 "episodes" of possible obstruction. The Mueller report found 'substantial evidence' that Trump leaned on McGahn to fire Mueller." ~~~

     ~~~ Spencer Hsu & Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "Former Trump White House counsel Donald McGahn must comply with a House subpoena, a federal court ruled Monday, finding that top presidential advisers cannot ignore congressional demands for information and raising the possibility that McGahn could be forced to testify as part of the impeachment inquiry.... '[T]he Court holds only that [McGahn] (and other senior presidentia advisors) do not have absolute immunity from compelled congressional process in the context of this particular subpoena dispute,' Jackson wrote, quoting a similar ruling by a Republican appointed judge in 2008 in a case involving former George W. Bush counsel Harriet Miers. Like Miers, Jackson wrote, 'Donald McGahn must appear before the Committee to provide testimony, and invoke executive privilege where appropriate.'... William A. Burck, McGahn's attorney, said, 'Don McGahn will comply with Judge Jackson's decision unless it is stayed pending appeal. DOJ is handling this case, so you will need to ask them whether they intend to seek a stay.'... Jonathan Shaub, a former attorney in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, said a ruling against McGahn will 'provide cover for other witnesses, especially former employees who are inclined to testify but feel compelled by the White House's direction not to.'" ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times report by Charlie Savage is here. "wrote that the law required not just Mr. McGahn, but 'other current and former senior-level White House officials' who receive a subpoena to appear, and that it made no difference 'whether the aides in question are privy to national security matters, or work solely on domestic issues.'" Mrs. McC: Yo, John Bolton. That means you.

~~~ The decision, via Politico, is here.

~~~ CNN is reporting that the White House will appeal the ruling. Mrs. McC: McGahn & others, of course, could just go ahead & honor the subpoenas beginning tomorrow. At the same time, since Judge Jackson's ruling allows that McGahn may invoke executive privilege "where appropriate," McGahn could apply that privilege quite liberally, and if the House isn't satisfied that those invocations are "appropriate," that could wind up back in court.

Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: “Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee plan to deliver a report soon after Thanksgiving making the case for impeaching President Trump, the chairman said on Monday, moving quickly to escalate what he called 'urgent' evidence of wrongdoing by the president. Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California and the Intelligence Committee chairman, wrote in a letter to colleagues that after two months of inquiry amid consistent stonewalling by Mr. Trump, his panel has uncovered 'massive amounts of evidence' pointing to misconduct and 'corrupt intent' by the president. The evidence will be detailed in a report being drafted for public release and transmittal to the House Judiciary Committee shortly after lawmaker return from their holiday break, Mr. Schiff wrote. The Judiciary panel is expected to promptly draft and debate articles of impeachment against Mr. Trump based on its findings."

There's obviously a concerted effort to spread as many lies about me as possible, to destroy my reputation so that I'm not credible when I continue to reveal all of the massive evidence of criminality by the Bidens. -- Rudy Giuliani, Monday, responding to news that subpoenas have been issued related to his international forays ~~~

~~~ A Noun, a Verb, and a Boatload of Crimes. Zack Budryk of the Hill: "Prosecutors have issued subpoenas to figures with ties to Rudy Giuliani... seeking information on his consulting firm Giuliani Partners, according to The Wall Street Journal. The subpoenas also seek information on a company co-founded by Lev Parnas, a recently-arrested associate of Giuliani's, that paid Giuliani for legal and business advice, the Journal reported on Monday. The subpoenas, as described by the newspaper, listed numerous potential charges under consideration including obstruction of justice, conspiracy to defraud the United States, making false statements to the federal government and money laundering. They also seek materials relating to pro-Trump groups America First Action and America First Policies. Kelly Sadler, a spokeswoman for the groups, said they have reached out to the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office and offered their cooperation, and said neither was issued a subpoena. Giuliani told the Journal he had not been contacted by federal investigators." Mrs. McC: That's because you're the target, Rudy. You remember how that works, don't you? ~~~

~~~ Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "The list of possible crimes under investigation does not mean those charges will be filed. They do, however, indicate prosecutors are casting a wide net for wrongdoing as they examine the business and legal dealings of the president's personal lawyer and two Soviet emigres business executives who have been assisting Giuliani in the efforts to dig up damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on the president's behalf."

Matt Stieb of New York: "On Sunday, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy, who plays a frequent defender of President Trump on TV, responded to a question from Fox News' Chris Wallace -- Was it Russia or Ukraine that hacked the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 election? -- with a conspiratorial and wildly inaccurate answer. 'I don't know,' said Kennedy. 'Nor do you. Nor do any of us.' Aware of the total falsehood in his statement -- before Trump took office, the intelligence committee determined that Russia had meddled in the election to the benefit of the Republican candidate -- Johnson [Kennedy] promptly walked back his claim. Speaking with Chris Cuomo on Monday, Johnson [Kennedy] admitted that 'he was wrong' about the conspiracy that Ukraine hacked DNC emails and pinned the job on Russia."; Thanks to PD Pepe for the correction. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: When Wallace countered him by noting that the entire intelligence community fingered Russia, Kennedy devolved into a story about how maybe it was Ukraine, too, blah-blah. No doubt the real reason Kennedy walked back his claim is that it made him a teevee laughing stock. More than half-a-dozen times on MSNBC & CNN (sometimes accompanied by the exclamation, "And he went to Oxford!"), I heard the clip of Kennedy's false claim being held up as an example of Republicans' complete capitulation to Trumpian delusion.

Andrew Sheeler of the Sacramento Bee: "Leading Democrats are calling for an investigation into a trip to Europe that Rep. Devin Nunes took last year with three aides after attorneys for an indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani told news outlets the Republican congressman sought dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden. House travel records show Nunes traveled to Europe from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3. Three congressional aides who have worked for Nunes have matching travel receipts for the same dates, House records show. The trip cost $63,525.... While in Europe, Parnas' attorney Joseph A. Bondy said Nunes met with ousted Ukrainian top prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who lost his job after Biden and other world leaders called for his dismissal. Nunes reportedly told Shokin of 'the urgent need' to investigate the company Burisma, which employed Biden's son Hunter as a member of its board of directors, and former Vice President Biden.... Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, on Monday called for Nunes to be investigated. She sits on the House Intelligence Committee with Nunes.... That investigation is 'quite likely' to happen, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Washington, a senior-ranking Democrat who is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said Saturday...."

Kara Scannell & Mark Morales of CNN: "David Pecker, the head of the company that publishes the National Enquirer, has spoken with prosecutors with the New York district attorney's office as part of its investigation into the Trump Organization's handling of hush money payments to women who alleged affairs with .... Donald Trump, sources with knowledge of the meeting tell CNN. The America Media Inc. chairman's late October meeting with prosecutors from the major economic crimes bureau could provide key details on discussions that took place involving Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who allegedly had an affair with Trump, and agreements that were made with former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, the sources said. Cohen is cooperating with the investigation.... The meeting between Pecker and the local prosecutors shows that investigators are still trying to connect the dots between Trump and the hush money payments."

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "Because Republicans have been so successful in shrouding the origins of the Russia investigation in a miasma of misinformation, I hope some talented filmmaker makes a movie out of the new book by Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, 'Crime in Progress: Inside the Steele Dossier and the Fusion GPS Investigation of Donald Trump.' Simpson and Fritsch are the co-founders of Fusion GPS, the research firm that investigated Trump during the 2016 campaign, first for the conservative Washington Free Beacon, and then for a lawyer for the Hillary Clinton campaign. It was Fusion GPS that hired the British ex-spy Christopher Steele to look into Trump's Russia connections, and it sits at the center of countless pro-Trump conspiracy theories.... 'Crime in Progress' is the best procedural yet written about the discovery of Trump's Russia ties. It demolishes a number of right-wing talking points, including the claim that the Steele dossier formed the basis of the F.B.I.'s counterintelligence inquiry into Trump.... For years, Trump was financially entangled with organized crime as well as with Kremlin-friendly oligarchs, and by keeping those entanglements secret, he gave Putin leverage over him from the moment he took office."

Helene Cooper & Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the New York Times: "President Trump ordered the Pentagon not to remove a Navy SEAL at the center of a high-profile war crimes case from the elite commando unit, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said Monday. Mr. Esper's confirmation of the order from Mr. Trump is the latest turn in an extraordinary series of events that pitted the president against his senior military leadership over the fate of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, the SEAL who was convicted of posing for photographs with the body of a teenage Islamic State captive in American custody." The AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Stefan Becket & Anna Gunther of CBS News: "Richard Spencer, the former secretary of the Navy, said he was fired before he could resign over the president's decision to intervene in an internal review of a Navy SEAL convicted of posing with [a] corpse, and downplayed a supposed backchannel offer to the White House that served as the justification for his ouster.... [Defense Secretary Mark] Esper told reporters Monday that he fired Spencer after 'losing trust and confidence in him regarding his lack of candor.' He accused Spencer of secretly proposing a deal to the White House that would allow Gallagher to retire and retain his Trident pin..., a move Esper said was 'completely contrary' to what the two had discussed. In an interview Monday, Spencer told CBS News he spoke with White House counsel Pat Cipollone on November 15 and proposed an arrangement in which Gallagher would be allowed to retire as a SEAL if the president agreed not to intervene in the case and 'let the Navy do its administrative work.' Spencer said Cipollone called back the same day to decline the offer, saying the president would be involved.... Spencer acknowledged not telling Esper about the proposal. 'I will take the bad on me, for not letting him know I did that,' Spencer said. 'But as far as I was concerned, at that point, the president understood the deal.... He said, "I'm going to be involved." He sent a signed letter to me, an order with his signature on it, saying, "Promote Edward Gallagher to E7,'" the rank of chief petty officer. Esper acknowledged Monday that when confronted about his secret negotiations with the White House, Spencer 'was completely forthright in admitting what had been going on.'" ~~~

~~~ Chris Riotta of the (U.K.) Independent: "US veterans decried Donald Trump's orders to restore an accused war criminal's rank in the Navy.... 'Ever since Donald Trump became president he's been tearing the military apart, putting troops in the difficult position of needing to choose between obedience to his unhinged orders, and staying true to our code of honour,' said Alexander McCoy, a former Marine and political director of the veteran group Common Defence. 'By pardoning war criminals because Fox News told him to, Trump showed he sees our military as a tool for massacres, not as the professional, honourable force we aspire to be.'... The president's demands could cause 'significant long-term damage to the Naval Special Warfare community,' according to James Waters, a former Navy SEAL platoon commander and White House staff member in the Bush administration, who told The Independent: 'The only people who weigh in on whether a Navy SEAL deserves to keep his Trident are people who have their Trident.'" ~~~

~~~ New York Times Editors: "'Get back to business!' With this tweet, President Trump directed his secretary of the Navy, Richard Spencer, to stop the naval officers charged with oversight of the SEALs from disciplining one of their own.... It is very much the Navy's business -- and every military’s business -- to maintain, as the military so often recites and Mr. Spencer put it in his final letter to the president, 'good order and discipline.'... The military is not an extension of his White House.... Contamination from the president's approach is amplified when his judgment is largely shaped by television commentators and his decision announced by tweet.... Our president's endorsement of the perpetrator will be taken as a representation of our values. Our own troops, many of them teenagers, will be misled by the president's sense, or lack of sense, of honor." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Yeah but. Undermining the military justice system, firing the Navy secretary, and giving clemency to alleged & convicted depraved murderers is okay if it's all just a campaign stunt. Think Ukraine scandal, but worse. ~~~

~~~ Spencer Ackerman & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "If Donald Trump gets his wish, he'll soon take the three convicted or accused war criminals he spared from consequence on the road as special guests in his re-election campaign, according to two sources who have heard Trump discuss their potential roles for the 2020 effort. Despite military and international backlash to Trump's Nov. 15 clemency ... Trump believes he has rectified major injustices. Two people tell The Daily Beast they've heard Trump talk about how he'd like to have the now-cleared Clint Lorance, Matthew Golsteyn, or Edward Gallagher show up at his 2020 rallies, or even have a moment on stage at his renomination convention in Charlotte next year. Right-wing media have portrayed all three as martyrs brought down by 'political correctness' within the military." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: According to a NYT report, "Since 2011, the Navy has revoked more than 150 Trident pins." I think it's fair to assume that the bad acts of the vast majority of former SEALs were far less egregious than the acts of which Gallagher was accused. Will Trump override the SEALs tribunals & restore all of these pins? Why not? As it stands, it's as if I get 10 years in the pen for driving 5 mph over the speed limit, but you get off scot-free for vehicular homicide. ~~~

~~~ John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump announced Sunday that Kenneth Braithwaite, the current ambassador to Norway, would replace Richard Spencer as the secretary of the Navy shortly after Spencer's ouster earlier in the day.... '... Admiral and now Ambassador to Norway Ken Braithwaite will be nominated by me to be the new Secretary of the Navy. A man of great achievement and success, I know Ken will do an outstanding job!' [Trump tweeted.] Mrs. McC: Did Braithwaite take the Trump loyalty oath? (Also linked yesterday.)

Laura Kelly of the Hill: "President Trump asked multiple federal agencies to address Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's 'concerns' that Turkey's state-owned bank would be under threat of U.S. sanctions, according to a response from the Treasury Department to a senior Democratic senator [Ron Wyden (Oregon)].... The response by Treasury confirms an earlier report by Bloomberg that in April Trump directed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Attorney General William Barr to intervene in the case against Halkbank following a phone call between the two world leaders.... It is the first public U.S. admission of Trump directing Cabinet officials, in this case in Treasury and the Department of Justice, to involve themselves with Erdoğan's concerns around Halkbank, a Turkish state-owned bank indicted last month by federal prosecutors for allegedly funneling billions of dollars to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. It also raises questions about how Trump's personal relationships and business dealings influence his foreign policy decisions...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "United States troops have resumed large-scale counterterrorism missions against the Islamic State in northern Syria, military officials say, nearly two months after President Trump's abrupt order to withdraw American troops opened the way for a bloody Turkish cross-border offensive American-backed operations against ISIS fighters in the area effectively ground to a halt for weeks despite warnings from intelligence analysts that Islamic State militants were beginning to make a comeback from Syrian desert redoubts even though their leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had been killed during an American raid on Oct. 26. On Friday, American soldiers and hundreds of Syrian Kurdish fighters -- the same local allies the Trump administration abandoned to fend for themselves against the Turkish advance last month ==; reunited to conduct what the Pentagon said was a large-scale mission to kill and capture ISIS fighters in Deir al-Zour province, about 120 miles south of the Turkish border."

Paul Krugman: "... Trump is quietly applying a Ukraine-type extortion-and-bribery strategy to U.S. corporations. Many businesses are being threatened with policies that would hurt their bottom lines -- especially, but not only, tariffs on imported goods crucial to their operations. But they are also being offered the possibility of exemptions from these policies. And the implicit quid pro quo for such exemptions is that corporations support Donald Trump, or at least refrain from criticizing his actions.... The trouble with Trump's selective doling out of punishment isn't the harm it inflicts on corporations, it's the incentives this regime creates for political sycophancy." Krugman cites the examples of "Tim Apple"'s willingness to let Trump get away with gross falsehoods during a plant visit last week & the Pentagon's awarding a $10BB contract to Microsoft over the expected recipient, Jeff Bezos' Amazon Washington Post.

"The Chosen One." William Cummings of USA Today: "Energy Secretary Rick Perry said in an interview that he told ... Donald Trump that he was God's 'chosen one' to lead the United States, just as he chose the kings to lead Israel in the Old Testament.... 'Barack Obama didn't get to be the president of the United States without being ordained by God. Neither did Donald Trump,' he said in a Fox News interview that aired Sunday, adding that God has used 'individuals who aren't perfect all through history.'" Mrs. McC: My, my, the Lord moves in mysterious ways. (Also linked yesterday.)

Josh Dawsey & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "President Trump has made his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the de facto project manager for constructing his border wall, frustrated with a lack of progress over one of his top priorities as he heads into a tough reelection campaign, according to current and former administration officials. Kushner convenes biweekly meetings in the West Wing, where he questions an array of government officials about progress on the wall, including updates on contractor data, precisely where it will be built and how funding is being spent. He also shares and explains the president's wishes with the group, according to the officials familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations. The president&'s son-in-law and senior adviser is pressing U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expedite the process of taking over private land needed for the project as the government seeks to meet Trump's goal of erecting 450 miles of barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border by the end of 2020. More than 800 filings to seize private property will need to be made in the coming months if the government is going to succeed, officials aid." The Hill has a summary report here.

Michael E. Hayden of the Southern Poverty Law Center: "Stephen Miller linked immigration to violence in emails to Breitbart News.... 'It has never been easier in American history for illegal aliens to commit crimes of violence against Americans,' Miller, now White House senior policy adviser, argued in a Jan. 5, 2016, email.... Miller read an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal that debunked a connection between immigration and crime, the emails show, but he chose to ignore it. Jason L. Riley, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, noted in the op-ed that 'numerous studies going back more than a century have shown that immigrants -- regardless of nationality or legal status -- are less likely than the native population to commit violent crimes or to be incarcerated.' In a July 15, 2015, email to Breitbart, Miller dismissed Riley's writing as being 'more lies about new [A]merica,' borrowing language found in white nationalist writing about evolving demographics." Mrs. McC: Wingers almost always dismiss inconvenient facts and usually disparage the fact-tellers.

Dennis Jett in the Atlantic: "As the rich get richer, the ambassadors get worse.... As the cost of American presidential campaigns skyrockets, as wealthy Americans flex their muscles within the American political system, and as the selling of ambassadorships for cold, hard cash becomes more and more overt.... No other developed democratic country -- and perhaps no other country in the world -- would entrust any part of its foreign policy to someone like Gordon Sondland.... Sondland is an egregious case, but Trump's predecessors made similar appointments for similar reasons. The three-week 'charm school' that new ambassadors attend is not enough to turn donors into diplomats. Four ambassadors appointed by Barack Obama performed so badly that, once the State Department inspector general issued reports on how poorly their embassies were run, they all resigned immediately." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

David Kusnet, in the New Republic, suggests that Anonymous, the author of a New York Times op-ed & a book about Trump's reckless presidency is likely Guy Snodgrass, "an apolitical retired Navy commander who became chief speechwriter for former Defense Secretary James Mattis. If so, he behaved ethically when he wrote an unsigned op-ed and contracted to expand it into a book."

Presidential Race 2020, Sort of

Julia Craven of Slate reminds us that John Delaney, who hasn't made the Democratic presidential debate cut since July, is still in the race. And he can do something that Trump can't do (and neither can I):

Lots of people "jumping" into the race so I decided to do a few sets of 10 box jumps on the 30 inch platform as a warmup to my workout! pic.twitter.com/u2SQwCp3ra

— John Delaney (@JohnDelaney) November 24, 2019

Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "The world has squandered so much time mustering the action necessary to combat climate change that rapid, unprecedented cuts in greenhouse gas emissions offer the only hope of averting an ever-intensifying cascade of consequences, according to new findings from the United Nations. Already, the past year has brought devastating hurricanes, relentless wildfires and crippling heat waves, prompting millions of protesters to take to the streets to demand more attention to a problem that seems increasingly urgent. Amid that growing pressure to act, Tuesday's U.N. report offers a grim assessment of how off-track the world remains. Global temperatures are on pace to rise as much as 3.9 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, according to the United Nations' annual 'emissions gap' report, which assesses the difference between the world's current path and the changes needed to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate accord." The Guardian's report is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Kentucky. Joe Sonka of the Louisville Courier Journal: "Gov. Matt Bevin has pardoned a man serving a life sentence for sexually abusing and sodomizing his 6-year-old stepdaughter 20 years ago. In his pardon and commutation order on Friday, Bevin wrote that Paul Donel Hurt had been wrongly convicted in Jefferson County in 2001 of three counts of sodomy in the first degree and two counts of sexual abuse in the first degree.... In 2015, Hurt's accuser recanted her testimony in an evidentiary hearing. However, the trial court did not set aside the conviction, with Jefferson Circuit Judge Audra Jean Eckerle ruling that her recantation was an inconsistent, 'shifting account' that was 'no more likely to be true than false.' The Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld that ruling in August 2018, noting that after the retirement of Jefferson Circuit Judge Stephen Mershon -- the judge in the original conviction -- he began corresponding with Hurt in prison and contacted the victim, after which time she recanted.... Bevin issued 15 other pardons on Friday, including one for Justin Derrick Wibbels, who was convicted of wanton murder in Laurel County in 2015. Jerry Thompson was killed in 2014 when his vehicle was struck by a car driven by Wibbels. The governor wrote that Wibbles 'was involved in a tragic accident and has been incarcerated as a result of his conviction for wanton murder. This was not a murder.'"