The Commentariat -- July 26, 2019

I will be out of commission until late tomorrow afternoon. It's possible I'll be able to post a few links tonight, but after that, nada. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Juliegrace Brufke & Niv Elis of the Hill: "The House passed a two-year budget deal Thursday that lifts the debt ceiling and boosts government spending by $320 billion. The legislation would suspend the debt limit through July 2021 and increase spending caps for the next two years, putting the U.S. on track to add an estimated $1.7 trillion to the deficit over the next decade when compared with the billions in automatic spending cuts that would otherwise kick in. Lawmakers passed the package in a 284-149 vote. Sixty-five Republicans voted against the measure, as did 16 Democrats. The legislation now heads to the Senate, which is expected to pass it next week before senators leave town for the August recess. The bill's passage comes just days after President Trump signed off on a deal reached between administration officials, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other congressional leaders."

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate will vote Monday evening to try to override President Trump's vetoes of resolutions blocking his arms deal with Saudi Arabia. Senators locked in the override votes Thursday as they wrapped up their work for the week.... The veto override attempts are widely expected to fall short after the initial resolutions of disapproval passed with 51 and 53 votes -- well short of the 67 votes needed to override a veto. Trump vetoed the three resolutions of disapproval on Wednesday." ...

... Dan De Luce & Robert Windrem of NBC News list 11 "favors" Trump has done for Saudi Arabia since he's becomes president*. Some are very consequential. Mrs. McC: Of course in the most quid-pro-quo, White-House-for-sale Trumpy tradition, the Saudis are doing & have done plenty of favors for Trump, too.

Senate Republicans Oppose Everything about Fair Elections. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader (R-Ky.) blocked two election security measures on Thursday, arguing Democrats are trying to give themselves a 'political benefit.' The move comes a day after former special counsel Robert Mueller warned about election meddling in 2020, saying Russia was laying the groundwork to interfere in the 2020 election 'as we sit here.' Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) had tried to get consent Thursday to pass a House bill that requires the use of paper ballots and includes funding for the Election Assistance Commission. It passed the House 225-184 with one Republican voting for it. But McConnell objected, saying Schumer was trying to pass 'partisan legislation.'... Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) also asked for consent to pass legislation that would require candidates, campaign officials and their family members to notify the FBI of assistance offers from foreign governments. McConnell also objected to that bill." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I am beginning to think this is part of a GOP plot not only to erode voters' confidence in election results but also to give Republicans a fake "basis" to challenge results that go against them. There is no good reason to oppose ballot-box security. Therefore, Republicans' motivations must be self-serving & malevolent. Mitch's remark about the bills giving Democrats a "political benefit" certainly implies he sees election chaos to be a "political benefit" to Republicans. We live in dangerous times. ...

... Zachary Basu & Joe Uchill of Axios: "The Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday released the first part of its redacted report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, focusing on 'Russian efforts against election infrastructure.'... The committee found that the Russian government, beginning in at least 2014 and continuing through at least 2017, directed 'extensive activity' targeting state and local election infrastructure. The committee did not find 'indications that votes were changed, vote tallying systems were manipulated, or that any voter registration data was altered or deleted.'... Michael Daniel, former cybersecurity coordinator for the White House, told the committee that by late August 2016, he had 'already personally concluded that the Russians had attempted to intrude in all 50 states, based on the extent of the activity and the apparent randomness of the attempts.'" ...

     ... The New York Times report, by David Sanger & Catie Edmondson, is here.

Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "The House Oversight and Reform Committee voted on Thursday to authorize subpoenas for senior White House officials' communications via private email accounts and messaging applications, a significant escalation in a years-long, bipartisan effort to learn more about potential violations of federal record-keeping laws. Thursday’s vote by the Democrat-led panel came after the White House refused to turn over the messages voluntarily earlier this month -- including senior adviser Jared Kushner's WhatsApp communications with foreign officials, senior adviser Ivanka Trump's use of a private email account to conduct official business, and former chief strategist Stephen Bannon's use of a personal mobile device for White House business." (Also linked yesterday.)

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump's answers [to the special counsel's questions], submitted in writing and under oath, are receiving new scrutiny after Mr. Mueller agreed in his closely watched congressional testimony this week that some of the president's responses were untruthful.... Mr. Mueller's answer to [Val] Demings [(D-Fla.) regarding Trump's written answers were] a rare moment in which he went beyond his report.... Mr. Trump's answers are becoming additional fodder for the internal debate among House Democrats about whether to open an impeachment inquiry into Mr. Trump, congressional aides said. Notably, one of the two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton accused him of lying under oath." Savage summarizes other matters Democrats are considering as areas of inquiry. Worth a read.

Jonathan Chait: In the last minutes of the Intelligence Committee hearing yesterday, "Mueller confirmed that Russia had blackmail leverage over Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign." Chait runs through the lines of questioning that establish Russia's ability to compromise Trump. Mrs. McC: I suspect Russia's got more on Trump than Schiff & Mueller highlighted. If so, I'll bet Trump knows it. (Also linked yesterday.)

John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "With Republicans united behind the President, Democrats uncertain about how to proceed, and Mueller reluctant to the last to come straight out and say that the President committed impeachable offenses, it looks like Trump's blitzkrieg tactics of demonizing anyone who challenges him, terrorizing potential dissidents on his own side, and relentlessly spouting propaganda over social media may have worked. If so, he will have recorded a historic victory over the bedrock American principles of congressional oversight and equality before the law.... The wanton disrespect that these elected Republicans [on the House committees] showed Mueller was perhaps the most alarming testament yet to Trump's total conquest of the Party." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Tom Nichols in USA Today: "The Republicans once prided themselves on being the toughest opponents of America's enemies. They have now been reduced to inane babbling about conspiracy theories, excusing the Russians, whitewashing the hostile foreign intelligence service called WikiLeaks, and attacking a man of indisputable honor and probity -- a fellow Republican, no less -- all in the name of covering Donald Trump's tracks.... I have never been prouder to be an ex-Republican." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... ** David Corn of Mother Jones: "The former special counsel did not drop any new revelations about the Trump-Russia affair. Yet in a simple but important manner, he reiterated the basics of this scandal -- perhaps the most consequential political scandal in American history.... Russia attacked, and Trump denied the attack happened -- which provided cover for Moscow -- yet attempted to benefit from it. This is a profound act of betrayal. It is the essence of the scandal: A presidential candidate aiding and abetting an assault on the United States.... This is the narrative that Trump has desperately wanted to obstruct and smother since the campaign. He was elected president partly due to the Russian intervention he has refused to fully acknowledge and address.... Whether or not Trump engaged in active collusion with Vladimir Putin's regime, he gained the presidency with covert foreign assistance and then abandoned his most fundamental duty: to protect the United States. Arguably, this is more significant than the obstruction issue, for Trump has permitted a foreign power to get away with perverting the foundation of American democracy." --s

** Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The federal government will resume executions of death-row inmates after a nearly two-decade moratorium, Attorney General William P. Barr said Thursday. The announcement reverses what had been essentially a moratorium on the federal death penalty. The federal government has not executed an inmate since 2003, though prosecutors still seek the death penalty in some cases, including for Dylann S. Roof, an avowed white supremacist who killed nine African-American churchgoers in 2015, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber.... Mr. Barr said that Hugh Hurwitz, the acting director of the Bureau of Prisons, has scheduled executions in December and January for five men convicted of murder. They will take place at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., and additional executions will be scheduled later, Mr. Barr said." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: How to divert attention from Mueller's denunciation of Barr & Trump: execute somebody.

Andrew Napolitano of Fox "News": "When [Trump] loudly called for four members of Congress ... to go back to the places from which they came, he unleashed a torrent of hatred.... Nativist hatred is an implication of moral or even legal superiority that has no constitutional justification in American government... [W]hen the president defies these moral and constitutional norms and tells women of color to 'Go back,' he raises a terrifying specter. The specter is hatred not for ideas he despises but for the people who embrace those ideas. The specter is also a dog whistle to groups around the country that hatred is back in fashion and is acceptable to articulate publicly.... Hatred is so volatile and destructive that, once unleashed, it takes on a life of its own. It is cover for our deepest and darkest instincts." --s

Andrew Kaczynski & Nathan McDermott of CNN: "... Donald Trump's pick for the top spokeswoman job at the Treasury Department repeatedly spread conspiracy theories that suggested then-President Barack Obama was secretly a Muslim who was sympathetic to America's enemies. Monica Crowley, who was appointed by Trump last week as assistant treasury secretary for public affairs, made multiple comments spreading these false claims on her personal blog and in at least one tweet between 2009 and 2015, according to a review by CNN's KFile team. Crowley also endorsed a story claiming Obama was an 'Islamic community organizer' trying to conform the United States to Sharia law and claimed conspiracy theories about Obama's birth certificate were 'legitimate concerns.'... Crowley, formerly a syndicated radio host, columnist and Fox News contributor, was originally chosen by Trump in December 2016 to be the senior director of strategic communications for the National Security Council. She withdrew herself from consideration for that position after CNN's KFile team uncovered extensive plagiarism in her book and doctoral thesis." Mrs. McC: She seems perfect for Team Trump.

Juan Cole: "The House of Representatives on Thursday passed by a 398-17 margin a resolution condemning the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. In so doing, they weakened the US First Amendment of the Constitution, which forbids Congress to censor political speech.... Moreover, this attempt to ban or punish boycotts is a stance of the Far Right and has an ugly history in the white nationalist backlash against the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.... If Congress had its way and could outlaw boycotts of all the causes and businesses dear to their campaign donors, American democracy would be in peril...Economic boycotts have been part and parcel of American political striving for liberty from the beginning. I have three words for you: Boston Tea Party." --s

Tierney Sneed of TPM: "Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham couldn't say on Wednesday whether the citizenship data his agency is helping to collect will be used to drastically change the way political power is doled out across the country to favor the Republican Party...[Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)]... asked Dillingham several questions related to [President Trump's recent executive order directing the government to assemble citizenship data from existing records.]. Dillingham repeatedly struggled to respond and appeared altogether unprepared to answer basic questions about the Census Bureau's plans in following Trump's directive.... Dillingham agreed to respond in writing within 10 days to Pressley's question about apportionment." --s

Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is now working for some of the same oil and mining companies he regulated while at the helm of the Department of Interior, according to Bloomberg.... He has dismissed accusations of corruption and conflict of interest, telling Bloomberg that probes into his actions as secretary are 'BS.'... Federal law blocks government officials from lobbying for a year after they leave their post, and an executive order from President Trump bars such actions for five years after leaving federal service. Zinke said he's abiding by the law because he is advising companies but not lobbying." --s

Tom Porter of Business Insider: "... Donald Trump took to the stage at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Washington, DC, on Tuesday to deliver a speech to thousands of young, cheering supporters at the Turning Point USA conference. But ... no one seemed to notice that there was something subtly different about the presidential seal that was being shown on the screen behind him. Instead of the bald eagle featured in the official seal of the president of the United States, the image featured a double-headed eagle, which bears a striking resemblance to the one on the official coat of arms of the Russian Federation.... And instead of clutching arrows in its left claw, the eagle in the altered image held golf clubs...." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Betsy Klein of CNN: "An audiovisual aide for conservative student group Turning Point USA was fired this week after ... Donald Trump appeared on a stage in front of a parody image of the presidential seal at its Teen Student Action Summit.... TPUSA had event branding on the screens, but during a run through ahead of Trump's remarks a few hours before the event, the team was told they had to change the branding to a presidential seal...." Mrs. McC: "was told?" By whom? I'd guess it was some crack advance person at the White House. And instead of sending over a high-res image of the seal, the White House guy (I'm guessing) left it to a TPUSA AV aide to punt. He did. And he got fired for his trouble. (Also linked yesterday.)

Congressional Race 2020. This Is Going Well. Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "A pro-Trump Republican candidate for Congress who is aiming to unseat Ilhan Omar in Minnesota has been charged with a felony after allegedly stealing from stores. Danielle Stella was arrested twice this year in Minneapolis suburbs over allegations that she shoplifted items worth more than $2,300 from a Target and goods valued at $40 from a grocery store. She said she denied the allegations. Stella, a 31-year-old special education teacher, was reported this week to be a supporter of the baseless 'QAnon' conspiracy theory about Donald Trump battling a global cabal of elite liberal paedophiles.... In a series of text messages, Stella said:'I am not guilty of these crimes....'"

GOP Embraces Socialism. Reuters: "The US government will pay American farmers hurt by the trade war with China between $15 and $150 per acre in an aid package totaling $16bn with farmers in the South poised to see higher rates than in the midwest.... The assistance, starting in mid-to-late August, follows the president's $12bn package last year that was aimed at making up for lower farm good prices and lost sales." --s

Coral Davenport & Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "Four of the world's largest automakers have struck a deal with California to reduce automobile emissions, siding with the state in its fight with President Trump over one of his most consequential regulatory rollbacks. In coming weeks, the Trump administration is expected to all but eliminate an Obama-era regulation designed to reduce vehicle emissions that contribute to global warming. California and 13 other states have vowed to keep enforcing the stricter rules, potentially splitting the United States auto market in two. With car companies facing the prospect of having to build two separate lineups of vehicles, they opened secretive talks with California regulators in which the automakers -- Ford Motor Company, Volkswagen of America, Honda and BMW -- won slightly less restrictive rules that they can apply to vehicles sold nationwide."

Way Beyond the Beltway

U.K. Thomas Colson of Business Insider: "Prime Minister Boris Johnson's opponents have accused him of creating a 'Cabinet from hell' after he appointed a home secretary with a history of supporting the death penalty, a deputy who has called feminists 'obnoxious bigots,' and multiple ministers who voted against legislation for same-sex marriage. Johnson, who became prime minister on Wednesday, conducted the most brutal cabinet purge in modern UK political history, as ministers who backed his rival Jeremy Hunt were thrown out of Cabinet.... Pledging to deliver Britain's exit from the European Union by October 31, with 'no ifs or buts,' Johnson fired 17 Cabinet ministers and gave many top jobs to members of Parliament who had been involved in the Vote Leave [pro-Brexit campaign]." ...

... Heather Stewart, et al., of the Guardian: "Brussels has roundly rebuffed Boris Johnson after he laid down tough conditions for the new Brexit deal he hopes to strike over the summer.... The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, signalled the EU27's determination to stick with the deal negotiated with Theresa May's government.... In a speech [before Parliament] that was loudly cheered by many Conservative MPs, [Johnson] said all members of his new cabinet were committed to leaving the EU on 31 October 'whatever the circumstances -- and to do otherwise would cause a catastrophic loss of confidence in our political system'."

News Lede

USA Today: "A large asteroid 'narrowly' missed the Earth overnight Wednesday, astronomers announced. According to NASA, the space rock was an estimated 187 to 427 feet wide. 'The closest it came to Earth was just under 45,000 miles, a safe distance, but still much less than the distance between the Earth and moon,' Astronomy magazine said. The moon is about 239,000 miles from the Earth. The rock was a shock: 'It snuck up on us pretty quickly,' Michael Brown, an associate professor in Australia..., told the Washington Post. 'People are only sort of realizing what happened pretty much after it's already flung past us.'"

The Commentariat -- July 25, 2019

Afternoon Update:

** Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The federal government will resume executions of death-row inmates after a nearly two-decade moratorium, Attorney General William P. Barr said Thursday. The announcement reverses what had been essentially a moratorium on the federal death penalty. The federal government has not executed an inmate since 2003, though prosecutors still seek the death penalty in some cases, including for Dylann S. Roof, an avowed white supremacist who killed nine African-American churchgoers in 2015, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber.... Mr. Barr said that Hugh Hurwitz, the acting director of the Bureau of Prisons, has scheduled executions in December and January for five men convicted of murder. They will take place at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., and additional executions will be scheduled later, Mr. Barr said." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: How to divert attention from Mueller's denunciation of Barr & Trump: execute somebody.

Senate Republicans Oppose Everything about Fair Elections. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blocked two election security measures on Thursday, arguing Democrats are trying to give themselves a 'political benefit.' The move comes a day after former special counsel Robert Mueller warned about election meddling in 2020, saying Russia was laying the groundwork to interfere in the 2020 election 'as we sit here.' Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) had tried to get consent Thursday to pass a House bill that requires the use of paper ballots and includes funding for the Election Assistance Commission. It passed the House 225-184 with one Republican voting for it. But McConnell objected, saying Schumer was trying to pass 'partisan legislation.'... Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) also asked for consent to pass legislation that would require candidates, campaign officials and their family members to notify the FBI of assistance offers from foreign governments. McConnell also objected to that bill." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I am beginning to wonder if this is part of a GOP plot not only to erode voters' confidence in election results but also to give Republicans a fake "basis" to challenge results that go against them.

Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "The House Oversight and Reform Committee voted on Thursday to authorize subpoenas for senior White House officials' communications via private email accounts and messaging applications, a significant escalation in a years-long, bipartisan effort to learn more about potential violations of federal record-keeping laws. Thursday's vote by the Democrat-led panel came after the White House refused to turn over the messages voluntarily earlier this month -- including senior adviser Jared Kushner's WhatsApp communications with foreign officials..., Ivanka Trump's use of a private email account to conduct official business, and ... Stephen Bannon's use of a personal mobile device for White House business."

Jonathan Chait: In the last minutes of the Intelligence Committee hearing yesterday, "Mueller confirmed that Russia had blackmail leverage over Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign." Chait runs through the lines of questioning that establish Russia's ability to compromise Trump. Mrs. McC: I suspect Russia's got more on Trump than Schiff & Mueller highlighted. If so, I'll bet Trump knows it.

John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "With Republicans united behind the President, Democrats uncertain about how to proceed, and Mueller reluctant to the last to come straight out and say that the President committed impeachable offenses, it looks like Trump's blitzkrieg tactics of demonizing anyone who challenges him, terrorizing potential dissidents on his own side, and relentlessly spouting propaganda over social media may have worked. If so, he will have recorded a historic victory over the bedrock American principles of congressional oversight and equality before the law.... The wanton disrespect that these elected Republicans [on the House committees] showed Mueller was perhaps the most alarming testament yet to Trump's total conquest of the Party." ...

... Tom Nichols in USA Today: "The Republicans once prided themselves on being the toughest opponents of America's enemies. They have now been reduced to inane babbling about conspiracy theories, excusing the Russians, whitewashing the hostile foreign intelligence service called WikiLeaks, and attacking a man of indisputable honor and probity -- a fellow Republican, no less -- all in the name of covering Donald Trump's tracks.... I have never been prouder to be an ex-Republican."

Tom Porter of Business Insider: "... Donald Trump took to the stage at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Washington, DC, on Tuesday to deliver a speech to thousands of young, cheering supporters at the Turning Point USA conference. But ... no one seemed to notice that there was something subtly different about the presidential seal that was being shown on the screen behind him. Instead of the bald eagle featured in the official seal of the president of the United States, the image featured a double-headed eagle, which bears a striking resemblance to the one on the official coat of arms of the Russian Federation.... And instead of clutching arrows in its left claw, the eagle in the altered image held golf clubs...." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ...

... Betsy Klein of CNN: "An audiovisual aide for conservative student group Turning Point USA was fired this week after ... Donald Trump appeared on a stage in front of a parody image of the presidential seal at its Teen Student Action Summit.... TPUSA had event branding on the screens, but during a run through ahead of Trump's remarks a few hours before the event, the team was told they had to change the branding to a presidential seal...." Mrs. McC: "was told?" By whom? I'd guess it was the crack White House advance team. And instead of sending over a high-res image of the seal, the White House guy (I'm guessing) left it to a TPUSA AV aide to punt. He did. And he got fired for his trouble.

~~~~~~~~~~

Grace Segers of CBS News: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shied away from advocating for impeachment in response to former special counsel Robert Mueller's testimony before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees.] The American people now realize more fully the crimes that were committed against our Constitution,' Pelosi said in the Capitol of Mueller's testimony. 'It is a crossing of a threshold in terms of the public awareness of what happened,' she later said during a news conference following Mueller's testimony. But she stopped short of advocating for impeachment right now. 'My position has always been, whatever decision we made in that regard would have to be with our strongest possible hand, and we still have some matters outstanding in the courts,' Pelosi said, arguing that Democrats needed more information before considering impeachment." Mrs. McC: For what it's worth, I thought she got a little closer to impeachment than she has in the past. Later in the day, some opinionators backed me up, including Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), who I think is a long-time friend of Pelosi's. ...

     ... Update. John Bresnahan, et al., of Politico: "House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler pushed to launch impeachment proceedings against ... Donald Trump during a closed-door meeting Wednesday, only to be rebuffed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to four sources familiar with the discussions. At a caucus meeting following the hotly anticipated testimony of special counsel Robert Mueller, Nadler suggested that several House committee chairs could begin drafting articles of impeachment against Trump. Pelosi called the idea premature, said the sources."

Politico fronts with a banner headline: "'Euphoria': White House, GOP exult after a flat Mueller performance." Eliana Johnson & Melanie Zanona: "The tense opening moments of former special counsel Robert Mueller's much-anticipated testimony on Capitol Hill gave way to an early sense of relief at the White House, where aides were quietly celebrating what they viewed as disjointed questioning from Democrats and a weak performance from the star witness himself. Mueller, whose steely reputation has cast a long shadow over the Trump's tenure, proved -- at least in th early offing -- a less formidable witness in the flesh than Democrats had hoped, offering up clipped, monosyllabic responses and repeatedly asking lawmakers to repeat their questions. Watching from the White House, at least one Trump aide said the former FBI director, who spent some 22 months investigating the president, simply seemed past his prime and incapable of doing Trump much harm.... 'We had a very good day today, the Republican Party,' Trump told reporters as he prepared to depart for a fundraiser in West Virginia. 'There was no defense of what Robert Mueller was trying to defend.... There was no defense to this ridiculous hoax, this witch hunt.'" ...

     ... Mrs. Bea MCrabbie: White House staff isn't wrong about Mueller's performance, but they seem to be forgetting the House isn't finished.

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Here's snippet from Adam Schiff's closing questions to Bob Mueller:

Adam Schiff: ... From your testimony today, I gather than knowingly accepting assistance from a foreign government is an unethical thing to do. ...

Robert Mueller: And a crime. [pause] Given certain circumstances.

... Mrs. McCrabbie: You can hear the full exchange in this video which Schiff posted on YouTube. Mueller volunteered, unbidden, that accepting help from foreign governments was a crime, an assertion he quickly qualified. The Mueller report details & Mueller agreed in testimony yesterday, Donald Trump repeatedly sought & received campaign help from Russians. The Mueller report explains that Don Jr., Jared Kushner & even Paul Manafort were too damned dumb to know that they were breaking the law when they met with Russians to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. BUT. We know Donald Trump, Sr. thought this meeting was at least dodgy because he went to some lengths to concoct a series of lies about it. On August 17, 2016, Trump Sr. received an FBI briefing warning him he could be a target of Russian spies. "Trump would have been told, 'If you see these kinds of contacts please let us know about them so we can keep you updated on the threat picture,' said Frank Montoya, a former FBI counterintelligence agent...." Trump apparently never contacted the FBI, and he absolutely knew about Russian contacts because Michael Cohen was regularly briefing him on the Moscow Tower deal up until June 2016 & possibly until November 2016, & Trump also knew in advance about the Russia/Wikileaks dumps. So didn't Mueller just spontaneously tell us Donald Trump committed another crime?

Mrs. McCrabbie: It seems to me Democrats did the best job possible with a very reluctant witness, who refused even to read from his own report & declined to answer questions at least 200 times over the course of the day. As a number of you have suggested or said outright, the last act of Bob Mueller, American hero, was a great disservice to the country.

Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) opened the Intelligence Commitee session with impressive remarks about "the story of the 2016 election":

... Schiff subsequently questioned Mueller:

In the Intel Committee hearing, Mueller told Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) that Trump's repeated public embrace of WikiLeaks -- which he had identified earlier as "a hostile foreign entity" -- was more than problematic: "Problematic is an understatement in terms of what it displays, giving some hope or some boost to what is and should be illegal activity."

... Also in the Intel Committee hearing, Rep. Sean Maloney (D-NY) asked Mueller why he didn't pursue a subpoena of Trump. A very interesting exchange:

... Another highlight of the afternoon hearing: PBS: "... Robert Mueller told Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., that ... Donald Trump did not answer many questions that were asked as part of the Russia investigation. 'Isn't it fair to say that the president's written answers were not only inadequate and incomplete, because he didn't answer many of your questions, but where he did that his answers showed he wasn't always being truthful?' Demings asked Mueller. 'I would say generally,' Mueller said":

Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "Towards the end of Robert Mueller's testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, the former special counsel indicated that the FBI is currently investigating matters of blackmail and compromise involving those [who] were in ... Donald Trump's orbit. During his allotted time, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) noted that because it was outside the Mueller investigation's purview, the final report did not reach any counterintelligence conclusions regarding 'any Trump administration officials who may be vulnerable to compromise or blackmail by Russia.'... The Illinois lawmaker [later] noted that Mueller had charged former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn with making false statements about his conversations with Russian officials. 'Since it was outside the purview of your investigation, your report did not address how Flynn's false statements could pose a national security risk, because the Russians knew the falsity of those statements, right?' Krishnamoorthi wondered. 'I cannot get into that, mainly because there are many elements that the FBI are looking into different aspects of that issue,' Mueller said in response. 'Currently?' Krishnamoorthi quizzically replied. 'Currently,' the one-time FBI chief confirmed." Includes video. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Julie Davis & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times assert in their lede in the Times' top story that "Robert S. Mueller III offered no new revelations on Wednesday into Russia's interference in the 2016 elections or President Trump's attempts to derail his probe." But I think the revelation that the FBI is still investigating Trump's associates -- and maybe Trump himself -- as security risks because of their international entanglements is pretty explosive. I hope Jared was watching.

Jerry Nadler began the questioning of Robert Mueller, in what was a highlight of Wednesday morning's Judiciary Committee hearing:

... Ted Lieu elicits the most significant response from Mueller re: obstruction:

     ... Ted Lieu is one of the sharpest tacks on the board. Update: Mueller tried to clean up his response to Lieu during the afternoon session before the House Intelligence Committee, "correcting" his answer to say he "did not make a determination" on obstruction. So Wow! followed by "never mind." ...

     ... Here are Andrew Desiderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico on the correction: "Mueller, however, corrected himself during the second portion of his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, saying, 'That is not the correct way to say it.' Mueller clarified his response by noting instead that the Justice Department policy that prohibits the indictment of a sitting president meant that he 'did not reach a determination as to whether the president committed a crime.'" That's not quite a reversal of his initial testimony. P.S. The Politico report is a pretty good summary of what's transpired so far. Matt Ford, in his column linked below suggested Mueller may have reworded his answer because he realized "that he had let something slip past his shield of impartiality." ...

     ... Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "... the one bit of news that seemed to have been news has been clarified back into the same exact legal language as was carefully crafted in the report. It was a misstep that was misunderstood and then retracted, a perfect capsule performance of how dragging an unwilling witness into a polemical hearing was never going to go well."

... Jonathan Chait: "Democrats tried fruitlessly to lead Mueller to his own conclusions. Two Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, Hakeem Jeffries and Ted Lieu, walked the witness through the three stated elements of an obstructive act defined in the Mueller report: an obstructive act, a nexus with an official proceeding, and corrupt intent. Jeffries went sequentially through the elements, getting Mueller to agree that Trump's actions had fulfilled each one. But then Mueller interjected, 'Let me just say, if I might, I don't subscribe necessarily to your -- the way you analyzed that. I'm not saying it's out of the ballpark, but I'm not supportive of that analytical charge.' He agreed that it was 1 + 1 + 1, but would not agree that it added up to 3. He was not denying, it either -- merely hewing to his ultrafastidious conception of a uniquely constrained prosecutor who could lay out the constituent pieces of a crime but could only leave it to Congress to name the final product. This was a key vulnerability Republicans used against Mueller.... Despite the copious evidence he produced, the lack of bottom-line conclusion allowed Republicans to define it as exoneration and dare Mueller to disagree." Mrs. McC: I highlighted that one clause only because I think it's fine writing. ...

... David Graham of the Atlantic: "... because Mueller had decided at the outset of his report that he could not and would not charge the president with crimes, thanks to Justice Department guidance and in the interest of fairness, Mueller did not make the otherwise obvious jump from laying out the ways that Trump's behavior met the three-prong test to actually stating that Trump obstructed justice. During [Wednesday's] House Judiciary Committee hearing, Democratic Representative Hakeem Jeffries sought to demonstrate the disconnect by walking Mueller through the three-prong test.... Mueller, seeing the trick, tried to cut it off.... During the next round of Democratic questions, Representative Ted Lieu executed a similar maneuver, and Mueller once again tried to put the cat back in the bag.... But by then, the point was made: Mueller himself had acknowledged all the ways that Trump's behavior met all three prongs of the test for obstruction of justice."

Almost Everything You Need to Know about Republicans' Interrogations. Eric Levitz of New York: "... in questioning the former special counsel Wednesday morning, Republicans cast their president as the victim of an illegitimate, partisan witch hunt -- which nevertheless totally exonerated him of all wrongdoing. Specifically, GOP lawmakers asserted that the Mueller investigation had concluded that neither Trump nor anyone in his campaign 'colluded, collaborated or conspired with the Russians'; that this finding was inevitable, since the entire investigation was triggered by a fraudulent dossier; that Trump knew he was entirely innocent and therefore could have legitimately ended Mueller's probe if he'd wished; that Trump nevertheless graciously refrained from impeding the investigation; and that Mueller ultimately betrayed Trump's good-faith cooperation by releasing an 'extra prosecutorial' analysis of the president's potential acts of obstruction, in defiance of Justice Department regulations and the core principles of the American legal system. All of which were lies." [Levitz writes] "a quick debunking of the five false premises in the GOP's counternarrative[.]"

David Corn of Mother Jones: "Whether or not Trump engaged in active collusion with Vladimir Putin's regime, he gained the presidency with covert foreign assistance and then abandoned his most fundamental duty: to protect the United States. Arguably, this is more significant than the obstruction issue, for Trump has permitted a foreign power to get away with perverting the foundation of American democracy.... A US election was hijacked. Trump stood by as it happened and profited from it. And ever since he has attempted to cover up this original sin of his presidency. At the hearing..., in the quiet way of an institutionalist who respects norms and rules, Mueller made it clear: Trump engaged in treachery. This is not news. But it remains a defining element of the Trump presidency that deserves constant attention."

Politico Magazine rounds up some legal experts' opinions on the effects of the hearings.

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump started shouting on Twitter before 7 a.m. on Wednesday, venting about what he called the 'Greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. history' as Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, was headed to Capitol Hill to testify in the Russia inquiry.... By 8:10, the president had posted seven more times, delivering a kind of Twitter greatest hits -- punctuated by capital letters and exclamation points -- in which he portrayed himself as the innocent victim of an illegal crusade by Mr. Mueller, Democrats and the country's intelligence community. He said that his accusers were part of an 'illegal and treasonous attack on our Country.'... On Tuesday, Mr. Trump had shrugged off the impending testimony, telling reporters that he would not watch the hearings on Wednesday, then admitting that 'maybe I'll see a little bit of it.' But the president's early morning online activities betrayed his real intentions, indicating once again that Mr. Trump appeared consumed by the investigation that had dominated much of his presidency.... Wednesday morning, Mr. Trump appeared to threaten Mr. Mueller with prosecution for lying to Congress if the special counsel claimed during his testimony that he did not apply for the job of F.B.I. Director the day before he was appointed to lead the Russia probe. 'Hope he doesn't say that under oath in that we have numerous witnesses to the interview, including the Vice President of the United States!.'..." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: On that last point, it looks as if Mueller's friend Bill Barr will be prosecuting him. During the hearing, Louie Goemert asked a question predicated on the assertion that Mueller applied to Trump for the FBI job. Though Goemert was talking over Mueller, I believe Mueller said something to the effect of "I didn't apply for the job." Update: Later, Greg Steube (R) asked Mueller about applying for the FBI job, & Mueller said he did not. He said the purpose of the interview with Trump was to inform Trump about what the FBI director's job involved (paraphrase). Get out your handcuffs, Sheriff Bill. ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: One thing I found funny: a Democrat (I forget who) asked Mueller to put his conclusions on obstruction in plain English so the American people could understand what-all he found. Mueller's response: "The president was not exculpated for the acts that he allegedly committed." Exculpated? Really? What percentage of voters knows what that means? Plain English for thee, Bob, but not for me.

Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times writes a fairly good summary of "what we learned" from the hearings.

On substance, Democrats got what they wanted: that Mueller didn't charge Pres. Trump because of the OLC guidance, that he could be indicted after he leaves office, among other things. But on optics, this was a disaster. -- Chuck Todd, in a tweet, Wednesday ...

... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Maria Bustillos in the Columbia Journalism Review: "... Chuck Todd managed to demonstrate, with uncharacteristic brevity, his basic misunderstanding of the requirements of his job[.]... Todd's focus on the 'entertainment' aspect of politics coverage is often in evidence -- for example, in his own recent performance as moderator in the Democratic presidential debate. He managed to talk more than all but three of the candidates, even as he demanded that they keep their own answers brief.... For Chuck Todd all the political world's a stage, and he's the star. And it's not just Todd. Other MSNBC anchors reacted to the Mueller hearings similarly, finding fault with the Democrats', and Mueller's, lack of pizazz as performers." ...

... It Wasn't Just Chuck & the Gang. Matt Ford of the New Republic: "Even before Robert Mueller's appearance before Congress on Wednesday reached the halfway point, some [D.C. reporters] concluded that it was a major setback for impeaching ... Donald Trump.... The focus on congressional theatrics and [Mueller's] demeanor misses the point. In substantive terms, the former special counsel in the Russia investigation affirmed several key interpretations of his report and its findings.... While the political press was busy lamenting that Mueller didn't break character and accuse the president of impeachable crimes, it missed the news: Mueller, in his own way, underscored the case for Trump's impeachment.... It's no surprise that those who view impeachment as a cable-news narrative saw little of value in Mueller's hearing. There were no bombshells to be found, but that's largely because the bombs have already gone off." ...

... Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times has more on pundits' analysis of the Mueller's "performance." Mrs. McC: But I think the problems were not his sometimes shaky grasp of the particulars of the report (and that time he couldn't remember the word "conspiracy"), but his self-imposed limitations on his own testimony. There were no doubt some matters Mueller could not discuss for valid reasons like ongoing investigations & national security considerations. But, as Matthew Miller said (cited by Grynbaum), "It would have been better for him to come to Congress ready to answer questions about the president's conduct and how it should be interpreted, rather than punting over and over again." Exactly.

Senate GOP Responds to Mueller's Warnings about Foreign Election Interference. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Republicans blocked two election security bills and a cybersecurity measure on Wednesday in the wake of ... Robert Mueller warning about meddling attempts during his public testimony before congressional lawmakers. Democrats tried to get consent to pass two bills that would require campaigns to alert the FBI and Federal Election Commission about foreign offers of assistance, as well as a bill to let the Senate Sergeant at Arms offer voluntary cyber assistance for personal devices and accounts of senators and staff. But Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) blocked each of the bills. She didn't give reason for her objections, or say if she was objecting o behalf of herself or the Senate GOP caucus." Mrs. McC: Apparently GOP senators are assuming all the foreign hacking & fake Facebook posts will inure to their benefit.

Zachary Cohen & Betsy Klein of CNN: "... Donald Trump has vetoed three joint resolutions prohibiting arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the White House announced Wednesday, rejecting an attempt by congressional lawmakers to halt the controversial weapons transfers. In messages to the Senate, Trump announced he was returning the bipartisan bills that would have blocked licensing for certain arms sales in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, France, Spain and Italy."

Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "The Justice Department will not bring criminal charges against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross after the Democrat-led House voted last week to hold them in contempt. In a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said the Cabinet officials' defiance of congressional subpoenas seeking information about the 2020 census 'did not constitute a crime.' Lawmakers never expected the Justice Department to prosecute its own leader and another cabinet official, but Rosen's letter represented the department's formal response to a House vote that, in effect, referred Barr and Ross for criminal prosecution."

Andrew Harris of Bloomberg: "... Donald Trump asked a federal judge for an emergency order keeping House Democrats from getting -- or even asking for -- his New York State tax returns. One day after the president sued to block the House Ways and Means Committee from obtaining those records under a newly enacted New York State law, he petitioned the court to stifle any such request before it's made by Committee Chairman Richard Neal [D-Mass.]... U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden in Washington set a July 25 hearing on Trump's request. Neal hasn't committed to asking for the returns. They were placed within reach by the TRUST Act, a measure signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo earlier this month. It compels the state's tax department to comply with the House committee records requests. Trump wants the court to invalidate the law too."

Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News: "Delivering a painful defeat to the Trump administration's most sweeping effort to single-handedly overhaul the asylum system without Congress, a federal judge on Wednesday blocked a rule that made most migrants from Central America and other countries ineligible for asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. Judge Jon Tigar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California agreed to issue a temporary injunction halting the policy while he reviews the merits of a legal challenge spearheaded by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In his order, Tigar seemed to agree with the concerns raised by the plaintiffs that policy could result in the U.S. government sending asylum seekers back to dangerous circumstances just because they did not seek protection in countries like Mexico." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Jonathan Dienst & Tom Winter of NBC News: "Jeffrey Epstein, the millionaire financier who is being held on federal sex trafficking charges, was found injured and in a fetal position in his cell at a New York City jail, sources close to the investigation told NBC News on Wednesday night. Epstein, 66, was found semi-conscious with marks on his neck in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan some time in the last two days, the sources said. Epstein is on suicide watch, two sources said. Two sources told NBC News that Epstein may have tried to hang himself, while a third source cautioned that the injuries weren't serious, questioning whether Epstein might have staged an attack or a suicide attempt to get a transfer to another facility."

Beyond the Beltway

** Puerto Rico. Patricia Mazzei & Frances Robles of the New York Times: "Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló of Puerto Rico announced his resignation on Wednesday night, conceding that he could no longer credibly remain in power after an extraordinary popular uprising and looming impeachment proceedings had derailed his administration. In a statement posted online just before midnight, Mr. Rosselló, 40, said he would step down on Aug. 2. He said his successor for the moment would be the secretary of justice, Wanda Vázquez, a former district attorney who once headed the island's office of women's affairs. Ms. Vázquez was next in line under the commonwealth's Constitution because the secretary of state, who would have succeeded Mr. Rosselló as governor, resigned last week when he also was caught up in a chat scandal that enveloped the administration."

Way Beyond

So Boris Johnson -- the "Britain Trump," according to the United States Trump -- is now the Britain Prime Minister. He has been to London to visit the Queen. ...

... Maybe Elizabeth will like him, because "her people" picked him out. Joe Roberts of U.K. Metro News: "Boris Johnson has been elected as prime minister by 92,000 people who are predominately male, white, middle-class pensioners. It's not the first time a prime minister has been elected without a general election, but many are questioning why our new leader should be chosen by 0.14 per cent of Britain's population. Experts have looked closely at the Conservative membership and found it is 'entirely unrepresentative' of the general population based on gender, wealth, ethnicity and their hard-line attitudes against Brussels. Research has confirmed that 70% of party members are male and 97% are white British. The average age is 57, although over 40% of the group is aged 65 or above." Eighty-six percent are wealthy.

News Lede

New York Times: "Never in recorded history has Paris been hotter than it was on Thursday. The same was true of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, as temperatures rose and records tumbled one by one across Western Europe, scorching the continent and sending residents scrambling to seek relief from a dangerous heat wave. In Paris, the temperature soared to 42.6 degrees Celsius (108.7 Fahrenheit), breaking a record set in 1947, 40.4 degrees Celsius, according to the French national weather service, which said the temperatures could rise further. Some 20 million people in northern France were expected to be affected by the heat."

The Commentariat -- July 24, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

In the Intelligence Committee hearing, Mueller told Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) that Trump's repeated public embrace of WikiLeaks -- which he had identified earlier as "a hostile foreign entity" -- was more than problematic: "Problematic is an understatement in terms of what it displays, giving some hope or some boost to what is and should be illegal activity."

... Also in the Intelligence Committee hearing, Rep. Sean Maloney (D-NY) asked Mueller why he didn't pursue a subpoena of Trump. A very interesting exchange:

... Another highlight of the afternoon hearing: PBS: "... Robert Mueller told Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., that ... Donald Trump did not answer many questions that were asked as part of the Russia investigation. 'Isn't it fair to say that the president's written answers were not only inadequate and incomplete, because he didn't answer many of your questions, but where he did that his answers showed he wasn't always being truthful?' Demings asked Mueller. 'I would say generally,' Mueller said":

Jerry Nadler began the questioning of Robert Mueller, in what was a highlight of this morning's Judiciary Committee hearing:

... Ted Lieu elicits the most significant response from Mueller re: obstruction:

      ... Ted Lieu is one of the sharpest tacks on the board. Update: Mueller tried to clean up his response to Lieu during the afternoon session before the House Intelligence Committee, "correcting" his answer to say he "did not make a determination" on obstruction. So Wow! followed by "never mind." ...

     ... Here are Andrew Desiderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico on the correction: "Mueller, however, corrected himself during the second portion of his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, saying, 'That is not the correct way to say it.' Mueller clarified his response by noting instead that the Justice Department policy that prohibits the indictment of a sitting president meant that he 'did not reach a determination as to whether the president committed a crime.'" That's not quite a reversal of his initial testimony. The Politico report is a pretty good summary of what's transpired so far.

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump started shouting on Twitter before 7 a.m. on Wednesday, venting about what he called the 'Greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. history' as Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, was headed to Capitol Hill to testify in the Russia inquiry.... By 8:10, the president had posted seven more times, delivering a kind of Twitter greatest hits --; punctuated by capital letters and exclamation points -- in which he portrayed himself as the innocent victim of an illegal crusade by Mr. Mueller, Democrats and the country's intelligence community. He said that his accusers were part of an 'illegal and treasonous attack on our Country.'... On Tuesday, Mr. Trump had shrugged off the impending testimony, telling reporters that he would not watch the hearings on Wednesday, then admitting that 'maybe I'll see a little bit of it.' But the president's early morning online activities betrayed his real intentions, indicating once again that Mr. Trump appeared consumed by the investigation that had dominated much of his presidency.... Wednesday morning, Mr. Trump appeared to threaten Mr. Mueller with prosecution for lying to Congress if the special counsel claimed during his testimony that he did not apply for the job of F.B.I. Director the day before he was appointed to lead the Russia probe. 'Hope he doesn't say that under oath in that we have numerous witnesses to the interview, including the Vice President of the United States!.'..." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: On that last point, it looks as if Mueller's friend Bill Barr will be prosecuting him. During the hearing, Louie Goemert asked a question predicated on the assertion that Mueller applied to Trump for the FBI job. Though Goemert was talking over Mueller, I believe Mueller said something to the effect of "I didn't apply for the job." Update: Later, Greg Steube (R) asked Mueller about applying for the FBI job, & Mueller said he did not. He said the purpose of the interview with Trump was to inform Trump about what the FBI director's job involved (paraphrase). Get out your handcuffs, Sheriff Bill.

~~~~~~~~~~

... Again. New York Times reporters are liveblogging the Mueller hearings. There is also a livefeed of the hearings on the linked page. ...

... Robert Mueller is scheduled to begin testifying before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday morning at 8:30 am ET.

Morgan Chalfont of the Hill: "House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Tuesday told former special counsel Robert Mueller that the Justice Department's instruction that he limit his testimony to the four corners of his public report should have 'no bearing' on his congressional appearance. Schiff, who wrote to Mueller on the eve of his highly-anticipated testimony on Capitol Hill, also accused the Justice Department of trying to obstruct legitimate investigations by Congress by saying that Mueller's testimony should remain within the boundaries of his 448-page redacted report. 'The DOJ Letter attempts unduly to circumscribe your testimony and represents yet another attempt by the Trump Administration to obstruct the authorized oversight activity and legitimate investigations of the Committee,' Schiff wrote to Mueller in a letter provided by a committee aide Tuesday evening." ...

... Lawrence O'Donnell reported that Jerry Nadler, the Judiciary Committee chair, wrote a similar letter to Mueller Tuesday night. The letter seems to be consistent with remarks Nadler made in a CNN interview earlier in the day.

Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Robert S. Mueller III's longtime right-hand aide will appear beside him at the witness table during Wednesday's hearing with the House Judiciary Committee to assist as needed as the former special counsel answers questions about his investigation, people familiar with the hearing said. The Judiciary Committee signed off on the unusual arrangement after Mr. Mueller made a last-minute request that the aide, Aaron Zebley, be sworn in as a witness alongside him. If Democrats had agreed, lawmakers could have questioned Mr. Zebley directly, potentially upending carefully laid plans by Democrats and Republicans over how to use their scant time with Mr. Mueller. Instead, as a counsel to Mr. Mueller, Mr. Zebley will not be under oath or theoretically allowed to answer lawmakers' queries. But he can confer privately with Mr. Mueller, 74, if the former special counsel needs assistance or guidance about how to respond." ...

... Rachel Maddow reported that in the Intelligence Committee hearing, Aaron Zebley will be sworn in, so he will be answering questions. This is an agreement that was just reached Tuesday night between Mueller & the Intel Committee. ...

So Robert Mueller has now asked for his long time Never Trumper lawyer to sit beside him and help with answers. What's this all about? His lawyer represented the 'basement server guy' who got off free in the Crooked Hillary case. This should NOT be allowed. Rigged Witch Hunt! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet late Tuesday ...

Here's who Trump means by basement server guy." -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...

... Surprise! "Executive Time" Runs All Day Today. John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump's schedule remains open for most of Wednesday as former special counsel Robert Mueller plans to testify before Congress on his investigation into Russia's election interference. A White House press guidance released Tuesday evening showed no events scheduled until late in the afternoon, when Trump is expected to ... [travel] to Wheeling, Va., where he will hold a campaign rally.... Trump has insisted in recent days that he does not plan to watch the full hearing, clarifying to reporters that he may see 'a little bit' of it during the day. 'No, I&'m not going to be watching -- probably -- maybe I'll see a little bit of it. I'm not going to be watching Mueller because you can't take all those bites out of the apple,' Trump said on Monday."

I was surprised to hear there was anything negative in the Mueller report at all about President Trump. I hadn't heard that before. I've mainly listened to conservative news and I hadn't heard anything negative about that report, and President Trump has been exonerated. -- Cathy Garnaat, a Republican voter who attended Justin Amash's May town hall in which he explained why he supported impeaching Trump

Lies & the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. Elaina Plott of the Atlantic: Garnatt's "words represent a perception gap distilled, a tidy summary of how many Americans navigated the space between commentary on the Mueller report and the report itself. They underscore just how successfully Attorney General William Barr exploited that space, harnessing the power of television to set the narrative of the report.... And they affirm the challenge Democrats face ... in their attempt to make Mueller's words resonate when, in an era defined by the laws of entertainment, they may well have missed their moment.... In the Trump era, most stories have a day- or even an hour-long shelf life, meaning the immediate spin on the most crucial of events is often the one most likely to stick." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm guessing "No Collusion! No Obstruction!" will be PolitiFact's Lie of the Year. I know it's mine. But it won't matter. Every elected Republican is happy to ride that lie into battle as if it were a great white armored steed. The party is 100 percent corrupt. I'd like to hear Bob Mueller today say unequivocally, "'No Collusion! No Obstruction!' is a lie." But he's a Republican, and that would be, you know, "outside the four corners of the report."

Martin Matishak of Politico: "House and Senate Democrats on Tuesday used the pending testimony from former special counsel Robert Mueller to launch a full-scale assault on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over his ongoing efforts to block congressional efforts to pass election security legislation. 'The only people that are stopping these kinds of common-sense measures from becoming law of the land are ... leader McConnell and President Trump,' Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the Senate Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, said during a Capitol Hill press conference. While Republicans and Democrats alike have attempted to pass a variety of legislation to improve election security over the past two years in response to Russian interference, McConnell has repeatedly stood in the way of the bills and argued against the need for a greater federal role to protect voting." ...

... Doina Chiacu of Reuters: "Russia is determined to interfere in U.S. elections despite sanctions and other efforts to deter such actions before the next presidential election in 2020, FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Tuesday ... during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing."

Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the Democrat-led House Ways and Means Committee, as well as New York state's attorney general and its tax chief, to block the disclosure of years of his tax returns. The president's lawsuit, which was filed 'in his capacity as a private citizen,' came less than a month after the Ways and Means Committee sued the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to obtain Trump's federal returns. Trump's new legal action intervenes in that suit, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C." Mrs. McC: Trump must have some mighty high crimes & misdemeanors hiding in those returns. The backdrop for this suit is that for the last half-century, all major-party presidential nominees have released at least some tax returns, including rich candidates like Mitt Romney & the Bushes.

Trump Lies to Kids about President Powers, Democrats, Other Stuff. Zack Ford of ThinkProgress: "... Donald Trump was candid about the unlimited power he believes he has during a speech at the Turning Point USA Teen Student Action Summit on Tuesday. After reasserting that investigations into Russia's election meddling found 'no collusion,' Trump claimed, 'Then I have an Article II, where I have the right to do whatever I want as President. But, I don';t even talk about that ... because they did a report and there was no obstruction.'... In recent months, the president has ramped up his rhetoric on the topic, signaling both his misunderstanding of the executive powers outlined in the Constitution as well as his intent to abuse them.... The rest of Trump's speech Tuesday was chock full of extremism. He reiterated his attacks on several congresswomen of color and lied about voter fraud to claim that the elections in California and other states were 'rigged' thanks to undocumented immigrants." Mrs. McC: Trump's lies, especially when directed at teenagers, should constitute an impeachable offense, IMO. ...

They vote many times, not just twice, not just three times. They vote -- it's like a circle. They come back; they put a new hat on. They come back; they put a new shirt. And in many cases, they don't even do that. You know what's going on. It's a rigged deal. -- Donald Trump, "explaining" to teenagers how undocumented workers vote in the U.S. ...

... Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Trump on Tuesday repackaged campaign rally red meat into child-size portions for a gathering of young supporters.... The president ... used his time at the conference to paint a dark picture of immigrants and the election system, falsely claiming that undocumented immigrants can vote, and then accusing the election system in states like California of being rigged.... [He] again said [Rep. Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez had called Americans 'garbage.' She did not.... 'She's vicious,' Mr. Trump said ... about ... Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. 'She's like a crazed lunatic.'" Mrs. McC: Projection, Donald?

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal jury on Tuesday convicted Bijan Rafiekian, a former business partner of Michael Flynn [& an advisor to Trump's transition team], on a pair of foreign-agent felony charges stemming from work the two men did for Turkish interests during the final months of the Trump presidential campaign in 2016. The verdicts, returned by jurors in Alexandria, Va., after a weeklong trial and only about four hours of deliberation, amount to a belated courtroom victory for special counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated the $600,000 lobbying and public relations contract at the heart of the case and then handed the matter off to other federal prosecutors...." The prosecution hit a major snag when prosecutors determined that Flynn -- who was to be a key witness in the trial -- "submitted false information" to the DOJ. "In Flynn's absence, prosecutors relied on emails, Skype chats and other witnesses to make their case...."

They're saying 'Britain Trump' They call him Britain Trump, and people are saying that's a good thing. They like me over there. That's what they wanted. That's what they need. -- Donald Trump, referring to Boris Johnson in a speech Tuesday

"They" may call Boorish Johnson "the British Trump," but no English-speaking person without a language disorder calls him "Britain Trump." -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...

... Edward Wong & David Sanger of the New York Times: "With his showmanship, his fondness for broad declarations and his transactional politics, [Boris] Johnson, or 'BoJo' as he is commonly known, is cut from Trumpian cloth. 'Britain is in an existential crisis, and the U.S. is in a form of crisis,' said R. Nicholas Burns, one of the top State Department officials under former President George W. Bush. 'Both of their leaders are mercurial, and they're entirely unpredictable.'... Both men are forces looking to shatter decades-old institutions that have bound together Western democracies. Mr. Trump has talked of withdrawing from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, while Mr. Johnson aims to carry out Brexit, Britain's divisive plan to leave the European Union -- even if he has to do it without an agreement wit Brussels."

Potemkin Village, HHS-Style. Emily Green of Vice: "When the Department of Health and Human Services wanted to show how well it was treating unaccompanied minors in its custody, it invited journalists and politicians to visit a new emergency shelter in Carrizo Springs, Texas, which had soccer fields, a gazebo, and well-equipped classrooms. Yet less than a month after it opened, that facility is shutting down...." Emphasis added. Read on. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Graham Kates of CBS News: "An unprecedented number of unaccompanied migrant children are at risk of spending the rest of their childhoods in federal custody, CBS News learned in an exclusive interview with the head of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the agency that cares for these children.... 'Unfortunately, I have well over 4,000 of those children in my care at this time...,' the director, Jonathan Hayes, told CBS News in June. 'So conceivably someone could come into our care at 15 years old and not have an identifiable sponsor in the United States and remain with us for a few years.' On their 18th birthdays, many of the children will be taken from ORR's youth holding facilities, referred to as shelters, to adult detention centers operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The number of children in this group has risen sharply in recent years, an 'alarming' and 'deeply concerning' trend, according to three former agency officials who spoke with CBS News." ...

... Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "More than 2,000 migrants who were in the United States illegally were targeted in widely publicized raids that unfolded across the country last week. But figures the government provided to The New York Times on Monday show that just 35 people were detained in the operation." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Brooklyn Dance of the Tennessean: "Neighbors and activists gathered for hours in a Hermitage [-- a Nashville suburb --] driveway Monday morning while they said two Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers attempted to talk a man and his 12-year-old son into getting out of their van. Eventually, more than 10 bystanders linked arms around the van, creating a pathway for the pair to enter their house. ICE public information officer in Nashville Bryan Cox said the officers then drove away to deescalate the situation. Neighbors ... said they have seen an unmarked, white F-150 truck roaming the neighborhood for the past two weeks, but didn't think much of it until this morning, when the truck began to flash red and blue lights." Read on for how events unfolded....

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Quite heartening. The Parable of the Good Samaritan is one answer to the question, "Who is my neighbor?" So is the Parable of the Good People of Nashville. Go & do likewise. ...

... Obed Manual in the Dallas Morning News: "An 18-year-old Dallas-born U.S. citizen has been in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for more than three weeks, his attorney says. Now his family fears he may be deported.... [Francisco] Galicia wasn't allowed to use the phone for the three weeks he was in CBP custody, [his mother] said. Francisco's brother Marlon, who was born in Mexico, signed a voluntary deportation form after the CBP detained him for two days. "The Dallas Morning News reviewed a copy of the birth certificate [which Francisco's mother presented to CBP officials] and it lists Galicia as having been born at Parkland Memorial Hospital on December 24, 2000." Mrs. McC: Yes, but he "looks Mexican." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Update. Obed Manuel in the Dallas Morning News: "Francisco Erwin Galicia, the Dallas-born U.S. citizen who spent three weeks in U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, was released Tuesday afternoon. Galicia's case garnered national attention. The Dallas Morning News first reported on Monday that the 18-year-old had been held in CBP and ICE custody since June 27.... Galicia's detention appears to have been a bureaucratic mix up related to the fact that he had a U.S. birth certificate and also, years earlier, a Mexican visitor's visa to travel to the U.S. from Mexico. Neither ICE nor CBP have responded to repeated requests for comment.... [Francisco's brother Marlong, who was born in Mexico, & traveled with Francisco to Mexico,] was deported ... and is now in Reynosa[, Mexico,] with his grandmother." There were some complications because Francisco also held a visitors visa that falsely claim[ed] that he was born in Mexico." As Chris Hayes put in Tuesday night, Francisco was detained "because of the color of his skin."

Thanks, Betsy! Erica Green & Stacy Cowley of the New York Times: "Dream Center Education Holdings, a subsidiary of a Los Angeles-based megachurch, had no experience in higher education when it petitioned the federal Education Department to let it take over a troubled chain of for-profit trade schools.... The purchase was blessed [by the Education Department] despite Dream Center's lack of experience and questionable finances by an administration favorable to for-profit education. But barely a year later, the company tumbled into insolvency, dozens of its colleges closed abruptly and thousands of students were left with no degree after paying tens of thousands of dollars in tuition.... Company emails, documents and recordings show that part of why Dream Center kept going is that it thought the Education Department, which under [Betsy] DeVos has rolled back regulations on for-profit education, would try to keep it from failing. Mr. Barton emailed other Dream Center executives that the department's head of higher education policy -- Diane Auer Jones, a former executive and lobbyist for for-profit colleges -- had pulled strings to help the company's schools in their effort to regain a seal of approval from an accreditor, despite their perilous positions. In another instance, Dream Center's chief operating officer told faculty at an endangered campus that Ms. Jones was changing departmental regulations to help the schools obtain accreditation retroactively." (Also linked yesterday.)

Daisuke Wakabayashi, et al., of the New York Times: "The Justice Department said on Tuesday that it would start an antitrust review into how internet giants had accumulated market power and whether they had acted to reduce competition. Similar inquiries are underway in Congress and at the Federal Trade Commission, which shares antitrust oversight responsibilities with the Justice Department.... Attorney General William P. Barr himself has plunged into the conversation about tech power. On Tuesday, he said in a speech in Manhattan that tech companies should stop using advanced encryption and other security measures that effectively turn devices into 'law-free zones,' essentially criticizing Apple and its iPhones without naming them." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: If this were a normal administration, you would consider the DOJ's investigation to be a good thing, but I suspect the "antitrust review" will end up focusing on how social media are so unfair to Donald Trump & his loony, white-nationalist, conspiracy-theorizing backers.

** Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Thousands of emergency workers who rushed to the rubble of the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11 attacks will be granted health care and other compensation for the rest of their lives. The Senate on Tuesday gave final approval to legislation that would care permanently for those who have grown deathly ill from the toxins of ground zero. White House officials said President Trump was expected to sign it. Even before the Senate's 97-to-2 vote was gaveled to a close, retired New York firefighters and police officers, advocates and Jon Stewart, the comedian who championed the legislation, had leapt to their feet in the usually hushed chamber to lead a standing ovation.... Senators rejected two amendments that sought to curtail the measure's cost.... One of those amendments, introduced by Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, would have offset the cost of the legislation with spending cuts. Another, proposed by Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, would have capped the fund at the Congressional Budget Office's $10.2 billion estimate over the next 10 years.... Mr. Lee and Mr. Paul were the only 'no' votes...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Both Paul & Lee voted for Trump's deficit-ballooning massive tax cut for corporations & rich people. So that's a yes for rich people & a no for first responders. As for Trump's signing the bill, that's pro forma since Congress could override a veto.

Kadia Goba, et al., of BuzzFeed News: “The House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday night to formally oppose the Palestinian-backed movement to boycott Israel, over the objections of Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. The measure, H.Res.246 opposes 'efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel and the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement [BDS] targeting Israel,' according to the bill's text. BDS -- a movement which began in 2005 -- calls for groups to apply economic pressure to Israel to achieve Palestinian independence in the Middle East. The Senate passed a similar bill amid concerns that the legislation violates the First Amendment. The bill passed the House Tuesday 398-17 with five members voting 'present' to abstain from the vote. Sixteen Democrats opposed the bill, including Omar and Tlaib. Just one Republican voted against the measure, Rep. Thomas Massie."

Ryan Browne of CNN: "The Senate Tuesday voted overwhelmingly 90 to 8 to confirm ... Donald Trump's pick for secretary of defense, Mark Esper, giving the Pentagon its first permanent chief since James Mattis stepped down in January. While he received broad bipartisan backing, several Democratic presidential hopefuls including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren voted against Esper who had been Army Secretary and had briefly served as the acting secretary of defense after Trump's initial pick to replace Mattis, Patrick Shanahan's nomination dramatically imploded last month."

Presidential Race 2020. Hassan Kanuof & Andrew Wallander of Bloomberg: "Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential campaign has been hit with an unfair labor practice complaint alleging illegal employee interrogation and retaliation against staffers. The July 19 complaint to the National Labor Relations Board, filed by an unnamed individual in Indiana, was posted to the agency's website late July 22. It comes as tense negotiations between the Sanders campaign and the union representing staffers recently boiled over publicly. The Washington Post reported July 23 that unionized organizers for the campaign had won a pay raise and reached a compromise to reduce the hours of some workers.... The charge [on the NLRB docket] also alleges that the campaign unlawfully discharged an employee, modified a labor contract, and engaged in illegal discipline.... Sanders has made worker rights a key part of this platform in the race for the Democrat White house nomination." ...

... Devan Cole of CNN: "Sen. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday that his campaign has reached a deal with its unionized staffers to increase their pay following negotiations, defusing an issue that threatened to distract his populist messaging for higher wages.... Last week, Sanders defended the salary of his staffers, who unionized earlier this year, following a Washington Post report detailing campaign field staff's frustration that in some cases, long hours and six-day weeks were driving down their hourly compensation. 'I was insistent that everybody on our staff make at least $15 an hour, and in fact they're making $17 an hour,' Sanders told CNN's Poppy Harlow on 'Newsroom' Tuesday. 'The offer that we made to the union several months ago would have accomplished that. And I'm happy to tell you, by the way, that offer was just accepted.'"

Congressional Race 2020. QAnon Candidate Challenges Ilhan Omar. Jared Holt of Right Wing Watch: "Danielle Stella, a Republican candidate seeking to unseat Rep. Ilhan Omar from the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020, firmly supports the QAnon conspiracy theory, according to someone identifying themselves as communications volunteer who responded to Right Wing Watch's inquiry. QAnon is a Trump-era phenomena centered on a conspiracy theory that alleges that Trump administration insiders have been dropping clues, in the form of cryptic riddles posted on anonymous imageboards, about a supposed secret plan to take down the 'deep state' and a worldwide network of satanic pedophiles said to include A-list Hollywood figures and top-level Democrats. Believers, who call themselves' anons,' dedicate themselves to decoding the posts."

Trump's Tweets & Fox "News" Led to Pipe Bombs. Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "Cesar Sayoc, the fanatical Donald Trump fan who mailed package bombs to the president's political opponents, is a cognitively limited sexual abuse survivor who thought of the now-president as a 'surrogate father' and came to believe in an 'alternative reality' fueled in part by Trump's attacks on his political opponents, his attorneys told a federal court on Monday. Sayoc has admitted to mailing pipe bombs to Democratic politicians, media figures and celebrities he perceived as Trump's enemies last fall, and pleaded guilty to several federal crimes in March.... 'A rational observer may have brushed off Trump's tweets as hyperbole, but Mr. Sayoc took them to heart,' according to Sayoc's attorneys.... Sayoc 'began watching Fox News religiously,' started following political news on Facebook and and 'threw himself into' Trump's campaign...." (Also linked yesterday.)

David Enrich & Jo Becker of the New York Times: "As Deutsche Bank officials this year scrambled to extricate themselves from a yearslong relationship with Jeffrey Epstein..., they uncovered suspicious transactions in which Mr. Epstein had moved money out of the United States. Deutsche Bank reported the transactions to a federal agency in charge of policing financial crimes, according to three people familiar with the bank&'s internal processes. The report came as the bank started looking for signs that Mr. Epstein was using his financial resources for the purposes of sex trafficking.... At least one bank dropped Mr. Epstein as a client in the years after his guilty plea. But it wasn't until late last year, after The Miami Herald published an investigation into the earlier sexual abuse allegations, that Deutsche Bank decided to sever ties with him.... Deutsche Bank officials are still trying to determine what Mr. Epstein was using his accounts for, including where and to whom he had previously moved money."

Beyond the Beltway

** Puerto Rico. Steve Almasy, et al., of CNN: "Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló is expected to resign Wednesday after more than a week of protests that rocked the island's capital city, a source familiar with the situation told CNN. Thousands have jammed the streets of San Juan calling for the governor's resignation after Puerto Rico's Center for Investigative Journalism published a series of group messages between the governor and his inner circle that included homophobic and misogynistic language and jokes about Hurricane Maria victims. Demonstrators were determined to stay on the streets until Rosselló stepped down, fed up with years of government corruption, high poverty rates, crushing debt and a painfully slow recovery since the 2017 disaster. Overnight Wednesday, an energetic crowd filled the streets outside the governor's mansion waving flags and banners after news of the governor's anticipated announcement broke." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Guess we'd better get out our flags & banners & march on the White House.

Way Beyond

Ben Westcott, et al., of CNN: "Warplanes from four countries faced off Tuesday in a chaotic and unprecedented confrontation above a small, disputed island off the coast of South Korea and Japan. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a statement claiming they had fired more than 300 warning shots at a Russian A-50 command and control military aircraft early Tuesday morning after it had twice violated the country's airspace, the first such incident between the countries. Moscow furiously denied Seoul's account of the encounter, claiming that South Korean military jets had dangerously intercepted two of its bombers during a planned flight over neutral waters. But in a statement Tuesday afternoon, Japan's Ministry of Defense backed up South Korea's claims, saying the A-50 had flown over the islands and that Tokyo had scrambled fighters to intercept. In a further complication, both South Korea and Japan said that two Chinese H-6 bombers had joined the Russian military aircraft on sorties through the region as well." (Also linked yesterday.)

Here's the New York Times' story, by Stephen Castle, on Boris Johnson's becoming Conservative party leader & new British PM. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... "Ivanka Trump Congratulates Boris Johnson On Becoming PM Of Nonexistent Country." Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "Ivanka Trump congratulated British lawmaker Boris Johnson for his imminent appointment as prime minister of the ... 'United Kingston' instead of United Kingdom." "Look Daddy.....I'm governmenting!!!" wrote Twitter wag Kim. Thanks to forrest m. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)