;)
The Commentariat -- July 11, 2019
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Ha Ha. Trump just caved on the citizenship question while pretending he wasn't caving on the citizenship question. I'll get a report up when one becomes available. Then Bill Toady Barr got up & congratulated Trump twice on caving while pretending not to cave. -- Mrs. McCrabbie ...
... Surrender! Katie Rogers & Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "President Trump on Thursday abandoned his battle to place a question about citizenship on the 2020 census, and instructed the government to compile citizenship data from existing federal records, a significant retreat in the president's wider crackdown on undocumented immigration. Mr. Trump announced in the Rose Garden that he was giving up on the census question two weeks after the Supreme Court rebuked the Trump administration over its effort to modify the census. Just last week, Mr. Trump insisted that he 'must' pursue that goal. He instead said he was issuing an executive order instructing federal departments and agencies to provide the Census Bureau with citizenship data immediately.... Mr. Trump's climb down came just days after his attorney general, William P. Barr, said that the court's ruling was 'wrong' and that the citizenship question could still appear on the census, whose mass printing must begin soon." (This is an update of a story linked below.)
Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: Jeffrey "Epstein asked the court to release him on substantial bond and pledged to put up his palatial Manhattan townhouse and his private jet as collateral. He also proposed he be allowed to remain under house arrest in his Upper East Side house, and said he would agree to electronic monitoring of his location. He said he would surrender his passport and ground his jet.In addition, his lawyers proposed that Mr. Epstein would hire private round-the-clock security guards who would 'virtually guarantee' that he would not flee his house and would show up for court.... Judge [Richard] Berman of Federal District Court in Manhattan is scheduled to take up Mr. Epstein's bail proposal at a hearing on Monday."
Morgan Chalfont & Olivia Beavers of the Hill: "The House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines Thursday to authorize subpoenas for documents and testimony from a dozen current and former Trump administration officials and associates related to the panel's investigation into alleged obstruction of justice by President Trump. The committee also voted to authorize subpoenas for documents and testimony related to the Trump administration's immigration policies, amid massive outrage by Democrats over conditions in detention facilities at the southern border. The committee approved the resolution authorizing the slew of subpoenas in a 21-12 vote after a contentious markup Thursday, during which Republicans and Democrats sparred over the setup of former special counsel Robert Mueller's impending testimony and the immigration crisis."
Jordan Fabian & Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Thursday plans to announce an executive action related to the census, according to a White House official. The action is expected to address the citizenship question that the Supreme Court recently blocked the administration from adding to the 2020 census. Trump tweeted that he will hold a news conference in the afternoon 'on the Census and Citizenship.'... White House officials declined to discuss the content of the executive action, but said it may not be a full-blown executive order." ...
... Update: The New York Times story, by Katie Rogers & Adam Liptak, is here. ...
... Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "A second federal judge won't let Justice Department lawyers swap out in the renewed census fight, in yet another blow to the Trump administration over the citizenship question fight. The 'court cannot fathom how it would be possible, at this juncture, for a wholesale change in Defendants' representation not to have some impact on the orderly resolution of these proceedings,' Judge George Hazel wrote Wednesday."
Trump Had Another Morning Twittertantrum. Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Thursday laid into congressional Democrats over their investigations into his administration and 2016 campaign.... The tweets, which came as part of a larger spree of almost two dozen tweets over the course of the morning, came moments before the House Judiciary Committee gathered to vote on authorizing subpoenas to 12 witnesses in the Mueller investigation."
Barbara McQuade in New York: "From a legal perspective, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta's explanation of what occurred in the 2007 criminal case against Jeffrey Epstein was woefully inadequate.... First, he suggested that state prosecutors were to blame for his actions.... But ... Acosta was not bound by any decisions made by the state prosecutor.... Second, Acosta failed to adequately explain why the agreement was kept a secret from the victims.... Third, Acosta did not give a satisfactory explanation for a provision in the agreement that federal prosecutors would not charge Epstein's co-conspirators."
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Caitlin Dickerson & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "Nationwide raids to arrest thousands of members of undocumented families have been scheduled to begin Sunday, according to two current and one former homeland security officials, moving forward with a rapidly changing operation, the final details of which remain in flux. The operation, backed by President Trump, had been postponed, partly because of resistance among officials at his own immigration agency. The raids, which will be conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement over multiple days, will include 'collateral' deportations, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the preliminary stage of the operation. In those deportations, the authorities might detain immigrants who happened to be on the scene, even though they were not targets of the raids."
Katie Rogers, et al., of the New York Times: "Labor Secretary R. Alexander Acosta on Wednesday publicly defended his role in overseeing the prosecution of Jeffrey E. Epstein for sex crimes committed in Florida over a decade ago, bucking a growing chorus of Democratic calls for his resignation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Reporters & commentators on MSNBC -- including Julie Brown of the Miami Herald, Tom Winter of NBC News & former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance -- quickly dispensed with Acosta's arguments. Despite Acosta's excuse-making, I was struck as I watched (most of) the presser, how much better a speaker (in two languages! [tho he had to get help with a few Spanish words like "entrevista" (interview)]) how so much more intelligent he is than Trump. ...
... Brett Samuels of the Hill: "A former state's attorney in Palm Beach County, Fla., pushed back on Wednesday against Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta's portrayal of events surrounding a favorable deal for financier Jeffrey Epstein more than a decade ago. Barry Krischer, the Palm Beach County state's attorney at the time of the investigation, called Acosta's account, which alleged Krischer was prepared to let Epstein walk without serving jail time until Acosta's office stepped in, 'completely wrong.' Acosta 'should not be allowed to rewrite history,' Krischer said in a statement.... 'If Mr. Acosta was truly concerned with the State's case and felt he had to rescue the matter, he would have moved forward with the 53-page indictment that his own office drafted,' Krischer said.... But Palm Beach police who worked the case at the time told The Miami Herald as part of an investigation published in November that they felt pressured by Krischer to downgrade Epstein's case to a misdemeanor or to drop it entirely." ...
... Matt Ford of the New Republic: Alexander Acosta "gave an astonishingly Trumpian performance: admit no error, shift responsibility, and blame the media. It was an inexplicable choice as well as an ironic one, since it may not be enough to save him from the president's mercurial whims.... Acosta found no shortage of suspects. He readily pointed the finger at Florida prosecutors and law-enforcement officials.... He suggested that a jury weighing the case, prior to the rise of the #MeToo movement, might have reached the wrong conclusion.... At one point, he even seemed to place the onus on the victims themselves. A reporter asked Acosta whether he had a message for the women affected by Epstein's alleged crimes. 'The message is you need to come forward,' he replied.... [But women did come forward.] It's that Acosta didn't hear them." Mrs. McC: He also blamed the victims by saying he decided not to bring a case to trial because the young victims might not be good enough witnesses. As Barbara McQuade pointed out, this was a ridiculous argument inasmuch as prosecutors had irrefutable proof of a "backup" crime punishable by up to 15 years in jail: pornographic photos of children seized from Epstein. ...
... Jan Ranson of the New York Times (July 9): "... the new indictment [of Jeffrey Epstein] has also unexpectedly renewed scrutiny of ... the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr. During a hearing in 2011, a seasoned sex-crimes prosecutor from Mr. Vance's office argued forcefully in court that Mr. Epstein, who had been convicted in Florida of soliciting an underage prostitute, should not be registered as a top-level sex offender in New York.... The prosecutor, Jennifer Gaffney, asked a judge to reduce Mr. Epstein's sex-offender status to the lowest possible classification, which would have limited the personal information available to the public, and would have kept him from being listed on a registry of sex offenders for life. Justice Ruth Pickholz vehemently denied the request and expressed incredulity that the district attorney's office would argue in support of a man accused of sexually molesting dozens of teenage girls in Florida.... Mr. Vance has said the request was a mistake and had been made by Ms. Gaffney without his knowledge."
David Sanger of the New York Times: "Ask members of the Washington diplomatic corps about the cables that Sir Kim Darroch, the British ambassador who resigned Wednesday, wrote to London describing the dysfunction and chaos of the Trump administration, and their response is uniform: We wrote the same stuff.... ... 'As one ambassador, who is still serving and therefore spoke on the condition of anonymity, said on Wednesday, 'it could have been any of us.' With a few exceptions -- including the ambassadors from Israel and the United Arab Emirates, who have supported Mr. Trump's every move -- foreign diplomats in Washington these days describe living in something of a black hole.... The Trump administration has almost reveled in keeping foreign diplomats in the dark." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Acosta Is Making a Career of Protecting Child Sex Traffickers. Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "Alexander Acosta, the US labor secretary under fire for having granted Jeffrey Epstein immunity from federal prosecution in 2008, after the billionaire was investigated for having run a child sex trafficking ring, is proposing 80% funding cuts for the government agency that combats child sex trafficking. Acosta's plan to slash funding of a critical federal agency in the fight against the sexual exploitation of children is contained in his financial plans for the Department of Labor for fiscal year 2020. In it, he proposes decimating the resources of a section of his own department known as the International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB). The bureau's budget would fall from $68m last year to just $18.5m. The proposed reduction is so drastic that experts say it would effectively kill off many federal efforts to curb sex trafficking and put the lives of large numbers of children at risk.... [Rep. Katherine] Clark [D-Mass.] grilled Acosta about the proposed cuts in April, when he presented his departmental budget to the House appropriations subcommittee. On that occasion, she said, she found him 'rude, dismissive, challenging'." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Trolls' New Meeting House is at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Kevin Roose of the New York Times: "On Thursday, President Trump is assembling a group of his most ardent online supporters for a White House 'social media summit.' The guest list has not been publicly released, but a motley grab bag of pro-Trump influencers have taken to Twitter to brag about their invitations, including James O'Keefe, the right-wing founder of Project Veritas; Bill Mitchell, a pro-Trump activist who has promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory; and a pseudonymous Twitter user, 'CarpeDonktum,' who is perhaps best known for creating a doctored video of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. that Mr. Trump retweeted.... Ben Garrison, a pro-Trump cartoonist, was originally scheduled to attend, but the White House rescinded his invitation this week, according to Politico, after critics accused him of drawing an anti-Semitic cartoon.... It ... has the makings of a West Wing pity party.... Twitter and Facebook were not invited to the White House to defend themselves, two people familiar with the companies' plans said."
Thomas Wright in the Atlantic: Despite the fact that "Theresa May did everything she could to accommodate Donald Trump..., Trump actively undermined May on at least a dozen occasions.... The president's casual cruelty toward friends and the failure of [Ambassador Kim] Darroch's many friends inside the Trump administration to say anything publicly on his behalf speak volumes about how much value the Trump administration places on alliances. Darroch's crime was to state the obvious: that the Trump administration is inept and dysfunctional.... The administration's brazen hypocrisy on what is expected of ambassadors is unsurprising but still shocking. Gordon Sondland, the U.S ambassador to the European Union, has been scathing in his criticism of Brussels.... Boris Johnson may believe that he gets on with Trump, but when he is in power, he will find that his personal rapport buys him nothing of substance. He needs leverage. He needs to be transactional. He is dealing with a man without honor." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: (Without evidence) I blame Boris for the leaks of Darroch's remarks, even if those aren't his actual fingerprints on the keyboard. Besides, "stating the obvious" to a man who can't see the nose in front of his face doesn't work.
Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold broke the news Tuesday that a Miami-area strip club will allow golfers to pay to buy a dancer to serve as a 'caddy girl' while they golf [at Donald Trump's Doral Country Club]. The 'Shadow All Star Tournament' is hosted by a club called Shadow Cabaret in Hialeah, an area northwest of downtown Miami. 'The Trump name and family crest are displayed prominently in the strip club's advertising materials, which offer golfers the "caddy girl of your choice,"' Fahrenthold observed. Emanuele Mancuso, Shadow Cabaret's marketing director..., [said] that there would not be any nudity at the resort and caddies will be wearing pink miniskirts and a 'sexy white polo.' The group will then return to the cabaret for a 'very tasteful' burlesque show that 'could' include nudity, however. 'They're going to be clothed the whole time' at the golf course, Mancuso told Fahrenthold. 'At the venue is different.'" The Washington Post story is here. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is not fake news or crude satire. This is real. This is how far down we've come as a nation. This is how our President* earns his living, the same President* who said yesterday he felt "badly" that Alex Acosta was getting hosed for letting international sex predator & trafficker & alleged rapist Jeffrey Epstein off the hook, the same President* who has been credibly accused of rape. However, late Tuesday, after reaction to Fahrenthold's story, "the Trump Organization issued a statement saying the event would no longer take place because a children's charity that was to benefit from it had pulled out." If only that children's charity hadn't decided "sex and children don't jibe."
Carol Davenport of the New York Times: "A State Department intelligence analyst has resigned in protest after the White House blocked his discussion of climate science in Congressional testimony, according to a person familiar with the matter. Rod Schoonover, an analyst with the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, testified last month before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on the effects of climate change on national security. But, in a highly unusual move, the White House refused to approve Dr. Schoonover's written testimony for entry into the permanent Congressional record. The reasoning, according to a June 4 email reviewed by The New York Times, was that the science cited in Dr. Schoonover's testimony did not correspond with White House views. Ultimately, Dr. Schoonover did deliver the oral testimony before the committee, but his accompanying written statement was not included in the official record of the hearing."
Masha Gessen of the New Yorker on how Mike Pompeo has set up what he calls a "Commission on Unalienable Rights," which aims to establish a hierarchy of human rights with Christian "religious freedom" at the top. "In the interpretation promoted by Pompeo, however, women's rights or L.G.B.T. rights are somehow additional to basic human rights -- ad-hoc rights, alienable rights.... Most of the commissioners appear to believe that embryos are human. Many of them also appear to subscribe to the Trump Administration's general position that trans people do not exist. A troubling word in Pompeo's speech was 'citizen.' Did the Secretary of State mean that only the rights of citizens are inalienable?"
Peter Sullivan of the Hill: "The White House is withdrawing a controversial proposal to change how drugs are paid for, a spokesman said Thursday. The administration is scrapping a rule that would have banned 'rebates,' essentially discounts that drug companies give to negotiators known as pharmacy benefit managers. This proposal was one of the few drug pricing moves that the pharmaceutical industry actually supported, so its withdrawal is a loss for drug companies and a big win for pharmacy benefit managers and insurance companies, who had strongly opposed losing out on the discounts they get from drug companies.... The death of the proposal is also bad news for drug companies in that it is a sign that other Trump administration efforts could move forward instead, some of which are fiercely opposed by drug companies. Most prominently, the administration has proposed tying some Medicare drug prices to lower prices in other countries, a proposal currently under review at the White House."
Jed Shugerman, in the Daily Beast, excoriates Robert Mueller: "Robert Mueller made a significant legal error and, based on the facts he found, he should have identified Trump campaign felonies. Mueller's errors meant that, first, he failed to conclude that the Trump campaign criminally coordinated with Russia; second, he failed to indict campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates for felony campaign coordination (see in a concise timeline below); third, the 10 acts of felony obstruction in Volume II fell flat among the general public because it lacked compelling context of these underlying crimes between the campaign and Russia. On top of these errors, the former special counsel said he deliberately wrote the report to be unclear because it would be unfair to make clear criminal accusations against a president. The bottom line is that the Mueller Report is a failure not because of Congress or because of public apathy, but because it failed to get the law, the facts, or even the basics of writing right. When Mueller testifies before Congress on July 17, he should be pressed on all of this." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: After watching how Washington works for decades, I have come to the conclusion that "polite" Washington elites never throw the book at wrongdoers, even wrongdoers of the "other" party. They will nip around the edges, but they won't go in for the kill. Rod Rosenstein, through experience, counted on Mueller to be of the proper nippers, and Mueller did not let him down. Mueller's high-class reticence then allowed Rosenstein & Barr to further dilute the findings against Trump & his campaign with Farrow & Ball's Penetrating Whitewash No. 2.
Lolita Baldor of the AP: "A senior military officer has accused the Air Force general tapped to be the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of sexual misconduct, potentially jeopardizing his nomination. Members of Congress have raised questions about the allegations and the military investigation that found insufficient evidence to charge him. The officer told The Associated Press that Gen. John Hyten subjected her to a series of unwanted sexual advances by kissing, hugging and rubbing up against her in 2017 while she was one of his aides. She said that he tried to derail her military career after she rebuffed him. The Air Force investigated the woman's allegations, which she reported days after Hyten's nomination was announced in April, and found there was insufficient evidence to charge the general or recommend any administrative punishment."
Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "In a legal victory for President Trump, a federal appeals court panel on Wednesday ordered the dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that profits earned by his Washington hotel while he is in office violate the Constitution. A three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., found that the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia had no legal standing to sue Mr. Trump.... [Another] case, brought by Democrats in Congress, is continuing, although the administration is fighting that one as well." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "Lawyers for more than 200 Democratic members of Congress have served subpoenas to President Trump's businesses as part of their lawsuit alleging Trump is violating the Emoluments Clause. The Democrats said in a press release that they have issued 37 judicial subpoenas to Trump's private businesses, including the Trump Organization, seeking information on payments from foreign governments. The announcement came just hours after the Department of Justice (DOJ) asked a federal appeals court to block the lawsuit from advancing, following a district judge's ruling last month that the proceedings could move forward." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Rebecca Falconer of Axios: "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) of 'singling out' newly elected women of color in Congress, in an interview with the Washington Post on Wednesday." ...
... Heather Caygle & Sarah Ferris of Politico: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi chided progressives in a closed-door meeting Wednesday, calling on them to address their intraparty grievances privately rather than blasting their centrist colleagues on Twitter. Pelosi's comments, which were described as stern, came during the first full caucus meeting since a major blowup over emergency border funding last month between progressive and moderate lawmakers as well as a recent spat with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and her freshman allies. 'So, again, you got a complaint? You come and talk to me about it,' Pelosi told Democrats, according to a source in the room. 'But do not tweet about our members and expect us to think that that is just OK.'"
Presidential Race 2020. Ben Mathis-Lilley of Slate: For the whopping $100 million Tom Steyer plans to spend on his vanity presidential run, he could restore an awful lot of Florida's ex-felon's voting rights.
"The Thomas Effect." Emma Green of the Atlantic: Justice Clarence "Thomas's vast network, more than that of any other justice, has defined ... Donald Trump's administration and the federal judiciary Trump has built.... He has had more of his former clerks nominated to federal judgeships under Trump than any other justice, past or present.... Even clerks who aren't in formal positions of public service have gained prominence under Trump.... As Slate's Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern noted as early as mid-2017, when the pattern was still nascent, 'Everywhere you turn in Trumpland, you'll find a slew of Thomas' former clerks in high places.'... Several former clerks told me Thomas goes out of his way to stay in touch with his clerks and cultivate their careers...."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. "Tucker Carlson Has Failed to Assimilate." Conor Friedersdorf of the Atlantic: "Carlson ... keeps fueling xenophobia and needless social strife by singling out people who weren't born in America for special ire, then attributing negative qualities to whole groups. He just can't get with the program of the American experiment. A case in point was his monologue last night about Ilhan Omar, a Somali-born woman who came to the U.S. as a 12-year-old refugee and is now, at 36, a member of Congress.... Carlson suggested that because Omar came here as a child, she doesn't have the right to voice critical opinions about America -- that her gratitude for citizenship should result in silence.... The notion that Omar alone proves anything about America's immigration system, for better or worse, is absurd.... As a natural-born American like Carlson, I hope no one groups us together and makes assumptions about me based on his views." ...
... Tucker's Pathetic Racism. Eric Levitz of New York: "For his incendiary criticisms of the United States, Tucker Carlson has hailed Donald Trump as a teller of hard truths. For her critiques of American racism, the Fox News host just called [Rep. Ilhan] Omar [D-Min.] 'living proof that the way we practice immigration has become dangerous to this country.'... Here is a (likely incomplete) list of unsubstantiated -- or blatantly false -- assertions in Tucker's screed [against Omar.]"
Beyond the Beltway
Mississippi. Karen Zraick of the New York Times: "Robert Foster, a Republican state representative in Mississippi who is running for governor, blocked a female reporter from shadowing him on a campaign trip 'to avoid any situation that may evoke suspicion or compromise' his marriage. The reporter, Larrison Campbell of the news site Mississippi Today, wrote in an article published on Tuesday night that Mr. Foster's campaign manager, Colton Robison, had told her that a male colleague would need to accompany her for a 'ride-along' on a 15-hour campaign trip around the state.... In blocking the reporter, Mr. Foster, 36, invoked the 'Billy Graham rule,' which refers to the Christian evangelist's refusal to spend time alone with any woman who was not his wife.... [Ms. Campbell] has interviewed Mr. Foster numerous times and broke the story of his candidacy. Mr. Robison would also have been present during the trip. But the campaign would not budge, she wrote."
Puerto Rico. Sophie Weiner of Splinter: "Today, the FBI arrested two former senior officials who served with Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, along with four other suspects in a corruption scandal, according to the Washington Post. The scandal has led to calls for Rosselló's resignation. The indictment of Rosselló's former officials alleges that the government misdirected $15.5 million in federal funds to politically-connected contractors between 2017 and 2019. Though the indictment doesn't mention Rosselló, Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, an Arizona congressman who chairs the Natural Resource Committee that oversees Puerto Rico, has called for his resignation.... The scandal is particularly dangerous for the island considering President Trump's frequent threats to cut off federal funding.... San Juan Mayor Yulin Cruz said poor Puerto Ricans will be the real victims of this scandal." The Washington Post story is here.
Way Beyond
BBC News: "Iranian boats tried to impede a British oil tanker near the Gulf - before being driven off by a Royal Navy ship, the Ministry of Defence has said. HMS Montrose, a British frigate shadowing the tanker British Heritage, was forced to move between the three boats and the tanker, a spokesman said. He described the Iranians' actions as 'contrary to international law'."
News Ledes
Weather Channel: "A disturbance in the northern Gulf of Mexico has been named Potential Tropical Cyclone Two by the National Hurricane Center and is forecast to become Tropical Storm Barry and possibly Hurricane Barry as it lashes the northern Gulf Coast into this weekend. This system will bring a threat of significant rainfall flooding, storm-surge flooding and high winds to parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.... Hurricane watches are now in effect in southern Louisiana from the mouth of the Mississippi River westward to Cameron, Louisiana. This means hurricane conditions are possible in the area within the next 48 hours. Tropical storm watches have been issued in southeastern Louisiana from the mouth of the Mississippi River northward to the mouth of the Pearl River at the border with Mississippi.... Storm-surge watches have also been issued for parts of the southeastern and south-central Louisiana coast from the mouth of the Pearl River westward to Intracoastal City, Louisiana. It does not include Lake Pontchartrain. A watch means life-threatening inundation is possible within the area, generally within 48 hours." ...
... The front page of the New Orleans Times-Picayune has links to numerous related stories. ...
... Axios has more on the flooding threat the storm presents as levees may be breached.
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