The Commentariat -- May 19, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Even Computers Can Tell Trump & Kushner Might Be Crooks. David Enrich of the New York Times: "Anti-money laundering specialists at Deutsche Bank recommended in 2016 and 2017 that multiple transactions involving legal entities controlled by Donald J. Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, be reported to a federal financial-crimes watchdog. The transactions, some of which involved Mr. Trump's now-defunct foundation, set off alerts in a computer system designed to detect illicit activity, according to five current and former bank employees. Compliance staff members who then reviewed the transactions prepared so-called suspicious activity reports that they believed should be sent to a unit of the Treasury Department that polices financial crimes. But executives at Deutsche Bank, which has lent billions of dollars to the Trump and Kushner companies, rejected their employees' advice. The reports were never filed with the government.... Former Deutsche Bank employees said the decision not to report the Trump and Kushner transactions reflected the bank's generally lax approach to money laundering laws. The employees ... said it was part of a pattern of the bank's executives rejecting valid reports to protect relationships with lucrative clients."

Justin Wise of the Hill: "President Trump on Sunday ripped Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) for saying that the president had reached the 'threshold for impeachment.'... 'Never a fan of @justinamash, a total lightweight who opposes me and some of our great Republican ideas and policies just for the sake of getting his name out there through controversy,' Trump said on Twitter.... 'He would see that it was nevertheless strong on NO COLLUSION and, ultimately, NO OBSTRUCTION,' Trump said. 'Anyway, how do you Obstruct when there is no crime and, in fact, the crimes were committed by the other side? Justin is a loser who sadly plays right into our opponents hands!'" ...

... Senator Mitt Mealy-Mouth. David Beavers of Politico: "Sen. Mitt Romney on Sunday called a GOP congressman's call for impeaching ... Donald Trump 'a courageous statement' while maintaining that impeachment is not warranted based on the special counsel's report. Speaking to CNN's Jake Tapper on 'State of the Union,' Romney said, 'My own view is that Justin Amash has reached a different conclusion than I have. I respect him. I think it's a courageous statement,' the Utah Republican continued. 'But I believe that to make a case for obstruction of justice, you just don't have the elements that are evidenced in this document.'"

** Daniel Okrent, in a Washington Post op-ed: Jared "Kushner's new immigration plan, aimed at reducing immigration from specific nations through the virtual elimination of what he and others have disparaged as 'chain migration,' and the simultaneous valorization of the highly educated, is simply a version of a blatantly discriminatory effort [the aristocratic senator Henry Cabot] Lodge initiated more than a century ago.... The widening streams of emigres pouring out of the impoverished lands between the Baltic and the Mediterranean had broadened to flood stage, and Lodge determined that the best way to keep them out was to make them submit to a literacy test.... Lodge's literacy test bill passed with ease. But on President Grover Cleveland's very last day in office, he struck it down with a veto, and there were not enough votes in the Senate to override.... Only with anti-European fervor spiking on the brink of World War I, and new theories of 'racial eugenics' shaping public debate, was it finally enacted over President Woodrow Wilson's second veto, in 1917.... Jared Kushner -- and Stephen Miller and President Trump -- likely know very little about Henry Cabot Lodge. But he would be proud of them."

Bo Emerson of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Billionaire Robert F. Smith, who received an honorary doctorate at Morehouse College's Sunday morning graduation exercises, had already announced a $1.5 million gift to the school. But during his remarks in front of the nearly 400 graduating seniors, the billionaire technology investor and philanthropist surprised some by announcing that his family was providing a grant to eliminate the student debt of the entire Class of 2019. 'This is my class,' he said, 'and I know my class will pay this forward.' The announcement elicited the biggest cheers of the morning." Mrs. McC: Yeah, I guess so. ...

~~~~~~~~~~

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Representative Justin Amash, an iconoclastic Republican of Michigan who has considered a run against President Trump in 2020, became the first member of his party serving in Congress to publicly suggest that the president's conduct had reached the 'threshold of impeachment.' Mr. Amash, 39, used Mr. Trump's favorite medium -- Twitter -- to join a groundswell of Democrats who have concluded that the president's behavior, including instances of potential obstruction of justice laid out in the report by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, meets the constitutional threshold of high crimes and misdemeanors. 'President Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct,' Mr. Amash wrote in a series of messages after reading the redacted version of the 448-page report. Contrary to the public statements and summaries offered by Attorney General William P. Barr, 'Mueller's report reveals that President Trump engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment,' wrote Mr. Amash, who has been one of the president's most outspoken Republican critics."

By Trump Standards, A Quaint Scandal. Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "Seated behind a desk on Air Force One, the presidential seal over his left shoulder, President Trump shot a short video Thursday, blasting New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's entry into the 2020 race.... Trump made the video while traveling to a fundraiser in New York.... Trump's use of taxpayer-funded transportation to post a political message raises some legal and ethics questions. But possibly the greatest crime ... is the breakdown of norms. It's entirely inappropriate, and it is against historical norms for a president to be campaigning from Air Force One,' said Paul S. Ryan ... of ... Common Cause, a nonpartisan watchdog group. 'Most presidents have had enough respect for the office to try to separate campaigning from formal duties. Donald Trump is not such a president.'" Besides being a potential campaign finance violation, "It is actually illegal under the U.S. code to use the [presidential] seal 'for the purpose of conveying, or in a manner reasonably calculated to convey, a false impression of sponsorship or approval by the Government of the United States.'" ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: We all know Trump is a fake president*, hence the asterisk. But -- as we find out nearly every day in one or more of a wide variety of ways -- he is so incompetent, he cannot even do a decent job of faking it.

Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "This president is in a footrace against congressional Democrats currently seeking subpoenas, tax returns, and an unredacted Mueller report. He is in a footrace against state attorneys general seeking to forestall a pretend national emergency at the border. He is in a footrace against millions of Americans who stand to lose health insurance if the courts kill the Affordable Care Act.... And as [these cases] play out against the 2020 elections, this president is installing judges at lightning speed. He is doing that, and Senate Republicans are acceding to it, not just because he wants to turn the country into a theocracy, or a museum for lonely ethno-nationalists. He is doing it because his plan to evade judicial oversight requires that he control the refs. The faster Trump lards up the federal bench further with unqualified party operatives and loyalists, the more likely he is to draw judicial rulings in his favor. He's already bragged that he owns the Supreme Court, and that if Congress initiates impeachment proceedings he will turn there first to halt it.... With rare exceptions ... no judicial nominee is too extreme or unqualified for Senate Republicans."

Aid & Comfort to the Enemy. Frank Figliuzzi in an NBC News opinion piece: "On Monday, Attorney General William Barr, acting more like defense counsel for a cornered president than the nation's top law enforcement official, ordered a U.S. Attorney review the FBI's decision to open a counterintelligence investigation into alleged ties between Trump associates and Russia in 2016. This action, coupled with Barr's previous reckless conduct unwittingly promotes the interests of America's enemies as Barr perpetuates dangerous conspiracy theories about secret Washington cabals and FBI corruption.... When an adversary is aided in its cause by a fortuitous insider who required no energy or resources to cajole or coerce, the enemy views such serendipity as a gift. When that insider happens to be the attorney general of the United States, that gift is priceless.... Barr has become the kind of threat capable of doing severe harm; he has become a threat from within." Figliuzzi was a top FBI counterintelligence official.

Maybe the most important question to ask Bob Mueller when & if he testifies before Congress is what he thinks of Robert De Niro's impression of him:

Presidents use pardons to send messages. They recognize when a process wasn't just or when punishments were too extreme, like for some nonviolent drug cases. If this president is planning to pardon a bunch of people charged with war crimes, he will use the pardon power to send a far darker message. -- Margaret Love, former U.S. pardon attorney ...

... Pardon My War Crimes. Dave Philipps of the New York Times: "President Trump has indicated that he is considering pardons for several American military members accused or convicted of war crimes, including high-profile cases of murder, attempted murder and desecration of a corpse, according to two United States officials. The officials said that the Trump administration had made expedited requests this week for paperwork needed to pardon the troops on or around Memorial Day.... [An] official said while assembling pardon files typically takes months, the Justice Department stressed that all files would have to be complete before Memorial Day weekend, because the President planned to pardon the men then.... The fact that the requests were sent from the White House to the Justice Department, instead of the other way around, is a reversal of long-established practices.... Earlier this month, the president pardoned former Army First Lt. Michael Behenna, who had been convicted of killing an Iraqi during an interrogation in 2008."

Jacob Soboroff & Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "The Trump administration has identified at least 1,712 migrant children it may have separated from their parents in addition to those separated under the 'zero tolerance' policy, according to court transcripts of a Friday hearing. U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw ordered the Trump administration to identify children separated before the zero tolerance policy went into effect in May 2018, resulting in the separation of over 2,800 children. Sabraw previously ordered those migrant families to be reunited, but the additional children were identified more recently when the Inspector General for Health and Human Services estimated 'thousands more' may have been separated before the policy was officially underway. Other potentially separated migrant children could still be identified. The government has reviewed the files of 4,108 children out of 50,000 so far." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: FedEx & even the U.S. Post Office keep better track of packages in transit than the DHS does of real, live human beings. Maybe they should have slapped shipping labels on these kids. What an unconscionable disgrace.

Rachel Frazin of the Hill: "U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) does not plan to send migrant families to Florida after reports about a Trump administration proposal resulted in backlash from local and state officials this week. A CBP official told The Hill on Saturday that the administration is not looking at transporting family units to Florida 'at this time' but said officials were looking at housing migrants in other areas across the country." See related story in yesterday's Commentariat.

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Kevin Poulsen of the Daily Beast: "Founded and helmed by 77-year-old circuit-board millionaire Robert Herring Sr., [One America News Network] launched in 2013 as an answer to the chatty, opinionated content of mainstream cable news channels -- and a place for viewers too conservative for Fox News. Under Herring's direction the network embraced Trumpism enthusiastically starting in 2016, and in recent months the once-obscure cable news channel has been basking in a surge of attention from Donald Trump.... The segments, the interviews, the words the anchors are speaking and even the crawl at the bottom of the screen are a slurry of fake news mixed with genuine reporting; internet conspiracy theories blended with far-right rhetoric and drizzled with undiluted Kremlin propaganda." And it's a horrible place to work.

Presidential Race 2020

Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "Responding to a series of highly restrictive abortion laws aimed at overturning Roe v. Wade, several Democratic presidential candidates have called on Congress to codify abortion rights, signaling a newly aggressive approach in a debate whose terms have long been set by conservatives. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey was first out of the gate on Wednesday, telling BuzzFeed News that if elected president, he would pursue legislation to guarantee abortion rights nationwide, superseding state restrictions, even if the Supreme Court overturned Roe. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York promised the same on Thursday, and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts came forward Friday morning with a more detailed plan. The three senators also called for repealing the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortions."

Jeff Toobin: "The human costs of these new [anti-abortion] laws can scarcely be overstated. Laws have never stopped women from getting abortions; indeed, the abortion rate in countries that ban the procedure is about the same as it is in countries that allow it. But, by driving the practice underground, the new laws will increase the danger to women's health." Toobin demonstrates that the Supremes are likely to overturn Roe. First, they can't possibly hedge of the new Alabama law: "The Alabama legislators wrote their statute in a way that will make it impossible for the Justices to uphold it while still pretending that Roe is good law." Second, "Just last week, in Franchise Tax Board of California v. Hyatt, the Court's five conservatives gave a stark preview of how they regard precedents with which they disagree." ...

... ** Rebecca Traister of New York writes about why women are enraged & who deserve to be hoisted on the blunt points of that rage. And no, it isn't just the white GOP men who explain that women still are legally allowed tol get abortions before they find out they're pregnant. ...

... Carliss Chatman, in a Washington Post op-ed, argues that when a state grants full "personhood" to a fetus, the state also should give that fetus all the legal protections & benefits a "real person" gets: child support, for instance, citizenship (no deportation), a Social Security number (and benefits).

Beyond the Beltway

Georgia. Prosecutorial Discretion. Jennifer Bellamy of WXIA-TV Atlanta: "District attorneys across metro Atlanta have said they would not prosecute a woman for seeking out an abortion in Georgia under the new 'heartbeat' law, which would criminalize abortion after six weeks -- when a fetal pulse is detected. Questions about the legality of the bill have been swift from the medical and legal community about how the law would be enforced.... The Fulton County District Attorney's Office said it has no plans to prosecute women under the new law. That extends to doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers as well. He intends to follow the Roe v. Wade decision.... The same is true in Gwinnett[, Cobb and DeKalb] Count[ies]."

Way Beyond

Australia. Damien Cave of the New York Times: "Scott Morrison, Australia's conservative prime minister, scored a surprise victory in federal elections on Saturday, propelled by a populist wave -- the 'quiet Australians,' he termed it -- resembling the force that has upended politics in the United States, Britain and beyond. The win stunned Australian election analysts -- polls had pointed to a loss for Mr. Morrison's coalition for months. But in the end, the prime minister confounded expectations suggesting that the country was ready for a change in course after six years of tumultuous leadership under the conservative political coalition."

Austria. Katrin Bennhold & Christopher Schuetze of the New York Times: "Austria's chancellor called on Saturday for snap elections after the country's far-right vice chancellor resigned over a secretly filmed video from 2017 that renewed questions about whether Russia had a direct line into a government at the heart of Europe. The video showed Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache of the far-right Freedom Party promising government contracts to a woman claiming to be the niece of a Russian oligarch." ...

... Matthew Karnitschnig, in Politico, puts it more bluntly: "Turns out Russian collusion isn't a 'witch hunt hoax' after all. At least not in Austria. The country's government collapsed on Saturday after Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said he was pulling the plug on his ruling coalition after just 17 months in office. The move came barely 24 hours after the release of a bombshell video showing Heinz-Christian Strache, the far-right leader of his junior coalition partner, trying to trade public contracts for party donations from a woman he believed to be the wealthy niece of a Russian oligarch." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: You might think an incriminating videotape would be the coup de grâce we need here, but we already have more than one: Trump's asking Russia to find Hillary Clinton's e-mails (hackers went after them within five hours of the ask); Trump's telling Lester Holt he fired Comey because of the Rusher thing (and -- though no video, telling Russian diplomats the pressure was off once he fired Comey); Trump's, at Helsinki, telling the world he believed Putin's claim (over U.S. intelligence) that Russian government operatives didn't interfere in the 2016 election.

The Commentariat -- May 18, 2019

Ana Swanson & Jack Ewing of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday said he would delay a decision on whether to impose tariffs on automobiles imported from Europe, Japan and other countries for six months, setting a tight deadline for the United States to reach trade agreements that have so far proved elusive." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... The story has been updated. New Lede: "President Trump agreed on Friday to lift tariffs on metal imports from Mexico and Canada, removing a major irritant for two important allies that in exchange agreed to stop punishing American farmers with their own taxes on pork, cheese and milk. At the same time, Mr. Trump postponed a decision on whether to impose tariffs on automobiles...."

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Alan Rappeport & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday refused to comply with a congressional subpoena to hand over President Trump's tax returns, a move that is likely to be the final step before the matter heads to the courts.... [Rep. Richard] Neal [(D-Mass), chair of the Ways & Meand Committee,] told reporters that he saw little value in trying to hold Mr. Mnuchin or Charles P. Rettig, the I.R.S. commissioner, in contempt of Congress. Instead, he said, he would go straight to the courts to try to enforce his subpoena, potentially as soon as next week. The case could take months or years to resolve.... That did not sit well among Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee, who have consistently pushed a more aggressive approach toward getting Mr. Trump's returns." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: As Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out last night, this is the most brazen of all of TrumpCo's refusals to comply with Congressional requests in that it breaks a specific, clearly-written law that no previous administrations have defied. That the refusal comes with the imprimatur of Bill Barr's Justice* Department makes it all the worse.

Barr Goes All in on Trump's FBI Conspiracy Theory. Kate Riga of TPM: "Attorney General William Barr is loyally carrying out ... Donald Trump's pet project, leaning hard into the President's tweeted screams to 'investigate the investigators' who he believes launched the Russia probe to undermine his candidacy. In a clip of an interview with Fox News, Barr said he was probing if 'government officials abused their power and put their thumb on the scale.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "Attorney General William Barr said his review into the origins of the Russia investigation could result in rule changes for the FBI's counterintelligence investigations of political campaigns. 'Government power was used to spy on American citizens,' Barr told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Friday. 'I can't imagine any world where we wouldn't take a look and make sure that was done properly.' The attorney general also told Fox News that 'people have to find out what the government was doing during that period.'... Barr indicated he's interested in the underlying intelligence that led to the FBI's decision to launch the investigation, along with the steps officials took based off of the intelligence, the Journal reported. He cited the surveillance of anti-Vietnam War protesters in the '60s and early '70s as a reason for concern, according to the newspaper, which is something he also brought up at a recent congressional hearing.... 'I've been trying to get answers to questions and I've found that a lot of the answers have been inadequate and I've also found that some of the explanations I've gotten don't hang together, in a sense I have more questions today than I did when I first started,' Barr told Fox News." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "Former FBI Director James Comey said Attorney General William Barr is 'sliming his own department' by questioning the inception of the Justice Department's probe into Russian election interference and if the Trump campaign conspired with Moscow. 'The AG should stop sliming his own Department. If there are bad facts, show us, or search for them professionally and then tell us what you found. An AG must act like the leader of the Department of Justice, an organization based on truth. Donald Trump has enough spokespeople,' Comey tweeted Friday." ...

... Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "Reacting to a Fox News interview with Attorney General William Barr that included Barr essentially threatening Democrats who criticize him and justifying the president calling the Mueller probe a 'witch hunt,' Fox News anchor Chris Wallace said Friday that Trump now has a new fixer. In the interview that was aired Friday, Barr told Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer that House Democrats who have accused him of contempt of Congress are discrediting him because they're likely 'concerned about the outcome of a review of what happened during the election.' Furthermore, the attorney general said he wants to see if FBI officials 'put their thumb on the scale' during the Russia investigation.... [Wallace said,] '... he [Barr] clearly is protecting this president and advocating his point of view on a lot of these issues.... I suspect that as President Trump, who probably has watched some of this interview himself, is saying: "Finally no Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr instead."'" ...

... digby: "Basically, Barr is signaling that his 'review' is going to be favorable to Trump and that former FBI officials (and the rest of us, for that matter) should be looking over our shoulders. This new sheriff in town is is a banana republican. Bigly.... It's obvious that if anyone is counting on the FBI and the Intelligence agencies to stop any foreign interference on behalf of Trump in the next election they had better get over it. Barr is sending a clear message to the troops to lay off Trump no matter what they see." ...

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "During his confirmation hearings..., [one] of [William Barr's] curious arguments got short-shrifted. It was the time he suggested there was less evidence to support a Russia-collusion investigation than there was to support some other investigations. Except some of the potential investigations he cited were largely regarded as conspiracy theories.... That William Barr is beginning to rear his head.... In a couple of new interviews, Barr leans in on the idea that ... 'various "national security" activities' were nefarious -- pretty hard.... So here we have a guy who emailed a reporter [-- Peter Baker of the NYT --] in 2017 raising questions about 'various "national security" activities.' (Note the quotation marks he himself used there, suggesting skepticism.) And He did this even before the Nunes memo came out and at a time when many in the GOP weren't embracing this kind of rhetoric. He then adopts President Trump's 'spying' rhetoric while announcing the Justice Department would look into such allegations.... And now he's calling the use of the Steele dossier both 'strange' and 'unusual,' and saying the answers he's getting aren't adding up. It sounds a lot like the guy who believed in the plausibility of this conspiracy theory even before many in his own party adopted it. And it sounds like he's gradually becoming more comfortable saying so." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Maybe, to be charitable, we should consider Barr just another crazy old uncle, albeit one who is the chief law enforcement official in the country. MEANWHILE, of course, Barr's toadying to Trump is only encouraging & agitating that other crazy old uncle, the one who has an even more powerful job than Barr's:

... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump warned Friday of the possibility of 'long jail sentences' for law-enforcement and intelligence officials involved in the early stages of the investigation into possible coordination between Russia and members of his 2016 campaign. 'My Campaign for President was conclusively spied on,' Trump claimed in a morning tweet. 'Nothing like this has ever happened in American Politics. A really bad situation. TREASON means long jail sentences, and this was TREASON!'... At a Senate hearing earlier this month, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray -- also a Trump appointee -- said he had not seen any evidence that illegal surveillance was conducted on individuals associated with Trump's campaign. He also said 'spying' was not a term he would use. Trump subsequently called Wray's testimony 'ridiculous.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Pamela Brown, et al., of CNN: "While he was cooperating with ... Robert Mueller's investigation, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn contacted at least one member of Congress who was publicly criticizing the special counsel probe, according to messages obtained by CNN. Flynn sent Twitter direct messages to Rep. Matt Gaetz, encouraging the Florida Republican to 'keep the pressure on'" It's not clear if Flynn sent additional messages to other lawmakers. 'You stay on top of what you're doing. Your leadership is so vital for our country now. Keep the pressure on,' Flynn wrote in an April 2018 message to Gaetz.... On the evening Flynn sent the message to Gaetz, the lawmaker had appeared on Fox Business' 'Lou Dobbs Tonight,' where he criticized the Mueller investigation.... Gaetz did not have a prior relationship with Flynn, [Gaetz] said. The messages raise fresh questions about Flynn's contact with politically powerful people following his guilty plea in the Mueller probe. They add to a perception that has played out in Flynn's courtroom proceedings that he has modulated between helping the special counsel and stoking Mueller's critics...."

Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "Hundreds of migrants are being flown from South Texas to holding cells in California by the Department of Homeland Security, in a move that officials said on Friday could be expanded by sending asylum seekers to processing centers throughout the United States, including the border with Canada. Customs and Border Protection officials said they began flying migrant families from overcrowded facilities in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas to San Diego on Tuesday. It is expected that as many as three flights, each carrying up to 135 migrants, will be scheduled each week. The agency also recently started flying migrants five times each week from the Rio Grande Valley to Del Rio, Tex. Nearly all of the migrants are traveling as families, including some with young children." ..

... Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "Florida officials are raising alarm and pressing for details about the purported intention of the Trump administration to send hundreds of immigrants a week to two heavily Democratic counties in South Florida. Customs and Border Protection has not publicly disclosed its plans. But a partial picture of a new approach to managing a record influx of immigrants at the southern border came into view on Thursday based on the accounts of local leaders in Broward and Palm Beach counties. Even allies of the president were nonplussed. The state's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, joined federal lawmakers from Florida -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- in questioning the apparent effort to foist the immigration and asylum burden on two local jurisdictions without equipping them with the resources to house, feed, educate and protect new arrivals." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I am totally in with Broward County Mayor Mark Bogen: "Citing the president's threat to 'send people who illegally cross the border to communities that are considered immigrant friendly,' the mayor called the plans 'inhumane.' And he issued a threat of his own, saying that the county should bring those who couldn't find shelter 'to the Trump hotels and ask the President to open his heart and home as well.' Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort is located in Palm Beach County."

Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "A split federal appeals court on Friday ruled that President Trump's decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was unlawful because 'it was not adequately explained.' The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia found that the administration's termination of the program was 'arbitrary and capricious,' in line with a prior ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals." (Also linked yesterday.)

Nick Miroff & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "An attempt by President Trump's senior adviser Stephen Miller to engineer a new shake-up at the Department of Homeland Security was blocked this week by Kevin McAleenan, the department' acting secretary, who said he might leave his post unless the situation improved and he was given more control over his agency, administration officials said. The closed-door clash flared over the fate of Mark Morgan, the former FBI official the president has picked to be the new director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. With Morgan eager to move into the top job at ICE, Miller on Wednesday urged the president to have Morgan installed as the new commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) instead. McAleenan the next day told senior White House officials that he -- not Miller -- was in charge of the department, said three Trump administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal tensions one Trump aide likened to an 'immigration knife fight.' McAleenan also argued that he should make personnel decisions at his agency, or at least be involved in them, these people said, and that communication needed to improve. McAleenan met with Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, among others, the officials said." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Morgan is the guy who thinks he has super-powers to look into immigrant children's eyes & determine they will become gangsters. They're all a bunch of dangerous, racist reprobates.

Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm a day late with linking the story below, but it is both funny & revealing of Trump's horrible character, so possibly worth a look. At any rate, you may remember that about a week ago, a one-time Trump ghostwriter, Charles Leerhsen, claimed that back in the day, "flipping through fabric swatches seemed at times to be [Trump's] main occupation." He did this, Leerhsen inferred, because he couldn't understand more complex business matters. So ...

Nick Miroff & Josh Dawsey report that Trump is obsessed with the appearance of the border wall/fence: "The bollards, or 'slats,' as he prefers to call them, should be painted 'flat black,' a dark hue that would absorb heat in the summer, making the metal too hot for climbers to scale, Trump has recently told White House aides, Homeland Security officials and military engineers. And the tips of the bollards should be pointed, not round, the president insists, describing in graphic terms the potential injuries that border crossers might receive. Trump has said the wall's current blueprints include too many gates -- placed at periodic intervals to allow vehicles and people through -- and he wants the openings to be smaller. At a moment when the White House is diverting billions of dollars in military funds to fast-track construction, the president is micromanaging the project down to the smallest design details. But Trump's frequently shifting instructions and suggestions have left engineers and aides confused, according to current and former administration officials. Trump has demanded Department of Homeland Security officials come to the White House on short notice to discuss wall construction and on several occasions woke former secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to discuss the project in the early morning, officials said. Trump also has repeatedly summoned the head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lt. Gen. Todd T. Semonite, to impart his views on the barrier's properties, demanding that the structure be physically imposing but also aesthetically pleasing." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So not only is Trump micromanaging the design of the wall -- and repeatedly changing his mind about elements of that design -- he wants to make sure it physically harms desperate immigrants. What a nasty bastard.

A Very Trumpy Presidential* Address. Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Friday railed against the use of anonymous sources in news reports about his administration, calling it 'bullshit.' The president went on a tangent during remarks to the National Association of Realtors in Washington, D.C., complaining about news coverage of his administration's approach to Iran. He disputed that he is at odds with some of his top advisers on the subject, before mocking the way some of the reports use unnamed administration officials. 'Do you ever notice they never write the names of people anymore?' Trump said. 'Everything is "a source says." There is no source. The person doesn't exist. The person's not alive. It's bullshit, OK? It's bullshit.'... While Trump claimed the media reporting has led to confusion over his plans for addressing the conflict with Iran, lawmakers in both parties have voiced frustration over the lack of information coming from the White House."

"The Kiddie Tax." Erica Green of the New York Times: "A little-noticed provision in President Trump's sprawling new tax law is treating middle- and low-income college students as if they are trust-fund babies, taxing sizable financial aid packages at a rate first established 33 years ago to prevent wealthy parents from funneling money to their children to lower their tax burdens. Higher-education leaders are calling on Congress to fix the provision, which drastically raised the tax rate on so-called unearned income for children with assets and young adults in school. Students with large financial aid packages are finding their nontuition assistance for items such as room and board taxed by as much as 37 percent, even if their family income tax rates are much lower.... [The provision also is] hitting tribal funds dispensed to Native American children and young adults, and the families of service members who died in combat, some of whom saw hefty tax bills for their children's survivor benefits this past spring.... Republicans now say they did not anticipate that it would raise taxes on low-income scholarship winners.... After unanimously opposing the law..., [Democrats] are likely to demand a price for getting Republicans out of a political jam. Any fix would need to roll back some provisions of the law, Democrats say."

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "A major investigation into sexual abuse at Ohio State University found no hard evidence that coaches like Jim Jordan, now a prominent Republican in Congress, knew of a team doctor's rampant sexual misconduct. But the 182-page report released on Friday said dozens of other coaches acknowledged that rumors of the doctor's predatory behavior were rife. Mr. Jordan, a former assistant wrestling coach who has denied knowing of the abuse or hearing any locker-room talk about it, claimed complete vindication on Friday.... The actual findings, however, were more ambiguous than that. The report said that the university physician, Richard H. Strauss, was 'infatuated' with the wrestling team and timed his workouts so he could shower with the wrestlers.... '... the Investigation Team received allegations from numerous student-athletes indicating that they talked about Strauss's inappropriate genital exams and complained about Strauss&'s locker-room voyeurism directly to -- or in front of -- O.S.U. coaching staff.' Wrestlers who worked with Mr. Jordan in the late 1980s and early 1990s continue to say that he did know of Dr. Strauss's predatory behavior, and his claims of exoneration rankled some wrestlers. 'How can he be vindicated? What he's doing now is throwing salt in the wound,' said Dunyasha Yetts, a wrestler at the university in 1992 and 1993, who was one of the first and most outspoken victims to come forward." Related story linked below.

Presidential Race 2020

Alice Ollstein of Politico: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Thursday unveiled a series of steps to defend abortion rights and reproductive health care, citing strict new curbs on abortion recently imposed in states including Alabama. The plan relies heavily on Congress to pass laws that protect access to reproductive health services, including policies blocking states from interfering a health provider's ability to give care. Warren would call on Congress to pass laws enshrining the right to an abortion that would preempt any state attempt to ban the procedure or impose onerous regulations on abortion providers. She would also push for the repeal of the Hyde amendment, a long-time prohibition on federal funding for abortion and sign executive orders rolling back recent Trump administration moves aimed at cutting Planned Parenthood out of the Title X family planning program."

Lachlan Markay & Sam Stein of the Daily Beast: "Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination is being underwritten by some of the nation's leading Russophiles.... Gabbard is one of her party's more Russia-friendly voices in an era of deep Democratic suspicion of the country over its efforts to tip the 2016 election in favor of ... Donald Trump. Her financial support from prominent pro-Russian voices in the U.S. is a small portion of the total she's raised. But it still illustrates the degree to which she deviates from her party's mainstream on such a contentious and high-profile issue."

Anyone But Trump. Daniel Strauss & Stephanie Murray of Politico: "Vermont Gov. Phil Scott [R] signaled support for former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld over ... Donald Trump in the 2020 Republican primary. Scott, during his weekly news conference Thursday, was asked whether he would prefer Weld, the only declared Republican primary challenger to Trump, over the incumbent president. 'Oh sure,' Scott said. But the Vermont governor said he wasn't ready to formally endorse any Republican and that he hoped Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan or Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker would consider jumping into the primary."

Beyond the Beltway

The March of the States to Subjugate Women Continues. ...

Louisiana. Melinda Deslatte of the AP: Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat "who has repeatedly bucked national party leaders on abortion rights, is about to do it again. He's ready to sign legislation tha would ban the procedure as early as six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant, when the bill reaches his desk. Louisiana's proposal, awaiting one final vote in the state House, would prohibit abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, similar to laws passed in Kentucky Mississippi, Georgia and Ohio that aim to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. Alabama has gone even further, enacting a law that makes performing abortions a felony at any stage of pregnancy with almost no exceptions." ...

... Missouri, Etc.  Elisha Fieldstadt of NBC News & the AP: "Missouri's Republican-led House passed a bill banning abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy with an exception for medical emergencies but not for rape or incest. Republican Gov. Mike Parson is likely to sign the bill, following the governors of Alabama, Georgia and several other states who have also recently signed stringent abortion legislation. 'Until the day that we no longer have abortions in this country, I will never waiver in the fight for life,' Parson said during a rally Wednesday. Under the bill, which passed in the House by 110 to 44, doctors who perform an abortion after the eight-week cutoff could face five to 15 years in prison. Women who receive abortions would not be criminally penalized. Missouri's Republican-led Senate passed that state's bill, called Missouri Stands With the Unborn, by a vote of 24-10 on Thursday morning." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ohio. Victor Mather of the New York Times: "Ohio State said Friday that an investigation had confirmed -- in voluminous details gleaned from hundreds of interviews -- that a team doctor had sexually abused at least 177 men, including many varsity athletes, while working for the university in the 1970s, '80s and '90s. The university also revealed that dozens of Ohio State officials, including more than 50 athletic department staff members, were aware of the doctor's actions during his nearly two-decade tenure yet did not act to stop them. In a 182-page report issued on Friday, Ohio State detailed how the doctor, Richard H. Strauss, had groped students, required them to strip unnecessarily during examinations, and asked intimate questions about sexual practices under the guise of providing medical treatment."

News Lede

New York Times: "Herman Wouk, whose taut shipboard drama 'The Caine Mutiny' lifted him to the top of the best-seller lists, where he remained for most of a career that extended past his 100th year thanks to page-turners like 'Marjorie Morningstar,' 'Youngblood Hawke' and the World War II epics 'The Winds of War' and 'War and Remembrance,' died early Friday at his home in Palm Springs, Calif. He was 103."

The Commentariat -- May 17, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Ana Swanson & Jack Ewing of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday said he would delay a decision on whether to impose tariffs on automobiles imported from Europe, Japan and other countries for six months, setting a tight deadline for the United States to reach trade agreements that have so far proved elusive."

Elisha Fieldstadt of NBC News & the AP: "Missouri's Republican-led House passed a bill banning abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy with an exception for medical emergencies but not for rape or incest. Republican Gov. Mike Parson is likely to sign the bill, following the governors of Alabama, Georgia and several other states who have also recently signed stringent abortion legislation. 'Until the day that we no longer have abortions in this country, I will never waiver in the fight for life,' Parson said during a rally Wednesday. Under the bill, which passed in the House by 110 to 44, doctors who perform an abortion after the eight-week cutoff could face five to 15 years in prison. Women who receive abortions would not be criminally penalized. Missouri's Republican-led Senate passed that state's bill, called Missouri Stands With the Unborn, by a vote of 24-10 on Thursday morning."

Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "A split federal appeals court on Friday ruled that President Trump's decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was unlawful because 'it was not adequately explained.' The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia found that the administration's termination of the program was 'arbitrary and capricious,' in line with a prior ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals."

Barr Goes All in on Trump's FBI Conspiracy Theory. Kate Riga of TPM: "Attorney General William Barr is loyally carrying out ... Donald Trump's pet project, leaning hard into the President"s tweeted screams to 'investigate the investigators' who he believes launched the Russia probe to undermine his candidacy. In a clip of an interview with Fox News, Barr said he was probing if 'government officials abused their power and put their thumb on the scale.'" ...

... Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "Attorney General William Barr said his review into the origins of the Russia investigation could result in rule changes for the FBI's counterintelligence investigations of political campaigns. 'Government power was used to spy on American citizens,' Barr told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Friday. 'I can't imagine any world where we wouldn't take a look and make sure that was done properly.' The attorney general also told Fox News that 'people have to find out what the government was doing during that period.'... Barr indicated he's interested in the underlying intelligence that led to the FBI's decision to launch the investigation, along with the steps officials took based off of the intelligence, the Journal reported. He cited the surveillance of anti-Vietnam War protesters in the '60s and early '70s as a reason for concern, according to the newspaper, which is something he also brought up at a recent congressional hearing.... 'I've been trying to get answers to questions and I've found that a lot of the answers have been inadequate and I've also found that some of the explanations I've gotten don't hang together, in a sense I have more questions today than I did when I first started,' Barr told Fox News." ...

... Barr's toadying is only encouraging & agitating our mentally unstable president*:

... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump warned Friday of the possibility of 'long jail sentences' for law-enforcement and intelligence officials involved in the early stages of the investigation into possible coordination between Russia and members of his 2016 campaign. 'My Campaign for President was conclusively spied on,' Trump claimed in a morning tweet. 'Nothing like this has ever happened in American Politics. A really bad situation. TREASON means long jail sentences, and this was TREASON!'... At a Senate hearing earlier this month, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray -- also a Trump appointee -- said he had not seen any evidence that illegal surveillance was conducted on individuals associated with Trump';s campaign. He also said 'spying' was not a term he would use. Trump subsequently called Wray's testimony 'ridiculous.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump has told his acting defense secretary, Patrick Shanahan, that he does not want to go to war with Iran, according to several administration officials, in a message to his hawkish aides that an intensifying American pressure campaign against the clerical-led government in Tehran must not escalate into open conflict. Mr. Trump's statement, during a Wednesday morning meeting in the Situation Room, came during a briefing on the rising tensions with Iran. American intelligence has indicated that Iran has placed missiles on small boats in the Persian Gulf, prompting fears that Tehran may strike at United States troops and assets or those of its allies. No new information was presented to the president at the meeting that argued for further engagement with Iran, according to a person in the room.... The president has sought to tamp down reports that two of his most hawkish aides -- the national security adviser, John R. Bolton, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo -- are spoiling for a fight with Iran and are running ahead of him in precipitating a military confrontation. 'There is no infighting whatsoever,' Mr. Trump said in a tweet on Wednesday evening.... Mr. Trump added he was confident Iran 'will want to talk soon,' signaling an openness to diplomacy that officials said is not shared by Mr. Bolton or Mr. Pompeo." ...

... ** Betsy Woodruff & Adam Rawnsley of the Daily Beast: "... U.S. intelligence officials assess that Iran's aggressive moves came in response to the administration's own actions. Three U.S. government officials familiar with the situation told The Daily Beast that officials in multiple U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Iran's new, threatening activity -- which the administration points to in justifying its military presence in the Persian Gulf -- is in response to the administration's aggressive steps over the last two months.... In addition, multiple lawmakers on Capitol Hill familiar with American intelligence about Iran told The Daily Beast that Tehran's aggressive moves -- reportedly planning attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Iraq and loading missiles on fishing boats in the Gulf -- appear to be in response to Washington's moves to press the Islamic Republic and its leadership. The Trump administration's decisions to tighten oil sanctions and to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group were particularly provocative, lawmakers said." ...

... Susan Glasser of the New Yorker: "... one thing this week's Iran-war scare has shown is the extent to which the Trump Presidency has blown up the old way of American foreign-policymaking, which makes the risk of a miscalculation higher than ever.... The removal of constraints on Trump ... is what is so striking at this moment.... And with all the turnover on his staff, a normal decision-making process on national-security matters seems to have been abandoned.... Instead, amazingly enough, we are now at a moment in the Trump Presidency when the capricious President himself is being touted as the possible constraint on his hawkish advisers like [John] Bolton.... The one constant here is that Trump appears, once again, at odds with his advisers.... All of which is to say, I wouldn't discount the chance that a series of mistakes could lead to a conflict that Trump himself doesn't want. The brakes on Trump are shredded. There are fewer and fewer people around the President to stop him or to offer him options that avert worst-case scenarios."

Seung Min Kim, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Thursday unveiled an outline for reshaping how immigrants are admitted into the country -- seeking to promote a more comprehensive approach to immigration ahead of a reelection campaign where Democrats plan to portray his hard line approach at the border as racist. The new proposal, an effort led primarily by his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, appears destined for the congressional dustbin, with no clear strategy from the White House to turn it into law and essentially no support from Democrats who control one-half of Capitol Hill.... In campaign rallies, Trump has continued to paint many immigrants as dangerous, and his bid Thursday to balance his hard line tone exposed him to criticism from conservatives, while failing to insulate him from attacks among Democrats.... [Meanwhile,] Trump's advisers continue to look at measures behind the scenes such as the Insurrection Act, an arcane law that allows the president to employ the military to combat lawlessness or rebellion, to remove illegal immigrants, officials said.... A number of White House aides ... believe the president holding a Rose Garden speech on it was a waste of his time...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'd say Trump agrees with those aides. Listen to a few seconds of the speech embedded in the WashPo story. Trump reads it in that sleepy sing-song voice that says, "I'm doing this so my daughter's husband can feel he's useful, but we all know the whole thing is ridiculous." ...

... Besides, Trump does need an immigration policy; he can have Mark Morgan take a look at aspiring immigrants & pick the very best ones:

... The Eyes Have It. Ted Hesson of Politico: "Mark Morgan, the White House choice to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said during a Fox News interview earlier this year that he can judge the likelihood that an unaccompanied minor will become a gang member by looking into that child's eyes. 'I've been to detention facilities where I've walked up to these individuals that are so-called minors, 17 or under,' Morgan said on Tucker Carlson Tonight' in January. 'I've looked at them and I've looked at their eyes, Tucker -- and I've said that is a soon-to-be MS-13 gang member. It's unequivocal.'" Mrs. McC: This, of course is a skill just like the one Dubya boasted, when he said he had looked into Vladimir Putin's eyes & got "a sense of his soul." Years later, Bush more-or-less walked back his super-eye-contact powers, but Morgan believes his superpower is "unequivocal"; i.e., perfect.

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Thursday that House Democrats could always open an impeachment inquiry to pry free documents and testimony from stonewalling Trump administration officials -- a sharp response to the White House's blanket claim that House requests served no 'legitimate' legislative purpose. 'The courts would respect it if you said we need this information to carry out our oversight responsibilities -- and among them is impeachment,' Ms. Pelosi said during her weekly news conference at the Capitol. 'It doesn't mean you're going on an impeachment path, but it means if you had the information you might,' Ms. Pelosi said.... Her threat was the first time Ms. Pelosi suggested using impeachment as an information-gathering tool, although she had made the suggestion in private before, according to a person familiar with her thinking." ...

... Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff announced on Thursday that the panel will consider an 'enforcement action' against Attorney General William Barr for defying the chairman's subpoena for special counsel Robert Mueller's unredacted report and its supporting intelligence materials. Schiff's announcement came a day after the Justice Department put a counteroffer on the table as it negotiates with the panel for lawmakers' access to the full report, according to a letter obtained by Politico."

Katelyn Polantz & Tammy Kupperman of CNN: "Less redacted versions of memos released Thursday from the court record in Michael Flynn's criminal case reveal more details of Flynn's cooperation with special counsel Robert Mueller. A voicemail recording exists of a member of the Trump administration reaching out to Flynn and his lawyers while he was cooperating with Mueller, according to unsealed documents in Flynn's criminal case Thursday. Flynn had told Mueller about multiple examples of this type of outreach, the newly revealed court filings say, and it became a significant part of Mueller's inquiry into whether the President obstructed justice. Other documents show that Flynn was among 'a select few people' who heard statements among campaign officials about WikiLeaks and spoke to Mueller about those conversations.... '... the prospect of reaching out to WikiLeaks was discussed [among Trump campaign officials]," according to the newly unredacted documents.... The newly unsealed documents in the Flynn case also highlight just how important he was as a source to prosecutors investigating Russian interactions with the Trump political operation during the campaign and transition." ...

... Tom Winter, et al., of NBC News: "... Michael Flynn told investigators that people linked to the Trump administration and Congress reached out to him in an effort to interfere in the Russia probe, according to newly-unredacted court papers filed Thursday.... In a separate court filing, Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered federal prosecutors to file a transcript of the voicemail message, as well as transcripts of any other recordings of Flynn including his conversations with Russian officials.... Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein determined that there was insufficient evidence to pursue the matter further." ...

... Carol Leonnig & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post have more on Judge Sullivan's order: "The transcripts, which the judge ordered be posted on a court website by May 31, would reveal conversations at the center of two major avenues of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. So far they have been disclosed to the public only in fragments in court filings and the Mueller report. Sullivan also ordered that still-redacted portions of the Mueller report that relate to Flynn be given to the court and made public." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Sure sounds as if it would be helpful to Congressional investigators to get their hands on the full array of Mueller's documentation. No, Mitch, it's not "case closed." ...

... CNN has the "less redacted" court filings here.

Devan Cole of CNN: "Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday said he is not preventing special counsel Robert Mueller from testifying before the House Judiciary Committee. 'It's Bob's call whether he wants to testify,' Barr told The Wall Street Journal. Barr's comment comes just days after ... Donald Trump said he was leaving the decision to his attorney general on whether Mueller could testify." Mrs. McC: Very nice of you, Bill.

Jeff Stein, in the New Republic, interviews Barry Sussman, the editor for Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein's Watergate work at the Washington Post, on Trumpgate. Sussman: "The problem is the media have allowed Trump to set the agenda.... He leads the press around by the nose.... [Trump] won't plummet [in the polls] the way Nixon did. At the same time, he won't stay popular as the enormity of the things he's done becomes clearer and clearer to more and more people. Even though we now have a Republican Senate, even there, we're going to see inroads.... One thing that could happen is exactly what happened to Nixon. It's his taxes could become public.... Mueller had a very broad mandate. He could have done a lot more than he did. He, for example, could have looked at Trump's taxes himself, had he been allowed to....

Emoluments, Etc. Dareh Gregorian & Jonathan Allen of NBC News: "... the Trump presidency has been taking a modest economic toll on his businesses, according to annual financial disclosure forms released Thursday. Financial disclosure forms made public by the Office of Government Ethics show overall income from Trump's businesses in 2018 was roughly in line with the revenue he raked in in 2017 -- but some of them took some big hits. While Trump reported making over $17 million in 'management fees and other contract payments' from his Trump International Hotels Management LLC in New York in 2017, he made just $1.5 million in fees there in 2018, the filing shows.... The reports show revenue, not profits, and some of the figures are given in ranges, giving only a partial picture of his finances. But the financial news wasn't all bad for Trump, who told reporters in November that '... being president has cost me a fortune -- a tremendous fortune like you've never seen before.' His Washington, D.C., hotel near the White House, a favorite of Republicans, lobbyists and diplomats, generated revenue of over $40.8 million, up from $40.4 million in 2017." ...

... Russ Choma of Mother Jones: "... Donald Trump's latest personal financial disclosure was just released, showing that Trump, who already owed more money than any other president in history, borrowed millions more in 2018. According to the disclosure, Trump borrowed between $5 million and $25 million from Professional Bank, a small Florida outfit that specializes in construction and real estate loans.... The loan was used to finance the purchase of 1125 South Ocean Avenue, a mansion located next door to Trump's Mar-a-Lago club and owned by the president's sister, Maryanne Trump Barry.... Though assets and liabilities are reported in ranges on financial disclosure forms, land records show that the value of Trump's newest loan $11.2 million."

Pardon Me. Alex Shephard of the New Republic: "As with much of Trump's presidency, it's tempting to overthink things when it comes to pardons, to see them as being chess moves in a larger assault on the rule of law. Trump's willingness to pardon allies and, particularly, well-known conservative figures like [Dinesh] D&'Souza, [Conrad] Black, and the Hammond brothers -- two ranchers whose imprisonment inspired a long, tense takeover of an Oregon wildlife reserve by anti-government militia groups -- points to Trump's unwavering commitment to his own base.... Although he has not yet shown interest in pardoning figures involved in the Russia investigation, he has not exactly been shy about encouraging them to keep quiet.... Trump may very well be 'sending a signal' or hoping to instill goodwill in allies with these pardons, but the path for each of these criminal figures has been straightforward. Exploit existing connections to the president. Make regular public comments about Trump's greatness (writing a book or making a movie seems to help!). Then profit."

Trump's Man in Moscow Really Was an FBI Informant. Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "A federal judge has confirmed for the first time that Felix Sater, a former Donald Trump business associate who drove Trump Tower Moscow negotiations during the 2016 election, helped the U.S. government track down Osama bin Laden. During a hearing on Thursday in the Eastern District of New York -- held as part of a lawsuit brought by First Look Media to unseal records related to Sater's longtime cooperation with the government on various national security issues -- Judge I. Leo Glasser said [to the plaintiffs]..., 'He cooperated... And you know what he did over the 10, 11 years, because you told me that you know. He provided the telephone number of Osama bin Laden. He has done an awful lot of very interesting and dangerous things."

The Education of Donald Trump. Ryan Struyk, in a tweet: "Trump says he had support on criminal justice reform from 'Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, liberals... I guess we could also use the word "progressives" ... a new word that's come about...'" Mrs. McC: You may remember the term from your high-school American history book, and/or maybe from the past decade or so of reading the news, but I guess it doesn't get much play in the New York Post's "Page Six."

Trump Admin Sends $62MM in "Subsidies" to Brazilian Criminals. Chris Sommerfeldt of the New York Daily News: "The Trump administration has forked over more than $62 million -- taxpayer cash that was supposed to be earmarked for struggling American farmers -- to a massive meatpacking company [JBS] owned by a couple of corrupt Brazilian brothers.... The bailout ... was sourced from a $12 billion program meant for American farmers harmed by President Trump's escalating trade war with China and other countries.... Industry watchdogs ... question how subsidizing a deep-pocketed, Brazilian-owned company would help farmers in the American heartland.... Moreover..., the company's exports to China ballooned to more than 24% in 2018, compared to less than 21% the previous year, according to public records, raising questions about the need for the Trump subsidy.... 'It is clear the president is not the least bit knowledgeable about trade policy, nor aware of the chaos his failed approach has caused' said Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who introduced a bill earlier this year restricting the administration's bailouts to American-owned companies." ...

     ... Update: Chris Sommerfeldt: "The Trump administration on Thursday defended its $62 million bailout to a Brazilian meatpacking company controlled by a pair of corrupt brothers, arguing the private pork payout will eventually trickle down to struggling U.S. farmers.... '... regardless of who the vendor is, the products purchased are grown in the U.S. and benefit U.S. farmers,' a spokesperson for the department said.... 'JBS qualifies as a bidder under this criteria. This is similar to someone buying JBS bacon in a grocery store. Regardless of the packaging, the bacon inside is from a hog grown on an American farm.'"

Juliet Eilperin & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "The Environmental Protection Agency should consider recovering nearly $124,000 in improper travel expenses by former EPA chief Scott Pruitt, the agency's inspector general recommended Thursday. The findings, issued nearly a year after Pruitt resigned amid controversy over his spending, travel and ties to lobbyists and outside groups, highlight the fiscal impact of his penchant for high-end travel and accommodations. Investigators concluded that 40 trips Pruitt either took or scheduled during a 10-month period, between March 1 and Dec. 31, 2017, cost taxpayers $985,037. The bulk of those expenses were for Pruitt's round-the-clock security detail, which billed $428,896 in travel costs. The agency spent an additional $339,894 on staffers traveling with the former administrator. The 'questioned amount' the inspector general's office identifies for possible recovery is the $123,941 that taxpayers spent on flying both Pruitt and a security agent in first- or business class, instead of coach. The report also highlights the extent to which Pruitt's official travel revolved around trips to Tulsa, Okla., where he maintained a home while a member of President Trump's Cabinet.... The EPA watchdog details a litany of other problems with the way Pruitt and his entourage rang up 'excessive costs' using taxpayer money...."

MEANWHILE. Katy O'Donnell of Politico: "Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson broke the law when he failed to report an order for a $31,561 dining room table set for his office as well as the installation of an $8,000 dishwasher in the office kitchen, the Government Accountability Office found in a report published Thursday. Agencies are required to notify Congress of expenditures over $5,000 to furnish an executive's office. Carson canceled the table order after it surfaced in news reports in early 2018, and he appeared to blame the fiasco on his wife, Candy, in congressional testimony. HUD spokespeople offered conflicting accounts of what Carson knew about the order."

Marianne Levine of Politico: "The Senate on Thursday confirmed Jeffrey Rosen to replace embattled Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, despite Democratic criticism he wasn't ready for the job. The Senate voted 52-45 to confirm Rosen, along party lines.... Rosen is currently deputy Transportation secretary. He was general counsel at the Department of Transportation and at the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush. He also worked at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis where he overlapped briefly with [AG William] Barr.... 'We need a Deputy Attorney General who knows the Justice Department,' Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said in a statement after Rosen's confirmation. 'Mr. Rosen simply does not have the qualifications for this critical assignment.'"

Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "The Senate on Thursday confirmed Wendy Vitter's appointment to the federal bench, as Republicans overcame strong opposition from Democrats who criticized the nominee's stand against abortion. Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) was the only Republican to join Democrats and independents in opposing Vitter's nomination, in the 52-to-45 vote.... Vitter drew ire from Democrats after a judicial watchdog group found statements she had made against abortion that were not included in the extensive background disclosure forms she was required to provide to the Senate.... During a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in April 2018, Vitter faced intense questioning from Democrats over those comments -- which included claiming Planned Parenthood killed over 150,000 women a year -- and her moderating an event called, 'Abortion Hurts Women's Health.'... They also have criticized Vitter for refusing to say during her confirmation hearing whether she agreed with the Brown v. Board of Education decision that desegregated schools.... Vitter stood by her husband, former senator David Vitter (R-La.), in 2007 when he was named in connection with a D.C. prostitution ring." Thanks to PD Pepe for the heads-up. See her commentary below. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: According to Rachel Maddow, Wendy Vitter has claimed that abortions cause cancer. (Um, they don't.) What this country needs is another forever-judge who puts no store in facts.

Adam Cancryn & Sarah Owermohle of Politico: "House Democrats [Thursday] evening passed the session's first legislation aimed at lowering drug prices, as the party looks to solidify its political advantage on a key issue for voters ahead ahead of 2020. The health care vote -- the House's second in two weeks -- came over bitter protests from Republicans, who accused Democratic leaders of politicizing once-bipartisan drug price proposals by pairing them with polarizing measures to strengthen Obamacare. The bill is unlikely to survive the GOP-controlled Senate." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yes but impeachment is stupid because the Senate will never convict.

Presidential Race 2020

Jeffery Mays & William Neuman of the New York Times: "Bill de Blasio, the Democratic mayor of New York City, announced on Thursday that he was running for president, seeking to show that his brand of urban progressive leadership can be a model for the rest of the nation. It will be a steep challenge: He becomes the 23rd Democrat to enter the presidential race, and he does so against the counsel of many of his trusted advisers, and in the face of two centuries of history. No sitting mayor has been elected to the presidency, and if Mr. de Blasio, 58, is to be the first, he must overcome daunting deficits in polls and fund-raising." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Finally, a Feel-Good Story. Ben Kesslen of NBC News: "A Missouri teenager stole the spotlight from Bill de Blasio's presidential campaign announcement Wednesday when he scooped the New York City mayor's announcement. Gabe Fleisher ... sends out his newsletter 'Wake Up to Politics,' a rundown of political happenings that often includes campaign schedules and what the 2020 candidates are up to.... Fleisher [found] a Friday event for de Blasio in Sioux City that was billed as 'his first stop on his Presidential announcement tour.' But de Blasio had not yet officially thrown his hat in the ring. Shortly after Fleisher tweeted this news, the de Blasio campaign confirmed the mayor was indeed running. Reports had hinted at a de Blasio run for the past few weeks, but Fleisher's find was seemingly the official confirmation."

Marisa Endicott of Mother Jones: "So far in 2019, seven states have passed laws to limit abortion well before fetal viability, which is somewhere around 24 weeks, though all of the laws have yet to take effect or are held up by the courts.... The Missouri Senate, meanwhile, is currently debating an omnibus abortion bill that already passed the House and includes a 'fetal heartbeat' ban, while Louisiana's own six-week abortion bill is about to pass its second legislative chamber. Mother Jones looked at the gender breakdown in these nine state legislatures and found a common thread: All have striking gender imbalances. Each legislature -- with the exception of Georgia -- has a lower than average percentage of women serving in its chambers. The national average is about 29 percent, but in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, women make up just 16 percent or less of the states' legislators." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Update. Summer Ballentine of the AP: "Missouri's Republican-led Senate has now passed a bill to ban abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy. Senators approved the legislation 24-10 early Thursday with just hours left before a Friday deadline to pass bills. It needs at least one more vote of approval in the GOP-led House before it can go to Republican Gov. Mike Parson, who voiced support for it on Wednesday. Parson called on state senators to take action, joining a movement of GOP-dominated state legislatures emboldened by the possibility that a more conservative Supreme Court could overturn its landmark ruling legalizing the procedure." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I realize Republican men have several incentives to push these draconian measures, namely the well-organized anti-abortion groups urging them to do so & the hope that the Trumpy Supremes will overturn Roe. I think the#MeToo movement is yet another impetus. These men can't stand the power the movement has given women -- specifically in relation to curbing sexual aggression -- & the men are punishing women for making "demands."

Jacey Fortin of the New York Times: "Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who provided secret military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks in 2010, was sent to jail again on Thursday after refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating the organization.... Ms. Manning was jailed for similar reasons in March, but was released last week when the term of the grand jury that had served her with a subpoena in January expired."

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Ali Winston of the New York Times: "A police commander reacted with seemingly little concern after being told by an officer that Eric Garner was likely dead, according to text messages shown on Thursday at a disciplinary hearing.... After acknowledging the message [that was dead], Lieutenant [Christopher] Bannon wrote a follow-up note: 'Not a big deal. We were effecting a lawful arrest.' The previously unseen text messages provoked gasps in the room where the hearing was being held for Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who faces possible termination over charges of reckless use of a chokehold and intentional restriction of breathing.... A medical examiner who performed an autopsy on Mr. Garner testified on Wednesday at the hearing that the chokehold 'set into motion a lethal sequence' that resulted in his death."