The Commentariat -- February 28, 2019

Late Morning Update:

Yuliya Talmazan & Paul Goldman of NBC News: "Israel's attorney general announced Thursday that his office had indicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption charges after a two-year investigation. The prime minister faces one count of bribery and two counts of fraud and breach of trust."

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: Trump's "diplomatic" pratfall "should surprise no one, says Brian Katulis of the Center for American Progress. 'What happened on North Korea is a textbook case of what not to do,' he says. 'He flew all the way on the other side of the world for a deal that wasn't anywhere close to having the necessary ingredients -- let alone being partially baked.... It was so poorly planned it makes me think Trump may have wanted an excuse just to get out of town during the damaging and embarrassing [Michael] Cohen testimony.'... There was no agreement worked out in advance, so the risk of failure was high.... Kim didn't need to give an inch, and Trump wound up with another diplomatic belly-flop.... More egregious than Trump's diplomatic malpractice was Trump's defense of the murderous Kim....'It is simply disgusting what he said exonerating Kim for the murder of a U.S. citizen,' Katulis says. 'No one has been brought to justice for that murder. The episode shows how weak Trump is when he meets with leaders like Kim and Putin -- he turns into a fawning, shrinking violet who kowtows to America's worst adversaries.'"

Joyce Vance in a Washington Post op-ed: "Michael Cohen's testimony before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday was a master class in how prosecutors can present cooperating witnesses who have lied and engaged in criminal conduct, and use their testimony to obtain convictions from juries.... Choirboys don't often end up in the middle of criminal conspiracies.... On Wednesday, Cohen began the transformation from deceitful criminal to believable witness.... First, Cohen, as they say, brought the receipts.... Second, Cohen didn't go too far, when he easily could have.... Third, Cohen's story made sense.... Finally, there was Cohen's demeanor.... He was serious and respectful."

*****

Fake Summit Collapses. See news below.

May You Live in Interesting Times *

Here's an accurate summary of the House Oversight Committee's hearing to question Michael Cohen:

The Conscience of the House:

Peter Baker & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "President Trump's longtime lawyer and fixer accused him on Wednesday of an expansive pattern of lies and criminality, offering a damning portrayal of life inside the president's orbit where he said advisers sacrificed integrity for proximity to power. Michael D. Cohen, who represented Mr. Trump for a decade, told Congress that the president lied to the American public about business interests in Russia during the 2016 campaign and lied to reporters about stolen Democratic emails. Mr. Trump also told Mr. Cohen to lie about illegal hush payments to cover up alleged sexual indiscretions, the lawyer charged. The allegations, aired at a daylong hearing before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, exposed a dark underside of Mr. Trump's business and political worlds in the voice of one of the ultimate insiders. Perhaps no close associate of a president has turned on him in front of Congress in such dramatic fashion since John Dean testified against President Richard M. Nixon during the Watergate scandal."

Michael Tackett of the New York Times: Michael Cohen's "televised appearance put old facts in a new light, with a named accuser testifying under threat of perjury outlining a vivid bill of particulars against the president of the United States.... Here are some key takeaways from Mr. Cohen's testimony."

Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "If Wednesday's extraordinary House oversight committee hearing< made anything crystal clear, it was this: No matter what Robert Mueller concludes from his investigation of Russian election interference, federal prosecutors in New York pose their own separate danger to the president and his business associates.... Michael Cohen left no doubt that he is working closely with prosecutors in Manhattan's Southern District in criminal investigations that could end up roiling the Trump presidency. Unlike the special counsel, those prosecutors have no specific mandate -- they can investigate any crime that comes to their attention.... Asked after the hearing if he believed Cohen established that the president had committed a crime while in office, House oversight chairman Elijah Cummings answered, 'It appears that he did.'"

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: House Republicans seem to have conceded Wednesday that "their" President* is a criminal. They spent almost all of their teevee time berating Michael Cohen & none of it defending Donald Trump. They showed absolutely no interest in a "search for the truth" & an abiding compulsion to distract from Trump's bad acts. It's sort of a "group consciousness of guilt." They seem to be suffering from Trump Syndrome, which is a type of Stockholm syndrome. ...

... Conservative Peter Wehner in a New York Times op-ed: "Michael Cohen's testimony before Congress on Wednesday revealed as much about the Republican Party as it did about President Trump and his former lawyer. In the aftermath of Mr. Cohen's damning testimony, several things stand out.... Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, in their frantic effort to discredit Mr. Cohen, went after him while steadfastly ignoring the actual evidence he produced. They tried to impugn his character, but were unable to impugn the documents he provided. Nor did a single Republican offer a character defense of Mr. Trump. It turns out that was too much, even for them.... In the most transparent and ham-handed way, they saw no evil and heard no evil, unless it involved Mr. Cohen.... Republicans are dedicated to annihilating truth in order to defend Mr. Trump and they will go after anyone, from Mr. Cohen to Robert Mueller, who is a threat to him. He is their emperor, and they are his political Praetorian Guard." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Actually, Wehner gives short shrift to the Praetorian Guard, who developed a habit of overthrowing the emperors they were charged to protect. ...

... ** Charles Pierce: "Not one Republican asked a question about the specific offenses that Cohen had illuminated in his opening statement. Instead, they hammered away at Cohen's own crimes -- which, of course, did nothing but remind the folks watching at home on whose behalf Cohen had told so many lies and paid off so many women.... Freedom Caucasian Mark Meadows ... thought he had something going with an item regarding contracts with foreign clients on a disclosure form that Cohen had signed, only to have Cohen point out that, contrary to Meadows's obvious reading deficits, the form referred only to foreign governments, for whom he had not worked. Meadows thundered away that Cohen was dodging the truth only to have a copy of the form pop up all over the Intertoobz in about 15 minutes, just long enough for Congresswoman Katie Hill to read it into the record and make Meadows look like a fool.... These are the complete creatures of the talk-show culture, the perfect products of two and three generations of gerrymandered in-breeding." ...

... Conservative David Frum of the Atlantic: "Michael Cohen's testimony to the House Oversight Committee was uncontradicted. The former personal attorney of the president of the United States today accused him of a litany of crimes, improprieties, immoralities, and betrayals of national security. And not one Republican member of the committee breathed one word in defense of the leader of their party. Those Republicans have learned the hard way never to trust ... Donald Trump's denials."

He had no desire or intention to lead this nation -- only to market himself and to build his wealth and power. Mr. Trump would often say, this campaign was going to be the 'greatest infomercial in political history.' He never expected to win the primary. He never expected to win the general election. -- Michael Cohen, in testimony Wednesday

Nicholas Kristof: "Cohen's testimony was staggering because of the cumulative sum of alleged misconduct, because of the overall portrait it provided of Donald Trump as a 'mobster.'... The range of Trump cons that Cohen outlined was extraordinary, from rigging an auction for the sale of a Trump portrait, to apparent bank fraud, to apparent perjury, to secret hush money payoffs to women, to apparent advance knowledge of a WikiLeaks dump of Democratic emails. There was even a tantalizing suggestion of other criminal conduct that the Justice Department's Southern District of New York is investigating that we may know nothing about.... What was almost as dispiriting as the range of misconduct alleged was the behavior of Republicans on the committee."

Jonathan Chait: "Trump's former fixer alleges not only systematic criminality by his former boss, but deep culpability in the Russia scandal itself. There is no longer any serious chance that Trump will avoid impeachment proceedings. Cohen's testimony should be seen as the first hearing." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The dramatic public testimony to Congress on Wednesday morning by President Trump's former lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, could intensify the legal issues facing the president in the criminal and civil investigations that are swirling around him.... Legal experts said several of the specific allegations by Mr. Cohen in his opening statement could be relevant to questions about whether Mr. Trump participated in a conspiracy to affect the 2016 election, violated campaign finance laws and obstructed justice in an effort to deflect investigations."

How to question a witness (and how a witness should respond) in a designed-to-fail 5-minute format:

     ... Ed Kilgore of New York: "... at the end of a long, tedious day in the House Oversight Committee marked by clumsy questioning of Michael Cohen by Democrats, and shrieking hostility to the witness from Trump-loving Republicans, AOC (as she is universally known in the political universe -- you know, like FDR and JFK) put in perhaps the single most impressive appearance of the hearing. She was crisp, succinct, and very focused on raising some previously undiscussed potential criminal liability issues for Trump that Cohen's testimony suggested (e.g, insurance fraud), including several where the hot-button issue of Trump's missing tax returns might be germane."

Roger Stone Removes His Gag. Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News: "Roger Stone pushed back against Michael Cohen's claims that Stone told Trump in July 2016 that he had spoken to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange about an email dump that would hurt Hillary Clinton's campaign, saying in a text message to BuzzFeed News: 'Mr. Cohen's statement is not true.' Stone's text, which he made clear was a 'statement,' was just the one sentence, and he did not explain what exactly about Cohen's testimony he maintained was false. Stone, who is facing criminal charges for lying to Congress, is under a gag order not to publicly comment on his case, special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, or any 'participants' in his case or the investigation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Matt Naham of Law & Crime: "Roger Stone's comments in multiple publications on Wednesday in response to Michael Cohen's testimony on Capitol Hill has some attorneys thinking he may have already violated a gag order and risked jail before trial.... Stone told BuzzFeed News, 'Mr. Cohen's statement is not true.' Stone told VICE News, 'Mr. Cohen's testimony is entirely untrue.' Stone told the New York Times by phone that 'Mr. Cohen's statement is untrue.' He told ABC News the same thing.... 'Given that his prosecution involves Stone's communications with Wikileaks/Assange as well as touches upon President Trump's alleged knowledge, a reasonable interpretation of the Court's gag order is that it was violated,' national security lawyer Mark Zaid told Law&Crime. Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti commented elsewhere that the statement 'appears to violate the gag order, although [Stone] will argue that it is a profession of innocence and thus does not violate the order.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

MEANWHILE, at Fox "News," "Analysts" Go Wild. Owen Daugherty of the Hill: "Fox News commentators Greg Gutfeld and Juan Williams got into a heated exchange Wednesday after Michael Cohen's testimony to a committee committee, with Gutfeld threatening to throw Williams 'off the set.'"

Lachlan Markay & Sam Stein of the Daily Beast: "The Florida Bar has opened an investigation into whether Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) violated professional conduct rules by threatening former Trump fixer Michael Cohen ahead of Cohen's congressional testimony on Wednesday. The organization, which licenses lawyers to practice in the state, would not disclose details of the investigation, but spokesperson Francine Walker, said the bar is 'quite aware of [Gaetz's] comments ... and we have opened an investigation.' 'If rules have been violated, The Florida Bar will vigorously pursue appropriate discipline by the Florida Supreme Court,' Walker said.... 'The Florida Bar takes its responsibility of regulating lawyer conduct very seriously.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Jack Crosbie of Splinter: "Matt Gaetz is an overtly racist lunatic who seems hell bent on espousing every single one of the Republican party's many, many odious positions. On the other hand, he is extremely, intensely dumb. Just a laser-focused idiot. Industrial grade stupidity.... I can think of no better outcome to the Cohen fiasco than it somehow claiming Matt Gaetz's law license through an incredible act of collateral idiocy.... But there's more. During the Cohen hearings, which Gaetz has been hanging around despite not being on the committee (because he is clearly a messy bitch who lives for drama), Virgin Islands Del. Stacey Plaskett went as far as to suggest that Gaetz could be referred for criminal prosecution for witness tampering." Mrs. McC: Don't you wish New York Times reporters & columnists wrote like this?

Sharon LaFraniere & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The attorney general for the District of Columbia has subpoenaed documents from President Trump's inaugural committee, the third governmental body to delve into how the fund raised $107 million and spent it to celebrate Mr. Trump's swearing in. The latest subpoena follows similar demands for documents by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and by New Jersey's attorney general. The attorney general in Washington is a local official who enforces statutes governing the operation of nonprofit organizations like the inaugural committee." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Sharon LaFraniere: "The special counsel's office, citing new information from a cooperating witness, appeared on Wednesday to correct one element of its earlier allegations that Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, lied about his contacts with a Russian business associate whom they have linked to Russian intelligence. In a heavily redacted memo filed in United States District Court in Washington, prosecutors working for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, cited new evidence that they obtained less than two weeks ago from Rick Gates, the Trump campaign's deputy chairman. They said their revised account should not change the recent ruling by Judge Amy Berman Jackson that Mr. Manafort had been untruthful about his interactions with the Russian associate, Konstantin V. Kilimnik, because they had presented sufficient other evidence of Mr. Manafort's lies. Nonetheless, the filing was a rare admission of a mistake by the special counsel's office...."

Trump & Kim's Excellent Play DateTM: Mrs. Patrick

Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un abruptly cut short their two-day summit [in Hanoi] Thursday after the two leaders failed to reach an agreement to dismantle that country's nuclear weapons. Although Kim said he was ready in principle to denuclearize, his talks with Trump collapsed unexpectedly as the two men and their delegations departed their meeting site in Vietnam's capital city without sitting for a planned lunch and or participating in a signing ceremony. Trump said he felt he had to 'walk' from the negotiating table, in part because Kim wanted the United States to lift economic sanctions on North Korea in their entirety. 'We had some options, but at this time we decided not to do any of the options,' Trump said. He added, 'Sometimes you have to walk, and this was just one of those times.'" ...

... New York Times: "A day that started with the promise of a denuclearization deal and talk of an official declaration to end the Korean War ended abruptly, without a deal.... Mr. Trump said the major sticking point to a deal with North Korea was the lifting of sanctions. Mr. Kim, the president said, wanted sanctions fully lifted in exchange for dismantling some -- but not all -- of the North's nuclear weapons program.... First came word that Mr. Kim and Mr. Trump's lunch would be canceled. Then the scheduled signing of a joint agreement was called off. By midday Thursday, it was clear the talks had collapsed." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Of course all the experts agreed that Kim would never give up the country's nuclear weapons capabilities, so the whole premise of the "summit" was bogus. But in a "real" summit, career diplomats & negotiators would have hammered out the parameters of any agreement before the principals showed up, so there was no reason whatsoever for the dear leaders to meet. Talk about a hoax. On the other hand, the meeting -- just like the previous one -- enhanced Kim's standing in the world & humiliated the U.S., a Trump specialty.

He tells me he didn't know about it, and I take him at his word. -- Donald Trump, on Kim Jong-un & North Korea's torture & murder of American student Otto Warmbier ...

Trump Takes the Word of Another Brutal Dictator. Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Thursday defended North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over the death of American college student Otto Warmbier, whose family says he was 'brutally tortured' while imprisoned in North Korea and died in 2017 after being flown back to United States in a coma.... 'I don't believe he would have allowed that to happen,' Trump said.... Trump said that he spoke to Kim about the death of Warmbier ... and that Kim 'feels badly about it.' He said the North Korea leader, who rules the country with an iron grip, knew about the case but learned about it only after the fact because, Trump suggested, 'top leadership' might not have been involved.... Trump's defense of Kim mirrors his willingness to take the word of autocrats in other cases despite the findings of his own government or experts.... On Thursday, Trump jumped in when an American journalist asked Kim about his human rights record, saying they would discuss it privately. 'You've got a lot of people,' Trump said of North Korea during Thursday's news conference. 'Big country, a lot of people. And in those prisons and those camps, you've got a lot of people. And some really bad things happened to Otto.... But [Kim] tells me he didn't know about it.'"

Trump Calls Murderous Dictator "a Great Leader." Julian Borger of the Guardian: "Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have begun their second summit, with the US president calling his North Korean counterpart 'a great leader' and offering to help give his country a 'tremendous future'.... 'It is an honour to be with Chairman Kim. It's an honour to be together in a country, Vietnam, where they have rolled out the red carpet and they are very honoured to have us,' the US president told reporters as the two men sat alongside each other before brief introductory talks." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: As a reminder of what a real president looks like when he must meet with a murderous dictator who starves his people, here's a photo of Bill Clinton meeting in 2009 with Li'l Kim's father Kim Jong-il (or a look-alike), when Clinton served as an envoy to President Obama to negotiate the release of two U.S. journalists whom North Korea had jailed:

Andrew Restuccia & Katie Galiato of Politico: "... Donald Trump was hit with a spray of shouted questions on Wednesday evening in Vietnam, including one about his former fixer Michael Cohen's salacious testimony, as North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un sat alongside him, chuckling and looking bemused at the media outburst. Minutes later, the White House barred four American journalists from covering their next event. The decision ... sparked outrage among the White House press corps and prompted immediate accusations that the White House was punishing journalists for asking the president uncomfortable questions.... Ultimately, just one print reporter from the pool of 13 journalists that shadow the president on foreign trips was allowed into the subsequent dinner meeting between Trump and Kim. Reporters from all three wire services -- the Associated Press, Reuters and Bloomberg -- as well as a fourth reporter from the Los Angeles Times were blocked from the meeting. Past White Houses have often fought for increased access for American journalists while the U.S. president was traveling abroad in an effort to underscore the importance of a free press." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Nahal Toosi of Politico: “It seems that ... Donald Trump has met a 'socialist' country he actually likes. In recent months Trump has repeatedly cited what he calls the growing threat of socialism in an effort to tarnish leftist Democrats eyeing the Oval Office while also justifying his efforts to oust Venezuela's dictator. But this week, the U.S. leader has been praising Vietnam, the socialist-in-name country hosting his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. In fact, Trump has pointed to Vietnam's economic advances as a model Kim could emulate if he gives up his nuclear weapons. 'Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth,' Trump tweeted Wednesday...."

** Deanna Paul of the Washington Post: "Attorney Eric Miller was confirmed as a judge on the country's most liberal appeals court this week, and for the first time in the Senate's history, the confirmation took place without the consent of either home-state senator, a break from tradition that Democrats say Republicans will come to regret.... Miller's lifetime appointment followed a brief hearing, which took place during a congressional recess and with only two Republican senators present. Miller was confirmed on Tuesday on a 53-46 vote, allowing Trump to continue to move toward a more conservative federal judiciary, one of his key campaign promises."

Brakkton Booker of NPR: "The House passed the most significant gun control measure in more than two decades on Wednesday when it approved the first of two bills aimed at strengthening the federal background check system for firearms purchases. The bill will likely stop in the House, though, as the Senate is unlikely to take up the measure and, even if it does, the president likely would not sign it. The vote on the first bill dubbed the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 passed largely along party lines 240 to 190 with Democrats who control the House cheering as they carried the legislation across the finish line." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Maine. Save the Forgotten White People! Mike Tipping of the Maine Beacon: "Speaking to the hosts of the WVOM morning show this week, former Governor Paul LePage lambasted a bill being considered by Maine's legislature to join with other states to essentially bypass the Electoral College and ensure that the President is elected by the national popular vote. 'Actually what would happen if they do what they say they're gonna do is white people will not have anything to say. It's only going to be the minorities that would elect. It would be California, Texas, Florida,' said LePage. The former governor, calling into the show from his home in Florida, also labeled the proposal 'an insane process' and warned that 'we're gonna be forgotten people.'" Via TPM.

North Carolina. Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "The North Carolina political operative who oversaw a fraud-ridden voter-turnout effort on behalf of a Republican congressional candidate was arrested on Wednesday, a prosecutor said, after a grand jury's secret indictment this week. The campaign contractor, L. McCrae Dowless Jr., was among five people charged in Wake County, N.C., in connection with misconduct related to absentee ballots. Mr. Dowless faces the gravest charges, including three counts of felonious obstruction of justice." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Texas. Oliver Laughland of the Guardian: "A federal judge has blocked election officials in Texas from checking the citizenship of registered voters and potentially purging them from electoral rolls in a temporary order that marks a significant victory for civil rights activists. The ruling by US district judge Fred Biery on Wednesday comes a month after the Texas secretary of state's office flagged almost 100,000 registered voters who it claimed required a citizenship review in order to maintain the right to vote in the state. The office was later forced to concede the data it had used was significantly flawed as advocates argued it discriminated against Hispanic Americans. The move prompted three legal challenges from civil rights groups targeting several counties in Texas with Biery's order effectively stopping the entire state from requesting proof of citizenship or purging voters without informing the court first. The order will remain in effect until the legal challenge is fully argued."

Virginia. Res Ipsa Loquitur. Gregory S. Schneider & Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post: "A Virginia state employee has complained that her eighth-grade daughter was upset during a tour of the historic governor's residence when first lady Pam Northam handed raw cotton to her and another African American child and asked them to imagine being enslaved and having to pick the crop."

Way Beyond

Maria Abi-Habib & Hari Kumar of the New York Times: "Pakistan said Wednesday that it downed two Indian fighter jets and captured a pilot, escalating hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbors a day after Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistani territory for the first time in five decades. The rapid turn of events raised fears that the historical animosities between India and Pakistan could be steering them toward another war." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

New York Times: "André Previn, who blurred the boundaries between jazz, pop and classical music -- and between composing, conducting and performing -- in an extraordinarily eclectic, award-filled career, died on Thursday at his home in Manhattan. He was 89."

The Commentariat -- February 27, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Jonathan Chait: "Trump's former fixer alleges not only systematic criminality by his former boss, but deep culpability in the Russia scandal itself. There is no longer any serious chance that Trump will avoid impeachment proceedings. Cohen's testimony should be seen as the first hearing." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: House Republicans seem to have conceded today that "their" President* is a criminal. They spent almost all of their teevee time berating Michael Cohen & none of it defending Donald Trump. They showed absolutely no interest in a "search for the truth" & an abiding compulsion to distract from Trump's bad acts. It's sort of a "group consciousness of guilt." They seem to be suffering from Trump Syndrome, which is a type of Stockholm syndrome.

Roger Stone Removes His Gag. Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News: "Roger Stone pushed back against Michael Cohen's claims that Stone told Trump in July 2016 that he had spoken to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange about an email dump that would hurt Hillary Clinton's campaign, saying in a text message to BuzzFeed News: 'Mr. Cohen's statement is not true.' Stone's text, which he made clear was a 'statement,' was just the one sentence, and he did not explain what exactly about Cohen's testimony he maintained was false. Stone, who is facing criminal charges for lying to Congress, is under a gag order not to publicly comment on his case, special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, or any 'participants' in his case or the investigation." ...

... Matt Naham of Law & Crime: "Roger Stone's comments in multiple publications on Wednesday in response to Michael Cohen's testimony on Capitol Hill has some attorneys thinking he may have already violated a gag order and risked jail before trial.... Stone told BuzzFeed News, 'Mr. Cohen's statement is not true.' Stone told VICE News, 'Mr. Cohen's testimony is entirely untrue.' Stone told the New York Times by phone that 'Mr. Cohen's statement is untrue.' He told ABC News the same thing.... 'Given that his prosecution involves Stone'’s communications with Wikileaks/Assange as well as touches upon President Trump's alleged knowledge, a reasonable interpretation of the Court's gag order is that it was violated,' national security lawyer Mark Zaid told Law&Crime. Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti commented elsewhere that the statement 'appears to violate the gag order, although [Stone] will argue that it is a profession of innocence and thus does not violate the order.'"

Lachlan Markay & Sam Stein of the Daily Beast: "The Florida Bar has opened an investigation into whether Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) violated professional conduct rules by threatening former Trump fixer Michael Cohen ahead of Cohen's congressional testimony on Wednesday. The organization, which licenses lawyers to practice in the state, would not disclose details of the investigation, but spokesperson Francine Walker, said the bar is 'quite aware of [Gaetz's] comments ... and we have opened an investigation.' 'If rules have been violated, The Florida Bar will vigorously pursue appropriate discipline by the Florida Supreme Court,' Walker said in a statement. 'The Florida Bar takes its responsibility of regulating lawyer conduct very seriously.'"

Sharon LaFraniere & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The attorney general for the District of Columbia has subpoenaed documents from President Trump's inaugural committee, the third governmental body to delve into how the fund raised $107 million and spent it to celebrate Mr. Trump's swearing in. The latest subpoena follows similar demands for documents by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and by New Jersey's attorney general. The attorney general in Washington is a local official who enforces statutes governing the operation of nonprofit organizations like the inaugural committee."

Andrew Restuccia & Katie Galiato of Politico: "... Donald Trump was hit with a spray of shouted questions on Wednesday evening in Vietnam, including one about his former fixer Michael Cohen's salacious testimony, as North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un sat alongside him, chuckling and looking bemused at the media outburst. Minutes later, the White House barred four American journalists from covering their next event. The decision ... sparked outrage among the White House press corps and prompted immediate accusations that the White House was punishing journalists for asking the president uncomfortable questions.... Ultimately, just one print reporter from the pool of 13 journalists that shadow the president on foreign trips was allowed into the subsequent dinner meeting between Trump and Kim. Reporters from all three wire services -- the Associated Press, Reuters and Bloomberg -- as well as a fourth reporter from the Los Angeles Times were blocked from the meeting. Past White Houses have often fought for increased access for American journalists while the U.S. president was traveling abroad in an effort to underscore the importance of a free press."

Brakkton Booker of NPR: "The House passed the most significant gun control measure in more than two decades on Wednesday when it approved the first of two bills aimed at strengthening the federal background check system for firearms purchases. The bill will likely stop in the House, though, as the Senate is unlikely to take up the measure and, even if it does, the president likely would not sign it. The vote on the first bill dubbed the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 passed largely along party lines 240 to 190 with Democrats who control the House cheering as they carried the legislation across the finish line."

Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "The North Carolina political operative who oversaw a fraud-ridden voter-turnout effort on behalf of a Republican congressional candidate was arrested on Wednesday, a prosecutor said, after a grand jury'’s secret indictment this week. The campaign contractor, L. McCrae Dowless Jr., was among five people charged in Wake County, N.C., in connection with misconduct related to absentee ballots. Mr. Dowless faces the gravest charges, including three counts of felonious obstruction of justice."

Maria Abi-Habib & Hari Kumar of the New York Times: "Pakistan said Wednesday that it downed two Indian fighter jets and captured a pilot, escalating hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbors a day after Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistani territory for the first time in five decades. The apid turn of events raised fears that the historical animosities between India and Pakistan could be steering them toward another war."

*****

The Trump Scandals, Ctd. -- Day of Reckoning

Must-See Teevee. Michael Cohen is scheduled to testify publicly before the House Oversight Committee beginning at 10 am ET today. ...

... New York Times reporters are liveblogging the hearing. The page also includes live video. The Washington Post's liveblog is here.

** Days before the Democratic convention, I was in Mr. Trump's office when his secretary announced that Roger Stone was on the phone. Mr. Trump put Mr. Stone on the speakerphone. Mr. Stone told Mr. Trump that he had just gotten off the phone with Julian Assange and that Mr. Assange told Mr. Stone that, within a couple of days, there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton's campaign. Mr. Trump responded by stating to the effect of 'wouldn't that be great.' -- Michael Cohen, in prepared testimony ...

President Donald Trump told special counsel Robert Mueller in writing that Roger Stone did not tell him about WikiLeaks, nor was he told about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between his son, campaign officials and a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton, according to two sources familiar with the matter. -- CNN report, November 2018 ...

... ** Tim Elfrink & Meagan Flynn of the Washington Post: "Michael Cohen ... will tell Congress on Wednesday that Trump knew his longtime adviser Roger Stone was communicating with WikiLeaks about publishing stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee, according to the text of his prepared opening statement. In the prepared remarks [** via Politico], Cohen calls Trump a 'racist,' a 'conman' and a 'cheat' and also levels accusations that the president personally signed a check to cover 'hush money payments' to keep quiet an affair with adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. Cohen says Trump never directly told him to lie to Congress about his business dealings in Moscow, but claims the president implicitly encouraged him to do so."

Michael Cohen was one of many lawyers who represented me (unfortunately). He had other clients also. He was just disbarred by the State Supreme Court for lying & fraud. He did bad things unrelated to Trump. He is lying in order to reduce his prison time. Using Crooked's lawyer! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet this morning ...

... Especially when you think about what Trump knows about what Cohen knows, Trump's attacks on Cohen are remarkably restrained -- not much worse, for instance, than his mocking of Elizabeth Warren & less extensive & shameful than all he has said about Barack Obama & Hillary Clinton. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...

... David Corn, et al. of Mother Jones: "There is practically a bottomless pit of questions that members of the committee can hurl at [Michael] Cohen.... But here is a partial list of specific queries for Cohen that members of the oversight panel may want to pose. They cover some of the known mysteries and puzzles of Trumpland. No doubt, there are plenty of questions that could be added to this compendium. Yet getting straight answers to these would be a very good start." --s

... Besty Woodruff of The Daily Beast: "Michael Cohen is prepared to share who signed the $35,000 monthly checks he received in reimbursement for his hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels, according to a person with knowledge of his upcoming congressional testimony. Cohen is expected to bring documentation revealing who signed the checks, according to that source. The checks are important because Cohen pleaded guilty to violating campaign-finance laws by facilitating those payments.... The efforts to repay him for that disbursement could spell legal trouble for the person who signed the checks." --s ...

     ... ** Mrs. McCrabbie: According to Woodruff, "Trump signed some of the checks, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday night, citing a source familiar with his planned testimony. Cohen began receiving the checks after Trump took office, the Journal said." IOW, assuming the WSJ reporting is correct & Cohen has documentary evidence of Trump's payments, then the Congress will have proof that the POTUS* committed financial crimes while in office. "High crimes & misdemeanors"? Uh, yeah. ...

... Alayna Treene of Axios: "If asked about the bombshell BuzzFeed News article -- later disputed by ... Robert Mueller's office -- that alleged Trump directed Cohen to lie about the extent of the Moscow project, the source said Cohen will explain that Trump never speaks in direct language: 'It's always code words.'" Yeah, that the way teevee mob bosses talk: "When you talk to the guy about the thing in the place, you don't know from nothing. You got that?" Treene has more info on Cohen's expected testimony. ...

Update. Mr. Trump did not directly tell me to lie to Congress. That's not how he operates. In conversations we had during the campaign, at the same time I was actively negotiating in Russia for him, he would look me in the eye and tell me there's no business in Russia and then go out and lie to the American people by saying the same thing. In his way, he was telling me to lie. -- Michael Cohen, prepared remarks

GOP Congressman Threatens Cohen. Aidan McLaughlin of Mediaite: "Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) taunted Michael Cohen Tuesday, accusing ... Donald Trump's former lawyer of having an affair and warning details would be revealed this week.... 'Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends?' Gaetz asked Cohen on Twitter the night before his appearance before the House committee. 'Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she'll remain faithful when you're in prison,' he added. 'She's about to learn a lot...'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

What's next, seating Frank Pantangeli's brother in the witness section? -- Ben Shapiro, formerly of Breitbart "News," in a tweet ...

... Rick Wilson of the Daily Beast: "Tuesday afternoon, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Trump's Colon) launched a Twitter attack on Cohen in the dumbest effort at witness intimidation in modern memory. If you didn't think this came directly from Trump, I have some beachfront condos in North Korea to sell you." Oh, read the whole post.

... Maggie Haberman & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "... Representative Matt Gaetz, a firebrand Republican from Florida, went after Mr. Cohen pre-emptively with a personal attack that some Democrats said amounted to witness intimidation.... Mr. Gaetz's threat and the enraged reaction to it reflected the stakes on Capitol Hill in anticipation of Wednesday's open hearing, at which Mr. Cohen is expected to allege a litany of misdeeds by Mr. Trump over the course of a decade.... Neither Mr. Cohen nor members of the Senate Intelligence Committee provided details of his testimony on Tuesday. Mr. Cohen began his meeting with the senators by apologizing for lying to them in 2017 about the duration of time during the 2016 campaign that the Trump Organization was in discussions about a Trump Tower project in Moscow, people familiar with what took place said. Mr. Cohen emerged from a secure room in the Senate after more than eight hours of questioning and told reporters that he appreciated 'the opportunity that was given to me' to tell the truth. 'I look forward to tomorrow to be able to, in my voice, tell the American people my story,' he said." ...

... ** David Corn of Mother Jones: "Did a Republican member of Congress just commit a felony crime? On Tuesday afternoon, on the eve of Michael Cohen's public appearance before the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) tweeted out this threatening message: 'Hey @MichaelCohen212 -- Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she'll remain faithful when you're in prison. She's about to learn a lot...' Immediately, commenters on Twitter raised the question of whether Gaetz had engaged in witness tampering, which is a federal crime.... Walter Shaub, the former director of the Office of Government Ethics, tweeted out the part of the federal criminal code that could apply.... The code's definition of an 'official proceeding' includes congressional proceedings." --safari: All fellow Confederates will stay mum on this Congressional thuggery. ...

... UPDATE: Andrew Restuccia & Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, a staunch ally of ... Donald Trump, apologized late Tuesday night after he threatened Michael Cohen with the release of damaging personal information, a startling statement that drew an implicit rebuke from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and led legal experts to wonder if he had committed witness tampering. 'While it is important 2 create context around the testimony of liars like Michael Cohen, it was NOT my intent to threaten, as some believe I did,' the Florida Republican wrote shortly before midnight, quoting Pelosi's statement. 'I'm deleting the tweet & I should have chosen words that better showed my intent. I'm sorry.'"

Stephen Brown & Chris Sommerfeldt of the New York Daily News: "A mid-level [New York] state appeals court in Manhattan disbarred ... [Michael Cohen] on Tuesday, ruling that he abandoned his oath when he lied to lawmakers. '(Cohen) ceased to be an attorney upon his federal conviction of making false statements to the United States Congress,' a five-judge panel on the court wrote in a disbarment decision, referencing Cohen's guilty plea last year to lying to House and Senate committees about a scuttled Trump Tower development in Moscow."

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Roger Stone associate Andrew Miller will have to testify to a grand jury in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation or will go to jail, a three-judge panel at the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday morning, in an endorsement of Mueller's authority as a prosecutor. The court agreed with a trial-level judge's ruling that Miller should be held in contempt of court and jailed for refusing to testify under a grand jury subpoena from Mueller." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "A federal appeals court that is widely viewed as the second-most powerful court in the country handed down an opinion on Tuesday holding that Robert Mueller's appointment as special counsel is constitutional.... And the ... decision was joined by Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson -- an arch-conservative judge who fairly often dissented from Judge Brett Kavanaugh's right when Kavanaugh served on her court.... Yet, while the arguments in Grand Jury are not especially controversial, they've been treated as such by one of the most powerful organizations in the country. Steven Calabresi, a law professor and chairman of the Federalist Society's board of directors, published a 21-page memo arguing that Mueller's appointment is unconstitutional.... So its significant that one of the Federalist Society's top leaders -- the chairman of its board -- is so radicalized that he embraces the kind of arguments that are swiftly rejected even by hardline conservative judges like Judge Henderson." --s

Big Dick Toilet Salesman Gets a Re-do. Justin Wise of the Hill: "House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker would return to Capitol Hill to clarify previous testimony.... The Justice Department said that Whitaker will meet with the committee privately, according to The Associated Press." Mrs. McC: "Clarify previous testimony," in case you were wondering, is a genteel way of saying, "clean up lies told under oath."

Joshua Eaton of ThinkProgress: "Russian gun-rights activist and spy Maria Butina is still cooperating with federal prosecutors, the government said in court Tuesday. Judge Tanya S. Chutkan put off setting a date for Butina's sentencing after Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Kravis told the court that her cooperation was ongoing." --s

Matthew Choi of Politico: "... Hillary Clinton wants Congress to 'connect the dots' of the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, saying in an interview that lawmakers on Capitol Hill should be more aggressive in digging into alleged ties between ... Donald Trump and the Russian government. The 2016 Democratic nominee -- who once worked as an attorney for the House Judiciary Committee during the Richard Nixon impeachment inquiry -- advocated more Congressional hearings to help the public piece together what's already been made publicly available about the investigation into a more digestible narrative.... Clinton said that during the Watergate investigation, Congressional hearings were instrumental to informing the press and public about the Nixon probe. She said Mueller's investigation is obscured not only be its secrecy, but also by legal jargon -- like 'obstruction of justice' -- that may be unknown to many parts of the general public." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Gus Garcia-Roberts & Christal Hayes of USA Today: "[Last year] Special counsel Robert Mueller ... was the target of a scheme where women were offered money to make up claims of sexual harassment against him. The plot ... was quickly uncovered ... [and] referred to the FBI for investigation.... [One of the morons] Jacob Wohl, a 21-year-old self-professed 'political and corporate intel consultant' and supporter of President Donald Trump, told USA TODAY in an interview that he's already plotting ways to discredit Democrats in the 2020 election with lies and other disinformation, using his large following on social media to cause disarray similar to what Russians did during the 2016 election." --safari: The article details the buffonery putting together the fake Mueller "assault" allegations. Idiocracy in action ...

... Gus Garcia-Roberts: "Twitter announced that it is permanently suspending Jacob Wohl, a 21-year-old Internet hoaxer and supporter of President Donald Trump, following the publication of a USA TODAY article in which he boasted of using the social media platform to spread lies and disinformation.... Wohl disclosed what he claimed were his plans to create 'enormous left-wing properties' including Facebook and Twitter accounts before the 2020 presidential election in order 'to steer the left-wing votes in the primaries to what we feel are weaker candidates compared with Trump.'... Wohl has regularly used Twitter to spread baseless claims.... He took credit for starting a widely-disseminated false claim last month that Sen. Kamala Harris was ineligible for election because she had immigrant parents and spent part of her childhood in Canada. In discussing his role in spreading that disinformation, Wohl said that the accuracy of a claim is not important. All that matters is how far it reaches, and how many people believe it. 'The believability stuck at about 15 to 18 percent by my measurement,' Wohl said. 'So it's not a bad campaign.'" --safari: Putin would be so proud.

Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The U.S. military blocked Internet access to an infamous Russian entity seeking to sow discord among Americans during the 2018 midterms, several U.S. officials said.... The strike on the Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg, a company underwritten by an oligarch close to President Vladimir Putin, was part of the first offensive cyber campaign against Russia designed to thwart attempts to interfere with a U.S. election, the officials said.... The operation marked the first muscle-flexing by U.S. Cyber Command, with intelligence from the National Security Agency, under new authorities it was granted by President Trump and Congress last year to bolster offensive capabilities.... Russia's tactics are evolving, and some analysts were skeptical of the deterrent value on either the Russian troll factory or on Putin, who, according to U.S. intelligence officials, ordered an 'influence' campaign in 2016 to undermine faith in U.S. democracy." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Trump & Kim's Play DateTM: Mrs. Patrick

In Havana in 2016, Obama aides goaded Raul Castro into a press conference, where Obama made point of forcing him to answer reporters' questions. In Hanoi today, Trump followed Kim's lead in not having reporters ask questions at all, punishes those who tried anyway. -- Edward-Isaac Dovere of the Atlantic, in a tweet ...

... AP (See 7:45 pm entry): "The White House is restricting press access to ... Donald Trump's summit in Vietnam with North Korea's Kim Jong Un. Four print reporters, including one from The Associated Press, were prohibited from covering the beginning of Trump's dinner with Kim in Hanoi on Wednesday. That came after two of those reporters asked questions of the president during earlier events at the summit. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders released a statement saying that due to the 'sensitive nature of the meetings we have limited the pool for dinner to a smaller group.' Sanders initially said no reporters would be allowed into the dinner. But after photographers said they would not cover it without an editorial presence, one print reporter and a radio reporter were allowed in." Mrs. McC: Trump & Miss Sarah sure know how to show Li'l Kim the paramount values of an open, democratic system with a free press. What Trump wanted was a photo-op, a/k/a propaganda, free of pesky journalism.

International Man of Pettiness Nonpareil. I have now spent more time in Vietnam than Da Nang Dick Blumenthal, the third rate Senator from Connecticut (how is Connecticut doing?). His war stories of his heroism in Vietnam were a total fraud - he was never even there. We talked about it today with Vietnamese leaders! -- Cadet Bonespurs, in a tweet

Rebecca Morin of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a trade deal with Vietnam valued at more than $20 billion, with several of the country's airlines agreeing to buy Boeing jets and technology from the U.S. VietJet is buying 100 Boeing 737-Max jets and 215 GE/CFM joint venture engines, and Bamboo Airways is buying 10 Boeing 787-9 jets. In addition, Vietnam Airlines is buying $100 million in services and technology from Sabre Corp."

Low Expectations. David Sanger & Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "When he vowed to 'solve' the North Korea problem just before his inauguration two years ago, President Trump made clear he meant eliminating its nuclear arsenal. But on the eve of a second meeting with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, the president sounds prepared to accept much less, at least for the foreseeable future. 'I don't want to rush anybody,' he said this past weekend. 'As long as there is no testing, we're happy,' he added, pointing to the North's suspension of nuclear and missile tests. Even to some of Mr. Trump's national security aides, that sounded like a significant retreat at a critical moment.... Mr. Trump faces the biggest opportunity of his presidency yet for a diplomatic breakthrough -- and the stark risks of underdelivering on a signature issue after threatening 'fire and fury' only months ago." ...

... BUT So Far, the Play Date Is a Big Success! Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth. North Korea would be the same, and very quickly, if it would denuclearize. The potential is AWESOME, a great opportunity, like almost none other in history, for my friend Kim Jong Un. We will know fairly soon - Very Interesting! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet Wednesday night ...

According to Trump, then, if North Korea would only denuclearize, it would become an economic juggernaut where you might want to buy a beachfront time-share. What an idiot! -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

L'il Kim Kicks U.S. Journalists out of Press Center. David Nakamura & John Hudson of the Washington Post: "What happens when the authoritarian ruler of North Korea checks into a hotel teeming with American journalists filing round-the-clock news reports? The free press loses -- or at least it did Tuesday after Kim Jong Un arrived a day ahead of his two-day summit with President Trump.... Not long before Kim arrived [in Hanoi], a notice was distributed to the press corps that the filing center [in the Melia hotel] would be moved to a separate site for the international press corps at the Cultural Friendship Palace.... One member of hotel management called the North Korean moves 'unprecedented' and said he was forced to turn over control of the entire hotel to the North Koreans." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Art of Wrecking the Deal. Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "President Trump has signaled that he is moving toward peace with China in a trade standoff that has rattled markets and businesses globally. But as he backs off his threat to impose higher tariffs, the president's relationship with his own trade negotiator is now showing signs of strain. The situation has left Mr. Trump's trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, who is both an ardent supporter of the president and a longtime China critic, in an uncomfortable bind. While broad tariffs on Chinese imports brought Beijing to the negotiating table, Mr. Trump has grown impatient with the talks, and a consensus is growing in Washington that Mr. Trump will ultimately accept a weak deal. And despite the lack of a transformative arrangement he once promised, the president has begun dangling the idea of a 'signing summit' with President Xi Jinping of China at Mar-a-Lago Mr. Trump's Florida resort. As a result, the president is undermining Mr. Lighthizer as he tries to pressure China to make big concessions. 'Trump is certainly doing his negotiating team no favors by undercutting them in public,' said Eswar Prasad, a trade expert and the former head of the China division of the International Monetary Fund." Emphasis added. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump is not only corrupt; he's also stunningly stupid. Having created the China trade crisis in the first place, he is now working against his own negotiator to make the outcome as lousy as possible, all so he can have a photo-op with Xi at Mar-a-Lago. I'm sure that not just Xi, but all of the U.S.'s adversaries, as well as our former friends Trump has burned (especially those with whom he's "negotiating" bilateral trade deals), are gleeful.

** Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The House voted on Tuesday to overturn President Trump's declaration of a national emergency on the Mexican border, with just 13 Republicans joining Democrats to try to block his effort to divert funding to a border wall without congressional approval. House Republican leaders kept defections low after feverishly working to assuage concerns among rank-and-file members about protecting congressional powers.... 'Is your oath of office to Donald Trump or is it to the Constitution of the United States?' Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked her Republican colleagues in a speech on the floor ahead of the vote.... The resolution of disapproval, which passed 245 to 182, must now be taken up by the Senate, where three Republicans have already declared their support, only one short of the number needed for Congress to ratify a stinging rebuke of Mr. Trump&'s efforts.... Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader and an open supporter of the declaration, declined to offer his opinion on the legal merits. 'We're in the process of weighing that,' Mr. McConnell said when asked at a news conference on Tuesday. 'I haven't reached a total conclusion.'" ...

... Burgess Everett of Politico: "Vice President Mike Pence faced a wall of resistance from Senate Republicans on Tuesday as he tried to sell ... Donald Trump's national emergency declaration on the southern border, according to multiple GOP sources. The pointed reception at the GOP lunch raised further doubts among Senate Republicans that the administration will be able to hold down defections on a crucial vote to block the president in the coming weeks.... As many as 10 Senate Republicans could support a resolution of disapproval if a vote were held today, according to four GOP senators who attended the lunch and heard Republican senators' complaints. That's far more than the four needed to pass the legislation on a simple majority and force Trump to issue the first veto of his presidency. Currently there are three public 'yes' votes in the Senate GOP conference."

Nick Miroff, et al., of the Washington Post: "At separate hearings on Capitol Hill, Democratic lawmakers hammered the Trump administration Tuesday over the 'zero tolerance' prosecution policy that split thousands of migrant children from their parents last year and devolved into a political fiasco for the White House. Several Trump officials acknowledged to the House Judiciary Committee that they did not speak up to supervisors or attempt to stop the implementation of the family separations at the border, despite warnings it probably would traumatize children.... At another hearing on 'zero tolerance' Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena records from the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services for documents related to the policy." ...

... Caitlin Owens, et al. of Axios: "Thousands of allegations of sexual abuse against unaccompanied minors (UAC) in the custody of the U.S. government have been reported over the past 4 years, according to Department of Health and Human Services documents.... Allegations against staff members reported to the DOJ included everything from rumors of relationships with UACs to showing pornographic videos to minors to forcibly touching minors' genitals.... From October 2014 to July 2018, the HHS' Office of Refugee Resettlement received 4,556 complaints, and the Department of Justice received 1,303 complaints. This includes 178 allegations of sexual abuse by adult staff." --s ...

... Hannah Levintova of Mother Jones: "For the last 20 months, [Scott] Lloyd has been charged with running the [Department of Health and Human Services'] Office of Refugee Resettlement...It also runs shelters housing detained child migrants.... Last month, it was revealed that Lloyd's bungled handling of the reunification of these kids with their families was under formal HHS review; as of this writing, 171 children are still separated from their families. Today, the department announced that Lloyd will be leaving the refugee office for a new role involving outreach to religious communities with HHS's Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives.... Lloyd [has] ... a long history of working to restrict reproductive rights." --s

Ivanka Has Some Thoughts. Rebecca Falconer of Axios: "When asked [in a Fox 'News" interview] what she would say to people to whom [Alexandra] Ocasio-Cortez's new deal policy appealed, [Ivanka] Trump said: 'I don't think most Americans, in their heart, want to be given something.... People want to work for what they get. So, I think that this idea of a guaranteed minimum is not something most people want.'" Mrs. McC: Luckily, Ivanka has not suffered the humiliation of someone "giving her something." No guaranteed minimum wage for her; Ivanka works for the money. Pulled herself up by designer bootstraps, I reckon. More scientific evidence that the lack of a self-awareness gene is hereditary. (Also linked yesterday.)

BUT Maybe the Hypocrites Prize should go to Andy Biggs & David Perdue: Juliegrace Brufke of the Hill: "Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) on Thursday are slated to introduce companion resolutions declaring the national debt a threat to the country's national security. The introduction of the resolutions comes just days ahead of Congress's March 2 debt limit deadline. The resolutions note that the total outstanding public debt surpassed $22 trillion in February with total interest exceeding $192 billion for fiscal year 2019. They call on Congress to return to regula order, adding that a balanced federal budget hasn't been signed since 1997." Mrs. McC: Both Biggs and Perdue voted from Trump's deficit-exploding tax "reform" bill, which of course also balloons the national debt." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Oh, Wait. Mitch is in the running. Martin Longman of the Washington Monthly: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) suggested on the Senate floor Tuesday morning that Democrats were to blame for a recent case of substantial election fraud in North Carolina that benefited a GOP House candidate.... '... We were hit with left-wing talking points insisting that voter fraud wasn't real. Never happens, they [Democrats] said. Well, that fraud just didn't happen, that modest efforts to ensure that voters who are who they say they are and are voting in the proper place were really some sinister right-wing plot to prevent people from voting,' McConnell said. 'So now, as you might expect, now that an incident of very real voter fraud has become national news and the Republican candidate seems ― seems ― to have benefited, these long-standing Democratic talking points have been really quiet.' It doesn't get any more disingenuous than that. The fraud in North Carolina was perpetrated on the voters, not by them. Republican operatives took Democrats' absentee ballots and threw them in the trash."

Rep. Adam Schiff in the Atlantic: "This week, the House Intelligence Committee will hold its first open hearing under the new Democratic majority. When I took over as chairman of the committee in January, there was no shortage of topics that would be obvious candidates for the committee to focus on -- China's growing might, Russian interference in our election, Turkey's drift, or countless other threats. Our first hearing will not be on any of those topics, but rather on an issue that may surpass them all in importance, and yet underlies each: the rise of authoritarianism and the threat to liberal democracy around the world." --s

Bess Levin of Vanity Fair: "When you're actively working for the president of the United States, you can't just come out and publicly say, 'This guy is a complete and total moron,' however accurate or obvious the statement may be.... In an interview with Marketplace's Kai Ryssdal, [former Fed chair Janet] Yellen was asked, point blank: 'Do you think the president has a grasp of macroeconomic policy?' And instead of dancing around the issue..., she responded, 'No, I do not.' And, apparently, macroeconomics is just one of several things she thinks President Buy and Sell knows nothing about, the others being international trade, business, and the entire purpose of the Federal Reserve." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yellin also expressed concern about "Trump's apparent lack of understanding about the Federal Reserve being an independent organization, and how crucial it is for the economy that Americans have confidence in the central bank." So during Senate hearings today ....

Wow. Sen. Schatz asks Powell if the White House has ever communicated with him about rates. Very long awkward pause. Powell says probably not appropriate for him to comment on conversations with other government officials. -- Kate Davidson of the Wall Street Journal, in a tweet

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Sam Stein & Maxwell Tani of The Daily Beast: "Officials at CNN have told the Democratic National Committee that their new politics editor, Sarah Isgur, will have no editorial decision-making control over the network's coverage of the 2020 elections, a Democratic official familiar with those conversations told The Daily Beast.... The former top communications aide to Attorney General Jeff Sessions was brought on board the network to help lead its political coverage for the 2020 election." --s

Beyond the Beltway

Nevada. Tiffany Hsu of the New York Times: "On Tuesday, the Nevada Gaming Commission fined Wynn Resorts, the casino empire that [Steve] Wynn founded and ran for years, $20 million for ignoring multiple complaints about his [sexual misconduct]. The fine, which the commission approved unanimously, is the largest imposed against a gambling licensee in Nevada.... Mr. Wynn resigned as the company's chairman and chief executive last February after a Wall Street Journal report described a decades-long pattern of sexual misconduct, including accusations that he pressured employees for sex. He was not paid severance and liquidated his shares in Wynn Resorts. Mr. Wynn, 77, denied the allegations, but faced immediate and intense backlash. He resigned as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, and his name was removed from university buildings and programs. Shareholders filed multiple lawsuits and several regulatory agencies began investigations into the allegations."

North Carolina. Caroline Kelly of CNN: "North Carolina Republican Mark Harris will not run in the new election for the 9th Congressional District following November's disputed result caused by absentee ballot irregularities...." ...

... Beavis & Butthead. Adam Peck of ThinkProgress: "Republican Mark Harris won't seek the same congressional seat he vied for last year when North Carolina holds a new election later this year, he announced on Tuesday.... Harris also [threw] his support to local Republican county commissioner Stony Rushing, a far right conspiracy theorist and avid gun supporter who was among the more vocal defenders of Harris throughout his legal battle." --s...

... ** Jacob Rosenberg of Mother Jones: "Union County Commissioner Stony Rushing ... has made some controversial remarks about Confederate symbols in the past.... Rushing is a political unknown; his position as Union County commissioner is the highest-ranking office he has held. But he made news locally in 2015 when he defended Confederate symbols barely a week after nine congregants were murdered in their church by a 21-year-old white supremacist..., Rushing ... owns a firing range on the North Carolina border, is a proud member of the National Rifle Association and a 'Top Ten Recruit of 2009 & 2010,' according to a newsletter from the range..., Photoshopped images of Al Sharpton and Barack Obama as zombies appear in the newsletter[.]" --s

Way Beyond

Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain bowed on Tuesday to overwhelming pressure to reduce the risk of a disorderly departure from the European Union, accepting that Parliament should have the chance to delay Britain's exit if it rejects her withdrawal plans next month. Mrs. May's concession, in the face of an internal rebellion, was the latest in a long line of retreats as she has struggled to cajole her fractious party into supporting a revised version of ... Brexit that lawmakers threw out by a massive margin last month. Mrs. May's hand was forced by rebels in her own Conservative government, who had threatened to vote on Wednesday for an amendment that could force her to request an extension of Brexit talks if she is unable to get her blueprint through Parliament." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Commentariat -- February 26, 2019

Afternoon Update:

GOP Congressman Threatens Cohen. Aidan McLaughlin of Mediaite: "Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) taunted Michael Cohen Tuesday, accusing ... [him] of having an affair and warning details would be revealed this week.... 'Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends?' Gaetz asked Cohen on Twitter the night before his appearance before the House committee. 'Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she'll remain faithful when you're in prison,' he added. 'She's about to learn a lot...'"

L'il Kim Kicks U.S. Journalists out of Press Center. David Nakamura & John Hudson of the Washington Post: "What happens when the authoritarian ruler of North Korea checks into a hotel teeming with American journalists filing round-the-clock news reports? The free press loses -- or at least it did Tuesday after Kim Jong Un arrived a day ahead of his two-day summit with President Trump.... Not long before Kim arrived [in Hanoi], a notice was distributed to the press corps that the filing center [in the Melia hotel] would be moved to a separate site for the international press corps at the Cultural Friendship Palace.... One member of hotel management called the North Korean moves 'unprecedented' and said he was forced to turn over control of the entire hotel to the North Koreans."

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Roger Stone associate Andrew Miller will have to testify to a grand jury in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation or will go to jail, a three-judge panel at the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday morning, in an endorsement of Mueller's authority as a prosecutor. The court agreed with a trial-level judge's ruling that Miller should be held in contempt of court and jailed for refusing to testify under a grand jury subpoena from Mueller."

Matthew Choi of Politico: "... Hillary Clinton wants Congress to 'connect the dots' of the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, saying in an interview that lawmakers on Capitol Hill should be more aggressive in digging into alleged ties between ... Donald Trump and the Russian government. The 2016 Democratic nominee -- who once worked as an attorney for the House Judiciary Committee during the Richard Nixon impeachment inquiry -- advocated more Congressional hearings to help the public piece together what's already been made publicly available about the investigation into a more digestible narrative.... Clinton said that during the Watergate investigation, Congressional hearings were instrumental to informing the press and public about the Nixon probe. She said Mueller's investigation is obscured not only be its secrecy, but also by legal jargon ... that may be unknown to many parts of the general public."

Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The U.S. military blocked Internet access to an infamous Russian entity seeking to sow discord among Americans during the 2018 midterms, several U.S. officials said.... The strike on the Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg, a company underwritten by an oligarch close to President Vladimir Putin, was part of the first offensive cyber campaign against Russia designed to thwart attempts to interfere with a U.S. election, the officials said.... The operation marked the first muscle-flexing by U.S. Cyber Command, with intelligence from the National Security Agency, under new authorities it was granted by President Trump and Congress last year to bolster offensive capabilities.... Russia's tactics are evolving, and some analysts were skeptical of the deterrent value on either the Russian troll factory or on Putin, who, according to U.S. intelligence officials, ordered an 'influence' campaign in 2016 to undermine faith in U.S. democracy."

Mrs. McCrabbie: I've had MSNBC on about half the morning while I was doing stuff, and most of the hosts & guests are giving Michael Cohen the Sarah Sanders treatment: "He a convicted liar so you can't believe a word he says." Never a word about the Liar-in-Chief.

Ivanka Has Some Thoughts. Rebecca Falconer of Axios: "When asked [in a Fox 'News" interview] what she would say to people to whom [Alexandra] Ocasio-Cortez's new deal policy appealed, [Ivanka] Trump said: 'I don't think most Americans, in their heart, want to be given something.... People want to work for what they get. So, I think that this idea of a guaranteed minimum is not something most people want.'" Mrs. McC: Luckily, Ivanka has not had to suffer the humiliation of someone "giving her something." No guaranteed minimum wage for her; Ivanka wants to works for the money. Pulled herself up by designer bootstraps, I reckon. More scientific evidence that the lack of a self-awareness gene is hereditary.

BUT Maybe Today's Hypocrites Prize should go to Andy Biggs & David Perdue. Juliegrace Brufke of the Hill: "Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) on Thursday are slated to introduce companion resolutions declaring the national debt a threat to the country's national security. The introduction of the resolutions comes just days ahead of Congress's March 2 debt limit deadline. The resolutions note that the total outstanding public debt surpassed $22 trillion in February with total interest exceeding $192 billion for fiscal year 2019. They call on Congress to return to regular order, adding that a balanced federal budget hasn't been signed since 1997." Mrs. McC: Both Biggs and Perdue voted from Trump's deficit-exploding tax "reform" bill, which of course also balloons the national debt."

Bess Levin of Vanity Fair: "When you're actively working for the president of the United States, you can't just come out and publicly say, 'This guy is a complete and total moron,' however accurate or obvious the statement may be.... In an interview with Marketplace's Kai Ryssdal, [former Fed chair Janet] Yellen was asked, point blank: 'Do you think the president has a grasp of macroeconomic policy?' And instead of dancing around the issue..., she responded, 'No, I do not.' And, apparently, macroeconomics is just one of several things she thinks President Buy and Sell knows nothing about, the others being international trade, business, and the entire purpose of the Federal Reserve." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yellin also expressed concern about "Trump's apparent lack of understanding about the Federal Reserve being an independent organization, and how crucial it is for the economy that Americans have confidence in the central bank." So during Senate hearings today ....

Wow. Sen. Schatz asks Powell if the White House has ever communicated with him about rates. Very long awkward pause. Powell says probably not appropriate for him to comment on conversations with other government officials. -- Kate Davidson of the Wall Street Journal, in a tweet

Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain bowed on Tuesday to overwhelming pressure to reduce the risk of a disorderly departure from the European Union, accepting that Parliament should have the chance to delay Britain's exit if it rejects her withdrawal plans next month. Mrs. May's concession, in the face of an internal rebellion, was the latest in a long line of retreats as she has struggled to cajole her fractious party into supporting a revised version of ... Brexit that lawmakers threw out by a massive margin last month. Mrs. May's hand was forced by rebels in her own Conservative government, who had threatened to vote on Wednesday for an amendment that could force her to request an extension of Brexit talks if she is unable to get her blueprint through Parliament."

*****

Cadet Bonespurs Marches to Hanoi

CBS/AP: "Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday that the United States had asked Moscow's advice in dealing with North Korea ahead of a summit between ... Donald Trump and the North Korean leader.... The Trump administration has not confirmed any outreach to Moscow over the negotiations with the Kim regime. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had not discussed the summit in Hanoi with Donald Trump directly." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: As Rachel Maddow reminds us, during the first Trump-Kim summit, Trump gave Kim a very nice gift Kim: he ordered the U.S. to pull out of the annual U.S.-South Korea military exercises. In return, Trump asked & got no concessions from Kim. And where did the Great Dealmaker get this idea to give away the store*? Why, from Vladimir Putin.

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Previews of Coming Attractions. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Michael D. Cohen ... is planning on portraying ... [Donald Trump] in starkly negative terms when he testifies Wednesday before a House committee, and on describing what he says was Mr. Trump's use of racist language, lies about his wealth and possible criminal conduct. Mr. Cohen's plans were laid out in broad strokes by a person familiar with what he intends to say in his testimony. And they indicate that Mr. Cohen will use documents and his personal experiences to support his statements." ...

... Matt Zapotosky & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Cohen is expected to present records of Trump's finances and recall alleged instances 'where Trump used high numbers for his purposes, such as getting on the top 10 wealthiest people on the Forbes list, and low numbers, when it came time to paying real estate taxes,' [a] person [familiar with Cohen's planned testimony] said." The reporters then play "20 Questions," speculating on what lawmakers may ask Cohen.

Rosenstein Throws Ice Water on Mueller Report. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Rod Rosenstein, the outgoing deputy attorney general, said Monday that Americans should be confident that Attorney General William Barr will make an appropriate decision about whether to publicly release special counsel Robert Mueller's expected report on alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.... However..., [Rosenstein], who is expected to step down from his post next month, repeatedly expressed caution Monday about publicly airing allegations against individuals who haven't been charged with crimes. That concern could complicate efforts to publicly disclose a detailed account of Mueller's investigation. 'If we aren't prepared to prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt in court, then we have no business making allegations against American citizens,' Rosenstein told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 'I know there's a tension there.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is a neat Catch-22. (1) Our in-house policy is that we can't bring an indictment against Trump; (2) therefore, we can't prove our case in court; (3) therefore, it would be wrong to tell you about Trump's illegal & corrupt activities. ...

... Noah Weiland & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times profile "Andrew D. Goldstein, 44, a former Time magazine reporter who is now a lead prosecutor for Mr. Mueller in the investigation into whether the president obstructed justice.... Mr. Goldstein, the lone prosecutor in Mr. Mueller's office who came directly from a corruption unit at the Justice Department, has conducted every major interview of the president's advisers.... As evidence [of obstruction] built over two years, Mr. Goldstein functioned as a repository of conversations that Mr. Trump had with lawyers, advisers and top law enforcement officials from early 2017 on. Among Mr. Goldstein's jewels, according to Mr. Trump's lawyers: exhaustive notes taken by Annie Donaldson, Mr. McGahn's former chief of staff, which detailed in real time Mr. Trump's behavior in the West Wing."

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Every time I have a glimmer of hope that Mueller might throw the book at Trump, I read something like Rosenstein's remarks & the Goldstein profile & return to the grim reality that "the system" is designed to let the most corrupt president* in history skate. The Mueller "investigation" is beginning to look like an elaborate, expensive effort to exonerate Trump & his top made men & women. It will be a great boost to Trump's re-election campaign; Trump can claim that even the "13 Angry Democrats" who conducted the "witch hunt" couldn't find the tiniest hint of corruption against him or his family. And any voter who's had to face off against a government agent (and that's most of us -- ever apply for a building permit? get a traffic ticket?) will sympathize. ...

     ... digby's take matches mine: "... the [Times] article ... begins to sound like a warning that everyone had better pour themselves a big drink because this thing probably isn't going anywhere.... Unless they have Trump on tape saying 'I've got to fire that James Comey or my handler Comrade Putin will be so angry' it won't be surprising if they decide that he's so damned stupid that he didn't indent to obstruct justice because he literally doesn't understand what it is." ...

... BUT. Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Even if special counsel Robert Mueller finishes his work without filing new charges..., Donald Trump and his associates won't be in the clear.... Federal prosecutors in New York are examining Trump's 2016 campaign, inauguration and businesses. Congress has given the Justice Department dozens of hearing transcripts that could contain lies told under oath. State and local prosecutors have reportedly prepped new charges that can’t be erased with a presidential pardon. And a slate of sealed indictments sit in the Washington, D.C., federal courthouse, raising the prospect that some in Trump's circle may have already been indicted and just don't know it.... While Mueller could charge others before closing up shop, it's also possible that he has already placed more indictments like ticking time bombs into the federal court system. Seventeen cases filed there so far this year remain under seal, as well as another 57 from last year."

Asawin Suebsaeng & Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "The president made clear to his outside legal team, which includes Rudy Giuliani and Jay Sekulow, that he didn't want his lawyers going anywhere -- even after the Mueller probe ends. The conversations served as a private admission that federal investigations bedeviling his first term in office will be haunting him for possibly years to come. The president broached the topic of keeping his team together starting late last year ... by discussing other legal woes he might face after the Special Counsel's Office submits its report to the Department of Justice. Trump's focus at the time? The Southern District of New York." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dominique Jackson of the Raw Story: "According to The Wall Street Journal, The Huse Judiciary Committee believes it has evidence of ... Donald Trump's communication with his former acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker about his former fixer and personal lawyer Michael Cohen. The committee says it has evidence of Trump meddling into the 2018 investigation into Cohen and the Southern District of New York's probes into the Trump Organization. 'Talking to advisers, Mr. Trump appeared concerned that an "out-of-control prosecutor" examining a person involved in large business transactions would easily be able to find a "technical violation,"' the report said." ...

... The WSJ report (firewalled) is here. The first two grafs, via Political Wire, are: "The House Judiciary Committee believes it has evidence that President Trump asked Matthew Whitaker, at the time the acting attorney general, whether Manhattan U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman could regain control of his office's investigation into Mr. Trump's former lawyer and his real-estate business. There is no sign Mr. Whitaker acted on any request from Mr. Trump, which the New York Times reported last week. But the House Judiciary Committee is investigating whether Mr. Whitaker may have perjured himself in his appearance before the panel earlier this month."

John Wagner & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "A lawyer for the Trump Organization has asked the House Judiciary Committee to cease any investigations related to it, claiming that the panel's work has been tainted by its hiring of an outside lawyer whose firm has represented Trump's company. In a letter Monday to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Trump Organization lawyer Alan S. Futerfas objected to the committee's hiring of Berry H. Berke on the grounds that his law firm, Kramer Levin, has represented the Trump Organization on an array of issues. Futerfas raised similar concerns in a letter last week to House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), saying that his panel works closely with Nadler's committee. In a statement, Kramer Levin called the Trump Organization's letter to Nadler 'baseless.'.... Kramer Levin said Berke was working for the Judiciary Committee in his personal capacity and that the firm would not receive any compensation or provide legal support." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

CREW Press Release: "There is compelling evidence that President Trump may have personally committed up to eight criminal campaign finance and related offenses while running for president and during his first year in office, according to a report released today by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). In a new report, A Campaign to Defraud, CREW combs through the facts behind these apparent crimes, based on admissions by two of President Trump's likely co-conspirators and news reports, detailing how criminal law can already be applied to publicly known facts. Most of President Trump's potential violations are related to illegal campaign contributions meant to cover up evidence of Trump's affairs with two women, preventing voters from learning the truth about his behavior ahead of the election, though at least one continued well into his first year in office.... Trump's conduct ... may trigger criminal penalties." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Cheating, Lying Crook (But Not a Murderer!) Throws Himself on Mercy of Court. Darren Samuelsohn & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Lawyers for Paul Manafort ... pleaded on Monday for a federal judge to spare their 69-year-old client from a sentence that would essentially send him to prison for the rest of his life. In a 47-page filing, Manafort's attorneys described a client who has been 'personally, professionally, and financially' broken by special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation and who deserves a sentence 'significantly' below the statutory maximum of 10 years he faces after pleading guilty in Washington to a pair of conspiracy charges." ...

     ... AND here's a great reason Manafort should get a light sentence, according to his lawyers: "This case is not about murder, drug cartels, organized crime, the Madoff Ponzi scheme or the collapse of Enron." Right. Manafort hasn't murdered anybody (as far as we know), so let him off easy.

Everything Trump Does Is Screwed up. Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed News: "A newly released document regarding former acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker's appointment shows that, at the earliest..., Donald Trump authorized Whitaker to lead the Justice Department a day later than officials previously said was the case. White House and Justice Department officials previously had repeatedly declined to make public a copy of Trump's memorandum designating Whitaker the acting attorney general this past November. A copy of the document, obtained by BuzzFeed News in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, suggests why that was the case: The document raises several questions about the timing of and process involved in Whitaker's appointment.... In addition to the big questions of when [Jeff] Sessions' tenure formally ended and when Whitaker's formally began, the obtained memorandum also leaves unclear when DOJ was formally notified of Whitaker's appointment and wh the Executive Secretariat's notation signifies that DOJ did not receive the appointment memorandum until late at night Nov. 13[, nearly a week after the date the administration claimed Whitaker had become acting AG]." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump had been planning for months to dump Sessions & replace him with a lackey like Whitaker. Yet with months to prepare, somehow Trump & his not-ready-for-primetime crew couldn't even get the paperwork right.

Everything Trump Says Is a Lie. Holmes Lybrand of CNN: "During an address to US governors Monday morning..., Donald Trump ... claimed that his daughter Ivanka had 'created millions of jobs.'... No matter how you spin it, that's not true." Ivanka co-chaired, with Wilbur Ross, a jobs training program that tracked closely to what companies had already planned over a five-year period beginning less than a year ago. They aren't "jobs," per se, & there aren't millions of them.

Casey Michel of ThinkProgress: "In a Monday morning appearance on Fox News, Donald Trump, Jr., insisted that the president's 2016 campaign team has been unfairly targeted by a 'Stalinist' special counsel Robert Mueller -- and that crimes committed before the election shouldn't count as 'actual crimes.'... It was unclear what crimes Trump Jr. might have been alluding to...." Mrs. McC: Because, like the Old Man, Junior just makes up stuff. Now would be a good time for Special Counsel Stalin to indict Junior. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Burgess Everett & Marianne Levine of Politico: "... Donald Trump is on the verge of a bipartisan rejection of his emergency declaration at the border in what would be an embarrassing rebuke by a Congress opposed to his immigration agenda. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on Monday night said he would join Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, along with 47 Senate Democrats to block Trump's attempts to secure billions for his border wall after lawmakers effectively stiffed him. Now just one more GOP senator's support for a resolution to block Trump's bid would send the measure to Trump's desk and force a veto.... Interviews on Monday with more than a dozen GOP senators who have been publicly critical of Trump's unilateral maneuver or warned him not to deploy it were cagey about their intentions...." ...

... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Monday cautioned fellow Republicans against falling into a Democratic 'trap' as lawmakers prepare to vote this week on legislation rejecting his declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border. A measure is expected to pass easily in the Democratic-controlled House on Tuesday, forcing a difficult vote for GOP senators, who will have to weigh whether to support Trump on a move that even some in his party have criticized as circumventing the will of Congress. 'I hope our great Republican Senators don't get led down the path of weak and ineffective Border Security,' Trump said in a tweet Monday. 'Without strong Borders, we don't have a Country - and the voters are on board with us. Be strong and smart, don't fall into the Democrats "trap" of Open Borders and Crime!'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This notion that "without strong borders, we don’t have a country," is ridiculous & racist. "We" had a country until 1882 with no anti-immigration laws whatsoever. In 1882, Congress passed the first racist anti-immigrant act, which targeted Chinese immigrants. ...

... Todd Richmond of the AP: "Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers [D] on Monday ordered the state's National Guard troops to withdraw from the border with Mexico.... The governor said about 112 troops are currently serving in Arizona but keeping the borders safe and protecting immigrants seeking asylum is the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol's job. He said there's not enough evidence to support Republican ... Donald Trump's declaration that a national emergency exists and there's no justification for Wisconsin troops to remain.... Adam Kinzinger, a Republican congressman from Illinois, tweeted on Monday that he is a member of the Wisconsin National Guard and criticized Evers for his decision. In a series of tweets, he said he was sent to the border as a member of the Wisconsin National Guard and his crew caught a man crossing the border with 70 pounds of methamphetamine."

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump said Monday that a U.S. citizen held captive in Yemen for more than a year has been reunited with his family. The president announced on Twitter that Danny Burch 'has been recovered and reunited with his wife and children.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

A Note from Your Racist President*. Alex Marshall of the New York Times: "On Sunday night, Spike Lee won his first competitive Oscar, then made an acceptance speech that gained a standing ovation. But the events did not please at least one person apparently watching: President Trump. On Monday, he called Lee's speech a 'racist hit on your President.' Lee opened his speech, after winning best adapted screenplay for 'BlacKkKlansman,' by discussing slavery and his family's experiences of it. 'I give praise to our ancestors, who have built this country into what it is today along with the genocide of the native people,' he said. 'The 2020 presidential election is around the corner,' Lee said. 'Let's all mobilize. Let's all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate.' Lee did not mention the president in his speech, but that call to action seems to have angered him. 'Be nice if Spike Lee could read his notes, or better yet not have to use notes at all, when doing his racist hit on your President,' Trump said in a tweet in the early hours of Monday morning.' The president's policies had 'done more for African Americans (Criminal Justice Reform, Lowest Unemployment numbers in History, Tax Cuts, etc.) than almost any other Pres!' the president added." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yes, I too recall when Trump freed the slaves & jammed the Civil Rights Act through Congress. ...

... Michael Tesler in the Washington Post: "The president's recent accusations of black racism are part of a longer and larger pattern. An August 2017 analysis by The Post's Christopher Ingraham found that Trump is three times more likely to accuse African Americans of racism on Twitter than whites[.]... Trump's accusations of black racism may be hypocritical, but they're not surprising. After all, whites who hold unfavorable views about African Americans believe that blacks are likely racist." Mrs. McC: IOW, when Trump calls black people racists, it's because Trump is a racist. But you knew that.

Beth Reinhard & Alice Crites of the Washington Post: "A staffer on Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign says he kissed her without her consent at a small gathering of supporters before a Florida rally, an interaction that she alleges in a new lawsuit still causes her anguish. In interviews with The Washington Post, and in the lawsuit, Alva Johnson said Trump grabbed her hand and leaned in to kiss her on the lips as he exited an RV outside the rally in Tampa on Aug. 24, 2016. Johnson said she turned her head and the unwanted kiss landed on the side of her mouth, which she called 'super-creepy and inappropriate.'... In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders dismissed Johnson's allegation as 'absurd on its face.'" Mrs. McC: One would think there would be photos or videos. ...

... Ronan Farrow of the New Yorker: "The most legally significant aspect of Johnson's suit may ultimately be something the complaint does not explicitly address: the pervasive use of nondisclosure agreements by Trump during his campaign and in his Administration. Johnson's suit is at least the sixth legal case in which Trump campaign or Administration employees have defied their nondisclosure agreements." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Anne Gearan, et al., of the Washington Post: "In a meeting with regional leaders, Vice President Pence on Monday announced minor new U.S. sanctions against loyalists of President Nicolás Maduro and called on other nations to follow the Trump administration's lead in freezing the assets of Venezuela's state oil giant PDVSA -- a move meant to further cut Maduro's international cash flow. Following a weekend that saw the Venezuela military and pro-government militias violently put down an opposition attempt to break Maduro's blockade of humanitarian aid, Pence arrived in Bogota to reiterate that Washington will not back away from diplomatic confrontation. His trip comes as some in the Venezuelan opposition have begun openly calling for the use of 'force' to oust Maduro's socialists from power." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Brian Stelter of CNN: "The Univision network said six of its staffers, including veteran anchorman Jorge Ramos, were briefly detained at the presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on Monday. Ramos and the crew members were released a little less than three hours after the episode began.... The network said Ramos was in Caracas to interview embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Univision spokesman Jose Zamora said Maduro objected to Ramos' questions.... Ramos ...said [in a Univision report that] Maduro 'got up from the interview after I showed him the videos of some young people eating out of a garbage truck. They interrogated us. They put us in a security room. They turned off the lights, he said.... [Zamora] said government aides confiscated the network's equipment.... Pedro Ultreras, a member of the Univision team in Venezuela, tweeted late Monday that immigration officials told the journalists that they will be expelled from Venezuela and must leave Tuesday morning."

** MEANWHILE, at the Kids' Table. Ishan Tharoor of the Washington Post: "As President Trump meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi this week, there will be another eye-catching audience between a top White House official and a bloodstained autocrat. Jared Kushner ... will meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a seven-day, five-country tour of the Middle East. The trip is intended to advance the White House's long-awaited project for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. In an interview with Sky News Arabia while in the United Arab Emirates on Monday, Kushner said that his plan, long clouded in secrecy, was 'very detailed' and would safeguard the 'dignity' of all in the region.... Veteran Mideast watchers say the endeavor will be 'dead on arrival.' The Palestinians have preemptively rejected Kushner's efforts following Trump administration moves they consider anti-Palestinian. Those actions, as Financial Times columnist Edward Luce pointed out, are ones Kushner conspicuously pushed for." Read on for a summary of Prince Jared's "murky" White House career. The family that grifts together stays together. ...

... What About This, Jared? Shane Kavanaugh of the Oregonian: "The State Department has indicated little hope of bringing back a Saudi citizen to the United States after he fled before his manslaughter trial in Portland. The department confirmed an earlier report in The Oregonian/OregonLive that Abdulrahman Sameeer Noorah is in Saudi Arabia.... The letter to U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore ... seemed to suggest any resolution was outside of its purview. 'The United States and Saudi Arabia do not have a bilateral extradition treaty...,' wrote Mary Elizabeth Taylor, the department's assistant secretary of legislative affairs. 'Therefore, the law enforcement options available are limited.' Taylor added: 'At this point, the State Department has no concrete, credible evidence as to how Mr. Noorah effected his escape.' The letter ... seems to undercut the accounts of federal law enforcement officials, who told The Oregonian/OregonLive last year they believe the Saudi government help[ed] Noorah, then-21-year-old college student, escape prosecution in 2017."

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Labor Secretary R. Alexander Acosta is facing rising pressure -- and a possible summons to testify before Congress -- over the lenient plea bargain that he helped negotiate as Miami's top federal prosecutor with a wealthy acquaintance of President Trump's accused of trafficking children for sex. Members of Florida's House delegation have been in talks with the chairmen of the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees about calling Mr. Acosta to publicly answer questions about a 2006 plea agreement with the investor and Trump acquaintance Jeffrey E. Epstein, who was accused of sex offenses involving girls as young as 14. He pleaded guilty to more minor prostitution charges.... 'The Trump administration needs to get him the heck out of there -- this is the person we have enforcing the country's child labor laws,' said Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, one of 19 House Democrats who have called on Mr. Acosta to resign over what they called a 'despicable' deal."

Alice Ollstein of Politico: "The Senate on Monday rejected a bill making it a felony for a doctor to harm or neglect an infant who survives an 'attempted abortion,' part of a Republican effort to squeeze Democrats ahead of the 2020 campaign. The vote split mainly along party lines, 53-44. Democratic Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Doug Jones of Alabama and Joe Manchin of West Virginia crossed the aisle to vote for it; no Republicans broke ranks. Sixty votes are required for the bill to advance.... 'This is pure Mitch McConnell. It's all aimed at keeping his base in line, while the president grows increasingly unpopular,' [Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)] said. 'We're not doing infrastructure, we're not doing health care. We're not doing anything that matters to help our country. It's just votes on abortion and other kinds of divisive votes he's going to bring.'" ...

... Justin Wise of Politico: "'Senate Democrats just voted against legislation to prevent the killing of newborn infant children,' Trump claimed on Twitter on Monday. 'The Democrat position on abortion is now so extreme that they don't mind executing babies AFTER birth.'... The bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), was introduced with the intention of responding to a controversy in Virginia over late-term abortion."

Brooke Seipel of the Hill: "The White House on Monday issued a statement warning that President Trump would veto proposed legislation to enhance background checks for gun purchases if it passes the House and Senate. The legislation in question, H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112, would require universal background checks and close a so-called Charleston loophole that the shooter used in the 2015 massacre at a historic black church to buy a gun. One of the measures is a bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by Reps. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Pete King (R-N.Y.). Both bills are expected to pass the House along party lines with limited support from Republicans when they vote ;on it this week."

Presidential Race 2020. Michael Burke of the Hill: "More than 60 former staffers of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) have defended the senator as a 'mentor and a friend' in response to news reports that she has mistreated her staff over the years. The staffers came to Klobuchar's defense in a letter posted to Medium on Sunday. The staffers wrote that some of them were among those contacted by The New York Times and other outlets but that their 'positive' experiences were not fully reported." ...

... Sarah Jones of New York: "Klobuchar's gender doesn't mitigate the actual substance of the complaints against her.... A candidate who doesn't respect her own staff invites valid skepticism that she'd safeguard American workers as president."

Just a Coincidence. Dan Vergano of BuzzFeed News: "American Media Inc., the National Enquirer's publisher, has put out a new magazine celebrating the Trump's administration's Space Force and bashing Elon Musk -- but denies that the federal government or the private space industry had any influence on the publication. Although the estimated $13 billion price tag for this proposed sixth branch of the US military has been met with only lukewarm support in Congress, AMI anticipated the move with 97 pages of propaganda, the 'United States Space Force' magazine, on sale at drugstores and airport newsstands through April for $13.99."

Livia Albeck-Ripka of the New York Times: "Cardinal George Pell, the highest-ranking Roman Catholic leader ever convicted of sexual abuse, will not face a second trial on an additional round of assault allegations involving young boys. The earlier verdict was unsealed on Tuesday only after prosecutors decided they could not proceed with the second trial after a legal setback. The decision came just days before the cardinal was set to be sentenced for abusing two 13-year-old choirboys more than two decades ago. Cardinal Pell, 77, was found guilty in December of sexually assaulting the boys. But a judge barred news outlets from publishing anything about the verdict, citing concerns that coverage might influence a jury in the second trial. On Tuesday, with the new trial no longer in the works, the judge lifted the gag order. The earlier case related to abuse that took place in 1996. A former adviser to Pope Francis, the cardinal was found guilty of forcing oral sex onto a 13-year-old boy after Sunday Mass in the sacristy of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne[, Australia]. At the time, Cardinal Pell was the city's archbishop."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Britain. Brexit Redux? Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Britain's opposition Labour Party said on Monday that it was prepared to support a second referendum on withdrawal from the European Union, a shift that could have significant ramifications for the fate of Brexit and for the country's future. After the resignations of nine Labour Party members last week, and amid the prospect of more, the party's leader, Jeremy Corbyn, dropped his longstanding resistance to a second vote on leaving the bloc. Mr. Corbyn's support for a new vote is certainly no guarantee a new vote will happen. Still, it will cheer pro-European Britons, who have been fighting to reverse the outcome of the 2016 referendum decision." ...

... MEANWHILE. Tim Ross of Bloomberg News: PM "Theresa May is considering a plan to delay Brexit and stop the U.K. leaving the European Union with no deal next month, according to people familiar with the situation." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: For a casual observer -- such as I -- for some time it's been easy to come away with the impression that Brexit is never going to happen. That would be a good thing.

Iran. Ben Hubbard & David Sanger of the New York Times: "Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran announced Monday that he was resigning, in what seemed a sudden end to the tenure of one of the Islamic Republic's best-known figures abroad. Mr. Zarif, an American-educated diplomat who was an architect of the Iranian nuclear deal, announced that he was stepping down in a post on his Instagram account.... Mr. Zarif's public resignation in a country where governance is usually conducted behind closed doors seemed to indicate escalating tensions between the country's hard-liners and President Hassan Rouhani."