The Commentariat -- February 10, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Emily Cochrane, et al., of the New York Times: "Bipartisan talks to reach a border security agreement have stalled, lawmakers and aides said on Sunday, imperiling efforts to prevent another government shutdown days before the Friday deadline. Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the Republican chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee..., confirmed the impasse on Sunday, saying that he was 'not confident we're going to get there.'... The 17 House and Senate lawmakers negotiating, known as a conference committee, had set an informal deadline of Monday to reach a deal, because Congress would need that much time to consider the legislation without waiving procedural rules and still pass it by Friday, when funding for several departments and agencies expires. But an aide familiar with the talks said lawmakers had stopped communicating. The hang-up was ... a Democratic effort to force Immigration and Customs Enforcement to focus on detaining migrants with criminal records instead of people who have overstayed their visas by limiting the number of beds it has in detention centers."

Emily Tillett of CBS News: "Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam says he considered resigning in the wake of the ongoing controversy embroiling his office, but told 'CBS This Morning' co-host Gayle King he's 'not going anywhere.'... The governor said in an interview with The Washington Post published Saturday that he would spend the remainder of his term working toward advancing racial equality. The governor has been speaking with black political and community leaders over the past week, but the Virginia Black Legislative Caucus has called for Northam's resignation more than once." ...

... Jenna Portnoy, et al., of the Washington Post: "Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax said Saturday that his encounters with the two women who have accused him of sexual assault were consensual, and he called on authorities -- including the FBI -- to investigate. His statement came as calls for his resignation grew from former allies, including the Democratic Party of Virginia, which had reserved judgment until a second woman came forward Friday to say he sexually assaulted her.... He said he knew both women during the time they allege the assaults occurred. He said that he also knew them afterward and that they never told him their interactions were not consensual or caused 'any discomfort.'"

*****

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Daniel Lippman & Eliana Johnson of Politico: "The White House is aggressively investigating several leaks of ... Donald Trump's private schedules, a source of repeated embarrassment to the White House and the president himself. West Wing officials managing the hunt have enlisted the help of the White House IT office, and believe they are making progress in narrowing the search for potential suspects.... The search has been approved by the office of acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and Trump himself -- who has been infuriated by leaks from within his White House -- is aware of the mole hunt and supports the effort, according to one of the officials." (Also linked yesterday.)

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "President Trump underwent his annual medical exam Friday, and ... his doctor appears to have contracted a highly contagious disease that has afflicted all of Trump's recent doctors. Trumpitis.... In a brief letter released Friday by the White House, [Dr. Sean] Conley promised fuller results to come, but he wanted to make something clear right away. 'While the reports and recommendations are being finalized, I am happy to announce that the President of the United States is in very good health and I anticipate he will remain so for the duration of his Presidency, and beyond,' the memo from Conley states. Whatever the actual state of Trump's health is, that's quite the prediction. Trump ... could be president for six more years, and would end his second term at 78.... Suffice it to say, that's a very long period of time over which to be predicting nothing impacting Trump's 'very good health' -- about one-tenth of Trump's entire life span to this point, in fact. Things can happen that all the medical tests in the world could never ' see coming, and they're much more likely to happen when you are in your 70s."

Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "In an interview aired Friday, Ivanka Trump told ABC News that she knew 'literally almost nothing' about her family's secret pursuit of a deal to build a Trump-branded tower in Moscow during the 2016 campaign. Her claim ... is contradicted by various sources.... [I]n November 2015 she emailed [Michael] Cohen to suggest he contact Dmitry Klokov, a Russian weightlifter who said he could help secure a meeting for Donald Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin in order to help facilitate a Trump Tower-Moscow deal.... In late 2015, Ivanka also suggested an architect for the Moscow project in an email to Cohen.... Under the preliminary deal, she received the right to have a spa under her name in the building.... [A]ccording to Felix Sater..., Ivanka herself visited Moscow in 2006 as part of the Trump Organization's long-running pursuit of a deal there. 'I arranged for Ivanka to sit in Putin's private chair at his desk and office in the Kremlin,' Sater boasted in a 2015 email to Cohen." --safari: Can we get the Presidunce*'s daughter under oath ASAP, please?

"All the Best People." The Washington Post features profiles of several of Trump's "best people." Here's the one on Michael Cohen, by Paul Schwartzman. At the top of the page are links to the other profiles -- Donnie Junior, Roger Stone & Paul Manafort, and Michael Flynn. The Cohen profile is new; the others were published late last year. "In his decade at the center of Trump's inner circle, Cohen styled himself as the tycoon's pugnacious man Friday, an indefatigable loyalist who aped his boss's husky-voiced bluster. In Cohen, Trump found a fellow New Yorker who had also grown up at the city's suburban edges, a one-man cheering section who hailed Trump as an infallible 'patriarch' worthy of protection 'at all costs.' Yet, even while doting on 'Mr. Trump,' as he called his boss, Cohen was squarely focused on his own ambitions. Trump was Cohen's ticket to greater wealth, TV appearances and Page Six, the New York Post's daily serving of intel about Manhattan's jet set."

The second-worst decision in the last 12 months was the world's wealthiest man sending out pictures of his genitalia. The worst decision was A.M.I. deciding to attempt to blackmail the wealthiest man in the world via email. Dumb and dumber. -- Scott Galloway, to Maureen Dowd ...

... Maureen Dowd: Jeff "Bezos said there may be another rotten international conspiracy akin to the Russians and the Trump campaign -- this one connecting Pecker, Trump and the Saudis. Just before Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman came to America, Pecker -- who wanted the Saudis to help finance the purchase of Time magazine -- published an absurd piece of checkout-aisle propaganda, a glossy magazine treating the prince like Beyoncé and calling his repressive, misogynist nation the 'Magic Kingdom.' It highlighted the special relationship between the Saudis and Trump, who was also lavished with puff pieces in The Enquirer during the 2016 campaign. The crown prince has formed a tight bond with princeling Jared Kushner, one that proves ever more embarrassing as the evidence piles up that bin Salman ordered the horrendous murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi." ...

... Chuck Todd finally has a show with some meat:

Mrs. McCrabbie: What would you do if you were a dimwitted jerk & had just humiliated yourself & your country on national teevee by insulting half the members of an oversight committee, dodging or refusing to answer questions, lying (probably), filibustering, repeating meaningless memorized phrases ("as I sit here today"), but you thought you had killed? Why, of course you'd go, um, celebrate at Emoluments, D.C. the Trump Hotel. Who paid the tab, Matt? (Also linked yesterday...

I am not kidding when I say I have interviewed terrorists who were more cooperative and respectful than Matt Whitaker was today. The attorney general's role is America's lawyer; we are his client.... He treated us with utter disdain. -- Frank Figliuzzi, on MSNBC ...

... Matt's All-Day Job Interview. Natasha Bertrand of the Atlantic: Matt "Whitaker, with just days remaining in his legally dubious role as the interim head of the Justice Department, appeared to be playing to an audience of one [during his turn at a House Judiciary Committee hearing: Donald Trump].... Whitaker presented himself to [Committee Chair Jerry] Nadler, a 13-term congressman, with the same aloofness and disdain for tradition that often seems typical of the Trump White House. And that may have been on purpose. Whitaker, whose tenure ends when Bill Barr is confirmed as attorney general next week, will need a new job.... And in contrast to his testimony that he had not discussed the Mueller investigation with Trump, Whitaker dodged questions about whether he had discussed the Cohen probe with the president.... The acting attorney general's obfuscation when asked simple yes-or-no questions seemed reminiscent of Trump's own tendency to filibuster his way out of uncomfortable confrontations." ...

... Steve M.: "Beltway journalists love to use the phrase 'an audience of one' in the Trump era. It's often argued that Fox & Friends and various Fox evening shows customize their programming for the same 'audience of one."... But [Big Dick Toilet Salesman* Matt] Whitaker didn't focus on gratifying Trump's ego. He focused on carrying out Trump's strategy.... Whitaker's insolence wasn't just aimed at 'an audience of one.' It was aimed at audience of 63 million -- the people who voted for Trump in 2016.... I say that because the president's approval numbers are bouncing back.... Trump still has a large base of support.... They'll dismiss all investigations as overreach, no matter how shocking the revelations seem to us. And they vote, so we have to outvote them. It's not at all certain we'll manage to do that." *cudos to Marcy Wheeler for the perfect title. --s

** Butina Hid in Plain Sight. Mark Follman & Hannah Levintova of Mother Jones: "Mother Jones has uncovered a trail of activity showing that during the same period when top NRA leaders welcomed [Marina] Butina into the fold -- meeting with her extensively in Moscow and the United States -- Butina actively supported Russian President Vladimir Putin's military takeover of Crimea. In the immediate aftermath of the invasion and annexation in March 2014, Butina denounced retaliatory sanctions by the Obama administration and traveled to Crimea to promote the arming of pro-Russian separatists.... Butina's role in Crimea raises additional questions about why the NRA -- known historically for its hawkish 'freedom loving' image -- spent years getting close with a Russian national who was doing work hostile to US national security interests." --s

Samantha Michaels of Mother Jones: "On Monday, President Donald Trump will hold his first rally of the year in Texas at the El Paso County Coliseum, just a few blocks from the US-Mexican border. But it turns out he'll have some competition. Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, now weighing a Democratic presidential bid, announced that'll he'll speak at about the same time at his own rally, less than a quarter-mile a way." --s

** How Kleptocracy Came to America. Franklin Foer of The Atlantic: "For two years, in the early 1990s, Richard Palmer served as the CIA station chief in the United States' Moscow embassy.... Much of the rest of the world wanted to shout for joy about the trajectory of history [and the fall of the Soviet Union], and how it pointed in the direction of free markets and liberal democracy.... In the fall of 1999, he testified before a congressional committee to disabuse members of Congress of their optimism and to warn them of what was to come.... What was at stake could well be systemic contagion: Russian values might infect and then weaken the moral defense systems of American politics and business.... While everyone else was heralding an emergent globalist world that would take on the best values of America, Palmer had glimpsed the dire risk of the opposite: that the values of the kleptocrats would become America's own. This grim vision is now nearing fruition. The contagion has spread remarkably quickly[.]"--s

Jessica Goldstein of ThinkProgress: "Americans who were counting on hundreds of dollars in tax refunds last week found themselves coming up short. Some 30 million Americans are going to end up owing the IRS money this year, which is three million more people than owed the IRS money before the Trump administration's tax law went into effect.... The Internal Revenue Service reports that the average refunds last week were down 8.4 percent for the first week of the tax season..., down almost $200 from this same time last year." --safari: Can anyone get Lyin' Paul Ryan on the record about he how he managed to fuck up his only life goal so bad? ...

... Eric Levitz of New York explains why Trump's tax cuts are probably about to become a political disaster. "... just to be sure that voters noticed all the good Paul Ryan had done for them, the Trump administration reportedly pressured the IRS to err on the side of withholding too little from Americans' paychecks 'so people will see big increases in their take-home pay ahead of [last] year's midterm elections.' This did not work out as planned. Even with (allegedly) light withholding..., the tax bill’s breaks for middle-class people weren't large enough to attract much notice. Between changes in salaries, health-care premiums, and 401(k) contributions, most Americans didn't detect much tax relief in their paychecks.... Now, the bill for the GOP's (reported) withholding shenanigans is coming due: The average American's tax refund was 8.4 percent lower in the first week of 2019 than it was one year ago (under the pre-Trump tax code). And while Americans have trouble noticing tax changes when they're dispersed across 12 to 24 separate paychecks, they do typically pay very close attention to the size of their refunds."

"Pay for Play". Rachel Cohen of The Intercept: "Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire Republican casino mogul, is associated with a singular political project: his long-running mission to uproot the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and plant it in Jerusalem instead. But there's a second project -- lower profile, but no less of a passionate priority -- that Adelson has long been gunning for, and that's his war against online gambling.... Adelson says he is at war with online gambling for the good of society: Gambling in casinos is one thing, but gambling online is a public health nightmare.... Adelson's crusade against online gambling ... culminated with an extraordinary reversal of policy in the middle of the government shutdown, when the Trump administration issued the legal opinion against online gambling that Adelson had long sought."

Meet the Future of the GOP. Mehdi Hasan of The Intercept: "The 36-year-old [Matt] Gaetz, elected to the House of Representatives from Florida's 1st Congressional District in 2016, is a favorite of Fox News and a rising GOP star. He represents, however, everything that is wrong with the modern Republican Party: from racism, anti-Semitism, and white nationalism; to conspiracism and anti-intellectualism; to a slavish and sycophantic loyalty to Donald Trump. Consider his record." Hasan goes on to list why Gaetz is such a deplorable human being. --s

Presidential Race 2020. Max Greenwood of the Hill: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has officially kicked off her 2020 bid for the White House, formally joining a Democratic primary field that promises to be among the largest and most diverse in the party's history. Warren quickly took aim at the Trump administration in her announcement speech Saturday in Lawrence, Mass., accusing the administration of lacking 'a conscience' with its immigration policies while portraying herself as a fighter willing to pursue 'structural reform.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

... In case you missed the references to Liam Neeson, here's some background. And yeah, he's a racist.

Beyond the Beltway

Ohio. Voting Rights, Little by Little. Laurel Wamsley of NPR: "... last week city leaders took steps that could make Sandusky[, Ohio,] known as a leader of democracy...: They declared Election Day a paid holiday -- by swapping out Columbus Day. 'A lot's happened in the last three years that had us thinking a lot about voter access and democracy, and so we thought it was a really natural switch,' Sandusky City Manager Eric Wobser tells NPR.... The change so far only affects Sandusky's 250 city workers."

Virginia. Josh Israel of ThinkProgress: "Last weekend, Virginia state Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment (R) joined other legislative leaders in calling on Gov. Ralph Northam (D) to resign over [his "blackface"] revelations.... On Thursday, the Virginian Pilot revealed that Norment himself had been managing editor of a college yearbook of his own that featured racial slurs and images of people in blackface.... Now former students in a college course Norment taught at the William & Mary say that he routinely made racially insensitive and transphobic comments, forced students of color to defend Confederate iconography, and even defended the university's defunct Brafferton Indian School that educated Native American kids -- often without their family&'s consent -- in the 1700s." --s

Way Beyond

Ma'an News Agency, via Juan Cole: "Saudi Arabia has created an application that allows male guardians to track and prevent women from travelling due to the rise in the number of women recently fleeing the ultra-conservative kingdom. The app, called Absher, meaning 'Good Tidings' in Arabic, has been in operation for several years.... The app allows males to track their female 'dependents,' such as wives and daughters, and receive a message whenever they use their passport to travel outside of Saudi Arabia.... The Saudi Ministry of Interior ... runs the app.... In 2018, Saudi Arabia was elected as a new member to the Executive Board of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and will started its term in January 2019." --s

The Commentariat -- February 9, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Max Greenwood of the Hill: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has officially kicked off her 2020 bid for the White House, formally joining a Democratic primary field that promises to be among the largest and most diverse in the party's history. Warren quickly took aim at the Trump administration in her announcement speech Saturday in Lawrence, Mass., accusing the administration of lacking 'a conscience' with its immigration policies while portraying herself as a fighter willing to pursue 'structural reform.'"

Mrs. McCrabbie: What would you do if you were a dimwitted jerk & had just humiliated yourself & your country on national teevee by insulting half the members of an oversight committee, dodging or refusing to answer questions, lying (probably), filibustering, repeating meaningless memorized phrases ("as I sit here today"), but you thought you had killed? Why, of course you'd go, um, celebrate at Emoluments, D.C. the Trump Hotel. Who paid the tab, Matt?

Daniel Lippman & Eliana Johnson of Politico: "The White House is aggressively investigating several leaks of ... Donald Trump's private schedules, a source of repeated embarrassment to the White House and the president himself. West Wing officials managing the hunt have enlisted the help of the White House IT office, and believe they are making progress in narrowing the search for potential suspects.... The search has been approved by the office of acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and Trump himself -- who has been infuriated by leaks from within his White House -- is aware of the mole hunt and supports the effort, according to one of the officials."

*****

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

... ** "The President[*] Benefited for Years from the Work of Illegal Laborers He Now Vilifies." Joshua Partlow, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Washington Post spoke with 16 men and women from Costa Rica and other Latin American countries, including six in Santa Teresa de Cajon, [Costa Rica,] who said they were employed at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster. All of them said that they worked for Trump without legal status -- and that their managers knew. The former employees who still live in New Jersey provided pay slips documenting their work at the Bedminster club. They identified friends and relatives in Costa Rica who also were employed at the course. In Costa Rica, The Post located former workers in two regions who provided detailed accounts of their time at the Bedminster property and shared memorabilia they had kept.... The brightly painted homes that line the road in Santa Teresa de Cajon, many paid for by wages earned 4,000 miles away, are the fruits of a long-running pipeline of illegal workers to the president's course, one that carried far more than a few unauthorized employees.... Soon after Trump broke ground at Bedminster in 2002 with a golden shovel, this village emerged as a wellspring of low-paid labor for the private club, which charges tens of thousands of dollars to join. Over the years, dozens of workers from Costa Rica went north to fill jobs as groundskeepers, housekeepers and dishwashers at Bedminster...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Isn't it about time for ICE agents to march into the White House & cuff Trump?

Fuck the law. I don't give a fuck about the law. I want my fucking money. -- Donald Trump, to Chris Christie & Steve Bannon, when he learned the Trump campaign was, as required by law, paying the salaries of his transition team ...

... Jonathan Chait: "Donald Trump and various entities he has controlled have been subject to a wide array of criminal investigations, some of them quite intricate and complex. That complexity has obscured what is quickly becoming a clear and simple conclusion: Trump used his inauguration to illegally line his own pockets.... WNYC found in December that one possible source of overpayments included fees to Donald Trump's Washington hotel.... WNYC found the Trump Hotel manager proposing to charge the inauguration $175,000 a day for use of its ballroom and conference rooms, a rate the manager of the inauguration objected to as exorbitant.... Of course, fees to Trump's hotel go straight into the pockets of Donald Trump and his family. So these apparent tax law violations -- which amount to embezzling funds from the inaugural committee through self-dealing -- were carried out for their personal benefit."

SDNY Is on the Case. Christian Berthelsen & Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg News: "Federal prosecutors are reviewing the National Enquirer's handling of its story about Jeff Bezos's extramarital affair to determine if the company violated an earlier cooperation deal with prosecutors, according to two people familiar with the matter. Prosecutors in the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office have been provided with information about key exchanges of concern to Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com Inc. In a jaw-dropping public blog post Thursday night, Bezos published letters from lawyers representing National Enquirer's publisher, American Media Inc., who demanded he drop a private investigation into the media company, or else it would publish more embarrassing photographs about the wealthy businessman.... The authorities are now reviewing the matter for potential criminal activity. If they find any, they must also weigh whether the conduct breached AMI's previous deal to assist prosecutors. AMI agreed not to commit crimes as part of that deal to avoid prosecution over hush-money payments to women who claimed relationships with ... Donald Trump." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Lachlan Markay, et al., of the Daily Beast: The National Enquirer's business "model burst out into public view on Thursday night when [Jeff] Bezos -- the world's richest man, the founder of Amazon, and the owner of the Washington Post -- published emails from AMI chief content officer Dylan Howard that threatened the release of a 'dick p*ck' if the Post didn't relent in its investigation of AMI.... It came as no surprise to three veterans of the Enquirer's parent company, American Media Inc.... It was a familiar moment to Paul Barresi, a private investigator who spent years working on jobs for AMI and other tabloids. 'The National Enquirer had some people who would go to a celebrity and say, "unless you give in to a one-on-one interview that would amount to a fluff piece with us, we're going to report XYZ,"' he said. 'The celebrity would then acquiesce to their demand.' 'The nice way of calling it was quid pro quo, but really it was blackmail,' Barresi said.... More often than not, the tactic worked.... AMI's strong-arm tactics aren't limited to celebrities and public figures; it sics high-paid lawyers on journalists who try to shine a light on its practices." ...

... Frank Bowman, in Slate, runs down the possible legal implications for AMI, the National Enquirer & its executives. Oh, and for one Donald Trump. ...

... How Reassuring. Brian Stelter of CNN: "American Media [-- publisher of the National Enquirer --] said in a statement on Friday morning that the company 'believes fervently that it acted lawfully in the reporting of the story of Mr. Bezos.... Nonetheless, in light of the nature of the allegations published by Mr. Bezos, the Board has convened and determined that it should promptly and thoroughly investigate the claims. Upon completion of that investigation, the Board will take whatever appropriate action is necessary." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... So of course the New York Post's front-page mega-headline was "Bezos Exposes Pecker." As for the title Bezos or Medium gave to Bezo's remarkable post, Charles Pierce writes, "'No Thank You, Mr. Pecker' is a Dickens title for the dick-pic age. It's fun to be in fifth grade again." (If you're not sure what Pierce means here, remember Oliver Twist's Master Bates.) Esquire now has firewalled Pierce's blog, with a limit of maybe 5 hits per month. Open individual posts in a private window. ...

... Rachel Maddow's opening segment shows where the dots are -- if she can't quite connect them -- in the National Enquirer-Saudi-et al. story. This video, which is pirated, covers more of the show. In the second segment, Maddow catches us up with developments in some other Trump Mob stories.

Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "Matthew G. Whitaker, the acting attorney general, told Congress on Friday that he had 'not interfered in any way with the special counsel's investigation' into Russia's 2016 election-manipulation operation since President Trump installed him atop the Justice Department. During an often contentious oversight hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Mr. Whitaker also testified that he had provided no inside information about that inquiry, or related ones in the Southern District of New York, to Mr. Trump or his lawyers and White House aides.... While Mr. Whitaker provided those bottom-line claims up front, he refused to discuss many other things -- like his conversations with Mr. Trump, or why he recently said the special counsel inquiry would soon wrap up -- as questions about the Russia investigation dominated the hearing.... Mr. Whitaker pointedly declined at multiple points ... to defend Mr. Mueller and his investigation from accusations by Mr. Trump or others that he was conducting a 'witch hunt.' The committee chairman, Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, told Mr. Whitaker that he would seek to force him to submit to further questioning in a later deposition."

... New York Times reporters sort of liveblogged/reported on the House Judiciary Committee's hearing featuring Matt Whitaker. Mrs. McC: Most hilariously stupid & probably unique-in-history moment: "When [Jerry] Nadler [-- the committee chairman, who, um, is conducting the hearing --] asked Mr. Whitaker if he had ever been asked to approve any request for action to be taken by Mr. Mueller, Mr. Whitaker replied: 'Mr. Chairman, I see that your five minutes is up.' The room then broke into laughter as Mr. Nadler looked up in apparent disbelief, then grinned himself and noted that he did not enforce the five-minute rule during Mr. Whitaker's opening statement, then asked him to 'answer the question, please.'" Emphasis added. ...

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) didn't seem to have many actual questions for Whitaker:

... Paul Waldman of the Washington Post: "If for some reason you found yourself watching the House Judiciary Committee hearing featuring acting attorney genera Matthew Whitaker on Friday morning, you might have watched the ranking Republican shouting angrily about all kinds of obscure and meaningless matters, then asked yourself, 'What is he yelling about, and who cares?' before slipping gently into a stupor and losing consciousness.... Some of the farcical goings-on at the hearing offer a reminder that when it comes to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation, Democrats seem to have succeeded. Republicans are shouting about nothing not just because that's their default mode when the cameras are on, but because they're genuinely frustrated at how they're losing the broader battle over the Mueller probe." ...

... "What We Learning from the ... Hearing." Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "1. Whitaker was in over his head.... He went through extensive preparation, as the Daily Beast's Betsy Woodruff reported. Even so, it was a rough performance.... 2. [Whitaker] won't deny Mueller is on a 'witch hunt.' This is, of course, a question others involved have been willing to address, including Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein ... and FBI Director Christopher A. Wray. Even [A.G. nominee William] Barr, who has criticized the Mueller probe as a private citizen, said in his confirmation hearing that it was not a witch hunt.... 3. No subpoena showdown yet -- but ... stay tuned. 4.... It wasn't a huge surprise, but Whitaker did enter something significant into the record: He said the Justice Department believes sitting presidents cannot be indicted... 5. Whitaker was asked how he found out that he had been tapped to serve as acting attorney general, which was publicly announced in tandem with Jeff Sessions's exit the day after the 2018 election. Whitaker said he received a phone call from Trump in which he was told he got the job -- but added that he could not recall whether he first found out from that phone call or one of the president's tweets." ...

... Julia Conley of Common Dreams: "On social media, critics expressed shock at Whitaker's conduct, with some asserting that his rebuke of Nadler -- like Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's angry testimony before a Senate committee in September -- was likely for ... Donald Trump's benefit.... Whitaker continued the tone of his testimony, repeating his challenge of the committee's right to question his actions as head of the Justice Department when her demanded to know if Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) was basing a question on 'anonymous sources.' He then asked whether she was permitted to continue with her questioning despite going over her five-minute limit." ...

... Charles Pierce: "By the end, Ted Lieu of California tied [Whitaker] in knots about whether a president and/or his children can be indicted. 'Is there a sentence in the Constitution that says a sitting president cannot be indicted?' Lieu asked, matching Whitaker scorn for scorn as Whitaker flummoxed around trying to hide behind DOJ policy. Lieu finally entered the Constitution into the record. And Jamie Raskin of Maryland pretty much ridiculed Whitaker's entire career, getting all the way up Whitaker's nose until Whitaker finally accused Raskin of challenging his character. At which point, [Ranking Member Doug] Collins erupted again and we were treated to Masterpiece Parliamentary Theater one more time. They have to get better front men if this con is going to survive."

Roger Stone Is No Kim Kardashian. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Attorneys for longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone urged a federal judge overseeing his criminal trial not to impose a gag order, citing his constitutional rights to free speech as a writer and political commentator, and asked to have his case reassigned to a different judge.... In saying he should be free to comment during his case, Stone's defense team played down his celebrity and the impact his comments might have on potential jurors. 'While Roger Stone may be familiar to those who closely follow American politics, he is hardly ubiquitous in the larger landscape of popular consciousness,' and has no Twitter account. 'On Instagram, Kim Kardashian has 126 million followers. Roger Stone's Instagram following amounts to 39 thousand subscribers,' his attorney wrote.... In a separate filing, Stone's defense also asked that the case be reassigned from [Judge Amy] Jackson, a 2011 appointee of President Barack Obama who is also overseeing the criminal case of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Jackson drew the Stone case because prosecutors designated it as related to the Mueller probe prosecution of a dozen Russian military intelligence officers indicted in July on charges of hacking and sharing Democrats' computers and emails to disrupt the 2016 election. Prosecutors said the two share a common search warrant, and 'there are activities which are a part of the same alleged criminal event or transaction,' according to Stone's filing." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Although Stone's attorneys are now claiming there's no connection between Stone & the indicted Russians, Rachel Maddow pointed out last night that at the time Mueller indicted the Russians, Stone boasted to several news outlets that he was the "U.S. person" mentioned in that indictment.

Rebecca Morin of Politico: "... Donald Trump has missed a deadline imposed by a bipartisan group of senators to identify the killers of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and to determine if the U.S. should impose sanctions on them. 'Consistent with the previous Administration's position and the constitutional separation of powers, the President maintains his discretion to decline to act on congressional committee requests when appropriate,' a senior administration official said Friday. The group of lawmakers, led by Sens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and former Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn), last October in a letter ordered the president to identify the people behind Khashoggi's death within 120 days and decide whether to impose sanctions on the killers. The letter was brought under the Global Magnitsky Act.... Menendez spokesperson Juan Pachon criticized the administration's position, saying 'the law is clear' and 'requires a determination and report in response to the letter we sent.... The President has no discretion here...,' he said.... Rep. Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee, in a statement Friday afternoon said, '... the Administration's refusal to deal with this issue and keep Congress informed underscores the need to get to the bottom of what is motivating the Trump foreign policy.'"

Grifter Family Values. Soo Rin Kim, et al., of ABC News: "... Donald Trump's campaign has spent nearly $100,000 of donor money to pay legal bills to the firm representing Jared Kushner, the latest campaign finance records show.... 'Low dollar' contributions -- $200 or less -- made up 98.5 percent of the total funds raised by the Trump campaign in the last quarter of 2018, a consistent trend throughout the year.... [Kushner's] net worth has been estimated at more than $300 million." Mrs. McC: Congratulations, suckers. Instead of taking the kids to Chucky Cheese or that educational tractor pull, you just paid a multi-millionaire (probable) crook's bills. OR you paid this guy: ...

... Christina Wilkie of CNBC: "A company owned by Keith Schiller..., Donald Trump's former longtime bodyguard, has received $225,000 from the Republican National Committee for security consulting since he left his job as White House director of Oval Office operations in September 2017, according to interviews and newly released campaign filings. Schiller was originally hired by the RNC to help select a site for the 2020 convention. But once the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, was announced in July, Schiller's firm was kept on to 'work on other security needs for the committee,' a party official told CNBC.... It is unclear .. what type of work [Mrs. McC: if any] he does for them."

Lauren Egan of NBC News: "... Donald Trump is in 'very good health,' the White House physician said Friday after conducting his annual physical examination. 'While the reports and recommendations are being finalized, I am happy to announce the president of the United States is in very good health and I anticipate he will remain so for the duration of his presidency and beyond,' Dr. Sean Conley said in a statement Friday evening after the president's exam at the Walter Ree National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. 'Over the course of approximately four hours, I performed and supervised the evaluation with a panel of 11 different board certified specialists. He did not undergo any procedures requiring sedation or anesthesia,' Conley said. Trump did not answer reporters' questions Friday about his physical exam. A more conclusive report on his results is expected from the White House in the coming days."

Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "Morale inside the White House, never high to begin with, has turned particularly bleak, according to interviews with 10 former West Wing officials and Republicans close to the president. 'Trump is hated by everyone inside the White House,' a former West Wing official told me. His shambolic management style, paranoia, and pattern of blaming staff for problems of his own making have left senior White House officials burned out and resentful, sources said.... Four sources said the only White House advisers he truly consults are daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner."

Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "Congressional negotiators neared a deal Friday that would offer President Trump far less than the $5.7 billion he's sought for walls along the U.S.-Mexico border, as lawmakers worked to prevent another government shutdown next week. Two people familiar with the talks said the understanding among Republicans is that the deal would offer around $2 billion for border barriers. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private deliberations. Democrats disputed that figure, saying it was too high and that negotiations were ongoing. 'We will not agree to $2 billion in funding for barriers,' said Evan Hollander, spokesman for House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), who is leading the bipartisan talks. Either way, it was clear negotiators were preparing to come in far below Trump's demands, raising the question of whether the president would agree to their deal. Lawmakers face a Feb. 15 deadline when large portions of the government will shut down unless Congress and Trump act first."

Felicia Sonmez & Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "Democrats and liberal groups on Friday pointed to a Supreme Court ruling in an abortion case to argue that Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, focusing their ire on Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who supported Kavanaugh's nomination last year and faces a tough 2020 reelection. The outcry from the left follows the court's 5-to-4 vote to block a restrictive Louisiana abortion law.... While Democrats hailed the decision, they pointed to Kavanaugh's dissent as a sign that he is poised to side with conservatives in future rulings on abortion rights.... Collins, who supports abortion rights, said [in a floor speech declaring her support for Kavanaugh] she did not think Kavanaugh would vote to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Personally, I blame every single senator who voted to confirm Kavanaugh. ...

... Charles Pierce: "Late on Thursday night..., Justice Brett Kavanaugh decided to conduct a covert op on whatever is left of the political reputation of Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine. You may recall that, when Kavanaugh's nomination was hanging fire, Collins did her Down East Hamlet act for a couple of days before announcing that she would vote for PJ's beer buddy. She explained her decision by saying that Kavanaugh had convinced her that he would respect precedent, including all those precedents that protected a woman's right to full reproductive health, including abortion. On Thursday night, Kavanaugh proved that, at best, Susan Collins is the biggest all-day sucker in American politics today.... In his one-man opinion denying the stay, Kavanaugh essentially showed that he doesn't feel bound by precedent at all in this matter. After all, the Louisiana law is identical to a Texas law that the Court already overturned three years ago."

** John Dingell's Last Word, in the Washington Post: John D. Dingell, a Michigan Democrat who served in the U.S. House from 1955 to 2015, was the longest-serving member of Congress in American history. He dictated these reflections to his wife, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), at their home in Dearborn, on Feb. 7, the day he died."

Presidential Race 2020

Minnesota Nasty. Molly Hensley-Clancy of BuzzFeed News: "Amy Klobuchar has laid the grounds for a presidential run on an image of 'Minnesota nice.' But behind the doors of her Washington, DC, office, the Minnesota Democrat ran a workplace controlled by fear, anger, and shame, according to interviews with eight former staffers, one that many employees found intolerably cruel. She demeaned and berated her staff almost daily, subjecting them to bouts of explosive rage and regular humiliation within the office, according to interviews and dozens of emails reviewed by BuzzFeed News.... In the emails seen by BuzzFeed, often sent between 1 and 4 in the morning, Klobuchar regularly berated employees, often in all capital letters, over minor mistakes, misunderstandings, and misplaced commas.... BuzzFeed News spoke with some of the staffers extensively over a period of several months.... From 2001 to 2016, Klobuchar had the highest staff turnover rate in the Senate.... Some former staffers have gone on the record to defend Klobuchar." ...

... Molly Redden & Amanda Terkel of the Huffington Post: "Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar's mistreatment of her office staff began more than a decade ago and eventually caused such concerns that in 2015, then-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) spoke to her privately and told her to change her behavior, multiple sources have confirmed to HuffPost.... Reid ... does not remember whether or not he had this discussion with Klobuchar, [his] spokesman said.... Reid's 2015 admonishment of Klobuchar appears to have been a rare point of intervention in a long history of complaints about Klobuchar's behavior, which date back to at least her time as the Hennepin County attorney in Minneapolis. That was the job Klobuchar had when she first ran for Senate in 2006.... During that same campaign, the president of the AFSCME local, the union that represented many of Klobuchar's employees in the county attorney's office, asked the larger Twin Cities AFSCME affiliate not to endorse Klobuchar's Senate bid, citing her 'shameful treatment of her employees.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: And here I said Klobuchar would have to schtupp mike pence on the Capitol steps or take money from PutinPAC to ruin her viability as a candidate. Sorry, but habitually screaming at the help is just as bad. We already have a president* who does that, & we've seen how well that works.

David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "Our line-of-succession rules often include a legislative leader high in the ranking. They do so because they typically date from a period in American history when political parties were less important. It's time to update our rules for the new reality -- even if it can't happen in Virginia soon enough to resolve the current problems. Lines of succession for executive offices shouldn't mix the executive and legislative branches. They should remain entirely within the executive branch, at least for the first dozen or so positions.... After the vice president would come the secretaries of state, Treasury, defense and so on. A similar order could work in states: lieutenant governor, followed by major department heads whom the governor had appointed.... The principle here is simple enough. No one person is more important than the moral authority of government. Any individual can be removed from office. Yet only an election can change partisan control of the White House or a governor's mansion and, by extension, the entire executive branch of a government. All of these scandal scenarios are obviously unlikely. Unfortunately, as we're learning again this week, they're not impossible.&" ...

Beyond the Beltway

** Virginia. Stephanie Saul & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "A second woman came forward Friday with claims that she had been sexually assaulted by Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax, alleging that he raped her while they were students at Duke University in 2000 and demanding that he resign immediately. The statement released by a lawyer for the woman, Meredith Watson, said her client was coming forward out of a sense of civic duty after learning about allegations disclosed earlier this week by Vanessa C. Tyson, a political science professor at Scripps College, who said she was assaulted by Mr. Fairfax in 2004 during the Democratic National Convention. 'The details of Ms. Watson's attack are similar to those described by Dr. Vanessa Tyson,' said the statement, released by Nancy Erika Smith, a New Jersey lawyer representing Ms. Watson. The statement described the rape as 'premeditated and aggressive.'... In a statement issued shortly after Ms. Watson came forward, Mr. Fairfax issued another denial, calling the allegation 'demonstrably false' and vowing that he would not resign." ...

... Jenna Portnoy & Gregory Schneider of the Washington Post: "The woman, Meredith Watson, said Friday in a written statement through her attorney that she shared her account immediately after it happened with several classmates and friends.... Watson was friends with [Justin] Fairfax at Duke but they never dated or had any romantic relationship, Watso's lawyer, Nancy Erika Smith, said.... Kaneedreck Adams, 40, who attended Duke with Watson, said that in the spring of 2000, when they lived across from each other in on-campus apartments, Watson came to her crying. 'She was upset,' Adams, an attorney, said. 'She told me she had been raped and she named Justin.'... Watson's attorney provided an email exchange from 2016 between Watson and Milagros Joye Brown, a friend from Duke. Brown was inviting a group of Duke friends to a fundraiser for Fairfax, as he launched his campaign for lieutenant governor. 'Molly, Justin raped me in college and I don't want to hear anything about him. Please, please, please remove me form any future emails about him please,' Watson wrote on Oct. 26, 2016.... After Watson's allegations became public Friday. former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe [D] called for Fairfax to resign. 'The allegations against Justin Fairfax are serious and credible,' McAuliffe said...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I believe these women are being truthful. As I said the other day, I'd reserve judgment unless others came forward. Two are enough. I agree with McAuliffe. ...

... Dan Merica of CNN: "... now that a second woman, Meredith Watson, has accused ... [Justin Fairfax] of rape, prominent Virginia and national Democrats are not holding back and are roundly calling on ... [Fairfax] to resign. He lost a major bloc of support Friday night when the Democratic members of the Virginia House of Delegates and state Senate issued a joint statement calling on him to step down.... And in another major moment about an hour later, the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus wrote that its members 'believe it is best for Lt. Governor Fairfax to step down from his position.'" ...

... Alan Blinder & Campbell Robertson of the New York Times: Fairfax's "detractors included an increasing number of fellow Virginia Democrats.... [Senator Tim] Kaine, a former governor, wrote on Twitter late Friday evening that the allegations against Mr. Fairfax 'detail atrocious crimes' and that 'he can no longer effectively serve the Commonwealth.' Senator Mark Warner, also a former governor, described the day's disclosures as 'devastating' and said that if the allegations were accurate 'then they are clearly disqualifying and he must resign.'"

... Cameron Joseph of TPM: "Embattled Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) told staff on Friday that he definitely won't resign after previously leaving the door open to stepping aside, a source familiar with the meeting tells TPM. Northam told staff at a meeting that he won't leave the governor's office and plans to serve out the next three years of his term in spite of an ongoing scandal over his use of blackface in the 1980s. The meeting comes after he huddled with top staff and a crisis communications counselor Thursday night to map out a plan to stay in office, according to two sources. That meeting included a rough plan to renew focus on racial reconciliation for the rest of his term."

Washington State. Anti-Vaxxers Revolt. Carter Evans of CBS News: "With more than 50 cases of measles in Washington state, there's been a new push to change the law. Washington is one of 17 states that allow parents to refuse vaccines for philosophical reasons. But on Friday, hundreds rallied to preserve their right not to vaccinate their children. Lawmakers heard arguments on a proposed bill that would ban the measles vaccine exemption for philosophical reasons. Thirty-two other states have similar laws. Measles is so contagious that an unvaccinated person has a 90 percent chance of catching the disease if they're near someone who has it. The virus can survive for up to two hours in a room where an infected person sneezed. Measles vaccination rates here, at the epicenter of the outbreak, are now up by 500 percent.... But opponents of the bill still think the measles vaccine is a bigger threat than the disease itself."

News Lede

New York Times: "An unusual group of storm systems battering the Pacific Northwest has halted dozens of flights and knocked out power for thousands, hitting Seattle with as much snowfall in one day as it usually receives in a year, according to the National Weather Service. Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington declared a state of emergency on Friday."

The Commentariat -- February 8, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

SDNY Is on the Case. Christian Berthelsen & Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg News: "Federal prosecutors are reviewing the National Enquirer's handling of its story about Jeff Bezos's extramarital affair to determine if the company violated an earlier cooperation deal with prosecutors, according to two people familiar with the matter. Prosecutors in the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office have been provided with information about key exchanges of concern to Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com Inc. In a jaw-dropping public blog post Thursday night, Bezos published letters from lawyers representing National Enquirer's publisher, American Media Inc., who demanded he drop a private investigation into the media company, or else it would publish more embarrassing photographs about the wealthy businessman.... The authorities are now reviewing the matter for potential criminal activity. If they find any, they must also weigh whether the conduct breached AMI's previous deal to assist prosecutors. AMI agreed not to commit crimes as part of that deal to avoid prosecution over hush-money payments to women who claimed relationships with ... Donald Trump."

... How Reassuring. Brian Stelter of CNN: "American Media [-- publisher of the National Enquirer --] said in a statement on Friday morning that the company 'believes fervently that it acted lawfully in the reporting of the story of Mr. Bezos.... Nonetheless, in light of the nature of the allegations published by Mr. Bezos, the Board has convened and determined that it should promptly and thoroughly investigate the claims. Upon completion of that investigation, the Board will take whatever appropriate action is necessary."

Today on C-SPAN. CNN: "Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker will testify before the House Judiciary Committee Friday, Chairman Jerry Nadler said Thursday night, following a tumultuous couple of days where Whitaker threatened to not show up while Democrats prepared to subpoena his appearance." The hearing is scheduled to begin at 9:30 am ET. A bit more on Whitaker's threat not to show linked below. Mrs. McC: At 9:35 am ET, CNN is carrying the hearing live. ...

... New York Times reporters are liveblogging/reporting on the hearing. Mrs. McC: Most hilariously stupid & probably unique-in-history moment: "When [Jerry] Nadler [-- the committee chairman, who, um, is conducting the hearing --] asked Mr. Whitaker if he had ever been asked to approve any request for action to be taken by Mr. Mueller, Mr. Whitaker replied: 'Mr. Chairman, I see that your five minutes is up.' The room then broke into laughter as Mr. Nadler looked up in apparent disbelief, then grinned himself and noted that he did not enforce the five-minute rule during Mr. Whitaker's opening statement, then asked him to 'answer the question, please.'" Emphasis added.

*****

Today's Bible Lesson for Donald

With the Judgment You Pronounce You Will Be Judged, Sayeth the Lord. When I say something that you might think is a gaffe, it's on purpose; it's not a gaffe. When Biden says something dumb, it's because he's dumb. -- Donald Trump, to reporters, Tuesday

And the Lord Heard Donald Judge Joseph, and Donald Made a Dumb Gaffe. Since the founding of our nation, many of our greatest strides, from gaining our independence to abolition of civil rights, to extending the vote for women, have been led by people of faith and started in prayer. -- Donald Trump, at the National Prayer Breakfast, Thursday (thanks to forrest m. for the link)

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump took fresh aim Thursday at House Democrats, claiming they were going 'nuts' with unprecedented investigations into his administration and businesses. In morning tweets ahead of a scheduled appearance at a national prayer breakfast, Trump singled out House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), who announced Wednesday that his panel will scrutinize 'credible reports of money laundering and financial compromise' involving Trump's businesses as part of a fresh investigation into Trump's alleged ties with Russia. 'So now Congressman Adam B. Schiff announces, after having found zero Russian Collusion, that he is going to be looking at every aspect of my life, both financial and personal, even though there is no reason to be doing so,' Trump said on Twitter. 'Never happened before! Unlimited Presidential Harassment.'... 'The Dems and their committees are going "nuts,"' Trump wrote. 'The Republicans never did this to President Obama, there would be no time left to run government.' Without elaboration, Trump also said that congressional Democrats were 'stealing people' who work at the White House to help with the investigations." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Trump: "The Republicans never did this to President Obama." Mrs. McCrabbie: Operation Fast & Furious! Solyndra! IRS! Benghaaaazi! ...

     ... Philip Bump of the Washington Post has more: "Trump, like many other fervent conservative media consumers, would have liked to have seen a bunch of random personal investigations of things such as Obama's birthplace or his college records, ideas that grew like bacteria in the swamps of the far-right during Obama's time in office.... Trump tweeted about Solyndra no fewer than 15 times, including once saying that the 'government loan and subsequent bankruptcy prove that @BarackObama is both corrupt and inept' -- an ironic position for Trump to take, given his history with failed businesses." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

About Schiff's Having Found "Zero Russian Collusion." John Aravosis of AmericaBlog interviewed Adam Schiff. Here's an excerpt of Schiff's remarks: "There is ample evidence on the issue of collusion. The question of whether it rises to the level of proof beyond a reasonable doubt as to a criminal conspiracy is a different question, and one that ultimately Bob Mueller will have to answer. And that even may not be answered completely if the Justice Department takes the position, which I think is flawed, that you can't indict a sitting President.... But these secret discussions to make money from Russia during the campaign, that the president and his organization were having, that Paul Manafort was having with his Russian contacts, at the same time the Russians clearly wanted something from Donald Trump and his campaign in the form of sanctions release, all goes to the issue of collusion, all goes to the issue of conspiracy, and you really have to be willfully blind not to see just how alarming this is."

So now we know what Trump meant by his curious claim that congressional Democrats were "stealing people" who worked at the White House. ...

     ... Kaitlan Collins, et al., of CNN: "House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff has hired officials with experience at the National Security Council to help with his panel's oversight of ... Donald Trump's administration, according to a committee aide. The aide declined to say how recently the newly hired officials worked at the council, whether they served under Trump or to identify the individuals. But the move appears to have enraged the President and some members of his senior staff, who view the move as an intrusion.... An administration official told reporters to 'ask Adam Schiff what that means' when asked about the President's claim Democrats are 'stealing people who work at White House.'... Trump and his loyalists have long been skeptical of career officials inside the government, some of whom they claim are out to stymie his agenda." ...

... Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "I'm not surprised that House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff of California is hiring former members of the National Security Council to be on his investigatory staff. After all, his predecessor Devin Nunes did the same thing last September when he scooped up Derek Harvey after his dismissal by then-National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. For the record, Chairman Schiff denies that he's hired anyone who is currently working inside the administration, although he does not deny that some of his hires may have worked with them at some point. What actually does surprise me, however, is that the president is so exercised about Schiff's hiring practices that he felt compelled to tweet about them.... If I had to guess, he thinks it feeds the narrative that the Deep State is out to get him. In reality, it actually just makes him look guilty and scared."

** "No Thank You, Mr. Pecker." Eugene Kim of CNBC: "Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos claims a lawyer for the National Enquirer emailed his counsel with a threat to post sexual pictures he had sent via text to his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, including a so called 'dick pic.' In a blog post published Thursday [in Medium], Bezos accused AMI, the publisher of the National Enquirer, of blackmail and extortion, claiming that AMI has asked Bezos to publicly deny any political motivation in the publisher's coverage of his divorce. The request is likely in response to comments made by Gavin de Becker, Bezos's security boss, who previously told the Daily Beast that 'strong leads point to political motives' in AMI's coverage. 'In the AMI letters I'm making public, you will see the precise details of their extortionate proposal: They will publish the personal photos unless Gavin de Becker and I make the specific false public statement to the press that we "have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI's coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces,'" Bezos wrote in the post. Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, announced their divorce last month. On the same day of the announcement, the National Enquirer broke news about Bezos' affair with Sanchez, with private photos of the two dating. Bezos never publicly addressed the National Enquirer's story until Thursday. In the blog post, Bezos also accused AMI of 'weaponizing journalistic privileges.'" At 7:30 pm ET Thursday, the Medium page had crashed. ...

... Karen Weise of the New York Times: "Jeff Bezos, Amazon's chief executive, accused the owner of The National Enquirer on Thursday of trying 'extortion and blackmail' to stop his investigation into how his private text messages and photos with his mistress were leaked to the tabloid. In an extraordinarily personal online post, Mr. Bezos said intermediaries of David J. Pecker, the chairman of American Media Inc., the owner of The Enquirer, had approached him to stop his investigation. Mr. Bezos said he had been told that if he refused, the publisher would make risqué and intimate photos of him and his mistress, Lauren Sanchez, public." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: We cannot forget that the sleazy Enquirer's publisher David Pecker is a long-time friend of our sleazy President*, & assisted said sleazy President* in covering up his sleazy extramarital liaisons for the purpose of influencing the presidential election. In addition, the sleazy President* used his office to attempt to hurt Bezos' business; he called the Postmaster General into the Oval & urged her to double postal rates for Amazon. He even gloated over the breakup of Bezos' marriage, a breakup reportedly precipitated by the Enquirer's earlier "reporting" on Bezos' affair with Sanchez: "So sorry to hear the news about Jeff Bozo being taken down by a competitor whose reporting, I understand, is far more accurate than the reporting in his lobbyist newspaper, the Amazon Washington Post. Hopefully the paper will soon be placed in better & more responsible hands!" Trump wrote in a tweet January 13 ...

After Mr. Trump became president, he rewarded Mr. Pecker's loyalty with a White House dinner to which the media executive brought a guest with important ties to the royals in Saudi Arabia. At the time, Mr. Pecker was pursuing business there while also hunting for financing for acquisitions.... -- Jeff Bezos, in his post ...

... Juan Cole: "Bezos also hints that Pecker was upset about the Washington Post's quest to get to the bottom of the Saudi government's murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.... Bezos alleges that the investigation of the Saudi connection most alarmed Mr. Pecker, and precipitated the attempt to blackmail the Amazon CEO into falling silent and backing off, with the threat of releasing further compromising photographs and text messages of a private nature." ...

... Paul Farhi, et al., of the Washington Post: Bezos "wrote that it's 'unavoidable that certain powerful people who experience Washington Post news coverage will wrongly conclude I am their enemy. President Trump is one of those people, obvious by his many tweets. Also, The Post's essential and unrelenting coverage of the murder of its columnist Jamal Khashoggi is undoubtedly unpopular in certain circles.' Despite mounting evidence, Trump has disputed that Khashoggi was killed on the orders of Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman. The Saudi crown prince was the subject of a flattering glossy magazine produced by AMI in 2016, at a time when the Saudi regime was attempting to portray Mohammed as a reformer in Middle Eastern politics."

Xeni Jardin of Boing Boing: "On MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell show [Thursday] night, [Manuel] Roig Franzia of the Washington Post said the security and legal team representing Jeff Bezos believes it's possible the leaks of the Amazon CEO's texts, with accompanying intimate photos, were politically motivated -- and that a 'government entity' accessed the material." ...

As @RoigFranzia carefully notes in his interview, Bezos team suspects a 'government entity' might have gotten the texts. Not necessarily US government. -- Greg Miller of the Washington Post, in a tweet

I and at least one other prominent journalist involved in breaking stories about the National Enquirer's arrangement with Trump fielded similar 'stop digging or we'll ruin you' blackmail efforts from AMI. (I did not engage as I don't cut deals with subjects of ongoing reporting.) -- Ronan Farrow, in a tweet

... Paul Farhi, et al., of the Washington Post (linked above): "Bezos's public letter seems to suggest that federal agents should investigate whether AMI may have violated the terms of its non-prosecution agreement with prosecutors in Manhattan over its role in the 2016 hush money payments. 'Rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, I've decided to publish exactly what they sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten,' Bezos wrote. In the next sentence, Bezos describes the non-prosecution agreement struck in September between AMI and the Justice Department." ...

... Mr. Pecker Pickled ... Himself. Edvard Pettersson of Bloomberg News: "Jeff Bezos's allegations that he was blackmailed by American Media Inc. could upend the non-prosecution agreement the publisher of the National Enquirer struck last year with federal prosecutors in New York over its illegal aid to the Trump campaign. Under the Sept. 20 agreement, the tabloid publisher was supposed to refrain from all illegal activity for a three-year period. The agreement says that if New York-based AMI commits any crime, it can be prosecuted for the ones it was granted immunity against, including perjury and obstruction of justice. The disclosure Thursday by Amazon.com Inc.'s chief executive officer that AMI threatened to publish revealing photos of him unless he halted an investigation into whether an earlier expose of his relationship with former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez was politically motivated is 'textbook extortion' and could lead to criminal prosecution, according to some legal experts." ...

... Sophie Weiner of Splinter: "Bezos vs. AMI is one of those fights where it's hard to know who to root for. Bezos, one of the richest men on Earth, owns Amazon, a company with god-awful labor practices that's currently cannibalizing multiple American cities. On the other hand, AMI and the National Enquirer are despicable vultures who are comfortable engaging in blackmail in the name of journalism."

Mrs. McCrabbie Note to David Pecker: Could be a mistake to threaten the Richest Man in the World.

Allegra Kirkland & Josh Kovensky of TPM: "As reports proliferate about New York prosecutors' investigation into President Trump's 2017 inaugural committee, it can be difficult to tease out the standard swamp sleaze from activities that cross a line -- or possibly break the law. Former high-level inauguration staffers and ethics experts told TPM that Trump's team stretched the boundaries of acceptability, potentially opening the door to the kind of self-dealing and illegal foreign donations that prosecutors are reportedly probing.... Questions abound about how costs were allocated within the committee, and about possible self-dealing on the part of Trump's family and friends.... While the White House has stated that the subpoena 'has nothing to do with' the President, [inaugural chair Tom] Barrack himself had a different perspective in remarks to the New York Post, five days before Trump took office. 'He's into every detail of everything,' the tabloid quoted Barrack as saying. 'I beg him all the time to go back to running the free world and let me focus on setting the tables.'" --s ...

... Crime Boss. Barbara McQuade in the Daily Beast: "Referring to a cooperator as a 'rat,' President Trump sometimes sounds like a mob boss. He may ultimately be prosecuted like one, too.... According to reports, [a] subpoena [issued by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York to Trump's inaugural committee] indicates that prosecutors are investigating conspiracy against the United States, false statements, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and violations of campaign finance and inaugural committee laws. In addition, CNN has reported that federal prosecutors in Manhattan have expressed interest in interviewing executives from the Trump Organization.... It is not a stretch to think that the prosecutors are at least considering whether they can prove the type of enterprise and pattern of predicate acts that would amount to a RICO [racketeering] charge.... Even if SDNY follows the Justice Department policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted, nothing prohibits the Trump Organization or Trump's associates from being indicted. In addition, even if a sitting president cannot be indicted, a former president can be." ...

... Elie Honig of CNN: "This week, we learned that the Southern District of New York -- my former office -- dropped an incendiary subpoena on ... Donald Trump's inaugural committee..., and has requested interviews with Trump Organization executives. This is particularly bad news for Trump because, in many respects, the SDNY poses an even more potent threat than special counsel Robert Mueller.... While Mueller is limited by his appointment to investigating coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign (and matters that 'arise directly' from such coordination), the SDNY has no substantive constraints and can go wherever the evidence leads.... The SDNY is also not subject to the special counsel regulations, which require attorney general approval for major prosecutorial decisions and through which Mueller ultimately must filter his findings. And, unlike Mueller, the SDNY cannot be fired or defunded; sure, Trump could fire the US attorney for the SDNY, but there will still be 150-plus apolitical career prosecutors ready to carry on."

Daily Beast: "Ivanka Trump insists she has 'zero concern' that anyone close to her will be implicated when Robert Mueller draws his investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election to a close.... Ivanka also said she 'barely' knew about the potential deal for a Trump development in Moscow.... [Also,] 'We're not talking about Iran. It was Russia.'" Mrs. McC: Never mind that Ivanka, at a minimum, went to Russia to scout locations for a Trump Moscow tower, that some time in 2015, she suggested an architect to work on the Moscow tower & was otherwise working to make it happen during 2015-16. Also too, Russia is totally unlike like repressive Iran. For one thing, way fewer mosques. Sorry, dear, the ditsy-blonde defense hasn't worked since the 1950s.

Daily Beast: "Rod Rosenstein privately complained that Donald Trump commanded him to write the notorious memo backing the firing of FBI Director James Comey, according to Comey's former deputy Andrew McCabe.... McCabe says that Rosenstein was visibly upset during a private Justice Department meeting on May 12, 2017, after being ordered to write the memo. 'He said it wasn't his idea. The president had ordered him to write the memo justifying the firing,' McCabe writes [in a new book]. Rosenstein went on to say that he was having trouble sleeping and is quoted as saying: 'There's no one here that I can trust.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I would remind Rod there that he chose to be a Republican; that is, to throw in his lot with an untrustworthy bunch.

Eli Rosenberg of the Washington Post: At the border with Mexico at Nogales, Arizona, U.S. troops installed "row after row of razor wire ... on the [18-foot-high border] fence so that it covered nearly the entire surface in parts. Photographs show as many of six separate coils of wire -- typically made from steel and studded with hundreds of razor-like barbs -- covering portions of the fence, lending it the appearance of a war zone or a high-security prison.... The town's city council passed a resolution unanimously on Wednesday to formally condemn the wire, and demand that it be taken down over safety concerns.... The wall it adorns stretches through many residential areas in the city, as close as 10 feet in some places to people's property." With photos. Read on.

Frank Rich on the SOTU speech & KKK Northam: "... from Trump's point of view, the speech seems to have failed at every level." Rich elaborates in his usual caustic -- and entertaining -- style. "Northam is a former Republican turned Democrat. Now he is considering resurrecting himself as an Indepedent, according to the Washington Post. Regardless of party affiliation, what's beyond dispute is that he's an idiot who has yet to settle on a plausible account of why his 1984 medical school yearbook page looked like a Ku Klux Klan recruitment flyer." (Also linked yesterday.)

Olivia Beavers of the Hill: "Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker is threatening to not testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Friday after Democrats on the panel voted to authorize the use of a subpoena against him if he did not attend or refused to answer certain questions. Whitaker said in a statement Thursday that the Democratic-led panel 'has deviated from historic practice and protocol and taken the unnecessary and premature step of authorizing a subpoena to the me [sic], the acting attorney general, even though I had agreed to voluntarily appear.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Lisa Friedman & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Liberal Democrats put flesh on their 'Green New Deal' slogan on Thursday with a sweeping resolution intended to redefine the national debate on climate change by calling for the United States to eliminate additional emissions of carbon by 2030. The measure, drafted by freshman Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, is intended to answer the demand, by the party's restive base, for a grand strategy that combats climate change, creates jobs and offers an affirmative response to the challenge to core party values posed by President Trump."

Jennifer Scholtes, et al., of Politico: "Congressional deal-makers working to stave off another government shutdown said they believe a breakthrough is in reach, following a closed-door Wednesday briefing from Border Patrol officials. Conference committee negotiators tasked with crafting a border security funding plan said the bipartisan talks took a turn for the better during the meeting. The 17 lawmakers began a substantive policy and funding debate, ticking through a three-pronged approach to boosting border security spending on detection technology, agents and barriers, according to several members who attended the briefing." (Also linked yesterday.)

Melissa Burke of the Detroit News: "Michigan Democrat John Dingell Jr., the longest-serving member of Congress in American history who helped write most of the nation's major environmental and energy laws, died Thursday, his wife said. He was 92. The Dearborn statesman was a champion of the auto industry and was credited with increasing access to health care, among other accomplishments. He died peacefully at his home in Dearborn, surrounded by his wife, U.S. Rep. Deborah Dingell, her office said in a statement."

Paul Krugman: "... Donald Trump, in his State of the Union address, briefly turned from his usual warnings about scary brown people to warnings about the threat from socialism. What do Trump's people, or conservatives in general, mean by 'socialism'? The answer is, it depends.... The trick -- and 'trick' is the right word -- involves shuttling between these utterly different meanings, and hoping that people don't notice. You say you want free college tuition? Think of all the people who died in the Ukraine famine!... What Americans who support 'socialism' actually want is what the rest of the world calls social democracy: A market economy, but with extreme hardship limited by a strong social safety net and extreme inequality limited by progressive taxation.... So scaremongering over socialism is both silly and dishonest.... On the other hand, we should never discount the power of dishonesty. Right-wing media will portray whomever the Democrats nominate for president as the second coming of Leon Trotsky, and millions of people will believe them."

** Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked a Louisiana law that its opponents say could have left the state with only one doctor in a single clinic authorized to provide abortions. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joining the court's four-member liberal wing to form a majority. That coalition underscored the pivotal position the chief justice has assumed after the departure last year of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who used to hold the crucial vote in many closely divided cases, including ones concerning abortion. The court's brief order gave no reasons, and its action -- a temporary stay -- did not end the case. The court is likely to hear a challenge to the law on the merits in its next term, which starts in October. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh said they would have denied the stay. Only Justice Kavanaugh published a dissent, taking a middle position that acknowledged the key precedent and said he would have preferred more information on the precise effect of the law." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: That's right, folks. The CJ is now the "swing vote" on the Court. And there's no telling which way Roberts will swing when & if the Court hears the Louisiana case. Ian Millhiser shares my view ...

Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "On Thursday, the Supreme Court stayed a lower court decision that openly defied its most recent case protecting the right to an abortion. Thursday's order was unexpected, given the ideological makeup of the Supreme Court, and it is likely to be very temporary. The decision was 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts crossing over to vote with the court's liberal bloc. The stay will last only until the court has an opportunity to consider a request to give the case a full hearing -- a request it will most likely grant. That means that the Supreme Court could overrule or drastically undercut the right to an abortion as soon as 2020." --s

Ian Millhiser: "The Supreme Court just handed down a brief order holding that a man named Domineque Ray must die without his spiritual adviser being made available to give him comfort. The decision was 5-4 along party lines. The case is Dunn v. Ray. Ray is a death row inmate, and there is no doubt that the state of Alabama may execute him. The only issue in this case was whether Ray, who is Muslim, may be killed with his imam at his side. Moreover, as Justice Elena Kagan notes in a dissenting opinion, 'a Christian prisoner may have a minister of his own faith accompany him into the execution chamber to say his last rites' under the prison's policy. So if Ray were a Christian, he would have his spiritual adviser present. One of the cornerstones of the Supreme Court's religion jurisprudence is that the government may not discriminate among faiths." --s ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Glory be, we're still a "Christian nation."

** Ben Foldy of Bloomberg: "Major U.S. banks shaved about $21 billion from their tax bills last year -- almost double the IRS's annual budget -- as the industry benefited more than many others from the Republican tax overhaul. By year-end, most of the nation's largest lenders met or exceeded their initial predictions for tax savings. On average, the banks saw their effective tax rates fall below 19 percent from the roughly 28 percent they paid in 2016. And while the breaks set off a gusher of payouts to shareholders, firms cut thousands of jobs and saw their lending growth slow." Thanks to PD Pepe for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

Tiffany Tsu & Elizabeth Paton of the New York Times: "Less than a week into Black History Month, in two episodes of retail déjà vu, Adidas and Gucci have apologized and pulled products criticized as racist. The offending Gucci item was an $890 black-knit women's balaclava that could be pulled up over the lower half of the wearer's face. The sweater included bright red lips ringing an opening for the mouth, a detail widely denounced on social media as evoking blackface imagery.... In Adidas's case, the company included an almost entirely white pair of shoes in a line of clothing and sneakers inspired by the Harlem Renaissance movement and meant to commemorate Black History Month." Mrs. McC: The Gucci sweater is shocking. On the upside, Dr. Northam could buy one & save himself the pain of having to remove shoe polish from his pretty white face. (Also linked yesterday.)

Kirk Johnson of the New York Times: "Measles, declared eliminated as a major public health threat in the United States almost 20 years ago, has re-emerged this winter in the Pacific Northwest and other states where parents have relatively broad leeway over whether to vaccinate their children. Seventy-nine cases of measles have been reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since the start of this year. Fifty cases of the highly contagious disease were in Washington State. An outbreak of measles has also occurred in the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, where 64 confirmed cases of measles were reported, mostly late last year. That outbreak began, the C.D.C. said, when a child who had not had a measles vaccination caught the virus on a visit to Israel, where a large outbreak of the disease was occurring." (Also linked yesterday.)

The conventional rap against New York Times management is that the company fired executive editor Jill Abramson a few years back because sexism. Maybe not: ...

... Edmund Lee & Alexandra Alter of the New York Times: "Jill Abramson, the former executive editor of The New York Times, responded on Thursday to accusations that her latest book, 'Merchants of Truth,' contains passages that were plagiarized or not properly attributed to the original source material. 'I was up all night going through my book because I take these claims of plagiarism so seriously,' she said in a statement issued by the book's publisher, Simon & Schuster.... She added: '... The language is too close in some cases and should have been cited as quotations in the text. This, too, will be fixed.'... On Wednesday evening, a reporter for Vice News, one of the four news organizations Ms. Abramson chronicles in her book, alerted readers to passages that appear to have been lifted from other sources, in some cases word for word. The reporter, Michael Moynihan, revealed the similarities in a series of tweets.... When galleys of the book circulated last month, many of [Vice's] staff members pointed out inaccuracies on social media. In response to those complaints, Ms. Abramson made corrections in time for the final version.... A Simon & Schuster spokesman said the company would work with Ms. Abramson to make corrections and clarify the sourcing in future print editions and in the e-book."

Beyond the Beltway

Democrats at the top are killing the Great State of Virginia. If the three failing pols were Republicans, far stronger action would be taken. Virginia will come back HOME Republican) in 2020! -- Racist, Mysogynist Liar living in White House, in a tweet today

Virginia. Katherine Hafner & Elisha Sauers of the Virginian-Pilot: "A Virginia Military Institute yearbook overseen by future state Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment in 1968 features a host of racist photos and slurs, including blackface.... On one page of the yearbook, a student poses in blackface, surrounded by others in costumes at a party. Another page features a photo of two men in blackface holding a football. The N-word is used at least once. A student listed as being from Bangkok, Thailand, is referred to as a 'Chink' and 'Jap.' A blurb under one man's picture says: 'He was known as the 'Barracks Jew' having his fingers in the finances of the entire Corps.'... The first black students were allowed to enroll at the institute in the fall of 1968. When a reporter asked Norment to talk about the yearbook Thursday, the majority leader said, 'The only thing I'm talking about today is the budget.'... Several years ago, the school changed its process for reviewing The Bomb, [Col Stewart] MacInnis said, adding layers of review by faculty advisors and himself. But there's always tension for overseeing the student-supported publication, he added, because 'they've got their First Amendment rights.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Way Beyond

Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia told a top aide in a conversation in 2017 that he would use 'a bullet' on Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist killed in October<, if Mr. Khashoggi did not return to the kingdom and end his criticism of the Saudi government, according to current and former American and foreign officials with direct knowledge of intelligence reports. The conversation, intercepted by American intelligence agencies, is the most detailed evidence to date that the crown prince considered killing Mr. Khashoggi long before a team of Saudi operatives strangled him inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and dismembered his body using a bone saw. Mr. Khashoggi's murder prompted weeks of outrage around the world and among both parties in Washington, where senior lawmakers called for an investigation into who was responsible. The Saudi government has denied that the young crown prince played any role in the killing, and President Trump has publicly shown little interest in trying to get the facts about who was responsible."

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is yet another instance in which Trump has ignored U.S. intelligence, on which he was surely briefed. BTW, don't think the Trump's lack of interest in solving the murder of Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor, is unrelated to the Enquirer's attempt to extort Bezos.* If you've ever wondered what it would be like to live in a country in which the presidency & parts of the other two branches comprise a criminal enterprise, this is it.

     ... *Update. New reporting, linked above, is beginning to flesh out the Saudi connection on which I only speculated earlier. The reporting too is speculative, but I don't think it's the end of the story. One thing Trump does during his up-to-7-1/2-hour-a-day "executive time" is to make phone calls he doesn't want his aides to know about. No doubt he's aware that some of his criminal activity must remain secret. One has to hope that U.S. intelligence is as adept at listening in as Chinese & Russian hackers are. Don't be surprised if we learn some day that the FISA court has okayed warrants on the POTUS*.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Frank Robinson, the Hall of Fame outfielder who hit 586 home runs and became a racial pioneer as the first black manager in the major leagues, nearly three decades after Jackie Robinson broke modern baseball's color barrier playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, died on Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 83."

New York Times: "Albert Finney, the British stage and film actor who defined an era's rage and frustration in dramas of blue-collar realism and social revolt and who went on to find stardom in Hollywood, died on Thursday in London. He was 82."