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New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~
~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”
New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”
Click on photo to enlarge.
~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI."
Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”
New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”
Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”
Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."
Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Sunday that he would remove Defense SecretaryJim Mattis, who issued a stinging rebuke of the president when he announced his resignation last week, from his post by Jan. 1, two months before he had planned to depart. Mr. Trump, in a Twitter post, said that Patrick M. Shanahan, Mr. Mattis's deputy, would serve as the acting defense secretary. Aides said that the president was furious that Mr. Mattis's resignation letter -- in which he rebuked the president's rejection of international allies and his failure to check authoritarian governments -- had led to days of negative news coverage. Mr. Mattis resigned in large part over Mr. Trump's hasty decision to withdraw American forces from Syria. When Mr. Trump first announced that Mr. Mattis was leaving, effective Feb. 28, he praised the defense secretary on Twitter, saying he was retiring 'with distinction.' One aide said that although Mr. Trump had already seen the resignation letter when he praised Mr. Mattis, the president did not understand just how forceful a rejection of his strategy Mr. Mattis had issued." Mrs. McC: Because Trump is really, really stupid and/or he can't read.
David Cohen of Politico: "In explaining Democratic opposition to border wall funding, Sen. Jeff Merkley on Sunday dubbed the wall 'a fourth-century strategy' that his party would not support."
David Cohen: 'I was one of many senators who privately sat down with General Mattis and said, "Please stay, stay as long as you possibly can,"' [Sen. Dick] Durbin (D-Ill.) said on NBC's Meet the Press. '"We desperately need your mature voice, your patriotism in the room when this president's making life or death decisions about national security...."' Added the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate: 'It breaks my heart that he's going to step aside. We counted on him to be there and to stop this president from his worst impulse.'" ...
... David Cohen: "Lamenting that ... Donald Trump doesn't share the foreign policy views of many Republicans, Sen. Pat Toomey [R-Pa.] said Sunday on NBC that James Mattis' resignation letter 'put his finger on' those differences. 'I strongly disagree with this decision to withdraw, prematurely in my view, from Syria.'... 'I think senators need to step up and reassert a bigger role for the Senate' in foreign policy, Toomey said, adding that he would be looking for Trump to nominate a new Defense secretary who has 'a more traditional view' of U.S. foreign policy. Toomey said he customarily gives the president wide latitude in picking his Cabinet but would be more cautious in this case. 'The president's views are so divergent, certainly, from mine that I think I'll be much -- this one's going to be tough,' he said." ...
... Michael Burke of the Hill: "French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday criticized PresidentTrump over his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria, saying that ]an ally should be dependable.' Macron added that fighting 'shoulder to shoulder' is the 'most important thing for a head of state.' 'I very deeply regret the decision made on Syria,' Macron said during a news conference, according to Reuters.... Macron also emphasized that Kurdish forces in Syria, whom the U.S. forces have supported, have done important work, Reuters reported. 'I call on everyone ... not to forget what we owe them,' he said."
Quinn Scanlan & Kris Schneider of ABC News: "The president's incoming chief of staff [Mick Mulvaney] said Sunday that any money for the border wall would have to come from the Treasury Department, saying 'the Department of Homeland Security can't actually spend money from Mexico,'.... when pressed about President Trump's campaign promise that Mexico would pay for the wall.... Mulvaney also echoed a claim from President Trump and the White House that Mexico will 'pay' for the wall through cost savings to the U.S. from the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, or the USMCA." Mrs. McC: Actually, Mulvaney did not "echo" the cost-savings claim; he more-or-less agreed it was a silly assertion.
Shocking Scandal! It's Not Just the Government Shutdown. ...
... The "Real" Trump War on Christmas. Adam Gabbatt of the Guardian: "During Donald Trump's presidential campaign he talked often about his determination to win ... the war on Christmas. But despite Trump's repeated claims that 'people are saying Merry Christmas again' instead of the more inclusive 'happy holidays', there are several places where the Christmas greeting is absent: Trump's own businesses.... Instead of a Christmas gift guide ...[the Trump S]tore offers a holiday gift guide. 'Shop our Holiday Gift Guide and find the perfect present for the enthusiast on your list,' the online store urges. 'Carefully curated to celebrate the most wonderful time of year with truly unique gifts found only at Trump Store. Add a bow on top with our custom gift wrapping. Happy Holiday's! The use of the phrase 'Happy Holiday's' [sic] in Trump marketing would seem particularly egregious. The long-standing 'War-on-Christmas' complaint from the political right is that stores use the phrase 'Happy Holidays', rather than specifically mentioning the Christian celebration.'... But it's not just the online Trump store, that is failing to keep the president's Christmas promise."
*****
Sheryl Stolberg & Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "As the White House and Democrats remained locked in a standoff over funding for President Trump's border wall, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, sent his colleagues home for the Christmas holiday on Saturday, virtually ensuring that the government will remain partially shuttered for at least several more days. Mr. McConnell's adjournment of the Senate until Thursday came after a frenzied day of negotiations in Washington and conflicting signals from the White House. Around the country, the partial shutdown, which began at 12:01 a.m. Saturday and affects roughly one-quarter of the federal government, deprived 800,000 workers of their pay and was visible at places like national parks, where sites were unstaffed or, in some cases, closed.... With lawmakers cleared out of Washington and no end to the impasse in sight, some speculated that it would be left to Democrats to reopen the government when they take over the House next month." ...
... Kathryn Watson & Caroline Linton of CBS News: "Mr. Trumpwill remain in [Washington, D.C.,] for Christmas. He was supposed to go to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida." Mrs. McC: Not sure why, since Congress is out of town. Maybe he thinks it makes him look more presidenty. ...
... On second thought, it looks as if Stephen Colbert came up with a more likely reason: the Nixon Mar-a-Lago Curse. "... Richard Nixon went to Mar-a-Lago a month before he resigned from the presidency. Oh history, please repeat yourself! We did our part by not learning from you!" ...
... Daniel Politi of Slate: "... on Friday ... the commander in chief finally put the steel slats to paper and social media reaction to Trump's crude image was fast and furious. Many mocked just how simple the design was considering the promise of a wall has long been at the forefront of the president's platform.... Many joked that the image looked like it was drawn with MS Paint while others pointed at how the president seemed to be particularly fixated on the pointy part of the slabs. 'Shocked Trump didn't illustrate the spikes with the heads of his enemies,' Ben Shapirowrote. NBC reporter Ken Dilanian succinctly summarized his feelings: 'Not the Onion, Chapter 989.'" ...
A design of our Steel Slat Barrier which is totally effective while at the same time beautiful! pic.twitter.com/sGltXh0cu9
The Madman in the White House. Peter Baker & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "For two years, Mr. Trump has waged war against his own government, convinced that people around him are fools. Angry that they resist his wishes, uninterested in the details of their briefings, he becomes especially agitated when they tell him he does not have the power to do what he wants, which makes him suspicious that they are secretly undermining him.... At the midpoint of his term, Mr. Trump has grown more sure of his own judgment and more cut off from anyone else's than at any point since taking office. He spends ever more time in front of a television, often retreating to his residence out of concern that he is being watched too closely. As he sheds advisers at a head-spinning rate, he ... complain[s] that few of the people around him were there at the beginning.... As tumultuous as events have been so far, Mr. Trump's first two years may ultimately look calm compared to what lies ahead." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: So he fires people, then complains they're not there to serve him? In the lede, we learn that Trump regularly calls his staff "fucking idiots" to their faces. Most of these people can get other jobs, tho I'll admit their odds diminish the longer they work for him. If I worked for Trump -- the Fates forbid -- & he called me a "fucking idiot," I'd demand he apologize. If he didn't, I'd quit & sue him for creating a hostile workplace. Besides, his aides are "all the best people," so I don't see how they can be "fucking idiots." ...
'Twas right before Christmas, when all through the House
Not a creature was stirring, not even a louse.
The Congress was shuttered, the Mall had gone dark,
The glow of the White House was eerie and stark.
Congressmen nestled at home in their beds,
While visions of dark money danced in their heads;
Lindsey Graham in his kerchief and Mitch in his cap,
Had just settled down for a government gap,
When on the South Lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my chair to see what was the matter.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a huge orange man who filled me with fear.
His hair wasn't human, his body so plump,
I knew in a moment it must be Der Trump.
His dull eyes were circled in big rings of white,
His cheeks were all puffy, his lips were pursed tight.
His face was contorted into a deep scowl,
And all of a sudden he let out a howl:
“Now, Mattis! Now, Kelly! Now Sessions and Pruitt!
“Oh, Comey! Oh Priebus! Oh Bannon. You blew it!
“To the top of the moon! to the top of the wall!
“Bow down!” he called out, “to the Greatest of All.”
(Though oddly enough, there was no one in sight,)
“Can't you fucking jerks get anything right?”
... Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Trump will enter his third year as president unbound -- at war with his perceived enemies, determined to follow through on the hard-line promises of his insurgent campaign and fearful of any cleavage in his political coalition. So far, the result has been disarray. The federal government is shut down. Stock markets are in free fall. Foreign allies are voicing alarm. Hostile powers such as Russia are cheering. And Republican lawmakers once afraid of crossing this president are now openly critical.... Trump is surrounding himself with 'yes' men and women.... He has designated some officials, including the new White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, as 'acting,' meaning they must labor to please the president to eventually be empowered in their positions permanently.... 'This is a rogue presidency,' said Barry McCaffrey, a retired four-star Army general.... 'Trump wants total freedom to do what he wants when he wants and he’s much closer to getting that, which is what will terrify not only Congress but the rest of the world as well,' said Thomas Wright of the Brookings Institution." ...
... Frank Rich: "The beginning of the end of the Trump presidency came and went a long time ago. I have never wavered from my oft-stated convictions that (a) Trump will not finish out his term, and (b), the end will be triggered by a presidential meltdown that forces the Vichy Republicans in Washington to mount an insurrection -- if only to save their own asses, not the country. This week was a big step toward that endgame, and surely one of the most remarkable weeks in American history." Thanks to MAG for the link. Mrs. McC: MAG is wondering, so now I am too, about how Trump communicates with his banker Putin. Personal iPhone?
Margaret Brennan of CBS News: "Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, had been planning to exit his post in February 2019. But sources tell CBS News that he informed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he will accelerate his departure due to a strong disagreement with President Trump's snap decision to withdraw 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, effectively abandoning U.S. allies in the region. McGurk submitted his resignation on Friday, just one day after Defense Secretary James Mattis quit his post citing fundamental disagreements with the commander-in-chief -- including one over the importance of honoring U.S. alliances." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jordan Weissman of Slate: "Well, here we are. After months of complaining bitterly in public about the Federal Reserve's streak of recent rate hikes, Donald Trump reportedly wants to know if he can fire Chairman Jerome Powell. According to Bloomberg, the president has talked privately about canning the central bank chief 'many times in the past few days,' following the Fed's decision this week to increase rates for the fourth time in a year.... No president has ever tried to outright fire a Fed chair before, and the law on whether they can is, in fact, a bit unclear. The Federal Reserve Act states that members of the central bank's board of governors can only be removed 'for cause' -- a term that doesn't have a precise formal definition, but is generally understood to encompass basic performance issues like failing to show up for work or drinking on the job, not public policy differences with the president. Since the central bank's chair is also a governor, Trump probably can't kick Powell off the board entirely. The Fed statute says absolutely nothing, however, about what's required to remove someone from the position of chair."
Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "An unnamed, foreign government-owned company in a mystery court case is asking the Supreme Court to pause a grand jury subpoena it received related to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. The Supreme Court appeal comes after a federal appeals court ruling that ordered the company to comply with the subpoena, which required it to turn over 'information' about its commercial activity in a criminal investigation. The appeals court also said the company could face fines for every day of noncompliance." Mrs. McC: Hmm, a mystery foreign government-owned company? Probably the Trump Organization.
Robert Windrem of NBC News: "Two days before the 2016 presidential election, an Instagram account called @woke_blacks posted a message in support of long-shot Green Party candidateJill Stein. 'The excuse that a lost Black vote for Hillary is a Trump win is bs,' it read. 'It could be late, but y'all might want to support Jill Stein instead.' According to a report commissioned by the Senate, the account was a fake, part of the Russian campaign to sway the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump.... Building support for Stein was one of a 'roster of themes' the Moscow-sanctioned internet trolls 'turned to repeatedly' in their effort to disrupt the election, according to a research team led by the New Knowledge cybersecurity firm.... There's nothing in the reports to suggest that Stein was aware of the influence operation, but the Massachusetts physician has long been criticized for her support of international policies that mirror Russian foreign policy goals. As a frequent guest on the Russian state-owned English language broadcast and online outlets RT and Sputnik, Stein has also benefited from Moscow's help during her presidential runs in 2012 and 2016.&"
Margaret Brennan of CBS News: "Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, had been planning to exit his post in February 2019. But sources tell CBS News that he informed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he will accelerate his departure due to a strong disagreement with President Trump's snap decision to withdraw 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, effectively abandoning U.S. allies in the region. McGurk submitted his resignation on Friday, just one day after Defense Secretary James Mattis quit his post citing fundamental disagreements with the commander-in-chief -- including one over the importance of honoring U.S. alliances."
*****
Updated. Again. Julie Davis & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The federal government shut down early Saturday after congressional and White House officials failed to find a compromise on a spending bill that hinged on President Trump's demands for $5.7 billion for a border wall. It is third shutdown in two years of unified Republican rule in Washington, and it will stop work at nine federal departments and several other agencies. Hundreds of thousands of government employees are affected. Any hope of a compromise ended about 8:30 p.m. Friday, when both the House and the Senate had adjourned with no solution in sight. Talks are expected to begin again on Saturday. A burst of late-afternoon activity could not break the deadlock, even as Vice President Mike Pence met with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, and senior House Republicans, searching for a solution to a logjam that Mr. Trump has shown little interest in breaking." (This is another update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: In an earlier update to this story, we learned, "Mr. Trump shelved plans to go to his winter estate in Florida...." Boo-fucking-hoo. A Trumpertantrum forces Trumpty-Dumpty to postpone his golfing vacation. Mind you, earlier this week, pence assured Senate leadership that Trump would sign the continuing resolution that the Senate passed Wednesday, a plan foiled by Trump's fear of criticism by such political philosophers as Ann Coulter & Rush Limbaugh. ...
... "Shutdown? More Like a Breakdown."New York Times \ Editors: "The spectacle began gearing up early last week, when, in an Oval Office tête-à-tête with ... Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, the president boasted that he would be 'proud' to bring parts of the government to a halt if Congress did not hand over $5 billion for his border wall. He stuck with this position for basically a week, until, come Tuesday, he executed a tidy flip-flop, sending word via his press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, that he would, in fact, accept a stopgap bill that did not include money for a border wall. Lawmakers promptly slapped together such a plan, zipped it over to the White House and hit the road for Christmas break.... [Then] Unable to bear the scorn of [Ann] Coulter and Rush Limbaugh and his cheerleaders at 'Fox & Friends,' Mr. Trump promptly reversed course. On Thursday, he rejected Congress's temporary funding deal, declaring that either he'd get his $5 billion for a wall (or as he now calls it, 'steel slats') or Americans would get a 'Democrat shutdown.'... By Friday, he was in full attack mode. During morning Executive Time, he let loose with a classic Twitter barrage.... At an afternoon bill signing, the president continued trying to shift blame onto Democrats...." ...
... Wait, Wait. There's More. Sarah Mervosh of the New York Times: "... President Trump late Friday called on Senate Democrats to approve funds for border security in a video recording posted to Twitter, in which he paired sweeping references to crime with incendiary footage of people moving in large crowds. 'It's very dangerous out there,' Mr. Trump said, as the screen flashed to groups of people, including a scene of a crowd banging on a fence. 'Drugs are pouring in, human trafficking, so many different problems, including gangs like M.S. 13. We don't want them in the United States.'... He stressed the need for border security, which he described as 'a wall or a slat fence or whatever you want to call it.'" Includes video, which is unintentionally funny. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: One of the White House staff dispatched to the hill to try to hammer out a compromise that will mollify the Whiney Baby in the White House, as well as the screaming Freedom Caucus (of which he was a founding member), is all-purpose aide & soon-to-be chief-of-staff Mick Mulvaney. What with the mollification factor being (the) Great Wall of Trump, the following is ironic:
... Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "Mick Mulvaney once called ... Donald Trump's views on a border wall and immigration 'simplistic' and 'absurd and almost childish.'... [Mulvaney said in August 2015,] 'The fence doesn't solve the problem. Is it necessary to have one, sure? Would it help? Sure. But to just say build the darn fence and have that be the end of an immigration discussion is absurd and almost childish for someone running for president to take that simplistic of [a] view.'... 'The fence is an easy thing to sell politically,' Mulvaney said. 'It's an easy thing for someone who doesn't follow the issue very closely to say, "oh, well that'll just solve everything, build the fence."'"
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Apparently everybody -- House, Senate & President* -- agrees on most of terms of funding. The only sticking point is (the) wall. So my suggestion to break the impasse is that the House & Senate vote to send a huge bill to Mexico for (the) wall to comport with Trump's campaign promise. Problem solved. More seriously, the "slat fence" aside is a big concession. We already have "slat fencing" at the U.S.-Mexico border, and Democrats don't oppose adding to & repairing it. So redefining "wall" as "slat fence" may be the real way to end the shutdown. Plus, I think a fence will work very well:
** Matthew Lee & Susannah George of the AP: "... Donald Trump's decision to withdraw American troops from Syria was made hastily, without consulting his national security team or allies, and over strong objections from virtually everyone involved in the fight against the Islamic State group, according to U.S. and Turkish officials. Trump stunned his Cabinet, lawmakers and much of the world with the move by rejecting the advice of his top aides and agreeing to a withdrawal in a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week, two U.S. officials and a Turkish official briefed on the matter told The Associated Press." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: According to the report, even "Erdogan cautioned Trump against a hasty withdrawal...." When you read the back-and-forth, you'll likely agree with Jeet Heer:
... Jeet Heer: "From [the AP's] reporting, it seems likely that it was neverErdogan's intention to get the United States to withdraw. Rather he made the demand as a bargaining move, to get other, lesser goals. Trump, displaying his mastery of the art of the deal, gave in to Erdogan's maximum position." So it turns out that not only is Trump a bad negotiator because he doesn't begin to understand or appreciate the stakes, he also doesn't comprehend basic negotiating strategy. As we've learned again & again, Trump's "dealmaking strategy" is simply to be untrustworthy; that is, to make a commitment, then renege on it.
... ** Update. Karen DeYoung, et al., of the Washington Post: "When he spoke to President Trump on the telephone a week ago Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's agenda had not changed from when they met two weeks earlier at the Group of 20 summit in Argentina.... The Islamic State, according to Trump himself, had been defeated, Erdogan said. Turkey's military was strong and could take on any remaining militant pockets. Why did some 2,000 U.S. troops still need to be there? 'You know what? It's yours,' Trump said of Syria. 'I'm leaving.' The call, shorthanded in more or less the same words by several senior administration officials, set off events that, even by the whirlwind standards of Washington in the Trump years, have been cataclysmic. They ended, for the moment at least, with Thursday's resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. This account of the tumultuous past week is drawn from interviews with government officials in the White House and across national security departments...." ...
... Andrew Desiderio of the Daily Beast: "The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee revealed on Friday that the U.S. military was planning a 'major clearing operation' targeting ISIS before ... Donald Trump decided abruptly this week to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria. '... We were six weeks away from a major clearing operation that has been planned for a long time. I got briefed on this a year ago -- with ISIS in the Euphrates River Valley,' Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) said Friday on Capitol Hill.... Corker said 'at least 20,000' ISIS fighters are still in the region. The 'major clearing operation ... would have changed the dynamic tremendously' in Iraq and Syria, where ISIS has lost significant territory in recent years.... 'So to pull the plug -- it's just hard to understand,' Corker said.... 'If you want to move away from Syria, why wouldn't you do it after you've done the work that you've been planning for so long?'"
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "'Fox and Friends' host Brian Kilmeadeon Friday morning tore intoTrump's ... controversial decision ... to pull U.S. troops out of Syria -- and he did it right to the face of Trump's own press secretary, Sarah Sanders. Kilmeade even went so far as to say that the president was paving the way for a revitalized Islamic State, also known as ISIS. 'He also is doing exactly what he criticized President Obama for doing,' Kilmeade told Sanders. 'He said President Obama is the founder of ISIS; he just re-founded ISIS, because they have 30,000 men there and they are already striking back with our would-be evacuation. The president is really on the griddle with this. 'Leaving is helping,' Kilmeade added, repeating: 'Leaving is helping.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... David Sanger of the New York Times: "... more convinced than ever that his initial gut instincts about retreating from a complex world of civil wars and abstract threats was right, Mr. Trump has rid himself of the aides who feared the president was undercutting America's long-term national interests. Now the president appears determined to assemble a new team of advisers who will not tell him what he cannot do, but rather embrace his vision of a powerful America that will amass a military that will enforce national sovereignty and bolster American deal-making -- but not spend time nurturing the alliance relationships that Mr. Mattis, in a remarkable resignation letter, makes clear are at the core of American power."
... Conservative Bret Stephens of the New York Times has some words of advice for Anonymous: "In September, you acknowledged that you were a member of the 'quiet resistance' within Donald Trump's administration. You told us that you and others were 'working diligently' to 'frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.'... You also believed that your efforts to resist Trump were often successful.... You were wrong.... A president who sticks it to his own team while sticking with a foreign strongman is not worth sticking by.... You must know by now that you are no longer keeping a bad thing from getting worse. All you are doing is disguising how bad it is, thereby helping it to become worse."
Eliana Johnson & Burgess Everett of Politico: "... Donald Trumpfaces a dangerous erosion of support among rank-and-file Republicans thanks to a series of jarring recent moves that have alienated even some close GOP allies. From his defense of Saudi Arabia's crown prince over the murder of a dissident journalist to his abrupt decision to pull American troops out of Syria to his demand for a government shutdown, Trump has been angering friendly lawmakers, leading some who typically kept their disagreements to themselves to speak up.... 'Going to the base of the base means that Republican senators are going to start disagreeing with you, because that's not their party,' said Matthew Continetti, editor-in-chief of the conservative Washington Free Beacon.... Also aggravating Republicans is Trump's sheer unpredictability, which was evident from his unclear and shifting positions on the budget talks." ...
... Ditto. Jonathan Martin, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump's near-simultaneous decisions this week to force a government shutdown over his demand to fund a border wall and withdraw American troops from Syria and Afghanistan have imperiled the fragile Republican coalition, exacerbating the party’s fears about what may become of his presidency -- and its own electoral prospects in 2020. By placating the far right on immigration, embracing his instincts on foreign policy and unnerving investors with his trade wars and policy gyrations, Mr. Trump is elevating the nativist and noninterventionist elements of his party. In doing so, he is deeply straining his most important links to mainstream Republican governance, and the national security hawks and conservative business executives who have long been pillars of the right. And by disregarding the counsel of seasoned advisers, Mr. Trump demonstrated that he does not grasp how damaging his impulsive behavior was to his party in last month's elections, when his party lost 40 seats in the House, senior Republicans said Friday." ...
... Yes, But Russia Is Elated. Julia Davis of the Daily Beast counts the ways, from the Syrian pullout to the lifting of sanctions against Oleg Deripaska's aluminum producer Rusal. "Discussing the planned departure of the U.S. from Syria, state TV host Olga Skabeeva pondered why Trump suddenly decided to leave at this point in time: 'Americans say, it's because he is beholden to Putin. Is that logical? Yes, it is.'"
Bob Mueller, Take Note. Laura Jarrett & Pamela Brown of CNN: "... Donald Trump has at least twice in the past few weeks vented to his acting attorney general, angered by federal prosecutors who referenced the President's actions in crimes his former lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. Trump was frustrated, the sources said, that prosecutors Matt Whitaker oversees filed charges that made Trump look bad. None of the sources suggested that the President directed Whitaker to stop the investigation, but rather lashed out at what he felt was an unfair situation.... The first known instance took place when Trump made his displeasure clear to ... Whitaker after Cohen pleaded guilty November 29 to lying to Congress about a proposed Trump Tower project in Moscow.... Over a week later, Trump again voiced his anger at Whitaker after prosecutors in Manhattan officially implicated the President in a hush-money scheme to buy the silence of women around the 2016 campaign -- something Trump fiercely maintains isn't an illegal campaign contribution. Pointing to articles he said supported his position, Trump pressed Whitaker on why more wasn't being done to control prosecutors in New York who brought the charges in the first place, suggesting they were going rogue."
... Mrs. McCrabbie: You know, "pressing" the AG "to control prosecutors" has to be right there on the definitions page of the DOJ manual on obstruction of justice. Plus, here's a fun question: Who leaked this exchange? Obviously, it was someone who wanted to protect the Mueller investigation. Now that it's out that Trump urged Whitaker "to control prosecutors," Whitaker absolutely cannot do that without implicating himself in a conspiracy to obstruct justice. ...
... Josh Marshall: "It is clear as day that Jeff Sessions was fired and replaced by Whitaker because Trumpwanted an AG who would represent him and protect him." Marshall figures Whitaker hasn't come through for Trump because (a) Rob Mueller & Rod Rosenstein "are major DC law enforcement and national security heavyweights who have a lot of clout, reputation and experience. Whitaker meanwhile is basically a punk...." and (b) He was quickly overtaken by his own scandals and possible legal jeopardy."
Sadly, Trump is not content to shutter the government, destroy U.S. international policy & curb the Mueller investigation. Now, he wants to upend the markets, too: ...
... Jennifer Jacobs, et al., of Bloomberg News: "... Donald Trumphas discussed firing Federal Reserve ChairmanJerome Powell as his frustration with the central bank chief intensified following this week's interest-rate increase and months of stock-market losses, according to four people familiar with the matter. Advisers close to Trump aren't convinced he would move against Powell and are hoping that the president's latest bout of anger will dissipate over the holidays, the people said on condition of anonymity. Some of Trump's advisers have warned him that firing Powell would be a disastrous move. Yet the president has talked privately about firing Powell many times in the past few days, said two of the people. Any attempt by Trump to push out Powell would have potentially devastating ripple effects across financial markets, undermining investors' confidence in the central bank's ability to shepherd the economy without political interference."
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "A divided Supreme Court on Friday refused to allow the Trump administration to immediately enforce a new policy of denying asylum to those who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. ... sided with the court's four liberals in denying the request, which lower courts had stopped after finding it a likely violation of federal law. For the first time on a contested issue, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh ... noted his agreement with the court's other conservatives. He and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch ... would have granted the administration's request to let the order go into effect. The decision was about whether to lift a lower court's stay of Trump's new asylum regulation, not on the merits of his plan. The legal fight on that could return to the Supreme Court."
Dan Berman of CNN: "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had two cancerous nodules removed from her left lung Friday at a New York hospital, the Supreme Court announced. There is no evidence of any remaining disease, says a court spokesperson, nor is there evidence of disease elsewhere in the body." (Also linked yesterday.)
... Katia Hetter, et al., of CNN: "The solstice this year will be extra special because it will be followed the next day by a full moon known as the Cold Moon, and you might be able to see a meteor shower to boot."
On the Darkest Day of the Year, the U.S. Government Is in Chaos
President Trump is plunging the country into chaos. -- Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Thursday (no link)
Afternoon Update:
Dan Berman of CNN: "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had two cancerous nodules removed from her left lung Friday at a New York hospital, the Supreme Court announced. There is no evidence of any remaining disease, says a court spokesperson, nor is there evidence of disease elsewhere in the body."
Mrs. McCrabbie: Mitch McConnell at about 12:30 pm ET set up a Senate vote on the House continuing resolution that include $5BB for Great Wall of Trump (that would be "the Great Wall of Trump" but for the observations of Josh Marshall (linked below) & Monoloco in today's Comments.
Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Trump warned early Friday that a partial government shutdown 'will last for a very long time,' seeking to blame Democrats for a potential government funding lapse that he said last week he would proudly own.... The president also urged Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, to endorse the 'Nuclear Option' and abolish the ability of the minority party to filibuster and delay votes over spending measures." Mrs. McC: Senate rules preclude the use of the so-called nuclear option on budgetary legislation.
** Matthew Lee & Susannah George of the AP: "... Donald Trump's decision to withdraw American troops from Syria was made hastily, without consulting his national security team or allies, and over strong objections from virtually everyone involved in the fight against the Islamic State group, according to U.S. and Turkish officials. Trump stunned his Cabinet, lawmakers and much of the world with the move by rejecting the advice of his top aides and agreeing to a withdrawal in a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week, two U.S. officials and a Turkish official ... told The Associated Press."
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: “'Fox and Friends' host Brian Kilmeadeon Friday morning tore intoTrump's ... controversial decision ... to pull U.S. troops out of Syria -- and he did it right to the face of Trump's own press secretary, Sarah Sanders. Kilmeade even went so far as to say that the president was paving the way for a revitalized Islamic State, also known as ISIS. 'He also is doing exactly what he criticized President Obama for doing,' Kilmeade told Sanders. 'He said President Obama is the founder of ISIS; he just re-founded ISIS, because they have 30,000 men there and they are already striking back with our would-be evacuation. The president is really on the griddle with this. 'Leaving is helping,' Kilmeade added, repeating: 'Leaving is helping.'"
*****
Will the last adult leaving this White House turn off the lights. ...
Will the last person to leave the Trump administration please remember to leave food and water behind for Mick Mulvaney, who will be left doing all the jobs? -- J.T. Levy in a tweet
** Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump began Thursday under siege, listening to howls of indignation from conservatives over his border wall and thrusting the government toward a shutdown. He ended it by announcing the exit of the man U.S. allies see as the last guardrail against the president's erratic behavior: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, whose resignation letter was a scathing rebuke of Trump's worldview. At perhaps the most fragile moment of his presidency -- and vulnerable to convulsions on the political right -- Trump single-handedly propelled the U.S. government into crisis and sent markets tumbling with his gambits this week to salvage signature campaign promises. The president's decisions and conduct have led to a fracturing of Trump's coalition. Hawks condemned his sudden decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. Conservatives called him a 'gutless president' and questioned whether he would ever build a wall. Political friends began privately questioning whether Trump needed to be reined in." ...
... Susan Glasser of the New Yorker: "... all the chaos at year's end is a powerful reminder that the manner in which the President operates is so outside of any normal parameters for governing, so disdainful of process, and so heedless of consequences that his decisions don't resolve crises so much as create them.... ... This [latest] debacle has all the elements we have come to associate with Trump's Presidency: the imperious Twitter decree; the reckless and untrue claims; the snubbing of advice from experts, allies, and his own staff; the transparent effort to distract from one set of scandals by creating another.... When we look back on 2018, it may not be to recall all the crazy things that happened when Donald Trump was President. A year from now, it may appear as the quiet before the storm."
Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "Jim Mattis, the four-star Marine general turned defense secretary, resigned on Thursday in protest of President Trump's decision to withdraw 2,000 American troops from Syria, where they have been fighting the Islamic State. Mr. Trump announced the resignation in two tweets Thursday evening, and said Mr. Mattis will leave at the end of February. Officials said Mr. Mattis went to the White House on Thursday afternoon in a last attempt to convince Mr. Trump to keep American troops in Syria. He was rebuffed, and told the president that he was resigning as a result. Hours later, the Pentagon released Mr. Mattis's resignation letter, in which he implicitly criticized his commander in chief.... His departure leaves the Trump administration without one of the few officials viewed as standing between a mercurial president and global tumult. The president said he would name Mr. Mattis's replacement shortly." ...
... Julie Pace & Zeke Miller of the AP: "The shrinking circle around Trump is now increasingly dominated by a small cadre of longtime Trump loyalists and family members, ex-Fox News talent and former GOP lawmakers who were backbenchers on Capitol Hill before being elevated by the president. Attracting top flight talent will only get more difficult as more investigations envelope the White House once Democrats take over the House in January.... Mattis and outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Joseph Dunford became almost weekly dinner guests of the president early in his administration.... The seemingly informal briefings for the president were in fact carefully orchestrated persuasion sessions designed to ease the president into abandoning some of his disruptive campaign rhetoric and accepting the advice of his senior national security advisers. But Mattis' departure highlights how those early efforts delayed Trump's disruption, rather than averting it.... Trump's split with Mattis followed a pattern of public breakdowns with advisers who served as guardrails in the administration." ...
... David Rothkopf of the Daily Beast: Thursday "Trump's most highly regarded aide sent a message to the world and in particular to those responsible for presidential oversight on Capitol Hill. The president is not only outside the mainstream in his thinking, he is out of control. The man who controls the world's most powerful military and the resources of the world's richest government, is beyond assistance, beyond redemption, beyond influence other than by our enemies and his greed and narcissism. That was more than a letter of resignation provided today by Mattis, it was a bright red line in American history. We will be judged by how we respond to his clear and courageous message." ...
... "The Last Grown-up Is Gone." Fred Kaplan of Slate: "Secretary of Defense James Mattis didn’t just resign on Thursday; he resigned in protest over the president's policies -- the first time a Cabinet secretary has done that since Cyrus Vance quit his job as secretary of state, 40 years ago, over Jimmy Carter's failed rescue attempt of the U.S. hostages in Iran. President Trump tried to disguise this fact, tweeting late on Thursday that Mattis 'will be retiring, with distinction, at the end of February.' But administration officials don't 'retire.' They 'resign,' and Mattis -- who already did retire as a four-star general from the Marine Corps in 2013 -- is resigning with bitterness and fatigue." Mrs. McC: The White House did not release Mattis's resignation letter; Mattis did, according to TV news reports. ...
... Vera Bergengruen of BuzzFeed News: "... a letter from Mattis made clear the decision was not that harmonious.... The decision comes a day after Trump announced he'd withdraw troops from Syria, which Mattis opposes, and reports that he may also withdraw troops from Afghanistan.... Mattis personally hand-delivered his resignation letter to the White House on Thursday, a defense official confirmed to BuzzFeed News. When he returned to the Pentagon, he told his staff.... Mattis's restraint reportedly frustrated the president. As their relationship grew more strained in the second year of his presidency, Trump privately downgraded the defense secretary [from 'Mad Dog'] to 'Moderate Dog' and started to signal that he could soon make a change at the Pentagon. In an interview in October, Trump seemed to dismiss Mattis by calling him 'sort of a Democrat,' and saying he 'may leave.' It was no secret that Mattis opposed many of Trump's decisions in the White House, including decertifying the Iran deal, withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum, and moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv." ...
... The report includes a copy of Mattis's resignation letter. ...
... Nick Wadhams of Bloomberg: "Mattis's abrupt resignation as defense secretary and Trump's rapid-fire moves to reshape the U.S. military footprint abroad are provoking fears that there's no one left to restrain the president's most combative and isolationist impulses.... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell -- usually loathe to criticize the president -- said he was 'distressed' over the departure of Mattis, who he said had a 'clear-eyed understanding of our friends and foes.' 'It is regrettable that the president must now choose a new Secretary of Defense,' McConnell said. 'But I urge him to select a leader who shares Secretary Mattis's understanding of these vital principles.'... [Sen. Marco] Rubio [R-Fla.] said Mattis's resignation letter 'makes it abundantly clear that we are headed towards a series of grave policy errors which will endanger our nation, damage our alliances & empower our adversaries.'... Mattis's exit may augur a fundamental change in the way adversaries and allies approach the administration, a trend that's already visible with North Korea. Kim Jong Un's regime has all but shut out [Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo and his chief envoy, Steve Biegun, instead looking to deal with the president himself, knowing he is the ultimate authority.'"
... Juan Cole: "[I]t certainly is the case that Mattis has often restrained Trump's worse instincts.... But if you were going to judge Mattis's performance as Secretary of Defense, you'd have to look at his performance with regard to military challenges.... In 2017, US airstrikes in the [Mideast] region killed 215% as many civilians as had died in them the year before. Trump may have ordered it, but Mattis could have pushed back the way he did on other issues. There is no evidence he did.... Mattis was losing Afghanistan, as even the right wing Weekly Standard admitted, and can't be accounted as a success story on that front.... Mattis tried to whitewash the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in testimony on the hill, saying there is no 'smoking gun.' Mattis isn't a knight in shining armor but another right wing general of the Westmoreland sort, who will always win your war for you if you just let him play dirty enough and give him enough men and money and decades." --s ...
... Josh Rogin of the Washington Post: "President Trump's surprise decision to rapidly withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria is meeting with intense criticism by foreign policy experts, who denounce it as strategically stupid, reckless for national security and a blow to America's global credibility. But inside Syria, the consequences are even more serious. For one example, 50,000 Syrian civilian refugees living under the direct protection of the U.S. military are suddenly fearing for their lives.... They are near starvation, effectively under siege and living in squalor. But despite their situation, they will tell anyone who will listen that they are grateful to be free from the grasp of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and that they are depending on the United States to keep them safe and alive. On Wednesday, Trump put their lives at grave risk with a single tweet."
Breaking This Morning. Washington Post: "Turkish president announces delay of planned offensive in Syria, welcomes Trump decision to pull out troops. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish forces are still planning to invade northeast Syria in the coming months and 'cleanse' the region of both Kurdish militias and Islamic State forces. Turkey has long opposed the U.S. partnership with Kurdish forces in the battle against the Islamic State. This is a developing story. It will be updated."
... Courtney Kube, et al., of NBC News: "The White House has ordered the Pentagon to draw up plans for a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, two defense officials and a person briefed on the matter told NBC News. The plans are due shortly after the new year, according to the officials. They cautioned that no decision has been made, but President Trump wants to see options. The White House has asked the Pentagon to look into multiple options, including a complete withdrawal, the officials said." ...
... Update. Uh, Looks Like Chief Seat-of-the-Pants Decided Not to Wait for, You Know, Plans. Thomas Gibbon-Neff of the New York Times: "The Trump administration is withdrawing roughly 7,000 troops from Afghanistan in the coming months, two defense officials said Thursday, around half of what the American military has there now. Mr. Trump made the decision at the same time he decided he was pulling American forces out of Syria, one official said. The move is likely one of the first steps to end the United States' involvement in the 17-year-old war. The 14,000 American troops currently in Afghanistan are divided between training and advising Afghan forces and a counterterror mission against groups like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda. The reduction, one official said, is in an effort to make Afghan forces more reliant on their own troops and not Western support."
Haley Britzky of Axios: "President Trump tweeted Friday that it would be a 'Democrat Shutdown' if Senate Democrats vote down the short-term spending bill that the House passed last night, which includes $5.7 billion for Trump's border wall. 'Senator Mitch McConnell should fight for the Wall and Border Security as hard as he fought for anything. He will need Democrat votes, but as shown in the House, good things happen. If enough Dems don't vote, it will be a Democrat Shutdown! House Republicans were great yesterday!'... Trump said last week that he'd be 'proud to shut down the government,' and said he would take full responsibility for a shutdown over border security." ...
... Erica Werner, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump threatened Thursday to veto a stopgap spending bill unless it includes billions of dollars to build a wall along the Mexico border, sending large parts of the federal government lurching toward a shutdown starting Saturday.... House Republican leaders hurried to appease the president, pulling together a bill that would keep the government funded through Feb. 8 while also allocating $5.7 billion for the border wall. The bill included an additional nearly $8 billion for disaster relief for hurricanes and wildfires. The measure passed the House on a near-party-line vote of 217-185 Thursday night, over strident objections from Democrats.... But the House vote only hardened Washington's budget impasse barely 24 hours away from the shutdown deadline. Democrats have the Senate votes to block any bill that includes funding for Trump's wall, and Trump says he'll veto any bill that doesn't." ...
... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Thursday that President Trumpwill not sign a stopgap spending bill over concerns about border security, a decision that increases the risk of a government shutdown.... In a minute-long statement on the driveway outside the West Wing, the Speaker said lawmakers would work on adding border security measures to the funding bill but did not specifically mention border-wall funding." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jordain Carney of the Hill: "GOP senators emerged from [a] closed-door meeting in visible disbelief that President Trump is refusing to sign a seven-week stopgap measure to fund the government that cleared the chamber by a voice vote less than 24 hours ago. Senate GOP leadership appeared confident on Wednesday that Trump would sign the stopgap, which will fund approximately 25 percent of the government, as long as they kept poison pill policy riders out of it. But Trump, under fire from conservative pundits and lawmakers, reversed course Thursday. 'Are you ruining my life?' GOP Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) joked to The Hill when told about the decision.... Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who is retiring in early January, started laughing when he was told of Trump's decision. 'Well, why not?"' he quipped, asked why he was laughing, adding that he was 'not really' surprised by Trump's decision.... Scores of senators have already left town after the Senate cleared the stopgap bill Wednesday night." ...
... Jonathan Chait: "Government shutdowns are rare, and almost always ineffective, expressions of conflict between opposing parties in control of Congress and the White House. President Trump's plan to shut down the government is something different: an expression of conflict between his campaign promises and reality. Trump famously campaigned on a promise of building a wall on the southern border, and forcing Mexico to pay for it. He has two problems fulfilling this promise. First, Mexico is not going to pay for the wall under any circumstances. And second, Congress might pay for it, but only under circumstances Trump's base won't accept.... [Faced with these realities,] you could see the outline of a plan. Trump would wheedle some money out of Democrats, rebrand the tweaked NAFTA as Mexico 'paying' for it, rebrand the fence [which Democrats would approve] as a wall, and say he won.... But then right-wing media threw a fit.... For whatever reason, they're not going along with the plan of pretending the wall is getting built, and instead they're demanding Trump shut down the government to get the wall. And when right-wing infotainers demanded this, Trump 'alternately seethed and panicked about the stream of invective he's hearing from allies on television,' as Politico reports." ...
... Graham Goads Chump. Nicole Lafond of TPM: "Just as White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that President Trump didn't want to go any further without border wall funding, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) encouraged Trump to 'dig in' and 'force' lawmakers to give him wall funding instead of signing the continuing resolution." --s ...
... Sarah Ferris & John Bresnahan of Politico: "The House Republican caucus was thrown into chaos Thursday as conservatives revolted against a funding bill that includes no new money for ... Donald Trump's border wall. On the brink of a Christmastime shutdown, House Speaker Paul Ryan is confronting resistance from rank-and-file Republicans, who have begun personally egging on Trump to force a shutdown over the wall. The odds of a shutdown rose dramatically Thursday as Freedom Caucus leaders Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan headed to the White House for a sit-down with Trump himself. Ryan and his deputies began making plans to put a funding bill on the floor that would deliver $5 billion to the border wall, in an attempt to make good on Trump's promise in the final days of a GOP-controlled Congress.... The issue erupted Thursdayduring a raucous closed-door meeting." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Moving the Goalposts. Josh Marshall of TPM: "For reasons that are not entirely clear to me the word has apparently come down from the White House that the wall, as in the wall to be built along the southern border, must now be called 'wall'. In other words, no definite article, no 'the'." Marshall cites examples. --s ...
... Catie Edmondson & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Here's what to expect if government funding expires on Saturday." ...
... But, you know, who cares?Trump is still planning to go to Mar-a-Lago this weekend, per White House aide. -- Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post, in a tweet
... AND in related news...,
... Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "In two hours on Thursday, President Trump publicly unveiled an expansive farm bill, railed against the dangers of illegal immigration, fought with Congress over funding for a border wall and announced the departure of Jim Mattis, his defense secretary, who is resigning over what he regards as the president's ill-planned decision to pull back American troops from Syria. Why not throw in a video of himself singing the theme song from the 1960s sitcom 'Green Acres'?... It was most likely meant to boost the president as he celebrated the passage of a sweeping, $867 billion farm bill -- a result of rare bipartisan compromise that critics say his administration is already seeking to undermine by using regulatory power to restrict access to food stamps." ...
... Madison Kircher of New York: "For context, Trump and [Megan] Mullally's performance was part of a gimmick at that year's Emmy's called 'Emmy Idol,' where different celebrities performed theme songs throughout the night. Trump and Mullally were eventually declared the winners and Trump called her the next day to thank her and let her know they 'really needed to win that.' Apropos of, well, everything, Trump has never won a real Emmy and definitely isn't bitter about that fact at all." Mrs. McC: Tell Trump your job, and he'll stereotype you, too. ...
... "Trump Will Always Find a Way to Punish the Poor." Sarah Jones of New York: "On Thursday, the USDA announced a proposed rule that would, if it goes into effect, attach strict work requirements to [SNAP] the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps.... The rule would accomplish something congressional Republicans failed to do in the farm bill: expand work-for-welfare and ultimately shrink entitlement programs like SNAP.... SNAP already has work requirements in place, but states have some flexibility in how they decide to structure the programs[.]... Trump backed work requirements, but without Congress in his corner, he had to find another way to get the job done. Thus, the USDA. Trump, it turns out, can be consistent when he pleases.... Low unemployment is a convenient justification for policies to which Trump was already committed: tax cuts for the wealthy, welfare cuts for everyone else."
This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.
Pete Williams & Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "Special counsel Robert Muelleris nearing the end of his historic investigation into Russian election interference and is expected to submit a confidential report to the attorney general as early as mid-February, government officials and others familiar with the situation tell NBC News.... The sources who spoke to NBC News warn that a few major outstanding matters could complicate Mueller's endgame. One is Mueller's desire to interview the president about all aspects of his investigation, including obstruction of justice matters about which the president has refused to answer questions. If Mueller moved to subpoena the president, that could spark months of litigation that could delay his report. A source ... says Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker would have to approve any such subpoena."
... Charlie Savage & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Matthew G. Whitaker, who was installed last month as acting attorney general by President Trump, has cleared himself to supervise the special counsel's investigation, rejecting the recommendation of career Justice Department ethics specialists that he recuse himself, a senior department official said on Thursday. The development came soon after the disclosure that the president's nominee for attorney general, William P. Barr, had written a memo this spring in which he strongly criticized one of the main lines of inquiry by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III -- whether Mr. Trump had committed obstruction of justice. Disclosure of the memo raised questions about whether Mr. Barr would order Mr. Mueller to shut down that component of the inquiry if the Senate confirmed him. Together, the developments underscored the potential threats to Mr. Mueller's ability to complete his work without interference at a time when his inquiry appears to be drawing closer to the White House and the president's most trusted associates." ...
... ** Devlin Barrett & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "A senior Justice Department ethics official concluded acting attorney general Matthew G. Whitakershould recuse from overseeing special counselRobert S. Mueller III's probe examining President Trump, but advisers to Whitaker recommended the opposite and he has no plans to step aside, people familiar with the matter said. Earlier Thursday, a different official, who spoke on the condition they not be named, said ethics officials had advised Whitaker need not step aside, only to retract that description hours later. The advice to stay away from the Mueller probe underscores the high stakes and deep distrust -- within Congress and in some corners of the Justice Department -- surrounding Whitaker's appointment as the nation's top law enforcement official until the Senate votes on the nomination of William P. Barr to take the job.... Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) said Whitaker's disregarding the opinion of a senior ethics official was 'deeply alarming' and 'only reinforces the probability that his antagonism toward the Mueller probe was the sole reason for his selection as Acting Attorney General in the first place.'" ...
... Here's the New York Times story, by Charlie Savage, on AG nominee William Barr's memo bitching about the Mueller investigation. "Separately, a Justice Department official said on Thursday that Matthew G. Whitaker, the acting attorney general, had met with ethics experts at the Justice Department and would not be recusing himself from the Mueller investigation." (Related stories also linked yesterday.) ...
... Jonathan Chait: "It-s entirely possible -- indeed, it seems quite likely -- Trump was aware of the memo. The assertion by the Journal source that the memo 'played no role' in Trump's selection of Barr is therefore extremely hard to accept at face value. We know Trump is obsessed with finding an attorney general who will suppress the Mueller investigation. His candidate wrote a memo attacking Mueller, and submitted it to Trump's lawyer, who may or may not have informed others of the memo's existence. The worst-case scenario for Barr is that he opened a covert back channel to the administration and campaigned for the role of being Trump's Roy Cohn. The best-case scenario is that he merely created the appearance of impropriety. Barr, in this scenario, merely happens to be a fanatical proponent of executive power who expresses his passion for the issue by writing long memos in his spare time." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Wish you had a high-ranking job in the Justice Department? Attorney General, maybe? Here's how to apply: (1) Go on the teevee a lot & bash the special counsel probe (Whitaker). (2) OR send an unsolicited 20-page memo to the Justice Department (be sure to send copy to White House) bashing the special counsel probe (Barr). Of course it could be just a remarkable coincidence that "bash special counsel" shows up in both application processes.
Bob Mueller, Take Note. Anna Massoglia of Open Secrets: "The Trump campaign funneled money to ad buyers alleged to have facilitated illegal coordination between the campaign and the NRA by routing funds through a secretive LLC that appears to be little more than a shell company, an investigation by the Center for Responsive Politics has found. While the Trump campaign stopped reporting payments to ad buyers alleged to have facilitated illegal coordination between the campaign and the NRA after the 2016 election cycle, Trump's 2020 campaign has continued to deploy the same individuals working for the firms at the center of the controversy through payments to Harris Sikes Media LLC -- a low-profile limited-liability company operating with no website or public-facing facade whatsoever. Facing the illegal coordination allegations are National Media, Red Eagle Media Group and American Media & Advocacy Group (AMAG), closely tied consultancies that share staff, resources and adjacent storefronts in Alexandria, Va." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump does seem awfully fond of employing those secretive shell LLCs to get around campaign finance laws. (See Daniels, Stormy.)
** Anthony Cormier & Jason Leopold of BuzzFeed News: "US Treasury Department officials used [an unsecured] Gmail back channel with the Russian government as the Kremlin sought sensitive financialinformation on its enemies in America and across the globe, according to documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News. The extraordinary unofficial line of communication arose in the final year of the Obama administration -- in the midst of what multiple US intelligence agencies have said was a secret campaign by the Kremlin to interfere in the US election. Russian agents ostensibly trying to track ISIS instead pressed their American counterparts for private financial documents on at least two dozen dissidents, academics, private investigators, and American citizens. Most startlingly, Russia requested sensitive documents on Dirk, Edward, and Daniel Ziff, billionaire investors who had run afoul of the Kremlin. That request was made weeks before a Russian lawyer showed up at Trump Tower offering top campaign aides 'dirt' on Hillary Clinton -- including her supposed connection to the Ziff brothers. Russia's financial crimes agency, whose second-in-command is a former KGB officer and schoolmate of President Vladimir Putin, also asked the Americans for documents on executives from two prominent Jewish groups, the Anti-Defamation League and the National Council of Jewish Women, as well as Kremlin opponents living abroad in London and Kiev.... Russia's attempts to extract information about Western targets triggered alarms inside the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN...."
Ken Dilanian: "Soon after the Democrats take control of the House next year, Rep. Richard Neal, who will be the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, expects to send a letter to Treasury SecretarySteve Mnuchin requesting copies of Donald Trump's [tax] returns.... A 1924 federal law -- 26 U.S. Code § 6103 -- mandates that the Treasury secretary 'shall furnish' the tax returns of any individual for private review by the chairmen of the House and Senate tax committees. Committee sources could find no evidence that it had ever been used to obtain somebody's tax return. But they say the law, which was passed to monitor conflicts of interest in the executive branch, is clear.... But Neal has said he also expects that the Treasury Department -- and perhaps Trump himself -- will put up a ferocious legal fight.... If and when he does get them, Neal and the Democrats plan to make the returns public, Congressional sources told NBC News.... Legal experts say ... it's a near certainty that special counsel Robert Mueller's team, and perhaps federal prosecutors in Manhattan, long ago obtained Trump's tax returns, meaning not just his personal returns, but those associated with every company he controls."
"Gohmert Wisdom", Ctd. Frank Dale of ThinkProgress: "Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) attempted to defend President Donald Trump's family separation policy on Thursday by implying it is no different than special counsel Robert Mueller pursuing the prosecution of Paul Manafort, thereby separating him from his own adult children." --s
Katelyn Marmon of ThinkProgress: "Only Congress can amend U.S. immigration policy. But to bypass it, the Trump administration has focused on asylum, over which the executive branch can exercise more control. The Trump administration has spent the last two years reshaping the asylum policies in unprecedented ways, resulting in confusion across the board for immigrants and advocates alike. Here are three big ways the Trump administration has changed asylum over the last two years. This list is not exhaustive, but it highlights the multi-pronged approach the administration is employing to restrict asylum." --s
Alex Emmons of The Intercept: "ON JANUARY 30, 2017, then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer announced that the Pentagon had conducted a 'very successful' special operations raid against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen. The raid resulted in the deaths of 'an estimated 14 AQAP members' and one U.S. service member, later identified as Navy Seal William 'Ryan' Owens, Spicer said..... But ... the Pentagon privately assessed that the raid had killed more than twice as many people as it had initially said.... Those numbers contradict on-the-ground reporting, which found that most of the dead were villagers who mistook the SEALs for members of a Yemeni rebel group known as the Houthis, their local adversaries. Those killed included at least six women and 10 children under the age of 13, residents said." --s
Mick Moved to the Shit List. Mike Allen, et al. of Axios: "[O]fficials at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue tell us that Trumpis complaining about his& incoming chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, in conversations inside the West Wing and with Capitol Hill. Trump asked one trusted adviser: 'Did you know [Mulvaney] called me "a terrible human being" back during the campaign?' We're told that Trump was furious when the slight surfaced[.]" --s
A Very Special White House Retirement Plan. Maggie Haberman & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "After weeks of discussions about his future, Zachary D. Fuentes, the 36-year-old deputy White House chief of staff..., told colleagues that after his mentor, John F. Kelly, left his job as chief of staff at the end of the year, he would 'hide out' at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House, for six months, remaining on the payroll in a nebulous role. Then, in July, when he had completed 19 years of service in the Coast Guard, Mr. Fuentes -- an active-duty officer -- would take advantage of an early retirement program. The program ... had lapsed for Coast Guard officials at the end of the 2018 fiscal year, and, according to people briefed on the discussions, Department of Homeland Security officials began pressing Congress in November to reinstate it. Administration officials said they had been told that Mr. Fuentes discussed the program with officials at the Department of Homeland Security, and after reporters raised questions with lawmakers of both parties, a provision to reinstate it was abruptly pulled from a House bill on Wednesday. The White House declined to answer questions about whether Mr. Fuentes had pressed to have the program restarted...."
Mrs. McCrabbie: So I suppose you won't be surprised to find out that the guy who is running a GoFundMe page to build the Great Wall of Trump is a right-wing nut. Ben Collins & Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News: "... Brian Kolfage spent a large portion of the fundraising campaign's description outlining his past.... The fundraising page doesn't mention Kolfage's most recent business venture, a Facebook page titled Right Wing News and a ring of affiliate sites that frequently trafficked in conspiracy theories. In October, Right Wing News was pulled down by Facebook in a sweep of more than 559 pages that the company said were 'using fake accounts ... to drive traffic to their websites' or 'were ad farms using Facebook to mislead people into thinking that they were forums for legitimate political debate.' Days after the pulldown, Kolfage created a group called Fight4FreeSpeech, which accepts donations, and is also not referenced in the GoFundMe.... [Kolfage's] sites often trafficked in false, inflammatory and racist content.... Kolfage told NBC News he didn't want to mention Right Wing News or Fight4FreeSpeech because he 'didn't want it to be a distraction.'"
Judy Kurtz of the Hill: "Former President Obamadid his best Santa Claus impression while making a surprise hospital visit at Children's National Health System in Washington." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
I only read the Constitution for the articles. -- Ilya Shapiro, conservative lawyer
Funny, But. That should be "I read the Constitution only for the Articles." -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie, liberal pedant
Scott Shane & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "As Russia’s online election machinations came to light last year, a group of Democratic tech experts decided to try out similarly deceptive tactics in the fiercely contested Alabama Senate race, according to people familiar with the effort and a report on its results. The secret project, carried out on Facebook and Twitter, was likely too small to have a significant effect on the race, in which the Democratic candidate it was designed to help, Doug Jones, edged out the Republican, Roy S. Moore. But it was a sign that American political operatives of both parties have paid close attention to the Russian methods, which some fear may come to taint elections in the United States." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Matt Phillips of the New York Times: "Stocks tumbled yet again on Thursday, a day after the Federal Reserve pushed forward with another interest-rate increase and offered few signs that it would sharply slow the pace of monetary tightening as many had hoped. The S&P 500-stock index declined 1.6 percent, and the Dow Jones industrial index fell 2 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 1.6 percent, pushing it 19.5 percent below its late-August peak. A decline of 20 percent marks the official start of a bear market. On its own, the broader S&P 500 is down more than 15 percent from its peak, within spitting distance of entering a bear market and ending the long bull rally that began in early 2009."
Laura Davison & Shobhana Chandra of Bloomberg News, via Yahoo! News: "The amount of offshore cash corporations are bringing back to the U.S. dropped sharply for a second straight quarter, falling short of the trillions of dollars ... Donald Trump had promised would result from his tax overhaul.... Trump has said, without specifying his source, that he expects more than $4 trillion to return to the U.S., which will help to create jobs and more investment." Thanks to PD Pepe for the link....
... Mrs. McCrabbie BTW: Trump's $4 trillion estimate, not surprisingly, does not make any sense. According to an expert the reporters cite, "The amount of cash accumulated offshore is probably closer to $2.5 trillion than $4 trillion." Even if the amount were $4 trillion, for various reasons, companies would not repatriate 100% of it. As it is, assuming the expert is right, there's not more than about $2.5 trillion out there to repatriate, and again, corporations will not bring 100% of that back into the U.S. (Also linked yesterday.)
Natalie Kitroeff & Jessica Silver-Greenberg of the New York Times: "Discrimination against pregnant women and new mothers remains widespread in the American workplace. It is so pervasive that even organizations that define themselves as champions of women are struggling with the problem. That includes Planned Parenthood, which has been accused of sidelining, ousting or otherwise handicapping pregnant employees, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees. In interviews and legal documents, women at Planned Parenthood and other organizations with a feminist bent described discrimination that violated federal or state laws -- managers considering pregnancy in hiring decisions, for example, or denying rest breaks recommended by a doctor.... Some of those employers saw accommodating expecting mothers as expensive and inconvenient. Others were unsympathetic to workers seeking special treatment."
Daniel Burke of CNN: "In yet another blow to the Catholic Church in the United States, Illinois' attorney general says the state's six dioceses have failed to disclose accusations of sexual abuse against at least 500 priests and clergy members. Illinois' dioceses have released lists publicly identifying 185 clergy members who had been credibly accused of child sex abuse. But state Attorney General Lisa Madigan said preliminary findings in her investigation reveal that the church failed to disclose sexual abuse allegations against at least 500 additional priests and clergy members. In many cases, the accusations have 'not been adequately investigated by the dioceses or not investigated at all,' Madigan's office said in a statement Wednesday. What's more, the statement added, the church often failed to notify law enforcement authorities or the state's Department of Children and Family Services about the allegations." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Way Beyond the Beltway
Barak Ravid in Axios: "More than three months ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin's national security adviser Nikolai Patrushevgave his Israeli counterpart ... an unofficial proposal for a deal between the U.S. and Russia on Syria and Iran.... The Russian proposal would have tied a U.S. withdrawal from Syria to an Iranian exit from the country, and provided the U.S. and Israel more influence over a future political settlement in Syria. However, it also called for a freeze on U.S. sanctions on Iran -- something Netanyahu found unacceptable." --s
;)
Sheryl Stolberg & Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "As the White House and Democrats remained locked in a standoff over funding for President Trump's border wall, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, sent his colleagues home for the Christmas holiday on Saturday, virtually ensuring that the government will remain partially shuttered for at least several more days. Mr. McConnell's adjournment of the Senate until Thursday came after a frenzied day of negotiations in Washington and conflicting signals from the White House. Around the country, the partial shutdown, which began at 12:01 a.m. Saturday and affects roughly one-quarter of the federal government, deprived 800,000 workers of their pay and was visible at places like national parks, where sites were unstaffed or, in some cases, closed.... With lawmakers cleared out of Washington and no end to the impasse in sight, some speculated that it would be left to Democrats to reopen the government when they take over the House next month." ...
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