The Commentariat -- April 22, 2018

strong>Umair Irfan & Eliza Barclay of Vox: "Earth Day turns 48 this Sunday, April 22.... When Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisc.) founded Earth Day in 1970, his hope was to make the environment a political issue in an era where US rivers caught on fire and thick smog choked cities. In many ways, it worked. Since then, major environmental laws have helped clean up much of the vivid toxic detritus in the soil, air, and water in the US. But our challenges today are no less daunting. The accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the loss of wilderness and species, and the acidification and pollution of the oceans have all become more acute -- and more destabilizing.... Here are seven of the most troubling, intriguing, and encouraging things we learned about the Earth since the last Earth Day." ...

... MEANWHILE. John Heritage in a USA Today op-ed: "Trump and his minions are rolling back hard-fought environmental regulations as fast as they can. And while& Arctic and Antarctic ice melts and seas rise, Trump walks out of the most significant world conference yet to get a handle on global warming. Meanwhile, the Trump rollback targets federally-protected lands, making way for minerals and the already failing 'King Coal.' The lands are being opened even though safer energy sources are coming online. And lobbyists have invaded the Environmental Protection Agency, shoving dedicated environmental experts aside, supported by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt (a man now deep in scandal)."

Donald, Full of Grace. Andrew Restuccia of Politico: "In the span of 15 hours, Trump alleged that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation was 'established based on an illegal act,' threatened to countersue the Democratic Party, bashed a Pulitzer-prize winning New York Times reporter and called one of his former aides a 'drunk/drugged up loser.' All of this overlapped with the Saturday funeral of former First Lady Barbara Bush.... On Friday night, the president continued his broadsides against former FBI Director James Comey.... 'James Comey illegally leaked classified documents to the press in order to generate a Special Council?' Trump wrote, using the wrong spelling for special counsel. 'Therefore, the Special Council was established based on an illegal act? Really, does everybody know what that means?'... 'James Comey's Memos are Classified, I did not Declassify them,' Trump tweeted on Saturday afternoon. 'They belong to our Government! Therefore, he broke the law! Additionally, he totally made up many of the things he said I said, and he is already a proven liar and leaker. Where are Memos on Clinton, Lynch & others?'" ...

     ... Restuccia has yet another explanation of the classification issue: "Comey authorized the release of four memos, none of which were deemed to contain classified material when they were made public. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Comey made redactions of classified information in one of the memos ahead of its release and the other three were not considered to be classified at the time. But the Journal said the FBI now considers information in another one of the memos to be classified, prompting an investigation by the Justice Department's inspector general." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The Award for Best Sentence in a News Report goes to Restuccia: "White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not respond to an email seeking clarity on who specifically Trump is calling a 'drunk/drugged up loser.'"

Trump Sends Another Message to Cohen. Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "As four former presidents and the current first lady traveled to the funeral of Barbara Bush in Texas, President Trump took in his usual Saturday round of golf and issued a morning barrage of disparaging (and misspelled) tweets. Shortly after the televised funeral for Mrs. Bush ended, the president indicated that he had also fielded a call from Rambo. 'Sylvester Stallone called me with the story of heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson. His trials and tribulations were great, his life complex and controversial,' Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. 'Others have looked at this over the years, most thought it would be done, but yes, I am considering a Full Pardon!'... As the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference and possible ties to Trump associates continues, Mr. Trump's mention of a presidential pardon for Mr. Johnson, who in 1908 became the first black heavyweight boxing champion, seemed to serve as a reminder that he wields the power to grant one." ...

... Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: Jack "Johnson..., the first black heavyweight champion, was convicted in 1913 under the Mann Act, federal legislation that made it illegal to cross state lines with a woman 'for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.' Jim Crow era prosecutors often used the legislation as a type of anti-miscegenation law.... Congressional leaders have sought a pardon for Johnson for years. A bill requesting a pardon from George W. Bush passed the House of Representatives in 2008 but died in the Senate."

Wherein David Remnick gets Jim Comey to finally admit things would be way better if Hillary Clinton had won the presidency:

     ... If you don't want to listen to the whole thing, a transcript of that part of the interview is here.

Peter Fritsch and Glenn R. Simpson of Fusion GPS, in a New York Times op-ed: "The most significant recent development involving the president may be that the special counsel, Robert Mueller, has subpoenaed Trump Organization business records as part of his inquiry into Russian interference in the presidential election.... We pored over Donald Trump's business records for well over a year, at least those records you can get without a badge or a subpoena. We also hired a former British intelligence official, Christopher Steele, to look into Mr. Trump's possible ties to Russia. In that 2015-2016 investigation, sponsored first by a Republican client and then by Democrats, we found strong indications that companies affiliated with Mr. Trump, then a presidential candidate, might have been entangled in foreign corruption.... Indeed, from New York to Florida, Panama to Azerbaijan, we found that Trump projects have relied heavily on foreign cash — including from wealthy individuals from Russia and elsewhere with questionable, and even criminal, backgrounds." The authors cite numerous shady operators & money launderers who financed Trump-branded properties. ...

... "Forgetting Rudy." Andy Borowitz (satire): "The independent counsel, Robert Mueller, told reporters that, prior to news reports on Thursday, he had 'almost forgotten' to investigate the former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani.... Mueller was at a loss to explain why he had failed to investigate Giuliani earlier. 'I have no idea how it could have slipped my mind,' he said. 'His role in Trump's campaign was as fishy as all get-out.'"

Marlow Stern of the Daily Beast: During the overtime segment of "Real Time with Bill Maher," Stormy Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti threatened he would release the contents of a mystery "evidence disc" "if they tried to claim that my client was a liar...." "In the words of Late Night host Seth Meyers, 'So we are looking at the very real possibility that Donald Trump sent Stormy Daniels a dick pic.'"

Eric Talmadge of the AP: "North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has finally broken his silence on what he plans to bring to the table during his summits with the South Korean and U.S. presidents, and it doesn't have a whole lot to do with tossing out his hard-won nuclear arsenal. Instead, Kim appears to be maneuvering toward his own big 'get' -- the chance to sit down with ... Donald Trump on an essentially equal basis as the head of a nuclear-armed nation.... Kim laid out the new strategy at a meeting Friday of his ruling party's Central Committee that suspends underground nuclear tests and test-launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles. He also said the country's nuclear test site at Punggye-ri, already believed to be essentially inoperable, will be closed and 'dismantled.'... Trump immediately took to Twitter to praise the announcement as 'very good news for North Korea and the World.' Seoul and Beijing welcomed it. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a hard-liner on North Korea, tried to keep his response positive, though he stressed the need for vigilance...." See also Patrick's commentary in yesterday's thread.

"World's Largest Pork Processor." Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, met personally last year with J. Steven Hart, the lobbyist whose wife had rented him a $50-a-night Capitol Hill condo, a disclosure that contradicts earlier statements that E.P.A. lobbying by Mr. Hart had not occurred. The meeting was set up on behalf of an executive associated with Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. Previously, Mr. Hart and his lobbying firm, Williams & Jensen, had maintained that Mr. Hart never lobbied Mr. Pruitt in 2017, when Mr. Pruitt was living in a condo co-owned by Mr. Hart's wife, or in the time since then.... The Smithfield Foods disclosure was made the same day that Mr. Hart announced he was stepping down as chairman of Williams & Jensen -- instead of waiting until his planned November retirement -- citing the negative publicity that had been caused by the Capitol Hill condo rental to Mr. Pruitt. ...

... Pruitt Was Always Corrupt. Steve Eder & Hiroki Tabuchi of the New York Times: "An examination of Mr. Pruitt's political career in Oklahoma reveals that many of the pitfalls he has encountered in Washington have echoes in his past.... Mr. Pruitt's home in Oklahoma City when he was a state senator..., which had belonged to a lobbyist, was held by a shell company registered to Mr. Pruitt's business partner and financed by a bank an associate of his ran.... ... In 2005, the shell company -- Capitol House L.L.C. -- sold the property for $95,000 more than it had paid. While shell companies are legal, they often obscure the people who have an interest in them, and none of Mr. Pruitt's financial disclosure filings in Oklahoma mentioned the company or the proceeds -- a potential violation of the state's ethics rules." Both the holder of the shell company & the banker who arranged the mortgage -- who is "barred from working in the finance industry because of a banking violation" -- now have top jobs at the EPA. The partners bought the house at a $100K discount; SBC Oklahoma, the former homeowner's employer, picked up the difference. SBC had been lobbying state legislators, & Pruitt sided with the company on matters for which it had lobbied him." AND there's more.

Wait for the Punch Line. Jonathan Chait: "Deep in [a Politico] story [about the Trump administration], a former administration official explains that 'Chris Liddell is not a policy guy,' and that he is also 'not really a Washington guy.' There are some jobs where these limitations could be overcome easily -- Starbucks barista, circus clown, corporate executive (Lid[]dell's former job), or working in a location far away from Washington, like New Zealand (Li[d]dell's home country). Unfortunately, Li[d]dell now works in Washington, and his current position is deputy chief of staff for policy." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In fact, I don't see that as a big problem. Trump doesn't give a rip about policy, so "deputy chief of staff for policy" is a non-job, a reserved seat in the clown car. Liddell probably piddles around at whatever interests him. I looked up Liddell's background, & he has one of the most impressive CVs in the administration -- nothing like "Trump's former caddy" (social media director Dan Scavino) or "Ivanka's former go-fer" (former communications chief Hope Hicks) -- qualifications for two of Trump's closest advisors.

Everything They Do Is Stupid, Regressive & Mean. Robert Pear of the New York Times: "The Trump administration says it plans to roll back a rule issued by President Barack Obama that prevents doctors, hospitals and health insurance companies from discriminating against transgender people. Advocates said the change could jeopardize the significant gains that transgender people have seen in access to medical care, including gender reassignment procedures -- treatments for which many insurers denied coverage in the past.... The Trump administration has been scaling back protections for transgender people on several fronts."

Hamza Shaban of the Washington Post: "Former first lady Barbara Bush was remembered by family and friends as a symbol of authenticity and grace during a private funeral Saturday in Houston, where more than 1,000 guests were in attendance, including four former presidents and three former first ladies, as well as the current first lady." ...

     ... Roxanne Roberts & Kevin Sullivan of the Washington Post have more on the funeral. ...

     ... MoDo remembers Bar.

Carlos Lozada of the Washington Post reviews Chasing Hillary: "Amy Chozick, the lead New York Times reporter on Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, believes that the news media's focus on Clinton's private e-mail server -- a story the Times broke and that Chozick would write about extensively -- was excessive. She even grew to resent it. Chozick also thinks that reporting on campaign chairman John Podesta's hacked emails turned journalists into 'puppets' of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and she struggles to explain why they did it anyway. She contends that sexism played a big role in Clinton's defeat but also encounters it first-hand among Clinton's campaign staff. And while she hammers the candidate for having no clear vision for why she sought the presidency, Chozick allows that competence, experience and policy were hardly selling points in 2016, when it 'turned out a lot of people just wanted to blow s[hit] up.'" Lozada does not make you want to rush out & buy the book.

Congressional Races

Utah Republicans Humiliate Mitt. Lee Davidson & Courtney Tanner of the St. Lake Tribune: "After 11 hours of political elbowing and shoving at the Utah Republican Convention -- held appropriately at a hockey arena -- delegates forced Mitt Romney into a primary election against state Rep. Mike Kennedy in the U.S. Senate race. In fact, Kennedy -- a doctor and lawyer -- finished in first place at the convention with 51 percent of the vote to Romney's 49 percent. The former GOP presidential nominee fell far short of the 60 percent needed to clinch the nomination outright.... Romney and Kennedy emerged as the only two survivors from 12 candidates after two rounds of balloting.... Freshman Rep. John Curtis suffered the same fate as Romney, pushed into a primary against former State Rep. Chris Herrod, an ultraconservative who made his reputation on a tough anti-illegal immigration stance. But Curtis, who has been in office just five months after winning last year's special election, at least won 59 percent of the vote, just missing the 60 percent threshold. Meanwhile, Reps. Rob Bishop and Chris Stewart easily managed to eliminate their convention opponents and will proceed directly to the Nov. 6 general election. Mia Love did not draw a Republican challenger.

Matt Volz of the AP: "A Democratic candidate for Montana's U.S. House seat is using Sinclair Broadcast Group's own television stations to blast the company for forcing its reporters to read the conservative-leaning corporation's statements on air. John Heenan bought airtime starting Monday for an ad on Sinclair-owned stations KECI-TV in Missoula and KTVM-TV in Bozeman and Butte. In it, he calls Sinclair 'a corporation using its power to take advantage of journalists, our democracy and the people of Montana.'"

Steven Thrasher in a New York Times op-ed: "The police in this country have long been empowered to respond to white anxiety about the very presence of black people." Starbucks' anti-racial bias training won't fix that.

Beyond the Beltway

Death by Misdemeanor. Carol Miller & Monique Madan of the Miami Herald: "A Broward County [Florida] circuit judge delivered a blistering, arm-waving, face-palming, tongue-lashing to a frail, out-of-breath woman -- pushed into court in a wheelchair -- who was facing misdemeanor charges following a family feud. Three days later, the defendant died. Judge Merrillee Ehrlich has resigned, although it is unclear when that resignation was provided and when it becomes effective. News of the death of Sandra Faye Twiggs, 59, surfaced Friday. The courtroom rant last Sunday was so over the top that Broward's elected public defender, Howard Finkelstein, demanded that ... Ehrlich be banned from the criminal courthouse.... Twiggs suffered from asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, also called COPD. She ended up under arrest after squabbling with her 19-year-old daughter." Twiggs had no previous arrest record.

The Commentariat -- April 21, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Hamza Shaban of the Washington Post: "Former first lady Barbara Bush was remembered by family and friends as a symbol of authenticity and grace during a private funeral Saturday in Houston, where more than 1,000 guests were in attendance, including four former presidents and three former first ladies, as well as the current first lady."

"World's Largest Pork Processor." Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, met personally last year with J. Steven Hart, the lobbyist whose wife had rented him a $50-a-night Capitol Hill condo, a disclosure that contradicts earlier statements that E.P.A. lobbying by Mr. Hart had not occurred. The meeting was set up on behalf of an executive associated with Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. Previously, Mr. Hart and his lobbying firm, Williams & Jensen, had maintained that Mr. Hart never lobbied Mr. Pruitt in 2017, when Mr. Pruitt was living in a condo co-owned by Mr. Hart's wife, or in the time since then.... The Smithfield Foods disclosure was made the same day that Mr. Hart announced he was stepping down as chairman of Williams & Jensen -- instead of waiting until his planned November retirement -- citing the negative publicity that had been caused by the Capitol Hill condo rental to Mr. Pruitt. ...

... Pruitt Was Always Corrupt. Steve Eder & Hiroki Tabuchi of the New York Times: "An examination of Mr. Pruitt's political career in Oklahoma reveals that many of the pitfalls he has encountered in Washington have echoes in his past.... Mr. Pruitt's home in Oklahoma City when he was a state senator..., which had belonged to a lobbyist, was held by a shell company registered to Mr. Pruitt's business partner and financed by a bank an associate of his ran.... In 2005, the shell company -- Capitol House L.L.C. -- sold the property for $95,000 more than it had paid. While shell companies are legal, they often obscure the people who have an interest in them, and none of Mr. Pruitt's financial disclosure filings in Oklahoma mentioned the company or the proceeds -- a potential violation of the state's ethics rules." Both the holder of the shell company & the banker who arranged the mortgage -- who is "barred from working in the finance industry because of a banking violation" -- now have top jobs at the EPA. The partners bought the house at a $100K discount; SBC Oklahoma, the former homeowner's employer, picked up the difference. SBC had been lobbying state legislators, & Pruitt sided with the company on matters for which it had lobbied him."

*****

The Trumpster has been tweeting this morning: "The New York Times and a third rate reporter named Maggie Haberman, known as a Crooked H flunkie who I don't speak to and have nothing to do with, are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will 'flip.' They use.... ...non-existent 'sources' and a drunk/drugged up loser who hates Michael, a fine person with a wonderful family. Michael is a businessman for his own account/lawyer who I have always liked & respected. Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if.... ...it means lying or making up stories. Sorry, I don't see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!" ...

    ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Based on the NYT report (linked below), I assume the "drunk/drugged up loser" is Sam Nunberg, who used to work for Cohen & Roger Stone.

... Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Trump initially misspelled Haberman's last name, using two 'b', but later retweeted the thread with the correct spelling. Trump ... has spoken with Haberman on the record for multiple stories in the past...."

Sari Horwitz, et al., of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently told the White House he might have to leave his job if President Trump fired his deputy, Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the exchange. Sessions made his position known in a phone call to White House counsel Donald McGahn last weekend, as Trump's fury at Rosenstein peaked after the deputy attorney general approved the FBI's raid April 9 on the president's personal attorney Michael Cohen.... [One] person familiar with the exchange said Sessions did not intend to threaten the White House but rather wanted to convey the untenable position that Rosenstein's firing would put him in."

Thug-in-Chief. Murray Waas in Vox: "... Donald Trump sharply questioned Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray during a White House meeting on January 22 about why two senior FBI officials -- Peter Strzok and Lisa Page -- were still in their jobs despite allegations made by allies of the president that they had been disloyal to him and had unfairly targeted him and his administration.... The president also pressed his attorney general and FBI director to work more aggressively to uncover derogatory information within the FBI's files to turn over to congressional Republicans working to discredit the two FBI officials.... The very next day, Trump met Sessions again, this time without Wray present, and even more aggressively advocated that Strzok and Page be fired, the sources said. Trump's efforts to discredit Strzok and Page came after Trump was advised last summer by his then-criminal defense attorney John Dowd that Page was a likely witness against him in ... Robert Mueller's investigation into whether Trump obstructed justice, according to two senior administration officials." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Bad news, Donaldo. Now both Sessions & Wray could wind up as witnesses against you, too.

Kevin Brueninger of CNBC: "Memos leaked by former FBI Director James Comey contain information that is now considered classified, prompting the Justice Department's watchdog to review the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.... At least two of the memos Comey gave to a friend contained classified information, the Journal reported. Comey reportedly redacted portions of one of those two memos himself before sending them to his friend.... A person familiar with the matter told the newspaper that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is now spearheading an investigation into the classification of the documents. Comey has said he considers the documents to be personal documents. But in a Jan. 7, 2017 email containing the first memo he wrote, Comey said he was 'not sure of the proper classification here so have chosen SECRET.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Michael Shear of the New York Times, in a story about how leaking the Comey memos seems to have backfired on House GOP leaders, has a fairly good explanation of the classification issue: "Mr. Comey gave copies of at least two of his memos to Daniel C. Richman, a longtime associate outside the F.B.I. Some of the memos were later deemed to contain classified information. In one case, Mr. Comey had personally redacted such information before handing it to Mr. Richman, and in another, the F.B.I. deemed the material classified only after it was in Mr. Richman's possession. Mr. Comey has said he shared the memos with Mr. Richman under the assumption that they would be shared with the news media and to put pressure on the Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor.... The inspector general has questioned witnesses about the matter, and F.B.I. agents conducted a search of Mr. Richman's New York office to ensure that the leak was contained." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's the thing: if Hillary Clinton was so "extremely careless" in using a not-officially-secured server to send a few e-mails to security-cleared staff, & if the memos were later deemed classified, & if no one intended to publish those e-mails, then even the most adoring Comey fan would have to conclude that Comey was "extremely manipulative" and "highly vindictive" to purposely arrange to leak his own memos. His argument that the memos belonged to him is nonsense. They describe privileged conversations with the POTUS*-elect & later POTUS*, conversations he had in his professional capacity as FBI director. The memos were work product when Comey wrote them, & they remained work product after Trump fired him. Just because he ascribes to himself a "noble purpose" doesn't make the leak any less a leak. By Comey's own reckoning (see published memos), his head belongs on a pike.

Josh Marshall: In the Comey memos, "Trump repeatedly not only denied the 'pee tape' accusations but he went on to say that he had not even spent the night in Russia. He apparently also told his high level staffers this.... There's ample evidence that Trump stayed not one but two nights. In July 2017, Bloomberg News's Vernon Silver and Evgenia Pismennaya reported out a detailed reconstruction of the trip based on FAA records, social media postings and interviews.... [Trump's] longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller... makes very clear [in testimony] that Trump did stay overnight in Moscow.... In any court, this lie would be entered as evidence of his lack of credibility on the main point." ...

... Greg Sargent has a good column arguing that release of the Comey memos sunk Trump: "These memos, if anything, confirm more credibly than before what Trump's frame of mind was in leading up to that firing — that is, the level of acquiescence that Trump wanted but did not get from Comey before firing him. These memos go further than before in supplying Trump's likely motive for the firing." Sargent is amused by the GOP's ludicrous claim that the memos actually vindicate Trump because Comey never wrote in a memo, "Woe is me! I feel so obstructed!" Sargent also notes an important question Rachel Maddow asked Comey last night in regard to Rudy Giuliani's foreknowledge of Comey's plan to reopen the Clinton investigation. Worth a read. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Here's that portion of Maddow's interview:

... Stephen Collinson of CNN: "If House Republicans thought they were helping ... Donald Trump by forcing the release of James Comey's memos, they might want to think again. The documents written by the then-FBI director, detailing his interactions with Trump, present a contemporaneous and deeply unflattering view of a President throwing his weight around in his first days in the White House -- that at the very least seems highly inappropriate.... The Comey memos suggest Trump has a scattershot and self-obsessed mindset, brooding about his subordinates, leaks, his campaign and his inaugural crowd size and not appreciating or caring about protocol boundaries that separate the White House and the Justice Department. Furthermore, the conversations with Comey soon after Trump moved into the White House paint a picture of a new President more concerned with own fortunes than the burden of his new responsibilities.... Trump responded to the release of the memos on Twitter in an apparent attempt to direct conversation away from the embarrassing substance of the documents." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Stef Kight of Axios: "Former Deputy FBI Director strong>Andrew McCabe is looking to sue for defamation, wrongful termination and other possible civil claims, his lawyer told reporters Friday....McCabe's lawyer, Michael Bromwich, also said his client told then-FBI Director James Comey that he was pushing back on stories about the Hillary Clinton investigation -- which would mean he didn't lack candor. They are seeking ways to release emails and phone call transcripts between McCabe and Comey to shed light on the issue."

Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Democratic National Committee filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit Friday against the Russian government, the Trump campaign and the WikiLeaks organization alleging a far-reaching conspiracy to disrupt the 2016 campaign and tilt the election to Donald Trump. The complaint, filed in federal district court in Manhattan, alleges that top Trump campaign officials conspired with the Russian government and its military spy agency to hurt ... Hillary Clinton and help Trump by hacking the computer networks of the Democratic Party and disseminating stolen material found there.... The case asserts that the Russian hacking campaign -- combined with Trump associates' contacts with Russia and the campaign's public cheerleading of the hacks -- amounted to an illegal conspiracy to interfere in the election that caused serious damage to the Democratic Party." Read on. The Democratic party won a similar suit against the Nixon campaign for the Watergate break-in. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Rachel Maddow ran a useful segment on the 1972 suit the DNC brought against the Nixon campaign. It begins at about 2:40 min. in. Mrs. McC: I'm ashamed to say I remember nothing about the suit, even though I was following the presidential campaign closely that year:

More Bad News for Trump & Cohen. Beth Reinhard & Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "Keith Davidson, the former attorney for two women who were paid to keep quiet about their alleged affairs with Donald Trump, has been contacted by federal authorities investigating Trump attorney Michael Cohen and is cooperating with them, a spokesman for Davidson confirmed. Davidson was asked to provide 'certain limited electronic information' for the probe led by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, spokesman Dave Wedge said. 'He has done so and will continue to cooperate to the fullest extent possible under the law,' Wedge said in a statement Friday." ...

... Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "For years Mr. Trump treated Mr. Cohen poorly, with gratuitous insults, dismissive statements and, at least twice, threats of being fired, according to interviews with a half-dozen people familiar with their relationship. 'Donald goes out of his way to treat him like garbage,' said Roger J. Stone Jr., Mr. Trump's informal and longest-serving political adviser, who, along with Mr. Cohen, was one of five people originally surrounding the president when he was considering a presidential campaign before 2016. Now..., Mr. Trump's lawyers and advisers have become resigned to the strong possibility that Mr. Cohen, who has a wife and two children and faces the prospect of devastating legal fees, if not criminal charges, could end up cooperating with federal officials who are investigating him for activity that could relate, at least in part, to work he did for Mr. Trump." ...

... Scott Glover, et al., of CNN: "A federal judge in California said Friday that he needed to hear from ... Donald Trump's attorney Michael Cohen directly before deciding whether to issue a stay in a civil lawsuit involving porn star Stormy Daniels.... Judge S. James Otero gave Cohen's attorney until Wednesday to file a declaration by Cohen himself indicating whether his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination could be at issue in the civil case due to an ongoing criminal investigation in New York." (Also linked yesterday.)

** White Supremacist-in-Chief. Dana Milbank: "I'd like to pause ... to reflect on just one thing the president did this week that, amid Russian hookers and his assaults on truth, law and decency, got little attention: his talk of immigrants 'breeding' in America's sanctuary cities. 'There is a Revolution going on in California. Soooo many Sanctuary areas want OUT of this ridiculous, crime infested & breeding concept,' the president tweeted on Tuesday.... Perhaps it is just coincidence that Trump used the language of [Nazis and] white supremacists.... A day after Trump's 'breeding' tweet, he visited a drug-interdiction operation and declared that 'human trafficking is worse than it's ever been in the history of the world.' Thus did the president erase three centuries of American history, during which millions of Africans were captured and enslaved in this hemisphere." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The "breeding" tweet, IMO, wasn't a dogwhistle to Trumpbots; it was a reflection of who the POTUS* is: a virulent racist.

Jonathan Greenberg, in a Washington Post story: "In May 1984, an official from the Trump Organization called to tell me how rich Donald J. Trump was. I was reporting for the Forbes 400, the magazine's annual ranking of America's richest people, for the third year. In the previous edition, we'd valued Trump's holdings at $200 million, only one-fifth of what he claimed to own in our interviews. This time, his aide urged me on the phone, I needed to understand just how loaded Trump really was. The official was John Barron -- a name we now know as an alter ego of Trump himself.... It took decades to unwind the elaborate farce Trump had built to project an image as one of the richest people in America. Nearly every assertion supporting that claim was untrue." Includes audio. If Trump's lies amuse you, read on. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Bernard Condon of the AP: "The Kushner Cos. has been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors for information related to an Associated Press report that the company filed dozens of false documents about its buildings in New York City. The real estate company issued a statement saying it has 'nothing to hide and is cooperating fully with all legitimate requests for information, including this subpoena.'"

Anna Merlan of Splinter: A whole lot of people -- Wikipedia, news organization, 51 Member of Congress, Marco Rubio, for instance -- say that Mike Pompeo is a Gulf War veteran. He isn't. ...

... Benjamin Hart of New York: "Throughout all this, Pompeo has said nothing to correct the record."

Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The Central Intelligence Agency took the unusual step Friday of declassifying and releasing a memo clearing Gina Haspel of any wrongdoing in drafting an order to destroy videotaped evidence of brutal interrogation techniques, a move that comes as part of a greater campaign to rehabilitate her image and shore up congressional support for her bid to become the agency's director. The memo, which former CIA deputy director Michael Morell wrote in 2011, is the result of a disciplinary review in which he 'found no fault with the performance of Ms. Haspel' -- primarily because she drafted the cable 'on the direct orders' of her superior and did not release it herself.... But senators clamoring for the CIA to declassify documents related to Haspel's record on techniques often referred to as torture and the order to destroy evidence were angered by what they saw as a 'selective' response to their demands.... Widespread concern about Haspel's role in the CIA's interrogation program has caused senators from both parties to question her record and her fitness to serve as the agency's director." ...

... Adam Goldman & Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "The C.I.A. is trying to ensure its deputy director, Gina Haspel, a career spy, is confirmed as its next director. Almost every detail of her life and work is classified; what little is known stems from her role overseeing the brutal interrogation of a terrorism suspect at a secret prison in Thailand and conveying orders to destroy videos documenting torture. To promote a more positive view of Ms. Haspel, the agency has declassified secrets about her life as a globe-trotting spy and encouraged former clandestine officers -- typically expected to remain quiet even in retirement -- to grant interviews. It sought to generate favorable news coverage by providing selective biographical details about Ms. Haspel to reporters, then sent a news release to highlight the resulting stories. The campaign to secure Ms. Haspel's confirmation reflects the view of many officials inside the C.I.A., who see her as the agency's best chance to keep a political partisan from being installed as director."

Ryan Grim & Alex Emmons of the Intercept: "Shortly after ... Donald Trump was inaugurated last year, top Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy offered Russian gas giant Novatek a $26 million lobbying plan aimed at removing the company from a U.S. sanctions list, according to documents obtained by The Intercept.... Broidy proposed arranging meetings with key White House and congressional leaders and generating op-eds and other articles favorable to the Russian company, along with a full suite of lobbying activities to be undertaken by consultants brought on board. Yet even as he offered those services, Broidy was adamant that his company, Fieldcrest Advisors LLC, would not perform lobbying services but would hire others to do it. He suggested that parties to the deal sign a sweeping non-disclosure agreement that would shield their work from public scrutiny."

Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "Federal civil rights prosecutors have recommended charges against a New York police officer in the 2014 death of Eric Garner, three current and former officials said, but top Justice Department officials have expressed strong reservations about whether to move forward with a case they say may not be winnable. Mr. Garner died on a Staten Island street after the police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, used a chokehold to subdue him.... In recent weeks, career prosecutors recommended civil rights charges against Officer Pantaleo and sought approval from the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, to seek an indictment.... Based on the discussions so far, it appeared unlikely that Mr. Rosenstein would approve charges. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has also been briefed on the case and could weigh in after Mr. Rosenstein makes his own recommendation, officials said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "Wells Fargo is paying $1 billion to two federal regulators to settle an array of investigations into its mortgage and auto-lending practices. The settlements with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency were announced on Friday, as expected. The bank is effectively paying $500 million to each regulator. The consumer bureau said it was imposing a $1 billion penalty but was deducting from that the amount that Wells Fargo was paying to the currency comptroller." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Elizabeth Dias & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont ... was blunt on Friday about the stakes for the Democratic Party. 'If Democrats control either the House or the Senate, Trump's agenda is dead,' Mr. Sanders said during a conversation with New York Times reporters and editors.... Mr. Sanders also argued that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and other national party organizations are not doing enough to support liberal grass-roots candidates who are running against Mr. Trump and backing a progressive agenda. 'The establishment Democrats are still, I think, looking toward candidates who can self-fund,' said Mr. Sanders.... National Democrats 'still have a tendency to believe that more conservative candidates are better positioned to win,' he added."

Beyond the Beltway

Joel Currier & Robert Kirkpatrick of the St. Louis Post Dispatch: Missouri "Gov. Eric Greitens, who has been in a public court fight against a felony invasion of privacy charge for nearly two months, now faces a new felony charge: that he misused a charity donor list to solicit campaign cash for his 2016 run for governor. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner charged Greitens, 44, with felony computer tampering relating to a list of donors to his St. Louis-based charity The Mission Continues, which Greitens founded in 2007 and left in 2014. The new charges rely at least in part on evidence shared with her office by Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, a Republican, who announced Tuesday that his office had uncovered evidence Greitens misused the list to help fund his 2016 campaign."

Ricardo Cano of the Arizona Republic: "Arizona educators and school employees fueling the teacher-led #RedForEd movement have voted in support of a walkout -- an unprecedented action aimed at pressuring state leaders to act on their demands for more education funding.... [Teacher & organizer Noah] Karvelis said they will continue non-disruptive walk-in demonstrations on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then walk out Thursday. This will give schools and parents time to prepare, he said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, announced early Saturday that he had stopped nuclear and missile tests and would close a nuclear test site. The announcement, reported by North Korea's state media, appeared to signal a major policy shift ahead of Mr. Kim's meetings with the South Korean and American leaders. But Mr. Kim stopped short of promising to dismantle the nuclear weapons and long-range missiles North Korea has already built, holding onto them probably as a bargaining chip when he sits down with South Korea's leader, Moon Jae-in, next Friday, and President Trump weeks later."

The Commentariat -- April 20, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Scott Glover, et al., of CNN: "A federal judge in California said Friday that he needed to hear from ... Donald Trump's attorney Michael Cohen directly before deciding whether to issue a stay in a civil lawsuit involving porn star Stormy Daniels.... Judge S. James Otero gave Cohen's attorney until Wednesday to file a declaration by Cohen himself indicating whether his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination could be at issue in the civil case due to an ongoing criminal investigation in New York."

Kevin Brueninger of CNBC: "Memos leaked by former FBI Director James Comey contain information that is now considered classified, prompting the Justice Department's watchdog to review the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. At least two of the memos Comey gave to a friend contained classified information, the Journal reported. Comey reportedly redacted portions of one of those two memos himself before sending them to his friend.... A person familiar with the matter told the newspaper that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is now spearheading an investigation into the classification of the documents. Comey has said he considers the documents to be personal documents. But in a Jan. 7, 2017 email containing the first memo he wrote, Comey said he was 'not sure of the proper classification here so have chosen SECRET.'"

Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Democratic National Committee filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit Friday against the Russian government, the Trump campaign and the WikiLeaks organization alleging a far-reaching conspiracy to disrupt the 2016 campaign and tilt the election to Donald Trump. The complaint, filed in federal district court in Manhattan, alleges that top Trump campaign officials conspired with the Russian government and its military spy agency to hurt Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and help Trump by hacking the computer networks of the Democratic Party and disseminating stolen material found there.... The case asserts that the Russian hacking campaign — combined with Trump associates’ contacts with Russia and the campaign’s public cheerleading of the hacks — amounted to an illegal conspiracy to interfere in the election that caused serious damage to the Democratic Party." Read on. The Democratic party won a similar suit against the Nixon campaign for the Watergate break-in.

Greg Sargent has a good column arguing that release of the Comey memos sunk Trump: "These memos, if anything, confirm more credibly than before what Trump’s frame of mind was in leading up to that firing — that is, the level of acquiescence that Trump wanted but did not get from Comey before firing him. These memos go further than before in supplying Trump’s likely motive for the firing." Sargent is amused by the GOP's ludicrous claim that the memos actually vindicate Trump because Comey never wrote in a memo, "Woe is me! I feel so obstructed!" Sargent also notes an important question Rachel Maddow asked Comey last night in regard to Rudy Giuliani's foreknowledge of Comey's plan to reopen the Clinton investigation. Worth a read. Here's that portion of Maddow's interview:

... Stephen Collinson of CNN: "If House Republicans thought they were helping ... Donald Trump by forcing the release of James Comey's memos, they might want to think again. The documents written by the then-FBI director, detailing his interactions with Trump, present a contemporaneous and deeply unflattering view of a President throwing his weight around in his first days in the White House -- that at the very least seems highly inappropriate.... The Comey memos suggest Trump has a scattershot and self-obsessed mindset, brooding about his subordinates, leaks, his campaign and his inaugural crowd size and not appreciating or caring about protocol boundaries that separate the White House and the Justice Department. Furthermore, the conversations with Comey soon after Trump moved into the White House paint a picture of a new President more concerned with own fortunes than the burden of his new responsibilities.... Trump responded to the release of the memos on Twitter in an apparent attempt to direct conversation away from the embarrassing substance of the documents."

Thug-in-Chief. Murray Waas in Vox: "... Donald Trump sharply questioned Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray during a White House meeting on January 22 about why two senior FBI officials — Peter Strzok and Lisa Page — were still in their jobs despite allegations made by allies of the president that they had been disloyal to him and had unfairly targeted him and his administration, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The president also pressed his attorney general and FBI director to work more aggressively to uncover derogatory information within the FBI’s files to turn over to congressional Republicans working to discredit the two FBI officials.... The very next day, Trump met Sessions again, this time without Wray present, and even more aggressively advocated that Strzok and Page be fired, the sources said. Trump’s efforts to discredit Strzok and Page came after Trump was advised last summer by his then-criminal defense attorney John Dowd that Page was a likely witness against him in ... Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump obstructed justice, according to two senior administration officials." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Bad news, Donaldo. Now both Sessions & Wray could wind up as witnesses against you, too.

Jonathan Greenberg, in a Washington Post story: "In May 1984, an official from the Trump Organization called to tell me how rich Donald J. Trump was. I was reporting for the Forbes 400, the magazine’s annual ranking of America’s richest people, for the third year. In the previous edition, we’d valued Trump’s holdings at $200 million, only one-fifth of what he claimed to own in our interviews. This time, his aide urged me on the phone, I needed to understand just how loaded Trump really was. The official was John Barron — a name we now know as an alter ego of Trump himself.... It took decades to unwind the elaborate farce Trump had built to project an image as one of the richest people in America. Nearly every assertion supporting that claim was untrue." Includes audio. If Trump's lies amuse you, read on.

Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "Federal civil rights prosecutors have recommended charges against a New York police officer in the 2014 death of Eric Garner, three current and former officials said, but top Justice Department officials have expressed strong reservations about whether to move forward with a case they say may not be winnable. Mr. Garner died on a Staten Island street after the police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, used a chokehold to subdue him.... In recent weeks, career prosecutors recommended civil rights charges against Officer Pantaleo and sought approval from the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, to seek an indictment.... Based on the discussions so far, it appeared unlikely that Mr. Rosenstein would approve charges. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has also been briefed on the case and could weigh in after Mr. Rosenstein makes his own recommendation, officials said."

Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "Wells Fargo is paying $1 billion to two federal regulators to settle an array of investigations into its mortgage and auto-lending practices. The settlements with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency were announced on Friday, as expected. The bank is effectively paying $500 million to each regulator. The consumer bureau said it was imposing a $1 billion penalty but was deducting from that the amount that Wells Fargo was paying to the currency comptroller."

Ricardo Cano of the Arizona Republic: "Arizona educators and school employees fueling the teacher-led #RedForEd movement have voted in support of a walkout — an unprecedented action aimed at pressuring state leaders to act on their demands for more education funding.... [Teacher & organizer Noah] Karvelis said they will continue non-disruptive walk-in demonstrations on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then walk out Thursday. This will give schools and parents time to prepare, he said."

*****

Try to keep up, people!

Brandon Conradis of the Hill: "President Trump late Thursday night trumpeted the release of a series of memos written by former FBI Director James Comey, claiming they exonerated him of allegations that he obstructed justice and colluded with Russia. 'James Comey Memos just out and show clearly that there was NO COLLUSION and NO OBSTRUCTION,' Trump tweeted. 'Also, he leaked classified information. WOW! Will the Witch Hunt continue?'" Mrs. McC: Needless to say, 100 percent of the tweet is inaccurate and/or nonsensical. ...

     ... Update: Now Trump is all upset about poor Michael Flynn, even tho Trump trashed Flynn to Comey. here's Trump's tweet, released at about 6:35 am ET: "So General Michael Flynn’s life can be totally destroyed while Shadey James Comey can Leak and Lie and make lots of money from a third rate book (that should never have been written). Is that really the way life in America is supposed to work? I don’t think so!"

... Thursday Afternoon. Billy House of Bloomberg: "The Justice Department has agreed to give Congress memos that former FBI Director James Comey wrote about his meetings with ... Donald Trump, averting a potential legal and political standoff, according to a Republican familiar with the arrangement. The move would head off a subpoena for the documents that House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia had said he might issue. A push by Republicans to obtain the memos comes amid the release this week of Comey’s memoir, 'A Higher Loyalty,' and interviews in which he portrays the president as a liar and immoral. Some Republicans complain that Comey has been talking about the memos in his book promotion tour even as the Justice Department withheld them from lawmakers." (Open link in private window.) ...

... So Then. AP: 7:45 pm ET: "The Justice Department has sent Congress confidential memos written by former FBI Director James Comey. In a letter sent to three Republican House committee chairmen Thursday evening, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd writes that the department is sending a classified version of the memos and an unclassified version. The department released Boyd’s letter publicly, but not the memos." ...

... So Then. AP: 8:30 pm ET: "The Associated Press has obtained 15 pages of memos that former FBI Director James Comey drafted about his interactions with President Donald Trump. The Justice Department provided the documents to Congress on Thursday [same link]." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In other words, it took Congressional Republicans all of 45 minutes to leak the Comey docs. ...

... So Then. Here are the 15 pages of the memos which Republicans leaked to the AP (and other outlets), published at about 9:10 pm ET. ...

... Mary Jalonick & Eric Tucker of the AP: "... Donald Trump told former FBI Director James Comey that he had serious concerns about the judgment of his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, according to memos maintained by Comey and obtained by The Associated Press. The 15 pages of documents contain new details about a series of interactions that Comey had with Trump in the weeks before his May 2017 firing. Those encounters include a White House dinner at which Comey says Trump asked him for his loyalty, and a meeting the following month in which he says the president asked him to end an investigation into Flynn." Also dropped at about 9:10 pm ET. ...

... Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The broad outlines of the memos have already been reported by The Times, and were relayed by Mr. Comey in testimony before the Senate and in his recent memoir, 'A Higher Loyalty.' But they are believed to be key evidence in a possible obstruction of justice case against Mr. Trump being pursued by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. Mr. Mueller was appointed after Mr. Comey was dismissed in May.... The Justice Department is expected to deliver on Friday unredacted versions of the memos to lawmakers via a secure transfer." ...

... ** Margaret Hartmann writes an excellent summary of the memos. ...

... Joshua Keating of Slate: "In a Feb. 8, 2017, memo, Comey says that Trump ... [said] that Russian President Vladimir Putin 'had told him "We have some of the most beautiful hookers in the world.’” Comey notes that Trump didn’t mention when Putin had told him this, but Putin had made public comments about the beauty of Russian prostitutes that January. The two leaders had conducted their first official conversation just 11 days earlier. Perhaps the two leaders also discussed 'beautiful hookers' then, or perhaps Trump was merely referring to Putin’s public statements and Comey misunderstood." Mrs. McC: Nah. I'd bet that Trump thinks Putin and others speak to him directly through the teevee. This could be because in Trump's experience, Fox "News" hosts & guests actually do speak directly to him thru the teevee. Also, Trump has special TV receptors in his teeth. ...

... Jeremy Stahl of Slate wonders why GOP allies of Trump would be so anxious to leak memos that make Trump look like the delusional idiot he is -- even to the point of threatening Rosenstein with impeachment if he didn't hand them the memos. Stahl suspects it's that the House leaders were trying to bolster the GOP-Trump myth -- re-expressed in Trump's post-release tweet -- that Comey had leaked classified material. One minor problem: the memos the GOP immediately leaked to the press are unclassified.

Jennifer Jacobs & Chris Strohm of Bloomberg: "Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told ... Donald Trump last week that he isn’t a target of any part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter. Rosenstein, who brought up the Mueller probe himself, offered the assurance during a meeting with Trump at the White House last Thursday, a development that helped tamp down the president’s desire to remove Rosenstein or Mueller, the people said. After the meeting, Trump told some of his closest advisers that it’s not the right time to remove either man since he’s not a target of the probe." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Robert Costa & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, a combative former prosecutor and longtime ally of President Trump, told The Washington Post on Thursday that he has joined the president’s legal team dealing with the ongoing special counsel probe.... He also said he will soon take a leave from his law firm, Greenberg Traurig. Giuliani is a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, which is the office currently overseeing an investigation of Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen.... Trump counsel Jay Sekulow said Thursday in a statement that Giuliani is joining the team along with two former federal prosecutors, Jane Serene Raskin and Marty Raskin, a couple who jointly run a Florida-based law firm."

David Voreacos of Bloomberg: "Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s interest in former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort stemmed in part from his suspected role as a 'back channel' between the campaign and Russians intent on meddling in the election, a Justice Department lawyer told a judge. The disclosure by U.S. prosecutors came Thursday during a hearing on whether Mueller exceeded his authority in indicting Manafort on charges of laundering millions of dollars while acting as an unregistered agent of the Ukrainian government. Manafort’s lawyers say those alleged crimes have nothing to do with Mueller’s central mission.... 'He had long-standing ties to Russia-backed politicians,' [DOJ attorney Michael] Dreeben [said in court].... 'Did they provide back channels to Russia? Investigators will naturally look at those things.'” (Open in private window.) (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Embattled attorney Michael Cohen has dropped a pair of much-touted libel suits against BuzzFeed and the private investigation firm Fusion GPS over publication of the so-called dossier detailing alleged ties between ... Donald Trump and Russia. Cohen abandoned the suits late Wednesday as he continues to fight to recover documents and electronic files seized from his home, office and hotel room last week by federal authorities as part of what appears to be a broad criminal investigation into his conduct.... Dropping the suits could help Cohen avoid being questioned by lawyers from Fusion GPS or having to turn over evidence related to the case — both steps that could undercut his defense in the criminal probe.... The move could also bolster Cohen's effort to delay a suit brought in Los Angeles by porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had a sexual encounter with Trump about a decade ago. It could have been difficult for Cohen to convince that judge to put Daniels' case on hold while Cohen continued to press civil suits in other federal courts." Thanks to MAG for the lead. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Frank Rich weighs in on various aspects of the Trump crime family. Entertaining, as usual. Thanks to MAG for the lead.

Shut Up! Cristiano Lima of Politico: "... Donald Trump threatened Thursday to cut off federal funding for the deployment of California's National Guard if Gov. Jerry Brown insists that the troops 'do nothing,' an apparent jab at the state official's insistence that they not perform immigration enforcement duties. Brown on Wednesday mobilized 400 members of the state's National Guard to fight gangs and smugglers as part of the president's push to beef up border security. The California governor said that federal authorities agreed to fund the plan, which he announced last week, but that the troops would not enforce immigration policy. 'Governor Jerry Brown announced he will deploy "up to 400 National Guard Troops" to do nothing,' Trump tweeted. 'The crime rate in California is high enough, and the Federal Government will not be paying for Governor Brown’s charade. We need border security and action, not words!'" Mrs. McC: Like Jeanne (see yesterday's Comments), I'm sick of this crap. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... BUT. Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "There was no immediate comment from [Gov.] Brown’s office in Sacramento. But the seesawing exchanges continued to play out on Twitter, where an account operated by the California National Guard said the state had 'written confirmation' that the Pentagon will pay for the troop deployment agreed upon with Brown.... Trump’s threat to yank funding also appeared to undercut a statement by DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who thanked Brown late Wednesday after his office announced the agreement with federal officials [and who tweeted about it].... After his morning tweet, Trump slammed those policies again during a visit to a U.S. military installation in Key West, Fla., where he appeared alongside Nielsen and congratulated her for doing a 'fantastic job' stopping seafaring migrants and smugglers from reaching U.S. shores." ...

     ... Mrs. McC: Perhaps you noticed that Trump has no idea what he's doing, & at the Key West event at least seemed to be entirely unaware that he had dissed the work of his DHS secretary in the same breath that he praised her.

Eric Levitz: "... Trump’s aides believe he just might win a Nobel Peace Prize. And that notion is a tad less crazy than it sounds.... When it comes to forging a peace deal with North Korea, Trump’s aversion to sweating the details of geopolitics could be an asset. And his disagreeable (and/or sociopathic) personality could ... are the very reason that peace talks between Trump and Kim are taking place at all: When the president was presented with North Korea’s routine offer of direct talks, he interpreted it as an unprecedented gesture of conciliation inspired by his exceptional leadership — and then pounced on the opportunity to generate a flattering headline, before his advisers could brief him on the potential downsides of such a summit.... Thus, it isn’t hard to imagine Trump leaping at the opportunity to announce that he has reached a historic denuclearization deal with North Korea — even if such an agreement includes concessions on America’s security role in the region that all previous presidents have recoiled from.... More critically, unlike any previous U.S. president, Trump can plausibly brand a withdrawal of the U.S. military from East Asia as a foreign policy 'win' in its own right. After all, the mogul has repeatedly complained about the fiscal costs of maintaining American security guarantees...."

Nicholas Fandos & Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "Mike Pompeo came close on Thursday to clinching confirmation as the nation’s 70th secretary of state when Senator Heidi Heitkamp, Democrat of North Dakota, announced her support. But before that triumph, he is expected to face a historic rebuke from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which most likely will not recommend his confirmation. Ms. Heitkamp, who faces a difficult re-election fight in a state that President Trump won handily, said in a statement that Mr. Pompeo had convinced her that he would rebuild the State Department, which was seriously depleted under the previous secretary of state, Rex W. Tillerson."

Pamela Brown of CNN: "The Justice Department's inspector general has sent a criminal referral regarding former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to the US attorney's office in Washington, according to a source familiar with the matter." ...

... Adam Goldman, et al., of the New York Times: "Mr. Comey said in an interview on Thursday on CNN that he was conflicted about the accusations that Mr. McCabe was not forthcoming to investigators. 'James Comey just threw Andrew McCabe "under the bus,’” Mr. Trump wrote Thursday evening on Twitter. 'Inspector General’s Report on McCabe is a disaster for both of them! Getting a little (lot) of their own medicine?'... Mr. McCabe has rebutted the allegations [in the inspector general's report], describing them as 'egregious inaccuracies.'”

Nicholas Fandos & Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "Mike Pompeo came close on Thursday to clinching confirmation as the nation’s 70th secretary of state when Senator Heidi Heitkamp, Democrat of North Dakota, announced her support. But before that triumph, he is expected to face a historic rebuke from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which most likely will not recommend his confirmation. Ms. Heitkamp, who faces a difficult re-election fight in a state that President Trump won handily, said in a statement that Mr. Pompeo had convinced her that he would rebuild the State Department, which was seriously depleted under the previous secretary of state, Rex W. Tillerson."

Kenneth Chang of the New York Times: "On Thursday, the Senate confirmed [Jim] Bridenstine, an Oklahoma congressman, as the new NASA administrator in a stark partisan vote: 50 Republicans voting for him and 47 Democrats plus two independents against. The vote lasted more than 45 minutes as Republicans waited for Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona to cast his lot. The vote was also punctuated by the appearance of Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois, who cast her ‘no’ vote on the Senate floor with her newborn daughter in hand.... Many who voted against him expressed concerns about his record of partisanship as well as some statements questioning climate change, an area of research in which the space agency plays a central role.... On Wednesday, the Project on Government Oversight, an independent watchdog organization, raised questions about Mr. Bridenstine’s actions as executive director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium from 2008 to 2010.... One of the events that he organized as executive was an air show in 2010 featuring races by rocket-powered airplanes — by a business he had personally invested in. That could be considered 'self-dealing.'...”

Jeff Mason of Reuters: "U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, under fire from lawmakers for travel and security expenses, spent about $45,000 in government money to fly five people to Australia to prepare for a planned trip that was later canceled [because of Hurricane Harvey]." Mrs. McC: While there might be justification for sending a security person or two, it doesn't make much sense to me that two aides had to travel to Australia to set up a few meetings. I'm thinking everybody involved has a phone.

David Kirkpatrick & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "White House aides were worried enough about a visit last year by Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia, under investigation by American prosecutors who say he embezzled $3.5 billion from a state investment fund, that he was denied the customary photo in the Oval Office with President Trump. But that did not stop a top Republican fund-raiser, Elliott Broidy, from seeking to use his White House ties to press for Mr. Trump to play a golf game with Mr. Najib, who had the authority over negotiations for a lucrative Malaysian contract with Mr. Broidy’s private defense company, according to documents obtained by The New York Times. In addition to providing new details about Mr. Broidy’s attempts to exploit his White House connections for personal gain, the documents also raise questions about whether Trump administration officials were aware of his efforts.... [Um, apparently so:] The president’s previous chief of staff, Reince Priebus, had confirmed the golf date to Mr. Broidy, but 'unfortunately, the golf game is not appearing on the schedule that has been provided through protocol to the PM,' he wrote."

Paul Krugman examines the reasons the public isn't buying the GOP tax heist the way people fell for Dubya's similarly regressive cut. This leaves the GOP with nothing to run on this year except racism. "And with the tax cut fizzling, I predict that we’ll be seeing a lot of implicit — even explicit — appeals to racism in the months ahead." Mrs. McC: Krugman doesn't give the media any credit, but I do. Most major newspapers (all the ones I read) were willing to at least implicitly trash the Trump bill on their front & editorial pages.

Emily Flitter & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Federal regulators are poised to impose a $1 billion penalty on Wells Fargo for a variety of alleged misdeeds, including forcing customers to buy auto insurance policies that they didn’t need, according to people briefed on the regulatory action. The expected penalty, levied by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, is likely to be announced Friday. It would mark the toughest action that the Trump administration has taken against a major bank. And it is the latest blow to Wells Fargo, which for years was regarded as one of the country’s best-run banks but lately has been reeling from a string of self-inflicted crises. President Trump has advocated a rollback of regulations on the banking and other industries. He has nominated industry-friendly officials to oversee key government agencies, including the consumer bureau, which is being run on an interim basis by Mick Mulvaney. Mr. Mulvaney has pledged to defang the agency.... At the same time, though, Mr. Trump has pledged to be especially tough on San Francisco-based Wells Fargo. 'I will cut Regs but make penalties severe when caught cheating!' Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter in December."

James Wagner & Frances Robles of the New York Times: "After seven months and close to $2.5 billion, almost everybody in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico had their lights back on — until a freak accident on Wednesday plunged the entire island once again into darkness. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority had boasted Wednesday morning that less than 3 percent of its customers remained without power, substantially concluding what some estimates called the biggest power failure in United States history. The island of 3.4 million residents was open for business again, government officials said. It was only a few hours later that an excavator working near a fallen 140-foot transmission tower on the southern part of the island got too close to a high-voltage line. The resulting electrical fault knocked out power to nearly every home and business across the storm-battered American territory, authorities said, a catastrophic failure that could take up to 36 hours to restore." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Luke Barnes of ThinkProgress: "In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Mark Zuckerberg was at pains to emphasize how eager he was to protect users’ personal information — including supporting a piece of landmark European Union legislation on data privacy. At the time, he told Reuters reporters that he supported that act 'in spirit' and said that Facebook was working to create a similar version of the law.... On Thursday, it emerged that Facebook was moving 1.5 billion international user accounts out of reach of the new [EU] privacy law, which is scheduled to go into effect on May 25. Instead, Facebook has decided to move the responsibility for all non-U.S. and Canadian accounts from Ireland — where the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) would have jurisdiction — to Facebook’s home in California, which is not subject to the new rules." Mrs. McC: I'm shocked, shocked to read Zuck isn't as sincere as he tried to to look in Congressional hearings.

Juliet Macur of the New York Times: "Lance Armstrong agreed on Thursday to pay $5 million to settle claims that he defrauded the federal government by using performance-enhancing drugs when the United States Postal Service sponsored his cycling team. The settlement ended years of legal wrangling between Armstrong and the government over whether the Postal Service had actually sustained harm because of Armstrong’s doping. After years of vehement denials, Armstrong admitted in 2013 that he had used banned substances while winning a record seven Tour de France titles from 1999 to 2005. He wore a Postal Service jersey during the first six of those victories, but he was stripped of all his Tour titles in 2012 after an investigation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency determined that he and many of his teammates had been doping."

Morgan Winsor & Kelly McCarthy of ABC News: "The two black men who were arrested at a Starbucks in downtown Philadelphia last week and accused of trespassing say they were there for a business meeting that they had hoped would change their lives. Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson came forward this morning on ABC News' 'Good Morning America' to publicly share their story for the first time." Includes video of the interview. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond the Beltway

Anthony Faiola of the Washington Post: "Cuba’s National Assembly on Thursday officially confirmed 57-year-old Miguel Díaz-Canel as Cuba’s new head of state, ending Castro rule after nearly 60 years and shifting power toward a younger generation born after Cuba’s revolution.... Díaz-Canel’s name was put forward Wednesday as the sole candidate to head Cuba’s council of state, a post that effectively serves as the presidency. On Thursday, officials announced the results of the vote: 603 to 1 backing his nomination as Cuba’s new leader. Díaz-Canel’s selection amounts to the dawn of a new era in a country deeply identified with the Castros, who led the revolution that triumphed in 1959 and resulted in the most enduring communist system in the Western Hemisphere." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)