;)
The Commentariat -- March 20, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Paul Lewis of the Guardian: "Hundreds of millions of Facebook users are likely to have had their private information harvested by companies that exploited the same terms as the firm that collected data and passed it on to Cambridge Analytica, according to a new whistleblower. Sandy Parakilas, the platform operations manager at Facebook responsible for policing data breaches by third-party software developers between 2011 and 2012, told the Guardian he warned senior executives at the company that its lax approach to data protection risked a major breach.... Asked what kind of control Facebook had over the data given to outside developers, he replied: 'Zero. Absolutely none. Once the data left Facebook servers there was not any control, and there was no insight into what was going on.'"
Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: "A former Playboy model who claimed she had an affair with Donald J. Trump sued on Tuesday to be released from a 2016 legal agreement requiring her silence, becoming the second woman this month to challenge Trump allies' efforts during the presidential campaign to bury stories about extramarital relationships. The model, Karen McDougal, is suing the company that owns The National Enquirer, American Media Inc., which paid her $150,000 and whose chief executive is a friend of President Trump's.... Ms. McDougal, in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims that [Trump's attorney Michael] Cohen was secretly involved in her talks with A.M.I., and that the media company and her lawyer at the time misled her about the deal." ...
... Mark Berman & Frances Sellers of the Washington Post: "A New York judge said Tuesday that a defamation lawsuit against President Trump related to an allegation that he sexually harassed a former 'Apprentice' contestant may go forward. Summer Zervos filed the suit last year after Trump said publicly that she and other women making similar claims made them up. Trump sought to block the legal action, but New York Supreme Court Judge Jennifer G. Schecter, citing court precedent that led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998, said that 'a sitting president is not immune from being sued in federal court for unofficial acts.' Trump has repeatedly said that all of the women who accused him of touching them inappropriately were lying -- a sentiment his White House reiterated as questions resurfaced about the allegations."
Stephanie Petit of People: "In a 'hare'-raising turn of events for Mike Pence, John Oliver's parody children's book about the vice president's pet falling in love with an another male rabbit is outselling its inspiration.... In addition, Oliver's book has earned a five-star rating on the site with over 3,000 reviews. The Pences' competing story has been reviewed only 60 times and holds a four-and-a-half-star rating.... The TV host added that all proceeds from the book, written by Jill Twiss and illustrated by Indiana artist E.G. Keller, will go to The Trevor Project and AIDS United." Thanks to MAG for the lead. MAG heard on the teevee that Oliver's parody has pushed Jim Comey's book -- to be published next month -- down to No. 2 on Amazon's list.
Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: "The Federal Trade Commission has opened an investigation into whether Facebook violated an agreement with the agency on data privacy, after reports that information on 50 million users was improperly obtained by the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, according to a person with knowledge of the inquiry. The investigation, started in recent days, adds to the mounting pressure against Facebook in the United States and in the United Kingdom about its handling of the data. Cambridge Analytica used the information to help President Trump's presidential campaign profile voters during the 2016 election."
Trump Congratulates BFF. Anton Troianovski of the Washington Post: "President Trump congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on his reelection victory in a phone call on Tuesday, the Kremlin said. The White House confirmed that the call took place but had no immediate comment on the Kremlin's characterization of it. Some world leaders have hesitated to congratulate Putin, since his reelection occurred in an environment of state control of much of the news media and his most prominent opponent was barred from the ballot.... Beyond the congratulations, [the Kremlin] said, the two leaders discussed Syria, Ukraine, North Korea and arms control. The two also discussed a potential meeting, the Kremlin said." ...
... Mrs. McC: Once again, the Trump White House lets Putin define the nature of the call. Is letting the Kremlin define their conversations one of the concessions Trump made to Putin on accounta the dirt Putin has on Trump? Or is it because White House staff aren't allowed to interrupt Trump during his extensive time, so they haven't been able to act out the call for his approval? Whatever, it's weird. ...
... Update. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Trump on Tuesday congratulated President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia for his recent re-election victory and said the two are likely to meet soon to discuss the arms race between the United States and Russia.... Sen. John McCain, Republican of Arizona, who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was quick to criticize Mr. Trump's call to Mr. Putin. 'An American president does not lead the free world by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections,' Mr. McCain said in a statement issued by his office."
*****
This Russia Thing, Ctd.
Lawyers Try to Protect Trump from Himself. Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "President Trump's attorneys have provided the special counsel's office with written descriptions that chronicle key moments under investigation.... Trump's lawyers hope the evidence eliminates the need to ask the president about some episodes.... Trump' legal team recently shared the documents in an effort to limit any session between the president and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to a few select topics, the people said. The lawyers are worried that Trump, who has a penchant for making erroneous claims, would be vulnerable in an hours-long interview.... The written materials provided to Mueller's office include summarie of internal White House memos and contemporaneous correspondence about events Mueller is investigating, including the ousters of national security adviser Michael Flynn and FBI Director James B. Comey. The documents describe the White House players involved and the president's actions. Special counsel investigators have told Trump's lawyers that their main questions about the president fall into two simple categories, the two people said: 'What did he do?' and 'What was he thinking when he did it?' Trump's lawyers expect Mueller's team to ask whether Trump knew about Flynn's communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition, for example, and what instructions, if any, the president gave Flynn about the contact, according to two advisers." ...
... Pamela Brown, et al., of CNN: "... attorneys on both sides sat down last week in a rare face-to-face discussion about the topics investigators could inquire of the President.... This time around..., the prosecutors said they would ask about Attorney General Jeff Sessions' involvement in the Comey dismissal and what Trump knew about national security adviser Michael Flynn's phone calls with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in late December 2016.... The meeting and its revelations also have unleashed a new level of Trump's public hostility toward Mueller.... The meeting last week made it clear to Trump that Mueller won't wrap up soon." ...
... Mike Allen of Axios: "Axios has learned that special counsel Robert Mueller has focused on events since the election [[ not during the campaign -- in his conversations with President Trump's lawyers. The top two topics that Mueller has expressed interest in so far: the firings of FBI director James Comey and national security adviser Michael Flynn That suggests a focus on obstruction of justice while in office, rather than collusion with Russia during the campaign. But both sagas are interwoven with Russia: Trump himself has linked Comey's firing to Russia, and Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations with the Russian ambassador during the transition." (Also linked yesterday.)
Trump Sees Winger Lawyer on Fox "News," Hires Him. Maggie Haberman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "President Trump has decided to hire the longtime Washington lawyer Joseph E. diGenova ... to bolster his legal team, according to three people told of the decision.... Mr. diGenova has endorsed the notion that a secretive group of F.B.I. agents concocted the Russia investigation as a way to keep Mr. Trump from becoming president. 'There was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didn't win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime,' he said on Fox News in January.... Little evidence has emerged to support that theory.... On Saturday, Mr. Trump's personal lawyer, John Dowd, called on the Justice Department to end the special counsel investigation. Mr. Dowd said at the time that he was speaking for the president but later backtracked. According to two people briefed on the matter, he was in fact acting at the president's urging to call for an end to the inquiry." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Trump Way Last Week: The Failing New York Times purposely wrote a false story stating that I am unhappy with my legal team on the Russia case and am going to add another lawyer to help out. Wrong. I am VERY happy with my lawyers, John Dowd, Ty Cobb and Jay Sekulow. They are doing a great job and..... -- Donald Trump, in a tweet March 11
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: If, BTW, you're wondering why Joe had to come up with such a cockamamie conspiracy theory in support of President* Trump, maybe it's because he remembered this. Tessa Berenson of Time: "his prior comments during investigations into President Bill Clinton in a 1997 editorial in the Wall Street Journal also drew attention. 'Nobody should underestimate the upheaval that a prosecution of the president would cause,' he wrote in a March 6, 1997 piece published when independent counsel Kenneth Starr was only investigating financial irregularities in the Whitewater scandal and Clinton's affair with a White House intern had not yet come to light. 'But we went through it once before, in Watergate, and survived. The nation, in fact, could conceivably benefit from the indictment of a president. It would teach the valuable civics lesson that no one is above the law.'" Since he had already argued that impeaching a president would be good for the country, in order to be consistent, diGenova had to find a way to assert that Trump could not possibly be guilty of anything. Ergo, there's a vast left-wing conspiracy inside the generally right-leaning federal justice system. ...
... Joe, however, is quite comfortable with conspiracy theories, whether or not they cover his ass. Steve Benen reports. Rachel Maddow, on her show last night, pointed out another strange "coincidence." The Washington Post reported last week that George Nader, now a cooperating witness in the Mueller investigation, "was convicted of transporting child pornography 27 years ago." The Post learned this bit of Nader's past because of "newly unsealed court documents." How did those documents just happen to be unsealed right when news reports revealed Nader was cooperating with Mueller? Well, we don't know. But we do know, thanks to Maddow, that the prosecutor in that case was ... new Trump attorney Joe diGenova.
... The Hits Just Keep on Coming. Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman: "President Trump’s legal team was poised for a shake-up on Monday, according to two people briefed on the matter, as he openly discussed firing one of his lawyers, another considered resigning and a third -- who pushed theories on television that Mr. Trump was framed by the F.B.I. -- joined the roster. Mr. Trump has weighed aloud in recent days to close associates whether to dismiss his lawyer Ty Cobb, who had pushed most strongly a strategy of cooperating fully with the special counsel investigation. The president reassured Mr. Cobb that he had no plans to fire him, according to a person who spoke with the president late Monday, in part to prevent a narrative that his team was in disarray after The New York Times began making inquiries. Mr. Trump's lead lawyer, John Dowd, has contemplated leaving his post because he has concluded that he has no control over the behavior of the president.... Mr. Dowd said he had no plans to leave the team." ...
"Pop Goes the Weasel."TM Akhilleus Louis Nelson of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Monday appeared to renew his attacks against the ongoing investigations into allegations that his campaign colluded with the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 election, labeling them collectively as 'a total WITCH HUNT with massive conflicts of interest!'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "Usually, top intelligence and law enforcement officials withdraw to lives of tight-lipped relative anonymity after their careers end. (Suffice it to say, they are not exactly known for viral Twitter battles.) But as President Trump has voiced his grievances against the F.B.I. with a series of insult-laden tweets, his targets have responded nearly in kind, turning a conflict that would in the past have stayed behind closed doors into a brawl for all to see." ...
... James Bamford writes a longish piece for the New Republic on Trump's war against the intelligence community. He makes a quite a number of points that had not occurred to me, Mrs. Bea McCrabbie, but they're worth considering. Here's a sample graf: "Trump's enormous self-regard and disinterest in hearing outside opinions -- particularly any that diverge from his own -- has sparked fear that he could dispense with perhaps the spy world's most sacred rule: unbiased reporting. The Bush administration's decision to cast aside that norm helped lead to the disastrous war in Iraq. Unhappy with the CIA's more cautious reporting on possible weapons of mass destruction in that country, the White House set up a separate, secret unit inside the Pentagon to cherry-pick the intelligence the White House wanted to see. Today, Trump -- a man of endless conspiracy theories -- may now be following a similar path with regard to Iran and North Korea, potentially leading to an even more calamitous war." Bamford is critical of the super-powers President Obama allowed the intelligence community to develop & use. "What Obama apparently never considered was that the Orwellian surveillance tools he created, and the precedents he set of killing and jailing Americans, could one day fall into the hands of a mountebank, demagogic president unrestrained by norms and perhaps even untethered from reality." Bamford also points out that the media (and others) have fallen down on "probing the workings of the darkest elements of government." ...
... Digby, in Salon, delves into the President*'s paranoia. ...
Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times has quite a good summary of what is publicly known about Andrew McCabe's firing. Apuzzo provides context.
Manu Raju, et al., of CNN: "Republican Senate leaders threw cold water Monday on passing a bill to protect [Robert] Mueller [from being dismissed], calling it unnecessary despite Trump's increasingly scathing attacks against the special counsel and his team. But the Republican who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Corker of Tennessee, told CNN that lawmakers should include legislation to protect Mueller on a must-pass bill to keep the government open past Friday. He warned there would be 'total upheaval' in the Senate if Trump were to fire Mueller." ...
... Greg Sargent sounds the alarm about Maggie Haberman's report (linked yesterday), one of several we've read about "Trump unleashed." Sargent highlights Republicans' failure to take seriously Trump's attacks on Mueller. For instance, "Earlier this year, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declared that there was no need for legislation to protect Mueller, because (he said) there is no effort 'on the part of the White House to undermine the special counsel,' so Mueller 'seems to need no protection.' Now that Trump himself has declared the Mueller probe illegitimate, there is no indication that McConnell's thinking has changed." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Sorry, but I don't know why anyone would think Mitch would object to a power grab by a president in his own party. Justice Scalia's body had not reached room temperature when Mitch announced he would be stealing the nomination of a replacement appointment from President Obama. Mitch has pulled a lot of dirty stunts, but so far even Trump has not pulled one quite as egregious as denying a duly-elected president a fair shot at even getting a hearing (although I learned recently that it was Andy Card, Dubya's chief-of-staff, who demanded Harriet Meirs withdraw her nomination to the Court). Mitch & Don Donaldo use quite different tactics, but they're equally corrupt. ...
... Jonathan Chait: "... the largest faction of the [Republican] party has taken the position that Donald Trump is a fantastically successful president whose main error is undisciplined tweeting. What is most notable about this approach is what it omits: the idea that Trump possesses authoritarian instincts or might be deeply implicated in the Russia scandal. It focuses entirely on the most superficial critique of his job performance and ignores evidence of his fundamental unfitness for office.... The mainstream Republican response to these provocations has focused on the style of Trump's actions, rather than the substance." ...
... Gene Robinson: "If Trump does try to fire Mueller, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) should get much of the blame. They have given Trump no reason to believe they will ever stand up to him." ...
... March of the Lemmings. A Conspiracy of Many. Matt Ford of the New Republic adds, "... most Republicans said nothing. House Speaker Paul Ryan issued a tepid statement asserting that 'Mr. Mueller and his team should be able to do their job,' without mentioning Trump, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made no public comment. Steve Scalise, the House Republicans' third-in-command, instead suggested that there are 'credibility concerns the Mueller investigation needs to address so they can dispel the fears that this is becoming a partisan witch hunt.'... Trump would bear ultimate responsibility for shutting down or curtailing the Russia investigation, of course. But if it happens, no one can say he acted alone." (Also linked yesterday.)
... The undercover tape begins about 4:25 min. in. The undercover Alexander Nix part begins about 12:15 minutes in. Beautiful Ukrainian girls! The entire tape is fascinating. Those Ukrainian sex workers remind me that Paul Manafort was chairman of the Trump campaign when the campaign made the deal with Cambridge Analytica. BTW, Channel 4 will air a segment later today (Tuesday) on Cambridge Analytica's U.S. operations. ...
... Channel 4's print story is here. ...
... Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "Sitting in a hotel bar, Alexander Nix, who runs the political data firm Cambridge Analytica, had a few ideas for a prospective client looking for help in a foreign election. The firm could send an attractive woman to seduce a rival candidate and secretly videotape the encounter, Mr. Nix said, or send someone posing as a wealthy land developer to pass a bribe. 'We have a long history of working behind the scenes,' Mr. Nix said.... The prospective client, though, was actually a reporter from Channel 4 News in Britain, and the encounter was secretly filmed as part of a monthslong investigation into Cambridge Analytica, the data firm with ties to President Trump's 2016 campaign.... The footage broadcast by Channel 4, Mr. Nix offered services that go far beyond data harvesting.... 'Many of our clients don't want to be seen to be working with a foreign company,' he told the Channel 4 reporter.... 'We can set up fake IDs and websites, we can be students doing research projects attached to a university, we can be tourists. There's so many options we can look at.'... Now, the Channel 4 broadcast appears likely to cast an even harsher spotlight on the company, which was founded by Stephen K. Bannon and Robert Mercer, a wealthy Republican donor...." ...
... Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "Billionaire heiress Rebekah Mercer is standing by embattled data firm Cambridge Analytica -- at least for now. A person close to Mercer, who sits on the firm's board, told The Daily Beast she has no immediate plans to leave her post there, despite a bombshell report alleging the company used Ukrainian sex workers to try to get compromising material about its clients' political opponents." ...
... Michelle Goldberg: "After days of revelations, there's still a lot we don't know about Cambridge Analytica. But we've learned that an operation at the heart of Trump's campaign was ethically nihilistic and quite possibly criminal in ways that even its harshest critics hadn't suspected.... In weighing the credibility of various accusations made against the president, it's good to know the depths to which the people around him are willing to sink.... Cambridge Analytica shared office space with Trump's San Antonio-based digital operation, and took substantial credit for its success.... We already know that Cambridge Analytica reached out to Julian Assange about finding and disseminating Hillary Clinton's deleted emails.... With each day..., it's clearer that the secret of Trump's success is cheating. He, and those around him, don't have to be better than their opponents because they're willing to be so much worse." ...
... Kevin Drum: "This is quite an organization: honey traps, bribery offers, hidden identities, and, of course, massive amounts of misused Facebook data. It sounds like a company right after Trump's heart, doesn't it? Amusingly, CA's defense is that they were entrapping the fake reporter in order to make sure they weren't dealing with anyone corrupt." ...
... Steve M.: Data manipulation is what these guys put in the shop window, but if want the real goods, you have to slip into a back room and get ... the same kinds of dirty tricks that political operatives and other unsavory creatures have used for generations. If we're to believe their sales pitch, these guys are basically Roger Stone or more adroit versions of Jared Kushner's dad: 'Charles Kushner pleaded guilty to 18 counts of making illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering. The last charge involved a particularly nasty incident where Charles Kushner send his sister Esther a tape showing her husband William Schulder with a prostitute hired by Kushner to discredit his brother-in-law, who was cooperating with federal authorities.' Everything sucks the same way it always did, except for the stuff that sucks more." ...
... So, in light of this new evidence that the Mercer-Bannon firm is corrupt to its core, Facebook -- which "accidentally" allowed the enterprise to misuse the personal data of millions of unsuspecting users -- has decided to take action! ...
... Nicole Perlroth, et al., of the New York Times: "Facebook's chief information security officer, Alex Stamos, will leave the company after internal disagreements over how the social network should deal with its role in spreading disinformation, according to current and former employees briefed on the matter. Mr. Stamos had been a strong advocate inside the company for investigating and disclosing Russian activity on Facebook, often to the consternation of other top executives, including Sheryl Sandberg, the social network's chief operating officer, according to the current and former employees, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters." Mrs. McC: Yeah, I can see where Stamos' integrity & patriotism would be a big problem for the Zuckerberg team. ...
... Okay, Maybe Facebook Did Try to Do Something Positive. Nick Statt of the Verge: "Authorities from the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) are in the process of obtaining a search warrant to examine the internal servers of data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica after reports outlined how the company misused the Facebook data of up to 50 million users. Facebook sent members of a digital forensics firm, called Stroz Friedberg, to perform its own independent audit of Cambridge Analytica, but Stroz Friedberg 'stood down' when UK authorities requested they wait until a warrant is secured for the ICO's own criminal investigation. Facebook revealed the turn of events in a blog post update this afternoon." Mrs. McC: Unless the ICO locked down Cambridge Analytica's servers, there are some busy eraser bees working overtime at CA Monday night. And who knows? Maybe that was Facebook's plan, too. ...
... Julia Wong of the Guardian: "The chief executive of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has remained silent over the more than 48 hours since the Observer revealed the harvesting of 50 million users’ personal data, even as his company is buffeted by mounting calls for investigation and regulation, falling stock prices, and a social media campaign to #DeleteFacebook.... 'It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to stop hiding behind his Facebook page,' said the Conservative MP Damian Collins, chair of the digital, culture, media and sport select committee.... Referencing the government's request for Facebook's auditors to leave Cambridge Analytica's offices, Collins tweeted: 'These investigations need to be undertaken by the proper authorities.'" ...
... Graeme Wearden & Nick Fletcher of the Guardian: "Around $36bn has been wiped off Facebook's market capitalisation, after its worst day's trading in several years. Shares slumped by 6.7% after a whistleblower revealed a vast data breach that affected tens of millions of people." This is a liveblog of developments regarding Facebook & Cambridge Analytica. ...
... Zeynep Tufekci in a New York Times op-ed: "The problem here goes beyond Cambridge Analytica and what it may have done. What other apps were allowed to siphon data from millions of Facebook users?... A business model based on vast data surveillance and charging clients to opaquely target users based on this kind of extensive profiling will inevitably be misused. The real problem is that billions of dollars are being made at the expense of the health of our public sphere and our politics, and crucial decisions are being made unilaterally, and without recourse or accountability." ...
... Todd Gillman & Katie Leslie of the Dallas Morning News: "Sen. Ted Cruz is under fire for his connections with a voter targeting firm that used data taken from 50 million Facebook users without their knowledge. The Cruz presidential campaign touted its collaboration with Cambridge Analytica as a sign of a cutting edge run for the White House, allowing the Texan to carefully identify likely supporters. The firm shifted allegiance to Donald Trump once the Texan dropped out of the GOP primaries. Both campaigns pumped millions into the company, controlled by billionaire Robert Mercer -- a key patron first of Cruz and then Trump in 2016. Cruz continued work with Cambridge Analytica for six months after allegations surfaced in December 2015 that the firm was using Facebook data it had received illicitly.... Texas Democrats blasted Cruz on Monday for benefiting from a 'massive invasion of privacy' and demanded that Cruz explain when he knew the company had engaged in 'deceitful activity.'... Cruz faces a Senate challenge in the fall from Rep. Beto O'Rourke, an El Paso Democrat." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yo, Beto, maybe you won't want to post your objections to Ted's shady campaign practices on your Facebook page. Just sayin'.
Erik Prince, Skunkworks Mercenary, Ctd. Jeremy Scahill & Matthew Cole of the Intercept: "As a private attorney in 2016, FBI director Chris Wray supervised a team of lawyers that informed the Justice Department that Blackwater founder Erik Prince had likely violated U.S. law while trying to sell secretly modified paramilitary attack aircraft to Azerbaijan's military. Wray and Robert Hur, now a senior Justice Department official, were both partners at the powerhouse law firm King & Spalding in 2015 when officials at Prince's Hong Kong-based logistics company, Frontier Services Group, discovered suspicious activity by Prince over the proposed sale of the planes. Hur is currently the top lieutenant to Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general.... A close associate of Prince's previously told The Intercept that, at the time of the Wray-led investigation, Prince was operating a 'secret skunkworks program' using his role as FSG's founder and chairman to cover his shadowy activities. 'Erik wants to be a real, no-shit mercenary,' said the associate. 'Erik hides in the shadows ... and uses [FSG] for legitimacy.'" It's unclear what, if anything, the DOJ has done with the info Wray & Hur provided to the Department. But as we know, Erik is still skulking around the globe. And lying about his nefarious activities.
AND in News Not Necessarily Related to Trump's Corruption:
A Diversion from The Tale of the Weasel & the Lemmings. Maybe you've forgotten this guy:
... Thanks to MAG for the lead. You can buy a copy of A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo at BetterBundoBook.com, if only to annoy mike pence. ...
... Also to annoy mike pence & the Horse's Ass he rode in on, Jim Comey's book -- even tho it won't come out for a month -- is at the top of Amazon's best-seller list (thanks in large part to this weekend's Trumpertantrums). And mike pence's bunny book is not.
Helene Cooper, et al., of the New York Times: "The leader of an ill-fated team of American soldiers in Niger last fall warned before the mission that his troops did not have the equipment or intelligence necessary to carry out a kill-or-capture raid against a local militant, according to preliminary findings of a continuing Defense Department investigation. In a departure from normal lines of authority, the report concludes, the Oct. 4 mission was not approved by senior military officials up the chain of command in West Africa and Germany. Instead, it was ordered by a junior officer, according to two Defense Department officials. Four American soldiers and five Nigeriens were killed when the unit was ambushed. The two officials said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, are troubled that low-level officers are being blamed for the botched mission instead of senior commanders who should be aware when American troops are undertaking a high-risk raid."
Sarah Ferris, et al., of Politico: "Congressional leaders and top White House officials are clearing the way for a massive $1.3 trillion spending bill, scrapping several last-minute attempts to tack on controversial policy riders ahead of a Friday deadline to fund the government. The president also asked GOP leaders over the weekend to include a short-term patch shielding Dreamers from deportation for 2.5 years in return for $25 billion in wall funding. But Democrats -- whose votes are needed for passage -- balked at the idea, and Republicans appear ready to drop it. Roughly $900 million in transportation funding for a massive New York-New Jersey infrastructure project is also expected to get sidelined because of Trump's veto threat.... Gone too are conservative demands to defund Planned Parenthood or cut off money to sanctuary cities that protect undocumented immigrants.... Lawmakers have just four days until funding runs dry." Read on for more details.
Burgess Everett of Politico: "The Koch network has a rare message for ... Donald Trump: Take the Democrats' immigration deal. A trio of organizations supported by Charles and David Koch is urging Trump to accept congressional Democrats' weekend offer, which would deliver $25 billion for a border wall and security in exchange for a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million young immigrants, according to officials in the Koch network. The White House was unwilling to accept the deal, instead offering Democrats a two-and-a-half-year extension of protections for so-called Dreamers facing deportation in return for wall money and dropping their demands for cuts to legal immigration..., but Democrats were unwilling to strike a permanent deal on wall funding in exchange for a temporary solution for Dreamers."
** Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a request from Republican legislative leaders in Pennsylvania to block a redrawn congressional map that creates more parity between the political parties in the state. The practical impact is the 2018 elections are likely to be held under a map much more favorable to Democrats, who scored an apparent victory last week in a special election in a strongly Republican congressional district. The 2011 map that has been used this decade has resulted in Republicans consistently winning 13 of the state's 18 congressional seats.... The U.S. Supreme Court deliberated nearly two weeks before turning down the request to stop the map from being used in this fall's elections. Generally the justices stay out of the way when a state's highest court is interpreting its own state constitution."
Richard Wolf of USA Today: "The Supreme Court refused again Monday to decide whether the death penalty is unconstitutional. The action came in a case from Arizona in which lawyers asked the court to strike down both the state's capital punishment system and the nation's. The court's four liberal justices said Arizona's system, under which most defendants convicted of first-degree murder are eligible for the death penalty, may be unconstitutional. But they said the case was not ready for the high court's review." (Also linked yesterday.)
News Ledes
CNN: "Authorities responded to a shooting at Great Mills High School in Maryland on Tuesday morning, the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office said. The event has been contained, the sheriff's office said. The school was on lockdown for a brief time but students are now being evacuated from Great Mills High School to a reunification center at a nearby high school, the school district said." ...
... Washington Post Update: "A student opened fire at Great Mills High School in Southern Maryland Tuesday morning, critically injuring a female student before he was confronted by a school resource officer, according to the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office. The officer and gunman both fired nearly simultaneously in a school hallway, authorities said. They said the gunman, identified as 17-year-old Austin Wyatt Rollins, was mortally wounded, but it was not clear whether he was shot by the officer or hit by his own round at the school 70 miles south of Washington, D.C. A third student was shot in the incident but it not immediately clear by whom. Sheriff Timothy K. Cameron said at an afternoon press conference the shooter and two students, ages 16 and 14, were rushed to the hospital. The school resource officer, St. Mary's County Sheriff's Deputy Blaine Gaskill, was not injured, the sheriff said."
New York Times: "A package that exploded early Tuesday at a FedEx center near San Antonio was being looked at by officials involved in the investigation into a series of deadly explosions in Austin, Tex." ...
... New Detail: "On Tuesday, a sixth bomb, this one unexploded, forced the shutdown of a FedEx facility near Austin's airport. Officials have launched a sweeping manhunt, both forensic and physical, for the bomber, whose identity and motive remain unknown." ...
... AP Update: "Austin authorities say emergency personnel are responding to another reported explosion, this one at a Goodwill store in the southern part of the city. Austin-Travis County EMS tweeted Thursday evening that at least one person was injured but that details about the severity of those injuries and the explosion itself were unknown. It would mark the sixth explosion in the Austin area since March 2. So far, two people have been killed and four others seriously wounded."
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