The Commentariat -- March 17, 2018

Afternoon Update:

It occurs to me that Trump is getting rid of Cabinet members who might be sane enough to vote to invoke the 25th Amendment. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

** Matthew Rosenberg, et al., of the New York Times report on the Cambridge Analytica shenanigans, & in their telling, it's a doozy. First of all, Facebook didn't just suddenly come clean about (a small portion of) the breach yesterday; they did so when Times & Observer reporters began making inquiries. Second, we're not talking about 270K Americans: "... the firm harvested private information from the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million users without their permission..., making it one of the largest data leaks in the social network's history.... An examination by The New York Times and The Observer of London reveals how Cambridge Analytica's drive to bring to market a potentially powerful new weapon put the firm -- and wealthy conservative investors seeking to reshape politics -- under scrutiny from investigators an lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic. Christopher Wylie, who helped found Cambridge and worked there until late 2014, said of its leaders: 'Rules don't matter for them. For them, this is a war, and it's all fair.'... The full scale of the data leak involving Americans has not been previously disclosed -- and Facebook, until now, has not acknowledged it." Mrs. McC: Say, did I mention that the professor who swept up the Facebook data was a Russian-American? Coincidence. And most of its data scientists in Ted Cruz's & Trump's 2016 campaigns were foreign nationals, even though the company (& Steve Bannon) had been warned by attorneys that it was illegal for foreigners to be contributing to U.S. election campaigns. AND there's this:

Under the guidance of Brad Parscale, Mr. Trump's digital director in 2016 and now the campaign manager for his 2020 re-election effort, Cambridge performed a variety of services, former campaign officials said. That included designing target audiences for digital ads and fund-raising appeals, modeling voter turnout, buying $5 million in television ads and determining where Mr. Trump should travel to best drum up support.

... Also too, Steve Bannon has scoffed at the idea that he had anything to fear from Bob Mueller because "I don't even know any Russians." Bull. He engineered Cambridge Analytica's (illegal) participation in Trump's campaign. He even came up with the name Cambridge Analytica, & he was on its board. ...

... Here's the Guardian/Observer story by Carole Cadwalladr & Emma Graham-Harrison. "Christopher Wylie, who worked with a Cambridge University academic to obtain the data, told the Observer: 'We exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people's profiles. And built models to exploit what we knew about them and target their inner demons. That was the basis the entire company was built on.'... Facebook ... failed to alert users and took only limited steps to recover and secure the private information of more than 50 million individuals.... The discovery of the unprecedented data harvesting, and the use to which it was put, raises urgent new questions about Facebook's role in targeting voters in the US presidential election.... Last month both Facebook and the CEO of Cambridge Analytica, Alexander Nix, told a parliamentary inquiry on fake news: that the company did not have or use private Facebook data.... Steve Bannon's lawyer said he had no comment because his client 'knows nothing about the claims being asserted'. He added: 'The first Mr Bannon heard of these reports was from media inquiries in the past few days.'"

On Facebook's origins of Cambridge Analytica. --safari

** Carol Leonnig & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "President Trump's lawyer called on the Justice Department to immediately shut down the special counsel probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, in the wake of the firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Attorney John Dowd said in a statement that the investigation, now led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, was fatally flawed early on and 'corrupted' by political bias. He called on Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees that probe, to shut it down.... Dowd told The Washington Post on Saturday he was speaking for himself and not on Trump's behalf. Earlier Saturday, Dowd told the Daily Beast that he was speaking on behalf of the president and in his capacity as the president's attorney.... [Jeff] Sessions late Friday night fired McCabe, a little more than 24 hours before McCabe was set to retire -- a move that McCabe alleged was an attempt to 'slander' him and undermine the ongoing special counsel investigation into the Trump campaign.... An inspector general raised questions about McCabe's discussions with reporters about a case related to Hillary Clinton." ...

     ... ** Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: On Saturday, "This is a member of Trump's legal team floating a reversal of the team's long-standing policy of cooperating with Mueller's probe while suggesting it would find nothing. This is Dowd implying nothing valid could possibly come of the investigation. And it seems to lay the groundwork for either firing Mueller or a political clash over anything illegal Mueller does find." Read on.

... Mrs. McCrabbie: All this is not hardball politics. It's Mob, Inc. Trump got to the White House by using illegal methods & foreign intervention -- not just Russians but also British. Australian (Julian Assange) & Canadian (Christopher Wylie) operatives -- by lying non-stop about Hillary Clinton & himself, by shutting down potential "problems" like Stormy Daniels, with hush money & possibly with threats of bodily harm, & now he's using his lawyers & other toadies (JeffBo, Devin Nunes) to further his coup. Remember how the mistreatment of Hillary was used as a cover to fire Comey? Once again, in the McCabe firing, the Trump cabal is using the leak of info against Clinton in furtherance of its aims. Trump himself may not be smart enough to have masterminded all of the means to effect & further this coup, but he is nonetheless overseeing it.

Mrs. McCrabbie: On Friday, MSNBC legal analyst Jill Wine-Banks said that when Nixon began to threaten the Watergate special prosecutor (whom he eventually fired), members of the prosecutor's staff took home copies of documents to preserve them. I hope Mueller has a secret, huge, fireproof safe somewhere off-site where his staff is depositing copies of critical documents obtained during his investigation.

Adam Serwer of the Atlantic: Jeff "Sessions's reasoning [for firing Andy McCabe] is difficult to independently evaluate, because the underlying Inspector General's report outlining McCabe's conduct has yet to be released. But Matthew Miller, a former Justice Department spokesman under Attorney General Eric Holder, suggested that even if the cause was legitimate, Sessions's timing reflects political pressure from the president.... Michael Bromwich, McCabe's attorney, said in a statement that Trump's attacks on McCabe were 'quite clearly designed to put inappropriate pressure on the Attorney General to act accordingly.'... 'I think there's a substantial amount of evidence that this is the result of retaliation on the part of the Justice Department and the White House,' [Dave] Gomez[, a former FBI agent & cybersecurity fellow at GWU,] told me[,] 'While there might have been sufficient cause to fire him under FBI rules, the way it was done, [shortly] before retirement, smacks of a vindictive and retaliatory nature.'" ...

... Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "Andrew McCabe, formerly the deputy director of the FBI, has lawyered up. Michael Bromwich of the Bromwich Group confirmed to The Daily Beast that he is representing McCabe for the purposes of the matter that led to his firing.... Bromwich, who has been representing McCabe for several weeks, was formerly the inspector general of the Justice Department." ...

... Nathalie Baptiste of Mother Jones: "Democrats are laying into Donald Trump after he had Attorney General Jeff Sessions fire deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe late Friday night, only days before McCabe was set to retire with full benefits. While Trump considered it a victory, leaders on the other side of the aisle had harsh words for the president." Batiste cites several examples.

HUD Officials Scam the Faithful. Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "One of the top officials in Donald Trump's housing department runs an opaque religious charity with a colleague who resigned from the administration when the Guardian found he was accused of fraud and exaggerated his biography. Johnson Joy, the chief information officer at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (Hud), is part of a Christian not-for-profit in Texas with Naved Jafry, who quit as a Hud adviser after inquiries about his professional history. Until this week the group, GJH Global Ministries, invited donations on its website. But it was not clear what work the group did and its mission statements and other information appeared to be copied from those of major churches. GJH was formed in 2014 but Stephen Austin, one of its directors, said in a brief interview: 'We literally did nothing.' Following inquiries by the Guardian, GJH's website was locked from public view."

** Nuclear War Trump Card. Matthew Yglesias of Vox: "Secretary of Defense James Mattis is implicated in one of the largest business scandals of the past decades.... Theranos, led by CEO Elizabeth Holmes and president Ramesh 'Sunny' Balwani..., was founded on the promise of faster, cheaper, painless blood tests. But their technology was fake. Mattis not only served on Theranos's board ... but he earlier served as a key advocate of putting the company's [fake] technology ... to use inside the military while he was still serving as a general.... [A]ccepting six-figure checks to serve as a frontman for a con operation is the kind of thing that would normally count as a liability in American politics. But nobody wants to talk about it.... Everyone in Washington is more or less convinced that his presence in the Pentagon is the only thing standing between us and possible nuclear Armageddon. It's an absurd, intolerable situation, but that's life in America in 2018." --safari: Hangin' with Huckabee much, are we Mattis?

*****

Matt Apuzzo & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "Andrew G. McCabe, the former F.B.I. deputy director and a frequent target of President Trump's scorn, was fired Friday after Attorney General Jeff Sessions rejected an appeal that would have let him retire this weekend. Mr. McCabe promptly declared that his firing, and Mr. Trump's persistent needling, were intended to undermine the special counsel's investigation in which he is a potential witness. Mr. McCabe is accused in a yet-to-be-released internal report of failing to be forthcoming about a conversation he authorized between F.B.I. officials and a journalist. In a statement released late Friday, Mr. Sessions said that Mr. McCabe had shown a lack of candor under oath on multiple occasions." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: As Gloria pointed out yesterday, it is pretty rich for Sessions to fire somebody for "a lack of candor under oath," since Sessions himself is infamous for demonstrating "a lack of candor under oath." ...

... Elana Schor of Politico has much more on McCabe's remarks following his firing. ...

... Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed has both Sessions' & McCabe's full public statements. Also, Trump's tweets deriding McCabe. ...

... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "... lawyers say McCabe's legal options are few because most FBI employees have little legal recourse over attempts to punish them over alleged misconduct." Mrs. McC: I still think that when the POTUS* publicly targets a federal employee for clearly political purposes -- as Trump has repeatedly done -- that removes any pretense of an unbiased investigation & subsequent firing. Any reasonable person, given the circumstances, could conclude that Sessions fired McCabe to save his own job. I think a McCabe suit has a good chance of succeeding in a jury case. ...

Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI! -- Donald Trump, just after midnight this morning ...

David Atkins in the Washington Monthly: "That tweet will almost certainly be used against Trump both in a lawsuit by McCabe, and by Robert Mueller himself in the obstruction of justice indictment against the president. So why do it? Partly because Trump has no decency or self-control. But more than that, it was the aggressive warning shot of a temperamental raging bully trying to scare off any future enemies or betrayers. It was a message to any other federal employee of what might happen to them if they cooperate with the Mueller investigation. The same motivation applies to Trump's preposterous $20 million lawsuit against adult film actress Stormy Daniels.... Bullying is the only tactic Donald Trump knows. This behavior is incredibly commonplace for high-functioning sociopaths...." Mrs. McC: The difference between Trump & Putin is that Trump hits his foes -- real & imagined -- in the pocketbook & Putin offs them.

McCabe learned of firing from press release. -- Paula Reid, in a tweet (via Scott Lemieux)

Someone should remind the Trump administration and their enablers in the House GOP that Deep Throat was basically a pissed-off senior official at the FBI. -- Kevin Kruse, in a tweet (also via Lemieux)

Today in White House Job Opportunities

** AND the Leaker Is ... Donald Trump. Jonathan Swan of Axios: John "Kelly acknowledged to the reporters it's likely that Trump is talking to people outside the White House and that reporters are then talking to those people. Kelly cast Trump's own conversations as a significant contributing factor to stories about the staff changes. (Kelly was making the point that he's not around for a lot of Trump's conversations so can't be sure what he's telling people over the phone.)" Read the whole post. It's short, but scooplet-heavy. To reporters in an off-the-record session, Kelly defended everybody from Ben the Furniture Guy to Rod Rosenstein. ...

... Fer instance, "Kelly said $31,000 sounds like a lot of money [for a dining room set], but to put it in context he asked a reporter how much they think the chair they're sitting on costs. Kelly said it's probably worth hundreds of dollars but it will last a long time. He rationalized Carson's $31,000 outlay by saying the table could last for 80 or 100 years." ...

... Jonathan Chait: "Trump's administration isn't always big on long-term planning when it comes to things like climate change, where the 100-year picture is not exactly foremost on anybody's mind. But at least they're thinking long term about the executive dining needs of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Our grandchildren may lose some coastal cities we currently enjoy, but they can rest assured they will never need to fund another dining set for the HUD secretary." ...

... AND Other Things You Didn't Need to Read. Lachlan Markay & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: During the same off-the-record meeting with reporters, "Tillerson, Kelly told the room, was suffering from a stomach bug during a diplomatic swing through Africa, and was using a toilet when Kelly broke the news to him. Sources were stunned that, even in an off-record setting, Kelly would say this -- to a room filled with White House officials and political reporters -- about Tillerson, who does not officially leave the State Department until the end of the month. Kelly is routinely touted as one of the more mature members of Trump's top brass and has often been branded as one of the 'adults' in charge. The comment was especially bizarre given Kelly's reported past cover for Tillerson." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Strangely, this was Kelly covering his own diarrheaic ass. Numerous outlets have reported that Tillerson found out by Trumpentweet that he had been fired. Kelly made up the unforgettable toilet story to assert otherwise. Kelly is a more skilled liar than his boss. ...

... Eliana Johnson & Matthew Nussbaum of Politico: "... Donald Trump's national security adviser H.R. McMaster isn't getting fired, he's getting Tillersoned -- kept in a state of perpetual limbo about his future in the administration, aware that his unpredictable boss could keep him around indefinitely or terminate him at a moment's notice.... What's changed in recent days, according to a half-dozen White House aides and outside advisers familiar with the situation, is that White House chief-of-staff John Kelly has put increasing pressure on Trump to get rid of McMaster -- and that's made the president, who likes to be contrary and doesn't mind frustrating his advisers, increasingly resistant to making a change.... Kelly was upset, according to two senior administration officials, by Trump's decision to remove Tillerson this week, and has in turn resumed his efforts to sour Trump on McMaster."

Sam Stein, et al., of the Daily Beast: "This is the current state of: a presidency conducted like a reality show with no one quite certain of the script.... For embattled agency officials in particular, the unfolding drama has fed a sense that, when controversy flares, the West Wing is unhelpful at best and adversarial at worst.... Not everyone is convinced that the president is playing a game of three-dimensional chess as he lets his top aides and cabinet members wonder if they'll have a job in the coming day. 'To say what he is doing is mind games would be like calling a monkey throwing his feces art,' said [Dan] Pfeiffer], a former Obama aide]. 'I don't think he knows what he is doing.'" ...

... "Trump & Friends," the New Fox "News" Slapstick Series. James Hohmann of the Washington Post: "Trump ... is actively discussing Fox News contributor John Bolton as a potential successor [to H.R. McMaster]. A leading contender to replace Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is Pete Hegseth, the co-host of 'Fox and Friends Weekend.' The president named CNBC analyst and former host Larry Kudlow ... as his chief economic adviser on Wednesday. Heather Nauert, a former co-host of 'Fox and Friends,' got promoted on Monday from being a spokeswoman for the State Department to acting undersecretary of state.... Trump's plot to poach from green rooms is an additional proof point that validates two important themes I've written about: Trump has debased the value of expertise and supercharged the celebrification of American politics.... Foreign policy pros were aghast when Trump named K.T. McFarland [-- a former Fox 'News" host --] as his deputy national security adviser, [who was a disaster who also got caught up the Russia scandal].... Trump initially named another Fox talking head, Monica Crowley as the senior director of strategic communications for the NSC... [but she had to withdraw after CNN provided evidence of her proclivity for plagiarizing everything]." And so forth. See also Marvin S.'s & Akhilleus' commentary in yesterday's thread on this low-rated show. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: When everyone thought Trump would lose the White House, there was much speculation & some supporting reports that Trump would launch a teevee cable channel this year in lieu of the presidency. In fact, some surmised that Trump's entire candidacy was one painful promo for his new teevee network. As things turned out, we're getting TrumpTV anyway ... with consequences.

All the Best People, Ctd. Andrew Kaczynski & Nathan McDermott of CNN: "America First Policies, the nonprofit that works to promote Trump's agenda, announced Thursday that Carl Higbie would be joining the group to head advocacy.... Higbie, a former Navy SEAL, resigned from the Trump administration in January after a CNN KFile investigation found he made racist, sexist, anti-Muslim and anti-gay remarks on the radio. Higbie later apologized for his remarks on the radio." Mrs. McC: Maybe I should mention that Higbie regularly appears as a surrogate for Trump on Fox "News." Also, too, that Higbee's honorable discharge was reduced to "general," & he lost his top-secret clearance after he self-published a book about his SEAL experiences.

The Stormy Affair

Emma Brown & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "Michael Cohen, President Trump's personal attorney, claims he has the right to seek at least $20 million in damages from porn star Stormy Daniels for allegedly violating a nondisclosure agreement 20 times. A lawyer for Cohen's limited liability corporation, Essential Consultants, made the claim in papers filed in federal court Friday. Cohen also intends to force the dispute with Daniels, who alleges she was secretly paid to keep quiet about her affair with the president, out of the public eye and back into private arbitration, according to the court filing." ...

... Edvard Pettersson of Bloomberg: Cohen's "company moved the lawsuit, filed by Daniels last week in California state court against Trump, to federal court, saying that neither Daniels, Trump nor the LLC are California residents and the amount of damages exceeds the $75,000 limit for a case to proceed in state court. Trump supports the transfer of the case between courts, according to Essential Consultants' filing." (Open in private windows.) ...

... Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed: "... Donald Trump has joined the legal fight over whether a woman is bound by an agreement she signed in 2016 to keep quiet about their alleged affair.... Charles Harder, an attorney best known for representing Hulk Hogan in his legal fight against Gawker, filed a notice on behalf of Trump joining in the removal. 'Mr. Trump intends to join in EC's anticipated Petition to Compel Arbitration under the Arbitration Agreement,' he announced." ...

... Adam Rawnsley & Kate Briquelet of The Daily Beast: "Charles Harder, the attorney who destroyed Gawker, has joined President Trump's legal battle with Stormy Daniels. And, according to court papers, Trump wants at least $20 million in damages from the porn star and erotic dancer for breaking their deal and talking about their relationship." --safari

Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "Michael Avenatti, the lawyer representing porn actress Stephanie Clifford in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump, told TPM's 'Josh Marshall Podcast' on Friday that both he and Clifford, who uses the stage name Stormy Daniels, fear for their physical safety.... Avenatti would not go into detail on the nature of the threats.... However, Avenatti said that the intimidation Clifford has faced should be addressed in her upcoming '60 Minutes' interview, set to air March 25, and he indicated that he believes viewers will find the threats serious." --safari ...

... Adam Raymond of New York: "A lawyer for Stormy Daniels, the porn star who says she was paid $130,000 to stay quiet about an affair with Donald Trump, said on Morning Joe Friday that his client has been 'physically threatened' as a part of the effort to cover up her relationship with Trump. It was the second major revelation Friday morning by Michael Avenatti, who previously told CNN that six other women have approached him with stories about Trump similar to his client's." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

This Russia Thing, Ctd.

Linda Qiu of the New York Times: "President Trump has long avoided blaming -- or even naming -- Russia for meddling in the 2016 election that put him in office. But his administration has been far tougher on Moscow for cyberattacks that officials this week said not only sought to sway political opinions, but also wormed into power plants, aviation systems and other critical infrastructure in the United States and Europe. On Thursday, Mr. Trump was studiously silent as his administration imposed sanctions on Russia for interfering in the 2016 presidential campaign and what officials called other 'malicious cyberattacks.'... The Treasury Department said the sanctions were to punish 'Russia's continuing destabilizing activities.'... Last week, by contrast, Mr. Trump said that 'the Russians had no impact on our votes whatsoever.' 'But, certainly, there was meddling and probably there was meddling from other countries and maybe other individuals,' the president said at a March 6 news conference. This pattern of diversion has steadily increased since Mr. Trump took office. Here is a look back at how the president and his own administration have parted ways on Russia."

** David Edwards of RawStory: ""Felix Sater, one of Donald Trump's shadiest former business partners, is reportedly preparing for prison time -- and he says the president will be joining him behind bars. Sources told The Spectator's Paul Wood last year that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's deep dive into Trump's business practices may be yielding results. Trump recently made remarks that could point to a money laundering scheme, Wood reported. 'I mean it's possible there's a condo or something, so, you know, I sell a lot of condo units, and somebody from Russia buys a condo, who knows?' the president said. Sater, who has a long history of legal troubles and is cooperating with law enforcement, was one of the major player responsible for selling Trump's condos to the Russians. And according to Wood's sources, Sater may have already flipped and given prosecutors the evidence they need to make a case against Trump." --safari: The Spectator link is firewalled.

Kevin Johnson of USA Today: "The government is considering an unprecedented disclosure of parts of a controversial secret surveillance order that justified the monitoring of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. Responding to a legal challenge brought by USA Today and the James Madison Project, Justice Department lawyers Friday cast the ongoing review as 'novel, complex and time-consuming.' 'The government has never, in any litigation civil or criminal, processed FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) applications for release to the public,' Justice lawyers wrote in a five-page filing. The government's action comes in wake of a bitter political dispute in which a divided House Intelligence Committee, while conducting a review of Russia's interference in the 2016 election, seized on a 2016 order authorizing the surveillance of Page."

Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "Cambridge Analytica, the company who led data mining and analysis for the Trump campaign, has been suspended from using the Facebook social media platform for the misuse of personal information involving 270,000 people. 'We are suspending Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL), including their political data analytics firm, Cambridge Analytica, from Facebook,' Paul Grewal, the company's vice president and deputy general counsel, stated Friday. The statement said the action followed reports that all information was not deleted, following earlier revelations that 'a research app used by psychologists' had legitimately collected the data, a transfer of the data to SCL/Cambridge Analytica. Cambridge Analytica's work for the Trump campaign was overseen by Jared Kushner...." ...

    ... As Sean Illing of Vox explained late last month, Cambridge Analytica also is "intimately tied" to Brad Parscale, Trump's 2020 campaign manager. Besides Trump, Kushner & Parscale, the names Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn also pop up in this tangled web. Cambridge Analytica "has become a major focus of both the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Russian meddling in the election and special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.... Last December, Mueller requested that Cambridge Analytica turn over internal documents as part of his investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia" Mrs. McC: We can forget the House Intel Committee, unless Democrats prevail. Cambridge Analytica is partly owned by the righty-right-wing Mercer family. Anyway, I'm all surprised these companies would lie to Facebook.

Ryan Grim & Sam Biddle of The Intercept: "On Wednesday, House Democrats on the Intelligence Committee released a memo laying out the steps they would have taken had they been in charge of the Trump-Russia investigation -- and steps they may take if and when they gain subpoena power by taking over the House of Representatives in November.... Down on Page 20 of the memo is a pair of ideas that could put Congress on a collision course with privacy advocates in Silicon Valley.... The committee said that it would also seek to find out 'all messaging applications that [Jared] Kushner used during the campaign as well as the presidential transition....' The committee may also consider adding ProtonMail, the encrypted email service, to that list. One White House staffer, Ryan P. McAvoy, jotted his ProtonMail passwords and his address on a piece of White House stationary and left it at a bus stop near the White House." --safari

Cleta Got Her Guns. Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "A former lawyer for the National Rifle Association says she's 'totally outraged' over a report that she expressed concerns about the gun group's ties to Russia and possible use of Russian money to help Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. In a Friday email to TPM, Cleta Mitchell, a longtime conservative lawyer and former NRA board member, came out swinging against McClatchy's report that congressional investigators have learned she was worried about the Russian links.... Mitchell, a veteran conservative election lawyer who played a key role in stoking the IRS 'scandal' under the Obama administration, blamed 'scumbags' on 'the left,' namely the House Intelligence Committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), and the press for raising questions about reported ties between the NRA and Russia." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

This Is the Week that Was:

Ryan Koronowski of Think Progress: "[In Puerto Rico] people are still dying, in 2018, from causes that are directly related to the storm's impacts -- largely a lack of access to electricity. Many lack access to permanent shelter and potable water. Almost 10 percent of the island, according to the official status page, remains unpowered as of March 15. The island's population is about 3.3 million, which translates to about 300,000 people still without power.... It's by far the longest blackout in U.S. history.... Trump gave himself a 10 out of 10 on storm response." --safari

First, Shoot All the Elephants. Michael Biesecker, et al., of the AP: "A new U.S. advisory board created to help rewrite federal rules for importing the heads and hides of African elephants, lions and rhinos is stacked with trophy hunters, including some members with direct ties to ... Donald Trump and his family. A review by The Associated Press of the backgrounds and social media posts of the 16 board members appointed by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke indicates they will agree with his position that the best way to protect critically threatened or endangered species is by encouraging wealthy Americans to shoot some of them.... Appointees include celebrity hunting guides, representatives from rifle and bow manufacturers, and wealthy sportspeople who boast of bagging the coveted 'Big Five' — elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and Cape buffalo." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Sean Lahman, et al., of the (Rochester, N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle: "Rep. Louise Slaughter, a Democrat who represented the Rochester area in Congress since 1987, died Friday morning in a Washington, DC, hospital. She was 88.... Slaughter fell at her Washington residence last week and was taken to George Washington University Hospital to receive treatment and monitoring for a concussion. Slaughter was recognized as a fierce legislator who blazed trails for other women to enter politics." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Slaughter's Washington Post obituary is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "Republicans and Democrats praised Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-N.Y.) as a trailblazer and a dynamic leader after she died early Friday of injuries from a fall at her home last week. The 88-year old was the oldest member of Congress, dean of New York's House delegation and the first woman to chair the powerful Rules Committee, which determines which bills are considered by the full House. She remained the panel's top Democrat until her death.... House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) ordered flags above the Capitol to be lowered to half-staff in memory of Slaughter."

Tatyana Bellamy-Walker of The Daily Beast: "Three students in a rural part of Arkansas have allegedly been smacked [i.e. paddled] for participating in Wednesday's national walkout protesting against gun violence. Despite that drastic punishment, one student's mother, Jerusalem J. Greer, applauded her son and the other students at Greenbrier Public School for their defiant protest.... 'My kid and two other students walked out of their rural, very conservative, public school for 17 minutes today,' Greer wrote on Twitter. 'They were given two punishment options. They chose corporal punishment. This generation is not playing around.'... While 31 states across the U.S. have banned corporal punishment, four years ago The Washington Post reported that 19 states still allow administrators to hit students." --safari

Beyond the Beltway

Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "An engineer reported cracks on a newly installed pedestrian bridge two days before it collapsed on a busy roadway here, killing at least six people, state officials said on Friday. The report, by the lead engineer with the company in charge of the bridge's design, was made in a voice mail message for a Florida Department of Transportation employee. That employee was out of the office, however, and did not receive it until Friday, a day after the collapse. The cracking was on the north end of the span, according to the message, but the company did not consider it a safety concern, according to a transcript released by the transportation department."

Meet Your GOP. Steve Collins of the (Lewiston, Maine,) Sun Journal: "Controversial Republican candidate Leslie Gibson [R-Maine] is abandoning his effort to win a state House seat this year. 'I am not walking away with my head hung low. I am walking away with my head held high,' Gibson said Friday.... Gibson has been under fire this week for comments he made online about teens in Florida who survived a school shooting in Parkland." --safari: This lowlife shit stain called Emma Gonzalez a "skinhead lesbian", but the Sun Journal could[n't] bring itself to mention that.

Congressioal Elections. Running Scared. Kira Lerner of Think Progress: "Georgia Republicans are advancing a bill through the state legislature that would suppress African-American turnout by eliminating Sunday voting and cutting the hours that polls are open in Atlanta. The bill, SB 363, would force polls in the majority African American city of Atlanta to close an hour earlier -- 7 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. -- and would eliminate early voting on the Sunday before Election Day. That Sunday is often a high-turnout day for African American voters because of Souls to the Polls events that encourage people to cast ballots early after attending church." --safari

Ian Shapira of the Washington Post: "A black man brutally beaten at last year’s 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville — and who was later charged with assaulting a white nationalist -- was acquitted Friday. DeAndre Harris, 20, a former special education instructional assistant, was found not guilty by Charlottesville General District Court Judge Robert Downer Jr. on a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery against Harold Crews, a North Carolina lawyer and state chairman of the self-described white nationalist group League of the South.... Harris ... was beaten inside a parking garage next to the city's police department on Aug. 12, 2017. He suffered a spinal injury and head lacerations that required 10 stitches."

Way Beyond

David Herszenhorn of Politico: "Russia hit back at the U.K. on Saturday, ejecting 23 British diplomats and ordering the closure of the British consulate in St. Petersburg. Moscow was retaliating against punitive measures taken by Prime Minister Theresa May and her accusations that Russia used a nerve agent to try to kill a former spy in England.... May announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats who she said were actually intelligence operatives on Wednesday...."

Robert Booth, et al., of the Guardian: "Police have launched a murder investigation into the death of the Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov after a pathologist concluded he died from compression to the neck, suggesting he may have been strangled by hand or ligature. The Met police's counter-terrorism command is retaining its lead role in the investigation 'because of the associations Mr Glushkov is believed to have had' but has cautioned that there is no suggestion of a link with the attempted murders of the Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia in Salisbury almost two weeks ago. At the time of his death, Glushkov was about to defend a claim against him by the Russian airline Aeroflot at the commercial court in London, where he was accused of fraud." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Commentariat -- March 16, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Sean Lahman, et al., of the (Rochester, N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle: "Rep. Louise Slaughter, a Democrat who represented the Rochester area in Congress since 1987, died Friday morning in a Washington, DC, hospital. She was 88.... Slaughter fell at her Washington residence last week and was taken to George Washington University Hospital to receive treatment and monitoring for a concussion. Slaughter was recognized as a fierce legislator who blazed trails for other women to enter politics." ...

     ... Slaughter's Washington Post obituary is here.

"Trump & Friends," the New Fox "News" Slapstick Series. James Hohmann of the Washington Post: "Trump ... is actively discussing Fox News contributor John Bolton as a potential successor [to H.R. McMaster]. A leading contender to replace Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is Pete Hegseth, the co-host of 'Fox and Friends Weekend.' The president named CNBC analyst and former host Larry Kudlow ... as his chief economic adviser on Wednesday. Heather Nauert, a former co-host of 'Fox and Friends,' got promoted on Monday from being a spokeswoman for the State Department to acting undersecretary of state.... Trump's plot to poach from green rooms is an additional proof point that validates two important themes I've written about: Trump has debased the value of expertise and supercharged the celebrification of American politics.... Foreign policy pros were aghast when Trump named K.T. McFarland [-- a former Fox 'News" host --] as his deputy national security adviser, [who was a disaster who also got caught up the Russia scandal].... Trump initially named another Fox talking head, Monica Crowley as the senior director of strategic communications for the NSC... [but she had to withdraw after CNN provided evidence of her proclivity for plagiarizing everything]." And so forth. See also Marvin S.'s & Akhilleus' commentary in today's thead on this low-rated show.

First, Shoot All the Elephants. Michael Biesecker, et al., of the AP: "A new U.S. advisory board created to help rewrite federal rules for importing the heads and hides of African elephants, lions and rhinos is stacked with trophy hunters, including some members with direct ties to ... Donald Trump and his family. A review by The Associated Press of the backgrounds and social media posts of the 16 board members appointed by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke indicates they will agree with his position that the best way to protect critically threatened or endangered species is by encouraging wealthy Americans to shoot some of them.... Appointees include celebrity hunting guides, representatives from rifle and bow manufacturers, and wealthy sportspeople who boast of bagging the coveted 'Big Five' -- elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and Cape buffalo."

Adam Raymond of New York: "A lawyer for Stormy Daniels, the porn star who says she was paid $130,000 to stay quiet about an affair with Donald Trump, said on Morning Joe Friday that his client has been 'physically threatened' as a part of the effort to cover up her relationship with Trump. It was the second major revelation Friday morning by Michael Avenatti, who previously told CNN that six other women have approached him with stories about Trump similar to his client's."

Cleta Got Her Guns. Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "A former lawyer for the National Rifle Association says she's 'totally outraged' over a report that she expressed concerns about the gun group's ties to Russia and possible use of Russian money to help Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. In a Friday email to TPM, Cleta Mitchell, a longtime conservative lawyer and former NRA board member, came out swinging against McClatchy’s report that congressional investigators have learned she was worried about the Russian links.... Mitchell, a veteran conservative election lawyer who played a key role in stoking the IRS 'scandal' under the Obama administration, blamed 'scumbags' on 'the left,' namely the House Intelligence Committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), and the press for raising questions about reported ties between the NRA and Russia."

Robert Booth, et al., of the Guardian: "Police have launched a murder investigation into the death of the Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov after a pathologist concluded he died from compression to the neck, suggesting he may have been strangled by hand or ligature. The Met police's counter-terrorism command is retaining its lead role in the investigation 'because of the associations Mr Glushkov is believed to have had' but has cautioned that there is no suggestion of a link with the attempted murders of the Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury almost two weeks ago. At the time of his death, Glushkov was about to defend a claim against him by the Russian airline Aeroflot at the commercial court in >London, where he was accused of fraud."

*****

Today in Federal Employment News:

Who Says Bullies Don't Have a Sense of Humor? Zeke Miller of the AP: "... Donald Trump consumed Thursday morning's TV headlines with amusement. Reports of tumult in the administration were at a feverish pitch -- even on his beloved Fox News -- as the president reflected on the latest staff departures during an Oval Office conversation with Vice President Mike Pence and Chief of Staff John Kelly. With a laugh, Trump said: 'Who's next?'" Mrs. McC: Ha ha. If I worked in the West Wing & read this, I'd quietly pack up my things, don my jacket, walk out & snail-mail my polite resignation letter to the Joker.

Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump has decided to remove H.R. McMaster as his national security adviser and is actively discussing potential replacements, according to five people with knowledge of the plans, preparing to deliver yet another jolt to the senior ranks of his administration. Trump is now comfortable with ousting McMaster, with whom he never personally gelled, but is willing to take time executing the move because he wants to ensure both that the three-star Army general is not humiliated and that there is a strong successor lined up, these people said. The turbulence is part of a broader potential shake-up under consideration by Trump that is likely to include senior officials at the White House, where staffers are gripped by fear and un­certainty as they await the next move from an impulsive president who enjoys stoking conflict.... The mood inside the White House in recent days has verged on mania, as Trump increasingly keeps his own counsel and senior aides struggle to determine the gradations between rumor and truth. At times, they say, they are anxious and nervous, wondering what each new headline may mean for them personally." ...

     ... Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC reports that Sarah Sanders has tweeted that McMaster has not been fired. BUT the Wall Street Journal, according to O'Donnell, has confirmed that Trump has told John Kelly that McMaster is out. ...

... Michael Shear & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "In his first full cabinet meeting last June, President Trump invited a chorus of gushing praise from his top aides by boasting that he had assembled a 'phenomenal team of people, a great group of talent.' But in the nine months since then, Mr. Trump has fired or forced out a half-dozen of the 'incredible, talented' people in the Cabinet Room that day: his secretaries of state and health, along with his chief strategist, his chief of staff, his top economic aide and his press secretary. And the purge at the top may not be over. Mr. Trump, who is famously fickle, appears to have soured on additional members of his senior leadership team.... 'There will always be change. I think you want to see change,' Mr. Trump said, ominously, on Thursday. 'I want to also see different ideas.'" ...

... Marc Fisher of the Washington Post: "Although the number of [Trump administration] departures is unusual, the biggest change in how Washington operates is the way in which Trump has gone about swapping out personnel. Tillerson learned that he was being fired via a presidential tweet. FBI Director James B. Comey found out he was sacked last year by seeing a headline on cable news. Last summer, chief of staff Reince Priebus;s White House career ended when other top officials hopped out of the black Suburban SUV that was carrying them from Air Force One back to Washington, leaving Priebus the lone passenger in a vehicle that then peeled out of the president's motorcade. In these and many other cases over the first 14 months of Trump's administration, there was no 'You're fired' moment, at least not from the president. Presidents often outsource the unseemly business of firing people to their chief of staff, but 'what's really unusual about this president is the public humiliations,' said Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, who studies presidential transitions at the Brookings Institution." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Carol Leonnig & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump's personal assistant, John McEntee, lost his White House job this week because an investigation found he was a frequent gambler whose habit posed a security risk, according to two people familiar with his departure. A background investigation found that McEntee bet tens of thousands of dollars at a time, making him unsuitable for a sensitive position close to the president, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. There was no indication his gambling was illegal, but there was concern that the 27-year-old could be vulnerable to outside influence, the person said." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Yes, but how did McEntee get his job in the first place? Oh, he "... worked as a production assistant at Fox News. He joined the Trump campaign as a volunteer in July 2015 after doggedly writing to the campaign's website asking for a job. When no one responded, he offered to take a position responding to website email, according to Trump advisers."

Karoun Demirjian & Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "Two top House Democrats said Thursday that they have proof the Trump administration engaged in an intentional effort to rid the State Department of career officials they suspected of being 'disloyal' to President Trump, citing documents a whistleblower gave to the panel. The ranking Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs and Oversight [Elijah Cummings (D-Md.)] and Government Reform [Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.)] committees sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, writing that they received documents 'indicating that high-level officials at the White House and State Department worked with a network of conservative activists to conduct a "cleaning" of employees they believed were not sufficiently "supportive" of President Trump's agenda.'"

Adele Stan of the American Progress reckons the reason Trump plans to promote Mike Pompeo to secretary of state is Pompeo's connection to (and massive campaign contributions from) the Koch brothers. "So now, we're about to have a secretary of state who denies the role of human activity in climate change, which is just as the Koch brothers, who rule over a conglomerate rooted in fossil fuels, would have it. And Trump just bought himself that much more insulation against any possibility of a Republican-majority House of Representatives turning on him."

Emily Atkin of the New Republic: "Trump's frustration with [Jeff] Sessions isn't a new development, nor is the rumor that [Scott] Pruitt could be his replacement. In January, Politico reported that Pruitt 'told friends and associates that he's interested i becoming attorney general,' a report the EPA swiftly denied. For nearly a year, speculation has swirled that Pruitt has political ambitions beyond the EPA. What's new is the belief that Pruitt himself started the rumor about replacing Sessions. On Thursday, The Atlantic's Elaina Plott tweeted that she heard as much from 'EPA sources.' Axios' Jonathan Swan followed up, saying the 'conventional wisdom' at the White House is that Pruitt is spreading the rumor about himself."

This Russia Thing, Ctd.

Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has subpoenaed the Trump Organization to turn over documents, including some related to Russia, according to two people briefed on the matter. The order is the first known time that the special counsel demanded documents directly related to President Trump's businesses, bringing the investigation closer to the president.... The subpoena is the latest indication that the investigation, which Mr. Trump's lawyers once regularly assured him would be completed by now, will drag on for at least several more months. Word of the subpoena comes as Mr. Mueller appears to be broadening his investigation to examine the role foreign money may have played in funding Mr. Trump's political activities.... Mr. Mueller could run afoul of a red line the president has warned him not to cross." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Cristian Farias of New York: "... it wouldn't be surprising if Mueller is interested in specific sensitive records related to Trump's long-held desire to grow his real-estate empire in Moscow. Mueller's team has already asked witnesses about those plans -- among them Felix Sater, an estranged Trump associate who knows better than most about the president's interest in Russia.... Unlike a sit-down with Trump, which Mueller is still trying to negotiate with his legal team, subpoenas are nonnegotiable and extremely hard to quash." ...

... Judd Legum of ThinkProgress: "One way to get a sense of the White House reaction to [news of the Mueller subpoena] is to turn on Fox News.... Immediately after the report, Fox News turned to its chief intelligence correspondent, Catherine Herridge. 'Every time Mr. Mueller goes beyond [his] mandate, Herridge said, 'it's not like he's a rogue actor. He has to get the permission of the deputy attorney general. What we know is that he's had Rod Rosenstein's permission to go beyond that original mandate....'... Hugh Hewitt, a conservative pundit with close ties to the administration, also used the New York Times report as a way to attack Rosenstein and suggest [in a tweet] Trump should fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions." ...

     ... Flying too Close to the Sun. Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: The great irony of Trump's presidency is that for decades Trump has gotten away with activity worthy of a mob boss, & it was his becoming president that will bring that illegal activity into the light & will likely finally undo him. The subpoena, which was issued "in recent weeks," kinda explains Trump's recent surge of erratic behavior. It also explains why Devin Nunes' committee rolled out its fake "no collusion" report, likely at Trump's urging. ...

... Which Makes This Report Hilarious. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "House Republicans are privately venting that they've fumbled the release of their own Russia probe report. The blaring headline the GOP wanted from this week's rollout was clear: After a year of searching, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee found no evidence that ... Donald Trump or his associates aided Moscow's scheme to interfere in the 2016 election but that the nation must still prepare for another assault from the Kremlin. Instead, much of the focus has been on lawmakers' startling conclusion that the nation's intelligence agencies botched their analysis when they determined Russia wanted Trump to defeat Hillary Clinton.... The muddled messaging was the subject of a closed-door meeting of committee Republicans on Wednesday.... Speaker Paul Ryan's office also felt compelled to intervene as Republicans offered increasingly scattershot responses in interviews, with some more eager to criticize the agencies than others." ...

... There's This. Stephanie Kirchgaessner of the Guardian: "Donald Trump's private company was 'actively negotiating' a business deal in Moscow with a sanctioned Russian bank during the 2016 election campaign, according to a memo by Democratic lawmakers investigating possible collusion between the campaign and the Kremlin. The statement by Democrats on the House intelligence committee, who have had access to internal Trump Organization documents and interviewed key witnesses, raises new questions about the Trump Organization's financial ties to Russia and its possible willingness to deal with a bank that had been placed under US sanctions. Trump has personally denied that he ever had business dealings with Russia. In a tweet that was published shortly before his 2016 inauguration, he said he had 'nothing to do with Russia -- no deals, no loans, no nothing'. But doubts about the veracity of that statement began to emerge last August, when the New York Times published emails from a longtime business associate of Trump called Felix Sater, who boasted that he had lined up financing for a Trump Tower in Moscow with VTB Bank, which is under US sanctions." ...

... AND This. Peter Stone & Greg Gordon of McClatchy News: "Congressional investigators have learned that a longtime attorney for the National Rifle Association expressed concerns about the group's ties to Russia and possible involvement in channeling Russian money into the 2016 elections to help Donald Trump, two sources familiar with the matter say. Cleta Mitchell, a former NRA board member who has done legal work for the organization, is on a newly disclosed list of people whom Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee are seeking to interview. Democratic investigators for that committee's Senate counterpart also are interested in what she may know about relationships between the NRA or its allies and wealthy Russians, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.... Mitchell's name surfaced after House Republicans announced this week they were ending the panel's year-old investigation into Russia's meddling, which had been plagued by months of partisan friction.... Angry Democrats responded by issuing a wide-ranging, 21-page status report on Tuesday laying out areas of inquiry that were short-circuited by the majority's decision.... Mitchell was among more than two dozen people the Democrats said they would like to interview...."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump's administration imposed sanctions on a series of Russian organizations and individuals on Thursday in retaliation for interference in the 2016 presidential elections and other 'malicious' cyberattacks. It was the most significant action taken against Moscow since Mr. Trump took office. The sanctions came at the same time the Trump administration joined a collective statement with Britain, France and Germany on Thursday denouncing Russia for its apparent role in a nerve gas attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter on British soil, calling it a 'clear violation' of international law. But the statement included no joint action in response. The American sanctions announced on Thursday targeted many of the same Russian organizations and operatives identified by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, in an indictment that outlined an audacious attempt to spread disinformation and propaganda to disrupt American democracy and, eventually, influence the vote on behalf of Mr. Trump. The sanctions also responded to other cyberattacks, including a previously undisclosed attempt to penetrate the American energy grid." Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made the announcement. Mrs. McC: No word from Donaldovich. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Rachel Maddow had a very good segment that puts this move in context:

... Andrew Desiderio of the Daily Beast: "Administration officials holding a conference call on Thursday demurred when asked whether the president himself would directly address efforts to counter Russian election-meddling in particular, on which Trump has repeatedly cast doubt. 'I'm not in any way qualified' to predict the president's public position, one official remarked.... But the fact that the Trump administration has now included these targets among its sanctions lists complicates efforts to discredit the Mueller probe -- an argument Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made in a statement Thursday. 'The fact that the administration has issued sanctions against individuals and entities indicted by Special Counsel Mueller proves that his investigation is not a "witch hunt" as the president and his allies have claimed,' Schumer said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Karla Adam & Matthew Bodner of the Washington Post: "The United States and two major European allies on Thursday formally backed Britain's claims of likely Russian links to a chemical toxin attack against a former spy, calling it the 'first offensive use of a nerve agent' in Europe since World War II. The joint statement from the leaders of France, Germany, the United States and Britain signaled another step in mounting international pressure on Russia over apparent ties to the assault. The statement said the four nations shared the view of British investigators of Russian ties to last week's attack against a former double agent and his daughter[.] There was no 'plausible alternative explanation,' the statement added, noting that Russia's 'failure to address the legitimate request by the U.K. government further underlines its responsibility.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Mrs. McC: And not a word from our top Putin puppet.

Nicole Perlroth & David Sanger of the New York Times: "The Trump administration accused Russia on Thursday of engineering a series of cyberattacks that targeted American and European nuclear power plants and water and electric systems, and could have sabotaged or shut power plants off at will. United States officials and private security firms saw the attacks as a signal by Moscow that it could disrupt the West's critical facilities in the event of a conflict. They said the strikes accelerated in late 2015, at the same time the Russian interference in the American election was underway. The attackers had successfully compromised some operators in North America and Europe by spring 2017, after President Trump was inaugurated. In the following months, according to a Department of Homeland Security report issued on Thursday, Russian hackers made their way to machines with access to critical control systems at power plants that were not identified. The hackers never went so far as to sabotage or shut down the computer systems that guide the operations of the plants. Still, new computer screenshots released by the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday made clear that Russian state hackers had the foothold they would have needed to manipulate or shut down power plants." Mrs. McC: And no word from Trumpskyev himself.

Dan Diamond of Politico: "The Trump administration is finalizing a long-awaited plan that it says will solve the opioid crisis, but it also calls for law enforcement measures -- like the death penalty for some drug dealers -- that public health advocates and congressional Republicans warn will detract from efforts to reverse the epidemic. The ambitious plan, which the White House has quietly been circulating among political appointees this month, could be announced as soon as Monday when ... Donald Trump visits New Hampshire, a state hard hit by the epidemic. It includes a mix of prevention and treatment measures that advocates have long endorsed, as well as beefed-up enforcement in line with the president's frequent calls for a harsh crackdown on drug traffickers and dealers."

Trump Doubles Down on His Lie to Trudeau. Julie Davis of the New York Times: In a tweet, "President Trump repeated on Thursday his false assertion that the United States runs a trade deficit with Canada, the morning after privately telling Republican donors that he had deliberately insisted on that claim in a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada without knowing whether it was true. Mr. Trump's private admission to having a loose grasp of the facts and his public refusal to back down from the incorrect statement -- the United States has an overall surplus in trade with Canada -- were vivid illustrations of the president's cavalier attitude about the truth, and a reminder of how that approach has taken hold at the White House. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said Mr. Trump had chosen his figures selectively in the conversation with Mr. Trudeau and in a subsequent Twitter post that repeated the claim. The president was referring only to the trade of goods, Ms. Sanders said, which ignores the larger trade surplus in services the United States exports to Canada. And in a briefing with reporters, she acknowledged that Mr. Trump had fabricated an anecdote he told the donors about unfair trading practices --- Japanese officials, he claimed, conduct a test on American cars by dropping a bowling ball on their hoods from 20 feet high, and those that dent are barred from being imported." Sanders said he was "joking." ...

Steve M. is not impressed with Trump's lie to Justin Trudeau (story linked below): "... I think Trump would dispute the notion that he 'made up information.' Yes, he admitted he 'didn't even know' what the U.S.-Canada trade balance is. But to Trump, that doesn't mean he was making stuff up.... Trump doesn't need facts -- he inevitably grasps the truth because, as he never tires of telling us, he has a very high IQ[.]... So of course he was right. And he was right without checking first. In fact, if you have to bone up before a trade meeting with another head of state, that proves you have a lower IQ than Trump, and therefore you have genes that are inferior to his!" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "What we have is a president who is publicly bragging about the fact that, in a meeting with a foreign head of state, he was (1) ignorant about our trade relationship and, (2) he made up a lie.... Trump's remarks ... this tell us a lot about why he lies so much. The first thing to note is the fact that he went in to that meeting with Trudeau completely ignorant of the facts. That confirms a lot of what we've learned about him: he isn't simply ignorant, he's not the least bit interested in knowing the facts.... He isn't merely shameless, he thinks there is some value in not knowing what he's talking about and simply making things up.... He bragged about this episode [Wednesday] night because he thinks it makes him look tough and Trudeau weak.... According to the Washington Post report on this speech, the president went on to denigrate almost all of this country's allies.... He thinks that berating our allies makes him look tough.... Nothing -- absolutely nothing -- matters to Donald Trump other than clinging to the idea that he is winning via dominance. He will bully, lie, cheat or steal in order to fulfill that delusion." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: LeTourneau has it right. And Trump thinks you & are dimwitted, loser weaklings because we rely on facts to form our "theories," as Steve M. calls them. If we discover we've made a factual error, we do "weak" things, like apologize and/or change our "theories" to adapt to our corrected knowledge base. This is another reason Trump admires dictators. They spew propaganda & order everyone to accept their lies.

Gossip Page. Matthew Haag & Jacey Fortin of the New York Times: "Vanessa Haydon Trump, the wife of President Trump's oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., filed for divorce on Thursday afternoon in a Manhattan court. Ms. Trump, 40, is seeking an uncontested divorce to end her 12-year marriage with the president's son.... The New York Post first reported the divorce filing on Thursday." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I am so looking forward to news reports about whom Junior is dating. He's a classy guy. According the the Times report above, "At the time of their engagement, Mr. Trump accepted a ring from the Bailey Banks & Biddle jewelry store in Short Hills, N.J., in exchange for publicity, recreating his proposal in a New Jersey mall." Everything is commercial.

Your Tax Dollars at Work. Gabrielle Bluestone of Vice News: A "report, compiled by the nonpartisan ethics watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), relies on documents that show that [Treasury Secretary Steven] Mnuchin used military jets for at least seven separate trips last year, which cost taxpayers almost $1 million. Those trips would have cost less than $25,000 in total on commercial flights, according to analysis from the New York Times. 'The public still has no reasonable explanation for why Secretary Mnuchin apparently has never used commercial aircraft while his predecessors did, or why he needs military aircraft that can accommodate 120 passengers when his travel manifests contain far fewer names,' CREW attorney Anne Weismann said in a statement. An investigation by the Treasury Department's Office of Inspector General concluded in October that Mnuchin had not violated any laws but did note a 'disconnect between the standard of proof' required to use military jets for travel 'and the actual amount of proof provided by Treasury and accepted by the White House in justifying these trip requests.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'd like to know what these military jets are like. According to reports, the jets Mnuchin & Lady Mnuchin took were "the military version of a Gulfstream 550." I think of military jets as very bare-bones, but since private Gulfstream jets are handsomely-appointed, I assume the military planes have similar luxury interiors. If anybody knows better, let us know. Update: Patrick says my assumption is right. So the plane the Mnuchins take at our expense is more like this --

... than this --

All the Best People, Ctd. Jon Swaine of the Guardian: Naved "Jafry, 38, said he had resigned from his position with Hud after the Guardian asked him to explain multiple allegations of fraud as well as exaggerations in his biography. Jafry, who has also been known by Jafari and Jafri, apologised for inflating his military record but denied making other false claims. He said he resigned because the Guardian's questions tarnished his reputation inside Hud. 'You and I both know we live in the world of opinion and facts merging together,' he said." Mrs. McC: Yes, we all do know that. AND "exaggerations" is an understatement. As for Jafry's lies about his U.S. military service, he might be subject to federal prosecution.

Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on Thursday made a final pitch to the Justice Department about why he should not be fired just 72 hours before his retirement, leaving Attorney General Jeff Sessions to decide the matter with a deadline rapidly approaching. McCabe arrived at the Justice Department about 1 p.m. McCabe did not meet with Sessions, who was traveling Thursday, but with other senior officials, including Scott Schools, the most senior career attorney in the department. He arrived around 1 p.m. and departed four hours later." (An earlier version was linked yesterday afternoon.)

Paul Krugman: "There's no mystery about the Republican agenda. For at least the past 40 years, the G.O.P.'s central policy goal has been upward redistribution of income: lower taxes for the wealthy, big cuts in programs that help the poor and the middle class. We've seen that agenda at work in the policies of every Republican president from Reagan to Trump, every budget proposal from party stars like Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House.... The party has mastered the tactics of bait and switch: pretending to stand for one thing, then doing something quite different in office. But if special elections in the Trump era are any indication, voters are wising up. Rick Saccone, the Republican candidate in a deep-red Pennsylvania congressional district that Trump won by almost 20 points, tried not one, not two, but three different bait-and-switch strategies. And on Tuesday he still seems to have suffered a hair-thin defeat."

Congressional Race. Natasha Korecki of Politico: "A campaign mailer from a super PAC backing [Chicago Democrat Dan] Lipinski ... featured a photo of [Barack Obama] on one side, and the words, 'Known for Leading.' The flip side offered a picture of Democratic opponent Marie Newman under the headline, 'Known for Misleading.' The idea that Lipinski -- who voted against the Affordable Care Act, Obama's signature achievement, and declined to endorse Obama's reelection in 2012 -- would try to use the former president's image resurrected such deep feelings of betrayal that the group of former staffers and supporters quickly assembled for a news conference to call out the congressman for what they called hypocrisy.... Over Twitter on Wednesday night, former Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod called the move 'galling.'... [Ten] former aides and volunteers stood in Axelrod's old offices for the Thursday news conference ... [and] recounted the difficulties of corralling enough votes to pass the Affordable Care Act eight years ago -- and lamented that Lipinski was the only Illinois Democrat to vote against it.... [Lipinski's] campaign on Thursday said it had nothing to do with the mailer."

Tara Bernard of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court ruled on Thursday that the Department of Labor overstepped its authority when it wrote a rule that required financial professionals, including brokers and insurance agents, to put their customers' financial interests ahead of their own. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned a lower court's ruling in a 2-to-1 decision siding with the plaintiffs, which include several groups representing the financial services industry." Mrs. McC: Yes, because financial advisors are supposed to rip off their customers. Thanks, Fifth Circuit!

Beyond the Beltway

What a Surprise. Ryan Lenz of the Southern Poverty Law Center: "Stewart Rhodes, the head of the antigovernment Oath Keepers, will frequently threaten himself and his family with a weapon he always carries, and he has a history of violent outbursts against his family, including an incident in 2016 when he choked his teenage daughter by the throat. That history was outlined in a sworn petition Rhodes' wife, Tosha Vonn Adams Rhodes, filed last month in a Lincoln County, Montana, court room asking for a temporary protective order against her husband."

One Sick Family. Andy Shain of the Charleston, S.C., Post & Courier: "The sister of Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof was arrested Wednesday for carrying weapons at her affluent Columbia-area high school, authorities said. Morgan Roof, 18, also was charged with simple possession of marijuana, the Richland County Sheriff's Department said. An administrator at A.C. Flora High School alerted a school resource officer about a student having pepper spray and a knife and making a Snapchat post that alarmed the campus. The incident took place on a same day when thousands of students nationwide walked out of schools to protest gun violence.... [Morgan's Snapchat] post read: 'Your (sic) walking out for the allowed time of 17min, They are letting you do this, nothing is going to change what (the expletive) you think it's gonna do? I hope it's a trap and y'all get shot we know it's fixing to be nothing but black people walkin out anyway.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michael Cooper of the New York Times: "The conductor James Levine sued the Metropolitan Opera for breach of contract and defamation on Thursday, three days after the company he defined for more than four decades fired him when an investigation found he had 'engaged in sexually abusive and harassing conduct.' The lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court, states that Mr. Levine 'has clearly and unequivocally denied any wrongdoing in connection with those allegations,' and paints his firing as a result of an effort by the Met's general manager, Peter Gelb, 'to oust Levine from the Met and completely erase his legacy from the organization.'"

Way Beyond

Saudi Family Values. Carol Lee & Courtney Kube of NBC News: "When Saudi Arabia's crown prince visits the White House next week, he's expected to be welcomed as a reformer who's expanded women's rights in one of the most restrictive countries in the world, allowing them to drive and attend sports events. Yet ... fourteen current and former senior U.S. officials told NBC News that intelligence shows Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- often referred to by his initials MBS -- blocked his mother from seeing his father, King Salman, more than two years ago and has kept her away from him as the young prince rapidly amassed power. Prince Mohammed, a key ally of the Trump White House, has concocted various explanations of his mother's whereabouts.... U.S. officials interviewed for this story believe, based on several years of intelligence, that MBS took action against his mother because he was concerned that she opposed his plans for a power grab that could divide the royal family and might use her influence with the king to prevent it. The officials said MBS placed his mother under house arrest at least for some time at a palace in Saudi Arabia, without the king's knowledge.... Donald Trump defended the Saudi government for 'harshly treating' those who were imprisoned as part of the effort." (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

New York Times: "An American military helicopter crashed Thursday near the city of Qaim in western Iraq, killing some of the seven service members aboard, United States officials said. It was unclear why the aircraft, an HH-60 Pave Hawk, went down, the officials added. They did not rule out ground fire, and they could not confirm how many people had been killed. One official said the helicopter was not on a combat operation but was ferrying troops."

Ides of March 2018

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has subpoenaed the Trump Organization to turn over documents, including some related to Russia, according to two people briefed on the matter. The order is the first known time that the special counsel demanded documents directly related to President Trump's businesses, bringing the investigation closer to the president.... The subpoena is the latest indication that the investigation, which Mr. Trump's lawyers once regularly assured him would be completed by now, will drag on for at least several more months. Word of the subpoena comes as Mr. Mueller appears to be broadening his investigation to examine the role foreign money may have played in funding Mr. Trump's political activities.... Mr. Mueller could run afoul of a red line the president has warned him not to cross."

Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on Thursday is expected to make a final pitch to the Justice Department about why he should not be fired just 72 hours before his retirement, leaving Attorney General Jeff Sessions to decide the matter with a deadline rapidly approaching. McCabe arrived at the Justice Department about 1 p.m. He is not meeting with Sessions, who was traveling Thursday, but with other senior officials.... The decision could be consequential for McCabe's financial future, as if he is fired, he could lose significant retirement benefits."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump's administration imposed sanctions on a series of Russian organizations and individuals on Thursday in retaliation for interference in the 2016 presidential elections and other 'malicious' cyberattacks. It was the most significant action taken against Moscow since Mr. Trump took office. The sanctions came at the same time the Trump administration joined a collective statement with Britain, France and Germany on Thursday denouncing Russia for its apparent role in a nerve gas attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter on British soil, calling it a 'clear violation' of international law. But the statement included no joint action in response. The American sanctions announced on Thursday targeted many of the same Russian organizations and operatives identified by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, in an indictment that outlined an audacious attempt to spread disinformation and propaganda to disrupt American democracy and, eventually, influence the vote on behalf of Mr. Trump. The sanctions also responded to other cyberattacks, including a previously undisclosed attempt to penetrate the American energy grid." Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made the announcement. Mrs. McC: No word from Donaldovich. ...

     ... Andrew Desiderio of the Daily Beast: "Administration officials holding a conference call on Thursday demurred when asked whether the president himself would directly address efforts to counter Russian election-meddling in particular, on which Trump has repeatedly cast doubt. 'I'm not in any way qualified' to predict the president's public position, one official remarked.... But the fact that the Trump administration has now included these targets among its sanctions lists complicates efforts to discredit the Mueller probe -- an argument Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made in a statement Thursday. 'The fact that the administration has issued sanctions against individuals and entities indicted by Special Counsel Mueller proves that his investigation is not a "witch hunt" as the president and his allies have claimed,' Schumer said."

... Karla Adam & Matthew Bodner of the Washington Post: "The United States and two major European allies on Thursday formally backed Britain's claims of likely Russian links to a chemical toxin attack against a former spy, calling it the 'first offensive use of a nerve agent' in Europe since World War II. The joint statement from the leaders of France, Germany, the United States and Britain signaled another step in mounting international pressure on Russia over apparent ties to the assault. The statement said the four nations shared the view of British investigators of Russian ties to last week's attack against a former double agent and his daughter[.] There was no 'plausible alternative explanation,' the statement added, noting that Russia's 'failure to address the legitimate request by the U.K. government further underlines its responsibility.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: And not a word from our top Putin puppet.

Marc Fisher of the Washington Post: "Although the number of [Trump administration] departures is unusual, the biggest change in how Washington operates is the way in which Trump has gone about swapping out personnel. Tillerson learned that he was being fired via a presidential tweet. FBI Director James B. Comey found out he was sacked last year by seeing a headline on cable news. Last summer, chief of staff Reince Priebus's White House career ended when other top officials hopped out of the black Suburban SUV that was carrying them from Air Force One back to Washington, leaving Priebus the lone passenger in a vehicle that then peeled out of the president's motorcade. In these and many other cases over the first 14 months of Trump's administration, there was no 'You're fired' moment, at least not from the president. Presidents often outsource the unseemly business of firing people to their chief of staff, but 'what's really unusual about this president is the public humiliations,' said Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, who studies presidential transitions at the Brookings Institution."

Steve M. is not impressed with Trump's lie to Justin Trudeau (story linked below): "... I think Trump would dispute the notion that he 'made up information.' Yes, he admitted he 'didn't even know' what the U.S.-Canada trade balance is. But to Trump, that doesn't mean he was making stuff up.... Trump doesn't need facts -- he inevitably grasps the truth because, as he never tires of telling us, he has a very high IQ[.]... So of course he was right. And he was right without checking first. In fact, if you have to bone up before a trade meeting with another head of state, that proves you have a lower IQ than Trump, and therefore you have genes that are inferior to his!" ...

... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "What we have is a president who is publicly bragging about the fact that, in a meeting with a foreign head of state, he was (1) ignorant about our trade relationship and, (2) he made up a lie.... Trump's remarks ... this tell us a lot about why he lies so much. The first thing to note is the fact that he went in to that meeting with Trudeau completely ignorant of the facts. That confirms a lot of what we're learned about him: he isn't simply ignorant, he's not the least bit interested in knowing the facts.... He isn't merely shameless, he thinks there is some value in not knowing what he's talking about and simply making things up.... He bragged about this episode [Wednesday] night because he thinks it makes him look tough and Trudeau weak.... According to the Washington Post report on this speech, the president went on to denigrate almost all of this country's allies.... He thinks that berating our allies makes him look tough.... Nothing -- absolutely nothing -- matters to Donald Trump other than clinging to the idea that he is winning via dominance. He will bully, lie, cheat or steal in order to fulfill that delusion." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: LeTourneau has it right. And Trump thinks you & are dimwitted, loser weaklings because we rely on facts to form our "theories," as Steve M. calls them. If we discover we've made a factual error, we do "weak" things, like apologize and/or change our "theories" to adapt to our corrected knowledge base. This is another reason Trump admires dictators. They spew propaganda & order everyone to accept their lies.

See also David Roberts' essay, linked this morning at the bottom of the page.

One Sick Family. Andy Shain of the Charleston, S.C., Post & Courier: "The sister of Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof was arrested Wednesday for carrying weapons at her affluent Columbia-area high school, authorities said. Morgan Roof, 18, also was charged with simple possession of marijuana, the Richland County Sheriff's Department said. An administrator at A.C. Flora High School alerted a school resource officer about a student having pepper spray and a knife and making a Snapchat post that alarmed the campus. The incident took place on a same day when thousands of students nationwide walked out of schools to protest gun violence.... [Morgan's Snapchat] post read: 'Your (sic) walking out for the allowed time of 17min, They are letting you do this, nothing is going to change what (the expletive) you think it's gonna do? I hope it's a trap and y'all get shot we know it's fixing to be nothing but black people walkin out anyway.'"

Saudi Family Values. Carol Lee & Courtney Kube of NBC News: "When Saudi Arabia's crown prince visits the White House next week, he's expected to be welcomed as a reformer who's expanded women's rights in one of the most restrictive countries in the world, allowing them to drive and attend sports events. Yet ... fourteen current and former senior U.S. officials told NBC News that intelligence shows Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- often referred to by his initials MBS -- blocked his mother from seeing his father, King Salman, more than two years ago and has kept her away from him as the young prince rapidly amassed power. Prince Mohammed, a key ally of the Trump White House, has concocted various explanations of his mother's whereabouts.... U.S. officials interviewed for this story believe, based on several years of intelligence, that MBS took action against his mother because he was concerned that she opposed his plans for a power grab that coul divide the royal family and might use her influence with the king to prevent it. The officials said MBS placed his mother under house arrest at least for some time at a palace in Saudi Arabia, without the king's knowledge.... Donald Trump defended the Saudi government for 'harshly treating' those who were imprisoned as part of the effort."

*****

** "Conor Lamb Wins Pennsylvania House Seat." Alexander Burns & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Conor Lamb, a Democrat and former Marine, scored a razor-thin but extraordinary upset in a special House election in southwestern Pennsylvania after a few thousand absentee ballots delivered Democrats a win in the heart of President Trump's Rust Belt base. The victory still may be contested, but Mr. Lamb's 627-vote lead Wednesday afternoon appeared insurmountable, given that the four counties in Pennsylvania's 18th district have about 500 provisional, military and other absentee ballots left to count, county election officials said. That slim margin, out of almost 230,000 ballots cast, nonetheless upended the political landscape ahead of November's midterm elections and emboldened fellow Democrats to run maverick campaigns even in deep-red areas where Republicans remain bedeviled by Mr. Trump's unpopularity." ...

... Elena Schneider of Politico: "The special congressional election in Pennsylvania appears headed to a recount, with Republicans preparing behind the scenes to cry foul after the vote count showed Democrat Conor Lamb leading Republican Rick Saccone by 627 votes. The GOP is considering challenging the accuracy of voting machines in the district, in addition to confusion over the state's changing congressional map later this year, according to two sources familiar with the process...." ...

... Elaina Plott of the Atlantic: "Trump broke his silence on the election at a private fundraiser for Missouri Senate candidate Josh Hawley Wednesday night, telling a crowd of donors that Lamb had run 'a pretty smart race, actually,' according to an audio recording of the remarks obtained by The Atlantic.... 'The young man last night that ran, he said, "Oh, I’m like Trump. Second Amendment, everything. I love the tax cuts, everything." He ran on that basis,' Trump said. 'He ran on a campaign that said very nice things about me. I said, "Is he a Republican? He sounds like a Republican to me."'... Trump had been unusually silent about the race on Wednesday, a departure from past elections Republicans have lost during his time as president." ...

... Nate Silver: "One reason that the results are especially scary for Republicans -- Democrat Conor Lamb is the apparent winner in a district that President Trump won by 20 percentage points -- is because it came on reasonably high turnout, the sort of turnout one might expect in this year's midterms." ...

... Harry Enten of CNN: "... at the present time, [Democrat Conor] Lamb's performance in Pennsylvania 18 is merely the latest sign Democrats are surging right now, spelling trouble for Republicans heading into the midterm elections.... The overperformance in special elections by Democrats is key to understanding the national environment heading into the midterms. When parties do well in special elections, they usually do well in the midterms. When they do poorly in special elections, they usually do poorly in the midterms." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)...

... BUT. "Porn Stache." GOP Blames Candidate for Poor Showing in Pennsylvania. Amanda Terkel, et al., of the Huffington Post: "Saccone was overwhelmingly favored to win the race. The district was so solidly Republican that Democrats didn't even field a congressional candidate here in 2014 and 2016. GOP groups dumped nearly $11 million into the campaign on advertising and media messaging ― an astounding amount for a district that will not exist due to redistricting next year.... An anonymous Pennsylvania GOP strategist told The Washington Examiner they had a very specific complaint about Saccone: His moustache was disgusting. It's a porn stache,' the strategist said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

<... Frank Rich: "The Republicans are stuck with only one plan for November: Donald Trump. They can run, but they can't hide from the president they have embraced unequivocally since his inauguration. The Democrats' plans? The very question is an oxymoron. They have many ways to try to commit self-sabotage between now and Election Day, and will surely indulge in more than a few during the ideological battles of primary season."<

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Britain's tough response in holding Russia responsible for a poisoning attack on its soil increased the pressure on President Trump to join with a NATO ally in taking action, even as he has been reluctant to retaliate for Moscow's intervention in the 2016 election in the United States. Mr. Trump, who was visiting California before heading to Missouri on Wednesday, has not personally addressed the attack since London assigned blame to Russia. Aides released a statement in his name on Tuesday evening after he spoke with Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain by telephone expressing his solidarity.... Critics noted that, under the NATO charter, an attack on one member is considered an attack on all.... By Tuesday morning, lower-level American officials joined in backing Britain as it retaliated against Russia.... The pattern resembles the way Mr. Trump has responded to the consensus finding of American intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 elections. He has allowed top advisers to condemn Moscow for its election meddling but personally has used equivocal language in saying he accepts the conclusion — and generally expresses no outrage or criticism of Mr. Putin." ...

... Michael Schwirtz of the New York Times: "Britain called an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday to formally accuse Russia of trying to murder a former Russian spy and his daughter on British soil with a military-grade nerve agent. The March 4 attack in the British cathedral town of Salisbury was 'indiscriminate and reckless,' Ambassador Jonathan Allen said, part of what he suggested was a pattern of Russian misbehavior that had become a threat to international peace and security. He received unequivocal support from his American counterpart, Nikki R. Haley, who, unlike her boss, President Trump, has bluntly rebuked Russia on a range of topics. 'Russia is responsible for the attack on two people in the United Kingdom using a military-grade nerve agent,' Ms. Haley said, calling the poisoning 'an atrocious crime.' The Security Council session was unusual. Permanent members of the council do not normally accuse one another of what under certain circumstances could be construed as acts of war."

M.J. Lee & Curt Devine of CNN: "New documents obtained by CNN's 'Anderson Cooper 360' on Wednesday suggest a deeper link than previously known between the Trump Organization and the company that Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, established in 2016 to pay off porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for silence about her alleged affair with Trump. The documents also offer the first evidence of an individual employed by the Trump Organization -- other than Cohen -- being involved in an ongoing legal battle regarding Daniels' alleged affair with Trump. A 'demand for arbitration' document dated February 22, 2018, names Jill Martin, a top lawyer at the Trump Organization based in California, as the attorney representing 'EC, LLC.' 'EC, LLC' is Essential Consultants, according to Daniels' lawsuit, a company that Cohen established in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to Daniels. Martin's title at the Trump Organization is vice president and assistant general counsel, according to her LinkedIn page. The address listed for Martin on both documents is One Trump National Drive in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, which is the location of Trump National Golf Club, Los Angeles." ...

... Jen Kirby of Vox: "This is a big deal because it ties a top Trump Organization lawyer directly to the scandal for the first time. [Trump person attorney Michael] Cohen has said that he personally paid [Stormy] Daniels the $130,000 in exchange for her silence, but has denied that the Trump Organization or the Trump campaign had anything to do with it.... Martin responded Wednesday with a statement from the Trump Organization that indicated she was working on the Daniels matter in a private capacity." ...

... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "BuzzFeed may have found a legal opening to allow the porn actress Stormy Daniels to discuss her alleged relationship with ... Donald Trump and a $130,000 payment she received just before the 2016 election as part of a nondisclosure agreement she is now trying to void. The same Trump attorney who brokered the deal with Daniels, Michael Cohen, filed a libel suit in January against BuzzFeed and four of its staffers over publication of the so-called dossier compiling accurate, inaccurate and unproven allegations about Trump's relationship with Russia. Now, BuzzFeed is using Cohen's libel suit as a vehicle to demand that Daniels preserve all records relating to her relationship with Trump, as well as her dealings with Cohen and the payment he has acknowledged arranging in 2016. On Tuesday, BuzzFeed's lawyer wrote to Daniels' attorney asking that the adult film actress ... preserve various categories of documents. Such preservation letters are often a prelude to a subpoena. If Daniels' testimony is formally demanded in a deposition, the nondisclosure agreement would likely be no obstacle, legal experts said." ...

... Jim Dalrymple of BuzzFeed: "Multiple women are exploring potential legal cases against ... Donald Trump, following the lead of an adult film actress who has filed a lawsuit in order to speak out about an affair she says she had with Trump in 2006, her attorney said Wednesday. Michael Avenatti, who represents Stephanie Clifford -- better known by her professional name Stormy Daniels -- told BuzzFeed News that other women have reached out to him for representation in cases against Trump. Avenatti did not answer questions about the number of women, or the nature of their allegations. When asked by BuzzFeed News if other women had approached him about potential legal cases, Avenatti replied, 'confirmed.'"

Trump Boasts He Lied to Trudeau. Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump boasted in a fundraising speech Wednesday that he made up information in a meeting with the leader of a top U.S. ally, saying he insisted to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the United States runs a trade deficit with its neighbor to the north without knowing whether that was the case.... The Office of the United States Trade Representative says the United States has a trade surplus with Canada."

Cristina Alesci and Aaron Cooper of CNN: "Defense Department employees charged just over $138,000 at Trump branded properties in the first eight months of Donald Trump's presidency, according to a CNN review of hundreds of records.... The CNN analysis found military personnel spent more than a third of the total amount, or $58,875.69, on lodging and food at what appears to be Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. Most of the expenses generally align with the 25 days the President spent at his Florida club from February to April.... Some watchdog groups, former government ethics officials and Democrats say the President's businesses shouldn't accept any taxpayer dollars."

Christina Wilkie of CNBC: "... Donald Trump's personal lawyer in the Russia probe, John Dowd, contributed more money last year to the president's re-election campaign than is legally permissible, according to a recent letter from the Federal Election Commission to the Trump campaign.... A March 8 letter from the FEC to Bradley Crate, the Trump campaign treasurer, put the campaign on notice that there were 108 donors who had made 'excessive, prohibited and impermissible contributions to the Trump campaign in the last quarter of 2017. Dowd's name appeared on this list...."

Trump Plans to (Have Somebody) Fire Most of His Top Staff. Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "Speaking to reporters shortly after tweeting that he had replaced Tillerson at Foggy Bottom with hardline C.I.A. Director Mike Pompeo, Trump indicated he would soon move against his remaining antagonists, many of whom he appointed with glee, in the executive branch. 'I'm really at a point where we're getting very close to having the Cabinet and other things that I want,' he said. Some of what's driving Trump is a desire to surround himself with loyalists.... Three sources told me that the next official likely to go is National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.... Last Tuesday, Trump met with ultra-hawkish former U.N. ambassador John Bolton in the Oval Office to discuss a potential job offer.... Bolton responded that there were only two jobs he'd consider: secretary of state and national security adviser. Trump said, 'O.K, I'll call you really soon.'... Sources said Trump has discussed a plan to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions ... [and] replace Sessions with E.P.A. Administrator Scott Pruitt, who would not be recused from overseeing the Russia probe.... Trump has told people for months that he wants [Jared Kushner & Ivanka Trump] to go back to New York." Sherman also suggests Trump is considering getting rid of John Kelly. ...

... Jonathan Swan & Mike Allen of Axios: "Never in the 14 months of the Trump White House has there been such a mood of acute anxiety from within the West Wing.... Nobody knows what exactly is happening, who's about to be fired, or which staffer will next be frogmarched out the door by security for some shadowy clearance issue.... It's not just Johnny McEntee --; the president's trusted body man -- who's been pushed out for security clearance issues in recent days. The same thing happened last week to an aide to the First Lady. He was escorted from the premises and his former colleagues don't know what the security clearance issue was that forced him out." ...

... Frank Rich: "Trump's top appointees, exemplified by the Cabinet, are in their jobs for only three reasons [same link as above]: to demolish the federal government; to spend taxpayers' money on luxury travel and office refurbishing; and to toady to the president in public and obey his policy whims in private. Tillerson is out because he succeeded in only the first of these by decimating the State Department. His successor, Mike Pompeo, will not make Tillerson's mistake. He's the very model of a heel-clicking Vichy Republican.... Trump doesn't want adults in the room; he wants malleable dolts (Ben Carson, Steve Mnuchin, Betsy DeVos) who are happy to join him in his Oval Office playpen, where he can make all the rules and hoard the toys." ...

... digby: "If you thought that all that crazy shit [Trump] promised on the campaign trail couldn't possibly happen well, think again. Look for some really dangerous foreign policy coming down the pike. He's just as stupid as he always was but now he's powerful. And he's on a roll."

Former Cheesy TV Personality Chooses Cheesy TV Personality as Economic Advisor. Eamon Javers & Jacob Pramuk of CNBC: "... Donald Trump plans to name Larry Kudlow as his top economic advisor, sources told CNBC. Trump could announce his decision to choose Kudlow as his National Economic Council director as soon as Thursday. The president offered the CNBC senior contributor and on-air personality the job on Tuesday night, and Kudlow accepted, a person familiar told CNBC." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... "Kudlow Has Been Wrong about Everything for Decades." Jonathan Chait: "The appointment of Lawrence Kudlow as head of the National Economic Council indicates how firmly supply-siders control Republican economic policy, and how little impact years of failed analysis have had upon their place of power.... Kudlow attributes every positive economic indicator to lower taxes, and every piece of negative news to higher taxes.... Now that true believer Lawrence Kudlow is taking the helm, the dawn of fiscal sanity in the GOP is receding ever farther into the distant future." ...

... Dana Milbank: "Trump has just put the country's economic fate in the hands of the man who has arguably been more publicly and consistently wrong about the economy than any person alive. Kudlow's tendency to err has been nearly flawless.... If you heeded Kudlow's advice in the months before the 2008 crash, you would have been ruined.... Kudlow, a CNBC pundit..., is not trained in economics." Milbank lists some of Kudlow's greatest hits. It's a stunning list.

** Former Cheesy TV Personality Chooses Cheesy TV Personality for a Top State Job. Andy Borowitz should have written this report. Except it's a true joke. Chantal Da Silva of Newsweek: "In the major White House shake-up on Tuesday that saw former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sacked, the Trump administration also promoted the U.S. Department of State's spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, to the fourth-highest ranking position within the division. Nauert, a former Fox News host who joined the State Department as a spokeswoman in April 2017, will now serve as acting under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, replacing Steve Goldstein, who was fired shortly after Tillerson, having publicly contradicted the White House on how the secretary of state was notified about being axed." ...

... The All-"Fox & Friends" Administration. Former Cheesy TV Personality May Choose Cheesy TV Personality for Cabinet Job. Rob Tornoe of Philly.com: "Fox & Friends weekend co-host Pete Hegseth, who was reportedly among Trump's top candidates to be Veterans Affairs Secretary during the transition, is on[c]e again being rumored to run the department, this time as a possible replacement for the agency's current secretary, David Shulkin. According to Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich, Hegseth is among the frontrunners to replace the embattled Shulkin, an Obama administration holdover that [who] used taxpayer dollars to pay for his wife to go to Europe and currently faces allegations he used a member of his security detail to help him purchase and transport furniture from Home Depot."

Burgess Everett of Politico: "Rand Paul is vowing to do everything he can to stop Mike Pompeo from becoming secretary of state. The libertarian-leaning GOP senator said Wednesday that Pompeo's earlier support for the Iraq war and defense of enhanced interrogation techniques -- or 'torture' in the view of Paul and many other senators -- is disqualifying. And the Kentucky senator indicated he may be willing to filibuster both Pompeo's nomination and CIA director nominee Gina Haspel, who he says is 'gleeful' in her defense of torture techniques." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jeff Hauser of Slate: "Like so much today, what ailed the rule of law under [George W.] Bush is returning in even more virulent fashion under Donald J. Trump. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is abusing a little-used statute in an unprecedented way that is leading to an end run around the Senate's advice and consent authority with respect to U.S. attorneys. Given what we know about the ongoing investigations into the president and Trump's authoritarian instincts, this is a frightening and dangerous development.... On Jan. 3, the Justice Department announced the appointment of 17 interim U.S. attorneys to replace acting officials whose time had run out. The 17 interim appointments were nearly exclusively from states with at least one Democratic senator [so these Democrats couldn't 'blue slip' the appointees].... Lethargic oversight by the Senate Judiciary Committee majority and the media have allowed Trump and Sessions to install loyalists in U.S. attorney positions across the country, especially in districts that are the locus of Trump and Kushner family legal exposure."

Rene Marsh & Gregory Wallace of CNN: "Newly released emails cast doubt on claims by Secretary Ben Carson and his spokesman that he had little or no involvement in the purchase of a $31,000 furniture set for his Department of Housing and Urban Development dining room. Emails [obtained through an FOIA request] show Carson and his wife selected the furniture themselves.... HUD spokesman Raffi Williams initially denied the Carsons had any involvement in the dining set selection.... A HUD spokesman went further at the time, blaming the purchase on an unnamed career staffer." Actually, staffers "asked for repairs to the chairs of the existing furniture." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Pamela Brown & Laura Jarrett of CNN: "Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was set to officially retire on March 18, but according to a source familiar with the matter, he could be fired just days before and lose his pension after a more than two-decade career at the bureau. The embattled official abruptly stepped down at the end of January and has been on leave since that time. CNN has learned the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility has recommended McCabe be fired and now the decision is up to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The issue stems from findings in an internal Justice Department watchdog report that claims he misled investigators about his decision to authorize FBI officials to speak to the media about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Kevin Drum: "Trump has tweeted more than once that McCabe should be fired, and now he's close to getting his wish.... For what it's worth..., McCabe was arguing in favor of investigating the Clinton Foundation, which would hurt Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump. Whatever. So what is it that McCabe supposedly did wrong? 'The details of why the inspector general viewed Mr. McCabe as not forthcoming are not clear.' Anyway, McCabe is scheduled to retire on Sunday, but if he gets fired on Friday instead it will reduce his retirement benefits. Trump actually tweeted a few months ago that he thinks it would be outrageous if McCabe got his full benefits[.]... Our government is being run like a mafia family. A very, very petty mafia family."

Why Trump Warmed to Japan. Caleb Melby of Bloomberg (March 13): "Two months after Jared Kushner joined the White House as a senior adviser, his family firm sold a stake in a Brooklyn building to a unit of a company whose largest shareholder is the government of Japan. The buyer of record in the $103-million deal for 175 Pearl St. was Normandy Real Estate Partners, a New Jersey-based investment firm. But documents filed in Tokyo show that it was operating on behalf of a subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. By law, the Japanese government owns at least a third of NTT, in effect a controlling share. Questions have been raised repeatedly whether Kushner, whose family business has been in search of overseas investors, might pursue a personal agenda while helping run U.S. policy. This is the first known deal with a government-affiliated firm since he entered the White House." ...

Washington Post: "Several Democrats joined Republicans to pass legislation that would exempt mid-size and regional banks from some of the strictest levels of supervision put in place after the 2008 financial crisis. The bill's backers argue it will jumpstart the economy and strip away unnecessary red tape, while critics — including progressive Democrats such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Sherrod Brown (Ohio) -- argue it will encourage the type of risky behavior that destabilized the global economy a decade ago.... The House version makes deeper cuts to banking rules, but Republican leaders are hopeful they can reconcile the two measures and send it to President Trump's desk. This is a developing story. It will be updated."

Senate Race. Robert Costa & Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Insurgent Mississippi conservative Chris McDaniel plans to run for retiring Sen. Thad Cochran's seat, ending his primary challenge against the state’s other Republican senator, Roger Wicker.... His decision spares Wicker a potentially bruising primary. But it opens up a new challenge for Republican officials who don’t like the controversial conservative state senator."

NBC News: "Exactly one month after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, survivors of the massacre joined tens of thousands of students across the U.S. by walking out of school on Wednesday morning. The mass protests were held at 10 a.m. local time in each time zone and lasted 17 minutes, one for each of the Parkland victims. Organizers said the purpose was to highlight 'Congress' inaction against the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)...

... The New York Times report, by Alan Blinder & Julie Turkewitz, cites numerous schools' walkouts. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Trump's Excellent Plan to Arm Teachers! Amy Larson of KSBW: "A teacher who also serves as a reserve police officer accidentally fired a gun inside a Seaside [California] High School classroom Tuesday, police said, and three students were injured. Dennis Alexander was teaching a course about gun safety for his Administration of Justice class when his gun went off at 1:20 p.m. Alexander was pointing his gun at the ceiling when it fired. Pieces of the ceiling fell to the ground. A news release from the Seaside Police Department said no one suffered 'serious injuries.' One 17-year-old boy suffered moderate injuries when fragments from the bullet ricocheted off the ceiling and lodged into his neck, the student's father, Fermin Gonzales, told KSBW." See also commentary by P.D. Pepe & Akhilleus below.(Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Ed Kilgore: "California state law requires a special authorization for anyone to bring a firearm onto public school property. Alexander did not have that authorization. He's been placed on administrative leave by the school district, and also by the nearby municipal police force on which he was a decorated reserve officer. What makes the incident even more striking is that Alexander is a member (and currently mayor pro tem) of the (non-partisan) Seaside City Council, first elected in 2006."

Gail Collins is trying to place people in White House jobs. I didn't find her column especially amusing, but I did find her some perfect candidates. Among them a gorgeous grifter, an insider-trader & a whole board of directors who drove their huuuge company into bankruptcy. If the FBI immediately deems them security risks & a year or more from now, John Kelly marches them out of the White House without their jackets, they can move seamlessly to the Trump campaign. How prominent a job they get would probably depend on how well they do on their "Fox & Friends" demo discs. ...

... Katie Thomas & Reed Abelson of the New York Times: Elizabeth "Holmes, a Stanford University dropout who founded her company, Theranos, at age 19, captivated investors and the public with her invention: a technology cheaply done at a local drugstore that could detect a range of illnesses, from diabetes to cancer. With that carefully crafted pitch, Ms. Holmes, whose striking stage presence in a uniform of black turtlenecks drew comparisons to Steve Jobs, became an overnight celebrity, featured on magazine covers and richest-woman lists and in glowing articles. Her fall -- and the near-collapse of Theranos -- has been equally dramatic in the last few years. On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Ms. Holmes, now 34, with widespread fraud, accusing her of exaggerating -- even lying -- about her technology while raising $700 million from investors." ...

... Stacy Cowley of the New York Times: "A former top Equifax executive was charged on Wednesday with insider trading for selling nearly $1 million in company stock after he learned about a major data breach in 2017 but before it was publicly announced. Jun Ying, the former chief information officer of Equifax's core United States consumer reporting division, exercised all of his vested stock options and sold nearly $1 million in shares a little more than a week before Equifax announced that hackers had broken into its systems, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The breach compromised sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, of more than 140 million Americans. Mr. Ying avoided $117,000 in losses because of the timing of his sale, the S.E.C. said in a civil complaint."

Michael Corkery of the New York Times: "Toys 'R' Us, the iconic retail chain that has sold toys and games to millions of children for generations, is closing up shop in the United States. The company decided to close or sell its remaining stores after its executives met with creditors throughout the day on Wednesday, according to three people briefed on the discussions. More than 30,000 American jobs are at risk as a result. Liquidation sales will take place over the next few months, as the company clears the shelves at its roughly 880 Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us stores around the country. In September, the private-equity-owned retailer filed for bankruptcy, one of the largest ever in the retail industry."

** Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. David Roberts of Vox reveals "the real problem with the New York Times op-ed page: it's not honest about U.S. conservatism."

News Ledes

Miami Herald: "The [Florida International University] pedestrian bridge across Southwest Eighth Street [in Miami, Florida] collapsed Thursday afternoon, trapping an unknown number of people and cars underneath. The bridge was installed at Southwest 109th Avenue Saturday morning, intended eventually to provide pedestrian access across Tamiami Trail from FIU's main campus to Sweetwater, where thousands of students live in off-campus housing or in FIU's newer dorms. Before Saturday's installation, FIU said the method of overall installation significantly reduced the risk to workers, walkers, drivers and minimized traffic disruptions for construction." ...

     ... Mrs. McC: This is a developing story. MSNBC tentatively reported that "mass casualties" had occurred. ...

... New York Times Update: "At least four people were killed, according to the Miami-Dade County fire chief, Dave Downey. Some reports put the number of dead at six to 10."