;)
The Commentariat -- February 24, 2018
Carol Morello & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "The United Nations Security Council on Saturday unanimously called for a 30-day cease-fire in Syria, with Russia agreeing to the temporary hiatus only after forcing two days of delays that critics said allowed ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to pursue a renewed bombing campaign blamed for hundreds of recent deaths in a rebel-controlled area. The nationwide truce would begin 'without delay,' a victory for the United States and other nations that resisted Russian efforts to push back the start or soften the terms. It came after intense negotiations to persuade Russia not to use its veto power in the Security Council. Moscow had blocked 11 previous Syria resolutions."
Lindsey Bever, et al., of the Washington Post: "Delta and United -- two of the largest airlines in the world -- have joined a growing list of companies cutting ties with the National Rifle Association amid a growing boycott movement inspired by the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School with a legally purchased AR-15 rifle." ...
... Eric Lipton & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "... the N.R.A. derives its political influence [not so much from buying politicians as] from a muscular electioneering machine, fueled by tens of millions of dollars' worth of campaign ads and voter-guide mailings, that scrutinizes candidates for their views on guns and propels members to the polls. 'It's really not the contributions,' said Cleta Mitchell, a former N.R.A. board member. 'It's the ability of the N.R.A. to tell its members: Here's who's good on the Second Amendment.' Far more than any check the N.R.A. could write, it is this mobilization operation that has made the organization such a challenging adversary for Democrats and gun control advocates -- one that, after the massacre at a school in Parkland, Fla., is struggling to confront an emotional student-led push for new restrictions."
*****
This Russia Thing -- Is Ballooning
This man is happy because he just pleaded guilty to conspiracy against his country.Mark Mazzetti & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "A former top adviser to Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign pleaded guilty on Friday to fraud and lying to investigators in the special counsel inquiry into Russia's interference in the 2016 election and will cooperate with the investigation. The adviser, Rick Gates, is a longtime political consultant who once served as Mr. Trump's deputy campaign chairman. The plea deal could be a significant development in the investigation -- a sign that Mr. Gates plans to offer incriminating information against his longtime associate and the former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, or other members of the Trump campaign in exchange for a lighter punishment.... He also admitted that he lied to investigators earlier this month -- after he was under indictment and was negotiating with the prosecutors -- about the details of a 2013 meeting in Washington that Mr. Manafort had with a member of Congress and a lobbyist.... Press accounts have identified [the member of Congress] as Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California, the Republican long known for his pro-Russia views.... [Gates] faces up to nearly six years in prison.... Mr. Gates was present for the most significant periods of activity of the campaign, as Mr. Trump began developing policy positions and his digital operation engaged with millions of voters on platforms such as Facebook." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "The guilty plea ... caps a busy week for Mueller's investigation of Russia's interference in the 2016 election and related issues. It also ends a tumultuous period for Gates, who found himself re-indicted, changing lawyers and agreeing to plead guilty all within 24 hours. According to a criminal information -- a document filed with the permission of the defendant which traditionally signals that person plans to plead guilty -- Gates conspired to defraud the United States regarding the money he and his business partner Paul Manafort earned and lied to the FBI in a Feb. 1, 2018 interview about a 2013 meeting he had had with Manafort and an unidentified lobbyist.... Gates could provide the special counsel with valuable information about the inner workings of Trump's operation: He served as a senior figure in the campaign and had access to the White House as an outside adviser in the early months of the administration." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Josh Gerstein & Theodoric Meyer of Politico: "U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson released two new indictments against [Paul] Manafort, one returned last week and another returned earlier Friday, removing some foreign-account-reporting charges that are part of a new tax and bank fraud focused indictment prosecutors unveiled in Virginia Thursday against both Manafort and Gates.... The new indictment filed against Manafort on Friday provides some new details on the Ukraine-related lobbying work, including that in an 'EYES ONLY' memo, Manafort called the so-called Hapsburg Group's lobbying effort 'SUPER VIP.' He said it would involve 'a small group of high-level European highly influencial [sic] champions and politically credible friends who can act informally and without any visible relationship with the Government of Ukraine.' The group was led by a 'former European chancellor,' the revised indictment of Manafort says, without further identifying the foreign leader." ...
... The story is mostly about Rick Gates' guilty pleas, & has more details than the Times story. For instance, the Politico reporters explain why Gates' former attorneys quit: "On the same day Gates allegedly lied to the FBI, Gates' entire defense team moved to withdraw from the case." Mrs. McC: When you're "Queen for a Day" during a proffer, you can't lie to investigators or prosecutors. Everyone associated with Trump is a reptile. That's not accidental. ...
... Josh Gerstein & Theodoric Meyer: "The [Hapsburg] group was led by a 'former European chancellor' and was paid more than 2 million euros in 2012 and 2013, according to the court filings. The former chancellor isn't named in the court filings, but appears to be Alfred Gusenbauer, who served as chancellor of Austri between 2007 and 2008. Gusenbauer and two lobbyists involved in Manafort's lobbying campaign met with members of Congress and staffers in 2013, according to Justice Department disclosures retroactively filed last year by the lobbying firm Mercury." ...
... Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "Per the court filing, Gates on Feb. 1 knowingly and falsely testified that 'there were no discussions of Ukraine' at a March 19, 2013 meeting between Manafort, 'a senio Company A lobbyist,' and 'a Member of Congress.' Though the document does not name the other two participants, their identities can be pieced together from contemporaneous news reports and recent filings with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The member of Congress appears have been Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), jokingly nicknamed 'Putin's favorite congressman' for his strong pro-Russia stance.... The lobbyist appears to have been Vin Weber, a former Republican congressman who now works for Mercury Public Affairs, a global PR giant." ...
... digby: Friday "Trump led a rousing chorus of 'lock her up!' at CPAC. Apparently the wingnuts are chanting it constantly at the meeting. Guess what this plea deal says Gates and Manafort were buying off all these politicians for: lobbying various entities to say publicly that there wasn't anything untoward or illegal about the [Ukrainian] autocratic kleptocrat [Viktor] Yanukovych locking up his rival Julia Tymoschenko after she came close to unseating him in an election. Trump and Yanukovych have a lot more in common than Manafort." ...
... Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "... Trump and his supporters ... assert the [Manafort-Gates] case is unrelated to allegations that the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia during the 2016 election. But the new indictment alleges that both Manafort and Gates engaged in tax evasion and bank fraud even as they worked for the Trump campaign.... As Manafort's finances were in increasingly precarious shape, Manafort was making indirect overtures to Russia. He maintained email contact with Konstantin Kilimnik, his longtime business associate in Ukraine. Kilimnik, who reportedly has ties to Russian intelligence, purported to pass messages between Manafort and Oleg Deripaska, a Russian aluminum magnate close to Putin. Manafort, who previously worked for Deripaska, reportedly owed the oligarch millions of dollars. In an email to Kilimnik first reported by the Washington Post, Manafort suggested he hoped to use his prominent position on the Trump campaign to 'get whole' with Deripaska. He also offered to privately brief the oligarch on the campaign. Shortly after the Republican convention in July 2016, Kilimnik sought an in-person meeting with Manafort to convey 'several important messages' to Manafort from a person the men referred to cryptically but who appears to be Deripaska. The messages from this contact, Kilimnik said, related to the 'future of his country.' Manafort and Kilimnik met on August 2, 2016.... [in] Manhattan.... Manafort and Kilimnik have denied the meetin involved coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. Deripaska through a spokesman denies conveying messages through Kilimnik. But Gates might have more information for prosecutors about what Manafort and Kilimnik discussed." ...
... Margaret Carlson, in the Daily Beast, suggests Mueller may be going after Trump on a bribery charge. "Seth Waxman..., [a former federal prosecutor]..., notes that Title 18 United States Code, section 201 ... specifically makes it a crime for a public official to take 'anything of value,' a bribe, in exchange for government action, which can be prospective.... Problem: Mueller is investigating conduct before Trump became one.... Waxman ... points out that in 1962, Congress extended the bribery law to cover activity prior to the assumption of office. It did so, he says, in order to close a 'loophole' afforded those 'who assume public office under a corrupt commitment.' The upshot? Trump became covered by 18 USC not when he was sworn in but as of July 21, 2016 when he became his party's nominee...." Carlson cites several quids & quos. ...
... Emily Cochrane & Alicia Parlapiano of the New York Times: "In the nine months since Robert S. Mueller III was appointed to oversee the investigation into possible links between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, he has issued more than 100 crimina counts against 19 people and three companies. Of the 19 people, four -- including three Trump associates -- have pleaded guilty. Thirteen are Russians accused of meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Here is an assessment of the charges and the people facing them in the special counsel investigation." ...
... Some Light Reading for Cadet Bone Spurs. Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: During his tour of duty in Vietnam, Robert "Mueller ultimately earned two awards for valor, suffered a gunshot wound to his leg while responding to the ambush of fellow Marines and was reassigned after his injuries to serve as an aide-de-camp to the commander of the 3rd Marine Division, then-Maj. Gen. William K. Jones. In that role, Mueller excelled using a 'diplomatic and congenial manner' that 'significantly contributed to the rapport' Jones had with local Vietnamese officials and military officers, according to one account of Mueller's actions. These are among the details of Mueller's military service outlined in documents released to The Washington Post by the National Archives."
... ** Carol Leonnig, et al., of the Washington Post: "A top Justice Department official alerted the White House two weeks ago that significant information requiring additional investigation would further delay the security clearance process of senior adviser Jared Kushner, according to three people familiar with the discussion. The Feb. 9 phone call from Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein to White House Counsel Donald McGahn came amid growing public scrutiny of a number of administration officials without final security clearances. Most prominent among them is Kushner..., who has had access to some of the nation's most sensitive material for the last year while waiting for his background investigation to be completed.... Rosenstein intended to speak to Kelly, but the chief of staff was not immediately available, so he ended up talking to McGahn instead.... A week after the call from Rosenstein, White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly announced that staffers whose clearances have not been finalized will no longer be able to view top-secret information -- meaning that Kushner could stand to lose his status as early as Friday. As president, Trump can grant Kushner a high-level security clearance, even if his background investigation continues to drag on. But Trump said Friday that he would leave that decision to Kelly.... The day before Rosenstein's call to McGahn, The Post reported that Kushner was among dozens of White House personnel who were relying on interim clearances while their FBI background investigations were pending. White House officials have complained that they have had trouble getting information from the Justice Department and FBI about the status of delayed clearances, including Kushner's. People familiar with the Feb. 9 call said Rosenstein was returning a White House phone call seeking guidance.... [Kelly] has said he would not be upset if the president's son-in-law and his wife, Ivanka Trump, left their positions as full-time employees." ...
... Shimon Prokupecz, et al., of CNN: "Jared Kushner has been unable to obtain a full security clearance in part because of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Kushner ... is unlikely to obtain the full clearance as long as the special counsel's probe is ongoing, one of the sources said.... During that time, Kushner has been able to access the government's most sensitive secrets thanks to an interim security clearance. But that access could soon be cut off -- unless Trump steps in with a waiver. There is no indication that Mueller is close to wrapping up his investigation, and an impending crackdown by White House chief of staff John Kelly aimed at restricting access to classified information for those with long-pending interim clearances is expected to nix or downgrade Kushner's interim security clearance. The combination of factors could leave Kushner without a security clearance for months to come, even as he tackles sensitive issues like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the United States' relationship with Mexico." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: More fundamentally, you don't have to be a trained FBI analyst to know that Jared Kushner should never have had a job in the White House more challenging than "coffee boy." AND given his known corrupt dealings with foreign entities, he certainly should not be given even the lowest-level security clearance. Trump noted yesterday, as if it were exonerating, that Kushner "gets paid zero." Um, that was precisely Manafort's salary for running the Trump campaign. ...
... Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A lawyer for President Barack Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, told Congress late Friday that the outgoing administration was fearful of sharing classified intelligence with members of the incoming Trump team, especially Rice's successor, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. In a letter to lawmakers, Rice's lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler, said Rice drafted a Jan. 20, 2017, email to herself on the advice of White House counsel to memorialize the outgoing administration's reluctance.... Ruemmler's letter was a response to GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who had inquired about the email that Rice sent herself just hours before the Obama administration left office." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Love the way Grassley & Graham have tried to turn well-justified prudence into a scandal.
... Nobody Wants to Talk to Devin Nunes. Julia Manchester of the Hill: "An associate of Sen. >John McCain (R-Ariz.) invoked the Fifth Amendment in order to not testify before the House Intelligence Committee on a dossier of opposition research that claims ties between President Trump and Russia, according to Fox News. The committee originally issued a subpoena for David Kramer -- a former State Department official and current senior director of the nonprofit McCain Institute -- in December. Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) had wanted to speak with Kramer about his visit to London in November 2016, during which he met with the author of the dossier, former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. According to court filings, he met with Steele at McCain's request, to view 'the pre-election memoranda on a confidential basis.' Kramer then traveled back to the U.S. and gave copies of the memos to McCain, who in turn handed the documents over to the FBI. The committee interviewed Kramer last month prior to issuing a subpoena for him." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I linked the next story yesterday, too, but I don't think I gave it enough prominence. What we have here is Putin's "fixer" -- with approval from the highest levels of the Russian government -- running a military operation to kill U.S. soldiers, & the President* of the United States, as far as we know, has done nothing about it. This is the same fixer who runs the Russians ops that are attacking the U.S. election system, and the POTUS* has had next to nothing to say about that, either -- other than "no collusion." We have gone way past cyberattacks here, & Donald Trump is mum about it. Unless Trump is doing something behind the scenes, I look at his silence on this Russian attack on U.S. military personnel as the basis for another article of impeachment for Donnie Dearest. Obviously, some people within the CIA or other U.S. intelligence agencies are outraged enough about it to leak the story to the WashPo. ...
... "Putin's Cook" Has Many Responsibilities Outside the Kitchen. Ellen Nakashima, et al., of the Washington Post: "A Russian oligarch believed to control the Russian mercenaries who attacked U.S. troops and their allies in Syria this month was in close touch with Kremlin and Syrian officials in the days and weeks before and after the assault, according to U.S. intelligence reports. In intercepted communications in late January, the oligarch, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, told a senior Syrian official that he had 'secured permission' from an unspecified Russian minister to move forward with a 'fast and strong' initiative that would take place in early February. Prigozhin made front-page headlines last week when he was indicted by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III on charges of bankrolling and guiding a long-running Russian scheme to conduct 'information warfare' during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. He is known to have close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, forged when he was a restaurateur in St. Petersburg and expanded through what became Prigozhin's wide-ranging business empire, including extensive contracts with Russia's Defense Ministry.... The intercepted communications show not only that was Prigozhin personally involved in planning the attack but that he had discussed i with senior Syrian officials, including Minister of Presidential Affairs Mansour Fadlallah Azzam." ...
... NEW. Adam Taylor of the Washington Post has more on Prigozhin here.
AND Speaking of Russia (Or Not) .... Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Trump announced harsh new shipping sanctions against North Korea on Friday -- a clear signal, near the end of an Olympic Games marked by a rapprochement on the Korean Peninsula, that his pressure campaign against Pyongyang will not let up.... The measures target 27 shipping companies and 28 vessels, registered in North Korea and six other countries, including China.... [Trump's order] did not blacklist ships or companies from Russia, even though Russia is suspected of supporting the illicit trade.... It was not clear how successfully the United States could enforce th new measures. Cutting off the illegal trade, analysts said, will require interdicting ships at sea, and North Korea could well regard a blockade or forced inspections of its vessels as an act of war.... The timing of Mr. Trump's announcement was notable, coming just hours after South Korea's president, Moon Jae-in, played host at dinner to Mr. Trump's daughter, Ivanka, who is leading the United States delegation to the closing ceremony of the games on Sunday." Emphasis added. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Trump Threatens to Blow up the World. Eric Levitz: "... Friday afternoon..., a reporter asked the president about his North Korea policy. 'If the sanctions don't work, we'll have to go to Phase 2,' Trump replied. 'Phase 2 may be a very rough thing. May be very, very unfortunate for the world.' In other words: If North Korea does not meet my demands, I will deliberately inflict something 'very, very unfortunate' on the entire world."
Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star: "Early in ... Donald Trump's speech Friday to the Conservative Political Action Conference, he paused to ask the audience a question.... Would they mind if he went 'off script a little bit'? In truth, he had not been very on-script even before that. What followed the crowd's endorsement, though, was the kind of rambling, inflammatory, oft-inaccurate, and captivating discursion he performed at his 2016 campaign rallies. He even brought back some of his campaign's greatest hits: mockery of Hillary Clinton, graphic descriptions of crimes committed by Latino gang members, and a dramatic reading of the lyrics to 'The Snake,' a song he uses as an allegory for how dangerous immigrants are. It is impossible to do the speech justice by summarizing a few key points. Here is a minute-by-minute account of what happened[.]" ...
... Also, the White House is so very proud of what the Dear Leader said at CPAC, it has posted a transcript. ...
... Tierney McAfee of People: "In his speech Friday morning at the Conservative Political Action Conference..., Donald Trump took aim [at] Sen. John McCain, knocking the Arizona Republican for voting against his party's bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Though Trump didn't mention McCain -- who is battling brain cancer -- by name, the reference was clear to the crowd, which responded by erupting into boos directed at the senator.... The moment added fuel to an already contentious relationship between McCain and Trump, who came under fire in July 2015 for saying the former Vietnam prisoner of war was not a 'hero' because he got captured. Axios also reported in September that Trump physically mocked McCain's war injuries while imitating his famous thumbs-up moment. But after McCain went public with his brain cancer diagnosis in July, the president called the senator's daughter Meghan in the fall and promised to back off." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Obviously, there was no need whatsoever to knock McCain today for something that happened months ago. Trump is just such a low form of slime himself that he can't help sliming everybody. ...
... Chris Cillizza of CNN: "Talking about the stakes of the 2018 election, Trump said that if Democrats win back control of Congress 'they'll take away your 2nd Amendment.' As he closed his speech, Trump again said Democrats want to repeal the 2nd Amendment: 'They will do that, they will do that,' he said. Which is, of course, not true. It is also hugely toxic to any attempt to find shared ground on the sort of 'common sense' changes to gun laws that Trump, um, trumpeted later in his CPAC speech.... Trump ... [is] banking on the fact that none of the CPAC crowd cheering for that line has any real sense of the logistical unlikelihood of Democrats [being able to repeal a Constitutional amendment]. What Trump is doing is trying to scare people into voting.... Trump's pivot from compromiser-in-chief to flamethrower-in-chief on guns should surprise exactly no one. He did a very similar about-face on immigration...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Cillizza of course presupposes that Trump knows how Constitutional provisions can be repealed or replaced. I don't believe a guy who thinks there are at least 12 Articles in the Constitution has the slightest idea of the provisions of Article V. All he knows is that yesterday Wayne LaPierre claimed that the Democrats' agenda was "stripping away Second Amendment rights away from law-abiding citizens." Our president* is a moron.
John Walcott of Reuters: "Longstanding friction between ... Donald Trump and two to aides, the National Security Adviser and the Chief of Staff, has grown to a point that either or both might quit soon, four senior administration officials said. Both H.R. McMaster and John Kelly are military men considered by U.S.political observers as moderating influences on the president by imposing a routine on the White House." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... digby: "I have no particular respect for either one but it's likely that whoever he brings in next will be even worse. I keep seeing John Bolton's name bandied about on Fox News. And we know who Trump listens to don't we?" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... It's Groundhog Day All over Again. Jon Swan & Mike Allen of Axios: "Some [of Trump's] aides feel the place is unraveling, that they can't trust their colleagues, that they don't know what's going on, that there's no path upward. But you know what? That sentence was as true in February 2017, in the frenzied weeks after the inauguration, as it is today. In Trumpworld, every day is yesterday." ...
... ** Roger Cohen of the New York Times turns to literature to try to ascertain why people in Trump's orbit are so awful. "Everyone is compromised, whether fatally or not. How could it be otherwise serving a man who does not know the difference between reality and make-believe? When it comes to Trump's intentions, there is, as Gertrude Stein remarked of her native Oakland, no there there; and so people are driven crazy trying to imagine what is.... in no case does the 'somber and immense mirror' [from a Joseph Conrad short story] leading to dark compromise loom as large as in the case of Chief of Staff John F. Kelly.... He was not what he appeared to be and, once sucked into Trump's maelstrom of turpitude, another side of his nature began to emerge.... Some of Kelly's 'sacred' values turn out to be pretty ugly."
Say, the RNC Is Kinda Corrupt. Christina Wilkie of CNBC: "Soon after the Republican National Committee came under pressure for paying legal bills for Donald Trump and his eldest son [Junior] in the special counsel's Russia probe, it started covering expenses for the president's re-election campaign. The RNC is using campaign funds to pay Trump's company more than $37,000 a month in rent, and to pay thousands of dollars in monthly salary to Vice President Mike Pence's nephew, John Pence, party officials confirmed this week. The rent pays for office space in the Trump Tower in New York for the staff of Trump's re-election campaign. John Pence is the Trump campaign's deputy executive director. Campaign finance experts who spoke to CNBC said this type of spending by a party committee on behalf of a campaign is highly unusual but legal, and it appears the RNC disclosed it correctly.... 'Committees generally don't pay for campaign headquarters,' said the former DNC official. 'And this far out from 2020 makes it even stranger.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I see that mike pence takes nepotism literally. Merriam-Webster: "The 'nep-' spelling is from nepote, a 17th-century variant of Italian nipote, meaning 'nephew.'" AND the term "nepotism" has papal origins: "During his papacy from 1471-1484, Sixtus IV granted many special favors to members of his family, in particular his nephews.... [In the 1600s], nepotism began to be used in English for the showing of special favor or unfair preference to any relative by someone in any position of power...." Very religious of you, mike.
Gardiner Harris & Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: "Sheldon G. Adelson, one of the most hawkish supporters of Israel among American Jews, has offered to help fund the construction of a new American Embassy in Jerusalem, according to the State Department, which on Friday said it was reviewing whether it could legally accept the donation. The total price tag to build the new embassy to replace the current one in Tel Aviv is estimated at around $500 million, according to one former State Department official. While private donors have previously paid for renovations to American ambassadors' overseas residences, Mr. Adelson's contribution would be likely to far surpass those gifts — and could further strain American diplomacy in the Middle East. Before the embassy is built, the Trump administration plans to open a temporary one in Jerusalem."
Benjamin Hart of New York: "Several companies, including multiple rental-car concerns, discontinued partnerships and programs they had with the National Rifle Association as the hashtag 'boycottNRA' stood atop Twitter all day [Friday], in the wake of last week's mass shooting at a Florida high school.... It's another sign that American public opinion on guns may be shifting, and that the usual corporate impulse to avoid riling up firearm enthusiasts may be fading." Mrs. McC: This makes membership in the NRA less attractive. What's the point of paying for NRA membership if all you get is a card, some window decals & one of their stupid magazines? ...
Max Greenwood of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that he is 'amazed' at how quickly President Trump bowed to the National Rifle Association (NRA) after he threw his support behind a proposal to arm trained teachers. 'Not surprised the NRA reeled President Trump back in,' Schumer said in a statement. 'Just amazed at how fast it happened.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Brandon Carter of the Hill: "Former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele slammed President Trump for suggesting some teachers should be armed in order to prevent future school shootings, calling the idea 'delusional.' 'The president and others promoting arming teachers are delusional. Wake the hell up people,' Steele, who has become an outspoken critic of Trump within the GOP, tweeted Friday. 'There was a uniformed, armed polic officer on duty at Douglas H. S. and he did nothing. And you expect teachers to do his job?'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: Florida "Gov. Rick Scott proposed on Friday the most significant move toward gun control in Florida in decades, in defiance of the National Rifle Association, though some of his ideas fell short of what student advocates pleaded for after they lost 17 classmates and staff members last week in one of the deadliest school shootings in American history. The governor, a Republican, backed raising the minimum age to buy any firearm, including semiautomatic rifles, to 21 from 18, a restriction opposed by the N.R.A.... Mr. Scott also said he would push to ban 'bump stocks,' which enable semiautomatic rifles to fire faster, and would ask for $500 million for mental health and school safety programs, including requiring at least one armed police officer for every 1,000 students at public schools.... Mr. Scott, who is widely expected to run for a United States Senate seat this year, also broke with the president and the N.R.A. by not endorsing putting more armed personnel in schools, an idea fiercely opposed by the students from Stoneman Douglas High." (Also linked yesterday afternoon. The story has been updated.) ...
... Mary Klas of the Tampa Bay Times: "A majority of Floridians support a ban on the sale of assault weapons, including a majority of Florida gun owners, according to a poll conducted by this week by the Florida Senate Republican leaders. The measure is the latest sign that the bills drafted by the House and Senate and expected to be unveiled on Friday may fall short of what most Floridians want lawmakers to do after the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14 that killed 17 students and teachers." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Richard Oppel, et al., of the New York Times: "The warnings that law enforcement officials received about Nikolas Cruz were anything but subtle.... More than once, Mr. Cruz was identified by those around him as someone capable of carrying out a school shooting.... 'I know he's going to explode,' a woman who knew Mr. Cruz said on the F.B.I.'s tip line on Jan. 5. Her big worry was that he might resort to slipping 'into a school and just shooting the place up.' Forty days later, Mr. Cruz is accused of doing just that.... The authorities have acknowledged mishandling numerous warning signs that Mr. Cruz was deeply troubled. There were tips to the F.B.I. about disturbing social media posts. There were visits by social services to his home. There were dozens of calls to 911 and the local authorities, some mentioning fears that he was capable of violence." Read on. There's lots more. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Several days ago, I speculated that since Cruz was living with others, he would have earned enough money at his job at a Dollar Tree store to purchase eight guns plus ammo over the course of a year. However, the NYT report states that a tipster said that "Mr. Cruz had used money from a life insurance policy after his mother’s death to purchase the weapons." ...
... Eliza Relman of Business Insider: "The family of Colton Haab, a student at the Florida high school where a gunman killed 17 people last week, provided a doctored email to media outlets in order to defend Haab's claims that CNN rewrote a question for him to ask at the network's Wednesday town-hall-style event on school shootings. Haab told the Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Thursday night that CNN executive producer Carrie Stevenson gave him a question to deliver to lawmakers and told him to 'stick to the script.'... A CNN source provided Colton's version of the emails, as well as their versions of all of the communications between the Haabs and CNN, to Business Insider.... According to the metadata of the Word document containing the email that was provided to Fox, it appears that Glenn [Haab, Colton's father,] last edited it." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: As you may recall, President Clunkweasel tweeted out the Haab lie, deriding both CNN & MSNBC: "'School shooting survivor says he quit Town Hall after refusing scripted question.' TuckerCarlson. Just like so much of CNN, Fake News. That's why their ratings are so bad! MSNBC may be worse." Looking for a retraction & apology, Donaldo. Ha ha.
Gail Collins explores the intersection between politics & sex scandals. She sticks to Republican sex scandals, but it might have been a little more candid to mention the Democratic mayor of Nashville, who had an affair with her bodyguard & appears to have taken some "honeymoons" with the bodyguard at taxpayer expense. See link below.
Brian Faler of Politico: "It's hardly surprising there would be bugs in the sprawling new [tax heist] law H.R. 1 (115), but some experts say the sheer number is unusual, and blame the breakneck pace at which the legislation was pushed through \Congress. 'This is not normal,' said Marty Sullivan, chief economist at the nonpartisan Tax Analysts. 'There's always this kind of stuff, but the order of magnitude is entirely different.'... Republicans would like to address the problems as soon as next month, as part of legislation needed to fund the government. But to do that, they'll need assistance from Democrats, and it's unclear they are in any mood to help. They were shut out of the process of writing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and may be looking for payback after Republicans steadfastly refused to allow them to fix hitches in the Affordable Care Act." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is not a time to play nice, Democrats. Republicans built a hot mess for all but the richest Americans. Let them own it. If you get your act together, you can work with them next year if you gain a majority in Congress.
Beyond the Beltway
AP: "State investigators have found a nude photo and partially nude photo of a woman that they believe were taken with the work cellphone of Nashville Mayor Megan Barry's former lead bodyguard, with whom she has admitted having an extramarital affair, according to court documents filed Thursday. In affidavits by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the agency says there's probable cause to show Sgt. Rob Forrest shot those two photos while his timesheet says he was working and that the two were engaging in their affair while he was on duty. The photos were discovered in Forrest's work email, the filings state. There were 260 deleted chats between Forrest's phone and Barry's phone number as well as 35 deleted call logs, the affidavit states. The bureau stopped short of identifying who was in the photos. But in the affidavit, an agent says he believes a black purse in one nude photo is the same purse found in a different photo of Barry found on Forrest's phone.... 'Nothing in the affidavits released today ... indicates that I have committed any actions that violate the law,' Barry said in a statement Thursday. 'If any violations of the law occurred, they were in violating my personal rights.'" Mrs. McC: Barry is a Democrat. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
News Lede
CBS News: "A woman suspected of ramming her vehicle into a White House security barrier on Friday afternoon has been taken into custody and charged with multiple criminal charges, according to the U.S. Secret Service and local authorities. A law enforcement source identified to CBS News the woman arrested in connection with ramming of the barricade at the White House today as Jessica Ford. The White House went on lockdown Friday afternoon when the suspect allegedly "intentionally drove a white can into a security barrier near the White House," as the U.S. Secret Service described the incident late Friday. The vehicle did not breach the security barrier, and no law enforcement personnel were injured in the incident. The woman -- as a source described to CBS News' Pat Milton and later confirmed by the Secret Service -- was known to the Service Service. She has been charged with 'numerous criminal violations,' according to the Secret Service."
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