;)
The Commentariat -- February 16, 2018
Afternoon Update:
It's Friday!
Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "The special counsel investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election charged 13 Russian nationals and three Russian organizations on Friday with illegally using social media platforms to sow political discord, including actions that supported the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump and disparaged his opponent, Hillary Clinton. The indictment represents the first charges by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, for meddling in the 2016 presidential election -- the fundamental crime that he was assigned to investigate. In a 37-page indictment filed in United States District Court, Mr. Mueller said that the 13 individuals have conspired since 2014 to violate laws that prohibit foreigners from spending money to influence federal elections in the United States." ...
... Rosenstein just blew up Trump's "hoax defense."
Mark Berman & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "The FBI said Friday that a month before the shooting rampage at a South Florida high school, the bureau received a warning that the 19-year-old charged in the massacre might carry out such an attack -- but then investigators failed to act on it. The startling revelation came two days after police say Nikolas Cruz marched into his former high school and gunned down 17 people. In a statement, the FBI said it received a tip last month from 'a person close to Nikolas Cruz' reporting concerns about him, specifically saying that he could potentially carry out a school shooting. While this should have been investigated 'as a potential threat to life .. these protocols were not followed,' the bureau said in a statement. "'We are still investigating the facts,' Christopher A. Wray, the FBI director, said in the statement." ...
... The New York Times story, by Patricia Mazzei & Adam Goldman, is here.
Lois Beckett of the Guardian: "Americans have to be 21 before they can legally buy alcohol. But in most states, they can buy an AR-15 military-style rifle starting at age 18. Federal law has stricter age requirements for buying handguns than for the military-style rifles that have become the weapon of choice for mass shootings. With some exceptions, Americans must be 21 to buy a handgun from a licensed dealer. But the age limit is lower for long guns, a category that includes traditional hunting rifles, shotguns, and the military-style guns categorized under law as 'assault weapons'. After a federal assault weapon ban lapsed in 2004, only seven states and the District of Columbia still have a continuing ban on such firearms."
"There's a Pretty Good Chance President Trump Is Being Blackmailed." Jonathan Chait: "Ronan Farrow's new story [linked below] shows that Trump habitually pays for sex.... Farrow's reporting also implies, without quite establishing as an absolute certainty, that Trump maintained a system for silencing his sexual partners.... We know Russia has a decades-old system for gathering compromising sexual secrets on prominent foreign visitors.... Far from being bizarre, imagining Trump paying prostitutes to pee on a bed Obama used as a primitive revenge ritual, and Russians taping the episode, is perfectly consistent with what we know about both parties.... Indeed, sex is not the only kind of secret Trump harbors. He endured months of criticism first from Republican candidates, then Democrats, and all along from the media, for refusing to disclose his tax returns.... All in all, the odds are disconcertingly high that Russia, or somebody, has blackmail leverage over the president of the United States."
Mark Joyella in Forbes: "On Thursday morning, Donald Trump wrapped himself in the trappings of the presidency, standing in the White House Diplomatic Reception Room ... and plodded his way through a somber six-minute speech about the mass shooting Wednesday in Florida.... Then he ducked out without taking any questions from reporters. Trump, who famously ridiculed Hillary Clinton for going 235 days without holding a solo press conference, will hit 365 days on Friday -- and still counting. Mr. Trump ... has decided that when the news gets tough, he'll go missing. Under Trump's leadership, the back-and-forth exchange of information between the executive branch and the news media has ground nearly to a halt, with the afternoon briefings held by press secretary Sarah Sanders at times veering toward farce.... The president has abandoned the White House briefing room, and so should journalists--at least until somebody shows up who's willing to answer questions."
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "President Trump came to Washington promising to 'drain the swamp.' But after less than 13 months, more than 40 percent of the people he originally picked for Cabinet-level jobs have faced ethical or other controversies. The list has grown quickly in recent weeks." ...
... Donovan Slack of USA Today: "The third most senior official at the Department of Veterans Affairs is stepping down amid findings she misled ethics officials to secure approval for VA Secretary David Shulkin's wife to accompany him on taxpayer-funded trip to Europe. Vivieca Wright Simpson, Shulkin's chief of staff, told colleagues Friday morning that she is retiring after 32 years at the agency and more than two years as Shulkin's most senior aide. The announcement came two days after the VA inspector general released recommendations that she be disciplined for doctoring an email to an ethics lawyer to show Shulkin was getting special recognition or an award during the trip to Denmark and London last year, the criteria for clearing his wife's flights on the public's dime."
Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "Mark Corallo, former spokesperson for ... Donald Trump's legal team, spoke with Special Counsel Bob Mueller earlier this week for over two hours, two people familiar with the matter told The Daily Beast. He isn't expected to go in for another interview, according to a person familiar with the matter. The New York Times reported last month that Corallo's conversation with Mueller would likely involve topics related to potential obstruction of justice."
Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "In a long-expected announcement, Mitt Romney said on Friday that he would run for the United States Senate, pledging to bring Utah's priorities of balanced budgets, strong economy and welcoming borders to Washington. Mr. Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts and the 2012 Republican nominee for president, made the announcement in a two-minute video posted to Twitter and Facebook. He cited his experience as the chief executive of the organizing committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and compared Utah, where his mother was born, favorably to the nation's capital." ...
... Alex Shephard of the New Republic: "Instead of attacking Trump, as he did during the 2016 election, Romney is embracing an implicit critique by standing up for a different kind of conservatism. But it's also an acknowledgment that Romney's critiques of Trump (and his overtures to him) have failed. Romney hasn't been able to influence the president or his party, so he's going to try to ignore Trump and run a conventional Senate campaign. The question is whether he'll also be a conventional Republican senator -- which is to say, obeisant to Trump."
*****
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "In a stern rebuke to President Trump, the Senate on Thursday decisively rejected a White House rewrite of the nation's immigration laws that would have bolstered border security, placed strict new limits on legal migration and resolved the fate of the so-called Dreamers. The measure by Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, was patterned after one that the White House proposed, but the 39-60 vote was 21 votes short of the 60 votes required for the Senate to consider it. Mr. Trump had threatened to veto any other approach. But the rejection of the president's plan was bipartisan: Democrats refused its get-tough approach to legal immigration, while many conservative Republicans opposed its pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.... Before the vote on the White House plan, senators turned away two more modest measures to protect young immigrants known as Dreamers. Neither the plan drafted by a broad group of centrists nor one written by Senators John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, secured 60 votes." ...
... Dylan Scott of Vox: "The dream looks dead. The Senate failed Thursday afternoon to advance any of the four immigration bills that were put on the floor for a vote, unable to make any movement toward protecting young people brought illegally to the United States as children.... Trump played his part in Thursday's showdown: At midday on Thursday, the White House issued a veto threat against the bipartisan bill that seemed to have the best shot of winning the 60 votes needed -- meaning even if the Senate had gotten enough support for the plan, Trump seemed unlikely to sign it." ...
... Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate on Thursday rejected immigration legislation crafted by centrists in both parties after President Trump threatened to veto the bill if it made it to his desk. In a 54-45 vote, the Senate failed to advance the legislation from eight Republican, seven Democratic and one Independent senators. It needed 60 votes to overcome a procedural hurdle. A few Democrats, including Sens. Kamala Harris (Calif.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.) and Tom Udall (N.M.), withheld their votes until it was clear the measure could not get to 60, and then voted against it. The centrist deal, backed by Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and other Republicans, represented perhaps the best chance to advance legislation in the Senate, but was opposed by Trump and his allies...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Dreamers Flim-Flam. Brian Beutler of Crooked: "The Republican Party wants to deport Dreamers.... At the same time, Republican leaders don't want people to know that they think Dreamers should be deported.... This story is nearly two decades old. The DREAM Act was first introduced in 2001. Republicans, who controlled government at the time, let it languish. In George W. Bush's second term, immigration restrictionists killed two bipartisan immigration reform efforts. In 2010, Republicans filibustered the DREAM Act. In 2013, hardline conservatives bullied then-House Speaker John Boehner into tabling a bipartisan immigration reform bill that passed the Senate.... Now that failure to pass protection for Dreamers will make Dreamers the face of Trump's vicious deportation regime, Republicans see it as their top priority not to pass compromise legislation, but to kill the compromise legislation while obscuring their responsibility for the deportations to come." Mrs. McC: Every good flim-flam needs a guy like Paul Ryan orchestrating the scam. So he's there.
Julie Turkewitz, et al., of the New York Times: "The suspect in one of the deadliest school shootings in modern American history confessed to police that he 'began shooting students that he saw in the hallways and on school grounds' once on campus, according to a police arrest report released Thursday. Nikolas Cruz, 19, carried a black duffel bag and a black backpack, where he hid loaded magazines, the report said. He arrived at the school in Florida in an Uber at 2:19 p.m. on Wednesday and made his way into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where he pulled out a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle, according to details described by the authorities at a news conference on Thursday. Mr. Cruz shot people in the hallways and inside five classrooms on the first and second floors of the freshman building. He eventually discarded the rifle, a vest and ammunition in a stairwell, blended in with fleeing students and got away, the authorities said. After leaving the school, Mr. Cruz walked to a Walmart, and bought a drink at a Subway. He also stopped at a McDonald's. He was arrested by the police without incident as he walked down a residential street at 3:41 p.m." ...
... David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Thursday called the suspect in the mass school shooting in Parkland, Fla., 'mentally disturbed' and vowed to help local jurisdictions tackle mental health issues, but he made no mention of stricter gun control laws. In a televised address at the White House, Trump focused his response on the need for the nation to offer more support for young people who feel isolated a day after Nikolas Cruz, 19, a former student who had been expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, was accused of the rampage that killed 17 people at his former school.... In a tweet earlier Thursday, Trump implored the public to report erratic behavior to authorities as a way to head off such rampages.... The president attached -- or 'threaded' -- his tweet to an unrelated one from two days earlier that dealt with the congressional negotiations on immigration. It was not clear why. 'So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!'... On Wednesday, he offered his 'prayers and condolences' to the families of the victims." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Oh, I know why Trump "threaded" his tweet on immigration to the one on the Florida school shooting. The last name of the alleged shooter is "Cruz." Notice, too, how Trump's tweet seems to blame people acquainted with Cruz to adequately "report" his behavior. Nothing to do with most Americans' being able to purchase semi-automatic weapons. But then, as Akhilleus points out in today's comments, the NRA gave Trump $20MM & dropped another $57MM on other gun-loving' candidates. ...
... Margaret Hartmann: "Twenty hours after gunfire was first reported, Trump finally made a six-minute statement from the White House. But it was blasted for being so generic that it could have applied to any tragedy. He also failed to use the word 'gun' once, which was seen as an effort to comfort gun owners scared that children being murdered might curtail their Second Amendment rights.... It seems the general strategy is to lie low and wait until Americans shift focus to some other topic.... Politico notes that the White House daily briefing was delayed twice on Wednesday, then canceled, along with Thursday's briefing. 'I suspect they didn't want split screens,' said former President George W. Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer." ...
... Margaret Hartmann: "On the morning after a shooting at a Florida high school left 17 people dead, President Trump met our already rock-bottom expectations by posting a tweet suggesting that the fault lies with shooting victims and others who failed to report Nikolas Cruz, rather than with politicians who refuse to tackle the mass shooting epidemic.... Neighbors in affluent Parkland, Florida also called the police repeatedly. Malcolm Roxburgh, who lived three doors from Cruz for many years, told the Wall Street Journal, 'The police knew all about him. They came to that house maybe 30 or 40 times, as far as I know, to straighten out problems.'... Though plenty of people raised alarms with school officials, police, and federal agents, he had no criminal record, and no record of mental illness that would prevent him from purchasing a gun.... Getting someone committed involuntarily, or even into mental health treatment, can be extremely difficult.... Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, who is leading the investigation of the Parkland shooting, pleaded with Florida's lawmakers to pass ... a measure ... that would allow law enforcement officers, or in some cases family members, to petition the court to temporarily seize firearms from someone believed to pose a threat to themselves or others." ...
... Maybe the Children Will Lead Them. Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "In the familiar aftermath of America's latest mass shooting, something new stood out: This time, the kids who survived the rampage on Wednesday were demanding to know why the adults who run the country had not done more to prevent it.... The pleas for action from Parkland struck a sharp contrast with the almost nonexistent debate on Capitol Hill over preventing gun violence. Calls to ban the semiautomatic weapon used by the shooter were considered a non-starter in a Republican-controlled Congress where lawmakers are heavily influenced by the National Rifle Association.... A push to restrict 'bump stocks,' the device that was used to accelerate gunfire during the massacre at a music festival in Las Vegas in October, seemed like it might succeed last fall with backing from the National Rifle Association. But momentum slipped within a few weeks. At the same time, the Trump administration and congressional Republicans sought ways to loosen existing restrictions on guns." ...
... Steve Benen: "On. Feb. 10, 2013, exactly five years ago this week, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) appeared on NPR and was asked about what steps policymakers could take to reduce gun violence.... 'How do you get more people that have mental health problems that shouldn't have guns, and under present law can't get guns, but you got to get their name into the database as well.' [Thursday] morning, Grassley spoke briefly to MSNBC in a Capitol Hill hallway ... and echoing the sentiment he shared almost exactly five years ago.... There was ... a federal policy in place to prevent [a person with severe mental illness] from purchasing a gun.... The Social Security Administration would report the names of those who receive disability benefits due to severe mental illness to the FBI's background-check system. Last year, none other than Chuck Grassley sponsored legislation to block that reporting. It passed the Republican-led Congress exactly one year ago today, with the unanimous support of every GOP senator, along with four red-state Democrats and an independent.... And so, we're left with a curious dynamic: Iowa's Chuck Grassley's response to mass shootings is to add those with mental impairments to the FBI database, despite the fact that Iowa's Chuck Grassley's made it easier for those with mental impairments to buy guns by keeping their names off the FBI database." ...
... Chuck Isn't the Only One Trying to Hide This Law. Laura Strickler of CBS News: "A little over a month after his inauguration, on Feb. 28, 2017, President Trump signed HJ Resolution 40, a bill that made it easier for people with mental illness to obtain guns. CBS News then asked the White House to release the photograph of Mr. Trump signing the bill, making the request a total of 12 times.... Sarah Huckabee Sanders finally responded to repeated emails and phone calls with a one-line note on April 19, 2017, writing to CBS News, 'We don't plan to release the picture at this time.' A White House photographer confirmed to CBS News that there are photos of the bill signing. Those photos won't be seen unless the Trump administration releases them, though, because the White House is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.... Thursday morning CBS News asked the White House again if it would release the photo of the signing, but received no response." ...
... Matthew Daly of the AP: In the wake of the Florida mass murder, Republicans in Congress plan to do ... nothing. Paul Ryan said members should "pull together" & Mitch McConnell "called for a moment of silence.... Democrats, meanwhile, urged expanded background checks and renewed their call for a special committee to examine gun violence.... In a rare comment that appeared unscripted, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he would speak to Trump and fellow Cabinet members about gun violence. Testifying on the president's budget, Mnuchin called the school shooting a tragedy and said, 'I urge Congress to look at this issue.' Mnuchin's remark seemed at odds with the White House, which has not sought legislation or additional money to curb gun violence." ...
... Mnuchin's office later "clarified" his remarks, & said he didn't favor gun control laws. ...
... Noor Al-Sibai of the Raw Story: "As Republicans begin heaping 'thoughts and prayers' on the families of the 17-plus people killed in Wednesday’s deadly shooting at a high school outside Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, [Bess Kalb,] a writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live! made sure to note how much each had taken from the National Rifle Association." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: We live in a country that has chosen leaders who put their campaign coffers before the lives of Americans, including children. ...
... Doug Criss of CNN summarizes Florida's gun purchase laws: "The right to bear arms is found in the first article of Florida's constitution.... You don't need a permit or license to buy a gun, nor do you have to register a firearm. You don't need a permit to conceal carry a rifle or shotgun, although you do need it to conceal carry a handgun. The state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services must issue a concealed weapons license to an applicant as long as the person meets a certain set of requirements, including being a US citizen, being the age of 21 or older, not having a felony conviction and demonstrates competence with a firearm. You can buy as many guns as you want at one time, because Florida doesn't regulate that either. Gun sellers don't have to get a state license to sell firearms. The state does require a three-day waiting period before you can buy a gun. And Florida does not regulate assault weapons, .50-caliber rifles and large capacity ammunition magazines." Mrs. McC: Criss doesn't go into firearms use laws, like the infamous "stand your ground" law, which has since been judged unconstitutional. ...
... Oh, and one-third of Floridians own guns. ...
... Anti-Defamation League: "A spokesperson for the white supremacist group Republic of Florida (ROF) told the Anti-Defamation League on Thursday, February 15, that Nikolas Cruz, the man charged with the previous day's deadly shooting spree at a Parkland, Florida, high school, was associated with his group.... After self-described ROF members claimed on the discussion forum 4chan that Cruz had also been a member, the Anti-Defamation League called the ROF hotline and spoke with an ROF member who identified himself as Jordan Jereb. Jereb, based in Tallahassee, is believed to be the leader of ROF. " Mrs. McC: Trump's linkage to immigration legislation looks even more stupid now, doesn't it? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Southern Poverty Law Center: "Hours after claiming a connection to Cruz, Jereb said he had been misunderstood.... Jereb initially claimed that Cruz was a member, that he had participated in one or more ROF training exercises in the Tallahassee area, and that he carpooled with other members from South Florida. Though the link was reported by several news organizations, the SPLC has not confirmed it." ...
... Update. Karl Etters of the Tallahassee Democrat: "Local law enforcement sources have not found a connection between accused Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz and a Tallahassee-based paramilitary group. Leon County law enforcement sources told the Tallahassee Democrat that they could not find information linking Cruz, 19, to the Republic of Florida Militia, asclaimed by the group's self-proclaimed leader Jordan Jereb." ...
... Shooter Was a Trump Backer. Samantha Allen, et al., of the Daily Beast: "Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said Thursday evening that the claim is 'not confirmed at this time' but 'we are looking into that.' After previous mass shootings, the alt-right has spread disinformation online about alleged perpetrators.... Two classmates said they saw Cruz wore a 'Make America Great Again' hat. 'I saw him wear a Trump hat,' said Sebastian Gonzalez, a 19-year-old who graduated in 2017. Ocean Parodie, a 17-year-old junior, said Cruz was politically extreme. 'For example, he would degrade Islamic people as terrorists and bombers. I've seen him wear a Trump hat,' Parodie said. Josh Charo, a 16-year-old junior who was in JROTC with Cruz, said he often expressed racist beliefs.... Cruz wore the Trump hat in a photo on an Instagram account the company said belonged to him. Over his face he wore a red, white, and blue bandana. On that account and another one, Cruz posted photos of guns, knives, anti-Muslim slurs, and a picture of a toad he killed." ...
... Brianna Sacks of BuzzFeed: "Last fall, a Mississippi bail bondsman and frequent YouTube vlogger noticed an alarming comment left on one of his videos. 'I'm going to be a professional school shooter,' said a user named Nikolas Cruz. The YouTuber, 36-year-old Ben Bennight, alerted the FBI, emailing a screenshot of the comment and calling the bureau's Mississippi field office. He also flagged the comment to YouTube, which removed it from the video. Agents with the bureau's Mississippi field office got back to him 'immediately,' Bennight said, and conducted an in-person interview the following day, on Sept. 25. 'They came to my office the next morning and asked me if I knew anything about the person,' Bennight told BuzzFeed News. 'I didn't. They took a copy of the screenshot and that was the last I heard from them.'... Though his name matches the YouTube user flagged in September, FBI officials would not say whether they have confirmed that the account belonged to Cruz.... At a press conference Thursday morning, the FBI confirmed that it had received and looked into a tip about the 'professional school shooter' comment on Bennight's YouTube channel, but could not uncover any details from the account." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Far Right, Including Don Junior Blame FBI for Florida Mass Murder. Oliver Darcy & Hadas Gold of CNN: "The far-right on Thursday fumed at the FBI in the aftermath of the Florida high school shooting, suggesting that the bureau's previous investigation into Russian meddling had detracted from the agency's core duties and allowed the massacre to happen. The scapegoating of the law enforcement agency was prompted by a YouTuber telling news outlets, including CNN, that he had alerted the FBI in September about a comment left on one of his videos which said, 'I'm going to be a professional school shooter.' That comment was left by an individual going by the same name of the suspected Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter. 'The FBI was too busy trying to undermine the president to bother with doing it's [sic] freaking job,' tweeted Kurt Schlichter, a columnist for the conservative news website Townhall. Schlichter's tweet was liked on Twitter by President Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr." ...
... Erin Griffith of Wired: "In the wake of Wednesday's Parkland, Florida school shooting..., troll and bot-tracking sites reported an immediate uptick in related tweets from political propaganda bots and Russia-linked Twitter accounts.... As of morning, shooting-related terms dominated ... trending hashtags and topics, including Parkland, guncontrolnow, Florida, guncontrol, and Nikolas Cruz, the name of the alleged shooter.... [A] top link shared by the network covers the 'deranged' Instagram account of the shooter.... [Most of the tweets were anti-gun-control.] Characterizing shooters as deranged lone wolves with potential terrorist connections is a popular strategy of pro-gun groups because of the implication that new gun laws could not have prevented their actions. On Thursday President Trump tweeted as much: 'So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior.'... Meanwhile, some accounts with large bot followings are already spreading misinformation about the shooter's ties to far-left group Antifa...."
Maggie Haberman & Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "President Trump's inaugural committee paid nearly $26 million to an event planning firm started by an adviser to the first lady, Melania Trump, while donating $5 million -- less than expected -- to charity, according to tax filings released on Thursday. [The committee's] chairman, Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a longtime friend of Mr. Trump, had pledged that the committee would be thrifty with its spending, and would donate leftover funds to charity. But the mandatory tax return it filed with the Internal Revenue Service indicates that the group's charitable donations included only an already publicized $3 million for hurricane relief, plus a total of $1.75 million to groups involved in decorating and maintaining the White House and the vice president's residence." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Dan Merica, et al., of CNN: "The FBI obtained photos of the bruised face of Colbie Holderness seven days after ... Donald Trump's inauguration last year, according to emails obtained by CNN, raising questions about what information White House counsel Don McGahn had at his disposal regarding her ex-husband, Rob Porter.... It's unclear if the FBI sent the photos to the White House, though a law enforcement source said the bureau would have at least provided a synopsis of what they portray.... 'That isn't reasonable,' national security expert Mark Zaid said of the idea that McGahn only learned about the photo when it was published. 'I would be surprised that if in their partial report in March, the FBI either didn't include the photo or, at a minimum, reference they had photographic evidence of the domestic assault.' He added: 'And I can't fathom it not being part of the completed report' that the FBI delivered to the White House in July." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The article clarifies McGahn's security status: "McGahn had been approved for permanent access to top secret information by November, but was still working off interim access to Sensitive Compartmented Information...." ...
... Peter Baker of the New York Times: "The rule of thumb for crisis communications in any White House is to get a complete and accurate account of events out quickly, if for no other reason than to keep a negative story from lasting longer than it otherwise might. But President Trump's White House has thrown out the rule book in so many ways. The continuing questions about Rob Porter, the staff secretary who resigned after being accused of abusing two former wives, have provided a case study in how shifting stories can make matters worse.... Critics say the conflicting accounts stem from the top, from a president who has made so many false statements or given so many contradictory versions of the truth in so many instances that even his own advisers cannot trust him." Baker reports on a summary by Ari Fleischer, Dubya's press secretary, of the underlying problems in the Trump administration's scattershot responses to the Porter problem. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... ** Sarah Kendzior in Fast Company: Rob Porter "will leave the White House armed with state secrets that he should have never been given -- one of many ethically questionable former staffers to do so. Porter is a symptom of the disease of Trumpism, a toxic plague of misogyny, disloyalty, and deceit that not only shatters ethical norms but leaves U.S. national security in chronic jeopardy. Trump's White House has long been a revolving door, with a turnover rate of 34%. While departures of incompetent or immoral staffers have often inspired public relief, they are actually cause for alarm. That revolving door leads into a bustling marketplace of state secrets, one whose temptations should not be shrugged off given that basic standards of loyalty to country have been put into question by this administration's actions.... Armed with classified information, these men are now walking national security threats, and it's reasonable to assume that Trump -- loose-lipped, disloyal, and primarily interested in making money and dodging prosecution -- may someday be too." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I don't think Kendzior's post is in any way alarmist. Trump entered the White House as a national security threat, & he brought along a bunch of littler national security threats. Trump's entourage is not patriotic; it is transactional. It is reasonable to argue that Trump's "nationist" policy is a big fat cover -- a pretense of retro-patriotism to shout over the actual ways in which Trump & Co. are dedicated to selling the U.S. to the highest bidders. Trump spent the last several decades of his business career working with shady international opportunists, & there's no reason to think the presidency would cause him to curtail this type of partnership.
This Russia Thing
Bannon Sticks to White House Script. Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "House Republican leaders are weighing 'further steps' to force former top White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon to answer investigators' questions in their probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election -- including potentially declaring him in contempt of Congress -- after a Thursday interview they called 'frustrating.'... Bannon has put no preconditions on his interviews with [Robert] Mueller. But he presented intelligence panel members with a list of only 25 questions that he would be willing to answer related to anything that took place after Donald Trump won the 2016 election. According to the panel's top Democrat, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), those questions had been 'literally scripted' by the White House, and Bannon's answer to all of them was 'no.' When the committee tried to push Bannon to answer questions that were not on his list, he repeatedly told members that the White House had not authorized him to engage on those queries. At no point, people familiar with the interview said, did Bannon voluntarily elaborate on his answers." ...
... Hallie Jackson of NBC News: "Steve Bannon ... was interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller over multiple days this week, NBC News has learned from two sources familiar with the proceedings. Bannon spent a total of some 20 hours in conversations with the team led by Mueller...." ...
... Katelyn Polantz & Sara Murray of CNN: "Former Trump campaign adviser Rick Gates is finalizing a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller's office, indicating he's poised to cooperate in the investigation, according to sources familiar with the case. Gates has already spoken to Mueller's team about his case and has been in plea negotiations for about a month. He's had what criminal lawyers call a 'Queen for a Day' interview, in which a defendant answers any questions from the prosecutors' team, including about his own case and other potential criminal activity he witnessed.... It's still unclear what Gates, who outlasted Manafort in the campaign and later worked on the Trump inaugural efforts, could share that would be of value to the Russian collusion investigators, outside the [Paul] Manafort case." ...
... Jonathan Chait: "Gates' testimony will almost certainly ... put a lot of pressure on Manafort. There's no other imaginable reason why Mueller would care about Gates other than gaining leverage over Manafort. And Manafort is a key figure with both deep, murky ties to the Kremlin."
... Craig Timberg of the Washington Post: "Russia's disinformation campaign during the 2016 presidential election relied heavily on stories produced by major American news sources to shape the online political debate, according to an analysis published Thursday. The analysis by Columbia University social-media researcher Jonathan Albright of more than 36,000 tweets sent by Russian accounts showed that obscure or foreign news sources played a comparatively minor role,suggesting that the discussion of 'fake news' during the campaign has been somewhat miscast.... Some well-chronicled hoaxes reached large audiences. But Russian-controlled Twitter accounts, Albright said, were far more likely to share stories produced by widely read sources of American news and political commentary. The stories themselves were generally factually accurate, but the Russian accounts carefully curated the overall flow to highlight themes and developments that bolstered Republican Donald Trump and undermined ... Hillary Clinton."
The President & the Porn Star Story Just Got Ickier. Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "A new report claims that porn star Stormy Daniels for years has held onto a dress she wore during a sexual encounter with ... Donald Trump -- and now she plans to get it tested for his DNA. Celebrity gossip site The Blast, which first broke news that Daniels planned to break her silence on her affair with Trump, now claims that the adult movie actress is in possession of a 'Monica Lewinsky dress' that she will use as proof of her claims of her affair with the president." ...
... "The Perfect Stormy." Paul Waldman in the Week: "... the whole scandal is as Trumpian as could be: sordid, crooked, banal, silly, and driven forward by Trump's own stupidity and that of people around him. What more could we expect?" ...
... The President & the Playboy Bunny. Ronan Farrow, in the New Yorker, describes Donald Trump's affair with Karen McDougal, which took place at the same time as his relationship with Stormy Daniels. Trump's friend, David Pecker, CEO of the publisher of the National Enquirer, bought McDougal's story for $150K in order to kill it. The White House denies that Trump ever had an affair with McDougal. Mrs. McC: I'll bet Melania Trump believes McDougal. Farrow's story is actually interesting, especially as it relates to Summer Zervos' claim that Trump physically attacked her.
Dave Philipps & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Dr. [David] Shulkin, [the secretary of Veterans' Affairs &] the only holdover from the Obama administration, expressed dismay in an interview on Wednesday over what he said seemed to be political appointees in his office working against him, saying that they were 'trying to undermine the department from within.' Career civil servants say the dispute has grown more heated than previous policy differences, and ... is rived with infighting between the secretary's supporters and opponents.... [Shulkin] said he was investigating a number of political appointees in his department for misconduct and possible removal. On Thursday, he spoke directly to the White House chief of staff, John F. Kelly, about concerns that political appointees were trying to undermine his agency, according to department officials.... The fight over the leadership of the department is part of a long-running battle over how to deliver health care to the nation's veterans. The department currently operates its own health system.... Some conservatives, including some advisers to the White House, favor gradually dismantling that system and allowing veterans to choose to receive taxpayer-subsidized care from private doctors instead." And, yes, there's a Koch brothers aspect to this.
Juliet Eilperin & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "Verbal confrontations with members of the public prompted Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt to switch to flying first or business class whenever possible, officials said Thursday. Henry Barnet, who directs EPA-sOffice of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training, said in an interview that the head of Pruitt's security detail, Pasquale Perrotta, recommended in May that he fly in either first or business class to provide 'a buffer' between him and the public. Perrotta's memo was prompted by an incident that month when a person approached Pruitt 'with threatening language' that was 'vulgar,' Barnet said.... Barnet said he was 'not aware of any physical confrontations' the administrator has faced since taking office a year ago.... Gina McCarthy and Lisa Jackson, each of whom led the EPA under President Barack Obama and were controversial figures in their own right, had security teams of about a half-dozen individuals. That number has roughly tripled under Pruitt and become a 24/7 operation." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm all confused. Don't "the public" sit in first- and business-class seats? Unless Pruitt clears the cabin on these excursions, I'd urge these fine upscale travelers to be a little more verbal (and vulgar) when they find themselves seated near the head of the Environmental Pollution Agency. The environment he's ruining is their environment, too. ...
... Oh, Wait. There Were Problems in the Airport, Too. Alex Guillen of Politico: "PA Administrator Scott Pruitt's security team decided last year he should fly first class to avoid confrontations with angry individuals on planes and in airports, an agency official said Thursday as EPA sought to explain the chief's penchant for pricey travel. 'He was approached in the airport numerous times, to the point of profanities being yelled at him and so forth,' Henry Barnet, director of the agency's Office of Criminal Enforcement, told Politico.... As an example, Barnet recounted on incident from October at the airport in Atlanta. An individual approached Pruitt with his cell phone recording, yelling at him "'Scott Pruitt, you're f---ing up the environment," those sort of terms,' Barnet said." Mrs. McC: Very threatening. Also accurate. I guess Scotty, like his boss, can't handle the truth.
Feud of the Old Farts. Elana Schor of Politico: "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley hit back hard at Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday after his former Senate colleague launched a pre-emptive strike on his criminal justice bill. The legislation, which Grassley has worked on for more than two years, is expected to win committee approval Thursday. But it faces a tough climb to the Senate floor amid reluctance from GOP leaders and conservative resistance. Sessions, who opposed the reform effort during his time on the Judiciary panel, piled on Wednesday with a letter warning that the bipartisan proposal 'risks putting the very worst criminals back into our communities.'... What Sessions' letter 'doesn't recognize here,' Grassley added, 'and why I'm incensed about it is, look at how hard it was for me to get him through committee in the United States Senate. And look at, when the president was going to fire him, I went to his defense.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed: "A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled that ... Donald Trump's third attempt at a travel ban is likely unconstitutional, writing that it 'continues to exhibit a primarily religious anti-Muslim objective.' The US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit upheld a lower court injunction that blocked the Trump administration from enforcing key parts of the travel ban, but put its order on hold while the US Supreme Court takes up the issue of the ban. The president's third travel ban is already before the Supreme Court, after the 9th Circuit ruled in December that it violated federal law. The 9th Circuit did not rule on the issue addressed by the 4th Circuit -- whether the ban amounts to religious discrimination in violation of the US Constitution's Establishment Clause --; but the justices asked for briefing on the constitutional question as well. The 4th Circuit sided in favor of the groups challenging the ban in a 9-4 decision. Chief Judge Roger Gregory wrote in the majority opinion that the government's 'proffered rationale for the Proclamation lies at odds with the statements of the President himself.'"
Meet Your TrumpBots. Tom Jacobs in Pacific Standard: "Given the meteoric rise of Donald Trump, and the ill-defined phenomenon known as Trumpism, it's vital that we understand the psychology that attracted Americans to the real estate mogul in the first place. Research suggests such voters are driven by a combination of racial resentment and authoritarianism. Sociologist David Norman Smith cited both in a just-published paper, in which he argues hardcore Trump supporters 'target minorities and women' and 'favor domineering and intolerant leaders who are uninhibited about their biases.'... There are different strains of authoritarian thinking. And support for Trump is associated with what is arguably the most toxic type: authoritarian aggression.... So the very things a majority of Americans find disconcerting, if not disqualifying, about Trump -- his need to dominate, his thinly veiled white supremacism, and his blunt, bullying language -- is precisely what appeals to his hardcore fans." ...
... In yesterday's Comments, Akhilleus posted a tale of his visit to a rodeo. Sounds as if he & his young son were the only people there who didn't have bad cases of "authoritarian aggression." You may have seen the film "Deliverance," which was based on a literary novel by James Dickey. Other than the banjo scene, to me the most compelling part of the story was not the thriller/danger aspect but the depraved characters of the backwoods men. Except to the extent he's chickenhearted, there's a guy a lot like them in the White House now. Once this is all over, will we -- like the surviving protagonists in the novel -- just go back to living "normal" lives?
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