The Commentariat -- September 23, 2017

** Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. John McCain> (R-Ariz.) announced on Friday that he will vote against the latest GOP effort to repeal ObamaCare, potentially dooming the legislation. 'I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal. I believe we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried,' he said in a statement, referring to the legislation spearheaded by GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C) and Bill Cassidy (La.)." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Thomas Kaplan & Robert Pear of the New York Times: "Senator John McCain of Arizona announced on Friday that he would oppose the latest proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act, leaving Republican leaders with little hope of succeeding in their last-ditch attempt to dismantle the health law and fulfill their longstanding promise to conservative voters. For Mr. McCain, it was a slightly less dramatic reprise of his middle-of-the-night thumbs-down that killed the last repeal effort in July. This time, the senator, battling brain cancer and confronting his best friend in the Senate, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, issued a statement saying that he could not 'in good conscience' support the proposal by Senators Graham and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.... A spokeswoman for the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, declined to comment on whether he would press forward with a vote." ...

... Seung Min Kim, et al., of Politico: "Senate Republicans failed on their last Obamacare repeal attempt in July when McCain, Murkowski and Collins teamed up to tank the so-called 'skinny repeal' plan. But unlike then, it's not clear whether McConnell could even open debate on the bill this time. More than a half-dozen senators were not committal or non-responsive to inquiries Friday about how they would vote for the motion to proceed to the House-passed repeal bill." ...

... Alicia Cohn of the Hill: In a series of tweets, "President Trump on Saturday said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) 'let down' his party, the people of Arizona and 'his best friend' by opposing the GOP's latest attempt to repeal and replace ObamaCare.... Trump alleged that McCain had been influenced in his decision by Minority Leader >Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).... 'Sad,' Trump wrote." Trump also suggested that Rand Paul & Lisa Murkowski ultimately would back the bill. ...

... Can't wait for trump's Saturday morning toilet tweets about John McCain. Will he be despicable, dotard, reprehensible or trump's favorite, the one he can spell, 'sad'. -- Forrest M., the Oracle of Reality Chex, in yesterday's Comments thread

... Louis Nelson of Politico: "... Donald Trump warned Republicans Friday morning to fall in line behind last-ditch legislation in the Senate to repeal and replace Obamacare, writing online that any GOP lawmaker who votes against the bill will be remembered as 'the Republican who saved Obamacare. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), one of the repeal-and-replace bill's loudest opponents in the Senate, was singled out by the president.... 'Rand Paul, or whoever votes against Hcare Bill, will forever (future political campaigns) be known as "the Republican who saved ObamaCare,'" Trump wrote on Twitter." ...

... Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "Rand Paul, a definitive 'no' on Senate Republicans' last-ditch effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, 'won't be bribed or bullied' into supporting the bill, the Kentucky Republican said Friday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Joe Lawlor of the Portland (Maine) Press Herald: "U.S. Sen. Susan Collins all but said she would vote 'no' on an Affordable Care Act repeal bill on Friday morning at an event in Portland. 'I'm leaning against the bill,' the Maine Republican said after listing a series of serious deficiencies in the Graham-Cassidy repeal bill." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In theory, there are now three GOP votes against Graham-Cassidy if Collins keeps a-leaning till she topples over. That's all they need. But I'd feel a lot better if Murkowski & several other Republican senators announced "no" votes. ...

...Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "In one of the more surreal chapters in the ongoing Trumpcare saga, the Independent Journal Review's Haley Byrd reports that some of Sen. Lisa Murkowski's (R-AK) Republican colleagues hope to entice her into supporting their latest effort to repeal Obamacare by letting Alaska keep much of Obamacare.... If Murkowski ultimately is offered the deal described by Byrd, however, it would raise serious constitutional concerns. According to Georgetown law professor Brian Galle, the Alaska Purchase probably runs afoul of a provision of the Constitution requiring the U.S. tax code to have a degree of uniformity." -- safari...

Donors are furious. We haven't kept our promise. -- Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) on why Republicans had to repeal ObamaCare ...

... Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "The backlash from big donors as well as the grass roots panicked Senate Republicans and was part of the motivation behind the sudden zeal to take one last crack at repealing the health care law before the end of the month.... As more than 40 subdued Republican senators lunched on Chick-fil-A at a closed-door session last week, Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado painted a dire picture for his colleagues. Campaign fund-raising was drying up, he said, because of widespread disappointment among donors over the inability of the Republican Senate to repeal the Affordable Care Act or do much of anything else. Mr. Gardner is in charge of his party's midterm re-election push, and he warned that donors of all stripes were refusing to contribute another penny until the struggling majority produced some concrete results." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Okay, okay, Republicans are bent on denying health security to millions of Americans in service of their own narrow self-interest. But Chick-fil-A? Really? That's a whole 'nother political statement. Chick-fil-A is an anti-gay, family-owned company whose CEO spoke out forcefully against gay marriage. And despite its CEO's promise to quit bankrolling anti-LGBTQ groups, is still doing so. You could not shove a Chick-fil-A nugget down my throat (not sure if they sell nuggets, but whatever)...

... Matt Zoller Seitz of New York: "Countless pundits and talk-show hosts have been warning viewers about the ramifications of the hastily written bill, which is opposed by every reputable health-care group in the country. But only [Jimmy] Kimmel managed to communicate why that was, to millions of people, in language everybody could understand.... Kimmel and his writing staff have done a better job of explaining the health-care battle in a handful of broadcasts than most of the supposed professionals who have been decrying or defending it since January, when President Donald Trump and the GOP made repealing Obamacare a top priority. Mainstream news outlets, Kimmel's more politically focused late-night competitors, and the entire spectrum of the American left would do well to study what happened on ABC this week and steal pages from the host's playbook." --safari ...

... Paul Waldman in the Week: "Most [Senate Republicans] barely know what's in [the Graham-Cassidy bill], and couldn't care less. As such, it is the perfect and final expression of the GOP's nihilism and cruelty on this issue.... 'If there was an oral exam on the contents of the proposal, graded on a generous curve, only two Republicans could pass it. And one of them isn't Lindsey Graham,' a senior GOP aide told Axios' Caitlin Owens."

Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "Donald Trump gave one of his signature stream of consciousness speeches in Huntsville on Friday night as he tried to get out the vote for embattled Alabama Republican senator Luther Strange. During an address inside the Wernher Von Braun Center that lasted an hour and 20 minutes, the president called North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un 'Little Rocket Man', said NFL owners should cut players who kneel for the national anthem and returned to familiar targets like John McCain and Hillary Clinton.... He talked at length about the wall he hopes to build on the Mexican border, insisting it needed to be see-through. Trump said this was because drug dealers are currently using catapults to send 100 pound bags of drugs over the existing concrete wall and they are landing on people's heads in the United States. He also responded the familiar cheers of 'lock her up' directed at Hillary Clinton." --safari...

... So Unpresidential. Judd Legum of ThinkProgress: "During a 90-minute speech in Alabama, purportedly to support Senator Luther Strange who faces a special primary election next Tuesday, Trump diverted into an extended rant on the NFL. His ire was focused primarily on Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players who have participated in silent protests during the national anthem. 'Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'get that son of a bitch off the field right now. He is fired. He's fired!,'' Trump shouted to a cheering audience.... Some NFL players are responding to Trump on social media." --safari ...

... Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: Trump's endorsement in the Louisiana GOP primary of Sen. Luther Strange was less than ringing. At one point Trump said, "I'll be honest, I might have made a mistake." Meanwhile, "Housing and Urban development Secretary Ben Carson issued a statement on Friday backing [Mrs. McC: despicable Judge Roy] Moore's candidacy, an extraordinary endorsement that came hours before Trump was set to arrive in Alabama to campaign for Strange."

Michael Shear & Ron Nixon of the New York Times: "President Trump's ban on travelers from six majority-Muslim countries is set to be replaced as soon as this weekend with more targeted restrictions on visits to the United States that would vary by country, officials familiar with the plans said on Friday. The new restrictions, aimed at preventing security threats from entering the United States, could go into effect on Sunday after the conclusion of a 90-day policy review undertaken as part of the administration's original travel ban. Though the restrictions would differ for each country, people living in the targeted nations could be prevented from traveling to the United States or could face increased scrutiny as they seek to obtain a visa." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Hard to tell at this point, but the move looks a bit like part of the de-Bannonization of the White House.

Brian Bennett of the Los Angeles Times: "Senior aides to President Trump repeatedly warned him not to deliver a personal attack on North Korea's leader at the United Nations this week, saying insulting the young despot in such a prominent venue could irreparably escalate tensions and shut off any chance for negotiations to defuse the nuclear crisis. Trump's derisive description of Kim Jong Un as 'Rocket Man' on 'a suicide mission' and his threat to 'totally destroy' North Korea were not in a speech draft that several senior officials reviewed and vetted Monday, the day before Trump gave his first address to the U.N. General Assembly, two U.S. officials said. Some of Trump's top aides, including national security advisor H.R. McMaster, had argued for months against making the attacks on North Korea's leader personal, warning it could backfire. But Trump, who relishes belittling his rivals and enemies with crude nicknames, felt compelled to make a dramatic splash in the global forum.... As predicted, Kim took Trump's jibes personally and especially chafed at the fact that Trump mocked him in front of 200 presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and diplomats at the U.N."

Geoff Mulvihill & Jake Pearson of the AP: "The federal government on Friday told election officials in 21 states that hackers targeted their systems before last year's presidential election. The notification came roughly a year after U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials first said states were targeted by hacking efforts possibly connected to Russia. The states that told The Associated Press they had been targeted included some key political battlegrounds, such as Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. The AP contacted every state election office to determine which ones had been informed that their election systems had been targeted. The others confirming were Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas and Washington. Being targeted does not mean that sensitive voter data was manipulated or results were changed.... Even so, the widespread nature of the attempts and the yearlong lag time in notification from Homeland Security raised concerns among some election officials and lawmakers."...

...Luke Barnes of ThinkProgress: "After previously saying it was 'crazy 'to suggest Facebook helped Donald Trump become president, Mark Zuckerberg announced on Thursday that the social media giant will hand over 3,000 Russia-linked ads to Congress to help with their investigation into the Kremlin's election interference...But the 470 fake accounts, and the 3,000 ads purchased for $100,000 seem like strangely small numbers...Senator Mark Warner, who is leading the investigation into Russian interference, also thinks that the 470 accounts show only a fragment of Russia's Facebook presence. 'By the time the French elections happened in the Spring, Facebook worked with the French and took down 50,000 accounts they felt were related to Russian activity,' he told CNN. 'In America, Facebook has only identified 470 accounts. To me, that doesn't pass the smell test.'" --safari

Tommie & the Jets. Dan Diamond of Politico: "The HHS inspector general's office is reviewing HHS Secretary Tom Price's taxpayer-funded travel on private jets, a spokesperson told Politico. 'We take this matter very seriously, and when questions arose about potentially inappropriate travel, we immediately began assessing the issue,' the spokesperson said. 'I can confirm that work is underway and will be completed as soon as possible.' Politico first reported on Tuesday that Price had been taking private jets to conduct official business for months. Democrats on Wednesday formally requested an investigation. The review focuses on whether Price complied with Federal Travel Regulations but may address related issues, the spokesperson said. Those regulations expressly advise officials that 'taxpayers should pay no more than necessary for your transportation.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Dan Diamond: "HHS Secretary Tom Price has been taking private jets because an unreliable commercial flight once forced him to cancel an important meeting, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson says, part of his agenda to meet with average Americans outside of Washington. But the flight in question -- to a two-day industry conference at a Ritz-Carlton hotel in Southern California -- didn't get off the ground on a day when storms virtually shut down air traffic in the Washington region, preventing even private jets from getting out.... Charmaine Yoest, HHS spokeswoman..., did not respond to Politico's questions about why Price chose to make a two-day trip to a California industry conference and what the value was for taxpayers. She also declined to confirm that the scrapped April trip was the impetus for Price's subsequent travel." ...

... Washington Post Editors: "Mr. Price for years styled himself as a warrior against waste, fraud and abuse. By excelling at waste and abuse, he seems determined to prove himself the fraud."

Steven Mufson & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt has met regularly with corporate executives from the automobile, mining and fossil fuel industries -- in several instances shortly before making decisions favorable to those interest groups, according to a copy of his schedule obtained by The Washington Post. There were, by comparison, only two environmental groups and one public health group on the schedule, which covers the months of April through early September. It is the first time Pruitt's schedule has been made public and it adds to understanding about how he makes decisions."

Stephanie Saul & Kate Taylor of the New York Times: "Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Friday scrapped a key part of government policy on campus sexual assault, saying she was giving colleges more freedom to balance the rights of accused students with the need to crack down on serious misconduct. The move, which involved rescinding two sets of guidelines several years old, was part of one of the fiercest battles in higher education today, over whether the Obama administration, in trying to get colleges to take sexual assault more seriously, had gone too far and created a system that treated the accused unfairly." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: But she flies around in her own plane(s) & doesn't charge the government. Well, maybe mostly. As Maxwell pointed out in yesterday's thread, her accountant may have figured out a way to take tax deductions for the costs of the flights.

(Way) Beyond the Beltway

Amy Davidson Sarkin of The New Yorker: "Angela Merkel ... [is] busy campaigning for what could -- and almost certainly will -- be her fourth term as Chancellor of Germany, keeping her post as the most powerful woman in a world filled with unstable men. The German election is on Sunday." -- safari: Good article on implications of Merkel's potential 4th term.

The Commentariat -- September 22, 2017

 

Afternoon Update:

** Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) announced on Friday that he will vote against the latest GOP effort to repeal ObamaCare, potentially dooming the legislation. 'I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal. I believe we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried,' he said in a statement, referring to the legislation spearheaded by GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C) and Bill Cassidy (La.)."

Louis Nelson of Politico: "... Donald Trump warned Republicans Friday morning to fall in line behind last-ditch legislation in the Senate to repeal and replace Obamacare, writing online that any GOP lawmaker who votes against the bill will be remembered as 'the Republican who saved Obamacare. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), one of the repeal-and-replace bill's loudest opponents in the Senate, was singled out by the president's Friday morning warning. 'Rand Paul, or whoever votes against Hcare Bill, will forever (future political campaigns) be known as "the Republican who saved ObamaCare,"' Trump wrote on Twitter." ...

... Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "Rand Paul, a definitive 'no' on Senate Republicans' last-ditch effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, 'won't be bribed or bullied' into supporting the bill, the Kentucky Republican said Friday." ...

... Joe Lawlor of the Portland (Maine) Press Herald: "U.S. Sen. Susan Collins all but said she would vote 'no' on an Affordable Care Act repeal bill on Friday morning at an event in Portland. 'I'm leaning against the bill,' the Maine Republican said after listing a series of serious deficiencies in the Graham-Cassidy repeal bill." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In theory, there are now three GOP votes against Graham-Cassidy if Collins keeps a-leaning till she topples over. That's all they need. But I'd feel a lot better if Murkowski & several other Republican senators announced "no" votes.

Michael Shear & Ron Nixon of the New York Times: "President Trump's ban on travelers from six majority-Muslim countries is set to be replaced as soon as this weekend with more targeted restrictions on visits to the United States that would vary by country, officials familiar with the plans said on Friday. The new restrictions, aimed at preventing security threats from entering the United States, could go into effect on Sunday after the conclusion of a 90-day policy review undertaken as part of the administration's original travel ban. Though the restrictions would differ for each country, people living in the targeted nations could be prevented from traveling to the United States or could face increased scrutiny as they seek to obtain a visa." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Hard to tell at this point, but the move looks a bit like part of the de-Bannonization of the White House.

Tommie & the Jets. Dan Diamond of Politico: "The HHS inspector general's office is reviewing HHS Secretary Tom Price's taxpayer-funded travel on private jets, a spokesperson told Politico. 'We take this matter very seriously, and when questions arose about potentially inappropriate travel, we immediately began assessing the issue,' the spokesperson said. 'I can confirm that work is underway and will be completed as soon as possible.' Politico first reported on Tuesday that Price had been taking private jets to conduct official business for months. Democrats on Wednesday formally requested an investigation. The review focuses on whether Price complied with Federal Travel Regulations but may address related issues, the spokesperson said. Those regulations expressly advise officials that 'taxpayers should pay no more than necessary for your transportation.'"

Greg Sargent elaborates on the "statement from the National Association of Medicaid Directors that sharply criticizes Cassidy-Graham as unworkable and deeply destructive."

*****

David Nakamura & Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Thursday announced an executive order to grant additional authority to the Treasury Department to enforce economic sanctions on North Korea and countries that do business with the rogue nation in Northeast Asia. The president also said that Chinese President Xi Jinping had ordered Chinese banks to cease conducting business with North Korean entities. Trump called the move 'very bold' and 'someone unexpected,' and he praised Xi. 'I must tell you this is a complete denuclearization of North Korea that we seek,' Trump said in brief public remarks during a meeting with the leaders of South Korea and Japan to discuss strategy to confront Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic missile tests. Trump said the United States had been working on the North Korea problem for 25 years, but he asserted that previous administrations had 'done nothing, which is why we are in the problem we are in today.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Reuters: "China's central bank has told banks to strictly implement United Nations sanctions against North Korea, four sources told Reuters, amid U.S. concerns that Beijing has not been tough enough over Pyongyang's repeated nuclear tests.... The sources said banks were told to stop providing financial services to new North Korean customers and to wind down loans with existing customers, following tighter sanctions against Pyongyang by the United Nations." ...

... Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "Responding directly for the first time to President Trump's threat at the United Nations to destroy nuclear-armed North Korea, its leader called Mr. Trump a 'mentally deranged U.S. dotard' on Friday and vowed the 'highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history. The rejoinder by the leader, Kim Jong-un, who is about half as old as Mr. Trump, 71, added to the lexicon of Mr. Kim's choice of insults in the escalating bombast between the two." ...

     ... Chaucer! Shakespeare! Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I was wondering what a dotard was, so Rachel Chason & Freedom du Lac of the Washington Post obliged with a full explanation. Short definition: "Merriam-Webster defines the noun as 'a person in his or her dotage,' which is 'a state or period of senile decay marked by decline of mental poise and alertness.'" So Kim got that right. Searches for "dotard" spiked yesterday. ...

... The Dotard Replies. John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump fired back at North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday after Kim stated the U.S. would 'pay dearly' for threats Trump made in his speech at the United Nations. 'Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn't mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!' Trump tweeted." ...

... Margaret Talev & Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg: "... Donald Trump heaped praise on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Thursday, comments that came amid international condemnation of Erdogan's crackdown on political dissent and just months after Turkish security officials beat up protesters during a visit to the U.S.... 'Frankly he's getting very high marks,' Trump said, sparing Erdogan any public admonition over international concerns about election violations and human-rights abuses. 'He's also been working with the United States,' Trump said. 'We have a great friendship and the countries -- I think we're right now as close as we've ever been.' Trump added that 'a lot of that has to do with a personal relationship.'" ...

... Forever Deplorable. In "Diplomatic" Meeting Trump Insults Clinton, Obama, South Korea. David Nakamura: "As he's shown repeatedly, Trump just can't seem to let go of his 2016 opponent, and Trump made a joke at her expense during a meeting with Moon on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly here. An interpreter for [South Korean President] Moon [Jae-in] used the word 'deplorable' in translating his remarks about the North's provocations, prompting Trump to cut in: 'I'm happy you used the world 'deplorable.' I was very interested in that word,' [he said, referring to Hillary Clinton's campaign remark].... As people in the room chuckled, Trump added in front of television cameras and reporters, 'I promise, I did not tell them to use that word. That's been a very lucky word for me and many millions of people.' Moon, waiting for a translator to repeat Trump's remarks, appeared uncomfortable but did not say anything. Wrapping up the introductory remarks, Trump also bashed the bilateral trade pact signed by President Barack Obama in 2011 as 'so bad for the United States and so good for Korea.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: So Trump insults a strong ally but "heaps praise on" an autocratic leader, one who reportedly sanctioned his "security team" to beat up Americans in the U.S. capital, which he sat in a limo & watched.

Scott Shane & Mike Isaac of the New York Times: "Under growing public pressure to reveal more about the spread of covert Russian propaganda on its site, Facebook said on Thursday that it was turning over more than 3,000 Russia-linked ads to Congressional committees investigating the Kremlin's influence operation during the 2016 presidential election. 'I care deeply about the democratic process and protecting its integrity,' Facebook's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, said during an appearance on Facebook Live, the company's video service. He added that he did not want anyone 'to use our tools to undermine democracy.'... Facebook had previously shown Congressional staffers a sample of the ads -- some of which attacked Hillary Clinton or praised Donald J. Trump -- but had not shared the entire collection.... Twitter, which has kept a low profile since Facebook's disclosure of the Russian intrusion, said it will brief the Senate Intelligence Committee next Wednesday behind closed doors." ...

... "Russia Hoax," Ctd. Brooke Seipel of the Hill: "President Trump early Friday called reports of Kremlin-linked groups buying Facebook ads to sway the 2016 election part of a 'Russia hoax.' 'The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary?'..." ...

... Josh Dawsey of Politico: In addition to requesting written records, "Special counsel Robert Mueller has sought phone records concerning the statement written aboard Air Force One defending a meeting between Trump campaign officials and Russians at Trump Tower last year that was set up by Donald Trump Jr., according to two people familiar with the investigation. Mueller has also asked the White House for documents and email connected to a May 3 press briefing where Sean Spicer said the president had confidence in James Comey as FBI director, these people said. The request seeks to determine what White House officials -- particularly Spicer -- knew about the president's plans to fire Comey in the days before it happened, according to one of the people familiar with it." ...

... Ken Vogel & Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "Five years ago, Paul Manafort arranged for a prominent New York-based law firm to draft a report that was used by allies of his client, Viktor Yanukovych, the Russia-aligned president of Ukraine, to justify the jailing of a political rival.... The Justice Department, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation, recently asked the firm, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, for information and documents related to its work on behalf of Mr. Yanukovych's government, which crumbled after he fled to Russia under pressure.... As part of [Robert] Mueller's investigation, prosecutors last month issued grand jury subpoenas seeking testimony from officials from at least two lobbying and public relations firms that worked on the team Mr. Manafort assembled to plead Mr. Yanukovych's case in Washington -- Mercury Public Affairs and the Podesta Group.... In a recent interview, John E. Herbst, a former United States ambassador to Ukraine..., said that Skadden 'should have been ashamed' of the report, calling it 'a nasty piece of work.'" ...

... Secret Agent. Noor Al-Sibai of the Raw Story: "'It's possible that Russia actually sent and dispatched Paul Manafort to the Trump campaign,' Jeremy Bash, who formerly served as chief of staff for the Defense Department and the CIA, told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace. 'Or at least that once Paul Manafort attached himself to the Trump campaign, the Russians said, okay, now our agent is inside.' The Kremlin, Bash argued, might have 'manipulated the campaign not just through propaganda ... but also through agents of influence.'... 'The ultimate question,' he continued, 'is whether or not Trump himself knew about it ... and once he found out that the bureau was investigating them, why did he try to shut down that investigation?'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Sometimes Conspiracy Theories Make Sense. Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "I wasn't surprised to see that ex-CIA chief of staff Jeremy Bash was on television yesterday saying that it is quite possible that Paul Manafort was sent to the Trump campaign by the Russians. That had been my first thought ever since I read that Manafort had applied for the job unsolicited and with the promise that he would require no pay. All I knew about Manafort at the time was that he had been a partner with Roger Stone in an epically cynical influence-peddling consulting and lobbying firm during the 1980s. He'd worked for some of the most notorious dictators in the world and had a business model based on his ability to win the votes of the candidates he helped to elect. In other words, if I thought I knew anything about Manafort it was that he, like Roger Stone, lacked any core principles and would do unconscionable things for a buck. He was the opposite of the kind of ideologically committed person who offers to work for free." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Josh Dawsey of Politico: "... Paul Manafort used his presidential campaign email account to correspond with a Ukrainian political operative with suspected Russian ties, according to people familiar with the correspondence. Manafort sent emails to seek repayment for previous work he did in Ukraine and to discuss potential new opportunities in the country, even as he chaired Trump's presidential campaign, these people said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "... Robert S. Mueller III is clearly building a case against Paul Manafort.... The inescapable conclusion from that is that he is hoping Manafort will cut a deal -- that he'll 'flip' on Trump and spill whatever beans he might have to spill.... And if the initial response to the latest Manafort news is any indication, the White House is preparing to fight Manafort head-on.... [Wednesday the Post reported on some e-mails Manafort wrote. In one, he] discusses his newfound high profile as a Trump strategist and asks an employee, 'How do we use [this] to get whole?' -- apparently referring to debts he believed he was owed but had been unable to collect. The White House is now seizing on that latter email. In comments to Bloomberg's Margaret Talev late Wednesday, White House lawyer Ty Cobb said that 'it would be truly shocking. if Manafort tried to monetize his relationship with the president.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Cobb's "shock" is of course hilarious. Never in history has a president so actively "monetized" the office as has Cobb's boss Donald $$$ Trump.

Spicey Unfriends Mike Allen of Axios: Allen writes, "Now we can tell you about another potential honey pot for Mueller. Former colleagues of Sean Spicer tell Axios that he filled 'notebook after notebook' during meetings at the Republican National Committee, later at the Trump campaign, and then at the White House.... When we texted Spicer for comment on his note-taking practices, he replied: 'Mike, please stop texting/emailing me unsolicited anymore.' When I replied with a '?' (I have known Spicer and his wife for more than a dozen years), he answered: 'Not sure what that means. From a legal standpoint I want to be clear: Do not email or text me again. Should you do again I will report to the appropriate authorities.'" About an hour later, after Allen emailed Spicer again, Spicer wrote back, in part, that if Allen sent him any more "unsolicited" message, "I will contact the appropriate legal authorities to address your harassment." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Spicey Lies about Lying. Rebecca Morin of Politico: "In an interview broadcast Thursday on 'Good Morning America...,' Spicer said he doesn't think he's lied to the American people. 'I made mistakes, there's no question. Some of them I tried to own very publicly,' Spicer said.... Correspondent and weekend host Paula Faris also asked Spicer whether Trump had ever asked him to lie, to which Spicer said 'no,' without elaborating." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dan Diamond of Politico: "Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has taken at least 24 flights on private charter planes at taxpayers' expense since early May, according to people with knowledge of his travel plans and a review of HHS documents. The frequency of the trips underscores how private travel has become the norm -- rather than the exception -- for the Georgia Republican during his tenure atop the federal health agency, which began in February. The cost of the trips identified by Politico exceeds $300,000, according to a review of federal contracts and similar trip itineraries. Price's use of private jets represents a sharp departure from his two immediate predecessors, Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Kathleen Sebelius, who flew commercially in the continental United States." Price could easily have made many of flights on commercial carriers. Mrs. McC: Price, of course, promised to eliminate "waste fraud & abuse" at HHS. ...

     ... Margaret Hartmann's Headlines Are So Funny: "HHS Explains Tom Price Spent $300K on Private Jets Because He's a Man of the People." Mrs. McC: The story justifies the headline. BTW, Betsy DeVos, when on official business, also travels the country on a private plane or planes. She owns them, & she doesn't charge the taxpayer for her trips. DeVos is dimwitted, but apparently she's rich enough not to try to stiff the Treasury to accommodate her personal comfort. Unlike her boss.

"Cruelty, Incompetence & Lies" -- The Essence of Graham-Cassidy

This is by far the most radical of any of the Republican health care bills that have been debated this year. And the reason for that is that this would be the biggest devolution of federal money and responsibility to the states for anything, ever. -- Larry Levitt, a senior vice president with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, on the Graham-Cassidy ACA-Medicaid repeal bill ...

... Kate Zernike, et al., of the New York Times: The Graham-Cassidy bill "dismantles the Medicaid expansion and the system of subsidies to help people afford insurance. It gives the states the right to waive many of the consumer protections under President Obama's landmark health law. And it removes the guaranteed safety net that has insured the country's poorest citizens for more than half a century.... The legislation would turn over more than $1 trillion that would have been spent on ... Obamacare over the next seven years -- everything from the funds for the expansion of Medicaid to the subsidies to help people buy private insurance -- to states as 'block grants' with very few strings attached. They would then use the money to set up their own health care programs. Congress would have to reauthorize the money after 2026 or it would go away." ...

... ** Paul Krugman: "Graham-Cassidy, the health bill the Senate may vote on next week, is stunningly cruel. It's also incompetently drafted: The bill's sponsors clearly had no idea what they were doing when they put it together. Furthermore, their efforts to sell the bill involve obvious, blatant lies. Nonetheless, the bill could pass. And that says a lot about today's Republican Party, none of it good." ...

... Gene Robinson: "Motivated by the cynical aims of fulfilling a bumper-sticker campaign promise and lavishing tax cuts on the wealthy, Republicans are threatening to pass a health-care bill they know will make millions of Americans sicker and poorer. Do they think we don't see what they're doing?... The GOP's efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act have undergone a process of devolution, with each new bill worse than the last.... It is tempting to let the Republican Party drive itself, Thelma-and-Louise style, off this cliff. But the human impact of the latest repeal-and-replace measure would be too tragic. Call your senator." ...

... "Senator Cassidy, Please Stop Lying about Health Care." David Leonardt of the New York Times: "Here's a giveway about how bad the new Senate health care bill is: Bill Cassidy, one of its authors, keeps trying to sell it by telling untruths. 'The relatively new phenomenon of just "up is down" lying about your bill's impacts is jarring,' says Loren Adler of the USC-Brookings-Schaeffer Initiative on Health Policy. Most egregiously, Cassidy is claiming that the bill would not ultimately deprive sick people of health insurance. That's false, as NPR calmly explained when Cassidy said otherwise.... In the least surprising development of all, President Trump is now repeating Cassidy's falsehoods." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Margot Sanger-Katz of the New York Times: The Graham-Cassidy bill "would require all the states in the country to make a ... soup-to-nuts evaluation of how they'd like their health care systems to work, to build such a system and be ready to open their doors in ... just over two years[: half the time it took Massachusetts to get RomneyCare up & running].... The Obamacare coverage programs would disappear everywhere in 2020, and any state unable to make a plan and submit an application would be ineligible for the new grant funding. If a state succeeds in obtaining the funding but doesn't have a functioning new system on Jan. 1, 2020, consumers and markets would be thrown into chaos." ...

     ... Update. The Week: "On Thursday, the National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD), a group representing the Medicaid directors from all 50 states, joined other medical and patient advocacy groups in opposing the latest Senate Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, named after sponsors Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.). The bill would scrap ObamaCare's subsidies for consumers and Medicaid expansion and redistribute that money as state grants, in what the NAMD board of directors calls 'the largest intergovernmental transfer of financial risk from the federal government to the states in our country's history.' The Medicaid directors said they don't want that risk, especially without being consulted first, and they called a Congressional Budget Office score -- which Graham-Cassidy won't have before voting -- 'the bare minimum required for beginning consideration.' Setting up entire new health-care programs in 50 states requires an enormous amount of work and resources, NAMD said, and 'the vast majority of states will not be able to do so within the two-year timeframe envisioned here, especially considering the apparent lack of federal funding in the bill to support these critical activities.'" ...

... Dylan Scott of Vox: "The Alaska auction is on.... Over the past two days, it's become clear that Senate Republicans are doing everything they can to funnel more money to Alaska and persuade [Sen. Lisa] Murkowski that this is the Obamacare repeal bill she should back. Take a look: Business Insider eyed an oddity in Sen. Bill Cassidy's spreadsheets that suggests Alaska could end up receiving an additional bump to its block grants under the bill. Politico noticed that Alaska could also end up being exempted from the bill's Medicaid spending caps. Now IJR is reporting that the plan might be revised to allow Alaska (along with Hawaii) to keep the Obamacare tax subsidies, while also still receiving block grant money. Nothing is baked in until we see a final bill -- the rumor mill in Washington is working overtime right now.... But remember: Every outside analysis we've seen estimates that Alaska would lose funding under Graham-Cassidy." ...

... Caitlin Owens of Axios: "A new estimate obtained by Axios from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) projects that Alaska, home to key swing vote Sen. Lisa Murkowski, would lose 38% of federal funding for premium subsidies and Medicaid by 2026 under the Graham-Cassidy proposal. John McCain's home state of Arizona would also lose funding (-9% in 2026).... Even though the CMS numbers are rosier than other estimates, they still show states like Alaska and Arizona would be worse off under Graham-Cassidy, making it that much harder to wrangle the votes needed to pass the last-gasp Republican plan." ...

... Margaret Hartmann: "Some of the [CMS] figures are almost unbelievable, like Connecticut's loss of 52 percent of its federal health dollars by 2026, and Mississippi's 347 percent funding increase." ...

     ... Update: Amy Goldstein & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "An internal analysis by the Trump administration concludes that 31 states would lose federal money for health coverage under Senate Republicans' latest effort to abolish much of the Affordable Care Act, with the politically critical state of Alaska facing a 38 percent cut in 2026. The report, produced by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, focuses on the final year of a block grant that states would receive under the Cassidy-Graham legislation. It shows that government funding for such health insurance would be 9 percent lower overall in 2026 under the plan than under current law. The predicted loss is less than that forecast by three independent analyses of the bill's impact in recent days, but the internal numbers show a similar checkerboard of states that would be big winners and equally big losers." ...

... Greg Sargent: "... there is one scenario in which the Cassidy-Graham repeal bill could ... go down in spectacular fashion.... The Senate parliamentarian still may rule on whether key aspects of the bill can pass by a simple majority under reconciliation rules [which allow a simple majority vote]. If she strips out one of its most important features -- the one allowing states to waive some of the Affordable Care Act's regulations -- it could suddenly upend the deliberations of undecided senators. It would force a rapid vote on a measure that has changed dramatically with only a few days left, rendering this whole process even more abysmally absurd. And it would make failure -- spectacular failure -- more likely.... Some health policy analysts think there's a decent chance that the parliamentarian will strike those deregulatory features under the Byrd Rule, because they don't have a direct budgetary component." Stripped of some of its major components, Senators would vote next week on a very different bill from the current one. ...

... BUT Joan Walsh of the Nation looks at Senate political dynamics & makes a very good case that the bill will pass. Mrs. McC: In fact, if Graham-Cassidy comes to the floor, it is almost guaranteed to pass, as McConnell has said he'll only bring it up if he has the 50 votes to pass it. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'd add these factors to Walsh's analysis. (1) GOP senators -- as Chuck Grassley made clear a couple of days ago -- campaigned on ObamaCare repeal, so by cracky, they're gonna keep that promise, no matter how; and (2) as Joy Reid said on Lawrence O'Donnell's show last night, wealthy donors are telling GOP senators that they will withold campaign contributions if the senators don't vote for Graham-Cassidy -- these rich people know that gutting & eventually ending Medicaid will free up billions of dollars to be converted to tax cuts for the wealthy. It's all about the money, Reid said. ...

... Charles Pierce notes that Graham-Cassidy's block grants to states were Rick Santorum's idea. The words "shameless" & "asshole" come up in Pierce's report. ...

... Dan Boyd of the Albuquerque Journal: New Mexico "Gov. Susana Martinez [R] has waded into the debate on the latest Republican-backed Obamacare repeal plan -- and she's not sold on the bill's merits. 'While it's encouraging that Congress is working on a healthcare solution, the governor is concerned this bill could hurt New Mexico and still needs some work,' Martinez spokesman Joseph Cueto told the Journal.... That's likely because any loss of federal dollars -- the federal government currently pays 95 percent of the cost of those receiving benefits under Medicaid expansion -- could hit New Mexico particularly hard." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Medlar's Sports Report

Ken Belson of the New York Times: "Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriots tight end who committed suicide in April while serving a life sentence for murder, was found to have a severe form of C.T.E., the degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head trauma that has been found in more than 100 former N.F.L. players. Researchers who examined the brain determined it was 'the most severe case they had ever seen in someone of Aaron's age,' said a lawyer for Hernandez in announcing the result at a news conference on Thursday. Hernandez was 27. C.T.E., or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, can be diagnosed only posthumously. Hernandez is the latest former N.F.L. player to have committed suicide and then been found to have C.T.E., joining Dave Duerson, Junior Seau, Andre Waters, Ray Easterling and Jovan Belcher, among others. Seau and Duerson shot themselves in the chest, apparently so that researchers would be able to examine their brain." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is a case in which at least two people died as a result of playing football. (Hernandez was acquitted of two other murders besides the one for which he was convicted.) So maybe four people died because of Hernandez's brain damage. Please stop watching or otherwise supporting football.

Beyond the Beltway

Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "The fertility rate in Flint, Mich., dropped precipitously after the city decided to switch to lead-poisoned Flint River water in 2014, according to a new working paper. That decline was primarily driven by what the authors call a 'culling of the least healthy fetuses' resulting in a 'horrifyingly large' increase in fetal deaths and miscarriages."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Tens of thousands of people in northwestern Puerto Rico were ordered to evacuate Friday afternoon after floodwaters from Hurricane Maria damaged the Guajataca Dam, which the National Weather Service said is in 'imminent' danger of failing. The dam, built by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1929, suffered a "fissure," Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said in a news conference Friday. An estimated 70,000 people in the municipalities of Quebradillas, Isabela and part of San Sebastian could be affected if the dam collapses, he said. A failure would likely send a massive amount of water from an inland lake along the Guajataca River, which flows north through coastal communities toward the ocean."

New York Times: "As Hurricane Maria plowed on from a stricken and sodden Puerto Rico, residents on Friday faced the arduous work of rebuilding that awaited them, a task made all the more formidable by the fact that, for now, the island has no power. With cell service spotty and roads tough to access across the island, communication with family members and among Puerto Rican officials was sparse, making it difficult to assess the extent of the damage. Flash flooding from the storm's trailing rain bands persisted on parts of the island and in the Dominican Republic, according to the National Hurricane Center."

The Commentariat -- September 21, 2017

Afternoon Update:

David Nakamura & Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Thursday announced an executive order to grant additional authority to the Treasury Department to enforce economic sanctions on North Korea and countries that do business with the rogue nation in Northeast Asia. The president also said that Chinese President Xi Jinping had ordered Chinese banks to cease conducting business with North Korean entities. Trump called the move 'very bold' and 'someone unexpected,' and he praised Xi. 'I must tell you this is a complete denuclearization of North Korea that we seek,' Trump said in brief public remarks during a meeting with the leaders of South Korea and Japan to discuss strategy to confront Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic missile tests. Trump said the United States had been working on the North Korea problem for 25 years, but he asserted that previous administrations had 'done nothing, which is why we are in the problem we are in today.'" ...

... Forever Deplorable. In "Diplomatic" Meeting Trump Insults Clinton, Obama, South Korea. David Nakamura: "As he's shown repeatedly, Trump just can't seem to let go of his 2016 opponent, and Trump made a joke at her expense during a meeting with Moon on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly here. An interpreter for [South Korean President] Moon [Jae-in] used the word 'deplorable' in translating his remarks about the North's provocations, prompting Trump to cut in: 'I'm happy you used the world 'deplorable.' I was very interested in that word,' [he said, referring to Hillary Clinton's campaign remark].... As people in the room chuckled, Trump added in front of television cameras and reporters, 'I promise, I did not tell them to use that word. That's been a very lucky word for me and many millions of people.' Moon, waiting for a translator to repeat Trump's remarks, appeared uncomfortable but did not say anything. Wrapping up the introductory remarks, Trump also bashed the bilateral trade pact signed by President Barack Obama in 2011 as 'so bad for the United States and so good for Korea.'"

Secret Agent. Noor Al-Sibai of the Raw Story: "'It's possible that Russia actually sent and dispatched Paul Manafort to the Trump campaign,' Jeremy Bash, who formerly served as chief of staff for the Defense Department and the CIA, told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace. 'Or at least that once Paul Manafort attached himself to the Trump campaign, the Russians said, okay, now our agent is inside.' The Kremlin, Bash argued, might have 'manipulated the campaign not just through propaganda ... but also through agents of influence.'... 'The ultimate question,' he continued, 'is whether or not Trump himself knew about it ... and once he found out that the bureau was investigating them, why did he try to shut down that investigation?'" ...

... Sometimes Conspiracy Theories Make Sense. Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "I wasn't surprised to see that ex-CIA chief of staff Jeremy Bash was on television yesterday saying that it is quite possible that Paul Manafort was sent to the Trump campaign by the Russians. That had been my first thought ever since I read that Manafort had applied for the job unsolicited and with the promise that he would require no pay. All I knew about Manafort at the time was that he had been a partner with Roger Stone in an epically cynical influence-peddling consulting and lobbying firm during the 1980s. He'd worked for some of the most notorious dictators in the world and had a business model based on his ability to win the votes of the candidates he helped to elect. In other words, if I thought I knew anything about Manafort it was that he, like Roger Stone, lacked any core principles and would do unconscionable things for a buck. He was the opposite of the kind of ideologically committed person who offers to work for free." ...

... Josh Dawsey of Politico: "... Paul Manafort used his presidential campaign email account to correspond with a Ukrainian political operative with suspected Russian ties, according to people familiar with the correspondence. Manafort sent emails to seek repayment for previous work he did in Ukraine and to discuss potential new opportunities in the country, even as he chaired Trump's presidential campaign, these people said."

Spicey Unfriends Mike Allen of Axios: Allen writes, "Now we can tell you about another potential honey pot for Mueller. Former colleagues of Sean Spicer tell Axios that he filled 'notebook after notebook' during meetings at the Republican National Committee, later at the Trump campaign, and then at the White House.... When we texted Spicer for comment on his note-taking practices, he replied: 'Mike, please stop texting/emailing me unsolicited anymore.' When I replied with a '?' (I have known Spicer and his wife for more than a dozen years), he answered: 'Not sure what that means. From a legal standpoint I want to be clear: Do not email or text me again. Should you do again I will report to the appropriate authorities.'" About an hour later, after Allen emailed Spicer again, Spicer wrote back, in part, that if Allen sent him any more "unsolicited" message, "I will contact the appropriate legal authorities to address your harassment." ...

... Spicey Lies about Lying. Rebecca Morin of Politico: "In an interview broadcast Thursday on 'Good Morning America...,' Spicer said he doesn't think he's lied to the American people. 'I made mistakes, there's no question. Some of them I tried to own very publicly,' Spicer said.... Correspondent and weekend host Paula Faris also asked Spicer whether Trump had ever asked him to lie, to which Spicer said 'no,' without elaborating."

Dan Boyd of the Albuquerque Journal: New Mexico "Gov. Susana Martinez [R] has waded into the debate on the latest Republican-backed Obamacare repeal plan -- and she's not sold on the bill's merits. 'While it's encouraging that Congress is working on a healthcare solution, the governor is concerned this bill could hurt New Mexico and still needs some work,' Martinez spokesman Joseph Cueto told the Journal.... That's likely because any loss of federal dollars -- the federal government currently pays 95 percent of the cost of those receiving benefits under Medicaid expansion -- could hit New Mexico particularly hard."

"Senator Cassidy, Please Stop Lying about Health Care." David Leonardt of the New York Times: "Here's a giveway about how bad the new Senate health care bill is: Bill Cassidy, one of its authors, keeps trying to sell it by telling untruths. 'The relatively new phenomenon of just "up is down" lying about your bill's impacts is jarring,' says Loren Adler of the USC-Brookings-Schaeffer Initiative on Health Policy. Most egregiously, Cassidy is claiming that the bill would not ultimately deprive sick people of health insurance. That's false, as NPR calmly explained when Cassidy said otherwise.... In the least surprising development of all, President Trump is now repeating Cassidy's falsehoods."

*****

Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, has asked the White House for documents about some of President Trump's most scrutinized actions since taking office, including the firing of his national security adviser and F.B.I. director, according to White House officials. Mr. Mueller is also interested in an Oval Office meeting Mr. Trump had with Russian officials in which he said the dismissal of the F.B.I. director had relieved 'great pressure' on him.... Additionally, the special counsel has asked for documents about how the White House responded to questions from The Times about a meeting at Trump Tower.... In July, when The Times put questions about the meeting to the White House, Mr. Trump and senior administration officials prepared a response on Air Force One that made no mention of the meeting's real purpose, saying instead that it focused on Russian adoptions." ...

... Josh Marshall: "With this new information, I must again raise that hour long interlude on Air Force One two days prior to Comey's dismissal.... That weekend and on that plane ride home, [Trump] had the all star class of Trump toadies: Hope Hicks, Jared Kushner, KT McFarland, Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino. The worst and the stupidest.... It was on a weekend stewing with them that Trump made his decision that Comey had to go -- one his DC staffers were unable to warn him off of. Those conversation that weekend and the particularly the one that kept the six on the tarmac for an hour that Sunday evening must be where the most unvarnished and inane conversations about the need to fire Comey took place." ...

... Andrew Prokop of Vox: "It's been clear for months that special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation is also examining whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice while he was in office. [New York Times reporter Michael] Schmidt only mentions three of [the] 13 [topics Mueller's team is examining], but those three are revealing -- and indicate that Mueller's interest in the obstruction angle is very serious indeed.... Schmidt's report reminds us that the actions of the president of the United States are at the center of all this...." ...

... Update. Carol Leonnig & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post report on most of the "areas of interest" Mueller's team is exploring in regard to Trump, White House staff & campaign officials: "The requests broadly ask for any document or email related to a series of highly publicized incidents since Trump became president.... [In addition to the topics the NYT report lists,] Mueller also asked for any email or document the White House holds that relates to [Paul] Manafort.... Mueller has also asked for records about meetings then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates held with White House counsel Don McGahn in late January to alert him to Justice Department concerns about [Michael] Flynn...." Also, investigators are wondering how Sean Spicer came up with his false claim about the "real reason" for firing Jim Comey. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: What I find surprising is that Mueller's team seems to be relying heavily on information journalists have already illuminated. Here's one exception:

... Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "Less than two weeks before Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination, his campaign chairman offered to provide briefings on the race to a Russian billionaire closely aligned with the Kremlin, according to people familiar with the discussions. Paul Manafort made the offer in an email to an overseas intermediary, asking that a message be sent to Oleg Deripaska, an aluminum magnate with whom Manafort had done business in the past, these people said.... Investigators believe that the exchanges, which reflect Manafort's willingness to profit from his prominent role alongside Trump, created a potential opening for Russian interests at the highest level of a U.S. presidential campaign.... Several of the ex­changes, which took place between Manafort and a Kiev-based employee of his international political consulting practice, focused on money that Manafort believed he was owed by Eastern European clients."

Aaron Blake, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump delivered a brief speech to African leaders Wednesday at the United Nations, and in the span of about 800 words, he twice conjoined the names of two countries, Namibia and Zambia, creating the nonexistent nation of 'Nambia,' and told the leaders that many of his friends go to Africa to 'get rich.'"

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Medlar & I had a brief disagreement about Nambia. Medlar thought Nambia was where the Lion King lived. I was pretty sure it was a country ruled by Eddie Murphy's father. Anyhow, I conceded to Medlar & agreed that Nambia would be a good place for the Lyin' King to live out his days after he is deposed. A fake country for a fake president.

Trump Play "Stump the Staff" Again. David Nakamura & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held a press briefing in New York following his meeting with Iranian officials & told reporters Trump hadn't made up his mind yet on whether or not he would ditch the Iran nuclear pact. Problem: Trump told reporters a few hours earlier that he had decided, but he wouldn't tell them what the decision was till after the commercial break. Or something like that. "Trump has a long history of undermining or contradicting what his underlings, including press secretaries and Cabinet secretaries, say in public, often within hours. That can make the administration appear chaotic and disorganized...."

Simon Denyer of the Washington Post: "China rebuked President Trump on Wednesday after he threatened to 'totally destroy' North Korea if necessary, a warning that may have undermined the chances of peace but also gave Beijing an easy opportunity to seize the moral high ground. Beijing has consistently blamed not just Pyongyang but also Washington for what it sees as its hostile policies toward the regime. It argues that U.S. hostility has helped to push North Korea's rulers into a corner and talk of total destruction only reinforces that narrative."

We must teach each child the values of empathy ... kindness, mindfulness, integrity and leadership which can only be taught by example. -- Melania Trump, at a luncheon for spouses of world leaders

Irony is dead. -- Joy-Ann Reid, in a tweet ...

... Wife of Internationally-Infamous Bully Opposes Bullying. Louis Nelson & Rebecca Morin of Politico: "First lady Melania Trump on Wednesday called on the international community to better protect and support children, speaking out against bullying and urging parents and leaders around the world to 'come together for the good of our children because through them, our future will be defined.'" ...

Juliet Eilperin & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "Scott Pruitt's round-the-clock personal security detail, which demands triple the manpower of his predecessors at the Environmental Protection Agency, has prompted officials to rotate in special agents from around the country who otherwise would be investigating environmental crimes. The EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance has summoned agents from various cities to serve two-week stints helping guard Pruitt in recent months. And while hiring in many departments is frozen, the agency has sought an exception to hire additional full-time staff to protect Pruitt.... The practice has rankled some employees and outside critics, who note that the EPA's criminal enforcement efforts already are understaffed and that the Trump administration has proposed further cuts to the division."

Dan Diamond & Rachana Pradhan of Politico: "In a sharp departure from his predecessors, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price last week took private jets on five separate flights for official business, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars more than commercial travel. The secretary's five flights, which were scheduled between Sept. 13 and Sept. 15, took him to a resort in Maine where he participated in a Q&A discussion with a health care industry CEO, and to community health centers in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, according to internal HHS documents. The travel by corporate-style jet comes at a time when other members of the Trump administration are under fire for travel expenditures, and breaks with the practices of Obama-era secretaries Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Kathleen Sebelius, who flew commercially while in the continental United States.... Current and former staffers, speaking on the condition of anonymity, say Price has been taking private jets to travel domestically for months." ...

... Daniella Diaz & Rene Marsh of CNN: "Democrats say they are planning to look into a report about Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price taking five work-related trips on private jets last week, costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars more than had he flown commercial. Price ... has vowed to cut wasteful spending in his agency.... 'I would remind Secretary Price that taxpayer funds are not meant to be used as a jet-setting slush fund," Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., the top Democrat on the House energy and commerce panel, said in a statement Wednesday. 'There is no reason to be regularly chartering private flights at the taxpayers' expense between commercially serviced routes such Washington, D.C. to Philadelphia.' He said Democrats plan to ask the HHS inspector general to review Price's travel."

Jeff Stein of Vox: "Republican senators are struggling to articulate why they are rushing to pass their last-ditch effort to repeal and replace Obamacare over the next 10 days before running into their September 30 deadline. In interviews with Vox on Tuesday, nine Republican senators primarily argued that their 'Hail Mary' bill ... would return federal power to the states, giving them greater flexibility to improve their health systems locally.... Far less clear is exactly how Graham-Cassidy would pull off this feat without resulting in millions of Americans losing their insurance -- and the number of millions is still unknown, since any vote would likely have to come before the Congressional Budget Office completes its analysis of the bill.... Some members of the upper chamber acknowledged that the spending changes might have a big impact, but argued their home states would not be negatively impacted." ...

... Inarticulate? Not Chuck Grassley! Luke Barnes of ThinkProgress: "Speaking with reporters in his home state of Iowa, Grassley argued that the GOP had campaigned on repealing Obamacare so much that they were left with no choice but to carry out their promises. 'I could maybe give you 10 reasons why this bill shouldn't be considered,' Grassley told the Des Moines Register. 'But Republicans campaigned on this so often that you have a responsibility to carry out what you said in the campaign. That's pretty much as much of a reason as the substance of the bill.'" Mrs. McC: Okay then. ...

... ** Dylan Scott of Vox: "The underlying truth, the beating heart of Obamacare repeal that refuses to let it die, is: Republicans just want to pass a bill, any bill, to say they repealed Obamacare. Whatever standards they've set for their health care plan, whatever promises they made before, don't matter. The policy is, in a very real sense, beside the point. Republican senators will tell you that themselves, in their own way." Read on. Mrs. Mc: Read on for a paradigmatic lesson in craven irresponsibility. ...

... Jimmy Kimmel answers Bill Cassidy & other critics:

... Kimmel Knows More About Graham-Cassidy Than Graham & Cassidy Know. Dan Diamond: "In the war of words between Jimmy Kimmel and Sen. Bill Cassidy, the late-night host has the better grasp of health policy, health care analysts say.... 'This guy, Bill Cassidy, he just lied right to my face,' Kimmel said [in his Tuesday night monologue]. He then listed four pledges that Cassidy made when he appeared on Kimmel's show in May, including a promise to lower health costs for Americans and to oppose insurance companies' lifetime caps on coverage that Kimmel said would no longer be guaranteed under the new legislation.... Cassidy countered Wednesday that the talk-show host didn't grasp the nuances of his legislation. 'I am sorry he does not understand,' the senator told CNN on Wednesday morning.... [Lindsey] Graham on Wednesday defended his colleague, telling NBC News that Kimmel's monologue was 'absolute garbage' and parroted 'liberal talking points.'... But experts say that Cassidy and Graham's bill can't guarantee those protections and that Kimmel's assessment was basically accurate because of the flexibility the bill gives states to set up their own health care systems. For example, health insurers could hike premiums for patients with pre-existing conditions if their states obtain waivers from Obamacare regulations -- as Kimmel said.... The proposal's significant cuts to Medicaid and other changes to the ACA's regulations would lead to dramatic reductions in coverage for adults too, analysts say." ...

... Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "What's new [in the Graham-Cassidy bill], thanks to the Affordable Care Act, is a discrepancy in state-by-state funding that would be flattened out by the block grants. Most states used the ACA's funding to expand Medicaid; some Republican-run states, liberated by the Supreme Court's decision to make the funding optional, did not. As a result, 14 of the 15 states that would stand to gain from block grants are run by Republicans; Democratic megastates including California, New York and Massachusetts would lose billions of dollars, a feature both Graham and Cassidy have talked up to conservatives." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In other words, Graham & Cassidy are rewarding Republican-run states for screwing their constituents. And they're proud of it. ...

... Robert Pear of the Washington Post: "The health insurance industry, after cautiously watching Republican health care efforts for months, came out forcefully on Wednesday against the Senate's latest bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, suggesting that its state-by-state block grants could create health care chaos in the short term and a Balkanized, uncertain insurance market.... The two major trade groups for insurers, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and America's Health Insurance Plans, announced their opposition on Wednesday to the Graham-Cassidy bill. They joined other groups fighting the bill, such as the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, AARP and the lobbying arm of the American Cancer Society. In the face of the industry opposition, Senate Republican leaders nevertheless said they would push for a showdown vote next week on the legislation...." ...

... Katie Jennings of Politico: "Gov. Chris Christie said on Wednesday that he opposes the latest Senate plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.... 'I oppose Graham-Cassidy because it is too injurious to the people of New Jersey,' Christie told reporters standing outside an addiction treatment center in Somerset County. 'I'm certainly not going to support a bill that takes nearly $4 billion from people in the state.'" ...

... Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico: "In an appearance at the Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers event, [President] Obama focused on the revived fight over Obamacare, as Republicans push toward a vote in the Senate on their latest attempt to repeal his signature health care achievement. 'Those of you who live in countries that already have universal health care are trying to figure out what's the controversy here,' Obama said, jabbing at 'people trying to undo that progress for the 50^th or 60^th time' with a bill that raises costs. 'It is aggravating,' Obama said, 'and all of this being done without any demonstrable economic or actuarial or common-sense rationale, it frustrates.'" ...

... Elana Schor of Politico: "The liberal activists roused into the streets by ... Donald Trump are revving up for one last campaign to save Obamacare.... From a new six-figure advertising campaign by the pro-Obamacare group Save My Care to a flurry of rallies planned on the ground, the left is throwing everything it can at the new repeal bill from Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)." ...

... WTF? Mrs. McCrabbie: So now every interested party opposes this draconian bill: health insurance consumers (i.e., the public), by a huge majority; healthcare providers, overwhelmingly; healthcare advocacy organizations; even health insurance providers, because the bill would create such a mess. And health industry experts, because they say it would harm millions. Who likes it? Trump & most (but not all) elected Republicans (and probably Steve Doocy & Sean Hannity). WTF is the matter with these Republicans? Are they truly in denial about the bill's effects? Do they hate President Obama so much that they're willing to commit political suicide to spite him? Do they want their constituents to be financially ruined and/or die? Is somebody paying off Republicans? Sometimes it makes sense to pass unpopular legislation -- civil rights laws, the Affordable Care Act itself, for instance -- because that legislation works toward improving the lives of millions of Americans and moves in the direction of democratic ideals. But when a proposed law is guaranteed to hurt millions of Americans? Did I ask What the Fuck? ...

     ... Update. Looks as if Chuck Grassley & Dylan Scott answered my question: Anything But OCare.

Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "In a sentencing memo, the government asked a judge to give [Anthony] Weiner, 53, a prison term of 21 to 27 months in a case that enmeshed him in an F.B.I. investigation of Hillary Clinton last year before the presidential election. Mr. Weiner, who is to be sentenced on Monday, could receive up to 10 years in prison on one count of transferring obscene material to a minor, a 15-year-old girl with whom he exchanged lewd texts over several months in early 2016."

Beyond the Beltway

Aaron Rupar of ThinkProgress: "Earlier this month, over an illustration that showed a truck driving into protesters, South Dakota Rep. Lynne DiSanto (R) [-- who is the house majority whip --] posted, 'I think this is a movement we can all support. #alllivessplatter.' 'Nobody cares about your protest,' the post says. 'Keep your ass out of the road.'... Following a number of reports about it, on Tuesday, her employer, Keller Williams Realty, announced it had severed ties with DiSanto.... The post won't immediately affect DiSanto's standing in the legislature, however -- House Majority Leader Lee Qualm (R) told the Associated Press she'll stay on as House Majority Whip...."

Way Beyond

AFP: "A reporter covering political unrest in India's north-east was beaten to death during violent clashes, officials have said, two weeks after the high-profile murder of another prominent journalist. Shantanu Bhowmick was set upon with sticks as he reported on violence on Wednesday between warring political factions and police outside Agartala, the capital of remote Tripura state. On Thursday, the state police superintendent Abhijit Saptarshi said more than a dozen officers had also been injured in the fracas and tensions remained high in the troubled region. 'We later found the journalist's body at the site of the clashes,' he told AFP from Tripura."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Liliane Bettencourt, a French heiress to the L’Oréal cosmetics fortune who became embroiled in a family feud that exploded into a financial and political scandal involving former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, died Sept. 20 at her home near Paris. She was 94."

New York Times: "Lillian Ross, who became known as the consummate fly-on-the-wall reporter in more than six decades at The New Yorker, whether writing about Ernest Hemingway, Hollywood or a busload of Indiana high school seniors on a class trip to New York, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. She was 99." ...

... Ross's New Yorker obituary, by Rebecca Mead, is here.