The Commentariat -- December 1, 2017
Afternoon Update:
Breaking @ 9:40 am ET: Eileen Sullivan & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "... Michael T. Flynn is expected to plead guilty on Friday to lying to the F.B.I. about a conversation with the Russian ambassador last December. The plea would be the latest indication that Mr. Flynn was cooperating with the special counsel's investigation...." This a 2-graf story at this point; expect expansion. ...
... New Lede: "President Trump's former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, pleaded guilty on Friday to lying to the F.B.I. about conversations with the Russian ambassador last December during the presidential transition, bringing the special counsel's investigation into the president's inner circle. Mr. Flynn, who appeared in federal court in Washington, acknowledged that he was cooperating with the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into Russian interference in the 2016 election. His plea agreement suggests that Mr. Flynn provided information to prosecutors, which may help advance the inquiry....
"Mr. Flynn's admissions in his plea deal could deeply undercut the arguments made in January by Mr. Trump and his aides that they were not fully aware of Mr. Flynn's discussion with Russians about sanctions imposed on Russia by the Obama administration over the election meddling. In fact, the documents say multiple members of the team coordinated the specifics of Mr. Flynn's outreach to Russia and knew that the conversations were about sanctions."
... Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "... Michael Flynn was charged Friday with making a false statement to the FBI about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, marking another monumental development in the wide-ranging probe of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Flynn was expected to enter a plea at 10:30, according to the special counsel's office. The charge relates to false statements Flynn made to the FBI on January 24, four days after President Trump was inaugurated, about his meeting with Kislyak during the transition." ...
... New Lede. The link now leads to a story by Carol Leonnig & others: "Former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty Friday to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and court records indicate he was acting under instructions from senior Trump transition officials in his dealings with the diplomat. Flynn's admission to the charge Friday in federal district court in D.C. could be an ominous sign for the White House, as Flynn is cooperating in the ongoing probe of possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin to influence the 2016 election. His plea revealed that he was in touch with senior Trump transition officials before and afterhis communications with Kislyak -- rebutting the idea that he was a rogue operator.... Days after former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was indicted, Mueller's investigators warned Flynn's lawyers they planned to indict Flynn and also could charge his son, according to the two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. Flynn's lawyers, [Robert] Kelner and Stephen Anthony, provided a proffer of what information Flynn could provide and then Flynn met with Mueller's team." ...
... CNN has readable copies of the court filings. ...
... Josh Gerstein & Theodoric Meyer of Politico report on the courtroom proceedings. ...
... Flynn to Grab Trump by the Facts. Brian Ross, et al., of ABC News: "Retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn has promised 'full cooperation' in the special counsel's Russia investigation and, according to a confidant, is prepared to testify that Donald Trump directed him to make contact with the Russians, initially as a way to work together to fight ISIS in Syria." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. ...
... Quid Pro Quo. Casey Michel of ThinkProgress: "... Flynn lied about asking Kislyak to 'refrain from escalating the situation in response to sanctions that the United States had imposed against Russia' in late December.... Those sanctions, authorized by the Obama Administration, expelled some 35 Russian intelligence operatives and shuttered a pair of U.S.-based Russian compounds -- all in response to Russian interference in the U.S. presidential campaign. However..., Russian President Vladimir Putin opted not to respond to the sanctions, saying the Kremlin would refrain from 'any further steps' at the time. Immediately thereafter, Trump took to Twitter to praise the Russian president for his decision. 'Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was very smart!'" ...
... Eli Lake of Bloomberg: "... Michael Flynn's guilty plea Friday for lying to the FBI is alarming news for Donald Trump. But the first person it's likely to jeopardize will be the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. One transition official at the time said Kushner called Flynn to tell him he needed to get every foreign minister or ambassador from a country on the UN Security Council to delay or vote against the resolution [condemning Israeli settlements]. Much of this appeared to be coordinated also with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose envoys shared their own intelligence about the Obama administration's lobbying efforts to get member states to support the resolution with the Trump transition team." The incident is cited in the charging documents released today. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Perhaps this explains why the FBI recently interviewed Kushner. ...
... Staff Sequesters Trump. AP: "The White House has cancelled a scheduled opportunity for reporters to question ... Donald Trump about former national security adviser Michael Flynn's guilty plea. The public White House schedule had said that reporters would be allowed to document part of Trump's meeting with Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj." ...
... Lachlan Markay & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "For weeks, Trump has vented privately to advisers and confidants about his anxiety over signs that Flynn had flipped. He noted the possibility that Flynn had 'turned on me,' three sources close to the president independently recall him saying.... Sources said that President Trump's flourish in his Thanksgiving speech to members of the U.S. Coast Guard -- during which he said, 'You never know about an ally. An ally can turn' -- was intended as not-so-subtle jab at his former national security adviser." ...
... Martin Longman of Booman Tribune: "Since [Flynn] is only pleading to relatively minor offenses and ones that are easily proven, it will be impossible to claim that he's suffering a monstrous injustice. This makes a pardon unlikely, and it also makes it hard to attack the Special Counsel or to justify firing him. It also makes ... Trump look bad for trying repeatedly to shut down both the FBI and the congressional investigations. In order to build an obstruction of justice charge against the president that will stick and have bipartisan resonance, it's absolutely necessary that there be an underlying crime. Flynn has now pled guilty to crimes, and he'll testify about other crimes. Not since John Dean decided to cooperate with the Watergate investigation has a president had worse news than this.... [Flynn] will provide evidence that implicates Trump and probably his sons and son-in-law, too. Without that kind of testimony, Flynn never could have gotten off so lightly."
Jonathan Swan of Axios: "President Trump is giving a speech Wednesday recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, according to two sources...." Mrs. McC: Because nothing says "Merry Christmas" like causing another huge upheaval between adherents to two other major religions.
Seung Min Kim, et al., of Politico: "Senate Republicans said Friday they have enough votes to pass their massive tax overhaul, even as they frantically rewrote the multi-trillion dollar legislation behind closed doors. 'We have the votes,' Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared as Republicans emerged from a caucus meeting on the latest round of changes to the legislation." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Maybe it's worth noting that two of the supposed "men of principle" who just decided to vote for a tax bill "paid for" with the deficits they claim to so abhor -- Bob Corker & Jeff Flake -- are not running for re-election. That is, they have no reason to kowtow to their betters in the donor class. In addition, both have been highly critical of Trump. Nope, they're doing this to Americans for some reason that does not involve principle, money-grubbing or fidelity to the president. Maybe they're hoping for career moves into high-paying lobbying firms. I don't know. Anyhow, lumps of coal all around for the McScrooge party. ...
... Update: Now Corker says he'll vote against the bill. I can't keep up.
Fahrenthold & friend in happier days.That's Just Ducky. Rachel Bade of Politico: "Rep. Blake Farenthold used taxpayer money to settle a sexual harassment claim brought by his former spokesman -- the only known sitting member of Congress to have used a little-known congressional account to pay an accuser, people familiar with the matter told Politico. Lauren Greene, the Texas Republican's former communications director, sued her boss in December 2014 over allegations of gender discrimination, sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment. Greene said another Farenthold aide told her the lawmaker said he had 'sexual fantasies' and 'wet dreams' about Greene. She also claimed that Farenthold 'regularly drank to excess' and told her in February 2014 that he was 'estranged from his wife and had not had sex with her in years.' When she complained about comments Farenthold and a male staffer made to her, Greene said the congressman improperly fired her."
Radio Television Digital News Association: "The nation's largest retailer [WalMart] Wednesday removed from its website a controversial t-shirt that threatens journalists, shortly after RTDNA and its Voice of the First Amendment Task Force sent a letter to the company's top executives requesting its removal. The shirt, featuring the words 'Rope. Tree. Journalist. SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED,' had been offered for sale on Walmart.com by a third-party seller, Teespring.com, which also offers on its site a coffee mug featuring the slogan.... UPDATE: Less than 24 hours after Walmart removed the shirt from its website, Teespring.com, the third-party seller that had been offering the shirt on Walmart.com removed it from its site as well." Mrs. McC: Nice that these fine retailers realized (with prodding) that hanging reporters does not reflect the spirit of the season.
*****
News on the Senate's GOP tax bill, which is expected to pass today, is further down the page.
National Christmas Tree Lighting attendance 2016, 2017.... Red Painter of Crooks & Liars on crowd size -- seems to be a Trumpian problem for some reason. Painter reposts some tweety commentary. Thanks to Patrick for the link. See also his commentary below. ...
Mike Allen, official Washington gossip: "White House officials expect Trump to be even more outrageous and cocksure in coming months.... Officials tell us Trump seems more self-assured, more prone to confidently indulging wild conspiracies and fantasies, more quick-triggered to fight than he was during the Wild West of the first 100 days in office.... We just witnessed the most unthinkable 96 hours of Trump's reign: He called for a probe of the chairman of NBC News, a boycott of CNN, global skepticism of CNN International, and a public contest to crown the king of Fake News. He told friends that the 'Access Hollywood' tape may have been doctored, and that former President Obama may have been born abroad. He re-tweeted conspiracy theorists. He unapologetically circulated videos aimed at demeaning an entire religion, Islam. He sent his press secretary out to argue it doesn't matter if the tapes are fake, because the threat is real.... Elected Republicans, at least in public, seem fine with it all. They chuckle and say it's simply Trump being Trump. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and his staff seem fine with, or at least resigned to, this reality. No one who matters is doing anything but egging him on." (Also linked yesterday.) Exhibits which followed publication of Allen's post appear below. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The world will go out with a bang, not a whimper. ...
... Michelle Goldberg: "By the end of the day [Wednesday], Trump had been condemned by Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain, to which he responded by going after a different Theresa May on Twitter, dragging an obscure woman who at the time had six followers into the limelight. In another tweet, he insinuated that the TV host Joe Scarborough killed an intern in 2001, when he was a congressman. This came after news reports informed us that Trump is still a birther and that he no longer admits that the voice on the infamous 'Access Hollywood' tape is his own.... Reports from the administration all suggest an increasingly unhinged and chaotic president.... This should be seen as an emergency situation. But now that Republicans are about to get their tax cuts, they appear to have decided that it doesn't matter whether the president is sane.... If you think 2017 was bad, imagine an America without allies fighting another two-front war, this one involving nuclear weapons, under the leadership of the most hated president in modern history, while a torture apologist [Tom Cotton] runs the C.I.A.... If everything goes up in flames, we can't say we weren't warned." ... Thanks to Marvin S. for the link. ...
... Bandy Lee, in a letter to the editor of the New York Times: "I am the editor of 'The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.' We represent a much larger number of concerned mental health professionals who have come forward to warn against the president's psychological instability and the dangers it poses. We now number in the thousands. We are currently witnessing more than his usual state of instability -- in fact, a pattern of decompensation: increasing loss of touch with reality, marked signs of volatility and unpredictable behavior, and an attraction to violence as a means of coping. These characteristics place our country and the world at extreme risk of danger." ...
... Exhibit A. Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump has told others that a government shutdown could be good for him politically and is focusing on his hard-line immigration stance as a way to win back supporters unhappy with his outreach to Democrats this fall, according to people who have spoken with him recently. Over the past 10 days, the president has also told advisers that it is important that he is seen as tough on immigration and getting money for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.... Trump's mixed messages on a partial government shutdown could hamper the ability of congressional Republicans to negotiate with Democrats, whose support they need to pass spending legislation in coming weeks. Many Republicans said this week that a shutdown is an unwelcome possibility they hope to avoid. Even inside the White House, aides fret about the possibility, saying it would not poll well."
Elise Labott & Abby Phillip of CNN: "After ... Donald Trump retweeted anti-Muslims videos on Wednesday, multiple State Department officials said the department communicated to the White House that there was concern that protests could happen at US embassies. Officials feared that the tweets, which appeared to depict Muslims engaged in different acts of violence, would spark a reprise of the violent protests at US embassies in the Middle East which are already on high security alert. Protests erupted in September 2012 following the publication of an anti-Muslim video on the internet. Embassies were on alert throughout the day, although no incidents have been reported thus far, the State Department officials said." ...
... Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Pressure was growing in Britain on Thursday to withdraw President Trump's invitation for a state visit, as trans-Atlantic tensions increased over his decision to share far-right videos, and then to rebuke Prime Minister Theresa May after she criticized his actions. The dispute has become an acute embarrassment for the British government, which on Thursday insisted it still enjoys a 'special relationship' with the United States, and for Mrs. May, who has worked hard to cultivate close ties with Mr. Trump, only to be drawn into a public argument with him." ...
... Juan Cole: "Once upon a time, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt sent Ike Eisenhower as the Supreme Allied Commander to stage D-Day at Normandy Beach along with allies and save Britain from fascism. On Wednesday, our nazi president Donald J. Trump tried to press fascism on Britain, pissing all over the graves of the 34,137 US service personnel who lost their lives in the Battle of Normandy and northern France, fighting Nazism.... Last year, a man influenced by Britain First killed British member of parliament Jo Cox for being insufficiently fascist. Her widower, Brendan, tweeted, 'Trump has legitimized the far-right in his own country; now he's trying to do it in ours.'" --safari
Exhibit B. Peter Baker & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The White House has developed a plan to force out Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, whose relationship with President Trump has been strained, and replace him with Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director, perhaps within the next several weeks, senior administration officials said on Thursday. Mr. Pompeo would be replaced at the C.I.A. by Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas who has been a key ally of the president on national security matters, according to the White House plan. Mr. Cotton has signaled that he would accept the job if offered, said the officials, who insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations before decisions are announced. It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Trump has given final approval to the plan...." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Exhibit C. Update. Michelle Kosinski & Sara Murray of CNN: "Reports that the White House has a tentative plan to replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that emerged Thursday were an effort to express ... Donald Trump's deep displeasure and publicly shame his secretary of state, a source with direct knowledge of the White House's thinking said Thursday. The hope from the White House, the source said, is to push out the plan to replace Tillerson and then 'wait for him to punch out.'" ...
... Josh Marshall: "That is hardly surprising given President Trump's way of doing business for decades. But there's more to it than that. This new report [from CNN] at least suggests that the initial news reports this morning were false.... [Government officials] don't usually lie in the morning and then say in the afternoon 'Yes, we were lying. Ha ha.'" ...
... Mrs. McC: Marshall blames the media for "false reporting." I don't. If several usually-reliable, and probably high-level, sources tell you Secret A, those sources, at the very least, believe Secret A. Trump himself may have misled the sources. The Tillerson-is-leaving-soon story is an old one, and it would make sense for the administration to have an exit plan in place. And, since Trump can't take rejection, it's not even slightly surprising that he would try to frame Tillerson's departure as one he orchestrated. He may believe that now, whether it's true or not. ...
... Josh Rogin of the Washington Post: "Since well before the White House plan to replace Secretary of State Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo became public Thursday, Pompeo had been informally preparing to take over in Foggy Bottom, reaching out to potential candidates for positions and collecting ideas." ...
... Spencer Ackerman of The Daily Beast: "The Central Intelligence Agency is set to receive an advocate of waterboarding, sweeping surveillance powers, jailing journalists, and conflict with Iran as its next director. A combat veteran and first-term Arkansas GOP senator, Tom Cotton has wasted little time building his twin reputations as one of the Senate's hardest hardliners and friendliest Donald Trump allies.... Now, following months of whispered reporting, White House chief of staff John Kelly has developed a plan to transition Cotton over to the Central Intelligence Agency directorship." --safari: It's reportedly Kelly, the racist "adult" in the room, manoeuvering Cotton into the CIA head. Too much Kool-aid? ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: As Ackerman reports, qualified interrogation officers find Cotton appalling. "Glenn Carle, a retired CIA operations officer with interrogation experience, called Cotton 'wholly unfit to be CIA director. 'Those of us with some knowledge and objectivity have pointed out endlessly that torture does not work, is illegal, is unnecessary and harms the perpetrators of it, Carle told The Daily Beast. 'Tom Cotton at present remains clueless about torture. He seems to base his beliefs on the efficacy of torture on B-movies and dog-eared Tom Clancy novels,' added former Navy interrogation-resistance instructor Malcolm Nance, who has been waterboarded and calls it torture." ...
... Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "In [Tom] Cotton, who reportedly wants the CIA job, President Donald Trump would install at the intelligence agency one of the most vocal supporters of his efforts to dismiss the Trump campaign's suspected collaboration with the Kremlin in an effort to interferein the 2016 election ... Cotton has repeatedly leapt to defend Trump administration officials over their contacts with Russians.... Cotton has pushed the notion that Trump is tougher on Russia than Obama was.... Rejection of the intelligence community's conclusions might be standard operating procedure for Trump partisans. It would take on a different significance coming from the head of the CIA." --safari
Aram Roston of Buzzfeed: "The White House and CIA have been considering a package of secret proposals to allow former US intelligence officers to run privatized covert actions, intelligence gathering, and propaganda missions, according to three sources who've been briefed on or have direct knowledge of the proposals. One of the proposals would involve hiring a private company, Amyntor Group, for millions of dollars to set up a large intelligence network and run counter terrorist propaganda efforts, according to the sources.... Another proposal presented to US officials would allow individuals affiliated with the company to help capture wanted terrorists on behalf of the United States.... The proposals sound like a convoluted movie plot, but two of the sources familiar with the project say discussions have been held recently with top national security officials." -- safari: Whose campaign dollars are massaging this insanity?
The Trump-Russia Scandal
** It's Called "Obstruction of Justice." Jonathan Martin, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump over the summer repeatedly urged senior Senate Republicans, including the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to end the panel's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election, according to a half dozen lawmakers and aides. Mr. Trump's requests were a highly unusual intervention from a president into a legislative inquiry involving his family and close aides. Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, the intelligence committee chairman, said in an interview this week that Mr. Trump told him that he was eager to see an investigation that has overshadowed much of the first year of his presidency come to an end. 'It was something along the lines of, "I hope you can conclude this as quickly as possible,"' Mr. Burr said.... In addition, according to lawmakers and aides, Mr. Trump told Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, and Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri and a member of the intelligence committee, to end the investigation swiftly.... This past summer, Mr. Trump also contacted Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who in August introduced a bipartisan bill limiting the president's power to dismiss special prosecutors -- a measure widely seen as aimed at protecting Mr. Mueller from Mr. Trump. In an interview this week, Mr. Tillis said the president 'just asked me where my head was.'" ... Republicans played down Mr. Trump's appeals, describing them as the actions of a political newcomer unfamiliar with what is appropriate presidential conduct." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Really? Trump is just a newbie & can't be expected to know you don't secretly strongarm senators to get them to quit digging into your illegal shenanigans? Their argument that Trump is too ignorant to be president is mighty self-defeating. P.S. Note the tenor of Trump's "request" to Burr. It's framed much like his "request" to Comey -- the guy he fired for not laying off Mike Flynn. ...
... Manu Raju, et al., of CNN: "Blackwater founder Erik Prince testified to House lawmakers that he met the head of a Russian investment fund earlier this year -- but he insisted it was not part of an effort to set up a Russian backchannel with the Trump administration, multiple sources told CNN.... Prince insisted he did not have the meeting at the request of the Trump administration.... Multiple sources said the roughly three-hour meeting was hostile, as Prince repeatedly expressed his disdain for the panel.... Prince's testimony is being was conducted in a closed session, but the committee plans to release a transcript of the interview." ...
** Reuters: "... Jeff Sessions refused to answer questions on Thursday during a closed congressional hearing about whether President Donald Trump ever instructed him to hinder the Justice Department's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, a Democratic congressman said.... Representative Adam Schiff, the committee's top Democrat, told reporters he was troubled by Sessions' refusal to answer what he believes are essential questions. 'I asked the Attorney General whether he was ever instructed by the president to take any action that he believed would hinder the Russia investigation and he declined to answer the question,' Schiff said after the hearing." --safari ...
... Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has reached a bail deal with prosecutors led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, agreeing to secure his release with four properties worth $11.6 million, forgo foreign travel and limit his travel within the United States. In a six-page court filing backed by more than 150 pages of financial documentation, Manafort's lawyers agreed to a forfeiture of the homes held by Manafort, his wife and with their daughter if he fails to appear in court to face charges of money laundering and fraud in connection with his work advising a Russia-friendly political party in Ukraine."
Poor Mercenaries. Betsy Woodruff of The Daily Beast: "Attorney General Jeff Sessionshas a new group of critics: former officials at Blackwater, the military contracting firm that was sold and renamed after its connection to the killings of more than a dozen Iraqi civilians in 2007. That's because in the ten years since those deaths in Baghdad's Nisour Square, the Justice Department has taken an aggressive and sometimes unorthodox approach to prosecuting four former Blackwater contractors for those killings. And that aggressive stance is continuing under Sessions.... The founder of Blackwater, Erik Prince, is set [to] testify before the House intelligence committee on Nov. 30 as part of its Russia probe. And that gives the dispute an additional dimension. Two key players in the unfolding Trump-Russia drama are now at odds.... 'Jeff Sessions is a big, giant wussy and never has there been a more spineless, worthless guy holding that chair than him,' said one former Blackwater official." --safari
Julia Lurie of Mother Jones: "Kellyanne Conway is spearheading the Trump Administration's efforts to combat the opioid epidemic..., Jeff Sessions said at a press conference Wednesday. Conway will 'coordinate and lead the effort from the White House,' according to Sessions.... Conway has 'zero background' on drug policy, says Keith Humphreys, a Stanford psychiatry professor and former Obama drug policy advisor, adding that it's unclear what this position entails.... Trump has yet to install a drug czar, or the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which typically leads the White House's drug policy efforts.... Conway seems to share Trump's reluctance to allocate significant funding to combat the opioid epidemic.... Solving the opioid epidemic, she declared, 'takes a four-letter word called 'will.'" -- safari: Sounds like an attempt at reputation washing to me. Sorry Conjob, sulphur doesn't wash off so easily. You're tainted for life.
Remember Puerto Rico? Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "It's been more than two months since Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico -- 70 days, to be exact -- and government officials on the island and federal agencies in Washington still haven't figured out how to handle the never-ending crisis.... The neglect means that, 10 weeks after Hurricane Maria struck, almost 50 percent of Puerto Ricans are still without power and at least 10 percent still do not have access to safe drinking water. Puerto Rico's governor has pledged to restore power to 95 percent of the island's residents by mid-December. But that's overly optimistic, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which expects to reach just 75 percent by the end of January." --safari
GOP Tax Bill
Greg Sargent on Trump's huge betrayal of the white middle class he courted by making as his central argument his promise to end the cabal of wealthy elites to rig the tax system in their favor. "Now Trump and the politicians, working together, are set to pass a tax plan that will lavish enormous benefits on people like Trump -- and in key ways further rigs the system on their behalf." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Erica Werner, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Republican plan for a massive tax overhaul slammed into late-stage drama on Thursday as party leaders scrambled to prevent several members from derailing the entire effort.... The tension played out during a tense 62-minute standoff on the Senate floor, as Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) refused to vote with their colleagues until they had assurances that more changes could be made to the bill. Corker and Flake had just been informed that their proposed 'trigger,' a mechanism to raise taxes if economic growth came in slower than projected, would not be allowed by the Senate's parliamentarian. So they demanded the bill be fundamentally changed to add tax revenue back into the package.... The debate is now expected to spill into Friday night." ...
... Seung Min Kim & Colin Wilhelm of Politico: "Senate Republicans are still scrambling to win over enough votes to pass their massive tax code overhaul, with major changes to the bill still up in the air and debate pushed into Friday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the next vote in the tax debate will come at 11 a.m. Friday, as work continues behind the scenes to win over skeptical deficit hawks and other swing votes. Multiple GOP senators leaving the chamber after a dramatic late afternoon vote said a key proposal for deficit hawks -- a trigger to raise tax rates if sufficient economic growth did not materialize -- would not pass procedural muster and would need to find something else to satisfy the bloc of deficit hawk holdouts, led by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.).... Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the floor Thursday, 'These changes and the way the majority leader is handling this make it impossible for any independent analyst to get a good look at the bill and how it would impact our country.'" ...
... Alexander Bolton & Naomi Jagoda of the Hill: "Senate GOP leaders have agreed to roll back $350 billion in tax relief in response to a procedural ambush by deficit hawks led by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) that nearly killed the GOP tax-reform bill. Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (Texas) told reporters after a round of intense discussions on the floor, 'We have an alternative, frankly, tax increase we don't want to do to try to address Sen. Corker's concerns.' Cornyn said the details of the proposal are being worked out. Corker had insisted on a trigger proposal that would have rolled back tax relief in case economic projections fell short of expectations. But the Senate parliamentarian ruled Thursday afternoon that the trigger would not pass procedural muster.... Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) said the estimated reduction in tax relief would be $350 billion over a decade."
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Well, pardon my gradeschool arithmetic teachers, but they never taught me how $350BB could sometimes equal $1.5TT. These senators must have had way better teachers. ...
... Jugal Patel & Alicia Parlapiano of the New York Times: "Senate Republicans’ $1.5 trillion tax cut would not 'pay for itself' according to a report released on Thursday by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation. The report is a significant setback for Republicans, who have asserted that the tax cuts would grow the economy enough to cover the cost of the plan." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The hilarious part of this -- as if there were anything funny about Republicans' plans to rip off most Americans -- is that these bozos are now acting all surprised about something that has been extensively reported -- every day & everywhere (except in the swamplands of Right Wing World) -- for weeks. ...
... Saleha Mohsin of Bloomberg: "The Treasury Department's inspector general is examining whether political considerations interfered with Secretary Steven Mnuchin's promised analysis of the Republican tax proposal. 'It's a top priority,' Rich Delmar, counsel to inspector general Eric Thorson, said Thursday in an email.... In a letter early Thursday, Senator Elizabeth Warren [D-Mass.] asked Thorson's office to review whether Treasury resources were used to research the tax plan, and why no analysis has been released to the public or Congress. Mnuchin has repeatedly pledged that the Republican proposal would pay for itself through economic growth, and that his department would provide detailed analysis to support those statements. But, with the Senate preparing to vote on the tax overhaul this week, Mnuchin has yet to deliver the analysis. 'Either the Treasury Department has used extensive taxpayer funds to conduct economic analyses that it refuses to release because those analyses would contradict the Treasury Secretary's claims, or Secretary Mnuchin has grossly misled the public about the extent of the Treasury Department's analysis,' Warren ... wrote in the letter.&" ...
... "Failure Is Not an Option." Amber Phillips of the Washington Post: "The small business lobby. AARP. The medical community. More than half (52 percent) of Americans. Democrats in Congress. They all oppose a tax bill Senate Republicans are hurtling toward passing.... So then, why the rush to pass it? Because, this: 'Failure's not an option,' said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) in the halls of Congress on Wednesday.... In the breath before, Graham had indicated he'll take pretty much anything that can remotely be called a tax bill.... Republicans have come to the conclusion something is better than nothing. That's really the driving force that could unify about 10 senators with competing concerns about the bill." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Evidently the tax bill is the reason Donald Trump isn't a kook any more. AND let's bear this in mind: Congressional Republicans could have written a tax bill that did nothing more than lower the corporate tax rate & close the loopholes that render the corporate rate uneven & far lower than it pretends to be anyway. To make the cut more popular, they could have thrown in a modest cut for middle-class taxpayers that would not have busted the budget. They would have gotten Democratic votes on it, too. Everybody would be impressed & happy that Republicans actually can get things done. But they're too fucking greedy to do the right thing. Or the responsible thing. Or the simplest thing.
... "The Lies John McCain Is Telling Himself." Addy Baird of ThinkProgress: "In his statement announcing he favored the bill Thursday, [Sen. John] McCain attempted to paint the bill as having gone through regular order, saying, 'I am pleased that this important bill was considered through the normal legislative processes, with several hearings and a thorough mark-up in the Senate Finance Committee during which more than 350 amendments were filed and 69 received a vote.' But that's simply not true. While it has had a thorough mark-up, the bill has had not a single public hearing, keeping the bill hidden from the people whose lives will be affected.... The other problem ... is that the senator has long painted himself as a deficit hawk. Just last week he told Politico, 'I'm always worried about the deficit.' The framework for the bill allows for $1.5 trillion in higher deficits over the next 10 years, but McCain said Thursday that he doesn't actually care." Mrs. McC: McCain also seemed to suggest in his statement that a tax bill didn't have the same importance as a healthcare bill. But, as Baird points out, this particular tax bill "repeals Obamacare's individual mandate, a move the Congressional Budget Office says would leave 13 million more people uninsured in the next ten years and premiums would increase 10 percent." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Assuming that the House & Senate can reconcile their competing bills, the only upside I see for Medlar & me is that our taxes actually will go down because in the recession/depression that is likely to follow in a few years, all of our investments will tank & the only income we'll have to report is the reduced Social Security pension the GOP allow us. Also, too, I hear pet feed producers are now making cat food that is safe for humans to eat. ... BUT ...
... Landon Thomas of the New York Times: "One of the longest stock-market booms in history continued its gravity-defying ascent Thursday, with investors cheering the prospect of deep corporate tax cuts and the rollback of government regulations under President Trump. The Dow Jones industrial average eclipsed yet another milestone, closing Thursday above 24,000 for the first time. And the Standard & Poor's 500 index logged its 13th straight month of gains, the longest such streak in history." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Apparently investors read nothing but the Wall Street Journal editorial pages & know nothing about the history of tax cuts for the rich. Hint: cuts that "help" the wealthy & hurt everybody else cause recessions. The crash of 2008 was a direct result of the Bush tax cuts -- and those cuts, unlike the current tax cons, did not raise taxes on the poor & middle class. The way it works is pretty simple: if people can't afford to buy stuff, they don't. These bills will be particularly hard on the housing industry -- one of the biggest drivers of the economy -- because they cut out or reduce the deduction on property taxes & the mortgage deduction -- both of which help ordinary people buy more expensive houses. Add Trump's hard line on immigration, plus the country's low birth rate & ageing population -- immigrants & young people buy houses -- & you've got a severe recession in the making. This is just common sense; it's hard to understand why the masters of the universe & their GOP puppets are so stunningly ignorant. ...
... ** Paul Krugman: "... there's no precedent for this frantic rush to pass major legislation before anyone can figure out what's in it or what it does. And there's a world of difference between normal political spin ... and the outright lies that have marked every aspect of the selling of this thing. [Steven] Mnuchin said his department had a study showing great effects on growth; that was a lie. Donald Trump says the bill is 'not good for me'; that's a lie. Senator John Cornyn said, 'This is not a bill that is designed primarily to benefit the wealthy and the large businesses'; that was a lie. Senator Bob Corker said he wouldn't support a plan 'adding one penny to the deficit'; that was a lie.... The rot is wide as well as deep.... Just about every G.O.P. member of Congress, including the sainted John McCain, is willing to put partisan loyalty above principle, voting for what they have to know is terrible and irresponsible legislation." Read it all. ...
... Adam Cancryn & Sarah Ferris of Politico: "... the $1.5 trillion tax package could trigger eye-popping cuts to a slew of federal programs, including Medicare. Unless Congress acts swiftly to stop it, as much as $150 billion per year would be cut from initiatives ranging from farm subsidies to student loans to support services for crime victims. Medicare alone could see cuts of $25 billion a year. And the specter of those cuts has thrust Congress into a high-stakes game of political chicken.... The far reach of the Republican tax plan is the consequence of limitations placed on Congress under the 'pay-as-you-go' rule. The decades-old law, revamped during the Obama presidency, requires Congress to offset the cost of each piece of legislation or risk spending cuts painful to both parties. Lawmakers have repeatedly voted to waive this rule, a total of 16 times, for major bills like the Obama-era stimulus and multiple tax cut packages under George W. Bush." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Um, that's the crux of the plan, isn't it? Give tax cuts to the rich, then take way even more programs from the middle-class & poor?
Louis Nelson of Politico: "An Army veteran has accused Sen. Al Franken of groping her breast during a 2003 USO tour in Kuwait, the fifth woman to come forward with accusations against the Minnesota Democrat in the last two weeks. Former military policewoman Stephanie Kemplin told CNN Franken put his hand on her breast during a photo opportunity, keeping it there for five to 10 seconds, which she said was long enough that he should have noticed if it was a mistake." (Also linked yesterday.)
Elise Viebeck & Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "House Democratic leaders called on Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) to resign Thursday, increasing pressure on the veteran lawmaker to leave office amid multiple allegations that he sexually harassed female aides. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her three deputies, including the House's highest-ranking African American, Rep. James E. Clyburn (S.C.), said Conyers must step down, after one of his accusers detailed her experience on national television."
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) announced Thursday that he won't run for reelection in 2018, following a string of stories about him sending lewd texts and nude photos and videos to women. Barton, the ninth most-senior member of the House, told the Dallas Morning news in an interview, 'There are enough people who lost faith in me that it's time to step aside.' Local GOP leaders had begun calling for Barton to step down in recent days." (Also linked yesterday.)
Justin Fishel of ABC News: "The Congressional Office of Compliance secretly paid close to $100,000 in taxpayer funds to settle sexual harassment claims from at least two young male staffers who worked for disgraced former Congressman Eric Massa, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter told ABC News. The claims were settled after Massa, a Democrat from upstate New York, resigned in 2010 amid a pending ethics investigation into allegations he groped and sexually harassed members of his staff."
**Abraham Lustgarten of ProPublica: "In the United States, outdoor burning and detonation is still the military's leading method for dealing with munitions and the associated hazardous waste. It has remained so despite a U.S. Senate resolution a quarter of a century ago that ordered the Department of Defense to halt the practice 'as soon as possible.'... Federal records identify nearly 200 sites that have been or are still being used to open-burn hazardous explosives across the country.... The facilities operate under special government permits that are supposed to keep the process safe.... Yet officials at the Environmental Protection Agency, which governs the process under federal law, acknowledge that the permits provide scant protection." --safari: Read on to see how your gov't treats its underlings...
...Here's a link to the map to see if a cleanup site is near you. --safari
Senate Race
... Avery Anapol of the Hill has the backstory. ...
... Here's the follow-up video, which Kimmel mentions. Mrs. McC: I found the bit more disturbing than funny. ...
... Brian Lawson of WHNT (Huntsville, Alabama): "The Campaign Legal Center (CLC), a non-partisan watchdog group, has filed an IRS complaint against the Foundation for Moral Law, the non-profit founded by [Roy] Moore and currently headed by his wife. The CLC says the foundation illegally promoted Moore's campaign. The Campaign Legal Center's Brendan Fischer explains, 'We noticed the Foundation for Moral Law, a charity that he founded, that is currently led by his wife, was particularly active in promoting his candidacy.' But Fischer said federal law bars charities from supporting political candidates.... This is the second time the CLC has raised alarm about Moore's campaign practices. They previously complained that Moore failed to disclose income he made from speeches, as evidenced by the fact that they didn't match his state ethics disclosures. The Moore Campaign later amended the federal disclosures." ...
... Trump's Finest. Brad Reed of RawStory: "Rev. Bill Atkinson, a pastor who sang for Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore at a recent campaign event, was convicted of obstructing an investigation into whether his son molested children at an orphanage his family owned in Honduras. Alabama.com reports that Atkinson in 2012 'was found guilty of obstruction and conspiracy for ordering two of his children to destroy a hard drive of a digital video recorder, which held evidence that incriminated' his son, William James 'Will' Atkinson IV, of child molestation." --safari
Shawn Boburg of the Washington Post: "Project Veritas, a conservative charity that uses deceptive techniques to make undercover video recordings to embarrass its targets, is at risk of losing its ability to raise money in New York because it did not disclose that its founder had a criminal record, New York regulators said Thursday. The organization has until Dec. 14 to explain why it failed to disclose James O'Keefe's 2010 criminal conviction and had other omissions on records submitted to the state, according to a letter the New York attorney general sent to the charity Wednesday." ...
... Joseph Bernstein & Kendall Taggart of BuzzFeed: "The Mercers, secretive billionaires who are among President Trump's most powerful donors, also helped to fund Project Veritas, the controversial activist organization, tax filings obtained by BuzzFeed News show. Gravitas Maximus LLC -- a Mercer investment vehicle through which he also funded the conservative outlet Breitbart -- gave $25,000 to Project Veritas, according to a nonpublic portion of a 2012 tax form. The family's involvement has not previously been made public."
Beyond the Beltway
Vivian Ho of the San Francisco Chronicle: "A jury handed a stunning acquittal on murder and manslaughter charges to a homeless undocumented immigrant whose arrest in the killing of Kate Steinle on a San Francisco Bay pier intensified a national debate over sanctuary laws. In returning its verdict Thursday afternoon on the sixth day of deliberations, the Superior Court jury also pronounced Jose Ines Garcia Zarate not guilty of assault with a firearm, finding credence in defense attorneys' argument that the shot that ricocheted off the concrete ground before piercing Steinle's heart was an accident, with the gun discharging after the defendant stumbled upon it on the waterfront on July 1, 2015....
... Exhibit D: "President Trump, who has cited the case in his effort to build a border wall, said on Twitter, 'A disgraceful verdict in the Kate Steinle case! No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with Illegal Immigration.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump's remark, besides being a careless subversion of the American jury system, is also nonsensical. The jury did not consider Garcia Zarate's immigration status in making its determination. Unlike you & I, presidents & lawmakers have to be careful to show respect for the courts. When President Obama criticized the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, he did so "with all due deference to separation of powers." Oftentimes when a court ruled against an Obama administration order or rule, the administration would release a statement saying it "disagreed" with the court's decision. Obama did not use incendiary phrases like "disgraceful verdict."
Meet Your Confederates. Jesse Paul of The Denver Post: "A southeast Colorado Republican appointed to the state legislature this week has apologized for Facebook posts that were critical of African Americans and Muslims and which drew concerns from top state party officials. 'I would like to apologize for the comments or posts on Facebook that have been found offensive and racist,' Judy Reyher said in a statement emailed to The Denver Post. 'However, the fact of the matter is, I am not a racist.'... In an interview with the newspaper, Reyher also questioned whether former President Barack Obama was born in the U.S. (an idea that has been debunked), and said that 'the black community and the Democrats are the most racist group of people that exist,' and that black people 'hate white people with a passion.'" --safari
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