The Commentariat -- December 14, 2019

Olivia Beavers & Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment Friday that charge President Trump with high crimes and misdemeanors, setting up a historic House vote next week that all but guarantees Trump will be just the third president to be impeached in U.S. history. The articles, which charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, were passed out of the committee along strict party lines, with 23 Democrats voting to send the measures to the full House, which is expected to approve them next week. One Democrat, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), was absent after undergoing an unexpected medical procedure earlier in the week." The New York Times report, by Nicholas Fandos, is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Oops! Jim Dwyer & Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "... Mr. Trump did not mention Mr. Giuliani or his unpaid labor on the annual financial disclosure he filed in May, which requires that the value and source of gifts -- including free legal work -- be publicly listed. That requirement is cut and dried, said Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. She cited guidance from the Office of Government Ethics, issued in November 2017, that states federal officials must disclose 'gifts of legal defenses -- in kind or by payment of the fees.' 'The purpose is to ensure the public has an opportunity to see whether there is any kind of corrupting influence,' said Ms. Clark.... The economic value of [Giuliani's] services to the president could be considerable. Mr. Giuliani has said that at the height of the Mueller inquiry, representing Mr. Trump amounted to a full-time job. Partners at major law firms can bill their clients as much as $1,500 an hour. To serve as Mr. Trump's lawyer, Mr. Giuliani left a firm where he was making $6 million a year." ~~~

     ~~~ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Mrs. McCrabbie: This sounds like an ideal time for Trump to apply Steve Martin's old advice on how to get a million dollars without paying taxes on it: "First, get a million dollars (in this case, in legal services). Then, when the tax man comes to your door, you look him in the eye and say two simple words: 'I... forgot.'"

John Fritze of USA Today: "... Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, was seen entering the White House Friday, just as the House Judiciary Committee was taking a historic series of votes to approve articles of impeachment against the president. Giuliani, a central figure in the events driving the Democratic impeachment push, has said he wants to brief U.S. officials on the findings of his recent trip to Ukraine. It was not immediately clear if Giuliani was meeting with Trump." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Kristen Welker of NBC News (@4:59 pm ET Friday): "Rudy Giuliani confirmed via text he did meet with Trump at the White House on Friday. 'I'm caught going to meet with my client? Is that an impeachable offense?' he added." ~~~

~~~ Alex Ward of Vox: "... Donald Trump's entire impeachment mess began over his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden's family and Democrats with the help of his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.... Giuliani recently returned from a trip to Kyiv this month in which he interviewed local officials to learn more about Hunter Biden ... and his time on the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma. He also wanted to prove the conspiracy theory ... that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 presidential election. After landing in New York last Saturday, according to the Wall Street Journal, the president called his attorney while the plane was still taxiing. 'What did you get?' Trump asked, according to the Journal's Friday interview with Giuliani. 'More than you can imagine,' the former New York City mayor replied, noting he would be putting his findings in a 20-page report. One almost has to respect (while remaining appalled at) how brazen Giuliani's admission is here. He's openly telling the Wall Street Journal that his anti-Biden investigation in Ukraine continues, and that Trump is still interested in knowing about it." ~~~

~~~ Matt Naham of Law & Crime: "Is that a folder -- or a dossier, if you will -- tucked under Giuliani's arm? [Naham comments on a photo of Giuliani entered the White House.]... 'Mafia in action at the White House. This is just so surreal.' [former prosecutor Mimi Rocah tweeted].... 'Trump has been emboldened, not chastened, by impeachment. His personal attorney is at the WH right now after his trip to Ukraine to continue to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, the heart of this impeachment itself. And GOP is no longer lodging any protest. This is the reality for 2020.' [CNN host Jim Sciutto tweeted]." ~~~

      ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: When Bill Clinton got caught by the blue dress (after he gave his DNA to the Starr chamber), he apologized for his behavior & implied there would be no more bimbo eruptions during his tenure in office. That's a huge difference. Trump, besides refusing to cooperate with House investigations, not only has not apologized, he sees nothing wrong with his actions and is continuing the offending behavior in an in-your-face manner. And Mitch McConnell, along with almost all other elected Republicans in Washington, is egging Trump on. We are living in dangerous times. ~~~

~~~ Josh Kovensky of TPM: "Rudy Giuliani has yet another new anti-Joe Biden theory ready to go, conjured up during his trip to Hungary and Ukraine last week. The latest Rudy eruption makes the fantastical and unsubstantiated allegation that the U.S. embassy in Kyiv, under the tenure of former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and under the direction of Vice President Joe Biden, diverted a whopping $5.3 billion in American aid that was intended for the embattled former Soviet republic. It gets better though. [George] Soros is involved. Of course. Biden and Yovanovitch, as Rudy's theory goes, moved the funds to the embassy's 'favored' non-governmental organizations which, you may not be surprised to learn, allegedly have ties to the billionaire philanthropist and bogeyman of the right." ~~~

~~~ AND Have You Heard This One? Josh Kovensky (Dec. 10): "The Ukrainians who met with Giuliani have announced, on their own, what they told the President's lawyer. What emerges is a new conspiracy theory positing an elaborate scheme involving the Franklin Templeton investment fund, [President] Obama, and [Adam] Schiff.... Oleksandr Dubinsky..., known in Ukraine in part for his ties to a local oligarch with certain legal issues pending in the U.S..., uploaded a video last week in which he retells what he claims to have told Giuliani.... Without providing any evidence to support the claim, Dubinsky said in the video that $7 billion that had been stolen from the Ukrainian budget via various corruption schemes was laundered into the U.S. by being used to purchase an equal amount in bonds issued by the Ukrainian government.... The investment manager overseeing the alleged scheme was also one of the Obama campaign's biggest donors, Dubinsky said.... Giuliani tweeted last week that Schiff is an 'investor' in Franklin Templeton. 'Working on an important project with @OANN, [right-wing One America 'News' Network] intended to bring before the American people information Schiff (recently disclosed investor in Franklin Templton) "Star chamber" proceedings have covered up,' [Giuliani tweeted].... Schiff's connection to the mutual fund company appears to be as passive and insignificant as that of a typical investor with money in Fidelity, Schwab, or Vanguard." ~~~

     ~~~ safari, who linked both of Kovensky's posts, points out that Kovensky was formerly a reporter for the Kyiv Post. ~~~

     ~~~ digby: "If Trump pushes this publicly, you would think the Republicans would feel compelled to not only convict Trump and remove him from office, but have him hospitalized. This is lunacy and if it makes you feel crazy too, I'm pretty sure that's part of the plan." Mrs. McC: Actually, I expect Lindsey Graham, who already has opened an "investigation" into Joe & Hunter Biden's activities re: Ukraine, to incorporate Rudy's "findings" into the Senate "investigation." Further, if Biden is the Democratic nominee, the "investigation" will drag on throughout the fall, and we'll have a repeat of Hillary Clinton's 11-hour grilling before a House Benghaaazi! committee -- only Biden won't hold up in the admirable way Clinton did.

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "In a late Thursday interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, [Mitch] McConnell (R-Ky.) all but guaranteed a Trump acquittal, saying there was 'zero chance' the president would be removed from office, and promised 'total coordination' with the White House and Trump's defense team.... Those remarks infuriated House Democrats as they voted to advance the fourth-ever set of presidential impeachment articles toward a Senate trial where, they said, the fix appeared to be in.... Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) ... call[ed] on McConnell to recuse himself from the Senate proceedings based on his Fox News remarks. 'He's working hand in hand with the White House, the president's attorney, and yet we are supposed to expect him to manage a fair and impartial impeachment inquiry?' she said. 'They've screamed "bias," "kangaroo court," "witch hunt" and everything else. ... When the Senate majority leader stands at the microphone and says I'm basically going to coordinate with the president's attorney, that scares me.'... Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) tweet[ed], 'The Majority Leader proudly announcing he is planning to rig the impeachment trial for Trump.'"

** "Vindman Rule." Alex Marquardt, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's senior aides have further restricted the number of administration officials allowed to listen to the President's phone calls with foreign leaders since his July 25 call with Ukraine's President was revealed and became the centerpiece of the impeachment inquiry, according to multiple White House sources. Transcripts of Trump's calls with world leaders are also disseminated to a far smaller group of people inside the White House, those administration sources say, continuing an effort to limit the number of people with insight and information about the conversations. Nobody is allowed on the calls,' a White House official said.... 'The barn door officially closed after the horse escaped.'... Gone from the calls are some of the career staffers and detailees whose roles included taking notes and providing edits to the eventual transcript of the conversations meant to clarify what was said." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Congressional oversight chairs should "object in the strongest terms" to the administration's hiding the substance of Trump's calls with foreign leaders. Trump is supposed to be using these calls to advance U.S. interests & policies. If he's not -- and we know he's not -- the Congress should know about it. Limiting the number of people on the call to Trump loyalists who won't blow the whistle or even testify under subpoena to any wrongdoing is a huge national security risk.

Alexander Nazaryan of Yahoo! News: "A district court judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered administration lawyers to explain why, for more than two years, the White House has refused to turn over to the State Department an interpreter's notes from a meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. That meeting took place in the summer of 2017, during a summit of the G-20 nations in Hamburg, Germany. The two men got along so well that the meeting, which was supposed to last an hour, ran to 137 minutes. In the room with Putin were Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, along with two interpreters — one American and the other Russian. As the lengthy meeting concluded, Trump confiscated notes from the State Department interpreter, thus depriving American diplomats -- and, according to an ongoing lawsuit, the American public -- of the lone U.S. government record of what exactly was said.... Judge Trevor McFadden rejected the administration's argument that the notes were a presidential record outside the purview of the Federal Records Act, which describes how executive-branch agencies must preserve documents."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether President Trump can block the release of his financial records, setting the stage for a blockbuster ruling on the power presidents to resist demands for information from prosecutors and Congress. The court's ruling, expected by June, could give the public a look at information the president has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect. Or the justices could rule that Mr. Trump's financial affairs are not legitimate subjects of inquiry so long as he remains in office. Either way, the court is now poised to produce a once-in-a-generation statement on presidential accountability.... Mr. Trump asked the court to block three sets of subpoenas, and the justices agreed to decide his appeals in all three. All of the subpoenas sought information from Mr. Trump's accountants or bankers, not from Mr. Trump himself, and the firms have indicated that they will comply with the court's ruling." (Also linked yesterday.) The NBC News report is here. ~~~

~~~ Ian Millhiser of Vox: "The stakes in these cases are massive, and go well beyond the question of whether a particular subpoena may be enforced. A decision for Trump could give the president broad new immunity from oversight that would extend far beyond this one case. Under existing law, Trump's legal arguments are exceedingly weak, so a decision embracing those arguments could completely rework the balance of power between Congress and the presidency."

Try Again, Mike. Michael Wilner of the Wichita Eagle: "A federal judge ordered the State Department on Friday to expand its search for records of communication between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and ... Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, regarding Ukraine policy. The State Department released a number of records last month documenting contact between the two men. But Judge Christopher Cooper, on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled on Friday that the department arbitrarily limited its search for documents with a cut-off date of August 2. The State Department was given a January 8 deadline to release all records documenting emails, text messages, call logs and scheduled meetings on Ukraine policy that were dated until October 18. The court ruled that the department had 'not adequately justified why its Executive Secretariat used a cut-off date.'... The same judge in a separate case has ordered Kurt Volker, Trump's former special envoy to Ukraine, to produce his calendar entries texts with Giuliani regarding Ukraine policy by January 10."

James Stewart of the New York Times: "The [DOJ inspector general's] report [on the origins of the Russia investigation] 'was far worse than expected,' the president asserted -- after already predicting it would be 'devastating.' 'This was an attempted overthrow and a lot of people were in on it and they got caught, they got caught red-handed,' Mr. Trump said in the Cabinet Room at the White House. Attorney General William Barr was quick to pile on, too[.] Media coverage and Senate hearings quickly shifted to the F.B.I.'s procedural failings, which [IG Michael] Horowitz labeled 'gross incompetence.' By the end of the week, Americans could be forgiven for thinking that the F.B.I. was indeed part of some sinister coup attempt -- precisely the opposite of what Mr. Horowitz had concluded.... To a striking degree, Mr. Trump and his allies have turned the [inspector general's] post into a potent weapon aimed at his supposed enemies in the federal law enforcement agencies. Their ability to wreak political havoc with the latest Horowitz report is part of what has now become a clear pattern: Call for an investigation of a favorite Trump target; speculate about the likely outcome; seize on any collateral evidence that emerges; spin the results; then move quickly to the next investigation. Repeat."

Alan Rappeport, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States and China said they had agreed to an initial trade deal that would reduce tariffs on some Chinese goods and increase purchases of American farm products, a significant de-escalation in the 19-month battle that has rattled the world economy.... The limited agreement was widely viewed as a détente that would prevent an escalation of tariffs ahead of the 2020 election and could help reignite trade between the world's largest economies. But the preliminary pact lacked the magnitude of change that Mr. Trump had promised to deliver before talks broke down earlier this year and many details that have hampered past agreements continued to be in flux, including the size of China's agricultural purchases." A CNBC story is here. Mrs. McC: Trump of course called the limited agreement "phenomenal" and "amazing." (Also linked yesterday.)

AND in our Continuing Series, "Everything Trump Says Is a Lie":

~~~ All Jewish People Speak Alike. Sad. J.M. Rieger of the Washington Post: "Touting his accomplishments during a second Hanukkah reception at the White House on Wednesday, President Trump recalled a conversation he said he had with real estate developer Charles Kushner. 'I said, "Charlie, let me ask you, what's bigger for the Jewish people: giving the embassy to Jerusalem, it becomes the capital of Israel. What's bigger? That or the Golan Heights?" He said, "Neither." I said, "What does that mean?" He said, "The biggest thing of all is what you did by ending the Iran nuclear catastrophe,"' Trump said to applause from the audience. 'I think that's true.' It was remarkably similar to a story Trump told at the first White House Hanukkah reception just four hours prior, this time recalling a conversation he said he had with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft." Four days earlier, it was the same conversation he had with Sheldon Adelson. In September he had the exact same exchange with "people." "The White House declined to comment." There's a "Sir" tell in the first iteration. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The point of the story, of course, is that Trump has done three wonderful things for Israel. As we already knew, Trump is so desperate for praise that he makes up anecdotes about people praising him. This is pretty amazing for anyone who hold any sort of power, much less a POTUS*; people actually do praise them all the time, at least to their faces. Sad!

Derek Chollet reviews Peter Bergen's book Trump and His Generals in a Washington Post op-ed. "Bergen traces the ways Trump's fanboy fascination with 'his' generals transformed into deep frustration with their caution and ethical code.... As Bergen tells it, [Jim] Mattis and [H.R.] McMaster were motivated to work for Trump by their perceptions of the Obama administration's failures, especially in the Middle East. They thought Obama had squandered American leadership by not enforcing the red line in Syria, ceding ground to Moscow, withdrawing from Iraq and being too timid in the fight against the Islamic State. Ironically, they ended up serving a president who wanted out of the region far more than Obama ever did.... They found themselves doing everything possible to save Obama policies (like the Iran nuclear agreement) that Trump was determined to destroy."

Melanie: Okay for Donald to Bully Teenaged Girl. Maggie Serota of Spin: "First lady and anti-bullying advocate Melania Trump apparently thinks it's fine for her husband ... to bully 16-year-old climate change activist Greta Thunberg. When asked by reporters how she squares her anti-bullying initiative Be Best with ... Donald Trump's tweet telling the teen to 'work on her Anger Management problem,' the first lady seemed unbothered by her husband's behavior. '... she will continue to do all she can to help children. It is no secret that the President and First Lady often communicate differently -- as most married couples do,' read a statement issued from the White House to CNN reporter Kate Bennett. 'Their son is not an activist who travels the globe giving speeches. He is a 13-year-old who wants and deserves privacy.'... Melania just issued a public statement condemning impeachment witness Pamela Karlan for invoking Trump's 13-year-old son Barron Trump's name while making a point about the limitations of presidential power. 'A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics. Pamela Karlan, you should be ashamed of your very angry and obviously biased public pandering, and using a child to do it,' Melania Trump tweeted." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Karlan never said anything to disparage or characterize Barron. Her remark during testimony was, "The Constitution says there can be no titles of nobility, so while the president can name his son Barron, he cannot make him a baron." Later during her testimony, Karlan apologized for the remark. Oh, and there's this bizarro tweet from Trump's campaign. I did not make this up; Newsweek has the story:

When it comes to keeping his promises, there's only one Person Of The Year:

✅Booming Economy
✅Record Job Creation
✅Historic Tax Cuts
✅#AmericaFirst Trade Deals
✅ISIS Destroyed
✅Building the Wall#TIMEPOY #PromisesMadePromisesKept pic.twitter.com/pe1CNB7KKz

— Trump War Room (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TrumpWarRoom) December 11, 2019

Presidential Race 2020. Zeeshan Aleem of Vox: "On Friday afternoon, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) declared that she was willing to boycott next week's Democratic debate at Loyola Marymount University in California in solidarity with campus workers who are picketing for better pay and health care. She immediately set off a domino effect that would eventually see every other Democratic presidential candidate who qualified for the debate make the same pledge. Unite Here Local 11 -- a union that represents 150 cooks, dishwashers, cashiers, and servers on LMU's campus who are employed by the food services company Sodexo -- plans to picket at the debate next Thursday to express their disapproval of Sodexo's handling of negotiations with the union. 'Honestly, the proposals are relatively modest ― living wage, improvements on health care,' Susan Minato, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, told HuffPost. 'So we did not anticipate that there would be ... difficulty over it. But we were wrong. They abruptly canceled negotiations.'"

Beyond the Beltway

California. Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee: "In a stunning rebuke to PG&E Corp., Gov. Gavin Newsom late Friday rejected the utility's plan to pay Northern California wildfire victims and exit bankruptcy. In a letter to PG&E Chief Executive Bill Johnson, the governor declared that the company's proposal doesn't go far enough to make it 'positioned to provide safe, reliable and affordable service.'"

** Georgia. Excellent Voter Suppression Method: Shutter the Polling Places. Mark Niesse & Nick Thieme of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Amid widespread voter distrust of government oversight of elections and questions about ballot access, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution conducted a unique statistical analysis to learn how precinct closures and distance to the polls impact voting. The AJC mapped Georgia's 7 million registered voters and compared how distance to their local precincts increased or decreased from 2012 to 2018. During that time, county election officials shut down 8% of Georgia's polling places and relocated nearly 40% of the state's precincts. The AJC's analysis ... showed a clear link between turnout and reduced voting access. The farther voters live from their precincts, the less likely they are to cast a ballot. Precinct closures and longer distances likely prevented an estimated 54,000 to 85,000 voters from casting ballots on Election Day last year.... And the impact was greater on black voters than white ones, the AJC found."

Kentucky. Ben Tobin of the Louisville Courier Journal: "Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers [R] is calling on the U.S. Attorney's Office to investigate the pardons issued by former Gov. Matt Bevin. The Courier Journal first reported Wednesday that Bevin issued hundreds of pardons during his last days in office. Those pardoned included a man who was convicted of raping a 9-year-old in Kenton County and other convicted killers. 'From what we know of former Governor Bevin's extreme pardons and commutations, the Senate Republican Majority condemns his actions as a travesty and perversion of justice,' Stivers said.... Stivers' statement came hours after two Democratic legislators, Senate Democratic Floor Leader Morgan McGarvey and state Rep. Chris Harris called on Attorney General-elect Daniel Cameron to appoint an independent special prosecutor to investigate potential criminal wrongdoing involving Bevin's pardon of Patrick Brian Baker." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Also too, I'd like to know if Bevin showed his peculiar "mercy" to any criminals of color. The mugshots I've seen of his lucky pardon recipients are of white people.

Wisconsin. Bruce Vielmetti & Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "An Ozaukee County judge on Friday ordered the state to remove hundreds of thousands of people from Wisconsin's voter rolls because they may have moved. The case is being closely watched because of the state's critical role in next year's presidential race. Circuit Judge Paul Malloy also denied the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin's petition to intervene. Lawyers for the League and for the Wisconsin Elections Commission indicated they will appeal and asked Malloy to stay his ruling pending those appeals, but he declined. At issue is a letter the state Elections Commission sent in October to about 234,000 voters who it believes may have moved. The letter asked the voters to update their voter registrations if they had moved or alert election officials if they were still at their same address. The commission planned to remove the letter's recipients from the voter rolls in 2021 if it hadn't heard from them. But Malloy's decision would kick them off the rolls much sooner, and well before the 2020 presidential election."

The Commentariat -- December 13, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether President Trump can block the release of his financial records, setting the stage for a blockbuster ruling on the power of presidents to resist demands for information from prosecutors and Congress. The court's ruling, expected by June, could give the public a look at information the president has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect. Or the justices could rule that Mr. Trump's financial affairs are not legitimate subjects of inquiry so long as he remains in office. Either way, the court is now poised to produce a once-in-a-generation statement on presidential accountability.... Mr. Trump asked the court to block three sets of subpoenas, and the justices agreed to decide his appeals in all three. All of the subpoenas sought information from Mr. Trump's accountants or bankers, not from Mr. Trump himself, and the firms have indicated that they will comply with the court's ruling."

Alan Rappeport, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States and China said they had agreed to an initial trade deal that would reduce tariffs on some Chinese goods and increase purchases of American farm products, a significant de-escalation in the 19-month battle that has rattled the world economy.... The limited agreement was widely viewed as a détente that would prevent an escalation of tariffs ahead of the 2020 election and could help reignite trade between the world's largest economies. But the preliminary pact lacked the magnitude of change that Mr. Trump had promised to deliver before talks broke down earlier this year and many details that have hampered past agreements continued to be in flux, including the size of China's agricultural purchases." A CNBC story is here. Mrs. McC: Trump of course called the limited agreement "phenomenal" and "amazing."

Olivia Beavers & Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment Friday that charge President Trump with high crimes and misdemeanors, setting up a historic House vote next week that all but guarantees Trump will be just the third president to be impeached in U.S. history. The articles, which charge with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, were passed out of the committee along strict party lines, with 23 Democrats voting to send the measures to the full House, which is expected to approve them next week. One Democrat, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), was absent after undergoing an unexpected medical procedure earlier in the week." The New York Times report, by Nicholas Fandos, is here.

MEANWHILE. John Fritze of USA Today: "... Rudy Giuliani, was seen entering the White House Friday, just as the House Judiciary Committee was taking a historic series of votes to approve articles of impeachment against the president. Giuliani, a central figure in the events driving the Democratic impeachment push, has said he wants to brief U.S. officials on the findings of his recent trip to Ukraine. It was not immediately clear if Giuliani was meeting with Trump."

~~~~~~~~~~

Mark Landler & Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party won a commanding majority in the British Parliament, a striking victory that redraws the lines in British politics and paves the way for the country's exit from the European Union early next year. The Conservatives were projected to win 363 seats in the House of Commons, versus 203 for the Labour Party, according to the BBC, with almost all of Parliament's seats decided. That would give the Conservatives about a 75-seat majority, their largest since that amassed by Margaret Thatcher in 1987." Mrs. McC: This seems like a tragedy for Britain, for Europe, and perhaps for the world. I hope I'm wrong. ~~~

~~~ Jill Lawless, et al., of the AP: "Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party has won a thumping majority of seats in Britain's Parliament -- a decisive outcome to a Brexit-dominated election that should allow Johnson to fulfill his plan to take the U.K. out of the European Union next month." ~~~

~~~ BBC: "Jeremy Corbyn has said he will not lead Labour into the next election, following a 'very disappointing night' for his party. He said he would stay on as leader during a 'process of reflection' on the result, which a BBC forecast says will be its worst since 1935. He added that the issue of Brexit had 'polarised' politics and 'overridden so much of normal political debate'. But others within Labour blamed his leadership." ~~~

~~~ Here's the Guardian's latest liveblog. ~~~

~~~ Then There's This. Rodney Jefferson & Alistair Reed of Bloomberg, in Yahoo! News: "The Scottish National Party was on course to take back most of the districts it lost two years ago. Such a dramatic outcome -- possibly winning at least 50 of the 59 seats available in Scotland -- will galvanize the party in its pursuit of the independence referendum leader Nicola Sturgeon says is necessary after her country opposed leaving the European Union. [Boris] Johnson, like his predecessor Theresa May, has consistently resisted pressure from the SNP-led administration in Edinburgh for another independence vote. But the last one, when Scots chose to stay in the U.K. in 2014, was before the vote to leave the EU. Sturgeon made stopping Brexit and giving Scotland the right to dictate its own future the cornerstone of her party's campaign. 'Johnson has a mandate for Brexit and Sturgeon has a mandate for Scottish independence,' Simon Hix, professor of political science at the London School of Economics, said after the exit poll. 'We are heading towards a new constitutional crisis, which won't be resolved easily in the next few years.' As of early morning, the SNP had taken 46 of the 59 seats, gaining 13, while Johnson's Conservatives lost seven and Labour lost six. The SNP held others with increased majorities and even took the seat of Liberal Democrat Party Leader Jo Swinson. 'It shows the divergent paths that Scotland and the rest of the U.K. are on,' Sturgeon told the BBC from Glasgow. 'It's still my plan to submit an official request before the end of the year for a new independence referendum.'" ~~~

~~~ Tom McTague of the Atlantic: "The Britain built by Tony Blair is gone, fatally undermined by David Cameron's Brexit referendum and, now, swept away in a provincial tide of support for Boris Johnson's Conservatives.... He has sheared off the Conservative Party's most liberal wing, radicalized Britain's divorce deal with the European Union -- and won a thumping mandate from the public to see it through.... This is a story ... [that] is also about the deep structural and demographic currents working under the surface, eroding Labour's historic heartlands and dragging Johnson to victory thanks to a new coalition of voters, transforming the Conservatives into a party that prioritizes national sovereignty and controls on immigration over economic growth, one that had the good fortune to face a Labour Party more out of touch with its base than ever before."

Friday the 13th Not Necessarily Donnie's Lucky Day. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "House Judiciary Committee Democrats on Thursday abruptly put off a pair of historic impeachment votes after a drawn-out battle with Republicans stretched late into the night, setting up final action on Friday to approve charges that President Trump abused his power and obstructed Congress. Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, called off the votes moments before they were expected to take place, announcing just after 11 p.m. that he wanted lawmakers to have time to 'search their consciences' before the final roll call. The chairman said the committee would reconvene Friday at 10 a.m. to promptly finalize two articles of impeachment, with the outcome certain."

Michael Shear of the New York Times highlighted developments in the House Judiciary Committee's debate on Articles of Impeachment. "The recess came after more than 14 hours of debate during which Republicans repeatedly sought to derail or water down the articles of impeachment drafted by the Democratic majority in the House. The committee rejected all five amendments proposed by Republicans." (Also linked yesterday.)

Here's a moment, courtesy of Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland):

"Pot Calling the Kettle Black." Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Rep. Matt Gaetz ... set off a dust-up during the Judiciary Committee's markup of articles of impeachment when he brought up Hunter Biden's history of substance abuse.... The remarkable exchange took place when Gaetz (R-Fla.) introduced an amendment that would have stricken former Vice President Joe Biden's name from one of the articles and inserted that of his son Hunter Biden and Burisma, the Ukrainian natural gas company on whose board he sat.... Gaetz quoted a New Yorker profile of Hunter from July that described Hunter Biden wandering through a homeless encampment in Los Angeles in search of cocaine and an instance in which a rental car company said it found a crack pipe in a car Biden had returned.... Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) then spoke up to oppose Gaetz's amendment, but not before taking a pointed swipe at his colleague's own run-in with the law. Gaetz was arrested in 2008 on suspicion of DUI, declining a breathalyzer test and a field sobriety test, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The charges against Gaetz were later dropped, and he was never convicted. 'I would say that the pot calling the kettle black is not something that we should do,' Johnson said, prompting laughter to break out in the hearing room. 'I don't know what members, if any, have had any problems with substance abuse, been busted in DUI, I don't know,' he continued, shooting a glance in Gaetz's direction. 'But if I did, I wouldn't raise it against anyone on this committee. I don't think it's proper.'"

** Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times has a terrific story on Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the only member of the Judiciary Committee who has participated in the impeachment proceedings of Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton & Donald Trump. (Also linked yesterday.)

Washington Post Editors: "THE HOUSE Judiciary Committee's debate about articles of impeachment Wednesday and Thursday underlined the yawning gap between Democrats and Republicans over President Trump's behavior -- and also between Republicans and the truth.... Remarkably, not one GOP member of the Judiciary Committee was ready to acknowledge that there was anything wrong with Mr. Trump's demand that a foreign government pursue false charges against one of his most likely Democratic opponents in the 2020 election.... Instead, they offered a display of blind fealty, portraying Mr. Trump as a victim of Democratic persecution while ignoring or misrepresenting the evidence against him. Some served up gross distortions and falsehoods. Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), among Mr. Trump's most ardent supporters, repeated what they described as four key points, all of which are starkly at odds with sworn testimony and documents."

They Can't Handle the Facts. Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post on Republican Senators' reported plan to hold an abbreviated impeachment "trial" without witnesses (related story linked below): "... it would be grossly irresponsible and cowardly of the Senate majority to duck its constitutional obligations by refusing to hear facts before a vote, but it follows that nothing would more vividly convey the irresponsibility and cowardice of Republican senators." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Lauren Egan of NBC News: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Thursday that there was 'no chance' that ... Donald Trump would be removed from office in any impeachment trial that it 'wouldn't surprise' him if some Democrats split from their party and voted in the president's favor. 'The case is so darn weak coming from the House,' McConnell said in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News Thursday night, as the House Judiciary Committee continued to debate articles of impeachment." ~~~

~~~ Accused & "Jury Foreman" Conspire to Fix Trial. Manu Raju & Phil Mattingly of CNN: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and ... Donald Trump's top lawyer sketched out a plan Thursday to coordinate closely for an impeachment trial but haven't reached agreement on a final strategy to defend Trump against charges of high crimes and misdemeanors, according to two sources familiar with the conversation. The closed-door meeting Thursday between the Kentucky Republican and White House counsel Pat Cipollone occurred as Senate Republicans and the White House have diverged on what they would like to see take place in the looming trial in the chamber. Trump has made clear he wants witnesses to testify, in person, while senators -- including McConnell in private -- have warned that going down that path could lead to a politically precarious slippery slope in the GOP effort to acquit the President." Mrs. McC: Senators swear an oath to be impartial jurors. ~~~

~~~ Democratic Senators Consider Using Mrs. Bea McCrabbie's Weird Hypothetical Scenario. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Democrats are quietly talking about asking Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to hold articles of impeachment in the House until Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) agrees to a fair rules package for a Senate trial. Democratic senators are concerned by talk among Senate Republicans of holding a speedy trial without witnesses, which would set up a shorter time frame than when the Senate considered President Clinton's 1999 impeachment.... Democrats discussed their impeachment strategy at a closed-door Steering Committee meeting on Wednesday attended by former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, former Obama White House counsel Bob Bauer and strategist Stephanie Cutter, according to a document listing the guests. University of North Carolina law professor Michael Gerhardt, an impeachment specialist, and Frank Bowman, the author of 'High Crimes and Misdemeanors: A History of Impeachment for the Age of Trump,' also attended. The legal experts told Democrats they have a strong case against Trump but that they must present their charges as vividly as possible. 'I think we should have witnesses, and I think that the way we hear from the witnesses will be determined by negotiations,' Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who left the presidential campaign trail to attend the meeting after missing Senate votes on Monday and Tuesday." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: We live in times where the well-worn notion, "you can't make up this stuff" is no longer operative. Because yeah, you can.

Jeff Stein & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "The White House budget office asserts in a new legal memo that it withheld military aid to Ukraine as a temporary move to study whether the spending complied with U.S. policy -- and not as a political effort to block Congress's spending decisions.... The memo details the White House's latest legal rationale for freezing foreign aid to Ukraine over the summer. OMB general counsel Mark Paoletta wrote the memo to respond to a request from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which had asked why the aid had been delayed.... Paoletta authorized the repeated delays in the spending while awaiting a decision from Trump on the matter, according to [an] administration official.... Importantly, the agency's memo does not attempt to rebut Democrats' contention that Trump abused his power by seeking to pressure a foreign nation to open an investigation into a political rival or that he obstructed justice in deterring the investigation into his conduct.... Paoletta's new memo states that the Ukrainian assistance was put on hold in response to an administration directive 'pending a policy decision,' with internal discussions on the aid beginning June 19. That was the same day the president read an article in the Washington Examiner about the Pentagon's plans to send $250 million in weapons to Ukraine, according to the administration official...." ~~~

     ~~~ABC News has a report here. Paoletta's memo is here (via the WashPo). It is dated December 11, 2019. Mrs. McC: That is, Paoletta just thought it up, wa-a-a-y after the fact. Not too convincing. Looks another iteration of the popular Trump "I really don't care, do you?" defense.

Soo Rin Kim, et al., of ABC News: "The Trump administration released heavily redacted documents Thursday evening that, without the redactions, would have been the first communications revealed between government agencies regarding aid money to Ukraine being held up. The Freedom of Information Act request, filed by the Center for Public Integrity, a D.C.-based nonprofit group that specializes in investigative reporting, was first granted by a federal judge last month. That order required the Department of Defense and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to release documents to that group from April of this year regarding the Ukraine aid.... 'We are deeply disappointed that the public won't have access to this important information at the heart of the impeachment process,' said Susan Smith Richardson, CEO of the Center for Public Integrity. 'But we will continue to fight to ensure that the documents see the light of day.'"

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "The Justice Department on Thursday quietly published on its website some never-before-seen internal legal opinions that could help ... Donald Trump block congressional requests as he faces impeachment by the US House and a trial in the Senate. Eight of the opinions appear to bolster the White House's stonewalling of Congress on witness testimony and document subpoenas.... A Justice Department official acknowledging the releases said these opinions were cited in the Office of Legal Counsel's more recent opinion that former Trump White House counsel Don McGahn should be immune from subpoenaed congressional testimony.... The collection could be a valuable central resource for the President in the coming weeks, fleshing out the authority the executive branch has given itself to ignore congressional requests."

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Bear in mind that these are opinions written to advocate for the president, not judicial opinions or decisions.

Erica Orden & Kara Scannell of CNN: "Federal prosecutors investigating associates of Rudy Giuliani have focused on a Ukrainian state-owned natural gas company, a move that suggests authorities are exploring whether a law prohibiting the payment of bribes to foreign officials has been violated.... The law, called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, prohibits a US company or individual from giving any payment, offer of payment or anything of value to a foreign official in order to obtain or retain business.... The fresh line of inquiry has accelerated in recent weeks. New York federal prosecutors have interviewed two senior executives at Naftogaz, the Ukrainian state-run energy company, and requested interviews with at least two others who are believed to have some knowledge of the alleged scheme by Giuliani's associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman to replace Naftogaz's chief executive in hopes of bettering their business prospects."

Jonathan Chait backs up my assertion (made yesterday) that Trump & Putin were colluding on 2020 election disruption: "President Trump is facing impeachment primarily for abusing his power for political gain, extorting a foreign country to discredit his political rivals. The secondary aspect of the plot is that the target of his extortion is hardly random. Ukraine is the victim of Russian aggression, and Russia's continuing incursions into Ukrainian territory is the muscle that gave Trump's threats leverage. Trump's domestic interests are one intended beneficiary of his scheme. The other is Vladimir Putin.... Rudy has worked as Trump's lawyer for 'free,' but [Rudy aide Lev] Parnas paid him half a million dollars for his work. If Parnas himself was being paid by Russian sources, this means the Russians were essentially subsidizing Trump, paying for the work themselves so he didn't have to lay out a dime of his own money." Chait does add a caveat that it's not a slam-dunk that whatever oligarch(s) paid Parnas had an interest in helping Putin with Ukraine. But the way the government-oligarchical "system" works in Russia, it's likely. (Also linked yesterday.)

Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court in Virginia heard arguments Thursday about whether to revive a lawsuit accusing President Trump of violating the Constitution by profiting from his hotel near the White House, in a spirited session that indicated sharp divisions among the judges over the legal consequences of the president's conduct.... The 15-member court in Richmond met to consider whether a three-judge appellate panel had wrongly dismissed a lawsuit over the Trump International Hotel brought by the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland. The 15-member court in Richmond met to consider whether a three-judge appellate panel had wrongly dismissed a lawsuit over the Trump International Hotel brought by the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland."

Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "Incensed perhaps by her selection -- and not his -- as Time magazine's person of the year, Donald Trump opened Twitter fire Thursday morning on the climate activist Greta Thunberg. Trump, 73, tweeted that Thunberg, 16, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, had an 'anger management problem' and should 'chill' -- no pun apparently intended. 'So ridiculous,' the president wrote. 'Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!'... Trump's attack on her, in personal terms, from his presidential bully pulpit struck many observers as a marked and hypocritical escalation. Trump's wife and his eldest son recently reacted with outrage when a witness called by Democrats to testify in the impeachment hearings punned on the name of Trump's 13-year-old son, Barron, to make a point about how presidents are not kings.... 'A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics,' Melania Trump wrote at the time. Thunberg swiftly changed her bio description on Twitter. 'A teenager working on her anger management problem,' it now reads. 'Currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend.'" Thanks to unwashed for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump is picking on a minor, a female, specifically for a disability. A trifecta which would have been perfect if only Greta weren't white. ~~~

~~~ Aaron Rupar of Vox: "Trump's Greta tweet was undoubtedly the most unsavory he posted during his Twitter binge on Thursday, but it was far from the only bad one. Fourteen minutes after the Greta tweet, Trump ... shared an advertisement posted by the Trump Organization, a business he still owns and profits from, promoting his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. 'I will be there in two weeks, The Southern White House!' Trump said, conflating properties he profits from with the publicly funded residence in which he's supposed to do the people's business.... He [also] retweeted a post from Rudy Giuliani characterizing Democrats following the Constitution's impeachment process as an 'attempted coup'; characterized FBI agents as 'dirty cops'; lauded Fox News's ratings, adding, 'It's great to have a wonderful subject, President Trump'; and, in an apparent attempt to make it look like he's doing something constructive, touted a Chinese trade deal that he's been hyping without results for more than a year." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Donald Trump Is Working So Hard for Americans. Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Thursday set a personal record for use of Twitter in a single day since taking office, blasting out more than 120 tweets or retweets in 24 hours. In total, the president sent 123 messages, according to a count by The Hill, topping his previous record of 105 set just a few days earlier. The majority of Trump's tweets came during a morning outburst in which he retweeted dozens of messages from Republican lawmakers ripping the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment hearings."

I believe that President Trump is engaged in the most direct sustained assault on freedom of the press in our history. -- Fox "News" host Chris Wallace, speech at the Newseum, a media museum in Washington, Wednesday

Ana Swanson, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States has settled on final terms of a partial trade deal with China, moving both countries closer to signing a pact that President Trump originally announced in October, four people familiar with the negotiations said. Mr. Trump met with his top economic advisers Thursday afternoon at the White House to discuss an arrangement that would reduce by half the overall rate on the tariffs he has placed on $360 billion of goods, in return for Chinese commitments to buy American agriculture and other concessions, the people said. The president was widely expected to announce as early as Friday that he would delay or cancel new tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on Sunday on $160 billion of consumer products from China. On Thursday morning, he said on Twitter that the United States was closing in on a deal." ~~~

~~~ Josh Rogin of the Washington Post: "... if the president strikes the deal on the terms being reported, he will actually be making a huge concession to Beijing that achieves few U.S. goals, and is so bad that even Trump will have trouble spinning it as a political win.... The result would be a deal that immediately relieves major pressure on the Chinese economy in exchange for future promises the Chinese side may never fulfill. Beijing's concessions also don't address the bulk of the structural issues and abuses that make Chinese economic aggression a long-term threat to the U.S. economy."

Julia Ainsley & Courtney Kube of NBC News: "The Defense Department's internal watchdog plans to review a recent Army Corps of Engineers decision to award a $400 million contract for border wall construction to a North Dakota company that has been publicly and privately endorsed by members of the Trump administration, including the president himself. The review of the award to Fisher Sand & Gravel is an audit by the Pentagon's inspector general and comes in response to a request by Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the Democratic chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Thompson said the decision to award the contract should be reviewed because Fisher's 'proposals reportedly did not meet the operational requirements of U.S. Customs and Border Protection' and because of 'concerns about the possibility of inappropriate influence' on the Army Corps of Engineers." The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Hamed Aleaziz of BuzzFeed News: "Immigrants held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement jails around the US received medical care so bad it resulted in two preventable surgeries, including an 8-year-old boy who had to have part of his forehead removed, and contributed to four deaths, according to an internal complaint from an agency whistleblower. The allegations appear in an explosive Department of Homeland Security memo, obtained by BuzzFeed News, containing reports of detainees being given incorrect medication, suffering from delays in treating withdrawal symptoms, and one who was allowed to become so mentally unstable he lacerated his own penis and required reparative surgery."

** Andy Kroll of Rolling Stone:"For nearly three years, Stephen Miller has used his White House seat to orchestrate the most extreme anti-immigrant agenda in almost a century. But he hasn't done it alone. A loose network of lawyers and advisers embedded throughout the Trump administration has worked closely with Miller to carry out the daily effort of pushing through draconian and often inhumane policies.... In other words, Miller, with his white-nationalist mindset and fervor to enact xenophobic policies, is far from an isolated actor. He's the leader of a broad operation spread across the federal government." Kroll highlights a few of the extremist voices. --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Jake Pearson & Anand Tumurtogoo of ProPublica: "On a hunting trip this August, Donald Trump Jr. shot and killed [an argali, an endangered species of sheep]. His adventure was supported by government resources from both the U.S. and Mongolia, which each sent security services to accompany the president's eldest son and grandson on the multiday trip.... Afterward, Trump Jr. met privately with the country's president, Khaltmaagiin Battulga, before departing the capital of Ulaanbaatar back to the U.S.... Trump Jr. wouldn't answer questions about the meeting. Representatives for Battulga haven't responded to requests for comment.... [A] spokesman for Trump Jr. ... said in a statement it was a purely personal expedition. He purchased the seven-day Mongolian hunting trip at a National Rifle Association charity auction before his father announced his candidacy for president in 2015 ... and flew commercial in and out of the country. It's unclear if the auction item listed an argali or mentioned meetings with Mongolian government officials." --s (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: "The Mongolian government issued [Junior] a hunting permit retroactively." Emphasis added.

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Top congressional negotiators said Thursday they had reached a deal in principle to approve $1.3 trillion in federal spending for 2020, probably averting a government shutdown next week. The announcement, from House Appropriations Committee Chairman Nita M. Lowey (D-N.Y.) and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), came after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin visited Capitol Hill midday to review a final list of sticking points. 'There's a meeting of the minds,' Lowey said. The tentative agreement sets the stage for a remarkable sequence of events next week in the House, with a presidential impeachment vote sandwiched between bipartisan deals on federal spending and North American trade. The House could vote on the spending bill as soon as Tuesday, with the Senate acting before the end of the week." The Politico story is here.

Peter Sullivan of the Hill: "The House on Thursday passed a sweeping bill aimed at lowering prescription drug prices, a step toward a long-held Democratic goal that was met with sharp Republican resistance. The bill passed on a largely party-line vote of 230-192. The measure, which would allow the government to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs, is one of House Democrats' top priorities and is expected to be touted by vulnerable Democrats up for reelection next year. The party is also looking to show that it is focused on kitchen table issues like lowering drug costs even as lawmakers prepare for an impeachment vote against President Trump.... Two Republicans voted in favor of the bill: Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and Jaime Herrera Beutler (Wash.), both moderates who face competitive reelection races next year. No Democrats voted against the bill.... The bill is almost certain to die in the GOP-led Senate, though, given that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has called it 'socialist' and vowed to block it."

Bryant Harris of Al-Monitor: "The White House successfully pushed Congress to remove language in the annual defense bill that would have imposed concrete penalties on Saudi Arabia for the war in Yemen and the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.... The House amended the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 240-185 in July to block US funding for the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthi rebels. At the same time, the House passed another NDAA amendment 405-7 in a veto-proof vote to sanction Saudi officials complicit in Khashoggi's murder.... Republican negotiators successfully fought to keep the Saudi provisions out of the final defense bill after the White House marked it as a red line.... [P]aid parental leave is likely not enough to get many left-wing Democrats on board the final bill, which authorizes a $131 billion increase in annual defense spending since Trump took office while removing virtually all other progressive national security priorities that Democrats initially had in their version of the legislation." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Julian Borger of the Guardian: "Legislation to stop Donald Trump from withdrawing the US from Nato has been approved for a Senate vote, amid uncertainty over the president's intentions towards the alliance. The Senate foreign relations committee on Wednesday voted unanimously for the bipartisan bill which will now await a slot to go to the Senate.... 'We're aware that it has been seriously debated and seriously considered in the White House at the highest levels,' [Democrat Tim] Kaine told the Guardian.... Kaine predicted his bill to block a Nato withdrawal would gain overwhelming support from the House of Representatives and win a veto-proof majority in the upper chamber of at least 67 votes." --s (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: There's no mention in this or other articles about the bill on whether or not the House has passed an analogous bill.

~~~ Patricia Zengerle of Reuters: "A U.S. Senate committee backed legislation on Wednesday to impose sanctions on Turkey after its offensive in Syria and purchase of a Russian S-400 missile system, the latest move in the chamber to push Republican President Donald Trump to take a harder line against Ankara. The Republican-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted by 18-4 to send the 'Promoting American National Security and Preventing the Resurgence of ISIS Act of 2019' for a vote in the full Senate. 'Now's the time for the Senate to come together and take this opportunity to change Turkey's behavior,' said Senator Jim Risch, the panel's Republican chairman, a lead sponsor of the bill with Senator Bob Menendez, the panel's top Democrat.... [The House] passed its own Turkish sanctions bill by an overwhelming 403-16 vote in October...." Mrs. McC: So now I guess the big question on both of these bills is whether or not Mitch McConnell will bring them to the floor. (Also linked yesterday.)

GOP v. Earth. Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "... the real revelation has been the utter depravity of the Republican Party. Essentially every elected or appointed official in that party has chosen to defend Trump by buying into crazy, debunked conspiracy theories. That is, one of America's two major parties is beyond redemption; given that, it's hard to see how democracy can long endure, even if Trump is defeated.... The terrifying political news and the terrifying climate news are closely related.... One factor stands out above all others: the fanatical opposition of America's Republicans, who are the world's only major climate-denialist party. Because of this opposition, the United States hasn't just failed to provide the kind of leadership that would have been essential to global action, it has become a force against action."

Presidential Race 2020

Rebecca Traister of New York on how male pundits hold female candidates to a high standard of honesty (Elizabeth Warren) while ignoring male candidates' dishonesty (Joe Biden). (Also linked yesterday.)

** Brave New Big Brother World. Lee Fang of The Intercept: "... Donald Trump's reelection effort has retained the services of a technology company [Phunware, an Austin, Texas-based firm] that specializes in the mass collection of smartphone location data, which can be used to track voters for political targeting purposes.... Phunware, in a section of its website, discusses the company's ability to obtain GPS location data and the Wi-Fi network used by an individual, as well as user data that can infer an 'individual's gender, age, lifestyle preferences' -- potential tools for identifying and influencing voters.... Earlier this year, deleted scenes from the documentary 'The Brink' revealed that Steve Bannon, Trump's campaign manager in 2016, had used similar location-tracking technology services to target church-attending Catholics during the midterm elections. 'If your phone's ever been in a Catholic church, it's amazing, they got this data,' Bannon said in the film clip. 'Literally, they can tell who's been in a Catholic church and how frequently,' he added." --s (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Since I don't have many secrets, many intrusions on our privacy don't creep me out as much as perhaps they should. This technology creeps me out.

Mark Stern of Slate: "Despite Donald Trump's periodic threats to terminate birthright citizenship, it remains the law of the land -- except for one small territory. The federal government designates individuals born in American Samoa as 'noncitizen nationals,' which denies them a fundamental right granted to those born anywhere else in the country. On Thursday, however, U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups ruled this practice unconstitutional, directing the government to recognize the citizenship of individuals born in American Samoa. (More than 55,000 people live on the island, most of whom were born there.) Waddoups' decision is the first volley in a fight that may force the Supreme Court to assess the scope of birthright citizenship for the first time in more than a century."

Beyond the Beltway

Kentucky. What a Difference a Governor Makes. There Are Ex-Felons ... Caroline Kelly of CNN: "Newly sworn-in Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear [D] restored voting rights for over 140,000 former felons in the state through an executive order, his office announced Thursday.... Beshear also lamented the state's voter access issues, asserting that Kentucky has the third highest voter disenfranchisement rate nationwide with nearly 10% of people, and nearly 25% of African-Americans, in the state not being allowed to vote.The move fulfills a campaign promise after Beshear's upset victory over former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin in November. It was a key point in Beshear's platform of progressive issues, including making Medicaid more accessible and replacing Bevin's state board of education." The New York Times has a story here. A Guardian story is here. ~~~

~~~ And There Are Ex-Felons. Kayla Epstein of the Washington Post: "Matt Bevin [R] is no longer the governor of Kentucky, but his decisions continued to send shock waves through the state's legal system this week after he issued pardons for hundreds of people, some of whom committed violent offenses. Bevin issued 428 pardons since his defeat to Democrat Andy Beshear in a close election in November, the Louisville Courier Journal reported. His list includes a man convicted of reckless homicide, a convicted child rapist, a man who murdered his parents at age 16 and a woman who threw her newborn in the trash after giving birth in a flea market outhouse. He also pardoned Dayton Jones, who was convicted in the sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy at a party, Kentucky New Era reported. It is not unusual for governors to issue pardons as they leave office, but Bevin's actions boggled some of the state's attorneys, who questioned his judgment. 'What this governor did is an absolute atrocity of justice,' said Commonwealth Attorney Jackie Steele, a prosecutor for Knox and Laurel counties. 'He's put victims, he's put others in our community danger.'"~~~

~~~ Daniel Desrochers of the Lexington Herald-Leader: "It's not clear if Betty Carnes was killed by asphyxiation or by the eight blows to her head that Delmar Partin delivered with a metal pipe..., but it was very clear that her head was then chopped off and placed on her lap in a 55-gallon barrel that was destined for a toxic waste site. On Monday, departing Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin pardoned and commuted the sentence of Partin, who was convicted of killing her at the factory where they both worked in Barbourville in 1994. In his order, Bevin said he pardoned Partin because potential DNA evidence had not been tested."

Way Beyond

Australia. Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Ben Smee of the Guardian: "The Tamborine Mountain state school has run out of water, even as water miners in the Gold Coast hinterland are sending millions of litres to commercial bottling operations. Trucks sent by the Queensland government carrying emergency supplies to the school, including Mount Tamborine bottled water, have been passing trucks heading in the opposite direction taking local water to bottling plants for beverage giants such as Coca-Cola. The school remains open but parents have been advised by teachers to consider keeping their children at home." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Raphael Satter of Reuters: "North Korean state-backed hackers appear to be cooperating with Eastern European cybercriminals, a report here said on Wednesday, a finding that suggests digital gangsters and state-backed spies are finding common ground online." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

The Commentariat -- December 12, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Michael Shear of the New York Times is highlighting developments in the House Judiciary Committee's debate on Articles of Impeachment. "Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee moved quickly to try to kill the articles of impeachment against President Trump as the markup got underway, condemning the process as unfair to the president." ~~~

~~~ The Guardian's impeachment liveblog also includes other related (and at least one unrelated) developments. Here's a related one: "President Trump has weighed in on the hearings. And, as has become a common political tactic during his tenure, has singled out two women of colour to attack on false premises: 'Dems Veronica Escobar and Jackson Lee purposely misquoted my call. I said I want you to do us (our Country!) a favor, not me a favor. They know that but decided to LIE in order to make a fraudulent point! Very sad.' [-- Donald Trump, in a tweet]"

** Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times has a terrific story on Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the only member of the Judiciary Committee who has participated in the impeachment proceedings of Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton & Donald Trump.

They Can't Handle the Facts. Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post on Republican Senators' reported plan to hold an abbreviated impeachment "trial" without witnesses (related story linked below): "... it would be grossly irresponsible and cowardly of the Senate majority to duck its constitutional obligations by refusing to hear facts before a vote, but it follows that nothing would more vividly convey the irresponsibility and cowardice of Republican senators."

I believe that President Trump is engaged in the most direct sustained assault on freedom of the press in our history. -- Fox "News" host Chris Wallace, speech at the Newseum, a media museum in Washington, Wednesday

Jonathan Chait backs up my assertion (below) that Trump & Putin were colluding on 2020 election disruption: "President Trump is facing impeachment primarily for abusing his power for political gain, extorting a foreign country to discredit his political rivals. The secondary aspect of the plot is that the target of his extortion is hardly random. Ukraine is the victim of Russian aggression, and Russia's continuing incursions into Ukrainian territory is the muscle that gave Trump's threats leverage. Trump's domestic interests are one intended beneficiary of his scheme. The other is Vladimir Putin.... Rudy has worked as Trump's lawyer for 'free,' but [Rudy aide Lev] Parnas paid him half a million dollars for his work. If Parnas himself was being paid by Russian sources, this means the Russians were essentially subsidizing Trump, paying for the work themselves so he didn't have to lay out a dime of his own money." Chait does add a caveat that it's not a slam-dunk that whatever oligarch(s) paid Parnas had an interest in helping Putin with Ukraine. But the way the government-oligarchical "system" works in Russia, it's likely.

Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "Incensed perhaps by her selection -- and not his -- as Time magazine's person of the year, Donald Trump opened Twitter fire Thursday morning on the climate activist Greta Thunberg. Trump, 73, tweeted that Thunberg, 16, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, had an 'anger management problem' and should 'chill' -- no pun apparently intended. 'So ridiculous,' the president wrote. 'Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!'... Trump's attack on her, in personal terms, from his presidential bully pulpit struck many observers as a marked and hypocritical escalation. Trump's wife and his eldest son recently reacted with outrage when a witness called by Democrats to testify in the impeachment hearings punned on the name of Trump's 13-year-old son, Barron, to make a point about how presidents are not kings.... 'A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics,' Melania Trump changed her bio description on Twitter. 'A teenager working on her anger management problem,' it now reads. 'Currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend.'" Thanks to unwashed for the link.

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump is picking on a minor, a female, specifically for a disability. A trifecta which would have been perfect if only Greta weren't white. ~~~

~~~ Aaron Rupar of Vox: "Trump's Greta tweet was undoubtedly the most unsavory he posted during his Twitter binge on Thursday, but it was far from the only bad one. Fourteen minutes after the Greta tweet, Trump ... shared an advertisement posted by the Trump Organization, a business he still owns and profits from, promoting his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. 'I will be there in two weeks, The Southern White House!' Trump said, conflating properties he profits from with the publicly funded residence in which he's supposed to do the people's business.... He [also] retweeted a post from Rudy Giuliani characterizing Democrats following the Constitution's impeachment process as an 'attempted coup'; characterized FBI agents as 'dirty cops'; lauded Fox News's ratings, adding, 'It's great to have a wonderful subject, President Trump'; and, in an apparent attempt to make it look like he's doing something constructive, touted a Chinese trade deal that he's been hyping without results for more than a year."

Julia Ainsley & Courtney Kube of NBC News: "The Defense Department's internal watchdog plans to review a recent Army Corps of Engineers decision to award a $400 million contract for border wall construction to a North Dakota company that has been publicly and privately endorsed by members of the Trump administration, including the president himself. The review of the award to Fisher Sand & Gravel is an audit by the Pentagon's inspector general and comes in response to a request by Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the Democratic chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Thompson said the decision to award the contract should be reviewed because Fisher's 'proposals reportedly did not meet the operational requirements of U.S. Customs and Border Protection' and because of 'concerns about the possibility of inappropriate influence' on the Army Corps of Engineers." The New York Times story is here.

Rebecca Traister of New York on how male pundits hold female candidates to a high standard of honesty (Elizabeth Warren) while ignoring male candidates' dishonesty (Joe Biden).

** Andy Kroll of Rolling Stone: "For nearly three years, Stephen Miller has used his White House seat to orchestrate the most extreme anti-immigrant agenda in almost a century. But he hasn't done it alone. A loose network of lawyers and advisers embedded throughout the Trump administration has worked closely with Miller to carry out the daily effort of pushing through draconian and often inhumane policies.... In other words, Miller, with his white-nationalist mindset and fervor to enact xenophobic policies, is far from an isolated actor. He's the leader of a broad operation spread across the federal government." Kroll highlights a few of the extremist voices. --s

Jake Pearson & Anand Tumurtogoo of ProPublica: "On a hunting trip this August, Donald Trump Jr. shot and killed [an argali, an endangered species of sheep]. His adventure was supported by government resources from both the U.S. and Mongolia, which each sent security services to accompany the president's eldest son and grandson on the multiday trip.... Afterward, Trump Jr. met privately with the country's president, Khaltmaagiin Battulga, before departing the capital of Ulaanbaatar back to the U.S.... It isn't clear what was discussed. Trump Jr. wouldn't answer questions about the meeting. Representatives for Battulga haven't responded to requests for comment.... [A] spokesman for Trump Jr. ... said in a statement it was a purely personal expedition. He purchased the seven-day Mongolian hunting trip at a National Rifle Association charity auction before his father announced his candidacy for president in 2015 ... and flew commercial in and out of the country. It's unclear if the auction item listed an argali or mentioned meetings with Mongolian government officials." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: "The Mongolian government issued [Junior] a hunting permit retroactively." Emphasis added.

Bryant Harris of Al-Monitor: "The White House successfully pushed Congress to remove language in the annual defense bill that would have imposed concrete penalties on Saudi Arabia for the war in Yemen and the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.... The House amended the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 240-185 in July to block US funding for the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthi rebels. At the same time, the House passed another NDAA amendment 405-7 in a veto-proof vote to sanction Saudi officials complicit in Khashoggi's murder.... Republican negotiators successfully fought to keep the Saudi provisions out of the final defense bill after the White House marked it as a red line.... [P]aid parental leave is likely not enough to get many left-wing Democrats on board the final bill, which authorizes a $131 billion increase in annual defense spending since Trump took office while removing virtually all other progressive national security priorities that Democrats initially had in their version of the legislation." --s

Julian Borger of the Guardian: "Legislation to stop Donald Trump from withdrawing the US from Nato has been approved for a Senate vote, amid uncertainty over the president's intentions towards the alliance. The Senate foreign relations committee on Wednesday voted unanimously for the bipartisan bill which will now await a slot to go to the Senate.... 'We're aware that it has been seriously debated and seriously considered in the White House at the highest levels,' [Democrat Tim] Kaine told the Guardian.... Kaine predicted his bill to block a withdrawal would gain overwhelming support from the House of Representatives and win a veto-proof majority in the upper chamber of at least 67 votes." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: There's no mention in this or other articles about the bill on whether or not the House has passed an analogous bill.

~~~ Patricia Zengerle of Reuters: "A U.S. Senate committee backed legislation on Wednesday to impose sanctions on Turkey after its offensive in Syria and purchase of a Russian S-400 missile system, the latest move in the chamber to push Republican President Donald Trump to take a harder line against Ankara. The Republican-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted by 18-4 to send the 'Promoting American National Security and Preventing the Resurgence of ISIS Act of 2019' for a vote in the full Senate. 'Now's the time for the Senate to come together and take this opportunity to change Turkey's behavior,' said Senator Jim Risch, the panel's Republican chairman, a lead sponsor of the bill with Senator Bob Menendez, the panel&'s top Democrat.... [The House] passed its own Turkish sanctions bill by an overwhelming 403-16 vote in October...." Mrs. McC: Now I guess the big question on these bills is whether or not Mitch McConnell will bring them to the floor.

** Brave New Big Brother World. Lee Fang of The Intercept: "... Donald Trump's reelection effort has retained the services of a technology company [Phunware, an Austin, Texas-based firm] that specializes in the mass collection of smartphone location data, which can be used to track voters for political targeting purposes.... Phunware, in a section of its website, discusses the company's ability to obtain GPS location data and the Wi-Fi network used by an individual, as well as user data that can infer an 'individual's gender, age, lifestyle preferences' -- potential tools for identifying and influencing voters.... Earlier this year, deleted scenes from the documentary 'The Brink' revealed that Steve Bannon, Trump's campaign manager in 2016, had used similar location-tracking technology services to target church-attending Catholics during the midterm elections. 'If your phone's ever been in a Catholic church, it's amazing, they got this data,' Bannon said in the film clip. 'Literally, they can tell who's been in a Catholic church and how frequently,' he added." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Since I don't have many secrets, many intrusions on our privacy don't creep me out as much as perhaps they should. This technology creeps me out.

Australia. Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Ben Smee of the Guardian: "The Tamborine Mountain state school has run out of water, even as water miners in the Gold Coast hinterland are sending millions of litres to commercial bottling operations. Trucks sent by the Queensland government carrying emergency supplies to the school, including Mount Tamborine bottled water, have been passing trucks heading in the opposite direction taking local water to bottling for beverage giants such as Coca-Cola. The school remains open but parents have been advised by teachers to consider keeping their children at home." --s

Raphael Satter of Reuters: "North Korean state-backed hackers appear to be cooperating with Eastern European cybercriminals, a report here said on Wednesday, a finding that suggests digital gangsters and state-backed spies are finding common ground online." --s

~~~~~~~~~~

Nicholas Fandos & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The House Judiciary Committee opened debate Wednesday on two articles of impeachment against President Trump, starting a somber and deeply partisan confrontation over Democrats' charges that the president abused his power and obstructed Congress. In a rare evening session that was only the third time in modern history the panel had met to consider removing a president, Democrats and Republicans clashed over the Constitution, the allegations against Mr. Trump and the political consequences of moving to oust him less than a year before the next election. The debate unfolded at the start of a two-day meeting that is expected to culminate on Thursday with a party-line vote to send the articles to the full House for final passage." ~~~

~~~ Mary Jalonick & Lisa Mascaro of the AP: "Democrats and Republicans used the otherwise procedural meeting Wednesday evening to deliver sharp, poignant and, at times, personal arguments for and against impeachment. Both sides appealed to Americans' sense of history -- Democrats describing a strong sense of duty to stop what one called the president's 'constitutional crime spree' and Republicans decrying the 'hot garbage' impeachment and what it means for the future of the country."

Kyle Cheney & John Bresnahan of Politico: "Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) on Wednesday night publicly named a person that some Republicans and allies of ... Donald Trump claim is the alleged whistleblower who first brought the Trump-Ukraine scandal to light. Gohmert identified the person, who[m] Politico is not naming, during remarks at a Judiciary Committee meeting on articles of impeachment against Trump. Gohmert named the person as he ticked through a list of witnesses he said the committee should hear from before voting on impeachment. Gohmert did not identify the person as the potential whistleblower, but Republicans have demanded that the whistleblower be subpoenaed to testify, a call that Democrats have swatted away as irresponsible and even dangerous." Mrs. McC: One of the comments on a YouTube video of Gohmert's testimony names the supposed whistleblower and calls him "ONE DEAD MOFO." I'm sure that's not an isolated sentiment among the wingnut brigade. ~~~

"Impeach President Trump." USA Today Editors: "... Trump's egregious transgressions and stonewalling have given the House little choice but to press ahead with the most severe sanction at its disposal.... In his thuggish effort to trade American arms for foreign dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, Trump resembles not so much [Bill] Clinton as he does Richard Nixon, another corrupt president who tried to cheat his way to reelection. This isn't partisan politics as usual. It is precisely the type of misconduct the Framers had in mind when they wrote impeachment into the Constitution."

Lame Veep Makes Lame Excuse. Kyle Cheney & Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "Vice President Mike Pence's counsel rejected House Democrats' request to declassify details of a Sept. 18 call between Pence and Ukraine's president, calling the request illegitimate because the impeachment inquiry has concluded. In a letter to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Pence's lawyer, Matthew Morgan, said it 'serves no purpose' to declassify supplemental testimony from one of Pence's national security aides, as Schiff had demanded. 'At this point, the Intelligence Committee's oversight authority is limited to those areas in which it may potentially legislate or appropriate,' Morgan wrote to Schiff, who pressed Pence last week to declassify supplemental testimony from one of the vice president's national security aides, Jennifer Williams.... Morgan also appeared to rebuke Williams, writing that 'the contents of a classified call with a foreign head of state should never have been discussed in an unclassified committee hearing or an unclassified deposition.'" Mrs. McC: According to Schiff's request letter, "The Office of the Vice President's decision to classify 'certain portions' of the Sept. 18 call ... cannot be justified on national security or any other legitimate grounds we can discern."

Seung Min Kim, et al., of the Washington Post: "Senate Republicans are coalescing around a strategy of holding a short impeachment trial early next year that would include no witnesses, a plan that could clash with President Trump's desire to stage a public defense of his actions toward Ukraine that would include testimony the White House believes would damage its political rivals. Several GOP senators on Wednesday said it would be better to limit the trial and quickly vote to acquit Trump, rather than engage in what could become a political circus.... Most notably, a quick, clean trial is broadly perceived to be the preference of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who wants to minimize political distractions in an election year during which Republicans will be working to protect their slim majority in the chamber." A CNN report is here. ~~~

~~~ Ted Barrett & Manu Raju of CNN: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to hold a final vote to acquit ... Donald Trump should he be impeached, when a majority of senators believe his trial has run its course instead of holding a vote on dismissing the articles of impeachment, two Republican senators told CNN on Wednesday. That's significant, because Republicans want to have a vote on acquittal -- to clear the President of the charges against him -- not simply rely on a 51-vote threshold procedural motion to dismiss the hotly disputed case. The Constitution mandates 67 votes are required to convict the President and remove him from office, a barrier widely considered too high to be reached in this case. One vote McConnell can't rely on is that of Vice President Mike Pence, who has 'no role in impeachment,' according to a GOP leadership aide, despite being president of the Senate with the mandate to break ties."

Betsy Swan of the Daily Beast: “People working closely with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have been in contact with Trump administration officials over the past several weeks discussing the relationship between the two presidents, according to four people with knowledge of the talks. Based on those conversations, Ukrainian officials came to expect that Trump would make a statement of support before Zelensky met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in France for peace talks.... Words of support from the United States in the lead-up to the Normandy talks could have given the Ukrainian president more leverage with Putin.... Instead, Trump spent the weekend on Twitter tweeting about Fox News pundits, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and CNN.... On Tuesday, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and made an appearance at the White House. One of the people close to the Zelensky administration said the silence from White House -- combined with Lavrov's photo-friendly visit to Washington -- sent 'a terrible signal' and was 'most unfortunate.'"

Daily Kos: "In a should-have-been-predicted new twist, U.S. prosecutors revealed to a federal court today that Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas received a $1 million payment ... from Russia just one month before being indicted for funneling foreign cash to U.S. political campaigns -- and attempted to hide that payment even after his arrest. Arguing Parnas poses an 'extreme' risk of flight that is 'only compounded' by his continued willingness to lie to the government, prosecutors have asked the judge to revoke Parnas' bail and return him to jail. Parnas is currently under house arrest; government prosecutors filed their motion in response to a Parnas request that the court allow him to leave his house during work hours." The original Bloomberg report on which this post relies is here. Erica Orden of CNN has a report here. ~~~

     ~~~ ** Mrs. McCrabbie: As we might have guessed, a significant portion of the Three Stooges' mission to frame Ukraine for 2016 election interference came from Russia; that is, from the "real culprits." Even more alarming: Congressional Republicans will not impeach & remove from office the U.S. President* who commissioned that effort, which Russia would later partially fund. This is Trump & Putin, working in concert -- you might say "colluding" or "conspiring" -- to undermine a U.S. election, and all, or almost all, Republicans marching in lock-step.

DOJ Inspector General's Report

Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said Wednesday that a senior prosecutor failed to convince him that the FBI's 2016 investigation of President Trump's campaign was improperly opened, revealing new details about internal tension among senior officials over the politically explosive case. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Horowitz was asked by the panel's senior Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), if Attorney General William P. Barr or his hand-picked prosecutor on the issue, Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham, offered anything to change the inspector general's view that the FBI had a valid reason to open the probe in July 2016. 'No, we stand by our finding,' said Horowitz, who said he met in November with Durham to discuss the findings in the inspector general's 434-page report released Monday. When the report was released, Durham issued an unusual public statement saying he did not agree with Horowitz's conclusion about the opening of the investigation. Horowitz told lawmakers that the disagreement stemmed from a difference of opinion about whether the FBI should have opened a preliminary investigation, which puts some limitations on the investigative steps that can be taken, or a full investigation. The FBI opened a full investigation, based on a tip from the Australian government.' (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: So as nearly as I can tell from the WashPo report & from what I heard on the teevee, the "disagreement" Durham found with the IG report, which he did not specify in his "unusual"/political statement issued upon release of the report, was on whether or not the FBI should have opened a "full" investigation before they initiated a "preliminary" investigation. Or, IMO, big whup. ~~~

~~~ ** HOWEVER. David Sanger of the New York Times: The inspector general's "study amounted to the most searching look ever revealed about the government's secretive system for carrying out national-security surveillance on American soil. And what the report showed was not pretty.... Michael E. Horowitz, and his team uncovered a staggeringly dysfunctional and error-ridden process in how the F.B.I. went about obtaining and renewing court permission under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, to wiretap Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser.... The inspector general found major errors, material omissions and unsupported statements about Mr. Page in the materials that went to the court. F.B.I. agents cherry-picked the evidence, telling the Justice Department information that made Mr. Carter look suspicious and omitting material that cut the other way, and the department passed that misleading portrait onto the court.... Most ... targets [of FISA-warranted surveillance] never learn that their privacy has been invaded, but some are sent to prison on the basis of evidence derived from the surveillance. And unlike in ordinary criminal wiretap cases, defendants are not permitted to see what investigators told the court about them to obtain permission to eavesdrop on their calls and emails." Read on. (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ The New York Times has a highlights blog here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Marshall Cohen of CNN: "The Justice Department inspector general continues to investigate potential leaks by FBI officials in New York to ... Rudy Giuliani before the 2016 election. Inspector General Michael Horowitz told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that the investigation is ongoing, and is broader than just Giuliani, but suggested his team was struggling to prove that there were illegal leaks. Shortly before the election, Giuliani claimed that he heard about big problems coming soon for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. That was shortly before then-FBI Director James Comey announced he was reopening the criminal probe into Clinton's email server, which didn't lead to any criminal charges. The polls shifted after Comey's comments, and Clinton has said it was a main reason for her defeat.... Giuliani has denied ever receiving non-public information from active FBI agents."

This report shows there was a proper predicate for the FBI to investigate Russia's malign influence on the 2016 election and contacts with the Trump campaign. That puts to rest President Trump's accusations of a deep state conspiracy, and no amount of spin from Attorney General Barr, the White House, or congressional Republicans can change that.... The Inspector General is an important defender against political influence over law enforcement -- a regrettable tendency under Attorney General Barr. I hope the Inspector General turns his attention to other allegations of politically motivated investigations by this administration. -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said in a statement, Monday

** Former Attorney General Eric Holder in a Washington Post op-ed: "Virtually since the moment he took office..., Barr's words and actions have been fundamentally inconsistent with his duty to the Constitution.... The American people deserve an attorney general who serves their interests, leads the Justice Department with integrity and can be entrusted to pursue the facts and the law, even -- and especially -- when they are politically inconvenient and inconsistent with the personal interests of the president who appointed him. William Barr has proved he is incapable of serving as such an attorney general. He is unfit to lead the Justice Department."

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "President Trump is openly telegraphing that he fully expects his attorney general to validate one of his biggest lies: that the real crime in 2016 wasn't Russia's sabotaging of our election but rather the decision by law enforcement to investigate it. New public comments from William P. Barr provide Trump with ample grounds for being confident that Barr will deliver for him.... Barr's latest claims about the Russia investigation rest on a serious misrepresentation that has not gotten the focus it deserves -- and is more pernicious than it first appears.... [In his NBC interview, Barr implied] that the FBI's initial investigation was only motivated by what it had learned about the Trump campaign's intentions with regard to coordinating with Russia's electoral subversion effort.... [But] officials told the I.G. that the new information about the Trump campaign precipitated the investigation, but only on top of the fact that Russia was already 'targeting U.S. political institutions' and trying to manipulate the 'U.S. democratic process.'... Trump wants to make all of those facts disappear. And Barr is effectively using the power of law enforcement to help him do it." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Oh, the Hackery. Igor Derysh of Salon, republished in the Raw Story: "Attorney General William Barr claimed in an NBC News interview that former President Barack Obama posed the 'greatest danger' to democracy in the 2016 election -- not Russia. Barr told the network that he disagreed with his own department's inspector general report, which concluded that the FBI did not 'spy' on the Trump campaign and was justified in launching an investigation into its ties to Russia.... Barr claimed to NBC News reporter Pete Williams that the FBI may have opened the investigation in 'bad faith' and insisted that Trump's campaign was 'clearly spied upon' in spite of inspector general Michael Horowitz's nearly two-year investigation which found no such evidence. He also downplayed the Trump campaign's extensive contacts with Russian officials, insisting that 'presidential campaigns are frequently in contact with foreign persons.' Barr's comments were a stark contrast from Horowitz's report, which found no evidence of the 'spying' allegations invoked by [Trump] and his conservative allies." ~~~

~~~ Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "Walter Shaub, the former head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, on Tuesday called Attorney General William Barr a 'threat to democracy' and warned he may try to interfere in the 2020 presidential election to benefit ... Donald Trump. MSNBC's national affairs analyst John Heilemann issued a similar caution, while CNN's chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin described Barr as 'a Fox News bot.' In a lengthy Twitter thread, Shaub accused Barr of misleading the public after he rejected the Justice Department's inspector general report that found the FBI was not politically motivated in launching a probe into the Trump 2016 campaign's links to Russia." (Also linked yesterday.)

Marcy Wheeler attacks Pete Williams of NBC News for his failure to follow up ever on the stunning assertions Barr made during Williams' "so-called interview." "American Democracy Needs Better Reporters than Pete Williams" is the title of her post. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. Mrs. McC: The answer to the problem is in the title of Wheeler's post: Williams is a "reporter." He is not an "interviewer." Barr knows the difference. Both Barr & Williams have been around for a long time, so Barr knows how Williams works: Williams asks questions, writes down the responses & types 'em up (see Stephen Colbert), metaphorically in this case of course because Williams didn't even have to write 'em down & type 'em up -- he left that to the videographer. That's what reporters do, not what political interviewers do. Barr can now boast that he is not a Foxbot, as Jeff Toobin properly calls him; he gives interviews to MSM outlets. Advantage Barr.

Trump Is a Nihilistic Force. -- Paul Volcker. Jeff Cox of CNBC: "Three months before he died, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker issued a scathing critique against ... Donald Trump and the 'movement to undermine Americans' faith in our government and its policies and institutions.' In an afterword to a paperback release of his autobiography, the legendary former central bank chief called out the president for his attacks on the Fed and said there is a general movement to undermine confidence in essential U.S. institutions. 'Nihilistic forces are dismantling policies to protect our air, water, and climate,' Volcker wrote at the end of 'Keeping At It: The Quest for Sound Money and Good Government.' 'And they seek to discredit the pillars of our democracy: voting rights and fair elections, the rule of law, the free press, the separation of powers, the belief in science, and the concept of truth itself.' Volcker died Sunday at age 92. An excerpt of the afterword was published Wednesday in the Financial Times."

Court Forces Trump's Kids to Go to Remedial School. Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: "As part of the settlement [in the Donald J. Trump Foundation scandal], Mr. Trump's three children who were officers of the foundation -- Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump -- were ordered to undergo mandatory training to ensure they do not engage in similar misconduct in the future. On Tuesday, the [New York State] attorney general's office confirmed the children had undergone the training."

Staffers Backed Defrauded Students, De Vos Overruled Them. Cory Turner of NPR: "Documents obtained by NPR shed new light on a bitter fight between defrauded student borrowers and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. These borrowers -- more than 200,000 of them -- say some for-profit colleges lied to them about their job prospects and the transferability of credits. They argue they were defrauded and that the Education Department should erase their federal student loan debt under a rule called 'borrower defense.' DeVos ... says most student borrowers still got value from these schools and deserve only partial relief from their federal loans. Now, internal Education Department memos obtained by NPR show that career staff in the department's Borrower Defense Unit came down firmly on the side of defrauded borrowers.... Until now, these internal department memos have been hidden from public view. Lawmakers had previously requested access to them, but DeVos and her department refused to hand them over."

Connor O'Brien of Politico: "... the House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a $738 billion compromise defense policy bill that would create a Space Force as the newest military service. In a 377- to-48 vote, lawmakers approved the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act -- with both House Democrats and ... Donald Trump taking credit for its marquee provisions, which also include parental leave for federal workers and a repeal of the military 'widow's tax.' The bill still must be considered by Senate, where wide bipartisan approval is also likely. The president urged passage and said he'd sign the bill if it reaches his desk." The Washington Post story is here.

Presidential Race 2020

Ryan Lizza, now of Politico: "Former Vice President Joe Biden's top advisers and prominent Democrats outside the Biden campaign have recently revived a long-running debate whether Biden should publicly pledge to serve only one term, with Biden himself signaling to aides that he would serve only a single term. While the option of making a public pledge remains available, Biden has for now settled on an alternative strategy: quietly indicating that he will almost certainly not run for a second term while declining to make a promise that he and his advisers fear could turn him into a lame duck and sap him of his political capital." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: With so many qualified candidates running for the Democratic presidential nomination, I cannot make a recommendation on whom to choose in primary races. But I will urge readers not to vote for Joe Biden (or Tulsi Gabbard or Marianne Williamson, for that matter). Biden is the worst front-runner since, well, Hillary Clinton. In fact, he's beginning to make Clinton look pretty good.

"Off the Rails." Aaron Rupar of Vox: "... Donald Trump gave a speech at a campaign rally on Tuesday night in Hershey, Pennsylvania, that highlighted many of the reasons people feel that the country will struggle to withstand another year of this.... Over the course of a more than 90-minute delivery, Trump pushed conspiracy theories and blatant lies, trashed law enforcement officials that aren't blindly loyal to him, exhibited thuggish tendencies toward protesters, made misogynistic remarks, and demonstrated that he fundamentally misunderstands the Constitution. It was one of his most troubling performances in recent memory and served as a stark illustration of just how ugly Trump's reelection campaign will be." (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Gold & Ali Watkins of the New York Times: "An assailant involved in the prolonged firefight in Jersey City, N.J., that left six people dead, including one police officer, was linked on Wednesday to the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, which has been designated a hate group, and had published anti-Semitic posts online, a law enforcement official said. The violent rampage on Tuesday took place largely at a kosher supermarket where three bystanders were killed. The authorities now believe that the store was specifically targeted by the assailants. The law enforcement official said the names of the two suspects were David Anderson and Francine Graham. Mr. Anderson appeared to have a connection to the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, though the extent of his involvement in that group remains unclear, the official said. The Black Hebrew Israelites have no connection with mainstream Judaism. It has been described as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center...." A Guardian story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Time has named Greta Thunberg, the young climate activist, as person of the year. (Also linked yesterday.)

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd: ~~~

Megan Twohey & Jodi Kantor of the New York Times: "After two years of legal wrangling, Harvey Weinstein and the board of his bankrupt film studio have reached a tentative $25 million settlement agreement with dozens of his alleged sexual misconduct victims, a deal that would not require the Hollywood producer to admit wrongdoing or pay anything to his accusers himself, according to lawyers involved in the negotiations. The proposed global legal settlement has gotten preliminary approval from the major parties involved, according to several of the lawyers. More than 30 actresses and former Weinstein employees, who in lawsuits have accused Mr. Weinstein of offenses ranging from sexual harassment to rape, would share in the payout -- along with potential claimants who could join in coming months. The deal would bring to an end nearly every such lawsuit against him and his former company."

Beyond the Beltway

Kentucky. For $25,500, You Can Get Away with Murder in Kentucky. Andrew Wilson & Joe Sonka of the Louisville Courier Journal: "The family of a man pardoned by Gov. Matt Bevin for a homicide and other crimes in a fatal 2014 Knox County home invasion raised $21,500 at a political fundraiser last year to retire debt from Bevin's 2015 gubernatorial campaign. The brother and sister-in-law of offender Patrick Brian Baker also gave $4,000 to Bevin's campaign on the day of the fundraiser, according to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance database."

Way Beyond

Israel. David Halbfinger & Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: "Having failed to form a government after two elections, Israel barreled toward a record third on Wednesday, extending the political deadlock that has paralyzed the country for nearly a year and assuring at least three more months of bitter, divisive campaigning and government dysfunction. And with the country hopelessly divided over the fate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been indicted on three counts of corruption, there is little indication that the third election will be any more decisive than the first two."

U.K. The Guardian is liveblogging today's general election. ~~~

~~~ AND Boris Johnson hid in a fridge to avoid an attempted ambush-interview by Piers Morgan. Heather Stewart & Aamna Mohdin of the Guardian: "When [a 'Good Morning Britain' producer] presses the prime minister, stating he was live on the show, Johnson replied 'I'll be with you in a second' and walked off, before Piers exclaims 'he's gone into the fridge'. Johnson walks inside a fridge stacked with milk bottles with his aides. One person can be heard saying: 'It's a bunker.' Conservative sources subsequently insisted that Johnson was 'categorically not hiding' in the fridge, from which Johnson emerged carrying a crate of milk bottles...." (Also linked yesterday.)