The Commentariat -- August 15, 2018

The log-in superglitch is fixed. Those of you who have logged onto Reality Chex in the past can begin logging in again. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Perfect Projection from "Erratic" President Petty Pouter. Michael Shear of the New York Times: "In a remarkable attack on a political opponent, President Trump on Wednesday revoked the security clearance of John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. director under President Barack Obama, citing what he called Mr. Brennan's 'erratic' behavior. The White House had threatened last month to strip Mr. Brennan and other Obama administration officials -- including Susan E. Rice, the former national security adviser; and James R. Clapper Jr., the former director of national intelligence -- of their security clearances.... In a tweet this week, Mr. Brennan criticized Mr. Trump for the language that the president used to attack Omarosa Manigault Newman, his former top aide, who he called a 'dog.'"

Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "The evidence against Paul Manafort is 'overwhelming,' a prosecutor told jurors during closing arguments in his fraud trial on Wednesday, saying that he hid more than $16 million in income and fraudulently obtained $20 million in bank loans even though, as a trained lawyer, 'Mr. Manafort knew the law.' The lead prosecutor, Greg D. Andres, described Mr. Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, as a bright and highly capable political consultant who was well versed in tax law and financial matters and fluent in terms like 'write-offs' and 'distribution' income. Mr. Manafort deliberately deceived his bookkeeper and tax accountants, Mr. Andres argued, so he could keep more of his income tax-free and then trick banks into loaning him millions when 'he was going broke and he couldn't pay his bills.' In a dispassionate summation that lasted nearly two hours, Mr. Andres insisted that Mr. Manafort's crimes could not be dismissed as mere oversights. He repeatedly showed the jury emails, tax returns or other financial documents that Mr. Manafort either personally wrote or signed. 'It wasn't a clerical decision. It wasn't "forgot to check a box,"' Mr. Andres said. 'When you follow the trail of Mr. Manafort's finances, it is littered with lies.'" ...

... Rachel Weiner, et al., of the Washington Post report on closing arguments in the Paul Manafort trial.

Talk about "Rigged." Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "The tens of thousands of pages that have emerged from [Brett Kavanaugh's] tenure in the George W. Bush White House reveal little about his judicial philosophy and qualifications, much less any damning detail that could sink his bid to replace retired Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. Yet those papers are being disclosed to the public ... [by] a lawyer working for Bush and his legal team.... The National Archives is doing its own nonpartisan review, but that won't be finished for weeks -- long after Kavanaugh is likely to be confirmed.... The National Archives, which has played a central role for previous nominees in vetting their White House papers and sending them to the Senate, has effectively been sidelined. In its place is a team led by attorney Bill Burck, who also served in the Bush White House as Kavanaugh's deputy when the nominee was staff secretary." Mrs. McC: Yup, they know Kavanaugh has something -- if not plenty -- to hide.

On of the Best People Is Resigning. Robert O'Harrow of the Washington Post: "A political appointee overseeing a small foreign assistance agency that has been used by the White House as a source of jobs for Trump administration supporters is resigning.... Robert Blau, a retired Foreign Service officer and speechwriter for Trump's presidential campaign, was named vice president of operations at the Millennium Challenge Corporation in May 2017. He assumed the duties of the chief executive in May of this year, after the Senate failed to move on Trump's nominee to lead the agency.... Blau's announcement followed a July 28 Washington Post story that detailed how the White House had assumed control over hiring at the headquarters of Millennium Challenge Corporation, or MCC, a small independent agency that promotes economic growth in poor countries.... Soon after arriving at MCC, he filled his office with Trump campaign memorabilia. During a staff meeting last year, he urged employees to watch Fox News and read Breitbart News and characterized The Washington Post and CNN as 'very biased.'..."

Andy Kroll in Rolling Stone: "FBI agents in California and Washington, D.C., have investigated a series of cyberattacks over the past year that targeted a Democratic opponent of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA). Rohrabacher is a 15-term incumbent who is widely seen as the most pro-Russia and pro-Putin member of Congress and is a staunch supporter of President Trump. The hacking attempts and the FBI's involvement are described in dozens of emails and forensic records obtained by Rolling Stone. The target of these attacks, Dr. Hans Keirstead, a stem-cell scientist and the CEO of a biomedical research company, finished third in California's nonpartisan 'top-two' primary on June 5th, falling 125 votes short of advancing to the general election in one of the narrowest margins of any congressional primary this year. He has since endorsed Harley Rouda, the Democrat who finished in second place and will face Rohrabacher in the November election."

Gaia Pianigiani, et al., of the New York Times: "Long before the bridge collapse that killed at least 39 people in Genoa on Tuesday, experts raised the alarm that the structure was deteriorating and possibly dangerous -- warnings that, after the catastrophe, quickly led to a round of demands to determine who was to blame." See also yesterday's News Ledes. Mrs. McC: More than once I've traveled on that bridge, which is part of the autostrade. Glad I lived to tell about it & I'm sorry for those who did not.

Mrs. McCrabbie: The photo from which this snip is taken accompanied the NYT story, linked below, on how Trump has embraced Hungary's authoritarian President Viktor Orban. The snip is part of the "class picture" of the July 2018 NATO summit. I was thinking less about Orban and the summit than I was about how Donald Trump looks now that Hope Hicks isn't there to iron his pants while he's wearing them. Sad!

Zack Beauchamp of Vox: "... as pathetic as [the Unite the Right 2 event was], none of it was quite as hilariously humiliating to the alt-right as the video ... in which the rally's organizer, Jason Kessler, is yelled at by his father to get out of his parents' room in the middle of a live stream with a fellow alt-righter (the stream first aired some time ago, but recently resurfaced on Twitter).... 'Hey!' Kessler's father says, interrupting his conversation with the white nationalist and anti-Semitic former US Senate candidate Patrick Little. 'You get out of my room!'" Includes video. Mrs. McC: Little White Boy needs to put on his p.j.s & repair to the basement.

*****

Primary Election Results

Jeremy Peters & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "On a night when voters in four states went to the polls, Democrats delivered groundbreaking primary victories for a transgender woman in Vermont, a Muslim woman in Minnesota and an African-American woman in Connecticut, while voters in Wisconsin nominated a top state education official, Tony Evers, to challenge Gov. Scott Walker, one of the most vulnerable high-profile Republicans of the midterms cycle. Also in Wisconsin, Republicans backed State Senator Leah Vukmir to run against Senator Tammy Baldwin, a first-term Democrat, propelling an establishment Republican who was careful to heap praise on Mr. Trump while harnessing the support of state party leaders."

Vermont. The New York Times is reporting results here.

     ... U.S. Senate. Jeremy Peters & Jonathan Martin: "Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont easily won his state's Democratic primary [link removed] on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, all but guaranteeing his re-election in November. But Mr. Sanders is expected to snub the party that he sought to represent in the 2016 presidential election: A self-described democratic socialist, he plans to reject the nomination and run instead as an independent, according to advisers. Mr. Sanders followed this course in his Senate races in 2006 and 2012. By winning the Democratic nomination, he effectively prevented the party from putting another name on the November ballot, and many Democratic leaders and voters supported him in November elections regardless of him not running on the party line." The story has been updated, the original lede obliterated. It is linked above. ...

     ... Governor. Jess Bidgood of the New York Times: Christine "Hallquist, a Democrat, made history.... She became the first transgender candidate to be nominated for a governorship by a major party, beating three other candidates in Vermont's Democratic primary, according to The Associated Press.... But from here, her path to the governor's office could be a narrow one, even though she is a Democrat running in a deeply progressive state. She faces a Republican incumbent, Phil Scott, who is running for his second term with history on his side -- Vermonters have not thrown out an incumbent governor since 1962. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the seat as 'solid Republican.'"

Connecticut. The New York Times' live results are here.

     ... Governor, U.S. Congress. Lisa Foderaro of the New York Times: "Ned Lamont, a wealthy businessman whose prior bid for governor fell short, won the Democratic nomination in the Connecticut primary on Tuesday, handily beating his sole opponent according to The Associated Press, and sounding buoyant about keeping the governorship in Democratic hands.... In 2006, Mr. Lamont upset the political order when he staged a shocking upset of Senator Joseph I. Lieberman in the Democratic congressional primary. He then lost the general election to Mr. Lieberman, who ran as an independent. Four years later, he lost to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in the Democratic primary for governor.... [Lamont] will face the Republican Bob Stefanowski in November.... Democrats also chose Jahana Hayes in the state's Fifth Congressional District, the A.P. reported. Ms. Hayes, a 'National Teacher of the Year' in 2016, is seeking to become the state's first black Democrat to serve in Congress. Ms. Hayes, 46, was thought to be a long-shot in the contest against Mary Glassman, a longtime local Democratic politician in the Western Connecticut region. But she embraced her status as an underdog, melding her life story -- growing up in Waterbury, Conn., she went through homelessness, a teen pregnancy and economic hardship -- into her campaign. She also won support from some of the same progressive organizations that supported insurgent progressive Democratic candidates like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez...."

     ... U.S. Senate. Matthew Corey has won the GOP primary. He will face Sen. Chris Murphy (D).

Wisconsin. The Times' primary results are here. ...

     ... Governor. Patrick Marley & Molly Beck of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Tony Evers won an eight-way Democratic primary Tuesday, setting up a November showdown between the state's education chief and GOP Gov. Scott Walker. ...

     ... U.S. Senate. Bill Glauber of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Down in the polls for months, [Leah] Vukmir relied on an old-fashioned get-out-the-vote ground game to defeat Kevin Nicholson -- and the big money behind him -- and claim the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate Tuesday.... Next up for Vukmir is a November showdown with Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin. It is a classic confrontation between Vukmir, an unabashed conservative, and Baldwin, a proud liberal.... A record-breaking 19 women have won major-party nominations for the U.S. Senate this year, according to Rutgers University's Center for American Women in Politics."

Minnesota. The New York Times is updating results here. ...

     ... U.S. Senate (Special Election). Judy Keen of the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune: "U.S. Sen. Tina Smith beat Richard Painter, once the ethics chief in a Republican White House, in the DFL primary election Tuesday, setting up the state's first U.S. Senate race with two women nominees. State Sen. Karin Housley, who won the Republican nomination, will face Smith in the fall."

     ... U.S. Senate. Jim Newberger won the Republican primary. He will face Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D).

     ... Governor. Patrick Coolican of the Star Tribune: "Jeff Johnson shocked the Minnesota political world when he built an insurmountable lead over former Gov. Tim Pawlenty [in the Republican primary for governor]. Meanwhile, Tim Walz defeated Erin Murphy and Lori Swanson on the DFL side.... Johnson, a Hennepin County commissioner, derailed former Gov. Tim Pawlenty's bid to win back his old job. Pawlenty had been widely seen as the front-runner thanks to much higher name recognition from his two previous terms in office, and Johnson overcame a vast fundraising disadvantage with a message of change and by courting supporters of... Donald Trump." ...

     ... Attorney General. Jessie Van Berkel of the Star Tribune: "U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison won the DFL primary for Minnesota attorney general Tuesday and will face Republican Doug Wardlow in the November election."

Kansas (Last Tuesday's Primary). Governor. Bryan Lowry, et al., of the Kansas City Star: "Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has captured the Republican nomination for governor after the tightest primary fight in Kansas history, edging out the state's sitting governor. Gov. Jeff Colyer, a plastic surgeon from Overland Park, announced his concession Tuesday night after he failed to narrow the gap with Kobach when provisional ballots in Johnson County were tallied. 'I just had a conversation with the Secretary of State and I congratulated him on his success and repeated my determination to keep this seat in Republican hands,' Colyer said. 'This election is probably the closest in America, but the numbers just aren't there unless we go to extraordinary measures.'... Kobach led Colyer by 345 votes as of Tuesday evening, a week after Election Day, with 85 of the state's 105 counties having processed their provisional ballots.... Kobach will face Democratic state Sen. Laura Kelly of Topeka, who captured her party's nomination with 52 percent of the vote in a five-way race, and independent Greg Orman if Kobach's office certifies the signatures collected by the Johnson County businessman's campaign.... Patrick Miller, a professor of political science at the University of Kansas, said he sees the race leaning for Kobach because Orman will draw votes from Kelly."

*****

** Convergence. John Sipher of The Atlantic: "While many Americans are concerned that the Trump campaign may have colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election, Trump's outright convergence of interests with Putin's Russia may well prove far more damaging for U.S. interests in the long run.... Both Putin and Trump seek to inject chaos into the U.S. political system. They support an assault on U.S. foreign-policy elites, encourage fringe and radical groups, and envision a United States untethered from traditional allies. They also share a willingness to utilize informal and semi-legal means to achieve their goals.... Trumpism shares a disturbing amount in common with Putinism, including promoting racist hatred of outsiders; the belief that the rich are above the law; the reflexive use of propaganda lies and denial; and the shredding of legal and political norms.... The greatest concern for Americans shouldn't be that Trump may have colluded with Russia; it's that under his guidance, we may be converging." Read on. --safari (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I was thinking about this Monday night. For instance, what country benefits most from the FBI's firing of Peter Strzok, the agency's top counterintelligence agent on Russia? Hint: Not the U.S. ...

...Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "When President Trump signed a $716 billion military spending bill on Monday, he claimed the authority to override dozens of provisions that he deemed improper constraints on his executive powers. In a signing statement that the White House quietly issued after 9 p.m. on Monday — about six hours after Mr. Trump signed the bill in a televised ceremony at Fort Drum in New York — Mr. Trump deemed about 50 of its statutes to be unconstitutional intrusions on his presidential powers, meaning that the executive branch need not enforce or obey them as written. Among them was a ban on spending military funds on 'any activity that recognizes the sovereignty of the Russian Federation over Crimea,' the Ukrainian region annexed by Moscow in 2014 in an incursion considered illegal by the United States.... The statement was the latest example of Mr. Trump's emerging broad vision of executive power. His personal lawyers, for example, have claimed that his constitutional authority to supervise the Justice Department means that he can lawfully impede the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election no matter his motive, despite obstruction-of-justice statutes." Emphasis added.

Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "'When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn't work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!' Trump tweeted Tuesday.... Referring to an African-American woman as an animal is at best a sharp departure from the language typically employed by Presidents and at worst a reference that traffics in sexual and racial imagery." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Michael Shear & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump added his former White House aide, Omarosa Manigault Newman, on Tuesday to the growing list of African-Americans he has publicly denigrated on Twitter, calling her 'that dog' and a 'crazed, crying lowlife' after her allegations against him of mental deterioration and racism. Even for a president who consistently uses Twitter to assail his adversaries, the morning tweet about Ms. Manigault Newman was a remarkably crude use of the presidential bully pulpit to disparage a woman who once served at the highest levels in his White House. In an interview on MSNBC, Ms. Manigault Newman responded that Mr. Trump treats women differently from men because he 'believes they are beneath him' and that he talked in derogatory ways about minorities. 'He has absolutely no respect for women, for African-Americans,' she said. In recent weeks, Mr. Trump has called Don Lemon, a CNN anchor, 'the dumbest man on television.' He has questioned the intelligence of LeBron James, a star basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers. And he has repeatedly said that Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, has a 'low I.Q.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Altho Trump has used the word "dog" to insult white people, as Shear & Sullivan note, he has used "dog" as a simile -- "lies like a dog" -- when applied to white people. He used it as a noun against Manigault Newman.

... Susan Glasser of the New Yorker: "The President of the United States called someone a 'dog' on Twitter Tuesday morning, another first for his debasement of Presidential rhetoric.... Trump has hurled playground taunts at a breathtakingly long line of targets during his eighteen months in office, from African-American football players to the Prime Minister of Canada.... The tweet exploded like a bomb on Twitter, where many immediately labelled it as racist and sexist (and noted that it came after Manigault-Newman alleged that there were recordings of Trump using the N-word during tapings of his TV show 'The Apprentice').... Trump's tweet makes Omarosa more sympathetic than she otherwise would be.... Omarosa titled her kiss-and-tell 'Unhinged.' Trump seems intent on proving her right." ...

... Jeremy Diamond of CNN: "... Donald Trump's campaign said Tuesday it has filed for arbitration, accusing Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former campaign aide and White House official, of breaching a 2016 nondisclosure agreement with the campaign. The move is the first legal action the Trump campaign has taken since Manigault Newman published a tell-all book about her time as a Trump campaign adviser and senior White House official." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... the filing was a major escalation by Mr. Trump against Ms. Manigault Newman, whose book, 'Unhinged,' is the first account by a former White House aide to make embarrassing allegations about the president and his team.... Legal experts have said the nondisclosure agreements for the campaign and the White House are most likely not legally enforceable.... On Monday night, Katrina Pierson, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, denied on Fox News that the president had used the N-word, as Ms. Manigault Newman claims in the book. But on Tuesday, Ms. Manigault Newman provided an audio recording to CBS that appeared to reveal Ms. Pierson saying during the campaign that she believed Mr. Trump had used the slur, and that he was embarrassed for having done so."

... Jessica Levinson of NBC News: "... government employees are public servants.... They are also paid with public funds. And therefore, barring national security or significant privacy concerns, government employees should be able to tell the public -- who they work for -- about their service in government.... There's a strong case to be made that NDAs signed by White House employees violate the First Amendment and also public policy, making it doubtful that a court would agree to enforce them.... NDAs are also probably illegal.... It's important to note here that an NDA signed by a campaign staffer is different from one signed by a government employee. A contract between a campaign staffer and a campaign is between private individuals." ...

... Brian Schwartz of CNBC: "Attorney Charles Harder is representing ... Donald Trump's campaign in its arbitration fight against former senior White House official Omarosa Manigault Newman, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter. Harder, who is best known for representing wrestler Hulk Hogan in his sex tape lawsuit against now-defunct gossip site Gawker, was brought on as Manigault Newman published a book with numerous salacious claims against the president." ...

... ** Josh Marshall: "[I]t seems highly dubious that the ... [non-disclosure agreements] are enforceable. But that's not really the point. As the Cohen/Stormy Daniels saga has demonstrated, enforceability has never counted terribly high in Trump NDA thinking. The point isn't to win cases but to get a license to terrorize or bankrupt signee with predatory litigation.... If there's nothing else we've learned in recent months it is that if Trump is paranoid about being betrayed by his top operatives, he apparently has good reason.... Having the dignity crushed out of you amounts to the most reliable and universal aspect of Trump service.... It's a low trust, high fear climate which breeds backstabbing, betrayal, paranoia which only deepens in a self-validating, self-perpetuating way. It is a system of maximal public obsequiousness and maximal private subterfuge. Everything is a lie.... It a classic Hobbesian world, the war against all against all -- a comic dystopia Trump is building in the White House and aspires to create worldwide." --safari ...

... Ryan Parker of the Hollywood Reporters: "Penn Jillette says he knows for a fact that Mark Burnett possesses tapes of ... Donald Trump saying disparaging, racist remarks while working on the NBC reality show Celebrity Apprentice. Half of the magician duo Penn and Teller (who appeared on Celebrity Apprentice in 2012) recently told Vulture in an interview posted Tuesday that he is positive recordings exist because 'I was in the room' when Trump would say 'racially insensitive things that made me uncomfortable.' The infamous tapes that have dogged Trump since his campaign are once again in the news after former White House staffer and reality star Omarosa Manigault Newman said she heard the tapes, which allegedly include Trump using the N-word during production of the NBC series, which he hosted.... Trump on Tuesday, via Twitter, said Burnett assured him the tapes do not exist. Jillette says otherwise. However, he will not get in to the specifics of what Trump said because now that Trump is president, the 'stakes are really high.'" ...

... Jonathan Allen of NBC News: "White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday that she could not 'guarantee' that there are no recordings of ... Donald Trump using the N-word.... On Monday, the president took to Twitter to deny the existence of such a tape.... Sanders said that she and other White House aides would quit their jobs 'if at any point we felt that the president was who some of his critics claim him to be' and that he wouldn't have been able to form close relationships with other luminaries in the business and political worlds, including 'Bill and Hillary Clinton,' if he was." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Nice to see Sanders using "Crooked Hillary" as a character witness for Trump. ...

This president, since he took office, in the year and a half that he's been here, has created 700,000 new jobs for African-Americans. That's 700,000 African-Americans that are working now that weren't working when this president took place. When President Obama left after eight years in office -- eight years in office -- he had only created 195,000 jobs for African-Americans. President Trump, in his first year and a half, has already tripled what President Obama did in eight years. -- Sarah Sanders, at a White House news briefing on Tuesday

False.... According to the latest data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 708,000 more black Americans had jobs in July than in January 2017, the month Mr. Trump took office. By contrast, the same data show, the economy added about three million jobs for black Americans between January 2009 and January 2017, during Mr. Obama's presidency. -- Linda Qiu of the New York Times 

Update: From the Shear & Sullivan report, linked above: "Hours after her briefing, Ms. Sanders made a rare apology, tweeting that her numbers were off. 'Jobs numbers for Pres Trump and Pres Obama were correct, but the time frame for Pres Obama wasn't,' she wrote, citing information that she had interpreted incorrectly from the White House Council of Economic Advisers. 'I'm sorry for the mistake, but no apologies for the 700,000 jobs for African Americans created under President Trump.'" ...

... Andrew Prokop of Vox: "During a television interview Tuesday..., MSNBC's Katy Tur asked [Omarosa Manigault-Newman] ... whether Donald Trump knew about hacked Democratic emails before they were publicly released during the 2016 -- and Omarosa responded, 'Absolutely.' Tur followed up: 'He knew what was coming out before WikiLeaks released them?' And Omarosa said, 'Yes.' She also claimed that she had been interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller's team but offered no further specifics. [The "interview" appears to have been in the form of a phone call.] These are extremely vague claims, and it's difficult to know what to make of them without more details — details that Manigault-Newman does not provide in her new book.... It's never been definitively shown that the Trump team was in the loop on or involved in the two biggest email dumps to WikiLeaks, of the DNC's emails and John Podesta's emails." ...

... Politico: "... Donald Trump wrote online Tuesday that Jeff Sessions is not a 'real' attorney general, heaping fresh blame onto him for the Russia investigation that has served as a drag on Trump's time in the White House.... On Tuesday morning, Trump quoted Fox News analyst Gregg Jarrett and added a swipe at Sessions. '"They were all in on it, clear Hillary Clinton and FRAME Donald Trump for things he didn't do." Gregg Jarrett on @foxandfriends,' Trump wrote on Twitter. 'If we had a real Attorney General, this Witch Hunt would never have been started! Looking at the wrong people.' Also, see Patrick's comment below. "The Great Hillary Conspiracy" seems to be a TrumpWorld theme. (Also linked yesterday.)

** Emma Loop & Jason Leopold of Buzzfeed: "In its investigation of Russia's interference in the 2016 election, the Senate Intelligence Committee has spent more than a year trying to follow the money. But its efforts, unparalleled on Capitol Hill, have been hampered by a surprising force: the US Treasury Department, which has delayed turning over crucial financial records and refused to provide an expert to help make sense of the complex money trail. Even some of the department's own personnel have questioned whether Treasury is intentionally hamstringing the investigation.... While the reports include some of the president's current and former associates, even the Senate committee did not ask the Treasury for financial records on Trump himself or his family members." --safari: We keep hearing "the institutions are holding". This is proof of serious cracks in their foundations. Sounds like even the Senate investigation is looking under all the mattresses BUT the Trumps'.

Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "Lawyers for Paul Manafort say they’ll rest their case without calling any witnesses in the former Trump campaign chairman's trial[.] The decision in the bank- and tax-fraud case comes after Judge T.S. Ellis III denied a defense motion to acquit Manafort as his lawyers argued the special counsel had failed to prove its case at the federal trial in Virginia. Such motions are routinely filed and almost never granted. After several hours of sealed discussions, open court began at about 11:45 a.m. with no explanation for the delay." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Waiting for Donaldo. Paul Waldman in the Washington Post: "From the beginning, there has been a question hanging over Manafort's case: Why won't he flip?... There's a real possibility he'll never see another day as a free man. One popular explanation is that he's afraid that if he tells everything he knows, some people in Russia would become displeased enough to kill him. The oligarch Oleg Deripaska, whom Manafort supposedly owes $19 million, allegedly has links to organized crime.... [Enter right, Donald Trump.] You can already see the argument he'll make: The whole thing is a witch hunt, the charges are bogus, the jury was a bunch of Angry Democrats, and I’m intervening in the interests of justice. Trump also seems to genuinely believe that the investigation is unfair, and pardoning Manafort would be a great way for him to both assert control and stick it to Mueller."

Tales of Trump & Two (Other) Tyrants

Patrick Kingsley of the New York Times: "For years, [Hungarian President Viktor] Orban’s government has craved validation from Washington, spending millions of dollars on lobbying, mostly in vain. The Obama administration largely ostracized Mr. Orban, avoiding high-level, bilateral contacts as punishment for his creeping authoritarian tendencies. American diplomats criticized Mr. Orban's crackdown on civil society — as did President Barack Obama himself. But now the Trump administration is pivoting, signaling a new engagement with Hungary, as well as nearby Poland. The shift has alarmed many campaigners for democracy and the rule of law, even as others argue that the Obama strategy of trying to isolate Mr. Orban had failed, and created openings for Russian and Chinese influence. President Trump has made no secret of his fondness for strongman leaders, yet his praise for them has sometimes been out of step with the policies of his administration. Toward Mr. Orban, at least, American policy seems to be following Mr. Trump's lead.... 'It legitimizes Russian influence in Hungary, [said Jiri] Pehe, who is now the director of New York University's campus in Prague." It appears Rex Tillerson continued Obama's freeze, a freeze which ended shortly after Tillerson's job did.

Martin Chulov of the Guardian has an piece that explains, according to his source, how Trump exacerbated the Turkish economic crisis -- which could threaten the world economy -- when he tried to make a deal with Turkish President Recep Erdogan on a prisoner swap. There were only three people in a room -- the Presidents & a translator -- and Trump didn't understand the deal he had made. Oh, and later mike pence put in his two cents & made things worse. As punishment (for his own ignorance & sloppiness, if you come right down to it), Trump doubled tariffs on Turkish steel & aluminum, further deflating confidence in Turkey's economic outlook. Mrs. McC: Are you surprised? (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Kareem Fahim of the Washington Post: "Turkey on Wednesday raised tariffs on a number of products imported from the United States, including passenger cars, tobacco and spirits, retaliating for President Trump's decision last week to double tariffs on Turkish metals. The tit-for-tat measures are part of a broader dispute between the two countries over the fate of an American citizen, Andrew Brunson, who is being prosecuted by Turkish authorities on terrorism-related charges. The Trump administration has demanded that Brunson, a pastor from North Carolina who has lived in Turkey for decades, be allowed to return to the United States. Turkey has suffered the most from the feud, which has helped push its currency, the lira, to record lows against the dollar. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has accused the United States of bullying behavior and economic sabotage, vowed on Tuesday to boycott U.S.-made electronic goods, including Apple's signature iPhone." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Surely a smarter president -- say, Dubya -- could have arranged to have Brunson returned to the U.S. without any fall-out or face-saving hoohah.

Emily Holden of Politico: "The Trump administration is preparing to unveil its plan for undoing Barack Obama's most ambitious climate regulation -- offering a replacement that would do far less to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet, according to Politico’s review of a portion of the unpublished draft. The new climate proposal for coal-burning power plants, expected to be released in the coming days, would give states wide latitude to write their own modest regulations for coal plants or even seek permission to opt out, according to the document and a source who has read other sections of the draft.... Obama's Clean Power Plan ... would have sped a shift away from coal use and toward less-polluting sources such as natural gas, wind and solar. That plan was the centerpiece of Obama's pledge for the U.S. to cut carbon dioxide emissions as part of the Paris climate agreement, which ... Donald Trump has said he plans to exit."

Emily Stewart of Vox: "The federal government's top consumer watchdog has decided it no longer needs to proactively supervise banks, credit card companies, and other lenders who deal with members of the military and their families to make sure they're not committing fraud or abuse. Critics, baffled by the decision from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, say it will put service members in the claws of predatory lenders and put their careers and livelihoods — and potentially US national security -- at risk.... Now the agency, under interim director Mick Mulvaney, is planning to end its use of these supervisory examinations of lenders.... Instead, the bureau will only be able to take action against lenders if it receives a complaint." --safari (Also linked yesterday.)

** Rebekah Entralago of ThinkProgress: "Two federal immigration agencies worked together in a coordinated effort to set deportation traps for unsuspecting immigrants seeking legal status, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) alleged in a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen this week. According to the Boston Globe, the two agencies arranged meetings for the undocumented immigrants at government offices, where they were subsequently arrested, and in some cases deported." --safari ...

... Amanda Michelle Gomez of ThinkProgress: "The federal health department's refugee office -- an office that's garnered attention for blocking an undocumented teen's abortion, failing to reunite migrant families the administration has separated, and contracting with detention facilities with grave abuses -- has removed its staff directory from its website.... Email addresses and phone numbers for 22 members of the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (ORR) leadership were taken down and not replaced.... The removal appears to have been around the same time that [ORR director] Scott Lloyd tried to stop detained migrant teens from getting abortions. In mid-October, news broke that Lloyd personally intervened to try to persuade pregnant girls in ORR custody." (Also linked yesterday.)

All the Best People, Ctd. Barbara Starr of CNN: "One of Defense Secretary James Mattis' most senior civilian advisers is being investigated by the Defense Department Office of Inspector General for allegedly retaliating against staff members after she used some of them to conduct her personal errands and business matters, according to four sources familiar with the probe. Dana White, the Trump administration political appointee who serves as the Pentagon's chief spokeswoman, has been under investigation for several weeks after multiple complaints were filed against her. White is alleged to have misused support staff, asking them, among other things, to fetch her drycleaning, run to the pharmacy for her and work on her mortgage paperwork. Staffers also charge that she inappropriately transferred personnel after they filed complaints about her. White has not been found in violation of any federal regulation or policy at this point.... Matters came to a head [in May], when at least two staffers raised concerns with more senior officials about White's use of their time. The staffers were transferred soon after and complained to the IG that they were moved in reprisal for their complaints."

Infernal Environmentalists Cause Infernos. Elliot Hannon of Slate: "Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, a card-carrying member of climate change skeptic Trump administration, told a local TV station Sunday that climate change has nothing to do with the dozens of wildfires currently ravaging the west, and particularly the state of California, where blazes have churned through 1,000 square miles so far in what has already been the most destructive fire season on record. Instead, Zinke placed blame on 'extreme environmentalists' for the conditions that led to the state's historic fires this year. 'America is better than letting these radical groups control the dialogue about climate change,' Zinke said in an interview with KCRA. 'This has nothing to do with climate change. This has to do with active forest management.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Senate Race. Ed Kilgore: "Gary Johnson, Professional Spoiler, Jumps Into New Mexico's Senate [Race].... His leap into the Senate race is more than anything else a wake-up call for incumbent Democratic senator Martin Heinrich, who had been coasting to an easy reelection win over underfunded Republican political novice Mick Rich."

Laurie Goodstein & Sharon Otterman of the New York Times: "Bishops and other leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania covered up child sexual abuse by more than 300 priests over a period of 70 years, persuading victims not to report the abuse and police officers not to investigate it, according to a report issued by a grand jury on Tuesday. The report, which covered six of the state’s eight Catholic dioceses and found more than 1,000 identifiable victims, is the broadest examination yet by a government agency in the United States of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. There have been ten previous reports by grand juries and attorneys general in the United States, according to the research and advocacy group BishopAccountability.org, but those examined single dioceses or counties."

Beyond the Beltway

Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "Prison officials in Nebraska used the powerful opioid fentanyl to help execute a convicted murderer on Tuesday, the first such use of the drug in the United States and the first execution in the state since voters overturned a death penalty ban in 2016. The use of fentanyl, an opioid at the heart of the nation's overdose crisis, as part of a previously untested four-drug cocktail drew concern from death penalty experts who questioned how the execution unfolded.... The condemned man, Carey Dean Moore, 60, had been convicted of killing two Omaha taxi drivers decades ago and did not seek a reprieve in his final months."

Joel Achenbach, et al., of the Washington Post: "Florida's governor this week made official what residents of southwest Florida already knew: The bloom of toxic algae that has darkened gulf waters is an emergency. The red tide has made breathing difficult for locals, scared away tourists, and strewn popular beaches with the stinking carcasses of fish, eels, porpoises, turtles, manatees and one 26-foot whale shark. Gov. Rick Scott (R) late Monday declared a state of emergency in seven counties stretching from Tampa Bay south to the fringe of the Everglades. Scott promised $1.5 million in emergency funding. The governor is facing Sen. Bill Nelson (D) this fall at the ballot box in a contest for the senate seat Nelson has held for three terms. Each man has accused the other of failing to tackle the red-tide calamity and the simultaneous bloom of a different type of algae that is clogging rivers and canals and putting a scum on top of Lake Okeechobee." Includes video & a photo slideshow. Mrs. McC: This catastrophe is literally in my back yard, which abuts the Caloosahatchee River, part of the Intracoastal Waterway.

Erik Ortiz of NBC News: "Attorneys for the family of the Florida father who died last month following an argument over a handicap parking space thanked state prosecutors Monday for filing a manslaughter charge against the gunman, Michael Drejka -- less than a month after the killing. 'We are very appreciative that the state moved fast in this case,' Kelly McCabe, an attorney for the family of Markeis McGlockton, said at a news conference in which they supported the charge -- a felony that carries up to 30 years in prison. But while attorneys for the family of McGlockton have also decried his fatal shooting as a 'cold-blooded murder,' Pinellas County State Attorney Bernie McCabe told NBC News that he went with manslaughter after investigators and lawyers interviewed witnesses and studied the surveillance footage from the deadly July 19 dispute. 'I went through it all and made the legal decision that that is the charge that we could prove,' McCabe added. Legal experts agree...." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Commentariat -- August 14, 2018

Ella Nilsen, et al., of Vox: Connecticut, Vermont, Wisconsin & Minnesota hold primary elections today. The reporters highlight the big races.

*****

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "Lawyers for Paul Manafort say they'll rest their case without calling any witnesses in the former Trump campaign chairman's trial[.] The decision in the bank- and tax-fraud case comes after Judge T.S. Ellis III denied a defense motion to acquit Manafort as his lawyers argued the special counsel had failed to prove its case at the federal trial in Virginia. Such motions are routinely filed and almost never granted. After several hours of sealed discussions, open court began at about 11:45 a.m. with no explanation for the delay."

** Convergence. John Sipher of The Atlantic: "While many Americans are concerned that the Trump campaign may have colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election, Trump's outright convergence of interests with Putin's Russia may well prove far more damaging for U.S. interests in the long run.... Both Putin and Trump seek to inject chaos into the U.S. political system. They support an assault on U.S. foreign-policy elites, encourage fringe and radical groups, and envision a United States untethered from traditional allies. They also share a willingness to utilize informal and semi-legal means to achieve their goals.... Trumpism shares a disturbing amount in common with Putinism, including promoting racist hatred of outsiders; the belief that the rich are above the law; the reflexive use of propaganda lies and denial; and the shredding of legal and political norms.... The greatest concern for Americans shouldn't be that Trump may have colluded with Russia; it’s that under his guidance, we may be converging." Read on. --safari ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I was thinking about this just last night. For instance, what country benefits most from the FBI's firing of Peter Strzok, the agency's top counterintelligence agent on Russia? Hint: Not the U.S.

Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "'When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn't work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!' Trump tweeted Tuesday.... Referring to an African-American woman as an animal is at best a sharp departure from the language typically employed by Presidents and at worst a reference that traffics in sexual and racial imagery." ...

... Jeremy Diamond of CNN: "... Donald Trump's campaign said Tuesday it has filed for arbitration, accusing Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former campaign aide and White House official, of breaching a 2016 nondisclosure agreement with the campaign. The move is the first legal action the Trump campaign has taken since Manigault Newman published a tell-all book about her time as a Trump campaign adviser and senior White House official."

Politico: "... Donald Trump wrote online Tuesday that Jeff Sessions is not a 'real' attorney general, heaping fresh blame onto him for the Russia investigation that has served as a drag on Trump's time in the White House.... On Tuesday morning, Trump quoted Fox News analyst Gregg Jarrett and added a swipe at Sessions. '"They were all in on it, clear Hillary Clinton and FRAME Donald Trump for things he didn't do." Gregg Jarrett on @foxandfriends,' Trump wrote on Twitter. 'If we had a real Attorney General, this Witch Hunt would never have been started! Looking at the wrong people.' Also, see Patrick's comment below. "The Great Hillary Conspiracy" seems to be a TrumpWorld theme.

Martin Chulov of the Guardian has an piece that explains, according to his source, how Trump exacerbated the Turkish economic crisis -- which could threaten the world economy -- when he tried to make a deal with Turkish President Recep Erdogan on a prisoner swap. There were only three people in a room -- the Presidents & a translator -- and Trump didn't understand the deal he had made. Oh, and later mike pence put in his two cents & made things worse. As punishment (for his own ignorance & sloppiness, if you come right down to it), Trump doubled tariffs on Turkish steel & aluminum, further deflating confidence in Turkey's economic outlook. Mrs. McC: Are you surprised?

Emily Stewart of Vox: "The federal government's top consumer watchdog has decided it no longer needs to proactively supervise banks, credit card companies, and other lenders who deal with members of the military and their families to make sure they're not committing fraud or abuse. Critics, baffled by the decision from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, say it will put service members in the claws of predatory lenders and put their careers and livelihoods -- and potentially US national security -- at risk.... Now the agency, under interim director Mick Mulvaney, is planning to end its use of these supervisory examinations of lenders...Instead, the bureau will only be able to take action against lenders if it receives a complaint." --safari

Amanda Michelle Gomez of ThinkProgress: "The federal health department's refugee office -- an office that&'s garnered attention for blocking an undocumented teen's abortion, failing to reunite migrant families the administration has separated, and contracting with detention facilities with grave abuses -- has removed its staff directory from its website.... Email addresses and phone numbers for 22 members of the Office of Refugee Resettlement;s (ORR) leadership were taken down and not replaced.... The removal appears to have been around the same time that [ORR director] Scott Lloyd tried to stop detained migrant teens from getting abortions. In mid-October, news broke that Lloyd personally intervened to try to persuade pregnant girls in ORR custody."

Infernal Environmentalists Cause Infernos. Elliot Hannon of Slate: "Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, a card-carrying member of climate change skeptic Trump administration, told a local TV station Sunday that climate change has nothing to do with the dozens of wildfires currently ravaging the west, and particularly the state of California, where blazes have churned through 1,000 square miles so far in what has already been the most destructive fire season on record. Instead, Zinke placed blame on 'extreme environmentalists' for the conditions that led to the state's historic fires this year. 'America is better than letting these radical groups control the dialogue about climate change,' Zinke said in an interview with KCRA. 'This has nothing to do with climate change. This has to do with active forest management.'"

Erik Ortiz of NBC News: "Attorneys for the family of the Florida father who died last month following an argument over a handicap parking space thanked state prosecutors Monday for filing a manslaughter charge against the gunman, Michael Drejka -- less than a month after the killing. 'We are very appreciative that the state moved fast in this case,' Kelly McCabe, an attorney for the family of Markeis McGlockton, said at a news conference in which they supported the charge -- a felony that carries up to 30 years in prison. But while attorneys for the family of McGlockton have also decried his fatal shooting as a 'cold-blooded murder,' Pinellas County State Attorney Bernie McCabe told NBC News that he went with manslaughter after investigators and lawyers interviewed witnesses and studied the surveillance footage from the deadly July 19 dispute. 'I went through it all and made the legal decision that that is the charge that we could prove,' McCabe added. Legal experts agree...."

*****

It's all a scam. Everything. -- Akhilleus, on the Trump presidency*

Anne Gearan, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Monday signed a sprawling $716 billion defense bill named for John McCain at a ceremony [at Fort Drum, N.Y.], but he made no public mention of the ailing senator who has been among his harshest Republican critics.... Trump frequently disparages McCain in public, although usually not by name.... In a 25-minute address to troops, Trump praised the U.S. military as the world's most powerful war-fighting force and took credit for the legislation, which represents a $16 billion increase in authorized funding for the Pentagon over the current year.... Trump name-checked four members of Congress who joined him at the event, including Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who represents the district where the base is located.... McCain's friends and supporters reacted angrily to Trump's snub of the senator." ...

Last year, we secured a historic $700 billion to rebuild our military. And now the National Defense Authorization Act paves the way for 1,700 -- listen to this now. So we';ve been trying to get money. They never gave us money for the military for years and years. And it was depleted. We got $700 billion. And next year, already approved, we have $716 billion to give you the finest planes and ships and tanks and missiles anywhere on earth. -- Donald Trump, to soldiers at Fort Drum, yesterday

False. Mr. Trump's claim is wrong on two fronts: that the approved funding levels are 'historic' and that the military 'never' had money 'for years and years.' It's also not clear what he was referring to when he said the act 'paves the way for 1,700.'... That's not the largest military budget in recent history, let alone all of American history. Even if inflation is not taken into account, President Barack Obama signed a $726 billion National Defense Authorization Act for the 2011 fiscal year. Adjusted for inflation, Congress authorized more money for the Pentagon every fiscal year between 2007 and 2012, during the peak of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. -- Linda Qiu of the New York Times

Qiu goes on to debunk numerous other false statements Trump made yesterday.

... Later That Same Day. Shane Goldmacher & Tyler Pager of the New York Times: "President Trump returned to his home state of New York on Monday intent on settling old scores with leading Democratic politicians here, mocking Senator Kirsten Gillibrand as 'just a puppet' of Senator Chuck Schumer, and saying 'it' very sad to see what's happening with New York' under Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.... The president's remarks came at a fund-raiser in Utica for Representative Claudia Tenney.... Outside the hotel, about 100 Trump supporters stood across the street from roughly 400 protesters, several of whom spoke out against the president's policies on immigrants and refugees because of Utica's large refugee population. The United Nations named Utica 'the town that loves refugees,' as it has resettled more than 16,000 refugees over the past three decades. Utica has a population of just over 60,000."

Daniel Lippman of Politico: "Several times in the first year of his administration..., Donald Trump wanted to call Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the middle of the afternoon. But there was a problem. Midafternoon in Washington is the middle of the night in Tokyo.... Trump's aides had to explain the issue, which one diplomatic source said came up on 'a constant basis,' but it wasn't easy.... Trump's desire to call world leaders at awkward hours is just one of many previously unreported diplomatic faux pas Trump has made since assuming the presidency, which go beyond telephone etiquette to include misconceptions, mispronunciations and awkward meetings." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Jonathan Chait has a more amusing take on Lippman's reporting: "Running an effective foreign policy for a global hyperpower is always tricky when the president happens to be a personally corrupt authoritarian bigot who is concealing shady ties to a strategic adversary. The problem gets even harder when the president is unable to grasp some of the basic facts and principles of diplomacy.... It's like having Homer Simpson as president, but dumber:" (Also linked yesterday.)

Emoluments! Ben Weidner & Anita Kumar of McClatchy News: "At least 125 Republican campaigns and conservative political groups spent more than $3.5 million at ... Donald Trump's resorts, hotels and restaurants since January 2017, the month he was sworn in, according to an analysis by McClatchy.... By comparison, candidates and political groups spent less than $35,000 at Trump properties for the entire two-year 2014 election cycle, according to FEC records.... Since 2017, the biggest spenders have been Republican party committees -- including the Republican National Committee, the Republican Governors Association and the National Republican Senate Committee -- and Trump himself."

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump appeared to acknowledge on Monday ... that his White House had aides sign nondisclosure agreements. The president made the statement in a post on Twitter about Omarosa Manigault Newman.... 'Wacky Omarosa already has a fully signed Non-Disclosure Agreement!' Mr. Trump tweeted, using the type of moniker he often deploys against people who say disparaging things about him.... White House officials have not explained why Ms. Manigault Newman was hired, if there were such concerns about her or why she was offered a campaign contract after being fired.... For months, officials in the West Wing have refused to confirm reports by The New York Times and other news outlets that aides were ordered to sign nondisclosure agreements, which legal experts say are essentially unenforceable for government employees.... Former West Wing officials have said that while they were enacted, members of the White House counsel's office signaled that they could not be enforced, and that they were being executed to reassure Mr. Trump." Mrs. McC: Read on. Haberman's report may force Trump to act "not presidential" again (see next link). ...

     ... President* Paranoid Von Leakypants. Josh Dawsey & Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "President Trump’s bitter fight with a former top White House aide has highlighted his aggressive and unconventional use of nondisclosure agreements to prevent current and former government employees from revealing secrets or disparaging him or his family.... Copies of Trump NDAs ... lay out breathtakingly broad prohibitions on behavior and appear to be drawn heavily from similar contracts used in the past by the Trump Organization, the president's family firm. Under one agreement from the 2016 campaign, signers promised not to 'demean or disparage publicly' Trump, his company or any member of his family -- and also not to assist any other politician exploring a federal or state office. An agreement circulated in the White House last year barred signers from sharing any information they had learned in the building.... The rampant use of such nondisclosure agreements underscores a culture -- fostered by Trump himself -- of paranoia, leaks, audio recordings and infighting that has pervaded his dealings for decades and continues into his presidency, according to current and former aides."

... Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Omarosa Manigault Newman ... said Monday that she believes Trump was lying when he claimed in a phone call in December that he knew nothing about her dismissal by White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly.... Trump fired back at Manigault Newman with a Monday morning tweet in which he attacked his former aide as 'vicious, but not smart' and claimed that 'people in the White House hated her.' 'Wacky Omarosa, who got fired 3 times on the Apprentice, now got fired for the last time,' Trump said. 'She never made it, never will. She begged me for a job, tears in her eyes, I said Ok.' Trump said he would 'rarely see' Manigault Newman in the White House, a claim that contradicts reports that she enjoyed a close relationship with the president. In two follow-up tweets, Trump continued to disparage his former aide, saying he had 'heard really bad things' about her and claiming that she 'would constantly miss meetings & work.'... He added that while it was 'not presidential' to attack her, he was doing so because he believes the media will be trying to make her 'look as legitimate as possible.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Yeah, it's the media who force Trump to act "not presidential." ...

... "Welcome to the Resistance, Omarosa." Michelle Goldberg: "Omarosa Manigault Newman ... is an amoral, dishonest, mercenary grifter. This makes her just like most people in Trump's orbit. What separates her from them is that she might be capable of a sliver of shame.... She chose to speak out against the man who made her a star, and repent for her complicity in electing him. She may be a manipulative narcissist, but she's behaving more honorably than any other former Trump appointee.... Perhaps the most interesting thing about 'Unhinged' is its insights into how Manigault Newman, a former Democrat who'd worked in Bill Clinton's White House, rationalized being part of Trump's white nationalist campaign.... No matter how little credibility Manigault Newman has, the man who gave her a top-ranking job in his administration has less."

Adam Goldman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Peter Strzok, the F.B.I. senior counterintelligence agent who disparaged President Trump in inflammatory text messages and helped oversee the Hillary Clinton email and Russia investigations, has been fired for violating bureau policies, Mr. Strzok's lawyer said Monday. Mr. Trump and his allies seized on the text messages -- exchanged during the 2016 campaign with a former F.B.I. lawyer, Lisa Page -- in assailing the Russia investigation as an illegitimate 'witch hunt.' Mr. Strzok, who rose over 20 years at the F.B.I. to become one of its most experienced counterintelligence agents, was a key figure in the early months of the inquiry. Along with sending the text messages, Mr. Strzok was accused of sending a highly sensitive search warrant to his personal email account. It is not clear why Mr. Strzok, who was formally fired on Friday, was dismissed at this time.... Aitan Goelman, his lawyer, said that the deputy director of the F.B.I., David Bowdich, had overruled the bureau's Office of Professional Responsibility, which said Mr. Strzok should be suspended for 60 days and demoted." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

Agent Peter Strzok was just fired from the FBI - finally. The list of bad players in the FBI & DOJ gets longer & longer. Based on the fact that Strzok was in charge of the Witch Hunt, will it be dropped? It is a total Hoax. No Collusion, No Obstruction - I just fight back! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet Monday morning

Yasha Mounk of Slate: "... there is considerable evidence that [Peter Strzok] at times fell short of the FBI's exacting professional standards.... However, there is also strong evidence that Strzok's personal views did not affect his professional conduct and even more compelling evidence that they did not sway the actions of the bureau as a whole.... 'Did he get fired because of his failings -- or did the FBI buckle under the enormous pressure exerted by Donald Trump?'... By caving to a massive campaign of vilification by the president, and publicly violating [FBI Director Christopher] Wray's promise that the investigation into Strzok would be done by the book, the bureau's leadership has undermined that trust in a much more public, deliberate, and grievous manner than the man they scapegoated ever did.... Strzok's firing is only the latest in a series of cases in which high-ranking civil servants have been personally attacked by the president and then been forced to leave office under highly unusual circumstances: At this point, Trump has managed to dispatch the FBI's director, its deputy director, its general counsel, and the head agent of its investigating agency."

     ... AND as Rachel Maddow pointed out last night, Trump has managed to dispatch all but one -- David Bowdich -- of the direct or indirect witnesses to Trump's attempt to obstruct the FBI's investigation of Michael Flynn. How conveeenient!

Greg Sargent: As part of a Washington Post piece on Donald Trump Jr.'s popularity among Trump voters, President Trump told the Post, "'Don has received notoriety for a brief meeting, that many politicians would have taken, but most importantly, and to the best of my knowledge, nothing happened after the [Trump Tower] meeting concluded.' [Emphasis Sargent's] 'This statement was clearly lawyered,' Bob Bauer, former White House counsel under President Barack Obama, told me.... What happened after this meeting? As one legal expert told Natasha Bertrand, the big unknown is whether it bore some kind of relation to Russia';s subsequent cybertheft of Democratic emails and other possible evidence of collusion..., making the meeting part of 'the same criminal conspiracy.'... Trump's claim that nothing untoward subsequently happened 'to the best of my knowledge' is revealing. 'He's trying to put as much of a cloak of ignorance around himself as he possibly can,' Bauer told me. 'What this does is abandon Trump&'s year-and-a-half explanation that there was absolutely "no collusion." After that meeting, there could have been ongoing coordination. And now he's not denying that could have happened. He's saying he doesn't know."... The bottom line on all this, Bauer concluded, is that Trump almost certainly knows more than he has 'publicly admitted to or acknowledged,' and Mueller probably 'already knows it.'... If so, Trump can't lie to [Robert] Mueller about it or tell the truth about it, either." ...

     ... Steve M. looks at the same WashPo story about Junior (it's here; I purposely didn't link it yesterday), and he found it less compelling than Sargent did. He calls the report "a GOP press release.... As we all know, Junior is an ignoramus[.]... But that doesn't matter in the GOP -- in fact, it's beneficial. Here we are in the Democratic Party, asking ourselves whether Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is really ready for prime time ... -- but Republicans don't care about any of that. Anyone who turns their voters into spittle-flecked rage monsters is declared to be a superstar.... Even if Junior does time, I think he has a bright future in Republican politics -- maybe especially if he does time. If he does, he'll be a Trump and a martyr. He hates liberals in the most simple-minded way. He likes guns and hunting. He has no self-doubt. Therefore, he's a natural. I think he's the Republican presidential frontrunner in 2024, especially if he's on parole." ...

... He Was Right the First Time. This Is Now: Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it! -- Donald Trump, August 5, 2018. ...

     ... That Was Then, Public Statement: My son is a high-quality person and I applaud his transparency. -- Donald Trump, in a statement July 11, 2017

     ... That Was Then, Private Remark: He is such a f[uc]kup. He screwed up again, but this time, he's screwing us all, big-time! -- Donald Trump, ca. July 11, 2017, according to Omarosa Manigault Newman

Josh Gerstein, et al., of Politico: "Special counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors rested their case against Paul Manafort on Monday afternoon after calling more than two dozen witnesses in their tax- and bank-fraud case against the former Trump campaign chairman. The final round of testimony from Treasury Department senior special agent Paula Liss lasted only five questions. It essentially boiled down to Liss stating that she had not found any evidence that Manafort's international political consulting firms had filed reports with the U.S. government acknowledging they had foreign bank accounts.... A Chicago bank CEO who was seeking a top job in the Trump administration overrode the objections of the bank's president in order to green light a $9.5 million loan for Paul Manafort in the midst of the 2016 presidential campaign, a bank executive testified Monday.... The CEO of the Chicago-based Federal Savings Bank, Stephen Calk, interceded after the president of the bank, Javier Ubarri, decided it was too risky to allow Manafort to draw the $9.5 million in funds out of equity in his Bridgehampton, N.Y. home, bank vice president James Brennan said." ...

... Rachel Weiner, et al., of the Washington Post on today's developments in the Manafort trial: "Paul Manafort or his agents neglected to mention mortgages on two New York properties when he sought $16 million in loans... A vice president of Federal Savings Bank said he wouldn't have approved the $16 million loans, but the bank CEO pushed them through... The prosecution rested its case in chief, and the defense will argue its motion to acquit on Tuesday[.]" ...

... David Voreacos & Neil Weinberg of Bloomberg: "Paul Manafort turned to Jared Kushner for help in an attempt to secure a Trump administration job for a Chicago banker at the center of Manafort's fraud trial.... 'On it!' Kushner replied on Nov. 30, 2016, according to an email submitted by prosecutors into evidence Monday at Manafort's trial on bank and tax-fraud charges. The email shows how, months after Manafort was deposed as campaign manager, he reached into Trump's inner circle for help, without success. It also provides a window into how a disorganized, inexperienced campaign team was inundated with requests from supporters seeking coveted posts in the new administration. The banker who sought the job in Trump's administration was Stephen Calk, chief executive officer of the Federal Savings Bank, which loaned $16 million to Manafort. Prosecutors say those loans, made after the election, were part of a corrupt scheme to help Manafort pull cash out of his properties." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Not sure what a Trump administration roll is, but I'm thinking along the lines of a white-bread Wonder Bread bun. Definitely white-bread.

... Cristian Farias of New York: "... for all the flashy testimony to come out of the [Manafort] trial..., jurors have already seen reams of documentary evidence -- emails, invoices, and business records that paint a picture of the scheme Manafort is accused of orchestrating. In significant ways, the oral testimony simply corroborates or adds to the foundation prosecutors have already laid with the documents entered into evidence. As for [Judge T.S.] Ellis, whose ornery treatment of prosecutors has gotten him undue attention for all the wrong reasons, it's best to not read too much into it.... Because the defense is likely to catch fire from him too but also because benchslapping is something that trial lawyers have to live with -- and it's not a good barometer of how jurors will ultimately decide a case.... Ellis, more than just about anyone else in America, knows a wealth of extremely sensitive details about the Russia investigation, and his apparent drive to cut no slack for the prosecution also indicates that he wants their side to have a solid trial record in the event of an appeal." (Also linked yesterday.)

Morgan Chalfont of the Hill: "A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has rejected an effort by a Russian company to get charges brought by special counsel >Robert Mueller dismissed. U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich, who was appointed by President Trump, on Monday denied a motion by Concord Management and Consulting LLC to dismiss an indictment on the grounds that Mueller was appointed unlawfully by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Russia investigation. The company -- which allegedly has ties to Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, a Russian businessman better known as 'Putin's chef' because of his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin -- is accused of funding a Russian troll farm that used social media to sow discord among the American public in a broader plot to interfere in the election. Emphasis added." ...

     ... "Disloyal! Sad!" digby: "Trump should have gotten that loyalty oath up front.... They are looking for a judge in one of these cases to rule that the Mueller investigation is illegal so they can get it into the appellate pipeline. So far, no dice."

Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "As special counsel Robert Mueller zeroes in on Roger Stone, prosecutors are looking into seemingly threatening emails the longtime Trump adviser sent to a former radio host, sources say. The existence of some of those emails was first reported by Mother Jones in May. A lawyer for Randy Credico, the radio host, confirmed Friday that he received a subpoena from Mueller's office requesting that Credico testify before a grand jury in Washington on September 7.... According to two people familiar with the matter, investigators ... want to question Credico about a series of emails Stone sent him earlier this year, after Credico publicly disputed Stone’s claims about their interactions.... The investigators are interested in the extent to which Credico perceived Stone's statements as threats.... 'I am so ready. Let's get it on. Prepare to die cock sucker,' Stone emailed Credico on April 9 in response to Credico indicating he would publicly challenge Stone's description of their 2016 contacts."

JeffBo Is All-in with Voter Suppression. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "During the Obama administration, the Justice Department would often go to court to stop states from [imposing voter-suppression laws]. But 18 months into President Trump's term, there are signs of change: The department has launched no new efforts to roll back state restrictions on the ability to vote, and instead often sides with them. Under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the department has filed legal briefs in support of states that are resisting court orders to rein in voter ID requirements, stop aggressive purges of voter rolls and redraw political boundaries that have unfairly diluted minority voting power -- all practices that were opposed under President Obama's attorneys general. The Sessions department's most prominent voting-rights lawsuit so far forced Kentucky state officials last month to step up the culling from registration rolls of voters who have moved."

When Henry Met Jared. Caleb Melby, et al., of Bloomberg: Jared Kushner introduced himself to Henry Kissinger at a National Interest luncheon in March 2016, where Kissinger was the guest speaker. At the luncheon, Kushner "also met Dimitri Simes, the Russian-born president of the center.... Questions have recently been raised about the center for its ties to Russia, including its interactions with Maria Butina, a woman accused of conspiring to set up a back channel by infiltrating the National Rifle Organization and the National Prayer Breakfast.... In the weeks following [the luncheon, Kushner & Simes arranged] ... an event hosted by the center to give Trump a chance to lay out a cohesive foreign policy speech.... In his speech at the Mayflower, Trump called for easing tensions with Russia.... It was at [Trump's] Mayflower [event] that Kushner first met Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, an encounter he left off disclosure forms when he initially joined the government." Via safari (Also linked yesterday.)

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The National Archives is doubling down on its refusal to respond to Democratic' requests for documents from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's White House tenure. Archivist David Ferriero wrote in a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, that it is the agency's policy to only respond to requests from a committee chairman, who are all Republicans." Mrs. McC: Sounds to me like an unamerican, um, "rigged" policy. (Also linked yesterday.) Also, see safari's comment on this in yesterday's thread.

Congressional Races

WGRZ-TV: "Carl Paladino announced Saturday that he was putting his name in the mix for the 27th Congressional District. This comes after the incumbent, Rep. Chris Collins, R-Clarence, Erie County, was arrested on federal charges Wednesday and halted his re-election campaign Saturday morning.... In 2017, Paladino was removed from the Buffalo school board, which accused him of willfully sharing confidential information about negotiations with the city's teachers union and a pending lawsuit that was discussed during a closed-door meeting. He had faced a barrage of criticism during his time on the board for racist and controversial remarks." The story lists other people who have expressed interest in running. Thanks to PD Pepe for the heads-up.

Stephanie Murray of Politico: "A high-ranking Republican lawmaker's son donated the 'maximum amount' to a Democrat running to replace his father. Bobby Goodlatte, son of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), made the surprise announcement on Twitter Sunday night. Goodlatte is retiring after 13 terms in Congress. 'I just gave the maximum allowed donation to Jennifer Lewis, a democrat running for my father's congressional seat. I've also gotten 5 other folks to commit to donate the max. 2018 is the year to flip districts -- let's do this!' Bobby Goodlatte wrote on Twitter.... Donald Trump carried the central Virginia district with nearly 60 percent of the vote in 2016, and Mitt Romney did the same in the 2012 presidential election. Goodlatte received two-thirds of the vote that year." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Update: Jennifer Hansler of CNN: "The son of a prominent House Republican blasted his father's role in the saga leading up to FBI agent Peter Strzok's ouster, less than a day after he announced that he was supporting the Democratic candidate to succeed his father. 'I'm deeply embarrassed that Peter Strzok's career was ruined by my father's political grandstanding. That committee hearing was a low point for Congress,' Bobby Goodlatte, the son of House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, tweeted Monday. 'Thank you for your service sir. You are a patriot.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Campbell Robertson of the New York Times: "The West Virginia House of Delegates voted late Monday night to impeach all of the justices on the Supreme Court, a decision prompted initially by reports of extravagant spending on office renovations. In a series of votes that frequently fell along rough party lines, lawmakers approved 11 articles of impeachment against the four sitting justices, sending the process on to the State Senate. Most of the articles involved the chief justice, Allen Loughry, a Republican, who has been suspended since June and is facing a 23-count federal indictment on charges of fraud and false statements. He is accused of using state property for personal use and of deceiving lawmakers, in addition to the charge of 'unnecessary and lavish spending,' most emblematically on a $32,000 office sofa.... Democrats have described the whole process as a partisan power grab; the Legislature and the governor's office are in Republican control, while a majority of the justices on the Supreme Court of Appeals, as the state's highest court is officially known, were elected as Democrats." ...

... Here's a November 2017 WCHS report on the lovely furnishings & renovations:

News Ledes

New York Times: "A bridge in the heart of Genoa collapsed on Tuesday killing 26 people as dozens of vehicles and tons of concrete and steel plunged onto city streets below in a disaster that prompted an emergency review of Italy's aging infrastructure."

Guardian: "A man has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences after a car crashed into a number of cyclists and pedestrians before hitting security barriers outside the Houses of Parliament in London, police have said. Armed police swooped on the scene in marked cars moments after the silver Ford Fiesta collided with the barriers at about 7.40am on Tuesday, pointing their weapons at the vehicle before a driver emerged and was placed in handcuffs. The man, in his late 20s, was arrested at the scene and taken to a police station in south London where he remains in police custody. He was the only person in the vehicle, which remains at the scene and is being searched. No weapons were recovered, according to police."

The Commentariat -- August 13, 2018

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

It's all a scam. Everything. -- Akhilleus, on the Trump presidency*

Adam Goldman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Peter Strzok, the F.B.I. senior counterintelligence agent who disparaged President Trump in inflammatory text messages and helped oversee the Hillary Clinton email and Russia investigations, has been fired for violating bureau policies, Mr. Strzok's lawyer said Monday. Mr. Trump and his allies seized on the text messages -- exchanged during the 2016 campaign with a former F.B.I. lawyer, Lisa Page -- in assailing the Russia investigation as an illegitimate 'witch hunt.' Mr. Strzok, who rose over 20 years at the F.B.I. to become one of its most experienced counterintelligence agents, was a key figure in the early months of the inquiry. Along with sending the text messages, Mr. Strzok was accused of sending a highly sensitive search warrant to his personal email account. It is not clear why Mr. Strzok, who was formally fired on Friday, was dismissed at this time.... Aitan Goelman, his lawyer, said that the deputy director of the F.B.I., David Bowdich, had overruled the bureau's Office of Professional Responsibility, which said Mr. Strzok should be suspended for 60 days and demoted." ...

Agent Peter Strzok was just fired from the FBI - finally. The list of bad players in the FBI & DOJ gets longer & longer. Based on the fact that Strzok was in charge of the Witch Hunt, will it be dropped? It is a total Hoax. No Collusion, No Obstruction - I just fight back! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet this morning

Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Omarosa Manigault Newman ... said Monday that she believes Trump was lying when he claimed in a phone call in December that he knew nothing about her dismissal by White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly.... Trump fired back at Manigault Newman with a Monday morning tweet in which he attacked his former aide as 'vicious, but not smart' and claimed that 'people in the White House hated her.' 'Wacky Omarosa, who got fired 3 times on the Apprentice, now got fired for the last time,' Trump said. 'She never made it, never will. She begged me for a job, tears in her eyes, I said Ok.' Trump said he would 'rarely see' Manigault Newman in the White House, a claim that contradicts reports that she enjoyed a close relationship with the president. In two follow-up tweets, Trump continued to disparage his former aide, saying he had 'heard really bad things' about her and claiming that she 'would constantly miss meetings & work.'... He added that while it was 'not presidential' to attack her, he was doing so because he believes the media will be trying to make her 'look as legitimate as possible.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yeah, it's the media who force Trump to act "not presidential."

Cristian Farias of New York: "... for all the flashy testimony to come out of the [Manafort] trial..., jurors have already seen reams of documentary evidence -- emails, invoices, and business records that paint a picture of the scheme Manafort is accused of orchestrating. In significant ways, the oral testimony simply corroborates or adds to the foundation prosecutors have already laid with the documents entered into evidence. As for [Judge T.S.] Ellis, whose ornery treatment of prosecutors has gotten him undue attention for all the wrong reasons, it's best to not read too much into it.... Because the defense is likely to catch fire from him too, but also because benchslapping is something that trial lawyers have to live with -- and it's not a good barometer of how jurors will ultimately decide a case.... Ellis, more than just about anyone else in America, knows a wealth of extremely sensitive details about the Russia investigation, and his apparent drive to cut no slack for the prosecution also indicates that he wants their side to have a solid trial record in the event of an appeal."

Daniel Lippman of Politico: "Several times in the first year of his administration..., Donald Trump wanted to call Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the middle of the afternoon. But ... midafternoon in Washington is the middle of the night in Tokyo.... Trump's aides had to explain the issue, which one diplomatic source said came up on 'a constant basis,' but it wasn't easy.... Trump's desire to call world leaders at awkward hours is just one of many previously unreported diplomatic faux pas Trump has made since assuming the presidency, which go beyond telephone etiquette to include misconceptions, mispronunciations and awkward meetings." ...

... Jonathan Chait has a more amusing take on Lippman's reporting: "Running an effective foreign policy for a global hyperpower is always tricky when the president happens to be a personally corrupt authoritarian bigot who is concealing shady ties to a strategic adversary. The problem gets even harder when the president is unable to grasp some of the basic facts and principles of diplomacy.... It's like having Homer Simpson as president, but dumber:"

When Henry Met Jared. Caleb Melby, et al., of Bloomberg: Jared Kushner introduced himself to Henry Kissinger at a National Interest luncheon in March 2016, where Kissinger was the guest speaker. At the luncheon, Kushner "also met Dimitri Simes, the Russian-born president of the center.... Questions have recently been raised about the center for its ties to Russia, including its interactions with Maria Butina, a woman accused of conspiring to set up a back channel by infiltrating the National Rifle Organization and the National Prayer Breakfast.... In the weeks following [the luncheon, Kushner & Simes arranged] ... an event hosted by the center to give Trump a chance to lay out a cohesive foreign policy speech.... In his speech at the Mayflower, Trump called for easing tensions with Russia.... It was at [Trump's] Mayflower [event] that Kushner first met Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, an encounter he left off disclosure forms when he initially joined the government." Via safari

Stephanie Murray of Politico: "A high-ranking Republican lawmaker's son donated the 'maximum amount' to a Democrat running to replace his father. Bobby Goodlatte, son of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), made the surprise announcement on Twitter Sunday night. Goodlatte is retiring after 13 terms in Congress. 'I just gave the maximum allowed donation to Jennifer Lewis, a democrat running for my father's congressional seat. I've also gotten 5 other folks to commit to donate the max. 2018 is the year to flip districts -- let's do this!' Bobby Goodlatte wrote on Twitter.... Donald Trump carried the central Virginia district with nearly 60 percent of the vote in 2016, and Mitt Romney did the same in the 2012 presidential election. Goodlatte received two-thirds of the vote that year."

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The National Archives is doubling down on its refusal to respond to Democratic' requests for documents from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's White House tenure. Archivist David Ferriero wrote in a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, that it is the agency's policy to only respond to requests from a committee chairman, who are all Republicans." Mrs. McC: Sounds to me like an unamerican, um, "rigged" policy.

*****

Trump and his crew of misfits & miscreants are such clowns, I feel as if I should begin every page with an apology for the news that follows. It's so humiliating to be an American right now. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Liar-in-Chief. Hope Yen & Christopher Rugaber of the AP: "... President Donald Trump is pulling numbers out of thin air when it comes to the economy, jobs and the deficit. He refers to a current record-breaking gross domestic product for the U.S. where none exists and predicts a blockbuster 5 percent annual growth rate in the current quarter that hardly any economist sees. Hailing his trade policies in spite of fears of damage from the escalating trade disputes he's provoked, Trump also falsely declares that his tariffs on foreign goods will help erase $21 trillion in national debt. The numbers don't even come close." (Also linked yesterday.)

Julian Borger of the Guardian: "Donald Trump's anti-press rhetoric is 'very close to incitement to violence' that would lead to journalists censoring themselves or being attacked, the outgoing UN human rights commissioner has said. Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, a Jordanian prince and diplomat, is stepping down this month as UN high commissioner for human rights ... in the face of a waning commitment among world powers to fighting abuses. Zeid said the Trump administration's lack of concern about human rights marked a distinct break with previous administrations, and that Trump's own rhetoric aimed at minorities and at the press was redolent of two of the worst eras of the 20th century, the run-up to the two world wars."

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "When President Trump took to Twitter to complain about two women with connections to the Russia investigation, he affixed special descriptions to both. 'Beautiful,' he said of Nellie Ohr, the wife of a Justice Department official who worked for Fusion GPS, the research firm that commissioned a dossier that made salacious claims about Mr. Trump. In a separate tweet, Mr. Trump used the word 'lovely' to describe Lisa Page, the former F.B.I. lawyer who worked on both the Clinton email and Russia investigations and whose text exchanges with another bureau official, Peter Strzok, included repeated criticism of Mr. Trump during his candidacy. The descriptors Mr. Trump used for the two women reflected his intense interest in physical appearances and his clear disdain for both.... His commentary on their looks was in keeping with a long-running tendency by Mr. Trump."

Victoria Guida of Politico: "Rudy Giuliani on Sunday said ... Donald Trump and former FBI Director James Comey never discussed former national security adviser Mike Flynn, backtracking from July comments in which he indicated otherwise. 'There was no conversation about Michael Flynn,' Trump's personal attorney said on CNN's 'State of the Union.' 'That is what he will testify to if he's asked that question.' He also told CNN's Jake Tapper that he never said the president had asked Comey to give Flynn a break. 'I said that is what Comey is saying,' Giuliani said."(Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Comey wrote in his opening statement before a Congressional hearing in June 2017 that "Trump said: "'I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.'" In oral testimony, under oath, Comey said "that he understood the President to be requesting that he drop the investigation into Flynn." It isn't foolish to question Comey's veracity, but it is hard to believe he made up out of whole cloth Trump's remarks about Flynn. Making up stuff is Trump's modus operandi. See AP report above. BTW, I heard the old clip Sunday; Giuliani did say that Trump asked Comey to give Flynn a break. Matt Shuham of TPM found the transcript: "What he [Trump] said to him [Comey] was 'Can you give him [Flynn] a break?'" This is yet another instance where Giuliani has changed the substance of his claims about Trump's obstruction attempts. ...

... Defining Obstruction Down. If the President Doesn't, Say, Pull a Gun, It's Not Obstruction. Megan Keller of the Hill: "President Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani said Sunday that it would take some sort of extreme action for the president to obstruct justice.... Giuliani said it would take some sort of extreme action for Trump to obstruct justice such as, if 'say the president put a gun to a person's head' in an investigation." Mrs. McC: But Rudy. Wouldn't putting a gun to Comey's head just be Trump's exercising his Second Amendment rights?

"The Rise & Fall of Paul Manafort." Sharon LaFraniere, et al., of the New York Times: "The whole trajectory of [Paul] Manafort's life -- from the son of a blue-collar, small-town mayor to a jet-setting international political consultant to Trump campaign chairman and now to prisoner in an Alexandria, Va., jail awaiting a jury verdict -- is a tale of greed, deception and ego. His trial on 18 charges of bank and tax fraud has ripped away the elaborate facade of a man who, the story went, had moved the swimming pool at one of his eight homes a few feet to catch the perfect combination of sun and shade, and who worked for the Trump campaign at no charge to intimate that for a man of his fabulous wealth, a salary was trivial [even though he was broke].... A subplot of the saga is the betrayal of Mr. Manafort by his longtime deputy Rick Gates.... Mr. Gates has testified that he helped execute Mr. Manafort's fraudulent schemes while simultaneously stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from him, apparently because he felt that Mr. Manafort was not dividing the riches from Ukraine fairly."

Stephanie McCrummen of the Washington Post: "Omarosa Manigault Newman, the fired White House aide seeking publicity for her new memoir about her time in the Trump administration, said in an interview Sunday that the way Chief of Staff John F. Kelly dismissed her involved a 'threat' and played an audio recording of Kelly that she said she made in the Situation Room. The recording was played on NBC News's 'Meet the Press,' where Manigault Newman was interviewed by Chuck Todd. In the purported recording, which would constitute a serious breach of White House security, Kelly is heard complaining about her 'significant integrity issues' and saying that he wants to make her departure 'friendly and without 'any difficulty in the future relative to your reputation.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Here's the recording:

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: If this conversation was recorded in the Situation Room, as Manigault Newman claims, why was that? The Situation Room is a secure site "to monitor and deal with crises at home and abroad and to conduct secure communications with outside (often overseas) persons." Why a "secure conversation" with Omarosa? This is just weird. ...

     ... Update: Patrick explained in yesterday's Comments why holding a termination interview in the Situation Room isn't so "weird": '... the conference room is an internal space in the WH intell center.... The whole thing is called the Situation Room, but it contains more than one room. So I imagine that Kelly just found that conference room to be the most convenient empty conference room at the time." Later, Patrick wrote, in response to another comment, "... individuals who enter [the SitRoom must] hav[e] the required clearance level. Which means that they have been briefed (when they got that clearance) not to bring any electronic devices into that area. And there are BIG signs at the entrances reminding people of the prohibitions.... They have little lockers outside for your cellphones, laptops, bluetooth devices, etc.... What OM did is a jailable offense. I'm not sure how the Secret Service can avoid charging her." ...

     ... Update 2: Sarah Sanders seems to confirm that General Kelly did it in the Situation Room. This is like Clue, White House Edition. Wrong answers: President Trump did it in the Oval Office with a gun. Mizz Sanders did it in the Briefing Room with a homemade pumpkin pie. Mister Pruitt did it in the White House Mess with a used Trump Hotel mattress.

... Javiar David of CNBC: "The fact that Manigault Newman recorded a conversation in a classified area could create considerable legal problems that add to her existing credibility issues. On social media, political watchers from the left and right ripped into Manigault Newman for having made the recordings in the first place." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: It appears Manigault Newman was truthful about that $15K/month "bribe" The White House offered her to keep her mouth shut. The Washington Post has reproduced a consulting agreement (between the Trump campaign & her) & a companion nondisclosure & nondisparagement agreement. The deal -- purportedly produced by Team Trump -- runs only till the end of this year, though. Kelly fired Omarosa in December, with an effective termination date of January 20, 2018. So that would make the "consulting" deal worth about $170K. Unless Omarosa mocked these up while she still had access to the White House watermark, like the GOP candidate in Florida who made her very own diploma (see yesterday's Beyond the Beltway), then these agreements were Omarosa's severance package. I expect she turned down the deal because it was so paltry. ...

... Jonathan Chait: "The $15,000-per-month retainer has been confirmed by the Washington Post, which reviewed a copy of the offer. This lends veracity to her other charges; after all, nobody is going to pay her $15,000 a month to keep quiet unless they know she possesses some damaging information.... The recordings might be damning, or they might not. In the meantime, she seems to have maneuvered her former colleagues into a highly uncomfortable spot." Mrs. McC: As the linked Post story (Aug. 10) notes, "Throughout his career as a businessman and politician, Trump has repeatedly used nondisclosure agreements to quiet critics and accusers, including adult-film star Stormy Daniels." Apparently Trump calculated that Omarosa had slightly more damaging info on him than Daniels -- who was paid $135K -- did. Or inflation. ...

Meridith McGraw & Tara Palmeri of ABC News: "Omarosa Manigault Newman's former White House colleagues are looking into legal options to stop her from releasing more tapes and to punish her for secretly recording her conversation with Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly, White House officials tell ABC News." ...

... Oops, Too Late. Adam Edelman of NBC News: "Omarosa Manigault Newman ... has provided an audio recording that she says is from 2017 and on which ... Donald Trump expresses surprise that she'd been fired from his administration. The tape, which was played exclusively Monday on 'Today,' appears to show Trump having no idea that Newman had been dismissed by his Chief of Staff John Kelly. 'Omarosa? Omarosa what's going on? I just saw on the news that you're thinking about leaving? What happened?' Trump is heard saying on the tape, which Newman said was made one day after her termination in December 2017 when Trump called her. Newman responds, 'General Kelly -- General Kelly came to me and said that you guys wanted me to leave.' 'No...I, I, Nobody even told me about it,' Trump replies. Newman then says, 'Wow'... 'You know they run a big operation, but I didn't know it,' Trump is heard saying on the tape. 'I didn't know that. Goddamn it. I don't love you leaving at all.'" Includes video & audio.

Liz Robbins of the New York Times: "... a new rule in the works from the Trump administration would make it difficult, if not impossible, for immigrants who use [government programs for low-income residents] to obtain green cards. New York City officials estimated that at least a million people here could be hurt by this plan, warning that the children of immigrants seeking green cards would be most vulnerable." Mrs. McC: This is one of the anti-immigrant plans Stephen Miller has pushed. ...

... David Glosser, who is an uncle of Stephen Miller, in a Politico op-ed, recounts how their shared ancestors, who were the victims of violent Russian pogroms, immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1900s with no money &, in some cases, via "chain migration." "I have watched with dismay and increasing horror as my nephew, who is an educated man and well aware of his heritage, has become the architect of immigration policies that repudiate the very foundation of our family's life in this country." Thanks to unwashed for the link. Mrs. McC: Glosser is a neuropsychologist. He should know that a logical appeal can have no effect on his nephew. Glosser might know whether Miller's problems are the result of self-loathing (Hitler had Jewish & African roots), extreme selfishnish (I got mine), or simply bad wiring that bypasses normal empathy impulses & an ability to relate to others (see Trump). Whatever the cause, it has produced an evil person on whom appeals to reason are useless. In slightly different circumstances, Miller would be the "troubled loner" who took an AK-15 to Santa Monica Place & mowed down dozens of shoppers. ...

... Masha Gessen of the New Yorker: "The new rules appear to use the broadest possible definition of public assistance -- one that includes Obamacare and children's health insurance -- meaning that most potential new citizens will be ineligible for naturalization.... The key difference between a legal permanent resident and a citizen lies in the realm of political rights: the non-citizen doesn't have them. She can't vote. She can't run for office. She can't engage in civil disobedience -- any legal violation may make her deportable -- and, in effect, she can't protest. The new rules will mean that this category of disenfranchised immigrants will grow by millions in the next few years.... The new naturalization rules provide perhaps the clearest example yet that Trump's war on immigrants is a war on democracy." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Congress, of course, could quash Stephen Miller's new rule by passing a veto-proof bill. But it won't. Republicans see every new citizen as a potential new Democratic voter. Most Republican legislators consistently place their own interests over those of expanding (or in this case, maintaining) democratic ideals. ...

... Today's American History Lesson. Diane Bernard of the Washington Post: "... at the height of the Great Depression..., President Herbert Hoover's [announced] a national program of 'American jobs for real Americans' -- code words for '"getting rid of Mexicans," who weren't considered "real" Americans,' said [Joseph] Dunn, whose staff spent three years delving into federal, state and local records ... to document this little-known tragedy of the Latino experience in the United States. The program, implemented by Hoover's secretary of labor, William Doak, included passing local laws forbidding government employment of anyone of Mexican descent, even legal permanent residents and U.S. citizens. Major companies, including Ford, U.S. Steel and the Southern Pacific Railroad, colluded with the government ... laying off thousands.... Hoover's approach is echoed in the Trump administration's immigration policies.'"

Sarah Ellison & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "The revolving door between Fox News and Republican political figures has turned steadily for years, with failed GOP candidates finding a home at the network. But since Donald Trump was elected president, the door has provided a number of former Fox personnel with entree into a government now infused with the cable channel's fiery sensibility. And with Bill Shine's appointment this summer to a top job in the White House, the door may finally come to rest. The two worlds have merged into one universe: the Fox News White House. If Donald Trump is running his own touch-and-go reality show from Pennsylvania Avenue, he has finally found in Shine his executive producer.... 'Bill Shine has made an entire career of subordinating himself to a big personality...,' a Shine confidante said. 'So when they're in the East Room, he wants the lighting to look the best it possibly can so that Trump can look the best he possibly can.'"

Chris Cillizza of CNN: "As a candidate, Donald Trump would famously boast that if elected, he'd 'surround myself only with the best and most serious people' -- adding: 'We want top-of-the-line professionals.' The first 18 months of his presidency have repeatedly revealed the fallacy of that pledge, as myriad members of Trump's Cabinet and senior staff have departed -- often under suspicious circumstances -- even as the President himself has railed against the ineptitude of people who still work for him.... The result, like so much of Trump's wildly unpredictable management style, is disorder, disarray and disorganization.... And because of Trump's tendency to openly discuss and deride both those who have left his side and those who continue to work within his administration, he launches a series of storylines that not only highlight the pandemonium within his ranks but also crowd out other, more positive stories for his White House." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump's mismanagement style was obvious before November 8, 2016. Trump fired his first campaign manager Corey Lewandowski & his second campaign manager Paul Manafort. His third campaign manager, Steve Bannon, had no professional experience running a political campaign. The so-called "foreign policy advisors" he named mystified actual foreign policy pros, who -- for good reasons -- had never heard of them.

Noah Weiland & Andy Parsons of the New York Times: "A year after the race-fueled violence in Charlottesville, Va., a small group of white nationalists marched through downtown Washington on Sunday on their way to a rally in front of the White House. It was over almost as soon as it began. The white supremacists were met along their march route and at the rally site by thousands of counterdemonstrators denouncing racism and white supremacy. The white nationalists, who numbered about two dozen, stayed in Lafayette Square, a park just north of the White House, for a short time and left before 6 p.m.... Counterprotesters who had been shouting 'Go home, Nazis, go home!' suddenly started booing when the white nationalists did just that. A new song then broke out, 'Na na na na, na na na na! Hey, hey, goodbye!' With the white nationalists gone, the mood among the counterprotestors grew mildly celebratory, although rain led many to leave. Before they made their exit, the white nationalists were separated from the counterprotesters by metal fences and dozens of law enforcement officers guarding against any outbreaks of violence." ...

... Terrence McCoy of the Washington Post reports on the demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia: "There were more than 100 mostly young protesters, some who had come from other states, calling for an end to white supremacist groups. There was an overwhelming police presence that some demonstrators called symptomatic of an over-policing of minority communities in America.... There was less a feeling of reconciliation than anger, as protesters screamed at police officers, whom some demonstrators had all weekend tried to associate with racism and fascism." ...

... AP: "Officers kept the peace at this weekend's protests and counter-protests a year after a deadly far-right rally. Authorities made several arrests in Charlottesville and in northern Virginia, where a small group of right-wing demonstrators took the Metro to their rally outside the White House. Authorities said a man heading to the 'Unite the Right 2' rally in Washington was arrested Sunday for assaulting two Virginia police officers ... outside the Vienna/Fairfax/George Mason University Metro station.... Meanwhile, in Charlottesville, police made several arrests as hundreds marched Saturday in a demonstration against the far-right "Unite the Right" rally that left one dead and others injured a year ago. That march was overwhelmingly peaceful as well, but Charlottesville Police say they're investigating an alleged assault of an officer who approached a man whose face was covered. Police say the officer and the man fell to the ground. Others pulled them apart, enabling the masked man to get away. No one was injured, and the march continued."

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Cathy O'Neil in Bloomberg: "Jack Dorsey from Twitter, Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook, all those Google nerds: They're monumentally screwed, because they have no idea how to tame the monsters they have created. The way I see it, these guys -- and they are mostly guys -- were arbitrarily chosen. They started with some good ideas, some luck, great timing, got lots of people to believe in their rosy vision, and they won the unicorn lottery. Little did they know or care what problems they were creating. And now, they're being asked to solve -- or acknowledge, or something --- some really big issues, such as what to do about people who use their platforms to meddle in elections or spread lies, paranoia, bigotry and straight-up hate. The world expects great things of them, because they're supposed to be geniuses. Problem is, they're not.... They're manufacturing baloney explanations about how they'll use more technology, or maybe more people, to handle the civic duties they had hoped to avoid.... I'd like to offer some advice.... Ask someone smarter and more educated, thoughtful, and civic-minded to decide on the future of your companies."

How Dollar General Creates New "Food Deserts." Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Chris McGreal of the Guardian: "Dollar General is opening stores at the rate of three a day across the US. It moves into places not even Walmart will go, targeting rural towns and damaged inner-city neighbourhoods with basic goods at basic prices.... The chain now has more outlets across the country than McDonald's has restaurants, and its profits have surged past some of the grand old names of American retail. The company estimates that three-quarters of the population lives within five miles of one of its stores, which stock everything from groceries and household cleaners to clothes and tools.... But there is a cost. Dollar General's aggressive pricing drives locally-owned grocery stores out of business, replacing shelves stocked with fresh fruit, vegetables and meat with the kinds of processed foods underpinning the country's obesity and diabetes crisis."

Beyond the Beltway

Minnesota Attorney General Race. Briana Bierschbach of Minnesota Public Radio: "Keith Ellison, one of the leading candidates to be Minnesota's next attorney general, confronted allegations Sunday of domestic abuse of a former girlfriend that surfaced days before the election that will decide the party's nominee. The allegation that the physical abuse was caught on video was posted to Facebook late Saturday night by the woman's son, four days before Minnesota's primary election, where Ellison is facing off against four other Democrats for the open attorney general's seat. Ellison is a six-term 5th District congressman and the perceived front-runner in the race. In a written statement Sunday, Ellison denied the incident.... State Rep. Debra Hilstrom, who also is running for the Democratic nomination for attorney general, recirculated the Facebook post and called on Ellison to answer the allegation.... Hilstrom was later joined by Democratic candidates Matt Pelikan Tom Foley, who separately called for Ellison to address the allegation." ...

... Kyle Potter of the AP: "Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison on Sunday denied an allegation from an ex-girlfriend that he had once dragged her off a bed while screaming obscenities at her -- an allegation that came just days before a Tuesday primary in which the congressman is among several Democrats running for state attorney general.... Karen Monahan['s] ... son alleged in a Facebook post that he had seen hundreds of angry text messages from Ellison, some threatening his mother. He also wrote he had viewed a video in which Ellison dragged Monahan off the bed by her feet. Monahan, a Minneapolis political organizer, said via Twitter that what her son posted was 'true.'... Monahan had sent Twitter messages for several months referencing an unidentified, powerful man who had abused her."

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Bierschbach said she reviewed "more than 100 text and Twitter messages between Ellison and Karen Monahan," which Monahan had given her. "There is no evidence in the messages reviewed by MPR News of the alleged physical abuse." Ellison is also deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee.