The Commentariat -- January 30, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Adam Schiff is remarkable. Listen to how he not only thinks on his feet but also nails it on his feet:

Mrs. McCrabbie: As Adam Schiff said in today's proceedings, "You can't make this stuff up." Trump's lawyers are of course arguing that the House has no authority to subpoena the President* so the second article of impeachment is invalid and Trump must be acquitted. According to Schiff, the DOJ is in court today arguing that the courts have no jurisdiction over the executive to force the President* to answer Congressional subpoenas. "What's the remedy, then?" a judge asked the DOJ lawyers. The DOJ's response: "Impeachment!"

Here are the New York Times' live updates of today's impeachment proceedings. ~~~

~~~ Sheryl Stolberg & Michael Shear: "After failing to get Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. to read the name of the person widely thought to be the whistle-blower whose complaint prompted the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, did so himself on Thursday. Mr. Paul, who left the Senate chamber while the impeachment trial was in session to hold a news conference about Mr. Roberts's refusal to read his question, said it 'deserved to be asked.' He said the question had nothing to do with the whistle-blower, then he proceeded to read it aloud and name the person." See also Akhilleus's earlier comment in today's thread.

Taking advantage of the fact most of their viewers didn't actually hear the senate Q and A, CNN, MSNBC and some other media willfully distorted my answers. -- Alan Dershowitz, in a tweet today

     ~~~ You horrible people have mischaracterized Alan Dershowitz because you listened to the left-wing, lamestream media. In responses to Dersh's tweet, Elie Honig (CNN) and Barbara McQuade (MSNBC) disagree for some reason: like -- because what Alan said. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

~~~ "I Don't Want to Know What You Did Last Summer." Stephen Colbert Explains the Trial:

Mitch Gets More Felicitous Lessons in Quid-Pro-Quos. Ben Tobin & Morgan Watkins of the Louisville Courier Journal: "Several members of ... Donald Trump's impeachment defense team recently gave money to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's 2020 reelection campaign, a Courier Journal analysis of campaign finance data found. Ke Starr ... gave the maximum individual contribution allowed -- $2,800 -- to the McConnell Senate Committee on July 31, 2019.... [Starr] ... has given to every McConnell reelection campaign since 2002. Another member of the president's impeachment defense team, Robert Ray, gave a total of $5,600 to the McConnell Senate Committee through two separate donations -- one for the primary election, one for the general -- on Sept. 30, 2019. Ray ... did not donate to previous McConnell reelection efforts, according to campaign finance data from the Federal Election Commission."

AND in today's Comments, Linda in Denver explains Chauncey Gardiner Cory Gardner's motives.

Marcy Wheeler (@emptywheel) lays out a completely different view of the prosecutor's memo in the Flynn sentencing. She writes that it does not really differ from the guideline recommendation. Wheeler thinks the memo is responsive to Judge Sullivan's previous rulings and his stated views of Flynn's actions (and the Petraeus sentence): "And, yes, they mention probation, just like Flynn did. But in doing so, they almost certainly did so in a way that only exacerbates Sullivan's innate disgust with powerful people who ask for special treatment." -- Anonymous, in today's Comments

The Dress: Speaking of Impeachment Trials of Yore.... Jennifer Peltz of the AP: Lawyers for a woman who accuses ... Donald Trump of raping her in the 1990s are asking for a DNA sample, seeking to determine whether his genetic material is on a dress she says she wore during the encounter. Advice columnist E. Jean Carroll's lawyers served notice to a Trump attorney Thursday for Trump to submit a sample on March 2 in Washington for 'analysis and comparison against unidentified male DNA present on the dress.'"

Look for the Silver Lining. Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the Chinese coronavirus -- which has killed 171 in China and infected more than 8,100 people -- could 'help' to bring jobs to the United States because companies will be moving operations away from impacted areas. During an appearance Thursday morning on Fox Business, Ross said that he didn't 'want to talk about a victory lap over a very unfortunate, very malignant disease,' and expressed sympathy for the victims. But he said the pneumonia-like virus would be a consideration for American businesses that are scrambling to determine how the outbreak will affect their supply chains.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Vast Cover-up Conspiracy, Ctd. Sheryl Stolberg & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The White House and Senate Republicans worked aggressively on Wednesday to discount damaging revelations from John R. Bolton and line up the votes to block new witnesses from testifying in President Trump's impeachment trial, in a push to bring the proceeding to a swift close. As the Senate opened a two-day, 16-hour period of questioning from senators, Mr. Trump laced into Mr. Bolton.... The president described Mr. Bolton on Twitter as a warmonger who had 'begged' for his job, was fired, and then wrote 'a nasty & untrue book.' On Capitol Hill, Mr. Trump's aides circulated a letter informing Mr. Bolton that the White House was moving to block publication of his forthcoming book, in which he wrote that the president refused to release military aid to Ukraine until its leaders committed to investigating his political rivals. That is a core element of the Democrats' case.... Before the trial convened, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, and other Republicans signaled that they were regaining confidence that they would be able to cobble together the 51 votes needed to block new witnesses and documents and bring the trial to an acquittal verdict as soon as Friday, after the revelations from Mr. Bolton, reported Sunday by The New York Times, had threatened to knock their plans off course." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The concensus on MSNBC this morning is that the call for witnesses will get a the most three GOP votes, leaving a tie that "they" say goes to no witnesses. CJ Roberts could break the tie, but who thinks -- if he did -- that he would come down on the side of witnesses?

     ~~~ Ernest Luning of Colorado Politics: "U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner [R-Colo.] said Wednesday that he thinks the Senate has heard from enough witnesses in ... Donald Trump's impeachment trial.... Gardner had previously been noncommittal about Democrats' demands to call more witnesses, including Bolton...."

Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "... the question of who [in the White House] did review [John Bolton's] book -- and to what extent -- has become a subject of the Senate impeachment trial of Mr. Trump. The White House has acknowledged that National Security Council staff members reviewed the draft, and that they briefed the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone. But the president's impeachment defense lawyers -- Mr. Cipollone among them -- insisted on Wednesday that they were unaware it contained the explosive revelation by Mr. Bolton, the former national security adviser, that Mr. Trump had directly linked aid for Ukraine to investigations he sought for personal gain.... Patrick F. Philbin, a deputy White House counsel and one of Mr. Trump's lawyers, said on the Senate floor..., 'We assumed Mr. Bolton was disgruntled and wouldn't be saying a lot of nice things about the president, but no one told us anything like that.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Maggie Haberman of the New York Times reported Monday, Jan. 27 @9:51 am ET: "John Ullyot, a spokesman for the National Security Council, issued a carefully worded statement on Monday morning, 16 hours after the Times story was published. 'Ambassador Bolton's manuscript was submitted to the N.S.C. for pre-publication review and has been under initial review by the N.S.C.,' he said. 'No White House personnel outside N.S.C. have reviewed the manuscript.'" Mrs. McC: I guess it depends upon what the meaning of "reviewed" is. In addition, Trump -- who, admittedly, can't read -- tweeted this about the book yesterday: "All Classified National Security." Really? Where did he come up with that idea?

AND There's This from Barnes' report: "The lawyers asked career civil servants, not political appointees, to review the book, in an effort to ensure it was handled similarly to any other book written by a former official with access to classified secrets, the officials said.... One of the career lawyers, Yevgeny Vindman, did not take part in the review to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. His twin brother is Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, a Pentagon official detailed to the National Security Council and a key witness about the president's Ukraine dealings in the impeachment hearings." ~~~

     ~~~ Courtney Hagle of Media Matters (Jan. 28): "... Breitbart News swiftly posted a conspiratorial smear against the brother of Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman.... Breitbart claimed 'a source close to the Trump administration' told the outlet that Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, Alexander's brother, 'is in charge of reviewing all publications by current and former NSC officials,' which would include Bolton's book manuscript.... Fox News' John Roberts tweeted on January 27 that his sources say Yevgeny 'is NOT part of the NSC team vetting John Bolton's manuscript.' Still, that didn't stop right-wing media figures -- including some from Roberts' own network -- from promoting the smear that the leak of Bolton's book manuscript was a conspiracy stemming from the Vindmans." ~~~

I find it highly unlikely that a very experienced official such as Ambassador Bolton, the former national security adviser, would put top-secret material in his manuscript. -- Kevin Carroll, who represents other former officials trying to publish a book, to the New York Times ~~~

~~~ Meredith McGraw of Politico: "The White House sent a letter last week to John Bolton's attorney informing him that Bolton's forthcoming book revealing sensitive details about his conversations with ... Donald Trump could not be published because it contained classified information. An official with the National Security Council sent the letter on Jan. 23 to Charles Cooper, shortly before The New York Times published an explosive article detailing how Bolton planned to reveal that Trump directly tied the withholding of foreign aid to Ukraine as he pressured the country to launch investigations into his political rivals.... 'Under federal law and the nondisclosure agreements your client signed as a condition for gaining access to classified information, the manuscript may not be published or otherwise disclosed without the deletion of this classified information,' Ellen Knight of the National Security Council Records Management Division wrote to Cooper." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

BREAKING: Rep. ENGEL reveals that BOLTON called him in September and told him to look into the Marie Yovanovitch ouster.

The committees had already started an investigation into Ukraine matters, but Bolton appears to have supported their effort. >>> pic.twitter.com/a54uwGKkaL

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 29, 2020

     ~~~ Bolton's Revenge. Josh Marshall of TPM: "... this news really confirms what has long been suspected without public proof: that Bolton has had a clear hand driving this whole scandal forward from the beginning. Or at least since his ouster or resignation on Sept. 10." (Also linked yesterday.)

Erica Werner, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump's legal team ... argu[ed] that presidents could do nearly anything so long as they believe their reelection is in the public interest. The assertion from Alan Dershowitz ... made his comments as the Senate launched into a question-and-answer session in the second week of the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history. Following a model established during President Bill Clinton';s impeachment, senators wrote their questions on slips of paper that Senate pages passed to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.... Roberts then read the questions out loud from the dais, glancing over his glasses as he addressed the queries either to the White House defense team or the seven House Democratic impeachment managers." ~~~

~~~ L'état, C'est Moi. Alan Smith of NBC News (from NBC's liveblog @3:41 pm ET): "Alan Dershowitz argued that a quid pro quo involving a president's political benefit was fine because all presidents believe their elections are in the public's interest." Mrs. McC: No wonder Trump thinks he's king. He listens to idiots like Dershowitz who tell him he is. (Also linked yesterday.)

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "We seem to have passed the point where Trump will be able to claim legitimate vindication from acquittal. His cultists will think he has been cleared. But to the 75 percent or so of voters who see witnesses as necessary, the trial is more likely to be regarded as the last frantic gasps of a president who cannot grasp that his own political interests diverge from the nation's. In following him down this path, Republicans will be seen as accomplices and entirely unfit to hold power."

~~~ CJ Thwarts Li'l Randy's Plot to Expose Whistleblower. John Bresnahan of Politico: "Chief Justice John Roberts has communicated to senators that he will not read aloud the alleged Ukraine whistleblower's name or otherwise publicly relay questions that might out the official, a move that's effectively blocked Sen. Rand Paul from asking a question. In a behind-the-scenes fight, Paul, a Kentucky Republican, has composed questions that violate Roberts's edict, according to several Republicans familiar with the dynamics.... Paul -- who has strongly opposed the impeachment proceedings against ... Donald Trump -- has been floating the alleged whistleblower's name in media interviews for months.... Roberts was allowed to screen senators' questions before they were submitted for reading on the Senate floor, the sources noted."

The New York Times' live update page for Wednesday's developments is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Patricia Mazzei: "Lev Parnas..., who worked with the president's personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, to pressure Ukraine's government to investigate political rivals of President Trump, had hoped to watch the impeachment trial up close. But he could not get around the special security restrictions at the Capitol because Mr. Parnas, who is under house arrest, wears an electronic ankle monitor. Still, his arrival created a tizzy at the office of Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, when Mr. Parnas and his lawyers arrived to pick up their Senate gallery passes."

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The new legal team for former national security adviser Michael Flynn unleashed a withering assault Wednesday on Flynn's old lawyers, accusing them of a conflict of interest so severe that it merits allowing the ex-Trump aide to withdraw the guilty plea he entered more than two years ago.... Flynn also submitted a formal, written statement to the court on Wednesday proclaiming his innocence and seeking to explain why he pleaded guilty to a crime he now says he didn't commit. 'I am innocent of this crime and I wish to withdraw my plea,' Flynn wrote in his new declaration. 'In truth, I never lied.'" ~~~

~~~ Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Prosecutors backed away from their recommendation that former national security adviser Michael Flynn serve up to six months in prison, saying in a court filing Wednesday that probation remained a 'reasonable sentence' that they would not oppose. The filing comes as Flynn continues his effort to withdraw his guilty plea in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's Russia probe. Prosecutors did not explain in their filing why they reemphasized probation as a reasonable sentence for Flynn. The shift represents the latest turn in the case in which federal prosecutors once held up Flynn as a model cooperator and suggested probation but shifted their stance to include prison time after Flynn hired a new defense team, attacked investigators and undermined the prosecution of his former business partner."

He Huffed and He Puffed ... And the Wall Came Tumbling Down. Matt Stieb of New York: "On the campaign trail and trips to the southern border, President Trump has called his big, beautiful wall 'tough' [and] 'virtually impenetrable.'... On a September visit to the Otay Mesa border site in San Diego, he boasted, 'This wall is not something that can be really knocked down.' But on Wednesday, Customs and Border Protection confirmed to CNN that newly-installed wall panels in Calexico, California were knocked down by wind gusts of up to 37-miles-per-hour, causing the metal slats to timber into Mexican territory[.]... The wall has faced a few setbacks that contradict Trump's claims of near-impenetrability, like in November when the Washington Post reported that smugglers were using reciprocating saws -- available for less than $100 -- to cut through sections of the steel-bollard barrier in minutes. And though the president has claimed that no one would be able to climb the wall, smugglers have found a simple summiting method, using rebar ladders to hoist up one side, and rope ladders to scale down the other." Mrs. McC: In Florida, we call 37-mph air movement a "breeze."

The Incredible Lightness of Hubris 

Matt Stieb of New York: "... when justifying his fitness for taking on the 72-year Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Speaking with Sky News Arabia on Wednesday, [Jared] Kushner explained why -- nepotism aside -- he was the right man ... [to take] on the 72-year Israeli-Palestinian conflict]: 'I've been studying this now for three years. I've read 25 books on it, I've spoken to every leader in the region, I've spoken to everyone who's been involved in this.' That's all but impossible, considering that the Palestinian National Authority has rejected Trump administration invitations to come to the table, aware that any deal made by the current White House would be designed to exert power in the region and to benefit Benjamin Netanyahu." The expert Jared also apparently never heard of Israeli politician Yossi Beilin, who was instrumental in cementing the 1993 Oslo accords; Kushner dismissed Beilin as an example of "random individuals who don't have a lot of say or maybe knowledge." ~~~

~~~ This Is Rich. Justine Coleman of the Hill: "... Jared Kushner said Tuesday that Palestinians have a 'big opportunity' with President Trump's Middle East peace plan, saying if they reject the plan 'they're going to screw up another opportunity.'... 'It's a big opportunity for the Palestinians,' he said. 'And they have a perfect track record of blowing every opportunity they've had in their past.'... Palestinian leaders were not included in the negotiations after cutting off contact with the U.S. in 2017." Mrs. McC: Opinions I've scanned say the plan is heavily-weighted against Palestinian interests. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Juan Cole, for instance, after writing unflattering descriptions of the plan's authors, goes on to lay out the "Top 5 ways Trump plan for Palestinians is a Crime against Humanity." So, uh, not so good. (Also linked yesterday.)

Juliegrace Brufke & Scott Wong of the Hill: "Rep. Doug Collins's decision to run for the Senate in Georgia will set in motion a game of musical chairs that could put two of President Trump's most loyal defenders in the top GOP slots of the House Judiciary and Oversight committees. Collins has been serving as the top Republican on the powerful Judiciary Committee since January 2019, but House GOP conference rules require lawmakers to relinquish chairman or ranking member posts once they launch bids for higher office.... A key GOP lawmaker said [Jacketless Jim] Jordan is in a strong position for the Judiciary job.... That would open up the top GOP job on [the] Oversight [Committee], which some lawmakers said could temporarily be filled by another Trump loyalist, retiring Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.)."

Presidential Race

Sydney Ember & Lazaro Gamio of the New York Times have composed an 10-question interactive quiz to help you figure out which of the top eight Democratic presidential candidates you most agree with. Mrs. McC: I took the quiz & the quiz-makers couldn't decide: I most agreed with two candidates: Sanders & Warren.

Street Money. Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "Allies of Donald Trump have begun holding events in black communities where organizers lavish praise on the president as they hand out tens of thousands of dollars to lucky attendees. The first giveaway took place last month in Cleveland, where recipients whose winning tickets were drawn from a bin landed cash gifts in increments of several hundred dollars, stuffed into envelopes. A second giveaway scheduled for this month in Virginia has been postponed, and more are said to be in the works.... The cash giveaways are organized under the auspices of an outside charity, the Urban Revitalization Coalition, permitting donors to remain anonymous and make tax-deductible contributions. The organizers say the events are run by the book and intended to promote economic development in inner cities. But the group behind the cash giveaways is registered as a 501(c)3 charitable organization. One leading legal expert on nonprofit law said the arrangement raises questions about the group's tax-exempt status, because it does not appear to be vetting the recipients of its money for legitimate charitable need."

Senate Race. Justin Wise of the Hill: "Republican Rep. Doug Collins (Ga.)..., on Wednesday announced that he is launching a 2020 primary challenge against Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.).

"This Is How the Industry Works." Jan Ransom of the New York Times: Dawn "Dunning [-- a waitress and aspiring actor from Ohio --] testified [in Harvey Weinstein's rape trial --] that at one meeting, Mr. Weinstein suggested she agree to a threesome with him and one of his assistants to advance her career, telling her, 'This is how the industry works.' [Tara] Wulff [-- another waitress & aspiring actor --] said she had met Mr. Weinstein to discuss a movie role when he raped her inside of his Manhattan loft. Ms. Dunning and Ms. Wulff were the latest women to testify against Mr. Weinstein at his long awaited trial in [New York] State Supreme Court in Manhattan, which is widely seen as a watershed moment in the #MeToo era. In all, six women have agreed to testify for the prosecution about their allegations that Mr. Weinstein sexually assaulted them."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Maia de la Baume & David Herszenhorn of Politico: "The European Parliament on Wednesday ratified the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and bid farewell to its British members, capping a two-hour-long debate and more than three-and-a-half years of tortured negotiations between Brussels and the first country to ever quit the EU. It was a strange and emotional day -- one that an overwhelming majority of the Parliament had hoped would never come -- with a profusion of farewell parties that involved bagpipes, EU flags and various versions of the song 'Auld Lang Syne.' One rendition was by MEPs, many in tears, who held hands and linked arms as they sang in the plenary immediately after casting their historic vote. The tally was 621 to 49 with 13 abstentions, and it provided certainty -- finally -- that the U.K. would make an orderly departure from the EU at the stroke of midnight (Brussels time) on Friday." The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

New York Times: "Fred Silverman, who as a top executive at CBS, ABC and finally NBC was one of the most powerful people in the three-network era -- a force behind the success of beloved series like 'All in the Family,' 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show,' 'M*A*S*H,' 'Laverne & Shirley' and 'Hill Street Blues' -- died on Thursday at his home in the Pacific Palisades section of Los Angeles. He was 82."

The Commentariat -- January 29, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Maia de la Baume & David Herszenhorn of Politico: "The European Parliament on Wednesday ratified the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and bid farewell to its British members, capping a two-hour-long debate and more than three-and-a-half years of tortured negotiations between Brussels and the first country to ever quit the EU. It was a strange and emotional day -- one that an overwhelming majority of the Parliament had hoped would never come -- with a profusion of farewell parties that involved bagpipes, EU flags and various versions of the song 'Auld Lang Syne.' One rendition was by MEPs, many in tears, who held hands and linked arms as they sang in the plenary immediately after casting their historic vote. The tally was 621 to 49 with 13 abstentions, and it provided certainty -- finally -- that the U.K. would make an orderly departure from the EU at the stroke of midnight (Brussels time) on Friday." The New York Times story is here.

This Is Rich. Justine Coleman of the Hill: "Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner said Tuesday that Palestinians have a 'big opportunity' with President Trump's Middle East peace plan, saying if they reject the plan 'they're going to screw up another opportunity.'... 'It's a big opportunity for the Palestinians,' he said. 'And they have a perfect track record of blowing every opportunity they've had in their past.'... Palestinian leaders were not included in the negotiations after cutting off contact with the U.S. in 2017." Mrs. McC: Opinions I've scanned say the plan is heavily-weighted against Palestinian interests. ~~~

     ~~~ Juan Cole, for instance, after writing unflattering descriptions of the plan's authors, goes on to lay out the "Top 5 ways Trump plan for Palestinians is a Crime against Humanity." So, uh, not so good.

More below:

Meredith McGraw of Politico: "The White House sent a letter last week to John Bolton's attorney informing him that Bolton's forthcoming book revealing sensitive details about his conversations with ... Donald Trump could not be published because it contained classified information. An official with the National Security Council sent the letter on Jan. 23 to Charles Cooper, shortly before The New York Times published an explosive article detailing how Bolton planned to reveal that Trump directly tied the withholding of foreign aid to Ukraine as he pressured the country to launch investigations into his political rivals.... 'Under federal law and the nondisclosure agreements your client signed as a condition for gaining access to classified information, the manuscript may not be published or otherwise disclosed without the deletion of this classified information,' Ellen Knight of the National Security Council Records Management Division wrote to Cooper."

The New York Times' live update page for today's developments is here. ~~~

~~~ Patricia Mazzei: "Lev Parnas, the Soviet-born businessman who worked with the president's personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, to pressure Ukraine's government to investigate political rivals of President Trump, had hoped to watch the impeachment trial up close. But he could not get around the special security restrictions at the Capitol because Mr. Parnas, who is under house arrest, wears an electronic ankle monitor. Still, his arrival created a tizzy at the office of Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, when Mr. Parnas and his lawyers arrived to pick up their Senate gallery passes."

L'état, C'est Moi. Alan Smith of NBC News (from the liveblog @3:41 pm ET): "Alan Dershowitz argued that a quid pro quo involving a president's political benefit was fine because all presidents believe their elections are in the public's interest." Mrs. McC: No wonder Trump thinks he's king. He listens to idiots like Dershowitz who tell him he is.

Mrs. McCrabbie: Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) has said John Bolton telephoned him on September 23, 2019, asking Engel to have his committee investigate the recall of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch because Bolton felt "something improper had occurred." I overheard heard this on MSNBC News while I was doing something else so I may have part of the story wrong; nothing in print yet. Update:

BREAKING: Rep. ENGEL reveals that BOLTON called him in September and told him to look into the Marie Yovanovitch ouster.

The committees had already started an investigation into Ukraine matters, but Bolton appears to have supported their effort. >>> pic.twitter.com/a54uwGKkaL

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 29, 2020

     ~~~ Bolton's Revenge. Josh Marshall of TPM: "... this news really confirms what has long been suspected without public proof: that Bolton has had a clear hand driving this whole scandal forward from the beginning. Or at least since his ouster or resignation on Sept. 10."

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For a guy who couldn't get approved for the Ambassador to the U.N. years ago, couldn't get approved for anything since, 'begged' me for a non Senate approved job, which I gave him despite many saying 'Don't do it, sir,' takes the job, mistakenly says 'Libyan Model' on T.V., and.. ....many more mistakes of judgement, gets fired because frankly, if I listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now, and goes out and IMMEDIATELY writes a nasty & untrue book. All Classified National Security. Who would do this? -- Donald Trump, in tweets this morning

Includes "sir" tell. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ~~~

~~~ Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "Trump also tweeted about Bolton, impeachment and the witness issue a handful of times overnight on Tuesday and into Wednesday morning, suggesting the issue is at the forefront of his mind."

Daniel Strauss & Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "Lawyers for Donald Trump concluded their opening arguments in the Senate impeachment trial on Tuesday, dismissing objections to Trump's conduct towards Ukraine as 'policy disagreements' and warning senators not to 'lower the bar of impeachment' by voting to convict the president. The defense team briefly grappled with charges reportedly appearing in an unpublished manuscript written by former national security adviser John Bolton that Trump had conditioned security aid for Ukraine on the delivery of personal political favors. Even if Trump did that, his lawyers said, it would not be impeachable. But reports about the Bolton book were in any case 'inadmissible' as evidence, Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow argued, owing to the secondhand nature of those reports." ~~~

     ~~~ The story has been updated. New Lede: "Republicans do not yet have the needed votes to block witnesses from appearing at the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump, the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, told his caucus in a meeting on Tuesday night, according to multiple reports." ~~~

~~~ Erica Werner, et al., of the Washington Post: "In a closed-door meeting after closing remarks, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told colleagues he doesn't have the votes to block witnesses, according to people familiar with his remarks.... Just four GOP senators would have to join with Democrats to produce the majority needed to call witnesses.... An initial vote to allow witnesses, expected Friday, does not ensure witnesses would actually be called, since the Senate would have to subsequently hold separate votes on summoning each individual witness And Trump's ultimate acquittal still remains all but assured, since a two-thirds vote in the GOP-run Senate would be required to remove him."

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "President Trump's defense team ended an extended opening argument Tuesday in which it laid out that Trump had legitimate reasons to ask Ukraine for specific investigations. But it spent almost no time vouching for the actual investigations he wanted. To the extent that Trump's team tried to argue that the investigations were legitimate, it focused mostly on the idea that Hunter Biden' employment at a Ukrainian gas company was problematic. It spent considerably less time arguing for the theory that Trump actually raised with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on their phone call: that then-Vice President Joe Biden sought to help his son by pushing out Ukraine's top prosecutor.... Trump's legal team spent literally zero time talking about the one involving CrowdStrike and a server that was supposedly in Ukraine. Trump's team didn't utter the word 'CrowdStrike' once in three days, in fact, nor did it even mention a 'server' in Ukraine. It instead more broadly defended the idea that Ukraine might have interfered in the 2016 election." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: The Trump attorneys' lie that has bugged me the most is that in their July 25 phone call, Zelensky had no idea Trump wanted "deliverables" in exchange for military aid & a meeting. Trump could not have asked for a quid pro quo, the lawyers (falsely) argue, because Zelensky was completely unaware of the ask. It's as if Trump never said, "I would like you to do us a favor, though." It's clear from the phone call itself, as well as from earlier text messages among Sondland, Volker & and Taylor (verified in House testimony) that Zelensky was deeply concerned about the political favors Trump was asking for before the July 25 call. In addition, Zelensky's aides were calling the Pentagon July 25, hours after the big phone call, asking where the military aid was. Was that an amazing coincidence? BTW, if Trump -- unbeknownst to Zelensky -- was withholding funding until Zelensky did something Trump wanted, that would still be a quid pro quo. It's still this for that.

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Perhaps no claim is more ridiculous -- and more revealing -- than this: Senate Republicans are lamenting that they were blindsided by the news that Bolton's new book will reveal that Trump withheld nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine to extort an announcement that would help him politically.... The real story here is that Senate Republicans knew for months that such explosive revelations from Bolton were a very likely possibility -- and that this is precisely why they have resisted hearing Bolton's testimony so aggressively.... Way back in mid-November, the New York Times reported that Bolton privately met with Trump in August and urged him to release the military aid to Ukraine, but that Trump was 'unmoved.' This was amplified by testimony from Tim Morrison, a senior National Security Council official.... What actually blindsided Senate Republicans was ... this terribly inconvenient timing, which upended their coverup."

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a staunch ally of President Trump, on Tuesday urged former national security adviser John Bolton to speak out publicly about what he knows about efforts to hold up military assistance to Ukraine.... 'I spoke with John Bolton on Jan. 7 when I heard that he wanted to testify,' Johnson said, recalling his conversation with Bolton in connection with his own committee's investigation into possible corruption in Ukraine. 'I said "John, if you've got something to say, I'd rather have you say it sooner rather than later. We're calling in a bunch of witnesses, why don't you come into our committee?" John at that time said, "I'd only respond to a Senate subpoena,"' he said."

Never the Sharpest Tack on the Board. KTLA Los Angeles: "Just after President Trump's defense lawyers ended arguments in their Senate trial Tuesday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California became the first Democrat to suggest that she could vote to acquit him despite serious concerns about his character. 'Nine months left to go, the people should judge. We are a republic, we are based on the will of the people -- the people should judge,' Feinstein said Tuesday, after the president's team finished a three-day presentation in his defense." ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$: "Apparently that whole 'impeachment' thing is some sort of insult to the very concept of democracy -- unlike, say, the Senate, which gives a voter in Wyoming 67 times more representation than a voter in Feinstein's home state[.]... Feinstein is richer than Croesus and 117 years old, plus Trump has an approval rating in California of -28, so this obviously isn't strategic behavior on her part -- it's her genuine, considered opinion!' Later Feinstein tweeted, 'The LA Times [-- the original source of the story --] misunderstood what I said today. Before the trial I said I'd keep an open mind. Now that both sides made their cases, it's clear the president's actions were wrong. He withheld vital foreign assistance for personal political gain. That can't be allowed to stand.'" Campos: "It's hard to square this tweet with her statement earlier today that with nine months left before the election 'the people should judge,' but my guess is that her office got some rather pointed feedback very quickly." ~~~

~~~ Burgess Everett of Politico: "A trio of moderate Senate Democrats is wrestling with whether to vote to convict Donald Trump in his impeachment trial -- or give the president the bipartisan acquittal he's eagerly seeking. Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Doug Jones of Alabama are undecided on whether to vote to remove the president from office and agonizing over where to land."

The New York Times' live updates of Tuesday's impeachment proceedings are here. Michael Shear: "John F. Kelly, the former chief of staff to President Trump, told an audience in Florida on Monday night that he believed the revelations in an upcoming book by John R. Bolton, the president's former national security adviser, and thought the Senate should call witnesses in the impeachment trial." Mrs. McC: It's sorta like the captain tossed the rats off his sinking ship, and the rats were waving & laughing from the shore as they watched the ship go down. (Also linked yesterday.) The Hill's report on Kelly's remarks is here.~~~

~~~ The Guardian liveblogged impeachment developments and other stuff. Lindsey Graham says he supports allowing senators to read the Bolton ms. in a classified setting, raising the question as to why a book scheduled to be published in March must be read in secret room. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Chris Casteel of the Oklahoman: "U.S. Sen. James Lankford [R-Okla.] said Monday that senators should be given access to a manuscript written by former national security advisor John Bolton that reportedly bolsters the argument that ... Donald Trump withheld aid to Ukraine to force an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden." Mrs. McC: Say, Jim, you know who can get you a copy of that manuscript right now? The Impeached Guy. (Also linked yesterday.)

Thomas Kaplan & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "After sitting through hours of arguments in the impeachment trial of President Trump on Monday, where his legal team focused on how Mr. Biden's son, Hunter, had nabbed a lucrative position on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, [Sen. Joni] Ernst [R-Iowa] addressed reporters in the basement of the Capitol. 'Iowa caucuses are this next Monday evening,' she said. 'And I'm really interested to see how this discussion today informs and influences the Iowa caucus voters, those Democratic caucusgoers. Will they be supporting Vice President Biden at this point?' At an event in Muscatine on Tuesday..., Mr. Biden responded to Ms. Ernst's comments head-on, presenting them as proof that Mr. Trump's team was using the impeachment trial to try to hobble his candidacy. 'She spilled the beans,' Mr. Biden told the crowd.... 'She just came out and flat said it. You know, the whole impeachment trial for Trump is just a political hit job to try to smear me, because he is scared to death to run against me, and he has good reason to be concerned.'"

Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "... in the weeks and months that followed [Volodymyr Zelensky's election to the Ukraine presidency], efforts to construct a partnership between the Zelensky and Trump administrations, one focused on fighting corruption, crumbled. It crumbled in part because the Zelensky team was pulled into an American domestic political fight spurred by Trump's push to have Ukraine investigate his rival Joe Biden, Biden's son Hunter, and supposed interference in the 2016 election. That's according to Oleksandr Danylyuk, the former chairman of Ukraine' National Security and Defense Council, who said the requests 'rattled' Zelensky's team.... Danylyuk left the Zelensky administration in September, citing multiple 'triggers' that pushed him to quit, including the ongoing struggles with the Trump administration.... Looking back almost four months after his resignation, Danylyuk says there's one person in the Trump administration he trusted to help secure a new pathway forward for the U.S. and Ukraine: former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton. Bolton departed the Trump administration in September, just two weeks before Danylyuk left his post." (Also linked yesterday.)

Betsy Swan & Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "Lev Parnas' attorney Joseph Bondy is set to attend the Senate impeachment trial [Wednesday] during the first day of the question-answer period. His co-counsel Stephanie Schuman is also expected to appear.... 'Like many other New York constituents, Mr. Bondy reached out and asked for gallery tickets, and we said yes,' said Justin Goodman, a spokesperson for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the Senate Minority Leader. Bondy told The Daily Beast that his client was also trying to attend [Wednesday]'s proceedings in the Senate trial but is unlikely to be able to enter the chamber because he wears an ankle monitor. Senate rules bar individuals from bringing any electronics into the chamber during the trial."

Ann Marimow, et al., of the Washington Post: "As President Trump faces mounting legal bills from his impeachment trial, he is drawing on national party coffers flush with donations from energized supporters -- unlike the last president to be impeached who left the White House 'dead broke.' The Republican National Committee is picking up the tab for at least two of Trump's private attorneys in the ongoing trial, an arrangement that differs from the legal fund then-president Bill Clinton set up, only to see it fail to raise enough to cover his millions of dollars in bills before he left office.... Because Trump is on trial as a result of his status as an officeholder or candidate, election law allows him to dip into campaign or party funds for his legal bills.... Donors to the RNC and Trump's reelection campaign have already covered millions of dollars in attorney fees stemming from the president's other legal travails: former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, court battles over the president's tax returns, and a now-withdrawn defamation lawsuit filed by a former campaign staffer." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "Looking from the perspective of now -- one week into the impeachment trial -- it's striking to see how, without knowledge of political parties or partisan factionalism, [the antifederalists of yore] captured the exact dynamic that will keep a corrupt president in office.... The antifederalists looked to impeachment as a prime example of everything that was wrong with the Senate.... The antifederalists did not think the Senate would ever remove the president.... The trial against our corrupt chief executive is clearly slanted in his favor. If the antifederalist opponents of the Constitution could see us struggling now, they might just say, 'We told you so.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

This Should Work! Michael Crowley, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump unveiled his long-awaited Middle East peace plan with a flourish on Tuesday, outlining a proposal that would give Israel most of what it has sought over decades of conflict while creating what he called a Palestinian state with limited sovereignty. Mr. Trump's plan would guarantee that Israel would control a unified Jerusalem as its capital and not require it to uproot any of the settlements in the West Bank that have provoked Palestinian outrage and alienated much of the outside world. He promised to provide $50 billion in international investment to build the new Palestinian entity and open an embassy in its new state.... Rather than a serious blueprint for peace, analysts called it a political document by a president in the middle of an impeachment trial working in tandem with a prime minister under criminal indictment and about to face his third election in the span of a year." A USA Today story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE, Back Home.... BBC News: "Israel's attorney general has filed a formal indictment in court against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It came after Mr Netanyahu withdrew a request for parliamentary immunity from prosecution on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in connection with three separate cases. He has denied any wrongdoing. The Israeli parliament had been due to open a debate on the immunity request on Tuesday. But Mr Netanyahu said he would not have got a fair hearing. He also criticised opponents for going ahead with the debate when ... Donald Trump was due to unveil his long-awaited Middle East peace plan." (Also linked yesterday.)

Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "... Donald Trump took a moment from presenting his plan for peace in the Middle East on Tuesday to praise his secretary of state -- for blasting an NPR reporter. 'That reporter couldn't have done too good a job on you yesterday. I think you did a good job on her, actually,' Trump told a chuckling Mike Pompeo during his speech at the White House alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu." Mrs. McC: I would like to see a report from the White House doctor into whether Trump & Pompeo were separated at birth or were joined at the hip later in life. What a disgusting pair of lying, bullying pricks. (Also linked yesterday.) The whole room thought bullying a female reporter was hilarious. A roomful of bullies & cowards. ~~~

~~~ Marty Johnson of the Hill: "The White House Correspondents' Association (WCHA) on Tuesday criticized the State Department for removing an NPR reporter from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's upcoming trip to Europe and Central Asia, and called for it to reverse the decision. 'The State Department's apparent attempt to take punitive action against a news outlet for its reporting is outrageous and contrary to American values,' WCHA president Jonathan Karl said in a statement." ~~~

~~~ Mary Kelly of NPR writes an op-ed in today's New York Times, and the scariest part, as she points out, is the part where she asks Pompeo what his plan is to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. He doesn't have a plan, it would appear, so he snaps at her. No wonder he swore at Kelly. Pompeo does not think girls should ask straightforward, but vital, questions to which he has no answers.

Mosheh Gains & Phil Helsel of NBC News: "A total of 50 U.S. service members suffered traumatic brain injury from this month's Iranian missile attack on Iraqi bases hosting U.S. troops, the Defense Department said Tuesday.... Last week, the Pentagon said 34 service members had been diagnosed with concussions and other traumatic brain injuries. Of the 16 newly diagnosed patients, 15 have returned to duty in Iraq, [a Pentagon spokesperson] said."

Jeff Cox of CNBC: "The U.S. budget deficit likely will break the $1 trillion barrier in 2020, the first time that has happened since 2012, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates released Tuesday. After passing that mark this year, the deficit is expected to average $1.3 trillion between 2021-30, rising from 4.6% of GDP to 5.4% over the period. That's well above the long-term average since around the end of World War II. The deficit since then has not topped 4% of GDP for more than five consecutive years, averaging just 1.5% over the period. As part of a spending pattern that the CBO deemed unsustainable, the national debt is expected to hit $31.4 trillion by 2030. Tuesday's projections reflect a slight increase from the estimates presented in August 2019."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Joe Concha of the Hill: "The Washington Post reinstated political reporter Felicia Sonmez on Tuesday after determining that her tweets regarding the Kobe Bryant rape case posted shortly after his death were 'ill-timed' but 'not in clear and direct violation' of the publication's social media policy. The conclusion by Post managing editor Tracy Grant comes one day after the paper suspended Sonmez for the tweets. The reporter said the vitriolic reaction to the tweets was so intense -- with emotions running high following the news that Bryant and his daughter, along with seven others, died in a helicopter crash outside of Los Angeles -- that she received death threats on Twitter." See yesterday's Commentariat for links to related stories. Update: The Washington Post's story is here.

Presidential Race

William Saletan of Slate: "Bernie Sanders is on the rise. Less than a week before the first contest of the Democratic primary, polls give the Vermont senator, on average, a 3-point lead in Iowa and an 8-point lead in New Hampshire. Nationally, he has climbed to within 5 percentage points of former Vice President Joe Biden. If Sanders wins the first two states, he has a strong chance of winning the nomination. That sounds like good news for progressives. But it isn't. Sanders has major liabilities that haven't been exploited in the primaries. If he's the nominee, those liabilities could hand the election to ... Donald Trump." ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Chait: "... the totality of the evidence suggests [Bernie] Sanders is an extremely, perhaps uniquely, risky nominee. His vulnerabilities are enormous and untested. No party nomination, with the possible exception of Barry Goldwater in 1964, has put forth a presidential nominee with the level of downside risk exposure as a Sanders-led ticket would bring. To nominate Sanders would be insane." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Dear Misbegotten Democrats: A vote for Bernie is a vote for Donnie. I love Bernie. I love Pete Buttigieg, too. And even Dear Old Joe. But there are a lot of people I love whom I wouldn't pick for president. My children, my neighbors, my old friends. (Okay, they would all be better presidents* than Donald Fucking Trump.)

Senate Race

Georgia. Greg Blustein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "U.S. Rep. Doug Collins will soon announce a challenge to U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, setting up a bitter Republican showdown in November that pits one of ... Donald Trump's most vocal defenders against a wealthy former executive backed by Gov. Brian Kemp." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Mark Niesse of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "A bill that would force U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler into a Republican primary election against U.S. Rep. Doug Collins passed a committee Tuesday, clearing a path for a full vote in the Georgia House of Representatives. The House Governmental Affairs Committee approved the legislation that would replace a planned free-for-all special election in November with a partisan primary election in May. Then the Republican and Democratic nominees would compete head-to-head in a November election. The Republican-led committee and its Democratic minority joined forces in support of the proposal, with only one no vote from Republican representative." (Also linked yesterday.)

The New York Times is live-updating developments in the growing coronavirus epidemic. "The outbreak of the mysterious new coronavirus is rapidly spreading, the Chinese authorities said on Tuesday, as the official account of known cases jumped nearly 60 percent overnight and the death toll exceeded 100 for the first time. China said on Tuesday that 106 people had died from the virus, which is believed to have originated in the central city of Wuhan and is spreading across the country. The previous death toll, on Monday, was 81. The number of confirmed cases increased to 4,515 on Tuesday, from 2,835 on Monday, according to the National Health Commission." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ UPDATE. Here's the NYT's live updates page for today's developments. "British Airways became the first international carrier to suspend all flights to and from China."

The Commentariat -- January 28, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates are here. Michael Shear: "John F. Kelly, the former chief of staff to President Trump, told an audience in Florida on Monday night that he believed the revelations in an upcoming book by John R. Bolton, the president's former national security adviser, and thought the Senate should call witnesses in the impeachment trial." Mrs. McC: It's sorta like the captain tossed the rats off his sinking ship, and the rats were waving & laughing from the shore as they watched the ship go down. ~~~

~~~ The Guardian is liveblogging impeachment developments and other stuff. Lindsey Graham says he supports allowing senators to read the Bolton ms. in a classified setting, raising the question as to why a book scheduled to be published in March must be read in secret room. ~~~

~~~ Chris Casteel of the Oklahoman: "U.S. Sen. James Lankford [R-Okla.] said Monday that senators should be given access to a manuscript written by former national security advisor John Bolton that reportedly bolsters the argument that ... Donald Trump withheld aid to Ukraine to force an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden." Mrs. McC: Say, Jim, you know who can get you a copy of that manuscript right now? The Impeached Guy.

Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "... in the weeks and months that followed [Volodymyr Zelensky's election to the Ukraine presidency], efforts to construct a partnership between the Zelensky and Trump administrations, one focused on fighting corruption, crumbled. It crumbled in part because the Zelensky team was pulled into an American domestic political fight spurred by Trump's push to have Ukraine investigate his rival Joe Biden, Biden's son Hunter, and supposed interference in the 2016 election. That's according to Oleksandr Danylyuk, the former chairman of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, who said the requests 'rattled' Zelensky's team.... Danylyuk left the Zelensky administration in September, citing multiple 'triggers' that pushed him to quit, including the ongoing struggles with the Trump administration.... Looking back almost four months after his resignation, Danylyuk says there's one person in the Trump administration he trusted to help secure a new pathway forward for the U.S. and Ukraine: former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton. Bolton departed the Trump administration in September, just two weeks before Danylyuk left his post."

Ann Marimow, et al., of the Washington Post: "As President Trump faces mounting legal bills from his impeachment trial, he is drawing on national party coffers flush with donations from energized supporters -- unlike the last president to be impeached who left the White House 'dead broke.' The Republican National Committee is picking up the tab for at least two of Trump's private attorneys in the ongoing trial, an arrangement that differs from the legal fund then-president Bill Clinton set up, only to see it fail to raise enough to cover his millions of dollars in bills before he left office.... Because Trump is on trial as a result of his status as an officeholder or candidate, election law allows him to dip into campaign or party funds for his legal bills.... Donors to the RNC and Trump's reelection campaign have already covered millions of dollars in attorney fees stemming from the president's other legal travails: former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, court battles over the president's tax returns, and a now-withdrawn defamation lawsuit filed by a former campaign staffer."

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "Looking from the perspective of now -- one week into the impeachment trial -- it's striking to see how, without knowledge of political parties or partisan factionalism, [the antifederalists of yore] captured the exact dynamic that will keep a corrupt president in office.... The antifederalists looked to impeachment as a prime example of everything that was wrong with the Senate.... The antifederalists did not think the Senate would ever remove the president.... The trial against our corrupt chief executive is clearly slanted in his favor. If the antifederalist opponents of the Constitution could see us struggling now, they might just say, 'We told you so.'"

This Should Work! Michael Crowley, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump unveiled his long-awaited Middle East peace plan with a flourish on Tuesday, outlining a proposal that would give Israel most of what it has sought over decades of conflict while creating what he called a Palestinian state with limited sovereignty. Mr. Trump's plan would guarantee that Israel would control a unified Jerusalem as its capital and not require it to uproot any of the settlements in the West Bank that have provoked Palestinian outrage and alienated much of the outside world. He promised to provide $50 billion in international investment to build the new Palestinian entity and open an embassy in its new state.... Rather than a serious blueprint for peace, analysts called it a political document by a president in the middle of an impeachment trial working in tandem with a prime minister under criminal indictment and about to face his third election in the span of a year." A USA Today story is here.

Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "... Donald Trump took a moment from presenting his plan for peace in the Middle East on Tuesday to praise his secretary of state -- for blasting an NPR reporter. 'That reporter couldn't have done too good a job on you yesterday. I think you did a good job on her, actually,' Trump told a chuckling Mike Pompeo during his speech at the White House alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu." Mrs. McC: I would like to see a report from the White House doctor into whether Trump & Pompeo were separated at birth or were joined at the hip later in life. What a disgusting pair of lying, bullying pricks.

BBC News: "Israel's attorney general has filed a formal indictment in court against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It came after Mr Netanyahu withdrew a request for parliamentary immunity from prosecution on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in connection with three separate cases. He has denied any wrongdoing. The Israeli parliament had been due to open a debate on the immunity request on Tuesday. But Mr Netanyahu said he would not have got a fair hearing. He also criticised opponents for going ahead with the debate when ... Donald Trump was due to unveil his long-awaited Middle East peace plan."

Jonathan Chait: "... the totality of the evidence suggests [Bernie] Sanders is an extremely, perhaps uniquely, risky nominee. His vulnerabilities are enormous and untested. No party nomination, with the possible exception of Barry Goldwater in 1964, has put forth a presidential nominee with the level of downside risk exposure as a Sanders-led ticket would bring. To nominate Sanders would be insane."

Senate Race. Greg Blustein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "U.S. Rep. Doug Collins will soon announce a challenge to U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, setting up a bitter Republican showdown in November that pits one of ... Donald Trump's most vocal defenders against a wealthy former executive backed by Gov. Brian Kemp." ~~~

~~~ Mark Niesse of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "A bill that would force U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler into a Republican primary election against U.S. Rep. Doug Collins passed a committee Tuesday, clearing a path for a full vote in the Georgia House of Representatives. The House Governmental Affairs Committee approved the legislation that would replace a planned free-for-all special election in November with a partisan primary election in May. Then the Republican and Democratic nominees would compete head-to-head in a November election. The Republican-led committee and its Democratic minority joined forces in support of the proposal, with only one no vote from a Republican representative."

The New York Times is live-updating developments in the growing coronavirus epidemic. "The outbreak of the mysterious new coronavirus is rapidly spreading, the Chinese authorities said on Tuesday, as the official account of known cases jumped nearly 60 percent overnight and the death toll exceeded 100 for the first time. China said on Tuesday that 106 people had died from the virus, which is believed to have originated in the central city of Wuhan and is spreading across the country. The previous death toll, on Monday, was 81. The number of confirmed cases increased to 4,515 on Tuesday, from 2,835 on Monday, according to the National Health Commission."

~~~~~~~~~~

Nothing in the Bolton revelations, even if true, would rise to the level of an abuse of power, or an impeachable offense. -- Alan Dershowitz, Trump's prime-time defender, Monday ~~~

~~~ Michael Shear & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The White House and Senate Republican leaders struggled on Monday to salvage their plans for a quick acquittal of President Trump after a new account by his former national security adviser John R. Bolton corroborated a central piece of the impeachment case against him. The newly disclosed revelations by Mr. Bolton, whose forthcoming book details how Mr. Trump conditioned military aid for Ukraine on the country's willingness to furnish information on his political rivals, angered key Republicans and reinvigorated a bid to call witnesses. Such a move would prolong the trial and pose new dangers for the president.... The White House team is doubling down on a defense that is directly contradicted by the account in Mr. Bolton's book.... As evening set in, [Alan] Dershowitz made the legal team's only reference to Mr. Bolton, telling senators that the description of Mr. Trump's actions in his manuscript 'would not constitute an impeachable offense.... Hosting Israeli leaders, the president told reporters that he had not seen the manuscript of the former adviser's book but disputed its claims as 'false.'... Mr. Trump later complained to associates that the presentations from his defense team were boring." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Senate Republicans' attempts to continue their cover-up would be hilarious if the matters weren't so serious. From the report above, "'The best I can tell from what's reported in The New York Times, it is nothing different from what we have already heard,' Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, said on Fox News." This, after Trump's lawyers argued vigorously that House managers had presented no first-hand accounts that Trump had traded dollars for dirt, neverminding Gordon Sondland's testimony that he had heard this first-hand from the Perfect Caller.

Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.), an influential conservative in the Senate, has spoken with several colleagues in recent days about possibly summoning just two witnesses to President Trump's impeachment trial, with one called by Republicans and one by Democrats, according to three Republican officials."

The Guardian's liveblog for Monday's impeachment proceedings is here. @10:19 am ET: "Mitt Romney, one of the Republican senators that has already expressed openness to calling new witnesses to testify in the impeachment trial, said it was 'increasingly likely' other Senate Republicans would support the request." BUT @10:55 am: "Republican senator Susan Collins declined to commit to supporting a subpoena for John Bolton after one of her colleagues, Mitt Romney, predicted more Senate Republicans would soon join Democrats in requesting new witness testimony." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ The New York Times' liveblog for Monday's proceedings is here. ~~~

~~~ "President Trump's defense lawyers are arguing about the basis of the House's impeachment inquiry and the president's rights of due process and executive privilege. So far, they have offered an alternative rationale for why he froze security aid for Ukraine, ignoring revelations from the president's former national security adviser that directly contradict their case. The defense began its promised assault on former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son, Hunter, on Monday, describing what they said was significant evidence of corruption that made Mr. Trump's interest in the case proper."

~~~ Nicholas Fandos & Catie Edmondson: Mitch "McConnell was among those venting angrily to the White House in private on Monday about the leak of the former national security adviser's manuscript, in which he wrote that Mr. Trump was conditioning the release of military aid to Ukraine upon the country furnishing investigative information about his political opponents. That contradicts the defense that the president's lawyer's have offered the Senate.

~~~ Maggie Haberman: "By Monday morning, several Republican senators had angrily called the White House trying to determine who at the administration knew about Mr. Bolton's manuscript, which aides there have had for several weeks, and what was in it. They told the White House they felt blindsided, according to people briefed on the calls who insisted on anonymity to describe private discussions.... John Ullyot, a spokesman for the National Security Council, issued a carefully worded statement on Monday morning, 16 hours after the Times story was published. 'Ambassador Bolton's manuscript was submitted to the N.S.C. for pre-publication review and has been under initial review by the N.S.C.,' he said. 'No White House personnel outside N.S.C. have reviewed the manuscript.'" Mrs. McC: Trump's private attorney Jay Seculow, for instance, is not one of the "White House personnel." Neither are most other lawyers on Trump's defense team. (Also linked yesterday.)

You Impeached the Wrong Guy! Kyle Cheney & Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "... Donald Trump turned the Senate floor Monday into an alternate-reality impeachment of his political rivals: Joe Biden and Barack Obama.... For about two hours on Monday, Trump's attorneys Pam Bondi and Eric Herschmann argued that it was Biden and Obama who should be investigated for corruption or abuse of power, laying out a case thick with political innuendo that has been sharply refuted by sworn witnesses during the House's impeachment inquiry late last year.... Democratic senators routinely scoffed at the president's lawyers when they argued that Obama had abused his power in his relationship with Russia and engaged in a quid pro quo with then-President Dmitriy Medvedev -- identical accusations to the House's impeachment charges against Trump." Mrs. McC: In fairness to Trump's other defense lawyers, Ken Starr kinda sort argued for the impeachment of ... you guessed it ... Bill Clinton. I was disappointed none of them asked the House managers to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Jimmy Carter.

Their Master's Voice. Stephen Collinson of CNN: "Donald Trump's impeachment trial defense is a perfect mirror for his presidency. It's sometimes loose with facts, it recycles conservative media conspiracies, it praises Trump's 2016 victory, it criticizes the Obama administration and it's geared almost entirely toward his political base. It asserts brazen presidential power and insists that far from being corrupt, Trump's behavior is, as he might say, 'perfect.' Like a chip off the old block, the President's lawyers are accusing his rivals of the exact conduct for which he was impeached -- an attempt to interfere in the 2020 presidential election. They skirted over the profound implications raised by former national security adviser John Bolton in a fresh round of revelations. And his team used its second day of arguments Monday to perform the very task that got the President in trouble: roughing up Joe Biden, his potential Democratic foe in November."

Monday's Most Significant Unbelievable Lie of the Day -- And Other Lies. Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump on Monday pushed back on a firsthand account from his former national security adviser, John R. Bolton, about tying military aid for a foreign ally to his own personal agenda, as senators consider the president's future in the Oval Office. 'I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens,' Mr. Trump wrote just after midnight, referring to a widely debunked theory that the president had pursued about former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son Hunter.... Hours after his midnight posts, Mr. Trump falsely stated that the Democrats never asked Mr. Bolton to testify during the House impeachment inquiry last year.... Mr. Trump also falsely claimed that his White House released the critical military aid to Ukraine ahead of schedule.... 'There can be no doubt now that Mr. Bolton directly contradicts the heart of the president's defense,' Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, said in a joint statement on Sunday...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A CNBC report is here. ~~~

~~~ Oops! Barbara McQuade in a Washington Post op-ed: Donald Trump "may have been hoping to push wavering Senate Republicans away from agreeing to call Bolton to testify in the impeachment trial. But in the process, Trump probably waived any executive privilege that he could have claimed to keep Bolton quiet if that gambit fails.... Trump's tweets directly denying the substance of Bolton's reported allegations waive any privilege that might have protected them from public disclosure. Privilege is meant to keep a president's secrets confidential. If the president reveals those secrets or publicly discusses the conversations himself, there is no longer any need to protect them from disclosure. Now that Trump has accused Bolton of lying about their communications, the time has come to put Bolton under oath and see what he has to say."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "At first glance, at least, John R. Bolton's account of President Trump's private remarks sounds like an echo of the so-called smoking gun tape that proved that President Richard M. Nixon really had orchestrated the Watergate cover-up and ultimately forced him from office. But this is Mr. Trump's era and Mr. Trump's Washington, and the old rules do not always apply.... The pressure on the handful of Republican senators who had been wavering on calling witnesses will now increase exponentially and the president's defense has suddenly been thrown into disarray. When Mr. Trump's lawyers address the Senate Monday afternoon, they will face the challenge of explaining how his own former top aide says the president did exactly what they say he did not do -- or trying to ignore it altogether.... In their trial brief submitted earlier last week, the president's lawyers made that one of their key points. 'Not a single witness with actual knowledge ever testified that the president suggested any connection between announcing investigations and security assistance,' the lawyers wrote. What's perhaps even more shocking is that the White House knew what Mr. Bolton had to say at least as far back as Dec. 30, when he sent his manuscript to the National Security Council for standard pre-publication review to ensure that no classified information would be released, yet continued to promote a completely opposite narrative." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Steve M.: "... Senate Republicans will blame phony offenses by Democrats for their decision to end the trial quickly.... [They] will use the outrage off-ramp to dismiss the case for Bolton's testimony. And if they don't think that will work, maybe a few of them will concede that testimony from Bolton would be a good idea -- but then the question of his testimony will get mixed up in the fight for Republican witnesses[.]... I think Democrats would swap a Biden for Bolton. But an aggressive Republican move to subpoena a Trump wish list of witnesses will lead to a protracted fight, after which Republicans -- who are much better than Democrats at message discipline -- will say that no agreement could be reached because Democrats are afraid to hear witnesses. End of witness fight; end of trial." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Bolton's Book Brings News from the Autocrats' Club. Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, privately told Attorney General William P. Barr last year that he had concerns that President Trump was effectively granting personal favors to the autocratic leaders of Turkey and China, according to an unpublished manuscript by Mr. Bolton. Mr. Barr responded by pointing to a pair of Justice Department investigations of companies in those countries and said he was worried that Mr. Trump had created the appearance that he had undue influence over what would typically be independent inquiries, according to the manuscript. Backing up his point, Mr. Barr mentioned conversations Mr. Trump had with the leaders, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and President Xi Jinping of China. Mr. Bolton's account underscores the fact that the unease about Mr. Trump's seeming embrace of authoritarian leaders, long expressed by experts and his opponents, also existed among some of the senior cabinet officers entrusted by the president to carry out his foreign policy and national security agendas." The Hill's summary report is here.

Time Wounds All Heels. Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "The Republican strategy for getting ... Donald Trump off the hook in the Senate's impeachment trial has largely been rooted in the denial of the existence of a little something we, in the reality-based community, call time. The Republicans would like to pretend that the past doesn't exist, and also that the future won't exist, because doing so allows them to confine the mountains of damning evidence against the president to a minimalist public display that consists of in-the-moment rantings about 'no quid pro quo' and Adam Schiff and House Democrats' impeachment strategy.... That the future of this grotesquely corrupt for-profit presidency will rise and fall on the timing and dollar value of a book advance and a pub date is disturbing.... Until this week, GOP senators could at least plausibly have claimed that they had no idea what would come out in the future if they rushed this trial to its swift kangaroo conclusion. Today, any such argument is belied by the fact that the future happened yesterday."

Fox "News" Is Busy Discrediting Its Former Contributor. Aaron Rupar of Vox: "Faced with the news that President Trump's former National Security Adviser John Bolton's new book includes an account that undercuts one of Trump's central impeachment defenses, Fox News and the Trump-supporting Republicans who regularly appear on it went all-in on smearing him as a greedy and disgruntled former aide who only wants sell more copies. Take host Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who joined Monday's edition of Fox & Friends and said, 'The timing is a little interesting, isn't it?'... [Host] Maria Bartiromo ... accus[ed] Bolton ... of trying 'to sell a book.'... Sen. John Hawley (R-MO) went on Fox & Friends ... and incorrectly described Bolton's account as 'a bunch of hearsay.' White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham ... demeaned Bolton's publisher as 'the same publisher that [former FBI Director James] Comey used,' adding, 'the timing is very suspect.' (Grisham's claim is incorrect -- Comey's book was published by Macmillan while Bolton's is being published by Simon & Schuster.)... Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who serves on Trump's impeachment defense team and went as far as to smear Bolton -- a Republican who worked for multiple Republican presidents -- as a Democrat. 'Coming out at this late hour is a kinda typical move from the Democrats,' he said.... It is the White House, not Bolton, that appears to be responsible for the timing of news of Bolton's book draft.... The Times reports the White House was first sent a copy of the draft last month, weeks after Trump told reporters he'd 'love' for his top aides to testify during his Senate trial. Bolton's lawyer blamed the White House for leaking about it."

Matt Ford of the New Republic: "Whatever the outcome, [the Bolton bombshell is] a poetic turn of events. The president's greatest threat may not be from high-minded civic idealists, but a grifter whose shamelessness may exceed his own."

Juliegrace Brufke of the Hill: "Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said he believes Senate Republicans who break with President Trump on impeachment will likely face political backlash.... His comments come as centrist GOP lawmakers in the upper chamber face mounting pressure to vote to bring in additional witnesses for the trial in the wake of [the] bombshell New York Times report" on John Bolton 's unpublished book. Mrs. McC: Gee, Mark, they might end up with their heads on pikes.

Pompeo Triples Down on Punishing Girl Reporters. Darturnorro Clark of NBC News: "The State Department on Monday removed an NPR reporter from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's upcoming trip abroad after a dayslong spat with a different NPR reporter, who said Pompeo berated her and cursed after an interview. The State Department Correspondents' Association confirmed the decision to remove NPR correspondent Michele Kelemen from Pompeo's plane on his upcoming trip to Europe and Central Asia, calling the move 'retaliation' after Pompeo's public attack on NPR's Mary Louise Kelly." Mrs. McC: Pompeo is scheduled to travel to five countries, including Ukraine. Hope he lectures them all on "American values" like freedom of the press.

John Roberts Has Not Spent All His Time Hanging Out at the Senate. Ariane de Vogue & Priscilla Alvarez of CNN: "The Supreme Court in a 5-4 vote Monday cleared the way for the Trump administration to make it more difficult for low-income immigrants seeking to come to or trying to remain legally in the United States. The so-called public charge rule, unveiled in August, impacts people who rely on public assistance, including most forms of Medicaid, food stamps and housing vouchers.... Monday's vote split along ideological lines, with the five conservative justices in the majority."

Tara Law of Time: "...Donald Trump's personal pastor, the televangelist Paula White, is facing criticism after praying for the miscarriage of 'all Satanic pregnancies' during a sermon earlier this month.... White took on a role as advisor to the White House's Office of Public Liaison as an advisor to the Faith and Opportunity Initiative in the fall, but has known the President for nearly two decades and was one of the six clergy members to speak at his inauguration. She is associated with the 'prosperity gospel,' a belief which holds that God wants his followers to be healthy and wealthy, and that many other Christians consider to be heretical." --s ~~~

~~~ Devan Cole of CNN: "... Donald Trump's spiritual adviser Paula White defended herself on Sunday against criticism over a prayer she made earlier this month in which she asked for 'all satanic pregnancies to miscarry right now,' saying her words were taken 'out of context for political gain.'" Mrs. McC: As revealed in the video clip that accompanies the story, what White said, in context, "In the name of Jesus, we command all satanic pregnancies to miscarry right now." Evidently claiming to speak for Jesus makes it okay.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "The Post has suspended reporter Felicia Sonmez following her social-media activity over the death of NBA great Kobe Bryant.... What did Sonmez do to deserve this brushback? She tweeted out a very good story from the Daily Beast.... An immediate and overwhelming expression of anger piled on Sonmez from Twitter users. Sonmez had directed her followers to this April 2016 story in the Daily Beast by Marlow Stern. Written at the time of Bryant's farewell tour through NBA cities, the story takes a deep look at the sexual-assault allegation against Bryant stemming from his 2003 visit to Colorado's Lodge & Spa a Cordillera.... 'To the 10,000 people (literally) who have commented and emailed me with abuse and death threats, please take a moment and read the story -- which was written 3+ years ago, and not by me,' Sonmez tweeted...." Wemple objects to Sonmez's suspension. "By [the Post's own] standards, Sonmez's tweet would appear to invite a pat on the back from management." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I would not have tweeted a link to the rape story, even tho, frankly, the rape allegation is just about all I knew about Bryant before his death other than that he was a star basketball player. But I am not a journalist; I don't have a duty to report or to put a public figure's life in perspective. I can see no legitimate basis for Sonmez's suspension, other than "a man decided to suspend her." ~~~

     ~~~ Wemple's report puts the onus for Sonmez's suspension on Tracy Grant, who is the Post's first female managing editor. Rachel Abrams of the New York Times: "Ms. Sonmez received an email from The Post's executive editor, Martin Baron, at 5:38 p.m., before she was told that she would be placed on leave. The reporter shared the three-sentence email with The New York Times. 'Felicia,' Mr. Baron wrote. 'A real lack of judgment to tweet this. Please stop. You're hurting this institution by doing this.' The text of Mr. Baron's email was attached to a screen shot of Ms. Sonmez's tweet linking to the Daily Beast article."

~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "It is frankly baffling what 'policy' Sonmez's fi[r]st tweet could have violated. It can't be that it mentioned it linked to a story about Bryant being credibly accused of sexual assault, getting the criminal case dropped at least in part by doxxing his accuser, and then reaching a settlement. You can also find the news that Bryant was accused of sexual assault in ... the Washington Post's own obituary, published the same day[.]... There was a recent Oscar-winning movie about a true story of norms of silence surrounding sexual violence ended up shielding more powerful abusers. Baron may want to watch it again!" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The film Lemiuex links is "Spotlight," "a superbly controlled and engrossingly detailed account of the Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into the widespread pedophilia scandals and subsequent cover-ups within the Catholic Church," according to Variety critic Justin Chang. And the leader of the Globe's Pulitzer-winning team? One Marty Baron. Of course, the victims in these cases were mostly boys. So, ya know.... ~~~

~~~ Emily Stewart of Vox tries to piece together why the WashPo suspended Sonmez. "There is a bigger debate beyond the circumstances of Sonmez's tweets: How do we talk about revered figures when they die, including the good and the bad? Sonmez is hardly the only person to mention the allegation against Bryant in the wake of his death. Plenty of other people did the same and did not get the same amount of backlash; many of the posters were men, and men often don't experience the same amount of vitriol online as their female counterparts.... The Post's decision to suspend her is perplexing, as is its murky reasoning. Journalists are supposed to be dedicated to the truth and shining light on things that are sometimes ugly and painful. The Post should recognize that -- or at the very least have an explanation beyond seemingly responding to a Twitter mob."

Presidential Race

Bill Barrow & Alexandra Jaffe of the AP: "As Bernie Sanders exudes confidence in his ability to win next week's Iowa caucuses, his moderate rivals are struggling with how -- and whether -- to directly take on the progressive Vermont senator who some Democrats worry won't be able to defeat ... Donald Trump.... Sanders has long identified as a democratic socialist, and the prospect that he could win the caucuses and gain momentum heading into later contests has alarmed the establishment wing of the Democratic Party. But that anxiety was hard to detect on the campaign trail as [Joe] Biden and [Pete] Buttigieg, two of the leading moderate candidates, declined to take him head-on, opting instead to speak about the need to unify the party and the urgency of beating Trump.... While they largely avoided talking about Sanders during campaign events, the moderate candidates displayed less reluctance to knock Sanders in appeals to potential donors.... Buttigieg's campaign issued a fundraising plea, warning of Sanders' strength and declaring, 'we risk nominating a candidate who cannot beat Donald Trump in November.' Biden's campaign also sent a fundraising solicitation citing Sanders' strength...."

Americans Warming to Autocrat. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Amid signs that more voters are in general less worried about the economy and their own economic wellbeing, and a week out from the Iowa caucuses, the national [Washington Post-ABC News] poll gave the president encouraging scores against contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination. In notional general election match-ups, Trump trailed former vice-president Joe Biden with registered voters by four points (50%-46%); Vermont senator Bernie Sanders by two (49%-47%); and Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar by one (48%-47%). Those deficits against the top Democrats have roughly halved since a similar poll at the end of 2019." --s

Kevin Hall of the Miami Herald: "... a top U.S. Justice Department official [said Monday] that Britain's Prince Andrew has provided 'zero cooperation' to an ongoing investigation into the late accused sex trafficker Jeffrey E. Epstein. Although Epstein was found dead in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan last Aug. 10, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, the top prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, continues to investigate the disgraced financier with an eye toward bringing charges against his enablers and possible co-conspirators. 'Ordinarily our office doesn't comment on whether an individual cooperates or doesn't cooperate with our investigation. However, in Prince Andrew's case, he publicly offered, indeed in a press release offered to cooperate with law enforcement investigating the crimes committed by Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators,' Berman explained to reporters gathered outside Epstein's Manhattan mansion.... 'So let me say that the Southern District of New York and the FBI have contacted Prince Andrew's attorneys and requested to interview Prince Andrew, and to date Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation.'"

Chris Francescani of ABC News: "One of two women that Harvey Weinstein is on trial for sexually assaulting took the witness stand on Monday to describe how the Hollywood producer violently sexually assaulted her and explain why she returned to him within a month and endured a second unwanted sexual encounter. Miriam 'Mimi' Haleyi is the second of six women expected to testify that the disgraced Hollywood mega-producer sexually assaulted them, following dramatic testimony last week from 'Sopranos' actress Annabella Sciorra."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Brazil. Dom Phillips of the Guardian: "When Jair Bolsonaro's culture secretary published an official video paraphrasing Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, it wasn't just Brazilians who were stunned. The video, in which Roberto Alvim called for a 'rebirth of art and culture in Brazil' while Adolf Hitler's favourite Wagner opera played in the background, sent shockwaves around the world. Alvim was sacked within hours.... Analysts said the use of such extremist tactics is typical of the brinksmanship, trolling and meme tactics used by the US 'alt-right' who are often referenced by powerful members of Bolsonaro's government.... Pushing the limits and goading liberals are classic alt-right tactics, said Rodrigo Nunes, a political philosophy professor at Rio de Janeiro's Pontifical Catholic University.... 'The playbook is the American alt-right,' Nunes said. 'In that sense, Brazil is the first alt-right government in the world.'" --s

News Ledes

CNN: "The NTSB, which is investigating the cause of the crash [that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others], detailed the helicopter's final moments before it crashed into a hillside in Calabasas, California, under foggy conditions. Visibility was so low Sunday morning that the Los Angeles Police Department grounded its helicopters, department spokesman Josh Rubenstein said." ~~~

~~~ Washington Post: "The helicopter pilot flying Kobe Bryant, the basketball star's daughter and six other passengers Sunday grappled with poor weather, asking at one point for special permission to fly by sight in worse than normal visibility, but he displayed no signs of concern in his communications with air traffic controllers. Shortly after he got special clearance to continue through controlled airspace, he veered from Highway 101 below and crashed into the Calabasas, Calif., hills. All nine onboard were killed."