The Commentariat -- May 17, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Ana Swanson & Jack Ewing of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday said he would delay a decision on whether to impose tariffs on automobiles imported from Europe, Japan and other countries for six months, setting a tight deadline for the United States to reach trade agreements that have so far proved elusive."

Elisha Fieldstadt of NBC News & the AP: "Missouri's Republican-led House passed a bill banning abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy with an exception for medical emergencies but not for rape or incest. Republican Gov. Mike Parson is likely to sign the bill, following the governors of Alabama, Georgia and several other states who have also recently signed stringent abortion legislation. 'Until the day that we no longer have abortions in this country, I will never waiver in the fight for life,' Parson said during a rally Wednesday. Under the bill, which passed in the House by 110 to 44, doctors who perform an abortion after the eight-week cutoff could face five to 15 years in prison. Women who receive abortions would not be criminally penalized. Missouri's Republican-led Senate passed that state's bill, called Missouri Stands With the Unborn, by a vote of 24-10 on Thursday morning."

Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "A split federal appeals court on Friday ruled that President Trump's decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was unlawful because 'it was not adequately explained.' The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia found that the administration's termination of the program was 'arbitrary and capricious,' in line with a prior ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals."

Barr Goes All in on Trump's FBI Conspiracy Theory. Kate Riga of TPM: "Attorney General William Barr is loyally carrying out ... Donald Trump's pet project, leaning hard into the President"s tweeted screams to 'investigate the investigators' who he believes launched the Russia probe to undermine his candidacy. In a clip of an interview with Fox News, Barr said he was probing if 'government officials abused their power and put their thumb on the scale.'" ...

... Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "Attorney General William Barr said his review into the origins of the Russia investigation could result in rule changes for the FBI's counterintelligence investigations of political campaigns. 'Government power was used to spy on American citizens,' Barr told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Friday. 'I can't imagine any world where we wouldn't take a look and make sure that was done properly.' The attorney general also told Fox News that 'people have to find out what the government was doing during that period.'... Barr indicated he's interested in the underlying intelligence that led to the FBI's decision to launch the investigation, along with the steps officials took based off of the intelligence, the Journal reported. He cited the surveillance of anti-Vietnam War protesters in the '60s and early '70s as a reason for concern, according to the newspaper, which is something he also brought up at a recent congressional hearing.... 'I've been trying to get answers to questions and I've found that a lot of the answers have been inadequate and I've also found that some of the explanations I've gotten don't hang together, in a sense I have more questions today than I did when I first started,' Barr told Fox News." ...

... Barr's toadying is only encouraging & agitating our mentally unstable president*:

... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump warned Friday of the possibility of 'long jail sentences' for law-enforcement and intelligence officials involved in the early stages of the investigation into possible coordination between Russia and members of his 2016 campaign. 'My Campaign for President was conclusively spied on,' Trump claimed in a morning tweet. 'Nothing like this has ever happened in American Politics. A really bad situation. TREASON means long jail sentences, and this was TREASON!'... At a Senate hearing earlier this month, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray -- also a Trump appointee -- said he had not seen any evidence that illegal surveillance was conducted on individuals associated with Trump';s campaign. He also said 'spying' was not a term he would use. Trump subsequently called Wray's testimony 'ridiculous.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump has told his acting defense secretary, Patrick Shanahan, that he does not want to go to war with Iran, according to several administration officials, in a message to his hawkish aides that an intensifying American pressure campaign against the clerical-led government in Tehran must not escalate into open conflict. Mr. Trump's statement, during a Wednesday morning meeting in the Situation Room, came during a briefing on the rising tensions with Iran. American intelligence has indicated that Iran has placed missiles on small boats in the Persian Gulf, prompting fears that Tehran may strike at United States troops and assets or those of its allies. No new information was presented to the president at the meeting that argued for further engagement with Iran, according to a person in the room.... The president has sought to tamp down reports that two of his most hawkish aides -- the national security adviser, John R. Bolton, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo -- are spoiling for a fight with Iran and are running ahead of him in precipitating a military confrontation. 'There is no infighting whatsoever,' Mr. Trump said in a tweet on Wednesday evening.... Mr. Trump added he was confident Iran 'will want to talk soon,' signaling an openness to diplomacy that officials said is not shared by Mr. Bolton or Mr. Pompeo." ...

... ** Betsy Woodruff & Adam Rawnsley of the Daily Beast: "... U.S. intelligence officials assess that Iran's aggressive moves came in response to the administration's own actions. Three U.S. government officials familiar with the situation told The Daily Beast that officials in multiple U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Iran's new, threatening activity -- which the administration points to in justifying its military presence in the Persian Gulf -- is in response to the administration's aggressive steps over the last two months.... In addition, multiple lawmakers on Capitol Hill familiar with American intelligence about Iran told The Daily Beast that Tehran's aggressive moves -- reportedly planning attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Iraq and loading missiles on fishing boats in the Gulf -- appear to be in response to Washington's moves to press the Islamic Republic and its leadership. The Trump administration's decisions to tighten oil sanctions and to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group were particularly provocative, lawmakers said." ...

... Susan Glasser of the New Yorker: "... one thing this week's Iran-war scare has shown is the extent to which the Trump Presidency has blown up the old way of American foreign-policymaking, which makes the risk of a miscalculation higher than ever.... The removal of constraints on Trump ... is what is so striking at this moment.... And with all the turnover on his staff, a normal decision-making process on national-security matters seems to have been abandoned.... Instead, amazingly enough, we are now at a moment in the Trump Presidency when the capricious President himself is being touted as the possible constraint on his hawkish advisers like [John] Bolton.... The one constant here is that Trump appears, once again, at odds with his advisers.... All of which is to say, I wouldn't discount the chance that a series of mistakes could lead to a conflict that Trump himself doesn't want. The brakes on Trump are shredded. There are fewer and fewer people around the President to stop him or to offer him options that avert worst-case scenarios."

Seung Min Kim, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Thursday unveiled an outline for reshaping how immigrants are admitted into the country -- seeking to promote a more comprehensive approach to immigration ahead of a reelection campaign where Democrats plan to portray his hard line approach at the border as racist. The new proposal, an effort led primarily by his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, appears destined for the congressional dustbin, with no clear strategy from the White House to turn it into law and essentially no support from Democrats who control one-half of Capitol Hill.... In campaign rallies, Trump has continued to paint many immigrants as dangerous, and his bid Thursday to balance his hard line tone exposed him to criticism from conservatives, while failing to insulate him from attacks among Democrats.... [Meanwhile,] Trump's advisers continue to look at measures behind the scenes such as the Insurrection Act, an arcane law that allows the president to employ the military to combat lawlessness or rebellion, to remove illegal immigrants, officials said.... A number of White House aides ... believe the president holding a Rose Garden speech on it was a waste of his time...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'd say Trump agrees with those aides. Listen to a few seconds of the speech embedded in the WashPo story. Trump reads it in that sleepy sing-song voice that says, "I'm doing this so my daughter's husband can feel he's useful, but we all know the whole thing is ridiculous." ...

... Besides, Trump does need an immigration policy; he can have Mark Morgan take a look at aspiring immigrants & pick the very best ones:

... The Eyes Have It. Ted Hesson of Politico: "Mark Morgan, the White House choice to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said during a Fox News interview earlier this year that he can judge the likelihood that an unaccompanied minor will become a gang member by looking into that child's eyes. 'I've been to detention facilities where I've walked up to these individuals that are so-called minors, 17 or under,' Morgan said on Tucker Carlson Tonight' in January. 'I've looked at them and I've looked at their eyes, Tucker -- and I've said that is a soon-to-be MS-13 gang member. It's unequivocal.'" Mrs. McC: This, of course is a skill just like the one Dubya boasted, when he said he had looked into Vladimir Putin's eyes & got "a sense of his soul." Years later, Bush more-or-less walked back his super-eye-contact powers, but Morgan believes his superpower is "unequivocal"; i.e., perfect.

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Thursday that House Democrats could always open an impeachment inquiry to pry free documents and testimony from stonewalling Trump administration officials -- a sharp response to the White House's blanket claim that House requests served no 'legitimate' legislative purpose. 'The courts would respect it if you said we need this information to carry out our oversight responsibilities -- and among them is impeachment,' Ms. Pelosi said during her weekly news conference at the Capitol. 'It doesn't mean you're going on an impeachment path, but it means if you had the information you might,' Ms. Pelosi said.... Her threat was the first time Ms. Pelosi suggested using impeachment as an information-gathering tool, although she had made the suggestion in private before, according to a person familiar with her thinking." ...

... Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff announced on Thursday that the panel will consider an 'enforcement action' against Attorney General William Barr for defying the chairman's subpoena for special counsel Robert Mueller's unredacted report and its supporting intelligence materials. Schiff's announcement came a day after the Justice Department put a counteroffer on the table as it negotiates with the panel for lawmakers' access to the full report, according to a letter obtained by Politico."

Katelyn Polantz & Tammy Kupperman of CNN: "Less redacted versions of memos released Thursday from the court record in Michael Flynn's criminal case reveal more details of Flynn's cooperation with special counsel Robert Mueller. A voicemail recording exists of a member of the Trump administration reaching out to Flynn and his lawyers while he was cooperating with Mueller, according to unsealed documents in Flynn's criminal case Thursday. Flynn had told Mueller about multiple examples of this type of outreach, the newly revealed court filings say, and it became a significant part of Mueller's inquiry into whether the President obstructed justice. Other documents show that Flynn was among 'a select few people' who heard statements among campaign officials about WikiLeaks and spoke to Mueller about those conversations.... '... the prospect of reaching out to WikiLeaks was discussed [among Trump campaign officials]," according to the newly unredacted documents.... The newly unsealed documents in the Flynn case also highlight just how important he was as a source to prosecutors investigating Russian interactions with the Trump political operation during the campaign and transition." ...

... Tom Winter, et al., of NBC News: "... Michael Flynn told investigators that people linked to the Trump administration and Congress reached out to him in an effort to interfere in the Russia probe, according to newly-unredacted court papers filed Thursday.... In a separate court filing, Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered federal prosecutors to file a transcript of the voicemail message, as well as transcripts of any other recordings of Flynn including his conversations with Russian officials.... Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein determined that there was insufficient evidence to pursue the matter further." ...

... Carol Leonnig & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post have more on Judge Sullivan's order: "The transcripts, which the judge ordered be posted on a court website by May 31, would reveal conversations at the center of two major avenues of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. So far they have been disclosed to the public only in fragments in court filings and the Mueller report. Sullivan also ordered that still-redacted portions of the Mueller report that relate to Flynn be given to the court and made public." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Sure sounds as if it would be helpful to Congressional investigators to get their hands on the full array of Mueller's documentation. No, Mitch, it's not "case closed." ...

... CNN has the "less redacted" court filings here.

Devan Cole of CNN: "Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday said he is not preventing special counsel Robert Mueller from testifying before the House Judiciary Committee. 'It's Bob's call whether he wants to testify,' Barr told The Wall Street Journal. Barr's comment comes just days after ... Donald Trump said he was leaving the decision to his attorney general on whether Mueller could testify." Mrs. McC: Very nice of you, Bill.

Jeff Stein, in the New Republic, interviews Barry Sussman, the editor for Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein's Watergate work at the Washington Post, on Trumpgate. Sussman: "The problem is the media have allowed Trump to set the agenda.... He leads the press around by the nose.... [Trump] won't plummet [in the polls] the way Nixon did. At the same time, he won't stay popular as the enormity of the things he's done becomes clearer and clearer to more and more people. Even though we now have a Republican Senate, even there, we're going to see inroads.... One thing that could happen is exactly what happened to Nixon. It's his taxes could become public.... Mueller had a very broad mandate. He could have done a lot more than he did. He, for example, could have looked at Trump's taxes himself, had he been allowed to....

Emoluments, Etc. Dareh Gregorian & Jonathan Allen of NBC News: "... the Trump presidency has been taking a modest economic toll on his businesses, according to annual financial disclosure forms released Thursday. Financial disclosure forms made public by the Office of Government Ethics show overall income from Trump's businesses in 2018 was roughly in line with the revenue he raked in in 2017 -- but some of them took some big hits. While Trump reported making over $17 million in 'management fees and other contract payments' from his Trump International Hotels Management LLC in New York in 2017, he made just $1.5 million in fees there in 2018, the filing shows.... The reports show revenue, not profits, and some of the figures are given in ranges, giving only a partial picture of his finances. But the financial news wasn't all bad for Trump, who told reporters in November that '... being president has cost me a fortune -- a tremendous fortune like you've never seen before.' His Washington, D.C., hotel near the White House, a favorite of Republicans, lobbyists and diplomats, generated revenue of over $40.8 million, up from $40.4 million in 2017." ...

... Russ Choma of Mother Jones: "... Donald Trump's latest personal financial disclosure was just released, showing that Trump, who already owed more money than any other president in history, borrowed millions more in 2018. According to the disclosure, Trump borrowed between $5 million and $25 million from Professional Bank, a small Florida outfit that specializes in construction and real estate loans.... The loan was used to finance the purchase of 1125 South Ocean Avenue, a mansion located next door to Trump's Mar-a-Lago club and owned by the president's sister, Maryanne Trump Barry.... Though assets and liabilities are reported in ranges on financial disclosure forms, land records show that the value of Trump's newest loan $11.2 million."

Pardon Me. Alex Shephard of the New Republic: "As with much of Trump's presidency, it's tempting to overthink things when it comes to pardons, to see them as being chess moves in a larger assault on the rule of law. Trump's willingness to pardon allies and, particularly, well-known conservative figures like [Dinesh] D&'Souza, [Conrad] Black, and the Hammond brothers -- two ranchers whose imprisonment inspired a long, tense takeover of an Oregon wildlife reserve by anti-government militia groups -- points to Trump's unwavering commitment to his own base.... Although he has not yet shown interest in pardoning figures involved in the Russia investigation, he has not exactly been shy about encouraging them to keep quiet.... Trump may very well be 'sending a signal' or hoping to instill goodwill in allies with these pardons, but the path for each of these criminal figures has been straightforward. Exploit existing connections to the president. Make regular public comments about Trump's greatness (writing a book or making a movie seems to help!). Then profit."

Trump's Man in Moscow Really Was an FBI Informant. Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "A federal judge has confirmed for the first time that Felix Sater, a former Donald Trump business associate who drove Trump Tower Moscow negotiations during the 2016 election, helped the U.S. government track down Osama bin Laden. During a hearing on Thursday in the Eastern District of New York -- held as part of a lawsuit brought by First Look Media to unseal records related to Sater's longtime cooperation with the government on various national security issues -- Judge I. Leo Glasser said [to the plaintiffs]..., 'He cooperated... And you know what he did over the 10, 11 years, because you told me that you know. He provided the telephone number of Osama bin Laden. He has done an awful lot of very interesting and dangerous things."

The Education of Donald Trump. Ryan Struyk, in a tweet: "Trump says he had support on criminal justice reform from 'Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, liberals... I guess we could also use the word "progressives" ... a new word that's come about...'" Mrs. McC: You may remember the term from your high-school American history book, and/or maybe from the past decade or so of reading the news, but I guess it doesn't get much play in the New York Post's "Page Six."

Trump Admin Sends $62MM in "Subsidies" to Brazilian Criminals. Chris Sommerfeldt of the New York Daily News: "The Trump administration has forked over more than $62 million -- taxpayer cash that was supposed to be earmarked for struggling American farmers -- to a massive meatpacking company [JBS] owned by a couple of corrupt Brazilian brothers.... The bailout ... was sourced from a $12 billion program meant for American farmers harmed by President Trump's escalating trade war with China and other countries.... Industry watchdogs ... question how subsidizing a deep-pocketed, Brazilian-owned company would help farmers in the American heartland.... Moreover..., the company's exports to China ballooned to more than 24% in 2018, compared to less than 21% the previous year, according to public records, raising questions about the need for the Trump subsidy.... 'It is clear the president is not the least bit knowledgeable about trade policy, nor aware of the chaos his failed approach has caused' said Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who introduced a bill earlier this year restricting the administration's bailouts to American-owned companies." ...

     ... Update: Chris Sommerfeldt: "The Trump administration on Thursday defended its $62 million bailout to a Brazilian meatpacking company controlled by a pair of corrupt brothers, arguing the private pork payout will eventually trickle down to struggling U.S. farmers.... '... regardless of who the vendor is, the products purchased are grown in the U.S. and benefit U.S. farmers,' a spokesperson for the department said.... 'JBS qualifies as a bidder under this criteria. This is similar to someone buying JBS bacon in a grocery store. Regardless of the packaging, the bacon inside is from a hog grown on an American farm.'"

Juliet Eilperin & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "The Environmental Protection Agency should consider recovering nearly $124,000 in improper travel expenses by former EPA chief Scott Pruitt, the agency's inspector general recommended Thursday. The findings, issued nearly a year after Pruitt resigned amid controversy over his spending, travel and ties to lobbyists and outside groups, highlight the fiscal impact of his penchant for high-end travel and accommodations. Investigators concluded that 40 trips Pruitt either took or scheduled during a 10-month period, between March 1 and Dec. 31, 2017, cost taxpayers $985,037. The bulk of those expenses were for Pruitt's round-the-clock security detail, which billed $428,896 in travel costs. The agency spent an additional $339,894 on staffers traveling with the former administrator. The 'questioned amount' the inspector general's office identifies for possible recovery is the $123,941 that taxpayers spent on flying both Pruitt and a security agent in first- or business class, instead of coach. The report also highlights the extent to which Pruitt's official travel revolved around trips to Tulsa, Okla., where he maintained a home while a member of President Trump's Cabinet.... The EPA watchdog details a litany of other problems with the way Pruitt and his entourage rang up 'excessive costs' using taxpayer money...."

MEANWHILE. Katy O'Donnell of Politico: "Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson broke the law when he failed to report an order for a $31,561 dining room table set for his office as well as the installation of an $8,000 dishwasher in the office kitchen, the Government Accountability Office found in a report published Thursday. Agencies are required to notify Congress of expenditures over $5,000 to furnish an executive's office. Carson canceled the table order after it surfaced in news reports in early 2018, and he appeared to blame the fiasco on his wife, Candy, in congressional testimony. HUD spokespeople offered conflicting accounts of what Carson knew about the order."

Marianne Levine of Politico: "The Senate on Thursday confirmed Jeffrey Rosen to replace embattled Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, despite Democratic criticism he wasn't ready for the job. The Senate voted 52-45 to confirm Rosen, along party lines.... Rosen is currently deputy Transportation secretary. He was general counsel at the Department of Transportation and at the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush. He also worked at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis where he overlapped briefly with [AG William] Barr.... 'We need a Deputy Attorney General who knows the Justice Department,' Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said in a statement after Rosen's confirmation. 'Mr. Rosen simply does not have the qualifications for this critical assignment.'"

Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "The Senate on Thursday confirmed Wendy Vitter's appointment to the federal bench, as Republicans overcame strong opposition from Democrats who criticized the nominee's stand against abortion. Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) was the only Republican to join Democrats and independents in opposing Vitter's nomination, in the 52-to-45 vote.... Vitter drew ire from Democrats after a judicial watchdog group found statements she had made against abortion that were not included in the extensive background disclosure forms she was required to provide to the Senate.... During a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in April 2018, Vitter faced intense questioning from Democrats over those comments -- which included claiming Planned Parenthood killed over 150,000 women a year -- and her moderating an event called, 'Abortion Hurts Women's Health.'... They also have criticized Vitter for refusing to say during her confirmation hearing whether she agreed with the Brown v. Board of Education decision that desegregated schools.... Vitter stood by her husband, former senator David Vitter (R-La.), in 2007 when he was named in connection with a D.C. prostitution ring." Thanks to PD Pepe for the heads-up. See her commentary below. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: According to Rachel Maddow, Wendy Vitter has claimed that abortions cause cancer. (Um, they don't.) What this country needs is another forever-judge who puts no store in facts.

Adam Cancryn & Sarah Owermohle of Politico: "House Democrats [Thursday] evening passed the session's first legislation aimed at lowering drug prices, as the party looks to solidify its political advantage on a key issue for voters ahead ahead of 2020. The health care vote -- the House's second in two weeks -- came over bitter protests from Republicans, who accused Democratic leaders of politicizing once-bipartisan drug price proposals by pairing them with polarizing measures to strengthen Obamacare. The bill is unlikely to survive the GOP-controlled Senate." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yes but impeachment is stupid because the Senate will never convict.

Presidential Race 2020

Jeffery Mays & William Neuman of the New York Times: "Bill de Blasio, the Democratic mayor of New York City, announced on Thursday that he was running for president, seeking to show that his brand of urban progressive leadership can be a model for the rest of the nation. It will be a steep challenge: He becomes the 23rd Democrat to enter the presidential race, and he does so against the counsel of many of his trusted advisers, and in the face of two centuries of history. No sitting mayor has been elected to the presidency, and if Mr. de Blasio, 58, is to be the first, he must overcome daunting deficits in polls and fund-raising." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Finally, a Feel-Good Story. Ben Kesslen of NBC News: "A Missouri teenager stole the spotlight from Bill de Blasio's presidential campaign announcement Wednesday when he scooped the New York City mayor's announcement. Gabe Fleisher ... sends out his newsletter 'Wake Up to Politics,' a rundown of political happenings that often includes campaign schedules and what the 2020 candidates are up to.... Fleisher [found] a Friday event for de Blasio in Sioux City that was billed as 'his first stop on his Presidential announcement tour.' But de Blasio had not yet officially thrown his hat in the ring. Shortly after Fleisher tweeted this news, the de Blasio campaign confirmed the mayor was indeed running. Reports had hinted at a de Blasio run for the past few weeks, but Fleisher's find was seemingly the official confirmation."

Marisa Endicott of Mother Jones: "So far in 2019, seven states have passed laws to limit abortion well before fetal viability, which is somewhere around 24 weeks, though all of the laws have yet to take effect or are held up by the courts.... The Missouri Senate, meanwhile, is currently debating an omnibus abortion bill that already passed the House and includes a 'fetal heartbeat' ban, while Louisiana's own six-week abortion bill is about to pass its second legislative chamber. Mother Jones looked at the gender breakdown in these nine state legislatures and found a common thread: All have striking gender imbalances. Each legislature -- with the exception of Georgia -- has a lower than average percentage of women serving in its chambers. The national average is about 29 percent, but in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, women make up just 16 percent or less of the states' legislators." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Update. Summer Ballentine of the AP: "Missouri's Republican-led Senate has now passed a bill to ban abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy. Senators approved the legislation 24-10 early Thursday with just hours left before a Friday deadline to pass bills. It needs at least one more vote of approval in the GOP-led House before it can go to Republican Gov. Mike Parson, who voiced support for it on Wednesday. Parson called on state senators to take action, joining a movement of GOP-dominated state legislatures emboldened by the possibility that a more conservative Supreme Court could overturn its landmark ruling legalizing the procedure." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I realize Republican men have several incentives to push these draconian measures, namely the well-organized anti-abortion groups urging them to do so & the hope that the Trumpy Supremes will overturn Roe. I think the#MeToo movement is yet another impetus. These men can't stand the power the movement has given women -- specifically in relation to curbing sexual aggression -- & the men are punishing women for making "demands."

Jacey Fortin of the New York Times: "Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who provided secret military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks in 2010, was sent to jail again on Thursday after refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating the organization.... Ms. Manning was jailed for similar reasons in March, but was released last week when the term of the grand jury that had served her with a subpoena in January expired."

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Ali Winston of the New York Times: "A police commander reacted with seemingly little concern after being told by an officer that Eric Garner was likely dead, according to text messages shown on Thursday at a disciplinary hearing.... After acknowledging the message [that was dead], Lieutenant [Christopher] Bannon wrote a follow-up note: 'Not a big deal. We were effecting a lawful arrest.' The previously unseen text messages provoked gasps in the room where the hearing was being held for Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who faces possible termination over charges of reckless use of a chokehold and intentional restriction of breathing.... A medical examiner who performed an autopsy on Mr. Garner testified on Wednesday at the hearing that the chokehold 'set into motion a lethal sequence' that resulted in his death."

The Commentariat -- May 16, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Marisa Endicott of Mother Jones: "So far in 2019, seven states have passed laws to limit abortion well before fetal viability, which is somewhere around 24 weeks, though all of the laws have yet to take effect or are held up by the courts.... The Missouri Senate, meanwhile, is currently debating an omnibus abortion bill that already passed the House and includes a 'fetal heartbeat' ban, while Louisiana's own six-week abortion bill is about to pass its second legislative chamber. Mother Jones looked at the gender breakdown in these nine state legislatures and found a common thread: All have striking gender imbalances. Each legislature -- with the exception of Georgia -- has a lower than average percentage of women serving in its chambers. The national average is about 29 percent, but in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, women make up just 16 percent or less of the states' legislators."

Jeffery Mays & William Neuman of the New York Times: "Bill de Blasio, the Democratic mayor of New York City, announced on Thursday that he was running for president, seeking to show that his brand of urban progressive leadership can be a model for the rest of the nation. It will be a steep challenge: He becomes the 23rd Democrat to enter the presidential race, and he does so against the counsel of many of his trusted advisers, and in the face of two centuries of history. No sitting mayor has been elected to the presidency, and if Mr. de Blasio, 58, is to be the first, he must overcome daunting deficits in polls and und-raising."

~~~~~~~~~~

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump will unveil on Thursday a plan to overhaul parts of the nation's immigration system that would impose new security measures at the border and significantly increase the educational and skills requirements for people who are allowed to migrate to the United States, senior White House officials said Wednesday. The proposal would vastly scale back the system of family-based immigration that has for decades allowed immigrants to bring their spouses and children to live with them, the officials said. In its place, it would provide new opportunities for immigrants who have specific skills or job offers to work in the United States, provided that they can demonstrate English proficiency, educational attainment and pass a civics exam. But the plan is expected to be deeply unpopular with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Currently, about 12 percent of immigrants qualify based on their skills, while more than half are given permission to enter the United State because of a family connection. Under Mr. Trump's proposal, those numbers would be reversed.... The president will reveal some details about the proposal, which was developed by Jared Kushner.... The plan calls for construction of some of the president's border wall.... And it contains no provision for providing legal status to people brought to the United States as children, known as Dreamers, or other undocumented immigrants." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Sounds more like a Stephen Miller pipe-dream than a plan. ...

Hypothetical Kushner Power Point slide. (Actually, I got this from a tweet @RealDonaldTrump, in which the writer warned Trump not to break his campaign promises.)... Alison Durkee of Vanity Fair: "... Jared Kushner headed to Capitol Hill Tuesday, where he met with Republican senators to answer questions about his new immigration plan. And, unsurprisingly, the man who's been trying to frame his political inexperience as an 'asset' didn't do a great job. Per a report in The Washington Post, G.O.P. senators present at the staff luncheon said Kushner had trouble answering questions about the proposal, and was frequently interrupted by fellow adviser Stephen Miller to fill in the gaps.... Though Kushner has been toting the plan around town — reportedly with the help of a PowerPoint slideshow that's been described as 'laughably simplistic' -- he apparently doesn't fare so well when he has to go off-script, even among a friendly G.O.P. crowd.... While Kushner and the more hard-line Miller's joint appearance at the luncheon was supposed to signify 'unity' between the various White House factions, senators present also noted that they didn't exactly see the duo as a united front. 'Miller interrupted him a lot,' one source said.... Kushner [has] set a low bar for himself that aims not so much for success as just failing in an original way. 'If we are going to fail, we don't want to fail doing it the same way it's been done in the past, Kushner [said] ... at a recent event." Thanks to safari for the link. ...

... Thank You for Your Service. Now ... Get Out! Tara Copp of McClatchy News: "Immigrants serving in the U.S. military are being denied citizenship at a higher rate than foreign-born civilians, according to new government data that has revealed the impact of stricter Trump administration immigration policies on service members. According to the same data, the actual number of service members even applying for U.S. citizenship has also plummeted since ... Donald Trump took office, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reported in its quarterly naturalization statistics. 'The U.S. has had a long-standing tradition of immigrants come to the U.S. and have military service provide a path to citizenship,' said retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, a senior adviser to the liberal veterans advocacy group VoteVets.org. 'To have this turnaround, where they are actually taking a back seat to the civilian population strikes me as a bizarre turn of events.'" Thanks to safari for the link.

Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: "The intelligence that caused the White House to escalate its warnings about a threat from Iran came from photographs of missiles on small boats in the Persian Gulf that were put on board by Iranian paramilitary forces, three American officials said. Overhead imagery showed fully assembled missiles, stoking fears that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps would fire them at United States naval ships. Additional pieces of intelligence picked up threats against commercial shipping and potential attacks by Arab militias with Iran ties on American troops in Iraq. But just how alarmed the Trump administration should be over the new intelligence is a subject of fierce debate among the White House, the Pentagon, the C.I.A. and America's allies." Mrs. McC: AND, as the reporters point out, we cannot help but be reminded of this "slam dunk":

... Heather Caygle, et al., of Politico: "Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle warned ... Donald Trump on Wednesday to avoid plunging the United States into another Iraq-like war in the Middle East, demanding more information about vague warnings that Iran might be planning attacks on U.S. personnel and facilities in the region. Congressional leaders will get more information about the situation on Thursday during a confidential briefing with Trump officials, according to two Democratic sources. On Capitol Hill and on the campaign trail, politicians fretted that the situation felt eerily similar to the run-up to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq." ...

... Edward Wong of the New York Times: "The State Department ordered a partial evacuation of the United States Embassy in Baghdad on Wednesday, responding to what the Trump administration said was a threat linked to Iran, one that has led to an accelerated movement of American ships and bombers into the Persian Gulf. The department ordered 'nonemergency U.S. government employees,' at both the embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in Erbil, to leave the country. The order applies primarily to full-time diplomats posted to Iraq by State Department headquarters in Washington, and an embassy statement said that visa services in Iraq would be suspended as a result. Contractors who provide security, food and other such services will remain in place for now." ...

... Josh Marshall: "... John Bolton is a unique and uniquely dangerous character. To give some perspective, back during George W. Bush's second term, Bush nominated Bolton to serve as UN Ambassador. That was in 2006 and with a GOP majority in the Senate. Bolton was seen as so manifestly ill-suited to the position that he couldn't get confirmed. He had to settle for a pity recess appointment.... Bolton is a caricature of a militarist and warmonger.... He's no fool. He's a very bright guy. And -- critically important -- he's a master of bureaucratic politics.... Bolton ... is precisely the kind of person ... to goad the President into issuing [intemperate] orders.... What seems to have been happening over the last year is that Bolton has been trying to push Iran into a corner and force a military confrontation. That hasn't worked. So now they appear to be cooking up 'threats' from Iran to force the confrontation they've been unable to force to date."

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

** "Starrs & Barrs." Jonathan Chait: "Trump's official position is that Congress has no business looking into whether the president has broken the law. When you combine this position with the long-standing Department of Justice policy that it cannot indict a sitting president, and Attorney General William Barr's position that the president is entitled to shut down any investigation he considers unfair, you have built a wall of legal impunity for the president.... Republicans don't merely swing back and forth on executive power like a pendulum, they race from one extreme position to the other.... Trump, like his party, simply refuses to recognize the legitimacy of sharing power. Power in their minds is unitary: unquestionable when in their hands, illegitimate when wielded by the opposition. Trump grew naturally out of, and fit comfortably within, the party of Starr's and Barr's."

Get Real, Democrats! Walter Dellinger, in a Washington Post op-ed: "I have become increasingly concerned about how the country has received the Mueller report. The Republican talking point is that it exonerated the president. The message from the Democratic House, meanwhile, is that the report is inconclusive. Those responses, one mendacious, one tepid and both erroneous, have shaped public understanding.... The more I review the report, the more absurd and misleading the we-need-to-know-more response seems to be.... How different would it have been if a unified chorus of Democratic leaders in Congress and on the campaign trail had promptly proclaimed the actual truth: This report makes the unquestionable case that the president regularly and audaciously violated his oath and committed th most serious high crimes and misdemeanors. Mueller's extraordinary 2,800-subpoena, 500-search-warrant, two-year investigation fully established not merely crimes but also the betrayal of the president's office: a failure to defend the country's electoral system from foreign attack and acts of interference with justice that shred the rule of law.... The House's focus on process -- such as requesting redacted material -- constitutes a strong, implicit suggestion that what we have seen from Mueller is not enough to assess the president. That is just false."

John Bresnahan & Heather Caygle of Politico: "House Democrats will not hold floor votes on contempt resolutions against Attorney General William Barr or any other Trump administration officials until at least June, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Wednesday. Hoyer's comments made official what has already been clear inside the House Democratic Caucus -- Hoyer, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other party leaders are still wrestling with how to respond to ... Donald Trump's broad refusal to cooperate with subpoenas for documents and testimony related to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, as well as his own personal finances."

Carol Leonnig & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "The White House’s top lawyer told the House Judiciary Committee chairman Wednesday that Congress has no right to a 'do-over' of the special counsel's investigation of President Trump and refused a broad demand for records and testimony from dozens of current and former White House staff. White House Counsel Pat Cipollone's letter to committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) constitutes a sweeping rejection -- not just of Nadler's request for White House records, but of Congress's standing to investigate Trump for possible obstruction of justice. In his letter, Cipollone repeated a claim the White House and Trump's business have begun making: that Congress is not a law enforcement body and does not have a legitimate purpose to investigate the questions it is pursuing. But Cipollone stopped short of asserting executive privilege. Instead, he told Nadler he would consider a narrowed request if the chairman spells out the legislative purpose and legal support for the information he is seeking." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... As Dana Milbank of the Washington Post wrote yesterday re: the administration's argument that Congress had no right to examine Trump's finances, "Forget about the Unitary Executive Theory. This one is closer to the Divine Right of Kings." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Update. Jeremy Herb, et al., of CNN: House Judiciary Chair Jerry "Nadler responded to the latest Trump administration rejection by accusing the White House of 'claiming that the President is a king.' 'No President, no person in the United States is above the law. This is preposterous,' Nadler told CNN. 'They are saying we should end the investigation. We are not ending the investigation. If we were to agree to that, then no president would ever be subject to any kind of investigation for misconduct of any type.'... Nadler told reporters Tuesday he was seriously considering the idea of fining officials. 'Very large,' Nadler said when asked how large of fines the House might consider. Asked if they would seek to impose such fines on the attorney general, Nadler said: 'It would be for anybody who is held in inherent contempt.'"

... BUT Stiffing Congress Is So Hilarious. Laurie Kellman of the AP: At the National Peace Officers Memorial Day service Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol, Bill "Barr approached [Nancy] Pelosi, shook her hand and said loud enough to be overheard, 'Madam Speaker, did you bring your handcuffs?'... A smiling Pelosi let Barr know the House Sergeant at Arms was present at the ceremony, should any arrest be necessary, according to a person who witnessed the exchange.... Barr chuckled and walked away, this person said."

Michael Isikoff of Yahoo! News: "Senior FBI officials were concerned then director James Comey would appear to be blackmailing then President-elect Trump -- using tactics notoriously associated with J.Edgar Hoover -- when he attended a fateful Jan. 6, 2017, meeting at which he informed the real estate magnate about allegations he had consorted with prostitutes in Moscow, according to Jim Baker, the bureau's chief counsel at the time. But he and Comey determined the bureau had an obligation to tell Trump of the uncorroborated allegations because 'the press has it; it's about to come out. You should be alerted to that fact. We were quite worried about the Hoover analogies, and we were determined not to have such a disaster happen on our watch,' said ... Baker ... in an interview with the Yahoo News podcast Skullduggery.... In the podcast interview, Baker also pledged to cooperate with a new investigation into the origins of the Russia probe, emphasizing that he believes he and his FBI colleagues did nothing wrong."

Cecilia Kang & David Sanger of the New York Times: "President Trump moved on Wednesday to ban American telecommunications firms from installing foreign-made equipment that could pose a threat to national security, White House officials said, stepping up a battle against China by effectively barring sales by Huawei, the country's leading networking company. Mr. Trump issued an executive order instructing the commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, to ban transactions 'posing an unacceptable risk' but did not single out any nation or company."

Matthew Choi of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday pardoned Conrad M. Black, a friend and former business associate who wrote a flattering book about the president last year. Black, a Canadian-born citizen of Britain, was found guilty of mail fraud and obstruction in 2007 in a ploy to swindle millions of dollars from investors in his media company. Black served more than three years in prison and was legally barred from re-entering the United States, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. In a statement, the White House praised Black as 'an entrepreneur and scholar,' citing his many published works. It also stated the Supreme Court overturned many of the charges against Black and that several people, including former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Elton John, Rush Limbaugh and William F. Buckley Jr. [Mrs. McC: who is dead] all vouched for Black. However, the statement did not mention Black's book 'Donald J. Trump: A President Like No Other,' which praised the president and was published last year. Nor did it mention the many columns Black has written lauding Trump." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Uh, anyone who writes a flattering book about Trump usually would be characterized as a "hack," not a "scholar." But it turns out it's a great get-out-of-jail card (okay, Black was already out of jail), so not a bad idea. ...

... More Fun Facts about Conrad Black. Sophie Weiner of Splinter: Black "is also known -- and we are not making this up -- as Lord Black of Crossharbour. Black formerly ran a company that included major newspapers like the Chicago Sun-Times, the Daily Telegraph and the Jerusalem Post. He was convicted in the U.S. of fraud for stealing millions of dollars from his own business, Hollinger International.... Two of Black's three fraud convictions were already voided, and he was released from prison after serving about half his sentence in May 2010. He was subsequently deported.... 'I was innocent,' he added. 'There was no substance to any of the charges. There never was. The whole thing gradually disintegrated.'" Mrs. McC: Say, aren't you supposed to take responsibility for your bad deeds as a condition of getting a pardon? ...

... Jared's Friend Gets a Pardon, Too! Eli Watkins & Allie Malloy of CNN: "The White House said Trump offered clemency to Patrick Nolan, a former Republican legislator who allied with ... Jared Kushner on prison revisions last year.... Nolan is the director of the Center for Criminal Justice Reform at the American Conservative Union Foundation, and, according to his biography page from that group, he pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge after an FBI sting and spent 29 months in federal custody. The White House said the experience 'changed his life' and formed his later career as a conservative advocate for criminal justice revisions, including with the First Step Act, the criminal justice bill Trump signed into law last year." Mrs. McC: This is kind of sweet: just as in a regular crime family, the Trump family's friends are forgiven for past wrongdoing, as long as the crimes they've committed are not against Trump family members themselves.

Tony Romm & Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "The United States on Wednesday broke with 18 governments and top American tech firms by declining to endorse a New Zealand-led response to the live-streamed shootings at two Christchurch mosques, saying free-speech concerns prevented the White House from formally endorsing the largest campaign to date targeting extremism online. The 'Christchurch Call,' unveiled at an international gathering in Paris, commits foreign countries and tech giants to be more vigilant about the spread of hate on social media. It reflects heightened global frustrations with the inability of Facebook, Google and Twitter to restrain hateful posts, photos and videos that have spawned real-world violence. Leaders from across the globe pledged to counter online extremism, including through new regulation, and to 'encourage media outlets to apply ethical standards when depicting terrorist events online.' Companies including Facebook, Google and Twitter, meanwhile, said they'd work more closely to ensure their sites don't become conduits for terrorism. They also committed to accelerated research and information sharing with governments in the wake of recent terrorist attacks.... White House officials raised concerns that the document might run afoul of the First Amendment." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... That's Rich. Cristina Cabrera of TPM: "'Freedom of the press' is an eyebrow-raising reason for the White House to cite, considering ... Donald Trump's constant rants against' fake news' media and the fact that the White House recently slapped new restrictions on press access." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Sara Fischer of Axios: "The White House launched a tool on Wednesday that will allow any U.S. citizen to submit a complaint if they think they were unfairly censored on social media platforms.... Social media bias has become a major talking point for President Trump and conservatives who argue that Silicon Valley companies are biased against their viewpoints. Skeptics were quick to point out that the online form was not very sophisticated and could be easily gamed by anyone who wanted to troll the administration. For example, the 'captcha' response test used at the end of the survey to determine if the respondent is a bot asks users to type the year the Declaration of Independence was signed. 'I tried it with "1945," it cleared it. You just need to type four numbers,' tweeted Quentin Hardy, head of editorial at Google Cloud.... The online form where users can submit requests also appears to be an email collection mechanism. 'We want to keep you posted on President Trump's fight for free speech,' the form states after a few questions. 'Can we add you to our email newsletters so we can update you without relying on platforms like Facebook and Twitter?'... The White House launched the tool just hours after it broke with more than a dozen world leaders and top technology companies in an international call to action around the rise of online extremism on social platforms."

Capitalism Is Awesome, Especially with Help from Republicans. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "The U.S. aviation system needs urgently to restore the world's confidence after two crashes of Boeing 737 Max jets. Instead, the Trump administration's top aviation official, goaded by some Republican lawmakers, informed the world Wednesday that the problem isn't that Boeing put a faulty aircraft into the skies, nor that the Federal Aviation Administration's lax oversight kept it flying. The trouble, they argued, comes from lousy foreign pilots -- particularly the ones on Ethiopian Airlines and Indonesia's Lion Air who died struggling to pull the Max jets from death plunges.... The acting FAA administrator, Daniel Elwell, [told the House transportation committee] that the problem should have been 'immediately recognizable' to the pilots, but there was 'apparent lack of recognition.' He blamed the Indonesians for failing to disable the system and said the Ethiopian crew 'didn't adhere to the emergency [advisory] we put out' and 'never controlled their air speed.'... [Rep.] Sam Graves [(R-Mo.), the ranking member] rejoined the denunciation. 'I hate to disparage another country and what their pilot training is, but that is what scares me in all of this: climbing on an aircraft or airline that is outside U.S. jurisdiction,' he said. 'It just bothers me that we continue to tear down our system based on what has happened in another country.' Yep. Nothing makes foreigners want to buy Boeing jets like a little jingoism."

The Clueless Electorate. Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "A majority of registered voters believes President Trump is a successful businessman despite recent news reports about significant losses, according to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll released Wednesday. About 54 percent of respondents said they believe Trump has been successful in his business ventures, while 36 percent say he's been unsuccessful. Another 10 percent have no opinion. The results are starkly divided along partisan lines, with 85 percent of Republicans saying Trump is a success while only 30 percent of Democrats agreed. Nearly half, 49 percent, of Independents said Trump is a successful businessman, while 34 percent say he's been unsuccessful. The poll was conducted after the release of a New York Times report showing that Trump reported over $1 billion in losses from 1985 to 1994, citing IRS documents. Trump responded, calling the article 'a highly inaccurate Fake News hit job....'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

In yesterday's commentary, Akhilleus summed up the current state of U.S affairs: "The mad advising the incompetent leading the stupids, all relying on the obsequious."

Presidential Race 2020. Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News: "New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio will declare his bid for the presidency on Thursday, a campaign spokesperson said Wednesday, joining the almost two dozen other candidates already competing for the Democratic nomination. De Blasio will make the formal announcement Thursday morning and then travel to Iowa and South Carolina for multiple stops over four days. His wife, Chirlane McCray, who has been a highly visible presence and close adviser during his six years at City Hall, will join him for part of the trip." Mrs. McC: Forgive me cynicism, but I'm guess that McCray, who is black, will "join him" on the South Carolina leg of the two-state trip.

Mike Cason of al.com: "Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has signed the bill to make abortion a felony in Alabama, the governor’s office announced." Mrs. McC: Ivey looks like a sweet little ole grandma. Appearances are deceiving. ...

... Kate Riga of TPM: “The Alabama abortion ban sent to the governor's desk Tuesday is even too severe for televangelist Pat Robertson, who called it an 'extreme law.' 'I think Alabama has gone too far, they've passed a law that would give a 99-year prison sentence to those who commit abortions,' he said Wednesday on 'The 700 Club.' 'There's no exception for rape or incest. It's an extreme law and they want to challenge Roe v. Wade, but my humble view is that this is not the case we want to bring to the Supreme Court because I think this one'll lose.'" ...

... BUT. Chip, Chip, Chipping Away. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Abortion rights are at risk at the Supreme Court, but the short-term threat may not come from extreme measures like the one passed by Alabama lawmakers on Tuesday. The court led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. is more likely to chip away at the constitutional right to abortion established in 1973 in Roe v. Wade than to overturn it outright. It will have plenty of opportunities to do so. As soon as Monday, the court could announce whether it will hear challenges to three provisions of Indiana abortion laws on issues like the disposal of fetal remains and an 18-hour waiting period after state-mandated ultrasound examinations. The court will in the coming months almost certainly agree to hear a challenge to a Louisiana law that could reduce the number of abortion clinics in the state to one.... Lower courts will almost certainly strike down the Alabama statute and other direct bans on abortion.... The Supreme Court ... can simply deny review after lower courts strike down laws squarely at odds with Roe." ...

... A Modern Horror Story. Julian Borger & Liz Ford of the Guardian: “C-Fam has emerged from the extreme right fringe on the issue of abortion, sexual orientation and gender identity to become a powerful player behind the scenes at the UN. With a modest budget and a six-strong staff led by the president Austin Ruse, it has leveraged connections inside the Trump administration to enforce a rigid orthodoxy on social issues, and helped build a new US coalition with mostly autocratic regimes that share a similar outlook. And that coalition has already significantly shifted the terms of the UN debate on women's and LGBT rights." The details in this story are flabbergasting. This is a hate group. Fer instance, "In 2015, a Catholic priest on the organization's board resigned in protest at Ruse's comment that 'the hard-left human hating people that run modern universities should be taken out and shot.'" Nikki Haley, whom Republicans imagine as the first U.S. female president, seemed to be in lock-step with the group when she was U.N. ambassador. Thanks to safari for the link.

News Lede

New York Times: "I. M. Pei, the Chinese-born American architect who began his long career working for a New York real-estate developer and ended it as one of the most revered architects in the world, has died. He was 102."

The Commentariat -- May 15, 2019

Late Morning Update:

Carol Leonnig & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "The White House's top lawyer told the House Judiciary Committee chairman Wednesday that Congress has no right to a 'do-over' of the special counsel's investigation of President Trump and refused a broad demand for records and testimony from dozens of current and former White House staff. White House Counsel Pat Cipollone's letter to committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) constitutes a sweeping rejection -- not just of Nadler's request for White House records, but of Congress's standing to investigate Trump for possible obstruction of justice. In his letter, Cipollone repeated a claim the White House and Trump's business have begun making: that Congress is not a law enforcement body and does not have a legitimate purpose to investigate the questions it is pursuing. But Cipollone stopped short of asserting executive privilege. Instead, he told Nadler he would consider a narrowed request if the chairman spells out the legislative purpose and legal support for the information he is seeking." ...

... As Dana Milbank of the Washington Post wrote yesterday re: the administration's argument that Congress had no right to examine Trump's finances, "Forget about the Unitary Executive Theory. This one is closer to the Divine Right of Kings."

Tony Romm & Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "The United States on Wednesday broke with 18 governments and top American tech firms by declining to endorse a New Zealand-led response to the live-streamed shootings at two Christchurch mosques, saying free-speech concerns prevented the White House from formally endorsing the largest campaign to date targeting extremism online. The 'Christchurch Call,' unveiled at an international gathering in Paris, commits foreign countries and tech giants to be more vigilant about the spread of hate on social media. It reflects heightened global frustrations with the inability of Facebook, Google and Twitter to restrain hateful posts, photos and videos that have spawned real-world violence. Leaders from across the globe pledged to counter online extremism, including through new regulation, and to 'encourage media outlets to apply ethical standards when depicting terrorist events online.' Companies including Facebook, Google and Twitter, meanwhile, said they'd work more closely to ensure their sites don't become conduits for terrorism. They also committed to accelerated research and information sharing with governments in the wake of recent terrorist attacks.... White House officials raised concerns that the document might run afoul of the First Amendment." ...

... That's Rich. Cristina Cabrera of TPM: "'Freedom of the press' is an eyebrow-raising reason for the White House to cite, considering ... Donald Trump's constant rants against' fake news' media and the fact that the White House recently slapped new restrictions on press access."

The Clueless Electorate. Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "A majority of registered voters believes President Trump is a successful businessman despite recent news reports about significant losses, according to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll released Wednesday. About 54 percent of respondents said they believe Trump has been successful in his business ventures, while 36 percent say he's been unsuccessful. Another 10 percent have no opinion. The results are starkly divided along partisan lines, with 85 percent of Republicans saying Trump is a success while only 30 percent of Democrats agreed. Nearly half, 49 percent, of Independents said Trump is a successful businessman, while 34 percent say he's been unsuccessful. The poll was conducted after the release of a New York Times report showing that Trump reported over $1 billion in losses from 1985 to 1994, citing IRS documents. Trump responded, calling the article 'a highly inaccurate Fake News hit job....'"

In commentary below, Akhilleus sums up the current state of U.S affairs: "The mad advising the incompetent leading the stupids, all relying on the obsequious."

~~~~~~~~~~

Courtney Kube & Adam Edelman of NBC News: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday denied a report that his administration was considering sending up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East to respond to Iran -- but added that if the United States were to go with such a plan, 'we'd send a hell of a lot more.' Trump told reporters outside the White House that a New York Times story Monday night claiming his administration was reviewing military plans against Iran was 'fake news.'... U.S. officials told NBC News that the plan to send up to 120,000 troops to the region was one of a range of options that Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan presented to Trump's national security team during a recent meeting about Iran. The option involving as many as 120,000 troops represented a worst-case scenario contingency in the event that the U.S. and Iran were to go to war, the officials said.... According to The Times, which first reported the story, the revised plans presented by Shanahan -- which the newspaper said did not call for an invasion of Iran -- were ordered by Trump's national security adviser John Bolton, known for his hawkish stance on the country, according to the report." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Get that? There are no plans, but if there were plans, they would be a lot more spectacular than the plans that don't exist. Also, too, Trump doesn't seem to have any idea of what's going on. Is that because Bolton & Shanahan are hiding their plans from Trump or because Trump wasn't paying attention when they briefed him? Either case is plausible. In any event, we can now see -- as if we couldn't predict it -- how Trump would act in a military crisis. Be afraid. Be very afraid. ...

... Julian Borger of the Guardian: "The top British general in the US-led coalition against Isis has said there is no increased threat from Iranian-backed forces in Iraq or Syria, directly contradicting US assertions used to justify a military buildup in the region. Hours later however, his assessment was disowned by US Central Command in an extraordinary rebuke of an allied senior officer." --s ...

... Helene Cooper & Edward Wong of the New York Times: "The rare public dispute highlights a central problem for the Trump administration as it seeks to rally allies and global opinion against Iran.... Intelligence and military officials in Europe as well as in the United States said that over the past year, most aggressive moves have originated not in Tehran, but in Washington -- where John R. Bolton, the national security adviser, has prodded President Trump into backing Iran into a corner. One American official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential internal planning, said the new intelligence of an increased Iranian threat was 'small stuff' and did not merit the military planning being driven by Mr. Bolton. The official also said the ultimate goal of the yearlong economic sanctions campaign by the Trump administration was to draw Iran into an armed conflict with the United States.... The anti-Iran push has proved difficult even among the allies, which remember a similar campaign against Iraq that was led in part by Mr. Bolton and was fueled by false claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction." ...

... ** Fred Kaplan of Slate: "One week ago, National Security Adviser John Bolton seemed to be laying a trap for the leaders of Iran, squeezing them into a corner where they would have no choice but to lash out. Now he seems to be setting the stage to strike back -- to topple the regime by force -- if and when they take the bait. [Kaplan lists numerous instances in which Trump attempted to provoke Iran into attacking the U.S.] If all this rings a discordant bell -- echoes of Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam, WMD in Iraq, the Maine in the Caribbean, and other contrived provocations that have pushed the country to war -- well, there may be a good reason for that.... It is not yet clear what Trump himself wants.... Trump is playing escalation games with Iran -- games that could lead to war, whether Trump wants that or not -- while doing nothing to seek diplomatic alternatives or to make a case that war is justified, in fact alienating U.S. allies whose support would be useful (if not vital) in a war and, at the same time, ginning up a trade war with China, which, in its early phases, is already wreaking havoc with markets and threatening to damage an otherwise-healthy American economy. Trump isn't fiddling while the world is in turmoil; he's fanning the flames without realizing that's what he's doing."

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Bart Jansen of USA Today: "Lawyers for ... Donald Trump and the House clashed Tuesday in federal court over the extent of Congress' power to investigate him in the first legal test of Trump's effort to block sprawling probes of his finances and private business.... It is the first court test of how much information the half-dozen committees conducting investigations of Trump and his businesses might be able to obtain. Trump and his namesake businesses filed a lawsuit last month asking U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta to revoke a subpoena issued by the House Oversight and Reform Committee. Trump's lawyers accused the Democratic-controlled committee of abusing their power and said there was no legislative purpose for the request.... Mehta ... suggested history might not be on the president's side, saying courts had not found that Congress overstepped its subpoena authority since 1880 and questioning Trump's lawyers about the basis for previous investigations of presidents. Trump's personal lawyer, William Consovoy, argued repeatedly that Congress was seeking the president's financial information for what is essentially a law-enforcement purpose -- which was outside its authority -- rather than to work on legislation. The subpoena sought Trump's financial records to look for inconsistencies in his financial disclosure forms, and whether he misstated his holdings for loans that could leave him beholden to foreigners.... At one point, Mehta asked whether Congress could investigate if the president was engaged in corrupt behavior in office. 'I don't think that's the proper subject of investigation as to the president,' Consovoy said, although executive agencies could be investigated. Mehta sounded incredulous, asking whether Congress could have investigated Watergate, which led to President Richard Nixon's resignation, and Whitewater, which led to President Bill Clinton's impeachment. Consovoy initially said he'd have to look at the basis for those investigations.... Douglas Letter, the general counsel for the House..., said Trump's lawsuit is so far outside the bounds of past Supreme Court decisions that he has 'no chance for success' and urged a quick decision in the case because of Congress's limited term." ...

... Andrew Desiderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A federal judge raised pointed doubts Tuesday about arguments by ... Donald Trump's legal team that a Democratic effort to subpoena Trump's financial records was an invalid exercise of congressional power. Amit Mehta, a U.S. District Court judge in Washington, indicated that he would have trouble ruling that Congress' goal in accessing the president's records was unconstitutional -- as Trump's lawyers have argued -- and he underscored that he believes Congress has a significant 'informing function' that doesn't necessarily require an explicit legislative purpose to justify an investigation involving the president.... Mehta ... suggest[ed] at one point that investigations of such financial violations are 'strictly' under Congress' purview and that the courts have 'very little, if any' discretion over Congress' asks."

Maggie Haberman & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Donald Trump Jr. and the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee reached a deal on Tuesday for the president's eldest son to sit for a private interview with senators in the coming weeks that will be limited in time, an accord that should cool a heated intraparty standoff. The deal came after an aggressive push by the younger Trump's allies, who accused the Intelligence Committee's chairman, Senator Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, of caving to Democrats by issuing a subpoena for the president's son's testimony. They called the effort a political hit job against the White House, using the president's son as fodder. Mr. Burr told fellow Republican senators last week that the president's son had twice agreed to voluntary interviews but had not shown up, forcing the subpoena." ...

... Morgan Gstalter of the Hill: "Calls for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to resign began trending on Twitter Tuesday morning after the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman encouraged President Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., to plead the Fifth. Graham on Monday said Trump Jr. should refuse to answer questions from the Senate Intelligence Committee, which subpoenaed Trump Jr. to testify about his communication with Russian officials. 'You just show up and plead the Fifth and it's over with,' Graham told reporters, referring to the amendment that protects citizens from self-incrimination, according to The Washington Post."

Nicholas Fandos & Maggie Haberman: "The House Intelligence Committee is investigating whether lawyers tied to President Trump and his family helped obstruct the panel's inquiry into Russian election interference by shaping false testimony, a series of previously undisclosed letters from its chairman show. The line of inquiry stems from claims made by the president's former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, who told Congress earlier this year that the lawyers in question helped edit false testimony that he provided to Congress in 2017 about a Trump Tower project in Moscow. Mr. Cohen said they also dangled a potential pardon to try to ensure his loyalty. In recent weeks, the committee sent lengthy document requests to four lawyers -- Jay Sekulow, who represents the president; Alan S. Futerfas, who represents Donald Trump Jr.; Alan Garten, the top lawyer at the Trump Organization; and Abbe D. Lowell, who represents Ivanka Trump. The lawyers all took part in a joint defense agreement by the president's allies to coordinate responses to inquiries by Congress and the Justice Department."

The Oranges of the Mueller Probe, Ctd. Laura Jarrett of CNN: "Attorney General William Barr is working closely with the CIA to review the origins of the Russia investigation and surveillance issues surrounding Donald Trump's presidential campaign, according to a source familiar with the matter, broadening an effort that the President has long demanded to involve all major national security agencies. Barr is working in close collaboration with CIA Director Gina Haspel, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and FBI Director Christopher Wray, the source said.... As CNN previously reported, US attorney John Durham in Connecticut is heading up the effort with Barr. The source said Durham and Barr are doing a comprehensive review, and Durham is with working with the Justice Department's Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, as well." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: IOW, Durham & Horowitz will come up with a report or reports in which they find that the DOJ, FBI, the FISA judges did everything by the book. Durham & Horowitz will submit their reports to Barr, and Barr will write a four-page summary concluding that "spying did occur" against the innocents on the Trump campaign, and everybody in the DOJ, FBI & FISA court behaved very, very badly. Barr must know a very effective cosmetic procedure for wiping der Trumpenkacke off his nose. ...

     ... As Jonathan Chait points out in a post linked below, "Barr is meanwhile authorizing the fourth counter-investigation of the Russia probe. This will probably fail to yield any charges, but will succeed in making anybody in the Department of Justice think very carefully before looking into any crimes by Trump or his friends, with the full understanding that Republicans will harass them for years if they try." Mrs. McC: I'm not sure what fake investigations Chait is counting; maybe he's including the Devin Nunes/Jim Jordan fiascos of the last Congress. ...

... Barbara McQuade in the Daily Beast: "If you come at the king, you best not miss. That's the message Attorney General William Barr is sending to FBI agents, whether intentionally or not. Barr has authorized yet another investigation into the FBI's conduct probing links between Russian election interference and the Trump campaign.... In [appointing John Durham], Barr is playing into the hands of President Donald Trump, who has already characterized Durham's assignment as an investigation into 'how that whole hoax got started.... The current outcry about the use of FISA surveillance and informants to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election is not sufficient predication for a criminal investigation.... It is unclear why Barr does not simply await ... results [of two probes already in progress] rather than appoint a new prosecutor to undertake another investigation.... In addition to harming the effectiveness of the FBI, Barr's complicity in Trump's tactics may also have a chilling effect. By advancing the 'investigate the investigators' mantra, Barr may cause the FBI to flinch next time it perceives a threat from powerful people within the government. He is incentivizing the FBI to sit idly by in the face of national security threats." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I suspect that's the message Barr wants to send: that the president is above the law; ergo, all investigations of his activities are illegitimate. In fact, that's exactly what the administration's attorney said in court, as the USA Today story, linked above, indicates.

... Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "The federal prosecutor tapped to scrutinize the origins of the Russia investigation is conducting only a review for now and has not opened any criminal inquiry, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The prosecutor, John H. Durham, the United States attorney for Connecticut, is broadly examining the government's collection of intelligence involving the Trump campaign's interactions with Russians.... The distinction means that Mr. Durham for now will not wield the sort of law enforcement powers that come with an open criminal investigation, such as the ability to subpoena documents and compel witnesses to testify. Instead, he will have the authority only to read documents the government has already gathered and to request voluntary witness interviews. That distinction could have political consequences. Earlier on Tuesday, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told reporters he would 'pull back' a proposed inquiry by his committee into what Mr. Trump's allies have portrayed as surveillance abuse because he did not want to get in the way of a criminal investigation by Mr. Durham. But later on Tuesday, told by a Times reporter that Mr. Durham was for now conducting only a review, Mr. Graham said, 'That is completely different.' He said he wanted the inquiry to be run by a prosecutor with the same power as Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel who scrutinized Trump-Russia links." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Thanks, Lindsey! What this country needs is yet another "investigation" of the investigators. But keep on keeping on, Lindsey. Your brilliant career is so much more important than annoying stuff like integrity, and we all appreciate what a Trump kiss-up you need to be to ensure those Palmetto Trumpbots will vote for you. ...

... New York Times Editors: "One of President Trump's enduring beliefs about the Russia investigation is that the Obama administration illegally spied on him, his associates and his campaign.... In Attorney General William Barr, the president has found an ally willing to legitimize his theories.... Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, said on Tuesday that the F.B.I. confirmed with him that Russian hackers had managed in 2016 to infiltrate two county voter databases in the state. They used techniques similar to those used by Kremlin operatives.... The F.B.I. has well-founded concerns that Russia will continue to meddle in American elections. So once the Trump administration is done investigating the investigators, it should turn its attention to ensuring the sanctity and security of the nation's ballot boxes."

** Jonathan Chait: "President Trump's progress in corrupting the Department of Justice -- and, to some extent, the entire federal government -- into a weapon of his autocratic aspirations relies on the acquiescence of figures like Rod Rosenstein. It is the Rosensteins who translate the president's lizard-brain impulses into practical directives and create a patina of normalcy around them. (Or, in some increasingly rare cases, refuse to do so.) And so Rosenstein's spate of valedictory remarks attempting to cleanse and justify his service to Trump give us real insight into the worldview of the compliant bureaucratic functionary.... Somehow, Rosenstein is able to look upon the situation he has left with pride. Mueller was never fired. More importantly, neither was Rosenstein himself. It is easy for the inside man to confuse a system that is intact with a system that is working."

Quinta Jurecic of Lawfare in the Atlantic: "For Congress today to look at the conduct described in the Mueller report and decide that it does not merit impeachment is for it to acquiesce to Trump's effort to establish his own corruption not only as the new norm, but as the way things have always been. To put it another way, given Congress's inaction, can you really blame Rudy Giuliani for trying his luck in Ukraine?"

Casey Michel of ThinkProgress: "[Rudy] Giuliani, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, has worked in Ukraine since Trump's inauguration, nominally as a security adviser to the city of Kharkiv with his firm Giuliani Partners. However, one of his local clients claimed last week that Giuliani provided far more than technical advice and a handful of photo-ops. According to Ukrainian developer Pavel Fuks, Giuliani had been hired to work as a 'lobbyist' for the government of Ukraine, as well as for the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. 'This is stated in the contract,' Fuks told the Times.... Giuliani denied Fuks' claim, saying that Trump remains his 'only client.'... Fuks' claim adds significant fuel to longstanding concerns about Giuliani's decision not to register as a foreign agent with the Justice Department -- even as the agency goes to unprecedented lengths to enforce the Foreign Agents Registration Act." --s

Damian Paletta, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Tuesday rushed to placate furious farmers and Senate Republicans about his escalating trade war with China, with lawmakers now considering a package of fresh bailout funds to quell a rebellion in agricultural states.... On Monday, Trump suggested the standoff could last years and lead to structural changes in the global economy. On Tuesday, Trump offered conflicting forecasts, musing that a deal could come in the next month but also predicting a furious economic battle with Beijing.... The mounting concern from farmers and business groups showed signs of bleeding into the 2020 presidential campaign. Trump has attacked former vice president Joe Biden ... and alleged that Democrats didn't act forcefully enough to counter China in past decades. But Biden on Monday told the radio station WMUR that Trump was creating collateral damage with his blunt trade agenda, which has relied on costly tariffs that U.S. companies must pay to bring in Chinese products. 'The American worker is getting killed by this,' Biden said. 'The American farmers are getting killed.'"

Ha Ha. Shahien Nasiripour of Bloomberg News: "Trump Tower, once the crown jewel in Donald Trump's property empire, now ranks as one of the least desirable luxury properties in Manhattan. The 36-year-old building has been turned into a fortress since Trump won the presidency, ringed with concrete barriers and the two main entrances partially blocked off. It hasn't been substantially updated in years. And Trump's name has been a huge turnoff in liberal New York City. For anyone who owns a unit in the tower, the past two years have been brutal. Most condo sales have led to a loss after adjusting for inflation, property records show. Several sold at more than a 20% loss. By contrast, across Manhattan, just 0.23% of homes over the past two years sold at a loss, according to real-estate data provider PropertyShark, although the firm doesn't adjust for inflation.... While some corners of Trump's business empire have thrived, such as his Washington D.C. hotel, others have suffered from his high unpopularity. Rounds of golf are down at his public course in New York, a clutch of once Trump-branded buildings have torn his name off their fronts, and an ambitious plan to launch a new mid-tier hotel chain across the country fizzled." ...

... Ho Ho. David Fahrenthold & Jonathan O'Connell of the Washington Post: "Late last year, in a Miami conference room, a consultant for President Trump's company said business at his prized 643-room Doral resort was in sharp decline. At Doral, which Trump has listed in federal disclosures as his biggest moneymaker hotel, room rates, banquets, golf and overall revenue were all down since 2015. In two years, the resort's net operating income -- a key figure, representing the amount left over after expenses are paid -- had fallen by 69 percent.... 'They are severely underperforming' other resorts in the area, tax consultant Jessica Vachiratevanurak told a Miami-Dade County official in a bid to lower the property's tax bill. The reason, she said: 'There is some negative connotation that is associated with the brand.'... The troubles at Trump Doral -- detailed here for the first time, based on documents and video obtained under Florida's public-records law -- suggest the Trump Organization's problems are bigger than previously known. This is also the first known case in which a Trump Organization representative has publicly acknowledged the president's name has hurt business."

Morgan Chalfont of the Hill: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that he told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that the United States would not tolerate future Russian interference in American elections. Speaking to reporters at a news conference in Sochi, Pompeo said he told Lavrov that 'interference in American elections is unacceptable and if the Russians were engaged in that in 2020 it would put our relationship in an even worse place than it has been.' 'We would not tolerate that,' Pompeo said.... Pompeo spoke to reporters after meeting with Lavrov in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. The two said they discussed a variety of bilateral and global issues, including arms control, the political upheaval in Venezuela, North Korean denuclearization and Iran. The secretary of State later described the discussion as 'frank' and said the two discussed a variety of areas of disagreement, including Russia's support for embattled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro." Mrs. McC: I wonder if Pompeo delivered the Russian interference memo deadpan or if he was chuckling.

Alexander Narzayan of Yahoo! news: "Charles C. Johnson [is] a Holocaust denier whom the Boston Globe has deemed 'one of the country's most notorious Internet trolls' ... who had been informally involved with the Trump campaign. Even so, he retained untrammeled access to the highest reaches of the Trump administration.... That much is clear from his surprising exchange [via email] with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on June 25, 2018.... Ross and Johnson did meet that summer.... [The Department of Commerce would not confirm that a meeting between Ross and Johnson took place.]...It is not known what they discussed[.] ... Ross's email address is redacted in the documents reviewed by Yahoo News. However, Democracy Forward had specified in its Freedom of Information request that it sought 'all communications sent to or from any nongovernmental email address established, controlled, or used by the Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.' The back-and-forth with Johnson, therefore, had to have been conducted at least in part via an email address affiliated with Ross but not issued by the federal government." --s

Burgess Everett of Politico: "Mitt Romney was the only Republican senator to vote against one of ... Donald Trump's judicial nominees on Tuesday. And he did so in part to defend former President Barack Obama. Romney cast the lone GOP 'no' vote against Michael Truncale, who was confirmed 49-46 on Tuesday morning to the Eastern District of Texas. Truncale called Obama an 'un-American imposter' in June 2011, and explained to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he was 'merely expressing frustration by what I perceived as a lack of overt patriotism on behalf of President Obama.'... 'He made particularly disparaging comments about President Obama. And as the Republican nominee for president, I just couldn't subscribe to that in a federal judge,' Romney said in a brief interview. 'This was not a matter of qualifications or politics. This was something specifically to that issue as a former nominee of our party.'" Mrs. McC: How nice to know all other Republican senators were good with this guy.

Congressional Race 2019. Laura Barron-Lopez of Politico: "Dan Bishop, a state senator and author of North Carolina's controversial 'bathroom bill,' beat back nine other Republican candidates Tuesday to clinch the GOP nomination for this year's redo election in the state's 9th Congressional District. Bishop secured 48 percent of the vote, easily defeating Stony Rushing, the second-place candidate -- and clearing the threshold needed to avoid a nasty runoff that would have further hurt the GOP's chances of keeping a seat the party has held for decades. With Bishop's outright victory on Tuesday, he will face Democrat Dan McCready in the general election on Sept. 10." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: One reason -- but definitely not the primary reason -- that Neanderthals like Bishop win elections is evident in the way stories about them are reported. All the major national outlets led with Bishop's notorious bathroom bill; the Raleigh News & Observer, which is not a horrible paper, didn't mention the bill till the sixth graf -- and then left it up to a citation from Democrats -- to bring up Bishop's cruel, disastrous bill.

Presidential Race 2020

Matt Stevens & Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said Tuesday that she would not participate in a Fox News town hall as some other Democratic candidates have, calling the media outlet 'a hate-for-profit racket' that seeks to turn Americans against one another. In a series of messages posted on Twitter, Ms. Warren, who is one of 22 people seeking the Democratic nomination for president, accused the network of giving 'a megaphone to racists and conspiracists' and providing cover for corruption. She also returned to one of her campaign's central themes in her attack on Fox News, framing the network as the sort of corporate 'profit machine' she has railed against.... Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont took part in a town hall on the network in April and Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota did the same last week. Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., is expected to participate in one on Sunday."

Charles Pierce, in his ever-patient & soothing way, tries to explain to Joe Biden that Donald Trump is not the only little problem with the GOP. Mrs. McC: Biden fondly remembers the good old days when he was a senator & cut deals with Republicans in the mens' locker room. Anita Hill all over again? Yeah. Biden is Hillary redux. And we know how that turned out.

** Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "The greatest restraint on judges is that they are bound by a written text -- or, at least, that they are supposed to be.... Which is why Justice Clarence Thomas' opinion for the Supreme Court in Franchise Tax Board v. Hyatt is troubling. Hyatt does not simply overrule a longstanding precedent, it does so while admitting that nothing in the text of the Constitution supports such an outcome. Loyalty to constitutional text and loyalty to written precedents are the twin pillars that stabilize our system of law. The Supreme Court just abandoned both of them." --s

Kyla Mandel of ThinkProgress: "The concentration of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere reached an unprecedented level this month. Researchers at the fossil fuel giant Exxon saw it coming decades ago.... According to an internal 1982 document from Exxon Research and Engineering Company ... the company expected that, by 2020, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would reach roughly 400 to 420 ppm. This month's measurement of 415 ppm is right within the expected curve Exxon projected under its '21st Century Study-High Growth scenario.'... Not only did Exxon predict the rise in emissions, it also understood how severe the consequences would be.... Despite this knowledge, the company chose not to change or adapt its business model. Instead, it chose to invest heavily in disinformation campaigns that promoted climate science denial, failing to disclose its knowledge that the majority of the world's fossil fuel reserves must remain untapped in order to avert catastrophic climate change." --s

Elaine Povich of the Washington Post: "Alice M. Rivlin, a master of budgetary policy who held senior positions in the executive and legislative branches of government -- notably as founding director of the Congressional Budget Office -- and whose stewardship of the D.C. Financial Control Board guided the once-insolvent city to solid financial footing, died May 14 at her home in Washington."

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Timothy Williams & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "The Alabama Senate approved a measure on Tuesday that would outlaw almost all abortions in the state, setting up a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the case that recognized a woman's constitutional right to end a pregnancy. The legislation bans abortions at every stage of pregnancy and criminalizes the procedure for doctors, who could be charged with felonies and face up to 99 years in prison. It includes an exception for cases when the mother's life is at serious risk, but not for cases of rape or incest -- a subject of fierce debate among lawmakers in recent days. The House approved the measure -- the most far-reaching effort in the nation this year to curb abortion rights -- last month. It now moves to the desk of Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican. Although the governor has not publicly committed to signing the legislation, many Republican lawmakers expect her support." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Another manifestation of white male power in the Land Left Behind. Update: Think I'm kidding? Every single Alabama state senate Republican is a white man. Every one. Apparently Alabama's little ladies are staying home drinking sweet tea. No wonder Alabama sucks. Not fair, you say? Well, looky here ...

... The Best States Are Blue. Ed Kilgore of New York: U.S. News & World Report just published its ranking of states by livability. According to the report, "The Best States ranking ... draws on thousands of data points to measure how well states are performing for their citizens. In addition to health care and education, the metrics take into account a state's economy, its roads, bridges, internet and other infrastructure, its public safety, the fiscal stability of state government, and the opportunity it affords its residents." Kilgore: "When you look at the states' political complexions, the patterns are quite clear. The No. 1 state is Washington, and eight of the top ten are states Donald Trump lost (the exceptions being Utah and Nebraska). Twelve of the bottom 13 are states Trump carried (New Mexico is the exception).... History buffs won't be surprised to learn that former states of the Confederacy, particularly the more conservative of them, don't do well in these rankings: Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana are at the very bottom, while Arkansas (45th) and South Carolina (42nd) also do poorly. It's an interesting commentary on the ancient reactionary idea that a low-tax, low-regulation, anti-union environment guarantees growth." ...

     ... The U.S. News report on its rankings is here.

Florida. Trump Radio. Really. Justin Wise of the Hill: "A media company that operates multiple radio stations in Florida has vowed to broadcast portions of President Trump's speeches every hour of every day until the 2020 election. Gulf Coast Media Inc., the owner of the stations 'Classic Rock WRBA-FM 95.9, 'Country WKNK-FM "Hank FM"' and 'Adult Hits WASJ-FM 'BOB FM,"' announced in a press release that it would air Trump's speeches for the next 18 months." Mrs. McC: Whither the Fairness Doctrine?

Oklahoma, Where Sexual Assault Is a Laughing Matter. Josh Israel of ThinkProgress: "Two Oklahoma state lawmakers were caught on a live mic Monday joking about sexual predation. According to Oklahoma City CBS affiliate KWTV, which captured the exchange, the conversation took place minutes before a press conference by Gov. Kevin Stitt (R). In the video, Rep. Mark McBride (R) can be overheard asking Rep. Scott Fetgatter (R) whether he molested a female former state lawmaker. 'You molested this girl after Kannady did?' McBride asks, apparently referencing allegations against two other colleagues, Reps. Chris Kannady (R) and Kevin McDugle (R), who are under investigation for sexual assault.... In response to McBride's question, Fetgatter jokingly responds, 'No, I was at the table and I allowed it.'" --s

Way Beyond

Congo. Sarah Boseley of the Guardian: "An Ebola epidemic in a conflict-riven region of Democratic Republic of Congo is out of control and could become as serious as the outbreak that devastated three countries in west Africa between 2013 and 2016, experts and aid chiefs have warned.... More than 1,600 people have been infected with the Ebola virus in the North Kivu region of DRC and more than 1,000 have died so far -- the great majority women and children. At least 10 months since the outbreak began, the numbers are rising steadily and the fatality rate is higher than in previous outbreaks, at about 67%." --s

Europe. Arthur Nelsen of the Guardian: "Industry lobbies are mounting a push to roll back EU clean water regulations, even though less than half of the continent's rivers, wetlands and lakes are in a healthy state. The lobby offensive is aimed at weakening the bloc's floods and water framework directives, which require all states to ensure their waterways are in 'good ecological condition' by 2027.... The campaign by mining, agriculture, hydropower and chemical lobbyists has bee backed by five EU states: Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Finland." --s