The Commentariat -- May 12, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Heather Caygle, et al., of Politico: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats are planning to move ahead with a Friday vote on a $3 trillion package to respond to the coronavirus crisis, despite protests from progressives that the bill doesn't go far enough.... Donald Trump and Senate Republicans also object to the Democratic proposal, saying there hasn't been enough time since the $2 trillion CARES Act passed to determine whether new legislation is needed or necessary." A Washington Post story is here.

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "White House coronavirus task force medical expert Anthony S. Fauci delivered his long-awaited coronavirus testimony Tuesday to a Senate health committee.... Also appearing at Tuesday's hearing were Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn and President Trump's coronavirus testing czar, Adm. Brett Giroir.... Fauci said to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who asked about [the actual death toll], '... most of us feel that the number of deaths are likely higher than [the] number [reported]....'... Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) pressed Redfield on when we might see the past-due guidelines for reopening that have been held up -- noting that many states are pressing forward with reopening even without them.... Redfield responded, 'I do anticipate this broader guidance, though, to be posted on the CDC website soon.' '"Soon" isn't terribly helpful,' Murphy responded.... Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) ... engaged in a particularly pointed exchange with Fauci.... 'What our country has done so far on testing is impressive but not nearly enough,' [committee chair Lamar] Alexander [R-Tenn.] said.... Alexander ... asked Fauci directly whether there will be the kinds of treatments or even a vaccine available to help reopen universities in the fall term.... [Fauci called that] 'a bit of a bridge too far.'... Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) called the testing in the United States 'nothing to celebrate whatsoever.' He also rebuked Giroir and the White House for favorably comparing U.S. testing to that of South Korea, which ramped up testing much more quickly and has dealt with a much smaller outbreak as a result."

Mrs. McCrabbie: I pretty much missed it, but the Supreme Court is hearing the Trump tax returns cases. At 12:15 pm ET, but at 12:15 pm ET, it's still ongoing & the New York Times has the audio live here. Also comes with Times reporters snark attacks. Update: The full recording is still available at the linked page. Audio begins at about 15 minutes in. CNN has the audio here. The CNN video is kaput. ~~~

~~~ Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The very nature of the presidency was under scrutiny at the Supreme Court on Tuesday, as the justices heard more than three hours of arguments on whether House committees and prosecutors may obtain troves of information about President Trump's business affairs. The court's ruling, expected by July, could require disclosure of information the president has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect. Or the justices could rule that Mr. Trump's financial affairs are not legitimate subjects of inquiry. But some of the justices' questions raised a third possibility: that the court could return the cases to lower courts for reconsideration under stricter standards. That would have the incidental effect of deferring a final decision beyond the 2020 presidential election." ~~~

~~~ Robert Barnes, et al., of the Washington Post: "The court's conservative majority seemed far more critical of lawmakers' demands, questioning whether approving the subpoenas issued by three congressional committees would open the door for a Congress ruled by one political party to make potentially harassing requests of a president from a different party. The court's liberal justices seemed more accommodating to Congress's position that it has an important job to do in investigating potential wrongdoing and then proposing legislation to correct it.... Justices on both sides found less to criticize when Carey R. Dunne, general counsel for New York County District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., spoke. Dunne said Trump's records are needed for an ongoing criminal investigation that touches more people than Trump and that federal courts already have decided that the request would put no additional burdens on the president. The records requested are held by Trump's accounting firm and financial institutions, and the prosecutors have said no action is required of the president to comply." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I hope somebody reminded the confederate justices that every single major-party presidential candidate in the last half-century has released years of tax returns, most without whining about it. (Romney whined.) Voters have a right to know what their potential presidents have been doing with their money. I'm not sure about previous presidents & veeps, but both President Obama & Vice President Biden also timely released their returns covering the years they were in office. What-all is Donald Trump hiding?

~~~ The New York Times live updates of coronavirus developments Tuesday are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here.

Arizona. Not All Protesters Are Gun-Totin' Wingers. Jamie Landers of the Arizona Republic: "More than 20 body bags representing victims of the coronavirus pandemic lined the lawn of the Arizona state Capitol on Tuesday. The socially distant protest was organized by Indivisible Phoenix, a grassroots progressive movement, to ask Gov. Doug Ducey ;to reconsider his decision to lift the state's stay-at-home order. The stay-at-home order was originally extended through May 15. However, on ;May 4, Ducey said he spotte a downward trend and adjusted the order, allowing some non-essential businesses and restaurants to reopen."

The POTUS* Is Completely Insane. Batshit Crazy. Deranged. Bonkers. Nutso. Quint Forgey of Politico: "Donald Trump on Tuesday explicitly suggested MSNBC's Joe Scarborough had committed murder.... Following a segment on the network's 'Morning Joe' talk show that featured discussion of upcoming Senate testimony by Dr. Anthony Fauci..., as well as critical comments from Scarborough regarding the White House's coronavirus response, Trump lashed out in a tweet posted just before 7 a.m. 'When will they open a Cold Case on the Psycho Joe Scarborough matter in Florida. Did he get away with murder? Some people think so,' Trump wrote. 'Why did he leave Congress so quietly and quickly? Isn't it obvious? What's happening now? A total nut job!' Trump was apparently referring to the 2001 death of Lori Klausutis, who worked as a staffer in Scarborough's Fort Walton Beach, Fla., office when he served as a Republican House lawmaker from the state's 1st Congressional District. Klausutis' autopsy revealed she had an undiagnosed heart condition, and a coroner concluded she died after passing out and hitting her head in a fall, according to The Associated Press. She was not struck by another person, the coroner said, and Scarborough was in Washington at the time of her death." ~~~

     ~~~ mike pence may or may not be in solitary confinement, but reporters should start phoning him up to ask why he hasn't got the Cabinet together to invoke the 25th Amendment. ~~~

~~~ AFP: "White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said [Vice President] Pence, who heads the White House coronavirus task force, 'has made the choice to keep his distance for a few days' from the president." Mrs. McC: Hope that means it's because he's busy calling Cabinet members about the 25th.

Trump Blows up His Own Victory Party. Allyson Chiu & Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "... it looked like a victory lap of sorts was underway. Two giant banners bearing the words 'AMERICA LEADS THE WORLD IN TESTING' in all-caps were suspended from the White House columns. Testing machines and kits to detect the novel coronavirus had been carefully arranged on wooden tables flanking the president's lectern, which was set against a backdrop of American flags. But the orchestrated opportunity for the president to boast about his administration's efforts to ramp up testing backfired. Instead of reassuring Americans and being a celebratory event, the roughly hour-long news conference ended with Trump shutting down reporters' questions and abruptly leaving the Rose Garden following heated exchanges with two female journalists, including one who seemed to imply that he made a racially charged comment toward her. Soon, the news conference was trending on social media -- for all the wrong reasons." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Sorta like he arranged the tables with Trump "University" "diplomas" and they ignited. And with Trump steaks that drew rats & flies. And with Trump wine bottles that exploded. Then two giant "Trump Brands" banners blew over in the wind, landing on Donald & Jared & catching fire from the "diplomas."

John Vernovek & Molly Nagle of ABC News: "In an interview Tuesday morning on 'Good Morning America'..., Joe Biden pushed back on ... Donald Trump's claim that anyone in America who wants to get tested for COVID-19 has the ability to do so. '... Anyone can't get a test around the country... He knew about this crisis all the way back in January and February. He's been incompetent the way he responded,' Biden told ... George Stephanopoulos. Biden said that as president, he would advise the nation's governors to listen to the medical experts on the question of when it is safe to open back up certain parts of the country, in particular Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases."

** Frank Figliuzzi in an NBC News opinion piece: "On Saturday, Trump retweeted a fantastical fiction of a theory from The Federalist asserting that former President Barack Obama's White House intelligence discussions about, in part, the trustworthiness of incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn ... were proof that Obama and ... Joe Biden were malevolently conspiring against the Trump administration. Trump later retweeted a Fox News legal analyst's opinion that without Flynn, the entire Russia investigation is meaningless and perhaps should be thrown out.... [Attorney General Bill] Barr is riding shotgun on Trump's scorched-earth joyride against justice.... On May 7, the same day that Barr moved to dismiss proven charges against Flynn, Trump had a call with Putin. Although the official White House summary of the call didn't include a discussion of what Trump has called the 'Russia hoax,' Trump disclosed to reporters that he and Putin talked about the repercussions of the special counsel's investigation. Trump explained that the 'Russia hoax' was 'very hard' on the U.S. and Russia's foreign relations, 'and we discussed that.'... As this staged farce unfolds, the truth will be trampled, reputations ruined and a foreign adversary empowered."

~~~~~~~~~~

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Monday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Monday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Nancy Cook of Politico: "On the day the U.S. death toll from coronavirus topped 80,000..., Donald Trump stood in the White House Rose Garden for a 'mission accomplished' moment. Behind Trump were a row of American flags and a pair of giant signs reading, in all capital letters: 'America leads the world in testing,' referring to the total number of U.S. tests conducted in recent months rather than per-capita testing, in which America does not lead the world. In front of Trump sat his staff [including Jared Kushner] and reporters, physically distanced and all wearing face masks.... 'We have met the moment and we have prevailed,' [Trump asserted]. It was a pronouncement incongruous with the widespread anxiety among employers across America about whether enough testing exists to reopen their workplaces. It was also incongruous with the internal turmoil spreading on Monday inside the West Wing, where officials were scrambling to prevent the virus from crippling the ... supposedly safest office in America.... White House aides are deeply aware the president's message urging states to reopen their economies does not mesh with the optics of the virus spreading throughout the West Wing.... [Vice President] Pence's only public event on Monday was a teleconference with governors, and as of now he has no travel publicly scheduled for this week. He did not appear alongside the president at the briefing as he usually does when not traveling." ~~~

~~~ Anne Gearan, et al., of the Washington Post: "... President Trump claimed Monday that his administration is besting the world in testing and that it will help states expand such efforts.... The administration said it will distribute $11 billion to states to facilitate testing -- from money already approved by Congress for coronavirus relief.... [Trump] said the United States should pass 10 million completed tests this week, 'nearly double the number of any other country.' Officials outlined the plan in front of huge banners that proclaimed 'America leads the world in testing.'... But the White House event ... amounted to an acknowledgment that there is not yet enough testing capacity across the United States.... The United States as of Sunday had completed nearly 9 million coronavirus tests, according to the Covid Tracking Project.... The figure is equivalent to just 2.74 percent of the U.S. population and does not give a full representation of the virus's reach within American society. There are far higher levels of per-capita testing in other parts of the world.... The United States continues to be, by far, the world's coronavirus hot spot.... Trump had asserted earlier Monday that 'coronavirus numbers' are decreasing in almost all of country.... Though the rate of new daily infections in the United States has declined from its peak in mid-April, the daily case totals in several states are still rising.... [Late last week, public health researchers at Harvard] said that fewer than a dozen states are testing enough to keep ahead of the virus. Most others, researchers wrote, are not testing at a level that will allow them to adequately track people who get sick and others they might have come into contact with." The article is free to nonsubscribers. The Hill's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Jonathan Allen, et al. of NBC: "Coronavirus infection rates are spiking to new highs in several metropolitan areas and smaller communities across the country, according to undisclosed data the White House's pandemic task force is using to track rates of infection, which was obtained by NBC News.... The 10 top areas recorded surges of 72.4 percent or greater over a seven-day period compared to the previous week according to a set of tables produced for the task force by its data and analytics unit. They include Nashville, Tennessee; Des Moines, Iowa; Amarillo, Texas; and -- atop the list, with a 650 percent increase -- Central City, Kentucky.... The spiking infection rates suggest that the pandemic is spreading quickly outside major coastal population centers that were early hot spots[.]" --s

Trump to Chinese-American Reporter: "Ask China Your Nasty Question." David Bauder of the AP: "... Donald Trump abruptly ended his White House news conference Monday following combative exchanges with reporters Weijia Jiang of CBS News and Kaitlan Collins of CNN. Jiang asked Trump why he was putting so much emphasis on the amount of coronavirus tests that have been conducted in the United States.... 'Why is this a global competition to you if everyday Americans are still losing their lives and we're still seeing more cases every day?' Trump replied that 'they're losing their lives everywhere in the world. And maybe that's a question you should ask China. Don't ask me. Ask China that question.' He called for another question.... 'Sir, why are you saying that to me, specifically?' Jiang asked. Jiang ... was born in Xiamen, China, and emigrated to the United States with her family at age 2. Trump said he would say that to 'anyone who asks a nasty question.' 'It's not a nasty question,' Jiang said. 'Why does that matter?' Trump again asked for another question, then ... waved off CNN's Collins when she approached the microphone. 'You pointed to me,' Collins said. The president said, 'I pointed to you and you didn't respond.' Collins said she was giving Jiang the time to finish her questioning. 'Can I ask a question?' Collins said. With that, Trump called an end to the news conference ... and walked away." ~~~

Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "The White House on Monday ordered all West Wing employees to wear masks at work unless they are sitting at their desks, an abrupt shift in policy after two aides working near the president -- a military valet and Katie Miller, the vice president's spokeswoman -- tested positive for the coronavirus last week.... Asked at a Rose Garden news conference whether he had ordered the change, Mr. Trump — who did not wear a mask and has repeatedly said he sees no reason to -- said, 'Yeah, I did.' But officials said the new requirement was not expected to apply to Mr. Trump or to Vice President Mike Pence.... The White House also made some smaller changes, including displaying signs encouraging social distancing at entryways and asking aides during routine temperature checks if they are experiencing symptoms, according to officials.... Many of the president's top aides and advisers have eschewed masks in their appearances with Mr. Trump, despite their own advice to their staffs to wear them. On Saturday, the defense secretary, Mark T. Esper, and the top military chiefs sat barefaced around the table with Mr. Trump at the White House, apparently in contradiction of policy at the Pentagon, where officials have been social distancing for two months and wearing masks for several weeks."

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Dr. Anthony S. Fauci ... plans to deliver a stark warning to the Senate on Tuesday: Americans would experience 'needless suffering and death' if the country opens up prematurely. Dr. Fauci, who has emerged as the perhaps nation's most respected voice during the worst public health crisis in a century, is one of four top government doctors scheduled to testify remotely at a high-profile -- and highly unusual -- hearing on Tuesday before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. He made his comments in an email to a New York Times reporter late Monday night.... It is a message starkly at odds with the things-are-looking-up argument that President Trump has been trying to put out: that states are ready to reopen and the pandemic is under control. In the Rose Garden earlier on Monday, Mr. Trump declared that 'we have met the moment and we have prevailed,' though he later walked back the comments and said he only meant to say the country had prevailed on increasing access to coronavirus testing -- an assertion public health experts say is not true." CNBC has a summary report here. ~~~

~~~ “Let It Rip,” Tony. Ali Zaslav of CNN: "Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, not to hold anything back and to 'let it rip' ahead of tomorrow's Senate Health Committee oversight hearing on the administration's coronavirus response.... He also said that until now, the country has mostly heard from the members of the coronavirus task force 'through the distorted lens of the White House press conference with the President often prevents them from answering fully, interrupts their response, or even contradicts their fact based advice.'"

** PPE Factory Refuses to Let Trump in the Door. Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "President Trump was pushing to get out in the public eye in recent weeks and tout his leadership during the pandemic, and White House staff thought they had hit on the ideal event: a presidential visit to thank the Pennsylvania factory workers who had recently taken herculean steps to ramp up U.S. supplies of protective equipment. Workers had received national attention after dozens of them lived for 28 days inside their factory so they could ensure they were virus-free and their production was not contaminated or disrupted by illness.... But after extensive back and forth [between the White House & the factory], factory officials ultimately asked to postpone, worried that a visit from Trump could jeopardize both the safety of the workers and the plant's ability to produce special material for masks and other medical gear...." Catherine Garcia of the Week has a summary report here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Good for them. I hope they don't back down. Had I been head of the Mayo Clinic (a ludicrous notion), I would have told mike pence to wear a mask or get out. But I didn't think real business managers would have the guts to turn away the President*. The management at Braskem America have showed for a second time they're a company of true American heroes.

"We're All Casualties of Trump's War on Science." Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit research organization focused on emerging pandemics..., worked with China's Wuhan Institute of Virology to study coronaviruses in bats that could infect humans.... Since 2014, the EcoHealth Alliance has received a grant from the National Institutes of Health, until its funding was abruptly cut two weeks ago. The reason, as '60 Minutes' reported on Sunday evening, was a conspiracy theory spread by Representative Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican who in March wore a gas mask on the House floor to mock concern about the new coronavirus. On April 14..., Gaetz ... [told] Tucker Carlson ... that the N.I.H. grant went to the Wuhan Institute, which Gaetz intimated might have been the source of the virus.... The first of Gaetz's claims was flatly false, and the second unlikely; the C.I.A. has reportedly found no evidence of a link between the virus and the Wuhan lab. But at a White House briefing a few days later, a reporter from the right-wing website Newsmax told President Trump that under Barack Obama, the N.I.H. gave the Wuhan lab a $3.7 million grant.... In fact, Trump's administration had recently renewed EcoHealth's grant, but Trump didn't appear to know that.... Trump ... said, 'We will end that grant very quickly.' And they did.... Conservative antipathy to science ... [has] grown worse under Trump, with his authoritarian impulse to quash any facts ... that might reflect poorly on him."

Norm-Destroyer Bemoans Lack of Norms. Jordain Carney of The Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell(R-Ky.) said on Monday that former President Obama should have held back from criticizing President Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.... 'I think President Obama should have kept his mouth shut.... But I think it's a little bit classless frankly to critique an administration that comes after you,' McConnell said.... Obama, during a private phone call, characterized the administration's response as an 'absolute chaotic disaster' that stemmed from a 'what's in it for me' mindset." --s  More on Mitch linked below.

Christina Maxouris & Arman Azad of CNN: "Two new reports released [Monday] by the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention paint a harrowing picture of the grip and spread of coronavirus in parts of the US.... In New York City, the virus may have directly or indirectly killed far more people than the city's official death toll shows, according to one of the two reports. Researchers found that while the city reported 24,172 more deaths since mid-March compared to what would normally be expected, only about 19,000 of them were directly linked to the virus. And while it's hard to track why the other 5,000 deaths occurred, the report says one reason may be that 'social distancing practices, the demand on hospitals and health care providers, and public fear related to COVID-19 might lead to delays in seeking or obtaining lifesaving care.' Those findings add to a growing body of evidence highlighting how the pandemic may be killing Americans without ever infecting them.... In the second report, researchers say airport screening of travelers from China and Iran failed to prevent the spread of the virus, at least in California."

Alabama. WSFA Montgomery: "It took 59 days, just shy of two months, for Alabama to reach 10,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19. The milestone happened Monday, the same day Gov. Kay Ivey's order to loosen restrictions on gatherings and business reopenings took effect.... More than 1,250 have been hospitalized since the state's first case and a total of 401 people have died of the disease, the health department has confirmed. ADPH says 37 percent of those hospitalized are treated in the ICU and 60 percent of those patients are on a ventilator. About 20 percent of those who test positive are health care providers and long term care workers." Mrs. McC: No word on the racial make-up of victims.

Arizona-New Mexico. Christina Capatides of CBS News: "Jean Stowell, head of [Doctors Without Borders]' U.S. COVID-19 Response Team, told CBS News that Doctors Without Borders has dispatched a team of nine to the hard-hit Navajo Nation in the southwest U.S. because of the crisis unfolding there.... Doctors Without Borders is best known for sending medical professionals into international conflict zones in the midst of medical crises. The organization has teams in Afghanistan, Iran, Sierra Leone, Venezuela and 66 other countries. It did not, however, have a medical presence in the U.S. -- until now.... Navajo Nation, home to roughly 170,000 people, now has more coronavirus cases per capita than any state in America."

Colorado. Alison Borden of Colorado Public Radio: "Gov. Jared Polis, calling the restaurant an 'immediate health hazard,' has suspended the restaurant license of C&C Breakfast & Korean Kitchen in Castle Rock, a day after a video [surfaced on social media] showing a packed dining room in defiance of public health rules.... Polis said the license would be suspended indefinitely -- at least for 30 days.... Polis' announcement followed news that Tri-County Health Department ordered C&C to close. The health department warned the restaurant on Friday not to open, but the now-viral video shows it was open to dine-in service -- with dozens of people sitting to eat and only a few people wearing masks -- on Sunday."

Illinois. Tina Sfondeles of the Chicago Sun-Times: "A member of Gov. J.B. Pritzker's senior staff has tested positive for COVID-19 and all staffers -- including the governor -- will now work from home for an 'appropriate isolation period,' the governor's office said Monday. The staff member was asymptomatic and tested positive late last week. That staffer was also in close contact with Pritzker and other staff members, the governor's office said. All staffers were tested last week. The Democratic governor and all other senior staffers have tested negative, and Pritzker was tested once again early Sunday and tested negative, his office said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Another Great Moment in Trump "Press Briefings." Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump on Monday declined to name the crime he believes former President Obama committed as he was pressed on a string of critical tweets he sent over the weekend accusing his predecessor of committing the biggest political crime in history. 'You know what the crime is. The crime is very obvious to everybody. All you have to do is read the newspapers, except yours,' Trump told Washington Post reporter Philip Rucker during a press conference in the White House Rose Garden.... 'Obamagate.... It's been going on from before I even got elected,' Trump said. 'It's a disgrace that it happened, and if you look at what's gone on and if you look at now all of the information that is being released and, from what I understand, that's only the beginning. Some terrible things happened, and it should never be allowed to happen in our country again,' the president continued. 'You'll be seeing what's going on over the coming weeks.'" ~~~

~~~ Andrew Desiderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "... Donald Trump's aggressive campaign to encourage sweeping investigations of his predecessor Barack Obama met a unanimous response from Senate Republicans: No thanks. Trump's Senate allies on Monday stopped short of echoing Trump's frenetic and unsubstantiated claim that Obama acted illegally when the Justice Department began probing incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn in late 2016. And they indicated that the Senate would pass on investigating the former president as they conduct their own investigations that could soon ensnare other senior Obama administration officials.... After the Justice Department's abrupt decision last week to drop the criminal case against Flynn, Trump shifted his public focus over the weekend to mount a three-day tear against his predecessor on Twitter, accusing Obama of committing the 'biggest political crime in American history.' Trump sought to popularize the hashtag 'Obamagate,' which he said makes the Watergate scandal 'look small time.' Trump also said Obama 'got caught' and later retweeted comments by Flynn's lawyer, Sidney Powell, who said Obama was part of an effort to frame and entrap her client." ~~~

~~~ ** BUT. Talk About a "Witch Hunt." Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: "Days after the Justice Department controversially dropped charges against Mike Flynn, Senate GOP Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is set to expand a highly politicized Justice Department's surveillance authority during a vote this week to renew the 2001 PATRIOT Act. Under cover of redressing what ... Donald Trump and his allies call the FBI's 'witch hunt' over collusion with the Kremlin, McConnell, via an amendment to the PATRIOT Act, will expressly permit the FBI to warrantlessly collect records on Americans' web browsing and search histories. In a different amendment, McConnell also proposes giving the attorney general visibility into the 'accuracy and completeness' of FBI surveillance submissions to the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court. Versions of the amendments circulating Monday were shared with The Daily Beast.... Privacy advocates consider McConnell's moves an alarming expansion of Attorney General Bill Barr's powers under FISA, a four-decade-old process that already places the attorney general at the center of national-security surveillance.... McConnell is increasing Barr's oversight of surveillance on political candidates while expanding surveillance authorities on every other American." ~~~

~~~ Juan Cole: "Vice President Mike Pence says he would be happy to have disgraced former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn back in the White House.... Now is the time to remind everyone that in the 1990s, Mike Pence argued that President Bill Clinton should be impeached and removed from office for telling a lie. In his smarmy way, Pence then said it was a moral issue. Clinton committed perjury over sex.... Apparently Pence would only be outraged if [Russian ambassador Sergey] Kislyak had been a Russian bombshell and Flynn had slept with her, and then lied about that." --s ~~~

~~~ Ryan Saavedra of the Daily Wire: "Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell has declassified the list of former Obama administration officials who were allegedly involved in the 'unmasking' of ... Michael Flynn." ~~~

~~~ ** Jonathan Kravis is a Washington Post op-ed: "Three months ago, I resigned from the Justice Department after 10 years as a career prosecutor. I left a job I loved because I believed the department had abandoned its responsibility to do justice in one of my cases, United States v. Roger Stone.... Last week, the department again put political patronage ahead of its commitment to the rule of law, filing a motion to dismiss the case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn -- notwithstanding Flynn's sworn guilty plea and a ruling by the court that the plea was sound.... In both cases, the department undercut the work of career employees to protect an ally of the president [right after the president* complained about the prosecutors].... Indeed, the department chose to assign these matters to a special counsel precisely to avoid the appearance of political influence. For the attorney general now to directly intervene to benefit the president's associates makes this betrayal of the rule of law even more egregious.... Department lawyers are ethically bound to protect the confidences of their client. Barr's decision to excuse himself from these obligations and attack his own silenced employees is alarming. It sends an unmistakable message to prosecutors and agents -- if the president demands, we will throw you under the bus." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ ** DOJ Alumni Statement: "... Attorney General Barr has once again assaulted the rule of law, this time in the case of ... Michael Flynn.... The Department's purported justification for [dismissing the case] does not hold up to scrutiny, given the ample evidence that the investigation was well-founded and -- more importantly -- the fact that Flynn admitted under oath and in open court that he told material lies to the FBI in violation of longstanding federal law.... We thus unequivocally support the decision of the career prosecutor who withdrew from the Flynn case, just as we supported the prosecutors who withdrew from the Stone case. They are upholding the oath that we all took.... We urge Judge Sullivan to closely examine the Department's stated rationale for dismissing the charges -- including holding an evidentiary hearing with witnesses -- and to deny the motion and proceed with sentencing if appropriate." Nearly 2,000 former DOJ attorneys have signed the statement. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "The letter, organized by the nonprofit group Protect Democracy, was signed by Justice Department staffers serving in Republican and Democratic administrations dating back to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The vast majority were former career staffers -- rather than political appointees -- who worked as federal prosecutors or supervisors at U.S. Attorney's Offices across the country or the Justice Department in downtown Washington." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ariane de Vogue of CNN: "The Supreme Court will consider Tuesday whether the House of Representatives and a New York prosecutor can subpoena ... Donald Trump's accounting firm and banks for his financial documents, two momentous disputes concerning separation of powers and Trump's broad claims of immunity. Arguments in the cases, conducted over the telephone because of the coronavirus pandemic, come after Trump has sought for years to shield his tax returns and other records, while his critics launched a variety of investigations into hush money payments and potential violations of financial disclosure as well as ethics rules."

Presidential Race

Marc Caputo & Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "... Donald Trump's political operation narrowly outraised Joe Biden in April, according to fundraising totals released Monday. The Trump campaign and Republican National Committee raked in $61.7 million, they said late Monday, while Biden and the Democratic National Committee announced they took in $60.5 million.... But Biden is woefully trailing Trump's fundraising juggernaut, which through March had a cash advantage over the Democrat of about $187 million."

Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "The Democratic Party plans to adopt new rules Tuesday to narrow the scope of its presidential nominating convention, potentially paving the way for either a limited in-person gathering or a virtual event this August. The proposed changes, which are expected to be adopted in virtual meeting of the party's rules and bylaws committee, would allow delegates to participate even if they do not attend the convention in person. No final decision on the convention is expected to be made in coming weeks as organizers await a decision by federal, state and local health officials. The convention had originally been planned for July in Milwaukee, but was moved back a month in hopes that restrictions forced by the coronavirus pandemic would ease by then. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said over the weekend that she had told Democratic Party Chair Tom Perez that the nearly week-long event could be held over a single day at an outdoor stadium." The Hill's report is here.

Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times looks back on "Joe Biden's time in Sarah Palin's shadow." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Kurt Burdella in a USA Today op-ed: "In 2016, Donald Trump fueled his improbable presidential victory with an arsenal of catch phrases designed to incite and excite the Fox News and Breitbart audience who live in fear of America's diversity and inevitable demographic changes.... As the 2020 campaign comes into focus, Trump is looking to recreate his success by refreshing his xenophobic rhetoric [in] what amounts to a remix of 2016, this time replacing Mexico with China.... The Republican playbook for 2020 can be summed up in two words: blame and fear. It's the same playbook as 2016." --s

Way Beyond the Beltway

Brazil. Jake Spring of Reuters: "Brazil deployed thousands of soldiers to protect the Amazon rainforest on Monday, taking precautions to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus, as the government mounts an early response to surging deforestation ahead of the high season for forest fires.... Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon surged 55% in the first four months of the year compared with the same period of 2019.... The destruction hit an 11-year high last year[.]" --s

Iran. Farnaz Fassihi of the New York Times: "For the second time this year, Iran appears to have fired a missile at the wrong target with deadly consequences, fueling public disillusionment with the government and undermining faith in its military. On Sunday, a missile from an Iranian Navy frigate struck another Iranian naval vessel during a military exercise in the Sea of Oman, killing at least 19 sailors, the navy said. In January, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down a Ukrainian Airlines passenger plane with two missiles, killing the 176 passengers and crew onboard. Iran blamed the shooting on human error. Official details of the accident were scant on Monday. It was not immediately clear whether it was the result of human error or faulty equipment." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

New York Times: "Jerry Stiller, a classically trained actor who became a comedy star twice -- in the 1960s in partnership with his wife, Anne Meara, and in the 1990s with a memorable recurring role on 'Seinfeld' -- died early Monday morning at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He was 92."

The Commentariat -- May 11, 2020

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Monday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Monday are here.

Illinois. Tina Sfondeles of the Chicago Sun-Times: "A member of Gov J.B. Pritzker's senior staff has tested positive for COVID-19 and all staffers -- including the governor -- will now work from home for an 'appropriate isolation period,' the governor's office said Monday. The staff member was asymptomatic and tested positive late last week. That staffer was also in close contact with Pritzker and other staff members, the governor's office said. All staffers were tested last week. The Democratic governor and all other senior staffers have tested negative, and Pritzker was tested once again early Sunday and tested negative, his office said."

** Jonathan Kravis is a Washington Post op-ed: "Three months ago, I resigned from the Justice Department after 10 years as a career prosecutor. I left a job I loved because I believed the department had abandoned its responsibility to do justice in one of my cases, United States v. Roger Stone.... Last week, the department again put political patronage ahead of its commitment to the rule of law, filing a motion to dismiss the case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn -- notwithstanding Flynn's sworn guilty plea and a ruling by the court that the plea was sound.... In both cases, the department undercut the work of career employees to protect an ally of the president [right after the president* complained about the prosecutors].... Indeed, the department chose to assign these matters to a special counsel precisely to avoid the appearance of political influence. For the attorney general now to directly intervene to benefit the president's associates makes this betrayal of the rule of law even more egregious.... Department lawyers are ethically bound to protect the confidences of their client. Barr's decision to excuse himself from these obligations and attack his own silenced employees is alarming. It sends an unmistakable message to prosecutors and agents -- if the president demands, we will throw you under the bus." ~~~

~~~ ** DOJ Alumni Statement: "... Attorney General Barr has once again assaulted the rule of law, this time in the case of President Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn.... The Department's purported justification for [dismissing the case] does not hold up to scrutiny, given the ample evidence that the investigation was well-founded and -- more importantly -- the fact that Flynn admitted under oath and in open court that he told material lies to the FBI in violation of longstanding federal law.... We thus unequivocally support the decision of the career prosecutor who withdrew from the Flynn case, just as we supported the prosecutors who withdrew from the Stone case. They are upholding the oath that we all took.... We urge Judge Sullivan to closely examine the Department's stated rationale for dismissing the charges -- including holding an evidentiary hearing with witnesses -- and to deny the motion and proceed with sentencing if appropriate." Nearly 2,000 former DOJ attorneys have signed the statement. ~~~

     ~~~ Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "The letter, organized by the nonprofit group Protect Democracy, was signed by Justice Department staffers serving in Republican and Democratic administrations dating back to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The vast majority were former career staffers == rather than political appointees -- who worked as federal prosecutors or supervisor at U.S. Attorney's Offices across the country or the Justice Department in downtown Washington."

Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times looks back on "Joe Biden's time in Sarah Palin's shadow."

Farnaz Fassihi of the New York Times: "For the second time this year, Iran appears to have fired a missile at the wrong target with deadly consequences, fueling public disillusionment with the government and undermining faith in its military. On Sunday, a missile from an Iranian Navy frigate struck another Iranian naval vessel during a military exercise in the Sea of Oman, killing at least 19 sailors, the navy said. In January, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down a Ukrainian Airlines passenger plane with two missiles, killing the 176 passengers and crew onboard. Iran blamed the shooting on human error. Official details of the accident were scant on Monday. It was not immediately clear whether it was the result of human error or faulty equipment."

~~~~~~~~~~

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Sunday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Sunday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Joe Biden in a Washington Post op-ed: "... instead of unifying the country to accelerate our public health response and get economic relief to those who need it, President Trump is reverting to a familiar strategy of deflecting blame and dividing Americans. His goal is as obvious as it is craven: He hopes to split the country into dueling camps, casting Democrats as doomsayers hoping to keep America grounded and Republicans as freedom fighters trying to liberate the economy. It's a childish tactic -- and a false choice that none of us should fall for.... Governors from both parties are doing their best to make [re-open America], but their efforts have been slowed and hampered because they haven't gotten the tools, resources and guidance they need from the federal government to reopen safely and sustainably. That responsibility falls on Trump's shoulders -- but he isn't up to the task.... Governors from both parties are doing their best to make that happen, but their efforts have been slowed and hampered because they haven't gotten the tools, resources and guidance they need from the federal government to reopen safely and sustainably. That responsibility falls on Trump's shoulders -- but he isn't up to the task."

Michael Shear & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The Trump administration is racing to contain an outbreak of the coronavirus inside the White House, as some senior officials believe that the disease is already spreading rapidly through the warren of cramped offices that make up the three floors of the West Wing. Three top officials leading the government's coronavirus response have begun two weeks of self-quarantine after two members of the White House staff -- one of President Trump's personal valets and Katie Miller, the spokeswoman for Vice President Mike Pence -- tested positive. But others who came into contact with Ms. Miller and the valet are continuing to report to work at the White House. 'It is scary to go to work' Kevin Hassett, a top economic adviser to the president, said on CBS's 'Face the Nation' program on Sunday. Mr. Hassett said..., 'I think that I'd be a lot safer if I was sitting at home than I would be going to the West Wing.' He added: 'It's a small, crowded place....'... Late Sunday, the White House put out a statement saying that Mr. Pence would not alter his routine or self-quarantine.... Mr. Trump continues to reject guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to wear a mask when meeting with groups of people. But a senior administration official said the president was spooked that his valet, who is among those who serve him food, had not been wearing a mask. And he was annoyed to learn that Ms. Miller tested positive and has been growing irritated with people who get too close to him, the official said." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN has a related story on pence's refusal to self-quarantine here. Newsweek has a related story on Kevin Hassett's "scary" remarks here. ~~~

~~~ ** Robert Mackey of the Intercept: Here's what mike pence did shortly after learning his press secretary Katie Miller had tested positive for the coronavirus. "... a live video stream of the second event Pence attended on Friday, a roundtable discussion with food industry leaders in Des Moines, showed that all five of the invited guests arrived wearing masks but were asked to remove them shortly before the vice president joined them on stage. Two of those executives, Ken Sullivan of Smithfield Foods and Noel White of Tyson Foods, run meatpacking plants where hundreds of workers have contracted Covid-19, including a Tyson plant in Waterloo, Iowa where more than a third of the workforce -- 1,031 people -- has tested positive and at least three workers have died. The Tyson plant in Waterloo was reopened on Thursday following an executive order from ... Donald Trump.... Although the vice president appeared to follow social distancing guidelines during the discussion, he did not wear a mask, nor did any of the officials who accompanied him on Air Force Two from Washington[.]... Video of the earlier event attended by the vice president, a meeting with Iowa faith leaders to discuss the planned reopening of places of worship, showed that just one participant, Rabbi David Kaufman, wore a mask." Thanks to unwashed for the lead.

Jonathan Swan of Axios: "President Trump's aides plan to hold several events to try to persuade the public that they're ready for a likely second wave of the virus this fall. In particular, they'll focus on testing capacity and access to personal protective equipment.... Many parts of the country still lack the testing capacity that public health experts say is needed to safely reopen. But [the Trump administration has] scaled up capacity substantially in recent weeks." Mrs. McC: Uh, see Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker's assessment, linked below. ~~~

     ~~~ Matt Stieb of New York: "While the administration reportedly intends to emphasize its ability to test Americans for the coronavirus, the government's report card on testing so far suggests that it could be another example of the president mistaking the announcement of a project for its execution. Despite the son-in-law-led task forces and the comically-botched mobilization of the private sector, as of two weeks ago, the federal government only had enough tests to diagnose two percent of the U.S. population.... The most poetic example of the White House's failure to handle the first wave of the outbreak is the outbreak currently inundating the White House[.]... And as the president provides comments in which it's clear that he still doesn't understand how testing works, CNN reports that over the weekend, he worried that White House aides contracting the coronavirus would undermine his current message that the outbreak is easing." ~~~

~~~ Here's the video Stieb links on Trump's comments Friday that show he doesn't understand coronavirus testing. Trump is mystified that Katie Miller "for some reason ... all of a sudden" tested positive after she had recently tested negative for a coronavirus infection, and this is why "testing isn't great":

Jennifer Senior of the New York Times: "The president has contempt for expertise. During a national emergency, President Trump's top economic adviser is a former television host; his supply-chain coordinator is his son-in-law, who majored in nepotism and prioritizes the leads and needs of cronies; the chief of staff at his Department of Health and Human Services is a former breeder of Australian labradoodles..., though at least the man is well versed in the behaviors of lapdogs.... Trump never took staffing the federal workforce seriously. The executive branch is riddled with vacancies, especially at the top. Vice President Mike Pence may speak about a 'whole-of-government approach' to the pandemic, but what we truly have is a government of holes.... From the very beginning, Trump was incapable of grasping the value of civil servants.... In an alternate universe, the president's cabinet would deem him unstable, invoke the 25th Amendment, and give us an acting president. We'd still have Pence, it's true. But for once -- for blessed once -- an acting official would signal a modicum of stability."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Joe Lockhart in a CNN opinion piece: "By the height of the Watergate scandal in 1974, virtually every major newspaper in America had called for President Richard Nixon's resignation. During the investigation and impeachment of Bill Clinton in 1998, more than 100 newspapers called for him to resign. But ... Donald J. Trump? He could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody... and not a single major daily newspaper would call for his resignation.... After three years of political and actual carnage under Trump, including Robert Mueller's description of acts that amounted to, he told Congress, obstruction of justice; Trump's 'fine people on both sides' reaction to a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville...; his rampant conflicts of interest and credible accusations of his violations of the emoluments clause of the Constitution; his close to 17,000 false statements; a travel ban that primarily targets mostly Muslim-majority countries; impeachment for alleged extortion of a foreign government..., and the gross mishandling of a deadly pandemic, you'd think somebody on an editorial board might say it's time for the President to leave." Lockhart goes on to discuss theories of why editors are so reluctant to urge Trump's resignation. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: One possibility Lockhart does not discuss: Nixon & Clinton, for all their failings, had a familiarity with commonly-held moral precepts. They could be shamed. As for Trump, the answer to Joseph Welch's question, "At long last, have you left no sense of decency?" is absolutely not. Why bother urging Trump to resign when there's no chance he could understand he had done something wrong, much less consider paying for it?

Heads, the Rich Win; Tails, You Lose. Jesse Eisinger of ProPublica: "Ten weeks into the worst crisis in 90 years, the government's effort to save the economy has been both a spectacular success and a catastrophic failure. The clearest illustration of that came on Friday, when the government reported that 20.5 million people lost their jobs in April. [MEANWHILE,] The S&P 500 is now up 30% from its lows in mid-March and back to where it was last October, when the outlook for 2020 corporate earnings looked sunshiny.... Asset holders like Apollo and Blackstone -- disproportionately the wealthiest and most influential-- have been insured by [Federal Reserve,] the world's most powerful central bank. This largess is boundless and without conditions.... Many aspects of the coronavirus bailout that assist individuals or small businesses, meanwhile, are short-term or contingent.... It's a bailout of capital. 'If the theory is: Let's make sure companies are solvent and the workers will be OK, that theory could work. But it's a trickle-down theory,' said Lev Menand, a former New York Fed economist who now teaches at Columbia Law School." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Hope Yen & Michael Balsamo of the AP: "The Senate's top Democrat on Sunday called on the Department of Veterans Affairs to explain why it allowed the use of an unproven drug on veterans for the coronavirus, saying patients may have been put at unnecessary risk. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York said the VA needs to provide Congress more information about a recent bulk order for $208,000 worth of hydroxychloroquine.... Donald Trump has heavily promoted the malaria drug, without evidence, as a treatment for COVID-19.... VA Secretary Robert ... Wilkie in recent weeks has denied that veterans were used as test subjects for the drug and that it was instead administered at government-run VA hospitals only when medically appropriate, with mutual consent between doctor and patient. Still, Wilkie has repeatedly declined to say how widely the drug was being used for COVID-19 and whether the department had issued broad guidance to doctors and patients on the use of the drug." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Melanie Zanona of Politico: "A growing list of House hard-liners say they have reached their breaking point with the stay-at-home orders.... In recent weeks, Republicans have been angrily lashing out at the media, local and state officials and House Democratic leadership over the continued shutdown -- and are now actively encouraging the fired-up protesters swarming state capitols across the country.... Yet for all the heated protests taking place -- and as several states begin to wind down restrictions -- the desire to immediately end the lockdowns remains a minority opinion. According to new polling, most Americans do not feel comfortable with their states reopening salons, gyms, movie theaters and other businesses."

Illinois. Maya Parthasaranty of Politico: "Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, whose state has the fourth-most coronavirus cases in the country, said on Sunday he's confident Illinois can safely reopen without relying much on federal support. 'I have not been counting on the White House because there have been too many situations in which they have made promises, not delivered,' the Democratic governor said on CNN's 'State of the Union.' 'We're going it alone, as the White House has left all the states to do,' he said, explaining that Illinois is working to grow its testing rate to 64,000 tests a day. And while the number of people who test positive for Covid-19 is increasing, it's because Illinois has increased testing for the virus to 20,000 a day, he said.... The governor also hit back at an editorial in the Chicago Tribune that criticized his reopening efforts as overly cautious. 'If the Chicago Tribune thinks that everything is going to go back to completely normal without us having a very effective treatment or a vaccine, they're just dead wrong,' he said."

Nick Perry & Nomaan Merchant of the AP: "The difficulty in trying to reopen economies without rekindling coronavirus outbreaks was highlighted on Monday as concern grew in South Korea about a second wave of infections that was spread through newly reopened nightclubs. South Korea's government had felt confident enough to reopen much of its economy after several weeks of seeing cases increase by just a handful each day. But on Monday, new cases jumped by at least 35 after the outbreak in the nightclubs, which have been temporarily closed down again. China also saw a second day of double-digit increases, with five new cases in the city of Wuhan, the original epicenter of the pandemic where a strict lockdown was lifted last month. The government reminded people to step up personal protection against the virus. A balancing act continues to play out the world over, with leaders starting to loosen lockdowns that have left millions unemployed while also warning of the threat of a second wave of infections."

Mark Sherman of the AP: "... Donald Trump is hoping to persuade a Supreme Court with two of his appointees to keep his tax and other financial records from being turned over to lawmakers and a New York district attorney. The justices are hearing arguments by telephone Tuesday in a pivotal legal fight that could affect the presidential campaign, even with the coronavirus outbreak and the resulting economic fallout. Rulings against the president could result in the quick release of personal financial information that Trump has sought strenuously to keep private." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Axios: "Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) expressed disapproval on Sunday of the Trump administration's decision to continue backing a lawsuit seeking to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act. 'I thought the Justice Department argument was really flimsy,' Alexander said on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' 'What they're arguing is that when we voted to get rid of the individual mandate, we voted to get rid of Obamacare. I don't know one single senator who thought that.' The lawsuit by a coalition of Republican states is set to be heard by the Supreme Court this fall, with major implications for November's election."

@RealUnstableLoon. Axios: "Between late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, President Trump tweeted or retweeted more than 50 times about the investigations by the FBI and the House Intelligence Committee into his campaign's alleged ties to Russia. The tweetstorm shows the degree to which Trump is still consumed by what he believes to be an illegal attempt to end his presidency by Democrats and intelligence officials from the Obama administration." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: Donald Trump continued to fume over the Russia investigation on Sunday..., three days after the justice department said it would drop its case against Michael Flynn.... 'The biggest political crime in American history, by far!' the president wrote in a tweet accompanying a conservative talk show host's claim that Barack Obama 'used his last weeks in office to target incoming officials and sabotage the new administration'. The tweet echoed previous messages retweeted by Trump, which earned rebukes for relaying conspiracy theories. On Sunday afternoon the president continued to send out a stream of tweets of memes and rightwing talking heads claiming an anti-Trump conspiracy. One tweet by Trump simply read: 'OBAMAGATE!' Trump fired Flynn ... in early 2017, for lying to Vice-President Mike Pence about conversations with the Russian ambassador regarding sanctions levied by the Obama administration...." Emphasis added. ~~~

~~~ John Bowden of the Hill: "Trump spent much of his Mother's Day tweeting and retweeting various accounts, with many of the posts aimed at his predecessor.... In [one] post, in which he retweeted a supporter's declaration that Obama was 'the first Ex-President to ever speak against his successor,' Trump wrote, 'He got caught, OBAMAGATE!'" Mrs. McC: And you thought Trump was going to spend Mother's Day with Melanie, or whatever her name is, thanking her for being such a good mom to their son. ~~~

~~~ Aris Folley of the Hill: "President Trump called for Chuck Todd, host of NBC's 'Meet the Press,' to be fired after the program issued an apology for 'inadvertently and inaccurately' cutting short a clip of remarks made by Attorney General William Barr about former national security adviser Michael Flynn. In a tweet blasting Todd late Sunday, Trump wrote: 'Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd should be FIRED by "Concast" (NBC) for this fraud.'... [DOJ spokesperson Kerri] Kupec said she was 'disappointed' by what she referred to as the 'deceptive editing/commentary' by Todd and the NBC show in her tweet on Sunday. 'Not only did the AG make the case in the VERY answer Chuck says he didn't, he also did so multiple times throughout the interview.'..." The story explains how Chuck, in remarks made following the clip, misrepresented Barr's remarks. Mrs. McC: Kupec's "disappointment" is warranted, IMO, which is not to suggest that Barr isn't a flaming A. ~~~

~~~ Mary McCord, a former DOJ acting assistant AG, writes in a New York Times op-ed that Bill Barr's "Justice" Department twisted her words in order to come up with a bogus excuse for dropping charges against Michael Flynn. "... the report of my interview is no support for Mr. Barr's dismissal of the Flynn case.... In short, the report of my interview does not anywhere suggest that the F.B.I.'s interview of Mr. Flynn was unconstitutional, unlawful or not 'tethered' to any legitimate counterintelligence purpose." Mrs. McC: It is kind of perfect that Barr, via his lackey Timothy Shea, had to essentially lie to the court in order to drop charges against Flynn for lying to pence & others.

Presidential Race

Gabriel Debenedetti of New York: Joe Biden, "the self-conscious man in the Democratic middle -- mocked by the activist left throughout the primary campaign as hopelessly retrograde -- considers the present calamity and plots a presidency that, by awful necessity, he believes must be more ambitious than FDR's.... The heart of his [nomination] pitch, when he delivered it clearly, was status quo ante, back to normal, restore the soul of the nation. But in the space of just a few months, COVID-19 and the disastrous White House response appeared to have ... changed his perception of what the country would need from a president in January 2021...." ~~~

     ~~~ ** Mrs. McCrabbie: Well, crap. New York -- like nearly every other media outlet, now has begun to disallow readers to sneak around its paywall by opening stories in private windows. Ergo, the story above is firewalled, and I've reached my limit. If you haven't, it looks to be worth reading. The magazine is still allowing free access to stories that are specifically about the coronavirus, so we nonsubscribers will be able to read those, but we're out of luck on regular content. I'm sure gonna miss Chait & Frank Rich.

Ben Kesslen & Tim Stelloh of NBC News: "Georgia's attorney general asked the U.S. Justice Department on Sunday to investigate how local authorities handled the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. Attorney General Chris Carr said in a statement that local prosecutors had not informed his office that they had advised police on whether Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, should be arrested after Arbery was killed Feb. 23 in Brunswick. Arbery, 25, who was black, was shot to death after being chased by white men in a pickup truck. Arbery was unarmed and on a jog at the time of his death, his family says. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation took the McMichaels, who are father and son, into custody Thursday after the release of a video showing Arbery's killing sparked nationwide protests. The men face charges of felony murder and aggravated assault." A Washington Post story is here. Mrs. McC: If you think Bill Barr's "Justice" Department is going to do a thorough job of investigating a hate crime, I've got a plantation called Tara to sell you.

The Commentariat -- May 10, 2020

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Sunday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Sunday are here.

Jesse Eisinger of ProPublica: "Ten weeks into the worst crisis in 90 years, the government's effort to save the economy has been both a spectacular success and a catastrophic failure. The clearest illustration of that came on Friday, when the government reported that 20.5 million people lost their jobs in April. [MEANWHILE,] The S&P 500 is now up 30% from its lows in mid-March and back to where it was last October, when the outlook for 2020 corporate earnings looked sunshiny.... Asset holders like Apollo and Blackstone -- disproportionately the wealthiest and most influential -- have been insured by [Federal Reserve,] the world's most powerful central bank. This largess is boundless and without conditions.... Many aspects of the coronavirus bailout that assist individuals or small businesses, meanwhile, are short-term or contingent.... It's a bailout of capital. 'If the theory is: Let's make sure companies are solvent and the workers will be OK, that theory could work. But it's a trickle-down theory,' said Lev Menand, a former New York Fed economist who now teaches at Columbia Law School."

Hope Yen & Michael Balsamo of the AP: "The Senate's top Democrat on Sunday called on the Department of Veterans Affairs to explain why it allowed the use of an unproven drug on veterans for the coronavirus, saying patients may have been put at unnecessary risk. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York said the VA needs to provide Congress more information about a recent bulk order for $208,000 worth of hydroxychloroquine.... Donald Trump has heavily promoted the malaria drug, without evidence, as a treatment for COVID-19.... VA Secretary Robert ... Wilkie in recent weeks has denied that veterans were used as test subjects for the drug and that it was instead administered at government-run VA hospitals only when medically appropriate, with mutual consent between doctor and patient. Still, Wilkie has repeatedly declined to say how widely the drug was being used for COVID-19 and whether the department had issued broad guidance to doctors and patients on the use of the drug."

Mark Sherman of the AP: "... Donald Trump is hoping to persuade a Supreme Court with two of his appointees to keep his tax and other financial records from being turned over to lawmakers and a New York district attorney. The justices are hearing arguments by telephone Tuesday in a pivotal legal fight that could affect the presidential campaign, even with the coronavirus outbreak and the resulting economic fallout. Rulings against the president could result in the quick release of personal financial information that Trump has sought strenuously to keep private."

Axios: "Between late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, President Trump tweeted or retweeted more than 50 times about the investigations by the FBI and the House Intelligence Committee into his campaign's alleged ties to Russia. The tweetstorm shows the degree to which Trump is still consumed by what he believes to be an illegal attempt to end his presidency by Democrats and intelligence officials from the Obama administration."

~~~~~~~~~~~

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Saturday are here. The Washington Post's live updates Saturday are here.

Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post: "In a week when the novel coronavirus ravaged new communities across the country and the number of dead soared past 78,000, President Trump and his advisers shifted from hour-by-hour crisis management to what they characterize as a long-term strategy aimed at reviving the decimated economy and preparing for additional outbreaks this fall. But in doing so, the administration is effectively bowing to -- and asking Americans to accept -- a devastating proposition: that a steady, daily accumulation of lonely deaths is the grim cost of reopening the nation.... Some of Trump's advisers described the president as glum and shell-shocked by his declining popularity." Mrs. McC: It is hard to understand why a plan to kill Americans is unpopular with Americans.

Why Won't Trump & pence Self-Quarantine? Orion Rummier & Rebecca Falconer of Axios: "Anthony Fauci has begun a 'modified quarantine' after making a 'low risk' contact with a White House staffer who tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director told CNN and the New York Times Saturday.... CDC director Robert Redfield and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn are in self-quarantine after a similar COVID-19 exposure, officials confirmed earlier Saturday. Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary Katie Miller and President Trump's valet tested positive for the virus this week." ~~~

~~~ Seung Min Kim, et al., of the Washington Post: "But several administration officials said White House staffers were encouraged to come into the office by their supervisors, and that aide who travel with President Trump and Vice President Pence would not stay out for 14 days, the recommended time frame to quarantine once exposed to the virus. The conflicting ways in which officials and aides are responding after two staff members were diagnosed with the coronavirus this past week -- Pence spokeswoman Katie Miller and a military valet to the president -- continued to raise questions about how the White House is responding to the challenge of maintaining a safe work environment for Trump, Pence and their staff.... Both Redfield and Hahn had been scheduled to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Tuesday, but will now do so by videoconference, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the panel's chairman, said Saturday night."

Maureen Dowd's column on bats, vampires, Trump & his son-in-law the android vampire, is silly, but she makes some valid points in passing ... including this one, Trump is such a fake, "Maybe Trump doesn't seem real to Trump, either."

Nicole Gaouette, et al., of CNN: "The United States has scaled back its role on the world stage, taken actions that are undermining efforts to battle the coronavirus pandemic and left the international community without a traditional global leader, according to experts, diplomats and analysts. The US ... has declined to take a seat at virtual international meetings convened by the World Health Organization and the European Union to coordinate work on potentially lifesaving vaccines.... The administration's decision to halt funding for the WHO, the world body best positioned to coordinate the global response to the raging pandemic, has appalled global health officials. On Friday the US blocked a vote on a UN Security Council resolution that called for a global ceasefire aimed at collectively assisting a planet devastated by the outbreak. The US did not want any reference to the WHO in the text and rejected a compromise version that didn't directly mention the organization -- and instead cited the UN's 'specialized health agencies,' according to two diplomats familiar with the process. The US has similarly blocked expressions of global unity at G7 and G20 meetings due to anger about China and the WHO.... Observers from the Asia Pacific to Europe expressed incredulity, amusement and sadness at ... Donald Trump's briefings on the virus, saying they are deeply damaging to the US image abroad."

The valedictator delivers an inspiring message: ~~~

Robert Mackey of The Intercept: "Mike Pence was unmasked in Iowa on Friday, attending two events without covering his face, even though public health officials say masks slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus and one of the vice president's aides tested positive for Covid-19 just before he departed Washington. What's more, a live video stream of the second event, a roundtable discussion with food industry leaders in Des Moines, showed that all five of the invited guests arrived wearing masks but were asked to remove them shortly before the vice president joined them on stage." --s

... Rachel Roubein &Zachary Brennan of Politico: "The Trump administration outlined its plan to distribute remdesivir -- the sole drug proven to help coronavirus patients -- to areas with the greatest need, after a backlash over its chaotic initial rollout. HHS will ship 14,400 vials of the drug to state health departments, putting the onus on them to decide which hospitals get some of the country's limited supply. Previously the administration had sent a total of 35,360 vials straight to a handpicked list of hospitals, via its contractor AmerisourceBergen. The drug's maker, Gilead, has donated 607,000 vials of remdesivir to the United States government. That's enough to treat about 78,000 patients, HHS said. Gilead had previously said it would make 1.5 million vials available worldwide at no charge.... 'The administration provides zero explanation for why and how the initial shipments were made,' said [Prof.] Rachel Sachs ... [of] Washington University in St. Louis...." Mrs. McC: It's not clear from the story who in the "Trump administration" is making these decisions, but it could be someone in HHS, like Trump's so-called preparedness assistant secretary Robert Kadlec (featured in the next-linked story).

Aaron Davis of the Washington Post: In late January, as the first case of Covid-19 was detected in the U.S., Michael Bowen of Prestigue Ameritech, a medical supply company near Fort Worth, Texas, contacted top administrators in the Department of Health and Human Services offering to 'ramp up production to make an additional 1.7 million N95 masks a week.'" They weren't interested. "Even today, production lines that could be making more than 7 million masks a month sit dormant.... Emails show [that whistleblower Rick] Bright pressed [Robert Kadlec, the assistant secretary for preparedness and emergency response (whom Bowen had contacted),] and other agency leaders on the issue of mask shortages -- and Bowen's proposal specifically -- to no avail. On Jan. 26, Bright wrote to a deputy that Bowen's warnings 'seem to be falling on deaf ears.'... The story of Bowen's offer illustrates a missed opportunity in the early days of the pandemic, one laid out in Bright's whistleblower complaint.... Within weeks, a shortage of masks was endangering health-care workers in hard-hit areas across the country, and the Trump administration was scrambling to buy more masks -- sometimes placing bulk orders with third-party distributors for many times the standard price." The Hill's summary report here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: So the ha-ha assistant secretary for preparedness and emergency response -- a Trump appointee -- not only was not preparing for the coming pandemic, he refused to get prepared when an offer to help dropped in his lap.

California. Edward Moreno of the Hill: "There are almost 800 positive cases of coronavirus at the Federal Correctional Institution Lompoc in California as of this week, according to the Los Angeles Times. The news marks an increase of over 300 cases in recent days. The increase also means that 70 percent of the prison's population has been infected.... The California prison now accounts for 47 percent of confirmed coronavirus cases in the federal prison system, according to information from the Bureau of Prisons obtained by the Times."

Kentucky. AP: "A federal court halted the Kentucky governor's temporary ban on mass gatherings from applying to in-person religious services, clearing the way for Sunday church services. U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove on Friday issued a temporary restraining order enjoining Gov. Andy Beshear's administration from enforcing the ban on mass gatherings at 'any in-person religious service which adheres to applicable social distancing and hygiene guidelines.'... Two other federal judges, including U.S. District Judge David Hale, had previously ruled the ban was constitutional. But also on Friday, Hale, of Kentucky's western district, granted Maryville Baptist Church an injunction allowing in-person services at that specific church, provided it abide by public health requirements." Mrs. McC: Van Tatenhove is a Bush II appointee. Hale is an Obama appointee.

Louisiana. "Capitalism is Awesome: Covid-19 Edition." Mike Elk of Payday Report (New Orleans): "On Wednesday, dozens of garbage workers, employed by the temp service People Ready, went on strike, demanding proper safety equipment. The workers, who make only $10.25 an hour are also demanding hazard pay and paid sick leave. '$10.25 to pick up trash -- come on now. It's contaminated now with coronavirus,' strike leader Gregory Woods told Payday Report this week. After striking, the workers were fired en-masse earlier this week.... Now, the city [of New Orleans] has found new workers to replace the striking workers, prison labor from nearby Livingston Parish.... Under state rules, prison inmates, employed by Metro Services, will be paid only 13% of what garbage workers ... were ... making[.]" --s

New Mexico & Arizona. Morgan Lee of the AP: "Small Native American pueblos across New Mexico are embracing extraordinary isolation measures that turn away outsiders as well as near-universal testing to try to insulate themselves from [the coronavirus].... New Mexico's 19 indigenous pueblos -- communities that range from several thousand members to just 300 -- view the coronavirus as an existential threat after early infections raced through San Felipe and Zia pueblos.... Roadblocks against nonessential visitors extend to villages atop mesas in Acoma Pueblo's 'sky city' and on the Hopi reservation in Arizona, which is encircled by the Navajo Nation.... The coronavirus has rampaged across the vast Navajo Nation, one the most populous tribes in the U.S. whose boundaries extend from northwestern New Mexico through portions of Arizona and Utah. That outbreak has public health officials concerned that Native American communities may be especially susceptible to the pandemic because of underlying health issues, including high rates of diabetes, obesity and heart disease.... Native Americans accounted for more than 55% of confirmed COVID-19 infections in New Mexico as of Friday, though they're only 11% of the general population." ~~~

~~~ Rory Carroll of the Guardian: "The list of recent donors reads like an Irish phone book...[on] a GoFundMe page that by Friday had raised $3.15m of a $5m goal. The individual amounts are not remarkable -- $10, $20, $30, some exceeding $100 -- but the story behind the donations stretches back two centuries and encompasses a singular act of generosity that forged a bond between Native Americans and Ireland.... In 1847 the Choctaw nation set aside its own impoverishment and suffering to make a $170 donation to victims of the Irish famine. The tribe had suffered grievously during its Trail of Tears, a forced relocation to Oklahoma, and empathised with Irish people enduring misery and starvation more than 4,000 miles away. The generosity left a lasting mark on Ireland, which remembers it through art and commemorations. Now Irish people are reciprocating by donating to a fund for Navajo and Hopi communities hit by Covid-19." --s

South Dakota. Chris Boyette of CNN: "The governor of South Dakota has given an ultimatum to two Sioux tribes: Remove checkpoints on state and US highways within 48 hours or risk legal action.Gov. Kristi Noem sent letters Friday to the leaders of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe demanding that checkpoints designed to prevent the spread of coronavirus on tribal land be removed, the governor's office said in a statement.... According to Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe checkpoint policies posted on its social media, its reservation residents may travel within South Dakota to areas the state has not deemed a Covid-19 'hotspot' if it's for an essential activity such as medical appointments or to get supplies unavailable on the reservation. But they must complete a health questionnaire when they leave and when they return every time they go through a checkpoint. South Dakota residents who don't live on the reservation are only allowed there if they're not coming from a hotspot and it is for an essential activity. But they must also complete a health questionnaire. Those from a South Dakota hotspot or from outside the state cannot come to the reservation unless it is for an essential activity -- but they must obtain a travel permit available on the tribe's website." Mrs. McC: Apparently in South Dakota, the Sioux are still expendable. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Lee Strubinger of South Dakota Public Broadcasting: "Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairman Harold Fraizer says they're declining the governor's request. He says the tribe will not apologize for being an island of safety in a sea of uncertainty and death. A spokesman for the Oglala Sioux Tribe says Noem's assertions are without legal merit."

A Scientist Gone Nuts Becomes Right-Wing Phenom. Davey Alba of the New York Times: "In a video posted to YouTube on Monday, a woman animatedly described an unsubstantiated secret plot by global elites like Bill Gates and Dr. Anthony Fauci to use the coronavirus pandemic to profit and grab political power. In the 26-minute video, the woman asserted how Dr. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a leading voice on the coronavirus, had buried her research about how vaccines can damage people's immune systems. It is those weakened immune systems she declared, that have made people susceptible to illnesses like Covid-19. The video, a scene from a longer dubious documentary called 'Plandemic,' was quickly seized upon by anti-vaccinators, the conspiracy group QAnon and activists from the Reopen America movement, generating more than eight million views. And it has turned the woman -- Dr. Judy Mikovits, 62, a discredited scientist -- into a new star of virus disinformation.... [In April,] Darla Shine, the wife of Bill Shine, a former Fox News executive and former top aide to Mr. Trump, promoted Dr. Mikovits's book in a tweet." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Bill Shine is still an advisor to Trump's campaign. The Shines' relations with Trump illustrates a problem that RAS highlighted in yesterday's Comments: "... all [Trump's] thoughts and ideas come from his advisors and friends around him. Unfortunately for us his friends and staff are as stupid, selfish and callous as he is. He is easily manipulated by those around him, but never to the good of the country or world. He is a conman who is easily handled by other conmen."

Get to Know Your Local Extremists. Jason Wilson & Robert Evans of the Guardian: "Leaked audio recordings and online materials obtained by the Guardian reveal that one of the most prominent anti-lockdown protest groups, American Revolution 2.0 (AR2), has received extensive assistance from well-established far-right actors, some with extremist connections. [Led by Josh Ellis,] AR2 presents itself as a grassroots network, but the recordings and other materials reveal its allies include a well-connected Tea Party co-founder and a family of serial online activists who have rolled out dozens of 'reopen' websites and Facebook groups.... [I]n recordings of Ellis speaking to an inner circle of AR2 members last week..., Ellis told the group ... that in recent days he had 'talked to the Dorr brothers'. The Dorr brothers -- Chris, Ben, Aaron and Matthew -- are rightwing activists whose methods have been roundly criticized by conservative groups and legislators.... Ellis specified further help he had received, telling his inner circle: 'One of the Utah guys got me hooked up with the owner of mymilitia.com.'... [T]he owner of the mymilitia.com domain is Chad Embrey of New Lexington, Ohio.... The site's extensive library of PDFs includes a Canadian army manual on ambushes, a guide to destroying tanks, and a treatise outlining justifications and strategies for an insurgency in the US. Recent posts include examining the short-term prospect of civil war." --s

Olivia Beavers & John Kruzel of the Hill: "Democrats and other critics are seizing on the Department of Justice's (DOJ) decision to drop the case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn, arguing it shows how heavily politicized it has become under Attorney General William Barr. Anger over the extraordinary move by Justice to drop charges even after it secured a guilty plea has created a new political storm around Barr, who had previously angered Democrats for his handling of former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.... 'Overruling the special counsel is without precedent and without respect for the rule of law,' [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi said in remarks echoed by other Democrats.... 'I think we lost 50 years worth of ground in solidifying the independence of the Justice Department after Watergate,' House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Thursday night on MSNBC.... House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) vowed to ask the department's Inspector General to investigate the matter and called on Barr to testify about his Flynn decision as soon as possible[.]" ~~~

~~~ Former US attorney Glenn Kirschner in an NBC opinion piece: "Th[e] attempted dismissal of [Mike] Flynn's case has nothing to do with the strength of the evidence against Flynn or a fair application of the rule of law. Rather, it represents political cronyism and as such is an affront to our system of justice and to the American people. With this move, the corruption of the Department of Justice under Attorney General William Barr is as transparent as it is complete." --s ~~~

~~~ Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "The court filing on Thursday to drop former national security adviser Michael Flynn's criminal case used the attorney identification number for the previous US attorney, a technical error that adds to the twists of the dramatic reversal by the government. The bombshell court filing was signed only by interim DC US attorney Timothy Shea, a political appointee who used the court identity number of his ousted predecessor Jesse Liu. The incorrect ID number is a technical error that may need to be fixed before the judge weighs in." --s

Cassandra Negley of Yahoo! News: "The U.S. Department of Education, led by education secretary Betsy DeVos, announced new Title IX federal regulations that change requirements on who must report sexual assault allegations and how institutions respond to those complaints. The adjustments, outlined in a 2,033-page document and set to go into effect Aug. 14, no longer require coaches and other employees at colleges and universities to report allegations to the Title IX office. They also give schools a choice in what standard of proof they'd like to follow, bolster protections for the accused and require live hearings and cross examinations." --s

Syria. Jeff Seldin of VOA: "U.S.-led coalition special operation forces hit back against an Islamic State cell in Syria, capturing a midlevel leader linked to a rise in attacks by the terror group in the Deir el-Zour countryside.... It also came as [U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces] ... commanders continue to raise concerns about what they see as a sizable increase in IS operations over the past month. A source close to the SDF told VOA that many of the attacks have involved improvised explosive devices (IEDs), but that attacks involving IS fighters have been increasingly lethal." --s

Senate Race. Alabama. Burgess Everett of Politico: "Jeff Sessions is trying to win back his old Senate seat and move on from his rocky tenure as attorney general. But ... Donald Trump won't let it go. On Friday morning, Trump called Sessions a 'disaster' as the nation's top law enforcement officer and said Sessions visited Trump 'four times just begging me to be attorney general.' The stinging attack on Fox News comes during crunch time for a Alabama Senate primary in July pitting Sessions against former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville. The winner will face Democratic Sen. Doug Jones.... 'I never begged for the job of attorney general, not four times, not one time, not ever. The president offered me the job, I took it, I stood up for the truth and performed at the highest levels,' Sessions said in a statement.'

Howard Altman & Kyle Rempfer of Military Times: "To Army Special Forces veteran Drew White, the plan to take over Venezuelan oil fields after overthrowing the government -- being pitched by a troubled fellow former 10th Special Forces Group soldier [Sgt. 1st Class Jordan Goudreau] -- seemed too far-fetched to be believed. Documents pitching the plan -- obtained by Military Times -- included letterhead from a Washington consultant firm, as well as the names and credentials of President Donald Trump's longtime bodyguard [Keith Schiller] and another billionaire financier [Roen Kraft], all of whom have denied involvement in the ill-fated adventure.... White said that Goudreau implied that the scheme ... had the backing of the State Department.... Goudreau is now under federal investigation for arms trafficking, current and former U.S. law enforcement officials told AP.... The Trump administration has threatened military action against the Maduro regime for years but recently denied any involvement in the plot.... The U.S. government has offered a $15 million reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest or conviction. He was indicted by the Trump administration in March on charges of narcoterrorism." --s