The Commentariat -- November 6, 2019

Many thanks to safari for all he did today. I'm back for now, but there's still some question -- possibly to be answered later in the week -- as to how things will go from here. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Many thanks also to all you well-wishers. I'm not all stitched up, but I got a "conditional" release. Also, thanks to everyone who linked to news stories. I caught most of them below, but I didn't give you credit, as I dove right in to adding some links before I took the time to read today's Comments.

All the readers of RealityChex are wishing Marie a speedy recovery. Time zones don't allow me to include yesterday's election results, but here's a slimmed down version of today's news. Feel free to add to the info. with links in the comments section. --s

Some of what follows may be a little retro, as I'm trying catch up here.

Stefan Becket & Grace Segers of CBS News: "The House committees leading the impeachment inquiry released the transcript of testimony by the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, William Taylor, who raised questions about whether the U.S. was withholding military aid to Ukraine to pressure the country to open investigations into President Trump's political rivals.... In his testimony, Taylor described a concerted effort to use U.S. leverage to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to commit to opening investigations into debunked allegations of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, as well as the gas company Burisma, which had hired former Vice President Joe Biden's son in 2014. Taylor said these efforts came via an 'irregular, informal channel of U.S. policy-making' consisting of Rudy Giuliani, then-special envoy Kurt Volker, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland. He said he became aware of the parallel policy-making paths when working to schedule a phone call with Zelensky in late June. Taylor said Sondland 'cut out' other officials who would normally participate in the call and 'requested that the call not be transcribed.'" The page includes a ScribD reproduction of the text of Taylor's testimony. ~~~

~~~ Adam Edelman of NBC News: "The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, told House impeachment investigators last month that ... Donald Trump directed officials to tie military aid to Ukraine to demands that the country open political advantageous probes, according to a transcript of his testimony made public Wednesday.... Taylor said he and others 'sat in astonishment' as a White House Offic of Management and Budget official said during a July 18 inter-agency call that Trump had ordered a hold on military assistance to Ukraine, according to the transcript.... Taylor laid out in painstaking detail how U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland had told him that Trump was 'adamant' that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy himself publicly announce the Biden and 2016 investigations -- but that Trump nonetheless felt such an arrangement would not constitute a quid pro quo." ~~~

~~~ New York Times reporters are analyzing & highlighting Taylor's testimony. Michael Shear: "Mr. Taylor has become one of the star witnesses for the Democratic-led impeachment effort, appearing first in public hearings that will begin next week. That is partly because in his closed-door testimony, Mr. Taylor referred repeatedly to notes and memos, bolstering investigators' confidence in his recollections. Those documents could provide new and potentially explosive avenues of investigation for Democrats as they march toward writing articles of impeachment." Mrs. McC: Taylor's testimony, and his notes, are surely the reason Gordon Sondland had to, ah, "amend" his perjury testimony. Stories on Sondland's "amendment" linked below.

Trump's Impeachment Defense: Lie, Lie & Lie Again. Toluse Olorunnipa & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Standing before a crowd of supporters this week in Lexington, Ky., President Trump repeated a false claim he has made more than 100 times in the past six weeks: that a whistleblower from the intelligence community misrepresented a presidential phone call at the center of the impeachment inquiry that threatens his presidency.... It's a form of gaslighting that has become the central defense strategy for the president as he faces his greatest political threat yet. But the approach is coming under increasing strain as congressional Democrats release transcripts and prepare to hold public hearings presenting evidence that directly undercuts Trump's claims.... He has also pushed other specious arguments in his harried attempt to counter the growing evidence from witnesses implicating his administration in a quid pro quo scheme linking military aid to Ukrainian investigations targeting Democrats."

Dartunorro Clark of NBC News: "Public hearings in Congress will begin next Wednesday in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Wednesday. The open hearing on Nov. 13 will hear testimony from career diplomat William Taylor and State Department official George Kent and another on Friday will hear testimony from ousted Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. Schiff said there will be additional announcements of witnesses[.]"

Adam Schiff in a USA Today op-ed: "The president's corrupt pressure [on Ukraine] to secure its interference in our election betrayed our national security and his oath of office.... In the past few weeks, and despite the White House's continued obstruction, we have learned a great deal about what occurred.... What we have found, and what the American people will soon learn ... is that this is about more than just one call.... [W]e now know that the call was just one piece of a larger operation to redirect our foreign policy to benefit Donald Trump's personal and political interests, not the national interest.... [T]he Founders who devised our government understood that someday, a president might come to power who would fail to defend the Constitution or would sacrifice the country's national security in favor of his own personal or political interests, and that Congress would need to consider such a remedy. Tragically, that time has come." --s

** Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "A critical witness in the impeachment inquiry offered Congress substantial new testimony this week, revealing that he told a top Ukrainian official that the country likely would not receive American military aid unless it publicly committed to investigations President Trump wanted. The disclosure from Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, in four new pages of sworn testimony released on Tuesday, confirmed his involvement in essentially laying out a quid pro quo to Ukraine that he had previously not acknowledged. The testimony offered several major new details beyond the account he gave the inquiry in a 10-hour interview last month." The NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Andrew Desiderio >& Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Gordon Sondland, a key witness in the impeachment inquiry, revealed that he told a top Ukrainian official that hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid would 'likely' be held up unless the country's government announced investigations into ... Donald Trump's political rivals -- a major reversal from his previous closed-door testimony. The acknowledgment of a quid pro quo is an explosive shift that threatens to upend claims by the president's allies that military aid was not used as a bludgeon to advance his domestic political interests." --s ~~~

~~~ Tierney Sneed & Matt Shuham of TPM: "Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the EU, told House investigators about how he first got involved in Ukraine policy, the directive he received from President Trump to 'talk to Rudy' about Ukraine, and how the demands that Giuliani was seeking of Ukraine grew more 'insidious' over time.... In a dramatic turn, Sondland submitted revised testimony this week to clarify what he told the Ukrainians about a freeze on military aid.... Sondland recounted a previously reporting May 23 meeting with Trump, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and others, in which Trump gave the order that they talk to his personal lawyer about their dealings in Ukraine.... 'He just kept saying: Talk to Rudy, talk to Rudy,' Sondland said. Sondland said he didn't know what Trump was talking about, 'other than, he said: Ukraine is a problem.'... Sondland ... clarified that it was actually Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and then-National Security Advisor John Bolton who had sanctioned the move [to get involved in Ukraine]." --s

Marianne Levine of Politico: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that the Senate would acquit ...Donald Trump if an impeachment trial were held today." --s

Zachary Basu of Axios: "Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that he will not read any of the transcripts released Tuesday by the House committees conducting the impeachment inquiry, telling CBS News: 'I've written the whole process off.... I think this is a bunch of B.S.'... Graham ... told reporters on Sept. 25: 'If you're looking for a circumstance where the president of the United States was threatening the Ukraine with cutting off aid unless they investigated his political opponent, you'd be very disappointed. That does not exist.'" --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Very responsible, Lindsey. See no evil, hear no evil, give evil a pass. That oath you took about upholding & defending the Constitution is soooo overrated.

Betsy Swan & Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump promised 'unwavering' support to Ukraine in a May 29 letter congratulating its new president on his election victory. He also invited President Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House, saying the invitation was a sign of the United States' 'commitment' to the young democracy. Trump's letter, which a senior congressional aide shared with The Daily Beast, points to a sharp contrast between Trump's official, warm communications with Zelensky and the moves he actually wanted from Kyiv. The letter, dated May 29, is published here for the first time.... Over the course of the next two months, it became clear to State Department and White House officials that something was preventing a meeting between Trump and Zelensky.... In his infamous press conference last month, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said the letter to Zelensky was merely a 'courtesy.'"

Cristina Marcos of the Hill: "House Democrats want to hear testimony from acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney in their impeachment inquiry after he acknowledged Thursday that the administration held up military aid to Ukraine until Kiev launched a political investigation requested by President Trump. The three House committees running the impeachment inquiry -- Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight -- had issued a subpoena to Mulvaney earlier this month for documents. The deadline for the records is Friday." (Also linked yesterday.)

David Ignatius of the Washington Post: "Since the investigation began into President Trump's machinations in Ukraine, one of the most disturbing questions has been: Where is Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, who's supposed to shield his diplomats from political interference? And now we have the answer: Pompeo, in recent months, has essentially been in hiding, protecting himself while his subordinates took the hit -- evidently hoping to preserve his influence with Trump. Sometimes his deflections and denials have been outright misleading. Pompeo has badly tarnished his reputation in accommodating Trump. He joins the long list of those damaged by their service to this president.... [After Pompeo failed to prevent Trump from firing her,] Trump's groundless attacks against [Marie] Yovanovitch continued, as did Pompeo's silence.... When a transcript of the menacing July [25] call [between Trump & Zelensky] was released Sept. 25, Yovanovitch felt personally threatened, and she again asked for help. Pompeo said nothing publicly in her defense [and claimed on TV that his top aide Michael McKinley had not asked him to support Yovanovitch, even tho McKinley testified he had done so three times]. It's deeply troubling to see a powerful person such as Pompeo who is silent in the face of lies and who takes no action to protect his subordinates from wrongdoing." ~~~

~~~ Lauren Lantry of ABC News: "Newly released testimony of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's former senior adviser directly contradicts Pompeo's remarks in an interview last month on ABC's 'This Week.' According to deposition transcripts released by House Democrats on Monday, Pompeo aide Mike McKinley told lawmakers under oath that he approached Pompeo three separate times to voice his concerns over the State Department's lack of support for Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.... When asked what Pompeo's response was, McKinley said that the secretary said nothing.... But in an Oct. 20 interview on "This Week," Pompeo denied McKinley ever expressed his concerns." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I would remind you here that Pompeo reportedly keeps a Bible open on his desk, which he claims to consult daily. I guess he missed all those instructive passages about helping others. Looks as if Mike is more a "prosperity gospel"-type.

Julia Davis of the Daily Beast: "Standing beside an approving Donald Trump at a rally in Kentucky on Monday night, Republican Sen. Rand Paul demanded the media unmask the whistleblower whose report about the president's alleged abuse of power dealing with Ukraine sparked impeachment proceedings. American news organizations resisted the pressure, but -- in a 2019 re-play of 'Russia, if you're listening' -- Kremlin-controlled state media promptly jumped on it. Shortly after Sen. Paul tweeted out an article that speculated in considerable detail about the identity of the whistleblower -- with a photograph, a name, and details about the purported political history of a CIA professional -- Russian state media followed suit. As if on cue, the Kremlin-controlled heavy hitters -- TASS, RT, Rossiya-1 -- disseminated the same information. But unlike Rand Paul, one of the Russian state media outlets didn't seem to find the source -- Real Clear Investigations -- to be particularly impressive, and claimed falsely that the material was published originally by The Washington Post. This was the most egregious, but certainly not the only example of Kremlin-funded media cheerleading for Trump's fight against impeachment as proceedings against him unfold with growing speed." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If we had a real Justice Department -- and apparently we don't -- said DOJ would open a criminal case against Li'l Randy for outting the whistleblower, if indeed he has done so. Whistleblowers are protected under law, & Randy is not a journalist; he is a Senator who swore to uphold the Constitution & the laws.

Josh Kovensky of TPM: "Even as the impeachment inquiry gains momentum, Ukrainians who stand to benefit from probes into discredited allegations about the Bidens and the 2016 election have not stopped pushing for investigations. Andrii Telizhenko, a former Ukrainian diplomat who has peddled allegations of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 elections to help the Democrats, met with Rudy Giuliani in New York City -- last week.... NBC reported on Monday that a group of parliamentarians in Ukraine are reviewing the possibility of creating an investigative commission to examine allegations, such as those peddled by Telizhenko, of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election. One Ukrainian MP who is pushing for the commission's creation is Oleg Voloshyn, a former foreign ministry official who worked with Paul Manafort while he was a political consultant in the fledgling Eastern European nation." --safari: If Biden were ever elected, Benghaaaazi would dwarf in comparison to what the GOP is cooking up in Ukraine. (Also linked yesterday.)

Lachlan Markey of The Daily Beast: "Allies of President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani are circulating opposition research on Steve Bannon after the former White House strategist questioned Giuliani's work for the president and suggested he should be replaced." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Darren Samuelson & John Gerstein of Politico: "Only minutes after the first potential juror took the witness stand, Roger Stone abruptly left the courtroom, apparently ill [from food poisoning]. Moments later, a spectator started moaning and collapsed. Everyone from the judge to the spectators -- which included alt-right media activist ;Milo Yiannopoulos -- was left baffled. It was a fittingly unpredictable opening to the trial of the longtime conservative.... Stone is fighting charges he lied to Congress and obstructed its 2016 Russia investigation, and Tuesday was slated for jury selection." --s

Would You Stay up Till 3 am for This? Lachlan Markay & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "As Rudy Giuliani upended U.S.-Ukraine relations with a campaign of shadow diplomacy that landed his client..., Donald Trump, on the verge of impeachment, he was also exploring a gig as a television pitchman for an anti-fraud company run by two of the men he enlisted to dig up dirt on Trump's political foes in Ukraine. The company was called Fraud Guarantee, and it was run by Lev Parnas and David Correia, who were both arrested last month and charged with criminal violations of campaign-finance law -- charges to which both have pleaded not guilty. Parnas and Correia had used Fraud Guarantee to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to Giuliani, with whom they worked closely as he sought to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden in Ukraine and advance their own business interests in the country. According to two sources..., Parnas and Correia had plans to ... make [Giuliani] into Fraud Guarantee's spokesman and public face. Both sources described a key part of the plan: a television infomercial featuring Giuliani extolling the virtues of Fraud Guarantee and its services. Parnas and Correia wanted the ad campaign to start airing on U.S. cable-news channels shortly after Giuliani was finished representing Trump in matters pertaining to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's two-year investigation."

Jamie Ross of The Daily Beast: "[In a tweet] Donald Trump offered to send the U.S. military to Mexico to wage 'WAR' against drug cartels after an ambush left at least nine American moms and kids dead on Monday." --s

Sarah Burris of RawStory: "Over the weekend, President Donald Trump attended the UFC mixed martial arts match at Madison Square Garden where he brought several Republican leaders and members of his family. Like the World Series, Trump was booed there too, though not as loudly. Now the Washington Post is reporting that the Republican National Committee shelled out $60,000 for Trump to attend the event with his friends and family." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Ursula Perano of Axios: "Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago is struggling to bring in business amid political backlash against the president, the Washington Post reports. Where it stands: County documents show profits between 2015 and 2018 for the hotel have fallen 89%, from $16.7 million to $1.8 million." --s

Corporate Swamp Creatures. Sarah Okeson of DC Report: "The attorney[James Danly] Trump nominated for a seat on a federal commission that oversees pipeline construction and other energy projects wants to impose the legal equivalent of the three monkeys that see no evil in assessing how oil and gas companies are destroying our planet.... Danly used [his] hands-off approach in a case involving the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. when he and other commission attorneys said that limitations in the Natural Gas Act ;meant the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission didn't have to look at possible greenhouse gas emissions.... Danly has been influenced ;by the Federalist Society, the same people who helped bring us Brett Kavanaugh and are stacking the appellate courts with closed-minded, right-wing justices. The Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources is scheduled to consider his nomination on Tuesday." --s

Brett Forrest of the Wall Street Journal: "Erik Prince, a private security contractor and informal adviser to President Trump, is in discussions to purchase a Ukrainian aerospace manufacturer that the U.S. is trying to prevent China from buying.... The Trump administration has approached Mr. Prince and at least one other potential buyer from the private sector about Motor Sich..., a leading maker of helicopter and airplane engines.... [T]he U.S. wants to scuttle its pending sale to a group of Chinese companies to keep Beijing from acquiring vital defense technology.... In recent weeks, Mr. Prince has discussed the company with Ukrainian officials and visited the company's main plant, according to people briefed on the matter.... Mr. Prince ... is the executive director and deputy chairman of Frontier Services Group, a Hong Kong- and Beijing-based private security contractor." Article firewalled --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Amy Knight of The Daily Beast: "Following a recent conference of foreign security and law enforcement agencies, the head of Russia's State Security Service, the FSB, made the surprising announcement that Russia and the United States have resumed cooperation on cybersecurity.... In response to queries about [Gen. Alexander] Bortnikov's statement, spokespersons for both the CIA and the DEA told The Daily Beast that they had no comment, and the FBI has not responded at all." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Sean Naylor of Yahoo! News: "A U.S. withdrawal from Syria will strain the links that the U.S. intelligence community has painstakingly built with both Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish forces, according to current and former government officials with long experience in the Middle East.... A U.S. withdrawal from Syria would place the United States' ability to get ... intelligence at risk and could result in the compromise of some U.S. intelligence techniques, according to current and former government officials.... 'We could be blind, especially if we're not cultivating those relationships in eastern Syria,' said a former U.S. government official with close ties to the Kurds." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Ross Barkan of the Guardian: "For the millions who feel enraged and despondent over Trump's ennobling of white supremacists or his insidious environmental and immigration policies, trying to remain an informed citizen can amount to an exercise in psychic torture. It's not easy reading, every day, about the degradation of whatever democratic norms America has left.... What recourse, then, do citizens have against a deranged, all-powerful executive who can lay waste to the planet many times over? Election Day is still a full year away. In the absence of a vote, all that is left is protest. If it all feels, at times, irrelevant to Trump's band of Republican nihilists, there is still a necessity to taking action, to demonstrating mass resistance against such hate." --s (Also linked yesterday)

Elections 2019

Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Democrats won complete control of the Virginia government for the first time in a generation on Tuesday and claimed a narrow victory in the Kentucky governor's race, as Republicans struggled in suburbs where President Trump is increasingly unpopular. In capturing both chambers of the legislature in Virginia, Democrats have cleared the way for Gov. Ralph S. Northam, who was nearly driven from office earlier this year, to press for measures tightening access to guns and raising the minimum wage that have been stymied by legislative Republicans. In Kentucky, Gov. Matt Bevin, a deeply unpopular Republican, refused to concede the election to his Democratic challenger, Attorney General Andy Beshear. With 100 percent of the precincts counted, Mr. Beshear was ahead by 5,100 votes. Mr. Beshear presented himself as the winner, telling supporters that he expected Mr. Bevin to 'honor the election that was held tonight.'" ~~~

~~~ Philip Bailey & Joe Sonka of the Louisville Courier Journal: "Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers threw another wrench into the state's razor-thin gubernatorial outcome late Tuesday night, saying that the legislature could decide the race. Stivers' comments came shortly after Gov. Matt Bevin refused to concede to Attorney General Andy Beshear, who led by roughly 5,100 votes when all the precincts were counted. 'There's less than one-half of 1%, as I understand, separating the governor and the attorney general,' Stivers said. 'We will follow the letter of the law and what various processes determine.' Stivers, R-Manchester, said based on his staff's research, the decision could come before the Republican-controlled state legislature. Under state law, Bevin has 30 days to formally contest the outcome once it is certified by the State Board of Elections. Candidates typically ask for a re-canvass of voting machines and a recount first." ~~~

     ~~~ How Stivers & Cohort May Try to Overturn the Election Results. Kate Riga of TPM: "Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) explained the 'antiquated' procedure, found in the state's constitution, to TPM....

~~~ Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Democrats' claim of victory Tuesday in Kentucky's gubernatorial race, as well as the Democratic takeover of the Virginia state legislature, left Republicans stumbling and increasingly uncertain about their own political fates next year tied to an embattled and unpopular president. Many allies of President Trump rushed to explain away the poor performance of incumbent Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) as an anomaly, while other GOP veterans expressed alarm about the party's failure in a state where Trump won by nearly 30 percentage points in 2016 -- and where he just campaigned this week. Although Bevin was controversial and widely disliked, he was also a devotee of the president, embracing Trump's agenda and his anti-establishment persona. And in the contest's final days, Bevin sought to cast his candidacy as a bulwark against House Democrats' impeachment inquiry of Trump."

Julia Terruso of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "The political forces that shaped last year's midterm elections showed no signs of abating Tuesday, as voters turned on Republicans and establishment Democrats alike in races from Philadelphia and Scranton to the suburbs of Delaware and Chester Counties.... Locally, Democrats will hold all five seats on the Delaware County Council, a Republican stronghold since the Civil War, and also assumed a majority on the legislative body in Chester County. In Bucks County, Democrats captured the Board of Commissioners for the first time since 1983. And in Philadelphia, a third-party insurgent candidate weakened an already marginalized GOP by securing one of the at-large City Council seats reserved for minority parties -- a seat Republicans have held for decades."

Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "Juli Briskman, who famously flipped off ... Donald Trump's motorcade in a viral 2017 photo, won her race Tuesday night for a seat on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in Virginia. Briskman, a former marketing executive and local Democratic activist, unseated eight-year incumbent Republican Suzanne Volpe. She will represent the Algonkian District on the board, which serves more than 400,000 residents.... Briskman made national news in October 2017 when a White House photographer traveling with the president snapped a picture of her riding her bicycle and giving the middle finger to Trump's motorcade as it passed her.... Her employer at the time, government contractor Akima LLC, fired her over the photo. Briskman went on to sue Akima LLC. In the meantime, one of her friends set up a GoFundMe page for Briskman, a single mom of two, which raised a whopping $142,000." ~~~

~~~ Paul Schwartzman of the Washington Post (via the Bangor Daily News): Briskman "acknowledged that her notoriety helped her raise $150,000 for the race.... As it turns out, Briskman's district includes a certain golf course owned by a certain president." Mrs. McC: That would be the Trump National Golf Club. Let's hope Briskman can find something wrong with the club's tax status or something. Put some $$$ on that middle finger.

Chantal Da Silva of Newsweek: "For the first time in nearly 40 years, Democrats have taken control of Columbus, Indiana -- the hometown of Vice President Mike Pence. On Tuesday, Columbus voters saw four Democrats elected to City Council seats, with only three Republican incumbents claiming re-election victory."

Hadas Gold & Donie O'Sullivan of CNN: "A controversial policy allowing politicians to run false ads on Facebook will extend to the United Kingdom as the country prepares to vote in a historic December election, Facebook confirmed to CNN Business. The policy is being championed by Facebook executive Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom who himself once complained about 'lies' spread during the 2016 Brexit referendum." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Damian Carrington of the Guardian: "The world's people face 'untold suffering due to the climate crisis' unless there are major transformations to global society, according to a stark warning from more than 11,000 scientists.... The statement was a collaboration of dozens of scientists and endorsed by further 11,000 from 153 nations. The scientists say the urgent changes needed include ending population growth, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, halting forest destruction and slashing meat eating." --s

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Where Not to Live. Antonia Farzan of the Washington Post: "The librarians of Citrus County, Fla., had what seemed like a modest wish: A digital subscription to the New York Times. For about $2,700 annually, they reasoned, they could offer their roughly 70,000 patrons an easy way to research and catch up on the news. But when their request came before the Citrus County commission last month, local officials literally laughed out loud. One commissioner, Scott Carnahan, declared the paper to be fake news.' 'I agree with President Trump,' he said. 'I will not be voting for this. I don't want the New York Times in this county.' In a move that is generating intense online backlash, all five members of the commission agreed to reject the library's request. The discussion took place Oct. 24, the same day the Trump administration announced plans to cancel federal agencies' subscriptions to the Times and The Washington Post. While there's no apparent connection -- the Citrus County meeting began several hours before the Wall Street Journal broke the news of the new edict -- the controversy unfolding in central Florida highlights how politicians nationwide are parroting the president's disparaging rhetoric about the media." (Also linked yesterday.)

Way Beyond

Syria. Juan Cole: "The semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northeast Syria today accused Turkish forces of conducting ethnic cleansing campaigns in the Kurdish region they have occupied between Tel Abyad and Ra's al-Ayn.... The Kurds called on the United Nations to intervene to stop the ethnic cleansing, and urged it not to fall for the Turkish ploy of bringing in its mercenaries and characterizing them as 'refugees.' Despite an agreement between Turkey and Russia that Ankara would halt its invasion, Foreign Policy reports that Turkey is attempting to go deeper into Syria than the 20 miles it had agreed upon, which will result in more Kurds being displaced." --s (Also linked yesterday)

U.K. Dan Sabbagh & Luke Harding of the Guardian: "Boris Johnson was on Monday night accused of presiding over a cover-up after it emerged that No 10 refused to clear the publication of a potentially incendiary report examining Russian infiltration in British politics, including the Conservative party [before the coming elections, despite being approved for release]...Fresh evidence has also emerged of attempts by the Kremlin to infiltrate the Conservatives by a senior Russian diplomat suspected of espionage, who spent five years in London cultivating leading Tories including Johnson himself. It can now be revealed that Sergey Nalobin -- who once described the future prime minister as 'our good friend' -- lives in a Moscow apartment block known as the 'FSB house' because it houses so many employees from the Kremlin's main spy agency ... Committee members were ... briefed on an extraordinary -- and for a while an apparently successful -- attempt to penetrate Conservative circles by Nalobin, who instigated a pro-Kremlin parliamentary group, the Conservative Friends of Russia. Conservative Friends of Russia held its 2012 launch party in the Russian ambassador's Kensington garden, with about 250 Russian and British guests present, including Tories who went on to play a prominent role in the referendum campaign." --s (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Patrick Wintour of the Guardian: "Universities are not adequately responding to the growing risk of China and other 'autocracies' influencing academic freedom in the UK, the foreign affairs select committee has said. The report, rushed out before parliament is suspended pending the election, finds 'alarming evidence' of Chinese interference on UK campuses, adding some of the activity seeking to restrict academic freedom appears to be coordinated by the Chinese embassy in London." --s

The Commentariat -- November 5, 2019

My doctor is putting me in the hospital, and I'm not sure when I'll get out. I've opened up tomorrow's page, so you can comment. Only safari & Akhilleus know how to post actual entries, and I don't know that either of them will have time.

Today is Election Day in many state & local races. Vote! ~~~

~~~ New York Times on races to watch: "Tuesday's election results will offer insights on two crucial political dynamics heading into the 2020 campaign: the depth of President Trump's appeal with Republicans and how fully suburban voters have swung to the Democrats. The Republican candidates for governor in Kentucky and Mississippi have aggressively linked themselves to Mr. Trump and sought to tie their rivals to the national Democrats pursuing the impeachment inquiry against the president. Mr. Trump, who comfortably carried both states in 2016, has put his political capital on the line: He rallied voters in Mississippi on Friday and was in Kentucky on Monday night. The president has not appeared on the campaign trail in Virginia, where Democrats are hoping Mr. Trump's deep unpopularity in the suburbs is enough for them to flip control of both chambers of the state legislature." ~~~

~~~ Steven Shepard of Politico lists seven things to watch for in today's election results.

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

** Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "A critical witness in the impeachment inquiry offered Congress substantial new testimony this week, revealing that he told a top Ukrainian official that the country likely would not receive American military aid unless it publicly committed to investigations President Trump wanted. The disclosure from Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, in four new pages of sworn testimony released on Tuesday, confirmed his involvement in essentially laying out a quid pro quo to Ukraine that he had previously not acknowledged. The testimony offered several major new details beyond the account he gave the inquiry in a 10-hour interview last month." The NBC News story is here.

Cristina Marcos of the Hill: "House Democrats want to hear testimony from acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney in their impeachment inquiry after he acknowledged Thursday that the administration held up military aid to Ukraine until Kiev launched a political investigation requested by President Trump. The three House committees running the impeachment inquiry -- Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight -- had issued a subpoena to Mulvaney earlier this month for documents. The deadline for the records is Friday."

House committees will soon release transcripts of the testimony of Ambassadors Gordon Sondland & Kurt Volker.

Josh Kovensky of TPM: "Even as the impeachment inquiry gains momentum, Ukrainians who stand to benefit from probes into discredited allegations about the Bidens and the 2016 election have not stopped pushing for investigations. Andrii Telizhenko, a former Ukrainian diplomat who has peddled allegations of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 elections to help the Democrats, met with Rudy Giuliani in New York City -- last week.... NBC reported on Monday that a group of parliamentarians in Ukraine are reviewing the possibility of creating an investigative commission to examine allegations, such as those peddled by Telizhenko, of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election. One Ukrainian MP who is pushing for the commission's creation is Oleg Voloshyn, a former foreign ministry official who worked with Paul Manafort while he was a political consultant in the fledgling Eastern European nation." --safari: If Biden were ever elected, Benghaaaazi would dwarf in comparison to what the GOP is cooking up in Ukraine.

Lachlan Markey of The Daily Beast: "Allies of President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani are circulating opposition research on Steve Bannon after the former White House strategist questioned Giuliani's work for the president and suggested he should be replaced." --s

Sarah Burris of RawStory: "Over the weekend, President Donald Trump attended the UFC mixed martial arts match at Madison Square Garden where he brought several Republican leaders and members of his family. Like the World Series, Trump was booed there too, though not as loudly. Now the Washington Post is reporting that the Republican National Committee shelled out $60,000 for Trump to attend the event with his friends and family." --s

Juan Cole: "The semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northeast Syria today accused Turkish forces of conducting ethnic cleansing campaigns in the Kurdish region they have occupied between Tel Abyad and Ra's al-Ayn.... The Kurds called on the United Nations to intervene to stop the ethnic cleansing, and urged it not to fall for the Turkish ploy of bringing in its mercenaries and characterizing them as 'refugees.' Despite an agreement between Turkey and Russia that Ankara would halt its invasion, Foreign Policy reports that Turkey is attempting to go deeper into Syria than the 20 miles it had agreed upon, which will result in more Kurds being displaced." --s

Sean Naylor of Yahoo! News: "A U.S. withdrawal from Syria will strain the links that the U.S. intelligence community has painstakingly built with both Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish forces, according to current and former government officials with long experience in the Middle East.... A U.S. withdrawal from Syria would place the United States' ability to get ... intelligence at risk and could result in the compromise of some U.S. intelligence techniques, according to current and former government officials.... 'We could be blind, especially if we're not cultivating those relationships in eastern Syria,' said a former U.S. government official with close ties to the Kurds." --s

Brett Forrest of the Wall Street Journal: "Erik Prince, a private security contractor and informal adviser to President Trump, is in discussions to purchase a Ukrainian aerospace manufacturer that the U.S. is trying to prevent China from buying.... The Trump administration has approached Mr. Prince and at least one other potential buyer from the private sector about Motor Sich..., a leading maker of helicopter and airplane engines.... [T]he U.S. wants to scuttle its pending sale to a group of Chinese companies to keep Beijing from acquiring vital defense technology.... In recent weeks, Mr. Prince has discussed the company with Ukrainian officials and visited the company's main plant, according to people briefed on the matter.... Mr. Prince ... is the executive director and deputy chairman of Frontier Services Group, a Hong Kong- and Beijing-based private security contractor." Firewalled --s

Amy Knight of The Daily Beast: "Following a recent conference of foreign security and law enforcement agencies, the head of Russia's State Security Service, the FSB, made the surprising announcement that Russia and the United States have resumed cooperation on cybersecurity.... In response to queries about [Gen. Alexander] Bortnikov's statement, spokespersons for both the CIA and the DEA told The Daily Beast that they had no comment, and the FBI has not responded at all." --s

Ross Barkan of the Guardian: "For the millions who feel enraged and despondent over Trump's ennobling of white supremacists or his insidious environmental and immigration policies, trying to remain an informed citizen can amount to an exercise in psychic torture. It's not easy reading, every day, about the degradation of whatever democratic norms America has left.... What recourse, then, do citizens have against a deranged, all-powerful executive who can lay waste to the planet many times over? Election Day is still a full year away. In the absence of a vote, all that is left is protest. If it all feels, at times, irrelevant to Trump's band of Republican nihilists, there is still a necessity to taking action, to demonstrating mass resistance against such hate." --s

Hadas Gold & Donie O'Sullivan of CNN: "A controversial policy allowing politicians to run false ads on Facebook will extend to the United Kingdom as the country prepares to vote in a historic December election, Facebook confirmed to CNN Business. The policy is being championed by Facebook executive Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom who himself once complained about 'lies' spread during the 2016 Brexit referendum." --s

Florida. Where Not to Live. Antonia Farzan of the Washington Post: "The librarians of Citrus County, Fla., had what seemed like a modest wish: A digital subscription to the New York Times. For about $2,700 annually, they reasoned, they could offer their roughly 70,000 patrons an easy way to research and catch up on the news. But when their request came before the Citrus County commission last month, local officials literally laughed out loud. One commissioner, Scott Carnahan, declared the paper to be fake news.' 'I agree with President Trump,' he said. 'I will not be voting for this. I don't want the New York Times in this county.' In a move that is generating intense online backlash, all five members of the commission agreed to reject the library's request. The discussion took place Oct. 24, the same day the Trump administration announced plans to cancel federal agencies' subscriptions to the Times and The Washington Post. While there's no apparent connection -- the Citrus County meeting began several hours before the Wall Street Journal broke the news of the new edict -- the controversy unfolding in central Florida highlights how politicians nationwide are parroting the president's disparaging rhetoric about the media."

Great Britian. Dan Sabbagh & Luke Harding of the Guardian: "Boris Johnson was on Monday night accused of presiding over a cover-up after it emerged that No 10 refused to clear the publication of a potentially incendiary report examining Russian infiltration in British politics, including the Conservative party [before the coming elections, despite being approved for release]...Fresh evidence has also emerged of attempts by the Kremlin to infiltrate the Conservatives by a senior Russian diplomat suspected of espionage, who spent five years in London cultivating leading Tories including Johnson himself. It can now be revealed that Sergey Nalobin-- who once described the future prime minister as 'our good friend' -- lives in a Moscow apartment block known as the 'FSB house' because it houses so many employees from the Kremlin's main spy agency.... Committee members were ... briefed on an extraordinary -- and for a while an apparently successful -- attempt to penetrate Conservative circles by Nalobin, who instigated a pro-Kremlin parliamentary group, the Conservative Friends of Russia. Conservative Friends of Russia held its 2012 launch party in the Russian ambassador's Kensington garden, with about 250 Russian and British guests present, including Tories who went on to play a prominent role in the referendum campaign." --s

~~~~~~~~~~

U.S. v. Earth -- Yet Another Shameful Moment in American History. Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "The Trump administration formally notified the United Nations on Monday that it would withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change, leaving global climate diplomats to plot a way forward without the cooperation of the world's largest economy. The action, which came on the first day possible under the accord's complex rules on withdrawal, begins a yearlong countdown to the United States exit and a concerted effort to preserve the Paris Agreement, under which nearly 200 nations have pledged to cut greenhouse emissions and to help poor countries cope with the worst effects of an already warming planet. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the notification on Twitter and issued a statement saying the accord would impose intolerable burdens on the American economy.... And diplomats fear that Mr. Trump, who has mocked climate science as a hoax, will begin actively working against global efforts to move away from planet-warming fossil fuels, like coal, oil and natural gas. Keeping up the pressure for the kinds of economic change necessary to stave off the worse effects of planetary warming will be much harder without the world's superpower." Here's the HuffPost story.

House Intelligence Committee: Today, Rep. Adam Schiff, Chair of the House Intel Committee, Rep. Eliot Engel, Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Acting Chair of the House Oversight Committee, "released the transcripts of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie 'Masha' Yovanovitch and former Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State Ambassador P. Michael McKinley.... The testimony of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie 'Masha' Yovanovitch from October 11, 2019 can be found here. Key excerpts from Yovanovitch's testimony can be found here. The testimony of former Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State Ambassador P. Michael McKinley from October 16, 2019 can be found here. Key excerpts from McKinley's testimony can be found here." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Kiss Ass or Kiss Your Job Goodbye. Adam Edelman, et al., of NBC News: "Marie Yovanovitch, the ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, told House impeachment investigators last month that U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland told her she should tweet out support or praise for ... Donald Trump if she wanted to save her job, according to a transcript of her testimony made public Monday.... According to the transcript, Yovanovitch [said] she asked Sondland for advice on how to handle an onslaught of criticism from conservative media and Donald Trump Jr. 'He said, "You know, you need to go big or go home. You need to, you know, tweet out there that you support the president, and that all these are lies and everything else,'" she told the committees. 'It was advice that I did not see how I could implement in my role as an ambassador, and as a Foreign Service officer.'... Yovanovitch testified to House investigators Oct. 11 that Trump had personally pressured the State Department to remove her, even though a top department official [John Sullivan] assured her that she had 'done nothing wrong.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

As the Worm Turns. Edward Wong & David Sanger of the New York Times: "As President Trump's first C.I.A. director, Mike Pompeo was briefed by agency officials on the extensive evidence ... showing that Russian hackers working for the government of Vladimir V. Putin had interfered in the 2016 American presidential campaign. In May 2017, Mr. Pompeo testified in a Senate hearing that he stood by that conclusion. Two and a half years later, Mr. Pompeo seems to have changed his mind. As Mr. Trump's second secretary of state, he now supports an investigation into a discredited, partisan theory that Ukraine, not Russia, attacked the Democratic National Committee, which Mr. Trump wants to use to make the case that he was elected without Moscow's help.... Mr. Pompeo's spreading of a false narrative at the heart of the Ukraine scandal is the most striking example of how he has fallen off the tightrope he has traversed for the past 18 months: demonstrating loyalty to the president while insisting to others he was pursuing a traditional, conservative foreign policy." Read on. Pompeo is in this up to his eyeballs. The idiot savant has ensured his place as one of the most malign forces in the nation. ~~~

~~~ Cody Fenwick of AlterNet: "Michael McKinley, a career diplomat and a former top adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, delivered a harsh indictment of his former boss's treatment of the civil service in testimony to the congressional impeachment inquiry, a new transcript revealed on Monday.... In his testimony, he made clear that his resignation was driven by the administration's treatment of former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and the department's failure to defend her. His recounting of these events painted a craven and weak portrait of Pompeo, who refused to help Yovanovitch despite the attacks she has endured.... [McKinley] said he went to Pompeo directly and suggested that a statement be put out to support Yovanovitch as press attention became focused on the former ambassador. He said he ended up talking to Pompeo about the issue three times, but the secretary barely acknowledged the request. No statement of support was ever made.... Pompeo appears to have blatantly lied about these interactions. On ABC News in October, Pompeo said, 'From the time that Ambassador Yovanovitch departed Ukraine until the time that he [McKinley] came to tell me he was departing, I never heard him say a single thing about his concerns with respect to the decision that was made. Not once. Not once ... did Ambassador McKinley say something to me in that time period.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Either Pompeo looked into the camera & lied to the public or McKinley lied in sworn testimony. I know whom I believe. Of course, as noted ethicist Cory Lewandowski testified before a Congressional committee, lying "to the media" is not against the law. ~~~

~~~ Julian Borger of the Guardian on Pompeo's suspicious trips to Kansas. Three of his four visits this year were supposedly on official State Department business; ergo, taxpayer-funded. Many surmise Pompeo is eyeing running for the open Kansas Senate seat. During one of his Kansas excursions, "he took time in Wichita to meet Charles Koch, his longstanding sponsor and a kingmaker on the right of Republican party.... Democrats have filed a complaint that he is violating federal laws prohibiting political activities while acting in an official capacity." He has until next June to decide whether or not to run for the seat.

Michael Schmidt & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The White House's top national security lawyer declined to appear for a scheduled deposition on Monday morning, saying he would wait to hear what a federal judge ruled on whether President Trump's closest advisers have to answer questions from congressional investigators. The lawyer, John A. Eisenberg, played a central role in dealing with the fallout at the White House from a July call between President Trump and the Ukrainian president.... The committee subpoenaed Mr. Eisenberg to appear on Monday morning for questioning, but the White House informed Mr. Eisenberg's lawyer in recent days that Mr. Trump would block his testimony by invoking 'constitutional immunity,' a sweeping form of executive privilege it has been claiming for officials who have the closest interactions with the president. Mr. Eisenberg's decision heightens the importance of an unusual lawsuit filed by Mr. Trump's former deputy national security adviser Charles M Kupperman, who faced the same situation as Mr. Eisenberg: a subpoena from the House and an instruction from Mr. Trump not to comply with it." (Also linked yesterday.)

Allan Smith of NBC News: "... Donald Trump said Monday that written answers from the whistleblower to Congress would be unacceptable -- although such answers were fine for the president when dealing with former special counsel Robert Mueller. 'The Whistleblower gave false information & dealt with corrupt politician Schiff,' Trump tweeted. 'He must be brought forward to testify. Written answers not acceptable! Where is the 2nd Whistleblower? He disappeared after I released the transcript. Does he even exist? Where is the informant? Con!'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Anita Kumar of Politico: "In 2006, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump traveled to Ukraine to meet with government officials about building a multimillion dollar hotel and golf course in the country. Two years later, Trump Jr. was back to meet with developers. The Trumps were looking to erect luxury resorts across the former Soviet republics.... But doing so meant navigating a landscape that had long struggled with corruption.... Now, a decade after his company's efforts floundered..., Donald Trump is arguing that it's the son of his political rival Joe Biden, not him, who wanted to benefit from what he calls a 'very corrupt' Ukraine. The president's critics say it's a now-familiar Trumpian contradiction, one that raises further doubts about the president's claim he merely wanted to root out corruption when he pressured Ukrainian officials to investigate the Biden.... The overtures [the Trumps made in Ukraine] offer another example of the complications of a businessman-turned-president making foreign policy decisions in places where he has had -- or tried to have -- significant financial interests.... House and Senate committees appear to be unaware of the Trump Organization's prior Ukraine connections, according to more than half a dozen lawmakers and staffers." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Kumar's reporting helps explain this WashPo story by Greg Jaffe & Josh Dawsey (Nov. 2): "'They are horrible, corrupt people,' Trump [said of Ukrainians to top advisors].... One theme that runs through almost all [House witness] accounts is Trump's unyielding loathing of Ukraine, which dates to his earliest days in the White House. 'We could never quite understand it,' a former senior White House official said of Trump's view of the former Soviet republic, also saying that much of it stemmed from the president's embrace of conspiracy theories. 'There were accusations that they had somehow worked with the Clinton campaign. There were accusations they'd hurt him. He just hated Ukraine.'... Trump's animosity to Ukraine ran so deep and was so resistant to the typical foreign policy entreaties about the need to stand by allies that senior officials involved in Ukraine policy concluded that the only way to overcome it was to set up an Oval Office meeting with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky." My guess is that what irks Trump is not corruption per se, but that he failed to cut a deal with (former) officials to build his resort. It's all about Trump, Trump, Trump. ~~~

~~~ Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: "Long before a telephone call with Ukraine's president that prompted an impeachment inquiry, President Trump was exchanging political favors with a different Ukrainian leader, who desperately sought American help for his country's struggle against Russian aggression. Petro O. Poroshenko, Ukraine's president until May, waged an elaborate campaign to win over Mr. Trump at a time when advisers had convinced Mr. Trump that Ukraine was a nest of Hillary Clinton supporters. Mr. Poroshenko' campaign included trade deals that were politically expedient for Mr. Trump, meetings with Rudolph W. Giuliani, the freezing of potentially damaging criminal cases and attempts to use the former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort as a back channel.... Now, impeachment investigators are examining the two years of interactions between Mr. Trump and Mr. Poroshenko, according to a congressional Democrat." (Also linked yesterday.)

Aram Roston of Reuters: "Lev Parnas, an indicted Ukrainian-American businessman who has ties to ... Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, is now prepared to comply with requests for records and testimony from congressional impeachment investigators, his lawyer told Reuters on Monday. Parnas, who helped Giuliani look for dirt on Trump's political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, is a key figure in the impeachment inquiry that is examining whether Trump abused his office for personal political gain. His apparent decision to work with the congressional committees represents a change of heart. Parnas rebuffed a request from three House of Representatives committees last month to provide documents and testimony. 'We will honor and not avoid the committee's requests to the extent they are legally proper, while scrupulously protecting Mr. Parnas' privileges including that of the Fifth Amendment,' said the lawyer, Joseph Bondy...." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: Lev Parnas has "open[ed] a dialogue with congressional impeachment investigators and accus[ed] the president of falsely denying their relationship.... Parnas had previously resisted speaking with investigators for the Democrat-led impeachment proceedings.... A former lawyer for Mr. Trump [-- John Dowd --] was then representing Mr. Parnas. But since then, Mr. Parnas has hired new lawyers who contacted the congressional investigators last week ... [who] signaled on Monday that Mr. Parnas, who was arrested last month on campaign finance charges, is prepared to comply with a congressional subpoena for his documents and testimony.... 'Mr. Parnas was very upset by President Trump's plainly false statement that he did not know him,' said [new attorney Joseph] Bondy, whose client has maintained that he has had extensive dealings with the president.... Mr. Trump signed off on [Parnas'] hiring of Mr. Dowd, according to an Oct. 2 email reviewed by The New York Times. '... The president consents to allowing your representation of Mr. Parnas and Mr. Furman,' Jay Sekulow, another lawyer for Mr. Trump, wrote to Mr. Dowd, misspelling Mr. Fruman's surname. Mr. Dowd said in an interview that Mr. Trump's approval was sought 'simply as a courtesy to the president'...." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie Note to Donnie: As a general rule, it's not a good idea to diss people who may have something on you. You hurt Lev's feelings when you told reporters who asked about Igor & him, "'I don't know them. I don't know about them. I don/t know what they do ... Maybe they were clients of Rudy. You'd have to ask Rudy.'... Of the numerous photographs of them together, Mr. Trump said, 'I have a picture with everybody.'" And here I thought an expert on the art of the deal, not to mention what-all happened when you snubbed Michael Cohen, would know this. ~~~

~~~ "When Your Joint Defense Agreement with the Russian Mob Blows up." Marcy Wheeler: "Last month, I argued that the John Dowd letter mapping out what amounted to a Joint Defense Agreement between the President, Rudy Giuliani, Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman, and Dmitry Firtash (with Victoria Toensing, Joe DiGenova, and Dowd himself as the glue holding this orgy of corruption together) would one day go in a museum to memorialize how crazy things are. Right alongside that -- I think after reading [the NYT story linked above] -- will go Trump's written waiver of privilege as obtained by Jay Sekulow.... Dowd claims ... there was no tie between his representation of Trump and the magical selection of a bunch of grifters involved in Trump's efforts to coerce electoral advantage from foreign countries.... [Parnas has] put the pieces into place to ensure he could take others down with him. And his marks were very easy marks. Plus, given he can claim both attorney-client and Fifth Amendment privileges, he may be able to neatly tailor what information he wants to release."

Spies, Intrigue, Extortion, Club Mafia Rave! Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "The heart of the Ukraine scandal ... is simple. Trump used congressionally appropriated aid to Ukraine, as well as the promise of a White House visit, to try to extort Ukraine's president to announce investigations that would benefit Trump politically. But there's a broader story that's still murky, because in this scandal Trump is both the perpetrator and the mark. Trump used the power of his office to try to force Ukraine to substantiate conspiracy theories. But the president was fed those conspiracy theories by people with their own agendas, who surely understood that he is insecure about Russia's role in his election, and he will believe whatever serves his ego in the moment." Goldberg weaves together what is known about the ways Ukrainian oligarch & Russian asset Dmitry Firtash -- who seems to be the guy bankrolling Lev Parnas & Igor Fruman, along with Paul Manafort, Rudy Giuliani & a few other "sinister forces" have manipulated Trump. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Goldberg doesn't mention it, but it's now easier to understand the dynamic behind Giuliani's consultations with the caged bird Manafort. As the WashPo explained in early October, Giuliani business with Manafort was part of a fantasy-findng mission to gather info/contacts "on a theory that Manafort's team was promoting as early as 2017: that the Ukrainian government separately interfered in the 2016 campaign on behalf of Clinton through the activities of a Ukrainian American contract worker for the DNC." Journalists are revealing the connections between the plot points of the grand scheme in a manner very similar to the way the hero/investigator in a well-wrought European murder mystery discovers whodunit.

Polina Ivanova & Ilya Zhegulev of Reuters: "Ukraine plans to fire the prosecutor who led investigations into the firm where Joe Biden's son served on the board..., a source told Reuters. Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has acknowledged meeting the prosecutor, Kostiantyn Kulyk, to discuss accusations against the Bidens. The decision to sideline someone who played an important role in Giuliani's efforts to find out damaging information about the Bidens comes as Ukraine has tried to avoid getting drawn into a partisan fight in Washington.... The source said a decision had been taken to fire Kulyk for failing to show up for an exam that all employees of the General Prosecutor's Office have been ordered to pass to keep their jobs during a clean-up of the prosecution service. Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka has already fired more than 400 prosecutors, or around a third of all staff."

Harper Neidig of the Hill: "A federal appeals court on Monday ruled that President Trump can't block the Manhattan district attorney's office from subpoenaing his accounting firm for financial records. A three-judge panel on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals said that 'presidential immunity does not bar the enforcement of a state grand jury subpoena directing a third party to produce non-privileged material, even when the subject matter under investigation pertains to the President.' But the court noted they were not ruling on all of the sweeping claims of immunity that the president's lawyers claim." Includes ScribD copy of ruling. (An early version of this story was linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times story, by Benjamin Weiser, is here. "A federal appeals panel said on Monday that President Trump's accounting firm must turn over eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns to Manhattan prosecutors, a setback for the president's attempt to keep his financial records private. The three-judge appeals panel did not take a position on the president's biggest argument -- that he was immune from all criminal investigations. A lower court had called that argument 'repugnant to the nation's governmental structure and constitutional values.' Instead, the appeals court said the president's accounting firm, not Mr. Trump himself, was subpoenaed for the documents, so it did not matter whether presidents have immunity." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Pete Williams of NBC News: "... Donald Trump will face strong headwinds in asking the Supreme Court to stop prosecutors in New York from getting his tax returns. Past Supreme Court rulings have upheld subpoenas directed at presidents, and this time the local prosecutors are seeking documents from the Trump Organization and Trump's accountants -- not directly from the president himself. For those reasons, among others, the Supreme Court might simply decline to hear the president's appeal, which would leave the appeals court ruling intact and require the tax returns to be turned over. The Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, is investigating whether any state laws were broken in the payment of hush money to two women who claimed they had a sexual relationship with Trump, allegations he has denied. The prosecutors are also looking into the claim by Michael Cohen, the former Trump lawyer and confidante, that Trump sometimes misstated his financial situation in order to pay lower taxes. Trump's lawyers have fought back, arguing that because a sitting president cannot be indicted, he likewise cannot be subject to any steps in a criminal investigation.... The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York [rejected that claim].... No court has ever ruled that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime, but that has been the consistent position of the Justice Department under both Republican and Democratic administrations. The logic behind that position can be summarized simply: The president can't run the country from jail."

Next on Tap. Ashraf Khalil of the AP: "Roger Stone, a longtime Republican provocateur and former confidant of ... Donald Trump, is going on trial over charges related to his alleged efforts to exploit the Russian-hacked Hillary Clinton emails for political gain. The trial in Washington, which begins Tuesday, promises to revive the specter of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation as the impeachment inquiry against Trump proceeds in the House."

Brian Stelter of CNN: "The Justice Department is going on the offensive against the anonymous author of 'A Warning,' telling them in a letter obtained by CNN Business that he or she may be violating 'one or more nondisclosure agreements' by writing the anti-Trump book.The author's publisher is rejecting the argument and saying the book will be released as scheduled. And the author's agents are accusing the government of trying to unmask the author.... A Justice Department official said that the letter, from the head of the agency's civil division, was part of a fact-gathering process and that other similar requests had gone out to authors who'd worked for the government. The letter was not necessarily indicative of a looming lawsuit, the official said, just one step in a routine procedure." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The Justice Department is trying to unearth the identity of the Trump administration official who denounced the president in a New York Times Op-Ed last year under the byline Anonymous, according to a letter from a senior law enforcement official on Monday. In the letter, Assistant Attorney General Joseph H. Hunt asked the publisher of a forthcoming book by the writer and the author's book agents for proof that the official never signed a nondisclosure agreement and had no access to classified information or, absent that, for information about where the person worked in the government, and when..... Mr. Trump, people close to him said, has long been troubled by the existence of Anonymous, whose Op-Ed condemned him as essentially unfit for office and described a 'resistance' within the administration trying to keep the government on course.... Mr. Trump said last year that he wanted the Justice Department to investigate the essay, declaring its writing an act of treason. Prosecutors said at the time that such an inquiry would be inappropriate because it was likely that no laws were broken." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Huh. When Trump became president* & started demanding White House employees sign nondisclosure agreements, various expert attorneys said that NDAs were unenforceable against federal employees. If so, how come the so-called Justice Department is trying to determine whether or not Anonymous signed one? If those experts were right, then DOJ is continuing to act as Trump's private attorney rather than as ours.

Jan Ransom of the New York Times: "E. Jean Carroll publicly shared a secret in June that she had kept largely to herself for more than two decades: Donald J. Trump, she said, had raped her in the dressing room of an upscale department store in New York City. President Trump vehemently denied the allegations. He called Ms. Carroll a liar, intent on selling a new book. He said he had never met her, despite a photo of the two of them together in the 1980s. He told reporters that he would not have assaulted Ms. Carroll because 'she's not my type.' Now Ms. Carroll, a journalist and columnist for Elle Magazine, has sued Mr. Trump for defamation, saying in a lawsuit filed in state court on Monday that Mr. Trump had damaged her reputation and her career when he denied her allegation in June." Anna North of Vox has the story here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As North points out, "she's not my type" is "a response he's employed several times to denigrate women who accuse him of sexual misconduct." Whether or not Carroll is Trump's "type," who's stupid enough to think men assault only women whom they find super-attractive? If anything, the opposite could be true: they might assault women they're not interested in, but try to charm women whom they find most appealing. I hope Trump tries the "not my type" argument in court. And I hope the judge is a woman.

The Trump Team Has a Plan to Wreck the National Parks. Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "A committee that reports to the National Park Service (NPS) is recommending privatizing campgrounds within national parks, limiting benefits for senior visitors and allowing food trucks as a way to bring more money into the system. The panel that shared the ideas was formed under former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, part of the Outdoor Recreation Advisory Committee designed to 'advise the Secretary of the Interior on public-private partnerships across all public lands.' The memo prepared by the Subcommittee on Recreation Enhancement Through Reorganization highlights privatization and an increase in contracts with private companies as a way to offer services such as Wi-Fi, food and equipment rentals to draw more visitors to parks.... The memo argues that the 50 percent discount for seniors should apply only to base campsite fees and encourages NPS to introduce 'new senior fee blackout periods during peak season periods.'" Mrs. McC: Yay! Theme parks for the wealthy. Coming soon: amusement park rides in wilderness areas with automated grizzly bear & bobcat replicas popping up at every turn.

Presidential Race 2020

Democrats Decide to Self-destruct. Hanna Trudo & Sam Stein of the Daily Beast: "The same day that the head of the Democratic National Committee told a group of Iowans that the party's 'unity is our greatest strength,' the top-ranking Democrat in Congress ripped apart a chief policy proposal of two leading 2020 presidential candidates. The dichotomy between the feel-good vibes of DNC Chair Tom Perez and the cold water dousing delivered by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the push for Medicare for All portended what appears to be one of the more trying weeks for Democrats to date. At a time when President Trump is on the precipice of impeachment, the opposition party finds itself in an increasingly dour state, with a renewed sense of fright about the prospects of the president's re-election and infighting between the primary candidates heating up in uncomfortable ways." And so forth. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As I said this past weekend, to some dissent, the candidates bickering among themselves about the form universal health coverage should take is remarkably stupid. For one thing, it leads to op-eds like one from Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post, titled, "When it comes to Medicare for all, listen to Nancy Pelosi." I didn't read a word of the text of Marcus's tut-tutting. I seldom do.

Jamie Lovegrove of the Charleston, S.C. Post & Courier: "A South Carolina aide for Tom Steyer's 2020 presidential campaign stole valuable volunteer data collected by Kamala Harris' campaign using an account from when he worked with the S.C. Democratic Party, according to multiple state and national party officials. The Steyer campaign said that it does not have possession of the data and that Democratic officials were only aware of the download, which they said was inadvertent, because they proactively notified them. Both the Democratic National Committee and S.C. Democratic Party denied that. The Democratic National Committee said they quickly caught the attempt on Friday by Steyer's deputy S.C. state director Dwane Sims to export Harris' data, which contained thousands of volunteer contacts collected over the course of the campaign in this critical early-voting primary state. The party sent a cease-and-desist letter and has since received certification from Sims that he destroyed the stolen data, S.C. Democratic Party chairman Trav Robertson told The Post and Courier.... Sims was placed on administrative leave over the weekend while the Steyer campaign conducts an internal investigation, Steyer campaign spokesman Alberto Lammers said." ~~~

~~~ According to a new Nevada Independent poll, Steyer is beating Harris in Nevada, 4 percent to 3 percent, well within the 4-point margin of error.

Beyond the Beltway

Colorado. CBS Denver: "The FBI says it has prevented what it believes was an attempt to commit a major hate crime in Colorado. A known white supremacist named Richard Holzer arrested late Friday night in an alleged plot to blow up Temple Emanuel in Pueblo, according to newly unsealed federal court documents.... In the affidavit, FBI investigators said Holzer, who lives in Pueblo, used several Facebook accounts 'to promote white supremacy ideology and acts of violence.'" Holzer met with FBI undercover agents & laid out his plans to "get that place [-- the synagogue --] off the map." "Holzer was arrested and allegedly admitted planning to blow up the synagogue."

News Ledes

NBC News: "At least nine U.S. citizens, including six children, were killed in a massacre in the Mexican border state of Sonora Monday, a relative to many of the victims told NBC News. The dead included 8-month-old twins, said the family member, Kendra Lee Miller. Some of the eight survivors, all of whom are children, sustained serious injuries. Miller said a 9-month-old child was shot in the chest and a 4-year-old was shot in the back. The attack was described by local media as a highway ambush. Willie Jessop, who is related to one victim, told NBC News by phone from Utah that the attack occurred on a motorcade consisting of several families, and that survivors at the scene told him that three cars were shot at and one was set on fire."

Guardian: "Yvette Lundy, a heroine of the French resistance who survived detention in German concentration camps, has died aged 103. The schoolteacher supplied fake papers to Jewish people and others being rounded up by the Gestapo and sent them to hide at her older brother Georges' farm. She and her brother were arrested and sent to concentration camps, where Georges died. Lundy spent most of the rest of her life relating the horrors of Nazi Germany to schoolchildren and was made a grand officer of the Légion d’honneur in 2017."

The Commentariat -- November 4, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Brian Stelter of CNN: "The Justice Department is going on the offensive against the anonymous author of 'A Warning,' telling them in a letter obtained by CNN Business that he or she may be violating 'one or more nondisclosure agreements' by writing the anti-Trump book. The author's publisher is rejecting the argument and saying the book will be released as scheduled. And the author's agents are accusing the government of trying to unmask the author.... A Justice Department official said that the letter, from the head of the agency's civil division, was part of a fact-gathering process and that other similar requests had gone out to authors who'd worked for the government. The letter was not necessarily indicative of a looming lawsuit, the official said, just one step in a routine procedure." ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The Justice Department is trying to unearth the identity of the Trump administration official who denounced the president in a New York Times Op-Ed last year under the byline Anonymous, according to a letter from a senior law enforcement official on Monday. In the letter, Assistant Attorney General Joseph H. Hunt asked the publisher of a forthcoming book by the writer and the author's book agents for proof that the official never signed a nondisclosure agreement and had no access to classified information or, absent that, for information about where the person worked in the government, and when..... Mr. Trump, people close to him said, has long been troubled by the existence of Anonymous, whose Op-Ed condemned him as essentially unfit for office and described a 'resistance' within the administration trying to keep the government on course.... Mr. Trump said last year that he wanted the Justice Department to investigate the essay, declaring its writing an act of treason. Prosecutors said at the time that such an inquiry would be inappropriate because it was likely that no laws were broken." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Huh. When Trump became president* & started demanding White House employees sign nondisclosure agreements, various expert attorneys said the NDAs were unenforceable against federal employees. If so, how come the so-called Justice Department is trying to determine whether or not Anonymous signed one? If those experts were right, then DOJ is continuing to act as Trump's private attorney rather than as ours.

Harper Neidig of the Hill: "A federal appeals court on Monday ruled that President Trump can't block the Manhattan district attorney's office from subpoenaing his accounting firm for financial records. A three-judge panel on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals said that 'presidential immunity does not bar the enforcement of a state grand jury subpoena directing a third party to produce non-privileged material, even when the subject matter under investigation pertains to the President.' But the court noted they were not ruling on all of the sweeping claims of immunity that the president's lawyers claim. Developing..." Mrs. McC: That's all there is to the story, except that it also includes a Scribd of the ruling. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: NBC News reports that Jay Sekulow, one of Trump's lawyers, says they will take the case to the Supreme Court. Pete Williams of NBC News feels the deck is stacked against Trump, and that the Supremes could decline to take the case, letting the appellate court ruling stand. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: The New York Times story, by Benjamin Weiser, is here. "A federal appeals panel said on Monday that President Trump's accounting firm must turn over eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns to Manhattan prosecutors, a setback for the president's attempt to keep his financial records private. The three-judge appeals panel did not take a position on the president's biggest argument -- that he was immune from all criminal investigations. A lower court had called that argument 'repugnant to the nation's governmental structure and constitutional values.' Instead, the appeals court said the president's accounting firm, not Mr. Trump himself, was subpoenaed for the documents, so it did not matter whether presidents have immunity."

House Intelligence Committee: Today, Rep. Adam Schiff, Chair of the House Intel Committee, Rep. Eliot Engel, Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Acting Chair of the House Oversight Committee, "released the transcripts of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie 'Masha' Yovanovitch and former Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State Ambassador P. Michael McKinley.... The testimony of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie 'Masha' Yovanovitch from October 11, 2019 can be found here. Key excerpts from Yovanovitch's testimony can be found here. The testimony of former Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State Ambassador P. Michael McKinley from October 16, 2019 can be found here. Key excerpts from McKinley's testimony can be found here.” ~~~

~~~ Kiss Ass or Kiss Ukraine Goodbye. Adam Edelman, et al., of NBC News: "Marie Yovanovitch, the ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, told House impeachment investigators last month that U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland told her she should tweet out support or praise for ... Donald Trump if she wanted to save her job, according to a transcript of her testimony made public Monday.... According to the transcript, Yovanovitch [said] she asked Sondland for advice on how to handle an onslaught of criticism from conservative media and Donald Trump Jr. 'He said, "You know, you need to go big or go home. You need to, you know, tweet out there that you support the president, and that all these are lies and everything else,'" she told the committees. 'It was advice that I did not see how I could implement in my role as an ambassador, and as a Foreign Service officer.'... Yovanovitch testified to House investigators Oct. 11 that Trump had personally pressured the State Department to remove her, even though a top department official [John Sullivan] assured her that she had 'done nothing wrong.'"

Michael Schmidt & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The White House's top national security lawyer declined to appear for a scheduled deposition on Monday morning, saying he would wait to hear what a federal judge ruled on whether President Trump's closest advisers have to answer questions from congressional investigators. The lawyer, John A. Eisenberg, played a central role in dealing with the fallout at the White House from a July call between President Trump and the Ukrainian president.... The committee subpoenaed Mr. Eisenberg to appear on Monday morning for questioning, but the White House informed Mr. Eisenberg's lawyer in recent days that Mr. Trump would block his testimony by invoking 'constitutional immunity,' a sweeping form of executive privilege it has been claiming for officials who have the closest interactions with the president. Mr. Eisenberg's decision heightens the importance of an unusual lawsuit filed by Mr. Trump's former deputy national security adviser, Charles M. Kupperman, who faced the same situation as Mr. Eisenberg: a subpoena from the House and an instruction from Mr. Trump not to comply with it."

Allan Smith of NBC News: "... Donald Trump said Monday that written answers from the whistleblower to Congress would be unacceptable -- although such answers were fine for the president when dealing with former special counsel Robert Mueller. 'The Whistleblower gave false information & dealt with corrupt politician Schiff,' Trump tweeted. 'He must be brought forward to testify. Written answers not acceptable! Where is the 2nd Whistleblower? He disappeared after I released the transcript. Does he even exist? Where is the informant? Con!'"

Anita Kumar of Politico: "In 2006, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump traveled to Ukraine to meet with government officials about building a multimillion dollar hotel and golf course in the country. Two years later, Trump Jr. was back to meet with developers. The Trumps were looking to erect luxury resorts across the former Soviet republics.... But doing so meant navigating a landscape that had long struggled with corruption.... Now, a decade after his company's efforts floundered..., Donald Trump is arguing that it's the son of his political rival Joe Biden, not him, who wanted to benefit from what he calls a 'very corrupt' Ukraine. The president's critics say it's a now-familiar Trumpian contradiction, one that raises further doubts about the president's claim he merely wanted to root out corruption when he pressured Ukrainian officials to investigate the Biden.... The overtures [the Trumps made in Ukraine] offer another example of the complications of a businessman-turned-president making foreign policy decisions in places where he has had -- or tried to have -- significant financial interests.... House and Senate committees appear to be unaware of the Trump Organization's prior Ukraine connections, according to more than half a dozen lawmakers and staffers." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Kumar's reporting helps explain this WashPo story by Greg Jaffe & Josh Dawsey (Nov. 2): "'They are horrible, corrupt people,' Trump [said of Ukrainians to top advisors].... One theme that runs through almost all [House witness] accounts is Trump's unyielding loathing of Ukraine, which dates to his earliest days in the White House. 'We could never quite understand it,' a former senior White House official said of Trump's view of the former Soviet republic, also saying that much of it stemmed from the president's embrace of conspiracy theories. 'There were accusations that they had somehow worked with the Clinton campaign. There were accusations they'd hurt him. He just hated Ukraine.'... Trump's animosity to Ukraine ran so deep and was so resistant to the typical foreign policy entreaties about the need to stand by allies that senior officials involved in Ukraine policy concluded that the only way to overcome it was to set up an Oval Office meeting with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky." My guess is that what irks Trump is not corruption per se, but that he failed to cut a deal with (former) officials to build his resort. It's all about Trump, Trump, Trump. ~~~

~~~ Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: "Long before a telephone call with Ukraine's president that prompted an impeachment inquiry, President Trump was exchanging political favors with a different Ukrainian leader, who desperately sought American help for his country's struggle against Russian aggression. Petro O. Poroshenko, Ukraine's president until May, waged an elaborate campaign to win over Mr. Trump at a time when advisers had convinced Mr. Trump that Ukraine was a nest of Hillary Clinton supporters. Mr. Poroshenko' campaign included trade deals that were politically expedient for Mr. Trump, meetings with Rudolph W. Giuliani, the freezing of potentially damaging criminal cases and attempts to use the former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort as a back channel.... Now, impeachment investigators are examining the two years of interactions between Mr. Trump and Mr. Poroshenko, according to a congressional Democrat."

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So this is the best Team Trump has today: stonewall, lie and/or plead ignorance, redefine terms like "quid pro quo" & "high crimes & misdemeanors":

Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: "An attorney for the whistleblower who filed a complaint about President Trump's apparent efforts to pressure Ukraine for information he could use against political rivals said Sunday that Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee could submit questions directly to his client instead of going through the panel's Democratic majority. Mark Zaid confirmed his client's offer to the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes (Calif.), to answer written questions under oath and with penalty of perjury, while also protecting the individual's identity. In recent days, Trump and his allies have ramped up efforts to expose the whistleblower's identity, amplifying theories regarding the person's motives.... By offering a direct channel to Republicans, the whistleblower's team has sought to quell grumbling by GOP leadership -- and the president -- that the impeachment process has been secretive and unfair." CBS News' story is here. ~~~

~~~ Rishika Dugyala of CNN: "... Donald Trump on Sunday reiterated his calls to reveal the name of the whistleblower behind the complaint that led to the House's formal impeachment inquiry, mentioning unconfirmed reports about the person's identity and possible ties to the previous administration. Trump sought to discredit the whistleblower, linking the individual to his Democratic predecessor, President Barack Obama, as well as former CIA director John Brennan and former national security adviser Susan Rice -- Obama's top aides. 'There have have been stories written about a certain individual, a male, and they say he's the whistleblower,' Trump told reporters outside the White House. If he's the whistleblower, he has no credibility because he's a Brennan guy, he's a Susan Rice guy, he's an Obama guy. And he hates Trump. Now, maybe it's not him. But if it's him, you guys ought to release the information,' the president added.... Some Republican lawmakers and conservative publications have named a purported whistleblower or asserted theories about the person's identity."

Rachel Bade, et al., of the Washington Post: "Russell Vought, a [Mick] Mulvaney protege who leads the White House Office of Management and Budget, intends a concerted defiance of congressional subpoenas in coming days, and two of his subordinates will follow suit -- simultaneously proving their loyalty to the president and a creating a potentially critical firewall regarding the alleged use of foreign aid to elicit political favors from a U.S. ally. The OMB is at the nexus of the impeachment inquiry because Democrats are pressing for details about why the White House budget office effectively froze the Ukraine funds that Congress had already appropriated. Congressional Republicans are also predicting that Mulvaney's deputy, Robert Blair, will refuse to show for his scheduled Monday appearance before impeachment investigators -- though a White House spokesman and Blair's attorney, Whit Ellerman, did not respond to questions about his plans. Blair was on the July 25 phone call when Trump asked Ukraine's president for a 'favor' investigating former vice president Joe Biden...." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Jeremy Diamond of CNN: "A top aide to White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Robert Blair, has refused to testify in the House impeachment inquiry of ... Donald Trump after the White House directed him not to appear for his scheduled deposition, his attorney told CNN. The House committees investigating Trump had scheduled Blair's deposition for Monday. 'Mr. Blair is caught between the assertions of legal duty by two coequal branches of government, a conflict which he cannot resolve,' Blair's attorney Whit Ellerman told CNN on Saturday. 'I light of the clear direction he has been given by the executive branch, Mr. Blair has respectfully declined to appear and testify. Nevertheless, he will fulfill all his legal duties once that conflict is appropriately resolved.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Update 2. Katherine Faulders & John Santucci of ABC News: "Four White House officials slated for closed-door depositions Monday are not expected to show up on Capitol Hill despite the threat of subpoena from the committees leading the growing impeachment inquiry.... On Monday, Democrats had hoped to hear from four current White House officials, including John Eisenberg, deputy counsel to the president for National Security Affairs; Michael Ellis, senior associate counsel to the president; Robert Blair, a top aide to the chief of staff; and Brian McCormack, an official with the office of management and budget. Two of those officials, Eisenberg and McCormack, have already been subpoenaed for their respective depositions. Ellis and Blair have only been requested to appear at this time."

Daniel Politi of Slate: "Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway went on a tour of Sunday morning news shows in which she was repeatedly pressed on matters related to the impeachment inquiry.... While talking to CNN ... Conway said she didn't know whether ... Donald Trump ever withheld military aid to Ukraine as a way to pressure the country to investigate the Bidens. During the interview with CNN's Dana Bash, Conway at first tried to dismiss the suggestion Trump did anything wrong saying there was 'no quid pro quo in this call in terms of the president.' But when Bash pressed Conway about what was said in the call between Trump and Ukraine's president, she refused to give a definite answer. 'Was there a time when military aid was held up because the President wanted Ukraine to look into the Bidens?' Bash asked. 'I don't know. But I know they've got their aid,' Conway said.... Conway also sparred with Chris Wallace..., insisting there was no evidence of a quid pro quo as the Fox anchor pointed out that numerous high level officials had said otherwise.... Conway also insisted that even if Trump put conditions on the military aid, it wouldn't be an impeachable offense. 'Is it a high crime and misdemeanor? I wouldn't think so,' Conway said."

Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "Donald Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen was told that if he stuck to his account of Trump's relationship with Moscow, the president 'loves you,' according to a bombshell document from the Robert Mueller investigation obtained by BuzzFeed.... Cohen ... told investigators the White House expected him to 'keep Trump out of the messaging related to Russia' and 'keep Trump out of the Russia conversation' in his testimony to Congress about Trump Organization plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to one of the summaries. Cohen was told if 'he stayed on message, the president has your back, the president loves you,' according to the document. The summary did not reveal who conveyed that message to Cohen. Cohen also told investigators that it was 'not his idea' to write a statement to Congress that included lies about Trump Tower Moscow. The redacted summary did not reveal whose idea it was. But he told the House Intelligence Committee last year that he believed it was Trump who 'indirectly' told him to lie.&"

Carla Marinucci of Politico: "Just days after Gov. Gavin Newsom praised the federal government for its response to catastrophic wildfires and power outages affecting millions..., Donald Trump on Sunday slammed the California Democrat -- and threatened to cut off future federal funding to the fire-battered state. Trump, in a spate of postings on Twitter, lambasted what he called Newsom's 'terrible job' regarding the state's forest management practices, saying that the governor should stop listening to environmentalist 'bosses' and 'clean' the forest floors. And he also slammed Newsom for state water-management practices, suggesting that California must open up what he called 'ridiculously closed water lanes.'... [Newsom's] pushed back hard against Trump, noting that the governor's fire prevention and management projects included an investment of $225.8 million to help streamline programs specifically aimed at 'reducing fuels in the forest, increasing forest health, and defensible space around homes." The governor's office in addition said that there were currently 35 priority projects in addition to the redeployment of National Guard personnel to assist the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in controlling the fires.... Scott McLean, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, cited the governor's leadership in directing the agency to pursue 35 priority projects to reduce wildfire risk in vulnerable communities." ~~~

~~~ Madison Pauly of Mother Jones: "... Donald Trump just threatened to cut off federal funding to California over Gov. Gavin Newsom's 'forest management,' which the president blamed for the wildfires that have ripped through wide swaths of the state over the past few weeks. 'I told him from the first day we met that he must "clean" his forest floors,' Trump tweeted bright and early on Sunday morning. 'Must also do burns and cut fire stoppers.' 'Every year, as the fire's [sic] rage & California burns, it is the same thing- and then he comes to the Federal Government for $$$ help. No more.'... Nevermind that only about 2 percent of California forests are managed by the state government, compared to the 57 percent of California forests run by the federal government...."

Everything about Trump Is Phony. Jonathan Swan & Alexi McCammond of Axios: "Sources familiar with the president's iPhone told Axios that the president maintains a digital portal to the two newspapers he recently banished from the West Wing: the Washington Post and the New York Times.... Trump has not deleted the NYT and WaPo apps."

Presidential Race 2020. Nate Cohn of the New York Times: "Despite low national approval ratings and the specter of impeachment, President Trump remains highly competitive in the battleground states likeliest to decide his re-election, according to a set of new surveys from The New York Times Upshot and Siena College. Across the six closest states [-- Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, Arizona, North Carolina -- ] that went Republican in 2016, he trails Joe Biden by an average of two points among registered voters but stays within the margin of error. Mr. Trump leads Elizabeth Warren by two points among registered voters, the same margin as his win over Hillary Clinton in these states three years ago. The poll showed Bernie Sanders deadlocked with the president among registered voters, but trailing among likely voters." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie's Honest & Fair Voter Eligibility Test: If you're stupid enough to vote for Donald Trump, you're too stupid to vote.

Vasco Cotovio of CNN: "Norwegian authorities have arrested a high-profile American white supremacist, hours before he was due to give a speech at a far-right conference in Oslo on Saturday. The detained American, Greg Johnson, is editor-in-chief of the white nationalist Counter-Currents Publishing group. He had been scheduled to speak at the Scandza Forum, a network known for its anti-Semitic and racist views. Norway's intelligence service considered Johnson 'to be a threat, not because of what he could do but because of his hate speech and his previously expressed support for [mass murderer] Anders Breivik,' spokesman Martin Bernsen told CNN.... Johnson was arrested under the country's immigration act and Norwegian authorities are now working 'as quickly as possible to get him out of the country,' said Bernsen."

John Bowden of the Hill: "McDonald's announced Sunday it had fired CEO Steve Easterbrook, citing his 'poor judgment' over a consensual relationship he had with an employee. The company's board of directors said it had named Chris Kempczinski, most recently president of McDonald's USA, to succeed him." The New York Times story is here.