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The Ledes

Sunday, May 5, 2024

New York Times: “Frank Stella, whose laconic pinstripe 'black paintings' of the late 1950s closed the door on Abstract Expressionism and pointed the way to an era of cool minimalism, died on Saturday at his home in the West Village of Manhattan. He was 87.” MB: It wasn't only Stella's paintings that were laconic; he was a man of few words, so when I ran into him at events, I enjoyed “bringing him out.” How? I never once tried to discuss art with him. 

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The Washington Post offers tips on how to keep your EV battery running in frigid temperatures. The link at the end of this graf is supposed to be a "gift link" (from me, Marie Burns, the giftor!), meaning that non-subscribers can read the article. Hope it works: https://wapo.st/3u8Z705

Marie: BTW, if you think our government sucks, I invite you to watch the PBS special "The Real story of Mr Bates vs the Post Office," about how the British post office falsely accused hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of subpostmasters of theft and fraud, succeeded in obtaining convictions and jail time, and essentially stole tens of thousands of pounds from some of them. Oh, and lied about it all. A dramatization of the story appeared as a four-part "Masterpiece Theater," which you still may be able to pick it up on your local PBS station. Otherwise, you can catch it here (for now). Just hope this does give our own Postmaster General Extraordinaire Louis DeJoy any ideas.

The Mysterious Roman Dodecahedron. Washington Post: A “group of amateur archaeologists sift[ing] through ... an ancient Roman pit in eastern England [found] ... a Roman dodecahedron, likely to have been placed there 1,700 years earlier.... Each of its pentagon-shaped faces is punctuated by a hole, varying in size, and each of its 20 corners is accented by a semi-spherical knob.” Archaeologists don't know what the Romans used these small dodecahedrons for but the best guess is that they have some religious significance.

"Countless studies have shown that people who spend less time in nature die younger and suffer higher rates of mental and physical ailments." So this Washington Post page allows you to check your own area to see how good your access to nature is.

Marie: If you don't like birthing stories, don't watch this video. But I thought it was pretty sweet -- and funny:

If you like Larry David, you may find this interview enjoyable:


Tracy Chapman & Luke Combs at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Allison Hope comments in a CNN opinion piece:

~~~ Here's Chapman singing "Fast Car" at the Oakland Coliseum in December 1988. ~~~

~~~ Here's the full 2024 Grammy winner's list, via CBS.

He Shot the Messenger. Washington Post: “The Messenger is shutting down immediately, the news site’s founder told employees in an email Wednesday, marking the abrupt demise of one of the stranger and more expensive recent experiments in digital media. In his email, Jimmy Finkelstein said he was 'personally devastated' to announce that he had failed in a last-ditch effort to raise more money for the site, saying that he had been fundraising as recently as the night before. Finkelstein said the site, which launched last year with outsize ambitions and a mammoth $50 million budget, would close 'effective immediately.' The New York Times first reported the site’s closure late Wednesday afternoon, appearing to catch many staffers off-guard, including editor in chief Dan Wakeford. As employees read the news story, the internal work chat service Slack erupted in what one employee called 'pandemonium.'... Minutes later, as staffers read Finkelstein’s email, its message was underscored as they were forcibly logged out of their Slack accounts. Former Messenger reporter Jim LaPorta posted on social media that employees would not receive health care or severance.”

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Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Wednesday
Oct162019

The Commentariat -- October 17, 2019

Morning/Afternoon Update:

"Adding Insult to Dishonor":

pence Displaces Kurdish People. Annie Karni, et al., of the New York Times: "Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday said Turkey had agreed to suspend its military operations in northeast Syria for five days while Syrian Kurdish fighters left the area, immediately raising questions about whether the agreement was a diplomatic breakthrough or a capitulation to the Turkish government. Emerging from close to five hours of deliberations with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Mr. Pence said that the American delegation had achieved the cease-fire it had hoped to broker in the hastily organized trip to Ankara, the Turkish capital. Hailing the agreement as a diplomatic victory for President Trump, he called it a 'solution we believe will save lives.'... But Turkey's foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, immediately countered that the agreement was not a cease-fire at all, but merely a 'pause for our operation.' He added that 'as a result of our president's skillful leadership, we got what we wanted.' Mr. Cavusoglu also directly contradicted Mr. Pence's announcement that Turkey had agreed to engage in no military action in Kobani, Syria. 'We did not make any promises about Kobani,' Mr. Cavusoglu said, adding that they would discuss Kobani with Russia going forward.... [The agreement] was in practice less of a cease-fire deal than an acknowledgement of the United States' rapid loss of influence in Syria since the Turkish invasion began last Wednesday." ~~~

     ~~~ USA Today has a story here. Chuck Todd says the U.S. is beating such a hasty retreat that we're bombing our bases so the Turks don't get 'em. Mrs. McC: Not only did Trumpence give the Kurds' region to Turkey, I haven't seen where we're not knocking ourselves out helping the displaced Kurds relocate.

Maggie Haberman & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "Rick Perry, the energy secretary who has drawn scrutiny for his role in the controversy surrounding President Trump's efforts to push Ukraine officials to investigate the son of a political rival, on Thursday told the president he would resign from the cabinet.... It is not known exactly when Mr. Perry will leave his post, but it is expected soon." The CNBC story is here.

I have news for everybody: get over it. There's going to be political influence in foreign policy. Elections do have consequences and they should, and your foreign policy is going to change ... there's no problem with that. -- Mick Mulvaney, endorsing open corruption ~~~

~~~ ** A Shakedown Is Legal if Trump Does It. New York Times: "Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, told reporters that the release of military aid to Ukraine this summer was linked in part to White House demands that Ukraine's government investigate what he called corruption by Democrats in the 2016 American presidential campaign. It was the first time a White House official has publicly acknowledged what a parade of current and former administration officials have told impeachment investigators on Capitol Hill. 'The look-back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with that nation,' Mr. Mulvaney told reporters, referring to Mr. Trump. 'And that is absolutely appropriate.'... 'Did he [Trump] also mention to me in passing the corruption related to the D.N.C. server? Absolutely. No question about that, [Mulvaney] said. 'But that's it, and that's why we held up the money.' Mr. Mulvaney was referring to Mr. Trump's discredited idea that a server with Hillary Clinton's missing emails was being held by a company based in Ukraine. Mr. Mulvaney's comments undercut the president's repeated denials that there was a quid pro quo...." ~~~

     ~~~ The Lie Falls Apart. John Hudson & Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told reporters Thursday that President Trump blocked nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine in part to force the government in Kyiv to investigate his political rivals, a startling acknowledgment after the president's repeated denials of a quid pro quo." CNN's story is here.~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is Trump-Mulvaney's idea of mopping up after Sondland's damning opening statement, released this morning. As I understand it (and I may be wrong), Mulvaney dropped both this load and the one that follows in the same press briefing. ~~~

~~~ Trump Announces Another Brazen Criminal Plan to Take Your Mind off His Other Brazen Criminal Enterprises. Self-Dealing Is Okay if Trump Does It. Toluse Olorunnipa & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "President Trump has awarded the 2020 G-7 Summit of world leaders to his own private company, scheduling the summit for June at his Trump Doral golf resort outside Miami, the White House announced on Thursday. That decision is without precedent in modern American history: the president used his public office to direct a massive contract to himself. The G-7 Summit draws hundreds of diplomats, journalists and security personnel, and provides a worldwide spotlight." The resort is severely "underperforming."

Nicholas Fandos & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, will tell House impeachment investigators on Thursday that President Trump essentially delegated American foreign policy on Ukraine to his personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, a directive that he will say he disagreed with but nonetheless followed. Mr. Sondland, a Trump campaign donor who has emerged as a central figure in the Ukraine scandal, will testify that he did not understand until later that Mr. Giuliani's goal may have been an effort 'to involve Ukrainians, directly or indirectly in the president's 2020 re-election campaign.' According to a copy of his opening statement obtained by the New York Times, Mr. Sondland will say that Mr. Trump refused to take the counsel of his top diplomats, who recommended to him that he meet with the new Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, without any preconditions. The president said that the diplomats needed to satisfy concerns both he and Mr. Giuliani had related corruption in Ukraine, Mr. Sondland will say.... Mr. Sondland arrived on Capitol Hill on Thursday morning to take his turn in the secure rooms of the House Intelligence Committee...."The NBC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Sondland's opening statement is here, via NBC News.

Washington Post @8:30 am ET: "A group of House Republicans postponed a news conference scheduled for Thursday morning at which they planned to demand greater 'transparency and inclusion' in the impeachment inquiry. A statement released by the office of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said the decision was made following the death of [Elijah] Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, one of the panels involved in the inquiry." ~~~

     ~~~ WashPo @ 9 am ET (same link as above): "Trump tweeted his condolences Thursday morning over the death of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, which is involved in the impeachment inquiry. 'My warmest condolences to the family and many friends of Congressman Elijah Cummings,' Trump tweeted. 'I got to see first hand the strength, passion and wisdom of this highly respected political leader. His work and voice on so many fronts will be very hard, if not impossible, to replace!'... Twenty minutes after praising Cummings for his work, Trump returned to lashing out at the impeachment inquiry on Thursday...," (which, of course, was part of Cummings' work).

"Gordon Sondland's Ukraine Alibi: I Was the Dumbest Diplomat Ever." Jonathan Chait: "In his testimony, Sondland claims he 'did not understand, until much later, that Mr. Giuliani's agenda might have also included an effort to prompt the Ukrainians to investigate Vice President Biden or his son,' and that such an investigation 'would be wrong.' To grasp how utterly absurd this excuse is, consider a few facts. On May 1, the New York Times ran a lengthy front-page story about Biden and Ukraine, describing and detailing Trump's agenda of ginning up charges against his likely opponent. The word Burisma appears 36 times in that story. The Times also ran follow-ups on May 9 and May 11.... Generally speaking professional diplomats tend to be aware of front-page New York Times stories about the president's deep, personal interest in the country they are negotiating with.... If Sondland had boycotted all the mainstream news coverage..., he definitely caught the right-wing media's even more thorough coverage, all of which made the connection with the Bidens extremely clear."

Mrs. McCrabbie: Last week, Akhilleus laid out the steps of a Trump Scandal Cycle. Akhilleus applied the steps to a scandal that is in progress (the Lev & Igor sideshow). Allow me to fill in the particulars re: the Trump-Zelensky shakedown, a cycle which now is complete:

Step One: Deny. It was a perfect phone call.

Step Two: Attack. The whistleblower is practically a traitor, and what he says is all second-hand lies.

Step Three: Tacit admission but accept no responsibility. Here's the transcript of the call. Ukraine corruption is terrible.

Step Four: Admission with CYA qualifications. There was no quid pro quo.

Step Five: Conspiracy time. Everyone's out to get me because I'm so great. Those wonderful gentlemen were just trying to help me against the deep state.... (by Akhilleus) Nancy Pelosi & Adam Schiff are traitors and should be impeached.

Step Six: Find someone else to blame. Deep state infiltrating White House (so cut down NSC staff & "investigate" to find scapegoat).

Step Seven: New scandal. Doral.

~~~~~~~~~~

~~~ Elijah Cumming, Democratic National Convention, 2016

** WUSA Washington, D.C.: "Congressman Elijah Cummings died on Thursday morning, according to an official from his office. Congressman Cummings passed away at Johns Hopkins hospital due to complications concerning longstanding health challenges. He has represented Maryland's 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1966 [Bobby Lee Correction: 1996]. Before then he served 14 years in the Maryland House of Delegates. During his tenure he made history as the first African American in Maryland to be named Speaker Pro Tem." Update: The Washington Post's obituary is here. ~~~

Update. New York Times: "Representative Elijah E. Cummings, a son of sharecroppers who rose to become one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress and a key figure in the impeachment investigation of President Trump, died on Thursday in Baltimore.... He was 68."

Everything Is Going Very Smoothly
Wednesday Was the 1,000th day of Donald Trump's Presidency*

Lone woman stands up to stupid. White House photo.

     ~~~ Update. Meagan Flynn of the Washington Post: "The image was meant to be an insult -- 'Nervous Nancy's unhinged meltdown!' Trump wrote as a caption. But instead, it ended up as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Twitter cover photo."

The Guardian's lede, by Julian Borger, is a masterful summary: "A senior US delegation faces the mammoth task of pressuring Turkey to halt its offensive in north-east Syria or face sanctions, hours after Donald Trump said his country had no stake in defending Kurdish fighters who died by the thousands as the US's partners against Islamic State."

Peter Baker, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump seemed to wash his hands of the conflict between Turkey and America's Kurdish allies in Syria on Wednesday, generating withering criticism from Republican allies, who rebuked him in a House vote. The day ended with a heated confrontation between Mr. Trump and Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the Oval Office.... Mr. Trump then engaged in a sharp exchange at the White House with Democratic congressional leaders, who walked out of a meeting, complaining that he had been more offensive to them than any president in modern times.... [Earlier in the day,] Mr. Trump insisted his handling of the matter had been 'strategically brilliant' and minimized concerns for the Kurds, implying that they allied with the United States only out of their own self-interest.... Echoing Mr. Erdogan's talking points, Mr. Trump compared one faction of the Kurds to the Islamic State and he asserted that Kurds intentionally freed some Islamic State prisoners to create a backlash for him. 'Probably the Kurds let [them] go to make a little bit stronger political impact,' he said. He dismissed concerns that his decision had opened the way for Russia, Iran, the Syrian government and the Islamic State to move into the abandoned territory and reassert their influence in the area. 'I wish them all a lot of luck,' Mr. Trump said of the Russians and Syrians." This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Rebecca Kheel of the Hill: "President Trump had a 'meltdown' and called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) a 'third-rate politician' during a meeting Wednesday with congressional leaders on the situation in Syria, Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters after they left the meeting early. The White House had invited leadership and top committee members of both parties and chambers of Congress to discuss Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria.... Pelosi attributed Trump’s comments to being 'shaken' by the overwhelming nature of the House vote, where 129 Republicans sided with Democrats. 'That's why we couldn't continue in the meeting because he just wasn't relating to the reality of it,' Pelosi said. 'What we witnessed on the part of the president was a meltdown, sad to say,' she added later. Schumer added that Trump was 'insulting' to Pelosi. 'She kept her cool completely, but he called her a third-rate politician. He said that there are communists involved and you guys might like that. I mean, this was not a dialogue. It was sort of a diatribe, a nasty diatribe,' Schumer said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ The President was measured, factual and decisive, while Speaker Pelosi's decision to walk out was baffling, but not surprising. She had no intention of listening or contributing to an important meeting on national security issues. While Democratic leadership chose to storm out and get in front of the cameras to whine, everyone else in the meeting chose to stay in the room and work on behalf of this country. -- Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, in a statement Wednesday

     ~~~ Katie Rogers of the New York Times reconstructs how the meeting went down. And out. Lisa Mascaro of the AP does the same. ~~~

     ~~~ Marina Petofsky of the Hill: "Lawmakers and other social media users took to Twitter on Wednesday evening to praise House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) after President Trump tweeted a photo of her standing up at a contentious meeting with Democratic leaders in Congress and Trump about his decision to pull American troops from northern Syria.... David Lauter, Washington bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, tweeted, 'This photo could be a Pelosi campaign poster -- the sole woman in the room, literally standing up to the President. Why he thinks this makes her look bad is a mystery.'"

First Trump Abandons the Kurds, Then He Insults Them. Morgan Chalfant & Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump said Wednesday that Turkey's offensive against U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in northern Syria is 'not our problem,' defending his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the region amid criticism.... Trump also downplayed the U.S. alliance with the Kurds.... 'The Kurds are much safer right now, but the Kurds know how to fight, and as I said, they're not angels. They're not angels. You take a look... but they fought with us. We paid a lot of money for them to fight with us, and that's OK,' Trump said. 'If Russia wants to get involved with Syria, that's really up to them. They have a problem with Turkey. They have a problem at a border. It's not our border, we shouldn't be losing lives over it,' Trump said later." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Quint Forgey of Politico: "'They're not angels, if you take a look. You have to go back and take a look. But they fought with us, and we paid a lot of money for them to fight with us, and that's OK,' [Trump said of the Kurds]. 'They did well when they fought with us. They didn't do so well when they didn't fight with us.' The incendiary comments marked perhaps the president's most dismissive defense of his widely condemned decision earlier this month to allow Turkey to invade Syria, and come just days after the Pentagon's announcement that Trump had directed the evacuation of the last U.S. troops still stationed in the West Asian nation." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: In his multiple insults of the Kurds -- our long-time allies who now face possible ethnic cleansing because Trump abandoned them -- Trump said Wednesday, "It's not our problem. They've got a lot of sand over there ... There's a lot of sand they can play with." At the same time, Trump has sent pence & Pompeo to Ankara -- tho it's not clear Erdogan will receive them -- to negotiate a ceasefire & relay Trump's message that he will "destroy the Turkish economy" if Erdogan doesn't stop attacking the Kurds. Even Lindsey Graham can see this makes no sense: "The statements by President Trump about Turkey's invasion being of no concern to us also completely undercut Vice President Pence and Secretary Pompeo's ability to end the conflict," Graham tweeted. IOW, a babbling, incoherent ignoramus is in charge of U.S. international policy. And nobody can guess what it is from moment to moment.

Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at Sen. Lindsey Graham, marking the latest salvo in the pair's clash over Trump's sudden withdrawal of U.S. troops from northern Syria. 'Lindsey Graham would like to stay in the Middle East for the next thousand years with thousands of soldiers fighting other people's wars. I want to get out of the Middle East,' Trump charged during a news conference at the White House alongside Italian President Sergio Mattarella.... "I hope President Trump is right in his belief that Turkey's invasion of Syria is of no concern to us, abandoning the Kurds won't come back to haunt us, ISIS won't reemerge, and Iran will not fill the vacuum created by this decision,' Graham said Wednesday. 'However, I firmly believe that if President Trump continues to make such statements this will be a disaster worse than President Obama's decision to leave Iraq.'"

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) lashed out at the Trump administration on Wednesday saying it paved the way for Turkey's invasion of northern Syria and that it was 'disingenuous' to be surprised by Ankara's actions. 'This was a decision by the administration which had the clearly observable result that we're seeing. To have the vice president and the secretary of State going to meet with Erdoğan and suggesting that somehow we're surprised by what's happening is disingenuous,' Romney told reporters on Wednesday."

Benjamin Hart of New York: "After President Trump gave Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the green light to invade northern Syria last weekend, thus unleashing chaos in the region, Trump wrote him a very strange letter, obtained by Fox Business's Trish Regan. The message's theme --; that Erdogan should show military restraint -- was straightforward, but the prose style and phrasing ... are so surpassingly weird in a high-level diplomatic context that many wondered if the note was authentic. It is." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update: On Wednesday, Trump actually boasted about this letter (dated Oct. 9): New York Times: "President Trump said on Wednesday that he did not give President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey a green light to move Turkish forces into northern Syria, adding that he'd written a 'very powerful letter' of warning in the days after announcing his decision to pull back American troops from the area." Mrs. McC: It would have been more powerful still in the original Crayola.

** Rebecca Kheel of the Hill: "The House on Wednesday approved a resolution formally rebuking President Trump over his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria. The measure passed in a 354-60 vote, with four lawmakers voting present. All 60 votes against the resolution came from Republicans, with the present votes coming from three GOP lawmakers and Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.). The top three House Republicans supported the motion in a rare split from the president. The resolution -- which was sponsored by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and the panel's top Republican, Rep. Michael McCaul (Texas) -- 'opposes the decision to end certain United States efforts to prevent Turkish military operations against Syrian Kurdish forces in Northeast Syria.' The measure also calls on Turkey to end its military action, calls on the United States to protect the Kurds and calls on the White House 'to present a clear and specific plan for the enduring defeat of ISIS.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Elena Becatoros & Bassem Mroue of the AP: "Syrian forces on Wednesday night rolled into the strategic border town of Kobani, blocking one path for the Turkish military to establish a 'safe zone' free of Syrian Kurdish fighters along the frontier as part of its week-old offensive. The seizure of Kobani by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad also pointed to a dramatic shift in northeastern Syria: The town was where the United States military and Kurdish fighters first united to defeat the Islamic State group four years ago and holds powerful symbolism for Syrian Kurds and their ambitions of self-rule." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey on Wednesday called for Kurdish fighters battling his troops in northeastern Syria to lay down their weapons and withdraw from the border area 'this very night.' Resisting Western pressure to halt the operation, Mr. Erdogan also requested international support for his country's battle against Kurdish fighters whom Turkey considers terrorists but who had been allied with the United States against the Islamic State. Speaking to the Turkish Parliament, Mr. Erdogan said Turkey would not stop fighting until it had established a planned 'safe zone' in Syria roughly 20 miles deep, from the town of Manbij in the west to the Iraqi border in the east." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Impeachment of President* Trump, Ctd.

Here is your President*, despite being the victim of a witch hunt and winning a presidential election in the face of "corruption like you wouldn't believe," chatting as amiably as possible with his guest, President Sergio Mattarella of Italy:

~~~ ** Mrs. McCrabbie: I hope you get to listen to this unhinged plaint. If not, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post summarizes this bit & more: "... Trump acted the way he increasingly has lately: as if the walls are closing in. Trump lashed out, indiscriminately, in all directions. His unfocused rage was as cogent as a primal scream and as subtle as a column of Turkish tanks." After running down a long list of Trump's attacks, Milbank writes, "More revealing was who Trump didn't attack: Turkey and Russia. He said Turkey's invasion 'didn't surprise me.' He praised Turkey for being 'almost paid up' with NATO. He said Russia, Iran and Syria can be trusted to take over the fight against the Islamic State. Such incoherent rage, combined with confusion distinguishing between friend and foe, is uniquely disconcerting coming from the most powerful man in the world. Trump once worried that 'the world is laughing at us.' Now the world is staring at us, mouth agape."

A Meeting in the Basement. Josh Lederman of NBC News: "Lawmakers plan to grill Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland on Thursday about a private discussion he had with top Ukrainian officials in the White House in which he explicitly mentioned the Ukrainian gas company [Burisma Holdings] linked to Hunter Biden, amid negotiations over granting Ukraine&'s new president an audience with ... Donald Trump.... Sondland's meeting with the Ukrainians just steps away from the White House Situation Room came minutes after a larger West Wing meeting that included then-National Security Adviser John Bolton, who had been noncommittal about scheduling a meeting between Trump and new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Sondland directly contradicted Bolton by telling the Ukrainians that in fact, Trump was committed to meeting with Zelenskiy on the condition he open a corruption investigation, two people told about the matter tell NBC News. Bolton abruptly ended the meeting.... Sondland then invited the Ukrainian officials to continue the conversation separately, escorting them to a private room in the White House basement, the individuals said. That's when Sondland was overheard discussing Burisma Holdings..., prompt[ing] Bolton to direct then-Trump Russia adviser Fiona Hill to report the situation to White House lawyers." ~~~

     ~~~ Screenwriters Alert: In this scene, the bumbling "diplomat" -- who bought his job with a million-dollar pay-for-play check to the president* -- ushers the group of confused Ukrainians to a dimly-lit secret room in the bowels of the White House basement. The "diplomat" tells the Ukrainians they have to get the goods on this kid, then finger his old man who wants to bring down the president*. If the Ukrainians don't come through, the "diplomat" warns, Russians might take over their country. But wait! The "diplomat" leaves the door ajar. Out in the hall, the sultry female former counterintelligence agent (yes, yes, she's wearing a short, clingy red dress) lurks. She overhears the "diplomat"'s threat! Disclaimer: Okay, maybe too corny for a movie, but not for real life.

~~~ The Idiot Abroad. Nicholas Fandos & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "A former top White House foreign policy adviser told House impeachment investigators this week that she viewed Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, as a potential national security risk because he was so unprepared for his job, according to two people familiar with her private testimony. The adviser, Fiona Hill, did not accuse Mr. Sondland of acting maliciously or intentionally putting the country at risk.... Ms. Hill, the former senior director for European and Russian affairs at the White House, also said that she raised her concerns with intelligence officials inside the White House, one of the people said.... She said Mr. Sondland extensively used a personal cellphone for official diplomatic business and repeatedly told foreign officials they were welcome to come to the White House whenever they liked.... Ms. Hill also testified that Mr. Sondland held himself out to foreign officials as someone who could deliver meetings at the White House while also providing the cellphone numbers of American officials to foreigners, the people said. Those actions created additional counterintelligence risks, she said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ The Idiot at Home*. Michael Birnbaum, et al., of the Washington Post: "Gordon Sondland ... is overseeing a nearly $1 million renovation of his government-provided residence, paid for with taxpayer money, that current and former officials have criticized as extravagant and unnecessary. The work on the ambassador's home on the outskirts of Brussels includes more than $400,000 in kitchen renovations, nearly $30,000 for a new sound system and $95,000 for an outdoor 'living pod' with a pergola and electric heating, LED lighting strips and a remote-control system, government procurement records show. The State Department also has allocated more than $100,000 for an 'alternate' residence for Sondland for September and October, while work is performed.... The renovations at the E.U. ambassador's residence, which include $33,000 for handmade furniture from Italy, appeared driven by Sondland's lavish tastes rather than practical needs...." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is the best reason evah for Sondland's losing his job -- he won't get to stay in the "lavish" digs we paid for. If Sondland had a million bucks to donate to Donald Trump, he has a million bucks to donate to the refurbishment of the ambassador's residence. But Sondland is a cheapskate, a two-bit chiseling innkeeper like Trump. One reason to appoint the ultra-rich as ambassadors is that they can afford to keep up their temporary homes. In 1970, the publisher & U.S. Ambassador to the U.K., "Walter H. Annenberg ... spent $950,000 of his own money [that's almost $6MM in today's dollars] and $50,000 of the Government's to renovate" Winfield House, the ambassador's home in London. Then he decorated the walls "with works from his own collection and paintings by such artists as Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec and Monet." Winfield House itself came to be only because "Barbara Hutton, the American heiress to the Woolworth fortune..., donated the mansion to the United States Government...."

David Graham of the Atlantic: "From the start of his administration, the president demonized government employees, especially in foreign policy and intelligence. He attacked career officers as part of the 'deep state,' discarded their advice, and appointed Cabinet secretaries who alienated them. Now, as an impeachment inquiry rolls forward, Trump is harvesting wind from the ice he sowed. The White House's attempt at full obstruction of the inquiry has cracked because unlike Trump's loyalists, career officials and experts have been willing to defy invocations of executive privilege and testify to Congress."

Michael Shear & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "A former top aide to Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, told impeachment investigators on Wednesday that he resigned because he was upset that the Trump administration had wrestled Ukraine policy away from career diplomats, according to three people familiar with his closed-door deposition to the House Intelligence Committee. In several hours of continuing testimony, Michael McKinley, who until last week was a senior adviser to Mr. Pompeo, described his mounting frustration with how politicized the State Department had become under President Trump.... He spoke of his frustration with Rex W. Tillerson, the former secretary of state, saying he had gutted the department, and praised Mr. Pompeo for his leadership. But Mr. McKinley said he was alarmed at how poorly diplomats were treated." (Also linked yesterday.)

MEANWHILE, Kurt Volker, who resigned as special envoy to Ukraine, also appeared on the Hill Wednesday for further testimony. (Also linked yesterday.)

Didn't Get the Memo. Heidi Przybyla & Leigh Ann Caldwell of NBC News: "Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor left Kyiv, Ukraine on Wednesday for Washington D.C. after House Democrats requested he appear for a Tuesday deposition in the investigation into President Trump's alleged misconduct involving Ukraine, NBC News has confirmed. Taylor is a crucial eye witness to Trump&'s attempts to press Ukainian President for an investigation of Joe Biden's son Hunter, who sat on the board of Ukrainian energy company, Burisma."

Got the Memo. Lauren Egan & Courtney Kube of NBC News: "Defense Secretary Mark Esper will not comply with a subpoena from House Democrats related to their impeachment inquiry, according to a letter sent Tuesday to Democratic leadership from the Department of Defense.... This is a shift from just days ago when Esper indicated he was willing to work with Democrats on the inquiry." (Also linked yesterday.)

Evan Perez, et al., of CNN: "For months, investigators looking into Rudy Giuliani's business dealings in Ukraine have dug into everything from possible financial entanglements with alleged corrupt Ukrainian figures to counterintelligence concerns raised by some of those business ties, according to people briefed on the matter. The counterintelligence part of the investigation indicates that FBI and criminal prosecutors in Manhattan are looking at a broader set of issues related to Giuliani ... than has been previously reported.... The investigators in the Southern District of New York appear to have largely operated separately from what Trump's appointees at the Justice Department headquarters in Washington, DC, have pursued in recent months, and the investigation dates back far longer than what's been previously reported." ~~~

~~~ Perry Fingers Giuliani. Sanjana Karanth of the Huffington Post: "Energy Secretary Rick Perry reportedly called ... Rudy Giuliani earlier this year to address the president's concerns about alleged corruption in Ukraine. Perry told The Wall Street Journal, in an interview published Wednesday, that [Donald] Trump directed him this spring to seek out Giuliani, who pushed debunked conspiracy theories about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.... Perry said he contacted Giuliani as a way to set the stage for a meeting between Trump and newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to the Journal. The energy secretary's meeting adds to a growing picture of Giuliani working with Cabinet officials to push Ukraine to launch investigations.... Perry's phone call with Giuliani reportedly came after a White House meeting in May after Zelensky's inauguration, according to the Journal. Officials at the meeting, including Perry and then-U.S. envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, encouraged Trump to meet the new president, but Trump said that they needed to work with Giuliani to resolve the lawyer's concerns about Ukraine. Perry reportedly understood those concerns to be related to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.... Perry told the Journal that some of the conspiracy theories that Giuliani related in their call included that Ukraine was responsible for a dossier on Trump's alleged ties to Russia, that Ukraine had Clinton's email server and that the country&'s government made up false evidence to send former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to jail.

Joe Valiquette of NBC News: "A Florida man wanted in a campaign finance case involving associates of Rudy Giuliani is in federal custody. Spokespersons for the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan and the FBI confirm that David Correia was arrested after flying Wednesday to JFK Airport in New York City to turn himself in. Correia, 44, was named in an indictment with two Giuliani associates and another man arrested last week on charges they made illegal contributions to a congressman and a political action committee supporting ... Donald Trump. The two associates were arrested last week. Andrey Kukushkin, a Ukrainian-born U.S. citizen, was also charged in the case. Kukushkin was arrested last week in San Francisco." (Also linked yesterday.)

Greg Miller & others at the Washington Post take a look at Mick Mulvaney's part in the Ukraine scandal. "... current and former officials ... said Mulvaney contributed substantially to the unfolding political crisis.... U.S. officials said Mulvaney met frequently with [U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon] Sondland and that details of their discussions were kept from then-National Security Adviser John Bolton and other officials who were raising internal concerns about the hidden Ukraine agenda. Mulvaney also tolerated meetings between [Donald] Trump and [Rudy] Giuliani at a time when Giuliani was brazenly declaring in interviews his intent to enlist Kiev in efforts to substantiate conspiracy theories about the 2016 election and ... [damage] Joe Biden. Perhaps most significantly, Mulvaney -- at the direction of the president -- placed a hold on nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine in the weeks before Trump used a July 25 phone call to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to pursue Giuliani's agenda." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post digs deeper: "Mulvaney's private admission that the freeze in military aid was tied directly to Trump's demand for an investigation of 'corruption' becomes a lot more important. Because Mulvaney surely knew what 'investigate corruption' really meant, it strongly suggests Mulvaney knew that for Trump, the military aid -- which Mulvaney himself froze -- also turned on whether Zelensky carried out those investigations Trump wanted[; that is, the "investigations" of the 2016 election & the Bidens.]." Mrs. McC: This is exactly the language Jonathan Chait 'decoded" a couple of weeks ago, wherein "corruption" to the Trump Gang meant "2016 election & Bidens." (Also linked yesterday.)

Daniel Lippman of Politico profiles NSC attorney John Eisenberg. Trump calls him "Mike": "John Eisenberg, the attorney who is emerging as a central figure in the Ukraine scandal, is a quiet and unassuming presence in a White House dominated by more colorful personalities.... As one of the longest-serving senior White House officials, and as the National Security Council's top legal adviser, Eisenberg has been privy to many of the Trump administration's most sensitive secrets.... It was Eisenberg to whom several alarmed White House officials turned when Trump urged Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. It was Eisenberg who then helped order the record of that call into a system used for ultra-secret classified information. And it was Eisenberg who .... consulted with political appointees at the Justice Department on how to handle a whistleblower's complaint about the Ukraine call.... Eisenberg's conduct is coming under scrutiny in the wake of [the whistleblower's] report...."

Burgess Everett of Politico: "Senate Republicans are preparing for a speedy impeachment trial that concludes before the end of the year. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Senate Republicans on Wednesday that he expects Speaker Nancy Pelosi to approve articles of impeachment as early as Thanksgiving, according to five people familiar with Wednesday's party lunch. McConnell then surmised that the Senate could deal with the trial by Christmas, concluding the impeachment proceedings before the Democratic presidential primaries begin.... McConnell's comments and PowerPoint presentation on Wednesday were in part an acknowledgment that impeachment is exceedingly likely to come to the Senate, and much of the discussion centered on the ins and outs of Senate procedure. McConnell told senators they would be unable to speak during the trial and that only the chief justice of the Supreme Court, the president's defenders and the House managers could talk, said one person familiar with the meeting."

Impeachable Trump. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "New data from Gallup released on Wednesday shows Trump's approval rating -- 39 percent -- is about where Nixon's was in the middle of 1973. The level of support for impeaching him and removing him from office, though -- 52 percent -- is essentially where Nixon's would have been right before he resigned in August of the following year.... The only time Americans have ever told Gallup they more strongly support impeaching and removing a president from office -- on Aug. 5, 1974 -- that president was gone four days later. Which is ... why it's so odd for Trump to be openly fighting with Republicans on Capitol Hill.... The one backstop Trump has against that happening is the support of Senate Republicans -- a group that is frustrated by his actions on Turkey and that Trump plans to keep loyal through threats."

A president with the power to obstruct his own impeachment through capacious grants of absolute immunity would be a president who is above the law. -- House of Representatives, in a court filing ~~~

~~~ Andrew Desiderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Lawyers for the House of Representatives on Wednesday accused ... Donald Trump of trying to 'obstruct his own impeachment' by claiming the authority to block his advisers from cooperating with congressional investigations. The allegation came in a stinging 66-page court filing as part of the House Judiciary Committee's bid to secure testimony from former White House Counsel Don McGahn, whom Democrats consider to be the star witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation."


Jennifer Hassen of the Washington Post now has a story on Trump's ambush of grieving British parents Charlotte Charles & Tim Dunn. See also Reuters story linked yesterday. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Donnie Falsely Blames Boris for Jerry Springer Surprise. Harriet Alexander of the (U.K.) Telegraph: "Donald Trump claimed [Wednesday] that he tried to broker a meeting between Harry Dunn's grieving parents and the American woman who killed him, Anne Sacoolas, because Boris Johnson suggested he do so. Mr Dunn's parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, arrived at the White House on Tuesday night to be told that Mrs Sacoolas was in the room next door. The couple refused to meet her.... Mr Trump later said..., 'I spoke with Boris he asked me if I'd do that, and I did it.'... Downing Street ... downplayed the idea they had suggested the encounter. A spokesperson noted that Mr Trump and Mr Johnson last spoke eight days ago, before the family had announced their intention to travel to the US. 'The Prime Minister asked the President to do all he could to help resolve this tragic issue. The President agreed to work on trying to find a way forward,' the spokesperson said.... The New York Times revealed today that the White House press corps had been assembled to capture the distraught parents' encounter with Mrs Sacoolas in a Jerry Springer-style 'reveal'." (Also linked yesterday.)

AP: "Former New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman says she stands by a tweet she deleted in which she compared ... Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. The Republican tweeted Hitler 'has nothing on' Trump. Whitman's tweet was in response to reports that a violent parody video depicting a likeness of Trump shooting and stabbing opponents and members of the media was played during a conference at his Miami golf resort."

Donald Trump, Serial Tax Cheat. Heather Vogell of ProPublica: "Documents obtained by ProPublica show stark differences in how Donald Trump's businesses reported some expenses, profits and occupancy figures for two Manhattan buildings, giving a lender different figures than they provided to New York City tax authorities. The discrepancies made the buildings appear more profitable to the lender -- and less profitable to the officials who set the buildings' property tax. For instance, Trump told the lender that he took in twice as much rent from one building as he reported to tax authorities during the same year, 2017. He also gave conflicting occupancy figures for one of his signature skyscrapers, located at 40 Wall Street.... A dozen real estate professionals told ProPublica they saw no clear explanation for multiple inconsistencies in the documents. The discrepancies are 'versions of fraud,' said Nancy Wallace [of] the University of California-Berkeley. This kind of stuff is not OK.'" Thanks to unwashed for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It's probably a little unfair of me to call Trump a tax cheat, when he most likely also attempted to defraud lenders by exaggerating the values of the same properties. ~~~

~~~ William D. Cohan of Vanity Fair: Donald Trump is definitely manipulating the markets. The question is whether or not his friends are the guys cashing in -- to the tune of more than a billion dollars in a couple of instances -- on his tall tales. A "single Trump lie briefly inflated domestic markets by hundreds of billions of dollars. 'What this describes is, quite literally, market manipulation that constitutes criminal violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,' commented George Conway, the conservative attorney and Trump critic. Whether Conway is right or wrong is a matter of legal opinion, but given how fishy and coincidental the trading in e-minis seems to be these days, the SEC or CFTC would be doing a great service (and their job) for the American people by investigating who is behind these lucrative trades, and what they knew before they placed them. At the moment, what we're getting from them is an indifferent shrug."

Michael Wayland of CNBC: "General Motors and union leaders have reached a tentative deal on a new labor contract that could end the United Auto Workers' month-long strike against the automaker, the UAW said Wednesday. Details of the proposed deal were not immediately available. However, the union's roughly 48,000 members with GM are expected to receive raises and bonuses as part of the accord. The company's shares jumped by about 2.5% in morning trading." (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race 2020

Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "Joe Biden went off on Elizabeth Warren's 'ridiculous' healthcare plan, and accused the Massachusetts senator -- as well as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) -- of 'playing Trump's game and trying to con the American people.' During a gaggle with reporters in Columbus, Ohio Wednesday afternoon, Biden spent a chunk of time slamming Warren on foreign policy, but he really ramped up the attacks when he was asked about Warren's continued refusal to explicitly acknowledge the tax implications of 'Medicare for All,' which was a big topic of Tuesday night's debate. Asked if he planned to 'press' Warren on the issue, Biden launched into several minutes of scathing comments."

Frank Rich: "... the shape of the Democratic field now seems crystal clear. Tuesday night seemed like a death knell for seven of the dozen candidacies on stage, including Joe Biden's. It's time for the actual contenders to go at it on a less cluttered field. Among the seven also-rans, the low-hanging losers are Beto O'Rourke, Julián Castro, Andrew Yang, Tulsi Gabbard, and Tom Steyer (we hardly knew ye), the billionaire vanity candidate whose main attribute is that at least he is not Howard Schultz.

Democrats Who Might Lose to Trump Because of Voter Suppression Never Mention Voter Suppression. Matt Ford of the New Republic: "The candidates spent much of their time debating manufacturing and automation, trade policy, the opioid crisis, and other issues that would imact how Ohioans vote next year. But they devoted no attention to whether Ohioans would be able to vote at all. Moderators from CNN and The New York Times, who jointly moderated Tuesday's debate, didn't ask the candidates about the national surge in voter suppression and their plans to stop it. That marks the fourth consecutive debate where the topic went undiscussed. It's impossible to expect that the moderators and candidates can give appropriate attention to every policy area, of course. Climate change, for example, is still perennially under-discussed in the debates given its importance. But the omission of voter suppression still stands out precisely because of the direct impact it could have on the 2020 election. The issue is particularly salient in Ohio."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Daniel Boffey & Rowena Mason of the Guardian: "Boris Johnson and Jean-Claude Juncker have jointly announced agreement on a new Brexit deal despite the refusal of the Democratic Unionist party to give its backing. After weeks of negotiations that went deep into the early hours of Thursday morning and with mounting pressure to have legal text ready for EU leaders to read before a summit, the two leaders said an agreement was ready. The prime minister tweeted: 'We've got a great new deal that takes back control -- now parliament should get Brexit done on Saturday so we can move on to other priorities like the cost of living, the NHS, violent crime and our environment.'"

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Tuesday
Oct152019

The Commentariat -- October 16, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Everything Is Going Very Well. Benjamin Hart of New York: "After President Trump gave Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the green light to invade northern Syria last weekend, thus unleashing chaos in the region, Trump wrote him a very strange letter, obtained by Fox Business's Trish Regan. The message's theme -- that Erdogan should show military restraint -- was straightforward, but the prose style and phrasing ... are so surpassingly weird in a high-level diplomatic context that many wondered if the note was authentic. It is." ~~~

Apparently Democratic leaders had to leave the White House because Trump had a "meltdown" & became so rude they couldn't maintain a conversation. We'll see how written reports characterize what happened. ~~~

~~~ Rebecca Kheel of the Hill: "President Trump had a 'meltdown' and called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) a 'third-rate politician' during a meeting Wednesday with congressional leaders on the situation in Syria, Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters after they left the meeting early. The White House had invited leadership and top committee members of both parties and chambers of Congress to discuss Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria.... Pelosi attributed Trump's comments to being 'shaken' by the overwhelming nature of the House vote, where 129 Republicans sided with Democrats. 'That's why we couldn't continue in the meeting because he just wasn't relating to the reality of it,' Pelosi said. 'What we witnessed on the part of the president was a meltdown, sad to say,' she added later. Schumer added that Trump was 'insulting' to Pelosi. 'She kept her cool completely, but he called her a third-rate politician. He said that there are communists involved and you guys might like that. I mean, this was not a dialogue. It was sort of a diatribe, a nasty diatribe,' Schumer said."

Donnie Falsely Blames Boris for Jerry Springer Surprise. Harriet Alexander of the (U.K.) Telegraph: "Donald Trump claimed [Wednesday] that he tried to broker a meeting between Harry Dunn's grieving parents and the American woman who killed him, Anne Sacoolas, because Boris Johnson suggested he do so. Mr Dunn's parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, arrived at the White House on Tuesday night to be told that Mrs Sacoolas was in the room next door. The couple refused to meet her.... Mr Trump later said..., 'I spoke with Boris he asked me if I'd do that, and I did it.'... Downing Street ... downplayed the idea they had suggested the encounter. A spokesperson noted that Mr Trump and Mr Johnson last spoke eight days ago, before the family had announced their intention to travel to the US. 'The Prime Minister asked the President to do all he could to help resolve this tragic issue. The President agreed to work on trying to find a way forward,' the spokesperson said.... The New York Times revealed today that the White House press corps had been assembled to capture the distraught parents' encounter with Mrs Sacoolas in a Jerry Springer-style 'reveal'."

Nicholas Fandos & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "A former top White House foreign policy adviser told House impeachment investigators this week that she viewed Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, as a potential national security risk because he was so unprepared for his job, according to two people familiar with her private testimony. The adviser, Fiona Hill, did not accuse Mr. Sondland of acting maliciously or intentionally putting the country at risk.... Ms. Hill, the former senior director for European and Russian affairs at the White House, also said that she raised her concerns with intelligence officials inside the White House, one of the people said.... She said Mr. Sondland extensively used a personal cellphone for official diplomatic business and repeatedly told foreign officials they were welcome to come to the White House whenever they liked.... Ms. Hill also testified that Mr. Sondland held himself out to foreign officials as someone who could deliver meetings at the White House while also providing the cellphone numbers of American officials to foreigners, the people said. Those actions created additional counterintelligence risks, she said."

Michael Shear & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "A former top aide to Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, told impeachment investigators on Wednesday that he resigned because he was upset that the Trump administration had wrestled Ukraine policy away from career diplomats, according to three people familiar with his closed-door deposition to the House Intelligence Committee. In several hours of continuing testimony, Michael McKinley, who until last week was a senior adviser to Mr. Pompeo, described his mounting frustration with how politicized the State Department had become under President Trump.... He spoke of his frustration with Rex W. Tillerson, the former secretary of state, saying he had gutted the department, and praised Mr. Pompeo for his leadership. But Mr. McKinley said he was alarmed at how poorly diplomats were treated."

Rebecca Kheel of the Hill: "The House on Wednesday approved a resolution formally rebuking President Trump over his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria. The measure passed in a 354-60 vote, with four lawmakers voting present. All 60 votes against the resolution came from Republicans, with the present votes coming from three GOP lawmakers and Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.). The top three House Republicans supported the motion in a rare split from the president. The resolution -- which was sponsored by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and the panel's top Republican, Rep. Michael McCaul (Texas) -- 'opposes the decision to end certain United States efforts to prevent Turkish military operations against Syrian Kurdish forces in Northeast Syria.' The measure also calls on Turkey to end its military action, calls on the United States to protect the Kurds and calls on the White House 'to present a clear and specific plan for the enduring defeat of ISIS.'"

Elena Becatoros & Bassem Mroue of the AP: "Syrian forces on Wednesday night rolled into the strategic border town of Kobani, blocking one path for the Turkish military to establish a 'safe zone' free of Syrian Kurdish fighters along the frontier as part of its week-old offensive. The seizure of Kobani by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad also pointed to a dramatic shift in northeastern Syria: The town was where the United States military and Kurdish fighters first united to defeat the Islamic State group four years ago and holds powerful symbolism for Syrian Kurds and their ambitions of self-rule." ~~~

~~~ Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey on Wednesday called for Kurdish fighters battling his troops in northeastern Syria to lay down their weapons and withdraw from the border area 'this very night.' Resisting Western pressure to halt the operation, Mr. Erdogan also requested international support for his country's battle against Kurdish fighters whom Turkey considers terrorists but who had been allied with the United States against the Islamic State. Speaking to the Turkish Parliament, Mr. Erdogan said Turkey would not stop fighting until it had established a planned 'safe zone' in Syria roughly 20 miles deep, from the town of Manbij in the west to the Iraqi border in the east."

Trump went on a long rant about crooked Obama & crooked Comey and the server & all the stuff Rudy is uncovering & so forth. I have to go out for a few minutes but I'll get something up ASAP. And I might be wrong, but I thought I heard Trump call Italian President Sergio Mattarella "President Mozzarella." ~~~

~~~ Here is your President* chatting amiably with his guest President Mozzarella. One of them is delusional:

~~~ First Trump Abandons the Kurds, Then He Insults Them. Morgan Chalfant & Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump said Wednesday that Turkey's offensive against U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in northern Syria is 'not our problem,' defending his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the region amid criticism.... Trump also downplayed the U.S. alliance with the Kurds.... 'The Kurds are much safer right now, but the Kurds know how to fight, and as I said, they're not angels. They're not angels. You take a look... but they fought with us. We paid a lot of money for them to fight with us, and that's OK,' Trump said. 'If Russia wants to get involved with Syria, that's really up to them. They have a problem with Turkey. They have a problem at a border. It's not our border, we shouldn't be losing lives over it,' Trump said later." ~~~

~~~ Quint Forgey of Politico: "'They're not angels, if you take a look. You have to go back and take a look. But they fought with us, and we paid a lot of money for them to fight with us, and that's OK,' [Trump said of the Kurds]. 'They did well when they fought with us. They didn't do so well when they didn't fight with us.' The incendiary comments marked perhaps the president's most dismissive defense of his widely condemned decision earlier this month to allow Turkey to invade Syria, and come just days after the Pentagon's announcement that Trump had directed the evacuation of the last U.S. troops still stationed in the West Asian nation." ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker & others have the New York Times story: "Mr. Trump insisted his handling of the matter had been 'strategically brilliant' and minimized concerns for the Kurds, implying that they allied with the United States only out of their own self-interest.... Echoing Mr. Erdogan's talking points, Mr. Trump compared one faction of the Kurds to the Islamic State and he asserted that Kurds intentionally freed some Islamic State prisoners to create a backlash for him. 'Probably the Kurds let [them] go to make a little bit stronger political impact,' he said. He dismissed concerns that his decision had opened the way for Russia, Iran, the Syrian government and the Islamic State to move into the abandoned territory and reassert their influence in the area. 'I wish them all a lot of luck,' Mr. Trump said of the Russians and Syrians."

Joe Valiquette of NBC News: "A Florida man wanted in a campaign finance case involving associates of Rudy Giuliani is in federal custody. Spokespersons for the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan and the FBI confirm that David Correia was arrested after flying Wednesday to JFK Airport in New York City to turn himself in. Correia, 44, was named in an indictment with two Giuliani associates and another man arrested last week on charges they made illegal contributions to a congressman and a political action committee supporting ... Donald Trump. The two associates were arrested last week. Andrey Kukushkin, a Ukrainian-born U.S. citizen, was also charged in the case. Kukushkin was arrested last week in San Francisco."

Michael Wayland of CNBC: "General Motors and union leaders have reached a tentative deal on a new labor contract that could end the United Auto Workers' month-long strike against the automaker, the UAW said Wednesday. Details of the proposed deal were not immediately available. However, the union's roughly 48,000 members with GM are expected to receive raises and bonuses as part of the accord. The company's shares jumped by about 2.5% in morning trading."

Got the Memo. Lauren Egan & Courtney Kube of NBC News: "Defense Secretary Mark Esper will not comply with a subpoena from House Democrats related to their impeachment inquiry, according to a letter sent Tuesday to Democratic leadership from the Department of Defense.... This is a shift from just days ago when Esper indicated he was willing to work with Democrats on the inquiry." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE, Michael MicKinley, who resigned last week as Mike Pompeo's top advisor, has appeared on the Hill, & so has Kurt Volker, who resigned as special envoy to Ukraine. This is the second appearance for Volker.

Greg Miller & others at the Washington Post take a look at Mick Mulvaney's part in the Ukraine scandal. "... current and former officials ... said Mulvaney contributed substantially to the unfolding political crisis.... U.S. officials said Mulvaney met frequently with [U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon] Sondland and that details of their discussions were kept from then-National Security Adviser John Bolton and other officials who were raising internal concerns about the hidden Ukraine agenda. Mulvaney also tolerated meetings between [Donald] Trump and [Rudy] Giuliani at a time when Giuliani was brazenly declaring in interviews his intent to enlist Kiev in efforts to substantiate conspiracy theories about the 2016 election and ... [damage] Joe Biden. Perhaps most significantly, Mulvaney -- at the direction of the president -- placed a hold on nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine in the weeks before Trump used a July 25 phone call to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to pursue Giuliani's agenda." ~~~

~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post digs deeper: "Mulvaney's private admission that the freeze in military aid was tied directly to Trump's demand for an investigation of 'corruption' becomes a lot more important. Because Mulvaney surely knew what 'investigate corruption' really meant, it strongly suggests Mulvaney knew that for Trump, the military aid -- which Mulvaney himself froze -- also turned on whether Zelensky carried out those investigations Trump wanted[; that is, the "investigations" of the 2016 election & the Bidens.]." Mrs. McC: This is exactly the language Jonathan Chait 'decoded" a couple of weeks ago, wherein "corruption" to the Trump Gang meant "2016 election & Bidens."

Update. Jennifer Hassen of the Washington Post now has a story on Trump's ambush of grieving British parents Charlotte Charles & Tim Dunn. Reuters stories linked near the bottom of the page.

Donald Trump, Serial Tax Cheat. Heather Vogell of ProPublica: “Documents obtained by ProPublica show stark differences in how Donald Trump's businesses reported some expenses, profits and occupancy figures for two Manhattan buildings, giving a lender different figures than they provided to New York City tax authorities. The discrepancies made the buildings appear more profitable to the lender -- and less profitable to the officials who set the buildings' property tax. For instance, Trump told the lender that he took in twice as much rent from one building as he reported to tax authorities during the same year, 2017. He also gave conflicting occupancy figures for one of his signature skyscrapers, located at 40 Wall Street.... A dozen real estate professionals told ProPublica they saw no clear explanation for multiple inconsistencies in the documents. The discrepancies are 'versions of fraud,' said Nancy Wallace [of] the University of California-Berkeley. This kind of stuff is not OK.'" Thanks to unwashed for the link.

~~~~~~~~~~

Presidential Race 2020

Democrats Squabbling. Alexander Burns & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts faced a sustained barrage of criticism from her Democratic rivals at a presidential debate in Ohio on Tuesday, tangling with a group of underdog moderates who assailed her liberal economic proposals, while former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. appeared to fade from the fray after parrying President Trump's attacks on his family. The debate confirmed that the primary race had entered a new phase, defined by Ms. Warren's apparent strength and the increasing willingness of other Democrats to challenge her.... Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., insistently charged Ms. Warren with evading a 'yes-or-no' question on how she would pay for a 'Medicare for all' health care system, while Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota cast parts of Ms. Warren's platform as a 'pipe dream.' Former Representative Beto O'Rourke of Texas branded Ms. Warren's worldview as overly 'punitive.'"

Marc Caputo & Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "The frontrunners -- Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders -- tangled over healthcare, while other candidates looking to make their mark went after Elizabeth Warren. Pete Buttigieg and Beto O'Rourke clashed over guns. The one issue that united all the candidates was impeachment. Here are the key moments of Tuesday's debate.... Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Andrew Yang, Tulsi Gabbard and O'Rourke all went after Warren in the first half of the debate on issues ranging from her support to Medicare for All, trade deals and automation, a wealth tax and foreign policy. Warren held her own, notably speaking nearly twice as much as the next candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, in the first hour of the debate. But she also got some assistance from Sen. Cory Booker, who warned that the attacks were only benefiting Trump's reelection campaign. 'We've got one shot to make Donald Trump a one-term president, and how we talk about each other in this debate actually really matters,' Booker said. 'I've had the privilege of working with or being friends with everybody on this stage, and tearing each other down because we have a different plan, to me, is unacceptable. I have seen this script before,' he added. 'It didn't work in 2016, and it will be disaster for us in 2020.'"

Eric Levitz of New York: "At the Democratic debate in Westerville, Ohio -- his first major campaign event since taking ill -- Bernie wasn't just his old, bizarrely sharp and energetic-for-a-septuagenarian self. He was better, crisper, and funnier than before. The hoarse voice that plagued Sanders on the last episode of this (wretched) TV show was gone. A new perspective on the fragility of this life -- and the preciousness of every opportunity to mitigate the suffering of other human beings -- had, presumably, taken its place. Or maybe Bernie just got a good night's sleep Monday. Either way, he turned in his finest debate performance of the cycle thus far."

A good place to get a gauge of debate reactions is to scroll down New York's Daily Intelligencer. Mrs. McC: As far as I can tell, there no way to capture the moment, so if it interests you, look at it now, as it will slowly disappear behind newer stuff.

This President* is caging kids on the border and letting ISIS run free. -- Julian Castro, during the debate

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Okay, I'm voting for Elizabeth Warren. She just said, during the debate, so more-or-less ad-lib, "The data show...." ~~~

~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging the debate here. The page has a live video feed of the debate.

Ryan Lizza in Politico Magazine: "The Democratic National Committee sent an urgent alert on Monday to every presidential campaign aimed at avoiding a repeat of the cybersecurity fiasco the party suffered at the hands of Russia and WikiLeaks in 2016.... The full archive of DNC Tech's missives to the presidential campaigns ... reveal a party struggling to combat the continued onslaught of the twin threats faced by the Democratic Party: cyber penetration from state actors abroad and the spread of disinformation about its top presidential candidates by Donald Trump and his allies at home.... During Tuesday's debate, the DNC will use a software tool called Trendolizer to track trending disinformation."

Jeff Cox of CNBC: "... Donald Trump looks likely to cruise to reelection next year under three different economic models Moody's Analytics employed to gauge the 2020 race. Barring anything unusual happening, the president's Electoral College victory could easily surpass his 2016 win over Democrat Hillary Clinton, which came by a 304-227 count. Moody's based its projections on how consumers feel about their own financial situation, the gains the stock market has achieved during Trump's tenure and the prospects for unemployment, which has fallen to a 50-year low. Should those variables hold up, the president looks set to get another four-year term. The modeling has been highly accurate going back to the 1980 election, missing only once."

Trump, Inc. -- Fall of the Consigliere

Kyle Cheney & Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "Donald Trump's impeachment blockade has collapsed. The president's former top Russia adviser, Fiona Hill -- the first White House official to cooperate in Democrats' investigation of the Ukraine scandal -- has sketched for lawmakers a trail of alleged corruption that extends from Kiev to the West Wing. In dramatic testimony on Monday, she roped in some of Trump's top advisers as witnesses to the unfolding controversy. And on Tuesday, a senior State Department official, George Kent, appeared on Capitol Hill to testify about his knowledge of the episode.... As lawmakers return to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, a growing number of witnesses this week will describe their own role in the controversy, even as the White House has vowed not to engage with House Democrats'" illegitimate' impeachment effort.... Despite the series of breakthroughs, Democrats will still face resistance from the White House to some of their high-level requests. When asked whether Trump's budget office planned to comply with a Tuesday subpoena deadline for documents, a senior administration official did not say, instead pointing to a White House letter last week that deemed the House impeachment probe 'unconstitutional.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Nicholas Fandos & Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "The procession of high-ranking witnesses to the House's impeachment inquiry continued apace on Tuesday, as George P. Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of Ukraine policy, arrived on Capitol Hill to face questions from investigators about his knowledge of the widening Ukraine scandal. Mr. Kent, who appeared behind closed doors despite the State Department directing him not to do so, raised concerns to colleagues early this year about the pressure being directed at Ukraine by Mr. Trump and his private lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, to pursue investigations into Mr. Trump's political rivals, according to people familiar with Mr. Kent's warnings. As far back as March, they said, Mr. Kent was pointing to Mr. Giuliani's role in what he called a 'disinformation' campaign intended to use a Ukrainian prosecutor to smear targets of the president.... Mr. Kent's appearance followed an emerging pattern. According to officials familiar with the investigation, the State Department directed Mr. Kent not to appear and sought to limit his testimony. The House Intelligence Committee then issued a last-minute subpoena ordering him to appear, and he complied." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ ** Paul Kane, et al., of the Washington Post: "Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney organized a meeting this spring in which officials determined to take Ukraine policy out of the traditional channels, putting Energy Secretary Rick Perry, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and special U.S. envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker in charge instead, a top State Department official told lawmakers Tuesday. George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state responsible for Ukraine, told House investigators that he was instructed to 'lay low,' focus on the five other countries in his portfolio, and defer to Volker, Sondland and Perry -- who called themselves the 'three amigos' -- on matter related to Ukraine, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) told reporters Tuesday. The meeting, which Kent told lawmakers took place on May 23, according to Connolly, was just days after the administration recalled Marie Yovanovitch from her post as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.... [Rudy] Giuliani [has] accused Yovanovitch and Kent, formerly the No. 2 ranking diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, of trying to protect the Bidens from an investigation by Ukrainian prosecutors.... Giuliani and a columnist for the news outlet the Hill had alleged earlier this year that Yovanovitch provided a 'do not prosecute list' to Ukrainian officials to protect the Bidens and other allies. But Kent, according to the documents, told his colleagues that the list was phony, pointing to incorrect name spellings that longtime officials like Yovanovitch and himself would never have gotten wrong, he said." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump is reportedly unhappy with Mulvaney because Mulvaney has not managed the pushback to the impeachment inquiry to Trump's satisfaction. But we can see why Trump has not fired Mulvaney: Mick is at the center of the scandal, and you can bet he ran the Ukraine scam at Trump's direction. ~~~

~~~ Jeremy Herb & Manu Raju of CNN: "State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent told lawmakers on Tuesday that he had been told by a supervisor to lie low after he raised complaints about Rudy Giuliani's efforts in Ukraine undermining US foreign policy, according to Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly, a senior member of the House Oversight Committee." The CNN report echoes the WashPo report linked above. ~~~

~~~ BUT Dese Guys Are Still Tough Guys:

~~~ Leigh Caldwell of NBC News: "Vice President Mike Pence's office said Tuesday it will not comply with a request from the House to turn over documents related to ... Donald Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. In a letter to the chairmen of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees, Pence counsel Matthew Morgan called the request part of a 'self-proclaimed impeachment inquiry,' noting that the House of Representatives has not yet taken a vote to open the inquiry and asserting that the request was part of a process that 'calls into question your commitment to fundamental fairness and due process rights.'" ~~~

~~~ Michael Warren & Evan Perez of CNN: "The Office of Management and Budget also does not plan to turn over the documents that impeachment committees subpoenaed, a spokeswoman said, pointing to a letter earlier this month from White House counsel Pat Cipollone saying it speaks for OMB as well. The White House letter slammed the impeachment investigation as 'constitutionally illegitimate' and made clear the administration does not plan to cooperate." ~~~

~~~ Allan Smith, et al., of NBC News: "Rudy Giuliani won't comply with a congressional subpoena as part of the House impeachment inquiry into ... Donald Trump, an attorney for Giuliani told House investigators in a letter on Tuesday.... Jon Sale, Giuliani's attorney for the subpoena, wrote that the former New York City mayor 'will not participate because this appears to be an unconstitutional, baseless and illegitimate "impeachment inquiry.'" Sale called the subpoena 'overbroad, unduly burdensome, and seeks documents beyond the scope of legitimate inquiry.'" ~~~

~~~ Chris Sommerfeldt of the New York Daily News: "Rudy Giuliani dared House Democrats to take him to court Tuesday, declaring he won't comply in their 'abomination' of an impeachment inquiry despite facing a subpoena over his shady campaign to find political dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine. Having decided to not cooperate, the ex-mayor said he has parted ways with his attorney, Jon Sale, for the time being, claiming it would be 'silly to have a lawyer when I don't need one.' However, Giuliani said he may rehire Sale if Democrats hold him in contempt over his refusal to cooperate with the subpoena, which requests documents and testimony on his Trump-endorsed attempts to strong-arm Ukrainian officials into investigating unfounded corruption claims about Biden's family before the 2020 election."

~~~ Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "Former Republican Congressman Pete Sessions of Texas has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. 'A grand jury has issued a subpoena related to Manhattan federal prosecutors' investigation into Rudy Giuliani, seeking documents from former Rep. Pete Sessions about his dealings with President Trump's personal lawyer and associates, according to people familiar with the matter,' the newspaper reported. 'The subpoena seeks documents related to Mr. Giuliani's business dealings with Ukraine and his involvement in efforts to oust the U.S. ambassador in Kyiv, as well as any interactions between Mr. Sessions, Mr. Giuliani and four of Mr. Giuliani's associates who were indicted last week on campaign-finance and conspiracy accounts, the people said,' The Journal explained." ~~~

~~~ ** "Primary Focus." Scott Lemiuex of LG&$ points to this from the WSJ report: "Mr. Giuliani is the primary focus of the subpoena, the people said. Mr. Giuliani has denied wrongdoing and said he has had no indication his actions are being investigated by prosecutors."

Mrs. McCrabbie: Surely Trump is about to dump Giuliani. Giuliani is the focus of a grand jury subpoena. He's intimately involved with the comically inept international fraudsters (and current jailbirds) Lev & Igor, even to the point of taking $500K from them, probably in laundered money. The whistleblower and three State Department officials all have fingering him as the prime driver of the Ukraine conspiracy. He's the perfect fall guy. Indeed, it isn't even implausible for Trump to "blame Rudy." I mean, the guy did it.

Rudy Brought Lev to State Funeral. Matt Berman of BuzzFeed News: "Rudy Giuliani was photographed with his now-indicted Ukrainian associate Lev Parnas at former president George H.W. Bush's state funeral service at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, last December, a high-profile event that drew former presidents and world leaders. Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and George H.W. Bush's son, said the Bush family didn't intend for Parnas to be there. Parnas 'was not invited,' Bush told BuzzFeed News in an email. 'Rudy was and it is likely that he was Rudy's guest. Disappointing.'" ~~~

~~~ Carol Leonnig, et al., of the Washington Post: "Rudolph W. Giuliani privately urged President Trump in 2017 to extradite a Turkish cleric living in exile in the United States, a top priority of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to multiple former administration officials.... Giuliani, a Trump ally who later became the president's personal attorney, repeatedly argued to Trump that the U.S. government should eject Fethullah Gulen from the country, according to the former officials, who spoke on the condition on anonymity.... [Giuliani's] earlier attempts to persuade the president to turn over the Turkish cleric represent another instance in which he appears to have been pushing a shadow foreign policy from his perch outside government.... Trump appeared receptive to the idea, pressing his advisers about Gulen's status, the people said. One former senior administration official recalled that Trump asked frequently about why Gulen couldn't be turned over to Turkey, referring to Erdogan as 'my friend.' Administration officials were overwhelmingly opposed to the idea...." The New York Times story is here. ~~~

~~~ Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Tuesday, federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York announced charges against a Turkish bank for fraud, money laundering, and a scheme to circumvent U.S. sanctions on Iran. 'As alleged in today's indictment, Halkbank's systemic participation in the illicit movement of billions of dollars' worth of Iranian oil revenue was designed and executed by senior bank officials,' said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman. 'The bank's audacious conduct was supported and protected by high-ranking Turkish government officials, some of whom received millions of dollars in bribes to promote and protect the scheme....' These charges come as new scrutiny falls on Reza Zarrab, the Turkish-Iranian gold trader who was convicted of bribery as part of the Halkbank scheme. Rudy Giuliani previously acted as counsel for Zarrab and, at his urging in 2017..., Donald Trump tried to get then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to relay to the Justice Department not to pursue the case. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has also leaned on both Trump and former President Barack Obama to drop the Halkbank investigation."

Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: White House lawyers have begun "a fact-finding review ... seeking to understand White House officials' actions around Mr. Trump's July 25 call with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.... The lawyers' inquiry centers on why ... deputy White House counsel John A. Eisenberg placed a rough transcript of the call in a computer system typically reserved for the country's most closely guarded secrets.... Mr. Eisenberg has said he limited access to the transcript over concerns about leaks.... Mick Mulvaney, has encouraged [the review].... The existence of the review also threatens Mr. Trump's narrative that his call with Mr. Zelensky was 'perfect.' Instead, the review underscores the evidence that he bent foreign policy to his personal advantage by pressing Mr. Zelensky to open investigations that could damage his political opponents." Mrs. McC: A supposed "fact-finding review" inside this White House seems less like a fool's errand than like some kind of ruse to cover up some kind of wrongdoing in an environment where wrongdoing is the modus operandi. ~~~

~~~ Update: The Hill has a summary of the NYT story here.

Manu Raju, et al., of CNN: "Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday she will not hold a full House vote for now to authorize a formal impeachment inquiry into ... Donald Trump, a step Republicans and defenders of the President have demanded. 'There's no requirement that we have a vote so at this time we will not be having a vote and I'm very pleased with the thoughtfulness of our caucus with the path that we are on,' Pelosi said in news conference Tuesday evening, following a meeting with her caucus. Pelosi is not fully ruling out such a vote, a congressional aide confirmed to CNN, leaving her with the option to do so in the future, but she is not moving on it right now. She delivered this message to her caucus in their ongoing closed-door meeting Tuesday before speaking to reporters. 'We're not here to call bluffs. We're here to find the truth, to uphold the Constitution of the United States,' she added Tuesday. 'This is not a game for us. This is deadly serious, and we're on a path that is getting us to a path to truth and timetable that respects our Constitution.'" ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: To my mind, holding such a vote is making an unnecessary & ill-advised concession to a mobster. Such a vote would not make Trump & Cippolone suddenly decide that impeachment proceedings are no longer "unconstitutional" & they then bend over backwards providing documents & sending the Mulveneys & Pompeos & Giuianis to the Hill to testify their black little hearts out. But if the House must hold a vote for some other reason, why not a voice vote?

Two Plots with the Same Aim:

Trump's Russia-First Agenda. Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "Whether by chance or by design, the foreign policy crises involving Syria and Ukraine ... have a common element. In each case, President Trump has taken action that has had the effect of helping the authoritarian leader of Russia.... Russian forces are now operating between the Turkish and Syrian militaries, helping to fulfill Moscow's main aim of shoring up its alliance with Syria and the Russian military port housed there -- an outcome Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought for years. And without lifting a finger, Putin was able to extend leverage over Ukraine, the fragile democratic neighbor he would like to control more directly, as a result of Trump's treatment of the country's popular new leader. Trump's actions in Syria and Ukraine add to the list of policy moves and public statements that have boosted Russia during his presidency.... Trump has publicly questioned the usefulness of NATO ... as well as the utility of the European Union, a political and economic alliance Putin would love to weaken. He recently advocated that Moscow be allowed to rejoin the Group of Seven, a few years after it was kicked out of the group of leading world economies following its invasion of Crimea. Trump has also disputed, at times, the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to boost his candidacy, and he only reluctantly signed a bill imposing sanctions on Russia for the transgression after weeks of resisting the measure, which he called 'seriously flawed.'" ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Chait elaborates on how Trump carried off the Ukraine leg of his scheme to help Russia: "Trump had to turn over his Ukraine policy to an outside, Russian-paid lawyer because it repelled almost the entirety of his own administration's foreign-policy staff. Trump's refusal to support Kiev and release the military aid voted by Congress appalled and alarmed numerous White House advisers, many of whom saw the extortion play as not only misguided but outright criminal.... It hardly requires a nefarious conspiracy to explain why Trump has done something stupid. That outcome is, as a social scientist would put it, overdetermined. Still, the juxtaposition is quite striking. Trump is currently enduring a domestic crisis (the Ukraine scandal) and a foreign one (the Syria debacle). One of these crises -- green-lighting a Turkish invasion of Syria -- had no plausible connection to his own political self-interest. Both have transpired because Trump took reckless and self-destructive actions that happened to follow the course of action Russia desired." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Chait says that greenlighting the Turkish attach on the Kurds had no political upside. But I think Chait is underestimating Trump's Russia-First obsession & how it fits into his re-election scheme: "bringing the troops home" would be a 2016 campaign promise he can claim he is fulfilling. Obviously, the more Trump turns his back on the world & undermines the U.S.'s influence, the better it is for Putin. Putin might as well have written Trump's campaign platform & "administrative" agenda.

This Is Not Going Well, Ctd.

Tuvan Gumrukcu of Reuters: "President Tayyip Erdogan told ... Donald Trump that Turkey will never declare a ceasefire in northeastern Syria and that it will not negotiate with Kurdish forces it is fighting in its offensive into the region.... Speaking to reporters on a flight back from Baku, Erdogan said the offensive would continue until it reaches its aims, and added that he was not worried about sanctions.... On Monday, Trump announced sanctions on Turkey to punish it for the offensive. On Tuesday, a senior U.S. official said Washington would threaten more sanctions to persuade Turkey to reach a ceasefire and halt its offensive.... The White House said on Tuesday that Vice President Mike Pence will meet with Erdogan in Ankara on Thursday.... Turkey pressed ahead with its offensive against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in northern Syria on Tuesday despite U.S. sanctions and calls for it to stop, while Syria's Russia-backed army moved on the key city of Manbij that was abandoned by U.S. forces. ~~~

~~~ Update. Jonathan Swan & Rashaan Ayesh in Axios: "Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told Sky News Wednesday that he will not meet with Vice President Mike Pence, who is currently leading a delegation with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Turkey to discuss a ceasefire in northern Syria.... Erdoğan, who told the outlet that he will only meet with President Trump, is facing increasing international pressure over his decision to launch an offensive strike against U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters in northern Syria."

Americans Beat a Hasty Retreat. Thomas Gibbons-Neff & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "... American troops are making a hasty withdrawal from Syria -- under pressure from encroaching Turkish proxy forces, Russian aircraft and columns armored by the Syrian government. This means the Pentagon will have to disassemble combat bases and other infrastructure that were built to stay for a mission that was supposed to last, all while protecting the troops as they withdraw amid a chaotic battlefield.... As the troops withdraw, they first will collapse inward by abandoning the outposts closest to the line of advancing foreign troops, in this case the Turkish military and its ill-disciplined Syrian militia proxies, along with Russian and Syrian government forces. That strategy was made clear in a video posted online Tuesday, showing a Russian journalist standing in an abandoned American outpost west of Manbij and closest to Syrian government troops."

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "U.S. veterans have supported Trump in part because of his often-repeated promises to extricate the U.S. military from a generation at war, numerous polls have found. But the calamity on the ground in Syria has wrought angry reactions from service members like few other recent foreign policy decisions.... At least eight U.S. service members who served with Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq expressed disgust in interviews with The Washington Post about the rapid U.S. changes and the lack of a clear plan to prevent a crisis. Many of them, speaking on the condition of anonymity..., doubted that Turkish forces would have launched an assault into northern Syria if the White House had not said it would stand aside."

Carlotta Gall & Patrick Kingsley of the New York Times: "Russia said on Tuesday that its military units were patrolling territory in northern Syria vacated by the Americans following the withdrawal ordered by President Trump, underscoring the sudden loss of United States influence in the eight-year-old Syria war."

Yuliya Talmazan, et al., of NBC News: "The Turkish military incursion into northeast Syria is compounding an already dire humanitarian situation and forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes, according to human rights monitors. According to U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, at least 160,000 civilians have been displaced since the Turkish offensive began on Oct. 9. The agency said they continue to receive additional reports of people on the move, so the actual number of displaced could be higher. The Kurdish-led authority said Tuesday more than 275,000 people have been displaced, Reuters reported."


Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived a lawsuit claiming that President Trump is illegally profiting from foreign and state government visitors at his hotel in downtown Washington. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit agreed to rehear the lawsuit, brought by the attorneys general of Maryland and the District, which was dismissed over the summer by a three-judge panel of the court. The brief order set oral arguments before a full panel of judges for Dec. 12 and essentially gives the novel lawsuit, which tests the anti-corruption emoluments provisions of the Constitution, a second chance."

The Trumpeefenokee Swamp. David Mora of Columbia Journalism Investigations in ProPublica: "At the halfway mark of ... Donald Trump's first term, his administration has hired a lobbyist for every 14 political appointments made, welcoming a total of 281 lobbyists on board, a ProPublica and Columbia Journalism Investigations analysis shows. With a combination of weakened rules and loose enforcement easing the transition to government and back to K Street, Trump's swamp is anything but drained. The number of lobbyists who have served in government jobs is four times more than the Obama administration had six years into office. And former lobbyists serving Trump are often involved in regulating the industries they worked for."

Paul Krugman didn't much care for Bill Barr's speech, delivered at Notre Dame Law School last week, on the evils of secularism. "It seems almost beside the point to note that Barr's claim that secularism is responsible for violence happens to be empirically verifiable nonsense.... William Barr -- again, the nation's chief law enforcement officer, responsible for defending the Constitution -- is sounding remarkably like America's most unhinged religious zealots.... I seriously doubt that Barr, whose boss must be the least godly man ever to occupy the White House, has suddenly realized to his horror that America is becoming more secular. No, this outburst of God-talk is surely a response to the way the walls are closing in on Trump.... Trump is ... taking shelter behind bigotry -- racial, of course, but now religious as well."

Taking Voodoo Economics to a Whole New Level. Dion Rabouin of Axios: "Top Trump administration economic adviser Peter Navarro made up an economist he has quoted regularly in his books named Ron Vara, Tom Bartlett writes in The Chronicle of Higher Education.... Navarro similarly quoted Leslie LeBon when writing about the dangers of China, who a Google book search revealed is his wife." ~~~

~~~ Julia Arciga of the Daily Beast: "In a statement, Navarro fessed up to Vara being fictional.... One of Navarro's co-authors, Columbia professor Glenn Hubbard [-- Mrs. McC: another right-wing economist --] said he did not know Vara was a fictional individual and said he was not okay with Vara being in the book that he and Navarro wrote."

He [Trump] said he was sorry about Harry and then he sprung the surprise that Mrs Sacoolas was in another room in the building and whether we want to meet her there and then. -- Tim Dunn, father of homicide victim Harry Dunn ~~~

~~~ This Is Almost Unbelievable. Michael Holden of Reuters: "Donald Trump's national security adviser heaped pain and grief on the parents of a British teenager [Harry Dunn] killed in a car crash by trying to hold a meeting at the White House between them and a U.S. diplomat's wife who was involved, the parents' lawyer said. Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn were invited to a surprise meeting with the U.S. president at his office on Wednesday where they were further shocked to learn that Anne Sacoolas, the American woman involved in the fatal crash, was in the building. Mark Stephens, the lawyer for Charles and Dunn, said national security adviser Robert O'Brien had the idea of overseeing a coming together of the families before they would then hug in front of an assembled media.... Trump and O'Brien had ruled out Sacoolas returning to Britain...." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I say "almost" unbelievable because it is conceivable that Trump & the gang could try to wrench a photo-op from the parents of the victim of a vehicular homicide, one perpetrated by an American who will likely go unpunished because Trump won't waive her questionable diplomatic immunity. Next up: photos of Kurds on the run, yet happily giving the thumbs-up to the Turkish invasion.

BBC News: "David Connors, 30, and his wife Eileen, 24, say they are being held in Pennsylvania with their three-month-old baby and are 'traumatised'. They say they were driving with family members on 3 October when, to avoid an animal, they veered onto a small road. A police officer then pulled them over, told them they were in the US state of Washington and arrested them." The Washington Post story is here. Mrs. McC: Yes, our taxpayer dollars are being spent to send these dangerous animal-lovers across the country & locking them up for nearly two weeks. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

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Monday
Oct142019

The Commentariat -- October 15, 2019

For Your Evening Viewing Pleasure. Matt Stieb of New York: "Tuesday night marks the fourth [Democratic presidential] debate on the primary calendar -- meaning there's only eight more of these gauntlets to go in the Democratic primary race.... Hosted by Otterbein University near Columbus, Ohio, the festivities will start at 8 p.m. ET and drag on until 11 p.m.... Co-hosted by CNN and the New York Times, the debate will be available for streaming -- without requiring a cable-provider log-in -- at CNN.com, the New York Times mobile app, and on Facebook."

Afternoon Update:

Carlotta Gall & Patrick Kingsley of the New York Times: "Russia said on Tuesday that its military units were patrolling territory in northern Syria vacated by the Americans following the withdrawal ordered by President Trump, underscoring the sudden loss of United States influence in the eight-year-old Syria war."

Yuliya Talmazan, et al., of NBC News: "The Turkish military incursion into northeast Syria is compounding an already dire humanitarian situation and forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes, according to human rights monitors. According to U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, at least 160,000 civilians have been displaced since the Turkish offensive began on Oct. 9. The agency said they continue to receive additional reports of people on the move, so the actual number of displaced could be higher. The Kurdish-led authority said Tuesday more than 275,000 people have been displaced, Reuters reported."

Nicholas Fandos & Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "The procession of high-ranking witnesses to the House's impeachment inquiry continued apace on Tuesday, as George P. Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of Ukraine policy, arrived on Capitol Hill to face questions from investigators about his knowledge of the widening Ukraine scandal. Mr. Kent, who appeared behind closed doors despite the State Department directing him not to do so, raised concerns to colleagues early this year about the pressure being directed at Ukraine by Mr. Trump and his private lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, to pursue investigations into Mr. Trump's political rivals, according to people familiar with Mr. Kent's warnings. As far back as March, they said, Mr. Kent was pointing to Mr. Giuliani's role in what he called a 'disinformation' campaign intended to use a Ukrainian prosecutor to smear targets of the president.... Mr. Kent's appearance followed an emerging pattern. According to officials familiar with the investigation, the State Department directed Mr. Kent not to appear and sought to limit his testimony. The House Intelligence Committee then issued a last-minute subpoena ordering him to appear, and he complied."

Kyle Cheney & Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "Donald Trump's impeachment blockade has collapsed. The president's former top Russia adviser, Fiona Hill -- the first White House official to cooperate in Democrats' investigation of the Ukraine scandal -- has sketched for lawmakers a trail of alleged corruption that extends from Kiev to the West Wing. In dramatic testimony on Monday, she roped in some of Trump's top advisers as witnesses to the unfolding controversy. And on Tuesday, a senior State Department official, George Kent, appeared on Capitol Hill to testify about his knowledge of the episode.... As lawmakers return to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, a growing number of witnesses this week will describe their own role in the controversy, even as the White House has vowed not to engage with House Democrats'" illegitimate' impeachment effort.... Despite the series of breakthroughs, Democrats will still face resistance from the White House to some of their high-level requests. When asked whether Trump's budget office planned to comply with a Tuesday subpoena deadline for documents, a senior administration official did not say, instead pointing to a White House letter last week that deemed the House impeachment probe 'unconstitutional.'"

BBC News: "David Connors, 30, and his wife Eileen, 24, say they are being held in Pennsylvania with their three-month-old baby and are 'traumatised'. They say they were driving with family members on 3 October when, to avoid an animal, they veered onto a small road. A police officer then pulled them over, told them they were in the US state of Washington and arrested them." The Washington Post story is here. Mrs. McC: Yes, our taxpayer dollars are being spent to send these dangerous animal-lovers across the country & locking them up for nearly two weeks.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ben Hubbard & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "Syrian government forces streamed into the country's northeast on Monday, seizing towns where they had not stepped foot in years and filling a vacuum opened up by President Trump's decision to abandon the United States' Syrian Kurdish allies. Less than a week after Turkey launched an incursion into northern Syria with Mr. Trump's assent, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, considered a war criminal by the United States, has benefited handsomely, striking a deal with the United States' former allies to take the northern border and rapidly gaining territory without a fight. In addition to Mr. al-Assad, Mr. Trump's decision to pull United States forces out of the way has also quickly redounded to the gain of Russia and Iran, as well as the Islamic State, as the American retreat reconfigures battle lines and alliances in the eight-year war."

James LaPorta & Tom O'Connor of Newsweek: "The U.S. military has begun a hasty exit from Syria's northern city of Manbij, and is set to help Russia establish itself there amid a Turkish attempt to defeat Kurdish-led, Pentagon-backed fighters at the strategic location, Newsweek has learned. The U.S. was scheduled as of Monday to officially withdraw from Manbij within 24-hours, leaving the mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces behind as two rival factions -- the Syrian government, backed by Russia and Iran, and the Turkey-backed Syrian insurgents opposed to it — sought to seize control of the strategic location. A senior Pentagon official told Newsweek that U.S. personnel, 'having been in the area for longer, has been assisting the Russian forces to navigate through previously unsafe areas quickly.'" Mrs. McC: Pretty remarkable: the U.S. military is relying on Russian military because Trump.

Jeff Schogol of Task & Purpose: "Defense Secretary Mark Esper has confirmed that ... Turkey's incursion has led to 'the release of many dangerous ISIS detainees.'... Turkey's Islamic proxies are freeing ISIS fighters from unguarded prisons, Foreign Policy reporter Lara Seligman brought to light on Monday.... Donald Trump tweeted on Monday that he suspected it was the Kurds who were intentionally freeing ISIS fighters as part of a ploy to win U.S. support again. 'Kurds may be releasing some to get us involved,' the president tweeted, without providing any evidence. 'Easily recaptured by Turkey or European Nations from where many came, but they should move quickly.'"

Spencer Ackerman & Christopher Dickey of The Daily Beast: "The retreat of U.S. forces in Syria away from the Turkish invasion is having a downstream effect benefitting the so-called Islamic State. The American surveillance aircraft that had been watching ISIS are now watching their own troops. Protecting the remaining U.S. forces in Syria is now the priority for the U.S. drones and manned aircraft overhead, according to a knowledgeable U.S. official who was not permitted to speak to reporters. It's a mission of necessity now that the remaining hundreds of American servicemembers in Syria have come under attack from the army of their NATO ally[.]" --s

If I ever catch you sneaking a piece of chocolate cake, I'll tell you not to. -- Mom, warning toddler with chocolate smeared all over his face ~~~

~~~ Seung Min Kim & Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to implement an immediate cease-fire in northern Syria and imposed sanctions against Turkey on Monday in response to its military aggression, as the situation on the ground continued to deteriorate after President Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. forces. Vice President Pence announced that he and national security adviser Robert C. O'Brien would lead a delegation to Turkey in the 'immediate future' in an effort to end the violence in the region that has increasingly become a political problem for Trump at home." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: As Fred Kaplan writes (post linked below), "The sanctions will have little if any effect, and certainly not quickly enough to matter -- except to show even authoritarian leaders who make detestable deals with Trump that they can&'t trust him to keep his word with them either."

Julian Borger of the Guardian: "The Islamic State flag has been raised once more and the last vestige of US credibility as a reliable partner lies crushed under Turkish tank tracks. It has arguably been the worst seven days for US foreign policy since the invasion of Iraq.... The speed of the unravelling has been breathtaking.... Trump, increasingly unmoored, convinced of his own 'great and unmatched wisdom', is just improvising, calling foreign leaders and making decisions affecting millions of people." --s

** David Sanger of the New York Times: "President Trump's acquiescence to Turkey's move to send troops deep inside Syrian territory has in only one week's time turned into a bloody carnage, forced the abandonment of a successful five-year-long American project to keep the peace on a volatile border, and given an unanticipated victory to four American adversaries: Russia, Iran, the Syrian government and the Islamic State. Rarely has a presidential decision resulted so immediately in what his own party leaders have described as disastrous consequences for American allies and interests. How this decision happened -- springing from an 'off-script moment' with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, in the words of a senior American diplomat -- likely will be debated for years by historians, Middle East experts and conspiracy theorists. But this much already is clear: Mr. Trump ignored months of warnings from his advisers about what calamities likely would ensue if he followed his instincts to pull back from Syria and abandon America's longtime allies, the Kurds. He had no Plan B, other than to leave. The only surprise is how swiftly it all collapsed around the president and his depleted, inexperienced foreign policy team." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is the most scathing assessment of any president or President* I have seen from the news side of the New York Times. ~~~

~~~ digby embeds a bunch of Trump's Monday Twitter vomit re: his huge Syria-Turkey decision, then paraphrases, "In other words, it's nothing but a shithole country and I don't care what happens to any of them unless they put money in my pocket (or have some kompromat.)" Mrs. McC: Of course this isn't what Trump actually wrote so I guess digby should be impeached or something. ~~~

Anyone who wants to assist Syria in protecting the Kurds is good with me, whether it is Russia, China, or Napoleon Bonaparte. I hope they all do great, we are 7,000 miles away! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet, making light of his abandonment of the Kurds ~~~

~~~ ** Fred Kaplan of Slate: "President Trump didn't make a 'mistake' in pulling troops out of northeastern Syria last week, as many have charged. It's what he has long wanted to do. The mistake was not understanding -- and, more to the point, not caring about -- the consequences. Trump's fateful phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Oct. 6, giving him the green light to cross the Syrian border and crush the Kurds without U.S. resistance, did more than any single act has ever done to demolish the post-WWII global order and isolate America from the rest of the world. This, again, has been Trump's goal since he entered the White House.... Trump ... doesn't realize that America's might and wealth depend, in large measure, on the cooperation it receives from others -- either offered or coerced -- in pursuing its interests around the world.... It's worth emphasizing, over and over, that the Turkish invasion wasn't an unforeseen side effect of Trump's withdrawal; it was an explicit part of the decision. The official statement that the White House released on Oct. 6 made this clear: Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria. The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation....'... Now, surprised that even the most loyal Republicans are lambasting him for the withdrawal, Trump is saying that he never intended for Turkey to send in troops...."

Marisa Fernandez of Axios: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) spoke Monday to discuss bipartisan efforts to overturn President Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria and sanction Turkey for its military offensive against Syrian Kurdish forces.

Dan Spinelli of Mother Jones: "... a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing [will be held] Thursday with two State Department officials and a rash of unhappy members from both parties.... In a break from the normally staid titles of congressional hearings, this one is titled 'The Betrayal of our Syrian Kurdish Partners: How Will American Foreign Policy and Leadership Recover?', a sign that it could be far more explosive than a normal House oversight meeting, with representatives from both parties likely to ask tough questions of the Trump officials. The session will focus on Trump's decision to abandon the Kurds, who have become targets of the Turkish military after fighting Islamic State terrorists alongside the United States for the past five years. Later that morning, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley are scheduled to privately brief Senate Armed Services Committee members on 'the situation in Syria and the wider region.'"

Trump -- The Impeachment Inquiry, Ctd.

New York Magazine welcomes "impeachment season" with several related stories. Jonathan Chait lays out the "(full) case" for Trump's impeachment. Gabriel Debenedetti describes Nancy Pelosi's strategy & tactics." (Also linked yesterday.)

Trumpy-Dumpty's Stonewall Is Falling Down:

Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "Michael McKinley, the former senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is expected to testify behind closed doors on Wednesday, according to two officials working on the impeachment inquiry. The testimony of McKinley, who resigned his position last week, could shed light on Pompeo's actions and how they have affected the State Department.... [at 6:30 pm ET Monday] Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper is expected to appear in closed session on Friday, the officials said." (This report is part of a liveblog.) Update: CNN's story is here.

I am not part of whatever drug deal Rudy and Mulvaney are cooking up. -- John Bolton, to Fiona Hill, on what to tell White House lawyers ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The effort to pressure Ukraine for political help provoked a heated confrontation inside the White House last summer that so alarmed John R. Bolton, then the national security adviser, that he told an aide to alert White House lawyers, House investigators were told on Monday. Mr. Bolton got into a sharp exchange on July 10 with Gordon D. Sondland, the Trump donor turned ambassador to the European Union, who was working with Rudolph W. Giuliani ... to press Ukraine to investigate Democrats, according to testimony.... Mr. Bolton instructed Fiona Hill, the senior director for Russian and Eurasian affairs, to notify the chief lawyer for the National Security Council that Mr. Giuliani was working with Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, on a rogue operation with legal implications, Ms. Hill told the investigators, according to two people familiar with her closed-door testimony." This is a substantial update of a story linked yesterday. The story since has been updated again to add more details of Hill's testimony, based on sources present at the hearing. The NBC News story is here. ~~~

~~~ Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "Acting White House chief of staff MicK Mulvaney was implicated by a former top National Security Council official during nine-hours of congressional testimony, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The newspaper reported, 'In her testimony, she detailed a July 10 meeting she attended with senior Ukrainian officials, then-National Security Adviser John Bolton, and other U.S. officials in which the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, raised the issue of the investigations....' 'People in the room took the comments to refer to an investigation that could implicate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, the people said. Both [Fiona] Hill and Mr. Bolton left the meeting with concerns about what had transpired, and Ms. Hill said Mr. Bolton instructed her to talk to NSC lawyer John Eisenberg,' the newspaper's sources said. 'Sondland also appeared to be coordinating his efforts with acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Ms. Hill testified, the people said...," The Journal noted." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The meeting Hill recounted took place in July. Remember that the WashPo reported Oct. 12 that "Sondland appears poised to say that he and other diplomats did not know that the request to mention Burisma was really an effort to impugn the reputations of Biden and his son Hunter, who had served as a Burisma board member. Sondland contends that he didn't know about the Biden connection until a whistleblower complaint and transcript surfaced in late September." Right.

~~~ Karoun Demirjian, et al., of the Washington Post: "Fiona Hill, the White House's former top Russia adviser, told impeachment investigators on Monday that Rudolph W. Giuliani ... ran a shadow foreign policy in Ukraine that circumvented U.S. officials and career diplomats in order to personally benefit President Trump, according to a person familiar with her testimony.... In a closed-door session that lasted roughly 10 hours, Hill told lawmakers that she confronted Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, about Giuliani's activities which, she testified, were not coordinated with the officials responsible for carrying out U.S. foreign policy.... And in a sign the impeachment inquiry is widening, investigators were discussing whether to question John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, according to people familiar with the matter. Bolton was Hill's direct superior at the NSC." ~~~

~~~ Manu Raju, et al., of CNN: "Fiona Hill ... raised concerns about Rudy Giuliani's role in US foreign policy toward Ukraine, telling lawmakers on Monday that she saw 'wrongdoing' in the American foreign policy and tried to report it to officials including the National Security Council's attorney, according to multiple sources.... Hill additionally told lawmakers about what she described as a rogue operation carried out by US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney..., [a] source said. A separate source said Hill ... [testified that] Sondland and Trump 'were in direct contact.'... This source said Hill said the contacts between Trump and Sondland went beyond the discussion about texts exchanged between Sondland and other American diplomats in Ukraine that have been made public.... Hill also told lawmakers that she was not part of Trump's July call with Zelensky.... Another source said she had not been involved in planning for the specific call on July 25. By the time the call took place, Hill had left the National Security Council." ~~~

~~~ Cristina Marcos & Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Democrats asserted that [Fiona] Hill corroborated what they described as a concerted effort by Trump allies who were pushing for the Ukrainian government to investigate the Bidens to remove Yovanovitch from her post in May. 'Rudy Giuliani has clearly been a leading force for the administration in defining a shadow foreign policy in Ukraine. There was an official foreign policy, which was attempting to counter corruption in Ukraine,' said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).... 'So you had two foreign policies that were working completely against each other.'... Democrats said Hill's testimony only bolsters the allegations that Trump and those in his closest orbit had pressured foreign officials to tarnish a domestic political adversary for the purpose of boosting his reelection chances next year. They also characterized her as a highly credible civil servant -- one Republicans would have difficulty discrediting. 'Her recall of meetings and content and who was there, with such specificity, was in some ways extraordinary,' Rep. Harley Rouda (D-Calif.) ... said afterward.... Rep. Denny Heck (D-Wash.) predicted that the transcripts would be released eventually. In the meantime, Heck said, Trump and his allies 'are darn lucky these weren't public.'"

This morning we see further evidence that Adam Schiff's clown show of an impeachment proceeding continues. Adam Schiff lied when he said that he & his team had not had contact with the whistleblower. He lied when he read a false transcript into the record. -- Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), after getting kicked out of a closed-door hearing ~~~

When the final history of this historical malignancy is written, this argument that Schiff's comic paraphrase of the president*'s guilt-laden telephone call was a 'false transcript' is going to be reckoned as one of the dumbest things they ever got the MAGAs to swallow, much less one of the dumbest chunks of pure mendacity ever to emerge from Congress. -- Charles Pierce

~~~ Charles Pierce: "On Monday morning, Fiona Hill, the administration*'s former Russia expert, came to Capitol Hill to testify in closed session to the House Oversight and Intelligence Committees regarding the president*'s attempt at running a protection racket on Ukraine. [Matt] Gaetz [(R-Breathalyzer)] is a member of neither committee, but he showed up anyway, obviously as a mole on behalf of Camp Runamuck. Acting perfectly within the rules of the House, the committees threw his truckling ass out. Gaetz immediately found a bank of microphones in front of which to drive the nails into his own palms. 'It's not like I'm on the Agriculture Committee,' Gaetz moped. Good thing, too, since he apparently could be outsmarted by produce." ~~~

~~~ Josh Lederman, et al., of NBC News: "The White House tried to limit what Fiona Hill, who until August served as ... Donald Trump's top Russia analyst, could say to Congress in its impeachment inquiry, correspondence between her lawyers and a White House deputy counsel shows. The letters, obtained by NBC News, illustrate that while the White House did not try to block Hill from testifying, it did tell Hill's lawyers about four areas that could potentially fall under executive privilege.... Monday morning, via an emailed letter from White House Deputy Counsel Michael Purpura to Hill's attorney Lee Wolosky, the White House wrote back and generally dismissed most of the arguments by Hill's lawyers.... Hill, the source said, raised concerns [during her testimony] about Giuliani's efforts in Ukraine and also spoke in support of ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch." Mrs. McC: Rep. Harley Rouda (D-Calif.) told Lawrence O'Donnell that Hill's testimony did not seem to be circumscribed by the White House's efforts to limit the topics on which she could speak. ~~~

~~~ CNN: "Attorneys for ... Donald Trump's former top Russia adviser argued in a letter sent on Sunday that no executive privilege issues were in play for her testimony, citing potential 'government misconduct' as one reason for their decision." A full copy of the letter from Fiona Hill's attorney to White House lawyers is embedded. Mrs. McC: Translation: Your boss engaged in corrupt acts, so you're screwed.

Asawin Suebsaeng & Sam Stein of the Daily Beast: "In the course of casual conversations with advisers and friends, President Trump has privately raised suspicions that a spiteful John Bolton ... could be one of the sources behind the flood of leaks against him, three people familiar with the comments said. At one point, one of those sources recalled, Trump guessed that Bolton was behind one of the anonymous accounts that listed the former national security adviser as one of the top officials most disturbed by the Ukraine-related efforts of Trump and Rudy Giuliani..., who remains at the center of activities that spurred the impeachment inquiry."

Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that ... Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani is having his banking records scrutinized as part of the federal criminal investigation into his dealings in the Ukraine. The report says that prosecutors are also looking into his work for a city mayor in the country. The WSJ report is here. A CNN summary of the WSJ story is here. ~~~

~~~ Lev & Igor Paid Rudy Half-a-Million. Karen Freifeld & Aram Roston of Reuters: "Rudy Giuliani, was paid $500,000 for work he did for a company co-founded by the Ukrainian-American businessman arrested last week on campaign finance charges, Giuliani told Reuters on Monday.... Federal prosecutors are 'examining Giuliani's interactions' with [Lev] Parnas and ... Igor Fruman, who was also indicted on campaign finance charges, a law enforcement source told Reuters on Sunday.... According to an indictment unsealed by U.S. prosecutors, an unidentified Russian businessman arranged for two $500,000 wires to be sent from foreign bank accounts to a U.S. account controlled by Fruman in September and October 2018. The money was used, in part, by Fruman, Parnas and two other men charged in the indictment to gain influence with U.S. politicians and candidates, the indictment said." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I definitely have not emphasized this last point, and I should have: Lev & Igor got at least some of the money they dumped into Trump's & other GOP campaigns from "a Russian businessman." This sounds an awful lot like Russia "meddlng in the 2018 midterm & 2020 presidential elections."

Katherine Faulders & Benjamin Siegel of ABC News: "House Democrats are seeking to interview White House budget director Russell Vought on Oct. 25, according to a copy of the letter to the Office of Management and Budget​ obtained by ABC News, the latest sign that they are increasingly focused on the withholding of nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine as part of their impeachment investigation. Vought, the acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, would be among the most senior administration officials called to appear before Congress in the Ukraine probe, though multiple sources told ABC News that the White House is likely to block their appearances before the committee, as they have vowed not to cooperate with the Democrats' investigation.... The committees investigating the matter have also sought interviews with several Pentagon officials, along with Michael Duffey, an associate director of national security programs at OMB, according to requests obtained by ABC News."

Daniel Lippman of Politico: "American Media, Inc. and the National Enquirer shredded sensitive Donald Trump-related documents that had been held in a top-secret safe right before Trump was elected in 2016, according to fresh allegations made in a new book by journalist Ronan Farrow. During the first week of November 2016, the book alleges that Dylan Howard, who was then editor in chief of the National Enquirer, ordered a staff member to 'get everything out of the safe' and that 'we need to get a shredder down there.'" --s


About That U.S. China Trade "Deal." Fred Imbert of CNBC: "China wants another round of talks before signing what ... Donald Trump called last week the first phase of a trade deal between the two nations, a source told CNBC's Kayla Tausche on Monday.... Bloomberg News first reported the news and said in its report that China also wants the U.S. to scrap a tariff hike scheduled for December. China and the U.S. held trade talks in Washington last week that ended with Trump saying both sides reached a 'very substantial phase one deal.' As part of that deal, China will address intellectual property concerns raised by the U.S. and buy $40 billion to $50 billion worth of U.S. agricultural products.... But while Trump characterized the talks' outcome as a success, Chinese state media said 'substantial progress' was made. Also, it did not call phase one a 'deal' while making little mention of the agricultural product purchases."Mrs. McC: IOW, Trump lied; there was no agreement. He needed a win, so he invented one. (Also linked yesterday.)

Brooke Seipel of The Hill: "Several mountain climbers have reportedly scaled a wooden replica of ... Trump's steel border wall that was built to disprove Trump's claims that a portion of the wall is 'impossible to climb.' Rick Weber -- a 75-year-old retired engineer, and active rock climber built a replica of an 18-foot tall section of border wall in Kentucky earlier this month, inviting mountain climbers to compete to see who could climb it the fastest.... As of Friday, Oct. 11..., numerous people have already scaled the replica wall, including an 8-year-old girl.... Another climber, 29-year-old Erik Kloeker, made it over the wall in approximately 30 seconds during a demonstration for reporters. He later climbed the wall a second time while also juggling." --s

The tendency to a usurpation on one side or the other, or to a corrupting coalition or alliance between them, will be best guarded against by an entire abstinence of the Government from interference in any way whatever ... in the rights of religion..., beyond the necessity of preserving public order, and protecting each sect against the trespasses on its legal rights by others. -- Former Secretary of State James Madison, letter to a Christian minister

I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. -- Former Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Danbury Baptist Association

I learned how to lead ... through ... an experience with God and my own personal faith in Christ. -- Current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, excerpt from text of a speech, as delivered, posted on the State Department's .gov Website ~~~

~~~ Savannah Behrmann of USA Today: "A recent speech about 'Being a Christian Leader' by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was promoted on the State Department's homepage Monday, and has been met with criticism that it potentially violates the principle of separation of church and state enshrined in the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. The speech was delivered at the America Association of Christian Counselors on Friday in Nashville, Tennessee. Pompeo touts Christianity throughout the remarks, describing how he applies his faith to his government work, referencing God and the Bible during the entirety of the speech. The remarks, posted and promoted on the department's homepage, begin with Pompeo, America's top diplomat, saying he wanted to 'use my time today to think about what it means to be a Christian leader.'..." ~~~

     ~~~ One unintentionally funny part of Pompeo's speech: "... now I have the incredible privilege to serve President Trump as his 70th Secretary of State." Trump regime turnover is even higher than we realized. ~~~

~~~ Mike Berardino of the Indianapolis Star (Oct. 11): "U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Friday decried what he saw as a concerted attack on religious freedom perpetrated by state governments that use laws as a 'battering ram to establish moral relativism.' In a 37-minute speech at the University of Notre Dame's law school...., Barr also claimed that 'over the past 50 years, religion has been under increasing attack' in the U.S."

Presidential Race 2020. Victoria Thompson, et al., of ABC News: "... Donald Trump continues to fill his Twitter feed and campaign speeches with attacks on Hunter Biden over his foreign business deals, the former vice president's son defended the ethical implications of his private ventures in an interview with ABC News, but conceded taking a misstep in failing to foresee the political implications on his father's career.... Hunter Biden reiterated that he never discussed his foreign business dealings with his father...."

Natasha Bertrand & Daniel Lippman of Politico: "Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been hosting informal talks and small, off-the-record dinners with conservative journalists, commentators and at least one Republican lawmaker in recent months to discuss issues like free speech and discuss partnerships. The dinners, which began in July, are part of Zuckerberg's broader effort to cultivate friends on the right amid outrage by ... Donald Trump and his allies over alleged 'bias' against conservatives at Facebook and other major social media companies."

Resistance. Phil McCausand of NBC News: "Nearly one year ago, the Trump administration fired a panel of more than two dozen scientific experts who assisted the Environmental Protection Agency in its review of air quality standards for particulate matter. Now, as the EPA prepares its report on those standards later this month, 20 of those scientists met independently to prepare the release of their own assessment of current air pollution levels, with a focus on the particles from fossil fuels that can make people sick.... This group of scientists, engineers and researchers have formed a nongovernmental committee called the Independent Particulate Matter Review Panel." --s

Jillian Ambrose of the Guardian: "The world's rising reliance on fossil fuels may come to an end decades earlier than the most polluting companies predict, offering early signs of hope in the global battle to tackle the climate crisis. The climate green shoots have emerged amid a renewable energy revolution that promises an end to the rising demand for oil and coal in the 2020s, before the fossil fuels face a terminal decline. The looming fossil fuel peak is expected to emerge decades ahead of forecasts from oil and mining companies, which are betting that demand for polluting energy will rise until the 2040s." --s

Beyond the Beltway

** Ohio. Nicholas Casey of the New York Times: "When Ohio released a list of people it planned to strike from its voting rolls, around 40,000 people shouldn't have been on it. The state only found out because of volunteer sleuthing.... Few people had expected a problem at that scale.... This year, a group of elected officials in the state, mostly all moderate Republicans, tried to answer the concerns with an experiment of their own: Rather than purge the voter rolls behind closed doors as had been done in the past, the government released the full list of those to be removed this summer, and gave the list to advocacy groups. The groups said they found the list was riddled with errors." For instance, Jen Miller, director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, discovered she was among those the state's list of inactive voters; she says she voted three times in the past year.

Texas. Elizabeth Chuck & Tim Stelloh of NBC News: "The Fort Worth, Texas, police officer who fatally shot a woman while she was babysitting her nephew over the weekend has been charged with murder. Aaron Dean was booked into the Tarrant County Correction Center and later released on $200,000 bond, according to jail officials. Fort Worth Police Sgt. Chris Daniels acknowledged the outrage that the killing of Atatiana Jefferson, 28, had sparked.... The arrest came just hours after Dean's resignation from the police force. Interim Police Chief Ed Kraus said during a press conference earlier that he intended to end Officer Aaron Dean's employment, but that Dean tendered his resignation first."

Way Beyond

U.K. Alexander Smith of NBC News: "Monday marked the state opening of Parliament, a formal procession where the government set out the legislative agenda for the coming parliamentary term.... The Queen's Speech was delivered by Queen Elizabeth II -- although the speech itself is actually written by the government as a way to announce its policy agenda. 'My Government's priority has always been to secure the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union on 31 October,' she said, reading the government's words. 'My Government intends to work towards a new partnership with the European Union, based on free trade and friendly cooperation.' In reality, [PM Boris] Johnson does not have enough power in Parliament to achieve any of the aims, however -- meaning the U.K. is almost certainly headed for an election soon." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ CNN here and the Guardian here are liveblogging updates. (Also linked yesterday.)

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