The Commentariat -- May 10, 2019

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Katelyn Polantz & Kate Sullivan of CNN: "Judge Amit Mehta plans next week to weigh the major legal issues raised in ... Donald Trump's challenge of a congressional subpoena for his accounting firm's records, according to an order issued Thursday -- putting the case on an even faster track than it previously looked to be. Congress has subpoenaed Trump and his business' accounting records from the firm Mazars USA, and Trump's personal legal team sued to stop the records from being turned over. A hearing is now scheduled for May 14."

Sheryl Stolberg & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that the United States was in a 'constitutional crisis' and warned that House Democrats might move to hold more Trump administration officials in contempt of Congress if they continued their refusals to comply with committee subpoenas.... Ms. Pelosi said Democrats would bring the contempt citation [against AG William Barr] to the floor for a vote of the full House 'when we are ready.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Katherine Tully-McManus of Roll Call goes in search of the Capitol jail: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi resurfaced one of the Capitol’s most enduring mysteries when answering a question about whether Democrats might imprison Trump administration officials who defy Congress: the House jail.... 'We do have a little jail down in the basement of the Capitol, but if we were arresting all of the people in the administration, we would have an overcrowded jail situation. And I'm not for that,' Pelosi said Wednesday at a Washington Post live event.... Capitol Police officers from multiple divisions told CQ Roll Call that no House jail exists, though Capitol Police headquarters on D Street Northeast does have a holding facility.... There once was a cell in the Capitol basement to hold those in contempt, but it is long gone.... A senior House Democratic aide told CQ Roll Call that the sergeant-at-arms could use existing spaces in the Capitol to hold someone, as has been done in the past." Mrs. McC: More like a "gaol," then. (Also linked yesterday.)

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "resident Trump said on Thursday that he would leave it up to Attorney General William P. Barr to decide whether Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, may testify before Congress on the Russia investigation. His comments were a seeming reversal, since Mr. Trump wrote over the weekend on Twitter that Mr. Mueller should not be allowed to appear before Congress. Mr. Barr has told lawmakers that he has no objection to letting Mr. Mueller talk to them. In a surprise, 45-minute news conference in the Roosevelt Room, his first since the release of the special counsel's report, Mr. Trump also said he was' pretty surprised' that his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was subpoenaed to testify in front of the Senate about his contacts with Russians during the 2016 campaign.... 'My son is a good person,' Mr. Trump said. 'My son testified for hours and hours. My son was totally exonerated by Mueller.'... Mr. Trump, who for months has been advised not to personally attack Mr. Mueller, described him on Thursday as 'somebody that is in love with James Comey.'... He also appeared to hedge on claiming that the Mueller report cleared him of obstruction of justice, telling reporters that the findings showed that there was 'no collusion and, essentially, no obstruction.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "The President ... went off on several tangents related to Trump Jr.'s involvement in the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer. Trump worked in references to a favorite Republican target -- the dossier compiled by a former British intelligence officer -- as well as phone calls Don Jr. made to an unknown number while planning the infamous meeting." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: It depends upon what the definition of "a good person" is, I guess. But Mueller definitely did not "totally exonerate" Junior. ...

... Burgess Everett & Marianne Levine of Politico: Sen. "Richard Burr [R-NC] faces intense pressure from Republicans to drop his subpoena of ... Donald Trump's eldest son and quickly wrap up the Senate Intelligence Committee's Russia probe. But despite a day facing attacks from the highest rungs of party leadership, Burr is unmoved, according to colleagues in both parties.... To many Republicans, the news of Trump Jr.'s subpoena presented a painful dilemma: Stand with a respected GOP chairman who has held together his committee for years during a contentious probe, or with a president who takes vengeance on fellow Republicans who cross him and his family."

Trump's 2020 Campaign Already Attempting to Conspire with a Foreign Power. Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer, is encouraging Ukraine to wade further into sensitive political issues in the United States, seeking to push the incoming government in Kiev to press ahead with investigations that he hopes will benefit Mr. Trump. One is the origin of the special counsel's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. The other is the involvement of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., son in a gas company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch. Mr. Giuliani's plans create the remarkable scene of a lawyer for the president of the United States pressing a foreign government to pursue investigations that Mr. Trump's allies hope could help him in his re-election campaign. And it comes after Mr. Trump spent more than half of his term facing questions about whether his 2016 campaign conspired with a foreign power."

Trump Campaign + Foreign Power, Ctd. Jay Weaver, et al., of the Miami Herald: "The FBI has opened a public corruption investigation into Republican donor and South Florida massage-parlor entrepreneur Li 'Cindy' Yang, focusing on whether she illegally funneled money from China into the president's re-election effort or committed other potential campaign-finance violations, the Miami Herald has learned.... The investigation could raise complications for a president who, after the Mueller report was delivered to Congress last month, might have hoped to put an end to controversy over foreign influence potentially benefiting his campaign.... The reports about potential Chinese influence come as Trump is in the midst of intense trade negotiations with China over tariffs on imports."

** Lily Batchelder in a New York Times op-ed: "The latest bombshell Times story on the president's tax history confirms what we already suspected: Donald Trump is a terrible businessman.... The latest story also shows how we do a terrible job of adequately taxing the wealthy.... But perhaps most important, the story reinforces the need for a congressional investigation of the president's tax returns.... As the Times has documented, there is ample evidence that his father's estate -- of which he was the executor -- engaged in tax evasion and outright fraud, failing to pay about $500 million in estate taxes.... Other reports have documented numerous instances where Mr. Trump has taken sketchy or unlawful tax positions.... The latest revelations about the president's eye-popping tax losses provide fresh grounds for concern that he has violated tax laws.... There is ample reason to fear that conflicts of interest have infected his approach to tax policy. When campaigning, Mr. Trump promised to close tax loopholes based on his expert knowledge of them. But instead, the 2017 tax bill seemed designed to lower taxes on him and his family through special carve-outs.... Subsequent Treasury regulations have also been great news for real estate developers.... All of this raises the question of whether the president steered the 2017 tax bill and subsequent regulations in directions that personally benefited him and his family. Moreover, because Mr. Trump is the only president for at least 40 years not to liquidate his business assets or put them in a blind trust, concerns about his financial conflicts of interest are uniquely heightened." ...

... Frank Rich: "[T]his latest investigative report by the Times [about his $1 billion business losses] is anything less than conclusive and devastating in its exposure of the lies that have abetted Trump's self-portrait as a business genius. But how one wishes this and other exposés like it had appeared in 2016 or before.... The laxness of the Trump coverage [during the 2016 elections] -- not just by the Times but by most major news organizations -- helps account for the strange persistence of that mythology [of his being a bigly business genius] despite all the evidence to the contrary uncovered by the Times, the Post, and other outstanding organs of investigative journalism over the past few years." --s ...

... Charles Leerhsen, in Yahoo! News: "... from late 1988 to 1990, I was his ghostwriter, working on a book that would be called 'Surviving at the Top.'... There was a stretch of months when ... the banks seemed to accept the version of him depicted in his first book, 'The Art of the Deal,' which we now know from his previous ghostwriter, Tony Schwartz, was entirely invented.... Often they came up with things he could say yes to before he could think of them himself. As a result, a failing real estate developer who had little idea of what he was doing and less interest in doing it once he'd held the all-important press conference wound up owning three New Jersey hotel-casinos, the Plaza Hotel, the Eastern Airlines Shuttle and a 281-foot yacht.... But Trump's portfolio did not jibe with what I saw each day -- which to a surprisingly large extent was him looking at fabric swatches.... The main thing about fabric swatches was that they were within his comfort zone -- whereas, for example, the management of hotels and airlines clearly wasn't.... Trump's King Midas period ended in early 1990, when news broke about his looming bankruptcy." Thanks to Aunt Hattie for the lead.

Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Federal prosecutors handling Roger Stone's case were ordered on Thursday to turn over to a judge any unredacted sections of special counsel Robert Mueller's report relating to the longtime GOP operative that could help prepare his defense for their upcoming trial. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson in a one-paragraph order gave the U.S. attorneys handling the Stone case until Monday to provide her with portions of Mueller's report that deal with Stone 'and/or "the dissemination of hacked materials"' that were leaked during the 2016 presidential campaign to the detriment of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton."

"Moral Turpitude." Keith Alexander & Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "The D.C. Court of Appeals on Thursday disbarred Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, because Manafort has been convicted of obstruction of justice and conspiracy.... The D.C. bar's decision came after the court's disciplinary committee issued a report in March that recommended Manafort be disbarred because of crimes 'involving moral turpitude.'"

Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "National advocacy groups on Thursday delivered to Congress multiple petitions of what they said contained 10 million signatures from people who support the impeachment of ... Donald Trump. They delivered the signatures to Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., who has introduced a bill that would direct the House Judiciary Committee to investigate whether Trump committed impeachable offenses -- an issue that has been heating up among congressional Democrats and presidential contenders. MoveOn spearheaded the effort that included groups such as Need to Impeach, CREDO and the organizers behind the annual Women's March."

Alan Rappeport & Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Thursday that the United States would raise tariffs on $200 billion of worth of Chinese goods on Friday morning and begin the process to tax nearly all of China's imports as he accused Beijing of trying to renegotiate' a trade deal. But Mr. Trump, who made his comments ahead of a pivotal meeting between United States and Chinese officials on Thursday afternoon, suggested an agreement could still be within reach, saying he had received a 'beautiful letter' from Chinese President Xi Jinping and would probably speak to him by phone.... Mr. Trump's toughened stance toward China has rattled American businesses.... The tariffs that would go into effect on Friday include many consumer products that Americans rely on from Beijing, like seafood, luggage and electronics. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... ** The story has been updated. New Lede: "President Trump escalated his trade war with China on Friday morning, raising tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods and taking steps to tax nearly all of China's imports as punishment for what he said was Beijing's attempt to 'renegotiate' a trade deal. Mr. Trump's decision to proceed with the tariff increase came after a pivotal round of trade talks in Washington on Thursday night failed to produce an agreement to forestall the higher levies. The White House said talks would resume again on Friday...." ...

... Matthew Phillips & Amy Tsang of the New York Times: "The resurgence of trade tensions between the United States and China, along with contradictory color commentary from President Trump, whipsawed stock markets again Thursday. The S&P 500 notched its fourth straight daily decline, though the benchmark index pared its worst losses after President Trump suggested a trade deal could still be within reach, adding that he had received a 'beautiful letter' from Chinese President Xi Jinping and may speak to Chinese leader on the phone. The comments helped the S&P 500 regain some ground, to close down 0.3 percent Thursday, after having fallen as much as 1.5 percent earlier in the day." ...

... Paul Krugman looks at the many ways Trump hurts his biggest supporters: rural Americans. His trade "policies" constitute one of them.

Eileen Sullivan & Benjamin Weisner of the New York Times: "The United States has seized a Nort Korean shipping vessel that was violating American law and international sanctions, the Justice Department announced Thursday, a move certain to escalate tensions already on the rise between the two nations because of recent North Korean weapons tests. Prosecutors said the carrier ship, the Wise Honest, was being used to export North Korean coal, a critical sector of the North's economy that the United States and the United Nations have aggressively imposed sanctions on in an effort to force Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons program." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Tara Palmeri of ABC News: "Ahead of the second summit in Hanoi, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un requested as part of the agreement between the countries moving forward that the U.S. send 'famous basketball players' to normalize relations between the two countries, according to two U.S. officials.... The request was made in writing, officials said, as part of the cultural exchange between the two countries, and at one point the North Koreans insisted that it be included in the joint statement on denuclearization. The North Koreans also made a request for the exchange of orchestras between the two countries." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Trump Slurs Kerry with False Charges. Maegan Vazquez of CNN: "... Donald Trump on Thursday accused former Secretary of State John Kerry of violating the Logan Act by taking part in negotiations with Iran's government.... Trump alleged that Kerry 'is talking to Iran and has been. He's had many meetings and phone calls and he's telling him what to do.'... Kerry promptly denied the President's accusation.... Since the act's creation [in 1799], correspondence and interaction between Americans -- lawmakers, former lawmakers, and citizens alike -- has become increasingly common. ​It's also common for former secretaries of states and diplomats to stay in touch with their counterparts around the world.... Last October, Kerry told reporters that he had not met with Iranians since the US pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 and had seen Iran's foreign minister at a few international security meetings.... A source close to the former secretary of state said Kerry hasn't talked with Iranian officials since President Trump announced the US was pulling out of the Iran deal last year. Prior to the withdrawal, the source said Kerry did communicate with the Iranians to urge them to stay in the deal. The source also denied that Kerry ever discouraged the Iranians from talking to Trump." Vazquez goes on to demonstrate how Michael Flynn potentially did violate the act by undermining Obama administration policies, although he was not charged. ...

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "'I'd like [Iran] to call me,' Trump said. 'You know, John F. Kerry speaks to them a lot. John F. Kerry tells them not to call. That's a violation of the Logan Act. And frankly, he should be prosecuted on that. But my people don't want to do anything that's -- only the Democrats do that kind of thing.' Trump trailed off when he started to talk about what his 'people' thought of the idea of prosecuting Kerry, making it sound as if he had broached the topic with somebody. That's important, because it suggests he may have floated the idea of prosecuting yet another of his political adversaries.... Just last week, Attorney General William P. Barr struggled with a question from Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) about whether Trump or the White House had requested any specific investigations.... [Trump's remark] 'brings the whole Michael Flynn situation rushing back -- and suggests Trump has pulled a 180 on the application and importance of the Logan Act.... At the time, Trump seemed largely unconcerned [that Flynn was negotiating with Russia during the transition. He] said: 'It certainly would have been okay with me if he did it. I would have directed him to do it if I thought he wasn't doing it.'"

Connor O'Brien, et al., of Politico: "... Donald Trump plans to nominate acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan to be the Pentagon's permanent chief, the White House announced Thursday, ending months of uncertainty following the abrupt resignation of Jim Mattis. The news came two weeks after the Pentagon's inspector general cleared Shanahan of allegations that he had shown preferential treatment toward Boeing, where he was an executive until 2017. But Shanahan's nomination did not come immediately -- or easily -- even after the probe ended. In fact, Shanahan traveled to the White House twice during the past two weeks thinking the president would nominate him, only to return to the Pentagon empty-handed, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. On one of those occasions, Trump instead reamed out Shanahan over the Pentagon's progress in building barriers on the Southern border. In the end, though, Shanahan developed a rapport with the president, who used to simply refer to him as 'the Boeing guy.'"

Lachlan Markay & Jackie Kucinich of The Daily Beast: "President Donald Trump on Wednesday weighed in [via Twitter] on an obscure piece of legislation granting rights to a Native American tribe seeking a casino in Massachusetts...while taking a jab at potential Democratic 2020 rival Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), whom he dubbed 'Pocahontas' and who has supported previous versions of the legislation.... His engagement on the casino legislation ... was a seemingly random aside.... But it may not have been random at all. At least two Trump-connected firms were hired this year to lobby on behalf of Twin River Management Group, which owns a casino in Rhode Island that would directly compete with one planned by the Mashpee Wampanoag.... One of those those firms is run by Trump adviser Matt Schlapp, who has, since January, been lobbying Congress and the White House." --s

Medlar's Sports Report. David Nakamura & Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "It was an iconic baseball celebration: Boston Red Sox catcher Christian Vázquez leaping into the arms of pitcher Chris Sale after the final out of the World Series last fall, teammates in perfect unison. But on Thursday, the star players were far apart. Sale was at the White House, where the 2018 champions were honored by President Trump. Vázquez was home in Boston, one of at least 10 players, all Latino or African American, who elected not to attend.... What had once been feel-good ceremonies at the White House have become pitched moments of cultural reckoning. From famous sports heroes to lesser-known Olympians to the stars of the performing arts, the toxicity of the Trump era has led once apolitical entertainers to pick a side, and, in doing so, render a judgment on the president himself." ...

... Anyhow, Congrats to the Boston Red Socks, World Cup Series Champs. Andrew Joseph of USA Today: "Just hours after the official White House website listed its event between President Trump and the Boston Red Sox as the 'Red Socks,' the sports-challenged communications department made another blunder at Boston's expense. Apparently, the Red Sox had not only won the 2018 World Series but they were also the 2018 'World Cup Series Champions.' At least, that was how the official White House transcript referred to the World Series champs."

A painting of Jesus & young Dr. Carson, which Carson keeps in his home.They Really Don't Care, Do They? Ctd. Tracy Jan of the Washington Post: "The Department of Housing and Urban Development acknowledged that a Trump administration plan to purge undocumented immigrants from public housing could displace more than 55,000 children, all of whom are legal U.S. residents or citizens. The proposed rule, published Friday in the Federal Register, would tighten regulations against undocumented immigrants accessing federally subsidized housing to 'make certain our scarce public resources help those who are legally entitled to it,' HUD Secretary Ben Carson said last month. But the agency's analysis of the rule's regulatory impact concluded that half of current residents living in households potentially facing eviction and homelessness are children who are legally qualified for aid." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: If Carson would just admit he doesn't give a rat's ass about other people's children, I'd respect him more (but certainly not much) than I do when he spouts deceptive pap about "our scarce public resources" (why are they scarce, Ben?) & a Big Lie about "who are legally entitled to it." One thing Ben Carson has taught me: you don't have to be all that bright to be a world-famous brain surgeon. He's so Christian, isn't he? If that painting of Ben & Jesus is truly miraculous, it would be in the attic now, with Jesus hurling thunderbolts at a very-Dorian-Gray Carson.

Amanda Gomez of ThinkProgress: "The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill that would block the Trump administration from granting states the leeway to skirt Obamacare rules -- a measure designed to ensure that patients with pre-existing conditions continue to receive affordable robust coverage -- in a 236 to 183 vote.... 183 Republicans voted against it -- including members [Andy Barr (KY), Ted Budd (NC), and Scott Perry(PA)] who vowed in 2018 that they would protect people with pre-existing conditions." --s

** Josh Israel of ThinkProgress: "Despite several campaign promises to change the way Congress legislates and get things done, the U.S. Senate, under the leadership of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), has not had a recorded vote on a bill in more than a month.... A ThinkProgress review of the Senate's roll call votes reveals that, since an April 1 cloture vote on an appropriations bill, the chamber has devoted virtually all of its roll call votes to confirmation of Trump appointees.... On April 2 and 3, McConnell rammed through a rule change -- ... a procedural maneuver he previously decried ... -- to reduce the time allowed for debate before confirmation votes. Since then, the body has confirmed 11 lifetime judgeships and 11 executive branch nominees.... Senate Democrats have noticed that the place McConnell once called 'the greatest deliberative body in the world' has stopped deliberating about appropriations, immigration, health care, gun violence, infrastructure, entitlements, and everything else." --s

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd.

Crooks Like Trump. Ben Scheckinger in Politico Magazine: Last month, [John] Lambert, co-founder of Students for Trump, was arrested "on charges of wire fraud. According to the federal government, at the same time he was building a nationwide political network and serving as one of the most visible young faces of Trump's populist movement, Lambert was also posing online as a high-powered New York lawyer, eventually making off with tens of thousands of dollars in fees he stole from unwitting clients seeking legal services. Lambert's rise to prominence and recent indictment offer a cautionary tale of an ambitious young man caught up in Trump's allure -- a get-rich-quick fantasy of the American dream -- who allegedly managed to create his own reality on the internet, only to have the real world come barging in. It also shines a spotlight on the chaos and confusion of Trump's ramshackle 2016 campaign, and the cast of characters who sought fame and fortune by riding in his slipstream. Trump ran as a 'law and order' candidate. But time and again, the mogul has drawn outlaws and alleged outlaws into his fold.... Despite Lambert's personal problems, and the campaign's disavowal, the group he launched continues to enjoy the president's seal of approval."

Ben Popken of NBC News:"A co-founder of Facebook called for the government to break up the tech giant in an op-ed article Thursday in The New York Times. 'The Facebook that exists today is not the Facebook that we founded in 2004,' Chris Hughes, who started Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg in their Harvard dorm, told NBC News after the op-ed was published. 'And the one that we have today I think is far too big. It's far too powerful. And most importantly, its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is not accountable,' Hughes said of his former business partner.... In response to the op-ed article, Nick Clegg, the company's vice president of global affairs..., [said,] 'Accountability of tech companies can only be achieved through the painstaking introduction of new rules for the internet. That is exactly what Mark Zuckerberg has called for. Indeed, he is meeting Government leaders this week to further that work.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Facebook Creates Extremist Content. Desmond Butler & Barbara Ortutay of the AP: "... a confidential whistleblower's complaint to the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained by The Associated Press alleges [that Facebook] ... is inadvertently making use of propaganda by militant groups to auto-generate videos and pages thatcould be used for networking by extremists.... The AP found that as of this month, much [supposedly] banned content ... -- an execution video, images of severed heads, propaganda honoring martyred militants — slipped through the algorithmic web and remained easy to find on Facebook.... Facebook also faces a challenge with U.S. hate groups. In March, the company announced that it was expanding its prohibited content to also include white nationalist and white separatist content -- previously it only took action with white supremacist content. It says that it has banned more than 200 white supremacist groups. But it's still easy to find symbols of supremacy and racial hatred."

TurboTax Stiffs Taxpayers It Cheated. Justin Elliott & Meg Marco of ProPublica: "The makers of TurboTax have long been luring customers into paying for a service that they promised the government they'd give away for free. Now they're lying to customers to avoid giving refunds. We've heard from 16 people who say they were denied refunds and told that the truly free version -- Free File -- is a government product that's not run by TurboTax. Ten others reported being told that ProPublica's stories were inaccurate, or that our coverage is 'fake news' or 'fictitious.' None of that is true.... Several people gave us recordings of their calls.... TurboTax's Free File product is created and run by the company. It is offered as part of a deal between the tax software industry and the government. The deal is specifically designed to keep the IRS from creating its own free online filing system." Includes audio.

Josh Kovensky of TPM: "... beneath the surface, [the NRA] is in turmoil. New York Attorney General Letitia James is conducting a wide-ranging investigation into alleged financial mismanagement at the NRA, while the group is embroiled in a messy lawsuit with its longtime image-maker, Ackerman McQueen ... as part of an apparent internal investigation into whether the firm has been siphoning money out of the gun lobby, allegations that Ackerman denies. Then there's Carry Guard. The program -- which offers combat training and liability insurance for shootings carried out in 'self-defense' -- was founded in 2017 to keep money flowing into the NRA's dwindling coffers after President Trump's surprise election.... Multiple states have banned the program and are investigating whether the NRA violated state law regarding the marketing and sale of insurance.... The [NRA] group adds without the [Carry Guard insurance] coverage, it would be unable 'to continue its existence as a not-for-profit organization and fulfill its advocacy objectives.'" --s

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "The Alabama Senate on Thursday postponed debate on a proposal to outlaw most abortions in the state, delaying a measure that is intended to serve as a direct challenge to the Supreme Court's holding that a woman has a constitutional right to end a pregnancy. Faced with a procedural dispute and open divisions among Republicans over how far the abortion ban should go, the Senate abruptly adjourned until Tuesday. As the chaos played out on the Senate floor, where lawmakers clashed over whether the state should allow abortions in cases of rape or incest, supporters and critics alike acknowledged that the bill, the most far-reachin effort in the nation this year to curb abortion, was still likely to become law.... On Thursday, in a maneuver that set off a chorus of shouts and screams in the Senate, some Republicans sought to abandon a provision -- backed by other Republicans -- that would have allowed exceptions to the abortion ban in cases of rape or incest.... The House has already passed the measure without those exceptions....

The Commentariat -- May 9, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Sheryl Stolberg & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that the United States was in a 'constitutional crisis' and warned that House Democrats might move to hold more Trump administration officials in contempt of Congress if they continued their refusals to comply with committee subpoenas.... Ms. Pelosi said Democrats would bring the contempt citation [against AG William Barr] to the floor for a vote of the full House 'when we are ready.'" ...

     ... Katherine Tully-McManus of Roll Call goes in search of the Capitol jail: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi resurfaced one of the Capitol's most enduring mysteries when answering a question about whether Democrats might imprison Trump administration officials who defy Congress: the House jail.... 'We do have a little jail down in the basement of the Capitol, but if we were arresting all of the people in the administration, we would have an overcrowded jail situation. And I'm not for that,' Pelosi said Wednesday at a Washington Post live event.... Capitol Police officers from multiple divisions told CQ Roll Call that no House jail exists, though Capitol Police headquarters on D Street Northeast does have a holding facility.... There once was a cell in the Capitol basement to hold those in contempt, but it is long gone.... A senior House Democratic aide told CQ Roll Call that the sergeant-at-arms could use existing spaces in the Capitol to hold someone, as has been done in the past." Mrs. McC: More like a "gaol," then.

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Thursday that he would leave it up to Attorney General William P. Barr to decide whether Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, may testify before Congress on the Russia investigation. His comments were a seeming reversal, since Mr. Trump wrote over the weekend on Twitter that Mr. Mueller should not be allowed to appear before Congress. Mr. Barr has told lawmakers that he has no objection to letting Mr. Mueller talk to them. In a surprise, 45-minute news conference in the Roosevelt Room, his first since the release of the special counsel's report, Mr. Trump also said he was' pretty surprised' that his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was subpoenaed to testify in front of the Senate about his contacts with Russians during the 2016 campaign.... 'My son is a good person,' Mr. Trump said. 'My son testified for hours and hours. My son was totally exonerated by Mueller.'... Mr. Trump, who for months has been advised not to personally attack Mr. Mueller, described him on Thursday as 'somebody that is in love with James Comey.'... He also appeared to hedge on claiming that the Mueller report cleared him of obstruction of justice, telling reporters that the findings showed that there was 'no collusion and, essentially, no obstruction.'" ...

... Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "The President ... went off on several tangents related to Trump Jr.'s involvement in the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer. Trump worked in references to a favorite Republican target -- the dossier compiled by a former British intelligence officer -- as well as phone calls Don Jr. made to an unknown number while planning the infamous meeting." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: It depends upon what your definition of "a good person" is, I guess. But Mueller definitely did not "totally exonerate" Junior.

Alan Rappeport & Ana Swanson of the New York Times:"President Trump said on Thursday that the United States would raise tariffs on $200 billion of worth of Chinese goods on Friday morning and begin the process to tax nearly all of China's imports as he accused Beijing of trying to renegotiate' a trade deal. But Mr. Trump, who made his comments ahead of a pivotal meeting between United States and Chinese officials on Thursday afternoon, suggested an agreement could still be within reach, saying he had received a 'beautiful letter' from Chinese President Xi Jinping and would probably speak to him by phone.... Mr. Trump's toughened stance toward China has rattled American businesses.... The tariffs that would go into effect on Friday include many consumer products that Americans rely on from Beijing, like seafood, luggage and electronics."

Eileen Sullivan & Benjamin Weisner of the New York Times: "The United States has seized a North Korean shipping vessel that was violating American law and international sanctions, the Justice Department announced Thursday, a move certain to escalate tensions already on the rise between the two nations because of recent North Korean weapons tests. Prosecutors said the carrier ship, the Wise Honest, was being used to export North Korean coal, a critical sector of the North's economy that the United States and the United Nations have aggressively imposed sanctions on in an effort to force Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons program."

Tara Palmeri of ABC News: "Ahead of the second summit in Hanoi, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un requested as part of the agreement between the countries moving forward that the U.S. send 'famous basketball players' to normalize relations between the two countries, according to two U.S. officials.... The request was made in writing, officials said, as part of the cultural exchange between the two countries, and at one point the North Koreans insisted that it be included in the joint statement on denuclearization. The North Koreans also made a request for the exchange of orchestras between the two countries."

Ben Popken of NBC News: "A co-founder of Facebook called for the government to break up the tech giant in an op-ed article Thursday in The New York Times. 'The Facebook that exists today is not the Facebook that we founded in 2004,' Chris Hughes, who started Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg in their Harvard dorm, told NBC News after the op-ed was published. 'And the one that we have today I think is far too big. It's far too powerful. And most importantly, its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is not accountable,' Hughes said.... In response to the op-ed article, Nick Clegg, the company's vice president of global affairs..., [said,] 'Accountability of tech companies can only be achieved through the painstaking introduction of new rules for the internet. That is exactly what Mark Zuckerberg has called for. Indeed, he is meeting Government leaders this week to further that work.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "House Democrats, infuriated by President Trump’s stonewalling, are struggling to mount a more aggressive campaign to compel him to cooperate with their investigations -- a push that could include a threat to jail officials, garnish their wages and perhaps even impeach the president. With Mr. Trump throwing up roadblocks on practically a daily basis ... Democrats and their leaders are feeling a new urgency to assert their power as a coequal branch of government. Some who previously urged caution are now saying impeachment may be inevitable."

** Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to recommend the House hold Attorney General William P. Barr in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over Robert S. Mueller III's unredacted report, hours after President Trump asserted executive privilege to shield the full report and underlying evidence from public view. The committee's 24-16 contempt vote, taken after hours of debate that featured apocalyptic language about the future of American democracy, marked the first time that the House has taken official action to punish a government official or witness amid a standoff between the legislative and executive branch. The Justice Department decried it as an unnecessary and overwrought reaction designed to stoke a fight." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Trump Orders Total Cover-up of Document That Totally Exonerates Him. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "President Trump asserted executive privilege on Wednesday in an effort to shield hidden portions of Robert S. Mueller III's unredacted report and the evidence he collected from Congress. The assertion, Mr. Trump' first use of the secrecy powers as president, came as the House Judiciary Committee is expected to vote Wednesday morning to recommend the House of Representatives hold Attorney General William P. Barr in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena for the same material." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Noah Feldman of Bloomberg: "Barr already had a chance to redact anything from the Mueller report that in his judgment would've violated executive privilege -- when he did the redaction in the first place. But Barr didn't redact anything at all from the report on the basis of executive privilege.... In other words, Barr has already effectively determined that nothing in the Mueller report needed to be redacted for executive privilege reasons.... Trump already waived executive privilege when he told McGahn that he could speak to the Mueller team. Ordinarily, you can't invoke a privilege once you've already waived it.... As that battle plays out, just remember that the words 'executive privilege' occur nowhere in the Constitution. The doctrine is a judicial construction, based on the logic of the separation of powers, with the goal of making sure the president can do the people's work."

Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "Hours after the House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt for defying a subpoena, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who chairs the House Permanent Committee on Intelligence, [announced his committee had just subpoenaed Barr].... 'For the last month and a half, the Committee has engaged the Department of Justice in a good faith effort to reach an accommodation of our requests for all of the foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information related to the Special Counsel's investigation, and the Mueller report and its underlying materials,' Schiff said. 'The Department has repeatedly failed to respond, refused to schedule any testimony, and provided no documents responsive to our legitimate and duly authorized oversight activities.'" ...

... Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "President Trump has now formally exerted executive privilege over the redacted portions of the Mueller report and its underlying materials -- defying a House subpoena for those materials, and confirming once again that Trump will exercise maximal resistance to any and all oversight and accountability. This march into treating the House as fundamentally illegitimate is going to make it harder and harder for Democrats to resist launching an impeachment inquiry. In an interview, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif) -- the chair of the House Intelligence Committee -- said that if things continue on their current course, it will escalate the chances that 'we end up in a constitutional confrontation' and will add to 'the weight behind an impeachment process.'... As former prosecutor Mimi Rocah put it, this has the makings of a constitutional crisis, because 'the head of the Justice Department' is helping to block congressional investigations into the president 'regardless of law or merit.'" ...

... Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that President Trump is 'becoming self-impeachable,' pointing to his efforts to fight all subpoenas from congressional investigations and prevent key aides from testifying before Congress. 'The point is that every single day, whether it's obstruction, obstruction, obstruction -- obstruction of having people come to the table with facts, ignoring subpoenas ... every single day, the president is making a case --- he's becoming self-impeachable, in terms of some of the things that he is doing,' Pelosi said at a Washington Post Live event." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Sheryl Stolberg: "Even after President Trump sued him last month to keep his business records secret, Representative Elijah E. Cummings kept his cool and urged Congress to move slowly on impeachment. But with Mr. Trump manning a full-scale blockade of Democrats' access to documents and witnesses, the ordinarily careful Democrat is, like the rest of his caucus, growing impatient. 'It sounds like he's asking us to impeach him,' Mr. Cummings, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and a top lieutenant to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said in an interview last week. Ticking off all the ways Mr. Trump is stonewalling Congress, he added, 'He puts us in a position where we at least have to look at it.' Mr. Cummings's remarks, which have been echoed by Ms. Pelosi, represent a significant shift for top Democrats, who have been trying to maneuver carefully around the impeachment issue.... Mr. Cummings called the White House effort to block multiple lines of inquiry 'far worse than Watergate.' He sees a 'constitutional crisis' that even the founding fathers did not envision...." ...

... Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "President Trump's wholesale refusal to provide information to Congress threatens to upend the delicate balance that is the separation of powers outlined in the Constitution. Earlier administrations fought isolated skirmishes over congressional subpoenas. Mr. Trump, by contrast, has declared an all-out war on efforts by House Democrats to look into his official conduct and business dealings.... In a 1927 decision arising from the Teapot Dome scandal, concerning government corruption, the Supreme Court said that congressional inquiries were 'an essential and appropriate auxiliary to the legislative function.'... Raymond W. Smock, who served as historian of the House from 1983 to 1995, said it was one thing for Mr. Trump to assert a privilege and another for him to presume to decide what was a legitimate legislative purpose. 'That is part of the arrogance the Trump administration is exhibiting all up and down the line,' Mr. Smock said." ...

** Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "The Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr. to answer questions about his contention that he had only limited knowledge of a project to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, a source with direct knowledge tells NBC News. The committee, led by Republicans, is nearing completion of its investigation into Russian election interference.... Trump Jr. testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2017. He said he was only 'peripherally aware' of the Moscow development proposal, which was kept secret from voters. Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who was pursuing the project..., testified that he briefed Trump Jr. and his sister Ivanka Trump about the project 'approximately 10' times.... According to the Mueller report, Trump [Sr.] authorized and remained interested in the Moscow project, which was described as 'highly lucrative.' Trump Jr. was not charged by special counsel Robert Mueller over his Senate testimony, after months of speculation that such charges were possible." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Mark Mazzetti & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The committee is particularly interested in the younger Mr. Trump's account of the events surrounding the Trump Tower meeting -- as well as his role in his father's efforts to build a skyscraper in Moscow -- and comparing the testimony to his previous answers to Senate investigators in 2017.... The decision to subpoena the president's son is an aggressive move, and appears to have come after discussions broke down about whether the younger Mr. Trump might appear voluntarily before the panel.... The subpoena was issued more than two weeks ago, one person said...."

Rachel Frazin of the Hill: "The New York State Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that would allow state prosecutors to pursue charges in some instances in which a person received a presidential pardon. Under the legislation, 'a prosecution is not considered to have occurred if a person has been granted a reprieve, pardon, or other form of clemency for the offense by the President' and other conditions are met.... The bill was created to get rid of a loophole that would make it more difficult to prosecute someone who had received a pardon. The state Assembly has not scheduled a vote on the measure...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jordyn Hermani of Politico: "Former FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday that the bureau' doesn't spy' and that he 'had no idea' why Attorney General William Barr used that language to describe agents' investigation of ... Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. 'I have no idea what [Barr's] talking about. The FBI doesn't spy. The FBI investigates,' Comey said on 'CBS This Morning.' 'The Republicans need to breathe into a paper bag. If we had confronted the same facts with a different candidate, say a Democrat candidate ... they would be screaming for the FBI to investigate, and that's all we did.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Walter Shapiro, in the New Republic, enjoyed reading the New York Times' story (linked yesterday) about Trump's glorious business career: "Trump's dazzling failure helps explain how he and the Republicans have given the nation an era of nearly $1 trillion in annual deficits, despite the buoyant economy.... No coverup lasts forever -- and..., sooner or later, Trump's more recent tax returns will be made public.... Trump implicitly acknowledged the accuracy of the Times' tax reporting when he tweeted early Wednesday morning, 'You always wanted to show losses for tax purposes ... it was sport. Additionally, the very old information is a highly inaccurate Fake News hit job!' In his tweets, Trump claimed that his red-ink bookkeeping was all real estate gamesmanship, even though the Times' story pointedly declared, 'Depreciation cannot account for the hundreds of millions of dollars in losses Mr. Trump declared on his taxes.'... The case against Trump's reelection should be built around his bilious, maladroit, lawless presidency rather than his long-ago billion-dollar business failures." ...

... Josh Barro of New York: “You can't lose over a billion dollars if you don't have over a billion dollars to begin with. You can do things that cause over a billion dollars in losses.... Therefore, while we have now learned that Donald Trump reported over a billion dollars in losses over a decade on his tax returns, I object to the widespread characterization of him having 'lost' that much money himself. The math just doesn't add up.... The story I find most plausible is that Trump was claiming credit on his taxes for losses actually borne by other people or entities, such as banks that loaned money to him or his businesses and did not get paid back in full." Trump may have been able to do this through a tax loophole which Congress closed in 2002. "The primary lesson of Trump's massive reported losses from 1985 to 1994 is not that he was a comically bad businessman, but that he was comically undertaxed."

The Emperor Strikes Again. Dana Milbank: "For the past 21 years, I have had the high privilege of holding a White House press pass.... But no more. The White House eliminated most briefings and severely restricted access to official events. And this week came the coup de grace: After covering four presidents, I received an email informing me that Trump’s press office had revoked my White House credential.... It was part of a mass purge of 'hard pass' holders after the White House implemented a new standard that designated as unqualified almost the entire White House press corps, including all six of The Post's White House correspondents. White House officials then chose which journalists would be granted 'exceptions.' It did this over objections from news organizations and the White House Correspondents' Association.... The White House press office granted exceptions to the other six [Wash Po reporters], but not to me. I strongly suspect it's because I'm a Trump critic.... There's something wrong with a president having the power to decide which journalists can cover him." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is banana-republic serious. Trump has done all he can to undermine the Congress. He is treating the Supreme Court as an ally (and who knows what he'll do if the courts order him to comply with Congressional subpoenas?), and now he is shutting out the "fourth branch of government," the press. ...

... Paul Farhi of the Washington Post has more on the White House's "new rules." Mrs. McC: Not surprisingly, it's a hot mess.

Say, let's milk this one for another day:

Jerry Ianelli of the Miami New Times: "Giancarlo Granda, the former Fontainebleau pool attendant whose business bizarrely received $1.8 million in loans from famous evangelist Jerry Falwell Jr., wants the world to stop calling him a 'pool boy.' He finds the term demeaning. And, perhaps more notable, he officially denies knowing anything about alleged 'racy' photos referenced in a Reuters story published yesterday.... [Reuters reporter Aram] Roston[, who wrote the racy photos story,] was also the reporter who broke the news that Falwell Jr. had mysteriously loaned Granda's business a ton of money and that [Michael] Cohen was aware of a lawsuit involving Falwell and Granda. Reporters have, ahem, speculated that Granda was the Floridian who had obtained said photos and that Cohen might have leveraged the scandal to get Falwell Jr. to endorse the infamously lecherous and not-at-all Jesus-like Trump in 2016.... Everything about the Falwell Jr. story is extremely weird. To summarize: In 2012, Granda was working as a pool attendant at the luxurious Fontainebleau in Miami Beach. While Granda was employed there, Falwell Jr. and his wife Becki stayed at the resort and, according to court records, 'befriended' Granda. From there, Granda grew very close to the Falwell family: According to court filings first reported by Roston, Granda, along with Falwell's son Trey, bought a hostel ... in Miami Beach and has been managing it ever since. (A Politico reporter even stayed there and implied the place was gay-friendly, which would be pretty darn hypocritical for the infamously homophobic Falwell family.) The Falwells also reportedly flew Granda around in a private jet and even took him to meet Trump."

Hate-Monger-in-Chief. The Mass Murder of Immigrants Is Funny. Matt Stieb of New York: At a rally in Panama Beach, Florida last night, Trump said, “'You have hundreds and hundreds of [migrants] and you have two or three border security people that are brave and great -- and don't forget, we don't let them and we can't let them use weapons.... We can't. Other countries do. We can't, I would never do that. But how do you stop these people?' An audience member ... [shouted]. 'Shoot them'..., which caused the president, and [many] ... crowd members, to laugh. 'Only in the panhandle can you get away with that statement,' Trump said.... Trump's response, of course, provides a tacit endorsement of the audience member's call: If the president says you have gotten away with a horrendous statement, one might assume the behavior was okay."

Ana Swanson & Keith Bradsher of the New York Times: "President Trump taunted China on Wednesday morning, saying in a tweet that Chinese negotiators were attempting to drag out trade negotiations until a 'very weak' Democrat was back in the White House and insisting he would be happy to keep tariffs on Chinese exports rather than make a deal. 'The reason for the China pullback & attempted renegotiation of the Trade Deal is the sincere HOPE that they will be able to "negotiate" with Joe Biden or one of the very weak Democrats, and thereby continue to ripoff the United States (($500 Billion a year)) for years to come,' Mr. Trump said on Twitter Wednesday morning.... 'Guess what, that's not going to happen! China has just informed us that they (Vice-Premier) are now coming to the U.S. to make a deal. We'll see, but I am very happy with over $100 Billion a year in Tariffs filling U.S. coffers...great for U.S., not good for China!' he added.... But Mr. Trump appears ready to impose higher tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods on Friday morning, regardless of whether the talks get back on track." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday made a blistering attack against China as he stepped up pressure on Britain, warning that American intelligence sharing could be risked by the involvement of a Chinese company in a new British telecommunications network. Speaking in London, Mr. Pompeo argued that China posed such a range of economic and security threats that the world now faced 'a new kind of challenge, an authoritarian regime that's integrated economically into the West.' 'China steals intellectual property for military purposes,' he said. 'It wants to dominate A.I., space technology, ballistic missiles and many other areas.' The question on the table in Britain is whether the government should allow Huawei, a Chinese company considered a security risk by the United States, to help build some of the next-generation, 5G cellular network in Britain."

Wesley Morgan of Politico: "Former national security adviser H.R. McMaster accused some of his former White House colleagues on Wednesday of being 'a danger to the Constitution' because they are either trying to manipulate ... Donald Trump to push their own agenda or see themselves as rescuing the country from what they view as the commander in chief's bad policy choices.... He said others whom he declined to identify by name had very different agendas.... He declined to offer his opinion of his successor, John Bolton. Nor did he assess Trump directly."

** "The Gravedigger of Democracy." digby: "You might think that it makes no sense that members of Congress would go along with [turn(ing) the presidency into a (Republican) unitary executive office], seeing as it directly interferes with their own constitutional prerogatives.... But it turns out that the modern Republicans are loyal to their party above all else, and no one personifies that dedication more than Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.... Recall that McConnell blithely announced after Barack Obama's election that his top priority was to see to it that Obama was a one-term president. He forced the Democrats to change the filibuster rules when he blocked 79 of Obama's judges, beating the previous record. (That would be the 68 judicial nominees that had been blocked in the entire history of the United States.) McConnell ... hen refused to even hold hearings for Merrick Garland, Obama's choice to fill Antonin Scalia's seat on the Supreme Court. Since Trump's election, McConnell has been dutifully jamming through hundreds of judicial appointments at breakneck speed.... On Tuesday, McConnell surpassed himself." Read on.

Steve Contorno of the Tampa Bay Times: "An investigation into U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz [R] will proceed, the Florida Bar said Wednesday, meaning the Panhandle Republican could face discipline for allegedly intimidating ... Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen. A grand jury-like panel called the Grievance Committee will next decide whether there is probable cause that Gaetz's tweet broke the state Supreme Court's rules for lawyers. Gaetz, one of Trump's top allies in Congress, is licensed to practice law in Florida.... The complaint against Gaetz stems from a menacing tweet he sent on Feb. 27, the eve of Cohen's testimony before a House committee. Gaetz wrote: 'Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she'll remain faithful when you're in prison. She's about to learn a lot...' He has since deleted the tweet, but not before it went viral. Legal experts compared it to intimidation of a witness."

Presidential Race 2020. Whatever Happend to Howard Schultz? Matt Stieb: "We're still 18 months out from the presidential election, and yet the campaign process already includes distant memories like Howard Schultz's 2019 winter media blitz. In January and February, the billionaire and former Starbucks CEO aggressively toured the TV-news talk circuit, where he was barraged with questions about why he should pursue an independent run if it would pull business-minded centrists away from the Democratic nominee. But as of early May, the Schultz pre-campaign has gone dark. Aides who spoke to the Daily Beast say that Schultz has not given up on his presidential ambitions, but Schultz hasn't appeared in public since a visit to Arizona to discuss border security in late April. Recently scheduled events in Utah, San Francisco, and Dallas were canceled, and Schultz has cut down on his social-media presence.... Schultz spokesperson Erin McPike told the Daily Beast, he has been quiet recently because he is 'taking a break while he is recovering from back surgery.'"

Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "A new survey finds white Republicans are far more likely to be put off by foreign language speakers than their Democratic counterparts. According to Pew Research Center, 47 percent of such Republicans say it would bother them 'some' or 'a lot' to 'hear people speak a language other than English in a public place.' Eighteen percent of white Democrats said they would be similarly bothered. Aside from politics, age and education are the major predictors of linguistic discomfort."

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Sam Roberts of the New York Times: "Robert Pear, a reporter whose understated demeanor belied a tenacious pursuit of sources and scoops during his 40 years at The New York Times covering health care and other critical national issues, died on Tuesday in Rockville, Md. He was 69."

Beyond the Beltway

Rhode Island. Some School Board Members Really Hate Kids. Elisha Fieldstadt of NBC News: "Students at a Rhode Island school district who owe money on their lunch accounts will have the sole option of a sunflower butter and jelly sandwich until they are able to pay their balances, the district announced Sunday. Warwick Public Schools, which has more than 9,000 pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students, said the district-wide policy will go into effect on May 13.... Warwick School Committee chairwoman Karen Bachus told NBC News that the sandwiches are served with the vegetable of the day, a fruit and milk. Public schools in Rhode Island are mandated by state law to provide lunches to students."

The Commentariat -- May 8, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "The Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr. to answer questions about his contention that he had only limited knowledge of a project to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, a source with direct knowledge tells NBC News. The committee, led by Republicans, is nearing completion of its investigation into Russian election interference.... Trump Jr. testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2017. He said he was only 'peripherally aware' of the Moscow development proposal, which was kept secret from voters. Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who was pursuing the project..., testified that he briefed Trump Jr. and his sister Ivanka Trump about the project 'approximately 10' times.... According to the Mueller report, Trump [Sr.] authorized and remained interested in the Moscow project, which was described as 'highly lucrative.' Trump Jr. was not charged by special counsel Robert Mueller over his Senate testimony, after months of speculation that such charges were possible."

** Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to recommend the House hold Attorney General William P. Barr in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over Robert S. Mueller III's unredacted report, hours after President Trump asserted executive privilege to shield the full report and underlying evidence from public view. The committee's 24-16 contempt vote, taken after hours of debate that featured apocalyptic language about the future of American democracy, marked the first time that the House has taken official action to punish a government official or witness amid a standoff between the legislative and executive branch. The Justice Department decried it as an unnecessary and overwrought reaction designed to stoke a fight."

Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that President Trump is 'becoming self-impeachable,' pointing to his efforts to fight all subpoenas from congressional investigations and prevent key aides from testifying before Congress. 'The point is that every single day, whether it's obstruction, obstruction, obstruction -- obstruction of having people come to the table with facts, ignoring subpoenas ... every single day, the president is making a case -- he's becoming self-impeachable, in terms of some of the things that he is doing,' Pelosi said at a Washington Post Live event."

Rachel Frazin of the Hill: "The New York State Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that would allow state prosecutors to pursue charges in some instances in which a person received a presidential pardon. Under the legislation, 'a prosecution is not considered to have occurred if a person has been granted a reprieve, pardon, or other form of clemency for the offense by the President' and other conditions are met.... The bill was created to get rid of a loophole that would make it more difficult to prosecute someone who had received a pardon. The state Assembly has not scheduled a vote on the measure...."

Trump Orders Total Cover-up. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "President Trump asserted executive privilege on Wednesday in an effort to shield hidden portions of Robert S. Mueller III's unredacted report and the evidence he collected from Congress. The assertion, Mr. Trump's first use of the secrecy powers as president, came as the House Judiciary Committee is expected to vote Wednesday morning to recommend the House of Representatives hold Attorney General William P. Barr in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena for the same material."

Jordyn Hermani of Politico: "Former FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday that the bureau' doesn't spy' and that he 'had no idea' why Attorney General William Barr used that language to describe agents' investigation of ... Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. 'I have no idea what [Barr's]) talking about. The FBI doesn't spy. The FBI investigates,' Comey said on 'CBS This Morning.' 'The Republicans need to breathe into a paper bag. If we had confronted the same facts with a different candidate, say a Democrat candidate ... they would be screaming for the FBI to investigate, and that's all we did.'"

Ana Swanson & Keith Bradsher of the New York Times: "President Trump taunted China on Wednesday morning, saying in a tweet that Chinese negotiators were attempting to drag out trade negotiations until a 'very weak' Democrat was back in the White House and insisting he would be happy to keep tariffs on Chinese exports rather than make a deal. 'The reason for the China pullback & attempted renegotiation of the Trade Deal is the sincere HOPE that they will be able to "negotiate" with Joe Biden or one of the very weak Democrats, and thereby continue to ripoff the United States (($500 Billion a year)) for years to come,' Mr. Trump said on Twitter Wednesday morning.... 'Guess what, that's not going to happen! China has just informed us that they (Vice-Premier) are now coming to the U.S. to make a deal. We'll see, but I am very happy with over $100 Billion a year in Tariffs filling U.S. coffers...great for U.S., not good for China!' he added.... But Mr. Trump appears ready to impose higher tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods on Friday morning, regardless of whether the talks get back on track." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Forgot to mention this: Janna Herron of USA Today: "The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 450 points Tuesday and had its worst performance since Jan. 3. The other two top gauges of U.S. stocks, the Standard & Poor's 500 and the Nasdaq, notched their sharpest declines since March 22. Major U.S. stock indexes fell sharply for a second straight day after ... Donald Trump threatened a huge increase in tariffs on Chinese goods in two tweets over the weekend."

~~~~~~~~~~

Billion-Dollar Loser

** Russ Buettner & Susanne Craig of the New York Times: Over a ten-year period, from 1985 to 1994, “Mr. Trump appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer, The Times found.... His core business losses in 1990 and 1991 -- more than $250 million each year -- were more than double those of the nearest taxpayers in the I.R.S. information for those years.... [Ten] years of tax information obtained by The New York Times ... -- printouts from Mr. Trump's official Internal Revenue Service tax transcripts, with the figures from his federal tax form, the 1040, for the years 1985 to 1994 -- represents the fullest and most detailed look to date at the president's taxes, information he has kept from public view.... In 1985, Mr. Trump reported losses of $46.1 million from his core businesses -- largely casinos, hotels and retail space in apartment buildings. They continued to lose money every year, totaling $1.17 billion in losses for the decade.... Over all, Mr. Trump lost so much money that he was able to avoid paying income taxes for eight of the 10 years. It is not known whether the I.R.S. later required changes after audits.... Depreciation cannot account for the hundreds of millions of dollars in losses Mr. Trump declared on his taxes." ...

... Susanne Craig & Russ Beuttner list five takeaways from Trump's tax data: 1. Mr. Trump was deep in the red even as he peddled deal-making advice[.]... He recorded $42.2 million in core business losses for 1987, [the year he published The Art of the Deal]. "2. In multiple years, he appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual taxpayer[.]... 3. He paid no federal income taxes for eight of the 10 years[.]... 4. He made millions posing as a corporate raider -- until investors realized he never followed through[.]... 5. His interest income spiked in 1989 at $52.9 million, but the source is a mystery[.]... public findings from New Jersey casino regulators show no evidence that he owned anything capable of generating that much interest. Nor is there any such evidence in a 1990 report on his financial condition...."

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Maybe, like me, you don't think reading about taxes is much fun, but reading about Trump's "picaresque career," as the Times put it, is actually rather satisfying, even as it is an outrage to those of us who pay our taxes & thus contribute to the orderly administration of the nation. ...

... In case you were thinking, "At last, something to convince the rubes Trump is a really bad guy & a total fraud:

... digby predicts, "I don't think his base will care. They'll just think that he's the greatest businessman in the world because even though he was losing more money than anyone in the country and conned everyone he partnered with, he lived like a king and dated beautiful women and eventually became president of the United States. He's an American success story. What a guy." ...

... With a Little Help from Fox "News." "The Best Accountants in the World." Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "Moments after The New York Times published a blockbuster story reporting that President Trump's tax returns from the 1980s and '90s revealed his businesses suffered over a billion dollars in losses during that time, Fox News framed the news as Trump brilliantly gaming the system in order to avoid paying income taxes.... Fox News correspondent Ed Henry interrupted a segment with Fox News contributor and conservative columnist Marc Thiessen to break the news. Highlighting the key points of the report, such as the massive business losses and Trump not paying income taxes for eight of ten years, Henry tossed to Thiessen for his take.... 'I always thought that the reason why Donald Trump doesn't want his taxes released is nothing to do with any corruption or illegality,' he stated. 'It's because they are going to show he is not as rich as he says he is. Because when you do your taxes, your incentive is to minimize your income as much as possible to pay the least amount of taxes.' Thiessen added: 'So Donald Trump has the best accountants in the world they are going to minimize his income.'" ...

... SO Then. Morgan Gstalter of the Hill: "President Trump lashed out at The New York Times early Wednesday after a report on his businesses losses, labeling the newspaper's story a 'highly inaccurate Fake News hit job!' Trump took to Twitter to defend himself, writing that real estate developers in the 1980s and 1990s were entitled to 'massive write offs and depreciation which would, if one was actively building, show losses and tax losses in almost all cases.'... 'Sometimes considered "tax shelters," you would get it by building, or even buying,' Trump tweeted. 'You always wanted to show losses for tax purposes ... almost all real estate developers did - and often re-negotiate with banks, it was sport.' The president concluded by saying the 'very old information' released by the Times was meant as a 'highly inaccurate Fake News hit job!'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So it's "highly inaccurate" & "Fake News," but Trump expends most of his outrage energy defending the "very old information." He doesn't seem to understand the concept of "internal contradiction" or "inconsistent statements."

Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: "As the standoff over President Trump's federal tax returns deepens in Washington, New York State lawmakers say they intend to advance a bill on Wednesday to allow congressional committees to see Mr. Trump's New York State returns. State Senator Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan Democrat, confirmed on Tuesday that the State Senate had enough votes to ensure passage of a bill allowing the commissioner of the New York Department of Taxation and Finance to release any state tax return requested by a leader of one of three congressional committees for any 'specified and legitimate legislative purpose.' A tax return from New York -- the headquarters of the president's business empire and his home state -- could contain much of the same financial information as a federal return, which Mr. Trump has steadfastly refused to release."

New York Times Editors: "As to whether Congress may obtain a president's tax returns, there is no ambiguity: Federal law empowers the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee to submit a written request to the Treasury Department, which oversees the Internal Revenue Service, for 'any return or return information.' The Treasury secretary then 'shall furnish' the requested information to the committee so that it may conduct its legislative functions. Perhaps that statute is not clear enough for Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The secretary on Monday rebuffed just such a request.... The Treasury secretary cited no authority for this stonewalling, which is consistent with the Trump administration's broad resistance to congressional oversight and the president's push to quash any investigation into his finances." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jonathan Chait: "Keeping Trump's Tax Returns Secret Is an Insanely Huge Security Risk.... It's hardly a mystery why Trump is desperate to keep his tax returns secret. The most innocent narrative they might possibly reveal is that he's a horrible businessman who relied on handouts from his father. The question is why anybody else would buy this story. Perhaps the most explosive finding in Robert Mueller's investigation is that Trump was secretly negotiating a building deal in Moscow that promised profits of several hundred million dollars, with no risk. Russia habitually gives out sweetheart deals to its overseas political partners, structured in the form of putatively legitimate investments that disguise simple bribes.... What the Times reporting underscores is how utterly vulnerable Trump must have been to an offer like this.... This is a man who was handed hundreds of millions of dollars, flushed it down the toilet, and was desperate to maintain his image of wealth and success. You couldn't invent a more inviting target for a foreign intelligence service to manipulate."

Yeah, This Is a Constitutional Crisis

Barr Threatens to Withhold EVERYTHING. Olivia Beavers of the Hill: "The Justice Department is threatening to asked President Trump to invoke executive privilege over the Mueller report if the House Judiciary Committee goes through with its threat to vote on whether to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt. Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd in a letter on Tuesday told Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler(D-N.Y.) threatened to turn to the presidential power on the eve of the contempt markup before his panel, a move that is certain to deepen the agency's feud with Capitol Hill." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So I guess Billy Boy doesn't consider a contempt of Congress citation to be a badge of honor.

Nicholas Fandos, et al., of the New York Times: "The White House stepped in on Tuesday to stop Donald F. McGahn II, the former White House counsel, from handing over documents subpoenaed by House investigators because President Trump may want to assert executive privilege over them. The current White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, instructed the House Judiciary Committee to redirect to the White House its requests for the records, which relate to key episodes of possible obstruction of justice identified by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel. His move was certain to enrage Democrats who are increasingly at odds with the Trump administration over access to witness and records that they say they need to conduct legitimate investigations. 'The White House provided these records to Mr. McGahn in connection with its cooperation with the special counsel's investigation and with clear understanding that the records remain subject to the control of the White House for all purposes,' Mr. Cipollone wrote in a letter to the committee's chairman, Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump either gambled or was assured that Mueller would not indict him for any of his bad acts, which probably figured into his decision to take his then-lawyers' advice to allow White House staff like McGahn to cooperate with Mueller. Now, as the stakes rise to impeachment, he is cutting off all, or nearly all, cooperation. ...

... SO Then. Morgan Chalfont of the Hill: "House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday threatened to begin contempt proceedings against former White House counsel Don McGahn if he does not comply with a congressional subpoena for documents and testimony. In a letter to McGahn's attorney William Burck, Nadler wrote that the committee would have 'no choice but to resort to contempt proceedings' if McGahn does not provide testimony before the committee or submit a privilege log laying out documents withheld from production as a result of assertions made by the White House.... Nadler has demanded McGahn testify publicly before the committee on May 21, however Trump has given every indication he will look to assert executive privilege in order to block his former adviser's appearance." ...

... "Case Closed." Kyra Phillips, et al., of ABC News: "... Sarah Sanders doubled down Tuesday on the administration's recurring policy of stonewalling what they perceive as oversight outreach from congressional committees.... Over the weekend..., Donald Trump tweeted that ... Robert Mueller 'should not testify' before Congress.... 'I think that's a determination to be made at this point,' Sanders said, when asked whether Trump has explicitly instructed the Justice Department to keep Mueller from testifying. 'But that's the president's feeling on the matter and the reason is because we consider this as a case closed as a finished process.'"

... Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly finds many reasons why McGahn's decision to accede to Trump's claim of executive privilege is legally baseless. "Officially, the president is not considered a 'client' of the White House counsel. Historically, there is no executive privilege granted to requests involving congressional inquiries of presidential wrongdoing. Ordinarily, any claim to executive privilege would be waived with respect to matters in which the White House counsel has already cooperated and provided information. When I add this all up, the effort to prevent McGahn from cooperating with Congress seems both wrong on the merits and doomed to failure in the courts.... But these norms and precedents were established ... before a hard conservative majority controlled the Supreme Court. They developed before the Department of Justice was headed by a man determined to run interference for a criminal president.... The House of Representatives will have a better case in court if it can unambiguously argue that it is seeking this information because it applies to 'legislative proceedings by the U.S. Congress against the President due to allegations of misconduct while in office, such as formal censures or impeachment proceedings.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I would add one more element to Longman's argument: Trump himself has waived executive privilege by tweeting about his conversations with McGahn, claiming that contrary to the Mueller report's publication of McGahn's statements to investigators, "As has been incorrectly reported by the Fake News Media, I never told then White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Robert Mueller, even though I had the legal right to do so. If I wanted to fire Mueller, I didn't need McGahn to do it, I could have done it myself." This assertion implies McGahn lied to investigators, which would subject him to criminal charges. At the same time, firing Mueller constitutes obstruction of justice, so the Congress has an obligation to try to find out who was lying here: Trump or McGahn. We can guess the answer to that with a 99% chance we're right.

Adam Edelman of NBC News: "FBI Director Chris Wray said Tuesday that he would not describe the federal government's surveillance, such as that conducted on ... Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, as 'spying,' as Attorney General William Barr has. During a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Wray was asked by committee member Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., about Barr's statement last month that 'spying did occur' on the Trump campaign.... Barr had also said he was "reviewing the conduct" of the FBI's Russia probe during the summer of 2016.... 'I was very concerned by his use of the word spying, which I think is a loaded word,' Shaheen said. 'When FBI agents conduct investigations against alleged mobsters, suspected terrorists, other criminals, do you believe they're engaging in spying when they're following FBI investigative policies and procedures?' 'That's not the term I would use,' Wray replied. 'So I would say that's a no....' Asked if he had 'any evidence that any illegal surveillance' into the Trump 2016 campaign occurred, Wray said he did not." Mrs. McC: Barr is Wray's boss. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

735 Prosecutors Agree: Trump S/B Subject to "Multiple Felony Charges." Mrs. McCrabbie: As of 10:30 pm ET Tuesday, 735 former federal prosecutors have signed a letter stating that "the conduct of President Trump described in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report would, in the case of any other person not covered by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting President, result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice."

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Special counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors didn't want former FBI Director James Comey's memos released because they feared that ... Donald Trump and other witnesses could change their stories after reading Comey's version of events, according to an argument they made in a January 2018 sealed court hearing. The newly released record gives a rare glimpse into the Mueller team's concerns.... A court order on Tuesday forced the Justice Department to provide a transcript of the hearing to CNN as part of a lawsuit over access to the Comey memos.... Mueller's plea to keep the memos under seal coincided with negotiations with Trump's legal team over a potential interview with the President at Camp David, planned for the days following the court hearing and which ultimately fell through. At the time of the late January hearing, several other witnesses to the Comey developments had already spoken to Mueller.... Shortly after the meetings with Comey, Trump and the White House had publicly contradicted the FBI director's story.... Redacted versions of the Comey memos became public in April 2018 after Congress received copies of them. Mueller, in his final report on his investigation, wrote that he had "substantial evidence" to corroborate Comey's version of what happened."

"Case Closed." Mitch Got the Talking Points. Catie Edmundson of the New York Times: "Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, called on Congress on Tuesday to move on from the Mueller report and issued his own verdict from the Senate floor: 'Case closed.'... Mr. McConnell's speech pointed up the profound gap between the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democrat-controlled House. House Democrats are locked in an escalating fight with President Trump, who is trying to slam shut House investigations of all sort." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jonathan Chait: "During the 2016 election, CIA director John Brennan informed congressional leaders that Russian intelligence was interfering in the election in an effort to help Donald Trump win. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell dismissed the conclusion, and depicted it as a frame-up. 'You're trying to screw the Republican candidate,' he charged, warning that he would refuse to sign a bipartisan statement warning Russia to back off. If blocking Russia meant hindering the Trump campaign, McConnell wasn't interested. [In his floor speech yesterday, McConnell suggested that] to continue pursuing the massive evidence of corruption and misconduct in the Mueller report would somehow help Putin. If Americans 'remain consumed by unhinged partisanship,' McConnell said, 'and keep dividing ourselves ... Putin and his agents need only stand on the sidelines and watch as their job is done for them.' Note here that McConnell is again denying the same thing he denied in 2016: that Russia intervened not just to 'divide' Americans but specifically in order to help Trump win." ...

McConnell, Putin's Accomplice. Aaron Rupar of Vox: "McConnell, who arguably did more than anyone to prevent the Obama administration from providing a bipartisan warning about Russia's interference efforts in the months before the 2016 election, mocked Democrats for abruptly awakening to the dangers of Russian aggression.' 'Maybe stronger leadership would have left the Kremlin less emboldened,' McConnell said, referring to Obama. 'Maybe tampering with our democracy wouldn't have seemed so very tempting.'... Following McConnell's speech, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the floor and [said], 'In the run-up to the 2016 election, when the Obama administration sought to warn state election officials about foreign meddling and designate election systems as, quote, critical infrastructure, Leader McConnell reportedly delayed for weeks, watered down the letter from congressional leaders, and pushed back against the designation. Yeah, I'd want to sweep this under the rug if I'd did that.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This point is not mentioned often enough. Every time the names McConnell & Mueller or McConnell & Russia are mentioned in the same sentence, McConnell's interference in the 2016 election should be mentioned.

... Marianne Levine of Politico: "Sen. Dick Durbin suggested Tuesday that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wasn't putting election security legislation up for a vote because Republicans benefited from Russian interference in the 2016 election.... 'There are two possibilities,' Durbin said. 'He really doesn't believe it, he doesn't think the Russians were involved in 2016. He ignores the Mueller report and our intelligence agencies or in the alternative feels the Russians were on the side of the Republicans in 2016 and just might be again in 2020.'"

... On the Senate floor, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) answers Mitch:

... Here's the long version, where Warren really lays into McConnell, then goes on to read parts of the Mueller report. Kinda reminds me of those 1950s high-tech teevee shows, where some guy read the Sunday funnies to the kiddies:

** Aram Roston of Reuters: "Months before evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr.'s game-changing presidential endorsement of Donald Trump in 2016, Falwell asked Trump fixer Michael Cohen for a personal favor, Cohen said in a recorded conversation reviewed by Reuters. Falwell, president of Liberty University, one of the world's largest Christian universities, said someone had come into possession of what Cohen described as racy 'personal' photographs -- the sort that would typically be kept 'between husband and wife,' Cohen said in the taped conversation. According to a source familiar with Cohen's thinking, the person who possessed the photos destroyed them after Cohen intervened on the Falwells' behalf.... Cohen ... recounted his involvement in the matter in a recording made surreptitiously by comedian Tom Arnold on March 25.... The Falwells enlisted Cohen's help in 2015, according to the source familiar with Cohen's thinking, the year Trump announced his presidential candidacy.... 'I actually have one of the photos,' he said, without going into specifics. 'It's terrible.'... Cohen helped persuade Falwell to issue his endorsement of Trump's presidential candidacy.... Falwell's backing helped galvanize evangelicals and persuaded many Christians concerned about Trump's past behavior to embrace him as a repentant sinner." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is hilarious. Evangelicals decided to look sideways & vote for the thrice-married admitted pussy-grabber who is 100 percent Bible-illiterate because evangelical preachers, most prominent among them Falwell Junior, endorsed him. But then it turned out that Junior there endorsed him because (although Cohen says this isn't true) Trump & his fixer had covered up a sexual indiscretion of Falwell's. As if this story could not be more perfect, Cohen claims he kept a piece of the evidence. Everything about Trump -- and everyone in his circle -- is phony and corrupt.

Juliegrace Brufke of the Hill: "House Democrats are threatening the salaries of Interior, Commerce and Justice Department staff if they block ongoing committee investigations. House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) sent letters Tuesday calling for eight current and former Trump administration officials to provide information for two of the panel's investigations, cautioning that officials who block the interviews from taking place could see their salaries withheld ... 'pursuant to section 713 of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act....'" Mrs. McC: Some of the obstructionist officials named in the report would appear to be individuals who may need those salaries.

David Sanger of the New York Times: "Iran's president declared on Wednesday that the country would stop complying with two of its commitments under the Iranian nuclear deal, pushing the growing confrontation between Washington and Tehran into new and potentially dangerous territory. The announcement by President Hassan Rouhani came exactly a year after President Trump withdrew entirely from the 2015 agreement, which limited Iran's capacity to produce nuclear fuel for 15 years.... Starting on Wednesday, [Rouhani] said, Iran would begin to build up its stockpiles of low enriched uranium and of heavy water, which is used in nuclear reactors -- including a reactor that could give Iran a source of bomb-grade plutonium. If the Europeans fail to compensate for the unilateral American sanctions, he said, Iran will resume construction of the Arak nuclear reactor, a facility that was shut down, and its key components dismantled, under the deal."

Faith Hassan, et al., of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo scrapped a visit to Germany on Tuesday to make an unannounced trip to Iraq, pressing Iraqi leaders about what he called the increased dangers to Americans there from Iran's forces and allies. Mr. Pompeo said he also used the four-hour visit to push what he described as Iraq's need to avoid dependence on neighboring Iran for power supplies including electricity. The diversion to Iraq by Mr. Pompeo, who was in the midst of a four-day European tour, added to what is an escalating American effort to ostracize Iran, which the Trump administration has sought to vilify as the chief destabilizing force in the Middle East."

Betsy Woodruff & Adam Rawnsley of the Daily Beast: "On Sunday, the National Security Council announced that the U.S. was sending a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Gulf in response to 'troubling and escalatory' warnings from Iran -- an eye-popping move that raised fears of a potential military confrontation with Tehran. Justifying the move, anonymous government officials cited intelligence indicating Iran had crafted plans to use proxies to strike U.S. forces, both off the coast of Yemen and stationed in Iraq. National Security Adviser John Bolton also discussed the intelligence on the record.... But multiple sources close to the situation told The Daily Beast that the administration blew it out of proportion, characterizing the threat as more significant than it actually was. 'It's not that the administration is mischaracterizing the intelligence, so much as overreacting to it,' said one U.S. government official briefed on it."

Jonathan Swan of Axios: "President Trump's longtime friend and close adviser, David Bossie, is, for now at least, a persona non grata in Trumpworld.... Two days after Axios published an investigation of Bossie's fundraising, the president personally authorized the Trump campaign to issue an extraordinary statement that, without naming Bossie, effectively called for the authorities to investigate Bossie's group...." ...

... Asawin Suebsaeng & Lachlan Markay of the Daily Beast: "On Monday morning, Donald Trump was incensed over a report that one of his highest-profile supporters, David Bossie, had been engaged in apparent financial self-dealing under the guise of re-electing the president. And as he stewed, Trump began telling those close to him that Bossie's alleged scheme was brazen and egregious enough to warrant a swift, public response.... The drafting of the [campaign] statement [condemning but not naming Bossie] began only after extended internal griping by the president, according to four people with knowledge of his complaints."

In short order, the entire planet could be like a crime scene with the gigantic carbon footprints of Trump and his industry donors all around the body. -- Akhilleus, in yesterday's Comments

Post-Mortem. Stupid, Evil Liberals Did It. Matt Stieb of New York: "Last Thursday, former Trump campaign adviser Stephen Moore spent the morning telling reporters that his contested nomination for the Federal Reserve Board would not be withdrawn, claiming the White House was 'all in.' By lunchtime, Moore was all out.... On .. [a] radio show, hosted by former White House deputy assistant Sebastian Gorka, Moore blamed 'liberals' for the 'campaign' that led to his canceled nomination. 'Why did they run this campaign against me? Because they were terrified of me,' Moore said. 'We always have this debate: Are liberals just stupid, or are they evil?' he asked. 'I don't know -- after this, I think they're stupid and evil.'... Pointing the blame at liberals for souring his nomination ignores the consensus of economists who viewed the attempted appointment as a political stunt.... But ultimately it was Senate Republicans -- who made it obvious that Moore would not muster the votes to pass -- who voided his nomination." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I suppose most of us are inclined to at least entertain the idea that someone else is responsible for what was our own failure, but Moore demonstrates how this tendency can be carried to ridiculous -- and obvious -- extremes.

Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that the Trump administration can continue to enforce a policy that returns asylum seekers to Mexico while they wait for an immigration court to decide their cases. The ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit allows the government to continue enforcing the policy, formally called the Migration Protection Protocols, while the legal issues of the case are being decided. It was an unusual victory for the Trump administration in the liberal-leaning court, though the judges did not rule on the merits of the case."

Mike Spies of the Trace in the New Yorker: "In July of 2018, as the National Rifle Association was in the throes of a financial crisis, a half-dozen of the organization's accountants produced a document detailing what they believed to be the most egregious issues that needed to be addressed by its audit committee -- a small group of N.R.A. board members tasked with conducting fiscal oversight. The accountants' one-and-a-half-page memo ... details a range of questionable transactions and business arrangements involving several top N.R.A. venders and executives. It offers new details on the financial mismanagement occurring inside the organization.... As the depths of the gun group's fiscal problems have become public, its leadership has attempted to blame Democratic politicians and overzealous regulators for throwing it into a dire financial state. Last month, the N.R.A. also blamed Ackerman McQueen, a public-relations firm that, for almost four decades, has meticulously crafted the organization's identity.... The N.R.A.'s relationship with Ackerman seems to be the most prominent example of an organizational culture that is marked by secrecy, self-dealing, and greed, and has cost the N.R.A. hundreds of millions of dollars through bloated payments, lavish deals, and opaque financial arrangements."

Beyond the Beltway

Colorado. Jack Healy & Liam Stack of the New York Times: "Eight students were shot at a school near Columbine High School in Colorado on Tuesday afternoon and two schoolmates were in custody, according to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Tony Spurlock said the suspects were both students at STEM School Highlands Ranch, a charter school near Denver that serves more than 1,800 students from kindergarten through 12th grade.... Eight students had been taken to area hospitals and 'several' were in critical condition, the sheriff said, although local hospitals described their conditions as less dire." ...

... Kirk Mitchell, et al., of the Denver Post: "A student shot at the STEM School in Highlands Ranch has died, according to Denver7, and law enforcement officials have reported eight students were injured in the gunfire that erupted Tuesday afternoon inside the school. Two male students, one who is an adult and one who is a juvenile, are in custody, Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said. The suspects went 'deep inside the school' and engaged in two locations, he said. The suspects used at least one handgun but it was unknown what other weapons might have been used."

Florida. CBS4 Miami: "Gov. Ron DeSantis [R] said Tuesday he will sign a controversial measure that would require repayment of financial obligations before felons' voting rights are restored.... Democrats and many other Amendment 4 supporters say the legislation is too restrictive and would block people from being able to vote, with some comparing the need to fully pay restitution to a poll tax.... Critics ... contend [the bill] would create unjustifiable barriers to voting.... The [ACLU] ... is exploring legal options to challenge the bill."

Texas. David Montgomery of the New York Times: "As Trooper Brian Encinia angrily threatened her with a stun gun from just outside her car window, Sandra Bland recorded the encounter on her cellphone, shown in a newly released, 39-second video that has prompted Ms. Bland's family to call for a renewed investigation into her arrest and death nearly four years ago. Ms. Bland, a 28-year-old African-American from the Chicago area, was taken into custody in southeast Texas following the confrontational 2015 traffic stop and was found hanging in a jail cell three days later in what was officially ruled a suicide.... Cannon Lambert, a lawyer who represents the Bland family, said the video, by showing Ms. Bland with a cellphone in her hand, seriously undercut the trooper's claim that he feared for his safety as he approached the woman's vehicle.... Mr. Encinia was indicted on a charge of perjury -- the only criminal charge arising from the case -- after grand jurors accused him of making a false statement in his claim that he removed Ms. Bland from her car to more safely conduct a traffic investigation. But the charge was later dismissed on a motion by prosecutors in exchange for the trooper's promise that he would never again work in law enforcement." Includes video.