The Commentariat -- March 27, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Rowena Mason & Heather Stewart of the Guardian: "Theresa May has promised Tory MPs she will step down as prime minister before the next phase of Brexit negotiations in a bid to get Eurosceptics to back her withdrawal deal. The prime minister said she would make way for another Conservative leader, after listening to the demands of MPs for a new leadership team. 'I have heard very clearly the mood of the parliamentary party. I know there is a desire for a new approach -- and new leadership -- in the second phase of the Brexit negotiations and I won't stand in the way of that,' May said, according to a transcript released afterwards."

Trump's Big Healthcare Lie, Ctd. Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "Asked about the Department of Justice's decision to call for all of ObamaCare to be struck down in an ongoing court case, Trump called the Affordable Care Act a 'disaster,' saying insurance premiums are 'too high' and the law is 'far too expensive for the people, not only for the country.' Trump also pledged the Republican Party would have a 'far better' health care proposal than ObamaCare if the law is eventually thrown out by the Supreme Court. 'If the Supreme Court rules that ObamaCare is out, we'll have a plan that is far better than ObamaCare,' the president said at the White House."

Jonathan Chait: "The likely Republican move from here on out will be to continue touting [William] Barr's summary of the [Mueller] report as the final word while quietly blocking a release of the full report. What questions would the report answer? There are four major categories. 1. How straight did Barr play it?... 2. What other obstruction of justice evidence is there?... 3. How much noncriminal collusion took place?... 4. How much corruption took place?"

CBS Chicago: "The prosecutor who decided to drop the charges against Jussie Smollett said he believes the move does not vindicate the 'Empire' actor of allegations that he orchestrated a racist and homophobic attack against himself. 'I do not believe he is innocent,' First Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Joseph Magats said Tuesday afternoon.... 'Based on all facts and circumstances of the case, and also keeping in mind resources and keeping in mind that the office's number one priority is to combat violent crime and the drivers of violence, I decided to offer this disposition in the case,' Magats said."

Inae Oh of Mother Jones: "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Tuesday delivered an impassioned defense of the Green New Deal, the ambitious Democratic proposal aimed at fighting climate change, after a Republican congressman attacked the resolution as an elitist plan he claimed had been created by out-of-touch 'rich liberals from New York of California.' 'I think we should not focus on the rich, wealthy elites who will look at this and go "I love it, cause I've got big money in the bank. Everyone should do this!"' Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wisc.) said." Thanks to unwashed for the heads-up. ...

Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "The question of whether the F.A.A. has gone too far in allowing Boeing to regulate itself has emerged as one of the key issues after the crash of a Boeing 737 Max in Ethiopia this month, the second deadly crash of the new plane in less than five months. The practice is already coming under scrutiny from Congress, and lawmakers are likely to press the F.A.A.'s acting administrator on Wednesday when he appears at a Senate hearing."

Here's an excerpt of Susan Page's biography of Barbara Bush. Bush had despised Trump for decades. In 1988 Trump volunteered himself to be her husband's veep, an idea that Poppy dismissed as "strange and unbelievable."

The Liberal Redneck looks on the bright side, but he does share Steve M.'s skepticism of the whole political show:

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The Meanest Racist. Seung Min Kim, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump complained in a private lunch Tuesday with Senate Republicans about the amount of disaster aid designated for Puerto Rico, as lawmakers prepare for a standoff over funds for the island still struggling to recover in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, according to officials familiar with the meeting. Aid for Puerto Rico has long been a fixation for Trump, who has asked advisers how to reduce money for the island and signaled that he won't support any more aid beyond food stamp funds.... The inspector general of the Department of Housing and Urban Development will review whether the White House has interfered with hurricane relief funding approved for Puerto Rico as part of a broader examination of the agency's administration of disaster grants, a HUD inspector general attorney told a congressional committee Tuesday." ...

... The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Burgess Everett & John Bresnahan of Politico: "In a private lunch with Senate Republicans on Tuesday, a rejuvenated Trump laid out an ambitious legislative agenda and put past intraparty conflicts behind him as he reveled in special counsel Robert Mueller's apparent vindication from allegations that the president colluded with Russia during the 2016 campaign.... The president urged his party to swiftly pass a new North American trade deal, said he would pursue an 'excellent' pact with China and even called on the GOP to formulate a brand new health care plan as he seeks to invalidate the Affordable Care Act. He endorsed a probe by [Sen. Lindsey] Graham into whether there was an anti-Trump effort in the Justice Department in 2016 and at one point handed Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pages listing unconfirmed nominees and directed the caucus: 'Please get these done.'" ...

... Trump to Scrub Mueller Report of Every Word Except "President," Trump," and "Exonerated." Sonan Sheth of Business Insider: "Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Tuesday that Attorney General William Barr told him he would send the special counsel Robert Mueller's final report on the Russia investigation to the White House before the public sees it, in case it wants to claim executive privilege over any parts. Graham, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, also said Barr told him it would most likely take 'weeks, not months,' to make a version of Mueller's final report public.... Trump's defense lawyers have previously said they want a chance to review and 'correct' the Mueller report before it's made public." ...

... BUT. Sarah Lynch of Reuters: "U.S. Attorney General William Barr plans to issue a public version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election within 'weeks, not months,' a Justice Department official said on Tuesday.... The official said there is no plan to share an advanced copy of the report with the White House." Emphasis added. ...

... Rudy Explains Away Bad News in Barr Report. Kate Sullivan of CNN: "Rudy Giuliani ... said the line special counsel Robert Mueller wrote in his report about not exonerating Trump on obstruction of justice is a 'cheap shot.' 'This is a cheap shot,' Giuliani told CNN's Chris Cuomo ... adding, 'This is unprofessional.... They don't have to exonerate him, you gotta prove he's guilty... Even for impeachment.'..." ...

George Conway in a Washington Post op-ed: "On the facts, obstruction turns on what's in a defendant's mind -- often a difficult thing to determine, and especially difficult with a mind as twisted as Trump's.... But Mueller isn't prone to cheap shots [as Giuliani complained]; he plays by the rules, every step of the way. If his report doesn't exonerate the president, there must be something pretty damning in it about him, even if it might not suffice to prove a crime beyond a reasonable doubt.... Americans should expect far more from a president than merely that he not be provably a criminal.... If the charge were unfitness for office, the verdict would already be in: guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."

Comey Criticizes Mueller and Barr. Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "Former FBI Director James Comey told an audience in Charlotte on Tuesday that he is confused by ... Robert Mueller's decision to neither charge nor exonerate ... Donald Trump on obstruction of justice.... '... I just can't tell from the letter why didn't he decide these questions when the entire rationale for a special counsel is to make sure the politicals aren't making the key charging decisions,' the former FBI chief said.... He also pushed back on Attorney General William Barr's logic in deciding not to pursue obstruction charges against the president.... 'The notion that obstruction cases are somehow undermined by the absence of proof of an underlying crime, that is not my experience in 40 years of doing this nor is it the Department of Justice's tradition. Obstruction crimes matter without regard to what you prove about the underlying crime.'..."

We Still Don't Know if Trump Is a Russian Agent. Natasha Bertrand of the Atlantic asks what Robert Mueller's report says about the FBI's counterintelligence probe which began in May 2017, a crucial element of Mueller's task which William Barr does not address at all: "... national-security and intelligence experts tell me that Mueller's decision not to charge Trump or his campaign team with a conspiracy is far from dispositive, and that the underlying evidence the special counsel amassed over two years could prove as useful as a conspiracy charge to understanding the full scope of Russia's election interference in 2016.... A counterintelligence probe..., said David Kris..., who served as the assistant attorney general ... under former President Barack Obama..., would ask more than whether the evidence collected is sufficient to obtain a criminal conviction.... 'The American people rightly should expect more from their public servants than merely avoiding criminal liability,' Kris said.... For example, was the fact that Trump pursued a multimillion-dollar real-estate deal in Moscow during the election -- and failed to disclose the deal to the public -- enough for the Russians to compromise him?... Trump's consistent praise of Putin, his pursuit of [the Moscow] real-estate deal..., and the secrecy that continues to surround his conversations with his Russian counterpart have given some in the national-security community, including many leading Democrats, pause." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: I've heard several pundits -- including Bertrand -- point out that the Barr report doesn't cite a single full sentence of Mueller's report to Barr.

Mueller's Legacy: Despotism. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "After Watergate, it was unthinkable that a president would fire an F.B.I. director who was investigating him or his associates. Or force out an attorney general for failing to protect him from an investigation. Or dangle pardons before potential witnesses against him. But the end of the inquiry by ... Robert S. Mueller III, made clear that President Trump had successfully thrown out the unwritten rules that had bound other chief executives in the 45 years since President Richard M. Nixon resigned under fire, effectively expanding presidential power in a dramatic way. Mr. Mueller's decision to not take a position on whether Mr. Trump's many norm-shattering interventions in the law enforcement system constituted obstruction of justice means that future occupants of the White House will feel entitled to take similar actions. More than perhaps any other outcome of the Mueller investigation, this may become its most enduring legacy.... To Mr. Trump and his allies, this is the correct result, a restoration of the rightful authority of a president over the executive branch as stipulated in the Constitution.... To Mr. Trump's critics, however, the development represents a dangerous degradation of the rule of law, handing a president almost complete leeway to thwart any effort by federal law enforcement authorities to scrutinize his actions almost as if he were a king." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: In fact, this is how the general public views the presidency. Even those who strongly disagree with whoever holds the office, people view him (always him) as omnipotent. They blame or credit him for the economy (even though the POTUS has fairly minimal control over the economy), for all public policy (even though the Congress writes the laws & the courts rule on the laws' constitutionality), even for the weather.

Kyle Cheney of Politico: “The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved legislation demanding more details from the Justice Department on the obstruction of justice investigation into ... Donald Trump.... Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, introduced the measure last week -- before it was known that ... Robert Mueller would be finalizing his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.... Collins' measure calls for details about the origins of the obstruction probe, which was opened by former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe. The proposal also seeks information about conversations between McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about 'wearing a recording device or preparing in any way to record the President.'... Democrats have argued the GOP inquiries were really efforts to undermine the investigations into Trump. But following Mueller's report they sensed a moment to embrace the GOP call for information as part of their broader call for more details from the Justice Department."

That Weird Guy Is Back. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Carter Page was all smiles Tuesday as he patrolled Capitol Hill for meetings, including an unsolicited drop-in at the House Judiciary Committee's offices. The former Trump campaign adviser, famous for being the subject of an FBI surveillance warrant beginning in October 2016, popped into the committee's room late Tuesday morning as part of what he told Politico was an extended dialogue with staffers about providing documents in the panel's wide-ranging, Democrat-led investigation of alleged obstruction of justice and other actions by ... Donald Trump."

Maegan Vazquez of CNN: "... Donald Trump declared Tuesday that the GOP will become the party of health care, without providing any specifics for what that means and coming a day after the Trump administration told a federal court that the entire Affordable Care Act should be struck down -- a dramatic reversal of its previous position." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Let's be clear. Trump is NOT actually proposing to replace ObamaCare with a wonderful TrumpCare plan. As the Daily Beast reports (linked below), "Asked if the president had outlined a plan on health care, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) simply said 'no.'" Trump is proposing to tell voters the Big Lie that Republicans are replacing ObamaCare with a wonderful TrumpCare plan. "The party of health care" is a fake slogan, not a policy. TrumpCare is Trump University, writ large. And we know by now there are millions of suckers who will choose to believe the Big Lie. Again. ...

... Paul Waldman of the Washington Post notes that the Trump DOJ's move has "handed Democrats their best 2020 issue.... Never in our history has the health-care system undergone an upheaval such as what the Trump administration and other Republicans are seeking. It would be an absolute catastrophe for tens of millions of Americans. The expansion of Medicaid would be rolled back, snatching coverage away from millions of Americans. So would the subsidies that millions more receive to afford coverage. Protections for preexisting conditions? Gone. Insurers would once again be able to deny you coverage if you've ever been sick or had an accident. Young people allowed to stay on their parents' plans until age 26? Not anymore. Women could once again be charged more for insurance than men. Yearly and lifetime caps on coverage would come back, as would the Medicare prescription drug 'donut hole.' Rural hospitals would be starved of funding and would close. That covers just a portion of what the ACA does." ...

... Eliana Johnson & Burgess Everett of Politico: "The Trump administration's surprising move to invalidate Obamacare on Monday came despite the opposition of two key cabinet secretaries: Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Attorney General Bill Barr. Driving the dramatic action were the administration's domestic policy chief, Joe Grogan, and the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the decision. Both are close allies of White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who helped to engineer the move." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The Politico report supports Paul Waldman's theory (post linked above) about why the Trump administration decided to try to invalidate ObamaCare: "... since [Trump] is so corrupt and personally despicable, many of the more sensible Republican policy wonks who would have staffed a different Republican administration chose to stay away, leaving the administration to be filled either by people who shared Trump's penchant for self-dealing or by extremist ideologues who correctly surmised that a president who didn't care about policy would give them free rein to indulge their wildest fantasies." ...

... "WTF Is Wrong with Them?" Sam Stein, et al., of the Daily Beast: "Over the past 24 hours, Republican officials have watched in horror as the Trump administration once again fully embraced the repeal of Obamacare, just over a year after the issue proved toxic for the party at the ballot box. The embrace came in two steps: with the Department of Justice siding with a lower court ruling that declared the health care law invalid in toto, and with the president tweeting that the Republican Party would become the party of health-care reform.... Those close to the president say that part of what motivates him on continuing his pursuit in scrapping the Affordable Care Act ... is his inability to move beyond setbacks. When other party stalwarts or members of the Republican elite see a liability and political third rails, Trump simply sees the visceral satisfaction of erasing a cornerstone of the Obama legacy."

No Way to Run a Country. Saleha Mohsin & others at Bloomberg News write a fairly confusing story about Trump's tweet last week reversing sanctions against North Korea. Mrs. McC: As nearly as I can tell, Trump tweeted that he was reversing sanctions Treasury had imposed the previous day, after which shocked administration officials talked him out of ordering the reversal, then devised a lame cover story to "explain" Trump's stupid tweet.

Courtney Kube of NBC News: "A close adviser to ex-Defense Secretary James Mattis has written a 'sometimes shocking' book detailing the "complicated relationship" between Mattis and ... Donald Trump, and describing how Mattis worked to block some of Trump's proposals, according to a press release obtained by NBC News ahead of the book's official distribution. Written by the secretary's former communications director, retired Navy Cmdr. Guy 'Bus' Snodgrass..., [the book] is scheduled for publication by Sentinel in October."

Trump Interior Nominee Bernhardt Pushes Pesticides that Endanger Hundreds of Species. Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "After years of effort, scientists at the Fish and Wildlife Service ... wrapped up a comprehensive analysis of the threat that three widely used pesticides present to hundreds of endangered species.... Their analysis found that two of the pesticides, malathion and chlorpyrifos, were so toxic that they 'jeopardize the continued existence' of more than 1,200 endangered birds, fish and other animals and plants, a conclusion that could lead to tighter restrictions on use of the chemicals. But just before the team planned to make its findings public..., top political appointees of the Interior Department ... blocked the release and set in motion a new process intended to apply a much narrower standard to determine the risks from the pesticides. Leading that intervention was David Bernhardt, then the deputy secretary of the interior and a former lobbyist and oil-industry lawyer. In October 2017, he ... [directed] Fish and Wildlife Service ... to take the new approach ... that pesticide makers and users had lobbied intensively to promote. Mr. Bernhardt is now President Trump's nominee to become interior secretary. The Senate is scheduled to hold a hearing on his confirmation Thursday."

The Meanest Ideologue. Todd Spangler of the Detroit Free Press: "Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday defended deep cuts to programs meant to help students and others, including eliminating $18 million to support Special Olympics, while urging Congress to spend millions more on charter schools." Mrs. McC Note to Betsy: Special Olympics? You're cutting Special Olympics funding? Hey, Betsy, even rich kids -- the children of your nice country-club friends -- participate in Special Olympics. It's as nonpartisan, non-classist & non-race-based as any program can be. WTF is your problem? ...

... Doha Madani of NBC News: "Education Secretary Betsy DeVos struggled before a congressional subcommittee on Tuesday to defend at least $7 billion in proposed cuts to education programs, including eliminating all $18 million in federal funding for the Special Olympics.... When [Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Mark] Pocan asked whether she knew how many children would be affected by the elimination of federal funding to the Special Olympics, DeVos said she did not know.... The Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for people with intellectual and physical disabilities. Founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, it works with more than 5 million athletes across 174 countries.... 'I still can't understand why you would go after disabled children in your budget,' [Rep. Barbara] Lee [D-Calif.] said Tuesday. 'You zero that out. It's appalling.'"

The "National Emergency" Is Definitely Back on. Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "House Democrats on Tuesday failed to override ... Donald Trump's veto of a measure to repeal his emergency declaration on the southern border. The 248-181 vote fell short of the two-thirds majority required to overturn a presidential veto. The GOP-controlled Senate would also be unlikely to reach that threshold, with Republican leaders there showing no inclination to bring it up for a vote in any case."

Anthony Adragna of Politico:"Senate Democrats largely held together in boycotting what they decried as a 'sham' vote forced by Republicans on the ambitious Green New Deal. The vote on the procedural motion failed on a 0-57 margin, with 43Democrats voting 'present' to protest the GOP tactics. Just three Democrats -- Sens. Doug Jones (Ala.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) -- broke with their party to vote against the proposal for massive clean energy and infrastructure investments to rapidly slash greenhouse gas emissions and attempt to break economic inequality.... Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with Democrats, also joined Republicans in voting no on Tuesday."

** Andrew Chung & Lawrence Hurley of Reuters: "The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared divided along ideological lines again on whether the contentious practice of manipulating electoral district boundaries to entrench one party in power may violate the constitutional rights of voters, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh emerging as the potential deciding vote. More than two hours of arguments in major cases from North Carolina and Maryland on the practice known as partisan gerrymandering focused on whether courts should be empowered to block electoral maps when they are drawn by state legislators expressly to give one political party a lopsided advantage.... The ruling, due by the end of June, could impact U.S. elections for decades...."

Beyond the Beltway

Odd News. Sopan Deb of the New York Times: "In a stunning move on Tuesday morning, Cook County prosecutors dropped all charges against the 'Empire' actor Jussie Smollett, who had been accused of staging an attack in downtown Chicago earlier this year.... In a statement, Anne Kavanagh, a spokeswoman for Mr. Smollett's lawyers, said: 'Today, all criminal charges against Jussie Smollett were dropped and his record has been wiped clean of the filing of this tragic complaint against him. Jussie was attacked by two people he was unable to identify on Jan. 29. He was a victim who was vilified and made to appear as a perpetrator as a result of false and inappropriate remarks made to the public causing an inappropriate rush to judgment.'" Not mentioned in the Times story: Smollett's attorney was Mark Geragos, who is reportedly the unindicted co-conspirator in the case against Michael Avenatti re: Nike. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Update. Andy Grimm & Mitchell Armentrout of the Chicago Sun-Times: "In a highly unusual decision, prosecutors on Tuesday dropped charges against 'Empire' actor Jussie Smollett that accused him of staging a hate-crime attack against himself -- a move that Mayor Rahm Emanuel later called a 'whitewash of justice.'... The $10,000 posted for Smollett's bond will be turned over to the City of Chicago Law Department. Cook County Circuit Judge Steven G. Watkins sealed the case file during a hearing that lasted less than 5 minutes. Chicago police officials said Supt. Eddie Johnson was not briefed on the decision to drop charges and learned about it in the middle of a police academy graduation ceremony scheduled at the same time State's Attorney Kim Foxx's office announced it. A police source said Johnson was 'furious' and maintained the evidence against Smollett was 'rock solid.'"

The Commentariat -- March 26, 2019

Late Morning Update:

Odd News. Sopan Deb of the New York Times: "In a stunning move on Tuesday morning, Cook County prosecutors dropped all charges against the 'Empire' actor Jussie Smollett, who had been accused of staging an attack in downtown Chicago earlier this year.... In a statement, Anne Kavanagh, a spokeswoman for Mr. Smollett's lawyers, said: 'Today, all criminal charges against Jussie Smollett were dropped and his record has been wiped clean of the filing of this tragic complaint against him. Jussie was attacked by two people he was unable to identify on Jan. 29. He was a victim who was vilified and made to appear as a perpetrator as a result of false and inappropriate remarks made to the public causing an inappropriate rush to judgment.'" Not mentioned in the Times story: Smollett's attorney was Mark Geragos, who is reportedly the unindicted co-conspirator in the case against Michael Avenatti re: Nike. Also, MSNBC & CNN are reporting that Chicago is keeping Smollett's bail bond. This is a breaking story, so explanations are sparse.

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The Trump Scandals, Ctd. -- The Barr Report

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday blocked a resolution calling for special counsel Robert Mueller's report to be released publicly. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) asked for unanimous consent for the nonbinding resolution, which cleared the House 420-0.... But McConnell objected, noting that Attorney General William Barr is working with Mueller to determine what in his report can be released publicly and what cannot."

There are a lot of people out there that have done some very, very evil things, some bad things, I would say some treasonous things against our country. And hopefully people that have done such harm to our country -- we've gone through a period of really bad things happening -- those people will certainly be looked at. I've been looking at them for a long time, and I'm saying why haven't they been looked at? They lied to Congress, many of them, you know who they are. They've done so many evil things. -- Donald Trump, Monday, speaking in the Oval ...

"They" did "some very, very evil things" because you're a lying, shady, money-grubbing huckster with a bunch of lying, shady, money-grubbing huckster buddies, & you put yourself in the middle of a successful effort by a foreign adversary to turn a presidential election, after which you & your associates engaged in numerous shady efforts to fulfill the quo of the adversary's quid. You brought this on yourself. And "we" are not done yet. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...

... Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "During a briefing at the Justice Department about three weeks ago, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III made a revelation those supervising his work were not expecting, a person familiar with the matter said. He would not offer a conclusion on whether he believed President Trump sought to obstruct justice. The decision -- which a Justice Department official on Monday said the special counsel's office came to 'entirely' on its own -- left a gap ripe for political exploitation. After accepting Mueller's report, Attorney General William P. Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who were among those briefed March 5, made the call Mueller would not, determining the evidence was insufficient to allege Trump had obstructed justice. The decisive maneuver ... sparked allegations that the two Trump appointees had rushed to a judgment no one asked them to make, and is likely to be a key battleground in the intensifying political fight over the conclusion of Mueller's work.... [Monday] Democrats attacked the attorney general and issued an April 2 deadline for him to turn over a copy of the report, while Republicans called for Trump to be given an apology." ...

... Laura Jarrett of CNN: "Roughly three weeks ago the special counsel's team told Attorney General Bill Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that Robert Mueller would not be reaching a conclusion on obstruction of justice, according to a source familiar with the meeting. The source said that conclusion was 'unexpected' and not what Barr had anticipated." Mrs. McC: That "source" must be a really, really good friend of Barr's. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: As both Rachel Maddow & Jill Wine-Banks pointed out Monday, Watergate special prosecutor Leon Jaworski also did not indict Nixon; rather, he provided to Congress all of the evidence his team had gathered, including grand jury testimony. So it's possible Mueller was following Jaworski's template in fashioning his report. Did he intend for Bill Barr, rather than Congress, to fill in the blank? We don't know. ...

Jill Wine-Volner, ca. 1975.     ... BTW, here's a great excerpt from Wine-Banks' (then Wine-Volner) Wikipage: "... in the proceedings before Judge John Sirica, she was responsible for cross-examining ... Richard Nixon's secretary Rose Mary Woods about the 18-1/2 minute gap on the Watergate tapes.... During cross-examination, Wine-Volner had Woods recreate the way in which Woods claimed she accidentally erased a portion of the tape when she was transcribing it. Woods had claimed to have kept her foot on the pedal on the tape recorder, and Wine-Volner succeeded in demonstrating that this was implausible. Wine-Volner received media attention during the trial for her lawyering and for wearing miniskirts."

"Justice" Is for the Winners. Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "Mr. Barr's decision to declare that evidence fell short of proving Mr. Trump illegally obstructed the Russia inquiry was an extraordinary outcome to a narrative that has unspooled over nearly two years. Robert S. Mueller III was appointed as special counsel to remove the threat of political interference from an investigation involving the president, but he reached no conclusion on the key question of whether Mr. Trump committed an obstruction-of-justice offense. Mr. Barr stepped in to make the determination, bringing the specter of politics back into the case. Senior Justice Department officials defended his decision as prudent and within his purview, but it reignited a debate about the role of American law enforcement in politically charged federal investigations that has roiled since James B. Comey, as F.B.I. director in 2016, excoriated Hillary Clinton even in announcing that he was recommending she not be charged over her handling of classified emails." ...

... ** Brian Beutler of Crooked: "Notwithstanding Barr's heroic, lawyerly effort to create a sense that Mueller has exonerated Trump, the letter he delivered to Congress on Sunday is nearly silent on all of these questions, and actually suggests that the report's contents are deeply damaging to the president. On close reading, Barr's putative summary of the Mueller report clears Trump of only the most narrowly drawn accusations, which nobody was making.... The entire letter is drafted to suggest practically the opposite of what it actually says.... [Barr's] omissions help explain why, despite his gloating today, Trump behaved until the very end like a guilty man and endeavored ceaselessly to terminate and compromise the investigation.... I anticipate that Trump will go to great, telling lengths to conceal [the Mueller report] -- in ways that sit uncomfortably alongside today's credulous headlines, and Republican insistence that he has been vindicated. But that's exactly why we need to see it in full, and quickly." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Beutler calls out "today's irresponsible headlines and chyrons," and we should do the same. Peter Baker & his headline writer at the NYT should be demoted to covering the local police blotter; the headline on the Times' online front page: "Special Counsel's Conclusions Lift a Cloud over Trump's Presidency." ...

... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Jonathan Chait: "Robert Mueller's investigation found that none of Donald Trump's illicit campaign contacts with Russia amounted to a prosecutable crime.... News stories have trumpeted the verdict that Trump's campaign did not collude with Russia -- which is at best unproven, and at worst simply false -- and have been forced into a defensive crouch for having the temerity to devote two and a half years to uncovering the broad web of secret financial and political contacts between Trump and Russia.... That is an oddly credulous approach from people who have treated previous government investigations with withering skepticism.... The Russiagate skeptics are presuming that Barr's letter has refuted three years of devastating reports that paint an unmistakably sordid picture. Their goal now is to bully the media into placing the entire topic, a political scandal of gigantic proportions, out of bounds of discussion." ...

... Marcy Wheeler: "... the William Barr memo everyone is reading to clear Trump and his flunkies of a conspiracy with Russia actually only clears the Trump campaign and those associated with it of conspiring or coordinating with the Russian government in its efforts to hack into computers and disseminate emails for purposes of influencing the election. The exoneration doesn't even extend to coordinating with WikiLeaks, as Roger Stone is alleged to have done (though that, by itself, is not a crime). More significantly, it is silent about whether Trump and his flunkies conspired with Russia in a quid pro quo trading election assistance and a real estate deal for policy considerations, the very same kind of election year shenanigans Barr has covered up once before with Iran-Contra. And that's important, because it means Barr and Rod Rosenstein haven't even cleared Trump of what Rosenstein hired Mueller to investigate." ...

... Michelle Goldberg: "I won't pretend that the weekend's news was not very good for Trump and dispiriting for those of us who despise him.... Until the Mueller report is publicly released, however, it's impossible to tell how much of Trump's victory is substantive and how much is spin.... We should be equally aware of the media tendency to capitulate in the face of Trumpian triumphalism.... It's important that Democrats not allow themselves to be intimidated by right-wing chest-beating, particularly if Republicans try to quash the report's release. Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Representative Devin Nunes, a devoted Trump lackey, called for the report to be burned. Jay Sekulow, one of Trump's lawyers, has said he would 'fight very aggressively' to stop the president's written answers to Mueller from being made public. Republicans may be gloating, but it's Democrats who should be on the offensive. If Trump thinks he has been vindicated, then what is he hiding?"

... From a report by Josh Dawsey & others of the Washington Post: "Within an hour of learning the findings, Trump called for an investigation of his critics and cast himself as a victim. Aides say Trump plans to highlight the cost of the probe and call for organizations to fire members of the media and former government officials who he believes made false accusations about him, while aggressively mocking his critics and one of his favored enemies, the news media. 'Hopefully somebody is going to be looking at the other side,' Trump said, describing the Mueller investigation as 'an illegal takedown that failed.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Reminds me of O.J. going after the "real killers." We've just experienced a "Barr nullification," and now Trump plans to go after the "real criminals."

Lydia Wheeler of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from a mystery company over a grand jury subpoena tied to special counsel Robert Mueller's now completed Russia probe. The justices gave no explanation for denying the request that was submitted by the company, and there were no notable dissents from the nine-member court. It takes four justices to agree to hear a case." (Also linked yesterday.)

** Speaking of Trump's Shady, Money-Grubbing Huckster Buddies. Erik Larson of Bloomberg News: "New York developer Felix Sater is due to testify in Congress this week about his role in Donald Trump's attempt to build a luxury tower in Moscow. A lawsuit filed Monday may provide new fodder for his inquisitors, with its claim that Sater, a longtime associate of Trump's, sought to use money stolen from a bank in Kazakhstan to help develop the building. The suit by BTA Bank JSC alleges that Sater and the wealthy Kazakh businessman Ilyas Khrapunov explored financing the tower deal in 2012 with some of the $4 billion stolen a decade ago by Khrapunov's father-in-law, ex-BTA Chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov. While the Moscow plan fizzled, other transactions tied to Sater helped launder the purloined cash, the bank says." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Every time I make a variation on the assertion "Trump is an ass," within minutes -- and without my looking for evidence -- I come upon a story that backs up my "Trump is an ass" claim. This time the variation was that Trump AND his buddies are asses, and half-an-hour later, Felix Sater came thru for me. And Republicans want us to apologize to Trump? Ha ha ha.

Marc Tracy of the New York Times: "Michael Avenatti, the lawyer best known for representing Stormy Daniels in her lawsuits against President Trump, was arrested Monday as federal prosecutors filed charges accusing him of attempting to extort millions of dollars from Nike by threatening negative publicity right before an earnings call and the N.C.A.A. men's basketball tournament. In court documents filed Monday, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said that Mr. Avenatti and a client, a former A.A.U. basketball coach, told Nike that they had evidence Nike employees had funneled money to recruits. The prosecutors said the men threatened to release the evidence in order to damage Nike's reputation and market capitalization unless the company paid them at least $22.5 million.... The court documents were filed around the same time Mr. Avenatti, in a post on his Twitter account, had announced that he would hold a news conference on Tuesday to accuse Nike of 'a major high school/college basketball scandal.'... The arrest of Mr. Avenatti, who in a separate case was charged by federal prosecutors in California with bank and wire fraud, was the latest development in a spectacular fall...." Mrs. McC: Trump couldn't have a better day if he found out he was as rich as he claims to be. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Matt Stieb of New York: "On Monday, U.S. attorneys in New York and Los Angeles charged Stormy Daniels's former lawyer with extortion and bank and wire fraud. Though the L.A. charges were fairly mundane -- Avenatti allegedly hid from the IRS some $800,000 in money made from his coffee company -- the extortion charge in New York involves the lawyer attempting to blackmail Nike over its alleged practice of paying NCAA recruits to attend schools they sponsored." Stieb lists "the nine most staggering details from the criminal complaints in New York and Los Angeles." Here's one thing: "According to 'a person with knowledge of the investigation' who spoke with the New York Times, Avenatti' co-conspirator is [famous defense attorney & until yesterday, CNN contributor] Mark Geragos...." Here's another: Avenatti really likes to use Mafia-style extortion lingo: "Avenatti asked an attorney if he had ever 'held the balls of the client in your hand where you could take five to six billion dollars off of the market cap?'" But do read on.

** Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Manu Raju of CNN: "GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday that he told the late Sen. John McCain to turn over the dossier of Trump-Russia allegations to the FBI, pushing back against ... Donald Trump's assertions that the Arizona Republican helped fan the flames of the Russia investigation. Graham told CNN after a news conference that he told Trump in Florida this weekend that 'Sen. McCain deserves better' than the way the President has been publicly disparaging the late senator and war hero in the last week. And Graham publicly acknowledged he had advanced knowledge of the dossier, the existence of which has enraged the President. Graham defended McCain's role and said that he told Trump that his close friend's involvement was limited. Graham said that he 'was very direct' with Trump.... Graham added: 'I told the President it was not John McCain. I know because John McCain showed me the dossier. And I told him the only thing I knew to do with it, it could be a bunch of garbage, it could be true, who knows? Turn it over to somebody who's job it is to find thes things out and John McCain acted appropriately.'" ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Remember that Trump's principal beef with McCain these days is that, "He was horrible what he did with repeal and replace. What he did to the Republican Party, and to the nation, and to sick people that could have had great health care, was not good." The bill was not "repeal & replace"; it was "repeal." Trump isn't mad at McCain because McCain voted against "great health care" for "sick people"; rather McCain voted against no health insurance assistance. Trump's obsession with McCain is grounded in McCain's refusal -- in this instance -- to put Trump's need for a "win" over the health needs of millions of Americans. ...

... So Now ... Robert Pear of the New York Times: "The Trump administration broadened its attack on the Affordable Care Act on Monday, telling a federal appeals court that it now believed the entire law should be invalidated. The administration had previously said that the law's protections for people with pre-existing conditions should be struck down, but that the rest of the law, including the expansion of Medicaid, should survive. If the appeals court accepts the Trump administration's new arguments, millions of people could lose health insurance, including those who gained coverage through the expansion of Medicaid and those who have private coverage subsidized by the federal government." ...

... MEANWHILE. Robert Pear: "On Tuesday, Democratic leaders, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, will put aside, at least for now, the liberal quest for a government-run 'Medicare for all' single-payer system and unveil a more incremental approach toward fulfilling those campaign promises. Building on the Affordable Care Act, they would offer more generous subsidies for the purchase of private health insurance offered through the health law's insurance exchanges while financing new efforts to increase enrollment. They would also reverse actions by the Trump administration that allow insurance companies to circumvent protections in the Affordable Care Act for people with pre-existing conditions. Insurers could no longer sell short-term health plans with skimpy benefits or higher premiums for people with chronic illnesses. Ms. Pelosi said the legislation would 'strengthen protections for pre-existing conditions, reverse the G.O.P.'s health care sabotage and lower Americans' health costs.'... In his latest budget request, Mr. Trump urged Congress again to repeal the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which has provided coverage to at least 12 million people newly eligible for the program."

Carol Lee & Courtney Kube of NBC News: "The country's intelligence chief was on the verge of resigning at the end of last year over his frustrations with ... Donald Trump but was talked out of it by his closest ally in the administration, Vice President Mike Pence, according to current and former senior administration officials. Among the tensions the officials said have marred the relationship between the president and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats: Trump pushed Coats to find evidence that former President Barack Obama wiretapped him; he demanded Coats publicly criticize the U.S. intelligence community as biased; and he accused Coats of being behind leaks of classified information. More recently Trump also fumed to aides after Coats publicly defended the importance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in countering Russia's aggression, officials said. But the tipping point for Coats came in December with Trump's abrupt decision to withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria...." Coats & Pence, both from Indiana, are old friends. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Don't worry. Trump can always find a replacement; maybe a groundskeeper at one of his golf clubs (if there are any who are U.S. citizens) or Erik Prince. ...

... All the Best People, Ctd. Paul Krugman: "Many people have described the Trump administration as a kakistocracy -- rule by the worst -- which it is. But it's also a hackistocracy -- rule by the ignorant and incompetent. And in this Trump is just following standard G.O.P. practice.... Until recently..., one agency had seemed immune to the continuing hack invasion: the Federal Reserve, the single institution most crucial to economic policymaking. Trump's Fed nominees, have, by and large, been sensible, respected economists. But that all changed last week, when Trump said he planned to nominate Stephen Moore for the Fed's Board of Governors. Moore is manifestly, flamboyantly unqualified for the position."

Racist-in-Chief Would Deny Continued Aid to Puerto Rico. Jeff Stein & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "The federal government provided additional food-stamp aid to Puerto Rico after the hurricane, but Congress missed the deadline for reauthorization in March.... Federal lawmakers have also been stalled by the Trump administration, which has derided the extra aid as unnecessary. Now, about 43 percent of Puerto Rico's residents are grappling with a sudden cut to a benefit they rely on for groceries and other essentials.... Puerto Rico will again need the federal government's help to stave off drastic cuts to Medicaid ... as well as for the disbursement of billions in hurricane relief aid that has not yet been turned over to the island. The island would not need Congress to step in to fund its food-stamp and Medicaid programs if it were a state.... After initially vowing to reject the food-stamp funding, President Trump has agreed to the emergency request to help Senate Republicans pass a broader disaster-relief package, which may be taken up for a vote this week.... But at an Oval Office meeting on Feb. 22, Trump asked top advisers for ways to limit federal support from going to Puerto Rico, believing it is taking money that should be going to the mainland.... Trump has also privately signaled he will not approve any additional help for Puerto Rico beyond the food-stamp money...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Is there some "Rosebud" in Trump's past that had made him such a horrible racist? A mean Mexican nanny? A badass black chauffeur? His hatred of everyone who is (a) poor & (b) doesn't look like she comes from Norway is just odd.

Michael Stratford & Nicole Gaudiano of Politico: "The Education Department has opened investigations into eight universities tied to the sweeping college admissions and bribery scandal unveiled by federal prosecutors earlier this month, according to individuals familiar with the investigation. Department investigators are examining whether any of the universities violated any laws or rules 'governing the Federal student financial aid programs' or 'any other applicable laws,' according to a document reviewed by Politico."

Presidential Race 2020. More Than Half of U.S. Voters Are Phenomenally Ignorant. Matthew Sheffield of the Hill: "A majority of registered voters in a new poll say they would consider voting President Trump into a second term. Fifty-four percent in the Hill-HarrisX survey released Monday said they would think about voting for Trump, though 46 percent of registered voters said they would not even consider casting a ballot for the president. The polling was conducted before a summary of special counsel Robert Mueller's conclusions was released on Sunday by Attorney General William Barr. That summary reported that Mueller did not find evidence of collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia, a huge win for the president. People who said they backed Trump in 2016 are likely to back him again."

The Semi-Automatic Weapons That Keep on Killing. Lori Rozsa, et al., of the Washington Post: "A former cheerleader and recent graduate [of Marjory Stoneman Dougas High], 19-year-old Sydney Aiello took her life on March 17 after struggling with survivor's guilt and post-traumatic stress disorder, her mother said. Six days later, a sophomore who authorities have not identified died by apparent suicide." ...

... Nicholas Rondinone, et al., of the Hartford Courant: "Jeremy Richman, who championed the push for research into how brain health is tied to violence after his daughter, Avielle, and 19 other first-grade students and six educators were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School, was found dead Monday of an apparent suicide at his Main Street office building, not far from the site of the 2012 massacre...."

Eli Rosenberg of the Washington Post: "The German family whose holding company owns controlling stakes in companies such as Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Panera Bread, Pret a Manger and Einstein Bros. Bagels profited from the horrors of the Nazi regime, according to a bombshell report in a German newspaper. The tabloid Bild ... reported that Albert Reimann Sr. and Albert Reimann Jr., whose family backs JAB Holdings, had significant links to the Third Reich. JAB Holdings is a privately held conglomerate that has investments in a wide portfolio of global companies, among them Peet's Coffee, Keurig Green Mountain and Dr Pepper-Snapple.... The report found that Russian civilians and French prisoners of war were used as forced laborers in the family's factories and private villas around World War II, when it was involved in chemicals-related manufacturing mostly for the food industry, according to Deutsche Welle.... Other disclosures in the report include revelations that the two men were anti-Semites and avowed supporters of Adolf Hitler, and Reimann Sr. donated to the paramilitary SS force as early as 1933.... 'It is all correct,' family spokesman Peter Harf, who is one of two managing partners of JAB Holdings, told Bild."

Sacking the Sacklers, Ctd. Alex Marshall of the New York Times: "For decades, the Sackler family generously supported museums worldwide, not to mention numerous medical and educational institutions including Columbia University, where there is a Sackler Institute, and Oxford, where there is a Sackler Library. But now some favorite Sackler charities are reconsidering whether they want the money at all, and several have already rejected any future gifts, concluding that some family members' ties to the opioid crisis outweighed the benefits of their six- and sometimes seven-figure checks.... Documents submitted in court this year in a lawsuit suggested that, far from being bystanders to the epidemic, family members directed company efforts to mislead the public and doctors about the dangers of abusing OxyContin."

Beyond the Beltway

North Carolina. Martha Quillen of the Raleigh News & Observer: "Duke University will pay $112.5 million to settle a whistleblower's lawsuit over a research technician who prosecutors say falsified data to get federal grants for years. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Greensboro in 2014 by a former Duke employee who said that Erin Potts-Kant, who worked in Duke's Airway Physiology Laboratory, had lied about her findings to get dozens of federal grants. The lawsuit alleged that Duke knowingly submitted the researcher's false claims to the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency in 30 grants. Using that data, the agencies gave the university millions of dollars in research grants they otherwise would not have, the lawsuit said."

Way Beyond

Brexit Mutiny. Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Britain's Parliament grabbed control Monday of the government's efforts to leave the European Union, challenging the country's political traditions and inflicting on Prime Minister Theresa May a rebuke not suffered by any recent predecessor. By stepping into the process known as Brexit and trying to define an alternative path, lawmakers could create a constitutional showdown in Britain, where the government normally controls the agenda in Parliament, especially on its most pressing issues. Parliament passed an amendment giving itself the power to vote on alternatives to the government's Brexit plan."

The Commentariat -- March 25, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Marc Tracy of the New York Times: "Michael Avenatti, the lawyer best known for representing Stormy Daniels in her lawsuits against President Trump, was arrested Monday as federal prosecutors filed charges accusing him of attempting to extort millions of dollars from Nike by threatening negative publicity right before an earnings call and the N.C.A.A. men's basketball tournament. In court documents filed Monday, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said that Mr. Avenatti and a client, a former A.A.U. basketball coach, told Nike that they had evidence Nike employees had funneled money to recruits. The prosecutors said the men threatened to release the evidence in order to damage Nike's reputation and market capitalization unless the company paid them at least $22.5 million.... The court documents were filed around the same time Mr. Avenatti, in a post on his Twitter account, had announced that he would hold a news conference on Tuesday to accuse Nike of 'a major high school/college basketball scandal.'" Mrs. McC: Trump couldn't have a better day if he found out he was as rich as he claims to be.

Laura Jarrett of CNN: "Roughly three weeks ago the special counsel's team told Attorney General Bill Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that Robert Mueller would not be reaching a conclusion on obstruction of justice, according to a source familiar with the meeting. The source said that conclusion was 'unexpected' and not what Barr had anticipated."

From a report by Josh Dawsey & others of the Washington Post: "Within an hour of learning the findings, Trump called for an investigation of his critics and cast himself as a victim. Aides say Trump plans to highlight the cost of the probe and call for organizations to fire members of the media and former government officials who he believes made false accusations about him, while aggressively mocking his critics and one of his favored enemies, the news media. 'Hopefully somebody is going to be looking at the other side,' Trump said, describing the Mueller investigation as 'an illegal takedown that failed.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Reminds me of O.J. going after the "real killers." We've just experienced a "Barr nullification," and now Trump plans to go after the "real criminals." ...

... ** Brian Beutler of Crooked: "Notwithstanding Barr's heroic, lawyerly effort to create a sense that Mueller has exonerated Trump, the letter he delivered to Congress on Sunday is nearly silent on all of these questions, and actually suggests that the report's contents are deeply damaging to the president. On close reading, Barr's putative summary of the Mueller report clears Trump of only the most narrowly drawn accusations, which nobody was making.... The entire letter is drafted to suggest practically the opposite of what it actually says.... [Barr's] omissions help explain why, despite his gloating today, Trump behaved until the very end like a guilty man and endeavored ceaselessly to terminate and compromise the investigation.... I anticipate that Trump will go to great, telling lengths to conceal [the Mueller report] -- in ways that sit uncomfortably alongside today's credulous headlines, and Republican insistence that he has been vindicated. But that's exactly why we need to see it in full, and quickly." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Beutler calls out "today's irresponsible headlines and chyrons," and we should do the same. Peter Baker & his headline writer at the NYT should be demoted to covering the local police blotter; the headline on the Times' online front page: "Special Counsel's Conclusions Lift a Cloud over Trump's Presidency."

... Lydia Wheeler of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from a mystery company over a grand jury subpoena tied to ... Robert Mueller's now completed Russia probe. The justices gave no explanation for denying the request that was submitted by the company, and there were no notable dissents from the nine-member court. It takes four justices to agree to hear a case."

~~~~~~~~~~

The Trump Scandals, Ctd. -- The Fix Is In

** Mark Mazzetti & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The investigation led by Robert S. Mueller III found that neither President Trump nor any of his aides conspired or coordinated with the Russian government's 2016 election interference, according to a summary of the special counsel's findings made public on Sunday by Attorney General William P. Barr. Mr. Barr also said that Mr. Mueller's team drew no conclusions about whether Mr. Trump illegally obstructed justice. Mr. Barr and the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, concluded that the special counsel's investigators lacked sufficient evidence to establish that Mr. Trump committed that offense, but added that Mr. Mueller's team stopped short of exonerating Mr. Trump." ...

... Barr's supposed summary is here, via Voxx. ...

... Devlin Barrett & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "Mueller 'ultimately determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment,' Barr wrote, leaving it up to the attorney general and Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein to decide whether the president had committed obstruction. Rosenstein and Barr 'concluded that the evidence developed during the special counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction of justice offense. Our determination was made without regard to, and is not based on, the constitutional considerations that surround the indictment and criminal prosecution of a sitting president,' Barr wrote." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: You can see here why Barr asked Rosenstein -- who had intended to leave the DOJ last week or so -- to stay on a little longer: just as Rosenstein was the original fall-guy in the firing of Jim Comey -- until Trump admitted to Lester Holt that he fired Comey because of "this Rusher thing" -- so now Rosenstein is providing cover for Trump's appointed fixer at Justice. ...

... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump took to Twitter early Monday as his surrogates prepared to fan out on television a day after a summary released from ... Robert S. Mueller III's report cleared Trump of coordinating with Russia during the 2016 presidential election. While Trump and his allies claimed he been exonerated by the two-year investigation, Democrats pushed for full disclosure of the report and what led to conclusions contained in the four-page summary released Sunday by Attorney General William P. Barr. Russian officials, meanwhile, continued to insist their country had not interfered in the election despite findings by Mueller to the contrary." Wagner is updating reactions & developments.

... Neal Katyal said on MSNBC, "It looks like a whitewash here." He said, "We should be very concerned about 'even-handedness.'" ...

... Kevin Drum: "... you should consider Barr's summary to be the rosiest possible interpretation of the Mueller report.... It's possible, of course, that Mueller concluded in his report that none of [the Trump campaign's suspicious contacts] amounted to collusion in any criminal sense, but surely he at least addressed this stuff? So why doesn't Barr mention it?... 'While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime,' [Barr's letter] says, 'it also does not exonerate him.' Needless to say, this did not stop Trump from tweeting his take on 'does not exonerate: 'No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!' [Trump tweeted.]... If even Barr's summary was forced to tiptoe so conspicuously around Mueller's conclusions, I think we can assume that the Mueller report itself is at least moderately damning. Let's see it." ...

... Dara Lind of Vox: "Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein have concluded that 'the evidence is not sufficient' to charge Trump with obstruction of justice. But as a letter written by Barr to the House Judiciary Committee Sunday (summarizing the still-confidential Mueller report submitted to Barr and the Department of Justice on Friday) makes clear, that was Barr and Rosenstein's decision -- not Mueller's.... Because Barr's views on presidential prosecution are well known -- and because Barr was appointed by Trump while the Mueller investigation was ongoing, and resisted Democratic calls to recuse himself from overseeing the investigation -- Democrats and other Trump critics are likely to reject Barr's conclusions as biased at best and corrupt at worst." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: So answer me this: how is it that Bill Barr decided Trump didn't obstruct justice? Bob Mueller has had a long career in which he's had to make countless decisions on "difficult issues." After all these decades of deciding, did Mueller suddenly choke? Or was the fix in from the git-go? -- did Rosenstein tell Mueller he could investigate -- but not charge or find fault with -- Trump? And why would Mueller -- whose job it was to be an impartial actor -- casually leave the charging decision to a recent political appointee who wrote a 19-page memo in which he argued that Mueller's theory of obstruction was nonsense; that is, Barr wrote a position paper stating that the person who nominated him, the same person whom Mueller was investigating for obstruction, could not be charged with obstruction. Further, there's no information, available publicly, that Barr gets to decide whether Mueller's findings about obstruction -- whatever they are (and we don't know) -- constitute criminality. If Mueller really did choke (doubtful), Barr could have left it at that; Barr did not have to be the "decider." That would be Congress's job. Whatever good reputation Mueller may have enjoyed, he'll have to go on a Comey-style excuse tour to try to get it back. ...

... Kevin White of the Atlantic: "... crucially, Mueller reported that his investigation 'did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,' whether expressly or tacitly, [according to Barr].... Trump's triumphant supporters notwithstanding, we don't yet know what that means. When prosecutors say that an investigation 'did not establish' something, that doesn't mean that they concluded it didn't happen, or even that they don't believe it happened. It means that the investigation didn't produce enough information to prove that it happened. Without seeing Mueller's full report, we don't know whether this is a firm conclusion about lack of coordination or a frank admission of insufficient evidence.... Crucially, we don't know whether Barr concluded that the president didn't obstruct justice or that he couldn't obstruct justice, [as he argued in his infamous 19-page memo]." ...

Can't think of a more important occasion for close reading, but almost nobody is doing it. Barr's letter asserts only that Trump associates did not participate in the specific crimes charged in the IRA and GRU indictments. Not that they didn't /work w/Russia.' -- Brian Beutler, in a tweet ...

... William Saletan of Slate does do a close reading, & finds a host of "weasel words" in Barr's letter. For instance, "The letter quotes a sentence from Mueller's report...: Mueller says his investigation didn't prove that members of the Trump ' campaign 'conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.' The sentence specifies Russia's government. It says nothing about coordination with other Russians."

... Marcy Wheeler has a great post titled, "How William Barr Did Old Man Back-Flips to Avoid Arresting Donald Trump." Its pretty readable! Here's one piece: "... at least given what [Barr & Rosenstein] lay out here, they only considered whether Trump was covering up his involvement in the hack-and-leak operation. doesn't consider whether Trump was covering up a quid pro quo, which is what there is abundant evidence of. They didn't consider whether Trump obstructed the crime that he appears to have obstructed. They considered whether he obstructed a different crime. And having considered whether Trump obstructed the crime he didn't commit, rather than considering whether he obstructed the crime he did commit, they decided not to charge him with a crime." ...

... Wheeler elaborates in a New Republic piece: "The hack-and-leak is not the crime Trump may have committed. It is, instead, a quid pro quo deal by which Russia would help Trump win and Trump would relieve Russia of the sanctions imposed for engaging in human rights violations, annexing Crimea, and hacking the election to help Trump win.... In Barr's confirmation hearing in January, Senator Amy Klobuchar asked him whether a president 'persuading a person to commit perjury [or] convincing a witness to change testimony would be obstruction.' He said yes, both would. And yet he just decided that a president who has apparently done both of those things did not commit obstruction of justice.... The Democratic-controlled House Judiciary Committee now has abundant reason to get all the underlying materials from the Mueller inquiry, because the attorney general just cleared the president of something he agreed constituted a crime just a few months ago." ...

... ** David Corn of Mother Jones: "... the hyper-focus on [a direct, organized conspiracy] -- as if Trump instructed Russian hackers on how to penetrate the computer network of the Democratic National Committee -- has always diverted attention from a basic and important element of the scandal that was proven long before Mueller drafted his final report: Trump and his lieutenants interacted with Russia while Putin was attacking the 2016 election and provided encouraging signals to the Kremlin as it sought to subvert American democracy. They aided and abetted Moscow's attempt to cover up its assault on the United States (which aimed to help Trump win the White House). And they lied about all this.... Trump and his gang betrayed the United States in the greatest scandal in American history." ...

... Bob Bauer in a New York Times op-ed: "... the Mueller report marked a low point for more substantive norms of presidential conduct. It shows that a demagogic president like Donald Trump can devalue or even depart radically from key norms, just short of committing chargeable crimes, so long as he operates mostly and brazenly in full public view. For a demagogue, shamelessness is its own reward." Mrs. McC: The WashPo's newish tagline "Democracy Dies in Darkness" does not apply. In Trump's USA, democracy dies in plain sight. And that, apparently, is okay with Trump's subordinates & enablers. ...

... Neal Katyal in a New York Times op-ed: "The special counsel regulations were written to provide the public with confidence that justice was done. It is impossible for the public to reach that determination without knowing two things. First, what did the Mueller report conclude, and what was the evidence on obstruction of justice? And second, how could Mr. Barr have reached his conclusion so quickly? Mr. Barr's letter raises far more questions than it answers, both on the facts and the law.... Mr. Barr says that the government would need to prove that Mr. Trump acted with 'corrupt intent' and there were no such actions. But how would Mr. Barr know?" ...

... Yay! Trump Is Just a Dimwitted Stooge! David Frum of the Atlantic: "Good news, America. Russia helped install your president. But although he owes his job in large part to that help, the president did not conspire or collude with his helpers. He was the beneficiary of a foreign intelligence operation, but not an active participant in that operation. He received the stolen goods, but he did not conspire with the thieves in advance. This is what Donald Trump's administration and its enablers in Congress and the media are already calling exoneration. But it offers no reassurance to Americans who cherish the independence and integrity of their political process.... In this hyper-legalistic society, those vital inquiries got diverted early into a law-enforcement matter. That was always a mistake.... Now the job returns to the place it has always belonged and never should have left: Congress." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: So what we have here is a gang too disorganized & stupid to effectively coordinate with a foreign entity but not too disorganized & stupid (1) to welcome foreign assistance, and (2) to mount an effective cover-up of its wrongdoing. We should know by now this has been Trump's modus operandi for decades: first, skirt or break the law; then loudly & ruthlessly defend himself; third, keep on keepin' on.

... Rick Hasen, writing in Slate, sees Mueller's failure to charge Don Junior & Paul Manafort for soliciting foreign contributions to the Trump campaign -- which is illegal -- as a danger to future U.S. elections: "... we need to know [Mueller's reasoning], because it means that Department of Justice officials will not see the need to stop foreign governments from sharing information -- even information obtained from illegal hacking -- with campaigns, for the purposes of influencing the 2020 elections." ...

... Fox/Russia/Trump Messaging. Julia Davis of The Daily Beast: "When news broke [about] Special Counsel Robert Mueller's [findings]..., Russian officials and the state media reacted with fiendish delight.... Citing Fox News, Russian state news agency TASS reported that the findings represent a complete victory for President Trump.... Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti predicts that the Russian election interference will soon be replaced by 'Ukrainegate,' based on the conspiracy theory that Ukraine meddled in the U.S. elections on the side of Hillary Clinton. Trump recently tweeted the link to an article, widely promoted by the Russians, stating: 'As Russia Collusion fades, Ukrainian plot to help Clinton emerges.' The same narrative of Ukrainian -- not Russian -- election interference was promoted by Fox News host Sean Hannity in 2017. Right on cue, Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. jumped on the Ukraine bandwagon by tweeting a[ related] article.... The Kremlin's scribes predict that the grand finale of such an investigation would be perfectly timed to unfold immediately prior to the 2020 election." --s

Dylan Matthews of Vox: "Ending the Trump presidency will not fix, or even substantially ameliorate, most of the problems plaguing the American political system. They were mounting for years before he took office -- indeed, they made him possible -- and will continue to plague us for years after he leaves.... And more importantly, as this week clarifies, there will be no dramatic end for Trump.... The glib answer is that if you don't want Trump to be president, you should make sure he loses the 2020 election.... Absent a revolutionary shock to create a radically new political order, the best we can do is just muddle along." --s

Presidential Race 2020. Steve M.: "[T]he GOP is not 'a political party reduced to know-nothing cultists' -- it's 'a political party reduced to know-nothing cultists' plus people with such intense negative partisanship that they'd vote for a Charles Manson/John Wayne Gacy ticket if the ticket promised to lock up Hillary Clinton.... A large subset of the GOP voter base is supposed to care about character and traditional morality, but these people are Trump's most unswerving loyalists, because, to them, character and traditional morality mean hating Muslims and Mexicans.... Trump has an excellent chance of winning next year, especially in a three-way race, which seems inevitable." --s

Quint Forgey of Politico: "Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh will join George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School as a distinguished visiting professor, the university confirmed Saturday. Kavanaugh will co-teach a two-credit summer course in England from July through August.... Justice Neil Gorsuch ... will also co-teach a summer class in Padua, Italy.... The news of Kavanaugh's role at George Mason ... comes five months after Harvard Law School announced that he would not return to campus in Spring 2019 to teach his previously scheduled course.... [During his confirmation hearings, Kavanaugh whined,] 'I love teaching law, but thanks to what some of you on this side [Democratic] of the committee have unleashed, I may never be able to teach again.'" Mrs. McC: Okay, so not Harvard, but a right-wing lawyer mill. Good enough.

Martin Ferrer of the Guardian: "Shares in Asia Pacific have slumped after a key market indicator flashed an 'amber warning' that the United States could be heading for a recession. Bond yields also continued to fall across the world with Australian 10-year treasury yields falling to a record low on Monday of 1.756% in what analysts see as a strong indicator of a downturn hitting the resource-rich country.... The market action on Monday was a response to the biggest losses in US shares since the beginning of January on Friday when the Dow Jones sank 1.8%, the S&P 500 was off 1.9 percent and the Nasdaq dropped 2.5%." --s