The Commentariat -- October 25, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Tim Morrison, a National Security Council official who has been identified as a witness to one of the most explosive pieces of evidence unearthed by House impeachment investigators, plans to testify Thursday even if the White House attempts to block him.... Morrison ... would be the first currently serving White House official to testify. He's also the first official believed to be on a July 25 phone call between ... Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during which Trump pressed his counterpart to investigate former vice president Joe Biden."

Erica Orden & Evan Perez of CNN: "Federal prosecutors in New York have subpoenaed the brother of one of the recently indicted associates of Rudy Giuliani, according to two people familiar with the matter, as they escalate their investigation in the campaign-finance case. The subpoena to Steven Fruman is the latest indication of prosecutors' actions since the rushed arrest two weeks ago of his brother, Igor Fruman, and another defendant, Lev Parnas, at a Washington-area airport. Since then, investigators have doled out multiple subpoenas and conducted several property searches, in one case blowing the door off a safe to access the contents, sources tell CNN. Federal prosecutors told a judge this week that they are sifting through data from more than 50 bank accounts. In addition, they've put a filter team in place as they examine communications obtained via search warrant and subpoena, sensitive to material that could be subject to attorney-client privilege because Giuliani..., Donald Trump's personal attorney, counted Parnas as a client."

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Manu Raju, et al., of CNN: "Tim Morrison, a top Russia and Europe adviser on ... Donald Trump's National Security Council, is expected to testify before House impeachment investigators next week and corroborate key elements of a top US diplomat's account that Trump was pressing for Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into the Bidens before he would greenlight US security assistance, according to sources. Bill Taylor, the top US diplomat in Ukraine, said in extraordinary testimony on Tuesday that Trump pushed for Ukraine to publicly announce investigations, including one into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, using as leverage the military aid the country sought to fight back against Russian aggression. Morrison's testimony is expected to be significant because he is a current White House official whose name was cited 15 times in Taylor's opening statement, which Democrats view as damning for Trump. Morrison also listened to the July 25 call between Trump and the Ukrainian leader.... But two sources also tell CNN that Morrison will contend that he didn't see anything wrong with what the Trump administration did, while one of the sources said there will be 'nuance' over what Morrison intends to say." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: "Nuance?" Maybe not.

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: CNN is reporting that John Bolton is in negotiations with the House committees to appear for a deposition. No wonder Trump didn't trash Bolton when he fired him/Bolton quit; looks as if Trump can plan this far (a couple of weeks) ahead.

Charlie Savage of the New York Times publishes the warning letter, annotated, which Pentagon official Laura Cooper's attorney received from the DOD the day before she was scheduled to testify voluntarily. The letter told her not to cooperate. Cooper testified under subpoena. The AP reports on the letter but does not reproduce it.

David Lynch & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "The White House's trade representative in late August withdrew a recommendation to restore some of Ukraine's trade privileges after John Bolton, then-national security adviser, warned him that President Trump probably would oppose any action that benefited the government in Kyiv, according to people briefed on the matter. The warning to Robert E. Lighthizer came as Trump was withholding $391 million in military aid and security assistance from Ukraine.... The August exchange between Bolton and Lighthizer over the trade matter represents the first indication that the administration's suspension of assistance to Ukraine extended beyond the congressionally authorized military aid and security assistance to other government programs.... Bolton did not share Trump's view that Ukraine might be a source of damaging political information, but he was privy to weeks of back-and-forth within the administration and in Kyiv about the military aid." Emphasis added. The Hill has a summary of the WashPo report.

"I'm Trump's Lawyer." -- Rudy Giuliani, Incriminating Trump, Himself. Jerry Lambe of Law & Crime: "After months of insisting he was working at the behest of the State Department, Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday evening unequivocally stated that his work in Ukraine was performed in his capacity as ... Donald Trump's private attorney, an admission legal commentators say may have serious repercussions for both Giuliani and the White House. 'With all the Fake News let me make it clear that everything I did was to discover evidence to defend my client against false charges...,' Giuliani tweeted.... [Marty Lederman, a constitutional scholar, wrote, 'This merely confirms what was so outrageous: ... [Giuliani's] duty of loyalty was 100% to his (personal capacity) client. And yet Trump told Ukraine it had to dance to Rudy's tune -- a tune designed to advance Trump's personal interests -- in order to remain in the U.S.'s good graces (e.g., to secure access, aid, etc.).... This is the highest of high crimes -- using the leverage of his position as chief diplomat to advance his own interests -- and it's hard to imagine anything more inconsistent w/Trump's constitutional oath & duty and more revealing of his utter unfitness for office. And that'd be true *even if there were no quid pro quo* (but of course there was, which makes it all the worse).'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Erica Orden, et al., of CNN: "Rudy Giuliani has been approaching defense attorneys for possible representation, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The move by Giuliani, who is President Donald Trump's personal attorney, is notable because last week he said he would not be seeking a new lawyer unless he felt one was needed. His previous lawyer, John Sale, was helping him deal with congressional inquiries." Mrs. McC: It would have been a good idea if Rudy had found an attorney in time for said attorney to tell him to STFU. But, as far as the nation is concerned, it's nice of him to admit his job was helping Trump commit an impeachable offense. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ ** "No, I'm Trump's Lawyer." -- Bill Barr, Incriminating Himself, Trump. Katie Benner & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "For more than two years, President Trump has repeatedly attacked the Russia investigation, portraying it as a hoax and illegal even months after the special counsel closed it. Now, Mr. Trump's own Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into how it all began. Justice Department officials have shifted an administrative review of the Russia investigation closely overseen by Attorney General William P. Barr to a criminal inquiry, according to two people familiar with the matter. The move gives the prosecutor running it, John H. Durham, the power to subpoena for witness testimony and documents, to impanel a grand jury and to file criminal charges. The opening of a criminal investigation is likely to raise alarms that Mr. Trump is using the Justice Department to go after his perceived enemies.... Mr. Trump has made clear that he sees the typically independent Justice Department as a tool to be wielded against his political enemies." Update: An AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Rudy & Bill are pursuing related conspiracy theories. The theories center on the notion that President Obama or Hillary Clinton were the real ringleaders of a huge plot to interfere with the 2016 election and frame Russia. It would seem to be a vast left-wing conspiracy wherein hundreds of "deep state" villains are in on the plot: White House & Clinton campaign honchos, the top people at the FBI & their minions, directors of the intelligence agencies & their operatives, Bob Mueller & his investigators & prosecutors (not to mention Sessions & Rosenstein), the Senate Intelligence Committee & its staff, allied governments around the world, & who knows who else. What's pretty amazing is that none of these hundreds of people ever blabbed: nobody got drunk & blabbed at the bar, nobody told her boyfriend, nobody went to the National Enquirer looking for a payoff for dirt. ~~~

~~~ Anna Momigliano of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy said his country's intelligence services had informed the American attorney general, William P. Barr, that they played no role in the events leading to the Russia investigation, taking the air out of an unsubstantiated theory promoted by President Trump and his allies in recent weeks. 'Our intelligence is completely unrelated to the so-called Russiagate...,' Mr. Conte said in a news conference in Rome on Wednesday evening after spending hours describing Italy's discussions with Mr. Barr to the parliamentary committee on intelligence.... Mr. Trump and his associates have asserted, without evidence, that [Joseph] Mifsud [-- who told George Papadopoulos that Russia had thousands of e-mails that contained damaging info about Hillary Clinton --] is not a professor with links to Russia, as the special counsel's report states, but a Western intelligence asset working as part of an Obama administration plot to spy on the Trump campaign. That theory, once relegated to the far-right margins, has become a frequent talking point of Mr. Trump's as he seeks to undermine the special counsel's report. Mr. Barr at least twice visited Rome to investigate the allegations, on Aug. 15 and Sept. 27." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ TPM's story, by Josh Kovensky, is here. ~~~

~~~ Colin Kalmbacher of Law & Crime: "The New York City Bar Association has called on U.S. Attorney General William Barr to stand down and recuse himself from any further review by the Department of Justice (DOJ) of issues related to the Trump Administration's massive and snowballing Ukraine scandal.... In a statement, the organization blasted Barr's continued presence[:] 'To help remedy that failure [of undermining DOJ independence], the New York City Bar Association urges that Mr. Barr recuse himself from any ongoing or future review by DOJ of Ukraine-related issues in which Mr. Barr is allegedly involved. If he fails to do so, he should resign or, failing that, be subject to sanctions, including possible removal, by Congress.'" --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I've scanned several stories on this & none let on whether or not Barr was a member of the NYC bar. Elizabeth Dye of Above the Law urged the D.C. bar to follow the NYC bar's lead. Barr is a member of the D.C. bar.

Andrew Kirell of the Daily Beast: "White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham on Thursday doubled down on her boss' 'human scum' attack on so-called 'Never Trump' Republicans and seemingly expanded it to include anyone who has worked against the president's agenda.... 'The people who are against him, and who have been against him, and have been working against him since the day they took office are just that.'" Mrs. McC: As New York's "Intelligencer" pointed out, at least Trump (and now Grisham) are conceding the Never-Trumpers are human. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Inae Oh of Mother Jones: "Today, the Wall Street Journal editorial board has chimed in with a bizarre, new argument for why Trump should not be impeached: he's simply too inept. No, seriously. 'Intriguingly, Mr. Taylor says in his statement that many people in the Administration opposed the Giuliani effort, including some in senior positions at the White House. This matters because it may turn out that while Mr. Trump wanted a quid-pro-quo policy ultimatum toward Ukraine, he was too inept to execute it. Impeachment for incompetence would disqualify most of the government, and most Presidents at some point or another in office. The editorial is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Lindsey to Introduce Suck-up Resolution. Sarah Kolinovsky of ABC News: "Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., introduced a resolution on Thursday calling for the House of Representatives to hold a vote to initiate a formal impeachment inquiry, to allow ... Donald Trump to call witnesses on his behalf and to confront his accusers and to give subpoena power to House Republicans." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: safari found a Twitter feed (Frank Thorp V) that listed the senators who had not yet signed onto Lindsey's suck-up resolution. They are: Alexander, Collins, Enzi, Gardner, Isakson, Murkowski, & Romney. Alexander, Enzi & Isakson have said they will retire. Gardner is in a tight 2020 race in a purple state, leaning blue. Murkowski isn't afraid to stand up to Trump. Romney is enjoying his status as the Senate's Never Trump. And Collins, well, ~~~

Once again, it’s time to play... pic.twitter.com/oBOKYIGG6a

— Last Week Tonight (@LastWeekTonight) October 5, 2018

IOKIYAR. Ken Meyer of Mediaite: In 2016, when Secretary of State & Sycophancy Mike Pompeo was a member of Congress, he "defended the House Select Committee on Benghazi for the closed-door interviews they conducted while investigating the attack.... 'We felt like these closed door interviews were a much more effective way to get the facts for the American people.'... [Trey] Gowdy [R], the former South Carolina representative and chairman of the Benghazi committee, similarly defended private hearings in 2015 by saying they 'always produce better results.' 'I can just tell you that of the 50-some odd interviews we have done thus far, the vast majority of them have been private,' the former congressman said in an interview with Chuck Todd. 'And you don't see the bickering among the members of Congress in private interviews.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Brad Reed of the Raw Story: Wherein CNN's Poppy Harlow busts Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) "for blatantly misstating the facts about the whistleblower who filed a complaint against ... Donald Trump." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Matt Wilstein of the Daily Beast: "After Republican members of the House literally stormed the gates of the impeachment hearings on Wednesday, Judge Andrew Napolitano stopped by Fox & Friends Thursday morning to deliver a harsh wake-up call: Democrats are just 'following the rules' -- rules written by Republicans":

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As the Fox & Friends Couch Lady understands it, the depositions "will go on and on and on until they find something on the President*." Looks as if Fox "News" is way ahead of Donald Trump & already has a rule prohibiting its on-air personalities from reading the New York Times & Washington Post (see related story linked below).

Summer Concepcion of TPM: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he isn't sweating the House's impeachment inquiry. In an interview with The Wichita Eagle Thursday, Pompeo said that he doesn't think that the impeachment inquiry has damaged his image or leadership at the State Department.... Pompeo then seemed to take aim at the media for its coverage of testimonies from State Department officials, including top Ukraine diplomat Bill Taylor, related to the House's impeachment probe.... When asked about Taylor's damning testimony this week, which mentioned how Taylor sent Pompeo a cable in August expressing his issues regarding the delay of military aid to Ukraine, the secretary of state refused to comment. 'Yeah, I'm not going to talk about [the] inquiry this morning,' Pompeo said." ~~~

~~~ Rachel Frazin of the Hill: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a reporter for a Kansas newspaper that his question was 'insane' after the journalist asked if President Trump's recent decision to move troops out of northern Syria undermined U.S. credibility. Pompeo, a former GOP congressman from Kansas's 4th District, was asked by a Wichita Eagle reporter, 'What good really is the word of the U.S. in light of the president's treatment of the Kurds? Has that undercut U.S. credibility?' 'The whole predicate of your question is insane,' Pompeo responded. 'The word of the United States is much more respected today than it was just two and a half years ago,' the top U.S. diplomat added."

Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post makes fun of fact-checks Trump's Syria speech. Related stories linked yesterday. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dareh Gregorian & Hallie Jackson of NBC News: "... Donald Trump plans to direct federal agencies to cancel subscriptions to The New York Times and The Washington Post, outlets he regularly derides as 'fake news' for writing critical stories about him, the White House confirmed Thursday.... 'Not renewing subscriptions across all federal agencies will be a significant cost saving for taxpayers - hundreds of thousands of dollars,' White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.... Washington Post reporters noted on Twitter that their paper offers free digital subscriptions to anyone with a valid .gov or .mil email address." Mrs. McC: Certainly there are federal employees who are required to read these papers, and many, many others who need to read the major papers to do their jobs well.

Eriq Gardner of the Hollywood Reporter: "For the first time, season-five Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos has laid out some of her evidence supporting claims that Donald Trump attacked her in a hotel room in 2007.... Trump couldn't prevent the lawsuit from moving forward. In response to the argument that the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution barred a sitting president from being sued in state court, the judge responded that 'no one is above the law.'... The evidence that Zervos says she has collected to 'corroborate' her account ... include emails to Trump's secretary Rhona Graff to set up a meeting with him and responses from her. There are also calendar entries for Trump and his bodyguard showing how they flew from Las Vegas to Los Angeles in December 2007 and stayed at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Many of these documents are from Trump Organization files. Zervos' attorney Mariann Wang writes calendar entries and itineraries 'line up with Ms. Zervos's detailed public account with striking accuracy.' Further documents are said to also corroborate Zervos' account 'with even more granularity.'... 'I never met her at a hotel,' responded Trump, who added that allegations from his accusers were '100 percent fabricated and made-up charges, pushed strongly by the media and the Clinton campaign.'" ~~~

~~~ Joshua Partlow of the Washington Post: "Excerpts of President Trump's private calendar from a dozen years ago made public on Thursday appear to show Trump was at a Beverly Hills hotel around the same time a former 'Apprentice' contestant alleges he assaulted her there. Email exchanges from 2007 also released Thursday show that the woman, Summer Zervos, had sought a lunch meeting with Trump in New York around the time she claims he kissed her inappropriately in that city.... Trump called Zervos and other women who have made accusations against him 'liars,' prompting Zervos to sue him for defamation."

Erica Green & Stacy Cowley of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Thursday fined Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for contempt of court, ruling that she had violated an order to stop collecting on loans owed by students from a now-defunct for-profit chain of colleges. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim of the Federal District Court in San Francisco ordered the Education Department to pay a $100,000 fine. The money will go toward various remedies for students who are owed debt relief after President Barack Obama's Education Department found they were defrauded by the chain, Corinthian Colleges, which collapsed in 2014. The ruling is a victory for the more than 60,000 students who have been on a financial roller coaster since Corinthian imploded, after state and federal officials found that it lured students through deceptive recruitment practices and falsified job placement rates." Mrs. McC: Kim should have fined DeVos personally. Not that Betsy would have blinked at a little $100K fine. But you & I have to pay directly for her misdeeds. ~~~

~~~ Cristina Cabrera of TPM: "o;... a top Education Department official who oversaw federal student loans suddenly resigned on Thursday and proposed a sweeping plan to tackle student debt. The Wall Street Journal reported that A. Wayne Johnson, appointed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to serve as the the chief strategy and transformation officer of the department's Office of Federal Student Aid, has stepped down and will run for Sen. Johnny Isakson's (R-GA) seat. Slamming the student loan system as 'fundamentally broken,' Johnson proposed cancelling up to $50,000 in federal student loans for any borrower. Johnson's plan is particularly surprising given his former workplace's repeated efforts to gut student forgiveness programs under DeVos' leadership. He also served as CEO for several private student loan companies before he began working for the Trump administration. The former official told the Wall Street Journal that his proposal aims to eliminate the government's role in providing student loans and provide borrowers with a $50,000 voucher for tuition instead." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Susan Davis of NPR: "The first lawmaker to trigger ... new [House] rules ... [that] prohibit lawmakers from having sexual relations with anyone who works in their congressional office or on any committees on which they serve ... is a woman, freshman Rep.Katie Hill, D-Calif., and a member of House Democratic leadership." The House Ethics Committee is investigating. Davis reports the background. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Presidential/Congressional Races 2020

Phil Helsel & Amanda Golden of NBC News: "Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard said Thursday that she will not run for re-election for her U.S. representative seat, saying she wants to focus on trying to secure her party's nomination to challenge ... Donald Trump. Gabbard, who represents Hawaii, made the announcement in a video and email to supporters."

Dan Merica of CNN: "Rep. Tim Ryan dropped out of the 2020 presidential race on Thursday, ending a campaign that failed to gain any traction in a large field of better-financed and better-known Democrats. In a video sent to his supporters, Ryan also announced that he will instead run for reelection to the House of Representatives."

** Michael Wines of the New York Times: "After decades of treating elections as an afterthought, college students have begun voting in force. Their turnout in the 2018 midterms -- 40.3 percent of 10 million students tracked by Tufts University's Institute for Democracy & Higher Education -- was more than double the rate in the 2014 midterms, easily exceeding an already robust increase in national turnout. Energized by issues like climate change and the Trump presidency, students have suddenly emerged as a potentially crucial voting bloc in the 2020 general election. And almost as suddenly, Republican politicians around the country are throwing up roadblocks between students and voting booths. Not coincidentally, the barriers are rising fastest in political battlegrounds and places like Texas where one-party control is eroding. Students overwhelmingly lean Democratic, with three in four supportive of impeaching President Trump, according to an Axios/College Reaction poll released this month." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Forgot this earlier. Theodore Schleifer of Vox: "Wednesday was open season on Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook -- this time in the halls of the US Congress. While the hearing was supposed to be about Facebook's push to create a new digital currency called Libra, about half of the back and forth centered on other topics, from its controversial political ads policy to Facebook's record on diversity to particular congresspeople's pet issues. Facebook is balancing multiple overlapping crises simultaneously, and each individual congressperson chose their own line of attack, giving the whole hearing a scattershot feeling that lacked a clear partisan or even thematic bent.... Sixty different politicians had five minutes each to grill Zuckerberg about whatever they wanted, and they jumped at the opportunity to try and test him at yet another politically delicate moment in his company' history. With some notable exceptions, Congress came across as prepared, serious, and thoughtful -- especially compared to prior outings, when technological illiteracy reigned supreme.... Almost all of the questions -- no matter the issue area -- centered on the overwhelming question of trust. One member suggested that Facebook had lied. Another said Facebook was often found at the 'scene of the crime.' The big idea: Why should anyone trust Facebook to responsibly do something new, particularly something related to its users' money, when it can't even execute on its existing projects?" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

CNN is updating developments in California wildfires. "As of early Friday morning, there are nine active major fires burning across California, CalFire told CNN."

The Commentariat -- October 24, 2019

Afternoon Update:

IOKIYAR. Ken Meyer of Mediaite: In 2016, when Secretary of State & Sycophancy Mike Pompeo was a member of Congress, he "defended the House Select Committee on Benghazi for the closed-door interviews they conducted while investigating the attack.... 'We felt like these closed door interviews were a much more effective way to get the facts for the American people.'... [Trey] Gowdy [R], the former South Carolina representative and chairman of the Benghazi committee, similarly defended private hearings in 2015 by saying they 'always produce better results.' 'I can just tell you that of the 50-some odd interviews we have done thus far, the vast majority of them have been private,' the former congressman said in an interview with Chuck Todd. 'And you don't see the bickering among the members of Congress in private interviews.'"

Rudy Incriminates Donald. Jerry Lambe of Law & Crime: "After months of insisting he was working at the behest of the State Department, Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday evening unequivocally stated that his work in Ukraine was performed in his capacity as ... Donald Trump's private attorney, an admission legal commentators say may have serious repercussions for both Giuliani and the White House. 'With all the Fake News let me make it clear that everything I did was to discover evidence to defend my client against false charges...,' Giuliani tweeted.... [Marty Lederman, a constitutional scholar, wrote, 'This merely confirms what was so outrageous: ... [Giuliani's] duty of loyalty was 100% to his (personal capacity) client. And yet Trump told Ukraine it had to dance to Rudy's tune -- a tune designed to advance Trump's personal interests -- in order to remain in the U.S.'s good graces (e.g., to secure access, aid, etc.).... This is the highest of high crimes -- using the leverage of his position as chief diplomat to advance his own interests -- and it's hard to imagine anything more inconsistent w/Trump's constitutional oath & duty and more revealing of his utter unfitness for office. And that'd be true *even if there were no quid pro quo* (but of course there was, which makes it all the worse).'" ~~~

~~~ Erica Orden, et al., of CNN: "Rudy Giuliani has been approaching defense attorneys for possible representation, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The move by Giuliani, who is President Donald Trump's personal attorney, is notable because last week he said he would not be seeking a new lawyer unless he felt one was needed. His previous lawyer, John Sale, was helping him deal with congressional inquiries." Mrs. McC: It would have been a good idea if Rudy had found an attorney in time for said attorney to tell him to STFU. But, as far as the nation is concerned, it's nice of him to admit his job was helping Trump commit an impeachable offense.

Anna Momigliano of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy said his country's intelligence services had informed the American attorney general, William P. Barr, that they played no role in the events leading to the Russia investigation, taking the air out of an unsubstantiated theory promoted by President Trump and his allies in recent weeks. 'Our intelligence is completely unrelated to the so-called Russiagate...,' Mr. Conte said in a news conference in Rome on Wednesday evening after spending hours describing Italy's discussions with Mr. Barr to the parliamentary committee on intelligence.... Mr. Trump and his associates have asserted, without evidence, that [Joseph] Mifsud [-- who told George Papadopoulos that Russia had thousands of e-mails that contained damaging info about Hillary Clinton --] is not a professor with links to Russia, as the special counsel's report states, but a Western intelligence asset working as part of an Obama administration plot to spy on the Trump campaign. That theory, once relegated to the far-right margins, has become a frequent talking point of Mr. Trump's as he seeks to undermine the special counsel's report. Mr. Barr at least twice visited Rome to investigate the allegations, on Aug. 15 and Sept. 27."

Andrew Kirell of the Daily Beast: "White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham on Thursday doubled down on her boss' 'human scum' attack on so-called 'Never Trump' Republicans and seemingly expanded it to include anyone who has worked against the president's agenda.... 'The people who are against him, and who have been against him, and have been working against him since the day they took office are just that.'" Mrs. McC: As New York's Intelligencer pointed out, at least Trump (and now Grisham) are conceding the Never-Trumpers are human.

Inae Oh of Mother Jones: "Today, the Wall Street Journal editorial board has chimed in with a bizarre, new argument for why Trump should not be impeached: he's simply too inept. No, seriously. 'Intriguingly, Mr. Taylor says in his statement that many people in the Administration opposed the Giuliani effort, including some in senior positions at the White House. This matters because it may turn out that while Mr. Trump wanted a quid-pro-quo policy ultimatum toward Ukraine, he was too inept to execute it. Impeachment for incompetence would disqualify most of the government, and most Presidents at some point or another in office. The editorial is here.

Brad Reed of the Raw Story: Wherein CNN's Poppy Harlow busts Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) "for blatantly misstating the facts about the whistleblower who filed a complaint against ... Donald Trump."

Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post makes fun of fact-checks Trump's Syria speech. Related stories linked below.

Cristina Cabrera of TPM: "... a top Education Department official who oversaw federal student loans suddenly resigned on Thursday and proposed a sweeping plan to tackle student debt. The Wall Street Journal reported that A. Wayne Johnson, appointed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to serve as the the chief strategy and transformation officer of the department's Office of Federal Student Aid, has stepped down and will run for Sen. Johnny Isakson's (R-GA) seat. Slamming the student loan system as 'fundamentally broken,' Johnson proposed cancelling up to $50,000 in federal student loans for any borrower. Johnson's plan is particularly surprising given his former workplace;s repeated efforts to gut student forgiveness programs under DeVos' leadership. He also served as CEO for several private student loan companies before he began working for the Trump administration. The former official told the Wall Street Journal that his proposal aims to eliminate the government's role in providing student loans and provide borrowers with a $50,000 voucher for tuition instead."

** Michael Wines of the New York Times: "After decades of treating elections as an afterthought, college students have begun voting in force. Their turnout in the 2018 midterms -- 40.3 percent of 10 million students tracked by Tufts University's Institute for Democracy & Higher Education -- was more than double the rate in the 2014 midterms, easily exceeding an already robust increase in national turnout. Energized by issues like climate change and the Trump presidency, students have suddenly emerged as a potentially crucial voting bloc in the 2020 general election. And almost as suddenly, Republican politicians around the country are throwing up roadblocks between students and voting booths. Not coincidentally, the barriers are rising fastest in political battlegrounds and places like Texas where one-party control is eroding. Students overwhelmingly lean Democratic, with three in four supportive of impeaching President Trump, according to an Axios/College Reaction poll released this month."

Susan Davis of NPR: "The first lawmaker to trigger ... new [House] rules ... [that] prohibit lawmakers from having sexual relations with anyone who works in their congressional office or on any committees on which they serve ... is a woman, freshman Rep. Katie Hill, D-Calif., and a member of House Democratic leadership." The House Ethics Committee is investigating. Davis reports the background.

Forgot this earlier. Theodore Schleifer of Vox: "Wednesday was open season on Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook -- this time in the halls of the US Congress. While the hearing was supposed to be about Facebook's push to create a new digital currency called Libra, about half of the back and forth centered on other topics, from its controversial political ads policy to Facebook's record on diversity to particular congresspeople's pet issues. Facebook is balancing multiple overlapping crises simultaneously, and each individual congressperson chose their own line of attack, giving the whole hearing a scattershot feeling that lacked a clear partisan or even thematic bent.... Sixty different politicians had five minutes each to grill Zuckerberg about whatever they wanted, and they jumped at the opportunity to try and test him at yet another politically delicate moment in his company's history. With some notable exceptions, Congress came across as prepared, serious, and thoughtful -- especially compared to prior outings, when technological illiteracy reigned supreme.... Almost all of the questions -- no matter the issue area -- centered on the overwhelming question of trust. One member suggested that Facebook had lied. Another said Facebook was often found at the 'scene of the crime.' The big idea: Why should anyone trust Facebook to responsibly do something new, particularly something related to its users' money, when it can't even execute on its existing projects?"

~~~~~~~~~~

Republicans Behaving Badly

Rebels Without a Clue. Or, in one case, a suitcoat. Getty image, taken outside the SCIF.

~~~ Toluse Olorunnipa, et al., of the Washington Post: "Republicans' defense of President Trump grew more frantic and disjointed Wednesday, with House members storming a closed-door meeting, delaying the testimony of an impeachment witness as the GOP grappled with a growing abuse-of-power scandal centered on the president. A group of Trump's congressional allies escalated their complaints about the impeachment inquiry by barging into a secure facility on Capitol Hill where a Pentagon official was to testify before the House Intelligence Committee.... Before entering the closed-door hearing, Republican lawmakers held a news conference to decry how [Adam] Schiff, the California Democrat who runs the Intelligence Committee, was carrying out the panel's portion of the impeachment inquiry.... But none of the 13 Republicans who spoke defended Trump on the central allegation that he had pushed Ukraine to investigate Democrats while blocking military aid that had been approved for Kyiv. Damning testimony from William B. Taylor Jr., the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, has rocked the White House's impeachment defense, making it more difficult for Republicans to claim that Trump did nothing wrong." Emphasis added. ~~~

~~~ Li Zhou & Elia Nilsen of Vox: "Roughly 30 Republicans reportedly rushed past police officers and occupied the room for hours, even ordering pizza at one point -- all to delay witness testimony from Pentagon official Laura Cooper.... According to a Bloomberg report, Trump was aware of House Republicans' Wednesday plans to storm the SCIF, discussing the matter with lawmakers during a Tuesday meeting they had about the impeachment inquiry.... Those process complaints are useful distractions from the growing allegations against Trump, and for Republicans who don't want to engage with the facts the inquiry is uncovering. At least one high-ranking Republican senator, John Thune of South Dakota, acknowledged those facts...[:] 'The picture coming out of [officials' testimony] based on the reporting we've seen is, yeah, I would say it's not a good one,' Thune told reporters. 'But I would say also, until we have a process that allows for everybody to see this with full transparency, it's pretty hard to come to hard and fast conclusions.'" ~~~

~~~ Olivia Beavers & Mike Lillis of the Hill: "The five-hour protest came to an end just after 3 p.m., shortly after the House Sergeant at Arms, Paul Irving, was seen going alone into the secure room. It doesn't appear that Republicans won any concessions, however...." ~~~

~~~ New York Times liveblog: "President Trump took to Twitter again to denigrate the impeachment inquiry as a Defense Department official headed to Capitol Hill to testify on the Ukraine affair.... House Republicans ... attempted to storm the secure room, delaying proceedings, where impeachment investigators were questioning a witness.... About two dozen House Republicans, chanting 'Let us in! Let us in!' tried to storm the secure room where a Defense Department official arrived Wednesday morning to testify in the impeachment inquiry.... The lawmakers -- most of whom do not sit on the committees conducting the inquiry and are therefore not entitled to attend its hearings -- said they were protesting the closed-door nature of the proceedings.... The chaotic scene in the bowels of the Capitol unfolded as the panel was getting ready to hear from Laura B. Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, and halted the session. [Adam] Schiff summoned the Sergeant-at-arms to disperse the uninvited Republican guests, some of whom brought cellphones, which are forbidden in the secure suite.... It is common practice for sensitive congressional investigations to be conducted behind closed doors, at least in their preliminary stages. House Republicans did just that when they controlled the chamber and opened an inquiry into the 2012 attack on the United States embassy in Benghazi, Libya. Democrats have said they plan to hold open hearings after the committees finish deposing witnesses...." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Zachary Basu of Axios: "Republicans reportedly took pictures inside the House Intelligence Committee's Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) -- forcing police to conduct a sweep for possible security breaches. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) tweeted from inside the SCIF: 'BREAKING: I led over 30 of my colleagues into the SCIF where Adam Schiff is holding secret impeachment depositions. Still inside - more details to come.' Gaetz later added: '**Tweet from Staff**'.... Worth noting: The group alleges that they are being shut out of the impeachment process, but there are Republicans on the three panels conducting the investigation -- the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs Committees -- that are present and able to ask questions at every hearing." Mrs. McC: The NYT liveblog, linked above, now has a photo of someone -- it looks like Gaetz's backside -- walking into the SCIF while holding up his phone, as if he's recording. So that "Tweet from Staff" disclaimer is pretty unconvincing. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ How Fake Was Their "Protest"? Ursula Perano of Axios: "13 of the 41 Republican lawmakers who stormed a closed-door hearing Wednesday ... sit on committees with the power to question witnesses and review documents." ~~~

~~~ Ed Kilgore of New York: "Here's the real howler, though: the idea that in demanding an end to the closed hearings Republicans are striking a blow for openness and transparency.... The president these birds are defending has stonewalled every single congressional inquiry into his conduct.... If you actually want 'open government,' [as the fake protesters claim,] you might want to start by asking the obsessive leak-freak and stonewaller in the White House to set a better example."

The Ukraine Cover-up Is a Spectacular Failure. Wednesday's Entries:

     ** (1) Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration has sought repeatedly to cut foreign aid programs tasked with combating corruption in Ukraine and elsewhere overseas, White House budget documents show, despite recent claims from President Trump and his administration that they have been singularly concerned with fighting corruption in Ukraine. Those claims have come as the president and his administration sought to explain away a July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump pressured his counterpart to open investigations into Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and into a debunke conspiracy theory involving a hacked Democratic National Committee computer server. 'I don't care about politics, but I do care about corruption. And this whole thing is about corruption,' Trump told reporters earlier this month when discussing the Ukraine issue. 'This whole thing -- this whole thing is about corruption.'" The Raw Story has a summary of the WashPo report here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

     (2) Andrew Kramer & Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "Following testimony by William B. Taylor Jr. ... to House impeachment investigators on Tuesday that the freezing of [military] aid [to Ukraine] was directly linked to Mr. Trump's demand for the investigations, the president took to Twitter on Wednesday morning to approvingly quote a Republican member of Congress saying neither Mr. Taylor nor any other witness had 'provided testimony that the Ukrainians were aware that military aid was being withheld.'... [Trump's argument is that there] could not have been any quid pro quo because the Ukrainians did not know the assistance had been blocked.... But in fact, word of the aid freeze had gotten to high-level Ukrainian officials by the first week in August, according to interviews and documents obtained by The New York Times.... They were advised they should reach out to Mick Mulvaney..., according to the interviews and records.... The Ukrainian government was aware of the freeze during most of the period ... when .. Rudolph W. Giuliani and two American diplomats were pressing President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to make a public commitment to the investigations being sought by Mr. Trump.... Mr. Taylor told the impeachment investigators that it was only on the sidelines of a Sept. 1 meeting in Warsaw between Mr. Zelensky and Vice President Mike Pence that the Ukrainians were directly told the aid would be dependent on Mr. Zelensky giving Mr. Trump ... an investigation into Burisma, the company that had employed Hunter Biden, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s son." But they knew what was expected of them weeks earlier. This timeline not only contradicts Trump's claims, it corroborates the whistleblower's timeline. A Raw Story summary report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ** (3) Desmond Butler & Michael Biesecker of the AP: "More than two months before the phone call that launched the impeachment inquiry into ... Donald Trump, Ukraine's newly elected leader was already worried about pressure from the U.S. president to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden. Volodymyr Zelenskiy gathered a small group of advisers on May 7 in Kyiv for a meeting that was supposed to be about his nation's energy needs. Instead, the group spent most of the three-hour discussion talking about how to navigate the insistence from Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, for a probe and how to avoid becoming entangled in the American elections, according to three people familiar with the details of the meeting. The meeting came before Zelenskiy was inaugurated but about two weeks after Trump called to offer his congratulations on the night of the Ukrainian leader's April 21 election. The full details of what the two leaders discussed in that Easter Sunday phone call have never been publicly disclosed, and it is not clear whether Trump explicitly asked for an investigation of the Bidens.... The White House has offered only a bare-bones public readout on the April call, saying Trump urged Zelenskiy and the Ukrainian people to implement reforms, increase prosperity and 'root out corruption.' In the intervening months, Trump and his proxies have frequently used the word 'corruption' to reference the monthslong efforts to get the Ukrainians to investigate Democrats." Emphasis added. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Zelensky found out somehow that Trump wanted him to investigate Biden way back in May. We surely need to find out what-all Trump said in his April 21 "congratulatory" call to Zelensky. ~~~

~~~ "GOP Weariness Grows as Trump Defenses Give Way." Rick Klein & Maryalice Parks of ABC News: "The deeper things get and the more likely impeachment is, the more ... Donald Trump needs his Republican Party to stay loyal.... But ... he may be losing ... the ability to convince GOP leaders that loyalty is worth its increasingly evident risks.... Trump is responding with complaints about the process that are awkward for Republicans to defend -- his 'lynching' Tweet is Exhibit A -- and thinly veiled political threats at GOP leaders who dare defy him." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Yay! Matt Whitaker Is Back. And He's Just as Smart as Ever. Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "Following Tuesday's devastating House testimony by acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor..., former acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker defended the president by claiming 'abuse of power is not a crime.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Chait: "As the factual defense of Trump's behavior in the Ukraine scandal has disintegrated, Trump has slowly fallen back to the case he truly believes in his heart. Sessions was too naïve, and Barr too sophisticated, to present Trump's worldview in such bald terms. It fell to Whitaker to articulate the ethos of the 45th president -- that he is entitled to abuse power as he sees fit." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Julia Arciga of the Daily Beast: "President Trump on Wednesday blasted Republicans who won't pledge fealty to him in the impeachment fight, claiming such people are 'human scum.' 'The Never Trumper Republicans, though on respirators with not many left, are in certain ways worse and more dangerous for our Country than the Do Nothing Democrats,' Trump wrote in a tweet, which he subsequently pinned to his profile. 'Watch out for them, they are human scum!' The president called Bill Taylor, his own acting ambassador to Ukraine, a 'Never Trumper' along with Taylor's lawyer." According to the WashPo report by Toluse Olorunnipa & others, linked above, Trump "later apparently deleted the tweet." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It's worth noting that besides implying that Ambassador Taylor was "human scum," Trump also took a swipe at his awkwardly loyal Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. From the Olorunnipa report: "On Wednesday..., Trump turned his fire on [Ambassador] Taylor.... He also acknowledged, however, that his own administration had chosen Taylor for the Ukraine posting. 'It would be really great if the people within the Trump Administration, all well-meaning and good (I hope!), could stop hiring Never Trumpers who are worse than the Do Nothing Democrats,' Trump wrote on Twitter. 'Nothing good will ever come from them!' Few Republicans have echoed Trump's personal attacks on Taylor, a Vietnam veteran who served in the government under Republican and Democratic presidents and was originally appointed ambassador to Ukraine by President George W. Bush. Taylor said in his testimony that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, one of Trump's closest advisers, had personally asked him to take the acting position this year."

Spencer Ackerman & Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "Whatever hope Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had of staying in the background of the House Democratic impeachment inquiry evaporated under the heat of Amb. William Taylor's damning deposition. House Democrats are now redoubling their efforts at pulling Pompeo deeper into an impeachment inquiry the secretary has met with defiance. Taylor ... told legislators on Tuesday that Pompeo loomed large in what Taylor described as an 'irregular' effort to make assistance to Ukraine contingent on the young Volodomyr Zelensky government's willingness to investigate Trump's domestic political rivals." ~~~

     ~~~ Eric Tucker of the AP: "A judge on Wednesday ordered the State Department to begin producing within 30 days documents related to the Trump administration's dealings with Ukraine, saying the records were of obvious public interest. The documents were sought under a Freedom of Information Act request by American Oversight, an ethics watchdog that investigates the administration. Any release of government documents could shed new light on ... Donald Trump' efforts to prod his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden, the matter at the heart of the Democrat-led House impeachment inquiry.... Among the records the group asked for are documents related to interactions between [Rudy] Giuliani and Ukraine, as well as documents about the recall of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.... Meanwhile, three committees leading the impeachment investigation are asking the State Department for documents they say are central to the probe's 'core area of investigation' after the department defied a subpoena to provide them." Mrs. McC: The article doesn't indicate whether or not the State Department will appeal the ruling.

If you read every word of all the stories I linked yesterday on Bill Taylor's testimony, you would have figured this out, but in case you had other things to do ~~~

     ~~~ Robert Mackey of the Intercept zeroes in on Trump's script for the Zelensky Show: "Before agreeing to release nearly $400 million in military assistance to Ukraine..., Donald Trump extorted a promise from ... Volodymyr Zelensky, to appear on American television and act out a script prepared for him by Trump's aides, the top American diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, told the House impeachment inquiry on Tuesday. The scene a desperate Zelensky finally agreed to perform would have been the very definition of fake news: a dramatic announcement by the Ukrainian president, during a CNN interview, that he was opening criminal investigations on Joe Biden's family and other Democrats. The plot, which would have duped American voters into believing that there was some substance to a debunked conspiracy theory about Biden's work in Ukraine as vice president, came very close to working. According to Taylor..., Zelensky and his aides had resisted pressure from Trump to help him smear Biden.... But once the Ukrainians became aware that the much-needed security assistance Trump had personally held up might never be delivered, Zelensky, who was an actor and comedian before entering politics this year, agreed to play his part in a ruse intended to lend credibility to baseless conspiracy theories about Biden and other Democrats."

The Old "I Do Not Recall" Dodge. Aaron Davis of the Washington Post: "Sworn testimony provided by [Gordon] Sondland... and [William] Taylor ... now diverges on key points. Most critically, Taylor's testimony challenges Sondland's claim that he did not know of an alleged quid pro quo involving nearly $400 million in security aid for Ukraine.... Responding to questions by email, Sondland's attorney Robert Luskin wrote to The Washington Post on Wednesday that his client 'does not recall' ... a [September 1] conversation [in which] ... Sondland warned [President] Zelensky aide Andrey Yermak that the security assistance 'would not come' unless Zelensky committed to pursuing the investigation into Burisma, [a conversation to which Taylor testified].... Some members of the House Intelligence Committee have begun calling for Sondland to return for additional questioning to reconcile the two diplomats' accounts. Rep. Will Hurd (R-Tex.) said Taylor's testimony raises 'a lot of questions.' In an interview on CNN, he said 'for sure ... [Sondland] needs to come back and answer some of these questions.'" The Politico story is here.

Another Ukraine Sideshow? Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: Colleagues of Kashyap Patel, a Devin Nunes protégé whom Trump placed on the National Security Council in February 2019, fear Patel had created a backchannel to Trump on Ukraine matters. "Colleagues grew alarmed after hearing that Mr. Trump had referred to Mr. Patel as one of his top Ukraine policy specialists.... House impeachment investigators are scrutinizing Mr. Patel's actions as well.... Fiona Hill, the National Security Council's former senior director for Eurasian and Russian affairs, testified to House investigators last week that she believed Mr. Patel was improperly becoming involved in Ukraine policy and was sending information to Mr. Trump, some of the people said. Ms. Hill grew alarmed earlier this year when an aide from the White House executive secretary's office told her that Mr. Trump wanted to talk to Mr. Patel and identified him as the National Security Council's 'Ukraine director,' a position held by one of Ms. Hill's deputies. The aide said Mr. Trump wanted to meet with Mr. Patel about documents he had received on Ukraine." ~~~

~~~ Natasha Bertrand has the Politico story: Kashyap Patel, "a protégé of Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, was among those passing negative information about Ukraine to ... Donald Trump earlier this year, fueling the president's belief that Ukraine was brimming with corruption and interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Democrats.... [Patel's] 'unique access' to the West Wing, and the ease with which he has been able to interact directly with the president without NSC leadership's involvement, has also struck some as unusual, [a] former official said.... Patel's involvement demonstrates that the president had at least some support for the [Ukraine] scheme from within the NSC, and has given House impeachment investigators yet another name to add to their witness list -- a name they are already familiar with, given Patel's previous work in Congress to discredit the Russia investigation."

Lev & Igor Plead Not Guilty, Tie Their Fate to Trump. Nicole Hong & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "One of the two indicted associates of President Trump's personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, on Wednesday tied the case to the president himself, saying that some of the evidence gathered in the campaign-finance investigation could be subject to executive privilege. The unusual argument was raised by a defense lawyer in federal court in Manhattan as the two associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, pleaded not guilty to federal charges that they had made illegal campaign contributions to political candidates in the United States in exchange for potential influence." ~~~

~~~ Lawyer for Donald & Lev Claims Executive Privilege. Pervaiz Shallwani & Pilar Melendez of the Daily Beast: "During the hearing, Parnas' attorney, Edward MacMahon, told the judge that his client was told to invoke executive privilege in a letter that was submitted on Parnas' behalf by John Dowd, a former lawyer for the president, to a congressional committee conducting the impeachment inquiry. Asked by Judge Paul Oetken if Parnas has worked for the president, MacMahon said no, but that 'he worked for Mr. Giuliani.' MacMahon said that his concern stems from Parnas having used Giuliani as his lawyer for both personal and business dealings and that Giuliani also works for Trump." ~~~

~~~ As digby puts it, "These mobsters are being protected as part of Trump's legal team."

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If you have a subscription to the Washington Post, it's worth at least skimming Philip Bump's (Oct. 21) attempt to work out the relationships among Rudy Giuliani and a whole buncha Trumpworld characters, most of them fairly shady.

Michael Crowley & Lara Jakes of the New York Times: "President Trump announced on Wednesday that the United States has brokered a permanent cease-fire in northeast Syria, taking credit for a tentative deal that will be enforced by Turkey and Russia, and lifting sanctions he had imposed after Turkey invaded Kurdish-run areas south of its border. The president cast the announcement as a triumph of diplomacy. But even many leading Republicans have decried the American retreat from Syria -- which allowed the Turkish invasion into northeast Syria earlier this month -- as a foreign policy debacle. 'Let someone else fight over this long bloodstained sand,' Mr. Trump said from the Diplomatic Room at the White House, flanked by Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the White House national security adviser, Robert O'Brien.... Mr. Trump seemed to reject the idea of Russian influence. 'This was an outcome created by us, the United States, and nobody else,' he said. 'No other nation. Very simple.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: Trump "took credit for the cease-fire and suggested the agreement would save tens of thousands of Kurdish lives in the region -- even though one day earlier, Russia and Turkey agreed to a plan to push Syrian Kurdish fighters from a wide swath of territory just south of Turkey's border, cementing Russian President Vladimir Putin's preeminent role in Syria as American troops depart and U.S. influence wanes.... Trump also said he had spoken by phone with Kurdish general Mazloum Abdi, who he said assured him that Islamic State fighters will remain in captivity.... Even as Trump declared success in Syria, U.S. policy appeared to be in disarray. Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper was in the Iraqi capital to discuss the redeployment of hundreds of U.S. troops after Iraq' military announced its opposition to allowing American forces to stay i the country." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Deirdre Shesgreen & David Jackson of USA Today: "Lawmakers in both parties pilloried Trump's decision to lift sanctions. 'It's unthinkable that Turkey would not suffer consequences for malevolent behavior which was contrary to the interests of the United States and our friends,' Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tweeted after Trump's announcement. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, [tweeted,] 'Erdogan has NOT agreed to stop all military operations in #Syria.'... The senator said Russia will 'remove Kurdish forces from east & west of current Turk controlled areas, including Kurdish cities' and take control of five oil fields in Syria. While critics ridiculed Trump's claim of a victory, the president said a U.S.-brokered cease-fire between Turkey and the Kurds had held 'beyond most expectations.'... In Syria, the situation on the ground remains in flux. Russia has moved to fill a power vacuum created by the U.S. departure, the Kurds fear an ethnic cleansing by Turkish forces, and an estimated 100 Islamic State fighters have escaped from Kurdish detention facilities. Turkey's assault, even while suspended, has spawned a humanitarian crisis in Syria. The United Nations estimated Tuesday that about 180,000 Syrians have been forced to leave their homes or shelters, including 80,000 children, all in desperate need of humanitarian assistance." ~~~

~~~ Views from the Alternate World of Trump. Grace Segers of CBS News: "Mr. Trump also said those who had criticized his decision to pull troops from northern Syria were now praising him. 'Today's announcement validates our course of action with Turkey that only a couple of weeks ago was scorned and now people are saying, "wow, what a great outcome, congratulations,'" Mr. Trump said. He also praised Erdogan, who has been criticized for his autocratic tendencies and said that he and Erdogan may be meeting soon.... Mr. Trump said Wednesday the Kurdish leader had informed him that prisons holding ISIS fighters were secured. However, the top envoy to Syria, James Jeffrey, testified before Congress on Wednesday that over 100 prisoners have escaped and the U.S. does not know where they are."

The Geography of the Alternate World of Trump. Savannah Behrmann of USA Today: "... Donald Trump said Wednesday that a wall is being built in Colorado. 'And we're building a wall on the border of New Mexico. And we're building a wall in Colorado. We're building a beautiful wall. A big one that really works -- that you can't get over, you can't get under," Trump said during a speech ... in Pittsburgh." ~~~

https://t.co/fmE0hiPLNB pic.twitter.com/gMzNIcl5Qu

— Sen. Patrick Leahy (@SenatorLeahy) October 23, 2019

Erin Durkin & Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Even if ... Donald Trump shot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue, New York authorities could not punish him while he is in office, the president's lawyers argued Wednesday. Attorneys for Trump made the claim while arguing before a federal appeals court in their suit against Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, who has subpoenaed Trump's tax returns.... The case is expected to ultimately make its way to the Supreme Court.... Carey Dunne, general counsel for the District Attorney, said the privilege the president's lawyers are claiming is not founded in the law. 'There's no such thing as presidential immunity for tax returns,' he said. 'He may view them as embarrassing or sensitive but tax returns do in fact get subpoenaed all the time in financial investigations,' he said. 'They're making this up, your honor.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Rachel Maddow said that an important element of this case was that the trial judge, Victor Marrero, ruled that not only were Trump's immunity arguments "repugnant," but that the infamous DOJ "guidance memos" that determined a sitting president cannot be indicted are incorrect. So, IMO, the whole Mueller investigation was a big honking sham. The Mueller team should have ignored the DOJ "guidance" & indicted Trump, at least in the Michael Cohen payoffs matter (where Trump showed up as an unindicted co-conspirator). If Mueller was unsure about following the DOJ guidance, he should have gone to court & argued that the guidance was flawed & should have no effect. Instead, he chose to follow the guidance in order to protect Trump. Please don't tell me about Mueller's integrity and years of public service, blah blah. He's one of those guys who sit on various "select commission" & love to catch the minnows, but don't even bring bait for the sharks & whales.

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The National Archives and Records Administration has launched an investigation into Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' use of private email for official business, according to a letter made public this week. The inquiry was triggered by an unflattering profile of Ross last month in the Washington Post, which cited government-related emails the watchdog group Democracy Forward received from Ross' private account. The group obtained the messages through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit." Mrs. McC: Gee, I wonder if this means Trump will start calling Ross "Crooked Wilbur." Okay, no.

Former Presidents to Eulogize the Son of a Sharecropper. Rich McKay of Reuters: "Former U.S. presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, along with former presidential candidate and Senator Hillary Clinton, are among a who's-who list of the Democratic Party slated to speak on Friday at the late Congressman Elijah Cummings' funeral.... Also slated to speak is former National Association for the Advancement of Colored People President Kweisi Mfume, whose Maryland seat Cummings took over when Mfume became the leader of the civil rights group. The seat, Maryland's 7th congressional district, was held by Cummings for more than two decades.... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Cumming's widow [Maya Rockeymoore-Cummings], brother and daughters will also speak."

Presidential Race 2020. Ursula Perano of Axios lists the nine Democrats who have qualified for the November presidential debate. "MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, NBC's Andrea Mitchell, the Washington Post's Ashley Parker, and NBC's Kristen Welker ... will be moderating the debate.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Spain. "Generalissimo Francisco Franco Is Still Dead!"* Laura Maestro & Aimie Lewis of CNN: "The remains of Spain's former dictator General Francisco Franco have been exhumed in a controversial move that has divided opinion in Spain for decades. The Spanish government announced this week that it was to move Franco's remains from the grand mausoleum where he was buried in 1975 to the nearby Mingorrubio state cemetery in El Pardo, 12 miles north of Madrid, where his wife is buried. Despite the government's refusal to authorize two demonstrations, about 200 Franco supporters were protesting at a police blockade near the Mingorrubio cemetery. People of all ages held Spanish flags and signs that read 'Franco, thank you!' and 'National Unity.' Franco's exhumation follows a year-long legal battle between the caretaker Socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and relatives of Franco."

     * Here's the explanation for the headline. Mrs. McC: Maybe I should apologize for making jokes at this painful moment for the Franco family. Nah.

News Lede

Guardian: "The 39 people found dead in a lorry trailer in Essex were Chinese nationals, police have confirmed. The victims, discovered in a refrigerated trailer in Grays on Wednesday, were eight women and 31 men, Essex police added. The reports came as Belgian authorities released details about the trailer's journey and UK police pressed ahead with a murder investigation."

The Commentariat -- October 23, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Michael Crowley & Lara Jakes of the New York Times: "President Trump announced on Wednesday that the United States has brokered a permanent cease-fire in northeast Syria, taking credit for a tentative deal that will be enforced by Turkey and Russia, and lifting sanctions he had imposed after Turkey invaded Kurdish-run areas south of its border. The president cast the announcement as a triumph of diplomacy. But even many leading Republicans have decried the American retreat from Syria -- which allowed the Turkish invasion into northeast Syria earlier this month -- as a foreign policy debacle. 'Let someone else fight over this long bloodstained sand,' Mr. Trump said from the Diplomatic Room at the White House, flanked by Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the White House national security adviser, Robert O'Brien.... Mr. Trump seemed to reject the idea of Russian influence. 'This was an outcome created by us, the United States, and nobody else,' he said. 'No other nation. Very simple.'" ~~~

~~~ Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "BREAKING: Trump says U.S will lift sanctions on Turkey, calling cease-fire in Syria permanent[.] The administration announced the sanctions on Oct. 14 after the Turkish military offensive against Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria. That offensive followed President Trump's announcement that he would pull U.S. troops from Syria -- a decision that brought stiff, bipartisan criticism. Trump called the cease-fire 'permanent' but added that permanent is a questionable word to use regarding the region -- and said that sanctions would be lifted 'unless something happens that we're not happy with.' This story will be updated." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: According to MSNBC reporters, Trump has been tweet-lying about Syria all morning, so you can take that "permanent" cease-fire (it was actually negotiated as what's known as a "pause," not a cease-fire) with a desert-full of sand.

Rebels Without a Clue. Or, in one case, a suitcoat. Getty image, taken outside the SCIF.

~~~ Republicans Behaving Badly. New York Times liveblog: "President Trump took to Twitter again to denigrate the impeachment inquiry as a Defense Department official headed to Capitol Hill to testify on the Ukraine affair.... House Republicans who attempted to storm the secure room, delaying proceedings, where impeachment investigators were questioning a witness.... About two dozen House Republicans, chanting 'Let us in! Let us in!' tried to storm the secure room where a Defense Department official arrived Wednesday morning to testify in the impeachment inquiry.... The lawmakers -- most of whom do not sit on the committees conducting the inquiry and are therefore not entitled to attend its hearings -- said they were protesting the closed-door nature of the proceedings.... The chaotic scene in the bowels of the Capitol unfolded as the panel was getting ready to hear from Laura B. Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, and halted the session. [Adam] Schiff summoned the Sergeant-at-arms to disperse the uninvited Republican guests, some of whom brought cellphones, which are forbidden in the secure suite.... It is common practice for sensitive congressional investigations to be conducted behind closed doors, at least in their preliminary stages. House Republicans did just that when they controlled the chamber and opened an inquiry into the 2012 attack on the United States embassy in Benghazi, Libya. Democrats have said they plan to hold open hearings after the committees finish deposing witnesses...." Politico's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Zachary Basu of Axios: "Republicans reportedly took pictures inside the House Intelligence Committee's Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) -- forcing police to conduct a sweep for possible security breaches. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) tweeted from inside the SCIF: 'BREAKING: I led over 30 of my colleagues into the SCIF where Adam Schiff is holding secret impeachment depositions. Still inside - more details to come.' Gaetz later added: '**Tweet from Staff**'.... Worth noting: The group alleges that they are being shut out of the impeachment process, but there are Republicans on the three panels conducting the investigation -- the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs Committees -- that are present and able to ask questions at every hearing." Mrs. McC: The NYT liveblog, linked above, now has a photo of someone -- it looks like Gaetz's backside -- walking into the SCIF while holding up his phone, as if he's recording. So that "Tweet from Staff" disclaimer is unconvincing. ~~~

~~~ Update. At 2 pm ET, according to MSNBC, Laura Cooper's deposition still has not begun because at least six Republican Congressmen are still sitting in the SCIF. Whazzamatter with that sergeant-at-arms?

The Ukraine Cover-up Is a Spectacular Failure. Today's Entries:

     ** (1) Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration has sought repeatedly to cut foreign aid programs tasked with combating corruption in Ukraine and elsewhere overseas, White House budget documents show, despite recent claims from President Trump and his administration that they have been singularly concerned with fighting corruption in Ukraine. Those claims have come as the president and his administration sought to explain away a July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump pressured his counterpart to open investigations into Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and into a debunked conspiracy theory involving a hacked Democratic National Committee computer server. 'I don't care about politics, but I do care about corruption. And this whole thing is about corruption,' Trump told reporters earlier this month when discussing the Ukraine issue. 'This whole thing -- this whole thing is about corruption.'" The Raw Story has a summary of the WashPo report here.

     (2) Andrew Kramer & Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "Following testimony by William B. Taylor Jr. ... to House impeachment investigators on Tuesday that the freezing of [military] aid [to Ukraine] was directly linked to Mr. Trump's demand for the investigations, the president took to Twitter on Wednesday morning to approvingly quote a Republican member of Congress saying neither Mr. Taylor nor any other witness had 'provided testimony that the Ukrainians were aware that military aid was being withheld.'... [Trump's argument is that there] could not have been any quid pro quo because the Ukrainians did not know the assistance had been blocked.... But in fact, word of the aid freeze had gotten to high-level Ukrainian officials by the first week in August, according to interviews and documents obtained by The New York Times.... They were advised they should reach out to Mick Mulvaney..., according to the interviews and records.... The Ukrainian government was aware of the freeze during most of the period ... when Mr. Trump's personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, and two American diplomats were pressing President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to make a public commitment to the investigations being sought by Mr. Trump.... Mr. Taylor told the impeachment investigators that it was only on the sidelines of a Sept. 1 meeting in Warsaw between Mr. Zelensky and Vice President Mike Pence that the Ukrainians were directly told the aid would be dependent on Mr. Zelensky giving Mr. Trump ... an investigation into Burisma, the company that had employed Hunter Biden, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s son." But they knew what was expected of them weeks earlier. This timeline not only contradicts Trump's claims, it corroborates the whistleblower's timeline. The Raw Story's summary report is here. ~~~

     ** (3) Desmond Butler & Michael Biesecker of the AP: "More than two months before the phone call that launched the impeachment inquiry into ... Donald Trump, Ukraine's newly elected leader was already worried about pressure from the U.S. president to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden. Volodymyr Zelenskiy gathered a small group of advisers on May 7 in Kyiv for a meeting that was supposed to be about his nation's energy needs. Instead, the group spent most of the three-hour discussion talking about how to navigate the insistence from Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, for a probe and how to avoid becoming entangled in the American elections, according to three people familiar with the details of the meeting. The meeting came before Zelenskiy was inaugurated but about two weeks after Trump called to offer his congratulations on the night of the Ukrainian leader's April 21 election. The full details of what the two leaders discussed in that Easter Sunday phone call have never been publicly disclosed, and it is not clear whether Trump explicitly asked for an investigation of the Bidens.... The White House has offered only a bare-bones public readout on the April call, saying Trump urged Zelenskiy and the Ukrainian people to implement reforms, increase prosperity and 'root out corruption.' In the intervening months, Trump and his proxies have frequently used the word 'corruption' to reference the monthslong efforts to get the Ukrainians to investigate Democrats." Emphasis added. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Zelensky found out somehow that Trump wanted him to investigate Biden way back in May. We surely need to find out what-all Trump said in his April 21 "congratulatory" call to Zelensky. ~~~

~~~ "GOP Weariness Grows as Trump Defenses Give Way." Rick Klein & Maryalice Parks of ABC News: "The deeper things get and the more likely impeachment is, the more ... Donald Trump needs his Republican Party to stay loyal.... But ... he may be losing ... the ability to convince GOP leaders that loyalty is worth its increasingly evident risks.... Trump is responding with complaints about the process that are awkward for Republicans to defend -- his 'lynching' Tweet is Exhibit A -- and thinly veiled political threats at GOP leaders who dare defy him."

Yay! Matt Whitaker Is Back. And He's Just as Smart as Ever. Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "Following Tuesday's devastating House testimony by acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor..., former acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker defended the president by claiming 'abuse of power is not a crime.'" ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Chait: "As the factual defense of Trump's behavior in the Ukraine scandal has disintegrated, Trump has slowly fallen back to the case he truly believes in his heart. Sessions was too naïve, and Barr too sophisticated, to present Trump's worldview in such bald terms. It fell to Whitaker to articulate the ethos of the 45th president -- that he is entitled to abuse power as he sees fit."

Erin Durkin & Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Even if ... Donald Trump shot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue, New York authorities could not punish him while he is in office, the president's lawyers argued Wednesday. Attorneys for Trump made the claim while arguing before a federal appeals court in their suit against Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, who has subpoenaed Trump's tax returns.... The case is expected to ultimately make its way to the Supreme Court.... Carey Dunne, general counsel for the District Attorney, said the privilege the president's lawyers are claiming is not founded in the law. 'There's no such thing as presidential immunity for tax returns,' he said. 'He may view them as embarrassing or sensitive but tax returns do in fact get subpoenaed all the time in financial investigations,' he said. 'They're making this up, your honor.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Rachel Maddow said that an important element of this case was that the trial judge, Victor Marrero, ruled that not only were Trump's immunity arguments "repugnant," but that the infamous DOJ "guidance memos" that determined a sitting president cannot be indicted are incorrect. So, IMO, the whole Mueller investigation was a big honking sham. The Mueller team should have ignored the DOJ "guidance" & indicted Trump, at least in the Michael Cohen payoffs matter (where Trump showed up an an unindicted co-conspirator. If Mueller was unsure about following the DOJ guidance, he should have gone to court & argued that the guidance was flawed & should have no effect. Instead, he chose to follow the guidance in order to protect Trump. Please don't tell me about Mueller's integrity and years of public service, blah blah. He's one of those guys who sit on various "select commission" who love to catch the minnows, but don't even bring bait for the sharks & whales.

~~~~~~~~~~

Another Diplomat Burns Trump

After Bill Taylor's testimony, Ben Mathis-Lilley of Slate cranks up the Impeach-O-Meter:

** Michael Shear & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "William B. Taylor Jr., the United States' top diplomat in Ukraine, told impeachment investigators privately on Tuesday that President Trump held up vital security aid for the country and refused a White House meeting with Ukraine's leader until he agreed to make a public pledge to investigate Mr. Trump's political rivals. In testimony built around careful notes he took during his tenure and delivered in defiance of State Department orders, Mr. Taylor sketched out in remarkable detail a quid-pro-quo pressure campaign on Ukraine that Mr. Trump and his allies have long denied, one in which the president conditioned the entire United States relationship with Ukraine on a promise that the country would investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his family, along with other Democrats. His account implicated Mr. Trump personally in the effort, citing multiple sources inside the government, including a budget official who said during a secure National Security Council conference call in July that she had been instructed not to approve a $391 million security assistance package for Ukraine, and that, Mr. Taylor said, 'the directive had come from the president." ~~~

The Stakes. If Ukraine succeeds in breaking free of Russian influence, it is possible for Europe to be whole, free, democratic and at peace. In contrast, if Russia dominates Ukraine, Russia will again become an empire, oppressing its people and threatening its neighbors and the rest of the world. -- William Taylor, from his opening statement to House impeachment investigators

~~~ Taylor's opening statement is here, via the New York Times. Here's the statement via Time. Tuesday, the Washington Post obtained a purloined copy of Taylor's opening statement, and TPM reproduced it here. (See unwashed's comment in yesterday's thread on the quality of the WashPo copy.)

     Mrs. McCrabbie: Taylor's statement is devastating. While Trump claimed he was not asking for a quid pro quo, in the same breath he said that both a White House meeting for Zelensky & millions of dollars in aid to Ukraine were contingent upon Zelensky's publicly announcing he would investigate Burisma (Hunter Biden) & 2016 U.S. presidential election interference. That is, while Trump was denying that his ask was a quid pro quo, he was demanding quos for the quids. Also worth remembering: (1) Trump had no right to withhold that military funding (he could hold it for cause, but the Pentagon quckly determined there was no cause); Congress had appropriated the money specifically for military aid to Ukraine. (2) The quid pro quo was not just an off-the-cuff remark President* Dimwitty accidentally made in a "congratulatory" phone call to Zelensky. (a) Not only did Trump emphasize what he expected Zelensky to do for him personally in exchange for the aid, (b) there was also a months-long effort, involving numerous top federal employees (and extraneous, shady characters), to put the quid pro quo into effect.

Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times outlines six key takeaways from Taylor's testimony: "1. Taylor described an explicit quid pro quo.... 2. The White House had two channels on Ukraine policy: official and unofficial. The unofficial one included Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Trump's personal lawyer.... 3. Taylor was told Ukraine had to 'pay up' before the president would 'sign a check.' 4. Taylor said Ukrainians would die at the hands of Russian led-forces as a result of the delay in American military aid.... 5. Bolton fought the effort to hijack the policy toward Ukraine and Pompeo did not respond directly to complaints, Taylor said.... 6. Demands were made for secrecy and career officials, including Taylor, were left in the dark about key events."

** Andrew Desiderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "... Donald Trump&'s top envoy to Ukraine told House impeachment investigators on Tuesday of intense efforts by administration officials to secure investigations of Trump's political rivals in exchange for a White House meeting with Ukraine's president and critical military aid, according to sources in the room for the testimony. William Taylor prompted sighs and gasps when he read a lengthy 15-page opening statement, two of the sources said. Another person in the room said Taylor's statement described 'how pervasive the efforts were' among Trump's allies to convince Ukrainian officials to launch an investigation targeting former Vice President Joe Biden and another probe centering on a debunked conspiracy theory regarding the 2016 election. Taylor also described the extent to which military assistance to Ukraine and a potential White House meeting with Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart were tied to those investigations, the source added. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), a senior member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, characterized the testimony as a 'sea change' that 'could accelerate' the impeachment inquiry. Another lawmaker, Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski of New Jersey, said it was 'the most thorough accounting we've had of the timeline.'" The New York Times story is here.

** Anne Gearan, et al., of the Washington Post: "The senior U.S. diplomat in Ukraine said Tuesday he was told release of military aid was contingent on public declarations from Ukraine that it would investigate the Bidens and the 2016 election, contradicting President Trump's denial that he used the money as leverage for political gain. Acting ambassador William B. Taylor Jr. testified behind closed doors in the House impeachment probe of Trump that he stands by his characterization that it was 'crazy' to make the assistance contingent on investigations he found troubling. Upon arriving in Kyiv last spring he became alarmed by secondary diplomatic channels involving U.S. officials that he called 'weird,' Taylor said, according to a copy of his lengthy opening statement obtained by The Washington Post." (Also linked yesterday.)

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "He stood on one side of a war-damaged bridge in Ukraine staring across at Russian-backed forces and saw the real-world consequences of President Trump's efforts to advance a personal agenda. 'More Ukrainians,' he said, 'would undoubtedly die.' Recalling that moment during explosive testimony on Tuesday, William B. Taylor Jr., the top American diplomat in Ukraine, laid out in visceral terms the stakes of what he saw as an illegitimate scheme to pressure the Kiev government for political help by suspending American security aid. In by far the most damning account yet to become public in the House impeachment inquiry Mr. Taylor described a president holding up $391 million in assistance for the clear purpose of forcing Ukraine to help incriminate Mr. Trump's domestic rivals.... The Ukraine scandal also extends to matters of life and death, as well as geopolitics on a grand scale. Mr. Taylor's testimony could make it harder for Republicans to brush off Mr. Trump's actions as unimportant or distorted by partisan rivals."

Jonathan Chait: "For several weeks, Republicans have implicitly set the bar for an impeachable offense in the Ukraine scandal as evidence of a direct link between military aid and an investigation of Joe Biden.... Asked this week if any possible evidence could make him support impeachment, Lindsey Graham replied, 'Sure ... If you could show me that, you know Trump actually was engaging in a quid pro quo.' Clearly, they assumed no such evidence would be found. But William Taylor, the U.S.'s acting ambassador to Ukraine, has blown apart that in his testimony to the House. Taylor's testimony includes several instances in which Gordon Sondland confirms the direct quid pro quo.... ([Taylor's testimony also] blows up a favorite conservative defense that the Ukrainians had not been informed of why their aid was being held up.)... As Taylor documents, Sondland and Trump both became aware over the summer that they needed to deny a formal quid pro quo."

Knowing Taylor's testimony would cook his goose, Trump decided Tuesday morning to deflect its impact by issuing a racist tweet: ~~~

~~~ Quint Forgey of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday referred to the impeachment inquiry in the House of Representatives as a 'lynching,' deploying perhaps his most incendiary rhetoric yet to describe the Democratic-led probe into his conduct. 'So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights,' he wrote on Twitter. 'All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here - a lynching. But we will WIN!' That morning post by the president tore open a fresh cycle of outrage on Capitol Hill -- infuriating African-American legislators and further inflaming tensions in a Congress already deeply divided along party lines amid the Ukraine-focused investigation.... The invocation of 'lynching' to characterize a process explicitly sanctioned by the Constitution marked a new, racially insensitive show of malice by the president toward lawmakers seeking to remove him from office." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Rebecca Falconer of Axios: "Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden tweeted an apology Tuesday night after CNN reported he'd criticized President Trump for referring to the impeachment inquiry as a 'lynching' yet called then-President Clinton's impeachment investigation a 'partisan lynching.'... Biden was one of at least five Democrats to refer to Clinton's impeachment inquiry as a 'lynching,' a Washington Post investigation found -- including two lawmakers who criticized Trump on Tuesday for his use of the word...." ~~~

~~~ J.M. Rieger of the Washington Post: "At least five House Democrats talked about a 'lynching' or 'lynch mob' as pertaining to [President Bill] Clinton...." They are Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.), Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), and then-Rep. Then-Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.).

McConnell Contradicts Trump's Claim about "Perfect" Phone Call. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he hasn't discussed the Ukraine phone call at the center of the House impeachment inquiry with President Trump. 'We have not had any conversations on this subject,' McConnell said Tuesday during a weekly press conference. McConnell's comments appear to contradict Trump, who earlier this month said that the GOP leader had told him the phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was 'innocent' and 'perfect.' When asked if the president was lying, McConnell demurred and directed reporters to speak with the president." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Misadventures of Rudy, Lev & Igor, Ctd. Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "When two business associates of Rudolph W. Giuliani ... were arrested this month on charges that they funneled foreign money into U.S. elections, federal prosecutors working on a different case in Chicago took note. The investigators had previously come across the two men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, as they pursued a long-standing case against a Ukrainian gas tycoon [Dmytro Firtash] accused of bribery, according to two people familiar with the matter. They, like others interviewed regarding the case, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing litigation. The Chicago prosecutors reached out to their counterparts in New York, where the foreign money charges had been brought, to offer assistance, the people said. Parnas had been working as an interpreter for [Firtash's] lawyers ... since late July. Chicago prosecutors suspect there might be a broader relationship among Firtash, Parnas and Fruman, the people familiar with the matter said.... The Ukrainian energy mogul is now facing questions about whether he has played a shadow role in [Giuliani's effort to get dirt on Democrats]." ~~~

~~~ Michael Sallah, et al., of BuzzFeed News: "A federal grand jury investigating activities surrounding Rudy Giuliani's back-channel campaign in Ukraine has demanded legal documents that include records of extravagant spending at Trump hotels and millions of dollars in financial transfers by Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two key operatives who carried out the plan, according to a source familiar with the demand. The documents requested by a subpoena that was issued in Florida last week could shed light on whether other people, including foreign nationals, were trying to influence the top levels of government and impact the 2020 presidential campaign. The subpoena also shows the investigation has extended beyond campaign finance violations -- the current charges against two of the defendants in the shadow campaign -- and may examine more serious financial crimes. The documents in question, some of which were previously obtained by BuzzFeed News, show dozens of transfers totaling more than $3 million into accounts belonging to Parnas last year as he and his business partner Fruman jetted into Ukraine and other countries in search of damaging information on Joe Biden. The demand for the documents comes after at least one US bank raised concerns about a series of suspicious transactions in Parnas's accounts, which had hallmark signs of money laundering and fraud...." ~~~

~~~ Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Igor Fruman ... has retained a lawyer who is also representing former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Fruman, who is set to be arraigned on campaign finance-related charges Wednesday in federal court in New York, is expected to be represented by Todd Blanche, a former federal prosecutor."

Pema Levy of Mother Jones: "Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) released evidence on Tuesday that the Justice Department buried the whistleblower complaint about ... Donald Trump's call with the Ukrainian president by failing to refer the matter to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Klobuchar suggested the Justice Department violated a longstanding agreement between the agencies to share information about possible campaign finance violations for potential enforcement action.... What's unclear so far is why no such referral was made. Either the Justice Department dropped the ball, or Klobuchar has helped discover another avenue in the administration's sprawling coverup."

Matt Apuzzo & Benjamin Novak of the New York Times: "Since becoming [U.S.] ambassador [to Hungary] in June 2018, [David] Cornstein has assiduously courted [President Viktor] Orban, giving the Hungarian leader unexpected influence in the Trump administration. Mr. Cornstein used his decades-long friendship with President Trump to help broker a coveted Oval Office meeting for Mr. Orban last May == a meeting now under scrutiny by impeachment investigators in Washington. At the time, some White House officials tried to stop the meeting, citing Mr. Orban's anti-democratic record in Hungary and his growing closeness to Russia. The meeting went ahead, and Mr. Orban is said to have used it to fuel the president's suspicions about Ukraine.... Mr. Cornstein's ... freewheeling diplomacy and courtship of Mr. Orban have alarmed career civil servants and contributed to broader criticism, even among Republicans, that some members of the president's foreign policy team are dangerously unprepared for the job.... He has undermined efforts by career diplomats to deliver messages to Washington about corruption and democratic backsliding in Hungary. And he has privately acted as a broker for Mr. Orban's point of view, taking positions contrary to United States policy...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: When the U.S. gets a real president, NATO countries should take a hard look at member countries and think about what to do with those countries not aspiring to Western democratic liberal ideals (or what Trump would call "California").

In yesterday's comments, RAS is wondering if the Electoral College is a phony part of the Constitution. Mrs. McC: I'll have to agree with RAS; the Electoral College provision is just as phony as the emoluments language.

Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "Senior counselor to ... Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway, is now under consideration to replace Mick Mulvaney as the White House chief of staff. Conway is one of few aides who have managed to stay with the president, despite numerous violations of the Hatch Act. Bloomberg reported Tuesday that despite his willingness to make a fool of himself for the president, Mulvaney accidentally admitted the president held back aid to Ukraine until they agreed to help investigate former Vice President Joe Biden. As a defense, Mulvaney then went on the Sunday morning talk shows and claimed he never said it. It only made things worse for him.... Bloomberg also reported that the president has been asking his advisers what they think about possibly nominating Conway.... It's an odd choice given Conway's troubling history of leaking information to the press and trying to diminish other White House staffers in the press.... Steve Mnuchin is also under consideration, due to his willingness to defend the president."

What Trump Hath Wrought. Anton Troianovski & Patrick Kingsley of the New York Times: "... on Tuesday, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia played host to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, for more than six hours of talks on how they and other regional players will divide control of Syria, a land devastated by eight years of civil war. The negotiations ended with a victory for Mr. Putin: Russian and Turkish troops will take joint control over a vast swath of formerly Kurdish-held territory in northern Syria, in a move that cements the rapid expansion of Russian influence in Syria at the expense of the United States and its Kurdish former allies. Under the terms of the agreement, Syrian Kurdish forces must now retreat more than 20 miles from the border, abandoning land that they had controlled uncontested until earlier this month -- when their protectors, the American military, suddenly began to withdraw from the region." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Teevee Show-and-Tell. Courtney Kube & Carol Lee of NBC News: Lindsey Graham brought a Fox "News" general to the White House with a map to talk Trump into leaving some troops in Syria to "secure the oil." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Alan Fram of the AP: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced legislation Tuesday denouncing Turkey's invasion of northern Syria and gently prodding ... Donald Trump to halt his withdrawal of U.S. troops from the embattled country. But McConnell, R-Ky., said lawmakers should refrain from imposing sanctions on Turkey for now, saying, 'We don't want to further drive a NATO ally into the arms of the Russians.' That puts him into conflict with the Democratic-led House, where a vote on a sanctions measure is planned for next week. Senate Democrats also said they wanted to plunge ahead with sanctions legislation. A bipartisan package by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., would bar arms sales to Turkey and place sanctions on the assets of top officials in Ankara."

No Kurd-Lovers Need Apply. Joshua Partlow of the Washington Post: "A Christian aid group that planned a gathering to honor and pray for the Kurdish people at President Trump's hotel in Washington were told by hotel staff this week that the event was canceled, according to two members of the aid group. The event ... was to be hosted by Frontier Alliance International (FAI), a religious nonprofit group that provides medical help in the Middle East, including to the Kurds, according to its website.... 'They said they've gotten a lot of security concerns and they couldn't accommodate enough security, [an official of the group, Charlene] Struebing, said. 'I think it's more related to people protesting our event than it was anything we were doing.'... A D.C. police spokeswoman said the department 'has not received any information regarding potential security threats or concerns with this event.'" A summary report by the Hill is here.

Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "A trove of documents released Tuesday by the House Education and Labor Committee shows the Education Department provided $10.7 million in federal loans and grants to students at the Illinois Institute of Art and the Art Institute of Colorado even though officials knew the for-profit colleges were not accredited and ineligible to receive such aid. The documents build on prior reports from the committee describing efforts by Education Department officials to shield Dream Center Education Holdings, owner of the Art Institutes and Argosy University, from the consequences of lying to students about the accreditation of its since-closed schools. Now it appears the Education Department tried to shield itself from an ill-fated decision to allow millions of dollars to flow to those schools. Rep. Robert C. 'Bobby' Scott (D-Va.), chairman of the House Education Committee..., says the agency has obstructed the committee's investigation and refused to answer questions, as emails and letters paint a picture of a federal agency complicit in an effort to place profits before students." The Hill's story is here.

The White House is not to be trusted right now. -- Jim Mattis, March 2018 ~~~

~~~ Bryan Bender of Politico reports on some of the content of Guy Snodgrass's book, "'Holding the Line: Inside Trump's Pentagon with Secretary Mattis,' which will be published on Oct. 29.... [Former Defense Secretary Jim] Mattis' public solidarity crumbled in private as his frustration grew at Trump's dismissal of allies and shoot-from-the-hip pronouncements, writes Snodgrass, a retired Navy commander and fighter pilot and Mattis' former speechwriter at the Pentagon.... The book is the first account from inside the highest reaches of the Pentagon of how Trump has remade the American national security apparatus, reporting that Mattis respected the president for having highly tuned political skills but came to believe his policies were undermining the nation. And it reveals that even a Cabinet member like Mattis ... found himself unable to make a difference in shaping major decisions."

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "The anonymous author of a bombshell New York Times op-ed piece that ran a year ago describing resistance efforts within the Trump administration is now publishing a tell-all book. 'A Warning' is described as an 'unprecedented behind-the-scenes portrait of the Trump presidency' and is scheduled to be released next month. The author is listed only as 'anonymous.' The book is being published by D.C.-based agency Javelin. Matt Latimer, one of the literary agents representing the author, said Javelin was able to confirm that the author is the same individual who wrote the op-ed in The New York Times. He declined to elaborate on how. The New York Times published the op-ed in early September 2018 in which an anonymous author identified only as a senior administration official described coordinated efforts from staff to 'thwart' President Trump's worst instincts. The identity of the author has remained unknown since their op-ed was first published in early September 2018...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Jake Tapper of CNN: "A draft press release from the publisher obtained by CNN describes the book as 'picking up from where those first words of warning left off, this explosive book offers a shocking, first-hand account of President Trump and his record.'... The author's clear intention is to convince the nation to not reelect Trump in 2020.... Asked if the author remained part of the Trump administration, [agent Matt] Latimer declined to comment further.... The author of A WARNING refused the chance at a seven figure advance and intends to donate a substantial amount of any royalties to the White House Correspondents Association and other organizations that fight for a free press that seeks the truth,' Latimer said, adding that the book 'was not written by the author lightly, or for the purpose of financial enrichment. It has been written as an act of conscience and of duty.'"

Philip Bump & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "At two of President Trump's oldest businesses -- a pair of ice rinks in Central Park, which Trump has run since the 1980s -- Trump Organization employees [have] ... started removing the Trump name. Now, as skating season begins, the president's name is gone from the boards around each rink where large red 'TRUMP' signs once surrounded skaters.... For the first time since Trump took office, two of Trump's own businesses seem to be trying to downplay their connection to his name.... A city spokeswoman ... said the city did not ask for the change and that the company did not explain why it did it." The Guardian's summary of the story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Could it be that Trump needs the money more than he needs the ego boost?

Kristine Phillips of USA Today: "A venture capitalist who donated $900,000 to ... Donald Trump's inaugural committee is admitting to several charges, including hiding his work as foreign agent while lobbying U.S. government officials and making illegal campaign contributions, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday. Imaad Shah Zuberi, who ran a venture capital firm called Avenue Ventures, solicited money from foreign nationals, funneled some of that money to American political campaigns, falsified records in order to conceal his work as a foreign agent from the Justice Department, and failed to report millions of dollars in income he earned from a foreign government, prosecutors say. Zuberi, 49, of California, will plead guilty to submitting false statements to the Justice Department about his foreign lobbying efforts, tax evasion and campaign finance violation. He faces up to 15 years in prison.... From 2011 to 2017, Zuberi contributed more than $3 million to federal and state campaigns from both parties, according to court records..., including Trump, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama." ~~~

~~~ Eric Banco & Pilar Melendez of the Daily Beast have more on Zuberi, including his interactions with Michael Cohen, former Trump fixer & current jailbird.

Colin Moynihan of the New York Times: "On Tuesday, two members of the Proud Boys, Maxwell Hare and John Kinsman, were each sentenced to four years in prison by a State Supreme Court judge in Manhattan, who criticized their participation in a 'political street fight.' Justice Mark Dwyer said the punishment was meant in part to deter others who seek to resolve political differences through partisan violence. 'I know enough about history to know what happened in Europe in the 30s when political street brawls were allowed to go ahead without any type of check from the criminal justice system,' he said." The BuzzFeed News story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Janelle Griffith of NBC News: "Actress Lori Loughlin and 10 other parents in a massive college admissions scandal are facing additional charges, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. A grand jury in the District of Massachusetts brought new charges against 11 of the 15 parents charged in the college admissions case, including Loughlin. All of the 11 parents facing new charges have pleaded not guilty to the previous charges in the alleged admissions scheme." (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race 2020. Jennifer Agiesta of CNN: "Former Vice President Joe Biden's lead in the race for the Democratic nomination for president has rebounded, and now stands at its widest margin since April, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. Biden has the support of 34% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters, his best showing in CNN polling since just after his campaign's formal launch on April 25."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Heather Stewart of the Guardian: "Boris Johnson's plan to fast-track his Brexit deal through parliament in time for next week's 31 October deadline has been rejected by MPs, even after he threatened to pull his deal and press for a general election. After a day of cajoling and inducements from the prime minister and the Conservative whips, the government lost a crunch vote by 322 to 308 -- a majority of 14.... The legislation was only published late on Monday, and the chancellor, Sajid Javid, declined to publish an economic analysis of the deal. Even some MPs minded to back Johnson's deal said they could not accept such a truncated debate." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

CNN:: "Police have launched a murder investigation in southeast England after 39 people were found dead in a truck container at an Essex industrial park. One of the victims was in their teens. Authorities believe the truck, which originated in Bulgaria, entered the UK through the Welsh port of Holyhead over the weekend. A regular ferry service connects Holyhead with the Irish capital, Dublin. 'We are in the process of identifying the victims, however I anticipate that this could be a lengthy process,' Chief Superintendent Andrew Mariner said in a statement. They have arrested a 25-year-old Northern Irish truck driver 'on suspicion of murder' after finding the bodies early on Wednesday morning, Essex Police said."