The Commentariat -- January 29, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Maia de la Baume & David Herszenhorn of Politico: "The European Parliament on Wednesday ratified the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and bid farewell to its British members, capping a two-hour-long debate and more than three-and-a-half years of tortured negotiations between Brussels and the first country to ever quit the EU. It was a strange and emotional day -- one that an overwhelming majority of the Parliament had hoped would never come -- with a profusion of farewell parties that involved bagpipes, EU flags and various versions of the song 'Auld Lang Syne.' One rendition was by MEPs, many in tears, who held hands and linked arms as they sang in the plenary immediately after casting their historic vote. The tally was 621 to 49 with 13 abstentions, and it provided certainty -- finally -- that the U.K. would make an orderly departure from the EU at the stroke of midnight (Brussels time) on Friday." The New York Times story is here.

This Is Rich. Justine Coleman of the Hill: "Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner said Tuesday that Palestinians have a 'big opportunity' with President Trump's Middle East peace plan, saying if they reject the plan 'they're going to screw up another opportunity.'... 'It's a big opportunity for the Palestinians,' he said. 'And they have a perfect track record of blowing every opportunity they've had in their past.'... Palestinian leaders were not included in the negotiations after cutting off contact with the U.S. in 2017." Mrs. McC: Opinions I've scanned say the plan is heavily-weighted against Palestinian interests. ~~~

     ~~~ Juan Cole, for instance, after writing unflattering descriptions of the plan's authors, goes on to lay out the "Top 5 ways Trump plan for Palestinians is a Crime against Humanity." So, uh, not so good.

More below:

Meredith McGraw of Politico: "The White House sent a letter last week to John Bolton's attorney informing him that Bolton's forthcoming book revealing sensitive details about his conversations with ... Donald Trump could not be published because it contained classified information. An official with the National Security Council sent the letter on Jan. 23 to Charles Cooper, shortly before The New York Times published an explosive article detailing how Bolton planned to reveal that Trump directly tied the withholding of foreign aid to Ukraine as he pressured the country to launch investigations into his political rivals.... 'Under federal law and the nondisclosure agreements your client signed as a condition for gaining access to classified information, the manuscript may not be published or otherwise disclosed without the deletion of this classified information,' Ellen Knight of the National Security Council Records Management Division wrote to Cooper."

The New York Times' live update page for today's developments is here. ~~~

~~~ Patricia Mazzei: "Lev Parnas, the Soviet-born businessman who worked with the president's personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, to pressure Ukraine's government to investigate political rivals of President Trump, had hoped to watch the impeachment trial up close. But he could not get around the special security restrictions at the Capitol because Mr. Parnas, who is under house arrest, wears an electronic ankle monitor. Still, his arrival created a tizzy at the office of Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, when Mr. Parnas and his lawyers arrived to pick up their Senate gallery passes."

L'état, C'est Moi. Alan Smith of NBC News (from the liveblog @3:41 pm ET): "Alan Dershowitz argued that a quid pro quo involving a president's political benefit was fine because all presidents believe their elections are in the public's interest." Mrs. McC: No wonder Trump thinks he's king. He listens to idiots like Dershowitz who tell him he is.

Mrs. McCrabbie: Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) has said John Bolton telephoned him on September 23, 2019, asking Engel to have his committee investigate the recall of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch because Bolton felt "something improper had occurred." I overheard heard this on MSNBC News while I was doing something else so I may have part of the story wrong; nothing in print yet. Update:

BREAKING: Rep. ENGEL reveals that BOLTON called him in September and told him to look into the Marie Yovanovitch ouster.

The committees had already started an investigation into Ukraine matters, but Bolton appears to have supported their effort. >>> pic.twitter.com/a54uwGKkaL

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 29, 2020

     ~~~ Bolton's Revenge. Josh Marshall of TPM: "... this news really confirms what has long been suspected without public proof: that Bolton has had a clear hand driving this whole scandal forward from the beginning. Or at least since his ouster or resignation on Sept. 10."

~~~~~~~~~~

For a guy who couldn't get approved for the Ambassador to the U.N. years ago, couldn't get approved for anything since, 'begged' me for a non Senate approved job, which I gave him despite many saying 'Don't do it, sir,' takes the job, mistakenly says 'Libyan Model' on T.V., and.. ....many more mistakes of judgement, gets fired because frankly, if I listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now, and goes out and IMMEDIATELY writes a nasty & untrue book. All Classified National Security. Who would do this? -- Donald Trump, in tweets this morning

Includes "sir" tell. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ~~~

~~~ Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "Trump also tweeted about Bolton, impeachment and the witness issue a handful of times overnight on Tuesday and into Wednesday morning, suggesting the issue is at the forefront of his mind."

Daniel Strauss & Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "Lawyers for Donald Trump concluded their opening arguments in the Senate impeachment trial on Tuesday, dismissing objections to Trump's conduct towards Ukraine as 'policy disagreements' and warning senators not to 'lower the bar of impeachment' by voting to convict the president. The defense team briefly grappled with charges reportedly appearing in an unpublished manuscript written by former national security adviser John Bolton that Trump had conditioned security aid for Ukraine on the delivery of personal political favors. Even if Trump did that, his lawyers said, it would not be impeachable. But reports about the Bolton book were in any case 'inadmissible' as evidence, Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow argued, owing to the secondhand nature of those reports." ~~~

     ~~~ The story has been updated. New Lede: "Republicans do not yet have the needed votes to block witnesses from appearing at the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump, the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, told his caucus in a meeting on Tuesday night, according to multiple reports." ~~~

~~~ Erica Werner, et al., of the Washington Post: "In a closed-door meeting after closing remarks, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told colleagues he doesn't have the votes to block witnesses, according to people familiar with his remarks.... Just four GOP senators would have to join with Democrats to produce the majority needed to call witnesses.... An initial vote to allow witnesses, expected Friday, does not ensure witnesses would actually be called, since the Senate would have to subsequently hold separate votes on summoning each individual witness And Trump's ultimate acquittal still remains all but assured, since a two-thirds vote in the GOP-run Senate would be required to remove him."

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "President Trump's defense team ended an extended opening argument Tuesday in which it laid out that Trump had legitimate reasons to ask Ukraine for specific investigations. But it spent almost no time vouching for the actual investigations he wanted. To the extent that Trump's team tried to argue that the investigations were legitimate, it focused mostly on the idea that Hunter Biden' employment at a Ukrainian gas company was problematic. It spent considerably less time arguing for the theory that Trump actually raised with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on their phone call: that then-Vice President Joe Biden sought to help his son by pushing out Ukraine's top prosecutor.... Trump's legal team spent literally zero time talking about the one involving CrowdStrike and a server that was supposedly in Ukraine. Trump's team didn't utter the word 'CrowdStrike' once in three days, in fact, nor did it even mention a 'server' in Ukraine. It instead more broadly defended the idea that Ukraine might have interfered in the 2016 election." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: The Trump attorneys' lie that has bugged me the most is that in their July 25 phone call, Zelensky had no idea Trump wanted "deliverables" in exchange for military aid & a meeting. Trump could not have asked for a quid pro quo, the lawyers (falsely) argue, because Zelensky was completely unaware of the ask. It's as if Trump never said, "I would like you to do us a favor, though." It's clear from the phone call itself, as well as from earlier text messages among Sondland, Volker & and Taylor (verified in House testimony) that Zelensky was deeply concerned about the political favors Trump was asking for before the July 25 call. In addition, Zelensky's aides were calling the Pentagon July 25, hours after the big phone call, asking where the military aid was. Was that an amazing coincidence? BTW, if Trump -- unbeknownst to Zelensky -- was withholding funding until Zelensky did something Trump wanted, that would still be a quid pro quo. It's still this for that.

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Perhaps no claim is more ridiculous -- and more revealing -- than this: Senate Republicans are lamenting that they were blindsided by the news that Bolton's new book will reveal that Trump withheld nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine to extort an announcement that would help him politically.... The real story here is that Senate Republicans knew for months that such explosive revelations from Bolton were a very likely possibility -- and that this is precisely why they have resisted hearing Bolton's testimony so aggressively.... Way back in mid-November, the New York Times reported that Bolton privately met with Trump in August and urged him to release the military aid to Ukraine, but that Trump was 'unmoved.' This was amplified by testimony from Tim Morrison, a senior National Security Council official.... What actually blindsided Senate Republicans was ... this terribly inconvenient timing, which upended their coverup."

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a staunch ally of President Trump, on Tuesday urged former national security adviser John Bolton to speak out publicly about what he knows about efforts to hold up military assistance to Ukraine.... 'I spoke with John Bolton on Jan. 7 when I heard that he wanted to testify,' Johnson said, recalling his conversation with Bolton in connection with his own committee's investigation into possible corruption in Ukraine. 'I said "John, if you've got something to say, I'd rather have you say it sooner rather than later. We're calling in a bunch of witnesses, why don't you come into our committee?" John at that time said, "I'd only respond to a Senate subpoena,"' he said."

Never the Sharpest Tack on the Board. KTLA Los Angeles: "Just after President Trump's defense lawyers ended arguments in their Senate trial Tuesday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California became the first Democrat to suggest that she could vote to acquit him despite serious concerns about his character. 'Nine months left to go, the people should judge. We are a republic, we are based on the will of the people -- the people should judge,' Feinstein said Tuesday, after the president's team finished a three-day presentation in his defense." ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$: "Apparently that whole 'impeachment' thing is some sort of insult to the very concept of democracy -- unlike, say, the Senate, which gives a voter in Wyoming 67 times more representation than a voter in Feinstein's home state[.]... Feinstein is richer than Croesus and 117 years old, plus Trump has an approval rating in California of -28, so this obviously isn't strategic behavior on her part -- it's her genuine, considered opinion!' Later Feinstein tweeted, 'The LA Times [-- the original source of the story --] misunderstood what I said today. Before the trial I said I'd keep an open mind. Now that both sides made their cases, it's clear the president's actions were wrong. He withheld vital foreign assistance for personal political gain. That can't be allowed to stand.'" Campos: "It's hard to square this tweet with her statement earlier today that with nine months left before the election 'the people should judge,' but my guess is that her office got some rather pointed feedback very quickly." ~~~

~~~ Burgess Everett of Politico: "A trio of moderate Senate Democrats is wrestling with whether to vote to convict Donald Trump in his impeachment trial -- or give the president the bipartisan acquittal he's eagerly seeking. Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Doug Jones of Alabama are undecided on whether to vote to remove the president from office and agonizing over where to land."

The New York Times' live updates of Tuesday's impeachment proceedings are here. Michael Shear: "John F. Kelly, the former chief of staff to President Trump, told an audience in Florida on Monday night that he believed the revelations in an upcoming book by John R. Bolton, the president's former national security adviser, and thought the Senate should call witnesses in the impeachment trial." Mrs. McC: It's sorta like the captain tossed the rats off his sinking ship, and the rats were waving & laughing from the shore as they watched the ship go down. (Also linked yesterday.) The Hill's report on Kelly's remarks is here.~~~

~~~ The Guardian liveblogged impeachment developments and other stuff. Lindsey Graham says he supports allowing senators to read the Bolton ms. in a classified setting, raising the question as to why a book scheduled to be published in March must be read in secret room. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Chris Casteel of the Oklahoman: "U.S. Sen. James Lankford [R-Okla.] said Monday that senators should be given access to a manuscript written by former national security advisor John Bolton that reportedly bolsters the argument that ... Donald Trump withheld aid to Ukraine to force an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden." Mrs. McC: Say, Jim, you know who can get you a copy of that manuscript right now? The Impeached Guy. (Also linked yesterday.)

Thomas Kaplan & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "After sitting through hours of arguments in the impeachment trial of President Trump on Monday, where his legal team focused on how Mr. Biden's son, Hunter, had nabbed a lucrative position on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, [Sen. Joni] Ernst [R-Iowa] addressed reporters in the basement of the Capitol. 'Iowa caucuses are this next Monday evening,' she said. 'And I'm really interested to see how this discussion today informs and influences the Iowa caucus voters, those Democratic caucusgoers. Will they be supporting Vice President Biden at this point?' At an event in Muscatine on Tuesday..., Mr. Biden responded to Ms. Ernst's comments head-on, presenting them as proof that Mr. Trump's team was using the impeachment trial to try to hobble his candidacy. 'She spilled the beans,' Mr. Biden told the crowd.... 'She just came out and flat said it. You know, the whole impeachment trial for Trump is just a political hit job to try to smear me, because he is scared to death to run against me, and he has good reason to be concerned.'"

Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "... in the weeks and months that followed [Volodymyr Zelensky's election to the Ukraine presidency], efforts to construct a partnership between the Zelensky and Trump administrations, one focused on fighting corruption, crumbled. It crumbled in part because the Zelensky team was pulled into an American domestic political fight spurred by Trump's push to have Ukraine investigate his rival Joe Biden, Biden's son Hunter, and supposed interference in the 2016 election. That's according to Oleksandr Danylyuk, the former chairman of Ukraine' National Security and Defense Council, who said the requests 'rattled' Zelensky's team.... Danylyuk left the Zelensky administration in September, citing multiple 'triggers' that pushed him to quit, including the ongoing struggles with the Trump administration.... Looking back almost four months after his resignation, Danylyuk says there's one person in the Trump administration he trusted to help secure a new pathway forward for the U.S. and Ukraine: former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton. Bolton departed the Trump administration in September, just two weeks before Danylyuk left his post." (Also linked yesterday.)

Betsy Swan & Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "Lev Parnas' attorney Joseph Bondy is set to attend the Senate impeachment trial [Wednesday] during the first day of the question-answer period. His co-counsel Stephanie Schuman is also expected to appear.... 'Like many other New York constituents, Mr. Bondy reached out and asked for gallery tickets, and we said yes,' said Justin Goodman, a spokesperson for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the Senate Minority Leader. Bondy told The Daily Beast that his client was also trying to attend [Wednesday]'s proceedings in the Senate trial but is unlikely to be able to enter the chamber because he wears an ankle monitor. Senate rules bar individuals from bringing any electronics into the chamber during the trial."

Ann Marimow, et al., of the Washington Post: "As President Trump faces mounting legal bills from his impeachment trial, he is drawing on national party coffers flush with donations from energized supporters -- unlike the last president to be impeached who left the White House 'dead broke.' The Republican National Committee is picking up the tab for at least two of Trump's private attorneys in the ongoing trial, an arrangement that differs from the legal fund then-president Bill Clinton set up, only to see it fail to raise enough to cover his millions of dollars in bills before he left office.... Because Trump is on trial as a result of his status as an officeholder or candidate, election law allows him to dip into campaign or party funds for his legal bills.... Donors to the RNC and Trump's reelection campaign have already covered millions of dollars in attorney fees stemming from the president's other legal travails: former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, court battles over the president's tax returns, and a now-withdrawn defamation lawsuit filed by a former campaign staffer." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "Looking from the perspective of now -- one week into the impeachment trial -- it's striking to see how, without knowledge of political parties or partisan factionalism, [the antifederalists of yore] captured the exact dynamic that will keep a corrupt president in office.... The antifederalists looked to impeachment as a prime example of everything that was wrong with the Senate.... The antifederalists did not think the Senate would ever remove the president.... The trial against our corrupt chief executive is clearly slanted in his favor. If the antifederalist opponents of the Constitution could see us struggling now, they might just say, 'We told you so.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

This Should Work! Michael Crowley, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump unveiled his long-awaited Middle East peace plan with a flourish on Tuesday, outlining a proposal that would give Israel most of what it has sought over decades of conflict while creating what he called a Palestinian state with limited sovereignty. Mr. Trump's plan would guarantee that Israel would control a unified Jerusalem as its capital and not require it to uproot any of the settlements in the West Bank that have provoked Palestinian outrage and alienated much of the outside world. He promised to provide $50 billion in international investment to build the new Palestinian entity and open an embassy in its new state.... Rather than a serious blueprint for peace, analysts called it a political document by a president in the middle of an impeachment trial working in tandem with a prime minister under criminal indictment and about to face his third election in the span of a year." A USA Today story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE, Back Home.... BBC News: "Israel's attorney general has filed a formal indictment in court against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It came after Mr Netanyahu withdrew a request for parliamentary immunity from prosecution on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in connection with three separate cases. He has denied any wrongdoing. The Israeli parliament had been due to open a debate on the immunity request on Tuesday. But Mr Netanyahu said he would not have got a fair hearing. He also criticised opponents for going ahead with the debate when ... Donald Trump was due to unveil his long-awaited Middle East peace plan." (Also linked yesterday.)

Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "... Donald Trump took a moment from presenting his plan for peace in the Middle East on Tuesday to praise his secretary of state -- for blasting an NPR reporter. 'That reporter couldn't have done too good a job on you yesterday. I think you did a good job on her, actually,' Trump told a chuckling Mike Pompeo during his speech at the White House alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu." Mrs. McC: I would like to see a report from the White House doctor into whether Trump & Pompeo were separated at birth or were joined at the hip later in life. What a disgusting pair of lying, bullying pricks. (Also linked yesterday.) The whole room thought bullying a female reporter was hilarious. A roomful of bullies & cowards. ~~~

~~~ Marty Johnson of the Hill: "The White House Correspondents' Association (WCHA) on Tuesday criticized the State Department for removing an NPR reporter from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's upcoming trip to Europe and Central Asia, and called for it to reverse the decision. 'The State Department's apparent attempt to take punitive action against a news outlet for its reporting is outrageous and contrary to American values,' WCHA president Jonathan Karl said in a statement." ~~~

~~~ Mary Kelly of NPR writes an op-ed in today's New York Times, and the scariest part, as she points out, is the part where she asks Pompeo what his plan is to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. He doesn't have a plan, it would appear, so he snaps at her. No wonder he swore at Kelly. Pompeo does not think girls should ask straightforward, but vital, questions to which he has no answers.

Mosheh Gains & Phil Helsel of NBC News: "A total of 50 U.S. service members suffered traumatic brain injury from this month's Iranian missile attack on Iraqi bases hosting U.S. troops, the Defense Department said Tuesday.... Last week, the Pentagon said 34 service members had been diagnosed with concussions and other traumatic brain injuries. Of the 16 newly diagnosed patients, 15 have returned to duty in Iraq, [a Pentagon spokesperson] said."

Jeff Cox of CNBC: "The U.S. budget deficit likely will break the $1 trillion barrier in 2020, the first time that has happened since 2012, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates released Tuesday. After passing that mark this year, the deficit is expected to average $1.3 trillion between 2021-30, rising from 4.6% of GDP to 5.4% over the period. That's well above the long-term average since around the end of World War II. The deficit since then has not topped 4% of GDP for more than five consecutive years, averaging just 1.5% over the period. As part of a spending pattern that the CBO deemed unsustainable, the national debt is expected to hit $31.4 trillion by 2030. Tuesday's projections reflect a slight increase from the estimates presented in August 2019."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Joe Concha of the Hill: "The Washington Post reinstated political reporter Felicia Sonmez on Tuesday after determining that her tweets regarding the Kobe Bryant rape case posted shortly after his death were 'ill-timed' but 'not in clear and direct violation' of the publication's social media policy. The conclusion by Post managing editor Tracy Grant comes one day after the paper suspended Sonmez for the tweets. The reporter said the vitriolic reaction to the tweets was so intense -- with emotions running high following the news that Bryant and his daughter, along with seven others, died in a helicopter crash outside of Los Angeles -- that she received death threats on Twitter." See yesterday's Commentariat for links to related stories. Update: The Washington Post's story is here.

Presidential Race

William Saletan of Slate: "Bernie Sanders is on the rise. Less than a week before the first contest of the Democratic primary, polls give the Vermont senator, on average, a 3-point lead in Iowa and an 8-point lead in New Hampshire. Nationally, he has climbed to within 5 percentage points of former Vice President Joe Biden. If Sanders wins the first two states, he has a strong chance of winning the nomination. That sounds like good news for progressives. But it isn't. Sanders has major liabilities that haven't been exploited in the primaries. If he's the nominee, those liabilities could hand the election to ... Donald Trump." ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Chait: "... the totality of the evidence suggests [Bernie] Sanders is an extremely, perhaps uniquely, risky nominee. His vulnerabilities are enormous and untested. No party nomination, with the possible exception of Barry Goldwater in 1964, has put forth a presidential nominee with the level of downside risk exposure as a Sanders-led ticket would bring. To nominate Sanders would be insane." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Dear Misbegotten Democrats: A vote for Bernie is a vote for Donnie. I love Bernie. I love Pete Buttigieg, too. And even Dear Old Joe. But there are a lot of people I love whom I wouldn't pick for president. My children, my neighbors, my old friends. (Okay, they would all be better presidents* than Donald Fucking Trump.)

Senate Race

Georgia. Greg Blustein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "U.S. Rep. Doug Collins will soon announce a challenge to U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, setting up a bitter Republican showdown in November that pits one of ... Donald Trump's most vocal defenders against a wealthy former executive backed by Gov. Brian Kemp." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Mark Niesse of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "A bill that would force U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler into a Republican primary election against U.S. Rep. Doug Collins passed a committee Tuesday, clearing a path for a full vote in the Georgia House of Representatives. The House Governmental Affairs Committee approved the legislation that would replace a planned free-for-all special election in November with a partisan primary election in May. Then the Republican and Democratic nominees would compete head-to-head in a November election. The Republican-led committee and its Democratic minority joined forces in support of the proposal, with only one no vote from Republican representative." (Also linked yesterday.)

The New York Times is live-updating developments in the growing coronavirus epidemic. "The outbreak of the mysterious new coronavirus is rapidly spreading, the Chinese authorities said on Tuesday, as the official account of known cases jumped nearly 60 percent overnight and the death toll exceeded 100 for the first time. China said on Tuesday that 106 people had died from the virus, which is believed to have originated in the central city of Wuhan and is spreading across the country. The previous death toll, on Monday, was 81. The number of confirmed cases increased to 4,515 on Tuesday, from 2,835 on Monday, according to the National Health Commission." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ UPDATE. Here's the NYT's live updates page for today's developments. "British Airways became the first international carrier to suspend all flights to and from China."

The Commentariat -- January 28, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates are here. Michael Shear: "John F. Kelly, the former chief of staff to President Trump, told an audience in Florida on Monday night that he believed the revelations in an upcoming book by John R. Bolton, the president's former national security adviser, and thought the Senate should call witnesses in the impeachment trial." Mrs. McC: It's sorta like the captain tossed the rats off his sinking ship, and the rats were waving & laughing from the shore as they watched the ship go down. ~~~

~~~ The Guardian is liveblogging impeachment developments and other stuff. Lindsey Graham says he supports allowing senators to read the Bolton ms. in a classified setting, raising the question as to why a book scheduled to be published in March must be read in secret room. ~~~

~~~ Chris Casteel of the Oklahoman: "U.S. Sen. James Lankford [R-Okla.] said Monday that senators should be given access to a manuscript written by former national security advisor John Bolton that reportedly bolsters the argument that ... Donald Trump withheld aid to Ukraine to force an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden." Mrs. McC: Say, Jim, you know who can get you a copy of that manuscript right now? The Impeached Guy.

Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "... in the weeks and months that followed [Volodymyr Zelensky's election to the Ukraine presidency], efforts to construct a partnership between the Zelensky and Trump administrations, one focused on fighting corruption, crumbled. It crumbled in part because the Zelensky team was pulled into an American domestic political fight spurred by Trump's push to have Ukraine investigate his rival Joe Biden, Biden's son Hunter, and supposed interference in the 2016 election. That's according to Oleksandr Danylyuk, the former chairman of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, who said the requests 'rattled' Zelensky's team.... Danylyuk left the Zelensky administration in September, citing multiple 'triggers' that pushed him to quit, including the ongoing struggles with the Trump administration.... Looking back almost four months after his resignation, Danylyuk says there's one person in the Trump administration he trusted to help secure a new pathway forward for the U.S. and Ukraine: former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton. Bolton departed the Trump administration in September, just two weeks before Danylyuk left his post."

Ann Marimow, et al., of the Washington Post: "As President Trump faces mounting legal bills from his impeachment trial, he is drawing on national party coffers flush with donations from energized supporters -- unlike the last president to be impeached who left the White House 'dead broke.' The Republican National Committee is picking up the tab for at least two of Trump's private attorneys in the ongoing trial, an arrangement that differs from the legal fund then-president Bill Clinton set up, only to see it fail to raise enough to cover his millions of dollars in bills before he left office.... Because Trump is on trial as a result of his status as an officeholder or candidate, election law allows him to dip into campaign or party funds for his legal bills.... Donors to the RNC and Trump's reelection campaign have already covered millions of dollars in attorney fees stemming from the president's other legal travails: former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, court battles over the president's tax returns, and a now-withdrawn defamation lawsuit filed by a former campaign staffer."

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "Looking from the perspective of now -- one week into the impeachment trial -- it's striking to see how, without knowledge of political parties or partisan factionalism, [the antifederalists of yore] captured the exact dynamic that will keep a corrupt president in office.... The antifederalists looked to impeachment as a prime example of everything that was wrong with the Senate.... The antifederalists did not think the Senate would ever remove the president.... The trial against our corrupt chief executive is clearly slanted in his favor. If the antifederalist opponents of the Constitution could see us struggling now, they might just say, 'We told you so.'"

This Should Work! Michael Crowley, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump unveiled his long-awaited Middle East peace plan with a flourish on Tuesday, outlining a proposal that would give Israel most of what it has sought over decades of conflict while creating what he called a Palestinian state with limited sovereignty. Mr. Trump's plan would guarantee that Israel would control a unified Jerusalem as its capital and not require it to uproot any of the settlements in the West Bank that have provoked Palestinian outrage and alienated much of the outside world. He promised to provide $50 billion in international investment to build the new Palestinian entity and open an embassy in its new state.... Rather than a serious blueprint for peace, analysts called it a political document by a president in the middle of an impeachment trial working in tandem with a prime minister under criminal indictment and about to face his third election in the span of a year." A USA Today story is here.

Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "... Donald Trump took a moment from presenting his plan for peace in the Middle East on Tuesday to praise his secretary of state -- for blasting an NPR reporter. 'That reporter couldn't have done too good a job on you yesterday. I think you did a good job on her, actually,' Trump told a chuckling Mike Pompeo during his speech at the White House alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu." Mrs. McC: I would like to see a report from the White House doctor into whether Trump & Pompeo were separated at birth or were joined at the hip later in life. What a disgusting pair of lying, bullying pricks.

BBC News: "Israel's attorney general has filed a formal indictment in court against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It came after Mr Netanyahu withdrew a request for parliamentary immunity from prosecution on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in connection with three separate cases. He has denied any wrongdoing. The Israeli parliament had been due to open a debate on the immunity request on Tuesday. But Mr Netanyahu said he would not have got a fair hearing. He also criticised opponents for going ahead with the debate when ... Donald Trump was due to unveil his long-awaited Middle East peace plan."

Jonathan Chait: "... the totality of the evidence suggests [Bernie] Sanders is an extremely, perhaps uniquely, risky nominee. His vulnerabilities are enormous and untested. No party nomination, with the possible exception of Barry Goldwater in 1964, has put forth a presidential nominee with the level of downside risk exposure as a Sanders-led ticket would bring. To nominate Sanders would be insane."

Senate Race. Greg Blustein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "U.S. Rep. Doug Collins will soon announce a challenge to U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, setting up a bitter Republican showdown in November that pits one of ... Donald Trump's most vocal defenders against a wealthy former executive backed by Gov. Brian Kemp." ~~~

~~~ Mark Niesse of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "A bill that would force U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler into a Republican primary election against U.S. Rep. Doug Collins passed a committee Tuesday, clearing a path for a full vote in the Georgia House of Representatives. The House Governmental Affairs Committee approved the legislation that would replace a planned free-for-all special election in November with a partisan primary election in May. Then the Republican and Democratic nominees would compete head-to-head in a November election. The Republican-led committee and its Democratic minority joined forces in support of the proposal, with only one no vote from a Republican representative."

The New York Times is live-updating developments in the growing coronavirus epidemic. "The outbreak of the mysterious new coronavirus is rapidly spreading, the Chinese authorities said on Tuesday, as the official account of known cases jumped nearly 60 percent overnight and the death toll exceeded 100 for the first time. China said on Tuesday that 106 people had died from the virus, which is believed to have originated in the central city of Wuhan and is spreading across the country. The previous death toll, on Monday, was 81. The number of confirmed cases increased to 4,515 on Tuesday, from 2,835 on Monday, according to the National Health Commission."

~~~~~~~~~~

Nothing in the Bolton revelations, even if true, would rise to the level of an abuse of power, or an impeachable offense. -- Alan Dershowitz, Trump's prime-time defender, Monday ~~~

~~~ Michael Shear & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The White House and Senate Republican leaders struggled on Monday to salvage their plans for a quick acquittal of President Trump after a new account by his former national security adviser John R. Bolton corroborated a central piece of the impeachment case against him. The newly disclosed revelations by Mr. Bolton, whose forthcoming book details how Mr. Trump conditioned military aid for Ukraine on the country's willingness to furnish information on his political rivals, angered key Republicans and reinvigorated a bid to call witnesses. Such a move would prolong the trial and pose new dangers for the president.... The White House team is doubling down on a defense that is directly contradicted by the account in Mr. Bolton's book.... As evening set in, [Alan] Dershowitz made the legal team's only reference to Mr. Bolton, telling senators that the description of Mr. Trump's actions in his manuscript 'would not constitute an impeachable offense.... Hosting Israeli leaders, the president told reporters that he had not seen the manuscript of the former adviser's book but disputed its claims as 'false.'... Mr. Trump later complained to associates that the presentations from his defense team were boring." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Senate Republicans' attempts to continue their cover-up would be hilarious if the matters weren't so serious. From the report above, "'The best I can tell from what's reported in The New York Times, it is nothing different from what we have already heard,' Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, said on Fox News." This, after Trump's lawyers argued vigorously that House managers had presented no first-hand accounts that Trump had traded dollars for dirt, neverminding Gordon Sondland's testimony that he had heard this first-hand from the Perfect Caller.

Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.), an influential conservative in the Senate, has spoken with several colleagues in recent days about possibly summoning just two witnesses to President Trump's impeachment trial, with one called by Republicans and one by Democrats, according to three Republican officials."

The Guardian's liveblog for Monday's impeachment proceedings is here. @10:19 am ET: "Mitt Romney, one of the Republican senators that has already expressed openness to calling new witnesses to testify in the impeachment trial, said it was 'increasingly likely' other Senate Republicans would support the request." BUT @10:55 am: "Republican senator Susan Collins declined to commit to supporting a subpoena for John Bolton after one of her colleagues, Mitt Romney, predicted more Senate Republicans would soon join Democrats in requesting new witness testimony." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ The New York Times' liveblog for Monday's proceedings is here. ~~~

~~~ "President Trump's defense lawyers are arguing about the basis of the House's impeachment inquiry and the president's rights of due process and executive privilege. So far, they have offered an alternative rationale for why he froze security aid for Ukraine, ignoring revelations from the president's former national security adviser that directly contradict their case. The defense began its promised assault on former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son, Hunter, on Monday, describing what they said was significant evidence of corruption that made Mr. Trump's interest in the case proper."

~~~ Nicholas Fandos & Catie Edmondson: Mitch "McConnell was among those venting angrily to the White House in private on Monday about the leak of the former national security adviser's manuscript, in which he wrote that Mr. Trump was conditioning the release of military aid to Ukraine upon the country furnishing investigative information about his political opponents. That contradicts the defense that the president's lawyer's have offered the Senate.

~~~ Maggie Haberman: "By Monday morning, several Republican senators had angrily called the White House trying to determine who at the administration knew about Mr. Bolton's manuscript, which aides there have had for several weeks, and what was in it. They told the White House they felt blindsided, according to people briefed on the calls who insisted on anonymity to describe private discussions.... John Ullyot, a spokesman for the National Security Council, issued a carefully worded statement on Monday morning, 16 hours after the Times story was published. 'Ambassador Bolton's manuscript was submitted to the N.S.C. for pre-publication review and has been under initial review by the N.S.C.,' he said. 'No White House personnel outside N.S.C. have reviewed the manuscript.'" Mrs. McC: Trump's private attorney Jay Seculow, for instance, is not one of the "White House personnel." Neither are most other lawyers on Trump's defense team. (Also linked yesterday.)

You Impeached the Wrong Guy! Kyle Cheney & Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "... Donald Trump turned the Senate floor Monday into an alternate-reality impeachment of his political rivals: Joe Biden and Barack Obama.... For about two hours on Monday, Trump's attorneys Pam Bondi and Eric Herschmann argued that it was Biden and Obama who should be investigated for corruption or abuse of power, laying out a case thick with political innuendo that has been sharply refuted by sworn witnesses during the House's impeachment inquiry late last year.... Democratic senators routinely scoffed at the president's lawyers when they argued that Obama had abused his power in his relationship with Russia and engaged in a quid pro quo with then-President Dmitriy Medvedev -- identical accusations to the House's impeachment charges against Trump." Mrs. McC: In fairness to Trump's other defense lawyers, Ken Starr kinda sort argued for the impeachment of ... you guessed it ... Bill Clinton. I was disappointed none of them asked the House managers to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Jimmy Carter.

Their Master's Voice. Stephen Collinson of CNN: "Donald Trump's impeachment trial defense is a perfect mirror for his presidency. It's sometimes loose with facts, it recycles conservative media conspiracies, it praises Trump's 2016 victory, it criticizes the Obama administration and it's geared almost entirely toward his political base. It asserts brazen presidential power and insists that far from being corrupt, Trump's behavior is, as he might say, 'perfect.' Like a chip off the old block, the President's lawyers are accusing his rivals of the exact conduct for which he was impeached -- an attempt to interfere in the 2020 presidential election. They skirted over the profound implications raised by former national security adviser John Bolton in a fresh round of revelations. And his team used its second day of arguments Monday to perform the very task that got the President in trouble: roughing up Joe Biden, his potential Democratic foe in November."

Monday's Most Significant Unbelievable Lie of the Day -- And Other Lies. Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump on Monday pushed back on a firsthand account from his former national security adviser, John R. Bolton, about tying military aid for a foreign ally to his own personal agenda, as senators consider the president's future in the Oval Office. 'I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens,' Mr. Trump wrote just after midnight, referring to a widely debunked theory that the president had pursued about former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son Hunter.... Hours after his midnight posts, Mr. Trump falsely stated that the Democrats never asked Mr. Bolton to testify during the House impeachment inquiry last year.... Mr. Trump also falsely claimed that his White House released the critical military aid to Ukraine ahead of schedule.... 'There can be no doubt now that Mr. Bolton directly contradicts the heart of the president's defense,' Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, said in a joint statement on Sunday...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A CNBC report is here. ~~~

~~~ Oops! Barbara McQuade in a Washington Post op-ed: Donald Trump "may have been hoping to push wavering Senate Republicans away from agreeing to call Bolton to testify in the impeachment trial. But in the process, Trump probably waived any executive privilege that he could have claimed to keep Bolton quiet if that gambit fails.... Trump's tweets directly denying the substance of Bolton's reported allegations waive any privilege that might have protected them from public disclosure. Privilege is meant to keep a president's secrets confidential. If the president reveals those secrets or publicly discusses the conversations himself, there is no longer any need to protect them from disclosure. Now that Trump has accused Bolton of lying about their communications, the time has come to put Bolton under oath and see what he has to say."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "At first glance, at least, John R. Bolton's account of President Trump's private remarks sounds like an echo of the so-called smoking gun tape that proved that President Richard M. Nixon really had orchestrated the Watergate cover-up and ultimately forced him from office. But this is Mr. Trump's era and Mr. Trump's Washington, and the old rules do not always apply.... The pressure on the handful of Republican senators who had been wavering on calling witnesses will now increase exponentially and the president's defense has suddenly been thrown into disarray. When Mr. Trump's lawyers address the Senate Monday afternoon, they will face the challenge of explaining how his own former top aide says the president did exactly what they say he did not do -- or trying to ignore it altogether.... In their trial brief submitted earlier last week, the president's lawyers made that one of their key points. 'Not a single witness with actual knowledge ever testified that the president suggested any connection between announcing investigations and security assistance,' the lawyers wrote. What's perhaps even more shocking is that the White House knew what Mr. Bolton had to say at least as far back as Dec. 30, when he sent his manuscript to the National Security Council for standard pre-publication review to ensure that no classified information would be released, yet continued to promote a completely opposite narrative." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Steve M.: "... Senate Republicans will blame phony offenses by Democrats for their decision to end the trial quickly.... [They] will use the outrage off-ramp to dismiss the case for Bolton's testimony. And if they don't think that will work, maybe a few of them will concede that testimony from Bolton would be a good idea -- but then the question of his testimony will get mixed up in the fight for Republican witnesses[.]... I think Democrats would swap a Biden for Bolton. But an aggressive Republican move to subpoena a Trump wish list of witnesses will lead to a protracted fight, after which Republicans -- who are much better than Democrats at message discipline -- will say that no agreement could be reached because Democrats are afraid to hear witnesses. End of witness fight; end of trial." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Bolton's Book Brings News from the Autocrats' Club. Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, privately told Attorney General William P. Barr last year that he had concerns that President Trump was effectively granting personal favors to the autocratic leaders of Turkey and China, according to an unpublished manuscript by Mr. Bolton. Mr. Barr responded by pointing to a pair of Justice Department investigations of companies in those countries and said he was worried that Mr. Trump had created the appearance that he had undue influence over what would typically be independent inquiries, according to the manuscript. Backing up his point, Mr. Barr mentioned conversations Mr. Trump had with the leaders, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and President Xi Jinping of China. Mr. Bolton's account underscores the fact that the unease about Mr. Trump's seeming embrace of authoritarian leaders, long expressed by experts and his opponents, also existed among some of the senior cabinet officers entrusted by the president to carry out his foreign policy and national security agendas." The Hill's summary report is here.

Time Wounds All Heels. Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "The Republican strategy for getting ... Donald Trump off the hook in the Senate's impeachment trial has largely been rooted in the denial of the existence of a little something we, in the reality-based community, call time. The Republicans would like to pretend that the past doesn't exist, and also that the future won't exist, because doing so allows them to confine the mountains of damning evidence against the president to a minimalist public display that consists of in-the-moment rantings about 'no quid pro quo' and Adam Schiff and House Democrats' impeachment strategy.... That the future of this grotesquely corrupt for-profit presidency will rise and fall on the timing and dollar value of a book advance and a pub date is disturbing.... Until this week, GOP senators could at least plausibly have claimed that they had no idea what would come out in the future if they rushed this trial to its swift kangaroo conclusion. Today, any such argument is belied by the fact that the future happened yesterday."

Fox "News" Is Busy Discrediting Its Former Contributor. Aaron Rupar of Vox: "Faced with the news that President Trump's former National Security Adviser John Bolton's new book includes an account that undercuts one of Trump's central impeachment defenses, Fox News and the Trump-supporting Republicans who regularly appear on it went all-in on smearing him as a greedy and disgruntled former aide who only wants sell more copies. Take host Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who joined Monday's edition of Fox & Friends and said, 'The timing is a little interesting, isn't it?'... [Host] Maria Bartiromo ... accus[ed] Bolton ... of trying 'to sell a book.'... Sen. John Hawley (R-MO) went on Fox & Friends ... and incorrectly described Bolton's account as 'a bunch of hearsay.' White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham ... demeaned Bolton's publisher as 'the same publisher that [former FBI Director James] Comey used,' adding, 'the timing is very suspect.' (Grisham's claim is incorrect -- Comey's book was published by Macmillan while Bolton's is being published by Simon & Schuster.)... Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who serves on Trump's impeachment defense team and went as far as to smear Bolton -- a Republican who worked for multiple Republican presidents -- as a Democrat. 'Coming out at this late hour is a kinda typical move from the Democrats,' he said.... It is the White House, not Bolton, that appears to be responsible for the timing of news of Bolton's book draft.... The Times reports the White House was first sent a copy of the draft last month, weeks after Trump told reporters he'd 'love' for his top aides to testify during his Senate trial. Bolton's lawyer blamed the White House for leaking about it."

Matt Ford of the New Republic: "Whatever the outcome, [the Bolton bombshell is] a poetic turn of events. The president's greatest threat may not be from high-minded civic idealists, but a grifter whose shamelessness may exceed his own."

Juliegrace Brufke of the Hill: "Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said he believes Senate Republicans who break with President Trump on impeachment will likely face political backlash.... His comments come as centrist GOP lawmakers in the upper chamber face mounting pressure to vote to bring in additional witnesses for the trial in the wake of [the] bombshell New York Times report" on John Bolton 's unpublished book. Mrs. McC: Gee, Mark, they might end up with their heads on pikes.

Pompeo Triples Down on Punishing Girl Reporters. Darturnorro Clark of NBC News: "The State Department on Monday removed an NPR reporter from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's upcoming trip abroad after a dayslong spat with a different NPR reporter, who said Pompeo berated her and cursed after an interview. The State Department Correspondents' Association confirmed the decision to remove NPR correspondent Michele Kelemen from Pompeo's plane on his upcoming trip to Europe and Central Asia, calling the move 'retaliation' after Pompeo's public attack on NPR's Mary Louise Kelly." Mrs. McC: Pompeo is scheduled to travel to five countries, including Ukraine. Hope he lectures them all on "American values" like freedom of the press.

John Roberts Has Not Spent All His Time Hanging Out at the Senate. Ariane de Vogue & Priscilla Alvarez of CNN: "The Supreme Court in a 5-4 vote Monday cleared the way for the Trump administration to make it more difficult for low-income immigrants seeking to come to or trying to remain legally in the United States. The so-called public charge rule, unveiled in August, impacts people who rely on public assistance, including most forms of Medicaid, food stamps and housing vouchers.... Monday's vote split along ideological lines, with the five conservative justices in the majority."

Tara Law of Time: "...Donald Trump's personal pastor, the televangelist Paula White, is facing criticism after praying for the miscarriage of 'all Satanic pregnancies' during a sermon earlier this month.... White took on a role as advisor to the White House's Office of Public Liaison as an advisor to the Faith and Opportunity Initiative in the fall, but has known the President for nearly two decades and was one of the six clergy members to speak at his inauguration. She is associated with the 'prosperity gospel,' a belief which holds that God wants his followers to be healthy and wealthy, and that many other Christians consider to be heretical." --s ~~~

~~~ Devan Cole of CNN: "... Donald Trump's spiritual adviser Paula White defended herself on Sunday against criticism over a prayer she made earlier this month in which she asked for 'all satanic pregnancies to miscarry right now,' saying her words were taken 'out of context for political gain.'" Mrs. McC: As revealed in the video clip that accompanies the story, what White said, in context, "In the name of Jesus, we command all satanic pregnancies to miscarry right now." Evidently claiming to speak for Jesus makes it okay.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "The Post has suspended reporter Felicia Sonmez following her social-media activity over the death of NBA great Kobe Bryant.... What did Sonmez do to deserve this brushback? She tweeted out a very good story from the Daily Beast.... An immediate and overwhelming expression of anger piled on Sonmez from Twitter users. Sonmez had directed her followers to this April 2016 story in the Daily Beast by Marlow Stern. Written at the time of Bryant's farewell tour through NBA cities, the story takes a deep look at the sexual-assault allegation against Bryant stemming from his 2003 visit to Colorado's Lodge & Spa a Cordillera.... 'To the 10,000 people (literally) who have commented and emailed me with abuse and death threats, please take a moment and read the story -- which was written 3+ years ago, and not by me,' Sonmez tweeted...." Wemple objects to Sonmez's suspension. "By [the Post's own] standards, Sonmez's tweet would appear to invite a pat on the back from management." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I would not have tweeted a link to the rape story, even tho, frankly, the rape allegation is just about all I knew about Bryant before his death other than that he was a star basketball player. But I am not a journalist; I don't have a duty to report or to put a public figure's life in perspective. I can see no legitimate basis for Sonmez's suspension, other than "a man decided to suspend her." ~~~

     ~~~ Wemple's report puts the onus for Sonmez's suspension on Tracy Grant, who is the Post's first female managing editor. Rachel Abrams of the New York Times: "Ms. Sonmez received an email from The Post's executive editor, Martin Baron, at 5:38 p.m., before she was told that she would be placed on leave. The reporter shared the three-sentence email with The New York Times. 'Felicia,' Mr. Baron wrote. 'A real lack of judgment to tweet this. Please stop. You're hurting this institution by doing this.' The text of Mr. Baron's email was attached to a screen shot of Ms. Sonmez's tweet linking to the Daily Beast article."

~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "It is frankly baffling what 'policy' Sonmez's fi[r]st tweet could have violated. It can't be that it mentioned it linked to a story about Bryant being credibly accused of sexual assault, getting the criminal case dropped at least in part by doxxing his accuser, and then reaching a settlement. You can also find the news that Bryant was accused of sexual assault in ... the Washington Post's own obituary, published the same day[.]... There was a recent Oscar-winning movie about a true story of norms of silence surrounding sexual violence ended up shielding more powerful abusers. Baron may want to watch it again!" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The film Lemiuex links is "Spotlight," "a superbly controlled and engrossingly detailed account of the Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into the widespread pedophilia scandals and subsequent cover-ups within the Catholic Church," according to Variety critic Justin Chang. And the leader of the Globe's Pulitzer-winning team? One Marty Baron. Of course, the victims in these cases were mostly boys. So, ya know.... ~~~

~~~ Emily Stewart of Vox tries to piece together why the WashPo suspended Sonmez. "There is a bigger debate beyond the circumstances of Sonmez's tweets: How do we talk about revered figures when they die, including the good and the bad? Sonmez is hardly the only person to mention the allegation against Bryant in the wake of his death. Plenty of other people did the same and did not get the same amount of backlash; many of the posters were men, and men often don't experience the same amount of vitriol online as their female counterparts.... The Post's decision to suspend her is perplexing, as is its murky reasoning. Journalists are supposed to be dedicated to the truth and shining light on things that are sometimes ugly and painful. The Post should recognize that -- or at the very least have an explanation beyond seemingly responding to a Twitter mob."

Presidential Race

Bill Barrow & Alexandra Jaffe of the AP: "As Bernie Sanders exudes confidence in his ability to win next week's Iowa caucuses, his moderate rivals are struggling with how -- and whether -- to directly take on the progressive Vermont senator who some Democrats worry won't be able to defeat ... Donald Trump.... Sanders has long identified as a democratic socialist, and the prospect that he could win the caucuses and gain momentum heading into later contests has alarmed the establishment wing of the Democratic Party. But that anxiety was hard to detect on the campaign trail as [Joe] Biden and [Pete] Buttigieg, two of the leading moderate candidates, declined to take him head-on, opting instead to speak about the need to unify the party and the urgency of beating Trump.... While they largely avoided talking about Sanders during campaign events, the moderate candidates displayed less reluctance to knock Sanders in appeals to potential donors.... Buttigieg's campaign issued a fundraising plea, warning of Sanders' strength and declaring, 'we risk nominating a candidate who cannot beat Donald Trump in November.' Biden's campaign also sent a fundraising solicitation citing Sanders' strength...."

Americans Warming to Autocrat. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Amid signs that more voters are in general less worried about the economy and their own economic wellbeing, and a week out from the Iowa caucuses, the national [Washington Post-ABC News] poll gave the president encouraging scores against contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination. In notional general election match-ups, Trump trailed former vice-president Joe Biden with registered voters by four points (50%-46%); Vermont senator Bernie Sanders by two (49%-47%); and Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar by one (48%-47%). Those deficits against the top Democrats have roughly halved since a similar poll at the end of 2019." --s

Kevin Hall of the Miami Herald: "... a top U.S. Justice Department official [said Monday] that Britain's Prince Andrew has provided 'zero cooperation' to an ongoing investigation into the late accused sex trafficker Jeffrey E. Epstein. Although Epstein was found dead in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan last Aug. 10, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, the top prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, continues to investigate the disgraced financier with an eye toward bringing charges against his enablers and possible co-conspirators. 'Ordinarily our office doesn't comment on whether an individual cooperates or doesn't cooperate with our investigation. However, in Prince Andrew's case, he publicly offered, indeed in a press release offered to cooperate with law enforcement investigating the crimes committed by Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators,' Berman explained to reporters gathered outside Epstein's Manhattan mansion.... 'So let me say that the Southern District of New York and the FBI have contacted Prince Andrew's attorneys and requested to interview Prince Andrew, and to date Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation.'"

Chris Francescani of ABC News: "One of two women that Harvey Weinstein is on trial for sexually assaulting took the witness stand on Monday to describe how the Hollywood producer violently sexually assaulted her and explain why she returned to him within a month and endured a second unwanted sexual encounter. Miriam 'Mimi' Haleyi is the second of six women expected to testify that the disgraced Hollywood mega-producer sexually assaulted them, following dramatic testimony last week from 'Sopranos' actress Annabella Sciorra."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Brazil. Dom Phillips of the Guardian: "When Jair Bolsonaro's culture secretary published an official video paraphrasing Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, it wasn't just Brazilians who were stunned. The video, in which Roberto Alvim called for a 'rebirth of art and culture in Brazil' while Adolf Hitler's favourite Wagner opera played in the background, sent shockwaves around the world. Alvim was sacked within hours.... Analysts said the use of such extremist tactics is typical of the brinksmanship, trolling and meme tactics used by the US 'alt-right' who are often referenced by powerful members of Bolsonaro's government.... Pushing the limits and goading liberals are classic alt-right tactics, said Rodrigo Nunes, a political philosophy professor at Rio de Janeiro's Pontifical Catholic University.... 'The playbook is the American alt-right,' Nunes said. 'In that sense, Brazil is the first alt-right government in the world.'" --s

News Ledes

CNN: "The NTSB, which is investigating the cause of the crash [that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others], detailed the helicopter's final moments before it crashed into a hillside in Calabasas, California, under foggy conditions. Visibility was so low Sunday morning that the Los Angeles Police Department grounded its helicopters, department spokesman Josh Rubenstein said." ~~~

~~~ Washington Post: "The helicopter pilot flying Kobe Bryant, the basketball star's daughter and six other passengers Sunday grappled with poor weather, asking at one point for special permission to fly by sight in worse than normal visibility, but he displayed no signs of concern in his communications with air traffic controllers. Shortly after he got special clearance to continue through controlled airspace, he veered from Highway 101 below and crashed into the Calabasas, Calif., hills. All nine onboard were killed."

The Commentariat -- January 27, 2020

Late Morning Update:

The Guardian's liveblog for today's impeachment proceedings is here. @10:19 am ET: "Mitt Romney, one of the Republican senators that has already expressed openness to calling new witnesses to testify in the impeachment trial, said it was 'increasingly likely' other Senate Republicans would support the request." BUT @10:55 am: "Republican senator Susan Collins declined to commit to supporting a subpoena for John Bolton after one of her colleagues, Mitt Romney, predicted more Senate Republicans would soon join Democrats in requesting new witness testimony." Mrs. McC: I guess she's "concerned" about something. ~~~

~~~ The New York Times' liveblog is here. Mrs. McC: Sadly, I have to be away this afternoon, so I'll miss some of the dissembling. ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman: "By Monday morning, several Republican senators had angrily called the White House trying to determine who at the administration knew about Mr. Bolton's manuscript, which aides there have had for several weeks, and what was in it. They told the White House they felt blindsided, according to people briefed on the calls who insisted on anonymity to describe private discussions.... John Ullyot, a spokesman for the National Security Council, issued a carefully worded statement on Monday morning, 16 hours after the Times story was published. 'Ambassador Bolton's manuscript was submitted to the N.S.C. for pre-publication review and has been under initial review by the N.S.C.,' he said. 'No White House personnel outside N.S.C. have reviewed the manuscript.'" Mrs. McC: Trump's private attorney Jay Seculow, for instance, is not one of the "White House personnel." Neither are most other lawyers on Trump's defense team.

Today's Most Significant Unbelievable Lie of the Day -- And Other Lies. Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump on Monday pushed back on a firsthand account from his former national security adviser, John R. Bolton, about tying military aid for a foreign ally to his own personal agenda, as senators consider the president's future in the Oval Office. 'I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens,' Mr. Trump wrote just after midnight, referring to a widely debunked theory that the president had pursued about former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son Hunter.... Hours after his midnight posts, Mr. Trump falsely stated that the Democrats never asked Mr. Bolton to testify during the House impeachment inquiry last year.... Mr. Trump also falsely claimed that his White House released the critical military aid to Ukraine ahead of schedule.... 'There can be no doubt now that Mr. Bolton directly contradicts the heart of the president's defense,' Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, said in a joint statement on Sunday...."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "At first glance, at least, John R. Bolton's account of President Trump's private remarks sounds like an echo of the so-called smoking gun tape that proved that President Richard M. Nixon really had orchestrated the Watergate cover-up and ultimately forced him from office. But this is Mr. Trump's era and Mr. Trump's Washington, and the old rules do not always apply.... The pressure on the handful of Republican senators who had been wavering on calling witnesses will now increase exponentially and the president's defense has suddenly been thrown into disarray. When Mr. Trump's lawyers address the Senate Monday afternoon, they will face the challenge of explaining how his own former top aide says the president did exactly what they say he did not do -- or trying to ignore it altogether.... In their trial brief submitted earlier last week, the president's lawyers made that one of their key points. 'Not a single witness with actual knowledge ever testified that the president suggested any connection between announcing investigations and security assistance,' the lawyers wrote. What's perhaps even more shocking is that the White House knew what Mr. Bolton had to say at least as far back as Dec. 30, when he sent his manuscript to the National Security Council for standard pre-publication review to ensure that no classified information would be released, yet continued to promote a completely opposite narrative." ~~~

~~~ Steve M.: "... Senate Republicans will blame phony offenses by Democrats for their decision to end the trial quickly.... [They] will use the outrage off-ramp to dismiss the case for Bolton's testimony. And if they don't think that will work, maybe a few of them will concede that testimony from Bolton would be a good idea -- but then the question of his testimony will get mixed up in the fight for Republican witnesses[.]... I think Democrats would swap a Biden for Bolton. But an aggressive Republican move to subpoena a Trump wish list of witnesses will lead to a protracted fight, after which Republicans -- who are much better than Democrats at message discipline -- will say that no agreement could be reached because Democrats are afraid to hear witnesses. End of witness fight; end of trial."

~~~~~~~~~~

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Once John Bolton indicated he would testify before the Senate, the odds that he would get his story out, one way or another. went up. So ~~~

~~~ ** Maggie Haberman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "President Trump told his national security adviser in August that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including the Bidens, according to an unpublished manuscript by the former adviser, John R. Bolton.... Mr. Bolton's explosive account of the matter at the center of Mr. Trump's impeachment trial ... was included in drafts of a manuscript he has circulated in recent weeks to close associates. He also sent a draft to the White House for a standard review process for some current and former administration officials who write books. Multiple people described Mr. Bolton's account of the Ukraine affair. The book presents an outline of what Mr. Bolton might testify to if he is called as a witness in the Senate impeachment trial, the people said. The White House could use the pre-publication review process ... to delay or even kill the book's publication or omit key passages." Read on. Bolton whacks Pompeo, Barr, Mulvaney and of course Giuliani. The Hill's summary report is here. ~~~

~~~ Noah Weiland of the New York Times outlines key takeaways from the draft of Bolton's book. Here's one: "The revelations from the draft of Mr. Bolton's book could complicate the impeachment trial.... Mr. Bolton's revelations could unearth support among ... a handful of [Republican] senators who have indicated they might be open to hearing from him.... If the Senate does vote to hear from Mr. Bolton, the trial could stretch deep into February." ~~~

~~~ Seung Min Kim & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Congressional Democrats called for former national security adviser John Bolton to testify in President Trump's impeachment trial following a new report that the president told Bolton last August that he wanted to withhold military aid to Ukraine unless it aided investigations into the Bidens.... In a joint statement, the seven House impeachment managers called the report 'explosive' and urged the Senate ... to agree to call Bolton as a witness in Trump's trial.... The revelation from the Bolton book was certain to roil the dynamics of the trial this week, when the Senate was expected to face a critical vote on whether to allow witnesses at all. Charles Cooper, a lawyer for Bolton, said he submitted the manuscript to the National Security Council's records management division on Dec. 30 for a standard review process to examine potentially classified information. Cooper said they believed the book manuscript did not include any classified material.... Sarah Tinsley, a spokeswoman for Bolton, added: 'The ambassador has not passed the draft manuscript to anyone else. Period.'" Here's NBC News's story. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: So the White House has had Bolton's book for nearly four weeks, yet the lying lawyers defending Trump still got up before the Senate & claimed Trump's "real" purpose for withholding funds from Ukraine was over his deep concerns about general corruption in Ukraine.

~~~ Dan Nexon of LG&$: "... you should read the piece -- and then reflect on the fact that nothing matters, the Senate will acquit Trump, there's a good chance he'll be reelected, and everything is terrible. NB: think about the fact that Giuliani could've been a cabinet official, but he was seen as too compromised for this administration." ~~~

~~~ Adam Silverman of Balloon Juice has some thoughts worth considering. Here's one of them: "Bolton's real concern, according to Haberman's and Schmidt's reporting is that if he doesn't get to testify in the President's impeachment trial in the Senate, that people will think he's only interested in his personal profit.... Ambassador Bolton doesn't have to worry about [that].... That ship has sailed, got caught in a storm after leaving port, and has sunk. I'd call Ambassador Bolton a selfish, egomaniacal, megalomaniacal whore, but that would be insulting to selfish people, egomaniacs, megalomaniacs, and whores!" ~~~

~~~ ** Josh Marshall gets to the nub of it: "I think there is little chance -- but not no chance -- that this is will shift the equation on Senate Republicans voting to hear testimony from witnesses. But it is still important to note that during the trial we have a clear indication that the President's then-foreign policy chief says that his entire impeachment defense is bogus. But the biggest thing is we shouldn't lose track of what a disgrace this is. Bolton, as we've suspected, denied critical information to a lawful and constitutional judicial inquiry while making it available for what is at the end of the day a private business venture. There is just no conceivable justification for this from any, any perspective." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Besides, isn't this eleventh-hour ploy just a spectacular kickoff to Bolton's book tour? I mean, what's the last time a book draft was the NYT's top story? And the Times never quotes any passages from the book. Rather, if you want to know what Bolton actually wrote, you have to buy the book!* Ka-ching! Talk about drug deals. It also seems possible that Bolton a friend of Bolton's leaked the draft because Bolton was worried that the White House would hold onto the draft forevah, or at least until the money quotes had diminished in value -- like until after the November election.

     ~~~ * Update: Reserve your copy now!

Rebecca Klar of the Hill: Donald "Trump tweeted early Sunday morning that [Adam] Schiff, whom he called a 'CORRUPT POLITICIAN,' has 'not paid the price, yet, for what he has done to our Country!'... Schiff ... said Sunday that [the] tweet from the president is 'intended to be a threat." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Jeremy Schulman of Mother Jones: "Trump's tweet drew immediate outrage, with many suggesting it might incite violence against Schiff. 'What do you say to somebody who says, "President Trump is saying that Adam Schiff needs to pay a price -- this is in the midst of Adam Schiff getting death threats,"' asked CNN's Jake Tapper during an interview with GOP Sen. James Lankford (Okla.). 'I just don't think it's a death threat,' Lankford responded. 'People who are supporters of the president have heard his rhetoric and then actually tried to bomb and kill politicians and the media,' Tapper shot back -- a reference to Cesar Sayoc, a Trump supporter who last year pleaded guilty to mailing pipe bombs to prominent Democrats and CNN in 2018.... Trump didn't just call Schiff 'corrupt.' [In another tweet Sunday,] he called him a 'conman' who made a 'fraudulent statement to Congress.' And Trump once again accused Schiff of 'illegally making up my phone call.'... Trump's accusations are entirely meritless. Even if they weren't, it's incredibly unlikely that he'd succeed in suing, let along criminally prosecuting, Schiff -- members of Congress enjoy broad legal immunity for what they say in committee hearings."

Justine Coleman of the Hill: "Alan Dershowitz, a member of President Trump's legal team, said the Democrats 'completely failed' to meet the constitutional standard for removing Trump from office in their opening argument last week. Dershowitz told Chris Wallace on 'Fox News Sunday' that he thought the House managers presented the strongest case they could' but 'didn't come close to alleging impeachable offenses.' 'They completely failed to meet that high constitutional standard, and therefore it would be unconstitutional to remove a president based on the allegations that were made against him in the articles of impeachment,' he said." Mrs. McC: If you don't have the facts, make up something. If you don't have the law & the Constitution, make up something else. If you don't have the facts or the law, go on Fox "News." (Apologies to Carl Sandburg.) (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ BUT Maybe Not on "Fox 'News' Sunday." Ken Meyer of Mediaite: "... Alan Dershowitz faced a bruising interview on Sunday when confronted with his abandoned position that a federal crime isn't necessary to form the legitimate basis to impeach the president.... As Dershowitz laid out the historical precedents he's using as the basis for his argument, Wallace called several of them into question before quoting Alexander Hamilton and George Mason arguing that the violation of a criminal statute 'is not essential to impeachment.'"

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says an NPR host lied in setting up an interview with him on Friday, but email records support the journalist's account of how the contentious exchange came to be. The emails, obtained by The Washington Post, indicate that Pompeo's staff was aware that NPR's Mary Louise Kelly would ask Pompeo about several topics in the interview and raised no objections, contrary to Pompeo's characterization. In an extraordinary statement issued on State Department letterhead on Saturday, Pompeo blasted Kelly for repeatedly asking him why he refused to express support for the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.... 'NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly lied to me, twice.... First, last month, in setting up our interview and, then again yesterday, in agreeing to have our post-interview conversation off the record. It is shameful that this reporter chose to violate the basic rules of journalism and decency.' [In an exchange with Pompeo's press aide Katie Martin,] Kelly responded, 'I am indeed just back from Tehran and plan to start there. Also Ukraine.... I never agree to take anything off the table.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: You know that Bible you so proudly keep open on your desk, Mike? You should consult it from time to time on the many passages that warn against lying. Looks as if you're going to wind up "in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur." Seems fair to me.

This is another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and this administration. It is no wonder that the American people distrust many in the media when they so consistently demonstrate their agenda and their absence of integrity. -- Mike Pompeo, in his statement Saturday, condemning NPR reporter Mary Kelly, et al. ~~~

~~~ Edward Wong of the New York Times: Pompeo's "statement ... ignited outrage online among foreign policy experts, scholars of diplomacy and press freedom advocates. Mr. Pompeo violated the goals and nonpartisan nature of his office, whose core mission is to promote American values worldwide, including freedom of the press, they said.... Mr. Pompeo has occasionally issued statements calling on authoritarian governments to respect press freedoms. But he has insulted journalists and has even cursed at diplomatic reporters in private meetings. His Saturday statement was notable for the public -- and broad -- denunciation of the news media.... Five Democratic senators sent a letter on Saturday to Mr. Pompeo denouncing his 'irresponsible' comments and the 'corrosive effects of your behavior on American values and standing in the world.'... For some, Mr. Pompeo's treatment of Ms. Kelly underlined a persistent hostility toward women." ~~~

~~~ ** Former Ambassador Bill Taylor takes another whack at Pompeo in this New York Times op-ed: "As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo prepares to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv later this week, he has reportedly asked, 'Do Americans care about Ukraine?' Here's why the answer should be yes: Ukraine is defending itself and the West against Russian attack. No matter the outcome of the debate about the propriety of a phone call between the two presidents, the relationship between the United States and Ukraine is key to our national security. Americans should care about Ukraine. Russia is fighting a hybrid war against Ukraine, Europe and the United States." Worth reading every word. And worth knowing that the POTUS* doesn't give a flying fuck about any of it.

~~~ Max Boot in the Washington Post: Rex "Tillerson might not have known what he was doing once he left ExxonMobil, but he was at least ethical and well-intentioned -- and not afraid to stand up to President Trump.... [Mike Pompeo's] reward for being Trump's enabler is to amass far more influence than Tillerson ever did. Pompeo is the most powerful member of the Cabinet.... Pompeo has become a Trump mini-me who emulates his master in boorishness, bombast, bullying -- and dishonesty. Every day that Pompeo stays in office, he makes Tillerson -- once seen as the worst secretary of state ever -- look better by comparison. Pompeo has become a Trump mini-me who emulates his master in boorishness, bombast, bullying -- and dishonesty. Every day that Pompeo stays in office, he makes Tillerson -- once seen as the worst secretary of state ever -- look better by comparison."

Evan Semones of Politico: "Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin's wife on Saturday appeared to publicly break with her husband over support for Greta Thunberg's climate change activism. 'I stand with Greta on this issue. (I don't have a degree in economics either),' actress Louise Linton wrote in a now-deleted Instagram post after Mnuchin chided the 17-year-old's call for governments to end their support of fossil fuels at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, saying she should attend college and study economics." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Mark Landler of the New York Times: Benjamin Netanyahu "will return to the White House for meetings Monday and Tuesday, and Mr. Trump is expected at last to lay out the details of that long-awaited plan. Mr. Netanyahu said Sunday he hoped to 'make history' on the visit. But far from a bold effort to bring old enemies together ... Middle East experts now expect the plan to be mainly a booster shot for Mr. Netanyahu's desperate campaign to stay in power. Benny Gantz, again Mr. Netanyahu's rival in Israel's third election in less than a year, will have his own separate meeting with Mr. Trump on Monday."

That's the way Jews work. They are deceivers. They plot, they lie, they do whatever they have to do to accomplish their political agenda. This 'Impeach Trump' movement is a Jew coup, and the American people better wake up to it really fast.... When Jews take over a country, they kill millions of Christians. -- Rick Wiles, founder of TruNews & a Trump fave, in a radio broadcast ~~~

~~~ Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "Five employees of TruNews ... received formal credentials from the White House to cover the president's trip [last week to Davos, Switzerland, TruNews founder Rick] Wiles said in an interview last week from his hotel room in Switzerland -- a room in a ski lodge reserved by the Trump administration for traveling members of the American press.... TruNews, a website aimed at conservative Christians ... recently described Mr. Trump's impeachment as 'a Jew coup' planned by 'a Jewish cabal.'... TruNews, which Mr. Wiles ... has a history of spreading conspiracy theories and proclaiming an imminent apocalypse." After Jonathan Karl, president of the White House Correspondent's Association, said he was "puzzled" as to why the White House credentialed a "hate group" after it had denied credentials to Jim Acosta of CNN, "Mr. Wiles ... said that he had been unfairly attacked by 'the self-appointed gods and goddesses of the news media....' He went on to blame George Soros, the Jewish financier often cited in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, for coordinating a campaign against him." Wiles says he bears "no ill will toward the Jewish people."