The Conversation -- May 24, 2024

Karen Yourish & Charlie Smart of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has baselessly and publicly cast doubt about the fairness of the 2024 election about once a day, on average, since he announced his candidacy for president, according to an analysis by The New York Times. Though the tactic is familiar -- Mr. Trump raised the specter of a 'rigged' election in the 2016 and 2020 cycles, too -- his attempts to undermine the 2024 contest are a significant escalation. Mr. Trump's refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election had historic consequences. The so-called 'Big Lie' ... led to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the United States Capitol and two of four criminal indictments against Mr. Trump, as well as his second impeachment. But Mr. Trump had planted seeds of doubt among his followers long before Election Day, essentially setting up a no-lose future for himself: Either he would prevail, or the election would be rigged. He has never given up that framing, which no evidence supports, even well after the end of his presidency. And as he seeks to return to the White House, the same claim has become the backbone of his campaign."

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "It cannot be overstated how Trump's deportation plan would surely rank as one of the worst crimes perpetrated by the federal government on the people of this country.... [The plan] begins, as [Stephen] Miller explained ... last year, with creating a national deportation force. Because it would be beyond the capacity of the federal government to immediately return detainees to their 'home' countries, the Trump team also plans to build 'vast holding facilities that would function as staging centers' for immigrants on land near the Texas border. Internment camps, essentially.... On the first day of his second term, the campaign has let it be known, Trump will sign an executive order 'to withhold passports, Social Security numbers and other government benefits from children of undocumented immigrants born in the United States.'"

** Mike Corder of the AP: "The top United Nations court ordered Israel on Friday to immediately halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah -- but stopped short of ordering a cease-fire for the enclave. While Israel is unlikely to comply with the order, it will ratchet up the pressure on the increasingly isolated country. Criticism of Israel's conduct in the war in Gaza has been growing, particularly once it turned its focus to Rafah.... Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also under heavy pressure at home to end the war, which was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people, most civilians, and taking some 250 captive. Thousands of Israelis have joined weekly demonstrations calling on the government to reach a deal to bring the hostages home, fearing that time is running out.... The International Court of Justice ... does not have a police force to enforce its orders."

Biden's DOJ authorized use of deadly force against President Trump in the Mar-a-Lago raid. -- Donald Trump, social media post, May 21

A shocking claim -- that President Biden ordered the assassination of his rival -- was allowed to take root on the flimsiest of evidence. The original citation was in a three-month-old filing by Trump's lawyers -- a filing that misleadingly quoted from standard FBI language in search-warrant instructions. As is typical in social media frenzies, quotes were taken out of context without due diligence or actual reporting. Then Trump used the outrage to gin up a fundraising appeal. Ironically, Trump in his effort to win immunity for his actions as president has suggested that ordering the killing of a rival would not be subject to criminal prosecution. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post

This is just a way to turn the creepy immunity argument that a president has the right to order Seal Team Six to kill his political opponent inside out -- the 'I know you are but what am I' tactic they love so much. But it's also dangerous. This ratchets up the lie that Biden is the extremist who threatens democracy and the rule of law but the difference is that MAGA is full of violent, gun toting weirdos who have already shown a willingness to take matters into their own hands. It's as irresponsible as it gets. -- digby, who copied the WashPo's timeline of how the right wing makes up a shocking story (Thanks to RAS for the link.)

Related story re: Merrick Garland linked below.

So here is a bit of Michael Gold's New York Times report on Donald Trump's rally in the Bronx Thursday: "In front of [Trump] was a more diverse crowd than is typical of his rallies, with many Black and Hispanic voters sporting bright red 'Make America Great Again; hats and other Trump-themed apparel ordinarily scarce in deep-blue New York City. Still more people stood outside, waiting to get past security.... As he spoke, more than 100 protesters demonstrated outside the fenced-off area of Crotona Park where he had staged the rally.... As the protesters were demonstrating, the atmosphere became momentarily charged, with Trump supporters and anti-Trump protesters screaming obscenities at one another from across the street. The New York Police Department began separating both sides, lining the streets with metal barricades." Gold had one helper: Jeffery Mays.~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Okay, sounds as if the report could be realistic. Lots of Trump fans, but a smattering of protesters. HOWEVER, this might be a good time to emphasize that the New York Times is in New York City. So is the Bronx. So I do kinda wonder why the Times didn't see this: ~~~

     ~~~ Colby Hall of Mediaite: "Former President Donald Trump repeatedly boasted about the crowd size attending Thursday's political rally in the Bronx, as his custom. However, a local New York evening news report from ABC7's Jim Dolan revealed a different story about how many people attended and who actually made up the crowd.... But b-roll of the event shown to viewers during Dolan's report painted a remarkably different picture than what Trump boasted about regarding crowd size[.] Dolan then pivoted to the home states of the pro-Trump rallygoers in attendance, with the aid of an unnamed professor who said, 'They're all from out of state. Go out there. Look at all them. Call that a pocket check out of where they came from. Tennessee. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Texas.... It's just not clear that the people who attended were from the Bronx. The campaign controlled who got in, and the campaign ... picked only supporters." ~~~

Image: Donald Trump speaking before a huge crowd in the Bronx on Thursday, like nothing anybody's ever seen.

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Katie Rogers & Zach Montague of the New York Times: Among the guests at the Bidens' state dinner for President William Ruto of Kenya and his wife, Rachel, was Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan. "... the [guest] list name-checked the people Mr. Biden will want to bring closer into the fold in the months ahead. The lineup included elected officials in several battleground states, influential Black political operatives, and powerful philanthropists, like Melinda French Gates." The story itself name-checks some of the more prominent guests, like Bill & Hillary Clinton and actor-director-producer Sean Penn. ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's story is here. AND here's the full guest list, via the New York Times.

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden suggested on Thursday that the decision to have Kenya lead a security mission in Haiti, without troops from the United States on the ground, was meant to avoid the fraught history of American intervention in the deeply troubled country. Mr. Biden said the United States would contribute money, logistical support and equipment as Kenya and other nations try to quell the gang violence that erupted there after the assassination of the country's president in 2021. But in response to a question about why American troops will not participate, Mr. Biden alluded to previous U.S. interventions there. 'We concluded that for the United States to deploy forces in the hemisphere just raises all kinds of questions that can be easily misrepresented by what we're trying to do,' he said during a news conference at the White House with President William Ruto of Kenya." (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: For once, Merrick the Unready is taking a modest piece of my advice: ~~~

~~~ Lauren Irwin of the Hill: "Attorney General Merrick Garland said former President Trump's false claim about the FBI being ready to kill him in their Mar-a-Lago search is 'extremely dangerous' in recent comments. Trump falsely claimed in a fundraising email Wednesday that President Biden was 'locked & loaded and ready to take me out,' another attack about the classified records found at his estate. His email claimed Biden or the Justice Department was 'authorized to shoot' Trump.... 'That allegation is false, and it is extremely dangerous,' Garland said. 'Th document that has been referred to in the allegation is the Justice Department standard policy, limiting the use of force.... As the FBI advises, it is part of the standard operations plan for searches and in fact, it was even used in the consensual search of President Biden's home,' he continued.... Trump was not home when the FBI conducted its Aug. 8, 2022, search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, and [the FBI decided to execute the warrant while the Trump family was away] to avoid any potential conflict." (Also linked yesterday.)

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "The U.S. government filed a sweeping antitrust lawsuit Thursday against Live Nation Entertainment, the parent company of Ticketmaster, seeking to break up the conglomerate over allegations that it has amassed and abused unrivaled power in the ticketing and concert industries. The landmark case -- joined by 30 state and district attorneys general -- could dramatically reshape an ecosystem that has long sparked outrage from artists and fans alike, whose frustrations erupted in 2022 when high fees and site outages disrupted early sales for Taylor Swift's 'Eras' tour. Live Nation is an entertainment titan: It is a concert promoter, artist manager, venue owner, and ticket seller and reseller, constituting a sprawling empire that its executives publicly herald as the 'largest live entertainment company in the world.'"

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a bipartisan border enforcement bill for a second time this year, voting down legislation they initially insisted upon to stem a surge of migrants across the United States border with Mexico but then abandoned amid a right-wing backlash cheered on by ... Donald J. Trump. The vote amounted to a political trap laid for Republicans by Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader. He scheduled it in hopes of using the bill's second failure on the floor to highlight an election-year contrast with the G.O.P. on immigration, an issue that polls show is a major potential liability for President Biden and his party. On a vote of 50 to 43, the measure failed to advance after falling well short of the 60 votes needed to move forward in the Senate. Four Democrats, who view the provisions in the border crackdown measures as too extreme, voted with almost all Republicans, who have condemned it as too lax, to block its advancement." (Also linked yesterday.)

Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "Senate Democrats opened an investigation on Thursday into ... Donald J. Trump's meeting with oil and gas executives last month to determine whether Mr. Trump offered a 'policies-for-money transaction' when he asked for $1 billion for his 2024 campaign so he could retake the White House and delete President Biden's climate regulations. The investigation is the second congressional inquiry into the April 11 fund-raising dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump's private club in Florida. Over a chopped steak dinner, Mr. Trump told about 20 oil and gas executives that they would save far more than $1 billion in avoided taxes and legal fees after he repealed environmental regulations, according to several people who were present and who requested anonymity to discuss a private event.... In letters sent Thursday morning to top executives of eight oil companies and a trade group, the chairmen of two Senate committees, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, sought details of the executives' participation in the meeting and accused them and Mr. Trump of engaging in a quid pro quo." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Josh Dawsey & Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "In a rambling fundraising pitch to oil executives in Houston on Wednesday..., Donald Trump promised them he would immediately approve their projects and expand drilling in a second term -- just as he worked to expedite the controversial Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines soon after taking office in 2016.... The event, organized by three oil executives, underscores how Trump is courting an industry that ranked as a main beneficiary of his time in the White House, as he seeks to narrow President Biden's fundraising advantage." (Also linked yesterday.)

Robert Jimison of the New York Times: "The House passed legislation on Thursday that would undo a District of Columbia law allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections, part of a broader bid by Republicans to amplify false claims by ... Donald J. Trump of widespread illegal voting by immigrants, a rare occurrence that is already outlawed in federal elections. The bill has virtually no chance of being taken up in the Democratic-led Senate or making it to President Biden's desk to be signed into law. But Republicans have used it, and other legislation aiming to crack down on voting by noncitizens, to stoke distrust in the country's election laws and infrastructure ahead of the general election in November, a key pillar of Mr. Trump's strategy to preemptively accuse Democrats of cheating him out of the presidency." (Also linked yesterday.)

Anemona Hartocollis, et al., of the New York Times: "At the third congressional hearing with college presidents on Thursday, [House] Republicans sharply questioned them about the pro-Palestinian encampments that student protesters have pitched on their campuses and campuses across the country in response to the Israel-Hamas war. But the university leaders seemed to draw lessons from previous hearings, and sought to avoid enraging either the Republicans on the committee or members of their own institutions. They acknowledged some missteps and promised to do more to combat antisemitism, while also pushing back against some of the accusations leveled against them. The result was something of a culture clash, with the Republicans acting like prosecutors, demanding yes or no answers from the witnesses, as they tried to elicit the sort of damaging moment that helped to topple the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania....

"While the hearing was taking place, hundreds of students walked out of Harvard University's commencement ceremony in Cambridge, Mass., chanting 'Let them walk!', a reference to 13 student protesters at Harvard who were barred from graduating.... And at U.C.L.A., students set up a new pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus, barricading a patio with umbrellas, tables and crates."

Zach Montague of the New York Times: "A growing number of Democratic lawmakers called for Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. to recuse himself from cases related to Jan. 6, 2021, and demanded new ethics rules for the Supreme Court after revelations that flags carried by rioters at the Capitol were flown outside his homes.... So far, Republicans in Congress have stopped short of joining calls for recusal, though several have said that having the flags up for the public to see demonstrated poor judgment. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana have both questioned the justice's decision making and conceded that the display of the upside-down flag invited scrutiny. And Democrats in Congress have seized on the revelations to drum up support for legislation that would require Supreme Court justices to adopt a binding code of conduct and create a mechanism to investigate possible violations."

Mike Lillis of the Hill: "House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Thursday bashed Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for flying far-right flags associated with the 'Stop the Steal' movement outside two of his homes, demanding that Alito recuse himself from any cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) appeared on Lawrence O'Donnell's show Wednesday night and said, "The recusal requirement is a law, passed by Congress, specifically applicable to Supreme Court justices. So when they pay no attention to it, they're actually violating statutory law. This is not one of these rules that the Supreme Court or the judicial branch come up with for themselves....' No, this is the law of the land passed by Congress, and they're just flouting it." This makes me think Merrick the Unready and Chris Wray the Republican should open investigations into Sam Alito and Clarence Thomas to determine whether or not they have broken the law and should be prosecuted. While Sam & Clarence are putting their partisan thumbs on the scale of justice, you DOJ fellas need to get your own thumbs out of places the sun don't shine (she said delicately). (Video also linked yesterday.)

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court cleared the way on Thursday for South Carolina to keep using a congressional map that a lower court had deemed an unconstitutional racial gerrymander that resulted in the 'bleaching of African American voters' from a district. The vote was 6 to 3, with the court's three liberal members in dissent. A unanimous three-judge panel of the Federal District Court in Columbia, S.C., ruled in early 2023 that the state's First Congressional District, drawn after the 2020 census, violated the Constitution by making race the predominant factor. The panel put its decision on hold while Republican lawmakers appealed to the Supreme Court, and the parties asked the justices to render a decision by Jan. 1. After that deadline passed, the panel said in March that the 2024 election would have to take place under the map it had rejected as unconstitutional.... In effect, the Supreme Court's inaction had decided the case for the current election cycle." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See also his commentary in yesterday's thread. The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here the GOP Court is employing a gimmick it came up with up 2019 when the confederate judges, 5-4, decided that redistricting was a political issue that the judiciary cannot decide. So, even where redistricting amounts to extreme, obvious gerrymandering, that's the prerogative of state legislatures. Now, suppose that gerrymandering happens to discriminate against minorities by giving minorities less chance to select representatives. (or what Elena Kagan in her dissent called "the well-known correlation between race and voting behavior" [p. 70 of the pdf]). Well, it's up to the minorities to prove the intent of the discrimination against them was racist and not, you know, political. In today's ruling, here's the icing on cake: AP: "Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the court, criticized lower-court judges for their 'misguided approach' that refused to presume that lawmakers acted in good faith and gave too much credit to the challengers." (Emphasis added.) You think Sam is feeling contrite about getting his tit caught twice in the J-6 wringer? Nope, he's giving us all the finger. And so are the other five anti-democracy "justices." They're not even pretending anymore. Instead, they're faulting us for calling them racists when they might be merely your normal, corrupt, power-grasping bullies. (As Kagan writes, "It is not the ordinary thing to agonize so much about giving "offens[e]" to a discriminating State." [p. 78 of the pdf])

     ~~~ Let me just add that Chief Justice Roberts wrote the opinions for the two 2019 cases. If the U.S. ever returns to being a liberal democracy, the Roberts Court will go down in history as nearly as bad as the infamous Taney Court. Update: Elie Mystal, on MSNBC, also blamed Roberts for this debacle. And, BTW, Mystal pointed out that in her dissent in the South Carolina case, Kagan alluded to the Alitos' treasonous flag: "But as with its upside-down application of clear-error review, the majority is intent on changing the usual rules when it comes to addressing racial gerrymandering claims." (p. 73 of the pdf; also p. 79, in case Insurrectionist Sam missed it) ~~~

     ~~~ Patrick Marley, et al., of the Washington Post: "The decision marked a victory for Republicans not only because it cleared the way for a map that is favorable to the GOP in a year when control of the narrowly divided U.S. House is on the line. It also set a high bar for determining when a map can be considered a racial gerrymander, rather than a partisan one. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You probably figured out a while back that, oddly enough, Clarence Thomas hates Black people. Need more evidence? ~~~

     ~~~ Russell Contreras of Axios: "Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas issued a strong rebuke of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling on Thursday, suggesting the court overreached its authority in the landmark decision that banned separating schoolchildren by race.... Thomas attacked the Brown decision in a concurrence opinion that allowed South Carolina to keep using a congressional map that critics say discriminated against Black voters.... The court 'took a boundless view of equitable remedies' in the Brown ruling, wrote Thomas, who in 1991 replaced Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall -- the first Black Supreme Court Justice and the lead lawyer in the Brown case. Those remedies came through 'extravagant uses of judicial power' to end racial segregation in the 1950s and 60s, Thomas wrote.... The U.S. marked the 70th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling last week."

Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "Fani T. Willis, the lead prosecutor in the Georgia election interference case against ... Donald J. Trump and 14 of his allies, said on Thursday that her office would appeal a judge's decision earlier this year to throw out six of the dozens of counts in the sprawling indictment.... Ms. Willis's decision to file the appeal was yet another indication that the closely watched election interference case was unlikely to go to trial before the upcoming presidential election."

Presidential Race

Praveena Somasundaram & Frances Vinall of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump again invoked authoritarian leaders at a rally [in the Bronx] Thursday, a reminder of a vision he has been outlining for a potential second term. Trump referenced Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban -- authoritarian foreign leaders he has praised numerous times before -- during the campaign stop in the South Bronx. Seeking to contrast them with President Biden, Trump said the leaders were 'at the top of their game, whether you like it or not.' He also said that if he was elected for a second term, he would bring the United States to a position where 'the world is going to respect us again.'"

Guardian: "Donald Trump boasted on Thursday he would quickly free the jailed US journalist Evan Gershkovich from Russia if he wins the presidential election, but Moscow denied discussing the case with the Republican candidate. The former president ... said the Moscow strongman 'will do that for me, but not for anyone else'.... But when asked about the remarks, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said, 'There aren't any contacts with Donald Trump'.... 'Donald Trump doesn't give a damn about the innocent Americans unjustly imprisoned by Vladimir Putin,' the Biden campaign adviser TJ Ducklo said in an email. 'Trump has called journalists "enemies of the people" and pledged to imprison reporters whose coverage he doesn't like -- not all that dissimilar to what's happening right now to Evan Gershkovich in Russia.'"

New Hampshire. A Costly Stunt. Maegan Vazquez, et al., of the Washington Post: "Steve Kramer, a Democratic operative who admitted to commissioning an artificial intelligence-generated robocall of President Biden that instructed New Hampshire voters to not vote early this year, is now facing criminal charges and federal fines. New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella announced on Thursday that Kramer had been indicted on charges of felony voter suppression and misdemeanor impersonation of a candidate. He faces a total of 26 counts across four counties based on the residences of 13 New Hampshire residents who received the calls. The Federal Communications Commission also announced Thursday that it would propose fining Kramer $6 million for violating the Truth in Caller ID Act. The FCC also proposed a $2 million fine for Lingo Telecom, a carrier that put the AI calls on the line."

Ohio. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio [R] has called a special session of the General Assembly to resolve an issue that the state's top elections official has said would prevent President Biden from being placed on the November ballot there. Frank LaRose, the Republican secretary of state, had previously said that he planned to exclude Mr. Biden from the ballot because he would be officially nominated after a deadline for certifying presidential nominees on the ballot. This is usually a minor procedural issue, and states have almost always offered quick solutions to ensure that major presidential candidates are not excluded. But ... the General Assembly adjourned on Wednesday without a solution in place. Mr. DeWine, who is also a Republican, said in his statement announcing the special session that the legislature had 'failed to take action on this urgent matter,' noting that Ohio had previously passed temporary extensions to its certification deadline for President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in 2012 and for ... Donald J. Trump in 2020.... Mr. LaRose, who had previously pushed for a legislative fix for the issue, lauded Mr. DeWine's decision...." NBC News' story is here.

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California/Arizona. Alex Tabet of NBC News: "A new measure signed into law Thursday temporarily allows Arizona abortion providers to perform the procedure in neighboring California. California Gov. Gavin Newsom enacted* the bill, which takes effect immediately, in response to a recent Arizona Supreme Court ruling that said a near-total abortion ban from 1864 is enforceable in the state. The law also would allow patients to receive abortion services from their Arizona health care providers in California through Nov. 30." ~~~

     ~~~ * Marie: Of course Newsom did not "enact" the bill. The state legislature appears to have done so, but you wouldn't know it from this report. Legislatures enact bills. Governors sign them. Or not.

Louisiana. Emily Cochrane & Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "Louisiana lawmakers passed legislation on Thursday to make the state the first in the nation to designate abortion pills as dangerous controlled substances. Possession of the drugs without a prescription would be a crime punishable with jail time and thousands of dollars in fines. The legislation, which passed the State Senate by a vote of 29 to 7, now goes to Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican who previously defended the state's stringent abortion ban in court as attorney general. He is widely expected to sign it.... Most abortions are banned in the state...." ~~~

     ~~~ Sara Cline of the AP: "Passage of the bill comes as both abortion rights advocates and abortion opponents await a final decision from the U.S. Supreme Court on an effort to restrict access to mifepristone. The justices

Maryland. Michael Kunzelman of the AP: "A former Baltimore city prosecutor who achieved a national profile for charging police officers in a Black man's death was spared prison time in her sentence Thursday for perjury and mortgage fraud. Democratic former State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby's sentence includes 12 months of home confinement, 100 hours of community service and three years of supervised release.... Mosby, 44, has maintained her innocence.... Her lawyers said they would appeal her conviction and sentence while they seek a presidential pardon[.]"

Minnesota Senate Race. Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "Republicans in Minnesota just endorsed Royce White, a former NBA player and pro-Trump conspiracy theorist, for the Senate race against Democratic incumbent Amy Klobuchar.... According to The Daily Beast's Roger Sollenberger and Mini Racker, 'At five in the morning one week after Republican Royce White lost his 2022 Minnesota congressional primary, his campaign shelled out more than $1,200 in donor funds to ... an all-nude strip club in Miami, Florida.... That is just one among dozens of outlandish but previously unreported payments that The Daily Beast has identified from White's 2022 Federal Election Commission filings. Several campaign finance experts characterized some of the expenses as potentially illegal spending.... The unusual expenses include a total of more than $100,000 in mysterious wire transfers and checks reported as paid to the campaign; hefty tabs at spicy nightspots; getaways at posh hotels in at least seven states; thousands of dollars in limousine services; unexplained cash withdrawals; eye-popping purchases from electronics, sporting goods, clothing, and musical instrument retailers; and the DribbleUp smart basketball training app that White himself admitted might be personal use.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "... the deep suspicion of government authority that inspired [Royce White] to march in the summer of 2020 [to protest George Floyd's murder has] carried him into [Alex] Jones's paranoid orbit.... 'Women have become too mouthy,' White said on [Steve] Bannon's 'War Room' podcast.... Elsewhere, White denounced the 'Jewish lobby' and the 'Jewish elite' and called Israel 'the linchpin of the new world order.' He described the L.G.B.T.Q. movement as 'Luciferian' and wrote that it's 'the brainchild of radical feminists and their cucked men.'... White's evolution might seem familiar to those who've followed the journeys of onetime progressive icons like Naomi Wolf and Russell Brand into what Naomi Klein called, in her great book 'Doppelganger,' the 'mirror world' of the far right.... White demonstrates how that mirror world is consuming the Republican Party, because on Saturday, delegates at Minnesota's Republican convention voted overwhelmingly to endorse him for Senate."

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Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Friday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The Israeli military said its forces recovered the bodies of three hostages overnight in northern Gaza. It said they were killed and abducted during the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, bringing to seven the number of dead hostages recovered since last week.... The Hostages Families Forum said the recovery of Hanan Yablonka, Michel Nisenbaum and Orion Hernandez Radoux was 'a silent but resolute reminder' that Israel must 'immediately dispatch negotiation teams with a clear demand to bring about a deal that will swiftly return all the hostages home.'... At The Hague, the International Court of Justice will rule Friday on South Africa's request that the court order Israel to cease military operations in Gaza, in particular its offensive in Rafah.... The ICJ said its judgment is expected around 3 p.m. local time (9 a.m. Eastern time) on Friday." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's live updates for Friday are here. The New York Times' live updates are here.

The Conversation -- May 23, 2024

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden suggested on Thursday that the decision to have Kenya lead a security mission in Haiti, without troops from the United States on the ground, was meant to avoid the fraught history of American intervention in the deeply troubled country. Mr. Biden said the United States would contribute money, logistical support and equipment as Kenya and other nations try to quell the gang violence that erupted there after the assassination of the country's president in 2021. But in response to a question about why American troops will not participate, Mr. Biden alluded to previous U.S. interventions there. 'We concluded that for the United States to deploy forces in the hemisphere just raises all kinds of questions that can be easily misrepresented by what we're trying to do,' he said during a news conference at the White House with President William Ruto of Kenya."

Marie: For once, Merrick the Unready is taking a modest piece of my advice: ~~~

~~~ Lauren Irwin of the Hill: "Attorney General Merrick Garland said former President Trump's false claim about the FBI being ready to kill him in their Mar-a-Lago search is 'extremely dangerous' in recent comments. Trump falsely claimed in a fundraising email Wednesday that President Biden was 'locked & loaded and ready to take me out,' another attack about the classified records found at his estate. His email claimed Biden or the Justice Department was 'authorized to shoot' Trump.... 'That allegation is false, and it is extremely dangerous,' Garland said. 'The document that has been referred to in the allegation is the Justice Department standard policy, limiting the use of force.... As the FBI advises, it is part of the standard operations plan for searches and in fact, it was even used in the consensual search of President Biden's home,' he continued.... Trump was not home when the FBI conducted its Aug. 8, 2022, search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, and [the FBI decided to execute the warrant while the Trump family was away] to avoid any potential conflict."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a bipartisan border enforcement bill for a second time this year, voting down legislation they initially insisted upon to stem a surge of migrants across the United States border with Mexico but then abandoned amid a right-wing backlash cheered on by ... Donald J. Trump. The vote amounted to a political trap laid for Republicans by Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader. He scheduled it in hopes of using the bill's second failure on the floor to highlight an election-year contrast with the G.O.P. on immigration, an issue that polls show is a major potential liability for President Biden and his party. On a vote of 50 to 43, the measure failed to advance after falling well short of the 60 votes needed to move forward in the Senate. Four Democrats, who view the provisions in the border crackdown measures as too extreme, voted with almost all Republicans, who have condemned it as too lax, to block its advancement."

Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "Senate Democrats opened an investigation on Thursday into ... Donald J. Trump's meeting with oil and gas executives last month to determine whether Mr. Trump offered a 'policies-for-money transaction' when he asked for $1 billion for his 2024 campaign so he could retake the White House and delete President Biden's climate regulations. The investigation is the second congressional inquiry into the April 11 fund-raising dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump's private club in Florida. Over a chopped steak dinner, Mr. Trump told about 20 oil and gas executives that they would save far more than $1 billion in avoided taxes and legal fees after he repealed environmental regulations, according to several people who were present and who requested anonymity to discuss a private event.... In letters sent Thursday morning to top executives of eight oil companies and a trade group, the chairmen of two Senate committees, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, sought details of the executives' participation in the meeting and accused them and Mr. Trump of engaging in a quid pro quo." ~~~

     ~~~ Josh Dawsey & Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "In a rambling fundraising pitch to oil executives in Houston on Wednesday..., Donald Trump promised them he would immediately approve their projects and expand drilling in a second term -- just as he worked to expedite the controversial Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines soon after taking office in 2016.... The event, organized by three oil executives, underscores how Trump is courting an industry that ranked as a main beneficiary of his time in the White House, as he seeks to narrow President Biden's fundraising advantage."

Robert Jimison of the New York Times: "The House passed legislation on Thursday that would undo a District of Columbia law allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections, part of a broader bid by Republicans to amplify false claims by ... Donald J. Trump of widespread illegal voting by immigrants, a rare occurrence that is already outlawed in federal elections. The bill has virtually no chance of being taken up in the Democratic-led Senate or making it to President Biden's desk to be signed into law. But Republicans have used it, and other legislation aiming to crack down on voting by noncitizens, to stoke distrust in the country's election laws and infrastructure ahead of the general election in November, a key pillar of Mr. Trump's strategy to preemptively accuse Democrats of cheating him out of the presidency."

Mike Lillis of the Hill: "House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Thursday bashed Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for flying far-right flags associated with the 'Stop the Steal' movement outside two of his homes, demanding that Alito recuse himself from any cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol." ~~~

~~~ Marie: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) appeared on Lawrence O'Donnell's show Wednesday night and said, "The recusal requirement is a law, passed by Congress, specifically applicable to Supreme Court justices. So when they pay no attention to it, they're actually violating statutory law. This is not one of these rules that the Supreme Court or the judicial branch come up with for themselves....' No, this is the law of the land passed by Congress, and they're just flouting it." This makes me think Merrick the Unready and Chris Wray (R) should open investigations into Sam Alito and Clarence Thomas to determine whether or not they have broken the law and should be prosecuted. While Sam & Clarence are putting their partisan thumbs on the scale of justice, you DOJ fellas need to get your own thumbs out of places the sun don't shine (she said delicately).

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court cleared the way on Thursday for South Carolina to keep using a congressional map that a lower court had deemed an unconstitutional racial gerrymander that resulted in the 'bleaching of African American voters' from a district. The vote was 6 to 3, with the court's three liberal members in dissent. A unanimous three-judge panel of the Federal District Court in Columbia, S.C., ruled in early 2023 that the state's First Congressional District, drawn after the 2020 census, violated the Constitution by making race the predominant factor. The panel put its decision on hold while Republican lawmakers appealed to the Supreme Court, and the parties asked the justices to render a decision by Jan. 1. After that deadline passed, the panel said in March that the 2024 election would have to take place under the map it had rejected as unconstitutional.... In effect, the Supreme Court's inaction had decided the case for the current election cycle." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See also is commentary in today's thread. The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here the GOP Court is employing a gimmick it came up with in 2019 when the confederate judges, 5-4, decided that redistricting was a political issue that the judiciary cannot decide. So, even where redistricting amounts to extreme, obvious gerrymandering, that's the prerogative of state legislatures. Now, suppose that gerrymandering happens to discriminate against minorities by giving minorities less chance to select representatives. Well, it's up to the minorities to prove the intent of the discrimination against them was racist and not, you know, political. In today's ruling, here's the icing on cake: AP: "Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the court, criticized lower-court judges for their 'misguided approach' that refused to presume that lawmakers acted in good faith and gave too much credit to the challengers." (Emphasis added.) You think Sam is feeling contrite about getting his tit caught twice in the J-6 wringer? Nope, he's giving us all the finger. And so are the other five anti-democracy "justices." They're not even pretending anymore. In fact, they're faulting us for calling them racists when they might be merely your normal, corrupt, power-grasping bullies.

     ~~~ Let me just add that Chief Justice Roberts wrote the opinions for the two 2019 cases. If the U.S. ever returns to being a liberal democracy, the Roberts Court will go down in history as nearly as bad as the infamous Taney Court.

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Democrat Spoke Irreverently Against the King. Mariana Alfaro & Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "The House was brought to a halt for over an hour on Wednesday after Republicans demanded that the words of Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) be 'taken down' from the congressional record after McGovern, during House floor remarks, listed the number of criminal trials former president Donald Trump faces.... '... Republicans are skipping their real jobs to take day trips to New York to try to undermine Trump's criminal trial,' he said.... McGovern accused Republicans of having 'no time to work with Democrats, but plenty of time to put on weird matching cult uniforms and stand behind President Trump with their bright red ties like pathetic props.... Maybe they don't want to talk about the fact that the leader of their party is on trial for covering up hush money payments to a porn star for political gain, not to mention three other criminal felony prosecutions he's facing.'

"Rep. Jerry L. Carl (Ala.), the Republican presiding over the House floor, then reminded members that they should refrain from attacks directed toward 'presumed nominees for the office of the president.'... 'That's not my opinion; it's just the truth,' McGovern said. The congressman then asked Carl if it's 'unparliamentary to state a fact' on the House floor.... McGovern doubled down, noting that last week, a Republican House member called the Trump trial a 'sham' on the House floor without being admonished." After spending more than an hour consulting Thomas Jefferson's manual, which states, "In Parliament, to speak irreverently or seditiously against the king is against order," Carl struck McGovern's remarks from the record & blocked him from speaking on the House floor for the rest of the day.

Why Cameras in the Courtroom Are Imperative. Three different media outlets; three different takes on the same incident ~~~

     ~~~ (1) A Prosecutor & Defense Lawyer Got into an Argument. Hannah Rabinowitz & Tierney Sneed of CNN: "A hearing in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case devolved into shouting Wednesday as attorneys battled over an alleged threat made last year to a defense attorney. The morning proceeding in Fort Pierce, Florida, had been scheduled for Walt Nauta, one of ... Donald Trump's co-defendants, to present arguments that special counsel Jack Smith's team had selectively and vindictively brought charges against him. The presiding judge, Aileen Cannon, did not issue a ruling from the bench. But the hearing quickly diverted into a longstanding disagreement over an August 2022 meeting between prosecutor Jay Bratt and Nauta's defense attorney, Stanley Woodward. Woodward has claimed in court proceedings and filings that Bratt attempted to pressure him into convincing Nauta to cooperate against Trump by threatening to affect a potential judgeship nomination. Nauta claims that he was criminally charged in the case as retaliation for declining to cooperate with the Justice Department's investigation....

"Harbach slammed Woodward, saying he chose not to report the alleged incident until months later and has repeatedly changed his recollection of the conversation. 'This is a lawyer whose allegations amount basically to him being extorted,' Harbach said of Woodward, waving his arms.... 'Mr. Woodward's story of what happened at that meeting is a fantasy,' [prosecutor David] Harbach shouted, banging his hand on the lectern in front of him. 'It did not happen.'... The judge quickly scolded Harbach, telling the attorney to 'calm down.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ (Or 2) A Prosecutor & the Judge Got into an Argument. ~~~ Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The judge handling ... Donald J. Trump’s classified documents case in Florida got into a heated exchange with a federal prosecutor on Wednesday over a minor but bitterly contested issue, highlighting again how bogged down the proceedings have become.... The topic was an unproven accusation by Mr. Trump's legal team that at an early stage of the inquiry prosecutors sought to get one of his co-defendants to cooperate against him by threatening his lawyer. The exchange occurred at a hearing where the prosecutor, David Harbach, angrily denied the accusation and the judge, Aileen M. Cannon, pressed him for details.... The testy conversation ... was emblematic of the mounting frustration that prosecutors in the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, have evinced not only toward defense lawyers in the case, but also toward the judge herself." ~~~

     ~~~ (Or 3) Not Much to See Here, Folks. David Ovalle & Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "... at one point, [Cannon] told Harbach to calm down after he briefly grew animated during her questioning. But she acknowledged that she didn't see how the comments impacted Nauta.... 'The court appears to be giving the defendant every opportunity to avoid a trial,' [Miami defense attorney Philip] Reizenstein said. 'In 37 years of practice in South Florida, I have never seen a judge give so much consideration to scheduling a case in a way that benefits the defendant.'"

Kim Wehle of the Bulwark outlines Judge Beryl Howell's findings -- reached a year ago but only released to the public this past Tuesday -- that there is "strong evidence" that the "shell game" Trump played with classified documents was not merely reckless but broke the law." ~~~

~~~ AND, if you would like to see photos of a crime in progress, CNN posts "photos of [Walt] Nauta, which appear to be screenshots of surveillance footage..., dated June 1, 2022 -- shortly before the Trump attorney was slated to canvass the storage room [at Mar-a-Lago] for any documents with classified markings to be returned to the federal government." And what was Walt doing in those photos? Why, moving stacks of boxes to someplace the lawyer couldn't find them.

Sam, the J-6 "Justice." Jodi Cantor, et al., of the New York Times: "Last summer, two years after an upside-down American flag was flown outside the Virginia home of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., another provocative symbol was displayed at his vacation house in New Jersey, according to interviews and photographs. This time, it was the 'Appeal to Heaven' flag, which, like the inverted U.S. flag, was carried by rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Also known as the Pine Tree flag, it dates back to the Revolutionary War, but largely fell into obscurity until recent years and is now a symbol of support for ... Donald J. Trump, for a religious strand of the 'Stop the Steal' campaign and for a push to remake American government in Christian terms. Three photographs obtained by The New York Times, along with accounts from a half-dozen neighbors and passers-by, show that the Appeal to Heaven flag was aloft at the Alito home on Long Beach Island in July and September of 2023. A Google street view image from late August also shows the flag. The photographs, each taken independently, are from four different dates....

"Justice Alito declined to respond to questions about the beach house flag.... The disclosure about the new flag is troubling, several ethics experts said in interviews, because it ties Justice Alito more closely to symbols associated with the attempted election subversion on Jan. 6, and because it was displayed as the obstruction case was first coming for consideration by the court." Guess who else displays the Appeal to Heaven/J-6 flag? Why, Speaker of the House Bible Mike. (Also linked yesterday.) The AP has a derivative report here.

     ~~~ Marie: You may remember this from the book and film All the President's Men. "Whenever [Bob] Woodward wanted to meet with Mark Felt, a.k.a. Deep Throat, he placed a flag in the flower pot on the balcony." Well, that "Appeal to Heaven" flag is Sam's version of Woodward's flag on the balcony. Sam is signaling to lower court judges -- like Miss Aileen -- that they can make egregiously partisan right-wing rulings because Sam & the Gang will have their backs.

Basta! Chris Geidner, the Law Dork: "If Alito is unwilling to recuse himself from these cases..., he must be sidelined in one way or another by his colleagues.... That can start with behind-the-scenes pressure on Alito to recuse. Next, if that doesn't work, justices can make public statements about the importance of justices adhering to the Code of Conduct when it comes to recusal. Finally, if necessary, they should stick together in the decisions themselves -- making compromises where necessary to stay as one -- and render his vote irrelevant. If he does participate, they must call out his participation in the cases as unbefitting a justice."

Presidential Race

This Is Who He Is. Marianne LeVine of the Washington Post: "In under 48 hours this week, Donald Trump's social media account promoted a video featuring a term frequently associated with Nazi Germany and later removed it. He suggested he was open to states restricting access to contraceptives and then walked that back. He falsely accused President Biden of being 'locked & loaded' to 'take me out.'" MB: Lawrence O'Donnell is pretty sure Trump didn't know what "contraception" meant. I think O'Donnell is right because Trump answered the question about contraception with a version of his standard cop-out when he has no idea of what an interviewer is talking about: "We're looking at that, and I'm going to have a policy on that very shortly, and I think it's something that you'll find interesting."

Meredith McGraw & Natalie Allison of Politico: "Nikki Haley said Wednesday that she will vote for Donald Trump, despite maintaining he has 'not been perfect' on many policies." (Also linked yesterday.)

Anjali Huynh of the New York Times: TikTok, "though still regarded as a hub for Democratic voices and liberal causes, has seen an uptick of right-wing, pro-Trump influencers since the last presidential election. The increase comes as President Biden signed legislation that would force a sale of TikTok by its Chinese owner or would have it banned in the U.S. That law has triggered a backlash from young voters who backed Mr. Biden overwhelmingly in 2020, some of whom are also opposing his administration's support of Israel's war in Gaza. An internal analysis within TikTok found nearly twice as many pro-Trump posts as pro-Biden ones on the platform since November: 1.29 million pro-Trump posts versus 651,000 pro-Biden posts."

Kirsten Grind of the New York Times profiles Nicole Shanahan, Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s, running mate. According to the article, Shanahan disappeared from a party to have sex with Elon Musk. To be fair to Shanahan, she had to take ketamine to get into it. But still. Mediate republishes the Musk part of the Times story.

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The judge presiding over Hunter Biden's tax case in Los Angeles agreed on Wednesday to delay the start of his trial to Sept. 5, giving his lawyers room to prepare for a separate trial on a firearms charge in Delaware early next month. While the move came as a relief to President Biden's son, it pushes a trial likely to highlight Hunter's Biden's effort to leverage his family's name into profit into the homestretch of the campaign season, around the time mail-in voting starts in some states. Both of ... Donald J. Trump's federal trials, by contrast, have been put on hold and are increasingly unlikely to begin before the election." (Also linked yesterday.)

This Is Who We Are. Lauren Aratani of the Guardian: "Nearly three in five Americans wrongly believe the US is in an economic recession, and the majority blame the Biden administration, according to a Harris poll conducted exclusively for the Guardian. The survey found persistent pessimism about the economy as election day draws closer. The poll highlighted many misconceptions people have about the economy, including: 55% believe the economy is shrinking, and 56% think the US is experiencing a recession, though the broadest measure of the economy, gross domestic product (GDP), has been growing. 49% believe the S&P 500 stock market index is down for the year, though the index went up about 24% in 2023 and is up more than 12% this year. 49% believe that unemployment is at a 50-year high, though the unemployment rate has been under 4%, a near 50-year low." (Also linked yesterday.)

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This Is Who They Are. Colorado. Kyle Clark of KUSA (Denver): "The Colorado Republican Party is issuing a call to its members to pull their children from public school, saying Democrats are using schools to 'turn more kids trans.' The message was delivered in an email blast to Republicans statewide Tuesday. 'All Colorado parents should be aiming to remove their kids from public education,' read the directive from Darcy Schoening, director of special initiatives for the Colorado GOP." Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

This Is Who They Are. Georgia. Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A Capitol riot defendant who waded through tear gas behind a pro-Donald Trump mob pursuing police officers inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 advanced to a GOP runoff in a Georgia House district on Tuesday, NBC News projects. Charles Hand III, who goes by Chuck Hand, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor offense in connection with the attack on Jan. 6, 2021. He is running for the Republican nomination in Georgia's 2nd Congressional District, which is held by Democrat Sanford Bishop. In Georgia, if no candidate clears the 50% threshold in a primary, the top two vote-getters move on to a runoff election. Hand will face Wayne Johnson, who served in the Trump administration's Education Department and was leading Tuesday's vote count, on June 18. The eventual GOP winner will be an underdog in the general election against Bishop in the solidly Democratic district." (Also linked yesterday.)

This Is Who They Are. Ohio. Erin Glynn of the Columbus Dispatch: "Ohio House leaders said Tuesday there will probably not be a legislative solution to getting President Joe Biden on the November ballot in Ohio. Current law says Ohio officials must certify the ballot on Aug. 7, 90 days before the election, but Biden won't be nominated until the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 19. The Ohio House and Senate each had separate proposals to fix the deadline issue but neither advanced when the legislature was last in session on May 8. Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill, told reporters Tuesday that the legislature has fixed the issue with convention dates in the past and he thinks it could have been fixed, but there was just not the will from the legislature this time." MB: Elections expert Marc Elias, who appeared on MSNBC Wednesday, said Democrats would employ other means to get President Biden on the Ohio ballot. (Also linked yesterday.)

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U.K. Pippa Crerar & Rowena Mason of the Guardian: Prime Minister "Rishi Sunak has called a surprise early election for 4 July in a contest that will see Keir Starmer try to take power for Labour after 14 years of Conservative-led government. The prime minister announced the election would be in the early summer, in a high-risk move for the Conservative party as it trails 20 points behind Labour in the polls. Sunak finally decided to name the date after claiming inflation was back under control and the economy was improving, saying it was 'the moment for Britain to choose its future'." (Also linked yesterday.)"

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Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Thursday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Israel's war cabinet has instructed negotiators to resume talks on a deal to release hostages held in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said early Thursday. The statement came after the families of five female Israeli soldiers released footage of their capture by Hamas on Oct. 7, in hopes it would push to restart stalled negotiations. The International Court of Justice said it would deliver a ruling Friday on emergency measures requested by South Africa -- for Israel to cease military operations in Gaza, citing the assault in Rafah.... Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza has been evacuated and is out of service, while the nearby al-Awda Hospital was 'invaded' after an Israeli siege, according to reports cited by the World Health Organization."

Ukraine, et al. David Sanger of the New York Times: "Since the first American shipments of sophisticated weapons to Ukraine, President Biden has never wavered on one prohibition: President Volodymyr Zelensky had to agree to never fire them into Russian territory, insisting that would violate Mr. Biden's mandate to 'avoid World War III.' But ... propelled by the State Department, there is now a vigorous debate inside the administration over relaxing the ban to allow the Ukrainians to hit missile and artillery launch sites just over the border in Russia -- targets that Mr. Zelensky says have enabled Moscow's recent territorial gains. The proposal, pressed by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken after a sobering visit to Kyiv last week, is still in the formative stages, and it is not clear how many of his colleagues among Mr. Biden's inner circle have signed on. It has not yet been formally presented to the president, who has traditionally been the most cautious, officials said."

The Conversation -- May 22, 2024

Hannah Rabinowitz & Tierney Sneed of CNN: "A hearing in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case devolved into shouting Wednesday as attorneys battled over an alleged threat made last year to a defense attorney. The morning proceeding in Fort Pierce, Florida, had been scheduled for Walt Nauta, one of ... Donald Trump's co-defendants, to present arguments that special counsel Jack Smith's team had selectively and vindictively brought charges against him. The presiding judge, Aileen Cannon, did not issue a ruling from the bench. But the hearing quickly diverted into a longstanding disagreement over an August 2022 meeting between prosecutor Jay Bratt and Nauta's defense attorney, Stanley Woodward. Woodward has claimed in court proceedings and filings that Bratt attempted to pressure him into convincing Nauta to cooperate against Trump by threatening to affect a potential judgeship nomination. Nauta claims that he was criminally charged in the case as retaliation for declining to cooperate with the Justice Department's investigation.... 'Mr. Woodward's story of what happened at that meeting is a fantasy,' [prosecutor David] Harbach shouted, banging his hand on the lectern in front of him. 'It did not happen.'... The judge quickly scolded Harbach, telling the attorney to 'calm down.'"

Sam, the J-6 "Justice." Jodi Cantor, et al., of the New York Times: "Last summer, two years after an upside-down American flag was flown outside the Virginia home of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., another provocative symbol was displayed at his vacation house in New Jersey, according to interviews and photographs. This time, it was the 'Appeal to Heaven' flag, which, like the inverted U.S. flag, was carried by rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Also known as the Pine Tree flag, it dates back to the Revolutionary War, but largely fell into obscurity until recent years and is now a symbol of support for ... Donald J. Trump, for a religious strand of the 'Stop the Steal' campaign and for a push to remake American government in Christian terms. Three photographs obtained by The New York Times, along with accounts from a half-dozen neighbors and passers-by, show that the Appeal to Heaven flag was aloft at the Alito home on Long Beach Island in July and September of 2023. A Google street view image from late August also shows the flag. The photographs, each taken independently, are from four different dates....

"Justice Alito declined to respond to questions about the beach house flag.... The disclosure about the new flag is troubling, several ethics experts said in interviews, because it ties Justice Alito more closely to symbols associated with the attempted election subversion on Jan. 6, and because it was displayed as the obstruction case was first coming for consideration by the court." Guess who else displays the Appeal to Heaven/J-6 flag? Why, Speaker of the House Bible Mike.

Meredith McGraw & Natalie Allison of Politico: "Nikki Haley said Wednesday that she will vote for Donald Trump, despite maintaining he has 'not been perfect' on many policies."

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The judge presiding over Hunter Biden's tax case in Los Angeles agreed on Wednesday to delay the start of his trial to Sept. 5, giving his lawyers room to prepare for a separate trial on a firearms charge in Delaware early next month. While the move came as a relief to President Biden's son, it pushes a trial likely to highlight Hunter's Biden's effort to leverage his family's name into profit into the homestretch of the campaign season, around the time mail-in voting starts in some states. Both of ... Donald J. Trump's federal trials, by contrast, have been put on hold and are increasingly unlikely to begin before the election."

Who They Are. Ohio. Erin Glynn of the Columbus Dispatch: "Ohio House leaders said Tuesday there will probably not be a legislative solution to getting President Joe Biden on the November ballot in Ohio. Current law says Ohio officials must certify the ballot on Aug. 7, 90 days before the election, but Biden won't be nominated until the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 19. The Ohio House and Senate each had separate proposals to fix the deadline issue but neither advanced when the legislature was last in session on May 8. Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill, told reporters Tuesday that the legislature has fixed the issue with convention dates in the past and he thinks it could have been fixed, but there was just not the will from the legislature this time." MB: Elections expert Marc Elias, who appeared on MSNBC Wednesday, said Democrats would employ other means to get President Biden on the Ohio ballot.

Who They Are. Georgia. Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A Capitol riot defendant who waded through tear gas behind a pro-Donald Trump mob pursuing police officers inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 advanced to a GOP runoff in a Georgia House district on Tuesday, NBC News projects. Charles Hand III, who goes by Chuck Hand, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor offense in connection with the attack on Jan. 6, 2021. He is running for the Republican nomination in Georgia's 2nd Congressional District, which is held by Democrat Sanford Bishop. In Georgia, if no candidate clears the 50% threshold in a primary, the top two vote-getters move on to a runoff election. Hand will face Wayne Johnson, who served in the Trump administration's Education Department and was leading Tuesday's vote count, on June 18. The eventual GOP winner will be an underdog in the general election against Bishop in the solidly Democratic district."

Who We Are. Lauren Aratani of the Guardian: "Nearly three in five Americans wrongly believe the US is in an economic recession, and the majority blame the Biden administration, according to a Harris poll conducted exclusively for the Guardian. The survey found persistent pessimism about the economy as election day draws closer. The poll highlighted many misconceptions people have about the economy, including: 55% believe the economy is shrinking, and 56% think the US is experiencing a recession, though the broadest measure of the economy, gross domestic product (GDP), has been growing. 49% believe the S&P 500 stock market index is down for the year, though the index went up about 24% in 2023 and is up more than 12% this year. 49% believe that unemployment is at a 50-year high, though the unemployment rate has been under 4%, a near 50-year low."

Who They Are. Colorado. Kyle Clark of KUSA (Denver): "The Colorado Republican Party is issuing a call to its members to pull their children from public school, saying Democrats are using schools to 'turn more kids trans.' The message was delivered in an email blast to Republicans statewide Tuesday. 'All Colorado parents should be aiming to remove their kids from public education,' read the directive from Darcy Schoening, director of special initiatives for the Colorado GOP." Thanks to RAS for the link.

U.K. Pippa Crerar & Rowena Mason of the Guardian: Prime Minister "Rishi Sunak has called a surprise early election for 4 July in a contest that will see Keir Starmer try to take power for Labour after 14 years of Conservative-led government. The prime minister announced the election would be in the early summer, in a high-risk move for the Conservative party as it trails 20 points behind Labour in the polls. Sunak finally decided to name the date after claiming inflation was back under control and the economy was improving, saying it was 'the moment for Britain to choose its future'."

~~~~~~~~~~

The New York Times opinion column called "The Point" is quite useful. It includes multiple short items by Times contributors on various matters related to politics.

Tuesday's Primary Election Results

Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "[California,] Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky and Oregon ... held primary contests on Tuesday, with presidential primaries in Kentucky and Oregon yielding notable protest votes against President Biden and ... Donald J. Trump.... Vince Fong, a state lawmaker in California and onetime aide to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, won a special election on Tuesday to fill his seat -- representing the most conservative district in the deep-blue state. Mr. Fong succeeds Mr. McCarthy nearly five months after he resigned from Congress, following his ouster from the speakership."

Georgia. Kate Brumback of the AP: "Two key players in the Georgia election interference case against ... Donald Trump have defeated challengers in Tuesday's election. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee both won. Willis is the prosecutor who last year obtained a sprawling racketeering indictment against Trump and 18 others, and McAfee is the judge who was randomly assigned to preside over the case. Willis beat progressive attorney Christian Wise Smith in the Democratic primary and is now set to face off against Republican Courtney Kramer in the fall. McAfee won a nonpartisan contest, which means he will serve a full four-year term beginning in January."

The Trials of Trump & the Trump Mob

New York Times reporters liveblogged yesterday's testimony in the Manhattan D.A.'s criminal case against Donald Trump. For details of the reporters' observations, see yesterday's Conversation. ~~~

~~~ Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "On Tuesday, the defense rested its case after Mr. Trump declined to take the stand at his own criminal trial.... Mr. Trump ... had said repeatedly that he wanted to testify.... [The defense] called two witnesses: their own paralegal and one of Mr. Cohen's antagonists, [Robert] Costello.... When not drowned out by a chorus of prosecution objections, Mr. Costello sought to cast doubt on Mr. Cohen's credibility. Mr. Cohen, he said, had once claimed he had nothing incriminating to offer prosecutors.... But on cross-examination, it was Mr. Costello's credibility that came under attack, as he sparred with the prosecution for a second straight day.... After testimony concluded Tuesday, both sides laid out dueling visions for how the judge should instruct the jury as it prepares to weigh the charges." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IOW, Trump's only substantial witness helped the prosecution rehabilitate Michael Cohen. Excellent work, Team Trump!

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "For the past few months, federal prosecutors and lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump have been battling in secret over allegations of misconduct and politicization in how the government handled the investigation that led to an indictment accusing Mr. Trump of illegally holding on to classified documents after he left office. The fight spilled into the public eye on Tuesday as the judge overseeing the case unsealed a pair of motions by Mr. Trump attacking the integrity of the inquiry and claiming that the special counsel, Jack Smith, had timed his charges to create maximum political damage. The aggressive and often baseless filings by Mr. Trump's lawyers amounted to a multipronged assault on the underpinnings of the classified documents case and were the sharpest articulation yet of an argument the former president has often raised on the campaign trail: that law enforcement has been weaponized against him in a series of overreaching and politically driven witch hunts....

"In a separate motion, Mr. Trump's lawyers asked Judge Aileen M. Cannon ... to exclude from the case any evidence -- including more than 100 classified documents -- the F.B.I. discovered in August 2022 when agents searched Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump's private club and residence in Florida. The lawyers also asked Judge Cannon to suppress the private audio notes that prosecutors had obtained from one of Mr. Trump's lawyers through a process that pierced the normal protections of the attorney-client privilege." MB: Should take Cannon many more months to decide. ~~~

     ~~~ Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in Florida on Tuesday unsealed two motions that were filed months ago by Donald Trump in his classified documents case and that she has not yet ruled on -- part of a backlog that could delay the case beyond November's presidential election.... Legal experts say [Judge Aileen] Cannon has let decisions on these dismissal requests and other motions pile up, delaying the trial, and that her decision to schedule the hearings suggests that she is at least entertaining requests that seem to be without legal merit. Cannon has not scheduled a hearing so far on Trump's motions that were unsealed Tuesday, and she is not required to hold a hearing before she rules on them." ~~~

~~~ Trump Kept Hiding Classified Docs After FBI Search. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Four months after the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago estate, Donald Trump's attorneys discovered four documents marked 'classified' in his personal bedroom. That revelation was among several cited by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in a newly unsealed 2023 opinion that found prosecutors had presented compelling evidence that Trump knowingly stashed national security documents in his home and then tried to conceal them when the Justice Department tried to retrieve them.... Throughout the& [87-page] opinion, Howell -- who was chief judge of the Washington, D.C. federal district court at the time -- described with varying degrees of incredulity how [classified documents could have been found in Trump's bedroom] months after ... the FBI conducted its own exhaustive search of the property.... In a footnote, Howell also noted that another Trump adviser connected to his Save America PAC had acknowledged scanning the contents of the box that contained the classified materials in 2021 and storing them on a personal laptop provided by the PAC." Thanks to RAS for the link.

** Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump on Tuesday falsely claimed in a campaign fundraising email that President Biden was 'locked & loaded ready to take me out' during a 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago estate for classified documents, an extraordinary distortion of a standard FBI policy on the use of deadly force during such operations. Trump appeared to be referring to a law enforcement document, released Tuesday in court filings in the classified documents case, that describes the FBI's plans for a court-authorized search on Aug. 8, 2022, at Mar-a-Lago.... One page in the document includes a 'policy statement on the use of deadly force, which says officers may resort to lethal force only when the subject of such force poses an 'imminent danger of death or serious physical injury' to an officer or another person. Trump and some of his allies suggested Tuesday that this was evidence that Biden's Justice Department was prepared to fatally shoot him. In fact, Trump was not at his Florida property the day of the search....

"A former president falsely accusing his successor and rival of posing a threat to his life is without precedent in modern U.S. history.... Trump also wrote Tuesday on his social media site, Truth Social, that 'Joe Biden's DOJ, in their Illegal and UnConstitutional Raid of Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE.'... [Trump's] campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt accused The Washington Post of waging a 'sickening attempt to run cover for Joe Biden.'... Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) ... [wrote] on X that 'The Biden DOJ and FBI were planning to assassinate Pres Trump and gave the green light.'" An NBC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Stand up, Merrick Garland, stand up. You must take a strong, public stand denouncing this dangerous lie. Tell Trump if he really does not understand that his claims are false and pose a threat to the POTUS and to DOJ & FBI officials, you will explain it all to him in terms even a petulant child can understand, after which you expect him to fully retract his remarks and publicly apology to President Biden and federal law enforcement personnel. You can't head the DOJ & the FBI if you can't stand up to a lying bully who is endangering employees of both departments.

Danny Hakim & Jack Healy of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani and 10 other allies of Donald J. Trump were arraigned and entered not-guilty pleas on Tuesday in an Arizona criminal case that charges them with trying to keep Mr. Trump in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election. Mr. Giuliani, who appeared virtually at his arraignment, was ordered by the court to appear in person within 30 days and pay a $10,000 appearance bond. Those conditions, which were not imposed on other defendants, came after prosecutors said Mr. Giuliani had taken numerous steps to evade their attempts to serve him with notice of his indictment. During the hearing, Mr. Giuliani, formerly Mr. Trump's personal lawyer, called the indictment 'a complete embarrassment to the American legal system.'... The defendants who appeared in person included Christina Bobb, a Trump campaign adviser in 2020 who is now the election integrity counsel for the Republican National Committee, and Kelli Ward, a former head of the Arizona Republican Party." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: How perfect that the RNC's top "election integrity" lawyer is under indictment for election fraud.

Praveena Somasundaram of the Washington Post: "Rudy Giuliani has agreed to no longer accuse ... two Fulton County, Ga., election workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea ArShaye 'Shaye' Moss -- of tampering with the 2020 election, according to a draft agreement filed Tuesday in federal bankruptcy court. The agreement bars Giuliani -- who has for years amplified election falsehoods as a staunch ally of ... Donald Trump -- from publishing or assisting to publish false statements that the two workers 'engaged in wrongdoing' related to the 2020 election." Even after a jury ordered Giuliani to pay Freeman & Moss $148 million for falsely accusing them of election fraud, he continued to defame them. MB: I suspect that most people, even most fairly stupid people, would have the sense to stop making the same statements that had cost them tens of millions of dollars.

Zach Montague of the New York Times: "President Biden announced on Wednesday the cancellation of $7.7 billion in student loans held by 160,000 borrowers, building on his strategy of chipping away at college debt by tweaking existing programs as his administration pursues a larger forgiveness plan. Many borrowers in this round -- who qualified through public service loan forgiveness, the president's SAVE plan or another income-driven repayment plan -- have already begun receiving emails notifying them of their approvals, the Education Department said in a statement. The steady drumbeat of loan forgiveness announcements from the White House this year has become a centerpiece of Mr. Biden's re-election pitch, in which he has consistently described overcoming the cost of education as a primary hurdle for working families."

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump declared on Tuesday that he did not support a ban on birth control, despite his responses in a television interview earlier in the day that suggested he was open to states restricting access to contraceptives. 'I HAVE NEVER, AND WILL NEVER ADVOCATE IMPOSING RESTRICTIONS ON BIRTH CONTROL, or other contraceptives,' Trump wrote on his social media platform. His post was a reversal of comments he made in an interview with KDKA News in Pittsburgh when he was asked whether he supported any restrictions on a person's right to contraception. 'We're looking at that, and I'm going to have a policy on that very shortly, and I think it's something that you'll find interesting,' Trump said. 'I think it's a smart decision. But we'll be releasing it very soon.'" Politico's report is here. MB: Here you can see how much consideration Trump has given to policy issues affecting millions and millions of sexually-active Americans: none, zero, zilch.

** Randy Balko on Substack: "I hate to go all Godwin here, but when you combine [Stephen] Miller's plan [to deport 15 million immigrants and end birthright citizenship] and personal history with Trump's recent rhetoric portraying immigrants as diseased 'animals' turned loose from foreign prisons and mental facilities who 'poison the blood' of the country -- or his ridiculous descriptions of migrants as 'military-aged' -- you could be forgiven for noticing that we're accumulating the necessary ingredients of a genocide.... At the very least, they're creating the conditions for a mass humanitarian crisis.... Deporting even a fraction of 15 million people would also wreck the economy."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Republicans are pushing legislation to crack down on voting by noncitizens, which happens rarely and is already illegal in federal elections, in a move that reinforces ... Donald J. Trump's efforts to delegitimize the 2024 results if he loses. This week, House Republicans plan to vote on a bill that would roll back a District of Columbia law allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections, which they contend is needed to prevent Democrats from expanding the practice to other jurisdictions. And they are advancing another measure that would require states to obtain proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport, when registering a person to vote. The legislation has virtually no chance of becoming law.... It ... underscores Republicans' embrace of a groundless narrative -- one that echoes the racist 'great replacement' conspiracy theory -- that Democrats are intentionally allowing migrants to stream into the United States illegally in order to dilute the voting power of American citizens and lock in electoral victories for themselves. Speaker Mike Johnson recently appeared alongside Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the former president's Florida resort and residence, to announce a pledge to get tough on migrants flowing across the border, suggesting with no evidence that they were coming in unchecked as part of a plot to vote for President Biden."

Tracey Tully & Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "Prosecutors, in building a case against [Sen. Bob] Menendez [D-N.J.], have been trying to show that the senator conspired with his wife ... and [two] New Jersey business[men] ... to take bribes in exchange for political favors. [A] mortgage payment that saved [Nadine] Menendez's home was among the first payoffs, according to the indictment. Mr. Menendez's lawyers have offered the jury a far different narrative, accusing his wife of deceiving him about her dire finances and any payoffs she may have solicited from others."

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "Hunter Biden, in a trial scheduled to get underway in two weeks, could face testimony from his ex-wife and his brother's widow, with whom he became romantically involved, according to new filings from federal prosecutors that illustrate just how messy the seemingly simple court case could turn. The filings from special counsel David Weiss provide a window into prosecutors' plans and how they may reopen some of the most painful moments in the Biden family;s past, potentially embarrassing not only Hunter Biden but also a president whose political career has long been defined by a close-knit family that stuck together through difficult times....

"Barbara McQuade, a law professor at the University of Michigan and a former U.S. attorney, said that the case was fairly straightforward, and it was unclear why prosecutors would include so much detail in a filing so close to the trial. 'If Weiss wanted to pressure Biden, he certainly could have shared all of this information with Biden's attorneys without filing it in a public document,' she wrote in an email. 'Not sure what he is accomplishing by filing it publicly, other than perhaps prompting the witnesses to urge Biden to plead guilty.'" MB: Weiss is a Trump appointee, and his point is to embarrass President Biden. Judge Maryellen Noreika, who is hearing the case, also is a Trump appointee.

More from "The Real Housewives of D.C." Justin Jouvenal & Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "Nearly 50 House Democrats [-- including Rep. Hank Johnson (Ga.), the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee --] called on Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. to recuse himself from Jan. 6-related cases Tuesday, questioning whether the jurist could be impartial after an upside-down flag flew at his home in the weeks after the U.S. Capitol attack in 2021.... The upside-down flag ... has become a symbol of the 'Stop the Steal' movement that falsely claims the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. The lawmakers asked Alito to decline to participate in deciding a pair of major cases the Supreme Court is slated to rule on in the coming weeks: whether Trump may be criminally prosecuted for his efforts to remain in office after losing the 2020 election, and whether the Justice Department can use an obstruction charge to prosecute more than 300 Jan. 6 rioters.... The letter from lawmakers ... also called on Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from Jan. 6 and 202o election-interference cases." ~~~

     ~~~ In this episode, Martha-Ann buys Sam a burner phone to make threatening calls to Hank Johnson, while Ginny packs to go to Arizona to act as a character witness for her friends Rudy Giuliani & Mark Meadows, two (alleged!) criminals currently out on bail.

Andy Kroll of ProPublica: "The most important fault line in the [Republican] party now is democracy itself. Today's Republican insurgents believe democracy has been stolen, and they don't trust the ability of democratic processes to restore it.... Several years ago..., I watched as thousands of political newcomers [to Michigan, my home state], whose sole qualification appeared to be fervor of belief, declared war on the Republican establishment that had been so dominant.... The new 'America First' activists disparaged prominent Michigan Republicans as 'globalist' elites who belonged to a corrupt 'uniparty' cabal...." Kroll goes on to describe the chaos inside the Michigan GOP.

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Louisiana. Daniella Silva, et al., of NBC News: "The Louisiana House approved a bill Tuesday that would add two medications commonly used to induce abortions to the state's list of controlled dangerous substances, making possession of the drugs without valid prescriptions a crime punishable by fines, jail time or both. The measure, which has drawn support from anti-abortion groups and alarm from medical professionals and reproductive rights advocates, would add the medications mifepristone and misoprostol to Schedule IV of the state's Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law. Abortion -- both medical and surgical -- is illegal in Louisiana, so it is already illegal to prescribe the medications to terminate pregnancies, except in very limited circumstances. Medication abortions accounted for 63% of all abortions last year, according to the reproductive rights think tank the Guttmacher Institute."

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Israel/Palestine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Wednesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here.

** William Booth of the Washington Post: "The Spanish, Irish and Norwegian governments announced Wednesday they would recognize a Palestinian state, saying there would be no peace in the Middle East without it. Israel denounced the move as giving aid to its enemy Hamas. In their announcements, the leaders of the three countries emphasized that peace could only come through a two-state solution, so a Palestinian state needed to exist. The United States has said recognition of such a state is premature.... In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz ordered the immediate recall of the Israeli ambassadors to Spain, Ireland and Norway."

Josef Federman & Danica Kirka of the AP: "The Israeli government will return a camera and broadcasting equipment it had seized from The Associated Press on Tuesday, reversing course hours after it blocked the news organization's live video of Gaza and faced mounting criticism for interfering with independent journalism. The AP's live video of Gaza was back up early Wednesday in Israel. The government seized the AP equipment positioned in southern Israel after accusing it of violating a new media law by providing images to the satellite channel Al Jazeera. Israeli officials used the new law on May 5 to close down Qatar-based Al Jazeera within Israel, confiscating its equipment, banning its broadcasts and blocking its websites." This is an update of a story RAS linked Tuesday.

News Lede

Washington Post: "Multiple people were killed in Iowa, officials said, after severe weather -- including widespread damaging winds and intense tornadoes -- erupted in the nation's heartland on Tuesday. Large tornadoes tore through southwest parts of the state, and the town of Greenfield, about 50 miles from Des Moines, took a direct hit from a particularly violent twister. The twister lofted debris 40,000 feet into the air in Greenfield, according to radar estimates, and reportedly carried it some of 25 to 30 miles away. Storm-chaser drone footage from the scene showed widespread destruction, including demolished homes, flipped cars and defoliated trees. Some homes appeared to have been stripped off their foundation."