The Conversation -- March 13, 2024

Marie: I meant to look for this earlier. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) plays a short video at yesterday's House hearing, featuring elderly, confused & forgetful Donald Trump:

The Hur Report was revealed today! A disaster for Biden, a two tiered standard of justice. Artificial Intelligence was used by them against me in their videos of me. Can't do that Joe! -- Donald Trump on his social media platform, Tuesday night ~~~

~~~ Steve Benen of MSNBC: Donald Trump "could've simply ignored all of this and hoped that the clips went unnoticed. Instead, he drew fresh attention to the video montage and claimed that Democrats relied on 'artificial intelligence.' By pushing this defense, Trump is simultaneously (a) lying, (b) drawing attention to videos he should hope voters don't see; and (c) implicitly suggesting that the clips are so humiliating that they couldn't possibly be real, except they are, in fact, genuine and unaltered."

BUT the Confused, Elderly Man Still Begs to Debate President Biden. Amelia Neath of the Independent: Donald Trump "called himself 'Honest Don' in a recent Truth Social post in which he called on President Joe Biden to have a 'full-scale debate' with him. 'For the good of our now failing Nation, and in order to inform the American people of what is going on in our Country, we must immediately have a full-scale debate between Crooked Joe and Honest Don. I'm ready to go, ANY TIME, ANY PLACE!' Mr Trump posted on Tuesday.... [An' X user [wrote]: 'Trump calling himself Honest Don is like Jeffrey Dahmer calling himself Vegan Jeff.'" Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead.

Sapna Magesgwaru, et al., of the New York Times: "The House on Wednesday passed a bill with broad bipartisan support that would force TikTok's Chinese owner to sell the hugely popular video app or be banned in the United States. The move escalates a showdown between Beijing and Washington over the control of technologies that could affect national security, free speech and the social media industry. Republican leaders fast-tracked the bill through the House with limited debate, and it passed on a lopsided vote of 352-65, reflecting widespread backing for legislation that would take direct aim at China in an election year. The action came despite TikTok's efforts to mobilize its 170 million U.S. users against the measure, and amid the Biden administration's push to persuade lawmakers that Chinese ownership of the platform poses grave national security risks to the United States. The result was a bipartisan coalition behind the measure that included Republicans, who defied ... Donald J. Trump in supporting it, and Democrats, who also fell in line behind a bill that President Biden has said he would sign. The bill faces a difficult road to passage in the Senate...." The AP's report is here.

Tierney Sneed, et al., of CNN: "The presiding judge in the Georgia criminal case against Donald Trump and his allies has thrown out some of the charges against the former president and several of his co-defendants. The partial dismissal by Georgia Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee leaves most of the sprawling racketeering indictment intact. McAfee ruled that six charges in the 41-count indictment related to Trump and some co-defendants allegedly soliciting the violation of oath by a public officer lacked the required detail about what underlying crime the defendants were soliciting.... 'As written, these six counts contain all the essential elements of the crimes but fail to allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of their commission, i.e., the underlying felony solicited,' McAfee [wrote]. 'They do not give the Defendants enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently, as the Defendants could have violated the Constitutions and thus the statute in dozens, if not hundreds, of distinct ways.'... The new ruling did not address the ethics allegations brought against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis by the defendants. McAfee has pledged to issue a ruling on that issue by the end of the week."

Kathleen Culliton of the Raw Story: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Tuesday shared with her X followers a photograph of herself smiling directly into the camera next to an announcement for ... '... a hearing on investigating the black market of baby organ harvesting.'... Greene adds, 'Join me and special guests.' The hearing, slated for March 19 at 2 p.m., will include testimony from David Daleiden and Terrisa Bukovinac, according to the announcement.... Daleiden is an anti-abortion activist ordered to pay $2 million in damages to Planned Parenthood over accusations of conspiracy and eavesdropping, according to a Reuters report from October. Bukovinac is an anti-abortion activist who appears in a 2022 feature from New York Magazine about Lauren Handy, a fellow activist who reportedly stored baby fetuses in her refrigerator until they were removed by police." Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This announcement is weird on so many levels. Besides the beaming smile, MTG is wearing a dress that looks like just the thing to flounce around in at a lawn party. The announcement itself looks like a party invitation. And with "special guests"?? Witnesses called to a Congressional hearing on a serious subject are not "guests." They're supposed to be "experts," not that Miss Margie's crackpot "guests" are experts on anything. The whole thing just screams, "Wow, I'm having fun partying in Washington, D.C.! Join me!" It's not exactly breaking news that Miss Georgia Peach 1993 is not a serious member of Congress, but this is an offensive misuse of her office.

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The New York Times live-updated Tuesday's election results:

Michael Nicholas Nehamas: "The Associated Press named Mr. Biden the presumptive Democratic nominee after projecting his victory in Georgia, while Mr. Trump was designated the presumptive Republican nominee after he swept the G.O.P. contests in Georgia, Mississippi and Washington State."

Georgia: President Biden has won the state's Democratic primary presidential election. Donald Trump has won the state's Republican primary presidential election.

Hawaii. Donald Trump won the Hawaii caucuses.

Mississippi. President Biden has won the state's Democratic primary presidential election. Donald Trump has won the state's Republican primary presidential election.

Washington. President Biden has won the state's Democratic primary presidential election. Fuckface Von Clownstick has won the state's Republican primary presidential election.

Chris Cameron: "Donald Trump has won the Republican primary in Georgia, according to The Associated Press, winning in a state where he is under indictment on 13 charges, including racketeering, in connection with his effort to overturn the 2020 election."

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Glenn Thrush & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Robert K. Hur, the special counsel who investigated President Biden, on Tuesday fiercely defended the disparaging assessment of the president's mental state included in his final report -- and his decision not to charge Mr. Biden with a crime. Mr. Hur, appearing before the House Judiciary Committee to answer questions about his polarizing 345-page report, cast himself as an impartial arbiter.... Mr. Hur, a registered Republican who has been slammed by Mr. Biden's allies for including his politically damaging assessment of Mr. Biden's memory, showed little emotion during the hearing, but reacted angrily when a Democrat suggested he had 'smeared' the president to bolster Mr. Trump....

"About an hour before Mr. Hur testified, Democrats on the congressional panel released a lightly redacted transcript of the five-hour interview Mr. Hur and his team conducted with Mr. Biden. It offered a more nuanced portrayal than the special counsel's damning description of the 81-year-old president as 'a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.' While the 258-page transcript showed that on several occasions the president fumbled with dates and the sequence of events, he otherwise appeared clearheaded, with the kind of gaps in recollection not uncommon among people interviewed about events that transpired years earlier.... Democrats kicked off the hearing by playing a highlight reel of Mr. Trump's own verbal miscues and memory lapses -- and included a clip in which he said he did not remember saying he had a great memory."

Marie: Gee, nothing like this has ever happened before (Jim Comey/Hillary Clinton): a Republican DOJ official releases a report finding a Democratic nominee for president had committed no prosecutable crimes, then exaggerates the investigation's findings and trashes the nominee.

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "A Post review of the complete 258-page Hur transcript ... paints a more nuanced portrait of the exchanges between [President] Biden and the special counsel. Biden doesn't come across as being as absent-minded as [Robert] Hur has made him out to be -- and Hur doesn't appear as crass as Biden has made him out to be.... The full transcript provides a more complete window into the back and forth between the two men, in which Biden frequently joked with prosecutors in a setting that seemed more chummy than antagonistic."

Andrew Prokop of Vox: "... the full transcripts of Hur's interviews with Biden have been released -- and they make Hur's claims about Biden's memory appear cherry-picked and exaggerated. Biden sat for more than five hours with Hur's team over two days. In that time, he said he did not recall specifics about how particular boxes ended up in his residences or offices after his vice presidency. But he engaged at length about his process for handling classified information and many other topics. Hur's claim that Biden had demonstrated some sort of general 'poor memory' hangs almost entirely on mix-ups by Biden about in what specific year several years-old events occurred. The transcript makes clear Biden remembers all those events. But it seems Biden just doesn't pay a lot of attention to which specific year stuff happened in.... Following in the footsteps of former special counsel John Durham, who labored without success to prove theories of Democratic malfeasance in the Trump-Russia investigation, he released a report that kind of swipes at his target anyway."

Anthony Adragna of Politico: Robert Hur "praised Biden during the interview for his 'photographic understanding and recall' of a house the president visited during a trip to Mongolia. Biden also used the interchange to tout his archery skills while recalling his foray into the sport during his foreign trip. He said that he's 'not a bad archer' but that due to 'pure luck, I hit the goddamn target.' The president added that 'I turned to the prime minister and handed [the bow] to him and the poor son-of-a-bitch couldn't pull it back.'" (See pp. 46-47 of the interview transcript, linked below.)

The transcript of Hur's interview of President Biden, via the House, is here.

Marie: One thing Hur purports not to understand is that people use different hooks to remember things. Like Biden, I don't much remember dates. The other day I had to figure out what year my husband died (2013). It's not that his death wasn't a significant and traumatic event in my own life; it's just that I don't naturally peg events to dates. Hur's report of Biden's "poor memory" is more a reflection of Hur's personal limitations than of Biden's memory. Hur, for instance, may have poor affective responses, so he may be more likely to remember milestones than to feel the meaning of the milestone events themselves. Thus, he was impressed with Biden's vivid recollections of a long-ago trip to Mongolia because Hur himself would not have remembered the affects of an event itself as much as he would tie it to a chronology of his own life.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Another MSM Fail. Matt Gertz of Media Matters: "Major news outlets that ran dozens of stories hyping then-special counsel Robert Hur's claim that President Joe Biden evinced a 'poor memory' during their interview are now acknowledging that Hur's depiction was exaggerated after reviewing the newly released transcript.... The mainstream political press treated Hur as an impartial voice levying credible accusations, unleashing a deluge of reports calling Biden's mental acuity into question. Hur's background as a former clerk to right-wing judges and a Trump administration appointee -- and his gratuitous swipes at a Democratic president that happened to align with a yearslong GOP campaign to portray Biden as addled -- failed to raise their alarms....

"The Washington Post ran 33 reports on Biden's mental fitness in the four days following Hur's report, according to a review by Popular Information. On Tuesday, however, the Post reported that the transcript 'paints a more nuanced portrait of the exchanges between Biden and the special counsel' and that 'Biden doesn't come across as being as absent-minded as Hur has made him out to be.'... The New York Times ran 30 reports on Biden's mental fitness in the four days following Hur's report, according to Popular Information. But on Tuesday, the Times reported the transcript 'shows that on several occasions the president fumbled with dates and the sequence of events, while otherwise appearing clearheaded.'"

Alex Gangitano of the Hill: "The White House on Tuesday declared it was 'time to move on' from Robert Hur's controversial report on President Biden's handling of classified documents after the special counsel testified for hours before the House Judiciary Committee and took fire from all sides."

The New York Times live-updated the House hearing of testimony by Special Counsel Robert Hur. It looks like Gym Jordan is running the hearing, so no doubt it will all go very smoothly. And totally fairly. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I couldn't stand to watch the hearing, but the Times updates are are helpful. The reporters' analysis suggests to me that Hur -- a Republican -- is bending hard toward Republicans. For instance,

Charlie Savage: "As Republicans like Representative Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey use their questioning of Hur to portray Biden's and Trump's actions as equivalent in order to disparage the charges against Trump, Hur could respond by repeating what he wrote in his report, that there are clearly 'several material distinctions' between the two cases, and the allegations against Trump, if proved, 'present serious aggravating facts' unlike the evidence involving Biden. It is notable Hur is choosing not to speak up." Emphasis added.

Glenn Thrush (pinned item): "It is not unusual for witnesses in federal cases to cite their faulty recollections in interviews with investigators, particularly about events that occurred years earlier. But Mr. Hur included references to Mr. Biden's memory that did not relate directly to retaining classified documents -- including the president's struggle to recall the year (2015) when his son Beau died." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IOW, as we all know, there's a difference between (1) conveniently repeating "I don't recall" in the way, say, Cassidy Hutchinson's Trump-paid lawyer advised her to do in order to avoid providing incriminating answers, and (2) innocently forgetting a specific date or event that may have occurred many years in the past and/or may have nothing to do with the matter at hand.

BTW, NiskyGuy notes at the top of today's Comments thread that Hur testified as a private citizen, not as a DOJ official. He quit the DOJ way back on Monday. I had been wondering why he did so: (1) something innocent, like got a great job? (2) or something more nefarious? Well, Hur is a Republican fixture, so my first guess didn't count. ~~~

~~~ Andrew Feinberg of the Independent: Robert Hur "has arranged his departure from the Department of Justice to be official as of Monday 11 March, one day before he is scheduled to appear on Capitol Hill. Instead of appearing as a DOJ employee who is bound by the ethical guidelines which govern the behaviour of federal prosecutors, he will appear as a private citizen with no constraints on his testimony.... ... [He] has surrounded himself with Republican partisans and notorious figures linked to former president Donald Trump.... In preparing for the hearing, Mr Hur has turned to William Burck, a veteran Washington lawyer with deep ties to the Republican political establishment to serve as his counsel during his testimony before the committee." Read on. Burck has a long client list & sundry associates that are nothing less than a GOP rogue's gallery. MB: Please don't try to tell me Hur ever intended to act as an honest broker in this "investigation."

Clare Foran of CNN: "Republican Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, a hardline conservative who has clashed with his own party at times, announced on Tuesday that he will leave Congress at the end of next week. Buck criticized dysfunction on Capitol Hill in discussing his decision to leave, telling CNN's Dana Bash, 'It is the worst year of the nine years and three months that I've been in Congress and having talked to former members, it's the worst year in 40, 50 years to be in Congress.... This place has just devolved into this bickering and nonsense and not really doing the job for the American people.'... Buck's decision to step down before the end of his term will trim Republicans' slim edge to 218 seats over 213 for Democrats, with three vacancies. With that breakdown, Republicans could only afford to lose two votes to pass legislation on a party-line vote." MB: I heard on the teevee that Buck didn't bother to give Mike Johnson a heads-up. ~~~

~~~ Robert Jimison of the New York Times looks at the ways Buck's resignation could affect Colorado Congressional elections this year.

Presidential Race, Ctd.

MEANWHILE, the GOP presidential frontrunner is a stable genius. This, from a transcript of one of Trump's campaign speeches. Thanks to RAS for the link: ~~~

Never forget. It's nothing new. Trump has always been a barking lunatic.pic.twitter.com/jv0VZ2Iumz

— Michigan GOP Watch (@MiMagaWatch) March 11, 2024

Tierney Sneed of CNN: "The policy-making body of the federal judiciary is clamping down on the system that conservatives have successfully used in recent years to hamstring President Joe Biden's agenda and other federal policies, including those concerning reproductive rights. The new policy seeks to curb 'judge-shopping,' the strategy where litigants strategically file lawsuits in courthouses where the cases will be guaranteed to be heard by judges perceived to be sympathetic to their arguments.... The Judicial Conference of the United States announced Tuesday a new policy that will broaden the pool of judges who could be assigned to hear cases seeking state-wide or nationwide orders, making it more difficult to single out a particular judge, although it will still be possible to seek out a favorable pool of judges to hear cases. Under the new policy, such cases seeking nationwide or state-wide orders will go into the lottery system used by the entire district." The Washington Post's report is here.

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Laura Meckler, et al., of the Washington Post: "School hate crimes targeting LGBTQ+ people have sharply risen in recent years, climbing fastest in states that have passed laws restricting LGBTQ student rights and education, a Washington Post analysis of FBI data finds. In states with restrictive laws, the number of hate crimes on K-12 campuses has more than quadrupled since the onset of a divisive culture war that has often centered on the rights of LGBTQ+ youth. At the same time, calls to LGBTQ+ youth crisis hotlines have exploded, with some advocates drawing a connection between the spike in bullying and hate crimes, and the political climate." Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: There's a chicken-and-egg question here. The data show a correlation but not a clear cause-and-effect.

Wisconsin. Todd Richmond of the AP: "Republicans who control the state Senate fired eight more of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' appointees Tuesday, including two Universities of Wisconsin regents who voted against a deal that limited campus diversity and four judicial watchdogs who wouldn't commit to punishing liberal state Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz. The Senate also fired a member of the governor's domestic abuse council after Republicans accused the body of violating open records laws and taking what the GOP considered a stance against white people, as well as a member of the deferred compensation board, which administers a state retirement program. The Senate has now fired 21 Evers appointees since the governor took office in 2019. The governor said in a statement Tuesday that he was 'apoplectic' that Republican senators keep firing his appointees for no good reason."

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Israel/Palestine, et al. CNN's live updates of developments Wednesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The first maritime humanitarian aid shipment to Gaza since the war began is on its way to the enclave from Cyprus, according to nonprofit World Central Kitchen. As fears of famine grow in northern Gaza, the UN World Food Programme said one of its food convoys reached Gaza City for the first time since February 20.... An Israeli border police officer fatally shot a 12-year-old Palestinian boy in a refugee camp in occupied east Jerusalem, officials said." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Wednesday are here.

Ukraine, et al. Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration said Tuesday that it will send an additional $300 million in security assistance to Ukraine, an 'extraordinary measure' being taken as President Biden's request for billions of dollars more remains stalled in Congress. The emergency package, announced by the White House, will be funded by 'unanticipated cost savings' from contracts the Pentagon had brokered to replace weapons previously provided to Ukraine, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters. The aid will include artillery shells, anti-armor weapons, antiaircraft Stinger weapons and other arms, as well as spare parts, U.S. officials said."

Paul Sonne of the New York Times: "The chief of staff to Aleksei A. Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died last month in an Arctic penal colony, was attacked with a hammer and tear gas outside his home in Lithuania's capital late Tuesday, according to Mr. Navalny's press secretary, who said the police and an ambulance had been called to the scene. Leonid Volkov, who served as one of Mr. Navalny's top organizers, was pulling up to his house in Vilnius when the attack happened. At least one assailant smashed his car window, sprayed him with tear gas and began beating him with a hammer.... Mr. Volkov survived the attack."

The Conversation -- March 12, 2024

The New York Times is live-updating the House hearing of testimony by Special Counsel Robert Hur. It looks like Gym Jordan is running the hearing, so no doubt it will all go very smoothly. And totally fairly. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I couldn't stand to watch the hearing, but the Times updates are are helpful. The reporters' analysis suggests to me that Hur -- a Republican -- is bending hard toward Republicans. For instance,

Charlie Savage: "As Republicans like Representative Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey use their questioning of Hur to portray Biden's and Trump's actions as equivalent in order to disparage the charges against Trump, Hur could respond by repeating what he wrote in his report, that there are clearly 'several material distinctions' between the two cases, and the allegations against Trump, if proved, 'present serious aggravating facts' unlike the evidence involving Biden. It is notable Hur is choosing not to speak up." Emphasis added.

Glenn Thrush (pinned item): "It is not unusual for witnesses in federal cases to cite their faulty recollections in interviews with investigators, particularly about events that occurred years earlier. But Mr. Hur included references to Mr. Biden's memory that did not relate directly to retaining classified documents -- including the president's struggle to recall the year (2015) when his son Beau died." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IOW, as we all know, there's a difference between (1) conveniently repeating "I don't recall" in the way, say, Cassidy Hutchinson's Trump-paid lawyer advised her to do in order to avoid providing incriminating answers, and (2) innocently forgetting a specific date or event that may have occurred many years in the past and/or may have nothing to do with the matter at hand.

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Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Monday called for major new spending initiatives to lower costs for health care, child care and housing and enough new taxes on the wealthy and major corporations to pay for those proposals and also shave $3 trillion off the national debt over the next decade. Biden's reelection year budget lays out the broad policy planks that many leading liberals have pushed him to embrace as he campaigns for another four years in the White House. With Republicans in control of the House, the proposals stand almost no chance of becoming law.... In a $7.3 trillion budget for fiscal year 2025, Biden would have Congress offer universal prekindergarten education, provide 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, expand anti-poverty tax credits and create a new tax break for first-time home buyers." (Also linked yesterday.) NPR's report is here.

Sahil Kapur, et al., of NBC News: "... Donald Trump opened the door Monday to 'cutting' spending under Social Security and Medicare, drawing swift pushback from President Joe Biden and elevating a key policy battle in the 2024 election.... Biden's campaign tweeted out the video and the president responded quickly: 'Not on my watch.'... Biden has ruled out benefit cuts to the programs. In his State of the Union speech last week, Biden said he'd 'protect and strengthen Social Security and make the wealthy pay their fair share.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Perry Stein & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "When Robert K. Hur testifies to Congress on Tuesday about his investigation of President Biden's handling of classified documents, he is expected to defend a special counsel process created to shield fraught cases from political interference.... [Hur] said in [his] report that a jury might see Biden as 'a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,' not a criminal trying to break the law.... The report fueled White House anger at [Attorney General Merrick] Garland, who Biden aides say has over-relied on special counsels ... in a way they believe has insulated the attorney general from some of the Justice Department's toughest decisions.... [White House officials] accuse Garland of allowing prosecutor David Weiss's investigation of Hunter Biden's business dealings to drag on for years, only to result in a plea deal that embarrassingly collapsed in public and led to Weiss's appointment as a special counsel. Two indictments quickly followed -- on gun and tax charges -- that Biden allies say would not be levied against most Americans in similar circumstances. And White House officials and Biden's allies say the Hur report contained gratuitous and inappropriate swipes at the president's age and memory -- political kryptonite for congressional oversight committees and voters in an election year." ~~~

     ~~~ Zeke Miller, et al., of the AP: "Hur says he didn't sanitize his findings on [President] Biden but also didn't disparage him unfairly. Hur will say in prepared remarks that he was aware of the need to explain why he'd decided not to charge the president. Such explanations are common but usually confidential; and so he didn't hold back, particularly in this case."

Annie Karni & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: "House Republican leaders are moving this week to pass legislation that would force the Chinese owners of TikTok to sell the platform or face being barred in the United States, even after ... Donald J. Trump came out against targeting the popular social media app he once vowed to ban. Representative Steve Scalise, Republican of Louisiana and the majority leader, said on Monday that the House would try to speed the bill to passage under special procedures reserved for noncontroversial legislation, which require a two-thirds majority for passage. The approach reflected the bill's growing momentum on Capitol Hill during an election year in which members of both political parties are eager to demonstrate a willingness to be tough on China.... It is not clear what the bill's prospects would be in the Senate, where Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, has not committed to bringing it up."

Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump offered a rambling and confusing explanation on Monday of why he had reversed himself on whether the United States should ban TikTok over concerns that its Chinese ownership poses a threat to national security. In a CNBC interview, Mr. Trump said that he still considered the social media app a national security threat but that banning it would make young people 'go crazy.' He added that any action harming TikTok would benefit Facebook, which he called an 'enemy of the people.'... Mr. Trump tried to ban TikTok while in office, pushing its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform to a new owner or face being blocked from American app stores. A House committee advanced legislation last week that would similarly force TikTok to cut ties with ByteDance. In a powerful display o bipartisanship -- rare these days in Washington -- the top Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party used nearly identical language to describe the risks of TikTok.... The full House is expected to vote on the legislation on Wednesday. President Biden said last week that he would sign the measure into law if it reached his desk.... On Monday, asked about suspicions that he had been 'paid off' to change his view on TikTok after a meeting with a major TikTok investor, the billionaire Jeff Yass, Mr. Trump denied it." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In yesterday's thread, Akhilleus made the shocking allegation, "He's for sale!" Oh, could it be? Gosh, Rachel Maddow suspects Trump, too. She brings receipts. Time-stamped: ~~~

Marie: It's worth pointing out that the public doesn't know ... where Chubb got the funding to back Donald Trump's $91MM bond in the the Carroll case. I've seen some speculation on the Internets, but until we get some quasi-reliable, apparently fact-based reports, I'm not linking any of the speculative musing.

Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump asked Elon Musk last summer whether the billionaire industrialist would be interested in buying Trump's social network Truth Social, according to two people with knowledge of the conversation. The overture to Musk ... did not lead to a deal. But the conversation, which has not been previously reported, shows the two men have communicated more than was known. The two have had other conversations, too, Trump advisers say, about politics and business.... Musk once belittled Truth Social, posting in 2022 that Trump's site had a 'terrible name' and that it was 'time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset.' Trump responded on Truth Social by posting a photo of the two men in the Oval Office alongside a caption: When Musk visited 'the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects ... I could have said "drop to your knees and beg," and he would have done it.'..."

No. Self. Control. Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "Donald Trump on Monday once again denied allegations by E. Jean Carroll that he raped and defamed her, despite facing nearly $90 million in civil penalties for making similar statements about the writer. Carroll's attorney quickly responded that they are closely monitoring Trump's latest remarks about her -- and suggested that a third defamation lawsuit could be in store for the former president. Trump in an interview on CNBC's 'Squawk Box' claimed that several civil court judgments against him in New York -- two of them in Carroll's favor -- will cause companies to leave the state.... They're 'the most ridiculous decisions,' Trump said, 'including the "Ms. Bergdorf Goodman," a person I'd never met.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Trump Employee 5 Speaks. Katelyn Polantz, et al., of CNN: "A longtime Mar-a-Lago employee who is a central witness in the investigation into ... Donald Trump's handling of classified documents is now speaking publicly because he believes that voters should hear the truth about his former boss and the case before the November election. Brian Butler, who is referenced as 'Trump Employee 5' in the classified documents indictment brought by special counsel Jack Smith, told CNN in an exclusive interview that he doesn't believe the criminal case against Trump is a 'witch hunt,' as the former president has claimed. Butler gave testimony to federal investigators that informed crucial portions of last year's criminal obstruction charges against Trump and his two co-defendants, Walt Nauta, a personal aide to Trump, and Carlos De Oliveira, a property manager at Mar-a-Lago who had been Butler's closest friend until recently. Butler, who was employed at Mar-a-Lago for 20 years, has spoken repeatedly with investigators, paying for his own attorney and breaking with the orbit around Trump....

"Butler told CNN how he unknowingly helped Nauta deliver boxes of classified information from Mar-a-Lago to the former president's plane in June 2022 -- the same day that Trump and his attorney were meeting with the Justice Department at Mar-a-Lago about the classified documents.... Butler also was a witness in the room to several conversations that allegedly capture how Trump was positioning his closest aide Nauta, De Oliveira and others to thwart federal authorities. De Oliveira told Butler, for instance, about Nauta traveling [secretly] to Palm Beach in late June 2022, at a time when Nauta and De Oliveira were allegedly interested in deleting surveillance tapes of a storage room where the boxes had been kept at the club, according to the indictment.... At one point in his interviews, Butler says he told investigators that Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt repeated classified submarine secrets following a conversation with Trump in spring 2021." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: We now know that, according to Butler, Trump carried about 15 "beautiful boxes" to Bedminster. But, in this June 2023 Guardian story, we learned, "... when the new searches of the Trump properties by contractors took place, they found no classified documents at Bedminster, according to people familiar with what they certified to the then chief US judge in Washington, Beryl Howell, who was overseeing the grand jury litigation." We also know that Trump had classified documents at Bedminster because, according to the indictment, he showed at least one of them to Mark Meadows' biographer and other people unauthorized to receive classified information. So what happened to the contents of the 15 boxes Mar-a-Lago employees put on the plane bound for Bedminster? From what we know so far, Trump is still hiding them. Somewhere.

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "... within 30 seconds [of getting into his armored vehicle after his speech at the Ellipse on January 6, 2021, Donald Trump's] conversation with his lead Secret Service agent took a ... contentious turn, according to a transcript released on Monday of an interview by House investigators of another Secret Service agent who was driving the car. Mr. Trump wanted to go to the Capitol, but his lead agent, Robert Engel, said no, telling him there was no plan in place. 'The president was insistent on going to the Capitol,' recounted the driver, whose name was not disclosed. 'It was clear to me he wanted to go to the Capitol. He was not screaming at Mr. Engel. He was not screaming at me. Certainly his voice was raised, but it did not seem to me that he was irate -- certainly not, certainly didn't seem as irritated or agitated as he had on the way to the Ellipse.'

"But, the driver said, Mr. Trump never lunged for the steering wheel or physically accosted the agents, contradicting one of the most sensational and hotly disputed elements of testimony given to the House Jan. 6 committee by a White House aide.... Mr. Trump had already begun the morning in a 'pretty agitated, pretty irritated' mood on his way to the Ellipse, the driver testified. The president's voice contained a 'tinge of anger' as he spoke with Mr. Engel, who rode with him in the vehicle.... '... He was pushing pretty hard to go,' the agent testified. He added, 'The thing that sticks out most was he kept asking why we couldn't go, why we couldn't go, and that he wasn't concerned about the people that were there or referenced them being Trump people or Trump supporters.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Just a reminder: Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony was, as far as we know, truthful. She did not testify as to what happened in the Beast; she testified as to what another Secret Service agent, Tony Ornato, told her happened in the Beast. We don't know at this point why Ornato embellished the story: to impress Hutchinson or because an eye-witness told him the more dramatic story about Trump's lunging at the driver & grabbing the steering wheel. ~~~

~~~ Scott Wong & Kyle Stewart of NBC News: "A House committee investigating the special Jan. 6 committee released a sweeping report Monday that Republicans say demonstrates that four other White House employees did not corroborate key witness Cassidy Hutchinson's dramatic account of ... Donald Trump's actions that day. 'None of the White House Employees corroborated Hutchinson's sensational story about President Trump lunging for the steering wheel of the Beast...,'" says the 81-page target="_blank">report by the House Administration Committee's oversight subcommittee, led by Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., a section of which was obtained by NBC News in advance of its release.... One of the GOP's top priorities has been to discredit Hutchison...."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Stephen Robinson, in Public Notice, writes that the MSM keep covering Donald Trump as if at any moment he could suddenly "pivot" to normal behavior, and they highlight his "scripted moments" when he says something that is not off-the-wall bigoted, unhinged and/or untrue. The media offer no such possibility for Trump's opponents; rather they have written about Hillary Clinton's "confronting her untrustworthiness" and Joe Biden's delivering a "too-political" SOTU speech that presented a view that was merely "different" from Trump's. Thanks to RAS for the link.

Ella Lee of the Hill: "Peter Navarro, once an economic adviser to former President Trump, has been ordered to report to a Miami prison March 19 to begin serving a four-month sentence for refusing to comply with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Navarro, 74, was convicted last year on two counts of contempt of Congress -- one for failing to produce documents related to the probe and another for skipping his deposition." (Also linked yesterday.)

Day-One Dictator Vows to Release Violent Insurrectionists. Megan Lebowitz of NBC News: "... Donald Trump said Monday that one of his first acts as president if he wins in November would be to 'free' those charged and convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. 'My first acts as your next President will be to Close the Border, DRILL, BABY, DRILL, and Free the January 6 Hostages being wrongfully imprisoned!' Trump wrote on his Truth Social account. It appeared to be the first time that he has definitively referred to releasing the Jan. 6 defendants as a Day One priority."

Melissa Quinn of CBS News: "Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge will leave her post atop the department later this month, the White House announced Monday. Fudge has helmed the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, since the start of the Biden administration and is set to depart March 22. President Biden praised Fudge's leadership in a statement shortly after she announced her departure." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mark Walker of the New York Times: "A six-week audit by the Federal Aviation Administration of Boeing's production of the 737 Max jet found dozens of problems throughout the manufacturing process at the plane maker and one of its key suppliers, according to a slide presentation reviewed by The New York Times.... For the portion of the examination focused on Boeing, the F.A.A. conducted 89 product audits, a type of review that looks at aspects of the production process. The plane maker passed 56 of the audits and failed 33 of them, with a total of 97 instances of alleged noncompliance, according to the presentation." ~~~

~~~ Lori Aratani & Niha Masih of the Washington Post: "A former Boeing employee who raised quality-control and safety concerns over the company's aircraft production was found dead this week, according to authorities in South Carolina. John Barnett, 62, was a quality manager with Boeing who retired in 2017 after several decades with the company. He died March 9 from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Charleston County coroner's office said in a statement. The Charleston City Police Department is investigating, it added.... In a 2019 New York Times story, Barnett was one of several whistleblowers who raised quality issues at Boeing's South Carolina plant where the company builds its 787 Dreamliner aircraft. Barnett said he had discovered clusters of metal shavings left near electrical systems for flight controls, which he said could have 'catastrophic' results if the shavings penetrated the wiring." The BBC News story is here.

Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: This past week, both Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) used incidents of violence against women to falsely implicate President Biden and to defend Donald Trump, who has been found liable for raping E. Jean Carroll. ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Britt and her office have responded to the fact checks of the speech with defiance. But their attempted justifications are little better, and [sex-trafficking victim Karla Jacinto Romero] herself has now taken issue with Britt's use of her story.... Britt herself took to 'Fox News Sunday,' where she was asked to weigh in on the fact checks. She claimed that she never intended to suggest this had happened on [President] Biden's watch, but that she wanted to spotlight the human cost of trafficking by the cartels.... In addition to Jacinto's story not involving Biden, the United States or even the border, it also doesn't involve the cartels. Jacinto testified to Congress in 2015 that she was trafficked by a 'professional pimp.'... Pointing to a story that doesn't involve Biden, immigration or the cartels and is two decades old to attack Biden's present-day border policies and warn about the cartels doesn't really make any sense. (You could even make a case that, to the extent U.S. immigration policy is involved at all, the anecdote reinforces the need for an accessible asylum process for victims like Jacinto.)"

Presidential Race

digby: "Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont on CBS urged his supporters to vote for President Biden despite the widespread opposition among them to Biden's continued backing of Israel. 'The fight continues to change Biden's policy in Gaza, but the contrast between Biden and Trump is day and night,' he said. 'The election of Trump would be a disaster for this country and, in my view, the world.'... If you care about Gaza you have to do everything you can to make sure Biden is re-elected. Otherwise, you are consigning them to total hopelessness."

Trump Purges RNC. Josh Dawsey & Patrick Svitek of the Washington Post: "The new leadership team at the Republican National Committee -- picked by former president Donald Trump -- started firing dozens of employees days after taking over, according to three people.... About 60 people were told they were no longer employed, according to a person with direct knowledge of the changes.... [Trump advisor & newly-installed committee chief-of-staff Chris LaCivita reportedly planned and effected the firings.]... LaCivita also told some contractors that they would not be renewed...." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. The Politico report, which broke the news, is here.

Anatomy of a Trump Speech. Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "On the last Friday in February, the day before the South Carolina primary, Trump took the stage in Rock Hill, S.C., where he spoke for just over an hour and a half. A close examination of his remarks that day offers an anatomy of a Trump rally speech. Like many of his recent speeches, it was long and laden with resentments, offering a dark vision for the nation that terrifies Democrats and animates his Republican base. It touched on recurring themes, including his election denialism, his promise of a sudden transformation in another Trump term and his claims of persecution and martyrdom. Perhaps more importantly, Trump's stump speech provides a road map of what a second Trump term might look like -- fulfilling his promises to root out the so-called 'deep state' of civil servants, harshly cracking down on illegal immigration and crime, and pulling back from the world stage. It also reveals many of his weaknesses as a candidate, such as sometimes slurring his words, confusing names of world leaders and attacking minorities in offensive ways.... One constant [in his stump speech] is that it is certain to contain a slew of falsehoods and mistruths, ranging from hyperbole to outright lies...." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Violent Revolution Is Not Over. Annie Gowen of the Washington Post: "A Republican fundraiser in the Kansas City suburbs on Friday night at which attendees beat and kicked an effigy of President Biden has sparked bipartisan outrage and calls for the GOP leaders responsible for the event to resign. At the 'Grand Ol' Party' fundraising event at the Overland Park Convention Center -- hosted by and promoted on the Facebook page of the Johnson County Republican Party -- attendees paid $100 to $300 a ticket to hear a keynote speech from musician Ted Nugent. It also featured a booth where attendees kicked and swung a foam bat at a mannequin topped with a rubber Biden mask, posts on social media showed." The chairwoman of the Johnson County Republican Party blamed outsiders for the violent incident. "The state GOP ... blamed the incident on an outside exhibitor and a former state party member...." Thanks to RAS for the link.

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Florida. Win for People; Loss for DeSanctimonious. Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: "A lawsuit settlement over Florida's 'don't say gay' statute announced Monday affirms that teachers and students can discuss LGBTQ+ issues and have access to related library books, largely canceling many of the impacts of the signature legislation from Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. The settlement was immediately praised by rights groups who said it marked a major victory for LGBTQ+ students, teachers and families who were effectively barred from speaking about their own personal lives or loved ones in same-sex relationships." The AP's story is here.

Wisconsin. Patrick Svitek of the Washington Post: "A group seeking to oust the Republican speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly over his handling of Donald Trump's 2020 reelection loss in the state submitted signatures Monday in hopes of forcing a recall election.... Trump supporters have been persistently targeting [Speaker Robert] Vos since the 2020 election, when Trump narrowly lost Wisconsin.... While Vos launched an investigation into the results, he resisted Trump's pressure to figure out a way to overturn the outcome, calling it impossible and unconstitutional.... In 2022, Trump backed a primary challenger to Vos, who prevailed by a slim margin."

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Haiti. Emiliano Mega of the New York Times: "Haiti's prime minister, who has come under growing pressure to resign as gangs have overrun the country, said late Monday that he would step down once a transitional council had been established, to pave the way for the election of a new president and help restore stability. 'The government that I lead will withdraw immediately after the installation of this council,' Prime Minister Ariel Henry said in a speech posted on social media."

Israel/Palestine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "A dire shortage of food and ongoing Israeli strikes in Gaza have made for a somber start to Ramadan -- normally a time of dawn-to-dusk fasting and celebration -- after a cease-fire failed to be agreed by the start of the Muslim holy month. A ship loaded with desperately needed humanitarian aid has departed Cyprus for Gaza, as part of the maritime aid corridor announced by the United States and its allies last week.... Israel's military said that approximately 100 rockets were launched Tuesday morning from Lebanon toward the Golan Heights, a disputed strip of land on the border between Israel and Syria. The IDF said its fighter jets struck three rocket launchers used in the attack in response."

Robert Jimison of the New York Times: "A group of Democratic senators urged President Biden on Monday to stop providing offensive weapons to Israel for the war against Hamas until it lifts restrictions on U.S.-backed humanitarian aid going into Gaza. In a letter to Mr. Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, and seven Democrats argued that by continuing to arm Israel, Mr. Biden was violating the Foreign Assistance Act, which bars military support from going to any nation that restricts the delivery of humanitarian aid.... The act says that as soon as the president is made aware that a country is blocking or restricting the delivery of American humanitarian assistance, no U.S. military aid can be provided."

Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "A new American intelligence assessment released on Monday raised doubts about whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel could stay in power, as the C.I.A. director said a hostage deal was the most practical way to halt, at least temporarily, the war in Gaza. The 2024 Annual Threat Assessment expressed concerns about Israel's vision for the end of the war and said that Mr. Netanyahu's right-wing coalition 'may be in jeopardy.' 'Distrust of Netanyahu's ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections,' the report said. 'A different, more moderate government is a possibility.' The report predicted that Israel would struggle to achieve its goal of 'destroying Hamas.'"

Ukraine, et al.

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "The president of Poland plans to use a White House meeting with President Biden on Tuesday to propose that most NATO countries increase their military spending by at least half to meet what he sees as the growing threat of Russian aggression against Europe and the United States. The Polish president, Andrzej Duda, said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine had made clear that NATO must take more seriously the possibility that Moscow would move against one or more members of the alliance. To prepare for that, he said, each NATO country should spend at least 3 percent of its own economy on military needs, up from a current goal of 2 percent."

David Sanger & Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "Senior intelligence officials [-- CIA Director William Burns & Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and others --] warned on Monday that without additional American aid, Ukraine faced the prospect of continued battlefield losses as Russia relies on a network of critical arms suppliers and drastically increases its supply of technology from China. In public testimony during the annual survey of worldwide threats facing the United States, the officials predicted that any continued delay of U.S. aid to Ukraine would lead to additional territorial gains by Russia over the next year, the consequences of which would be felt not only in Europe but also in the Pacific.... If the House approved the $60 billion in security assistance for Ukraine that passed the Senate, Mr. Burns said, Kyiv would be able to strike a strategic blow against Russia."

Claudia Chiappa of Politico: "Donald Trump will totally stop funding Ukraine if he wins the U.S. election in November, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said following a meeting between the right-wing figureheads. 'He will not give a penny in the Ukraine-Russia war,' Orbán told Hungarian state media Sunday. 'Therefore, the war will end, because it is obvious that Ukraine can not stand on its own feet.' The longtime allies met last Friday at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, a summit which was lambasted by U.S. President Joe Biden.... According to Orbán, Trump has a 'detailed plan' to end the war in Ukraine, which marries with Hungary's interests. Orbán, who has maintained contact with Putin amid Russia's full-scale invasion, has repeatedly said he is opposed to sending more money and weapons to Kyiv." (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

CNBC: "Inflation rose again in February, keeping the Federal Reserve on course to wait at least until the summer before starting to lower interest rates. The consumer price index, a broad measure of goods and services costs, increased 0.4% for the month and 3.2% from a year ago, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. The monthly gain was in line with expectations, but the annual rate was slightly ahead of the 3.1% forecast from the Dow Jones consensus."

The Conversation -- March 11, 2024

"Trump Employee 5" Speaks. Katelyn Polantz, et al., of CNN: "A longtime Mar-a-Lago employee who is a central witness in the investigation into ... Donald Trump's handling of classified documents is now speaking publicly because he believes that voters should hear the truth about his former boss and the case before the November election. Brian Butler, who is referenced as 'Trump Employee 5' in the classified documents indictment brought by special counsel Jack Smith, told CNN in an exclusive interview that he doesn't believe the criminal case against Trump is a 'witch hunt,' as the former president has claimed. Butler gave testimony to federal investigators that informed crucial portions of last year's criminal obstruction charges against Trump and his two co-defendants, Walt Nauta, a personal aide to Trump, and Carlos De Oliveira, a property manager at Mar-a-Lago who had been Butler's closest friend until recently. Butler, who was employed at Mar-a-Lago for 20 years, has spoken repeatedly with investigators, paying for his own attorney and breaking with the orbit around Trump....

"Butler told CNN how he unknowingly helped Nauta deliver boxes of classified information from Mar-a-Lago to the former president's plane in June 2022 -- the same day that Trump and his attorney were meeting with the Justice Department at Mar-a-Lago about the classified documents.... Butler also was a witness in the room to several conversations that allegedly capture how Trump was positioning his closest aide Nauta, De Oliveira and others to thwart federal authorities. De Oliveira told Butler, for instance, about Nauta traveling [secretly] to Palm Beach in late June 2022, at a time when Nauta and De Oliveira were allegedly interested in deleting surveillance tapes of a storage room where the boxes had been kept at the club, according to the indictment.... At one point in his interviews, Butler says he told investigators that Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt repeated classified submarine secrets following a conversation with Trump in spring 2021."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "... within 30 seconds [of getting into his armored vehicle after his speech at the Ellipse on January 6, 2021, Donald Trump's] conversation with his lead Secret Service agent took a ... contentious turn, according to a transcript released on Monday of an interview by House investigators of another Secret Service agent who was driving the car. Mr. Trump wanted to go to the Capitol, but his lead agent, Robert Engel, said no, telling him there was no plan in place. 'The president was insistent on going to the Capitol,' recounted the driver, whose name was not disclosed. 'It was clear to me he wanted to go to the Capitol. He was not screaming at Mr. Engel. He was not screaming at me. Certainly his voice was raised, but it did not seem to me that he was irate -- certainly not, certainly didn't seem as irritated or agitated as he had on the way to the Ellipse.'

"But, the driver said, Mr. Trump never lunged for the steering wheel or physically accosted the agents, contradicting one of the most sensational and hotly disputed elements of testimony given to the House Jan. 6 committee by a White House aide.... Mr. Trump had already begun the morning in a 'pretty agitated, pretty irritated' mood on his way to the Ellipse, the driver testified. The president's voice contained a 'tinge of anger' as he spoke with Mr. Engel, who rode with him in the vehicle.... '... He was pushing pretty hard to go,' the agent testified. He added, 'The thing that sticks out most was he kept asking why we couldn't go, why we couldn't go, and that he wasn't concerned about the people that were there or referenced them being Trump people or Trump supporters.'"

Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Monday called for major new spending initiatives to lower costs for health care, child care and housing and enough new taxes on the wealthy and major corporations to pay for those proposals and also shave $3 trillion off the national debt over the next decade. Biden's reelection year budget lays out the broad policy planks that many leading liberals have pushed him to embrace as he campaigns for another four years in the White House. With Republicans in control of the House, the proposals stand almost no chance of becoming law.... In a $7.3 trillion budget for fiscal year 2025, Biden would have Congress offer universal prekindergarten education, provide 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, expand anti-poverty tax credits and create a new tax break for first-time home buyers."

Melissa Quinn of CBS News: "Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge will leave her post atop the department later this month, the White House announced Monday. Fudge has helmed the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, since the start of the Biden administration and is set to depart March 22. President Biden praised Fudge's leadership in a statement shortly after she announced her departure."

Sahil Kapur, et al., of NBC News: "... Donald Trump opened the door Monday to 'cutting' spending under Social Security and Medicare, drawing swift pushback from President Joe Biden and elevating a key policy battle in the 2024 election.... Biden's campaign tweeted out the video and the president responded quickly: 'Not on my watch.'... Biden has ruled out benefit cuts to the programs. In his State of the Union speech last week, Biden said he'd 'protect and strengthen Social Security and make the wealthy pay their fair share.'"

Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump offered a rambling and confusing explanation on Monday of why he had reversed himself on whether the United States should ban TikTok over concerns that its Chinese ownership poses a threat to national security. In a CNBC interview, Mr. Trump said that he still considered the social media app a national security threat but that banning it would make young people 'go crazy.' He added that any action harming TikTok would benefit Facebook, which he called an 'enemy of the people.'... Mr. Trump tried to ban TikTok while in office, pushing its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform to a new owner or face being blocked from American app stores. A House committee advanced legislation last week that would similarly force TikTok to cut ties with ByteDance. In a powerful display of bipartisanship -- rare these days in Washington -- the top Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party used nearly identical language to describe the risks of TikTok.... The full House is expected to vote on the legislation on Wednesday. President Biden said last week that he would sign the measure into law if it reached his desk.... On Monday, asked about suspicions that he had been 'paid off' to change his view on TikTok after a meeting with a major TikTok investor, the billionaire Jeff Yass, Mr. Trump denied it." ~~~

     ~~~ See Akhilleus' response below.

No. Self. Control. Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "Donald Trump on Monday once again denied allegations by E. Jean Carroll that he raped and defamed her, despite facing nearly $90 million in civil penalties for making similar statements about the writer. Carroll's attorney quickly responded that they are closely monitoring Trump's latest remarks about her -- and suggested that a third defamation lawsuit could be in store for the former president. Trump in an interview on CNBC's 'Squawk Box' claimed that several civil court judgments against him in New York -- two of them in Carroll's favor -- will cause companies to leave the state.... They're 'the most ridiculous decisions,' Trump said, 'including the "Ms. Bergdorf Goodman," a person I'd never met.'"

Anatomy of a Trump Speech. Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "On the last Friday in February, the day before the South Carolina primary, Trump took the stage in Rock Hill, S.C., where he spoke for just over an hour and a half. A close examination of his remarks that day offers an anatomy of a Trump rally speech. Like many of his recent speeches, it was long and laden with resentments, offering a dark vision for the nation that terrifies Democrats and animates his Republican base. It touched on recurring themes, including his election denialism, his promise of a sudden transformation in another Trump term and his claims of persecution and martyrdom. Perhaps more importantly, Trump's stump speech provides a road map of what a second Trump term might look like -- fulfilling his promises to root out the so-called 'deep state' of civil servants, harshly cracking down on illegal immigration and crime, and pulling back from the world stage. It also reveals many of his weaknesses as a candidate, such as sometimes slurring his words, confusing names of world leaders and attacking minorities in offensive ways.... One constant [in his stump speech] is that it is certain to contain a slew of falsehoods and mistruths, ranging from hyperbole to outright lies...."

Claudia Chiappa of Politico: "Donald Trump will totally stop funding Ukraine if he wins the U.S. election in November, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said following a meeting between the right-wing figureheads. 'He will not give a penny in the Ukraine-Russia war,' Orbán told Hungarian state media Sunday. 'Therefore, the war will end, because it is obvious that Ukraine can not stand on its own feet.' The longtime allies met last Friday at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, a summit which was lambasted by U.S. President Joe Biden.... According to Orbán, Trump has a 'detailed plan' to end the war in Ukraine, which marries with Hungary's interests. Orbán, who has maintained contact with Putin amid Russia's full-scale invasion, has repeatedly said he is opposed to sending more money and weapons to Kyiv."

Ella Lee of the Hill: "Peter Navarro, once an economic adviser to former President Trump, has been ordered to report to a Miami prison March 19 to begin serving a four-month sentence for refusing to comply with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Navarro, 74, was convicted last year on two counts of contempt of Congress -- one for failing to produce documents related to the probe and another for skipping his deposition."

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** Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post gives a lesson to MSM "journalists:" "The notion that the United States is 'polarized' into two conflicting, equally stubborn and extreme camps infects much of the mainstream news coverage and everyday chatter about politics. Washington is 'broken.' 'Gridlock' is a problem.... Such mealy-mouthed language masks a stark dichotomy: Democrats have to move to the center to get bipartisan support; Republicans have become radicalized and unmovable. This is not 'polarization.' It is the authoritarian capture of much of the GOP by a right-wing movement bent on sowing chaos.... Our political scene, sadly, has come to resemble the global authoritarian assault on democracy. Oh, sure, it's fashionable, as departing Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) did, to blame both political parties.... That's the same tommyrot one hears from No Labels.... Responsible reporting should not cover for Republicans."

IOKIYAR. Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "Senator Katie Britt of Alabama on Sunday sought to defend comments she made in her response to President Biden's State of the Union address on Thursday, when she described the experience of a woman who was sexually trafficked in Mexico between 2004 and 2008 in a way that falsely implied it had happened in the United States under President Biden." MB: So naturally she went on Fox to tell some more lies. (Also linked yesterday.)

** IOKIYA$$$$$$$$$$. David Fahrenthold & Ryan Mac of the New York Times: Elon "Musk, the world's second-richest person according to Forbes..., runs a charity with billions of dollars, the kind of resources that could make a global impact. But unlike Bill Gates, who has deployed his fortune in an effort to improve health care across Africa, or Walmart's Walton family, which has spurred change in the American education system, Mr. Musk's philanthropy has been haphazard and largely self-serving -- making him eligible for enormous tax breaks and helping his businesses.... The foundation that houses [his tax-deductible donations] has failed in recent years to give away the bare minimum required by law to justify the tax break, exposing it to the risk of having to pay the government a substantial financial penalty.... [The foundation's] billions are handled by a board that consists of himself and two volunteers, one of whom reports putting in so little time that it averages out to six minutes per week. In 2022, the last year for which records are available, they gave away $160 million, which was $234 million less than the law required....

"Once he set up a nonprofit and filled it with tax-deductible gifts, he was required by law to ensure that his foundation served the public, and that it did not operate for the 'private benefit' of its leader. A New York Times analysis found that, of the Musk Foundation's giving in 2021 and 2022 -- the latest years for which full data is available -- about half of the donations had some link to Mr. Musk, one of his employees or one of his businesses. Among the donations the Musk Foundation has made, there was $55 million to help a major SpaceX customer meet a charitable pledge. There were the millions that went to Cameron County, Texas, after [a SpaceX] rocket blew up [there]. And there were donations to two schools closely tied to his businesses: one walled off inside a SpaceX compound, the other located next to a new subdivision for Musk's employees." MB: Maybe Musk didn't go to Mar-a-Lardo recently to conspire with Trump to take over the U.S. but to get tips on how to run a fake foundation. Luckily for Elon, he doesn't have Letitia James to dissolve his scammy "charity." (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race

Lauren Weber & Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump mocked President Biden's stutter at a campaign rally in Rome, Ga., on Saturday, the latest in a series of insults he has hurled at his rival but one that disability advocates regard as a demeaning form of bullying.... Trump's mockery of Biden was denounced by critics who called out the contrast of the two candidates. On X, formerly Twitter, they compared Trump mocking Biden alongside a video in 2020 when Biden hugged Brayden Harrington, a child with a stutter whom Biden inspired.... 'It is a form of dehumanization behind a mask of humor,' [Prof. Kenny] Fountain [of the University of Virginia] said. 'It reinforces the idea that Trump and his followers are in a particular "in" group and those who critique them are not only outsiders, not only wrong, but they're weak.'... Michael Sheehan, who consults on political speeches for Biden..., said the worst part of Trump's mocking of Biden's stutter is listening to the audience laugh." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: A reminder that the only thing Trump thinks is funny is his mocking and bullying people.

David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) exploded at ABC host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday after he asked why she supported Donald Trump after he was found liable for sexual assault. During an interview on This Week, Mace became angry and defensive about her support for Trump, who was found to have raped writer E. Jean Carroll. Mace is also a rape survivor.... Stephanopoulos pressed Mace several times, and she accused him of shaming her each time." MB: Gosh, Nancy, you said all you wanted was to be on teevee, then when you get on the teevee, you're not happy. As for you, George, damned good questions. Why does a rape survivor support Donald Trump? (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Election 2020. Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "In [a new] book, [elections expert Ken] Block reveals how, again and again in the months after the November 2020 election, he was tasked by Trump's campaign with batting down implausible and inaccurate allegations that Joe Biden had won the election through fraud. Block's book provides an insider's account of the desperate measures Trump's campaign took to pursue allegations of voter fraud and of how quickly the campaign concluded internally that each one was invalid, even as the president continued to rile up his supporters by claiming the election was stolen.... Ultimately, [Block] was paid about $800,000 for his work, which was not made public at the time because it did not help Trump, he said.... Yet more work was conducted by another expert firm that was paid more than $1 million. When its work also did not prove fraud, it also was not made public, The Post reported." MB: Have I mentioned that Donnie Dimento is still claiming he won the 2020 election?

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Alabama. Alberto Luperon of Law & Crime: "A man, known locally as a GOP political staffer, allegedly murdered another man in a 'physical altercation,' according to authorities in Madison County, Alabama. Kyle Hayden Lewter, 36, is currently locked up at the local jail, accused of murder and sexual torture -- sexual abuse using inanimate object, though authorities did not elaborate on the details behind the latter crime." ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Turner of AL.com: "Lewter, in a 2017 interview, said he had done campaign work for former U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks and former U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions. A social media post from 2022 identifies him as the chairman of Madison County Young Republicans. WHNT is reporting that Lewter had a paid position with Alabama State Sen. Tom Butler."

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Israel/Palestine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The Muslim holy month of Ramadan started Monday without the cease-fire deal in Gaza that the Biden administration had hoped would be in place. Israeli government hard-liners are pushing to limit the number of Palestinian visitors to al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City -- amid tensions over the sacred ground claimed by both Muslims and Jews. Hamas cited protecting the mosque as justification for its Oct. 7 attacks.... Hamas wants Israel to agree to a more permanent end to the fighting and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. A U.S. Army vessel loaded with equipment to build a floating pier off Gaza's coastline has departed Virginia for the eastern Mediterranean, U.S. Central Command said Sunday. Officials say it could take 60 days to build, but once operational will allow the delivery of up to 2 million meals a day to aid-strapped Gazans." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Monday are here.

Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: "President Biden marked the start of Ramadan on Sunday with a statement recognizing the 'moment of immense pain' for many Muslim Americans and pledging to lead international efforts to deliver humanitarian aid into Gaza. 'Tonight -- as the new crescent moon marks the beginning of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan -- Jill and I extend our best wishes and prayers to Muslims across our country and around the world,' Biden wrote in the statement Sunday."

Paul Ronzheimer & Carlo Martuscelli of Politico: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he intends to press ahead with an invasion of the city of Rafah on the southern border of the Gaza Strip in defiance of United States President Joe Biden, who has warned such an offensive would be a 'red line.' Amid signs of increasing frustration with Netanyahu, the U.S. president told MSNBC on Saturday that he opposed an escalation of the conflict into Rafah, and that he could not accept '30,000 more Palestinians dead.'... When asked on Sunday whether Israeli forces would move into Rafah, Netanyahu replied: 'We'll go there. We're not going to leave them. You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is? That October 7 doesn't happen again. Never happens again.'"

Paul Ronzheimer & Joe Stanley-Smith of Politico: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied people are starving in Gaza and blamed Hamas for the lack of humanitarian aid entering the occupied territory. Hunger and malnutrition are widespread in the Gaza Strip. The United Nations warns that famine is imminent, with the organization's expert on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, accusing Israel of starving Gazans deliberately. Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock's has said people in Gaza are closer to dying than to living.... The U.N. has determined that one in six children under the age of two in northern Gaza are suffering acute malnutrition and emaciation. The World Health Organization has also said children are starving to death in northern Gaza. Multiple human rights groups have criticized Israel for not allowing enough food into Gaza since the Oct. 7 massacre and kidnappings perpetrated by the Hamas militant group."

Ukraine, et al. Jonathan Abrams of the New York Times: "The Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov used his acceptance speech for '20 Days in Mariupol,' which won the Oscar for best documentary feature on Sunday, to give an emotional denunciation of the continued invasion of his country by Russian forces. 'I'll be the first director on this stage who will say, "I wish I never made this film,"' Chernov said. The harrowing first-person account from Chernov, a video journalist for The Associated Press, captures the first days of the Russian invasion and the devastation and destruction the port city of Mariupol faced. '20 Days in Mariupol' is the first Ukrainian film to win an Oscar."

Niha Masih of the Washington Post: "Leaders in Ukraine vehemently rejected Pope Francis's suggestion of negotiations with Russia to bring an end to the war -- his use of the words 'white flag' drawing particular scorn -- reiterating that the country would never surrender. In a recent interview, Francis used the term 'white flag,' repeating the words of a journalist.... President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to the pope without naming him in his nightly address Sunday. Praising Ukrainian chaplains on the front line, Zelensky said: 'This is what the church is -- it is together with people, not two and a half thousand kilometers away somewhere, virtually mediating between someone who wants to live and someone who wants to destroy you.'... Though he has often condemned the war in Ukraine, Francis has provoked debate within the church over whether his messaging on the conflict has been too cautious and too focused on maintaining ties with the Russian Orthodox Church."

U.K. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "A photograph of Catherine, Princess of Wales, with her three children, released by Kensington Palace and meant to showcase her recovery from surgery, has come under scrutiny after three news agencies advised news organizations on Sunday evening to withdraw it, saying the image had been manipulated by the palace. The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse issued advisories about the photo, which circulated widely on news sites, including The New York Times, and social media after it was distributed by the palace on Sunday morning. The Times has since removed the photo from an article about it. In a 'kill notification' issued on Sunday evening, the A.P. said: 'At closer inspection, it appears that the source has manipulated the image. No replacement image will be sent.' It added, 'Please remove it from all platforms, including social, where it may still be visible.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Rob Picheta of CNN: "Catherine, Princess of Wales has taken responsibility and apologized for an edited official photograph that was recalled by a number of international news agencies over concerns it had been manipulated. Kate said she was sorry for 'any confusion' caused by the image, after her 'experiment' with photo editing caused scrutiny for Kensington Palace and increased confusion over Kate's extended absence from the public eye.... Kensington Palace said it would not release the original unedited photograph. And while Kate's statement provided a measure of clarification, it looked unlikely to stop the swirl of rumor that has accelerated during her absence from public duties."