The Conversation -- February 18, 2024

Jennifer Bahney of Mediaite: "MSNBC panelists roasted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for condemning Vladimir Putin over the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, yet standing idly by as Russian aggression claims tens of thousands of lives in Ukraine.... Menendez [read from Johnson's statement]: '"In the coming days, as international leaders are meeting in Munich, we must be clear that Putin will be met with united opposition...." He acts as if he doesn't know there is a foreign aid package before his caucus that they could push through right now.' [Guest Julia] Ioffe responded, '... he acts like, you know, he's just a random American Joe saying, "We gotta do something." As opposed to the speaker of the House ... who has every possibility, he has all the power in his hands, he can bring this bill to a vote where it will most likely pass overwhelmingly. But he has already said many times that he wouldn't do that.'"

Ryan Lizza in Politico Magazine talks to Rep. Jim Himes (D-Ct.) about the day "all hell broke loose"; that is, the day Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), the loose-lipped chair of the House Intelligence Committee sent a "Dear Colleague" letter announcing "a serious [but unspecified] national security threat." "In [a committee] meeting, I objected to communicating this," Himes said. At the same time, the committee was dealing with renewal of a foreign intelligence-gathering program, and some members of Congress wanted to make significant changes to it, changes that top national security officials believed would cripple the program. (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race

Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump vented about his latest legal defeat to freezing supporters at a Michigan rally on Saturday night, a day after a New York judge fined him nearly $355 million plus interest in his civil fraud case.... 'This judge is a lunatic,' he said in his opening salvo at his rally, held inside an airport hangar in Oakland County about 30 miles from Detroit. Mr. Trump used a similar line of attack against Letitia James, New York's attorney general, who had accused him of exaggerating his wealth in the lengthy case.... He later continued to spread falsehoods about voter fraud in the state. 'We've got to watch Detroit. They had more ballots than they had voters.' The state Republican Party has been consumed in chaos, and this week two rival factions forged ahead with plans to hold dueling conventions on March 2, one in Western Michigan and the other in Detroit."

Jazmine Ulloa of the New York Times: "Nikki Haley on Saturday called Aleksei A. Navalny, the outspoken Russian opposition leader, 'a hero' and amped up the pressure on ... Donald J. Trump to respond to the news of his death. She said Mr. Navalny had died at the hands of President Vladimir V. Putin and that Mr. Trump needed to 'answer to that.' Speaking with reporters outside her rally at a park in Irmo, S.C., Ms. Haley praised Mr. Navalny for calling out Mr. Putin for corruption and fixing elections.... '... Putin has done to him what Putin does to all of his opponents -- he kills them,' she said.... 'And Trump needs to answer to that. Does he think Putin killed him? Does he think Putin was right to kill him? And does he think Navalny was a hero?'... Mr. Trump has not yet commented publicly on Mr. Navalny's death."

Dr. Lawrence Altman, in STAT, who has reported on the health of every president since Ronald Reagan, on what age is too old to be president: :... there is no direct correlation between a leader's health and performance in office." (Also linked yesterday.)

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Just as Trump has remade the Republican Party in his own nasty and selfish image, he wants to remake America in his own nasty and selfish image. Trump doesn't seem to subscribe to any of the verities about this country. He doesn't believe America is exceptional. He only believes that Trump is exceptional -- an exception to all the rules that the rest of us live by. If American laws get in his way -- like counting votes to choose a president -- he tries to smash them. He's bigger than democracy, after all. If American values get in his way -- like our distaste for authoritarians like Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban -- he mocks those values." (Also linked yesterday.)

Trump Allies Plan a Deep State of Anti-Abortion Regulators. Lisa Lerer & Elizabeth Dias of the New York Times: "Allies of ... Donald J. Trump and officials who served in his administration are planning ways to restrict abortion rights if he returns to power that would go far beyond proposals for a national ban or the laws enacted in conservative states across the country. Behind the scenes, specific anti-abortion plans being proposed by Mr. Trump's allies are sweeping and legally sophisticated. Some of their proposals would rely on enforcing the Comstock Act, a long-dormant law from 1873, to criminalize the shipping of any materials used in an abortion -- including abortion pills, which account for the majority of abortions in America.... [Jonathan] Mitchell, who represented Mr. Trump in arguments before the Supreme Court over whether the former president could appear on the ballot in Colorado, indicated that anti-abortion strategists had purposefully been quiet about their more advanced plans, given the political liability the issue has become for Republicans.... The plans described by former Trump administration officials, allies and supporters propose circumventing Congress and leveraging the regulatory powers of federal institutions, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Justice and the National Institutes of Health."

"Candyman" Ronny Jackson & His One-Stop Shop. Dan Diamond & Michael Kranish of the Washington Post: "A long-awaited inspector general's report released last month faulted previous White House medical teams for widely dispensing sedatives and stimulants, failing to maintain records on potent drugs including fentanyl, providing care to potentially hundreds of ineligible White House staff and contractors, and flouting other federal regulations.... The inspector general's report sparked significant public alarm. But a Washington Post review found problems with the unit's conduct were even more pronounced than the Pentagon's latest findings, according to administration documents and interviews with former White House staffers and medical unit members.... Four former members of the White House Medical Unit confirmed that in both the Trump and Obama White Houses, the team passed out sedatives such as Ambien and stimulants such as Provigil without proper prescriptions, provided complimentary medical equipment and imaging to ineligible staffers, and used aliases in electronic health records to disguise the patients' identities and deliver free care in cases where the recipients wouldn't be eligible. Former staffers said those practices were shaped by Ronny Jackson, an emergency medicine physician who led the team under President Barack Obama, continued to exert control over it as ... Donald Trump's personal doctor, and ultimately spent nearly 14 years in the White House.... The Pentagon said in a statement that 'new personnel and reforms were put in place' in the medical unit under Biden's presidency...." ~~~

     ~~~ The inspector general's report, via the Department of Defense, is here.

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Mr. Hannity Takes Umbrage. Caleb Howe of Mediaite: "Fox News host Sean Hannity went ballistic on members of the press for their 'feigned outrage' over the revelation this week that a key informant in the Republican case against President Joe Biden was busted for lying to the FBI." Hannity compared coverage of the arrest of Jim Comer's "star witness" Alexander Smirnov for feeding false tales about Joe & Hunter Biden's wrongdoing to the FBI to coverage of the Steele dossier. MB: It appears Hannity never mentioned that he touted Smirnov's fake "bombshell revelations" on his show 85 times (according to Chris Hayes of MSNBC), nor that Christopher Steele never claimed to the FBI that he had verified the allegations in the dossier. Rather, Steele gave the allegations to the FBI for them to investigate as they saw fit.

Alexander Marquez & Jason Abbruzzese of NBC News: "If anyone was waiting for the other shoe to drop in the upcoming presidential race..., Donald Trump just did, launching his own line of tennis shoes on Saturday ... at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia.... The line, called Trump Sneakers, is available for preorder online.... The high-tops, which are gold and emblazoned with a 'T' on the outside of each shoe, are called the 'Never Surrender High Top Sneaker' and are priced at $399 online. The athletic shoes, which feature a 'T' and the number 45 on the sides are priced at $199. The purchase of a pair of sneakers comes with extra laces and a Trump 'superhero charm.' The website selling the sneakers also features a 'Victory47' perfume and cologne for sale at $99 each." MB: Oh, if only I could afford a pair of $400 Trump sneakers!

Elon Musk's X Is Largely Fake. Matt Binder of Mashable: X "published [a] press release, lauding Super Bowl LVIII as one of the biggest events ever on the social media platform with more than 10 billion impressions and over 1 billion video views. However, it appears that a significant portion of that traffic on X could be fake, according to data provided to Mashable by CHEQ, a leading cybersecurity firm that tracks bots and fake users. According to CHEQ, a whopping 75.85 percent of traffic from X to its advertising clients' websites during the weekend of the Super Bowl was fake. 'I've never seen anything even remotely close to 50 percent, not to mention 76 percent,' CHEQ founder and CEO Guy Tytunovich told Mashable regarding X's fake traffic data. 'I'm amazed ... I've never, ever, ever, ever seen anything even remotely close.'... [By comparison, o]ut of more than 40 million visits from TikTok, only 2.56 percent were determined to be fake. Facebook sent 8.1 million visits and 2.01 percent of the monitored visits were classified as inauthentic. And over on Instagram, only 0.73 percent of the 68,700 visits from the platform were fake." (Also linked yesterday.)

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Texas. Fort Abbott. Ben Brasch of the Washington Post: "Flanked by armed National Guard members, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced on Friday plans to build a base housing up to 1,800 troops in Eagle Pass, close to the riverfront area where state leaders have been at loggerheads with the Biden administration over immigration enforcement. The base, planned to house an initial 300 troops by April, is the latest effort by Abbott to curb border crossings into Texas under a mission dubbed Operation Lone Star that he began less than two months after President Biden was inaugurated.... 'This will organize substantial forces also to expand the razor-wire barriers that are going up,' [Abbott said].... A contract, awarded Feb. 9 to the New Braunfels, Tex., company Team Housing Solutions, lists a completion date of Sept. 7 and a price of $131 million for the construction of the base, the military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported.... In January..., the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that Abbott let the [federal] Border Patrol remove the razor-wire barriers that prevented agents from reaching the river to help migrants in distress. Instead, Abbott installed more razor wire -- a move encouraged by 25 Republican governors who signed a letter of support."

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Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Sunday in the Israel/Hamas war are here. The New York Times' live updates are here.

Ukraine, et al. David Stern, et al., of the Washington Post: "Ukrainian forces withdrew from the strategic city of Avdiivka in the eastern part of the country Saturday, paving the way for advancing Russian forces to clinch their most significant battlefield victory in nearly a year.... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking at the Munich Security Conference, acknowledged earlier on Saturday that a pullback from Avdiivka was underway. Ukrainian forces are struggling with shortages of ammunition, weapons and soldiers as a roughly $60 billion aid package proposed by President Biden remains blocked by Republicans in Congress. 'This is the cost of congressional inaction. The Ukrainians continue to fight bravely, but they are running low on supplies,' Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the [White House] National Security Council, said of the defeat Saturday." MB: I too would put this all on Mikey Johnson, Putin's puppet's puppet.

News Lede

New York Times: "Two police officers and a paramedic in a Minnesota city were fatally shot as they responded to a 'domestic-related shooting' on Sunday morning in which a man was barricaded with family members, officials said. The shooting took place just before 2 a.m. local time in the city of Burnsville, which is about 16 miles south of Minneapolis. The police received a call about a 'domestic situation,' the city said in a statement."

The Conversation -- February 17, 2024

Ryan Lizza in Politico Magazine talks to Rep. Jim Himes (D-Ct.) about the day "all hell broke loose"; that is, the day Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), the loose-lipped chair of the House Intelligence Committee sent a "Dear Colleague" letter announcing "a serious [but unspecified] national security threat." "In [a committee] meeting, I objected to communicating this," Himes said. At the same time, the committee was dealing with renewal of a foreign intelligence-gathering program, and some members of Congress wanted to make significant changes to it, changes that top national security officials believed would cripple the program.

Dr. Lawrence Altman, in STAT, who has reported on the health of every president since Ronald Reagan, on what age is too old to be president: :... there is no direct correlation between a leader'shealth and performance in office."

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Just as Trump has remade the Republican Party in his own nasty and selfish image, he wants to remake America in his own nasty and selfish image. Trump doesn't seem to subscribe to any of the verities about this country. He doesn't believe America is exceptional. He only believes that Trump is exceptional -- an exception to all the rules that the rest of us live by. If American laws get in his way -- like counting votes to choose a president -- he tries to smash them.... If American values get in his way -- like our distaste for authoritarians like Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban -- he mocks those values."

Elon Musk's X Is Largely Fake. Matt Binder of Mashable: X "published [a] press release, lauding Super Bowl LVIII as one of the biggest events ever on the social media platform with more than 10 billion impressions and over 1 billion video views. However, it appears that a significant portion of that traffic on X could be fake, according to data provided to Mashable by CHEQ, a leading cybersecurity firm that tracks bots and fake users. According to CHEQ, a whopping 75.85 percent of traffic from X to its advertising clients' websites during the weekend of the Super Bowl was fake. 'I've never seen anything even remotely close to 50 percent, not to mention 76 percent,' CHEQ founder and CEO Guy Tytunovich told Mashable regarding X's fake traffic data. 'I'm amazed ... I've never, ever, ever, ever seen anything even remotely close.'... [By comparison, o]ut of more than 40 million visits from TikTok, only 2.56 percent were determined to be fake. Facebook sent 8.1 million visits and 2.01 percent of the monitored visits were classified as inauthentic. And over on Instagram, only 0.73 percent of the 68,700 visits from the platform were fake."

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** Andrew Kramer & Valerie Hopkins of the New York Times: "Aleksei A. Navalny, an anticorruption activist who for more than a decade led the political opposition in President Vladimir V. Putin's Russia, died Friday in a prison inside the Arctic Circle, according to Russian authorities. His death was announced by Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service, which said that Mr. Navalny, 47, lost consciousness on Friday after taking a walk in the prison where he was moved late last year. He was last seen on Thursday, when he had appeared in a court hearing via video link, smiling behind the bars of a cell and making jokes. Leonid Volkov, Navalny's longtime chief of staff, said he was not yet ready to accept the news that Mr. Navalny was dead. 'We have no reason to believe state propaganda,' Volkov wrote on the social platform X. 'If this is true, then it's not "Navalny died," but "Putin killed Navalny," and only that. But I don't trust them one penny.'" Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Jonathan Lemire & Alexander Ward of Politico: "The shock waves of Alexei Navalny's death rippled across the Atlantic. In Washington, President Joe Biden blamed Vladimir Putin for the dissident's shock demise. Hours earlier, Vice President Kamala Harris did the same in Munich. On Capitol Hill and in the halls of a swank hotel in the Bavarian capital, lawmakers in both parties called for punishing Russia and further arming Ukraine. And in the electoral arena, both the Biden campaign and Nikki Haley, the last major Republican challenger to Donald Trump, assailed the former president for his past praise of Putin.... 'Putin did this. The same Putin who Donald Trump praises and defends,' Haley said in a social media post. 'The same Trump who said: "In all fairness to Putin, you're saying he killed people. I haven't seen that."'... Even Speaker Mike Johnson, who has long hinted he wouldn't bring the $95 billion aid bill for Ukraine and other hot spots to the floor, hinted at a change of heart. 'In the coming days, as international leaders are meeting in Munich, we must be clear that Putin will be met with united opposition,' he said in a fiery statement."

     ~~~ Marie: "Hinted" Johnson wouldn't bring the aid bill to the floor? How about "quashed" the bill? Also, not sure how "fiery" Johnson's statement is. Johnson is a Putin's puppet's puppet, a puppet by proxy. Finally, what would be way more effective that releasing "fiery" (or not) statements, Mikey, would be to push through the Ukraine aid bill, you sniveling little weasel.

Anton Troianovski & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden said that there was 'no doubt' that President Vladimir V. Putin's government was behind the death of Aleksei A. Navalny, the outspoken dissident who Russian authorities said had died at a remote Arctic prison on Friday.... President Biden praised Mr. Navalny's activism and his courage in returning to Russia after being poisoned in 2020. 'Even in prison, he was a powerful voice for the truth,' Mr. Biden said. He also repeated denunciations of ... Donald J. Trump, who said recently that he would 'encourage' Russia to attack NATO allies that do not spend enough on their militaries, calling Mr. Trump's comments 'dangerous' and 'outrageous.'" This is the pinned item in a liveblog about Navalny's apparent death. (Also linked yesterday.)

Connor O'Brien & Lara Seligman of Politico: "The Biden administration and leaders on Capitol Hill used the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to inject fresh urgency into approving funding for Ukraine on Friday, saying now is the moment to break the legislative stalemate and strike a blow against Vladimir Putin. 'This tragedy reminds us of the stakes of the moment,' President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House. 'History is watching the House of Representatives. The failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will never be forgotten.'... A bipartisan group of House lawmakers unveiled a new emergency spending bill that would grant over $47 billion to assist Ukraine, placing renewed pressure on Republican leaders to finally hold a vote on an aid package.... Despite a big bipartisan vote [for aid to Ukraine, Israel & Taiwan in the Senate], the bill has hit a roadblock in the House as Speaker Mike Johnson has quashed a vote on the measure."

"Brainwashed." Laura Kelly of the Hill: "The GOP chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee was bullish Friday on the chamber delivering U.S. military assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, despite the 'brainwashing' of some within his caucus who oppose foreign spending because of the crisis at the southern border. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was committed to eventually moving President Biden's national security supplemental request, though the pathway remains unclear amid fierce pushback from the far right of the GOP. Speaking during a discussion hosted by the Christian Science Monitor in Washington, D.C., McCaul said Johnson faces two challenging options: bring the supplemental to the floor and face a potential move to oust him from the far right, or let Ukraine backers in the party force the vote and undermine his power."

Marie: In the short run, Navalny's martyrdom may not save Russia from Putin, but it could save Ukraine from Putin & the U.S. (and other democracies) from Trump.

Marie: Shall we ask Tucker Carlson how nice Russian prisons are? Now that Putin has murdered Russia's leading dissident, I do wonder if TuKKKer will be floating any more videos about how much better Russia is than the U.S. Marveling over the low prices in a fake Moscow grocery store (story linked yesterday), TuKKKer said, "... you start to realize that ideology maybe doesn't matter as much as you thought, corruption." "Ideolology" tends to matter quite a lot, TuKKKums, when it permits the state to murder you for protesting and other exercises of free speech. Oh, looky here.... ~~~

     ~~~ Jim Rutenberg & Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "'This is what Putin's Russia is, @TuckerCarlson,' Liz Cheney, the former Republican congresswoman from Wyoming, wrote on X after the news of Mr. Navalny's death broke on Friday. 'And you are Putin's useful idiot.' Naomi Biden, President Biden's granddaughter, also weighed in, pointing to a video that Mr. Carlson had recently posted in which he contrasted the supposed splendors of Russia under Mr. Putin's leadership with the 'filth and crime' of the United States. 'Has anything aged so poorly, so quickly before?' Ms. Biden wrote on X.... Earlier this week, [Mr. Carlson] appeared to offer a blasé opinion regarding Russia's treatment of Mr. Navalny.... Asked at a conference in Dubai on Monday why he had not questioned Mr. Putin about Russia's free speech crackdown, Mr. Navalny's jailing or suspected political assassinations, Mr. Carlson said those were 'the things that every other American media outlet talks about.' (Mr. Carlson was, in fact, the first Western media figure to interview Mr. Putin in more than two years.) But, Mr. Carlson said then, 'leadership requires killing people -- sorry, that's why I wouldn't want to be a leader' -- comments that came under still more criticism after Mr. Navalny's death....

"Speaking with a state television host, Mr. Putin said he was disappointed that Mr. Carlson had not asked 'so-called sharp questions' because he wanted the opportunity to 'respond sharply' in his own answers.... Mr. Putin's mockery of Mr. Carlson came as the former Fox host was basking in the aftermath of his interview by offering a steady stream of praise for Russia and Mr. Putin, whose leadership he has extolled as superior to Mr. Biden's."

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times: "Navalny's strength, resilience and courage contrast with the fecklessness of so many Americans dealing with Putin. From Donald Trump to Tucker Carlson, a remarkable number of American leaders and their mouthpieces roll over before the Russian president.... The most fundamental test of our fortitude is simple: Will the United States continue to support Ukraine as it tries to fight off Russian invaders? I hope Navalny's sacrifice helps us find the will to stand up to Putin.... So many brave Russians -- journalists, lawyers, political figures -- have died after challenging the authorities. It's baffling how many Americans have responded in the opposite way, by acting as Putin's poodles.... It is profoundly troubling when American sycophants seem eager to whitewash Putin's brutality, largely ignore his victims and score political points at home in ways that burnish Russian dictatorship and diminish American democracy.... May Navalny's heroic sacrifice wake them up." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Nothing will wake up Donald Trump. Nothing. He dreams of being able to murder his opponents. And he admits to that when he says he aspires to a second presidential* term of "retribution."

The Trials of Trump & the Trump Gang

The Biggest Loser. Jonah Bromwich & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "A New York judge on Friday handed Donald J. Trump a crushing defeat in his civil fraud case, finding the former president liable for conspiring to manipulate his net worth and ordering him to pay a penalty of nearly $355 million plus interest that could wipe out his entire stockpile of cash. The decision by Justice Arthur F. Engoron caps a chaotic, yearslong case in which New York's attorney general put Mr. Trump's fantastical claims of wealth on trial. With no jury, the power was in Justice Engoron's hands alone...: The judge delivered a sweeping array of punishments that threatens the former president's business empire as he simultaneously contends with four criminal prosecutions and seeks to regain the White House.

"Justice Engoron barred Mr. Trump for three years from serving in top roles at any New York company, including portions of his own Trump Organization. He also imposed a two-year ban on the former president's adult sons and ordered that they pay more than $4 million each. One of them, Eric Trump, is the company's de facto chief executive, and the ruling throws into doubt whether any member of the family can run the business s in the near term. The judge also ordered that they pay substantial interest, pushing the penalty for the former president to $450 million, according to the attorney general, Letitia James. In his unconventional style, Justice Engoron criticized Mr. Trump and the other defendants for refusing to admit wrongdoing for years. 'Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological,' he said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$: "... there's nothing 'unconventional' about a judge excoriating defendants for being sociopaths. This is just another elite media attempt to bothsides the unbothsideable. Also, Joe Biden is old." ~~~

     ~~~ Lauren Aratani of the Guardian: "'Overall, Donald Trump rarely responded to the questions asked and he frequently interjected long, irrelevant speeches on issues far beyond the scope of the trial. His refusal to answer the questions directly, or in some cases, at all, severely compromised his credibility,' Engoron wrote. In his decision Engoron said the defendants' 'fact and expert witnesses simply denied reality, and defendants failed to accept responsibility or to impose internal controls to prevent future recurrences'... In Friday's verdict, Engoron overturned his initial ruling, saying that 'the cancellation of the business licenses is no longer necessary' as he is ordering the appointment of two court monitors to oversee 'major activities that could lead to fraud'." ~~~

     ~~~ The AP story, by Michael Sisak, is here. CNN has a liveblog on developments. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: Trump said on the teevee that people will be moving out of New York because they're so upset by this verdict, and "There won't be a New York anymore." Right. He's shocked, shocked he should be given a massive fine when he's "done a perfect job."

Richard Fausset, et al., of the New York Times: "Defense lawyers for Donald J. Trump and his co-defendants in Georgia found themselves frustrated in efforts to extract damaging information from a key witness [Terrence Bradley] on Friday, as they sought to disqualify the lead prosecutors in the election interference case.... Once he took the stand in the afternoon, he continued to assert attorney-client privilege over many matters.... After adjourning, Judge [Scott] McAfee said he would meet in private with Mr. Bradley and his attorney to discuss questions regarding attorney-client privilege and an accusation of sexual assault against Mr. Bradley while he worked with Mr. Wade. Mr. Bradley emphatically denied the allegation, and the judge did not allow further testimony about it from other witnesses.... The judge said he would then determine a date for lawyers to make their closing arguments on the conflict-of-interest question. It could happen late next week, or the following week, he said...." This is the pinned item in a liveblog. For more details, see the liveblog. Some items from the liveblog are republished in yesterday's Conversation.

Presidential Race

Edward-Isaac Dovere of CNN: "West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin announced Friday that he will not mount a 2024 campaign for president.... Manchin has been on a national listening tour as he weighed jumping in as a third-party presidential candidate, potentially on the No Labels ticket. He has criticized President Joe Biden for being too liberal but also said that he would refuse to be part of any effort that would help Donald Trump return to the White House."

Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has told advisers and allies that he likes the idea of a 16-week national abortion ban with three exceptions, in cases of rape or incest, or to save the life of the mother, according to two people with direct knowledge.... So far in this Republican nominating contest, in which primary voters generally reward candidates for opposing abortion rights, Mr. Trump has avoided answering the question of whether he'd support a national ban. Instead, he talks about abortion as if it's a real-estate transaction. He has taken credit for giving 'great negotiating power' to anti-abortion activists." ~~~

     ~~~ Natasha Korecki, et al., of NBC News: "President Joe Biden's campaign and abortion rights advocates ripped into ... Donald Trump on abortion Friday following a [New York Times] report that he has given private signals in favor of a national ban on abortions after 16 weeks of pregnancy that would include exceptions in cases of rape, incest and when the woman's life is in danger.... The Trump campaign in a statement blasted [the] reporting ... as 'fake news.'... Biden himself released a lengthy statement laying out the impact of Roe v. Wade's reversal, including the passage of stringent anti-abortion laws in conservative states.... 'The choice is very simple. Kamala and I will restore Roe v. Wade and make it once again the law of the land. Donald Trump will ban abortion nationwide.'" ~~~

~~~ Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "... Donald Trump appointed the three justices who proved pivotal to the outcome in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned the Supreme Court's 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade.... Dobbs, he pointed out in a statement, was 'the biggest WIN for LIFE in a generation' and was 'only made possible because I delivered everything as promised, including nominating and getting three highly respected and strong Constitutionalists confirmed to the United States Supreme Court.' It was, he continued, 'my great honor to do so!'... But ... many Americans don't seem to blame the former president for the actions of the Supreme Court majority he assembled during his term.... Trump, somehow, gets a mulligan." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Bouie ruminates on why Trump fans give Trump that mulligan, and he puts it down to Trump's celebrity status. But the fact is that most voters are adult enough to realize that political candidates seldom if ever agree with all of their own policy preferences, so voters usually must give passes to their own preferred candidates. I recall when Barack Obama continued to oppose gay marriage; I thought that was stupid, mean and shortsighted, but I came up with rationalizations to give him a pass. It took Obama's vice president Joe Biden -- a deeply-religious Roman Catholic -- to get out over his skis & force Obama to advocate same-sex marriage.

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "The FBI's former top spy hunter in New York was sentenced in Washington on Friday to 28 months in prison for concealing at least $225,000 in payments he received from a former Albanian intelligence official while working for the bureau. Charles McGonigal will serve his punishment on top of a 50-month prison term he received separately in New York last year for illegally conspiring with a Russian oligarch who wanted to be removed from a U.S. sanctions list. McGonigal, 55, is one of the highest-ranking FBI agents ever convicted of criminal charges, and federal prosecutors on Friday urged U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to stack the sentences after the 22-year veteran of the bureau admitted to committing the very violations he was sworn to investigate.... McGonigal now has been sentenced to a combined 6½ years behind bars for ... two offenses...."

Another Impeachment in Search of a Crime. Steve Benen of MSNBC: "After a year of obsessive investigations, GOP officials simply haven't uncovered any incriminating evidence against [President Joe Biden].... Some Republicans, frustrated by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer's lack of progress, have begun describing the crusade with words and phrases such as 'clueless,' 'disaster,' and 'parade of embarrassments.'" So when the FBI arrested Alexander Smirnov, the parade's grand marshal, for 'provid[ing] false derogatory information to the FBI' about Joe and Hunter Biden, Comer's investigation collapsed. "I have no doubt that the House Republicans' crusade against Biden will continue, even after their star witness was charged with lying to the FBI, and their entire case against the president has unraveled in humiliating fashion." ~~~

~~~ Marcy Wheeler: "On the day that Bill Barr aggressively intervened in the parallel impeachment inquiry and Hunter Biden prosecutions last summer [-- June 7, 2023 --] David Weiss' office sent out a final deal that would resolve Hunter's case with no jail time and no further investigation. Within weeks, amid an uproar about claims in an FD-1023 that David Weiss now says were false, Weiss reneged on that deal. With the indictment yesterday of Alexander Smirnov, the source of those false claims, Weiss confesses he is a direct witness in an attempt to frame Joe Biden, even as he attempts to bury it.... If Merrick Garland is going to appoint Special Counsels for these kinds of things, one should be appointed here.... But David Weiss can't lead that investigation. He's a witness to that investigation." MB: As usual, Wheeler provides a lengthy proof, which lost me. But I suppose we are assured that Merrick the Unready is unready to address Barr, Weiss and others' participation in a frame-up of the POTUS. Also Joe Biden is old.

The Conversation -- February 16, 2024

** Marie: Via MSNBC on-air, Judge Arthur Engoron's decision in the Trump Organization civil fraud case has just been posted. The penalty is more than $364 million in the aggregate. Donald Trump and the Trump Organization can't operate in New York for three years; Eric & Donald Jr. can't operate in new York for two years. They can't apply for loans in New York, either. it's a 92-page ruling. And don't forget he has a total of about $88 million in judgments against him in the E. Jean Carroll cases. The penalties are $355MM for Donald Trump, $4 each for Don Jr. & Eric, and $1MM for Allen Weisselberg. Including penalty an interest, that $355MM figure for Donald Trump's has been pushed up to $453MM+. ~~~

     ~~~ Jonah Bromwich & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "A New York judge on Friday handed Donald J. Trump a crushing defeat in his civil fraud case, finding the former president liable for conspiring to manipulate his net worth and ordering him to pay a penalty of nearly $355 million plus interest that could wipe out his entire stockpile of cash. The decision by Justice Arthur F. Engoron caps a chaotic, yearslong case in which New York's attorney general put Mr. Trump's fantastical claims of wealth on trial. With no jury, the power was in Justice Engoron's hands alone...: The judge delivered a sweeping array of punishments that threatens the former president's business empire as he simultaneously contends with four criminal prosecutions and seeks to regain the White House. Justice Engoron barred Mr. Trump for three years from serving in top roles at any New York company, including portions of his own Trump Organization. He also imposed a two-year ban on the former president's adult sons and ordered that they pay more than $4 million each. One of them, Eric Trump, is the company's de facto chief executive, and the ruling throws into doubt whether any member of the family can run the business in the near term. The judge also ordered that they pay substantial interest, pushing the penalty for the former president to $450 million, according to the attorney general, Letitia James." This is an update of an early story.~~~

     ~~~ The AP story, by Michael Sisak, is here. The AP also cites the $364MM figure. CNN has a liveblog on developments. ~~~

~~~ Marie: Trump said on the teevee that people will be moving out of New York because they're so upset by this verdict, and "There won't be a New York anymore." He's shocked, shocked he should be given a massive fine when he's "done a perfect job." In his ruling, Engoron wrote that a major reason for the penalty and requirement that the Trump Organization continue under "babysitters" after Trump is allowed to work in New York again was because Trump and the Trump children refused to acknowledge there bad acts & were unremorseful about them.

Richard Fausset, et al., of the New York Times: "Defense lawyers for Donald J. Trump and his co-defendants in Georgia found themselves frustrated in efforts to extract damaging information from a key witness [Terrence Bradley] on Friday, as they sought to disqualify the lead prosecutors in the election interference case.... Once he took the stand in the afternoon, he continued to assert attorney-client privilege over many matters.... After adjourning, Judge [Scott] McAfee said he would meet in private with Mr. Bradley and his attorney to discuss questions regarding attorney-client privilege and an accusation of sexual assault against Mr. Bradley while he worked with Mr. Wade. Mr. Bradley emphatically denied the allegation, and the judge did not allow further testimony about it from other witnesses.... The judge said he would then determine a date for lawyers to make their closing arguments on the conflict-of-interest question. It could happen late next week, or the following week, he said...." This is the pinned item in a liveblog. ~~~

Fausset: "Terrence Bradley, who the judge has called the star witness in this case, is still not here. Instead, we have another star of sorts: Former Gov. Roy Barnes of Georgia. Mr. Barnes is a moderate Democrat who served one term.... Barnes acknowledges publicly that Fani Willis ... approached him about prosecuting the Trump case.... The point of bringing Roy Barnes to the stand is to establish that Nathan Wade was not the first choice of Fani Willis ... to run the Trump prosecution. Barnes, a former governor of Georgia, testified that he met with Willis for an hour about taking on the case, but declined."

Fausset: "The judge notes that Terrence Bradley, one of the key witnesses subpoenaed by the defense, is now technically in violation of his subpoena for ghosting this hearing. His lawyer says he is at a medical appointment."

Fausset: "Fani Willis's father, John Floyd, is taking the stand. He was originally supposed to dial in via videoconference but is here in person."

Danny Hakim: "Floyd described his daughter's house getting doxed, with people showing up outside at 5:30 a.m. 'cursing and yelling' the 'b-word' and the 'n-word.'... Floyd says, 'I've always told my daughter, you keep six months worth of cash, always.' And he says he gave his daughter her first cash box."

Fausset: "Keeping large amounts of cash around is 'a Black thing,' Fani Willis's father, John Floyd, says. Willis, the district attorney, has said that she paid Nathan Wade back for trips that they took together in cash."

Hakim: "Under questioning from Donald Trump's lawyer, Steve Sadow, Fani Willis's father says, 'I just found out when other folks found out' that his daughter had dated the special prosecutor, Nathan Wade."

Fausset: "The judge says that the crime-fraud exception does not apply, and now we're back to questioning of Terrence Bradley about what he knows regarding the relationship between his former client and partner, Natha Wade, and ... Fani Willis."

Hakim: "Terrence Bradley has been on the stand for some time now, but thus far the defense has not been able to draw anything out of him undercutting the assertions of Fani Willis and Nathan Wade about the timeline of their relationship."

Fausset: "Much of today's drama, such as it is, will occur off-camera. The judge has said he is going to review two text messages from Terrence Bradley, the witness currently on the stand, to determine whether the texts [between defense lawyer Ashleigh Merchant & him] should remain under wraps due to attorney-client privilege."

Fausset: "Anna Cross with the district attorney's office establishes that Terrence Bradley left Nathan Wade's firm after an accusation that Bradley committed a sexual assault. Bradley emphatically denies the allegation.... The prosecution establishing that Bradley had been the subject of a sexual assault allegation at his former law firm is an effort to raise questions about why he might reveal information damaging to Nathan Wade, his former partner."

Edward-Isaac Dovere of CNN: "West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin announced Friday that he will not mount a 2024 campaign for president.... Manchin has been on a national listening tour as he weighed jumping in as a third-party presidential candidate, potentially on the No Labels ticket. He has criticized President Joe Biden for being too liberal but also said that he would refuse to be part of any effort that would help Donald Trump return to the White House."

Anton Troianovski & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden said that there was 'no doubt' that President Vladimir V. Putin's government was behind the death of Aleksei A. Navalny, the outspoken dissident who Russian authorities said had died at a remote Arctic prison on Friday.... President Biden praised Mr. Navalny's activism and his courage in returning to Russia after being poisoned in 2020. 'Even in prison, he was a powerful voice for the truth,' Mr. Biden said. He also repeated denunciations of ... Donald J. Trump, who said recently that he would 'encourage' Russia to attack NATO allies that do not spend enough on their militaries, calling Mr. Trump's comments 'dangerous' and 'outrageous.'" This is the pinned item in a liveblog about Navalny's apparent death. ~~~

~~~ ** Andrew Kramer & Valerie Hopkins of the New York Times: "Aleksei A. Navalny, an anticorruption activist who for more than a decade led the political opposition in President Vladimir V. Putin's Russia, died Friday in a prison inside the Arctic Circle, according to Russian authorities. His death was announced by Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service, which said that Mr. Navalny, 47, lost consciousness on Friday after taking a walk in the prison where he was moved late last year. He was last seen on Thursday, when he had appeared in a court hearing via video link, smiling behind the bars of a cell and making jokes. Leonid Volkov, Navalny's longtime chief of staff, said he was not yet ready to accept the news that Mr. Navalny was dead. 'We have no reason to believe state propaganda,' Volkov wrote on the social platform X. 'If this is true, then it's not "Navalny died," but "Putin killed Navalny," and only that. But I don't trust them one penny.'" Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Shall we ask reprehensible Tucker Carlson how nice Russian prisons are? Now that Putin has murdered Russia's leading dissident, I do wonder if TuKKKer will be floating any more videos about how much better Russia is than the U.S. Marveling over the low prices in a fake Moscow grocery store (story linked below), TuKKKer said, "... you start to realize that ideology maybe doesn't matter as much as you thought, corruption." "Ideolology" tends to matter quite a lot, TuKKKums, when it permits the state to murder you for protesting and other exercises of free speech.

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Marie: I will be away almost all morning. The Georgia hearing on the Willis-Wade affair continues at 9:00 am ET. The hearing was aired live yesterday on both CNN & MSNBC, so I imagine it will air today, too. Also Justice Arthur Engoron is expected to release his verdict on any penalties he will require the Trump Organization to pay as a result of the fraud finding against the Trump company.

In today's news, we feature right-wing dudes trying to deflect responsibility for their fake crusades: Rep. Jim Comer (R-Ky.) blaming the FBI for his fake Biden impeachment inquiry; violent insurrectionists blaming that nice Donald Trump for calling them to Washington to stop the Electoral College count; and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blaming "bad actors" for the book ban he championed.

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The White House clashed with the Justice Department in the run-up to the release of a special counsel report last week about President Biden's handling of classified information, previously undisclosed correspondence shows. The letters, obtained by The New York Times, show that a top Justice Department official rejected complaints from Mr. Biden's lawyers about disparaging comments in the report regarding the president. The lawyers wrote to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland the day before he released the report by the special counsel, Robert K. Hur. They raised objections to passages in the report in which Mr. Hur suggested that Mr. Biden's memory was failing and questioned some of his actions, even though the special counsel had found no basis to prosecute the president. The lawyers said Mr. Hur's comments 'openly, obviously and blatantly violate department policy and practice,' the letters show.... Bradley Weinsheimer -- the department's senior career official, or nonpolitical appointee, who deals with ethics complaints or appeals of department decisions -- wrote back rejecting their criticism. He insisted that the comments in the report 'fall well within the department's standards for public release.'" Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I watched a good deal of Fani Willis' testimony yesterday. She seems like an intelligent, 50-ish woman in full possesion of her mental faculties. Even though she no doubt had studied the charges against her in a case where dates of events are crucial, there were a whole lotta recent dates and events she could not recall. I don't think she was lying or covering up; it appeared she just didn't know. A lot of people -- myself included -- do not track events by dates. You probably remember the year you were graduated from high school, but that's because you have long identified yourself with the "Class of '85" or whatever. But you may not remember what year you took a cruise, even if it was only five years ago. I also hear sharp TV personalities constantly misspeaking; one referred the other day to "Jack Trump" when she meant "Jack Smith." The speaker wasn't confused or forgetful; she's human. Robert Hur, no doubt having watched way too much Fox Teevee, had a preconceived notion that Joe Biden was an old man with no idea of what was going on around him; every time Biden misspoke or forgot a date confirmed Hur's bias.

** Jim Comer's Impeachment Dreams Blow Up. Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The special counsel investigating Hunter Biden has charged a former F.B.I. informant with fabricating claims that President Biden and his son each sought $5 million bribes from a Ukrainian company -- a stinging setback for Republicans who cited the allegations in their push to impeach the president. The longtime informant, Alexander Smirnov, 43, is accused of falsely telling the F.B.I. that Hunter Biden, then a paid board member of the energy giant Burisma, demanded the money to protect the company from an investigation by the country's prosecutor general at the time. The explosive story, which seemed to back up unsubstantiated Republican claims of a 'Biden crime family,' turned out to be a brazen lie, according to a 37-page indictment unsealed late Thursday in a California federal court, brought by the special counsel, David C. Weiss....

"In May last year, Representative James R. Comer of Kentucky, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, threatened to hold the bureau&'s director, Christopher A. Wray, in contempt if he did not disclose some details [of Smirnov's tall tale]. Mr. Comer, in a statement released after the charges against Mr. Smirnov became public, took no responsibility for spreading a claim that prosecutors suggested was a smear intended to hurt Mr. Biden politically. Instead, he blamed bureau officials for privately telling the committee their 'source was credible and trusted, had worked with the F.B.I. for over a decade and had been paid six figures.' But F.B.I. officials did not seem to think much of Mr. Smirnov's allegations from the start.... In 2020, they concluded that his claims did not merit continued investigation, and told senior Trump administration officials in the Justice Department of that decision, prosecutors wrote." The AP's story is here. CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Chris Hayes said on MSNBC last night that Sean Hannity featured Smirnov's story on his little teevee show at Fox 85 times, often in long monologues implicating "the Bidens." ~~~

~~~ "A Tissue of Lies Built on Conspiracy Theories." Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) is calling on House Republicans to end their impeachment inquiry into President Biden following the indictment of the FBI informant at the center of the conference's allegations that the president accepted a bribe. The statement from Raskin -- the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee --came shortly after the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced charges against Alexander Smirnov, 43, based on accusations that he made up claims regarding Biden. 'In a detailed indictment, Special Counsel David Weiss -- who was appointed by former President Donald Trump -- has demonstrated how key evidence at the heart of House Republicans' impeachment inquiry is based on a lie,' Raskin said. 'Special Counsel Weiss's investigation is just the most recent to debunk the Ukraine-Burisma conspiracy theory at the heart of this fraudulent impeachment inquiry.... It is an undeniable fact that Republicans' allegations against President Biden have always been a tissue of lies built on conspiracy theories, and I formally call on Speaker Johnson, Chairman Comer, and House Republicans to stop promoting this nonsense and end their doomed impeachment inquiry.'..."

Abigail Hauslohner & Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: "Ukraine's supporters on both sides of the fractured House are exploring how they could force a vote to unlock billions of dollars in aid for Kyiv, potentially by sidestepping Republican leaders who have refused to act on a measure that funds several national security imperatives.... [House Speaker Mike] Johnson (R-La.) has rejected the Senate bill outright but to date has offered little clarity on the path forward."

MTG Misbehaves in Another House Hearing. Zachary Leeman of Mediaite: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) declared at a House hearing on Covid vaccines that she has a 'PhD in recognizing bullshit' in a rant that included no questions for the witness to whom it was directed. Greene honed [homed!] in on Dr. Peter Marks, the director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) at the Food and Drug Administration, and his support of vaccines, especially for young children.... Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) immediately apologized to the room over Greene's lengthy comments and vaccine criticisms."

The Trials of Trump & the Trump Gang

Danny Hakim, et al., of the New York Times: "A case charging ... Donald J. Trump and his allies with trying to subvert the 2020 election results in Georgia took a detour on Thursday into the details of the prosecutors' romantic and financial lives -- their sleeping arrangements, vacations and private bank accounts -- in an unusual and highly contentious hearing. Lawyers for Mr. Trump and his co-defendants have argued that the Fulton County district attorney, Fani T. Willis, and the special prosecutor she hired to manage the case, Nathan J. Wade, should be disqualified from the case because their romantic and financial entanglements had created a conflict of interest. Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade forcefully rejected those accusations in testimony on Thursday, with Ms. Willis accusing the defense lawyers of spreading 'lies.'... Ms. Willis took the stand after her former friend, Robin Bryant-Yeartie, testified that Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade began a romantic relationship in 2019, before Ms. Willis hired him in November 2021. Ms. Bryant-Yeartie said that it was still going on when she and Ms. Willis last spoke in 2022, just before they had a falling out.... But Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade both testified that their romance began in early 2022, after Ms. Willis had hired him as a special prosecutor, and well after they had first met, at a judicial conference in 2019." More details in yesterday's Conversation. Politico's account is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marshall Cohen & others at CNN discuss some "takeaways from the hearing that was at times jaw-dropping, awkward and strikingly personal."

Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "Two presidential campaigns ago, Donald J. Trump faced a brewing sex scandal that threatened to derail his bid for the White House. On Thursday, a New York judge ensured that the very same scandal will loom over Mr. Trump's latest run for president, scheduling for March 25 a trial that could jeopardize his campaign -- and his freedom. The judge, Juan M. Merchan, rejected Mr. Trump's bid to throw out the Manhattan district attorney's criminal charges against him that stem from a hush-money payment to a porn star in 2016. By setting a trial date for next month, Justice Merchan cleared the way for the first prosecution of a former American president in the nation's history, ensuring that Mr. Trump will face at least one jury before Election Day. The ruling is a crucial victory for the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg." More details in yesterday's Conversation.

Ellie Houghtaling of the New Republic, republished by Yahoo! News: "Judge Aileen Cannon isn't buying Donald Trump's newest delay tactic in the classified documents case. On Thursday, Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge, shot down the GOP front-runner's latest effort to postpone pretrial deadlines, instead opting to keep that date set on February 22. But the ruling comes with an exception -- noting that she'll still consider measures filed at the eleventh hour if the legal teams can prove they're necessary."

Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Donald Trump is passing up the chance to add a fourth case to a trio of Trump-related appeals already stacked up at the Supreme Court. Trump elected not to ask the justices to reverse a federal appeals court ruling issued in December rejectin his claim that presidents have absolute immunity from being sued for actions taken while they are in office.... For now, that means a Washington, D.C., appeals court ruling that found Trump could be sued for his role in stoking the violence on Jan. 6 will stand. The unanimous ruling of the three-judge panel, which included a Trump-nominated judge, concluded that Trump's remarks to supporters on Jan. 6 appeared to be delivered in his capacity as a candidate for reelection -- not in his official capacity as president."

The President* Made Me Do It. Brandi Buchman of Law & Crime: "A new assessment of public records by a federal watchdog group [-- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington --] has found that approximately 210 defendants charged with crimes connected to Jan. 6 directly expressed that they only came to Washington, D.C., or joined in on the violence at the U.S. Capitol because they were incited by ... Donald Trump and heeding his call."

Christine Hauser of the New York Times: "A Massachusetts man has been arrested and charged with participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, after investigators said he had recorded a video on his way there, predicting 'mayhem, chaos and pandemonium' in order to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The man, Thomas J. Method, 57, of Framingham, Mass., has been charged with obstruction of an official proceeding, which is a felony, according to federal prosecutors. He also faces misdemeanor charges.... Mr. Method was arrested on Wednesday in Framingham.... The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia is prosecuting the case."

Jesse McKinley & Liset Cruz of the New York Times: "Lawyers for New York State concluded their case against the National Rifle Association on Thursday, bringing an end to a closely watched civil showdown that accused leaders of the nation's most prominent gun rights group of financial misconduct and corruption. Over the last six weeks, lawyers for New York's attorney general, Letitia James, have outlined a case that paints the N.R.A. as a mismanaged organization.... Monica Connell, representing the attorney general's office, began her closing arguments on Thursday by comparing the defendants to children who grabbed cookies from a jar and were 'caught with crumbs on their face and on their shirt.' Central to the case has been the state's depiction of the group's former longtime leader, Wayne LaPierre, as a lavish spender who used N.R.A. funds to pay for private jets, luxury vacations, and the occasional spin on a superyacht."

Declan Hardy of Politico: "The Securities and Exchange Commission has signed off on one of the last outstanding hurdles to a more than two-year-old planned merger to take [Donald Trump's] media venture public, according to the companies behind the deal, Trump Media & Technology Group and Digital World Acquisition Corp.... The deal could inject some $300 million into the company, which operates Trump's social media bullhorn, Truth Social. And Trump himself will gain a major stake in the company.... Shares in Digital World Acquisition Corp., or DWAC, skyrocketed more than 25 percent on the news Thursday. Since the beginning, the planned union has been mired in regulatory issues, market volatility and looming deadlines that have posed existential threats to the deal."

Marie: Oh Noes! Elon Musk & Matt Taibbi broke up nearly a year ago, and I'm just finding out. Charlie Nash of Mediaite reports. over the cheap prices in a fake Moscow grocery store (story linked below), TuKKKer

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) condemned Tucker Carlson on Thursday for making a video gushing over a Russian grocery store, remarking, 'The Soviets had a term for people like Tucker: useful idiots.' During his controversial trip to Moscow to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin, Carlson filmed a short video at a Russian grocery store, where he praised the prices and quality of produce. After walking through the store and highlighting the products, Carlson revealed that a weekly shop with similar products in the U.S. would cost around $300 more." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Is TuKKKer really so naive as not to realize that Putin's handlers took him to a few nice places set up to impress visiting VIPs, or does he know the score and is making these videos about Marvelous Moscow to fool Americans?

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Florida. About Those Book Bans -- Not My Fault. Sky Palma of the Raw Story: "Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says bad faith actors are politicizing the state law that monitors what type of content is appropriate in school books -- and he wants to limit the ability of the public to challenge the literature, the Herald-Tribune reported. DeSantis said some schools are misinterpreting state laws and he is directing state education officials to 'prohibit bad actors in school leadership positions from intentionally depriving students of an education by politicizing the book review process.'" ~~~

~~~ In That Same Presser. Christopher Wiggins of the Advocate: "A moment of levity, albeit revealing, occurred when DeSantis was questioned about his appearance: 'Governor DeSantis, you have spoken out against the "woke" agenda of gender fluidity and also come out against gender-affirming care. So I was hoping you could square your opposition to [gender affirming care] and people choosing their own gender identity with your frequent wearing of lifts and you hoping to choose your own height identity,' a reporter asked. The question, met with laughter, was briskly dismissed by DeSantis, who replied, 'Nice try, next!' while awkwardly moving his head in a way that critics have pointed out appears to be a bobble he does when he's uncomfortable."

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Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Friday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected international pressure on a peace plan and underlined his opposition to a Palestinian state, a key part of the long-term plan being worked on by the United States and its Middle East partners. The U.N. Human Rights Office criticized what it said appeared to be 'a pattern of attacks' by Israel against hospitals in Gaza after Israeli forces raided Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.... At Nasser Hospital, four patients in intensive care died from lack of oxygen during a total power outage Thursday, the Gaza Health Ministry said, a day after the Israel Defense Forces' raid. Hazem Bahlool, a doctor at the hospital, said at 7 a.m. local time that the facility had been without water or electricity for more than three hours. Footage and satellite imagery obtained by The Post show that Egypt is clearing off and building a wall around a plot of land along its border with the Gaza Strip, amid fears of an Israeli offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. That plan is straining Israel's most important alliances, including its 40-year peace accord with Egypt." ~~~

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

News Lede

CNN: "Two teenagers in custody in connection with the deadly shooting during the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl rally were charged Thursday, according to Missouri court officials. The Office of the Juvenile Officer said the juveniles face gun-related and resisting arrest charges. They added that they are currently detained in secure detention at the Juvenile Detention Center. 'It is anticipated that additional charges are expected in the future as the investigation by the Kansas City Police Department continues,' the Office of the Juvenile Officer said in a statement."