April 16, 2023

Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff of the Washington Post: "... it is not out of the norm for a young person in the military to be entrusted with such responsibilities [as leaker Jack Teixeira had], experts say.... In his role as a 'Cyber Transport Systems Journeyman,' Teixeira managed computers and communications systems, a function similar to providing tech support. To do that job, he had maintained a top-secret clearance since 2021.... Teixeira also had access to a Defense Department computer network called the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System.... Teixeira was serving in a National Guard unit that has large responsibilities. The 102nd Intelligence Wing runs an around-the-clock operation that distills intelligence for senior military leaders, a defense official told CNN.... More than a million people have top-secret security clearance.... The clearances show someone is reliable only at a moment in time. But 18- or 19-year-olds who receive clearances could undergo significant changes in maturity or ideology before follow-up clearance checks, which often are conducted every five years." ~~~

The Security Check Didn't Pick up This. Dave Philipps, et al., of the New York Times: &"Kailani Reis, 20, a high school classmate in Airman [Jake] Teixeira's graduating class, said that as a student, the airman expressed his interest in weapons often enough that she and some other students found it 'unsettling' and avoided him. She said few of the former classmates she knew were surprised when he was arrested.&" MB: One would think that security clearance for a person just out of high school would include an extensive check of his high-school records & activities, including interviews with teachers & classmates.

Uh-oh. Another Trumpity-Doo-Dah Day. Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: "One of former president Donald Trump's top lawyers on the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case is no longer working on the matter after he appeared before a federal grand jury last month, according to people familiar with the move. Evan Corcoran is still representing Trump in other cases, such as special counsel Jack Smith's probe into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.... Prosecutors investigating Trump's taking classified documents to his Mar-a-Lago Club after leaving office won a court fight that allowed them to question Corcoran when judges ruled that he could not use attorney-client privilege to avoid disclosing information about his communications with Trump.... Corcoran was forced to answer questions about Trump and his legal team's response to [a] subpoena [for documents] and regarding the communications he had with Trump about returning the documents, The Post has previously reported." CNN has a developing report here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

A Lie of Omission. Caroline Kitchener, et al., of the Washington Post: "As a lawyer for a conservative legal group, Matthew Kacsmaryk in early 2017 submitted an article to a Texas law review criticizing Obama-era protections for transgender people and those seeking abortions. The Obama administration, the draft article argued, had discounted religious physicians who 'cannot use their scalpels to make female what God created male' and 'cannot use their pens to prescribe or dispense abortifacient drugs designed to kill unborn children.' But a few months after the piece arrived, an editor at the law journal ... received an unusual email: Citing 'reasons I may discuss at a later date,' Kacsmaryk, who had originally been listed as the article's sole author, said he would be removing his name and replacing it with those of two colleagues at his legal group, First Liberty Institute.... What Kacsmaryk did not say in the email was that he had already been interviewed for a judgeship by his state's two senators and was awaiting an interview at the White House. As part of that process, he was required to list all of his published work on a questionnaire submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee.... [Kacsmaryk] did [not] list the article on the paperwork he submitted to the Senate in advance of confirmation hearings...." Read on. First Liberty claims Kacsmaryk was only a "placeholder" on the article, but there is strong evidence that is a lie. Experts the reporters consulted were not amused. The Raw Story summarizes the WashPo reporting. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Shawn Boburg & Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "Over the last two decades, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has reported on required financial disclosure forms that his family received rental income totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars from a firm called Ginger, Ltd., Partnership. But that company -- a Nebraska real estate firm launched in the 1980s by his wife and her relatives -- has not existed since 2006.... The previously unreported misstatement might be dismissed as a paperwork error. But it is among a series of errors and omissions that Thomas has made on required annual financial disclosure forms over the past several decades, a review of those records shows. Together, they have raised questions about how seriously Thomas views his responsibility to accurately report details about his finances to the public." MB: It would be perfectly believable if Clarence blamed Ginni for this repeated error; we'll see if he does. BUT "Thomas did not respond to emailed questions sent through a court spokeswoman. His wife also did not respond to requests for comment."

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times compares Shakespeare's King Lear to the U.S.'s geriatric leaders. MB: A fairly good Dowd column, IMO, though I suppose Shakespeare scholars might know otherwise. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Sorry We Lied to You, Judge. Marshall Cohen of CNN: "Fox News formally apologized to the judge in the Dominion defamation case, taking responsibility for the 'misunderstanding' regarding Rupert Murdoch's role at the network that led the judge to launch an investigation into potential legal misconduct by Fox, according to a letter obtained by CNN. In the letter, which was dated Friday and filed with the court, Fox attorney Blake Rohrbacher said the right-wing network 'never intended to omit information' and that its inaccurate representations about Murdoch's formal role at Fox News were 'not meant to mislead the Court or evade the question.'... The legal spat revolves around Murdoch's roles at Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corporation. In past court filings, and when asked directly by the judge, Fox lawyers have repeatedly said he didn't have an official title at Fox News. But last week, Fox disclosed that he is also an executive officer at Fox News.Dominion says this distinction may have narrowed what Fox turned over as part of the discovery process...." ~~~

~~~ Truth on Trial. Elahe Izadi, et al., of the Washington Post: "One of the most closely watched media trials in decades begins Monday morning in a Delaware courtroom, as Fox News defends itself against a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit brought by a voting technology company that says its business was severely damaged by lies about a stolen presidential election. At its core, the trial will test the limits of libel law and whether Fox News can be held legally accountable for airing false election fraud claims about Dominion Voting Systems in the wake of Donald Trump's 2020 loss.... Once the trial gets underway, on-air personalities such as prime-time ratings champ Tucker Carlson, [Maria] Bartiromo and others are expected to testify, as could conservative billionaire founder Rupert Murdoch. Some observers also view the trial, which is expected to last up to six weeks, as a symbolic referendum on the truth-challenged 'alternative facts' culture that defined the Trump presidency." A Guardian story is here.

Faiz Siddiqui of the Washington Post: "Twitter has been dramatically transformed under [Elon] Musk and few -- even among some in the billionaire's corner -- say the changes have been for the better. In recent weeks, government agencies, news organizations and powerful social media influencers have questioned the usefulness of the platform, with some major players publicly abandoning their accounts or telling users they can't rely on it for urgent information. Advertisers have fled in droves over Musk's policy changes and erratic behavior on the site, causing advertising revenue to recently drop by as much as 75 percent.... Rounds of layoffs have left Twitter operating with a skeleton staff of 1,500 -- an 80 percent reduction -- and so riddled with bugs and glitches that the site goes down for hours at a time. Meanwhile, the company's valuation has cratered, Musk has said, to less than half the $44 billion he paid [for it].... A previous Post analysis found Twitter was amplifying hate speech..., thanks in part to Musk's decision to restore thousands of previously suspended accounts.... Twitter is also aggressively trying to monetize.... Meanwhile, Twitter is a shadow of its former self, without anything to replace it, one of the former workers said."

Beyond the Beltway

New Mexico. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "New Mexico police officers were questioning whether they were at the right house shortly before they fatally shot an armed homeowner this month at what turned out to be the wrong address, according to body-camera video released Friday. The release of the video comes more than a week after Robert Dotson, 52, was killed by police in Farmington, N.M., on April 5, when officers showed up to the wrong house in response to a domestic violence call.... The fatal mix-up is being investigated by the New Mexico State Police. After the officers appeared to laugh at the notion that they mixed up the addresses, police backed away and shined a light on Dotson once he came to the door.... When Dotson opened the screen door and began to raise his firearm, police opened fire on the homeowner, who quickly fell to the ground, according to body-cam video.&" (Also linked yesterday.)

New York. Hurubie Meko of the New York Times: "New York City's storefront businesses ... are ... contending with what the police say is a dramatic increase in shoplifting. But statistics also reveal a startling reality: A relative handful of shoplifters are responsible for an outsize percentage of retail crime. Nearly a third of all shoplifting arrests in New York City last year involved just 327 people, the police said. Collectively, they were arrested and rearrested more than 6,000 times, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said." MB: I've linked this story because it bears on a comment yesterday by Forrest M. Apropos of Forrest's remarks, I'm betting a few of those 327 shoplifters are very, very strong, although -- oddly! -- Meko's story makes no mention of refrigerators. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

South Dakota. Candice Ortiz of the Mediaite: "South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem explained to an NRA audience on Friday, that her toddler grandchild already has several guns.... During her speech, Noem talked about her grandchildren. 'Little Miss Addie, who is almost two, and Branch who's just a few months old, they have brought us so much joy. They've brought us purpose,' Noem explained. 'Now Addie, who you know -- soon will need them, I wanna reassure you, she already has a shotgun and she already has a rifle and she's got a little pony named Sparkles too. So the girl is set up,' Noem added. According to her office, Noem signed an executive order in the middle of her speech, designed to 'further protect the 2nd Amendment rights of South Dakotans.'" MB: Maybe she should have signed an order to protect South Dakotans from that toddler holstering a shotgun over her diapers. This woman and her family are sick. Social Services should check up on the child. MEANWHILE, Forrest M. speculates today that Sparkles is for target practice.

Tennessee. Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "A new robocall is falsely accusing the three Tennessee Democrats targeted by Republicans for expulsion from the state legislature of being violent 'Antifa' radicals. Audio of the call, which was obtained by the Tennessee Holler, describes Tennessee Democrats Justin Pearson, Justin Jones, and Gloria Johnson as 'radical activists posing as elected officials' who purportedly 'led an angry mob of Antifa intending violence' to the Tennessee State Capitol building earlier this month. The robocall also falsely claimed that law enforcement officials confiscated 'pipe bombs' from demonstrators protesting against the three Democrats' expulsion. According to the Tennessee Holler, the calls were funded by right-wing organization Enlighten Tennessee...."

Texas. Ja'han Jones of MSNBC: "... Texas' Republican governor, Greg Abbott, is a proud supporter of Daniel Perry, the Army sergeant convicted of murdering a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020. The fact Perry killed someone in opposition to conservative ideals has made him into a celebrity of sorts on the right, including many in far-right media who have called for Abbott to pardon Perry. And Abbott has wasted no time obliging.... Abbott claims a jury and a 'progressive' district attorney 'nullified' Texas' self-defense laws by convicting Perry. But a court filing released Thursday give us a clearer window into who Daniel Perry is: a racist, blood-thirsty killer who fantasized about carrying out violence against protesters and, I should note, seemed interested in connecting with young girls.... Here's just a sampling of what was found on Perry's phone, according to the court document[.]"

Way Beyond

China/Taiwan. Ellen Nakashima, et al., of the Washington Post: "Taiwan is unlikely to thwart Chinese military air superiority in a cross-strait conflict, while tactics such as China's use of civilian ships for military purposes have eroded U.S. spy agencies' ability to detect a pending invasion, according to leaked Pentagon assessments that contain troubling details about the self-governed island's ability to fend off war.... The classified documents addressing a potential conflict suggest China's air force would have a much better shot at establishing early control of the skies -- a strategy that Taipei itself believes will underpin an attack -- than Russia did in Ukraine."

Germany. Kate Brady of the Washington Post: "Germany is ending its nuclear energy era with the shutdown of its last three nuclear reactors by midnight on Saturday night -- a moment pushed by the country's steadfast anti-nuclear movement for decades and promised by successive governments, though it comes at a time when many other countries are moving in the opposite direction. Originally scheduled to be turned off by December, the three plants won a brief extension as Germany dealt with the fallout of the war in Ukraine and scrambled to find substitutes for cheap pipeline gas from Russia."

Sudan. Declan Walsh & Abdi Dahir of the New York Times: "Fighting raged across the capital of Sudan for a second day on Sunday, as months of rising tensions between factions of the armed forces suddenly spiraled into an all-out battle that threatened to scuttle the last remaining hopes of a transition to civilian rule. By Sunday morning, it was unclear who was in control of Sudan, with both the Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group each denying that the other group had claimed control of key installations. Residents of the capital hid in their homes through a night of fighting that appeared to intensify as the sun rose on Sunday. At least 56 people were dead and almost 600 injured, mostly in Khartoum.The chaos was an alarming turn for a nation that only four years ago was an inspiration in Africa and the Arab world." This is the top item of a liveblog.

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "The Kremlin-linked Wagner mercenary group released more than 100 Ukrainian prisoners of war on Sunday to mark Orthodox Easter, Reuters said that at least 50 buildings were destroyed in the attack and that there were more bodies buried in the rubble.... Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told reporters the United States should cease 'encouraging' war in Ukraine and support peace efforts." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

News Ledes

Saturday Night in the U.S.A.

New York Times: "At least four people were killed and several others were injured in a shooting on Saturday night in an Alabama city, officials said. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said in a statement on Sunday that the shooting in Dadeville took place around 10:34 p.m.... The shooting took place at the Mahogany Masterpiece dance studio, where teenagers had gathered for a birthday party, The Montgomery Advertiser reported. Dadeville is about 60 miles northeast of Montgomery, and about 3,000 people live there." A CNN report is here.

New York Times: "Two people were dead and four others injured after a shooting at a park in Louisville, Ky., on Saturday night, the police said, the latest instance of gun violence just days after five people were fatally shot at a downtown bank in the city. The shooting at Chickasaw Park occurred around 9 p.m. as hundreds of people gathered to enjoy a warm spring night outside, Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey of the Louisville Police Department said at a news conference on Saturday night. Police were still looking for a gunman as of Saturday night, and said that they were unsure if there was more than one."

April 15, 2023

Afternoon Update:

Uh-oh. Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: "One of former president Donald Trump's top lawyers on the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case is no longer working on the matter after he appeared before a federal grand jury last month, according to people familiar with the move. Evan Corcoran is still representing Trump in other cases, such as special counsel Jack Smith's probe into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.... Prosecutors investigating Trump's taking classified documents to his Mar-a-Lago Club after leaving office won a court fight that allowed them to question Corcoran when judges ruled that he could not use attorney-client privilege to avoid disclosing information about his communications with Trump.... Corcoran was forced to answer questions about Trump and his legal team's response to [a] subpoena [for documents] and regarding the communications he had with Trump about returning the documents, The Post has previously reported." CNN has a developing report here.

A Lie of Omission. Caroline Kitchener, et al., of the Washington Post: "As a lawyer for a conservative legal group, Matthew Kacsmaryk in early 2017 submitted an article to a Texas law review criticizing Obama-era protections for transgender people and those seeking abortions. The Obama administration, the draft article argued, had discounted religious physicians who 'cannot use their scalpels to make female what God created male' and 'cannot use their pens to prescribe or dispense abortifacient drugs designed to kill unborn children.' But a few months after the piece arrived, an editor at the law journal ... received an unusual email: Citing 'reasons I may discuss at a later date,' Kacsmaryk, who had originally been listed as the article's sole author, said he would be removing his name and replacing it with those of two colleagues at his legal group, First Liberty Institute.... What Kacsmaryk did not say in the email was that he had already been interviewed for a judgeship by his state's two senators and was awaiting an interview at the White House. As part of that process, he was required to list all of his published work on a questionnaire submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee.... [Kacsmaryk] did [not] list the article on the paperwork he submitted to the Senate in advance of confirmation hearings...." Read on. First Liberty claims Kacsmaryk was only a "placeholder" on the article, but there is strong evidence that is a lie. Experts the reporters consulted were not amused. The Raw Story summarizes the WashPo reporting.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times compares Shakespeare's King Lear to the U.S.'s geriatric leaders. MB: A fairly good Dowd column, IMO, though I suppose Shakespeare scholars might know otherwise.

New Mexico. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "New Mexico police officers were questioning whether they were at the right house shortly before they fatally shot an armed homeowner this month at what turned out to be the wrong address, according to body-camera video released Friday. The release of the video comes more than a week after Robert Dotson, 52, was killed by police in Farmington, N.M., on April 5, when officers showed up to the wrong house in response to a domestic violence call.... The fatal mix-up is being investigated by the New Mexico State Police. After the officers appeared to laugh at the notion that they mixed up the addresses, police backed away and shined a light on Dotson once he came to the door.... When Dotson opened the screen door and began to raise his firearm, police opened fire on the homeowner, who quickly fell to the ground, according to body-cam video."

New York. Hurubie Meko of the New York Times: "New York City's storefront businesses ... are ... contending with what the police say is a dramatic increase in shoplifting. But statistics also reveal a startling reality: A relative handful of shoplifters are responsible for an outsize percentage of retail crime. Nearly a third of all shoplifting arrests in New York City last year involved just 327 people, the police said. Collectively, they were arrested and rearrested more than 6,000 times, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said." MB: I've linked this story because it bears on a comment today by Forrest M. Apropos of Forrest's remarks, I'm betting a few of those 327 shoplifters are very, very strong, although -- oddly! -- Meko's story makes no mention of refrigerators.

~~~~~~~~~~

Local Boy Makes Good. Katie Rogers & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "In front of St. Muredach's Cathedral on the banks of the River Moy in Ballina, the town where his ancestral Irish relatives came from, President Biden drew from his family story to share a message of hope and optimism with the people of Ireland and to the rest of the world -- a message that could fuel a final presidential campaign.... Connecting his political worldview with his family story, the president told the crowd -- and the world -- that it was 'a moment to recommit our hearts, our minds, our heart and souls to the march of progress. To lay the foundation, brick by brick by brick, for a better future for our kids and our grandkids.' As Mr. Biden was leaving Ballina, he told reporters that he'd already made his decision and that he planned to run again. 'We'll announce it relatively soon,' Mr. Biden said.... Few politicians in the United States get the kind of raw, unanimous shows of approval that Mr. Biden got in Ballina, with an address in front of an august cathedral, with rock-star lighting and an uninhibited roar from an adoring crowd.... When he arrived in Ballina, the president flew in Marine One low over the crowd of thousands, drawing huge cheers amid the roar of the helicopter." ~~~

     ~~~ Pat Leahy of the Irish Times reviews President Biden's visit to Ireland. ~~~

~~~ Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Biden, who spent most of this week exploring his family lineage in Ireland, broke down in tears on Friday after an impromptu meeting with a person from his more recent past: the priest who had administered last rites to his son, Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer in 2015. Mr. Biden became emotional after seeing the priest, Friar Frank O'Grady, who was given a last-minute security approval for the meeting at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Knock, a sacred shrine for Roman Catholics, who have reported seeing apparitions of the Virgin Mary and other holy figures there. A White House official who confirmed the meeting called it 'spontaneous,' in that Friar O'Grady's presence in Knock was not known to officials who spent weeks poring over the details of the trip.... Friar O'Grady, a former U.S. Army chaplain, and had been assigned to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., when Beau Biden died at age 46.... Later, Mr. Biden visited a hospice center in Knock, where a plaque hangs in memory of his son." The Irish Times story is here.

Mariya Manzhos, and Devlin Barrett & John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guard member suspected of leaking a trove of classified military intelligence, was charged by the federal government Friday with retention and transmission of national defense information and willful retention of classified documents. Teixeira, 21, appeared shortly after 10 a.m. Eastern before Magistrate Judge David Hennessy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Boston. The two criminal charges carry a maximum of 15 years in prison. Teixeira did not enter a plea and is detained pending a hearing on Wednesday. The government is seeking continued detention.... The complaint alleges that Teixeira even used his top secret clearance to try to figure out if the leak hunters were on to him." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The CBS News story is here. The story also includes a copy of the criminal complaint. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Or you can read a full-page version here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Shane Harris, et al., of the Washington Post: "It's still unclear how closely [Jack] Teixeira was monitored, if at all. But the timeline of his alleged activities, based on interviews with members of his Discord server group, as well as an FBI affidavit, shows that he was able to remove page after page of classified material, for months on end, with apparently no notice.... Every time a trusted employee has walked off the job with classified information, U.S. officials have reassured the public that lessons learned will lead to new guardrails that will make breaches less likely. They have consistently proved insufficient.... Texeira, in his tech support role, had a legitimate need for access to the systems that house classified information, said a ... former intelligence official.... Teixeria's case highlights what some longtime intelligence officials often refer to as the 'clerk problem.' Any organization that handles sensitive information will always need a significant number of junior employees to help manage and share it." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The "clerk problem" should be relatively easy to solve. Just as you can move around a cardboard carton without opening it, clerks should be able to distribute & file secret documents without having the ability to open them. It's true that even titles of memos can be revealing; e.g., "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US." But clerks do not necessarily need to know even the titles, since it should not be clerks who determine who should see particular classified documents.

Evan Hill, et al., of the Washington Post: "U.S. intelligence agencies were aware of up to four additional Chinese spy balloons, and questions lingered about the true capabilities of the one that flew over the continental United States in January and February, according to previously unreported top-secret intelligence documents. The Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States this year, called Killeen-23 by U.S. intelligence agencies, carried a raft of sensors and antennas the U.S. government still had not identified more than a week after shooting it down, according to a document allegedly leaked to a Discord chatroom by Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard."

Rose Horowitch of NBC News: "Former Rep. Liz Cheney said Thursday that GOP firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene should not have a security clearance after Greene defended the Air National Guardsman suspected of leaking a trove of classified documents. Cheney ... said Greene's comments made clear that she 'cannot be trusted' with national security information.... Greene [is] a member of the Homeland Security Committee...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ In fairness to Miss Margie, she may have been confused about the whole traitor thing because she has been very busy overseeing home improvements: ~~~

     ~~~ David McAfee of the Raw Story: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) spent more than $65,000 on fencing for her home this year using campaign funds, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission records.... The campaign expenditure is legal due to FEC rules allowing candidates greater ability to spend campaign cash on personal protection, but spending more than $65,000 on her home fence stands out in a district where $54,634 was the median household income for a whole year in 2020." MB: But it's a very nice fence.

~~~ We Have Seen the Enemy and He is Joe Biden. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "On his show Thursday night, [Tucker] Carlson -- who does not appear to have done any reporting of his own -- ... suggested that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin lied to Congress when he said that Russia was losing the war, an assertion that Carlson claimed (falsely) was disproved by the documents ... from [Jack] Teixeira's chatroom.... 'Instead, the only man who has been taken into custody or likely ever will be is a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman who leaked the slides that showed that Lloyd Austin was lying,' Carlson said. 'He revealed the crimes, therefore he's the criminal.'... [Carlson] accused the government of illegally surveilling Teixeira (without explaining this claim) and declared that The Post and the Times were its 'accomplices' for reporting on Teixeira's alleged actions." Bump wraps Marjorie Taylor Greene's support for Teixeira's crimes with Carlson's rationale for supporting the young (alleged!) traitor: like them, Teixeira heroically acted to undermine the Biden administration.

Lindsay Whitehurst & Christopher Sherman of the AP: "The Justice Department on Friday charged 28 members of Mexico's powerful Sinaloa cartel, including sons of notorious drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, in a sprawling fentanyl-trafficking investigation. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the charges alongside Drug Enforcement Administration chief Anne Milgram and other top federal prosecutors. The charges were filed against cartel leaders, as well alleged chemical suppliers, lab managers, fentanyl traffickers, security leaders, financiers and weapons traffickers.... The indictments also charge Chinese and Guatemalan citizens accused of supplying precursor chemicals required to make fentanyl.... In outlining the charges Friday, Garland described the violence of the Sinaloa cartel and how its members have tortured perceived enemies, including Mexican law enforcement officials. In some cases, cartel members have also fed victims, some some still alive, to tigers owned by Guzman's sons, Garland said. Eight of those charged in Friday's case have been arrested and remain in the custody of law enforcement officials outside the U.S. The U.S. government is offering rewards for several others charged in the case." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A rioter who pinned a D.C. officer to a doorway in a mob attack on police trying to defend a tunnel entrance during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced to 7½ years in prison on Friday, after a judge called him 'a poster child of all that was dangerous and appalling about that day's violence. Patrick McCaughey, of Ridgefield, Conn., committed the 'most egregious' attacks on police out of three men found guilty at a bench trial in September of assaulting and impeding police at the Capitol's Lower West Terrace on the day Congress met to confirm Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election, U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden said. After pushing through bike racks and taunting and chasing officers up steps, McCaughey used a stolen riot shield to pin D.C. police officer Daniel Hodges to a metal door frame in a tunnel that was a chokepoint for rioters trying to enter the building. McCaughey used his weight and the weight of the mob behind him to crush Hodges, while another man beat him with a baton." ~~~

     ~~~ In a victim impact statement, Officer Hodges effectively called Donald Trump "a would-be dictator" who "decided[d] to try his luck against the United States." The NBC News story, by Ryan Reilly, is here.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. issued a temporary stay on Friday ensuring that a common abortion pill would remain widely available while the Supreme Court decides whether to grant a formal stay. The interim stay will expire at midnight on Wednesday. Such a stay is meant to preserve the status quo while the justices study the briefs and lower court rulings, and it did not forecast how the justices would ultimately rule. Justice Alito, the member of the court responsible for overseeing the appeals court whose ruling is at issue, ordered the groups challenging the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the pill to file their brief by Tuesday at noon." MB: It isn't clear to me what the "status quo" is. I'll try to find out. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Robert Barnes & Ann Marimow of the Washington Post make it more clear: "The Supreme Court on Friday temporarily restored full access to a key abortion medication, putting on hold a lower court's decision suspending government approval of the pill used in more than half of all abortions in the United States." (Also linked yesterday.)

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Democratic lawmakers are calling for an investigation into Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas after ProPublica revealed Thursday that he had failed to report real estate deals made with Harlan Crow, a Dallas business executive and influential Republican donor to causes related to the law and judiciary.... Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) called on the Judicial Conference, the federal court system's policymaking body, to refer Thomas to the U.S. attorney general for potential ethics violations. In addition to the justice's unreported gifts and real estate deals, the lawmakers noted that Thomas admitted in 2011 he had failed to report $680,000 of his wife's income from a conservative think tank.... Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) called on Thomas to resign, after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said last week that the House should impeach the justice. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) said Thomas 'must resign or be impeached.' Other lawmakers vented their frustration at a lack of accountability.... On Friday, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a civil and criminal complaint against Thomas...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "In reading ... defenses of [Harlan] Crow..., I was struck by how each defender takes the billionaire's rationalization as his own. Each one seems to accept, without question, that an enemy of tyranny would keep mementos of the tyrants to remind himself of his hatred.... When we want to memorialize an atrocity or a crime -- when we want to remember the consequences and costs of evil -- we focus on the victims.... Even in the privacy of your own home, it does not make sense to honor victims of tyranny with statues of the tyrants or knickknacks from their regimes." (Also linked yesterday.)

AP: "The digital media conglomerate Starboard said Friday it purchased the conservative social media site Parler and will temporarily take down the app as it undergoes a 'strategic assessment.' 'No reasonable person believes that a Twitter clone just for conservatives is a viable business any more,' Starboard said in a news release Friday announcing the acquisition.... [Parlar] was briefly booted off some platforms in 2021 due to its connections to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and its user base remains small."

Presidential Race 2024. Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "... as the most prominent current and potential Republican presidential candidates spoke before the annual gathering of the National Rifle Association, most virulently rejected the idea that more gun restrictions could curb bloodshed, even as two American cities are still mourning the latest massacres in the nation's gun violence epidemic. 'This is not a gun problem,' insisted ... Donald J. Trump in a dark and meandering speech on Friday afternoon.... Mike Pence..., who faced boos as he took the stage, also toed the line. 'Stop trampling on the God-given rights of the American people every time tragedy happens,' Mr. Pence said, directing his comments at 'gun control extremists.' And to warm applause, Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota signed an executive order onstage 'to protect the God-given right to keep and bear arms from being infringed upon by financial institutions.' In many ways, the gathering was part of a pattern -- a devastating mass shooting, followed by Republican displays of fealty to a group that rejects even many modest efforts to curb gun violence -- that underscores a central and deepening tension in the broader American culture wars"

Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "Mike Pompeo, who served in the Trump administration as director of the C.I.A. and then as secretary of state, said on Friday that he would not seek the Republican nomination for president in 2024.... He said he had not made his decision based on ... Donald J. Trump's lead in early polls of the Republican race. He also declined to endorse Mr. Trump and obliquely criticized him, saying, 'I think Americans are thirsting for people making arguments, not just tweets.'" An NBC News story is here. MB: Aw, I'm sure this saddens us all.

Michael Bender, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump provided the first look at his post-presidency business dealings on Friday with a new personal financial disclosure. Though light on specifics, the documents filed with the Federal Election Commission revealed lower-than-expected values on his social media company, two additional hefty bank loans and a new income stream for former first lady Melania Trump. The former president filed his disclosure after requesting multiple extensions. He had been warned that he would face fines if he failed to file within 30 days of a March 16 deadline.... Here are six takeaways from the 101-page filing."

Beyond the Beltway

Arkansas. Sarah, You're the Greatest! Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "The office of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR) is blaming a controversial state job application form demanding prospective hires write a short essay on what they admire about her most on a 'design error,' reported the Arkansas Times on Friday. [Austin Bailey, who reported the story for the Arkansas Times, asked] 'Who among us hasn't accidentally required job applicants to write 500-word essays on how great we are?'... According to Sanders spokesperson Alexa Henning, that question was intended only for people applying for summer internships, not official positions on state boards.... '... we'll grant that requiring a loyalty oath from interns is slightly less cringe than requiring it of, say, an Arkansas Catfish Promotion Board member,' [Bailey wrote]." MB: The state has revised the questionnaire for board applications, presumable with the requirement to fawn over Gov. Huckleberry eliminated.

Minnesota. Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "The city of Minneapolis agreed to pay nearly $9 million to settle lawsuits filed by two people who accused former police officer Derek Chauvin of pressing his knee into their necks during arrests years before he used the same maneuver on George Floyd and killed him. The civil lawsuits, filed last year, stemmed from two separate incidents in 2017.... They allege Chauvin, who is White, used excessive and unnecessary force against two Black people including a 14-year-old boy who was left bloody and unconscious when Chauvin hit him with a flashlight and choked and pinned him while responding to a domestic violence call. The Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to pay $7.5 million to John Pope, who is now 20, to settle claims related to that September 2017 incident. The council also approved a $1.4 million settlement to Zoya Code, who was handcuffed, face down and not resisting when Chauvin slammed her head into the ground and pinned his knee into her neck during a separate domestic violence investigation in June 2017, according to body-camera footage." The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Richard Luscombe of the Guardian: "The mayor of Minneapolis said George Floyd would still be alive if the city's police department had 'done the right thing' and fired officer Derek Chauvin in 2017 after complaints he knelt on the necks of two people he arrested. Jacob Frey was speaking at a press conference on Thursday announcing the city had reached a $8.9m settlement in two excessive force lawsuits.... 'He should have been fired in 2017. He should have been held accountable in 2017,' Frey said, apologizing to the victims and blaming the officer's supervisors for failing to act. '[If they] had done the right thing, George Floyd would not have been murdered.'... Brian O'Hara, the Minneapolis police chief..., also cited 'systemic failure' within the department." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Say, Mayor and Chief, are those so-called supervisors still on the job?

Montana. David McCabe of the New York Times: "The Montana House of Representatives on Friday approved a total ban on TikTok inside the state, setting up the state's Republican governor to sign the first-of-its-kind prohibition into law. The legislation, which would also bar app stores from carrying TikTok, the wildly popular viral video app, was approved 54 to 43 in the last of two votes in the State House. The State Senate passed it in March. Gov. Greg Gianforte [R] must decide whether to sign the bill into law, veto it or do nothing for 10 days after receiving the bill and let it become law without his signature. A spokeswoman for Mr. Gianforte, Brooke Metrione, said he would 'carefully consider any bill the Legislature sends to his desk.' A TikTok spokeswoman, Brooke Oberwetter, said in a statement that supporters of the bill had admitted they didn't have a feasible plan for carrying out the ban.... A trade group funded by Apple and Google has said the companies cannot stop app downloads in a single state. Critics of the legislation say that TikTok users could disguise their location to maintain access to the app, and that the ban may be hard to enforce in border towns.... The ban will probably be challenged in court if it becomes law [on First Amendment grounds]." The Daily Montanan story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Glad to read Gov. Greg is going to carefully consider the bill, because he doesn't carefully consider much.

New York. Golden Words. Nicholas Fandos & Jay Root of the New York Times: "Although she has no shortage of in-house communicators, policy analysts and budget experts at her disposal, [New York Gov. Kathy] Hochul, a Democrat, has spent nearly $2 million on additional help, mostly on the giant consulting firms Deloitte Consulting and the Boston Consulting Group, in shaping her vision for the state delivered each January.... This year, Ms. Hochul's office spent $871,000 on three outside firms to prepare for the [state-of-the-state] speech, the records show. By far the largest amount went to the Boston Consulting Group, which got $838,000 for what is listed as 'SOS support.' But the executive chamber also authorized $8,000 to copy-edit [a] book that Gotham Ghostwriters helped assemble. The figures were even higher in 2022, when the governor's office paid an outside writer, an editor and a speech-writing firm, Fenway Strategies, a total of about $60,000. Deloitte received $1,017,221 that year for 'project management' for its work on a book and speech that set the tone for Ms. Hochul's first full year as governor and her re-election campaign."

It's been a bad week for 21-year-old Air National Guardsmen: ~~~

~~~ Tennessee. Michael Roppolo of CBS News: "A 21-year-old Air National Guardsman in Tennessee is facing federal charges after sending his resume to a nefariously-named site -- all because he said he needed money to support his family, court documents said. The FBI alleges Josiah Ernesto Garcia used a site called 'Rent-a-Hitman' to apply for a job as an assassin. Garcia was arrested at a park in Hendersonville, Tennessee, on Wednesday by an undercover agent, according to a news release. It's the latest in a string of reported arrests linked to the website, originally created in 2005 to advertise a cyber security startup company that never took off. Instead, it became a parody site -- complete with false testimonials, a request form, and a job application for aspiring hitmen."

Texas. Kelsey Ables of the Washington Post: "Daniel Perry, the man who killed a Black Lives Matter protester at a rally in Austin in July 2020, regularly shared racist memes and content in private messages and social media posts, including descriptions of killing protesters and minorities, newly unsealed court documents reveal.... The documents, which were shared online by the Houston Chronicle on Thursday, have become public just days after Perry, a 37-year-old Army sergeant and ride-sharing driver, was convicted of murdering 28-year-old Garrett Foster. Shortly after Perry's conviction, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said he was seeking an expedited pardon for Perry, citing the state's 'stand your ground' self-defense laws. Travis County District Attorney José Garza called it 'deeply troubling.' Perry has not been sentenced yet." The article cites some of the content from Perry's racist posts, which encourage violence against protesters.

Way Beyond

France. Claire Parker of the Washington Post: "A top French court on Friday approved controversial legislation to raise the retirement age, clearing the way for the change to become law and giving a victory to French President Emmanuel Macron, even as opponents vowed to continue protests that have rocked the country for months. In its much-anticipated decision, the Constitutional Council, France's highest constitutional authority, validated a measure to raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 -- a proposed change that has sparked the most significant unrest France has seen in years.... Opposition to the reform shows no signs of abating, with protests already underway across France on Friday...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Japan. Motoko Rich, et al., of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan was safely evacuated on Saturday from a site where an explosion had been heard just before he was scheduled to give a speech, the country's national broadcaster said.... Video footage posted by the broadcaster showed billowing white smoke rising from a site close to a fishing port where supporters had gathered to wait for the prime minister to arrive.... A spokesman for the police department in Wakayama said on Saturday that a suspect had been arrested in the case and was in custody."

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the leader of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, suggested in an online post that Moscow declare it had met the goals of its 'special military operation' and put an end to the war in Ukraine. Prigozhin said that Russia had succeeded in killing a large number of military-aged Ukrainian men -- and prompted others to flee the country.... Having seized a 'fat chunk' of Ukrainian territory, the strategic option for Russia would be to lock down and defend those gains, Prigozhin wrote in the lengthy post published Friday. He also wrote that the Pentagon leaks may have been coordinated to delay the start of Ukraine's long-promised counteroffensive...."

"Fierce battles are continuing in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Bakhmut and Maryinka, the Ukrainian military said early Saturday. Russian forces appear to have made gains in northwest and southwestern Bakhmut, according to the Institute for the Study of War..., which cited geolocated footage. Russia carried out multiple air and missile strikes against Ukrainian civilian and military targets, the Ukrainian military said Saturday. In the city of Sloviansk, in the Donetsk region, eight people were killed and 21 wounded, according to the Ukrainian regional head.... Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed support for Chinese leader Xi Jinping's proposal to end the fighting in Ukraine when the two met in Beijing on Friday. China's plan does not call for the withdrawal of Russian troops. Lula has also positioned himself as a potential mediator between Russia and Ukraine, declining to join the Biden administration in condemning Russia's invasion." ~~~

~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here.

April 14, 2023

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. issued a temporary stay on Friday ensuring that a common abortion pill would remain widely available while the Supreme Court decides whether to grant a formal stay. The interim stay will expire at midnight on Wednesday. Such a stay is meant to preserve the status quo while the justices study the briefs and lower court rulings, and it did not forecast how the justices would ultimately rule. Justice Alito, the member of the court responsible for overseeing the appeals court whose ruling is at issue, ordered the groups challenging the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the pill to file their brief by Tuesday at noon." MB: It isn't immediately clear to me what the "status quo" is. I'll try to find out. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Robert Barnes & Ann Marimow of the Washington Post make it more clear: "The Supreme Court on Friday temporarily restored full access to a key abortion medication, putting on hold a lower court's decision suspending government approval of the pill used in more than half of all abortions in the United States."

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Democratic lawmakers are calling for an investigation into Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas after ProPublica revealed Thursday that he had failed to report real estate deals made with Harlan Crow, a Dallas business executive and influential Republican donor to causes related to the law and judiciary.... Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) called on the Judicial Conference, the federal court system's policymaking body, to refer Thomas to the U.S. attorney general for potential ethics violations. In addition to the justice's unreported gifts and real estate deals, the lawmakers noted that Thomas admitted in 2011 he had failed to report $680,000 of his wife's income from a conservative think tank.... Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) called on Thomas to resign, after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said last week that the House should impeach the justice. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) said Thomas 'must resign or be impeached.' Other lawmakers vented their frustration at a lack of accountability.... On Friday, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a civil and criminal complaint against Thomas...."

Mariya Manzhos, and Devlin Barrett & John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guard member suspected of leaking a trove of classified military intelligence, was charged by the federal government Friday with retention and transmission of national defense information and willful retention of classified documents. Teixeira, 21, appeared shortly after 10 a.m. Eastern before Magistrate Judge David Hennessy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Boston. The two criminal charges carry a maximum of 15 years in prison. Teixeira did not enter a plea and is detained pending a hearing on Wednesday. The government is seeking continued detention.... The complaint alleges that Teixeira even used his top secret clearance to try to figure out if the leak hunters were on to him." ~~~

     ~~~ The CBS News story is here. The story also includes a copy of the criminal complaint. ~~~

     ~~~ Or you can read a full-page version here. ~~~

~~~ Rose Horowitch of NBC News "Former Rep. Liz Cheney said Thursday that GOP firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene should not have a security clearance after Greene defended the Air National Guardsman suspected of leaking a trove of classified documents. Cheney ... said Greene's comments made clear that she 'cannot be trusted' with national security information.... Greene [is] a member of the Homeland Security Committee...." Related story linked below.

Lindsay Whitehurst & Christopher Sherman of the AP: "The Justice Department on Friday charged 28 members of Mexico's powerful Sinaloa cartel, including sons of notorious drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, in a sprawling fentanyl-trafficking investigation. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the charges alongside Drug Enforcement Administration chief Anne Milgram and other top federal prosecutors. The charges were filed against cartel leaders, as well alleged chemical suppliers, lab managers, fentanyl traffickers, security leaders, financiers and weapons traffickers.... The indictments also charge Chinese and Guatemalan citizens accused of supplying precursor chemicals required to make fentanyl.... In outlining the charges Friday, Garland described the violence of the Sinaloa cartel and how its members have tortured perceived enemies, including Mexican law enforcement officials. In some cases, cartel members have also fed victims, some some still alive, to tigers owned by Guzman's sons, Garland said. Eight of those charged in Friday's case have been arrested and remain in the custody of law enforcement officials outside the U.S. The U.S. government is offering rewards for several others charged in the case."

The New York Times is live-updating developments in the Discord leaks case.

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "In reading ... defenses of [Harlan] Crow..., I was struck by how each defender takes the billionaire's rationalization as his own. Each one seems to accept, without question, that an enemy of tyranny would keep mementos of the tyrants to remind himself of his hatred.... When we want to memorialize an atrocity or a crime -- when we want to remember the consequences and costs of evil -- we focus on the victims.... Even in the privacy of your own home, it does not make sense to honor victims of tyranny with statues of the tyrants or knickknacks from their regimes."

France. Claire Parker of the Washington Post: "A top French court on Friday approved controversial legislation to raise the retirement age, clearing the way for the change to become law and giving a victory to French President Emmanuel Macron, even as opponents vowed to continue protests that have rocked the country for months. In its much-anticipated decision, the Constitutional Council, France's highest constitutional authority, validated a measure to raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 -- a proposed change that has sparked the most significant unrest France has seen in years.... Opposition to the reform shows no signs of abating, with protests already underway across France on Friday...."

~~~~~~~~~~

News About (Alleged!) Criminals

** Haley Willis, et al., of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. arrested a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard on Thursday in connection with the leak of dozens of highly classified documents containing an array of national security secrets, including the breadth of surveillance the United States is able to conduct on Russia. Airman First Class Jack Douglas Teixeira was taken into custody to face charges of leaking classified documents after federal authorities said he had posted batches of sensitive intelligence to an online gaming chat group, called Thug Shaker Central. As reporters from The New York Times gathered near the house on Thursday afternoon, about a half-dozen F.B.I. agents pushed into the home of Airman Teixeira's mother in North Dighton, with a twin-engine government surveillance plane keeping watch overhead. Some of the agents arrived heavily armed. Law enforcement officials learned before the search that Airman Teixeira was in possession of multiple weapons..., and the F.B.I. found guns at the house....

In Washington, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, in a brief statement, announced the arrest and said Airman Teixeira would be arraigned at the Federal District Court in Massachusetts. Mr. Garland said he was arrested in connection with the 'unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information,' a reference to the Espionage Act.... The arrest raised questions about why such a junior enlisted airman had access to such an array of potentially damaging secrets, why adequate safeguards had not been put in place after earlier leaks and why a young man would risk his freedom.... The F.B.I. had been zeroing in on Airman Teixeira for several days, tracking its own investigative clues as well as some of the same information that The Times and The Washington Post had developed.... As reporters uncovered more information, law enforcement officials had to speed up their investigation." Read on. Earlier versions of this story were linked yesterday.

~~~ The Guardian's story is here. CNN's report is here. ~~~

~~~ Dan Lamothe & others of the Washington Post profile Jack Teixeira. ~~~

~~~ John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Biden said Thursday that an investigation into the leak of a massive trove of classified U.S. military documents is 'getting close' to a resolution and downplayed the fallout from secrets that have exposed U.S. spying on allies and revealed the grim prospects for Ukraine's war with Russia, among other things. 'There is a full-blown investigation going on, as you know, with the intelligence community and the Justice Department, and they're getting close,' Biden told reporters in Dublin, [Ireland]..., when asked if he could provide an update on the investigation. Biden did not elaborate on the status of the investigation beyond that, saying he was not in a position to do so." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Miss Margie Burrows Further Down the Rabbit Hole. Zoë Richards of NBC News: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Thursday defended the man arrested in connection with a high-profile investigation into leaked classified documents. In a tweet just hours after the FBI arrested Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, 21, Greene, R-Ga., praised his alleged actions.... 'Jake Teixeira is white, male, christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime. And he told the truth about troops being on the ground in Ukraine and a lot more,' Greene, a member of the Homeland Security Committee, said on Twitter. 'Ask yourself who is the real enemy?'" MB: This is of course the representative of the people who calls the insurrectionists "prisoners of war." Besides, if Donald Trump is showing classified docs to his friends, there's nothing wrong with a nice "white, male, christian" showing a few top-secret war plans and such to his friends.

** The Thomas-Crow Affair, Ctd. Justin Elliott, et al., of ProPublica: "In 2014, one of Texas billionaire Harlan Crow's companies purchased a string of properties on a quiet residential street in Savannah, Georgia.... What made [the sale] noteworthy were the people on the other side of the deal: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his relatives. The transaction marks the first known instance of money flowing from the Republican megadonor to the Supreme Court justice.... [Crow] now owned the house where the justice's elderly mother was living. Soon after the sale was completed, contractors began work on tens of thousands of dollars of improvements on the two-bedroom, one-bathroom home.... A federal disclosure law passed after Watergate requires justices and other officials to disclose the details of most real estate sales over $1,000. Thomas never disclosed his sale of the Savannah properties. That appears to be a violation of the law, four ethics law experts told ProPublica." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Your move, John Roberts. There is now no plausible excuse not to push Thomas out the door. Don't worry; he can get a job with one of Ginni's disreputable outlets. Or maybe working for Harlan Crow: polishing Hitler's silverware, for instance. ~~~

     ~~~ Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat from Rhode Island, said in a statement that he would call on the policymaking body for the federal courts to refer Justice Thomas to the attorney general for potential violations of government ethics law.... He said ... that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. should open an ethics investigation into Justice Thomas's financial ties to [Harlan] Crow and his 'apparent brazen disregard for disclosure laws.'" The article points to some of the largesse Crow has bestowed on the Supreme Court & institutions and organizations of significance to Clarence & Ginni Thomas. ~~~

~~~ Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: Clarence "Thomas's relationship with [Harlan] Crow and the accuracy of his financial disclosure reports must now be fully scrutinized by the Judicial Conference of the United States, which oversees the federal judiciary and may refer the matter to the Justice Department for additional action. As Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. surely understands, this is a problem not just for Thomas but also for the court and its public legitimacy.... Crow told [ProPublica] that the transaction was 'at market rate.' The year before, he bought two other properties -- a vacant lot and a house on the same block for $40,000. Thomas, in earlier financial disclosure forms, listed his one-third interest in 'rental property' in Savannah at $15,000 or less." Crow purchased the property for $133,363, and then made substantial improvements on the house Clarence's mother occupied. Crow also pays the property taxes on it. "Thomas's obligation to report the real estate deal couldn't be clearer. He had reported the property as an asset. Selling it was a transaction that necessitated disclosure."

The Biggest Loser Is Losing. Alan Feuer & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "After nearly nine months of behind-the-scenes clashes, [Donald] Trump's lawyers have largely lost their battle to limit testimony from some of his closest aides to a federal grand jury. The decisions, in a string of related cases, represent an almost total failure by Mr. Trump to constrain the reach of the inquiry and have strengthened the position of Jack Smith, the special counsel overseeing the investigation, as he builds an accounting of the former president's efforts to retain power after his defeat at the polls.... On Thursday, it was John Ratcliffe, the former director of national intelligence. The process could culminate near the end of this month with an appearance by former Vice President Mike Pence." ~~~

~~~ Zachary Cohen, et al., of CNN: "Former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell testified Thursday before a grand jury investigating Donald Trump's handling of classified documents.... Grenell was subpoenaed to testify in special counsel Jack Smith's ongoing criminal probe, according to a source.... While serving in the administration, Grenell embarked upon an effort to declassify documents that were of interest to Trump because the then-president believed they could delegitimize the Russia investigation. Grenell remained in Trump's orbit even after the former president left office and has been seen at his Mar-a-Lago resort as recently as last week.... Grenell ... told NBC News [in August 2022]: 'There is no approval process for the president of the United States to declassify intelligence. There is this phony idea that he must provide notification for declassification but that's just silly. Who is he supposed to notify? I think it's the height of swampism to think the president should seek bureaucrats' approval.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So here's Trump's defense in the documents case: Before I left office, I declassified every document that would remain in my possession. So I neither possessed classified documents after I temporarily moved to Mar-a-Lago nor did I show or otherwise disseminate classified documents to unauthorized persons. While it's true I retained some documents, these were merely copies of documents the National Archives would already have obtained. In this entire hoax of a "case," there's no there there.

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump was questioned under oath on Thursday in a civil fraud lawsuit brought by Attorney General Letitia James of New York, the latest in a series of legal predicaments entangling the former president, who also faces a separate 34-count criminal indictment unsealed last week. Ms. James's civil case, which was filed in September and is expected to go to trial later this year, accuses Mr. Trump, his family business and three of his children of a 'staggering' fraud for overvaluing the former president's assets by billions of dollars.... Mr. Trump was questioned for much of the day on Thursday.... People with knowledge of the proceeding said that Mr. Trump answered questions without asserting his right against self-incrimination. The session was neither overly combative nor polite, they said, but Mr. Trump provided some substantive answers. In a statement Thursday evening, Alina Habba, one of Mr. Trump's lawyers, said that he had answered every question." This is an update of a story linked yesterday.

Rachel Weiner & Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "A D.C. court has refused to decide whether Donald Trump was doing presidential work when he denied raping a woman, leaving unresolved whether his alleged victim can sue for defamation. The decision-less decision on the matter issued by the D.C. Court of Appeals on Thursday leaves in limbo a trial originally planned for this month. But a second suit brought by the same woman, based on statements Trump made after leaving office, is set for trial in less than two weeks. That lawsuit also accuses Trump of battery, a claim made possible by changes in New York sexual assault law.... Adopting the Justice Department's position would end [E. Jean] Carroll's suit because the federal government cannot be sued for defamation. A federal court in New York, unable to reach a decision, asked for the D.C. appellate court to interpret the city's employment law. The court declined.... The case will be sent back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit for an ultimate ruling on whether the case will go forward. The D.C. court did clarify its understanding of the employment law in ways that are generally helpful to Carroll. 'Elected officials speaking to the press' are not always acting 'within the scope of that official's employment,' the court said.... The court said that a professional motivation can be so 'insignificant' that it does not count as work." The ABC News report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Benjamin Weiser & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn and a harsh critic of ... Donald J. Trump, has helped pay for a lawsuit by E. Jean Carroll, the New York magazine writer who sued Mr. Trump for rape and defamation, according to newly filed court papers in the case. Mr. Hoffman's support for Ms. Carroll's lawsuit, which was first disclosed in a letter to a judge on Thursday by Mr. Trump's lawyers, has sparked a sharp dispute in the case, which is scheduled for trial in federal court in Manhattan on April 25. Mr. Trump's lawyers, writing to the judge..., said the disclosure raised 'significant questions' about Ms. Carroll's credibility and whether her allegations against Mr. Trump were, as he has claimed, a 'hoax' brought 'to advance a political agenda.' They asked for a one-month postponement so they could investigate the funding issue. The judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, on Thursday evening said he would allow Mr. Trump's lawyers the opportunity to conduct a narrow inquiry into the funding issue, but he declined to delay the case." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yeah, not fair because defendant Trump has only millions & millions of dollars which he raised by scamming the rubes.

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "... Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is set to chair a Judiciary Committee hearing in New York City on Monday that will target Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's indictment of ... Donald Trump. But the emerging details are already shining a harsh light on what you might call the 'governing by Fox News' problem, in which Republicans use committee hearings to create right-wing media boomlets but ultimately run into the buzz saw of outside scrutiny.... Democrats ... plan to use the proceedings to amplify the message that Republicans have no business griping about crime when they refuse action on gun safety in the wake of one horrific mass shooting after another.... Committee Democrats, led by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), also plan to push back against lurid and widely debunked GOP claims about Bragg, New York City and crime.... And Democrats plan to highlight potential coordination between Trump's defense team and Republicans. CNN reports that Trump has been in direct contact with Republicans on committees that are trying to investigate Bragg's office to 'shore up support.'..." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

AND A Couple of Convicted Criminals. Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post: "A convicted Jan. 6 rioter who expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler and studied high-profile killers was sentenced to three years in federal prison Thursday for possessing firearm silencers that he did not register with authorities. A federal judge said Hatchet M. Speed, 41, a former Navy reservist who held a top-secret security clearance, betrayed 'everything he pledged to protect' and posed a danger to society because of his extremist views on political violence and his stockpile of firearms." Emphasis added. MB: It sure looks easy for right-wing nuts to get top security clearances. ~~~

~~~ Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A former bodybuilder and romance novel cover model who dragged a police officer down the stairs of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was sentenced to three years on Thursday by US District Judge Rudolph Contreras. Logan Barnhart, a 42-year-old from Michigan, was identified by online sleuths who used facial recognition to turn up images of him at bodybuilding competitions. He was arrested in August 2021. Barnhart pleaded guilty in September 2022 to assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon. 'During the course of this attack, Barnhart grabbed an officer's neck and torso and dragged him in a prone position from the police line, out of the Archway, and down a set of stairs into the violent mob, where the officer was further attacked with weapons, including a flagpole and a baton, and sustained physical injuries,' prosecutors wrote." MB: No bodice-ripping for a while, fella. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Normal-ish News

Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "President Biden highlighted the strength of the ties between Ireland and the U.S. in a speech before the Irish Parliament on Thursday after his meeting with Irish President Michael Higgins in Dublin. The trip has afforded Mr. Biden the opportunity to combine diplomacy with a little exploration of his Irish ancestry. 'Today, you are amongst friends, because you are one of us,' said Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl, effectively the speaker of the lower chamber, addressing Mr. Biden before his speech." Video of the full speech is here. ~~~

Lauren Gurley & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "President Biden's nomination of Julie Su for Labor Department secretary is at risk of failing, according to a person familiar with the matter. Even as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is scheduled to take the first step toward her confirmation to head the Labor Department on April 20, Su faces a tough road. Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) has expressed strong concerns to the White House about her, according to the person familiar with the situation.... If one more Democrat votes against her, or even misses the vote, there would not be enough support for her to be confirmed."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. was examining whether a foreign government had targeted a Republican lawmaker for an intelligence operation when the bureau conducted botched searches for information about him within messages swept up under an expiring warrantless surveillance law, according to people familiar with the matter. The disclosure helps clarify the circumstances surrounding the scrutiny of the lawmaker, Representative Darin LaHood of Illinois, and carries policy implications as Congress debates whether to reauthorize the surveillance law, known as Section 702.... Last month..., Mr. LaHood said at a House Intelligence Committee hearing that he had concluded that he was the lawmaker.... The F.B.I..., people [familiar with the matter] said, did not suspect Mr. LaHood of any wrongdoing." (Also linked yesterday.)

No Surprise Here. Ryan Nobles, et al., of NBC News: "Senate Republicans are not inclined to offer Democrats an easy off-ramp to replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., on the Judiciary Committee as she remains on medical leave with no timeline to return, aides tell NBC News.... Replacing Feinstein on the panel, even on a short-term basis, would require approval from the full Senate.... There appears to be broad consensus [among Republicans] that [Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer [D-N.Y.] and his colleagues will need to negotiate some sort of deal that Republicans would be willing to go along with, according to the [five GOP] aides.... A spokesperson for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declined to comment.... A failure by Democrats to secure a temporary replacement for Feinstein could reignite pressure for her to step down."

** Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "The Justice Department said on Thursday that it would [ask] the Supreme Court to block a ruling by a federal appeals panel that limited the distribution and access to the abortion pill mifepristone.... 'The Justice Department strongly disagrees with the Fifth Circuit's decision' Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement Thursday, adding that the Biden administration would 'defend the F.D.A.]s scientific judgment and protect Americans' access to safe and effective reproductive care.'... Danco Laboratories, which makes Mifeprex, the brand-name version of mifepristone, will also petition the court for emergency relief, planning to file Friday, a lawyer for the company, Jessica Ellsworth, said...." This is an update of a story linked yesterday. The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: "Do not be confused by headlines that a federal appeals court has allowed the abortion drug mifepristone to remain available. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit's action is a defeat for the rule of law, for scientific expertise and for reproductive health. The bottom line -- if the order stands ... -- is that mifepristone will be available only through seven weeks of pregnancy, not the 10 weeks that the Food and Drug Administration has said is safe and effective. Women won't be able to obtain the medication through the mail, and will be able to get it only after in-person office visits -- not one but three. Only physicians will be allowed to dispense it. This is judicial activism cloaked in compromise clothing...."

Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Thursday refused a request by a group of colleges to block a $6 billion settlement that will cancel the student loans of about 200,000 borrowers who say they were defrauded by their schools. The court denied the application for an emergency stay of the settlement without comment or dissent. The case is unrelated to President Biden's broader effort to forgive up to $20,000 in student debt for tens of millions of borrowers, which the justices are set to rule on in the coming months. But opponents of that sweeping policy had hoped a successful challenge to the $6 billion settlement could undermine an alternate route for Biden to cancel other debt if the court shuts down the relief plan."

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Matt Dixon of NBC News: "Florida's Republican-dominated Legislature on Thursday passed a ban on most abortions after six weeks, sending the bill to Gov. Ron DeSantis. He has said he would sign the measure into law. Final passage came after a marathon floor hearing in the state House, which passed the proposal largely along party lines in a 70-40 vote after the state Senate passed the bill on April 3. Democrats in the chamber forcefully opposed the legislation but were vastly outnumbered by Republican supermajorities in both chambers. GOP House Speaker Paul Renner had to close the public viewing galleries after protesters threw what appeared to be paper on the House floor.... The measure bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, with new exceptions for rape and incest up until 15 weeks. The measure does not change the exceptions for the life and health of the mother up until 15 weeks that are in current law." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Signing Away Women's Rights in the Dark. Matt Dixon of NBC News: "Gov. Ron DeSantis quietly signed legislation Thursday that would ban most abortions after six weeks in Florida, a move that will weigh on his likely 2024 presidential bid." The Washington Post's story is here. MB: DeSantis's office announced the signing just after 11 pm yesterday. Gosh, Ron, ? Gosh, Ron, after 11 pm? No big, celebratory signing ceremony on a sunny afternoon? How come? Maybe because it dawned on you that denying women access to healthcare is a super-loser in a general election? Just guessing. ~~~

~~~ "Make America Florida." Washington Post Editorial Board: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) describes his state as 'a citadel of freedom,' 'freedom's linchpin' and 'freedom's vanguard.'... The ongoing 60-day state legislative session in Tallahassee, which Mr. DeSantis is treating as a springboard to announce a presidential bid, shows the hollowness of his rhetoric. Backed by GOP supermajorities in both chambers, Mr. DeSantis is waging frontal assaults on press freedom, reproductive freedom, free enterprise and academic freedom. Meanwhile, in the name of protecting gun rights, he has scaled back prudent safety rules. And now he's poised to target undocumented immigrants, including 'dreamers,' with what will be some of the cruelest policies in America.... Now Mr. DeSantis wants to go national. He promises to 'Make America Florida.' If the bullying coming out of Tallahassee is an indication of what that means, we think most Americans won't want what he is offering."

Tennessee. Judd Legum of Popular Information: "Tennessee Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) secretly bought a home in Nashville for nearly $600,000 in September 2021 through an anonymous trust.... The revelation raises serious new questions about whether Sexton can legally represent Crossville, which is nearly two hours from Nashville. If Sexton is not a 'qualified voter' in Crossville, he is ineligible to represent Crossville under Article II, Section 5a of the Tennessee Constitution.... Sexton went to considerable lengths to obscure his purchase of his home in Nashville. He established an anonymous trust, the Beccani Trust, to buy the property. Cameron Sexton's name does not appear anywhere on the documents memorializing the sale and the mortgage. A financial advisor based in Utah, Bret Bryce, was appointed trustee and signed most of the documents. But Sexton's wife, Lacey Sexton, signed the warranty deed for the property as the 'affiant.'... Sexton owned a similarly well-appointed home in Crossville, but sold it in 2020 and purchased a small two-bedroom condo in a retirement community. Sexton's Nashville home is well over twice as big and more than three times as expensive as his Crossville condo. Last week, in response to Popular Information's reporting, Sexton admitted that he and his family [live year-round] in Nashville -- even though the legislature is only in session for four months." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Sexton is the guy who was so outraged by three Democratic legislators participating in a gun-safety protest from the floor of the House that he tried to engineer -- and partially succeeded in engineering -- their expulsion. The legislators' "good trouble" seems pretty innocuous when compared to Sexton's violation of the state's constitution by living far outside the district he supposedly represents.

Way Beyond

France. Aurelien Breeden of the New York Times: "Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched across France on Thursday on the eve of a crucial ruling over President Emmanuel Macron's decision to raise the legal age of retirement to 64, from 62, a step that could pave the way for the measure's final implementation, even if it does little to dispel persistent popular opposition.... According to the French authorities, protests on Thursday attracted about 380,000 people, though labor unions said that the number was one million to 1.5 million.... The two sides have refused to back down, and all eyes are now on the Constitutional Council, which reviews legislation to ensure it conforms to the French Constitution, to see if it will break the stalemate.... The size of the protests and the number of strikers in key sectors like transportation and education have fallen recently, but opposition to the pension law remains strong, with surveys consistently indicating that about two-thirds of French people oppose it."

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "A leak of U.S. military files has revealed close-held assessments of the Ukraine war: that the fighting has gutted Russian commando units and that China had agreed to provide Moscow with weapons. The trove of classified files, first shared on the chat app Discord and obtained by The Washington Post, has offered a window into U.S. intelligence. U.S. officials have assessed that Russian commanders over-relied on the clandestine spetsnaz forces who were deployed alongside infantry formations that, like Ukrainians, suffered big losses at the front lines, The Post reported.... It could take Moscow years to rebuild the commando units, according to the U.S. assessments, which range in date from late 2022 to earlier this year....

"A U.S. official said Washington has not seen evidence of a weapons transfer from China to Russia, after an intercept of Russian intelligence showed that China approved a delivery to Russia earlier this year, The Post's Karen DeYoung and Missy Ryan reported.... China will not sell weapons to parties involved in the conflict in Ukraine, its foreign minister said Friday.... Russia can only consider a prisoner swap of detained U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich after a trial, according to Russian news agencies, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.... President Biden maintained Western support for Ukraine in a speech to the Irish Parliament on Thursday...."

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Pjotr Sauer of the Guardian: "Alexei Navalny, Russia's most prominent opposition politician, has been grappling with severe stomach pain in jail that could be the result of slow-acting poison, a close ally said on Friday. Ruslan Shaveddinov said an ambulance was called last week to the maximum security IK-6 penal colony at Melekhovo, about 155 miles (250km) east of Moscow, where he is being held. 'His situation is critical, we are all very concerned,' Shaveddinov told the Guardian in a phone interview. 'We understand that the situation must have been very bad if an ambulance was called,' he said, adding that prison authorities refused to have Navalny admitted to hospital."