February 22, 2023

Afternoon Update:

Maggie Haberman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump's daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner have been subpoenaed by the special counsel to testify before a federal grand jury about Mr. Trump's efforts to stay in power after he lost the 2020 election and his role in a pro-Trump mob's attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to two people briefed on the matter. The decision by the special counsel, Jack Smith, to subpoena Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner underscores how deeply into Mr. Trump's inner circle Mr. Smith is reaching, and is the latest sign that no potential high-level witness is off limits." CNBC's report, which cites the New York Times, is here.

Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "A Jan. 6 rioter who threatened Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on social media after participating in the attack on the Capitol was sentenced Wednesday to 38 months in prison. Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 48 months in prison for Garret Miller, an unemployed Texan who, they noted, was wearing a T-shirt bearing ... Donald Trump's picture and the words 'I was there, Washington, D.C., January 6, 2021' when he was arrested weeks after the attack.... [Ocasio-Cortez] had tweeted the word 'impeach' after the Capitol riot, to which Miller responded, 'assassinate AOC.' In addition to the prison time, U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols ordered 36 months of supervised release...." Includes of photo of Miller in his fashionable incriminating T-shirt.

Naomi Nix of the Washington Post: "Facebook parent company Meta is preparing for a fresh round of job cuts, deputizing human resources, lawyers, financial experts and top executives to draw up plans to deflate the company's hierarchy, in a reorganization and downsizing effort that could affect thousands of workers. Meta plans to push some leaders into lower-level roles.... The job eliminations arrive after [CEO Mark] Zuckerberg sought to reassure workers that he didn't 'anticipate more layoffs' after the company slashed 11,000 jobs -- roughly 13 percent of its workforce -- in November."

David Folkenflik of NPR: "NPR's chief executive announced the network would lay off roughly 10% of its current workforce -- at least 100 people -- and eliminate most vacant positions. CEO John Lansing cited the erosion of advertising dollars, particularly for NPR podcasts, and the tough financial outlook for the media industry more generally.... On an annual budget of roughly $300 million, Lansing says, revenues are likely to fall short by close to $30 million, although that gap could reach $32 million." MB: How about getting rid of your GOP-friendly, both-sides reporters, "analysts" & producers first.

Arizona. GOP State AG Falsely Promoted the Big Lie. Yvonne Sanchez & Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "Nearly a year after the 2020 election, Arizona's then-attorney general, Mark Brnovich, launched an investigation into voting in the state's largest county that quickly consumed more than 10,000 hours of his staff's time. Investigators prepared a report in March 2022 stating that virtually all claims of error and malfeasance were unfounded.... Brnovich, a Republican, kept it private. In April, the attorney general -- who was running in the GOP primary for a U.S. Senate seat -- released an 'Interim Report' claiming that his office had discovered 'serious vulnerabilities.' He left out edits from his own investigators refuting his assertions. His office then compiled an 'Election Review Summary' in September that systematically refuted accusations of widespread fraud and made clear that none of the complaining parties ... had presented any evidence to support their claims. Brnovich left office last month without releasing the summary....

"The records show how Brnovich used his office to further claims about voting in Maricopa County that his own staff considered inaccurate. They suggest that his administration privately disregarded fact checks provided by state investigators while publicly promoting incomplete accounts of the office's work. The innuendo and inaccuracies, circulated not just in the far reaches of the internet but with the imprimatur of the state's attorney general, helped make Arizona an epicenter of distrust in the democratic process, eroding confidence in the 2020 vote as well as in subsequent elections."

Texas. Oops, I Left My Gun in the Boys' Bathroom. Christine Chung of the New York Times: "The superintendent of a Texas school district has resigned a month after a child found his gun in an elementary school bathroom, a school district official said. Robby Stuteville had worked for the Rising Star Independent School District for more than three decades, serving as its superintendent for about the last two years, said Monty Jones, the district's high school principal. On Jan. 20, Mr. Stuteville accidentally left his gun in a bathroom at Rising Star Elementary School, where it was found by a third-grade student, Mr. Jones said.... Mr. Jones said that both he and Mr. Stuteville had the district board's approval to carry guns and that all students had been informed about this practice.... 'If we are going to take care of our kids and make them feel safe, we have to do it in house,' Mr. Jones said." MB: Yes, because nothing makes little children "feel safe" like leaving a (presumably loaded) gun for them to play with.

Israel/Palestine. Patrick Kingsley of the New York Times: "At least 10 Palestinians were killed and more than 100 others wounded on Wednesday, Palestinian officials said, in an hourslong gun battle between Israeli security forces and armed Palestinian groups in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The Israeli military said the firefight occurred during an operation to arrest Palestinian gunmen. Three armed Palestinian groups said that six of the casualties were fighters in their movements. Others appeared to be noncombatants: Time-stamped CCTV footage from late Wednesday morning that circulated on social media seemed to show the shooting of at least two unarmed Palestinians as they ran away from gunfire.... The raid on Wednesday was the second in less than a month to end in the deaths of at least 10 Palestinians -- two of the most lethal such incidents in years. A raid in Jenin late last month killed 10 Palestinians."

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Aamer Madhani of the AP: "President Joe Biden is wrapping up his whirlwind, four-day visit to Poland and Ukraine by reassuring eastern flank NATO allies that his administration is highly attuned to the looming threats and other impacts spurred by the grinding Russian invasion of Ukraine. Before departing Warsaw on Wednesday, Biden will hold talks with leaders from the Bucharest Nine, a collection of nations on the most eastern parts of the NATO alliance that came together in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine."

Aamer Madhani, et al., of the AP: "President Joe Biden, returning on Tuesday to the Polish castle where he spoke shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, said the war had hardened Western resolve to defend democracy around the globe. He warned that there were 'hard and bitter days ahead,' but pledged that the United States and its allies would 'have Ukraine's back' as the war enters its second year. 'Democracies of the world will stand guard over freedom today, tomorrow and forever,' he said at the Royal Castle, a historical landmark in Warsaw, before a cheering crowd of Polish citizens and Ukrainian refugees." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Related stories linked under Ukraine, et al., below. ~~~

Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "In a bid to prevent a surge of migrants at the southern border when a pandemic measure is lifted in May, the Biden administration on Tuesday announced its toughest policy yet to crack down on unlawful entries. The proposed rule, which has been opened for 30 days of public comment before taking effect, would presume that migrants are ineligible for asylum if they entered the country unlawfully, a significant rollback in the country's traditional policy toward those fleeing persecution in other countries. It would allow rapid deportation of anyone who had failed to request protection from another country while en route to the United States or who did not notify border authorities through a mobile app of their plans to seek asylum. Administration officials said the policy would take effect on May 11 with the expected termination that day of Title 42, a Trump-era health emergency rule that has allowed border authorities to swiftly expel migrants back to Mexico." The Guardian's story is here.

Sarah Fitzpatrick of NBC News: "The Environmental Protection Agency announced a sweeping enforcement action against Norfolk Southern on Tuesday, compelling the rail company to conduct and pay for cleanup actions associated with the Feb. 3 derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio. 'The Norfolk Southern train derailment has upended the lives of East Palestine families, and EPA's order will ensure the company is held accountable for jeopardizing the health and safety of this community,' said EPA Administrator Michael Regan in remarks prepared for a news conference in East Palestine. 'Let me be clear: Norfolk Southern will pay for cleaning up the mess they created and for the trauma they've inflicted on this community.' If the company fails to complete any of the actions ordered by the EPA, the agency will 'immediately' conduct the necessary work and then seek to compel Norfolk Southern to pay triple the cost." (Also linked yesterday.)

Steve Benen of MSNBC: “By some accounts, [House Speaker Kevin] McCarthy committed to the release [of all January 6 security footage] as part of the negotiations with his far-right detractors who initially stood in the way of him becoming speaker.... Axios was first to report ... [that] '... McCarthy has given Fox News' Tucker Carlson exclusive access to 41,000 hours of Capitol surveillance footage from the Jan. 6 riot....'... The video tapes in question are official government materials. They don't belong to one member, one party, or one cable channel; they belong to all of us. And yet, there's the new House speaker, who apparently made a unilateral decision to give one controversial Fox News host exclusive access to 41,000 hours of surveillance footage. What could possibly go wrong?... Carlson lacks credibility on the issue.... [And there] is the extraordinary timing: It was just days ago when a new court filing presented evidence of Fox News hosts, including Carlson, deliberately promoting bogus election claims they knew to be false in order to pander to their audience and make more money.

"There are also security considerations to keep in mind. Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chaired the Jan. 6 committee and now serves as the ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement yesterday, 'It's hard to overstate the potential security risks if this material were to be used irresponsibly.'... Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland ... ask[ed], 'What security precautions were taken to keep this from becoming a roadmap for 2024 insurrection?'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Lauren Sforza of the Hill: "House Homeland Security Committee ranking Democrat Bennie Thompson (Miss.) on Monday blasted Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for handing over tens of thousands of hours of riot footage from Jan. 6, 2021, to Fox News host Tucker Carlson.... 'If Speaker McCarthy has indeed granted Tucker Carlson -- a Fox host who routinely spreads misinformation and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's poisonous propaganda -- and his producers access to this sensitive footage, he owes the American people an explanation of why he has done so and what steps he has taken to address the significant security concerns at stake,' Thompson said.... In 2021 [Carlson] produced 'Patriot Purge,' a documentary series that purports to tell an alternative story of the Jan. 6 insurrection and features at least one subject who suggests the event may have been a 'false flag' operation. Fox News staffers were reportedly angered by the series, and at least two contributors to the network resigned in protest." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Gabe Ferris of ABC News: "... Fox host Tucker Carlson said on his program Monday night that he had gained 'unfettered' access to the [January 6 security] video, saying that some of his 'smartest producers' have been reviewing the footage at an undisclosed location for about a week.... Carlson claimed that some of the footage appears to contradict 'the story that we've been told for more than two years,' but he was short on details or specifics. Instead, Carlson teased that his team's findings would air on his program next week.... The U.S. Capitol Police maintain access to and control over such surveillance videos, but ABC News has learned that the department did not directly provide the videos to Fox.... At times, the DOJ has joined with the Capitol Police in expressing concern over the release of some footage that could disclose sensitive areas in the Capitol, the location of closed circuit cameras, and other sensitive security movements.... 'The apparent transfer of video footage represents an egregious security breach that endangers the hardworking women and men of the United States Capitol Police,' House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote in a letter to his caucus on Tuesday." ~~~

     ~~~ Kyle Cheney & Jordain Carney of Politico: "Speaker Kevin McCarthy's apparent deal to grant Tucker Carlson access to thousands of hours of Capitol security footage from Jan. 6, 2021 came as a surprise to at least one official with oversight responsibility over those files: Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger. A person familiar with the matter said Manger told associates he didn't learn of the arrangement between McCarthy and Carlson until it began publicly circulating Monday. Capitol Police have been extremely reluctant to share large swaths of their security footage, citing potential risks to lawmakers, aides and officers tasked with protecting the building. House Sergeant at Arms William McFarland also told associates he learned about it around the same time Axios broke the news Monday, the person familiar said." ~~~

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "... it's an extremely bad idea to grant Fox News's Tucker Carlson the power to construct whatever narrative he wants out of the footage captured at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.... Carlson has an extensive record of making dishonest, unchecked claims on his program, with Fox attorneys even admitting he should not be considered an objective source of information. His false claims include a litany of debunked or unfounded assertions about the Jan. 6 riot."

Marie: The following print stories only hint at what a silly person served as foreperson of the special grand jury investigating whether Donald Trump and others interfered with the 2020 presidential election. It is discouraging, but no doubt typical, of what happens when lawyers must choose "a jury of their peers," especially in high-profile cases where the jurors must be fairly ignorant of the subject matter in order to be, you know, "objective" jurors. ~~~

~~~ Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "A special grand jury that investigated election interference by ... Donald J. Trump and his allies in Georgia recommended indictments of multiple people on a range of charges in its report, most of which remains sealed, the forewoman of the jury said in an interview today. 'It is not a short list,' the forewoman, Emily Kohrs, said, adding that the jury had appended eight pages of legal code 'that we cited at various points in the report.'... Asked whether the jurors had recommended indicting Mr. Trump, Ms. Kohrs gave a cryptic answer: 'You're not going to be shocked. It's not rocket science,' adding 'you won't be too surprised.'" At 2:20 pm ET Tuesday, this is a breaking story. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ "Really Cool." Tamar Hamilton & Bill Rankin of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Emily Kohrs "said she had largely been unfamiliar with the fighting surrounding Georgia's last presidential election because of the COVID-19 pandemic but was enthusiastic to serve. High energy, with a red vape in her hand and a notebook in front of her containing instructions from [Judge Robert] McBurney on what could and could not be discussed, Kohrs expressed amazement at the media attention she had received over the last several hours. Kohrs said she volunteered to be foreperson of the grand jury because of a longtime interest in politics, even though she said she's never voted. She brought along sketches she drew of two of the investigation witnesses, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marc Short, a top aide to former Vice President Mike Pence....

"'We heard a lot of recordings of President Trump on the phone,' she said, declining to give specifics. 'It is amazing how many hours of footage you can find of that man on the phone.... Some of these that were privately recorded by people or recorded by a staffer.'... After portions of the report were released last week, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social. 'Thank you to the Special Grand Jury in the Great State of Georgia for your Patriotism & Courage,' the former president posted. 'Total exoneration.' When AJC reporters on Tuesday told Kohrs about that reaction she rolled her eyes and then burst out laughing. 'Did he really say that?' she asked. 'Oh, that's fantastic. That's phenomenal. I love it.' When asked if she had any response, she said, 'I invoke my Fifth Amendment right. That's what I have to say to that.'... When asked how she felt about what happened when all was said and done, Kohrs described the experience as 'really cool.'"

~~~ Kate Brumback of the AP: "The AP identified [special grand jury foreperson Emily] Kohrs after her name was included on subpoenas obtained through open records requests. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney advised Kohrs and other jurors on what they could and could not share publicly, including in interviews with the news media.... But her general characterizations provided unusual insight into a process that is typically cloaked in secrecy. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was on the receiving end of Trump's pressure campaign, was 'a really geeky kind of funny,' she said. State House Speaker David Ralston, who died in November, was hilarious and had the room in stitches. And Gov. Brian Kemp, who succeeded in delaying his appearance until after his reelection in November, seemed unhappy to be there.... Rudy Giuliani was funny and invoked privilege to avoid answering many questions but 'genuinely seemed to consider' whether it was merited before declining to answer, she said." Read on. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Here's the print report by Blayne Alexander & Dareh Gregorian of NBC News, which is worth reading. Alexander conducted the first video interview of Emily Kohrs. To give you a flavor of Kohr's demeanor, here are clips of Alexander's interview: ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here's hoping Judge McBurney calls Kohrs in and gives her what-for.

Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "Anderson Cooper and Elie Honig discussed the multiple awkward media appearances by the forewoman of the grand jury that will reportedly recommend indictments in a case involving Donald Trump.... Cooper ... expressed bafflement at the forewoman's behavior. [Honig,] CNN's senior legal analyst, told the host that what she's doing is a 'horrible idea' because it could provide Trump's legal team with fodder for a motion to dismiss any indictments[. Hogi said,] '... We're talking about -- indicting any person, you're talking about potentially taking away that person's liberty -- we're talking about potentially former president for the first time in this nation of history. She does not seem to be taking that very seriously.... It's a prosecutor's nightmare. Mark my words, Donald Trump's team is going to make a motion if there's an indictment to dismiss that indictment base on grand jury impropriety. She's not supposed to be talking about anything, really. But she's really not supposed to be talking about the deliberations. She's talking about what specific witnesses they saw, what the grand jury thought of them.'" Includes video.

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump, who throughout his business career had a reputation for not paying lawyers, spent roughly $10 million from his political action committee on his own legal fees last year, federal election filings show. The money that went to Mr. Trump's legal bills was part of more than $16 million that Mr. Trump's PAC, Save America, spent for legal-related payments in 2021 and 2022, the filings show. Some of the $16 million appears to have been for lawyers representing witnesses in investigations related to Mr. Trump's efforts to cling to power. But the majority of it -- about $10 million -- went to firms directly representing Mr. Trump in a string of investigations and lawsuits, including some related to his company, the filings showed.... Some campaign finance experts are raising questions about whether, as a candidate, Mr. Trump can continue to use the PAC to pay for his personal legal bills." CNN's story is here.

Melissa Quinn of CBS News: "The Supreme Court appeared resistant on Tuesday to limiting the scope of a federal law that has served as a powerful legal shield for internet companies, expressing concerns about the ramifications of a broad potential decision that could open the door to a deluge of lawsuits and change the current landscape of the internet. At the center of the case, known as Gonzalez v. Google, is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which protects internet companies from liability over content posted by third parties, and allows platforms to remove objectionable content.... The question before the justices is whether Section 230 immunizes platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter when they make targeted recommendations of information to users.... 'We're a court. We really don't know about these things. These are not the nine greatest experts on the internet,' [Justice Elena] Kagan told [Gonzalez attorney Eric] Schnapper to laughter." The New York Times story, by Adam Liptak, is here.

Rob Wile of NBC News: "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a nonprofit entity that it controlled have been fined $5 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission over accusations that the religious institution failed to properly disclose its investment holdings. In an order released Tuesday, the SEC alleged that the [Morman] church illicitly hid its investments and their management behind multiple shell companies from 1997 to 2019. In doing so, it failed to disclose the size of the church's equity portfolio to the SEC and the public."

Chris McGreal of the Guardian: "Last year, the US Transport Security Administration (TSA) seized 6,542 guns from people about to board planes at 262 airports -- a sixfold increase since 2010. Nearly nine in 10 of the weapons were loaded.... Some cities and states press criminal charges, and the offending individual is marched out the airport in handcuffs. But it is not uncommon in gun-friendly parts of the country for a passenger to be allowed to put their weapon in their car and return to board their flight. Atlanta airport tops the gun seizure table with more than one a day found in passenger hand luggage.... In 2014, Georgia's Republican-controlled legislature passed a law pushed by the National Rifle Association allowing people to carry loaded guns in the state's airports. Georgia was also one of 10 states to pass laws over the past couple of years no longer requiring a permit to carry a concealed firearm.... In 2015, ABC News revealed that the TSA sent undercover investigators through airport checkpoints carrying real guns and fake bombs. Security officers only discovered three of the 70 smuggled items. The TSA's director was sacked."

Beyond the Beltway

California Senate Race. Jazmine Ulloa & Rein Epstein of the New York Times: "Representative Barbara Lee, who stood alone against authorizing military action after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and remains a leading antiwar voice in Congress, entered the 2024 Senate race in California on Tuesday, becoming the third prominent Democrat to run for the seat being vacated by Dianne Feinstein. Ms. Lee, 76, the highest-ranking Black woman appointed to Democratic leadership in the House, unveiled her Senate bid in a video that highlighted the racism she fought against in her youth and the struggles she faced as a single mother and a survivor of domestic violence." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Mississippi. Supremes Go with Gerrymandering. Again. Ashton Pittman of the Mississippi Free Press: "The U.S. Supreme Court [Tuesday] declined to hear Buck v. Reeves, a case alleging that the state's congressional maps are racially gerrymandered. The decision affirms that Mississippi is no longer required to get federal preclearance for its congressional maps. In 2002, a three-judge panel ordered Mississippi to use court-drawn congressional maps 'in accordance with the procedures in Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.' However, in 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority struck down Section 5, with Chief Justice John Roberts saying at the time that 'things have changed in the South.'" MB: Uh, yeah. Now White Southerners are more into secession.

Montana Senate Race 2024. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) announced Wednesday that he will seek reelection, bolstering Democratic hopes as the party faces a tough Senate map in 2024.... Tester was elected in 2006 in the Republican-leaning state that ... Donald Trump won handily in both 2016 and 2020."

New York. Where "Democrats in Disarray!" Is a Real Thing. Ross Barkan of the New York Times: "These days, New York is known as the deep-blue state where Democrats lost four seats on the way to losing the House of Representatives and effectively halting President Biden's domestic agenda for the next two years.... [In November 2022,] Democrats stumbled in territory on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley that Biden won handily just two years earlier. These disappointments have cast into sharp relief both the divisions within the party and the peculiar void of the state's Democratic organization itself.... Elsewhere in the country, state Democratic parties are much more robust than they are in New York.... And now the Democratic civil war rages." Barkan explores some of the gory details.

Rhode Island Congressional Election. Julia Shapero of the Hill: "Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) will leave Congress in June to take over as the president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, his office announced on Tuesday.... Cicilline, who has represented Rhode Island's 1st Congressional District since 2011, will officially step down June 1. Cicilline's staff will continue to operate the district's Rhode Island and Washington, D.C., offices until a new representative is chosen in a special election, his office said." MB: Sad news. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Virginia Congressional Election 2023. Chandelis Duster of CNN: "Virginia state Sen. Jennifer McClellan will win the special election for Virginia's 4th Congressional District and will become the first Black woman to represent the commonwealth in Congress, CNN projected Tuesday. McClellan will defeat Republican Leon Benjamin, a pastor and Navy veteran, to succeed the late Democratic Rep. Donald McEachin, who died in November." The New York Times story is here.

Wisconsin State Supreme Court. Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: "In a race that will determine whether liberals or conservatives control the Wisconsin Supreme Court..., voters narrowed the field to two candidates in a Tuesday primary. The winners now begin a 42-day sprint to an April 4 general election that is sure to see record spending.... Officially, the race is nonpartisan, but one candidate is closely aligned with Republicans and the other with Democrats. The state parties and dark-money groups are the biggest spenders in the race. Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz shored up Democratic support early in the race and easily rolled through Tuesday's primary.... Emerging from the primary was Daniel Kelly, who was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 2016 by Gov. Scott Walker (R). While campaigning, Kelly -- who lost his seat in a 2020 election -- has touted his rulings to allow concealed guns on city buses and end the coronavirus lockdown imposed by Gov. Tony Evers D)." CNN's report is here. The New York Times report is here.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Wednesday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Wednesday is here: "As the war in Ukraine approaches its one-year mark, China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, is in Russia where he is meeting with [Vladimir] Putin. Early Wednesday, Wang met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said that 'relations between Russia and China are developing dynamically, despite the turbulence.' Lavrov said that 'Moscow and Beijing are ready to defend each other's interests.'... Russia's State Duma passed a law suspending the country's participation in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty on Wednesday. It comes after Putin announced Tuesday that Russia would be suspending its participation in New START, the only remaining arms control agreement between Russia and the United States.... One in 10 of Ukraine's hospitals have been damaged by wartime attacks, according to a report by Physicians for Human Rights, a U.S. nonprofit group."

Mary Ilyushina, et al., of the Washington Post: "Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in a state of the nation address Tuesday that Moscow is 'suspending' its participation in the New START nuclear nonproliferation agreement, the last remaining arms control treaty between the United States and Russia. Putin said that Russia will not 'withdraw' completely from the treaty, which has been extended to run through Feb. 4, 2026, but that Russia would not allow NATO countries to inspect its nuclear arsenal. He accused the alliance of helping Ukraine conduct drone strikes on Russian air bases that host strategic bombers that are part of the country's nuclear forces." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ David Sanger of the New York Times: "When President Vladimir V. Putin announced at the end of a 100-minute speech on Tuesday that he would suspend Russia's participation in the New START treaty..., it was one more indication that the era of formal arms control may be dying.... He sounded like a leader who was done with arms control at a time of escalating confrontation with the United States and NATO. If that attitude holds, whoever is sitting in the Oval Office when the treaty expires in a bit more than 1,000 days may face a new world that will look, at first glance, similar to the one of a half-century ago, when arms races were in full swing and nations could field as many nuclear weapons as they wanted." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Oren Liebermann & Natasha Bertrand of CNN: "Russia carried out a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile that appears to have failed around the time President Joe Biden was in Ukraine on Monday, according to two US officials familiar with the matter. Russia notified the United States in advance of the launch through deconfliction lines, one official said. Another official said that the test did not pose a risk to the United States and that the US did not view the test as an anomaly or an escalation. The test of the heavy SARMAT missile -- nicknamed the Satan II in the West and capable of delivering multiple nuclear warheads -- appears to have failed, officials said. It has been successfully tested before and had this one worked, US officials believe Russian President Vladimir Putin would have highlighted the test in his State of the Nation address on Tuesday."

Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "Russia called Tuesday for a special United Nations commission to investigate the explosions that blew up the Nord Stream undersea natural gas pipelines in September, based largely on an American journalist's controversial allegation that a U.S. covert operation was responsible for the attack. The United States said the accusation was 'completely false,' and it accused Russia of trying to distract attention from criticism around the first anniversary of its unprovoked Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine and ongoing attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. The exchanges took place at the U.N. Security Council, which has become the world's only public forum for direct, and often antagonistic, contacts between Washington and Moscow. On the 15-member council, only China offered full support for Russia's call for a special U.N. inquiry.... Two weeks ago, journalist Seymour Hersh published a lengthy article on Substack -- an online subscription platform for independent journalists and bloggers -- alleging that U.S. Navy divers, operating under cover of a NATO exercise with Norway in the Baltic Sea early last summer, placed explosives on the two pipelines. Three months later, Hersh wrote, President Biden gave the order to blow them up.... No other media outlet has corroborated [Hersh's] account."

Mexico. Shayna Jacobs & Kevin Sieff of the Washington Post: "A former top law enforcement official who oversaw Mexico's efforts to combat narcotics trafficking was convicted Tuesday of taking millions in bribes from the Sinaloa drug cartel. Genaro García Luna, who headed the equivalent of the FBI in Mexico, was charged in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn in 2019 with acting as an enabler for the cartel, which is notorious for engaging in rampant violence to keep its operation running."

News Lede

Washington Post: "A strong, intensifying storm system continued its trek across the Lower 48 early Wednesday, unleashing high-impact winter weather that could cause widespread power outages and grind travel to a halt. At least 75 million Americans are under winter storm, ice storm, blizzard warnings or winter weather advisories. In addition to hefty precipitation in much of the Midwest and parts of the Plains, there could also be snow in notably low elevations -- including in areas that rarely see measurable snowfall. Even the Los Angeles County mountains are included in a rare blizzard warning -- the first issued by the National Weather Service office there since 1989."

February 21, 2023

Afternoon Update:

Aamer Madhani, et al., of the AP: “President Joe Biden, returning on Tuesday to the Polish castle where he spoke shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, said the war had hardened Western resolve to defend democracy around the globe. He warned that there were 'hard and bitter days ahead,' but pledged that the United States and its allies would 'have Ukraine’s back' as the war enters its second year. 'Democracies of the world will stand guard over freedom today, tomorrow and forever,' he said at the Royal Castle, a historical landmark in Warsaw, before a cheering crowd of Polish citizens and Ukrainian refugees.”

Sarah Fitzpatrick of NBC News: “The Environmental Protection Agency announced a sweeping enforcement action against Norfolk Southern on Tuesday, compelling the rail company to conduct and pay for cleanup actions associated with the Feb. 3 derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio. 'The Norfolk Southern train derailment has upended the lives of East Palestine families, and EPA’s order will ensure the company is held accountable for jeopardizing the health and safety of this community,' said EPA Administrator Michael Regan in remarks prepared for a news conference in East Palestine. 'Let me be clear: Norfolk Southern will pay for cleaning up the mess they created and for the trauma they’ve inflicted on this community.' If the company fails to complete any of the actions ordered by the EPA, the agency will 'immediately' conduct the necessary work and then seek to compel Norfolk Southern to pay triple the cost.”

Steve Benen of MSNBC: “By some accounts, [House Speaker Kevin] McCarthy committed to the release [of all January 6 security footage] as part of the negotiations with his far-right detractors who initially stood in the way of him becoming speaker.... Axios was first to report ... [that] '... McCarthy has given Fox News’ Tucker Carlson exclusive access to 41,000 hours of Capitol surveillance footage from the Jan. 6 riot....'... The video tapes in question are official government materials. They don’t belong to one member, one party, or one cable channel; they belong to all of us. And yet, there’s the new House speaker, who apparently made a unilateral decision to give one controversial Fox News host exclusive access to 41,000 hours of surveillance footage. What could possibly go wrong?... Carlson lacks credibility on the issue.... [And there] is the extraordinary timing: It was just days ago when a new court filing presented evidence of Fox News hosts, including Carlson, deliberately promoting bogus election claims they knew to be false in order to pander to their audience and make more money.

“There are also security considerations to keep in mind. Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chaired the Jan. 6 committee and now serves as the ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement yesterday, 'It’s hard to overstate the potential security risks if this material were to be used irresponsibly.'... Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland ... ask[ed], 'What security precautions were taken to keep this from becoming a roadmap for 2024 insurrection?'”

     ~~~ Lauren Sforza of the Hill: “House Homeland Security Committee ranking Democrat Bennie Thompson (Miss.) on Monday blasted Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for handing over tens of thousands of hours of riot footage from Jan. 6, 2021, to Fox News host Tucker Carlson.... 'If Speaker McCarthy has indeed granted Tucker Carlson — a Fox host who routinely spreads misinformation and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s poisonous propaganda — and his producers access to this sensitive footage, he owes the American people an explanation of why he has done so and what steps he has taken to address the significant security concerns at stake,' Thompson said.... In 2021 [Carlson] produced 'Patriot Purge,' a documentary series that purports to tell an alternative story of the Jan. 6 insurrection and features at least one subject who suggests the event may have been a 'false flag' operation. Fox News staffers were reportedly angered by the series, and at least two contributors to the network resigned in protest.”

Danny Hakim of the New York Times: “A special grand jury that investigated election interference by ... Donald J. Trump and his allies in Georgia recommended indictments of multiple people on a range of charges in its report, most of which remains sealed, the forewoman of the jury said in an interview today. 'It is not a short list,' the forewoman, Emily Kohrs, said, adding that the jury had appended eight pages of legal code 'that we cited at various points in the report.'... Asked whether the jurors had recommended indicting Mr. Trump, Ms. Kohrs gave a cryptic answer: 'You’re not going to be shocked. It’s not rocket science,' adding 'you won’t be too surprised.'” At 2:20 pm ET Tuesday, this is a breaking story. ~~~

     ~~~ Kate Brumback of the AP: “The AP identified [special grand jury foreperson Emily] Kohrs after her name was included on subpoenas obtained through open records requests. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney advised Kohrs and other jurors on what they could and could not share publicly, including in interviews with the news media.... But her general characterizations provided unusual insight into a process that is typically cloaked in secrecy. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was on the receiving end of Trump’s pressure campaign, was 'a really geeky kind of funny,' she said. State House Speaker David Ralston, who died in November, was hilarious and had the room in stitches. And Gov. Brian Kemp, who succeeded in delaying his appearance until after his reelection in November, seemed unhappy to be there.... Rudy Giuliani was funny and invoked privilege to avoid answering many questions but 'genuinely seemed to consider' whether it was merited before declining to answer, she said.” Read on.

Julia Shapero of the Hill: “Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) will leave Congress in June to take over as the president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, his office announced on Tuesday.... Cicilline, who has represented Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District since 2011, will officially step down June 1. Cicilline’s staff will continue to operate the district’s Rhode Island and Washington, D.C., offices until a new representative is chosen in a special election, his office said.” MB: Sad news.

California Senate Race. Jazmine Ulloa & Rein Epstein of the New York Times: “Representative Barbara Lee, who stood alone against authorizing military action after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and remains a leading antiwar voice in Congress, entered the 2024 Senate race in California on Tuesday, becoming the third prominent Democrat to run for the seat being vacated by Dianne Feinstein. Ms. Lee, 76, the highest-ranking Black woman appointed to Democratic leadership in the House, unveiled her Senate bid in a video that highlighted the racism she fought against in her youth and the struggles she faced as a single mother and a survivor of domestic violence.”

Mary Ilyushina, et al., of the Washington Post: “Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in a state of the nation address Tuesday that Moscow is 'suspending' its participation in the New START nuclear nonproliferation agreement, the last remaining arms control treaty between the United States and Russia. Putin said that Russia will not 'withdraw' completely from the treaty, which has been extended to run through Feb. 4, 2026, but that Russia would not allow NATO countries to inspect its nuclear arsenal. He accused the alliance of helping Ukraine conduct drone strikes on Russian air bases that host strategic bombers that are part of the country’s nuclear forces.” ~~~

     ~~~ David Sanger of the New York Times: “When President Vladimir V. Putin announced at the end of a 100-minute speech on Tuesday that he would suspend Russia’s participation in the New START treaty..., it was one more indication that the era of formal arms control may be dying.... He sounded like a leader who was done with arms control at a time of escalating confrontation with the United States and NATO. If that attitude holds, whoever is sitting in the Oval Office when the treaty expires in a bit more than 1,000 days may face a new world that will look, at first glance, similar to the one of a half-century ago, when arms races were in full swing and nations could field as many nuclear weapons as they wanted.”

~~~~~~~~~~

AP: "Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Western countries Tuesday of igniting and sustaining the war in Ukraine, dismissing any blame for Moscow almost a year after the Kremlin’s unprovoked invasion of its neighbor that has killed tens of thousands of people. In his long-delayed state-of-the-nation address, Putin cast Russia — and Ukraine — as victims of Western double-dealing and said Russia, not Ukraine, was the one fighting for its very existence."

The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. "President Vladimir V. Putin is scheduled to deliver a state-of-the-nation speech in Moscow on Tuesday in which he is expected to double down on war goals despite not having achieved any of his objectives nearly a year into his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Hours later and 800 miles away, President Biden is scheduled to deliver an address in Warsaw, the capital of neighboring Poland, a day after a brief but dramatic visit to Kyiv that highlighted the American commitment to supporting Ukraine. The speeches — three days before the anniversary of the Russian invasion — will offer a rare moment of almost direct confrontation between two leaders at opposing ends of the global order." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here: "President Biden is due to meet with leaders of the Bucharest Nine during his visit to Europe this week. The group consists of nine countries that are part of NATO’s eastern flank: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia. The leaders of Poland and Romania launched the Bucharest Nine in 2015, shortly after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine." ~~~

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

On Presidents' Day, a President Worthy of the Title. David Rothkopf of the Daily Beast: President “Biden joined a great history of American presidents standing up to Russian aggression, and significantly broke from the shameful actions of his predecessor.... Biden, in going to Kyiv, offered the clearest possible reminder of his stance against Russian aggression from the first moments of his presidency. It illustrated that he did not hesitate to support Ukraine when it was imperiled and that his leadership among our allies worldwide has been one of the signature triumphs of his first term in office.... To Vladimir Putin, it was Biden’s way of saying, 'I am here in Kyiv and you are not. You not only did not take Kyiv in days as some predicted, but your attack was rebuffed. Your army suffered a humiliating defeat from which it has not recovered.'...

Biden went to Europe to send Putin a message of American and allied strength. Trump went to grovel before Putin. Biden stood up for American values and our allies. Trump said he trusted Putin more than America’s own intelligence and law enforcement services. Biden embodied America’s strength. Trump illustrated and represented our greatest weakness. A year after Trump embarrassed the country in Helsinki, he compounded the offense by withholding aid from Ukraine in an attempt to extort [Volodymyr] Zelensky into doing political dirty work against Biden to help Trump’s reelection efforts.... [And] Biden’s trip sent an important reminder to Beijing just how high a priority Ukraine is for the U.S. and the West and presenting the war in the context of Russia’s violations of international law will emphasize to the Chinese that directly supporting Russia’s attack and serial war crimes would make China an accessory to those crimes.” Firewalled. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Mark Wright of the (right-wing) National Review: "President Biden’s secret visit to wartime Kyiv is an example of America in its finest tradition. The New York Times reports that after a “trans-Atlantic flight to Poland, Mr. Biden crossed the border by train, traveling for nearly 10 hours to Kyiv as other American officials have in recent months.' This trip took guts.... Make no mistake, there was risk involved in this trip. Traveling to the capital of a nation fighting a shooting war with a great power, the U.S. had no way to choreograph with exactitude the circumstances of his travel or arrival. Neither the U.S. nor Ukraine has total control of the airspace. Neither the U.S. nor Ukraine could guarantee Biden’s security on the ground.” Firewalled. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Evan Vucci, et al., of the AP: “President Joe Biden’s motorcade slipped out of the White House around 3:30 a.m. Sunday.... The president vanished into the darkness on an Air Force C-32, a modified Boeing 757 normally used for domestic trips to smaller airports.... Once Biden was secreted aboard the Air Force jet, the call sign 'SAM060,' for Special Air Mission, was used for the plane instead of the usual 'Air Force One.' It took off from Joint Base Andrews at 4:15 a.m. Eastern time.... After a refueling stop in Germany, Biden’s aircraft switched off its transponder for the roughly hour-long flight to Rzeszow, Poland, the airport that has served as the gateway for billions of dollars in Western arms and VIP visitors into Ukraine.... He arrived in Kyiv at 8 a.m. Monday and was greeted by Ambassador Bridget Brink and entered his motorcade for the drive to Mariinsky Palace.... Over the next five hours, the president made multiple stops around town — ferried about in a black SUV rather than the presidential limousine — without any announcement to the Ukrainian public that he was there.... A small group of senior officials at the White House and across U.S. national security agencies set about working in secret for months to make it happen, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday. Biden only gave the final sign-off on Friday.” Read on. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story is here.

Peter Beaumont & Julian Borger of the Guardian: “The White House notified the Kremlin of Joe Biden’s intention to visit Kyiv hours before he departed for Ukraine, as the details began to emerge of how the US president pulled off his high-profile diplomatic coup. Meticulously planned over several months by a tight circle of key advisers, Biden’s visit was described as 'unprecedented in modern times' by his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan on the grounds that it was the first time a US president had visited 'the capital of the country at war where the United States military does not control the critical infrastructure.... We did notify the Russians that President Biden will be traveling to Kyiv, Sullivan said. 'We did so some hours before his departure for deconfliction purposes, and because of the sensitive nature of those communications I won’t get into how they responded or what the precise nature of our message was, but I can confirm that we provided that notice.'” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Wingnuts Will Always Be With Us. Shannon Pettypiece of NBC News: “President Joe Biden’s surprise trip to Ukraine on Monday drew a variety of attacks from congressional Republicans who criticized his support for the war-torn country and accused him of neglecting issues back at home. 'You should be standing with East Palestine — an American town in your own country that needs your help,' tweeted Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.... The President’s Day criticism, much of which came as Biden was still in the war zone, echoed Republicans who have accused Biden of neglecting the U.S. southern border and bearing some responsibility for the war in Ukraine.... Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene ... said the conflict has become a proxy war between the U.S. and China and should be ended immediately.” More on Miss Margie linked below.

Oh, My Kevin Has His Very Own January 6 Committee. It's Called TuKKKer Carlson. Mike Allen of Axios: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has given Fox News' Tucker Carlson exclusive access to 41,000 hours of Capitol surveillance footage from the Jan. 6 riot, McCarthy sources tell me. Carlson TV producers were on Capitol Hill last week to begin digging through the trove, which includes multiple camera angles from all over Capitol grounds. Excerpts will begin airing in the coming weeks.... Carlson has repeatedly questioned official accounts of 1/6, downplaying the insurrection as 'vandalism.'... The process with Carlson started in early February...." MB: For anyone who thought there was a chance My Kevin might grow into his job -- a job that's one of the most important in the country -- get over it. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) 

Uncivil War. Miss Margie Calls for Secession. Shannon Pettypiece of NBC News: “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called for the U.S. to be separated by red and blue states and for shrinking the federal government in a tweet on President's Day.... 'We need a national divorce. We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government,' Greene, R-Ga., said in the tweet. '... From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrat’s traitorous America Last policies, we are done.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Steve Benen of MSNBC: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and GOP leaders recently rewarded Greene with committee assignments, including a slot on the House Homeland Security Committee. Are Republicans prepared to defend a member of the House Homeland Security Committee openly endorsing the dissolution of the United States?... GOP leaders should let the public know whether they’re comfortable with such a dynamic — and what they’re prepared to do in response if they’re not comfortable with such a dynamic.... The focus should be on McCarthy." MB: How can a person who proposes to destroy so-called homeland security sit on a committee committed to preserving the country's security?

Santos Lies About Lying Again. Jacob Kornbluh of the Forward: “Rep. George Santos ... appeared to double down in a new TV interview on Monday about his false claim that he had Jewish grandparents, and openly denied calling himself a member of the Jewish faith. 'I never claimed to be Jewish,' Santos said in a tense exchange with British television host Piers Morgan for the Piers Morgan Uncensored program, which airs in the United Kingdom and on the Fox Nation streaming service. Santos said it was a 'party favor joke' he used in public appearances to claim he was “Jew-ish” since 'my grandparents are Jewish on my mother’s side.' Santos publicly raised his Jewish ancestry and called himself a 'Latino Jew' and 'halachically Jewish' during last year’s campaign. He claimed his grandparents fled anti-Jewish persecution in Ukraine and then Belgium during World War II. In a two-page document that the Santos campaign shared last year with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other Jewish groups, Santos described himself as a 'proud American Jew.' In a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition conference after his election in November, Santos said he was proud to be one of three Jewish members of the Republican caucus.... However, a Forward review of genealogy websites showed that both of his maternal grandparents were born in Brazil before the Nazis rose to power.” Firewalled.

Congressional Race 2023. Meagan Flynn of the Washington Post: “State Sen. Jennifer L. McClellan (D-Richmond) will square off with Republican pastor Leon Benjamin on Tuesday as voters select their next member of Congress in a special election to fill the seat of Rep. A. Donald McEachin (D-Va.), who died in November. McClellan, a lawyer who has served in the Virginia General Assembly since 2006, is widely expected to prevail in the deep-blue, Richmond-anchored 4th Congressional District. Benjamin has run for the seat twice and lost to McEachin in November by roughly 30 percentage points, weeks before McEachin died following a long battle with the secondary effects of cancer treatment.”

Cat Zakrzewski & Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: “The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear oral arguments in Gonzalez v. Google, a lawsuit that argues tech companies should be legally liable for harmful content that their algorithms promote. The Gonzalez family contends that by recommending ISIS-related content, Google’s YouTube acted as a recruiting platform for the group in violation of U.S. laws against aiding and abetting terrorists.At stake is Section 230, a provision written in 1996, years before the founding of Google and most modern tech giants, but one that courts have found shields platforms from culpability over the posts, photos and videos that people share on their services.”

Michael Schmidt, et al., of the New York Times: “James O’Keefe, who as the leader of the conservative group Project Veritas used theatrical stunts, undercover stings and other deceptive tactics in efforts to inflict embarrassment and charges of hypocrisy and wrongdoing on perceived liberal enemies in politics and the media, has left his post, Mr. O’Keefe disclosed on Monday. His departure came amid an uproar among the group’s staff about his leadership style, his treatment of subordinates and his use of the group’s funds for high-priced expenses like flights on a private plane. It also came in the midst of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into how Project Veritas acquired a diary kept by Ashley Biden, President Biden’s daughter, before the 2020 election. Mr. O’Keefe’s home was searched by F.B.I. agents with a warrant in the fall of 2021 as part of the investigation. Project Veritas’s board put Mr. O’Keefe on paid leave earlier this month.” Politico's story is here; it describes O'Keefe as having been stripped of his post.

Fox's Main Source for Election Fraud Claims: a Headless, Semi-Conscious Time-Traveler. David Folkenflik of NPR: "A woman who says the wind talks to her and put forth claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential race that she admitted were 'pretty wackadoodle' turns out to be a key source of allegations that Fox News presented, night after night, to millions of viewers late that fall. Joe Biden's victory caused Fox News personalities to all but melt down on the air.... Fox News and the Fox Business Network turned at least a dozen times to a pro-Trump attorney named Sidney Powell who, when pressed for evidence, forwarded a memo entitled 'Election Fraud Info' to Fox anchor Maria Bartiromo.... The author of the memo in which Powell and Bartiromo put so much stock offered detailed and utterly false claims of how Dominion Voting Systems helped rig the election for Biden. She also ... [wrote] that she gains insights from experiencing something 'like time-travel in a semi-conscious state.... Who am I? And how do I know all of this?... I've had the strangest dreams since I was a little girl,' the woman wrote in the email shared by Powell with Bartiromo and [then-Fox Business host Lou] Dobbs. 'I was internally decapitated, and yet, I live.'... David Clark, then the senior executive over Fox's weekend shows, later said under oath to Dominion's lawyers that he 'would not have allowed that claim to be aired,' had he known this memo was the sole foundation of the 'crazy' theories."

Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: “Prosecutors have downgraded the involuntary manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin, significantly reducing the possible prison time for the actor, who was holding the gun that discharged on the 'Rust' movie set, killing the film’s cinematographer. Mr. Baldwin’s lawyers argued this month that the Santa Fe County district attorney had incorrectly charged the actor under a version of a New Mexico firearm law that was passed months after the fatal shooting in October 2021. If convicted under that law, called a firearm enhancement, Mr. Baldwin would have received a minimum prison sentence of five years. Instead, he now faces a maximum of 18 months in prison.”

February 20, 2023

Afternoon Update:

On Presidents' Day, a President Worthy of the Title. David Rothkopf of the Daily Beast: President "Biden joined a great history of American presidents standing up to Russian aggression, and significantly broke from the shameful actions of his predecessor.... Biden, in going to Kyiv, offered the clearest possible reminder of his stance against Russian aggression from the first moments of his presidency. It illustrated that he did not hesitate to support Ukraine when it was imperiled and that his leadership among our allies worldwide has been one of the signature triumphs of his first term in office.... To Vladimir Putin, it was Biden's way of saying, 'I am here in Kyiv and you are not. You not only did not take Kyiv in days as some predicted, but your attack was rebuffed. Your army suffered a humiliating defeat from which it has not recovered.'...

Biden went to Europe to send Putin a message of American and allied strength. Trump went to grovel before Putin. Biden stood up for American values and our allies. Trump said he trusted Putin more than America's own intelligence and law enforcement services. Biden embodied America's strength. Trump illustrated and represented our greatest weakness. A year after Trump embarrassed the country in Helsinki, he compounded the offense by withholding aid from Ukraine in an attempt to extort [Volodymyr] Zelensky into doing political dirty work against Biden to help Trump's reelection efforts.... [And] Biden's trip sent an important reminder to Beijing just how high a priority Ukraine is for the U.S. and the West and presenting the war in the context of Russia's violations of international law will emphasize to the Chinese that directly supporting Russia's attack and serial war crimes would make China an accessory to those crimes." Firewalled.

Mark Wright of the (right-wing) National Review: "President Biden's secret visit to wartime Kyiv is an example of America in its finest tradition. The New York Times reports that after a "trans-Atlantic flight to Poland, Mr. Biden crossed the border by train, traveling for nearly 10 hours to Kyiv as other American officials have in recent months.' This trip took guts.... Make no mistake, there was risk involved in this trip. Traveling to the capital of a nation fighting a shooting war with a great power, the U.S. had no way to choreograph with exactitude the circumstances of his travel or arrival. Neither the U.S. nor Ukraine has total control of the airspace. Neither the U.S. nor Ukraine could guarantee Biden's security on the ground." Firewalled.

Evan Vucci, et al., of the AP: "President Joe Biden's motorcade slipped out of the White House around 3:30 a.m. Sunday.... The president vanished into the darkness on an Air Force C-32, a modified Boeing 757 normally used for domestic trips to smaller airports.... Once Biden was secreted aboard the Air Force jet, the call sign 'SAM060,' for Special Air Mission, was used for the plane instead of the usual 'Air Force One.' It took off from Joint Base Andrews at 4:15 a.m. Eastern time.... After a refueling stop in Germany, Biden's aircraft switched off its transponder for the roughly hour-long flight to Rzeszow, Poland, the airport that has served as the gateway for billions of dollars in Western arms and VIP visitors into Ukraine.... He arrived in Kyiv at 8 a.m. Monday and was greeted by Ambassador Bridget Brink and entered his motorcade for the drive to Mariinsky Palace.... Over the next five hours, the president made multiple stops around town -- ferried about in a black SUV rather than the presidential limousine -- without any announcement to the Ukrainian public that he was there.... A small group of senior officials at the White House and across U.S. national security agencies set about working in secret for months to make it happen, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday. Biden only gave the final sign-off on Friday."

Peter Beaumont & Julian Borger of the Guardian: "The White House notified the Kremlin of Joe Biden's intention to visit Kyiv hours before he departed for Ukraine, as the details began to emerge of how the US president pulled off his high-profile diplomatic coup. Meticulously planned over several months by a tight circle of key advisers, Biden's visit was described as 'unprecedented in modern times' by his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan on the grounds that it was the first time a US president had visited 'the capital of the country at war where the United States military does not control the critical infrastructure.... We did notify the Russians that President Biden will be traveling to Kyiv, Sullivan said. 'We did so some hours before his departure for deconfliction purposes, and because of the sensitive nature of those communications I won't get into how they responded or what the precise nature of our message was....'"

Oh, My Kevin Has His Very Own January 6 Committee. It's Called TuKKKer Carlson. Mike Allen of Axios: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has given Fox News' Tucker Carlson exclusive access to 41,000 hours of Capitol surveillance footage from the Jan. 6 riot, McCarthy sources tell me. Carlson TV producers were on Capitol Hill last week to begin digging through the trove, which includes multiple camera angles from all over Capitol grounds. Excerpts will begin airing in the coming weeks.... Carlson has repeatedly questioned official accounts of 1/6, downplaying the insurrection as 'vandalism.'... The process with Carlson started in early February...." MB: For anyone who thought there was a chance My Kevin might grow into his job -- a job that's one of the most important in the country -- get over it.

~~~~~~~~~~

Michael Shear & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden made a secret trip to the besieged capital of Ukraine on Monday, arriving after an hourslong train ride from the border of Poland in a demonstration of his administration's resolve in the face of Russia's yearlong invasion of the country. The visit to Kyiv was conducted covertly because of security concerns, with Mr. Biden departing Washington without notice after he and his wife had a rare dinner out at a restaurant on Saturday night. Mr. Biden had already been publicly scheduled to arrive in Warsaw on Tuesday morning for a two-day visit, and officials had repeatedly denied that there were any other plans they could announce about a trip to Ukraine.... Indeed, the White House on Sunday night issued a public schedule for Monday showing the president still in Washington and leaving in the evening for Warsaw, when in fact he was already half a world away.... Mr. Biden arrived in Ukraine's capital at a pivotal moment of the war, both at home and abroad." CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here. Related links under heading Ukraine, et. al., linked below.

Jonathan Alter in a Substack essay: "... as he enters hospice at age 98, [President Jimmy Carter] has -- by any standard -- won at life. He is the longest-lived American president, the longest married (77 years, and happily), and -- especially if you look at his whole career -- among the most accomplished and productive figures of our era.... Carter was a hugely underrated president -- a political failure but a substantive, visionary success."

John Hudson of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in earthquake-ravaged Turkey on Sunday, announcing $100 million in disaster assistance and offering unreserved solidarity to a NATO ally with an often-strained relationship with Washington.... The top U.S. diplomat took a helicopter tour over parts of devastated southeastern Turkey with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and thanked U.S. Agency for International Development workers, including search-and-rescue specialists, paramedics, construction riggers and emergency managers who have been helping pull people out of collapsed buildings...."

Choo-Choo Ka-choo. Ian Duncan, et al., of the Washington Post: Norfolk Southern railway “presents itself as a backbone of the nation's economy -- a safe and relatively green way to transport freight. At the same time, labor leaders and federal officials say, it aggressively resists proposed regulation by Washington, opposing new safety standards while searching for loopholes through existing rules.... Three months before one of his railroad's trains derailed and burned in Ohio, Norfolk Southern chief executive Alan Shaw" met with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to lobby against a proposed federal rule requiring trains to have two workers to respond to derailments & other emergencies. "The Trump administration abandoned rail safety rules that were pursued during the Obama era. The Biden administration is trying to revive some of them.... At least 20 Norfolk Southern trains that have derailed since 2015 had chemical releases...." ~~~

~~~ "Trump Returns to the Scene of His Crime." Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "The lingering health fears over the Feb. 3 wreck of the Norfolk Southern train carrying cancer-causing chemicals and the ensuing images of a toxic mushroom cloud over East Palestine is a crisis that the Former Guy sees as an opportunity to jump-start his so-far-low-energy bid to return to the White House.... If residents of East Palestine -- a modern news desert of downsized or disappeared news sources, which allows misinformation to fester -- truly knew the reality, a delegation of townsfolk would likely greet Trump with Tiki torches and pitchforks bought from the Fuller's hardware store.... Trump acted specifically to sabotage a nascent government effort to protect citizens from the growing threat posed by derailments of outdated, poorly equipped and undermanned freight trains that were increasingly shipping both highly flammable crude oil from the U.S. fracking boom as well as toxic chemicals like the ones that would derail in East Palestine....

"It's beyond hypocritical for Trump to bring his Harold Hill-huckster shtick to East Palestine when residents are still experiencing headaches and breathing foul air from the kind of catastrophe he didn't lift a finger to stop from the Resolute Desk. But also it's a bit baffling why [President] Biden or his Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg -- who seems to be channeling his inner McKinsey & Co. these days -- haven't gone to Ohio.... The current White House needs to hurry up and remember the folks that Trump forgot." Firewalled. See also commentary in yesterday's Comments thread.

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, [Timothy] Heaphy[, the lead investigator on the January 6 committee,] made the case for why the Justice Department should charge Mr. Trump and his allies with crimes and discussed intelligence failures in the lead-up to Jan. 6.... 'There's evidence that the specific intent to disrupt the joint session extends beyond President Trump. There is a cast of characters that includes [John Eastman and Jeffrey Clark]. I think you could look at [Rudolph W.] Giuliani, and Mark Meadows. I think that the Justice Department has to look very closely at whether there was an agreement or conspiracy.'"

Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "There are nearly 47,000 people ... who have been in repayment on their federal student loans for at least 40 years, according to data obtained from the Education Department through a Freedom of Information Act request. About 82 percent of them are in default on their loans, meaning they haven't made a voluntary payment in at least 270 days.... While ... borrowers [manage their debts] represent a sliver of the 43.5 million people with federal student debt, their existence is an indictment of policies meant to help people manage their loans. Years of administrative failures and poorly designed programs have denied many borrowers an off-ramp from a perpetual cycle of debt."

The Pandemic, Ctd. Jennifer Valentine-DeVries & Allie Pitchon of the New York Times: "Deaths in state and federal prisons across America rose nearly 50 percent during the first year of the pandemic, and in six states they more than doubled, according to the first comprehensive data on prison fatalities in the era of Covid-19. The tremendous jump in deaths in 2020 was more than twice the increase in the United States overall, and even exceeded estimates of the percentage increase at nursing homes, among the hardest-hit sectors nationwide. In many states, the data showed, high rates continued in 2021. While there was ample evidence that prisons were Covid hot spots, an examination of the data by The New York Times underscored how quickly the virus rampaged through crowded facilities, and how an aging inmate population, a correctional staffing shortage and ill-equipped medical personnel combined to make prisoners especially vulnerable during the worst public health crisis in a century."

Beyond the Beltway

Colorado. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: "A Denver city councilman who is paralyzed from the chest down said he felt like a 'circus monkey' trying to climb onto a stage that was not accessible by wheelchair." Councilman Chris Hinds has been using a wheelchair since 2008. "The episode on Monday has since drawn immense criticism from advocates for people with disabilities and from others who have seen a video that captured what happened. It also underscored the barriers that people with disabilities continue to face, even three decades after Congress passed the Americans With Disabilities Act. Mr. Hinds, 47, who was elected in 2019, said organizers eventually decided to move the candidates to the floor in front of the stage and have the debate there, where he could remain in his wheelchair. He had felt obligated to participate, he said, because of an elections law that says if a candidate skips a debate, matching campaign funds from the city are forfeited."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Guardian's live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. The Washington Post's live updates for Monday are here.

Robyn Dixon & Catherine Belton of the Washington Post: "President Vladimir Putin likes to portray himself as a new czar like Peter the Great or Ivan III, the 15th-century grand prince known as the 'gatherer of the Russian lands.' But Putin's year-long war in Ukraine has failed so far to secure the lands he aims to seize, and in Russia, there is fear that he is leading his nation into a dark period of strife and stagnation -- or worse. Some in the elite also say the Russian leader now desperately needs a military victory to ensure his own survival.... Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began with hubris and a zeal to reshape the world order. But even as he suffered repeated military defeats -- diminishing his stature globally and staining him with allegations of atrocities being committed by his troops -- Putin has tightened his authoritarian grip at home, using the war to destroy any opposition and to engineer a closed, paranoid society hostile to liberals, hipsters, LGBTQ people, and, especially, Western-style freedom and democracy."

News Lede

Turkey. AP: "A new 6.4 magnitude earthquake on Monday killed three people and injured more than 200 in parts of Turkey laid waste two weeks ago by a massive quake that killed tens of thousands, authorities said. More buildings collapsed, trapping some people, while scores of injuries were recorded in neighboring Syria too. Monday's earthquake was centered in the town of Defne, in Turkey's Hatay province, one the worst-hit regions in the magnitude 7.8 quake that struck on Feb. 6. It was felt in Syria, Jordan, Cyprus, Israel and as far away as Egypt, and followed by a second, magnitude 5.8 temblor. Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said ... search and rescue efforts were underway in three collapsed buildings where six people were believed trapped."