November 21, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "Manhattan prosecutors rested their case in the tax fraud trial of Donald J. Trump's family business on Monday without calling a witness they had previously planned to question, an indication of confidence after the company's longtime chief financial officer testified last week. The former chief financial officer, Allen H. Weisselberg, strengthened the prosecution's hand as he admitted to his participation in a tax scheme that the company, the Trump Organization, is also charged with.... Donald Bender, who for years was an outside accountant for Mr. Trump and the company..., works for the accounting firm Mazars USA, [and] has been cooperating with prosecutors since at least last year. Last week, [prosecutors] said in court that they expected to call Mr. Bender, but reversed that plan. The Trump Organization's lawyers indicated Monday morning that they plan to call him as a defense witness instead."

Alabama. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Alabama's governor issued a sweeping order on Monday suspending all executions in the state and ordering a review of Alabama's execution process following a series of problems delivering lethal injection drugs this year. The move by Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, comes four days after prison officials said they had been unable to insert one of two intravenous lines into Kenneth Eugene Smith before his death warrant expired at midnight. That episode was the third time this year in which Alabama executioners failed to reach a death row prisoner's veins and the second time in less than two months that the problems forced the state to call off an execution. Ms. Ivey said she had asked the state's attorney general to withdraw Alabama's two pending requests for execution dates and seek no more until the investigation is over. She ... also said that ...'legal tactics and criminals hijacking the system' were responsible for the problems." MB: By this, Ivey apparently meant she blamed last-minute appeals. Don't think Kaye has gone soft on the death penalty. She hasn't.

Lauren Gurley of the Washington Post: "One of the largest railroad unions narrowly voted to reject a contract deal brokered by the White House, bringing the country once again closer to a rail strike that could paralyze much of the economy ahead of the holidays, union officials announced on Monday. The union representing roughly 28,000 rail conductors, SMART Transportation Division, voted the deal down by 50.9 percent, the union said. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, which represents engineers, announced on Monday that 53.5 percent of members voted to ratify the deal. These unions represent 57,000 workers and are the largest and most politically powerful of the 12 rail unions in contract discussions."

     ~~~ Marie: Thank goodness the turkeys aren't named Donald & Lindsey, but President Biden did get in some jokes about Trump.

Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "The Manhattan district attorney's office has moved to jump-start its criminal investigation into Donald J. Trump, according to people with knowledge of the matter, seeking to breathe new life into an inquiry that once seemed to have reached a dead end. Under the new district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, the prosecutors have returned to the long-running investigation's original focus: a hush-money payment to a porn star [Stormy Daniels] who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump.... For Mr. Bragg, the hush-money developments suggest the first signs of progress since he took office at the beginning of the year, when he balked at indicting Mr. Trump in connection with his business practices." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Michael Cohen has been wondering for a long time why he went to jail for the illegal payment to Daniels when he made the payment at Trump's behest & Trump repaid him. Maybe Bragg finally has begun to wonder about that, too.

Bill Barr in Common Sense: "It is painfully clear from his track record in both the 2020 election and the 2022 midterms that Donald Trump is neither capable of forging [a] winning coalition or delivering the decisive and durable victory required. Trump's extraordinarily divisive actions since losing in 2020 are not those of someone capable of leading a party, much less a country.... Trump's willingness to destroy the party if he does not get his way is not based on principle, but on his own supreme narcissism. His egoism makes him unable to think of a political party as anything but an extension of himself -- a cult of personality."

~~~~~~~~~~

E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post: "It's a shame that Kevin McCarthy skipped Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 15-minute speech on Thursday announcing she was stepping down as the House's Democratic leader. For the California Republican who hopes to be speaker himself, it was an ungracious act, of course, but also something worse. Ignoring Pelosi was a big mistake, because McCarthy has a lot to learn about what made her consequential. So do the Democratic leaders who will follow her.... The most important lesson she has to teach is ... [that] she had an overarching purpose.... Pelosi always knew where she wanted the country to go and which reforms were necessary to getting there.... Pelosi-ism ... comes down to this: If you don't have principles that define what you're fighting for, there's no point to being in politics. But if you're impractical, you won't achieve your objectives." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Sorry, E.J. I don't think McCarthy is smart enough to understand your well-articulated point, much less even try to carry it off.

Eric Lipton & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The Trump family's newest business partners are middle eastern governments. A deal signed last week with a Saudi real estate developer makes Donald Trump "part of a project backed by the government of Oman itself. The deal leaves Mr. Trump, as a former president hoping to win the White House again, effectively with a foreign government partner that has complex relations with the United States...."

Caroline Frost of Deadline: "Following Elon Musk's decision to reinstate Donald Trump on Twitter..., it seems the former president isn't interested. 'I don't see any reason for it,' Trump said via video when pressed on the subject by a panel at the Republican Jewish Coalition's annual leadership meeting, as reported by Reuters. Instead, Trump said, he would stay with his new platform Truth Social, developed by his Trump Media & Technology Group -- where, of course, his posts and engagement draw money for him, rather than Musk."

In a New York Times op-ed linked last week, Anand Giridharadas took down the Four Billionaires of Last Week's Apocalypse: Musk, Bezos, Bankman-Fried & Trump. What Giridharadas didn't do, Reality Chex contributors filled out in the Comments section. Complementing the discussion are remarks by Thomas Keller, whom digby cites & RAS called to our attention:

Elon "Musk is yet another example of the libertarian-to-far-right-pipeline -- a stark reminder that this type of libertarianism has always been driven by a desire of elites to do as they please and be freed from regulation of any kind, from demands for fairness and equality.... In general, from a democratic perspective, it's highly problematic that these tech oligarchs are amassing so much power and influence. They are not democratically controlled in any way.... Finally, there is this: White male hero worship of the worst kind. The message here seems to be that we'll just have to live with the damage these tech oligarchs cause -- and be grateful for all the wonders with which they are supposedly blessing the world. No, no, no."

By Manu Cornet.

     ~~~ Marie: The underlying question is this: who should have the power to moderate social media? We already know the answer is not Zuckerberg & Musk, et al. And some of us can tell you from personal experience that it's not a group like the priggish moderators at the New York Times. But it also isn't politicians like Gym Jordan & Miss Margie. If you have an answer, do share.

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "As Republican Kari Lake refuses to concede she lost the Arizona governor's race and Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich investigates unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud, the GOP chairman of the Maricopa Board of Supervisors has gone into hiding. 'Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates confirmed on Sunday that he was transferred (to an undisclosed location) and provided a security detail after workers at the Arizona county elections office faced months of escalating death threats that made it increasingly difficult to do their job,' The Daily Beast reported. 'Gates, a Republican, has faced particular backlash as a vocal critic of false election claims spurred by Trump's election denialism in 2020.' The top lawyer for the county has also reported feeling threatened by an RNC attorney working with Lake's campaign." ~~~

~~~ 12News Phoenix: "A Chandler Republican recently elected to the Arizona House of Representatives says that she will not cast her vote on any bill unless the 2022 election is redone. Liz Harris, recently elected to represent Legislative District 13 which encompasses much of Chandler, issued the statement on Instagram and her campaign website saying in part "it has become obvious that we need to hold a new election immediately. Despite winning her own election, Harris alleges that there were 'clear signs of foul play' which necessitated her demands. There has been no evidence of this."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live briefings of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "The nearly nine-month-old conflict is showing no signs of abating as winter approaches and both sides gear up to continue the fight well into next year.... The state of the war has led to suggestions, including from the Pentagon, that it could be time for Ukraine to negotiate a political solution to the conflict with Russia -- which almost certainly would require surrendering some territory. [President] Zelensky, who is preparing for a number of international addresses this week, said: 'We will do everything to make the world accept the Ukrainian peace formula.'"

Malachy Browne, et al., of the New York Times: "A series of videos that surfaced on social media last week has ignited a debate over whether Ukrainian forces committed war crimes or acted in self-defense as they tried to capture a group of Russian soldiers who were then killed. The videos show the grisly before-and-after scenes of the encounter earlier this month, in which at least 11 Russians, most of whom are seen lying on the ground, appear to have been shot dead at close range after one of their fellow fighters suddenly opened fire on Ukrainian soldiers standing nearby. The videos, detailed [in this article] and whose authenticity has been verified by The New York Times, offer a rare look into one gruesome moment among many in the war, but do not show how or why the Russian soldiers were killed."

News Ledes

New York Times: "A man shrouded in body armor and wielding an AR-15 style rifle, attacked an L.G.B.T.Q. nightclub in Colorado Springs on Saturday night, in a rampage that killed at least five people and injured at least 25 others. At least one person inside the nightclub, Club Q, tackled and subdued the gunman, the authorities said, helping to prevent further bloodshed. Mayor John Suthers of Colorado Springs said that a man had grabbed a handgun from the gunman and then hit him with it, subduing him. When the police burst into the club, the man was still on top of gunman, pinning him down, Mr. Suthers said. The owners of the club, who had looked at surveillance tape, lauded the actions of two patrons whom they said they did not know but who, together, had overpowered the gunman and held him on the floor until police arrived." An AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments. "Investigators filed murder and hate crimes charges on Monday against the suspect...."

CNN & Reuters (published by CNN): "At least 46 people have died after a 5.6-magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia's West Java province on Monday, according to the country's National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB). A further 700 were left injured, according to Major General Suharyanto, head of the BNPB. The quake hit the Cianjur region in West Java province at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS)." ~~~

     ~~~ Update: According to this New York Times story, at least 162 people were killed, and the toll is likely to rise.

November 20, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "Two reports analyzing two different criminal investigations into Donald Trump have reached a singular conclusion: there is enough evidence to bring charges against the former president.... 'Donald Trump is facing many more legal problems than just these two probes. But the Georgia investigation of whether his election denial slipped into criminality after the 2020 election and the federal investigation [into] whether his retention, classified, and other documents at Mar-a-Lago also crossed the criminal red line are the most threatening legal peril that he faces,' Norm Eisen..., an author on both reports, told The Hill.... The nearly 500 pages of collective legal analysis finds a litany of state and federal crimes Trump may have committed.... 'We conclude that Trump's post-election conduct in Georgia leaves him at substantial risk of possible state charges predicated on multiple crimes,' a report from the Brookings Institution determined. And in a report from Just Security, former prosecutors found additional statutes the Justice Department could weigh using as it noted any failure to charge Trump for the mishandling of records would represent treating Trump far differently than others who have faced similar charges." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: These analyses, of course, rely on only information that is publicly-known. The DOJ likely has additional evidence -- and of of course, in theory at least, DOJ could have exculpatory evidence.

~~~~~~~~~~

Today is President Biden's 80th birthday.

Brad Plumer, et al., of the New York Times: "Negotiators from nearly 200 countries concluded two weeks of talks early Sunday in which their main achievement was agreeing to establish a fund that would help poor, vulnerable countries cope with climate disasters made worse by the pollution spewed by wealthy nations.... The decision ... marked a breakthrough on one of the most contentious issues at United Nations climate negotiations. For more than three decades, developing nations have pressed for loss and damage money, asking rich, industrialized countries to provide compensation for the costs of destructive storms, heat waves and droughts fueled by global warming. But the United States and other wealthy countries had long blocked the idea, for fear that they could be held legally liable for the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change. The agreement hammered out ... says nations cannot be held legally liable for payments. The deal calls for a committee with representatives from 24 countries to work over the next year to figure out exactly what form the fund should take, which countries should contribute and where the money should go. Many of the other details are still to be determined." The AP report is here.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Trump flaunts his faux Macho Macho Man rhetoric. For decades, Republicans have lectured Americans to quit embracing victimhood and stand on their own two feet, and here's their leader announcing his presidency on a platform of Woe is me! Quit picking on me! Elect me because I'm a fall guy! 'I will tell you I'm a victim,' Trump said to a less-than-festive gathering where Melania seemed like a hostage and Ivanka was a no-show.... Trump's martyrdom extends to his life with Melania in an oceanside resort, which he said, 'hasn't been the easiest thing. I go home,' he said, 'and she says, "You look angry and upset." I say, "Just leave me alone."' Fun couple!" (Also linked yesterday.)

Julia Shapero of the Hill: "Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Saturday urged the Republican Party to move on from Donald Trump, just days after the former president announced his third bid for office. 'It is time to stop whispering,' Christie said at the Republican Jewish Coalition's annual leadership meeting. 'It is time to stop being afraid of any one person. It is time to stand up for the principles and the beliefs that we have founded this party on and this country on.'"

Jared Gans of the Hill: "Former Attorney General William Barr said Friday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) probably has a 'basis for legitimately indicting' former President Trump over the classified and sensitive documents law enforcement says were taken to Mar-a-Lago. Barr told PBS's Margaret Hoover during an interview on 'Firing Line' he thinks the DOJ has enough evidence to reach the amount they would need to indict his former boss.... 'If the Department of Justice can show that these were indeed very sensitive documents, which I think they probably were, and also show that the president consciously was involved in misleading the department, deceiving the government, and playing games after he had received the subpoena for the documents, those are serious charges,' Barr said." MB: Congrats, Bill, on your amazing rehabilitation tour. Still, you're a total dick. (Also linked yesterday.)

Twitter Is Dead to Me. Ryan Mac & Kellen Browning of the New York Times: "Elon Musk said on Twitter on Saturday that he would reinstate ... Donald J. Trump to the platform as part of a shake-up of the social media service, with Mr. Trump's account quickly showing up again on the site. Mr. Musk ... had asked users on the platform starting late Friday afternoon about whether to allow Mr. Trump back onto the service. Twitter had barred Mr. Trump after the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol, saying his posts had the risk of inciting violence. More than 15 million votes were logged in answer to Mr. Musk's question about whether to reinstate Mr. Trump, according to the results that Mr. Musk included in his tweet, with nearly 52 percent in favor of the former president returning to Twitter. Mr. Trump's Twitter account went live shortly after, though the former president's last tweet was from Jan. 8, 2021. 'The people have spoken,' Mr. Musk said on Twitter. 'Trump will be reinstated.' He added the Latin phrase "Vox Populi, Vox Dei.'..." The AP's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Okay, I'm going to try to figure out some other way to communicate with readers on those occasions when Reality Chex goes down. I have deactivated my seldom-used Twitter account. Unless you really, really need Twitter for business or some other compelling reason, I urge you to do the same. ~~~

~~~ Todd Spangler of Variety: "CBS News is halting its activity on Twitter over Elon Musk's turbulent and potentially devastating moves following his takeover of the company. 'In light of the uncertainty around Twitter and out of an abundance of caution, CBS News is pausing its activity on the social media site as it continues to monitor the platform,' Jonathan Vigliotti, CBS News national correspondent, said in a report about the latest chaos at the company on the 'CBS Evening News' Friday."

** Anand Giridharadas in a New York Times op-ed: "... billionaires ... exist at our collective pleasure. If enough of us decided to, we could enact labor, tax, antitrust and regulatory policies to make it hard for anyone to amass that much wealth while so many beg for scraps.... [Elon] Musk's genius pose has long been undermined by his actual record, which is defined by claiming credit for what others have built and is shot through with complaints of discrimination, mismanagement and fraud. But it wasn't until Mr. Musk took over Twitter that his claim of infinitely transferable genius truly fell apart....

"Jeff Bezos, ..., this week was doing his part to undermine another pretension of billionaire benevolence: the generosity pose. On Monday, he made a big splash when ... he announced that he was giving the great bulk of his more than $120 billion fortune away, with a focus on fighting climate change and promoting unity.... The money Mr. Bezos is now so magnanimously distributing was made through his dehumanizing labor practices, his tax avoidance, his influence peddling, his monopolistic power and other tactics that make him a cause of the problems of modern American life.... Just minutes after his philanthropy announcement on CNN, news broke that Amazon would be laying off thousands of workers, reminding everyone of what was really going on.... Then, of course, there was Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced crypto kingpin whose spectacular downfall, along with that of FTX, the company he founded, caused $32 billion to disappear, much of it belonging to hundreds of thousands of regular people.... Finally, of course, this week there was Donald Trump..., who has incarnated the most dangerous billionaire pretension of all: that of the hero who in all the world is the only one who can save us."

Marie: I'm surprised more people weren't gobsmacked by the New York Times story, also linked yesterday, that Sam Alito leaked the [2014] Hobby Lobby decision weeks before it was announced. But at least there's this: ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Blumenthal in the Huffington Post: "Progressive judicial groups Demand Justice and Take Back The Court called on the Senate to open an investigation into U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and the lobbying campaign targeting the high court after The New York Times alleged he leaked the 2014 Hobby Lobby decision to wealthy evangelicals engaged in an influence campaign targeting conservative justices.... The pro-abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America also called for a Senate investigation into the alleged leak. At least one member of the House Judiciary Committee, outgoing Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), called for an immediate investigation by the committee. 'Today's well-sourced NY Times article strongly suggests Justice Alito leaked the 2014 opinion in Hobby Lobby and describes a conspiracy by the far-right donor class to influence the Supreme Court Justices,' Jones said in a tweet. 'The House Judiciary Committee must investigate this while we still can.'" Emphasis added. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: No wonder Clarence Thomas won't recuse himself from cases in which his wife Ginny is involved; he's not the only Supreme winger who consorts with people who have interests before the Court. ~~~

     ~~~ digby: "This may end up being the worst scandal the high court has ever had. The problem is that, like the rest of the right wing legal establishment -- and the right wing in general) shamelessness is their super-power. They. Don't. Care." ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Combined with the fact that the leaker was speaking to the Wall Street Journal editorial board before Politico published the leaked [Dobbs] draft [this year], and the fact that the investigation into the leak seems to be about as aggressive as OJ's hunt for the real killers at this point.... And case pretty much closed. Alito has railroaded many people into the death chamber on much weaker evidence than this." ~~~

     ~~~ Josh Gerstein of Politico, who published the Dobbs leak, has more on the Hobby Lobby leak & the cozy relationships between right-wing activists & Supreme Court "justices": "In July, Politico published an account of [the Rev. Rob] Schenck's efforts to encourage more strictly conservative decisions by the Supreme Court. Part of the multi-faceted plan -- dubbed 'Operation Higher Court' -- involved trying to gain access to the justices through various means, including by having religious couples from across the U.S. gain entrée with the justices and seeking opportunities to socialize with them at fundraising events and even in their homes.... As Politico previously reported, [Don & Gayle Wright] were part of 'Operation Higher Court.' In a letter Schenck sent to Chief Justice John Roberts in July and shared with the Times, Schenck claimed that he became privy to the 'status' of the Hobby Lobby case after donors to Schenck's group, 'Faith and Action,' were dinner guests at the Alito's home in Alexandria, Va. on one evening in 2014. Schenck told the newspaper Gayle Wright was the donor who relayed the information." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There's more. And there's this: "'The Senate Judiciary Committee is reviewing these serious allegations,' Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) said in a statement calling for the passage of legislation to impose a mandatory ethics code on the high court. Senate Judiciary Committee member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and House Judiciary Committee member Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), revealed Saturday that in the wake of Politico's earlier reporting and a piece in Rolling Stone that they raised concerns about untoward influence on the court directly with Chief Justice Roberts." Roberts replied with what sounds like the kind of meaningless form letter you get from politicians in response to a letter from you. ~~~

     ~~~ What especially fries me is that the Alitos invited this gang of winger activists to their home. Do you think Sonia Sotomayor hosts dinner parties for top NARAL & Planned Parenthood donors while she's writing her dissents? I doubt it.

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Vimal Patel & McKenna Oxenden of the New York Times: “The authorities arrested two men on Saturday at New York's Pennsylvania Station and seized a large hunting knife and an illegal firearm with a 30-round magazine in what they described as a 'developing threat to the Jewish community.'... Authorities ... said [that one of the men], Christopher Brown, had a history of mental illness and had recently expressed an interest in coming to New York City to buy a gun.... An investigation led to the recovery of an illegal Glock firearm, the 30-round magazine and several other items, [M.T.A.] Chief [John] Mueller said. It was not immediately clear where the gun was found or whom it belonged to." MB: CNN said on-air that one of the two men was wearing a Nazi armband.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Sunday are here: "Britain announced a roughly $60 million aid package for Ukraine -- including 125 antiaircraft guns, dozens of radars and anti-drone technology -- during a surprise weekend trip to Kyiv by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who said in a statement that the aid was 'to counter deadly Iranian-supplied drones.' It comes as The Washington Post reported that Iran will help Moscow build drones on Russian soil for the war against Ukraine. Moscow has deployed more than 400 Iranian-made drones since August...."

News Lede

Saturday Night in America. New York Times: "At least five people were killed and 18 injured late Saturday in a shooting at an L.G.B.T.Q. nightclub in Colorado Springs, the police said early Sunday morning. Lt. Pamela Castro, a public information officer with the Colorado Springs Police Department, said ... that the victims had been taken to multiple area hospitals. After the police received an initial call about an active shooting at 11:57 p.m., Lieutenant Castro said, officers entered the club and took into custody a person they believed to be a suspect. The suspect was also injured and was being treated at a hospital, Lieutenant Castro said."

November 19, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Trump flaunts his faux Macho Macho Man rhetoric. For decades, Republicans have lectured Americans to quit embracing victimhood and stand on their own two feet, and here's their leader announcing his presidency on a platform of Woe is me! Quit picking on me! Elect me because I'm a fall guy!' I will tell you I'm a victim,' Trump said to a less-than-festive gathering where Melania seemed like a hostage and Ivanka was a no-show.... Trump's martyrdom extends to his life with Melania in an oceanside resort, which he said, 'hasn't been the easiest thing. I go home,' he said, 'and she says, "You look angry and upset." I say, "Just leave me alone."' Fun couple!"

Jared Gans of the Hill: "Former Attorney General William Barr said Friday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) probably has a 'basis for legitimately indicting' former President Trump over the classified and sensitive documents law enforcement says were taken to Mar-a-Lago. Barr told PBS's Margaret Hoover during an interview on 'Firing Line' he thinks the DOJ has enough evidence to reach the amount they would need to indict his former boss.... 'If the Department of Justice can show that these were indeed very sensitive documents, which I think they probably were, and also show that the president consciously was involved in misleading the department, deceiving the government, and playing games after he had received the subpoena for the documents, those are serious charges,' Barr said." MB: Congrats, Bill, on your amazing rehabilitation tour. Still, you're a total dick.

~~~~~~~~~~

Perry Stein & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Merrick Garland has named a special counsel to oversee the criminal investigation into ... Donald Trump's possible mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club and residence, as well as key aspects of the Jan. 6 investigation. Garland announced his decision Friday afternoon, tapping Jack Smith, a longtime federal prosecutor who has in recent years been working at the International Criminal Court at The Hague. The announcement comes three days after Trump formally declared himself a 2024 candidate for president. 'Based on recent developments, including the former president's announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election, and the sitting president's stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel,' Garland said at a news conference at the Justice Department....

Hillary Clinton, Trump's Democratic opponent in 2016. The FBI investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server for government matters was opened in mid-2015, continued throughout the primaries, was closed just before the nominating convention and then publicly reopened less than two weeks before Election Day." MB: Yes, and didn't that go well. (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ Marie: On the down side, Merrick the Unready remains as unready ever, and Donald Trump is the beneficiary of yet another big DOJ delay.* A number of pundits -- not the least of whom is Neal Katyal, who wrote the special counsel rules -- opined Friday that there is no advantage to appointing a special counsel: it does not effectively distance Garland from the investigation because under the rules, the AG is still required to make the final decision on whether or not to bring charges. On the up side, Barbara McQuade opined on MSNBC that Garland would not have appointed a special counsel if he was about to drop the investigation of Trump. And a guy who's been prosecuting war criminals at the Hague is unlikely to by fazed by the slings & arrows of a cowardly wimp like Donald Trump. BTW, one pundit (don't recall who) pointed out that Garland's acknowledged Friday for the first time that Trump was the subject of investigations. ~~~

     ~~~ * Andrew Weissmann & Paul Butler, appearing last night on Lawrence O'Donnell's MSNBC show, seemed to agree that Smith would not shut things down because (1) the Trump Inquiries now have a dedicated boss, as opposed to Garland, who was supposedly leading the inquiry groups but has many other responsibilities, and (2) Smith is a speed demon. I'm not sure I'm convinced, but I hope they're right.

Alan Feuer & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: Jack Smith, the Justice Department's newly appointed special counsel, will come to the task of investigating ... Donald J. Trump with a wealth of experience.... Mr. Smith got his start in the 1990s as a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney's office and soon moved to a similar job at the United States Attorney's office in Brooklyn. There, he served in a number of supervisory positions, according to his Justice Department biography, and worked on an assortment of cases, many involving public corruption. From 2008 to 2010, Mr. Smith worked as the investigation coordinator in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. In that role, he oversaw high-profile inquiries of foreign government officials and militia members wanted for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.... Mr. Smith served from 2010 to 2015 as chief of the Justice Department's public integrity section, which investigates politicians and other public figures on corruption allegations.... Mr. Smith will take on the role of special counsel after leaving his current position as a specialist prosecutor based in The Hague investigating war crimes. He will remain in the Netherlands for some time, according to the Justice Department, in order to recover from a recent bicycle accident." An NBC News story is here.

Kelly Garrity of Politico: "Donald Trump was quick to attack Attorney General Merrick Garland's appointment of a special prosecutor to oversee criminal investigations of the former president.... On Friday, the former president maintained his innocence, calling the appointment 'unfair,' 'political,' 'not even believable,' and 'the worst politicization of justice in our country.' 'I have been proven innocent for six years on everything -- from fake impeachments to Mueller, who found no collusion, and now I have to do it more? It is not acceptable. It is so unfair. It is so political,' Trump told Fox, adding 'I am not going to partake in it.' At a news conference later Friday in front of patrons and supporters at his Mar-a-Lago residence..., he further called the various criminal probes against him 'corrupt' and the 2020 elections 'rigged' in a diatribe more usually delivered from a campaign rally stage. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the White House did not receive any advance notice of the appointment."

Caroline Kitchener, et al., of the Washington Post: "A televangelist who served as a spiritual adviser to Donald Trump says the former president has the tendency to act 'like a little elementary schoolchild' and suggests that Trump's focus on minor spats was preventing progress on larger goals. 'If Mr. Trump can't stop his little petty issues, how does he expect people to stop major issues?' James Robison, the president of the Christian group Life Outreach International, said Wednesday night at a meeting of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL), a conservative political group that focuses on social issues." The whole story is, well, interesting. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A Donald Trump fan who was convicted on all counts after telling jurors that he thought he was 'following presidential orders' when he stole a liquor bottle and a coat rack from the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was sentenced to three years in federal prison on Friday. Dustin Thompson, a college-educated Ohio man who testified that he believed Trump's lies about the 2020 election, was convicted on six charges in April after he told jurors he was seeking Trump's 'respect' and 'approval' on Jan. 6.... 'You didn't love America that day,' Senior U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton told Thompson while sentencing him on Friday. Walton said he didn't understand how 'people can be gullible enough to accept a lie and act on that lie.'"

From Stilettos to Sneakers. Nicholas Fandos & Annie Karni of the New York Times: Rep. Hakeem "Jeffries on Friday formally announced his run for Democratic leader, a bid that, if successful, would make him the first Black man to hold the top party leadership role in either chamber of Congress. For now, he is unopposed for the post, and widely regarded by his colleagues as all but certain to secure it. In many ways, he and [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi couldn't be more different. She is the daughter of a congressman and former mayor, who was born into a Baltimore political dynasty and later became a wealthy San Francisco homemaker.... In Congress, she has been a master legislator who has led with an iron grip on her caucus ... -- usually while wearing stilettos. Mr. Jeffries is the son of a working-class social worker and a substance abuse counselor, who became a high-powered litigator. He still lives in the heart of Black Brooklyn and often pairs his suits with sneakers. Outside of bipartisan federal sentencing reform, his own legislative record is relatively thin, pointing to a sharp learning curve ahead. What the two lawmakers share is a pragmatic streak, and a keen sense of where political compromise is available." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) -- a real dick, God rest his soul -- once disparaged my mother as "a little old lady in tennis shoes." So I prefer the sneakers.

Leigh Ann Caldwell of the Washington Post: "One day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her top two lieutenants said they would step down as the top House Democrats, Rep. Katherine M. Clark (D-Mass.) announced Friday that she will run for the number two position in the caucus. Clark's move is part of Democrats' desire to quickly establish a new set of leaders after having the same three members at the top -- Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) and Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) -- for 16 years.... Hoyer announced Thursday afternoon that he will not seek a leadership post in the next Congress.... Clark would be the second woman, behind Pelosi, in history to serve in one of the top two positions of House leadership.... She has been laying the groundwork for a prime leadership position for years.... No one has announced they will challenge Clark.... Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) is expected to announce he is running for the number three leadership post."

Inmates Take Over the Asylum. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "Wednesday evening, Republicans formally won control of the House. Thursday morning, in the first public act of the new majority, senior House Republicans revealed their most urgent priority: They would investigate Hunter Biden. The incoming chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the incoming chairman of the Oversight Committee, James Comer (R-Ky.), and about 10 other members of the brand-new majority ... mentioned Hunter two dozen times in their opening statements alone. Reporters tried to ask questions about other topics. Comer cut them off.... A few hours ... [later], Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) ... announce[d] plans to force a vote on ending funds for Ukraine. 'Is Ukraine now the 51st state?' asked Greene, who alleged an elaborate cryptocurrency conspiracy in which military aid for Ukraine actually funds Democrats' campaigns.... Even if he wins the [speakership], [Kevin McCarthy] might soon wish he hadn't. That's because he'll get it only by signing an endless pile of IOUs the crazies are demanding...."

AND the Supreme Leaker Is ... Sam Alito! Jodi Kantor & Jo Becker of the New York Times: "As the Supreme Court investigates the extraordinary leak this spring of a draft opinion of the decision overturning Roe v. Wade, a former anti-abortion leader has come forward claiming that another breach occurred in a 2014 landmark case involving contraception and religious rights. In a letter to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and in interviews with The New York Times, the Rev. Rob Schenck said he was told the outcome of the 2014 case weeks before it was announced. He used that information to prepare a public relations push, records show, and he said that at the last minute he tipped off the president of Hobby Lobby, the craft store chain owned by Christian evangelicals that was the winning party in the case. Both court decisions were triumphs for conservatives and the religious right. Both majority opinions were written by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.... According to Mr. Schenck, the outcome [of the 2014 case] was shared with only a handful of advocates.... The Times found a trail of contemporaneous emails and conversations that strongly suggested he knew the outcome and the author of the Hobby Lobby decision before it was made public....

"In early June 2014, an Ohio couple who were Mr. Schenck's star donors shared a meal with Justice Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann. A day later, Gayle Wright, one of the pair, contacted Mr. Schenck, according to an email reviewed by The Times. 'Rob, if you want some interesting news please call. No emails,' she wrote. Mr. Schenck said Mrs. Wright told him that the decision would be favorable to Hobby Lobby, and that Justice Alito had written the majority opinion. Three weeks later, that's exactly what happened." Alito & Mrs. Wright deny the allegation.

Ben Leonard of Politico: "A group of anti-abortion organizations sued HHS and the FDA on Friday in a bid to reverse the FDA's approval of the abortion medication mifepristone. Lawyers from the conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Amarillo on behalf of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Pediatricians, the Christian Medical & Dental Associations and four doctors.... An HHS spokesperson defended the medication as safe and effective and said that 'denying women access to any essential care they need is downright dangerous and extreme.'"

Ryan Mac, et al., of the New York Times: "Twitter is teetering on the edge as [owner Elon] Musk remakes the company after buying it for $44 billion last month. The billionaire has pushed relentlessly to put his imprint on the social media service, slashing 50 percent of its work force, firing dissenters, pursuing new subscription products and delivering a harsh message that the company needs to shape up or it will face bankruptcy. Now the question is whether Mr. Musk, 51, has gone too far. On Thursday, hundreds of Twitter employees resigned after Mr. Musk gave them a deadline to decide whether to leave or stay. So many workers chose to depart that Twitter users began questioning whether the site would survive.... Some internal estimates showed that at least 1,200 full-time employees resigned on Thursday, three people close to the company said."

Erin Griffith of the New York Times: "Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the failed blood-testing start-up Theranos, was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison on Friday for defrauding investors about her company's technology and business dealings.... Ms. Holmes, who raised $945 million for Theranos and promised that the start-up would revolutionize health care with tests that required just a few drops of blood, was convicted in January of four counts of wire fraud for deceiving investors with those claims, which turned out not to be true.... Ms. Holmes, 38, who plans to appeal the verdict, must surrender to custody on April 27, 2023. In the courtroom on Friday..., Ms. Holmes, who has a 1-year-old son and is pregnant with her second child, apologized to the investors, patients and employees of Theranos."

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Grisly News. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Alabama called off its plans to execute a man on Thursday after a whirlwind few hours in which the Supreme Court allowed the execution to proceed, but prison officials determined they did not have enough time to kill the man before his death warrant expired at midnight. It was the second time in less than two months that Alabama had brought a prisoner into its execution chamber, strapped him to a gurney and begun trying to insert intravenous lines -- only to call off the execution and return him to his cell. In both cases, it appeared that prison officials had struggled to insert the lines into the prisoners after last-minute appeals were thrown out by the Supreme Court.... John Q. Hamm, the commissioner of Alabama's prisons, said at a news conference that prison officials determined that they could not insert a second, necessary line before the death warrant expired, and at 11:21 p.m. temporarily called the execution off." This is a substantial update of a story linked early yesterday. MB: One way to solve this problem is to quit executing people. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Colorado House Race. Bad News. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "In one of the country's closest House races, Adam Frisch, a Democrat challenging Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado, a far-right gunslinger known for her provocations on Capitol Hill, said on Friday that he had called her to concede, as Ms. Boebert appeared increasingly likely to win a second term. The Associated Press has not called the contest. Mr. Frisch, a Democratic businessman and former Aspen, Colo., city councilman, had put up a fierce challenge to Ms. Boebert, 35, who was seen as a heavy favorite entering the race in Colorado's Republican-leaning Third Congressional District."

** Georgia Senate Race. Matthew Brown of the Washington Post: "A Georgia judge ruled that early voting can take place on a Saturday in the highly watched Senate runoff election between Democratic incumbent Raphael G. Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker. In a ruling Friday afternoon ruling, Judge Thomas A. Cox Jr. found that a provision of Georgia's election code cited by the secretary of state's office as barring Saturday voting 'does not specifically prohibit counties from conducting advanced voting on Saturday, November 26, 2022, for a runoff election.' The court further noted that 'there is an absence of settled law on this specific issue' in Georgia but that the intent of the state legislature was 'obvious' in omitting any specific reference to a runoff election in the law. The ruling is a victory for Democrats and voting rights advocates.... 'We disagree with the court's order and look forward to a prompt appeal,' [Secretary of State Brad] Raffensperger [R] said in a statement. The decision on whether to appeal the case will be made by Republican Chris Carr, the state's attorney general." CNN's report is here.

Maryland. Ruth Graham of the New York Times: "The attorney general of Maryland [Brian Frosh] has identified more than 600 young victims of clergy sexual abuse over the course of 80 years in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, according to a court document filed Thursday. The filing, which broadly outlines the attorney general's findings, requests that a judge allow the release of the full report: a 456-page document detailing decades of clergy sex abuse in Maryland.... Baltimore is the first Catholic diocese established in the United States and is led by an influential archbishop, William E. Lori, who was elected this week as vice president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Saturday are here: "At least 17 regions in Ukraine, plus the capital, Kyiv, were being plunged into intermittent darkness this weekend, grappling with emergency electricity shutdowns and scheduled blackouts, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address. Meanwhile, more than 17,000 people in the Zaporizhzhia region were left without heating on Saturday following overnight rocket attacks, its local governor said.... The first train from Kyiv to Kherson since the war began arrived to cheers in the recently liberated city on Saturday.... Ukraine appeared to soften its stance on who was responsible for a missile blast that killed two in Poland earlier this week.... A spokesman for Ukraine's air force said in an interview Friday said that missile fragments landing in Poland could have been Ukrainian.... The United Nations Human Rights Office is looking into videos that the Kremlin said show Ukraine executing Russian prisoners of war, Reuters reported. U.N. officials said this week they found 'patterns of torture and ill-treatment' by Russia against prisoners of war that had fought for Ukraine, and 'sporadic cases of torture and ill-treatment' by Ukraine against Russian prisoners of war who had been in custody for extended periods."

Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "One day after lawyers confirmed that the American basketball star Brittney Griner had been transferred to a penal colony outside Moscow, Russia on Friday reiterated its openness to a prisoner exchange with the United States involving the notorious convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ The story has been updated: "A day after the American basketball star Brittney Griner was sent to a Russian penal colony, a top Russian diplomat said on Friday that the prospect of a prisoner exchange was increasing, and acknowledged that it could involve a Russian arms dealer imprisoned in the United States. But U.S. officials dismissed the suggestion of any new optimism about an agreement, saying that the Kremlin had not been serious about negotiating a deal. Since June, the Biden administration has been proposing trading Viktor Bout, the arms dealer, for Ms. Griner, who has been jailed for nine months and Paul N. Whelan, an American held for almost four years and convicted of espionage, according to U.S. officials and numerous news media reports."

Iran. Cora Engelbrecht of the New York Times: "... hundreds of victims ... have suffered severe eye injuries inflicted by Iranian security forces since mid-September, according to doctors and medical facilities. That month, antigovernment protests swept across the country, prompting a violent crackdown. More than 300 Iranians have been killed, according to rights groups. Thousands have been injured. Among the most irreversible effects of the government's efforts to crush the uprising has been the blinding of people taking part in them. Across Iran, scores of protesters have gone to hospitals with eyes ruptured by the metal pellets and rubber bullets that security forces fire to disperse crowds."