December 3, 2022

Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Biden signed legislation on Friday to impose a labor agreement between rail companies and workers who had been locked in a bitter dispute, averting a strike that could have upended the economy just before the holiday season. 'Without freight rail, many U.S. industries would literally shut down,' Mr. Biden said before signing the bill, adding that many communities would not have received crucial resources during the strike. 'Thanks to the bill Congress passed and what I'm about to sign, we spared the country that catastrophe.' Mr. Biden had called on Congress earlier this week to intervene in the stalemate and avoid the work stoppage that could have cost the economy $2 billion a day. It was a significant move for Mr. Biden, a staunch union backer who has previously argued against congressional intervention in railway labor disputes, arguing that it unfairly interferes with union bargaining efforts.: (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Biden met Prince William of Wales, the future king of Britain, for a gaze over the Boston harbor on Friday, capping an unusually glamorous week for a president who takes pride in the humble moniker of 'Scranton Joe.'... The prince and his wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales, were in town to celebrate the Earthshot Prize, the award they created to encourage work addressing climate change.... After chatting with the prince, Mr. Biden made sure to nod to the blue-collar workers of the Bay State. He visited the University of Massachusetts Boston for a phone bank organized by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to support Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia...."

"Silence Is Complicity." Kelly Hooper of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Friday called on political leaders to reject antisemitism 'wherever it hides,' just a day after the rapper Ye, better known as Kanye West, went on a tirade praising Adolf Hitler and Nazis. 'I just want to make a few things clear: The Holocaust happened. Hitler was a demonic figure,' Biden said in a tweet. 'And instead of giving it a platform, our political leaders should be calling out and rejecting antisemitism wherever it hides. Silence is complicity.'... [People] close to the White House framed the president's tweet as an effort to combat political forces being elevated by ... Donald Trump, who dined with Ye and the white nationalist Nick Fuentes shortly before Thanksgiving.

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The Pentagon and defense contractor Northrop Grumman unveiled the U.S. military's bomber of the future on Friday, showcasing an aircraft cloaked in secrecy for years and set to serve as a backbone of Air Force combat operations for decades to come. The B-21 Raider, with a distinctive batwing shape, was pulled forward out of a hangar [in Palmdale, Calif.,] while awash in blue light as cinematic music played and Northrop Grumman employees cheered. The ceremony was held at the company's facility at Air Force Plant 42, a heavily guarded, government-owned manufacturing facility north of Los Angeles, where some of the military's most highly classified work occurs."

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "As Republicans prepare to take over the House, they clearly see one of their highest missions as transforming >the lower chamber into Donald Trump's 24/7 personal shield against accountability. They are signaling plans for 'investigations' next year designed chiefly to discredit revelations about Trump's effort to destroy U.S. democracy.... In a letter dripping with a contrived, ominous tone, [Rep. Kevin McCarthy] ... instructed [January 6] committee chair Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) to 'preserve all records collected and transcripts of testimony taken,' suggesting Republicans intend to scrutinize those findings in the majority.... McCarthy wrote that Republicans want those materials preserved 'with an eye toward encouraged enforcement of 18 USC 1001,' with no further comment.... That statute criminalizes lying to Congress. From that, I think, we can glean what might be one of the House GOP's coming schemes: Dig through transcripts and other material to twist committee findings into 'proof' that key elements of the anti-Trump testimony were deceptive, or even perjury."

Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Two of Donald Trump's top White House lawyers appeared before at least one grand jury Friday, visiting the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C. amid multiple criminal probes involving the former president. Former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone exited the courthouse just before 2:30 p.m., spending about six hours behind closed doors. His former deputy, Pat Philbin, departed just after 4 p.m., spending about four hours with the grand jury.... For Trump, Cipollone's appearance marks the latest setback in an extraordinary run of catastrophic legal and political developments.... Several other former Trump White House advisers have appeared before the grand jury in recent weeks, including Trump social media aide Dan Scavino and two former aides to ex-vice president Mike Pence."

Fascist Fabulist & Seditionist Leader Endorses Violent Insurrectionists. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump expressed solidarity with the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, sending a video of support to a fundraising event Thursday night hosted by a group called the Patriot Freedom Project that is supporting families of those being prosecuted by the government. 'People have been treated unconstitutionally, in my opinion, and very, very unfairly, and we're going to get to the bottom of it,' he said in the video.'... 'It's the weaponization of the Department of Justice, and we can't let this happen in our country.'... Trump repeatedly has made clear that he stands with the mob that stormed the Capitol to stop Congress from counting the electoral votes for Joe Biden's win in the 2020 presidential election." (Also linked yesterday.)

Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump knew about a 15-year tax fraud carried out by longtime executives at his namesake company, a prosecutor argued Friday, saying the illegal activity ended when the company cleaned up its business practices around the time Trump entered the White House.... 'This whole narrative that Donald Trump was blissfully ignorant was just not real,' Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said during his summation. He asked jurors, who are likely to begin deliberations in the case on Monday, to dismiss the idea that executives who committed crimes had simply gone 'rogue.'... In a Truth Social post earlier this week, Trump appeared to refute any suggestion he knew what [Trump CFO Allen] Weisselberg and [comptroller Jeffrey] McConney had done, writing that there 'was no gain for "Trump"' and that 'we had know knowledge of it.'" MB: The royal we had know knowledge. Nitwit. (Also linked yesterday.)

Guardian & Agencies: "Emmanuel Macron said he had a 'clear and honest' discussion with Elon Musk about Twitter's content moderation policies, just a day after the French president had flagged his concerns on the issue. 'Transparent user policies, significant reinforcement of content moderation and protection of freedom of speech: efforts have to be made by Twitter to comply with European regulations,' Macron said in a tweet after his meeting with Musk on Friday afternoon.... On Thursday, Macron ... said in an interview with television show Good Morning America that he believed there were 'responsibilities and limits' to free speech." ~~~

~~~ Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Friday, Rolling Stone reported that under Elon Musk's new Twitter policies, one of the world's most notorious neo-Nazi activists has had his account restored to the platform: Andrew Anglin, the founder of the infamous website Stormfront.... 'Anglin is a staunch supporter of Nazi ideology and regularly espouses Holocaust denial. In 2018, Anglin wrote that he '[hates] women. I think they deserve to be beaten, raped and locked in cages."'" ~~~

~~~ Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News: "Elon Musk's Twitter is beginning to take shape. A 'general amnesty' has restored hundreds of accounts of right-wing activists and QAnon adherents, according to data reviewed by NBC News. The reinstatement of far-right accounts has coincided with a series of bans of left-wing accounts, leaving users unsure of how the company is now applying its rules." ~~~

~~~ Hate Tweets Soar. Sherra Frenkel & Kate Conger of the New York Times: "Before Elon Musk bought Twitter, slurs against Black Americans showed up on the social media service an average of 1,282 times a day. After the billionaire became Twitter's owner, they jumped to 3,876 times a day. Slurs against gay men appeared on Twitter 2,506 times a day on average before Mr. Musk took over. Afterward, their use rose to 3,964 times a day. And antisemitic posts referring to Jews or Judaism soared more than 61 percent in the two weeks after Mr. Musk acquired the site. These findings -- from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the Anti-Defamation League and other groups that study online platforms -- provide the most comprehensive picture to date of how conversations on Twitter have changed since Mr. Musk completed his $44 billion deal for the company in late October. While the numbers are relatively small, researchers said the increases were atypically high." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: "The Infowars fabulist Alex Jones filed for Chapter 11 personal bankruptcy on Friday, citing nearly $1.5 billion in damages juries awarded this year to the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims, who won a series of defamation cases against Mr. Jones after he lied for years about the school shooting. The filing in the Southern District of Texas in Houston comes atop the bankruptcy filing by Free Speech Systems, Infowars' parent company, in late July. The new filing could further delay payment of the verdicts for the families, who would need to seek payment through the bankruptcy courts alongside other creditors. But it could also force a greater degree of scrutiny on the finances of Mr. Jones's empire." The Texas Tribune's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Andrew Roth of the Guardian: "Edward Snowden has received a Russian passport after swearing an oath of allegiance to the country that has sheltered him from US authorities since 2013, his lawyer has said. Snowden, 39, a former intelligence contractor who leaked secret files that were reported on by the Guardian, was granted Russian citizenship in an order signed by Vladimir Putin in September."

2024 Presidential Election. Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "Over objections from some Democratic leaders, the Democratic National Committee on Friday moved one step closer to enacting President Biden's vision for drastically overhauling the party's 2024 presidential primary process, as a key committee voted to recommend sweeping changes to the calendar. At a daylong gathering of the D.N.C.'s Rules and Bylaws Committee in a Washington hotel ballroom, members voted to recommend supporting a 2024 Democratic presidential primary calendar that would begin in South Carolina on Feb. 3, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada on Feb. 6, Georgia on Feb. 13 and then Michigan on Feb. 27. That plan reflected a framework Mr. Biden delivered to the committee on Thursday that emphasized racial and geographic diversity. Representatives from Iowa and New Hampshire voted against the proposal.: (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Jeffery Mays, et al., of the New York Times: Ibrahim Khan, "the longtime chief of staff to Letitia James, the New York attorney general, has resigned amid an investigation into at least two separate sexual harassment allegations, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.... Mr. Khan, who has been one of Ms. James's closest political advisers for nearly a decade, was accused of inappropriate touching and unwanted kissing by at least one woman.... One of the women who filed a complaint was told on Friday that her allegation of inappropriate touching and unwanted kissing had been substantiated." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefings of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "The Biden administration is prepared to restart talks with Russia over a nuclear arms treaty despite the Kremlin's decision to postpone negotiations planned for earlier this week, the State Department said Friday. The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty is the sole remaining strategic nuclear arms control treaty between Washington and Moscow, but its future has been called into question as tensions rise over the war in Ukraine. Also Friday, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said it was nearing a deal between Ukraine and Russia to protect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Russia seized the facility soon after it invaded, and repeated shelling at and around the site has raised fears of a global nuclear catastrophe.... The European Union, Group of Seven nations and Australia all agreed Friday to limit the price of Russian oil, a measure the Biden administration called 'welcome news' that will take effect Monday. It remains unclear whether the move will seriously hit Moscow's finances in the near term, since the $60-per-barrel cap is so close to current prices. The Kremlin dismissed the idea of talks between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and President Biden to end the war.... Russian authorities are calling on residents in some occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia to register with authorities, potentially for 'possible evacuation,' Ivan Fedorov, the exiled Ukrainian mayor of the occupied city of Melitopol, said Friday."

December 2, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "Over objections from some Democratic leaders, the Democratic National Committee on Friday moved one step closer to enacting President Biden's vision for drastically overhauling the party's 2024 presidential primary process, as a key committee voted to recommend sweeping changes to the calendar. At a daylong gathering of the D.N.C.'s Rules and Bylaws Committee in a Washington hotel ballroom, members voted to recommend supporting a 2024 Democratic presidential primary calendar that would begin in South Carolina on Feb. 3, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada on Feb. 6, Georgia on Feb. 13 and then Michigan on Feb. 27. That plan reflected a framework Mr. Biden delivered to the committee on Thursday that emphasized racial and geographic diversity. Representatives from Iowa and New Hampshire voted against the proposal."

Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump knew about a 15-year tax fraud carried out by longtime executives at his namesake company, a prosecutor argued Friday, saying the illegal activity ended when the company cleaned up its business practices around the time Trump entered the White House.... 'This whole narrative that Donald Trump was blissfully ignorant was just not real,' Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said during his summation. He asked jurors, who are likely to begin deliberations in the case on Monday, to dismiss the idea that executives who committed crimes had simply gone 'rogue.'... In a Truth Social post earlier this week, Trump appeared to refute any suggestion he knew what [Trump CFO Allen] Weisselberg and [comptroller Jeffrey] McConney had done, writing that there 'was no gain for "Trump"' and that 'we had know knowledge of it.'" MB: The royal we had know knowledge. Nitwit.

New York. Jeffery Mays, et al., of the New York Times: Ibrahim Khan, "the longtime chief of staff to Letitia James, the New York attorney general, has resigned amid an investigation into at least two separate sexual harassment allegations, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.... Mr. Khan, who has been one of Ms. James's closest political advisers for nearly a decade, was accused of inappropriate touching and unwanted kissing by at least one woman.... One of the women who filed a complaint was told on Friday that her allegation of inappropriate touching and unwanted kissing had been substantiated."

Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Biden signed legislation on Friday to impose a labor agreement between rail companies and workers who had been locked in a bitter dispute, averting a strike that could have upended the economy just before the holiday season. 'Without freight rail, many U.S. industries would literally shut down,' Mr. Biden said before signing the bill, adding that many communities would not have received crucial resources during the strike. 'Thanks to the bill Congress passed and what I'm about to sign, we spared the country that catastrophe.' Mr. Biden had called on Congress earlier this week to intervene in the stalemate and avoid the work stoppage that could have cost the economy $2 billion a day. It was a significant move for Mr. Biden, a staunch union backer who has previously argued against congressional intervention in railway labor disputes, arguing that it unfairly interferes with union bargaining efforts." ~~~

Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: "The Infowars fabulist Alex Jones filed for Chapter 11 personal bankruptcy on Friday, citing nearly $1.5 billion in damages juries awarded this year to the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims, who won a series of defamation cases against Mr. Jones after he lied for years about the school shooting. The filing in the Southern District of Texas in Houston comes atop the bankruptcy filing by Free Speech Systems, Infowars' parent company, in late July. The new filing could further delay payment of the verdicts for the families, who would need to seek payment through the bankruptcy courts alongside other creditors. But it could also force a greater degree of scrutiny on the finances of Mr. Jones's empire." The Texas Tribune's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: "Fabulist"? Okay Then. ~~~

~~~ Fascist Fabulist & Seditionist Leader Endorses Violent Insurrectionists. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump expressed solidarity with the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, sending a video of support to a fundraising event Thursday night hosted by a group called the Patriot Freedom Project that is supporting families of those being prosecuted by the government. 'People have been treated unconstitutionally, in my opinion, and very, very unfairly, and we're going to get to the bottom of it,' he said in the video.'... 'It's the weaponization of the Department of Justice, and we can't let this happen in our country.'... Trump repeatedly has made clear that he stands with the mob that stormed the Capitol to stop Congress from counting the electoral votes for Joe Biden's win in the 2020 presidential election."

Hate Tweets Soar. Sheera Frenkel & Kate Conger of the New York Times: "Before Elon Musk bought Twitter, slurs against Black Americans showed up on the social media service an average of 1,282 times a day. After the billionaire became Twitter's owner, they jumped to 3,876 times a day. Slurs against gay men appeared on Twitter 2,506 times a day on average before Mr. Musk took over. Afterward, their use rose to 3,964 times a day. And antisemitic posts referring to Jews or Judaism soared more than 61 percent in the two weeks after Mr. Musk acquired the site. These findings -- from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the Anti-Defamation League and other groups that study online platforms -- provide the most comprehensive picture to date of how conversations on Twitter have changed since Mr. Musk completed his $44 billion deal for the company in late October. While the numbers are relatively small, researchers said the increases were atypically high."

~~~~~~~~~~

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "The first official state dinner of Mr. Biden's presidency marked the latest step in the return of post-pandemic normalcy, as celebrities joined politicians, business leaders and big donors to honor America's oldest ally at the White House.... The Macrons were treated to caviar; an American cheese course, including Oregon-based Rogue River Blue, the winner of the 2019-20 World Cheese Awards; and butter-poached Maine lobster. The crustaceans proved somewhat contentious. On Monday, Whole Foods said it planned to stop buying lobster from the state, citing concerns from environmental groups that say endangered North Atlantic right whales have become entangled in fishing gear.... While squashes for the meal were picked from the White House garden, the plates were rented. (The official White House china is not permitted to leave the building to prevent it from getting damaged.)...

"Before arriving, Mr. Biden gave Mr. Macron a custom vinyl record collection of great American musicians and an archival facsimile print of Thomas Edison's 1877 patent of the American phonograph. Mr. Macron gave Mr. Biden and a vinyl and original soundtrack to 'Un Homme et une Femme,' a film the Bidens saw on their first date." CNN's story is here. ~~~

The guest list for the state dinner, via the New York Times, here. ~~~

Kevin Freking & Josh Funk of the AP: "The Senate moved quickly Thursday to avert a rail strike that the Biden administration and business leaders warned would have had devastating consequences for the nation's economy. The Senate passed a bill to bind rail companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached between the rail companies and union leaders in September. That settlement had been rejected by some of the 12 unions involved, creating the possibility of a strike beginning Dec. 9. The Senate vote was 80-15. It came one day after the House voted to impose the agreement. The measure now goes to President Joe Biden's desk for his signature." The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court agreed on Thursday to decide whether the Biden administration had overstepped its authority with its plan to wipe out billions of dollars in student debt. The justices put the case on an unusually fast track, saying they would hear arguments in February. In the meantime, though, they left in place an injunction blocking the program. The court's brief order gave no reasons and did not note any dissents." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The law is clear. We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so. -- Three-Judge Panel, 11th Circuit Appeals Court ~~~

~~~ So Much Losing. Alan Feuer & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Thursday removed a major obstacle to the criminal investigation into ... Donald J. Trump's hoarding of sensitive government documents, ending an outside review of thousands of records the F.B.I. seized from his home and freeing the Justice Department to use them in its inquiry. In a unanimous but unsigned 21-page ruling, a three-member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta shut down a lawsuit brought by Mr. Trump that has hindered the inquiry into whether he illegally kept national security records at his Mar-a-Lago residence and also obstructed the government's repeated efforts to retrieve them. The appeals court was sharply critical of the decision in September by Judge Aileen M. Cannon, a Trump appointee, to intervene in the case. It said that Judge Cannon never had legitimate jurisdiction to order the review or bar investigators from using the files, and that there was no justification for treating Mr. Trump differently than any other target of a search warrant.... All three of the judges on the panel that ruled on Thursday were appointees of Republican presidents -- and two of them, Andrew L. Brasher and Britt Grant, had been placed on the bench by Mr. Trump himself." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) CNN's report is here.

Sara Murray, et al., of CNN: "A federal judge has ordered former top Trump White House lawyers to provide additional grand jury testimony, rejecting ... Donald Trump's privilege claims in the Justice Department's criminal investigation of his effort to overturn the 2020 election, people briefed on the matter said. Pat Cipollone, the Trump White House counsel, and his deputy, Patrick Philbin, appeared in September before the grand jury in Washington, DC, as part of the Justice Department probe, which is now being overseen by newly appointed special counsel Jack Smith. Cipollone and Philbin declined to answer some questions at that time, citing Trump's claims of executive and attorney-client privilege."

John Yoon of the New York Times: "Elon Musk, Twitter's chief executive, said late Thursday that Kanye West would be suspended from Twitter after the rapper and fashion designer tweeted an image of a swastika inside the Star of David. Mr. Musk said the post violated the social media outlet's rule against the incitement of violence. The tweet was deleted shortly before Mr. West's account became no longer accessible. His page was soon replaced with a label: 'Account suspended.'" The Guardian's story is here.

What Are Trump's Friends Saying Today? Anthony Adragna of Politico: “A virulently antisemitic Thursday interview with Ye by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is sparking new GOP condemnation of the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, nine days after Ye brought a white supremacist to dine with Donald Trump. Ye appeared on Jones' 'InfoWars' show with Nick Fuentes, his guest during the Trump dinner -- a known racist and antisemite -- and made a host of antisemitic comments with his face covered by a black mask, repeating the lie that the Holocaust did not happen and praising Adolf Hitler. The Republican Jewish Coalition slammed the Ye-Fuentes appearance with Jones ... as a 'horrific cesspool of dangerous, bigoted Jew hatred.'" MB: Ah, so far, not much "GOP condemnation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Washington Post's story is here. MB: Still not seeing much "GOP condemnation."~~~

~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times: "The conviction of the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia this week placed a president at the spiritual heart of a seditious conspiracy to illegitimately keep power in a way that is unparalleled in American history.... The unanswered question remains what, if any, responsibility Mr. Trump had for the conspiracy, an issue to be addressed by Jack Smith, the newly appointed special counsel investigating the former president for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and the events that led to it. But if nothing else, the trial made clear that this was more than a peaceful protest that simply got out of hand. It also underscored how much the former president has aligned himself with forces that used to be outside the mainstream of American politics.... His use of music sounding like a QAnon theme song at recent rallies and his dinner last week with Kanye West ... and Nick Fuentes ... illustrated Mr. Trump's increasing embrace of extremist elements."

Yeah But. Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "The Internal Revenue Service's inspector general said in a report on Thursday that highly invasive audits of two of ... Donald J. Trump's chief enemies -- the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey and his deputy, Andrew G. McCabe -- happened after their tax returns were randomly selected for inclusion in the initial pools from which the agency drew to carry out the examinations. But the 19-page report said there appeared to be some deviations from the I.R.S.'s rigorous rules for random selection when the agency winnowed down the initial pools to make the final selections of the returns that would be audited. That created a risk, the report said, that someone could have had the chance to have a return from the larger pool chosen for the smaller group that would be audited. As a result, the report said, the inspector general, known as the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, or TIGTA, would continue to look into what happened.

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "... allegations against ... several ... firms are laid out in a sprawling, roughly 120-page report released Thursday by the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis, a congressional watchdog tasked to oversee roughly $5 trillion in federal pandemic aid. The 18-month probe -- spanning more than 83,000 pages of documents ... -- contends there was rampant abuse among a set of companies known as fintechs, which jeopardized federal efforts to rescue the economy and siphoned off public funds for possible private gain. Some of the companies involved had never before managed federal aid, the report found. At the height of the pandemic, they failed to hire the right staff to thwart fraud. They amassed major profits from fees generated from the loans -- large and small, genuine and problematic -- that they processed and reviewed. And they repeatedly escaped scrutiny from the Small Business Administration, putting billions of dollars at risk, the probe found. The trouble began under the Trump administration, after Congress first authorized the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in 2020." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Eric Adelson & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "A Florida tax collector who has been cooperating with the Justice Department in its sex trafficking investigation into Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, was sentenced on Thursday by a federal judge to 11 years in prison. The tax collector, Joel Greenberg, had faced up to nearly three decades in prison for a litany of crimes he had committed, including trafficking a 17-year-old girl, stalking a political rival and stealing $400,000 in taxpayer money to buy cryptocurrencies and sports memorabilia. But in the hope of receiving a lesser sentence, he had cooperated with the government in a series of investigations, including into Mr. Gaetz." The AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

2024 Presidential Election. Michael Scherer & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "President Biden has asked leaders of the Democratic National Committee to mak South Carolina the nation's first primary state, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada a week later, and hold subsequent weekly primaries in Georgia and Michigan, according to Democrats briefed on the plans. The tectonic decision to remake his party's presidential nominating calendar for 2024 came as a shock to party officials and state leaders who had been lobbying hard in recent weeks to gain a place in the early calendar, which historically attracts millions of dollars in candidate spending and attention.... The proposal is likely to win approval from the Democratic officials.... Biden's move is meant to signal his party's commitment to elevating more variety -- demographic, geographic and economic -- in the early nominating process. Iowa, a largely White state that historically held the nation's first Democratic caucus and experienced embarrassing problems tabulating results in 2020, would have no early role in the Biden plan." Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Alex Seitz-Wald, et al., of NBC News: President Biden "has set off a frenzied scramble among competing early states that are apoplectic over the proposal [to re-order early primary states].... The plan drew howls from New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley, who first told NBC News that his state would be the first primary contest no matter what. The Democratic National Committee 'did not give New Hampshire the first-in-the-nation primary,' Buckley said. 'It is not theirs to take away. We will be holding our primary first.'... Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., called the White House plan 'short-sighted' and vowed Thursday to stay the course on the state's tradition of holding a first-in-the-nation primary, citing a state statute dictating that New Hampshire must hold its primary seven days before any other state.... Final ratification will not take place until the next meeting of the full DNC early next year...."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Charles Homans & Alexandra Berzon of the New York Times: "An Arizona county whose Republican supervisors had refused to certify last month's election results relented on Thursday under court order, ending an unusual standoff that had threatened to delay the formal end of the election in the closely watched battleground state. In a hastily arranged meeting, the board of supervisors in Cochise County voted 2 to 0 to approve the final canvass of votes in the largely rural county in the southeast corner of the state. The move came hours after Judge Casey F. McGinley of Pima County Superior Court ordered members of the board of supervisors to take action by the end of the day."

Georgia Senate Race. Maya King & Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: "... former President Barack Obama visited Georgia for the second time in just over a month to campaign with Senator Raphael Warnock, the Democratic incumbent facing Herschel Walker, the Republican former football star. Hours before the evening rally, Mr. Walker's campaign was the focus of attention after a woman who had been in a long-term relationship with Mr. Walker said that he had attacked her in a rage in 2005 after she caught him with another woman.... The discordant split screen on the campaign trail on Thursday illustrated the stark differences between the imagery of the two campaigns in a race that polls show remains within the margin of error." ~~~

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Friday are here: "In Washington, President Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed their support for Ukraine on Thursday during Macron's state visit. Biden said he had no plans to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin but would be prepared to meet if Moscow indicated a willingness to end the invasion. Macron has faced criticism for holding one-on-one conversations with Putin without preconditions and insisting that diplomacy should continue.... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for 'spiritual independence' in Ukraine as he lambasted churches with Russian links. He said in his nightly address he met with national security and defense officials regarding the 'connections of certain religious circles in Ukraine with the aggressor state.' A draft law is also being prepared, he added, to make it 'impossible for religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation to operate in Ukraine.'"

Dan Lamothe & Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other top Pentagon officials are weighing a major expansion in training for the Ukrainian military, a move that could significantly enhance its ability to evict Russian forces from occupied areas.... The plan, under discussion for weeks, according to senior U.S. defense officials, would build on the billions of dollars in weaponry and other aid Washington has provided Ukraine by showing its military how to wage a more sophisticated campaign against the struggling Russian army. It would see Ukrainian combat units with hundreds, or possibly even thousands of troops, training together in Grafenwoehr, Germany, where the U.S. military has instructed Ukrainian forces in smaller numbers for years. Austin is keen to boost Ukraine's ability to maneuver on the battlefield with a more modern style of warfare that relies less on launching thousands of rounds of artillery per day at Russian troops in what has become a grinding, bloody war of attrition."

News Lede

CNBC: "Job growth was much better than expected in November despite the Federal Reserve's aggressive efforts to slow the labor market and tackle inflation. Nonfarm payrolls increased 263,000 for the month while the unemployment rate was 3.7%, the Labor Department reported Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for an increase of 200,000 on the payrolls number and 3.7% for the jobless rate. The monthly gain was a slight decrease from October's upwardly revised 284,000."

December 1, 2022

Afternoon Update:

The law is clear. We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so. -- Three-Judge Panel, 11th Circuit Appeals Court ~~~

~~~ Alan Feuer & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Thursday removed a major obstacle to the criminal investigation into ... Donald J. Trump's hoarding of sensitive government documents, ending an outside review of thousands of records the F.B.I. seized from his home and freeing the Justice Department to use them in its inquiry. In a unanimous but unsigned 21-page ruling, a three-member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta shut down a lawsuit brought by Mr. Trump that has hindered the inquiry into whether he illegally kept national security records at his Mar-a-Lago residence and also obstructed the government's repeated efforts to retrieve them. The appeals court was sharply critical of the decision in September by Judge Aileen M. Cannon, a Trump appointee, to intervene in the case. It said that Judge Cannon never had legitimate jurisdiction to order the review or bar investigators from using the files, and that there was no justification for treating Mr. Trump differently than any other target of a search warrant.... All three of the judges on the panel that ruled on Thursday were appointees of Republican presidents -- and two of them, Andrew L. Brasher and Britt Grant, had been placed on the bench by Mr. Trump himself."

Kevin Freking & Josh Funk of the AP: "The Senate moved quickly Thursday to avert a rail strike that the Biden administration and business leaders warned would have had devastating consequences for the nation's economy. The Senate passed a bill to bind rail companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached between the rail companies and union leaders in September. That settlement had been rejected by some of the 12 unions involved, creating the possibility of a strike beginning Dec. 9. The Senate vote was 80-15. It came one day after the House voted to impose the agreement. The measure now goes to President Joe Biden's desk for his signature." The New York Times story is here.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court agreed on Thursday to decide whether the Biden administration had overstepped its authority with its plan to wipe out billions of dollars in student debt. The justices put the case on an unusually fast track, saying they would hear arguments in February. In the meantime, though, they left in place an injunction blocking the program. The court's brief order gave no reasons and did not note any dissents."

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "... allegations against ... several ... firms are laid out in a sprawling, roughly 120-page report released Thursday by the House Selec Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis, a congressional watchdog tasked to oversee roughly $5 trillion in federal pandemic aid. The 18-month probe -- spanning more than 83,000 pages of documents ... -- contends there was rampant abuse among a set of companies known as fintechs, which jeopardized federal efforts to rescue the economy and siphoned off public funds for possible private gain. Some of the companies involved had never before managed federal aid, the report found. At the height of the pandemic, they failed to hire the right staff to thwart fraud. They amassed major profits from fees generated from the loans -- large and small, genuine and problematic -- that they processed and reviewed. And they repeatedly escaped scrutiny from the Small Business Administration, putting billions of dollars at risk, the probe found. The trouble began under the Trump administration, after Congress first authorized the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in 2020."

What Are Trump's Friends Saying Today? Anthony Adragna of Politico: "A virulently antisemitic Thursday interview with Ye by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is sparking new GOP condemnation of the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, nine days after Ye brought a white supremacist to dine with Donald Trump. Ye appeared on Jones' 'InfoWars' show with Nick Fuentes, his guest during the Trump dinner -- a known racist and antisemite -- and made a host of antisemitic comments with his face covered by a black mask, repeating the lie that the Holocaust did not happen and praising Adolf Hitler. The Republican Jewish Coalition slammed the Ye-Fuentes appearance with Jones ... as a 'horrific cesspool of dangerous, bigoted Jew hatred.'" MB: Ah, so far, not much "GOP condemnation."

Eric Adelson & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "A Florida tax collector who has been cooperating with the Justice Department in its sex trafficking investigation into Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, was sentenced on Thursday by a federal judge to 11 years in prison. The tax collector, Joel Greenberg, had faced up to nearly three decades in prison for a litany of crimes he had committed, including trafficking a 17-year-old girl, stalking a political rival and stealing $400,000 in taxpayer money to buy cryptocurrencies and sports memorabilia. But in the hope of receiving a lesser sentence, he had cooperated with the government in a series of investigations, including into Mr. Gaetz." The AP story is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

President & Jill Biden welcome President & Brigitte Macron to the White House: Marie: My favorite part is at the 6:00-minute mark, where I've set the video, when the Marine Band begins playing "La Marseillaise": ~~~

~~~ Alexandra Hutzler & Ben Gittleson of ABC News: "The White House is rolling out the red carpet on Thursday as President Joe Biden hosts French leader Emmanuel Macron for the first state dinner of Biden's administration. The president and first lady Jill Biden, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, will welcome President Macron and his wife, Brigitte, on Thursday night. The state dinner will take place on the South Lawn in a candlelit pavilion." ~~~

~~~ President & Jill Biden hosted French President Emmanuel Macron & Brigitte Macron at a private dinner last night at Georgetown's Fiola Mare restaurant. Washington Examiner: "Emmanuel Macron toured NASA headquarters with Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday before his bilateral meeting, press conference, and state dinner with Joe Biden at the White House scheduled for Thursday. Jill Biden is scheduled to host an education-focused event at the interactive museum Planet Word with Brigitte Macron during the day."

Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "In a terrorism advisory bulletin, the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday raised concerns about potential threats to the LGBTQ, Jewish and migrant communities from violent extremists inside the United States. Americans motivated by violent ideologies pose a 'persistent and lethal threat,' a senior DHS official told reporters in a briefing on the bulletin. Intelligence officials across the federal government have consistently highlighted the growing threat of American extremists in recent years, while explaining that foreign threats such as the Islamic State terrorist group and Al Qaeda are no longer as persistent as they once were. The bulletin was the latest summary of national terrorism threats, a document that has been updated about every six months since the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021."

Adam Klasfeld & Marisa Sarnoff of Law & Crime: "In a rare victory lap for the typically reserved lawyer, Attorney General Merrick Garland celebrated the convictions of five Oath Keepers leaders and members on serious charges, including two leaders on the seditious conspiracy charge.... The press conference, convened the day after the historic verdict, marked the first time Garland directly addressed the resolution of any of the hundreds of Jan. 6-related cases on his expansive docket. He has not held any event like it after any jury trial, bench trial or guilty plea. The Oath Keepers trial, however, marked a uniquely significant event, as the first to accuse participants in the breach of the U.S. Capitol of trying to overthrow the government or block the execution of its laws by force." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Perry Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Garland declined to say Wednesday if he expected prosecutors to eventually file charges against ... other people who did not physically participate in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.... Tuesday's verdicts upheld a key Justice Department argument laid out in the seven-week-long trial: that the breach of the Capitol was not an isolated event, but rather a culmination or component of wider plotting by extremists who wanted to stop the transfer of power from Trump to Biden."

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The House on Wednesday resoundingly approved legislation to avert a nationwide rail strike by imposing a labor agreement between rail companies and their workers, as lawmakers rushed to shield the economy from the threat of a holiday-season work stoppage and prevent a disruption in shipping across the country. Acting quickly the day after President Biden made a personal appeal at the White House, the House passed a measure that would force the rail companies and employees to abide by a tentative agreement that the Biden administration helped broker earlier this year, which increased pay and set more flexible schedules for workers. The bill passed on a bipartisan vote of 290 to 137. It goes next to the Senate, where leaders in both parties have indicated they would move quickly to avoid a disruption to the nation's rail service." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Lisa Mascaro of the AP: "Emboldened House Democrats ushered in a new generation of leaders on Wednesday with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries [N.Y.] elected to be the first Black American to head a major political party in Congress as long-serving Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her team step aside next year.... It's rare that a party that lost the midterm elections would so easily regroup and stands in stark contrast with the upheaval among Republicans.... The trio led by Jeffries, who will become the Democratic minority leader in the new Congress, includes 59-year-old Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts as the Democratic whip and 43-year-old Rep. Pete Aguilar of California as caucus chairman. The new team of Democratic leaders is expected to slide into the slots held by Pelosi and her top lieutenants -- Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Democratic Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina -- as the 80-something leaders make way for the next generation." The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mike Lillis & Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) on Wednesday announced a bid to join the top tiers of Democratic leadership, challenging Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) for the No. 4 spot within the party brass in the next Congress. The move, announced just moments before Democrats were set to vote on their next crop of leaders, came as a surprise. Clyburn had announced earlier in the month that he would cede his third-ranking spot next year, but would seek to remain in the top tiers of leadership at the No. 4 assistant leader position, arguing the Sout needed representation in the top ranks." (Also linked yesterday.)

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A House committee has gained access to six years of ... Donald J. Trump's tax returns after the Supreme Court last week paved the way for the release of records he had long sought to keep secret.... The move brought to an end a nearly four-year effort by Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee to obtain the returns. Breaking with modern precedent for major presidential candidates and sitting presidents, Mr. Trump had refused to make them public." CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: According to the NYT report, the law "requires treating with confidentiality details about any requested returns that can be associated with a particular taxpayer. That same law, however, also allows the committee to later publish the returns in the Congressional Record, which would make them public. [Chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee Richie] Neal [D-Mass.] has not announced whether he would do so." C'mon, Richie. Upload those suckers & let the nation's most vicious tax experts have at 'em.

Isaac Arnsdorf, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's refusal to apologize for or disavow the outspoken antisemites he dined with last week is setting him increasingly at odds with leaders of his own party, providing the first test of his political endurance since launching his third run for the White House. The fracas is also testing how Republicans will handle the party's extreme fringe in the months ahead after years of racist, misogynist and antisemitic speech flooding into the political bloodstream during the Trump era.... The wave of denunciations only intensified as lawmakers returned to Washington from the Thanksgiving holiday this week, breaking a well-worn pattern of dodging or shrugging off Trump's controversies during much of his presidency.... Up to the day of the dinner, multiple advisers tried to convince Trump to cancel it.... Trump has also resisted efforts in recent days to persuade him to make a statement denouncing [Nick] Fuentes and Ye." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The Homeland Security terrorism advisory bulletin, referenced above, provides the most obvious and alarming reason to condemn Trump for dining with an anti-gay, antisemitic white supremacist. Trump, Fuentes & Ye are dangers to society.

Zachary Cohen, et al., of CNN: "A state judge singled out Georgia Republican Party chairman David Shafer, one of the fake electors for Donald Trump for the unique role he played in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the Peach State as part of a ruling on Wednesday. Judge Robert McBurney, who is overseeing the special purpose grand jury investigation into 2020 election interference in Fulton County Superior Court, ruled that two attorneys for 11 of the so-called 'alternate electors' in Georgia can't represent all of them. McBurney cited Shafer's central role as an organizer in efforts to overturn the election results.... 'Given the information before the Court about his role in establishing and convening the slate of alternate electors, his communications with other key players in the District Attorney's investigation, and his role in other post-election efforts to call into question the validity of the official vote count in Georgia, the Court finds that he is substantively differently situated from the other ten clients jointly represented by [attorneys Holly] Pierson and [Kimberly] Debrow,' McBurney wrote."

Beyond the Beltway

Georgia Senate Race. Voter Suppression, Ctd. Neil Vigdor & Blake Hounshell of the New York Times: "Georgia has eclipsed its daily record for early voting twice this week in the state's nationally watched Senate runoff election, but even if the state keeps up the pace, it appears unlikely to match early voting turnout levels from the 2021 runoffs. The number of early voting days has been cut roughly in half for the Dec. 6 runoff between Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, and the Republican candidate, Herschel Walker, compared with last year's Senate runoffs in Georgia. Democrats swept both of those races, which lasted nine weeks and helped them win control of the Senate. Since then, Republicans who control Georgia's Legislature and governor's office passed an election law last year that compressed the runoff schedule to four weeks. The 2021 law also sharply limited voting by mail. Election officials can no longer mail applications for absentee ballots to voters, and voters have far less time to request a ballot.... Democrats fear the restrictions will hamper a turnout machine they spent years building -- which delivered victories for Mr. Warnock, Jon Ossoff and Joseph R. Biden Jr. two years ago.On Monday afternoon in Alpharetta, Ga., a northern suburb of Atlanta, the wait time to vote was 150 minutes...." ~~~

~~~ Maya King of the New York Times: "Herschel Walker was being swamped by negative television ads. His Democratic opponents were preparing to flood the polls for early voting as soon as doors opened. After being hit by fresh allegations of carpetbagging, he was left with just over a week to make his final appeals to voters in the runoff for Georgia's Senate seat. But for five days, Mr. Walker was off the campaign trail. The decision to skip campaigning over the crucial Thanksgiving holiday weekend has Mr. Walker's Republican allies airing frustrations and concerns about his campaign strategy.... Democrats, they point out, have gotten a head start on Republicans in their early-voting push and are drowning out the G.O.P. on the airwaves -- outspending them two-to-one. [A former GOP official] also pointed to a series of mailers sent by the Georgia Republican Party encouraging voters to find their polling places that contained broken QR codes as examples of poor organizing. And he raised concern about the steady stream of advertisements supporting Warnock, a first-term senator and pastor, on conservative talk radio and contemporary Christian stations." ~~~

~~~ Marie: Georgia's Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan said on CNN last night that he waited in line to vote yesterday for almost an hour, but once he finally got into the booth, he decided he couldn't vote for either Walker or Warnock. So he didn't vote. I couldn't find a print story about this, but I saw it on the teevee. ~~~

~~~ Watch the part where Walker explains why he will build a border wall:

Way Beyond

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Thursday are here: "The U.S. Army has signed a new contract worth up to $1.2 billion with Raytheon Missiles and Defense to send six air defense missile systems to Ukraine. Raytheon also announced plans to manufacture Patriot missiles in Europe for the first time, partnering with missile developer MBDA to produce the weapons in Germany. Securing additional air defense systems is a top priority for Kyiv.... Two days of NATO meetings ended Wednesday with allies promising to continue to support Kyiv in its fight against Moscow."

U.K. Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "A prominent lady-in-waiting to the late Queen Elizabeth II and godmother to royal heir Prince William resigned from her role in the Buckingham Palace household on Wednesday, and expressed 'profound apologies for the hurt caused,' after she pressed a Black British guest at the palace: 'Where are you really from?' Lady Susan Hussey, 83, had been dubbed 'Number One Head Girl' for the central role she played in the queen's life, and the new King Charles III had recently extended her honorary duties. But a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said that a complaint emerging from a Tuesday reception had been 'investigated immediately,' with the conclusion that 'unacceptable and deeply regrettable comments' had been made. The palace did not name Hussey, but said the royal household member had 'stepped aside from her honorary role with immediate effect.'... Camilla, Queen Consort, has said she wants to modernize the role of lady-in-waiting. She is calling her six attendants 'Queen's Companions,' expecting them to attend fewer events and relieving them of having to help answer letters to the queen."(Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Judging from the badgering questions asked of Ngozi Fulani, a British activist -- "What part of Africa are you from?" "What Nationality are you?" "Where do you really come from?" "Where do your people come from?" and "When did you first come here?" -- the old girl must have drunk too much.