The Commentariat -- December 12, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Michael Shear of the New York Times is highlighting developments in the House Judiciary Committee's debate on Articles of Impeachment. "Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee moved quickly to try to kill the articles of impeachment against President Trump as the markup got underway, condemning the process as unfair to the president." ~~~

~~~ The Guardian's impeachment liveblog also includes other related (and at least one unrelated) developments. Here's a related one: "President Trump has weighed in on the hearings. And, as has become a common political tactic during his tenure, has singled out two women of colour to attack on false premises: 'Dems Veronica Escobar and Jackson Lee purposely misquoted my call. I said I want you to do us (our Country!) a favor, not me a favor. They know that but decided to LIE in order to make a fraudulent point! Very sad.' [-- Donald Trump, in a tweet]"

** Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times has a terrific story on Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the only member of the Judiciary Committee who has participated in the impeachment proceedings of Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton & Donald Trump.

They Can't Handle the Facts. Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post on Republican Senators' reported plan to hold an abbreviated impeachment "trial" without witnesses (related story linked below): "... it would be grossly irresponsible and cowardly of the Senate majority to duck its constitutional obligations by refusing to hear facts before a vote, but it follows that nothing would more vividly convey the irresponsibility and cowardice of Republican senators."

I believe that President Trump is engaged in the most direct sustained assault on freedom of the press in our history. -- Fox "News" host Chris Wallace, speech at the Newseum, a media museum in Washington, Wednesday

Jonathan Chait backs up my assertion (below) that Trump & Putin were colluding on 2020 election disruption: "President Trump is facing impeachment primarily for abusing his power for political gain, extorting a foreign country to discredit his political rivals. The secondary aspect of the plot is that the target of his extortion is hardly random. Ukraine is the victim of Russian aggression, and Russia's continuing incursions into Ukrainian territory is the muscle that gave Trump's threats leverage. Trump's domestic interests are one intended beneficiary of his scheme. The other is Vladimir Putin.... Rudy has worked as Trump's lawyer for 'free,' but [Rudy aide Lev] Parnas paid him half a million dollars for his work. If Parnas himself was being paid by Russian sources, this means the Russians were essentially subsidizing Trump, paying for the work themselves so he didn't have to lay out a dime of his own money." Chait does add a caveat that it's not a slam-dunk that whatever oligarch(s) paid Parnas had an interest in helping Putin with Ukraine. But the way the government-oligarchical "system" works in Russia, it's likely.

Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "Incensed perhaps by her selection -- and not his -- as Time magazine's person of the year, Donald Trump opened Twitter fire Thursday morning on the climate activist Greta Thunberg. Trump, 73, tweeted that Thunberg, 16, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, had an 'anger management problem' and should 'chill' -- no pun apparently intended. 'So ridiculous,' the president wrote. 'Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!'... Trump's attack on her, in personal terms, from his presidential bully pulpit struck many observers as a marked and hypocritical escalation. Trump's wife and his eldest son recently reacted with outrage when a witness called by Democrats to testify in the impeachment hearings punned on the name of Trump's 13-year-old son, Barron, to make a point about how presidents are not kings.... 'A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics,' Melania Trump changed her bio description on Twitter. 'A teenager working on her anger management problem,' it now reads. 'Currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend.'" Thanks to unwashed for the link.

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump is picking on a minor, a female, specifically for a disability. A trifecta which would have been perfect if only Greta weren't white. ~~~

~~~ Aaron Rupar of Vox: "Trump's Greta tweet was undoubtedly the most unsavory he posted during his Twitter binge on Thursday, but it was far from the only bad one. Fourteen minutes after the Greta tweet, Trump ... shared an advertisement posted by the Trump Organization, a business he still owns and profits from, promoting his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. 'I will be there in two weeks, The Southern White House!' Trump said, conflating properties he profits from with the publicly funded residence in which he's supposed to do the people's business.... He [also] retweeted a post from Rudy Giuliani characterizing Democrats following the Constitution's impeachment process as an 'attempted coup'; characterized FBI agents as 'dirty cops'; lauded Fox News's ratings, adding, 'It's great to have a wonderful subject, President Trump'; and, in an apparent attempt to make it look like he's doing something constructive, touted a Chinese trade deal that he's been hyping without results for more than a year."

Julia Ainsley & Courtney Kube of NBC News: "The Defense Department's internal watchdog plans to review a recent Army Corps of Engineers decision to award a $400 million contract for border wall construction to a North Dakota company that has been publicly and privately endorsed by members of the Trump administration, including the president himself. The review of the award to Fisher Sand & Gravel is an audit by the Pentagon's inspector general and comes in response to a request by Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the Democratic chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Thompson said the decision to award the contract should be reviewed because Fisher's 'proposals reportedly did not meet the operational requirements of U.S. Customs and Border Protection' and because of 'concerns about the possibility of inappropriate influence' on the Army Corps of Engineers." The New York Times story is here.

Rebecca Traister of New York on how male pundits hold female candidates to a high standard of honesty (Elizabeth Warren) while ignoring male candidates' dishonesty (Joe Biden).

** Andy Kroll of Rolling Stone: "For nearly three years, Stephen Miller has used his White House seat to orchestrate the most extreme anti-immigrant agenda in almost a century. But he hasn't done it alone. A loose network of lawyers and advisers embedded throughout the Trump administration has worked closely with Miller to carry out the daily effort of pushing through draconian and often inhumane policies.... In other words, Miller, with his white-nationalist mindset and fervor to enact xenophobic policies, is far from an isolated actor. He's the leader of a broad operation spread across the federal government." Kroll highlights a few of the extremist voices. --s

Jake Pearson & Anand Tumurtogoo of ProPublica: "On a hunting trip this August, Donald Trump Jr. shot and killed [an argali, an endangered species of sheep]. His adventure was supported by government resources from both the U.S. and Mongolia, which each sent security services to accompany the president's eldest son and grandson on the multiday trip.... Afterward, Trump Jr. met privately with the country's president, Khaltmaagiin Battulga, before departing the capital of Ulaanbaatar back to the U.S.... It isn't clear what was discussed. Trump Jr. wouldn't answer questions about the meeting. Representatives for Battulga haven't responded to requests for comment.... [A] spokesman for Trump Jr. ... said in a statement it was a purely personal expedition. He purchased the seven-day Mongolian hunting trip at a National Rifle Association charity auction before his father announced his candidacy for president in 2015 ... and flew commercial in and out of the country. It's unclear if the auction item listed an argali or mentioned meetings with Mongolian government officials." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: "The Mongolian government issued [Junior] a hunting permit retroactively." Emphasis added.

Bryant Harris of Al-Monitor: "The White House successfully pushed Congress to remove language in the annual defense bill that would have imposed concrete penalties on Saudi Arabia for the war in Yemen and the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.... The House amended the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 240-185 in July to block US funding for the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthi rebels. At the same time, the House passed another NDAA amendment 405-7 in a veto-proof vote to sanction Saudi officials complicit in Khashoggi's murder.... Republican negotiators successfully fought to keep the Saudi provisions out of the final defense bill after the White House marked it as a red line.... [P]aid parental leave is likely not enough to get many left-wing Democrats on board the final bill, which authorizes a $131 billion increase in annual defense spending since Trump took office while removing virtually all other progressive national security priorities that Democrats initially had in their version of the legislation." --s

Julian Borger of the Guardian: "Legislation to stop Donald Trump from withdrawing the US from Nato has been approved for a Senate vote, amid uncertainty over the president's intentions towards the alliance. The Senate foreign relations committee on Wednesday voted unanimously for the bipartisan bill which will now await a slot to go to the Senate.... 'We're aware that it has been seriously debated and seriously considered in the White House at the highest levels,' [Democrat Tim] Kaine told the Guardian.... Kaine predicted his bill to block a withdrawal would gain overwhelming support from the House of Representatives and win a veto-proof majority in the upper chamber of at least 67 votes." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: There's no mention in this or other articles about the bill on whether or not the House has passed an analogous bill.

~~~ Patricia Zengerle of Reuters: "A U.S. Senate committee backed legislation on Wednesday to impose sanctions on Turkey after its offensive in Syria and purchase of a Russian S-400 missile system, the latest move in the chamber to push Republican President Donald Trump to take a harder line against Ankara. The Republican-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted by 18-4 to send the 'Promoting American National Security and Preventing the Resurgence of ISIS Act of 2019' for a vote in the full Senate. 'Now's the time for the Senate to come together and take this opportunity to change Turkey's behavior,' said Senator Jim Risch, the panel's Republican chairman, a lead sponsor of the bill with Senator Bob Menendez, the panel&'s top Democrat.... [The House] passed its own Turkish sanctions bill by an overwhelming 403-16 vote in October...." Mrs. McC: Now I guess the big question on these bills is whether or not Mitch McConnell will bring them to the floor.

** Brave New Big Brother World. Lee Fang of The Intercept: "... Donald Trump's reelection effort has retained the services of a technology company [Phunware, an Austin, Texas-based firm] that specializes in the mass collection of smartphone location data, which can be used to track voters for political targeting purposes.... Phunware, in a section of its website, discusses the company's ability to obtain GPS location data and the Wi-Fi network used by an individual, as well as user data that can infer an 'individual's gender, age, lifestyle preferences' -- potential tools for identifying and influencing voters.... Earlier this year, deleted scenes from the documentary 'The Brink' revealed that Steve Bannon, Trump's campaign manager in 2016, had used similar location-tracking technology services to target church-attending Catholics during the midterm elections. 'If your phone's ever been in a Catholic church, it's amazing, they got this data,' Bannon said in the film clip. 'Literally, they can tell who's been in a Catholic church and how frequently,' he added." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Since I don't have many secrets, many intrusions on our privacy don't creep me out as much as perhaps they should. This technology creeps me out.

Australia. Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Ben Smee of the Guardian: "The Tamborine Mountain state school has run out of water, even as water miners in the Gold Coast hinterland are sending millions of litres to commercial bottling operations. Trucks sent by the Queensland government carrying emergency supplies to the school, including Mount Tamborine bottled water, have been passing trucks heading in the opposite direction taking local water to bottling for beverage giants such as Coca-Cola. The school remains open but parents have been advised by teachers to consider keeping their children at home." --s

Raphael Satter of Reuters: "North Korean state-backed hackers appear to be cooperating with Eastern European cybercriminals, a report here said on Wednesday, a finding that suggests digital gangsters and state-backed spies are finding common ground online." --s

~~~~~~~~~~

Nicholas Fandos & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The House Judiciary Committee opened debate Wednesday on two articles of impeachment against President Trump, starting a somber and deeply partisan confrontation over Democrats' charges that the president abused his power and obstructed Congress. In a rare evening session that was only the third time in modern history the panel had met to consider removing a president, Democrats and Republicans clashed over the Constitution, the allegations against Mr. Trump and the political consequences of moving to oust him less than a year before the next election. The debate unfolded at the start of a two-day meeting that is expected to culminate on Thursday with a party-line vote to send the articles to the full House for final passage." ~~~

~~~ Mary Jalonick & Lisa Mascaro of the AP: "Democrats and Republicans used the otherwise procedural meeting Wednesday evening to deliver sharp, poignant and, at times, personal arguments for and against impeachment. Both sides appealed to Americans' sense of history -- Democrats describing a strong sense of duty to stop what one called the president's 'constitutional crime spree' and Republicans decrying the 'hot garbage' impeachment and what it means for the future of the country."

Kyle Cheney & John Bresnahan of Politico: "Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) on Wednesday night publicly named a person that some Republicans and allies of ... Donald Trump claim is the alleged whistleblower who first brought the Trump-Ukraine scandal to light. Gohmert identified the person, who[m] Politico is not naming, during remarks at a Judiciary Committee meeting on articles of impeachment against Trump. Gohmert named the person as he ticked through a list of witnesses he said the committee should hear from before voting on impeachment. Gohmert did not identify the person as the potential whistleblower, but Republicans have demanded that the whistleblower be subpoenaed to testify, a call that Democrats have swatted away as irresponsible and even dangerous." Mrs. McC: One of the comments on a YouTube video of Gohmert's testimony names the supposed whistleblower and calls him "ONE DEAD MOFO." I'm sure that's not an isolated sentiment among the wingnut brigade. ~~~

"Impeach President Trump." USA Today Editors: "... Trump's egregious transgressions and stonewalling have given the House little choice but to press ahead with the most severe sanction at its disposal.... In his thuggish effort to trade American arms for foreign dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, Trump resembles not so much [Bill] Clinton as he does Richard Nixon, another corrupt president who tried to cheat his way to reelection. This isn't partisan politics as usual. It is precisely the type of misconduct the Framers had in mind when they wrote impeachment into the Constitution."

Lame Veep Makes Lame Excuse. Kyle Cheney & Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "Vice President Mike Pence's counsel rejected House Democrats' request to declassify details of a Sept. 18 call between Pence and Ukraine's president, calling the request illegitimate because the impeachment inquiry has concluded. In a letter to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Pence's lawyer, Matthew Morgan, said it 'serves no purpose' to declassify supplemental testimony from one of Pence's national security aides, as Schiff had demanded. 'At this point, the Intelligence Committee's oversight authority is limited to those areas in which it may potentially legislate or appropriate,' Morgan wrote to Schiff, who pressed Pence last week to declassify supplemental testimony from one of the vice president's national security aides, Jennifer Williams.... Morgan also appeared to rebuke Williams, writing that 'the contents of a classified call with a foreign head of state should never have been discussed in an unclassified committee hearing or an unclassified deposition.'" Mrs. McC: According to Schiff's request letter, "The Office of the Vice President's decision to classify 'certain portions' of the Sept. 18 call ... cannot be justified on national security or any other legitimate grounds we can discern."

Seung Min Kim, et al., of the Washington Post: "Senate Republicans are coalescing around a strategy of holding a short impeachment trial early next year that would include no witnesses, a plan that could clash with President Trump's desire to stage a public defense of his actions toward Ukraine that would include testimony the White House believes would damage its political rivals. Several GOP senators on Wednesday said it would be better to limit the trial and quickly vote to acquit Trump, rather than engage in what could become a political circus.... Most notably, a quick, clean trial is broadly perceived to be the preference of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who wants to minimize political distractions in an election year during which Republicans will be working to protect their slim majority in the chamber." A CNN report is here. ~~~

~~~ Ted Barrett & Manu Raju of CNN: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to hold a final vote to acquit ... Donald Trump should he be impeached, when a majority of senators believe his trial has run its course instead of holding a vote on dismissing the articles of impeachment, two Republican senators told CNN on Wednesday. That's significant, because Republicans want to have a vote on acquittal -- to clear the President of the charges against him -- not simply rely on a 51-vote threshold procedural motion to dismiss the hotly disputed case. The Constitution mandates 67 votes are required to convict the President and remove him from office, a barrier widely considered too high to be reached in this case. One vote McConnell can't rely on is that of Vice President Mike Pence, who has 'no role in impeachment,' according to a GOP leadership aide, despite being president of the Senate with the mandate to break ties."

Betsy Swan of the Daily Beast: “People working closely with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have been in contact with Trump administration officials over the past several weeks discussing the relationship between the two presidents, according to four people with knowledge of the talks. Based on those conversations, Ukrainian officials came to expect that Trump would make a statement of support before Zelensky met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in France for peace talks.... Words of support from the United States in the lead-up to the Normandy talks could have given the Ukrainian president more leverage with Putin.... Instead, Trump spent the weekend on Twitter tweeting about Fox News pundits, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and CNN.... On Tuesday, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and made an appearance at the White House. One of the people close to the Zelensky administration said the silence from White House -- combined with Lavrov's photo-friendly visit to Washington -- sent 'a terrible signal' and was 'most unfortunate.'"

Daily Kos: "In a should-have-been-predicted new twist, U.S. prosecutors revealed to a federal court today that Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas received a $1 million payment ... from Russia just one month before being indicted for funneling foreign cash to U.S. political campaigns -- and attempted to hide that payment even after his arrest. Arguing Parnas poses an 'extreme' risk of flight that is 'only compounded' by his continued willingness to lie to the government, prosecutors have asked the judge to revoke Parnas' bail and return him to jail. Parnas is currently under house arrest; government prosecutors filed their motion in response to a Parnas request that the court allow him to leave his house during work hours." The original Bloomberg report on which this post relies is here. Erica Orden of CNN has a report here. ~~~

     ~~~ ** Mrs. McCrabbie: As we might have guessed, a significant portion of the Three Stooges' mission to frame Ukraine for 2016 election interference came from Russia; that is, from the "real culprits." Even more alarming: Congressional Republicans will not impeach & remove from office the U.S. President* who commissioned that effort, which Russia would later partially fund. This is Trump & Putin, working in concert -- you might say "colluding" or "conspiring" -- to undermine a U.S. election, and all, or almost all, Republicans marching in lock-step.

DOJ Inspector General's Report

Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said Wednesday that a senior prosecutor failed to convince him that the FBI's 2016 investigation of President Trump's campaign was improperly opened, revealing new details about internal tension among senior officials over the politically explosive case. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Horowitz was asked by the panel's senior Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), if Attorney General William P. Barr or his hand-picked prosecutor on the issue, Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham, offered anything to change the inspector general's view that the FBI had a valid reason to open the probe in July 2016. 'No, we stand by our finding,' said Horowitz, who said he met in November with Durham to discuss the findings in the inspector general's 434-page report released Monday. When the report was released, Durham issued an unusual public statement saying he did not agree with Horowitz's conclusion about the opening of the investigation. Horowitz told lawmakers that the disagreement stemmed from a difference of opinion about whether the FBI should have opened a preliminary investigation, which puts some limitations on the investigative steps that can be taken, or a full investigation. The FBI opened a full investigation, based on a tip from the Australian government.' (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: So as nearly as I can tell from the WashPo report & from what I heard on the teevee, the "disagreement" Durham found with the IG report, which he did not specify in his "unusual"/political statement issued upon release of the report, was on whether or not the FBI should have opened a "full" investigation before they initiated a "preliminary" investigation. Or, IMO, big whup. ~~~

~~~ ** HOWEVER. David Sanger of the New York Times: The inspector general's "study amounted to the most searching look ever revealed about the government's secretive system for carrying out national-security surveillance on American soil. And what the report showed was not pretty.... Michael E. Horowitz, and his team uncovered a staggeringly dysfunctional and error-ridden process in how the F.B.I. went about obtaining and renewing court permission under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, to wiretap Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser.... The inspector general found major errors, material omissions and unsupported statements about Mr. Page in the materials that went to the court. F.B.I. agents cherry-picked the evidence, telling the Justice Department information that made Mr. Carter look suspicious and omitting material that cut the other way, and the department passed that misleading portrait onto the court.... Most ... targets [of FISA-warranted surveillance] never learn that their privacy has been invaded, but some are sent to prison on the basis of evidence derived from the surveillance. And unlike in ordinary criminal wiretap cases, defendants are not permitted to see what investigators told the court about them to obtain permission to eavesdrop on their calls and emails." Read on. (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ The New York Times has a highlights blog here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Marshall Cohen of CNN: "The Justice Department inspector general continues to investigate potential leaks by FBI officials in New York to ... Rudy Giuliani before the 2016 election. Inspector General Michael Horowitz told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that the investigation is ongoing, and is broader than just Giuliani, but suggested his team was struggling to prove that there were illegal leaks. Shortly before the election, Giuliani claimed that he heard about big problems coming soon for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. That was shortly before then-FBI Director James Comey announced he was reopening the criminal probe into Clinton's email server, which didn't lead to any criminal charges. The polls shifted after Comey's comments, and Clinton has said it was a main reason for her defeat.... Giuliani has denied ever receiving non-public information from active FBI agents."

This report shows there was a proper predicate for the FBI to investigate Russia's malign influence on the 2016 election and contacts with the Trump campaign. That puts to rest President Trump's accusations of a deep state conspiracy, and no amount of spin from Attorney General Barr, the White House, or congressional Republicans can change that.... The Inspector General is an important defender against political influence over law enforcement -- a regrettable tendency under Attorney General Barr. I hope the Inspector General turns his attention to other allegations of politically motivated investigations by this administration. -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said in a statement, Monday

** Former Attorney General Eric Holder in a Washington Post op-ed: "Virtually since the moment he took office..., Barr's words and actions have been fundamentally inconsistent with his duty to the Constitution.... The American people deserve an attorney general who serves their interests, leads the Justice Department with integrity and can be entrusted to pursue the facts and the law, even -- and especially -- when they are politically inconvenient and inconsistent with the personal interests of the president who appointed him. William Barr has proved he is incapable of serving as such an attorney general. He is unfit to lead the Justice Department."

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "President Trump is openly telegraphing that he fully expects his attorney general to validate one of his biggest lies: that the real crime in 2016 wasn't Russia's sabotaging of our election but rather the decision by law enforcement to investigate it. New public comments from William P. Barr provide Trump with ample grounds for being confident that Barr will deliver for him.... Barr's latest claims about the Russia investigation rest on a serious misrepresentation that has not gotten the focus it deserves -- and is more pernicious than it first appears.... [In his NBC interview, Barr implied] that the FBI's initial investigation was only motivated by what it had learned about the Trump campaign's intentions with regard to coordinating with Russia's electoral subversion effort.... [But] officials told the I.G. that the new information about the Trump campaign precipitated the investigation, but only on top of the fact that Russia was already 'targeting U.S. political institutions' and trying to manipulate the 'U.S. democratic process.'... Trump wants to make all of those facts disappear. And Barr is effectively using the power of law enforcement to help him do it." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Oh, the Hackery. Igor Derysh of Salon, republished in the Raw Story: "Attorney General William Barr claimed in an NBC News interview that former President Barack Obama posed the 'greatest danger' to democracy in the 2016 election -- not Russia. Barr told the network that he disagreed with his own department's inspector general report, which concluded that the FBI did not 'spy' on the Trump campaign and was justified in launching an investigation into its ties to Russia.... Barr claimed to NBC News reporter Pete Williams that the FBI may have opened the investigation in 'bad faith' and insisted that Trump's campaign was 'clearly spied upon' in spite of inspector general Michael Horowitz's nearly two-year investigation which found no such evidence. He also downplayed the Trump campaign's extensive contacts with Russian officials, insisting that 'presidential campaigns are frequently in contact with foreign persons.' Barr's comments were a stark contrast from Horowitz's report, which found no evidence of the 'spying' allegations invoked by [Trump] and his conservative allies." ~~~

~~~ Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "Walter Shaub, the former head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, on Tuesday called Attorney General William Barr a 'threat to democracy' and warned he may try to interfere in the 2020 presidential election to benefit ... Donald Trump. MSNBC's national affairs analyst John Heilemann issued a similar caution, while CNN's chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin described Barr as 'a Fox News bot.' In a lengthy Twitter thread, Shaub accused Barr of misleading the public after he rejected the Justice Department's inspector general report that found the FBI was not politically motivated in launching a probe into the Trump 2016 campaign's links to Russia." (Also linked yesterday.)

Marcy Wheeler attacks Pete Williams of NBC News for his failure to follow up ever on the stunning assertions Barr made during Williams' "so-called interview." "American Democracy Needs Better Reporters than Pete Williams" is the title of her post. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. Mrs. McC: The answer to the problem is in the title of Wheeler's post: Williams is a "reporter." He is not an "interviewer." Barr knows the difference. Both Barr & Williams have been around for a long time, so Barr knows how Williams works: Williams asks questions, writes down the responses & types 'em up (see Stephen Colbert), metaphorically in this case of course because Williams didn't even have to write 'em down & type 'em up -- he left that to the videographer. That's what reporters do, not what political interviewers do. Barr can now boast that he is not a Foxbot, as Jeff Toobin properly calls him; he gives interviews to MSM outlets. Advantage Barr.

Trump Is a Nihilistic Force. -- Paul Volcker. Jeff Cox of CNBC: "Three months before he died, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker issued a scathing critique against ... Donald Trump and the 'movement to undermine Americans' faith in our government and its policies and institutions.' In an afterword to a paperback release of his autobiography, the legendary former central bank chief called out the president for his attacks on the Fed and said there is a general movement to undermine confidence in essential U.S. institutions. 'Nihilistic forces are dismantling policies to protect our air, water, and climate,' Volcker wrote at the end of 'Keeping At It: The Quest for Sound Money and Good Government.' 'And they seek to discredit the pillars of our democracy: voting rights and fair elections, the rule of law, the free press, the separation of powers, the belief in science, and the concept of truth itself.' Volcker died Sunday at age 92. An excerpt of the afterword was published Wednesday in the Financial Times."

Court Forces Trump's Kids to Go to Remedial School. Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: "As part of the settlement [in the Donald J. Trump Foundation scandal], Mr. Trump's three children who were officers of the foundation -- Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump -- were ordered to undergo mandatory training to ensure they do not engage in similar misconduct in the future. On Tuesday, the [New York State] attorney general's office confirmed the children had undergone the training."

Staffers Backed Defrauded Students, De Vos Overruled Them. Cory Turner of NPR: "Documents obtained by NPR shed new light on a bitter fight between defrauded student borrowers and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. These borrowers -- more than 200,000 of them -- say some for-profit colleges lied to them about their job prospects and the transferability of credits. They argue they were defrauded and that the Education Department should erase their federal student loan debt under a rule called 'borrower defense.' DeVos ... says most student borrowers still got value from these schools and deserve only partial relief from their federal loans. Now, internal Education Department memos obtained by NPR show that career staff in the department's Borrower Defense Unit came down firmly on the side of defrauded borrowers.... Until now, these internal department memos have been hidden from public view. Lawmakers had previously requested access to them, but DeVos and her department refused to hand them over."

Connor O'Brien of Politico: "... the House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a $738 billion compromise defense policy bill that would create a Space Force as the newest military service. In a 377- to-48 vote, lawmakers approved the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act -- with both House Democrats and ... Donald Trump taking credit for its marquee provisions, which also include parental leave for federal workers and a repeal of the military 'widow's tax.' The bill still must be considered by Senate, where wide bipartisan approval is also likely. The president urged passage and said he'd sign the bill if it reaches his desk." The Washington Post story is here.

Presidential Race 2020

Ryan Lizza, now of Politico: "Former Vice President Joe Biden's top advisers and prominent Democrats outside the Biden campaign have recently revived a long-running debate whether Biden should publicly pledge to serve only one term, with Biden himself signaling to aides that he would serve only a single term. While the option of making a public pledge remains available, Biden has for now settled on an alternative strategy: quietly indicating that he will almost certainly not run for a second term while declining to make a promise that he and his advisers fear could turn him into a lame duck and sap him of his political capital." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: With so many qualified candidates running for the Democratic presidential nomination, I cannot make a recommendation on whom to choose in primary races. But I will urge readers not to vote for Joe Biden (or Tulsi Gabbard or Marianne Williamson, for that matter). Biden is the worst front-runner since, well, Hillary Clinton. In fact, he's beginning to make Clinton look pretty good.

"Off the Rails." Aaron Rupar of Vox: "... Donald Trump gave a speech at a campaign rally on Tuesday night in Hershey, Pennsylvania, that highlighted many of the reasons people feel that the country will struggle to withstand another year of this.... Over the course of a more than 90-minute delivery, Trump pushed conspiracy theories and blatant lies, trashed law enforcement officials that aren't blindly loyal to him, exhibited thuggish tendencies toward protesters, made misogynistic remarks, and demonstrated that he fundamentally misunderstands the Constitution. It was one of his most troubling performances in recent memory and served as a stark illustration of just how ugly Trump's reelection campaign will be." (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Gold & Ali Watkins of the New York Times: "An assailant involved in the prolonged firefight in Jersey City, N.J., that left six people dead, including one police officer, was linked on Wednesday to the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, which has been designated a hate group, and had published anti-Semitic posts online, a law enforcement official said. The violent rampage on Tuesday took place largely at a kosher supermarket where three bystanders were killed. The authorities now believe that the store was specifically targeted by the assailants. The law enforcement official said the names of the two suspects were David Anderson and Francine Graham. Mr. Anderson appeared to have a connection to the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, though the extent of his involvement in that group remains unclear, the official said. The Black Hebrew Israelites have no connection with mainstream Judaism. It has been described as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center...." A Guardian story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Time has named Greta Thunberg, the young climate activist, as person of the year. (Also linked yesterday.)

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd: ~~~

Megan Twohey & Jodi Kantor of the New York Times: "After two years of legal wrangling, Harvey Weinstein and the board of his bankrupt film studio have reached a tentative $25 million settlement agreement with dozens of his alleged sexual misconduct victims, a deal that would not require the Hollywood producer to admit wrongdoing or pay anything to his accusers himself, according to lawyers involved in the negotiations. The proposed global legal settlement has gotten preliminary approval from the major parties involved, according to several of the lawyers. More than 30 actresses and former Weinstein employees, who in lawsuits have accused Mr. Weinstein of offenses ranging from sexual harassment to rape, would share in the payout -- along with potential claimants who could join in coming months. The deal would bring to an end nearly every such lawsuit against him and his former company."

Beyond the Beltway

Kentucky. For $25,500, You Can Get Away with Murder in Kentucky. Andrew Wilson & Joe Sonka of the Louisville Courier Journal: "The family of a man pardoned by Gov. Matt Bevin for a homicide and other crimes in a fatal 2014 Knox County home invasion raised $21,500 at a political fundraiser last year to retire debt from Bevin's 2015 gubernatorial campaign. The brother and sister-in-law of offender Patrick Brian Baker also gave $4,000 to Bevin's campaign on the day of the fundraiser, according to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance database."

Way Beyond

Israel. David Halbfinger & Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: "Having failed to form a government after two elections, Israel barreled toward a record third on Wednesday, extending the political deadlock that has paralyzed the country for nearly a year and assuring at least three more months of bitter, divisive campaigning and government dysfunction. And with the country hopelessly divided over the fate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been indicted on three counts of corruption, there is little indication that the third election will be any more decisive than the first two."

U.K. The Guardian is liveblogging today's general election. ~~~

~~~ AND Boris Johnson hid in a fridge to avoid an attempted ambush-interview by Piers Morgan. Heather Stewart & Aamna Mohdin of the Guardian: "When [a 'Good Morning Britain' producer] presses the prime minister, stating he was live on the show, Johnson replied 'I'll be with you in a second' and walked off, before Piers exclaims 'he's gone into the fridge'. Johnson walks inside a fridge stacked with milk bottles with his aides. One person can be heard saying: 'It's a bunker.' Conservative sources subsequently insisted that Johnson was 'categorically not hiding' in the fridge, from which Johnson emerged carrying a crate of milk bottles...." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Commentariat -- December 11, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said Wednesday that a senior prosecutor failed to convince him that the FBI's 2016 investigation of President Trump's campaign was improperly opened, revealing new details about internal tension among senior officials over the politically explosive case. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Horowitz was asked by the panel's senior Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), if Attorney General William P. Barr or his hand-picked prosecutor on the issue, Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham, offered anything to change the inspector general's view that the FBI had a valid reason to open the probe in July 2016. 'No, we stand by our finding,' said Horowitz, who said he met in November with Durham to discuss the findings in the inspector general's 434-page report released Monday. When the report was released, Durham issued an unusual public statement saying he did not agree with Horowitz's conclusion about the opening of the investigation. Horowitz told lawmakers that the disagreement stemmed from a difference of opinion about whether the FBI should have opened a preliminary investigation, which puts some limitations on the investigative steps that can be taken, or a full investigation. The FBI opened a full investigation, based on a tip from the Australian government." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: So as nearly as I can tell from the WashPo report & from what I heard on the teevee, the "disagreement" Durham found with the IG report, which he did not specify in his "unusual"/political statement issued upon release of the report, was on whether or not the FBI should have opened a "full" investigation before they initiated a "preliminary" investigation. Or, IMO, big whup. ~~~

~~~ ** HOWEVER. David Sanger of the New York Times: The inspector general's "study amounted to the most searching look ever revealed about the government's secretive system for carrying out national-security surveillance on American soil. And what the report showed was not pretty.... Michael E. Horowitz, and his team uncovered a staggeringly dysfunctional and error-ridden process in how the F.B.I. went about obtaining and renewing court permission under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, to wiretap Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser.... The inspector general found major errors, material omissions and unsupported statements about Mr. Page in the materials that went to the court. F.B.I. agents cherry-picked the evidence, telling the Justice Department information that made Mr. Carter look suspicious and omitting material that cut the other way, and the department passed that misleading portrait onto the court.... Most ... targets [of FISA-warranted surveillance] never learn that their privacy has been invaded, but some are sent to prison on the basis of evidence derived from the surveillance. And unlike in ordinary criminal wiretap cases, defendants are not permitted to see what investigators told the court about them to obtain permission to eavesdrop on their calls and emails." Read on.

Michael Horowitz, the DOJ's inspector general, is testifying before the the Senate Judiciary Committee, beginning at 10 am ET, on the oranges origins of the Russia election-meddling investigation. Lindsey Graham is the chairman. Looks as if CNN & MSNBC will carry the hearing live.

     ~~~ Mrs. McC Update: as the hearing begins, Graham starts whine-shouting about the terrible FBI agents who took the law in their own hands, blah-blah. Now he's reading Peter Strzok's & Lisa Page's disparaging remarks about Trump; you know, the kind of disparaging remarks Lindsey used to make about Trump. But Graham accidentally forgot to mention that Page had nothing to do with the opening of the case, & Strzok was not a decision-maker on whether or not to open an investigation. ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times has a highlights blog here. Sorry their snark squad isn't on duty today. ~~~

~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "President Trump is openly telegraphing that he fully expects his attorney general to validate one of his biggest lies: that the real crime in 2016 wasn't Russia's sabotaging of our election but rather the decision by law enforcement to investigate it. New public comments from William P. Barr provide Trump with ample grounds for being confident that Barr will deliver for him.... Barr's latest claims about the Russia investigation rest on a serious misrepresentation that has not gotten the focus it deserves -- and is more pernicious than it first appears.... [In his NBC interview, Barr implied] that the FBI's initial investigation was only motivated by what it had learned about the Trump campaign's intentions with regard to coordinating with Russia's electoral subversion effort.... [But] officials told the I.G. that the new information about the Trump campaign precipitated the investigation, but only on top of the fact that Russia was already 'targeting U.S. political institutions' and trying to manipulate the 'U.S. democratic process.'... Trump wants to make all of those facts disappear. And Barr is effectively using the power of law enforcement to help him do it." ~~~

~~~ Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "Walter Shaub, the former head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, on Tuesday called Attorney General William Barr a 'threat to democracy' and warned he may try to interfere in the 2020 presidential election to benefit ... Donald Trump. MSNBC's national affairs analyst John Heilemann issued a similar caution, while CNN's chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin described Barr as 'a Fox News bot.' In a lengthy Twitter thread, Shaub accused Barr of misleading the public after he rejected the Justice Department's inspector general report that found the FBI was not politically motivated in launching a probe into the Trump 2016 campaign's links to Russia."

"Off the Rails." Aaron Rupar of Vox: "... Donald Trump gave a speech at a campaign rally on Tuesday night in Hershey, Pennsylvania, that highlighted many of the reasons people feel that the country will struggle to withstand another year of this.... Over the course of a more than 90-minute delivery, Trum pushed conspiracy theories and blatant lies, trashed law enforcement officials that aren't blindly loyal to him, exhibited thuggish tendencies toward protesters, made misogynistic remarks, and demonstrated that he fundamentally misunderstands the Constitution. It was one of his most troubling performances in recent memory and served as a stark illustration of just how ugly Trump's reelection campaign will be."

Michael Gold & Ali Watkins of the New York Times: "An assailant involved in the prolonged firefight in Jersey City, N.J., that left six people dead, including one police officer, was linked on Wednesday to the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, which has been designated a hate group, and had published anti-Semitic posts online, a law enforcement official said. The violent rampage on Tuesday took place largely at a kosher supermarket where three bystanders were killed. The authorities now believe that the store was specifically targeted by the assailants. The law enforcement official said the names of the two suspects were David Anderson and Francine Graham. Mr. Anderson appeared to have a connection to the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, though the extent of his involvement in that group remains unclear, the official said. The Black Hebrew Israelites have no connection with mainstream Judaism. It has been described as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center...." A Guardian story is here.

Time has named Greta Thunberg, the young climate activist, as person of the year.

AND Boris Johnson hid in a fridge to avoid an attempted ambush-interview by Piers Morgan. "When [a 'Good Morning Britain' producer] presses the prime minister, stating he was live on the show, Johnson replied 'I'll be with you in a second' and walked off, before Piers exclaims 'he's gone into the fridge'. Johnson walks inside a fridge stacked with milk bottles with his aides. One person can be heard saying: 'It's a bunker.' Conservative sources subsequently insisted that Johnson was 'categorically not hiding' in the fridge, from which Johnson emerged carrying a crate of milk bottles...."

~~~~~~~~~~

Bart Jansen & Christal Hayes of USA Today: "House Democrats plan to begin debating Wednesday two articles of impeachment accusing ... Donald Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.... The committee plans to begin debating the articles at 7 p.m. [ET] Wednesday and resume at 9 a.m. Thursday. No deadline was set for a final committee vote. If approved, the full House could vote on the articles as early as next week." Mrs. McC: The meeting is public, so I assume it will be on the teevee, on C-SPAN, if not on other outlets.

The New York Times publishes an annotated version of the House Judiciary Committee's proposed Articles of Impeachment against Donald Trump. The annotations are pretty helpful. NPR has the articles here.

Amber Phillips of the Washington Post analyzes the proposed articles & puts them in historical context. ~~~

~~~ Here's a more detailed analysis by Scott Anderson & others in Lawfare.

Democrats Come to Jesus. John Bresnahan, et al., of Politico on why House Democrats sidelined the Mueller report in drawing up articles of impeachment. "Mueller's probe gets only a glancing reference in the articles of impeachment themselves. But Democrats -- including Pelosi -- have repeatedly leaned on the foundation Mueller built to help justify calls to remove Trump from office. In short, Mueller is the Old Testament of Trump scandals, Ukraine is the New Testament."

Kaitlan Collins & Phil Mattingly of CNN: "... there is a growing divide between ... Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ... over what [the Senate] trial should look like.... In conversations with the White House, the Kentucky Republican has made clear he hopes to end the trial as soon as he can, an effort to both get impeachment off his lap and protect his conference from potentially damaging votes should the process break out into partisan warfare. That will include a continuous whip count until McConnell feels he has the votes to acquit the President and end the show.... But the show is exactly what Trump wants. He's made clear to advisers privately that rather than end the trial as quickly as possible, he is hoping for a dramatic event, according to two people familiar with his thinking. He wants Hunter Biden, Rep. Adam Schiff and the whistleblower to testify. He wants the witnesses to be live, not clips of taped depositions. And he's hoping to turn it into a spectacle, which he thinks is his best chance to hurt Democrats in the election."

Nicole Gaouette, et al., of CNN: "Russia's top foreign diplomat attended high-level meetings in Washington Tuesday, creating the extraordinary spectacle of ... Donald Trump consulting with Moscow on the day House Democrats unveiled articles of impeachment underpinned partly by Trump's unusual relationship with Russia. Trump's meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov ... was their second Oval Office meeting. The first time they huddled, Trump boasted about firing his FBI director and revealed classified information.... The House impeachment inquiry examined Trump's efforts to leverage US military aid to Ukraine in exchange for investigations into a personal political rival and a theory that US intelligence services say was planted by Russia: that Ukraine and not Moscow interfered in the 2016 election.... At a news conference at the Russian embassy at the end of the day, the Russian diplomat wouldn't answer directly when asked about the White House claim that Trump had warned him about Russia interfering in the 2020 elections."​ ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I reckon Trump invited Lavrov over so the two could reminisce about how well things have been going since the last time they met in the Oval Office, the day after Trump fired Comey, thus beginning the long impeachment slog. Maybe they had a cake with candles while discussing Trump Tower Moscow. Will Lavrov get an apartment there? And ain't funny how Trump has time for Lavrov, a guy who represents a U.S. adversary & whose job is below Trump's pay grade, but none for the president of our ally at war with said adversary? Note to Zelensky: Oval Office photo ops are limited to whoever does my bidding.

Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Rudolph W. Giuliani ... said Tuesday that the president has asked him to brief the Justice Department and Republican senators on his findings from a recent trip to Ukraine ahead of a likely Senate impeachment trial. 'He wants me to do it,' Giuliani said in a brief interview. 'I'm working on pulling it together and hope to have it done by the end of the week.' However, it is unclear whether GOP senators or Justice Department officials want information from Giuliani, whose meetings in Europe last week with Ukrainian sources drew condemnation from Democratic lawmakers and winces even from some Republicans. In a recent interview, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said he had no plans for Giuliani to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has launched an inquiry into former vice president Joe Biden and his communications with Ukrainian officials. Attorney General William P. Barr has counseled Trump in general terms that Giuliani has become a liability and a problem for the administration, as The Washington Post previously reported." An AP story is here.

Chris Wray: "Don't Listen to Trump." Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "As with so many other conspiracy theories favored by President Trump, [the accusation that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election] was initially shunned by his allies, but then it became necessary to embrace in order to defend him.... Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is even lending legitimacy to the argument. FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, though, isn't playing along.... In an interview with ABC News, Wray declared there was 'no indication' that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election. And ... he urged people to be savvier consumers of news.... 'Well, look, there's all kinds of people saying all kinds of things out there. I think it's important for the American people to be thoughtful consumers of information and to think about the sources of it and to think about the support and predication for what they hear.'... And I think part of us being well-protected against malign foreign influence is to build together an American public that's resilient, that has appropriate media literacy and that takes its information with a grain of salt,' Wray said.... Wray's comments came when he was asked about 'politicians' pushing the Ukraine conspiracy theory, not Trump specifically. But to be clear, chief among those politicians is Trump."

As the Gaslight Burns

Trump Continues Tradition of Blatantly Lying to Supporters. Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump spent a large part of a campaign rally Tuesday evening hailing a new Justice Department Inspector General report and blasting House Democrats' impeachment inquiry. Trump claimed the newly released report from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz showed that the FBI 'spied' on his presidential campaign during the 2016 election. He suggested the bureau launched an investigation into associates of his campaign to 'hurt us politically,' despite Horowitz's inquiry finding agents were not motivated by political bias in the decisions they made investigating links between the campaign and Moscow.... Trump also mocked ex-FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, claiming text messages exchanged between the two showed that agents who worked on the Russia probe were motivated by bias -- directly refuting Horowitz's findings.... Trump claimed without evidence on Tuesday that the FBI deliberately 'hid' exonerating evidence against him in order to continue the investigation." ~~~

~~~ Josh Feldman of Mediaite: “President Donald Trump unloaded on 'scum' at the FBI at his rally in Pennsylvania tonight, following yesterday's IG report from DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz.... Trump accused officials of hiding a 'frame-up' so 'they could keep it going on, thinking they were going to hurt us politically.'"

** Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "Attorney General William Barr said he still believes the FBI may have operated out of 'bad faith' when it investigated whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, and he contends the FBI acted improperly by continuing the investigation after Donald Trump took office. In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Barr essentially dismissed the findings of the Justice Department's inspector general that there was no evidence of political bias in the launching of the Russia probe, saying that his hand-picked prosecutor, John Durham, will have the last word on the matter.... Barr argued that [IG Michael] Horowitz didn't look very hard [for evidence of FBI wrongdoing], and that the inspector general accepted the FBI's explanations at face value.... Barr said he stood by his assertion that the Trump campaign was spied on, noting that the FBI used confidential informants who recorded conversations with Trump campaign officials. 'It was clearly spied upon,' he said. 'That's what electronic surveillance is ... going through people's emails, wiring people up.'... Barr's blistering criticism of the FBI's conduct in the Russia investigation, which went well beyond the errors outlined in the inspector general report, is bound to stoke further debate about whether the attorney general is acting in good faith, or as a political hatchet man for Trump." Includes video of part of the interview of Barr. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I wonder what will happen if Durham's report doesn't reveal that Jim Comey & Andy McCabe were hanging out in the basement of Comet Pizza with Hillary Clinton & John Brennan conspiring to ruin Trump's perfect presidency*. ~~~

~~~ Eileen Sullivan & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "President Trump and Attorney General William P. Barr took aim at the F.B.I. on Tuesday, reiterating attacks on former bureau officials and contradicting the agency's director, Christopher A. Wray, a day after an independent watchdog concluded that agents were justified in opening an investigation into Russia's possible ties with the Trump campaign.... Mr. Wray had said on Monday that he concurred with the Justice Department inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, who found that political bias did not influence investigative decisions, directly undercutting the president's yearslong accusations.... Standing in disagreement with the president and the attorney general, Mr. Wray will now have to decide how to lead the agency while his bosses promulgate the inaccurate narrative that the F.B.I. plotted to sabotage Mr. Trump's presidential campaign in 2016.... In an early Twitter post, Mr. Trump snapped at Mr. Wray for not agreeing with his interpretation of the watchdog report's findings.... Mr. Barr ... repeated a longtime refrain of Mr. Trump and his allies, saying the F.B.I. improperly used counterintelligence tools to spy on a presidential campaign. In an interview with NBC News, Mr. Barr said there were 'gross abuses' and 'inexplicable behavior that is intolerable in the F.B.I.'... 'I think our nation was turned on its head for three years based on a completely bogus narrative that was largely fanned and hyped by a completely irresponsible press,' Mr. Barr said on Tuesday."

From a civil liberties standpoint, the greatest danger to our free system is that the incumbent government used the apparatus of the state, principally the law enforcement agencies and the intelligence agencies, both to spy on political opponents, but also to use them in a way that could affect the outcome of the election. -- Bill Barr, claiming that is what the FBI did in 2016 (but accidentally describing what Trump did this year), NBC interview, Tuesday ~~~

~~~ Zack Beauchamp of Vox: "... the sheer chutzpah of Barr's comments is staggering.... What president might be doing something like that, right now, and getting impeached for it?... Barr's move here is disturbingly Orwellian. He correctly identified the abuse of power to influence elections as a threat to American democracy, but then argued that the people who investigated Trump are the ones who are actually guilty of it. The criminal becomes the victim, the authoritarian the guarantor of our freedoms."

Barr: It's deeply offensive to our civil liberties for a presidential administration to investigate its potential successors and/or try to interfere in an election. Also Barr: The President was absolutely within his rights to ask Ukraine for help digging up dirt on the Bidens. -- Steve Vladeck, UT law professor, in a tweet

If Barr were consistent, he would argue Obama using the FBI to interfere with the election (didn't happen) is fine just like Trump extorting Ukraine is fine, because the president can do what he wants. That's not his position. His position is *Trump* can do whatever he wants. -- Adam Serwer of the Atlantic, in a tweet

Adam Serwer of the Atlantic: "The IG report knocked down the various claims that Trump and his allies have made, one by one.... There is ... no 'deep state' anti-Trump conspiracy, no network of perfidious liberals in the FBI seeking to take down Trump. There is, however, voluminous evidence of reprehensible behavior by the president, first taking advantage of a foreign attack on the 2016 election for personal and political profit, seeking to obstruct the investigation into that interference, and then falsely concocting an elaborate conspiracy theory to avoid accountability for his actions.... The belief that Trump is the victim of a vast and ongoing conspiracy is a crucial element of the president's enduring appeal to his supporters. If the allegations against the president are all completely false, then his supporters can continue to back him..., because anything and everything negative they hear about the president must be false.... Barr's handpicked investigator, U.S. Attorney John Durham..., will be under a tremendous amount of pressure from Barr to indict one of the president's chosen enemies, if only to have a scapegoat to feed the right-wing propaganda machine and deter federal law enforcement from ever looking into criminal activity by the president or his allies again."

David Corn of Mother Jones: "This is how it works. The big lie. The endless spin. The outright denial of facts. Again and again and again. The complete destruction and devaluation of truth for political gain. Overwhelm reality with fiction, concoctions, and false narratives. Embrace deceit and duplicity. For rogues, scoundrels, tyrants, princes and princesses of corruption -- and their henchmen -- the truth is a threat. It must be crushed. It must be vanquished. Abuse of power cannot exist alongside accountability.... Following the release of the Justice Department inspector general's report on the origins and management of the Trump-Russia investigation, Attorney General William Barr went into full Oceania war-is-peace mode to erase truth in order to protect and soothe his dear leader, Donald Trump." Corn posits that in order to legitimize Trump's presidency* -- which is in part an artifact of Russian interference -- Barr must delegitimize the Russia investigation.

Mrs. McCrabbie: Several teevee pundits have pointed out that last week Barr made a speech warning people who live in certain "communities" to show respect for law enforcement or forget about their protection, and this week he's showing deep disrespect for law enforcement officers. AND ~~~

Mrs. McCrabbie P.S. In fairness to Roseanne, she is trying: "Roseanne Barr will headline a Super Bowl gala at Mar-a-Lago for the Trumpettes." ~~~

~~~ AND contributor Jeanne figured out that Bill Barr reminds her of Mr. Mucus of the Mucinex ads (see today's Comments). There's no doubt Bill is a huge, slimy booger. Still, I think I've found strong evidence Baby Barr broke out of a hard-shelled egg: Big Bill Barr bears a striking resemblance to Baby Sinclair, IMO:

Julia Arciga of the Daily Beast: "Former FBI attorney Lisa Page on Tuesday sued the FBI and the Justice Department over the leaking of her text messages that prompted a barrage of public attacks from lawmakers and ... Donald Trump himself. 'I sued the Department of Justice and FBI today,' she wrote on Twitter. 'I take little joy in having done so. But what they did in leaking my messages to the press was not only wrong, it was illegal.' The lawsuit accuses both agencies of violating the Privacy Act when reporters were given access to her messages with former FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok.... Page alleges that DOJ officials -- including former spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores -- invited a group of reporters in Dec. 2017 to view a 90-page document containing 375 text messages between her and Strzok. Senior department officials allegedly signed off on the move, and the journalists were told to not source the information back to the department." ~~~

     ~~~ Nicole Lafond of TPM: "The suit mentions the inspector general report that was released Monday, which cleared Page of having a bias that impacted decisions made at the launch of the Russia probe. In the suit, Page said the DOJ IG's decision 'came too late.'" ~~~

~~~ Lauren Egan of NBC News: At his rally in Hershey, Pa., Tuesday, "Trump ... mocked former FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, frequent targets of the president's, baselessly claiming that Page filed a restraining order against Strzok. 'Did I hear they needed a restraining order after this whole thing to keep him away from Lisa?,' Trump said, adding 'I don't know if it's true.'"

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Federal prosecutors on Tuesday recommended that former deputy Trump campaign chairman Rick Gates serve no prison time, citing his 'extraordinary assistance' in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's Russia investigation, according to a new court filing. Prosecutors said his cooperation is continuing, without making details public." (Also linked yesterday.)

Niv Elis of the Hill: "House Democrats and the White House have struck a deal on a historic trade deal to update the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Tuesday. Pelosi announced the deal on a head spinning day in Washington just one hour after she joined Democrats in setting out two articles of impeachment against Trump." Mrs. McC: Pelosi emphasized that the deal was much better for American workers than the deal Trump struck a year ago, and she thanked AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka for his assistance throughout the process. "The AFL-CIO announced Tuesday it would back the trade agreement...." The New York Times report, which has far more detail, is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ David Lynch of the Washington Post: "House Democrats took credit Tuesday for rewriting key parts of President Trump's new North American trade deal to include new protections for workers' rights and to scrap a provision they said would have led to high prescription drug prices. 'There is no question that this trade agreement is much better than NAFTA. It is infinitely better than what was initially proposed by the administration,' said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaking hours before representatives of the U.S., Mexico and Canada are expected to sign the revised deal at a meeting in Mexico City. 'We're declaring victory for the American worker.' In a major win for the Trump administration, the nation's largest labor federation backed the compromise.... [AFL-CIO President Richard] Trumka called the revised accord 'a vast improvement over both the original NAFTA and the flawed proposal brought forward in 2017.' The agreement is the first to include 'enforceable labor standards,' which will include inspections of suspect manufacturing sites in Mexico, he said. In a series of Twitter posts Tuesday, Trump hailed the breakthrough." Mrs. McC: ... with his usual ridiculous hyperbole. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Megan Cassella of Politico: "Getting to yes required negotiations with an ideologically diverse coalition that included congressional Democrats, organized labor and Mexico's private sector, Canadian ministers and Trump's hard-charging U.S. trade representative, Robert Lighthizer.... [Nancy] Pelosi's demand to ... Mexican officials [that they implement labor protections] in September had pushed labor demands to the forefront and unified Democrats behind a possible deal.... Lighthizer held dozens of meetings on the Hill to narrow down the list of concerns from Democrats on everything ranging from seasonal produce to duty-free thresholds. That's when Democrats focused their demands for changes on four central issues: enforcement, labor and environmental standards and drug pricing provisions.... '... we stayed on this, and we ate their lunch,' Pelosi told Democrats at a closed-door caucus meeting Tuesday."

Michael Sisak of the AP: "... Donald Trump is paying up after conceding that he used his charitable foundation at times as a personal piggy bank. Trump has wired $2 million to pay a court-ordered fine for misusing the Trump Foundation in part to further his business interests and 2016 presidential run, New York Attorney General Letitia James said Tuesday. The money will be distributed to eight charities. About $1.8 million left in the Trump Foundation's bank account was also split among the nonprofits getting fine money, along with $11,525 that Trump paid back for spending foundation money on sports memorabilia and champagne at a charity gala. New York state Judge Saliann Scarpulla imposed the penalty last month after Trump admitted to a series of abuses outlined in a lawsuit brought against him last year by James' office."

Do as I Say, Not as I Do. Matthew Lee & Jill Colvin of the AP: "... Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Wednesday targeting antisemitism on college campuses, the White House said. The order, which is likely to draw criticism from free speech advocates, will broaden the federal government's definition of antisemitism and instruct it to be used in enforcing laws against discrimination on college campuses, according to three U.S. officials. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly preview the move. Trump has been accused of trafficking in anti-Semitic tropes, including comments about Jews and money. But he has also closely aligned himself with Israel, including moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and taking a hard line against Iran." The New York Times story is here.

Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in El Paso on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration's plan to pay for border barrier construction with $3.6 billion in military funds, ruling that the administration does not have the authority to divert money appropriated by Congress for a different purpose. The Trump administration was planning to use those funds to build 175 miles of steel barriers, and the court's permanent injunction is a setback for Trump's pledge to erect 450 linear miles of fencing by the end of next year. District Court Judge David Briones, a Bill Clinton appointee, said in his ruling that the administration's attempt to reprogram military construction funds by emergency proclamation was unlawful and that the plaintiffs in the case were entitled to a permanent injunction halting the government." A CNN report is here.

Courtney Kube & Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "The Pentagon inspector general has launched a review to determine whether the U.S. military deployment to the southern border is legal, according to a Department of Defense memo obtained by NBC News. The review was opened three months after 30 members of Congress requested an investigation into whether the deployment violates a law that prohibits active duty military troops from carrying out law enforcement duties inside the U.S.... Troop levels at the border, including both active-duty military and the National Guard, have at times surpassed 5,000 since ... Donald Trump began deploying them there in the fall of 2018. The current tally is 6,500, a number that will drop once a troop transition is complete, a Pentagon spokesman said."

Wesley Morgan of Politico: "The Navy has grounded more than 300 Saudi military exchange students from flight training, the service said Tuesday. The move comes after a Saudi student pilot killed three U.S. sailors at Naval Air Station Pensacola, the Florida base where he was training.... While the pause in flight operations is of unknown duration, the classroom portion of their training 'will resume this week,' [a Navy spokesperson] said." ~~~

~~~ Jana Winter & Hunter Walker of Yahoo! News: "More than six months before the Dec. 6 shooting at a naval base in Pensacola, Fla., where a Saudi gunman used a weapon obtained using a hunting license exemption, the FBI issued a report warning about precisely this loophole. The FBI warning, dated May 22 ... encouraged businesses to be aware that 'extremists and other criminal actors could exploit the federal statutory exception that allows non-immigrant visa holders' who normally can't buy firearms or ammunition to legally purchase them 'with a valid hunting license or permit.'"

Presidential Race 2020. Elena Schneider of Politico: "Pete Buttigieg released a list of nine clients, including corporations and government agencies, he worked for during his tenure at McKinsey and Company, as his campaign tries to suppress attacks on his brief business record.... During his two and a half years at McKinsey, Buttigieg's clients included Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the state's largest private health insurance provider. Other clients were Loblaws, a Canadian supermarket chain; the electronics retailer Best Buy; the Energy Foundation and the Natural Resources Defense Council, two environmental nonprofits; and several government agencies: the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and the U.S. Postal Service." A New York Times story is here.

Congressional Race 2020. O No, No Yoho! Chandelis Duster of CNN: "Florida Republican Rep. Ted Yoho announced on Tuesday he will not seek another term, saying he will 'pass the baton onto a new generation' and honoring his campaign promise not to serve more than four terms." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Commentariat -- December 10, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

O No, No Yoho! Chandelis Duster of CNN: "Florida Republican Rep. Ted Yoho announced on Tuesday he will not seek another term, saying he will 'pass the baton onto a new generation' wortand honoring his campaign promise not to serve more than four terms."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Federal prosecutors on Tuesday recommended that former deputy Trump campaign chairman Rick Gates serve no prison time, citing his 'extraordinary assistance' in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's Russia investigation, according to a new court filing. Prosecutors said his cooperation is continuing, without making details public."

Niv Elis of the Hill: "House Democrats and the White House have struck a deal on a historic trade deal to update the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Tuesday. Pelosi announced the deal on a head spinning day in Washington just one hou after she joined Democrats in setting out two articles of impeachment against Trump." Mrs. McC: Pelosi emphasized that the deal was much better for American workers than the deal Trump struck a year ago, and she thanked AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka for his assistance throughout the process. "The AFL-CIO announced Tuesday it would back the trade agreement...." Update: The New York Times report, which has far more detail, is here. ~~~

~~~ David Lynch of the Washington Post: "House Democrats took credit Tuesday for rewriting key parts of President Trump's new North American trade deal to include new protections for workers' rights and to scrap a provision they said would have led to high prescription drug prices. 'There is no question that this trade agreement is much better than NAFTA. It is infinitely better than what was initially proposed by the administration,' said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaking hours before representatives of the U.S., Mexico and Canada are expected to sign the revised deal at a meeting in Mexico City. 'We're declaring victory for the American worker.' In a major win for the Trump administration, the nation's largest labor federation backed the compromise.... [AFL-CIO President Richard] Trumka called the revised accord 'a vast improvement over both the original NAFTA and the flawed proposal brought forward in 2017.' The agreement is the first to include 'enforceable labor standards,' which will include inspections of suspect manufacturing sites in Mexico, he said. In a series of Twitter posts Tuesday, Trump hailed the breakthrough." Mrs. McC: ... with ridiculous hyperbole.

~~~~~~~~~~

** Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "House Democratic leaders announced on Tuesday that they would move ahead this week with two articles of impeachment against President Trump charging him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, accusing him of violating the Constitution when he pressed Ukraine for help in the 2020 election. Speaking from a wood-paneled reception room just off the floor of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and leaders of several key committees said that Mr. Trump's actions toward Ukraine, and his efforts to block Congress's attempt to investigate, had left them no choice but to pursue one of the Constitution's gravest remedies. The move will bring a sitting president to the brink of impeachment for only the fourth time in American history."

Andrew Desiderio, et al., of Politico: "House Democrats unveiled two articles of impeachment, accusing ... Donald Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Judiciary Committee is slated to vote on the articles later this week, setting up a full House vote next week.In a news conference announcing the articles Tuesday morning, Democrats said Trump put his personal political interests over U.S. national security by pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rivals." This is a breaking update of an earlier report. The breaking Washington Post story is here.

Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "House Democrats delivered a scathing summation of their impeachment case against President Trump on Monday, arguing that the president's conduct posed a 'clear and present danger' to the 2020 election and national security. In a contentious hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Democratic lawyers told lawmakers drafting impeachment articles that the evidence against Mr. Trump was overwhelming and urgent. Summarizing the findings of a two-month investigation by the Intelligence Committee, they asserted that the president had put his personal political interests above those of the nation in soliciting re-election help from Ukraine, and then tried to conceal his actions from Congress.... The presentations by [Intel Committee lawyer Daniel] Goldman and a Democratic lawyer for the Judiciary Committee will form the basis for a debate in the committee, expected to begin as soon as Wednesday, over articles of impeachment charging a president with high crimes and misdemeanors...."

Rachel Bade, et al., of the Washington Post: "Democrats are expected to unveil two articles of impeachment against President Trump on Tuesday that will focus on abuse of power and obstructing Congress and would be voted on by the full House next week, according to three officials familiar with the matter. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) met with Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and other committee chairmen Monday night after a nine-hour hearing in which a Democratic counsel laid out the party's case against Trump. The three officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks, cautioned that the plan had not been finalized. Leaving a meeting with Pelosi, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.) told reporters that he and the chairmen of other House committees would announce specific articles at a news conference at 9 a.m. Tuesday." The AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ Heather Caygle, et al., of Politico: "The Judiciary Committee plans to vote on the articles on Thursday, setting up a vote on the House floor next week to make Trump the third president in history to be impeached. The markup will be the last major step before the House votes to formally impeach Trump."

Jonathan Chait: "The House Republican impeachment defense of President Trump has been an experiment in pointillistic surrealism, in which disconnected pieces of information -- some true, some false -- are slushed together into a dreamlike haze in which nothing is certain. The most emblematic moment in this defense came during Monday's impeachment hearings when Steve Castor, the Republican lead counsel, answered a series of simple, obvious questions about President Trump's motives to discredit Joe Biden. Or at least the questions were expected to be simple and obvious. In Castor's hands, they were rendered obtuse and enigmatic. 'Would you agree that Joe Biden was a leading contender to face President Trump in 2020?,' asked the Democratic lawyer. Castor shook his head, 'I wouldn't agree with that.'... Castor refused even to concede that Trump had asked Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Bidens." Mrs. McC: Castor was testifying under oath.

MEANWHILE, in the Gallery.... Melissa Quinn of CBS News: "An Infowars host interrupted the opening minutes of the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment hearing on Monday, accusing Chairman Jerry Nadler and other Democrats of committing 'treason' while declaring President Trump innocent. The protester, Owen Shroyer, began shouting just seconds after Nadler gaveled in the hearing and posted live video of the interruption to his Twitter feed.... Shroyer is the host of 'The War Room' on Infowars, the fringe outlet that traffics in right-wing conspiracy theories." Mrs. McC: Shame on the Gestapo-style capitol police for violating Shroyer's First Amendment rights & all. In fairness, they did give him copy for his show.

The Justice Department's Inspector General's Report

Karoun Demirjian, et al., of the Washington Post: "A long-awaited Justice Department inspector general's report examining the FBI's investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia rebuts allegations of illegal spying and that political bias played a role in the probe begun ahead of the 2016 election, but finds serious faults in other areas, according to a copy of the document obtained by The Washington Post. The inspector general concludes that the FBI had an 'authorized purpose' to initiate the investigation and that the bureau's use of confidential informants was in compliance with the rules. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said the inspector general had 'completely demolished' some of conservatives' assertions about the origins of the probe, though his investigators did find some problems.... In particular, he said the inspector general had rebutted claims that Trump campaign advisers were illegally surveilled or entrapped, or that political motive was 'in any way a factor.' But the report also faults the FBI for 'significant inaccuracies and omissions' in the FBI's applications to secretly monitor a former Trump campaign adviser [Carter Page] and asserts that agents 'failed to meet the basic obligation' to ensure the applications were 'scrupulously accurate.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ A pdf of the report, via the Justice Department, is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Charlie Savage & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "A long-awaited report by the Justice Department's inspector general released on Monday sharply criticized the F.B.I.'s handling of a wiretap application used in the early stages of its Russia investigation but exonerated former bureau leaders of President Trump's accusations that they engaged in a politicized conspiracy to sabotage him. Investigators uncovered 'no documentary or testimonial evidence' of political bias behind official actions related to the investigation, known as Crossfire Hurricane, said the report, which totaled more than 400 pages. The F.B.I. had sufficient evidence in July 2016 to lawfully open the investigation, and its use of informants to approach campaign aides followed procedures, the inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, determined.... The findings on the wiretap application showed that when it mattered most -- with the stakes the greatest and no room for error -- F.B.I. officials still made numerous and serious mistakes in wielding a powerful surveillance tool. Mr. Horowitz's discovery calls into question the bureau's surveillance practices in routine cases without such high-stakes political implications." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Politico's Headline: "Watchdog report rips FBI handling of Russia probe." Josh Gerstein: "A highly anticipated Justice Department review of the origins of the federal investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia found no direct evidence of political bias in the launching of the probe, but identified an embarrassing slew of inaccuracies and omissions by the FBI that marred requests for court-ordered surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser. The report from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz also revealed for the first time that the FBI used a confidential source to approach an unidentified high-level Trump campaign official in September 2016 who was never the subject of any investigation. The approach revealed nothing of value to the probe, the review found." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

Bill Barr's Hail Trump

     ~~~ AND Bill Barr really did not care for Horowitz's main conclusion. Gerstein: "Attorney General Bill Barr endorsed Horowitz's critique of the FBI's handling of the surveillance process, but rejected the inspector general's conclusion that the FBI had an adequate 'predicate' for the decision to launch the investigation into the Trump campaign in July 2016. 'The Inspector General's report now makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken,' Barr said in a statement. 'It is also clear that, from its inception, the evidence produced by the investigation was consistently exculpatory. Nevertheless, the investigation and surveillance was pushed forward for the duration of the campaign and deep into President Trump's administration.'" Mrs. McC: IOW, "I'm pissed off Horowitz doesn't back up my fake 'spying' claim." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Barr's full statement is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ AND Barr Swats at Christopher Steele. Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Attorney General William P. Barr recently approved making public new details about a former F.B.I. informant at the heart of conservatives' allegations about the Russia investigation, deciding to release information that had been blacked out in ... [the] inspector general's report.... A representative from the office of the Justice Department inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, told the former F.B.I. informant, Christopher Steele, on Sunday that the Justice Department had decided to allow for the release of the information, two people briefed on the situation said late on Sunday. Mr. Steele was given no details about the information itself, nor was he told how it would affect the report's portrayal of him, the people said.... The notice to Mr. Steele on the eve of the report's release was highly unusual. Like the other witnesses interviewed for the inspector general's report, Mr. Steele had earlier reviewed the findings that are pertinent to him, and he was given a chance to comment on them. In this case, Mr. Horowitz's office did not detail for him the additional information and gave him no opportunity to respond for the report to be released on Monday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Julia Macfarlane of ABC News: "In 2007, Ivanka Trump met [Christopher] Steele at a dinner and they began corresponding about the possibility of future work together.... The following year, the two exchanged emails about meeting up near Trump Tower, according to several emails seen by ABC News. And the two did meet at Trump Tower.... The inspector general's report mentions a meeting with a 'Trump family member' there. They suggest Ivanka Trump and Steele stayed in touch via emails over the next several years. In one 2008 exchange they discussed dining together in New York at a restaurant just blocks from Trump Tower. Ivanka Trump worked as an executive vice president at the Trump Organization, managing a range of foreign real estate projects, including in parts of the world where Steele's firm, Orbis Business Intelligence touted expertise.... In his discussion with investigators from the inspector general'office, Steele cited his past cordial relationship with Ivanka Trump as reason to believe that he was not biased against her. 'If anything he was "favorably predisposed" towards the Trump family before he began his research,' he told the investigators, the report says." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Mr. Barr's willingness to side with Mr. Trump over law enforcement, even when it contradicts his own department's assessments, illustrates why he is one of Mr. Trump's most important allies.... John H. Durham, a federal prosecutor whom Mr. Barr appointed to run a separate criminal investigation into the origins of the Russia investigation, backed Mr. Barr's findings in his own highly unusual statement. 'Last month we advised the inspector general that we do not agree with some of the report's conclusions as to predication and how the F.B.I. case was opened,' Mr. Durham said.... Christopher A. Wray, the director of the F.B.I., said that he accepted all of the report's findings, including that officials had enough reason to open the investigation, as did other F.B.I. defenders." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: In his statement, Durham also said, "Our investigation has included developing information from other persons and entities, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S. Based on the evidence collected to date, and while our investigation is ongoing, last month we advised the Inspector General that we do not agree with some of the report's conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened." You might want to read Benner's respectful "highly unusual" characterization (in both her reports linked above) as "highly politicized." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

AND Trump (Of Course) Claims that White Is Black and Down Is Up. Shannon Pettypiece of NBC News: "... Donald Trump said Monday that a new Justice Department report that found a solid legal basis for the original FBI investigation of his 2016 campaign had actually documented an 'attempted overthrow' of the government that was 'far worse than I ever thought possible.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Re: safari's comment below, here's video of Trump's, Bondi's & Conway's responses to the IG report.

** Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: DOJ Inspector general Michael Horowitz's report "debunked a number of conspiracy theories advanced by the president or his allies over the last several years. Here are some of the top claims refuted by Horowitz's report. The Steele dossier didn't play a role in opening the Russia probe.... Neither did Lisa Page or Peter Strzok.... [President] Obama never wiretapped Trump Tower.... The FBI didn't implant spies in Trump's campaign.... Joseph Mifsud was never an FBI informant[.]"

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Justin Wise of the Hill: "Former FBI Director James Comey said Monday that 'Fox & Friends' canceled his scheduled appearance on the show after the release of a watchdog report that concluded FBI agents were not motivated by political bias when they launched investigations into associates of President Trump during the 2016 campaign. Comey said on Twitter that he had offered to appear on the morning program to answer all of the hosts' questions related to the highly anticipated Justice Department inspector general report. 'They booked me for tomorrow at 8 am. They just cancelled. Must have read the report,' said Comey, who was fired by Trump in 2017.... A Fox News spokesperson denied Comey's allegation, saying in a statement to The Hill that he 'was not booked and was never confirmed to appear on Fox & Friends.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Comey has an op-ed in the Washington Post lauding the report. Mrs. McC: I anticipated Comey's take would be a pile of gloat, but he actually makes good points. For instance: "Unfortunately, it appears that Barr will continue his practice of deriding the Justice Department when the facts don't agree with Trump's fiction. Pointing to his personally commissioned 'review' of the FBI's case-opening, Barr has declared it is too soon to conclude that the FBI was right to start an investigation. If his goal is simply to support the president's conspiracy theories, it will always be too soon to acknowledge the facts."

** The Remarkably Ephemeral Deep-State Conspiracy against Donald Trump. Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: “President Trump and his allies spent months promising that a report on the origins of the F.B.I.'s Russia investigation would be a kind of Rosetta Stone for Trump-era conspiracy enthusiasts -- the key to unlocking the secrets of a government plot to keep Mr. Trump from being elected in 2016. On that point, the report by the Justice Department's inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, did not deliver, even as it found serious problems with how F.B.I. officials justified the surveillance of a Trump campaign aide to a federal court. But by the time it was released, the president, his attorney general, his supporters in Congress and the conservative news media had already declared victory and decamped for the next battle in the wider war to convince Americans of the enemies at home and abroad arrayed against the Trump presidency. They followed a script they have used for nearly three years: Engage in a choreographed campaign of presidential tweets, Fox News appearances and fiery congressional testimony to create expectations about finding proof of a 'deep state' campaign against Mr. Trump. And then, when the proof does not emerge, skew the results and prepare for the next opportunity to execute the playbook." ~~~

~~~ Josh Kovensky of TPM: "Attorney General Bill Barr scrambled on Monday to keep a main anti-DOJ conspiracy theory going, after Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a 476-page report finding that the FBI was justified in opening its Trump-Russia investigation." ~~~

~~~ Paul Waldman & Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "... the Trump argument has been that the entire investigation was built on top of deeply nefarious motives -- that is, that the 'deep state' was corruptly conspiring to prevent Trump from being elected president -- and that it all was illegitimate. This was the argument of the president of the United States: that a law enforcement investigation into a foreign attack on our democracy was a 'hoax' and a 'witch hunt.'... [that] the real crime wasn't Russian sabotage of our election but the effort to investigate it. The inspector general report just wrecked numerous claims that Trump and his propagandists have made to justify that narrative. Perhaps this is why Attorney General William P. Barr, who has been himself working to invalidate that investigation, rushed to Trump's rescue.... There is no need to grant Barr even the slightest presumption of good faith...."

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "FBI Director Christopher Wray said Monday that the bureau is implementing more than 40 'corrective steps' in response to a Department of Justice inspector general report on the investigation into the Trump campaign and 2016 election interference. The report found the FBI's decision to launch and carry out the investigation targeting four Trump campaign officials was not affected by political bias, a conclusion Wray highlighted while also noting the bureau fully cooperated with the nearly two-year internal review by Inspector General Michael Horowitz. The report was, however, critical of certain aspects of the FBI's handling of the investigation[.]" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Pierre Thomas & Lucien Bruggeman of ABC News: "In a ... broadcast interview with ABC News, [FBI Director Christopher] Wray lamented 'actions described in this report that [he] considered unacceptable and unrepresentative of who we are as an institution.' But, he said it was 'important that the inspector general found that, in this particular instance, the investigation was opened with appropriate predication and authorization.'" Mrs. McC: So far, Wray is the only Trump administration official who has responded appropriately to the IG's report. ~~~

     ~~~ So Naturally.... Allan Smith of NBC News: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday blasted his 'current' FBI Director Christopher Wray -- whom the president appointed -- after the bureau head accepted the key finding of the Justice Department inspector general's report into the origins of the investigation into Trump's campaign and Russia.... 'I don't know what report current Director of the FBI Christopher Wray was reading, but it sure wasn't the one given to me,' tweeted Trump.... 'With that kind of attitude, he will never be able to fix the FBI, which is badly broken despite having some of the greatest men & women working there!'" ~~~

     ~~~ John Wagner & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post on Trump's knocking Chris Wray. "In earlier tweets Tuesday, Trump selectively highlighted findings from the inspector general's report by quoting Fox News commentators who said it documented 'very serious misconduct.'"

Shane Harris, et al., of the Washington Post: "The FBI had barely closed a politically volcanic investigation into Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server when it got a troubling tip about her rival's presidential campaign. On July 28, 2016, the bureau received information from an Australian diplomat, who said a Donald Trump campaign aide had 'suggested the Trump team had received some kind of suggestion from Russia' that Moscow could anonymously release damaging information about Clinton, according to the long-awaited Justice Department inspector general's report released Monday. The tip, vague as it was, shook senior FBI officials, who were already investigating suspected Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, including the theft of emails from the Democratic National Committee. Three days later, the FBI took the momentous decision to open a counterintelligence investigation of a presidential campaign, as the election season entered the home stretch.... Andrew McCabe, then the FBI's deputy director, said it was a 'tipping point' in the investigation of Russian interference. The decision to open Crossfire Hurricane, on July 31, was unanimous, McCabe said." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: But here's a question: is the FBI investigating Trump's meddling in the 2020 election? If not, why not? Bill Barr? We know DOJ & FBI are investigating the Three Stooges, but what about the guy who directed their operation? We also know DOJ shut down one inquiry into Trump's phone call with President Zelensky, but there's more to the scheme/conspiracy than the narrow matter DOJ rejected. Trump's jerking around Ukraine is essentially an extension of his cooperation with Russia in the 2016 election, and it has all the hallmarks of 2016 intervention, only worse, because this time Trump used the levers of the federal government to carry out his Ukraine scam.

Trump Is Nuts, Ctd. James Walker of Newsweek: "... Donald Trump put out more than 100 tweets on Sunday, sharing attacks on the impeachment inquiry with his 67 million followers. The commander-in-chief tweeted a total of 105 times yesterday, or a little more than four times per hour on average, with most of his activity taking place between 10 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. The majority of his posts were retweets of content posted by other Twitter users. Trump's tweets and re-posts on the platform were largely aimed at the impeachment process and Democrats leading the inquiry, but CNN and MMA fighter Tito Ortiz were also mentioned by the president." Mrs. McC: I think I've found the 400-pound man sitting on his bed. He's not in New Jersey; he's in Washington, D.C., and he's not hacking; he's tweeting. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Trump Is a Bigot, Ctd. Paul Krugman: "On Saturday Donald Trump gave a speech to the Israeli American Council in which he asserted that many in his audience were 'not nice people at all,' but that 'you have to vote for me' because Democrats would raise their taxes. Was he peddling an anti-Semitic stereotype, portraying Jews as money-grubbing types who care only about their wealth? Of course he was. You might possibly make excuses for his remarks if they were an isolated instance, but in fact Trump has done this sort of thing many times.... This particular anti-Semitic cliché -- that Jews are greedy, and that their political behavior is especially driven by their financial interests -- is empirically dead wrong. In fact, American Jews are much more liberal than you might expect given their economic situation.... The Trump administration is, beyond any reasonable doubt, an anti-democratic, white nationalist regime. And while it is not (yet) explicitly anti-Semitic, many of its allies are...."

Party on, Bill Barr. Jonathan O'Connell of the Washington Post: "Attorney General William P. Barr had planned to hold a 200-person holiday party at the Trump hotel in Washington Sunday night, but the event was rescheduled, according to a Justice Department spokeswoman. The spokeswoman declined to say when the event would take place but said it would still be at the Trump International Hotel, a choice that prompted critics to question Barr's independence from Trump, who still profits from his business while in office. Barr has been a key defender of President Trump, including Monday when he criticized an inspector general's report examining the FBI's investigation into possible coordination between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia. Twice this week, Justice Department attorneys are defending Trump in court against suits claiming the president illegally benefits from his business while in office." Mrs. McC: Bill Barr is giving the middle finger to every single American who has at least a vague belief that the legal underpinnings of our system of government, however imperfectly executed, is what sets the U.S. apart from banana republics.

Maggie Miller of the Hill: "The National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) published a draft report addressed to President Trump this week that found cyber threats to critical infrastructure pose an 'existential threat' to national security, and recommended 'bold action' in response. The NIAC, which is made up of industry officials and those from state and local governments involved in critical infrastructure, including former National Security Agency Deputy Director Richard Ledgett, strongly urged Trump to take action to protect energy, communications, and financial critical infrastructure.... The report found that China, Iran, and Russia have the ability to launch disruptive cyber attacks on U.S. critical infrastructure, including the electric grid, with [former Director of National Intelligence Dan] Coats noting specifically that 'Moscow is mapping our critical infrastructure with the long-term goal of being able to cause substantial damage.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Presidential Race 2020

Reid Epstein & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Mayor Pete Buttigieg will disclose his management consulting clients, open his fund-raisers to reporters and reveal the names of people raising money for his presidential campaign, his campaign announced Monday, a series of significant concessions toward transparency for a candidate under increasing pressure to release more details about his personal employment history and campaign finances. announcements follow several days of intense questioning surrounding Mr. Buttigieg's work for McKinsey & Company, the management consulting firm that was his first post-college employer. The company said on Monday that it would allow Mr. Buttigieg to disclose the clients he worked for at the firm from 2007 to 2009, acceding to a request the Buttigieg campaign made last month and the candidate himself amplified in public last week."

Joe Can't Handle the Truth. Eric Levitz of New York: Hunter Biden's "work in Ukraine is unquestionably undermining his father's campaign. President Trump sees Burisma as the 'emails' of 2020: A story of mundane impropriety around which right-wing media can build an elaborate, incendiary conspiracy theory that energizes the GOP base and conveys a vague impression of Democratic corruption to low-information swing voters.... Yet [Joe] Biden has not bothered to prepare credible, coherent answers to those questions. In fact, the Democratic front-runner can't even respond to the most predictable queries on the issue without flying into a barely concealed rage.... The fact that Biden still can't answer reasonable questions about his candidacy's chief liability is completely disqualifying.... As the Democratic Party's standard-bearer, reciting polite, polished talking points about Hunter and Burisma will be a core responsibility of Biden's job. And by all appearances, he is unable or unwilling to do that." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It's worth reading the whole post to get a handle on just how bad are Joe Biden's "answers" to questions about Hunter's Ukraine gambit. Levitz's post is akin to what P.D. Pepe & I discussed in the Comments last week, although Levitz goes further in arguing that Joe's lame responses are disqualifying. Joe Biden did not run for president in 2016 because of his sorrow over his son Beau's death. He should not run in 2020 because of his love for his son Hunter. And Barack Obama should do the right thing & urge Joe to drop out of the race. Step up, Barry.

Marianne Williamson, on the Other Hand, Is So Qualified. Tim Elfrink of the Washington Post: "Marianne Williamson took to Twitter early on Monday morning to express her horror at what she called President Trump's latest 'deeply sinister move. 'There is something deeply sinister about Trump pardoning Charles Manson, even posthumously,' the self-help guru and Democratic presidential candidate tweeted to her 2.8 million followers. 'Dog whistles of the very worst possible kind ...' -- excep that it never happened. In fact, since the murderous cult leader, who died in 2017, was convicted of California state criminal charges, Trump couldn't issue him a pardon even if he wanted to. Williamson later posted a follow-up tweet apologizing and noting that she was 'Glad To have been wrong.' But she soon deleted both the original tweet and the apology." Mrs. McC: It is so sexist & wrong to call women ditzy. Williamson is ditzy.

Congressional Races, Republican Style

Will Sommer of the Daily Beast: Businessman Omar Navarro, "a perennial Republican House candidate whose doomed bids against Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) have become a cause celebre on the right, was arrested Saturday on three felony charges.... San Francisco police arrested Navarro on Saturday night, after he was allegedly seen near ex-girlfriend DeAnna Lorraine Tesoriero's apartment. Tesoriero, a self-styled MAGA relationship expert who is running a quixotic congressional run of her own against Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), told The Daily Beast that she saw Navarro skulking outside her home late at night. Tesoriero said she then received a text from an unknown number with the message, 'Bitch, I came to see you.'... Navarro complained that, by calling the police on him, Tesoriero had violated Ronald Reagan's '11th Commandment,' an often-cited GOP precept warning Republicans not to criticize one another publicly." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Of course it's wrong to "criticize" a stalker. And you wonder why Republicans can't win in California. The best they've got are junior spy & walking nuisance-suit Devin Nunes & criminal Duncan Hunter. Just out of curiosity, why hasn't House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, another sterling California GOP rep, forced Hunter to resign? Katie Hill resigned under less serious circumstances, & Pelosi sure didn't beg her to stay on.

Patrick Spivek of the Texas Tribune: "Ronny Jackson, the former White House doctor and ... Donald Trump's onetime nominee to be secretary of veterans affairs, is running to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon[, Texas]. With hours until the filing deadline, Jackson, a former Navy rear admiral, arrived at the Texas GOP headquarters in Austin on Monday afternoon to submit paperwork for the seat. Trump nominated Jackson last year to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, but he withdrew from consideration amid allegations of professional misconduct, including drinking on the job and overprescribing medication. He called the accusations 'completely false and fabricated.' After the nomination debacle, Jackson continued to work for the White House medical unit but not as the president's personal doctor. Jackson previously served as physician to Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama. Jackson retired from the Navy earlier this month, according to CNN, which said the retirement came even as the Defense Department's inspector general was still probing the allegations against him.... Jackson is at least the 13th candidate to enter the Republican primary for the ruby-red seat...." Jackson does not live in the Congressional district in which he is running.

Supremes Uphold Kentucky Law that Doctors Must Shame & Harass Women. David Li of NBC News: "The Supreme Court on Monday left in place a Kentucky law, mandating doctors perform ultrasounds and show fetal images to patients before they can perform abortions. The high court declined, without comment, to hear an appeal brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the state's lone abortion clinic. The Kentucky law, which requires a doctor to describe an ultrasound in detail while a pregnant woman hears the fetal heartbeat, was passed in 2017.... The ACLU had argued that the Kentucky statute had no medical basis and was designed only to coerce a woman into opting out of having an abortion." Mrs. McC: And that's your Trump/Roberts Supreme Court.

** Ben Holland of Bloomberg, republished in Yahoo! News: "Support for write-offs has been driven by Democratic presidential candidates. Elizabeth Warren says she'd cancel most of the $1.6 trillion in U.S. student loans. Bernie Sanders would go further -- erasing the whole lot, as well as $81 billion in medical debt. But it's coming from other directions too. In October, one of the Trump administration's senior student-loan officials resigned, calling for wholesale write-offs and describing the American way of paying for higher education as nuts.... The idea that debt can grow faster than the ability to repay, until it unbalances a society, was well understood thousands of years ago, according to Michael Hudson, an economist and historian. Last year he published 'And Forgive Them Their Debts,' a study of the Near East in biblical times and even earlier. That's where the tradition known as a 'jubilee' -- wiping the debt-slate clean -- has its roots. Rulers weren't motivated by charity, Hudson says. They were being pragmatic -- trying to make sure that citizens could meet their own needs and contribute to public projects, instead of just laboring to pay creditors. And it worked, he says. 'Societies that canceled the debts enjoyed stable growth for thousands of years.'"

Binyamin Appelbaum & Robert Hershey of the New York Times: "Paul A. Volcker, who helped shape American economic policy for more than six decades, most notably by leading the Federal Reserve's brute-force campaign to subdue inflation in the late 1970s and early '80s, died on Sunday in New York. He was 92.... MrVolcker, a towering, taciturn and somewhat rumpled figure, arrived in Washington as America's postwar economic hegemony was beginning to crumble. He would devote his professional life to wrestling with the consequences. As a Treasury Department official under Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon, Mr. Volcker waged a long, losing struggle to preserve the postwar international monetary system established by the Bretton Woods agreement." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Michigan. Emily Holden, et al., of the Guardian: "Executives at one of the world's largest utilities companies knew that families in Flint, Michigan, might be at risk of being poisoned by lead in their tap water months before the city publicly admitted the problem, according to internal company emails. Email exchanges in February 2015 between executives at Veolia and a city contractor show some senior employees were aware that lead from the city's pipes could be leaching into drinking water. They argued that city officials should be told to change Flint's water supply to protect residents. But the company never made that recommendation public. At the time, Veolia was exploring other lucrative contracts with the city."

New York. Oh. Josh Barro of New York: "There have been an awful lot of unwarranted victory laps in the last few days by opponents of New York's Amazon HQ2 subsidy deal. They point to the new lease Amazon has signed for office space on the West Side of Manhattan and ask, What would have been the point of giving Amazon $3 billion when it was going to do it for free all along? For the record, I didn't favor the Amazon subsidy deal, either.... But I still realize that what we're getting now is not at all what we would have gotten if the deal had gone through. This is a lease for about 300,000 square feet in an existing building to support 1,500 jobs in Manhattan. Under the subsidy proposal, Amazon intended to develop approximately 4 million square feet of new office space in Queens. It would have had to create 25,000 jobs to unlock the full subsidy package."

Way Beyond

Russia/Ukraine. Vladimir Isachenkov, et al., of the AP: "The presidents of Ukraine and Russia agreed Monday to revive the peace process on the bloody separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine and exchange all their prisoners, but they failed to resolve crucial issues such as a timeline on local elections and control of the borders in the rebel-held region. At the first meeting between new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the two leaders failed to find a compromise to bring an end to the 5-year-old war that has killed 14,000 people, emboldened the Kremlin and reshaped European geopolitics. But they did agree to try again in four months to find new solutions, said French President Emmanuel Macron, who mediated the talks along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and called them 'fruitful' in that it brought all four leaders together." The Washington Post story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Gee, why wasn't the leader of Ukraine's great ally, the U.S.A., at the table cheering on Zelensky?

Russia. Paul MacInnes of the Guardian: "Russia has been handed a four-year ban from international sporting competition for a doping cover-up that means the country will not feature at the Tokyo Olympics next summer or the 2022 football World Cup in Qatar. An emergency meeting of the World Anti-Doping Agency on Monday unanimously voted to exclude Russia and also prevent it from hosting or bidding to host any global tournaments. The ban was imposed by Wada's executive committee after Russia was found to have tampered with laboratory data handed over to Wada as a condition for ending a previous three-year ban for state-sponsored doping." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

NJ.com: "A shooting in Jersey City[, New Jersey,] has left multiple people dead, including a police officer, following an hours-long standoff at a food store. Two suspects and three civilians are dead in addition to the police officer, a 40-year-old married father of several children. The shooting is not believed to have been a terrorism attack. 'We have no inkling what the motive was yet,' Jersey City Police Chief Michael Kelly said at a Tuesday evening press conference. 'Our officers were under fire for hours.' Kelly said the civilians killed inside the store were killed by the suspects."