The Commentariat -- February 19, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Trump Tried to Obstruct SDNY Investigation. Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: "An examination by The New York Times reveals the extent of a ... sustained..., secretive assault by Mr. Trump on the machinery of federal law enforcement.... The story of Mr. Trump's attempts to defang the investigations has been voluminously covered in the news media, to such a degree that many Americans have lost track of how unusual his behavior is. But fusing the strands reveals an extraordinary story of a president who has attacked the law enforcement apparatus of his own government like no other president in history, and who has turned the effort into an obsession. Mr. Trump has done it with the same tactics he once used in his business empire: demanding fierce loyalty from employees, applying pressure tactics to keep people in line, and protecting the brand -- himself -- at all costs." Trump called Matt Whitaker to ask him if he could put Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York and a Trump ally, in charge of the SDNY investigation. "... Berman had already recused himself from the investigation," so Whitaker couldn't do so.P.S. Looks as if Matt Whitaker might have a little perjury problem.

** When the Kleptocracy Goes Nuclear. Tom Hamburger & Steven Mufson of the Washington Post: "Several current and former Trump administration appointees promoted sales of nuclear power plants to Saudi Arabia despite repeated objections from members of the National Security Council and other senior White House officials, according to a new report from congressional Democrats. The officials who objected included White House lawyers and H.R. McMaster, then the chief of the National Security Council. They called for a halt in the nuclear sales discussions in 2017, citing potential conflicts of interest, national security risks and legal hurdles. Yet the effort to promote nuclear sales persisted, led by retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who served briefly as President Trump's national security adviser, and more recently by Energy Secretary Rick Perry. The possible nuclear power sale was discussed in the Oval Office as recently as last week. Details about these internal White House battles are contained in a 24-page report released Tuesday morning by Rep.Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee.... The Cummings report notes that one of the power plant manufacturers that could benefit from a nuclear deal, Westinghouse Electric, is a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, the company that provided financial relief to the family of Jared Kushner.... Brookfield Asset Management took a 99-year lease on the family's deeply indebted New York City property at 666 Fifth Avenue." ...

... Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "Whistleblowers from within ... Donald Trump's National Security Council have told a congressional committee that efforts by former national security adviser Michael Flynn to transfer sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia may have violated the law, and investigators fear Trump is still considering it, according to a new report obtained by NBC News. The House Oversight Committee has formally opened an investigation into the matter, releasing an interim staff report that adds new details to previous public accounts of how Flynn sought to push through the nuclear proposal on behalf of a group he had once advised. Tom Barrack, a prominent Trump backer with business ties to the Middle East, also became involved in the project, the report says.... In mid-March 2017, deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland reportedly stated during a meeting that Trump told Barrack that he could lead the implementation of the plan, the report says."

** Declan Walsh of the New York Times: "Egyptian officials detained a New York Times correspondent after he arrived in Cairo on Monday, holding him incommunicado for hours before forcing him onto a flight back to London without explanation. The move against the correspondent, David D. Kirkpatrick, is an escalation of a severe crackdown against the news media under Egypt's strongman leader, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Egyptian journalists have borne the brunt of Mr. el-Sisi's repression, with dozens imprisoned or forced into exile. But of late, a lack of pushback from the United States has emboldened Egypt's security forces to take stronger action against representatives of Western news outlets, including expulsion.... After being officially denied entry to the country, Mr. Kirkpatrick's phone was confiscated and he was held without food or water for seven hours.... Defenders of press freedom worry that President Trump's outbursts -- such as a Twitter post last weekend that read 'THE RIGGED AND CORRUPT MEDIA IS THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!' -- embolden autocrats around the globe to take aggressive action against the news media. Despite growing human rights abuses in Egypt, Mr. Trump counts Mr. el-Sisi among his closest allies in the Middle East and has described him as a 'great guy.' During a speech in Cairo in January, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo offered further praise for Mr. el-Sisi."

What About This, Lindsey? Allan Smith of NBC News: "Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe told NBC's 'Today' show on Tuesday that he briefed congressional leaders about the counterintelligence investigation he had opened into ... Donald Trump and that 'no one objected.' 'That's the important part here,' McCabe told Savannah Guthrie, who had asked if he had informed the 'Gang of Eight' bipartisan group of leaders on the Hill. 'No one objected. Not on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds and not based on the facts.' The purpose of the briefing in 2017 was to let the congressional leadership, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, then-House Speaker Paul Ryan and their Democratic counterparts, know what the FBI was doing in the probe into Russian election interference and possible collusion by the Trump campaign, McCabe said." ...

... Natasha Bertrand of the Atlantic interviews Andrew McCabe. Very interesting.

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "A post on Roger Stone's Instagram account featuring a picture of the judge overseeing his case with crosshairs in the background could jeopardize the lenient gag order he received from her last Friday, as well as his bail. Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered Stone to come to court on Thursday for a hearing to address the situation. She also raised the question that his social media posting could jeopardize his bail, which allows him to travel with some restrictions." ...

Never gratuitously annoy the person who is deciding how long you'll spend in federal prison. -- Ken White, in the Atlantic ...

... Amy, Whatcha Wanta Do? Tom Winter & Adiel Kaplan of NBC News: "A judge may send Roger Stone to jail after Stone posted a photo of the judge on Instagram Monday afternoon with crosshairs in the background next to her head. Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is presiding over Stone's prosecution in D.C. federal court, scheduled a new hearing Thursday to discuss 'why the media contact order entered in this case and/or his conditions of release should not be modified or revoked in light of the posts on his Instagram account.'"

"Imagine your grandfather wander out into to trees to yell about Mexicans":

*****

... Daniel Slotnik of the New York Times: "George Mendonsa, who made the most credible claim to being the sailor shown kissing a woman in Times Square after the end of World War II in a photograph that became a national emblem of elation, died on Sunday at a nursing home in Middletown, R.I. He was 95.... The illustrious Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt took the photograph on Aug. 14, 1945, moments after word reached th public that the Japanese had surrendered. Times Square was thronged with people celebrating the end of the war, and Eisenstaedt's series of four photos showed a uniformed sailor grabbing a woman in a nurse's outfit, bending her back and kissing her deeply. The two anonymous people appeared to embody the exuberance of the moment, and the photograph appeared on a full page in Life. Eisenstaedt did not record the names of the impromptu kissers; their identities have been debated for decades." ...

... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: We used to know -- or at least we thought we knew -- what this sailor & this nurse fought for in World War II. Today we have a President* who challenges that democratic, humanitarian ideal. ...

... Yoni Appelbaum of the Atlantic: Donald Trump "has mounted a concerted challenge to the separation of powers, to the rule of law, and to the civil liberties enshrined in our founding documents. He has purposefully inflamed America's divisions. He has set himself against the American idea, the principle that all of us -- of every race, gender, and creed -- are created equal.... With a newly seated Democratic majority, the House of Representatives can no longer dodge its constitutional duty. It must immediately open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump, and bring the debate out of the court of public opinion and into Congress, where it belongs." Thanks to NJC for the link.

Tim Elfrink of the Washington Post: Sitting "behind President Trump at his televised speech in Miami on Monday ... [was] Enrique Tarrio..., the chairman of the Proud Boys, a far-right, self-described "western chauvinist' organization known for violently clashing with antifascists and for its alleged links to white nationalists.... He wore dark sunglasses, a black baseball cap and a black T-shirt with a message of support for Trump's longtime adviser now facing federal charges: 'Roger Stone Did Nothing Wrong!'... Neither Trump nor the White House knew he was in attendance, Tarrio told The Washington Post.... Tarrio refutes the Southern Poverty Law Center's claim that his organization is a hate group...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Typically, a politician's handlers decide who sits within camera shot. These are not "random fans." Even if the White House & the Trump campaign had no idea who Tarrio was (and I wouldn't take his word for it), they sure as hell knew he was carrying an incendiary sign which he would flash for the cameras.

Washington Post: "A coalition of 16 states went to federal court on Monday, seeking a preliminary injunction to thwart President Trump's attempt to circumvent Congress and shuffle federal money to pay for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, a court that has ruled against other Trump policies in the past. This is a developing story. It will be updated." ...

... Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News: "Texas Rep. Will Hurd, the sole Republican representing a congressional district along the southern border, said more than 1,000 farmers in his state are at risk of having their land seized by the federal government to facilitate the construction of President Trump's long-promised wall.... 'What we're doing with eminent domain is, in many cases, we'll make a deal up front. We've already done that. The secretary has done a lot of that,' the president told reporters in January, offering no specifics to support the claim. 'And if we can't make a deal, we take the land and we pay them through a court process. Which goes actually fairly quickly. And we're generous. But we take the land. Otherwise you could never build anything....' But Hurd said the strategy will surely be resisted by some landowners and force the government into a prolonged legal battle."

... our President is simply too unstable to carry out the duties of the highest executive office -- which include the specific duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed -- in a competent and professional manner. He is simply in the wrong place. -- William Weld, former Massachusetts governor (R) & presidential candidate ...

>... Charles Pierce suggests a headline more suited than the three major papers posted to reports on Trump's Friday "national emergency" presser: "The President* is A Delusional Maniac With Sawdust Pouring Out Of Both Ears.... The man is not all there. Everybody knows it. If your uncle behaved like the president* behaved on Friday, you'd hide his car-keys, lock up the booze, and drive him to the neurologist." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Trump's Moral Value System. Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "At some point, it becomes embarrassing to continue to pretend that the leader of the free world exulting in the prospect of executing drug dealers, and asserting that he has secret stats from which he is forming border policy, is making any sense.... I have tried to dissect the text of Trump's remarks Friday into something resembling a moral world order. Here's my best shot. Clearly at the top of that pyramid of priorities lies 'me' and 'mine' and 'I.'... The next stage of his hierarchy of values is the people who like him.... The third level of the Trump ego-food pyramid features people who don't necessarily love Donald Trump, but they do, largely thanks to the toughness and excellence of Donald Trump, respect Donald Trump.... The fourth level is the Real Country. These are people who Trump does not know personally ... but who either love Donald Trump (category one) or love the people who love Donald Trump (category two).... The fifth level of the hierarchy consists of people who probably love Donald Trump but just haven't shown it yet. That would be the U.S. Supreme Court. The next level is people who have disappointed the president.... At bottom, at level seven, are the people who do not like Donald Trump or respect Donald Trump or even love the people who love the people who like Donald Trump. But it's OK though, because there are very few of them and all of them are liars and con artists." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Pretty funny. And you thought Trump was indecipherable. It turns out if you work really, really hard at parsing, you can work out a sickening worldview.

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein plans to leave the Justice Department in mid-March, an official familiar with the matter said Monday night, and an announcement on his successor is expected imminently.... People familiar with the matter said the administration also has decided to nominate Jeffrey A. Rosen, the deputy secretary of transportation, to take over the job. He will need to be confirmed by the Senate, which probably would occur after Rosenstein leaves.... The news of Rosenstein's expected departure date comes as the deputy attorney general is again facing allegations from former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe that he talked about taking steps against Trump after the president fired James B. Comey as FBI director in May 2017.... The ['60 Minutes'] interview [of McCabe] sparked an angry reaction from Trump, who said on Twitter it appeared Rosenstein and McCabe were 'planning a very illegal act.' The official, though, said that Rosenstein's departure was expected and that the timeline was not affected by McCabe's recent comments." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I won't be surprised if Trump fires Rosenstein before he can quit, just as he "fired" Jim Mattis after Mattis submitted his letter of resignation.

....(The Witch Hunt) in time likely will become recognized as the greatest scandal in American political history, marking the first occasion in which the U.S. government bureaucrats sought to overturn an election (presidential)!' Victor Davis Hanson And got caught! @FoxNews -- Donald Trump, in a tweet this morning

Victor Hanson is a Hoover Institution "historian." He should familiarize himself with the U.S. Constitution. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Remember this, Andrew McCabe didn't go to the bathroom without the approval of Leakin' James Comey! -- Donald Trump, last night, in another presidential tweet

Philip Bump of the Washington Post explains to dummies, including Donald Trump, why Andrew McCabe's assertions about high-level DOJ officials considering an invocation of the Twenty-fifth Amendment is not an attempted "coup," as Trump & his surrogates have described what happened in May 2017. "... removing a president from office using systems included in the Constitution is, by definition, not a coup. Removing Trump from office by following the guidelines of the 25th Amendment would no more be a coup than removing him from office through impeachment or, really, than voting for another candidate in 2020. It's part of the system.... If [DAG Rod] Rosenstein asked half the Cabinet and Pence to oust Trump and they agreed, it's hard to see how the culpable party was Rosenstein. These are people chosen by Trump! His removal would be on their hands. But what's more, Trump would have a mechanism to respond. He could simply send a letter to Congress saying that he is fit for office, and he is then reinstated.... If, however, Pence and the Cabinet members still think Trump is unfit, the question would go to Congress, where two-thirds majorities in each chamber would have to agree. So that's half the Cabinet, the vice president and scores of lawmakers who would ultimately need to declare that Trump should be removed from office before it could happen." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Isabel Dobrin of Politico: "Trump tweeted Monday morning, 'Wow, so many lies by now disgraced acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe. He was fired for lying, and now his story gets even more deranged. He and Rod Rosenstein, who was hired by Jeff Sessions (another beauty), look like they were planning a very illegal act, and got caught.....'... In a follow-up tweet Monday, Trump said, '....There is a lot of explaining to do to the millions of people who had just elected a president who they really like and who has done a great job for them with the Military, Vets, Economy and so much more. This was the illegal and treasonous "insurance policy" in full action!'" ...

... Jacob Solis of the Nevada Independent: "Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Sunday in Las Vegas that Trump administration officials have an obligation to invoke the 25th Amendment if they believe the president cannot fulfill his duties. The comment came in response to former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe telling CBSs '60 Minutes' that then-acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had considered the idea out of concern for Trump's 'capacity and about his intent at that point in time,' referring to the days after Trump fired James B. Comey as FBI director. '... if they believe that Donald Trump cannot fulfill the obligations of his office, then they have a constitutional responsibility to invoke the 25th amendment,' Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate, said after a rally in Las Vegas. 'Their loyalty under law is not to him personally. It is to the Constitution of the United States and to the people of United States.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Bob Mueller has a task: It's Russian interference and potential collision in the 2016 election. Southern District of New York is whatever the heck you want. -- Chris Christie, earlier this month ...

... Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Even as speculation mounts that special counsel Robert Mueller might be winding down his investigation, a parallel threat to ... Donald Trump only seems to be growing within his own Justice Department: the Southern District of New York. Manhattan-based federal prosecutors can challenge Trump in ways Mueller can't. They have jurisdiction over the president's political operation and businesses -- subjects that aren't protected by executive privilege, a tool Trump is considering invoking to block portions of Mueller's report. From a PR perspective, Trump has been unable to run the same playbook on SDNY that he's used to erode conservatives' faith in Mueller, the former George W. Bush-appointed FBI director. Legal circles are also buzzing over whether SDNY might buck DOJ guidance and seek to indict a sitting president." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

How Not to Respond to a Gag Order. Ryan Mac & Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News: "Roger Stone ... posted a photo Monday on Instagram of a judge presiding over his case in which she appears to be next to a crosshairs symbol. The post comes days after the judge, US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, rejected Stone's effort to get his case reassigned to a new judge. Jackson also previously ruled that Stone couldn't talk to news outlets in front of her courthouse.... The photograph -- a version of which appeared earlier on a site pushing false conspiracy theories -- featured a target symbol near the judge's head. The symbol is also associated with the Zodiac killer.... Instagram's terms of service states that the service will 'content that contains credible threats or hate speech' and that 'serious threats of harm to public and personal safety aren't allowed.' An Instagram representative said the post was a violation of the social network's rules. Within 30 minutes of BuzzFeed News first inquiring about Stone's post, it was gone from the photo-sharing site. A representative for Instagram said that the company did not remove the image, suggesting that Stone did so himself. Stone later shared a statement -- which he reiterated when reached by BuzzFeed News -- saying it was a 'random photo taken from the internet .Any [sic] inference that this was meant to somehow threaten the Judge or disrespect court is categorically false.'" ...

... Reis Thebault & Manuel Roig-Franzia of the Washington Post: "Days after a federal judge imposed a limited gag order on him, Roger Stone posted a photograph of that judge to his Instagram page that included her name, a close-up of her face and what appeared to be the crosshairs of a gun sight near her head. Stone ... deleted the picture soon afterward, then reposted it without the crosshairs before deleting that second post as well.... In a Monday court filing, Stone's lawyers formally apologized for the post. 'Undersigned counsel, with the attached authority of Roger J. Stone, hereby apologizes to the Court for the improper photograph and comment posted on Instragram today,' the filing reads. 'Mr. Stone recognizes the impropriety and had it removed.'"

Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "European leaders expressed skepticism Monday about their willingness to cooperate with a request by President Trump to bring home citizens who went to fight with the Islamic State, underlining a security dilemma as the U.S. military prepares to pull out of Syria following the collapse of the group's self-declared caliphate. Many European nations have been content to leave citizens who may sympathize with the Islamic State in Syria.... But the Kurdish fighters who have kept many of the former caliphate residents under lock and key worry that with the U.S. pullout, they may need to shift resources elsewhere, disbanding camps and allowing the residents to disperse. Trump over the weekend threatened E.U. allies on Twitter that if they did not repatriate their citizens, the United States would simply let them go, warning that Europe could face a surge in terrorist attacks as a result."

Melanie Schmitz of ThinkProgress: "President Donald Trump bragged on Sunday morning that 'big progress' was being made with China on trade, even as U.S. farmers say they are suffering tremendously as a result of the tariffs he imposed against Beijing.... U.S. soybean sales to China have plummeted approximately 94 percent since then.... According to analysis by The Wall Street Journal this month, U.S. growers are filing for Chapter 12 bankruptcy protection 'at levels not seen for at least a decade. Delinquency rates have climbed as farmers are unable to pay off their loans due to the drop in profits.... Agricultural lenders say they too have seen a sharp rise in bankruptcies and financial troubles, as banks deny farmers the funds they need to plant spring crops amid the trade war.... The trade war has lead some farmers to even contemplate suicide, as their profits dry up and their futures remain uncertain." --s ...

... Alyza Sebenius of Bloomberg: "China largely abandoned a hacking truce negotiated by Barack Obama as President Donald Trump embarked on a trade war with Beijing last year, according to the cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike Inc. A slowdown in Chinese hacking following the cybersecurity agreement Obama's administration secured in 2015 appears to have been reversed, the firm said in a report released Tuesday that reviewed cyber activity by U.S. adversaries in 2018.... Crowdstrike said that Iran focused much of its cyber activity on Middle Eastern and North African countries while Russia engaged in intelligence collection and information operations worldwide. North Korea deployed hackers for financial gain and intelligence collection, while China targeted sectors including technology, manufacturing and hospitality," --s

Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg News: "... Donald Trump is considering four people to be his next UN ambassador: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner Dina Powell, the current ambassadors to Canada and Germany, Kelly Craft and Richard Grenell, and John James, a former Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Michigan, according to people familiar with the matter.... Top White House aides have also discussed nominating ... Ivanka Trump if no front-runner emerges."

Derek Kravitz of Mother Jones: "In his first 10 days in office, Trump signed an executive order that required all his political hires to sign a pledge ... [to] ... agree not to lobby the agencies they worked in for five years. They also can't lobby anyone in the White House or political appointees across federal agencies for the duration of the Trump administration. And they can't perform 'lobbying activities,'...Violating the pledge exposes former officials to fines and extended or even permanent bans on lobbying....At least 33 former Trump officials have found ways around the pledge.... Almost all work on issues they oversaw or helped shape when they were in government." --s

The Can't-Do President*. Paul Krugman: "Why isn't Trump building anything? Surely he's exactly the kind of politician likely to suffer from an edifice complex... During the 2016 campaign he didn't just promise a wall, he also promised a major rebuilding of America's infrastructure.... Money isn't why we aren't building infrastructure. The real obstacle is that Trump, his officials, his party or all of the above don't actually want the kind of public investment America needs. Build they won't.... What's striking about the various infrastructure 'plans' [the Trump administration has] offered -- they're more like vague sketches -- is that ... they're schemes that would purportedly use public funds as a sweetener to induce large amounts of private investment.... Modern conservatives hate the idea of any kind of new public spending, even if it would make Americans better off -- or perhaps it would be more accurate to say especially if it would make Americans better off, because a successful spending program might help legitimize a positive role for government in general. And while Trump may not fully share his party's small-government ideology, all his limited energy is going into finding ways to punish people, not help them."

Betsy Woodruff of The Daily Beast: "Senior officials at the State Department have been seriously weighing whether to push to protect Venezuelans in the U.S. from deportation, according to internal communications The Daily Beast reviewed. People from several other countries, including Somalia and Yemen, currently have the same Temporary Protected Status status, which also grants migrants short-term work permits. But extending the policy to Venezuelans would be an atypical step for the Trump administration, which has taken steps to end TPS for people from half a dozen other countries. Some Trump administration allies consider the move tantamount to granting 'amnesty' to those who have violated immigration laws." --s

Tanya Snyder of Politico: "A trove of more than 800 pages of emails sheds new light on the working relationship between Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, one of the most potent power couples in Washington -- including their dealings with McConnell supporters from their home state of Kentucky. Chao has met at least 10 times with politicians and business leaders from the state in response to requests from McConnell's office, according to documents provided to Politico by the watchdog group American Oversight. In some cases, those people later received what they were hoping for from Chao's department, including infrastructure grants, the designation of an interstate highway and assistance in getting state funds for a highway project -- although the documents don't indicate the meetings led to those outcomes.... DOT said no ... favoritism exists, and that any agency 'would be responsive to the requests of the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate.'... Former Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta, a Democrat who served under President George W. Bush..., said a request from a member of Congress would carry additional weight, regardless of what state that member was from."

Dennis Wagner of the Arizona Republic: "For nearly two decades at the Grand Canyon, tourists, employees, and children on tours passed by three paint buckets stored in the National Park's museum collection building, unaware that they were being exposed to radiation. Although federal officials learned last year that the 5-gallon containers were brimming with uranium ore, then removed the radioactive specimens, the park's safety director alleges nothing was done to warn park workers or the public that they might have been exposed to unsafe levels of radiation. In a rogue email sent to all Park Service employees on Feb. 4, Elston 'Swede' Stephenson -- the safety, health and wellness manager -- described the alleged cover-up as 'a top management failure' and warned of possible health consequences."

Brett Hayworth of the Sioux City Journal: "In front of another friendly audience Monday, U.S. Rep. Steve King urged his supporters to pray for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to restore King's committee assignments, saying the California Republican needs to 'separate his ego from this issue and look at it objectively.' The Iowa 4th District congressman, long an opponent of illegal immigration, also offered strong backing for ... Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency to finance a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border." Via the Hill. Mrs. McC: Apparently Steve there figures god is interested in his Congressional committee assignments. And here I thought it was the devil who was into the details.

Presidential Race 2020. Sydney Ember of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent and 2016 Democratic primary runner-up whose populist policy agenda has helped push the party to the left, announced on Tuesday that he was running for president again, embarking on a bid that will test whether he can retain the anti-establishment appeal he enjoyed with many liberal voters three years ago. A self-styled democratic socialist whose calls for 'Medicare for all,' a $15 minimum wage and tuition-free public colleges have become pillars of the party's left wing, Mr. Sanders is among the best-known politicians to join an already crowded Democratic field and one of the most outspoken against President Trump, whom he has repeatedly called a 'pathological liar' and a 'racist.'"

Congressional Election 2018. Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "A North Carolina elections regulator said Monday that 'a coordinated, unlawful and substantially resourced absentee ballot scheme' potentially involving more than 1,000 absentee ballots or request forms took place last year in the state's Ninth Congressional District. The regulator, Kim Strach, the executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, gave the first account of investigators' conclusions at a hearing in Raleigh that could determine the fate of the Ninth District race after allegations of widespread fraud. The Republican nominee, Mark Harris, has a 905-vote lead over his Democratic rival, Dan McCready, but state officials last year refused to certify Mr. Harris as the winner because of concerns about 'irregularities' in absentee balloting.... The elections board is not expected to begin its deliberations until Tuesday at the earliest. A separate criminal investigation 'will continue to go on after today,' Ms. Strach said."

Jason Horowitz & Elisabetta Povoledo of the New York Times: "... the Vatican has confirmed, apparently for the first time, that its department overseeing the world's priests has general guidelines for what to do when clerics break celibacy vows and father children. 'I can confirm that these guidelines exist,' the Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti wrote in response to a query from The New York Times.... Mr. Gisotti ... said the guideline 'requests' that the father leave the priesthood to 'assume his responsibilities as a parent by devoting himself exclusively to the child.' But another Vatican official said ... that the failure to ask to be relieved of priestly obligations was reason for the church to take action: 'If you don't ask, you will be dismissed.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Melissa Brown of the Montgomery Advertiser: "The editor of a small-town Alabama newspaper published an editorial calling for 'the Ku Klux Klan to night ride again' against 'Democrats in the Republican Party and Democrats [who] are plotting to raise taxes in Alabama.' Goodloe Sutton -- who is the publisher of the Democrat-Reporter newspaper in Linden, Alabama -- confirmed to the Montgomery Advertiser on Monday that he authored the Feb. 14 editorial calling for the return of a white supremacist hate group. 'If we could get the Klan to go up there and clean out D.C., we'd all been better off,' Sutton said." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Which is why this is so insulting ...

Illinois. Julia Arciga of the Daily Beast: "'Empire' actor Jussie Smollett reportedly staged an attack against himself in late January after a 'racist' letter sent to the TV show's studio, which contained a white powder, did not get a 'bigger reaction,' according to a local Chicago news station. A source told CBS Chicago the actor allegedly 'concocted' the 'staged' Jan. 29 attack and paid his 'acquaintances -- brothers Ola and Abel Osundairo -- over $3,000 to carry it out."

West Virginia. Charleston Gazette-Mail: "A Clay County woman who pleaded guilty Monday to defrauding the Federal Emergency Management Agency is the same woman who was fired from a county development agency in 2016 after making a racist Facebook post about then-U.S. first lady Michelle Obama. Pamela Taylor, 57, admitted she took more than $18,000 in flood relief benefits. She falsely registered for FEMA benefits after the June 2016 floods that killed more than 20 West Virginians and destroyed numerous homes along the Elk River and elsewhere. Taylor claimed that her primary residence had been damaged in the flood and that she was staying in a rental property. In fact, her primary residence was undamaged and she was still staying there, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart's office." Via the Raw Story.

Way Beyond

Arthur Nelson of the Guardian: "Most European companies have no target for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions even though 80% see climate change as a business risk, a survey has found. Among those that have set climate goals, only one in three stretch beyond 2025, according to the annual Carbon Disclosure Project report. Instead, corporate action has focused in the boardroom, with 47% of firms rewarding their CEOs for climate performance, and a quarter tying incentives to environmental goals." --s

D. Parvaz of ThinkProgress: "At least least 336 chemical attacks, including sarin, chlorine gas, sulfur, and mustard gas have taken place in Syria since the start of that country's civil war in 2011, according to a report released on Sunday by the Global Public Policy Institute." --s

The Commentariat -- February 18, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Philip Bump of the Washington Post explains to dummies, including Donald Trump, why Andrew McCabe's assertions about high-level DOJ officials considering an invocation of the Twenty-fifth Amendment is not an attempted "coup," as Trump & his surrogates have described what happened in May 2017. "... removing a president from office using systems included in the Constitution is, by definition, not a coup. Removing Trump from office by following the guidelines of the 25th Amendment would no more be a coup than removing him from office through impeachment or, really, than voting for another candidate in 2020. It's part of the system.... If [DAG Rod] Rosenstein asked half the Cabinet and Pence to oust Trump and they agreed, it's hard to see how the culpable party was Rosenstein. These are people chosen by Trump! His removal would be on their hands. But what's more, Trump would have a mechanism to respond. He could simply send a letter to Congress saying that he is fit for office, and he is then reinstated. Some coup. If, however, Pence and the Cabinet members still think Trump is unfit, the question would go to Congress, where two-thirds majorities in each chamber would have to agree. So that's half the Cabinet, the vice president and scores of lawmakers who would ultimately need to declare that Trump should be removed from office before it could happen." ...

... Jacob Solis of the Nevada Independent: "Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Sunday in Las Vegas that Trump administration officials have an obligation to invoke the 25th Amendment if they believe the president cannot fulfill his duties. The comment came in response to former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe telling CBS's '60 Minutes' that then-acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had considered the idea out of concern for Trump's 'capacity and about his intent at that point in time,' referring to the days after Trump fired James B. Comey as FBI director. '... if they believe that Donald Trump cannot fulfill the obligations of his office, then they have a constitutional responsibility to invoke the 25th amendment,' Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate, said after a rally in Las Vegas. 'Their loyalty under law is not to him personally. It is to the Constitution of the United States and to the people of United States.'" ...

... our President is simply too unstable to carry out the duties of the highest executive office -- which include the specific duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed -- in a competent and professional manner. He is simply in the wrong place. -- William Weld, former Massachusetts governor (R) & presidential candidate ...

... Charles Pierce suggests a headline more suited than the three major papers posted to reports on Trump's Friday "national emergency" presser: "The President* is A Delusional Maniac With Sawdust Pouring Out Of Both Ears.... The man is not all there. Everybody knows it. If your uncle behaved like the president* behaved on Friday, you'd hide his car-keys, lock up the booze, and drive him to the neurologist."

Bob Mueller has a task: It's Russian interference and potential collision in the 2016 election. Southern District of New York is whatever the heck you want. -- Chris Christie, earlier this month ...

... Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Even as speculation mounts that special counsel Robert Mueller might be winding down his investigation, a parallel threat to ... Donald Trump only seems to be growing within his own Justice Department: the Southern District of New York. Manhattan-based federal prosecutors can challenge Trump in ways Mueller can't. They have jurisdiction over the president's political operation and businesses -- subjects that aren't protected by executive privilege, a tool Trump is considering invoking to block portions of Mueller's report. From a PR perspective, Trump has been unable to run the same playbook on SDNY that he's used to erode conservatives' faith in Mueller, the former George W. Bush-appointed FBI director. Legal circles are also buzzing over whether SDNY might buck DOJ guidance and seek to indict a sitting president."

     ... Who is the Real President*? (a) Man on left; (b) Man on right; (c) Neither of the above:

BBC: "Seven MPs have resigned from [Britain's] Labour Party in protest at Jeremy Corbyn's approach to Brexit and anti-Semitism."

*****

Real Presidents Morph:

The Damage He Has Done. Steven Erlanger & Katrin Bennhold of the New York Times: "... in the last few days of a prestigious annual security conference in Munich, the rift between Europe and the Trump administration became open, angry and concrete, diplomats and analysts say.... The most immediate danger, diplomats and intelligence officials warned, is that the trans-Atlantic fissures now risk being exploited by Russia and China.... [Trump's] distaste for multilateralism and international cooperation is a challenge to the very heart of what Europe is and needs to be in order to have an impact in the world. But beyond the Trump administration, an increasing number of Europeans say they believe that relations with the United States will never be the same again.... The most visible pushback against Washington came from Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany -- who delivered an unusually passionate speech -- and from her defense minister, Ursula von der Leyen. They spoke about the dangers of unilateral actions by major partners without discussing the consequences with allies.... To show solidarity with Europe, more than 50 American lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats -- a record number -- attended the Munich Security Conference. They came, said Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, 'to show Europeans that there is another branch of government which strongly supports NATO and the trans-Atlantic alliance.'" ...

... Griff Witte & Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "Amid the gloom of a security conference focused on the breakdown in transatlantic relations under President Trump, Joe Biden offered beleaguered Europeans a ray of hope this weekend. 'This too shall pass,' the former vice president promised. 'We will be back.' The comment earned Biden, a possible candidate for president in 2020, sustained applause from a crowd that clearly wanted to believe the United States will return to a more familiar role as trusted friend after two years of Trump turning on allies and cozying up to adversaries. But Europeans are not convinced that Biden, or anyone, can deliver. Even if Democrats beat Trump when he vies for reelection next year, U.S. allies say the damage will be difficult to reverse. They point to long-term trends in the United States -- especially a growing skepticism toward global engagement -- that suggest key elements of Trumpism will live on, regardless of how long he serves or who succeeds him.... or many attendees, the collapse of the liberal world order as built and sustained by the United States for the past seven decades was taken as a given. The only question is, as the title of the conference's flagship report framed it, 'Who will pick up the pieces?'" ...

Melanie Schmitz of ThinkProgress: "President Donald Trump demanded that Europe take back hundreds of ISIS fighters captured in Syria, in the administration's latest move that appeared likely to worsen relations between the United States and its formerly staunch allies across the Atlantic.... Trump's tweet ended in an ultimatum. 'The alternative is not a good one in that we will be forced to release them,' the president wrote.... If the United States chooses to release its own prisoners -- many of whom were radicalized in Europe and fled to Syria to join up with ISIS -- it could cause additional fracturing between longstanding allies. The government of Britain immediately issued a warning Sunday, telling Trump it would prevent the prisoners' return." --s ...

     ... UPDATE: Reuters: "France will for now not act on U.S. President Donald Trump's call for European allies to repatriate hundreds of Islamic State fighters from Syria, taking back militants on a 'case-by-case' basis, its justice minister said on Monday.... Germany, too, was cool toward Trump's demands, saying it could only take back Islamic State fighters if the suspects had consular access." --s

The craziest thing about the Baldwin SNL opener was that it wasn't as crazy as the original. -- Bobby Lee, in today's Comments ...

... Trump Opposes First Amendment, Humor. Again. Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "In yet another Sunday morning tweetstorm, Trump blasted the previous night's episode of SNL -- which opened with Alec Baldwin portraying the commander in chief declaring a national emergency at the southern border -- and quickly drew fire from the ACLU and Baldwin himself. As before, Trump said without evidence or much explanation that the show is a coordinated attempt by NBC at character assassination. 'Nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live on Fake News NBC! Question is, how do the Networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution?' Trump said on Twitter. 'Likewise for many other shows? Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real Collusion!'... Four minutes later, he tweeted an old standby: 'THE RIGGED AND CORRUPT MEDIA IS THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!'... The American Civil Liberties Union took to Trump's favorite medium Sunday to issue a five-word rebuke. 'It's called the First Amendment,' the group wrote on Twitter. Other social media users criticized Trump for challenging cornerstone constitutional protections. One political scientist noted that Trump was akin to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his intolerance for criticism.... Baldwin wrote on Twitter: 'Trump whines. The parade moves on.'" See Baldwin's performance in yesterday's Commentariat. ...

One thing that makes America great is that people can laugh at you without retribution. -- Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), in a tweet

When Obama's Justice Department tried to pressure reporters to reveal sources or obtain their records, including our colleagues at the @nytimes, we fought it vigorously. We believed those actions were outrageous and chilling to First Amendment coverage. Those were disputes over the publication of classified information. In today's case, the president is seeking 'retribution' because an actor made fun of him, not because national security was jeopardized. -- Peter Baker of the New York Times, in two tweets

Chris Wallace Whacks Stephen Miller with Facts. So Unfaaaair! Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "Fox News host Chris Wallace relentlessly pushed Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller on Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency on Sunday, and nailed him particularly hard by repeatedly asking for a single example of another president who has done what Trump has done. On this week's Fox News Sunday, Wallace was all over Miller, challenging him to provide some explanation for how Trump's national emergency is a national emergency, when Trump himself essentially admitted it wasn't a national emergency. And when Miller tried to fend off the questions with talking points, Wallace peppered him with followups." Includes video.

Peter Shane of Slate: "[H]overing over all the familiar legal forms and practices [declaring a 'national emergency'] is the depressing reality that Trump, as always, is endeavoring to hollow out the constitutional system of checks and balances.... As a result, we are left with the forms and practices of normal law to try to discipline an abnormal president. He has been and will continue to be enabled by lawyers wishing to push their interpretations of presidential authority to the maximum extent consistent with the dictionary, a practice the new attorney general championed for an earlier president and will no doubt champion again." --s ...

... The Vanity Nobel Peace Prize Story Keeps Getting Sillier. Simon Denyer & Akiko Kashiwagi of the Washington Post: "Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wouldn't say Monday whether he nominated President Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating with North Korea, even though local media reports suggest that he did. Trump said Friday that Abe had personally given him 'the most beautiful copy' of a five-page nomination letter recommending him for the prize for opening talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and lowering tensions.... But Japanese media reports on Sunday suggested that Trump was telling the truth.... The Asahi Shimbun cited an unnamed government source as saying the nomination came in response to an 'unofficial' U.S. request, made after last year's summit in Singapore." See also update to yesterday's post, "The Not-So-Secret Life of Donald Trump."

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Senator Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vowed on Sunday to investigate whether the top officials at the Justice Department and the F.B.I. plotted an 'attempted bureaucratic coup' to remove President Trump from office, and said he would subpoena the former F.B.I. director and the deputy attorney general if necessary. Mr. Graham, Republican of South Carolina, was reacting to an interview in which the former F.B.I. deputy director, Andrew G. McCabe, confirmed an earlier New York Times report that the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, had suggested wearing a wire in meetings with Mr. Trump and that Justice Department officials had discussed recruiting cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office.... He promised to have a hearing to find out 'who's telling the truth.'" ...

I don't care. I believe Putin. -- Donald Trump, re: North Korea's ICBM capabilities, to intelligence officials

... ** Scott Pelley's full "60 Minutes" interview of Andrew McCabe is here, with transcript. ...

... Lauren Evans of Splinter: "McCabe ... expanded on the previously reported story that [Deputy AG Rod] Rosenstein volunteered to wear a wire into the White House because, as he put it, 'I never get searched when I go into the White House. I could easily wear a recording device. They wouldn't know it was there.'... McCabe maintains Rosenstein was completely serious: 'And in fact, he brought it up in the next meeting we had. I never actually considered taking him up on the offer. I did discuss it with my general counsel and my leadership team back at the FBI after he brought it up the first time,' he told Pelley." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Loony Lindsey should drop the histrionics. What McCabe reveals is no "attempted bureaucratic coup." It was a suggestion -- initiated by Rod Rosenstein, a Republican DAG who is so right-wing he began his career working for Ken Starr -- to impress upon the highest federal officials that the POTUS* facts they should assess in carrying out their Constitutional duty under the Twenty-fifth Amendment. ...

... Laura Jarrett of CNN: "McCabe said Trump had been speaking in a 'derogatory way' about the Russia investigation for weeks, which they viewed as an attempt to 'publicly undermine the investigation.' He said officials were concerned by the President's 'own words.' McCabe said officials looked at the following events: Trump asked former FBI Director James Comey to drop the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Trump asked Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to 'include Russia' in a memo the President requested outlining reasons to fire Comey (which Rosenstein did not do). Trump fired Comey. Trump made public comments linking his firing of Comey to the Russia investigation on NBC. Trump met in the Oval Office with Russian officials where Trump reportedly said that firing Comey relieved 'great pressure.' When asked if Rosenstein was on aboard with opening the investigations into Trump, McCabe told Pelley, 'absolutely.' McCabe's description of concerns closely track that of former FBI general counsel James Baker, who told congressional investigators last year that FBI officials were contemplating, with regard to Russia, whether Trump was 'acting at the behest of and somehow following directions, somehow executing their will.'" ...

... Allison Quinn of the Daily Beast: "Former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe says he was fired from the bureau because he dared to go against President Trump -- whom he portrayed as delusional and almost 'gleeful' about firing former FBI director James Comey in an interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday night.... When he was called in for an interview with Trump about possibly remaining on as the permanent FBI director in the wake of Comey's ouster, McCabe said, Trump spent a lot of time talking about himself.... 'It was a bit of a bizarre experience. I went in for my interview with the president and he began by talking to me about his electoral college results in the state of North Carolina.' He also 'talked about the support that he enjoyed from within the FBI. He estimated that 80 percent of FBI employees must have voted for him, and he asked me if I thought that was true,' McCabe said. At the end of the interview, he said, he responded to a question Trump had earlier posed to him about who he'd voted for. 'I told him that I didn't vote for him, and then that was pretty much the end of the interview."

Catherine Herridge of Fox "News": "Former top FBI lawyer James Baker, in closed-door testimony to Congress, detailed alleged discussions among senior officials at the Justice Department about invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office, claiming he was told Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said two Trump Cabinet officials were 'ready to support' such an effort. The testimony was delivered last fall to the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees. Fox News has confirmed portions of the transcript. It provides additional insight into discussions that have returned to the spotlight in Washington as fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe revisits the matter during interviews promoting his forthcoming book. Baker did not identify the two Cabinet officials. But in his testimony, the lawyer said McCabe and FBI lawyer Lisa Page came to him to relay their conversations with Rosenstein, including discussions of the 25th Amendment."

Patrick Temple-West of Politico: "House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said Sunday that there is ample evidence Donald Trump's presidential campaign colluded with Russia. In an interview on CNN, Schiff rejected Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr's statements from earlier this month, in which Burr said evidence shows no collusion by the Trump campaign and Russia. 'You can see evidence in plain sight on the issue of collusion, pretty compelling evidence,' Schiff said, adding, 'There is a difference between seeing evidence of collusion and being able to prove a criminal conspiracy beyond a reasonable doubt.' Schiff said special counsel Robert Mueller's report on potential Russian government meddling in the 2016 election might not be the final word on the matter. 'We may also need to see the evidence behind that report,' he said."

Carole Cadwalladr of the Guardian: "A director of ... Cambridge Analytica ... has been subpoenaed by the US investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. A spokesman for Brittany Kaiser, former business development director for Cambridge Analytica -- which collapsed after the Observer revealed details of its misuse of Facebook data -- confirmed that she had been subpoenaed by special counsel Robert Mueller, and was cooperating fully with his investigation. He added that she was assisting other US congressional and legal investigations into the company's activities and had voluntarily turned over documents and data."

Scott Thistle & Kevin Miller of the Portland Press Herald: "Former Gov. Paul LePage and his staff members paid for more than 40 rooms at Washington, D.C.'s Trump International Hotel during a two-year period, spending at least $22,000 in Maine taxpayer money at a business owned by the president's family. Documents ... show that the LePage administration paid anywhere from $362 to more than $1,100 a night for rooms at the luxury hotel during trips to meet with President Trump or his inner circle, attend White House events or talk to members of Congress. Receipts ... also show the Republican governor or his administration spending hundreds of dollars on filet mignon or other expensive menu items at the restaurant in the Trump hotel.... The records ... show that taxpayers funded about $170,000 in out-of-state travel by LePage and staff members during fiscal years 2017 and 2018 and part of 2019.... In comparison, LePage's predecessor, Democratic Gov. John Baldacci, spent just over $45,000 on out-of-state travel his last two years in office, 2009 and 2010.... His total lodging tab for the two years was $9,524." --s

Jonathan Swan of Axios: "Shortly after becoming President Trump's acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney conveyed a blunt message to several Cabinet secretaries. According to a senior White House official with direct knowledge and another source briefed on the private conversations, Mulvaney told the Cabinet officials that their 'highest priority' over the next year would be deregulation.... '>We knew there was one thing we could do without legislation,' the senior official told me. When Mulvaney sits down with the president to discuss the Cabinet secretaries' performance, the official said, 'Dereg is going to be top of the list.' Trump relishes using the power of the presidency to do whatever he can without Congress."

** Timothy Gardner of Reuters [Feb. 14th]: "The Tennessee Valley Authority voted on Thursday to close two aging coal-fired power plants, including one supplied by a company led by a major supporter of President Donald Trump, who had urged the U.S.-owned utility to keep it open.... [C]losing them would save customers $320 million. The board voted 5-2 to approve the closures. The members who voted to keep them open were both appointed by Trump.... Paradise 3, which entered service in 1970, was mostly supplied with coal last year by Murray Energy, chaired by Robert Murray, a donor to Trump's presidential campaign in 2016 and a frequent attendee at events held by the administration." --s

Christal Hayes of USA Today: "Protests across the nation are planned Monday in response [to] ... Donald Trump's national emergency declaration. The protests are being planned from New York and North Dakota to California and Texas all to counter the order Trump signed Friday, which freed up billions to construct a wall along the southern U.S. border with Mexico."

Presidential Race 2020. Alexander Burns of the New York Times: President "Obama has told friends and likely presidential candidates in private that he does not see it as his role to settle the 2020 nomination, and prefers to let the primary unfold as a contest of ideas. Michelle Obama, the former first lady, also has no plans to endorse a candidate, a person familiar with her thinking said.... [President Obama] has counseled more than a dozen declared or likely candidates on what he believes it will take to beat President Trump, holding private talks with leading contenders like [Senator Kamala] Harris, [Senator Cory] Booker and Senator Elizabeth Warren; underdogs like Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind.; and prominent figures who remain undecided on the race, like Eric H. Holder, his former attorney general, and Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York."

It's somewhere to the left of Che Guevara, I guess. -- David Brooks, describing the Democratic party, on PBS's "News Hour," Friday

Thanks, PBS & NYT! -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Nicole Perlroth of the New York Times: "Businesses and government agencies in the United States have been targeted in aggressive attacks by Iranian and Chinese hackers who security experts believe have been energized by President Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal last year and his trade conflicts with China. Recent Iranian attacks on American banks, businesses and government agencies have been more extensive than previously reported.... The attacks, attributed to Iran by analysts at the National Security Agency and the private security firm FireEye, prompted an emergency order by the Department of Homeland Security during the government shutdown last month. The Iranian attacks coincide with a renewed Chinese offensive geared toward stealing trade and military secrets from American military contractors and technology companies, according to nine intelligence officials, private security researchers and lawyers familiar with the attacks...."

"Digital Gangsters". David Pegg of the Guardian: "Facebook deliberately broke privacy and competition law and should urgently be subject to statutory regulation, according to a devastating parliamentary report denouncing the company and its executives as 'digital gangsters'. The final report of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee's 18-month investigation into disinformation and fake news accused Facebook of purposefully obstructing its inquiry and failing to tackle attempts by Russia to manipulate elections." --s

Hadas Gold, et al., of CNN: "UK lawmakers have accused Facebook of violating data privacy and competition laws in a report on social media disinformation that also says CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed 'contempt' toward parliament by not appearing before them. The UK Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee said in a report published Monday that a trove of internal Facebook emails it reviewed demonstrated that the social media platform had 'intentionally and knowingly' violated both data privacy and competition laws.&"

CBS News: "Anthony Weiner, the disgraced former congressman who pleaded guilty to sending sexually explicit material to a teen, has been released from federal prison ahead of the end of his 21-month sentence. Federal records show Weiner ... is now being housed at a Residential Re-entry Management facility in Brooklyn, New York, ahead of his final release date of May 14. The records do not state when Weiner was transferred from the Massachusetts prison. Weiner, 54, was sentenced to jail time after he pleaded guilty in 2017 to sending obscene material to a 15-year old girl.... After the 15-year-old came forward with emails between herself and Weiner, prosecutors began an investigation into his laptop, which led to the discovery of a batch of emails from [Hillary] Clinton to [Weiner's former wife Huma] Abedin. Former FBI Director James Comey reopened the investigation in Clinton's emails in the final weeks before the 2016 election."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ankit Panda of The Daily Beast: "On Jan. 23, Russian military officials held a press conference showing off what they said was a cruise missile at the center of a years-long arms control controversy between Washington and Moscow. Except the presentation was essentially a hoax, according to a classified briefing prepared by U.S. intelligence. Neither the missile, nor its launch vehicle, nor the accompanying schematics were what Russia claimed them to be. The alleged Russian misdirection came just days before the United States announced that it would withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty[.]" --s

Mat Youkee of the Guardian: "Panamanian real estate was a favourite investment of the boliburgues, Venezuelans who grew rich on the back of their political connections to the late president Hugo Chávez and his successor Nicolás Maduro. But in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal it has become increasingly hard to launder money through the country, cutting off a potential exit route for those looking to cut loose from Maduro's embattled regime.... Senior Panamanian sources told The Guardian that since early 2017 the US's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) had been working with the Lima Group of 12 Latin American countries and Canada to identify illegal offshore assets belonging to members of the Maduro regime.... As authorities in the US, Panama and Spain home in on the Chavistas' errant billions, those close to the regime are running out of time to secure their foreign assets.... 'As Venezuela enters "end-game" we are likely to see an acceleration in the rate at which ill-gotten funds are expatriated,' says [Pedro] Armada [a Panama City based investigator and forensic accountant]. 'The noose is tightening on the boliburgues.'" --s

The Not-So-Secret Life of Donald Trump

Sometimes when I read or hear a story of some horrifying event, I will imagine how I would or should or could handle it, were I at the scene. I calculate what might be the heroic thing to do, and I try to place myself as the hero. Such imaginings actually may be practical "rehearsals," in that they give one a chance to think through how to act instantaneously in rare, dangerous situations. I would guess most people imagine themselves in dangerous situations, more or less in this way. This is not to suggest we're all running around like latter-day Walter Mittys, absorbed in fantasies. Well, that is, most of us are not. Moreover, we don't confuse these momentary musings with real-life events. Well, that is, most of us do not.

But I know of someone who does; that is, someone who not only fantasizes that he is a hero, but also quickly comes to believe his fantasies are real. Unfortunately, he is the President* of the United States.

Here's a case in point. During his nutty Rose Garden speech last week, Donald Trump said,

...I believe he [President Obama] would have gone to war with North Korea. I think he was ready to go to war. In fact, he told me he was so close to starting a big war with North Korea. And where are we now?  No missiles. No rockets. No nuclear testing. We’ve learned a lot. But much more importantly than all of it — much more important — much, much more important that that is we have a great relationship.  I have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un.  And I’ve done a job.  In fact, I think I can say this: Prime Minister Abe of Japan gave me the most beautiful copy of a letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize.  He said, 'I have nominated you…' or 'Respectfully, on behalf of Japan, I am asking them to give you the Nobel Peace Prize.'  I said, 'Thank you.'  Many other people feel that way too.  I’ll probably never get it, but that’s okay.

Let's unpack that.

As Peter Baker reports in today's New York Times, this is not the first time Trump has made himself the hero of this particular story: "'That was going to be a war that could have been a World War III, to be honest with you,' Mr. Trump said at a cabinet meeting last month. 'Anybody else but me, you’d be in war right now,' he told reporters a few days later. 'And I can tell you, the previous administration would have been in war right now if that was extended. You would, right now, be in a nice, big, fat war in Asia with North Korea if I wasn’t elected president.'”

Trump even made the same claim in this year's State of the Union address: “If I had not been elected president of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea with potentially millions of people killed.”

But the story is a fable. Baker writes, "It is impossible to prove a negative, of course, but nobody who worked for Mr. Obama has publicly endorsed this assessment, nor have any of the memoirs that have emerged from his administration disclosed any serious discussion of military action against North Korea. Several veterans of the Obama era made a point of publicly disputing Mr. Trump’s characterization on Friday."

We were not on the brink of war with North Korea in 2016. -- Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, in a tweet

President Obama was never on the verge of starting any war with North Korea, large or small. -- John Brennan, Obama's CIA director, on MSNBC

Oh, as for Trump's claim that Japan's prime minister nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize? Uh, probably not:

Roberta Rampton of Japan Today: "He said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had given him 'the most beautiful copy' of a five-page letter in which Abe nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize for opening talks and easing tensions with North Korea. 'You know why? Because he had rocket ships and he had missiles flying over Japan,' Trump said. 'Now, all of a sudden, they feel good. They feel safe. I did that,' Trump said, adding that the Obama administration 'couldn't have done it.' The White House declined further comment on Trump's claim that Abe had nominated him, and a spokesman for the Japanese embassy said he had no information about such a letter." *

Update: Makiko Yamazaki of Reuters: "Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nominated ... Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize last autumn after receiving a request from the U.S. government to do so, the Asahi newspaper reported on Sunday." Emphasis added, while laughing.

According to Baker, "Mr. Trump bases his argument on the single extended conversation he has ever had with Mr. Obama. In November 2016, Mr. Obama invited ... [Trump] to the White House for a 90-minute discussion of the issues awaiting him. Mr. Trump’s account of that conversation has evolved over time. At first, he said that Mr. Obama told him that North Korea would be the new administration’s toughest foreign policy challenge, which seems plausible enough. Only later did Mr. Trump add the supposed war discussion."

As Baker writes, "The only president who has vocally threatened war on North Korea in recent times is Mr. Trump. After a provocative intercontinental ballistic missile test, Mr. Trump in the summer of 2017 threatened to rain down 'fire and fury' on North Korea and a month later told the United Nations General Assembly that he would 'totally destroy North Korea' if it threatened the United States. In January 2018, after North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, talked of having a nuclear button, Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter that 'I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!'”

Trump is Walter Mitty on steroids. Mitty has his heroic fantasies, but he keeps returning, if reluctantly, to the real world where his wife badgers him & others push him around. Trump has his fantasies, but he never returns to the real world. The fantasies become real. He is the hero of these fantasties. There are bad guys -- like President Obama -- and there are Trump fans, like Prime Minister Abe.

In this particular fantasy, Trump has used his negotiating skills & charm to single-handedly prevent World War III. He has saved "millions of" lives. This is not true, but Trump has imagined it, and so it has "become." The reason Trump doesn't trust his intelligence agencies is that they tell him things that run contrary to this imagined world. Andrew McCabe writes in his new book of a July 2017 briefing in which intelligence officials told Trump that North Korea had, for the first time, test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile. "... Trump called the launch ... a 'hoax,' telling officials he knew North Korea did not have the ability to launch that type of missile 'because Vladimir Putin had told him so.'" Of course, there's no way to know what Putin may have told Trump because Trump eats any notes of his conversations with Putin. It is hard to know what is more alarming: that Trump believes an adversary over his own intelligence team or that Trump just made up the entire story. Either way, Trump is so obviously unfit for office.

Since Trump's fantasy world requires bad guys to defeat, he invents villains. He claims the bad guy -- President Obama -- was planning to start a devastating war with North Korea "with potentially millions of people killed." Here, it is also possible that Trump imagines Hillary Clinton is the phantom villain, because he says this horrible war would have occurred had he not been elected. That is, it's possible that she would have started the war that Obama somehow restrained himself from starting. There is no evidence Clinton would have started a war with North Korea and there is ample evidence that Obama never planned to do so. But Trump has imagined it, so it has "become." This fantasy is so real to Trump that he shares it with the American people.

Trump's fantasies also require international acclaim. He imagines Shinzo Abe is so grateful to Trump for ending the rain of North Korean "rocket ships and missiles" over Japan that Abe has nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. There is no evidence for this, but Trump needs veneration, so he imagines it. To Trump this probably imaginary nomination has "become," so he shares it.

Donald Trump's fantasies -- his lies -- are not without meaning or consequence. We are all paying for them. Whether it's his climate change denial or his rich people's tax cut law or his wall, or whatever, in more ways than one, we are all victims of Donald Trump's not-so-secret life.