The Commentariat -- February 14, 2019

Late Morning Update:

Adam Goldman & Matthew Haag of the New York Times: "Andrew G. McCabe, the former deputy F.B.I. director, said in an interview aired on Thursday that top Justice Department officials were so alarmed by President Trump's decision in May 2017 to fire James B. Comey, the bureau's director, that they discussed whether to recruit cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office. The concerns about the president's actions also prompted Mr. McCabe to order the bureau's team investigating Russia's election interference to expand their scope to also investigate whether Mr. Trump had obstructed justice by firing Mr. Comey. They also were to examine if he had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests.... Mr. Trump appeared to react to the interview, attacking Mr. McCabe and his wife, both frequent targets of Mr. Trump, via Twitter."

... The Atlantic has published an excerpt of Andrew McCabe's book.

Erin Banco & Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "Two teams of federal officials assembled to fight foreign election interference are being dramatically downsized, according to three current and former Department of Homeland Security officials. And now, those sources say they fear the department won't prepare adequately for election threats in 2020.... The task forces, part of the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Agency (CISA), were assembled in response to Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.... One of the task forces is now half the size it was a few months ago.... There are concerns it will completely wither away. The other task force also shrank significantly shortly after the midterms..., and before its members produced a thorough assessment of what happened during the 2018 elections."

Carol Morello & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "Vice President Pence on Thursday launched a combative broadside against some of America's closest allies, calling on European countries to withdraw from the nuclear deal with Iran and accusing them of attempting to break U.S. sanctions against 'that vile regime' in Tehran. Officials from Britain, France and Germany -- all countries that negotiated and signed the 2015 landmark agreement that President Trump withdrew from last year -- were in the audience as Pence accused them of essentially joining sides with America's enemy. Pence threatened to impose more U.S. sanctions against Iran and praised countries that are moving to reduce their oil imports from the country 'to zero.'"

*****

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Lawmakers introduced a bill late Wednesday night to prevent a second partial shutdown days before the deadline. Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, filed the legislation to fund approximately a quarter of the federal government roughly 48 hours before the funding lapse deadline.... The 1,159-page bill includes $1.375 billion for physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border -- well below the $5.7 billion President Trump has demanded.... A Congressional Democratic aide said the funding bill would only allow the administration to use 'existing technologies' for fencing and barriers.... Back pay for federal contractors impacted by the shutdown and an extension of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) were both left out of the bill." ...

... Peter Baker & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "As he inched closer to reluctantly accepting a bipartisan spending compromise without the money he demanded for his border wall, Mr. Trump offered no acknowledgment on Wednesday that his pressure tactics had failed even as aides sought to minimize the damage by tamping down criticism on the right. One call was made to Lou Dobbs, a favorite of Mr. Trump's whose Fox Business Network show he often tries to catch live. Another was placed to Sean Hannity.... The message: Mr. Trump deserved support because he still forced concessions that he would never have gotten without a five-week partial government shutdown. Even so, it was arguably the most punishing defeat Mr. Trump has experienced as president, and it left the White House scrounging for other ways to pay for a wall on the southwestern border and rethinking its approach to a Congress now partly controlled by Democrats."

... Dana Bash & Betsy Klein of CNN: "... Donald Trump intends to sign the border security deal to avoid another partial government shutdown, according to two sources who have spoken directly with the President." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, repeatedly lied to prosecutors after he agreed to cooperate with the special counsel's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. The decision by Judge Amy Berman Jackson of United States District Court may affect the sentence she hands out in the coming weeks to Mr. Manafort, 69. Judge Jackson said that Mr. Manafort had intentionally lied about his contacts with a Russian associate during the campaign and after Mr. Trump was elected. Prosecutors have said that the associate, Konstantin V. Kilimnik, has ties to Russian intelligence services. The judge also found that Mr. Manafort had lied about a payment that was routed through a pro-Trump political action committee to cover his legal bills, and about information relevant to another undisclosed investigation underway at the Justice Department."...

... Philip Bump of the Washington Post provides a chronology that places into context Manafort's August 2, 2016, Grand Havana Room meeting with Kilimnik, a meeting about which Judge Jackson ruled Manafort lied. ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Here's how we know for certain that Donald Trump was complicit in "collusion" with Russia. If an innocent person learned that some of his employees even appeared to be involved in nefarious dealings with a foreign adversary, he would welcome or demand an investigation to find out who had betrayed him (and in this case, the nation) & why. (This was the tack Trump's lawyers initially tried, & eventually failed, to get him to take.) Instead, Trump has attempted to quash the investigations, has trashed the investigations & the investigators hundreds of times, has called cooperating witnesses "rats," & has supported those who refused to cooperate. (For instance, besides Trump's many remarks praising Manafort, according to Andrew Prokop of Vox, "... $125,000 paid out from a pro-Trump Super PAC to a political media firm during the campaign was later used to help pay Manafort's legal fees.") He has also refused to rule out pardons for those found guilty of crimes. Trump not only participated in the underlying crimes, he has done everything he can -- short of shooting Michael Cohen on Fifth Avenue -- to cover up those crimes. This is the way a guilty person acts.

... Josh Kovensky & Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "A super PAC closely linked to Paul Manafort is facing FEC scrutiny over why it failed to report a $1 million contribution received just before the 2016 presidential election. In a Tuesday letter, the Federal Election Commission asked the Rebuilding America Now PAC for more information about the contribution, which the PAC first disclosed in an amended report in November 2018 -- some two years after the fact. The FEC letter raises new questions about the murky financial operations of the PAC, which was operated by two Manafort deputies. Special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly investigating whether Rebuilding America Now illegally received foreign funds and was connected to a scheme that Manafort allegedly lied about while purportedly cooperating with Mueller.... Geoffrey Palmer, [a] Los Angeles real estate [developer, was the] donor whose $1 million contribution shows up on the PAC's amended report but was not reported on its original FEC report."

CBS News: "Soon after speaking to President Trump about the firing of his boss James Comey, Andrew McCabe, who became the bureau's acting director, began obstruction of justice and counterintelligence investigations involving the president and his ties to Russia. In his first television interview since his own firing, McCabe tells 60 Minutes' Scott Pelley he wanted those inquiries to be documented and underway so they would be difficult to quash without raising scrutiny. 'I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground, in an indelible fashion, McCabe tells Pelley in the interview. 'That were I removed quickly, or reassigned or fired, that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace.'"

Brent Griffiths of Politico: "Rep. Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, pressed acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker on Wednesday to clarify his recent testimony, after Nadler and his panel found that Whitaker's responses were 'unsatisfactory, incomplete or contradicted by other evidence.'... The New York Democrat's request includes the possibility that the Judiciary Committee could have direct evidence indicating that Whitaker lied during his testimony.... Nadler writes of Whitaker's answers to questions about whether or not he spoke with ... Donald Trump about the decision by Michael Cohen ... to plead guilty in federal court to lying to Congress and violating campaign finance law by arranging hush money payments on Trump's behalf. 'Your testimony on this topic is directly contradicted by several media reports,' Nadler writes of Whitaker's answers to questions about Trump and Cohen. The Judiciary Committee, Nadler continues, 'has identified several individuals with direct knowledge of the phone calls you denied receiving from the White House.'" Nadler's letter to Whitaker is here.

David Shortell, et al., of CNN: "As William Barr..., Donald Trump's attorney general nominee, awaits a Senate vote to confirm his move to the top of the Justice Department, his daughter and son-in-law, both Justice Department employees, are on their way to different jobs. Mary Daly, Barr's oldest daughter and the director of Opioid Enforcement and Prevention Efforts in the deputy attorney general's office, is leaving for a position at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Treasury Department's financial crimes unit, a Justice official said.... Daly's husband will remain in his position in the Justice Department's National Security Division for now....Tyler McGaughey, the husband of Barr's youngest daughter, has been detailed from the powerful US attorney's office in Alexandria, Virginia, to the White House counsel's office, two officials said.... Walter Shaub, the former director of the Office of Government Ethics..., [said] that McGaughey's detail to the White House counsel's office was 'concerning.' 'That's troubling because it raises further questions about Barr's independence,' Shaub said." ...

     ... OR, as New York's Daily Intelligencer put it, "William Barr's daughter and son-in-law want to avoid talk of nepotism ... so his son-in-law is going to work for the office defending the president in an investigation overseen by the Justice Department." No link. ...

... Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "William P. Barr is all but guaranteed to become President Trump's next attorney general, after clearing a procedural hurdle Tuesday with the support of not just Republicans but also a few Democrats, as well. The 55-to-44 vote to advance Barr's nomination comes after weeks in which Democrats sounded alarm bells about his previous statements regarding special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's probe of Trump and his alleged ties to Russia, including a memo Barr wrote last year questioning whether Mueller would be overstepping the law by investigating potential obstruction of justice." (Also linked yesterday.)

Chris Sommerfeldt of the New York Daily News: "The White House Twitter czar oversaw workers he knew were undocumented immigrants while managing President Trump Dan Scavino, the White House social media director who helps the President craft his tweets, used to be the general manager of the Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor and supervised the upscale estate's day-to-day operations -- including the hiring of immigrants with fake employment papers, three former undocumented workers told the Daily News this week. Gabriel Sedano, a Mexican national who worked at the club from 2005 until he was fired last month along with dozens of other undocumented employees at Trump properties in New York and New Jersey, said ... Scavino -- like other managers -- knew of their illegal status but looked the other way."

Felicia Sonmez & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a billionaire real estate investor who is one of President Trump's closest confidants, apologized Wednesday after defending Saudi Arabia in the wake of journalist Jamal Khashoggi's killing and saying the United States has committed 'equal or worse' atrocities. Barrack’s remarks on Khashoggi, made Tuesday at a summit in Abu Dhabi organized by the Santa Monica, Calif.-based Milken Institute think tank, were first reported by Dubai's Gulf News. 'Whatever happened in Saudi Arabia, the atrocities in America are equal or worse to the atrocities in Saudi Arabia,' Barrack told the crowd at the Milken Institute's MENA Summit, according to audio provided by Gulf News reporter Ed Clowes.... In a statement Wednesday, Barrack ... appeared to suggest responsibility for the killing should not rest on Saudi leadership. 'I feel strongly that the bad acts of a few should not be interpreted as the failure of an entire sovereign kingdom,' Barrack said, maintaining that 'rule of law and monarchies across the Middle East are confusing to the West.'... In the 1970s, Barrack worked in Saudi Arabia, where he befriended sons of the Saudi king; he later went on to serve as their U.S. representative...."

Kara Scannell & Erica Orden of CNN: "The Justice Department is investigating the leak last year of confidential reports about Michael Cohen's personal bank records which led to revelations that the former Donald Trump lawyer was profiting by selling his access to the White House, two people familiar with the matter say. Prosecutors with the US attorney's office in the Northern District of California are leading the criminal investigation, one of the people said, and criminal charges in the case could be announced soon. The bank transactions of Cohen became public last May when lawyer Michael Avenatti posted a memo online outlining numerous payments to Cohen from a company linked to a Russian oligarch, pharmaceutical giant Novartis, AT&T, which owns CNN, and others."

Laura Strickler of NBC News: "A White House security specialist is seeking official whistleblower protection from the federal government after raising concerns about 'unwarranted security clearances' for administration officials, including Jared Kushner, according to two sources.... The specialist, Tricia Newbold, filed the whistleblower complaint less than two weeks after she was suspended without pay for defying her supervisor, Carl Kline."

Sophie Weiner of Splinter: "... it turns out that [Michael Avenatti] ... seemingly hid millions of dollars from bankruptcy court when his firm went under in 2017. The firm, Eagan Avenatti, was required to file monthly reports on its finances throughout 2017. Avenatti signed those reports, swearing that they were accurate. But the reports didn't disclose that Avenatti had opened six bank accounts where he put millions of dollars of legal fees during the bankruptcy proceedings. That's what his former legal partner Jason Frank is now claiming in court documents, according to the Los Angeles Times.... Frank and his team obtained evidence through subpoenas of banks showing that Avenatti was hiding money from bankruptcy court. It includes documents showing that one client ... sent nearly a million dollars to one of Avenatti's undisclosed accounts." Mrs. McC: The LA Times story is firewalled.

About That "Executive Time." David Fahrenthold & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump has installed a room-sized 'golf simulator' game at the White House, which allows him to play virtual rounds at courses all over the world by hitting a ball into a large video screen, according to two people told about the system. That system replaced an older, less sophisticated golf simulator that had been installed under President Obama, according to two people with knowledge of the previous system. Trump's system cost about $50,000, and was put in during the last few weeks in a room in his personal quarters, a White House official said. The official ... said Trump had paid for the new system and the installation personally. President Trump has built his schedules around long blocks of 'executive time' -- unstructured periods in the day where the president's schedules show no official meetings. He often spends this time watching TV, tweeting, holding impromptu meetings and making phone calls, aides have said.... The White House official said Trump has not used his new golf simulator during executive time -- or at all since it was put in." Right. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yesterday I suggested that the government put a putting green in the exercise yard of Trump International Prison so he could pretend he was at a golf resort. Turns out there's a better option available right now, one which will allow him to pretend he's at any number of great golf courses. Perfect!

Jonathan Chait: Republicans are trying, and failing, to come up with compelling reasons to allow Trump to continue to hide his tax returns. "One common thread through all [their] defenses is that they take Trump's decision to break precedent and conceal his tax returns as a given. From there, they focus all the scrutiny on Democrats and their nefarious motives for getting the tax returns. And so none of Trump's defenders have bothered to construct a motive for Trump's decision to conceal his tax returns. It's just something we must all accept. The president has done business with, and employed, a large number of criminals, is under state and federal investigation for a wide array of alleged crimes, but his decision to keep his financial information private apparently tells us nothing whatsoever about the secrets it may contain." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Matthew Choi & Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Roger Stone urged a federal judge Wednesday to make ... Robert Mueller's office explain why it shouldn't be held in contempt for violating the seal on ... [Stone]'s indictment by allegedly leaking it to the press.... In its motion, Stone's team argues that CNN presented it with a copy of the indictment without a time stamp from the court records database, known as PACER, which it says is a sign the network had the document ahead of time.... However, the special counsel's public release announcing the indictment was sent out minutes before Stone's arrest, and it included a link to the same copy of the indictment without a PACER time stamp. Later that morning, Mueller's office updated its link to an indictment with the PACER markings." ...

... Brian Stelter of CNN: Roger "Stone continues to promote a completely bogus narrative about the circumstances of his arrest. He is pushing a baseless claim about it in U.S. district court. Meanwhile, his wife [Nydia] is raising money off an easily disproven conspiracy theory about CNN's coverage. The Stones are getting help from members of the pro-Trump media, like Tucker Carlson of Fox News, who are ignoring what they learned in journalism 101. Even the acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, has fueled the fire.... Within minutes of the raid [on Stone's Florida home], a conspiracy theory began to take shape on social media. Some of Stone's defenders claimed, without evidence, that Mueller's office tipped off CNN to the timing of the raid. Trump fed this idea by tweeting, 'Who alerted CNN to be there?'... Within hours this idea -- CNN and Mueller in cahoots! -- became gospel in far-right-wing circles.... [Stone and his wife] ... also ... claimed CNN legal analyst Josh Campbell was on the scene of the raid.... Campbell was on live TV from L.A. the morning of the raid."

Josh Lederman of NBC News: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu startled Iranians and even the White House on Wednesday with a strident call for Israeli-Arab action against the government in Tehran that was translated [from Hebrew] by his office as urging 'war with Iran.' Although Israeli officials tried to soften the reference by altering the English translation, the provocative comment was likely to further the perception that Israel, its Gulf Arab neighbors and the United States are interested in using military action to topple the government of Iran. It comes at a particularly delicate moment, as the Trump administration uses a U.S.-organized summit in Warsaw and this week's 40th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution to try to rally the world against the government in Tehran.... 'This is an open meeting with representatives of leading Arab countries that are sitting down together with Israel in order to advance the common interest of war with Iran,' Netanyahu said [of the Warsaw summit].'

William Wan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Less than two years into a tenure marked by five major hurricanes, lethal wildfires, and a tense relationship with his boss, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator William 'Brock' Long resigned Wednesday 'to go home to' his family, as he put it in an official statement released by the agency. Peter Gaynor, who has served as Long's deputy, will be the acting administrator.... Long clashed with his direct superior, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, in September, when Nielsen appeared intent on forcing Long out of his job even as Hurricane Florence dumped historic amounts of rain on the Carolinas. The relationship deteriorated when an internal investigation became public. The Homeland Security inspector general looked into Long's use of government vehicles to travel between Washington and his home in North Carolina." Long's decision to resign "surprised his colleagues."

Margaret Talev of Bloomberg News: "The chief executives of Apple Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Walmart Inc., are among 25 prominent Americans who will shape Trump administration efforts to develop job training programs to meet the changing demands of U.S. employers. The creation of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, announced by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and ... Ivanka Trump on Wednesday, will work with the National Council for the American Worker established last July by an executive order. Ivanka Trump, in a statement, said the board will 'ensure inclusive growth' and that the administration wants all Americans 'to have the skills and opportunity to secure good paying jobs and successfully navigate technological disruptions and the rapidly changing nature of work.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I have complete faith that a "Workforce Advisory Board" formed by Wilbur Get-a-Loan Ross & Ivanka Sweatshop Trump will be great boon to American workers.

Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "A former United States Air Force counterintelligence agent was charged with espionage after she defected to Iran and helped it target her former colleagues, the authorities said. In an extraordinarily detailed indictment made public on Wednesday, prosecutors disclosed that Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, gave the Iranians the code name and mission of a secret Pentagon program involving American intelligence operations." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Catie Edmondson & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The House voted on Wednesday to end American military assistance for Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, a defiant and rare move to curtail presidential war powers that underscored anger with President Trump's unflagging support for Saudi Arabia even after the killing of a Washington Post columnist, Jamal Khashoggi. The 248-to-177 vote, condemning a nearly four-year conflict in Yemen that has killed thousands of civilians and inflicted a devastating famine, will pressure the Republican-controlled Senate to respond. Eighteen Republicans -- almost all of them hard-line conservatives with the Freedom Caucus -- voted with the Democratic majority."

Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Wednesday defended a now-deleted tweet that Michael Bloomberg, Tom Steyer and George Soros were trying to 'buy' November's midterm elections, arguing that the message had 'nothing to do' with religion. McCarthy sent the tweet in October and deleted it the next day. But the topic has been revived in recent days amid bipartisan criticism of freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) over tweets in which she suggested that a lobbying group was paying lawmakers to take pro-Israel stances. Omar has since apologized; McCarthy was among those most strongly calling on Democratic leaders to rebuke her.... Soros and Bloomberg are Jewish, and Steyer's late father was Jewish.... The tweet came during a week when prominent Democrats across the country -- including Steyer and Soros -- were being targeted by pipe bombs.... As the debate over Omar&'s tweets has raged, some Republicans, including President Trump and Vice President Pence, have called on the Minnesota Democrat to resign from Congress or at least be removed from her post on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democratic leaders issued a statement denouncing Omar's use of 'anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel's supporters.' They have signaled they will not take any further steps to punish Omar.&" ...

... ** Eric Levitz of New York: "On Tuesday, the vice-president revealed that he is so adamantly opposed to hate speech, he believes that merely using rhetoric that is reminiscent of anti-Semitic tropes disqualifies a person for high political office. 'Anti-Semitism has no place in the United States Congress, much less the Foreign Affairs Committee,' Pence tweeted, referring to [Ilhan] Omar's seat on said committee. 'Those who engage in anti-Semitic tropes should not just be denounced, they should face consequences for their words.' The vice-president is, in effect, calling for the immediate resignation of not just Ilhan Omar, but also of Donald Trump, and much of the congressional GOP." Levitz reprises a few of Trump's greatest anti-Semitic hits as well as Kevin McCarthy's. Read the whole post. Levitz has the best summary I've seen of Omar's tweet about AIPAC. ...

... Sarah Jones of New York: During a hearing Wednesday, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) questioned Elliott Abrams., whom President* Trump named special envoy to Venezuela. "'In 1991, you pleaded guilty to two counts of withholding information from Congress regarding your involvement in the Iran-Contra affair, for which you were later pardoned by President George H.W. Bush,' Omar began, before asking Abrams why the committee should believe anything he had to say." And so forth. ...

     ... The headline in the Washington Free Beacon, a right-wing Website, is "Anti-Semitic Congresswoman Defames Jewish-American Hero." No link.

Jamie Ehrlich of CNN: "Rep. Adam Kinzinger [R-Ill.] is being deployed to the southern border with an Air Force National Guard Unit, according to a statement by his communications director.... Whether members of Congress can serve in active duty has been a source of controversy in the past. In 2006, the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled that Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, could not sit on a military appeals court that decides criminal cases and also serve as a senator, citing the Constitution's Incompatibility Clause -- also known as the emoluments clause -- which forbids members of Congress from simultaneously holding an 'Office under the United States.' However, Congress has not acted in any case of an individual representative or senator regarding simultaneous service in the Reserves."

Presidential Race 2020. "Howard Schultz's Campaign about Nothing." Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "At the start of the town hall CNN gave Howard Schultz on Tuesday night, anchor Poppy Harlow promised, 'We're going to talk about all the issues, because that's what this is about.' Unfortunately, Schultz spent the next hour studiously avoiding taking a position on much of anything. The former Starbucks CEO and potential independent presidential candidate's performance was almost a caricature of an independent candidate trying to say nothing except that the two major parties were doing it wrong. Harlow, to her great credit, repeatedly noted that he was skirting the questions and not talking about his own proposals. But Schultz would not be deterred from his anodyne generalities and platitudes." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Wisconsin. Molly Beck of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "The state Assembly passed a resolution Tuesday drafted by the Legislature's black caucus to honor prominent black Americans during February -- but only after Republicans blocked it until black Democratic lawmakers agreed to remove the name of ... Colin Kaepernick. Democratic Rep. David Crowley of Milwaukee, who authored the resolution, called the episode 'a textbook example of white privilege' and a 'slap in the face.' Crowley said he was grateful to ultimately have the Assembly pass the resolution authored by black lawmakers, 'but I had to get the blessing of all of my white counterparts.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Commentariat -- February 13, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Dana Bash & Betsy Klein of CNN: "... Donald Trump intends to sign the border security deal to avoid another partial government shutdown, according to two sources who have spoken directly with the President."

About That "Executive Time." David Fahrenthold & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump has installed a room-sized 'golf simulator' game at the White House, which allows him to play virtual rounds at courses all over the world by hitting a ball into a large video screen, according to two people told about the system. That system replaced an older, less sophisticated golf simulator that had been installed under President Obama, according to two people.... Trump's system cost about $50,000, and was put in during the last few weeks in a room in his personal quarters, a White House official said. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity..., said Trump had paid for the new system and the installation personally. President Trump has built his schedules around long blocks of 'executive time' -- unstructured periods in the day where the president's schedules show no official meetings. He often spends this time watching TV, tweeting, holding impromptu meetings and making phone calls, aides have said.... The White House official said Trump has not used his new golf simulator during executive time -- or at all since it was put in." Right. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This morning I suggested that the government put a putting green in the exercise yard of Trump International Prison so he could pretend he was at a golf resort. Turns out there's a better option available right now, one which will allow him to pretend he's at any number of great golf courses. Perfect!

Jonathan Chait: Republicans are trying, and failing, to come up with compelling reasons to allow Trump to continue to hide his tax returns. "One common thread through all [their] defenses is that they take Trump's decision to break precedent and conceal his tax returns as a given. From there, they focus all the scrutiny on Democrats and their nefarious motives for getting the tax returns. And so none of Trump's defenders have bothered to construct a motive for Trump's decision to conceal his tax returns. It's just something we must all accept. The president has done business with, and employed, a large number of criminals, is under state and federal investigation for a wide array of alleged crimes, but his decision to keep his financial information private apparently tells us nothing whatsoever about the secrets it may contain."

Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "William P. Barr is all but guaranteed to become President Trump’s next attorney general, after clearing a procedural hurdle Tuesday with the support of not just Republicans but also a few Democrats, as well. The 55-to-44 vote to advance Barr's nomination comes after weeks in which Democrats sounded alarm bells about his previous statements regarding special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's probe of Trump and his alleged ties to Russia, including a memo Barr wrote last year questioning whether Mueller would be overstepping the law by investigating potential obstruction of justice."

Margaret Talev of Bloomberg News: "The chief executives of Apple Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Walmart Inc., are among 25 prominent Americans who will shape Trump administration efforts to develop job training programs to meet the changing demands of U.S. employers. The creation of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, announced by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and ... Ivanka Trump on Wednesday, will work with the National Council for the American Worker established last July by an executive order. Ivanka Trump, in a statement, said the board will 'ensure inclusive growth' and that the administration wants all Americans 'to have the skills and opportunity to secure good paying jobs and successfully navigate technological disruptions and the rapidly changing nature of work.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I have complete faith that a "Workforce Advisory Board" formed by Wilbur Get-a-Loan Ross & Ivanka Sweatshop Trump will be great boon to American workers.

Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "A former United States Air Force counterintelligence agent was charged with espionage after she defected to Iran and helped it target her former colleagues, the authorities said. In an extraordinarily detailed indictment made public on Wednesday, prosecutors disclosed that Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, gave the Iranians the code name and mission of a secret Pentagon program involving American intelligence operations."

"Howard Schultz's Campaign about Nothing." Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "At the start of the town hall CNN gave Howard Schultz on Tuesday night, anchor Poppy Harlow promised, 'We're going to talk about all the issues, because that's what this is about.' Unfortunately, Schultz spent the next hour studiously avoiding taking a position on much of anything. The former Starbucks CEO and potential independent presidential candidate's performance was almost a caricature of an independent candidate trying to say nothing except that the two major parties were doing it wrong. Harlow, to her great credit, repeatedly noted that he was skirting the questions and not talking about his own proposals. But Schultz would not be deterred from his anodyne generalities and platitudes."

Wisconsin. Molly Beck of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "The state Assembly passed a resolution Tuesday drafted by the Legislature's black caucus to honor prominent black Americans during February -- but only after Republicans blocked it until black Democratic lawmakers agreed to remove the name of ... Colin Kaepernick. Democratic Rep. David Crowley of Milwaukee, who authored the resolution, called the episode 'a textbook example of white privilege' and a 'slap in the face.' Crowley said he was grateful to ultimately have the Assembly pass the resolution authored by black lawmakers, 'but I had to get the blessing of all of my white counterparts.'"

*****

Dancing the Trump Fantastic. Erica Werner, et al., of the Washington Post: "The threat of another government shutdown receded Tuesday as lawmakers lined up behind a fragile border security compromise and President Trump predicted that federal agencies would stay open.... With a shutdown deadline looming Friday at midnight, the president suggested he might be able to accept the deal, saying he could take other steps to fund his wall.... After speaking on the phone with Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), Trump offered a more positive take. He praised Shelby in a tweet as 'hard working,' welcomed increased border security spending in the deal apart from the wall and wrote, 'Regardless of Wall money, it is being built as we speak!'... The House prepared to vote on it as soon as Wednesday evening, according to Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), and action in the Senate could follow Thursday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also briefed Trump, later telling reporters that he hopes to have the president's support, because 'he's got a pretty good deal here.'&" ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: The emperor has no clothes. The trick here is as simple as a child's tale. Tell Trump he won. Already he's telling the Trumpenproletariat that Wall has been built & is instructing them that their new chant is "Finish the Wall." I was thinking a few feet of concrete monstrosity should be built for future Trump photo-ops, but really, Photoshop will do. The Justice Department can scrap its memo prohibiting the indictment of a sitting president. Instead, just indict & convict Trump, then send him to a prison like the one pictured below, & tell him it's Trump Castle. Rename the exercise yard "Trump International," put in an Astro-turf putting green (say, here's one on Jeff Bezos' Amazon!), & he won't be the wiser. See also William Saletan's essay, linked below.

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania prison.

Peter Baker & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "President Trump declared on Tuesday that he was 'not happy' about the bipartisan border security compromise negotiated by congressional leaders but would not say whether he would sign it or veto it before another government shutdown hits at midnight Friday.... But he said he thinks he can still add to the measure and avoid another government shutdown. 'I don't think you're going to see a shutdown,' he said. 'If you did have it, it's the Democrats' fault.' He added, 'I am extremely unhappy with what the Democrats have given us.'... The president said he would have a meeting later on the measure.... Republican leaders, including Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, have accepted the agreement as the best they can get at this point to avoid another government shutdown by a Friday deadline. But conservative figures have protested loudly.... The agreement includes a provision that could give the Trump administration broad discretion to increase the number of slots to shelter detained migrants, a win for Republicans that could ease the sting of Mr. Trump's failure to secure full funding for his border wall." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... The Times has a graphic -- with explanations -- of what wall exists, what Trump proposed, what Congress has approved. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... The Art of the Schlemiel. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The deal as laid out does include some border fencing -- $1.375 billion worth, or 55 miles. That's well shy of the $5.7 billion and 200 miles in wall funding he demanded that led to the shutdown, but it's not nothing. Trump could argue that he got something out of the 35-day government closure. But only if you ignore two very important things. One is that this compromise includes a concession to Democrats, too: a reduction in the number of detention beds.... But the bigger issue is this: The amount of funding is actually shy of the original deal Republicans and Democrats reached last year that Trump rejected. At that time, the spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security included $1.6 billion for 65 miles of fencing, both slightly more than the current tentative deal. This was the deal on the table (it passed 26 to 5 in the Senate Appropriations Committee in June) when Trump initially began demanding $5 billion for his wall. He's now getting slightly less than that $1.6 billion while also making a concession to Democrats on detention beds." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Greg Sargent: The "$1.375 billion for new bollard fencing in targeted areas ... [is] nothing like Trump's wall -- it's limited to the kind of fencing that has already been built for years -- and it's substantially short of the $5.7 billion Trump wants. It's nothing remotely close to the wall that haunts the imagination of the president and his rally crowds. The $1.375 billion is slightly less than what Democrats had previously offered him. It can't even be credibly sold as a down payment on the wall.... The fake crisis that Trump invented -- and with it, his broader immigration vision -- is getting repudiated. The only question is whether Trump will agree to the surrender Republicans are trying to negotiate for him." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "After two years and 200 interviews, the Senate Intelligence Committee is approaching the end of its investigation into the 2016 election, having uncovered no direct evidence of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to both Democrats and Republicans on the committee. But investigators disagree along party lines when it comes to the implications of a pattern of contacts they have documented between Trump associates and Russians -- contacts that occurred before, during and after Russian intelligence operatives were seeking to help Donald Trump by leaking hacked Democratic emails and attacking his opponent, Hillary Clinton, on social media. 'If we write a report based upon the facts that we have, then we don't have anything that would suggest there was collusion by the Trump campaign and Russia,' said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in an interview with CBS News last week.... The series of contacts between Trump's associates, his campaign officials, his children and various Russians suggest a campaign willing to accept help from a foreign adversary, the Democrats say." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "On Sunday, President Trump began boasting that he'd been cleared by the Senate Intelligence Committee of any wrongdoing in the 2016 election.... That's not the full context of what Chairman Richard Burr of North Carolina said.... Burr ... acknowledged that some people would see their findings (as they currently stand) as evidence of collusion. 'What I'm telling you is that I'm going to present, as best we can, the facts to you and to the American people,' Burr told CBS. 'And you'll have to draw your own conclusion as to whether you think that, by whatever definition, that's collusion.' In light of all of this investigative energy on the House side, it may be that Senator Burr doesn't feel as much pressure to get to the bottom of Russia's activities. What I know for sure is that other events will have overtaken their investigation long before they've completed writin their report [possibly in about seven months]. Contrary to what the president is saying, they haven't cleared him of anything. It's uncertain if they ever will." ...

... Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee are pushing back on a claim by the panel's chair, Richard Burr (R-N.C.), that the committee's two-year investigation has not found 'anything that would suggest there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.' And they dispute an NBC News report saying that Democrats agreed with Burr that they have yet to see clear evidence of a conspiracy between ... Donald Trump and Moscow. 'That's not true,' Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, told Mother Jones. 'I think it's misleading. The intelligence committee hasn't discussed the matter, let alone released a committee report.' Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), a senior Democrat on the panel, and Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the committee, also said they have not reached any conclusions about their investigation. 'I disagree,' Warner said Tuesday when asked about Burr's claims.... Warner, citing the Manafort revelations, said the public record alone challenges any conclusion that the Trump campaign did not conspire with Russia." ...

... At the Grand Havana Room. Rosalind Helderman & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: An Aug. 2, 2016, encounter [at a private cigar club in Manhattan] between the senior Trump campaign officials [Paul Manafort & Rick Gates] and [Konstantin] Kilimnik, who prosecutors allege has ties to Russian intelligence, has emerged in recent days as a potential fulcrum in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation. It was at that meeting that prosecutors believe Manafort and Kilimnik may have exchanged key information relevant to Russia and Trump's presidential bid. The encounter goes 'very much to the heart of what the special counsel's office is investigating,' prosecutor Andrew Weissmann told a federal judge in a sealed hearing last week. One subject the men discussed was a proposed resolution to the conflict over Ukraine.... During the hearing, the judge also appeared to allude to another possible interaction at the Havana Room gathering: a handoff by Manafort of internal polling data from Trump's presidential campaign to his Russian associate.... What exactly might have been shared with Kilimnik at the Grand Havana Room appears to be a matter of dispute." ...

... Marcy Wheeler: "This August 2, 2016 data hand-off occurred in the specific context of Manafort trying to get whole on his $20 million debt to Oleg Deripaska. The data was [were!] also going to some Ukrainian oligarchs that Manafort expected to pay him $2.4 million in November 2016.... According to [Manafort's] grand jury testimony, at least as described by [prosecutor Andrew] Weissmann -- he clandestinely handed off recent detailed polling data to a guy connected to the agency that was still hacking Hillary Clinton, to be shared with a bunch of oligarchs who could help him reverse his financial fortunes. It seems there's a conspiracy there one way another. Either Manafort effectively stole Trump's campaign data and traded it to foreigners for monetary gain. And/or Manafort handed over that data expecting that the campaign would get a thing of value from the foreigners he was sharing it with. Richard Burr would seem to argue that's not 'collusion' unless Trump knew about it (whether he did is one of the questions Mueller posed to Trump). But it is a conspiracy, an agreement with Konstantin Kilimnik to commit one or more crimes, right there in the middle of the election season." Wheeler finds it curious that Burr & other Republicans aren't outraged that Manafort "was putting his own financial imperatives ahead of sound campaign practice." Her suspicion seems to be that Burr knows or believes that Manafort was actually working at Trump's behest.

** David Lurie in the Daily Beast: "Donald Trump's next attorney general may attempt to immunize the president from impeachment by preventing Congress from reviewing the most significant evidence against him: what Special Counsel Robert Mueller has found.... But [William] Barr's suggestion that Congress can be prevented from seeing prosecutors' evidence against Trump is wrong. A court decision that allowed the House to review the evidence the Watergate prosecutors assembled against Richard Nixon expressly states that Congress has the right to obtain all evidence gathered against a president by criminal investigators in connection with an impeachment proceeding.... An appellate court came to the same conclusion more recently in upholding the right of the House Judiciary Committee to review grand jury materials during an impeachment inquiry respecting a convicted federal judge.... The court observed that an impeachment inquiry could well be considered a 'judicial inquiry,' and to therefore fall within one of the express exceptions to the grand jury secrecy rule applicable to judicial proceedings."

Shahien Nasiripour of Bloomberg News: "The publisher of the National Enquirer, currently under attack by Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, has been facing steep financial losses that have left the once-loyal keeper of Donald Trump's secrets with more than $1 billion in debt and a negative net worth. The closely held American Media Inc. -- led by the president's longtime friend, David Pecker -- recorded a $31.5 million loss in the six months that ended Sept. 30, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg. That marked an improvement over the previous year, but nonetheless brought the company's total losses over the last 5 1/2 fiscal years to $256 million. AMI owed about $203 million more than its assets were worth." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: And these geniuses still thought the company had the wherewithal to blackmail the world's richest man.

Jeff Toobin, in the New Yorker, has an entertaining piece on Roger Stone & Jerome Corsi, the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of a comedic Trumpian adaptation of "Hamlet."

So we have, let's say, 35,000 people tonight. And he has 200 people, 300 people. Not too good. -- Donald Trump, lying of the size of rallies in which he & Beto O'Rourke participatted in in El Paso last night ...

Also too, the only people who showed up for President Obama's first inauguration were a few hundred officials forced to be there under Constitutional requirements. ...

... Rebecca Morin of Politico: "The El Paso Fire Department late Monday denied ... Donald Trump's claim that officials gave him special permission to pack more people in to his rally than the facility allowed.... 'Now the arena holds 8,000. And thank you, Fire Department. They got in about 10,000. Thank you, Fire Department. Appreciate it.'... Fire Department spokesman Enrique Aguilar told the El Paso Times on Monday that Trump did not receive permission to exceed the limit and that there were 6,500 people inside the building during the president's rally. The coliseum holds about 6,500 people. There were thousands more watching Trump's speech on big screens outside the facility.... The president also falsely claimed on Monday night that former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who is considering a 2020 presidential run, only had a couple hundred people attend his counter-rally in El Paso.... Estimates from O'Rourke's anti-border wall protest show that 7,000 to 8,000 people attended his rally. Some other reports put attendance as high as 10,000 to 15,000." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jon Sopel, North American Editor of BBC News: "I would really love to be able to say when I heard about the attack on our cameraman Ron Skeans that I was surprised. Or shocked even. I wasn't.... I covered endless Trump rallies in the run-up to the election and since - and there is a pattern. The attacks on the media are hugely popular with his supporters. They are every bit as much a part of his 'set' as Honky Tonk Woman and Satisfaction are part of a Rolling Stones concert. You just can't imagine it not happening.... There was no security last night, and the attack on Ron was stopped by a Trump-supporting blogger. Law enforcement were slow to get involved.... Each month that passes the attacks have become more vociferous, the violent atmosphere on these occasions more palpable.... President Trump interrupted his speech and checked that Ron was OK. But there was no condemnation. No statement that this was unacceptable." ...

... Eli Stokols & Molly O'Toole of the Los Angeles Times: "... 'Finish the wall' is [Trump's] new rallying cry. Yet two years into his term, not one new mile of a barrier has been erected along the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. At a rally in El Paso on Monday night, Trump went so far as to declare that nearby, just that day, 'the big beautiful wall right on the Rio Grande' had gotten underway. In fact, some brush was cleared in anticipation of construction, according to a check with the Homeland Security Department.... Even as the president has failed to get the funding he wants for a wall, despite two years with a Republican-controlled Congress, he has shifted to declaring victory and claiming credit for the 654 miles of fencing constructed under his predecessors -- the same former presidents he often criticizes for their border policies, as he did Tuesday by derisively referring to 'our past geniuses.' Trump himself directed campaign officials that 'Finish the wall' was to be the theme of the El Paso rally.... With the slogan on red and blue banners hanging from the rafters, and on signs distributed to the crowd, when supporters chanted the usual 'Build the wall,' Trump corrected them: 'You mean finish the wall.'" ...

... ** Trump Rule No. 1: Ignore the Facts. William Saletan of Slate: "On Monday night..., Donald Trump held a rally in El Paso, Texas. He chose the location based on his claim, delivered in last week's State of the Union address, that a border wall had rescued the city from rampant crime. By the time Trump arrived, fact-checkers had demolished this lie, pointing out that the wall had no effect. But Trump told his followers to dismiss the numbers and trust him instead. And they did, because ... they're willing to reject all other sources of information -- crime statistics, intelligence agencies, even conservative media -- when the president tells them to do so.... Trump's message [at the rally] was a recipe for incurable ignorance: Reject all contrary evidence as biased. Reject anyone who reports that evidence. Rely on your leader's anecdotes. Trust the uninformed consensus of your friends. Respond automatically. And ignore anyone who says you're a sucker. You're not being credulous. You're being vigilant against the fakers. You're 'the smart ones.' This is insanity. But among Trump supporters, it's the norm."

Martin Crutsinger of the AP: "The national debt has passed a new milestone, topping $22 trillion for the first time. The Treasury Department's daily statement showed Tuesday that total outstanding public debt stands at $22.01 trillion. It stood at $19.95 trillion when ... Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, 2017. The debt figure has been accelerating since the passage of Trump's $1.5 trillion tax cut in December 2017 and action by Congress last year to increase spending on domestic and military programs.... The Trump administration contends that its tax cuts will eventually pay for themselves by generating faster economic growth. That projection is disputed by many economists. Despite the rising levels of federal debt, many economists say they think the risks remain slight and point to current interest rates, which remain unusually low by historical standards. Still, some budget experts warn that ever-rising federal debt poses substantial risks for the government because it could make it harder to respond to a financial crisis through tax cuts or spending increases."

Juliet Eilperin & Dino Grandoni of the Washington Post: "The Senate on Tuesday passed the most sweeping conservation legislation in a decade, protecting millions of acres of land and hundreds of miles of wild rivers across the country and establishing four new national monuments honoring heroes including Civil War soldiers and a civil rights icon. The 662-page measure, which passed 92 to 8, represented an old-fashioned approach to dealmaking that has largely disappeared on Capitol Hill. Senators from across the ideological spectrum celebrated home-state gains and congratulated each other for bridging the partisan divide. 'It touches every state, features the input of a wide coalition of our colleagues, and has earned the support of a broad, diverse coalition of many advocates for public lands, economic development, and conservation,' said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). It's a paradoxical win for conservation at a time when President Trump has promoted development on public lands and scaled back safeguards established by his predecessors. The bill, which the Congressional Budget Office projects would save taxpayers $9 million, enjoys broad support in the House. The lower chamber is poised to take it up after the mid-February recess, and White House officials have indicated privately that the president will sign it."

Ariane de Vogue & Ted Barrett of CNN: "Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a supporter of abortion rights who cast a critical vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh, said in an interview with CNN that despite his vote in a recent abortion access case, she did not believe Kavanaugh would ultimately vote to overturn Roe v. Wade." Mrs. McC: Sen. Collins reaffirmed that she also believes in unicorns, leprechauns & Santa Claus.

Peter Beinart in the Forward: "The following two things are true. First, Representative Ilhan Omar was wrong to tweet that the American government's support of Israel is 'all about the Benjamins.' Secondly, she's being judged by a grotesque double standard. Her fiercest critics in Congress are guiltier of bigotry than she is. Were the Republicans denouncing Omar sincerely opposed to bigotry, they would not reward bigotry against American Muslims and celebrate bigotry against Palestinians in the West Bank." Beinart runs through a litany of Republican remarks & policies that "endorse bigotry."

Shocking News. Another multi-billionaire -- Bill Gates -- says Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez's proposal to raise taxes on the ultra-rich is "extreme." "But we can be more progressive, the estate tax and the tax on capital, the way the FICA and Social Security taxes work. We can be more progressive without really threatening income generation," Gates said. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Senate Race 2020. Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Chuck Schumer is actively recruiting a high-profile fighter pilot to take on Mitch McConnell in 2020 -- a calculated act of aggression against a leading Republican foe. Schumer met with Amy McGrath, a Marine veteran-turned 2018 congressional candidate, at Democratic Party headquarters last month to pitch her on running against McConnell. McGrath listened and didn't rule it out. The Democratic leader first contacted McGrath in December.... [In the 2018 race,] she was narrowly defeated by [Rep. Andy Barr (R)].

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The Mexican crime lord known as El Chapo was convicted on Tuesday after a three-month drug trial in New York that exposed the inner workings of his sprawling cartel, which over decades shipped tons of drugs into the United States and plagued Mexico with relentless bloodshed and corruption. The guilty verdict against the kingpin, whose real name is Joaquín Guzmán Loera, ended the career of a legendary outlaw who also served as a dark folk hero in Mexico, notorious for his innovative smuggling tactics, his violence against competitors, his storied prison breaks and his nearly unstoppable ability to evade the Mexican authorities.... The jury's decision came more than a week after the panel started deliberations at the trial in Federal District Court in Brooklyn where prosecutors presented a mountain of evidence against the cartel leader, including testimony from 56 witnesses, 14 of whom once worked with Mr. Guzmán. Mr. Guzman now faces life in prison at his sentencing hearing, scheduled for June 25." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Commentariat -- February 12, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Peter Baker & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "President Trump declared on Tuesday that he was 'not happy' about the bipartisan border security compromise negotiated by congressional leaders but would not say whether he would sign it or veto it before another government shutdown hits at midnight Friday.... But he said he thinks he can still add to the measure and avoid another government shutdown. 'I don't think you're going to see a shutdown,' he said. 'If you did have it, it's the Democrats' fault.' He added, 'I am extremely unhappy with what the Democrats have given us.'... The president said he would have a meeting later on the measure.... Republican leaders, including Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, have accepted the agreement as the best they can get at this point to avoid another government shutdown by a Friday deadline. But conservative figures have protested loudly.... The agreement includes a provision that could give the Trump administration broad discretion to increase the number of slots to shelter detained migrants, a win for Republicans that could ease the sting of Mr. Trump's failure to secure full funding for his border wall." ...

     ... The Times has a graphic -- with explanations -- of what wall exists, what Trump proposed, what Congress has approved. ...

... "The Art of the Deal." Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The deal as laid out does include some border fencing -- $1.375 billion worth, or 55 miles. That's well shy of the $5.7 billion and 200 miles in wall funding he demanded that led to the shutdown, but it's not nothing. Trump could argue that he got something out of the 35-day government closure. But only if you ignore two very important things. One is that this compromise includes a concession to Democrats, too: a reduction in the number of detention beds.... But the bigger issue is this: The amount of funding is actually shy of the original deal Republicans and Democrats reached last year that Trump rejected. At that time, the spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security included $1.6 billion for 65 miles of fencing, both slightly more than the current tentative deal. This was the deal on the table (it passed 26 to 5 in the Senate Appropriations Committee in June) when Trump initially began demanding $5 billion for his wall. He's now getting slightly less than that $1.6 billion while also making a concession to Democrats on detention beds." ...

... Greg Sargent: The "$1.375 billion for new bollard fencing in targeted areas ... [is] nothing like Trump's wall -- it's limited to the kind of fencing that has already been built for years -- and it's substantially short of the $5.7 billion Trump wants. It's nothing remotely close to the wall that haunts the imagination of the president and his rally crowds. The $1.375 billion is slightly less than what Democrats had previously offered him. It can't even be credibly sold as a down payment on the wall.... The fake crisis that Trump invented -- and with it, his broader immigration vision -- is getting repudiated. The only question is whether Trump will agree to the surrender Republicans are trying to negotiate for him."

Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "After two years and 200 interviews, the Senate Intelligence Committee is approaching the end of its investigation into the 2016 election, having uncovered no direct evidence of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to both Democrats and Republicans on the committee. But investigators disagree along party lines when it comes to the implications of a pattern of contacts they have documented between Trump associates and Russians -- contacts that occurred before, during and after Russian intelligence operatives were seeking to help Donald Trump by leaking hacked Democratic emails and attacking his opponent, Hillary Clinton, on social media. 'If we write a report based upon the facts that we have, then we don't have anything that would suggest there was collusion by the Trump campaign and Russia,' said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in an interview with CBS News last week.... The series of contacts between Trump's associates, his campaign officials, his children and various Russians suggest a campaign willing to accept help from a foreign adversary, the Democrats say."

So we have, let's say, 35,000 people tonight," the president said. "And he has 200 people, 300 people. Not too good. -- Donald Trump, lying of the size of rallies in which he & Beto O'Rourke participated in in El Paso last night ...

Also too, the only people who showed up for President Obama's first inauguration were officials forced to be there under Constitutional requirements.

... Rebecca Morin of Politico: "The El Paso Fire Department late Monday denied ... Donald Trump's claim that officials gave him special permission to pack more people in to his rally than the facility allowed.... 'Now the arena holds 8,000. And thank you, Fire Department. They got in about 10,000. Thank you, Fire Department. Appreciate it.'... Fire Department spokesman Enrique Aguilar told the El Paso Times on Monday that Trump did not receive permission to exceed the limit and that there were 6,500 people inside the building during the president's rally. The coliseum holds about 6,500 people. There were thousands more watching Trump's speech on big screens outside the facility.... The president also falsely claimed on Monday night that former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who is considering a 2020 presidential run, only had a couple hundred people attend his counter-rally in El Paso.... Estimates from O'Rourke's anti-border wall protest show that 7,000 to 8,000 people attended his rally. Some other reports put attendance as high as 10,000 to 15,000."

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The Mexican crime lord known as El Chapo was convicted on Tuesday after a three-month drug trial in New York that exposed the inner workings of his sprawling cartel, which over decades shipped tons of drugs into the United States and plagued Mexico with relentless bloodshed and corruption. The guilty verdict against the kingpin, whose real name is Joaquín Guzmán Loera, ended the career of a legendary outlaw who also served as a dark folk hero in Mexico, notorious for his innovative smuggling tactics, his violence against competitors, his storied prison breaks and his nearly unstoppable ability to evade the Mexican authorities.... The jury's decision came more than a week after the panel started deliberations at the trial in Federal District Court in Brooklyn where prosecutors presented a mountain of evidence against the cartel leader, including testimony from 56 witnesses, 14 of whom once worked with Mr. Guzmán. Mr. Guzman now faces life in prison at his sentencing hearing, scheduled for June 25."

Shocking News. Another multi-billionaire -- Bill Gates -- says Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez's proposal to raise taxes on the ultra-rich is "extreme." "But we can be more progressive, the estate tax and the tax on capital, the way the FICA and Social Security taxes work. We can be more progressive without really threatening income generation," Gates said.

*****

Emily Cochrane & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "House and Senate negotiators on Monday night agreed 'in principle' to provide $1.375 billion for physical barriers at the southwestern border, according to two congressional aides. It is a figure far lower than the $5.7 billion that President Trump had demanded for a border wall. The deal, which would stave off another partial government shutdown at midnight Friday, appears to be a significant victory for Democrats. It came together just before Mr. Trump was about to begin a campaign and 'Finish the Wall' rally in El Paso. It still must pass the House and Senate, and secure Mr. Trump's signature. The negotiators also agreed to reduce the number of migrants and undocumented immigrants who can be held in detention. It would allow for 55 miles of new bollard fencing, with some restrictions on location based on community and environmental concerns, according to the two aides, who requested anonymity to disclose details of the negotiations. The is a fraction of the hundreds of miles of steel-and-concrete wall that the president shut down the government over in December." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: You might think Congress has had enough of Donald Trump. ...

... Mark Landler & Simon Romero of the New York Times: "President Trump came to [El Paso, Texas,] ... on Monday to rally support for his wall with Mexico. But he was met by El Paso's favorite son, Beto O'Rourke, who denounced Mr. Trump's claim that walls reduce violent crime and led the city's residents in his own boisterous show of opposition. The dueling rallies, just across the Rio Grande from Mexico, offered a vivid snapshot of the national debate over immigration, as well as a tantalizing early glimpse of the rivalry between Mr. Trump and Mr. O'Rourke, the former Texas congressman who is now considering a challenge to the president in 2020.... 'Walls work,' he said, repeating his assertion that the crime rate went down in El Paso after the border wall was built. 'Thanks to a border wall with Mexico,' he said, El Paso is 'one of America's safest cities.' Mr. O'Rourke debunked that claim on Friday in a lengthy post on the website Medium, in which he also tried to set out an alternative blueprint for overhauling the nation's immigration laws. El Paso's success, he said, repudiated Mr. Trump's call for a border wall.... A short walk from the coliseum [where Trump spoke], protesters gathered to march in a show of dissent against the president." ...

Trump's 2020 slogan is Stronger Together? Um, my head hurts. -- Jesse Ferguson, deputy spokesperson for Clinton, in a tweet ...

... Chris Rodrigo of the Hill: "The GOP released a graphic Monday that mirrors a tagline from Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. 'We're only getting stronger together,' the graphic says superimposed over a picture of President Trump. Trump made the statement during a rally in El Paso, Texas, on Monday night. The tweet was sent during the rally. The phrase 'Stronger Together' was also the slogan of Clinton's 2016 candidacy. Clinton and her running-mate Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) wrote a book during the campaign with that same name." ...

... Kate Riga of TPM: "Ron Skeans, a BBC cameraman, was roughly shoved by a man clad in a MAGA hat at ... Donald Trump's rally in El Paso Monday night. According to a BBC report, the man had been attacking various news crews, but Skeans got the worst of it, the blow so blindsiding him that the camera dipped to the floor and swung around crazily until the man was restrained. Trump saw the attack from the stage and paused to give Skeans a thumbs up and ask if everything was okay. Mere minutes later, Trump brought attention to the press in the room, jeering at them and eliciting boos from the crowd." ...

     ... Mrs. McC: In many cases, I try to go with the first report -- in this case the BBC -- but the BBC's report was so poorly-written, I let Riga do the rewrite. According to the BBC report, bystanders opined that the attacker was drunk.

Lauren Aratani of the Guardian & agencies: "Lawyers for eight immigrant families separated under Trump administration policy have filed claims against the US government, demanding $6m each in damages for what they describe as 'inexplicable cruelty' and lasting trauma. In claims filed to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security, released on Monday, the parents accuse immigration officers of taking their children away without giving them information, sometimes without even a chance to say goodbye. The claims allege the children remain traumatized...." ...

Donald Trump's Weekend in Racist Tweets:

Admitting Real Reason for Wall. Gallup Poll: 'Open Borders will potentially attract 42 million Latin Americans.' This would be a disaster for the U.S. We need the Wall now! (Feb. 10)

Making Fun of Trail of Tears. Today Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to by me as Pocahontas, joined the race for President. Will she run as our first Native American presidential candidate, or has she decided that after 32 years, this is not playing so well anymore? See you on the campaign TRAIL, Liz! (Feb. 9)

BONUS Trump Family Racist Instagram Post. Savage!!! Love my President. -- Donnie Junior, "liking" Dad's Native-American smear

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Josh Kovensky of TPM: "National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc. asked the Justice Department whether it should register as a Saudi agent, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The newspaper reported that a redacted letter published by the DOJ's Foreign Agents Registration Act unit was addressed to American Media. The letter concerned the company's release of a magazine praising Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, published to coincide with a visit he took to Washington in March 2018.... The DOJ decided that American Media's activities did not qualify it as a foreign agent under FARA. The letter also says that American Media hired an unnamed advisor to the Saudi government to write an article for and edit the magazine, titled 'The New Kingdom.'"

The Reluctant Witness. Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Congress is now 0 for 3 in trying to bring in Michael Cohen..., Donald Trump's former lawyer, for testimony before he is scheduled to report to federal prison in early March. The latest panel to come up short in landing Trump's longtime fixer is the Senate Intelligence Committee, which had issued a subpoena to get closed-door testimony from Cohen on Tuesday. In a statement on Monday, Cohen's lawyer Lanny Davis said the Senate panel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election had accepted his client's request for a delay 'due to post-surgery medical needs.' 'A future date will be announced by the committee,' Davis added. Cohen had surgery on his shoulder in January as he prepares to report to federal prison March 6 to begin a three-year sentence for tax fraud and lying to Congress."

Andrew Desiderio & Burgess Everett of Politico: "Senate Republicans are fuming at ... Donald Trump for telling lawmakers he would disregard a law requiring a report to Congress determining who is responsible for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The uproar among Republicans is just the latest example of their deep discontent with the president's foreign policy. It could prompt even more defections in favor of a Democrat-led resolution coming before the House and Senate this month to cut off U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen's civil war.... On Friday, the Trump administration said it reserved the right to decline lawmakers' demand under the Magnitsky Act that the president report to Congress with a determination of who is responsible for Khashoggi's October slaying.... Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) ... said, '... The president has to comply with the Magnitsky Act. He has not done so in a timely manner yet.'... Democrats said the administration's response amounted to a cover-up and a willing violation of the law.' The report cites criticisms from several other GOP senators & "Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.... [But] Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) [-- the new chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee --] ... wouldn't commit to further action to compel compliance with the Magnitsky Act, a marked contrast to [Sen. Bob] Corker's time as chairman."

James Bamford, in a long New Republic piece, makes the case than Maria Butina is not a Russian spy but an idealistic naif whom U.S. prosecutors are scapegoating.

Maggie Haberman & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Cliff Sims, the former White House communications aide who wrote an insider account of life working for President Trump, is suing the president in his official capacity, alleging that he used his campaign organization as a 'cutout' to improperly seek retribution against former employees and keep them from invoking their First Amendment rights. Mr. Sims was a White House aide from the beginning of the administration. But it was the campaign organization that filed an arbitration claim against him last week, accusing him of violating the nondisclosure agreement he signed with it during the 2016 presidential race with the publication of his book, 'Team of Vipers,' last month. The White House had dozens of people sign such agreements at the beginning of the president's term. But those agreements are widely seen as likely unenforceable.... Mr. Sims's lawsuit alleges that Mr. Trump 'is seeking to impose civil liability against Mr. Sims through application of NDAs that apply to information Mr. Sims learned solely during his federal service.'... The suit notes that Mr. Trump appears to be selective in enforcing the nondisclosure agreements."

All the Best People, Ctd. Michael Brice-Saddler of the Washington Post: "AccuWeather, a private weather company whose former chief executive is President Trump's nominee to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, agreed to pay $290,000 as part of a settlement after a federal oversight agency found the company subjected female employees to sexual harassment and a hostile work environment. The conciliation agreement was published in June after an investigation by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. The agreement was first reported Monday by the Centre Daily Times. The agreement states AccuWeather subjected women to 'sexual harassment and a hostile work environment' and would pay out thousands to dozens of women as part of a settlement. Barry Myers, tapped by Trump in 2017 to lead NOAA, became Pennsylvania-based AccuWeather's chief executive in 2007 and stepped down Jan. 1, agreeing to divest himself of any company ownership in accordance with an ethics pledge to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.... His brother, Joel Myers, is founder and president of AccuWeather." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: What? A Trump nominee who ran a company that harasses female employees? Bet you're shocked.

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Representative Ilhan Omar, who has been battling charges of anti-Semitism for weeks, apologized on Monday for insinuating that American support for Israel is fueled by money from a pro-Israel lobbying group -- a comment that drew swift and unqualified condemnation from fellow Democrats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi. 'Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes,' Ms. Omar, a freshman Democrat from Minnesota and one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, said in a statement that she released on Twitter. 'My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole.' She added, 'I unequivocally apologize.'" ...

... J Street: "J Street is dismayed and frustrated by the ongoing war of words that has taken place between lawmakers including Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) and others on the subjects of Israel, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and anti-Semitism. This pattern of overheated, ill-considered and reductive attacks, playing out on social media and in the press, has failed to address these issues with the nuance, sensitivity and seriousness that they deserve. It does nothing to advance the true interests and needs of Israelis or Palestinians, nor those of the American Jewish community. Elected officials should be particularly sensitive and careful on the question of the role played by campaign contributions in influencing US policies toward Israel and the Middle East. There is no doubt that money often plays a major role in our political system. At the same time, elected officials must be extremely aware that tropes about Jewish money and political influence have been used for centuries to target and stigmatize our community. Indeed, such tropes featured alarmingly in the campaign ads of Republican candidates during the 2018 election cycle." ...

... Ryan Grim of the Intercept: "A debate about the power in Washington of the pro-Israel lobby is underway, after Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., responded sharply to reports that Republican leader Kevin McCarthy was targeting both Omar and fellow Muslim Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat from Michigan. Omar quoted rap lyrics -- 'It's all about the Benjamins baby' -- to suggest McCarthy's move was driven by the lobby's prolific spending. Asked specifically who she was referring to, Omar responded, 'AIPAC!' The debate ... could be informed by an investigation by Al Jazeera, in which an undercover reporter infiltrated The Israel Project, a Washington-based group, and secretly recorded conversations about political strategy and influence over a six-month period in 2016. That investigation, however, was never aired by the network -- suppressed by pressure from the pro-Israel lobby. In November, Electronic Intifada obtained and published the four-part series, but it did so during the week of the midterm elections, and the documentary did not get a lot of attention then. In it, leaders of the pro-Israel lobby speak openly about how they use money to influence the political process, in ways so blunt that if the comments were made by critics, they'd be charged with anti-Semitism. David Ochs, founder of HaLev, which helps send young people to AIPAC's annual conference, described for the reporter how AIPAC and its donors organize fundraisers outside the official umbrella of the organization, so that the money doesn't show up on disclosures as coming specifically from AIPAC." ...

... Congressmen and senators don't do anything unless you pressure them. They kick the can down the road, unless you pressure them, and the only way to do that is with money. -- David Ochs, explaining how the pro-Israel lobbying groups operate

Guess what? That's pretty much how most big lobbying groups operate. You could check with the NRA or MoveOn.org or the AFL-CIO. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Marianne Levine of Politico: "Sen. Rand Paul said Monday that he will vote against confirming ... Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general, William Barr, citing his record on privacy issues. 'I'm a no,' the Kentucky Republican said in a brief interview. 'He's been the chief advocate for warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens. I think that the Fourth Amendment should protect your phone calls and your bank information. People shouldn't be allowed to look at it without a warrant.'... Democratic Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama said last week he would vote to confirm Barr." Mrs. McC: Wow! Li'l Randy is a big maverick -- when his vote will have no consequence. Hope Barr doesn't tap his wires.

Paul Krugman on national debt, deficit scolds & Democrats & Republicans. Mrs. McC: This is an old refrain of Krugman's, one that nobody seems to read, which I assume is the reason Krugman keeps singing the same damned song, hoping it will catch on. What Krugman doesn't discuss here -- and I think he & other economists should -- is that "socialism" is not necessarily costly at all; in fact, it can save money. For one thing, it can have obvious economic benefits in that government projects that feed people, get them & their stuff from place to place, or keep the peace, & so forth, lead to greater prosperity. If you're healthy, well-fed, safe & can get to work on time, you'll be a more productive worker. For another, socialism has the obvious advantage over private industry in its economies of scale; for instance, government-managed health care usually achieves the same benefits for less money than privately-run health industries: I'd rather pay $90 for socialized medicine (via taxes) than $100 for private care (out of pocket). Third -- and of course this is what Republicans hate the most -- equitable distribution of benefits. Republicans would probably be fine with funding a couple of truck-and-limo superlanes on an Interstate, but a free-ticket public transit rail line that primarily gets the poor people of Hoboken to & from jobs in Manhattan, not so much.

Presidential Race 2020 -- Collapse of the Never-Trumpers

Charles Pierce: "I had the sense that most [Never-Trumpers] were more concerned with damage to the [Republican] brand than with the damage to the republic. This was a revelatory weekend for people who believed as I did. Let's go to the videotape. First, Erick Erickson dropped this bunker-busting dungbomb at the Resurgent. 'Some of my concerns about President Trump remain. I still struggle on the character issue and I understand Christian friends who would rather sit it out than get involved.... But I also recognize that we cannot have the Trump Administration policies without President Trump and there is much to like....' Grab all the pussy you can as long as more of the wealth gets pushed upwards. Conspire and collude with thuggish autocrats as long as I can maintain control over every woman's ovaries.... Moving along, we find that the briefly unemployed Never Trumpers who have clustered at The Bulwark have found a new plutocrat to love: ... [Howard Schultz].... And, finally, there was a very weird episode over the weekend from Steve Schmidt.... The disease rages on." ...

... Steve M.: "... it appears that [Charlie Pierce] was right all along.... Erick Erickson['s essay is] titled 'I'll Be Voting for President Trump and Vice President Pence in 2020.'... The main problem the #NeverTrumpers, or at least Erickson and his kind, had with Trump was that they were afraid he wouldn't be fully on board with the mean-spirited, avaricious, bigoted, rapacious program of the contemporary GOP.... Now Erickson knows that he can trust Trump with the vast majority of the GOP's program. He also knows that he has no choice for 2020 -- Trump won't lose the nomination, so it's either Trump or (nooooooo!) a Democrat." ...

... Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "There were #NeverTrumper people who were kind of getting accustomed to having one foot outside of the Party of Lincoln until they got a load of Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax and puddles began to form around their ankles. They're beginning to fear that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's proposed 70 percent top marginal income tax rate is more popular than the idea of a President Michael Bloomberg.... Suddenly, Trump doesn't look so bad. After all, he did build the Autobahn deliver on tax reform, regulatory rollbacks, and undermining Obamacare. He did withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord. He is cracking down on the crazy socialists in Venezuela and Cuba. And look at all those Heritage Foundation judges!" ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Let's bear in mind that somewhere around half the Republican senators (Mitt Romney) also were Never-Trumpers or something akin to it. Yet they've spent these past two years voting nearly in lock-step with Trump. Admittedly, that's because Trump, who knows nothing except white people uber alles!, has gone alone with most of the GOP agenda, as Steve so correctly characterized.

Senate Race 2020. Jonathan Cooper of the AP: "Retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who rocketed to the national spotlight when his congresswoman wife Gabrielle Giffords was shot in a failed assassination attempt, announced Tuesday he's running to finish John McCain's last term in the U.S. Senate. Kelly, 54, is a top Democratic recruit to take on Republican Martha McSally in one of the most closely contested Senate races of the 2020 election.... If Kelly is nominated, the race would pit a Navy veteran and astronaut against a trailblazing Air Force pilot in the contest to replace McCain, a legendary Navy flyer who was famously shot down and held captive.... U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego of Phoenix is also considering a Senate run, which would likely set up a tough fight for the ... nomination."

Beyond the Beltway

Illinois. Julie Bosman of the New York Times: "Prosecutors in Illinois are challenging the prison sentence of Jason Van Dyke, the Chicago police officer who was convicted last year of killing Laquan McDonald and sentenced to nearly seven years in prison, a term that was criticized by many in Chicago as too lenient. In a petition filed Monday, Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Joseph McMahon, the special prosecutor in Mr. Van Dyke's trial, asked the Illinois Supreme Court to review whether the sentence, after a conviction of second-degree murder, was proper under the law.... At issue is whether Mr. Van Dyke, who was also convicted of 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm for each of the 16 shots he fired, should be sentenced for the aggravated batteries, which could result in a significantly longer prison term. Under his current sentence, exclusively for the second-degree murder conviction, he could be released from prison in as little as three years."

Virginia. Patrick Wilson of the Richmond Times-Dispatch: "Two of the three government staffers to Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and two employees of his political action committee resigned following news Friday of a second sexual assault allegation against him. [One of] the PAC employees who left [is] Dave Mills, who was the executive director of We Rise Together.... Mills is the husband of state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, who is considered a strong contender to replace Fairfax as lieutenant governor should Fairfax resign.... The job of lieutenant governor is part time. Fairfax is a lawyer at the firm Morrison & Foerster, which has placed him on paid leave." ...

... Kevin Draper, et al., of the New York Times: "The woman who has accused Virginia's lieutenant governor, Justin E. Fairfax, of raping her said that a former N.B.A. player, Corey Maggette, raped her at Duke University 20 years ago and that school officials did not pursue the claim, according to a childhood friend of the woman and Facebook messages the woman exchanged with another friend.... Mr. Maggette denied the accusation through a spokesman Monday evening.... Nancy Erika Smith, the lawyer for the woman who accused Mr. Maggette and Mr. Fairfax, Meredith Watson, said in a statement Friday ... that Ms. Watson had reported her rape [by Maggette] to an unspecified dean at the university, but that the dean had 'discouraged her from pursuing the claim further.'" Watson told a friend she did not report the alleged rape by Fairfax because the university had not helped her in her claims against Maggette. ...

... Oh, Ha Ha Ha. Darren Sands of BuzzFeed News: "As Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam continues to resist calls to step down over the racist photo on his medical school yearbook page, he and his advisers are close to finalizing plans for a statewide 'listening tour' to engage different communities in conversations about race. Additionally, a source close to the governor said Northam is telling people privately that if the commonwealth's legislature puts a bill on his desk that provides the authority to bring down Confederate statues that he would sign it." Mrs. McC: That's like to happen. The Party of the Lost Cause control both houses. Also, read the last graf of Sands' post. I suppose we should be happy Dr. Ralph is trying to get woke. ...

... Sarah Jones of New York: "With Northam and Fairfax running out their political life spans, the party's left with Mark Herring, the state attorney general. Herring admitted to wearing blackface to a college party, and his apology was generally better received than Northam's."