The Commentariat -- April 10, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "Rod J. Rosenstein, the veteran Republican prosecutor handpicked by President Trump to serve as deputy attorney general, personally signed off on Monday's F.B.I. decision to raid the office of Michael D. Cohen Mr. Trump's personal attorney and longtime confidant, three government officials said. The early-morning searches enraged Mr. Trump, associates said, setting off an angry public tirade Monday evening that continued in private at the White House as the president fumed about whether he should fire Mr. Rosenstein. The episode has deeply unsettled White House aides, Justice Department officials and lawmakers from both parties, who believe the president may use it as a pretext to purge the team leading the investigation into Russia meddling in the 2016 election.... Mr. Rosenstein's personal involvement in the decision signals that the evidence seen by law enforcement officials was significant enough to persuade the Justice Department's second-in-command that such an aggressive move was necessary.... Mr. Trump considered firing Mr. Rosenstein last summer. Instead, he ordered Mr. Mueller to be fired, then backed down after the White House counsel refused to carry out the order, The New York Times reported in January." ...
... New Lede: "The F.B.I. agents who raided the office of President Trump's personal lawyer on Monday were looking for records about payments to two women [Playboy model Karen McDougal & adult-film actress Stormy Daniels] who claim they had affairs with Mr. Trump, and information related to the publisher of The National Enquirer's role in silencing one of the women, several people briefed on the investigation said." ...
... Ken White, in the New York Times, provides an excellent summary of why the FBI's raid of Cohen's records is "highly dangerous, and not just for Mr. Cohen. It's perilous for the president, whose personal lawyer now may face a choice between going down fighting alone or saving his own skin by giving the wolves what they want."
Rats ... Sinking Ship. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "The Trump administration announced another major departure from its senior ranks on Tuesday, with the resignation of Thomas P. Bossert as President Trump's chief adviser on homeland security. Mr. Bossert's resignation coincided with the arrival of John R. Bolton as the president's national security adviser, and was an unmistakable sign that Mr. Bolton is intent on naming his own people." ...
... Update: Jeremy Diamond, et al., of CNN: "White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert was pushed out of his position by the newly installed national security adviser John Bolton, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN on Tuesday."
Juliet Eilperin & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "Two Democratic senators demanded a congressional inquiry Tuesday into the justification underpinning the round-the-clock security detail for Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, citing new documents suggesting that level of security is not justified. Writing to Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), fellow panel members Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) reference several internal EPA documents -- which they kept confidential ... -- that allude to the kind of threats that have not traditionally triggered 24/7 protection. Those include messages threatening to leave scrapings of old paint at the administrator's office and one telling Pruitt 'we are watching you' on the agency's climate-related policies.... The agency pushed back strongly on Tuesday. 'Scott Pruitt has faced an unprecedented amount of death threats against him,' spokesman Jahan Wilcox said in a statement...." ...
New York Times: "Facebook's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, will make his much-anticipated appearance before members of Congress starting Tuesday afternoon. In two days of hearings, he will face tough questions on how and why the company failed to protect the delicate data of many millions of its users.... The joint Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees will hold their hearing shortly after the start of 2:15 p.m. floor vote on Tuesday. Mr. Zuckerberg will appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee at 10 a.m. Wednesday."
*****
Trump has cancelled his scheduled trip to Latin America to vent about "unfair, disgraceful" FBI raid oversee the U.S.'s response to Syria. I'll put up a print link to the story when one comes up. -- Mrs. McC
President Trump will not attend the 8th Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru or travel to Bogota, Colombia as originally scheduled. At the President's request, the Vice President will travel in his stead. The President will remain in the United States to oversee the American response to Syria and to monitor developments around the world. -- Sarah Sanders
... Update: Here's the WashPo story, by John Wagner & Anne Gearan.
BTW, Trump is tweeting this morning. At of 7:15 am ET, here is the totality of his tweets: (1) "Attorney-client privilege is dead!" (2) "A TOTAL WITCH HUNT!!!" MEANWHILE, FBI agents are sitting around a big ole table, going through stacks of TrumpCohen detritus & practicing their Ving Rhames imitations: "We have the meats."
** Uh-Oh. Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. on Monday raided the office of President Trump's longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, seizing records related to several topics including payments to a pornographic-film actress. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan obtained the search warrant after receiving a referral from the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, according to Mr. Cohen's lawyer, who called the search 'completely inappropriate and unnecessary.' The search does not appear to be directly related to Mr. Mueller's investigation, but likely resulted from information he had uncovered and gave to prosecutors in New York.... The payments [Cohen says he made] to [Stephanie] Clifford are only one of many topics being investigated, according to a person briefed on the search. The F.B.I. also seized emails, tax documents and business records, the person said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... New Lede: "The F.B.I. raided the office and hotel room of President Trump's longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, on Monday, seizing business records, emails and documents related to several topics, including payments to a pornographic film actress. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating Mr. Cohen for possible bank fraud, and the documents identified in the warrant date back years, according to a person briefed on the search." ...
... Kate Riga of TPM writes, "The Wall Street Journal reported that the agents also searched Cohen's home and Manhattan hotel room." ...
... Carol Leonnig & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "Michael Cohen, the longtime attorney of President Trump, is under federal investigation for possible bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations, according to a person with knowledge of the case.... Among the documents seized were privileged communications between Cohen and his clients -- including those with Trump, according to a person familiar with the investigators' work. Investigators took Cohen's computer, phone and personal financial records as part of the search of his office at Rockefeller Center, the person said.... Under Department of Justice regulations governing the special counsel's work, Mueller is required to consult with Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein if his team finds information worth investigating that does not fall under his mandate." (This is an update of a story linked late yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Trump speaks about Syria halfway through the video above, then answers questions about the Mueller investigation beginning at 6:40 min. in. ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post has an annotated transcript of Trump's remarks. ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Trump repeatedly calls the raids "a disgrace," but the disgraceful part of Trump's tirade is the tirade itself. He accuses top U.S. officials, many of whom are his own appointees (or his attorney generals') of "breaking in" to his personal attorney's office in "an attack on our country"; he accuses them of "conflicts of interest" & political bias -- even the known Republicans aren't "real" Republicans: they're Obama appointees; he criticizes his own attorney general; he contemplates firing the special investigator, he accuses a former Secretary of State & wife of a former president of multiple crimes. If this were any other president, the accusations against Clinton would be front-page news; instead, news reports don't even mention them. ...
... David Graham of The Atlantic: "Hours after the FBI raided the office, home, and hotel room of his sometime-personal attorney Michael Cohen, President Trump delivered an angry response at the White House on Monday.... Taken together, however, it becomes apparent that Trump is not really angry at individuals so much as he is at the rule of law itself.... Monday's comments, including his stunning equation of a legal warrant with a burglary, are the clearest demonstration that Trump is engaged not just in a political attack, but in a campaign against the rule of law, and the U.S. approach to justice, itself. 'It's an attack on our country, in a true sense,' Trump said Monday. 'It's an attack on what we all stand for.' He's right about that -- he's just wrong about who's doing the attacking." --safari ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Probably worth noting: the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York who signed off on the raid of Cohen's records is Geoffrey Berman; Jeff Sessions appointed Berman 10 months after Trump fired Preet Bharara, the previous U.S. attorney for the district. Berman contributed to Trump's 2016 campaign. ...
... Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "... the FBI's seizure on Monday of privileged communications between Trump and his private lawyer, Michael D. Cohen -- as well as documents related to a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels ... -- was a particularly extraordinary move that opens a whole new front in the converging legal battles ensnaring the administration. Cohen is Trump's virtual vault -- the keeper of his secrets, from his business deals to his personal affairs -- and the executor of his wishes. 'This search warrant is like dropping a bomb on Trump's front porch,' said Joyce White Vance, a former U.S. attorney in Alabama.... The president spent much of Monday afternoon glued to the television. Aides said Trump watched cable news coverage of surprise raids on Cohen's Manhattan office, home and hotel room by FBI agents, who took the lawyer's computer, phone and personal financial records after a referral from Mueller.... [Trump] complained about [Rod] Rosenstein again Monday in private, a White House adviser said, and stewed all afternoon about the warrant to seize Cohen's records, at times raising his voice." ...
Mike Allen of Axios: "Sources close to the president say that a political dispute with special counsel Robert Mueller has turned visceral and personal after the feds' raid on the New York offices of Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer and fixer...[One] source continued: 'This is the first crisis post-Hope Hicks.... This was different: I've never seen him like this before.... This is the president you're going to see more of from here on out: unvarnished, untethered.'... [Another source notes] 'This was the "red line" of intrusion into personal financial matters.'...Close aides are recommending against firing Mueller. But that means little these days." --safari ...
... digby surmises that the Stormy Daniels case is probably incidental to the raids. She points to a McClatchy story we linked here last week: "Armed with subpoenas compelling electronic records and sworn testimony, Mueller's team showed up unannounced at the home of [a] business associate [of the Trump Organization], who was a party to multiple transactions connected to Trump's effort to expand his brand abroad, according to persons familiar with the proceedings." ...
... Judd Legum of ThinkProgress: "... it was the approval of the search warrants themselves that should terrify Trump. The best explanation, remarkably, came from Andrew Napolitano, a Fox News legal analyst. Napolitano explained that, under normal circumstances, communications between Trump and his attorney are privileged. But this privilege does not apply if there is 'a serious allegation of illegal activity, by the lawyer with the client,' he said. 'There must be some evidence presented to a federal judge here in New York City sufficient to persuade that judge to sign a search warrant to permit the FBI in broad daylight to raid an attorney's office, particularly when that attorney has one client and it happens to be the president of the United States,' Napolitano told Fox News' Neil Cavuto. 'That evidence would have to be such as to persuade a neutral observer, the federal judge, that it is more likely than not, that among these seized documents is evidence of crimes by Mr. Cohen or Mr. Cohen and the president.'..." ...
... Matt Ford of the New Republic: "Executing a search warrant against any attorney's office, let alone personal lawyer for the president of the United States, is no small matter. Attorney and legal blogger Ken White noted that the federal guidelines require prosecutors to seek approval from the Justice Department's upper echelons before applying for a warrant targeting a lawyer's office. That DOJ officials approved the raid suggests that the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan had an extremely good reason to search Cohen's workplace." ...
... Betsy Woodruff & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are treating Michael Cohen like he's a lawyer for the mob. That's how seasoned white collar defense attorneys describe the raid on Cohen's office, home, and hotel room conducted on April 9." ...
... Andrew Prokop of Vox: "... we don't yet know exactly why Cohen is under such legal scrutiny.... Still, the fact that this is being handled by a US attorney's office rather than Mueller does seem noteworthy. It suggests that if Trump would want to shut down this investigation, he can't do so by firing Mueller -- and that his efforts to co-opt the Justice Department have been unsuccessful for the time being." ...
... Adam Serwer of The Atlantic: "Whatever evidence federal prosecutors have collected concerning Michael Cohen, President Trump's longtime attorney, it is most likely extraordinarily strong.... The warrant sought not only would have had to have been approved by officials at the Department of Justice, but a federal judge would have had to sign off on it, knowing that he would be sanctioning a raid against the personal attorney of a sitting president. They all signed off anyway." --safari ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie Note: It's unclear who's "in charge" here. Numerous news reports indicate it's New York's U.S. attorney, & that the raids relate to subjects of interest to that office. But Preet Bharara, the previous N.Y. U.S. attorney, said on MSNBC that any action that takes places in the New York district would require sign-off by the local U.S. attorney. So the raids on Cohen's records could be entirely related to Mueller's investigation & only tangentially to matters of interest to the N.Y. U.S. attorney. ...
... The GOP's own Rick Wilson, writing in the Daily Beast, is amused (and amusing): "Monday's FBI raids on Michael Cohen's Trump Tower office, his hotel room, and his home all provided a proper dose of comeuppance to a man more accustomed to screaming threats, shit-tier legal theorizing, and putting his strip-mall law degree to work in service of Donald Trump.... Master of the NDA, Cohen thought attorney-client privilege would protect him.... Trump must know this may be one of the most dangerous moments in his entire life, not just his presidency.... For Trump to have the public learn that he may not be as wealthy as he has continued to claim as the central element of his branding would hurt him more than if Mueller then proved he took sacks of cash and a foot massage from Vladimir Putin. Collusion with the Russians is nothing compared to having his baroque finances revealed. Trump would rather be known as a traitor than as someone who isn't one of the Masters of the Universe." Thanks to unwashed for the link.
Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Investigators subpoenaed the Trump Organization this year for an array of records about business with foreign nationals. In response, the company handed over documents about a $150,000 donation that the Ukrainian billionaire, Victor Pinchuk, made in September 2015 to the Donald J. Trump Foundation in exchange for a 20-minute appearance by Mr. Trump that month through a video link to a conference in Kiev. Michael D. Cohen, the president's personal lawyer whose office and hotel room were raided on Monday in an apparently unrelated case, solicited the donation. The contribution from Mr. Pinchuk, who has sought closer ties for Ukraine to the West, was the largest the foundation received in 2015 from anyone besides Mr. Trump himself. The subpoena is among signs in recent months that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, is interested in interactions that Mr. Trump or his associates had with countries beyond Russia, though it is not clear what other payments he is scrutinizing."
Mrs. McCrabbie: For what it's worth, I think the most important story linked in yesterday's thread vis-a-vis Trump corruption was a TPM report about Trump Organization lawyers appealing to the President of Panama to intervene in a Trump-branded hotel dispute there. Safari, who linked the story, referred to both the U.S. & Panama as "banana republics," which I think is unfair to Panama. I see this as the POTUS*'s using his office to influence a foreign government -- with implied threats -- for the single aim of personal financial gain for Trump. If this doesn't invoke the Emoluments Clause, I don't know what does. ...
... Update. Fortunately, the AP has picked up the story. Juan Zamorano & Stephen Braun: "... Donald Trump's company appealed directly to Panama's president to intervene in its fight over control of a luxury hotel, even invoking a treaty between the two countries, in what ethics experts say was a blatant mingling of Trump's business and government interests.... Even if Trump was not directly involved in the dispute, his company's citation of the treaty and its appeal to [President Juan Carlos] Varela 'implicitly traded on President Trump's name and power,' said University of Minnesota political governance expert Lawrence Jacobs. Despite frequent ethics complaints from critics and three current lawsuits accusing him of accepting gifts from foreign and state governments, Trump has clung to constitutional precedence holding that presidents are mostly immune from conflict-of-interest laws. While most previous presidents have divested some financial assets and placed others in 'blind trusts' they could not control during their tenures, Trump kept total control of the Trump Organization but ceded day-to-day management to two of his sons, Donald Jr. and Eric." ...
... Zeeshan Aleen of Vox: "... the letter appears to be more than just a request -- it also seems to be a thinly veiled threat. The lawyers wrote that the Panamanian court's ruling violates a bilateral investment treaty between the US and Panama and hinted that Varela's response could affect US-Panamanian relations more broadly. 'We appreciate your influence in order to avoid that these damages are attributed not to the other party, but to the Panamanian government,' the letter said..., which suggests that Varela's government would take the hit if he didn't get involved in resolving the dispute." ...
... digby: "The Panamanians didn't capitulate which only proves that they have more integrity than the president of the United States."
None of the following bodes well for Syria:
... Julian Borger of the Guardian: "The US and Russia moved closer to direct confrontation over Syria on Monday night as Donald Trump said a decision was imminent on a response to a chemical weapon attack on Saturday, and Moscow warned that any US military action would have 'grave repercussions'. Trump met US generals in the White House cabinet room on Monday evening to discuss US defence issues. In particular, Trump said they were likely to decide how to react to the poison gas attack in Douma, a rebel-held suburb of Damascus, reported to have killed more than 40 people and seriously affected hundreds." ...
... Peter Baker of the New York Times: At the start of a Cabinet meeting, "President Trump on Monday denounced the suspected chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of people in Syria over the weekend as 'atrocious,' and said he will make a decision in the next 24 to 48 hours about whether to retaliate militarily as he di to a similar assault last year." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
NEW. David Corn of Mother Jones: "Last week, the Trump administration slapped sanctions on a small group of Russian oligarchs.... One of the oligarchs on the list was Viktor Vekselberg, who was identified as the founder and chairman of the Renova Group, which manages investment funds in several sectors of the Russian economy.... Vekselberg ... was recently a business associate of Wilbur Ross, President Trump's commerce secretary. Ross and Vekselberg were each a major investor in a Cyprus bank that had been linked to dirty Russian money -- a connection that Ross tried to downplay when he faced confirmation before the US Senate last year.... In announcing its recent sanctions on Russia, the Treasury Department suggested that Vekselberg runs a corrupt outfit.... [T]his remains one of the Trump-Russia connections that still warrants greater explanation." --safari
Greg Sargent: "Trade is one area in which Trump's crude understanding of the issue (it is all about a zero-sum struggle for dominance in which there are only winners and losers), is particularly destructive, given how nuanced and complicated it is.... Other countries have called for a multilateral response to [China's unfair trade practices], something that is at odds with Trump's worldview, which holds that international cooperation is a sucker's game. On 'Fox News Sunday,' Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow claimed the administration is assembling such an international coalition. But under intense questioning from Fox's Chris Wallace, it quickly became apparent that this is far from a reality." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Zeke Miller & Jill Colvin of the AP: Donald Trump "has never been one to stick to a script, but that ... speech [he tossed in the air at least week's event in West Virginia] illustrates a new phase in Trump's presidency. He is increasingly at odds with his staff -- and growing wise to their tactics. One favored staff strategy: Guide the president to the right decision by making the conventional choice seem like the only realistic option. Except now, 14 months into his administration, Trump is on to them, and he's making clear he won't be boxed in.... The shift has as much to do with changes in personnel as changes in the president's attitude. Former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, for one, was viewed as a person Trump could trust to be an honest broker and make sure that all options were being faithfully presented to him.... Some aides, convinced that Trump puts more stock in what he sees on TV than in his own aides' advice, regularly phone prominent commentators and news hosts to provide talking points on everything from tax policy to Syria in hopes of influencing Trump. Similar strategies have also been embraced by foreign governments and outside groups trying to sway the president's thinking." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Oh, if only Trump still had an "honest broker" like Rob Porter around.
Robert Burgess of Bloomberg: "... Donald Trump likes to equate the rally in stocks since the November 2016 elections with confidence in him and his policies. And yes, the S&P 500 Index has surged 22 percent since then -- but a deeper look at equities, bonds and the dollar reveals anything but trust in his stewardship. Here's the executive summary: U.S. companies are valued less now than before Trump was elected, despite the run-up in stocks, big corporate tax cuts, reductions in regulations, and booming earnings. The cost to borrow for the U.S. has soared relative to other governments, a sign investors are worried about America's creditworthiness. The dollar's share of global currency reserves has dropped by the most since 2002. Investors are losing faith because Trump is turning into the type of president many always feared: unpredictable, volatile and tempestuous." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... A Very Short History of Macroeconomic Theory. Jonathan Chait: "The neoclassical economists of the late 19th and early 20th century believed the government should always balance its budget. Eventually, they mostly gave way to the theories of John Maynard Keynes, who argued that the government should deliberately run deficits during recessions. The modern Republican Party has pioneered a completely novel theory: Governments should balance their budgets when run by Democrats, and run extremely large deficits when run by Republicans. The new projections by the Congressional Budget Office, the first federal budget analysis to be released since the Trump tax cuts were passed into law, shows how fully the Republican government has operationalized its theory.... What's more, as CBO explains, its figures very likely underestimate the size of the deficit. CBO is required to calculate the effects of the laws as written. That scenario is fanciful.... [Chait explains why.] CBO also assumes the middle class will face significant tax increases toward the end of the decade."
Ksenia Galouchko of Bloomberg: "Russian stocks had their biggest drop in four years and the ruble slumped the most in the world after the U.S. slapped new sanctions on Kremlin-connected billionaires and tensions with the U.S. spiraled following the latest chemical attack in Syria. The benchmark MOEX Russia Index sank 8.7 percent on Monday, the steepest slide since March 2014, when Moscow's annexation of the Crimean peninsula triggered international penalties. The ruble and local bonds had their biggest drop since 2016 and the cost of insuring sovereign notes against default was set for the sharpest increase since December 2014." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Erik Wasson & Sarah McGregor of Bloomberg: "The U.S. budget deficit will surpass $1 trillion by 2020, two years sooner than previously estimated, as tax cuts and spending increases signed by ... Donald Trump do little to boost long-term economic growth, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Spending will exceed revenue by $804 billion in the fiscal year through September, jumping from a projected $563 billion shortfall forecast in June, the non-partisan arm of Congress said in a report Monday. In fiscal 2019, the deficit will reach $981 billion, compared with an earlier projection of $689 billion. The nation's budget gap was only set to surpass the trillion-dollar level in fiscal 2022 under CBO's report last June."
Daniel Arkin of NBC News: "The recent wave of harsh attacks on the Justice Department and its law enforcement arm, the FBI, have been 'painful,' former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in an exclusive interview set to air Monday. Lynch, speaking with NBC News' Lester Holt, defended the tens of thousands of people who work for the Justice Department, saying it is "troubling when people question the motivations of dedicated, committed professionals.... Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the Justice Department and the FBI, disparaging Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Twitter and blasting the law enforcement agency over its investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election."
Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "The federal government's top ethics official has taken the unusual step of sending a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency questioning a series of actions by Administrator Scott Pruitt and asking the agency to take 'appropriate actions to address any violations.' The letter, sent to Kevin Minoli, the E.P.A. official designated as the agency's top ethics official, addresses questions about Mr. Pruitt's rental for $50 a night of a condominium linked to an energy lobbyist, as well as his government-funded flights to his home state of Oklahoma. The letter also cites reporting last week in The New York Times that agency staff members who raised concerns about these and other actions found themselves transferred or demoted.... The Office of Government Ethics does not have the power to punish Mr. Pruitt or to demand that he respond to the letter. But as the chief ethics officer for the executive branch of the federal government, [David] Apol's point of view has clout and he can ask that President Trump take action to punish a federal official who has violated federal rules." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Elaina Plott of the Atlantic: "An email that suggests Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt personally signed off on a controversial pay raise for a favored aide last month is roiling the agency. In the last few days, top staffers became aware of an email exchange between one of two aides who received such a raise and the agency's human resources division. In mid-March, Sarah Greenwalt, senior counsel to the administrator, wrote to HR in an attempt to confirm that her pay raise of $56,765 was being processed. Greenwalt 'definitively stated that Pruitt approves and was supportive of her getting a raise,' according to an administration official who has seen the email chain. A second administration official confirmed the exchange. The email 'essentially says, "The administrator said that I should get this raise,"' the official told me.... The agency's IG is probing whether Pruitt abused that hiring authority. On Wednesday, Pruitt was pressed by Fox News's Ed Henry to respond to The Atlantic's report, but denied any knowledge of the episode. 'You didn't know they got these pay raises?" Henry asked. 'I didn't know they got the pay raises until yesterday,' Pruitt responded.... 'Administrator Pruitt had zero knowledge of the amount of the raises, nor the process by which they transpired,' Pruitt's chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, said in a statement." ...
... Jack Holmes of Esquire: "EPA spokespeople have repeatedly claimed that Pruitt receives a huge number of death threats. This has been shared widely by media outlets friendly to the administration.... It was also trumpeted in a presidential tweet this weekend that sought to defend Pruitt amid an avalanche of scandal.... Except when BuzzFeed reporter Jason Leopold submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to EPA asking for records of the threats, the agency could not produce a single one.... And not a single person has been charged nationwide for making death threats to a cabinet secretary? Or is the more likely explanation, as things stand, that officials simply started saying there were a ton of threats to try to escape the spending scandals?" Thanks to Keith H. for the link. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McC: The original excuse the EPA produced to justify Pruitt's bump to first class was that he was "'approached in the airport numerous times' and had profanities 'yelled at him'..." Guess that lame excuse wouldn't fly, so to speak, so "You're fucking up the environment!" became "death threats." If you're shocked, shocked that Pruitt & his team would lie about pay raises & death threats, my response is ... Donald Trump. In this administration, lies & subterfuge are the go-to answers for bad behavior. ...
... Burgess Everett & Anthony Adragna of Politico: "There's one big reason Senate Republicans are standing staunchly with Scott Pruitt: Confirming a replacement might be impossible. Even as the embattled EPA administrator faced another day of difficult headlines on Monday, there is no push from the Senate GOP to shove Pruitt out. Instead, Republicans are gently rapping him for his ethical transgressions and praising his deregulatory regime." ...
... Dana Milbank obtains security audio of "Honest Guy" (previous code name "Low Rent") Scott Pruitt's trip to Disneyland.
Help Me, Hillary! Nahal Toosi of Politico: "As a sharply partisan Republican member of Congress, CIA Director Mike Pompeo tormented former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over her response to the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, which Pompeo called 'morally reprehensible.' He also once liked a tweet that branded her successor, John Kerry, a 'traitor.' But now that Pompeo faces a tough confirmation process to become secretary of state himself, he has reached out to Clinton and Kerry, as well as every other living occupant of the office, to ask for guidance. Clinton, for one, has been willing to help.... It's part of Pompeo's mixture of crash course and charm offensive as he prepares for a Thursday confirmation hearing before a closely divided Senate Foreign Relations Committee."
Sara Salinas of CNBC: "Congress has released Mark Zuckerberg's prepared testimony ahead of a Wednesday hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee." Salinas reproduces the prepared remarks. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Blah Blah. Craig Timberg & Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed contrition for allowing third-party apps to grab the data of its users without their permission and for being 'too slow to spot and respond to Russian interference' during the U.S. election, according to his prepared remarks published by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Zuckerberg plans to open his remarks with a familiar recitation of the social media platform's ability to link far-flung people together but then pivot into an acknowledgement of Facebook's increasingly visible dark side." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.
Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "The chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group met Donald Trump at the White House during a visit to pitch a potentially lucrative new product to administration officials, the Guardian has learned. David D Smith, whose company has been criticised for making its anchors read a script echoing Trump's attacks on the media, said he briefed officials last year on a system that would enable authorities to broadcast direct to any American's phone.... He also recalled an earlier meeting with Trump during the 2016 election campaign, where he told the future president: 'We are here to deliver your message.' Sinclair is the biggest owner of local TV in the US, and may soon reach 72% of American households if a proposed $4bn takeover of a rival is approved by federal regulators." --safari
Paul Krugman: "The hiring-then-firing of Kevin Williamson followed a familiar script. A mainstream media organization [-- the Atlantic --] hires a conservative in the name of intellectual diversity, then is shocked, shocked to discover that he's dishonest and/or holds truly reprehensible views -- something that the organization could have discovered with a few minutes on Google. But when the bad hire is let go, the right treats him as a martyr, proof of liberal refusal to let alternative viewpoints be heard.... The real problem here is that media organizations are looking for unicorns: serious, honest, conservative intellectuals with real influence.... The left has genuine public intellectuals with actual ideas and at least some real influence; the right does not. News organizations don't seem to have figured out how to deal with this reality, except by pretending that it doesn't exist. And that's why we keep having these Williamson-like debacles." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Senate Race. Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "Gov. Rick Scott made official on Monday what Floridians have suspected for months: He is running for the United States Senate against Bill Nelson, the incumbent Democrat, in a premier race that will return the nation's largest swing state to its familiar role as the political vortex of a tumultuous election year." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Beyond the Beltway
There Are Two Michigans. Bill Chappell of NPR: "In a much-watched case, a Michigan agency has approved Nestlé's plan to boost the amount of water it takes from the state. The request attracted a record number of public comments -- with 80,945 against and 75 in favor. Nestlé's request to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to pump 576,000 gallons of water each day from the White Pine Springs well in the Great Lakes Basin was 'highly controversial,' member station Michigan Radio reports.... The company bottles the water for sale under its Ice Mountain label." Emphasis added. BUT as Adrienne Varkiani of ThinkProgress reported (linked below), the state will no longer provide free drinking water to residents of Flint, which still pumps water through lead pipes, tho some pipes have been replaced. Thanks to Nisky Guy for the link. Mrs. McC: Wouldn't you think the poor people of Flint would would some state pride & just buy bottles of Nestle's Ice Mountain? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Tracy Lee of Newsweek, via RawStory: "Virginia 'Ginni' Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, criticized efforts by survivors from February's mass shooting in Parkland, Florida in several Facebook posts that she shared. One post contained an image of shoes from people who were killed during the Holocaust [in defense of the 2nd amendment].... Thomas [also] shared a post from a Facebook page called The Great American American Movement, which had a side-by-side comparison of the outspoken Parkland students next to a graveside memorial. Thomas captioned the post with the words 'I want the old regular America back ... MINUS the left's awful tactics.'" --safari ...
... Deranged Prick. Adam Peck of ThinkProgress: "Last week ... a since-deleted tweet from a far-right St. Louis-based talk show host named Jamie Allman threatening 17-year-old Stoneman Douglas survivor David Hogg circulated widely around the region. 'I've been hanging out getting ready to ram a hot poker up David Hogg's ass tomorrow,' tweeted Allman. 'Busy working. Preparing.'... At least three of Allman’s sponsors publicly announced they were abandoning his shows.... His television show airs on KDNL, St. Louis's ABC affiliate owned by far-right media conglomerate Sinclair Broadcast Group." --safari
Way Beyond
Shaun Walker of the Guardian: "Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has pledged to push through a controversial package of bills targeting civil society, described by his government as the 'Stop Soros' package. Orbán said his Fidesz party's landslide victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections had given the government perhaps the strongest mandate in modern Hungarian history.... Orbán, who will now serve a third consecutive term as prime minister, portrayed himself on the campaign trail as the defender of a white, Christian Hungary at risk from refugees and migrants, and under attack from George Soros, the financier and philanthropist of Jewish-Hungarian origin." --safari
Michael McGowan of the Guardian: "A high-ranking Australian union official has been suspended amid reports he ran a fake Black Lives Matter Facebook page that solicited donations from the movement's supporters. CNN reports that Ian MacKay [a white guy] -- an official with the National Union of Workers -- helped set up and run a Facebook page called Black Lives Matter as well as other domain names linked to black rights. The page, which was removed by Facebook after CNN's queries, had almost 700,000 followers -- more than double the official Black Lives Matter page.... The investigation quoted sources who said the page may have garnered upwards of $100,000 in donations, at least some of which was directed to bank accounts registered in Australia." --safari
Jamie Grierson of the Guardian: "Yulia Skripal, the daughter of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, has been discharged from hospital, doctors have said. Just over a month after she and her father were found collapsed on a park bench in Salisbury, Wiltshire, after being poisoned with a nerve agent, medics confirmed she had left Salisbury district hospital." Mrs. McC: I sure hope she's in "an undisclosed location" AND has police protection.
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