The Commentariat -- April 5, 2018

Late Morning Update:

Scott Pruitt's Rehabilitation Campaign Is Going Very Well. Timothy Cama of the Hill: "Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt said he wasn't aware that two close aides received pay raises after the White House refused to allow it. 'My staff and I found out about it yesterday and I changed it,' Pruitt told Fox News in an interview published Wednesday, adding that he wasn't sure who was responsible for the raises. 'You don't know? You run the agency. You don't know who did it?' Fox's Ed Henry asked the EPA head. 'I found out this yesterday and I corrected the action and we are in the process of finding out how it took place and correcting it,' Pruitt responded." Mrs. McC: Totally believable. ...

... Moving Right Along. Coral Davenport & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "Samantha Dravis, Mr. Pruitt's top policy adviser, has recently told him she is resigning, according to two E.P.A. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the news has not been made public. And his chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, has grown frustrated enough with his boss that he has considered resigning, according to people in whom Mr. Jackson has confided.... Both Ms. Dravis and Mr. Jackson are seasoned Washington insiders who have worked for years among the capital's top conservative Republicans and industry lobbyists. Ms. Dravis' departure comes on the heels of questions raised by Senator Thomas Carper, a Democrat from Delaware, about her work history. According to a letter that Mr. Carper sent to the E.P.A. inspector general, Ms. Dravis did not attend work or perform her duties for most of November, December and January while continuing to draw a salary.... Thursday afternoon, though, Mr. Trump when asked aboard Air Force One if he had confidence in his E.P.A. chief, he responded: 'I do.'"

Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "The Kentucky legislature passed a sweeping tax overhaul this week, and now lawmakers are asking Gov. Matt Bevin to sign a bill that would slash taxes for some corporations and wealthy individuals while raising them on 95 percent of state residents, according to a new analysis.... Bevin's position on the tax overhaul, Kentucky's biggest in more than a decade, remains unknown.... The state's nonpartisan legislative staff estimated the plan will, on net, raise money, although other experts are skeptical."

Ed Kilgore: "Mitch McConnell has been a member of the U.S. Senate for a third of a century.... When he was asked by a Kentucky interviewer about the his biggest accomplishment as a senator..., McConnell says 'the decision I made not to fill the Supreme Court vacancy when Justice Scalia died was the most consequential decision I've made in my entire public career.'... The wily old wire-puller surely understands that his ability to deliver judicial confirmations, particularly for SCOTUS, may be the best reason members of his party's dominant conservative wing continue to put up with him.... Judges are the best bait to keep hard-core conservatives in the party harness. And for a broad swath of them, from anti-abortion activists to anti-regulatory warriors to gun nuts to advocates for unlimited money in politics, SCOTUS is the ball game." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: If you are worried about what would happen in a "Constitutional crisis," remember Mitch. The answer is "Democrats wail & Republicans prevail." In other words, not much.

*****

"The Greatest President Ever." Dana Milbank explores a "signature Trump move: Don't just deny the charge [against you] but declare yourself to be the polar opposite (while accusing your opponents of whatever you were accused of: You're the puppet!). He can't be a racist, or soft on Russia, or anything bad -- because he's the furthest possible thing from that. It's all terribly reassuring." Milbank runs down many of Trump's ridiculous, false boasts. Pathetic.

Mike Allen of Axios: "To White House insiders, this is the most dangerous phase of Donald Trump's presidency so far, from the brewing trade war with China that he denies is a trade war, to the perilously spontaneous summit with North Korea.... Checks are being ignored or have been eliminated, and critics purged as the president is filling time by watching Fox, and by eating dinner with people who feed his ego and conspiracy theories, and who drink in his rants. Both sides are getting more polarized and dug in -- making the daily reality more absurd, and the potential consequences less urgent and able to grab people's serious attention.... Trump's closest confidants speak with an unusual level of concern, even alarm, and admit to being confused about what the president will do next -- and why."

Julie Davis & Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Trump will issue a proclamation on Wednesday directing the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to work with governors to deploy National Guard troops to the southwest border to assist the Border Patrol in combating illegal immigration. 'It's time to act,' said Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security, as she outlined the policy during a White House briefing. In recent days, and in anticipation of an annual increase in numbers of people who attempt to cross the border, the Trump administration has been ramping up plans to block migrants and asylum seekers, including young unaccompanied children, from entering the United States. The announcement came a day after Mr. Trump said he wanted to send the military to the southwest border to guard against growing threats from unchecked immigration, suggesting he might want to use active-duty armed forces to do what immigration authorities cannot." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: When Trump said he wanted to send the military, I have no doubt he meant active-duty armed forces. Here's another case where his staff talked him down from a nutty or unconstitutional and completely unplanned project. Anyway, let's see if Jerry Brown cooperates. ...

     ... Update. Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "California was noncommittal Wednesday on the administration's plans. Lt. Col. Tom Keegan, a spokesman for the state's National Guard, said the state will 'promptly' review the request to 'determine how best we can assist our federal partners.' The California National Guard already has 55 personnel who provide support at the border through its anti-drug operations. 'We look forward to more detail, including funding, duration and end state,' Keegan said."

     ... Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "At the Pentagon, several officials privately expressed concern about being seen as picking a fight with an ally at a time when the military has plenty of adversaries -- the Islamic State, North Korea, Russia, Syria -- to contend with. Massing American troops at another country's border, several current and former Defense Department officials said, would send a message of hostility and raise the chances of provoking an all-out conflict.... Defense Department officials say that [Secretary Jim] Mattis backs the proposal if it mirrors deployments made under Mr. Trump's predecessors, when troops were sent in a support, but not enforcement, role. The active-duty military is generally barred by law from carrying out domestic law enforcement functions, such as apprehending people at the border.... But military officials worry that Mr. Trump may not be satisfied with the Bush- and Obama-level deployments. Even limited deployments, Pentagon officials said, have come with their share of trouble." ...

... New York Times Editors: "President Trump escalated his verbal fusillade against immigrants this week by announcing a foolish plan to deploy troops along the Mexican border. Such a move has at best a tenuous basis in law and none in logic, and it will burn through federal funds better spent elsewhere. Mr. Trump has long stoked a xenophobic fear of newcomers among his political base.... Like so many of the president's decisions, the one to put troops on the border seems impulsive, spiteful and politically motivated.... He is resorting to the demagogue's tactic of inspiring fear and appears not to understand why the Posse Comitatus Act was enacted -- to limit the powers of the federal government in using military personnel to enforce domestic policies within the United States.... There was no consultation with the Mexican president, whose ambassador to the United States called the decision unwelcome.... Spending billions of dollars for extraneous operations doesn't seem to concern Mr. Trump, who appears indifferent to the ballooning federal deficit; he also suggested, inappropriately, that the Pentagon could pay for the wall."

Managing the Moron. Carol Lee, et al., of NBC News: "... Donald Trump reluctantly agreed in a meeting with his national security team on Tuesday to keep U.S. troops in Syria for an undetermined period of time with the goal of defeating ISIS, a senior administration official said Wednesday. 'He wasn't thrilled about it, to say the least,' the official said. Defense Secretary James Mattis and other top officials made the case to Trump that the fight against ISIS was almost finished but a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces at this time would risk losing gains the U.S. has made in the ISIS fight, the official said." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Ooh, Trumpy got very grumpy when the big boys told him he couldn't get what he wanted right away. Elise Labott & Kevin Liptak of CNN report. ...

     ... Julie Davis: "It was the latest instance of the president making an unscripted remark with far-reaching implications that prompted a behind-the-scenes scramble by his advisers to translate blunt talk into an official government policy. White House and administration officials also had spent Monday and Tuesday trying to translate a series of confusing presidential tweets and comments on immigration into a coherent strategy...." Davis runs down Trump's changing story over the past week.

MEANWHILE, Kudlow, et al., Try to Clean up Trump's Trade War. Ana Swanson & Keith Bradsher of the New York Times: "White House officials moved quickly on Wednesday to calm fears of a potential trade war with China, saying the administration's proposed tariffs were a 'threat' that would ultimately help, not hurt, the United States economy, hours after China said it would punish American products with similar levies. The administration's insistence that a trade war was not imminent came as the United States and China traded tit-for-tat penalties that caused wild swings in stock markets from Hong Kong to New York. Led by more audacious leaders than either country has had in decades, China and the United States are now locked in a perilous game of chicken, with the possibility to derail the global economic recovery, disrupt international supply chains and destabilize the huge yet debt-laden Chinese economy.... 'There's no trade war here,' Larry Kudlow, Mr. Trump's new top economic adviser, said in an interview on Fox Business Network. He described the threat of tariffs as 'just the first proposal' in a process that would involve negotiations and back-channel talks.... On Wednesday, Mr. Trump suggested in a tweet that he saw no reason to back down, since the United States was already on the losing end of trade with China." ...

... BUT. Natalie Kitroeff & Ben Casselman of the New York Times: ">In the escalating economic showdown between the United States and China, President Trump is trying to put American shoppers first. The administration did not place tariffs on necessities like shoes and clothes, and mostly spared smartphones from the 25 percent levy on Chinese goods announced this week. But by shielding consumers, Mr. Trump has put American manufacturers -- a group he has championed -- in the cross hairs of a potential global trade war. If the measures stand, along with China's retaliatory tariffs, they could snuff out a manufacturing recovery just beginning to gain steam. 'If you want to spare the consumer so you don't get this massive backlash against your tariffs, then there goes manufacturing...,' said Monica de Bolle, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. 'The irony is, you cannot spare manufacturing from anything because manufacturing is globally integrated. The sector sources its parts and components from all over the world.'... Recent job growth has been concentrated in industries that could be affected by American tariffs on China, Chinese tariffs on the United States, or both." Mrs. McC: It's not as if nobody had any idea that a tariff war would mess up the international economy.

Michael Scherer, et al., of the Washington Post: "An emboldened President Trump is discovering that the policies he once described as easy fixes for the nation are a lot more complicated in reality -- creating backlash among allies, frustrating supporters and threatening the pocketbooks of many farming communities that helped get him elected. Freed from the caution of former advisers, Trump has spent recent weeks returning to the gut-level basics that got him elected: tough talk on China, a promise of an immigration crackdown and an isolationist approach to national security. Several people who have spoken to the president say he is telling advisers that he is finally expediting the policies that got him elected and is more comfortable without a number of aides around him who were tempering his instincts. And he often cites rising poll numbers in recent weeks as a reason he should do it his own way, these people said."

John Hudson, et al., of the Washington Post: "The United States is expected to impose additional sanctions against Russia by Friday, according to U.S. officials. The sanctions are economic and designed to target oligarchs with ties to President Vladimir Putin, the officials said. The final number of Russians facing punitive action remains fluid, the U.S. officials said, but is expected to include at least a half-dozen people under sanction powers given to the president by Congress." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Let's hope the sanctions are more meaningful than the supposed dramatic expulsion of Russian diplomats:

... Fake Diplomat Expulsion Exchange. Laura Koran of CNN: "The State Department confirmed the United States and Russia can replace diplomats in each other's countries who were expelled last week, describing the process as standard practice for cases in which targeted personnel are ejected as 'persona non-grata,' and cautioning that any new diplomats would be subject to approval on a 'case-by-case basis.' 'As always/As with similar incidents in the past, the Russian government remains free to request accreditation for vacant positions in its bilateral mission,' a State Department spokesman told CNN in a statement Tuesday. 'Any requests for new diplomatic accreditation will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.' 'The Russian Federation has not informed us that it intends to reduce the total number of personnel allowed in our bilateral Mission,' the spokesperson added. 'We therefore understand that the United States may request new diplomatic personnel to fill the positions of diplomats who have been expelled.'" Thanks to Ken W. for the lead. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... So one guy is going after Russian oligarchs:

Kara Scannell & Shimon Prokupecz of CNN: "Special counsel Robert Mueller's team has taken the unusual step of questioning Russian oligarchs who traveled into the US, stopping at least one and searching his electronic devices when his private jet landed at a New York area airport, according to multiple sources familiar with the inquiry. A second Russian oligarch was stopped during a recent trip to the US, although it is not clear if he was searched, according to a person briefed on the matter. Mueller's team has also made an informal voluntary document and interview request to a third Russian oligarch who has not traveled to the US recently.... Investigators are asking whether wealthy Russians illegally funneled cash donations directly or indirectly into Donald Trump's presidential campaign and inauguration."

Uh-Oh. Andrew Kaczynski & Gloria Borger of CNN: "Roger Stone appeared on the InfoWars radio show the same day he sent an email claiming he dined with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange -- and he predicted 'devastating' upcoming disclosures about the Clinton Foundation. Stone's comments in his August 4, 2016, appearance are the earliest known time he claimed to know of forthcoming WikiLeaks documents. A CNN KFile timeline shows that on August 10, 2016, Stone claimed to have 'actually communicated with Julian Assange.'... In the interview with Jones on InfoWars, Stone said that he believed Assange had proof of wrongdoing at the Clinton Foundation.... On the August 4, 2016, InfoWars show, Stone described the soon-to-appear WikiLeaks disclosures. He also mentioned that he spoke with ... Donald Trump on August 3 -- the day before the interview." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... digby has Stone's number: "If I had to guess, the 'joke' is that [Stone] Skyped or otherwise communicated with Assange while he was eating dinner and just exaggerated for effect. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense that he made it up out of whole cloth for no purpose."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge expressed doubts Wednesday about a lawsuit brought by Paul Manafort challenging special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's criminal probe of Russian interference in 2016 U.S. elections. During a 90-minute hearing in Washington, Manafort's defense team retreated from requests that the court void Mueller's appointment and dismiss criminal charges already brought in the District and Virginia against President Trump's former presidential campaign chairman. But Manafort's lawyers asked the court to bar Mueller from bringing future charges, saying a provision authorizing the special counsel to investigate 'any matters that arose or may arise directly from' its probe of possible collusion between Trump officials and the Russian government is an abuse of the Justice Department's legal authority.... U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of Washington made clear her skepticism as she questioned Manafort attorney Kevin M. Downing. How, she asked, did he expect a court to act against charges that have not yet been brought, and how could he know that Manafort would be prosecuted lawfully or unlawfully?" ...

... Jeff Toobin of the New Yorker: "It's long been an article of faith for Trump supporters, and for Trump himself, that collusion is not illegal. As the President told the Times in an interview last December, 'There is no collusion, and even if there was, it's not a crime.' Now, it appears, Trump's own Justice Department may have a different view. That conclusion appears in a document released earlier this week, in the course of pre-trial litigation in the case of Paul Manafort.... In a memorandum issued on August 2nd, [Rod] Rosenstein spelled out the details of [Robert] Mueller's jurisdiction. He said that Mueller had the authority to investigate: 'Allegations that Paul Manafort: Committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials with respect to the Russian government's efforts to interfere with the 2016 election for President of the United States, in violation of United States law....'... Mueller now has the authority, and the legal theory, to bring criminal charges for collusion." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: It looks to me as if "collusion," in Rosenstein's mind, is just another work for "conspiracy" to violate some law.

Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: "A witness who is cooperating in the special counsel investigation, George Nader, has connections to both the Persian Gulf states and Russia and may have information that links two important strands of the inquiry together, interviews and records show.... Mr. Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman, has a catalog of international connections that paved the way for numerous meetings with White House officials that have drawn the attention of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. For example, Mr. Nader used his longstanding ties to Kirill Dmitriev, the manager of a state-run Russian investment fund, to help set up a meeting in the Seychelles between Mr. Dmitriev and a Trump adviser [Erik Prince] days before Donald J. Trump took office. Separately, investigators have asked witnesses about a meeting Mr. Nader attended in 2017 at the office of a New York hedge fund manager, where he was joined by Jared Kushner and Stephen K. Bannon, who at the time were both senior advisers to Mr. Trump.... Mr. Nader has received at least partial immunity for his cooperation...."

Brian Schwartz of CNBC: "John Bolton, who is days away from becoming President Donald Trump's national security advisor, has been meeting with White House attorneys about possible conflicts of interest, CNBC has learned. The exact sticking points for Bolton are unclear, but ethics experts say the appearance of a possible future role for Bolton with an entity such as a political action committee could be a cause for concern for White House officials. Bolton's PAC and super PAC, which are no longer receiving or spending capital, have been financial players in the early going of the midterm election cycle.... The John Bolton Super PAC has been a big player during the early stages of the 2018 midterm elections. The group has raised $3.8 million in the most recent election cycle.... Watchdogs such as Common Cause have brought the PAC's past spending efforts to light with a number of legal complaints filed to the FEC. All of the complaints relate to the Bolton groups' work with political data firm Cambridge Analytica.... While it's unclear what was obtained through Cambridge Analytica's research, The New York Times reported in March that Bolton was purchasing services for 'behavioral microtargeting with psychographic messaging.'... There were also questions about his role as chairman of his nonprofit group, the Foundation for American Security and Freedom." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm sure it comes as a big surprise to you that another Trump pick for national security advisor (remember Michael Flynn?) has ethics problems, including one that Robert Mueller's team is already investigating. (And yeah, Bolton has a weird Russia connection, too.) Unfortunately, Bolton does not need Senate confirmation.

Emily Holden, et al., of Politico: "EPA chief Scott Pruitt and his allies in the administration are on a mission to save his job -- offering a blitz of interviews to friendly media outlets while separately accusing a former agency staffer of a cascade of damaging leaks. But the White House made it clear Wednesday that President Donald Trump is not pleased with all the negative headlines surrounding him.... That appeared to complicate Pruitt's defensive strategy, which combines exclusive interviews with Fox News, The Washington Times and other conservative media, supportive statements in the broader press from trusted allies, and deflection that compares his activities and spending with past EPA administrators'.... In a live interview ... with The Washington Times that focused mostly on his usual policy talking points, Pruitt briefly dismissed his personal controversies as a 'distraction' and said he was under siege in an agency he described as a 'bastion of liberalism.'" ...

... Ben Geman & Jonathan Swan of Axios: "Axios' Jonathan Swan spoke with sources close to President Trump and this basic picture emerged: If nothing else bad comes out against Pruitt, they'll probably ride through the storm with him. But should more damaging stories surface -- especially ones that demonstrate poor ethical judgement -- Pruitt could be abandoned in a flash. Trump is uneasy about the situation, and has his finger in the wind." ...

... Asawin Suebsaeng & Lachlan Markay of the Daily Beast: In a phone call, Chief of Staff John Kelly "impressed upon Pruitt that, though he has the full public confidence of President Trump for now, the flow of negative and damning stories needed to stop soon, as one source briefed on the contents of the call described.... Shortly thereafter, The Atlantic reported that Pruitt had defied the White House and directed his staff to give raises to a pair of employees.... Kelly and other senior White House officials were blindsided by major details in The Atlantic's article.... Making matters worse for Pruitt was a Wednesday report from The Washington Post that said Pruitt had used the same Safe Drinking Water Act provision to hire a number of employees absent White House input, including two former lobbyists who might otherwise have been barred from the posts by ethics rules imposed by Trump by executive order weeks after taking office." ...

... Cristina Alesci of CNN: "The Environmental Protection Agency's top ethics watchdog clarified his earlier analysis of whether Administrator Scott Pruitt's rental arrangement broke the federal gift rule, saying he didn't have all the facts when evaluating the lease, according to a memo provided to CNN. The official also made clear that he didn't evaluate whether Pruitt had violated other ethics rules, according to the memo obtained by the Campaign Legal Center and shared with CNN." ...

... The Strange Disappearance of Scott Pruitt. Juliet Eilperin & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "After moving out of the Capitol Hill condo apartment he rented for $50 a night last summer, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt appears to not have maintained a Washington residence for a month, instead traveling extensively for work and remaining for weeks at his Tulsa home. Pruitt ended his housing arrangement with lobbyist Vicki Hart on Aug. 4. At that point, he already had embarked on a more than week-long trip across five states to visit with elected officials and farmers..., with a weekend at home in Tulsa along the way. He then took an extended vacation, according to agency records, during which time officials said that he underwent knee surgery and recuperated at home while receiving staff briefings. After another round of meetings in Oklahoma and a visit to Texas to survey the damage from Hurricane Harvey, Pruitt returned to EPA headquarters Sept. 5.... Members of his round-the-clock security detail remained with him while he was away from Washington."

Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "Immigration and Customs Enforcement appears to have ignored a directive from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to prevent the deportation of noncitizen troops and veterans, seeking to remove a Chinese immigrant despite laws that allow veterans with honorable service to naturalize, court filings show. Xilong Zhu, 27, who came from China in 2009 to attend college in the United States, enlisted in the Army and was caught in an immigration dragnet involving a fake university set up by the Department of Homeland Security to catch brokers of fraudulent student visas.... 'Anyone with an honorable discharge ... will not be subject to any kind of deportation,' Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon in February, describing exceptions for criminals and anyone who has been authorized for deportation in an agreement he said was made with DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Zhu&'s attorney, retired Army officer Margaret Stock, told The Washington Post those exceptions do not apply to him."

Craig Timberg, et al., of the Washington Post: "Facebook said Wednesday that 'malicious actors' took advantage of search tools on its platform, making it possible for them to discover the identities and collect information on most of its 2 billion users worldwide. The revelation came amid rising acknowledgement by Facebook about its struggles to control the data it gathers on users. Among the announcements Wednesday was that Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy hired by President Trump and other Republicans, had improperly gathered detailed Facebook information on 87 million people, of whom 71 million were Americans. But the abuse of Facebook's search tools -- now disabled -- happened far more broadly and over the course of several years, with few Facebook users likely escaping the scam, company officials acknowledged." ...

... Cecilia Kang & Sheera Frenkel of the New York Times: "Facebook said on Wednesday that the personal information of up to 87 million people, most of them Americans, may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm connected to President Trump during the 2016 election. The new figure, roughly equivalent to a quarter of the population of the United States, is substantially greater than the previous estimate of how many users' information Cambridge Analytica harvested. The number had been put at more than 50 million users. Facebook released the revised figure as part of an extended statement about changes it is making to how it handles personal data. The company said it would start telling users on April 9 about whether their information might have been shared with Cambridge Analytica." ...

... Sarah Frier of Bloomberg: "Facebook Inc. scans the links and images that people send each other on Facebook Messenger, and reads chats when they're flagged to moderators, making sure the content abides by the company's rules. If it doesn't, it gets blocked or taken down.... The company told Bloomberg that while Messenger conversations are private, Facebook scans them and uses the same tools to prevent abuse there that it does on the social network more generally.... Facebook's other major chat app, WhatsApp, encrypts both ends of its users' communications, so that not even WhatsApp can see it -- a fact that's made it more secure for users, and more difficult for lawmakers wanting information in investigations."

The Gossip Page

Michal Kranz of Business Insider: "... Donald Trump's 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale, on Wednesday said a Daily Mail report that he had hired former White House staff secretary Rob Porter was 'fake news.'... The Daily Mail report said that days after Porter was let go by the White House amid allegations that he had physically abused his ex-wives, he was hired by Parscale's digital strategy company. The Daily Mail reported that Trump personally intervened to get Porter a job, with the intention of later having him play a role in his reelection campaign." ...

     ... The Daily Mail story is here. According to its report, Parscale "had previously declined to comment on the record when reached by DailyMail.com before the story was published." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I supposed we'll have to take Parscale's latest word for it, because I doubt the rejects who "work" for Trump's campaign actually put on a suit & show up at the office, so no staking out the place. The 2020 campaign is nonetheless known as a landing pad for Donald's "misfit toys," so the Daily Mail story has a ring of truth to it, even tho it is, after all, the Daily Mail & there's an unequivocal denial on the record.

Emily Smith & Julia Marsh of the New York Post: "Rudy Giuliani and his wife, Judith, are divorcing after 15 years of marriage, the former New York mayor confirmed first to Page Six.... Judith on Wednesday filed a contested divorce proceeding in Manhattan Supreme Court, which indicates she's readying for a fight over their marital assets, which include property in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Fla." Mrs. McC: If you lived in NYC in 2000, you will likely recall that Rudy announced in a press conference that he & his second wife Donna Hanover were separating. It was news to Hanover, too.

The Commentariat -- April 4, 2018

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Uh-Oh. Andrew Kaczynski & Gloria Borger of CNN: "Roger Stone appeared on the InfoWars radio show the same day he sent an email claiming he dined with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange -- and he predicted 'devastating' upcoming disclosures about the Clinton Foundation. Stone's comments in his August 4, 2016, appearance are the earliest known time he claimed to know of forthcoming WikiLeaks documents. A CNN KFile timeline shows that on August 10, 2016, Stone claimed to have 'actually communicated with Julian Assange.'... In the interview with Jones on InfoWars, Stone said that he believed Assange had proof of wrongdoing at the Clinton Foundation.... On the August 4, 2016, InfoWars show, Stone described the soon-to-appear WikiLeaks disclosures. He also mentioned that he spoke with ... Donald Trump on August 3 -- the day before the interview."

Fake Diplomat Expulsion Exchange. Laura Koran of CNN: "The State Department confirmed the United States and Russia can replace diplomats in each other's countries who were expelled last week, describing the process as standard practice for cases in which targeted personnel are ejected as 'persona non-grata,' and cautioning that any new diplomats would be subject to approval on a 'case-by-case basis.' 'As always/As with similar incidents in the past, the Russian government remains free to request accreditation for vacant positions in its bilateral mission,' a State Department spokesman told CNN in a statement Tuesday. 'Any requests for new diplomatic accreditation will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.' 'The Russian Federation has not informed us that it intends to reduce the total number of personnel allowed in our bilateral Mission,' the spokesperson added. 'We therefore understand that the United States may request new diplomatic personnel to fill the positions of diplomats who have been expelled.'" Thanks to Ken W. for the lead.

Managing the Moron. Carol Lee, et al., of NBC News: "... Donald Trump reluctantly agreed in a meeting with his national security team on Tuesday to keep U.S. troops in Syria for an undetermined period of time with the goal of defeating ISIS, a senior administration official said Wednesday. 'He wasn't thrilled about it, to say the least,' the official said. Defense Secretary James Mattis and other top officials made the case to Trump that the fight against ISIS was almost finished but a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces at this time would risk losing gains the U.S. has made in the ISIS fight, the official said."

*****

** The Moron Unchained. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Far from learning on the job or modifying his views to fit the imperatives of America's global role — as did so many of his predecessors -- Mr. Trump is falling back on the familiar mix of belligerence and isolationism that fueled his 'America First' campaign.... 'I want to get out,' Mr. Trump said of the United States' military engagement in Syria, at a news conference on Tuesday with leaders of the Baltic States. 'I want to bring our troops back home.' Mr. Trump's words were at odds with the strategy his administration is pursuing in Syria. But they were almost verbatim what he said in pre-election tweets, as well as in debates two years ago.... Mr. Trump's reversion to his campaign themes comes as he has reshuffled his national security team, ousting aides with more conventional views of American power, like Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson and Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, the national security adviser, in favor of more hawkish figures, like Mike Pompeo and John R. Bolton. How these new players will mesh with Mr. Trump's throwback persona may determine whether the president is signaling a midcourse correction in foreign policy or merely retreating to phrases and positions that give him comfort. Mr. Tillerson and General McMaster curbed some of Mr. Trump's most radical ideas...." Read on. ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: This is another extraordinary NYT front-page essay on what a glaring dimwit occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. If the world blows up, somewhere in the firmament will be a record that we've been warned. Over to you, Paul Ryan. Bob Mueller will give you an excuse to get rid of this threat to the world. Use it.

Emily Rauhala of the Washington Post: "China responded to President Trump's new tariffs by threatening tariffs of its own on 106 U.S. products, including on soybeans, cars and some airplanes, in the latest escalation of what risks becoming a tit-for-tat trade war between the world's two largest economies. The plan, which was announced Wednesday, would see Beijing slap 25 percent levies on a range of U.S. goods worth about $50 billion. Chinese officials did not set a date for implementation, saying what happens next will depend on whether the U.S. president pushes ahead with his tariff plans. Though the tariffs are not in place yet, the news had an immediate impact on markets, including the soybean market." ...

... Fred Imbert & Alexandra Gibbs of CNBC: "Stocks plunged at the open on Wednesday after China announced new tariffs on 106 more U.S. products, increasing worries."

... trade wars are good, and easy to win. When we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don't trade anymore -- we win big. It's easy! -- Donald Trump, international trade expert, in a March 2 tweet ...

  ... Ana Swanson of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration said Tuesday that it will place a 25 percent tariff on Chinese products like flat-screen televisions, medical devices, aircraft parts and batteries, outlining more than 1,300 imported goods that will soon face levies as part of a sweeping trade measure aimed at penalizing China for its trade practices. The move, which stems from a White House investigation into China's use of pressure, intimidation and theft to obtain American technologies, is likely to inflame an already-simmering trade war between the countries.... The products targeted by the White House are part of its plan to go after China's dominance in cutting-edge technologies like semiconductors, electric vehicles and advanced medical products -- industries that China is pursuing dominance in as part of an industrial plan known as 'Made in China 2025.'"

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Tuesday that he planned to order the military to guard parts of the southern border until he can build a wall and tighten immigration restrictions, proposing a remarkable escalation of his efforts to crack down on migrants entering the country illegally. Mr. Trump, who has been stewing publicly for days about what he characterizes as lax immigration laws and the potential for an influx of Central American migrants to stream into the United States, said he was consulting with Jim Mattis, the secretary of defense, about resorting to military deployments." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Trump Enjoys Screwing with Everybody. Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "Honduras may be bearing the brunt of President Trump's ire today over immigration, but only a few months ago it was receiving accolades from the administration. Honduras was among only seven nations that voted with the United States and Israel in December against a resolution condemning the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Trump and Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, both suggested U.S. aid could hinge on how nations voted. While 128 nations voted for the resolution anyway, Honduras, which got $137.5 million in U.S. aid in 2017, seemed to be safe, along with Guatemala, Togo and several small Pacific Island nations.... Tuesday brought another whiplash turn when Trump said U.S. aid to Honduras and other countries in the region is now 'in play' again as a caravan of migrants moved through Mexico toward the U.S. border. Honduras already is on the chopping block in the foreign aid budget for next year. The administration has proposed cutting aid in half, to $65.75 million, in 2019. Foreign aid has strong bipartisan support in Congress, however, and early indications are the administration's wishes will be ignored." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Joshua Partlow & David Agren of the Washington Post: "The Mexican government on Monday evening moved to break up the caravan of migrants traveling through southern Mexico, with immigration officials registering the travelers and suggesting some could receive humanitarian visas while others would have to leave Mexico. The caravan, estimated at more than 1,000 migrants, many from Central America, has gained increasing visibility because of tweets by President Trump that have criticized Mexico for not doing more to stop the flow of migrants to the southern border of the United States.... Mexico's Interior Ministry said in a statement on Monday that 'under no circumstances does the government of Mexico promote irregular migration.' The statement said that the caravan has taken place every year since 2010 and is made up primarily of people from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, and that 400 people in this group have already been deported.... Even after the Mexican statement about stopping the caravan, Trump tweeted again on Tuesday morning insisting the caravan must be stopped before it reaches the border and Congress 'MUST ACT NOW.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Julie Davis: "President Trump has begun a new push for legislation to crack down on illegal immigration and make it more difficult to obtain refuge in the United States, White House officials said Monday, arguing that lax laws have drawn a flood of migrants to the country's borders. The proposals include toughening laws to make it more difficult to apply for or be granted asylum in the United States, stripping protections for children arriving illegally without their parents so they can be turned back at the border or quickly removed, and allowing families to be detained for longer periods while they await decisions from immigration authorities about their fates. While the steps have long been advocated by Mr. Trump's hard-line aides, including Stephen Miller, his senior policy adviser, focusing on the now opens a new front in the president's push for immigration restrictions." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'll bet that legislation Miller is writing is primo -- just as good as the Muslim bans he wrote that the courts struck down & only slightly more coherent than Trump's childish "MUST ACT NOW" tweets. ...

... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Daniel Drezner of the Washington Post has a theory of Trumpertweets that is akin to, but more sophisticated than, some of my remarks yesterday. Drezner: "Almost everything [Trump] tweeted on [several] issues was a lie factually challenged and sounds worse when one takes Trump's words semi-seriously. The tweets from this morning suggest that these tantrums, which last year only occurred about once a week, are going to be closer to a daily feature of his presidency. A politically weakened Trump has pivoted back to branding because it is his only option before the midterm elections. It is worth stressing just how little Trump is going to get from Congress between now and the midterms.... Given his political constraints, Trump will do what he did in the private sector when his real estate empire was floundering: switch to branding. When Trump actually tried to build things like hotels, his track record was mediocre. As a brand, however, Trump pocketed millions with far less skin in the game. The president's behavior this past month or so can best be understood as him trying to return to his brand as an angry outsider." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

This Russia Thing, Ctd.

** Carol Leonnig & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III informed President Trump's attorneys last month that he is continuing to investigate the president but does not consider him a criminal target at this point, according to three people familiar with the discussions. In private negotiations in early March about a possible presidential interview, Mueller described Trump as a subject of his investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. Prosecutors view someone as a subject when that person has engaged in conduct that is under investigation but there is not sufficient evidence to bring charges. The special counsel also told Trump's lawyers that he is preparing a report about the president's actions while in office and potential obstruction of justice, according to two people with knowledge of the conversations.... The president has privately expressed relief at the description of his legal status, which has increased his determination to agree to a special counsel interview, the people said.... [Some of Trump's] advisers, however, noted that subjects of investigations can easily become indicted targets -- and expressed concern that the special prosecutor was baiting Trump into an interview that could put the president in legal peril.... Some of Trump's advisers have warned White House aides that they fear Mueller could issue a blistering report about the president's actions." ...

... Margaret Hartmann: According to the Post, "Mueller is preparing two separate reports: one about Trump's actions in office and potential obstruction of justice, and another about Russia-related activities.... [Reporter Robert] "Costa dropped one key detail in a late-night appearance on MSNBC: Mueller is looking to release the obstruction report in June or July. This may give Trump hope that if he just sits down with Mueller, that part of the probe can be done in a matter of months. But that could turn out to be a nightmare for congressional Republicans, and perhaps the president too.... In addition to having the midterms marred by Manafort news and sporadic Mueller-related leaks, Republicans will be dealing with a report on Trump's inappropriate behavior in office -- with the promise of Russia revelations to come." ...

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "There is a popular school of thought ... that Mueller may not even view charging the president with crimes as a potential outcome of the investigation. It has to do with an opinion written by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel in 1973 (read: Nixon, Richard) that was affirmed in 2000 (read: Clinton, Bill).... What if Mueller is saying Trump isn't a criminal target of the probe because he doesn't think Trump can be a criminal target of the probe?... It would mean Mueller could have the most damning information about collusion, obstruction of justice and anything else, and he would technically be telling Trump's lawyers the truth when he says Trump isn't a criminal target. And it wouldn't foreclose impeachment." Mrs. McC: I'm betting on the sealed indictment, to be acted upon when Trump leaves office.

Spencer Hsu & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III was authorized by a top Justice Department official to investigate whether Paul Manafort ... illegally coordinated with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election, new court filings show. Manafort, who was indicted last year on felony charges related to his work in Ukraine before joining Trump's campaign, has not been charged with any crimes connected to the presidential race. But a partly redacted memo included in court filings late Monday night revealed that Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein authorized Mueller to pursue allegations that Manafort colluded with Russia in 2016. The new filings show that Rosenstein specifically approved lines of investigation for the special counsel in an August 2017 memo. A version of the memo filed in court showed that Rosenstein signed off on an investigation of whether Manafort 'committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials' and of Manafort's work as an international political consultant in Ukraine before joining Trump's campaign. Additional sections of the 2 1/2 -page memo were blacked out by prosecutors, indicating that Rosenstein authorized other lines of investigation that remain a secret."

Laura Jarrett of CNN: "Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has picked a veteran prosecutor to help him oversee the Russia probe at the Justice Department as the Special Counsel's investigation deepens. Ed O'Callaghan will serve as the acting Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General, according to a Justice Department official."

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Special counsel Robert Mueller obtained the first sentence in his high-profile investigation Tuesday, as a Dutch attorney who admitted to lying to investigators was ordered into federal custody for 30 days. Former Skadden Arps lawyer Alex van der Zwaan, 33, pleaded guilty in February to lying to FBI agents about his contacts with former Trump campaign official Rick Gates and Konstantin Kilimnik, a suspected Russian intelligence operative who worked closely with Gates and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.... Van der Zwaan is married to the daughter of a Ukrainian-Russian energy mogul, German Khan, whom Forbes ranks 138th on its list of billionaires, with a net worth of $9.3 billion." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... The New York Times story, by Sharon LaFraniere, is here.

Ryan Browne of CNN: "In his last public remarks as national security adviser, Lt. Gen. HR McMaster offered harsh words for Russia Tuesday during a speech at the Atlantic Council in Washington DC. 'We have failed to impose sufficient costs' on Russia, McMaster said at the event, which also included a Q&A with the Presidents of Estonia and Latvia, as well as the Foreign Minister of Lithuania. He added that the failure to impose adequate costs on Russia's activities meant that 'the Kremlin's confidence is growing.' 'Russia has used old and new forms of aggression to undermine our open societies,' McMaster said. 'For too long some nations have looked the other way,' McMaster said, cataloging what he said were a series of actions by Russia that warranted condemnation, including cyberattacks against the US and its NATO allies, and unsafe intercepts of US and NATO military forces. However, McMaster also praised the Trump administration's response to Russia, particularly the coordinated expulsion of diplomats in response to the incident in Salisbury UK. McMaster said the expelled diplomats helped 'orchestrate' Russian interference in the US...." ...

     ... You can watch McMaster's full speech here.

What? What? Trump Team Turf War? Oh, Yes. Alan Rappeport & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "The White House's Office of Management and Budget, headed by Mick Mulvaney, and the Treasury Department, run by Steven Mnuchin, are at odds over whether to end Treasury's traditional independence in writing tax regulations and to give the budget office more oversight of those rules. If an agreement is not reached soon, the president may have to weigh in and make the decision himself. The debate is more than just a West Wing turf war. How it plays out could affect several big decisions that will define the breadth and scope of the new tax law, including whether small businesses like veterinary clinics and dentists may claim a new 20 percent tax deduction, and to what degree multinational corporations such as Microsoft and Eli Lilly will be hit with a new minimum tax on the profits they earn overseas."

Juliet Eilperin, et al., of the Washington Post: "In recent weeks, [EPA Administrator Scott] Pruitt has been the focus of ongoing scrutiny of his frequent first-class travel, which the EPA has argued was necessary because of security concerns. He now is facing inquiries over a discount condo rental he arranged with the wife of an energy and transportation lobbyist, as well as his decision to utilize an obscure provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act to give huge raises to two staff members. On Tuesday, two Republican lawmakers [-- Florida Reps. Carlos Curbelo and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen --] joined a chorus of Democrats and environmental groups calling for Pruitt's ouster. But Trump appeared to stand by his EPA chief, voicing support for a man who has also proven adept at delivering on the president's campaign promise to aggressively roll back environmental regulations.... The pay hike ... [for] 26-year-old staffer [Millan Hupp came after she] oversaw an extensive housing hunt for the administrator last year. Hupp at times conducted the search during office hours, according to a former EPA employee and others who interacted with her, activity that ethics experts said constitutes a violation of federal rules." ...

... Hiding Scott Pruitt. Clare Foran of CNN: "As questions swirled over whether or not he can hold onto his administration post, embattled Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt appeared calm on Tuesday as he touted the agency's decision to revise greenhouse gas emissions standards for automobiles.... EPA had previously planned to hold Pruitt's appearance Tuesday at a Chevrolet dealer in Chantilly, Virginia, just outside of Washington.... But the event was canceled.... The New York Times reported that there was pushback from some Chevy dealers who didn't want to see the brand tied to the Trump administration's announcement. The event was subsequently moved to EPA headquarters, but with limited press access. A CNN journalist in the building was not allowed into the room for the event. EPA had attempted to allow television camera access to Fox News without informing the other four networks: CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS. Fox alerted the networks and a pool was established allowing networks equal access to the event." Pruitt did not take questions. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So now Pruitt needs extra security detail to protect him from hostile reporters? ...

... Dino Grandoni of the Washington Post: "Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt hired at least two ex-lobbyists and several other aides for noncritical positions through an obscure provision in a water-safety law. The unusual hires are raising questions about whether the embattled Cabinet official is circumventing President Trump's ethics directives or using his emergency hiring authority as intended. The 1977 provision to the Safe Drinking Water Act authorizes the EPA to hire up to 30 people without the approval of the Senate or the White House. The power, granted directly to the EPA administrator, was originally designed to let the agency quickly hire senior management and scientific personnel during times of critical need. But Pruitt appears to have used his hiring power differently, relying on the provision to bring in former lobbyists along with young spokespeople and schedulers.... Ethics experts say hiring lobbyists through the provision breaks with some of Trump's ethics rules, even if it's not technically illegal." ...

... Elaina Plott & Robinson Meyer of the Atlantic: "In early March, [EPA] Administrator Scott Pruitt approached the White House ... [asking for] substantial pay raises for two of his closest aides ... Sarah Greenwalt and Millan Hupp..., part of the small group of staffers who had traveled with Pruitt to Washington from Oklahoma.... Pruitt asked that Greenwalt's salary be raised from $107,435 to $164,200; Hupp's, from $86,460 to $114,590. Because both women were political appointees, he needed the White House to sign-off on their new pay.... [White House] staffers ... dismissed Pruitt s application.... So Pruitt ... [used] a provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act [which] allows the EPA administrator to hire up to 30 people into the agency, without White House or congressional approval.... Pruitt ordered it done. Though Hupp and Greenwalt's duties did not change, the agency began processing them for raises." --safari (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... safari: It's not just the omnipresent corruption of TrumpWorld that's sickening, but how cynically they flout it. Pruitt can't unleash polluters fast enough, but uses the "Clean Water Act" to fatten up his acolytes; Sessions fires McCabe for "lacking candor under oath"; Sarah Huckster Sanders demeans the Voting Right Act while defending the raw manipulation of the Census; Rick Perry uses the DofE to declare clean energy "immoral"; Ryan Zinke shrinks public land to give it back to the "people", ergo, sell it to private companies. And Donald won't fire 'em, cuz he codes it this way. These people aren't the bugs, they're the algorithms.

The Emails! Joe Uchill of Axios: "The security advocacy group Global Cyber Alliance tested the 26 email domains managed by the Executive Office of the President (EOP) and found that only one fully implements a security protocol that verifies the emails as genuinely from the White House. Of the 26 domains, 18 are not in compliance with a Department of Homeland Security directive to implement that protocol." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: We have long known that when Trump opposes a perceived opponent of some misdeed or contemptible trait, it most certainly was just a projection of his own bad acts. But does he have to be 100% consistent? Right down to "the emails"? Is he "have blood coming out of his wherever"?

Sam Gillette of People: "In a riveting passage from Cecile Richards' new memoir, the Planned Parenthood chief says Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were, during Donald Trump's 2016 transition as president-elect, so eager to be recognized as shrewd political dealmakers that the soon-to-be first daughter and her husband made an offer that felt like a 'bribe': an increase in federal funding for Planned Parenthood in exchange for its agreement to stop providing abortions. Richards, in Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead, out Tuesday, says she was leery of taking the meeting in January 2017, but, after the defeat of Planned Parenthood's champion, Hillary Clinton, she was open to finding possible new allies in the president-elect's more moderate-leaning daughter and son-in-law.... Kushner told her Planned Parenthood 'had made a big mistake by becoming "political."' 'The main issue, he explained, was abortion,' Richards writes. 'If Planned Parenthood wanted to keep our federal funding, we would have to stop providing abortions. He described his ideal outcome: a national headline reading 'Planned Parenthood Discontinues Abortion Services."' Kushner said that if Richards agreed to the plan then funding could increase, but he urged them to 'move fast.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Kushner may see his "offer" as "shrewd political dealmaking." I see it as "a hamfisted threat." Anyhow, back to peacemaking in the Middle East.

Jessica Glenza of the Guardian: "A new wave of teacher strikes has highlighted a growing problem for all US workers -- growing health costs which have become a 'hungry tapeworm' on Americans' wages. 'They've shifted the healthcare costs and the pension costs on to employees, so employees are making less and they're spending less,' said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents 1.7 million members. 'It's a double whammy.' Conservative legislatures' push to shift health and pension costs on to individual teachers means in some states, teachers take home less pay than they did five years ago." --safari (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Rebecca Dallet bested Michael Screnock Tuesday for a seat on the state Supreme Court, shrinking the court's conservative majority and giving Democrats a jolt of energy heading into the fall election. It marked the first time in 23 years that a liberal candidate who wasn't an incumbent won a seat on the high court.... The election swung conservative control of the court from a comfortable 5-2 to a narrow 4-3. Dallet -- to be seated in August for a 10-year term -- will replace conservative Justice Michael Gableman, who did not seek re-election. With Democrats around the country fired up about this fall's midterm elections, Dallet was able to bring an unusual level of national attention to the Supreme Court race. She secured the endorsements of former Vice President Joe Biden, former Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "What was generally expected to be another close Wisconsin barn-burner of an election turned into a romp, as progressive circuit county judge Rebecca Dallet easily defeated conservative circuit court judge Michael Screnock for a spot on the state's Supreme Court.... [Tuesday night's] results also make it abundantly clear why Scott Walker tried so hard to avoid calling two state legislative special elections, only doing so when forced to comply with state law by a judge he had himself appointed."

News Lede

Mercury News: "The night before Nasim Aghdam opened fire in a courtyard at YouTube's headquarters Tuesday afternoon, Mountain View police found the San Diego woman sleeping in her car.... In an interview Tuesday night with the Bay Area News Group, Ismail Aghdam said his 38-year-old daughter told her family a couple of weeks ago that YouTube had been censoring her videos and stopped paying her for her content. 'She was angry,' he said in an interview from his Riverside County home.... Ismail Aghdam said his daughter was a vegan activist and animal lover."

The Commentariat -- April 3, 2018

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Tuesday that he planned to order the military to guard parts of the southern border until he can build a wall and tighten immigration restrictions, proposing a remarkable escalation of his efforts to crack down on migrants entering the country illegally. Mr. Trump, who has been stewing publicly for days about what he characterizes as lax immigration laws and the potential for an influx of Central American migrants to stream into the United States, said he was consulting with Jim Mattis, the secretary of defense, about resorting to military deployments."

Trump Enjoys Screwing with Everybody. Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "Honduras may be bearing the brunt of President Trump's ire today over immigration, but only a few months ago it was receiving accolades from the administration. Honduras was among only seven nations that voted with the United States and Israel in December against a resolution condemning the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Trump and Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, both suggested U.S. aid could hinge on how nations voted. While 128 nations voted for the resolution anyway, Honduras, which got $137.5 million in U.S. aid in 2017, seemed to be safe, along with Guatemala, Togo and several small Pacific Island nations.... Tuesday brought another whiplash turn when Trump said U.S. aid to Honduras and other countries in the region is now 'in play' again as a caravan of migrants moved through Mexico toward the U.S. border. Honduras already is on the chopping block in the foreign aid budget for next year. The administration has proposed cutting aid in half, to $65.75 million, in 2019. Foreign aid has strong bipartisan support in Congress, however, and early indications are the administration's wishes will be ignored."

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Special counsel Robert Mueller obtained the first sentence in his high-profile investigation Tuesday, as a Dutch attorney who admitted to lying to investigators was ordered into federal custody for 30 days. Former Skadden Arps lawyer Alex van der Zwaan, 33, pleaded guilty in February to lying to FBI agents about his contacts with former Trump campaign official Rick Gates and Konstantin Kilimnik, a suspected Russian intelligence operative who worked closely with Gates and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort."

Joshua Partlow & David Agren of the Washington Post: "The Mexican government on Monday evening moved to break up the caravan of migrants traveling through southern Mexico, with immigration officials registering the travelers and suggesting some could receive humanitarian visas while others would have to leave Mexico. The caravan, estimated at more than 1,000 migrants, many from Central America, has gained increasing visibility because of tweets by President Trump that have criticized Mexico for not doing more to stop the flow of migrants to the southern border of the United States.... Mexico's Interior Ministry said in a statement on Monday that 'under no circumstances does the government of Mexico promote irregular migration.' The statement said that the caravan has taken place every year since 2010 and is made up primarily of people from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, and that 400 people in this group have already been deported.... Even after the Mexican statement about stopping the caravan, Trump tweeted again on Tuesday morning insisting the caravan must be stopped before it reaches the border and Congress 'MUST ACT NOW.'" ...

... Julie Davis: "President Trump has begun a new push for legislation to crack down on illegal immigration and make it more difficult to obtain refuge in the United States, White House officials said Monday, arguing that lax laws have drawn a flood of migrants to the country's borders. The proposals include toughening laws to make it more difficult to apply for or be granted asylum in the United States, stripping protections for children arriving illegally without their parents so they can be turned back at the border or quickly removed, and allowing families to be detained for longer periods while they await decisions from immigration authorities about their fates. While the steps have long been advocated by Mr. Trump's hard-line aides, including Stephen Miller, his senior policy adviser, focusing on them now opens a new front in the president's push for immigration restrictions." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'll bet that legislation Miller is writing is primo -- just as good as the Muslim bans he wrote that the courts struck down & only slightly more coherent than Trump's childish "MUST ACT NOW" tweets.

Jessica Glenza of the Guardian: "A new wave of teacher strikes has highlighted a growing problem for all US workers -- growing health costs which have become a 'hungry tapeworm' on Americans' wages. 'They've shifted the healthcare costs and the pension costs on to employees, so employees are making less and they're spending less,' said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents 1.7 million members. 'It's a double whammy.' Conservative legislatures' push to shift health and pension costs on to individual teachers means in some states, teachers take home less pay than they did five years ago." --safari

Elaina Plott & Robinson Meyer of the Atlantic: "In early March, [EPA] Administrator Scott Pruitt approached the White House with a request: He wanted substantial pay raises for two of his closest aides ... Sarah Greenwalt and Millan Hupp..., part of the small group of staffers who had traveled with Pruitt to Washington from Oklahoma.... Pruitt asked that Greenwalt's salary be raised from $107,435 to $164,200; Hupp's, from $86,460 to $114,590. Because both women were political appointees, he needed the White House to sign-off on their new pay.... [In t]he meeting ... staffers ... dismissed Pruitt's application.... So Pruitt found another way. A provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act allows the EPA administrator to hire up to 30 people into the agency, without White House or congressional approval.... Pruitt could exercise total control over their contracts and grant the raises on his own. Pruitt ordered it done. Though Hupp and Greenwalt's duties did not change, the agency began processing them for raises." --safari...

     ... safari: It's not just the omnipresent corruption of TrumpWorld that's sickening, but how cynically they flout it. Pruitt can't unleash polluters fast enough, but uses the "Clean Water Act" to fatten up his acolytes; Sessions fires McCabe for "lacking candor under oath"; Sarah Huckster Sanders demeans the Voting Right Act while defending the raw manipulation of the Census; Rick Perry uses the DofE to declare clean energy "immoral"; Ryan Zinke shrinks public land to give it back to the "people", ergo, sell it to private companies. And Donald won't fire 'em, cuz he codes it this way. These people aren't the bugs, they're the algorithms.

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Daniel Drezner of the Washington Post has a theory of Trumpertweets that is akin to, but more sophisticated than, some of my remarks below. Drezner: "Almost everything [Trump] tweeted on [several] issues was a lie factually challenged and sounds worse when one takes Trump's words semi-seriously. The tweets from this morning suggest that these tantrums, which last year only occurred about once a week, are going to be closer to a daily feature of his presidency. A politically weakened Trump has pivoted back to branding because it is his only option before the midterm elections. It is worth stressing just how little Trump is going to get from Congress between now and the midterms.... Given his political constraints, Trump will do what he did in the private sector when his real estate empire was floundering: switch to branding. When Trump actually tried to build things like hotels, his track record was mediocre. As a brand, however, Trump pocketed millions with far less skin in the game. The president's behavior this past month or so can best be understood as him trying to return to his brand as an angry outsider."

*****

Matt Phillips of the New York Times: "The Trump Bump is becoming the Trump Slump. In the first year of Donald J. Trump's presidency, ebullient investors propelled stock markets to one record high after another. And Mr. Trump was the bull-in-chief, celebrating the record-breaking march as validation of his economic policies.... Even after a fast start to 2018, stock markets finished the first quarter down for the year -- the first quarterly decline since 2015. It suggested that a period of calm and steadily rising markets had given way to a turbulent new era with a bearish bent. The plunge continued Monday, with the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index sinking 2.2 percent. Investors jettisoned shares of financial, technology and many other businesses, spooked at least in part by a tweet from Mr. Trump aimed at one of the country's biggest companies: Amazon." ...

... Matt Egan of CNN: "At one point, the Dow was down as much as 758 points. Market analysts blamed the sell-off on the first day of the second quarter on concerns about trade tensions and President Trump's attacks on Amazon. Amazon..., one of the biggest drivers of the 2017 market rally, tumbled 5%, wiping out more than $36 billion of its market value. Trump once again accused Amazon of taking advantage of the US Postal Service, and he suggested that Amazon does not pay its fair share of tax. In fact, Amazon pays the same lower rate that the post office charges other bulk shippers, and it collects sales tax in every state that charges it. Amazon does not collect sales tax on purchases made from third-party vendors.... Wall Street is also fretting about rising trade tensions, especially with China. Beijing responded to Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs on Monday by following through on its threat to impose tariffs on $3 billion of US imports. The tariffs apply to 128 products, ranging from pork and meat to steel pipes." ...

... Rachel Evans & Lu Wang of Bloomberg: "U.S. stocks had their worst April start since 1929, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The S&P 500 index slumped 2.2 percent, a rout exceeded only by its 2.5 percent decline 89 years ago, a prelude to the devastating crash later that year that brought on the Great Depression. (Back then, the index only comprised 90 stocks.) China's retaliatory trade tariffs combined with ... Donald Trump's criticism of Amazon.com Inc. to send equities into a tailspin Monday." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Of course the market is always rising & falling, but analysts are blaming Donald Trump for directly causing the stock market to fall. ...

... Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "... according to four sources close to the White House, Trump is discussing ways to escalate his Twitter attacks on Amazon to further damage the company. 'He's off the hook on this. It's war,' one source told me. 'He gets obsessed with something, and now he's obsessed with Bezos,' said another source. 'Trump is like, how can I fuck with him?' According to sources, Trump wants the Post Office to increase Amazon's shipping costs. When Trump previously discussed the idea inside the White Ho[u]se, Gary Cohn had explained that Amazon is a benefit to the Postal Service, which has seen mail volume plummet in the age of e-mail. 'Trump doesn't have Gary Cohn breathing down his neck saying you can't do the Post Office shit,' a Republican close to the White House said. 'He really wants the Post Office deal renegotiated. He thinks Amazon's getting a huge fucking deal on shipping.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump cost Amazon $36BB in one day (which, admittedly, he may gain back), & the attacks were untruthful. I think Bezos has 36BB reasons to sue Trump's ass. ...

     ... Update. Actually, it's worse than that: According to Michelle Goldberg, "Trump's antipathy has already affected Amazon's fortunes. He threatened the company during the presidential campaign, and, as Forbes reported, Amazon's stock plunged more than 6 percent after he won. Last Wednesday, after Axios reported that Trump was 'obsessed' with Amazon, the company lost $53 billion in market value. In the wake of Trump's tweets on Monday, Amazon's stock fell more than 5 percent." Mrs. McC: It's not clear from Goldberg's opinion piece whether or not Amazon recovered after losses caused by Trump's previous remarks. ...

     ... As Goldberg writes, "Modern authoritarians rarely seize critical newspapers or TV stations outright. Instead, they use state power to pressure critics and reward friends.... There's a legitimate case for an antitrust investigation of [Amazon].... But Trump revealed his motive for condemning Amazon when he called for government registration of The Washington Post.... This is not the first time the Trump administration has appeared to be trying to punish enemies in the media.... Meanwhile, Trump uses his platform to praise obsequious outlets like Sinclair Broadcast Group.... Sinclair's regime-friendly propaganda, which seems meant to erode trust in competing sources of information, is also familiar from other nations that have slid into authoritarianism.... There are many reasons to be terrified of Amazon's power, but Trump's ability to undermine it with a tweet is far scarier." ...

... John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump on Tuesday took swipes at national news networks, labeling them 'fake news' and suggesting that journalists pushed back at a recent editorial from Sinclair Broadcasting Group because they are 'jealous' of the network. The tweet is Trump's second defending the right-leaning Sinclair group since the company that owns a large number of local TV news stations directed many of its local affiliates to air promos bashing 'fake news' in a move that drew widespread criticism from journalists and other critics.... 'The Fake News Networks, those that knowingly have a sick and biased AGENDA, are worried about the competition and quality of Sinclair Broadcast. The 'Fakers' at CNN, NBC, ABC & CBS have done so much dishonest reporting that they should only be allowed to get awards for fiction!,' [Trump tweeted Tuesday morning.]"

... Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "President Trump's promise to take tough action against China's unfair economic practices was one of his most popular campaign ideas. But as the United States prepares stiff trade measures and China retaliates, stock markets have plummeted and some of America's biggest companies are pushing back. Industry giants like General Electric and Goldman Sachs, as well as agricultural companies, have lodged objections with the White House, saying that tariffs on both sides of the Pacific and limitations on investments will cut off American companies from the world's most lucrative and rapidly growing market."

President* Bizarro. Trump Can't Even Do an Easter Egg Roll. Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump on Monday welcomed children to the White House for the annual Easter Egg Roll with a bizarre rant about the strength of the American military. In his address to the children at the event, Trump began by referring to the White House as 'this house or building or whatever you want to call it because there is no name for it, it is special.' Trump then said that he and his staff keep the White House 'in tip-top shape, we call it sometimes tippy-top shape, and it's a great, great place.' He then pivoted to talking about the military, which he said would soon be 'at a level it's never been before' and 'you see what's happening with funding' and 'just think of $700 billion, because that's what's going into our military this year.'" Mind you, he's addressing kindergartners. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... NEW. Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: Pete Souza, President Obama's former photographer, is having fun playing Trump Troll. Admittedly, it's not that challenging a game, but Souza is a master.

David Agren of the Washington Post: "President Trump wrote over the weekend that Mexico was doing 'very little, if not NOTHING' to stop migrants from crossing its southern border. It was part of a two-day tweetstorm in which he expressed alarm about 'caravans' of Central Americans heading to the United States. But in fact, Mexico already detains and deports tens of thousands of Central American migrants each year -- often long before they ever reach the border with the United States. The country also staffs immigration checkpoints in southern states such as Chiapas, Tabasco and Oaxaca.... Mexico deported 16,278 people during the first two months of 2018; 97 percent of them were Central Americans, according to the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights group.... Mexico increased its immigration enforcement in 2014, when it enacted a 'Southern Border Plan' in response to a flood of unaccompanied Central American children who were transiting the country and arriving in the United States."

... Oh, This Will Make It All Better. Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration will pressure U.S. immigration judges to process cases faster by establishing a quota system tied to their annual performance reviews, according to new Justice Department directives. The judges will be expected to clear at least 700 cases a year to receive a 'satisfactory' performance rating, a standard that their union called an 'unprecedented' step that risks undermining judicial independence and opens the courts to potential challenges. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has promised to stiffen immigration enforcement partly by moving more aggressively to clear a backlog of more than 600,000 cases pending before the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR), the federal court system that adjudicates immigration cases." Mrs. McC: Surprisingly, it would seem JeffBo is not a John Oliver fan.

David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Trump's sharp shift in tone on immigration this week from would-be dealmaker back to the hard-line stance he campaigned on comes amid signs that some of his conservative base is growing impatient for him to fulfill promises on the border wall and other measures to crack down on illegal immigration." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: A peek at Trump's Twitter feed reveals he's still at it this morning. I do think these rants -- over & above their authoritarian bent -- are evidence of Trump's weakness. He's afraid of his own "fans." That's pathetic. ...

     ... UPDATE: Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump kicked off his third consecutive day of tweeting about America's 'weak' border laws on Tuesday and called on Congress to act, following a new push for legislation to enforce immigration laws for those living illegally in the United States." Mrs. McC: A weak, sinister bully picking on the vulnerable. Woe to you, Trumpy.

Some of the President's Women

Mark Berman & Frances Sellers of the Washington Post: "Attorneys for President Trump said this week that they are appealing a New York judge's decision to allow a former 'Apprentice' contestant's defamation lawsuit against him to proceed. They filed the appeal less than two weeks after New York Supreme Court Judge Jennifer G. Schecter rejected attempts by Trump's attorneys to block Summer Zervos's lawsuit, one of multiple legal cases the president is facing.... Zervos had accused Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign of groping her years earlier, charges he denied. Days before Trump took office, Zervos filed a defamation suit, after he said all of the women accusing him of unwanted sexual contact were lying."

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Lawyers for President Donald Trump are asking a federal judge to order that an arbitrator resolve a dispute with Stormy Daniels, a former adult film actress, over an alleged 'hush money' agreement reached weeks before the 2016 presidential election as she shopped a story about an alleged sexual liaison with Trump a decade earlier."

Christian Berthelsen of Bloomberg: "A former employee of ... Donald Trump's 2016 campaign team sued the organization to nullify a non-disclosure agreement she signed, saying it muzzled her from airing discrimination claims. Jessica Denson, a Los Angeles-based journalist and actress who oversaw phone banks and Hispanic outreach for the campaign, claims she was harassed by a superior. She had earlier filed a discrimination case against Donald Trump for President Inc. in New York state court, but the campaign sought to enforce the confidentiality deal, filing an arbitration claim asserting $1.5 million in damages. Denson is the third woman who has sought to void a secrecy agreement involving Trump...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beth Reinhard & Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "The publisher of the National Enquirer asked a California court Monday to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a former Playboy centerfold who claims she had an affair with Donald Trump, arguing that the deal it struck with Karen McDougal is protected under the First Amendment. The 199-page response by American Media Inc. comes less than two weeks afte McDougal sued in Los Angeles Superior Court to get out of the deal in which she sold the rights to her story for $150,000. McDougal argued that the National Enquirer violated campaign finance law when it bought her story not to publish it but to bury it, sparing Trump from an embarrassing revelation in the run-up to the 2016 election."

Andrew Higgins & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Russia sought to move beyond last week's diplomatic confrontation with the West on Monday by pressing President Trump for a White House meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin that would undercut the perception that the angry reaction to the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain has left it isolated from the international community. The Kremlin foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said in Moscow that Mr. Trump, in a telephone call with Mr. Putin on March 20, proposed that the two leaders meet at the White House in the near future. Mr. Ushakov made clear that the Russian leader would like to take him up on the suggestion. 'This is a rather positive idea,' h said."

This Russia Thing, Ctd.

Noor Al-Sibai of RawStory: "Special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly investigating a consulting firm linked to a George Nader, an associate of Jared Kushner's who serves as a senior adviser to an Arab prince. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday night that Mueller is probing Wikistrat, an Israeli-founded consulting firm.... Joel Zamel, now based in Washington, D.C., was asked questions about Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman who works as a top adviser to United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed.... Earlier this month, [a] New York Times report claimed Mueller is looking into whether Nader was there to help 'funnel' money from Russia to Trump through the U.A.E." --safari

Benjamin Hart of New York: "The Wall Street Journal reports that, according to a person 'familiar with the matter,' Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone dined with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in 2016, ahead of Assange's release of hacked emails damaging to Hillary Clinton. In an email to former protégé, now enemy Sam Nunberg on August 4, 2016, which the Journal obtained, Stone put things pretty plainly, writing: 'I dined with Julian Assange last night.' The very next day, Stone tweeted, 'Hillary lies about Russian Involvement in DNC hack – Julian Assange is a hero.' (His Twitter account has since been suspended.) But in an interview with the paper, Stone wielded a defense often used by President Trump and his defenders: He was just joking.... It looks more and more like a Trump campaign adviser interacted with an organization that was likely working with Russian intelligence to release harmful information on Trump's opponent. If that's not collusion, what is?" ...

     ... The Wall Street Journal report, which is subscriber-firewalled, is here. ...

... Tierney Sneed of TPM received a long denial from Roger Stone, but unless Sneed made a typo, this is a curious part of it: "I can say equivocally that I received no material including allegedly hacked emails from WikiLeaks for Julian Assange or anyone else and never passed any such materials onto Donald Trump or the Trump campaign." Equivocally? ...

... Andrew Prokop of Vox reminds us, "These hacks were crimes, victimizing many hundreds of Americans (those who had their documents stolen, and those who corresponded with them). The operation was more wide-ranging than many remember, targeting not just John Podesta and the DNC but many other people and groups. It wasn't just emails stolen, either -- posted material ranged from Democratic Party turnout data that a Republican operative thought was 'probably worth millions of dollars' to even a purported picture of Michelle Obama's passport." Prokop reports a lot of details about & surrounding the hacks.

Judd Legum of ThinkProgress: "On Thursday at a Chicago nightclub, [George] Papadopoulos had some drinks and, in a conversation with a new acquaintance, allegedly made new and explosive claims about Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Papadopoulos, according to this new acquaintance, said that Sessions was well aware of the contact between Papadopoulos and Joseph Mifsud, an academic from Malta with high-level connections in Russia. Papadopoulos' indictment revealed that Mifsud had told Papadopoulos that the Russians had '"dirt" on then-candidate Hillary Clinton in the form of "thousands of emails."' Jason Wilson, a computer engineer who lives in Chicago, told ThinkProgress that Papadopoulos said during their conversation that 'Sessions encouraged me' to find out anything he could about the hacked Hillary Clinton emails that Mifsud had mentioned." Papadopoulos's wife, Simona Mangiante, later tried to downplay her husband's revelations. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs McCrabbie Note to Journalists: This is, of course, a one-source story. Next time you interview Papadopoulos, bring vodka.

Jill McCabe, in a Washington Post op-ed, tells of the impact of the attacks Donald Trump & his supporters have waged against her and her husband Andrew. Mrs. McC: Good deeds never go unpunished.

** Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "The Trump administration on Monday launched an effort to weaken Obama-era fuel economy standards for automobiles -- and demanded that California, which has vowed to enforce stricter standards, fall in line -- setting up a clash over one of the single biggest steps any government has taken to rein in emissions of earth-warming gases. Laid down in 2012, the fuel economy standards would have required automakers to nearly double the average fuel economy of new cars and trucks to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. If fully implemented, the rules would have cut oil consumption by about 12 billion barrels over the lifetime of all the cars affected by the regulations and reduced carbon dioxide pollution by about six billion tons. 'The Obama Administration's determination was wrong,' Scott Pruitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said in a news release. Mrs. McC: What? Because science? ...

... In Context. Brad Plumer & Nadja Popovich of the New York Times: "While the Obama-era standards for cars and light trucks were on pace to become some of the most aggressive in the world by 2025, they were still less stringent than those set by the European Union, according to an analysis by the International Center on Clean Transportation, which compared standards for different countries. Several other countries have modeled their vehicle standards after those in the United States, so a rollback by the Environmental Protection Agency could potentially affect standards across the globe.... In 2012, the Obama administration worked with California to set greenhouse gas and efficiency standards for transportation that aimed to roughly double the average fleetwide fuel economy of new cars, S.U.V.s and light trucks by 2025. If automakers complied with the rules solely by improving the fuel economy of their engines, new cars and light trucks on the road would average more than 50 miles per gallon by 2025 (the charts here break out standards for cars and light trucks separately). But automakers in the United States have some flexibility in meeting these standards." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: If European car manufacturers who assemble their cars in the U.S. follow the EU's fuel efficiency standards, this seems like a good reason to buy European. Or else maybe travel to California to purchase a vehicle. "I have a California car" could be a bragging point. So great move, Scotty, you irresponsible ass. ...

... Paul Krugman lists several ways American automakers will like not Pruitt's, cough-cough, "gift."

... Another A-mazing "Coincidence." Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "The Environmental Protection Agency signed off last March on a Canadian energy company's pipeline-expansion plan at the same time that the E.P.A. chief, Scott Pruitt, was renting a condominium linked to the energy company's powerful Washington lobbying firm. Both the E.P.A. and the lobbying firm dispute that there was any connection between the agency's action and the condo rental, for which Mr. Pruitt was paying $50 a night.... The expansion, a project of Enbridge Inc., a Calgary-based energy company, would allow hundreds of thousands more barrels of oil a day to flow through this pipeline to the United States from Canadian tar sands. The sign-off by the E.P.A. came even though the agency, at the end of the Obama administration, had moved to fine Enbridge $61 million in connection with a 2010 pipeline episode that sent hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan and other waterways." ...

... Sam Stein & Lachlan Markay of the Daily Beast: "The lobbyist-owned townhouse that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt rented for relatively small nightly sums also served as a hub for Republican lawmakers hoping to raise money for their congressional campaigns. A review of fundraising invitations reveals that at least three members of Congress had fundraisers at the now-controversial Capital Hill brownstone during the same period of time that Pruitt was living there. Several of those fundraisers took place on dates when Pruitt was in Washington, D.C., according to a cross-reference of the invitations and Pruitt's schedule. The EPA said that Pruitt wasn't invited to and didn't attend any of the events." Mrs. McC: Uh-huh. I guess Pruitt napped through the parties. He's good at napping through loud noises. ...

... Khorri Atkinson of Axios: "A White House official told the WSJ Monday that the administration is probing Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt's connection with an energy lobbyist.... The official said the administration wants to 'dig a little deeper' because it's not pleased that the EPA released a statement saying Pruitt's actions do not violate federal ethics rules." The Wall Street Journal story, which is firewalled, is here. ...

... Eliana Johnson, et al., of Politico: "White House chief of staff John Kelly has considered the firing of embattled Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt in the coming months as part of a wave of ousters of top officials causing headaches for the president, a senior administration official told Politico. Pruitt is still hanging on for now, in part because Kelly wanted to wait for an upcoming EPA inspector general's report into his expensive travels, the senior official said. Another possible reason: Pruitt is doing the job ... Donald Trump wants -- including an announcement Monday that the agency will reverse the Obama administration's attempt to tighten fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks."

** Alice Ollstein of TPM: "Nearly a third of the senior Interior Department (DOI) career officials reassigned under Secretary Ryan Zinke in a major agency reshuffling are Native American, even though Native Americans make up less than 10 percent of the Department's workforce, a review by TPM has found. The finding comes days after Democratic lawmakers demanded an investigation into whether Zinke discriminated when he reassigned 33 career officials last summer, and follows on reports that Zinke has repeatedly told DOI officials he doesn't care about diversity -- which prompted one member of Congress to accuse Zinke of working to create a 'lily-white department.' Former government officials tell TPM that they see the reassignment of top Native American staffers as part of an effort to remove internal opposition to Zinke's plan to open up more tribal and public lands to the fossil fuel industry." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is the most racist administration since maybe Woodrow Wilson's.

Congressional Race. Russell Blair, et al., of the Hartford Courant: "Facing a firestorm of criticism for mishandling domestic violence allegations against her since-fired chief of staff, U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty announced late Monday afternoon that she will not run for re-election in November. In a written statement, Esty, a Democrat from Cheshire, said she 'could have and should have done better' after learning that her top adviser had punched and threatened to kill a female staffer in her office who he had once dated."

** Supremes to Cops: Shoot First, Think Later. David Savage of the Los Angeles Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday shielded a police officer from being sued for shooting an Arizona woman in her front yard, once again making it harder to bring legal action against officers who use excessive force, even against an innocent person. By a 7-2 vote, the court tossed out a lawsuit by a Tucson woman who was shot four times in her front yard because she was seen carrying a large knife. In dissent, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the victim did not threaten the police or a friend who was standing nearby. This 'decision is not just wrong on the law; it also sends an alarming signal to law enforcement officers and the public. It tells officers that they can shoot first and think later.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Red State Revolt. Dana Goldstein of the New York Times: "Thousands of teachers in Oklahoma and Kentucky walked off the job Monday morning, shutting down school districts as they protested cuts in pay, benefits and school funding in a movement that has grown in force since igniting in West Virginia earlier this year. The wave of strikes in red states, mainly organized by ordinary teachers on Facebook, has caught lawmakers and sometimes the teachers’ own labor unions flat-footed. The protesters say they are fed up with years of education funding cuts and stagnant pay in Republican-dominated states. In Oklahoma City, where protesting teachers were gathering at the Capitol on Monday morning, Katrina Ruff, a local teacher, carried a sign that read, 'Thanks to West Virginia.'” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Paul Waldman in the Washington Post: "There's a revolt beginning among the nation's schoolteachers.... Or it might be more properly understood as a revolt among teachers in states governed by Republicans, although it's almost never framed that way in the news media.... What's happening in these states [is] a direct and predictable result of the Republican model of governing, which dictates low taxes and social services — like schools -- that are as minimally funded as possible." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In yesterday's Comments thread, Akhilleus saw low-teacher pay & shoddy schools & equipment more as a response to Republicans' low regard for education, & I agree with that. In addition, 3/4ths of K-12 teachers are women, & Republicans really don't think women & wimpy male history teachers "deserve" fair pay. High school coaches -- well, that's different.... See also Ken W.'s comment below. I agree with him, too.

...CNN provides just a sneak peek into the shameful treatment of Oklahoma's educators. --safari

Azeen Ghorayshi of Buzzfeed: "The gay hookup app Grindr, which has more than 3.6 million daily active users across the world, has been providing its users' HIV status to two other companies, BuzzFeed News has learned. The two companies -- Apptimize and Localytics, which help optimize apps -- receive some of the information that Grindr users choose to include in their profiles, including their HIV status and 'last tested date.'.... [An analysis also showed that Grindr was sharing its users' precise GPS position, 'tribe' (meaning what gay subculture they identify with), sexuality, relationship status, ethnicity, and phone ID to other third-party advertising companies. And this information, unlike the HIV data, was sometimes shared via 'plain text,' which can be easily hacked." --safari

Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "Marcel Fontaine, who was falsely declared a suspect in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting by conspiracy-theorist website InfoWars, is now suing Alex Jones for more than a million dollars. Fontaine, a young man from Massachusetts, filed suit in the district court of Travis County, Texas on Monday against InfoWars head Alex Jones; InfoWars reporter Kit Daniels; InfoWars LLC; and Free Speech Systems, LLC, InfoWars' parent company. The suit charges that InfoWars 'irreparably tainted' his reputation in a report that falsely claimed he was suspected as the Stoneman Douglas shooter."

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha. Stephen Battaglio of the Los Angeles Times: "Fox News is standing by its embattled host Laura Ingraham, who has seen advertisers flee her show over a tweet aimed at Parkland, Fla., school shooting survivor David Hogg.... Ingraham has gone on a scheduled break after a week in which she came under fire for mocking David, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, after he mentioned in an interview that he was not accepted by four University of California schools." ...

... AND It's Not Just Fox "News" Bolstering Ingraham! Amanda Erickson of the Washington Post: "Russian-linked Twitter accounts have rallied around the conservative talk-show host, who has come under fire for attacking the young survivors of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting. According to the website Hamilton 68, which tracks the spread of Russian propaganda on Twitter, the hashtag #IstandwithLaura jumped 2,800 percent in 48 hours this weekend. On Saturday night, it was the top trending hashtag among Russian campaigners. The website botcheck.me, which tracks 1,500 'political propaganda bots,' found that @ingrahamangle, @davidhogg111 and @foxnews were among the top six Twitter handles tweeted by Russia-linked accounts this weekend. 'David Hogg' and 'Laura Ingraham' were the top two-word phrases being shared."

Beyond the Beltway

Krista Torralva of The Orlando Sentinel: "A University of Central Florida student who wrote online comments considering committing a mass shooting and idolizing shooters may purchase weapons, ruled a judge Monday in lifting a temporary ban. Orlando police in early March used Florida's new gun legislation, passed in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in South Florida, to temporarily ban Christian Nicholas Velasquez from owning any weapons or ammunition. City attorneys sought to persuade Circuit Judge Bob LeBlanc to extend the temporary ban a year. 'I don't disagree with the issuing of the initial temporary injunction. I think that's exactly what the statute provides for,' LeBlanc said. But the judge declined to extend the ban.... Parris said Velasquez was being punished for legally protected speech." --safari: And this was after passing gun "reform". ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: It's hard to tell from the limited information provided in the story, but Velasquez's comments sound like threats, based on the reporting, & threats to do bodily harm are illegal; i.e., they are not protected by the First Amendment. I hope the city appeals, for at least a clarification.

News Ledes

KRON4 News: "There is an active shooter at YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, [California,] according to San Bruno Police. Sources tell KRON4 that a woman shot her boyfriend. City Manager Connie Jackson says they've received multiple 911 calls from YouTube reporting a shooting." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "Three people were injured by gunfire, one of them critically, in a shooting at YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, Calif., on Tuesday afternoon. The shooter, who the police said was a woman, died from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.... The gunshot victims were taken to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, the only Level 1 trauma center in San Francisco. Brent Andrew, a spokesman for the hospital, said at a news conference that a 36-year-old man was in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition."