The Commentariat -- April 16, 2018
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Ren Laforme of Poynter: "Winners of the 2018 Pulitzer Prizes were announced at Columbia University in New York City on Monday." Includes list of winners & runners-up for journalism awards.
Benjamin Weiser & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Monday rejected an attempt by President Trump and his longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, to block prosecutors in Manhattan from immediately reviewing a trove of materials seized in F.B.I. raids last week on Mr. Cohen's office, home, hotel room and safe deposit box. But feeling her way toward a resolution of the clash involving Mr. Trump and prosecutors investigating Mr. Cohen, the judge, Kimba M. Wood, signaled that she was considering appointing a special master to assist prosecutors if and when they cull through documents seized in the raids." This is a breaking news story. No doubt details will follow.
Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Monday put the brakes on a preliminary plan to impose additional economic sanctions on Russia, walking back a Sunday announcement by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley that the Kremlin had swiftly denounced as 'international economic raiding. Preparations to punish Russia anew for its support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government over the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria caused consternation at the White House. Haley had said on CBS News's 'Face the Nation' that sanctions on Russian companies behind the equipment related to Assad's alleged chemical weapons attack would be announced Monday by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. But Trump conferred with his national security advisers later Sunday and told them he was upset the sanctions were being officially rolled out because he was not yet comfortable executing them...."
Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump resumed his attacks Monday on James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, and said that Mr. Comey, his former deputy [Andrew McCabe] and others 'committed many crimes!' The president -- in his first Twitter post since the airing of Mr. Comey's first public interview about his months serving in the Trump administration -- again accused Mr. Comey of lying to Congress, but he did not specify which other crimes he believed Mr. Comey and others committed." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Needless to say, it is inappropriate for any president to accuse American citizens of crimes for which they have not been convicted. Trump's remarks can only help McCabe's case against his 11th-hour firing. The "presumption of innocence" is not a specifically-guaranteed Constitutional right, but it is a bedrock of English-American common law, & U.S. courts usually interpret the "due process" clause of the 14th Amendment as an expression of presumption of innocence. ...
... Jonathan Chait: "The Trump administration has been throwing every possible charge it can think of at James Comey, in order to scuff up the image of the fired FBI director. This morning, Kellyanne Conway made an accusation that she and her boss might not have thought through: 'This guy swung an election,' Conway told George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America. 'He thought the wrong person would win.' That is probably true, but also probably not something Conway should admit." Conway later claimed she was being sarcastic, but Chait provides evidence otherwise. ...
... Steve M.: "Even before his interview with George Stephanopoulos aired, the knives were out for James Comey, and not just at the White House or the Republican National Committee. 'James Comey Is No Hero,' wrote Charlie Pierce. 'James Comey Is No Hero,' wrote Adam Serwer. Today, Ryan Cooper writes,'James Comey Is Not a Hero.' I get it.... But I keep thinking about the aphorism made famous by James Carville: When your opponent is drowning, throw the son of a bitch an anvil.... So if Comey is hurling a heavy object into the water, I'm inclined to step back and let him get in a good throw." ...
... Scott LeMieux of LG&$: "The transcript for the opening show of the Most Principled Man in America world tour is up if you're so inclined [linked below]. The constant pivots between discussions of how inappropriate it would be to let politics influence his decisions and his extensive discussions of how politics influenced his decisions is remarkable.... Comey's behavior was an absolutely perfect illustration of why the rules against commenting on ongoing investigations before an election are there in the first place.... Even if you buy the argument that Comey was justified in ignoring the rules in this case, there is no possible justification for selectively informing the public about investigations into the candidates and their campaigns. Which is why history is not going to remember Comey well despite his extensive PR efforts." ...
... This point, which LeMieux highlights, by former U.S. ethics director Walter Shaub is a knockout punch: "Comey had to know Chaffetz would leak the letter on the reopened Clinton investigation. But if Comey had written, 'This is to inform you that the FBI is investigating both major party presidential candidates,' Chaffetz would've dug a 6-foot hole and buried it in the forest," Shaub tweeted. Mrs. McC: Comey didn't know how either the investigations of Trump (dumpster fire) or of Huma Abedin's & hubbie's computers (nothing-burger) would turn out, so there's full equivalency in terms of what was known to him in October 2016. He had, at the least, an obligation to be bipartisan, if he was going to write to Congress at all. ...
... Carlos Lozado's review of Comey's book in the WashPo, which LeMieux also recommends, is here. Mrs. McC: I don't disagree with any of the criticisms, but I'm stick with Steve M. (linked above) on the big picture. I guess I think there are rare times when the means justify the ends, & this would be one of those rare times. ...
... Andy Borowitz (satire): "Melania Trump said on Monday that she did not understand the controversy swirling around James Comey's new memoir, because the book she is writing is 'so much meaner.'"
David Voreacos of Bloomberg: "Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, says he gave legal advice to three clients in the past year, including the president and Elliott Broidy, former deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee. Cohen declined to identify the third client in a filing in Manhattan federal court...." (Open link in private/incognito window.) Mrs. McC: So some other Friend of Donald who paid off a Playboy "model"? ...
... Holy Update, Batman! And the Mystery Third Client Is Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Sean Hannity! Zachary Fryer-Biggs of Vox: "A federal judge forced ... Michael Cohen to reveal the identity of a secret client. It's Fox News host and Trump ally Sean Hannity. Cohen was trying to protect Hannity's name as part of a lawsuit he filed to prevent the FBI from searching through the documents agents took on April 9 during a raid on Cohen's office and hotel room.... On Monday afternoon, during a hearing, [Judge Kimba] Wood rejected the plea from Cohen's team and demanded to be told who the third client was. '"I understand that he doesn't want his name out there, but that's not enough under the law,' Wood said. After a back and forth in which Cohen's lawyers offered to tell the judge confidentially, they gave in and announced the unnamed client was Hannity."
Oops! Looks as if It Was Macron Who Exaggerated This Time. James McAuley of the Washington Post: "French President Emmanuel Macron attempted Monday to walk back surprising comments that suggested he had convinced President Trump to keep U.S. forces in Syria 'long term.' The remarks -- during a TV debate Sunday after Western missile strikes on Syria -- hinted at a major policy shift by Trump and brought a sharp response from the White House less than a week before Macron is scheduled to visit Washington.... 'I did not say that either the U.S. or France will remain militarily engaged in the long term in Syria,' Macron told reporters after meeting with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. 'We have a military objective in Syria and one only: the war against ISIS,' he added...." Mrs. McC: Macron is meeting with Trump next week at the White House. Watch for Trump to ding him on this.
Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico: "The hidebound U.S. Senate is expected to soon change its rules for a member who just made history as a new mom. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), who this month became the first sitting senator to have a baby while in office, has submitted a resolution that would allow senators to bring a child under one year old onto the Senate floor during votes. Senate leaders appear poised to approve the request, according to Senate sources. The Illinois Democrat has been on a campaign to change the chamber's rules, which prohibit children from the floor, arguing that the archaic ban doesn't support working parents and would make it difficult for he to vote."
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Michael Shear & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "While ABC aired one hour of its conversation with [James] Comey, it had conducted a five-hour interview with him, a transcript of which was obtained by The New York Times. In it, Mr. Comey called Mr. Trump a serial liar who treated women like 'meat,' and described him as a 'stain' on everyone who worked for him. He said a salacious allegation that Mr. Trump had cavorted with prostitutes in Moscow had left him vulnerable to blackmail by the Russian government. And he asserted that the president was incinerating the country's crucial norms and traditions like a wildfire. He compared the president to a mafia boss." ...
... Michael Shear annotates some excerpts of the interview. ...
... Matt Zapotosky & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Former FBI director James B. Comey said in his first televised interview since being fired that he believed Donald Trump was 'morally unfit to be president' and that it was 'possible' that the Russians had material that could be used to blackmail him. In a wide-ranging conversation with George Stephanopoulos broadcast on ABC late Sunday, Comey took aim at Trump in no uncertain terms, comparing his administration to a mafia family, likening his presidency to a forest fire and asserting there was evidence that he had committed a crime." ...
... Here's a transcript of the full interview that aired, including what did not air, via ABC News. It looks as if you can watch most of the interview, as aired, on this ABC News page. ...
... Margaret Hartmann gets you through the highlights of Comey's views & news. ...
... Sunday Was a Gloomy Day in D.C., & the Twitterbird-in-Chief Was Stuck in the White House. Phil McCausland of NBC News: "... Donald Trump fired off a barrage of angry tweets early Sunday morning, directing much of his ire at the the former head of the FBI, whom he called 'the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!'... Trump's tweets included numerous allegations that are unproven and unverified.... 'I never asked Comey for Personal Loyalty. I hardly even knew this guy. Just another of his many lies. His "memos" are self serving and FAKE!'... Trump dedicated most of his morning to Comey, whom he called a "Slimeball!" in his first tweet.... 'The big questions in Comey's badly reviewed book aren't answered, like how come he gave up classified information (jail), why did he lie to Congress (jail), why did the DNC refuse to give server to the FBI (why didn't they TAKE it), why the phony memos, McCabe's $700,000 & more?' Trump tweeted.... 'Comey throws AG Lynch "under the bus!" Why can't we all find out what happened on the tarmac in the back of the plane with Wild Bill [Clinton] and Lynch'" Trump wrote, referring to a summer 2016 meeting between Lynch and former president Bill Clinton. 'Was she promised a Supreme Court seat, or AG, in order to lay off Hillary. No golf and grandkids talk (give us all a break)!'" Here's Trump's Twitter feed. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Charles Blow seems to have a sensible attitude about the Trump-Comey contretemps: "I see no need to pick sides between Comey and Trump. I dislike the former, but I despise the latter."
Tarini Parti of BuzzFeed: "... Donald Trump's 2020 reelection campaign has spent about $835,000 in legal fees so far this year, or about 22% of its total spending, according to the latest fundraising reports filed quarterly with the Federal Election Commission. The spending comes as Trump deals with the intensifying special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, as well as an ongoing legal battle with adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford. The campaign's legal consulting spending went to at least eight different firms and the Trump Corporation. The bulk of the spending, about $350,000, went to Jones Day, which has represented the campaign since the 2016 election, including any litigation related to it.... The campaign also spent about $125,000 at Trump businesses, including Trump International Hotel, Trump restaurants, and Trump Tower." ...
... Mrs. McC Note to Trumpbots: You're not contributing to re-electing the CREEP, you're contributing to a slush fund for Trump & family's lawyers. Like everything else about Trump, the campaign is a scam. ...
... AND Trump Is Coming for You Trumpbots. Ken Vogel & Rachel Shorey of the New York Times: "President Trump's re-election campaign has ramped up its fund-raising this year, bringing in $20.2 million, while investing heavily in cultivating a wide base of small donors, according to reports filed Sunday afternoon with the Federal Election Commission. Mr. Trump's campaign apparatus spent nearly $8.2 million through the end of last month, with more than 60 percent of that going toward low-dollar fund-raising tools such as solicitations delivered via social media, email, direct mail and telemarketing, the reports show."
Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "... Donald Trump is demanding the chance to review his files seized by federal investigators from his longtime fixer, Michael Cohen, to assess which are protected by attorney-client privilege, arguing that DOJ prosecutors cannot fairly make that determination.Trump's demands came in a letter filed late Sunday evening in federal court in Manhattan, where U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood has scheduled a hearing Monday to determine who gets to go through the seized records first. Prosecutors have said that a federal grand jury has been investigating Cohen for months. He has not been charged with any crimes.... The U.S. Attorney's Office has asked Wood for permission to begin reviewing the material immediately, noting that the use of taint teams is 'common procedure' in federal investigations. Wood is expected to decide who gets first crack at the documents at a hearing Monday at 2 p.m. ET in federal court in lower Manhattan. Cohen has been ordered to appear in person." ...
... Josh Marshall: "We have new news on that third Michael Cohen husher, the one with Trump fundraiser and RNC deputy finance chair Elliott Broidy and an unnamed former Playboy model. As with the earlier two it was 'negotiated' by Cohen representing Broidy and Keith Davidson representing the unnamed woman. The settlement was for $1.6 million.... If it is true that Davidson and Cohen were operating with coordination and as a team and not zealously representing the interests of their nominal clients, my sense is that this goes beyond violations of professional ethics. It quickly gets you into criminal fraud and even extortion." ...
... The Fixer Is in a Fix. Judd Legum of ThinkProgress: "For years, Cohen has secretly done the dirty work for Donald Trump and his associates under the protective umbrella of 'attorney-client privilege.' This isn't really legal work but pretending it was helped ensure it stayed secret. The gig may be up.... Although Cohen worked pretty much exclusively for Trump, he also appears to serve as a 'fixer' for Trump's friends and family. Cohen, it seems, has a specialty in covering up affairs. It was revealed last week that Cohen recently helped Elliott Broidy, a major Trump fundraiser, negotiate a non-disclosure agreement with a Playboy Playmate he impregnated.... Cohen also successfully killed an Us Weekly story about an alleged affair between Donald Trump Jr. and singer Aubrey O'Day in 2013. (The story was reported after Trump filed for divorce last month.)"
Noel Francisco's Unusual Job Interview. David Savage of the Los Angeles Times: "The Supreme Court is set to hear a seemingly minor case later this month on the status of administrative judges at the Securities and Exchange Commission, an issue that normally might only draw the interest of those accused of stock fraud. But the dispute turns on the president's power to hire and fire officials throughout the government. And it comes just as the White House is saying President Trump believes he has the power to fire special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Trump's Solicitor Gen. Noel Francisco intervened in the SEC case to urge the high court to clarify the president's constitutional power to fire all 'officers of the United States' who 'exercise significant authority' under the law.... In addition to representing the administration before the Supreme Court, Francisco, a former law clerk for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, could be in line to oversee the Mueller inquiry if Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein is fired.... Peter Shane, a law professor at the Ohio State University, called Francisco's argument a 'radical proposition,' and one that goes beyond what is at issue in the case...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I guess we know now what lawyer Sarah Sanders was talking about last week: "Sanders told reporters April 10 that the White House has backing from members of the legal community, including Justice Department officials, who have 'advised that the president certainly has the power to make that decision [to fire the special counsel].'" I guess we'll find out if the Supremes agree. (Even if they do, however, it seems to me there's a good legal argument to be made that the president can't fire a law enforcement official who is investigating him for criminal activity. This might be one reason the Mueller team let Trump's lawyers know he is the subject of a criminal investigation.) ...
... "Plucking the Chicken One Feather at a Time." digby: "You'd think Donald Trump would force [the conservatives on the Court] all to re-evaluate the idea that it's good to put so much power into the hands of one man but Trump doesn't seem to have changed the conservative movement's ideas much in other ways so I'm not sanguine that they've evolved in this way either. The fact that the man making the argument to the Court is the one in the succession if Trump fires Mueller [Mrs. McC: make that Rosenstein] is just icing on the cake."
Peter Baker: "The Trump administration plans to impose new sanctions against Russia on Monday to punish it for enabling the Syrian government's use of chemical weapons in its civil war, the latest in a series of actions by both sides underscoring the deterioration in relations between Moscow and the West. The sanctions, coming shortly after American-led airstrikes against facilities linked to Syria's chemical weapons, are meant to signal that the United States holds responsible not just the government of President Bashar al-Assad but also his patrons in Russia and Iran. President Trump has vowed that Syria's allies will pay a 'big price' for facilitating the suspected use of poison gas. But it remained unclear how far Mr. Trump would go in trying to shape events in Syria, which has been racked by civil war for seven years." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Oh, & read the part where Trump & Co. sucker-punched President Macron of France. When Macron gets his breath back, he might want to share experiences with Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi & 800,000 Dreamers.
... Trump Thinks He Could Charm Putin, but for Mueller. Greg Jaffe, et al., of the Washington Post: "The president instinctually opposes many of the punitive measures pushed by his Cabinet that have crippled his ability to forge a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The past month, in particular, has marked a major turning point in the administration's stance, according to senior administration officials.... Some close to Trump say the recent measures are the product of an ongoing pressure campaign to push the president to take a more skeptical view of the Russian leader.... Others note Trump's ongoing unease with his own policy. Even as his administration has ratcheted up the pressure on Putin's inner circle, Trump has continued in recent weeks to make overtures to the Russian leader, congratulating him on his election win and, in a move that frustrated his national security team, inviting him to visit the White House.... Privately, he complained to aides that the media's fixation on the Mueller probe was hobbling his effort to woo Putin. 'I can't put on the charm,' the president often said, according to one of his advisers. 'I'm not able to be president because of this witch hunt.'" ...
... ** Fellow-Travelers Host Fox "News." Caroline Orr of Shareblue: "The Russian propaganda machine is hard at work in the aftermath of the airstrikes on Syria, pushing disinformation about the chemical attacks and accusing the U.S. of wanting to start another world war.... But Russia isn't acting alone. While the disinformation campaign surrounding Syria is a Kremlin-led effort, Trump allies have played a major role in the success of the campaign by bringing Russia's propaganda to an American audience. Whether wittingly or unwittingly, Trump's right-wing media allies and fervent supporters are helping Russia spread lies.... While much of the disinformation was pushed by fringe media outlets like Infowars, the propaganda campaign also made its way onto mainstream outlets." Orr cites both Steve Doocy of "Fox & Friends" & primetime host Tucker Carlson for spreading Russian propaganda. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Commie fighter Joe McCarthy's political party & Joe's sidekick Roy Cohn's acolyte Donald Trump are in bed with Russia & its satellite nations. There is not a left-right political spectrum unless you limit the scope of politics to moderates. Rather, political ideology is a circle, with extremists from left & right closing the circle.
The Bureau of Land Management's new "vision" cards.
... To the Victors Belong the Heretofore Unspoiled. Carolyn Kormann of the New Yorker: "The vision cards, it appears, were meant to remind B.L.M. employees that their main responsibility is not to keep the prized ship afloat but to plunder it for all the fossil fuels, ore, and grazing rights it's worth.... In some B.L.M. field offices, posters depicting conservation landmarks, such as a federally protected red-rock canyon, have been swapped out for ones showing a towering black coal bed and a yellow haul truck. One Interior Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal, said that the agency had discontinued its program of making conservation posters publicly available. The new ones are strictly internal -- 'for employee morale,' the source said, with evident irony.... So far, [Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke] and Trump have eliminated two million acres from the nation's protected areas, and offered another 11.6 million acres of largely wild public lands to oil-and-gas prospectors. (Zinke also proposed raising entrance fees at some national parks by forty dollars or more, arguing that too many people -- 'elderly, fourth-graders, veterans, disabled' -- get in at a discount or for free.... At the same time, Zinke has revamped the B.L.M.'s oil-and-gas leasing process to make it more industry-friendly.... Trump and Zinke are using 'energy independence and economic growth' to justify the sale of lands that are unlikely to provide either." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: So upsetting that veterans might get a free pass to the lands they think they put their lives on the line to defend or that children might get to see what this country looked like before we brave settlers got our hands on it.
Peter Baker: "Barbara Bush, the wife and mother of presidents who has long been among the most popular members of her famous family, has decided to stop seeking medical treatment to prolong her life as she faces a variety of ailments, people close to the family said on Sunday. Mrs. Bush, who is 92 and frail, has been in and out of the hospital but has now forsworn further interventions and 'will instead focus on comfort care,' according to a statement issued by her husband's office in Houston." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
When you look at the number of people in our state and federal penitentiaries, who are there for possession of small amounts of cannabis, you begin to really scratch your head. We have literally filled up our jails with people who are nonviolent and frankly do not belong there. -- Former House speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), in an interview with Bloomberg News, April 11, 2018
Very few people end up in prison for marijuana possession, and those who do are probably there for another complicating factor. Boehner says he doesn't personally indulge, inhaling only Camel cigarettes. But either way, he's blowing smoke here. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post
Congressional Races
Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "In intraparty fights across the country, fealty to Trump has become the coin of the realm. [Senatorial] candidates who once distanced themselves from him now declare themselves acolytes, attack rivals for any deviation from the Trumpian script and, in one case, even don his cherry-red campaign cap in ads.... At the root of the fawning rapprochements are two defining features of the Senate landscape: Trump enjoys enormous popularity among Republican primary voters, and most of the contested races are in states Trump won in 2016.... But in most of the competitive House races, Republican candidates have been taking the opposite approach of their peers who are running for the Senate -- carefully distancing themselves from Trump and trying to establish their own brand."
Dan Balz & Scott Clement of the Washington Post: "Democrats hold an advantage ahead of the midterm elections, but a Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that edge has narrowed since January, a signal to party leaders and strategists that they could be premature in anticipating a huge wave of victories in November. The poll finds that the gap between support for Democratic vs. Republican House candidates dropped by more than half since the beginning of the year. At the same time, there has been a slight increase in President Trump's approval rating, although it remains low. Measures of partisan enthusiasm paint a more mixed picture of the electorate in comparison to signs of Democratic intensity displayed in many recent special elections."
Beyond the Beltway
I apologize for those who were hurt by the things that were said. -- Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, who is sorry for all the people (including the state's Republican-controlled House, which condemned his remarks) who didn't "fully appreciate" what he "was communicating" about teachers abandoning the kids to depraved, abusive parents & caregivers
So he's apologizing for people who didn't get what was said (by some unnamed person). He's not apologizing to them for what he said. What??? How come Bevin got passed over as Trump's veep pick? He's perfect. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie
News Ledes
Boston.com: "In the first win for an American woman in 33 years, Desiree Linden of Washington, Mich., won the Boston Marathon with a time of 2:33:41 Monday. With conditions soggy and cold, it was never going to be easy, and Linden made her push on Heartbreak Hill, often described as the hardest point of the course." The boston.com site (free) currently has more stories related to the marathon on its front page. See also Akhilleus' comment below.
New York Times: "Seven inmates were killed and 17 others were injured in a large riot that broke out Sunday night at a maximum-security prison in South Carolina, the authorities said. The fights started around 7:15 p.m. in three housing units at Lee Correctional Institution, which houses some of the state's most violent and longest-serving offenders. Officers were unable to stop the fighting and secure the prison until around 2:55 a.m. on Monday. The state's Corrections Department described the fights as 'multiple inmate-on-inmate altercations.' No police officers or prison employees were injured, the department said."
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