The Commentariat -- February 23, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Mark Mazzetti & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "A former top adviser to Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign indicted by the special counsel was expected to plead guilty as soon as Friday afternoon, according to two people familiar with his plea agreement, a move that signals he is cooperating with the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. The adviser, Rick Gates, is a longtime political consultant who once served as Mr. Trump's deputy campaign chairman. The plea deal could be a significant development in the investigation -- a sign that Mr. Gates plans to offer incriminating information against his longtime associate and the former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, or other members of the Trump campaign in exchange for a lighter punishment.... Mr. Gates was present for the most significant periods of activity of the campaign, as Mr. Trump began developing policy positions and his digital operation engaged with millions of voters on platforms such as Facebook." ...
... Andrea Mitchell, et al., of NBC News: "Gates, who was indicted with former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort in October on conspiracy and other charges related to their lobbying work in Ukraine, will appear in federal court in Washington at 2 p.m. on Friday to enter the plea, according to court records." ...
... Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "The guilty plea ... caps a busy week for Mueller's investigation of Russia's interference in the 2016 election and related issues. It also ends a tumultuous period for Gates, who found himself re-indicted, changing lawyers and agreeing to plead guilty all within 24 hours. According to a criminal information -- a document filed with the permission of the defendant which traditionally signals that person plans to plead guilty -- Gates conspired to defraud the United States regarding the money he and his business partner Paul Manafort earned and lied to the FBI in a Feb. 1, 2018 interview about a 2013 meeting he had had with Manafort and an unidentified lobbyist.... Gates could provide the special counsel with valuable information about the inner workings of Trump's operation: He served as a senior figure in the campaign and had access to the White House as an outside adviser in the early months of the administration." ...
... Nobody Wants to Talk to Devin Nunes. Julia Manchester of the Hill: "An associate of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) invoked the Fifth Amendment in order to not testify before the House Intelligence Committee on a dossier of opposition research that claims ties between President Trump and Russia, according to Fox News. The committee originally issued a subpoena for David Kramer -- a former State Department official and current senior director of the nonprofit McCain Institute -- in December. Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) had wanted to speak with Kramer about his visit to London in November 2016, during which he met with the author of the dossier..., Christopher Steele. According to court filings, he met with Steele at McCain's request, to view 'the pre-election memoranda on a confidential basis.' Kramer then traveled back to the U.S. and gave copies of the memos to McCain, who in turn handed the documents over to the FBI. The committee interviewed Kramer last month prior to issuing a subpoena for him."
Tierney McAfee of People: "In his speech Friday morning at the Conservative Political Action Conference..., Donald Trump took aim [at] Sen. John McCain, knocking the Arizona Republican for voting against his party's bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Though Trump didn't mention McCain -- who is battling brain cancer -- by name, the reference was clear to the crowd, which responded by erupting into boos directed at the senator.... The moment added fuel to an already contentious relationship between McCain and Trump, who came under fire in July 2015 for saying the former Vietnam prisoner of war was not a 'hero' because he got captured. Axios also reported in September that Trump physically mocked McCain's war injuries while imitating his famous thumbs-up moment. But after McCain went public with his brain cancer diagnosis in July, the president called the senator's daughter Meghan in the fall and promised to back off." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Obviously, there was no need whatsoever to knock McCain today for something that happened months ago. Trump is just such a low form of slime himself that he can't help sliming everybody. ...
... Chris Cillizza of CNN: "Talking about the stakes of the 2018 election, Trump said that if Democrats win back control of Congress 'they'll take away your 2nd Amendment.' As he closed his speech, Trump again said Democrats want to repeal the 2nd Amendment: 'They will do that, they will do that,' he said. Which is, of course, not true. It is also hugely toxic to any attempt to find shared ground on the sort of 'common sense' changes to gun laws that Trump, um, trumpeted later in his CPAC speech.... Trump ... [is] banking on the fact that none of the CPAC crowd cheering for that line has any real sense of the logistical unlikelihood of Democrats [being able to repeal a Constitutional amendment]. What Trump is doing is trying to scare people into voting.... Trump's pivot from compromiser-in-chief to flamethrower-in-chief on guns should surprise exactly no one. He did a very similar about-face on immigration...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Cillizza of course presupposes that Trump knows how Constitutional provisions can be repealed or replaced. I don't believe a guy who thinks there are at least 12 Articles in the Constitution has the slightest idea of the provisions of Article V. All he knows is that yesterday Wayne LaPierre claimed that the Democrats' agenda was "stripping away Second Amendment rights away from law-abiding citizens." Our president* is a moron.
Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Trump announced harsh new shipping sanctions against North Korea on Friday -- a clear signal, near the end of an Olympic Games marked by a rapprochement on the Korean Peninsula, that his pressure campaign against Pyongyang will not let up.... The measures target 27 shipping companies and 28 vessels, registered in North Korea and six other countries, including China.... [Trump's order] did not blacklist ships or companies from Russia, even though Russia is suspected of supporting the illicit trade.... It was not clear how successfully the United States could enforce the new measures. Cutting off the illegal trade, analysts said, will require interdicting ships at sea, and North Korea could well regard a blockade or forced inspections of its vessels as an act of war.... The timing of Mr. Trump's announcement was notable, coming just hours after South Korea's president, Moon Jae-in, played host at dinner to Mr. Trump's daughter, Ivanka, who is leading the United States delegation to the closing ceremony of the games on Sunday."
John Walcott of Reuters: "Longstanding friction between ... Donald Trump and two top aides, the National Security Adviser and the Chief of Staff, has grown to a point that either or both might quit soon, four senior administration officials said. Both H.R. McMaster and John Kelly are military men considered by U.S. political observers as moderating influences on the president by imposing a routine on the White House." ...
... digby: "I have no particular respect for either one but it's likely that whoever he brings in next will be even worse. I keep seeing John Bolton's name bandied about on Fox News. And we know who Trump listens to don't we?" ...
... Shimon Prokupecz, et al., of CNN: "Jared Kushner has been unable to obtain a full security clearance in part because of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Kushner ... is unlikely to obtain the full clearance as long as the special counsel's probe is ongoing, one of the sources said.... During that time, Kushner has been able to access the government's most sensitive secrets thanks to an interim security clearance. But that access could soon be cut off -- unless Trump steps in with a waiver. There is no indication that Mueller is close to wrapping up his investigation, and an impending crackdown by White House chief of staff John Kelly aimed at restricting access to classified information for those with long-pending interim clearances is expected to nix or downgrade Kushner's interim security clearance. The combination of factors could leave Kushner without a security clearance for months to come, even as he tackles sensitive issues like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the United States' relationship with Mexico."
Max Greenwood of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that he is 'amazed' at how quickly President Trump bowed to the National Rifle Association (NRA) after he threw his support behind a proposal to arm trained teachers. 'Not surprised the NRA reeled President Trump back in,' Schumer said in a statement. 'Just amazed at how fast it happened.'" ...
... Brandon Carter of the Hill: "Former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele slammed President Trump for suggesting some teachers should be armed in order to prevent future school shootings, calling the idea 'delusional.' 'The president and others promoting arming teachers are delusional. Wake the hell up people,' Steele, who has become an outspoken critic of Trump within the GOP, tweeted Friday. 'There was a uniformed, armed police officer on duty at Douglas H. S. and he did nothing. And you expect teachers to do his job?'" ...
... Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: Florida "Gov. Rick Scott proposed on Friday the most significant move toward gun control in Florida in decades, in defiance of the National Rifle Association, though some of his ideas fell short of what student advocates pleaded for after they lost 17 classmates and staff members last week in one of the deadliest school shootings in American history. The governor, a Republican, backed raising the minimum age to buy any firearm, including semiautomatic rifles, to 21 from 18, a restriction opposed by the N.R.A.... Mr. Scott also said he would push to ban 'bump stocks,' which enable semiautomatic rifles to fire faster, and would ask for $500 million for mental health and school safety programs, including requiring at least one armed police officer for every 1,000 students at public schools.... Mr. Scott, who is widely expected to run for a United States Senate seat this year, also broke with the president and the N.R.A. by not endorsing putting more armed personnel in schools, an idea fiercely opposed by the students from Stoneman Douglas High." ...
... Mary Klas of the Tampa Bay Times: "A majority of Floridians support a ban on the sale of assault weapons, including a majority of Florida gun owners, according to a poll conducted by this week by the Florida Senate Republican leaders. The measure is the latest sign that the bills drafted by the House and Senate and expected to be unveiled on Friday may fall short of what most Floridians want lawmakers to do after the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14 that killed 17 students and teachers."
AP: "State investigators have found a nude photo and partially nude photo of a woman that they believe were taken with the work cellphone of Nashville Mayor Megan Barry's former lead bodyguard, with whom she has admitted having an extramarital affair, according to court documents filed Thursday. In affidavits by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the agency says there's probable cause to show Sgt. Rob Forrest shot those two photos while his timesheet says he was working and that the two were engaging in their affair while he was on duty. The photos were discovered in Forrest's work email, the filings state. There were 260 deleted chats between Forrest's phone and Barry's phone number as well as 35 deleted call logs, the affidavit states. The bureau stopped short of identifying who was in the photos. But in the affidavit, an agent says he believes a black purse in one nude photo is the same purse found in a different photo of Barry found on Forrest's phone.... 'Nothing in the affidavits released today ... indicates that I have committed any actions that violate the law,' Barry said in a statement Thursday. 'If any violations of the law occurred, they were in violating my personal rights.'" Mrs. McC: Barry is a Democrat.
*****
Rebecca Morin of Politico: "... Donald Trump bashed CNN [& MSNBC] in a tweet Thursday after [seeing] a [Fox 'News'] report that [CNN] allegedly tried to get a student to read a scripted question at a town hall on gun violence. [CNN] rejected Trump's assertion. 'School shooting survivor says he quit @CNN Town Hall after refusing scripted question.' @TuckerCarlson. Just like so much of CNN, Fake News. That's why their ratings are so bad! MSNBC may be worse,' the president wrote online." Mrs. McC: Trump knows it must be true if he sees it on Fox "News." Imbecile. Even if Tucker's report were true, a Real President would be above mentioning it.
Trump Proposes Teacher Bonuses -- If They Pack Heat. Julie Davis & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump on Thursday intensified his calls for arming highly trained teachers as part of an effort to fortify schools against shooting massacres like the one that occurred in Parkland, Fla., last week, even as he denounced active shooter drills that try to prepare students to survive a rampage.... Teachers who were qualified to handle a weapon -- Mr. Trump estimated between 10 percent and 40 percent -- would receive 'a little bit of a bonus,' he said, adding that he would devote federal money to training them.... The president made his comments as he convened law enforcement, state and local officials at the White House to discuss a range of proposals that could prevent future school shooting massacres.... Arming teachers is not a new concept. The N.R.A. advocated for it in the wake of the 2012 mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., that left 20 children dead." ...
... Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "The head of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre, leveled a searing indictment on Thursday against liberal Democrats, the news media and political opportunists he said were joined together in a socialist plot to 'eradicate all individual freedoms.' Mr. LaPierre's remarks, his first since a gunman took the lives of 17 people at a Florida high school last week, seemed aimed at blunting the rising public pressure for stricter gun control. Conservatives, he said, needed to push back even as liberals tried to smear them. 'The shameful politicization of tragedy -- it's a classic strategy, right out of the playbook of a poisonous movement,' he said to a friendly but largely restrained crowd at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. 'They hate the N.R.A. They hate the Second Amendment. They hate individual freedom.'" ...
... John Wagner & Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Thursday doubled down on his idea of arming some teachers as a deterrent for school shootings and praised the top leadership of the National Rifle Association as 'Great American Patriots.' In morning tweets, the president claimed the strategy of arming teachers would be far less costly than hiring guards and that 'ATTACKS WOULD END!' The tweets echoed a solution that Trump pushed during a 'listening session' Wednesday at the White House, which included relatives of some of the 17 people killed by a gunman last week at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida. 'Highly trained, gun adept, teachers/coaches would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive,' Trump said in one tweet." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Louis Nelson of Politico: "... Donald Trump claimed Thursday morning that he did not suggest the blanket arming of teachers at a White House listening session a day earlier, accusing CNN and NBC News of misinterpreting his proposal. 'I never said "give teachers guns" like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @nbc. What I said was to look at the possibility of giving concealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience -- only the best. 20 percent of teachers, a lot, would now be able to immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions,' the president wrote on Twitter Thursday morning in a pair of posts.... Trump's online explanation of his proposal differs from the language he used Wednesday at a listening session with survivors and victims' family members from last week's high school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Addressing the group, Trump suggested that teachers undergo firearm training and be allowed to carry concealed weapons inside schools." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... The Week: "President Trump's plan to arm teachers to prevent school shootings like the one in Parkland, Florida, has an important opponent: actual teachers. In a statement Thursday, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said her union's position is firm, even among teachers who are gun owners: 'Teachers don't want to be armed, we want to teach. We don't want to be, and would never have the expertise needed to be, sharp shooters; no amount of training can prepare an armed teacher to go up against an AR-15.'" ...
... Moriah Balingit & Nick Anderson of the Washington Post: "Educators still reeling from gun violence that left 17 dead at a Florida high school expressed frustration Thursday at President Trump's call for teachers to take up arms to defend their classrooms against school shooters, saying the thought of using lethal force in a crowded hallway or against one of their students was unimaginable." ...
... See also Akhilleus' comments in yesterday's thread on what a good idea arming teachers is. Mrs. McC: Another thing to look at is the way Trump came up with his brilliant "gun-control" ideas: he asked Junior & Eric & some dinner guests at Mar-a-Lago (update: and the NRA). A normal leader seeking to reduce gun violence would employ expert analyses to determine the most effective solutions. He would not try to talk kids into his dumb ideas at a session where he had to be reminded to listen. Should he hear from survivors? Of course. But those 16-year-olds are not experts, either, even if -- despite the trauma they had just experienced -- they are far more reasonable than Trump. Trump's reign of ignorance continues to amaze me, even though it's really all I expect. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: AND what if Sister Mary Elephant is too skeert to confront the killer? It could happen. For instance...,
... Lori Rozsa & Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "The armed school resource officer assigned to protect students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School took a defensive position outside the school and did not enter the building while the shooter was killing students and teachers inside with an AR-15 assault-style rifle, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said Thursday. Israel said he suspended School Resource Deputy Scot Peterson on Thursday after seeing a video from the Parkland, Fla., school that showed Peterson outside the school building where the shooter was inside and attacking." ...
... Noor Al-Sibai of RawStory: "In the wake of the Valentine's Day mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, hundreds of schools have been the subject of threats in the interim. An uptick of copycat threats after mass shootings have been documented prior to the Parkland shooting. The Educator's School Safety Network reported 369 'total incidents and threats' since February 15, and they reported an average of 50 threats per day in the week since. That's five times more than the typical 10 per day they document." --safari ...
... Heather Sher, a Florida radiologist, in the Atlantic, describes the difference between the damage done by an AR-15 bullet (or bullets, since the AR-15 can shoot multiple bullets in rapid succession) & by a typical handgun. Mrs. McC: If you still think it might be a good idea for Sister Mary Elephant to tuck a nifty little silver .22 into her habit so she can gun down an AR-15-toting intruder, Dr. Sher might change your mind. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. ...
... Philip Bump of the Washington Post looks at some of the economics of arming & training more than 700,000 teachers -- Trump's proposal -- a number of trained marksmen nearly the size of the Army & Navy combined. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Frank Rich: "However much 'listening' [Trump] purports to do, he will do absolutely nothing to remedy the epidemic of violence that is literally and figuratively consuming the country. Trump, who was endorsed by the NRA even before he won the presidential nomination and then benefited from $30 million of NRA campaign spending, is even now giving the gun lobby still more of what it paid for. Yesterday he called for more guns, not fewer, in schools, and he reiterated this nostrum with this incredible tweet [Thursday] morning: 'If a potential "sicko shooter" knows that a school has a large number of very weapons talented teachers (and others) who will be instantly shooting, the sicko will NEVER attack that school. Cowards won't go there ... problem solved.' Let us repeat this: Problem solved!... He saluted Wayne LaPierre and his colleagues as 'Great American Patriots' in another tweet [Thursday] -- so he won't cross his base on this issue any more than he did on immigration. His sympathetic noises about the victims of gun violence are as empty as his repeated claims that he sympathized with Dreamers and wanted to help them." ...
... Trump Parrots NRA Jargon. Stephanie Mencimer of Mother Jones: "... in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre offered schools his organization's 'free' support and guidance to protect themselves, saying that communities 'must come together to implement the very best strategy to harden their schools.' President Trump echoed the sentiment Thursday saying 'we have to harden our sites' to protect schools from gun violence. Before schools start lining up to take advantage of LaPierre's generosity, it's worth revisiting exactly what the NRA means when it calls for measures to 'harden' a school. Here are a few recommendations from its 2013 task force report[.] Mrs. McC: Most of the recommendations are preposterous & would turn leafy, learning-friendly campuses into prison-like barrens. ...
... Say, Why Hasn't Anyone Thought of This Before? Gideon Resnick of the Daily Beast: "During a meeting Thursday with state lawmakers, President Trump suggested violent entertainment is to blame for mass shootings in the United States. His proposed solution? A ratings system for movies.... It was unclear whether Trump was aware that the Motion Picture Association of America already rates films based on graphic sexual or violent content; or if he was suggesting that ratings system needs to be overhauled." ...
... Adam Raymond of New York: "That the 'ratings system' Trump proposes already exists is only the most obvious problem with his comment. The other issue is that there is no connection between violent crime and violent media. 'All we can really say for sure is that there does not appear to be a link at this time between violent video games and school shootings'" Villanova psychologist Patrick Markey told USA Today last week after Kentucky governor Matt Bevin parroted the same stale talking point. 'And if there is a link, it goes in the opposite direction.' Markey's research suggests that school shooters are less likely to play violent video games than the average teenager."
... Florida House Finds Solution to School Shootings. Jeffrey Solochek of the Tampa Bay Times: "With the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High shooting still looming large, its students in the Capitol to lobby for gun controls, the Florida House overwhelmingly passed a measure Wednesday its sponsor said aimed at bringing 'light' to the schools. The bill HB 839>) would require all public schools to post the state motto, 'In God We Trust,' in a 'conspicuous place.'" And this was a Democrat's idea. 'dossier' of unverified intelligence that contains claims about Donald Trump's alleged ties to Russia." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Luke Barnes of Think Progress: "A major car rental conglomerate which operates three prominent national brands is ending its corporate relationship with the National Rifle Association, as backlash grows in the wake of the Parkland mass shooting. Enterprise Holdings, which operates Enterprise, Alamo, and National, had a partnership with the NRA to provide discounts to members. The discounts are available to NRA members once they pay their $40 annual fee -- and were among the 22 corporations offering discounts and 'five star savings' to the gun lobby's members. On Thursday, however, all three brands announced that they would be ending the program within the next month.... On Tuesday, ThinkProgress detailed how 22 corporations were making membership to America's premier gun lobbying group more enticing by offering a range of discounts." ...
... Josh Israel & Kira Lerner of ThinkProgress: "For more than a decade, the First National Bank of Omaha has offered special branded Visa cards to National Rifle Association members to support the group. On Thursday, following two days of public pressure, the bank announced it 'will not renew its contract' with the NRA. The bank confirmed, in a tweet, that 'customer feedback caused' the decision[.] ...
... "Nasty, Brutish & Trump." Paul Krugman looks at the big picture: "... you might want to think of our madness over guns as just one aspect of the drive to turn us into what Thomas Hobbes described long ago: a society 'wherein men live without other security than what their own strength and their own invention shall furnish them.' And Hobbes famously told us what life in such a society is like: 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.' Yep, that sounds like Trump's America."
Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "President Trump said [casually] Thursday that he has become so frustrated with California's 'lousy management job' in cracking down on illegal immigration that he's thinking about removing federal immigration officials from the state. 'If we ever pulled our ICE out, if we ever said, "Hey, let California alone, let them figure it out for themselves," in two months they'd be begging for us to come back,' Trump said during a roundtable discussion about school shootings Thursday with state and local officials. 'They would be begging. And you know what, I'm thinking about doing it.'... [California Gov. Jerry] Brown responded with a statement Thursday afternoon that said: 'In California, we protect all of our people from criminals and gangs, as well as dangerous assault weapons. We do our job, Mr. President, you do yours.' Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said that 'the president's attacks are not only mean-spirited, they're patently false.'"
This Russia Thing
Matt Apuzzo & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "The special counsel unsealed new charges on Thursday against President Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, accusing him of hiding income and defrauding banks. Many of the charges are similar to ones he was charged with in October. According to the new 32-count indictment, Mr. Manafort provided false information about his income to banks when he applied for mortgages. Seven of the counts relate to Mr. Manafort's failure to properly file reports on his foreign bank accounts. The indictment also revealed similar charges against Mr. Manafort's longtime business associate and campaign deputy, Rick Gates. He was indicted along with Mr. Manafort in October.... The original indictment did not explicitly bring tax charges, an omission that experts predicted that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, would ultimately correct.... The charges do not involve Mr. Trump or his campaign and involve accusations that predate either man's involvement with the president.... Court records paint an unflattering portrait of the man who ran the Trump campaign. Prosecutors say Mr. Manafort concealed years of lobbying for the pro-Russia government in Ukraine, laundered millions of dollars in proceeds and misled investigators about his foreign work." ...
... The new indictment against Manafort & Gates is here, via the Washington Post. ...
... Ali Dukakis of ABC News: "A Trump-appointed federal judge who donated to the Trump campaign and worked on his presidential transition team has rejected requests to recuse himself from overseeing a legal battle involving Fusion GPS, the research firm that commissioned the so-called 'dossier' of unverified intelligence that contains claims about Donald Trump-s alleged ties to Russia." (Also linked yesterday.)
Reuters: "The head of a federal commission who has helped U.S. states protect election systems from possible cyber attacks by Russia or others is being replaced at the behest of Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and the White House. Matthew Masterson, a member of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission who currently serves as its chairman, has been passed over for a second four-year term as one of the agency's four commissioners.... Masterson has been a popular figure among state election officials, many of whom have praised his expertise and leadership on cyber security issues and expressed chagrin at his pending departure.... The action raises fresh questions over the degree to which Republican ... Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans who control Congress are taking steps to protect the security of American elections...."
Dan Lamothe, et al., of the Washington Post: "Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is expected to propose to President Trump that transgender members of the U.S. military be allowed to continue serving despite the president's call last summer for a ban on all transgender service members, according to two U.S. officials with knowledge of the issue.... Trump surprised many Pentagon officials on July 26 by issuing a string of tweets in which he said he was banning all transgender people from the military, despite not having a plan in place. Trump tweeted that he had reached his decision 'after consultation with my Generals and military experts,' citing the tremendous medical costs and disruption' he believed it would cause. Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, moved afterward to stop any changes from taking place until a new policy was adopted, and Mattis backed the move.... Since then, the Trump administration has been challenged in lawsuits, and federal judges required the Pentagon to open the military to transgender recruits beginning Jan. 1. The Pentagon indicated in December that it would not stand in the way of the court's ruling and issued new policy guidance to recruiters on how to enlist transgender men and women."
Vindu Goel of the New York Times: "After days of controversy over Donald Trump Jr.'s apparent mixing of his family's private business interests and American foreign policy during his trip this week to India, Mr. Trump and his hosts have signaled a change of direction. The original title of his planned 15-minute speech Friday evening was 'Reshaping Indo-Pacific Ties: The New Era of Cooperation,' signaling that at least part of it would address American foreign policy and the relationship with India. Instead, Mr. Trump will now participate in a 'fireside chat' on an unspecified topic with an unspecified interviewer, according to the revised online agenda of the conference, which is hosted by India's leading business newspaper, The Economic Times. The audience will be 2,000 members of India's business and political elite, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Other scheduled speakers include executives from Netflix and Uber." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: A fireside chat! How Rooseveltian. I wonder if Junior will wear a smoking jacket whilst fondling a pipe. Gas fireplace or logs? Whatever the topic, whatever the format, I'm sure we'll all want to know what Junior thinks.
Barbara Starr, et al., of CNN: "With tensions flaring between ... Donald Trump and national security adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the Pentagon is considering options that would allow the President to potentially move the three-star general out of his current role and back into the military, according to half a dozen defense and administration officials.... There was discussion in the West Wing about replacing him last fall, but he ultimately survived because officials, including the President himself, were skeptical about the optics of appointing a third national security adviser in less than a year.... The decision was also driven by the White House's challenge attracting top talent for jobs in the administration due to Trump's 'blacklist' of individuals who have criticized the President...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
All the Best People, Ctd. Yvette Cabrera of ThinkProgress: "Shortly after ... Donald Trump nominated Leandro Rizzuto Jr. as ambassador to Barbados, the Florida business executive promised to give thousands of dollars for an upcoming gala at the president's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, according to a Washington Post report published Thursday. Rizzuto and his wife pledged the donation, which may be as high as $25,000, in mid-January to the Trumpettes USA gala scheduled for 2019.... Most if not all of the money raised for the gala by the Trumpettes, a Palm Beach-based socialite group, is funneled to Mar-a-Lago, not for charity, according to the Post." --safari
We Are Not Talking about Stormy Daniels:
Ryan Devereaux of The Intercept: "The lead U.S. agency tasked with granting citizenship to would-be Americans is making a major change to its mission statement, removing a passage that describes the United States as a nation of immigrants." --safari...
...Micah Hauser of the Guardian tells the story about how immigrants are being blackmailed and extorted at our southern border: "Over the past five months, at least 11 families with relatives -- all asylum-seeking mothers and children -- detained at the facility have been extorted by impersonators who have demanded payment to stop their loved ones being deported.... The scammers have cited inexplicably specific details about their targets, making it very difficult not to trust what they say.... In other words, the perpetrators are likely in contact with, or themselves employees at, the federal agencies or private companies that oversee immigrant detainees." --safari
"A Golden Age for Corporate Crooks." Jonathan Chait: "The Republican Party's main legislative achievement was to facilitate the direct transfer of hundreds of billions of dollars into the hands of business owners. (The proceeds of the Trump tax cuts are mainly going into stock buybacks, a simple windfall for owners of capital.) But a second, less visible channel is the Trump administration's program of lax regulation. While the tax cuts spray money at business owners as a whole, weak enforcement of regulations confers a windfall targeted specifically at businesses that cheat their customers or break the law.... A massive shift in power and resources is underway, from consumers and workers to business owners. The natural confluence of interest between Trump's inclination as a proprietor of business scams, and the laissez-faire instincts of his partisan allies, is a golden age for corporate crime."
Beyond the Beltway
Gov. Greitens' mugshot.Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "Gov. Eric Greitens of Missouri was indicted on a felony invasion of privacy charge on Thursday by grand jurors in St. Louis. Mr. Greitens, a first-term Republican, photographed a nude or partially nude person without the person's knowledge or consent in 2015, according to charging documents released by the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office. The indictment said Mr. Greitens then transmitted the photo in a way that allowed it to be seen on a computer, which prosecutors said made the crime a felony rather than a misdemeanor. The indictment comes weeks after Mr. Greitens acknowledged having an extramarital affair in 2015, before he took office, but denied claims that he blackmailed a woman or took a nude photo of her without permission. Mr. Greitens has resisted calls to resign, insisting that he had done nothing illegal...." Mrs. McC: Looks as if Greitens took that "Show-Me State" motto a bit too seriously. ...
... AND Right out of the Trusty GOP Handbook. Max Greenwood of the Hill: "Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) on Thursday accused the St. Louis Circuit attorney of being a 'reckless liberal prosecutor' out to 'score political points' after her office announced felony invasion of privacy charges against him." Mrs. McC: Right. Nothing "reckless" about your behavior, eh, Gov?
All the Best Candidates. Natasha Korecki of Politico: "A Republican candidate for the Illinois Legislature is under fire from his own party amid allegations that he asked a [Republican] African-American candidate for state attorney general whether she was a 'lesbo' and used a racial slur during a conversation with her. Now, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Republican floor leader of the Illinois House, Peter Breen, are calling for the candidate, Burt Minor, to drop out of a race for state representative."
Way Beyond
"Putin's Cook" Has Many Responsibilities Outside the Kitchen. Ellen Nakashima, et al., of the Washington Post: "A Russian oligarch believed to control the Russian mercenaries who attacked U.S. troops and their allies in Syria this month was in close touch with Kremlin and Syrian officials in the days and weeks before and after the assault, according to U.S. intelligence reports. In intercepted communications in late January, the oligarch, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, told a senior Syrian official that he had 'secured permission' from an unspecified Russian minister to move forward with a 'fast and strong' initiative that would take place in early February. Prigozhin made front-page headlines last week when he was indicted by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III on charges of bankrolling and guiding a long-running Russian scheme to conduct 'information warfare' during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. He is known to have close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, forged when he was a restaurateur in St. Petersburg and expanded through what became Prigozhin’s wide-ranging business empire, including extensive contracts with Russia's Defense Ministry.... The intercepted communications show not only that was Prigozhin personally involved in planning the attack but that he had discussed it with senior Syrian officials, including Minister of Presidential Affairs Mansour Fadlallah Azzam."
AFP: "Police have seized nearly 400 kilos of cocaine from the Russian embassy in Buenos Aires and arrested several members of a drug trafficking gang, Argentina's security minister announced Thursday." --safari ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie's Conspiracy Theory Special: What if it turns out Trump & Co. have been running drugs for their Russian mobster friends???
Sean Ingle of the Guardian: "Nadezha Sergeeva, who finished 12th in the two-woman bobsleigh, has become the second Russian to test positive for a banned substance at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.... The disclosure of another positive doping test comes just 24 hours after the Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky was stripped of an Olympic bronze medal.... The news will heap further pressure on the International Olympic Committee, who will meet on Saturday to decide whether the Russian team will be allowed to march under their own flag at Sunday's closing ceremony." --safari
Share Article 
