The Commentariat -- September 14, 2017

Afternoon Update:

Deal or No Deal? Sophie Tatum, et al., of CNN: "President Donald Trump is moving closer to a deal with Democrats that would protect hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants from deportation. But the parameters of any deal ... are up in the air as the White House and Congress grapple with the impact of a Wednesday dinner between Trump and Democratic leaders. The bombshell developments, which were first announced by Democratic leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi and reiterated by Trump himself Thursday morning, were met with immediate outrage from conservatives and put pressure on the President's Republican allies in Congress. A deal would be the second major Trump-Pelosi-Schumer pact this month, following the agreement on the debt ceiling and government spending." -- Akhilleus

Paid to Lie. Callum Borchers of the Washington Post: "Sean Spicer claims it was his job to say whatever President Trump told him to say. 'That's what you sign up to do,' the former White House press secretary said Wednesday on ABC's 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' late-night show. Revisiting his memorable briefing-room debut -- a tirade against the media in which he falsely claimed that Trump's Inauguration Day crowd was the largest in history Spicer basically admitted that he was willing to lie for Trump.... 'Look, your job as press secretary is to represent the president's voice,' Spicer replied, 'and to make sure that you are articulating what he believes, [what] his vision is on policy, on issues and on other areas that he wants to articulate. Whether or not you agree or not isn't your job.'.. .But do 'other areas' include matters of fact? Whether Trump's crowd was the biggest ever is not a matter of opinion. It is objectively true or false -- and it happens to be false. What Spicer is saying here is that he believes his job was not merely to defend political decisions with which he disagreed but to make false statements, if asked to do so by the president." ...

     ... Akhilleus: The job description for the entire Trump administration. Liars all. And is this how Spicer will be introduced in his new gig as motivational speaker? "And now, please welcome that well known paid liar, Sean Spicer! Yeah, big round of applause for Sean."

It's All GREAT! Emily Tillet of CBS News: "[President] Trump, joined by First Lady Melania Trump, arrived at the Fort Myers area where he thanked first responders and is later slated to speak in the Naples area after he receives additional briefings on recovery efforts in the region. Vice President Mike Pence and a White House delegation of cabinet officials also joined the president on the trip. Mr. Trump tweeted early Thursday morning that he would be visiting the area to see 'our GREAT first responders and to thank the U.S. Cost Guard, FEMA etc.' He called the impacts a 'real disaster' and said that were was 'much work do.'" ...

     ... Akhilleus: Well, no one has ever accused Donald Trump of not having a way with words. Describing the devastation of Irma as a "real disaster" and talking about "GREAT first responders" will no doubt rival Churchill's most powerful speeches of WWII. But as usual, Trump cannot resist putting his own spin on the truth, at one point saying that "power is being restored rapidly...great job!", implying imminent restoration of power. According to a story in yesterday's NY Times, power restoration will take weeks not days. According to Robert Gould of Florida Power and Light, "This is going to be a very, very lengthy restoration, arguably the longest and most complex in U.S. history..." But rather than say exactly that, Trump's choice is to grandstand. He hungers for applause even when there's no crowd.

War Games, Russian Style. Staff Reuters: "Russia accused the West on Thursday of 'whipping up hysteria' over large-scale military exercises currently underway in eastern Europe and denied charges that they were being conducted with a lack of transparency. The exercises ... started on Thursday and will last until Sept. 20. They are being conducted on military ranges in Belarus, western Russia, Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad and in the Baltic Sea. 'We reject complaints of these exercises not being transparent,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters. 'We believe that whipping up hysteria around these exercises is a provocation.'... But NATO officials say the drills will simulate a conflict with the U.S.-led alliance intended to show Russia's ability to mass large numbers of troops at short notice in the event of a conflict. Amid allegations about Moscow's aggressive ambitions from its post-communist neighbors, Russia's defense ministry has said that it does not intend to use the drills as a springboard to attack Lithuania, Poland or Ukraine." ...

     ... Akhilleus: Putin holds war games in which Russia demonstrates how quickly it could invade a NATO country but says that there's no reason to worry. It's like Tony Soprano showing a new shop owner in town pictures of all the guys he's had beaten up then complaining if the guy overreacts. And not for nothin' but how much will you bet me that, had this occurred on Obama's watch, a certain orange haired man now strangely living in the White House, would rip him as being weak for not immediately massing troops on the border of Belarus in response to this display of military aggression?

Goodbye Cassini. Mika McKinnon of Astronomy: "After 13 years and hundreds of orbits around Saturn, Cassini is in its final fall towards the gas giant. Before the dawn breaks [Friday], the spacecraft will be vaporized. Now, we reflect on Cassini's many triumphs, and stand vigil to witness the spacecraft's last moments, pushing the boundaries of what engineering can do one final time. NASA's Cassini spacecraft launched on October 15, 1997, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It slung around Venus, Earth, and Jupiter, using the gravitational potential of each planet to redirect its path during its seven-year journey to Saturn.... Today, Cassini takes its final photograph, calls home with its last pre-packed data, and transitions to continuous real-time transmission to squeeze science out of every last final second before destruction. At 12:58 p.m. Pacific time on September 14, 2017, the Cassini spacecraft will look around Saturn's system for the final time." -- Akhilleus

And Hello Bridenstine! Christian Davenport of the Washington Post: "If confirmed, Jim Bridenstine would be the first NASA administrator in the post-Apollo era who wasn't yet born when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. He's a politician and a Navy aviator, not a rocket scientist, whose credentials have already been criticized by Florida's two U.S. senators. And the congressman's comments expressing skepticism about the role humans have played in climate change have sparked controversy. But in the days since President Trump announced that Bridenstine was his pick to lead the space agency, the 42-year-old conservative Republican House member from Oklahoma has lined up some key support from members of Congress and industry groups." ...

     ... Akhilleus: "Support builds for Bridenstine?" Of course it does! Trump looks at science denier Bridenstine as "good for business", meaning the plan of turning NASA into a wholly owned subsidiary of various for profit corporations. There's nothing wrong with making money, but NASA's mission from the beginning has been much more aligned with scientific discovery. Technologies invented for space missions have likely expanded profitable undertakings on planet Earth. But under a Trump appointee, it's unlikely any more pure science missions like Cassini will get off the drawing board. And look for another essential part of NASA's core mission to crash and burn, the careful observation and study of climate change here on Earth. So farewell Cassini, and farewell to a lot more, potentially.

Ethics, Schmethics. Darren Samuelson of Politico: "The U.S. Office of Government Ethics has quietly reversed its own internal policy prohibiting anonymous donations from lobbyists to White House staffers who have legal defense funds. The little-noticed change could help President Donald Trump's aides raise the money they need to pay attorneys as the Russia probe expands -- but raises the potential for hidden conflicts of interest or other ethics trouble. 'You can picture a whole army of people with business before the government willing to step in here and make [the debt] go away,' said Marilyn Glynn, a former George W. Bush-era acting OGE director who worked in the office for 17 years." ...

     ... Akhilleus: So Trump gets the OGE to reverse itself on whether or not anonymous donors can help pay for the mountain of upcoming legal bills for all Trumpy administration persons of interest in the Russia-Collusion probe. Pretty much everyone has lawyered up. That's a lot of anonymous donations. Why even bother with a fucking ethics office? Trump is just going to change the rules to suit himself, or ignore ones he doesn't like. Why bother? Might as well dispense with it altogether. And once again, when a survivor of the Bush Debacle is appalled, how bad must things really be?

*****

Maggie Haberman & Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times: "Democratic leaders on Wednesday night declared that they had a deal with President Trump to quickly extend protections for young undocumented immigrants and to finalize a border security package that does not include the president's proposed wall. The Democrats, Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Nancy Pelosi, said in a joint statement that they had a 'very productive' dinner meeting with the president at the White House that focused on the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. 'We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that's acceptable to both sides,' they said. In its own statement, the White House was far more muted, mentioning DACA as merely one of several issues that were discussed, including tax reform and infrastructure. It called the meeting ... 'a positive step toward the president's strong commitment to bipartisan solutions.' But the bipartisan comity appeared to have its limits. In a tweet, Sarah Huckabee Sanders ... disputed the Democrats' characterization.... 'While DACA and border security were both discussed, excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to,' she wrote. Mr. Schumer's communications director, Matt House, fired back on Twitter: 'The President made clear he would continue pushing the wall, just not as part of this agreement.'" ...

... So Then. Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Staunch conservative allies of President Trump have erupted in anger and incredulity after Democrats late Wednesday announced that the president had agreed to pursue a legislative deal that would protect thousands of young undocumented immigrants from deportation but not secure Trump's signature campaign promise: building a massive wall along the U.S.-Mexico border." ...

... So Then. Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump said in a Twitter post on Thursday morning that no deal had been struck with Democrats on protections for young undocumented immigrants, contradicting what Democratic leaders had said after a dinner with the president on Wednesday night. 'No deal was made last night on DACA,' Mr. Trump said.... Mr. Trump has sent mixed messages on the program. He has said he would end it, then he gave Congress time to come up with a legislative solution after he was widely criticized in the media for his decision to end DACA. Mr. Trump has also said he has said he would reconsider the matter if Congress failed to act, even as his own attorney general called the program unconstitutional." Mrs. McC: Somebody lied. I wonder who.

The rich will not be gaining at all with this [tax] plan. I think the wealthy will be pretty much where they are. -- Donald Trump, Wednesday

Yeah, and Medlar & I are almost finished building the Trump McTaj Towers in Moscow, which we've financed with futures on our Trump middle-class tax cut. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...

... Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "President Trump is doubling down this week on his bid to remake the tax code.... But he is bringing to the game a relatively weak team -- a chief economic adviser whom he has openly disparaged and a Treasury secretary whose counsel he has dismissed -- and is promoting quick passage of a new tax code that has yet to be written as members of his party bicker over the details. The urgency was evident on Wednesday, as Mr. Trump urged Congress to 'move fast,' and Republican leaders seemed ready.... Democrats have said they will reject any package that they see as skewed toward the rich, especially if it repeals the estate tax, as the president wants."

Yamiche Alcindor & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Tim Scott, the lone black Republican in the Senate, delivered a pointed history lesson on America's 300-year legacy of racism to President Trump on Wednesday in response to what he called Mr. Trump's 'sterile' response to the riots in Charlottesville, Va., last month. The president invited Mr. Scott, a conservative from South Carolina who had expressed disgust with Mr. Trump's equivocal reaction to the white supremacist protests that left one woman dead, to the Oval Office for what Mr. Trump's staff described as a demonstration of the president's commitment to 'positive race relations.'... When a reporter asked the senator after the meeting if the president had expressed regret, a pained look flashed on Mr. Scott's face. He paused for a few seconds and replied, 'He certainly tried to explain what he was trying to convey.'... White House officials emailed reporters a photograph of Mr. Trump listening intently as Mr. Scott made a point.... The White House misidentified him as Tom Scott." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Not their fault. They were thinking of Uncle Tom, who "is an example of somebody who's done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more." ...

... Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "... Donald Trump will 'absolutely' sign a joint resolution by Congress condemning white supremacists, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday. The House and Senate this week passed legislation condemning last month's fatal white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The joint resolution, which urges Trump to 'speak out against hate groups that espouse racism, extremism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and White supremacy,' heads to the president's desk."

Grumpy Trumpy. Mike Allen of Axios: "Behind the scenes in the West Wing, President Trump continues to rant and brood about former FBI Director Jim Comey and the Russia investigation that got him fired.Trump tells aides and visitors that the probe now being run by special counsel Bob Mueller is a witch hunt, and that Comey was a leaker. So White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was reflecting her boss's moods when she attacked Comey at length from the podium yesterday.... The Mueller investigation is hitting ever closer to home for Trump, and he's using the tools of his office to try to undermine the special counsel's future findings." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Manu Raju of CNN: "The Justice Department is preventing Senate investigators from interviewing two top FBI officials who could provide first-hand testimony over the firing of former FBI Director James Comey, the latest sign that Special Counsel Robert Mueller could be investigating the circumstances around the firing, officials tell CNN. The previously undisclosed turf war comes as the Senate judiciary committee has not yet given assurances to the special counsel's office that it could have unfettered access to the transcript of the interview it conducted last week with the President's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., saying that the full Senate must first authorize the release of the information to Mueller's team." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Carol Lee, et al., of NBC News: "Michael G. Flynn, the son of ... Donald Trump's former national security adviser, is a subject of the federal investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election and possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign, according to four current and former government officials. The inquiry into Flynn is focused at least in part on his work with his father's lobbying firm, Flynn Intel Group, three of the officials said.... Several legal experts with knowledge of the investigation have told NBC News they believe [Robert] Mueller, following a classic prosecutorial playbook, is seeking to compel key players, including Flynn [the Elder] and [Paul] Manafort, to tell what they know about any possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia. Mueller has brought onto his team a federal prosecutor known for convincing subjects to turn on associates." ...

... Josh Dawsey of Politico: "... Michael Flynn actively promoted a private-sector scheme to build dozens of nuclear reactors across the Middle East known informally in the transition as the 'Marshall Plan.' But he did not publicly disclose that backers of the plan had paid him at least $25,000. Flynn communicated during the transition with the backers of the for-profit plan, billed as a way of strengthening ties between the U.S. and Arab allies looking to develop nuclear power capability. Meanwhile, the Trump adviser expressed his support for the plan with people inside the transition -- and discussed its merits with others beyond Trump Tower, according to sources within and close to the Trump team at that time. Flynn's consulting work for the company has been previously reported, but not the extent of his involvement during the Trump transition, nor the full amount he was paid for it." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... The Week: "Michael Flynn pushed a controversial nuclear plant project in the Middle East during his brief White House tenure, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The plan, which once involved Russian companies, proposed the construction and operation of 'dozens of nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia and across the Middle East.'" ...

... Manu Raju & Marshall Cohen of CNN: "House Democrats sent special counsel Robert Mueller what they say is evidence that former national security adviser Michael Flynn failed to disclose a trip he took to the Middle East to explore a business deal with the Saudi government and a Russian government agency. The Democrats allege the retired Army lieutenant general broke the law by omitting the trip, according to the letter they sent to Flynn's former business partners requesting more information about his overseas travels and contacts. The letter was sent by Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the oversight committee, and New York Rep. Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House foreign affairs committee. No Republicans from the two GOP-led committees signed onto the letter...." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... David Graham of the Atlantic: "The White House's decision to hire the elder Michael Flynn despite a series of red flags, and an explicit warning from [President] Obama not to do so, raises serious and troubling questions about the Trump administration's hiring process and about the president's claims to hire the best people.... Flynn apparently had few reservations about where he was receiving income, as long as he was receiving it.... Flynn has mixed his work in government and his private-sector work.... Trump might not be in the same sort of trouble that Flynn is right now, but the former aide offers a cautionary example." ...

... Chris McDaniel & Jason Leopold of BuzzFeed: "... Donald Trump's personal attorney and confidant, Michael Cohen, is scheduled to speak next week with investigators from the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed-door meeting. Cohen has been subpoenaed by lawmakers investigating Russia's attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. He is expected to speak with investigators on Sept. 19." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Tommy Christopher of Independent Journal Review (IJR): "On Tuesday, NBC News reporter Katy Tur released her big 2016 campaign book, 'Unbelievable,' coincidentally the same day that Hillary Clinton's 'What Happened' hit shelves and e-readers. Tur was Trump's absolute favorite media punching bag, and an anecdote from the book could help explain why. In the book, Tur reveals that Trump forced an unwanted kiss on her just before a November 11, 2015, appearance on Morning Joe. The details are pretty gross.... Just prior to that section in the book, Tur also recounts a married senior Trump staffer making pretty clear advances on her. If her displeasure at Trump's kiss was as obvious as it sounds, and/or if Tur's unwillingness to play around got back to Trump, it could go a long way in explaining why she became his favorite target. Or maybe being a woman was enough." See also Akhilleus's commentary in yesterday's thread on Trump's siccing his followers on Tur. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

What First Amendment?

Kiran Raj & Paul O'Brien in a Washington Post op-ed: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently announced that the Justice Department would review his agency's media guidelines, reportedly looking to make it easier to obtain information from members of the media in leak investigations. This includes more aggressively going after unauthorized disclosures of classified information. Such a move is unnecessary for successful prosecutions, and it could have long-term negative consequences on the free press." Mrs. McC: Yeah but, it's wrong for fake news reporters to go nosing around for facts when the Trump administration's counterfactual propaganda is so felicitous. ...

... MEANWHILE. Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed: National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster "has directed government departments and agencies to warn employees across the entire federal government next week about the dangers and consequences of leaking even unclassified information.... [McMaster's] memo, dated Sept. 8, signals a potentially dramatic expansion of the previous administration's war on leaks.... The McMaster memorandum itself likely would be seen as a type of such a 'controlled unclassified' document, as it is marked: 'UNCLASSIFIED//FOUO [For Official Use Only].'"

Kelly Swanson of Vox: "White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that ESPN commentator Jemele Hill's tweets calling ... Donald Trump a white supremacist were a 'fireable offense' at a press conference on Wednesday.... ESPN responded to Hill's tweets in a statement Tuesday, saying, 'The comments on Twitter from Jemele Hill regarding the President do not represent the position of ESPN. We have addressed this with Jemele and she recognizes her actions were inappropriate.' The tweets have not been deleted, and Hill still works for ESPN. Following Sanders's comment, many on Twitter expressed horror at the idea that the White House would encourage ESPN to fire someone for criticizing the president."

Mnuchins' Plan to Honeymoon on Your Dime Foiled. Justin Fishel, et al., of ABC News: "Secretary Steven Mnuchin requested use of a government jet to take him and his wife on their honeymoon in Scotland, France and Italy earlier this summer, sparking an 'inquiry' by the Treasury Department's Office of Inspector General, sources tell ABC News. Officials familiar with the matter say the highly unusual ask for a U.S. Air Force jet, which according to an Air Force spokesman could cost roughly $25,000 per hour to operate, was put in writing by the secretary's office but eventually deemed unnecessary after further consideration of by Treasury Department officials. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said in an interview with ABC News that Mnuchin's request for a government jet on his honeymoon defies common sense. 'You don't need a giant rulebook of government requirements to just say yourself, "This is common sense, it's wrong,'" Wyden said. 'That's just slap your forehead stuff.'"

More of the "Best People." Suzy Khimm of NBC News: "... Donald Trump's nominee for the No. 2 spot at the Federal Emergency Management Agency withdrew from consideration on Wednesday after NBC News raised questions about a federal investigation that found he had falsified government travel and timekeeping records when he served in the Bush administration in 2005.... [Daniel] Craig came under scrutiny by the Inspector General for allegedly exploiting his position as FEMA's director of recovery for personal gain.... At the time, the agency was giving $100 million contracts to private firms for temporary housing of Katrina victims, and the report said that Craig was seeking employment with those firms.... After he left FEMA and became a lobbyist for a Miami-based law firm, Akerman Senterfitt, working on behalf of a client that secured more than $1 billion in FEMA contracts as part of the Katrina relief effort...." Investigators "concluded there was insufficient evidence that Craig had violated conflict-of-interest laws...."

David Remnick of the New Yorker reviews Hillary Clinton's new book. "She lost because of the tactical blunders of her campaign. She lost because she could never find a language, a thematic focus, or a campaigning persona that could convince enough struggling working Americans that she, and not a cartoonish plutocrat, was their champion. She lost because of the forces of racism, misogyny, and nativism that Trump expertly aroused. And she lost because of external forces (Vladimir Putin, Julian Assange, James Comey) that were beyond her control and are not yet fully understood.... Clinton's memoir radiates with fury at the forces and the figures ranged against her, but it is also salted with self-searching, grief, bitterness, and fitful attempts to channel and contain that fury." Remnick interviewed Clinton for his report.

Elaine Povich of the Washington Post: "Pete V. Domenici, a Republican lawmaker from New Mexico who became a leading voice on budget and energy policy during six terms in the Senate..., died Sept. 13 at a hospital in Albuquerque. He was 85." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

... Pete Domenici was a pariah in my family. My parents lived in New Mexico & both were active environmentalists. Domenici was a friend of miners. My father used to write funny but insulting letters to him, & I'm sure my father treated Domenici with the same wry disregard when they met. One of the times my mother & a colleague went to see him, a secretary went into Domenici's office to tell him they were waiting. Domenici didn't look their way but the door to his office was open & he could see them. He groaned & said loudly -- meaning for my mother & her friend to hear -- "Oh, they're just a couple of little old ladies in tennis shoes." -- Marie Burns

Renae Merle of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Wednesday revoked the $5 million bail of Martin Shkreli, the infamous former hedge fund manager convicted of defrauding investors, after prosecutors complained that his out-of-court antics posed a danger to the community. While awaiting sentencing, Shkreli has harassed women online, prosecutors argued, and even offered his Facebook followers $5,000 to grab a strand of Hillary Clinton's hair during her book tour.... 'This is a solicitation of assault. That is not protected by the First Amendment,'... said U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto.... Shkreli ...was taken into custody immediately after the hour-long hearing."

Beyond the Beltway

Neil Reisner, et al., of the New York Times: "Florida was still staggering to its feet on Wednesday, and millions of people across the Southeast were facing days or weeks without power in temperatures that, in the Fort Lauderdale area, climbed to as high as 92 degrees in recent days.... The Hollywood Police Department opened a criminal investigation into the deaths of ... eight residents [of a nursing home with no working air conditioners] ... and investigators from the state attorney general's office were also involved. Gov. Rick Scott ordered a moratorium on admissions at the nursing home.... State officials, utility executives and the Rehabilitation Center spent Wednesday trading blame over why and how its patients were left to endure such conditions, even though state and federal regulations require nursing home residents to be evacuated if it gets too hot inside."

Julia Manchester of the Hill: "Democrats flipped state House seats in New Hampshire and Oklahoma on Tuesday, replacing Republicans in two districts ahead of the 2018 midterm elections." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Commentariat -- September 13, 2017

Afternoon Update:

Manu Raju of CNN: "The Justice Department is preventing Senate investigators from interviewing two top FBI officials who could provide first-hand testimony over the firing of former FBI Director James Comey, the latest sign that Special Counsel Robert Mueller could be investigating the circumstances around the firing, officials tell CNN. The previously undisclosed turf war comes as the Senate judiciary committee has not yet given assurances to the special counsel's office that it could have unfettered access to the transcript of the interview it conducted last week with the President's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., saying that the full Senate must first authorize the release of the information to Mueller's team." ...

... Josh Dawsey of Politico: "... Michael Flynn actively promoted a private-sector scheme to build dozens of nuclear reactors across the Middle East known informally in the transition as the 'Marshall Plan.' But he did not publicly disclose that backers of the plan had paid him at least $25,000. Flynn communicated during the transition with the backers of the for-profit plan, billed as a way of strengthening ties between the U.S. and Arab allies looking to develop nuclear power capability. Meanwhile, the Trump adviser expressed his support for the plan with people inside the transition -- and discussed its merits with others beyond Trump Tower, according to sources within and close to the Trump team at that time. Flynn's consulting work for the company has been previously reported, but not the extent of his involvement during the Trump transition, nor the full amount he was paid for it." ...

... Manu Raju & Marshall Cohen of CNN: "House Democrats sent special counsel Robert Mueller what they say is evidence that former national security adviser Michael Flynn failed to disclose a trip he took to the Middle East to explore a business deal with the Saudi government and a Russian government agency. The Democrats allege the retired Army lieutenant general broke the law by omitting the trip, according to the letter they sent to Flynn's former business partners requesting more information about his overseas travels and contacts. The letter was sent by Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the oversight committee, and New York Rep. Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House foreign affairs committee. No Republicans from the two GOP-led committees signed onto the letter...." ...

... Chris McDaniel & Jason Leopold of BuzzFeed: "... Donald Trump's personal attorney and confidant, Michael Cohen, is scheduled to speak next week with investigators from the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed-door meeting. Cohen has been subpoenaed by lawmakers investigating Russia's attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. He is expected to speak with investigators on Sept. 19." ...

... Grumpy Trumpy. Mike Allen of Axios: "Behind the scenes in the West Wing, President Trump continues to rant and brood about former FBI Director Jim Comey and the Russia investigation that got him fired.Trump tells aides and visitors that the probe now being run by special counsel Bob Mueller is a witch hunt, and that Comey was a leaker. So White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was reflecting her boss's moods when she attacked Comey at length from the podium yesterday.... The Mueller investigation is hitting ever closer to home for Trump, and he's using the tools of his office to try to undermine the special counsel's future findings."

Tommy Christopher of Independent Journal Review (IJR): "On Tuesday, NBC News reporter Katy Tur released her big 2016 campaign book, 'Unbelievable,' coincidentally the same day that Hillary Clinton's 'What Happened' hit shelves and e-readers. Tur was Trump's absolute favorite media punching bag, and an anecdote from the book could help explain why. In the book, Tur reveals that Trump forced an unwanted kiss on her just before a November 11, 2015, appearance on Morning Joe. The details are pretty gross.... Just prior to that section in the book, Tur also recounts a married senior Trump staffer making pretty clear advances on her. If her displeasure at Trump's kiss was as obvious as it sounds, and/or if Tur's unwillingness to play around got back to Trump, it could go a long way in explaining why she became his favorite target. Or maybe being a woman was enough." See also Akhilleus's commentary in yesterday's thread.

Elaine Povich of the Washington Post: "Pete V. Domenici, a Republican lawmaker from New Mexico who became a leading voice on budget and energy policy during six terms in the Senate..., died Sept. 13 at a hospital in Albuquerque. He was 85."

... Pete Domenici was a pariah in my family. My parents lived in New Mexico & both were active environmentalists. Domenici was a friend of miners. My father used to write funny but insulting letters to him, & I'm sure my father treated Domenici with the same wry disregard when they met. One of the times my mother & a colleague went to see him, a secretary went into Domenici's office to tell him they were waiting. Domenici didn't look their way but the door to his office was open & he could see them. He groaned & said loudly -- meaning for my mother & her friend to hear -- "Oh, they're just a couple of little old ladies in tennis shoes." -- Marie Burns

Julia Manchester of the Hill: "Democrats flipped state House seats in New Hampshire and Oklahoma on Tuesday, replacing Republicans in two districts ahead of the 2018 midterm elections."

*****

Thought for the Day. The Republic of Texas believes in self-reliance and is suspicious of Washington sticking its big nose in your business. 'Government is not the answer. You are not doing anyone a favor by creating dependency, destroying individual responsibility.' So said Sen. Ted Cruz, though not last week. Sunday on Fox News, Gov. Greg Abbott said Texas would need upward of $150 billion in federal aid for damages inflicted by Harvey. The stories out of Houston have all been about neighborliness and helping hands and people donating to relief funds, but you don't raise $150 billion by holding bake sales. This is almost as much as the annual budget of the U.S. Army. I'm just saying. I'm all in favor of pouring money into Texas but I am a bleeding-heart liberal who favors single-payer health care. How is being struck by a hurricane so different from being hit by cancer? I'm only asking. -- Garrison Keilor. Thanks to PD Pepe for the link

Damian Paletta, et al., of the Washington Post: "White House officials trying to jump-start work on the GOP's top fall priority -- tax cuts -- are coming up against the same obstacle that has vexed PresidentTrump all year: divided Republican lawmakers. Trump advisers and top congressional leaders, hoping to assuage conservatives hungry for details, are working urgently to assemble a framework that they hope to release next week, according to White House aides and lawmakers. But after months of negotiations, the thorniest disagreement remains in view: how to pay for the giant tax cuts Trump has promised. Negotiators agree with the goal of slashing the corporate income tax rate and also cutting individual income taxes. But they have yet to agree about which tax breaks should be cut to pay for it all. In private talks, Trump advisers are pressing to eliminate or reduce several popular tax deductions, including the interest companies pay on debt, state and local income taxes paid by families and individuals, and the hugely popular mortgage interest deduction." ...

... Alan Rappeport & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "Senate Democrats on Tuesday warned they would work to block any rewrite of the tax code that repealed the estate tax and the deduction for state and local taxes, arguing that those moves would make a mockery of Republican promises to target tax relief to the middle class. But before Republicans could consider Democratic demands, they still were struggling to overcome their own disagreements over the arcana of a rewritten tax code. The clash over specific tax measures comes as the promised tax overhaul enters a pivotal phase. The White House and congressional Republicans expect to unveil the framework of a plan later this month, and the courting of Democrats has already begun. Mr. Trump dined with senators from both parties Tuesday night, reaching across the aisle out of concern that Republican disputes will make it impossible to pass a tax bill with only Republican votes."

Dan Merica of CNN: "Hope Hicks, who was named interim White House communications director in August, will now hold the job on a permanent basis, a White House spokesperson told CNN Tuesday. Hicks, a longtime aide to ... Donald Trump who was one of the first staffers to join Trump's 2016 campaign, became the interim communications director after Anthony Scaramucci, the colorful and controversial Trump aide, was ousted from the job in July." Mrs. McC(ynical): It was just within the week that we learned Robert Mueller's team plans to interview Trump & she's had to hire an attorney for the occasion; surely a promotion to a permanent position in a prominent role is Trump's way of hoping to ensure she lies about Trump's involvement in drafting the fake reason for Donnie Jr.'s meeting with Russian operatives. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... BUT This Could Pose a Problem. Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Several of the lawyers representing current and former aides told Politico they're actively warning their clients that any bonds connecting them to Trump won't protect them from criminal charges if federal prosecutors can nail them for perjury, making false statements or obstruction of justice." Mrs. McC: Hicks, who was reportedly present at the drafting of the phony reason for the Donnie Jr. meeting, might follow her lawyer's advice & rat on Donnie Sr. ...

... Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said on Tuesday that the Justice Department should 'certainly look at' charging James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director whom President Trump fired, for what she described as leaks of classified information. Ms. Sanders made the remarks after being asked at the White House press briefing whether the president was aware that his former chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, had said in an interview on '60 Minutes' that firing Mr. Comey was the biggest mistake 'in modern political history.' Ms. Sanders did not answer the question directly, but she said that Mr. Trump had been proven right in firing Mr. Comey in May. Asked whether Mr. Comey should be prosecuted, Ms. Sanders replied, 'That's not the president's role.'" ...

... Jonathan Chait: "Donald Trump's Republican allies have always sought to discredit the Russia investigation by going on offense.... Their first attempt at offense focused on Barack Obama's national security adviser Susan Rice, who Republicans spent days attacking as a sinister 'unmasker,' until the charges against Rice quietly collapsed earlier this month. They have found a new target: the famous dossier on Donald Trump compiled by British intelligence agent turned private investigator Christopher Steele, which they hope to use to discredit former FBI director James Comey.... The dossier, left defenseless, became the 'salacious, unverified Steele Dossier,' the epitome of irresponsible speculation.... But unverified does not mean false. And ... several months of revelations have confirmed a number of Steele's findings.... The FBI reportedly used Steele's reporting in some capacity.... Working from the premise that Steele's dossier is discredited, Republicans hope to attach Comey to it, and thereby sink his reputation. But it's possible their argument will do something else entirely: They might prove Steele was right after all." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... John Hudson of BuzzFeed: "In the third month of Donald Trump's presidency, Vladimir Putin dispatched one of his diplomats to the State Department to deliver a bold proposition: the full normalization of relations between the United States and Russia across all major branches of government. The proposal, spelled out in a detailed document obtained by BuzzFeed News, called for the wholesale restoration of diplomatic, military, and intelligence channels severed between the two countries after Russia's military interventions in Ukraine and Syria. The broad scope of the Kremlin's reset plan came with an ambitious launch date: immediately.... Officials at the White House and State Department ... did not dispute the authenticity [of the document]. They denied giving the Russians explicit indications that their proposal was feasible." ...

... ** David Corn of Mother Jones: "... recent news reports revealing that [Donald] Trump was pursuing a huge development deal in Moscow in late 2015 and early 2016 show that during the campaign Trump committed a tremendous act of deception. On December 2, 2015, during an interview with an Associated Press reporter, Trump was asked about his relationship with a fellow named Felix Sater. Trump, who was then the front-runner in the GOP presidential nomination contest, replied, 'Felix Sater, boy, I have to even think about it. I'm not that familiar with him.'... At that very moment Trump was in the middle of the deal to build a Trump Tower in the Russian capital and that Sater had put together the venture. As he was running for president, Trump was hiding this project from the American public, and he was insisting he barely knew the man at the center of it. This was serious deceit.... At the time Trump was running for president, he was endeavoring to pull off a major deal in Moscow that required government permission. That is, if Putin didn't favor this project, it wouldn't happen. Trump's right-hand legal man even asked Putin's office to help them. And through all this, Trump was making positive statements about Putin." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Just because Trump reportedly dropped this particular deal in about January 2016 because he could not get financing, doesn't mean his company -- now run by Uday & Qusay -- can't pursue the financing the Trump organization couldn't get earlier. This may help explain Junior's delight in hosting the June 2016 meeting with Russian operatives. Even if the Russians didn't provide the campaign with "dirt" on Hillary Clinton -- the reason for the meeting -- it was no doubt important to Donald Trump Sr. to show Putin he was maintaining a good-faith relationship with Putin & Putin's allies. (And even if the Russians didn't hand Junior a Clinton dossier at the June 2016 meeting (which they may have), they released some of the "dirt" via DCLeaks & Guccifer 2.0 a couple of weeks later. "The U.S. intelligence assessment says with high confidence that DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 were just a front for Russia's military intelligence agency...."

Sarah Sanders' Book Review. Louis Nelson of Politico: "White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders had one word to describe Hillary Clinton's new tell-all memoir on the 2016 campaign -- 'sad.' 'Whether or not he's going to read Hillary Clinton's book, I'm not sure. I would think he's pretty well-versed on what happened, and I think it's pretty clear to all of America,' Sanders said about ...Donald Trump at Tuesday's press briefing, offering a play on the title of Clinton's book, 'What Happened.'"

Kira Lerner of ThinkProgress: "Several Democratic voting experts including New Hampshire's secretary of state on Tuesday repudiated White House voting commission co-chair Kris Kobach's claim that thousands of out-of-state voters in New Hampshire likely tipped the Senate race to Democrats. Kobach acknowledged he should have hedged his wording, but did not admit he was wrong. In a Breitbart column last week, Kobach claimed that he had definitive proof that more than 5,000 out-of-state voters cast fraudulent ballots in 2016, tipping the Senate and potentially presidential race to Democrats." ...

... Ari Berman of Mother Jones: "Kobach's comments at Tuesday's hearing seemed designed to attack same-day registration in New Hampshire, which has been shown to increase voter turnout in states by up to 10 percent." ...

... Eric Levitz of New York: "In late February, the Heritage Foundation learned something 'very disturbing' about President Trump's upcoming 'voter-fraud commission' -- the White House was planning to let Democrats serve on it. 'There isn't a single Democratic official who will do anything other than obstruct any investigation of voter fraud and issue constant public announcements criticizing the commission,' a staffer (whose name has been redacted) at the right-wing think tank told Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in an email obtained Tuesday by the Campaign Legal Center through a Freedom of Information Act request. 'That decision alone shows how little the White House understands about this issue.'... The fact that Heritage thinks it would have been perfectly appropriate for the president to let a panel composed entirely of conservative Republicans dictate voting reforms illustrates how instinctively authoritarian some corners of the conservative movement have become.... On Tuesday, at the commission's second meeting in (of all places) New Hampshire, [Kris] Kobach defended his baseless claim [that thousands of non-residents of New Hampshire voted in that state's general election], and was roundly rebuked by the committee's Democrats."

Cristina Marcos of the Hill: "The House unanimously cleared a resolution on Tuesday that condemns white supremacists and urges President Trump to speak out against them. The bipartisan resolution now heads to President Trump's desk for his signature, making it the first formal response by Congress to the violence that broke out during a white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Va., last month. 'Tonight the House passed my resolution condemning hate groups & the Charlottesville attack. POTUS should sign a clear message & sign it ASAP,' tweeted Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), one of those who introduced the resolution.... Warner, along with Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) introduced the resolution last week, which cleared both chambers ... in the past 24 hours."

Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will introduce legislation on Wednesday that would expand Medicare into a universal health insurance program with the backing of at least 15 Democratic senators -- a record level of support for an idea that had been relegated to the fringes during the last Democratic presidency.... Sanders's bill, the Medicare for All Act of 2017, has no chance of passage in a Republican-run Congress. But after months of behind-the-scenes meetings and a public pressure campaign, the bill is already backed by most of the senators seen as likely 2020 Democratic candidates -- if not by most senators facing tough reelection battles in 2018.... Private insurers would remain, with fewer customers, to pay for elective treatments such as plastic surgery -- a system similar to Australia, which President Trump has praised for having a 'much better' insurance regime than the United States. But the market-based changes of the Affordable Care Act would be replaced as Medicare becomes the country's universal insurer. Doctors would be reimbursed by the government; providers would sign a yearly participation agreement with Medicare to remain with the system." ...

... Margaret Hartmann: "Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer don't back Sanders's bill, and some argue that the Democrats are making a huge mistake by launching into another treacherous health care debate after just barely saving Obamacare. But for better or for worse, Sanders has officially managed, with astonishing speed, to make 'Medicare for All' a mainstream Democratic policy." ...

... Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel op-ed: "Every American should have affordable health coverage, and there is more we can do to make that a reality. I always have believed that our goal must be universal health care coverage for everyone, and my support for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All legislation being introduced this week is a statement of that belief." ...

... Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg: "The Senate's most conservative Democrat said Tuesday Congress should consider adopting a single-payer health-care system, a sign of how fast politics are shifting on what was once seen as a fringe issue on the left. 'It should be explored,' said West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who faces re-election next year in a state ... Donald Trump carried by 42 points. 'I want to know what happens in all the countries that have it -- how well it works or the challenges they have.' Manchin, who was considered by Trump for a cabinet post, said he hopes the legislation will be considered by a congressional committee. He added that he's not ready to sign onto the Medicare-for-all proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont...."

** Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "Over the objections of four liberal justices, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday night that Texas does not immediately have to redraw electoral districts that a lower court found diminished the influence of minority voters. The 5-to-4 ruling almost surely means the 2018 midterm elections will be conducted in the disputed congressional and legislative districts. The justices gave no reasons in their one-paragraph statement granting a request from Texas that it not be forced to draw new districts until the Supreme Court reviewed the lower court's decision.... But the court's liberals -- Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan -- signaled their unhappiness by noting they would not have agreed to Texas's request. The court's intervention was a victory for Texas Republicans, who had drawn the districts. It disappointed civil rights groups, who had noted that even though growth in the state's Hispanic population was the reason for additional congressional seats, none were drawn to favor minority candidates. The decision was yet another indication of the influence of President Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch..."

Robert Barnes & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court agreed with the Trump administration Tuesday and put on hold a lower court decision that would have allowed more refugees to enter the country. The court issued a one-paragraph statement granting the administration's request for a stay of the latest legal maneuvering involving the president's executive order on immigration. There were no recorded dissents to the decision. At issue is whether the president can block a group of about 24,000 refugees, who have assurances from sponsors, from entering the United States. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit had interpreted a Supreme Court directive this summer to mean that they should be allowed in, but the government objected." ...

... MEANWHILE. Julie Davis & Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "The Trump administration is considering reducing the number of refugees admitted to the country over the next year to below 50,000, according to current and former government officials familiar with the discussions, the lowest number since at least 1980.... No final decision has been made, according to the officials, but as the issue is being debated, the Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the administration to bar almost any refugees from entering the country while it considers challenges to the travel ban order. The court will hear arguments in the case next month."

** Death of an American Hero. Robert McFadden of the New York Times: "Edith Windsor, the gay-rights activist whose landmark case led the Supreme Court to grant same-sex married couples federal recognition for the first time and rights to a host of federal benefits that until then only married heterosexuals had enjoyed, died on Tuesday in Manhattan. She was 88. Her wife, Judith Kasen-Windsor, confirmed the death, at a hospital, but did not specify a cause. They were married in 2016. Four decades after the Stonewall Inn uprising fueled the fight for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in America, Ms. Windsor, the widow of a woman with whom she had lived much of her life, became the lead plaintiff in what is widely regarded as the second most important Supreme Court ruling in the national battle over same-sex marriage rights."

David Moye of the Huffington Post: "After a Los Angeles-based photographer accused '60 Minutes' of purposely altering the color to make former White House chief strategist Steven Bannon 'look like a bleary-eyed drunk' in an interview, journalism experts were quick to throw shade on the colorful conspiracy theory. In a new YouTube video, Peter Duke theorized that CBS technicians increased saturation on the shots of Bannon to make his eyes and lips red.... '60 Minutes' spokesman Kevin Tedesco was quick to dismiss Duke's theory of media bias. 'It's nonsense,' he said by email. Susan Farkas, a former senior producer for broadcast standards at NBC, and currently a journalism professor at the City University of New York, said..., 'The tendency is to make people look better,' Farkas said. 'When I saw the interview, I actually thought he looked better. They smoothed over his skin.'" Mrs. McC: So we weren't the only ones to think Bannon looked like a bleary-eyed drunk.

Heather Long of the Washington Post: "The incomes of middle-class Americans rose last year to the highest level ever recorded by the Census Bureau, as poverty declined and the scars of the past decade's Great Recession seemed to finally fade. Median household income rose to $59,039 in 2016, a 3.2 percent increase from the previous year and the second consecutive year of healthy gains, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. The nation's poverty rate fell to 12.7 percent, returning nearly to what it was in 2007 before a financial crisis and deep recession walloped workers in ways that were still felt years later. The new data, along with another census report showing the rate of Americans lacking health insurance to be at its lowest-ever last year, suggest that Americans were actually in a position of increasing financial strength as President Trump, who tapped into anger about the economy, came to office this year. ...

     ... [BUT] "Inequality remains high, with the top fifth of earners taking home more than half of all overall income, a record. And yawning racial disparities remain, with the median African American household earning only $39,490, compared with more than $65,000 for whites and over $81,000 for Asians.... Meanwhile, the rate of people without health insurance declined only slightly last year, to 8.8 percent, the Census Bureau said. The Trump administration is widely expected to cut back on programs that promote enrollment under the Affordable Care Act, meaning that the ranks of the 28.1 million uninsured Americans might grow."

Beyond the Beltway

Jim Brunner & Daniel Beekman of the Seattle Times: "Seattle Mayor Ed Murray resigned Tuesday, just hours after new allegations that he had sexually abused a younger cousin decades ago in New York. Murray, a former Democratic state legislator elected mayor in 2013, said in a statement he is resigning effective 5 p.m. Wednesday.... City Council President Bruce Harrell will temporarily serve as mayor and will decide within five days whether to fill out the remainder of Murray’s term. If he decides against it, the council would pick another of its members to serve as mayor until the Nov. 7 election results are certified."

The Commentariat -- September 12, 2017

Late Morning Update:

Dan Merica of CNN: "Hope Hicks, who was named interim White House communications director in August, will now hold the job on a permanent basis, a White House spokesperson told CNN Tuesday. Hicks, a longtime aide to ... Donald Trump who was one of the first staffers to join Trump's 2016 campaign, became the interim communications director after Anthony Scaramucci ... was ousted from the job in July." Mrs. McC(ynical): It was just within the week that we learned Robert Mueller's team plans to interview Trump & she's had to hire an attorney for the occasion; surely a promotion to a permanent position in a prominent role is Trump's way of hoping to ensure she lies about Trump's involvement in drafting the fake reason for Donnie Jr.'s meeting with Russian operatives.

Jonathan Chait: "Donald Trump's Republican allies have always sought to discredit the Russia investigation by going on offense.... Their first attempt at offense focused on Barack Obama's national security adviser Susan Rice, who Republicans spent days attacking as a sinister 'unmasker,' until the charges against Rice quietly collapsed earlier this month. They have found a new target: the famous dossier on Donald Trump compiled by British intelligence agent turned private investigator Christopher Steele, which they hope to use to discredit former FBI director James Comey.... The dossier, left defenseless, became the 'salacious, unverified Steele Dossier,' the epitome of irresponsible speculation.... But unverified does not mean false. And ... several months of revelations have confirmed a number of Steele's findings.... The FBI reportedly used Steele's reporting in some capacity.... Working from the premise that Steele's dossier is discredited, Republicans hope to attach Comey to it, and thereby sink his reputation. But it's possible their argument will do something else entirely: They might prove Steele was right after all."

*****

Somini Sengupta of the New York Times: "The Trump administration has backed away from some of the most stringent penalties it had sought to impose on North Korea, in an apparent effort to draw Russian and Chinese backing for a new raft of sanctions over the country's nuclear weapons advances. Whether the administration will garner the support of Moscow and Beijing when the new sanctions come up for a vote Monday evening at the United Nations Security Council remains to be seen. More important, it is wholly unclear whether additional sanctions will persuade Pyongyang to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile tests." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... New Lede: "The United Nations Security Council on Monday ratcheted up sanctions yet again against North Korea, but they fell significantly short of the far-reaching penalties that the Trump administration had demanded just days ago. While the sanctions were described in Washington and other capitals as the most extensive yet, in the end they amounted to another incremental increase of pressure on the country, even after it detonated its sixth and most powerful nuclear device." ...

... What Trump's Russian Friends Are Doing to Help North Korea. Joby Warrick of the Washington Post: "With international trade with North Korea increasingly constrained by U.N. sanctions, Russian entrepreneurs are seizing opportunities to make a quick profit, setting up a maze of front companies to conceal transactions and launder payments, according to U.S. law enforcement officials who monitor sanction-busting activity. Such trade could provide a lifeline to North Korea at a time when the United States is seeking to deepen Kim's economic and political isolation in response to recent nuclear and missiles tests.... The increase in [North Korean] trade with Russia was a primary reason for a series of legal measures announced last month by Justice and Treasury officials targeting Russian nationals accused of helping North Korea evade sanctions.... Russia, with its massive petroleum reserves and proven willingness to partner with un­savory regimes, could provide just enough of a boost to keep North Korea's economy moving, allowing it to again resist international pressure to give up its strategic weapons, the officials said.... The reports of Russian oil smuggling come as Moscow continues to criticize international efforts to impose more trade restrictions on North Korea. Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a joint news conference Wednesday with South Korean leader Moon Jae-in, pointedly refused to support new restrictions on fuel supplies for the North." ...

... MEANWHILE, Trump Has Another Secret Meeting with Russian Ambassador. David Badash of the New Civil Rights Movement (Sept. 8): "... the White House has ... tried to hide a meeting Friday between Russia's new Ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, and ... Donald Trump. The meeting was not listed on the president's official schedule, but Russian media reported the event, as Reuters now reports.... Two-and-a-half hours after the Reuters report was published, the White House released a list of eleven foreign ambassadors who presented their credentials to the President [Friday].

Trump Embraces Another Corrupt, Authoritarian "Leader." Washington Post Editors: "PRESIDENT TRUMP has made a habit of embracing authoritarian rulers he regards as friendly, without regard for their subversion of democratic norms or gross human rights violations. Yet his meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak at the White House on Tuesday sets a new low. Not only is Mr. Najib known for imprisoning peaceful opponents, silencing critical media and reversing Malaysia's progress toward democracy. He also is a subject of the largest foreign kleptocracy investigation ever launched by the U.S. Justice Department. U.S. investigators have charged that Mr. Najib and close associates diverted $4.5 billion from a Malaysian government investment fund for their own uses, including $730 million that ended up in accounts controlled by the prime minister. Justice first filed civil suits seeking the freezing of some $1.7 billion in assets in the United States.... President Barack Obama golfed with the prime minister and flattered him with the first visit by a U.S. president to Malaysia in nearly half a century."

Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Florida emerged from Hurricane Irma on Monday as a landscape of blacked-out cities, shuttered gas stations, shattered trees and flooded streets, while the now-weakened storm kept sweeping northward. Major streets remained underwater in cities from Miami to Jacksonville, with even more roads snarled by debris. As many as nine million Floridians lost electricity at some point during the storm, and the chief executive of a major utility, Florida Power & Light, said that it could take weeks to restore full service. Officials were still assessing Irma's impact in the Florida Keys, which may have borne the worst of the storm. After a survey of the islands, Gov. Rick Scott told reporters that he had seen crippling damage there, including countless overturned trailers and many boats washed ashore. Recovery in the Keys would be a 'long road,' he said." ...

... Update: Scott Pruitt Is Still a Phony Prick. Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, says it is insensitive to discuss climate change in the midst of deadly storms.... 'To have any kind of focus on the cause and effect of the storm versus helping people, or actually facing the effect of the storm, is misplaced,' Mr. Pruitt said to CNN in an interview ahead of Hurricane Irma, echoing similar sentiments he made when Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas two weeks earlier. 'To use time and effort to address it at this point is very, very insensitive to this people in Florida,' he added.... For scientists, drawing links between warming global temperatures and the ferocity of hurricanes is about as controversial as talking about geology after an earthquake.... Ben Kirtman, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Miami..., said he believes failing to discuss climate change hurts Florida and the entire country.... President Trump has derided climate change as a hoax. Mr. Pruitt has declared that carbon dioxide emissions from cars, power plants and other sources are not the primary contributor to global warming, despite overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary. The E.P.A. has removed many mentions of climate change from its website and is rolling back regulations aimed at curbing carbon dioxide emissions." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Science, & reality in general, are still left-wing conspiracies as far as wingers are concerned. See also Jonathan Chait's post, linked yesterday. Anyway, I'm more than happy to have Pruitt remind folks I'm "insensitive." Update: As MAG pointed out in yesterday's thread, actually Pruitt is a "real prick." I stand corrected. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Gene Robinson: "No rational U.S. administration would look at the devastation from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma and seek to deny climate change. At present, however, there is no rational U.S. administration. We have instead a president and an Environmental Protection Agency chief who refuse to acknowledge the obvious.... As deniers frequently point out, no individual weather event can be definitively blamed on climate change. But the World Meteorological Organization released a statement concluding that 'the rainfall rates associated with Harvey were likely made more intense by anthropogenic climate change.' And regarding Irma, the WMO cited models showing that 'hurricanes in a warmer climate are likely to become more intense.' There are established linkages between a storm's severity and factors such as sea levels, ocean temperatures and the position of prevailing currents such as the jet stream. Global warming has altered all of those parameters. This is precisely the moment when scientists at the EPA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Weather Service, NASA and other agencies ought to be laser-focused on climate change." ...

... Paul Krugman: "... thanks to Trump's electoral victory, know-nothing, anti-science conservatives are now running the U.S. government. When you read news analyses claiming that Trumps deal with Democrats to keep the government running for a few months has somehow made him a moderate independent, remember that it's not just Pruitt: Almost every senior figure in the Trump administration dealing with the environment or energy is both an establishment Republican and a denier of climate change and of scientific evidence in general.... Today's right-wing intellectual universe, such as it is, is dominated by hired guns who are essentially propagandists rather than researchers.... When people like [Rush] Limbaugh imagine that liberals are engaged in a conspiracy to promote false ideas about climate and suppress the truth, it makes sense to them partly because that's what their friends do.... We are now ruled by people who are completely alienated not just from the scientific community, but from the scientific idea -- the notion that objective assessment of evidence is the way to understand the world. And this willful ignorance is deeply frightening. Indeed, it may end up destroying civilization." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Robinson & Krugman think they're so smart, but they both failed to figure in the scientific impact of fossil-fuel industry campaign contributions. These contributions tend to require climate-change denial, or as Gloria insisted in yesterday's thread, global-warming denial. So gas up, people (uh, unless you live in Florida or parts of Houston where fuel-carrying trucks can't get thru flooded streets & neither can you). And clean coal forever! Blast those mountain tops. As Rand Paul said once, "I don't think anybody's going to be missing a hill or two here and there." Flattening a hill or two, after all, & reclaiming the land makes it more attractive for real-estate development.

Joshua McElwee of the National Catholic Reporter: "Pope Francis has questioned ... Donald Trump's commitment to pro-life values, suggesting that his administration's recent decision to end a program protecting undocumented young people from deportation is contradictory.... The pope said he is especially worried about young people who become detached from their roots and lose hope in the future.... Francis also said during the press conference that political leaders have a moral responsibility to follow scientists' recommendations and reduce carbon emissions in order to stem the effects of climate change. The pope said that whoever denies that humans are contributing to the warming of the planet 'needs to go visit the scientists and ask them.'" Mrs. McC: Francis is somewhat confused about the effects rescinding DACA would have on families, but it will certainly break up families. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Anita Kumar of McClatchy News: "A major construction company owned by the Chinese government was hired to work on the latest Trump golf club development in Dubai despite a pledge from Donald Trump that his family business would not engage in any transactions with foreign government entities while he serves as president. Trump's partner, DAMAC Properties, awarded a $32-million contract to the Middle East subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering Corporation..., according to news releases.... The companies' statements do not detail the exact timing of the contract except to note it was sometime in the first two months of 2017, just as Trump was inaugurated and questions were raised about a slew of potential conflicts of interest between his presidency and his vast real estate empire." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Brandon Carter of the Hill: "Several of President Trump's lawyers advised him earlier this summer that White House adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner should step down from his role over potential legal complications with the ongoing Russia investigation, according to The Wall Street Journal. Sources familiar with the matter told the Journal that some of Trump's lawyers were concerned about Kushner, who had several meetings with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign, and brought those concerns to Trump himself. Press aides to Trump's legal team allegedly even went so far as to draft a statement explaining why Kushner was leaving the White House. The statement, meant to be issued by Kushner, blamed a toxic political environment for turning Kushner's meeting with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign into an attack on Trump.... The president's lawyers also expressed concern over Kushner's federal disclosure forms, which the senior adviser has updated multiple times since his initial filing, adding more than 100 names to a list of foreign individuals he has had contact with." Trump & his own top lawyer disagreed with the attorneys' concerns; Trump thought Kushner had done nothing wrong. ...

     ... Update: Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post now has a story up on the proposed Kushner ouster. "In a statement Monday night, White House lawyer Ty Cobb blamed the disclosure of the internal debate on former White House staffers seeking to tarnish Kushner.... 'Those whose agendas were and remain focused on sabotaging him and his family for misguided personal reasons are no longer around,' said Cobb, who was brought aboard in July to specialize in the Russia inquiry. 'All clandestine efforts to undermine him never gained traction.'" Leonnig suggests the person with "misguided person reasons" was Steve Bannon, though Trump's lawyers would not confirm that.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Paul Waldman: "... this past weekend, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Associated Press all responded to Trump siding with Democrats over a relatively minor procedural matter -- whether to increase the debt ceiling for a three-month period, as they wanted, or an 18-month period, as Republicans were pushing for, as part of an agreement that included aid for victims of Hurricane Harvey and a bill to keep the government functioning -- in nearly the same way. Trump was showing that he's a true independent, unmoored from party loyalty.... The idea that Trump has governed as an independent is utterly laughable. While it's true that he arrived in office without the complement of ideological and partisan commitments most presidents carry with them, he has governed like the hardest of hard-right Republicans." ...

... Digby in Salon on "the Big Bipartisan Deal of last week that has the mainstream media exclaiming once again that Trump has made a pivot, this time to being an 'independent' in the mode of Teddy Roosevelt. This is all because he agreed to raise the debt ceiling and pass an emergency relief package with the help of Democrats.... It's utter nonsense.... Trump may not act like a Republican president. But he doesn't act like a Democratic or an Independent president either. He doesn't act like a president at all. It's long past time for the media to stop trying to fit him into some familiar groove that they can understand. While he's busy with his weird demagogic performance art, his administration is working as quickly as possible to enact the most racist, most right-wing Republican agenda in history. He is fine with that, as long as he gets the credit."

AND Somebody is Drugging Trump  -- Alex Jones. Travis Gettys of the Raw story: "Alex Jones admitted ... Donald Trump seems mentally impaired in the evening, but he floated a wild conspiracy theory to explain it away. The Trump-backing broadcaster claimed Monday on his 'InfoWars' radio program that 'high-level sources' had confirmed a plot to control the president through sedative drugs -- although Jones never explained who was doing that, reported Media Matters.... 'The president needs his blood tested by an outside physician he trusts.... I've talked to people, multiple ones, and they believe that they are putting a slow sedative that they're building up that's also addictive in his Diet Cokes and in his iced tea, and that the president by 6 or 7 at night is basically slurring his words and is drugged,' Jones said. '...I've talked to people that talk to the president now at 9 at night.... It's known that most presidents end up getting drugged.'" The same thing happened to Ronald Reagan, Jones said.

Dear Dingbat News "Analysts": No, Donald Trump Is Not Bipartisan. Jeff Toobin of the New Yorker: "A vivid example of the right-wing hegemony in the Trump Administration will be on display today, when the Presidential Advisory Commission on Voter Integrity convenes for the second time. It is difficult to imagine a more cynical enterprise than this commission, which Trump appointed after he claimed (falsely) that the casting of illegal votes last November accounted for his loss of the popular vote, which Hillary Clinton won by a margin of nearly three million. Trump named Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, who has been the nation's leading advocate for restrictions on voting rights, as the vice-chair of the commission. (Vice-President Mike Pence is the chair.) Kobach will preside at today's meeting, which will convene in Manchester, New Hampshire.... In-person voter fraud -- cases of people intentionally voting in elections in which they are not entitled to participate -- is a miniscule, if not nonexistent, problem in the United States. The real agenda [of the commission] is to make it harder for Democrats to vote and thus to make it easier to Republicans to win elections."

Robert Pear of the New York Times: "Back in March, when President Trump released the first draft of his budget proposal for the coming fiscal year, he asked lawmakers for deep cuts to one of their favorite institutions, the National Institutes of Health -- part of a broad reordering of priorities, away from science and social spending, toward defense and border security. Six months later, Congress has not only rejected the president's N.I.H. proposal; lawmakers from both parties have joined forces to increase spending on biomedical research -- and have bragged about it.... In identical language, the House and Senate bills explicitly prohibit the Trump administration from changing the formula used for decades to calculate and pay indirect costs."

Craig Timberg of the Washington Post: "Key lawmakers on Monday demanded a detailed accounting of the security systems of Equifax, a leading credit-rating agency, following a hack that gave criminals access to sensitive information of up to 143 million American consumers in one of the most troubling corporate computer breaches ever disclosed. A sternly worded letter from the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee included a list of 13 questions intended to illuminate the murky circumstances surrounding the breach, including what data was exposed, how the hack was detected and whether the company has systems adequate for detecting and thwarting such intrusions."

Another Super-Scrooge Prize for the GOP. Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "Once again, [Republicans have] found an innovative way to punish the poor and simultaneously increase budget deficits -- all with one nifty trick! To pull off this impressive twofer, they would put every American applying for the earned-income tax credit (EITC) through a sort of mini-audit before getting their refund. This would both place huge new burdens on the working poor and divert scarce Internal Revenue Service resources away from other audit targets, such as big corporations, that offer a much higher return on investment.... Troubling language in the budget resolution committee report proposes decreasing 'improper' EITC payments by requiring verification of all income before benefits go out. The language ... appears to refer to a Heritage Foundation proposal that would require the IRS to 'fully verify income through a review of Form W-2, Form 1099, business licensing or registration, and relevant invoices' before dispensing any refunds.... As noted in a report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, conducting mini-audits of all 28 million EITC claimants would be an astonishingly laborious task, both for tax filers and for the IRS.... At a time when Republicans are flogging tax simplification, this would make tax preparation infinitely more complicated. Unless, of course, the goal is to discourage poor people from applying for the EITC in the first place." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: You can't tell me that Republicans & so-called conservatives -- like the great thinkers at the Heritage Foundation -- aren't purposely cruel to low-income Americans. This is one more way they plan to separate the haves from the have-nots. The haves -- people like them with incomes too high to earn EITC credits -- will get any tax refunds due them timely; the have-nots will have to jump through hoops to get their Treasury checks.

Congress Set to Protect "Our Outdoor Heritage." Dana Milbank: "On Tuesday, a House panel takes up the 'Sportsmen's Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act of 2017,' which promises 'to protect and enhance opportunities for recreational hunting, fishing and shooting.' Among these recreational enhancements: Allowing people to bring assault guns and other weapons through jurisdictions where they are banned. Rolling back decades-old regulations on the use of silencers [a/k/a the 'Hearing Protection Act' & the 'Destruction of Records' provision]. Protecting the use of armor-piercing bullets. Easing importation of foreign-made assault rifles. Protecting the practice of baiting birds with grain as they migrate and then mowing them down. The House Natural Resources Committee was to have had a hearing on the bill in June, before the baseball-practice shooting that seriously wounded House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) led to its cancellation. But the National Rifle Association was not to be denied. In a statement last week, the gun lobby's director applauded the revival of the bill, which, he said, 'will protect America's hunters and recreational shooters and help preserve our outdoor heritage.'" Mrs. McC: Read on. This is INSANE.

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) became the fourth co-sponsor of Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) 'Medicare for all' health-care bill Monday. In doing so, he joined Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.). What do those four senators have in common? Well, they just happen to constitute four of the eight most likely 2020 Democratic presidential nominees, according to the handy list I put out Friday. And another senator in my top 8, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), last month came out in favor of the idea of 'Medicare for all' -- though not this specific bill (yet). This is about as far from a coincidence as you can get. And it suggests the dam is breaking when it comes to the Democratic Party embracing government-run health care, also known as single-payer."

Bryan Schott of UtahPolicy.com: "Sources tell UtahPolicy.com that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is preparing to run for Senate in 2018 if Sen. Orrin Hatch decides to retire.... So far, Hatch has not made up his mind as to whether he'll run for an eighth term in 2018. He has previously said he was planning on running as long as his and his wife's health holds up." Mrs. McC: I'm pretty sure Steve Bannon can come up with a raging winger alternative to Romney. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Lydia Wheeler of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Monday granted the Trump administration's request to temporarily lift restrictions on the president's travel ban. In a one-page order signed by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court temporarily blocked the part of last week's 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that barred the government from prohibiting refugees that have formal assurances from resettlement agencies or are in the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program from entering the U.S. Kennedy said that part of the decision is stayed pending the receipt of a response from the state of Hawaii. That response that is due by noon on Tuesday. The Supreme Court's decision came less than two hours after Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall filed a request for a stay." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dave Weigel of the Washington Post reviews Hillary Clinton's What Happened. ...

... Here's a review by Jennifer Senior of the New York Times. ...

... Sabrina Siddiqui & David Smith of the Guardian write a joint book report.

... NEW. Audio & a written transcript of Clinton's interview with NPRs' Rachel Martin is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Sheila Kaplan & Jack Healy of the New York Times: "Floodwaters in two Houston neighborhoods have been contaminated with bacteria and toxins that can make people sick, testing organized by The New York Times has found. Residents will need to take precautions to return safely to their homes, public health experts said. It is not clear how far the toxic waters have spread. But Fire Chief Samuel Peña of Houston said over the weekend that there had been breaches at numerous waste treatment plants. The Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday that 40 of 1,219 such plants in the area were not working.... Water flowing down Briarhills Parkway in the Houston Energy Corridor contained Escherichia coli, a measure of fecal contamination, at a level more than four times that considered safe."

Way Beyond

Nick Cumming-Bruce of the New York Times: "The United Nations' top human rights official accused Myanmar on Monday of carrying out 'a textbook example of ethnic cleansing' against Rohingya Muslims, hundreds of thousands of whom have crossed into Bangladesh since late August to escape a military crackdown. Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, said the military's 'brutal' security campaign was in clear violation of international law, and cited what he called refugees' consistent accounts of widespread extrajudicial killings, rape and other atrocities. Mr. al-Hussein said the crackdown 'resembles a cynical ploy to forcibly transfer large numbers of people without possibility of return,' noting that Myanmar had progressively stripped its Rohingya minority of civil and political rights for decades.... Some [criticism] has singled out Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of the elected civilian government, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her resistance to the military dictatorship. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi does not control Myanmar's military, but she has yet to criticize its crackdown on the Rohingya." ...

... Nicholas Kristof (Sept. 10) of the New York Times calls Suu Kyi "chief apologist for this ethnic cleansing, as the country oppresses the darker-skinned Rohingya and denounces them as terrorists and illegal immigrants. And 'ethnic cleansing' may be an understatement. Even before the latest wave of terror, a Yale study had suggested that the brutality toward the Rohingya might qualify as genocide."

News Ledes

Weather Channel on the results of Hurricane Irma: "More than 6.7 million people in Florida are without power as of Monday afternoon. At least nine deaths have been reported in the U.S. Water is rising in the downtown area of Jacksonville as the winds switch to the south, prompting a flooding emergency.... A flash flood emergency was declared for downtown Jacksonville Monday as Irma continued to batter Florida with damaging winds, heavy rain and storm surge. Martin Senterfitt, emergency management director for Morgan County, said a 'humanitarian crisis' is looming in the middle and upper Florida Keys." ...

... The Miami Herald's liveblog has 13 million Floridians without power. Mrs. McC: The Weather Channel 6.7 million, tho it doesn't say so, could be an estimate of the number of power company customers without power rather than the number of people. A customer can represent any number of people or even a negative number of people. That is, there may be a number of people living in a home that represents one customer. At the same time, one person may be a customer at more than one location.