The Commentariat -- April 21, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Hamza Shaban of the Washington Post: "Former first lady Barbara Bush was remembered by family and friends as a symbol of authenticity and grace during a private funeral Saturday in Houston, where more than 1,000 guests were in attendance, including four former presidents and three former first ladies, as well as the current first lady."

"World's Largest Pork Processor." Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, met personally last year with J. Steven Hart, the lobbyist whose wife had rented him a $50-a-night Capitol Hill condo, a disclosure that contradicts earlier statements that E.P.A. lobbying by Mr. Hart had not occurred. The meeting was set up on behalf of an executive associated with Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. Previously, Mr. Hart and his lobbying firm, Williams & Jensen, had maintained that Mr. Hart never lobbied Mr. Pruitt in 2017, when Mr. Pruitt was living in a condo co-owned by Mr. Hart's wife, or in the time since then.... The Smithfield Foods disclosure was made the same day that Mr. Hart announced he was stepping down as chairman of Williams & Jensen -- instead of waiting until his planned November retirement -- citing the negative publicity that had been caused by the Capitol Hill condo rental to Mr. Pruitt. ...

... Pruitt Was Always Corrupt. Steve Eder & Hiroki Tabuchi of the New York Times: "An examination of Mr. Pruitt's political career in Oklahoma reveals that many of the pitfalls he has encountered in Washington have echoes in his past.... Mr. Pruitt's home in Oklahoma City when he was a state senator..., which had belonged to a lobbyist, was held by a shell company registered to Mr. Pruitt's business partner and financed by a bank an associate of his ran.... In 2005, the shell company -- Capitol House L.L.C. -- sold the property for $95,000 more than it had paid. While shell companies are legal, they often obscure the people who have an interest in them, and none of Mr. Pruitt's financial disclosure filings in Oklahoma mentioned the company or the proceeds -- a potential violation of the state's ethics rules." Both the holder of the shell company & the banker who arranged the mortgage -- who is "barred from working in the finance industry because of a banking violation" -- now have top jobs at the EPA. The partners bought the house at a $100K discount; SBC Oklahoma, the former homeowner's employer, picked up the difference. SBC had been lobbying state legislators, & Pruitt sided with the company on matters for which it had lobbied him."

*****

The Trumpster has been tweeting this morning: "The New York Times and a third rate reporter named Maggie Haberman, known as a Crooked H flunkie who I don't speak to and have nothing to do with, are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will 'flip.' They use.... ...non-existent 'sources' and a drunk/drugged up loser who hates Michael, a fine person with a wonderful family. Michael is a businessman for his own account/lawyer who I have always liked & respected. Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if.... ...it means lying or making up stories. Sorry, I don't see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!" ...

    ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Based on the NYT report (linked below), I assume the "drunk/drugged up loser" is Sam Nunberg, who used to work for Cohen & Roger Stone.

... Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Trump initially misspelled Haberman's last name, using two 'b', but later retweeted the thread with the correct spelling. Trump ... has spoken with Haberman on the record for multiple stories in the past...."

Sari Horwitz, et al., of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently told the White House he might have to leave his job if President Trump fired his deputy, Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the exchange. Sessions made his position known in a phone call to White House counsel Donald McGahn last weekend, as Trump's fury at Rosenstein peaked after the deputy attorney general approved the FBI's raid April 9 on the president's personal attorney Michael Cohen.... [One] person familiar with the exchange said Sessions did not intend to threaten the White House but rather wanted to convey the untenable position that Rosenstein's firing would put him in."

Thug-in-Chief. Murray Waas in Vox: "... Donald Trump sharply questioned Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray during a White House meeting on January 22 about why two senior FBI officials -- Peter Strzok and Lisa Page -- were still in their jobs despite allegations made by allies of the president that they had been disloyal to him and had unfairly targeted him and his administration.... The president also pressed his attorney general and FBI director to work more aggressively to uncover derogatory information within the FBI's files to turn over to congressional Republicans working to discredit the two FBI officials.... The very next day, Trump met Sessions again, this time without Wray present, and even more aggressively advocated that Strzok and Page be fired, the sources said. Trump's efforts to discredit Strzok and Page came after Trump was advised last summer by his then-criminal defense attorney John Dowd that Page was a likely witness against him in ... Robert Mueller's investigation into whether Trump obstructed justice, according to two senior administration officials." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Bad news, Donaldo. Now both Sessions & Wray could wind up as witnesses against you, too.

Kevin Brueninger of CNBC: "Memos leaked by former FBI Director James Comey contain information that is now considered classified, prompting the Justice Department's watchdog to review the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.... At least two of the memos Comey gave to a friend contained classified information, the Journal reported. Comey reportedly redacted portions of one of those two memos himself before sending them to his friend.... A person familiar with the matter told the newspaper that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is now spearheading an investigation into the classification of the documents. Comey has said he considers the documents to be personal documents. But in a Jan. 7, 2017 email containing the first memo he wrote, Comey said he was 'not sure of the proper classification here so have chosen SECRET.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Michael Shear of the New York Times, in a story about how leaking the Comey memos seems to have backfired on House GOP leaders, has a fairly good explanation of the classification issue: "Mr. Comey gave copies of at least two of his memos to Daniel C. Richman, a longtime associate outside the F.B.I. Some of the memos were later deemed to contain classified information. In one case, Mr. Comey had personally redacted such information before handing it to Mr. Richman, and in another, the F.B.I. deemed the material classified only after it was in Mr. Richman's possession. Mr. Comey has said he shared the memos with Mr. Richman under the assumption that they would be shared with the news media and to put pressure on the Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor.... The inspector general has questioned witnesses about the matter, and F.B.I. agents conducted a search of Mr. Richman's New York office to ensure that the leak was contained." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's the thing: if Hillary Clinton was so "extremely careless" in using a not-officially-secured server to send a few e-mails to security-cleared staff, & if the memos were later deemed classified, & if no one intended to publish those e-mails, then even the most adoring Comey fan would have to conclude that Comey was "extremely manipulative" and "highly vindictive" to purposely arrange to leak his own memos. His argument that the memos belonged to him is nonsense. They describe privileged conversations with the POTUS*-elect & later POTUS*, conversations he had in his professional capacity as FBI director. The memos were work product when Comey wrote them, & they remained work product after Trump fired him. Just because he ascribes to himself a "noble purpose" doesn't make the leak any less a leak. By Comey's own reckoning (see published memos), his head belongs on a pike.

Josh Marshall: In the Comey memos, "Trump repeatedly not only denied the 'pee tape' accusations but he went on to say that he had not even spent the night in Russia. He apparently also told his high level staffers this.... There's ample evidence that Trump stayed not one but two nights. In July 2017, Bloomberg News's Vernon Silver and Evgenia Pismennaya reported out a detailed reconstruction of the trip based on FAA records, social media postings and interviews.... [Trump's] longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller... makes very clear [in testimony] that Trump did stay overnight in Moscow.... In any court, this lie would be entered as evidence of his lack of credibility on the main point." ...

... Greg Sargent has a good column arguing that release of the Comey memos sunk Trump: "These memos, if anything, confirm more credibly than before what Trump's frame of mind was in leading up to that firing — that is, the level of acquiescence that Trump wanted but did not get from Comey before firing him. These memos go further than before in supplying Trump's likely motive for the firing." Sargent is amused by the GOP's ludicrous claim that the memos actually vindicate Trump because Comey never wrote in a memo, "Woe is me! I feel so obstructed!" Sargent also notes an important question Rachel Maddow asked Comey last night in regard to Rudy Giuliani's foreknowledge of Comey's plan to reopen the Clinton investigation. Worth a read. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Here's that portion of Maddow's interview:

... Stephen Collinson of CNN: "If House Republicans thought they were helping ... Donald Trump by forcing the release of James Comey's memos, they might want to think again. The documents written by the then-FBI director, detailing his interactions with Trump, present a contemporaneous and deeply unflattering view of a President throwing his weight around in his first days in the White House -- that at the very least seems highly inappropriate.... The Comey memos suggest Trump has a scattershot and self-obsessed mindset, brooding about his subordinates, leaks, his campaign and his inaugural crowd size and not appreciating or caring about protocol boundaries that separate the White House and the Justice Department. Furthermore, the conversations with Comey soon after Trump moved into the White House paint a picture of a new President more concerned with own fortunes than the burden of his new responsibilities.... Trump responded to the release of the memos on Twitter in an apparent attempt to direct conversation away from the embarrassing substance of the documents." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Stef Kight of Axios: "Former Deputy FBI Director strong>Andrew McCabe is looking to sue for defamation, wrongful termination and other possible civil claims, his lawyer told reporters Friday....McCabe's lawyer, Michael Bromwich, also said his client told then-FBI Director James Comey that he was pushing back on stories about the Hillary Clinton investigation -- which would mean he didn't lack candor. They are seeking ways to release emails and phone call transcripts between McCabe and Comey to shed light on the issue."

Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Democratic National Committee filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit Friday against the Russian government, the Trump campaign and the WikiLeaks organization alleging a far-reaching conspiracy to disrupt the 2016 campaign and tilt the election to Donald Trump. The complaint, filed in federal district court in Manhattan, alleges that top Trump campaign officials conspired with the Russian government and its military spy agency to hurt ... Hillary Clinton and help Trump by hacking the computer networks of the Democratic Party and disseminating stolen material found there.... The case asserts that the Russian hacking campaign -- combined with Trump associates' contacts with Russia and the campaign's public cheerleading of the hacks -- amounted to an illegal conspiracy to interfere in the election that caused serious damage to the Democratic Party." Read on. The Democratic party won a similar suit against the Nixon campaign for the Watergate break-in. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Rachel Maddow ran a useful segment on the 1972 suit the DNC brought against the Nixon campaign. It begins at about 2:40 min. in. Mrs. McC: I'm ashamed to say I remember nothing about the suit, even though I was following the presidential campaign closely that year:

More Bad News for Trump & Cohen. Beth Reinhard & Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "Keith Davidson, the former attorney for two women who were paid to keep quiet about their alleged affairs with Donald Trump, has been contacted by federal authorities investigating Trump attorney Michael Cohen and is cooperating with them, a spokesman for Davidson confirmed. Davidson was asked to provide 'certain limited electronic information' for the probe led by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, spokesman Dave Wedge said. 'He has done so and will continue to cooperate to the fullest extent possible under the law,' Wedge said in a statement Friday." ...

... Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "For years Mr. Trump treated Mr. Cohen poorly, with gratuitous insults, dismissive statements and, at least twice, threats of being fired, according to interviews with a half-dozen people familiar with their relationship. 'Donald goes out of his way to treat him like garbage,' said Roger J. Stone Jr., Mr. Trump's informal and longest-serving political adviser, who, along with Mr. Cohen, was one of five people originally surrounding the president when he was considering a presidential campaign before 2016. Now..., Mr. Trump's lawyers and advisers have become resigned to the strong possibility that Mr. Cohen, who has a wife and two children and faces the prospect of devastating legal fees, if not criminal charges, could end up cooperating with federal officials who are investigating him for activity that could relate, at least in part, to work he did for Mr. Trump." ...

... Scott Glover, et al., of CNN: "A federal judge in California said Friday that he needed to hear from ... Donald Trump's attorney Michael Cohen directly before deciding whether to issue a stay in a civil lawsuit involving porn star Stormy Daniels.... Judge S. James Otero gave Cohen's attorney until Wednesday to file a declaration by Cohen himself indicating whether his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination could be at issue in the civil case due to an ongoing criminal investigation in New York." (Also linked yesterday.)

** White Supremacist-in-Chief. Dana Milbank: "I'd like to pause ... to reflect on just one thing the president did this week that, amid Russian hookers and his assaults on truth, law and decency, got little attention: his talk of immigrants 'breeding' in America's sanctuary cities. 'There is a Revolution going on in California. Soooo many Sanctuary areas want OUT of this ridiculous, crime infested & breeding concept,' the president tweeted on Tuesday.... Perhaps it is just coincidence that Trump used the language of [Nazis and] white supremacists.... A day after Trump's 'breeding' tweet, he visited a drug-interdiction operation and declared that 'human trafficking is worse than it's ever been in the history of the world.' Thus did the president erase three centuries of American history, during which millions of Africans were captured and enslaved in this hemisphere." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The "breeding" tweet, IMO, wasn't a dogwhistle to Trumpbots; it was a reflection of who the POTUS* is: a virulent racist.

Jonathan Greenberg, in a Washington Post story: "In May 1984, an official from the Trump Organization called to tell me how rich Donald J. Trump was. I was reporting for the Forbes 400, the magazine's annual ranking of America's richest people, for the third year. In the previous edition, we'd valued Trump's holdings at $200 million, only one-fifth of what he claimed to own in our interviews. This time, his aide urged me on the phone, I needed to understand just how loaded Trump really was. The official was John Barron -- a name we now know as an alter ego of Trump himself.... It took decades to unwind the elaborate farce Trump had built to project an image as one of the richest people in America. Nearly every assertion supporting that claim was untrue." Includes audio. If Trump's lies amuse you, read on. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Bernard Condon of the AP: "The Kushner Cos. has been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors for information related to an Associated Press report that the company filed dozens of false documents about its buildings in New York City. The real estate company issued a statement saying it has 'nothing to hide and is cooperating fully with all legitimate requests for information, including this subpoena.'"

Anna Merlan of Splinter: A whole lot of people -- Wikipedia, news organization, 51 Member of Congress, Marco Rubio, for instance -- say that Mike Pompeo is a Gulf War veteran. He isn't. ...

... Benjamin Hart of New York: "Throughout all this, Pompeo has said nothing to correct the record."

Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The Central Intelligence Agency took the unusual step Friday of declassifying and releasing a memo clearing Gina Haspel of any wrongdoing in drafting an order to destroy videotaped evidence of brutal interrogation techniques, a move that comes as part of a greater campaign to rehabilitate her image and shore up congressional support for her bid to become the agency's director. The memo, which former CIA deputy director Michael Morell wrote in 2011, is the result of a disciplinary review in which he 'found no fault with the performance of Ms. Haspel' -- primarily because she drafted the cable 'on the direct orders' of her superior and did not release it herself.... But senators clamoring for the CIA to declassify documents related to Haspel's record on techniques often referred to as torture and the order to destroy evidence were angered by what they saw as a 'selective' response to their demands.... Widespread concern about Haspel's role in the CIA's interrogation program has caused senators from both parties to question her record and her fitness to serve as the agency's director." ...

... Adam Goldman & Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "The C.I.A. is trying to ensure its deputy director, Gina Haspel, a career spy, is confirmed as its next director. Almost every detail of her life and work is classified; what little is known stems from her role overseeing the brutal interrogation of a terrorism suspect at a secret prison in Thailand and conveying orders to destroy videos documenting torture. To promote a more positive view of Ms. Haspel, the agency has declassified secrets about her life as a globe-trotting spy and encouraged former clandestine officers -- typically expected to remain quiet even in retirement -- to grant interviews. It sought to generate favorable news coverage by providing selective biographical details about Ms. Haspel to reporters, then sent a news release to highlight the resulting stories. The campaign to secure Ms. Haspel's confirmation reflects the view of many officials inside the C.I.A., who see her as the agency's best chance to keep a political partisan from being installed as director."

Ryan Grim & Alex Emmons of the Intercept: "Shortly after ... Donald Trump was inaugurated last year, top Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy offered Russian gas giant Novatek a $26 million lobbying plan aimed at removing the company from a U.S. sanctions list, according to documents obtained by The Intercept.... Broidy proposed arranging meetings with key White House and congressional leaders and generating op-eds and other articles favorable to the Russian company, along with a full suite of lobbying activities to be undertaken by consultants brought on board. Yet even as he offered those services, Broidy was adamant that his company, Fieldcrest Advisors LLC, would not perform lobbying services but would hire others to do it. He suggested that parties to the deal sign a sweeping non-disclosure agreement that would shield their work from public scrutiny."

Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "Federal civil rights prosecutors have recommended charges against a New York police officer in the 2014 death of Eric Garner, three current and former officials said, but top Justice Department officials have expressed strong reservations about whether to move forward with a case they say may not be winnable. Mr. Garner died on a Staten Island street after the police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, used a chokehold to subdue him.... In recent weeks, career prosecutors recommended civil rights charges against Officer Pantaleo and sought approval from the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, to seek an indictment.... Based on the discussions so far, it appeared unlikely that Mr. Rosenstein would approve charges. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has also been briefed on the case and could weigh in after Mr. Rosenstein makes his own recommendation, officials said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "Wells Fargo is paying $1 billion to two federal regulators to settle an array of investigations into its mortgage and auto-lending practices. The settlements with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency were announced on Friday, as expected. The bank is effectively paying $500 million to each regulator. The consumer bureau said it was imposing a $1 billion penalty but was deducting from that the amount that Wells Fargo was paying to the currency comptroller." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Elizabeth Dias & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont ... was blunt on Friday about the stakes for the Democratic Party. 'If Democrats control either the House or the Senate, Trump's agenda is dead,' Mr. Sanders said during a conversation with New York Times reporters and editors.... Mr. Sanders also argued that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and other national party organizations are not doing enough to support liberal grass-roots candidates who are running against Mr. Trump and backing a progressive agenda. 'The establishment Democrats are still, I think, looking toward candidates who can self-fund,' said Mr. Sanders.... National Democrats 'still have a tendency to believe that more conservative candidates are better positioned to win,' he added."

Beyond the Beltway

Joel Currier & Robert Kirkpatrick of the St. Louis Post Dispatch: Missouri "Gov. Eric Greitens, who has been in a public court fight against a felony invasion of privacy charge for nearly two months, now faces a new felony charge: that he misused a charity donor list to solicit campaign cash for his 2016 run for governor. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner charged Greitens, 44, with felony computer tampering relating to a list of donors to his St. Louis-based charity The Mission Continues, which Greitens founded in 2007 and left in 2014. The new charges rely at least in part on evidence shared with her office by Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, a Republican, who announced Tuesday that his office had uncovered evidence Greitens misused the list to help fund his 2016 campaign."

Ricardo Cano of the Arizona Republic: "Arizona educators and school employees fueling the teacher-led #RedForEd movement have voted in support of a walkout -- an unprecedented action aimed at pressuring state leaders to act on their demands for more education funding.... [Teacher & organizer Noah] Karvelis said they will continue non-disruptive walk-in demonstrations on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then walk out Thursday. This will give schools and parents time to prepare, he said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, announced early Saturday that he had stopped nuclear and missile tests and would close a nuclear test site. The announcement, reported by North Korea's state media, appeared to signal a major policy shift ahead of Mr. Kim's meetings with the South Korean and American leaders. But Mr. Kim stopped short of promising to dismantle the nuclear weapons and long-range missiles North Korea has already built, holding onto them probably as a bargaining chip when he sits down with South Korea's leader, Moon Jae-in, next Friday, and President Trump weeks later."

The Commentariat -- April 20, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Scott Glover, et al., of CNN: "A federal judge in California said Friday that he needed to hear from ... Donald Trump's attorney Michael Cohen directly before deciding whether to issue a stay in a civil lawsuit involving porn star Stormy Daniels.... Judge S. James Otero gave Cohen's attorney until Wednesday to file a declaration by Cohen himself indicating whether his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination could be at issue in the civil case due to an ongoing criminal investigation in New York."

Kevin Brueninger of CNBC: "Memos leaked by former FBI Director James Comey contain information that is now considered classified, prompting the Justice Department's watchdog to review the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. At least two of the memos Comey gave to a friend contained classified information, the Journal reported. Comey reportedly redacted portions of one of those two memos himself before sending them to his friend.... A person familiar with the matter told the newspaper that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is now spearheading an investigation into the classification of the documents. Comey has said he considers the documents to be personal documents. But in a Jan. 7, 2017 email containing the first memo he wrote, Comey said he was 'not sure of the proper classification here so have chosen SECRET.'"

Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Democratic National Committee filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit Friday against the Russian government, the Trump campaign and the WikiLeaks organization alleging a far-reaching conspiracy to disrupt the 2016 campaign and tilt the election to Donald Trump. The complaint, filed in federal district court in Manhattan, alleges that top Trump campaign officials conspired with the Russian government and its military spy agency to hurt Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and help Trump by hacking the computer networks of the Democratic Party and disseminating stolen material found there.... The case asserts that the Russian hacking campaign — combined with Trump associates’ contacts with Russia and the campaign’s public cheerleading of the hacks — amounted to an illegal conspiracy to interfere in the election that caused serious damage to the Democratic Party." Read on. The Democratic party won a similar suit against the Nixon campaign for the Watergate break-in.

Greg Sargent has a good column arguing that release of the Comey memos sunk Trump: "These memos, if anything, confirm more credibly than before what Trump’s frame of mind was in leading up to that firing — that is, the level of acquiescence that Trump wanted but did not get from Comey before firing him. These memos go further than before in supplying Trump’s likely motive for the firing." Sargent is amused by the GOP's ludicrous claim that the memos actually vindicate Trump because Comey never wrote in a memo, "Woe is me! I feel so obstructed!" Sargent also notes an important question Rachel Maddow asked Comey last night in regard to Rudy Giuliani's foreknowledge of Comey's plan to reopen the Clinton investigation. Worth a read. Here's that portion of Maddow's interview:

... Stephen Collinson of CNN: "If House Republicans thought they were helping ... Donald Trump by forcing the release of James Comey's memos, they might want to think again. The documents written by the then-FBI director, detailing his interactions with Trump, present a contemporaneous and deeply unflattering view of a President throwing his weight around in his first days in the White House -- that at the very least seems highly inappropriate.... The Comey memos suggest Trump has a scattershot and self-obsessed mindset, brooding about his subordinates, leaks, his campaign and his inaugural crowd size and not appreciating or caring about protocol boundaries that separate the White House and the Justice Department. Furthermore, the conversations with Comey soon after Trump moved into the White House paint a picture of a new President more concerned with own fortunes than the burden of his new responsibilities.... Trump responded to the release of the memos on Twitter in an apparent attempt to direct conversation away from the embarrassing substance of the documents."

Thug-in-Chief. Murray Waas in Vox: "... Donald Trump sharply questioned Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray during a White House meeting on January 22 about why two senior FBI officials — Peter Strzok and Lisa Page — were still in their jobs despite allegations made by allies of the president that they had been disloyal to him and had unfairly targeted him and his administration, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The president also pressed his attorney general and FBI director to work more aggressively to uncover derogatory information within the FBI’s files to turn over to congressional Republicans working to discredit the two FBI officials.... The very next day, Trump met Sessions again, this time without Wray present, and even more aggressively advocated that Strzok and Page be fired, the sources said. Trump’s efforts to discredit Strzok and Page came after Trump was advised last summer by his then-criminal defense attorney John Dowd that Page was a likely witness against him in ... Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump obstructed justice, according to two senior administration officials." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Bad news, Donaldo. Now both Sessions & Wray could wind up as witnesses against you, too.

Jonathan Greenberg, in a Washington Post story: "In May 1984, an official from the Trump Organization called to tell me how rich Donald J. Trump was. I was reporting for the Forbes 400, the magazine’s annual ranking of America’s richest people, for the third year. In the previous edition, we’d valued Trump’s holdings at $200 million, only one-fifth of what he claimed to own in our interviews. This time, his aide urged me on the phone, I needed to understand just how loaded Trump really was. The official was John Barron — a name we now know as an alter ego of Trump himself.... It took decades to unwind the elaborate farce Trump had built to project an image as one of the richest people in America. Nearly every assertion supporting that claim was untrue." Includes audio. If Trump's lies amuse you, read on.

Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "Federal civil rights prosecutors have recommended charges against a New York police officer in the 2014 death of Eric Garner, three current and former officials said, but top Justice Department officials have expressed strong reservations about whether to move forward with a case they say may not be winnable. Mr. Garner died on a Staten Island street after the police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, used a chokehold to subdue him.... In recent weeks, career prosecutors recommended civil rights charges against Officer Pantaleo and sought approval from the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, to seek an indictment.... Based on the discussions so far, it appeared unlikely that Mr. Rosenstein would approve charges. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has also been briefed on the case and could weigh in after Mr. Rosenstein makes his own recommendation, officials said."

Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "Wells Fargo is paying $1 billion to two federal regulators to settle an array of investigations into its mortgage and auto-lending practices. The settlements with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency were announced on Friday, as expected. The bank is effectively paying $500 million to each regulator. The consumer bureau said it was imposing a $1 billion penalty but was deducting from that the amount that Wells Fargo was paying to the currency comptroller."

Ricardo Cano of the Arizona Republic: "Arizona educators and school employees fueling the teacher-led #RedForEd movement have voted in support of a walkout — an unprecedented action aimed at pressuring state leaders to act on their demands for more education funding.... [Teacher & organizer Noah] Karvelis said they will continue non-disruptive walk-in demonstrations on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then walk out Thursday. This will give schools and parents time to prepare, he said."

*****

Try to keep up, people!

Brandon Conradis of the Hill: "President Trump late Thursday night trumpeted the release of a series of memos written by former FBI Director James Comey, claiming they exonerated him of allegations that he obstructed justice and colluded with Russia. 'James Comey Memos just out and show clearly that there was NO COLLUSION and NO OBSTRUCTION,' Trump tweeted. 'Also, he leaked classified information. WOW! Will the Witch Hunt continue?'" Mrs. McC: Needless to say, 100 percent of the tweet is inaccurate and/or nonsensical. ...

     ... Update: Now Trump is all upset about poor Michael Flynn, even tho Trump trashed Flynn to Comey. here's Trump's tweet, released at about 6:35 am ET: "So General Michael Flynn’s life can be totally destroyed while Shadey James Comey can Leak and Lie and make lots of money from a third rate book (that should never have been written). Is that really the way life in America is supposed to work? I don’t think so!"

... Thursday Afternoon. Billy House of Bloomberg: "The Justice Department has agreed to give Congress memos that former FBI Director James Comey wrote about his meetings with ... Donald Trump, averting a potential legal and political standoff, according to a Republican familiar with the arrangement. The move would head off a subpoena for the documents that House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia had said he might issue. A push by Republicans to obtain the memos comes amid the release this week of Comey’s memoir, 'A Higher Loyalty,' and interviews in which he portrays the president as a liar and immoral. Some Republicans complain that Comey has been talking about the memos in his book promotion tour even as the Justice Department withheld them from lawmakers." (Open link in private window.) ...

... So Then. AP: 7:45 pm ET: "The Justice Department has sent Congress confidential memos written by former FBI Director James Comey. In a letter sent to three Republican House committee chairmen Thursday evening, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd writes that the department is sending a classified version of the memos and an unclassified version. The department released Boyd’s letter publicly, but not the memos." ...

... So Then. AP: 8:30 pm ET: "The Associated Press has obtained 15 pages of memos that former FBI Director James Comey drafted about his interactions with President Donald Trump. The Justice Department provided the documents to Congress on Thursday [same link]." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In other words, it took Congressional Republicans all of 45 minutes to leak the Comey docs. ...

... So Then. Here are the 15 pages of the memos which Republicans leaked to the AP (and other outlets), published at about 9:10 pm ET. ...

... Mary Jalonick & Eric Tucker of the AP: "... Donald Trump told former FBI Director James Comey that he had serious concerns about the judgment of his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, according to memos maintained by Comey and obtained by The Associated Press. The 15 pages of documents contain new details about a series of interactions that Comey had with Trump in the weeks before his May 2017 firing. Those encounters include a White House dinner at which Comey says Trump asked him for his loyalty, and a meeting the following month in which he says the president asked him to end an investigation into Flynn." Also dropped at about 9:10 pm ET. ...

... Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The broad outlines of the memos have already been reported by The Times, and were relayed by Mr. Comey in testimony before the Senate and in his recent memoir, 'A Higher Loyalty.' But they are believed to be key evidence in a possible obstruction of justice case against Mr. Trump being pursued by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. Mr. Mueller was appointed after Mr. Comey was dismissed in May.... The Justice Department is expected to deliver on Friday unredacted versions of the memos to lawmakers via a secure transfer." ...

... ** Margaret Hartmann writes an excellent summary of the memos. ...

... Joshua Keating of Slate: "In a Feb. 8, 2017, memo, Comey says that Trump ... [said] that Russian President Vladimir Putin 'had told him "We have some of the most beautiful hookers in the world.’” Comey notes that Trump didn’t mention when Putin had told him this, but Putin had made public comments about the beauty of Russian prostitutes that January. The two leaders had conducted their first official conversation just 11 days earlier. Perhaps the two leaders also discussed 'beautiful hookers' then, or perhaps Trump was merely referring to Putin’s public statements and Comey misunderstood." Mrs. McC: Nah. I'd bet that Trump thinks Putin and others speak to him directly through the teevee. This could be because in Trump's experience, Fox "News" hosts & guests actually do speak directly to him thru the teevee. Also, Trump has special TV receptors in his teeth. ...

... Jeremy Stahl of Slate wonders why GOP allies of Trump would be so anxious to leak memos that make Trump look like the delusional idiot he is -- even to the point of threatening Rosenstein with impeachment if he didn't hand them the memos. Stahl suspects it's that the House leaders were trying to bolster the GOP-Trump myth -- re-expressed in Trump's post-release tweet -- that Comey had leaked classified material. One minor problem: the memos the GOP immediately leaked to the press are unclassified.

Jennifer Jacobs & Chris Strohm of Bloomberg: "Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told ... Donald Trump last week that he isn’t a target of any part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter. Rosenstein, who brought up the Mueller probe himself, offered the assurance during a meeting with Trump at the White House last Thursday, a development that helped tamp down the president’s desire to remove Rosenstein or Mueller, the people said. After the meeting, Trump told some of his closest advisers that it’s not the right time to remove either man since he’s not a target of the probe." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Robert Costa & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, a combative former prosecutor and longtime ally of President Trump, told The Washington Post on Thursday that he has joined the president’s legal team dealing with the ongoing special counsel probe.... He also said he will soon take a leave from his law firm, Greenberg Traurig. Giuliani is a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, which is the office currently overseeing an investigation of Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen.... Trump counsel Jay Sekulow said Thursday in a statement that Giuliani is joining the team along with two former federal prosecutors, Jane Serene Raskin and Marty Raskin, a couple who jointly run a Florida-based law firm."

David Voreacos of Bloomberg: "Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s interest in former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort stemmed in part from his suspected role as a 'back channel' between the campaign and Russians intent on meddling in the election, a Justice Department lawyer told a judge. The disclosure by U.S. prosecutors came Thursday during a hearing on whether Mueller exceeded his authority in indicting Manafort on charges of laundering millions of dollars while acting as an unregistered agent of the Ukrainian government. Manafort’s lawyers say those alleged crimes have nothing to do with Mueller’s central mission.... 'He had long-standing ties to Russia-backed politicians,' [DOJ attorney Michael] Dreeben [said in court].... 'Did they provide back channels to Russia? Investigators will naturally look at those things.'” (Open in private window.) (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Embattled attorney Michael Cohen has dropped a pair of much-touted libel suits against BuzzFeed and the private investigation firm Fusion GPS over publication of the so-called dossier detailing alleged ties between ... Donald Trump and Russia. Cohen abandoned the suits late Wednesday as he continues to fight to recover documents and electronic files seized from his home, office and hotel room last week by federal authorities as part of what appears to be a broad criminal investigation into his conduct.... Dropping the suits could help Cohen avoid being questioned by lawyers from Fusion GPS or having to turn over evidence related to the case — both steps that could undercut his defense in the criminal probe.... The move could also bolster Cohen's effort to delay a suit brought in Los Angeles by porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had a sexual encounter with Trump about a decade ago. It could have been difficult for Cohen to convince that judge to put Daniels' case on hold while Cohen continued to press civil suits in other federal courts." Thanks to MAG for the lead. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Frank Rich weighs in on various aspects of the Trump crime family. Entertaining, as usual. Thanks to MAG for the lead.

Shut Up! Cristiano Lima of Politico: "... Donald Trump threatened Thursday to cut off federal funding for the deployment of California's National Guard if Gov. Jerry Brown insists that the troops 'do nothing,' an apparent jab at the state official's insistence that they not perform immigration enforcement duties. Brown on Wednesday mobilized 400 members of the state's National Guard to fight gangs and smugglers as part of the president's push to beef up border security. The California governor said that federal authorities agreed to fund the plan, which he announced last week, but that the troops would not enforce immigration policy. 'Governor Jerry Brown announced he will deploy "up to 400 National Guard Troops" to do nothing,' Trump tweeted. 'The crime rate in California is high enough, and the Federal Government will not be paying for Governor Brown’s charade. We need border security and action, not words!'" Mrs. McC: Like Jeanne (see yesterday's Comments), I'm sick of this crap. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... BUT. Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "There was no immediate comment from [Gov.] Brown’s office in Sacramento. But the seesawing exchanges continued to play out on Twitter, where an account operated by the California National Guard said the state had 'written confirmation' that the Pentagon will pay for the troop deployment agreed upon with Brown.... Trump’s threat to yank funding also appeared to undercut a statement by DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who thanked Brown late Wednesday after his office announced the agreement with federal officials [and who tweeted about it].... After his morning tweet, Trump slammed those policies again during a visit to a U.S. military installation in Key West, Fla., where he appeared alongside Nielsen and congratulated her for doing a 'fantastic job' stopping seafaring migrants and smugglers from reaching U.S. shores." ...

     ... Mrs. McC: Perhaps you noticed that Trump has no idea what he's doing, & at the Key West event at least seemed to be entirely unaware that he had dissed the work of his DHS secretary in the same breath that he praised her.

Eric Levitz: "... Trump’s aides believe he just might win a Nobel Peace Prize. And that notion is a tad less crazy than it sounds.... When it comes to forging a peace deal with North Korea, Trump’s aversion to sweating the details of geopolitics could be an asset. And his disagreeable (and/or sociopathic) personality could ... are the very reason that peace talks between Trump and Kim are taking place at all: When the president was presented with North Korea’s routine offer of direct talks, he interpreted it as an unprecedented gesture of conciliation inspired by his exceptional leadership — and then pounced on the opportunity to generate a flattering headline, before his advisers could brief him on the potential downsides of such a summit.... Thus, it isn’t hard to imagine Trump leaping at the opportunity to announce that he has reached a historic denuclearization deal with North Korea — even if such an agreement includes concessions on America’s security role in the region that all previous presidents have recoiled from.... More critically, unlike any previous U.S. president, Trump can plausibly brand a withdrawal of the U.S. military from East Asia as a foreign policy 'win' in its own right. After all, the mogul has repeatedly complained about the fiscal costs of maintaining American security guarantees...."

Nicholas Fandos & Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "Mike Pompeo came close on Thursday to clinching confirmation as the nation’s 70th secretary of state when Senator Heidi Heitkamp, Democrat of North Dakota, announced her support. But before that triumph, he is expected to face a historic rebuke from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which most likely will not recommend his confirmation. Ms. Heitkamp, who faces a difficult re-election fight in a state that President Trump won handily, said in a statement that Mr. Pompeo had convinced her that he would rebuild the State Department, which was seriously depleted under the previous secretary of state, Rex W. Tillerson."

Pamela Brown of CNN: "The Justice Department's inspector general has sent a criminal referral regarding former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to the US attorney's office in Washington, according to a source familiar with the matter." ...

... Adam Goldman, et al., of the New York Times: "Mr. Comey said in an interview on Thursday on CNN that he was conflicted about the accusations that Mr. McCabe was not forthcoming to investigators. 'James Comey just threw Andrew McCabe "under the bus,’” Mr. Trump wrote Thursday evening on Twitter. 'Inspector General’s Report on McCabe is a disaster for both of them! Getting a little (lot) of their own medicine?'... Mr. McCabe has rebutted the allegations [in the inspector general's report], describing them as 'egregious inaccuracies.'”

Nicholas Fandos & Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "Mike Pompeo came close on Thursday to clinching confirmation as the nation’s 70th secretary of state when Senator Heidi Heitkamp, Democrat of North Dakota, announced her support. But before that triumph, he is expected to face a historic rebuke from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which most likely will not recommend his confirmation. Ms. Heitkamp, who faces a difficult re-election fight in a state that President Trump won handily, said in a statement that Mr. Pompeo had convinced her that he would rebuild the State Department, which was seriously depleted under the previous secretary of state, Rex W. Tillerson."

Kenneth Chang of the New York Times: "On Thursday, the Senate confirmed [Jim] Bridenstine, an Oklahoma congressman, as the new NASA administrator in a stark partisan vote: 50 Republicans voting for him and 47 Democrats plus two independents against. The vote lasted more than 45 minutes as Republicans waited for Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona to cast his lot. The vote was also punctuated by the appearance of Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois, who cast her ‘no’ vote on the Senate floor with her newborn daughter in hand.... Many who voted against him expressed concerns about his record of partisanship as well as some statements questioning climate change, an area of research in which the space agency plays a central role.... On Wednesday, the Project on Government Oversight, an independent watchdog organization, raised questions about Mr. Bridenstine’s actions as executive director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium from 2008 to 2010.... One of the events that he organized as executive was an air show in 2010 featuring races by rocket-powered airplanes — by a business he had personally invested in. That could be considered 'self-dealing.'...”

Jeff Mason of Reuters: "U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, under fire from lawmakers for travel and security expenses, spent about $45,000 in government money to fly five people to Australia to prepare for a planned trip that was later canceled [because of Hurricane Harvey]." Mrs. McC: While there might be justification for sending a security person or two, it doesn't make much sense to me that two aides had to travel to Australia to set up a few meetings. I'm thinking everybody involved has a phone.

David Kirkpatrick & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "White House aides were worried enough about a visit last year by Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia, under investigation by American prosecutors who say he embezzled $3.5 billion from a state investment fund, that he was denied the customary photo in the Oval Office with President Trump. But that did not stop a top Republican fund-raiser, Elliott Broidy, from seeking to use his White House ties to press for Mr. Trump to play a golf game with Mr. Najib, who had the authority over negotiations for a lucrative Malaysian contract with Mr. Broidy’s private defense company, according to documents obtained by The New York Times. In addition to providing new details about Mr. Broidy’s attempts to exploit his White House connections for personal gain, the documents also raise questions about whether Trump administration officials were aware of his efforts.... [Um, apparently so:] The president’s previous chief of staff, Reince Priebus, had confirmed the golf date to Mr. Broidy, but 'unfortunately, the golf game is not appearing on the schedule that has been provided through protocol to the PM,' he wrote."

Paul Krugman examines the reasons the public isn't buying the GOP tax heist the way people fell for Dubya's similarly regressive cut. This leaves the GOP with nothing to run on this year except racism. "And with the tax cut fizzling, I predict that we’ll be seeing a lot of implicit — even explicit — appeals to racism in the months ahead." Mrs. McC: Krugman doesn't give the media any credit, but I do. Most major newspapers (all the ones I read) were willing to at least implicitly trash the Trump bill on their front & editorial pages.

Emily Flitter & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Federal regulators are poised to impose a $1 billion penalty on Wells Fargo for a variety of alleged misdeeds, including forcing customers to buy auto insurance policies that they didn’t need, according to people briefed on the regulatory action. The expected penalty, levied by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, is likely to be announced Friday. It would mark the toughest action that the Trump administration has taken against a major bank. And it is the latest blow to Wells Fargo, which for years was regarded as one of the country’s best-run banks but lately has been reeling from a string of self-inflicted crises. President Trump has advocated a rollback of regulations on the banking and other industries. He has nominated industry-friendly officials to oversee key government agencies, including the consumer bureau, which is being run on an interim basis by Mick Mulvaney. Mr. Mulvaney has pledged to defang the agency.... At the same time, though, Mr. Trump has pledged to be especially tough on San Francisco-based Wells Fargo. 'I will cut Regs but make penalties severe when caught cheating!' Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter in December."

James Wagner & Frances Robles of the New York Times: "After seven months and close to $2.5 billion, almost everybody in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico had their lights back on — until a freak accident on Wednesday plunged the entire island once again into darkness. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority had boasted Wednesday morning that less than 3 percent of its customers remained without power, substantially concluding what some estimates called the biggest power failure in United States history. The island of 3.4 million residents was open for business again, government officials said. It was only a few hours later that an excavator working near a fallen 140-foot transmission tower on the southern part of the island got too close to a high-voltage line. The resulting electrical fault knocked out power to nearly every home and business across the storm-battered American territory, authorities said, a catastrophic failure that could take up to 36 hours to restore." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Luke Barnes of ThinkProgress: "In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Mark Zuckerberg was at pains to emphasize how eager he was to protect users’ personal information — including supporting a piece of landmark European Union legislation on data privacy. At the time, he told Reuters reporters that he supported that act 'in spirit' and said that Facebook was working to create a similar version of the law.... On Thursday, it emerged that Facebook was moving 1.5 billion international user accounts out of reach of the new [EU] privacy law, which is scheduled to go into effect on May 25. Instead, Facebook has decided to move the responsibility for all non-U.S. and Canadian accounts from Ireland — where the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) would have jurisdiction — to Facebook’s home in California, which is not subject to the new rules." Mrs. McC: I'm shocked, shocked to read Zuck isn't as sincere as he tried to to look in Congressional hearings.

Juliet Macur of the New York Times: "Lance Armstrong agreed on Thursday to pay $5 million to settle claims that he defrauded the federal government by using performance-enhancing drugs when the United States Postal Service sponsored his cycling team. The settlement ended years of legal wrangling between Armstrong and the government over whether the Postal Service had actually sustained harm because of Armstrong’s doping. After years of vehement denials, Armstrong admitted in 2013 that he had used banned substances while winning a record seven Tour de France titles from 1999 to 2005. He wore a Postal Service jersey during the first six of those victories, but he was stripped of all his Tour titles in 2012 after an investigation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency determined that he and many of his teammates had been doping."

Morgan Winsor & Kelly McCarthy of ABC News: "The two black men who were arrested at a Starbucks in downtown Philadelphia last week and accused of trespassing say they were there for a business meeting that they had hoped would change their lives. Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson came forward this morning on ABC News' 'Good Morning America' to publicly share their story for the first time." Includes video of the interview. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond the Beltway

Anthony Faiola of the Washington Post: "Cuba’s National Assembly on Thursday officially confirmed 57-year-old Miguel Díaz-Canel as Cuba’s new head of state, ending Castro rule after nearly 60 years and shifting power toward a younger generation born after Cuba’s revolution.... Díaz-Canel’s name was put forward Wednesday as the sole candidate to head Cuba’s council of state, a post that effectively serves as the presidency. On Thursday, officials announced the results of the vote: 603 to 1 backing his nomination as Cuba’s new leader. Díaz-Canel’s selection amounts to the dawn of a new era in a country deeply identified with the Castros, who led the revolution that triumphed in 1959 and resulted in the most enduring communist system in the Western Hemisphere." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) 

The Commentariat -- April 19, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Jennifer Jacobs & Chris Strohm of Bloomberg: "Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told ... Donald Trump last week that he isn't a target of any part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter. Rosenstein, who brought up the Mueller probe himself, offered the assurance during a meeting with Trump at the White House last Thursday, a development that helped tamp down the president's desire to remove Rosenstein or Mueller, the people said. After the meeting, Trump told some of his closest advisers that it's not the right time to remove either man since he’s not a target of the probe."

Pamela Brown of CNN: "The Justice Department's inspector general has sent a criminal referral regarding former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to the US attorney's office in Washington, according to a source familiar with the matter."

David Voreacos of Bloomberg: "Special Counsel Robert Mueller's interest in former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort stemmed in part from his suspected rol as a 'back channel' between the campaign and Russians intent on meddling in the election, a Justice Department lawyer told a judge. The disclosure by U.S. prosecutors came Thursday during a hearing on whether Mueller exceeded his authority in indicting Manafort on charges of laundering millions of dollars while acting as an unregistered agent of the Ukrainian government. Manafort's lawyers say those alleged crimes have nothing to do with Mueller's central mission.... 'He had long-standing ties to Russia-backed politicians,' [DOJ attorney Michael] Dreeben [said in court].... 'Did they provide back channels to Russia? Investigators will naturally look at those things.'"

Shut Up! Cristiano Lima of Politico: "... Donald Trump threatened Thursday to cut off federal funding for the deployment of California's National Guard if Gov. Jerry Brown insists that the troops 'do nothing,' an apparent jab at the state official's insistence that they not perform immigration enforcement duties. Brown on Wednesday mobilized 400 members of the state's National Guard to fight gangs and smugglers as part of the president's push to beef up border security. The California governor said that federal authorities agreed to fund the plan, which he announced last week, but that the troops would not enforce immigration policy. 'Governor Jerry Brown announced he will deploy "up to 400 National Guard Troops" to do nothing,' Trump tweeted. 'The crime rate in California is high enough, and the Federal Government will not be paying for Governor Brown's charade. We need border security and action, not words!'" Mrs. McC: Like Jeanne (see today's Comments), I'm sick of this crap.

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Embattled attorney Michael Cohen has dropped a pair of much-touted libel suits against BuzzFeed and the private investigation firm Fusion GPS over publication of the so-called dossier detailing alleged ties between ... Donald Trump and Russia. Cohen abandoned the suits late Wednesday as he continues to fight to recover documents and electronic files seized from his home, office and hotel room last week by federal authorities as part of what appears to be a broad criminal investigation into his conduct.... Dropping the suits could help Cohen avoid being questioned by lawyers from Fusion GPS or having to turn over evidence related to the case -- both steps that could undercut his defense in the criminal probe.... The move could also bolster Cohen's effort to delay a suit brought in Los Angeles by porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had a sexual encounter with Trump about a decade ago. It could have been difficult for Cohen to convince that judge to put Daniels' case on hold while Cohen continued to press civil suits in other federal courts." Thanks to MAG for the lead.

Anthony Faiola of the Washington Post: "Cuba's National Assembly on Thursday officially confirmed 57-year-old Miguel Díaz-Canel as Cuba's new head of state, ending Castro rule after nearly 60 years and shifting power toward a younger generation born after Cuba's revolution.... Díaz-Canel's name was put forward Wednesday as the sole candidate to head Cuba's council of state, a post that effectively serves as the presidency. On Thursday, officials announced the results of the vote: 603 to 1 backing his nomination as Cuba's new leader. Díaz-Canel's selection amounts to the dawn of a new era in a country deeply identified with the Castros, who led the revolution that triumphed in 1959 and resulted in the most enduring communist system in the Wester Hemisphere.

James Wagner & Frances Robles of the New York Times: "After seven months and close to $2.5 billion, almost everybody in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico had their lights back on -- until a freak accident on Wednesday plunged the entire island once again into darkness. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority had boasted Wednesday morning that less than 3 percent of its customers remained without power, substantially concluding what some estimates called the biggest power failure in United States history. The island of 3.4 million residents was open for business again, government officials said. It was only a few hours later that an excavator working near a fallen 140-foot transmission tower on the southern part of the island got too close to a high-voltage line. The resulting electrical fault knocked out power to nearly every home and business across the storm-battered American territory, authorities said, a catastrophic failure that could take up to 36 hours to restore."

Morgan Winsor & Kelly McCarthy of ABC News: "The two black men who were arrested at a Starbucks in downtown Philadelphia last week and accused of trespassing say they were there or a business meeting that they had hoped would change their lives. Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson came forward this morning on ABC News' 'Good Morning America' to publicly share their story for the first time." Includes video of the interview.

*****

... Broken Record. David Jackson, et al., of USA Today: "President Trump said Wednesday he's been transparent and cooperative with the special counsel investigating his campaign's ties to Russia -- but wouldn't say whether he would ever fire Robert Mueller or Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general overseeing the probe. 'They've been saying I'm going to get rid of them for the last three months, four months, five months, and they're still here,' Trump said. 'So we want to get the investigation over with, done with. Put it behind us.' Repeating a well-worn mantra, Trump said his campaign did not collude with Russia to gain advantage in the 2016 election. He asserted that the GOP-led House Intelligence Committee found no evidence of collusion before voting to end its investigation into Russia last month. And he said the investigation was politically motivated. 'This was really a hoax created largely by the Democrats as a way of softening the blow of a loss,' he said." ...

... (And Now for a Commercial Break.) Sofia Perseo of Newsweek: "'Many of the world's great leaders request to come to Mar-a-Lago and Palm Beach. They like it; I like it. We're comfortable. We have great relationships. As you remember, we were here and President Xi of China was here,' [Trump] said [with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe at his side], referring to Abe's and Chinese leader Xi Jinping's visits to the resort last year -- the only two foreign leaders to be hosted at Mar-a-Lago in 2017, according to State Department records." He went on.) ...

... Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said his committee will take up legislation to protect special counsel Robert Mueller despite opposition from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).... With at least GOP Sens. Thom Tillis (N.C.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) joining Democrats in supporting the bill, it's expected to have the votes to clear the Judiciary Committee next week. But it faces an uphill climb to getting 60 votes in the Senate, much less passing the more conservative House." ...

... Erin Kelly of USA Today: "The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee introduced a bill Wednesday aimed at discouraging President Trump from granting pardons to anyone facing prosecution in the Russia investigation. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said he was prompted to offer the legislation after Trump's controversial pardon last week of Scooter Libby.... The Abuse of the Pardon Prevention Act does not try to strip the president of his constitutional power to grant pardons. Instead, it seeks to deter Trump -- and any future president -- from granting a pardon in any investigation where the president or a member of his family is a witness, subject or target. Trump is considered a subject of the Russia probe and ... Donald Trump Jr. ... Jared Kushner, have testified as witnesses.... The bill faces an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled Congress." ... \

     ... Mrs. McC: And the Understatement of the Day prize goes to Erin Kelly. As sensible as Schiff's bill may be, it also appears to me to be flat-out unconstitutional. If the Congress wanted to prevent Trump from pardoning his pals (and Congress does not), the chambers could each overwhelmingly pass a "sense of the Congress"-type resolution vowing to impeach & try the president if he pardons anyone under the circumstances Schiff lays out. That would not stop a president from exercising Constitutional pardon powers, but depending upon the timing of the resolution vis-a-vis the presidential term, a nearly-guaranteed impeachment proceeding would likely deter him or her from issuing such pardons. ...

... MEANWHILE. House Thugs Shake Down Rosenstein. Robert Costa & Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "Two of President Trump's top legislative allies met with Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein this week to press him for more documents about the conduct of law enforcement officials involved in the Russia probe and the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server, according to three people who were not authorized to speak publicly about the discussion. Rosenstein's meeting at his office Monday with Reps. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) came days after Meadows, an influential Trump confidant, warned Rosenstein that he could soon face impeachment proceedings or an effort to hold him in contempt of Congress if he did not satisfy GOP demands for documents." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I saw Jordan on CNN Monday night, & his behavior is frightening; his rabid-dog delivery is tantamount to abuse. If he came to my door, I'd call the cops.

When I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, "You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should've won." -- Donald Trump to Lester Holt, in May 2017

I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off. I'm not under investigation. -- Donald Trump to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov & Russian U.S. Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, in May 2017 ...

** ... "This Russia Thing" Is Not "This Russia Thing," After All. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Wednesday took to Twitter to deny that he fired James B. Comey as FBI director because of the bureau's 'phony' investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections, including possible interaction with the Trump campaign. Trump's tweet came shortly after an appearance by Comey on NBC's 'Today' show to promote his new book, during which Comey asserted there 'could be' an obstruction of justice case to be made against Trump given the circumstances under which he was fired. 'Slippery James Comey, the worst FBI Director in history, was not fired because of the phony Russia investigation where, by the way, there was NO COLLUSION (except by the Dems)!' Trump wrote on Twitter." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Too Late, Trumpinocchio: You done been caught on tape accidentally admitting the truth.

Brad Mielke & Kelly Terez of ABC News: "Former FBI Director James Comey was a registered Republican for most of his life, but now he believes 'the Republican Party has left me and many others.' 'I just think they've lost their way and I can't be associated with it,' Comey said in an interview on the ABC News podcast 'Start Here,' adding that he no longer considers himself a Republican. He said he believes the Republican Party began to change during the 2016 presidential campaign and has continued to change with ... Donald Trump in office. It wasn't until he was fired by Trump that Comey started to focus more on politics and realized, 'These people don't represent anything I believe in.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: We here at Reality Chex noticed it a lo-o-o-ng time ago. ...

... Digby in Salon: "There is a tremendous amount of evidence ... that [Donald Trump] has been involved with known criminals like the Russian-born Felix Sater (a longtime friend of Michael Cohen).... Trump's casinos were cited for money laundering more often than any others in the country and were known to be frequented by members of the Russian mob. Many of his overseas ventures in places like Azerbaijan, Indonesia and Brazil are linked to criminal enterprises and were brokered or arranged with the help of ... Cohen.... What would possess a man with such a shady track record in business to expose himself to the kind of scrutiny that comes with being president of the United States?... It's somehow inevitable that as Trump draws near this denouement, he would be facing off against another person who has made some disastrous choices due to an overweening confidence in his own judgment.... [James] Comey's overconfidence doesn't stem from simple narcissism, as Trump's does. He is afflicted with a vain self-regard for his moral and intellectual superiority.... Pitting a flamboyant conman against a moralistic lawman in a battle for American democracy sounds like a clichéd movie plot." ...

... Brian Beutler of Crooked: "... Comey's inadequate grappling with his own failures is a real problem.... If he were to acknowledge his errors in judgment -- and, more importantly, grapple with why he made them -- he could do something really valuable: warn public servants and the rest of us not to make the same mistakes. Don't allow bad faith critics seeking to destroy neutral authority to lead you by the nose. Learn how to recognize it, identify it for what it is, and resist it, or risk compromising yourself.... A world in which we accept that Comey made the best decisions he could in a difficult but extraordinary environment is a world in which Trump and the GOP keep gnawing and gnawing at the underpinnings of the rule of law until they snap."

Emma Brown & Beth Reinhard of the Washington Post: "Former Playboy centerfold Karen McDougal has reached a settlement with tabloid publisher American Media Inc., ending a lawsuit over the rights to the story of the affair she says she had with Donald Trump a decade ago. The settlement means McDougal is no longer bound by the contract with AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer, which bought -- but never published -- her story for $150,000 in the months before the 2016 presidential election.... The tabloid company is entitled to 10 percent of any profit McDougal makes from reselling the rights to her story within the next year, up to a maximum of $75,000, according to a copy of the settlement terms. In addition, AMI has the right to publish five health and fitness columns under McDougal's byline and to feature her on the cover of Men's Journal. Cameron Stracher, general counsel for AMI, said the company intends for McDougal to appear on the September 2018 issue of the magazine." ...

... Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times (who broke the story): "The tabloid news company American Media Inc. agreed to let a former Playboy model out of a contract that had kept her from talking freely about an alleged affair with Donald J. Trump.The settlement agreement, reached on Wednesday, ends a lawsuit brought by the model, Karen McDougal, and protects the president from being drawn into a legal case involving efforts to buy the silence of women who had stories to tell about him during the 2016 campaign."

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal judge in Los Angeles has set a hearing for Friday on a bid by ... Donald Trump and his embattled personal attorney Michael Cohen to delay a lawsuit filed by porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had a sexual encounter with Trump about a decade ago. U.S. District Court Judge S. James Otero scheduled the hearing after attorneys for Trump and Cohen said the suit should be put on hold for 90 days because of the criminal investigation federal prosecutors in New York are pursuing into Cohen's involvement in various matters, including a $130,000 pre-election payment to Daniels." ...

... Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump turned to Twitter early on Wednesday to dismiss the sketch of the man a pornographic actress claims threatened her years ago on his behalf.... 'A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!'... His tweet accompanied a post from another Twitter user, who said the man looked like [Stephanie] Clifford's former husband.... Ms. Clifford says the man in the sketch threatened her in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011 while she was with her infant daughter." (Also linked yesterday.)

Is Cohen Practicing His Singing Voice? Darren Samuelsohn & Andrew Restuccia of Politico: "... Donald Trump and his outside advisers are increasingly worried that his longtime personal attorney might be susceptible to cooperating with federal prosecutors. Two sources close to the president said people in Trump's inner circle have in recent days been actively discussing the possibility that Michael Cohen -- long seen as one of Trump's most loyal personal allies -- might flip if he faces serious charges as a result of his work on behalf of Trump.... Jay Goldberg, a longtime Trump lawyer, told The Wall Street Journal that he spoke with Trump on Friday about Cohen and warned the president against trusting Cohen if he is facing criminal charges." ...

... Jonathan Chait: "One of the ways in which the scandals around President Trump have come to resemble a mob movie, other than the nature of the crimes themselves, is that nobody involved is putting up much of a pretense that Trump is innocent. Asked today by Katy Tur if 'there's any chance [Michael Cohen] would end up cooperating, flipping,' Anthony Scaramucci said no, because Cohen 'is a very loyal person.' You meant because Trump is innocent, right? Cohen is not going to testify against Trump because Trump did nothing wrong?... [In the Politico report linked above,] all of the sources implicitly assume both Cohen and Trump are guilty of serious crimes.”

Danny Hakim & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman of New York is moving to change New York state law so that he and other local prosecutors would have the power to bring criminal charges against aides to President Trump who have been pardoned, according to a letter Mr. Schneiderman sent to the governor and state lawmakers on Wednesday. The move, if approved by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the Legislature, would serve notice that the legal troubles of the president and his aides may continue without the efforts of Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Under the plan, Mr. Schneiderman, a Democrat, seeks to exempt New York's double jeopardy law from cases involving presidential pardons, according to the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. The current law and the concept of double jeopardy in general mean that a person cannot be tried for the same crime twice."

** Eric Levitz of New York: "Last week, the United States launched an act of war against a sovereign government because failing to do so would have cast doubt on the credibility of the statements that Donald Trump makes while livetweeting Fox & Friends. That may sound like hyperbolic snark, or the premise of an Andy Borowitz column, but it is a plain description of the rationale behind last Friday's missile strikes in Syria, according to multiple military and administration officials." Read on. Mrs. McC: Who needs a State Department when we have Steve Doocy & Brian Kilmeade? ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: If this isn't bad enough (and it is), Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) said on MSNBC yesterday evening that he suspects the whole bombing campaign was a sham: that the U.S. warned Russia & Russia warned Syria of how the bombing would go down. As evidence, Menendez noted that Russia mounted no defense, & Syria sent off its missiles after the U.S.-allied bombs had landed. If Menendez is right, it was a very costly cover for a careless tweet. I was kidding when I wondered a few days ago if the U.S. & allies ever bombed Syria; Menendez suggests I unwittingly was close to the mark. ...

... Colbert explains everything. (Trump really should watch -- he might learn something people don't realize [see below for what-all people don't realize]):

Trump Doesn't Know When Pompeo Went to North Korea. Melanie Schmitz of ThinkProgress: "'Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea last week. Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed,' Trump tweeted early Wednesday morning.... According to White House officials who spoke with the Washington Post on Tuesday evening, Pompeo ... actually met with the North Korean dictator over Easter weekend, more than two weeks ago." Mrs. McCrabbie: Whenever.

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "... the Export-Import Bank was created to help American companies compete overseas and bolster exports by providing cheap government-backed loans. But the institution, which once financed multibillion-dollar projects, has been effectively crippled by the Trump administration. The bank has been without a chairman since Mr. Trump took office and the last of the bank's five board members quit in March. Since 2015, it has not had the quorum of at least three members it needs to finance deals or projects worth more than $10 million. The effective shuttering of the bank has put American manufacturers like Boeing and General Electric at a global disadvantage, prompting a frenzied lobbying campaign by business groups worried that the White House is undermining its own trade goals.... Atop the bank's website is an image of its boardroom, with five empty chairs." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Remember that Trump thinks he's a super-expert on international trade & us-vs.-them trade imbalances. Obviously, the Ex-Im Bank is not going to wipe out trade deficits. But putting it back in business is a pretty easy way to improve U.S. companies' positions. Ex-Im loans also would increase the number of manufacturing jobs, another of Trump's empty campaign promises. Every day in every way, Trump is the Worst. President. Ever.

"People Don't Realize." The Belated Education of Donald J. Trump. Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "As President Trump announced that South and North Korean leaders have his blessing to discuss a permanent end to the military conflict between their two countries, he dropped in a quick history lesson. 'People don't realize the Korean War has not ended,' Trump said on Tuesday, his face contorting into a look that seemed to communicate surprise and bafflement. 'It's going on right now.' For Trump, people don't realize a lot of things.... Trump's public remarks are filled with dozens of similar comments.... Trump's lessons are often accompanied by raised eyebrows, widened eyes and a 'gee whiz' look that suggests perhaps the nation is witnessing the president's education in real time." Johnson provides a long list of things "people don't realize." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Put me down as one of the people who didn't realize just how little this jamoke knows. What I find most insulting about many of these "History Lessons by Donald J. Trump" is that they are often delivered to audiences who definitely "realize" whatever historical pearl he's dropping. ...

... Choe Sang-Hun & Jane Perlez of the New York Times: "South Korea confirmed on Wednesday that it had been in talks with American and North Korean officials about negotiating a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War after more than 60 years, as the United States and its ally try to establish a basis for persuading the North to give up its nuclear weapons." Mrs. McCrabbie: Fox "News" must have mentioned the peace negotiations; otherwise, how would Trump himself have "realized." (Also linked yesterday.)

They're All Corrupt, Ctd. Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "Calls for Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, to resign escalated on Wednesday when nearly 170 congressional Democrats demanded his departure." Friedman provides a guide to the numerous investigations into Pruitt's illegal & questionable activities. Mrs. McC: Of course the biggest problem isn't that Pruitt wants to drive around in fancy SUVs with accommodations to literally protect his ass; it's his policies & beliefs.

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie BTW: How can someone like Pruitt question the scientific theory of evolution (as he has done) when his raison d'être is fossil fuels? ...

... Stephanie Ebbs of ABC News: "Newly released calendars for one of the most controversial trips of ... Scott Pruitt's tenure were largely blacked out before being shared with ABC News.... Conservative congressional estimates put the cost of the trip at more than $40,000, and because of travel snags, Pruitt and his aides spent two days in Paris at high-end hotels. Pruitt did not publicly announce he was going ahead of time, did not bring reporters along, and when he finally released copies of his itinerary in response to Freedom of Information requests from ABC News and other news organizations, the bulk of the schedule was blacked out.... In Morocco, he spent at least a portion of his time promoting exports for U.S. energy firms.... At the time of the trip, the only U.S. company that exported liquid natural gas was represented by a top Washington lobbyist who arranged $50-a-night housing for Pruitt when he first moved to town."

They're All Corrupt, Ctd. Nick Schwellenbach & Adam Zagorin of the Daily Beast: "Rep. James Bridenstine (R-Okla.) is a former Navy pilot with virtually no management experience in any large organization. But the Oklahoma Republican has been tapped by ... Donald Trump to take over the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a federal agency with a budget of $18.5 billion, 18,000 federal workers, and over 60,000 contract employees.... An investigation and review of public records by the Project On Government Oversight shows that, prior to his time in Congress, Bridenstine led a small non-profit organization into hefty financial losses. Some of the losses involved the use of the non-profit's resources to benefit a company that Bridenstine simultaneously co-owned and in which he'd invested substantial sums of his own money.... 'This is a classic example of the use of a charity's assets for private benefit,' said Marc Owens, an expert on tax law ... and former head of the Internal Revenue Services's non-profit compliance division."

Tierney Sneed of TPM: "A federal judge has ordered that Kansas Secretary of State [Mrs. McC: and failed Trump voter suppression czar] Kris Kobach be held in contempt of court for disobeying her orders in the proof-of-citizenship voter registration case. Judge Julie Robinson in her decision Wednesday bashed Kobach's failure to send postcards to voters whose registrations were restored by her previous move to block the proof-of-citizenship requirement for the 2016 election.... She also took issue with Kobach's refusal to update the state's training manual for election officials to reflect her 2016 order blocking the proof-of-citizenship requirement.... She ordered that Kobach cover the attorneys fees' of the challengers in the case or the costs of their efforts to bring Kobach in compliance with her order." Mrs. McC: Judge Robinson has "deferred further remedies"; I hope these remedies involve an orange jumpsuit.

John Myers of the Los Angeles Times: "Gov. Jerry Brown formally mobilized 400 California National Guard members Wednesday for transnational crime-fighting duties, thus preventing any effort by President Trump to have the troops focus on immigration enforcement on the Mexican border. The governor announced that federal officials have agreed to fund the plan he announced last week -- a mission to 'combat criminal gangs, human traffickers and illegal firearm and drug smugglers' in locations around California, including near the border. The order Brown signed makes clear that the troops will not be allowed to perform a broader set of duties as envisioned by Trump's recent comments."

Cristiano Lima of Politico: "An attorney for former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said Wednesday that neither the Justice Department inspector general nor former FBI director James Comey 'has it right' when it comes to the agency's critical report on his disclosures to news outlets in 2016. Attorney Michael Bromwich pushed back on Comey for citing the DOJ watchdog's report to deliver remarks critical of McCabe, his former No. 2 at the FBI who was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions last month."

Laurie Kellman of the AP: "Who doesn't like babies? No one in the Senate, apparently -- at least not enough to block a historic rules change that passed Wednesday allowing the newborns of members into the chamber. Its passage without objection came despite plenty of concern, some privately aired, among senators of both parties about the threat the tiny humans pose to the Senate's cherished decorum." Old white guys like Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) & Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), both of whom are fathers & grandfathers, are nonplussed. "... what if there are 10 babies on the floor of the Senate?” Hatch asked. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The idea isn't to turn the Senate chamber into a nursery or daycare center. Rather, it's to make sure that new mothers can walk onto the floor to vote. Rules prevent senators from dumping their newborns with staff while they take care of business on the floor.

Senate Race. Burgess Everett & Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Senate Republicans are escalating their attacks on West Virginia Senate GOP candidate Don Blankenship, increasingly worried that the coal baron and ex-prisoner will blow a winnable race against Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. Republicans see West Virginia as a prime pickup opportunity in November, given ... Donald Trump's huge popularity there. But they say the multimillionaire Blankenship, running in a tight three-way primary against Rep. Evan Jenkins (R-W.Va.) and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, is indefensible as a candidate after serving a year in prison for conspiring to violate mine safety violations. Twenty-nine miners died at his company's Upper Big Branch mine in 2010."

Samantha Schmidt of the Washington Post: Capt. Tammie Jo Shults, who skillfully landed a Southwest Airlines at Philadelphia International Airport after one of the plane's two engines exploded in-flight, throwing shrapnel into the cabin & killing one passenger -- who was nearly sucked out of the plane thru the open window -- "was among the first female fighter pilots for the U.S. Navy." As a female aviator, Shults confronted many career obstacles.

Beyond the Beltway

Ryan Reilly & Christopher Mathias of the Huffington Post: "Three right-wing militiamen from rural Kansas were found guilty on Wednesday in a 2016 plot to slaughter Muslim refugees living in an apartment complex in Garden City. Patrick Stein, Gavin Wright and Curtis Allen were found guilty on charges of weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy against civil rights. Wright was also found guilty on a charge of lying to the FBI. The defendants will face a potential life sentence when they come back to court in late June.... The men were enthusiastic supporters of Donald Trump, who vilified Muslims during his presidential campaign and has continued to do so while in office. During the plotting, Stein reportedly referred to then-candidate Trump as 'the Man.' The men had planned their attack for after the 2016 election, so as not to hurt Trump's chances of winning."

Josh Delk of the Hill: "Philadelphia authorities are investigating the death of the father of former White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster, ABC6 reports. According to the Philadelphia department of health, the former official's father, H.R. McMaster Sr., died on April 13 of blunt force trauma to the head. While health officials have ruled his death to be an accident, investigators have labeled the death suspicious, and are looking into whether there could have been institutional neglect in treating him by the retirement community where he lived. The 84-year-old Korean War veteran reportedly did not receive proper care at the Cathedral Village retirement home, where he was living after suffering a stroke."

Way Beyond

Azam Ahmed of the New York Times: "Raúl Castro, who took over from his brother Fidel 12 years ago and led Cuba through some of its biggest changes in decades, is expected to step down on Thursday and hand power to someone outside the Castro dynasty for the first time since the Cuban revolution more than half a century ago."

News Lede

New York Times: "Two years after the sudden death of Prince by accidental fentanyl overdose, one of the lingering mysteries surrounding the enigmatic musician concerned how and where he obtained the powerful synthetic opioid that killed him and whether anyone would be held responsible. On Thursday, law enforcement authorities in Minnesota closed a major part of their investigation, announcing that no one would be criminally charged in the case. The Carver County attorney, Mark Metz, said in a news conference that Prince died after unknowingly taking counterfeit Vicodin that contained fentanyl, but that there was 'no reliable evidence of how Prince obtained' the fatal drug."