The Commentariat -- February 1, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Kevin Liptak, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump continues to tell his associates he believes the highly controversial Republican memo alleging the FBI abused its surveillance tools could help discredit the Russia investigation, multiple sources familiar with White House discussions said.... Trump himself reviewed and read the memo on Wednesday, White House officials told CNN, and discussed it with chief of staff John Kelly and the White House counsel's office. Ahead of its expected release, the White House approved several redactions to the memo on national security grounds, according to a senior administration official. But the White House has so far rejected the FBI and Justice Department's requests for redactions that the White House believes are meant to conceal information that might be embarrassing to the agency, the official said." ...
... Poor Carter Page! Jonathan Chait: A few problems with the TrumpNunes theory of FBI treachery: "First, reports have indicated the FBI began investigating [Carter] Page well before [Christopher] Steele looked into him. Page met with Russian spies who were looking to recruit him in 2013, and passed documents to them. The Russian spies came away from the encounter confounded by his apparent stupidity ... but encouraged by his greed.... CNN reported last August that the FBI began surveilling Page in 2014, two years before the Steele dossier. In 2015 -- again, before Steele came along -- U.S. investigators overheard Russians discussing 'meetings held outside the U.S. involving Russian government officials and Trump business associates or advisers,' The Wall Street Journal has reported. Second, even if it were true that the FBI based its entire case for surveilling Page on the Steele dossier, the dossier is not necessarily false.... The point of it was to identify suspicious grounds for investigation, which is what the FBI had already been doing anyway." ...
... "No FISA Warrant Relies on a Single Piece of Evidence." CBS News: "FBI director Christopher Wray is prepared to issue a rebuttal if the White House releases Rep. Devin Nunes's classified memo alleging inappropriate surveillance of the Trump campaign by the FBI and Justice Department, according to CBS News senior national security analyst Fran Townsend.... Townsend, who served as homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush, told 'CBS This Morning' she believes the FBI is worried about both the accuracy of the memo's contents and what it may reveal about their sources and methods.... Townsend, who spent 13 years at the Justice Department, said it's simply 'not possible' for one partisan actor to push through a FISA warrant or to obtain one based on a single piece of evidence." ...
... Dana Bash, et al., of CNN: "Top White House aides are worried FBI Director Christopher Wray could quit if the highly controversial Republican memo alleging the FBI abused its surveillance tools is released, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation tell CNN. Wray has made clear he is frustrated that ... Donald Trump picked him to lead the FBI after he fired FBI Director James Comey in May, yet his advice on the Nunes memo is being disregarded and cast as part of the purported partisan leadership of the FBI, according to a senior law enforcement official." ...
... Manu Raju & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "Democrats are ratcheting up pressure on House Speaker Paul Ryan to intervene in the growing controversy involving House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, who quietly changed his explosive memo alleging FBI abuse without informing many of his colleagues. The top Democrat in the Senate and the House say Republicans have 'decided to sow conspiracy theories' and 'attack the integrity and credibility of federal law enforcement as a means' to protect ... Donald Trump and undercut special counsel Robert Mueller.... Chuck Schumer sent a letter Thursday to Ryan, obtained by CNN, with a long list of questions ranging from the FBI and Justice Department objections to the letter to whether Ryan's staff was involved in drafting the memo and if the edits to the document were consistent with House rules.... Nancy Pelosi also sent a letter to Ryan calling Nunes' actions 'dangerous' and 'illegitimate,' and called on Ryan to remove Nunes as Intelligence Committee chairman."
Trump Encourages Economic Racism. Renae Merle of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration has stripped enforcement powers from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau office that specializes in pursuing cases against financial firms accused of breaking discrimination laws, according to two people familiar with the matter and emails reviewed by The Washington Post. The move comes about two months after President Trump installed his budget chief, Mick Mulvaney, at the head of an agency that has long been in the crosshairs of Republicans. The Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity had penalized lenders that it said had systematically imposed interest rates on minorities that were higher than those for whites."
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "A day after President Trump played up the tax cuts in his State of the Union address, a Monmouth poll showed a huge swing in favor of the bill. Although 26 percent of Americans approved of the package in mid-December..., support in the latest poll rose to 44 percent.... It's now on level terms, with just as many supporters as opponents (44 percent).... We're just now entering February, which is when people's paychecks will start getting slightly bigger as their withholding changes to reflect the new tax laws. Republicans seem to be counting on Americans seeing that extra money in order for the law to become even more popular. Which isn't a bad bet.... Perhaps an even bigger finding for the GOP -- and one likely related to improving views of the tax plan -- is a huge shrinking of the generic ballot, on which Republicans have trailed by double digits in many recent polls. The poll shows it closer than any other recent poll, with Democrats ahead by 2 points -- 47-45 -- so again, it could be an outlier. But it's not the first poll conducted since the law's passage to suggest that the Democrats' big advantage has narrowed...." ...
... Michelle Lee & Anu Narayanswamy of the Washington Post: "President Trump's robust small-donor base helped the Republican National Committee vastly outraise its Democratic counterpart in 2017 as the two parties geared up for a crucial midterm campaign season, new Federal Election Commission filings show. But Trump's polarizing effect also helped buoy the two Democratic congressional committees, which pulled in more money than the GOP committees heading into the 2018 elections."
*****
** Trump, Hicks, Busted. Jo Becker, et al., of the New York Times: "Aboard Air Force One on a flight home from Europe last July, President Trump and his advisers raced to cobble together a news release about a mysterious meeting at Trump Tower the previous summer between Russians and top Trump campaign officials. Rather than acknowledge the meeting's intended purpose -- to obtain political dirt about Hillary Clinton from the Russian government -- the statement instead described the meeting as being about an obscure Russian adoption policy. The statement, released in response to questions from The New York Times about the meeting, has become a focus of the inquiry by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.... The latest witness to be called for an interview about the episode was Mark Corallo, who served as a spokesman for Mr. Trump's legal team before resigning in July.... Mr. Corallo planned to tell investigators that [Trump aide Hope] Hicks said during the call that emails written by Donald Trump Jr. before the Trump Tower meeting -- in which the younger Mr. Trump said he was eager to receive political dirt about Mrs. Clinton from the Russians -- 'will never get out.'... Mr. Corallo ... told colleagues he was alarmed not only by what Ms. Hicks had said -- either she was being naïve or was suggesting that the emails could be withheld from investigators -- but also that she had said it in front of the president without a lawyer on the phone and that the conversation could not be protected by attorney-client privilege." ...
... Margaret Hartmann: "This development is seriously bad for Team Trump, for a number of reasons. First, while the Trump team often stresses that it's not a crime to lie to the media, if Hicks did suggest that evidence could be withheld or destroyed, that could help prosecutors establish intent in an obstruction case. Second, it may mean that Hicks is in more serious trouble.... Even if what Corallo actually tells Mueller doesn't amount to anything, his reported plan to spill new information is likely to raise fears of disloyalty among White House staffers, as well as with the president himself. And as we've learned, when Trump gets fixated on the loyalty of his subordinates, nothing good comes of it."
** Adam Goldman & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, clashed publicly with the president for the first time on Wednesday, condemning a push by House Republicans to release a secret memo that purports to show how the bureau and the Justice Department abused their authorities to obtain a warrant to spy on a former Trump campaign adviser. The 'F.B.I. was provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it,' the bureau said in a statement. 'As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy.' Though Mr. Wray's name was not attached to the statement, the high-profile comment by the F.B.I. thrust him into a confrontation with President Trump, who abruptly fired his predecessor, James B. Comey. Mr. Trump wants to see the memo released, telling people close to him that he believes it makes the case that F.B.I. and Justice Department officials acted inappropriately when they sought the highly classified warrant in October 2016 on the campaign adviser, Carter Page. The president's stance puts him at odds with much of his national security establishment. The Justice Department has warned repeatedly that the memo, prepared by Republican staffers on the House Intelligence Committee, is misleading and that its release would set a bad precedent for making government secrets public. F.B.I. officials have said privately that the president is prioritizing politics over national security and is putting the bureau's reputation at risk. A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representative Devin Nunes, a California Republican and the chairman of the House committee, described the F.B.I. objections as 'spurious' and accused the two law enforcement agencies of making 'material omissions' to Congress and the courts." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Gee, Devin, I remember when you all wanted to lock up Hillary Clinton for including some reference to barely-classified or later-classified documents in a few e-mails -- not made public. Whatevah is the difference? (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Here's the full FBI statement on the Nunes memo. ...
... Wingers Can't Belieeeve the FBI would criticize TrumpNunes. Michael Kranz of Business Insider: "Upon reports that the FBI had issued a statement criticizing the accuracy of a memo authored by House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes, Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly found himself under fire on Twitter from users who accused him of either mischaracterizing the statement or making it up entirely.... Twitter users piled on to the account's assertion, claiming that because the FBI had not posted an official statement on their website, Reilly's reporting could not be accurate. But Reilly, along with numerous other publications like CNN and Fox News, all received the same statement from the FBI via email.... After hundreds of tweets though, the FBI put up a link to the statement on FBI.gov." ...
... Chris Strohm & Billy House of Bloomberg: "FBI Director Christopher Wray told the White House he opposes the release of a controversial, classified GOP memo alleging bias at the FBI and Justice Department because it contains inaccurate information and paints a false narrative, according to a person familiar with the matter.... Donald Trump was overheard Tuesday night telling a Republican lawmaker that he was '100 percent' planning to release the memo, which was written by staffers on the House Intelligence Committee and is aimed at raising questions about the validity of the investigation into possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia, now led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The FBI isn't included in the inter-agency review process led by the White House...." Emphasis added. Mrs. McC: As if Trump would consider "inaccurate information" & a "false narrative" offputting. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Betsy Woodruff & Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: Devin Nunes "dared the [FBI] to make the Justice Department's FISA application public -- something officials overseeing surveillance will be extremely reluctant to do, for fear of creating blueprints for counterintelligence targets to evade eavesdropping or compromising intelligence sources. 'The FBI is intimately familiar with "material omissions" with respect to their presentations to both Congress and the courts, and they are welcome to make public, to the greatest extent possible, all the information they have on these abuses,' Nunes said. As well, for the first time, Nunes confirmed that his still-classified memo substantially dwells on an accusation that the FBI misleadingly used ex-British spy Christopher Steele's salacious dossier to obtain surveillance warrants." (Also linked yesterday.)...
... Alex Johnson of NBC News: "The House Intelligence Committee sent the White House a different version of a classified memo about the Trump-Russia investigation from the one that committee Republicans voted to release to the public, and it should be withdrawn immediately, the committee's top Democrat said Wednesday night.... Rep. Adam Schiff of California ... said in an open letter Wednesday night to the committee's chairman, Republican Devin Nunes of California, that he and other Democrats on the panel had since learned that the version of the memo that was sent to the White House isn't the same memo the committee voted to release on Monday. Schiff described the differences in general as 'substantive' and 'material' alterations.... That means 'there is no longer a valid basis for the White House to review the altered document,' he wrote.... Jack Langer, a spokesman for Nunes, confirmed that the memo had been edited, but he told NBC News that the changes included 'grammatical fixes and two edits requested by the FBI and by the Minority themselves,' referring to committee Democrats.... But a senior Democratic source on the Intelligence Committee disputed that account, telling NBC News that the changes weren't 'cosmetic.'" ...
... Pamela Brown, et al., of CNN: "Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein visited the White House in December seeking ... Donald Trump's help. The top Justice Department official in the Russia investigation wanted Trump's support in fighting off document demands from House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes. But the President had other priorities ahead of a key appearance by Rosenstein on the Hill, according to sources familiar with the meeting. Trump wanted to know where the special counsel's Russia investigation was heading. And he wanted to know whether Rosenstein was 'on my team.'... The exchange could raise further questions about whether Trump was seeking to interfere in the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.... At the December meeting, the deputy attorney general appeared surprised by the President's questions, the sources said. He demurred on the direction of the Russia investigation.... And he responded awkwardly to the President's 'team' request.... 'Of course, we're all on your team, Mr. President,' Rosenstein told Trump...." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: One would think the deputy attorney general of the US of A would be a worldly-wise person. One would think he might read the newspapers, thus would have known of that little incident where Trump asked Jim Comey for his loyalty & when Trump wasn't sufficiently satisfied with Comey's subsequent displays of "disloyalty," Trump fired him. So one would wonder why Rosenstein "appeared surprised" by Trump's question. Just practicing his thespian skills, perhaps? ...
... Tommy Christopher of Shareblue: "This marks the third report of Trump seeking the loyalty of high-ranking officials of an independent agency charged with investigating Trump for collusion and obstruction of justice. Former FBI Director James Comey testified before Congress that Trump asked him for a loyalty pledge while he was still serving in that post, a fact confirmed in separate congressional testimony by the bureau's deputy director, Andrew McCabe. Shortly after firing Comey, Trump also tried to figure out whether McCabe might be more favorable to him by asking how he voted in the 2016 presidential election. This latest disturbing news builds on a pattern of Trump seemingly believing -- wrongly -- that those charged with enforcing our justice system should put Trump's interests before the law." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I see another potential danger here. The more often Rosenstein interacts with Trump, the more times Trump is likely to make requests or demands that cross the line into obstruction. This could force Rosenstein to become a witness in Mueller's case, thus forcing Rosenstein to recuse himself as supervisor of the Mueller investigation. This then would allow Trump to make a Devin Nunes clone (or clown) as Mueller's supervisor. ...
... Norman Eisen, et al., in Politico Magazine: "All this has built steadily toward a crisis for American democracy -- a Saturday Night Massacre in slow motion. Press reports suggest the president may be contemplating using the [Nunes] memo to dismiss Rosenstein. That matters: If the president were to use his powers to insert someone lacking independence, that person could throttle the special counsel." ...
... ** Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), in a Washington Post op-ed: "On Monday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) moved to release a memo written by his staff that cherry-picks facts, ignores others and smears the FBI and the Justice Department -- all while potentially revealing intelligence sources and methods. He did so even though he had not read the classified documents that the memo characterizes and refused to allow the FBI to brief the committee on the risks of publication and what it has described as 'material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy.' The party-line vote to release the Republican memo but not a Democratic response was a violent break from the committee's nonpartisan tradition and the latest troubling sign that House Republicans are willing to put the president's political dictates ahead of the national interest." Mrs. McC: Schiff's essay is a must-read. Really. ...
... Charlie Savage of the New York Times writes a comprehensive report on the purpose of the Nunes memo. Here's a good part: "One potential clue to the strategy behind the Republican memo may be lurking in the broadcasts of ... Sean Hannity, a close ally of Mr. Trump whose programs often function as a conduit for his messaging. On the day House Intelligence Committee Republicans revealed the existence of their memo and voted to share it with the House, Mr. Hannity built his evening program around what he said his sources had already told him about its contents -- saying Americans would soon learn 'beyond any shadow of a doubt that the special counsel, Robert Mueller, and his band of Democratic witch hunters never should have been appointed and they need to be disbanded immediately.' And, though it was not yet public that the memo revealed [Deputy AG Rod] Rosenstein's role in extending the surveillance of [one of the Trump campaign's Russia cutouts, Carter] Page, Mr. Hannity himself raised the question: 'Did Rosenstein sign off on extension of this FISA warrant?' He also emphasized that 'I'm very interested about Rod Rosenstein in all of this' -- and called for him to be fired." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Manu Raju, et al., of CNN: "Emails obtained by CNN show the FBI agent at the center of a Capitol Hill storm played a key role in a controversial FBI decision that upended Hillary Clinton's campaign just days before the 2016 election: the letter to Congress by then-FBI Director James Comey announcing the bureau was investigating newly discovered Clinton emails. The new revelation about FBI agent Peter Strzok comes as Republicans accuse him of being sympathetic to Clinton while seeking to undermine Donald Trump during the heat of the 2016 campaign season. Strzok, who co-wrote what appears to be the first draft that formed the basis of the letter Comey sent to Congress, also supported reopening the Clinton investigation once the emails were discovered on disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner's laptop, according to a source familiar with Strzok's thinking. The day after Strzok sent his draft to his colleagues, Comey released the letter to Congress, reigniting the email controversy in the final days of the campaign. Strzok did, however, harbor reservations about Comey making a public announcement just days before the election and sent a text message to that effect, two sources said. And Strzok's text messages provided to Congress show him grappling with the fallout of making the letter public, according to a CNN review of his texts."
... Mike Levine of ABC News: "In the weeks before special counsel Robert Mueller's team interviewed Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Justice Department turned over a cache of internal correspondence, including documents related to the proposed resignation of Sessions last year and emails with the White House about fired national security adviser Michael Flynn, according to a source with knowledge of the matter." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Howard Fineman of NBC News: "Sources say that Trump has adopted a two-track strategy to deal with the Mueller investigation. One is an un-Trumpian passivity and trust. He keeps telling some in his circle that Mueller -- any day now -- will tell him he is off the hook for any charge of collusion with the Russians or obstruction of justice. But Trump -- who trusts no one, or at least no one for long -- has now decided that he must have an alternative strategy that does not involve having Justice Department officials fire Mueller. 'I think he's been convinced that firing Mueller would not only create a firestorm, it would play right into Mueller's hands,' said [a] friend, 'because it would give Mueller the moral high ground.' Instead..., the Trump strategy is to discredit the investigation and the FBI without officially removing the leadership. Trump is even talking to friends about the possibility of asking Attorney General Jeff Sessions to consider prosecuting Mueller and his team." (Also linked yesterday.)
Dave Lawler of Axios: "Senior officials at the FBI, including former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, were aware that a batch of emails from Hillary Clinton had been found on Anthony Weiner's laptop long before then-Director James Comey disclosed their existence to Congress, the Wall Street Journal reports. Peter Strzok, the agent who led the probe into Clinton's emails and has since been in the spotlight for anti-Trump text messages, sent a text on Sept. 28 referring to a meeting with McCabe about the emails. Comey informed Congress on Oct. 28. The election was Nov. 8."
AND Roger Stone left his calling card at the Ecuadorian embassy in London where Julian Assange is still in residence.
** digby: "Presidents are always well-received by their own team at speeches to a joint session of Congress. But [Tuesday] night felt different. It was febrile and overstimulated, scary in its intensity. Perhaps the best way to fully understand that feeling is to read what future EPA administrator Scott Pruitt said about Trump in 2016: 'I think he has tendencies that we see in emerging countries around the world where -- he goes to the disaffected, those individuals. And says, "Look, you give me power and I will give voice to your concerns."... I believe that Donald Trump in the White House would be more abusive to the Constitution than Barack Obama -- and that's saying a lot.' Pruitt issued a statement this week after being reminded of those comments: 'After meeting him, and now having the honor of working for him, it is abundantly clear that President Trump is the most consequential leader of our time....' That evolution from conservative skeptic to flamboyant sycophant is representative of the evolution of the entire party." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I don't know how "moderate" politicians have come around to supporting dictators in other countries & in other times, but I'd guess it went something like what we're seeing now. Politicians, in general, are pragmatic, shortsighted, unprincipled & self-serving. Where they see an upside to selling their souls, the price of their souls hits rock-bottom. The U.S. has moved so quietly from impending Constitutional crisis to Great American Crisis that probably a majority of Americans have not even noticed. The American Idea is crumbling. If you want to know how to say "America First" in German, it's "America über alles." It's possible that we could vote ourselves right out of this existential crisis before it erupts, but this poll suggests we won't.
NEW. The Saddest Liar. Zeke Miller of the AP: "... Donald Trump says the ratings for his first State of the Union address this week are 'the highest number in history," but that is not true. Nielsen reports that about 45.6 million tuned in to watch Trump Tuesday night. That's below viewership for President Barack Obama's first State of the Union, which was about 48 million, and Trump's own joint address to Congress last year. It also trails the 46.8 million viewers who tuned into President Bill Clinton's first State of the Union speech, and the 51.7 million who watched President George W. Bush's 2002 address."
Charles Pierce discovers that Trump didn't understand what the SOTU speech was all about. ...
... "Americans Are Dreamers, Too." Michael Shear & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Although Mr. Trump characterized his immigration proposal as a 'down-the-middle compromise,' his [SOTU] speech further alienated him from the bipartisan group of lawmakers trying to negotiate a deal. Rather than act as a catalyst for cooperation, it seemed to only deepen the divide. And it underlined the political ramifications of the nativist language that the president used in the 2016 campaign and during his first year in office." ...
... White Supremacists Are Dreamers, Too. Judd Legum of ThinkProgress: "The line ['Americans are Dreamers, too'] mirrored Trump's language last September when he announced he would rescind the DACA program that provided legal protection for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, a group known as Dreamers. '[Y]oung Americans have dreams too,' Trump said. The argument for DACA and the Dream Act, which would give a similar group permanent legal status, is that Dreamers are Americans. They had no choice in the decision to come to the United States, they grew up here and, in many cases, they have no connection to any other country. But Trump's turn of phrase turns this concept on its head and pits 'Americans' against 'Dreamers.' It was a message that was quickly embraced by white nationalists, who paired the phrase with stock photos of white people." ...
... Paul Krugman tells us why Trump's nativist SOTU speech was worse than the Willie Horton ad. ...
"Attack of the Chyron." A Low, Low-Budget Movie; Eric Trump, Producer-Director. Gregory Korte, et al., of USA Today: "President Trump's re-election campaign sought to cash in on the State of the Union address Tuesday night with a fundraising pitch -- at bargain prices that dropped during the day. After initially asking donors to send at least $35 in exchange for having their names scrolled during a live stream of the president's speech, the Trump campaign later send out an email solicitation saying only one dollar would do. 'Even if you choose to only give $1, the proof of your support will send shockwaves around the world as they see every American who proudly stands behind our President,' said the pitch signed by the president's son, Eric Trump. The fundraising technique is raising eyebrows from ethics watchdogs, who say the unprecedented attempt to raise money off an official White House event crosses a line." Mrs. McC: Well, at least I'm not the only person who found this stunt to be beyond the pale. (Also linked yesterday.)
Mrs. McCrabbie: Oh, crap, I forgot all about the gossip:
... Kate Bennett of CNN: "In a break with longstanding tradition, Melania Trump opted to ride with the guests she invited to share her first lady's box during ... Donald Trump's State of the Union address. The motorcade ride, from the White House south lawn to the Capitol building, is just a handful of minutes, but for a first couple who has not been publicly seen together since New Year's Eve, the separate cars were another in a string of isolated movements from a very independent first lady." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... AND She Wore Her Hillary Outfit. Vanessa Friedman of the New York Times: "On Tuesday night Melania Trump finally appeared in public alongside her husband (or at least in the same very large room, though they apparently arrived separately) for the first time since the public allegations that President Trump had conducted, just weeks after Mrs. Trump had given birth to the couple's son, an affair with the porn star Stormy Daniels. That Mrs. Trump did so in a white pantsuit with a glowing white blouse -- exactly the kind of outfit that became a symbol of her husband's rival, Hillary Clinton, during the last election, and has since become widely accepted as sartorial shorthand for both the suffragists and contemporary women's empowerment and something of an anti-Trump uniform, and also what the women gathered behind Kesha wore to display their sisterhood at Sunday's Grammy Awards -- seemed to be about as subtle a slap in the face as could be contained in a garment." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... P.S. Here's how happy Melania looked when she saw Donald show up at the party. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Lauren Gambino of the Guardian: "The allegations that Donald Trump paid hush money to hide an affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels took another bizarre twist on Tuesday night during an interview with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel that followed the president's first State of the Union address. Hours before she was set to appear on the show, Daniels issued a surprise statement in which she flatly denied the affair in 2006. But on the show, Daniels ... cast doubt on the authenticity of the statement, only to be contradicted by her attorney moments after the interview concluded. 'She was having fun on Kimmel and being her normal playful self,' her attorney, Keith Davidson, told the Guardian in an email." (Also linked yesterday.)
Chris Mooney & Steven Mufson of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is poised to ask Congress for deep budget cuts to the Energy Department's renewable energy and energy efficiency programs, slashing them by 72 percent overall in fiscal 2019, according to draft budget documents obtained by The Washington Post. Many of the sharp cuts would likely be restored by Congress, but President Trump's budget due out in February will mark a starting point for negotiations and offer a statement of intent and policy priorities. The document underscores the administration's continued focus on the exploitation of fossil fuel resources -- or as Trump put it in his State of the Union address, 'beautiful clean coal' -- over newer renewable technologies seen as a central solution to the problem of climate change."
Juliet Eilperin & Jack Gillum of the Washington Post: "Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson allowed his son to help organize an agency 'listening tour' in Baltimore last summer despite warnings from department lawyers that doing so risked violating federal ethics rules, according to internal documents and people familiar with the matter. Career officials and political appointees raised concerns days before the visit that Carson's son, local businessman Ben Carson Jr., and daughter-in-law were inviting people with whom they potentially had business dealings, the documents show. Carson Jr. put people he'd invited in touch with his father's deputies, joined agency staff on official conference calls about the listening tour and copied his wife on related email exchanges, according to emails." Although HUD lawyers pretty much told Carson Sr. not to include his son & daughter-in-law, & the lawyers were left with the impression they would not participate, the couple attended the events anyway -- and so did Carson Sr.'s wife. Mrs. McCrabbie "Nepotism" is just another way of spelling "family values." ...
... Jonathan Chait cites four Trump administration corruption stories in one day yesterday. They don't include any involving the Trump-Russia scandal. They barely made a blip on the radar; just "a day in the life of self-dealing in the Trump administration." This is where we are. ...
... More Corruption. Nick Juliano of Politico: "Two casino-owning American Indian tribes are accusing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke of illegally blocking their plans to expand operations in Connecticut -- a delay that stands to benefit politically connected gambling giant MGM Resorts International. The Interior Department's refusal to sign off on the tribes' plans for a third Connecticut casino came after Zinke and other senior department officials held numerous meetings and phone calls with MGM lobbyists and the company's Republican supporters in Congress, according to a Politico review of Zinke's schedule, lobbying registrations and other documents. The documents don't indicate whether they discussed the tribes' casino project."
No, Really, This Is a True Story. Carter Sherman of Vice: "The Trump administration official in charge of the Office of Refugee Resettlement discussed trying to use a controversial, scientifically unproven method to reverse an undocumented teen's abortion, according to documents reviewed by VICE News. Scott Lloyd, a longtime crusader against abortion who heads the agency that oversees undocumented minors who enter the country without their parents, spoke with staffers about trying to reverse the abortion of a pregnant teen in their custody, according to a deposition he underwent as part of a lawsuit between the Trump administration and the American Civil Liberties Union. In the past few years, opponents of abortion have championed the idea of halting a medication abortion midway by using the hormone progesterone. Anti-abortion activists have pushed governors in four states to sign laws requiring healthcare providers to tell patients about this so-called 'abortion reversal' method. But there is no credible medical evidence that such a procedure works, and the mainstream medical community worries that using it amounts to experimentation on women." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Alternatively, I suppose, Lloyd could force teenaged girls in his custody to become surrogate mothers for nice white women who don't want to get stretch marks.
Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that it was still trying to stimulate faster economic growth as one of the longest expansions in American history neared the end of its ninth year. The Fed said after a two-day meeting of its policymaking committee that it was leaving its benchmark interest rate unchanged in a range of 1.25 percent to 1.5 percent, a relatively low level that the Fed said would help support continued job growth and stronger inflation. The Fed's economic outlook remained relatively upbeat, setting the stage for a rate hike at its next meeting in March. But the decision to hold steady in January, while widely expected, underscored that the Fed still regards the economic expansion as fragile and in need of assistance."
Rebecca Ruiz of the New York Times: "United States prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas in a far-reaching investigation of international sports corruption, seeking new information about some of the biggest sports organizations in the world -- including FIFA, the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic Committee -- as well as the people who have successfully lobbied to host top global competitions. The Justice Department is exploring possible racketeering, money laundering and honest services fraud charges related to two track and field world championship events and the business executives who have consulted on bids for various other elite competitions, according to one of the subpoenas, which was obtained by The New York Times." (Also linked yesterday.)
Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "The Department of Justice moved on Wednesday to dismiss the remaining charges against Senator Robert Menendez, just weeks after prosecutors announced their intent to retry him on federal corruption charges, a decision that would allow the New Jersey Democrat to avoid running for re-election while under indictment. The motion to dismiss cites a decision last week by Judge William H. Walls to acquit Mr. Menendez of seven of the 18 charges he had faced, which included bribery charges stemming from accusations that he accepted political donations from a wealthy Florida eye doctor in exchange for lobbying on the doctor's behalf. The doctor, Salomon Melgen, was also charged in the case. The prosecutor's request will be decided by Judge Jose L. Linares, the chief United States district judge in New Jersey, who has temporarily taken over after Judge Walls recused himself." (Also linked yesterday.)
Make That "Justice Gowdy." Adam Edelman of NBC News: "Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., who has been at the forefront of investigations into both Hillary Clinton and alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, said Wednesday he would not run for re-election, adding his name to a growing list of Republican lawmakers stepping aside. In a lengthy statement, Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, said he would be leaving politics for good to return to a career in the justice system." (Also linked yesterday.)
Christine Emba, Ruth Marcus & Alyssa Rosenberg of the Washington Post have pretty much the same discussion we had here a few days ago, including a reference to the same attack made on me, Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: "... why do you hate Hillary (I DON'T HATE HILLARY -- I WANTED HER TO BE PRESIDENT, FOR GOODNESS' SAKE) and the why are you writing about this because Trump is so much worse reaction to what I wrote over the weekend." The writers discuss Clinton's sense of privilege, her egocentrism & her inability to accept responsibility for a mistake: in her final sorta mea-culpa (which we did not discuss here because she had not published it yet), "'I' appears 37 times, and 'Sorry' not even once." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I suspect the reason many women cannot come to terms with Hillary Clinton's major flaws is because they are flaws we share, often for reasons of self-preservation. If we stand up for ourselves & excuse our actions at ridiculous lengths, it's because no one else in the roomful of men plus one takes our sides.
Rachel Dicker of Mediaite: "You want to hear a conspiracy theory? Coming right up. Former Speaker of the House and famed Clinton hater Newt Gingrich appeared on Hannity Wednesday night to talk about the evil liberal media and how they're in cahoots with Washington's VIPs. 'The elite media is part of the deep state,' Gingrich said. 'The elite media group has survived by being in collusion with the senior bureaucracy, the city of Washington, the senior reporters, the senior bureaucrats, the senior lobbyists, they all hang out together, they all talk to each other, they all compare notes.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: And here I thought Newt -- the proto-Trump -- was off tickling his toes in the Tiber. But no, he's back. Here's Newt on the new white supremacists' cri de coeur: "'Americans are dreamers too' is why President Trump is so remarkable. It shifts focus from a small group to the whole nation."
Beyond the Beltway
Joey Garrison, et al., of the Tennessean: Nashville "Mayor Megan Barry [D] said Wednesday she had an extramarital affair with the police officer in charge of her security detail, an extraordinary admission that rocks the popular Nashville mayor's first term. Barry, in an interview with The Tennessean on Wednesday afternoon, apologized 'for the harm I've done to the people I love and the people who counted on me' but said she won't be resigning. She confirmed the affair with Metro police Sgt. Robert Forrest Jr., which began in the spring or summer of 2016, just months after she entered office the previous fall. Forrest submitted his retirement papers Jan. 17. His final day was Wednesday.... Last year Forrest traveled with Barry overseas to Paris and Athens. He also accompanied her on trips to cities across the U.S., including to Washington, D.C.; New York; Denver; Oakland, Calif.; Salt Lake City; and Kansas City in the last 10 months alone."
Evan Sernoffsky of the San Francisco Chronicle: "San Francisco will retroactively apply California's marijuana-legalization laws to past criminal cases, District Attorney George Gascón said Wednesday -- expunging or reducing misdemeanor and felony convictions going back decades. The unprecedented move will affect thousands of people whose marijuana convictions brand them with criminal histories that can hurt chances of finding jobs and obtaining some government benefits.... Rather than leaving it up to individuals to petition the courts -- which is time-consuming and can cost hundreds of dollars in attorney fees -- Gascón said San Francisco prosecutors will review and wipe out convictions en masse. The district attorney said his office will dismiss and seal more than 3,000 misdemeanor marijuana convictions in San Francisco dating back to 1975. Prosecutors will also review and, if necessary, re-sentence 4,940 felony marijuana cases, Gascón said." Mrs. McC: The Evil Elf must be doing a Rumpelstiltskin. Anyhow, good for Gascón.
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