The Commentariat -- April 27, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Karoun Demirjian, et al., of the Washington Post: "House Intelligence Committee Republicans released a redacted version of their final report from a year-long probe into Russia's 'multifaceted' influence operation, generally clearing President Trump and his associates of wrongdoing while accusing the intelligence community and the FBI of failures in how they assessed and responded to the Kremlin's interference in the 2016 election. The report accuses the intelligence community of 'significant intelligence tradecraft failings,' suggesting that Russia's main goal was to sow discord in the United States and not to help Trump win the election. It says investigators found 'no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded, coordinated, or conspired with the Russian government' -- even as it details contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russians or Russian intermediaries. Trump seized on the report to call for an end to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's criminal investigation into whether his campaign coordinated with Russia. 'Just Out: House Intelligence Committee Report released. "No evidence" that the Trump Campaign "colluded, coordinated or conspired with Russia,"' Trump wrote. 'Clinton Campaign paid for Opposition Research obtained from Russia- Wow! A total Witch Hunt! MUST END NOW!' But committee Democrats quickly charged that their Republican colleagues had rushed to end their work prematurely in a 'a systematic effort to muddy the waters and to deflect attention away from the President.'" See links to related story & report -- both marked "NEW" -- below.
Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has lost his lawsuit claiming that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and special counsel Robert Mueller exceeded their authority in charging him with alleged crimes that he says have nothing to do with the 2016 campaign. A judge said Friday that Manafort can't use this lawsuit to stop the special counsel's office from continuing to pursue an investigation of him. 'A civil case is not the appropriate vehicle for taking issue with what a prosecutor has done in the past or where he might be headed in the future,' Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the US District Court in Washington, DC, wrote Friday." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.
Paige St. John & Joel Rubin of the Los Angeles Times: "... Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents repeatedly target U.S. citizens for deportation by mistake, making wrongful arrests based on incomplete government records, bad data and lax investigations, according to a Times review of federal lawsuits, internal ICE documents and interviews. Since 2012, ICE has released from its custody more than 1,480 people after investigating their citizenship claims, according to agency figures. And a Times review of Department of Justice records and interviews with immigration attorneys uncovered hundreds of additional cases in the country's immigration courts in which people were forced to prove they are Americans and sometimes spent months or even years in detention." The story of Davino Watson, a U.S. citizen whom ICE held fo4 3-1/2 years, is horrifying.
Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.), who previously announced his retirement from Congress following reports he had paid a secret settlement to a staffer who accused him of harassment, resigned outright Friday. His resignation came as the House Ethics Committee continued a probe into his behavior that could have resulted in serious sanctions. The former aide, a younger woman, alleged that Meehan had confessed romantic feelings for her after she became involved with another man. Meehan, she alleged, later retaliated after she repelled his advances.... Meehan said that within 30 days he will repay taxpayers for the $39,000 settlement that was paid as a severance payment to his former staffer.... Meehan's departure could prompt a special election in his suburban Philadelphia district. That decision will be made by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D), who is also considering whether to hold a special election in the Allentown-area district that Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) is expected to vacate later this year."
Juliegrace Brufke of the Hill: "The House rejected a resolution on Friday that would have set up a select committee to investigate Patrick Conroy's dismissal as House chaplain. In a 215-171 mostly party-line vote, the House turned aside the measure from House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley's (N.Y.), who argued it was necessary to look into the 'motivations and actions' behind Conroy's dismissal. Conroy announced his retirement as chaplain earlier this month, a decision most members thought was voluntary until Thursday, when it emerged that Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) had pushed him out."
Michael de la Merced of the New York Times: "Sprint and T-Mobile are in advanced discussions about merging, and a deal could be announced as soon as this weekend, people briefed on the matter said on Friday.A combination of the two companies would complete one of the telecommunications industry's most long-awaited transactions and would create the third-largest wireless carrier in the United States, with more than 127 million customers. Sprint and T-Mobile have tried to negotiate a merger twice before."
*****
** War on the Poor. Paul Krugman: "Last year, Trump and his allies in Congress devoted most of their efforts to coddling the rich; this was obviously true of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, but even the assault on Obamacare was largely about securing hundreds of billions in tax cuts for the wealthy. This year, however, the G.O.P.'s main priority seems to be making war on the poor.... The interesting question is not whether Trump and friends are trying to make the lives of the poor nastier, more brutal and shorter. They are. The question, instead, is why.... Pretty clearly, the pain this war will inflict is a feature, not a bug. Trump and his friends aren't punishing the poor reluctantly, out of the belief that they must be cruel to be kind. They just want to be cruel.... Glenn Thrush of The New York Times reported, 'Mr. Trump, aides said, refers to nearly every program that provides benefits to poor people as welfare, a term he regards as derogatory.'"
NEW. Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday renewed his attacks on the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey, kicking off a morning Twitter barrage by once again accusing Mr. Comey of leaking classified information and lying to cover it up, even as the leaders of North and South Korea held a historic meeting hours earlier. In a tweet, Mr. Trump called Mr. Comey 'either very sick or very dumb,' saying his fired F.B.I. chief did not understand the severity of his actions in having details about his interactions with the president provided to a reporter. 'Remember sailor!' Mr. Trump added, a month after he pardoned a United States sailor who had pleaded guilty to illegally retaining national defense information and obstruction of justice.... In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Mr. Comey pushed back against the accusation that he had leaked classified information. 'That memo was unclassified then, it's still unclassified,' Mr. Comey said. Mr. Comey said Mr. Trump was the one who was making a 'false statement.'"
NEW. Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "The House Intelligence Committee on Friday released its final report on Russian election meddling, marking an end to the fraught political battle over the investigation. The final report reiterated the findings and conclusions made public last month by the committee's Republican majority. The committee found that there was 'no evidence' of collusion or coordination between Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and the Kremlin. The summary also said that the committee agreed with a number of the intelligence community's prior judgments on the matter, 'except with respect to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's supposed preference for candidate Trump.'... In a statement accompanying the Friday release, Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas..., lamented the number of redactions made to the report by the intelligence community...." Thanks to MAG for the link. ...
... For you fiction lovers, No Collusion is here (pdf). 253 pp.
NEW. AP: "... Donald Trump's personal attorney, whose business dealings are being investigated by the FBI, and his father-in-law have lent $26 million in recent years to a taxi mogul who is shifting into the legalized marijuana industry, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. Semyon 'Sam' Shtayner, a longtime business associate of Michael Cohen's father-in-law, created Nevada-based Cannaboss LLC the day before the 2016 election. A few months later, he took a majority position in a company that is provisionally licensed to cultivate medicinal marijuana and produce edibles, the records show."
NEW. Andrew Kramer & Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "The Russian lawyer who met with Trump campaign officials in Trump Tower in June 2016 on the premise that she would deliver damaging information about Hillary Clinton has long insisted she is a private attorney, not a Kremlin operative trying to meddle in the presidential election. But newly released emails show that in at least one instance two years earlier the lawyer, Natalia V. Veselnitskaya, worked hand in glove with Russia's chief legal office to thwart a Justice Department civil fraud case against a well-connected Russian firm. Ms. Veselnitskaya also appears to have recanted her earlier denials of Russian government ties. During an interview to be broadcast Friday by NBC News, she acknowledged that she was not merely a private lawyer but a source of information for a top Kremlin official, Yuri Y. Chaika, the prosecutor general."
NEW. Gina Kolata of the New York Times: "... regulators and medical experts were taken aback by allegations that Dr. Ronny Jackson, personal physician to President Obama and President Trump, handed out [Ambien] pills to White House staff and to reporters on such trips. The practice may have been accepted, but it is also illegal. 'You could be prosecuted,' said Melvin Patterson, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration." Jackson had denied the allegations. ...
... NEW. M.J. Lee & Juana Summers of CNN: "The White House medical unit frequently functioned as a 'grab and go' clinic where mid-level staffers to the most senior officials could obtain prescription drugs without being examined by a doctor, casually pick up the powerful sleeping aid Ambien even for their children, and get drugs that were not prescribed to the person actually taking the medication. These examples, described to CNN by five of the medical unit's former and current employees and which appear to represent the more problematic practices there, were endorsed by Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, a doctor."
Peter Baker & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump distanced himself from his longtime lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, on Thursday, saying that a federal criminal investigation was focused on Mr. Cohen's business dealings and had nothing to do with his legal representation of the president.... The president acknowledged that Mr. Cohen represents him in connection with Stephanie Clifford, the pornographic film actress known as Stormy Daniels.... Michael Avenatti, Ms. Clifford's attorney, quickly seized on the president's comments, suggesting they would help her lawsuit trying to nullify the 2016 nondisclosure agreement by proving Mr. Trump's involvement in the effort to keep her quiet before the election.... 'The president's statements this morning are very, very damaging to him in our case,' Mr. Avenatti [said on MSNBC]. 'It directly contradicts what he said on Air Force One relating to his knowledge, or lack thereof, of the agreement of $130,000.'... The president's discussion of Mr. Cohen's legal troubles came during an expansive, wide-ranging and at times rambling half-hour telephone interview on Fox. At times, it sounded as if he was shouting into the phone." Read on, for your amusement. See related Fox "News" story below, linked earlier today. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Legal experts don't agree on the impact of Trump's remarks today re: the Clifford case. But they do seem to agree that Trump didn't do himself any favors when he spoke about the case. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Here's the transcript of the Trump/"Fox & Friends" interview, annotated by Aaron Blake. Thanks to Patrick for the heads-up. See also Patrick's comment on the interview, below. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Jonathan Chait: "In the interview, Trump's sense of persecution was so acute he was barely able to concentrate on an open invitation to tout his own success, the thing he does best.... But the most disturbing moment came at the very end, when Trump threatened to force the Department of Justice to adopt his own chosen priorities, ignoring the 'phony' charges against him, and prosecuting the 'real' ones against his opponents[.]... At this point, astonishingly, the embarrassed hosts ushered Trump off the phone, insisting he must be busy -- likely the only time in memory a 'journalist' has cut short an interview with the president of the United States. Trump is making his intentions perfectly clear. He wants the Department of Justice to lock up his political opponents and witnesses to his misbehavior. And he wants it to stop investigating his own misdeeds.... Trump is, on national television, making existential threats to the rule of law." (Also linked yesterday.)
Allan Smith & Sonam Sheth of Business Insider: "US District Court Judge Kimba Wood said she would appoint a special master in [Michael] Cohen's case to initially review documents seized during the FBI's raids on Cohen's home, office, and hotel room. The special master will determine whether something falls under protected attorney-client privilege and what prosecutors could use against Cohen. Wood appointed Barbara Jones, a partner at Bracewell who specializes in white-collar litigation and a former federal judge for the Southern District of New York, as the special master. Jones was not one of the candidates submitted by Cohen's team or by the government to serve as the special master." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Max Greenwood of the Hill: "Federal prosecutors in New York argued on Thursday that public statements by President Trump and Fox News host Sean Hannity indicate that materials seized from attorney Michael Cohen are 'unlikely' to contain large amounts of privileged information. The filing came the same morning that Trump called into 'Fox & Friends' for an interview in which he claimed that Cohen, one of his longtime associates and confidants, performed only 'a tiny, tiny little fraction' of his legal work. Hannity, who was named earlier this month as one of Cohen's few other clients, has said that he never retained the attorney's legal services in an official sense and that their discussions focused on real estate.... Lawyers for Trump and Cohen have argued that many of the records seized are covered by attorney-client privilege.... Trump, however, appeared to undercut that argument, at least in part, on Thursday morning, when he insisted that Cohen did not perform much legal work for him and that investigators were primarily focused on Cohen's business dealings. 'This has nothing to do with me,' Trump said on 'Fox & Friends.' 'I've been told I'm not involved.'"
Michael Avenatti, Stephanie Clifford's attorney has an interesting theory: that the $1.6 million hush-money payout made by Trump rainmaker Elliott Broidy through Michael Cohen was to settle a paternity suit brought not against Broidy but against Trump (or possibly Hannity). Travis Gettys of the Raw Story reports. Mrs. McC: If you follow Avenatti's logic, I think you'll conclude that his theory is highly plausible.
The Week: Michael "Cohen, who has been Trump's personal attorney for years, is apparently going through a bit of a rough patch with the president, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. Trump reportedly sought to distance himself from his longtime fixer once he decided to run for office, and apparently privately described him as a 'bull in a china shop' with a tendency to make problems worse. Cohen was disappointed that Trump didn't tap him to run his campaign or to work as White House chief of staff, the Journal reports. And his frustration has mounted as Trump publicly downplays his relationship with Cohen in the face of allegations of an affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels, whom Cohen paid $130,000 in a hush agreement in 2016. The attorney reportedly shared his feelings with the president from afar, telling him in a phone call last year: 'Boss, I miss you so much. I wish I was down there with you.'" Mrs. McC: Unrequited love? More likely a plea for a White House job.
Sarah Lynch of Reuters: "U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday defended his decision not to appoint a second special prosecutor to investigate Republicans' concerns about the FBI by noting that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe had already taken on 'a life of its own.' Speaking to a U.S. House appropriations panel during a routine budget hearing, Sessions told lawmakers that the Justice Department needed to 'be disciplined and stay within our classical procedure and rules' before rushing to hire more special counsels.... 'This thing [the Mueller investigation],' he continued, 'needs to conclude.' Sessions staunchly defended the FBI, calling its director, Christopher Wray a 'man of integrity,' and warned lawmakers not to 'smear everybody' at the department."
Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation on Thursday to protect special counsel Robert Mueller. In a 14-7 vote, the panel approved the bipartisan proposal that deeply divided Republicans on the committee. With every committee Democrat backing the legislation, only one Republican was needed to secure passage. In the end, four Republicans voted for the bill: Sens. Thom Tillis (N.C.), >Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.). Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch (Utah), Mike Lee (Utah), John Cornyn (Texas), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Ben Sasse (Neb.), John Kennedy (La.) and Ted Cruz (Texas) opposed it." (Also linked yesterday.)
Lisa Rein, et al., of the Washington Post: "Ronny L. Jackson's withdrawal from consideration to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs stanched an immediate political crisis for the Trump White House, but it sparked new questions over his future as the president's doctor and the fate of the embattled agency.... Congressional Democrats said the admiral's nomination for a second star would not be considered until the Pentagon addresses allegations that he drank excessively on the job and oversaw a hostile working environment in the White House medical office.... There were growing bipartisan calls Thursday for additional investigations into Jackson's professional history.... Trump made no mention of Jackson's withdrawal Thursday morning at a previously scheduled event with wounded military veterans. Trump touted reforms underway at VA and recognized [acting secretary Robert] Wilkie for 'doing a great job.'" ...
... Julie Davis, et al., of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. first gave the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, a file containing spousal abuse allegations against Rob Porter in March 2017, according to a detailed new timeline the bureau has given to Congress that casts further doubt on the West Wing's account of how accusations against one of President Trump's closest advisers were handled.... A former federal law enforcement official said the violent abuse allegations were included in that file.... The White House ... has issued several competing accounts of how Mr. Trump's team handled the allegations, which they insisted no senior officials knew about until just before Mr. Porter left his job.... The White House's contention that Mr. McGahn never saw the original F.B.I. report comes as it is facing fresh questions about its process for vetting personnel for top posts ..." after the Ronny Jackson debacle.
Peter Baker & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "By the time the sun set Thursday, Dr. Ronny L. Jackson was a failed cabinet nominee whose life had been picked apart for public consumption, and Michael D. Cohen was back in court facing possible criminal prosecution. A ride on President Trump's bullet train can be thrilling, but it is often a brutal journey that leaves some bloodied by the side of the tracks. In only 15 months in office, Mr. Trump has burned through a record number of advisers and associates who have found themselves in legal, professional or personal trouble, or even all three. Half of the top aides who came to the White House with Mr. Trump in 2017 are gone, many under painful circumstances, either because they fell out with the boss or came under the harsh scrutiny that comes with him.... Proximity to Mr. Trump has been a crushing experience for many who arrived with stellar careers and independent reputations yet ended up losing so much.... All of them, of course, had varying degrees of responsibility for the troubles that would ultimately befall them." ...
... ** A Diffeent Take on "the Swamp." Masha Gessen of the New Yorker: "Appointing people to run federal agencies who are opposed to the work and, sometimes, to the very existence of those agencies is an established gesture of the Trump Presidency. Scott Pruitt all but promised to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency during his confirmation hearing, last January. Rick Perry, the Energy Secretary, once wanted to abolish the Department of Energy, though he apparently didn't understand what the department was. Betsy DeVos, a stranger to and an apparent foe of public schools, became the Secretary of Education. In a distinct but related kind of gesture, Trump has appointed people who are clearly unqualified for their jobs, as when he made Ben Carson the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, or when he tapped [Ronny] Jackson for Veterans Affairs. The two kinds of gestures send messages consistent with the themes of Trump's never-ending Presidential campaign: he sees the U.S. government as a 'swamp' that is best drained by destruction. He also continues to reprise his television persona of the boss whose power is displayed through hiring and firing -- the more unpredictably and dramatically, the better." Read on. ...
... Another Resignation for Cause. Chris D'Angelo & Travis Waldron of the Huffington Post: "Bryan Rice has resigned just six months after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke appointed him to lead the Bureau of Indian Affairs, multiple sources familiar with the situation told HuffPost.... The resignation comes roughly two weeks after the agency's internal watchdog concluded that poor Interior Department staff record keeping >made it impossible to determine if the reassignment of dozens of senior agency staff last year was legal. Nearly a third of the transferred staffers were Native American, Talking Points Memo reported.... Rice is a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and previously led Interior]s Office of Wildland Fire beginning under the Obama administration in 2016."
Coral Davenport & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency chief facing accusations of ethical infractions and lavish spending, vowed on Capitol Hill on Thursday that the charges against him were false and that decisions involving illegal actions had been made by his staff members without his knowledge. His supporters said that he may have succeeded in saving his job, for now.... Democrats, who have called for his resignation, sought to force Mr. Pruitt to accept culpability for a variety of ethical missteps.... Republicans, after briefly chastising Mr. Pruitt in their opening remarks, appeared largely sympathetic to the administrator, asking Mr. Pruitt friendly questions that appeared calculated to allow him to talk about his policy proposals.... Mr. Pruitt is now the subject of 10 federal investigations...." ...
... Brady Dennis & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "... Scott Pruitt was unapologetic about his leadership during the first of two Capitol Hill hearings Thursday but conceded that he had known in advance of an aide's significant raise -- among the many controversies that has put his position on the line. Testifying before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on environment for three hours, Pruitt walked back previous denials of having any involvement in the salary discussion for agency senior counsel Sarah Greenwalt. She and another staffer got pay hikes this spring over the objections of officials in the White House Personnel Office.... Pruitt spent the hearing attributing the vast majority of allegations about his ethics and management decisions to policy critics...." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Robert Redford in a Washington Post op-ed: "... Pruitt's failings in ethics and judgment are only part of a much larger problem: Pruitt has failed at the core responsibility of his job.... Pruitt has become a one-man public-health risk to the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. From day one, he has worked to gut the EPA and hamstring its ability to protect the environment and public health. He works on behalf of the fossil-fuel industry and other industrial polluters, not the American people. That's the greatest scandal -- and the reason, first and foremost, he's got to go."
Karoun Demirjian & Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "The Senate confirmed Mike Pompeo as secretary ofstate on Thursday despite lingering objections from Democrats who've questioned his record of hawkish policy positions and past controversial statements about minority groups. The split vote represents the political scrutiny Pompeo is likely to encounter as he moves from the CIA to the State Department, where he'll face the simultaneous challenges of reinvigorating an agency beset by flagging morale and answering for a president who is prone to impulsiveness." (Also linked yesterday.)
AP: "Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Thursday emphasized the value of certain aspects of the Iran nuclear agreement, even as ... Donald Trump considers pulling out of the 2015 deal, which he has attacked repeatedly and this week called 'insane.' Without explicitly giving his opinion about whether the United States should stick with the agreement, Mattis said that after reading the full text of the deal three times, he was struck by provisions that allow for international verification of Iran's compliance. He said that since becoming defense secretary in January 2017, he also has read what he called a classified protocol in the agreement. 'I will say it is written almost with an assumption that Iran would try to cheat,' he said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. 'So the verification, what is in there, is actually pretty robust as far as our intrusive ability to get in' with representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency to check on compliance."
... independent expenditures do not lead to, or create the appearance of, quid pro quo corruption. -- Justice Anthony Kennedy, majority opinion, Citizens United v. FEC ...
... Eliza Relman of Business Insider: "Ethics experts say Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget director and interim head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, should be investigated for potentially violating federal bribery laws after he admitted that, as a congressman, he only gave meetings to lobbyists who donated to his campaign.... 'If I were at the Department of Justice, I'd send an FBI agent to start looking at correlating the lobbyist donations,' [Norm] Eisen[, a top Obama administration ethics official,] said. 'I would have the FBI look at his decision-making right up to the present, correlate it with lobbyist campaign contributions, and then go talk to him.' Richard Painter, President George W. Bush's top ethics lawyer, told Business Insider that Mulvaney's admission that he exchanged money for access 'puts a target on his back.'"
Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "The big takeaway from the first year of Trump's presidency is that the country's institutions largely have checked him.... But one institution has sorely failed in its constitutional duty to restrain the president. Time and again, the Republican-controlled Congress has ignored, defended, or outright enabled Trump's authoritarian excesses."
Ron Nixon of the New York Times: "A top official with the Department of Health and Human Services [Steven Wagner] told members of Congress on Thursday that the agency had lost track of nearly 1,500 migrant children it placed with sponsors in the United States, raising concerns they could end up in the hands of human traffickers or be used as laborers by people posing as relatives.... The children were taken into government care after they showed up alone at the Southwest border. Most of the children are from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, and were fleeing drug cartels, gang violence and domestic abuse, government data shows." Mrs. McC: Here, at least, is an example of Congress's using its oversight function in a meaningful way.
Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "The Senate Ethics Committee 'severely admonished' Senator Robert Menendez on Thursday for accepting gifts from a wealthy doctor while using his position as a senator to promote the doctor's personal and financial interests. It also ordered Mr. Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, to repay the market value of all improper gifts he has not already repaid. The admonition stems from the same actions for which Mr. Menendez was indicted in 2015. His trial -- in which the doctor, Salomon E. Melgen, was a co-defendant -- ended with a deadlocked jury in November 2017, and the federal government chose not to retry Mr. Menendez."
Kasie Hunt, et al., of NBC News: "Speaker Paul Ryan has ousted the chaplain of the House of Representatives ... -- a move that's outraged members of both parties who have come to the defense of the Jesuit priest. The Rev. Patrick Conroy wrote in an April 15 letter to Ryan...: 'As you have requested, I hereby offer my resignation as the 60th Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives.'... Conroy has been blunt in some of his remarks, including a prayer about the GOP tax bill that he offered on the House floor on Nov. 6, 2017.... 'May their efforts these days guarantee that there are not winners and losers under new tax laws, but benefits balanced and shared by all Americans.'... When Ryan gave [Minority Leader Nancy] Pelosi the advance notice about Conroy's departure, she made it clear that she disagreed with the speaker and that she had received only positive feedback about Conroy's service, a Pelosi aide said. Then-Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, nominated Conroy as chaplain in May 2011, in consultation with Pelosi, and he was sworn in that month."
Graham Bowley & Jon Hurdle of the New York Times: "A jury found Bill Cosby guilty Thursday of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his home ... 14 years ago, capping the downfall of one of the world's best-known entertainers, and offering a measure of satisfaction to the dozens of women who for years have accused him of similar assaults against them. On the second day of its deliberations at the Montgomery County Courthouse in this town northwest of Philadelphia, the jury returned to convict Mr. Cosby of three counts of aggravated indecent assault against Andrea Constand, at the time a Temple University employee he had mentored. The three counts -- penetration with lack of consent, penetration while unconscious, and penetration after administering an intoxicant -- are felonies, each punishable by up to 10 years in state prison, though the sentences could be served concurrently." (Also linked yesterday.)
Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "Matt Lauer is not the only prominent anchor at NBC who allegedly sought inappropriate relationships with younger women. Linda Vester, a former NBC correspondent, told The Post that legendary anchor Tom Brokaw made unwanted advances toward her on two occasions in the 1990s, including a forcible attempt to kiss her. Vester was in her 20s and did not file a complaint. Brokaw denied anything untoward happened with Vester. Another woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, also told The Post that Brokaw acted inappropriately toward her in the '90s, when she was a young production assistant and he was an anchor. He said no such incident happened. NBC acted quickly to dismiss Lauer, but it is facing a wave of internal and outside skepticism that it can reform a workplace in which powerful men such as Lauer were known to pursue sexual relationships with more junior women." Read on. Brokow is a creep & a liar, IMO. Not sure which angers me the most: the harassment or the lying denials. ...
... Elizabeth Wagmeister & Ramin Setoodeh of Variety have more on Vester's accusations against Brokaw. Mrs. McC: I have never liked the sanctimonious Brokaw even tho he -- or one of his producers -- did solve one of the great mysteries of my life.
Thomas Fuller of the New York Times: "The Golden State Killer raped and murdered victims all across the state of California in an era before Google searches and social media.... But it was technology that got him. The suspect, Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested by the police on Tuesday.... Investigators used DNA from crime scenes that had been stored all these years and plugged the genetic profile of the suspected assailant into an online genealogy database. They found distant relatives of Mr. DeAngelo's and, despite his years of eluding the authorities, traced their DNA to to his front door.... Representatives at 23andMe and some other gene testing services denied on Thursday that they had been involved in identifying the killer."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Kevin Poulsen of the Daily Beast: "MSNBC host Joy Reid claims that recently unearthed homophobic articles attributed to her are fakes. And she says a cybersecurity consultant has proof that her old blog has been hacked. But that consultant, Jonathan Nichols, had trouble producing the promised evidence. And what he did produce failed to withstand scrutiny, according to a Daily Beast analysis. Blog posts that Nichols claimed do not appear on the Internet Archive are, in fact, there. The indicators of hacked posts don't bear out.... Presented with that information on Thursday, Nichols acknowledged his error."
Way Beyond the Beltway
Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "The leaders of North and South Korea agreed on Friday to work to remove all nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula and, within the year, declare an official end to the Korean War that ravaged the two nations from 1950 to 1953. At a historic summit meeting, the first time a North Korean leader had ever set foot in the South, the leaders vowed to negotiate a peace treaty to replace a truce that has kept an uneasy peace on the divided Korean Peninsula for more than six decades, while ridding it of nuclear weapons.... Friday's agreement between Mr. Moon and Mr. Kim was short on such specifics." ...
... David Sanger & Choe Sang-Hun: "Kim Jong-un on Friday became the first North Korean leader to set foot in South Korean-controlled territory, starting a historic summit meeting with the South's president that will test Mr. Kim's willingness to bargain away his nuclear weapons. Mr. Kim's decision to cross into the world's most heavily armed border zones, a prospect that seemed unthinkable just a few months ago, was broadcast live in South Korea, where all eyes and ears are focused on the intentions of the North's 34-year-old leader. For South Korea's president, Moon Jae-in, who has placed himself at the center of diplomacy to end the nuclear standoff with the North, the meeting presents a formidable task: finding a middle ground between a cunning enemy to the North and an impulsive ally in the United States. The historic encounter at the Peace House, a conference building on the South Korean side of the border village of Panmunjom, could set the tone for an even more critical meeting planned between Mr. Kim and President Trump."
News Lede
Washington Post: "The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in the first three months of 2018, the Commerce Department said Friday. The results were slightly above Wall Street analysts' forecasts of 2 percent annual growth rate and represented an expected slowing from the fourth quarter's 2.9 percent growth rate. The $20 trillion economy also turned in a better showing than most recent first quarters, which government reports have struggled to accurately assess because of seasonal issues. Financial market reaction was subdued in early trading. The Commerce Department report was the first since President Trump's tax cut took effect on January 1. The centerpiece of the tax overhaul was a reduction in corporate taxes aimed at boosting investment and jobs. So far, the results are mixed. The Commerce Department report showed a robust contribution from business investment, which rose more than 6 percent.That seemed at odds with Thursday's Census Bureau report that nondefense capital goods orders, excluding aircraft, fell 0.1 percent in March and that preliminary results from earlier months had been revised lower. Weakness in the GDP report also was evident in government outlays and consumer spending, which slowed to a 1.1 percent gain from 4 percent in the final quarter of 2017. Slumping auto sales were a major contributor."
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Reader Comments (17)
We need a new title. How about the 'scandaler in chief'.
Scott Pruitt
Michael D. Cohen
Ronny L. Jackson
Just a typical week.
You see, not only is Trump perfect, but of course, any decision he makes is perfect. So my advice to the world is, unless you really are perfect, stay away from the lunatic.
I was reading the comments to Krugman's article on "fkkk the poor" and a commenter referred to Paul Ryan's observation that poor people don't seem to have the character to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
Which made me think : what the heck is a bootstrap, anyway, and how would one pull oneself up, i.e what is the physical model that gives rise to the metaphorical expression?
So good ole GoogleWiki, after offering up dozens of computer references, has this:
"The term appears to have originated in the early 19th-century United States (particularly in the phrase "pull oneself over a fence by one's bootstraps") to mean an absurdly impossible action, an adynaton.[1][2][3]"
Somehow, the use of this term has lost the sense that the action is ABSURDLY IMPOSSIBLE!! All my life I have heard this expression used as something that people should be able to do, and should do. Sort of like "the Lord helps those who help themselves" etc.
So next time you hear a pol talk about pulling yourself up by bootstraps, point out that that is absurd. Sort of like telling someone to "go fkkk yourself."
@Patrick: Let's hope Paul Ryan gets a lot flack on this! Meantime, I checked out a bit more per your post...and found this funny clip: http://www.cracked.com/video_20486_why-pulling-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps-impossible.html
The actual 'book' quotes are most wonderful.
Krugman’s recognition of Confederates’ War on the Poor is all of a piece with the propensity on the right, glamorized by Trumpy, for bullying and infliction of pain and humiliation on those lower down the totem pole.
Want more proof, in addition to the policies they most admire (up the rich, fuck the poor)?
Lyin’ Ryan (every day this repulsive mooching slug who has never worked a day in his life away from the teat of the federal government, remains in Congress is a disgrace to the nation), testicle cozy to the rich and powerful, just fired the congressional chaplin for having the gall to offer up a prayer, before the Ryan-Trump-McConnell tax scam was voted on, reminding those moochers not to forget those less well off as they further enrich their wealthy pals (and themselves).
He could not take being reminded that he is supposed to represent all Americans, not just those who are already filthy rich.
That son of a bitch had get got for making Ryan look like the evil prick he truly is.
A coward as well as a liar.
Along with great photos of those Asian hands across the border connecting N. K. with S.K.––a monumental occurrence with the prospect of something good coming ––-maybe–-; and the Bill Cosby trial finally coming to an end with the best result ever–-GUILTY! We had the Scott Pruitt hearings: I watched for over an hour and witnessed Democrats take this man apart, pick at his innards, and then throw him to the wolves. The Republicans, on the other hand were displaying their usual–-"We apologize for the poor way you are being treated Mr. EPA director, sir," and then slobbering all over this somabitch. Here's Frank Pallone (D-NY) "You are unfit to hold office..."
https://newrepublic.com/minutes/148141/frank-pallone-giving-scott-pruitt-hell
A mention here of a Ms Eshoe (D-CA) an older woman, with a voice that would soothe a crazed Chihuahua, asked Pruitt right off the bat,"Do you have any remorse?" Her questioning him was so impressive, so deliberate, and consequentially caught him unprepared–-she wanted yes or no answers–-he couldn't reply that way.
Trump's rant with Fox and Friends is hilarious–-the looks on their faces as he rattled on and on and finally THEY had to shut him up and out–-a truly comedic episode that I'm sure will be played well by others like SNL. Such egg on that face of many colors! Such idiocy!
Marie: ": I have never liked the sanctimonious Brokow even tho he -- or one of his producers -- did solve one of the great mysteries of my life." Do you wish to elaborate?
Yes, Marie, you should take that NBC gun down from the mantle and use it by the third act or no fair.
@PD Pepe: Oooh, I was hoping you would ask. (I think I've told this one before, but maybe not for several years.)
@Patrick: Acts II & III:
In the 1970s, my then-husband got interested in genealogy & encouraged me to tag along. He kinda lost interest, but I enjoyed it as sort of "detective work," & pursued what I could find out about my family tree. A good source was the genealogy room of the Los Angeles Public Library (alas, since burnt down, I think), and I spent many hours there. The genealogy room was laid out as you might expect: bookcases lining the walls & packing the ends, with two rows of sturdy oak library tables & chairs taking up the center to accommodate readers & researchers.
One warm summer weekday I took the bus to the library appropriately dressed for the weather in a lightweight dress & sandals. The genealogy room was nearly empty, but the librarian warned me that there had been a purse-snatcher at the library, so I should be especially careful not to leave my purse unattended.
Not long after that warning, a man came & sat across from me, which was a little odd because the rest of the room was still empty of people. Then the guy got up from his chair & sat down on the floor beside it & began thumbing through books on the bottom shelf of a bookcase holding sources for Massachusetts genealogy. This seemed a little odd, too, because the guy was black, and although there were blacks in Massachusetts early on, there weren't all that many. It seemed way odder when I noticed that the guy was "reading" a book upside down.
I didn't want to look like a racist bigot (and I was feeling like one), but I really did keep an eagle-eye on my purse on the several occasions I got up to get new material & pretty much all of the time I was sitting there as well.
I left at the end of the day with my purse & all of its contents intact. I had a 10-minute wait for the bus to take me home, & I paced a little, thinking about whatever. As I walked, I looked down at my feet, and there it was -- one bright red toenail. While I was surveilling my purse, that guy had painted the toenail of my big toe.
I thought mine was the most unique of stories.
Some five years later, when we no longer lived in Los Angeles, my son called me at work. He had been watching the "Today" show while getting ready for school. On it, my son told me, Tom Brokow reported that the L.A. Public's toenail-painter had been captured. He had been painting women's toenails, without their knowledge, for years. Turns out, I'm just not that special.
According to Devin Nunes et al just issued a FINAL report
( https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/27/house-intel-panel-releases-final-report-on-russian-election-interference-marking-end-of-its-politically-charged-probe.html )
"The committee found that there was "no evidence" of collusion or coordination between Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and the Kremlin."
Whew! glad they cleared that up!
@Marie: Oh, my gosh, what a fantastic story! thank you so much––I will continue on with my day with the picture in my mind of that one red painted toe nail. What amazes me is you never "felt" him doing it.
PD,
Rest assured that whatever good comes of the meetings in Korea, the little dictator will claim full credit. If things blow up, it'll be back to "Little Rocket Man".
Trump is one of those lucky people whose life revolves around the maxim, self-imposed by his "very good brain": "Heads, I win; tails, you lose".
Marie,
Wow. You've had some good anecdotes before, but this one is a topper. It almost reads like a short story, one with an air of mystery in which the reader is brought into the mind of the narrator who is tossing and turning the possibilities of the situation before her. The red herring of the purse snatching is an excellent distraction that could be worked up a bit more in a longer version.
At first I thought it reminded me of a (slightly less intense) Paul Auster story. It has tinges of possible darkness or weirdness around the edges.
Then I decided, by collapsing time and events, it could be one of the better O'Henry stories.
So, the woman goes to the bus stop, and reviews the events of the day, wondering about the man and his motives. Unable to come to a satisfying conclusion, she goes home, fixes herself some tea, or a drink, sits down, puts her feet up and reads the paper. Turning to the metro section, she sees the headline "LA Library Toenail Painter Captured by Police". Having just been there, she goes on to read that the man actually gave himself up. "I'm retiring" he says. "Today, I've painted my masterpiece and there's nothing left for me to say with my art." At that, the paper droops a bit and woman notices something. Her painted toenail.
Okay, maybe not the BEST O'Henry story, but pretty damn good.
By the way, my O'Henry connection is not out of the blue. I purchased a great collection of 100 of his stories at my favorite used book store (two bucks!). And while reading the introduction, I learned something I never knew. O'Henry was once imprisoned for embezzling money from a bank where he worked as a clerk. While in prison, he refined his skills as a writer and had a number of stories published while still incarcerated. But he was also a licensed pharmacist, so he worked at that while there, thus escaping the miserable prison life experienced by most felons in the late 19th century. Years later, a friend mentioned that he went into prison William Sydney Porter and came out O'Henry.
Oh, and the best part?
While in prison, he met a man who haunted public libraries so he could paint women's toenails.
The story from The Week and the other commentary about the Cohen-Trump relationship leaves me wondering if there isn't a bit of anti-Semitism involved in Trump's pushing him aside after the campaign. He was never going to make Cohen the Chief of Staff. Likely as well, T has very guilty knowledge that a whole lot of stuff that Cohen fixes is too dirty to withstand exposure.
I hope that Joy Reid survives this (Roger Stone-esque) mess. She's not my favorite news-explainer but infinitely more valuable than Brokaw.
The story (linked above) floating the idea that Confederate chiseler, douchebag, and underhanded financier Elliott Broidy may have been providing cover for the little king, in that payoff to a(nother) Playboy model could have (if this were a normal world) serious repercussions.
The implication, suggested by Stormy Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, is that Broidy had nothing to do with impregnating that model, who later had an abortion. He fronted the money to protect Trump, the real father.
This makes sense in so many ways. First, yes, Broidy is dirty. He's an unscrupulous schemer. He's been convicted of bribery, is in bed with plenty of shady characters, and reportedly helped shove Tillerson out the door so he could aid one of his Middle East clients. He also has a history with several of the participants in the election ratfucking/collusion scheme that put Trump in the White House.
But, at least as far as I've been able to tell, he doesn't have a history of chasing after nude models. Of course, that part of his resume could have been successfully hidden, but if you're stupid enough to have unprotected sex with someone, who clearly may become pregnant, thereby jeopardizing all your lovely money making, king-making schemes, you probably would have a track record indicating such behavior.
Broidy has none (at least nothing in public). Trump, on the other hand, is as dirty a dog as they come. His history of sexual abuse, groping, infidelities, and payoffs would make some Victorian era sex addicts look like cloistered monks.
Otherwise, you have to conclude that Broidy, nearing 60, with a lot to lose from such indiscretions, decided to say "what the hell" and all of a sudden, started chasing down a Playboy model for sex.
Of course no one who hasn't been in a coma for the last 40 years would be surprised to find that Trump has impregnated a raft of young women, models, porn stars, what have you. The best part, in this possible scenario, is that it's true. What kind of contortions would evangelical Trumpies have to achieve if it comes out that their hero had cheated on his wife, got another woman pregnant, then paid her off to have an abortion?
I'm guessing it would all be Obama's fault. Still...
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/27/politics/paul-manafort-robert-mueller/index.html
Poor Paul. I may shed another tear.
And Akhilleus, the old "telephone" game, an often amusing illustration of how stories change with each repetition, leads me to gasp at the very idea of O. Henry with painted toenails.
I had no idea. Think I'll tell my wife.
@Bea, I think your story about TB has changed my life for the rest of my days. There is literally one degree of separation between TB and me.
In the mid-90's one of my family member's business had him as a client, doing work on his weekend/summer home in the country. One item ordered for him was a new toilet seat - a nice wooden one with a high-gloss urethane finish and brass hinge. It sat on a shelf for months, in a box with TB's name on it, waiting to be installed.
During that time my wife and I also rehabbed a bathroom in our house. We put in a new toilet that needed a seat. So, after well over a year a gathering dust and taking up shelf space we were given the seat because it was the perfect size and "look" that we needed. After 20 years it's still good as new.
From now on while sitting on the throne looking at my feet I'll think of your story of "The One Painted Nail."
Thanks for sharing.
Though they are difficult to read, which I know is the point, my superior vision allowed me to see that the redacted portions of the Repugnant "Intelligence" Committee's report on the Pretender's no/collusion with the Russians say he is guilty as sin.
Thought you'd want to know.
@unwashed: And I'll think of Brokow never getting in trouble at his country house for not putting down the toilet seat because there isn't one. In the meantime, of course, he just may be in trouble with his wife for something else.