The Commentariat -- December 13, 2019
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether President Trump can block the release of his financial records, setting the stage for a blockbuster ruling on the power of presidents to resist demands for information from prosecutors and Congress. The court's ruling, expected by June, could give the public a look at information the president has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect. Or the justices could rule that Mr. Trump's financial affairs are not legitimate subjects of inquiry so long as he remains in office. Either way, the court is now poised to produce a once-in-a-generation statement on presidential accountability.... Mr. Trump asked the court to block three sets of subpoenas, and the justices agreed to decide his appeals in all three. All of the subpoenas sought information from Mr. Trump's accountants or bankers, not from Mr. Trump himself, and the firms have indicated that they will comply with the court's ruling."
Alan Rappeport, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States and China said they had agreed to an initial trade deal that would reduce tariffs on some Chinese goods and increase purchases of American farm products, a significant de-escalation in the 19-month battle that has rattled the world economy.... The limited agreement was widely viewed as a détente that would prevent an escalation of tariffs ahead of the 2020 election and could help reignite trade between the world's largest economies. But the preliminary pact lacked the magnitude of change that Mr. Trump had promised to deliver before talks broke down earlier this year and many details that have hampered past agreements continued to be in flux, including the size of China's agricultural purchases." A CNBC story is here. Mrs. McC: Trump of course called the limited agreement "phenomenal" and "amazing."
Olivia Beavers & Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment Friday that charge President Trump with high crimes and misdemeanors, setting up a historic House vote next week that all but guarantees Trump will be just the third president to be impeached in U.S. history. The articles, which charge with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, were passed out of the committee along strict party lines, with 23 Democrats voting to send the measures to the full House, which is expected to approve them next week. One Democrat, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), was absent after undergoing an unexpected medical procedure earlier in the week." The New York Times report, by Nicholas Fandos, is here.
MEANWHILE. John Fritze of USA Today: "... Rudy Giuliani, was seen entering the White House Friday, just as the House Judiciary Committee was taking a historic series of votes to approve articles of impeachment against the president. Giuliani, a central figure in the events driving the Democratic impeachment push, has said he wants to brief U.S. officials on the findings of his recent trip to Ukraine. It was not immediately clear if Giuliani was meeting with Trump."
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Mark Landler & Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party won a commanding majority in the British Parliament, a striking victory that redraws the lines in British politics and paves the way for the country's exit from the European Union early next year. The Conservatives were projected to win 363 seats in the House of Commons, versus 203 for the Labour Party, according to the BBC, with almost all of Parliament's seats decided. That would give the Conservatives about a 75-seat majority, their largest since that amassed by Margaret Thatcher in 1987." Mrs. McC: This seems like a tragedy for Britain, for Europe, and perhaps for the world. I hope I'm wrong. ~~~
~~~ Jill Lawless, et al., of the AP: "Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party has won a thumping majority of seats in Britain's Parliament -- a decisive outcome to a Brexit-dominated election that should allow Johnson to fulfill his plan to take the U.K. out of the European Union next month." ~~~
~~~ BBC: "Jeremy Corbyn has said he will not lead Labour into the next election, following a 'very disappointing night' for his party. He said he would stay on as leader during a 'process of reflection' on the result, which a BBC forecast says will be its worst since 1935. He added that the issue of Brexit had 'polarised' politics and 'overridden so much of normal political debate'. But others within Labour blamed his leadership." ~~~
~~~ Here's the Guardian's latest liveblog. ~~~
~~~ Then There's This. Rodney Jefferson & Alistair Reed of Bloomberg, in Yahoo! News: "The Scottish National Party was on course to take back most of the districts it lost two years ago. Such a dramatic outcome -- possibly winning at least 50 of the 59 seats available in Scotland -- will galvanize the party in its pursuit of the independence referendum leader Nicola Sturgeon says is necessary after her country opposed leaving the European Union. [Boris] Johnson, like his predecessor Theresa May, has consistently resisted pressure from the SNP-led administration in Edinburgh for another independence vote. But the last one, when Scots chose to stay in the U.K. in 2014, was before the vote to leave the EU. Sturgeon made stopping Brexit and giving Scotland the right to dictate its own future the cornerstone of her party's campaign. 'Johnson has a mandate for Brexit and Sturgeon has a mandate for Scottish independence,' Simon Hix, professor of political science at the London School of Economics, said after the exit poll. 'We are heading towards a new constitutional crisis, which won't be resolved easily in the next few years.' As of early morning, the SNP had taken 46 of the 59 seats, gaining 13, while Johnson's Conservatives lost seven and Labour lost six. The SNP held others with increased majorities and even took the seat of Liberal Democrat Party Leader Jo Swinson. 'It shows the divergent paths that Scotland and the rest of the U.K. are on,' Sturgeon told the BBC from Glasgow. 'It's still my plan to submit an official request before the end of the year for a new independence referendum.'" ~~~
~~~ Tom McTague of the Atlantic: "The Britain built by Tony Blair is gone, fatally undermined by David Cameron's Brexit referendum and, now, swept away in a provincial tide of support for Boris Johnson's Conservatives.... He has sheared off the Conservative Party's most liberal wing, radicalized Britain's divorce deal with the European Union -- and won a thumping mandate from the public to see it through.... This is a story ... [that] is also about the deep structural and demographic currents working under the surface, eroding Labour's historic heartlands and dragging Johnson to victory thanks to a new coalition of voters, transforming the Conservatives into a party that prioritizes national sovereignty and controls on immigration over economic growth, one that had the good fortune to face a Labour Party more out of touch with its base than ever before."
Friday the 13th Not Necessarily Donnie's Lucky Day. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "House Judiciary Committee Democrats on Thursday abruptly put off a pair of historic impeachment votes after a drawn-out battle with Republicans stretched late into the night, setting up final action on Friday to approve charges that President Trump abused his power and obstructed Congress. Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, called off the votes moments before they were expected to take place, announcing just after 11 p.m. that he wanted lawmakers to have time to 'search their consciences' before the final roll call. The chairman said the committee would reconvene Friday at 10 a.m. to promptly finalize two articles of impeachment, with the outcome certain."
Michael Shear of the New York Times highlighted developments in the House Judiciary Committee's debate on Articles of Impeachment. "The recess came after more than 14 hours of debate during which Republicans repeatedly sought to derail or water down the articles of impeachment drafted by the Democratic majority in the House. The committee rejected all five amendments proposed by Republicans." (Also linked yesterday.)
Here's a moment, courtesy of Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland):
"Pot Calling the Kettle Black." Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Rep. Matt Gaetz ... set off a dust-up during the Judiciary Committee's markup of articles of impeachment when he brought up Hunter Biden's history of substance abuse.... The remarkable exchange took place when Gaetz (R-Fla.) introduced an amendment that would have stricken former Vice President Joe Biden's name from one of the articles and inserted that of his son Hunter Biden and Burisma, the Ukrainian natural gas company on whose board he sat.... Gaetz quoted a New Yorker profile of Hunter from July that described Hunter Biden wandering through a homeless encampment in Los Angeles in search of cocaine and an instance in which a rental car company said it found a crack pipe in a car Biden had returned.... Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) then spoke up to oppose Gaetz's amendment, but not before taking a pointed swipe at his colleague's own run-in with the law. Gaetz was arrested in 2008 on suspicion of DUI, declining a breathalyzer test and a field sobriety test, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The charges against Gaetz were later dropped, and he was never convicted. 'I would say that the pot calling the kettle black is not something that we should do,' Johnson said, prompting laughter to break out in the hearing room. 'I don't know what members, if any, have had any problems with substance abuse, been busted in DUI, I don't know,' he continued, shooting a glance in Gaetz's direction. 'But if I did, I wouldn't raise it against anyone on this committee. I don't think it's proper.'"
** Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times has a terrific story on Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the only member of the Judiciary Committee who has participated in the impeachment proceedings of Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton & Donald Trump. (Also linked yesterday.)
Washington Post Editors: "THE HOUSE Judiciary Committee's debate about articles of impeachment Wednesday and Thursday underlined the yawning gap between Democrats and Republicans over President Trump's behavior -- and also between Republicans and the truth.... Remarkably, not one GOP member of the Judiciary Committee was ready to acknowledge that there was anything wrong with Mr. Trump's demand that a foreign government pursue false charges against one of his most likely Democratic opponents in the 2020 election.... Instead, they offered a display of blind fealty, portraying Mr. Trump as a victim of Democratic persecution while ignoring or misrepresenting the evidence against him. Some served up gross distortions and falsehoods. Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), among Mr. Trump's most ardent supporters, repeated what they described as four key points, all of which are starkly at odds with sworn testimony and documents."
They Can't Handle the Facts. Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post on Republican Senators' reported plan to hold an abbreviated impeachment "trial" without witnesses (related story linked below): "... it would be grossly irresponsible and cowardly of the Senate majority to duck its constitutional obligations by refusing to hear facts before a vote, but it follows that nothing would more vividly convey the irresponsibility and cowardice of Republican senators." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Lauren Egan of NBC News: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Thursday that there was 'no chance' that ... Donald Trump would be removed from office in any impeachment trial that it 'wouldn't surprise' him if some Democrats split from their party and voted in the president's favor. 'The case is so darn weak coming from the House,' McConnell said in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News Thursday night, as the House Judiciary Committee continued to debate articles of impeachment." ~~~
~~~ Accused & "Jury Foreman" Conspire to Fix Trial. Manu Raju & Phil Mattingly of CNN: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and ... Donald Trump's top lawyer sketched out a plan Thursday to coordinate closely for an impeachment trial but haven't reached agreement on a final strategy to defend Trump against charges of high crimes and misdemeanors, according to two sources familiar with the conversation. The closed-door meeting Thursday between the Kentucky Republican and White House counsel Pat Cipollone occurred as Senate Republicans and the White House have diverged on what they would like to see take place in the looming trial in the chamber. Trump has made clear he wants witnesses to testify, in person, while senators -- including McConnell in private -- have warned that going down that path could lead to a politically precarious slippery slope in the GOP effort to acquit the President." Mrs. McC: Senators swear an oath to be impartial jurors. ~~~
~~~ Democratic Senators Consider Using Mrs. Bea McCrabbie's Weird Hypothetical Scenario. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Democrats are quietly talking about asking Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to hold articles of impeachment in the House until Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) agrees to a fair rules package for a Senate trial. Democratic senators are concerned by talk among Senate Republicans of holding a speedy trial without witnesses, which would set up a shorter time frame than when the Senate considered President Clinton's 1999 impeachment.... Democrats discussed their impeachment strategy at a closed-door Steering Committee meeting on Wednesday attended by former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, former Obama White House counsel Bob Bauer and strategist Stephanie Cutter, according to a document listing the guests. University of North Carolina law professor Michael Gerhardt, an impeachment specialist, and Frank Bowman, the author of 'High Crimes and Misdemeanors: A History of Impeachment for the Age of Trump,' also attended. The legal experts told Democrats they have a strong case against Trump but that they must present their charges as vividly as possible. 'I think we should have witnesses, and I think that the way we hear from the witnesses will be determined by negotiations,' Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who left the presidential campaign trail to attend the meeting after missing Senate votes on Monday and Tuesday." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: We live in times where the well-worn notion, "you can't make up this stuff" is no longer operative. Because yeah, you can.
Jeff Stein & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "The White House budget office asserts in a new legal memo that it withheld military aid to Ukraine as a temporary move to study whether the spending complied with U.S. policy -- and not as a political effort to block Congress's spending decisions.... The memo details the White House's latest legal rationale for freezing foreign aid to Ukraine over the summer. OMB general counsel Mark Paoletta wrote the memo to respond to a request from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which had asked why the aid had been delayed.... Paoletta authorized the repeated delays in the spending while awaiting a decision from Trump on the matter, according to [an] administration official.... Importantly, the agency's memo does not attempt to rebut Democrats' contention that Trump abused his power by seeking to pressure a foreign nation to open an investigation into a political rival or that he obstructed justice in deterring the investigation into his conduct.... Paoletta's new memo states that the Ukrainian assistance was put on hold in response to an administration directive 'pending a policy decision,' with internal discussions on the aid beginning June 19. That was the same day the president read an article in the Washington Examiner about the Pentagon's plans to send $250 million in weapons to Ukraine, according to the administration official...." ~~~
~~~ABC News has a report here. Paoletta's memo is here (via the WashPo). It is dated December 11, 2019. Mrs. McC: That is, Paoletta just thought it up, wa-a-a-y after the fact. Not too convincing. Looks another iteration of the popular Trump "I really don't care, do you?" defense.
Soo Rin Kim, et al., of ABC News: "The Trump administration released heavily redacted documents Thursday evening that, without the redactions, would have been the first communications revealed between government agencies regarding aid money to Ukraine being held up. The Freedom of Information Act request, filed by the Center for Public Integrity, a D.C.-based nonprofit group that specializes in investigative reporting, was first granted by a federal judge last month. That order required the Department of Defense and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to release documents to that group from April of this year regarding the Ukraine aid.... 'We are deeply disappointed that the public won't have access to this important information at the heart of the impeachment process,' said Susan Smith Richardson, CEO of the Center for Public Integrity. 'But we will continue to fight to ensure that the documents see the light of day.'"
Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "The Justice Department on Thursday quietly published on its website some never-before-seen internal legal opinions that could help ... Donald Trump block congressional requests as he faces impeachment by the US House and a trial in the Senate. Eight of the opinions appear to bolster the White House's stonewalling of Congress on witness testimony and document subpoenas.... A Justice Department official acknowledging the releases said these opinions were cited in the Office of Legal Counsel's more recent opinion that former Trump White House counsel Don McGahn should be immune from subpoenaed congressional testimony.... The collection could be a valuable central resource for the President in the coming weeks, fleshing out the authority the executive branch has given itself to ignore congressional requests."
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Bear in mind that these are opinions written to advocate for the president, not judicial opinions or decisions.
Erica Orden & Kara Scannell of CNN: "Federal prosecutors investigating associates of Rudy Giuliani have focused on a Ukrainian state-owned natural gas company, a move that suggests authorities are exploring whether a law prohibiting the payment of bribes to foreign officials has been violated.... The law, called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, prohibits a US company or individual from giving any payment, offer of payment or anything of value to a foreign official in order to obtain or retain business.... The fresh line of inquiry has accelerated in recent weeks. New York federal prosecutors have interviewed two senior executives at Naftogaz, the Ukrainian state-run energy company, and requested interviews with at least two others who are believed to have some knowledge of the alleged scheme by Giuliani's associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman to replace Naftogaz's chief executive in hopes of bettering their business prospects."
Jonathan Chait backs up my assertion (made yesterday) that Trump & Putin were colluding on 2020 election disruption: "President Trump is facing impeachment primarily for abusing his power for political gain, extorting a foreign country to discredit his political rivals. The secondary aspect of the plot is that the target of his extortion is hardly random. Ukraine is the victim of Russian aggression, and Russia's continuing incursions into Ukrainian territory is the muscle that gave Trump's threats leverage. Trump's domestic interests are one intended beneficiary of his scheme. The other is Vladimir Putin.... Rudy has worked as Trump's lawyer for 'free,' but [Rudy aide Lev] Parnas paid him half a million dollars for his work. If Parnas himself was being paid by Russian sources, this means the Russians were essentially subsidizing Trump, paying for the work themselves so he didn't have to lay out a dime of his own money." Chait does add a caveat that it's not a slam-dunk that whatever oligarch(s) paid Parnas had an interest in helping Putin with Ukraine. But the way the government-oligarchical "system" works in Russia, it's likely. (Also linked yesterday.)
Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court in Virginia heard arguments Thursday about whether to revive a lawsuit accusing President Trump of violating the Constitution by profiting from his hotel near the White House, in a spirited session that indicated sharp divisions among the judges over the legal consequences of the president's conduct.... The 15-member court in Richmond met to consider whether a three-judge appellate panel had wrongly dismissed a lawsuit over the Trump International Hotel brought by the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland. The 15-member court in Richmond met to consider whether a three-judge appellate panel had wrongly dismissed a lawsuit over the Trump International Hotel brought by the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland."
Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "Incensed perhaps by her selection -- and not his -- as Time magazine's person of the year, Donald Trump opened Twitter fire Thursday morning on the climate activist Greta Thunberg. Trump, 73, tweeted that Thunberg, 16, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, had an 'anger management problem' and should 'chill' -- no pun apparently intended. 'So ridiculous,' the president wrote. 'Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!'... Trump's attack on her, in personal terms, from his presidential bully pulpit struck many observers as a marked and hypocritical escalation. Trump's wife and his eldest son recently reacted with outrage when a witness called by Democrats to testify in the impeachment hearings punned on the name of Trump's 13-year-old son, Barron, to make a point about how presidents are not kings.... 'A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics,' Melania Trump wrote at the time. Thunberg swiftly changed her bio description on Twitter. 'A teenager working on her anger management problem,' it now reads. 'Currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend.'" Thanks to unwashed for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump is picking on a minor, a female, specifically for a disability. A trifecta which would have been perfect if only Greta weren't white. ~~~
~~~ Aaron Rupar of Vox: "Trump's Greta tweet was undoubtedly the most unsavory he posted during his Twitter binge on Thursday, but it was far from the only bad one. Fourteen minutes after the Greta tweet, Trump ... shared an advertisement posted by the Trump Organization, a business he still owns and profits from, promoting his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. 'I will be there in two weeks, The Southern White House!' Trump said, conflating properties he profits from with the publicly funded residence in which he's supposed to do the people's business.... He [also] retweeted a post from Rudy Giuliani characterizing Democrats following the Constitution's impeachment process as an 'attempted coup'; characterized FBI agents as 'dirty cops'; lauded Fox News's ratings, adding, 'It's great to have a wonderful subject, President Trump'; and, in an apparent attempt to make it look like he's doing something constructive, touted a Chinese trade deal that he's been hyping without results for more than a year." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Donald Trump Is Working So Hard for Americans. Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Thursday set a personal record for use of Twitter in a single day since taking office, blasting out more than 120 tweets or retweets in 24 hours. In total, the president sent 123 messages, according to a count by The Hill, topping his previous record of 105 set just a few days earlier. The majority of Trump's tweets came during a morning outburst in which he retweeted dozens of messages from Republican lawmakers ripping the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment hearings."
I believe that President Trump is engaged in the most direct sustained assault on freedom of the press in our history. -- Fox "News" host Chris Wallace, speech at the Newseum, a media museum in Washington, Wednesday
Ana Swanson, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States has settled on final terms of a partial trade deal with China, moving both countries closer to signing a pact that President Trump originally announced in October, four people familiar with the negotiations said. Mr. Trump met with his top economic advisers Thursday afternoon at the White House to discuss an arrangement that would reduce by half the overall rate on the tariffs he has placed on $360 billion of goods, in return for Chinese commitments to buy American agriculture and other concessions, the people said. The president was widely expected to announce as early as Friday that he would delay or cancel new tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on Sunday on $160 billion of consumer products from China. On Thursday morning, he said on Twitter that the United States was closing in on a deal." ~~~
~~~ Josh Rogin of the Washington Post: "... if the president strikes the deal on the terms being reported, he will actually be making a huge concession to Beijing that achieves few U.S. goals, and is so bad that even Trump will have trouble spinning it as a political win.... The result would be a deal that immediately relieves major pressure on the Chinese economy in exchange for future promises the Chinese side may never fulfill. Beijing's concessions also don't address the bulk of the structural issues and abuses that make Chinese economic aggression a long-term threat to the U.S. economy."
Julia Ainsley & Courtney Kube of NBC News: "The Defense Department's internal watchdog plans to review a recent Army Corps of Engineers decision to award a $400 million contract for border wall construction to a North Dakota company that has been publicly and privately endorsed by members of the Trump administration, including the president himself. The review of the award to Fisher Sand & Gravel is an audit by the Pentagon's inspector general and comes in response to a request by Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the Democratic chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Thompson said the decision to award the contract should be reviewed because Fisher's 'proposals reportedly did not meet the operational requirements of U.S. Customs and Border Protection' and because of 'concerns about the possibility of inappropriate influence' on the Army Corps of Engineers." The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Hamed Aleaziz of BuzzFeed News: "Immigrants held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement jails around the US received medical care so bad it resulted in two preventable surgeries, including an 8-year-old boy who had to have part of his forehead removed, and contributed to four deaths, according to an internal complaint from an agency whistleblower. The allegations appear in an explosive Department of Homeland Security memo, obtained by BuzzFeed News, containing reports of detainees being given incorrect medication, suffering from delays in treating withdrawal symptoms, and one who was allowed to become so mentally unstable he lacerated his own penis and required reparative surgery."
** Andy Kroll of Rolling Stone:"For nearly three years, Stephen Miller has used his White House seat to orchestrate the most extreme anti-immigrant agenda in almost a century. But he hasn't done it alone. A loose network of lawyers and advisers embedded throughout the Trump administration has worked closely with Miller to carry out the daily effort of pushing through draconian and often inhumane policies.... In other words, Miller, with his white-nationalist mindset and fervor to enact xenophobic policies, is far from an isolated actor. He's the leader of a broad operation spread across the federal government." Kroll highlights a few of the extremist voices. --s (Also linked yesterday.)
Jake Pearson & Anand Tumurtogoo of ProPublica: "On a hunting trip this August, Donald Trump Jr. shot and killed [an argali, an endangered species of sheep]. His adventure was supported by government resources from both the U.S. and Mongolia, which each sent security services to accompany the president's eldest son and grandson on the multiday trip.... Afterward, Trump Jr. met privately with the country's president, Khaltmaagiin Battulga, before departing the capital of Ulaanbaatar back to the U.S.... Trump Jr. wouldn't answer questions about the meeting. Representatives for Battulga haven't responded to requests for comment.... [A] spokesman for Trump Jr. ... said in a statement it was a purely personal expedition. He purchased the seven-day Mongolian hunting trip at a National Rifle Association charity auction before his father announced his candidacy for president in 2015 ... and flew commercial in and out of the country. It's unclear if the auction item listed an argali or mentioned meetings with Mongolian government officials." --s (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: "The Mongolian government issued [Junior] a hunting permit retroactively." Emphasis added.
Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Top congressional negotiators said Thursday they had reached a deal in principle to approve $1.3 trillion in federal spending for 2020, probably averting a government shutdown next week. The announcement, from House Appropriations Committee Chairman Nita M. Lowey (D-N.Y.) and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), came after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin visited Capitol Hill midday to review a final list of sticking points. 'There's a meeting of the minds,' Lowey said. The tentative agreement sets the stage for a remarkable sequence of events next week in the House, with a presidential impeachment vote sandwiched between bipartisan deals on federal spending and North American trade. The House could vote on the spending bill as soon as Tuesday, with the Senate acting before the end of the week." The Politico story is here.
Peter Sullivan of the Hill: "The House on Thursday passed a sweeping bill aimed at lowering prescription drug prices, a step toward a long-held Democratic goal that was met with sharp Republican resistance. The bill passed on a largely party-line vote of 230-192. The measure, which would allow the government to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs, is one of House Democrats' top priorities and is expected to be touted by vulnerable Democrats up for reelection next year. The party is also looking to show that it is focused on kitchen table issues like lowering drug costs even as lawmakers prepare for an impeachment vote against President Trump.... Two Republicans voted in favor of the bill: Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and Jaime Herrera Beutler (Wash.), both moderates who face competitive reelection races next year. No Democrats voted against the bill.... The bill is almost certain to die in the GOP-led Senate, though, given that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has called it 'socialist' and vowed to block it."
Bryant Harris of Al-Monitor: "The White House successfully pushed Congress to remove language in the annual defense bill that would have imposed concrete penalties on Saudi Arabia for the war in Yemen and the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.... The House amended the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 240-185 in July to block US funding for the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthi rebels. At the same time, the House passed another NDAA amendment 405-7 in a veto-proof vote to sanction Saudi officials complicit in Khashoggi's murder.... Republican negotiators successfully fought to keep the Saudi provisions out of the final defense bill after the White House marked it as a red line.... [P]aid parental leave is likely not enough to get many left-wing Democrats on board the final bill, which authorizes a $131 billion increase in annual defense spending since Trump took office while removing virtually all other progressive national security priorities that Democrats initially had in their version of the legislation." --s (Also linked yesterday.)
Julian Borger of the Guardian: "Legislation to stop Donald Trump from withdrawing the US from Nato has been approved for a Senate vote, amid uncertainty over the president's intentions towards the alliance. The Senate foreign relations committee on Wednesday voted unanimously for the bipartisan bill which will now await a slot to go to the Senate.... 'We're aware that it has been seriously debated and seriously considered in the White House at the highest levels,' [Democrat Tim] Kaine told the Guardian.... Kaine predicted his bill to block a Nato withdrawal would gain overwhelming support from the House of Representatives and win a veto-proof majority in the upper chamber of at least 67 votes." --s (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: There's no mention in this or other articles about the bill on whether or not the House has passed an analogous bill.
~~~ Patricia Zengerle of Reuters: "A U.S. Senate committee backed legislation on Wednesday to impose sanctions on Turkey after its offensive in Syria and purchase of a Russian S-400 missile system, the latest move in the chamber to push Republican President Donald Trump to take a harder line against Ankara. The Republican-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted by 18-4 to send the 'Promoting American National Security and Preventing the Resurgence of ISIS Act of 2019' for a vote in the full Senate. 'Now's the time for the Senate to come together and take this opportunity to change Turkey's behavior,' said Senator Jim Risch, the panel's Republican chairman, a lead sponsor of the bill with Senator Bob Menendez, the panel's top Democrat.... [The House] passed its own Turkish sanctions bill by an overwhelming 403-16 vote in October...." Mrs. McC: So now I guess the big question on both of these bills is whether or not Mitch McConnell will bring them to the floor. (Also linked yesterday.)
GOP v. Earth. Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "... the real revelation has been the utter depravity of the Republican Party. Essentially every elected or appointed official in that party has chosen to defend Trump by buying into crazy, debunked conspiracy theories. That is, one of America's two major parties is beyond redemption; given that, it's hard to see how democracy can long endure, even if Trump is defeated.... The terrifying political news and the terrifying climate news are closely related.... One factor stands out above all others: the fanatical opposition of America's Republicans, who are the world's only major climate-denialist party. Because of this opposition, the United States hasn't just failed to provide the kind of leadership that would have been essential to global action, it has become a force against action."
Presidential Race 2020
Rebecca Traister of New York on how male pundits hold female candidates to a high standard of honesty (Elizabeth Warren) while ignoring male candidates' dishonesty (Joe Biden). (Also linked yesterday.)
** Brave New Big Brother World. Lee Fang of The Intercept: "... Donald Trump's reelection effort has retained the services of a technology company [Phunware, an Austin, Texas-based firm] that specializes in the mass collection of smartphone location data, which can be used to track voters for political targeting purposes.... Phunware, in a section of its website, discusses the company's ability to obtain GPS location data and the Wi-Fi network used by an individual, as well as user data that can infer an 'individual's gender, age, lifestyle preferences' -- potential tools for identifying and influencing voters.... Earlier this year, deleted scenes from the documentary 'The Brink' revealed that Steve Bannon, Trump's campaign manager in 2016, had used similar location-tracking technology services to target church-attending Catholics during the midterm elections. 'If your phone's ever been in a Catholic church, it's amazing, they got this data,' Bannon said in the film clip. 'Literally, they can tell who's been in a Catholic church and how frequently,' he added." --s (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Since I don't have many secrets, many intrusions on our privacy don't creep me out as much as perhaps they should. This technology creeps me out.
Mark Stern of Slate: "Despite Donald Trump's periodic threats to terminate birthright citizenship, it remains the law of the land -- except for one small territory. The federal government designates individuals born in American Samoa as 'noncitizen nationals,' which denies them a fundamental right granted to those born anywhere else in the country. On Thursday, however, U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups ruled this practice unconstitutional, directing the government to recognize the citizenship of individuals born in American Samoa. (More than 55,000 people live on the island, most of whom were born there.) Waddoups' decision is the first volley in a fight that may force the Supreme Court to assess the scope of birthright citizenship for the first time in more than a century."
Beyond the Beltway
Kentucky. What a Difference a Governor Makes. There Are Ex-Felons ... Caroline Kelly of CNN: "Newly sworn-in Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear [D] restored voting rights for over 140,000 former felons in the state through an executive order, his office announced Thursday.... Beshear also lamented the state's voter access issues, asserting that Kentucky has the third highest voter disenfranchisement rate nationwide with nearly 10% of people, and nearly 25% of African-Americans, in the state not being allowed to vote.The move fulfills a campaign promise after Beshear's upset victory over former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin in November. It was a key point in Beshear's platform of progressive issues, including making Medicaid more accessible and replacing Bevin's state board of education." The New York Times has a story here. A Guardian story is here. ~~~
~~~ And There Are Ex-Felons. Kayla Epstein of the Washington Post: "Matt Bevin [R] is no longer the governor of Kentucky, but his decisions continued to send shock waves through the state's legal system this week after he issued pardons for hundreds of people, some of whom committed violent offenses. Bevin issued 428 pardons since his defeat to Democrat Andy Beshear in a close election in November, the Louisville Courier Journal reported. His list includes a man convicted of reckless homicide, a convicted child rapist, a man who murdered his parents at age 16 and a woman who threw her newborn in the trash after giving birth in a flea market outhouse. He also pardoned Dayton Jones, who was convicted in the sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy at a party, Kentucky New Era reported. It is not unusual for governors to issue pardons as they leave office, but Bevin's actions boggled some of the state's attorneys, who questioned his judgment. 'What this governor did is an absolute atrocity of justice,' said Commonwealth Attorney Jackie Steele, a prosecutor for Knox and Laurel counties. 'He's put victims, he's put others in our community danger.'"~~~
~~~ Daniel Desrochers of the Lexington Herald-Leader: "It's not clear if Betty Carnes was killed by asphyxiation or by the eight blows to her head that Delmar Partin delivered with a metal pipe..., but it was very clear that her head was then chopped off and placed on her lap in a 55-gallon barrel that was destined for a toxic waste site. On Monday, departing Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin pardoned and commuted the sentence of Partin, who was convicted of killing her at the factory where they both worked in Barbourville in 1994. In his order, Bevin said he pardoned Partin because potential DNA evidence had not been tested."
Way Beyond
Australia. Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Ben Smee of the Guardian: "The Tamborine Mountain state school has run out of water, even as water miners in the Gold Coast hinterland are sending millions of litres to commercial bottling operations. Trucks sent by the Queensland government carrying emergency supplies to the school, including Mount Tamborine bottled water, have been passing trucks heading in the opposite direction taking local water to bottling plants for beverage giants such as Coca-Cola. The school remains open but parents have been advised by teachers to consider keeping their children at home." --s (Also linked yesterday.)
Raphael Satter of Reuters: "North Korean state-backed hackers appear to be cooperating with Eastern European cybercriminals, a report here said on Wednesday, a finding that suggests digital gangsters and state-backed spies are finding common ground online." --s (Also linked yesterday.)
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Reader Comments (27)
IMO (not humble this time) the China trade deal that so far doesn't exist will play a substantial part in the 2020 election. (Going out on a limb here to say the Pretender will still be in office as November 2020 nears.)
Don't know how seriously to take Rogin but for what it's worth this opinion piece on the subject:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/trump-is-getting-played-by-china-on-trade/2019/12/12/a8381362-1d2d-11ea-b4c1-fd0d91b60d9e_story.html
Being a dealmaker is tough duty.
Okay, I'm beat. I spent the entire day watching those hearings.
Fried is what I am.
So I have a suggestion for everyone:
Go out and see "Fabulous Fungi"
No explanation, just a hint: "We are all one"
Really, it's beautiful. Go see it.
Great stop action photography. Great VGA. No plot.
A cure for what ails us.
@Victoria: Yeah, I've been watching old movies on Jeff Bezos' Amazon Prime, When one movie ends, I tune in to see what's going on in the hearing. Oh, nothing. Then on to the next.
Fungus is more interesting than Doug Collins?
Makes sense, mycologically.
Interesting how confederate pols, apparatchiks, and treason-loving media shills like Sean Hannity have been screaming from the get-go that Democrats have no interest in the facts (good one, that) and are dead set on impeachment no matter what.
But now here’s McTurtle proclaiming, with a Senate trial not even on the calendar yet, and without considering a single sliver of factual evidence or hearing so much as an “I do” from a witness, that total acquittal of the Orange Traitor is a lead pipe cinch. And not a peep of outrage from the Jim Jordans in Congress about what an atrocity it is that an outcome in this situation appears to be (sorry, not appears:is) a foregone conclusion.
IOKIYAT.
It’s okay if you’re a traitor.
Not everyone's happy with the Newest NAFTA:
https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/business-a-lobbying/474330-business-groups-knock-new-nafta-deal-over-intellectual-property
As someone. said, it's tough being a dealmaker.
And as my Washington Fair Trade Coalition source tells me that the word that there won't be a Senate vote on the deal until sometime next spring seems accurate, it seems there's room for more months of jockeying and that therefore the Newest NAFTA might not be the Last.
Marie,
The Conservative party victory in yesterday’s election in Britain IS a tragedy. Brexit, which is now assured, was and is, a con job sold by disgracefully dishonest nationalists, racists, and ignorant blowhards who manufactured their own “facts” about healthcare, employment, security, and the economy, all of which have turned out to be clearly untrue, to the point where most of these charlatans, including Boris Johnson, have pulled a Trump and come out protesting that they never said a lot of what they are on tape saying.
It’s another step along the road to political Mordor, where the shadows lie, and so do all the political denizens thereat.
A tragedy for the Brits (but not the brutes), Europe, and the importance of truth and facts.
We know all about that.
Victoria says she felt "fried" after watching yesterday's "yes we can" vs "No you can't" bonanza. I would describe my feelings more like Sisyphus climbing up that hill, getting half way there and having that large rock come rolling down and pushing me back down–-over and over and over. The frustration of listening to our "freinds–sorry, friends–- from the other side" is testament to what we could kindly call balderdash or tommyrot or taradiddles or poppycock but these terms hardly describe the pure duplicity of what is going on here.
If we recall soon after Trump was elected he referred to himself as "Mr. Brexit." As Isaac Chotiner said at the time, "These twin 'populist' explosions have been a central drama in each country ever since, feeding the news cycle on both sides of the Atlantic" and I would add, with the same mixture of of apprehension, despair, and disbelief.
and interesting that both Boris and Donald have a slight resemblance to each other, have comparable regard for women, a governing style that combines buffoonery and demagoguery although I do think Boris might be a tad smarter–-just a hunch. Here's Chotiner again:
"Dean Acheson's famous remark in 1962, that "Great Britain has lost an empire and has not yet found a role" suggests that striving to become a social democracy within Europe would somehow have been an insufficiently glorious ambition for an erstwhile world power."
And we have seen how Britain has struggled with this over the years, especially during Thatcher's time. But back to our great democracy that teeters on its fragile legs: If Trump survives, we lose–-it's as simple as that.
In the "you can't make this stuff up" category, Mike Huckabee says he
has been "named to head up" donald trump's 2024 re-election
campaign. Maybe Sarah will be running for VP?
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-begun-2024-campaign-eligible-
015357541.html?soc_src=hl-viewer&soc_trk=ma
@PD Pepe: Thanks for the historical perspective. The U.S. was never a great empire, thanks goodness, but it was -- and to a significant extent, still is -- a great power. It's difficult from this vantage-point not seeing the country in which I was born going the way of "Great" Britain, but perhaps a little faster, thanks mostly to Fox "News" but also to "journalists" like Abby Phillip blathering both-siderisms on CNN this morning (& thanks to Jeff Toobin for politely correcting her). Hate to think how NPR may be framing this.
Personally, I know that he will not be removed, despite impeachment. Mitch is rigging the trial, and anyone with R after his/her name is a rotten person, beyond redemption. There was absolutely no point in the "debate" since the screamers on the right had nothing and they just screeched the same crap hour after hour. I don't even think there is merit in watching the so-called trial, since the kool-aid is streaming through the veins of every R anywhere, and especially in the senate of the USA.
I remain skeptical about how Biden the Younger got that job, but it has zero to do with anything in the Greedy Old Party. How does anyone get plum jobs unless the hands are greased? After all, everything R involves grease-- I would venture to say Dems are not immune when it comes to patronage. But none of it has to do with the greasiest, sleaziest, rottenest, lying, stealing ratbastard of all, the Presidunce* himself. He wears the crown. And I do mean crown; followed by Moscow Mitch, whose tombstone will have to include "He stole the dignity, truth and following for the once-vaunted Supreme Court."
Marie wrote: " reportedly Rudy is...reporting to Trump his "findings"... on Joe Biden's nefarious dealings in Ukraine. Mrs. McC: I'm not making this up..."
No, but I'm sure Trump and Rudy are making up plenty.
Does anyone have an update as to how Charlie Pierce at Esquire is? Crooks and Liars reported he was hit by a car, but no one has published anything about it on the Politics Blog. There has not been a new column in the last several days, and I am hoping he was not seriously hurt.
What? Another bullshit cover story for withholding funds approved by congress for Ukraine in their life and death struggle with Trump's Russian pals?
Hey, confederate traitors, don't bother making up any other crap. Here's a handy list you can use when your latest lies fall flat. Like all the others.
Reason(s) Fatty withheld money from Ukraine:
He thought the money was earmarked for a hotel chain not connected to the Trump Crime Family.
Sean Hannity told him to.
It was Tuesday. Nothing gets done on Tuesday at the White House.
It was Thursday. Nothing gets done on Thursday at the White House.
It was Monday...
Obama did it.
Uncle Vlad called him and they got into a seven day discussion about world events, history, military theory, the gold standard, that lady who claimed to be the only surviving daughter of the Romanovs, and the current status of Marxist dialectical materialism on world labor markets. Stuff just slipped through the cracks.
Pence did it.
No one told him he couldn't.
Mulvaney took up too much of Trump's time trying to convince him that "corruption" really does have two R's.
He forgot.
Okay, traitors? Got it? You got enough excuses now? Because most of these are way better than any of yours. Good. Now fuck off.
@Jeanne: As of yesterday, Pierce was still tweeting prolifically. Nothing today. As he tweeted shortly after the accident, he's on meds.
From the clip at the top of this morning's update: "Olivia Beavers & Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment Friday that charge President Trump with high crimes ..."
It says "Democrats ... approved ...".
They could have written "... Judiciary Committee approved ...".
Which it did.
@Akhilleus: I think "how many 'R's in 'corruption'" is a pretty fertile source for a "logical" explanation to totally get Trump off the hook: "I didn't mentioned 'corruption' in the calls with Zelensky because White House staff couldn't agree how to spell it, and I didn't want to trouble the stenographers who took down everything I said, word-for-word, comma-for-comma, including heavy breathing." Not sure how long the list for fake excuses is, but this seems as good as some of the others that were actually put forth.
(As footnote evidence, he could cite unwashed's complaint yesterday that Adam Schiff's staff can't spell "separated.")
And about Charlie Pierce, on his Twitter feed, someone wrote that "Barr just came out with a statement saying that you hit the car."
I was hit by a car when I was five. Don't remember most of it. At least the guy stopped. And I would have been back tweeting that afternoon but, well, it was 1959. So I watched the Lone Ranger instead, and my mom gave me some ice cream. That was a standard palliative back then. "Hey, the kid just had a brain tumor removed." "Okay, give him some ice cream. But not too much."
Anyway, glad to hear (or infer) that Charlie is not too badly hurt.
Marie,
Now that I think of it, "corruption" has more than two R's. A lot more. A whole congress and a White House full of 'em. Not to mention in Justice, State, Education...
Josh Kovensky of TPM seems to have some insider goods on the machinations of the Rudy Ghouliani Conspira-C-Looza he's peddling. According to his bio, Kovensky used to write for the Kyiv Post so he seems to have the connections.
He's out with TWO of the newest Soros-Obama-Biden-Schiff corruption scandals that is SURE to blow the top of Hannity and every low IQ numbskull across the U S of A in the next few days:
Here's the latest theory:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/can-you-believe-this-rudy-is-conjuring-up-new-biden-dirt-in-ukraine
And here's Conspiracy #2 if the other doesn't sound plausible enough:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/giuliani-has-a-new-conspiracy-theory-to-mainline-into-gop-bloodstream
I see this whole debacle unfolding in a very unseemly way, with the GOP fully and completely debasing itself until the election, and every Republican senator is going to have to carry the manure can and start throwing it at some point. No one will be left with dignity intact.
Schiff and Pelosi have a pretty good tag team going here, and subpoenas have been flowing more than the champagne in the Kremlin right now. LOTS more sordid, corrupt, unseemly behavior is going to drip, drip, drip out of Washington DC swamps, probably at the same rate as the last three years, i.e. once every couple weeks.
Here's where it gets interesting. Republicans will depend ever more on bald-faced lies and rightwing media spin hacks to cocoon their mouth breathers into their corner, while everyone else will become even more horrified at the escalating scale of corruption. The continual exposure of UkraineGate (we need a better name for this) will show how hollow every Republican Senator is, given that they'll ALL vote "no" for fear of Mean Tweets and death threats from the Cult. Their sham and shame, however, will only be known to the half of the population capable of proper self-education.
Election Day is going to be determined by a mass move to the polls of two groups of Americans wholly divided on fundamental facts on a scale never before seen before, and little to nothing can be done to change these dynamics.
UkraineGate? Great Gate of Kiev?
Make Ukraine Great Again Gate?
I wonder how many Democrats in the House and Senate will vote with the Republicans? Will those Dems in Trump districts have the courage to follow the facts and put the country first or will they once again put their political career before all. If one Democrat votes "no" then we are going hear the usual both sides "they are all corrupt" coming from the media. And the Republicans will use it to try to depress the vote for Democrats saying that we are no better than they are. Because one or two awful Democrats is equal to a billion awful Republicans.
Safari,
I don't think there are (or will be on election day) two sides divided by fundamental facts. There are Democrats, for whom facts are vital to an understanding of the world, and Republicans, who base their decisions and their understanding of the world on risible and transparent fairy tales spun by the Brothers Dim, Fatty and Rudy.
RAS,
Unfortunately, I'm guessing there might be a few Democrats who vote to acquit (or whatever the term of art is now) the Orange Menace in whatever half-hour Potemkin trial is whipped up by McTurtle and the Trump-Treason enablers in that chamber. They'll probably figure that it's a lost cause so no need to put their asses on the line for questionable things like the Constitution, oath of office, the rule of law, or namby-pamby morality.
I hope I'm wrong, but Chuck Schumer is not the same kind of leader that Pelosi is in the House. He may not be able to keep everyone in line, especially if there are one or two who see a chance to help their own careers.
And the worst thing about that is that it gives the Foxbots and the Trumpies a chance to say "See? Even the Democrats know impeachment was a sham."
But we'll see.
Don't know if this link will work, but I'll give it a shot:
https://dilbert.com
Akhilleus wouldn't be surprised. Nor would the rest of us.
@Ken: So next landscaping season, I have a really good excuse
when clients complain about things dying or the lawn looks like
crap, etc. It's climate change. You should be voting for someone
who wants to do something about it, and that ain't the "Rs".