The Commentariat -- November 7, 2019
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Erica Orden of CNN: "A New York state judge ordered ... Donald Trump to pay $2 million to a collection of nonprofit organizations in connection with a settlement with the New York state attorney general's office to resolve a civil lawsuit alleging the foundation unlawfully coordinated with the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. In her decision filed Thursday, Justice Saliann Scarpulla found that 'Mr. Trump breached his fiduciary duty to the Foundation,' including by 'allowing his campaign to orchestrate' a televised fundraiser ostensibly for the foundation in Des Moines, Iowa, in January 2016, and allowing the campaign to direct the distribution of the money raised from that event 'to further Mr. Trump's political campaign.' In her decision, however, the judge didn't impose one of the outcomes the attorney general's office sought: a ban on Trump and his children serving on the board of any other New York nonprofit. She also declined to order Trump to pay punitive damages.... Trump ... had vowed to fight the lawsuit, tweeting last year, 'I won't settle this case!' But the lawyers on both sides ... came to a 'consensual resolution of the bulk of this proceeding' in October, the judge said in her decision, and agreed that the judge would determine the amount of damages Trump would be required to pay. The settlement comes in the wake of an agreement by the foundation in December to dissolve under judicial supervision."
Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The top American diplomat on the ground in northern Syria has criticized the Trump administration for not trying harder to prevent Turkey's military offensive there last month -- and said Turkish-backed militia fighters committed 'war crimes and ethnic cleansing.' In a searing internal memo, the diplomat, William V. Roebuck, raised the question of whether tougher American diplomacy, blunter threats of economic sanctions and increased military patrols could have deterred Turkey from attacking. Similar measures had dissuaded Turkish military action before."
Richard Hasen in Slate: "Will the Kentucky Legislature assist Matt Bevin in stealing the governor's race from Democrat Andy Beshear, who appeared to have won Tuesday's election by about 5,000 votes?... On Wednesday Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers raised the prospect that his institution, not the voters, could determine the outcome of the race. If Stivers [tries that stunt], the election would likely end up in federal court.... Either way, that we're even discussing this potentiality one year before Donald Trump -- who has repeatedly challenged the vote totals in his 2016 election victory -- is set to face reelection is a wrenching sign for our already-damaged democracy.... We have already seen Republican state legislatures in places like Wisconsin and North Carolina go so far as to strip powers from incoming Democratic governors.... Bevin ... so far he has suspiciously refused to provide details of his claims [of voting irregularies]."
Alexandra Jaffe of the AP: "A top aide to Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer in Iowa privately offered campaign contributions to local politicians in exchange for endorsing his White House bid, according to multiple people with direct knowledge of the conversations. The overtures from Pat Murphy, a former state House speaker who is serving as a top adviser on Steyer's Iowa campaign, aren't illegal -- though payments for endorsements would violate campaign finance laws if not disclosed. There's no evidence that any Iowans accepted the offer or received contributions from Steyer's campaign as compensation for their backing.... Tom Courtney, a former Democratic state senator from southeastern Iowa who's running for reelection to his old seat, told The Associated Press that the financial offer 'left a bad taste in my mouth.' Murphy said concerns about his outreach were the result of a 'miscommunication.' As Steyer met with voters in Bluffton, South Carolina, on Thursday, the first question posed to him was about the AP report. He said that he learned about the allegations while driving to the event and that no payments had gone to officials in Iowa."
Two Jerks Walked into a Brazilian Radio Studio.... Tasneem Nashrulla & Maura Albano of BuzzFeed News: "Glenn Greenwald got into a fistfight with Augusto Nunes, a far-right Brazilian journalist, during the live taping of a radio show in Brazil. The two journalists had a heated exchange over Nunes' previous comments about Greenwald's children with his husband, Brazilian politician David Miranda.... Greenwald then repeatedly call Nunes a coward, prompting Nunes to strike him. The two men then exchanged slaps and shoves as others on the show intervened and pried them apart. But not before Greenwald made one last attempt to strike Nunes in the face." Includes video (I couldn't get the audio, but that doesn't mean you can't).
NPR: "House investigators have [just] released the deposition by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent, who talked behind closed doors about the Ukraine affair." A pdf of the transcript, via the House, is here. ~~~
~~~ Nahal Toosi, et al., of Politico: "Kent testified in a closed session on Oct. 15, telling lawmakers that, like other career diplomats, he was essentially cut out of decisions about Ukraine due to maneuvering by other administration officials and outsiders, including Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Kent accused Giuliani of conducting a 'campaign of lies' about the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, that led to her early recall from Kyiv.... At one point, after Giuliani slammed Yovanovitch, Kent and others in a May 2019 interview, Kent was told by his superiors to 'keep my head down and lower my profile in Ukraine,' he said. The instruction came via an intermediary from David Hale, the undersecretary of State for political affairs, according to Kent's understanding. It wasn't clear if Hale had talked to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about it."
** Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sidestepped questions about his lack of support for Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine who was abruptly recalled from her post earlier this year amid a smear campaign seeking her removal." Oh, read on. What an arrogant, lying ass.
Carol Leonnig & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "Former national security adviser John Bolton is willing to defy the White House and testify in the House impeachment inquiry about his alarm at the Ukraine pressure campaign if a federal court clears the way, according to people familiar with his views. Bolton could be a powerful witness for Democrats: Top State Department and national security officials have already testified that he was deeply concerned about efforts by Trump and his allies to push Ukraine to open investigations into the president's political rivals while the Trump administration held up military aid to that country. The former national security adviser, who abruptly left his post in September, is expected to confirm their statements and describe his conversations with Trump, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.... It remains unclear how quickly that could happen -- and whether it would be in time for Bolton to be called as a witness in the public House impeachment hearings, which are scheduled to begin next week. On Wednesday, House Democrats said they are awaiting a key test case involving former White House counsel Donald McGahn, in which a district-court decision could come by the end of this month." Mediaite has the story here. ~~~
~~~ Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "House impeachment investigators are moving on from John Bolton. The former national security adviser refused to appear for his scheduled deposition Thursday morning, a House Intelligence Committee official said, and his lawyer informed the panel that Bolton would take the House to court if he is subpoenaed. So instead of fighting a court battle that could take months, the official added, Bolton's refusal to testify will be used as evidence of obstruction of Congress against ... Donald Trump.... Bolton's defiance of Congress comes a day after the House withdrew its subpoena for Charles Kupperman, Bolton's former deputy who had asked a federal court to decide whether he had to comply with the subpoena.... In withdrawing the subpoena for Kupperman, lawyers for the House told a federal court that the former aide should abide by an impending decision in the House's bid to secure testimony from former White House counsel Don McGahn." Bolton & Kupperman had the same attorney.
Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "Aides to Ukraine's leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, decided that military aid and support for peace talks outweighed the risks of appearing to take sides in American politics.... Government officials, lawmakers and others close to the Zelensky government have revealed new details of how high-level Ukrainian officials ultimately decided to acquiesce to President Trump's request -- and, by a stroke of luck, never had to follow through.... Even as [senior Zelensky aide Andriy] Yermak negotiated the wording [in a tug-of-war with U.S. envoy Kurt Volker] in August, the stakes were clear. While rumors had been swirling for months about a possible hold on military aid, by early August high-level Ukrainian officials had confirmed the freeze.... In September..., [Ambassador Gordon Sondland] explained in blunt terms to Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Yermak, there was little chance the aid would be forthcoming until they made the public statement on the investigations.... Mr. Trump wanted the Ukrainian president to speak on CNN, William B. Taylor Jr., the top American diplomat in Ukraine, testified.... Finally bending to the White House request, Mr. Zelensky's staff planned for him to make an announcement in an interview on Sept. 13 with Fareed Zakaria, the host of a weekly news show on CNN. Though plans were in motion to give the White House the public statement it had sought, events in Washington saved the Ukrainian government from any final decision and eliminated the need to make the statement.... Word of the freeze in military aid had leaked out, and Congress was in an uproar. Two days before the scheduled interview, the Trump administration released the assistance and Mr. Zelensky's office quickly canceled the interview."
The Corrupt Buffoon & His Band of Zany Blockheads. Episode 397: "The Great Greenland Purchase"
~~~ The Check Is in the Mail. Sorry, Trying to Buy Greenland. Yuliya Talmazan of NBC News: "In his testimony [before the House Intel Committee, [Bill] Taylor was asked about his remark that secretaries of defense and state, the CIA director and the national security advisor sought a joint meeting with President Trump to change his mind on withholding military aid from Ukraine, but such a meeting was 'hard to schedule.' He pointed out that it was due to a scheduling issue, but also the president's keen interest in buying Greenland from Denmark. 'I think this was also about the time of the Greenland question, about purchasing Greenland, which took up a lot of energy in the [National Security Council],' Taylor told the lawmakers. 'That's disturbing for a whole different reason,' House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., responded to Taylor, according to the transcript." Mrs. McC: Ah, yeah. If this were a comedy short, you'd be laughing your head off. It's like Ralph Kramer is running the country.
Franco Ordoñez & Mara Liasson of NPR: "A top aide to Vice President Pence arrived Thursday to testify in the ongoing House impeachment inquiry into President Trump. Jennifer Williams is a longtime foreign service officer who was assigned to be the vice president's special adviser for Europe and Russia in the spring. She would be the first person from the vice president's office to testify in the probe of whether the president withheld military aid from Ukraine while seeking a political favor. She will be the third person who was listening in on the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to testify, a White House aide confirmed to NPR's Mara Liasson.
Meredith McGraw of Politico: "Earl Matthews, a senior National Security Council official who attended several of the meetings now at the center of the congressional impeachment inquiry, will depart from his job on Friday.... Matthews ... was part of a small group that sat in on meetings with Ukrainian officials that House Democrats are now scrutinizing as they investigate whether ... Donald Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate a political rival.... Still, Matthews has not been pulled into the Democrats' impeachment probe, according to an administration official.... An administration official only confirmed that the U.S. Army did not extend Matthews' rotation with the White House."
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Dartunorro Clark of NBC News: "Public hearings in Congress will begin next Wednesday in the impeachment inquiry of ... Donald Trump, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Wednesday. The open hearing on Nov. 13 will hear testimony from career diplomat William Taylor and State Department official George Kent and another on Friday will hear testimony from ousted Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. Schiff said there will be additional announcements of witnesses[.]" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Stefan Becket & Grace Segers of CBS News: "The House committees leading the impeachment inquiry released the transcript of testimony by the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, William Taylor, who raised questions about whether the U.S. was withholding military aid to Ukraine to pressure the country to open investigations into President Trump's political rivals.... In his testimony, Taylor described a concerted effort to use U.S. leverage to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to commit to opening investigations into debunked allegations of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, as well as the gas company Burisma, which had hired former Vice President Joe Biden's son in 2014. Taylor said these efforts came via an 'irregular, informal channel of U.S. policy-making' consisting of Rudy Giuliani, then-special envoy Kurt Volker, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland. He said he became aware of the parallel policy-making paths when working to schedule a phone call with Zelensky in late June. Taylor said Sondland 'cut out' other officials who would normally participate in the call and 'requested that the call not be transcribed.'" The page includes a ScribD reproduction of the text of Taylor's testimony. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Adam Edelman of NBC News: "The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, told House impeachment investigators last month that ... Donald Trump directed officials to tie military aid to Ukraine to demands that the country open political advantageous probes, according to a transcript of his testimony made public Wednesday.... Taylor said he and others 'sat in astonishment' as a White House Office of Management and Budget official said during a July 18 inter-agency call that Trump had ordered a hold on military assistance to Ukraine, according to the transcript.... Taylor laid out in painstaking detail how U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland had told him that Trump was 'adamant' that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy himself publicly announce the Biden and 2016 investigations -- but that Trump nonetheless felt such an arrangement would not constitute a quid pro quo." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
New York Times: The witness testimony, from William B. Taylor Jr., the top American diplomat in Ukraine, provided one of the most vivid accounts about the actions at the heart of the [impeachment] inquiry.... New York Times reporters read through his deposition, highlighting key parts and offering context and analysis." (This is an update of a report linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post outlines takeaways from the transcript: 1. Taylor identified two "quos" Trump would deliver, both conditioned on Ukraine's announcing "certain investigations, including one involving the company that employed former vice president Joe Biden's son Hunter": one was a White House meeting with Trump, & the the other was release of the appropriated military aid. 2. "Taylor's testimony ... stops short of directly implicating Trump. Taylor indicates that the quid pro quo was coming from [Rudy] Giuliani and says he didn't know whether Trump was behind it."* 3. "Taylor says that [John] Bolton had 'indicated that he was very sympathetic' to Taylor's concerns and that Bolton "was also trying, with the two secretaries and the director of the CIA [Gina Haspel], to get this decision reversed." (At another point, Taylor indicates that the 'two secretaries' were [Mike] Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper.) Taylor also says Bolton warned against holding the July 25 call between Trump and ... Zelensky, because he 'thought it was going to be a disaster.' 'He [Bolton] thought that there could be some talk of investigations or worse on the call,' Taylor said. 'Turned out he was right.'" ~~~
~~~ * Mrs. McCrabbie: Taylor's knowledge of Trump's involvement notwithstanding, obviously Trump was in on the plot, because it was he who had put a hold on the military aid and he who was refusing to really invite Zelensky to the White House. (See the Daily Beast story linked in yesterday's Commentariat, plus Patrick's comment in yesterday's thread, about the fake invitation to Zelensky which Trump signed.) ~~~
~~~ Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "Rudy Giuliani was ... Donald Trump's enforcer, circumventing official channels and bewildering professional diplomats as he pressured Ukraine to target Trump's political opponents. Along the way, career foreign service officers became collateral damage -- and questions of a Trump-authorized quid pro quo emerged, blowing up into a scandal that now imperils the Trump presidency. Those are the unchallenged details revealed so far in five transcripts of depositions released this week as part of the House impeachment inquiry. And as Democrats prepare for public hearings next week, they are underscoring the common thread running through the witnesses' accounts. 'I think you will see throughout the course of the testimony -- not only their testimony but many others -- the most important facts are largely not contested,' House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said Wednesday." ~~~
The investigation I conducted concerning 2016 Ukrainian collusion and corruption, was done solely as a defense attorney to defend my client against false charges, that kept changing as one after another were disproven. -- Rudy Giuliani, in a tweet, Wednesday, apparently in response to the release of witness testimony in the House impeachment inquiry
This tweet by itself establishes that @realDonaldTrump committed an impeachable offense. To say that Giuliani's and Trump's pursuit of 'Ukrainian ... corruption' was 'done solely' to protect Trump's interests establishes that Trump was not acting for the country. -- George Conway, in a follow-up tweet, Wednesday ~~~
~~~ Rudy Lawyers Up. Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Rudy Giuliani ... announced Wednesday he'd obtained new legal representation as part of the House impeachment inquiry and amid federal scrutiny of his business dealings in Ukraine.... [In one of a series of tweets, Giuliani wrote yesterday,] 'I am represented and assisted by Robert Costello and the Pierce Bainbridge firm in particular, Eric Creizman and Melissa Madrigal.'... As Giuliani alluded to in his tweets, he has set out to prove that the Justice Department and the entirety of the U.S. intelligence community were wrong in their conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to boost Trump, making the unfounded assertion that Ukrainians were behind the meddling instead.... Costello ... cropped up during the legal proceedings of Michael Cohen, Trump's onetime personal attorney and fixer, in what appeared to be conversations about a potential pardon. Costello had reportedly told Cohen via email that he was in contact with the White House by way of a 'back channel,' which was Giuliani. 'I spoke with Rudy,' Costello wrote Cohen in April 2018. 'Very Very Positive. You are "loved."' According to emails Cohen shared with the House Intelligence Committee, Costello told Cohen to 'sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places.' Cohen told lawmakers he believed Costello was referring to Trump." Mrs. McC: Is this the way mob lawyers speak or is it the way lawyers think mob lawyers speak? ~~~
~~~ It Wasn't Easy. Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "The hires came after a weekslong search to find a lawyer who would represent Mr. Giuliani.... At least four prominent attorneys declined for various reasons, according to people familiar with the matter.... Law firms are, for the most part, conservative institutions that often represent a wide range of clients with varying business interests, many of whom tend to shy away from controversy, regardless of their politics. Mr. Giuliani's connection to Mr. Trump, his unpredictability and his recent history of outbursts in his frequent television appearances could make him a challenging client. Lawyers who are solo practitioners were concerned that Mr. Giuliani, who is known to have difficulty delegating, would try to manage his own case, according to a person close to Mr. Giuliani." ~~~
~~~ Ken Vogel, et al., of the New York Times: "Where did a cash-strapped Ukrainian-born American businessman get $500,000 to pay ... Rudolph W. Giuliani? It turns out that the money came from a Long Island lawyer named Charles Gucciardo, a Republican donor and supporter of Mr. Trump. The payment was part of a deal in which Mr. Gucciardo would become an investor in a company started by the businessman, Lev Parnas, according to Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Gucciardo's lawyer and other people familiar with the arrangement.... But it is not clear the stake would have any value, since Fraud Guarantee does not appear to have any customers.... In 2018, [Mr. Gucciardo] made his biggest donation on record to date -- $50,000 to the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action -- and attended an event for major donors at the Trump hotel featuring appearances by the president and Donald Trump Jr. It was there that he met Mr. Parnas and [Igor] Fruman, who had recently co-founded a company called Global Energy Producers that donated $325,000 to the PAC."
Bill Barr Wishes to Retain His Self-Respect. (Too Late, Bill.) Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump wanted Attorney General William P. Barr to hold a news conference declaring that the commander in chief had broken no laws during a phone call in which he pressed his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate a political rival, though Barr ultimately declined to do so, people familiar with the matter said. The request from Trump traveled from the president to other White House officials and eventually to the Justice Department. The president has mentioned Barr's declination to associates in recent weeks, saying he wished Barr would have held the news conference, Trump advisers say. In recent weeks, the Justice Department has sought some distance from the White House, particularly on matters relating to the burgeoning controversy over Trump's dealings on Ukraine and the impeachment inquiry they sparked.... The request for the news conference came sometime around Sept. 25, when the administration released a rough transcript of the president's July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.... As the rough transcript was released, a Justice Department spokeswoman said officials had evaluated it and the whistleblower complaint to see whether campaign finance laws had been broken, determined that none had been and decided 'no further action was warranted.'" ~~~
~~~ Kyle Balluck of the Hill: "President Trump early Thursday pushed back on a report that he asked Attorney General William Barr to hold a news conference clearing him of wrongdoing in the Ukraine controversy that sparked an impeachment inquiry.... 'The story in the Amazon Washington Post, of course picked up by Fake News CNN, saying "President Trump asked for AG Barr to host a news conference clearing him on Ukraine," is totally untrue and just another FAKE NEWS story with anonymous sources that don't exist,' he tweeted." Mrs. McC: So I guess that's a confirmation. ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "Justice Department officials are trying to release in the coming weeks a potentially explosive inspector general report about the FBI's investigation into President Trump's 2016 campaign, according to multiple people familiar with the effort.... The report's findings will mark a major public test of Attorney General William P. Barr's credibility, given his past suggestions of significant problems with the investigative decisions made by former FBI leaders involved in the case. The findings by Inspector General Michael Horowitz also will set the stage for the separate but related investigation led by U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is investigating how U.S. intelligence agencies pursued allegations that Russian agents might have conspired with Trump associates during the 2016 campaign. Officials have recently said that investigation is pursuing potential crimes. Barr has spent weeks working on the declassification decisions, as Horowitz scrutinized large volumes of classified information to assess how the FBI launched and pursued the investigation and related cases, people familiar with the matter said."
In Defense of Trump: Lies, False Rumors, Distractions & Threats
Trump's "Impeachment War Room" Is Right-Wing Twitter World. Mike McIntire & Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "Days after a decorated Army lieutenant colonel offered damaging testimony about President Trump's conduct on a July phone call with Ukraine's leader, Mr. Trump stood on the South Lawn and issued a vague but ominous warning. 'You'll be seeing very soon what comes out,' Mr. Trump said on Saturday, referring to the officer, Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman>.... An attack on Colonel Vindman's character and motives was already making its way from the dark corners of Mr. Trump's social media following to the front lines of the impeachment battle. One day earlier, the right-wing commentator Jack Posobiec had retweeted a lengthy thread by a Florida man -- a fan of QAnon, a fringe conspiracy about the 'deep state' -- claiming to have witnessed Colonel Vindman 'bash America' in conversation with Russian officers during a joint military exercise in Germany in 2013.... Mr. Posobiec's [unsubstantiated] post was retweeted by Mr. Trump's son and chief defender, Donald Trump Jr.... While the White House has scrambled to mount an organized response to the House impeachment inquiry ... Twitter has become the Trump war room." Never mind that Vindman would have spoken in Russian to the Russian officers, & the guy who started the rumor apparently doesn't understand Russian.
Trump's Impeachment Defense: Lie, Lie & Lie Again. Toluse Olorunnipa & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Standing before a crowd of supporters this week in Lexington, Ky., President Trump repeated a false claim he has made more than 100 times in the past six weeks: that a whistleblower from the intelligence community misrepresented a presidential phone call at the center of the impeachment inquiry that threatens his presidency.... It's a form of gaslighting that has become the central defense strategy for the president as he faces his greatest political threat yet. But th approach is coming under increasing strain as congressional Democrats release transcripts and prepare to hold public hearings presenting evidence that directly undercuts Trump's claims.... He has also pushed other specious arguments in his harried attempt to counter the growing evidence from witnesses implicating his administration in a quid pro quo scheme linking military aid to Ukrainian investigations targeting Democrats." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Yes, But Lindsey Has a More Plausible Defense: Incoherence. Tim O'Donnell of the Week: "Graham seems fed up with the whole thing, saying on Wednesday that he won't read any of the newly released transcripts because the whole thing is 'a bunch of B.S.' Graham said one of the reasons he doesn't think President Trump deserves to be impeached is because there's little chance the Trump administration was savvy enough ... to come up with the idea of withholding military aid from Ukraine in exchange for Kyiv publicly announcing anti-corruption investigations.... '"It was incoherent," [Graham said of Trump's Ukraine policy]. "They seem to be *incapable* of forming a quid pro quo."'" ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: In a way, Lindsey is inadvertently admitting the truth of the basis of the impeachment inquiry. The reason for the "incoherence," after all, is that there were two sets of policies: one executed by the U.S. State Department, and the other by Trump & the Three Stooges Rudy, Lev & Igor. Meanwhile, Gordon Sondland & other buttinskies were trying to "coordinate" the two, to "incohent" effect. ~~~
~~~ Lauren Fox, et al., of CNN: "Republicans are struggling to find a unified defense as they shift their ever-changing arguments about why ... Donald Trump's actions are not impeachable, amid damaging testimony from senior diplomats that Trump sought to condition US military aid to Ukraine on opening investigations into his political rivals. What once was a frequently repeated mantra -- there was no quid pro quo -- has now morphed into a multi-pronged and sometimes disjointed defense, with Republicans each taking the job into their own hands, hoping to fight back against the allegations raised daily with the release of new transcripts. Republicans across the Capitol have resorted to attacking the firsthand knowledge of witnesses, muddying the waters with calls to name the whistleblower and even seeking to discredit the Trump administration's ability to be organized enough to execute a scheme to use military aid in order to advance its own political agenda." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Wait, I thought these guys were supposed to be providing checks on the presidency and/or serving as the president*'s jurors. They aren't supposed to be his defense team. ~~~
~~~ Two great actors read Trump's line. Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the lead:
Betsy Swan & Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump promised 'unwavering' support to Ukraine in a May 29 letter congratulating its new president on his election victory. He also invited President Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House, saying the invitation was a sign of the United States' 'commitment' to the young democracy. Trump's letter, which a senior congressional aide shared with The Daily Beast, points to a sharp contrast between Trump's official, warm communications with Zelensky and the moves he actually wanted from Kyiv. The letter, dated May 29, is published here for the first time.... Over the course of the next two months, it became clear to State Department and White House officials that something was preventing a meeting between Trump and Zelensky.... In his infamous press conference last month, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said the letter to Zelensky was merely a 'courtesy.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
David Ignatius of the Washington Post: "Since the investigation began into President Trump's machinations in Ukraine, one of the most disturbing questions has been: Where is Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, who's supposed to shield his diplomats from political interference? And now we have the answer: Pompeo, in recent months, has essentially been in hiding, protecting himself while his subordinates took the hit -- evidently hoping to preserve his influence with Trump. Sometimes his deflections and denials have been outright misleading. Pompeo has badly tarnished his reputation in accommodating Trump. He joins the long list of those damaged by their service to this president.... [After Pompeo failed to prevent Trump from firing her,] Trump's groundless attacks against [Marie] Yovanovitch continued, as did Pompeo's silence.... When a transcript of the menacing July [25] call [between Trump & Zelensky] was released Sept. 25, Yovanovitch felt personally threatened, and she again asked for help. Pompeo said nothing publicly in her defense [and claimed on TV that his top aide Michael McKinley had not asked him to support Yovanovitch, even tho McKinley testified he had done so three times]. It's deeply troubling to see a powerful person such as Pompeo who is silent in the face of lies and who takes no action to protect his subordinates from wrongdoing." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Pompeo reportedly keeps a Bible open on his desk, which he claims to consult daily. I guess he missed all those instructive passages about helping others. Looks as if Mike is a "prosperity gospel"-type of "Christian."
Yesterday, We Learned This. Julia Davis of the Daily Beast: "Standing beside an approving Donald Trump at a rally in Kentucky on Monday night, Republican Sen. Rand Paul demanded the media unmask the whistleblower whose report about the president's alleged abuse of power dealing with Ukraine sparked impeachment proceedings. American news organizations resisted the pressure, but -- in a 2019 re-play of 'Russia, if you're listening' -- Kremlin-controlled state media promptly jumped on it. Shortly after Sen. Paul tweeted out an article that speculated in considerable detail about the identity of the whistleblower -- with a photograph, a name, and details about the purported political history of a CIA professional -- Russian state media followed suit. As if on cue, the Kremlin-controlled heavy hitters -- TASS, RT, Rossiya-1 -- disseminated the same information. But unlike Rand Paul, one of the Russian state media outlets didn't seem to find the source -- Real Clear Investigations -- to be particularly impressive, and claimed falsely that the material was published originally by The Washington Post. This was the most egregious, but certainly not the only example of Kremlin-funded media cheerleading for Trump's fight against impeachment as proceedings against him unfold with growing speed." ~~~
~~~ So Now This. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) blocked a resolution Wednesday reaffirming the Senate's support for whistleblower protections and accused Democrats of 'fake outrage.' Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) had asked for unanimous consent to pass the resolution, which 'acknowledges the contributions of whistleblowers' and throws the chamber's support behind protecting whistleblowers from retaliation.... Asked on Tuesday why he hasn't disclosed the name of the individual, Paul told reporters that he 'probably will.' 'I'm more than willing to, and I probably will at some point,' he said. 'There is no law preventing anybody from saying the name.'"
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Yesterday, I wrote, "If we had a real Justice Department -- and apparently we don't -- said DOJ would open a criminal case against Li'l Randy for outting the whistleblower, if indeed he has done so. Whistleblowers are protected under law, & Randy is not a journalist; he ... is a Senator who swore to uphold the Constitution & the laws." It looks as if Li'l Randy is right, and I'm wrong. The Whistleblowers Protection Act (and related laws & a 2012 presidential directive) only protect whistleblowers from retaliation for disclosure of information. It does not protect them from exposure, as far as I can tell based on my extensive study of the Wikipedia entry on the subject. ~~~
~~~ Oliver Darcy & Brian Stelter of CNN: "Fox News hosts and personalities have been instructed over the last several days not to identify the whistleblower whose complaint sparked an impeachment probe against President Trump, people familiar with the matter told CNN Business. Several hosts and commentators on the network who have been supportive of President Trump seem to want to name the person they believe to be the whistleblower, but Fox's guidelines have said not to do so.... Fox is perhaps the only major component of the right-wing media machine that has, thus far, refrained from naming the person identified by that story. No mainstream news organization has identified the whistleblower. CNN has sent guidance to staff about not repeating any reporting that alleges the name and identity of the whistleblower."
** Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "President Trump was more personally involved in his campaign's effort to obtain Democratic emails stolen by Russian operatives in 2016 than was previously known, phone records introduced in federal court on Wednesday suggested. Federal prosecutors disclosed the calls at the start of the criminal trial of Roger J. Stone Jr., Mr. Trump's longtime friend, who faces charges of lying to federal investigators about his efforts to contact WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign. Russian intelligence officers had funneled tens of thousands of emails they stole from Democratic computers to WikiLeaks, which released them at critical points during the presidential race. The records suggest that Mr. Trump spoke to Mr. Stone repeatedly during the summer of 2016, at a time when Mr. Stone was aggressively seeking to obtain the stolen emails from Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. The prosecutors noted that they did not know what Mr. Stone and Mr. Trump had discussed. But they stressed that the timing of their calls dovetailed with other key developments related to the theft and release of the Democratic emails. The phone records are the first concrete suggestion that Mr. Trump may have had a direct role in his campaign's effort to benefit from Russia's hidden hand in the election." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: So we are supposed to believe here that Trump thought Assange obtained these hacked e-mails from some Ukrainian guy. And if that were the case (it isn't), why did Trump cry out, "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing"? Why not, "Ukraine, if you're listening...." The plea to Russia, as well as the phone calls with Stone, are solid evidence that Trump was not asking Zelensky to investigate "the server" in their phone call. He was asking Zelensky to fabricate Ukraine's --or some Ukrainians' -- involvement in the hack. ~~~
~~~ Dan Friedman & David Corn of Mother Jones: "Prosecutors ... are producing material undercutting Trump's claim to Mueller that he has no recollection of talking to Stone during the campaign about WikiLeaks. This information also presents a new wrinkle in the Trump-Russia scandal: Trump might have thought in 2016 that his campaign, in effect, was colluding with WikiLeaks.... 'The evidence in this case will show that Roger Stone lied to the House Intelligence Committee because the truth looked bad,' lead prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky said in his opening statement on Wednesday. 'The truth looked bad for the Trump campaign and the truth looked bad for Donald Trump.'" The reporters cite three answers to interrogatories in which Trump claimed not to recall any discussions with Stone re: WikiLeaks. "Mueller's report characterized Trump's responses as 'inadequate.' Zelinsky's opening statement suggests Stone's trial could show Trump's statements were false.... The story that Zelinsky began telling at the start of the trial raised the possibility (or probability) that Trump and his campaign did interact with Stone regarding the WikiLeaks releases of stolen Democratic documents -- and that they considered Stone a backchannel to Assange and his organization." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It's rather delicious that Trump is caught up in one election-tampering crime (2016) with a president named Zelensky and in another election-tampering crime (2020) with a prosecutor named Zelinsky. I assume they're different spellings of the same surname. ~~~
~~~ Clare Hymes, et al., of CBS News: "Federal prosecutors in Roger Stone's trial told jurors they plan to call several high-profile witnesses to the stand, including Steve Bannon ..., Rick Gates and radio personality Randy Credico. and revealed new details about Stone's contacts with Trump campaign officials before and after the release of stolen Democratic National Committee emails in 2016, including several phone calls Stone had with then-candidate Trump.... According to [prosecutor Aaron] Zelinsky, Stone emailed Bannon that he knew how to win the 2016 election, but it 'ain't pretty.'... The first witness called to testify was Michelle Taylor, an FBI agent who worked on the case and outlined Stone's communication in the days after the DNC hack. Prosecutors presented evidence that Stone tried to get information to and from [Julian] Assange, and use the hacked emails and information from Assange to influence the 2016 election.... The jury includes 11 women and three men, with the trial expected to last about three weeks under the direction of Judge Amy Berman Jackson. During jury selection on Tuesday, Stone left the courtroom with a bout of food poisoning." Mrs. McC: Or so he said. ~~~
~~~ Josh Gerstein & Darren Samuelsohn of Politico call Stone's trial "the Cliff Notes version of the Mueller report." Their five takeaways from the trial opening are helpful.
Yashar Ali of the Huffington Post: "The much-anticipated book 'A Warning,' reportedly written by an unnamed senior White House official, claims that high-level White House aides were certain that Vice President Mike Pence would support the use of the 25th Amendment to have ... Donald Trump removed from office because of mental incapacity. According to the exposé, which is written by someone that The New York Times and the publisher of the book say is a current or former senior White House official, using the pen name 'Anonymous,' highly placed White House officials did a back-of-the-envelope tally of which Cabinet members would be prepared to sign a letter invoking Section 4 of the 25th Amendment.... The discussions about invoking the 25th Amendment took place, according to the book, soon after FBI Director James Comey was fired by the president.... Months later, in an interview with the CBS newsmagazine '60 Minutes,' Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who was later fired by the president and remains the target of a federal criminal investigation, confirmed that [Deputy AG Rod] Rosenstein had discussed the idea of invoking the 25th Amendment with Cabinet members."
U.S. Aid Goes to the Hallelujah Chorus. Yeganeh Torbati of ProPublica: "Decisions about U.S. aid are often no longer being governed by career professionals applying a rigorous review of applicants and their capabilities. Over the last two years, political pressure, particularly from the office of Vice President Mike Pence, had seeped into aid deliberations and convinced key decision-makers that unless they fell in line [by awarding grants to pence's favorite Christian groups], their jobs could be at stake.... ProPublica viewed internal emails and conducted interviews with nearly 40 current and former U.S. officials and aid professionals that shed new light on the success of Pence and his allies in influencing the government's long-standing process for awarding foreign aid.... The Trump administration's efforts to influence USAID funding sparked concern from career officials, who worried the agency risked violating constitutional prohibitions on favoring one religion over another. They also were concerned that being perceived as favoring Christians could worsen Iraq's sectarian divides.... USAID regulations state that awards 'must be free from political interference or even the appearance of such interference and must be made on the basis of merit, not on the basis of the religious affiliation of a recipient organization, or lack thereof.' Last month, USAID announced two grants to Iraqi organizations that career officials had previously rejected. Political appointees significantly impacted the latest awards...." Thanks to Anonymous for the link. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Are we to think of these grants as more "virtuous" than Trump's extortion of Ukraine because pence doesn't benefit directly from aid directed to Christian organizations? (Of course, if these become known as "pence grants," then he does prosper politically as much as Trump would benefit from "dirt on the Bidens.") Both types of "favors" are illegal, too.
Presidential Race 2020
Indications Joe Biden Is Out of It:
(1) With Donald Trump out of the way, you're going to see a number of my [Republican] colleagues have an epiphany. Mark my words. -- Joe Biden, Wednesday
(2) Joe Biden, meanwhile, spent the evening with a small group of ultra-wealthy donors, at a fundraiser hosted by a fracking developer and a health care industry executive. He used his time there to go after Warren for being 'elitist.' -- P.D. Pepe, as part of her commentary in yesterday's thread
Senate Race 2020. James Arkin of Politico: "Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions will run for his old Senate seat in Alabama, mounting a stunning comeback attempt a year after he resigned amid a torrent of criticism and mockery from ... Donald Trump. Sessions is expected to announce his campaign Thursday, according to multiple Republicans familiar with his decision. He has been considering a bid for weeks, and his announcement would come just ahead of the Friday deadline to file for the Senate race.... The former attorney general's rocky relationship with Trump is the main obstacle to his return to the Senate.... Sessions will have to earn back Trump's support, or at least overcome his ire, to be successful in the crowded primary. [Doug] Jones [D-Ala.] is the most vulnerable senator up for reelection in 2020, and a number of Republicans are already running -- and competing to be seen as Trump's biggest supporter."
Election 2019
Bruce Schreiner of the AP: "Republican Gov. Matt Bevin asked Wednesday for a recanvass of Kentucky election results that showed him more than 5,000 votes behind Democrat Andy Beshear, who discounted the challenge and began preparing to take office.... Bevin said any information turned up won't be 'followed through on' until after the recanvass -- an indication he could seek further review of the election results. Kentucky's secretary of state, Alison Lundergan Grimes, scheduled the recanvass for Nov. 14. A recanvass is a check of the vote count to ensure the results were added correctly.... With 100% of precincts reporting, Beshear led by a little over 5,000 votes out of more than 1.4 million counted, or a margin of less than 0.4 percentage points. That's inside the margin that would trigger a recount in most states, and it's AP policy not to call races that could go to a recount. Although there is no mandatory recount law in Kentucky the AP is applying that same standard here." ~~~
~~~ Jeremy Peters & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... a claim from the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel -- that Mr. Trump helped lift Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky from a 17-point deficit in the polls to nearly even in Tuesday's election -- took the president's practice of crediting himself to a new level. 'No one energizes our base like @realDonaldTrump,' Ms. McDaniel said in a late-night tweet on Tuesday. She also included the polling deficit, which did not match up with the vast majority of public polls or internal surveys conducted by campaigns in the weeks before the election or with the Republican Party's own recent surveys.... But public and internal Republican Party polls suggested the race had been extremely close before Mr. Trump arrived.... Other Republicans on Wednesday echoed Ms. McDaniel's comment, which aligns with the effort by Mr. Trump and his allies to build up and maintain an aura of political invulnerability that does not always match reality."
Don & Jared's Saudi Friend Is Spying on U.S. Citizens. Daisy Nguyen & Brian Melley of the AP: "Saudi Arabia, frustrated by growing criticism of its leaders and policies on social media, recruited two Twitter employees to spy on thousands of accounts that included prominent opponents, prosecutors alleged Wednesday. The complaint unsealed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco detailed a coordinated effort by Saudi government officials to recruit employees at the social media giant to look up the private data of Twitter accounts, including email addresses linked to the accounts and internet protocol addresses that can give up a user's location. It appeared to link Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the powerful 34-year-son of King Salman, to the effort. The accounts included those of a popular critic of the government with more than 1 million followers and a news personality. Neither was named." The Washington Post story is here. ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE, we learned in September that "... Donald Trump has privately and repeatedly expressed opposition to the use of foreign intelligence from covert sources, including overseas spies who provide the US government with crucial information about hostile countries.... Trump has privately said that foreign spies can damage relations with their host countries and undermine his personal relationships with their leaders." Mrs. McC: Either this is turn-the-other-cheek Christian philosophy, or Trump wants to build Trump Tower Riyadh, Trump Tower Moscow & Club Trump on a beach in North Korea. Or maybe it's just an honor-among-thieves thing.
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CNN pieces together what is known about what happened to a U.S.-Mexican family who were attacked in Mexico.
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Reader Comments (10)
Anyone wonder why the Pretender would think Barr (no collusion, no obstruction, no nothing) would lie for him?
As Bea says, Barr's show of rectitude, prior to his likely charging FBI officials for crimes relating to the beginnings of what became the Mueller investigation, comes a little late.
Think of this whistle stop at the virtue station as a momentary aberration. He'll soon be back on track.
In another of those moments in the Age of Outrageous Trumpian hypocrisy, the littlest hypocrite, Li’l Randy, steps up to the mic at that Fatty rally for soon to be loser Mini Me Matt Bevin, and after yelling some detestable bullshit about outing a person who put himself on the line for his country, something neither Fatty nor Randy have ever done, and sniffs that Hunter Biden was clearly a corrupt bastard because A, he was making $50k a month working for that Ukrainian company, and
B, he only got that job because he was the son of a famous politician.
Just let that set in for a minute. Here’s little Aqua Buddha who owes everything in life to his being the son of a famous (infamous?) politician, and who would be lucky to work as a greeter at Walmart except that Ron Paul is his daddy.
This comes hard on the heels of Prince Nepotism, the unctuous and famously dense Uday, lecturing anyone who will listen to his crap that it’s a terrible thing for people to be handed money because of who their daddy is.
I’d call it chutzpah, but it’s more pusillanimous pietism and sniveling sanctimony. Trump and his acolytes, hangers on, thugs, and wiggling worms have torn hypocrisy from the pages of the dictionary and buried it next to truth, decency, and honesty.
Junior and Li’l Randy complaining about someone riding on daddy’s coattails? It’s enough to make even the most jaded observer of political casuistry sit up and shake their head in wonder.
And not for nothin’, but in the world Junior, Trump, and Randy inhabit, of deep pocketed pals who keep them in the green, $50k/month is peanuts. Know how much those other nepotistic bastards Javanka made last year? $84 million.
These fucking people.
@Akhilleus: If you leave a dirty dinnerplate out on the table in the right season, sooner or later you will find an ant crawling across it & a fly alighting upon it. While you may see no advantage to that, there is one: the tableau you have prepared, with the assistance of creepy critters, will allow you to observe two creatures with more self-awareness than Junior & Little Randy.
To expand on that dinner plate left out on a table: In that garden tableau is an ornamental pond and on a still day, you see an inhuman outline of a carp gliding slowly along and then you realize suddenly that the carp were always there below the surface, even while the water sparkled in the sunshine, even while you patronized the quaint ducks and the supercilious swans , the carp were down there, unseen.
It bides its time, this kind of sly slithering until something happens–– like a phone call and suddenly everything starts coming to the surface.
Here are Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren (they are in a new film together,"A Good Liar") on Colbert, briefly acting out that Ukraine call.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/helen-mirren-ian-mckellen-trump-phone-call_n_5dc3e941e4b0d8eb3c901b36
Betsy is in the hot seat over student debt collection. We've covered this before but now it appears as if Devos is deliberately defying court orders.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-07/judge-rips-education-department-over-student-debt-collection
P.S. When I say the name "Betsy" and it's connected to Devos this scene from "Private Benjamin" comes to mind. The great Eileen Brennan coming across "Judy" played perfectly by Goldie Hawn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbH_RrOAAfA
Mini-Me loser, Matt Bevin, soon to be former governor of Kentucky (unless some weird, upside down world logic, like say from Republicans, intervenes), is in luck. His state has some serious cut-rate confederate Machiavellians.
After his ass-kicking (and okay, a 5,000 vote plurality might not seem much of an ass-kicking by the numbers, but Dr. Evil--aka the Orange Menace--visited the state twice in about a week to lie about Democrats brag about his greatness, and threaten death and destruction if Bevin--read: Trump--didn't win), Bevin still refuses to concede even though he lost and now R's are going to the mattresses to make sure he can steal this election.
But this is all SOP for wingers who lose an election they should have won going away. It can't be that this marvelous candidate who is a charlatan, a liar, a racist, and a Trumpish gnome intent on filling his own pockets and stepping on any he considered his deadly enemies (4th grade teachers, eg), was unfit for office and cast out by the voters. Nooooo...it must be...wait for it....
VOTER FRAUD!
But of course! Republicans, who are essentially anti-democratic, are the ones who get to decide who runs things, not those stupid voters.
So enter Kentucky Senate president Robert Stivers (R-natch) who sez he and his fellow schemers in the R controlled state legislature will now get to decide who's gonna be the next governor (spoiler alert: it won't be the guy who actually won). He further sez that his staff has done some, er, um, whatchamacallit..."research", yeah, that's it. "Research". And they found that blah, blah, blah, since the vote was so close, R's will get to decide the winner.
Oh, but in case that scheme doesn't pan out ("research" might be faulty, ya know?), Bevin is out waving the voter fraud flag. Must have been all those voters bused in from New Hampshire, aligned with the millions of illegal immigrants who all voted six times for the Democrat.
Expect Trump to send a phalanx of hack lawyers into Kentucky during the recount to challenge each and every vote cast for Democratic winner Andy Beshear. This should make the hanging chad debacle look like the very model of a democratic process.
Because Orange Monster, that's why. And his Mini-Me ghoul.
Reading above about Pompeo's habit of keeping a bible at his desk, I thought of trying out the old "see what the bible says" game. Open at random and check the verses where your unplanned eye falls. Here's what I got, thinking of "Pompeo" :
Wisdom 2:10 (The Jerusalem Bible)
" ' As for the virtuous man who is poor. let us oppress him;
let us not spare the widow,
nor respect old age, white-haired with many years.
Let our strength be the yardstick of virtue,
since weakness argues its own futility.
Let us lie in wait for the virtuous man, since he annoys us ... "
It goes on in that vein. The chapter heading is "Life as the godless see it", so the voices of the above verses are the godless speaking.
Very republican. Pompeo-esque.
I hear that Donald is going back to NYC for the Veterans Day Parade. I would love to hear everyone in the media introduce Trump as "Floridian Donald Trump" every time from now on. You know that it would get under his skin because he has made "New Yorker" such a big part of his identity. The mayor and the govenor have said good riddance already, but being reminded again and again that he is no longer part of the biggest branded city in the world would drive Trump mad.
@RAS: Madder