The Commentariat -- September 1, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Ken Vogel & Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "Between 2014 and 2016, the F.B.I. and the Justice Department unsuccessfully tried to turn [Russian oligarch Oleg] Deripaska into an informant. They ... were hoping for information on Russian organized crime and, later, on possible Russian aid to President Trump's 2016 campaign, according to current and former officials and associates of Mr. Deripaska. In one dramatic encounter, F.B.I. agents appeared unannounced and uninvited at a home Mr. Deripaska maintains in New York and pressed him on whether Paul Manafort, a former business partner of his..., had served as a link between the campaign and the Kremlin.... Two of the players in the effort [to flip Derispaska & other oligarchs] were Bruce G. Ohr, the Justice Department official who has recently become a target of attacks by Mr. Trump, and Christopher Steele.... The systematic effort to win the cooperation of the oligarchs, which has not previously been revealed, does not appear to have scored any successes.... Mr. Deripaska ... told the American investigators that he disagreed with their theories about Russian organized crime and Kremlin collusion in the campaign...; Mr. Deripaska even notified the Kremlin about the American efforts to cultivate him." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: As nearly as I can tell, this story is a leak in response to leaks. House Republicans who interviewed Ohr last week have been leaking, as they are wont to do, "selected tidbits" of info about the many meetings between Ohr & Steele -- the Deep State Duo. In response, somebody has leaked this story to explain why Ohr & Steele had so many meetings.

New York Times: "Senator John McCain is receiving a full-fledged Washington send-off on Saturday as former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama lead an invitation-only service at Washington National Cathedral. A motorcade carrying Mr. McCain's coffin left Capitol Hill around 8:40 a.m. and stopped along the way at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, where Cindy McCain laid a wreath in honor of her husband, a naval aviator who was held for five and a half years as a prisoner of war. The memorial service at the Cathedral began shortly after 10 a.m. Meghan McCain, one of his daughters, delivered an emotional tribute to her father that included a steely rebuke to President Trump. Former Senator Joseph Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, and former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger also made remarks." ...

... The Uninvited. David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Trump ... found himself more isolated than ever Saturday, airing his latest grievances and retreating to his private golf course in Virginia as his peers gathered to pay homage to the late senator John McCain.... Trump issued threats to terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement and promoting a false conspiracy theory alleging government misconduct in its surveillance of one of his former campaign aides [Carter Page]. 'I love Canada, but they've taken advantage of our Country for many years!' Trump wrote in one tweet.... 'If we don't make a fair deal for the U.S. after decades of abuse, Canada will be out,' Trump wrote. 'Congress should not interfere w/ these negotiations or I will simply terminate NAFTA entirely & we will be far better off.' The sharp dichotomy of Trump's pugilistic posts and the dignified memorial service, broadcast live by cable news stations and online, underscored the president's unwillingness to embrace the traditional duties of office and his scorn of Washington's protocols and conventions, which he has delighted in undermining." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is, of course, exactly the kind of behavior that cost Trump an invitation to a service where a "normal" sitting president -- especially one of the same political party -- would be an honored guest, but that's something Trump either can't or won't comprehend.

Spencer Hsu & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post (via the Portland [Maine] Press Herald): "A Maine native and longtime Washington political consultant who advised a Ukrainian political party and worked with a co-defendant of Paul Manafort pleaded guilty Friday to failing to register as a foreign lobbyist while working on behalf of a Ukrainian political party. W. Samuel Patten, 47, was charged with one count of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act for failing to register with the Justice Department when he represented the Ukrainian opposition bloc from 2014 to 2018." Thanks to MAG for the link. Mrs. McC: A lovely bio of a lovely man, I'm sure. Except for that Ukrainian stuff & accidentally forgetting to register as a foreign agent & buying those inaugural tickets for a Kremlin fave & lying to Congress & what-not. This is a guy, BTW, who had all the advantages, la creme de la crum.

*****

Ana Swanson & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "The Trump administration eased off its threat to exclude Canada from the North American Free Trade Agreement, extending talks that were set to end on Friday while warning that the Canadians must be 'willing' to accept the United States' terms. After four days of marathon negotiations between Canadian and American officials failed to produce an agreement, the White House told Congress that it would enter into a revised trade deal with Mexico and that it was up to Canada to decide whether to remain in the trilateral Nafta pact.... The White House agreement to keep talking has less to do with a change of heart than with political realities: Congress, which has ultimate authority over trade agreements, has warned the White House that any revised deal must include both Canada and Mexico. Canada is the major export destination for 36 American states, and many of the president's political supporters insisted that he first 'do no harm' to the deal." ...

... Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star: "High-stakes trade negotiations between Canada and the U.S. were dramatically upended on Friday morning by inflammatory secret remarks from ... Donald Trump, after the remarks were obtained by the Toronto Star. In remarks Trump wanted to be 'off the record,' Trump told Bloomberg News reporters on Thursday, according to a source, that he is not making any compromises at all in the talks with Canada -- but that he cannot say this publicly because 'it's going to be so insulting they're not going to be able to make a deal.'... In another remark he did not want published, Trump said, according to the source, that the possible deal with Canada would be 'totally on our terms.' He suggested he was scaring the Canadians into submission by repeatedly threatening to impose tariffs. 'Off the record, Canada's working their ass off. And every time we have a problem with a point, I just put up a picture of a Chevrolet Impala,' Trump said according to the source." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Rebecca Morin of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Friday confirmed that he made inflammatory off-the-record remarks about Canada, as he blasted the leak while also saying, 'At least Canada knows where I stand!'... 'Wow, I made OFF THE RECORD COMMENTS to Bloomberg concerning Canada, and this powerful understanding was BLATANTLY VIOLATED. Oh well, just more dishonest reporting. I am used to it,' the president wrote on Twitter. 'At least Canada knows where I stand!'"

... Catharine Tunney, et al., of CBC (Canadian Broadcasting) News: "Canadian and U.S. officials have agreed to take a weekend break from NAFTA talks after a week of tense negotiations in Washington and comments from ... Donald Trump suggesting he is unwilling to compromise on a deal. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters she's optimistic a deal is still within reach, but 'we're not there yet.'"

Shining Turds. Olivia Nuzzi of New York: "You may be wondering why, throughout the second half of August, the president of the United States has been standing in the Rose Garden and yelling. On August 17, he yelled about manufacturing. On August 18, he yelled about trade and, later that day, he yelled about meeting with foreign leaders. On August 22, he yelled about the stock market. And on August 24, he yelled about the economy. The resulting video clips, which range from 23 to 60 seconds in length, are like stream-of-consciousness infomercials for the flimsy concept of #AIGGADW (America Is Getting Great Again, Don't Worry).... According to -- I swear to God -- five current and former officials from both Donald Trump's White House and campaign as well as one former official from the Trump Organization, the purpose of this on-camera exercise is simple: It makes him feel (and, he believes, look) good." --safari

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

These are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand. -- Deep Throat to Bob Woodward ...

... Spencer Hsu & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Lawyers for George Papadopoulos, a former adviser to ... Trump's campaign, argued Friday that he should be spared jail time for lying to the FBI about his Russia contacts during the campaign because his lies did not hinder the special counsel's investigation.... Earlier in August, Mueller's office said jail time was appropriate for Papadopoulos, arguing he had lied repeatedly to investigators and had not provided substantial cooperation since he pleaded guilty.... Papadopoulos's lawyers argued that he has volunteered information in an effort to help -- such as describing a March 31, 2016, meeting he attended with Trump and then-Sen. Jeff Sessions where Papadopoulos announced ... that he could get Trump a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. For the first time, Papadopoulos's lawyers revealed that the young adviser felt encouraged by Trump to continue those efforts, writing in the court filing that 'Mr. Trump nodded with approval and deferred to Mr. Sessions, who appeared to like the idea and stated that the campaign should look into it.' That account conflicts with what Sessions, now attorney general, testified to Congress." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: We're dealing with a situation in which all three participants -- Papadopoulos, Trump & Sessions -- are proven liars, so it's hard to know whose account to believe. But in view of Trump's known enthusiasm for meetings with Putin, Papadopoulos's assertion seems most plausible. There were quite a few people at the March 2016 meeting, so Mueller's team likely has numerous accounts of the exchange.

Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The top Democrats on two House committees accused Republicans on Friday of selectively leaking to the press sensitive communications that could put a 'confidential human source' at risk. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), ranking Democrat on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and his counterpart on the Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), also accused Republicans of 'cherry-picking' portions of emails and text messages between former British spy Christopher Steele and Justice Department official Bruce Ohr to bolster a narrative that they were part of a conspiracy to undermine the Trump campaign in 2016. The Democrats' concerns, outlined in a letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), arose out of an interview with Ohr that Republican members of the two panels conducted on Tuesday. The Justice Department originally provided the documents to the House Intelligence Committee. Some were marked 'law enforcement sensitive' because they contained details relating to a confidential source, the Democrats said.... Copies of portions of the documents have been published online by various media organizations." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Eric Tucker & Chad Day of the AP: "A senior Justice Department lawyer says a former British spy told him at a breakfast meeting two years ago that Russian intelligence believed it had Donald Trump 'over a barrel,' according to multiple people familiar with the encounter. The lawyer, Bruce Ohr, also says he learned that a Trump campaign aide had met with higher-level Russian officials than [that??] the aide had acknowledged, the people said. The previously unreported details of the July 30, 2016, breakfast with Christopher Steele, which Ohr described to lawmakers this week in a private interview, reveal an exchange of potentially explosive information about Trump between two men the president has relentlessly sought to discredit." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Natasha Bertrand of the Atlantic: "Bruce Ohr. Lisa Page. Andrew Weissmann. Andrew McCabe.... Donald Trump has relentlessly attacked these FBI and Justice Department officials as dishonest 'Democrats' engaged in a partisan 'witch hunt' led by the special counsel determined to tie his campaign to Russia. But Trump's attacks have also served to highlight another thread among these officials and others who have investigated his campaign: their extensive experience in probing money laundering and organized crime, particularly as they pertain to Russia.... The president has denied having any business ties to Russia, and his dream of building a Trump Tower Moscow never materialized. But his links to Russian oligarchs and mobsters from the former Soviet Union have been documented.... Trump's attacks have shone a bright light on the experts inside and outside the government who have been investigating him -- individuals who share a deep expertise in organized crime, money laundering, fraud, and racketeering." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Another One Cops a Plea. Andrew Harris, et al., of Bloomberg: "A former associate of Paul Manafort pleaded guilty to a lobbying violation and agreed to cooperate with the U.S., giving prosecutors access to insights from a longtime international political operative whose Russian business partner has already been indicted in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe. The lobbyist, Sam Patten, 47, admitted that he failed to register in the U.S. as a foreign agent for his work lobbying on behalf of a Ukrainian political party. The nature of his cooperation isn't clear. Patten worked with Manafort and on Ukrainian campaigns, and reportedly worked on microtargeting operations with Cambridge Analytica. Mueller's office referred the prosecution to U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu in the District of Columbia...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Ken Vogel, et al., of the New York Times: "An American lobbyist [Sam Patten] who worked with Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs pleaded guilty on Friday to failing to register as an agent of a foreign power and disclosed to prosecutors that he helped a Russian political operative and a Ukrainian businessman illegally purchase four tickets to President Trump's inauguration.... The inauguration tickets were worth $50,000.... The tickets were purchased for Konstantin V. Kilimnik, a Russian political operative believed to have ties to a Russian intelligence agency, and a Ukrainian oligarch.... Patten ... could provide prosecutors insight into a range of activity and individuals relevant to the special counsel investigation, as well as connections between Mr. Trump, his associates and Russia.... Mr. Patten's work ... was done in conjunction with Mr. Kilimnik, who served as Mr. Manafort's longtime deputy on the ground in Kiev." Mrs. McC: By the terms of his plea deal, Patten is required to cooperate with Robert Mueller's investigators.

Peter Beaumont & Oliver Holmes of the Guardian: "The Trump administration has announced it will cut all US funding for the main UN programme for Palestinian refugees, a move with potentially devastating impacts for five million people who rely on its schools, healthcare, and social services.... The announcement comes days after the US said it was withdrawing $200m from its main development agency, USAid, for programmes based largely in Gaza where they help tens of thousands of people.... Cutting UNRWA funding has been widely interpreted in both Israel and Palestine as a blunt move by the US to unilaterally sweep aside one of the main sticking points in peace negotiations -- the right of return of Palestinians.... Asked on Tuesday if the US should 'get the right of return off the table', the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said she thought it should." --safari ...

     ... Colum Lynch & Robbie Gramer of Foreign Policy [Aug. 3]: "Jared Kushner ... has quietly been trying to do away with the U.N. relief agency that has provided food and essential services to millions of Palestinian refugees for decades, according to internal emails obtained by Foreign Policy<. His initiative is part of a broader push by the Trump administration and its allies in Congress to strip these Palestinians of their refugee status in the region and take their issue off the table in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, according to both American and Palestinian officials.... By trying to unwind UNRWA, the Trump administration appears ready to reset the terms of the Palestinian refugee issue in Israel's favor -- as it did on [Jerusalem] in December." [Open in private window] --safari: Has Kushner declared himself a foreign agent of Israel yet? ...

... BUT DPA and Haaretz: "Germany is preparing a 'substantial' increase in its contributions to the cash-strapped UN agency for Palestinian refugees amid reports that the United States plans to withhold a large share of its funding, according to a letter seen by dpa." --safari

Betsy Get Your Gun. Kimberley Hefling & Michael Stratford of Politico: "Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced on Friday that she would not stand in the way of states that want to use federal grants to purchase guns for schools, emphasizing that it's a decision for local officials to make.... DeVos' letter comes as Democrats and some education groups had asked the Trump administration not to allow federal education grants to be used for firearms after The New York Times first reported last week that the Education Department was considering the issue. Education Department officials said that they believe that states and school districts already have the flexibility to purchase firearms using federal education grants." ...

     ... American Dystopia. Kate Way of Mother Jones gives you a firsthand look at teachers gun training exercises. The pictures are chilling. --safari

Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "The EPA, under the leadership of Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, has issued a draft proposal that questions whether it was 'appropriate and necessary' for the agency to set standards in 2012 for mercury and other toxic air pollution emitted by power plants.... The MATS [Mercury and Air Toxics Standards] rule created the first-ever federal standards to limit mercury, acid gases, and other air toxic pollution from power plants. Since its implementation, the MATS rule, combined with other regulations, has achieved a 90-percent reduction in mercury power plant emissions and prevented thousands of premature deaths.... The [Obama-era] EPA estimated that MATS protections prevent up to 11,000 premature deathsand more than 100,000 asthma and heart attacks each year. The value of those benefits to the public is estimated to be as high as $90 billion annually." --safari

Dara Lind of Vox: "A federal judge in Texas has ruled that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program -- which President Trump sought to shut down in September 2017 but which has been partially reanimated by judges elsewhere -- is probably illegal. But Judge Andrew Hanen is refusing to order the program shut down immediately. The ruling doesn't mean DACA is safe. The program has already been closed to new applicants, and it's expected that the Supreme Court, with an eventual five-conservative majority, will rule that the Trump administration had the legal authority to wind down the program in 2017." --safari

"The Immaculate Concussion." William Broad of the New York Times: "Doctors and scientists say microwave strikes may have caused sonic delusions and very real brain damage among [U.S.] embassy staff and family members [in Cuba and China].... Douglas H. Smith, the study's lead author and director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at the University of Pennsylvania, said in a recent interview that microwaves were now considered a main suspect and that the team was increasingly sure the diplomats had suffered brain injury.... The F.B.I. declined to comment on the status of the investigation or any theories." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The story reads like a jumbled spy thriller. Interesting.

Julian Borger of the Guardian: "Washington is ready to expand arms supplies to Ukraine in order to build up the country's naval and air defence forces in the face of continuing Russian support for eastern separatists, according to the US special envoy for Ukraine.... In May, Congress approved $250m in military assistance to Ukraine in 2019, including lethal weaponry." --safari

Mariam Khan of ABC News: "As Sen. John McCain's casket was brought into the U.S. Capitol Rotunda Friday, Republican and Democratic colleagues of past and present stood in silence as he entered the iconic building where he made his legacy one final time." Leaders then made remarks about Sen. McCain. Sen. Mitch "McConnell thanked McCain's family, including his 106-year-old mother, Roberta, who was also in attendance.... The Capitol Rotunda will remain open throughout the day so that the public can pay their respects to McCain." (Also linked yesterday.)

Congressional Races

Jeff Burlew of the Tallahassee Democrat: "Robocalls against Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum that say they were paid for by a neo-Nazi group in Idaho are going out to voters in Tallahassee. The automated calls are narrated by someone pretending to be Gillum and using an exaggerated minstrel dialect with jungle noises in the background. The calls end with a disclaimer that they were funded by The Road to Power, an anti-Semitic, white supremacist website and podcast linked to Scott Rhodes of Sandpoint, Idaho. According to the Des Moines Register, a sister paper of the Tallahassee Democrat, the group has been linked to other robocall campaigns in Charlottesville, Virginia, Oregon and California.... The Democrat chose not to publish the audio because of its blatantly racist and offensive content." ...

... Emily Mahoney of the Tampa Bay Times: "On social media on Thursday, liberal groups and activists said that Congressman Ron DeSantis, the Republican nominee for Florida governor, was moderating a massive Facebook group with racist posts and conspiracy theories. DeSantis' membership in the group was first noted by American Ledger, which is run by the liberal group American Bridge.... DeSantis denied through a spokesman on Thursday that he ever led the group or even knew he had been added to it. He 'immediately' left it when notified of the controversy, the spokesman said." Mrs. McC: I linked to the originial story this week & noted its provenance. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Emma Brown & Beth Reinhard of the Washington Post: "Over the past year, a federal grand jury has been conducting a public corruption investigation in Tallahassee. The probe drew little notice beyond the capital during the primary campaign but is attracting new attention with [Andrew] Gillum's bid to become the first African America governor of the nation's largest swing state and Florida's first Democratic governor in 20 years.... Over the past year, details have emerged in the local press about Gillum's relationship with lobbyists and the broader probe -- in one report, a city commissioner was photographed frolicking in Las Vegas with undercover agents and a dwarf entertainer. Those reports are expected to infuse a multimillion-dollar spree of attack ads as the GOP battles to keep a decades-old grip on the governor's mansion. The precise contours of the probe are unknown, but investigators have subpoenaed information about lobbyist Adam Corey, a longtime friend of Gillum's who once served as his campaign treasurer." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: My guess is that investigators -- unlike Jim Comey -- will lie low until after the election, but as the reporters indicate, there's nothing to stop DeSantis & his allies from producing anti-Gillum ads steeped in innuendo. And of course it would be catastrophic if Gillum won the election, only to have it revealed later that he was a participant in a local corruption scheme.

Texans Beto. Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "Although Democratic enthusiasm has exploded across the country, few candidates have found the fervent level of interest [Rep. Beto] O'Rourke [D-Texas] has consistently attracted, drawing surprisingly large crowds in unexpected places.... O'Rourke, 45, says he's intent on running a positive campaign, one focused not on Trump or the famously acerbic [Ted] Cruz [R-Nasty] but on soothing hot anger with a promise of something different. Even if he doesn't often say their names, his supporters know his candidacy is a direct critique of those Republicans." ...

... Stephanie Murray of Politico: "... Donald Trump is planning a 'major rally' this fall for his onetime campaign foe, Sen. Ted Cruz, in the 'biggest stadium' he can find, the president announced on Twitter Friday afternoon." ...

... ** Who Is a Hero? Jelani Cobb of the New Yorker on Beto O'Rourke, John McCain v. Ted Cruz & Donald Trump. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** John Harwood of CNBC outlines how Republicans misused classified information it received, in error, on Democratic Congressional candidate Abigail Spanberger. Then ... "Once a New York Times story publicized the form's improper release, the [Paul] Ryan-linked PAC embraced the innuendo rather than renouncing it. 'It should surprise no one that Ms. Spanberger would want to hide from voters that she worked at a school that produced some of the world's most dangerous terrorists,' the fund declared. The PAC offers no evidence Spanberger did anything wrong. Unless it can, the attack is a stone-cold smear. Outraged Democrats, fearing other candidates remain at risk, have demanded a federal investigation.... Ryan distanced himself from the episode, with a spokesman insisting 'we cannot speak to the activity or behavior of outside groups.' So did House GOP campaign chief Steve Stivers, whose spokesman said it 'has nothing to do with us.'... But prominent Republicans outside the party's fight to hold its House majority share the Democrats' outrage."

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The plaintiffs who persuaded federal judges to declare unconstitutional North Carolina's Republican-drawn congressional maps have 'reluctantly concluded' that there is not enough time to draw new maps in time for the November elections.... The plaintiffs -- a consortium of Democratic voters and public-interest groups -- said redrawing the lines before the elections would be impractical." ...

... Jesse Byrnes of the Hill: "President Trump on Friday tore into a court's ruling this week that struck down the state's GOP-drawn redistricting map as an unconstitutional gerrymander, suggesting that 'there has to be something going on.' 'How unfair is that?' Trump said during a speech at a GOP fundraising event in Charlotte, N.C.... 'No, it's very unfair to have an election in less than 60 days and they change the district on you? And you've already won primaries? How does that work?'... Trump's comments came after a three-judge panel in North Carolina on Monday struck down the state's GOP-drawn map for the second time this year, saying Republicans had redrawn the map to unconstitutionally favor their party." Mrs. McC: Yeah, it's unfair when a court rules Republicans can't cheat.

Alexander Mallin & Katherine Faulders of ABC News: "At his Senate confirmation hearings next week, Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh is not expected to offer any commitment to recuse himself from cases involving investigations of President Trump, including a possible constitutional fight over a subpoena of the president, sources familiar with Kavanaugh's preparations tell ABC News.... Democrats have said they plan to use the confirmation hearings to spotlight Kavanaugh's potential legal and ethical conflicts should Mueller bring any case involving the president before the high court."...

... John Bowden of The Hill: "The White House has pushed to withhold more than 100,000 pages of records related to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's time as White House lawyer during the George W. Bush administration. Bush's attorney Bill Burck informed the Senate Judiciary Committee of the Trump administration's decision to withhold the documents in a letter to the panel on Friday. The Trump administration is withholding the documents on the basis of presidential privilege.... Bush had directed those reviewing what documents to release to err 'on the side of transparency and disclosure, and we believe we have done so,' the attorney wrote." --safari: "Transparency" means withholding 100,000 documents? Must have been a really shady administration. Oh, wait...

Oliver Darcy of CNBC: "The Village Voice, the country's first alternative newsweekly which offered New Yorkers local news and classified ads for decades, will cease production and lay off approximately half its staff, the newspaper's owner announced Friday.... The Village Voice was founded in 1955 and became a staple in local New York City journalism. It was awarded three Pulitzer Prizes and recognized with other journalism awards. The paper leaves behind a long history of publishing the works of legends in the journalism and literary world, including one of its co-founders, Norman Mailer. The publication also served as the primary hub for the work of Wayne Barrett, the late New York City muckraker whose early reporting on Donald Trump took on new life during the 2016 election.... The Village Voice struggled in recent years.... In April 2017, the Village Voice halted its print production and went entirely online. The move was aimed at reinvigorating the more than half-century old publication. But it wasn't enough."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. J.M. Rieger of the Washington Post: "In the three weeks since former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman revealed (and President Trump acknowledged) the existence of nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) signed by White House staffers, news networks have continued to book guests and paid contributors who have admitted to signing such agreements. It is unclear whether the NDAs, which aim to prevent aides and associates from demeaning, disparaging and/or releasing derogatory information about Trump, Vice President Pence and their families, are legally enforceable. But they present an ethical dilemma for networks that regularly book guests and paid contributors to discuss Trump when said guests and contributors are potentially barred from speaking ill of the president -- and by extension, logic suggests, being completely honest." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: As if anyone associated with Trump has the capacity to be "completely honest."

Maxwell Tani & Lachlan Cartwright of the Daily Beast: At NBC News, Ronan Farrow researched a long exposé of Harvey Weinstein's alleged sexual abuse & harassment. NBC has insisted that the report wasn't ready for air or online, & Farrow left the network. After the New Yorker published a version of his story, Farrow won a Pulitzer Prize. The series of articles "helped launch the #MeToo movement.... According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, NBC News General Counsel Susan Weiner made a series of phone calls to Farrow, threatening to smear him if he continued to report on Weinstein. A spokesperson for NBC News, speaking on the condition of anonymity, vigorously denied those allegations." Some, including Farrow, suspect that NBC News President Noah Oppenheim, who moonlighted as a Hollywood screenwriter, was communicating with Weinstein about the progress of the story."

Beyond the Beltway

Daniel Desrochers & Bill Estep of the Lexington Herald-Leader: "Longtime Kentucky Democratic operatives Jerry Lundergan and Dale Emmons were indicted by a federal grand jury in Lexington Friday for allegedly making illegal contributions to the 2014 U.S. Senate campaign of Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes and then conspiring to cover them up. Emmons was indicted on six counts and Lundergan was indicted on 10 counts after investigators found they 'willingly and knowingly' made corporate contributions of more than $25,000 to Grimes' campaign and then worked to cover up the contributions.... The indictment says the campaign did not know about the payments, causing it to unwittingly file false reports with the Federal Elections Commission.... The indictments strike at the heart of the Democratic establishment in Kentucky and raise serious questions about the political future of Lundergan's daughter, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. Grimes is considering a run for either attorney general or governor in 2019."

Meet Your Local GOP. Justin Wise of The Hill: "A county GOP official in Pennsylvania resigned on Friday, just a day after it was revealed that she repeatedly called NFL players who kneeled during the national anthem 'baboons.' Carla Maloney, secretary of the Republican Committee of Beaver County, made the comments in a series of Facebook posts last year, according to The Beaver County Times." --safari

Comments

[safari]

I wonder how European trade negotiators are feeling this morning after Very Low I.Q. Drumpfus gloatingly spills the beans about negotiating in bad faith. It's one thing to do it; it's quite another to mock your adversary while doing it. I can only imagine the hushed profanity and invective reverberating off hallway corridors in embassies across the world, all directed at one belligerent Agent Orange occupying the White House.

And one piece of advice for the newly-indicted Sam Patten: Refuse all invites that require surpassing the third floor of any building, and stay clear of any medium-sized windows and/or balconies.

[Akhilleus]

Election rigging Confederates in NC are whining that they can’t undo their hyper partisan gerrymandering in time. They offered no solution of their own, naturally, but are getting ready to defy the court order and leave their beautiful anti-democratic scheme in place.

Of course, if things were different, if there was a fair system in place and some Trump appointed winger hack told the North Carolina Republican Party that they were free to gerrymander the shit out of the state, with the caveat that they only had four weeks to get it done, they’d be finished in three.

I will be stunned if Republican election riggers actually obey the court order. My sense is that they’ll pretend to do something but at the last minute tell the judge the dog ate their homework and smirk all the way to the rigged ballot boxes.

[Marie Burns]

@safari: Yeah, the World's Greatest Dealmaker can't help boasting to reporters -- with others in the room -- that he's operating, against our closest ally, no less -- in bad faith.

We know there were others in the room for the interview because Bloomberg produced several photos. One shows Trump seated with two of the reporters -- Margaret Talev & Jennifer Jacobs -- alongside Sarah Sanders & famous leaker Don McGahn. Further, Bloomberg producers got their hands on the audio recordings, because Bloomberg published a transcript, & I'm certain it wasn't a reporter who made the transcription.

So a number of people besides the reporter had access to Trump's off-the-record remarks. The leaker could have been any of them, but my guess is that the reporters didn't do the leaking.

I'm not a world-class negotiator like Trump, but you can bet I wouldn't tell a news outlet -- especially while negotiations were ongoing -- that I had no intention of dealing in good faith. What an ass!

[PD Pepe]

The term, "Coming out of the woodwork," seems apt here. Every day another character with shady bono fides emerges, all connected to Trump in some way. Yesterday we learned about Sam Patten who failed to register in the U.S. as a foreign agent for his work lobbying on behalf of a Ukrainian political party. What! the pundits screamed––foreign money was going into the Trump campaign coffers? I remembered that we knew about Trump trying to solicit foreign entities to contribute to his campaign. Delving into my archives I found this posting from June 30, 2016:

Learning that a Watchdog group is filing an FEC complaint over Trump's emails asking for donations to foreign officials–-six countries so far––which is against federal law, my tongue is hanging out. We can only come to these conclusions:
1) Trump and his "people" were not aware of the law
2) they were aware but don't give a shit
3) If two, then they think they are above any law or/ and they are not serious about the presidency.

So evidently they carried out this maneuver with the help from the new face in the crowd, Sam Patten. Looks like number 3 is it and the lack of seriousness stands.

[Marvin Schwalb]

Sorry, Canada screwed up. They are under the impression that they are negotiating with the USA. No, they are dealing with the Trump. And after negative comments and failure to kiss the Trumpass they lose.
They clearly don't know that they are expected to base all matters on support of the Trumpego. Welcome to the UST.

[MAG]

About midweek Chuck Todd made a pronouncement that he felt very strongly that Mueller 'may' be dropping something big on Friday (yesterday)...saying "...I'm definitely coming to work tomorrow (for this breaking story!)" Well, Friday came and went...and that particular Chuck Todd story seems to have gone missing on the NBC news web site as I was trying to link it. (Found it: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chuck-todd-mueller-trump-news_us_5b889a67e4b0162f47214f13 )

Why was Mueller going to drop something big? Because he would not want to interfere with upcoming election season...and thus things would be put off until after the November elections.

Looks like new charges are put off. Probably a smart move, even if Mueller's team had dropped something yuuge yesterday, I can imagine how the Trumpinistas would raise a hue and cry. Unfair, unfair, unfair. Boo-hoo! This way it doesn't give them the argument if things are put off a bit longer.

I know, we all wish this were over sooner—then later!

As to Sam Patten who seemed to come out of nowhere, the Portland Press Herald had quite the background story on the Mainer! https://www.pressherald.com/2018/08/31/maine-native-and-former-aide-to-sens-snowe-collins-pleads-guilty-to-violating-lobbying-law/

[Marie Burns]

@MAG: Great story on Patten. Patten's grandma sounded like some dame! And Susan Collins is deeply disappointed or something.

I think Chuck Todd, the Most Gullible "Newsman" in Washington, must have bought into Rudy's conceit that Mueller would wrap things up by Labor Day Weekend to please the POtuS & all. Apparently Rudy now has pushed the absolute gare-an-teed end-date forward to Sept. 7 to accommodate the actual 60-day "moratorium period," so maybe we can enjoy Chuck waiting in rapt anticipation yet again.

Bob Mueller doesn't look like a guy with a great sense of humor, but I hope he has one.

[Ken Winkes]

Good article on the recent DACA decision, which was more of a deferment than a decision...

Maybe the judge is waiting for a newly elected Congress to act sensibly because even a Texas judge can see this one obviously can't.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/31/politics/texas-daca-continues/index.html

[Ken Winkes]

More bullying.

Cut funding for UNRWA?

I think of it as a reverse tariff. A stick without a carrot. Kinda like a wall.

And here the Pretender and I think almost alike. He thinks that way, too.

But he thinks it's smart.