The Commentariat -- November 27, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Shocking Report Will Reveal Barack Obama Is Not a Master Spy. Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "The Justice Department's inspector general found no evidence that the F.B.I. attempted to place undercover agents or informants inside Donald J. Trump's campaign in 2016 as agents investigated whether his associates conspired with Russia's election interference operation, people familiar with a draft of the inspector general's report said. The determination by the inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, is expected to be a key finding in his highly anticipated report due out on Dec. 9 examining aspects of the Russia investigation. The finding also contradicts some of the most inflammatory accusations hurled by Mr. Trump and his supporters, who alleged not only that F.B.I. officials spied on the Trump campaign but also at one point that former President Barack Obama had ordered Mr. Trump's phones tapped.... The finding is one of several by Mr. Horowitz that undercuts conservatives' claims that the F.B.I. acted improperly in investigating several Trump associates starting in 2016. He also found that F.B.I. leaders did not take politically motivated actions in pursuing a secret wiretap on a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page -- eavesdropping that Mr. Trump's allies have long decried as politically motivated. But Mr. Horowitz will sharply criticize F.B.I. leaders for their handling of the investigation in some ways, and he unearthed errors and omissions when F.B.I. officials applied for the wiretap, according to people familiar with a draft of the report."

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: C'mon, you-all were sure Barack was down in the bowels of Trump Tower just a-tippity-tip-tappin' them wires. Drat! Turns out it was not Barack in the basement with a bug. Another Trump conspiracy theory bites the dust. (Well, okay, Trump probably won't give up on it. Stay tuned for Sean Hannity's report on Michael Horowitz, deep-state mole for George Soros & the international liberal cabal.)

William Saletan of Slate: "Republicans claim that two private remarks by ... Donald Trump clear him of wrongdoing in the Ukraine scandal. The first remark, supposedly made on Aug. 31 to Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, was that Trump would 'never' require Ukraine to do anything for him in order to get military aid he had suspended. The second remark, made on Sept. 7 or Sept. 9 to Gordon Sondland..., was that Trump wanted 'nothing' from Ukraine [Mrs. McC: The 'no quid pro quo' conversation].... But now it turns out that by the time Trump spoke to Johnson, the president already knew he was under investigation for extorting Zelensky. This discovery, reported on Tuesday night [also linked below] by the New York Times, inverts the meaning of Trump's statements to Johnson and Sondland. Trump wasn't telling the truth. He was launching his cover story."

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "As Rudolph W. Giuliani waged a public campaign this year to unearth damaging information in Ukraine about President Trump's political rivals he privately pursued hundreds of thousands dollars in business from Ukrainian government officials, documents reviewed by The New York Times show. Mr. Giuliani ... has repeatedly said he has no business in Ukraine, and none of the deals was finalized. But the documents indicate that while he was pushing Mr. Trump's agenda with Ukrainian officials eager for support from the United States, Mr. Giuliani also explored financial agreements with members of the same government.... Prosecutors and F.B.I. agents in Manhattan are examining whether Mr. Giuliani was not just working for the president, but also doing the bidding of Ukrainians who wanted [Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch] removed for their own reasons...." ~~~

~~~ Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Rudolph W. Giuliani negotiated earlier this year to represent Ukraine's top prosecutor for at least $200,000 during the same months that Giuliani was working with the prosecutor to dig up dirt on vice president Joe Biden, according to people familiar with the discussions. The people said that Giuliani began negotiations with Ukraine's top prosecutor, Yuri Lutsenko, about a possible agreement in February. In the agreement, Giuliani's company would receive payment to represent Lutsenko as the Ukrainian sought to recover assets he believed had been stolen from the government in Kyiv, those familiar with the discussions said. The talks occurred as Giuliani met with Lutsenko in New York in January and then in Warsaw in February while he was also gathering information from Lutsenko on two topics Giuliani believed could prove useful to Trump: the involvement of Biden, and his son, Hunter, in Ukraine and allegations that Ukraine, not Russia, had interfered in the 2016 election.... A person familiar with the negotiations described a series of contracts that were drafted earlier this year in which Giuliani would have worked for Lutsenko or separately, the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump was right when about one thing he told Bill O'Reilly (story linked below) while trying to distance himself from Rudy: "Rudy has other clients, other than me. He's done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years." Trump's "Rudy who?" chat with O'Reilly seems to have been a "response" to the NYT & WashPo stories linked above, in that reporters most likely called the White House for comment yesterday. The distancing from Rudy also may mean Trump is keeping tabs on the SDNY investigation of the Three Stooges, and that the investigation is not going well Rudy. BTW, if Trump was so concerned about corruption in Ukraine, why would he hire a lawyer who has "done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years"? Wouldn't that lawyer have been working with corrupt Ukrainians over the years?

Adam Serwer of the Atlantic: "Donald Trump is a war-crimes enthusiast.... Although Trump was talked out of authorizing torture by his advisers, the president's ardor for violations of the laws of war has manifested itself in his decisions to intervene in war-crimes cases.... In four separate cases since the beginning of his presidency, and for the first time in the history of modern warfare, an American president has aided service members accused or convicted of war crimes, against the advice of his own military leadership. The clearances eroded the rule of law, as well as institutional safeguards against authoritarianism and the politicization of the military. But they were also a rational extension of Trumpist nationalism, which recognizes no moral, legal, or institutional restraints on the president worth upholding, and which sees violence against outsiders as a redemptive expression of national loyalty."

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Michael Flynn..., Donald Trump's first national security adviser, will not be sentenced on December 18 as previously planned, a federal judge said Wednesday, to await the release of an internal Justice Department report on FBI surveillance. Judge Emmet Sullivan agreed with prosecutors and Flynn's lawyers, who asked for Flynn's long-awaited sentencing hearing to be delayed because they won't be fully prepared for it until the DOJ inspector general's report regarding FBI surveillance as part of its early Russia probe is published. The inspector general's review is due out December 9.

Mark Walker & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "An examination of Federal Emergency Management Agency data and records demonstrates the degree to which the recovery from Hurricanes Maria and Irma on America's Caribbean islands has been stalled compared with some of the most disaster-prone states on the mainland, leaving the islands' critical infrastructure in squalor and limbo.... That disparity underscored how a federal government in Washington has treated citizens on the mainland, with voting representatives in Congress and a say in presidential contests, compared with citizens on the islands. Further complicating the recovery are issues of corruption, often amplified by President Trump and, islanders say, questions of race."

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Kyle Cheney, et al., of Politico: "The House Judiciary Committee will hold its first hearing next week on the impeachment of ... Donald Trump, as Democrats move quickly to the next stage of a process that is likely to lead to the third-ever presidential impeachment before the end of the year. The hearing, scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 4, will feature a panel of constitutional experts and focus on the definition of an impeachable offense and the 'procedural application of the impeachment process,' according to committee aides." ~~~

~~~ Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday invited President Trump's legal team to participate in its first public impeachment hearing next week, when lawmakers plan to convene a panel of constitutional scholars to inform their debate over whether the president's actions warrant his removal from office.... Mr. Nadler asked the White House to inform him by Sunday if the president or his lawyer wants to participate in the initial hearing, and reminded Mr. Trump that House rules empower him as chairman to curtail that involvement if 'you continue to refuse to make witnesses and documents available' related to the inquiry." Nadler also told Trump his lawyers would have to behave themselves "consistent with the rules of decorum and with the solemn nature of the work before us." A CNN story is here.

** Michael Schmidt, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump had already been briefed on a whistle-blower's complaint about his dealings with Ukraine when he unfroze military aid for the country in September, according to two people familiar with the matter. Lawyers from the White House counsel's office told Mr. Trump in late August about the complaint, explaining that they were trying to determine whether they were legally required to give it to Congress, the people said. The revelation could shed light on Mr. Trump's thinking at two critical points under scrutiny by impeachment investigators: his decision in early September to release $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine and his denial to a key ambassador around the same time that there was a 'quid pro quo' with Kyiv. Mr. Trump used the phrase before it had entered the public lexicon in the Ukraine affair. Mr. Trump faced bipartisan pressure from Congress when he released the aid. But the new timing detail shows that he was also aware at the time that the whistle-blower had accused him of wrongdoing...." A summary of the Times report appears in the Hill.

Jeremy Herb, et al., of CNN: "The White House budget office's first official action to withhold $250 million in Pentagon aid to Ukraine came on the evening of July 25, the same day ... Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone, according to a House Budget Committee summary of the office's documents. That withholding letter, which was among documents provided to the committee, was signed by a career Office of Management and Budget official [Mark Sandy], the summary states. But the next month, OMB political appointee Michael Duffey signed letters taking over the decision to withhold both the Pentagon and State Department aid to Ukraine from the career official. A hold was placed on the Ukraine aid at the beginning of July, and the agencies were notified at a July 18 meeting that it had been frozen at the direction of the President, a week before the Trump-Zelensky call.... Sandy testified before House impeachment investigators in a closed-door deposition, while Duffey defied a subpoena." See related WashPo story by Erica Werner, linked below.

Olivia Beavers of the Hill: "House Democrats on Tuesday released the remaining witness transcripts from their impeachment inquiry into President Trump. The three House committees that led the closed-door depositions released interviews with Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of State in charge of European and Eurasian Affairs, and Mark Sandy, a senior Office of Management and Budget official. The document release comes as the House Intelligence Committee plans to work through the Thanksgiving holiday to compile a report for the House Judiciary Committee to use in determining whether to draft articles of impeachment against Trump over allegations that he pressed Ukraine's president to interfere in the 2020 election by opening two investigations that would benefit Trump politically." ~~~

~~~ Here is the transcript of Sandy's testimony, via the Hill. Here is Reeker's testimony, also via the Hill. ~~~

~~~ ** Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "Two officials at the White House Office of Management and Budget recently resigned while voicing concerns over the holdup on Ukraine aid, a career employee of the agency told impeachment investigators, according to a transcript of his testimony released Tuesday. Mark Sandy, the only OMB official to testify in the impeachment inquiry, did not name the employees in question. He said one worked in the OMB legal division and described that person as having a 'dissenting opinion' about how the security assistance to Ukraine could be held up in light of the Impoundment Control Act, which limits the ability of the executive branch to change spending decisions already made by Congress. The other person, who resigned in September, 'expressed some frustrations about not understanding the reason for the hold,' Sandy said. Sandy, the agency's deputy associate director for national security programs, testified on Nov. 16, becoming the first OMB official to do so after political appointees at the agency defied congressional subpoenas to participate in the House Democrats' impeachment inquiry. His testimony is the first public confirmation that the dispute at the OMB over handling of the Ukraine aid became so intense that it contributed to resignations from the agency."

** Why Are There Big Ole Tire Tracks on Your Jacket, Rudy? Bloomberg (partial) via digby: "Donald Trump denied directing Rudy Giuliani to go to Ukraine to look for dirt on his political rivals, in an interview with former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly. 'No, I didn't direct him, but he is a warrior, he is a warrior,' Trum told O'Reilly in an interview streamed on the internet on Tuesday. Giuliani has said publicly that he conducted an investigation 'concerning 2016 Ukrainian collusion and corruption' on Trump' behalf. Asked by O'Reilly what Giuliani was doing in Ukraine, Trump said 'you have to ask that to Rudy.' 'Rudy has other clients, other than me,' Trump said. 'He's done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Allow me to remind Rudy what Trump said when asked on AF1 why Michael Cohen had paid Stormy Daniels $130K: "You'll have to ask Michael Cohen." Kinda word-for-word, isn't it, Rudy? Just change the name of the crooked lawyer. Jeff Mason of Reuters (April 5, 2018): "Asked if he knew about the payment to Daniels, Trump said 'No.' Asked if he knew where the money came from to pay Daniels, Trump told reporters, 'No, I don't know.'" Oh, P.S. Both of those were lies, as Mueller's team proved. Better hang onto that iPhone with all the evidence, Rudy. ~~~

     ~~~ Anyhow, Trump -- who says he has "one of the greatest memories of all time," seems to have forgot all about that "perfect" phone call with President Zelensky. You know, the call where Trump asks Zelensky to find out about the Crowdstrike server, the call where Trump tells Zelensky he wants him to talk to Giuliani about the server. "Rudy very much knows what's happening and he is a very capable guy. If you could speak to him, that would be great." Trump says again moments later, "I will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call." and again, "I will tell Rudy and Attorney General Barr to call." (Trump told Zelensky he wanted him to look into the Bidens & to talk to Bill Barr about their corrupt acts: "The other thing, there's a lot of talk about Biden's son. that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that, so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it.") But, no, Trump has no idea what Rudy was doing in Ukraine. You have to ask Rudy. ~~~

     ~~~ digby (linked above): "Rudy Giuliani put a lot of people behind bars over the course of many years. There is no way in hell that he will allow himself to go to jail like Cohen and Manafort even for a day."

This is attorney client privilege so I will withstand whatever malicious lies or spin you put on it. -- Rudy Giuliani, to the Washington Post in response to the story that follows ~~~

~~~ Rudy Giuliani, International Man of Misery. Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "While in Spain [in August to press a top aide of Ukraine President Zelensky to investigate the Bidens, Rudy] Giuliani stayed at a historic estate belonging to Venezuelan energy executive Alejandro Betancourt López, who had hired Trump's personal attorney to help him contend with an investigation by the Justice Department into alleged money laundering and bribery, according to people familiar with the situation. A month later, Giuliani was one of several lawyers representing Betancourt in Washington. The lawyers met with the chief of the Justice Department's criminal division and other government attorneys to argue that the wealthy Venezuelan should not face criminal charges as part of a $1.2 billion money-laundering case filed in Florida last year, said the people.... Betancourt is not one of the eight men charged in the case.... But ... he is referred to in the criminal complaint as a uncharged co-conspirator, as previously reported by the Miami Herald. Giuliani's representation of Betancourt -- which has not been previously disclosed -- is a striking example of how Trump's lawyer has continued to offer his services to foreign clients with interests before the U.S. government while working on behalf of the president. And it shows how Giuliani -- who says he was serving as Trump's attorney pro bono -- has used his work for paying clients to help underwrite his efforts to find political ammunition in Ukraine to benefit the president." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times report is here.

Pompeo Has Been Drinking the Red Kool-Aid. John Hudson of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that a debunked conspiracy theory pursued by President Trump accusing Ukraine, not Russia, of interfering in the 2016 presidential election by hacking the network of the Democratic National Committee is a worthy subject of investigation. In a news conference at the State Department, Pompeo was asked if the United States and Ukraine should investigate the conspiracy theory, which several former senior Trump officials have called a 'fictional narrative' with 'no validity.' 'Anytime there is information that indicates that any country has messed with American elections, we not only have a right but a duty to make sure we chase that down,' Pompeo told reporters.... Trump repeated this idea on Fox News last week. 'They gave the server to CrowdStrike..., which is a company owned by a very wealthy Ukrainian, and I still want to see that server.' CrowdStrike is not run by a wealthy Ukrainian. It is a California-based company co-founded by a Russian-born American tech executive." ~~~

~~~ Nicole Gaouette & Kylie Atwood of CNN: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refused to counter a discredited conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election and sidestepped a question about his willingness to testify before the House impeachment inquiry.... Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday morning that he would 'love to have Mike Pompeo, Rick Perry, Mick Mulvaney and many others testify about the phony Impeachment Hoax.' Asked about the tweet during a briefing with reporters at the State Department, Pompeo said 'when the time is right all good things happen.'... n the past Pompeo, who was Trump's first CIA director, has said that he supports the intelligence that Russian interfered in the 2016 election. But in recent months he has also suggested -- based on no evidence -- that Joe Biden could have interfered in the election."

Sergii Leschenko in the Kyiv Post: "To some of U.S. President Donald Trump's entourage, it's 'the conspiracy of the black ledger.' They're convinced that the exposure of Paul Manafort's secret payments in Ukraine was part of a scenario to destroy Trump 2016 presidential campaign by tarring Manafort, who was then Trump's campaign manager.... I want Ukrainian citizens, American politicians, and international journalists to operate with the first-hand information and not be victims of random claims or deliberate misinformation. Here's the true story as I know it:" --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Leschenko is a former member of the Ukraine parliament &, briefly, an advisor to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. A prolific political writer & blogger, Leschenko obtained 22 pages of the 800-page "black ledger" from a source, but it was not until three months later that a former top official in Ukraine's Security Service said the full ledger was dropped on his doorstep. The ledger details corrupt transactions involving former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych & politicians connected to Yanukovych. Leschenko's report is pretty interesting.

Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "The Justice Department asked a federal judge Tuesday to put a temporary pause on her ruling that orders former Trump White House counsel Don McGahn to testify in the House impeachment probe, saying it needs the delay to pursue an appeal. While expected, the move from DOJ means that the primary congressional panel responsible for drafting articles of impeachment against ... Donald Trump likely won't hear anytime soon from McGahn, one of the star witnesses in special counsel Robert Mueller's final report." (Also linked yesterday.)

Guardian @ 9:37 ET: “A lawyer who represents [John] Bolton and his former deputy at the national security council, Charles Kupperman, said the ruling in Don McGahn's case does not apply to his clients.... The officials' attorney argued that, because the House judiciary committee was specifically not seeking information from McGahn on 'sensitive topics of national security or foreign affairs,' the ruling could not provide guidance on whether his clients should testify." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Gee, I guess the Bolton/Kupperman lawyer didn't do a very good job of reading the ruling. As Charlie Savage of the NYT wrote (linked below), Judge Jackson "wrote that the law required not just Mr. McGahn, but 'other current and former senior-level White House officials' who receive a subpoena to appear, and that it made no difference 'whether the aides in question are privy to national security matters, or work solely on domestic issues.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Peter Baker of the New York Times talked to Bolton/Cooperman lawyer Charles Cooper. Cooper asserted that Judge Jackson made only "passing references" to national security matters, and those passing references “'are not authoritative on the validity of testimonial immunity for close White House advisers' whose 'responsibilities are focused exclusively on providing information and advice to the president on national security.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Andrew Desderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The House Oversight and Reform Committee filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to enforce the panel's subpoenas seeking information about the Trump administration's failed efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.... The suit is an indication that Democrats believe their hand has been strengthened by the victory in the McGahn case as they seek documents related to other subpoenas that the Trump administration has defied. The House first voted to enforce the subpoenas in July, formally holding Barr and Ross in contempt of Congress for defying the committee's subpoenas seeking information about the administration's ultimately unsuccessful efforts to add a citizenship question to next year's census. The Justice Department declined to prosecute Barr or Ross for flouting the requests, arguing that the information Democrats were seeking was protected by executive privilege." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story is here.

This Explains a Lot. Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's something I didn't know or forgot: one of Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher's attorneys is Marc Mukasey, the son of former U.S. Attorney General Mike Mukasey. Mukasey ALSO is one of Trump's attorneys in the Deutsche Bank/Capital One suit (lost that one yesterday). Mukasey, of course, has been working on both of these cases at the same time. But wait, there's more: Mukasey ALSO was a long-time law partner of Rudy Giuliani." Looks like we can stop blaming Fox "News" for Trump's interest in helping out war criminal Gallagher. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Addition to the Stupid Trump Remarks Log. Jonathan Chait: "[Monday], President Trump signed the Women&'s Suffrage Centennial Commemorative Coin Act. The effect of this law is self-explanatory -- it creates a coin to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, ratifying women's suffrage. Or, at least, it is self-explanatory to everybody except Donald Trump, who was mystified as to why the 100th anniversary was not recognized earlier. After working his way through the prepared remarks, Trump interjected with his own riff. 'They've been working on this for years and years,' he said, suddenly wondering, 'And I'm curious, why wasn't it done a long time ago, and also -- well, I guess the answer to that is because now I'm president, and we get things done. We get a lot of things done that nobody else got done.'" After Sen. Marsha Blackburn (no genius herself) explained to Trump how the bill commemorates the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment & that it passed Congress without opposition, Trump again asked why it wasn't done sooner. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I shouldn't be laughing. This is just one more indication of Trump's severe cognitive disorder. He doesn't (or no longer) knows that centennial means "100th anniversary," and he could not make the connection between what Blackburn explained -- "100 years" -- and a centennial event. This is also a function of his egomania: part of the reason he couldn't understand it is that he needed to make the point that previous presidents (Obama!) had screwed up by not celebrating this particular centennial years ago.

The Downside of Cloven Hooves. No reasonable person would believe that Devin Nunes' cow actually has a Twitter account, or that the hyperbole, satire and cow-related jokes it posts are serious facts. It is self-evident that cows are domesticated livestock animals and do not have the intelligence, language, or opposable digits needed to operate a Twitter account. Defendant 'Devin Nunes' Mom' likewise posts satirical patronizing, nagging, mothering comments which ostensibly treat Mr. Nunes as a misbehaving child. -- Adam Parkhomenko, in a court filing, asking to quash a subpoena from Devin Nunes

Sorry, Adam, Devin is not a "reasonable person." Not sure about his cow & his mom. But thanks for trying to explain to Devin the importance of oppositional digits to effective Twitter usage. Don't expect him to get it, though. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ~~~

~~~ Hannah Wiley of the Sacramento Bee: "A Democratic strategist is refusing to disclose communications that could reveal the identity of anonymous Twitter users who criticize Rep. Devin Nunes, arguing in a new court filing that the accounts are clearly satirical expressions of political speech. Nunes, R-Tulare, has sued Twitter and anonymous social media users who run accounts known as Devin Nunes' Cow and Devin Nunes' Mom. Nunes' attorney last month issued a subpoena demanding records about them from former Democratic National Committee employee Adam Parkhomenko.... Parkhomenko's attorney argues that the Twitter accounts' language 'does not constitute defamation' and that courts are tasked with protecting anonymous communications in the interest of freedom of speech."

Emma Farge & Stephanie Nebehay of Reuters: "Greenhouse gas emissions surged to a record level last year and world temperatures could rise by more than twice the globally agreed warming limit if nothing is done, a U.N. report showed on Tuesday." --s The New York Times report is here. A WashPo report was linked yesterday.

The Commentariat -- November 26, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Andrew Desderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The House Oversight and Reform Committee filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to enforce the panel's subpoenas seeking information about the Trump administration's failed efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.... The suit is an indication that Democrats believe their hand has been strengthened by the victory in the McGahn case as they seek documents related to other subpoenas that the Trump administration has defied. The House first voted to enforce the subpoenas in July, formally holding Barr and Ross in contempt of Congress for defying the committee's subpoenas seeking information about the administration's ultimately unsuccessful efforts to add a citizenship question to next year's census. The Justice Department declined to prosecute Barr or Ross for flouting the requests, arguing that the information Democrats were seeking was protected by executive privilege."

This Explains a Lot. Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's something I didn't know or forgot: one of Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher's attorneys is Marc Mukasey, the son of former U.S. Attorney General Mike Mukasey. Mukasey ALSO is one of strong> Trump's attorneys in the Deutsche Bank/Capital One suit (lost that one yesterday). Mukasey, of course, has been working on both of these cases at the same time. But wait, there's more: Mukasey ALSO was a long-time law partner of Rudy Giuliani." Looks like we can stop blaming Fox "News" for Trump's interest in helping out war criminal Gallagher.

This is attorney client privilege so I will withstand whatever malicious lies or spin you put on it. -- Rudy Giuliani, to the Washington Post in response to the story that follows ~~~

~~~ Rudy Giuliani, International Man of Misery. Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "While in Spain [in August to press a top aide of Ukraine President Zelensky to investigate the Bidens, Rudy] Giuliani stayed at a historic estate belonging to Venezuelan energy executive Alejandro Betancourt López, who had hired Trump's personal attorney to help him contend with an investigation by the Justice Department into alleged money laundering and bribery, according to people familiar with the situation. A month later, Giuliani was one of several lawyers representing Betancourt in Washington. The lawyers met with the chief of the Justice Department's criminal division and other government attorneys to argue that the wealthy Venezuelan should not face criminal charges as part of a $1.2 billion money-laundering case filed in Florida last year, said the people.... Betancourt is not one of the eight men charged in the case.... But ... he is referred to in the criminal complaint as a uncharged co-conspirator, as previously reported by the Miami Herald. Giuliani's representation of Betancourt -- which has not been previously disclosed -- is a striking example of how Trump's lawyer has continued to offer his services to foreign clients with interests before the U.S. government while working on behalf of the president. And it shows how Giuliani -- who says he was serving as Trump's attorney pro bono -- has used his work for paying clients to help underwrite his efforts to find political ammunition in Ukraine to benefit the president."

Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "The Justice Department asked a federal judge Tuesday to put a temporary pause on her ruling that orders former Trump White House counsel Don McGahn to testify in the House impeachment probe, saying it needs the delay to pursue an appeal. While expected, the move from DOJ means that the primary congressional panel responsible for drafting articles of impeachment against ... Donald Trump likely won't hear anytime soon from McGahn, one of the star witnesses in special counsel Robert Mueller's final report."

Guardian @ 9:37 ET: "A lawyer who represents [John] Bolton and his former deputy at the national security council, Charles Kupperman, said the ruling in Don McGahn's case does not apply to his clients.... The officials' attorney argued that, because the House judiciary committee was specifically not seeking information from McGahn on 'sensitive topics of national security or foreign affairs,' the ruling could not provide guidance on whether his clients should testify." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Gee, I guess the Bolton/Kupperman lawyer didn't do a very good job of reading the ruling. As Charlie Savage of the NYT wrote (linked below), Judge Jackson "wrote that the law required not just Mr. McGahn, but 'other current and former senior-level White House officials' who receive a subpoena to appear, and that it made no difference 'whether the aides in question are privy to national security matters, or work solely on domestic issues.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Peter Baker of the New York Times talked to Bolton/Cooperman lawyer Charles Cooper. Cooper asserted that Judge Jackson made only "passing references" to national security matters, and those passing references "'are not authoritative on the validity of testimonial immunity for close White House advisers' whose 'responsibilities are focused exclusively o providing information and advice to the president on national security.'"

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John Kruzel of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Monday granted President Trump's request to temporarily stay a subpoena for his financial records from the House Oversight Committee, while the court considers whether to take up his appeal in the case." ~~~

~~~ Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The court's action signals that, even as Congress considers impeaching Trump, the court will undertake a more complete consideration of the legal powers of Congress and state prosecutors to investigate the president while he is in office. The court instructed Trump's lawyers to file a petition by Dec. 5 stating why the court should accept the case for full briefing and oral argument. If the petition is eventually denied, the lower-court ruling will go into effect. If accepted, the case probably will be heard this term, with a decision before the court adjourns at the end of June." An AP story is here.

... the primary takeaway from the past 250 years of recorded American history is that Presidents are not kings. -- Judge Ketanji Brown, in a ruling that Don McGahn must comply with a Congressional subpoena ~~~

~~~ ** John Kruzel of the Hill: "A federal judge on Monday ruled that former White House counsel Don McGahn must comply with a subpoena and testify to Congress, delivering a significant win to House Democrats amid their impeachment inquiry into President Trump. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, an Obama appointee, means that McGahn is obligated to comply with a House Judiciary Committee subpoena from April seeking to compel his testimony.... Jackson's decision is likely to be appealed.... Democrats have held open the possibility of pursuing issues investigated by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, including Trump's possible obstruction of justice. If House Democrats pursue that course, McGahn's testimony could prove critical given the central role he played in that particular phase of the probe, which examined 10 "episodes" of possible obstruction. The Mueller report found 'substantial evidence' that Trump leaned on McGahn to fire Mueller." ~~~

     ~~~ Spencer Hsu & Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "Former Trump White House counsel Donald McGahn must comply with a House subpoena, a federal court ruled Monday, finding that top presidential advisers cannot ignore congressional demands for information and raising the possibility that McGahn could be forced to testify as part of the impeachment inquiry.... '[T]he Court holds only that [McGahn] (and other senior presidentia advisors) do not have absolute immunity from compelled congressional process in the context of this particular subpoena dispute,' Jackson wrote, quoting a similar ruling by a Republican appointed judge in 2008 in a case involving former George W. Bush counsel Harriet Miers. Like Miers, Jackson wrote, 'Donald McGahn must appear before the Committee to provide testimony, and invoke executive privilege where appropriate.'... William A. Burck, McGahn's attorney, said, 'Don McGahn will comply with Judge Jackson's decision unless it is stayed pending appeal. DOJ is handling this case, so you will need to ask them whether they intend to seek a stay.'... Jonathan Shaub, a former attorney in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, said a ruling against McGahn will 'provide cover for other witnesses, especially former employees who are inclined to testify but feel compelled by the White House's direction not to.'" ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times report by Charlie Savage is here. "wrote that the law required not just Mr. McGahn, but 'other current and former senior-level White House officials' who receive a subpoena to appear, and that it made no difference 'whether the aides in question are privy to national security matters, or work solely on domestic issues.'" Mrs. McC: Yo, John Bolton. That means you.

~~~ The decision, via Politico, is here.

~~~ CNN is reporting that the White House will appeal the ruling. Mrs. McC: McGahn & others, of course, could just go ahead & honor the subpoenas beginning tomorrow. At the same time, since Judge Jackson's ruling allows that McGahn may invoke executive privilege "where appropriate," McGahn could apply that privilege quite liberally, and if the House isn't satisfied that those invocations are "appropriate," that could wind up back in court.

Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: “Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee plan to deliver a report soon after Thanksgiving making the case for impeaching President Trump, the chairman said on Monday, moving quickly to escalate what he called 'urgent' evidence of wrongdoing by the president. Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California and the Intelligence Committee chairman, wrote in a letter to colleagues that after two months of inquiry amid consistent stonewalling by Mr. Trump, his panel has uncovered 'massive amounts of evidence' pointing to misconduct and 'corrupt intent' by the president. The evidence will be detailed in a report being drafted for public release and transmittal to the House Judiciary Committee shortly after lawmaker return from their holiday break, Mr. Schiff wrote. The Judiciary panel is expected to promptly draft and debate articles of impeachment against Mr. Trump based on its findings."

There's obviously a concerted effort to spread as many lies about me as possible, to destroy my reputation so that I'm not credible when I continue to reveal all of the massive evidence of criminality by the Bidens. -- Rudy Giuliani, Monday, responding to news that subpoenas have been issued related to his international forays ~~~

~~~ A Noun, a Verb, and a Boatload of Crimes. Zack Budryk of the Hill: "Prosecutors have issued subpoenas to figures with ties to Rudy Giuliani... seeking information on his consulting firm Giuliani Partners, according to The Wall Street Journal. The subpoenas also seek information on a company co-founded by Lev Parnas, a recently-arrested associate of Giuliani's, that paid Giuliani for legal and business advice, the Journal reported on Monday. The subpoenas, as described by the newspaper, listed numerous potential charges under consideration including obstruction of justice, conspiracy to defraud the United States, making false statements to the federal government and money laundering. They also seek materials relating to pro-Trump groups America First Action and America First Policies. Kelly Sadler, a spokeswoman for the groups, said they have reached out to the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office and offered their cooperation, and said neither was issued a subpoena. Giuliani told the Journal he had not been contacted by federal investigators." Mrs. McC: That's because you're the target, Rudy. You remember how that works, don't you? ~~~

~~~ Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "The list of possible crimes under investigation does not mean those charges will be filed. They do, however, indicate prosecutors are casting a wide net for wrongdoing as they examine the business and legal dealings of the president's personal lawyer and two Soviet emigres business executives who have been assisting Giuliani in the efforts to dig up damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on the president's behalf."

Matt Stieb of New York: "On Sunday, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy, who plays a frequent defender of President Trump on TV, responded to a question from Fox News' Chris Wallace -- Was it Russia or Ukraine that hacked the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 election? -- with a conspiratorial and wildly inaccurate answer. 'I don't know,' said Kennedy. 'Nor do you. Nor do any of us.' Aware of the total falsehood in his statement -- before Trump took office, the intelligence committee determined that Russia had meddled in the election to the benefit of the Republican candidate -- Johnson [Kennedy] promptly walked back his claim. Speaking with Chris Cuomo on Monday, Johnson [Kennedy] admitted that 'he was wrong' about the conspiracy that Ukraine hacked DNC emails and pinned the job on Russia."; Thanks to PD Pepe for the correction. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: When Wallace countered him by noting that the entire intelligence community fingered Russia, Kennedy devolved into a story about how maybe it was Ukraine, too, blah-blah. No doubt the real reason Kennedy walked back his claim is that it made him a teevee laughing stock. More than half-a-dozen times on MSNBC & CNN (sometimes accompanied by the exclamation, "And he went to Oxford!"), I heard the clip of Kennedy's false claim being held up as an example of Republicans' complete capitulation to Trumpian delusion.

Andrew Sheeler of the Sacramento Bee: "Leading Democrats are calling for an investigation into a trip to Europe that Rep. Devin Nunes took last year with three aides after attorneys for an indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani told news outlets the Republican congressman sought dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden. House travel records show Nunes traveled to Europe from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3. Three congressional aides who have worked for Nunes have matching travel receipts for the same dates, House records show. The trip cost $63,525.... While in Europe, Parnas' attorney Joseph A. Bondy said Nunes met with ousted Ukrainian top prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who lost his job after Biden and other world leaders called for his dismissal. Nunes reportedly told Shokin of 'the urgent need' to investigate the company Burisma, which employed Biden's son Hunter as a member of its board of directors, and former Vice President Biden.... Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, on Monday called for Nunes to be investigated. She sits on the House Intelligence Committee with Nunes.... That investigation is 'quite likely' to happen, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Washington, a senior-ranking Democrat who is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said Saturday...."

Kara Scannell & Mark Morales of CNN: "David Pecker, the head of the company that publishes the National Enquirer, has spoken with prosecutors with the New York district attorney's office as part of its investigation into the Trump Organization's handling of hush money payments to women who alleged affairs with .... Donald Trump, sources with knowledge of the meeting tell CNN. The America Media Inc. chairman's late October meeting with prosecutors from the major economic crimes bureau could provide key details on discussions that took place involving Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who allegedly had an affair with Trump, and agreements that were made with former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, the sources said. Cohen is cooperating with the investigation.... The meeting between Pecker and the local prosecutors shows that investigators are still trying to connect the dots between Trump and the hush money payments."

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "Because Republicans have been so successful in shrouding the origins of the Russia investigation in a miasma of misinformation, I hope some talented filmmaker makes a movie out of the new book by Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, 'Crime in Progress: Inside the Steele Dossier and the Fusion GPS Investigation of Donald Trump.' Simpson and Fritsch are the co-founders of Fusion GPS, the research firm that investigated Trump during the 2016 campaign, first for the conservative Washington Free Beacon, and then for a lawyer for the Hillary Clinton campaign. It was Fusion GPS that hired the British ex-spy Christopher Steele to look into Trump's Russia connections, and it sits at the center of countless pro-Trump conspiracy theories.... 'Crime in Progress' is the best procedural yet written about the discovery of Trump's Russia ties. It demolishes a number of right-wing talking points, including the claim that the Steele dossier formed the basis of the F.B.I.'s counterintelligence inquiry into Trump.... For years, Trump was financially entangled with organized crime as well as with Kremlin-friendly oligarchs, and by keeping those entanglements secret, he gave Putin leverage over him from the moment he took office."

Helene Cooper & Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the New York Times: "President Trump ordered the Pentagon not to remove a Navy SEAL at the center of a high-profile war crimes case from the elite commando unit, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said Monday. Mr. Esper's confirmation of the order from Mr. Trump is the latest turn in an extraordinary series of events that pitted the president against his senior military leadership over the fate of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, the SEAL who was convicted of posing for photographs with the body of a teenage Islamic State captive in American custody." The AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Stefan Becket & Anna Gunther of CBS News: "Richard Spencer, the former secretary of the Navy, said he was fired before he could resign over the president's decision to intervene in an internal review of a Navy SEAL convicted of posing with [a] corpse, and downplayed a supposed backchannel offer to the White House that served as the justification for his ouster.... [Defense Secretary Mark] Esper told reporters Monday that he fired Spencer after 'losing trust and confidence in him regarding his lack of candor.' He accused Spencer of secretly proposing a deal to the White House that would allow Gallagher to retire and retain his Trident pin..., a move Esper said was 'completely contrary' to what the two had discussed. In an interview Monday, Spencer told CBS News he spoke with White House counsel Pat Cipollone on November 15 and proposed an arrangement in which Gallagher would be allowed to retire as a SEAL if the president agreed not to intervene in the case and 'let the Navy do its administrative work.' Spencer said Cipollone called back the same day to decline the offer, saying the president would be involved.... Spencer acknowledged not telling Esper about the proposal. 'I will take the bad on me, for not letting him know I did that,' Spencer said. 'But as far as I was concerned, at that point, the president understood the deal.... He said, "I'm going to be involved." He sent a signed letter to me, an order with his signature on it, saying, "Promote Edward Gallagher to E7,'" the rank of chief petty officer. Esper acknowledged Monday that when confronted about his secret negotiations with the White House, Spencer 'was completely forthright in admitting what had been going on.'" ~~~

~~~ Chris Riotta of the (U.K.) Independent: "US veterans decried Donald Trump's orders to restore an accused war criminal's rank in the Navy.... 'Ever since Donald Trump became president he's been tearing the military apart, putting troops in the difficult position of needing to choose between obedience to his unhinged orders, and staying true to our code of honour,' said Alexander McCoy, a former Marine and political director of the veteran group Common Defence. 'By pardoning war criminals because Fox News told him to, Trump showed he sees our military as a tool for massacres, not as the professional, honourable force we aspire to be.'... The president's demands could cause 'significant long-term damage to the Naval Special Warfare community,' according to James Waters, a former Navy SEAL platoon commander and White House staff member in the Bush administration, who told The Independent: 'The only people who weigh in on whether a Navy SEAL deserves to keep his Trident are people who have their Trident.'" ~~~

~~~ New York Times Editors: "'Get back to business!' With this tweet, President Trump directed his secretary of the Navy, Richard Spencer, to stop the naval officers charged with oversight of the SEALs from disciplining one of their own.... It is very much the Navy's business -- and every military’s business -- to maintain, as the military so often recites and Mr. Spencer put it in his final letter to the president, 'good order and discipline.'... The military is not an extension of his White House.... Contamination from the president's approach is amplified when his judgment is largely shaped by television commentators and his decision announced by tweet.... Our president's endorsement of the perpetrator will be taken as a representation of our values. Our own troops, many of them teenagers, will be misled by the president's sense, or lack of sense, of honor." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Yeah but. Undermining the military justice system, firing the Navy secretary, and giving clemency to alleged & convicted depraved murderers is okay if it's all just a campaign stunt. Think Ukraine scandal, but worse. ~~~

~~~ Spencer Ackerman & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "If Donald Trump gets his wish, he'll soon take the three convicted or accused war criminals he spared from consequence on the road as special guests in his re-election campaign, according to two sources who have heard Trump discuss their potential roles for the 2020 effort. Despite military and international backlash to Trump's Nov. 15 clemency ... Trump believes he has rectified major injustices. Two people tell The Daily Beast they've heard Trump talk about how he'd like to have the now-cleared Clint Lorance, Matthew Golsteyn, or Edward Gallagher show up at his 2020 rallies, or even have a moment on stage at his renomination convention in Charlotte next year. Right-wing media have portrayed all three as martyrs brought down by 'political correctness' within the military." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: According to a NYT report, "Since 2011, the Navy has revoked more than 150 Trident pins." I think it's fair to assume that the bad acts of the vast majority of former SEALs were far less egregious than the acts of which Gallagher was accused. Will Trump override the SEALs tribunals & restore all of these pins? Why not? As it stands, it's as if I get 10 years in the pen for driving 5 mph over the speed limit, but you get off scot-free for vehicular homicide. ~~~

~~~ John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump announced Sunday that Kenneth Braithwaite, the current ambassador to Norway, would replace Richard Spencer as the secretary of the Navy shortly after Spencer's ouster earlier in the day.... '... Admiral and now Ambassador to Norway Ken Braithwaite will be nominated by me to be the new Secretary of the Navy. A man of great achievement and success, I know Ken will do an outstanding job!' [Trump tweeted.] Mrs. McC: Did Braithwaite take the Trump loyalty oath? (Also linked yesterday.)

Laura Kelly of the Hill: "President Trump asked multiple federal agencies to address Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's 'concerns' that Turkey's state-owned bank would be under threat of U.S. sanctions, according to a response from the Treasury Department to a senior Democratic senator [Ron Wyden (Oregon)].... The response by Treasury confirms an earlier report by Bloomberg that in April Trump directed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Attorney General William Barr to intervene in the case against Halkbank following a phone call between the two world leaders.... It is the first public U.S. admission of Trump directing Cabinet officials, in this case in Treasury and the Department of Justice, to involve themselves with Erdoğan's concerns around Halkbank, a Turkish state-owned bank indicted last month by federal prosecutors for allegedly funneling billions of dollars to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. It also raises questions about how Trump's personal relationships and business dealings influence his foreign policy decisions...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "United States troops have resumed large-scale counterterrorism missions against the Islamic State in northern Syria, military officials say, nearly two months after President Trump's abrupt order to withdraw American troops opened the way for a bloody Turkish cross-border offensive American-backed operations against ISIS fighters in the area effectively ground to a halt for weeks despite warnings from intelligence analysts that Islamic State militants were beginning to make a comeback from Syrian desert redoubts even though their leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had been killed during an American raid on Oct. 26. On Friday, American soldiers and hundreds of Syrian Kurdish fighters -- the same local allies the Trump administration abandoned to fend for themselves against the Turkish advance last month ==; reunited to conduct what the Pentagon said was a large-scale mission to kill and capture ISIS fighters in Deir al-Zour province, about 120 miles south of the Turkish border."

Paul Krugman: "... Trump is quietly applying a Ukraine-type extortion-and-bribery strategy to U.S. corporations. Many businesses are being threatened with policies that would hurt their bottom lines -- especially, but not only, tariffs on imported goods crucial to their operations. But they are also being offered the possibility of exemptions from these policies. And the implicit quid pro quo for such exemptions is that corporations support Donald Trump, or at least refrain from criticizing his actions.... The trouble with Trump's selective doling out of punishment isn't the harm it inflicts on corporations, it's the incentives this regime creates for political sycophancy." Krugman cites the examples of "Tim Apple"'s willingness to let Trump get away with gross falsehoods during a plant visit last week & the Pentagon's awarding a $10BB contract to Microsoft over the expected recipient, Jeff Bezos' Amazon Washington Post.

"The Chosen One." William Cummings of USA Today: "Energy Secretary Rick Perry said in an interview that he told ... Donald Trump that he was God's 'chosen one' to lead the United States, just as he chose the kings to lead Israel in the Old Testament.... 'Barack Obama didn't get to be the president of the United States without being ordained by God. Neither did Donald Trump,' he said in a Fox News interview that aired Sunday, adding that God has used 'individuals who aren't perfect all through history.'" Mrs. McC: My, my, the Lord moves in mysterious ways. (Also linked yesterday.)

Josh Dawsey & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "President Trump has made his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the de facto project manager for constructing his border wall, frustrated with a lack of progress over one of his top priorities as he heads into a tough reelection campaign, according to current and former administration officials. Kushner convenes biweekly meetings in the West Wing, where he questions an array of government officials about progress on the wall, including updates on contractor data, precisely where it will be built and how funding is being spent. He also shares and explains the president's wishes with the group, according to the officials familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations. The president&'s son-in-law and senior adviser is pressing U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expedite the process of taking over private land needed for the project as the government seeks to meet Trump's goal of erecting 450 miles of barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border by the end of 2020. More than 800 filings to seize private property will need to be made in the coming months if the government is going to succeed, officials aid." The Hill has a summary report here.

Michael E. Hayden of the Southern Poverty Law Center: "Stephen Miller linked immigration to violence in emails to Breitbart News.... 'It has never been easier in American history for illegal aliens to commit crimes of violence against Americans,' Miller, now White House senior policy adviser, argued in a Jan. 5, 2016, email.... Miller read an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal that debunked a connection between immigration and crime, the emails show, but he chose to ignore it. Jason L. Riley, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, noted in the op-ed that 'numerous studies going back more than a century have shown that immigrants -- regardless of nationality or legal status -- are less likely than the native population to commit violent crimes or to be incarcerated.' In a July 15, 2015, email to Breitbart, Miller dismissed Riley's writing as being 'more lies about new [A]merica,' borrowing language found in white nationalist writing about evolving demographics." Mrs. McC: Wingers almost always dismiss inconvenient facts and usually disparage the fact-tellers.

Dennis Jett in the Atlantic: "As the rich get richer, the ambassadors get worse.... As the cost of American presidential campaigns skyrockets, as wealthy Americans flex their muscles within the American political system, and as the selling of ambassadorships for cold, hard cash becomes more and more overt.... No other developed democratic country -- and perhaps no other country in the world -- would entrust any part of its foreign policy to someone like Gordon Sondland.... Sondland is an egregious case, but Trump's predecessors made similar appointments for similar reasons. The three-week 'charm school' that new ambassadors attend is not enough to turn donors into diplomats. Four ambassadors appointed by Barack Obama performed so badly that, once the State Department inspector general issued reports on how poorly their embassies were run, they all resigned immediately." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

David Kusnet, in the New Republic, suggests that Anonymous, the author of a New York Times op-ed & a book about Trump's reckless presidency is likely Guy Snodgrass, "an apolitical retired Navy commander who became chief speechwriter for former Defense Secretary James Mattis. If so, he behaved ethically when he wrote an unsigned op-ed and contracted to expand it into a book."

Presidential Race 2020, Sort of

Julia Craven of Slate reminds us that John Delaney, who hasn't made the Democratic presidential debate cut since July, is still in the race. And he can do something that Trump can't do (and neither can I):

Lots of people "jumping" into the race so I decided to do a few sets of 10 box jumps on the 30 inch platform as a warmup to my workout! pic.twitter.com/u2SQwCp3ra

— John Delaney (@JohnDelaney) November 24, 2019

Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "The world has squandered so much time mustering the action necessary to combat climate change that rapid, unprecedented cuts in greenhouse gas emissions offer the only hope of averting an ever-intensifying cascade of consequences, according to new findings from the United Nations. Already, the past year has brought devastating hurricanes, relentless wildfires and crippling heat waves, prompting millions of protesters to take to the streets to demand more attention to a problem that seems increasingly urgent. Amid that growing pressure to act, Tuesday's U.N. report offers a grim assessment of how off-track the world remains. Global temperatures are on pace to rise as much as 3.9 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, according to the United Nations' annual 'emissions gap' report, which assesses the difference between the world's current path and the changes needed to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate accord." The Guardian's report is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Kentucky. Joe Sonka of the Louisville Courier Journal: "Gov. Matt Bevin has pardoned a man serving a life sentence for sexually abusing and sodomizing his 6-year-old stepdaughter 20 years ago. In his pardon and commutation order on Friday, Bevin wrote that Paul Donel Hurt had been wrongly convicted in Jefferson County in 2001 of three counts of sodomy in the first degree and two counts of sexual abuse in the first degree.... In 2015, Hurt's accuser recanted her testimony in an evidentiary hearing. However, the trial court did not set aside the conviction, with Jefferson Circuit Judge Audra Jean Eckerle ruling that her recantation was an inconsistent, 'shifting account' that was 'no more likely to be true than false.' The Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld that ruling in August 2018, noting that after the retirement of Jefferson Circuit Judge Stephen Mershon -- the judge in the original conviction -- he began corresponding with Hurt in prison and contacted the victim, after which time she recanted.... Bevin issued 15 other pardons on Friday, including one for Justin Derrick Wibbels, who was convicted of wanton murder in Laurel County in 2015. Jerry Thompson was killed in 2014 when his vehicle was struck by a car driven by Wibbels. The governor wrote that Wibbles 'was involved in a tragic accident and has been incarcerated as a result of his conviction for wanton murder. This was not a murder.'"

The Commentariat -- November 25, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Helene Cooper & Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the New York Times: "President Trump ordered the Pentagon not to remove a Navy SEAL at the center of a high-profile war crimes case from the elite commando unit, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said Monday. Mr. Esper's confirmation of the order from Mr. Trump is the latest turn in an extraordinary series of events that pitted the president against his senior military leadership over the fate of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, the SEAL who was convicted of posing for photographs with the body of a teenage Islamic State captive in American custody." The AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump announced Sunday that Kenneth Braithwaite, the current ambassador to Norway, would replace Richard Spencer as the secretary of the Navy shortly after Spencer's ouster earlier in the day.... '... Admiral and now Ambassador to Norway Ken Braithwaite will be nominated by me to be the new Secretary of the Navy. A man of great achievement and success, I know Ken will do an outstanding job!' [Trump tweeted.] Mrs. McC: Did Braithwaite take the Trump loyalty oath?

Laura Kelly of the Hill: "President Trump asked multiple federal agencies to address Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's 'concerns' that Turkey's state-owned bank would be under threat of U.S. sanctions, according to a response from the Treasury Department to a senior Democratic senator [Ron Wyden (Oregon)].... The response by Treasury confirms an earlier report by Bloomberg that in April Trump directed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Attorney General William Barr to intervene in the case against Halkbank following a phone call between the two world leaders.... It is the first public U.S. admission of Trump directing Cabinet officials, in this case in Treasury and the Department of Justice, to involve themselves with Erdoğan's concerns around Halkbank, a Turkish state-owned bank indicted last month by federal prosecutors for allegedly funneling billions of dollars to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. It also raises questions about how Trump's personal relationships and business dealings influence his foreign policy decisions...."

"The Chosen One." William Cummings of USA Today: "Energy Secretary Rick Perry said in an interview that he told ... Donald Trump that he was God's 'chosen one' to lead the United States, just as he chose the kings to lead Israel in the Old Testament.... 'Barack Obama didn't get to be the president of the United States without being ordained by God. Neither did Donald Trump,' he said in a Fox News interview that aired Sunday, adding that God has used 'individuals who aren't perfect all through history.'" Mrs. McC: My, my, the Lord moves in mysterious ways.

Dennis Jett in the Atlantic: "As the rich get richer, the ambassadors get worse.... As the cost of American presidential campaigns skyrockets, as wealthy Americans flex their muscles within the American political system, and as the selling of ambassadorships for cold, hard cash becomes more and more overt.... No other developed democratic country -- and perhaps no other country in the world -- would entrust any part of its foreign policy to someone like Gordon Sondland.... Sondland is an egregious case, but Trump's predecessors made similar appointments for similar reasons. The three-week 'charm school' that new ambassadors attend is not enough to turn donors into diplomats. Four ambassadors appointed by Barack Obama performed so badly that, once the State Department inspector general issued reports on how poorly their embassies were run, they all resigned immediately."

~~~~~~~~~~

Mrs. McCrabbie: I added some links fairly late this morning. Biggest one is the NYT story, by Jo Becker & others, on the Three Stooges' attempts to get help from a couple of Ukrainian oligarchs.

Ashley Parker & Dan Lamothe of the New York Times: "Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper asked for the resignation of Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer on Sunday after losing confidence in him over his handling of the case of a Navy SEAL accused of war crimes in Iraq, the Pentagon said. Spencer's resignation came in the wake of the controversial case of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL who was accused of war crimes on a 2017 deployment. He was acquitted of murder but convicted in July of posing with the corpse of a captive. Esper asked for Spencer's resignation after learning that he had privately proposed to White House officials that if they did not interfere with proceedings against Gallagher, then Spencer would ensure that Gallagher was able to retire as a Navy SEAL, with his Trident insignia. Spencer's private proposal to the White House -- which he did not share with Esper over the course of several conversations about the matter -- contradicted his public position on the Gallagher case, chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Helene Cooper, et al., of the New York Times: "But Mr. Spencer had also provoked Mr. Trump's ire by threatening to resign over the case and by publicly saying he disagreed with the president's decision to intervene in favor of the commando, Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, Defense Department officials said. Mr. Spencer's friends cited those reasons for his departure, saying that Mr. Esper was mischaracterizing the situation." An Axios report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Everyone Donald Trump touches loses his soul -- if s/he had one. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's Spencer's resignation letter, where he tries to reclaim some of his (soul, that is). "Rule of law" is mentioned. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

~~~ David Ignatius of the Washington Post: "President Trump's attempt to manipulate military justice had a sorry outcome Sunday with the firing of Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer. For the past nine months, Spencer had tried to dissuade Trump from dictating special treatment for Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher -- but in the end Spencer was sacked for his efforts to protect his service. ​With Spencer's firing, Trump has recklessly crossed a line he had generally observed before, which had exempted the military from his belligerent, government-by-tweet interference. But the Gallagher case illustrates how an irascible, vengeful commander in chief is ready to override traditional limits to aid political allies in foreign policy, law enforcement and now military matters.... 'The president wants you to go,' [Defense Secretary Mark] Esper told Spencer on Sunday, according to [a] source. Esper then toed the White House line and announced Spencer's dismissal. For Pentagon officials who have wondered whether Esper would have the backbone to resist Trump, Sunday's events were troubling. The Pentagon, like the State Department under Mike Pompeo, is now overseen by an official whose overriding priority seems to be accommodating an impetuous boss in the White House."

He may be bribed by a greater interest to betray his trust, and no one would say that we ought to expose ourselves to the danger of seeing the first Magistrate in foreign pay, without being able to guard against it by displacing him. This Magistrate is not the King but the prime minister. The people are the King. -- Founder Gouverneur Morris, 1787, on the need for an impeachment provision in the U.S. Constitution ~~~

~~~ New York Times Editors: "Americans agree to give their elected officials power over them, and those officials agree to exercise that power on Americans' behalf. If the nation's leaders breach that deal by lining their own pockets and bartering the interests of their citizens, they break the trust that self-government and democracy depend on. The testimony so far indicates that it's even worse in this case. It suggests that Mr. Trump wasn't simply soliciting a bribe, but doing s to try to rig the next election. It should go without saying that representative democracy cannot work if its leaders are cheating to keep themselves in power. The argument that there's nothing to worry about because Mr. Trump's Ukraine scheme didn't work in the end misses the point. If Mr. Trump is allowed to get away with this blatant attempt at subverting the will of the 2020 voters, what's to stop him from trying again?"

... a big scandal may break out, and not only in Ukraine, but in the United States. That is, it may turn out to be a clear conspiracy against Biden. -- Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, ca. April 2019 ~~~

~~~ ** Jo Becker, et al., of the New York Times: How Rudy, Lev & Igor tried to cajole two Ukrainian oligarchs to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, using assistance from Donald Trump & Bill Barr as the quo to their quid. It worked with Dmitry Firtash, who is under investigation by the FBI & is fighting extradition to the U.S., but not with Igor Kolomoisky, whose U.S. legal problems are less dire & who threw Lev & Igor out of his office when they approached him to make a deal. More on the Three Stooges linked below, but this is Da Bomb. The cast of characters is by now familiar but the extent to which our American cousins went to muscle Ukrainians is not. (In fairness, the sources of the story have plenty of reason to make themselves appear more innocent & the Three Stooges more guilty, but one would be forgiven for trusting even foreign oligarchs over Trump's mob. Besides, in the case of Firtash, Barr did the quo.) Law & Crime has a summary of the report. Mrs. McC: My only question, do the Stooges wear zoot suits & fedoras to these meetings? ~~~

~~~ Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump's personal attorney considered representing a state-owned Ukrainian bank this summer while leading an apparent extortion scheme against the foreign country. Rudy Giuliani confirmed that he held discussions with Privatbank about assisting in a civil suit to recover assets linked to a former owner with ties to Ukraine's president, reported Bloomberg News.... Ukraine's previous administration nationalized Privatbank in 2016 and accused previous owner Igor Kolomoisky and his co-founder of stealing billions of dollars." Mrs. McC: Sooner or later, the FBI has to nab Giuliani for his Ukraine schemes. He was not only trying to extort Ukrainians to help Trump; at the same time, he was trying to drum up business for himself.

In case you were wondering, "Whatever does the White House have to hide?" here's a teensy taste: ~~~

~~~ ** Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post: "A confidential White House review of President Trump's decision to place a hold on military aid to Ukraine has turned up hundreds of documents that reveal extensive efforts to generate an after-the-fact justification for the decision and a debate over whether the delay was legal according to three people familiar with the records. The research by the White House Counsel's Office, which was triggered by a congressional impeachment inquiry announced in September, includes early August email exchanges between acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and White House budget officials seeking to provide an explanation for withholding the funds after President Trump had already ordered a hold in mid-July... One person briefed on the records examination said White House lawyers are expressing concern that the review has turned up some unflattering exchanges and facts that could at a minimum embarrass the president.... Mulvaney's request for information came days after the White House Counsel's Office was put on notice that an anonymous CIA official had made a complaint to the agency's general counsel about Trump's July 25 call to [Ukraine President] Zelensky...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: The White House woodwork is chock full of creepy critters, and they keep crawling out.

Rebecca O'Brien & Christopher O'Brien of Market Watch: "Two associates of Rudy Giuliani tried to recruit a top Ukrainian energy official in March in a proposed takeover of the state oil-and-gas company, describing the company's chief executive and the then-U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch as part of 'this Soros cartel' working against President Trump. 'You're a Republican, right?' Andrew Favorov, the head of natural gas for state-run Naftogaz, recalled the men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, asking him, after their reference to investor and Democratic donor George Soros. 'We want you to be our guy.' Favorov said he met voluntarily this week with New York federal prosecutors as part of an investigation into the activities of Fruman, Parnas and Giuliani...." ~~~

~~~ Lev Kept the Receipts. Katherine Faulders, et al., of ABC News: "The House Intelligence Committee is in possession of audio and video recordings and photographs provided to the committee by Lev Parnas, an associate of ... Rudy Giuliani, who reportedly played a key role in assisting him in his efforts to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and Ukraine, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News. The material submitted to the committee includes audio, video and photos that include Giuliani and Trump. It was unclear what the content depicts and the committees only began accessing the material last week. 'We have subpoenaed Mr. Parnas and [Igor] Fruman for their records. We would like them to fully comply with those subpoenas,' House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff told CNN Sunday, with a committee spokesperson adding they would not elaborate beyond the chairman's comments." ~~~

~~~ Devin Nunes, Junior Spy, Ctd. Tareq Haddad of Newsweek: "Rep. Devin Nunes, the ranking Republican member on the House Intelligence Committee, spent nearly $57,000 on a trip to Europe for him and his staff to allegedly investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, records show. The figures seem to confirm allegations made by Lev Parnas -- a Ukrainian-born American who worked as a 'fixer' for Rudy Giuliani before being indicted on criminal charges -- who said that he helped Nunes arrange meetings with various Ukrainian officials to dig up dirt on Biden. Parnas said he met Nunes in a secretive trip to Vienna, Austria, between November and December 2018, and put him in touch with former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Victor Shokin -- the lawyer who was ousted from his position in 2016 after pressure from Western leaders, including Biden, who said he was not doing enough to combat corruption." ~~~

     ~~~ Devin Has Another Cow. Elise Viebeck & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: Devin Nunes, "the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said reports that he met with ex-Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shokin in Vienna last year were false, but declined to elaborate in an interview on Fox News." Mrs. McC: Of course he denied it. A junior spy knows not to blow his cover. ~~~

~~~ Christina Wilkie of CNBC: "The lawyer for an indicted business associate of Rudy Giuliani said his client is prepared to testify under oath that aides to Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, scrapped a trip to Ukraine this year when they realized it would mean notifying Democratic Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff. Lev Parnas would tell Congress that the purpose of the planned trip was to interview two Ukrainian prosecutors who claim to have evidence that could help ... Donald Trump's reelection campaign, Parnas' attorney, Joseph Bondy, told CNBC. But when Nunes' staff realized that going to Ukraine themselves would mean alerting Schiff to their plans, they instead asked Parnas to set up the meetings for them over phone and Skype, which he did, according to Bondy." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is very much like Devin's midnight run to the White House, but now he's an international junior spy! From "A Night at the White House" to "A Night in Vienna" and "A Midnight Call to Kiev."

Chandelis Duster & Kristen Holmes of CNN: "House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff left the door open to the possibility of more hearings or depositions in the impeachment inquiry but said that Democrats will not 'wait months and months while the administration plays a game of rope-a-dope in an effort to try to stall.' Schiff indicated on Sunday in an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN's "State of the Union" that Democrats would not be taking former national security adviser John Bolton to court for his testimony. Schiff also said Bolton should have the 'courage' to testify like former National Security Council Russia expert Fiona Hill and others. And if he chooses not to testify, Bolton will have to explain to the country 'why did he wait to tell' his story in his upcoming book rather than to the public 'when it mattered.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) said on Sunday that one reason the whistleblower at the heart of the impeachment inquiry hasn't been called by the House to testify is that ... Donald Trump called the person a spy and threatened the whistleblower with the 'death penalty.'... 'We had a deep interest in having [him] testify,' Schiff told [Chuck] Todd [on 'Meet the Press']. 'Two things happened. One we were able to prove it with witnesses that had first-hand information and second the president and his allies effectively put that whistleblower's life in danger. The president said the whistleblower and others should be treated as a traitor and a spy and we ought to use the penalty and that's the death penalty.'..."

Sarah Kendzior of The Globe & Mail: "Ms. [Fiona] Hill is no longer merely a scholar of dictators; she is now a player in their propaganda through no fault of her own.... In Mr. Trump's reality TV world, positions are not filled but cast.... Like Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Vindman and Marie Yovanovitch, she is both an immigrant American and an expert on the former Soviet Union. None of these witnesses took democracy for granted because they had witnessed its grim alternative in post-Soviet kleptocracies. As experts, they were a threat in the administration, and they remain so outside of it.... The Trump strategy [has become] to flip the script and investigate the investigators.... The witnesses to crimes, not the perpetrators, are the true guilty parties.... Impeachment hearings threaten Mr. Trump because they happen in an environment he cannot control, where a neutral arbiter can speak without media interlocutors. Fiona Hill debunked Mr. Trump's fictions and followed federal law. That she did so at a time where following federal law renders you a subversive in the eyes of the President should unnerve everyone." --s

Jonathan Swan of Axios: "Many were perplexed and outraged when, right after clashing with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a heated Oval Office meeting on Nov. 13, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham hurried back to the Senate floor and ... blocked a resolution that would have formally recognized Turkey's genocide of the Armenian people.... As Graham was leaving the Oval Office, senior White House staff asked him to return to the Senate and block the Armenian genocide resolution -- a measure that would have infuriated Erdoğan. Graham confirmed this in a phone interview on Saturday.... Asked whether he felt uncomfortable blocking the Armenian genocide resolution, Graham replied: 'Yeah. Because I like Bob [Menendez]. He's been working on this for years, but I did think with the president of Turkey in town that was probably more than the market would bear.... I'm not going to object next time,' Graham added. The "next time" happened last week. Menendez and his Republican Senate colleague Ted Cruz introduced the Armenian genocide resolution again. This time, the White House asked another Republican Senate ally, David Perdue, to block it." And he did.

Presidential Race 2020

Emma Newburger & Brian Schwartz of CNBC: Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg entered the 2020 presidential race on Sunday following weeks of speculation about whether he would join the crowded Democratic primary. [A] television ad touts Bloomberg's record as mayor and promises 'to rebuild the country and restore faith in the dream that defines us: where the wealthy will pay more in taxes and the middle class get their fair share; everyone without health insurance can get it and everyone who likes theirs, keep it; where jobs won't just help you get by but get ahead.... And on all those things, Mike Bloomberg intends to make good,' the ad said. The new ad is part of his $31 million television ad buy." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Michael Calderone of Politico: "Bloomberg News will report on Michael Bloomberg's 2020 presidential campaign, though will not investigate the candidate or his Democratic rivals, the company's top editor told staff on Sunday. 'We will write about virtually all aspects of this presidential contest in much the same way as we have done so far,' editor-in-chief John Micklethwait told staff in a Sunday memo. 'We will describe who is winning and who is losing. We will look at policies and their consequences. We will carry polls, we will interview candidates and we will track their campaigns, including Mike's.' Micklethwait also said that some of the news organization's opinion and editorial writers would take a leave to join the campaign."

David Gura of NBC News: "Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is back home and resting after being hospitalized on Friday. Ginsburg, 86, has been released after being admitted with chills and a fever, a spokesperson for the Supreme Court said on Sunday." (Also linked yesterday.)

Allison Sommer of Haaretz: "The rise and catastrophic downfall of WeWork founder and former CEO Adam Neumann has been chronicled in gleeful detail across the international financial press in the wake of his company's ill-fated attempt at a public offering -- which resulted in disastrous revelations about the company's mismanagement, its devaluation and, ultimately, Neumann's resignation. But a new Vanity Fair article by Gabriel Sherman..., asserts that Neumann's 'millennial entitlement gone insane' and guru-like 'egomaniacal glamour' extended beyond the business world and into the world of Middle East diplomacy." ~~~

~~~ Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "WeWork [Israeli] cofounder Adam Neumann ... [has a] habit of making grandiose pronouncements like wanting to be elected president of the world, live forever, and become humanity's first trillionaire.... The company's valuation put Neumann's net worth at $4.1 billion -- and his spending more than kept pace.... Last summer, some WeWork executives were shocked to discover Neumann was working on Jared Kushner's Mideast peace effort ... Neumann told colleagues that he was saving the women of Saudi Arabia by working with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to offer women coding classes, according to a source. In another meeting, Neumann said three people were going to save the world: bin Salman, Jared Kushner, and Neumann." --s

Way Beyond the Beltway

Hong Kong. Shibani Mahtani, et al., of the Washington Post: "Voters took to the polls in record numbers to cast ballots in the only fully democratic election in the Chinese territory, an early sign that they wanted to send a strong message to their government and to the Communist Party in Beijing. Early results compiled by the South China Morning Post showed pro-democracy parties winning 278 of the first 344 seats to be declared, pro-Beijing parties taking 42, and independents 24. Many prominent figures in the protest movement won; many leading pro-establishment figures were unseated. Pro-democrats look to be able to secure 12 of 18 district councils available in Hong Kong -- before this vote, they did not have a majority in any." An AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Jeffie Lam, et al., of the South China Morning Post: "The final election results were confirmed at 1pm on Monday when the vote count was completed.... Among the 452 seats up for grabs, the pan-democrats were victorious in 347, the independents -- many of them pro-democracy -- won 45, while the pro-establishment camp had to make do with 60. The pro-democracy camp now has control of 17 out of 18 district councils."

U.K. Robert Booth of the Guardian: “Prince Andrew is to withdraw from scores of charities in a move that appeared designed to protect the monarchy from further humiliation over his association with Jeffrey Epstein. Buckingham Palace confirmed on Sunday that the Duke of York is 'standing back from all his patronages' but indicated he still hopes to return to a public role at some point by saying the move was only temporary." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ No Birthday Bash for Andy. Nick Enoch of the Daily Mail: "The Queen has scrapped plans to host a party for Prince Andrew to mark his 60th birthday in February. Instead, the monarch is said to be arranging a small family dinner for the Duke, according to The Sunday Times. His birthday is on February 19." (Also linked yesterday.)