November 18, 2022
Afternoon Update:
** Dan Mangan of CNBC: "U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland will appoint a special counsel to determine whether criminal charges should be filed against ... Donald Trump in connection with two pending investigations, according to reports Friday. News of the planned appointment of the special counsel, which was reported by The Wall Street Journal, came three days after Trump announced plans to run for president in 2024. Trump faces multiple criminal investigations. NBC News reported that the special counsel, whose name has not been announced, will make decisions for two Department of Justice investigations of Trump. One is focused on whether Trump broke the law and obstructed justice in connection with his removal of hundreds of documents from the White House, which were shipped to his residence at Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. The other probe is related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot by a mob of Trump supporters." ~~~
~~~ Update: MSNBC is reporting on-air that Garland will make an announcement at 2:15 pm today. ~~~
~~~ ** Update: Perry Stein & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Merrick Garland has named a special counsel to oversee the criminal investigation into ... Donald Trump's possible mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club and residence, as well as key aspects of the Jan. 6 investigation. Garland announced his decision Friday afternoon, tapping Jack Smith, a longtime federal prosecutor who has in recent years been working at the International Criminal Court at The Hague. The announcement comes three days after Trump formally declared himself a 2024 candidate for president. 'Based on recent developments, including the former president's announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election, and the sitting president's stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel,' Garland said at a news conference at the Justice Department....
"Many other political candidates have been investigated while they ran for office without the appointment of a special counsel -- including Hillary Clinton, Trump's Democratic opponent in 2016. The FBI investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server for government matters was opened in mid-2015, continued throughout the primaries, was closed just before the nominating convention and then publicly reopened less than two weeks before Election Day." MB: Yes, and didn't that go well.
~~~ Marie: On the down side, Merrick the Unready is even more unready than we knew. On the up side, Barbara McQuade opined on MSNBC that Garland would not have appointed a special counsel if he planned to drop the investigation of Trump. And a guy who's been prosecuting war criminals in the Hague is unlikely to by fazed by the slings & arrows of a wimp like Donald Trump.
Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "One day after lawyers confirmed that the American basketball star Brittney Griner had been transferred to a penal colony outside Moscow, Russia on Friday reiterated its openness to a prisoner exchange with the United States involving the notorious convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Russia seems extremely proud of its bad-faith flouting of international norms. Griner commited a victimless "crime." She had a small amount of hash clearly for personal use; she wasn't going to harm any person. Any normal government would, at worst, kick her out of the country. In 1980, Japan did jail Paul McCartney for nine days for smuggling in a half-pound of marijuana -- that is, enough to distribute -- but they deported him instead of trying him. To offer to trade Griner for a notorious arms dealer is to mock any standard of equity or justice.
Caroline Kitchener, et al., of the Washington Post: "A televangelist who served as a spiritual adviser to Donald Trump says the former president has the tendency to act 'like a little elementary schoolchild' and suggests that Trump's focus on minor spats was preventing progress on larger goals. 'If Mr. Trump can't stop his little petty issues, how does he expect people to stop major issues?' James Robison, the president of the Christian group Life Outreach International, said Wednesday night at a meeting of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL), a conservative political group that focuses on social issues." The whole story is, well, interesting.
Grisly News. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: ";Alabama called off its plans to execute a man on Thursday after a whirlwind few hours in which the Supreme Court allowed the execution to proceed, but prison officials determined they did not have enough time to kill the man before his death warrant expired at midnight. It was the second time in less than two months that Alabama had brought a prisoner into its execution chamber, strapped him to a gurney and begun trying to insert intravenous lines -- only to call off the execution and return him to his cell. In both cases, it appeared that prison officials had struggled to insert the lines into the prisoners after last-minute appeals were thrown out by the Supreme Court.... John Q. Hamm, the commissioner of Alabama's prisons, said at a news conference that prison officials determined that they could not insert a second, necessary line before the death warrant expired, and at 11:21 p.m. temporarily called the execution off." This is a substantial update of a story linked below. MB: One way to solve this problem is to quit executing people.
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** Marianna Sotomayor & Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who broke Congress's glass ceiling as the first woman to hold the top position in the House, announced Thursday she will not seek reelection as the House Democratic caucus's top leader, ending one of the most consequential leadership tenures in American political history.... She will continue as a member of the House.... Historians largely agree that Pelosi redefined the speakership, and she made history climbing the ranks of Democratic leadership, becoming the first woman to be second in line to the presidency as speaker of the House -- twice.... Pelosi's ability to keep her caucus in line has led to bipartisan recognition that she alone may be capable of wrangling Democrats' disparate factions. She led the House Democratic caucus through a bitter fight in 2010 to pass the Affordable Care Act, and most recently managed a razor-thin majority in passing several key pieces of President Biden's legislative agenda." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ Sarah Ferris of Politico: "Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the current caucus chair, will seek the role of minority leader.... Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) ... will seek the elected position of assistant to the minority leader; Hoyer will not seek a leadership position, but will also remain in Congress as a rank-and-file member, according to multiple people familiar with the decision. Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) will seek the No. 2 position below Jeffries, minority whip, while Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), will seek the No. 3 position, which will now be caucus chair, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions. Clyburn's position will fall outside of that seniority structure." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
When I think of Nancy Pelosi, I think of dignity. History will note she is the most consequential Speaker of the House of Representatives in our history. There are countless examples of how she embodies the obligation of elected officials to uphold their oath to God and country to ensure our democracy delivers and remains a beacon to the world. In everything she does, she reflects a dignity in her actions and a dignity she sees in the lives of the people of this nation. (and more) -- President Joe Biden
Few in American history have been as effective, as driven, as successful as Speaker Pelosi. She's transformed practically every corner of American politics, and unquestionably made America a better, stronger nation. -- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), on the Senate floor ~~~
~~~ From the Washington Post liveblog of developments: "... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) announced that they would not seek leadership positions in the new Congress, opening the door for a younger generation of Democrats to guide the caucus.... Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is widely expected to become the next minority leader.... If elected by House Democrats, Jeffries would become the first Black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress." MB: Hoyer told reporters he would support Jeffries as leader. (Also linked yesterday.)
Sahil Kapur, et al., of NBC News: "When Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced her retirement from congressional leadership on Thursday, the House chamber was packed with Democratic lawmakers.... The Republican side of the chamber was largely empty. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif..., was nowhere to be seen.... Minority Whip Steve Scalise was the only member of the GOP's upper echelons to be sitting in the chamber. The Louisiana Republican, who is a survivor of political violence, stood up to applaud when Pelosi mentioned her husband Paul Pelosi's recovery from a brutal assault during a recent home invasion. Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the third-ranked member of the caucus, who has described herself as an 'ultra-MAGA' Republican, had nothing positive to say about Pelosi after her announcement.... Some Republicans couldn't resist taking a parting shot at her[.]"
Burgess Everett of Politico: "It's not every day that a senator quotes a famous mob movie to describe the state of his political party after a week of infighting. 'You've gotta have a war every five or 10 years to get rid of the bad blood,' Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said, paraphrasing a line from 'The Godfather' to paint a picture of Senate Republicans. 'And then you start over.'" MB: Sen. Foghorn Leghorn gets some things right: of course it's appropriate to liken the GOP to the mob.
Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "The closest House race in the nation appears to be headed toward a recount. Nine days after the election, the contest in Colorado's Third Congressional District, between Representative Lauren Boebert, a Republican, and her Democratic challenger, Adam Frisch, remains undecided. As of Thursday evening, according to The Associated Press, Ms. Boebert leads by a mere 0.16 percentage points -- or, 551 votes of nearly 327,000 counted to date. Nearly all of the votes have been counted, according to The A.P., which declared the race too close to call. The margin qualifies for an automatic recount under state law, which would further delay a call -- possibly for weeks." The AP's report is here.
Michael Stratford of Politico: "The Biden administration will ask the Supreme Court to revive its student debt relief program as it fights to reverse lower court rulings that have upended its plans to forgive up to $20,000 of debt for tens of millions of Americans. The Justice Department said in a court filing on Thursday that it planned to ask the Supreme Court to reverse an injunction issued earlier this week by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals that prohibits the administration from carrying out student debt relief. Separately, the Justice Department is asking the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to put on hold a decision by a district court judge in Texas to strike down the debt relief program as illegal. The DOJ asked for a ruling from that appeals court by Dec. 1 'to allow the government to seek relief from the Supreme Court' if needed."
Tara Bernard of the New York Times: "As President Biden's broad plan to cancel student debt for millions of borrowers faces mounting legal challenges, his administration took a separate step on Thursday that could make it easier for the most vulnerable student borrowers to clear their debts: through bankruptcy.... The Justice Department, in coordination with the Education Department, announced a new process that it said would help ensure that people in bankruptcy seeking relief on their federal student loans were treated more fairly, with clearer guidelines about what types of cases would result in a discharge."
MBS Gets Away with Murder. Again. Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration has determined that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who the CIA has held responsible for the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi, is immune from a civil lawsuit filed in the United States by Khashoggi's fiance and a human rights organization he founded. In a response to a July invitation by U.S. District Court Judge John Bates to submit a statement of interest in the case, the administration said in a court submission late Thursday that because Mohammed is Saudi Arabia's 'sitting head of government' he is 'immune from this suit' under international law. In a letter accompanying the submission, State Department acting legal adviser Richard C. Visek said the department 'takes no view on the merits of the present suit and reiterates its unequivocal condemnation of the heinous murder of Jamal Khashoggi.'" The Guardian's story is here. The AP's report is here.
Another Wedding at the White House. Jura Koncius & Roxanne Roberts of the Washington Post: "When presidential granddaughter Naomi King Biden and Peter George Heermann Neal get married on the South Lawn of the White House on Saturday, they will join a short list of couples, including presidential children, nieces and friends, and one president (Grover Cleveland), whose wedding days were celebrated in a residence that is a cultural icon.... Biden, 28, is the first presidential granddaughter to hold both her ceremony and reception at the White House. She is the first grandchild of Joe and Jill Biden (and the oldest daughter of Hunter Biden and his first wife, Kathleen Buhle). She works as a lawyer in Washington. Neal, 25, from Jackson Hole, Wyo., recently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He works at Georgetown Law." Includes stereopticon photos of Theodore Roosevelt, his daughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth & her new husband, Rep. Nicholas Longworth.
Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "The chair and vice-chair of the January 6 committee hit back after Mike Pence said they had 'no right' to his testimony about the Capitol attack, and claimed they presided over a 'partisan' investigation.... Pence said he was 'closing the door' on the prospect of testifying.... Testimony presented to the panel and to the nation in a series of dramatic public hearings was 'not partisan', Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney said. 'It was truthful.'... Thompson and Cheney said: 'The select committee has proceeded respectfully and responsibly in our engagement with Vice-President Pence, so it is disappointing that he is misrepresenting the nature of our investigation while giving interviews to promote his new book.'... The panel is wrapping up its work, after it was confirmed on Wednesday that Republicans will take control of the House."
Rebecca Shabad, et al., of NBC News: "The House Jan. 6 committee on Thursday interviewed Bobby Engel, who was the lead Secret Service agent for ... Donald Trump when the insurrection took place, three sources familiar with the session said. Engel could provide key testimony related to information shared by Cassidy Hutchinson, who was a top aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. She delivered bombshell testimony before the committee at a public hearing this summer. Hutchinson testified that she was told [by former Secret Service agent & White House staffer Tony Ornato that] Trump tried to& grab the steering wheel in an armored SUV and lunged toward his security detail when he learned he would not be taken to the Capitol after his rally on Jan. 6.... She also said Engel had not disputed Ornato's account."
Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "The criminal trial of Donald J. Trump's family business took an emotional turn Thursday as one of the former president's most loyal executives laid bare the machinery of a sprawling tax fraud, scoring points for both prosecution and defense during hours of illuminating testimony. The executive, Allen H. Weisselberg, several times bolstered Manhattan prosecutors' contention that the scheme benefited not just himself, but the Trump Organization. He testified that the off-the-books luxuries he and other executives received saved the company money in taxes. Yet Mr. Weisselberg, 75, who started working for the Trumps decades ago, rose to become chief financial officer and is now the prosecution's star witness, also distanced Mr. Trump and his family from the wrongdoing. He testified that they did not team up with him, nor authorize him to commit crimes.... Near tears..., he agreed more than a dozen times that he had acted only for himself." Weisselberg is still on the Trump Org's payroll. MB: So his exoneration of the Trumps is not at all suspect. ~~~
~~~ Graham Kates of CBS News has a different take on Weisselberg's testimony: "... Allen Weisselberg testified in court Thursday, describing how Donald Trump and two of his children allegedly participated in a scheme to defraud tax authorities. Weisselberg said Donald Trump, or at times Eric Trump or Donald Trump Jr., signed checks to pay up to $100,000 for private school tuition for Weisselberg's grandchildren. Weisselberg said he then instructed the company's controller to deduct the $100,000 from his salary, allowing him to report a smaller income. Copies of some of the checks signed by the Trumps have been shown in court. Weisselberg said the first time Trump signed a tuition check, Weisselberg told him, 'Don't forget, I'm going to pay you back for this.' The payback, he said, was the salary reduction."
Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "A Republican political strategist was convicted of illegally helping a Russian businessman contribute to Donald Trump's presidential campaign in 2016. Jesse Benton, 44, was pardoned by Trump in 2020 for a different campaign finance crime, months before he was indicted again on six counts related to facilitating an illegal foreign campaign donation. He was found guilty Thursday on all six counts." You may remember Benton as a shady protege of Ron & Rand Paul. The Hill's report is here.
Supremely Deadly. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "All 12 jurors agreed to convict Kenneth Eugene Smith in the 1988 murder of a pastor's wife in Alabama, but when it came time to recommend a sentence, 11 of them voted to spare him and instead send him to prison for life. But the judge overruled the jury and sentenced Mr. Smith to death, a practice that Alabama banned in 2017 and that is no longer allowed anywhere in the United States. That ban did not apply to prior cases, however, and Mr. Smith, 57, was set to be executed on Thursday evening at a prison in southwest Alabama. The execution was thrown into doubt late on Thursday when an appeals court temporarily halted it, but the Supreme Court overturned that decision and allowed it to move forward about an hour and a half before the state's death warrant was to expire at midnight Central time. The high court's order did not include any reasons for overturning the stay, but its three liberal justices -- Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson -- said they would have kept it in place." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yeah but supremely consistent with the Court's disdain of the will of the people. And disregard for life.
Musk's Vanity Project in Disarray. Ryan Mac, et al., of the New York Times: "Hours before a Thursday deadline that Elon Musl had given Twitter employees to decide whether to stay or leave their jobs, the social media company appeared to be in disarray. Mr. Musk and his advisers held meetings with some Twitter workers whom they deemed 'critical' to stop them from leaving, four people with knowledge of the conversations said. He sent out confusing messages about the company's remote work policy, appearing to soften his stance on not allowing people to work from home before warning their managers.... All the while, two people said, resignations started to roll in. By the deadline, 5 p.m. Eastern time, hundreds of Twitter employees appeared to have decided to depart with three months of severance pay.... Twitter later announced via email that it would close 'our office buildings' and disable employee badge access until Monday. The exits added to the turmoil at Twitter since Mr. Musk, 51, completed his $44 billion takeover last month. The billionaire has laid off half of Twitter's 7,500 full-time workers, fired dissenters and told employees that they need to be 'extremely hard core' to make the company a success." The Verge has a story here. ~~~
~~~ Noam Scheiber & Ryan Mac of the New York Times: Space X fired nine employees who criticized Elon Musk's "management" of Twitter. "On Wednesday, unfair-labor-practice charges were filed with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of eight of those workers...."
Jacob Bogage & Lauren Gurley of the Washington Post: "Employees from more than 100 Starbucks stores walked off the job Thursday, hoping to shutter shops for the day in protest of the company's approach to union contract negotiations as the coffee giant launches holiday products.... Thursday's one-day strike coincides with Starbucks's annual 'Red Cup Day,' when coffee shops hand out red, reusable travel mugs to customers who order qualifying beverages. It is known among workers as one of the chain's busiest days, with devoted customers lined up early outside stores to collect the giveaway."
Beyond the Beltway
Arizona. Alexandra Berzon & Jim Rutenberg of the Washington Post: "Kari Lake, the Republican who lost her bid for governor of Arizona after running a campaign heavily focused on election denialism, suggested in a video on Thursday that she planned to contest her defeat, arguing without evidence that voters had been disenfranchised.... She pointed to problems with ballot tabulation machines that led to long lines of voters in Maricopa County.... But there has been no evidence that significant numbers of people were unable to cast their ballots, let alone the 17,200 voters who make up Ms. Lake's losing margin to Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat. Ms. Lake insinuated that Ms. Hobbs, the state's top election official, was responsible for the problems. But Ms. Hobbs did not directly run Maricopa County's election.... On Thursday, Ms. Lake, who was endorsed by ... Donald J. Trump, was visiting Mar-a-Lago...." (Also linked yesterday.)
New York. Corey Kilgannon of the New York Times: Shamel "Capers had been behind bars since his arrest at age 16 for a murder that he always insisted he never committed. After eight years in prison, his conviction was ... vacated after the discovery of exonerating evidence.... Several years ago, Debevoise & Plimpton, a Manhattan law firm, agreed to handle his appeal pro bono.... The firm began interviewing witnesses and found a troubling element in the case. The main witness against Mr. Capers had been offered a significant sentence reduction on several unrelated felonies in exchange for his testimony.... [The witness] would later recant to a defense investigator, a recantation that was corroborated by recorded phone calls from Rikers Island in which he admitted to his mother in 2014 that he never saw Mr. Capers shoot at the bus [in which the victim, a 14-year-old honors student, D'aja Robinson, was riding]."
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Friday are here: "Swedish prosecutors said Friday that explosions at the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September were the result of 'gross sabotage.' Their investigation also discovered 'traces of explosives on several of the foreign objects that were found' at the site of the blasts.... In Ukraine, as winter sets in and the season's first snow fell in Kyiv, 'more than 10 million Ukrainians are without electricity,' President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a nightly address late Thursday.'... Scores of civilians were injured in [Russian] attacks [Thursday] and key infrastructure was damaged in the country's south and east.... Russian shelling killed seven people and destroyed a residential building in Zaporizhzhia, Zelensky said Thursday evening. He said the number of victims may increase, as the rubble is still being cleared.... Russian strikes hit 'critical infrastructure' in Kharkiv early Friday, according to regional governor Oleh Synyehubov....Brittney Griner, the U.S. basketball star imprisoned in Russia on drug charges in what the United States classifies as wrongful detention, has been transferred to a penal colony in Mordovia, southeast of Moscow.... Pope Francis said the Vatican is ready to help mediate an end to the war."
<>Constant Méheut of the New York Times: "A Dutch court on Thursday convicted three men with ties to the Russian security services and sentenced them to life in prison over the downing of a passenger jet above eastern Ukraine in July 2014, during a Moscow-backed separatist uprising that foreshadowed Russia's full-scale invasion of the country. The court found that an antiaircraft missile system provided to separatist forces by the Russian military brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, commonly known as MH17, on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 people aboard. The crash was by far the biggest loss of civilian life in the conflictup to that time, eliciting global outrage."
News Ledes
New York Times: "A snowstorm lasting through the weekend is underway on the eastern coasts of Lakes Erie and Ontario, where two feet of snow and thundersnow have already been reported. 'Historic snowfall exceeding four feet i likely around Buffalo, N.Y.,' the Weather Prediction Center forecasters wrote Friday morning. Over two feet of snow have already fallen in places like Boston, N.Y., and more is expected today. In central Buffalo, an early respite was quickly thrashed by a band of heavy midmorning snow, leading to whiteout conditions in the downtown corridor." ~~~
~~~ The story has been updated: "... an unpredictable, late-fall snowstorm blew through Western New York on Friday, unleashing whipping wind and bands of snow.... Heavy, wet snow that began on Thursday night crashed across a series of towns adjacent to Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, including Orchard Park, where more than 66 inches had been recorded by Friday night. Snowfall rates of two to three inches an hour challenged even the hardiest of snow plows. Roads and highways were closed around the region on Friday afternoon, including commercial traffic on parts of the New York State Thruway, the state's east-west corridor.&:
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