February 9, 2022

Late Afternoon Update:

Basta! Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "The National Archives and Records Administration has asked the Justice Department to examine Donald Trump's handling of White House records, sparking discussions among federal law enforcement officials about whether they should investigate the former president for a possible crime, according to two people familiar with the matter. The referral from the National Archives came amid recent revelations that officials recovered 15 boxes of materials from the former president's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida that were not handed back in to the government as they should have been, and that Trump had turned over other White House records that had been torn up. Archives officials suspected Trump had possibly violated laws concerning the handling of government documents -- including those that might be considered classified -- and reached out to the Justice Department, the people familiar with the matter said." A CNN report is here.

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol issued a subpoena on Wednesday to Peter Navarro, a White House adviser to ... Donald J. Trump who was involved in what he called an 'operation' to keep Mr. Trump in office after he lost the 2020 election.... In his book, titled 'In Trump Time,' and in interviews with The New York Times and other outlets, Mr. Navarro has said that he worked with Stephen K. Bannon and other allies of Mr. Trump to develop and carry out a plan to delay Congress's formal count of the 2020 presidential election results to buy time to change the outcome.... On Wednesday, [Mr. Navarro] said he would not comply with the committee's subpoena, citing Mr. Trump's invocation of executive privilege." MB: I think you can open the pdf containing the committee's letter here.

Jon Swaine of the Washington Post: "In the weeks after the 2020 election, Rudolph W. Giuliani and other legal advisers to ... Donald Trump asked a Republican prosecutor in northern Michigan to get his county's voting machines and pass them to Trump's team, the prosecutor told The Washington Post. Antrim County prosecutor James Rossiter said in an interview that Giuliani and several colleagues made the request during a telephone call after the county initially misreported its election results. The inaccurate tallies meant that Joe Biden appeared to have beaten Trump by 3,000 votes in a Republican stronghold, an error that soon placed Antrim at the center of false claims by Trump that the election had been stolen. Rossiter said he declined. 'I said, "I can't just say: give them here." We don't have that magical power to just demand things as prosecutors. You need probable cause.' Even if he had had sufficient grounds to take the machines as evidence, Rossiter said, he could not have released them to outsiders or a party with an interest in the matter." County elections officials soon corrected & acknowledged the mistakes.

"The Supreme Court Has Crossed the Rubicon." Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times on the 5-4 Supreme Court shadow-docket ruling to stay lower courts' rulings against Alabama Republicans' gerrymandering which violated the remnants of Voting Rights Act: "Chief Justice Roberts objected that the ordinary standards under which the Supreme Court grants a stay of a lower court opinion had not been met.... Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, also dissented in a more extensive opinion that accused the majority of using the court's emergency 'shadow docket' not only to intervene improperly on behalf of the state but also to change voting rights law in the process.... What happened Monday night was a raw power play by a runaway majority that seems to recognize no stopping point, [especially because the same justices refused to stay Texas' unconstitutional abortion law]."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here.

Dan Lamothe, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration on Wednesday readied plans for U.S. military forces to help evacuate Americans once they cross into Poland should Russia attack Ukraine, preparations that came one day ahead of a major Russian military exercise on Ukraine's border that some officials fear could provide cover for an invasion. About 7,500 Americans are registered with the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv and thousands more could be in the country but the U.S. government has no way to track them, according to U.S. officials."

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Dan Lamothe & Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "Senior White House and State Department officials failed to grasp the Taliban's steady advance on Afghanistan's capital and resisted efforts by U.S. military leaders to prepare the evacuation of embassy personnel and Afghan allies weeks before Kabul's fall, placing American troops ordered to carry out the withdrawal in greater danger, according to sworn testimony from multiple commanders involved in the operation. An Army investigative report, numbering 2,000 pages and released to The Washington Post through a Freedom of Information Act request, details the life-or-death decisions made daily by U.S. soldiers and Marines sent to secure Hamid Karzai International Airport as thousands converged on the airfield in a frantic bid to escape.... Military personnel would have been 'much better prepared to conduct a more orderly' evacuation, Navy Rear Adm. Peter Vasely, the top U.S. commander on the ground during the operation, told Army investigators, 'if policymakers had paid attention to the indicators of what was happening on the ground.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Kyle Blaine, et al., of CNN: "Second gentleman Doug Emhoff is safe after being ushered out of a room at a Washington, DC, high school by the Secret Service after a bomb threat to the building, his spokesperson said. '"U.S. Secret Service was made aware of a security threat at a school where the @SecondGentleman was meeting with students and faculty. Mr. Emhoff is safe and the school has been evacuated. We are grateful to Secret Service and D.C. Police for their work,' Emhoff's spokesperson Katie Peters wrote on Twitter.... District of Columbia Public Schools press secretary Enrique Gutierrez told reporters at the event that a bomb threat had been called into Dunbar High School in Northwest Washington, where Emhoff was holding an event." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

House Keeps Playing Kick-the-Can. Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The House on Tuesday approved legislation to keep the government funded through mid-March, temporarily averting a shutdown as lawmakers struggle to reach a longer-term agreement on spending for federal agencies and departments for the remainder of the year. With funding set to lapse on Feb. 18, the decision to pass a three-week extension was an admission that private negotiations between Republicans and Democrats have so far failed to bridge disagreements over how to allocate billions of dollars in federal spending. Under the bill passed on Tuesday, by a vote of 272 to 162, the new deadline for a deal is March 11."

When does a white supremacist not know he's a white supremacist? When he's Ron Johnson, the Stupiest Senator. ~~~

~~~ Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "Sen. Ron Johnson on Tuesday accused President Joe Biden's nominee to serve as the top U.S. antisemitism envoy of engaging in 'malicious poison' after the renowned Holocaust scholar [Deborah Lipstadt] called out the Wisconsin Republican for 'white supremacy.'... When Lipstadt got her long-awaited hearing on Tuesday, she offered the apology for her critical tweet about Johnson that the senator had denied insisting on as a condition of advancing her nomination. But she and Johnson also tangled openly.... In a March tweet, Lipstadt charged Johnson with engaging in 'white supremacy/nationalism. Pure and simple.' She was referring to Johnson telling a radio host last year that he would have been more fearful of Black Lives Matter protesters rioting at the Capitol than the supporters of ... Donald Trump who did so on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump's supporters 'love this country ... truly respect law enforcement, [and] would never do anything to break the law,' Johnson said.... Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), the chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, defended Lipstadt..., noting that many of the rioters 'literally wore and bore Nazi symbolism' on that day.... He called Johnson's comments about Jan. 6 'deeply problematic.'..."

Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "The House on Tuesday passed a sweeping bipartisan bill that would overhaul the US Postal Service's finances and allow the agency to modernize its service. The Postal Service Reform Act -- which cleared the House by 342-92 -- would require retired postal employees to enroll in Medicare whe eligible, while dropping a previous mandate that forced the agency to cover its health care costs years in advance. Those two measures would save the USPS nearly $50 billion over the next decade, according to the House Oversight Committee. The bill now heads to the Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has vowed to take up the long-sought legislation before the end of next week."

Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell disagreed Tuesday with the Republican National Committee's recent censure of two GOP lawmakers, as well as its characterization of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. 'We all were here. We saw what happened. It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election, from one administration to the next. That's what it was,' McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters at his weekly news conference. His remarks followed an outcry from Democrats and some Republicans after the RNC approved a resolution Friday accusing Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., of 'participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse,' a reference to the Jan. 6 committee." A New York Times report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Gonna Getcha, Getcha, Getcha. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Prosecutors have provided a revealing glimpse of their strategy for the first trial stemming from the attack on the Capitol, unveiling an inventory of the extensive evidence they intend to introduce, including surveillance videos, police communications, text messages, geolocation data and testimony from a Secret Service agent and the defendant's own children. The defendant in the trial, set to begin on Feb. 28, is Guy Wesley Reffitt, an oil industry worker who prosecutors say was a member of the Texas Three Percenters, a far-right group connected to the gun rights movement. Mr. Reffitt stands accused of storming the Capitol with a pistol at his waist. The charges against him include interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder and obstructing Congress's duty to certify the results of the 2020 election."

Ben Collins of NBC News: "Investigators for the House Jan. 6 committee are scrutinizing rallies and events as far back as a year before the Capitol riot in an effort to identify a broader network of planning and the causes of the attack, according to a half-dozen people helping conduct the committee's investigation who spoke with NBC News. The committee's investigators are zeroing in on events attended by members of domestic extremist movements like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers in 2020. Those events include Covid lockdown protests, counterprotests to some racial justice demonstrations, armed protest activity focused on state Capitols across the U.S., and 'Stop the Steal' rallies that occurred prior to Jan. 6, 2021."

Man Out on Bail for Attempted Murder Arrested for Legitimate Political Discourse. Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "Federal authorities have arrested Matthew Beddingfield for his role in the Capitol insurrection, which he attended with his father while out on bail for a first-degree attempted murder charge. Beddingfield, who was arrested on Tuesday, was caught on camera brawling with police and entering the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6. He could also be seen jabbing at cops with a flagpole, and later was spotted inside the building. In addition to several misdemeanors, he faces felony charges of assaulting officers, impeding officers during a civil disorder, and carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon on restricted Capitol grounds, as first reported by NBC News.... In long conversations with [the] HuffPost..., [Beddingfield's father Jason] Beddingfield acknowledged that he himself had traveled to the Capitol on Jan. 6 in support of ... Donald Trump..., but was adamant that his son wasn't there." Citizen sleuths first identified the younger Beddingfield using facial recognition software. Charles was out on bond for allegedly having shot a man in the head. ~~~

~~~ Michael Kunzelman of the AP: Also arrested Tuesday was Eric Gerwatowski, 31, of New Hyde Park, New York. Gerwatowski, too, was first identified by citizens using facial recognition software. "A video showed Gerwatowski at the front of a crowd where police were trying to close doors to stop rioters from entering the Capitol. He pulled open one of the doors that police had just closed, turned to the crowd, yelled, 'Let's Go!' and then entered the building, the FBI says." According to the report, Charles Beddingfield was not out on bond but "was on probation for a criminal conviction in North Carolina, and his probation officer identified him in photos of the riot, the FBI says."

Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger said Tuesday that an officer conducted a security check of a Capitol Hill office that was left open, rejecting a GOP congressman's claim that police were involved in an illegal probe last November. In a Twitter thread Tuesday, Rep. Troy E. Nehls (R-Tex.) claimed without evidence that 'The @CapitolPolice Intelligence Division investigated my office illegally and one of my staffers caught them in the act.'... [An officer] entered [Nehls'] office in the Longworth House Office Building with no prior notice Nov. 20, 2021, ahead of the Thanksgiving break, and took pictures of a whiteboard. The officer filed a report raising concerns about the contents of the whiteboard, which included mentions of 'body armor' and a poorly drawn map of the Rayburn House Office Building -- which is also part of the Capitol complex -- that had an X at one of the building's entrances." Nehls proffered innocent explanations for the entries on the whiteboard & said he thought the Capitol Police were targeting him because he had been vocal in his criticism of the January 6 committee.

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "'Today, while heading to the House floor for votes, I respectfully asked my colleague @RepHalRogers [R-Ky.] to put on a mask while boarding the train,' [Rep. Joyce] Beatty [D-Ohio] tweeted. 'He then poked my back, demanding I get on the train. When I asked him not to touch me, he responded, "kiss my a--."'... Beatty, 71, said the exchange was 'the kind of disrespect we have been fighting for years,' and indicative of the wider problem of Republicans legislators disregarding health and safety mandates put in place in Congress at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Beatty has publicly called on Rogers to apologize.... In a statement, Rogers, 84, said he had met with Beatty to personally apologize.... Members of the Congressional Black Caucus gathered Tuesday evening to condemn the incident between Beatty and Rogers, and called on Rogers to publicly apologize as well." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: These ole white boys think they can mistreat women with impunity; they especially think they can mistreat older women; & they think they have a duty to mistreat older Black women. Rogers' outburst had nothing to do with mask-wearing & everything to do with his taking umbrage at the very idea that a Black woman would dare to tell an ole white boy what to do.

Stephen Collinson of CNN: "Yet again, the GOP is being dragged into internal recriminations and down an extreme road that could lead to violence and fresh assaults on democracy by the demagoguery, loyalty demands and obsessions of [Donald Trump]. The RNC's whitewashing of the true nature of the insurrection is typical of the cult-like subservience many in the party still show to Trump. It made clear that the price of entry to the 2022 campaign for Republicans is now not just acceptance of Trump's stolen election delusions but a willingness to deny the truth of the worst attack on democracy in modern American history.... The GOP's march toward extremism will never slow while Trump is dominant."

Fake "Author" of The Art of the Deal Made a Terrible Deal with China. Katie Lobosco of CNN: "China fell more than $213 billion short of its commitment to increase purchases of US goods and services that it made to ... Donald Trump in 2020, according to a report released Tuesday. The commitment was made in what's known as the Phase One deal, in which Beijing promised to purchase $200 billion more in American exports than it had in 2017, before a US-China trade war began. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping both stopped escalating tariffs after the deal was signed.... 'China bought none of the additional $200 billion of exports Trump's deal had promised,' wrote Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the [Peterson I]nstitute, in his report.... Experts had been skeptical from the start that China would be able to meet the ambitious purchase commitments.... The Phase One agreement didn't include any repercussions for China if it missed its goals. But President Joe Biden suggested last month that China's failure to meet the purchase commitments is the reason he's leaving Trump's tariffs on Chinese-made goods in place, despite facing pressure from the US business community to lift them."

Steve Vladek of MSNBC, in responding to the Supreme Court's 5-4 "shadow docket" ruling to allow Alabama Republicans to get away with a violation of what's left of the Voting Rights Act, argues that, "The more SCOTUS justices hand down major decisions affecting the rights of millions of people without explanation, the more they wear out the legitimacy of the institution itself.... During the Trump administration, for instance, the justices routinely used shadow docket orders to allow controversial policies that lower courts had blocked to go back into effect while those rulings were appealed. Virtually none of those policies were ever actually upheld by the Supreme Court. Since the start of the pandemic, the court has used shadow docket orders to block gathering restrictions in a number of blue states based on a novel understanding of the religious liberty protected by the First Amendment.... [One] innovation in recent years has been the court's treatment of even unsigned and unexplained orders as having precedential value -- and its criticism of lower courts for refusing to read between the lines."

Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "A judge in San Antonio has ordered the United States Air Force to pay more than $230 million in damages to the survivors and families of victims of a Texas church shooting in 2017, where 26 people were killed and 22 injured by a former airman. U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez described in his judgment how, in a span of seven minutes and 24 seconds, the gunman, Devin Patrick Kelley, fired 450 rounds using an AR-556 rifle. Worshipers at the small First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Tex., scrambled to take cover under pews during the routine Sunday service, and the massacre left children among the dead and multigenerational gaps in some families." (Also linked yesterday.)

Heather Morgan Is a Versatile Crook. Sarah Emerson of BuzzFeed News: "A husband and wife were arrested in Manhattan on Tuesday for allegedly conspiring to launder $4.5 billion in stolen cryptocurrency. In an announcement, the Department of Justice called its confiscation of 94,000 bitcoins, which amounts to $3.6 billion, the agency's 'largest financial seize ever.' The department named Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan as the individuals responsible for allegedly attempting to launder 119,754 bitcoin stolen from the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex. Bitfinex was targeted by hackers in August 2016 who '​​initiated more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions,' the DOJ said. Investigators claim the stolen bitcoins were sent to a digital wallet managed by Lichtenstein. Roughly 25,000 of those bitcoins were then allegedly moved to financial accounts controlled by Lichtenstein and Morgan while the remainder stayed in the wallet used in connection with the hack.... On Twitter, Morgan allegedly identified herself as a 'serial entrepreneur,' 'surreal artist,' 'rapper,' and 'also Forbes writer.' Indeed, a Forbes contributor page for Heather R Morgan lists numerous posts, including a story titled "Experts Share Tips to Protect Your Business From Cybercriminals.'"

God Forgives Me. Chicago Harlan of the Washington Post: "Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Tuesday expressed his 'profound shame' to the victims of clerical abuse, and he said he was pained by 'errors' that occurred in various places across his career in the church. But he stopped short of acknowledging any specific personal responsibility after a church-commissioned German report accused him of mishandling four cases during his time running the archdiocese of Munich between 1977 and 1982. 'However great my fault may be today, the Lord forgives me, if I sincerely allow myself to be examined by him, and am really prepared to change,' the 94-year-old retired pope wrote." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here.

New York. Luis Ferré-Sadurní & Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "Gov. Kathy Hochul will drop New York's stringent indoor mask mandate on Wednesday, ending a requirement that businesses ask customers for proof of full vaccination or require mask-wearing at all times, and marking a turning point in the state's coronavirus response, according to three people briefed on her decision." The Hill's story is here.

Canada/U.S. Amanda Coletta, et al., of the Washington Post: "The busiest crossing on the U.S.-Canada land border was obstructed on Tuesday as demonstrations against vaccine mandates and other coronavirus public health measures that have paralyzed Canada's capital spread to a crucial trade artery. The Canada Border Services Agency said Tuesday that the Ambassador Bridge, which links Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, was 'temporarily closed' for passengers and commercial traffic. The Michigan Department of Transportation also said the border was closed. Windsor Police said 'limited traffic' was being allowed into the United States." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Butt Out, Trump, et al. Amy Cheng of the Washington Post: "Senior Canadian officials hit back Monday at high-profile U.S. Republicans who have voiced support for the self-described 'Freedom Convoy,' as the group continued to block traffic in downtown Ottawa in protest of vaccine rules for cross-border truckers." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Christine Hauser of the New York Times: "In a move intended to address its history of segregation, trustees at the University of Alabama agreed last week that a building named for David Bibb Graves, a former governor and Ku Klux Klan leader, will also carry the name of Autherine Lucy Foster, who in 1956 was the first Black person to attend the school. The decision to rename the building Lucy-Graves Hall was made on Thursday, exactly 66 years after Ms. Foster started classes on the university's campus in Tuscaloosa, Ala.... The decision drew a swift backlash. The student newspaper, The Crimson White, said the building should not bear the name of a person who endorsed white supremacy at any time." MB: The rationale for retaining Graves' name seems to be that he wasn't as bad as other Klan members.

California. Vimal Patel of the New York Times: "The University of California has agreed to pay $243 million to settle the claims of 203 women who alleged sexual misconduct by a gynecologist at the Los Angeles campus, the latest among several nine-figure payouts that universities have announced in recent years in response to sexual abuse allegations. The payout in the case of Dr. James Heaps, who was affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, in various roles from 1983 to 2018, comes on top of a $73 million settlement made public in November 2020 to resolve a class-action suit that involved more than 5,000 people who had been patients of Dr. Heaps since the 1980s."

Colorado. Bente Birkeland of Colorado Public Radio: "Mesa county's Republican clerk and recorder, Tina Peters, who is currently being investigated by a grand jury for election tampering and misconduct, was arrested on unrelated charges Tuesday in Grand Junction. The incident occurred as police were trying to carry out a search warrant to seize Peters' iPad to determine whether she illegally recorded a criminal court hearing Monday. According to the affidavit for the search warrant, Peters may have used her iPad to film part of the hearing, in spite of posted signs saying recordings are prohibited, and then lied to the judge about her actions. If Peters is found to have done those things, she could be charged with attempting to influence a public servant. The court hearing was in the case of Mesa county's deputy clerk, Belinda Knisley..., [who] was placed on paid leave last year after ... [being] charged with burglary and misdemeanor cyber crimes for allegedly ... trying to access the election office's secure computer systems using Peters' login information." Peters resisted arrest by yelling at the arresting officers & kicking them. Allegedly. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Peters -- a Big Lie conspiracy believer -- is a MyPillow Guy acolyte. For a while, Mike Lindell was hiding her from the FBI. I think she's out of the running for public servant of the month. But maybe in a new Trump administration, she'll get Chris Krebs' old job as U.S. cybersecurity honcho.

Maryland Senate Race. Steve Peoples & Brian Witte of the AP: "Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Tuesday that he will not run for the U.S. Senate, rebuffing an aggressive recruitment push from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans who saw the term-limited governor as the GOP's best chance to win in the deep-blue state. Hogan announced his decision during an unrelated afternoon press conference in the state Capitol, explaining that he could not finish his term as governor effectively and run for the Senate at the same time." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Steve M. thinks McConnell's calling "a violent insurrection" "a violent insurrection" was caused by Mitch's anger at Donald Trump for discouraging Hogan to run for the Senate.

Missouri. White Couple Prohibited from Waving Guns at Black People. Dan Margolies of NPR Kansas City: "The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday indefinitely suspended the law licenses of two St. Louis attorneys who waved guns at Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020, but it stayed their suspensions and placed them on probation for a year. The orders came after Missouri's chief disciplinary counsel last year asked the court to suspend the law licenses of Mark McCloskey and his wife, Patricia McCloskey, in connection with their guilty pleas to misdemeanors stemming from the gun-waving incident. The orders mean that if they violate the terms of their probation, their law licenses could be suspended indefinitely.... The court also ordered them to provide 100 hours of pro bono legal services during their terms of probation.... Missouri Gov. Mike Parson pardoned both ... [for the assault & harassment charges to which they pleaded guilty]." Mark McCloskey said he may appeal the state supreme court's ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. MB: The McCloskeys appeared in a video during the first night of the 2020 Republican National Convention because, you know, Second Amendment, Black people.

North Carolina Congressional Election. Marshall Cohen & Ethan Cohen of CNN: "The North Carolina State Board of Elections said on Monday that it has the power to block GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn from running for reelection over his role in the January 6 insurrection -- an open legal question at the center of liberal-backed efforts to disqualify him from future office. The bipartisan election board made the assertion in a court filing in a case Cawthorn brought against the board, hoping to shut down the constitutional challenge to his candidacy. Liberal activists filed the challenge to his candidacy last month. Their argument revolves around the little-used 'disqualification clause' of the US Constitution, which was ratified after the Civil War to prevent Confederate officials and those who supported 'insurrection' from returning to office."

Way Beyond

Russia/Ukraine/France. BBC News: "French President Emmanuel Macron has told reporters that President Vladimir Putin assured him that Russian forces would not ramp up the crisis near Ukraine's borders. 'I secured an assurance there would be no deterioration or escalation,' he said before meeting Ukraine's leader. However, Russia said any suggestion of a guarantee was 'not right'."

News Ledes

New York Times: "As a consequence of a geomagnetic storm triggered by a recent outburst of the sun, up to 40 of 49 newly launched [Space-X] Starlink satellites have been knocked out of commission. They are in the process of re-entering Earth's atmosphere, where they will be incinerated."

New York Times: "Bob Saget, the stand-up comedian and actor known for playing Danny Tanner on 'Full House,' died of head trauma after he accidentally hit something, his family said in a statement on Wednesday. Mr. Saget, 65, was found unresponsive on Jan. 9 in a hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lake, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office." An AP report is here.

CNN's live updates of the Winter Olympics are here. The AP's liveblog is here.

February 8, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Dan Lamothe & Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "Senior White House and State Department officials failed to grasp the Taliban's steady advance on Afghanistan's capital and resisted efforts by U.S. military leaders to prepare the evacuation of embassy personnel and Afghan allies weeks before Kabul's fall, placing American troops ordered to carry out the withdrawal in greater danger, according to sworn testimony from multiple commanders involved in the operation. An Army investigative report, numbering 2,000 pages and released to The Washington Post through a Freedom of Information Act request, details the life-or-death decisions made daily by U.S. soldiers and Marines sent to secure Hamid Karzai International Airport as thousands converged on the airfield in a frantic bid to escape.... Military personnel would have been 'much better prepared to conduct a more orderly' evacuation, Navy Rear Adm. Peter Vasely, the top U.S. commander on the ground during the operation, told Army investigators, 'if policymakers had paid attention to the indicators of what was happening on the ground.'"

Kyle Blaine, et al., of CNN: "Second gentleman Doug Emhoff is safe after being ushered out of a room at a Washington, DC, high school by the Secret Service after a bomb threat to the building, his spokesperson said. '"U.S. Secret Service was made aware of a security threat at a school where the @SecondGentleman was meeting with students and faculty. Mr. Emhoff is safe and the school has been evacuated. We are grateful to Secret Service and D.C. Police for their work,' Emhoff's spokesperson Katie Peters wrote on Twitter.... District of Columbia Public Schools press secretary Enrique Gutierrez told reporters at the event that a bomb threat had been called into Dunbar High School in Northwest Washington, where Emhoff was holding an event."

Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell disagreed Tuesday with the Republican National Committee's recent censure of two GOP lawmakers, as well as its characterization of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. 'We all were here. We saw what happened. It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election, from one administration to the next. That's what it was,' McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters at his weekly news conference. His remarks followed an outcry from Democrats and some Republicans after the RNC approved a resolution Friday accusing Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., of 'participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse,' a reference to the Jan. 6 committee." A New York Times report is here.

Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "A judge in San Antonio has ordered the United States Air Force to pay more than $230 million in damages to the survivors and families of victims of a Texas church shooting in 2017, where 26 people were killed and 22 injured by a former airman. U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez described in his judgment how, in a span of seven minutes and 24 seconds, the gunman, Devin Patrick Kelley, fired 450 rounds using an AR-556 rifle. Worshipers at the small First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Tex., scrambled to take cover under pews during the routine Sunday service, and the massacre left children among the dead and multigenerational gaps in some families."

God Forgives Me. Chicago Harlan of the Washington Post: "Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Tuesday expressed his 'profound shame' to the victims of clerical abuse, and he said he was pained by 'errors' that occurred in various places across his career in the church. But he stopped short of acknowledging any specific personal responsibility after a church-commissioned German report accused him of mishandling four cases during his time running the archdiocese of Munich between 1977 and 1982. 'However great my fault may be today, the Lord forgives me, if I sincerely allow myself to be examined by him, and am really prepared to change,' the 94-year-old retired pope wrote."

Amanda Coletta, et al., of the Washington Post: "The busiest crossing on the U.S.-Canada land border was obstructed on Tuesday as demonstrations against vaccine mandates and other coronavirus public health measures that have paralyzed Canada's capital spread to a crucial trade artery. The Canada Border Services Agency said Tuesday that the Ambassador Bridge, which links Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, was 'temporarily closed' for passengers and commercial traffic. The Michigan Department of Transportation also said the border was closed. Windsor Police said 'limited traffic' was being allowed into the United States."

Butt Out, Trump, et al. Amy Cheng of the Washington Post: "Senior Canadian officials hit back Monday at high-profile U.S. Republicans who have voiced support for the self-described 'Freedom Convoy,' as the group continued to block traffic in downtown Ottawa in protest of vaccine rules for cross-border truckers."

Maryland Senate Race. Steve Peoples & Brian Witte of the AP: "Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Tuesday that he will not run for the U.S. Senate, rebuffing an aggressive recruitment push from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans who saw the term-limited governor as the GOP's best chance to win in the deep-blue state. Hogan announced his decision during an unrelated afternoon press conference in the state Capitol, explaining that he could not finish his term as governor effectively and run for the Senate at the same time."

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Missy Ryan, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden vowed Monday that a major European energy pipeline would be abandoned if Russia sends forces into Ukraine, intensifying pressure on the Kremlin as Western leaders attempt to stave off a renewed assault on the continent's eastern edge. Biden issued the threat after talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose recently formed government has pledged to take part in Western retaliation should Russia seize more Ukrainian territory, as it did in the 2014 annexation of Crimea. But Germany has stopped short of explicitly promising to halt the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 project, which would bring Russian gas to energy-hungry European consumers. On Monday, Scholz said only that his country was 'absolutely united' with the United States and other NATO allies, 'and we will not be taking different steps.'"

Sylvie Corbet & Dasha Litvinova of the AP: "Diplomatic efforts to defuse the tensions around Ukraine continued on Tuesday with French President Emmanuel Macron arriving in Kyiv the day after hours of talks with the Russian leader in Moscow yielded no apparent breakthroughs. Macron met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as fears of a possible Russian invasion mount."

Anton Troianovski, et al., of the New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin said he was prepared to keep negotiating over Russia's security demands in Eastern Europe but offered a stark warning over the possibility of a full-scale war between Russia and the West -- using a five-hour meeting with his French counterpart on Monday to keep the world guessing about his intentions. Mr. Putin said that proposals made by President Emmanuel Macron of France in their one-on-one meeting at the Kremlin were 'too early to speak about' but could create 'a foundation for our further steps.' Mr. Macron, in a joint news conference with Mr. Putin after their hastily scheduled meeting, described the coming days as potentially decisive in heading off what the West fears could be a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Rachel Pannett, et al., of the Washington Post: "French President Emmanuel Macron called for a de-escalation of tensions over Ukraine on Monday, meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow as part of an attempt by Western nations to stave off a Russian invasion of its neighbor. The French leader, speaking alongside Putin at the opening of their talks, said dialogue with Russia was necessary because it 'makes it possible to build real security and stability' in Europe. 'I believe that our continent is today in an eminently critical situation, which requires us all to be extremely responsible,' he said." MB: IOW, no great diplomatic breakthrough. (Also linked yesterday.)

Scientist Studies Office Bullying. Alex Thompson of Politico: "President Joe Biden's top science adviser, Eric Lander, bullied and demeaned his subordinates and violated the White House's workplace policy, an internal White House investigation recently concluded, according to interviews and an audio recording obtained by Politico. The two-month investigation found 'credible evidence' that Lander -- a Cabinet member and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy who the White House touts as a key player in the pandemic response -- was 'bullying' toward his then-general counsel, Rachel Wallace, according to a recorded January briefing on the investigation's findings.... There was also 'credible evidence' that Lander had spoken 'harshly and disrespectfully to colleagues in front of other colleagues,' [deputy personnel manager Christian] Peele said, according to the recording. 'The investigation found credible evidence of instances of multiple women having complained to other staff about negative interactions with Dr. Lander, where he spoke to them in a demeaning or abrasive way in front of other staff,' Peele said in the recording.... Soon after his top aides became aware of the extent of Politico's investigation, Lander sent an email late Friday to all OSTP staff apologizing for his behavior." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ ** Update. Scientist Discovers You Can Lose Your Job for Bullying Subordinates. Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "Eric Lander, President Biden's top science adviser, resigned Monday night after he acknowledged mistreating his subordinates and apologized for demeaning them, a pattern of behavior that put him at odds with one of Biden's earliest promises -- to run an administration marked by respect and professionalism.... Lander's resignation came after the White House struggled throughout the day to explain why he had not quit or been fired, and how that squared with a pledge Biden made on his first day in office. On that day, he told staffers at swearing-in ceremony, 'If you are ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot. On the spot -- no if, ands or buts.'" Politico's report is here.

Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "The Internal Revenue Service has abandoned its plan to require millions of Americans to submit to a facial recognition check through a private company to access their online tax accounts following a firestorm of criticism from privacy advocates and members of Congress. The IRS said Monday it would 'transition away' from using a face-scanning service offered by the company ID.me in the coming weeks and would develop an additional authentication process that does not involve facial recognition.... Lawmakers and advocates slammed the idea of mandating the technology's use nationwide, saying it would unfairly burden Americans without smartphones or computer cameras, would make sensitive data vulnerable to hackers and would subject people of color to a system known to work less accurately on darker skin." The Guardian's story is here.

Some GOP Senators Are Not Amused by RNC. Burgess Everett, et al., of Politico: "In interviews on Monday evening, GOP senators lashed out at their own national party's overwhelming vote to censure Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.).... Both Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) were in communication with RNC chair Ronna [Romney] McDaniel about the censure, with Graham calling her and Romney texting his niece. 'A very unfortunate decision by the RNC and a very unfortunate statement put out as well. Nothing could be further from the truth than to consider the attack on the seat of democracy as legitimate political discourse,' Romney said in an interview.... [Mitch] McConnell, who has defended Cheney in the past, said he would address the matter on Tuesday at his usual press conference. Several members of his leadership team expressed their concern about GOP infighting."

It's an official document. You're not allowed. It's illegal what she did. She broke the law. -- Donald Trump, after Nancy Pelosi tore up a copy of his SOTU address, February 2020

No, it's not against the law to tear up a photocopy of a speech (or copies of most other government documents). But the fact that Trump knew that destroying real presidential papers was a crime sure argues against the possibility that he "innocently" tore up & tossed thousands of presidential papers. -- Marie ~~~

~~~ Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump last month handed over to the National Archives 15 boxes of documents, letters, gifts and mementos that he had taken with him when leaving office but that he had been legally required to leave in the custody of the federal government, officials said on Monday. The materials included the original versions of a letter that former President Barack Obama had left for Mr. Trump when he was first sworn in, as well as correspondence from the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. The items also included a map Mr. Trump famously drew on with a black Sharpie marker to demonstrate the track of Hurricane Dorian heading toward Alabama in 2019 to back up a declaration he had made on Twitter that contradicted weather forecasts." ~~~

      ~~~ We now pause for a dog-ate-my-homework excuse that could become a classic: "The boxes contained items taken from the White House's residence during a hasty exit after Mr. Trump had spent the bulk of the presidential transition trying to find ways to stay in power.... At the time, Mr. Trump's aides were either preoccupied with helping him overturn the election, trying to stop him or avoiding him."

The Insurrection Thrilled Donald Trump. In a story on why January 6 committee investigators want to talk to Ivanka Trump, Farnoush Amiri of the AP reports, on January 6, "... as staffers watched in shock at what was unfolding down Pennsylvania Avenue on television screens positioned throughout the West Wing, [Donald] Trump's attention was so rapt that he hit rewind and watched certain moments again, according to Stephanie Grisham, a former White House press secretary. 'Look at all of the people fighting for me,' Trump said, according to Grisham.... At one point, the president was confused why staffers weren't as excited as he was watching the unrest unfold." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Axios: "Former President Trump incited the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 'to intimidate' former Vice President Mike Pence into overturning the 2020 election, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday." MB: This jibes with details in the AP report above. (Also linked yesterday.)

Mark Mazzetti & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "... a group of ultraconservative Republicans employed spycraft to try to manipulate the American political landscape. [Erik] Prince -- a former C.I.A. contractor who is best known as the founder of the private military firm Blackwater and whose sister, Betsy DeVos, was Mr. Trump's education secretary -- has drawn scrutiny over the years for Blackwater's record of violence around the world and his subsequent ventures training and arming foreign forces. His [participation in the domestic operation] is fresh evidence of his engagement in political espionage projects at home during a period when he was an informal adviser to Trump administration officials.... The goal of the private spying operation was to gather dirt both on Democrats and 'RINOs.'..."

Tom Hays of the AP: "A Chicago banker was sentenced on Monday to a year in prison for his conviction in a scheme to make $16 million in loans to Paul Manafort to gain influence in the Trump administration.... The banker, Stephen Calk, was convicted last year on financial institution bribery and conspiracy charges in Manhattan federal court."

Garrett Epps in the Washington Monthly: By sharing the list of white people who were his only potential Supreme Court nominees, Donald Trump promised not to nominate a Black woman. He later altered the list to include "one Black man, one Latino man, and one Indian American man. There was also one (and only one) woman, who was white. There was no Black woman." Some Republicans & "conservatives" are aghast that President Biden would promise to nominate a Black woman. BUT "Excluding Black women from power — acting as if they literally do not exist -- is simply normal behavior in many settings, not even worthy of remark.... Is Biden's pledge also blameworthy?... A promise to include a group hitherto excluded is, morally and politically, nothing like a promise to continue centuries of exclusion."

Welcome Back, Jim Crow! Supreme Court Confederates Back Alabama Confederates. Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Monday put on hold a lower court's order that Alabama must create a second congressional district favorable to Black voters, over the objections of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the court's three liberals. The court's most consistently conservative justices put on hold a decision of a special panel of three federal judges that threw out Alabama's new congressional map Jan. 24. That map had continued to draw only one of the state's seven congressional districts to have a majority of Black voters. Dissenting Justice Elena Kagan called the court's order 'a disservice to Black Alabamians who under [Supreme Court] precedent have had their electoral power diminished -- in violation of a law this Court once knew to buttress all of American democracy.'" (Also linked yesterday.) The Guardian's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "In a 5-4 decision -- with Roberts dissenting, effectively arguing that the Court should wait until after the 2022 midterms to do its dirty work -- the Court has stayed a District Court opinion, ensuring that the coming elections will take place with a map that is, as Roberts concedes, unquestionably illegal under controlling precedent[.]" Lemieux goes on to tear down the majority opinion, which he calls "appalling on every level."

Ryan Mac & Mike Isaac of the New York Times: "Peter Thiel, one of the longest-serving board members of Meta, the parent of Facebook, plans to step down, the company said on Monday. Mr. Thiel, 54, wants to focus on influencing November's midterm elections, said a person with knowledge of Mr. Thiel's thinking who declined to be identified. Mr. Thiel sees the midterms as crucial to changing the direction of the country, this person said, and he is backing candidates who support the agenda of ... Donald J. Trump."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Tuesday are here.

Mike Catalini of the AP: "The governors of four states announced plans Monday to lift statewide mask requirements in schools by the end of February or March, citing the rapid easing of COVID-19′s omicron surge. The decisions in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey and Oregon were announced as state and local governments grapple with which virus restrictions to jettison and which ones to keep in place. The changes also come amid a growing sense that the virus is never going to go away and Americans need to find a way to coexist with it." ~~~

~~~ California. Victoria Colliver & Susannah Luthi of Politico: "Gov. Gavin Newsom is poised to ease statewide restrictions on mass gatherings and indoor masking as the Omicron coronavirus variant continues to recede. The plan, confirmed by an administration official, would be the first step in Newsom's exit strategy for the Covid-19 pandemic -- a major shift for a state that has preserved some of the nation's strictest and longest-lasting restrictions. Officials said the state would unveil more details next week."

Michigan. Ed White of the AP: "A man charged in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has agreed to plead guilty, according to documents filed Monday, giving prosecutors another insider who could be a key witness at a March trial. Kaleb Franks said he would join Ty Garbin as the second person to admit guilt in a scheme to snatch the Democratic governor before FBI agents arrested them in October 2020. The decision leaves four other men to face trial. The government said the group wanted to kidnap Whitmer because of disgust over her COVID-19 restrictions."

New Jersey. Tracey Tully of the New York Times: "Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey, a Democrat who has imposed some of the nation's most stringent pandemic-related mandates, will no longer require students and school employees to wear masks, signaling a deliberate shift toward treating the coronavirus as a part of daily life. 'This is not a declaration of victory as much as an acknowledgment that we can responsibly live with this thing,' Mr. Murphy, the vice chairman of the National Governors Association, said Monday in announcing the elimination of the mandate." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.)

Canada. Jennifer Hassan & Amanda Coletta of the Washington Post: "Police are clamping down on self-described 'Freedom Convoy' anti-vaccine-mandate demonstrations in Canada's capital, making multiple arrests, issuing hundreds of tickets, and seizing vehicles and fuel as Ottawa's mayor declared a state of emergency. The emergency declaration was designed to give officers more 'flexibility' to respond to the hundreds and sometimes thousands of truckers and their supporters who are gathered in the streets to denounce coronavirus measures, Mayor Jim Watson said Sunday. And, he said, the declaration reflects the 'serious danger and threat to the safety and security of residents.' Fireworks were shot off, drivers blared their horns and streets remained blocked for the second weekend in a row, and Watson admitted Sunday that authorities were 'outnumbered' and 'losing this battle' against groups who were 'calling the shots.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Paulina Villegas & Reis Thebault of the Washington Post: "After being denied several million dollars raised on GoFundMe, organizers of a trucker-led protest disrupting life in Canada's capital have found a new platform: a Christian crowdfunding site where they raised more than $3.5 million in two days to demonstrate against the country's vaccine mandate. The new fundraiser hosted by GiveSendGo, which describes itself as the '#1 free Christian crowdfunding site,' reported Sunday that the 'Freedom Convoy' campaign had raised several million dollars two days after GoFundMe announced that it was freezing more than $8 million in donations to the cause, a move that led Republican officials in the United States to announce investigations." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Justin Ling of the Guardian: "The brazen occupation of Ottawa came as a result of unprecedented coordination between various anti-vaccine and anti-government organizations and activists, and has been seized on by similar groups around the world.... The so-called 'freedom convoy' -- which departed for Ottawa on 23 January -- was the brainchild of James Bauder, an admitted conspiracy theorist who has endorsed the QAnon movement and called Covid-19 'the biggest political scam in history'. Bauder's group, Canada Unity, contends that vaccine mandates and passports are illegal under Canada's constitution, the Nuremberg Code and a host of other international conventions."

Beyond the Beltway

Tennessee. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: "A Black woman who was sentenced last week to six years and one day in prison for trying to register to vote in 2019 despite having a felony conviction says she was the victim of complicated voting laws in Tennessee that appeared to confuse even election officials. Prosecutors in Memphis said that accidentally or not, the woman, Pamela Moses, 44, broke the law. But Ms. Moses, a Black Lives Matter activist, and her lawyer say election officials gave her advice that they later corrected while she was seeking to have her voting rights restored." MB: This is a complicated case; I've avoided linking previous reports because I wasn't (and still am not) sure how much culpability Moses has here.

Virginia. Laura Vozzella & Gregory Schneider of the Washington Post: "... Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) distanced himself Monday from a tweet mocking a teenager that his campaign account posted Saturday, calling it 'unauthorized,' but the teen and his mother said they would like an apology after enduring two days of 'bullying' on social media. Democrats piled on, accusing the governor of violating his pledges to seek unity and lower the temperature of political disagreements."

News Ledes

CNN's liveblog of developments & results in the Olympics is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times live updates for Tuesday, which include updates dated Wednesday, are here.

February 7, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Welcome Back, Jim Crow! Supreme Court Confederates Back Alabama Confederates. Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Monday put on hold a lower court's order that Alabama must create a second congressional district favorable to Black voters, over the objections of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the court's three liberals. The court's most consistently conservative justices put on hold a decision of a special panel of three federal judges that threw out Alabama's new congressional map Jan. 24. That map had continued to draw only one of the state's seven congressional districts to have a majority of Black voters. Dissenting Justice Elena Kagan called the court's order 'a disservice to Black Alabamians who under [Supreme Court] precedent have had their electoral power diminished -- in violation of a law this Court once knew to buttress all of American democracy.'"

Rachel Pannett, et al., of the Washington Post: "French President Emmanuel Macron called for a de-escalation of tensions over Ukraine on Monday, meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow as part of an attempt by Western nations to stave off a Russian invasion of its neighbor. The French leader, speaking alongside Putin at the opening of their talks, said dialogue with Russia was necessary because it 'makes it possible to build real security and stability' in Europe. 'I believe that our continent is today in an eminently critical situation, which requires us all to be extremely responsible,' he said." MB: IOW, no great diplomatic breakthrough.

Tracey Tully of the New York Times: "Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey, a Democrat who has imposed some of the nation's most stringent pandemic-related mandates, will no longer require students and school employees to wear masks, signaling a deliberate shift toward treating the coronavirus as a part of daily life. 'This is not a declaration of victory as much as an acknowledgment that we can responsibly live with this thing,' Mr. Murphy, the vice chairman of the National Governors Association, said Monday in announcing the elimination of the mandate." This is an update of a story linked earlier today.

Jennifer Hassan & Amanda Coletta of the Washington Post: "Police are clamping down on self-described 'Freedom Convoy' anti-vaccine-mandate demonstrations in Canada's capital, making multiple arrests, issuing hundreds of tickets, and seizing vehicles and fuel as Ottawa's mayor declared a state of emergency. The emergency declaration was designed to give officers more 'flexibility' to respond to the hundreds and sometimes thousands of truckers and their supporters who are gathered in the streets to denounce coronavirus measures, Mayor Jim Watson said Sunday. And, he said, the declaration reflects the 'serious danger and threat to the safety and security of residents.' Fireworks were shot off, drivers blared their horns and streets remained blocked for the second weekend in a row, and Watson admitted Sunday that authorities were 'outnumbered' and 'losing this battle' against groups who were 'calling the shots.'" ~~~

~~~ Paulina Villegas & Reis Thebault of the Washington Post: "After being denied several million dollars raised on GoFundMe, organizers of a trucker-led protest disrupting life in Canada's capital have found a new platform: a Christian crowdfunding site where they raised more than $3.5 million in two days to demonstrate against the country's vaccine mandate. The new fundraiser hosted by GiveSendGo, which describes itself as the '#1 free Christian crowdfunding site,' reported Sunday that the 'Freedom Convoy' campaign had raised several million dollars two days after GoFundMe announced that it was freezing more than $8 million in donations to the cause, a move that led Republican officials in the United States to announce investigations."

Alex Thompson of Politico: "President Joe Biden's top science adviser, Eric Lander, bullied and demeaned his subordinates and violated the White House's workplace policy, an internal White House investigation recently concluded, according to interviews and an audio recording obtained by Politico. The two-month investigation found 'credible evidence' that Lander -- a Cabinet member and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy who the White House touts as a key player in the pandemic response -- was 'bullying' toward his then-general counsel, Rachel Wallace, according to a recorded January briefing on the investigation's findings.... There was also 'credible evidence' that Lander had spoken 'harshly and disrespectfully to colleagues in front of other colleagues,' [deputy personnel manager Christian] Peele said, according to the recording. 'The investigation found credible evidence of instances of multiple women having complained to other staff about negative interactions with Dr. Lander, where he spoke to them in a demeaning or abrasive way in front of other staff,' Peele said in the recording.... Soon after his top aides became aware of the extent of Politico's investigation, Lander sent an email late Friday to all OSTP staff apologizing for his behavior."

The Insurrection Thrilled Donald Trump. In a story on why January 6 committee investigators want to talk to Ivanka Trump, Farnoush Amiri of the AP reports, on January 6, "... as staffers watched in shock at what was unfolding down Pennsylvania Avenue on television screens positioned throughout the West Wing, [Donald] Trump's attention was so rapt that he hit rewind and watched certain moments again, according to Stephanie Grisham, a former White House press secretary. 'Look at all of the people fighting for me,' Trump said, according to Grisham.... At one point, the president was confused why staffers weren't as excited as he was watching the unrest unfold." ~~~

~~~ Axios: "Former President Trump incited the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 'to intimidate' former Vice President Mike Pence into overturning the 2020 election, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday." MB: This jibes with details in the AP report above.

~~~~~~~~~~

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Biden will meet with Olaf Scholz, the new chancellor of Germany, at the White House on Monday, a visit designed to publicly shore up a key link in the Western alliance amid concerns that Germany has not been a forceful enough partner in calming tensions between Russia and Ukraine.... In a call with reporters on Sunday, administration officials said that Mr. Biden would be looking to discuss a package of 'swift and severe' sanctions against Russia if its president, Vladimir V. Putin, decides to invade Ukraine.... Mr. Biden and Mr. Scholz are also likely to discuss the contentious $11 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a natural gas conduit being built between Germany and Russia."

Aamer Madhani of the AP: "White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that Russia could invade Ukraine 'any day,' launching a conflict that would come at an 'enormous human cost.' The senior adviser to President Joe Biden offered another stark warning the day after U.S. officials confirmed that Russia has assembled at least 70% of the military firepower it likely intends to have in place by mid-month to give President Vladimir Putin the option of launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine."

La Paix à Notre Époque? Roger Cohen & Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "The standoff with Russia over Ukraine enters a critical phase this week. The United States has snapped NATO to attention and moved forces east. Moscow has readied still more forces on the Ukraine border. But beneath those tensions, diplomatic avenues are being feverishly explored and the outlines of potential solutions, still amorphous, may be taking form.... President Emmanuel Macron of France ... will visit his Russian counterpart, Vladimir V. Putin, in Moscow before traveling to Kyiv. With the Biden administration staking out a hard line, Germany lying low and Mr. Putin seemingly determined to force a solution to Russia's security grievances, it is Mr. Macron who has positioned himself at the center of the diplomacy in Europe.... For Mr. Macron the chance to lead the effort to create a new European security architecture has placed him front and center on perhaps the biggest stage of his presidency, just two months before elections." ~~~

     ~~~ Lauri Kayali of Politico: "French President Emmanuel Macron is optimistic he can secure a de-escalation over Ukraine when he travels to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday, but hinted that Western countries could have to make concessions to the Kremlin.... In an interview with the weekly Journal du Dimanche before his departure, Macron not only downplayed fears that Putin's real strategic ambition was to occupy Ukraine but also extended an olive branch to Russia by saying he understood Moscow's need to defend its security interests." MB: As I wrote, "Peace for Our Time."

Nick Miroff & Arelis Hernández of the Washington Post: "President Biden halted the [Trump administration's 'remain in Mexico' program] when he took office, but in September a U.S. District Court ordered his administration to reinstate the program, formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols. After months of negotiations with Mexico, the Biden administration relaunched MPP in early December, starting in El Paso. Immigration advocates were furious, blaming Biden for not pushing back harder. But two months after its restart, the new version of MPP bears little resemblance to ... Donald Trump's. The Biden administration has re-implemented the program with a narrow scope and none of the zeal demonstrated by Trump officials.... So far the Department of Homeland Security has sent back about 410 MPP enrollees, according to the latest U.N. figures, equivalent to about seven asylum seekers per day borderwide, compared with 300 to 400 returned daily in summer 2019."

A Golden Girls Moment/the White Man's Bond: Thank You for Being a Friend. Mitch, I don't want to hurt your reputation, but we really are friends. And that is not an epiphany we're having here at the moment. We've always -- you've always done exactly what you've said. You're a man of ... your word, and you're a man of honor. Thank you for being my friend. -- Joe Biden, National Prayer Breakfast last Thursday ~~~

~~~ Biden's declaration drove Charles Blow of the New York Times up the wall. "It seems that Biden suffers from the same blind spot as other white liberal leaders throughout history: looking past the oppressive impulses of other white men to see kinship and commonality.... These bonds across bigotry ... smack of a privilege of which only white men can boast, because the threat is almost always aimed away for them and at others." MB: I stand with Charles.

Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "One Navy SEAL candidate died and another was hospitalized after completing several days of excruciating training known as 'Hell Week' in Coronado, Calif., Navy officials said on Saturday. Both candidates, who were assigned to the Naval Special Warfare Basic Training Command, were transported for medical treatment 'several hours' after their basic underwater demolition SEAL class 'successfully completed Hell Week,' the Naval Special Warfare Command said in a statement.... The cause of Seaman [Kyle] Mullen's death was unknown and an investigation was underway, according to the earlier statement."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Two senators working on an overhaul of the little-known law that ... Donald J. Trump and his allies tried to use to overturn the 2020 election pledged on Sunday that their legislation would pass the Senate, saying that recent revelations about the plot made their work even more important. In a joint interview on CNN's 'State of the Union,' Senators Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, and Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, said their efforts to rewrite the Electoral Count Act of 1887 were gaining broader support in the Senate, with as many as 20 senators taking part in the discussions. 'Absolutely, it will pass,' Mr. Manchin said of an overhaul of the law, which dictates how Congress formalizes elections. He said efforts by Mr. Trump and his allies to exploit 'ambiguity' in the law were 'what caused the insurrection' -- the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol." A CNN report is here.

Reid Epstein & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "The number of competitive congressional districts is on track to dive near -- and possibly below -- the lowest level in at least three decades, as Republicans and Democrats draw new political maps designed to ensure that the vast majority of House races are over before the general election starts. With two-thirds of the new boundaries set, mapmakers are on pace to draw fewer than 40 seats -- out of 435 -- that are considered competitive based on the 2020 presidential election results, according to a New York Times analysis of election data. Ten years ago that number was 73.... The sharp decline of competition for House seats is the latest worrying sign of dysfunction in the American political system, which is already struggling with a scourge of misinformation and rising distrust in elections. Lack of competition in general elections can widen the ideological gulf between the parties, leading to hardened stalemates on legislation and voters' alienation from the political process."

In his NYT conversation with Gail Collins, Bret Stephens said this: "Trying to rescue the Republican Party from the moral pit into which it has thrown itself is like trying to revive a corpse by blowing tobacco smoke up its bottom." So Gail said, "Ew." Upon which Bret explained, "Apparently it was a thing in the 18th century. Think of it as the hydroxychloroquine of its day." MB: Still, that's way closer to "legitimate political discourse" than is storming the Capitol & hanging the veep & sundry Congressional leaders, the better to install a fat pretender to the presidency*.

Stephen Collinson of CNN: "The Republican Party is ever closer to the destination to which it has long been headed under ... Donald Trump -- the legitimization of violence as a form of political expression. The Republican National Committee's censure of GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for probing the "legitimate political discourse" of the January 6 insurrection enshrined that principle in the party's policy dogma. The move on Friday underscored the untethered extremism of large sections of one of America's great political parties and the still malignant, dominant influence of the ex-President, who is ready for action with a $122 million war chest. The RNC's declaration coincided with the release of new video by the Department of Justice showing the horrific truth of the insurrection -- a Trump mob, high on his election lies, beating up police officers and vowing to drag lawmakers through the streets."

Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: "Holding court at a political rally in Texas last week..., Donald Trump implied that he -- a wealthy White man who was elected to an office almost exclusively held by White men -- was a victim of racism. His claim referenced what he said were three 'radical vicious, racist prosecutors' -- ... and all of them Black -- who are investigating his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection and examining his business organization's finances. But his comments made him the latest in a line of conservatives claiming, loudly and frequently, that White men are victims of racism.... Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), for example..., complained that President Biden's decision to appoint a Black woman to the Supreme Court was 'offensive' and excludes most Americans. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said that limiting the pool to Black women is 'affirmative racial discrimination.'... Of the 115 Supreme Court justices appointed since it was created in 1789, all but seven have been White men. None has been a Black woman." ~~~

     ~~~ Bobby Calvan of the AP: "'These prosecutors are vicious, horrible people. They're racists and they're very sick, they're mentally sick,' Trump said, before warning his [mostly white] audience: 'In reality, they're not after me. They're after you.'... His diatribe left the clear impression that Trump, who rode the politics of white grievance into the White House, thinks he can't possibly be treated fairly by Black officials. The comments carry the echoes of racist messages that have proliferated in recent years -- that Black people and other minorities are taking power, and that they will exact revenge on white people.... That's among the fears stoking the white supremacy movement, the so-called 'white replacement theory' that people of color will supplant whites in the country's power dynamics and social structure."

Myah Ward of Politico: "... Donald Trump received bad legal advice from advisers who 'were basically snake oil salesmen,' leading him to false conclusions about the power Mike Pence had to overturn the 2020 election results, the former chief of staff to the vice president, Marc Short, said Sunday.... Short said he wasn't sure if Trump's beliefs could be fully attributed to bad advisers or if the president was seeking the bad advice to produce the result he wanted.... Short said he believed President Joe Biden was duly elected, but made sure to include that he feels there are 'significant concerns' about the electoral process during the pandemic." MB: A Florida snake will need a good snake oil.

Thief-in-Chief. Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump improperly removed multiple boxes from the White House that were retrieved by the National Archives and Records Administration last month from his Mar-a-Lago residence because they contained documents and other items that should have been turned over to the agency, according to three people familiar with the visit.... The Presidential Records Act, which requires the preservation of memos, letters, notes, emails, faxes and other written communications related to a president's official duties.... [This] is just the latest example of what records personnel described as chronic difficulties in preserving records in the Trump era -- the most challenging since Richard Nixon sought to block disclosure of official records, including White House tapes." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Where "improperly removed" is a euphemism for "stole" & "raises new concerns" substitutes for "flagrantly broke the law," you know WashPo lawyers were so closely involved in the writing of this report that the lawyers should have shared the byline.

Jessica Lipscomb of the Washington Post: "One day after Joe Rogan apologized for previously using the n-word on his podcast, Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek told employees that, despite mounting controversies, pulling 'The Joe Rogan Experience' from the streaming platform would be a mistake. 'I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer,' Ek wrote Sunday in an internal memo shared with The Washington Post. 'We should have clear lines around content and take action when they are crossed, but canceling voices is a slippery slope.'" The AP's report is here. MB: That must be some ironclad contract Rogan's lawyers negotiated with Spotify.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Monday are here.

Jess McHugh of the Washington Post: "As the coronavirus pandemic creeps into its third year, and the death toll in the United States reaches 900,000, the 1918 influenza pandemic can offer some insight into how this chapter of history might draw to a close. But an 'ending,' when it comes to viruses such as these, is a misleading word. Eventually, experts say, the novel coronavirus is likely to transition from a deadly and disruptive pathogen to a milder, more seasonal nuisance. In the meantime, though, the country's experience a century ago suggests that we could be in for a lot more pain -- especially if we let our guard down."

New Jersey. Tracey Tully of the New York Times: "Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey, a Democrat who has imposed some of the nation's most stringent pandemic-related mandates, will no longer require students and school employees to wear masks, signaling a deliberate shift toward treating the coronavirus as a part of daily life. Mr. Murphy, the vice chairman of the National Governors Association, said on Sunday that he would officially announce the elimination of the mandate on Monday afternoon. The new policy will take effect the second week of March, two years after New York and New Jersey became early epicenters of [the] virus...."

Trump Forces Invade Canada. Rob Gillies of the AP: "The mayor of Canada's capital [Ottawa] declared a state of emergency Sunday and a former U.S. ambassador to Canada said groups in the U.S. must stop interfering in the domestic affairs of America's neighbor as protesters opposed to COVID-19 restrictions continued to paralyze Ottawa's downtown.... Thousands of protesters descended in Ottawa again on the weekend, joining a hundred who remained since last weekend.... The 'freedom truck convoy' has attracted support from many U.S. Republicans including ... Donald Trump, who called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a 'far left lunatic' who has 'destroyed Canada with insane Covid mandates.'" A Washington Post story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Trump's army, defeated after a long battle with U.S. Capitol police & other forces, have moved on to the Canadian capital. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a native of Canada, who once called the rag-tag army "domestic terrorists," said Sunday they were "foreign terrorists now." Sen. Cruz will appear on Tucker Carlson's show Monday to disavow his own remarks.

Beyond the Beltway

Alaska Senate Race. Alison Main of CNN: "Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Sunday they would endorse one another in upcoming elections during a rare bipartisan interview on CNN. "I'm endorsing my dear friend Lisa Murkowski. Alaska could only be so lucky to have her continue to serve them," Manchin told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union," reiterating his previous endorsement of his Republican colleague in her upcoming Alaska Senate race.... Murkowski is in a potentially tough fight, facing a primary challenge this year from Republican Kelly Tshibaka, a former Alaska Department of Administration commissioner who has been endorsed by ... Donald Trump.... Murkowski also said she would endorse Manchin if he chose to run for re-election in 2024."

Colorado. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "The Douglas County, Colo., school board voted 4 to 3 in a special meeting Friday night to fire [district superintendent] Corey Wise without cause, dismissing the superintendent with two years left in his contract. Wise, voted in by the board last April, supported policies on in-school masking and equity that were overturned in the months since by four conservatives who campaigned against critical race theory and other diversity initiatives and were elected to the board.... The vote followed allegations from the board's liberal minority that the conservative members made an ultimatum in secret to Wise for him to resign or be fired through a vote -- actions that would violate Colorado's open-meeting laws. The allegations sparked outrage in the community and resulted in one of the Denver area's largest school systems to close Thursday as 1,000 teachers, district staffers and parents protested the board in support of Wise."

Minnesota. Jay Senter, et al., of the New York Times: "Chanting the name of Amir Locke, a large crowd of protesters marched in frigid weather in downtown Minneapolis on Saturday to voice exasperation and anger over the conduct of law enforcement officers, nearly two years after the murder of George Floyd. Mr. Locke, 22, was fatally shot in an early morning raid at an apartment complex on Wednesday when a SWAT team for the Minneapolis Police Department carried out a search warrant involving a homicide for the police in nearby St. Paul. Mr. Locke was not named as a suspect in the warrant, according to authorities."

Virginia, Where the Governor Is a Bully. Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post: "Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's campaign lashed out at a high school student as well as Democrat Ralph Northam on Twitter this weekend, tweeting out the teen's name and photo after the boy shared a news story about part of the Executive Mansion where enslaved workers once lived. On Saturday afternoon, Ethan Lynne, 17, retweeted a report from the Richmond public radio station VPM suggesting that Youngkin (R) might be scrapping efforts pursued under two previous governors, Northam and Democrat Terry McAuliffe, to highlight the history of enslaved people at the mansion. The report contained an error, which Lynne noted on Twitter hours later, when VPM issued a correction. But by then, 'Team Youngkin' -- the official Twitter account for Youngkin's campaign -- had attacked Lynne, posting a photo of the teen with Northam taken at a Democratic fundraiser in October.... Team Youngkin removed the tweet late Sunday morning but offered no apology.... Youngkin ran for office as a sunny, basketball-loving dad-next-door figure...." A Youngkin campaign spokesman identified Lynne, who says he has volunteered for various Democratic candidates since he was 10 years old, as a "Democrat Party official." A Politico story is here.~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Assuming the revised VPM report was accurate, looks like Youngkin views the efforts to educate the public about slaves working at the mansion as verboten critical race theory stuff that might cause "discomfort" to nice white Virginians.

News Ledes

CNN's live updates of Olympics results & events are here. The New York Times' live updates are here.