The Commentariat -- August 3, 2021
Late Morning Update:
Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo sexually harassed current and former state employees, creating a hostile work environment for women in violation of state and federal law, state Attorney General Letitia James announced Tuesday. James released the results of a months-long investigation and interviews with 179 individuals, including women who accused the governor of misconduct, Cuomo himself and a coterie of his top advisers.... The 165-page report laid out a devastating portrait of behavior by the Democratic governor, substantiating an allegation that Cuomo embraced an executive assistant and reached under her blouse to grab her breast. Investigators said witnesses also described an environment in the governor's office that was abusive and vindictive, in which one of the women who came forward was targeted for retaliation through the release of her personnel file. In all, the investigation found that Cuomo harassed 11 women, including a state trooper whom the governor arranged to be put on his detail." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times report, in the form of live updates, is here. Politico's report is here Marie: This was a civil investigation, and neither the independent investigators nor the Attorney General were charged with contemplating or bringing criminal charges. During the press conference, one of the lead investigators, Anne Clark, said that one woman had filed a complaint with the Albany district attorney.
Meredith McGraw of Politico: "... having whipped his supporters into a frenzy with pledges to overturn the election and promises to support Republican candidates in the midterms, [Donald Trump] is not spending his campaign money on either. A review of election filings from Make America Great Again PAC, Save America PAC, and the Save America Joint Fundraising Committee show that not a single penny was transferred or contributed from those Trump-affiliated entities to GOP candidates or committees involved in the midterm elections. Nor did Trump's various groups write a check to support the audit in Arizona.... He used some of his funds on things like salaries for aides and political advisers, as well as events, travel expenses and fundraising outreach.... He also spent more than $8 million in legal fees paid to various firms and attorneys to advance his attempts to change the results of the 2020 election and defend himself in a second impeachment trial. The one expenditure Trump did make to an outside group was to one in his own orbit: a $1 million contribution to America First Policy Institute, the think tank a handful of his former aides launched when he lost the White House."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday morning that New York City will require proof of vaccination for people participating in indoor activities, including at restaurants, gyms and performances, his latest attempt to spur more vaccinations. The mandate also applies to workers at those places. The policy is similar to mandates issued in France and Italy last month and is believed to be the first of its kind in the United States." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates of Covid10 developments Tuesday are here: "The United States has shipped more than 110 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to over 60 countries across the world, the White House said in a statement Tuesday, calling it a 'major milestone.' 'The United States will be an arsenal of vaccines for the world and is acting with the same urgency to combat the virus abroad as here at home,' the statement said."
"Freedom''s Just Another Word for "White Privilege." Paul Krugman of the New York Times: &"... Florida is in the grip of a Covid surge worse than it experienced before the vaccines.... At every stage of the pandemic [Gov. Ron] DeSantis has effectively acted as an ally of the coronavirus, for example by issuing orders blocking businesses from requiring that their patrons show proof of vaccination and schools from requiring masks. More generally, he has helped create a state of mind in which vaccine skepticism flourishes and refusal to take precautions is normalized.... Above all, he has been playing the liberal-conspiracy-theory card, with fund-raising letters declaring that the 'radical left' is 'coming for your freedom.'... When people on the right talk about 'freedom' what they actually mean is closer to 'defense of privilege' -- specifically the right of certain people (generally white male Christians) to do whatever they want.... As you watch DeSantis invoke 'freedom' to escape responsibility for his Covid catastrophe, remember, when he says it, that word does not mean what you think it means."
Betsy Swan & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "Donald Trump's legal team signaled Monday that it will not immediately try to block testimony from former Justice Department officials who have been called before Congress, potentially clearing a roadblock from multiple investigations touching on the former president's tenure. In a letter to one of six Trump-era DOJ officials whose cooperation is being sought in congressional oversight efforts, former Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), a member of Trump's legal team, suggested that it would not try to block testimony by those six. The letter's unusual verbiage makes Trump's position slightly opaque, but Collins also indicated that the former president's team would try to contest all attempts to secure testimony from ex-DOJ officials if Congress sought cooperation from more than those six."
Jeremy Peters of the New York Times on what to watch for in the two Ohio Congressional primaries.
What This Country Needs Is More Blago. Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: "Former Illinois governor and felon Rod R. Blagojevich (D) on Monday sued the state, demanding that his right to run for state and local elected office -- which was yanked by the Illinois legislature in 2009 -- be restored. 'I'm back from the dead. And it's good to be alive again,' Blagojevich, who served eight years in prison before his 14-year sentence was commuted by ... Donald Trump in 2020, told reporters outside a Chicago federal courthouse. 'It's about the people's right to choose their own leaders.'"
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Eileen Sullivan & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "With the number of migrants crossing the southern border surging and the pandemic proving to be far from over, the Biden administration has decided to leave in place for now the public health rule [made during the Trump administration] that has allowed it to turn away hundreds of thousands of migrants, officials said. The decision, confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday, amounted to a shift by the administration, which had been working on plans to begin lifting the rule this summer, more than a year after it was imposed by the Trump administration. The C.D.C. said allowing noncitizens to come over the border from either Mexico or Canada 'creates a serious danger' of further spread of the coronavirus.... On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union said it would move forward with a lawsuit seeking to force the administration to lift the public health order for migrant families after months of negotiations with the 'ultimate goal' of ending the policy, one of the group's lawyers said."
Ellie Silverman of the Washington Post: "Prominent civil rights leaders the Revs. Jesse L. Jackson and William J. Barber II were among about 200 people arrested outside the U.S. Capitol on Monday while protesting for Congress to end the filibuster, protect voting rights and raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.... On Sunday night, Barber and Rev. Liz Theoharis -- co-chairs of the Poor People's Campaign -- also joined Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) outside the Capitol to protest the expiration of the federal eviction moratorium.... More than 100 state legislators from more than 20 states also converged in Washington on Monday to urge the Senate and President Biden to support voting rights legislation and are scheduled to rally outside the Capitol on Tuesday."
Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump plans to fight the release of his tax returns to Congress, a lawyer for Mr. Trump said on Monday. The comments from the lawyer, Ronald P. Fischetti, came days after a legal opinion was issued by the Justice Department that said that the Treasury Department must turn over six years of the former president's tax returns to congressional investigators." The Hill's story is here.
Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "When legal gurus and former prosecutors discuss a potential criminal investigation and indictment of ... Donald Trump concerning efforts to stage an insurrection, the biggest hurdle they cite is 'intent.'... Former House Intelligence Committee counsel Dan Goldman tells me, 'Trump's statements to [then-acting AG Jeffrey] Rosen, [his deputy Richard] Donoghue -- and likely others -- demonstrate that he knew he did not have true concerns about the legitimacy of the election but he simply wanted to corruptly overturn it without any factual basis.' Goldman explains, 'By asking DOJ to lie so he and the Republican congressmen can use the lie to reverse the outcome of the election, Trump plainly intended to corruptly overturn the election....'... Through his admission in his conversation with the Justice Department attorneys 'that he's very familiar with what is on the Internet, Trump helps prosecutors show that he knew of [the insurrections'] plans when he incited the crowd to 'fight' and go to the Capitol on January 6....'... As constitutional scholar Laurence H. Tribe tells me, 'Everything he said and did after that Dec. 27 conversation [with Rosen], including strong-arming [Georgia Secretary of State Brad] Raffensperger and pressuring [Vice President Mike] Pence, appears in a different and more damning light.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) "suggested in a private conversation Saturday, without evidence, that the FBI knew more about the planning before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot than it has revealed so far, according to a video obtained by The Washington Post.... Right-wing websites first claimed in June that undercover FBI agents or informants were among those who breached the Capitol.... No credible evidence has emerged that the FBI had detailed foreknowledge of a violent assault on the Capitol or that its agents or operatives played a role in fomenting it. No specific claim of FBI involvement has surfaced in court filings made in the hundreds of cases filed against alleged Capitol assailants. But the allegations have persisted in recent weeks as Republican supporters of ... Donald Trump ... have consistently sought to finger other culprits for the breach of the Capitol.... In the recording captured Saturday, Johnson explained his view that 'by and large those folks were peaceful protesters' and that the news media and Democrats are 'painting 75 million Americans who voted for Trump as attached with domestic terrorists.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Johnson seems to base his conspiracy theory on the word of some of the alledged would-be kidnappers/killers of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, whose defense is to blame the FBI for entrapping them. We've had some mighty rotten senators over the years, but I don't think we've ever had one who aligned himself with a gang of backwoods aspiring assassins. Remarkable.
Whitney Wild & Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "A DC police officer who responded to the US Capitol insurrection has died by suicide, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. 'Officer Gunther Hashida, assigned to the Emergency Response Team within the Special Operations Division, was found deceased in his residence on Thursday, July 29,' department spokesperson Kristen Metzger told CNN in a statement. Hashida joined the Metropolitan Police Department in 2003 and responded to the Capitol on January 6, Metzger said.... This is the third known suicide of an officer who responded to the Capitol during the attack, and it is the second known suicide by a DC officer specifically." ~~~
~~~ Joseph Choi & Brooke Seipel of the Hill: "A fourth law enforcement officer who responded to the Capitol on Jan. 6 has died by suicide, the Metropolitan Police Department confirmed to The Hill on Monday. A department spokesman said Officer Kyle DeFreytag, who had been with the department since November 2016, was found dead on July 10. He was 26 years old. Police confirmed DeFreytag was among a host of MPD officers who were sent to the Capitol in response to the riot. WUSA9, a CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C. was the first to report that DeFreytag died by suicide last month."
Rick Hasen says that Jane Mayer's New Yorker article on "The Big Money Behind the Big Lie" is a must-read. Marie: I can't access it, but Hasen has the link. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Nobody's ever seen a number like this! -- Donald Trump, on the GDP, at a rally in October 2020 ~~~
~~~ John Wright of the Raw Story: "Across Trump's four years in office, the nation recorded its lowest overall rate of GDP growth -- at 1.6 percent -- since President Herbert Hoover's administration during the Great Depression, according to a new report from Bloomberg.... Noting that the comparison may seem unfair due to the COVID-19 pandemic, [Bloomberg writer Justin] Fox tried adjusting the GDP numbers backward and forward by one quarter. He also averaged them with another key indicator -- gross domestic income -- and corrected them for population growth, but things didn't get much better for Trump, who remained at or near the bottom of the pack."
Lateshia Beachum of the Washington Post: "Former president Barack Obama will join the sexagenarian club with an outdoor birthday bash on Martha's Vineyard this weekend as the delta variant spreads among the nation's unvaccinated, leading to the renewal of coronavirus safety protocols. The Obamas are asking that guests be vaccinated and get coronavirus tests, news reports say. The birthday party comes shortly after Massachusetts tweaked its face-covering guidelines for indoor settings per federal recommendations and after a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study showed that three-quarters of people infected during a coronavirus outbreak in Provincetown, Mass., charged by the delta variant were fully vaccinated." An Independent story, republished in Yahoo! News, is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Alex Gangitano of the Hill: "President Biden will not be attending former President Obama's 60th birthday party on Martha's Vineyard, a White House official confirmed." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Fox "News," Still a Great Place to Work. Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime: "A Fox News associate producer claimed in a lawsuit on Monday that Judge Andrew Napolitano sexually harassed him and 'numerous young male employees,' allegations that he claims exposes the so-called 'zero tolerance policy' announced by CEO Suzanne Scott as a 'fraud.' Fox disclosed in a statement that the network has 'parted ways' with Napolitano. An associate producer for Larry Kudlow's show, John Fawcett also claims that, in the 'worst-kept secret at Fox News,' the network falsely denied that its president Jay Wallace had an affair with a female subordinate, even though 'numerous female employees' overheard 'romantic phone conversations' she had with him inside a bathroom stall of the women's restroom.... Fawcett's complaint accuses Fox of the same old practices of protecting their stars like Napolitano and Kudlow, the latter of whom Fawcett claims to have overheard using 'ethnic slurs' and 'sexually inappropriate comments about women.'... In the wake of #MeToo scandals that brought down Roger Ailes, Bill Shine, and Bill OReilly, Fox News hired Scott to clean up shop in 2018."
Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Jay Greene of the Washington Post: "Amazon improperly pressured Alabama warehouse workers to vote against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and should hold a new union election, according to recommendations from a National Labor Relations Board hearing officer. The NLRB had not released the filing, but the union and Amazon put out statements confirming the recommendation.... The recommendation stems from the fiercely contested election at a warehouse that ended in April with a resounding defeat for the union.... The recommendation will now move to the NLRB's regional director in Atlanta, which oversaw the election, to issue a ruling.... Amazon, the nation's second-largest private employer behind Walmart, has fiercely opposed efforts by its American warehouse workers to organize."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
Adela Suliman, et al., of the Washington Post: "The United States reached a milestone of getting at least one coronavirus vaccine dose to 70 percent of adults on Monday, almost a month after President Biden's original July 4 goal. The news came as the highly contagious delta variant is driving a coronavirus surge, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday reporting more than 100,000 daily cases. It was a number not seen since February, when vaccines were not widely available." This article is free to nonsubscribers.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Anti-Vax? It Might Cost Ya. Elisabeth Rosenthal & Glenn Kramon in a New York Times op-ed: "In 2020, before there were Covid-19 vaccines, most major private insurers waived patient payments -- from coinsurance to deductibles -- for Covid treatment. But many if not most have allowed that policy to lapse.... Why should patients be kept financially unharmed from what is now a preventable hospitalization, thanks to a vaccine that the government paid for and made available for free?... Insurers could try to do more, like penalizing the unvaccinated. And there is precedent. Already, some policies won't cover treatment that results from what insurance companies deem risky behavior, such as scuba diving and rock climbing."
Max Hauptman, et al., of the Washington Post: "Sen. Lindsey O. Graham announced Monday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus, a development that comes after he recently attended GOP and Senate functions without wearing a mask, including a gathering Saturday aboard Sen. Joe Manchin III's boat. Graham (R-S.C.), who was vaccinated against the coronavirus in December, said he started experiencing flu-like symptoms Saturday evening and saw the House physician Monday morning. He said he will be isolating for the next 10 days.... 'I am very glad I was vaccinated because without vaccination I am certain I would not feel as well as I do now. My symptoms would be far worse,' [Graham tweeted]." CNN's story is here.
Elinor Aspegren & Steven Vargas of USA Today: "Florida on Sunday broke its record for coronavirus hospitalizations a day after the state recorded the most daily COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic in early 2020. More than 10,200 people in Florida are hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to data reported to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. The previous record of 10,170 hospitalizations was from July 23, 2020, more than a half-year before vaccinations started becoming widespread, according to the Florida Hospital Association. Florida leads the nation in per capita hospitalizations for COVID-19." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: This sort of makes sense. At a time of year when people in more northerly climes are going outside for their recreational activities, Floridians tend to stay inside more during the hottest, most humid months of the year.
Beyond the Beltway
Arizona. The Never-ending Fraudit. Joseph Choi of the Hill: "Maricopa County and Dominion Voting Systems have both refused to comply with a subpoena from the GOP-controlled Arizona state Senate demanding that representatives from the county and the company produce materials as part of its audit of the 2020 presidential election."
New York. Luis Ferré-Sadurní, et al., of the New York Times: On Saturday, July 17, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) sat for an 11-hour "interview" by two lawyers whom the state attorney general, Letitia James, deputized. in regard to sexual harassment allegations brought by female state employees. The investigation into the allegations appears to be coming to an end.
Ohio Special Elections Today. Gregory Krieg & Eric Bradner of CNN: "A pair of special election primaries in Ohio on Tuesday will put the spotlight on tough questions facing both parties ahead of next year's midterm elections. In the state's heavily Democratic 11th Congressional District, centered in Cleveland, voters are poised to choose between a progressive champion with close ties to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders [Nina Turner] and a moderate county party leader [Shontel Brown] backed by the national establishment. Down in the GOP-leaning 15th Congressional District, Republicans are looking at a possible replay of last week's special election in Texas, where ... Donald Trump's endorsement wasn't enough to sway the race to his chosen candidate. Trump is, once again, facing a test of his influence -- especially with suburban voters -- and questions over his decision to wade into the race at all."
Way Beyond
Belasrus. Radina Gigova, et al., of CNN: "Vitaly Shishov, the head of a Kiev-based organization helping Belarusians flee abroad, was found dead on Tuesday, a day after he went missing, according to Ukraine's National Police. Shishov, the head of Belarusian House in Ukraine (BDU), 'was found hanged today in one of Kiev's parks, not far from his place of residence,' said police in a statement. 'Vitaly's mobile phone and personal belongings were removed from the scene.' Police have launched a criminal case into the suspected 'premeditated murder and will investigate all possibilities, including the possibility that it was 'murder disguised as suicide,' said the statement." ~~~
~~~ Graham Dunbar of the AP: "Poland granted a visa Monday to a Belarusian Olympic sprinter who said she feared for her safety and that her team's officials tried to force her to fly home, where the autocratic government was accused of diverting a flight to arrest a dissident journalist. An activist group that is helping athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya told The Associated Press that it bought her a plane ticket to Warsaw for the coming days."
Haiti. Anatoly Kurmanaev of the New York Times: "A judge and two court clerks who collected evidence for the investigation into the killing of President Jovenel Moïse said in interviews and in formal complaints to the prosecutors' office that unknown callers and visitors had pressured them to modify witnesses' sworn statements. If they failed to comply, they were told, they could 'expect a bullet in your head.' Their requests for help from the authorities were ignored, said the clerks, Marcelin Valentin and Waky Philostène; and the justice of the peace, Carl Henry Destin, leaving their lives at risk. The threats also further jeopardized an investigation that experts claim had been marred from the start by irregularities -- and which many Haitians fear will not reveal the truth about the killing, despite vows by the country's current leaders to enact swift justice." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Russia. Steven Mufson of the Washington Post: "Scientists have long been worried about what many call 'the methane bomb' -- the potentially catastrophic release of methane from thawing wetlands in Siberia's permafrost. But now a study by three geologists says that a heat wave in 2020 has revealed a surge in methane emissions 'potentially in much higher amounts' from a different source: thawing rock formations in the Arctic permafrost. The difference is that thawing wetlands releases 'microbial' methane from the decay of soil and organic matter, while thawing limestone -- or carbonate rock -- releases hydrocarbons and gas hydrates from reservoirs both below and within the permafrost, making it 'much more dangerous' than past studies have suggested."
Japan. The New York Times' live updates of the Olympics games Tuesday are here: "... on the final day of artistic gymnastics at the Tokyo Games, after skipping all but one competition because of a mental health issue, [Simone Biles] appeared on the balance beam and performed well enough to win the bronze medal. With a complicated routine performed with grace, China's Guan Chenchen won the gold. Tang Xijing, also of China, won the silver."
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