The Conversation -- February 8, 2025
Robyn Pennacchia of Wonkette: "It's been a rough ass three weeks, and we could all use some levity. To that point, I bring you an absolutely hilarious and delightful press release from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's union, all about a visit they received from the incels of DOGE. The entire thing straight up disappeared from the site not long after it was published -- coincidentally right around the same time that the wee DOGE employees came back a second time and started screwing with everything again." Pennachhia includes the entire CFPB Union welcome to their newest colleagues, "Jeffrey Epstein confidant Elon Musk" and his "three underlings." Hilarious (and actually informative). Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I have thought for a long time that Wonkette was subscriber-firewalled, but it is not. You are welcome to make a contribution -- and you should -- but we among the churchmice are welcome, too.
We already know that Trump & Musk lied bigly when they claimed that Politico & other media (a/k/a LEFT WING "RAGS") took bribes from "corrupt," "criminal" USAID workers in exchange for writing positive stories about Democrats. In today's thread, Patrick writes a revelatory post about all of the other "interesting" spending Musk & his JV Squad are supposedly finding as they comb through USAID accounts. Based on Patrick's remark, I surmise that all of accusations Team MuskyTrump has made about USAID expenditures are whoppers.
Tom Ellison of McSweeney's publishes an essay by Elon Musk that is very upbeat! "A lot of people doubted that my Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could do what it set out to do. But I am proud to say that in just weeks, we have used the Tesla, SpaceX, and X playbook to make America's collapse much more efficient. It's been obvious for years that the US system was declining with great waste and sluggishness.... For too long, our authoritarianism has been 'creeping.' Our oligarchy: 'quasi.' Our Nazis: 'neo.' But now, Americans will get what they want: a stripped-down, streamlined speed run of 1920s Germany meets Ex Machina." Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Still, I have a feeling Elon wrote before Andy Borowitz broke this news: "In a disastrous setback for Elon Musk, on Friday a coding error by a teenaged member of DOGE resulted in the tech titan's entire fortune being donated to Save the Children."
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Elena Moore of NPR: Donald "Trump says he is 'immediately revoking' former President Joe Biden's security clearances -- access that Biden stripped from Trump four years ago. Former presidents are historically given intelligence briefings after leaving office. In 2021, Biden revoked Trump's access just weeks after being sworn in, arguing Trump exhibited 'erratic behavior.'... Trump criticized the former president's cognitive ability and referenced a report by special counsel Robert Hur that described Biden as having a 'poor memory.'... 'The Hur Report revealed that Biden suffers from "poor memory" and, even in his "prime," could not be trusted with sensitive information,' Trump said on Truth Social. 'I will always protect our National Security -- JOE, YOU'RE FIRED.'" The AP's report is here.
Is it possible to get fired from a job because the boss doesn't like the performance of another person who formerly held that job, and even when that former job-holder did nothing wrong? Well, yes, yes it is. ~~~
~~~ Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "... Donald Trump has fired the head of the National Archives, after complaining for nearly two years about the agency's role in the Justice Department's investigation and eventual prosecution of him over a slew of classified documents kept at his Mar-a-Lago home following his first term. The director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, Sergio Gor, announced in a social media post Friday that Archivist of the United States Colleen Shogan had been removed from her position.... Shogan, 49, was not the archivist at the time the agency was attempting to retrieve boxes of presidential records from Trump's estate in 2021 and 2022. But Trump has viewed NARA with suspicion since the investigation and has openly described its top staff as complicit in efforts to damage him politically."
Time Magazine Trolls Trump. Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: "The president did not look amused. He was meeting the Japanese prime minister for the first time on Friday when a reporter shouted out to ask if he had a 'reaction' to the new cover of Time magazine. The cover, the reporter told Mr. Trump, depicts 'Elon Musk sitting behind your Resolute Desk.' 'No,' Mr. Trump answered pointedly. He looked down at the floor.... A translator related the exchange to the prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, in Japanese.... Mr. Trump waited until the interpreter had finished and then cracked: 'Is Time magazine still in business? I didn't even know that.' Everyone around him laughed gamely, if a bit nervously. It is unlikely that Mr. Trump didn't know whether Time magazine was still in business. His own face had, after all, stared out from its cover only two months ago, when the magazine anointed him its 'Person of the Year.' As part of the rollout of that issue, Mr. Trump rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange in front of a blown-up version of the cover."
How about Big Foot for chair of the American Ballet Theatre? Or ~~~
~~~ Shawn McCreesh, et al., of the New York Times: Donald "Trump announced his intention on Friday to bring the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington more firmly under his control, saying he would dismiss several board members and install himself as chairman.... Mr. Trump said he would 'immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.' He added: 'We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP.'... The Kennedy Center said in a statement on Friday evening that it had not received any communication from the White House regarding the changes to its board and acknowledged that some board members had received termination notices.... During his first term, Mr. Trump broke with tradition by declining to attend the Kennedy Center Honors, the group's hallmark program, after some honorees criticized him. Mr. Trump's plan to remake the board would break with years of precedent at the Kennedy Center, which has long prided itself on a tradition of bipartisanship.... Last month, the Trump administration quietly dissolved the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities...." The Guardian's story is here.
Ted Johnson of Deadline: "Donald Trump and Elon Musk each took to social media [Friday] morning to rage against members of the media who have said or reported something they do not like, calling for the news figures to be fired. On Truth Social, Trump blasted The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson, a columnist, who appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe. Trump wrote, 'Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post is INCOMPETENT! So sad to see him trying to justify the waste, fraud, and corruption at USAID with his pathetic Radical Left SPIN. He should be fired immediately!!!'... Musk targeted Katherine Long, reporter at The Wall Street Journal. On Thursday, Long broke the story about Marko Elez, a staff member at Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, who was linked to a now-deleted social media account that embraced racism and eugenics.
"Musk has called himself a free speech absolutist, and Trump signed an executive order that claimed to be restoring free speech. The order accused Joe Biden's administration of putting 'coercive pressure' on third parties -- social media platforms -- to suppress speech. Trump's order was to 'ensure that no Federal Government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.'" The New York Times' story is here. More on Musk/Elez/Long linked below. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Gosh, according to Google's AI (and if I had bothered to look further, probably also according to some actual legal experts), Trump has violated not only his own executive order but also the First Amendment. Google says, "... a demand by a government official to fire a speaker based solely on their speech is generally considered a violation of the First Amendment, as it constitutes an attempt to suppress speech based on its content, which is heavily protected under the Constitution; even if the official does not directly have the power to fire the speaker, the threat of doing so can still be a form of censorship." But I guess if we asked the Supreme Court about it, we'd find out It's OK If Trump Does It.
Another Setback for the Trump/Musk Presidency*. Michael Crowley & Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to halt for now some elements of its attempt to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development. Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, a 2019 Trump appointee, issued a restraining order pausing the imminent administrative leave of 2,200 U.S.A.I.D. employees and a plan to withdraw nearly all of the agency's overseas workers within 30 days. He also ordered the temporary reinstatement of 500 agency employees already on administrative leave. The judge was ruling on a lawsuit filed on behalf of the largest union representing federal workers and the union that represents Foreign Service officers. Judge Nichols said the unions had established that the employees affected by the leave and withdrawal orders would suffer 'irreparable harm.' Judge Nichols ordered the pause in the administration's plans through next Friday to allow for 'expedited' arguments to determine the legality of the actions, and scheduled another hearing for Wednesday....
"The lawsuit was filed Thursday by Democracy Forward and Public Citizen Litigation Group on behalf of the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees. It notes the central role Elon Musk played in the agency's gutting. Mr. Musk, a Trump ally and donor, recently boasted online of 'feeding U.S.A.I.D. into the wood chipper.'" ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "Funds from the world's richest nation once flowed from the largest global aid agency to an intricate network of small, medium and large organizations that delivered aid: H.I.V. medications for more than 20 million people; nutrition supplements for starving children; support for refugees, orphaned children and women battered by violence. Now, that network is unraveling. The Trump administration froze foreign aid for 90 days and has planned to gut the U.S. Agency for International Development to just 5 percent of its work force, although a federal judge paused the plan on Friday. Given wars and strapped economies, other governments or philanthropies are unlikely to make up for the shortfall, and recipient nations are too hamstrung by debt to manage on their own. Even the largest organizations are unlikely to emerge unscathed. In interviews, more than 25 aid workers, former U.S.A.I.D. employees and officials from aid organizations described a system thrown into mass confusion and chaos."
~~~ Why will these people suffer and die? Because the world's richest man is a fan of (or is adopting as an excuse) blatantly false conspiracy theories to shut down vital aid. ~~~
~~~ Steven Myers & Stuart Thompson of the New York Times look at a few of the right-wing lies, Russian propaganda & loopy conspiracy theories behind the attempts to close USAID: Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. "amplified [a] false video ... from an account that researchers have said spreads Russian disinformation ... as Mr. Musk pressed a crusade to shut down U.S.A.I.D.... The dismantling of the agency has been accompanied by a torrent of anger online from right-wing influencers and accounts that are promoting false claims and conspiratorial thinking.... Mr. Musk ... has used the platform he took over in 2022 as a megaphone for the effort to slash the federal bureaucracy.... The flurry of attacks also underscored once again how much Republican views have increasingly converged with propaganda emanating from the Kremlin or with narratives aligned with its international goals, especially on Mr. Musk's platform.... For Russia and China, the American conservative uproar over U.S.A.I.D. has been met with startled glee." ~~~
~~~ See also Jonathan Chait of the Atlantic, on "How Elon Musk's conspiracy theories became official White House policy. The Trump administration's attempt to eliminate USAID is many things: an unfolding humanitarian nightmare, a rollback of American soft power, the thin end of a wedge meant to reorder the Constitution. But upon closer examination, it is also an outbreak of delusional paranoia that has spread from Elon Musk throughout the Republican Party's rank and file." Linked yesterday in a gift link from laura h. MB: Chait's message is similar to a post I linked yesterday by Christian Paz of Vox, who also elaborated on the theme that "The nation';s governance is increasingly at the whim of online conspiracy theorists."
Once a Criminal, Always a Criminal. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "... It turns out that, if you elect a felon as president of the United States, he will continue to break laws once he's in office.... [Arguably,] the new administration over the course of the last fortnight has violated each of the following laws.... The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act of 2024. The Administrative Leave Act of 2016. The Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014. The Affordable Care Act of 2010. The Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986. The Inspector General Act of 1978. The Privacy Act of 1974. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. The Administrative Procedure Act of 1946. The Public Health Service Act [of] 1944. The Antideficiency Act of 1870....
"And those don't include the ways in which Trump already appears to be in violation of the Constitution: The First Amendment's protections of free speech and association; the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection and due process; the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment; the 14th Amendment's promise of birthright citizenship; Article I's spending, presentment, appropriations and bicameralism clauses; Article II's take-care clause; and the separation of powers generally." Milbank urges Democrats not to give Trump a single vote. MB: That means you, too, John Fetterman. The link above is supposed to be a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~ Marie: As Milbank urges Democrats not to give Trump a single vote, you might want to check your own senators' voting records on Trump's nominees (NYT gift link). Ballotpedia has a similar list here. My senators, Jeanne Shaheen & Maggie Hassan (NH), have among the most abysmal records: they voted "yes" on 8 of 13 nominees. The worst is John Fetterman (Pa.) who voted "no" on only two of the nominees. Shaheen & Hassan will be hearing from me Monday morning.
"In Reality, Trump Got Rolled." Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump has made a habit of ginning up crises and then declaring victory when he 'solves' them. We in the media must stop giving this arsonist credit for his firefighting skills. The past two weeks have been fraught with international emergencies of the president's own making -- either problems that he pretends already plague us, or those he manifests into existence. This is the best way to understand his trade-war brinkmanship with Canada and Mexico.... It turns out the trick to negotiating with Trump is to realize he has no idea what the facts are. Thus, Mexican and Canadian leaders offered Trump, as their supposedly painful 'concessions,' promises to do what they'd already been doing.... The White House press secretary characterized these supposed concessions as 'bending the knee' to the United States. In reality, Trump got rolled.... In stoking these fights, Trump has lost the trust of our friends." (Also linked yesterday.)
Tom Sullivan of Hullabaloo sounds the alarm about Musk's JV squad's taking over highly complex computer systems, developed over decades, which the kidz cannot possibly understand. The the “move fast and break things” modus operandi, as you might suspect, is not made for, say, air traffic control systems. Worth a read. (Also linked yesterday.)
Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The Trump administration has agreed to keep private a list of FBI employees who worked on Jan. 6 cases unless it first provides a two-day head start for the employees to seek a court's intervention. The agreement between the FBI Agents Association and ... Donald Trumps Justice Department deescalates, for now, a showdown between the bureau and DOJ after acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove sought the list. FBI agents sued to prevent its dissemination over fears that Trump appointees intended to publicize the list, potentially putting thousands of FBI officials at risk of reprisal.... The judge's directive bars the entire federal government -- not just the Justice Department -- from making any part of the list public without giving two business days" notice. That would allow attorneys for the FBI personnel to ask the judge for further relief.... Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll initially transmitted a list of 5,000 employees -- identified only by ID numbers -- to DOJ leadership. Bove subsequently criticized him for 'insubordination.' A full roster with names was sent to DOJ on Thursday, Driscoll said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Gerstein & Cheney are straight reporting here, so missing from the report is the Good-Grief factor. It is just shocking that federal employees -- FBI agents -- have to sue for protection against dangerous acts of retribution contemplated under the authority of the President* of the United States. And why is the POTUS* threatening them: because they did their jobs in compliance with the law and at the direction of their superiors.
⭐Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "A federal judge issued an emergency order early Saturday prohibiting Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service from accessing personal and financial data on millions of Americans kept at the Treasury Department, noting the possibility for irreparable harm. U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer's decision also ordered Musk and his team to 'immediately destroy any and all copies of material downloaded from Treasury Department's records and systems, if any.' The conditions are in place until another judge hears arguments on the matter on Feb. 14. The ruling came hours after attorneys general from 19 states sued to stop Musk's team from dealing with sensitive files during its review of federal payment systems -- an unprecedented effort that skirted firm security measures that permitted access to systems only to trained Treasury employees.... [The judge] adopted arguments by the states that Treasury records from the agency's Bureau of Fiscal Services can only legally be accessed by specialized civil servants 'with a need for access to perform their job duties.' Under the order, the Trump administration is prohibited from giving access to political appointees, special government employees or government employees that are not assigned to the Treasury Department. The White House has said that Musk has been designated a special government employee." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times story is here. Politico's story is here. MB: Oh, and a shoutout to Letitia James of New York and the other 18 Democratic state attorneys general who are doing their best to save the nation from a Musk/Trump coup. ~~~
~~~ Marie: It seems to me the order locks out Tom Krause, a Muskie who the Post reports is a brand-new political appointee: ~~~
~~~ ⭐Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Treasury Department is appointing an ally of billionaire Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service to a senior position in the department overseeing the nation's powerful payment systems, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.... Tom Krause, a Silicon Valley executive with ties to DOGE, will become the financial assistant secretary of the Treasury Department, the people said. He replaces David A. Lebryk, who resigned after objecting to Krause's demands to stop payments on foreign aid -- a measure Lebryk resisted as illegal. Krause's position will give him control over the Treasury Department system responsible for disbursing more than $5 trillion in annual payments, including for Social Security, Medicare, tax refunds and thousands of other measures. Musk has demanded on social media that Treasury unilaterally stop sending these payments, accusing the department's career staff of breaking the law. The decision puts Musk's DOGE in a potential position to make sweeping changes to the federal budget, with implications for tens of millions of Americans.... The move has also touched off broad alarm within the Treasury Department....
"Musk and Vice President JD Vance called on social media Friday for [the] reinstatement [of Marko Elez, a 25-year-old racist acolyte of Musk's]. 'I obviously disagree with some of Elez's posts, but I don't think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid's life,' Vance said." MB: "The kid"? Yesterday Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called him a "highly-trained professional." (Also linked yesterday.) Politico's story is here. More on Trump/Musk/Vance/Elez below. ~~~
~~~ Musk Ops = "Unprecedented Insider Threat Risk." Joseph Menn, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Treasury Department was warned in a confidential assessment that U.S. DOGE Service access to a sensitive payment network represented an 'unprecedented insider threat risk,' according to internal correspondence reviewed by The Washington Post. The review, delivered Monday to Treasury officials by a contractor [-- Booz Allen Hamilton --] that runs a threat intelligence center for Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service, said that DOGE's access to the payment network should be 'immediately' suspended. It also urged Treasury to scour the payments system for any changes approved by affiliates of DOGE....
"Late Friday, after this article appeared, Booz Allen said it had 'removed' a subcontractor who wrote the warning and would seek to retract or amend it.... Booz Allen won more than $1 billion in multiyear U.S. government contracts last year. In a separate communication a week ago, a high-ranking career official at Treasury also raised the issue of risks from DOGE access in a memo to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, including the potential breach of information that could lead to exposure of U.S. spies abroad.... The memo included recommendations to mitigate risks, which Bessent approved...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The way to read Booz Allen's impending retraction, IMO, is, "Please, Mr. President Musk, do not cancel our contracts." Anybody with any sense will heed the original threat assessment & dismiss the retraction or amendment as irresponsible, self-serving hoohah.
Marie: I occasionally hear people wishing Trump would just go away, and he may. But be careful what you wish for. Here's Dan Mangan's version of the Vance/Musk/Elez story: ~~~
~~~ Dan Mangan of CNBC: "Vice President JD Vance on Friday called for the rehiring of a DOGE staffer who resigned from a sensitive Trump administration post over the exposure of tweets advocating for racism and eugenics. Vance's call came in a reply to a poll that DOGE chief Elon Musk launched on his social media platform X asking users whether 25-year-old staffer Marko Elez should be rehired to Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency team.... [Musk's 'poll' asked, 'Bring back @DOGE staffer who made inappropriate statements via a now deleted pseudonym?'...] 'Here's my view: I obviously disagree with some of Elez's posts, but I don&'t think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid's life,' Vance wrote in a tweet. 'We shouldn't reward journalists who try to destroy people. Ever,' said Vance, referring to the fact that The Wall Street Journal on Thursday exposed Elez's connection to an X account that made the inflammatory tweets. 'So I say bring him back,' Vance wrote. 'If he's a bad dude or a terrible member of the team, fire him for that.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Jason Abbruzzese of NBC News: "Elon Musk said Friday that he will bring back a DOGE staff member who resigned after it was found that he had previously made racist remarks online. 'To err is human, to forgive divine,' Musk said in a repost to X of a post from Vice President JD Vance that also supported the staffer's reinstatement.... Donald Trump, when asked about Vance's response during a news conference, said, 'I'm with the vice president.'... Gavin Kliger, another DOGE staffer, was reported by Rolling Stone to have previously reposted content from Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist who has dined with ... Donald Trump." (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: So the whole administration is white supremacist: the president*, the other president & the vice president. ~~~
~~~ Isaac Schorr of Mediaite: "Elon Musk ... suggested that The Wall Street Journal reporter responsible for uncovering a DOGE employee's racist tweets should be fired on Friday.... The billionaire asserted that 'She's a disgusting and cruel person.'... After right-wing influencer Mario Nawfal asserted that 'WOKE JOURNALIST KATHERINE LONG WHO DOXXED DOGE STAFFER HAS TIES TO USAID,' Musk declared that 'She should be fired immediately.' The irony of Musk -- a self-proclaimed 'free speech absolutist' -- calling for the head of a journalist who accurately reported on a public official's actions, was not lost on all. '"I'm a free speech absolutist who thinks reporters should be fired for discovering unflattering information about public officials,"' joked Andrew Fleischman on X." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Among the members of Musk's "Unsupervised Play Group"TM Maddow -- characterized by our Treasury Secretary as "highly-trained professionals" and who have gain extraordinary access to sensitive federal computer files -- are not just your standard-issue right-wing extremists & bigots: ~~~
~~~ Matt Novak of Gizmodo: "Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old member of Elon Musk's DOGE, was fired from his previous job at a cybersecurity company for leaking company secrets, according to a new report from Bloomberg News. Coristine was an intern at Arizona-based Path Network in 2022 when he was fired for allegedly sharing information about the company with a competing company. 'Edward has been terminated for leaking internal information to the competitors,' a message from June 2022 about the termination seen by Bloomberg News reads.... Bloomberg reports that Coristine bragged on Discord about retaining his access to the company not long after being dismissed. The teenager reportedly said that he had 'access to every single machine' at Path Network.... Coristine has become the butt of constant jokes online for previously using the name Big Balls online, but the young man's access to America's most sensitive information is no joke. As Wired noted in an article earlier this week, Path Network is known for hiring reformed blackhat hackers. And Coristine is now reportedly rummaging around the networks of federal agencies." Here's more from Brian Krebs.
Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Elon Musk signaled on Friday that he could seek to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as he and his advisers -- deputized by ... Donald Trump to cut costs -- burrowed into the federal watchdog formed to protect Americans from scams and corporate abuse. Hours later, Trump tapped Russell Vought, his newly confirmed budget chief, to serve as the agency's acting director.... A longtime Trump ally, Vought helped write Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint in which another contributor called for the elimination of the bureau. Under the banner of the U.S. DOGE Service, Musk's aides established themselves at the CFPB's Washington headquarters early Friday. Setting up in a conference room, they began their review of the agency, accessing and parsing its sensitive personnel and financial records.... Their activity unnerved bureau officials.... 'CFPB RIP,' [Musk] posted on X [Friday]..., along with an emoji of a tombstone."
⭐David Corn & Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "Last year, Kash Patel, the MAGA provocateur whom Donald Trump has nominated to head the FBI, received $25,000 from a Russia-linked production company to participate in a documentary in which he assailed the FBI and called for closing its headquarters. In November, Tucker Carlson's online network released a six-part series ... that purported to chronicle the familiar MAGA conspiracy theory that a Deep State plotted against Donald Trump.... The fourth episode focused on Patel and his years-long crusade to depict the Trump-Russia scandal -- Moscow's attack on the 2016 election and Donald Trump's efforts to cover up its existence -- as nothing but a total hoax orchestrated by nefarious Democrats and rogue government operatives. In this film -- which credits Patel as an executive producer -- he offers a blistering attack on the FBI. He calls it a 'corrupt' enterprise and claims it has been on the Democratic Party's 'payroll.'...
"The series was produced ... by Global Tree Pictures, a Los Angeles-based firm run by Ukrainian-American-Russian filmmaker Igor Lopatonok.... Lopatonok has ties to Russian propaganda and disinformation efforts. In recent years, he has helped lead a Kremlin-financed effort to persuade Westerners to move to Russia." Read on as Corn & Friedman describe how. "According to Patel's own financial disclosure statement, he pocketed $25,000 from a production company operated by a filmmaker associated with a Kremlin-subsidized propaganda project, a pro-Putin oligarch, and a pro-Kremlin disinformation agent." ~~~
~~~ Gregg Miller, et al., of the Washington Post: "The details surrounding the payment to Patel add to the questions Democratic lawmakers and many veteran national security experts have raised about his nomination. If Patel is confirmed, the agency responsible for defending against Russian espionage operations inside the United States would be led by someone who months earlier had taken money from a perceived ally of the Kremlin. The story goes into detail about Patel & Lopatonok.
Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "The Justice Department's newly formed 'Weaponization Working Group,' announced in a memo this week by Attorney General Pam Bondi, was purportedly intended to root out 'abuses of the criminal justice process' by local and federal law enforcement officers. But a literal reading of its name suggests that the investigative body was also an example of the department itself, now under new leadership, weaponizing its expansive powers to scrutinize and perhaps take action against several officials who, for various reasons, have run afoul of ... [Donald] Trump.... The memo, issued on Wednesday, signaled the most significant first step in deploying the levers of government to carry out Mr. Trump's repeated suggestions to exact retribution against those he perceives to be his enemies....
"The memo ... also included a laundry list of Republican boogeymen and grievances that the working group was intended to address. At the top of that list were three prosecutors who all brought separate cases against Mr. Trump, even though there is no indication that any of them violated the law. They are the former special counsel Jack Smith; Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney; and Letitia James, the New York attorney general.... Ms. Bondi's memo also directed the working group to look into what it described as the 'improper investigative tactics and unethical prosecutions' arising from the Justice Department's sprawling investigation of the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021." (Also linked yesterday.)
Eileen Sullivan, et al., of the New York Times: "Ed Martin was in the mob outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, posting on social media that the violent riot that day was marked by 'faith and joy.' He has often echoed ... [Donald] Trump;s false claims that the 2020 election was rigged, declaring on the night before the Capitol was stormed that 'true Americans' should work until their 'last breath' to 'stop the steal.' He has spent the past four years raising money for -- and in some cases defending -- people charged with joining the mob. And when the House committee that investigated Jan. 6 sent him a subpoena, he never complied, risking criminal charges. Now, Mr. Martin, 54, has been tapped by Mr. Trump to oversee the U.S. attorney's office in Washington where he has been put in charge of dismantling the office's ... sprawling investigation of Jan. 6 that he has energetically opposed.... He is saddled by an array of potential conflicts arising from his efforts to exonerate Jan. 6 defendants.... Mr. Martin has struggled to win the respect of the hundreds of members of his staff.... Some have described introductory meetings where he made clear that he saw his job as acting on behalf of Mr. Trump." Read on. Martin's career is one horror story after another.
Oh, Dear. How to Deal with This Would-Be Assassin/"Patriot"? Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "Edward Kelley wanted revenge after he was arrested and accused of fighting with police and trashing the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He enlisted two friends in a plot to attack the Knoxville, Tennessee, FBI field office that had investigated him. During a meeting with the friends, court records show, he told them, 'With us being such a small group, we will mainly conduct recon missions and assassination missions.' Kelley was convicted of felonies for both the Jan. 6 riot and the December 2022 plot to attack the FBI. But before he could be sentenced in either case..., Donald Trump pardoned nearly all of the 1,600 Jan. 6 defendants. Kelley's Jan. 6 case has been dismissed. But Kelley, 36, remains in jail as federal prosecutors and a judge grapple with a legal question: How far should Trump's pardons extend? The pardon order includes everyone 'convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6.' Kelley says his plan to kill FBI agents was related to the Capitol riot, so he should be released immediately." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I guess we'll just have to wait to see if that nice Ed Martin (or Kash Patel??) decides to dismiss the case. Jackman notes that Martin has already filed a motion to dismiss the D.C. case against Kelley.
Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The Defense Department has begun restricting access to books and learning materials covering subjects from immigration to psychology in its school system serving U.S. military families, citing the Trump administration's crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion programs.... The effort affects curriculums for elementary school ages and up, and follows similar efforts at the U.S. military's elite academies for prospective military officers. The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) serves about 67,000 students spread across 161 schools at military installations around the globe. A list distributed with the memo details specific chapters from books, or entire books, that are no longer allowed during the compliance review." (Also linked yesterday.)
Brian Stelter of CNN: "The Washington Post, CNN, The Hill and The War Zone will lose workspace at the Pentagon this year under an expanded 'media rotation program' instituted by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's press office. The rotation makes room for a number of right-wing and explicitly pro-Trump media outlets that have not had workspace at the Pentagon before. The Friday night announcement was criticized by some journalists as a way to score political points and penalize tough-minded news outlets."
Marie: Jennifer Pahlka, a technology officer during the Obama administration, in a New York Times op-ed, makes some cogent points about the snail's pace of federal government action. For instance, she writes, "The intense process of getting a web form approved is required by a law from 1980 (the Paperwork Reduction Act), written when information was gathered on paper, that Congress has not bothered to update for the modern era (aside from extensive revisions in 1995 that made it more cumbersome, not less)." Noting that Musk's DOGE took over the U.S. Digital Service that she helped found, Pahlka argues that "Democrats should make repealing the Paperwork Reduction Act and other barriers like it -- such as reforming the current hiring process -- a cornerstone of their own deproceduralization agenda, and get off the defensive." But Pahlka does not seem to understand politics or the GOP or MAGA or Trump or Musk. Updating a 1980 paperwork act nearly a half century later certainly is a must-do, but NOT when such well-meaning efforts would aid and abet the Trump/Musk demolition project.
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Gary Robertson of the AP: "A North Carolina trial judge on Friday upheld decisions by election officials to reject protests by the trailing candidate in a very close state Supreme Court election who wants tens of thousands of contested ballots removed from the race tallies. In three one-page orders, Superior Court Judge William Pittman affirmed the December rulings of the State Board of Elections. Democratic Associate Justice Allison Riggs maintains a 734-vote lead over Republican rival Jefferson Griffin after more than 5.5 million ballots were cast and two recounts.... An appeal is likely to reach the state Supreme Court. With Riggs recusing herself from case deliberations, five of the six remaining justices are registered Republicans. Tuesday's 4th Circuit opinion, however, said that Riggs can return to federal court to plead her case on federal elections and voting rights laws should state court action favor Griffin. Riggs' supporters, including top Democrats and voters targeted by Griffin's protests, have said Griffin's effort to overturn the result ... by disenfranchising eligible voters is an outrageous attack on free elections."
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Canada. Trudeau Takes Trump's Threats Seriously. Vjosa Isai of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada on Friday made his first comments in response to ... [Donald] Trump's repeated statements that he wants to annex Canada and make it the 51st state. Mr. Trudeau made clear that he did not regard Mr. Trump's statements as having been in made in jest and believes annexation is something Canada needs to treat as a serious threat. And he believes he knows why Mr. Trump covets Canada. 'I suggest that not only does the Trump administration know how many critical minerals we have, but that may be even why they keep talking about absorbing us and making us the 51st state,' Mr. Trudeau told a gathering of company executives and business leaders in Toronto, according to people in the room who listened to his comments. The news media had been asked to leave the room at the time Mr. Trudeau delivered his comments, but at least two news outlets, The Toronto Star and the CBC, were able to hear them and record them. Mr. Trudeau's office declined to provide details of what the prime minister said. Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Israel, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday in Israel's wars are here: "Hamas released three Israeli hostages on Saturday as part of an exchange for Palestinian prisoners in a staged handover in which the armed group prodded the captives to give short speeches thanking the militants who had held them captive for more than a year. The three men -- Eli Sharabi, 52; Or Levy, 34; and Ohad Ben Ami, 56 -- appeared frail and gaunt. One of them, speaking Hebrew, thanked Hamas fighters for 'protecting' him and called for the Israeli government to end the war in remarks effectively delivered at gunpoint. The scene horrified Israelis and could spur further public pressure on the Israeli government to make more concessions to bring the remaining hostages home.... After the hostage handover, Israel began releasing some of about 180 Palestinian prisoners expected to be freed on Saturday in exchange for the three hostages."
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