The Commentariat -- March 6, 2020

Late Morning Update:

Peter Baker of the New York Times: “President Trump signed an $8.3 billion emergency spending bill to confront the coronavirus outbreak on Friday morning and decided to visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, reversing his decision hours earlier to skip touring the nerve center of the government's response to the health crisis." Mrs. McC: The reason Trump's visit to the CDC was on-again/off-again was because of a suspected case of coronavirus at the Atlanta center. But then it turned out the person had tested negative for the virus. Everything is going very smoothly. A Politico story is here.

Guardian (from the liveblog @9:50 am ET): "Trump ... reiterated his lack of worry about the spread of [coronavirus] in the US. Perhaps problematic, though is that, to many, he's coming across as casually dismissive and posturing, not measured, and reassuringly presidential. 'You have to be calm,' he said, at the White House this morning before departing to tour the tornado damage in Tennessee and just after signing an $8.3 billion emergency spending bill to deal with the virus. 'It will go away,' he said. 'We have very low numbers [of confirmed cases] compared to many countries throughout the world, our numbers are lower than almost anyone ... deaths, is it 11?' It is. 'In terms of cases, it's very very few because we have been very strong at the borders.'"

Jonathan Chait enjoys ragging Donald Trump & Larry Kudlow for their wildly incorrect claims & prognostications on the coronavirus & its impact on the markets.

Misogynist-in-Chief Says Warren Is "Mean," Lacks Talent. Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Friday shot down questions about whether sexism grounded the presidential campaign of Elizabeth Warren.... 'I think lack of talent was her problem,' Trump told reporters at the White House when asked about the role sexism played in her demise. 'She had a tremendous lack of talent. She was a good debater. She destroyed Mike Bloomberg very quickly like it was nothing. That was easy for her but people don't like her.' But Trump then employed language likely to strike Warren's defenders as an example of the very gender-coded criticism her male opponents have not faced. 'She is a very mean person and people don't like her. People don't want that,' the president argued. Trump then claimed that 'people like a person like me, who is not mean.'"

Yun Li of CNBC @ 11 am ET: "Stocks fell on Friday, extending the deep rout in the previous session, as Wall Street edges closer to the end of a tumultuous trading week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 530 points, or 1.9%, cutting some of its morning losses. The 30-stock benchmark plunged 894 points at one point in the session. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite also pared losses slightly, last down 2.1% and 1.9%, respectively. Airline stocks rebounded sharply after chief economic advisor Larry Kudlow said the White House is considering 'targeted measures' to offset the negative impact on the industry from the coronavirus outbreak. American Airlines jumped 4%, while United Airlines surged more than 7%. Still, investors continued to seek safer assets amid fears that the coronavirus will disrupt global supply chains and tip the economy into a recession. On Friday, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield tumbled below 0.7% for the first time ever. Another haven asset gold is on track for its best week since 2008."

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) will vote to subpoena a former consultant linked to Burisma Holdings, as part of a GOP probe into Hunter Biden and the Ukraine gas company."

Bill & Hillary Decide This Is a Good Time to Remind Voters Democratic Men Treat Women Badly, Get Impeached, Too. Neil Vigdor has the New York Times' story. Dan Merica writes CNN's story. Thanks, Billary! Stay relevant! Whacha got planned for late October?

~~~~~~~~~~

** No Country for Women. Astead Herndon & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told her staff she was dropping out of the presidential race on Thursday, ending a run defined by an avalanche of policy plans that aimed to pull the Democratic Party to the left and appealed to enough voters to make her briefly a front-runner last fall." The NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Every time I get introduced as the most powerful woman, I almost cry, because I wish that were not true. I so wish that we had a woman president of the United States, and we came so close to doing that... I do think there's a certain element of misogyny. -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at her weekly press conference Thursday

This Is Going to Be Painful:

~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: If you think a debate between Joe Biden & Bernie Sanders is going to make Democrats look like the Party of the Future, you have another think coming. Also too, aren't these the two people in America most likely to get the coronavirus and get it bad?

Mara Gay of the New York Times on "why Southern Democrats saved Biden." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Well, maybe. But the guy they saved, well, the last time he ran for president, Joe Biden called Barack Obama "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." The guy they saved engineered the suppression of black women testifying against a sexual harasser who still sits on the Supreme Court because, he said, he had given his word to Southern Republican male senators to keep the women quiet. Southern Democrats "saved" perhaps the most paternalistic, "Southern"-type white man running on the Democratic ticket. It's bad enough this kind of thinking controls the Republican party. Now we know it controls both parties. This country, like its presidential candidates, is corrupt (Trump) and over the hill (Biden-Sanders).

Mistakes Were Made. Matt Yglesias of Vox, who is sympathetic to Bernie Sanders, assesses the Sanders campaign. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Bernie Suddenly Feels the Barack:

Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "The mayor of Burlington, Vt., wrote to a Soviet counterpart in a provincial city that he wanted the United States and the Soviet Union to 'live together as friends.' Unbeknown to him, his desire for friendship meshed with the efforts of Soviet officials in Moscow to 'reveal American imperialism as the main source of the danger of war.'That mayor was Bernie Sanders, and the story of his 1988 trip to the Soviet Union has been told before. But many of the details of Mr. Sanders's Cold War diplomacy before and after that visit -- and the Soviet effort to exploit Mr. Sanders's antiwar agenda for their own propaganda purposes -- have largely remained out of sight. The New York Times examined 89 pages of letters, telegrams and internal Soviet government documents revealing in far greater detail the extent of Mr. Sanders's personal effort to establish ties between his city and a country many Americans then still considered an enemy despite the reforms being initiated at the time under Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet general secretary."

On the teevee, they're calling the Democratic primary "officially a two-man race." But Tulsi Gabbard!

Maya King of Politico: "Just 36 hours after suspending his campaign for president, Michael Bloomberg is out with a new digital advertisement.... On the heels of announcing plans to start a new organization to elect Democrats in battleground states, Bloomberg released a digital ad targeting Donald Trump. The ad ... teases the billionaire's future plans to throw his money behind an ad campaign aimed at defeating president in November."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Mitt Romney ... could throw another wrench in President Trump's and the GOP's efforts to dig up dirt on the Bidens.... Romney indicated Thursday that he is skeptical about the need for the Senate Homeland Security Committee to issue a subpoena related to Hunter Biden's work for Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian energy company. 'I would prefer that investigations are done by an independent, nonpolitical body,' Romney told The Post's Mike DeBonis. 'There's no question the appearance is not good.' Romney also told reporters the effort 'appears political' and said, 'I think people are tired of these kind of political investigations.'... Republicans have a 8-to-6 majority [on the committee], meaning Romney's vote, when combined with the six Democrats on the committee, would deadlock it at 7-7 and prevent the subpoena from being issued. (Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman hasn't committed to voting for the subpoena yet, either.)" Politico's story is here.

>Craig Timberg & Tara Bahrampour of the Washington Post: "Facebook removed Trump campaign ads on Thursday for violating its policy against misleading references to the U.S. census amid criticism that it has given politicians too much leeway to misinform users on its platform. The Trump ads urged Facebook users to 'take the official 2020 Congressional District Census today,' but despite the look and language of the ad, they were not related to the once-a-decade national count of U.S. citizens happening this year. Instead, the ads linked to a survey on the 'Certified Website of President Donald J. Trump,' which collected information and requested a donation. Facebook initially said it would permit the ads, ruling that they were clearly not a part of the U.S. census.... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) sharply criticized Facebook's decision [to allow the fake census ads] in a news conference Thursday.... Facebook reversed its position hours later, saying that the ads indeed violated its policy against 'misrepresentation of the dates, locations, times and methods for census participation.'" Politico's story is here.

New York Times: "The stock market has swung wildly in the past week as investors have struggled to get a bead on the economic damage the fast spreading coronavirus might cause, as the number of cases continues to rise and companies step up measures to contain them. That jarring volatility continued on Thursday, with the S&P 500 falling more than 3 percent. The index has now climbed or fallen more than 3 percent on six different days in the past two weeks.... Shares of airlines plunged and industrial, financial and energy stocks also fell sharply. Worry about long-term growth also pushed the yield on 10-year United States Treasury notes to a new low. Because of their relative safety, government bonds are in high demand during bouts of panic over the economy.... News about the coronavirus's spread has been relentless: A cruise ship being held off the coast of San Francisco has suspected links to two coronavirus cases, one of them fatal. The governor of California declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, and 18 states have infected patients. Around the world, more than 90,000 cases and 3,000 deaths have been reported." CNBC's report is here.

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate on Thursday easily passed more than $8 billion in funding to fight the coronavirus, sending the measure to President Trump, who is expected to sign it. Senators voted 96-1 on the bill, which was finalized and cleared the House the day before.... [Sen. Rand] Paul [R-Ky.] was the lone senator to vote against the final measure Thursday." Mrs. McC: Of course.

Kevin Liptak of CNN: "Vice President Mike Pence ... acknowledged Thursday there was a shortfall in the number of [coronavirus] testing kits required to meet demand.... It was the latest in a confusing string of statements from the administration about the availability of coronavirus tests. The issue has emerged as a key flaw in the Trump administration's response, which has frustrated doctors and state health officials who want to identify patients with coronavirus to isolate them and prevent the virus's spread."

U.S. Is Breeding Coronavirus on Cruise Ship. Reed Albergotti, et al., of the Washington Post: "Military helicopters delivered testing kits Thursday to a cruise ship being held off the coast of California, as officials in Washington faced angry questions about whether the vessel is set to become the latest breeding ground for the deadly novel coronavirus.... Public health officials ... were investigating a cluster of coronavirus cases among the roughly 2,500 people who had taken an earlier cruise on the same ship. One of those passengers, a 71-year-old man, has since died of covid-19.... At a hearing on Capitol Hill about the federal response to the novel coronavirus, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) asked [Ken Cuccinelli, who testified at the hearing,] why the passengers on the Grand Princess were being held offshore in a closed environment, where the virus could spread.... Cuccinelli defended the decision, saying there is not enough capacity on land to quarantine large numbers of passengers."

Anne Flaherty of ABC News: "... Donald Trump is falsely blaming the Obama administration for the slow rollout of U.S. tests for the new coronavirus, ignoring his administration's own fumbles in responding to the health crisis and mischaracterizing Obama-era policies.... 'The Obama administration made a decision on testing that turned out to be very detrimental to what we're doing,' Trump said Wednesday. 'And we undid that decision a few days ago so that the testing can take place in a much more accurate and rapid fashion.' Under Obama, the Food and Drug Administration exercised only some oversight of large commercial test kits shipped across state lines. But there was little to no check done on single medical labs, former officials said.... Last Saturday, the FDA invoked a 2004 law -- passed well before Trump or Obama took office -- to specifically authorize coronavirus tests to be developed in private laboratories like hospitals and given to patients without prior federal approval.... This power was something Health Secretary Alex Azar and the FDA have had since coronavirus became a global health crisis in late January.... Standing next to Trump, Robert Redfield -- head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- backed up Trump's mischaracterization of Obama-era policy when it came to medical tests.... The Trump administration has faced sharp questions by state governors and Democratic lawmakers for the lack of tests available to doctors and hospitals." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Assuming Joe Biden becomes the Democratic presidential nominee, we'll hear from Trump & Co. that Biden was directly responsible for preventing coronavirus testing.

Farah Stockman & Mike Baker of the New York Times: "Nurses in two states who are responding to the onslaught of novel coronavirus cases said in interviews this week that they lack protective equipment, training on how to use whatever equipment they have been given, and clear protocols to keep themselves and their patients safe. Some nurses in the two states, Washington State and California, said they have been asked to watch online videos -- rather than have in-person training -- about how to spot the virus and how to put on and take off hazmat suits. Others said they have had to beg for N95 masks, which are thicker and block out much smaller particles than surgical masks do. And still others said they have faced ridicule when expressing concerns about catching the highly contagious virus." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dan Diamond, et al., of Politico: "There [was] a notable omission when Vice President Mike Pence visit[ed] Washington state Thursday as part of the Trump administration's coronavirus response: health Secretary Alex Azar. The White House on Wednesday also benched Azar from a coronavirus task force press briefing, the latest sign of diminished standing for an official who was the face of the U.S. response to the disease just a week ago. Four of Azar's deputies -- including Medicare chief Seema Verma and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Steve Hahn, who were both added to the task force after Pence took over the federal response -- joined the vice president and other officials at the White House on Wednesday.... Pence asked Azar not to attend Wednesday's press conference, said two individuals with knowledge of events."

Kathleen Pender of the San Francisco Chronicle: "California on Thursday became the latest state to order insurance companies to waive out-of-pocket costs for coronavirus testing.... Washington's state insurance commissioner issued a similar order on Thursday, as did New York regulators on Monday." --s

Vera Bergengruen & W.J. Hennigan of Time: "Since January, epidemiologists, former U.S. public health officials and experts have been warning, publicly and privately, that the administration's insistence that containment was -- and should remain -- the primary way to confront an emerging infectious disease was a grave mistake.... Experts say the U.S. response is now likely weeks -- if not months -- behind schedule.... The problem, they say, is that once it was clear that the [corona]virus was within our borders officials did not pivot quickly enough to changing circumstances. And those new circumstances, experts told Time, were entirely predictable." --s

Donald Trump Is a Health Hazard. Toluse Olorunnipa of the Washington Post: "As leading public health experts from across the government have tried to provide clear and consistent information about the deadly coronavirus, they have found their messages undercut, drowned out and muddled by President Trump's push to downplay the outbreak with a mix of optimism, bombast and pseudoscience. Speaking almost daily to the public about an outbreak that has spread across states and rocked the markets, Trump has promoted his opinions and at times contradicted the public health experts tasked with keeping Americans safe. The president has repeatedly misstated the number of Americans who have tested positive for the virus and claimed it would 'miraculously' disappear in the spring. He has given a false timeline for the development of a vaccine, publicly questioned whether vaccinations for the flu could be used to treat the novel coronavirus and dismissed the World Health Organization's coronavirus death rate estimate, substituting a much lower figure and citing a 'hunch.'... The president's running commentary about the coronavirus, untethered to script or convention, indicates that the Trump administration's greatest obstacle to sending a clear message about the outbreak may be Trump himself."

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "So far, Donald Trump's response to coronavirus combines the worst features of autocracy and of democracy, mixing opacity and propaganda with leaderless inefficiency. From the beginning, Trump minimized the scale of the crisis, portraying it as a purely foreign threat that could be addressed by closing borders.... Within the administration, there's strong pressure not to contradict Trump's line.... It seems as if in the midst of this burgeoning crisis, we're seeing a coordinated, whole-of-government campaign to protect the president from being contradicted.... But if this administration is incapable of the basic honesty one expects from officials in a democracy, it also can't pull off autocratic, top-down coordination.... Trump spent much of Thursday afternoon congratulating himself on Twitter for his coronavirus response."

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "A top State Department official said Thursday that Russia is behind 'swarms of online, false personas' that sought to spread misinformation about coronavirus on social-media sites, stressing the 'entire ecosystem of Russian disinformation is at play.' The latest warning came from Lea Gabrielle, the coordinator of the government's Global Engagement Center, in testimony to Congress.... The Kremlin, in particular, 'seeks to weaken its adversaries by manipulating the information environment in nefarious ways, by polarizing political conversations, and attempting to destroy the public's faith in good governance, independent media, and democratic principles,' she said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As I was posting the link above, I was listening to an MSNBC report about Trump's spreading misinformation about coronavirus. In addition, Romm writes that the State Department has added to the confusion of who's behind the misinformation inasmuch as "the State Department report on coronavirus ... did not mention Russia." So I guess I'd put it down to Trump, Trump toadies & Russia. It's one of those conspiracies where the actors don't necessarily speak to each another but reinforce one another as they work toward the same end.

David Fahrenthold, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump's company charged the Secret Service $157,000 more than was previously known -- billing taxpayers for rooms at his clubs at rates far higher than his company has claimed, according to a new trove of receipts and billing documents released by the Secret Service. Many of the new receipts were obtained by the watchdog group Public Citizen, which spent three years battling the Secret Service over a public-records request from January 2017. When added to dozens of charges already reported by The Washington Post, the new documents show that Trump's company has charged the Secret Service more than $628,000 since he took office in 2017. The payments show Trump has an unprecedented -- and still partially hidden -- business relationship with his own government. The full scope of that relationship is still unknown because the publicly available records are largely from 2017 and 2018, leaving huge gaps in the data."

AP: "... Jared Kushner has sold his stake in a company investing in Opportunity Zone projects offering tax breaks he had pushed for in Washington, sparking criticism that he was benefiting from his White House role. A filing at the Office of Government Ethics released Monday shows that Kushner received permission to defer capital gains taxes on the sale of his stake in Cadre, a digital platform for smaller investors in commercial properties. Kushner's holding in the private Cadre was worth between $25 million and $50 million.... Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, pushed for the Opportunity Zone tax breaks to be included in Trump's 2017 tax overhaul.... Kushner also has stakes in more than a dozen properties in Opportunity Zones owned by his family firm, Kushner Cos. It is not clear if the company has taken advantage of the breaks." --s

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Thursday sharply criticized Attorney General William P. Barr's handling of the report by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, saying that Mr. Barr put forward a 'distorted' and 'misleading' account of its findings and lacked credibility on the topic. Judge Reggie B. Walton said Mr. Barr could not be trusted and cited 'inconsistencies' between his statements about the report when it was secret and its actual contents that turned out to be more damaging to President Trump. Judge Walton said Mr. Barr's 'lack of candor' called 'into question Attorney General Barr's credibility and, in turn, the department's' assurances to the court. The judge ordered the Justice Department to privately show him the portions of the report that were censored in the public version so he could independently verify the justifications. The ruling came in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking a full-text version of the report." Walton is a Bush II appointee. The Hill has a story here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Judge Walton didn't say anything we don't already know, but it is astounding to hear a federal judge effectively call the attorney general a liar in a court proceeding. ~~~

~~~ Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: "How often does a conservative federal judge call a conservative attorney general a liar whose word can't be trusted? Not very often. But Barr is a special case."

Barr Aids Trump's Cruel Immigration Policies. Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "Attorney General William P. Barr quietly intervened in an immigration asylum case last week when he issued a decision that narrowed the definition of torture for asylum seekers who invoke it as a grounds for staying in the United States. Barr used a process known as 'certification,' a historically little-used power of the attorney general that allows him to overrule decisions made by the Board of Immigration Appeals and set binding precedent. Immigration lawyers and judges say the Trump administration is using the power with greater frequency -- to the point of abuse -- as it seeks to severely limit the number of immigrants who can remain in the United States. The administration is also using it as a check on immigration judges whose decisions don't align with the administration's immigration agenda, experts say." Mrs. McC: IOW, Barr is going above & beyond -- even to the point of facilitating torture -- to help Trump punish asylum seekers. Bill Barr is a horrible human being.

Debbie Cenziper of the Washington Post: "Seventy-five years after the end of the war, a U.S. immigration judge in Memphis has ordered the deportation of a longtime Tennessee resident and German citizen who acknowledged having served as a guard at a concentration camp in Germany and is still receiving a pension for work that includes his wartime service. An index card found submerged in a sunken ship in the Baltic Sea helped federal prosecutors prove their case.... Officials at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum also supported the investigation.... According to the removal order, announced by the Justice Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday, Friedrich Karl Berger served at a subcamp of the Neuengamme concentration camp system, near Hamburg."

Tierney Sneed of TPM: "The apparent refusal of President Trump's Justice Department to engage in any meaningful, public enforcement of the Voting Rights Act has taken Republicans' general hostility to the law to a whole new level. The DOJ has not filed a single new Voting Rights Act case since the Trump administration took over -- setting it apart from the last several administrations, Republican and Democratic.... The current dry spell in DOJ voting rights enforcement is unprecedented, according to the DOJ's own public record and what former voting section officials told TPM.... The Supreme Court's 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder dramatically altered the legal landscape around the VRA in ways that make the current lack of DOJ enforcement even more striking...." --s

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Under fire from President Trump and Republican senators who accused him of threatening two conservative Supreme Court justices, Senator Chuck Schumer said on Thursday he 'should not have used the words' he did on Wednesday in a fiery speech warning of the consequences of their rulings. But Mr. Schumer, who chalked up his sharp tongue to his Brooklyn upbringing, refused to apologize for the spirit of his remarks, saying that Republicans would pay a political price if the court struck down abortion rights. 'They didn't come out the way I intended,' Mr. Schumer said of his remarks a day before that Justices Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh ... would 'pay the price' if a contentious Louisiana case the court was hearing ended up reducing access to abortion in the state and across the country.... Mr. Schumer ... said those remarks were not meant as a threat of bodily harm against the justices, but instead as a warning to Mr. Trump and the Republicans who supported his conservative nominees that they could suffer a political backlash for the decisions the justices made. 'And Republicans who are busy manufacturing outrage over these comments know that, too,' Mr. Schumer added." An NBC News story is here.

Jan Ransom of the New York Times: "Harvey Weinstein underwent a heart procedure at a New York City hospital on Wednesday evening and the next day was transferred to a jail on Rikers Island for inmates needing special protection, his spokesman said. Mr. Weinstein, the once powerful film producer, was convicted last week of rape and criminal sexual assault after a trial in Manhattan that many saw as a milestone in the #MeToo movement. A judge ordered him held in jail until his sentencing next week. But hours after the verdict, Mr. Weinstein, 67, experienced extremely high blood pressure and heart palpitations, his lawyers said. He was taken directly from State Supreme Court in Manhattan to Bellevue Hospital Center, where he was treated for 10 days in a ward for inmates. Mr. Weinstein had a stent implanted to alleviate a blockage, his spokesman, Juda Engelmayer, said."

Shannon Vavra of Cyberscoop: "U.S. government officials have warned that the Chinese technology firm [Huawei] could be used as a tool for government surveillance or other intelligence operations, specifically via backdoors in its mobile networks.... In order to answer to each and every accusation, Huawei sent two of its top cybersecurity officials -- Chief Security Officer Andy Purdy and Vice President of Risk Management and Partner Relations Tim Danks -- to the RSA Conference in San Francisco last week. In an interview with CyberScoop..., the executives indicated they don't really have visibility into how their technology is used." --s

Beyond the Beltway

Another Legal American Murder. Alabama. Kenya Evelyn of the Guardian: "Alabama has executed Nathaniel Woods, a prisoner convicted of capital murder for the 2004 killings of three police officers, despite a national outcry over his case. The execution by lethal injection came after the US supreme court issued a temporary stay to consider last-minute appeals and then denied the inmate's petitions. Alabama governor Kay Ivey denied a request for clemency.... The execution proceeded despite the co-defendant, Kerry Spencer, supporting Woods' innocence.... Woods' supporters also point to a joint investigation between The Appeal and the Alabama Media Group that uncovered several accusations of police misconduct involving Woods' case." The New York Times story is here.

Way Beyond

Azerbaijan/U.K. Edward Robinson, et al. of Bloomberg: "Jahangir Hajiyev..., then chairman of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, had used a chain of trusts and shell companies stretching from Cyprus to the Channel Islands to move tens of millions of dollars out of the state-owned lender, according to allegations in U.K. court filings.... Hajiyev [was] charged in Azerbaijan ... [and] was sentenced to 15 years in prison.... The U.K.'s National Crime Agency obtained court orders in 2018 freezing some of his assets.... The authorities have said they hope the case will be a blueprint for curbing the estimated 100 billion pounds ($128 billion) in dirty money that worms its way into Britain every year.... The trove of documents reviewed by Bloomberg provides a rare look at the inner workings of two dozen shell companies that moved Hajiyev's illicit wealth around the world." --s (Firewalled.)

News Lede

The New York Times' live updates of developments in the coronavirus epidemic are here. "... around the world, as the number of cases neared 100,000, governments have displayed signs of paralysis, obfuscation and a desire to protect their own interests, even as death tolls passed 3,200 and global capitals were so threatened by infection that politicians and health officials tested positive for the illness. In the United States, a survey of nurses found that only 29 percent had a plan to isolate potentially infected patients. Across the nation, as the number of new cases passed 200, public health labs anxiously awaited diagnostic kits, which will allow for a fuller sense of the scale of the crisis."

The Commentariat -- March 5, 2020

Afternoon Update:

** No Country for Women. Astead Herndon & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told her staff she was dropping out of the presidential race on Thursday, ending a run defined by an avalanche of policy plans that aimed to pull the Democratic Party to the left and appealed to enough voters to make her briefly a front-runner last fall." The NBC News story is here.

Every time I get introduced as the most powerful woman, I almost cry, because I wish that were not true. I so wish that we had a woman president of the United States, and we came so close to doing that... I do think there's a certain element of misogyny. -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at her weekly press conference Thursday

This Is Going to Be Painful:

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If you think a debate between Joe Biden & Bernie Sanders is going to make Democrats look like the Party of the Future, you have another think coming. Also too, aren't these the two people in America most likely to get the coronavirus and get it bad?

Mistakes Were Made. Matt Yglesias of Vox, who is sympathetic to Bernie Sanders, assesses the Sanders campaign. ~~~

~~~ Bernie Suddenly Feels the Barack:

On the teevee, they're calling this "officially a two-man race." But Tulsi Gabbard!

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate on Thursday easily passed more than $8 billion in funding to fight the coronavirus, sending the measure to President Trump, who is expected to sign it. Senators voted 96-1 on the bill, which was finalized and cleared the House the day before.... [Sen. Rand] Paul [R-Ky.] was the lone senator to vote against the final measure Thursday." Mrs. McC: Of course.

Farah Stockman & Mike Baker of the New York Times: "Nurses in two states who are responding to the onslaught of novel coronavirus cases said in interviews this week that they lack protective equipment, training on how to use whatever equipment they have been given, and clear protocols to keep themselves and their patients safe. Some nurses in the two states, Washington State and California, said they have been asked to watch online videos -- rather than have in-person training -- about how to spot the virus and how to put on and take off hazmat suits. Others said they have had to beg for N95 masks, which are thicker and block out much smaller particles than surgical masks do. And still others said they have faced ridicule when expressing concerns about catching the highly contagious virus."

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "A top State Department official said Thursday that Russia is behind 'swarms of online, false personas' that sought to spread misinformation about coronavirus on social-media sites, stressing the 'entire ecosystem of Russian disinformation is at play.' The latest warning came from Lea Gabrielle, the coordinator of the government's Global Engagement Center, in testimony to Congress.... The Kremlin, in particular, 'seeks to weaken its adversaries by manipulating the information environment in nefarious ways, by polarizing political conversations, and attempting to destroy the public's faith in good governance, independent media, and democratic principles,' she said." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As I was posting this link, I was listening to an MSNBC report about Trump's spreading misinformation about coronavirus. In addition, Romm writes that the State Department has added to the confusion of who's behind the misinformation inasmuch as "the State Department report on coronavirus ... did not mention Russia." So I guess I'd put it down to Trump, Trump toadies & Russia. It's one of those conspiracies where the actors don't necessarily speak to each another but reinforce one another as they work toward the same end.

~~~~~~~~~~

Patricia Mazzei, et al., of the New York Times: "Michael R. Bloomberg dropped out of the presidential race on Wednesday, just over three months after he began a campaign that was fueled by his vast fortune and quickly grew to a sprawling political operation but failed to win the groundswell of moderate support he had sought. Mr. Bloomberg endorsed Joseph R. Biden Jr., saying that he had the best shot to beat President Trump.... In an unprecedented effort to self-finance a presidential campaign -- which some rivals derided as an attempt to buy the White House -- Mr. Bloomberg's bid cost him more than half a billion dollars in advertising alone. He also spent lavishly on robust on-the-ground operations, with more than 200 field offices across the country and thousands of paid staff. His operation dwarfed those of Democratic rivals who ultimately won states in which he had installed many dozens of employees and spent heavily on radio, television and direct mail ads." A Politico story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Do not mess with Jill Biden's husband. She will slap you down:

     ~~~ Here's a WashPo story on Jill versus the Vegans. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Amber Jamieson of BuzzFeed News: "A vegan protester storming the stage of Joe Biden's victory speech on Super Tuesday got tackled by two unlikely linebackers: the candidate's wife, Jill Biden, and his senior adviser, Symone Sanders.... A security guard stopped the protester (Biden does not have Secret Service protection) and pulled her away as she chanted 'let dairy die.' Jill Biden immediately blocked her husband with her body. But then a second protester stormed the stage, and the women of the Biden campaign fought back.... Jill physically grabbed the protester by the wrists and pushed her away. Sanders ... ran after the protester, tackling her and dragging her offstage.... Another angle showed traveling press secretary Remi Yamamoto also helping Sanders drag the protester offstage."

~~~ Jeff Zeleny, et al., of CNN: "The Secret Service is scrambling plans to provide protection to presidential candidates after protesters stormed the stage of former Vice President Joe Biden's victory rally in Los Angeles late Tuesday in a harrowing scene. According to a Secret Service official, the agency is reconsidering the timetable for rolling out campaign bodyguards after the Los Angeles incident, which saw Biden's wife, a private security guard and several senior campaign staffers rush in to defend the candidate. On Wednesday, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee [Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.)] urged Chad Wolf, the acting Homeland Security secretary, and four congressional leaders who compose the Candidate Protection Advisory Committee to begin considering dispatching the Secret Service protection, citing the protesters Tuesday night.... A candidate must typically ask for the protection to initiate an approval process that includes sign-off from congressional leaders and the Homeland Security chief, although federal guidelines allow the process to begin absent a candidate's request. As of Tuesday, the Biden campaign had not yet asked the government for the security, a law enforcement official said."

Stephen Colbert noticed what bothered me, Mrs. Bea McCrabbie, the most about Biden's victory speech: he can't speak any more clearly than Trump can (not to mention, he mixed up his wife & his sister). This is going to be painful:

Fred Imbert, et al., of CNBC: "Stocks surged on Wednesday as major victories from former Vice President Joe Biden during Super Tuesday sparked a massive rally within the health-care sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 1,173.45 points higher, or 4.5%, to 27,090.86. The S&P 500 jumped 4.2% to 3,130.12, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 3.8% to 9,018.09. The Dow posted its second-highest point gain ever, and it was the second time in three days that the 30-stock average swung 1,000 points or higher."

Charles Pierce: "It's plain now that, for the moment, anyway, a large part of the Democratic primary electorate is hungering for a president that it can ignore for four or five days a week." Pierce cites a speech Warren Harding gave a hundred years ago (and does grant "that the Harding precedent doesn't bode well for a possible Biden presidency):

America's present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not experiment, but equipoise; not submergence in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality. (Also linked yesterday.)

How Do You Spell "Benghazi"? B-U-R-I-S-M-A. ~~~

~~~ Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump signaled Wednesday that he would make the dealings of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter in Ukraine a 'major issue' during the presidential campaign should Biden win the Democratic nomination. 'That will be a major issue in the campaign. I will bring that up all the time because I don't see any way out,' Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview that aired Wednesday night. 'I don't believe they'll be able to answer those questions.'... Trump and his allies have amplified discredited allegations that Biden, as vice president, pushed for the removal of a Ukrainian prosecutor in order to help shield his son, who at the time was working for a Ukrainian gas company Burisma, from scrutiny." ~~~

~~~ Benghaaazi! 2.0, Ctd. Andrew Desiderio, et al., of Politico: "Just hours after Joe Biden surged to the top of the Democratic presidential pack, Senate Republicans announced a new phase of their investigation targeting the former vice president and his son Hunter. Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told reporters on Wednesday that he is likely to release an interim report within one to two months on his panel's probe of Hunter Biden's ties to a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma.... Johnson's current posture marks a sharp departure from his position in 2016 when he and a bipartisan team of senators signed a letter supporting Biden's efforts in Ukraine to crack down on corrupt prosecutor Viktor Shokin.... Johnson insisted that the timing of his probe has nothing to do with the election calendar.... 'I am concerned to see that in the Senate there seems to be a renewed interest in furthering these bogus Russian narratives through the use of their investigative powers,' said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). 'I just think it's so deeply destructive to be effectively working in a concert with Russian propaganda artists.'"

Sydney Ember of the New York Times (from Wednesday's live updates): "... Bernie Sanders delivered a striking assessment of his campaign, admitting he was 'disappointed' with the results and acknowledging that he was falling short in inspiring young people to vote.... On the subject of young people, he said: 'Have we been as successful as I would hope in bringing young people in? And the answer is no.' Mr. Sanders said he had spoken with Elizabeth Warren, his chief ideological rival, several hours ago by phone and that she told him she was 'assessing her campaign.'... He declined to call on Ms. Warren to drop out, and pronounced himself 'disgusted' by the vitriol directed at her by some of his supporters." ~~~

~~~ German Lopez of Vox: "When Sen. Bernie Sanders talks about his presidential campaign, he emphasizes that it's a movement -- the start of a 'political revolution,' which he says will drive typically apathetic voters, particularly the young, to turn out and vote. But if Super Tuesday was anything to go by, Sanders's political revolution isn't happening -- and it's former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign, or perhaps general opposition to ... Donald Trump, that seems to be driving turnout." (Also linked yesterday.)

Annie Linskey & Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Top surrogates and allies of Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are discussing ways for their two camps to unite and push a common liberal agenda, with the expectation that Warren is likely to leave the presidential campaign soon, according to two people familiar with the talks. The conversations, which are in an early phase, largely involve members of Congress who back Sanders (I-Vt.) reaching out to those in Warren's camp to explore the prospect that Warren (D-Mass.) might endorse him. They are also appealing to Warren's supporters to switch their allegiance to Sanders, according two people with direct knowledge of the conversations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss delicate discussions that are supposed to be confidential." ~~~

~~~ Astead Herndon & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Senator Elizabeth Warren faced an uncertain path forward on Wednesday after a Super Tuesday performance that fell below her campaign's already lowered expectations, with her chances at the Democratic presidential nomination now a mathematical anomaly. Ms. Warren finished third in her home state, Massachusetts, and failed to crack the top two in any contest, leaving any possibility that she could win the nomination reliant on party chaos and not her own electoral prowess. Her campaign manager, Roger Lau, wrote in an email to staff members on Wednesday morning that Ms. Warren was assessing her options." ~~~

~~~ Jessica Valenti in Medium: "It's enough to make me feel, well, despairing: that we had the candidate of a lifetime -- someone with the energy, vision, and follow-through to lead the country out of our nightmarish era -- and that the media and voters basically outright erased and ignored her. Pundits will all have their theories; fears over 'electability' will likely be their #1 explanation. Don't tell me this isn't about sexism. I've been around too long for that." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: There is no doubt that the serious female candidates in this year's race -- Warren, Klobuchar, Harris & Gillibrand -- each had some flaws. But none of them had flaws any worse than, or even as bad as, Sanders', Biden's & Bloomberg's. Yet the women were dismissed to such an extent that Mike Bloomberg pretended that Warren was out, or really didn't know that she was still a candidate (see yesterday's Commentariat), even though she had bested him in several states. ~~~

~~~ Michelle Cottle of the New York Times: "And so, after all the tumult, the Democratic race has come down to this: two straight white septuagenarian men fighting over the soul of the party -- whatever that turns out to be.... For the party of progress, youth and diversity, a final face-off between two lifelong politicians born during World War II leaves much to be desired. And it says something depressing about the challenges women candidates still confront in their quest to shatter the presidential glass ceiling.... Last summer, a poll on perceived electability by Avalanche Strategies found that gender appeared to be a bigger issue than 'age, race, ideology, or sexual orientation.' When voters were asked whom they'd pick if the primaries were held today, Mr. Biden came out ahead. When asked whom they would make president with the wave of a magic wand, without the candidate needing to win an election, voters went with Ms. Warren. Women were more likely than men to cite gender as a concern."

Senate Race. Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana is poised to reverse himself and run for the Senate, according to three Democratic officials, a decision that would hand the party a coveted recruit who could help reclaim a majority in the chamber. After months of insisting he would not challenge Senator Steve Daines [R], Mr. Bullock, who ran for president last year, has told Democrats in the last week he is now inclined to run in what would immediately become one of the marquee Senate races of 2020. Mr. Bullock has only a few days to finalize his decision: The filing deadline to run in Montana is Monday."

Caitlin Emma & Jennifer Scholtes of Politico: "The House on Wednesday passed an $8.3 billion emergency coronavirus package, just hours after congressional negotiators clinched a bipartisan deal to tackle the epidemic. The lower chamber approved the measure with an overwhelming 415-2 vote. It now heads to the Senate, which could clear the bill as soon as Thursday and send it to ... Donald Trump for his signature. The two nay votes were from Republican Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Ken Buck of Colorado." Mrs. McC: Both Biggs & Buck are right-wing loons. ~~~

~~~ Gaetz Makes a Joke of a Deadly-serious Crisis. Caroline Kelly of CNN: "Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz donned a gas mask Wednesday while he voted on a bill that would dedicate billions of dollars to combating coronavirus as concerns rise over the spread of the disease. 'Reviewing the coronavirus supplemental appropriation and preparing to go vote,' Gaetz tweeted with a picture of himself wearing a gas mask while looking at a piece of paper before the vote.... Gaetz later wore the mask onto the House floor, according to a photo tweeted by Rep. Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat.... Health officials have urged Americans to stop buying masks out of concern of a shortage for health care workers, and Vice President Mike Pence, whose office is in charge of coronavirus-related messaging, reiterated the point during a press briefing earlier Wednesday...."

Trump Continues to Lie about Coronavirus. Brian Stelter of CNN: "In a phoner with Hannity on Wednesday night, Trump reacted to the World Health Organization's data-driven assessment of the global death rate for the novel coronavirus -- 3.4% -- by saying 'I think the 3.4% is really a false number.... Trump continued by discarding his own administration's advice to stay home if you're feeling sick.'... Also on Wednesday: 'Trump falsely claimed that Obama administration slowed down diagnostic testing, experts say.'... Big picture from the NYT: 'He has dealt with the coronavirus, the first external crisis of his administration, by repeating a string of falsehoods rather than delivering reassurance....'" Mrs. McC: You kinda have to read Stelter's post to get how completely irresponsible Trump's freelancing is. "Message control"? Ha ha.

Roni Rabin & Katie Thomas of the New York Times: "Federal health officials announced on Wednesday that anyone who wants a coronavirus test may get one if a doctor agrees. But the nation's testing capacity is still so limited that experts feared clinics and hospitals could be overwhelmed by an avalanche of requests. Under the new criteria, patients who have fevers, coughs or difficulty breathing qualify for diagnostic testing, depending on their doctor's judgment. But with flu season in full swing, tens of millions of Americans already have respiratory symptoms, and doctors have no quick way to discern who should be tested. The Trump administration has repeatedly promised to expand the nation's testing capabilities by Friday, even as state laboratories estimated that it would be weeks before millions of American could be tested.... In the new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, doctors were encouraged to rule out other causes of respiratory illness and to take into consideration whether there are other local coronavirus cases before ordering a test.... The C.D.C.'s new criteria essentially relegate the decision to test to individual physicians who have little experience with, and scant scientific evidence about, coronavirus." ~~~

~~~ Erika Edwards of NBC News: "After a weekslong delay, thousands of coronavirus test kits are headed to state and local laboratories, Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday. But questions remain about when, exactly, those promised test kits will arrive and how well they will work.... Federal health officials have been scrambling to increase access to coronavirus testing following a series of initial blunders, including limiting testing strictly to those with symptoms and those who had either come into contact with a known patient or had traveled from China. What's more, the test kits the CDC first sent labs in January proved to be faulty, giving inconclusive results. Such a large-scale snafu appears to be unprecedented." ~~~

~~~ Alexis Madrigal of the Atlantic (March 3): "We know, irrefutably, one thing about the coronavirus in the United States: The number of cases reported in every chart and table is far too low. The data are untrustworthy because the processes we used to get them were flawed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's testing procedures missed the bulk of the cases. They focused exclusively on travelers, rather than testing more broadly, because that seemed like the best way to catch cases entering the country." ~~~

~~~ Farah Stockman of the New York Times: "When an employee of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire showed signs of possible coronavirus last week, a medical worker who had examined him told him to avoid contact with others, pending further tests. Instead, he went to a mixer at a crowded music venue. Three days later, he was confirmed as the state's first coronavirus case. And now a second case has been confirmed -- a 'close contact' of the patient's -- raising new questions about what should happen when suspected coronavirus patients ignore requests to self-quarantine. The man, who had come down with flu-like symptoms after a trip to Italy, has now been officially ordered by New Hampshire's health commissioner to isolate himself at home.... New Hampshire officials have made clear in their public statements that they feel the patient acted irresponsibly. But he does not appear to have broken the law." Mrs. McC: IOW, your health is dependent upon how responsibly your neighbors behave. ~~~

~~~ Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "A medical professional conducting coronavirus screenings at Los Angeles International Airport has tested positive for the virus, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Wednesday. The person began to exhibit coldlike symptoms on Feb. 29 and visited their primary care doctor for a COVID-19 test the next day. The test came back positive, DHS said in a statement."

According to Brian Williams of MSNBC, Donald Trump walked out of a coronavirus meeting Wednesday to go tweet about Democrats. No link.

Zack Budryk of the Hill: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Wednesday declared a state of emergency after the first death from coronavirus in the Golden State.... The man, an elderly resident of Placer County with other underlying health conditions, died in isolation at a hospital in Roseville Wednesday morning after likely being exposed to the virus on a cruise from San Francisco to Mexico in February. The emergency proclamation includes anti-price gouging provisions as well as provisions allowing for health care workers to travel from out of state to provide assistance in health care facilities. It comes the day after Newsom announced the release of millions of N95 masks amid shortages caused by the virus. California has confirmed 53 cases of the virus as of Wednesday afternoon."

Josh Marshall of TPM: "There's a huge, huge story unfolding [with the coronavirus] -- many communities are already shifting behavior in major ways -- and yet we hear little of it from the federal government or to a significant degree even from the news media. One of the big things is restrictions on travel mandated by big companies.... We've seen news reports of many conventions and big public meetings being canceled.... When you put together the number of big companies drastically limiting business travel and many people canceling leisure travel, it seems certain that the travel and hospitality industries are already entering what can only be called a steep, steep recession." --s ~~~

~~~ From the Guardian coronavirus news blog: "Southwest [airlines], which basically created the budget airline model in the early 1970s, says customers demand has declined. It fears the crisis will wipe $200m-$300m off its operating revenues this quarter.... The global coronavirus outbreak could be as severe a blow to the airline industry as the global financial crisis a decade ago ... set to cost the airline industry at least $63bn of lost revenue -- or $113bn if the virus spreads 'extensively' across more countries.... Investment bank Goldman Sachs has warned that the coronavirus will push the UK economy to the 'brink of recession'.... Flybe, Europe's largest regional airline, has collapsed into administration this morning as the economic damage caused by the ongoing coronavirus crisis escalated...." --s

Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "When Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive last spring to oust Libya's internationally recognized government in Tripoli, he sought US support.... Within days, President Donald Trump placed a supportive call to Haftar. But overall, the US administration has remained largely cool to the warlord.... One of the most prominent [supporters] is Walid Phares, a right-wing pundit and adviser to the 2016 Trump campaign, who for years has spoken favorably about Haftar in public remarks and social media posts.... What Phares has not mentioned while touting Haftar is that Phares has explored business opportunities involving Haftar's son, Okba Haftar. The younger Haftar lives in Northern Virginia and works in real estate. According to people involved in US-Libya relations, Okba Haftar has also helped his father advance his interests in the United States." --s

Jeffrey Smith of Public Integrity: "When confronted by House lawmakers angered about ... Donald Trump's halt in aid to Ukraine last summer, Trump administration officials repeatedly said the hiatus was meant to allow them to conduct a policy review about the aid program. But the Pentagon's deputy general counsel [Edwin S. Castle] -- in an email kept secret by the administration during the House and Senate impeachment proceedings in December and January -- told his colleagues during the aid halt there was, in fact, no such policy review under way inside the administration." (Also linked yesterday.)

Colby Itkowitz & Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "In a rare rebuke of a sitting member of Congress, Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. criticized Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D) over remarks made from the steps outside the high court Wednesday that Justices Brett M. Kavanaugh and Neil M. Gorsuch would 'pay the price' for a vote against reproductive rights. 'Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous,' Roberts said in a statement.... Schumer, speaking at a rally as the Supreme Court heard a pivotal abortion rights case over the legality of a Louisiana law that creates additional barriers for doctors who perform abortions, singled out President Trump's appointees by name. 'I want to tell you Gorsuch, I want to tell you Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price,' Schumer said. 'You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.'... Last week, Trump said that liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg should 'recuse themselves' from any cases involving him or his administration. Roberts did not comment after Trump made those remarks." ~~~

~~~ Pete Williams of NBC News: "Schumer's spokesman said his remarks about Gorsuch and Kavanaugh referred to the political price Republicans 'will pay for putting them on the court.' It was a warning, the spokesman said, 'that the justices will unleash major grassroots movement on the issue of reproductive rights against the decision.' Schumer's office later issued a second statement in which the senator criticized Roberts. 'For Justice Roberts to follow the right wing's deliberate misinterpretation of what Sen. Schumer said, while remaining silent when President Trump attacked Justices Sotomayor and Ginsburg last week, shows Justice Roberts does not just call balls and strikes,' said Schumer spokesman Justin Goodman, referring to Trump's criticism of the two liberal justices and his call for them not to participate in any rulings involving him." ~~~

~~~ Ian Millhiser of Vox: "Wednesday morning's arguments in the biggest threat to abortion rights to reach the Supreme Court in nearly 30 years went so badly for Louisiana Solicitor General Elizabeth Murrill, who was defending Louisiana's restrictive abortion law, that by the end even Chief Justice John Roberts appeared uncomfortable with her arguments.... Murrill's performance was so weak, and the liberal justices successfully exposed so many flaws in her argument, that it raised questions about whether Roberts might join his liberal colleagues to strike down Louisiana's law." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Steve M.: "Are the defenders of the law genuinely incompetent? Or is Roberts doing precisely what I predicted he'd do last fall when the Court agreed to take the case? I wrote at the time: '... does John Roberts really want GOP-appointed Supreme Court justices blamed for a sudden massive decrease in abortion availability a few months before a presidential election? I think this raises the possibility that Roberts will join with the Court's liberals to say, "Hey, this is just like the Texas law, so I'm going to shock you by upholding precedent and striking it down."'"

Robert McFadden of the New York Times: "Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, a reluctant compromise choice for United Nations secretary general, who astonished the diplomatic world by brokering peace agreements in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America as the Cold War thawed in the late 1980s and early '90s, died on Wednesday, according to the Peruvian Foreign Ministry. He was 100." An AP obituary is here.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Iceland. Andie Sophia Fontaine of The Reykjavík Grapevine: "There are now nine confirmed cases in Iceland of COVID-19 ... and 300 people remain in home quarantine.... Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir told RÚV that the government, management and labour unions have been in negotiations as to who will be paying who while under quarantine, but the main detail is that everyone agrees that no one should miss revenue on account of being under quarantine -- especially as such a quarantine is to protect the health of the general public." --s

The Commentariat -- March 4, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Ian Millhiser of Vox: "Wednesday morning's arguments in the biggest threat to abortion rights to reach the Supreme Court in nearly 30 years went so badly for Louisiana Solicitor General Elizabeth Murrill, who was defending Louisiana's restrictive abortion law, that by the end even Chief Justice John Roberts appeared uncomfortable with her arguments.... Murrill's performance was so weak, and the liberal justices successfully exposed so many flaws in her argument, that it raised questions about whether Roberts might join his liberal colleagues to strike down Louisiana's law."

Jeffrey Smith of Public Integrity: "When confronted by House lawmakers angered about ... Donald Trump's halt in aid to Ukraine last summer, Trump administration officials repeatedly said the hiatus was meant to allow them to conduct a policy review about the aid program. But the Pentagon's deputy general counsel [Edwin S. Castle] -- in an email kept secret by the administration during the House and Senate impeachment proceedings in December and January -- told his colleagues during the aid halt there was, in fact, no such policy review under way inside the administration."

Patricia Mazzei, et al., of the New York Times: "Michael R. Bloomberg dropped out of the presidential race on Wednesday, just over three months after he began a campaign that was fueled by his vast fortune and quickly grew to a sprawling political operation but failed to win the groundswell of moderate support he had sought. Mr. Bloomberg endorsed Joseph R. Biden Jr., saying that he had the best shot to beat President Trump.... In an unprecedented effort to self-finance a presidential campaign -- which some rivals derided as an attempt to buy the White House -- Mr. Bloomberg's bid cost him more than half a billion dollars in advertising alone. He also spent lavishly on robust on-the-ground operations, with more than 200 field offices across the country and thousands of paid staff. His operation dwarfed those of Democratic rivals who ultimately won states in which he had installed many dozens of employees and spent heavily on radio, television and direct mail ads." A Politico story is here.

Do not mess with Jill Biden's husband. She will slap you down:

     ~~~ Here's a WashPo story on Jill v. the Vegans.

Charles Pierce: "It's plain now that, for the moment, anyway, a large part of the Democratic primary electorate is hungering for a president that it can ignore for four or five days a week." Pierce cites a speech Warren Harding gave a hundred years ago (and does grant "that the Harding precedent doesn't bode well for a possible Biden presidency).:

America's present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not experiment, but equipoise; not submergence in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality.

German Lopez of Vox: "When Sen. Bernie Sanders talks about his presidential campaign, he emphasizes that it's a movement -- the start of a 'political revolution,' which he says will drive typically apathetic voters, particularly the young, to turn out and vote. But if Super Tuesday was anything to go by, Sanders's political revolution isn't happening -- and it's former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign, or perhaps general opposition to President Donald Trump, that seems to be driving turnout."

~~~~~~~~~~

State Democratic presidential primary results appear in the right column. Related stories linked below.

Matt Viser & Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post: "Joe Biden powered to a dominating sweep of the South and surprisingly strong showings in New England and the Upper Midwest on Tuesday night, as he sought to seize control of the Democratic presidential race and overtake Sen. Bernie Sanders as the delegate leader. Sanders was holding on to a lead in California, the state with the biggest delegate haul of the Super Tuesday primaries, as votes were slowly counted there. But Biden's victories ... threatened to at minimum erase the lopsided delegate advantage Sanders hoped to gain from the day's voting. The results set up a more vigorous fight ahead that presents the party with divergent choices, between a pragmatist vowing a return to normalcy and a populist promising a revolution." Politico's story is here.

The Guardian has the latest delegate count.

Fred Imbert & Thomas Franck of CNBC: "U.S. stock index futures pointed to a sharply higher open on Wednesday as early results on Super Tuesday showed former Vice President Joe Biden notching key wins and reassuring investors of his place amid the top candidates in the Democratic pool. As of 7:35 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 726 points and indicated a rise of 702 points at the open. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also pointed to solid opening gains. Still, the implied open could change as markets remain volatile. Biden's success early into Super Tuesday voting appeared to buoy U.S. equity futures...."

Brian Schwartz of CNBC: "Former Vice President Joe Biden went into Super Tuesday with fewer financial resources than other candidates. But he will be in much better shape by the end of the night. Bundlers loyal to Biden are seeing dozens of new donors, several maxing out with the top allowable $2,800..., according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. These people declined to be named because these developments were yet to be announced. Biden fundraising events started to sell out early in the night, the people added."

Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "Lifted by a hasty unity among center-left Democrats disinclined toward political revolution, Mr. Biden has propelled himself in the span of three days from electoral failure to would-be juggernaut.... Yet any suggestion that Mr. Biden is now a risk-free option would appear to contradict the available evidence. He is no safer with a microphone, no likelier to complete a thought without exaggeration or bewildering detour. He has not, as a 77-year-old man proudly set in his ways, acquired new powers of persuasion or management in the 72 hours since the first primary state victory of his three presidential campaigns. In fact, Mr. Biden has blundered this chance before -- the establishment front-runner; the last, best hope for moderates -- fumbling his initial 2020 advantages in a hail of disappointing fund-raising, feeble campaign organization and staggering underperformance. When it mattered most, though, the judgment came swiftly from Sanders-averse Democrats. All right, we'll take him."

Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post suddenly remembers (satire): "Joe Biden is fine! He is the best hope. I know I said something about how his is the politics of the past and how his rallies put me into a state of abject gloom, that when he opens his mouth and starts to say things, you never exactly relax until he has put the microphone down, but, well -- that was all malarkey, and I guess I was a lying dog-faced pony soldier. Which, it turns out, is a good thing!"

Today. Sally Goldenberg & Christopher Cadelago of Politico: "Mike Bloomberg is weighing dropping out as early as Wednesday after losing a string of Super Tuesday states where he invested a fortune in advertising, according to several people familiar with his plans. While the multi-billionaire former New York City mayor was on track to win delegates, he was roundly beaten by Joe Biden, on whose collapse Bloomberg had been counting." ~~~

~~~ Yesterday. The Washington Post's live updates of Tuesday's developments are here. Mike "Bloomberg struck a defiant tone Tuesday as polls opened in 14 states, saying he planned to stay in the race until the Democratic convention in July despite no expectation of winning any state in his first ballot test. 'I have shown that I have the management experience to do it,' Bloomberg said of the presidency during a stop at a campaign office in [Miami's] Little Havana neighborhood. 'And no other candidate in the race do I think could beat Donald Trump or could run the country.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Tennessee. Adrian Sainz of the AP: "A judge has extended voting hours in Tennessee's second-largest county after four Democratic presidential candidates sued to keep Super Tuesday polls open after a tornado devastated the area, a Democratic party spokeswoman said Tuesday. A Davidson County Chancery Court judge ruled that polling locations in the county whose seat is Nashville must remain open until 8 p.m. Central time. Five so-called megasites, where anyone in the tornado-hit county can go to vote, will be open until 10 p.m. under the judge's ruling...."

The New York Times' liveblog of Super Tuesday developments is here. "In the Northern California county where a mysterious case of the coronavirus had been reported and dozens of people were quarantined, a top election official said the county bought gloves for poll workers and expanded curbside ballot drop-off points for Super Tuesday." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

All Girl Candidates Are Alike. Edward Moreno of the Hill: "Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a reporter Tuesday he 'didn't realize' that Sen. Elizabeth [Warren] (D-Mass.) was still in the primary race. His comments came in light of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Peter Buttigieg dropping from the race and consolidating support behind former Vice President Joe Biden.... 'If there's only 3 candidates, you can't do worse than that,' Bloomberg said, when asked if he would accept a third-place finish. The reporter reminded him that Warren, who currently has eight delegates, is still in the race. 'I didn't realize she's still in, is she?' Bloomberg asked." (Also linked yesterday.)

Senate Races

Alabama. Jane Timm of NBC News: "Former Sen. Jeff Sessions and onetime Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville were neck and neck in the Republican primary race for the Senate on Tuesday night and will face off in a runoff election later this month, NBC News projects.... Tuberville had 33.4 percent and Sessions took 31.6 percent, with 99 percent reporting.... On Wednesday morning..., Donald Trump trashed Sessions ... on Twitter, blaming Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation that wound up being led by former special counsel Robert Mueller. 'This is what happens to someone who loyally gets appointed Attorney General of the United States & then doesn't have the wisdom or courage to stare down & end the phony Russia Witch Hunt. Recuses himself on FIRST DAY in office, and the Mueller Scam begins!' [Trump tweeted.]"

North Carolina. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Former state Sen. Cal Cunningham won the Democratic nomination for the Senate on Tuesday, setting him up to face off against Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) in November. Cunningham prevailed over three other Democrats who were running for the party's nomination in the North Carolina Senate primary. Cunningham was viewed as the front-runner and won the endorsement last year of national Democrats, including the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.... The Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), a super PAC with ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), poured money into TV ads during the primary to try to boost state Sen. Erica Smith (D)."

Fred Imbert, et al., of CNBC: "Stocks fell sharply in volatile trading on Tuesday as an emergency rate cut by the Federal Reserve failed to assuage concerns of slower economic growth due to the coronavirus outbreak.... The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 785.91 points lower, or nearly 3%, to 25,917.41; it rose more than 300 points earlier in the day. The 30-stock average gyrated between sharp gains and solid losses after the decision was announced. The S&P 500 fell 2.8% to 3,003.37 while the Nasdaq Composite pulled back 3% to 8,684.09. Investors, in turn, loaded up on U.S. Treasurys, pushing the benchmark 10-year yield below 1% for the first time ever. Gold, meanwhile, jumped 2.9% to settle at $1,644.40 per ounce." ~~~

~~~ Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve slashed interest rates on Tuesday as fears about the economic fallout of the coronavirus continued to mount, announcing its biggest single cut since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis.... The central bank said it would cut interest rates by half a percentage point.... 'As usual, Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve are slow to act,' [Donald Trump] wrote on Twitter Monday." CNBC's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump on Tuesday criticized the Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates by half a percentage point as insufficient, demanding 'more easing and cutting' in a tweet." (Also linked yesterday.)

Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "One week after Trump returned home from India to confront an unfolding health crisis and tasked Pence with managing the government-wide response, the effort has been undermined by mixed messages, contradictions and falsehoods -- many of them emanating from the president himself, including this week when he repeatedly spread false information about just how soon a coronavirus vaccine would be available. The White House is handling the rapidly expanding coronavirus as a public relations problem as much as a public health crisis. Officials are insisting on message discipline among government scientists and political aides alike...." ~~~

~~~ You Cannot Teach Trump What He Doesn't Want to Know. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "... on Monday when he held a coronavirus roundtable with his task force and the heads of several pharmaceutical companies..., [Trump] still appears rather clueless on the subject.... Trump peppered the drug companies with questions that were some variant of 'How fast can you get it done?' But despite this having been a focal point in recent weeks, he still didn't seem to process the fact that producing a vaccine means conducting months and months of trials before it can be deployed.... What's remarkable ... is that [Dr. Anthony] Fauci has explained all of this -- in front of Trump and publicly.... 'I don't think they know what the time will be,' Trump said [to a reporter later, ignoring everything he'd been told repeatedly]. 'I've heard very quick numbers -- a matter of months -- and I've heard pretty much a year would be an outside number.'... Fauci had said a year to 18 months." Mrs. McC: If you read Blake's full report, you'll wonder why no one in the meeting throttled that dumb lummox. His wilful ignorance is infuriating.

Do Not Upset Der Furor. Eric Schmitt & Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper has urged American military commanders overseas not to make any decisions related to the coronavirus that might surprise the White House or run afoul of President Trump's messaging on the growing health challenge, American officials said. Mr. Esper's directive, delivered last week during a video teleconference call with combatant commanders around the world, is the latest iteration of Mr. Trump's efforts to manage public fears over the disease, even as it continues to spread around the world.... Mr. Esper told commanders deployed overseas that they should check in before making decisions related to protecting their troops." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Ellen Mitchell of the Hill: "The Pentagon issued a sharp rebuttal Tuesday to a New York Times article saying Defense Secretary Mark Esper directed commanders to notify the Department of Defense (DOD) of their coronavirus responses to avoid surprising the White House, calling it a 'dangerous and inaccurate mischaracterization.'... The DOD disputed [the Times'] account, saying Esper instead directed commanders to take all force health protection measures and then notify their chain of command when actions are taken 'so that DOD leadership can inform the interagency -- including [Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Homeland Security], the State Department, and the White House -- and the American people,' top Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement." (Also linked yesterday.)

Natasha Bertrand & Daniel Lippman of Politico: "A White House lawyer and former counsel to the House Intelligence Committee under Devin Nunes has been named senior director for intelligence on the National Security Council, the latest instance of ... Donald Trump elevating a trusted loyalist to control the intelligence community. Michael Ellis, a deputy to White House lawyer John Eisenberg, started in the role on Monday, according to a senior administration official and a former national security official. Ellis left the counsel's office so won't be dual-hatted with his new job." Mrs. McC: Lillis's primary job: Telling Trump those conspiracy theories he heard on Fox "News" are real. (Also linked yesterday.)

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "U.S. prosecutors say they have a witness who will directly implicate a Russian businessman known as 'Putin's chef' in schemes to carry out election interference overseas. The mystery witness is prepared to testify at a criminal trial set to open in Washington next month in a case ... Robert Mueller brought accusing three Russian companies and 13 Russian individuals of meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, a prosecutor declared at a recent court hearing. The anticipated testimony will focus on the most prominent Russian national charged in the indictment, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a St. Petersburg restaurateur who enjoys close ties to ... Vladimir Putin and who has expanded his business empire to become a key contractor for the Russian military. Prosecutors say Prigozhin ran the Internet Research Agency, a Russian firm that allegedly sponsored and coordinated online troll activity during the 2016 U.S. election."

Alexandra Svokos of ABC News: "The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments for the latest landmark abortion case on Wednesday morning, which could change the landscape of abortion law in America -- and abortion access -- for years to come. June Medical Services v. Russo (previously v. Gee) is a challenge from Louisiana abortion providers to a 2014 state law that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges with a nearby hospital, which allows a patient to go to that hospital if they need urgent care. Because abortion statistically has very low complication rates, the need for hospital care is extremely rare." The New York Times story is here.

Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: Chris Matthews' "casual sexism wasn't at the heart of why he had to go. One of the most prominent and well-paid hosts in the cable-news game didn't listen, didn't do his homework and treated politics as a game in which noisy confrontation was a necessity. The problem was less about greenroom boorishness and far more about what you could see and hear on the air.... Frequently described as 'bombastic,' and certainly an excitable yeller, Matthews had a tendency to ask a question, and then, just as his subject was beginning to answer, interrupt, asking it differently or inserting his own opinion. His interview with Elizabeth Warren last month was a memorable case in point. The topic was whether her rival presidential candidate, Mike Bloomberg, had really suggested to one of his employees that she 'kill it' when he found out she was going to have a baby.... But the 'Hardball' host apparently hadn't done the reading. He seemed to want a confrontational interview with Warren no matter what the underlying evidence might be."

Beyond the Beltway

Oklahoma. Christine Hauser of the New York Times: "A college recruiter from Oklahoma Christian University is no longer working for the school after he told a group of high school students to line up organized by their skin color and hair texture, officials said on Tuesday. The recruiter, Cedric Sunray, visited Harding Charter Preparatory High School in Oklahoma City on Feb. 24, and met with 110 juniors and four teachers in the gymnasium to talk about opportunities at the college, said the principal, Steven Stefanick. 'The recruiter asked the students to line up from darkest to lightest skin complexion, and then line up from nappiest to straightest hair,' Mr. Stefanick said in a telephone interview. As the students did as they were told, some of the teachers got up and left to report the request to school administrators, who intervened, he said.... [Sunray later] said the exercise was meant to be an 'icebreaker' and that he has made the same presentation dozens of times at other institutions.... He described himself ... as a member of a Native American tribe with a 'white racial phenotype.'"

Way Beyond

David Sanger & William Broad of the New York Times: "Iran's growing stockpile of nuclear fuel recently crossed a critical threshold, according to a report issued Tuesday by international inspectors: For the first time since President Trump abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal, Tehran appears to have enough enriched uranium to produce a single nuclear weapon, though it would take months or years to manufacture a warhead and deliver it over long distances. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors nuclear capabilities and reports to the United Nations, also documented for the first time how Iran's leadership blocked its inspectors from visiting three critical sites where there was evidence of past nuclear activity."

News Lede

The New York Times' latest live updates on developments in the coronavirus epidemic are here. "The head of the World Health Organization said on Tuesday that the global mortality rate for Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, was 3.4 percent. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the organization's director general, said in a news conference in Geneva that Covid-19 was deadlier than the seasonal flu, but did not transmit as easily. 'Globally, about 3.4 percent of reported Covid-19 cases have died,' Dr. Tedros said. 'By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1 percent of those infected.'"