The Trump Administration
Day 650
Wednesday 31 October 2018
A decade ago, West Virginia foreshadowed the influence that money and politics have come to have on state judiciaries. Now it may warn of a worrying new trend.
A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted a man who the authorities say killed 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue while spewing anti-Semitic slurs on 44 counts, including hate crimes. He could face the death penalty.
From all appearances, the president and first lady Melania Trump were warmly welcomed by Rabbi Jeffrey Myers — unlike the mayor, the county administrator, the governor, several tens of thousands of people who signed an open letter telling Trump he was “not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully denounce white nationalism”
...and his laptop and cellphone are now providing investigators with a trove of fresh evidence
It is true that folks like Shepard Smith, an afternoon host, routinely fact-checks President Trump, fillets his policies and so on; it’s also true that “Fox & Friends” this week criticized “enemy of the people” rhetoric
And none of that mitigates or minimizes the baseless, irresponsible and destructive programming that takes place in other Fox News precincts.
The special counsel appears to be locked in a legal battle with a mysterious Russia probe target who is fighting a subpoena.
"Paul Ryan should be focusing on holding the Majority rather than giving his opinions on Birthright Citizenship," the president said.
King, who recently retweeted a Nazi and routinely makes white supremacist comments with aplomb, is suddenly looking like his reelection bid could be in trouble.
...in response to caravans of Central American migrants making their way northward, doubling the figure Pentagon officials have announced would be operating there.
Trump’s vows to end birthright citizenship and dispatch a growing number of troops to the border have scrambled the final days of the midterm campaign for both parties
...saying Saudi agents strangled him almost immediately after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and then dismembered his body.
A hole was gouged in the deck of Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, Tuesday when a crane fell on it while the vessel was undergoing repairs
Trump’s promised executive order would be challenged in the courts and likely enjoined until the case was resolved. The president’s authority to send troops to the border is not in question, although he’s wrong to imply that active-duty military forces would be detaining or capturing people attempting to cross into the United States.
Now it emerges that NBC News was aware that there might be other serious problems with her story — but waited until Thursday last week to inform the public.
Day 649
Tuesday 30 October 2018
About 2,000 protesters, many of them Jewish, marched against the president and chanted, “Words have meaning”
Khashoggi worried he might end up in jail like so many other Saudi journalists when he first went to the consulate unannounced on Sept. 28 to request documents he needed to get married.
Holding guns and wearing face masks, officers marched over one of the busiest international crossings. Advocates say it’s intimidation, not preparation for unarmed poor people.
A Seth Rich conspiracy pusher and fringe online figures appear to be working behind the scenes.
Loren Jacobs, who spoke at a rally with the vice-president, was stripped of his ordination by the Messianic movement in 2003.
“My critics say a constitutional amendment or at least an act of Congress is necessary to end birthright citizenship, but what they don’t realize is that a seldom-evoked administrative guideline ensures I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, because zero people will stand in my way,”
“When we learned last week of allegations that women were offered money to make false claims about the special counsel, we immediately referred the matter to the F.B.I. for investigation”
The special counsel says a woman was offered money to fabricate sexual-harassment claims.
Multiple reporters were contacted over the past few weeks by a woman who said she had been offered money to say she had been harassed by Mueller
And when NBC News called Surefire’s main phone number, they reported that it went straight to “a voicemail message which provided another phone number, listed in public records as belonging to Wohl’s mother.”
Trump is vowing to sign an executive order that would seek to end the right to U.S. citizenship for children born in the United States to noncitizens
The visit comes despite the wishes of some political and religious leaders and Pittsburgh residents who felt that the president should come at a later date — or not at all.
Messianic Judaism, which believes that Jesus is the messiah and considers the New Testament to be authentic, is not recognized as Jewish by any mainstream Jewish movement in the United States or by the Chief Rabbinate, the supreme spiritual authority for Judaism in Israel.
Day 648
Monday 29 October 2018
They were poised to storm Washington. Then America stopped caring.
Once the most powerful politician in Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted on Monday that she has become a lame duck, setting off a scramble to replace her and deepening the continent’s deficit of high-octane leaders.
...to brace for the arrival of Central American migrants President Trump is calling “an invasion.”
“It took the importuning of his Jewish daughter and son-in-law to craft a powerful statement of outrage at anti-Semitism after Saturday’s slaughter at a Pittsburgh synagogue”
The man accused in the attack — the deadliest on Jews in American history, with 11 people killed — made his first court appearance Monday, two days after the massacre.
Those charges included obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs — a hate crime, which can carry the death penalty, a sentence that federal authorities said Sunday they intended to pursue.
Republicans are lying about their position on health care. Voters have a right to know that.
Some diplomats and their doctors tell NBC they're concerned the U.S. wants to downplay what happened. Some suspect harassment has continued inside the U.S.
Day 647
Sunday 28 October 2018
“You have also deliberately undermined the safety of people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. Yesterday’s massacre is not the first act of terror you incited against a minority group in our country.”
House Republicans changed the rules in 2015 to allow many of their committee chairmen to issue subpoenas without consulting the minority party
After two years of already high turnover, the president is expected to push out or accept the resignations of several more department chiefs by January.
Day 646
Saturday 27 October 2018
Mail bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc lived in an alternate universe where monstrous reptiles stalk people in Florida’s Everglades, a malevolent Jewish billionaire pays American children to stage school shootings and German politicians are secretly being conceived using Adolf Hitler’s frozen sperm.
Wednesday, a white man with a history of violence shot and killed two African-Americans, seemingly at random, at a Kentucky Kroger store following a failed attempt to barge into a black church.
After mail bombs were being sent to people who'd been criticized by the President, a suspect was arrested Friday -- a man who had railed against Democrats and minorities with hate-filled messages online.
And Saturday morning, a man shouting anti-Semitic slurs opened fire at a Pittsburgh synagogue, killing 11 people attending Jewish services.
Armed with an AR-15-style assault rifle and at least three handguns, a man shouting anti-Semitic slurs opened fire inside a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday morning
Day 645
Friday 26 October 2018
A van in Plantation, Florida, towed away from the scene of bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc's arrest had images of President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence as well as a "CNN Sucks" sticker
...each device was made of roughly 6 inches of pvc pipe, wiring, a small clock, battery and "energetic material that could be explosive."
It’s true that since taking office, Trump has continued the program that Obama initiated. [...] But Trump’s claims at his rallies [...] are incorrect.
“The Hart eSlate machines are not malfunctioning, the problems being reported are a result of user error — usually voters hitting a button or using the selection wheel before the screen is finished rendering,”
Shortly after news of the arrest broke, news cameras in South Florida captured authorities surrounding a van covered with political imagery featuring Trump; the van was covered in a blue tarp and taken away
A series of suspected explosive packages intercepted this week left the nation stunned and authorities hunting for a bomber targeting prominent Democratic figures and CNN.
The president is mounting an 11th-hour effort to head off high-profile losses for governor and Senate in his adopted home state.
Day 644
Thursday 25 October 2018
Whatever rote condemnations Trump offers, it was inevitable that he’d use the bombs as an intimidation tactic
...alleging that they made “materially false” statements to Grassley’s committee as it investigated the allegations.
Law enforcement officials on both coasts are working to track down the terrorist(s) responsible for at least 10 suspected explosive devices.
Many Trump allies say a terroristic attack on Democratic leaders has become a media conspiracy to undermine the president ahead of the November midterms.
Last night [...] Trump momentarily pretended to act presidential, saying, "Those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective."
Federal authorities [...] have turned their attention to southern Florida, believing that a number of the devices were mailed from there
The tamper-proof screws didn’t work, all the computing equipment was still intact, and the hard drives had not been wiped. The information I found on the drives, including candidates, precincts, and the number of votes cast on the machine, were not encrypted.
The Russian anti-satellite weapon [...] is expected to target communication and imagery satellites in low Earth orbit
GOP candidates are scrambling to pledge their support for Obamacare’s most popular provision. It’s not been easy.
Day 643
Wednesday 24 October 2018
Days ahead of crucial midterm elections, the talk is not of better days or a brighter future. Instead, the climate is one of fear, of threat and of division, of caravans from Central America and angry mobs.
Republican incumbents are getting pummeled after voting to scrap protections for pre-existing conditions.
Pipe bombs were sent to several prominent Democrats, including former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, setting off an intense investigation on Wednesday into whether figures vilified by the right were being targeted.
Trump’s aides have repeatedly warned him that his cellphone calls are not secure, and they have told him that Russian spies are routinely eavesdropping on the calls, as well.
...a major victory for the oil industry and a blow to conservation groups that fought it
The prince, who has fallen under suspicion for possibly ordering the killing, discussed the case Wednesday at the "Davos in the Desert" investment forum.
The GOP has a real tax cut for the rich, paid for by health care cuts.
Trump tries to blame Democrats as his own administration chips away at Obamacare
But unlike the regular officers licensed by the state, these armed civilians are unregulated.
This lack of oversight continues despite numerous incidents of questionable — even illegal — conduct by reserve officers in recent years.
Trump threatened to declare a national emergency or rescind aid from the countries whose people are journeying north.
The budget deficit has swollen under Trump’s hand to $782 billion, some $116 billion more than the year before. The wider gap can be attributed entirely to a shortfall in tax revenue; in particular, corporate tax receipts plunged $92 billion year-on-year.
The Saudi government has continued to shift its account of what happened after the Washington Post writer entered its consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.
Day 642
Tuesday 23 October 2018
Pence said the 1967 treaty “does ban weapons of mass destruction in space, but it doesn’t ban military activity.”
US security adviser's meeting with Russia's leader comes days after Trump voiced plan to end major arms control treaty.
Monday's rally marked a rare instance where Trump explicitly described himself as a "nationalist"
Erdogan of Turkey on Tuesday raised the stakes in his dispute with Saudi Arabia over what he called the “premeditated murder” of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, demanding that Riyadh supply more answers and hand over the Saudi suspects.
...his Democratic opponent Stacey Abrams’ voter turnout operation “continues to concern us, especially if everybody uses and exercises their right to vote”
The Trump administration says this chart is a case against single-payer. Actually, it’s a case for it.
It’s the second time the high court has paused a climate change-related case.
"We’re not asking for money. Instead, we’re asking the court to order the government to develop and implement a National Climate Recovery Plan based on the best available science."
Trump repeated Monday that he plans to offer a new tax cut plan before the midterms, even though no one seems to know what it will look like or how it might get through a Congress that only barely managed to pass his signature plan last year.
Day 641
Monday 22 October 2018
The lying grates, but how poorly crafted and executed the lies are, how telegraphed they are in his own interest, and how unmoored from any semblance of reality they are, makes them particularly crushing.
The president has long declared himself an opponent of so-called “globalism” and has taken steps to remove the United States from a number of international treaties.
Ford Motor Co. said Donald Trump’s tariffs have made steel more expensive in the U.S. than any other market, escalating the company’s criticism of the president’s trade war.
The GOP remains dead set against doing anything about climate change, against any policy that would threaten the profits of fossil fuel companies.
But front-line, hardcore denialism of the “it’s a hoax” variety has largely receded to the base.
...he suggested the White House would need to balance any punishment for the death with its interests in the region.
States can now apply for newly broadened waivers to create alternatives to the Affordable Care Act program
The court’s action makes it unlikely that Ross will have to give a deposition in the case but allows the suit to go forward, at least temporarily.
This strategy has worked brilliantly to keep the anger over the story boiling and overwhelm the efforts of the Saudi regime and its enablers in Washington to contain the scandal.
"It was a flawed body double, so it never became an official part of the Saudi government's narrative"
An argument last February [...] turned into a physical altercation that required Secret Service intervention just outside the Oval Office
Obama once again disputed Republicans' attempts to take credit for the US economy's recent strength.
Miller is unlikely to prevail, because there are broad protections for journalists to report on claims made in legal filings, whether or not they are true. But it’s still worth taking seriously, because it’s part of a mounting conservative assault on free speech.
Day 640
Sunday 21 October 2018
The 2017 Republican tax cuts have been a dud on the campaign trail ahead of the November midterm elections, so President Trump has come up with a new plan: more tax cuts.
The Trump administration is considering narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth
Scaramucci said that while he applauds the retired Marine Corps general’s service, “he hurt the morale inside the place, and he’s hurt the president, and he has hissy fits.”
“Obviously, there’s been deception and there’s been lies,” Mr. Trump said [...]. “Their stories are all over the place.”
"Why don't you get out of here? Why don't you leave the entire country?" one man shouted.
The majority leader's comments on entitlements allow Democrats to change the conversation from Brett Kavanaugh.
Day 639
Saturday 20 October 2018
Trump said Saturday that Republicans are planning to implement a “very major tax cut” for middle-income earners before next month, even though Congress is out of session until after November’s midterm elections.
Day 638
Friday 19 October 2018
Trump admitted, "I shouldn't say this," but continued and said, "there's nothing to be embarrassed about."
Trump, who has cultivated Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and made Saudi Arabia the linchpin of his Middle East strategy, has been deeply reluctant to point a finger at the prince
Day 637
Thursday 18 October 2018
The White House chief of staff and the national security adviser got into a profanity-laced argument about immigration outside the Oval Office early Thursday morning
...ending a tumultuous 21-month tenure during which he spearheaded some of President Trump’s most significant political accomplishments, including two appointments to the Supreme Court
Day 636
Wednesday 17 October 2018
NY AG subpoenas lobby firms, says fake comments "distort[ed] public opinion."
...the latest in a string of properties that have distanced themselves from the Trump brand since Election Day 2016.
“If we had the votes to completely start over, we’d do it. But that depends on what happens in a couple weeks.”
Dropping out of the postal treaty, first ratified in 1874, is expected to exacerbate tensions with China
It was a quietly refreshing moment, in which McConnell effectively dropped the entire charade that Republicans are a party that prioritizes fiscal prudence
Mr. Khashoggi was dead within minutes, beheaded, dismembered, his fingers severed, and within two hours the killers were gone, according to details from audio recordings described by a senior Turkish official
The charges reflect the latest move in the Trump administration’s effort to punish leakers within the government.
Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley insisted on holding a confirmation hearing for six federal judges on Wednesday, even though he himself — and the majority of the committee — weren’t able to attend.
"I don’t want to talk about any of the facts," Pompeo said [...] "They didn’t want to either"
Republicans have removed all doubt: When it comes to the federal deficit, the problem is Medicare and Social Security — not their own tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.
Mueller is expected to issue findings on core aspects of his Russia probe soon after the November midterm elections as he faces intensifying pressure to produce more indictments or shut down his investigation
The reason Kushner is of particular interest on the disappearance of Khashoggi is that he was a key part of forging a relationship with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and massive arms sale to the kingdom.
...he has a "natural instinct for science" that informs his understanding of climate change and allows him to see through the political bias that he accused some scientists of holding.
Trump downplayed his relationship with Michael Cohen, suggested separating kids from their parents at the border hadn’t been that big a deal, and doubled down on the idea that the Saudis may escape blame for Khashoggi.
Day 635
Tuesday 16 October 2018
Pompeo [...] appeared less intent on determining the truth than in helping the de facto Saudi ruler escape from the crisis he triggered.
Ms. Underwood’s investigators have estimated that almost half of all of the comments — more than nine million — used stolen identities.
If, as the Turkish authorities say, these men were present at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul where Mr. Khashoggi disappeared on Oct. 2, they might provide a direct link between what happened and Prince Mohammed.
Day 634
Monday 15 October 2018
The ruling ordered Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford, to pay Trump’s legal fees.
Wolfe, 57, pleaded guilty to one count of lying about using encrypted messaging in October 2017 to tell “Reporter #3” about a subpoena issued by the committee.
But hours before the Turkish forensic team arrived, journalists photographed a cleaning crew entering the consulate, hauling buckets, mops and what appeared to be bottles of cleaning solution. When the Turkish investigators entered the consulate, some wearing white protective gear, they “smelled chemicals had been used”
Seller is asking $42,200 for all 19 US state voter databases.
Newt Gingrich turned partisan battles into bloodsport, wrecked Congress, and paved the way for Trump's rise. Now he's reveling in his achievements.
...more than 21 million comments were fake, bots, or organized campaigns.
“Are you willing to disrupt the Western alliance? … It’s kept the peace for 70 years,” Stahl noted. “You don’t know that,” Trump shot back.
Trump backed off his long-held claim that global warming is a hoax. But he also made several new assertions unsupported by science.
In introducing the possibility that another party could have been involved in Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance, the president opened a window for King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to stand by their denials
"I will give you a million dollars, paid for by Trump, to your favorite charity, if you take the test and it shows you’re an Indian," Trump said at the time.
Campaign ads and debates are mostly avoiding the ***Russia investigation in favor of other issues important to voters.
Day 633
Sunday 14 October 2018
Amateur art critics sneered on social media that the painting was “tacky,” “a travesty,” or “blasphemy.” Some said it looked like the political version of the famous “dogs playing poker” painting.
...in which he portrayed himself as an isolated but eminently empowered commander in chief.
“This year I have discussed in depth with Kim for hours. These meetings have convinced me that he has taken the strategic decision to abandon his nuclear weapon”
"This story, like many that have come before it, simply confirms what many in the community have already known"
Day 632
Saturday 13 October 2018
The Supreme Court today declined to intervene in a challenge to a North Dakota law that requires voters to present identification that includes a current residential street address.
It's a court that has ruled against him on the travel ban, his proposed ban on transgender soldiers in the military, and sanctuary cities
Day 631
Friday 12 October 2018
Judicial Crisis Network is a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization — a “dark money” group that is not required to disclose the sources of its funding
Under a 90-day pilot program, parents seeking asylum would be given a “binary choice” to be detained with their children [...] or to send their children to a shelter where they can be released to a sponsor.
The case just went to … the West Virginia Supreme Court, where every justice is either disqualified from hearing it or has been suspended without pay.
Weapons sales “are certainly going to be a huge concern if” the Saudis are proven responsible for Khashoggi’s vanishing
“But he had such strange personal habits. He was a loner and isolated and off by himself all the time.”
Ross has shifted his explanation for adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census, saying he now recalls discussing it with Stephen K. Bannon
They say the FCC was well within its rights to repeal net neutrality.
But at the moment, the primary conclusion to draw is that the US-China trade war isn’t yet hurting China all that much
...doubling down on the administration's hesitant response to the disappearance of a dissident Saudi journalist in Turkey as top business leaders back away from the kingdom.
Democrats agreed to approve another 15 Trump-nominated judges on Thursday to allow vulnerable red-state lawmakers to return home and campaign,
The Global Magnitsky Act extends the sanctions stipulated by the original Magnitsky Act to human rights violators outside of Russia.
The White House is actively considering plans that could again separate parents and children at the U.S.-Mexico border, hoping to reverse soaring numbers of families attempting to cross illegally into the United States
A review by The Daily Beast found at least five voter-suppression practices in active use today. All are led by Republicans, all have disproportionate effects on non-white populations, and all are rationalized by bogus claims of voter fraud.
Day 630
Thursday 11 October 2018
Trump responded to falling stock prices on Thursday by continuing to throw rocks at the Federal Reserve, which he has described as “crazy,” “loco,” “going wild” and “out of control” for slowly raising interest rates against the backdrop of a booming economy.
...about adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census
The nomination was approved by the committee by an 11-10 vote.
North Dakota and Missouri could decide control of the Senate.
...breaking with years of tradition during which U.S. presidents and their advisers avoid commenting directly on Fed policy out of respect for the central bank’s independence.
Day 629
Wednesday 10 October 2018
In a crucial period with the midterms less than a month away, some in the White House are worried that the president is losing a megaphone to his base.
How has Chief of Staff John Kelly managed to keep his job in spite of convincing and persistent rumors and reports that the president is unhappy with him, and he is unhappy in his job?
"In these strange and troubling times, it is hard to speak unpalatable truths to power, but I believe we all still have a duty to do so"
...after he pleaded guilty to a felony identity fraud charge tied to Russian troll activity that rocked the 2016 presidential campaign.
The two Koreas agreed to halt military drills, set up a no-fly zone near the border and gradually remove landmines and guard posts within the Demilitarised Zone
The case’s outcome could hinge on the two justices who Trump has appointed to the court: conservatives Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.
"As we look at trade issues there is no question that we want to make sure China is not doing competitive devaluations"
Day 628
Tuesday 9 October 2018
This week, Rosenstein is scheduled to talk to congressional investigators about the 2017 episode, which nearly cost him his job after it was revealed in news accounts last month.
Nikki Haley is right—the First Son-in-Law’s genius does operate in ways we can’t understand.
A dispute over a court-ordered deposition of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross headed back to the Supreme Court on Tuesday night
"There's no personal reason," she said, explaining her rationale for departing. "It's very important for government officials to understand when it's time to step aside."
The Trump administration is expected to allow the expanded use of E15, a fuel that contains 15% ethanol and 85% gasoline. Currently, most fuel is 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline.
We’ve gotten news on Alfa Bank, Psy-Group, and Peter W. Smith — three long-simmering subplots of the Russia investigation.
Discord in particular remains a very popular destination for communities of neo-Nazis and white supremacists to socialize
Day 627
Monday 8 October 2018
Pompeo wants you to believe North Korea just gave up something big. It didn’t.
Trump’s instinct was right. A loyal FBI is worth a purge or two.
From rising sea levels to more devastating droughts to more damaging storms, the report makes brutally clear that warming will make the world worse for us in the forms of famine, disease, economic tolls, and refugee crises.
Trump’s lawyers have maintained an unusual level of contact with attorneys representing clients caught up in the expanding Russia probe, communication that could taint evidence that special counsel Robert Mueller is collecting
The sharp tit-for-tat stripped away the customary veneer of diplomatic niceties during public remarks.
Day 626
Sunday 7 October 2018
...one of the main sticking points over an earlier denuclearization pledge.
With less than a month until the election, the battle for control of the Senate has been nationalized by the showdown over the Supreme Court
...estimate the cost of Pence's visit -- including hotel, travel and additional security measures -- of at least $325,000.
McConnell said Saturday he was not concerned that the bitter confirmation process for Judge Brett Kavanaugh would affect future Supreme Court nominations or how women view the Republican Party.
“We stood up to the mob,” he said of Republicans.
...stepping up moves to lower financing costs and spur growth amid concerns over the economic drag from an escalating trade dispute with the United States.
Day 625
Saturday 6 October 2018
The killing, if confirmed, would mark a startling escalation of Saudi Arabia’s effort to silence dissent.
Kavanaugh heads to the Supreme Court significantly scarred from the confirmation fight, which had the echoes of the 1991 battle over now-Justice Clarence Thomas
That judge, Karen LeCraft Henderson, had dismissed other complaints against Kavanaugh as frivolous, but she concluded that some were substantive enough that they should not be handled by Kavanaugh’s fellow judges in the D.C. Circuit.
How Republicans pushed through a damaged nominee with a relentless focus on three undecided senators.
The Senate vote was 50 to 48, almost entirely along party lines.
Soros, a hedge fund manager and longtime donor to the Democrats and other liberal causes, is often the target of a right-wing conspiracy theory that claims he controls global politics.
If the chief judge is disqualified, the complaint falls to the next most senior judge of the court, in this case Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson
Kavanaugh would join Justice Neil Gorsuch [...] as well as President George W. Bush’s picks of Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito
'I believe Democrats need to be afraid to do what they are doing right now and weak Republicans that do not vote for him need to pay with their lives'
Day 624
Friday 5 October 2018
"Well, it's a lot of work. Don't forget, compared to a lot of committee meetings, we have an executive every Thursday. ... So it's a lot of work. Maybe they don't want to do it."
The donation page [...] went down briefly on [...] Friday afternoon because of "overwhelming" traffic to the page,
But in her speech announcing that she’d vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, she ended up sounding like Trump.
It works just like impeaching a president.
The White House could not legally order the F.B.I. to rummage indiscriminately through someone’s life, Mr. McGahn told the president.
Demonstrations have swamped Capitol Hill throughout the Kavanaugh confirmation process.
...it’s revisiting its evaluation based on “new information of a material nature regarding temperament.”
“If the US has someone whom historians will look back on as the gravedigger of American democracy, it is Mitch McConnell.”
But behind closed doors, Mr. Pence’s remarks probably left few doubts among China’s leaders that Washington was embarking on a Cold War that would force the country to dig in for a prolonged multifront battle with the United States
It's unclear if Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has the votes to push President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee through a final confirmation.
Still, publication of the piece, along with a new Bob Woodward book painting a picture of a president whose impulses were being thwarted by his own staff, has had some lasting aftershocks.
“Excuse me, Mr. President, I believe you have some toilet paper stuck to your shoe” — said no one.
Meng's whereabouts are unknown. But the South China Morning Post, citing an anonymous source, reports that he was "taken away" by Chinese authorities immediately after he arrived in China.
The special background investigation of Brett Kavanaugh involved nine witnesses and bypassed dozens of others named by accusers Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez.
He also blamed his emotional state on the “unfairness” of being asked to account for his alleged conduct before being confirmed to a lifetime position.
Day 623
Thursday 4 October 2018
...conceding he "might have been too emotional" in his testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.
"Yes, I was emotional last Thursday. I hope everyone can understand I was there as a son, husband and dad."
“I’ve changed my views for reasons that have no relationship to his intellectual ability. . . . I feel his performance in the hearings ultimately changed my mind.”
Russia’s troll army was not interested in stirring up generic ‘chaos’ in America. The Kremlin is strategically tapping into the inexhaustible fuel source of white grievance.
Imagine the volume of lies we’d be subjected to if these “daily” briefings happened more frequently than once every few weeks.
Republicans moved forward with plans for a key procedural vote on Friday and a final vote on Saturday
Pence launched a broad attack against Beijing Thursday, accusing China of "predatory" economic practices, military aggression against the US and of trying to undermine President Donald Trump and harm his chances of winning re-election.
Media reports in Russia say he died Wednesday night when his helicopter crashed into a forest during an unauthorized flight in the Kostroma region, northeast of Moscow.
Graham said he has no plans to personally read the FBI report on Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but he’s confident the supplemental background check found no evidence to corroborate allegations of sexual misconduct.
...accusing them in a sprawling indictment of hacking, wire fraud, identity theft and money laundering as part of an effort to distract from Russia's state-sponsored doping program.
McConnell is as cynical a politician as you’ll find in Washington, but what makes this quote so frightening is that it goes beyond cynicism into delusion.
NPR has confirmed the identities of six people whom the FBI interviewed as part of its investigation
The attack by Chinese spies reached almost 30 U.S. companies, including Amazon and Apple, by compromising America’s technology supply chain
In emailed statements, Amazon (which announced its acquisition of Elemental in September 2015), Apple, and Supermicro disputed summaries of Bloomberg Businessweek’s reporting.
Day 622
Wednesday 3 October 2018
I do not know if Brett attacked Christine Blasey Ford in high school or if he sexually humiliated Debbie in front of a group of people she thought were her friends. But I can say that he lied under oath.
The largely symbolic move came hours after the International Court of Justice ordered the United States to ensure that a new round of American sanctions imposed against Tehran this year did not prevent food, medicine and aircraft parts from reaching Iran.
"Oh, good. How did you get home? 'I don't remember.' How did you get there? 'I don't remember.' Where is the place? 'I don't remember.' How many years ago was it? 'I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.' "
Banks have been targeted in the U.S, Vietnam, Turkey, Mexico, India, Ecuador, Chile and Bangladesh, among other countries.
At 2:18 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, cellphones across the United States will emit the ominous ring of an emergency presidential alert.
...including sending only a single copy to Capitol Hill that will be housed in a safe.
And it wasn’t clear why the FBI hasn’t yet talked to other people who have been recommended by lawyers or who have voluntarily come forward -- or if the bureau would need explicit approval to talk with them as well.
Day 621
Tuesday 2 October 2018
It was highly unusual for a congressional committee to release a statement that included such explicit and unconfirmed details about a member of the public.
...a document that as of Tuesday evening has yet to arrive on Capitol Hill.
The U.S. ambassador to NATO set off alarm bells Tuesday when she suggested that the United States might “take out” Russian missiles that U.S. officials say violate a landmark arms control treaty.
A spokesperson for The Times said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that the story Bazelon contributed to was "straightforward, fact-based and we fully stand behind it."
This is an article I never imagined myself writing, that I never wanted to write, that I wish I could not write.
Of them all, Judge was like a real brat to me. He taught me to cover the mouths of the pretty bits of sharp so when they creetch in fear, no one can hear them. That way, no one believes them later. It’s a dobby bit of fun.
In essence, we’ve moved from “partisanship,” which still allowed for political compromises in the end, “to tribalism,” which does not
The Arizona senator called Brett Kavanaugh’s interactions with lawmakers at a hearing last week “sharp and partisan.”
"That’s okay. I know you’re not thinking, you never do," Trump replied.
It wouldn’t be a big deal if he didn’t keep lying about drinking.
The reporting makes clear that in every era of Mr. Trump’s life, his finances were deeply intertwined with, and dependent on, his father’s wealth.
"Their actions were not only reprehensible but in violation of federal law"
Day 620
Monday 1 October 2018
Stone, a longtime Trump adviser, has said Credico was his intermediary to Assange and WikiLeaks.
McConnell’s focus right now is entirely on the triumvirate of GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Jeff Flake of Arizona. McConnell needs two out of the three to back Kavanaugh
The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Decatur had to maneuver to avoid a collision on Sunday
"Today, Judge Kavanaugh indicated that he can no longer commit to teaching his course in January Term 2019, so the course will not be offered"
Mr. Kavanaugh cursed, he said, and then “threw his beer at the guy.”
...as part of his cooperation agreement in the special counsel’s investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Justice Kennedy did more than any living American to undermine democracy. Now he’s mad about it.
The Trump administration's new trade deal with Canada and Mexico leaves much of the old North American Free Trade Agreement intact.
He’s said he and his friends are committed to hiding their bad behavior. Take him at his word.
There is a fair chance he was referring to what’s called the 13th Amendment’s “exception clause,” [...] It’s the part of the amendment that literally allowed slavery and involuntary servitude to continue across the country, on plantations and within the barbed-wire fences of prisons.
From Boing Boing, the free encyclopedia
The vast majority of Chao’s private appointments occurred on Fridays — frequently after lunchtime
"It would be surprising, and it would certainly be highly imprudent, if at any point Judge Kavanaugh directly contacted an individual believed to have information about allegations like this."