March 25, 2023

Matt Viser & Amanda Coletta of the Washington Post: "President Biden used his first trip to Canada as president Friday to reaffirm the close ties between the two nations, seeking to solidify a key relationship with America’s northern neighbor at a time when the world appears increasingly divided between democratic and authoritarian blocs. During a whirlwind 24-hour trip, Biden addressed the Canadian Parliament, receiving several standing ovations, and met one-on-one with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who repeatedly referred to him as a personal friend. Trudeau also cited recent 'challenging times in our relationship as a country, as two friends and countries,' an apparent reference to the Trump years. Biden signaled that those times were over. 'Today I say to you and to all the people of Canada that you will always, always, be able to count on the United States of America — I guarantee you,' Biden told a boisterous Parliament. 'Together, we have built a partnership that is an incredible advantage to both our nations.'”

Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The conflict in northeast Syria escalated on Friday as Iran-backed militias launched a volley of rocket and drone attacks against coalition bases after American reprisals for a drone attack that killed a U.S. contractor and injured six other Americans. President Biden, speaking at a news conference in Canada, sought to tamp down fears that tit-for-tat strikes between the United States and militant groups could spiral out of control, while at the same time warning Tehran to rein in its proxies. 'Make no mistake, the United States does not, does not, I emphasize, seek conflict with Iran,' Mr. Biden said in Ottawa, where he was making a state visit. 'But be prepared for us to act forcefully to protect our people. That’s exactly what happened last night.'”

Perry Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: "A key lawyer for Donald Trump appeared Friday before a federal grand jury investigating whether the former president sought to keep top-secret documents in his home — testimony that capped an ultimately losing effort by Trump’s legal team to prevent prosecutors from reviewing the lawyer’s notes and other documents in the case. Shortly before 9 a.m., Evan Corcoran strode into the federal courthouse in D.C., where judges had previously ruled he could not use attorney-client privilege to shield his material from investigators. He left about 12:20 p.m."

** Springtime for Trump. John Santucci, et al., of ABC News: "A federal judge has rejected ... Donald Trump's claims of executive privilege and has ordered Mark Meadows and other former top aides to testify before a federal grand jury investigating Trump's efforts to overturn the election leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.... In a sealed order last week, Judge Beryl Howell rejected Trump's claim of executive privilege for Meadows and a number of others, including Trump's former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, his former national security adviser Robert O'Brien, former top aide Stephen Miller, and former deputy chief of staff and social media director Dan Scavino, according to sources familiar with the matter. Former Trump aides Nick Luna and John McEntee, along with former top DHS official Ken Cuccinelli, were also included in the order, the sources said. Trump is likely to appeal the ruling, according to sources...." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story, by Maggie Haberman & Alan Feuer, is here.

"Happy Crime-Fraud Exception Day!" Marcy Wheeler: "...  today marks crime-fraud exception day, the day that at least one of Trump’s attorneys will be obliged to testify about how Trump lied to his lawyers to try to get away with hoarding stolen classified documents.... [Trump attorneys] Evan Corcoran (and possibly Georgia attorney Jennifer Little) will testify today.... [Thirty-one]  lawyers have all — at a minimum — appeared in subpoenas pertinent to one or another of the investigations into Donald Trump, and a surprising number have testified before grand juries, including at least three with (Executive Privilege) waivers.... Some of these lawyers have had legal process served against them, and so may themselves be subjects of one or multiple investigations." Wheeler also discusses the new revelation that Trump attorney Tim Parlatore also testified in December of last year. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Wheeler's post raises more questions. Is there a Crime-Fraud Exception tree? Maybe an avocado (similar to Romance language words for "lawyer"; Aztec for "testicle") tree? What about Crime-Fraud Exception decorations? Little German glass lawyer ornaments? British "silks" streaming down the tree? Are there Crime-Fraud Exception carols? "O, come all ye lawyers, hapless and discouraged...." "On the first day of Crime-Fraud, Jack Smith sent to me ... a subpoena from the grand jur-ee!" What's on the menu for an appropriate feast? Big Macs? Taco bowls? Does everybody throw ketchup at the wall? 

Jonathan Dienst, et al., of NBC News: "The FBI and NYPD are investigating a letter containing a death threat and white powder that was mailed to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office is investigating ... Donald Trump, law-enforcement sources told NBC News. The letter was addressed to Bragg and said, 'ALVIN: I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!' the sources said. It contained a small amount of white powder.... Markings on the envelope indicate it was mailed from Orlando, Florida earlier this week.... It was the latest in what a senior law enforcement source described as "several hundred threats" aimed at Bragg and his office in recent weeks. A couple dozen of the messages were considered to be directly threatening serious harm to Bragg, the source said. Bragg sent an email to his office acknowledging the difficult week." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Chances are extremely low that some creep in Orlando would know who Alvin Bragg was had Trump and his cronies not targeted Bragg. These threats to Bragg and his staff are all Trump's work. Trump is our own home-grown bin Laden. ~~~

~~~ Why Waco? Nicole Hemmer of Vanderbilt U., in a CNN opinion piece: "... Donald Trump’s decision to hold the first rally of his 2024 bid for the White House in Waco, Texas, sends a powerful message about his unfolding presidential campaign. The rally coincides with the 30th anniversary of a siege just outside of Waco between religious extremists, a sect known as the Branch Davidians led by David Koresh, and the federal government. The 51-day standoff began in February 1993 and ended in mid-April with a fire that killed 76 people, including 25 children.... For the past three decades, this incident has been a key element of far-right mythology: a rallying cry for armed resistance to the federal government and its representatives. For Trump, whose first term ended with an assault on the US Capitol, the choice to rally in Waco sends a clear message that will energize proponents of far-right extremism among his base."

** Dan Froomkin of Press Watch: "I’m not sure there has ever been a major-media 'fact check' that more completely, ludicrously, and appallingly missed the point than the one the New York Times published on Thursday about the vile, scurrilous, racist, antisemitic Republican claims aimed at demonizing and linking a Black district attorney and a prominent Jewish funder. Appearing under the headline 'Explaining the Ties Between Alvin Bragg and George Soros,' the 'fact check' by Linda Qiu addressed whether there were, in fact, any links between the Manhattan DA who may be on the verge of indicting Trump for fraud and campaign-finance violations,  and the left-wing philanthropist and noted target of antisemitic slander.... Concluding that 'These claims are exaggerated' is to entirely miss the actual meaning of the claims. It minimizes them. It whitewashes them. It virtually endorses them." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: A lot like fact-checking a mass murderer's manifesto: "According to data gathered and analyzed by the Center for Postal Statistics, the USPS lost far fewer letters in 2019 than Mr. Gunslinger claimed in his manifesto. We give the manifesto three Pinocchios."

Miss Margie Takes Us on a Field Trip. Tom Jackman & Emily Davies of the Washington Post: "About a dozen House Republicans, led by Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), and two Democrats toured the D.C. jail Friday to inspect the conditions under which 20 men charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot are being held, and the two parties emerged with sharply different versions of what they saw. The lawmakers met with some of the defendants, 17 of whom have been charged or convicted of assaulting police officers, and 'they told us stories..., stories of being denied medical treatment, stories of assault, stories of being threatened with rape...,' Greene said afterward.... The two Democrats who joined the tour [-- Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Tex.) & Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) --] said the jail conditions were unremarkable. They said jails are not supposed to be luxury hotels, and that the tour was a political stunt." ~~~

~~~ And then a protester, aided and abetted by left-wing radical D.C. cops, put Miss Margie through hell. Outrageous! ~~~

    ~~~ Whistling Past the Jailyard. Gidion Rubin of the Raw Story: “'We toured the DC Jail today and held a press conference outside the jail after our tour,' Greene tweeted. 'This man assaulted everyone there by blowing a whistle as loud in as he could in other’s ears and tried multiple times to assault me and other members.'... 'He needs to be arrested and we tried to have him arrested,' Greene said.... 'My staffer called 911 and reached an automated recording for several minutes before reaching a human. Reported the guy. She then asked the jail to send out an officer and they refused.' Greene said that the decision not to arrest the man typified a much bigger pattern of lawless liberals acting out without facing consequences.”

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Former Attorney General Bill "Barr, writing in the Wall Street Journal, defended Fox News in the face of a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems. It’s perhaps unsurprising from a guy with a demonstrated penchant for tailoring his legal analysis to fit his allies’ purposes.... Echoing Fox, Barr argues that the network was merely covering claims from newsworthy individuals, rather than endorsing them." Blake looks for the holes in Barr's argument. 

Michael Laris of the Washington Post: "The flight that left a former White House official dead earlier this month was marked by multiple missteps, alerts and system issues before the plane lurched violently in the sky, according to a preliminary report Friday from the National Transportation Safety Board. The Federal Aviation Administration and NTSB initially described the incident as a turbulence event.... According to the new report, pilots said there was no remarkable turbulence during the flight.... Instead, the report says, a key probe affixed to the outside of the plane was initially left covered, a takeoff was aborted, and pilots received a string of alerts on the ground and in the air before switching off a key flight control system immediately before the deadly incident."

Beyond the Beltway

California. Corina Knoll, et al., of the New York Times: "The union representing 30,000 education workers reached a tentative deal with the Los Angeles Unified School District on Friday, following a three-day strike that had closed hundreds of campuses and canceled classes for 422,000 students earlier this week. Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents support workers in the district, said that Los Angeles Unified, the second-largest school district in the nation, had met its key demands, including a 30 percent pay increase. The deal must still be voted on by the full union. Mayor Karen Bass announced the deal on Friday at City Hall with Max Arias, the executive director of Local 99, and Alberto Carvalho, the district superintendent."

Florida. Sunshine Is the Best Disinfectant. So Sunshine State Gets Germy. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Members of the Florida Legislature moved this week to shield Gov. Ron DeSantis’s travel records from the public, proposing to change the state’s public information laws just as the governor ramps up what is expected to be a 2024 presidential campaign. The bill, which was advanced by state senators in both parties, includes a sweeping retroactive clause that would block the release of many records of trips already taken by Mr. DeSantis and other officials, as well as their families and staff members. The sealed information would include who accompanied officials like Mr. DeSantis on trips within Florida and around the country. In recent months, he has traveled widely as he promotes a new book and moves toward a White House bid..... On Wednesday, Republicans and Democrats unanimously passed the new bill out of the State Senate’s committee on governmental oversight and accountability. (Also linked yesterday.)

Kentucky. Bruce Schreiner of the Huffington Post: "Kentucky’s Democratic governor [Andy Beshear] issued an election-year veto Friday of a Republican bill aimed at regulating the lives of transgender youths that includes banning access to gender-affirming health care and restricting the bathrooms they can use.The bill also bans discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools and allows teachers to refuse to refer to transgender students by the pronouns they use. It easily passed the GOP-led legislature with veto-proof margins, and lawmakers will reconvene next week for the final two days of this year’s session, when they could vote to override the veto." (Also linked yesterday.) 

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "U.N. human rights monitors said the vast majority of the human rights violations they documented were committed by Russian forces. Russia committed 621 cases of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions of civilians, while Ukraine committed 91, they said. They also alleged that Russia was responsible for 109 cases of sexual violence, and Ukraine for 24. Brutal treatment of prisoners of war is common on both sides, the mission said. Canada and the United States pledge to keep the “torch of liberty burning brightly” for Ukraine, President Biden said in an address to the Canadian parliament in Ottawa on Friday." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.