Tag: classified documents

…meanwhile…

Donald J. Trump returned to a Manhattan court Thursday where his defense attorney cross-examined adult film star Stormy Daniels. The criminal case over falsified business records looks likely to be the only case Trump faces before the election. On Wednesday, the Georgia Court of Appeals announced it will review a judge's ruling that allowed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue prosecuting Trump, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, which means prosecutors will not get their August trial date.

FRIDAY 5/10/24

Netanyahu on Dr. Phil – As Republicans on Capitol Hill have been criticizing President Biden for withholding arms to Israel over its attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, buzz Friday morning centers on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s interview with Phil McGraw on Dr. Phil Primetime. But Israel’s Haaretz led with this quote from Netanyahu in the interview: “The government’s first responsibility is to protect the people, that’s the ultimate enveloping responsibility, and the people weren’t protected, we have to admit that.”

•••

Confederate Leaders Go Back to School – School board members for Virginia’s Shenandoah County district voted 5-1 to restore names of Confederate leaders to two of its schools early Friday, CNN reports. Mountain View High School is to be renamed Stonewall Jackson High School, and Honey Run Elementary will be renamed Ashby Lee Elementary, for General Robert E. Lee and cavalry commander Turner Ashby, according to the report. 

The Confederate leaders’ names were removed from both schools four years ago in the wake of the 2020 police killing of George Floyd. 

Note: Save for the Jim Crow South, we cannot think of any losing military force that has had its “heros’” names applied to public buildings. We’re confident, for instance, there never has been an Adolf Eichmann secondary school nor a Hermann Göring kindergarten.

--TL

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No Shells for Rafah Attack – The Israeli Defense Force has not entered Rafah’s population centers yet, President Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett on AC 360 Wednesday, but when they do, the U.S. will cut off arms to Israel, including artillery shells.

“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone into Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not going to supply them the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with those cities, to deal with that problem,” Biden said. 

Republicans on Capitol Hill are objecting, CQ Roll Call reports. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in a letter to Biden they were “alarmed” by the pause in armament deliveries, that “flies in the face of assurances provided regarding the timely delivery of security assistance to Israel.”

•••

MTG Fail? – The House voted a decisive 359-43 to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) motion to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) over bi-partisan passage of a $61-billion aid package to Ukraine. The vote, according to CQ Roll Call, breaks down to just 11 Republicans voting against the motion to table, assisted by 32 Democrats, with another seven Democrats voting “present.” 

While considered a major win for Johnson, who replaced ousted speaker and former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) last year, Punchbowl News says the speaker “looks weak,” after “bucking” or ignoring other Republican congressional leaders’ suggestion he rework the motion to vacate available to any single member when he advanced the Ukraine aid package. 

Meanwhile, MTG – known as “Moscow Marj” in some circles – achieved her goal to get GOP House members on the record regarding the Ukraine aid vote, according to Punchbowl News. On the other hand, this could be considered a sign Republican voters are not so much against aid to Ukraine.

And of course, a statement from Donald J. Trump, whom Johnson visited at Mar-a-Lago in April, reenforced the notion that Trumpian loyalty is a one-way street: “With a majority of one, shortly growing to three or four, we’re not in a position of voting on a motion to vacate. At some point, we may very well be, but this is not the time.”

•••

Cruz Control – Republican senators reportedly are joking rather openly about Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) push to authorize the Federal Aviation Administration’s budget for the fiscal year by Friday’s deadline. Their “bemusement” stems from Cruz’s 180-degree turn from his role as a “conservative rabble-rouser” to “playing the leadon authorizing the FAA,” The Hill reports. Cruz is the ranking Republican on the Commerce Committee.

There is precedent for such hypocrisy, not mentioned in the report, when Cruz and his family jetted off to a Cancun vacation in February 2021 as a severe Texas storm left millions of his voters without power and water. 

“It’s been entertaining to watch,” one unnamed Republican senator told The Hill, regarding Cruz’s FAA push. Quoting the classic comedy movie Airplane, the senator added, “What’s the old Hollywood joke? ‘The foot’s on the other hand.’” Or in Cruz's mouth?

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 5/8/24

Haley Gives GOP Hope -- In case one of Donald J. Trump's myriad criminal cases stick before this August's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee (meaning, hurting him in the polls rather than helping him), his former UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, continues to grab primary votes more than two months after she suspended her campaign for the GOP presidential nomination. Haley got 128,000 votes in Tuesday's Indiana primary, according to The Hill's Decision Desk HQ, or 21.7% to Trump's 78.3%. In April, 150,000 Pennsylvania Republicans voted for Haley in that state's primary.

•••

U.S. Blocks Arms During Rafah Attack – In response to the Israeli government’s refusal to hold off its long-threatened attack on Rafah at Gaza’s southern border, the U.S. is withholding shipment of 3,000 missiles to Israel, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Israel’s offensive on Rafah launched after Palestinians believed Hamas had successfully negotiated a ceasefire, but Israel refused to sign on to the deal brokered with Egypt and Qatar.

 •••

Cannon Gums Up Trump’s Classified Docs Trial – Quick reminder of the facts: Then-President Trump appointed Judge Aileen Cannon to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in late 2020. In an August 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago, the FBI recovered boxes of classified documents Trump hoarded after leaving the White House.

The Washington Post reported last year that witnesses in the subsequent case said Trump showed some classified documents to guests at Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s attorneys, meanwhile, have successfully clogged up special counsel Jack Smith’s case accusing Trump of willful retention of classified documents and conspiracy to obstruct justice, among other charges.

On Tuesday, Cannon issued a five-page order that delays indefinitely the classified documents trial once scheduled for May 20 – less than two weeks from now – and which special counsel Jack Smith had hoped would be rescheduled to July 8 (per Politico).

Considering all the issues between prosecutor Smith and Trump’s defense team, “finalization of a trial date at this juncture … would be imprudent and inconsistent with the court’s duty to fully and fairly consider the pre-trial issues,” Cannon’s order says. 

Theoretically, the case could still go to trial before the end of 2024, some legal pundits say, but that would require Cannon to run out of ways to slow the process.

•••

Zelenskyy’s Latest Threat – The narrative behind Ukraine’s resilient efforts to keep Russia from taking over the country tells of a united effort by its military and its public. That ignores the fact that ethnic Russians make up the largest minority in Ukraine, reportedly 17.3% in 2001, according to Wikipedia. What’s more, Ukraine’s military is not impervious to Russian infiltration. 

On Monday, Ukraine’s security service said it had uncovered a network of Russia’s federal security service, the FSB, whose agents were preparing yet another assassination attempt of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to The Kyiv Independent. In addition, two Ukraine state security administration (UDO) colonels have reportedly been detained for leaking classified information to Russia. 

According to the Independent’s report, Zelenskyy told The Sun last November he had survived “at least” five assassination attempts.

--TL

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TUESDAY 5/7/24

Israel Attacks Rafah -- The Israeli government did not agree to the same ceasefire deal Hamas agreed to Monday, so Israeli Defense Forces took control of Rafah anyway and have blocked off aid flow, a border official told The Washington Post. Meanwhile, Egypt has denounced the IDF's military operations in Rafah.

Putin to Out-Stalin Stalin -- It's inauguration day for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's fifth term as president, NPR reports. If he fills out the entire term, Putin will have led Russia longer than Joseph Stalin. Most European Union nations boycotted Putin's inauguration ceremonies, Morning Edition says.

--TL

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MONDAY 5/6/24

UPDATE: Hamas has accepted a 42-day ceasefire deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar that would return 33 hostages, dead or alive, BBC News reports. The deal still awaits response from Israel, which says it will not call off its planned attack on Rafah.

Time is Up for Rafah – Cease fire talks between Hamas and Israel seems to have sputtered to a stall, again, and so the Israeli government Monday morning urged people to evacuate Rafah in southern Gaza (The Washington Post) as its military prepares for its long-threatened assault on the city. Hamas and Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government are blaming each other for lack of progress in the negotiations.

•••

Speaker Under Pressure – House Democrats will join a majority of Republicans to block Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) motion to dismiss Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) this week, says NPR’s Morning Edition. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), told CBS News’ 60 Minutes Sunday, “Our view would traditionally be; ‘Let the other side work its own mess out.’ But when that mess starts to impact the ability to do the job on behalf of the American people, then the responsible thing at that moment might be to make clear that we will not allow the extremists to throw the Congress and the country into chaos.”

MTG has the backing in her threat of Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ), but Donald J. Trump, who received Johnson at Mar-a-Lago last week, is sitting this issue out as he tends to the trial over falsification of business records in connection with hush money payments.

Hindsight… We have to wonder whether former speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) would still be speaker and Trump wouldn’t be running for president again if McCarthy hadn’t had his pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago less than two months after the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol.

•••

More Tears Over Trump? – The criminal trial in which former President Trump is charged with falsifying business records in an alleged attempt to put the "hush" into hush money continues Monday, with the alleged recipient of said hush money, adult film star Stormy Daniels, expected to testify this week, according to The New York Times. On Friday, former Trump spokeswoman and close White House advisor Hope Hicks broke down in tears, after describing the effect on Trump’s 2016 campaign when the infamous Access Hollywood tape surfaced.

•••

Feds Investigate Cuellar – Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and his wife were indicted last Friday on federal charges accusing them of accepting $600,000 in bribes from the country of Azerbaijan and a Mexican bank in exchange for political favors in Congress. Federal agents raided Cuellar’s office and the couple’s house Friday, just weeks before a runoff between two Republicans to challenge him in the general election, according to The Texas Tribune. Republicans Jay Furman and Lazaro Garza face each other in a May 28 runoff with the winner to challenge Cuellar November 5.

•••

Up on the Hill – Both chambers of Congress are in session Tuesday through Thursday. The full House only is in session Monday, while the full Senate is in session Friday.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

…meanwhile…

FRIDAY 6/23/23

•(What's with these data-news stories in the right and left columns? Read about our new partnership with Stacker -- scroll down the center column.)

Modi Visit Upholds U.S. Interests – India has not joined the rest of the democratic world in supporting Ukraine in its defense against Russia, and instead the “world’s largest democracy,” run for nearly a decade by nationalist Prime Minister Narenda Modi (above) continues to support Russia’s economy by purchasing its oil. All that, and Modi’s demonstrably poor record on human rights and religious freedom was not the subject of public discussion at a lavish state dinner hosted at the White House, where President Biden “showered him with flattery” according to The New York Times.

The Biden administration hopes to draw India closer to the U.S. while Russia’s war on Ukraine rages on and Chinese relations deteriorate. Biden and Modi announced initiatives Thursday, with no evidence of resolving disagreements. Earlier Thursday, the two leaders announced a deal in which General Electric will build military jet engines in India with state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics, Politico reports, in an agreement that has long been in the making.

“America has no permanent friends or enemies,” Henry Kissinger once said, “only interests.”

Modi’s “most surprising breakthrough” Thursday evening, the NYT reports, was a Q&A Modi allowed with White House reporters. Modi said democracy is “in India’s DNA.”

He added, “In India’s democratic values, there’s absolutely no discrimination neither on the basis of caste, creed, or age, or any kind of geographic location.” Meanwhile, demonstrators protested India’s crackdown on dissent from outside the White House gates.

Before the state dinner, Modi appeared at a joint session of Congress Thursday. He was to continue his visit Friday with a lunch with Vice President Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, NPR reports.

•••

‘Frankly Stupid’ – House Democrats reportedly are “giddy” and Republicans embarrassed by uber-MAGA Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-CO) resolution Wednesday to impeach without requisite hearings President Biden over the White House’s handling of immigration policy and the situation at the southern border, says New York magazine’s Intelligencer. Boebert’s move had no chance of passage and dispensed with such formalities as Judicial Committee hearings.

A 219-208 vote to send the impeachment resolution for consideration by committees effectively parked Boebert’s resolution, as those committees have no obligation to do anything about it, The Hill reports. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who is more interested in defeating Biden with next year’s congressional and presidential elections intended to call Boebert to the carpet in a closed-door GOP conference meeting, but the Colorado rep failed to show. 

Republican strategist Dan Judy described Boebert’s resolution as “frankly stupid,” (per The Hill), adding; “The party needs to be focused on the problems facing American voters rather than this sideshow.”

--TL

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THURSDAY 6/22/23

Schiff on the Trump-Russia Axis – The House voted 213-209 to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), a favorite target of former President Trump, over Schiff’s allegations as the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee that Russia helped Trump’s successful 2016 campaign (per Axios). Vote on the resolution only came to the floor after its sponsor, pro-MAGA Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) removed a $16-million fine she sought to have imposed against Schiff last week. 

Democrats on the House floor shouted down Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as he tried to read the resolution, chanting “shame” and jeering him as a “spiteful coward” as they cheered Schiff. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called for the speaker to be ousted. One unidentified Republican House member shouted back, “jackasses.”

Five Republicans on the House Ethics Committee, plus Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) voted “present” on the censure resolution. 

Meanwhile, in the Judiciary Committee: In a hearing with Special Counsel John Durham Wednesday on his investigation of the FBI’s investigation of the alleged Russian intervention in Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, Schiff said this: “The only distinguishment between [Robert Mueller’s] investigation and yours is he refused to bring charges where he couldn’t prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and you did.”

Durham spent five hours before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday (and was in a closed-door meeting with the committee Tuesday night) on his four-year, $6.5-million investigation of the investigators, which failed to find wrongdoing and concluded in a 306-page report that the FBI should have conducted a preliminary investigation rather than a full investigation. 

What’s next?: Schiff might use the $16 million he does not have to pay along with his censure on his campaign for the Senate seat of Diane Feinstein, who turns 90 Thursday and is not running for re-election next year. Schiff faces fellow Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee and Katie Porter in the California primary.

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 6/21/23

Ukrainian Recovery Conference – Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged an additional $1.3 billion in U.S. recovery assistance to Ukraine to help rebuild the war-torn country’s energy grid and such critical infrastructure as rail lines and border crossings (per Bloomberg) during a conference hosted by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in London. 

Poland’s minister of foreign affairs tweeted he has prepared a law that would extend investments and insurance coverage for transport of goods and services to and from Ukraine … meanwhile, the European Conference chief wants Hungary to answer questions regarding Ukraine’s claims that Russia transferred prisoners of war to authoritarian President Viktor Orbån’s Hungary without Ukraine’s involvement (per The Guardian). 

Ukrainian counteroffensive is ‘not Hollywood’: Battlefield progress has been “slower than desired” in the early weeks of Ukraine’s push-back of Russian troops, President Volodymyr Zelinskyy (FILE IMAGE above) told the BBC.

“Some people believe this is a Hollywood movie and expect results now. It is not. What’s at stake is people’s lives.”

Ukraine has reclaimed eight villages in the southeast region of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk to the east, so far, he said.

Nuke sabre-rattling: Vladimir Putin says Russia’s new Sarmat missiles, which can carry 10 or more nuclear warheads, will soon be ready for deployment, The Guardian reports. The comments came after defense minister Sergei Shoigu told graduating military academy students that the “collective west” is waging a “real war” against Russia.

•••

DEMOCRACY WATCH: Conjuring the Ghost of Nixon – Donald J. Trump revealed “another sweeping piece of his plans to slash federal spending and defund the ‘deep state’” in a video first revealed to Semafor, the news website reports. This plan for the former president’s self-expected second term coming in 2025 would “scrap” parts of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Act of 1974, implemented in reaction to President Nixon’s attempt to scrap tens of billions of dollars in federal funding on his own. Specifically, the law forces the executive branch to spend money Congress approves, and regulates the president from delaying or impounding federal spending for specific programs.

Russia v. Ukraine, again: Trump was accused of violating the '74 law enacted as Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment when he froze Congressional funding earmarked for Ukraine in 2019, a move that led to Trump's first impeachment.

--TL

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...meanwhile...

TUESDAY 6/20/23

Hunter Biden to Plead Out – Son of the president, Hunter Biden, has reached a tentative plea agreement with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges of failing to pay in 2017 and 2018, and admit to the fact of a gun charge, The Washington Post reports, citing court papers filed Tuesday. The deal likely will keep Biden, 53, out of prison but still needs approval by a federal judge. Federal prosecutors and Biden’s defense counsel have requested a hearing to enter his plea.

The investigation into the case opened in 2018 during the Trump administration. Since at least 2020, Republican politicians have accused the Biden administration of reluctance to pursue the case – a charge that is not at all likely to go away with the plea deal, which was negotiated with Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a “holdover” from the Trump administration, WaPo notes.

•••

Court Date for Mar-a-Lagogate -- Judge Aileen Cannon (above) has scheduled Thursday, August 24 as the date for the trial to begin in the Justice Department's case over Donald J. Trump's retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, The Hill reports. The trial in Cannon's Ft. Pierce, Florida, courtroom would begin about two months after Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 counts issued by Special Counsel Jack Smith, but attorneys for the former president are expected to push delays well into the 2024 presidential campaign season. Pre-trial motions are due by July 24.

•••

Ukraine Gains in South – But the country’s defense ministry reports a “difficult situation” in the east. Russia launched 35 attack drones overnight, with Ukrainian soldiers able to repel 32 of them, The Guardian reports, while Ukraine’s defense ministry confirmed liberation of Piatykhatsky in the southern Zaporizhzhia Oblast region, according to the Kyiv Independent. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has landed in London after meeting with Chinese officials, including President Xi Jingping in Beijing, the UK government says it will extend economic sanctions against Russia after the war ends until the Kremlin pays to rebuild Ukraine.

Meanwhile, on Fox News: Donald J. Trump told Fox News’ Brett Baier on Special Report what he said to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a private meeting in Helsinki in July 2018: He “claimed Monday” that the conversation convinced Putin to delay his invasion for several years (Russia invaded in February 2022). “He wouldn’t have done it if it were me. He did it after I left.”

About those boxes of documents: Trump also told Fox News’ Baier he was too busy to return boxes full of classified documents he kept at Mar-a-Lago, Politico reports. Trump had to take time to sort through them to keep shirts and golf shoes that belonged to him, apparently. 

And foxnews.com says that in the exclusive interview with the former president, he called the National Archives and Records Administration – which requested return of the papers ahead of the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago – a “radical left” group.

•••

Special Counsel to the Hill – Special Counsel John Durham, who was tapped by then-Attorney Gen. Bill Barr in 2019 to investigate whether federal law enforcement officials unfairly investigated a connection between the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, appears before the Republican-majority House of Representatives this week. Durham will testify on his recently released report on that investigation before the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday, The Washington Post reports, and in a closed session with the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. 

•••

Trump’s Saudi Deal – A real estate deal with the Saudi government’s sovereign fund to develop a golf complex, including luxury villas with sticker prices up to $13 million, overlooking the Gulf of Oman is “unlike any of [Donald J. Trump’s] deals before,” according to a special report The New York Times. Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, “cultivated” the deal with the government of Oman while Trump was in office, according to the report, which says the Trump Organization received nearly $5 million from the deal, which includes a Trump-branded hotel, golf course and golf club, and a 30-year management contract.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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Where Do You Live?

Are you a conservative in a liberal state? A liberal in a conservative state?

For the first time since we began posting, we present data reporting and analysis, by our new partners at Stacker, in the left and right columns at the same time. Stacker reporters compiled voter turnout data from The New York Times and political ideology insight from the Gallup organization to single out the counties in each state that vote against the statewide ideological grain. 

For Washington, D.C., ideological insight came not from Gallup, but from the Pew Research Institute.

There are 20 listings in each column, including one for Washington, D.C. (care to guess which column it is in?). No voter turnout data were available for Virginia, Alaska, Louisiana nor Alabama. Some "battleground" states that split evenly between conservative and liberal voters were not included.

These are not liberal/conservative commentaries we traditionally post in the left and right columns, but rather straight news features that help describe vagaries of the red state-blue state divide. However, as with any of our regular posts in these columns, , we seek your reactions. Become a Citizen Pundit and write your opinions in the Comment section of the appropriate column (subject to editing for civility) or email editors@thehustings.news and indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

--Todd Lassa

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NY Grand Jury Votes to Indict Trump

THURSDAY-FRIDAY 3/30-31/23

A Manhattan Grand Jury voted to indict the former president, Donald J. Trump in a case focusing on hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Associated Press report. No details are yet known, as the indictment remains sealed, though AP reports that Trump is expected to surrender to authorities next week, according to an unnamed source. 

The indictment comes after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told New York court officials that the grand jury would not be hearing further evidence for weeks, and other matters were on the panel’s agenda before the Passover holiday (WaPo).

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was the first Congress member to comment WaPo says, tweeting “President Donald Trump always fought for us. He puts the American people above corrupt interests. For that reason alone, the powerful will never stop coming for him.”

Or… While House Republicans, with their wafer-thin majority will continue to echo Trump’s “Witch Hunt” response it remains to be seen whether Senate Republicans are ready to move on from 45 and repudiate supporters’ claims.

Perp Walk: Meanwhile, Trump already has said he wants to be cuffed (and martyred) for his supporters.

Bigger Indictments to Come?: On the other side, Democrats and never-Trump Republicans expect Fulton County, Georgia’s investigation into his efforts to alter the Electoral College and investigations in Washington, D.C., over his alleged involvement in the January 6th Capitol insurrection and for Mar-a-Lagogate, his handling of classified documents at his Florida home.

•••

Russia Holds WSJ Reporter – Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been detained in Moscow on charges of “espionage” in the first such case involving a Western journalist since the Cold War. Gershkovich, 31, is a Russian speaker whose parents emigrated to the U.S. from the Soviet Union. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. seeks immediate consular access to Gershkovich so that it can provide consular support, The Wall Street Journal reports. 

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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...meanwhile...

WED 3/29/23

Pence Must Testify, But – U.S. District Judge James Boasberg has ruled that former Vice President Mike Pence must testify before prosecutors in the investigation of former President Trump’s efforts to overturn 2020 election results. While the sealed decision, reported by several news outlets including The Washington Post rejects executive privilege for Pence, the judge upholds Pence’s claim of legislative privilege, which means he will not be compelled to give testimony over his role in the formal count of Electoral College votes January 6, 2021, as president of the Senate.

•••

Blame Bank Execs, Not Regulators – Regulators warned Silicon Valley Bank of interest rate and liquidity risks before the bank failed in March, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Michael S. Barr told the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday, Roll Call reports, where Republicans and at least one Democrat sought to blame the regulators. 

Barr told the Senate committee that it is not regulators’ job, but of the bank’s board and senior management to fix such problems, according to Marketplace.

Wednesday: The House Financial Services Committee holds its first hearing on SVB and Signature Bank failures.

--TL

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MON-TUE 3/27-28/23

UPDATE II: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared on Israeli television Monday night to say he is postponing the vote on judicial reform by one month (NPR).

UPDATE: Sources tell Israel's Haaretz that Netanyahu is expected to freeze judicial overhaul following protests over Defense Minister Gallant's firing.

Another Democracy in Peril? – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s (above) right-wing coalition government is debating whether to delay judicial changes that have sparked civil protest in Israel, The New York Times reports. Worker stoppages have spread throughout the country over the weekend, with the national trade union calling for a strike, which has blocked flights from Ben Gurion airport. Netanyahu last weekend sacked Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who objected to the government’s attempt to give itself greater control over Supreme Court judge selection and to limit the court’s authority over Israel’s parliament. 

Netanyahu, once a “staunch defender” of a strong, independent Supreme Court, according to the NYT, is standing trial on corruption charges. Netanyahu’s Likud party-based coalition government risks collapse if he delays judicial control.

•••

In Waco, Texas – From the kick-off rally to former President Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, as covered by Politico:

•”Man, he’s dropping like a rock. … They keep saying ‘DeSanctus’ could do well with farmers. I don’t think so. Based on polls, he’s not doing well with anything.”

•The “biggest threat” to the U.S. isn’t China or Russia, but “high level politicians that work in the U.S. government like McConnell, Pelosi, Schumer and Biden.”

Despite Donald J. Trump’s concentration on “grievance” politics, he did make a few campaign promises, Politico reports:

•Mandatory term limits.

•Keeping “men out of women’s sports.”

•Ending “the invasion of the Southern border.”

•End the war in Ukraine and prevent “World War III.”

Meanwhlie: The Trump-Fox News relationship, bumpy to say the least over the last year or so, takes a “warmer turn” when Sean Hannity interviews the former prez Monday night, The Hill says.

•••

This Week – The Senate and House are in session Monday through Thursday. The Senate only is in session Friday. Spring break begins for both chambers next week.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

JOIN THE CITIZEN PUNDITS’ BRIGADE: email your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news

…meanwhile…

TUESDAY 1/24/23

Pence Gets Ahead of the Story – Show of hands. Who among ex-presidents and ex-veeps did not take classified documents home? An attorney for Mike Pence says a search instigated by the former vice president found “a small number” of documents in his Indiana home bearing classified markings, The Washington Post reports. Pence is a likely candidate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

WaPo’s story quotes a letter to the National Archives by Gregory Jacobs, a designated representative for Pence’s vice-presidential records, who said the FBI collected the classified documents from his home last Thursday, January 19. In the letter, Jacobs said he would deliver the documents to the National Archives on Monday, June 23. 

•••

Ex-FBI Agent Indicted – Former FBI spy hunter Charles McGonigal was indicted in a Manhattan federal court Monday of taking $225,000 to try to get Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska off a U.S. sanctions list, while he was investigating the close confidant of Vladimir Putin, The Washington Post reports. McGonigal, now 54, retired from the FBI in September 2018. He was indicted on charges of money laundering and violating U.S. sanctions, and other counts from his alleged ties to Deripaska, whose indictment of sanction violations was unsealed last September.

•••

All the Best Golf Buddies – How well does Donald J. Trump know Philadelphia mob boss Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino? The former president’s 2024 presidential campaign won’t say in response to a photo that turned up in The Philadelphia Inquirer showing Trump and “Skinny Joey” giving the thumbs-up, along with an unidentified friend of Merlino. The newspaper published a “slightly blurry” photo from an unidentified source showing a hatless Merlino posing for the camera with Trump and the unidentified friend, both wearing red MAGA hats, early in January at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. 

One of the three, “Skinny Joey,” has served a decade in prison for a 2001 racketeering conviction and reportedly works as a maitre d’ in a Boca Raton Italian restaurant named for him, according to the Inquirer.

--TL

MONDAY 1/23/23

Gallego to Challenge Sinema in ’24 – Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) has announced he will run against incumbent Sen. Krysten Sinema in 2024 (per The Guardian). Progressive Democrat Gallego, who has served his Phoenix-area district since 2015, had been hinting at the run at least since Sinema left the party to become an independent after Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) won a runoff last December for a full term resulting in a Democratic Party net gain of one Senate seat after the midterms.

•••

Zients to Replace Klain as Chief of Staff -- Jeff Zients, who led the Biden administration’s pandemic response until last April, will replace Ron Klain as the White House chief of staff, likely after the president’s February 7 State of the Union address, according to multiple news outlets. The White House has not confirmed the reports, which were backed by statements from unnamed sources.

Zients returned to the White House last autumn to help Klain prepare for staff turnover following the midterms, according to The Washington Post, which notes that few staff members have left the administration. Klain, who will be the first of Biden’s inner circle to leave, assigned Zients various projects to prepare him for the chief of staff job, sources told WaPo.

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This Week – The Senate is in session Monday through Friday. The House is in session Tuesday through Friday.

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ICYMI, More Confidential Docs – It’s not easy to keep track of the number of separate searches for confidential documents found in President Biden’s possession, but we’ll try. Last Friday, the FBI conducted a search of Biden’s sprawling Wilmington, Delaware home to find additional confidential documents dating back to his vice presidency (2009-2017), and even earlier, when he was senior senator from the state. NPR’s Morning Edition referred to this as the “drip, drip” of such documents discovered, and it marks the fourth time since November that classified documents have been found at one of Biden’s properties, CNBC says.

The Difference, Again … Between Biden’s mishandling of confidential government documents and ex-President Trump’s stash at Mar-a-Lago is that Trump appears to have absconded with a stash of papers from Biden’s inauguration day, and he continuously told the Justice Department and National Archives he had returned everything. This culminated in a search warrant allowing the FBI to comb through Mar-a-Lago some 18 months after Biden’s inauguration. The FBI’s 13-hour search of Biden’s home last Friday reportedly was “consensual.”

But: Revelations of the initial discovery, just before last November’s midterms but not revealed until CBS News reported on the confidential papers earlier this month has exposed Biden to criticism from Republicans and right-wing media, while at least partially deflating the case against Trump. --Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

…meanwhile…

(FRI 9/30/22)

UPDATE: House Passes CR -- The House passed the continuing resolution extending the current fiscal year budget beyond its Friday midnight expiration, to December 16. President Biden will have signed it ASAP.

Here are the 10 House Republicans who joined all the Democrats in the House of Representatives to pass the bill, according to The Hill: Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Garret Graves of Louisiana, Chris Jacobs of New York, John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, Hal Rogers of Kentucky, Fred Upton of Michigan and Steve Womack of Arkansas.

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New Sanctions on Russia as Putin Claims Four Territories – The White House announced a new round of sanctions on Russian government and military officials and their families, per The Hill, in response to President Vladimir Putin’s forced annexation through sham referenda of four regions of Ukraine. The sanctions by the Treasury, Commerce and State departments target the governor of Russia’s Central Bank and former Putin advisor Elvira Sakhipzadovna Nabiullina, more than 100 members of Russia’s Duma, members of the country’s National Security Council, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, among others. In addition, 57 entities will be restricted from obtaining key technologies and other materials. 

Meanwhile: Ukrainian military forces say they have surrounded enemy troops in Lyman, hub of the Russian military in Donetsk, one of four eastern and southeastern regions Putin claimed in a ceremony Friday, according to the Daily Beast, which calls it Putin’s most humiliating defeat by Ukraine yet. It “could be one of the most serious Russian military losses of the war so far,” according to the report.

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House’s Turn – The Senate Thursday passed a continuing resolution funding the federal government at current levels through December 16, and now it’s the House’s turn. Failure to do so before midnight Friday, the end of the fed’s fiscal year, would shut down key Social Service, IRS services and national parks, The Washington Post notes.

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Cannon v. Dearie – Federal Judge Aileen Cannon Thursday overruled Special Master Raymond Dearie’s order that Donald J. Trump’s attorneys clarify whether they believe the former president’s claims that the FBI lied in its seizure of government documents at Mar-a-Lago August 8 (WaPo again).

Upshot: Dearie’s ruling last week would have forced Trump’s lawyers to deny his claims that more than 100 documents in the seizure were not classified or face potential perjury. As the judge who appointed Dearie the special master in Mar-a-Lagogate, Cannon has the power to do that. Trump’s appointment of Dearie as lame duck after he lost the 2020 election is paying off for him, and is continuing to slow the case well past the midterms and toward a possible GOP takeover of House and Senate majority rule.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news