Is This Anything?

Miami Mayor Enters GOP Race – Miami’s second-term mayor, Francis Suarez (above), has filed paperwork to enter the 2024 presidential race and was scheduled to speak at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Thursday, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Suarez, in his second term as mayor, says he did not vote for Donald J. Trump, nor for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Suarez, a Cuban-American and son of a former Miami mayor has called DeSantis’ actions against major Florida employer Disney a “personal vendetta.” He is a darling of the tech world who says he takes his (part-time) mayoral salary in Bitcoin.

Meanwhile, the Miami Herald earlier this week reported that the FBI and Securities and Exchange Commission have opened investigations into Suarez, NPR notes.

•••

From the old days of broadcast TV, the eponymous host of The Late Show with David Letterman had a “bit” we have borrowed for the headline above. We raise the question over the turn Trump administration UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has made on the former president’s 37-count indictment in the classified documents case.

Initially, Haley parroted Trump’s Truth Social diatribes against Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s indictment as evidence of a “double standard,” siding with fellow GOP presidential candidates Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott (SC) and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Monday, Haley had this to say: “Two things can be true at the same time.” The Justice Department and FBI “have lost all credibility with the American people.” And … “If this indictment is true, if what it says is actually the case, President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security. … This puts all our military men and women in danger, if you’re going to talk about what our military is capable of or how we could go about invading or doing something with our enemies. …

“You know, we’re looking now, this is the second indictment. We’re looking at a third indictment coming in with Georgia.”

By Tuesday, Haley was rationalizing a pardon for Trump if she becomes president, according to Politico, though in a Ford-pardons-Nixon sort of heal-the-nation way. She will need to pull her poling numbers up by the bootstraps before she can promise the current GOP frontrunner a pardon, though.

Scott also came around, a bit, on the seriousness of Trump’s charges, saying “This case is a serious case with serious allegations, but in America you are still innocent until proven guilty.” Not quite a Chris Christie “stop him at all costs” position, but a noticeable shift from both candidates, heretofore unwilling to criticize Trump.

So … is this anything? Is this finally a shift from control by the president-ex-president who has held the GOP by the throat for six years? What would David Letterman say?

_____

…meanwhile…

FRIDAY 5/19/23

Haley Welcomes DeSantis – From Des Moines, where Decision ’24 already is heating up, former North Carolina governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley grabbed a bit of spotlight from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (above), who is expected to announce his presidential candidacy next week.

“Welcome to the race. We’ve been waiting,” Haley said in an exclusive interview with The Hill. “I’m glad that he’s going to be out there because I want the American public to see who they’re choosing from.”

Haley was the second GOP candidate to announce, after Donald J. Trump, in February.

Meanwhile, back in Florida: Disney has cancelled plans for a $900 million Florida campus in Orlando’s Lake Nona and will close one of its most expensive attractions, the “Star Wars” adventure hotel, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Lake Nona, where more than 2,000 new employees were to work, is dead, Josh D’Amaro, head of Disney’s Parks, Experiences and Products division said.

“Given the considerable changes that have occurred since the announcement of this project, including new leadership and changing business conditions, we have decided not to move forward.”

Though “changing conditions” include Disney’s “significant” job and budget cuts, they also include a governor, DeSantis, who is not acting a Republican when it comes to his treatment of big business.

•••

Feinstein Resists Early Retirement – “Early” for the 89-year-old senator from California means before her current term is up in January 2025. Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) already has announced she will not run again, and Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee, Adam Schiff and Katie Porter each have announced their intention to fill her shoes.

Feinstein appeared “shockingly diminished” upon her return to the Senate last week after she was out more than two months for complications from shingles. Key among them was the revelation of a previously unreported case of encephalitis, The New York Times reports. The shingles also spread to Feinstein’s face and neck, resulting in Ramsey Hunt syndrome.

While the drumbeats for her early retirement continue and she continues to resist, Feinstein only needs to remain in office to the March 5, 2024 primary, when Democratic voters in the state will choose from Lee, Porter and Schiff. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has stated his intention of choosing California’s first female senator, which could set up Lee as the catbird seat candidate for next year.

--TL

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THURSDAY 5/18/23

Santosland Diaries -- House Republicans defeated a symbolic House Democrat resolution to expel truth-challenged Rep. George Santos by referring the resolution to the Ethics Committee, by a 221-204 party line vote. Democrats on the Ethics Committee voted “present” to avoid conflict of interest, according to NPR. The unsuccessful expulsion resolution was introduced by Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA).

Garcia raised the question of privilege, which allows members to force a vote on certain resolutions without support of House leadership. House leaders then have two days to bring the resolution to the floor.

Santos was indicted last week on federal criminal charges, including wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements to the House.

Doing the math: It takes two-thirds majority to expel a congress member for what would be only the fourth time in U.S. history, Roll Call reports. If successful, it would reduce Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s four-vote majority to just three. McCarthy said the Justice Department’s investigation of Santos should proceed as the congress member continues to participate in floor votes.

On MSNBC’s All in With Chris Hayes, Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) said other House Republicans “cheer” Santos’ vote as he helps them make laws.

“They are certainly interested in protecting him,” Balint said.

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 5/17/23

Deal or No Deal? – Anyone who ever has been involved in labor negotiations from either side will recognize the pattern of the dance between President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) over raising the debt ceiling in time to avoid economic disaster. For weeks, months even, each side stands firm while blaming the other for not negotiating in good faith.

Biden will not give up hard-fought programs like the Inflation Reduction Act to assure the federal government will pay its debts incurred over the last fiscal year. McCarthy and his thin House majority will not pay those debts unless the White House cuts back on its spending. The two sides get closer, closer, closer, though they never seem to be close to a deal until the last possible minute. Then suddenly, a breakthrough. Or not, though Congress and the president have always come through in the past.

With barely two weeks to go until a very likely economic meltdown as early as June 1, if the government doesn’t pay its bills, we’re in that amorphous period where the union is determined not to strike and the employer truly does not want the down-time, but progress is not obvious.

Tuesday, Biden said he would cut short a diplomatic trip to Asia, which begins with a G7 summit in Hiroshima. But Biden has cancelled a planned trip afterward to Australia, next week in order to concentrate on the debt ceiling. Both Biden and McCarthy “showed signs of optimism” after an hour-long meeting in the Oval Office Tuesday afternoon (labor negotiations are never that short), The New York Times reports.

“We just finished another good, productive meeting with congressional leadership about a path forward to make sure America does not default on its debt,” Biden said.

McCarthy told reporters that he could see a deal reached “by the end of the week.”

Apparently the White House sees the Republican light on calling back unspent COVID relief bills.

We predict a spoiled Memorial Day weekend for one or both of the chambers.

--TL

_______________________________________________

TUESDAY 5/16/23

Durham Reports on Trump Investigation – John Durham, a special counsel appointed in 2019 by then-Attorney Gen. William Barr to investigate the investigators in alleged Russian tampering into the 2016 Trump campaign, released more than 300 pages of criticism for the way the FBI handled the probe, The Washington Post reports.

According to Durham’s report, the FBI’s investigation of Trump’s first presidential campaign – codenamed ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ was based on “raw, unanalyzed and uncorroborated intelligence.”

Conversely, the FBI “proceeded cautiously” on alleged influence by a foreign actor in the 2016 Clinton campaign, WaPo says. The FBI’s conduct in Crossfire Hurricane previously came under fire in a 2019 report by the Justice Department’s inspector general, which did not find “documentary or testimonial evidence of intentional misconduct” on the part of the Trump campaign.

Democrats have denounced the Durham report, which comes after an investigation from which no one was sent to jail.

Trump, who predicted four years ago the special counsel would uncover the “crime of the century” on Monday claimed victory, writing in social medial; “the American Public was scammed, just as it is being scammed right now by those who don’t want to see GREATNESS for AMERICA!”

--TL

_______________________________________________

Meanwhile This Week

MONDAY MAY 15, 2023

More UK Arms to Ukraine – The United Kingdom will send “hundreds” more missiles and attack drones to the Ukraine, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced in a meeting with President Volodomyr Zelinskyy in England, Monday, Time reports. Sunak told Zelinskyy, who landed at Sunak’s Chequers country retreat; “your leadership, your country’s bravery and fortitude are an inspiration to us all.”

On Sunday for the third stop on a whirlwind European tour that also included Paris and Rome, Zelinskyy told reporters in Berlin he is not interested in negotiating a peace deal with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, whom he called “insane.”

“It’s a joke for him. He does not understand what is happening. He is an insane human,” Zelinskyy said, according to a Ukrainian government readout of a press conference following his talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, as reported by Newsweek.

“Putin started the war. Russia took lives. The war is on our land. …

“We have not proposed an artificial plan,” Zelinskyy continued. “We have proposed how to get out of this situation, to end the war, according to the law, respecting the UN Charter, international law, people, values.” Ukraine’s Peace Formula is a 10-point plan that outlines Kyiv’s conditions for peace, and Zelinskyy says he is “not interested” in meeting with Putin for peace talks.

•••

Erdogan Beats Earthquake – Incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdo¨gan pulled out an upset, but not quite a victory, against Republican People’s Party (CHP) challenger Kiliçda Ro¨glu in Turkey’s presidential election Sunday. Erdogan received 49.51% of the vote, not enough to avoid a runoff, but well ahead of Ro¨glu’s 44.88%, a “bitter disappointment” for the challenger who had led in many polls.

Third-party candidate Sinan Og¨an took 5.17% of the vote, indicating the potential to flip Sunday’s vote in the runoff.

Erdo¨gan, Turkey’s president for 20 years, took his hit in the polls over a slow government response February’s earthquake, which claimed 50,000 lives, and his low interest rates to revive the economy that resulted in 85% inflation, according to The Guardian.

The bigger picture: Though his nation is a NATO member, Erdo¨gan has cozied up to Vladimir Putin, in part by refusing to enforce Western sanctions against Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and buying heavily discounted Russian oil, The New York Times reports. Erdo¨gan opposes Sweden’s application for NATO membership unless Stockholm first hands over Kurdish refugees, particularly those from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. Erdo¨gan during his tenure also has jailed dissidents and suppressed independent media.

Though Western officials assiduously avoid being accused of interfering in Turkish politics, “it is an open secret that European leaders, not to speak of the Biden administration, would be delighted if Erdo¨gan were to lose,” the NYT says.

•••

More Debt-Ceiling Tuesday – President Biden is scheduled to resume talks with Congressional leaders over the debt ceiling Tuesday, NBC News and Bloomberg News reported Sunday, after a weekend of talks between Congressional and White House staffers. Biden was quoted from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Sunday as being “optimistic” over reaching a deal by a potential June 1 deadline for the federal government running out of money to pay its bills.

“I think they’re moving along, hard to tell,” Biden said. “We have not reached the crunch point yet.”

•••

Up On The Hill – Both chambers are in session Monday through Thursday. The Senate only is in session Friday.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: 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.

•••

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

•••

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

Oath Keepers, Done – Trump Next?

By Ken Zino

Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, founder and leader of the Oath Keepers, and Kelly Meggs, leader of the Florida chapter of the group, were found guilty by a jury on Tuesday of seditious conspiracy and other charges for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

“Their actions disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes related to the presidential election,” the Justice Department said.

Three additional defendants, who were leaders and associates of the organization, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell, were found guilty of related felony charges. The verdict followed an eight-week trial and three days of deliberations.

No sentencing date was set. However, charges of seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, and tampering with documents or proceedings each carry a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

This, of course, begs the question about the ex-president who wanted to lead Oath Keepers that day after launching his Big Lie before the election and pushing it non-stop afterwards to overturn the legal results. The Big Lie was echoed by virtually the entire Republican party.

“Today the jury returned a verdict convicting all defendants of criminal conduct, including two Oath Keepers leaders for seditious conspiracy against the United States,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Justice Department is committed to holding accountable those criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy on January 6, 2021. The prosecutors and agents on this case worked tirelessly, with extraordinary skill, and in the best traditions of the Department of Justice.”

No prevarication whatsoever that I can perceive in Garland’s statement.

Last words for the moment from the FBI: “As this case shows, breaking the law in an attempt to undermine the functioning of American democracy will not be tolerated,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “The FBI will always uphold the rights of all citizens who peacefully engage in First Amendment protected activities, but we and our partners will continue to hold accountable those who engaged in illegal acts regarding the January 6, 2021, siege on the U.S. Capitol.”

In the 22 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 900 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 275 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

“The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.”

Yes, ongoing, but if there was enough to convict Oath Keepers, seems that should be sufficient to indict Trump. Coming soon “The United States Versus Donald J. Trump.” J as in Justice?

_____________________________________

Left on Rhodes?

(TUE 11/29/22)

What do the guilty verdicts of Oath Keepers leaders Stewart Rhodes and Kelly Meggs mean for future seditious conspiracy cases by the Justice Department? Watch this space for commentary by contributing pundit Ken Zino.

Click on The Gray Area to read Zino’s commentary on the Chinese intelligence officer recently convicted of espionage in the case involving General Electrics Aviation secrets.

Enter your own Comments in the box in this column or in the right column, or email us at editors@thehustings.news.

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Murdoch to Trump: We Mean It This Time

Conservative cacophony blaming ex-President Trump for the GOP’s marginal Midterm Madness results reached yet another Murdoch crescendo Thursday with the kick in The Donald’s cajones coming from the New York Post (above) to Fox News to the prestige paper. …

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board editorialized; “Trump is the Republican Party’s Biggest Loser.”

This made us feel nostalgic for the time it last appeared the Republican Party and conservatism’s most prominent media conglomerate attempted to take back the Republican Party from “populist” Donald J. Trump. Our center-column headline from July 23 of this year, more than two weeks before the FBI’s August 8 search of Mar-a-Lago for sensitive and even top-secret papers re-cemented right-wing fealty to the ex-prez, and had his most fervid supporters blaming the FBI: “Murdoch to Trump: Drop Dead.”

--TL

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

…meanwhile…

Britain’s New PM – Speaking in front of 10 Downing Street after his appointment by King Richard III, Britain’s third prime minister in less than two months, Rishi Sunak, vowed to make economic stability his priority, The Guardian reports. Admitting that “mistakes were made” by predecessor Liz Truss, who announced a “mini-budget” with unfunded tax cuts during her 50 days as PM, Sunak warned of “difficult decisions to come.”

•••

More on the Trump Tapes – CNN cited this quote from Bob Woodward’s new audiobook, The Trump Tapes, in Jake Tapper’s lead-in to an interview with The Washington Post’s associate editor Tuesday night: “The record now shows that Trump has led – and continues to lead – a seditious conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election, which in effect is an effort to destroy democracy.”

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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(MON 10/24/22)

Iran and China – At the end of the week in which the Iranian government denied it was supplying kamikaze drones to Russia for its war on Ukraine – a denial no one other than Tehran and the Kremlin believe -- The Washington Post reported Saturday that some classified documents the FBI recovered from Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago last August 8 included highly sensitive secrets about Iran and China.

“If shared with others,” sources told the newspaper, “such information could expose intelligence-gathering methods that the United States wants to keep hidden from the world.” At least one of the documents details Iran’s missile program, WaPo reports.

The Woodward Tapes: These revelations come before release of The Trump Tapes: Bob Woodward’s Twenty Interviews with Donald Trump, available from Simon & Schuster Audio on Tuesday. Associate Editor Bob Woodward writes in his WaPo op-ed that the tapes “show why he is an unparalleled danger” to the U.S., siding with such dictators as North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and valuing loyalty from political associates over all else.

Connecting the Dots: Prospects the Biden administration will re-negotiate the 2015 Obama Iranian nuclear deal dismantled by Trump are surely over. But the whole of the Trump administration foreign “policy”, from swift cancellation of that agreement with Iran to the former president’s antagonism toward NATO and his admiration for Vladimir Putin must be examined in the Justice Department’s investigation of Mar-a-Lagogate.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

1/6 Panel Subpoenas Trump

By Todd Lassa

(PICTURED: Still from a video Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio shot before the January 6 Capitol insurrection, as presented by the Select Committee.)

Donald J. Trump has been subpoenaed by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6^th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, which in its ninth public hearing (formally, a business meeting) Thursday showed that the former president began his scheme to deny peaceful transfer of power at least as early as July 2020, more than half a year before he lost re-election. Trump also acknowledged privately to White House aides and officials that he had indeed lost the election.

Among nearly 1 million electronic messages retrieved from the Secret Service are two reports from the “rally” site that agents should wear protective gear to prepare for Trump riding the “Beast” limo to the Capitol after he had been driven back to the White House against his will, and another at 1:25 p.m. that the president “is planning on holding at the White House for the next approximate two hours, then moving to the Capitol.”

Based on the former president’s reputation, Trump’s attorneys will do all they can to fight and at least delay any appearance before the 1/6 panel, which will publish its report by the end of the year. Vice Chair Liz Cheney’s (R-WY) resolution, passed 9-0, subpoenas Donald J. Trump for documents and testimony under oath in connection with the attack. It will not take much legal maneuvering to delay such testimony to next year and the 118^th Congress, when Cheney and fellow panel member Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) will no longer be members of the House of Representatives.

As for Trump’s documents required in the subpoena, during Thursday’s hearing the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the former president’s request to overturn the 11^th Circuit District Court’s ruling allowing the Justice Department to review confidential papers that the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago last August 8.

It is both a testimony to the depth of evidence and material, which the panel has continued to collect as additional witnesses have come forth, and the lengths to which the former president was willing to go to subvert our democracy to avoid having to leave the White House that made Thursday’s hearing as news-infested as it was. There were no new live witnesses. But the panel does have those Secret Service emails and other electronic communications that were requested at the last hearing, July 21, after it was revealed most of them from January 5 and 6, 2021, were said to be lost after the agency updated its devices.

Secret Service emails on Trump supporters planning to come to the Capitol on January 6, from December 26, 2020:

•“They think that they will have a large enough group to march into DC armed and will outnumber the police so they can’t be stopped.”

•“Their plan is to literally kill people. Please, please take this tip seriously and investigate further.”

•“The proud boys have detailed their plans on multiple websites such as [Donald Trump-“wins” website].

Brad Parscale, advisor in the 2020 Trump campaign said in video testimony that “Trump planned as early as July he would say he won.”

Panel member Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) told of how campaign advisor Bill Stepien and White House advisor/son-in-law Jared Kushner wanted Trump to encourage Republicans to vote by mail-in ballot, “but the president’s mind was made up” to claim that mail-in ballots are a key contributor to voter fraud, according to Stepien’s video testimony. On election night, Trump declared victory early and then called on the vote-counting to stop, as ballots came in well into the morning from Democrat-heavy urban areas.

Trump planned to “declare victory no matter the results,” Lofgren concluded. The panel also produced evidence that Trump did not believe his own Big Lie, even as he was doing all he could to prove his case.

In another piece of video testimony, Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to ex-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, said Trump told Meadows “I don’t want people to know we lost.”

FRI 10/14/22
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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.

•••

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.

•••

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.

•••

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

…meanwhile…

(TUE 9/6/22)

2020 Election tampering … CNN has obtained video surveillance tape showing Cathy Latham, already under investigation for signing a document as a fake elector in the 2020 presidential election, unlocking a door to Coffee County, Georgia voting machines to three Trump operatives who were working with attorney Sidney Powell, on January 7, 2021. One of the three Trump operatives is identified as an IT specialist.

The video from a Manchester, Georgia video office was recorded on the same date various elections offices in swing states were illegally breached, according to CNN.

Statement released: Attorney Bob Cheeley said in a statement, "Ms. Latham has not acted improperly or illegally ... Ms. Latham did not authorize or participate in any ballot scanning efforts, computer imaging or any similar activity." (Per CNN.)

See for yourself: Watch the CNN copy of the video at https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2022/09/06/trump-lawyer-election-georgia-official-drew-griffin-vpx.cnn

This week … The Senate is in session Tuesday through Friday, and again Monday, September12, while the House of Representatives has committee work scheduled this week. Both chambers are in session Tuesday through Friday, September 13-16.

•••

Truss replaces Johnson … Queen Elizabeth made it official Tuesday at her Balmoral, Scotland, castle conferring on Liz Truss the U.K.’s 56^th prime ministership, per The Guardian, thus replacing the scandal-plagued Boris Johnson. Truss, 47, is the U.K.’s third female prime minister, after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May, all of them Conservative Party leaders. Truss has so far indicated placing some distance between the U.K. and U.S., traditionally known as the closest of allies, over the disastrous withdrawal led by the U.S. from Afghanistan last year, NPR’s Morning Edition reports.

Economic challenges: Truss has promised to cut taxes for a nation reeling over the economic hits from the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.K.'s inflation rate is currently 10.1%, CNN notes, versus the 8.5% rate in the U.S.

•••

Judge grants Trump special master … Federal District Judge Aileen M. Cannon in a court order issued Monday said she would appoint a special master to examine nearly 13,000 documents that the FBI seized from ex-President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and private club on August 8. Cannon ordered both Trump’s attorneys and the Justice Department to each submit a list of acceptable candidates for the job by Friday.

The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation of Trump’s possession of the government documents, which include papers labeled “Secret” and “Top Secret.” Cannon ruled that the department must stop its review of the documents until after the special master concludes his or her assessment.

Upshot: Based solely on that number -- nearly 13,000 documents – DOJ’s criminal investigation, which appears to include potential obstruction of justice violations, will run well past the November 8 midterm elections and would give Trump plenty of time to announce a run for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Chalk this up as a win for Trump, who appointed Cannon to the Southern District of Florida court.

--Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Beware 1/6 Redux, Graham Warns

How is GOP leadership reacting to the latest Trump scandal that would immediately end any other politician’s career, at the least? Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Fox News’ Sunday Night in America there will be “riots in the streets” if Trump is indicted for storing the documents at his Florida estate and private club. Just a bit more subtle than Steve Bannon’s January 5, 2021 tweet; “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow!”

Graham is arguably the most “mainstream traditional” of Trump’s acolytes. A grand jury subpoena of Graham in the Fulton County, Georgia investigation of Trump’s alleged interference in the state’s Electoral College count after the November 2020 presidential election is on temporary hold to determine whether the senator “is entitled to a partial quashal or modification of the subpoena to appear before the special purpose grand jury,” according to Vanity Fair.

Meanwhile: The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which officially keeps all presidential records and papers has joined the FBI and Department of Homeland Security in facing “a spike in threats and vitriol in the weeks since the FBI search” of Mar-a-Lago, August 8.

What do you think?: Is there any excuse for Sen. Graham’s warning of another MAGA uprising? Will Donald J. Trump survive yet another legal scandal? Should the Justice Department filed charges against the former president?

Hit the Comments box in this column or the left column, or email editors@thehustings.news and identify yourself as “leaning right” or “leaning left” in the subject line.

--TL

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Of Scanners, Stars and Boxes

By Stephen Macaulay

For about $100 you can buy a computer scanner.

In a matter of moments even documents that are labeled “top secret/sensitive compartmented information” could be deposited on a hard drive for quick email distribution or stuck on a thumb drive.

Donald Trump, not a man known for his dynamic reading capability (or even for, well, reading), took 26 boxes of documents to Mar-a-Lago, which is described on its website as “the only private club world-wide to attain the prestigious 6-Star Diamond Award from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences.”

The what?

Well, according to a May 2016 AP story, “when it comes to Trump, the academy isn't an independent observer.

“The organization is run by Joseph Cinque, a longtime Trump acquaintance who goes by the nickname "Joey No Socks" and has a felony conviction for possessing stolen property.”

And it goes on to report:

“As recently as last May, Trump himself was listed on the group's website as its "ambassador extraordinaire," and he appeared in a 2009 tribute video to Cinque in which he said: "There's nobody like him. He's a special guy."

“But Trump told The Associated Press on Friday that he doesn't know Cinque well and was unaware of Cinque's criminal conviction.”

All of this sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Now anyone who has moved house, even if it isn’t from one of the most legendary houses in the world to a prestigious 6-Star Diamond manse, knows that when you pack boxes often things go awry. Somehow no matter how carefully you mark things, there is a nearly metaphysical impossibility that all of the forks disappear. And sometimes upon unpacking there is the discovery of something that was long thought to be lost.

So let’s give Trump a benefit of a doubt. Certainly something in that move—a move that he still argues shouldn’t have occurred because the election was stolen, rigged or otherwise stacked against him (and let’s not forget, he, too, is a special guy)—probably got misplaced. After all, he had to be in a bit of a rush.

Maybe it just so happened that some documents that are top, top secret just happened to get snagged on a paper clip on the stack of love letters (his adjective) to Kim Jong-un and was shipped to his swank (six diamonds!) digs purely by accident.

But then there is that little matter of him taking things he had no legal right to. Boxes and boxes.

On Meet the Press August 14, Andrea Mitchell put it to presidential historian Michael Beschloss that Trump tweeted, “President Barack Hussein Obama kept 33 million pages of documents much of them classified. How many of them pertained to nuclear? Word is, lots.”

Beschloss responded, surprisingly, “Well, President Trump is absolutely right. Barack Obama has tens of millions of documents. . .” YIKES! but the shoe drops. . .”and they are in a National Archives installation, Hoffman Estates, Illinois, under armed guard with heavy surveillance, using the procedures that are supposed to be used for a former president. We have never in history seen a former president take ultra-classified documents, stick them in his basement, loosely watched by government standards, and with the shadow of we still don't know what his motive was.”

Well, it is the basement of that venue that won that coveted award.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Trump Tower got one of those plaques, too.

But I wonder about that scanner.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Congress Takes Recess

After Friday’s House vote on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, Congress is on its scheduled summer recess until after Labor Day. The House Select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack will continue its investigation, though with no plans for public hearings before September. The Hustings is taking a break, too, though with news updates, including coverage of the Wyoming Republican primary Tuesday, August 16, in which Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chair of the House Select committee, faces challenges from pro-Trump candidates.

Scroll down to read our aggregate coverage of the FBI’s search of Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and the fallout, with commentary in the left and right columns. Contributing pundit Jim McCraw’s commentary, “The Documents Were There. Really. The FBI Took Them Back,” is below in the left column.

COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news.

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The Documents Were There. Really. The FBI Took Them Back

By Jim McCraw

Whether he will be prosecuted for it or not, it is a simple fact that, if there had not been a number of classified documents still inside Mar-A-Lago after repeated attempts by federal authorities to return them to the National Archives, it would not have been necessary for the FBI to serve the search warrant and execute the search of the former president’s mansion on Monday.

A simple fact the Trump people resolutely refuse to understand has turned into loud accusations of political persecution. “Persecution” of a man who has been flouting the law since college, told more than 20,000 lies while in office, was impeached twice, lost big in 2020, told The Big Lie about the election, and fomented the January 6^th attack on the Capitol, continues to evade and flout the law, but is still somehow a great guy who deserves another chance to run the country.

The right has accused the Biden administration of another witch hunt, while the White House says it has been completely unaware of the timing of execution of the warrant. The White House would have not scheduled Biden’s signing of the CHIPS Act on the same day it would be overshadowed by the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago.

That wasn’t enough to keep the right from bleating instantly about a witch hunt, persecution, and “weaponizing” of the Justice Department. The FBI serves warrants on private citizens in all kinds of federal investigations every day. Donald J. Trump is a private citizen with Secret Service protection, but a private citizen, nevertheless, who had access to classified documents and information for four years and illegally retained some of those documents, contents unknown, which are the property of the American people, not Donald Trump. That’s as much as we know about the FBI affidavit or the search warrant. The documents were there, and they were taken away. Trump’s lawyers have an invoice of items removed from Mar-a-Lago, and they have the right to release that invoice to the public.

For legal actions, warrants and searches involving a former president to even happen in the first place requires very, very careful sequential steps by the DOJ, the FBI, local police, and of course, the Secret Service, which was duly informed prior to the early morning visit to Mar-a-Lago. The documents were there, illegally, and the FBI took them away.

•••

View from the Left

And so the hard-right continues to lambast the FBI and Justice Department for Monday’s FBI seizure of 12 boxes of documents that belong to the federal government from Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago. The MAGA-right are listening to the conspiracy social media-right, insisting that the ex-president continues to be mistreated, continues to be the victim of a deep-state witch hunt. This could mean another civil war.

Some even suggest that perhaps the FBI planted those dozen banker’s boxes full of papers found in Mar-a-Lago’s basement. Conversely, The Wall Street Journal reports that it appears to be a Trump insider who tipped off the Justice Department that Trump failed to return all the boxes they had demanded be returned months ago.

Our estimable pundit-at-large, Stephen Macaulay, weighs in on all this on the other side of this page, in the right column. Spoiler alert: Macaulay is, once again not the least bit sympathetic toward Trump. What is Macaulay doing in the right column, you ask? He has always leaned right as a conservative in the traditional sense of the adjective and would consider authoritarian populists like the ex-president to be the true RINOs.

Whether your politics are to the right or left of Stephen Macaulay, you are invited to tell us what you think in the Comments box in this column or in the one on the right, or to email editors@thehustings.news. You’re even invited to defend Donald J. Trump if that’s your thing. Please be civil in your comments, and please avoid false or misleading statements. Your comments may be edited for length or clarity, though not for point of view.

--TL

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FBI Removed 11 Sets of Docs from Mar-a-Lago

(FRI 8/12/22)

Some marked ‘top secret’ … and meant to be only available in special government facilities, according to documents taken from ex-President Trump’s Florida estate, as reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The FBI took about 20 boxes of items, binders of photos, a handwritten note and Trump’s executive grant of clemency to his ally, Roger Stone. Information about the “President of France” was included in the list, which is in a seven-page document included with the search warrant granted by a federal magistrate judge in Florida.

The FBI’s list includes one set of documents marked “Various classified/TS/SCI documents,” (for “top secret/sensitive compartmented information”) the WSJ reports. Agents collected four sets of top secret documents and three sets each of secret documents and of confidential documents. The list gave no other details.

Trump’s attorneys say that he used his authority to declassify the material before he left office. The president has power to do this, according to the WSJ, but only under a process described by federal regulations.

Regarding that French president: The FBI searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago to look for nuclear documents and other items, The Washington Post reported earlier. France, for what it’s worth, is Continental Europe’s only designated nuclear weapons state.

Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich’s response: “The Biden administration is in obvious damage control after their botched raid where they seized the President’s picture books, a ‘hand written note’ and declassified documents. This raid of President Trump’s home was not just unprecedented, but unnecessary.”

Fact-check:

•It was a legal FBI search, not a “raid.”

•Trump is ex-president, not president.

•According to the White House, Biden had no knowledge of the search until Trump himself announced it Monday night.

Some Republicans back off: Congressional Republicans are “contorting” themselves over details of the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, Politico reports. “As new information emerged about the circumstances behind the FBI search … the contrast drew starker between Republicans advancing a knee-jerk defense of the former president and those who are simply calling for additional disclosures” by the Justice Department, including Ohio’s Rep. Mike Turner, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee.

--Todd Lassa

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Garland Seeks to Unseal Mar-a-Lago Warrant (FRI 8/12/22)

By Todd Lassa

UPDATE: Ex-President Trump has called for the "immediate release" of the Justice Department's search warrant and property receipt for the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago, per NPR, though Trump's own lawyers have always had the right to release these documents themselves.

The Justice Department has filed a motion in the Southern District of Florida seeking to unseal the search warrant and property receipt for the FBI search of Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, Attorney Gen. Merrick Garland announced in a rare public statement Thursday afternoon. Garland confirmed that the search was conducted in his authority and used the public forum to defend the actions of his department and of the FBI.

Copies of the warrant and FBI receipt were provided to the former president’s counsel at Mar-a-Lago on the day of the search, as required by law, Garland said. In accordance with federal law and ethics rules and obligations, the AG was not able to give further details, but Garland said he had to make “certain points” after the strong reaction to the search by pro-Trump followers and pro-MAGA media:

•“I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter.”

•“The department does not take such decisions lightly. When possible, it is standard practice to seek less-intrusive means as an alternative to a search and to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken.”

•On the “unfounded attacks on the FBI and Justice Department agents and prosecutors; I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked. The men and women of the FBI and the Justice Department are dedicated, patriotic public servants. Every day they protect the American people from violent crime, terrorism and other threats to their safety while safeguarding our personal rights. They do so at great sacrifice and risk to themselves…

“I am honored to work alongside them.”

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...meanwhile... (THU 8/11/22)

'Deplorable and dangerous' ... FBI Director Christopher Wray's reaction to Trump supporters circulating threats online toward his agents after carrying out a search warrant on Mar-a-Lago Monday. "I'm always concerned about threats to law enforcement," the FBI chief, appointed by President Trump in 2017, said in a press conference following a visit to the Omaha field office. "Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter who you're upset with." (Per USA Today.)

•••

Gas drops below $4/gallon ... The average price per gallon for regular unleaded in the U.S. is $3.99 as of Thursday, AAA reports, down from a peak of $5.016 per gallon on June 14.

•••

Fomenting civil war? ... Rhetoric from what constitutes the right wing these days raged on over the FBI’s search of Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago to recover a dozen boxes of classified government documents airlifted with the ex-president to his Florida compound.

Trump was in Manhattan Monday when the FBI descended on the compound with warrant in hand, and Wednesday he appeared before New York State Attorney Gen. Letitia James for her questioning in the Trump Organization’s civil trial. Of course, Trump evoked the Fifth Amendment to all but one question, The New York Times reports – he confirmed his identity. Of course, Trump’s detractors dug up a tape of him on the campaign trail in 2016, calling the Fifth a mobster tactic and asking why anyone would use it except for evade the truth. Of course he replied to his detractors by saying that now, finally, he knows what good pleading the Fifth is for.

Pleading the Fifth was a smart tactic, and good advice from Trump’s lawyers, University of Michigan law professor and former U.S. attorney Barbara McQuade told NPR’s All Things Considered. Any testimony Trump would give in his company's civil trial could be used as evidence in the criminal trial, McQuade said.

--Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Donald Trump and the Art of the Flush

By Stephen Macaulay

As you may recall from the early days of the pandemic, there was a monumental difficulty in acquiring toilet paper. It was just one of those things that people suddenly realized that were there to be a dearth of, things would not come out particularly well in the end. And because of that realization, the amount of available toilet paper was nearly non-existent.

One thing that continued to be available — more or less, with the emphasis on the latter — was facial tissue. The stuff you use to blow your nose with.

While the configuration of the two — toilet paper and tissues — is different, the material seems to be reasonably the same.

So people, not surprisingly, thought that if they couldn’t get their grip on Charmin, they could use the box of Kleenex.

Turned out that that was a bad move. Warnings came out that while toilet paper is formulated to be dissolved in water, that’s not the case for seemingly similar paper products. The latter would lead to clogs in sewers and septic systems.

One wonders how busy Emergency Plumbing of West Palm Beach is.

Maggie Haberman gave Axios two photographs that show the toilet in the White House residence during the Trump residency: Two pictures of torn up paper — as in copier paper, not something with a flimsiness to it — with Trump’s handwriting visible.

According to Haberman, Trump has a penchant for ripping and flushing.

So the FBI searches Mar-A-Logo.

There is a federal law, the Presidential Records Act of 1978, which, among other things, according to the National Archives:

Establishes that Presidential records automatically transfer into the legal custody of the Archivist as soon as the President leaves office.

Hmm . . . seems that Trump has taken a whole lot of documents when he left Washington. Back in January the National Archives and Records Administration got 15 boxes of White House records from Mar-a-Lago.

Presumably there were more.

There is a federal law. If he didn’t “automatically transfer into the legal custody of the Archivist,” isn’t that, ipso facto, a crime?

Maybe it is much simpler.

Possibly the Justice Department was worried about the plumbing situation in Palm Beach.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news