The Conversation -- March 11, 2024
"Trump Employee 5" Speaks. Katelyn Polantz, et al., of CNN: "A longtime Mar-a-Lago employee who is a central witness in the investigation into ... Donald Trump's handling of classified documents is now speaking publicly because he believes that voters should hear the truth about his former boss and the case before the November election. Brian Butler, who is referenced as 'Trump Employee 5' in the classified documents indictment brought by special counsel Jack Smith, told CNN in an exclusive interview that he doesn't believe the criminal case against Trump is a 'witch hunt,' as the former president has claimed. Butler gave testimony to federal investigators that informed crucial portions of last year's criminal obstruction charges against Trump and his two co-defendants, Walt Nauta, a personal aide to Trump, and Carlos De Oliveira, a property manager at Mar-a-Lago who had been Butler's closest friend until recently. Butler, who was employed at Mar-a-Lago for 20 years, has spoken repeatedly with investigators, paying for his own attorney and breaking with the orbit around Trump....
"Butler told CNN how he unknowingly helped Nauta deliver boxes of classified information from Mar-a-Lago to the former president's plane in June 2022 -- the same day that Trump and his attorney were meeting with the Justice Department at Mar-a-Lago about the classified documents.... Butler also was a witness in the room to several conversations that allegedly capture how Trump was positioning his closest aide Nauta, De Oliveira and others to thwart federal authorities. De Oliveira told Butler, for instance, about Nauta traveling [secretly] to Palm Beach in late June 2022, at a time when Nauta and De Oliveira were allegedly interested in deleting surveillance tapes of a storage room where the boxes had been kept at the club, according to the indictment.... At one point in his interviews, Butler says he told investigators that Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt repeated classified submarine secrets following a conversation with Trump in spring 2021."
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "... within 30 seconds [of getting into his armored vehicle after his speech at the Ellipse on January 6, 2021, Donald Trump's] conversation with his lead Secret Service agent took a ... contentious turn, according to a transcript released on Monday of an interview by House investigators of another Secret Service agent who was driving the car. Mr. Trump wanted to go to the Capitol, but his lead agent, Robert Engel, said no, telling him there was no plan in place. 'The president was insistent on going to the Capitol,' recounted the driver, whose name was not disclosed. 'It was clear to me he wanted to go to the Capitol. He was not screaming at Mr. Engel. He was not screaming at me. Certainly his voice was raised, but it did not seem to me that he was irate -- certainly not, certainly didn't seem as irritated or agitated as he had on the way to the Ellipse.'
"But, the driver said, Mr. Trump never lunged for the steering wheel or physically accosted the agents, contradicting one of the most sensational and hotly disputed elements of testimony given to the House Jan. 6 committee by a White House aide.... Mr. Trump had already begun the morning in a 'pretty agitated, pretty irritated' mood on his way to the Ellipse, the driver testified. The president's voice contained a 'tinge of anger' as he spoke with Mr. Engel, who rode with him in the vehicle.... '... He was pushing pretty hard to go,' the agent testified. He added, 'The thing that sticks out most was he kept asking why we couldn't go, why we couldn't go, and that he wasn't concerned about the people that were there or referenced them being Trump people or Trump supporters.'"
Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Monday called for major new spending initiatives to lower costs for health care, child care and housing and enough new taxes on the wealthy and major corporations to pay for those proposals and also shave $3 trillion off the national debt over the next decade. Biden's reelection year budget lays out the broad policy planks that many leading liberals have pushed him to embrace as he campaigns for another four years in the White House. With Republicans in control of the House, the proposals stand almost no chance of becoming law.... In a $7.3 trillion budget for fiscal year 2025, Biden would have Congress offer universal prekindergarten education, provide 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, expand anti-poverty tax credits and create a new tax break for first-time home buyers."
Melissa Quinn of CBS News: "Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge will leave her post atop the department later this month, the White House announced Monday. Fudge has helmed the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, since the start of the Biden administration and is set to depart March 22. President Biden praised Fudge's leadership in a statement shortly after she announced her departure."
Sahil Kapur, et al., of NBC News: "... Donald Trump opened the door Monday to 'cutting' spending under Social Security and Medicare, drawing swift pushback from President Joe Biden and elevating a key policy battle in the 2024 election.... Biden's campaign tweeted out the video and the president responded quickly: 'Not on my watch.'... Biden has ruled out benefit cuts to the programs. In his State of the Union speech last week, Biden said he'd 'protect and strengthen Social Security and make the wealthy pay their fair share.'"
Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump offered a rambling and confusing explanation on Monday of why he had reversed himself on whether the United States should ban TikTok over concerns that its Chinese ownership poses a threat to national security. In a CNBC interview, Mr. Trump said that he still considered the social media app a national security threat but that banning it would make young people 'go crazy.' He added that any action harming TikTok would benefit Facebook, which he called an 'enemy of the people.'... Mr. Trump tried to ban TikTok while in office, pushing its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform to a new owner or face being blocked from American app stores. A House committee advanced legislation last week that would similarly force TikTok to cut ties with ByteDance. In a powerful display of bipartisanship -- rare these days in Washington -- the top Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party used nearly identical language to describe the risks of TikTok.... The full House is expected to vote on the legislation on Wednesday. President Biden said last week that he would sign the measure into law if it reached his desk.... On Monday, asked about suspicions that he had been 'paid off' to change his view on TikTok after a meeting with a major TikTok investor, the billionaire Jeff Yass, Mr. Trump denied it." ~~~
~~~ See Akhilleus' response below.
No. Self. Control. Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "Donald Trump on Monday once again denied allegations by E. Jean Carroll that he raped and defamed her, despite facing nearly $90 million in civil penalties for making similar statements about the writer. Carroll's attorney quickly responded that they are closely monitoring Trump's latest remarks about her -- and suggested that a third defamation lawsuit could be in store for the former president. Trump in an interview on CNBC's 'Squawk Box' claimed that several civil court judgments against him in New York -- two of them in Carroll's favor -- will cause companies to leave the state.... They're 'the most ridiculous decisions,' Trump said, 'including the "Ms. Bergdorf Goodman," a person I'd never met.'"
Anatomy of a Trump Speech. Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "On the last Friday in February, the day before the South Carolina primary, Trump took the stage in Rock Hill, S.C., where he spoke for just over an hour and a half. A close examination of his remarks that day offers an anatomy of a Trump rally speech. Like many of his recent speeches, it was long and laden with resentments, offering a dark vision for the nation that terrifies Democrats and animates his Republican base. It touched on recurring themes, including his election denialism, his promise of a sudden transformation in another Trump term and his claims of persecution and martyrdom. Perhaps more importantly, Trump's stump speech provides a road map of what a second Trump term might look like -- fulfilling his promises to root out the so-called 'deep state' of civil servants, harshly cracking down on illegal immigration and crime, and pulling back from the world stage. It also reveals many of his weaknesses as a candidate, such as sometimes slurring his words, confusing names of world leaders and attacking minorities in offensive ways.... One constant [in his stump speech] is that it is certain to contain a slew of falsehoods and mistruths, ranging from hyperbole to outright lies...."
Claudia Chiappa of Politico: "Donald Trump will totally stop funding Ukraine if he wins the U.S. election in November, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said following a meeting between the right-wing figureheads. 'He will not give a penny in the Ukraine-Russia war,' Orbán told Hungarian state media Sunday. 'Therefore, the war will end, because it is obvious that Ukraine can not stand on its own feet.' The longtime allies met last Friday at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, a summit which was lambasted by U.S. President Joe Biden.... According to Orbán, Trump has a 'detailed plan' to end the war in Ukraine, which marries with Hungary's interests. Orbán, who has maintained contact with Putin amid Russia's full-scale invasion, has repeatedly said he is opposed to sending more money and weapons to Kyiv."
Ella Lee of the Hill: "Peter Navarro, once an economic adviser to former President Trump, has been ordered to report to a Miami prison March 19 to begin serving a four-month sentence for refusing to comply with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Navarro, 74, was convicted last year on two counts of contempt of Congress -- one for failing to produce documents related to the probe and another for skipping his deposition."
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** Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post gives a lesson to MSM "journalists:" "The notion that the United States is 'polarized' into two conflicting, equally stubborn and extreme camps infects much of the mainstream news coverage and everyday chatter about politics. Washington is 'broken.' 'Gridlock' is a problem.... Such mealy-mouthed language masks a stark dichotomy: Democrats have to move to the center to get bipartisan support; Republicans have become radicalized and unmovable. This is not 'polarization.' It is the authoritarian capture of much of the GOP by a right-wing movement bent on sowing chaos.... Our political scene, sadly, has come to resemble the global authoritarian assault on democracy. Oh, sure, it's fashionable, as departing Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) did, to blame both political parties.... That's the same tommyrot one hears from No Labels.... Responsible reporting should not cover for Republicans."
IOKIYAR. Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "Senator Katie Britt of Alabama on Sunday sought to defend comments she made in her response to President Biden's State of the Union address on Thursday, when she described the experience of a woman who was sexually trafficked in Mexico between 2004 and 2008 in a way that falsely implied it had happened in the United States under President Biden." MB: So naturally she went on Fox to tell some more lies. (Also linked yesterday.)
** IOKIYA$$$$$$$$$$. David Fahrenthold & Ryan Mac of the New York Times: Elon "Musk, the world's second-richest person according to Forbes..., runs a charity with billions of dollars, the kind of resources that could make a global impact. But unlike Bill Gates, who has deployed his fortune in an effort to improve health care across Africa, or Walmart's Walton family, which has spurred change in the American education system, Mr. Musk's philanthropy has been haphazard and largely self-serving -- making him eligible for enormous tax breaks and helping his businesses.... The foundation that houses [his tax-deductible donations] has failed in recent years to give away the bare minimum required by law to justify the tax break, exposing it to the risk of having to pay the government a substantial financial penalty.... [The foundation's] billions are handled by a board that consists of himself and two volunteers, one of whom reports putting in so little time that it averages out to six minutes per week. In 2022, the last year for which records are available, they gave away $160 million, which was $234 million less than the law required....
"Once he set up a nonprofit and filled it with tax-deductible gifts, he was required by law to ensure that his foundation served the public, and that it did not operate for the 'private benefit' of its leader. A New York Times analysis found that, of the Musk Foundation's giving in 2021 and 2022 -- the latest years for which full data is available -- about half of the donations had some link to Mr. Musk, one of his employees or one of his businesses. Among the donations the Musk Foundation has made, there was $55 million to help a major SpaceX customer meet a charitable pledge. There were the millions that went to Cameron County, Texas, after [a SpaceX] rocket blew up [there]. And there were donations to two schools closely tied to his businesses: one walled off inside a SpaceX compound, the other located next to a new subdivision for Musk's employees." MB: Maybe Musk didn't go to Mar-a-Lardo recently to conspire with Trump to take over the U.S. but to get tips on how to run a fake foundation. Luckily for Elon, he doesn't have Letitia James to dissolve his scammy "charity." (Also linked yesterday.)
Presidential Race
Lauren Weber & Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump mocked President Biden's stutter at a campaign rally in Rome, Ga., on Saturday, the latest in a series of insults he has hurled at his rival but one that disability advocates regard as a demeaning form of bullying.... Trump's mockery of Biden was denounced by critics who called out the contrast of the two candidates. On X, formerly Twitter, they compared Trump mocking Biden alongside a video in 2020 when Biden hugged Brayden Harrington, a child with a stutter whom Biden inspired.... 'It is a form of dehumanization behind a mask of humor,' [Prof. Kenny] Fountain [of the University of Virginia] said. 'It reinforces the idea that Trump and his followers are in a particular "in" group and those who critique them are not only outsiders, not only wrong, but they're weak.'... Michael Sheehan, who consults on political speeches for Biden..., said the worst part of Trump's mocking of Biden's stutter is listening to the audience laugh." ~~~
~~~ Marie: A reminder that the only thing Trump thinks is funny is his mocking and bullying people.
David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) exploded at ABC host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday after he asked why she supported Donald Trump after he was found liable for sexual assault. During an interview on This Week, Mace became angry and defensive about her support for Trump, who was found to have raped writer E. Jean Carroll. Mace is also a rape survivor.... Stephanopoulos pressed Mace several times, and she accused him of shaming her each time." MB: Gosh, Nancy, you said all you wanted was to be on teevee, then when you get on the teevee, you're not happy. As for you, George, damned good questions. Why does a rape survivor support Donald Trump? (Also linked yesterday.)
Presidential Election 2020. Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "In [a new] book, [elections expert Ken] Block reveals how, again and again in the months after the November 2020 election, he was tasked by Trump's campaign with batting down implausible and inaccurate allegations that Joe Biden had won the election through fraud. Block's book provides an insider's account of the desperate measures Trump's campaign took to pursue allegations of voter fraud and of how quickly the campaign concluded internally that each one was invalid, even as the president continued to rile up his supporters by claiming the election was stolen.... Ultimately, [Block] was paid about $800,000 for his work, which was not made public at the time because it did not help Trump, he said.... Yet more work was conducted by another expert firm that was paid more than $1 million. When its work also did not prove fraud, it also was not made public, The Post reported." MB: Have I mentioned that Donnie Dimento is still claiming he won the 2020 election?
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Alabama. Alberto Luperon of Law & Crime: "A man, known locally as a GOP political staffer, allegedly murdered another man in a 'physical altercation,' according to authorities in Madison County, Alabama. Kyle Hayden Lewter, 36, is currently locked up at the local jail, accused of murder and sexual torture -- sexual abuse using inanimate object, though authorities did not elaborate on the details behind the latter crime." ~~~
~~~ Scott Turner of AL.com: "Lewter, in a 2017 interview, said he had done campaign work for former U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks and former U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions. A social media post from 2022 identifies him as the chairman of Madison County Young Republicans. WHNT is reporting that Lewter had a paid position with Alabama State Sen. Tom Butler."
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Israel/Palestine, et al.
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The Muslim holy month of Ramadan started Monday without the cease-fire deal in Gaza that the Biden administration had hoped would be in place. Israeli government hard-liners are pushing to limit the number of Palestinian visitors to al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City -- amid tensions over the sacred ground claimed by both Muslims and Jews. Hamas cited protecting the mosque as justification for its Oct. 7 attacks.... Hamas wants Israel to agree to a more permanent end to the fighting and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. A U.S. Army vessel loaded with equipment to build a floating pier off Gaza's coastline has departed Virginia for the eastern Mediterranean, U.S. Central Command said Sunday. Officials say it could take 60 days to build, but once operational will allow the delivery of up to 2 million meals a day to aid-strapped Gazans." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Monday are here.
Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: "President Biden marked the start of Ramadan on Sunday with a statement recognizing the 'moment of immense pain' for many Muslim Americans and pledging to lead international efforts to deliver humanitarian aid into Gaza. 'Tonight -- as the new crescent moon marks the beginning of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan -- Jill and I extend our best wishes and prayers to Muslims across our country and around the world,' Biden wrote in the statement Sunday."
Paul Ronzheimer & Carlo Martuscelli of Politico: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he intends to press ahead with an invasion of the city of Rafah on the southern border of the Gaza Strip in defiance of United States President Joe Biden, who has warned such an offensive would be a 'red line.' Amid signs of increasing frustration with Netanyahu, the U.S. president told MSNBC on Saturday that he opposed an escalation of the conflict into Rafah, and that he could not accept '30,000 more Palestinians dead.'... When asked on Sunday whether Israeli forces would move into Rafah, Netanyahu replied: 'We'll go there. We're not going to leave them. You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is? That October 7 doesn't happen again. Never happens again.'"
Paul Ronzheimer & Joe Stanley-Smith of Politico: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied people are starving in Gaza and blamed Hamas for the lack of humanitarian aid entering the occupied territory. Hunger and malnutrition are widespread in the Gaza Strip. The United Nations warns that famine is imminent, with the organization's expert on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, accusing Israel of starving Gazans deliberately. Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock's has said people in Gaza are closer to dying than to living.... The U.N. has determined that one in six children under the age of two in northern Gaza are suffering acute malnutrition and emaciation. The World Health Organization has also said children are starving to death in northern Gaza. Multiple human rights groups have criticized Israel for not allowing enough food into Gaza since the Oct. 7 massacre and kidnappings perpetrated by the Hamas militant group."
Ukraine, et al. Jonathan Abrams of the New York Times: "The Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov used his acceptance speech for '20 Days in Mariupol,' which won the Oscar for best documentary feature on Sunday, to give an emotional denunciation of the continued invasion of his country by Russian forces. 'I'll be the first director on this stage who will say, "I wish I never made this film,"' Chernov said. The harrowing first-person account from Chernov, a video journalist for The Associated Press, captures the first days of the Russian invasion and the devastation and destruction the port city of Mariupol faced. '20 Days in Mariupol' is the first Ukrainian film to win an Oscar."
Niha Masih of the Washington Post: "Leaders in Ukraine vehemently rejected Pope Francis's suggestion of negotiations with Russia to bring an end to the war -- his use of the words 'white flag' drawing particular scorn -- reiterating that the country would never surrender. In a recent interview, Francis used the term 'white flag,' repeating the words of a journalist.... President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to the pope without naming him in his nightly address Sunday. Praising Ukrainian chaplains on the front line, Zelensky said: 'This is what the church is -- it is together with people, not two and a half thousand kilometers away somewhere, virtually mediating between someone who wants to live and someone who wants to destroy you.'... Though he has often condemned the war in Ukraine, Francis has provoked debate within the church over whether his messaging on the conflict has been too cautious and too focused on maintaining ties with the Russian Orthodox Church."
U.K. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "A photograph of Catherine, Princess of Wales, with her three children, released by Kensington Palace and meant to showcase her recovery from surgery, has come under scrutiny after three news agencies advised news organizations on Sunday evening to withdraw it, saying the image had been manipulated by the palace. The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse issued advisories about the photo, which circulated widely on news sites, including The New York Times, and social media after it was distributed by the palace on Sunday morning. The Times has since removed the photo from
~~~ Update. Rob Picheta of CNN: "Catherine, Princess of Wales has taken responsibility and apologized for an edited official photograph that was recalled by a number of international news agencies over concerns it had been manipulated. Kate said she was sorry for 'any confusion' caused by the image, after her 'experiment' with photo editing caused scrutiny for Kensington Palace and increased confusion over Kate's extended absence from the public eye.... Kensington Palace said it would not release the original unedited photograph. And while Kate's statement provided a measure of clarification, it looked unlikely to stop the swirl of rumor that has accelerated during her absence from public duties."
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