The Conversation -- December 4, 2024

Historian Timothy Snyder has been thinking about the parallels between South Korea's "Dictator for a Day" Yoon Suk Yeol and ours. "But Yoon failed, and very badly. His dictatorship for a day lasted only about six hours. What can Americans learn from his less-than-a-day dictatorship?... The Senate, in confirmation hearings, has an obvious question to ask all of Trump's appointees with any responsibility for national security or intelligence: if Trump attempts to invoke the Insurrection Act to stifle domestic political life, just as Yoon attempted to do in South Korea, would you take part?... Are American legislators capable of defending their roles and their republic? The evidence thus far is very mixed; it remains to be seen. But South Koreans have shown the attitude and the resolve that is necessary.... Would Fox and Newsmax rise to the occasion, as did Chosun Ilbo [the major conservative newspaper]? Probably not.... But the crucial element in South Korea was the reaction of citizens themselves" who defied martial law & resisted.

All the Best People, Ctd. Trump Hires Another Ex-Con. Chris Megerian of the AP: "... Donald Trump is bringing Peter Navarro, a former adviser who served prison time related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, back to the White House for his second administration. Navarro will serve as a senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, Trump announced on Truth Social, his social media website.... Navarro, a trade adviser during Trump's first term, was held in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated Jan. 6. Sentenced to four months in prison, he described his conviction as the 'partisan weaponization of the judicial system.'"

Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump's support for Pete Hegseth, whom he announced as his nominee for defense secretary shortly after Election Day, is wobbling after a crush of controversy over a rape allegation and a 2018 email from Mr. Hegseth's mother accusing him of a pattern of abuse toward women. How Mr. Hegseth fares through a series of tests on Wednesday will be critical for his chances. He is set to continue his meetings with key senators, including Joni Ernst of Iowa, a combat veteran who has spoken about being sexually assaulted herself, and his mother is expected to sit for an interview on Fox News. He is also set to start defending himself on television. Mr. Trump has made clear to people close to him that he believes Mr. Hegseth should have been more forthcoming about the problems he would face getting confirmed.... Mr. Trump is openly discussing other people for the job, including Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, whom he defeated in the Republican presidential primaries and with whom he has had a contentious relationship.... He talked about it with Mr. DeSantis on Tuesday at a service honoring three Florida sheriff's deputies who were killed in a car crash."

digby cites a Bluesky account called "SocialSecurityWorks.org," which reports that "[Tuesday] night, Sen. Mike Lee [R-Utah] wrote a blueprint for destroying Social Security. Lee's thread was quickly amplified by Elon Musk, who Donald Trump has put in charge of slashing our earned benefits. This is a declaration of war against seniors, people with disabilities, and the American public." If you want to know who's behind Social Security Works, their "About Us" webpage is here. Thanks to RAS for the link. Just bear in mind, if you're of a certain age (or if you hope to live so long), that Mike Lee's little "reforms" could happen. Republicans have been trying to destroy Social Security since the first weak version of it went into effect in the mid-1930s. Past failures do not ensure future failures.

John Miller, et al., of CNN: "The CEO of UnitedHealthcare was shot and killed in midtown Manhattan Wednesday morning in an apparent targeted attack as he was about to attend the company's annual investor conference, a law enforcement official tells CNN. The gunman remains on the loose. Brian Thompson was walking toward the New York Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, dressed in a suit and tie, to attend UnitedHealthcare's annual investor conference being held in the ballroom. A gunman, who investigators tell CNN was masked in the freezing temperatures, waited for about 10 minutes before Thompson's arrival, before opening fire from 20 feet away shooting multiple times, striking Thompson. The gunman fled, cutting through an alleyway and hopping on to a bicycle, the official told CNN. Investigators are continuing to canvas the area. Police currently believe that the suspect fled into Central Park." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the manhunt for the shooter.

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Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump's transition operation announced on Tuesday that it had belatedly signed an agreement with the Justice Department that will allow the F.B.I. to conduct background checks on people Mr. Trump intends to appoint as senior officials in his new administration. F.B.I. background checks have long been a routine part of transitions.... But Mr. Trump, who is hostile to the F.B.I. because of its role in various criminal and counterintelligence investigations into him, had let weeks pass without signing the agreement.... Despite the signing of the agreement, it remains unclear whether Mr. Trump's team plans to send the names of all officials requiring a security clearance or Senate confirmation to the F.B.I. for vetting." Read on for a brief report on Trump's now-rejected Plan A, pushed by "his top legal adviser, Boris Epshteyn."

Marie: I guess this is what can happen when Trump accidentally nominates someone who might be a decent guy: ~~~

Alejandra Jeramillo & Jack Forrest of CNN: "Chad Chronister, a Florida sheriff, has withdrawn from consideration as ... Donald Trump's pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, he announced Tuesday. 'Over the past several days, as the gravity of this very important responsibility set in, I've concluded that I must respectfully withdraw from consideration,' Chronister, the sheriff of Hillsborough County, posted on X.... The Trump transition team declined to comment. Trump's choice of Chronister had received backlash from the MAGA corner of the Republican Party, some of whom took to social media to lambast the sheriff. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky critichtmlized Trump's selection in a post on X on Sunday, saying the sheriff 'should be disqualified' over his enforcement of Covid-19 protocols. Reacting to Chronister's withdrawal Tuesday, Massie said in a separate post that he was 'glad to see him withdraw from consideration.' There was also a belief among some allies of th president-elect that Chronister was not a true Republican, let alone a Trump loyalist. It is not clear whether this pushback to his selection led to him withdrawing his name." (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ Marie: I was wondering how Trump happened to choose Chronister in the first place, and I'd guess this is it: fromthe CNN report: "Chronister's wife, Nicole DeBartolo, is the daughter of former San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo Jr. During his first term, Trump granted Chronister's father-in-law a presidential pardon after he pleaded guilty in 1998 to failing to report a felony in a bribery case, which led to former Louisiana Gov. Edwin W. Edwards' federal prison sentence." So Chronister is not a celebrity; but he's related to one who's been in trouble with the law. Good enough.

Donald Trump, International Diplomat. James Liddell of the Independent: "Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined Trump for dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday, for what Trump called a 'very productive' three-hour dinner between the two leaders. Sources told Fox News that, during the dinner, Trump joked that there is a way around the looming [taxes Trump planned to impose on our closest neighbor and ally]: Canada becoming America's 51st state. Trudeau, among others at the meeting, responded to the quip with nervous laughter, the source said." MB: At least he was going to pay for Greenland; Canada, he'll merely threaten into oblivion. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ David Gilmour of Mediaite: “Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself standing beside the Canadian flag on a snow-capped mountain Tuesday.” Oddly, that snow-capped mountain is the Matterhorn, which even kids who went to Disneyland know is not in Canada but forms part of the border between Switzerland and Italy. Is Trump planning to take over those countries, too? ~~~

     ~~~ Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump ... is once again threatening to annex a peaceful neighbor for unclear reasons.... I, for one, am not afraid to say: I don't think annexing Canada is a good idea." Petri gives her reasons: something about the War of 1812, Napoleon in Russia, hostile Canadian geese and some other stuff. "Finally, perhaps most ominously, it would remove any last smidgen of doubt that Ted Cruz is eligible to run for president."

Sarah Ferris, et al., of CNN: "Donald Trump's choice of Pete Hegseth to run the Defense Department is in jeopardy amid questions from some key GOP senators over whether he's fit for the job. The pressure is forcing the president-elect's team to maneuver behind the scenes to avoid a second Cabinet pick from collapsing amid a Republican revolt, all while alternate names for Defense secretary, should Hegseth falter, begin to emerge.... The incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Roger Wicker, told CNN that he expects to see a whistleblower report outlining allegations of misconduct during Hegseth's time running a veterans' group. The New Yorker this week detailed the allegations in the report. [Heather Cox Richardson outlines some of those allegations below.]... Other reports have also emerged about Hegseth's conduct while employed at Fox News." (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't know. A perpetually-drunken sexual predator and abuser who loves him some convicted war criminals seems like just the person to run the massive Defense Department. ~~~

~~~ Heather Cox Richardson on Substack: "... Jane Mayer of the New Yorker reported that Trump's choice for secretary of defense, Fox News Channel weekend host Pete Hegseth, had been forced to leave previous leadership positions at the advocacy groups Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America because of serious allegations of 'financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety, and personal misconduct.' Under his direction, Veterans for Freedom ran up huge debt for what appears to have been inappropriate expenses; the group's donors squeezed Hegseth out of his job and then shuttered the organization. He moved to Concerned Veterans for America. A whistleblower for Concerned Veterans for America reported that Hegseth was repeatedly so drunk at events that he had to be carried out, and that he once tried to join dancers on stage at a strip club to which he brought his work team. Their report said that Hegseth and other members of his team ... sexually pursued [female staffers], leading to allegations of sexual assault. Another complaint said that at a bar in the early hours of May 29, 2015, Hegseth began to chant drunkenly: 'Kill All Muslims! Kill All Muslims!' An email from one of the whistleblowers ... detailed Hegseth's 'history of alcohol abuse' and said he had 'treated the organization funds like they were a personal expense account -- for partying, drinking, and using CVA events as little more than opportunities to "hook up" with women on the road.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ And Pete Keeps on Drinking. Chloe Males, et al., of NBC News: "Pete Hegseth ... drank in ways that concerned his colleagues at Fox News, according to 10 current and former Fox employees who spoke with NBC News. Two of those people said that on more than a dozen occasions during Hegseth's time as a co-host of 'Fox & Friends Weekend,' which began in 2017, they smelled alcohol on him before he went on air. Those same two people, plus another, said that during his time there he appeared on television after they'd heard him talk about being hungover as he was getting ready or on set. One of the sources said they smelled alcohol on him as recently as last month and heard him complain about being hungover this fall. None of the sources with whom NBC News has spoken could recall an instance when Hegseth missed a scheduled appearance because he'd been drinking."

Gary Fineout, et al., of Politico: "... Donald Trump is considering nominating Republican presidential rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as Defense secretary, according to two people familiar with the situation. DeSantis would replace Pete Hegseth, whose prospects for confirmation appear to be dimming amid allegations of sexual assault and alcohol abuse." ~~~

     ~~~ Marc Caputo of the Bulwark: "Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis have personally discussed the possibility of the Florida governor becoming the next secretary of defense amid concerns that sexual assault allegations could engulf the president-elect's current nominee for the post, Pete Hegseth. The talks, relayed by four sources briefed on them, are in their advanced stages.... DeSantis is weighing whether to appoint Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to fill [Marco] Rubio's Senate seat. The possibility that the governor himself could end up at the Pentagon may factor into that decision."

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Brian Stelter of CNN: "What's a media outlet supposed to do when its longtime host is picked to run the Pentagon, and then a series of eyebrow-raising news stories trigger doubts about his appointment? If you're Fox News, evidently, you just pretend the stories don't exist. Fox News, which employed Pete Hegseth for a decade, has not covered the past week's controversies involving ... Donald Trump's nominee for defense secretary, according to SnapStream and TVEyes database searches. The omission is potentially significant because Fox is the top TV outlet for Republicans, and Hegseth's confirmation hinges on Republican senators. On Fox, Hegseth's former colleagues aren't raising alarms about the allegations or defending him -- they're just not talking about the issue at all."

Return of the Kleptocracy. John Hudson of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump offered billionaire investor Stephen Feinberg the job of deputy defense secretary, said people familiar with the matter, a decision that could elevate a longtime political supporter with investments in defense companies that maintain lucrative Pentagon contracts. A spokesman for Feinberg declined to say if the private-equity investor has accepted the potential nomination.... During the first Trump administration, Feinberg led the President's Intelligence Advisory Board, which provides the U.S. leader advice on intelligence assessments and estimates and counterintelligence matters....

"The search for a capable No. 2 has taken on heightened significance as lawmakers weigh the nomination of former Fox News personality Pete Hegseth to lead Trump's Pentagon as defense secretary. Hegseth, who has not run a large organization or held a senior Pentagon role, has faced scrutiny about his leadership abilities as opponents surface claims that he promoted a reckless drinking and party culture, and mismanaged the finances at veterans organizations he was involved with in recent years, both of which he denies."

Thanks, Joe! Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's felony conviction for falsifying business documents is tainted by the same corruption in the justice system that President Joe Biden decried when he announced his son's pardon, Trump's attorneys wrote in a document released Tuesday. The attorneys pointed to comments by Biden in defending his pardon of his son Hunter, in which he alleged the younger Biden was targeted by the president's detractors for political payback. Biden said in a statement that his son was 'selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted' and 'treated differently' than most. Trump's lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in their court filing that the same corruption Biden described extended to the state court case handled by New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan. Merchan has rejected past claims by Trump lawyers that the case was tainted by political bias." An NBC News story is here.

Danny Hakim & Alessandro Sassoon of the New York Times: "Lawyers for Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, and the Georgia legislature clashed in court on Tuesday as Republican lawmakers seek to force Ms. Willis to testify and turn over records as part of their review of her prosecution of ... Donald J. Trump and his allies for 2020 election interference. Since the U.S. Justice Department dropped its two cases against Mr. Trump..., Ms. Willis has the last active prosecution of the president-elect.... The case was upended after revelations in January that Ms. Willis had a romantic relationship with the private lawyer she hired to run the case. Mr. Trump and other defendants are seeking to disqualify Ms. Willis and her entire office.... Republican lawmakers in the State Senate have seized on the revelations about Ms. Willis's relationship and are seeking to force her to testify about it as part of their own review, even though she has already testified about it in court. Ms. Willis is fighting to avoid that."

In the Substack essay also linked above, Heather Cox Richardson goes on to discuss Joe Biden's pardon of his son Hunter. Besides running down a list of the usual reasons to favor the pardon as well as blaming the media for their double standard, Richardson writes, "As legal commentator Asha Rangappa noted: 'People criticizing the Hunter Biden pardon need to recognize: For the 1st time, the FBI and Justice Department could literally fabricate evidence, or collaborate with a foreign government to "find" evidence of a "crime," with zero accountability. That's why the pardon goes back to 2014.'" Thanks to Ken W. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Read Richardson's post because she covers a number of points I haven't seen elsewhere. Richardson herself does not specifically endorse the pardon, but her explanation as to who it was necessary is compelling. Nonetheless -- with the exception of Trump's horrifying appointments of Gaetz & Patel -- everything she reports in this regard is old news. Some of it is very old news. Yet Joe Biden himself said in June 2024 (after Hunter was found guilty in his first trial), and his team said even after the November election that he would not pardon Hunter. Why was that??? Joe Biden knew full well what Trump was capable of and reportedly his team's own internal polling going all the way back to this past summer showed that Trump would win the election. The more I dig into the nitty-gritty of it, the more I move from "disappointed" to "angry" at Joe Biden's behavior.

Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post subjects President Biden's pardon of his son to the Pinocchio test: "If you take the White House's word, Biden only came to this decision in recent days -- even though the statements he marshals in defense of a pardon could have been made back when he firmly stated, twice, that he would not pardon his son. It's possible that Trump's nominations of loyalists at the Justice Department and the FBI might have played a role in changing Biden's mind.... The White House has only hinted at that possibility. We can certainly see a good case for a Four-Pinocchio rating. Many pundits have accused Biden of lying. But we have not yet seen evidence that Biden made his statements in June knowing he would eventually reverse course.... Biden never addresses the fact that he once pledged not to pardon his son -- easily meeting our definition of a clear but unacknowledged 'flip-flop' from a previously held position." Kessler ends up giving Biden one upside-down Pinocchio.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins & Van Jones agree: since Joe Biden was willing to protect his son from political prosecutions, why not grant blanket pardons to others who are on Trump's hit list -- like Andrew McCabe & Mark Esper? Good question. (Mediaite link.)

Oh, leave it to Devlin Barrett, now sharing his thoughts on the pages of the New York Times, to take Joe Biden's pardon of his son and run with a front-page both-sides extravaganza. Sorry, kids, even though you read it in the New York Times, one of these things is not like the other. ~~~

     ~~~ Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: "Over a few days, the American justice system was buffeted by raw exercises of power from the current Democratic president and the incoming Republican president....The special counsel appointed to investigate ... Donald J. Trump is wrapping up his work without the charges he brought in two cases ever going in front of a jury. The special counsel named to lead the inquiry into Hunter Biden, the president's son, has just seen the two convictions he secured wiped away by a presidential pardon. Mr. Trump ... is trying to install a new F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, dedicated to turning the nation's premier law enforcement agency upside down. And President Biden, who for years cast himself as the principled defender of democratic norms and the rule of law, defended his grant of clemency to his son by saying Hunter had been 'selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted' in a process infected by 'raw politics.'" ~~~

     ~~~ In fairness to Barrett, a ways down the page he finds an ethics expert, Kathleen Clark, who says, "that in her view the Hunter Biden pardon was 'political malpractice' but not a broadside against the Justice Department. She is far more concerned, she said, about Mr. Trump's effort to install Mr. Patel at the F.B.I.... 'If we actually want someone who will administer the agency well, who has good judgment about law enforcement and intelligence issues, and who can stand up to and say no when appropriate, Kash Patel is exactly the wrong person.'" Further down the page, he reports that another professor, Michael Greenburger, who also was a DOJ official, "called the pardon 'a small, selfish act on Biden’s part, and I do not hold it against him.' By comparison, Mr. Greenberger argued, the planned pick of Mr. Patel 'is potentially a devastating blow' to the F.B.I." But we are still left with the impression that Barrett thinks he is comparing apples to apples when in fact he's comparing apples to the Orange Jesus.

Mitch Is Not Amused. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) vented his displeasure Monday after two Democratic-appointed federal judges reversed their decisions to retire in what appear to be efforts to stop ... Trump from nominating their successors. McConnell called the unusual decisions to forgo retirement following Trump's sweeping victory last month a 'partisan' gambit that would undermine the integrity of federal courts." MB: Thank goodness Mitch would never do anything partisan-y in confirming judges: like when he refused to give Merrick Garland a hearing for Supreme Court Justice when President Obama nominated Garland ten months before his presidential term expired but then McConnell pushed through Amy Phoney Barrett four months before Trump's term ended. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I would say Scott Lemieux agrees with me. He writes, "It is dispositive evidence of a morally indifferent universe that Mitch McConnell can say this stuff without immediately being struck by lightning[.]"

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China/U.S. David Pierson, et al., of the New York Times: "China said on Tuesday that it would begin banning the export of several rare minerals to the United States, an escalation of the tech war between the world's two biggest powers. The move comes a day after the Biden administration tightened Chinese access to advanced American technology. The ban signals Beijing's willingness to engage in supply chain warfare by blocking the export of important components used to make valuable products, like weaponry and semiconductors. Sales of gallium, germanium, antimony and so-called superhard materials to the United States would be halted immediately on the grounds that they have dual military and civilian uses, China's Ministry of Commerce said. The export of graphite would also be subject to stricter review." (Also linked yesterday.)

⭐South Korea. Hyung Jin-Kim & Kim Tong-Hyung of the AP: "South Korea's opposition parties Wednesday submitted a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over the shocking and short-lived martial law that drew heavily armed troops to encircle parliament before lawmakers climbed walls to reenter the building and unanimously voted to lift his order. Impeaching Yoon would require the support of two-thirds of parliament and at least six justices of the nine-member Constitutional Court would have to support it to remove him from office. The motion, submitted jointly by the main opposition Democratic Party and five smaller opposition parties, could be put to a vote as early as Friday. Yoon's senior advisers and secretaries offered to resign collectively and his Cabinet members, including Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, were also facing calls to step down, as the nation struggled to make sense of what appeared to be a poorly-thought-out stunt.... Martial law lasted only about six hours, as the National Assembly voted to overrule Yoon and the declaration was formally lifted around 4:30 a.m. during a Cabinet meeting." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday are here. CNN's live updates of developments Wednesday are here. ~~~

~~~ Jack Kim & Ju-Min Park of Reuters: "President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on Tuesday night, creating the most serious challenge to South Korea's democracy since the 1980s as lawmakers rejected the move in a vote and protesters gathered outside parliament. Yoon's declaration, which he cast as aimed at his political foes, was vocally opposed by the speaker of parliament and even the leader of Yoon's own party, Han Dong-hoon, who has clashed with the president over his handling of recent scandals. Under South Korean law, the president must immediately lift martial law if parliament demands it by a majority vote. Live television footage showed helmeted troops apparently tasked with imposing martial law attempting to enter the National Assembly building.Parliamentary aides were seen trying to push the soldiers back by spraying fire extinguishers. Yoon said in a TV broadcast that opposition parties had taken the parliamentary process hostage. He vowed to eradicate 'shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces' and said he had no choice but to take the measure to safeguard constitutional order." Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Yesterday, the New York Times liveblogged developments here. CNN live-updated developments here. (Also linked yesterday.)

The Conversation -- December 3, 2024

Marie: I guess this is what can happen when Trump accidentally nominates someone who might be a decent guy: ~~~

Alejandra Jeramillo & Jack Forrest of CNN: "Chad Chronister, a Florida sheriff, has withdrawn from consideration as ... Donald Trump's pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, he announced Tuesday. 'Over the past several days, as the gravity of this very important responsibility set in, I've concluded that I must respectfully withdraw from consideration,' Chronister, the sheriff of Hillsborough County, posted on X.... The Trump transition team declined to comment. Trump's choice of Chronister had received backlash from the MAGA corner of the Republican Party, some of whom took to social media to lambast the sheriff. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky criticized Trump's selection in a post on X on Sunday, saying the sheriff 'should be disqualified' over his enforcement of Covid-19 protocols. Reacting to Chronister's withdrawal Tuesday, Massie said in a separate post that he was 'glad to see him withdraw from consideration.' There was also a belief among some allies of the president-elect that Chronister was not a true Republican, let alone a Trump loyalist. It is not clear whether this pushback to his selection led to him withdrawing his name."

     ~~~ Marie: I was wondering how Trump happened to choose Chronister in the first place, and I'd guess this is it: from the CNN report: "Chronister's wife, Nicole DeBartolo, is the daughter of former San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo Jr. During his first term, Trump granted Chronister's father-in-law a presidential pardon after he pleaded guilty in 1998 to failing to report a felony in a bribery case, which led to former Louisiana Gov. Edwin W. Edwards' federal prison sentence." So Chronister is not a celebrity; but he's related to one who's been in trouble with the law. Good enough.

⭐South Korea. Jack Kim & Ju-Min Park of Reuters: "President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on Tuesday night, creating the most serious challenge to South Korea's democracy since the 1980s as lawmakers rejected the move in a vote and protesters gathered outside parliament. Yoon's declaration, which he cast as aimed at his political foes, was vocally opposed by the speaker of parliament and even the leader of Yoon's own party, Han Dong-hoon, who has clashed with the president over his handling of recent scandals. Under South Korean law, the president must immediately lift martial law if parliament demands it by a majority vote. Live television footage showed helmeted troops apparently tasked with imposing martial law attempting to enter the National Assembly building. Parliamentary aides were seen trying to push the soldiers back by spraying fire extinguishers. Yoon said in a TV broadcast that opposition parties had taken the parliamentary process hostage. He vowed to eradicate 'shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces' and said he had no choice but to take the measure to safeguard constitutional order." Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments here. CNN is live-updating developments here.

David Pierson, et al., of the New York Times: "China said on Tuesday that it would begin banning the export of several rare minerals to the United States, an escalation of the tech war between the world's two biggest powers. The move comes a day after the Biden administration tightened Chinese access to advanced American technology. The ban signals Beijing's willingness to engage in supply chain warfare by blocking the export of important components used to make valuable products, like weaponry and semiconductors. Sales of gallium, germanium, antimony and so-called superhard materials to the United States would be halted immediately on the grounds that they have dual military and civilian uses.... The export of graphite would also be subject to stricter review."

Donald Trump, International Diplomat. James Liddell of the Independent: "Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined Trump for dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday, for what Trump called a 'very productive' three-hour dinner between the two leaders. Sources told Fox News that, during the dinner, Trump joked that there is a way around the looming [taxes Trump planned to impose on our closest neighbor and ally]: Canada becoming America's 51st state. Trudeau, among others at the meeting, responded to the quip with nervous laughter, the sources said." MB: At least he was going to pay for Greenland; Canada, he'll merely threaten into oblivion.

Heather Cox Richardson on Substack: "... Jane Mayer of the New Yorker reported that Trump's choice for secretary of defense, Fox News Channel weekend host Pete Hegseth, had been forced to leave previous leadership positions [link fixed] at the advocacy groups Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America because of serious allegations of 'financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety, and personal misconduct.' Under his direction, Veterans for Freedom ran up huge debt for what appears to have been inappropriate expenses; the group's donors squeezed Hegseth out of his job and then shuttered the organization. He moved to Concerned Veterans for America. A whistleblower for Concerned Veterans for America reported that Hegseth was repeatedly so drunk at events that he had to be carried out, and that he once tried to join dancers on stage at a strip club to which he brought his work team. Their report said that Hegseth and other members of his team ... sexually pursued [female staffers], leading to allegations of sexual assault. Another complaint said that at a bar in the early hours of May 29, 2015, Hegseth began to chant drunkenly: 'Kill All Muslims! Kill All Muslims!' An email from one of the whistleblowers ... detailed Hegseth's 'history of alcohol abuse' and said he had 'treated the organization funds like they were a personal expense account -- for partying, drinking, and using CVA events as little more than opportunities to "hook up" with women on the road.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Richardson goes on to discuss Joe Biden's pardon of his son Hunter. Besides running down a list of the usual reasons to favor the pardon as well as blaming the media for their double standard, Richardson writes, "As legal commentator Asha Rangappa noted: 'People criticizing the Hunter Biden pardon need to recognize: For the 1st time, the FBI and Justice Department could literally fabricate evidence, or collaborate with a foreign government to "find' evidence of a "crime," with zero accountability. That's why the pardon goes back to 2014.'" Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Read Richardson's post because she covers a number of points I haven't seen elsewhere. Richardson herself does not specifically endorse the pardon, but her explanation as to why it was necessary is compelling. Nonetheless -- with the exception of Trump's horrifying appointments of Gaetz & Patel -- everything she reports in this regard is old news. Some of it is very old news. Yet Joe Biden himself said in June 2024 (after Hunter was found guilty in his first trial), and his team said even after the November election that he would not pardon Hunter. Why was that??? Joe Biden knew full well what Trump was capable of and reportedly his team's own internal polling going all the way back to this past summer showed that Trump would win the election. The more I dig into the nitty-gritty of it, the more I move from "disappointed" to "angry" at Joe Biden's behavior.

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Katie Rogers & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Support for pardoning Hunter Biden had been building for months within the [Biden] family, but external forces had more recently weighed on Mr. Biden, who watched warily as ... Donald J. Trump picked loyalists for his administration who promised to bring political and legal retribution to Mr. Trump's enemies. Mr. Biden had ... invited Mr. Trump to the White House, listening without responding as the president-elect aired familiar grievances about the Justice Department -- then surprised his host by sympathizing with the Biden family's own troubles with the department, according to three people briefed on the conversation. But it was Hunter Biden's looming sentencings on federal gun and tax charges, scheduled for later this month, that gave Mr. Biden the final push.... Mr. Biden's decision has tarnished a storied public legacy....

"Hunter Biden was hardly shy about telling the people around him that he wanted -- needed -- a pardon, although it is unclear how often he had discussed the matter directly with his father before this past week.... The final discussions about pardons excluded senior White House staff, including only the Bidens and defense lawyers. After the decision was made, aides were told to execute their orders, [said] a person familiar with the situation."~~~

Whether our nominee was the vice president or someone else, we would have had a much better chance to defeat Donald Trump.... His decision to pardon his son, no matter how unconditional his love, feels like another instance of putting his personal interest ahead of his responsibility to the country It further erodes Americans' faith that the justice system is fair and equal for all. -- Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), one of the more thoughtful & least judgmental Democratic senators ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Now, in the desultory final days of his administration, [President] Biden finds himself repudiated, even by some of his fellow Democrats, as the president who refused to step aside until it was too late, paved the way for Mr. Trump's return to power and, in a final gesture of personal grievance over stated principle, pardoned his own son for multiple felony convictions. The disappointment and frustration expressed by his own supporters since Mr. Biden intervened to spare his son Hunter from prison and any future investigations captured the disenchantment of many Democrats with the outgoing president as the end draws near.... The decision to attack the credibility of the justice system to safeguard a relative aggravated admirers who sympathized with his plight as a father yet were shocked that he would break his own promise to respect the courts' decision.... Mr. Biden is sliding toward the end of his presidency in lackluster fashion." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Bear in mind that throughout his long public career, Joe Biden has often put his own interests before those of the country. Sometimes his self-interest was understandable, even laudable. Sometimes not so much. Even before he took the oath of office as senator, he decided not to fulfill his obligation to serve because of the sudden death of his wife and daughter and the severe injuries to both of his sons. He plagiarizes a lot, most infamously in his shortlived presidential campaign of 1987-88. He has always lied and exaggerated hos own supposed heroism. He mistreated Anita Hill, giving us Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. This was one time Joe did keep his promises -- to White segregationist Southern senators. And of course he ran for president this year when (1) every poll showed he was extremely unpopular, and (2) those close to him knew he was losing it. So doing something that will make him more popular with the people who will be his primary caregivers over the next years fits well into his lifelong pattern of self-service. ~~~

~~~ Maya Miller of the New York Times: "Many Democratic lawmakers, particularly progressives, have defended [President] Biden's move as the justified action of a concerned father who fears that ... Donald J. Trump will abuse his power to follow through on his threats to seek retribution against his rivals. But others, especially moderate members of Congress, said the president's decision to pardon Hunter Biden -- which he repeatedly vowed he would not do -- would cause further damage to democratic norms.: Miller reports a number of comments from prominent Democrats. Politico's report is here. An AP report is here. ~~~

This is not a corrupt pardon. It's about taking care of a family member knowing what Trump will do otherwise. -- Prof. Kimberly Wehle of the University of Baltimore, in an email to the New York Times ...

~~~ Kenneth Vogel of the New York Times: The "sweeping amnesty [President Biden accorded his son Hunter] is raising awkward historical comparisons and sharp questions about the use of presidential clemency. It also has inflamed a debate about who deserves mercy and for what, while underscoring the Biden family's concerns about Hunter Biden's vulnerability to prosecution related to his foreign business activities.... 'It is extraordinarily hazardous to use the pardon power in a case where the person is an intimate of the president,' said Aziz Z. Huq, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School. Mr. Huq ... said President Biden's pardon of his son 'really does strike at the rule of law.'... Hunter Biden had yet to be sentenced, let alone to serve any time, so he would not have qualified for a recommendation from the [DOJ's Office of the Pardon Attorney, which vets and recommends to the president candidates for clemency], and it does not appear as if he applied for one.... Kimberly Wehle, a law professor at the University of Baltimore..., said in an email that it was Mr. Trump -- not President Biden -- who initiated 'the norm-violating behavior' by pledging to use the Justice Department to prosecute his enemies." ~~~

~~~ A Blueprint for Trump. Kyle Cheney & Betsy Swan of Politico: "In his sweeping pardon of Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden did not just protect his son. He also handed ... Donald Trump a template to shield his own allies and stretch the pardon power even further. Legal experts say Trump now has fresh precedent -- and political cover -- to issue expansive pardons absolving his allies not only of specific offenses, but even any undetermined crimes they may have committed.... The younger Biden is now effectively cleared of legal consequences for any federal law he might have broken over a nearly 11-year period. Those terms are so unusual -- and the process leading to it was so secretive -- that the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney ... was taken by surprise.... In the final days of Trump's first term, at least one close ally -- former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) -- requested a similarly sweeping pardon, according to congressional testimony. But top White House aides made clear it was a nonstarter.... Almost immediately after the Hunter Biden pardon was announced, Trump hinted that he may cite it as justification for granting broad clemency to Jan. 6 defendants." ~~~

~~~ There was a good deal of back-and-forth in yesterday's Comments about President Biden's pardon of his wayward son Hunter. Nearly everyone disagreed with me; that is, they thought the pardon was cool. The best argument for the pardon, IMO (yet not convincing, of course), was Jeanne's: she's just pissed off at the vindictive Trumpy creeps, so screw them. Rational arguments were expressed, to be sure; I just don't think they hold up against counterarguments. ~~~

~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$ expresses a view similar to Jeanne's: "The idea that Republicans need a 'precedent' to do whatever they want or that the choices Biden makes will affect Trump's decisionmaking in any way is absurd. Trump pardoned a wealthy in-law who was guilty of more serious crimes and made him the announced nominee to be Ambassador to France earlier this week. And of course Trump pardoned many cronies and co-conspirators who committed crimes other people might actually be prosecuted for.... Indeed, if there's any precedent of material consequence here here it's Trump paying no political or criminal price for his unprecedented corruption and abuse of power. Democratic politicians wondering why they should be the only suckers left at the table is for better or worse going to be a predictable outcome of the normalization of Trump and his re-election."

~~~ If you want to read the gory details of of the political prosecution of Hunter Biden, here's a very, very long white paper (the summary runs to nearly nine pages) by Hunter's attorneys at Winston & Strawn. Via Marcy Wheeler. Bear in mind that the authors have an obvious bias, one that is indeed dictated by legal ethics. Nonetheless, it would be the height of stupid to pretend the investigation and prosecution of Hunter Biden was not poliitically-motivated. ~~~

~~~ Marcy Wheeler: “In the face of seeing Pam Bondi and Kash Patel preparing to redouble efforts to find politicized prosecutions against Donald Trump's adversaries, Joe Biden chose to end the process, with his son, at least. I'm actually on the record opposing the pardon -- but not for the reasons everyone else is.... I oppose the pardon because it eliminates Hunter's standing to appeal and with those appeals to begin telling the story that the media chose to ignore.... I think Biden fucked this one up. Not just for saying he wouldn't pardon Hunter, but for not taking action far earlier -- like firing David Weiss the day he was inaugurated, citing Trump's first impeachment, or pardoning Hunter and firing Weiss on November 6 -- to do something about this. I think Merrick Garland shouldn't have given Weiss himself SCO status (not least, because Weiss continues to investigate crimes -- the alleged attempted framing of Joe Biden by Alexander Smirnov -- to which he is a witness). I think Garland's supervision of Special Counsels allowed the abuse of the system, repeatedly.... Because the press has unquenchable thirst for lazy dick pic sniffing, they don't do the work of reading the court filings. Because the press thirsts for a false appearance of both sides neutrality, they're always on the hunt for something to fit into their both sides scandal box." Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: And let me just say I am grateful to Wheeler for reminding us that the political prosecution of the son of his boss is one more thing Merrick Garland engineered. Garland is the worst attorney general since, well, Bill Barr. ~~~

~~~ Look for the Silver Lining. Eric Levitz, now of Vox: "... it is not hard to understand Biden's hypocrisy.... I suspect most fathers in his shoes would do as he has done. But Biden ... is, for a few more weeks anyway, the de facto leader of the Democratic Party. And this pardon does his co-partisans no favors. To the contrary, it reinforces the narrative that Democrats' ostensible horror at Trump's use of public power for private benefit is sanctimonious posturing.... Fortunately, Democrats now have the opportunity to demonstrate the sincerity of their ideals, while also mitigating one of their party's greatest political liabilities -- all by simply loudly and uniformly condemning Biden's pardon as an abuse of power.... The president's extraordinary unpopularity has weighed on Democrats for years now.... Democrats face little imperative to protect Biden's brand.... In pardoning Hunter, Biden has given both his son and his party a chance for a new beginning. Democrats should seize it." ~~~

~~~ digby: "All of our remonstrating about how Biden was pure and [Trump] is evil would have meant absolutely nothing unless we all want to see Hunter martyred over this nonsense just to prove a point (which woulodn't be proven anyway.) Meanwhile, Kash Patel and Pam Bondi are on record saying they would go after Hunter Biden and the rest of the 'Biden Crime Family' with everything they have. It's probably a good idea to take that seriously right now." Thanks to gonzo for the link. ~~~

~~~ Robert Reich on Substack: "The pardoning power was never supposed to be a means for presidents to put themselves, their families, members of their administration, and campaign staff above the law. Yet that's precisely what it has become. Bill Clinton pardoned his brother, Roger, on old drug charges. George H.W. Bush pardoned former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and others in his administration on charges stemming from the Iran-Contra affair. As the framers of the Constitution saw it, the pardoning power was supposed to be a safety valve against injustice. The origins of the power in the United States Constitution are found in the 'prerogative of mercy' that originally appeared during the reign of King Ine of Wessex in the seventh century....

"Representative Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee's 9th District, has repeatedly introduced just such an amendment, which would prohibit a self-pardon and pardons of family members, administration officials, and campaign employees. It would also bar the president from issuing pardons to those whose crimes were committed to further a direct and significant personal interest of the president or others close to him or her, and those whose crimes were committed at the direction of, or in coordination with, the president." ~~~

~~~ Tom Nichols of the Atlantic: This pardon was "a tremendous strategic blunder, one that will haunt Democrats as they head into the first years of another Trump administration.... Had Biden not pardoned his son, elected Republicans at every level ... would have had to say, on the record, whether they agreed with Trump letting people who stormed the Capitol and assaulted law-enforcement officers out of jail.... The vulnerable Republicans running for reelection might have pleaded with him to avoid some of the more potentially disgusting pardons. Forget all that. Joe Biden has now provided every Republican ... with a ready-made heat shield against any criticism about Trump's pardons, past or present.... Even worse, he has inadvertently given power to Trump's narrative about the unreliability of American institutions.... Joe Biden could have waited until Hunter was sentenced for his federal crimes later this month and then commuted his punishments while fashioning a more limited pardon for other issues. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is a gift link from laura h. She has given you the opportunity to read the whole essay, so I urge you to do so. For those of you who disagree with Nichols (most of you, I gather), you will be happy to know he is a conservative, so he's probably written plenty you and I would challenge. ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Chait of the Atlantic: "President Biden's complaint about the higher standard applied to his son reflects the perspective of myopic privilege. Crimes by family members of powerful public officials are far more damaging to public confidence than similar crimes by anonymous people. Holding them to account through strict enforcement of the law is good and correct. What the president fails to note in his self-pitying statement is that Hunter Biden for years engaged in legal but wildly inappropriate behavior by running a business based on selling the perception of access to his father.... Joe Biden's defense of Hunter's influence peddling by stressing its narrow legality merely serves to highlight the hypocrisy of his fatherly indulgence.... With the pardon decision, like his stubborn insistence on running for a second term he couldn't win, Biden chose to prioritize his own feelings over the defense of his country." Thanks to laura h. for this gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Whatever you think of this pardon, it's nearly impossible to refute Chait's arguments. What Biden conveniently forgot, and what criminals like Trump never consider, is what Julius Caesar said: that his wife must be above suspicion. It isn't just the wife; it's the relatives in general. A person certainly cannot control what his relatives do, and he can forgive them for their bad behavior for their sake and his own. But to issue a public pardon, to ensure that the relative will not face the consequences of his unlawful behavior, and to hold that relative to be above the law for whatever lame excuse or valid reason, is quite a different matter. To break one's own oath in doing so only magnifies the error in judgment. ~~~

~~~ John Dean Has an Idea. Ed Mazza of the Huffington Post: “John Dean, the former White House counsel who helped bring down President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal, urged President Joe Biden to go further with his pardons.... Dean ... urged Biden to issue blanket pardons to everyone ... Donald Trump has vowed to target when he returns to the White House next month [as well as to Trump himself]." ~~~

~~~ Marie: I did mention in yesterday's Comments the possibility of Trump & his lackeys arranging for the execution of Hunter Biden, but I didn't suggest seriously that it was a possibility. Perhaps I should have: ~~~

     ~~~ Steve M: "On the subject of the Hunter Biden pardon, I don't think we should dismiss this theory: [Jim "Not a Football Presenter" White wrote on Bluesky,] 'After spending some time wondering what could have tipped the balance leading to the Hunter Biden pardon, I finally started to think that the fascists may have been planning to use Hunter as their first ginned-up treason charge followed by execution.'... I won't be surprised if Trump, Patel, and Attorney General Pam Bondi try to bring President Biden up on treason charges, now that Hunter appears to be out of their reach. Right-wingers ... believe both Bidens were cashing in, and selling America out to China and Ukraine."

Minho Kim of the New York Times: "Warren Stephens, an investment banker and billionaire who donated to ... Donald J. Trump's rivals before eventually supporting him in the 2024 race, was tapped as Mr. Trump's ambassador to Britain on Monday. The selection of Mr. Stephens for the ambassadorship, a plum posting that often goes to one of the largest donors to a presidential campaign, was in part a nod to the American Opportunity Alliance, a big-money network of Republican donors in which Mr. Stephens plays a leadership role. Mr. Trump and the alliance had a tense relationship at times over the course of his campaign."

All the Things Kash Patel Said He Would Do to Destroy and Abuse the FBI. Elizabeth Williamson & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "'Fire the top ranks of the F.B.I.' Encourage Congress to demand testimony exposing 'every single bit of filth and corruption' at the agency, and withhold its funding 'until the documents come in.' Prosecute leakers and journalists. Replace the national security work force with 'people who won't undermine the president's agenda.' These are among a long list of changes Kash Patel recommended in his 2023 book, 'Government Gangsters.'... Charles Kupperman, deputy national security adviser during the first Trump administration, warned that Mr. Patel's ideas would be anathema t the F.B.I.'s mission. 'The irony of this is that they all complained about the politicization of the F.B.I., and here Trump is putting in someone who's going to do just that,' Mr. Kupperman said in an interview. 'These are not reforms, they are punitive measures from a guy trying to be the enforcer for Trump.'... Mr. Patel would be well positioned to help carry out new investigations [into Donald Trump's political adversaries]....

"Mr. Patel has either threatened or filed defamation lawsuits against The New York Times, CNN and Politico for what he wrote was 'all the manifold lies they told about me while I worked at the White House.' So far he has not been successful. But he has not been deterred.... Mr. Patel has also ... said that leakers should be prosecuted.... In a September 2024 podcast, he declared that he would close the F.B.I.'s Washington headquarters and disperse the officials who work there to other parts of the country.... Mr. Patel called in his book for weakening civil service job protections for tens of thousands of career officials."

Peter Eavis & Jack Ewing of the New York Times: "A Delaware judge on Monday affirmed an earlier ruling that rescinded a giant pay package that Tesla had awarded its chief executive, Elon Musk. The pay, in the form of stock options, was worth more than $50 billion and helped make Mr. Musk the richest person in the world. The package is now worth $100 billion after Tesla's share price jumped sharply in recent weeks. The judge, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery, struck down the award in January, ruling that shareholders had not been properly informed of its details and that members of Tesla's board were not sufficiently independent. But lawyers for Tesla and Mr. Musk argued that a second shareholder vote in June in favor of the package cleared the way for effectively reinstating it." The story goes into the details of the dispute.

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The Senate on Monday confirmed an Army general's promotion to four-star officer after a Republican senator dropped the freeze on his nomination in the wake of backlash from retired military officers and some former Trump administration officials. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) had placed a hold last month on the nomination of Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue, who was on the ground during the evacuation of Afghanistan, to become a four-star general and the top commander at U.S. Army Europe. President Joe Biden nominated Donahue for the promotion, and the hold could have upended the general's career depending on how long it was extended. It came after ... Donald Trump pledged for months to fire any senior officer associated with the fall of Afghanistan.... Among those who backed Donahue are former defense secretary Mark T. Esper.... Retired Gen. Tony Thomas, a former head of U.S. Special Operations Command, last month called the hold a 'disgrace.'"

"I Forgot." Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "A House Democratic staffer was arrested and charged Monday after entering the U.S. Capitol with rounds of ammunition, according to the Capitol Police. The staffer, identified as 38-year-old Michael Hopkins, was stopped by officers Monday morning while going through routine security screening as he entered the Cannon House Office Building and officers noticed 'what appeared to be ammunition on the x-ray screen.'... [According to a police statement,] 'The staffer told the officers that he forgot the ammunition was in the bag."

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Kansas. Kate Christobek of the New York Times: "A former Kansas police detective who had been accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting two women over several years while on duty was found dead on Monday, the first day of his trial on federal civil rights charges. Roger Golubski, 71, died of a fatal gunshot wound at his home in Edwardsville, west of Kansas City, Kan., according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The police had responded to a 911 call reporting the sound of a gunshot and found Mr. Golubski dead on his back porch, the bureau said, adding that there were no signs of foul play.... Mr. Golubski, [who is White and] who retired from the Police Department in Kansas City, Kan., in 2010 after 35 years on the force, had long been suspected of raping and terrorizing Black women as he patrolled the streets.

Wisconsin. Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "A Wisconsin judge on Monday struck down portions of a 2011 law that stripped most government workers in the state of collective bargaining rights and set off fierce demonstrations. The ruling by Judge Jacob Frost of the Dane County Circuit Court is certain to be appealed. But his decision provided at least a temporary victory to labor unions and Democrats in Wisconsin, who turned out by the thousands to protest the law more than a decade ago and who have been trying ever since to take it off the books.... Republicans ... advanced the legislation despite large-scale protests at the State Capitol in Madison and an attempt by Democratic lawmakers to scuttle the vote by fleeing to Illinois." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

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Israel/Palestine, et al. One President at a Time, Ha Ha. Ephrat Livni of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump on Monday demanded that the hostages taken in the Hamas-led attack on Israel be released from Gaza before his inauguration in January, or there will be 'hell to pay' in the Middle East for those responsible. Writing on Truth Social, and without naming any militant group, Mr. Trump said in his post: 'If the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity. Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Pardon my cynicism, but Bibi must have told Donald he was about to agree to a hostage deal, so Trump is doing this in order to take credit for release of the hostages.

Ukraine, et al. John Ismay of the New York Times: "The Pentagon will send Ukraine an additional $725 million in military assistance from its stockpiles, including anti-personnel land mines, drones, portable antiaircraft missiles and anti-tank missiles. In a statement, the Pentagon said on Monday that the shipment was part of a surge in security aid as Ukraine battles a renewed Russian offensive. The new support comes amid deep concerns in Ukraine that the incoming Trump administration might cut off military aid to the country. President-elect Donald J. Trump has vowed to end the war quickly, though he has not said how. But ... JD Vance has outlined a plan that would allow Russia to keep the Ukrainian territory it has seized."

The Conversation -- December 2, 2024

Jonathan Chait of the Atlantic: "President Biden's complaint about the higher standard applied to his son reflects the perspective of myopic privilege. Crimes by family members of powerful public officials are far more damaging to public confidence than similar crimes by anonymous people. Holding them to account through strict enforcement of the law is good and correct. What the president fails to note in his self-pitying statement is that Hunter Biden for years engaged in legal but wildly inappropriate behavior by running a business based on selling the perception of access to his father.... Joe Biden's defense of Hunter's influence peddling by stressing its narrow legality merely serves to highlight the hypocrisy of his fatherly indulgence.... With the pardon decision, like his stubborn insistence on running for a second term he couldn't win, Biden chose to prioritize his own feelings over the defense of his country." Thanks to laura h. for this gift link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Whatever you think of this pardon, it's nearly impossible to refute Chait's arguments. What Biden conveniently forgot, and what criminals like Trump never consider, is what Julius Caesar said: that his wife must be above suspicion. It isn't just the wife; it's the relatives in general. A person certainly cannot control what his relatives do, and he can forgive them for their bad behavior for their sake and his own. But to issue a public pardon, to ensure that the relative will not face the consequences of his unlawful behavior, and to hold that relative to be above the law for whatever lame excuse or valid reason, is quite a different matter. To break one's own oath in doing so only magnifies the error in judgment.

~~~~~~~~~~

⭐Michael Shear & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: “President Biden issued a full and unconditional pardon of his son Hunter on Sunday night after repeatedly insisting he would not do so, using the power of his office to wave aside years of legal troubles, including a federal conviction for illegally buying a gun and for tax evasion. In a statement issued by the White House, Mr. Biden said he had decided to issue the executive grant of clemency for his son 'for those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from Jan. 1, 2014, through Dec. 1, 2024.' He said he made the decision because the charges against Hunter were politically motivated and designed to hurt him politically. 'The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,' Mr. Biden said in the statement. 'No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter's cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son -- and that is wrong.'...

It was a remarkable turnaround for a man whose presidency and five-decade career was built in part on the idea that he would never interfere with the administration of justice.... In fact, the president's announcement came at the same time that Mr. Trump made it clearer than ever that his second term would be focused on retribution and revenge against Mr. Biden -- with Hunter Biden as a prime target. The president-elect on Saturday said he would name Kash Patel, a loyalist who has vowed to go after Mr. Trump's enemies, as F.B.I. director.... In a post on social media, Mr. Trump called the pardon 'Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!'" The NBC News story is here. The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ President Biden's statement is here. Via the White House. ~~~

     ~~~ Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: "President Biden blamed 'political pressure' for the collapse of a plea deal for Hunter Biden, but it was the judge overseeing the case who questioned the agreement. Hunter Biden's plea deal did fall apart in dramatic form at the last minute last year. But it did so after the judge overseeing the case at the time raised issues about its unusual construction, involving two separate agreements meant to work in tandem. That construction violated one of the basic tenets of federal guilty pleas: that any agreement not have any side deals.... That is a far cry from the president's suggestion that the deal ... collapsed because of political pressure." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Barrett is a study in why it's a bad idea to have a partisan hack "reporting" the news. Barrett may be right to question the President's charge of political pressure. But he fails to mention in an article in which he is claiming there was no political pressure that the judge who destroyed the plea deal was a Trump appointee. Furthermore, according to a New York Times analysis in August 2023, published shortly after the judge deep-sixed the plea agreement, she did so not because of a "basic tenet of federal" plea deals but because the two parties to the deal didn't agree on what the deal meant. "Judge Maryellen Noreika ... picked apart the deal, exposing substantial disagreements over the extent of the immunity provision.... [Hunter's attorney] said the deal indemnified his client not merely for the tax and gun offenses uncovered during the inquiry, but for other possible offenses stemming from his lucrative consulting deals. [Leo] Wise[, the prosecutor who was new to the case and had not negotiated the plea deal,] said it was far narrower -- and suggested the government was still considering charges against Mr. Biden under laws regulating foreign lobbying." As for there being no political pressure, Devlin, read just this one article from the paper you've just joined. Congressional Republicans were foaming at the mouth at every hint of a turn in the Hunter Biden case.

     ~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times: "[President] Biden's decision to use the extraordinary power of executive clemency to wipe out his son's convictions on gun and tax charges came despite repeated statements by him and his aides that he would not do so. Just this past summer, after his son was convicted at trial, the president rejected the idea of a pardon and said that 'I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process.' The statement he issued on Sunday night made clear he did not accept the outcome or respect the process.... Mr. Trump has long argued that the justice system has been 'weaponized' against him and that he is the victim of selective prosecution, much the way Mr. Biden has now said his son was.... The prosecutions of Mr. Trump and the younger Mr. Biden were each handled by separate special counsels appointed specifically to insulate the cases from politics.... There is no evidence that Mr. Biden had any involvement in Mr. Trump's cases.... [This pardon] will also be harder for Democrats to criticize Mr. Trump for his prolific use of the pardon power to absolve friends and allies, some of whom could have been witnesses against him in previous investigations.... Mr. Biden's pardon will also give ammunition to Republicans who have contended that Hunter Biden was guilty of wrongdoing beyond the charges for which he was actually prosecuted....

"To be sure, the cases against Mr. Trump and the younger Mr. Biden are hardly comparable. Mr. Trump was charged with illegally trying to overturn an election that he lost so that he could hold on to power and, in a separate indictment, with endangering national security and trying to obstruct justice by taking classified documents when he left office and refusing to return them.... Hunter Biden was convicted of lying on a firearms application form about his drug addiction and pleaded guilty to failing to pay taxes that he later did pay, with penalties. At least some legal experts have agreed with the president's contention that such offenses would normally have been resolved without felony charges." ~~~

~~~ Betsy Swan of Politico: "Hunter Biden's pardon looks a lot like Richard Nixon's. President Joe Biden's grant of clemency on Sunday night -- an extraordinary political act with extraordinary legal breadth -- insulates his son from ever facing federal charges over any crimes he possibly could have committed over the past decade.... Joe Biden's 'full and unconditional pardon' of his son is deliberately vague. Donald Trump and his allies have long fixated on the president's son, and Trump has repeatedly pledged to use his second term to investigate and prosecute members of the Biden family. Conservative commentators have engaged in parlor-game speculation that Hunter Biden could be charged with bribery, illegal lobbying or other crimes stemming from his foreign business activities and drug addiction."

~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$: "(1) Hunter Biden was subject to criminal prosecution for purely political reasons. The offenses he was convicted for are almost literally never prosecuted. The tax evasion charge is particularly outrageous: pursuing criminal charges for tax evasion when the defendant has paid back all the taxes, penalties, and fines that the taxpayer owes essentially never happens. (2) That Republicans will scream about this is, under the circumstances, something to which any decent person, i.e., not a Republican, should pay exactly zero attention."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "His first selection for attorney general collapsed in spectacular fashion. His choice for defense secretary is awash in scandal. His picks for intelligence, health and other posts are being panned.... Even with so many appointees already under fire, Mr. Trump has doubled down on defiance as he assembles his next administration. Rather than turning to more credentialed and respected choices with easier paths to Senate confirmation, Mr. Trump in rapid-fire fashion keeps naming more ideological warriors, conspiracy theorists and now even family members to senior government positions....

"The persistence in advancing unconventional appointments underscores how determined Mr. Trump is to surround himself this time with loyalists he can trust to carry out his agenda, including 'retribution' against his perceived enemies.... Mr. Trump's contentious selections also represent something of a dare to Senate Republicans to see how far they will go in standing against other nominees they view as unqualified...."

All in the Family. Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump said Sunday that he would nominate Massad Boulos, a Lebanese American businessman and the father-in-law of his daughter Tiffany, as a senior adviser covering Arab and Middle Eastern affairs.... The advisory White House post doesn't require Senate confirmation." CNN's report is here. MB: So far, I haven't seen any information that Boulos is a criminal, but he's a billionaire international businessman with ties to Hezbollah, so we'll see what journalists develop. (Also linked yesterday.) Update: The New York Times reports that Boulos' connections to Lebanese politicians and Hezbollah are "murky."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Marcy Wheeler: "... by picking Kash and including false claims about the Deep State in his announcement, Trump forces journalists to address his false claims." But, as Wheeler notes, Devlin Barrett & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times (and others) don't address those false claims at all. They just type 'em up and publish "without correction," which as Wheeler writes, "is simply participation in propaganda." Instead, journalist at various outlets concentrate on other things that render Patel's appointment questionable: like Politico, whose reporters refer to his perpetuation of conspiracy theories, or CNN, where reporters say Trump shouldn't be firing Chris Wray in the midst of his 10-year term.

Holly Bailey, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's announcement that he wants to replace FBI Director Christopher A. Wray with Kash Patel, a staunch loyalist who has vowed to fire the agency's leadership and dramatically reshape its mission, was met with bipartisan concern that his appointment could undermine the agency's independence.... FBI directors typically have 10-year tenures, unique among appointments in the executive branch. That span ... was imposed in 1976 as a post-Watergate government reform effort after it became clear that Richard M. Nixon's pick to serve as FBI director, L. Patrick Gray, destroyed documents related to the bureau's investigation of the Watergate scandal and gave Nixon's administration briefings on the investigation. The term limit is meant to assert the independence of FBI directors from any political leader or party." MB: The Republicans cited who supposedly expressed "concern" about Patel sound a lot less "concerned" than Susan Collins does about the lowlifes she ultimately votes to seat. Indeed, the Senators' "concerns" strike me as performance art: "Look at me! I'm a Senator! I'm doing my very senatorish thing." In fact, (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Several Republican lawmakers fell in line on Sunday behind ... Donald J. Trump's plan to choose Kash Patel to lead the F.B.I., defending the incoming president's right to install a loyalist who has vowed to use the position to exact revenge on Mr. Trump's adversaries. Mr. Trump's announcement on Saturday that he intends to replace Christopher A. Wray, the current F.B.I. director, who still has three years left on his 10-year term, with Mr. Patel has stunned Democrats and many in the national security establishment. Mr. Patel has said he would launch a sweeping campaign of retribution against F.B.I. agents, journalists and others." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ David Corn of Mother Jones: Kash "Patel is a MAGA combatant who has fiercely advocated Trump's lie that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump and who has championed January 6 rioters as patriots and unfairly persecuted political prisoners.... Patel is also a fervent promoter of conspiracy theories. At the end of Trump's first presidency, when he was a Pentagon official, he spread the bonkers idea that Italian military satellites had been employed to turn Trump votes to Joe Biden votes in the 2020 election. And he has falsely claimed that the Trump-Russia scandal was a hoax cooked up by the FBI and so-called Deep State to sabotage Trump. Moreover, Patel has been supportive of the most loony conspiracy theory in MAGA land: QAnon." Corn goes on to outline many instances in which Patel has promoted or accommodated Q & its crazy, often pro-violence, beliefs. "Patel's relationship with QAnon shows either that he has a severely distorted view of reality or that he will recklessly exploit dangerous, misguided, and false ideas for political benefit." ~~~

~~~ Rachel Scully of the Hill: "Former national security adviser John Bolton compared Kash Patel..., Trump's nominee to head the FBI, to one of the former Soviet Union's most feared secret police chiefs, Lavrentiy Beria. 'Trump has nominated Kash Patel to be his Lavrentiy Beria,' Bolton said in a statement to NBC News's 'Meet The Press' on Sunday. '... The Senate should reject this nomination 100-0.' NKVD refers to the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union, which was in place from 1934 to 1946. Beria was appointed by ... Joseph Stalin as deputy chief of the Soviet secret police and was head of the Soviet atomic bomb project.... He is known for his violent tactics, including kidnapping, torture and rape, which he used to advance within the ranks of the secret police."

New York Times Notices the Most Obvious Dangers Trump Poses: Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump's determination to crash over traditional governmental guardrails will present a fundamental test of whether the Republican-controlled Senate can maintain its constitutional role as an independent institution and a check on presidential power. With Mr. Trump putting forward a raft of contentious prospective nominees and threatening to challenge congressional authority in other ways, Republicans who will hold the majority come January could find themselves in the precarious position of having to choose between standing up for their institution or bowing to a president dismissive of government norms. The clearest and most immediate point of tension is likely to be Mr. Trump's efforts to skip the Senate's traditional confirmation process to install loyalists, including some with checkered backgrounds, in his cabinet. But the president-elect has also signaled he expects Republicans on Capitol Hill to accede to his wishes on policy, even if that means ceding Congress's control over federal spending. Both are powers explicitly given to the legislative branch in the Constitution." (Also linked yesterday.)

Perry Stein & Yvonne Sanchez of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Merrick Garland and top Justice Department officials are encouraging career staffers to remain in their jobs through the next administration, stressing that institutional knowledge is important.... As top officials inside the Justice Department have led meetings about transition protocols, Trump and his allies have continued their vows to fire career staffers and seek retribution on those they consider their political enemies.... [Besides nominating Matt Gaetz as AG & Kash Patel to replay Chris Wray as head the FBI,] Trump ... announced earlier in November that his personal defense lawyers, who represented him in his criminal cases, would be nominated for top Justice Department jobs. While some people interviewed said that those lawyers' relevant job qualifications for the jobs were reassuring -- two are former prosecutors -- they were also concerned about whether Trump would expect the would-be officials to act like his personal counsel....

"The people interviewed for this article said the private legal market couldn't swallow up a huge number of departing Justice Department staffers, adding that most prosecutors, FBI agents and other career staffers would rather stay put and do work that they believe serves the public good.... Still, more Justice Department employees than usual appear to be exploring jobs outside the government."

Yes, JayDee Is Exceptionally Weird. Yesterday, RAS posted a link to this. I had seen the graphic earlier and assumed it was posted by someone trolling JayDee & Trump. But no. JayDee originated the, uh, artwork or at least initiated the post. But why? Justin Baragona in the Independent: "While ... Donald Trump was sharing a Thanksgiving parody video of himself leaping out of a turkey and gyrating in front of prominent Democrats, his soon-to-be vice president decided to up the ante by posting an image of himself as 'Trump's wife.' In a mock-up of Norman Rockwell's famous painting 'Freedom From Want, 'JD Vance superimposed his face onto the matriarch serving up a Thanksgiving turkey to her family. A grinning Trump takes the place of the husband, who is standing behind a dress-clad Vance. The turkey, meanwhile, has been replaced with an electoral map of the United States showing all of the counties that voted Republican.... [Many observers] were just in awe that Vance intentionally posted the picture in the first place, especially since it could be interpreted that he is portraying himself as a 'trad wife' or part of a same-sex couple."

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California. Silvia Foster-Frau of the Washington Post: "In Hinkley, [California -- the the town 'Erin Brockovich' made famous nearly three decades ago --] water at nine of the 44 wells tested this year as part of PG&E's state-mandated cleanup efforts were found to have chromium-6 levels more than five times higher than the state's legal maximum and 2,500 times higher than what the state deems safe for public consumption. The regional water board, an arm of the state, has given the company until 2032 to bring the water's chemical content down to legal levels -- 36 years after Brockovich's lawsuit and 80 years after the toxic substance was first dumped into the ground by PG&E, the state's largest utility. Experts, lawyers and local residents here said the long timeline for the cleanup stems partly from the logistical difficulty of removing a toxic substance that has swirled for years in the groundwater but also because the effort has been largely the undertaking of a small regional government water board in charge of regulating a corporate behemoth."

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Iceland. AP: "Voters in Iceland joined a global trend of punishing incumbents in a parliamentary election, with a center-left party winning the largest share of votes in the North Atlantic island nation. With all the votes tallied on Sunday, the Social Democratic Alliance had won 15 seats in the 63-seat parliament, the Althingi -- more than doubling its total -- and secured almost 21% of votes, according to national broadcaster RUV. The conservative Independence Party, which led the outgoing government, had 14 seats and a 19.4% vote share, and the centrist Liberal Reform Party 11 seats and about 16% of votes."

Ireland. Lisa O'Carroll of the Guardian: "The Green party in Ireland has been virtually wiped out in the general election, and its leader admitted it was entering a period of 'rebuild' after the electorate removed any prospect of the party re-entering government. The Greens lost all but one of their 12 seats, with its leader, Roderic O'Gorman, scraping through on the 13th count. It means the party is unlikely to team up again with the two centre-right parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, which are on track to come within a few seats of the 88-seat majority needed to form the new government. Counting from Friday's election could continue into Monday. The proportional representation system involves multiple counts and too-close-to-call scraps for the final seats in many constituencies."

Israel/Palestine, et al. Adam Rasgon, et al., of the New York Times: :A former Israeli defense minister has accused Israel of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip, a rare critique from a member of the security establishment at a time of war. The comments by Moshe Yaalon came amid mounting criticism of the Israeli military's conduct in Gaza. They were swiftly denied and condemned by allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, saying that they would hurt the country and help its enemies. Mr. Yaalon served as the Israeli military's chief of staff during the second intifada and as Mr. Netanyahu's defense minister during the 2014 war in Gaza, the longest conflict between Israel and Hamas before the current war. But he broke with Mr. Netanyahu in 2016 and has since become a critic of the Israeli leader.... 'The path they're dragging us down is to occupy, annex, and ethnically cleanse -- look at the northern strip,' he said. He also said Israel was being pulled in the direction of building settlements in Gaza, a notion that is supported by far-right politicians in Mr. Netanyahu's government." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ukraine, et al. Michael Birnbarum, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration is engaged in an 11th-hour scramble to provide Ukraine with billions of dollars in additional weaponry, a massive effort that is generating concerns internally about its potential to erode U.S. stockpiles and sap resources from other flash points, officials said. The lame-duck initiative was spurred in part by Russia's battlefield momentum and a fear among Ukraine's fiercest advocates that once ... Donald Trump takes office Jan. 20, there will be an abrupt shift in U.S. policy toward the war. Yet some in the administration have taken the view that no matter what Washington does, Kyiv's military will remain outmatched without far more soldiers to sustain its fight. And even as they accelerate arms shipments, there is growing frustration with Ukraine's leaders, who have resisted U.S. calls to lower the country's draft age from 25 to 18."